A Love Affair with Southern Cooking (15 page)

3 tablespoons butter

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

1 medium celery rib, trimmed and finely chopped

1 small garlic clove, finely chopped

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

¹
/
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teaspoon ground hot red pepper (cayenne), or to taste

2 cups chicken broth

1 large ripe Florida avocado (about 1½ pounds)

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 cups half-and-half or light cream

• 1.
  Melt the butter in a large, heavy saucepan over moderate heat. Add the onion and celery and sauté, stirring often, for about 10 minutes or until limp and golden. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute longer.
  
• 2.
  Blend in the flour, curry powder, salt, nutmeg, and cayenne and mellow for 1 to 2 minutes over moderate heat. Whisk in the chicken broth, then cook, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes or until lightly thickened. Turn the
  heat to its lowest point, set the pan lid on askew, and allow the soup to mellow while you prepare the avocado.
  
• 3.
  Halve and pit the avocado, then scoop the flesh into the work bowl of a food processor or into an electric blender cup. Sprinkle with the lemon juice and purée until smooth. Transfer to a large nonreactive bowl and set aside.
  
• 4.
  Ladle about 1 cup each of the soup and cream into the processor work bowl or blender cup, pulse once or twice, then buzz until smooth; add to the avocado purée. Repeat with the remaining soup and cream, add to the avocado purée, and whisk well to combine. Taste for salt and cayenne and adjust as needed.
  
• 5.
  Cover the soup and chill for several hours or overnight before serving. Serve as is, or to be fancy, float a few cubes of firm-ripe avocado or thin slices of lemon in each portion.
  

BLACK-EYED PEA SOUP WITH GREENS AND HAM

MAKES
6
SERVINGS

For several years I’ve followed the career of Robert Carter, now chef at the Peninsula Grill in Charleston. To my mind, he is not only South Carolina’s most creative chef but also one of the South’s top talents. I first encountered Carter in the late 1990s at the Richmond Hill Inn in Asheville, North Carolina, and was so smitten with his new take on southern food that I featured him in the Smoky Mountains article I was writing for
Gourmet.
To my delight, I bumped into Carter again a few years later, this time while on assignment in Charleston for
Bon Appétit.
His food was better than ever and as proof, I offer this amazing Peninsula Grill soup. Note:
The recipe calls for fresh black-eyed peas and I don’t mind telling you that they are the very devil to shuck. Fortunately, many farmer’s market vendors have already done the job for you. If fresh black-eyed peas are unavailable, substitute the frozen.
Tip:
This soup can be made a day or two ahead of time; indeed its flavor will be richer after a stay in the fridge. Once the soup is done, cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. A quick re-heating is all that’s needed.

1 cup freshly shelled black-eyed peas (see Note above)

8 ounces mustard greens, torn into bite-size pieces (8 cups firmly packed)

8 ounces collards, torn into bite-size pieces (6 cups firmly packed)

2 tablespoons bacon drippings or olive oil

½ cup finely diced ham (preferably country ham)

1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped

3 medium carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped

2 medium celery ribs, coarsely chopped

1 large garlic clove, finely minced

8 cups (2 quarts) chicken broth

1 large whole bay leaf, preferably fresh

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

½ teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

• 1.
  Place the black-eyed peas in a large, heavy saucepan and add enough cold water to cover them by 3 inches. Bring to a boil, cover, then set off the heat and let stand for 2 hours.
  
• 2.
  Drain the peas and return to the pan. Once again, add enough cold water to cover them by 3 inches. This time, boil the peas uncovered for about 30 minutes or until tender (frozen black-eyed peas will take slightly less time). Drain well and set aside.
  
• 3.
  Half fill a large kettle with cold water and bring to a boil over moderate heat. Add the mustard greens and collards and boil uncovered for 5 minutes. Drain the greens and plunge into ice water to set the color.
  
• 4.
  In the same large kettle, heat the bacon drippings over moderately high heat for 1 minute. Add the ham and brown for 3 to 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to moderate, add the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic and sauté for 8 to 10 minutes or until limp.
  
• 5.
  Add the broth, bay leaf, salt, pepper, and the reserved black-eyed peas and greens, and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat so the mixture simmers gently and cook uncovered for 15 minutes or until the flavors meld. Discard the bay leaf; also taste for salt and pepper and adjust as needed.
  
• 6.
  Ladle into heated soup bowls and serve with chunks of fresh-baked corn bread.
  

Everybody has the right to think whose food is the most gorgeous, and I nominate Georgia’s.

