The Sweet Magnolias Cookbook (33 page)
Read The Sweet Magnolias Cookbook Online
Authors: Sherryl Woods
SALAD
Combine all salad ingredients, and toss well.
DRESSING
Combine all dressing ingredients, and stir until sugar dissolves. Pour dressing over salad. Stir gently. Cover, and refrigerate at least 4 hours or up to 2 days before serving.
SERVES 12
Uptown Down-South Cheese Grits
½ gallon milk
¼ cup butter
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups grits
1 cup whipping cream
6 ounces (1½ cups) grated smoked Gouda cheese
Tabasco sauce to taste
In a large saucepan, combine milk, butter and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Whisk in grits. Continue to whisk 1 minute more. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until grits are tender and liquid has been absorbed. Whisk or stir often to discourage lumps and prevent sticking.
Add whipping cream, and stir to blend.
Stir in cheese, and blend well. Season to taste with Tabasco sauce and additional salt, if needed.
SERVES 8â10
When Helen, Maddie and I decided to open The Corner Spa, not a one of us knew a thing about proper exercise or working out. Oh, we'd take a jab at jogging from time to time or lifting an occasional weight over at Dexter's gym, but we were far from being experts. Truth be told, we weren't all that enthusiastic about exercise. That's when we decided we'd better hire personal trainer Elliott Cruz as an independent contractor to run the fitness side of our business.
Â
I'd like to tell you we made that decision based solely on his résumé, which was rock-solid, but it was his equally rock-solid abs that really won us over. That man could be the poster boy for fitness! I swear, half the women who joined the spa did so just so they could watch him giving lessons. Even our seniors take a weekly jazzercise class just to ogle him and make the sort of smart remarks that make him blush. I'm not kidding! They'll tell you that themselves. Helen's mother, Flo Decatur, is the leader of this outrageous pack.
Still, it was mostly a business relationship (honest!) until Elliott started romancing Karen Ames, a struggling single mom who worked for me at Sullivan's. Then we all discovered the man could cook, and everything he'd learned in the kitchen, he'd learned from his mamacita, Maria Cruz.
As I understand it, Mama Cruz has always kept a tightfisted grip on her recipe secrets, using them as leverage to guarantee that all her children and their families show up every week for Sunday dinner. Karen says her mother-in-law has always sworn she'd take her blend of peppers and spices for her incredible mole sauce to the grave with her just to be sure they come visit the cemetery in the hope she'll communicate it from the great beyond. Somehow, though, Karen managed to wrestle it away from her to include here. Just wait till you taste Mama Cruz's enchilada casserole with classic mole sauce.
Elliott's the one who forked over the seafood paella recipe, a meal that makes good use of all the fresh Lowcountry seafood we have available around here. Add a salad and a nice white wine, and you have the makings for a fabulous party!
Since she's been married to a man who definitely likes a little spice in his life and in his food, Karen's taken to doing her own experimenting here in the Sullivan's kitchen, stealing a page right out of Mama Cruz's book. Her jalapeño mac and cheese has become a local favoriteâ¦and it's been quite a boon for our beverage sales, too! First Elliott and now his wife can't seem to go anywhere without generating plenty of heat.
Though I'm all about Southern cooking with a twist at Sullivan's, personally there's nothing I'd like better than having more ethnic specialties available right here in Serenity. When I was growing up, pizza and spaghetti were about as exotic as we got. A Chinese take-out place opened a few years ago. Now that I've sampled a few of Mama Cruz's specialties, I'm thinking there ought to be an authentic Mexican restaurant here in town. Maybe Karen and I need to talk. I wouldn't mind an exciting new business opportunity. Try these recipes, and see what you think.
Dulce De Leche Cheesecake Bars
CRUST
1¼ cups finely crushed Mexican “Maria” cookies, vanilla wafers or graham crackers
½ cup butter, melted
FILLING
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
1 (14-ounce) can dulce de leche
CRUST
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Grease a 13" x 9" x 2" baking pan.
Combine ingredients and press into bottom of prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes. While crust is baking, prepare filling.
FILLING
Cream together cream cheese and sugar. Beat in eggs.
Stir in vanilla and salt, then spread the mixture on the hot baked crust.
Heat dulce de leche until very hot and melted, then drizzle it over cheesecake layer. Using a skewer or the tip of a knife, swirl dulce de leche into cheesecake layer.
Cover pan tightly with foil and place in a large roasting pan. Add boiling water to roasting pan until water comes halfway up the sides of the baking pan. Bake 1 hour.
Remove from oven. Carefully lift pan out of water bath and place on a cooling rack, then remove the foil. Let cool to room temperature.
Cover and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Cut into 24 squares.
MAKES 24
Chicken Enchilada Casserole with Speedy Mole Sauce
CASSEROLE
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 2¼ pounds total)
1 envelope dry taco seasoning
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
12 ounces shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed, drained well
1 (15-ounce) can whole-kernel corn, drained well
10 (6-inch) corn tortillas
1½ cups sour cream
SAUCE
1 large medium-diced sweet onion
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 envelope dry taco seasoning
2 (10¾-ounce) cans tomato soup concentrate
2 (10-ounce) cans mild RO·TEL tomatoes
1 milk chocolate Hershey's bar (no nuts)