My Summer Vacation Part 2: July & August

My final catch up blog. Now I'm not quite 2 months behind.

We usually do Lamb Turnovers for Catherine's Birthday (Observed) but this year we went a bit non-traditional with a meal inspired by an article from Saveur.  We still had lamb, but with a variety of other middle-eastern-ish sides. It was a success, though some of the items seemed to take forever to prepare. On her Actual Birthday, we ran down to meet Catherine at 82 Queen.

As was apropos for a Charleston-born girl, her first legal drink was a Dark & Stormy. (Charleston has a deep historical connection with Barbados, which is famous for Dark Rum & Ginger Beer). The food was incredible,  but then after 30 plus years, what would you expect? Go there. 

(Side-note: Stewart has been in Asia since early July, so he STILL hasn't had his first legal drink in the US of A!)

Recently we attended a cooking class at Charleston Cooks here in Columbia. Our buddy Sheri Castle was teaching the class. Sheri is an author, food writer, and educator from the mountains of North Carolina. (She’s also a great story-teller.) We met her several years ago and SFA Field Trip in Bristol Tennessee, where she was in her element!

Sheri has one of the greatest cook books we've come across in a long time. The New Southern Gardens Cookbook is all about using the wonderful bounty of fresh produce we have here in the South. Sheri directed about a dozen of us in whipping up 6 different dishes. Here's the line up: 

Salmon with Green Godess Dill Sauce

Lemony Deviled Eggs

Summer Vegetable Potato Salad

Summer Squash Gratin

Blueberry Cardamon Parfait

Another fun thing we kind of perfected this summer was the Bailey's Irish Cream Cake. It's boozey, but not too much for tea-totaler. The almost-but-not-quite pound cake consistency makes its perfect for a companion scoop of ice cream!  Here it is with homemade Nutella ice cream.

In August we headed to Folly Beach (aka The Edge of America) to check out Catherine's new digs.  The first official meal of the apartment: Butternut Squash/Quinoa Salad, Summer Squash Gratin, and Home Grown Tomatos.

While there, we went to The Early Bird Diner, where we had our first ever taste of Chicken & Waffles. They were extraordinary,  as was the Red Velvet Cobbler we all shared for dessert! 

Lastly,  in August our buddy Tommy Stone started providing us with Hot Peppers from his bounteous garden. Would you believe he's still getting them?  Aren't they gorgeous?

This is one of my favorite things to do with the surplus peppers. That's vinegar in the bottles, not bourbon! Let that steep a few months and then cook a mess of greens!

My Summer Vacation: Part 1 (May and June)

Ok, I'm sorry it's been a long time since my last post.  I started off the year doing well, but anyway, maybe I'll finish off the year doing even better.  Here goes:

Although some people don't consider May as part of summer, to put it bluntly, they're wrong. Memorial Day is in May, and it is the official start of Summer, so therefore May is in Summer. I could cite other examples, but I don't really need to press the issue.  My first Summer event was the annual Hospital Week Celebration. They close the street level of one of the garages and have great big ole barbeque.  What could be more Southern and Summer than that? They always use Shealy's BBQ from beautiful-scenic Batesburg -Leesville.  Shealy's has been around for over 40 years, and is part of our Priceless Cultural Heritage here in the Midlands.  Great Catering, and an awesome buffet!

Stewart introduced us to Chinese Hot Pot in June. We had it several times before he left. It's a great concept. You take pots of boiling water and add seasonings.

Then you drop in various items such as:

• Thinly Sliced Beef
• Chinese Sausage
• Bok Choy
• Fish balls
• Tofu
• Noodles
• Green Onions
• Mushrooms
• Bean Sprouts
• Crab Balls
• Lobster Balls

You scoop it out into a bowl, then dress it with soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, peanut sauce, hot sauce, or pretty much what ever you want. And then you do it again, with different items.

The trick is the timing.  (pretty much like most of life, huh?) You want the meat/fish/protein to be done, but you dont want to overcook the noodles or the veggies.  

Before Stewart left for his internship in Nepal, we tried some new recipes that he might need in his repertoire. The bagels turned out pretty good,

but we were disappointed in the cresent rolls, which turned out to be mostly salty white rolls. 

We had two other noteworthy events that I failed to document with photos.  One was Mother's Day, where we celebrated with a massive Prime Rib Roast, rather than the traditional fried chicken (since Catherine was fixin' to go Cambodia and Vietnam, which are moderately red-meat scarce). The other was a wedding shower/party/soiree for a cousin of ours.  She wanted a BBQ, so we happily obliged her with a choice of SC Mustard, NC Vinegar-Pepper, or Tennessee Tomato.  A good time was had by all, and true to form, the Mustard was the most popular,  second only to Mama Lucy's Baked Beans, which disappeared incredible fast!

