My First Taste of Southern Food in the South

I spent a short week visiting friends in Birmingham, Alabama September 16-20. They promised to take me to the places to experience Southern cooking. Here's my review:

Wednesday night: dinner at Chick-Fil-A

Now, I had never eaten at an official full-sized Chick-Fil-A, but did work at a food court version in my university days. I was the Chick-Fil-A chick. My friend took me there and said that she ate there at least once a week. I hadn't eaten there since my college days so I was game. I got the 8-piece chicken nugget meal with coleslaw, wedge-cut fries and sweet tea (though it was really 1/2 sweet and 1/2 unsweet). It was good, but I'm still not fond of those kinds of fries. I of course chose the honey mustard dipping sauce as I rememberd that was my favorite, or was it the sweet and sour. Hmmm. . . I just don't remember.

Thursday night: dinner at Jim 'n Nick's BBQ

I went out with the entire family: Nick (not of Jim 'n Nick's fame), CanCan, JoJo and baby D. Collard Greens were on the menu and as I have never eaten the Southern version, I thought I would ask how they were prepared. What I wasn't prepared for was the waitress's dumbfounded look.

Ehem. "She's from California," CanCan spoke up.

"Ahh. . . Well, first we pick them out of the garden, then we wash the dirt off of them. . ."

Me, "How do you cook them?"

"Oohh. . . We boil them with seasonings and fatback, and add pork. That's it. How do you prepare them?"

Me, "I cut off the leaves, then cut the stems and leaves into pieces and stir fry them in a skillet with garlic."

"Well, I never thought of cooking it that way!"

Me, "It's the Asian way."

CanCan ended up requesting a sample for me. Let's just say I was glad I ordered the side of creamed spinach with my BBQ Chicken sandwich.

Friday lunch: Surin West in downtown Birmingham

Friday dinner: Dale's Southern Grill

The Curse of Chef Gordon Ramsey

I have become a fan of watching Kitchen Nightmares, starring Chef Gordon Ramsey, and now I found myself analyzing all my food from restaurants with a fine-tooth comb.

The lettuce is brown and wilted. . . The meatballs are cold and taste re-heated. . . Is this pasta freshly cooked? . . This fried okra is tasteless. . . Only three pickle slices and chicken on this sandwich?

. . . and so on. . .

It's now a habit: possibly a bad one? But I must admit, like Chef Ramsey, I enjoy good food that's prepared well. I don't need anything fancy schmancy, though. I would much rather eat my own if I only get semi-good food by eating out.

Roasted potatoes with onions

Oh, I wish I had smell-o-vision because roasting potatoes with onions, sweet potatoes and garlic is such a mouth-drool inducing scent.

Here's the nitty gritty.

I cut up chunks of red potatoes, sweet potatoes, red onions, and peeled 1 bulb of garlic. It all got tossed with olive oil and garlic salt/pepper. I laid it out in a cookie sheet with sides. Oven temp. was 350. They roasted for 1 hour? I can't remember exactly. I just pulled them out when I couldn't stand not eating them anymore.

Let me tell you, they were deee-li-cious! Yummy in my tummy.

Call for Bundt Cake Recipes!

I'm just beginning to test and learn how to make bundt cakes, not that they are all that difficult, but certainly have different issues than just a plain old round or square cake.

In that light, I've started a Bundt Cake Swap over on Swap-Bot to gather new ideas to try out. I can't wait to start testing and tasting. Sign-up by October 15.

Happy Bundt-ing!

Homemade Applesauce

Mmmm. The yummiest thing about apple season besides eating the fresh apples themselves is turning the leftowvers into applesauce. I did just that tonight.

First I cut Gala apples (about 15 small ones) from Gopher Glen Apple Farm in See Canyon, San Luis Obispo, California into quarters and cut out the seeds. Then I peeled them. I did this against the overseeing eye of my mother who wondered why I didn't peel them first. I just thought I'd try a different way. Besides I had just seen Martha peel the apples after they were cut.

After the peeled apples, I cut them into small inch-size chunks. Water was added up to an inch and then the apple cubes were boiled til nice and soft. I chose to add about a cup of sugar and some cinnamon and nutmeg. This was mashed until applesauce consistency.

Let cool and enjoy a bowful!

Vegetable Soup and Cornbread

Today I was wondering what to make for dinner and wanted something easy and healthy. When I was searching through the fridge for something I realized I had a lot of miscellaneous vegies so I decided on a pot of soup.

It starts with roughly chopped onions cooked til translucent in olive oil. I used a mixture of yellow and red since I only had a small piece of yellow. Then I tossed in some minced garlic (approx 4-5 tablespoons/cloves)

Then I diced up 5 small red potatoes, cut up bite-sized pieces of cauliflower (approx 1-2 cups) and grabbed 3 individual bags of baby carrots. I also grabbed a can of green beans and diced tomatoes plus a quart box of vegetable soup stock/broth.

In addition I found some old BBQ chicken and tri-tip steak that I cut up into bite-sized pieces.

After the onions are ready, I added the potatoes, cauliflower and carrots which I covered with the broth and some additional water to boil. I saved the other ingredients for later since they're less dense and already cooked.

Once all the ingredients are simmering in the pot I tossed in some garlic salt and pepper and some regular salt to taste.

After 30 minutes I had a huge pot of yummy soup. I baked some cornbread to go along with it.

This soup is great to eat as leftovers as it keeps getting better day by day. Perfect for family gatherings or visiting friends!

Vegie Marinara Pasta in a Buddhist Communal Home

Birthday night was shared with one long-time friend and one new friend. It was a splendid evening doing what I love best, creating exciting eating plans then cooking it up together with friends. Thanks to Camille and El Caballero (see Camille for his reference) for the inspiration and the hosting.

Dinner plans were initiated by our voicing a desire for dinner on the cheap. Since all the restaurants floated out by Camille were nay-sayed for extravagance by El Cab, he offered his vermicelli and sauce as a dining option. Well, for Camille and I it wasn't enough to just eat packaged pasta and sauce from a jar. It needed our special handcrafted touch.

So, off to the G.O. (God bless the Grocery Outlet) we went for some inspiration. Ooh, let's get some chard. Oh wait, those are collard greeens. That's my favorite vegetable in Cambodia. How about zucchini? Add a red bell pepper. Does he have any garlic? I'm looking for parmesan cheese. Should we have some wine? What about bread? We swooped up all the fantastic ingredients and managed to fine a very inexpensive bottle of petite syrah from Lodi, which turned out to be a delectable wine with our meal.

Back to the commune, no joke, for some kitchen magic. There was a brief hunt for cooking pots and were satisfied to fine one big deep skillet for the vegies and sauce.

Smashed and chopped garlic. Cubed zucchini and pepper. Sliced collard greens salvaged from the steaming pot. El Cab was on top of the sauteing. He heated the oil in the pan, tossed in the garlic, added the zucchini and peppers when ready. Stirred, flipped and tossed. Lastly came the collard greens, and finally to top it all off, a jar and a half of marinara sauce.

The pasta was cooked in its normal way: boiled water. The sliced sourdough bread was toasted and buttered by Camille. The table was set. Then we sat and dined on divine pasta. It was delicious for lack of a better word. Of course it's digestion was vastly improved by the company, and the setting of an old-stlye wood kitchen with a hearty wooden table.

My birthday was complete.