Cornbread Supper

Nice moments from this week: > The arrival of an unexpected cold bottle of champagne, and the way so many people said, taking a glass to share a small sip, "I never turn down champagne." > The way one of the shorter Supperians reached for the bite-sized muffins labeled "Carroty Apply Goodness" and said to me, "I love these." > Seeing newcomers each week, and seeing others who come often; enjoying new connections and reconnections. Foods we enjoyed: Carroty Apply Goodness (of course) Watermelon Soup with garnishes (goat cheese, fresh mint) (The famous) Beets, Apples, Celery, Red Onion, Marinated in Garlic & Ginger w/dusting of curry Roasted Pork Loin Pesto Cilantro & Noodles (No Nuts) Whole-wheat pasta with tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, etc. Beans w/vinaigrette Bread Salad - Italian Blue Moon Cornbread w/Stone Cross Bacon; garlic, shallots, leeks, and Kenny's Swiss & Cheddar Blue Moon Cornbread vegetarian: garlic, shallots, leeks, an...

Cheers erupted when the beautiful blue bowl of beet salad arrived. The beet salad has already established a fan group. The June 15 beet salad, however, packed considerable surprise: apples, celery, and .... drum roll .... a stunning curry vinaigrette. We had 19 quality Supperians this week - the smallest group ever, including, as always, some people attending a Supper for the first time. The conversations, the tastes of all the foods, and the pace, and possibly the high ratio of bottles of wine to humans, all gave the evening a special character. Cornbreads for the night included a green chili onion cottage cheese Parmesan casserole and some overly soft lemon blueberry cornmeal muffins. Other foods included slow-cooked black beans with Elmwood kale, a noodle dish, and an array of salads. Lovely mint-flavored brownies with a light icing, and a large bowl of beautiful crunchy-fresh grapes finished the meal and delighted adults and children alike.

I don't know whether the recipe is perfected yet - but the savory thyme/scallion/cayenne cornmeal waffles dished out crunchy and piping hot this week were fantastic. Thank you, Chef Jennifer! Other delicious foods included a salad of leaf-shaped pasta in shades of gold, green, and peach -- "pasta with lots of garlic, and garlic pesto (KY Proud); corn, onion, carrots sauteéd in butter; bean salad with feta, etc.,; a brilliant fruit salad; Mississippi Mud Pie ("made with an organic mind"); a beautiful cole slaw with oil and vinegar; Campsie green salad with lemon Dijon vinaigrette, and a main dish cornbread casserole that included Kentucky beef, five cheeses, garlic scapes, Elmwood Stock Farm eggs, Kentucky buttermilk, Stone Cross Farm bacon fat, butter, and Weisenberger white corn meal.

For the June 1 Cornbread Supper, the Polenta with Garlicky Greens turned out to be my favorite corn recipe so far. I also liked the cornmeal dessert -- Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Lemon Glaze and Crushed Blueberry Sauce -- but it was not my favorite of the many cornmeal desserts we have tried. One Cornmeal Supperian brought a peanut noodle dish that quickly emptied. She generously wrote afterwards, sharing the URL for the online recipe from 101 Cookbooks : Lazy Day Peanut Noodle Salad . (I managed to get a quick pic just before the end of this tasty thing - see the large bowl on the right in the photo below. The flavors of all the dishes "worked well together," one person said, and other nodded agreement - there was some synergy of flavors going on. Other dishes from our June-is-busting out meal, as described on the small food labels cooks prepared and left behind: Homemade local pasteurized cottage cheese with chives Chocolate-oatmeal no bakes. Contains peanut butter Salad wi...