Stand by for My Summer Vacation: Part 2 (July)

Soups and Stews: Part 3

We're always on the lookout for new bean dishes.  I found out about Rajma a while back.  Apparently Rajma, in India, is kind of like Chili here in the South-everybody has a recipe!  The spices in it can vary greatly, so please feel free to use this as a "guideline". You can make it as hot as you want, depending on your variety of peppers and how many you want to put in! We like the "curriness" and the paprika.    

(Seen with Roasted Brussel Sprouts)

Rajma (Indian Kidney Bean Stew)

2 tablespoons of neutral oil, like canola

4 cloves garlic minced

1 large red onion, divided

5 Serrano chili peppers or other hot peppers, to taste. Seeded and chopped

2 cans dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 can crushed or diced tomatoes

½ teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

½ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon ginger

2 teaspoons coriander seeds

1 stick cinnamon or ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

1-2 cups water, if needed.

Reserve one quarter of the purple onion, cutting cut it in fine slivers. Chop the rest of the onion. Sauté onions, peppers and garlic in oil over medium heat until they begin to brown. Add everything else, except the reserved purple onion slivers and the water. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for an hour. Add water if needed. This should be pretty thick, about like chili.

Serve over rice, (we use Elephant God Brown Jasmine Rice), Garnish with the reserved slivered red onion.

An additional benefit of this recipe is that except for the onions and peppers, it all comes from  a moderately well stocked pantry. Dried peppers could probably be substituted for the fresh ones. I'll try that next time we make it.

Soups and Stews: Part 2

Alice's family is from Scotland, where this recipe has been around in one form or another for about 500 years.  Obviously,  this is a crowd pleaser. And it much more palatable to folks than Haggis ever will be!  If you skim some or all of the chicken fat off the top you can pretty much call this health food. If you don't,  well. . . .you know.

Cock-a-Leekie Soup

2 whole chickens, either whole or cut up in quarters or halves. About 5-6 pounds.

½ lb carrots sliced

4 quarts water, approximately

Seasoning Salt to taste, start with 1 teaspoon.

1 cup white wine

1 cup of old fashion oatmeal

3 large leeks, washed, cut in half lengthwise, then sliced into half moons, 1/8 inch thick.

This is not an easy soup to make, but it is well worth it, especially if you’ve got Scottish heritage. I cannot emphasize too much how important is to WASH the leaks. Wash them under running water after you’ve split them down the middle. Peel back each layer. Wash, wash, wash.

Sprinkle chickens with seasoning salt on all sides. Roast at 325 degrees for 1- 2 hours, turning once. You want them nice and golden. When they can be pulled apart at the joints without too much effort, put in them in a large stock pot and cover with about 2 inches of water. Pour all the dripping from the roasting pan into the pot. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for about 30 minutes. Use some of the simmering water to deglaze the roasting pan, pouring it into the pot.

After 30 minutes or so, remove the chicken back to the roasting pan and let cool for a while. Strain the broth if you need to. After the chicken is cooled enough, pick the meat off the bones and shred it up with your hands. You want it really broken up, like good pulled pork barbeque.

Add the meat back to the pot along with the carrots, oatmeal and wine. Simmer for 30 minutes until the carrots are done. As soon as they are done, turn the pot off, and stir in the leeks, let it sit for about 10 minutes, and then dig in!

This is great with nice fluffy scones!

Soups and Stews: Part 1

Winter Beef Stew

I have a new beef stew that I've made 3 times so far this winter. I stole/adapted it out of Garden and Gun. 

¼ cup high-quality olive oil divided

2 large carrots, diced

2 large yellow onions, diced

4 ribs celery, diced

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 lbs. beef cut for stew

2 cans diced tomatoes

2 bay leaves

2-3 cups chicken stock divided.

4 tbsp. high-quality Worcestershire sauce

10 sprigs fresh thyme, chopped, or 1 tablespoon dried

2 tbsp. Dijon mustard

Salt and black pepper to taste

In a large cast-iron Dutch oven or stock pot, sweat carrots, onions, celery, and garlic in half the olive oil over medium-high heat until translucent. Remove veggies. Add a little more oil if needed, then brown the beef, working in batches if necessary. When beef is browned, drain off oil and add bay leaves, tomatoes, half the chicken stock, Worcestershire, thyme, and Dijon mustard. The stew should be slightly soupy. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to low, simmering until beef is soft and tender, 1-2 hours, adding more chicken stock as needed. Remove Bay Leaves. Depending on the tomatoes and Worcestershire, you may not have to add salt.

