Sick Days

Arghh! This is when you need takeout the most, but I have resisted the temptation. Over the past few days, none of us have felt great. You know the kind of sick where even your taste buds feel groggy? By dinner time, I definitely haven't had the energy to cook. The Chicken & Dumpling leftovers were a great option Monday night. They tasted just as good the second day. Tuesday night and tonight, we've been scraping the bottom of the barrel (or freezer as it is in our case). Tomorrow night the range will fire up again ... or at least I hope. Stay tuned ...

Day 15: Chicken and Dumplings

Half way there! It's day 15, and I had big plans to make this awesome fish dish tonight. Unfortunately, we're all a little under the weather fighting off a cold. Instead of Halibut, I opted for a classic comfort food dish, Chicken and Dumplings. I used to love when my mom made Chicken and Dumplings. It was one of my favorites. Of course, she made her dumplings from scratch. I could eat a whole bowl of just dumplings. I loved them so much, and still do. About nine years ago, I discovered this quick and easy chicken and dumplings dish. It smells and tastes so good. Prep and cook time is less than 30 minutes.

Quick and Easy Chicken and Dumplings

Grocery List:

• 1 rotisserie chicken
• 1 can of refrigerated biscuits (not the flaky-layer kind, just plain buttermilk biscuits)
• 1 can of reduced-fat cream of chicken soup
• 1 32 oz. box of reduced-sodium organic chicken broth
• Herbs de Provence
• Pepper to taste

Directions:

• Pick all chicken (dark and white pieces) off bones.
• Shred chicken into bite sized pieces.
• Cut individual biscuits into eighths (they will be small triangle size pieces).
• In a stock pot, combine both soups, 1/4 tsp fresh cracked pepper, and 1 tsp Herbs de Provence over high heat.
• Stir often until soups have combined and bring to a boil.
• Add shredded chicken to soup.
• While soup is boiling, drop in cut biscuits.
• Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
• Stir often to keep biscuits from sticking.
• Biscuits will expand and float to the top. Biscuits are done when they sink from the surface.

Enjoy!

Serve with a fresh garden salad.

Day 14: Filet Mignon with Barolo Sauce

Saturday night we created our own steak house dinner. My husband makes the best steaks. He learned from the best because his dad cooks great steaks too. They always know exactly when to pull them from the grill but both will inevitably come in saying, "these are overdone." When we cut into them, they are always perfect. We jokingly call them both the "Sauce Men." Whether it's the natural au jus from the beef or a sauce they've put together on the side, they both like to spoon a little on top of the filet before serving. Tonight, we made a Barolo sauce. Here's the recipe:

Barolo Sauce:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 4 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp heavy cream
• 1/2 cup beef stock
• 1 cup Barolo wine or a full-bodied red wine
• 1 carton of sliced mushrooms

In a saucepan, add olive oil and Worcestershire Sauce and mushrooms. Saute over medium heat until mushrooms have absorbed liquid and start to reduce in size. Add beef stock and red wine and bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat. Add butter and cream, stirring constantly for a minute or so while bringing sauce back to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer while steaks are on the grill. Sauce will thicken and should be a deep burgundy color.

Let beef filets rest for 5 to 10 minutes after bringing them in from the grill. Spoon Barolo sauce with mushrooms over beef filets. Serve and enjoy!

We served the filets with baked sweet potatoes, sauteed broccolini and a classic blue cheese wedge salad.

Day 13: Chicken Soft Tacos and Guacamole Salad

The Crock Pot is coming back out today. This weekend, I was catching up with my friend, Laura, she happened to mention a dinner idea to me, so I took it and ran with it. Chicken tacos made in the Crock Pot. Whenever I make Tex-Mex food, I usually pair it with Ina Garten's Guacamole Salad. It's the perfect complement.

Grocery List:

• 3 to 4 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless.
• 1 jar of your favorite salsa (or I found a Mexican simmer sauce with tomatillos)
• Tortillas
• Your favorite taco toppings (cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, etc.)
• 2 avocados
• 1 pint of grape tomatoes
• 1 yellow or red bell pepper
• 2 jalapeno peppers
• 2 limes
• 1 red onion
• 1 can of black beans

Probably already in your fridge/pantry:

• Olive oil
• Minced garlic
• Salt and pepper

Chicken Soft Tacos

Directions:

• Add chicken breasts and 1 jar of salsa or simmering sauce to Crock Pot.
• Turn on high and cook 3 hours.
• Shred cooked chicken with a fork.
• Add to tortillas and assemble tacos to your liking.

