Just because a dish has been around for a couple of hundred years, doesn’t mean I can’t fiddle with it, right? The modern version of what we call Eggplant Parmesan appeared in the Italian aristocrat/gourmand Ippolito Cavalcanti's cookbook, Cucina Teorico-Pratica,...
Deviled Crab
Those of you who grew up here on the Gulf Coast surely remember the stuffed deviled crabs in the freezer at the grocery store. They were in real crab shells, filled with a sort of mildly spicy crab dressing, individually wrapped, and cost about 50 cents each. You may...
Fresh Roasted Tomato Soup
It’s summertime in Baldwin County, Alabama, and I hope you’re absolutely inundated with fresh local tomatoes. And when it gets too hot for tomatoes on the coast here in a minute, I hope you’ll buy silly amounts of Sand Mountain, Alabama tomatoes, which are the next...
Pineapple Fried Rice
I should warn those of you who are looking for genuine Thai food that this Pineapple Fried Rice isn’t especially authentic. This is a recipe I cobbled together from many different sources, and then adapted it to our US Gulf Coast pantries. It’s delicious, though. We...
The Very Best Banana Pudding
Over the years I’ve learned a few things about food and cooking: --Respect your ingredients. --Salt and pepper are ultimately the most important seasonings. --Fresh is usually best, but not always. --For Father’s Day dinner, Dads are interested in only two things:...
Grape Salsa
It’s summertime, y’all! And I have an easy and refreshing summertime snack for you: Grape Salsa. I served this Friday night at the Eastern Shore Art Center, and it seems many people had never heard of Grape Salsa. At first some people were confused. One sweet woman in...
Parmesan Roasted Green Beans
What if I told you I have a vegetable recipe that your family will gobble up as fast as they snarf down French fries? What if I also told you making it was silly easy, but it sounded sort of fancy? (Y’all know that’s my favorite kind of recipe.) Well, Parmesan Roasted...
Mexican Street Corn Salad
I served this as a dip at an event on Cinco de Mayo and several people asked for the recipe. It’s a recipe we sometimes had in the catering shop coolers for TexMex Tuesdays, and it was popular there, too. Based on Mexico’s beloved street snack, elote--charred corn on...
Strawberry Cobbler
Strawberry season is in full swing here in Baldwin County, Alabama. I've already made a couple of batches of Tiny Batch Strawberry Preserves, I’ve eaten a fair number of strawberry spinach salads, and I still can’t make myself pass up local strawberries at the...
Chicken Tortellini Soup
Everybody in my universe tells me they love chicken noodle soup. I totally get it, and I like to think of it this way: rich, flavorful stock, tender carrots and celery, lemon zest and juice, dill and parsley, and plenty of tender white meat chicken. Plus pillowy...
BBQ Shrimp
If you’re not familiar with BBQ Shrimp, you should know this isn’t the kind of BBQ Shrimp you put on skewers and cook on the grill, although that sort of shrimp can be very tasty. THIS is the kind of BBQ Shrimp swimming in its buttery, garlicky, wonderful cooking...
Meatloaf Cottage Pie
I’m still fielding recipe requests, and this recipe has not only been requested, it was the source of much amusement in the catering shop. Meatloaf Cottage Pie is very, very, tasty, please don’t get me wrong. I will happily eat it any day of the week and lots of our...