Serve over rice.

Feeding the Servants

Our daughter Catherine is President of Lutheran Campus Ministries at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church in Charleston.  A couple of weeks ago, she was part of a group of about 22 that took part in a Servant Weekend in Aiken.  They put a whole new roof on a house, and worked in a food pantry, among other things. They left to go back to the Holy City on Sunday morning, and had to pass within a couple of miles of our house, so we invited them over for a lunch. Now these are young adults from The Citadel and the College of Charleston, and when we feed such college kids we generally try not to provide food they'd get in the cafeteria or the local pizza joint. This is the second year we've done this so we kinda-sorta had good idea of what they'd like. This is the menu we offered:

Pork Chops

Rice & Mushroom Gravy

Deviled Eggs

Grilled Squash

Kale Casserole

Brocolli Salad
Weaver D's Sweet Potatoes
Green Beans

Lime Jello-Pineapple Salad

 Slow Roasted Roma Tomatoes with Feta & Olives

Sour Cream Dinner Rolls

Chocoalte Layer Cake with Ganache Filling and White Chocolate Butter Cream Icing

Appalachain Stack Cake

Do-it-Yourself Trifle with Pound Cake, Boiled Custard and Blueberry-Blackberry Filling

Most of these were tried and true recipes, but the kale casserole originally used spinach.  It turned out very well, getting rave reviews, especially from some of the Cadets (along with  the Stack Cake and the Lime-Jello Salad!).  One really cool part was that pretty much all of the veggies and (the blackberries!) were from South Carolina! W. P Rawl's here in Lexington, Beechwood Farms in Greenville county, Callaham's Orchard in Williamston,  and a roadside stand in Marion County.

They got here about 20 minutes earlier than we had planned, but we still got things together pretty much on time.  It was great and they were a fantastic group of young adults!  We really enjoy groups like this. With these guys and gals as our future leaders,  folks, things are gonna be just fine!

Simply Southern Supper

This summer while I was recovering from knee replacement surgery, I had a lot of time on my hands. I watched a whole lot of cooking shows that I wouldn't normally watch. I was also able to thoroughly read and re-read some cooking magazines, cookbooks, and foodie books.

One of the books was John Besh's My Family Table. It is a very good book that I highly recommend, especially if you are cooking for a family. He talks about making family meals that are both simple, fun and delicious. He advocates not roasting a chicken for Sunday dinner, but roasting a whole ovenfull of food: two chickens, a roast, and maybe some side dishes. That way you can have some now, some for leftovers later in the week, and some to freeze for when you don't have time to cook, or to use in other dishes.

I also re-read Donald Link's Real Cajun, and Bill Smith's Seasoned in the South.

Other reading material that I persused well and truly was from the Southern Foodways Alliance's early publications, from their Cornbread Nation series and from their Oral Histories. Celebrating the row crop farmers, BBQ pit masters, all good stuff. With all of this reading and viewing and thinking,  I had a VISION, (choral music from the Holy Grail, please) and a remembrance of long ago.

THE VISION: I came up with a idea for something I like to call Simply Southern Suppers.  The goal would be to simply eat well with friends. It doesn't have to be 5 course meal.  It doesn't have to be gourmet, or fine china. It's just sitting down to the table with good food, good conversation and good folks. It doesn't have to be all good friends. One of our all-time favorite things to do is cook for Catherine & Stewart's friends and cohorts.   Maybe it's just acquaintances who might one day become good friends one day!

The remembrance: Back in 1970's my mother and grandmother made a whole bunch of blue denim placemats. They were fashioned to resemble a pair of jeans and the pocket held a red bandana napkin. I asked Mama Glenda about them, and she brought them down, about 40 of them. She couldn't remember why they got made, but thinks it was BBQ wedding shower for someone. But anyway, they look pretty cool, and I thought they would look great on a red checkered gingham table cloth. However, our dining room table is 14 feet long, and I couldn't find a tablecloth near that big. So . . . . I bought 15 yards of it on sale, and Alice made the tablecloth! Looks real purty, don't it?

So the goal is to have a fairly simple menu, but make it good. If it's a complicated dish, we'd try to do most of it ahead of time so we could just heat it up, or pull it out of the fridge, depending.

Here's the first nights' menu:

Green Tabasco Chicken (simple, 3 ingredients)

Oven Roasted Boudain (very simple)

Pennies from Heaven (made ahead)

Spinach Casserole (assembled ahead)

Sourdough Bread (made that day)

Assorted Pickles

Athena Cantaloupe (cut that afternoon)

Not Fried Green Tomatoes (made earlier that afternoon)

Butter Cake with Mocha Butter Cream Icing (made before and frozen, assembled that morning)

A Good Time was had by all.  It was little bit more than I had originally envisioned, but we're going to work on that.

