One of my favorite series on The Food Network is Down Home with the Neelys. They’re a warm, lovely, hilarious, and charming couple who happen to cook up a storm. Or two or twelve or twenty.
If you’ve never caught the show, do yourself (and your culinary skills) a favor: Check your local listings and make the Neelys daily guests in your home. You’ll fall instantly in love with them – trust me.
If, like me, you’re already a true blue fan, you understand why I’m singing their praises. Their food is right up my southern alley.
New fans and old fans, alike, will want Pat and Gina on DVD. In Food Network Down Home with the Neelys: Season 1
, the Neelys teach you their favorite family recipes, foolproof dishes for entertaining, and delicious tricks of the trade. With more than fifty recipes on the entire first season’s thirteen mouth-watering episodes, nobody will leave the table hungry!
If cookbooks are more your thing, you’ll want to add Down Home with the Neelys: A Southern Family Cookbook
to your collection as soon as possible.
Either way you go about it, getting to know the Neelys will add a lot of style, fun, flavor, and southern sass to your cooking. Now tell me that’s not a good thing.
I mentioned a few posts back that I’ve kind of gotten stuck in Steamed Asparagus with Hollandaise sauce Heaven. Not that’s a single solitary thing wrong with this delectable dish – but I’d been wanting to try a new dance step with asparagus. So, I did just that a couple of times this week.
Baked Asparagus: Wednesday night, I baked asparagus. I washed the fresh asparagus (about 1-1/2 pounds), and snapped off the tough ends. I laid the asparagus down – with sides not touching – in a baking tray (a shallow cake pan is fine). I sprinkled the stalks with olive oil, salt, freshly ground pepper, chopped parsley (about 2 tablespoons), and garlic powder. Then I baked them just until the asparagus was tender – a little over 5 minutes.
Cast Iron Skillet Asparagus. Sunday Night, I used my cast iron grill skillet. I let the iron skillet heat up (to a medium-high temp.) while I prepared the asparagus (washed, trimmed). Then I brushed olive oil onto each stalk before placing it into the skillet. I seasoned the asparagus lightly with salt, pepper, and garlic pepper. I turned the stalks over after a few minutes, lightly seasoning the newly exposed side. At this point, I added a small amount of water to the bottom of the pan. The water created a lovely little sauna for the seasoned asparagus and, in no time at all, they were ready for the platter. When I removed them to the platter, I lightly squeezed a little fresh lime over the glistening beauties.
Notice I say “lightly” seasoned? The reason for this is the fact that cooking with cast iron gives you an outrageously amazing flavor that I frankly don’t want to mess with. Because of this incredible flavor, you can bypass the extra calories that come with many sauces, seasonings, and spreads (sigh, even Hollandaise Sauce). If you’re an asparagus fan, you seriously have to try this technique – it’s outstanding.
It’s tough to give exact times when giving vegetable recipes such as these simply because people like their vegetables cooked differently. I prefer mine to retain a little crispiness, while others like for them to collapse under the weight of a fork.
As always, just stay close by and test for yourself when you think your vegetables (in this case asparagus) are done.
Another tip: You might even want to use one asparagus stalk as a guinea pig. Take him through the motions and see how much, if any, seasonings you think are necessary. I SWEAR, cast iron magically creates its own flavor and seasonings. After taking my single stalk through the motions, I realized it was delicious as it was but that I wanted to experiment with more seasonings…. lightly.
I can’t wait to try asparagus recipes (as well as other vegetable recipes) on the grill. Grilled asparagus, grilled corn, grilled bell peppers, grilled mushrooms – all served alongside an orzo/rice combination makes my mouth water and my heart beat a little faster. What a tasty summer this will be!
The beauty at the top of the post is the Le Creuset Enameled Cast Iron Cobalt Square Grill Pan 10.25-in.