Guacamole Salad

2006, Barefoot Contessa at Home, All Rights Reserved

Ingredients

• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and 1/2-inch diced
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup small diced red onion
• 2 tablespoons minced jalapeno peppers, seeded (2 peppers)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lime zest
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (2 limes)
• 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 2 ripe Hass avocados, seeded, peeled, and 1/2-inch diced

Directions

Place the tomatoes, yellow pepper, black beans, red onion, jalapeno peppers, and lime zest in a large bowl. Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, salt, black pepper, garlic, and cayenne pepper and pour over the vegetables. Toss well.

Just before you're ready to serve the salad, fold the avocados into the salad. Check the seasoning and serve at room temperature.

Day 12: Mushroom and Spinach Omelet

Some days just get away from you. This was one of those days. Hmmm, what's in the fridge?When the cupboards are bare, I usually make an omelet. I had the eggs. I had the shredded cheese. What else could I dig up? In my produce drawer was less than half a bag of spinach and some sliced mushrooms. Perfect!

Mushroom and Spinach Omelet

Ingredients:

• Eggs
• Butter
• Shredded Cheddar cheese
• Spinach
• Sliced mushrooms
• Worcestershire sauce
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

• Saute mushrooms in a skillet with 1 pat of butter and approximately 1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce.
• In a mixing bowl, mix eggs (2 per person -- 4 max per omelet). Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Heat skillet to medium high. Add two pats of butter.
• Once butter has melted, pour egg mixture into skillet.
• Let eggs cook to form a firm base.
• Gently lift sides of the omelet with a spatula, letting uncooked egg run under the cooked part.
• When omelet is 75 percent cooked, add shredded Cheddar cheese, sauteed mushrooms and spinach leaves.
• With a large spatula, fold one half of the omelet over the other half. Carefully slide omelet from skillet to plate.

Enjoy ... any time of the day!

Day 11: Thai Chicken and Edamame

One of my Christmas sussies was the new Brentwood United Methodist Women cookbook, "Recipes from the Heart." The first BUMC cookbook, "The Second Most Valuable Book You'll Ever Need" has been in my cookbook collection for 15 years. It's one of my favorites, and I refer to it often. I have skimmed through the new one and tagged a few recipes that initially caught my eye. This is one of them.

Thai Chicken

1 cup salsa (I used a hot, more pureed salsa, not chunky)

1/3 cup peanut butter

2 tsp. soy sauce

2 tsp. balsamic vinegar

1 tsp. molasses

2 tsp. water

1 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

4 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless

2 tsp. oil

3 cups cooked rice

1 tsp sesame seeds

Bring to boil salsa, peanut butter, soy sauce, vinegar, molasses and water, stirring often. Combine spices in a Ziploc bag. Slice chicken into strips. Toss chicken in spices. Put oil in skillet or wok. Brown chicken for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until cooked. Pour sauce over chicken. Stir. Serve over rice.

HS note: If I made this again I would top the chicken and rice with fresh chopped cilantro, chopped peanuts and a fresh squeezed lime. Also, I forgot to toss the chicken in the sauce before serving. Oops. Instead I topped the chicken with sauce once it was plated.

I served the dish with Edamame. My kids go through two bags of this a week. They love it! Lately, I've been buying the Archer Farms brand at Super Target. You'll find it in the freezer section by the frozen vegetables. It steams in the bag in the microwave for 5 minutes and then we sprinkle it with kosher salt and toss.

The Weekend

Great Saturday and Sunday nights out, and no cooking. We had an extraordinary night out on Saturday. A wonderful dinner at La Piazza followed by Vito, the owner, and his daughter singing Italian opera to us by candlelight in the bar. Unbelievable. It was like having a private opera performance. Not your ordinary night out in Fort Worth! Following the TCU Rose Bowl celebration, all the family headed to Joe T Garcia's for Tex-Mex. Monday night dinner already planned.

Day 10: Citrus Pork Chops with Roasted Sweet Potatoes

I'm a little behind on blogging, but no need to worry ... I have been cooking. Friday night's dinner was what I call a throw-together dinner. The guy at the meat counter talked me into buying pork chops Thursday because they were such a good deal. So I bought them. It sort of caught me of guard, so I wandered through Central Market with no recipe wondering how I would prepare them and what I would serve with them. Friday afternoon, I was still perplexed. I googled a few pork chop recipes and finally made up my own based on items already in my refrigerator. As far as the sides went, I decided to wing it. Here's the recipe that I threw-together. It was remarkably good although I decided pork chops are not my favorite. This would have been so much more delicious had it been a pork tenderloin. I'll definitely try the marinade on a pork tenderloin soon.

