A Yankee Girl in a Southern Kitchen

I’m from the Midwest. Ohio, to be specific. The land of casseroles and Jello molds. I come from meat and potatoes people. People who can do wonders with tater tots and cream-of-anything soup. After all, one-pot meals that can feed 20 people for a week are a staple when you’re snowed in for months on end. Ah, a proud culinary history I come from, I tell you.

Then I went and married a Southern boy. That was a bit of an adjustment for both of us. Grits? Hominy? Collard greens? Boiled peanuts? Crawfish? Um, yeah. I was clueless with a capital “C”. After more than a decade, I’m still learning about the differences between Yankee and Southern dishes, not to mention Texas dishes (Texas and “the South” are NOT the same, as I have been told many times). It’s an ongoing experiment when cooking for his side of the family.

Thankfully, when my husband announced that he was marrying someone from north of the Mason Dixon line, my wonderful in-laws welcomed their Yankee DIL (daughter-in-law) with open arms. My father-in-law calls me “Shug” (short for Sugar), and my mother-in-law has been known to refer to me as her “daughter-in-love”. I won the in-law lottery, without a doubt. So it made sense, at least in my head, to offer to throw them a 50^th anniversary party. And I also knew that meant that it would be me, and me alone, doing the job (no offense to my husband and his twin brother, but c’mon). Throw a party for 60+ of my in-laws’ closest friends and family, and even take on ALL of the cooking myself? Of course I’d love to! I blame the Texas heat for making me do it.

As we moved ahead with the planning, I decided that the menu should honor where both of my in-laws came from. So I settled on Texas chili (more on this later) and pecan tartlets in honor of my Texas-born father-in-law, and pimento cheese spread and shrimp & grits for my South Carolina-raised mother-in-law. I was certain, through my heat stroke, that I could whip out a tasting menu for 60 that would let people enjoy a casual reception and spend time with friends, family and community. Sounds easy enough, right? Sure! Never mind that I had not made ONE of those recipes before. No problem!

So this past weekend, I found myself in the local Presbyterian church’s kitchen, playing caterer to all of Gonzales, TX. I’d been cooking all week, making the chili ahead of time, freezing it so that I could pop it in a roaster and let the smells waft through the meeting hall as a welcome to those arriving to wish my in-laws well. I’d diced and sliced the veggies for the shrimp & grits so that I could just whip it all together when folks arrived. The pimento cheese was made the day prior to give the flavors time to marry and create a creamy, cheesy goodness. Oh, and the pecan tartlets? OK, I admit I bought those. A baker, I am not. But they were ready to be toasted and prepared for the serving table. Yeah, I was in the zone. I was ready.

And then…I charred the first batch of pimento cheese toasts. Those great smells of chili to welcome revelers was replaced by the acrid smell of burnt toast. Well, luckily that was the only mishap of the afternoon, the food seemed to be a hit, and even garnered kudos and requests for recipes from the Texas and Southern crowd. Whew! Looks like I survived to wish my in-laws well another year!

So get ready–here come 3 of the recipes from that day.  Scroll down to get the full lowdown!

Texas Chili–

An important note about Texas chili: I have been told many, many times by people who claim to be “real Texans” that TRUE Texas chili has NO BEANS. It’s considered a sacrilege by many. Being the Yankee that I am, I admit that I wasn’t sure what chili would taste like or look like without beans—I grew up with beans in my chili, and I like it! But if I was going to be true to my wonderful father-in-law, there could not be a bean in sight. So here was the successful version, served just for him and the other Texans in the room.

Serves 8

• 2 pounds ground beef, 80/20 in fat content
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 3 cups chopped onion
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped jalapeño peppers (omit if you don’t like a spicy chili)
• 1-28 oz. bottle of tomato puree
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano

1. Heat a large skillet oven over medium-high heat. Sprinkle beef with salt, pepper, cumin and chili powder. Place beef in pan; cook 8 minutes or until browned. Remove from pan. Drain cooking fat from pan; reserve 3 tbsp. of cooking fat.
2. Add 3 tbsp. of cooking fat back into the pan. Heat to medium-high heat. Add 3 cups onion to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until lightly browned.
3. Add garlic and jalapeno, if using; sauté 1 minute.
4. Transfer contents of pan into insert of crockpot; add beef.
5. Stir in tomato puree and oregano. Cover, and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Serve this to the “true” Texans in your life—they’ll thank you for it!

