One of the hottest cookbooks on the shelf right now is a 275-page hardback publication compiled by Sylvia Woods and family. Titled "Sylvia's Family Soul Food Cookbook: From Hemingway, South Carolina, to Harlem," this wonderful new cookbook includes delicious and satisfying soul food recipes from the Woods' family, as well a documentation of Sylvia's "rags-to-riches" life story from her early years in Hemingway, to the opening of her now world-famous restaurant, Sylvia's Restaurant in Harlem.
Known as the "Queen of Soul Food, Sylvia flat out knows how to cook. Her recipes are easy and don't call for a great amount of skill to create a tasty dish.
I haven't had the pleasure of dining in Sylvia's restaurant in Harlem, but I have several friends who have been there and they came away with rave reviews. New Yorkers and tourists alike pack the restaurant every day to savor her home-style cooking. From cornbread to fried chicken, peach cobbler to bread pudding, the recipes in Sylvia's cookbook are authentic, down-home, lip-smacking good.
Sylvia opened her Harlem restaurant in 1963, and a second place in Atlanta in 1997. She owns a line of canned and bottled food products sold in supermarkets across the country.
Interestingly, when Sylvia set out to write her cookbook, she had a cook-off back home in Hemingway at Jeremiah Church. Family and friends of all ages shared their favorite dishes and the recipes offered at the cook-off were included in this collection.
Family photographs and color photographs accompanying some of the recipes, coupled with a culinary history of the Woods family, makes "Sylvia's Family Soul Food Cookbook" an interesting read. The mouth-watering recipes are the icing on the cake.
The following are three of my favorites. Enjoy!
Modestine's Peachy Chicken
Here's a recipe that my cousin Modestine makes for her family when the children come home from school to visit. It's an unusual combination of flavors and a dish that her whole family looks forward to. Modestine especially likes to serve it for Sunday dinner.
* 1 3 1/2-pound chicken, cut into eighths
* 2 teaspoons lemon pepper seasoning
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1 16-ounce can sliced cling peaches in heavy syrup, undrained
* 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
* 1 tablespoon soy sauce
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Rinse the chicken and pat dry; place in a 9 x 13 x 1-1/2-inch baking dish. In a small bowl, combine the lemon pepper, salt, and black pepper. Sprinkle both sides of the chicken pieces with the lemon pepper mixture; let stand for at least 20 minutes or, even better, overnight in the refrigerator.
Drain the syrup from the peaches into a small bowl. Stir the lemon juice and soy sauce into the syrup. Pour over the chicken pieces.
Bake for 1 hour, uncovered, turning once. Add the peach slices and bake for 15 minutes longer or until the chicken is cooked through.
Makes 4 servings.
Sylvia's Steamin' Cornbread
No Southern meal is complete with a plate of steaming hot cornbread on the table. You can eat it by itself, with butter on it, or dipped into the gravy on your plate. This cornbread recipe is the one we serve at Sylvia's Restaurant, both in Harlem in Atlanta. Our secret is to add plenty of eggs and just a little bit of sugar to the batter, which bakes up soft, caky, and golden brown. Out customers all love it and so do we.
* 2 cups yellow cornmeal
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 tablespoons baking powder
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 2 1/2 cups milk
* 1 cup vegetable oil
* 5 large eggs
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 x 1-inch baking pan. In a large bowl or on a piece of waxed paper, stir together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together the milk, oil, and eggs. Add the cornmeal-flour mixture and stir just until combined. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool in the pan, then cut into 15 squares.
Makes 15 servings.
Cassandra's Zucchini Pie
My husband, Herbert, is just wild about Cassandra's zucchini pie. Even though Herbert likes most everything that has zucchini in it, he especially loves the way this pie bakes up puffed and golden brown. You can serve it for breakfast or brunch, as a light lunch entree, or as a side dish or appetizer with dinner. It's at its best served warm.
* 4 large eggs
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1 cup Bisquick
* 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
* 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 3 cups sliced zucchini
* 1 cup chopped onion
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heavily grease a 9-inch pie dish. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and oil together for 2 minutes. Add the Bisquick and beat until smooth. Beat in the Parmesan cheese, seasoned salt, and black pepper. Stir in the zucchini and onion. Pour into the prepared pie dish.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the top is browned and the pie is puffy.
Makes 6 to 8 servings as a side dish or 4 servings as a main dish.
"Sylvia's Family Soul Food Cookbook: From Hemingway, South Carolina, to Harlem" By Sylvia Woods and Family; $25- Available at major bookstores
Vera White is the arts, senior and food editor at the Daily News. Her syndicated food column appears in Utah, Nevado, Washington and Idaho.
