Looks like we’re having Basil Burgers tonight. Be safe out there everyone!
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Author Archives: Peg
Tomato Cheese Pie
With fresh heirloom maters (in case you ain’t Southern that’s slang for tomatoes!) flying in like mad these days, I hustled myself to the kitchen to make this delicious pie yesterday afternoon. Mandy was coming over for a teamwork session on the web site for our husbands’ dental practice. We accomplished so much that I just had to give her half a pie! Never mind that it was a bit mushy…I was over zealous with the tomatoes!! She swears that she and her sweetie loved it anyway. Double Rainbow All the Way!
You will need:
1 regular pie shell
3 large tomatoes, chopped, patted dry
1/2 vidalia onion, chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan
1/4 cup basil leaves, chopped
Fresh ground black pepper.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Cook pie shell for 8 minutes.
In a medium bowl combine tomatoes, onion, mayonnaise, cheeses, and basil.
Place mixture in to the pie shell.
Sprinkle with the fresh black pepper.
Bake approximately 25 minutes and watch to make sure it doesn’t brown too much!
Sunflowers and Toy Cars!
My friend and farmer, Ben, brought sunflowers last week, and they are still bold! Surely brightens my kitchen during these drizzly days. Note la petite juane car of Liam’s peeking through! p to the s…pardon my sloppy franglaise!
Cabbage, Kicked Up a Notch
I took Gray’s Kicked Up Collards recipe and applied it to my fresh from the farm cabbage. This rocks!
This is my small cabbage head, chopped
1 small head green cabbage
1 Tbs olive oil
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 slices precooked bacon, cut into small pieces
2 cups fat free, low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 t salt
1/2 t fresh ground black pepper
1/4 t red pepper flakes
Cut end off and then cut in to 2 inch pieces or strips.
Rinse under water to remove any possible grit.
Heat oil in large pot over medium high heat.
Add onion, and cook 3 minutes.
Add garlic, and cook 1 minute.
Add cabbage.
Cook 2 minutes, tossing constantly with tongs, so all cabbage pieces are coated with oil.
Pour in broth.
Cook 8 minutes on medium, covered.
Add bacon pieces, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.
Cook 3 minutes*, uncovered, until broth is reduced.
*This renders a crunchy cabbage. If you desire a totally limp finished product, cook an additional 3 to 4 minutes.
Transfer to bowl or individual plates with slotted spoon.
Serves 4.
Amazing Onion Rings
Onion Rings Resting in the Flour
Oh GOODNESS. I had to toss out the rest of the batch after I tasted one, well two, or I would’ve eaten every single one! Try this recipe once; you’ll never order rings out again, promise! 15 minutes start to mouth, guaranteed!
1 large sweet onion, sliced crosswise 1/4″ thick
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbs rice flour
1 1/2 t kosher salt
1/2 t baking soda
1 cup Bud Light, or other light beer
1/2 cup Vodka
Vegetable Oil for frying
Frying in the Pan
Separate onion slices into rings.
In bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup of all purpose flour, rice flour, salt, and baking soda.
Whisk in beer and vodka until smooth.
Place remaining flour in shallow bowl.
Dredge onion rings through flour, shaking off excess flour, transferring rings to large bowl.
Carefully pour batter mixture over floured onion rings, just enough to coat.
In large frying pan, heat 2 inches oil on high.
Working in batches and using tongs, lift onion rings from batter, allowing excess to drip off.
Place in oil and fry until golden brown, about 3 minutes per batch, no need to turn.
Drain on paper towels.
Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
Serve warm or room temperature.
Ahhh! The Finished Product.
RendezBooze!
Oil on Canvas, by Nicole Etienne, Private Collection
Headed south for a RendezBooze (and other fun activities) weekend getaway with our “teeth” friends. We return to the Richardson’s beach home each year to celebrate when we all met in 1975, first year of dental school. That’s correct…thirty eight years ago! It’s one of my favorite weekends of the year. Get your party on and have a fun weekend yourselves, wherever life is taking you!
