test cook
Kit Wohl is a cookbook author and photographer. These recipes are available for anyone who would like to take them out for a test cook run. "Cooking is an art and a form of creative expression," she says. "Food is distinctive in form, color, texture, and flavor. The selection, preparation, and presentation of a meal are as creative as any art project. Best of all, it nurtures both the body and the spirit."Thursday, June 29, 2006
DOOKY CHASE'S Sweet Potato Pie
Yield: One 8-inch pie, serves 6
There’s something about a sweet potato pie that feels like home when it’s presented. No one has a bigger heart than Leah Chase. She’ll give you a hug as warm as her smile and a great meal. Loved ones and guests receive the bounty of her enthusiasm for beautiful food and she enjoys seeing appreciative diners in return. Not only is her sweet potato filling as succulent as it promises, but the pecan crust is as special as Leah.
Pie Filling
4 large sweet potatoes, boiled until tender and peeled
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup condensed milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
In a large bowl, mash the sweet potatoes. Add sugar and cinnamon and mix well. Whisk in condensed milk and butter. Whisk mixture until smooth and set aside.
Crust
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
5 tablespoons vegetable shortening
½ cup cold water
Cinnamon
Preheat the oven to 450ºF.
Stir flour and salt together and add pecans. Cut in shortening until it is in small, pea-sized lumps. Slowly add water and mix into stiff paste.
On a floured board, roll out into a 10-inch circle and place into 8-inch pie pan. Prick the bottom with a fork.
Bake for a few minutes, until the crust is barely cooked. Remove from the oven and lower the temperature to 350ºF.
Fill pie shell with sweet potato mixture. Sprinkle top lightly with cinnamon. Return to oven and bake for 35 minutes, until set.
Sidebar
As a girl, Leah Chase did not eat in a white restaurant. When she and her husband Dooky, Jr. transformed a tiny sandwich shop into one of the city’s most acclaimed restaurants, it was a hit. Dooky Chase’s became a political hub and haven during the Civil Rights Movement and no one ever left hungry; Leah made certain of that and still does. She took over the kitchen and hasn’t stopped cooking yet. Her smile and gracious manner let you know immediately that she’s a lady–a lady to be reckoned with. Her charitable, civic and professional efforts have been repeatedly recognized when she seeks nothing but to feed her guests well and properly and better her community. The restaurant displays award-winning art, and features an elegant Victorian Room. Leah insists on doing things right.
She was one of the seventy-five women featured in “I Dream A World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America,” received the National Candace Award as one of the ten most outstanding black women in the country, was the recipient of the New Orleans Times-Picayune’s Loving Cup and named as Ella Brennan Savoir Faire Award for Excellence by the National Federation of Chefs. The James Beard Society also honored her recently. She’s authored two cookbooks and an autobiography.
Leah, now in her 80s, has received awards from the Anti-Defamation League and the NAACP, as well as honorary doctorate degrees from Holy Cross College in New Orleans and Madonna College in Detroit.
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