One of the many joys of working at a farmers market is getting to know your customers and watching their kids grow up. Long-time market customer Lisa Hughes shared this recipe with us, explaining how her kids love it. It’s become one of our favorites, too. The casserole is perfect for brunch, a special breakfast for out-of-town guests, or even dinner.
Really simple method for cooking up some grits.
This simple casserole is a familiar dish in the South. It is an absolute standard at potlucks, brunches, weddings, and funerals. Casseroles are the salve that heals a Southerner’s wounded soul. I always call this dish “funeral grits” because it’s the perfect dish to take to the bereaved after the funeral. It can be treated as a side dish, held for hours in a low oven with few ill effects, and the leftovers reheat wonderfully. Funeral food in the South is a category all to itself. The food should be comforting, not too fancy, and even in this day and age, is best if homemade (not a platter of sliced deli meats from the grocery store). When my godfather, Uncle Raymond, died many years ago, I remember the women swarming in the kitchen, each and every one of them taking on a specific chore. Even though I was a professional cook by this time, I was designated for phone duty. I didn’t mind; I may have been a professional cook, but I was still the youngest and lowest on the totem pole.
Lord knows, a dish serving less people won’t go far at a Southern funeral. Use this recipe as a guide and make it your own. Add more jalapeño to give it some real heat, or switch up the cheeses and try adding freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, Gruyère,or white Cheddar.
I’m also adding a recipe from purelyplanted.com for Gut-Nourishing Salad with Creamy Peanut Dressing which I know we will need both pre-and post-Thanksgiving’s crazy meals. Use your cabbage, daikon and greens from this week’s box to make that salad.
~Conne
I confess there’s still Napa cabbage from weeks past in our basement refrigerator. Instead of trying to cook a whole one at once, I’ve taken to just peeling off leaves as needed for a recipe. So the recipe below will probably only use 4 or 5 leaves. The rest of that cabbage will go back in the refrigerator and be joined by this week’s cousin. But that means we’ll have beautiful cabbage to enjoy through the rest of 2023. No complaints here.
~Conne
Letting thin slices of hot and sweet peppers sit with vinegar and salt for a few minutes gives them a pickled taste without taking away their crispness.
~Conne
And although I love just snacking on our apples, there are some days when I want a warm apple cake. I just saw the recipe for sharlotka, below, a Ukrainian apple cake and I look forward to baking it this week.
~Conne
I’ve been wanting to make the Greens Grilled Cheese from Steven Satterfield’s new cookbook so that, along with a pot of vegetable soup (white potatoes, peppers, greens, carrots) is what’s for dinner tomorrow. Sarah Dodge’s Colette Bakery opened just two blocks from our house and I will get down there for a loaf of her sourdough levain for those sandwiches.
Atlanta chef Steven Satterfield describes this sandwich as a “healthy-meets-decadent mash-up,” and it’s true. Use a mix of greens if possible. These sandwiches are large, half of one is plenty. Because the bread slices are so thick, the oven helps melt the cheese.
Adapted from “Vegetable Revelations” by Steven Satterfield (Harper Wave, 2023).
~Conne
I love the Napa and radish salad recipe from Beautiful Briny Sea that’s appended below. Absolutely perfect for the contents of this box AND what a nice change of pace from the way many of us have been preparing all the Napa cabbage we’ve been receiving recently.
This is adapted from one created by Grant Park-based Beautiful Briny Sea, maker of the Campfire Sea Salt used in the recipe. If you don’t happen to have Campfire Sea Salt in your pantry, it’s a mix of smoked sea salt, cumin and ancho chili. You could substitute a bit of smoked paprika, salt and cumin, and ground ancho chili if you have it, and make a fine substitute.
Pretty lettuce, a few tomatoes, sweet potatoes, apples, sweet potatoes and apples rounded out our box … along with a bag of popcorn. That’s one of the things I look forward to all year. We have popcorn recipes on the website for those who want to do more than just pop and eat a bowl full at a time. And I saw the recipe below for Pumpkin Spice Popcorn Bark (I don’t remember where it came from!) and thought that would be a fun thing to make for Halloween. Not for the miscellaneous trick-or-treaters, but for people who know us and will appreciate a homemade treat.