Citrus Pork Chops

Grocery List

• 2 butterflied pork chops
• 1 jar orange marmalade
• 1 cup of reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1 blood orange
• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 1 bundle of broccolini

Items you probably already have in your pantry/fridge (if not, include them on your list):

• Olive oil
• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce (I used a Carolina-style barbecue sauce)
• Lemon juice or fresh lemon
• Minced garlic
• Sea salt
• Fresh ground pepper

Directions:

Marinade:

• At least two hours before (or as early as a day before), prepare marinade and marinade pork chops.
• In mixing bowl, add one small jar of orange marmalade, 1 cup of reduced sodium soy sauce, 1/4 barbecue sauce, 1/2 cup of water. Mix together.
• Add pork chops to a large Ziploc bag, pour in marinade, seal and then refrigerate.

Citrus Pork Chops:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Place marinated pork chops on a jelly roll pan (use non-stick aluminum foil to make clean up easier). (A pan with sides keeps juices in pan).
• Bake for 20 minutes (depending on thickness of pork chops).

Finishing the Pork Chops:

• Add marinade to sauce pan. Turn burner to high.
• Bring marinade to a boil for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring often.
• Reduce heat to medium low.
• Slice orange and add orange slices to marinade.
• Continue cooking for another 8 to 10 minutes.
• Add cooked pork chops to plate. Spoon sauce over pork chops.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Wash and peel sweet potatoes.
• Cut potatoes into 1 inch cubes (approximately).
• Spray 9 x 13" baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
• Add sweet potatoes.
• Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Bake for 30 minutes or until edges brown.

Sauteed Broccolini:

• Wash and cut ends off of broccolini.
• Heat sauce pan to medium high heat.
• Add 1/4 tsp minced garlic, 1 tsp of olive oil and 1 pat of butter to sauce pan.
• Heat until garlic is lightly browned.
• Add broccolini, turning every couple of minutes.
• Saute a total of 7 to 10 minutes.
• Squeeze half a lemon over broccolini.
• Remove from heat and serve.

Day 9: Aunt Carol's Yummy Chicken Casserole & Honeyed Citrus Nut Salad

Food + Family = Comfort. This casserole has stuck in my mind ever since I ate it almost two years ago. Traveling to my cousins wedding in Hilton Head that May was like a flash back in time. I flew into Atlanta by myself where my parents picked me up at the airport. We drove that familiar drive from Atlanta to Macon, GA, where my aunt, uncle and cousins live. Growing up, we'd make that trip several times a year. I used to have that road memorized.

Walking through the front door, memories rushed back of summers spent with cousins, family Christmases and the infamous Boy Scout Jamborees. And then there was the smell. Yummy casserole in the oven. For that night I wasn't the wife or mom, I was back to being the daughter and niece. We all gathered around the table in the dining room just like we did as kids, and Aunt Carol served us dinner.

Aunt Carol's Yummy Casserole

Grocery List:

• 1 pkg. boneless skinless chicken breasts (3 to 4 breasts)
• 1 can French green beans, drained
• 1 pkg. wild rice cooked (I used Uncle Ben's microwave-in-a-bag wild rice)
• 1 can reduced fat cream of celery soup
• 1/2 cup reduced fat mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup water chestnuts, sliced
• 1 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• Paprika

Optional:

• 1 med onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp. pimientos, chopped

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper to taste. Place on baking sheet with non-stick aluminum foil. Bake for 15 minutes (Make sure chicken is baked through. No pink in the middle). Chop chicken into small cubes.
• Combine all ingredients except paprika.
• Place in 3-quart buttered casserole dish (can use non-stick spray too).
• Sprinkle with paprika on top.
• Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour until the top is slightly browned.

