A Love Affair with Southern Cooking (30 page)

SHRIMP-STUFFED MIRLITONS

MAKES
4
SERVINGS

Flip through almost any Deep South cookbook—particularly a club or church fund-raiser—and you’re likely to find a recipe for mirlitons (chayotes or vegetable pears) stuffed with a spicy shrimp mixture. Southerners love stuffing vegetables and what better than these pale green, pear-shaped relatives of summer squash? Unlike squash, mirlitons have one large seed—a slim almond-shaped one the color of ivory. Scooping it out leaves hollows just begging to be filled.

2 medium-large mirlitons (about 1½ pounds), scrubbed but not peeled

3 tablespoons butter

6 large scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced (include some green tops)

1 small celery rib, trimmed and finely diced

8 ounces shelled and deveined cooked shrimp, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley

¾ teaspoon salt, or to taste

¼ teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

¼ teaspoon hot red pepper sauce, or to taste

¾ cup moderately fine soft bread crumbs tossed with 1 tablespoon melted butter

½ cup coarsely shredded mild Cheddar cheese

• 1.
  Place the mirlitons in a large, heavy saucepan, add just enough cold water to cover them, and bring to a boil over high heat. Adjust the heat so the water bubbles gently, set the lid on askew, and cook for 50 to 60 minutes or until a fork will pierce the mirlitons easily.
  
• 2.
  Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a medium-size heavy skillet over moderately high heat, add the scallions and celery, and cook, stirring often, for 4 to 5 minutes or until golden. Add the remaining tablespoon of butter and when it melts, add the shrimp, parsley, salt, black pepper, and red pepper sauce, and cook and stir for 2 to 3 minutes. Set off the heat and reserve.
  
• 3.
  Preheat the oven to 350° F. Drain the mirlitons well, and when cool enough to handle, halve lengthwise. Using a tablespoon, remove the seeds, then scoop out the flesh, leaving shells about
  ³
  /
  ₈
  inch thick. Mash or purée the mirliton flesh and stir into the shrimp mixture. Next mix in ½ cup of the buttered bread crumbs, then the cheese. Taste for salt, black pepper, and red pepper sauce and adjust as needed.
  
• 4.
  Mound the shrimp mixture in the mirliton shells, dividing the total amount evenly. Top with the remaining ¼ cup buttered crumbs, again dividing evenly. Place the stuffed mirlitons, not touching, in an ungreased 13 × 9 × 2-inch baking pan.
  
• 5.
  Slide onto the middle oven shelf and bake uncovered for 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned.
  
• 6.
  Serve at once as the main course of a light lunch or supper.
  

KIM’S SHRIMP AND CRAB CAKES

MAKES
4
SERVINGS

Kim is my brother Bob’s daughter and she’s a whiz of a southern cook because she descends, on her mother’s side, from an extended family of accomplished North Carolina cooks. She makes old family recipes often (see Aunt Bertie’s Crispy Cornmeal Pancakes, Chapter 5), but she’s an innovator, too, improvising with whatever attracts her at the farmer’s market and fish market. This recipe of Kim’s is a winner, especially when served with the tart Tarragon-Mustard Sauce (recipe follows) that her older sister, Linda, created especially for it.

8 ounces raw medium shrimp, shelled, deveined, and cut into ¼-inch dice

8 ounces finely flaked backfin crabmeat, bits of shell and cartilage removed

¼ cup firmly packed mayonnaise (use “light,” if you like)

1 large egg, lightly beaten

3 medium scallions, trimmed and very thinly sliced (include some green tops)

1 large celery rib, trimmed and finely diced

½ medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and finely diced

¼ cup fine dry bread crumbs

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

¼ teaspoon hot red pepper sauce

½ cup unsifted stone-ground yellow cornmeal (for dredging)

¼ cup olive oil or 2 tablespoons each olive oil and butter (for frying)

Tarragon-Mustard Sauce (recipe follows)

• 1.
  Place the shrimp and crab in a medium-size nonreactive bowl and fork briskly to mix. Fork in the mayonnaise, then the egg. Add the scallions, celery, and bell pepper and mix well. Finally, blend in the bread crumbs, salt, black pepper, and red pepper sauce.
  
• 2.
  Shape the mixture into eight “burgers,” each about 3 inches across and 1 inch thick. Dredge well on both sides in the cornmeal and set aside.
  
• 3.
  Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet for about 2 minutes over moderate heat, then add half the crab cakes. Reduce the heat to moderate and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until the crab cakes are golden brown; drain on paper toweling. Cook and drain the remaining crab cakes the same way.
  
• 4.
  Serve hot with Tarragon-Mustard Sauce.
  

We could always find something to prepare for dinner by fishing in the Mississippi River, Lake Ponchartrain…catfish, trout, croakers, crawfish, or plain old shrimp—my mother would just batter it up and fry it inside the old black skillet.

—
DONNA L. BRAZILE
,
COOKING WITH GREASE: STIRRING THE POTS IN AMERICAN POLITICS

TARRAGON-MUSTARD SAUCE

MAKES ABOUT
1
CUP

Although my older niece, Linda, created this sauce for her sister’s shrimp and crab cakes (which precede), it’s equally delicious with grilled or fried fish or shellfish. An avid gardener with beds of fresh herbs just beyond her kitchen door, Linda sometimes substitutes fresh lemon thyme or oregano for tarragon and finely snipped chives for scallions. I myself have been known to use coarsely chopped cilantro or finely snipped dill in place of the tarragon. Note:
This sauce will taste even better if you make it several hours ahead of time and refrigerate until ready to serve.

