Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Guest Recipe Post - The Southern Spread


Hey y'all, meet my twin sister Alaine. She made one humdinger of a meal at our parents' yesterday, and kindly sent me the recipes after I photographed her yummy dishes. (All comments and instructions hers.) :D

And, no, the title of today's post does not refer to the size of my bahonkus, but to the completely satisfying nature of the meal she put on the table. Ha!






ALAINE’S Git It Greens-n-Grits

(Oh go on and read it, **yankees, ‘stead of sayin’, “Ewwwwwwww.”)

1 1/3 cup instant grits
1 tsp. salt
Tabasco (Google it)
Tony Chachere’s (Google it)
Garlic powder
(Yes, spices are most important to those of us who actually cook GOOD food, rather than just boilin’ it without a grain of salt--that’s yankee food. I’m tryin’ to educate y’all on the philosophy of Southern cookin’ so y’all actually git it.)
1 egg
1 stick butter
6-12 slices smoked bacon
1 ½ cup cooked greens (Collards, mustard greens, etc.--yankees can substitute spinach, if y’all promise to cook them right, ie: cook down with salt meat, tasso, or pig tails.)
1/2 cup half and half
1 ½ - 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (No, brie or gouda won’t work—only cheddar, preferably sharp.)

*Grease your casserole dish (Rub with a stick of soft butter, or if you insist, spray with Pam.)
*Cook bacon in microwave, set aside. Squish liquid out of leftover greens, set aside. Git all other ingredients ready—grits cook quick!
*Cook grits (5 cups salted water, a splat of butter, stir constantly). Add cream. When starts to thicken, add egg in and whisk like hell til it intergrates into grits.
*Add cheese and half of crumbled bacon.
*Add 4 shakes of Tony’s, 4 shakes Tabasco, garlic powder, and salt-pepper to taste (ie: more than 4 grains). (If you’re Southern, you know what to do.). Stir til smooth and creamy.
*Pour into dish. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Arrange rest of bacon on top. Cover. If not serving right away, bake at 350° (preheated) til cheese melted, uncovered, ‘bout 13 minutes.

** “yankee” means all y’all people up in the cold dayum north, all y’all ‘coasters’ livin’ on a coast other than the Southern one, and the rest a y’all in the middle states. And yes, only Southern is capitalized.)





Welcome Back Fall Ham

2-3 lb. pork shoulder hickory smoked Cook's picnic ham 
½ cup brown sugar
1 small jar green maraschino cherries (red seems too summery)
1 can pineapple chunks
½ can of Coke (Not Pepsi. Coke.)
Wooden toothpicks

*Place ham in deep Magnalite pot with lid. Preheat oven to 375°.
*Drain cherries, drain pineapple and add that juice to pot, plus Coke.
*Spear a cherry and a p-chunk and stick into ham.
*Sprinkle ham and pineapple with brown sugar and a little salt to cut all the sweet.
*Bake 22 minutes/pound covered.
*Place ham on platter and serve warm. (Cold with lotsa mustard for sammiches next day.)

Butter Peas

2 cans of sweet peas
2 TBS butter
Granulated garlic powder
Add sm. can mushroom w/stems (optional).

*Add butter and garlic to peas, heat, serve.

Biscuits

*Serve straight from oven with butter. (Yes, yankees, biscuits go with any meal. So does cornbread. Use whatever mix or canned biscuits you want. Southerners have their own family recipes. And we don’t share ‘em.)

 
The Big Easy Blackberry Cobbler

4 TBS butter, melted
2/3 cup milk
1 package Louisiana Fish Fry cobbler mix (Correct. It does say ‘fish fry’.)
1 16 oz. can fruit or pie filling (blackberry or peach is best)

*Preheat oven to 375° (put in oven with ham).
*Pour the melted butter into a 9 X 9 baking dish.
*Add mix and milk to a bowl, stir until smooth.
*Spoon ¾ of the cobbler mixture into dish.
*Add fruit on top, then the remaining cobbler mixture.
*Bake 40-45 min. until golden brown.


(Best served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.)





***Enjoy, and have a good day now, ya hear? alainedb@cox.net***





32 comments:

Eileen Astels Watson said...

Oh, wow, that does look scrumptious and sounds it to by the ingredients. All of them! Hubby loves ham and ice cream. I love Cobbler. SO the dessert would be a hit with us both.

Everyday Goddess said...

Ok, butter, bacon, cheese and spicy? This in one Yankee who ain't sayin' ewwww!

Pass that Cobbler over here NOW!

Donna M. Kohlstrom said...

Hubby and I read through the recipes. He had to translate some of the ingredients and procedures to me as I am Yankee (Massachusetts through and through and proud of it!)LOL!

Hubby, from Mississippi, wants to know when y'all can either marry him or adopt him or at least send food!!

Angie Ledbetter said...

Eileen - There ya go. A perfect marriage of flavors. :) I like your new ID photo!

OMG - It's on its way to you via the mail. LOL

Donna - mmmmmmm, and it was as good as it looks in the pictures! :) I don't think your poor hubby could handle TWO of us! But we could send him some food. Shoot, wait, he can cook all dat hisself! hehe

Jessica Nelson said...

