Valentine's Weekend 2010

I honestly think that Valentine's Weekend this year was absolutely perfect.  Rick and I spent the whole weekend together.  Friday night, we got snow!  For the first time since I've lived in the Charleston area, we got a "real" snow!  Rick and I also had our first snowball fight with the neighbors.  I was sad to see it all melt away the next day.  We kicked off Saturday with waffles made from the waffle maker.  

For dinner, we decided to have snow crab legs in honor of the snow and for our Valentine's Day meal!  Another reason that we opted for the crab legs was in honor of  Captain Phil Harris who was one of the captains on the Discovery Channel show, Deadliest Catch.  When Rick and I first started dating, he introduced me to that show, and we have been enjoying it ever since.  We were both sad to hear that Phil passed away from a stroke earlier in the week.


One of the best part of the meal was the Crab Sauce that I got at Harris Teeter.  I have yet to try to make it myself, but it's a white sauce with horseradish in it.  I love that stuff!!!  Rick and I served the crab legs with baked potatoes, and we decided to try to make hushpuppies for the first time.  The first ones we tried weren't so great, and we added a little more sugar and salt.  The final results were pretty good.  We added finely minced onions to a couple of them, and those were great!  The process was a slow one, and we did them one at a time.  The coolest part, though, is that we made them together!  

Hushpuppies
Ingredients
2 cups of cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar 
1/4 onion, finely minced
1 cup buttermilk

1 egg, beaten

Vegetable Oil

Directions
Heat vegetable oil in a deep cast iron skillet.  Mix all the dry ingredients and onions together in a medium size bowl.  Add buttermilk and egg to the mixture.  When the oil is hot, add tablespoon-fulls of hushpuppy mix to it.  Remove the hushpuppies when they become a golden brown.  Place them on a plate that is covered with a paper towel to drain.

In Search of the Perfect Pimento Cheese

For some reason, I've been craving pimento cheese.  I'm blaming the small little sandwich that I had at our church picnic back in October.  

In the South, pimento cheese can be found all over the place...in sandwiches, on celery, with potato chips, on burgers.  When I was growing up, I was not a fan.  I'm not really sure why either.  You would think that as Southern child who loved cheese that it would've been right up my alley, but it wasn't.  Maybe I had it confused with cottage cheese.  Maybe I had tried some version that was really spicy which turned me off.  Whatever the reason, I didn't like it until my friend Amy shared some of her mother's pimento cheese one night several years ago.  She made served it grilled cheese style, and I was in love.  

After that, I tried various store bought brands, and most were misses. The deli at Harris Teeter, however, has the best pimento cheese in the world.  You can get regular or with jalapenos.  The Publix version, however, offers a lot to be desired.  I blame it on the green onions in theirs.  My friend Kelly is enamored with Palmetto Cheese which is a brand out of Pawley's Island, SC, and I have to admit that it was excellent.  But you know me, I want to have my own homemade version!

My first stop in my hunt for the perfect recipe started with the cookbook that my church recently put out.  There was a simple one with all the basic ingredients...cheddar cheese, pimentos, mayo, but for some reason, I sought more.  Could it really be that simple?  Another recipe in that collection had pecans in it which to me just doesn't seem right.  The version in my Southern Living All-Time Favorite Recipes, Volume 1 included grated onion, Worcestershire sauce, and ground red pepper.   I decided to go with the simple one and then try adding to it from there.  I didn't go all crazy and just added a couple of things.  Not bad for my first try!  I think that if I had it to do all over again (and I will!), I would substitute a sprinkle of red pepper for the ground black pepper.  Something about it is a little overpowering.  I've left out the pepper in the recipe below.


If I try it again (which I'm sure I will), I'll be sure to post any updated changes.



Pimento Cheese
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar (from a bag)
1 cup shredded mild cheddar (shredded by hand)
1 4 oz jar of diced pimentos 
1 cup light mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt



Directions
Mix ingredients together in a bowl and enjoy!

Another Katie Classic: Spicy Shrimp Pasta

This recipe is one of the first ones that came into my cooking repertoire. The first time that I ever made it was back in 1998. I found it in the Southern Living 1997 Annual Recipes Cookbook, and it is super easy which was perfect for me back then. I've made a couple of changes from the original recipe, but I still love it to this day. I've made it for quite a few people and shared it with several of them. I also like it because it provides two nice size servings. I hope that you enjoy it, too!


Spicy Shrimp Pasta
Ingredients
8 oz of linguine
3/4 pound peeled, deveined shrimp
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup cooking wine with lemon
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (sometimes, I sub the Parmesan-Romano blend)
2 teaspoons dried crushed red pepper
5 teaspoons dried parsley

Directions
Cook linguine per box directions in water that has been salted and seasoned with garlic powder. Drain, return to pot, and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet and add green onions and garlic. Saute until tender. Add Cajun seasoning and stir for one minute

Stir in shrimp and whipping cream. Reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes, stirring often. Stir in wine and simmer for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add sauce, Parmesan cheese, and red pepper to the pot with linguine and heat over low heat, stirring gently. Stir in parsley and serve immediately.

Would it really be a Low Country blog without Shrimp and Grits?

Before I moved to the Charleston area, I had never tried shrimp and grits.  I always thought that it sounded like a pretty cool dish since I pretty much like anything involving shrimp and I am a fan of grits.  Grits are definitely a Southern thing, and it's really hard, if not impossible, to try to explain what exactly grits are to someone born and raised outside of the South as I learned when my cousin had her bachelorette party in Charleston this summer.  I joined them for dinner one night at Magnolia's, and several of the girls were from up north.  It was amusing trying to explain grits to them when they saw them on the menu.  Magnolia's has awesome shrimp and grits, by the way, and even though I contemplating ordering something else, I couldn't resist and had to order them!  I knew I would regret it otherwise.