End of Summer



Well, it's the end of summer.  Peaches are almost gone from SC now, and the ones that you can find are very expensive. They never were really cheap this year, but I did find some deals in July and early August.  The best deal I got was at the SC Farmers Market.  A guy had them for $16 a basket when I got there, and after wandering around for an hour, when I came back by he only had two baskets left.  He was ready to go home so he let me have both for $20.   They weren't the best peaches, due to some hail damage, and they were very very ripe, but I wound up using about two thirds of them, so it was a pretty good deal, maybe, kind of.
Alice pulled up all our tomato plants a couple of weeks ago, and I had good intentions of putting in some patty pan squash plants in their place,  but I let them go too long and lost about half of them.  I might try to plant some again in a week or two, since I had pretty good luck with then last fall. I'm definitely going to try some fall and winter greens. Last year we have very good luck with Swiss Chard. In fact, we still have two plants that were planted last winter.  We occaisionally beat the bugs to them, usually harvesting enough for a couple of salads or sandwiches.

Not Your Average Cobbler

Seasonal Fruit Tart

This is my rif on a recipe Sean Brock published in the Washington Post a couple of years ago.  Mine has a whole lots less eggs & sugar. You have to make it in two stages, but the good part is the first stage can be done ahead of time. I've made it with apples topped with cinnamin sugar, and last night Alice made it with peaches, and glazed it with plum jam!

BROWNED BUTTER

2 sticks unsalted butter

2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise

1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine the butter, vanilla beans and salt in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring and watching closely, until the butter browns. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a medium bowl and cool to room temperature. Discard the solids.


BATTER
5 large egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour·    

In a large mixing bowl whisk together the egg yolks, and then gradually add the browned butter.  Mix the sugar and flour together in a separate bowl. Gradually stir in the sugar/flour mixture.  This will form a thick batter. Pour or shape into greased tart pan.  Arrange fruit to cover it, lightly press down fruit into batter; SEE NOTE.

In a 350 degree oven, bake for 20 minutes, then rotate the dish from front to back. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes longer until the top is golden brown and the filling is just set on the inside. 

NOTE: For apples,  I used about 3 medium, slice in wedges about ¼ inch thick.   Then sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar.

For peaches I used 2 large.

AFTER TART Cools:

2 tablespoons of plum jam

2 teaspoons corn syrup.

Heat plum jam in microwave for about 20 seconds, stir in corn syrup. Lightly brush on tart.




We hope y'all enjoy this!

Break Out the Canner!

Last weekend Alice went down to State Farmers Market to check out what fresh veggies were in. She was mightily impressed with quality and value. We got out our Pressure Canner, asked Mama Glenda to bring down hers, and we washed quart and pint jars.  Then Tuesday I bought the produce. The corn and tomatoes were the best value at $8 a box.  So far we have about 3 dozen quarts of Vegetable Soup and twice that in Tomato Soup!  Alice is using Mama Lucy's recipe for both.  Because it is just the two of us now, she is putting up some in pints,  which we normally use just for fruits and jams. We figure they'd be just right for a weekend trip to the beach, or to let Catherine and Stewart take to school.

Generally,  we often wait for the dad-blamed hottest week summer to do things like this. This week wasn't too bad,  but as luck would have it, our main AC unit went out Wednesday afternoon!  

I'm back! (Mostly)

OK. We had a whole bunch of stuff to do at the beach house this winter/spring,  and no chaps to help us, so we had to go down there a fair amount of February and March.  That took up some time,  and then we had to get ready for my knee surgery, which took more time in April and May. We wound up doing pretty well at the beach and at home.  Anyway,  I'm now 7 weeks out from knee surgery, and normalcy, (or what we know of it!) is slowly returning.  I'm off the pain killers now, but still won't be going back to work for a while due to flexation issues. I've started puttering around in the kitchen, and going through cook books and magazines, while kinda sorta planning for some future events.  


I'm starting back with what's happening here and now, and hopefully  I'll backtrack to earlier this year in the next few weeks.  Maybe I'll be caught up by August!

This week is Corn, Peas, and Squash. Two different friends brought us two different kinds of corn: Bi-Color and Golden Jubilee!  The Bi-Color has the flavor Silver Queen, which as most of you know is outstanding.  We'd never heard of Golden Jubilee, which is a beautiful light yellow ear! My friend says it apparently does not freeze well, which is fine with us, since it eats very well as corn on the cob!  We have plans for it to be a co-star in a Frogmore stew tomorrow! 