Sugar Snaps and Goat Cheese
For the past two weeks in a row my friend and farmer Ben has brought me fresh sugar snaps straight from his glorious Leggett Farm Organics. I remembered this quick little recipe and whipped it up last Thursday for a healthy lunch. Mmmmmm!
1 lb fresh sugar snap peas
1/4 cup minced sweet onion
3 Tbs olive oil, divided
20 grape tomatoes
4 oz crumbled goat cheese
2 Tbs chopped fresh basil
1/2 t fresh ground pepper
Cook peas in boiling water 1 1/2 minutes.
Drain.
Plunge into ice water; drain.
Heat 1 Tbs olive oil over medium high heat in a large skillet
When oil is hot, turn to medium low and add onions.
Sauté 2 minutes.
Add remaining 2 Tbs olive oil. Heat until oil is hot.
Add sugar snaps and tomatoes, and cook until heated through, approximately 2 minutes.
Place mixture in a bowl.
Add goat cheese, basil, and pepper.
Toss gently.
Serves 4.
At the Bar
Ah, the Bar! This one happens to be at Gilgamesh, Camden Lock, London, where Brenton and I took a small drop down champagne break after hours of scouring the market for unique finds. Success? Roger that!
Simple Shrimp Gumbo
The good folks from Louisiana wouldn’t dare to pass this off as gumbo. I mean it doesn’t even contain okra; it’s just a simple mish mash. We don’t always have to be rigid and follow the rules, right? I’m taking my cooler to AB tomorrow and returning Monday morning with fresh shrimp from Atlantic Beach Seafood Market! Mmmmm. Come on in, friend! We’re making Gumbo Tuesday night!
1 lb large raw shrimp, cleaned
1 small sweet onion, diced
1 medium green pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 Tbs Cajun seasoning*
1 cup uncooked instant rice
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
Salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Preheat oven to 400°.
In large bowl, toss together everything.
Prepare 2 foil pouches.
Divide mixture evenly between both pieces of foil and seal.
Place pouches in baking pan.
Cook 25 minutes.
Open pouch and taste rice for doneness.
If necessary, close pouch and return to oven 5 more minutes.
Pour mixture into serving bowl, or divide evenly among plates.
Serve immediately.
*I like Paul Prudhomme Salt Free Seasoning
Serves 4.
260 Calories per serving…Fewer than most Lean Cuisines and way better.
Ahhh…Primland, Entry #2
Back on Dry Land, Boots Already Off!
Through the brush and ferns to the River
Lawdy! Lawdy! My Fly-Fishing Experience! I’m not exactly the summertime outdoorsy type of gal. Actually, I LOATHE with capital letters, the hot, humid, bug and mosquito weather. sneeze. nose itch. YUK.period.YUK. But I found myself at this loveliest of lovely mountain retreats, Primland, a couple of weeks ago. And fly-fishing has been on my I Wanna Do This List (anyone have a better title…can’t stand “bucket list”!) for a while now. My dear friend Cindy, athletic beyond compare agreed to accompany me. So, posh resort…I envisioned the guide would just swoop us up in his snazzy SUV, drive us to the river’s edge, help us in to our waders, and walk us out to the fishing zone. WRONG!! Cindy and I buckled up with a happy ole guy who called himself Carl (complete with a bit of a mountainy twang) in an older than those hills rattle trap of a truck and forged on to unmarked territories and roads he created as he drove. And then came the hike, twice, as he took us to 2 spots on the River Dan! Up and down and around the banks, we finally reached the river, twice. Worth it you ask? Heck yea!! Fish caught? Hell No! Experience loved? Oh yea! Check!
In the Water!
My Man Carl
- Out of the River and Through the Woods…
PegHardee.com Insight into Southern Cuisine and Hospitality 