Gouda Grits and Seafood Goodness

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We spent a long weekend down on Wadmalaw Island, just 30 minutes south of Charleston, SC.  The weather couldn’t have been more beautiful, and we ate some good food!  Here are two of the best things we had.  First- the crabs!  I am not actually going to write a recipe for this as we caught fresh crabs, and a lot of them, put them in a pot with some seasoning, and boiled them.  Then we ate them.  I am using “we” rather loosely, as I am allergic to shellfish, but I did help catch the crabs and lived vicariously through everyone else watching them eat, and they are a lot better in pictures than grits (and here is the sunset thrown in as well)!

Next came the grits, which I ate. And ate. And ate.  I am not sure if it has come across yet how much I love cheese.  But I do.  I love it so much!  So Gouda Grits sounded pretty amazing when I ran across the recipe in Southern Living magazine.  I have grown up eating my mother’s amazing cheddar cheese grits, and I have never strayed from that recipe, but this sounded too good to pass up, especially now that I am writing this blog, which gives me an excuse to try just about anything!  Here is the recipe.  The next time I make this, I will cut it in half if not quarters, because it made so much!

Gouda Grits

4 cups chicken broth
1 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 cups uncooked quick-cooking grits
2 cups (8 oz.) shredded Gouda cheese
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup butter
2 teaspoons hot sauce

Preparation

Bring first 4 ingredients and 4 cups water to a boil in a Dutch oven over high heat; whisk in grits, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat, and stir in Gouda and remaining ingredients.

Cracked Pepper and Cheddar Cheese Biscuits

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I am not sure what is better than waking up on a crisp summer morning in the mountains to homemade cracked pepper and cheddar cheese biscuits. I found a wonderful recipe in the Charleston City Paper from Robert F. Moss who has a fantastic blog! We have tweaked it a little bit to add the cracked pepper and cheddar, which so far is my favorite combination, but earlier in the week we tried bacon and cheddar and jalapenos and cheddar, which were also delicious!

Biscuits

2 cups flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t baking soda
1/3 cup of cold butter
3/4 cup of buttermilk
1 tablespoon of cracked pepper
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions

First, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl and mix together.

Next, cut in the butter- it is important to use cold butter. Cover the butter lumps with flour and squeeze them between your fingers to break them down into smaller bits and rub the butter into them. What is left in the bowl looks like broken crumbs.

Stir in the buttermilk and mix up the dough until the liquid is all absorbed by the flour.

At this point, you add the cheese and pepper or whatever combination you choose.

With your hands, knead and shape the dough until all the flour is worked in and the dough is of a single consistency.
It should be still be slightly sticky to the touch, but not so sticky that it clings to your hands and the side of the bowl.

Now you’re ready to roll out the biscuits

Benne Wafers with Blueberries and Cream

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I can’t keep my surfing fingers off of “A Yankee in a Southern Kitchen” – here’s yet another recipe hot off that delicious spot in the bloggosphere:

I think you may agree that benne wafers with blueberries and cream sounds like the most delicious summer treat ever conceived. Also, benne wafers are extremely Southern!

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By Kim Morgan

A “Benne” seed is the old Southern name for “sesame” seeds. They were brought to the Lowcountry in 1769 by African slaves. They are still called Benne seeds to this day in the South, and frankly I would be surprised if that ever changes. It is part of the charm of the South. Southerners hold fast to traditions, refusing to budge, especially when it comes to food and entertaining. This is something we all can be grateful for, especially if you have the chance to try these wonderful buttery morsels.

Legend says that eating Benne seeds will bring you luck and good fortune. I am not one who subscribes to the notion of luck. Instead I prefer to hold to the belief that, “there are no coincidences” and that Benne seeds and the good fortune from eating them, are simply another of God’s great blessings.

There are countless ways to make Benne wafers and you will find that no two recipes are alike…

 

While we’re on the subject: Mississippi Hushpuppies

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I am enamored by Regina Charboneau‘s recipes. Regina Charboneau is the owner of Twin Oaks Bed & Breakfast in Natchez, Mississippi. She is the author of Regina’s Table at Twin Oaks.


