Fixin' Supper

So today I did two big things after church: I spent an hour cleaning up my garden, and then I made dinner. The garden thing — well it’s just sad that it took an hour to get it into shape, but I’ve neglected it all summer, so there you have it. It’s not all that big; 10′x20′ if I remember right. But it had an awful lot of grass coming in around the edges. Since I haven’t actually finished the garden, by say, putting up a fence, mulching, amending the soil, or any of the various other activities that would be a big help to me and the plants, I guess I can’t complain about the weeds that invaded due to my negligence, either.

As my left arm and wrist are pointing out to me, almost 35-year-old people shouldn’t just randomly start spending an hour in the garden and expecting no consequences. Sigh.

And my right hand joined the fun. Tonight Nashville sister & her boyfriend came for dinner. It was a great Sunday night meal; whatever I had on hand. So we had some chicken pasta salad, fried okra, and fresh, ripe and fried green tomatoes. So in putting the green tomatoes in the skillet, I sloshed oil all over my right hand, burning the fool out of my 4th and 5th fingertips. I am pleased to find I can still type. I guess the hour with the bag of ice helped.

N sister’s boyfriend and I started comparing cooking injuries and discovered we both have a scar from a hot oven rack on our right arms.

Everyone, be careful out there. Cooking is a contact sport.

  Fried squash and okra 

When fresh squash and okra are available in the summer, I eat them a lot. I do different things with the squash: sometimes I steam it or roast it, or make a casserole. But with okra, there are really only two things: gumbo or fried okra. Gumbo, of course, is a major undertaking and you can’t just whip that up on a random Thursday. But you can have fried squash and okra going in just minutes.

I guess there are different ways to do this….when you search on the Internet for "fried squash" for instance, you find all kinds of complicated batters, steps and other things that might keep you busy for an hour. This is just not necessary.

Here’s one thing: you have to figure out yourself how thick you like it. The thinner it is, the faster it cooks and the crispier each slice will be. I used to like my fried squash really thin, but I’ve decided you don’t get enough squash flavor that way. Now I prefer it thick enough to have a distinct crust on the outside, and a separate squash middle. It’s still thin; I think most of the time I cut it around 3/16" thick.

  Ready for salt 

So here’s what I do:
Slice veggies. Zucchini, squash and okra all fry nicely with little effort. ( I do slice my okra thicker though — thick enough so that it’s fairly even in diameter in any direction.)

Lay the veggies out on a single layer on a cookie sheet. Salt lightly and let them rest for 5-10 minutes, until you can see the beads of water drawn out of the squash. Flip and salt lightly on the other side.

Heat oil (any light, non-flavorful oil will do….don’t use olive oil, but instead canola or something similar) on medium heat in a large skillet. This is why you need cast iron. It’s perfect.

Dump some cornmeal onto a plate. Dredge each veggie in the cornmeal, coating it on all sides and tapping off the extra. Fry in a single layer. Flip with a fork when the first side starts to brown. You can see from the photo that I like my fried squash fairly light. This is something else I’ve changed my mind about. Growing up, I’d fight my sisters for the crispiest, darkest bites. But you taste the veggies lots better when they’re just light brown.

When they’re done, drain them on paper towels. Good luck not eating them while you cook the rest.

  Chicken broth

Here’s a favorite childhood dish that I wouldn’t change if I could. But here’s also what often happens to me: I get a hankering for something like chicken and dumplings, but I don’t have a whole chicken at home. When you’re boiling chicken for a dish, your flavor will be so much better in the end if you can at least use boned chicken, and even better with the whole chicken.

But it’s Wednesday night and we’re hungry now. No one is stopping by the store on the way home when there’s plenty of food already there.

So here’s what I do: I always have a bag of the boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the freezer. I wish I could tell you that we only ate organic meat at our house, but when I go to Costco, that bag o’ chicken sure is cheap. And it is majorly convenient. So I always have some. You know, for chicken and dumpling emergencies like this.

  Dumpling dough, ready to be cut 

But of course, we’re then missing all the parts that add the flavor. So I add butter and thyme, an onion and celery, in addition to salt and pepper. That makes a world of difference.

