Category Archives: veggies

May 13, 2013

Corn dip

Corn Dip

There are certain rules about funeral food, some of which I prepared this weekend for the family of my friend and P.E.O. sister, Julie Peacock, may she rest in peace.

If you are preparing food for a reception, then naturally you will want to use your silver platters. You do have silver platters, don’t you? Really, there is no substitute. However, if you somehow missed receiving silver platters as wedding gifts (and if you didn’t I would rethink the guest list) you may substitute glass platters. Clear glass platters. No tinted glass, please.

If, however, you are taking food to the family, the opposite applies. Plastic and/or aluminum foil is preferable. You do not want the family to have to think for even a second about whose platter belongs to who and about having to wash it before returning it. As you can see from the photo, I delivered my corn dip to the family in an aluminum foil pot pie dish. That would be extremely tacky at a funeral reception, but appreciated in a home setting.

The progression of funeral food is also important. If the family has been in mourning for several days and has already had more cheese straws and chicken salad sandwiches than they can stomach, think a little outside the box. But think comforting. So, in this case, I thought corn dip.

Corn dip is a Southern thing. If corn is in season, use it fresh off the cob. If it’s not, canned shoe peg corn is acceptable. Basically, as in all Southern recipes, we take something healthy and turn it into something that is decidedly not. That is our way. Serve this with Frito’s Scoops so you get a precious plenty of dip to every chip.

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Corn dip
Author: 
Recipe type: Appetizer
Cuisine: Southern
Prep time: 
Total time: 

Serves: –
 

Corn dip will make you happy.
Ingredients
  • One 15-ounce can white shoe peg corn
  • 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced and including some of the green part
  • ½ cup mayonnaise
  • ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
  • ½ cup shredded Cheddar cheesed

Instructions
  1. Drain the corn and combine the remaining ingredients in a bowl. If the dip looks too dry, add a little more mayonnaise.

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April 24, 2013

Sausage and blue potato hash

Christo

You are wondering what this man has to do with sausage and blue potato hash. I’ll get to that.

This is my friend, Christo. When the Char-Broil All Stars first got together in 2012, I had a few reservations. In the South, we are all about hugging someone five minutes after we meet them. I sensed Christo wasn’t a hugger, although I have been proven wrong about that. We were about as different as two people can be. He was born and raised in New Mexico and has been a professional chef in Manhattan for many years. I was not born in the South, but I got here as quick as I could and have stood my ground ever since. Manhattan people are not about frivolous pleasantries. They do not make eye contact with strangers on the sidewalk, smile and say hello. Southern people not only do all those things, we wave at strangers in passing cars. We do not find this out of the ordinary.

But I will tell you when Christo and I made a lasting connection. He probably doesn’t even remember this, but I shared food with him. We were seated next to each other at the closing dinner and he made the mistake of ordering Brunswick Stew. Now, I am proud of him for ordering something so completely Southern, but Brunswick Stew is a giant bore. I felt sorry for him and offered him some of my seared trout with warm potato salad, kale and roasted red pepper sauce.  Sharing food brings a bond and, in this case, one that has grown over the last year.

He sent me Hatch chiles from New Mexico. I sent him country ham and Goo-Goo Clusters. One day, we were talking on Facebook and I asked about the numerous photos he posts using blue potatoes. The ones we get here are tiny nubbins of blandness.  I will not say there are many things in the North that are superior to the South, but blue potatoes are one of them. He gets them about the size of small baking potatoes.

So months pass and last week the All Stars got together in Atlantic Beach. And Christo walks up to me and hands me a heavy black plastic bag. Full of blue potatoes. He had packed them in his luggage. And I wondered when I packed my bag if the TSA people would wonder why I had a bag of blue potatoes in my luggage. No matter. Now you know why I am gifting you with a recipe for sausage and blue potato hash. Obviously, you can make this with Yukon Golds, but the symbolism will be completely lost.