Last year I planted a few Patty Pan Squash for the first time. The vine borers and cut worms pretty much left them alone, unlike what they do to my yellow squash and zucchini. This year I planted three varieties: Sunburst, Peter Pan, and Ron De Nice.  These all have flesh that is somewhat dryer than "normal" squash.  We are sauteing them in various ways  with various seasonings, with wonderful results. 

Another new variety on the table this week was Mississippi Silvertip Field Pea!  A friend of Mama Glenda's gave her about half a bushel.  With the inclusion of a ham hock to the pot, and they turned out to be wonderful!  Very creamy and tender, and  were pretty easy to shell, although I can only take credit for about maybe 10% of that. Mama Glenda did most of it. 


    

uh, yeah, I'll be right back.

>>>>>>>>crickets<<<<<<<
Yes, its been a while.  We had very busy spring.  I'll tell you about it RSN.  -Real Soon Now--I promise, I'll be right back!

A Successful Charleston Jaunt!

This past weekend we finally got back to Charleston. We haven’t be able to take a really relaxing weekend there in over a year, which is way too long! We picked up Catherine from CoC on Friday evening and headed toward a place I’d heard about a while back. The Glass Onion, on Highway 17 South. Its locavore kind of place that serves both lunch and dinner at moderate prices. We went kind of wild and gamey, starting with Rabbit Liver & Pickles,  moving on to Sheepshead* & Rutabagas, Duck with Hoppin’John, and Quail with Grits & Greens. We finished up with probably the best bread pudding I’ve had since we were in New Orleans!

Saturday morning we introduced Catherine to a breakfast that we came up with earlier this year. Baked Apples (which are loaded with Walnuts, Raisins & Cinnamon) with a generous side of steel-cut oatmeal, topped with some Greek yogurt. It’s a very good winter comfort-food type of breakfast, just perfect for a screened-in porch on Folly Beach, with a cup of Café du Monde next to it!

With such a breakfast, we didn’t really feel the need for a formal lunch, so we made do with stop by WildFlour Pastry, which I had recently noted in Southern Living and Garden & Gun. As expected, everything was scrumptious! What you see are a Pecan Sticky Bun, a Raspberry Nutella Turnover, and a Scone with Sundried Tomatoes, Pesto & Mozzarella. I had hoped to bring back a pie or three, but I didn’t realize all their pies are made to order. So that’ll have to be for next time we go, or maybe when Catherine is coming back this way.
Saturday afternoon, we stopped by Crosby’s Seafood and picked some fresh local shrimp. Alice and Catherine used them in a wonderful Salad, modifying a recipe that a friend from Charleston gave us years ago. We really should make it more often, for it was delicious!

Sunday Lunch we wound up with some old friends at the Lost Dog Café on Folly Beach, which turned out to be pretty much what you’d expect to find on Folly, (actually a little better.) There was a roaring Sunday Brunch crowd, but we got seated after a not too long wait. The service was good, and the food well done for your money. We’ll go back!

*Sheepshead is a fish.

Pepper Vinegar and Brockian Hot Sauce

I don't usually have much success growing peppers, generally just winding up with only enough to put a few in salads and a pot beans every now and then.  This year I lucked out, however, and got a bountiful amount of two different kinds from two different sources. 

A friend of mine, Tommy Stone, has an incredibly green thumb, and donated some Jalapeños for the St. Peter's Church Youth to use for a fund raiser.  He said he had plenty more and gave me a grocery bag full. I decided that with such surplus I should make Brockian Hot Sauce. I first found out about this method of hot sauce production about 2 years ago listening to Sean Brock at the SFA Field Trip in Bristol.  Since this was the first time I've tried this, I pretty much followed the instructions.  I started them August 1st and on October 1st I stopped the fermentation process and added the vinegar.  Exactly two months after that I strained it off and here's what I got:

First I tried it some on a Ritz Crackers. It's pretty powerful stuff, but not insane.  The flavor reminds me of Green Smoked Tabasco, but it is significantly hotter. It goes very well with well with Collards!

Late this summer Mom and Dad began gleaning some at Barefoot Farms up near Belton.  Mostly they've been getting Okra, (lots and lots of Okra), but last month before the hard frost came,  they pulled up the last of the pepper plants.  They brought me probably close to a bushel of Hot Hungarian Peppers and a few fruits of various other kinds. We used plenty of them in cooking and making stuffed peppers,  and I made several bottles of pepper vinegar.  We haven't tried them yet. I figure I'll let them set about a month or six weeks, so they should be ready by Christmas. Don't they look real purty in bourbon bottles?

