June 2005 Archives

1 large bag frozen corn
8 oz cream cheese
1 stick butter
salt and pepper to taste

Melt cream cheese and margarine in microwave. Spray crockpot with vegetable spray. Put melted cream cheese and butter in crockpot. Add corn, salt and pepper. Cook in crockpot for two hours on low.

Happy cooking. And it is delicious.

Jenny asked about sweet potatoes. This is what I do with sweet potatoes.

For all of these recipes (except the fries) wash the potatoes well. Dry them. Drizzle with oil and using your hands rub the oil all over the outside making sure you coat all of the skin with oil. Place them in a baking dish. Bake at 375 degrees until cooked soft, maybe and hour to an hour and half, depending on the size of the potatoes. The skins will cook crisp almost like dry leaves. As they cool the potato will shrink away from the skin. When they are cool enough to handle gently peel away the skin.

Baked Sweet Potato - You can stop at this point, slice in two and place a nice big pat of butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. This is an excellent side dish as is.

Candied Sweet Potatoes - Cut the baked potatoes into nice size chunks. Sprinkle with a little brown sugar and cinnamon, add a little butter and place under the broiler until the sugar is melted and gooey. OR Cut the raw, peeled potatoes into chunks and boil until they just begin to soften. Strain them out of the water and place in a baking dish. Save 1 cup of the water they were cooked in. To it add 2 - 3 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, grate a little nutmeg and pour over the potatoes in the baking pan. Add a few pats of butter and bake in a hot oven until the potatoes are fork tender, basting occassionally. This is great to throw in 1/2 cup of raisin to the juice or a few prunes and waltnuts. Remember everything sweet needs a little salt. I salt after they get to the table.

Sweet Potato Pie - Make exactly like pumpkin pie only use the cooked sweet potatoes instead of pumpkin. Use the Libby's pumpkin pie recipe.

Sweet Potato Pone - Mash the baked potatoes. In a large mixing bowl add 1 tbsp butter for every potato. 1 tsp cinnamon, mix well. 1 beaten egg for every 2 potatoes, mix well. 1/4 cup cream, mix well. 1/4 cup flour, mix well. Pour into a buttered baking pan. Bake at 375 degrees. It is done when a toothpick pressed into the center comes out clean. Cool completely. Slice into squares. The end result should be firm and hold the square shape but should be creamy when you bite into it almost like the texture of a moist gooey fudge brownie.

Sweet Potato Casserole #1 - Mash 4 baked potatoes. Add a couple tbsp of butter, a tsp or two of cinnamon, 1/2 cup milk and spread in a buttered baking dish. In a bowl take 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 stick of softened butter and cream the sugar into the butter. Mix in 1/2 cup chopped pecans. Sprinkle this over the top of the sweet potato mash. Bake at 375 until the toping is a nice tender crust.

Sweet Potato Casserole #2 - Mash 4 baked potatoes. Add a couple tbsp of butter, a tsp or two of cinnamon, 1/2 cup of milk, 1/2 cup raisins and spread in a buttered baking dish. Bake until just done. Remove from the oven and sprinkle mini marshmallows over the top. Return to the oven and bake until the marshmallows are toasted.

Sweet Potato Baby Food - bake the potatoes. Allow them to cool completely. With a fork mash them until they are creamy. Feed your baby.

Sweet Potato french fries - peel the potatoes, slice lengthwise into strips like regular french fries. Deep fry, sprinkle with salt. Serve with Hamburgers and ketchup. My kids love these.

Please note, these recipes are not with exact measurements. These are done by feel. I might use more brown sugar based on the potato. Taste the potatoes after you have baked them to judge their natural sweetness. In the deep cold of winter I like more cinnamon. In the late fall I like less. You can really adjust these to fit your specific taste and preference.

There have been a few comments in the past that have cast a pale light on one of the best southern delicacies to be found. I will have you to know we have a secret and only those truly in touch with the way things are done in a southern kitchen knows that secret. Well more people know it now since those Food TV celebrities chefs cooks have started to let the secret out of the bag. Damn them all! Their grandmother's should haunt them all the days of the rest of their lives for that folly! It was our secret, it is what separated us from the pretenders and the wannabees!

With that said I am going to teach you the proper and delicious way to prepare grits. Real grits. Not hominy. Not cream of wheat, Steven!

To those who have never had a real bowl of properly cooked grits stop turning your nose up as if I have asked you to eat brussel sprouts batter fried and buttered with shit. If you follow this plan of action you will have one of the best breakfast or supper items known to mankind.

