Paula Deen brings down-home cooking to Manhattan at the NYC Wine & Food Festival

10/6/09 By Linda Perney

Paula Deen brings down-home cooking to Manhattan at the NYC Wine & Food Festival

Paula Deen is hosting the Down South Up North event this weekend.

New York City gets a little down-home with Paula Deen’s Down South Up North. Hill Country, on West 26th Street, is where it all happens on Saturday night.

Cookbook authors Matt and Ted Lee are cooking up a Southern-style dinner, with chili crabs, a shrimp and deviled egg roll, smoked cauliflower and a mint julep panna cotta.

None of that, of course, is traditional Southern food. In fact, said Ted Lee, “Our grandmothers and great-grandmothers might be a little shocked” were they to glance at the brothers’ cookbook, “Simple Fresh Southern,” due out this fall.

Since the dinner is sold out, a recipe from the brothers and Hill Country’s Elizabeth Karmel is below, so you can bring down-home into your home.

Sweet Potato Bourbon Mash
Elizabeth Karmel, Hill Country

8          large Garnet sweet potatoes, roasted in the grill or oven
1          pint heavy cream
½-3/4   cup drinking Bourbon (HC uses Makers Mark)
½         cup dark brown sugar
½         cup molasses
1          teaspoon sea salt, or more to taste
3          dashes of Tabasco
            Freshly grated nutmeg, optional

Make sure to prick the potatoes with a fork before roasting. When done and cool to the touch, peel potatoes and cut them in quarters. Put in a large stockpot or Dutch oven. Add cream, Bourbon, sugar, molasses and salt to potatoes. Simultaneously, mash potatoes with a large fork or potato masher and mix all the ingredients together. If the potatoes need more liquid, add a little water. Stir until smooth.

Simmer covered, for 30-40 minutes or until potatoes are so soft that they resemble a rough puree. This second cooking makes the potatoes foolproof since any hard pieces of sweet potato have a chance to cook down before serving. When potatoes have cooked down, add the Tabasco and nutmeg if using and taste. Adjust salt as necessary. Serve immediately and refrigerate any leftovers. The mash re-heats very well.

Serves 8-10

©2009 Recipe courtesy of Elizabeth Karmel, executive chef of Hill Country

The Lee Brothers’ Jade Shrimp Cocktail
Serves 4

4 1⁄2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 pound headless large shell-on shrimp
1 pound tomatillos (husks removed) or green tomatoes, cored and
quartered
2 scallions, green tops only
1 ripe avocado, halved, pitted, and peeled
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish, drained
1 teaspoon honey
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Bring 2 quarts water, 2 teaspoons of the salt, and the cayenne
pepper to a boil in a 4- to 6-quart pot. Remove from the heat, add
the shrimp, and cook (off the heat) for 1 minute, until they’re
bright pink-orange and slightly firm. Drain, and rinse with cold
water to keep the shrimp from cooking further and to make peeling
easier. Peel the shrimp, leaving the tails on for grasping (this
takes about 8 minutes). Refrigerate the shrimp for 15 minutes to cool
them further.

2. While the shrimp are chilling, place the tomatillos in a food
processor and pulse to form a smooth puree. Drain the puree through a
medium-mesh strainer, reserving the strained tomatillo water. Return
the puree from the strainer to the food processor (you need not wash
the bowl), and add the scallion tops, avocado, horseradish, honey,
lemon juice, remaining 2 1⁄2 teaspoons salt, and 1 tablespoon of the
reserved tomatillo water. Process to a smooth puree. Season to taste
with salt and black pepper, and adjust the consistency of the sauce
as needed with more of the reserved tomatillo water. Transfer the
sauce to a ramekin or a small serving bowl. (The sauce will keep for
3 days in the refrigerator.)

3. Serve the chilled shrimp with the dipping sauce.
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Paula Deen brings down-home cooking to Manhattan at the NYC Wine & Food Festival

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