"MWBAA!?"

We went to Thanksgiving Supper with Alice's cousins, up in Owings, South Carolina. Thanksgiving Supper in Owings is a tradition that goes back at least half a century. Usually there's about 25-30 folks.  Cousin Hazel and her family provide the Turkey, Dressing, Gravy, Famous Christmas Rolls, and some other fixin's. The rest of the folks bring a variety of contributions: Potato Salad, Candied Sweet Potatoes, Creamed Corn, Green Beans, maybe a Congealed Salad. It is always a delicious feast. Alice's mom, Mama Lucy, always took a ham, so that’s what we brought this year: a  platter of porcine perfection produced by wrap cooking a Clifty Farms Country Ham. For dessert there is usually cake or cookies, and always, always, Hazel makes Boiled Custard. Always. It is something that she doesn't make often. In fact, nobody that I know of makes it often. Alice makes it several times a year, usually around the Holidays, or when someone has some sort of mouth surgery that makes chewing unpleasant. It is very good: kind of like egg nog without the spices. Very rich, not too sweet, a nice vanilla mellowness.  No booze, but you can add that yourself if you feel the need,  which we don't.

The newest member of the clan is Maggie, Cousin Hazel's first great-grandbaby. She's fourteen months old, and seems to be a fine child, being raised by fine parents. However, through a minor oversight on her parents, she had never had country ham, or the Boiled Custard. Well, that situation has now been rectified. Her dad did not give her the actual hambone to gnaw on, but she finished a substantial portion with enough enthusiasm there is no doubt she is in favor of it. (It's ok, it's ok. There was no fat on it.) After she finished the big slab smallish morsel of ham, it seemed to me she was kind of thirsty. So I offered her some Boiled Custard. It was in a punch cup, and she kind of eyed it suspiciously. She cautiously let me put it up to her mouth, and tilt it so she could get a bit. After a moment, her eyes got big and she snatched the cup out of my hands and with a glug glug glug, it was empty. Then she handed the cup back to me and said "MWBAA!?" Which apparently meant something like "Goodness Gracious, that was mighty fine! Would you please get me another cup? Right Now!" Which of course I did. She followed me around the rest of the night.

Now what makes you think I might exaggerate?

Mama Lucy's Legacy

I knew Mama Lucy for 30 years. She loved to cook, and loved to see folks eat what she cooked.  During the time I knew her she cooked for her husband, her five children, and her five grand-children.  Before I knew her, she apparently cooked for most of southern Greenville County, (a great deal of it in large amounts).  Her children’s friends were always welcome at her table, and from what I hear tell, she and JW did a good bit of entertaining in the 60s and 70s.

After JW (or Wilton as she called him) died 10 years ago, she spent a fair amount of time at our house.  She’d come for a month or three, several times a year, while Alice “tweaked” her medicines and such.  And a fair amount of that time was spent sitting at our kitchen table doing crossword puzzles, looking out the back window at the birds and squirrels, and talking about food.  She didn’t cook too much then, but she still loved to talk about food, and she enjoyed watching cooking shows on TV, and Lord, how she loved to read cookbooks!  She would read cookbooks like most folks read novels.  She loved to get books on different cuisines, but she also loved Southern cooking, and especially Creole/Cajun (lately she had become somewhat enamored with John Besh!)

(A couple of things she did cook in big quantities in the last few years:  She once made me a huge pot of chicken stew and 100 biscuits to take to Lutheran Men.  After that, we’d often tease her to “come help us make a hundred biscuits!” And in 2005, she and her daughter Beth made several coolers full of beef stew to send to Biloxi for Katrina volunteers. She had heard they weren’t getting enough proteins for all the hard work they were doing!)

One of my favorite things was finding a new recipe, telling her about it (many times she’d heard of something similar) and then trying it out on her. Most of the time, she’d love it.  She didn’t particularly like lamb or salmon, so usually those recipes were out, and she very most assuredly did not like rosemary or sage in large quantities, which I do!  I would often tease her about that, saying things like “why don’t we put a couple of tablespoons of sage in this?”  or “You’ll like this Mama Lucy, it’s got loads of rosemary!”  Her answer would many times be “I …. Don’t ….think so, Mr. Philip!”

