Weekend Cooking: Southern My Way
I have a confession to make. Even though I love the South and have spent most of my life in the region, I’m not a fan of traditional Southern cooking. My mother is of Eastern European descent and grew up in the North, so we never had Southern food when I was growing up. I do love cookbooks, though, but generally don’t gravitate toward those that feature Southern recipes, so I worried about finding anything that would appeal to me in Southern My Way: Simple Recipes, Fresh Flavors by Gena Knox. I’m happy to tell you that I worried for nothing – there are lots of great looking recipes in this book – so many in fact, that I had trouble deciding what to try first.
Southern My Way is a simply gorgeous cookbook – from the outside in. This book doesn’t have a dust jacket – that is the actual cover of the book. There are beautiful color photos throughout the book and almost every recipe is pictured. Recipes are divided into Starters, Soups, Salads, Lunch, Supper, Sides, Desserts and Breakfast. Since Knox loves fresh, local foods, she spotlights several small companies that produce local goods, such as Sweet Grass Dairy in Elkmont, Alabama and White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia.
The recipes in Southern My Way have clear, concise instructions and most of them are fairly simple to prepare. I saw a lot of recipes that looked good to me, but decided to try Country Captain Stew first, since Carl was a little under the weather. As I prepared it, I wondered why it was called a stew, because it’s not very thick and then I realized you serve it over rice. We were all pleased with my efforts.
Country Captain Stew
1½ teaspoons curry powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1½ tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 pound boneless, skinless chidken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
½ yellow bell pepper, chopped
½ green bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28 ounce) can whole plum tomatoes
3 cups chicken stock
¼ cup slivered almonds
1½ tablespoons currants
3 cups brown rice, cooked according to package directions
FIRST Combine curry powder, salt, and pepper and toss chicken in mixture to coat. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Sauté chicken for 5 minutes until browned; transfer chicken to a plate and set aside.
NEXT Heat remaining oil in a stockpot over medium-high heat; add onion, peppers, and garlic and sauté for 8 minutes or until tender. Add tomatoes, breaking them up with hands or back of spoon. Add chicken and stock, season with salt to taste.
LAST Simmer soup, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Spoon rice into bowls and ladle stew over rice. Top with almonds and currants and serve.
Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend.
I haven’t tried a lot of southern recipes either, though I LOVE anything with okra!
I have a much more complicated Country Captain recipe than this so I never make it although I love curry. I’m definitely trying this one sometime over the winter. It looks pretty and it sounds like it would taste great.
I could eat that
As for me, I know nothing about Southern food
Making this today. Looks delicious.
THANKS.
I’m not a big fan of Southern cooking either but this recipe looks kind of healthy! LOL!
I love Southern food and was wondering what to do with the chicken that’s in the fridge.
Thanks for the cookbook idea.
I love Southern cooking…that is my problem! Every once in awhile we just have to have fried chicken. It feeds the soul. This stew sounds really really yummy. It is getting to be that time of year when all I want to make are soups and stews…
I make a green chile stew that also doesn’t seem like a “stew.” I wonder if our idea of stew isn’t what the actual cooking term means!
This sounds like a yummy recipe and I love the book cover. Hope Carl is feeling better. Happy Halloween.
Mason
Thoughts in Progress
Yum, the stew looks delicious!
Yum, sounds good. I love cookbooks with lots of pictures – it helps me be sure I’m doing it correctly
It not only sounds good, it sounds like something even I could make! Thanks.
Happy Halloween.
somewhere I have a slower cooker recipe for this. I will have to compare.
I am a sucker for pretty cookbooksa!
This looks and sounds fantastic…a great way to use chicken breasts!!
That recipe looks good! Southern cooking is kind of hit and miss for me. It really depends on what it is.
Kids aren’t too ripe for tomatoes but I’m wiling to forgo that for my own taste of this stew.
Kathy girl love this segment and another awesome review. Made banana bread yesterday … first attempt… yep… and darn it was Eatalicous!
Sounds and looks so good. I would have to use two yellow peppers instead of the green, cause I’m allergic.
I think my husband would love this! He’s really gotten into cooking now that I’m on the road touring so much. Thanks, Kathy!
I’m really not all that sure what makes up southern cooking, but then again, I’m not all that good on labels anyway. This one does sound good specially with the addition of the almonds and currents.
The first ingredient of curry got me interested. Looks yummy.
This stew looks amazing and I bet my family would love it. I haven’t yet dabbled in any of the recipes from this book, but I am sure I am going to get to it soon. I did look through the book though, and you are right, it is beautiful! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this one!
This sounds delicious, thanks for sharing. My family are not big on stews, but this looks like they might just eat it. I love when chefs use locally grown items and feature favourite spots for shopping. thanks for stopping by, I’m not enthusiastic about my garden , but it just needs to be done. My neighbour is a perfectionist and my yard looks terrible by comparison, so even though I know I’ll never meet his standards, I do want it to be tidy. And I like doing weird things like planting forget me nots in the grass, it’ll drive him crazy, when it’s messy.
I’m not a fan of curry, so this particular recipe doesn’t appeal to me…but I would love to look at this cookbook. Of course, I love Southern food (duh…what gave it away?) but not all the deep fried stuff…makes my tummy hurt. I truly saw a deep fried snickers bar at the fair one time…makes me nauseous just thinking about it.
I like the looks of that stew. One of these days I need to connect with Weekend Cooking.
Seems a bit spicy for me but sure looks delicious!
I adore Southern cookbooks, but I hadn’t heard of this one. I’m definitely picking it up…thanks for putting it on my radar…and glad you enjoyed it!
Looks yummy! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I like that this regional cookbook featured regional products and businesses. Good for the author!
Recipe sounds yummy but curry wouldn’t work in this house. We’re all southern food fans so the book would be something I should have.
Natalie :0)
Yummy, the stew looks good!
i own a few paula deen cookbooks and enjoy taste-testing my way through the south whenever we find ourselves down that way. i’m a fan of biscuits and other southern fare. glad you enjoyed the cookbook–will you be featuring any other recipes???
I can’t wait to try some Southern cooking when I am in the US in Dec and Jan!
I had something similar looking at my friend’s place tonight. Another friend cooked her famous tomato noodles and your picture reminded me of the delicious dish I had just a few hours ago.
The stew looks easy to make and very delicious! I’ll have to keep an eye out for this cookbook.
I love reading cookbooks (and occasionally cooking from them, lol), and this looks like a beautiful one!