Here’s how:
Chicken and dumplings
1 2 1/2 – 3 lb. chicken, cut up (or 4-6 chicken breasts)
1 onion
3 celery ribs
2 T. butter
Thyme
Salt
Pepper

Boil about 4 qt. water in a large pot. Chop into large pieces the onion and celery, add to the pot. Cut up and add the chicken. It’s fine to mostly skin the chicken, or to use skinless breasts. If you’re using boneless, skinless breasts, add the butter. If you’re using a whole chicken, it’s unnecessary. Add thyme, salt and pepper to taste. I’d start with 1/2 t. of the first two and 1/4 t. of the last.

  The finished product 

Cook the chicken until it’s almost falling off the bone (or until very, very tender). Remove the chicken once it’s done. Turn heat to low and cover the pot.

2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
3 T. butter
3/4 c. buttermilk
Mix dry ingredients then cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk and mix til combined. Press out on a floured surface. Knead 10-12 times. Cut or pinch off into desired size and shape for your dumplings.

Meanwhile, back at the pot, either remove the onions and celery or strain the broth, reserving it and returning the liquid to the pot. Return the chicken broth to a rolling boil. Drop your dumplings in to cook. They cook rapidly; you can start checking after 3-4 minutes. This is largely a matter of preference — some folks prefer them firmer than others. The longer they stay in the pot, the more the dumplings and the broth become one. There’s a happy medium in there for me around 8-10 minutes. After that, you have goo soup.

Chop or tear chicken to serve together with dumplings and thickened broth.

  In progress 

The first time I made cream-style corn (why are there so many names for this dish? Creamed corn, creamed-style corn, etc. Let’s all pick one and stick with it. Let’s pick the one I like.) I really thought I had listened to my mother’s instructions. However, for some reason, this is one dish I had never made at her side, so there I was, in my early 20s and trying to impress my then-husband with a home-cooked meal. (You see right away where this is going, don’t you?)

I cut the corn off the cob into the saucepan, added the milk and butter and started it up. And cooked. And cooked. After a while the milk was gone but it hadn’t magically turned into cream-style corn. Hmm, I thought. I must not have added enough milk. I added more. And waited.

Finally I called my mother. "What’s wrong with my corn??"

Of course, if I’d had a clue….I would have paid attention, say, the first 18 years of my life, I would have known the secret to cream-style corn: You cut the kernels off the cob, then you turn your knife blade over to the back side, and you scrape the cob, rendering the liquid and pulp into the saucepan along with the kernels. Since that first failed effort, my corn has turned out much better.

Cream-Style Corn
6 ears corn
Milk
1/2 stick butter
Salt
Pepper

  The finished product 

Cut the kernels into a 4-qt. saucepan 1/2 way down the length of the kernel, leaving the other part of the kernel on the cob to scrape. When you have cut each cob, turn the knife over and scrape each cob clean into the saucepan with the back side of the knife. You’ll definitely want to do this with the saucepan in the sink — corn juice will go everywhere.

Add milk to the saucepan to just the top of the kernels. Add butter. Warm over medium heat until it bubbles, then lower heat. Stir frequently while this cooks; it can stick easily though lowering the heat helps. Cook slowly for best flavor. If necessary add more milk. Season with salt and pepper.

So if you grew up in the rural South like I did, I know that a staple of your diet was also the Campbell’s soup casserole. There are so many recipes made with Campbell’s cream-of-X soups as a base. You know, the shortcut, so you don’t have to make bechamel or some other type of sauce to begin with.

Well.

I would love to tell you that my cooking is so sophisticated, so learned, so advanced, that I have long since left this "mother’s little helper" behind. While I haven’t been downing the Valium while cooking (wine is enough, thank you), I’m still clinging to my Campbell’s.

I can confidently say that my use of Campbell’s soups is fairly rare these days. But there are a few recipes that, cliched or no, I can’t erase from the repertoire.

