Friday, April 23, 2010

old times here......a must read.




From Regina Charboneau, writing in THE ATLANTIC :



Like I have said before, I wish I had been more on top of things while in Winder. A little bit hard to be a detached anthropologist/blogger when it is your own Dad. But, I would have liked more food posts to have come out of it. Not that, as Ms. Charboneau states, there are not just volumes and tomes written about Southern funeral food.
But since I live in a place, where my next door neighbor died and we did not know it for three months - in my defense, it was Winter, and it is not odd to not see folks for the duration of the ice and snow- the age old ceremonies of a small Southern town were a blessing .


Pork Grillades and Grits


3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Creole seasoning, divided
1 pound lean breakfast pork cutlets, trimmed
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup finely diced onion
1 cup finely diced celery
1/2 cup finely diced green bell pepper
1 (14.5-oz.) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes
1 (14-oz.) can low-sodium fat-free chicken broth
Creamy Grits

1. Combine flour and 1/2 tsp. Creole seasoning in a shallow dish. Dredge pork in flour mixture.

2. Cook pork, in 2 batches, in 1/2 tsp. hot oil per batch in a large skillet over medium-high heat 2 minutes on each side or until done. Remove from skillet, and keep warm.

3. Add remaining 1tsp. oil to skillet. Sauté diced onion, celery, and bell pepper in hot oil 3 to 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in remaining 1/2 tsp. Creole seasoning. Stir in diced tomatoes and chicken broth, and cook 2 minutes, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet. Simmer 15 to 18 minutes or until liquid reduces to about 2 Tbsp. Serve tomato mixture over Creamy Grits and pork.

This is from Southern Living, they link to a creamy grits recipe that just brings tears to the baby Jesus' eyes so here is mine:




Yall know I cant get real grits up here - there is even the debate among a lot of Southerners as to what REAL grits even are. I mean, I know some very proud mountain folk citizens of Dunwoody, who are just fine with instant grits ( see above: tears of the baby Jesus )
This is a great product, just go to the Goya section of any grocery store.

ONE Cup of these grits
FOUR cups of liquid
salt - a gracious plenty

Here is where things get dicey. What kind of mood are you in? For these savory grits and grillades, I would use 2 cups chicken stock to two cups of whole milk, maybe half and half. Christmas morning at your house and everyone is all festive, don't be afraid to use four cups of heavy cream... you only live once. All water? Only if you really have too, and then, don't kid yourself with the health part, you know you will put half a stick of butter on them to get some flavor. Two parts Chicken Stock, One milk, One Spicy V-8 ? Tailgate grits. Really, almost anything.

This one sounds YUMMY as well :

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