Southern Grits with Shrimp

Southern Grits with Shrimp

We like to take trips down to southeastern North Carolina along the coastal waterways and one of our favorite things to do is to look for the shrimp boats coming back in with huge catches of fresh shrimp. You used to be able to buy a pound for as little as a dollar right off the boat. There's nothing more satisfying than shrimp and ice cold beer! Just ask Lib and Jim Gurkin.

Here's a great southeastern Carolina recipe for grits and shrimp. Who said you only ate grits at breakfast? This makes for a truly mouth-watering supper!

Grits:

• 1-1/2 cups water
• 1-1/2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
• 3/4 cup stone-ground grits
• 3/4 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmigiano cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
• black pepper - coarsely ground

Shrimp:

• 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 6 bacon slices, chopped
• 2 cups thickly sliced button mushrooms
• 1/2 cup beer
• 1 cup chopped green onions
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1-to-2 dashes Tabasco sauce
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• black pepper - coarsely ground

To cook the grits, bring water and milk to a boil over high heat. Add grits; cook according to package directions. Remove from heat. Stir in remaining ingredients. If grits become too thick, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup milk. Keep warm in double boiler.

To cook the shrimp, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add bacon; saute' until almost crisp. Remove from skillet, reserving pan drippings. Add shrimp and mushrooms to pan drippings; saute' until shrimp is light pink, about 4 minutes. Add beer; green onions and garlic. Cook 2 minutes. Add lemon juice, Tabasco, pepper and parsley.

Divide the grits equally among 4 plates. Spoon shrimp mixture on top; sprinkle with crumbled bacon. Serves 4.

Lib's Spaghetti

Lib's Spaghetti

Lib Gurkin has a real simple, great-tasting recipe for jazzin' up Chef Boyardee spaghetti. Sounds crazy, but give it a try and let us know what you think. We all love it.

• 1 lb hamburger
• 4 16-oz cans Chef Boyardee spaghetti sauce w/ meat
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 jar mushrooms
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4-cup catsup
• 1/2-teaspoon sweet basil
• Accent (sprinkle to taste)
• Salt and pepper (sprinkle to taste)

Mix onion and meat...cook over medium heat until done. Drain excess grease. Add spaghetti sauce plus up-to 1 cup of water. Don’t make it too watery, but keep in mind that it will thicken as it cooks. Add catsup, Worcestershire sauce and mushrooms. Sprinkle on sweet basil and accent. Boil the spaghetti. After it is done, drain off the excess water and then combine the cooked sauce and spaghetti. 

Serves 6.

Grandma Estelle

Grandma Estelle

I don't recall every seeing Grandma just a settin at rest. During the day, she would be in the tobacco fields, just like us boys. She could sucker the tobacco, or crop them as well as any of the guys, and probably better than most. Her tote sack would be just as heavy as the men's in the cotton patch, and her rows were picked clean. She didn't leave much white for us 'little fellers' to glean behind her. When she wasn't in the fields, she would be up under the sheds tying and hanging the tobacco in the barns to dry. Even up to the house Grandma stayed moving. Chopping kindling for the cook stove, hauling buckets of water from the spring for washing and cooking. Down here we don't mow the grass, we sweep the yard with a homemade broom. That was Grandma's job also. Even on a Sunday afternoon, when we would all be settin on the porch, with a glass of tea and telling each other Swamp Stories, Grandma would laugh right along with the rest of us, but she would have a tub of field peas or butterbeans in her lap and she would never quit shelling. I was a tad at the time, and dearly loved my Grandma. There wasn't a lot a little feller can do to help around the house, but one job I did for Grandma was every morning to take her slop jar out to the Necessary House and empty it and clean it out for her. She never once failed to say thank you, and I know she appreciated it. (She would slip me a little extra piece of Chitlins or Hog Skin, every now and then) One summer, the spring started to dry up and Grandma was having to go further and further to get water. She decided she wanted a well. Grandpa Kader Lewis just snorted at "sech wimmins foolishness", and refused to dig that well. Then one evening, after a long hot day in the cornfield, him and his sons came to the cabin and they won't no supper waitin on the table. Grandma explained that she had taken so long to haul water that she didn't have time to cook. They all sat down to cold biscuits and black sorghum molasses. Grandpa Kader didn't say a word, but afterwards he got out the lanterns and led his sons to a spot about 10 feet from the back door and said "Boys we are gonna put a well, rite chere". They dug that well with picks, shovels, iron bars and buckets. Grandma now has one of the finest 40-foot deep wells in the county and I learned a great lesson that night. It don't take much to make a woman happy. Just give her some respect, a little love and a good well.