Honeyed Citrus-Nut Salad

Grocery List:

• 1 bunch of red leaf lettuce (or any mixed greens)
• 1 11 oz. can mandarin oranges, drained, or substitute with fresh strawberries, sliced
• 1 tsp. fresh chopped parsley
• 2 to 4 tbs. honey
• 1 (4 oz.) pkg. slivered almonds or chopped pecans
• 4 slices of bacon, fried and broken into pieces (optional)

Directions:

• Gently toss lettuce, fruit and parsley. Heat honey in skillet; add nuts and toss until browned. Cool and sprinkle over salad. Toss with Poppy Seed Dressing and sprinkle bacon pieces on top if desired.

Poppy Seed Dressing:

• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup vinegar
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3 to 4 tbsp. poppy seeds

Directions:

• Combine all ingredients, except oil and poppy seeds, in blender. Add oil and poppy seeds. Mix 2 minutes. Chill. Will keep for several months in the refrigerator.

Day 8: Cauliflower Mac & Cheese

I have to admit that the meatloaf and mashed potatoes dinner made so much that we at it Tuesday night too. Wednesday night we went out to dinner before a school function. Since I have no dinners to blog about from the past two nights, I'll share a yummy and healthful recipe that I tried over the holidays. My Aunt Debbie served this at our extended family Christmas celebration in Atlanta. My family and I weren't able to make it this year, but I definitely heard about the delicious Mac & Cheese recipe with a healthy twist.

Aunt Debbie's Healthy Mac & Cheese

Grocery List:

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 12 oz. whole grain macaroni
• 4 slices multigrain bread (for breadcrumbs)
• 1/2 cup flat leaf parsley
• 1 onion
• 1 1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1 1/2 cups grated extra sharp Cheddar cheese

Probably already have in your fridge or pantry (if not add to your list):

• 3 tsp. olive oil
• Sea salt
• Fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard

Directions:

• Heat oven to 400 degrees.
• Cook pasta according to package (about 7 to 8 minutes for al dente).
• Tear bread into pieces. Add to blender and pulse until bread becomes coarse crumbs.
• Add 1/2 cup chopped parsley, 2 tsp. olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Pulse until blended. Set aside.
• Wash and roughly chop cauliflower.
• Return pasta pot to medium heat. Add 1 tsp olive oil, chopped onion, 3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and cook over medium heat stirring until soft (about 5 to 7 minutes).
• Mix in cooked pasta, chopped cauliflower, cheese, sour cream, milk and mustard.
• Coat 3/4 quart casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray.
• Transfer mixture to casserole dish.
• Top with bread crumbs and bake for 20 minutes or until golden.

This was really different and delicious. The cauliflower adds an unexpected crunch. The recipe makes a ton -- especially if you plan to serve this as a side dish. We even split ours into two separate casserole dishes. We also added more cheese than the recipe calls for -- it is Mac & Cheese after all!

Day 7: 1770 House Meatloaf with Garlic Smashed Potatoes and Roasted Dill Carrots

Home run according to the Hubby. If I could bottle the smile on my husband's face tonight, I would. He said this might just be his new favorite meal. While watching the snow fall on Sunday, I was catching up on a little Food Network -- my go-to channel when I get a free hour or so on Sundays. Ina Garten, one of our favorites, was on the show "The Best Meal I Ever Ate." Her meal was a meatloaf from the 1770 House in the Hamptons in NY. I have to admit it made my mouth water just watching the chef prepare it on TV. A trip to Central Market later, and I was whipping it up for myself. This is not the dreaded meatloaf you remember as a kid. This is savory and delicious ... maybe even worthy of serving at a dinner party.

The 1770 House Restaurant and Inn

For those who watched THE BEST THING I EVER ATE (Food Network) with Ina Garten enjoying her favorite meat loaf in the Tavern at The 1770 House, we have the recipe for you!

Meat Loaf Recipe

(serves 6 to 8 people)

1 lb ground beef (preferably naturally raised)
1 lb ground veal (preferably naturally raised)
1 lb ground pork (preferably naturally raised Berkshire)
2 stalks of celery, finely diced
1 large Spanish onion, finely diced
1 T. chopped, fresh Italian parsley
1 T. chopped, fresh thyme leaves
1 T. chopped, fresh chives
3 large eggs (preferably organic)
1 1/3 c. Panko bread crumbs, finely ground in a food processor
2/3 c. whole milk (preferably hormone and antibiotic free)
1 T. kosher salt
1 T. freshly ground black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 350F
1. Place every item except the onion and celery in a large mixing bowl.
2. Heat a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat and film it with extra virgin olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the celery and onion to the pan and cook, stirring, until softened. Remove the celery and onion from the pan and let cool. When the mixture is cool, add it to the mixing bowl with the other ingredients.
3. By hand, mix the ingredients until well combined and everything is evenly distributed.
4. Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking pan (it should have sides at least 1.5 inches high to prevent grease runoff from the pan). Free form the meat loaf on the pan into a rectangular cylinder. Pat it and punch it down and reform into a cylinder—this will get rid of air pockets.
5. Place the pan in the pre-heated 350F degree oven and bake 40 to 50 minutes or until a probe thermometer indicates an internal temperature of 155-160 degrees.
6. Remove from the oven and let the loaf rest for 10 minutes. Slice into portions of your preference and serve with potato puree and sautéed spinach.