Print
Sausage and blue potato hash
Author: 
Recipe type: Easy suppers
Cuisine: Southern
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 2
 

Who doesn’t love hash? This comes together in a heartbeat. Just add some crusty bread and a glass of wine.
Ingredients
  • 2 links hot Italian sausage, casings removed, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 2 cups purple potatoes, diced in ½-inch cubes
  • ½ cup diced green pepper
  • ½ cup diced yellow onion
  • 1 teaspoon BBQ or taco seasoning
  • ⅓ cup smoked sun-dried tomatoes, cut into thin strips
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • ⅓ cup chopped parsley

Instructions
  1. Add the sausage to a large sauté pan and cook over medium high heat until the sausage is browned and cooked through. Reserve.
  2. Add the potatoes to the remaining sausage grease and fry over medium heat until they begin to soften. Add the green pepper, onion and seasoning and continue to cook until the vegetables are tender and well browned.
  3. Add the tomatoes and butter. Stir until the butter is melted and well distributed. Remove from the heat and add the parsley.

Sausage and blue potato hash

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April 1, 2013

Grilled Carrots with Jack Daniels Glaze

Char-Broil Glazed Grilled CarrotsThe Easter Bunny has come and gone. Did you give him carrots? With Jack Daniels glaze? Did he linger a bit longer than usual? Did he eye your guest room with more than a little lust? That dang Easter Bunny. Such a sucker for Jack Daniels.

Carrots are still in season, even if the Easter Bunny has retreated off to his rabbit hole to nurse a hangover. Hop on over to the Char-Broil Live site for the recipe. If you leave a comment, I’ll intercede with the Bunny and make sure he’s not banging on your screen door at midnight tonight for another bunch of glazed carrots.

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March 28, 2013

Kale, mushroom and cheese bread pudding

Kale, mushroom and cheese bread pudding

Four more meals. Four more vegetarian meals. And I will have made it 40 days as a part-time vegetarian. Why this was so hard, I do not know. But temptation has been everywhere for me.

Yesterday I almost fell off the meatless bandwagon. Noah is home on Spring Break and was craving lox and cream cheese on a bagel. Me, too. I bought the ingredients and watched him make the sandwich. I actually leaned down to smell that wonderful aroma of smoked salmon. And then I had a glass of wine.

But I have to say I was not tempted by meat last night when I made this bread pudding. It is super simple and super delicious. I had to laugh at King Daddy, though. He had a heaping plate of it with three slices of toasted bread on the side. Bread with your bread pudding?

Usually, I give up hamburgers for Lent. I love hamburgers, Love, love, love them. But it’s not as hard because I’m not giving up a whole huge category of food. But just four more meals and I know what I’m having tomorrow night. I’ve tried to keep it relatively healthy on the vegetarian front but I’m going to indulge in a precious plenty of the blue box, the holy grail of processed food – Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. I do not follow the package instructions. I make it even more unhealthy. After boiling the macaroni I add in way more butter than the instructions call for and then the cheese powder. After I mix it up I add just enough milk to create a thick, cheesy sauce. I’ll snap a photo of it for you. But I won’t share.

Kale, Mushroom and Cheese Bread Pudding

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 bunch kale

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper

Salt and freshly ground pepper

8 ounces sliced fresh mushrooms

1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced

3 large eggs

1 ½ cups whole milk

8 thin slices ciabatta bread

4 ounces shredded sharp Cheddar

Slice the kale into thin ribbons. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil on medium high heat. Add the kale, crushed red pepper, and salt and pepper to taste. Saute until the kale begins to turn brown. Remove and reserve.

Add the mushrooms and onions and continue cooking until the mushrooms are browned and have given off all their liquid. Combine with the kale.

Beat the eggs and whisk in the milk. Grease a 9-by-9 inch baking dish with olive oil. Lay down four slices of the bread, cutting if need be to form a single layer. Top the bread with half the kale mixture and half the cheese. Repeat one more layer. Pour the egg mixture in the pan and let it sit for about 15 minutes so the bread is thoroughly soaked.

Cover with foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes.

 

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March 22, 2013

Indian vegetable curry

Indian vegetable curryI feel sorry for the People of Vegan Land. It is a dry and dusty place.

My friend, LauraAnn Larson, messaged me the other day after I posted a recipe for Fried Eggs and Vegetable Hash on Facebook and said this: “Man, I wished we lived with you! I bet you’d come up with amazing vegan dishes! We have not.”