I'm jealous! Please, please come to my house. :-)

Anonymous said...

Mmmm. I love greens! And I'm a Yankee. (Shhh. Don't tell anyone down here.)

Seriously, thank you for what you said on my blog. You gave me a huge smile. And thanks so much for the link! I've added you to my following list and will be adding a formal link.

♥ Braja said...

Greens n Grits (minus the bacon:) and the cobbler.... holy cow, a vegetarian's delight :)))) You're makin' me kinda miffed that you didn't INVITE ME.

:)

Pseudo said...

I'm in. You are making want all of this at 5:30 AM....

Kathryn Magendie said...

OMG laughing - and I just mentioned on my blog about how in the South, Ham is not Pork *laughing* ...
poor poor petal puss - and not PP Romulus and Remus - LAUGHING-the other petal puss!

Marguerite said...

Woweee, what a fabulous spread! You Cajun girls sure know how to cook! :)
Cest bon, sha!

Analisa said...

Grits,bacon and cheese and greens? Must admit that is a new one but looks like a great comfort food. I might add a little bit of onion. LOL

This yankee is in!!!!

Tere Kirkland said...

OMG, I want those bacon cheese grits so bad right now.

Who dat say dey don' like no grits? Lord-have-mercy!

Deb Shucka said...

Well, Angie, your sister is at least as funny as you are. I don't usually snort my coffee reading recipes. Red seems to summery? I'm not sure about the menu, but I loved reading this post. :-)

Deb said...

Mmm that's one yummy lookin' spread! I love peas and ham. Is it really true that ham is pork?! :D

My hubs would be so in there for biscuits and cornbread every meal.
He thinks gravy is a food group though, so I'd have to smother the biscuits... :)

Sugar Creek Beads said...

Oh wow, right up my alley. This Mississippi southern girl is going to have those Grits n' Greens within the next couple of days! I will of course use collards. My favorite greens. Collards cooked with ham hocks and cornbread and I am in heaven. Jeanne

Elizabeth Bradley said...

Oh man, I'm making those greens and grits. My step-mother was from Tennessee so I'm familiar with grits, which became a four syllable word outa her very-Southern mouth.

Suldog said...

Looks like a damn fine spread (and, no, I'm not talking about part of YOU, either!) I'd have to skip the peas, though. Yuck.

And Yankees Suck!

(We ARE talking about the New York Yankees, right?)

Karen said...

Yummmmoooo, I have to try those grits. So far my fav grit recipe has cheese and garlic with a splash of Tobasco. Thanks for new recipes. Tell your twin she can cook for me anytime.

Anonymous said...

I just found your blog. I love it. Yes, I am a yankee from Missouri. I wish that I was a Southerner! I love to read any thing about your part of the country. Southern Living is my favorite magazine. Does that count for anything? Sandy

Dorraine said...

I'm gettin' fat just looking at these pictures. Man, you guys do some good eating in Louisiana!

Oh, the grits look fab. Everything does. I shall try several for the upcoming Thanksgiving feast. Thanks, Angie!

JKS said...

Sounds like y'all are harborin' some hateful grudge against us Yankees ;-)

There's a reason for the phrase "as dull as unbuttered grits." Your recipe sounds about as undull as it gets!

Michelle said...

That meal looks heavenly!

Angie, I can't remember... do you know about Blogblast for Peace day? It's Nov 5th and last year we had hundreds of bloggers participating. I hope you'll be joining us and adding your name to the list. :-)

http://crows-feet.blogspot.com/2009/10/peace-globe-day-countdown.html

Unknown said...

OMG! From one Cajun Girl to the next, you rock baby! Thanks for using our product in your recipe! We love shout outs from our fans!

Keep teaching them,
Cindy Adams-Ardoin
Food Scientist
Tony Chachere's

Jeanette Levellie said...

Oh my. Oh wow. I should have such a sister, or do you say sistah?

She's sure to be the cook for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in Heaven...

The Unbreakable Child said...

Oh, just yummy all the way around.... Thank you Angies, beautiful twin!!!
x0

Hilary said...

Droool! I see that you two share the cooking genes. :)

Anonymous said...

Blackberries rule. The rest of the meal is straight from the heart and kitchen. Good memories there.
Oren

Michelle H. said...

Wow! That's a big spread. (Sorry, looking at my backside in the mirror.) This looks tasty, but I agree with Suldog. I'm not a pea fan.

Oh, the commentary was hilarious!

Amie said...

I'm a Yankee who knows what Tabasco and Tony Chachere's are . . . and I don't like grits, but I would sure as hell eat that dish . . .

Diane said...

I have never even heard of a bunch of those ingrediants. Probably too daring for me! :O)

Angie Ledbetter said...

THANKS FOR ALL THE GREAT COMMENTS. ALAINE'S ALL AGLOW ABOUT THE FAVORABLE REVIEWS...EVEN, AND ESPECIALLY, FROM THE "YANKEES." :)

Anonymous said...
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