-Bob Gurkin

Beef Pot Roast with Vegetables

Beef Pot Roast with Vegetables

• 1 chuck roast (3-4 lbs)
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1/4 cup self-rising flour
• 3 carrots, cut into ½ inch pieces
• 2 teaspoons seasoned salt
• 1 stalk celery, cut into ½ inch pieces
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 6 potatoes, cut up
• 3 tablespoons oil or shortening
• 3 cups hot water as needed

Heat the oil in a pot or Dutch oven big enough to hold the roast. Mix the flour, seasoned salt, and pepper together. Place the roast in the flour mixture and turn and rub it until coated all over. Place the roast in the pot over medium heat and brown on both sides. Add the remaining flour mixture to the pot, along with 2 cups hot water and the onions. Let come to a boil, and then reduce the heat to low and cover the pot. Let simmer for 1-½ hrs, adding as much of the remaining hot water as may be needed to keep the roast from cooking dry. Add the carrots, celery, and potatoes to the pot and let simmer until tender, about 30 minutes. Or optionally, add the vegetables to the pot and cook in the oven at 325 degrees, with the pot covered, for about 1-½ hrs or until tender. Serves 8.

Crème Brûlée French Toast

Crème Brûlée French Toast

Here is one of the best French Toast recipes that I have personally ever tasted - courtesy of our good friends - Sue & Mark Abrahams. Now this isn't one of our traditional southern recipes but we made an exception in this case because it really is easy and inexpensive to make - and it tastes so darn good! Be sure to pour warm Aunt Jemima or Mrs. Butterworth's maple syrup over it! Goes great with a nice Prosecco. Yum, Yum!

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• an 8- to 9-inch round loaf country-style bread
• 5 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon Grand Marnier
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

In a small heavy saucepan melt butter with brown sugar and corn syrup over moderate heat, stirring, until smooth and pour into a 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking dish. Cut six 1-inch thick slices from center portion of bread, reserving ends for another use, and trim crusts. Arrange bread slices in one layer in baking dish, squeezing them slightly to fit. In a bowl whisk together eggs, half-and-half, vanilla, Grand Marnier, and salt until combined well and pour evenly over bread. Chill bread mixture, covered, at least 8 hours and up to 1 day.
Preheat oven to 350° F. and bring bread to room temperature. Bake bread mixture, uncovered, in middle of oven until puffed and edges are pale golden, 35 to 40 minutes. Serve hot French toast immediately. 

Serves 6.

Rabbit and Spare Ribs

Rabbit and Spare Ribs

If you're the hunting type and aren't opposed to shootin' or snarin' a nice, fat rabbit - or even if you're not the hunting type and just like experimentin' with different kinds of wild meats - like bear, venison, etc. - you can find dressed rabbits in certain specialty meat stores. Personally, catching a rabbit is my preference.

• 1 rabbit, cut into pieces
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 lbs pork spare ribs
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• ½ teaspoon dried sage
• 2 teaspoons salt

Wash the rabbit well and place in a large pot covered with water. Let come to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and cook slowly for 45 minutes. Add the ribs, seasonings and 3 cups water. Cover the pot and let come to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low; cook until all the meat is tender, about 45 minutes. Note. 3 lbs pork neck bones can be substituted for the spare ribs. 

Serves 6-8.

Pickin' Tobacco

Pickin’ Tobacco

When I was a very young boy, barely standing as high as a full-grown tobacco plant, my Dad asked me one summer if I was ready to help pick tobacco. My full day’s pay for picking tobacco was to be the great sum of one dollar. Well, in those days, one dollar was a whole lot of money – especially to a young boy like me – so I immediately said “Sure!” – thinking I was making easy money for hardly any work – boy, was I wrong.

The next morning, my Dad woke me up before dawn. We got into his pickup truck and drove over to the tobacco fields. It was August in North Carolina and the cool of the early morning would soon give way to the hot, humid and hazy heat of the day. If you have never seen or touched a tobacco plant, it has a sticky resin all over its leaves and coats your clothes and skin after touching it. At the end of the day, your whole body is coated with the resin, which is very hard to wash off. I would pick the leaves and carry armfuls to a trailer that was pulled over to curing barns by a tractor. The tobacco leaves were tied in groups to long sticks and then hung inside the curing barns, which were like hot ovens – temperatures inside would be almost 130 degrees. You could walk inside for only a few seconds before becoming soaking wet with sweat. And you had to be careful of the snakes – cottonmouths and copperheads – they were everywhere.

At the end of the long, steamy hot day – almost at dusk, my Dad said we were finally done. I was way past done – I immediately fell asleep in the truck on the way home. I didn’t want to take a bath after supper because I was so tired, but I had to because I was filthy. The next morning, we got up again at dawn and did it all over again. This went on for a couple of weeks, until all the tobacco had been picked and hung for curing.

I was finally paid for my two weeks of work – a grand total of $14 – plus an extra $1 as a bonus for getting the job done ahead of schedule. I never had so much money in my life. I couldn't wait to spend some of it, so the first place I went to was the “Toot ‘n Tell It” drive-in in Garner, North Carolina. They had the best “All The Way (mustard, chili, coleslaw, and Frosty Morn weiners)” hot dogs I'd ever eaten – and their ice cream milk shakes were to die for. I put the rest of the money into my piggy bank.

I’ll never forget those tobacco pickin’ days. It was hard work, but I sure loved it.

- Rick Gurkin