Sandy Shares a Favorite Recipe From Kentucky

By Sandy Olson

This is a most unusual and tasty bread, with a combination of ingredients you might not have used before when baking. Searching for shallots might take a bit of time, but you can find them in local grocery stores, especially those that sell “different” things, such as Sprouts.

Blue Cheese and Shallot Bread

½ cup chopped shallots

1 teaspoon ground mustard

3 tablespoons real butter (No margarine!)

¼ cup COLD real butter

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup of milk, not skim

1 tablespoon sugar

1 large egg

2½ teaspoons baking powder

¾ cup crumbled blue cheese

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a small, heavy skillet, sauté the shallots in 3 tablespoons of butter until tender but not brown. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients.

Cut in the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk and egg, blending well. Stir this into the dry mixture gently, just until moistened and no dry spots are visible. Fold in the two cheeses and the cooked shallots evenly but gently. Transfer the batter to a greased 8x4-inch loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until it tests as done with a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes; then remove the loaf to a wire rack. Serve thinly sliced as it’s rich in flavor.

Lifelong foodie, restaurant reviewer, cooking teacher, and summer Iowan Sandy Olson spends the Winter-Texan season at Palm Shadows RV Park in Donna. This season, Sandy will be sharing recipes from across the U.S. and Canada. If you have a favorite recipe from your “other” home you’d like to share, you can contact Sandy at midwestfoodie@gmail.com. •

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Recipe Connection

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Cornbread Pie (Serves 6) Junior League of McAllen, Inc.

1 cup cornmeal

¼ teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

1½ pounds ground beef

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

1 large onion, finely chopped

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons additional bacon drippings

1 (16½ oz.) can creamed corn

4 jalapeños, seeded; chopped

¼ cup bacon drippings (or bacon bits)

½ pound Monterey Jack cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Grease 11 x 7 baking pan. Mix first 7 ingredients in large mixing bowl. Brown ground meat; drain. Add 2 tablespoons drippings and onion to meat and cook until onion is transparent. Add jalapeños to beef mixture. Pour half of cornmeal mixture into pan. Spread all of ground beef mixture over this and top with cheese. Pour remaining cornmeal mixture over cheese. Bake for 45 minutes. Spread butter over top immediately after removing from oven, if desired.