Sherry – Page 28 – Rosemary and the Goat

BLT Stacked Tomatoes

One of my favorite foods from Savannah.

Do you find it hard to pass up a fried green tomato? Well I do and while visiting in Savannah back in April I saw them on every menu I looked at along with shrimp and grits and pimento cheese .

I grew up eating fried green tomatoes. My dad had the best garden ever and “organic” before most people even though of growing anything without a lot of pesticides. He made his own garlic spray that he would spray on his plants for bugs and he even hooked up a pump in the lake they lived on (after retirement) and use that water to water his garden.

Over the years of our gardening we would grow all types of tomatoes and I could not wait to see the first green tomatoes get big enough to pick and fry and believe me it was hard to pick them knowing in just a few days we would have beautiful vine ripen tomatoes. But, that was never a hard decision for me to make — pick or not pick.

Have you ever had fried green tomatoes with pimento cheese on top? I haven’t either but saw it on some menus in Savannah. I have posted a Fried Green Tomato with Black Eyed Pea Vinaigrette and a Fried Green Tomato with Ravigote Sauce.

July 7, 2016 By Sherry

Entree/ Fish/Seafood

Paella

My pan overfloweth!

If you are tired of doing BBQ for the 4th of July, why not try a big pan of paella.

My first experience with paella was many years ago in Mexico. After checking into our all-inclusive resort we had a cocktail in hand before even making it to our room. We settled in for a few days of sun, beach and beautiful water. This resort was where I first tasted a white vegetable soup that took me years of searching to come with something similar to what I ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner while in Mexico

One day while we were on the beach, the chef prepared a paella. It wasn’t any ordinary pan of paella either. The fire for cooking this was a big oil drum with flames blazing from the top. The pan was maybe 5′ across and that they perched on top of the flaming barrel. They proceeded to cook the ingredients, and at the end adding in the green peas. As we sat in our chairs on the beach enjoying cocktails that were delivered before we even asked for them, we were salivating at the aroma coming from this gigantic pan and as they slowly picked up the pan to move it to the table to start serving all of us beach goers, THEY DROPPED IT and spilled paella all over the sand. So, we had to wait a little while to taste it since they had to start over from scratch. When we were finally served the dish of paella, it was delicious.

Years later we had some paella in Spain which was just ok (picture below); I thought it was too mushy. Then my son make it here one year for our Spainish feast we did after Thanksgiving and I was just his sous chef. So, I thought it was about time for me to try it on my own.

July 1, 2016 By Sherry

Dessert/ Ice Cream

Buttermilk Ice Cream with Bourbon Peaches and Other Friends

My peach friends are blackberries and blueberries.

Do we ever get tired of ice cream? When it is hot as blazes here in Texas, ice cream is the only thing that will cool you down short of jumping in the swimming pool.

While Blue Bell was taking their break in the ice cream making business, I wouldn’t buy any other brand. If it is not Blue Bell, then I’m going to make my own. And, even when it started showing up on the shelves again, I only wanted to buy their “light” because to me that is their best.

While visiting for a few days in New Orleans recently we were at the World War II museum (great museum) and decided that we could walk to Willa Jean’s for lunch (I thought it was rather a long walk 🙂 ). Wonderful lunch and I will be making a sandwich (sort of) that I had but for dessert we shared their cornbread bread pudding with bourbon and buttermilk ice cream. I didn’t want to attempt the cornbread pudding because it seems a little heavy to be making in the summer. So, I decided to make a buttermilk ice cream with bourbon fruit on the side. Yum, yum. Maybe I’ll do the cornbread bread pudding in the fall when it starts to cool down a bit.

June 26, 2016 By Sherry

Egg Dishes/ Morning Foods

Bacon and Avocado Quesadilla with Egg

Who says quesadillas have to be round anyway!

Just because I don’t have a pair of cowboy boots or don’t own a horse or even a ten gallon hat doesn’t mean I have not been around the stables a few times when it comes to whipping up some good Tex-Mex/Mexican food and this recipe just happens to be for breakfast.

Living in Texas for the past 26 years has made me somewhat of an almost Texan with some pretty good Mexican recipe skills. I like my guacamole hot, my taco shells thin and crisp (only the corn ones Crisp) and I like my beans a little tipsy instead of mashed.

All three of our kids went to UT in Austin and three out of five of our grandsons were born in Texas. We have eaten at so many Mexican restaurants over the years that I can tell from their salsa and chips if we are going to enjoy their food.