Mississippi Hushpuppies

(From Regina’s Food section in The Atlantic)

Here is Regina’s recipe for the treasured Southern dish. You can add what you like (when no one is looking).

• 1½ cups self-rising cornmeal (yellow or white)
• ½ cup self-rising flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon of granulated garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ½ cup (about 1 small) chopped green onion, including the white bottom
• ½ to ¾ cup buttermilk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Using an electric fryer, preheat oil to 350 F.

In a mixing bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, baking soda, and salt, garlic powder, and cayenne. Stir in the green onion. (If you are adding other ingredients like bacon, crawfish or smoked fish, this is where you add them.)

In a small bowl, stir together half a cup of the buttermilk and egg. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until blended. You want the mixture to be stiff enough to roll into a one-inch ball. If the mixture seems too dry add a touch more buttermilk.

Fry until golden brown, turning the hushpuppies during the cooking process.

To read Regina’s account of the hushpuppy’s history, click here. (Hushpuppies: From Civil War to Modern Standby.)

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Cake!

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We have a crush on crumb cake this week, and we always have a crush on rhubarb. Therefore, nothing makes more sense to us today than a recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Cake!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Cake

(borrowed from Diana Rattray: Southern culinary artist and author of the cookbook, “The About.com Guide to Southern Cooking“)

This delicious crumb cake is a great way to use this season’s rhubarb and strawberries. Serve this cake as a coffee cake for brunch or breakfast, as a dessert cake, or take it along to a potluck.

Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:

Filling:

2 cups thinly sliced rhubarb (about 1/2-inch thickness)
1 pint strawberries, cleaned, hulled, and sliced and lightly mashed
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch

Cake:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoons alt
1 stick (4 ounces) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Topping:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
5 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup chopped pecans, optional

Preparation:

Grease and flour a 9-inch springform pan.
Combine the rhubarb, mashed strawberries, lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Combine the 2/3 cup sugar and cornstarch and add to the fruit mixture. Bring to a simmer, stirring. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring, until thickened. Remove from heat and let cool.

Heat oven to 350°.

Combine the 1 1/2 cups flour, soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, beat 1 stick of butter with the 3/4 cup granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and sour cream. Beat in vanilla. Slowly beat in the flour mixture until smooth and blended. Spread in the prepared pan.

Spoon cooled filling mixture over the cake batter.

Combine the 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, 5 tablespoons melted butter, and chopped pecans, if using. Mix well and sprinkle evenly over the filling layer.

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the cake is firm and topping is lightly browned.

Some Southern Wisdom: Cake for Breakfast

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From a graceful little blog called A Southern Grace, comes a tasty recipe for Crumb Cake. This is the kind of cake you have for breakfast when you’re feeling like cake for breakfast is exactly the perfect thing (and we think it often is.)

Crumby Crumb Cake

(based on this recipe, which is based on this recipe – but all our credit goes to Grace from A Southern Grace for this one.)

Crumbs:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Cake:
1/3 cup vanilla yogurt, low fat
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.
To make the crumbs, in a large bowl, stir together the sugars, cinnamon, salt and butter until smooth. Stir in the flour with a spatula. It should look like a solid dough. Pat it down and set it aside.
To prepare the cake, in a small bowl, stir together the yogurt, eggs, and vanilla. In a larger bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the softened butter and a spoonful of the yogurt mixture and mix until flour is moistened. Add the remaining yogurt mixture in two batches, beating after each addition and scraping down the sides of bowl with a spatula. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the blueberries over the batter. Using your fingers, break the topping mixture into big crumbs, about 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch in size. Sprinkle the lovely crumbs over the blueberries. Bake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean of batter, 45 to 55 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

Another bite of biscuit heaven…

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“Grazing is a state of being in the South. In fact, many of our community cookbooks from the twentieth century are front-heavy, with so many more hors d’oeuvre and finger-food recipes than main courses (or even desserts) that it makes you wonder why we even bother with the rest of the meal.  It’s actually plain good sense: as any southerner knows, a dizzying array of nibbles in view when your guests arrive is the utmost gesture of hospitality.”

