| Whip up some comfort food fast
Bread pudding doesn't have to be difficult. What started as a budget dessert to use leftover or day-old bread has become a complicated gourmet dessert. But it doesn't have to be that way. Even a desperate cook can bake a beautiful bread pudding – in fact, 12 of them. Today's recipe makes 12 servings of delicious bread pudding with only about 15 minutes of active work. No double boilers; no standing over pots whisking and stirring; no temperamental, unpredictable maneuvers; and no weird ingredients. It's just uncomplicated comfort food that even a novice baker can pull off in a jiffy. Write to Desperation Dinners, c/o United Media, 200 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016. INDIVIDUAL CINNAMON-RAISIN BREAD PUDDINGS .
Year of the Pig serves up pork-a-palooza
They call me Pork Boy, and as far as I'm concerned, the Year of the Pig couldn't have come at a better time. At long last, after decades of abuse, my favorite meat once again is getting a little love. I come by my nickname honestly. It's a rare week that goes by at my house when I don't fix pork in some form or another. In fact, I'll bet if you added it all up, I probably cook as much pork as I do all other meats combined. No meat offers a cook more than pork does. Beef and lamb have force of personality; pork has depth and subtlety. It offers a variety of flavors and textures. You can roast it, stew it, grill it or fry it. It has been the foundation of cuisines as diverse as Mexican, Italian and Chinese. One of the best restaurant meals I had last year was a suckling pig feast at a fine local Chinese restaurant.
APPLE PIE WITH WALNUT STREUSEL Gourmet, January 1996
In a large bowl with a pastry blender or in a food processor blend or pulse together flour, sugar, salt, and butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 2 tablespoons ice water and toss with a fork or pulse until incorporated. Add enough remaining ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing or pulsing to incorporate, until mixture begins to form a dough. On a work surface smear dough in 3 or 4 forward motions with heel of hand to slightly develop gluten in flour and make dough easier to work with. Form dough into a ball and flatten to form a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill 30 minutes. To make topping:
In a small bowl with your fingertips blend butter, brown sugar, and flour until smooth and blend in nuts. Chill topping, covered. To make filling:
Peel and core apples.
Food, sex conference draws SRO crowds
That list of potent topics summarizes the first four years of conferences on gender sponsored by the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. This year's gender conference (April 12 and 13) added a fifth topic: food, which by some accounts has elements of all the others combined. The production and consumption of food requires money, highlights racial divisions, impacts health, and changes (or disappears) during wartime. But like food and sex, food and gender calls up a special set of tensions and juxtapositions. Throughout much of history, women have prepared most of the food, yet men have gotten the choicest cuts and the largest portions. Women have grown the food, and men made the profits from selling it. Women have run the kitchens, while men have dominated its celebration in writing.
Students strive to make a difference
In conjunction with Friday's Earth Day, MTSU will host "Make a Difference Week" with a multitude of service projects and a performance by Sheryl Crow.
The week will begin Monday night with the Golden Raider's Service Project. Students will provide services to the MTSU Alumni Golden Raiders by cleaning gutters, trimming trees and bushes and helping with other household projects.
Tuesday night will feature a presentation and lecture by Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow and Laurie David, global warming activist and founder of Stop Global Warming.
The lecture and presentation is for MTSU students to learn about the issue of global warming and will feature remarks by David, a short performance by Crow and clips from "An Inconvenient Truth." While the show is open to all students, faculty and staff, it is not open to the general public.
Trompe L'Oeil Egg
With Easter dinner just a few days away, here is a recipe for a fanciful dessert for trompe l'oeil eggs from the April issue of Gourmet magazine. Trompe L'Oeil Egg FOR SHELLS: 8 jumbo eggs 2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar FOR LEMON PUDDING: 1 tablespoon cornstarch 1/4 cup sugar 1 cup half-and-half 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 tablespoon unsalted butter FOR LEMON CURD: 1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 1/4 cup sugar 3 reserved jumbo egg yolks 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces To open and sterilize eggshells, remove and discard top third of each eggshell by tapping around egg with a knife, then gently prying off top. Reserve 3 yolks in bowl for lemon curd. Reserve remaining whites and yolks for another use.
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