The 7yo is still at an age where she rejects all "mixed" food, so no casseroles. When she was at her dad’s last night, her aunt happened to be over helping me (bless her) clean out one of the sheds in my backyard. I whipped this family favorite up for our dinner. I’m sorry I didn’t think to take a photo of it for you right when it came out of the oven. Because it’s gone, gone, gone.

I don’t know where my mom got this recipe but she passed it on to me several years ago. She gave it the special sounding name "Au Gratin Chicken Bake." I can’t ever remember that, so I call it "Chicken Spaghetti."

Chicken Spaghetti
2 c. chopped cooked chicken
4 oz. cooked spaghetti
1 can cream of celery soup
1/2 c. milk
2 T. chopped pimento
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 c. grated parmesan
1 c. grated cheddar

Mix two cheeses and divide in half. Mix all other ingredients and half the cheese. Pour into 2 qt. casserole. Cover with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, until bubbly.

You know how people say everything is better as leftovers? Frankly I think this is better the day you make it but maybe that’s just me.

Well I’ve apparently let my blog really lapse since the 10mo came home in March. Frankly, in my head I still post all the time so I had no idea I was falling down on the job so badly. I apologize, if there is in fact anyone still reading. Besides my mom. (Hi, Mom!)

I ran across a new BBQ joint on the web today. Sounds funny but it’s true. I haven’t even had a chance to check it out yet but this guy is blogging his restaurant, so how can you go wrong?

I will report back as soon as I know more. Meanwhile, check out Mothership BBQ!

My last night in Austin I went out with a friend of mine from college. He has lived there for several years and gave me a great tour of town, all around UT [enormous!], up Mount Bonnell, through West Lake Hills, neat neighborhoods in downtown and to several great views of the river that runs through town.

We wrapped up at the County Line, another barbecue restaurant that is inexplicably not near the county line. Again, an amazing variety of meat called "barbecue." But it was very good. I had the chicken and turkey. I actually think my favorite part of the whole meal was the appetizer: jalepeno jack poppers. Monterey Jack cheese, laced with jalepenos, breaded and fried. A little ranch dressing for dipping….mmmm.

I’ve written about barbecue before, but you can’t come to Texas without the subject coming up. Summer has been telling us how great The Salt Lick is for the longest time, and having put down Texas barbecue my whole life, I was eager to confirm my assertions.

The Salt Lick is near Driftwood, Texas, relatively near Austin. An easy drive for dinner for sure. I don’t think it’s near much else, but that isn’t a negative. I think they had to put it out there to accommodate the hundreds of cars that show up every night. Even when Cole [playing photographer here], Summer, Rex and I arrived last night around 7:30, we waited around an hour or so for a table. This at a restaurant with two enormous banquet halls to seat all the patrons.

S.L. is in a dry county, so it’s a bring-your-own place. The hanging-out atmosphere in the waiting area of the gravel parking lot really reminds you of a family reunion or a church picnic. For one, there are a million people there. Everyone’s drinking a beer, sitting on picnic tables or standing around talking, and dozens of little kids are running around, throwing rocks and jumping off the stone walls. Good times.

We were lucky because we got to eat on the side with the pit. It just sits right behind the cash register when you walk in the door. I guess there are lots of other barbecue restaurants with indoor pits, but it seems so odd to walk right in and see it there. It sure smells good, though. Yikes on the fire insurance. On the other hand, maybe they don’t have any. They’re in the middle of nowhere, so probably volunteer fire department. It’s a wooden building with a big stone pit in the middle? Hmmm.

The best part of the experience was dinner. Now, I’m not being untrue to my roots in saying this. While Texas "barbecue" is definitely meat cooked in a barbecue style, it’s just not barbecue. Barbecue is pulled pork. Period. You can also make barbecued ribs. To me, it’s even two different things to "go eat barbecue" and "go eat ribs." But here in Texas, barbecue is all meat.

We ate family style. The spread included cole slaw, potato salad, bread, sausage, brisket, ribs and onions. There was more than one comment along the lines of "the best sausage I’ve ever eaten." It was all good. But as we also observed, you keep us waiting and hour and a half, we’d eat an old tire.