—
OGDEN NASH

GALLEGOS HOUSE BEEF, BEAN, AND CABBAGE SOUP

MAKES
6
SERVINGS

Florida cooking owes much of its flamboyance to the Spaniards who settled there long before Jamestown, long before Plymouth. I took my first taste of Spanish Florida in St. Augustine, founded in 1565 by Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. Still in my teens and touring the Sunshine State with my parents, I entered St. Augustine’s historic quarter, then slipped inside the Gallegos House just beyond the old town gates. A simple flat-roofed, two-room structure, it was a dark, cool haven from the down-beating sun. But it was a lesson in history, too, a way to portray the life of a Spanish Colonial family in the early 1700s. My favorite room in this museum house was the kitchen, where costumed women scurried about preparing old Spanish recipes. This peppery soup, a Gallegos House specialty back then, originated, the busy cooks told me, in Galicia on the northwest coast of Spain. Note:
Around Ybor City, Tampa’s old Cuban but now multiethnic quarter, collards are often used in place of cabbage.

1 cup dried garbanzo beans (chickpeas), washed and sorted

8 cups (2 quarts) cold water

¼ cup olive oil

1 pound boneless beef chuck, cut into ½-inch cubes

1 large Spanish onion, coarsely chopped

2 large garlic cloves, finely minced

1 large green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and coarsely chopped

½ to 1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes (depending on how “hot” you like things)

2 teaspoons salt, or to taste

¼ teaspoon crushed cumin seeds

1 small cabbage (about 2 pounds), quartered, cored, and thinly sliced OR 2 pounds collards, trimmed, heavy veins removed, and leaves thinly sliced (see Note at left)

• 1.
  Soak the beans overnight in 2 cups of the cold water; drain and reserve.
  
• 2.
  Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy soup kettle over moderately high heat for 2 minutes or until ripples appear on the pan bottom.
  
• 3.
  Add the beef and brown, stirring often, for about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to moderate, add the onion, garlic, bell pepper, and red pepper flakes, and cook, stirring now and then, for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
  
• 4.
  Add the beans, the remaining 6 cups of water, the salt, and cumin, and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat so the mixture bubbles gently, cover, and simmer for about 1½ hours or until the beef and beans are both very tender.
  
• 5.
  Add the cabbage, pushing down into the liquid, cover, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until the cabbage is crisp-tender. Stir the soup well, taste for salt, and adjust as needed.
  
• 6.
  To serve, ladle into heated soup bowls and accompany with crusty chunks of bread.
  

FLORIDA BLACK BEAN SOUP

MAKES
6
SERVINGS

Right out of Columbia Journalism School, I shared the top floor of a Greenwich Village brownstone with two other recent graduates. But only one of them—the girl from Tampa—is relevant here. She talked incessantly about Ybor City (the Cuban quarter) and the marvelous black bean soup served there. She even tried to make it herself—with unsavory results. When an article assignment sent me to Tampa, I tried several different versions of the famous black bean soup, scribbling notes as I sampled.

1 pound dried black beans, washed and sorted but not soaked

12 cups (3 quarts) cold water

3 tablespoons vegetable oil, olive oil, bacon, ham, or pork drippings

1 large Spanish onion, coarsely chopped

3 large garlic cloves, minced

One 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained

2 large whole bay leaves, preferably fresh

2 teaspoons salt, or to taste

1 teaspoon dried leaf oregano, crumbled

1 teaspoon dried leaf thyme, crumbled

¼ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

¼ teaspoon black pepper

½ cup dry sherry

¼ cup coarsely chopped Italian parsley

2 hard-cooked eggs, peeled, the whites coarsely chopped and the yolks sieved

• 1.
  Bring the beans and water to a boil in a large, heavy, nonreactive kettle over high heat. Adjust the heat so the water bubbles gently, cover, and simmer for about 1½ hours or until the beans are nearly tender.
  
• 2.
  Meanwhile, heat the oil for 1 minute in a large, heavy, nonreactive skillet over moderately high heat. Add the onion and garlic and stir-fry for 10 to 12 minutes or until limp and lightly browned. Mix in the tomatoes, bay leaves, salt, oregano, thyme, red pepper flakes, and black pepper, then set off the heat.
  
• 3.
  When the beans are almost tender, stir in the skillet mixture, cover, and simmer for 1½ to 2 hours, stirring now and then, or until the beans are mushy; remove and discard the bay leaves. Cool the soup for 20 minutes, then purée in small batches in the food processor or in an electric blender at high speed.
  
• 4.
  As each batch is puréed, pour into a clean large, nonreactive kettle. Add the sherry, then set over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring often, or just until the mixture steams. Taste for salt and adjust as needed.
  
• 5.
  To serve, ladle into heated large soup plates, then sprinkle with the parsley, chopped egg whites, and sieved yolks, dividing the amounts as evenly as possible.
  

The corn is full of kernels and the colonels are full of corn.

—
OLD KENTUCKY SAYING