By Thayer Wine
The Nashville Tennessean

Comic actress Faith Ford takes her Southern comfort foods wherever she goes, including the set of her ABC sitcom, Hope and Faith.

With her tight schedule, she doesn't cook as often as she did when she starred as Corky Sherwood on Murphy Brown with Candice Bergen. But she still struts her Louisiana roots tinged with California-style freshness whenever she can. After all, she lives in New York and Los Angeles, and influences of both cities have had an impact on what she chooses to eat and prepare for friends.

Despite her busy schedule, she has refined recipes she grew up with and whipped them into a cookbook she wrote with Melissa Clark, Cooking With Faith (Scribner; $25).

Bergen remains one of Ford's biggest fans. In the foreword of Ford's book, she describes the corn muffins, peach cobbler, jambalaya, coconut cake and - best of all - "mini pecan pies that melted in your mouth. ...The crust was so light ... and buttery ... and they were bite-sized so you could eat about 40 and not even feel full - just fat."

Ford attributes a lot of her interest and talent for cooking to her mom, who was a teacher in her hometown of Pineville, La.

"We would spend time with my mom after school and help her cook. She would give us an assignment - that's how we learned to cook. I was always in charge of the peas - purple hull peas," she says. "I learned how to cook them just right, with just enough salt."

Devon's Wild Rice and Sausage Dressing

5 tablespoons vegetable oil (divided)

1 pound pork or turkey sausage, casing removed

1 pound ground turkey breast

2 tablespoons Faith's Special Seasoning (recipe follows) or Cajun seasoning

1 cup chopped scallions

1 green bell pepper, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, or 2 teaspoons dried

3 tablespoons flour

2 cups chicken broth

Salt and black pepper

41/2 cups wild rice or wild rice blend (from 1 1/2 cups raw rice, cooked according to package directions

3 tablespoons breadcrumbs

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a heavy skillet over medium-high heat, warm 2 tablespoons of the oil. Cook the meat, stirring to break it up, until it begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Add Special Seasoning and continue to cook until the meat is no longer pink, about 5 more minutes. If the meat sticks to the pan, add a few tablespoons of water.

When the meat is almost cooked, add 1 tablespoon of the oil to a Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed, deep pot set over medium-high heat. Add the scallions, bell pepper and celery and saute until the vegetables are limp, but not brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the cooked meat and the herbs.

Scrape the debris from the skillet and add remaining oil and the flour. With the heat on medium-high, cook the mixture for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring. Add broth and simmer, stirring as it thickens. Season this mixture with salt and pepper. Turn off heat.

Add the cooked rice to the Dutch oven and mix well. Add the thickened chicken broth mixture, stir well and adjust the seasoning to taste. Transfer the mixture to a large rectangular baking dish, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and paprika, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden on top. Makes 12 servings.

Faith's Special Seasoning

3 tablespoons sweet paprika

2 tablespoons salt

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon garlic powder, optional

2 teaspoons onion powder, optional

1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

Combine and store in an airtight jar for up to six months. Makes about 1/2 cup.