At the grocery store, on the cereal aisle, look for Jim Dandy Quick Grits or Quaker Grits. I prefer Jim Dandy but Quaker will do. Buy the smallest amount, usually a one pound bag or canister. Once you have discovered the beauty of this simple food you can return and stock your larder with the big five pound bag. They will not go to waste. Store them as you would flour or sugar in an air tight container. By God you better not buy those damned disgusting INSTANT grits. Ackkk!!

For a serving of grits you are supposed to use 1/3 cup uncooked grits for every person you are feeding. Let me warn you this is a big serving. I suggest 1/3 cup uncooked for an adult and 1/3 cup uncooked per two children with a good appetite.

There are generally four of us here for breakfast on a daily basis. J. is only here on weekends and has a small appetite. I cook using 1 cup of the uncooked grits.

The liquid is 1 1/3 cup of liquid to every 1/3 cup of uncooked grits.

For my family that is 1 cup uncooked grits and 4 cups of liquid.

Disregard the package instructions that says to use water. This is where the knowledge of a southern kitchen comes in to play. Use milk. The lactic acid in the milk helps to soften and plump the grits and makes a very creamy end product.

Into a pot:

1 cup of grits
1 cup of water
3 cups of milk
1 - 2 tsp salt

Bring to a slow boil, stir so they won't stick to the bottom of the pot. A scorched serving of grits is disgusting and the stench is offensive to the nose. Turn the heat down low to simmer. Cover and cook slowly for about 20 - 25 minutes, stirring occassionally. (Believe me there are no 'quick' grits.) Even at a low heat they can stick. Some cooks add a couple tbsp of butter to the pot, I don't. butter is for serving.

When your grits are creamy thick (and you may have to add a little bit of water as they will steam and cook too thick before they are done) remove the pot from the heat, cover and let rest a few minutes. Hot grits will peel the skin off your hands if you are not careful.

To serve: test for saltiness. Grits require a lot of salt like potatoes. Add a little until you get it right for your pallet. Remember you can add more but you can't take it out. When you serve them, in a bowl or a plate, put a nice big pat of butter right on top. Mix it in and let it melt. A little black pepper and some scrambled eggs and toast - you have a meal fit for a King. The grits are even better if you grate a little (or alot) of cheese over them. We prefer cheddar. But I have used whatever cheese is in the refrigerator at the moment.

Once you have mastered the ability to cook delicious creamy grits you can move on to other masterful recipes. Experiment with garlic. Garlic and cheese grits are excellent. You can mold them in a loaf pan and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices and fry them in with a little of the drippings from ham. You can make brown gravy and serve on the side with chipped beef. Salmon and eggs with grits is to die for! If you really get the hang of the unique and delicate nature of grits you might try a whole ham stuffed with turnips and grits and baked till done. The sky is the limit.

My favorite breakfast/supper in summer or winter is nice plate of creamy grits and a ripe fresh tomato sliced paper thin with salt and black pepper. Mmmmmmmm. Now that's good eats!

Hoss, don't turn your nose up until you have had a REAL masterfully cooked dish of grits.

Grits. It's what's good for you.

3/4 cup white cornmeal
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk or good dark beer
1`whole egg
1 small to medium onion, peeled and finely chopped

Mix all dry ingredients. Add the egg, liquid and onion. Mix well and set aside for a little while to rest -at least 10 minutes. The cornmeal and flour need to soak up all that liquid to make a good tender bread. Drop by a rounded tablespoon full into hot oil. They should float up to the top quickly. Stir them around letting them brown on all sides. Drain on paper towels. Serve hot.

1 cup ketchup
2 - 3 tbsp prepared horseradish (not creamed)
1 - 2 tsp Texas Pete
1 dash worcestershire sauce

Mix well. Refrigerate before serving.

1 cup mayonnaise
2 - 4 tbsp dill pickle relish
1 tsp very finely minced onion
1 dash lemon juice
1 dash worcestershire sauce

Mix well. Refrigerate before serving.

When I was growing up it was common for fish to be served on Friday. For some it was a religious observation but for where we lived it was just a southern thing. Almost everyone I knew had a mom who made fish for supper on Friday. It was always on the menu at school lunch on Friday. It was also a feature of most of the family style restaurants in our part of the world.

