Hi friends,
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been so engrossed in reading Paula Deen’s “memoirs” “It Ain’t All About the Cookin’”. I have such newfound respect and admiration for this Lady… a true example of a flawed but blessed human being who has achieved her American Dream. I just had to honor Paula’s gumption and determination by choosing one of her recipes for this week’s S&S Cooking show!
Immediately my mind went to Paula’s recipe for Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf. That one was a big hit with my family, especially with mashed potatoes. But I’ve made that recipe before – which breaks the “rules” Steph and I have happily imposed on ourselves – and besides, Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf is just NOT a dish one makes two weeks before one finds oneself on a beach in the Bahamas! Neither is Paula’s infamous deep-fried, bacon-wrapped, macaroni-and-cheese dish. (It hurts just to type that!!) So… after a long and discerning search through at least 50 pages of Food Network’s Paula Deen recipes I found the perfect one that I decided was relatively healthy – and still a show-stopper!
Entrée…
Fresh Herbs: Steph used fresh chives and basil from her home garden. I’m way behind the curve on that one, so I bought fresh sage from the market when I did my week’s shopping on Sunday. (While cooking Steph asked me to describe the smell of fresh sage to her and the best I could do was, “It smells like a fancy house in the desert in Arizona.” What?! Well, how would YOU describe it? Really – I’m curious to know!)
Sausage: I dug up a few links of sweet Italian turkey sausage from my freezer. Steph used spicy Italian pork sausage!
Equipment: The recipe suggests using 2 pans – one for browning the sausage and another for the pork chops. Really? I mean, we love cooking but nobody likes scrubbing pans – especially with a full belly. Then Steph piped up with one of her epiphanies: “Just use the same pan… You get more flavor and you’ll have fewer dishes!” This is a great example of why I love cooking with this girl – thanks Steph!! Note: You have to use a pan you can put in a hot oven to finish cooking off the chops. If you don’t have an oven-safe pan just cover the handle of your pan a few times with aluminum foil to keep it from melting.
Sides…
Shannon: Wild Rice Salad - Another Paula recipe that was beautiful and delicious! This would be perfect for a picnic because it doesn’t need to be refrigerated. But 1 + 1/3 cup canola oil was waaay too much. A few tablespoons of canola oil or olive oil would have done the trick. The wild rice took about an hour but is worth the time investment to cook. I was able to buy just the one cup that I needed at my grocery store in the bulk aisle (even in Amarillo, TX, and that is saying a lot) and when the water cooked down faster than I expected I just added more as needed and reduced the heat. Try this recipe, it was a treat and the leftovers today are yummy!
Steph: Grilled Tomatoes and Steamed Artichokes. Steph’s sides looked wonderful. She has a nifty new rice steamer that she used to cook her artichokes. Man we love our kitchen gadgets!! Maybe we'll get lucky and Steph will tell us more about her sides when she responds (hint hint!)...
“The one thing I could rely on was my stove… my family ate good.” – Paula Deen
Cheers!
Chef Shannon
What a fun meal this was to make. I was convinced I was NOT a pork fan, but I've been proven wrong yet again! Shannon rocked it this week with this recipe. It was fun hearing her talk about the Paula Dean's book and the things about her. I think it's really easy to get wrapped up in our own issues and drama and think that everyone else has it 'all put together,' but when it comes down to it, we're all the same and all have things that don't make us perfect (except me, obviously)!! I loved the quote about having good food on the table though. Lately I have really been trying to work on the imperfections, but take pride in the things that I do well, and recognize that in my own head.
ReplyDeleteAnywhooo's, my sides this week were the steamed artichoke, and grilled tomatoes. I steamed the artichoke so felt justified in dipping the healthy veggie parts in fattening butter (you win some and you lose some). I then grilled some tomatoes (cut side down first, then flip and cover with a bit of roasted garlic, oil and Parmesan cheese). Don't over cook them though because as I learned tonight while repeating the tomatoes... they fall out of their skin and slide right off the spatula really quick. Then you end up staring at the splattered ketchup ingredient feeling like a terrible comedian at a rowdy comedy club. Not pretty!
Thanks ya'll for watching our blog and hope you are getting some great recipe ideas. Like Shannon said, please feel free to forward us some new recipes, we always love broadening our horizons with new stuff.
Love to everyone and happy cooking!
Chef Steph