The Larsons became vegans for Lent, which lasts for 40 days. Vegans, for those who don’t know, not only give up meat but also dairy. That leaves you with a pitiful selection of rice, beans, tofu and vegetables.  Since there’s no cheese, eggs or milk, basically it takes the fat out of your food. And what is fat? C’mon, you all know this. Fat is flavor.

It occurred to me that in my quest for my own Lenten part-time vegetarian diet, I had inadvertently created a Vegan vegetable curry. It is not dry and dusty. It’s friggin’ delicious. So, LauraAnn, I know Lent is almost over, but here you go.

Indian vegetable curry

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

½ large yellow onion, finely diced

2 large cloves garlic, minced

One 1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced

½ teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon ground turmeric

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 cups vegetable broth

1 13.5-ounce can coconut milk

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 cups cauliflower florets (get these from the salad bar at the grocery store, if you can)

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes

1 cup diced carrots

1 15.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained

1 15.5-ounce can chickpeas, drained

Juice from ½ fresh lime

In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until it begins to brown. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 30 seconds. Add the spices and cook for 30 seconds to toast them. Add the tomato paste and blend well. Continue to cook for about a minute.

Add the broth, coconut milk and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add the cauliflower, sweet potatoes and carrots. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 25 minutes.

Stir in the tomatoes, chickpeas and lime juice. Season to taste with salt.

To thicken the curry, combine 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of cold water in a small bowl. Mix until combined and add to the curry.

Serve over brown rice because you’re just so 1970s.

 

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March 20, 2013

Fried eggs with vegetable hash

Fried eggs with vegetable hashWeek 5 of being a part-time vegetarian during Lent begins. Mark says I am being a big cry baby over this vegetarian thing and I think he is right. My vegetarian days are Wednesday-Friday and every Saturday this Lenten season I have bounded out of bed to make bacon. Then Tuesday night, I spend way too much time thinking of my “last meal” as if I was being led to the gas chamber. Meanwhile, Mark has given up Scotch for Lent, which is a fairly big deal since the man loves his Scotch. And he hasn’t uttered a peep about how deprived he has become.

However, I think I am getting more creative in my vegetarian endeavors. I just want to say thank goodness for eggs. I practically want to go kiss a chicken.  Fried eggs with vegetable hash is mighty tasty as it is, but if you weren’t a vegetarian and you wanted to sprinkle a little crispy bacon over the top I don’t think the world would end.

Fried eggs with vegetable hash

Serves 4

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium zucchini, peeled and coarsely chopped

½ red onion, diced

½ cup orange pepper, diced

1 10-ounce can Rotel diced tomatoes, drained

Salt and pepper

1 teaspoon oregano

Juice of ½ lemon

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

4 eggs

4 slices sturdy farmhouse-style bread

Butter

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a skillet  and add the zucchini and onion. Saute until the vegetables are beginning to brown. Add the orange pepper and continue cooking until the pepper is soft. Add the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add the oregano and lemon juice. Turn the heat to low and simmer for five minutes.  Remove the vegetables from the skillet and reserve.

Wipe the skillet clean and add the vegetable oil over medium high heat. You will want enough oil in the pan so you can baste the eggs. Crack the eggs into the skillet and once the whites have set, tip the skillet slightly and baste the yolks with the oil until they begin to appear opaque. When the eggs are done, season with salt and pepper.

Toast the bread and butter it. To assemble, place the eggs over the toast and top it with the vegetable mixture.

 

 

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March 18, 2013

Roasted cabbage with bacon

Roasted cabbage with bacon

So is it wrong to just pick up a wedge of tender cabbage, the outside leaves slightly charred, and infused with the fatty goodness of bacon and eat it with your hands right from the roasting pan? Oh, oh.

I try to eat in season. And that means cabbage, kale, turnips, carrots and other cold-weather crops from November to April. Definitely, no tomatoes unless they come from a can (where they’re packed in season). As winter comes to a slow, achingly cold and drizzly conclusion, I am ready for a little more variety. But can I leave my beloved cabbage behind? Not when it’s roasted with bacon and drizzled with sherry vinegar. No, I cannot.