Here’s just few of the culinary treats Alice and I owe to Mama Lucy:

• Craig Claiborne’s tomato soup (I thought tomato soup was only from Campbell’s)
• Baklava (She only did this once, and then talked Alice into it!)
• Apricot whip
• Biscuit mix (5lbs of While Lilly Self Rising flour + a small can of Crisco=Voila! You've got biscuit mix! All you have to do is add buttermilk!)
• Crème puffs
• Barbecue hash  (which did not involve smoking the pork in any way, shape, or form, but was still wonderfully delicious!)
• Chicken stew (this absolutely had to be made with hens!)
• Dressing made without sage or meat (this was total against my German heritage!)
• Tomato Pie & Candied Sweet Potato (I never knew about these until about 10 years ago!)
• She was the first person I ever saw cook a Lobster
• Tomato Aspic & Pressed Chicken & Home-made Mayonnaise (apparently this was de rigueur for bridge club parties in the 60s!

Mama Lucy snuck out on us Friday afternoon. You know the Big Feast that Jesus says awaits us all in heaven? Well, she’s helping make the biscuits for it right now.  She taught me a lot, and I’m going to miss her.

Locavore Lutherans and St. Peter's Picnic Plate

Over a year ago I saw a post by Bill Smith about Crook's Corner Picnic Plate.  Bill serves his up to folks in the heat of summer. It's all cold, and it's not uncommon for him to sell out every plate available.  I thought it one of the smartest things I've seen in the food & beverage bidness, and ever since then, I've wanted to try it for a Youth Fund Raiser at St. Peter's.  Well, Sunday I got my chance.

For the last 4 years, we've pretty much averaged right at 100 plates served for fundraiser meals served right after church.  We also have a meal before the Wednesday service that's usually about 30-40 people. My plan was to cook enough for 150.  We'd feed about 100 folks and have enough leftovers for Wednesday night.  I also wanted the kids to do a lot of the cooking themselves, since they really seem to love doing it, (and we have a blast with them in the kitchen!) This past Saturday we had about 20 of the Youth in the kitchen preparing the food. They did a great job.  It's always fun teaching them how to make biscuits or slice a watermelon.  They have such enthusiasm! We're very proud of them.

I'm also very proud that most of the menu featured local items, so please forgive me for possibly being the first one to coin the phrase:  Locavore Lutherans!

Buttermilk Fried Chicken Tenders

(Columbia Farms, Saluda County Hickory Hill Buttermilk, Adluh Flour)

Country Ham on Buttermilk Biscuits

(Saluda County Hickory Hill Buttermilk, Adluh Flour, Clifty Farms Ham from Tennessee)

Deviled Eggs

(Kershaw County Eggs, Dukes Mayo, Lexington County Chives)

Hallelujah Potato Salad

(Bell Peppers & Purple Onions from Gilbert SC, Jalapeños from Tommy Stone in Lexington, Kershaw County Eggs)

Home-made Green Tomato Pickles

(The Youth made these a couple of weeks ago with tomatoes from the slopes of Mt. Pisgah, near Waynesville, NC.)

Sliced Tomatoes
(SC State Farmers Market)

Watermelon Wedges

(Barnwell Country)

Chocalate Eclairs

(Kershaw County Eggs, Adluh flour)

Alice made the éclairs in stages throughout last week, and finished them off Saturday morning.  I wrap cooked the hams on Thursday, so all we had to there was slice them up. The only thing we did on Sunday morning was put the biscuits together and plate everything up. The service was over a little before noon.  By 12:25, we were sold out:  153 plates for over $1100.  Whooo Boy!!! The Youth were great! The congregation showed great support, as always!  Thanks folks!!!

From the Sea to the Mountains and Home again

We started off the first part of the month with Labor Day at Surfside, continuing our okra endeavors by creating Donald Link's Chicken and Andouille Gumbo.  I actually had some Andouille from Cochon Butcher Shop in the freezer, so it was almost like he was there with us.  Well, not really....  Anyway, it calls for 6 different kinds of pepper, but I cut that back to 4, and it was plenty hot enough!

We found a recipe in a Southern Living for a overnight soaked french toast that is baked.  Lately Alice has been making some artisanal french bread, and it is dense and very crusty. It turned out very well. It's got a moderately gooey praline topping, that I made with bourbon, because we didn't have vanilla.  Hey, September is Bourbon Heritage Month, so that worked out well, don't you think?

Speaking of Bourbon, Arnold Palmer came by, and I introduced him to W.L. Weller. We sat on the porch a while and looked at the Labor Day Weekend crowd on the beach.

