Modern Day Southern Belle: My Family's Cooking

Uncle Tommy's Gumbo
This past year while searching for a gumbo recipe, Mom told me to look in our old church cookbook from Jackson. She thought she remembered that there were several good recipes in that particular one. We have had this book since I was 5 and I am now 32 but we haven't used it in quite some time. I opened the browned book to find several gumbo recipes. You see, I grew up Episcopal before I became Catholic and Episcopals in Mississippi are known for their gumbo and take the making of gumbo very seriously. Almost as seriously as a true Cajun (almost).

I read out a few recipes but only one stood out. "That is the one we want!" my Mom said enthusiastically after I finished reading it. I looked down again at the recipe and was surprised to see a familiar name. Call it family instinct but my mother had just chosen her brother's gumbo recipe. Underneath the recipe read Tommy Lack as the contributor. Uncle Tommy if you are reading this post, please feel free to make me some of your gumbo some time soon! I know I obviously have access to the recipe but I would prefer a bowl with your own touch!

Chicken-Sausage Gumbo (As seen in Bread & Wine, Favorite Recipes of All Saints Episcopal Church)
1 stewing chicken, cut up
1 lb. smoked sausage, cut up
1/2 c. cooking oil
1/2 c. flour
1 c. chopped onion
1 clove chopped garlic
1/2 c. celery, chopped
1/2 c. bell pepper, chopped
1/2 c. green onion tops
Salt and pepper to taste
Red pepper to taste

Boil chicken until meat falls off the bones. Reserve stock. Make a roux adding flour to hot cooking oil. It is necessary to stir constantly, keeping heat low until flour is a reddish golden brown. Add chopped onion and stir until it becomes transparent. Add roux to chicken stock; add sausage, chicken and remaining vegetables, salt, pepper and red pepper to taste, stirring often to prevent sticking, adding more water as necessary. Let cook about 1 hour. Serve with rice.

Aunt Martha's Brown Rice Casserole
When I was little, I did not like Mama Chris's dressing at our holiday meals. I know you must think I was a family disgrace after reading about the honored position dressing has in our family but I was a kid! However a side dish that I absolutely loved was my Aunt Martha's Brown Rice Casserole. I loved it so much in fact that my mother began to fix it as a regular side dish in our house after getting her recipe. Thinking back, the three things that I love that my Aunt Martha makes would be her date balls, the zucchini bread, and of course the brown rice casserole!

Brown Rice Casserole
3/4 stick of butter
1 med. onion
1 c. uncooked rice
2 cans undiluted beef consomme
2 (3 oz.) cans whole mushrooms
1/2 tsp salt

Melt butter in skillet. Add chopped onion and saute until transparent. Add the rice and salt. Stir the mixture well then place the mixture into a casserole dish. Add the consomme and mushrooms with the liquid. Cover and bake in 325 degree oven until rice is puffed and tender (about an hour).

Aunt Margaret's Ambrosia
My Aunt Margaret was our family's self-proclaimed non-domestic type. I remember her sitting in the kitchen with her charm bracelet tinkling as she would say to my mother, "Susie, I am just not domestic like you are." Really my Aunt should have been saying, "I am so smart! I announce I am not domestic and I don't have to wash dishes." Brilliant really.

My Aunt was domestic in her own way. She loved to have beautiful things in her home and was constantly trying new decorating ideas that she found in magazines. I remember one time she saw a magazine picture of a home with a wall covered in family pictures. This idea inspired her to do her own wall of family pictures. Thinking about my family as I write this blog, I understand where I get my love for pictures. We are all obsessed with photos because of the stories they tell and the memories they sustain.

But my Aunt was being honest in that she wasn't inclined to cook and clean in the daily domestic sense. I think she just didn't want to be bothered with the mundane mess that can make up daily life. I understand completely! Why have boring when you can have special? She wanted special. She wanted regal. And she was just that.

But what she did prepare that was special, she did well. Her specialties were Irish Stew and Ambrosia. When researching Ambrosia recipes, I came across one close to hers that described Ambrosia as a Southern favorite. After reading over it, I think I need to make this dish soon! In honor of my Aunt and all her beautiful eccentricities that make my life richer now, here is a special Ambrosia recipe found on southernfood.about.com.

Ambrosia (This recipe with coconut is a Southern favorite.)
1 cup orange juice
3 medium oranges, peeled and sectioned
1 can (8 ounces) pineapple chunks, undrained
1/2 cup seedless red grapes, halved (I think she used raisins)
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Combine juice, orange sections, pineapple, and grapes, stirring gently to blend. Refrigerate until serving time. Fold in coconut and pecans just before serving.

Christy's Broccoli Rice and Sausage Casserole
As the phone calls start flying around the country during the holidays for Mama Chris's dressing recipe, Christy always receives a call from my house for her casserole recipe. Mom wrote it down several years ago but we always seem to lose it. No worries because by losing it then a phone call can be made where we exchange recipes once again and catch up. Thankfully even with the distance separating us,we do get to talk a lot but every excuse to talk is a good one. Maybe I need to go lose that recipe again....

Christy's version of this casserole is my favorite because of the sausage in it. You get the added kick or my mother's much needed tang in food. However, I have to say that I have never had anything Christy has made that I don't like. She is a wonderful cook. I even ate beef for her and I don't eat beef but it was Christy's cooking so I made the rare exception.

Broccoli Cheese and Sausage Casserole
2 boxes of frozen chopped broccoli (2 boxes)
1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup and add a little milk
1 Onion
1 roll of Regular Sage Jimmy Dean Sausage (Gold Pack)
Top with lots of shredded cheddar cheese

Steam broccoli and cook rice. Mix together with soup and milk. Fry sausage and saute onions. Mix all items together.Top with cheddar cheese. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes at 350 degrees or until ready.

Jenny's Corn Dip
When I moved to Jackson from Hattiesburg to start a job after graduate school, I lived with my cousin Jenny and her family for about two weeks until my apartment was ready. It was October and the weather was just starting to get a cool chilly feeling in the air. I came home one night to Jenny making Cowboy Stew with an appetizer of Corn Dip. I fell in love with this dip and it has become one of my go to recipes for tailgating or any kind of party. If you don't have friends, you will after making this recipe! This recipe just makes people happy. Try it. Enough said.

Hot Corn Dip
2 cans mexicorn
About 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sour cream
About 1/2 to 3/4 cup of mayonnaise
Sliced black olives to taste
Diced jalapenos to taste
At least 1 cup (or more) of sharp cheddar cheese (whatever your cheese amount preference)

Mix all the ingredients together in a baking dish. You may have to play a little with the amount of sour cream and mayonnaise. The mixture will need to be slightly soupy going into the oven. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 to 45 minutes. The mixture should be thoroughly heated and bubbling. Serve with Frito chips.