I love my pasole soup made with pulled pork and hominy and my homemade tamales are almost as good as my sister’s. I’ve been experimenting with some shrimp nachos recently and a few other types of Mexican treats with a Sherry spin on them; so when I recently came across a bacon and avocado quesadilla on a menu from E & O Food and Drink restaurant in Chicago, I knew I was going to have to give It my Tex-Mex-Sherry tweak.

June 21, 2016 By Sherry

Salads

Pasta and Arugula Salad and Herb Dressing

What to do with these ingredients.

With all of these ingredients left over from the weekend I had an idea to use my pasta and arugula in a salad but didn’t know what type of dressing. So I “googled” and believe it or not there were a lot of people that had already beaten me to this salad idea. So I took Food and Wine’s recipe and added a couple of things.

Like I was saying in another post, I always buy too much food when my kids come home, in fact, when anyone comes over. A few weekends ago when my daughter came I had bought some cute pasta to use in a pasta salad and never got around to using it, I also had bought some frozen petite peas that I was going to use to make my pasta pesto saladthat I had made for our garden club luncheon last year. That was the easiest salad ever. But along with those two ingredients I had a whole box of baby arugula and some very pretty colored cherry tomatoes in orange, purple, red and yellow.

I have a weakness for “cute” pastas. This particular one was a trottole pasta (looks like spinning tops (that’s a toy if you didn’t know what a “top” was)) and who could resist Orechetti (little ears), or little O’s, ABC’s, coral shapes and I’ve even bought Maple leaf shaped pasta when we visited Canada, and of course I have bought Texas shaped pasta.

June 16, 2016 By Sherry

Entree/ Fish/Seafood

Spicy Sesame Tuna Bowl

Not everything served in a bowl is soup.

A bowl serves a good purpose when you’re serving a food that you don’t want to chase all over the plate. I love pasta in a bowl because the rim of the bowl gives you a way to pin down your squirmy pasta pieces. Breakfast in a bowl makes sense too because you have layers of your favorite breakfast items all stacked up.

Now, I guess everything mingled in a bowl isn’t for everyone. I remember one of my kid’s friends not liking anything touching on a plate and all the food had to have its own space. I’m guilty of putting beans or peas in a small bowl on my plate because I don’t want all the juice running around the other foods and getting them soggy.

One Friday night we went to Bonefish Grill and as always I checked out their menu before going and I knew exactly what I was going to order because it looked so pretty in the picture I knew I would be making it because my mouth was watering just looking at the picture.

June 11, 2016 By Sherry

Morning Foods/ Side dish

Bacon and Tomato Cheese Grits

Kiss my grits! (As Flo would say)

In case you don’t know who Flo is she was a waitress in the sitcom “Alice” many, many years ago. Can’t say that was a favorite show of mine but I can’t forget her telling people to “kiss my grits”.

Back in April I took a trip to Savannah with my twin sister and two friends from high school, Pauletta and Judy. We had such a great time and can’t wait to get together again. Funny, one of Pauletta’s walking friends asked her what she was going to talk to friends about that she had not seen for 40 years. Well, we never quit talking. It was fun reliving the past, hearing about everyone’s grandkids, and what the future holds for all of us.

Did we ever eat some good food while there! What is it about a “Southern” menu that you will always find shrimp and grits, fried green tomatoes and some good pimento cheese in with all your menu items making it even harder to decide what to order. I can’t pass up grits, I can’t pass up pimento cheese and I certainly can’t pass up trying someone’s fried green tomatoes. I had a great stack of tomatoes on our last day there that I can’t wait to try to recreate.

When we toured the Mercer House we heard stories about when Jim Williams lived there (remember the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and he was accused of murder) and the parties he would give and one of his favorite things his caterer Lucille Wright (the most sought after caterer in Savannah) would make was shrimp and grits and pumpkin cornbread. I may be giving that pumpkin cornbread a try in the Fall so keep a lookout for it.

June 6, 2016 By Sherry

Cake/ Dessert/ Morning Foods

Raspberry Applesauce Cake

The kids are all gone!🙁

What do you do with all that special “grandkid” friendly food after they leave?

My refrigerator and pantry are always packed with things like applesauce, some good yogurt, some organic meat of some sort, lots of fruit, string cheese of course and lots of other things that I may not be eating if it is left over. As always, I buy way too much. But who wants to run out of food or goodies when the kids are visiting. I usually love the non-so-good-for-you-foods like Goldfish, popsicles, ice cream cups with about 6 kinds of sprinkles, and drink boxes (organic juice of course).

So recently my daughter was home for the weekend; and they had friends and kids at our house, so that meant stock up on some “stuff” for them to eat since they may not want to be eating the paella that we made one night.