— The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook (Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-be Southerners)

Alrighty folks, I know that I say everything I post on here looks irresistibly scrumptious, but really, can this delectible concept be beaten? Spicy! Sweet! Salty! Enjoy! (And if you follow this recipe we want to hear from you how it turned out. And then we want you to FedEx us some.)

Buttermilk Biscuits with Kentucky Ham, Molasses Butter & Creole Chile Jam
(From Convivial.org)

One of my favorite Southern appetizers is a ham biscuit — Kentucky smoked ham on a buttermilk biscuit — it’s that simple.  However, because it’s only two things put together, the biscuits better be great and the ham even better.

A real, aged country ham is remarkably different in flavor and texture from a mass-produced ham.  An authentic country ham is considered the South’s prosciutto — it’s smoky, wild, gamy and salty.

Col. Bill Newsom’s Kentucky hams are hand-cured (nitrate & nitrite free) using a 200 year old family method, slow-smoked over hickory, and hung for several months to age.  This traditional, painstakingly long process is becoming a lost art.  Not mass-produced or distributed wholesale, these artisan hams are handled only 18 times before arriving at your door with a numbered certificate.   Foodies everywhere are grateful to Nancy Newsom Mahaffey (aka, the Ham Lady) for continuing her grandfather’s tradition.

Dryness tends to be a problem with just ham on biscuits, especially if they sit for any length of time…

For the complete article and the recipe (!) please click here.

Southern Food Primer

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If you’re into southern baking enough to be here on this blog, odds are you may not need a primer on southern food, but just in case you want one anyway the good folks over at Southern Foodways have one all wrapped up for you:

Southern Food Primer

John Egerton writes, “Within the South itself, no other form of cultural expression, not even music, is as distinctly characteristic of the region as the spreading of a feast of native food and drink before a gathering of kin and friends.  For as long as there has been a South, and people who think of themselves as Southerners, food has been central to the region’s image, its personality, and its character.” – Southern Food

Need a primer on Southern Food?  Here ya go.  Download as a .pdf.  Or scroll through this page to read the full text online.

(It’s really worth a read, go ahead, click.)

The Southern Food & Beverage Museum

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Well, you knew there had to be a southern food museum somewhere, and there is! A great one!

Celebrate the food culture of the South by checking out The Southern Food & Beverage Museum online, or by visiting them in person in New Orleans!

The Southern Food and Beverage Museum is a nonprofit living history organization dedicated to the discovery, understanding and celebration of the food, drink and the related culture of the South.

…Not only are these guys collecting menus from every restaurant throughout the South and Southern-inspired restaurants everywhere in the world, they also create cool exhibits. Their newest exhibit, SPOILED by Tom Varisco, chronicles the tales that refrigerators told in the post-Hurricane Katrina clean-up.

Speaking of clean-ups, there is a great post at Southern Foodways on how the recent oil spill has effected the lives of folks who make their living on the water. Read it here.

Southern Foodways Goes Whole Hog

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“Southern baking is not only a way of survival: it is an expression of love, empathy, and celebration. Food brings families together at mealtime, celebrates the gathering of communities at traditional “dinner on the grounds,” consoles friends when a loved one dies, and offers topic for conversation at holidays. It represents the resourcefulness and ties that bind southern families and communities together…”

Therefore, it makes sense that these traditions should be preserved for future generations…

The Center for Public History and The Southern Foodways Alliance have completed an oral history project exploring Southern baking traditions. They have conducted over thirty interviews, created a traveling exhibit, and conducted a number of public programs at their exhibit locations, finely tuned for the special audiences in their community.

Please enjoy exploring their diligent work at The Center for Public History, University of West Georgia (View the on-line exhibit here.)

…And for hours of incredible education and entertainment, check out the The Southern Foodways Alliance‘s “Potlikker” documentary films online, here. With titles like “Whole Hog” and “Hot Chicken” you know can’t go wrong with these films!