Potica (Nut Roll)
A Slavic heritage recipe from In My Mother's Kitchen by Josephine Altman.

Dough:
1 package dry yeast
1 tbs. warm water
1/2 tsp. sugar
3 1/2 cups flour
3 tbs. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter
3 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream

Nut filling:
1 lb. finely chopped nuts
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Milk to moisten

1 beaten egg

Divide dough into four equal parts. Roll each into a quarter of an inch-thick rectangle. Spread nut filling on dough and roll up like a jelly roll. Place on greased baking sheets, cover, and let rest in a warm place for about 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Brush tops of rolls with beaten egg. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Yield: 4 rolls

Filling: Combine nuts, brown sugar, and vanilla, adding enough milk to bind mixture together.

 
(My granddaughter Taylor shows how easy it is to work with and roll out the dough.)

Taylor's potica:

A slice of nut-filled potica:
Note: I also spread some butter on the dough, but I moistened the filling with a little lemon juice instead of milk.

In an ideal world, we could all jump in the car (or on a bike or in the motorhome) and cruise the good ole U.S. of A. to take in all of the festivals -- and, best of all!, sample all of that fabulous home cooking available at the exciting cook-offs held nationwide. Thanks to author Becky Mercuri, with Food Festival, U.S.A.: 50 Red, White & Blue Ribbon Recipes from All 50 States you'll have the next best thing: a book of 250 red, white, and blue ribbon winning recipes from festivals around the country. Best of all, the recipes are from home cooks, so they're easy to follow. In other words, no complicated instructions on how to use exotic, difficult-(if not downright impossible)-to-find ingredients. The book will tempt you with regional recipes for such favorites as beignets from Louisiana, Roasted Vidalia Onion Soup from Georgia, Chilaquiles from New Mexico, and lots more.

The festival listings give historical background, location, and dates, along with prize-winning recipes. An appendix includes festival listed by month and state, complete with Web site URLs, when available.

More sample recipes from the book:

Peaches 'n' Cream Pie
Mark and Debra Miles of Roy used this recipe to win the Peach Days Dutch Oven Cook-off in 1995.
Crust:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
Filling:
4 cups fresh or frozen, unsweetened peaches, sliced
1 cup sugar, divided
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Topping:
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

Heat oven to 375°F.

Make crust by combining flour and salt. Cut in butter until crumbly. Press into an ungreased 10-inch Dutch oven.

Place peaches in a bowl and sprinkle with 1/4 cup sugar. Combine flour and salt with the remaining sugar. Mix in sour cream, egg and vanilla. Stir mixture into peaches. Pour fruit into crust.

Make topping by combining sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and oats. Cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in pecans. Sprinkle mixture over pie.

Cover Dutch oven and bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Strawberry Truffles
This recipe, from the California Strawberry Festival in Oxnard, Calif., usually held the third weekend in May, was a sweepstakes winner during a recent Berry-Off competition.
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
5 ounces white chocolate, melted and cooled
18 medium strawberries, cleaned and hulled
1/4 cup finely minced crystallized ginger
1/2 cup toasted coconut
1/2 cup finely chopped pistachio nuts

Beat together the cream cheese, sugar and ginger until smooth. Add the white chocolate and mix well. Chill at least 1 hour or until easy to handle. If necessary, place in freezer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.

Using a very small melon baller, scoop out the center of each strawberry halfway down each fruit. Pat berry dry inside and out. Put a little crystallized ginger into each strawberry. Shape the cream cheese mixture around each fruit. Coat one end in coconut and the other end in pistachio nuts. Place the truffles in candy cups. Chill until serving time.

Makes 18 truffles.

Note: An easy but less glamorous alternative is to layer halved berries and the cream-cheese mixture in a plastic wrap-lined loaf pan. Sprinkle top with coconut and chopped pistachios. Chill until firm. Remove "loaf" by grasping sides of plastic wrap. Remove wrap. Serve in thin slices topped with additional coconut and chopped pistachios.

Double Chocolate Raspberry Marble Cheesecake

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 pkg. (10 1/4 oz. ) fudge brownie mix
4 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup raspberries
2 Tbs. sugar
1/2 ounce of unsweetened chocolate, melted

Fresh raspberries and chocolate to garnish

Crust:
Mix together butter and brownie mix and press into 9" springform pan.

Filling:
Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. Add sugar, cream, and vanilla, and beat until very smooth. Pour all but one cup of the filling into prepared crust.

Purée:
Combine raspberries and sugar in a food processor or blender. Mix in 1/2 cup of reserved filling mixture.

Topping:
Mix remaining 1/2 cup of reserved filling mixture with the melted chocolate.

Assembly:
Spoon purée on top of filling, followed by the topping. Draw a knife carefully through the mixture to create a marbling effect.

Bake cheesecake in a preheated 300°F oven for one hour. If the cheesecake has not set, turn oven to 350°F and bake an additional 20 to 30 minutes, or just until center has set. Turn off oven, open door, and cool the cheesecake in oven. Chill in refrigerator for at least 8 hours. Garnish with additional fresh raspberries and shaved with semi-sweet chocolate.
From:
Food Festival, U.S.A.: 50 Red, White & Blue Ribbon Recipes from All 50 States
by Becky Mercuri
Copyright © Becky Mercuri
All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

The New American Chef: Cooking with the Best of Flavors and Techniques from Around the World
by Andrew Dornenburg, Karen Page

Pans do make a difference; great pans make a great deal of difference! I use these:

Kaiser Bakeware ExtraordinAire 15-by-10-Inch Nonstick Jelly Roll Pan

Chicago Metallic Commercial 18-by-13-Inch Jelly Roll Pan

Kaiser Bakeware La Forme 9-Inch Nonstick Springform Pan

Food Festival, U.S.A.: 50 Red, White & Blue Ribbon Recipes from All 50 States

Cookwise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking
by Shirley O. Corriher
(You see this author occasionally on Alton Brown's Good Eats)

What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained
by Robert L. Wolke

How to Read a French Fry: And Other Stories of Intriguing Kitchen Science
by Russ Parsons

ON FOOD AND COOKING
by Harold McGee

The New Kitchen Science: A Guide to Knowing the Hows and Whys for Fun and Success in the Kitchen
by Howard Hillman

Cookbook Decoder or Culinary Alchemy Explained
by Arthur E. Grosser

The Science of Cooking
by Peter Barham

Finger Foods

Kitchen Confidential
by Anthony Bourdain

Think Like a Chef
by Tom Colicchio

The Everything Diabetes Cookbook
by Pamela Rice Hahn

The Everything Low-Salt Cookbook
by Pamela Rice Hahn

Food Festival, U.S.A.: 50 Red, White & Blue Ribbon Recipes from All 50 States

Cooking With Kids

Author interview: Becky Mercuri, Food Festival, U.S.A.