On Monday, when the house was all empty except for the two of us, I decided to take on the bulging refrigerator. First, I threw all the fruit into my dehydrator, peeled and individually wrapped my bananas (they are like eating banana popsicles), threw some sweet stuff away. But, then there are the cartons of applesauce staring at me and I don’t even like applesauce.

June 1, 2016 By Sherry

Entree/ Fish/Seafood/ Pasta

Shrimp and Crab Stuffed Pasta Shells

Stuffed shells perfect for summer get together.

Do you cook more shrimp in the summer or are you like me and cook it year round when you get them on sale. This dish would be great with some lobster thrown in to the mix.

I love shrimp in just about any recipe. I’ve pickled them, corn dogged them, skewered them, coconut fried them, Bang Banged them, and like Bubba Gump I could go on and on listing the ways I like shrimp.

This recipe just happens to have crab meat in it along with the shrimp. After making this dish I decided that maybe the next time around instead of stuffing the shells this would be great just mixed in with a penne or rigatoni pasta; saves some time stuffing and the taste is going to be just the same.

Sour cream was supposed to go in this dish but my carton container something other than that when I opened it and I was in luck since grandson Thomas had just been for a visit and left behind a carton of plain yogurt. I like the yogurt and would probably use that the next time instead of the sour cream.

May 27, 2016 By Sherry

Entree/ Fish/Seafood

Fiesta Catfish with Guacamole

I had to convince my husband to try this combination.

Sometime back in May with Cinco de Mayo behind us I was thinking about Mexican flavors and how they would fit into a catfish recipe.

Growing up the only way we ate catfish was fried. In my opinion, that is the best way to eat catfish. Although, lately I have been coating it and baking it in the oven and I have to say it is almost as good as deep-fried. Still crunchy like fried but not nearly as many calories since it isn’t swimming in oil.

My first thoughts were to put in some Mexican seasonings like cumin and chili powder then I got carried away and added some garlic powder, cayenne and paprika. Very tasty. There were also a few avocados lying around just waiting to be made into some good guacamole so after it’s made and the fish is done I added some to the tops of the crunchy, out of the oven catfish filets along with a sliver of tomato.

May 21, 2016 By Sherry

Dessert/ Pies/Tarts

Chocolate Tacos

A big hit with my bunco group.

Since our May bunco fell the day before Cinco de Mayo we were asked to bring a Mexican themed food. So I did, in dessert form.

Everyone loves tacos, right? We were married when my husband was in his last year of college and I remember we would go and buy tacos for 25 cents each. Were they ever good! And I always served tacos to my kids when they were still at home. What’s not to love — crunchy shell, spicy ground beef filling, some shredded lettuce, tomato and cheese with a spicy taco sauce drizzled over the top.

Have things ever changed. My first fish taco was in LaJolla, CA at a place called George’s at the Cove and since then I have become a taco aficionado. Experimenting with all kinds of fillings, I have made a Pork Belly Taco, Pulled Pork Taco, Fish Tacos, and one of my favorites, Grilled Salmon Tacos with Schirarch Cream. So, you see I have been experimenting with a lot of things other than ground beef; so why not a dessert version.

A few years ago a friend told me about this bed and breakfast she went to in California, the Oak Knoll Inn in Napa (Looks like the Inn has been sold, shucks, we never made it there.) and how beautiful the food was and the owner had a Chocolate for Breakfast Cookbook by Barbara Passino. The book is full of wonderful breakfast items and many, many chocolate recipes. I fell in love with a chocolate taco picture (is that possible?) of a taco full of fruit and topped with a pansy and a big scoop of raspberry sorbet.

May 15, 2016 By Sherry

Side dish

Tipsy Beans

You may know these as “drunken” beans.

These beans were a fitting side dish for a going away party that we did for our neighbors, Maria and Ricky, one weekend in April and a perfect day for using our outdoor kitchen. Pulled pork sandwiches with cabbage topping, truffled parmesan fries, tipsy beans, coleslaw, and some appetizers

People have been doing drunken beans for years I guess. We grew up eating those baked beans that are loaded with bacon and brown sugar, mustard, ketchup and baked a long time in the oven.

Most recipes for drunken beans just call for pintos but I’ve started using a mixture of beans even in my chili. For these beans I used kidney, black and pinto beans combined. I used a dark beer but any kind of beer will work. The one thing I did wrong in this recipe was to not brown my bacon. Don’t ask me why I didn’t do it. I have always browned the bacon in baked beans or any kind of dish that calls for bacon. I got in a hurry and just threw it in the pan with the onions and it never browned.

May 9, 2016 By Sherry

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