. This grill pan, which will soon become your best friend in the kitchen, is available through Amazon. Click the link for more information.
by Joi on January 13, 2010
I’ve been trying out different recipes from an outstanding cookbook, Dining in Historic Kentucky: A Restaurant Guide With Recipes
. So far, everything I’ve tried has been a rip roaring, plate-cleaning, lip-licking success.
I was blown away by a recipe for chicken salad… not just any chicken salad, mind you. This recipe was for deSHA’S Hawaiian Chicken Salad and you need to speed to your favorite grocery store for the ingredients right now. It is unbelievable.
deSha’s Hawaiian Chicken Salad Recipe
1 pound cooked white meat of chicken, cut bite-sized
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 green onion, chopped
1 cup canned chunky pineapple, drained
1 cup chopped pecans
In a mixing bowl, combine chicken, mayonnaise, and green onion and mix well. Stir in pineapple and nuts.
How I colored outside of the lines: I cooked more chicken and added chopped celery along with the pineapple and pecans, so I also added a little more green onions and mayo. This chicken salad looked gorgeous with the pineapples and pecans all big and chunky, but I wanted to serve the chicken salad in pita pockets, so I cut the chunks into much smaller pieces and even chopped the pecans a little more.
If I had had some grapes on hand, I would have chopped some on top of each pita-wich. But, alas, I am who I am and had given our grapes to a possum who was passing by. (She was most grateful and couldn’t have been cuter.)
If you made this chicken salad with chunky pineapples, large chunks of chicken, coarsely chopped pecans, green onions, and maybe even grapes, it would be delicious with or without bread. I could see eating this remarkable dish with crackers. Please do give it a try – you’ll be thrilled that you did.
About deSha’s:
deSha’s Restaurant is located on the northwest corner of Main and Broadway in historic Lexington, Kentucky. These two streets were vital to Lexington when it was laid out in 1780… and no, I wasn’t there.
On this northwest corner of the intersection stood the first Fayette County Courthouse, with a hut for a jail alongside. A hut!
Although the interior has been altered, a great effort was made to preserve the Victorian feeling. deSha’s has been described as a “Fun or casual place, with a lively atmosphere and upbeat music in the background.” Somehow they forgot to mention the best chicken salad in the universe.
I was fortunate enough to receive an advanced copy of B. Smith Cooks Southern-Style
. The actual cookbook will be available later this year – November 3 to be exact. The timing couldn’t be better, because there are countless recipes in this wonderful cookbook that you’ll want to make during the holidays – PLUS it will make the ultimate gift for anyone on your Christmas list.
You might want to bake a few Sweet Potato Pies With Brown Sugar Pecan Topping (page 285). While you can use store-bought pie shells, you’ll never buy one again once you try her Butter Pie Dough (page 286).
Other recipes you’ll embrace during Autumn and Winter:
- Pumpkin-Pecan Cake with Caramel-Cream Cheese Frosting
- Deep-Dish Apple Pie
- Candy Apple Grits Creme Brulee (!!!)
- Yeast Rolls
- Sweet Potato Spoon Bread
- Whole-Wheat Potato Rolls
- Hoppin’ John
- Macaroni and a Plethora of Cheese (features mozzarella, cheddar, Monterey jack, Swiss, and Parmigiano-Reggiano)
- Cinnamon-Spiced Carrots
- Southern Spiced Catfish Roulade with Black-Eyed Pea Gravy
- Ham Steak with Red Eye Gravy
- Roasted Capon (or roasting chicken) with Sausage-Apple-Pear Dressing
- Chicken Fried Steak
- Cajun Fried Pork Chops (OMG – these sound amazing)
- Many, many, many more…
Of course, the recipes will serve you year round – I just happen to have Thanksgiving and Christmas on my mind. Truth be told, I often have the holidays somewhere in mind, if not in the front of my brain – they’re always lurking in the back, all decked out in their glittery colors and smelling like Heaven.
