Thursday, December 3, 2009

Chicken and grits

When you marry a southern boy, you find yourself introduced to all kinds of new foods.

A lot of them are sweets: Derby pie, chess pie, jam cake, buckeyes, and bourbon balls. Derby pie is a chocolate and nut candy bar in a crust. Chess pie is a gooey, brown sugar pie. Jam cake was a surprise and a revelation to me, and writing this is a reminder to me that I've always meant to make it myself. The husband's dear mother hand-wrote the recipe for me years ago and I've failed to make it yet. You might picture some kind of a layer or swirl cake, a plain-ish cake cut through with jam. Well, you'd be wrong. Jam cake is more like a spice cake with raspberry or blackberry jam stirred into the batter, giving it a pinkish hue. Then it's frosted with caramel icing.

Buckeyes are balls of peanut butter, sugar, and butter half-rolled in chocolate to look like buckeyes. Bourbon balls seem self-explanatory.

I like some of these treats, particularly the jam cake, but the southern things I've come to like best are savory, like grits.

I make grits all the time. They're quicker than polenta and go with everything. When I feel decadent, I make them with a little cream and some grated cheese: are there two more beautiful words than cheesy grits? When I feel disciplined, I make them with water or chicken broth and a little milk.


I made grits the other night to go alongside our weekly roast chicken and some kale sauteed with bacon and garlic. Now, if I were really keeping it southern, the chicken would have been fried, there would have been some cream gravy drizzled on top, and the kale would have been cooked into a grey oblivion. That's one thing I can't get behind with southern food--the need to turn all vegetables brown or grey with overcooking. I'll take my veggies green, thank you.

I like to think of this as a hybrid dinner, a little California and a little Kentucky, wrapped into one delicious package.

17 comments:

  1. Yum, I do like grits now and then. It wasn't part of my life growing up, but I've had it a few times and I think because it's so different, I enjoy it that much more!

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  2. Nothing better than cheese grits, but I'll have a slice of jam cake just to make sure.

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  3. I think I may have to make buckeyes to put in our Christmas cookie baskets this year. And cheesey grits, oh my!

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  4. This looks such terrifc complete meal to me! I love something simple & healthy. Thanks for sharing.Happy Holiday! Cheers.

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  5. Oh, my. You've brought back so many memories here. I grew up with grits--my dad made killer cheese grits. When something was reallyreally wonderful we'd say it was 'gooder than grits'. I remember the first time I tasted polenta, I said, "oh, it's GRITS!". It's not easy to find someone who hasn't grown up with them who likes them--good for you. Good stuff, eh?

    But it was the jam cake that made me smile. Many years ago I was engaged to a fellow whose mother and grandmother taught me to make biscuits and gravy (my own mother being from Indiana put me at a disadvantage in the biscuit arena). His mother taught me to put a bay leaf in the flour canister to keep the bugs out (I still do this).

    The first time I met his parents, his mother made a jam cake. She said that the recipe was very easy because you didn't have to sift the flour. At that time I didn't know the bay leaf trick, so I was surprised to bite into a nice, crunchy bay leaf in my piece of cake. (ewww...) I ate it, thinking it was part of the recipe. Sweet and crunchy maybe? Then I thought maybe I wasn't supposed to eat it, perhaps it meant I got some sort of prize? I never told her about it. But I wonder if she got bugs in her flour after that...

    Thanks for the memories!

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  6. I saw a recipe for chess pie in Gourmet and was wondering where that came from! Thanks for the info. I love southern food. Whenever I read grits on a menu, I'm drawn to it.

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  7. Yay Buckeyes! I'm from Ohio, so of course we know about Buckeyes, but I've never tried making them. :)

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  8. i can't pass up grits, especially if ample butter and/or cheese are involved. come to think of it, i can't pass up any of the dishes you mentioned. :)

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  9. Maybe I need to make some jam cake and buckeyes specifically for this blog (ok, to eat, too!)--seems like you all could get behind those southern delicacies.

    Kate: I LOVE your story! It's very cute, and says so much about you. Perhaps we should both try a jam cake and compare results...

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  10. After 9 years together, you are now a little Southern, and I am a little California Eurasian. After all, the chicken and grits took place in the same week as the dim sum feeding frenzy with your family. We're equal opportunity eaters!

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  11. Love your dictionary of "southern" dishes!
    I've always been crazy for grits- my best friend (born in the Keys) has a fabulous recipe for cheese grits.

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  12. Not being southern I still don't really get how they are different then polenta. Is it just the preparation or is it a different corn base?

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  13. I just came back from a short trip to South Carolina. I did have my share of shrimp and grits there, as well as A LOT of fried foods. It was all yummy, though, I'm afraid to step on the scale now. Hah.

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  14. Now that you've whetted the imagination, can you please make jam cake and buckeyes soon? Pretty please? I've never heard of any of them but they all sound very cool! Yummy looking dinner there.

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  15. shaz: yes, I think jam cake and buckeyes are on the horizon!!

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  16. My hubby is from the north, my family is from the far east, so I admit that I haven't heard of those southern delicacies, they all sound so picturesque. I do have a package of speckled white corn grits in the freezer that I hope is still good after six months in hibernation... ? well, this sounds like a good time to find out!

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  17. foodhoe: Southerners really do have a charming way of naming foods! I'm sure those grits are just fine. Six months is nothing! Give 'em a try.

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