We always had fresh fish. Back then we had an 18 acre 'pond' which was really a small lake by other people's standards. It was at the very back of the back field and was fed by a creek. My stepfather kept it stocked with bream (red bellies and yellow bellies), blue gill, crappie, large and small mouthed bass, warmouth, channel catfish, yellow catfish, butter catfish -just to name a few. We spent alot of warm evenings and summer Saturdays fishing. We always had a mess aplenty and far more than we could eat. The extra went into the freezer for those cold winter days when a good fried mess of fish would sooth the soul.

Momma always had a good mix of fish on the table. A few catfish, a few bream mixed in with big pieces of bass filled the platter. She would make homemade slaw, fry some hushpuppies and french fries and call it a meal. There was always homemade tartar and cocktail sauce, malt vinegar and ketchup on the table. We were and still are condiment people. What a meal it was! In the winter grits even showed up on the table. I tell you one thing, nothing is better for breakfast than a mess of fresh catfish and a plate of grits. My kids grew up eating it. I think it is one reason why they are so darn healthy. We'd go down at daylight and catch a mess of catfish, come home and clean 'em and by 8am breakfast was on the table.

In the summer months if there had been a run to Savannah or Beaufort there would be shrimp on the table. Momma boiled the shrimp, iced them down until they were cold. She served a hot baked potato, a tossed salad, saltine crackers and all the shrimp you could peel and eat.

I don't rightly know if you would call it a tradition or a habit but I try to serve fish on Friday to my family. It might be a nice salmon or tuna grilled with lemon and dill. It might be broiled scallops and flounder with butter and garlic. It might be fried fresh fish or shrimp.

Yesterday was Friday and we had fish. Fried ocean perch fillets, shrimp, tossed salad and a baked potato. I made the tossed salad because I forgot to pick up a head of cabbage. I prefer coleslaw to salad with fried fish.

Today's recipe is a couple recipes. Try it. I think you will like it.

Fish Breader
I do NOT batter fry fresh fish. That is just a sin!
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
Cayenne pepper to taste.
Mix well in a ziplock bag.

Lightly salt and pepper the fish, roll them in the breading. Fry in a deep pan of rolling hot oil until golden brown. The left over breader can be kept in the freezer until you want to use it the next time. Usually I mix just enough for what I am cooking. You can make as little or as much as you like just remember equal parts of yellow cornmeal and flour.

Some people use plain cornmeal to roll the fish in but I prefer a less gritty coating on my fish. The flour makes it real nice. You can use the same mixture for any type of fish or shellfish if you plan to deep fry it. You might even still find cooks who use cracker meal. I don't. It is just not to my liking.

Tartar Sauce
1 cup mayonnaise
2 - 4 tbsp dill pickle relish
1 tsp very finely minced onion
1 dash lemon juice
1 dash worcestershire sauce
Mix well. Refrigerate before serving.

Cocktail Sauce1 cup ketchup
2 - 3 tbsp prepared horseradish (not creamed)
1 - 2 tsp Texas Pete
1 dash worcestershire sauce
Mix well. Refrigerate before serving.

Coleslaw1/2 head small cabbage, shredded
1/4 - 1/2 small onion finely chopped
1/2 cup dill pickle relish
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vinegar
Salt and pepper
Duke's Mayonnaise

Mix the sugar with the vinegar and pour over the cabbage. Mix well. Add pickles, onion, salt and pepper. Mix well. Use the maynnaise sparingly but start out with a good heaping spoonful. If you need more add it. This part is really how creamy you like your slaw. I don't buy those prepared mixes for slaw. I don't think the cabbage tastes the same in comparison to a fresh head you have shredded yourself. Sometimes I add carrot, sometimes I don't. The carrot doesn't really add anything but color.

Hush Puppies
3/4 cup white cornmeal
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk or good dark beer
1`whole egg
1 small to medium onion, peeled and finely chopped

Mix all dry ingredients. Add the egg, liquid and onion. Mix well and set aside for a little while to rest -at least 10 minutes. The cornmeal and flour need to soak up all that liquid to make a good tender bread. Drop by a rounded tablespoon full into hot oil. They should float up to the top quickly. Stir them around letting them brown on all sides. Drain on paper towels. Serve hot.

I really miss having a place to go fishing. Where I am now I don't know of any good fishing holes and how odd to think for the first time in my life I would need to purchase a fishing license. There is NO PLACE to buy fresh fish in this county. I am seriously considering becoming the local fishmonger. Grocery store fish cannot compete with a fresh fish you have caught yourself.

What do you serve on Friday? Is there any particular meal you make a habit of serving on certain days?

Sunday dinner is whole nother matter and deserves a post of its own. Which I know I will get around to writing soon.

Bon apetite, ya'll!