Sauce
2 c. dark chicken jus or beef broth
8 to 10 cloves of roasted garlic
3 T. butter at room temperature

Combine all of the ingredients and cook over medium high heat until lightly thickened. Spoon the sauce over the meat loaf.

Chef Kevin Penner
East Hampton, NY

Heather note: (I purchased 1/2 lb of each ground meat -- 1 1/2 lbs total. And, I only used two eggs. Also, I made my own bread crumbs by tearing five pieces of whole grain bread and adding those to a blender to chop. It made a ton. At least four servings. I added a photo of what it looked like when I removed it from the oven. I was a little skeptical of the way it said to cook it. No loaf pan?? But, it turned out beautifully. )

Garlic Smashed Potatoes

1/2 lb Yukon Gold potatoes

1/2 cup cream

4 tsp butter

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 fresh ground pepper

2 large roasted cloves of garlic

Directions:

• Scrub and wash potatoes. Cut into 1 to 1-1/2 inch cubes leaving skins on.
• Add to a large pot of cold water. Add 1/2 tsp salt.
• Bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to simmer and continue to cook another 10 minutes.
• Test potatoes with a fork to see if they are tender.
• Remove from heat and drain.
• Return potatoes to pot. Add butter, cream and remaining salt and pepper.
• Use a garlic press to add to cloves of roasted garlic.
• Use a fork to smash potatoes and mix.

Roasted Garlic:

While cooking the meatloaf, I added a bulb of garlic, top sliced off, drizzled with olive oil and wrapped in heavy-duty aluminum foil to the oven next the meatloaf. I used the roasted garlic in the potatoes and and in the meatloaf sauce.

Roasted Dill Carrots

4 large carrots

Dried dill weed

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Wash, Peel and slice carrots. Add to oven safe dish. Drizzle with olive oil and season with dill, salt, and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes or until edges start to brown.

Day 6: Pumpkin Soup with Blood Orange Salad

I'm not sure if I'm jealous of the snow that blanketed my friends in the Southeast or thankful that I'm not dealing with it. We got to enjoy about an hour of beautiful, feathery snowflakes today (Sunday). I'm content. We built a fire and wore lounge clothes all day -- a pseudo snow day in my mind. To go along with our pretend snow day, I made another big pot of soup. I could probably eat soup all winter long if I could. My husband doesn't feel the same, but he definitely loves this one. I got this recipe from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram last February. They had readers submit their favorite soup recipes and this was one of a handful of recipes that was selected. Like most recipes, I've modified it a bit to suit our taste, but I must give credit to its originator.

Here's the link to the article http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/02/02/1940759/wrap-your-hands-around-a-bowl.html, written by my reporter friend, Stephanie Allmon.

Pumpkin Soup:

Submitted by Jan Washburn of Fort Worth

Jan Washburn says, "This soup is easy and fast. The coconut milk, curry and jalapeño lend wonderful flavor." You could easily omit the sausage to make it a healthful and tasty veggie soup.

Makes 4 large bowls or 8 side-dish servings

1 tablespoon cooking oil

3 mild Italian sausage links

1 cup sliced carrot (2 medium)

3/4 cup coarsely chopped green sweet pepper (1 large)

1/2 cup chopped onion (1 medium)

1 15-ounce can pumpkin

1 14-ounce can unsweetened light coconut milk

1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth

2 tablespoons packed brown sugar

1 medium fresh jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon curry powder

2 tablespoons snipped parsley

1. In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat and cook sausages 15 minutes, stirring often. Remove from pan. In drippings, cook carrot, sweet pepper and onion over medium heat about 5 minutes or until vegetables are almost tender. Remove from heat.

