Speaking of happy hours, a couple of weeks ago I had one of those hyper-realistic dreams that leave you wondering what the hell you were really doing last night by the time conscious reality resumes the next morning.
The setting was either Savannah or Charleston (I could recall a few landmarks from both of these fine cities), we’d been fishing for reds in skinny water, and there were shapely Southern Belles dotting the dreamscape.
But the thing I remembered most vividly was sitting at a massive old oak bar, sipping a cold one and eating the most tasty savory cheese crisps conceivable, each crowned with a toasted pecan half. We sat and devoured these bits of manna from heaven for 45 minutes before the archetypal Russian mafia guys chased us out of the bar…
Just as you can’t purge the images of all the dry-fly-eating fish you missed last weekend from memory, for two days my mind kept wandering back not to redfish or sunburned blondes but to those damned cheese crisps.
I even rooted around for a recipe that boasted of even a hint of Southern pedigree; finally chef friend Libby saved the day with these Pecan Cheese Crisps.
Libby promised this savory cheese cracker was created with happy hour in mind and offers the perfect blend of rich cheese flavor (no compromise on the extra-sharp cheese) with a subtle smokey-salty-piquant spice.
She said to roll ‘em thin and have a plethora of very cold adult beverages on hand that afternoon.
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (more needed for rolling)
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. smoked paprika
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 stick butter, cut into tbsp. sized pieces (4), softened
1 1/2 cups extra-sharp cheddar (orange looks better), grated (about 4 ounces)
2 to 2 1/2 tbsp. heavy cream (or whole milk)
1 cup more or less intact pecan halves
Preheat oven to 325.
Make a dough. Pour the flour, red pepper flakes, paprika and salt into your trusty food processor and pulse a few times to mix well. Add the butter first and then the cheese, then process continually until you have coarse crumbs just beginning to clump. Add the cream (or milk) and process for another 8-10 seconds until the flour-cheese mixture forms a coarse ball.
Roll it out. Lightly flour the rolling surface and roll the dough out to a rectangle 1/8 inch thick; Libby says to target something about the size of a sheet of standard paper (8.5 x 11) or just a bit smaller. Cut into round crackers with a small cutter and transfer to an ungreased baking sheet (a spatula is your friend here). Gently place a pecan half flat side down on each crisp.
Bake and cool. Bake until firm and lightly browned; Libby notes hers are ready in 17 minutes but has seen a range from 15-20 minutes in different ovens.
Serve warm (not right-out-of-the-oven hot) or room temperature; they store up to 4 days in an airtight container and can be crisped up in a toaster over if needed, though both of the batches we’ve baked never made it to room temperature.
Enjoy. And pass me another cold one.