I am really lucky to have access to such wonderful local shrimp.  The shrimping industry is a huge part of life in the Low Country, but unfortunately, the downturn in the economy has really hurt the shrimpers.  I try my best to buy local whenever possible.  The picture is on that I took of shrimp boats on Shem Creek here in Mount Pleasant a couple of years ago.

Since first trying shrimp and grits, I've had them at I don't even know how many places around town.  Sometimes, they were awesome, and sometimes, they weren't.  You can get them with brown gravy or more of a tomato-y sauce with the grits.  Over the years, I've also tried out quite a few recipes in search of one that I would be proud to call my own.  The one complaint that I do have with making them is that to make a to die for dish, you've got to use heavy cream with the grits.  Not half and half, not low fat or even whole milk...straight up, bad for ya, hip-expanding heavy cream.  Trust me when I say that it is definitely worth it.  And no, instant grits will NOT do!!!!  You've got to use the stone ground variety.

Shrimp and Grits

For the Grits:

Ingredients
1 cup stone ground grits
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
6 tablespoons butter
1 garlic clove minced
3/4  cup whipping cream

Directions
Bring chicken broth, whipping cream, butter and garlic to a boil in a heavy saucepan.  Gradually whisk in grits and return to a boil.  Continue to whisk constantly.  Reduce heat to low.  Simmer uncovered until grits thicken, whisking often, for around 15 minutes.


For the shrimp:
Ingredients
2 pounds of large, uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/3 cup shallots, chopped
1/2 cup sweet onion, chopped
1/2 cup green pepper, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced.
1/2 cup white wine
1 can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons fresh parlsey
2 tablespoons fresh chives
Creole seasoning
4 ounces of prosciutto, cut into thin strips
1-2 tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil

Directions

Season shrimp with Creole seasoning and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a heavy, large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onions and green pepper and saute for 3 minutes.  Add garlic and shallots and saute for another 2 minutes.  Add shrimp and saute for 2 minutes.  Remove shrimp from the skillet.  Add wine and boil until reduced to glaze (around 5 minutes).  Add diced tomatoes (juices included), parsley, chives and prosciutto and simmer for 2 minute.  Return shrimp to the skillet and simmer for another 2 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper if desired.

Add grits into bowels, and top each serving with shrimp mixture.  It should serve 4-6.

Enjoy!

Saturdays in the South

As I'm sure you've been able to surmise, Saturdays in the South always involve college sports.  This time of year, it's college football., and in a month of so, it will be college basketball time.  This evening, Rick's Carolina (not to be confused with mine which is the REAL Carolina--UNC) will be taking on Tennessee in what he calls "Big Boy Football."  It looks like even Halloween is going to take a backseat to the game tonight which is fine with me.  I'm in an interesting place in my life when I don't have children and I've had enough Halloween fun over the years to feel no regret in sitting this one out.  Due to the lower percentage of children in my neighborhood, we are going to be hanging out here to watch the game.  I picked up a bag of candy just in case some trick-or-treaters come by, but Rick is hoping that we don't have many to interrupt the game.  Of course, that would mean that we get to enjoy all those little fun-sized bags of M&Ms!


We are FINALLY going to be making the pork tenderloin recipe from the Vera Bradley cookbook that I picked up while in North Carolina this evening for the game.  I opted not to marinate it for the whole 24 hours, but hopefully, 10 hour will be plenty of time.  I'll definitely be blogging about it tomorrow.


This morning, we were debating what to do for breakfast. I was trying to talk Rick into making me breakfast in bed, but unfortunately, I was unsuccessful.  On the fortunate side, however, I was too tired to make the pork chops that he brought over last night so we decided to fry them up, put them on biscuits, and have a pork-filled day!  Being from the South, frying is a part of life.  I'm not a huge fryer, but over the past year or so, I've become more comfortable with it.  Pork is another stable in any good Southerners diet (albeit a bad one).  My home state of North Carolina is known for its fabulous barbecue, and I was converted to the vinegar-based style during college.  I'll have to post my crock pot "barbecue" recipe here at some point.


So here is the goodness (and badness for the waist line) that we called breakfast this morning.  Rick put the whole pork chop on his, but I halved mine and ate the other half on the side (pictured in a wee-bit blurry picture below).



Saturday Morning Pork Chop Biscuits

Ingredients
2 Frozen Grands Biscuits
2 pork chops
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup panko
flour
Vegetable oil


Directions
Preheat oven to 375F.  Once oven is preheated, place biscuits on a ungreased baking sheet.  Cook for 16-22 minutes.


Heat oil (about 1/4 inch deep) in a heavy skillet.  

In a bowl, whisk together egg and milk.  In another bowl, mix together bread crumbs.  Place on a plate to coat pork chops.  Place flour on the plate to dredge pork chops. Dredge a pork chop in the flour and shake off the excess.  Dip the pork chop in the egg-milk mixture, and the coat with bread crumbs and panko.  Repeat with the other pork chop.


When the oil is heated, place the pork chops in the oil.  Cook for around 4-5 minutes per side for a total cooking time of around 10 minutes. Use a knife to cut the chop to check for doneness.  Cooking time will vary based on thickness of the pork chops.  Place the pork chops on a plate covered with paper towels to drain.  Once drained, place the pork chop in the biscuit.  

Rick likes to put  a little mustard on his.  Enjoy!!!