The next weekend we went up to Lake Junaluska, near Waynesville. The house we stay at has great porch that looks out over the lake. It's perfect for picking out pecans,  so we wound up making more of Praline French Toast! Rambling up Highway 276 towards Mt. Pisgah, we came accross the local farmers market and scored a good deal on a new(to us) kind of apple.  A Peppin Fall apple is a large apple,  almost but not quiet as tart as a Granny Smith. We also got some fresh mozarella, and some acorn squash. That part of the wold is the world headquarters of  Sunburst Trout, so we brought back a small cooler full of beautiful  fillets.  Although you can get these at a few grocery stores in South Carolina,  its a dollar a pound cheaper up there You really should use a minimalist approach to Sunburst Trout.  Just a little bit of lemon juice & some mild seasoning. It's reminds you very much of salmon!

Last weekend we celebrated Alice's birthday.  Instead of a birthday cake, we had been talking about making a Croquembouche, but you have to use carmel candy for that, and the weather didn't look too promising for candy making.  Being the pragmatists that we are, we* went ahead with the pastry production, but turned them into cream puffs (vanilla & coffee flavored).  They were very good. So good, in fact, Alice is now modifying the recipe into eclairs.  More on that later. We also learned that they freeze very well, but you should NOT try to eat a frozen cream puff.  Really, trust me on this.

*When I say "we", read Alice.

For breakfast? Why, its OKRA!

Mama Glenda and Big Phil now have access to some fantastic OKRA. We have a standing order for 5 pounds any time they are coming this way. We are putting it up by blanching it for two minutes, dropping it in ice water to cool it off, then draining it well and truly.  We spread it out on a large cookie sheet, then place it in the freezer for a couple of hours or more. After it is frozen, we quickly bag it up in quart ziplock baggies, and back in the freezer they go. One large cookie sheet equals three bags, which are about a pound in each.  

The frozen okra chops up really easy for gumbo or Okra & Tomatoes, which we eat over rice.  It's a wonderful dish for the dead of winter.  With some cornbread or biscuits to kind of sop up the juices!


Our favorite way with okra is very simple.  Place a layer of okra in a pan with a top.  Add water so you've got about a quarter of an inch.  Sprinkle with  a little salt & pepper, and add a half of a jalepeno if you're into that, which we are. You need to add just a little oil or butter, say about  half  teaspoon for a large frying pan. You turn the heat on high and watch for it to boil. As soon as it boils good,  put the top on, turn the heat off and set the timer for 10 minutes. That's it, you're done. Serve immediately!  It cooks enough so that it is not crunchy, but it doesn't get slimy.  The Jalepeno kind of infuses through the okra, and oil helps keep it green and pretty. We love it this way!

Last Saturday morning I served this beside a couple of slices of NC tomatoes & a big dollop of steel-cut oats. Twas delicious!  Really, you should try it!

Fruits of the Season (with a side of Beets)

It started in early June really; we got a box of beets from Catherine Porth, thinking to make about 20 quarts of pickled beets. 

We  wound up with closer to 30, and still had enough beets to try perfecting a salad we sampled at AFWF.  It's got a little vinegar and oil, some yogurt, hazel nuts and micro greens. We've got the beet part down, but haven't yet gotten the hazelnuts candied to our satisfaction.

Then came the expedition to Callaham’s Orchard for blackberries and a few peaches. But it wasn't until around 4th of July the peaches really became plentiful in Lexington county. This year they are truly phenomenal.  We found a place out on Highway 1 near Gilbert that's been giving us great deals. We've frozen about 2 bushels at least, and lately Alice has been dehydrating them. In addition to just eatin' on them, we've made Bill Smith's Green Peach Salad, and his Peach Soup, Peach Cobbler, and a killer relish made with peaches, avocados and peppers.  

Alice and Catherine have also been picking blueberries. So far we've frozen about 4 gallons, made Blueberry Sorbet, a peach and blueberry cobbler and eaten them plain.  

One thing we hadn't really planned on was Pear Apples.  A couple of weeks ago we got almost a bushel from the tree at Mama Glenda's.  The bigger ones are the size of tennis balls, and if you let them sit for while, they are almost, but not quiet, like a Bartlett pear. They are too watery to do anything else with except eat, though we have frozen some to use later in smoothies, and maybe Sheri's Pear Soup.

Last spring I found out that Callaham's Orchard has nectarines.  As I have never, to my knowledge, eaten a SC Nectarine,  I got Suzanne to let me know when they would be coming in. Mama Glenda and Big Phil went by last Saturday: they brought down two huge boxes Andy Callaham had picked that morning. They are wonderful.  We have frozen them, made Ginger-Nectarine Preserves, Pickled Nectarines with Bourbon, and used them in along with the peaches in Green Peach Salad. And of course we’ve eaten them plain. Really, you all should go NOW and get some!

Yeah, Yeah, this post is too long I know. Sorry. I'll do better.  Next time:  Rumptopf?