½ cup firmly packed mayonnaise (use “light,” if you like)

½ cup firmly packed low-fat plain yogurt

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 medium scallion, trimmed and finely chopped (include some green tops)

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped parsley

1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh tarragon or 1 teaspoon crumbled dried leaf tarragon

½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

½ teaspoon tomato ketchup, or to taste

½ teaspoon hot red pepper sauce, or to taste

• 1.
  Whisk the mayonnaise, yogurt, and mustard together until smooth and creamy, then mix in all remaining ingredients. Taste for ketchup
  and hot red pepper sauce, and adjust as needed. The ketchup is to mellow the tartness of the yogurt, not to add sweetness.
  
• 2.
  Cover the sauce and refrigerate for several hours or even overnight.
  
• 3.
  Let the sauce stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving.
  

SHRIMP ’N’ GRITS

MAKES
4
SERVINGS

Just after the Civil War (or “late unpleasantness,” as some Southerners still call it), shrimp ’n’ grits was simple Charleston breakfast food—nothing more than shrimp, grits, and salt. So says Moreton Neal in introducing her late husband Bill Neal’s 1980s spin on the post–Civil War original. Moreton includes his deliciously updated recipe in
Remembering Bill Neal
(2004), her lively memoir of the couple’s college days at Duke, their travels about France, and their early struggles in the restaurant business. For many years the pioneering chef at Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill, Bill Neal elevated Lowcountry shrimp ’n’ grits from humble to haute
(
New York Times
food editor Craig Claiborne called him “a genius at the stove”). Indeed, Neal gave shrimp ’n’ grits such star status that nearly every southern chef now offers some version of it. Neal’s own creation remains a signature dish at Crook’s Corner and if you’re ever in town, I urge you to try it. The recipe that follows has been given yet another spin: my own.

Grits

2½ cups water mixed with ½ teaspoon salt (salted water)

²
/
₃
cup quick-cooking grits

1½ cups coarsely shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (about 6 ounces)

¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 medium garlic clove, crushed

¼ cup light cream

1 tablespoon butter

¹
/
₈
teaspoon ground hot red pepper (cayenne)

Shrimp

4 thick slices hickory-smoked bacon, cut crosswise into strips ½ inch wide

2 tablespoons corn oil or vegetable oil

1 pound raw medium-large shrimp, shelled and deveined

½ pound small mushrooms, stems discarded, caps wiped clean and thinly sliced

8 large scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced (include some green tops)

1 large garlic clove, finely chopped

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

½ teaspoon salt, or to taste

¼ teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

¼ teaspoon hot red pepper sauce, or to taste

¼ cup coarsely chopped parsley

• 1.
  For the grits: Bring the salted water to a boil in a medium-size heavy saucepan over high heat. Slowly add the grits, whisking all the while. When the mixture returns to a boil, reduce the heat to moderately low and cook uncovered, whisking often, for 8 to 10 minutes or until thick.
  
• 2.
  Meanwhile, begin the shrimp: Fry the bacon in a large, heavy skillet over moderate heat for about 10 minutes or until the drippings cook out and only crisp brown bits remain. Using a slotted spoon, lift the bacon to paper toweling and reserve.
  
• 3.
  Add the corn oil to the skillet drippings and heat for 1 minute. Add the shrimp, distributing evenly, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes over moderate heat or just until they begin to turn pink.
  
• 4.
  While the shrimp cook, mix the two cheeses and the garlic into the grits along with all remaining ingredients. Cook 1 to 2 minutes, whisking now and then, or just until the cheese melts. Set the grits off the heat, cover, and keep warm, whisking occasionally, while you finish the shrimp.
  
• 5.
  Stir the shrimp well, add the mushrooms, and cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until they release their juices and these evaporate. Add the scallions and garlic, cook and stir for 3 to 4 minutes, then mix in all remaining ingredients. Taste for salt, black pepper, and hot pepper sauce and adjust as needed.
  
• 6.
  To serve, puddle the grits on each of four heated dinner plates and scoop the shrimp mixture on top, dividing the total amount evenly. Finally, scatter some of the reserved bacon over each portion.
  

TENNESSEE BARBECUE SHRIMP

MAKES
6
SERVINGS

“I love this recipe!” says my friend Janet Trent, a textile designer and weaver who lives in the old family farmhouse a few miles outside Sanford, North Carolina, with her husband and two young daughters. “This is the closest I can get to a really tasty dish that was served at 12th & Porter restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee,” says Janet, who finds it perfect for her occasional catering gigs. “Jody Faison was the chef and proprietor of this place and also of Faison’s, an upscale restaurant in the Hillsboro Village section of Nashville,” she adds. “I combined a few different recipe versions to come up with this one—a real treat!” When I first looked at Janet’s recipe, I thought it contained so many herbs and spices that their flavors would conflict with one another. Not so. Janet’s right. This is a “real treat!” Easy, too, because the shrimp are baked and served in their shells. Tip:
I melt the butter in a 1-quart ovenproof glass measure in the microwave—about 5 minutes on
DEFROST
(30-per-cent power)—then whisk in all of the seasonings.