Other Recipes you’re going to love are:
- Root Beer Barbecued Pulled Pork
- Blackened Tilapia
- New Orleans Barbecued Shrmip
- Grilled Mahi Mahi with Coconut Curry Sauce
- Succotash
- Green Tomato Relish
- Grilled Okra and Tomato Salad
- Fifties-Style Lobster Salad
- Corn Fritters
- Down-Home Cornbread
There are many, many, many more recipes – but I wanted you to get a good feel for the “heart and spirit” behind this cookbook and behind Barbara Smith. If you aren’t yet familiar with B. Smith, it’s time to familiarize yourself! If you love Paula Deen and Nigella Lawson, you’ll love B. Smith. She has the warmth, charm, beauty, and cooking talent of Paula and Nigella and her cooking (to me, anyway) reminds me of what you’d get if Paula Deen and Nigella Lawson put their heads together for a meal. However, it’s EVEN better because B. Smith brings something to the table that only she can bring – herself.
B. Smith’s recipes are completely unique and utterly fascinating. Her recipes will be a wake up call to your kitchen as well as to your taste buds. Your pots and pans will be talking about these dishes for years to come. If cooking and meal-planning have become mundane, uninspiring, and boring or if you find yourself making the same things over and over – B. Smith Cooks Southern Style will be a dream come true. Cooking will be fun again and your meals will be more delicious than ever.
As I’ve said before, I collect cookbooks – in fact, my cookbook collection is one of my greatest prides and joys. I spend a lot of time with my cookbooks and can tell you which book any particular recipe is in. It’s a feat and a half considering that my collection is in the hundreds!
I only mention this because I want to point out one thing: I don’t recommend a lot of different cookbooks – simply because, with all the ones I get, if I recommended every single one the truly magical ones wouldn’t stand out. It’d be like, “Oh, Joi wants me to buy another cookbook… surprise, surprise.“ On the other hand, if I (the High Priestess of Cookbooks) only recommend the ones that flat out blow me away and make my kitchen come alive – then you’ll know that you need to hustle your buns to your nearest bookstore or save the bun motion and grab a copy on Amazon (B. Smith Cooks Southern-Style). If you click the link now, you can actually pre-order a copy on Amazon now – and they’ll rush it to you as soon as it’s ready to roll.
You. Will. Want. This. Cookbook. It’s sassy, fun, original, spirited, and filled with recipes you WILL NOT find anywhere else. That can’t be said about a lot of cookbooks, you know. Trust the High Priestess on that one.
I keep ALL of my issues of Kentucky Living. For one thing, I publish a Kentucky Blog (Genuine Kentucky) and need all the information I can get my eyes on.
Another reason is we travel around our state a great deal and these issues serve as guides.
Admittedly, however, the main reason is the recipes. I’m all about southern food, and the recipes in this magazine are always perfection waiting to happen.
I sought out (and happily found) an article from a 2005 issue about Dry Rubs. A dry rub is a combination of seasonings and spices that are rubbed onto meat prior to grilling. Grilling season is nearly here and I couldn’t be happier to see it. We had a LONG, frigid winter and baseball, flower gardening, and grilling are going to be sweeter than ever.
Use the dry rubs as the recipe is given or adjust the spices and seasonings to suit your own taste.
MEMPHIS-STYLE DRY RUB RECIPE
1/4 cup paprika
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
According to Kentucky Living, the dry rub recipe above is great for chicken and ribs. They suggest that when you are grilling chicken, you should rub the Memphis Rub inside and outside of the chicken. This recipe will generously coat a 4 to 5 pound chicken for grilling.
When grilling ribs, this recipe will coat 3 to 4 pounds of pork ribs.
STEAK DRY RUB RECIPE
2 Tablespoons chili powder
2 Tablespoons garlic powder
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 Tablespoons dried basil
2 Tablespoons dried oregano
This Dry Rub recipe will coat a 12 to 16 oz. rib eye.
Pat the steak well with the mixture, making sure the entire steak is covered. Grill over hot coals as desired and throw away the steak sauce!
For more great southern recipes, check out the recipe section of Kentucky Living.com.