Roasted cabbage with bacon

1 medium head cabbage

4 strips of thick-cut bacon

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Sherry vinegar

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Remove the tough outer leaves of the cabbage. Cut the cabbage into quarters and remove the core. Then cut the four quarters into wedges.

Put the wedges on a foil-covered rimmed baking sheet. Dice the bacon and distribute it evenly over the cabbage. Drizzle the cabbage with olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste.

Roast the cabbage for about 20 minutes and check. The cabbage should be tender with brown outer edges and the bacon should be crisp. If the mixture isn’t done yet, check in five minute intervals.

Remove from the oven and drizzle with the vinegar.

 

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March 15, 2013

Eggplant Parmesan

eggplant parmesan,

So yesterday the Hospitality Committee cleaned out the kitchen at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and Wanda brought snacks for everybody. There were luscious looking boiled shrimp with cocktail sauce and some yummy meatballs. But not for me. Because yesterday was one of my vegetarian days during Lent. Oh, I wanted that shrimp, in particular. For me, and I am not trying to appear ungrateful, was the guacamole, egg salad and spinach artichoke dip.

I’m okay with guacamole and partially okay with egg salad (I am not a devotee of the sweet pickle juice almost all Southerners love in their egg salad), but I have to tell you I may be the only person on the planet who does not like spinach artichoke dip. It may be because the actual taste of the spinach and artichoke is completely overtaken by the cream cheese and sour cream. Spinach artichoke dip is on every reception table and I just don’t understand it. Then again, so are cheese straws and I actually heard an interview with a Southern grande dame who does not like them. I can’t understand that either. How can you disparage something that includes cheese and butter? The interview was done by Chef Scott Peacock for the Alabama Project. Take a listen to Dodgie Shaffer’s disdain for them.

But I digress. I made it through the day by running to my beloved Publix for a cheese sandwich. I am beginning to hate cheese sandwiches. Then I came home, and spurred on by my friends who accused me of a lack of creativity during my vegetarian sojourn, made Eggplant Parmesan. It is not creative. But it was yummy and the yearnings for  shrimp and meatballs began to subside.

Eggplant Parmesan

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup minced carrots

½ medium onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1/3 cup red wine

1 25-ounce can crushed tomatoes

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

Salt and pepper to taste

1 medium eggplant

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon milk

1 cup breadcrumbs

12 ounces fresh mozzarella

¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large pan. Add the carrots and sauté for about 10 minutes. Add the onion and sauté until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and cook about 30 seconds. Add the oregano and wine. Cook until the wine reduces by half. Add the tomatoes, paprika and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 30 minutes over low heat.

Peel the eggplant and slice lengthwise into ½-inch strips. Mix the egg with the milk and dip each slice into the egg and then into the breadcrumbs. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet and fry the eggplant in batches until golden brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels.

Slice the mozzarella cheese into thin slices.

To arrange the casserole, start with a layer of one fourth of the tomato sauce, then add ½ the eggplant and a third of the mozzarella and Parmesan. Make one more layer of sauce, eggplant and cheese and top with the remaining tomato sauce and remaining cheeses.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown.

 

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March 11, 2013

Leek and ginger fried rice

ginger fried rice

I am apparently the most pathetic part-time vegetarian ever. All my friends say so.

My buddy, Mary Ann, has been concerned. She has many suggestions for jazzing up my less than inventive vegetarian meals. At church yesterday, Bari Horton stopped me to offer condolences on my sad Facebook photo of dinner last Friday: A baked potato with sour cream. “Did you think of adding some black beans to that?” she asked with more than a little worry in her voice. And my pal, Kim Council, posted this on Facebook: “It appears I need to challenge you a bit. How about Quinoa Stuffed Peppers? Or come on, you can come up with something amazing using Tofu! I know you can. And there is always the use of protein crumbles. Yeah, I know it doesn’t sound like it would be good, but I made Stuffed Pepper Soup with Morning Star Crumbles and it was excellent. Do you need one of my Vegetarian Cookbooks? I want you to make Chickpea and Vegetable Curry. Should I go on?”

No, please don’t. I know I am failing the creativity test here. So with three weeks to go until the end of Lent (which by the way, is all about self-denial and look how good I’m doing!) I will rededicate myself to inventing something fit to eat that doesn’t have meat (oh, look, I made a rhyme!). In the meantime, I’m pulling out a favorite from a few years ago, Mark Bittman’s ginger-fried rice.

