This is the first in a new series: Cooking with Friends.

So much of cooking is about sharing the love. Travel with me to the kitchens of my friends and explore the food they love and love to share.

Today I am in the spacious, sunlit kitchen of Rick Bell and Tom Watson, owners of Engadine Inn and Cabins, located just north of Asheville in the mountains near Candler, NC.

The ingredients are lined up on the counter and the ovens are pre-heated. But before we start, Rick takes a moment to show me one of his prized possessions. It doesn’t look like much. Just a pile of clippings, a couple of dog-eared notebooks, some file cards and some old letters, but I immediately recognize it for what it is: his mother’s collected recipes from her years as “Keeper of the Kitchen”.

I know it because I have one of those collections too. Not just my mother’s recipes but mine as well from my early years in Paris, Hong Kong and London, before recipes were filed away and hidden from sight on computers. (Don’t get me started on the tragedy that is!)

Rick recently moved his mother out of her home which is how he came into possession of this treasure. As he told me about reading over all of the old recipes he said his childhood came rushing back to him. I could see his passion as a cook and the love and happiness experienced from the recollection of these old dishes.

Cheese Straws, the recipe he is sharing with us today, is one his family still makes for the holidays. Rick likes to serve them to his guests at his Bed & Breakfast where they continue to create pleasant memories. In this particular instance he is making some for his mother whom he will be visiting the next day. Truly a labor of love.

We get started and right away this becomes a trip to my past as well.

Rick cooks the way his mother taught him so we are doing this without mixer or food processor. He pulls out a rotary grater and BAM! I am back in my childhood home watching my mother cook. I actually have in my possession a forty-year-old rotary grater which I took from the kitchen when my parents down-sized.

I have to agree with his choice. You can grate a large quantity of cheese faster in a food processor but you won’t get the fine, fluffy strands the rotary grater produces. A box grater is another option but you will be grating a goodly amount of cheese and to my mind that increases the risk of a grated knuckle…

Rick adds the softened butter to the grated cheese and digs in with his hands. He is making a double batch and the dough is too heavy for a mixer. It’s a slow process working the cheese and butter together. It takes patience. Once it is well combined we add the flour and spices. The recipe gives you three heat levels for the crackers. We used the “medium” spice suggestion and it has a good kick to it.

Finally, the dough looks like a loaf of cheesy bread.

And out comes another retro-utensil: a cookie press. You can buy a cookie press from almost any kitchen store today. The one Rick has is the same one my mother used to make Spritz Cookies for the holidays in the 1950’s and 60’s.

The dough comes out into long ridged stripes on the cookies sheets and Rick scores them for ease in cutting when they come out of the oven.

20 minutes later and here they are. Ready for a glass of wine or sweet tea and a sunny porch or warm fireside.

A few notes:

This recipe is very adaptable. You can use other cheeses, spices or herbs. We used to make a parmesan and rosemary version at the Carolina Bed & Breakfast. You will find the recipe in my cookbook: Our Family Table

You don’t have to have a cookie press for this recipe. You can roll it out and cut it, shape it into balls and flatten it like small cookies, or even roll it into sticks.

This timing gave us crisp crackers. Cook it a little less for a softer cheese cookie.
And the crackers freeze beautiful. Warm them for 5 minutes in a 375 degree oven before serving.

ABOUT ENGADINE INN AND CABINS
2630 Smokey PArk Highway
Candler, NC 28715
828-633-1110

Located 15 minutes west of Asheville, this 12 acre property is available for those who would like the traditional elegance and charm of a Victorian Bed & Breakfast as well as 6 comfortable cabins for families and those who would like more privacy. Stunning mountain views and easy access to hiking and the mountains. Engadine is available for weddings and is in the process of expanding with an enclosed event venue and new, upscale cabins.

OLD SCHOOL CHEESE STRAWS

Author Rick Bell

Ingredients

2 ½ packages Cracker Barrel Cheese
1 stick margarine not butter
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt

Spicy Hot

3 tsp Cayenne Pepper
3 tsp Paprika

Medium Hot

2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
2 tsp Paprika

Mild

1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp Paprika

Instructions

Have all ingredients at room temperature
Preheat oven to 325 degree
Finely grate the cheese and, using your hands, work it into a paste with the margarine
Mix together the dry ingredients and then add to the cheese mixture in 3 parts. Mix well, kneading it together until it comes together like a loaf.
If you are using a cookie press, process onto a greased cookie sheet and cut strips into pieces. If you don’t a press, roll the dough thinly and cut into crackers or shape the dough into 1 tsp size balls and flatten. Place on greased cookie sheet
Bake until lightly browned, about 20 minutes

Spread the YUM!