Shrimp & Grits–

For a Yankee girl like me, this dish was a real risk. Southerners are VERY picky about their grits, and very quick to tell you when they are done “wrong” in their eyes. I figured since I was a northerner doing this for the first time, I may get some latitude no matter if they turned out well or not. In fact, they turned out so well that I had to make a second batch to satisfy the eager crowd! Ha!

A couple of cooking notes: for the broth, I prefer low-sodium chicken broth. Specifically, I like Pacific brand, as they really are low in sodium, unlike other “low sodium” brands. Also, I used instant grits. I know!! Blasphemy to many a grit traditionalist! But I have to say, no one thought twice about it or even asked once they were served. The only thing folks asked for were seconds—and the recipe!

Serves 12

• 1 lb. bacon, cooked and crumbled; bacon fat reserved
• 2 yellow onions, finely chopped
• 2 red bell peppers, finely chopped
• 20 medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and rinsed in cold water
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• ½ stick butter
• 2 cups instant grits
• 1.5 cups half-and-half
• 2 cups parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Brown the bacon in a large frying pan until crisp. Set bacon aside to cool; reserve bacon fat.
2. Add 2 tbsp. bacon fat back to the frying pan; heat to medium-high heat. Brown onions in bacon fat. Set onions aside. Repeat process with chopped red peppers.
3. Add 2 tbsp. bacon fat to frying pan; sauté shrimp in the bacon fat, until pink and cooked through. Remove shrimp from pan to cool.
4. In large Dutch oven, bring chicken broth and butter to a slow boil; add the grits, stirring constantly until they begin to pull away from the sides of the Dutch oven.
5. Add half-and-half and parmesan cheese, stirring constantly. If grits become too stiff (they should retain a creamy consistency), add either water or additional broth to maintain creamy structure.
6. Salt and pepper grits to taste.
7. To serve, place 1 cup grits into bowl, and top with sautéed onions, peppers, bacon, and shrimp. If the shrimp have cooled completely, toss them back in the frying pan to warm through before serving.

Note: most traditional shrimp & grits recipes call for Andouille sausage, not bacon. This makes for a fantastic gravy on the grits. But for a crowd, the bacon is a great substitute, especially when everything else is cooked in the bacon fat, which assures a consistent, delicious and smoky quality to the dish.

Pimento Cheese Toasts–

Pimento Cheese is to the South what cheese whiz is to many up north. But it is oh-so-much-better. I admit that, for many years, I was not a fan of this southern delicacy. However, when we were in Charleston a few years ago, we had the good fortune to have a fantastic meal at the destination restaurant in town called Husk. The chef, Sean Brock, is a modern-day legend in Southern cuisine, and his pimento cheese made a believer out of me. This is my slightly-altered version of his recipe. I changed it up to meet my mother-in-law’s exacting standards for her own personal taste, and I have to say it is darned addicting. Add to it that I served it warm, on toasted bread, and well, this will make a believer out of just about anyone.

Makes 3 cups

• 12 oz. pimento peppers (or roasted red peppers, if you can’t find those marked “pimentos”)
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• ½ c. Duke’s mayonnaise (Southerners are passionate about using Duke’s)
• ½ tsp. vinegar-based hot sauce (like Tabasco)
• ½ tsp. kosher salt
• 1/8 tsp. white pepper
• 1/8 tsp. smoked paprika
• 4 oz. pickle juice (use sweet pickles, not dilled)
• 1 lb. shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 French style baguette

1. Drain and then dice pimento peppers.
2. Mix all ingredients through pickle juice until creamy.
3. Add shredded cheese and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate overnight or up to 3 days.
4. Slice baguette into ½ inch slices. Place on baking sheet and toast in 200 degree oven until lightly toasted, but not browned.
5. Top each piece of toast with 1 heaping tbsp. of cheese spread. Toast in 400 degree oven for 4-8 minutes, keeping a close eye on them to assure they don’t burn.
6. Remove from oven when cheese begins to soften and melt.
7. Serve, and take credit for the gooey-goodness and happy noises that ensue.

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