2. In a bowl, combine pumpkin, coconut milk and broth. Stir in brown sugar, jalapeño pepper, salt and curry powder.

3. Stir pumpkin mixture into cooked vegetable mixture. Place back on heat. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, about 10 minutes or until heated through, stirring frequently.

4. Chop cooked sausages. Stir in sausages or serve on top of soup. Stir in parsley before serving.

Heather note: (I used Central Market's chicken hot italian sausages from the market case -- so good!! It makes it a little healthier. If you can't find the chicken sausage in your grocery store, regular italian sausage tastes great too. Also, I add the juice of one fresh lemon to the pot of soup. It brightens the flavor tremendously and adds a great spark of flavor. Also, in my book this makes about 3 to 4 servings of soup. We usually eat it as a meal, and we're lucky to get four servings out of this recipe).

Nutritional analysis per serving, based on 4: 244 calories, 15 grams fat, 25 grams carbohydrates, 10 grams protein, 14 milligrams cholesterol, 602 milligrams sodium, 5 grams dietary fiber, 49 percent of calories from fat.

Blood Orange Salad (my own)

1 bag of mixed greens

2 blood oranges, peeled and sectioned

1/4 cup almonds, toasted

4 slices cooked bacon, crumbled

Dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp cumin

salt and pepper to taste

whisk and drizzle on top of salad

The Weekend

Taking Friday and Saturday nights off. Headed to a Cotton Bowl party at a friends house and dinner out tomorrow night. Meanwhile, Sunday night dinner is on my mind. Stay tuned ...

Day 5: City Grocery Shrimp & Grits

15 years ago, if you said Shrimp & Grits outside the Southern United States, you would probably get a response like, "Ewww shrimp and grits ... together??" Now, thanks to the Food Network great Southern chefs like Paula Deen and Emeril Lagasse, Shrimp & Grits is thought of as a Southern delicacy. My first introduction to Shrimp & Grits was while eating at the City Grocery during college at Ole Miss in Oxford, MS. Whenever we went to City Grocery for dinner, I never deviated from my order -- always the same -- always good. During our first year of marriage I perfected my own Shrimp & Grits recipe. We'd always make it on beach trips or for dinner parties with friends. Since then, chef John Currence of City Grocery, has published his recipe. It's amazingly similar to the one I tried to copy.

While we're talking grits, let me share my grits knowledge. I learned how to cook grits when I was tall enough to see over the range. If you've ever been to a restaurant and tried grits and they were lumpy and tasteless, then they were cooked wrong. If you had a bad experience, try them again.

The trick to cooking grits is salting the water (add the salt before you add the grits). You need to add at least 1/2 tsp of salt for every 1 cup of grits.

Second, as you're adding the grits you must continuously stir or whisk them into the boiling water. If you dump the grits into the boiling water and then stir, you'll get lumpy grits.

Grits cook fast. If they're getting too thick while preparing the rest of your meal, you can always thin them by adding either a little milk, cream or chicken broth. So now that we've covered that, on to the recipe.

City Grocery Shrimp & Grits

from "Square Table," a collection of recipes from Oxford, Mississippi

published by the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council

Grits:

• 1 cup quick grits (not instant)
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup extra-sharp, white Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp Tabasco sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Pepper to taste

Shrimp:

• 6 slices chopped, smoked bacon
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 lbs raw shrimp, 26-30 count, peeled and deveined
• 3 tsp minced garlic
• 3 cups sliced mushrooms
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 3 tbsp white wine
• 2 cups sliced green onions (optional)

Directions:

For grits, cook grits according to the package instructions (note: add 1/2 tsp salt to boiling water). Whisk in butter, Cheddar, Parmesan, cayenne, paprika and Tabasco. Mix thoroughly.

For shrimp, in a skillet over medium-high heat, cook bacon until it begins to brown. Remove from heat and reserve bacon and drippings. Heat a large skillet until very hot. Add olive oil and 2 tbsp reserved bacon grease. As oil begins to smoke, toss in shrimp to cover bottom of pan. Before stirring, season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir until Shrimp begin to turn pick all over. Let pan return to its original hot temperature. Stir in minced garlic and bacon bits. Be careful not to burn the garlic. Toss in mushrooms and quickly coat with oil. Add lemon juice and wine. Stir until everything is well coated, about 30 seconds. Toss in green onions and stir about 20 seconds. Serve over grits.

(Note: Both the grits and shrimp cook very quickly. Measure, chop, and dice all ingredients before starting the cooking process.)

Enjoy!