I will have my own inspiration shortly. For now, I’m not above stealing a little.

Ginger-fried rice

8 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tablespoons minced garlic

3 tablespoons minced ginger

2 cups sliced leeks

4 cups day-old cooked white rice

1 tablespoon ancho chili powder

2 teaspoons sesame oil

2 teaspoons soy sauce

4 large eggs

Heat 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a small skillet. Add 1 tablespoon each of the garlic and ginger and fry until golden brown. Remove and drain on a paper towel.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil over medium heat in a large skillet and add the remaining garlic and ginger. Saute for about 30 seconds and add the leeks. Continue cooking until the leeks soften. Add the rice, chili powder, sesame oil and soy sauce. Salt and pepper to taste.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in a small skillet. Fry the eggs sunny-side up.

Place the rice on a platter, top with the eggs and sprinkle with the browned ginger and garlic.

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March 3, 2013

Bunny’s broccoli rice casserole

Funeral at Farragut Presbyterian

It is 9:30 at night and Bunny, my mother-in-law who lives in Knoxville, is guiding her buggy down the aisles of the Kroger while talking to me on the phone. She is stocking up on funeral food that she will lovingly prepare as one of the ladies from Farragut Presbyterian Church after services for Ashley Roback, a wife and mother who died of breast cancer at age 30. Bunny is not thinking that her marathon trip to the grocery store is anything special.

“It doesn’t matter what religion you are,” says Bunny as she heads towards the freezer section for some Cool Whip. “It’s what you do.”

So, of course, I asked Bunny to take a picture of the food so I could check out the Presbyterian version of what we Episcopalians think we have cornered the market on – the well-prepared funeral food table. I will be getting to the broccoli rice casserole shortly.

Alrighty then. What do I see? Fruit. Episcopalians are not big on fruit unless there’s a cream cheese dip in the middle of the platter. But it’s healthy so I’ll give the Presbyterians a pass. Deviled eggs. Now you’re talking. A funeral reception is not complete without deviled eggs. Sister Schubert yeast rolls. Always well appreciated. Thousands of Southern women abruptly stopped making homemade yeast rolls as soon as Sister Schubert rolled out her frozen ones. I believe I am spying a sweet potato casserole with browned marshmallows on top. Good call. Nothing more comforting than a sweet potato casserole.

And next? Could it be? It appears to be the coveted broccoli rice casserole. If I’m wrong, don’t correct me. Broccoli rice casserole may be the single best side dish ever because – drum roll! – it’s made with an entire jar of Cheez Whiz.

Bunny started making broccoli rice casserole for her yearly Thanksgiving extravaganza. It was not uncommon for 40-50 people to show up at Bunny’s just to fight their way to the buffet table for this one dish. Every year, I would carefully monitor the broccoli rice casserole pan as guest after guest took a scoopful. When it was about three quarters gone, I would swoop in and fib that there was another one coming right out of the oven. Shameful, I know. But there was no other way to ensure that I would get the leftovers (Bunny, do not judge me). And, of course, I am lying. But I wanted to. The saddest sight in the world is the broccoli rice casserole pan empty with just a few shreds of rice clinging to the sides. Which I would eat with my fingers.

In the midst of tragedy, with a family still foggy with grief, somehow broccoli rice casserole and the other food lovingly prepared by good Christian women brings comfort. It is the familiar in a world suddenly strange and cold. I did not know Ashley, but my heart aches for her husband, children, parents and other family members. And I am fairly certain she looked down from the greatest potluck ever created and said, “Good job. But the broccoli rice casserole here is better.”

Broccoli Rice Casserole

1 10-ounce package frozen chopped broccoli, thawed

½ cup chopped onion

½ cup butter

1 1/3  cups cooked rice

1 8-ounce jar processed cheese spread, such as Cheez Whiz

1 can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted

Combine broccoli and onion. Cook according to package directions. Drain and add remaining ingredients. Stir well.

Pour into a greased 9-by-13 casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

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Tagged as broccoli, casseroles, cheez whiz, cream of mushroom soup, rice, southern cooking