I don't know why but I am just in awe of the South. Its charm, character, fashion, fried food and accents! Plus the hanging moss and the friendliness of the people... anyway I just find it charming. There is a blogger I follow who is a real life Georgia Peach, her name is Rachel and writes
Feel Good Time. She is an
artist and a fantastic party thrower! ANYWAY, I asked her to do a post on how to host good ole' southern party! I hope you love it as much as I do! Have a good weekend and thanks Miss. Rachel!
Growing up and being raised in the south has planted some very strong southern roots and it boils deep in my veins. I find myself homesick quite often as my whole entire family is home in the south and so when my birthday rolls around I tend to miss them and some of our southern traditions as well as the May thunderstorms that roll in through the night.
With that said, last year for my birthday in May I wanted to bring home to where I was currently living which was in Utah, as I was still in school. I decided to do what we southerners love best - to host. And that I did. I hosted my own southern birthday dinner with some dear friends and I treated them to some of my favorite southern fixins such as jalapeno cheese grits, fried cajun pickles with remoulade sauce and my families favorite - Minnie's Chocolate Pie.
It was more work than I imagined, to say the least and I had many more items on my menu I wanted to whip up but time got the best of me.
As for the decor, I was planning on having the party dine outside in our backyard but lucky for me a thunderstorm rolled in, just as if I were home and I was just as pleased to move the party inside. I hung bistro lights above the dining room table and bought cheap table cover, plates & utensils from a party store (zurchers) and to make the utensils a little more interesting, I spray painted the bottom half gold. The center piece of the table was filled with San Pellegrino bottles filled with flowers. I wanted my guests to know what they would be eating that night so I simply wrote up a menu on the computer and printed it out placing it on each plate. My favorite detail to the party was the "Gone With the Wind" table place cards showing a southern silhouette. To set the southern mood with the perfect thunderstorm, I lit candlesticks and filled the background noise with music I grew up listening too, Georgias finest, Ray Charles & Otis Redding along with a selection of Blue Grass music.
It was the perfect night spending my birthday and filling a little bit closer to home surrounded by close friends whom I consider family. It's not too hard to throw a dinner party with a smaller budget- truthfully the jackpot is found in the party stores. You can make something cheap seem very nice looking. (Read below the pics for recipes.)
Recipes:
Fried Cajun Pickles
(Normally you use a deep fryer, which is what I used but I understand that not everyone has one, so this recipe is for the oven on the broil setting.)
Ingredients:
1 (24 ounce) jar pickles, slices
2 eggs
1/3 cup flour
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs
DIRECTIONS:
1. Turn oven broiler on high.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and flour.
3. Add Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, garlic powder, Cajun seasoning, and pepper. Mix well.
4. Place panko bread crumbs in a shallow dish.
5.Dunk each pickle slice into the egg mixture, than dredge it in the panko bread crumbs.
6. Place coated pickles on a rack set above a baking sheet and sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
7.Place pan in the middle rack of the oven. Broil for about 3 minutes on each side.
JALAPENO CHEESE GRITS with BBQ CHICKEN
INGREDIENTS:
The Chicken:
Boneless Chicken Breasts, 1.5 to 2 pounds
Bacon, 6 to 8 strips
Thyme Sprigs, 3 or 4 (or a teaspoon or two of dried thyme)
Bay Leaves, 2
Chicken Bouillon or Stock, 1 1/2 cups
Worcestershire Sauce, 1/4 cup or so
BBQ Sauce, 1/2 cup or more
The Grits:
Stone Ground Grits (no instant allowed!), 1 1/2 cups
Chicken Bouillon or Stock, 7 cups
Jalapeno Peppers, 2 or 3
Cheddar Cheese, 1 1/2 cups, grated
Butter, 2 tablespoons
Half and Half, 1/3 cup or so
Rinse and halve the peppers and put them on a baking sheet, cut side down. I left a few seeds but it’s your call. Put them under the broiler for just a few minutes, until the skin starts to blacken. Take them out and let them sit until they’re cool enough to handle.
Meanwhile, cut the chicken into chunks.
Scissors, an easy way to dice bacon.
In a large skillet, cook up the bacon over medium heat to medium-high heat, until it starts to get nice and brown. Ignore that stray piece of chicken that fell into the pan.
Add the chicken to the pan. The bacon grease will provide just enough fat for browning. Add the bay leaves and thyme. Cook, stirring every now and then, until the chicken is browned. This is also a good time to get the stock started for the grits.
Add the bouillon and let it come to a nice, low simmer. Cook, uncovered, until the chicken is cooked through, about 15 to 20 minutes.
While the chicken is doing it’s own thing, it’s time to cook the grits. Once the stock is boiling, slowly whisk in the grits. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to whisk until it’s lump-free. Reduce the heat even more and let them cook for another ten minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Remove the charred skin from the roasted peppers and mince them.
By the time the chicken is done, the broth will be reduced quite a bit. Remove the spent thyme and bay leaves then stir in the Worcestershire sauce.
Add your favorite BBQ sauce, enough to lightly coat the chicken. Stir it all together and cook for just another minute or two.
Remove from heat, dump it all into a serving dish and set it aside for now as we finish up the grits.
Remove the grits from the heat and stir in the cheese, butter and peppers.
Add a little milk or half and half and stir it all together until it’s smooth.
Pile the chicken onto a big mound of grits and enjoy!
MINNIE'S CHOCOLATE PIE:
INGREDIENTS
1 packaged pie dough crust (or you can make your own)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs, beaten
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
whipped cream, for serving
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Ease the pie crust into a 9-inch pie plate and crimp the edges decoratively. Prick the crust lightly with a fork. Line the crust with foil or parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes or until set. Remove the foil and weights and bake for about 5 minutes longer, just until the crust is dry but not browned.
Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk the sugar with the cocoa powder, butter, eggs, evaporated milk, vanilla and salt until smooth.
Pour the filling into the pie shell and bake for about 45 minutes, until the filling is set around the edges but a little jiggly in the center. Cover the crust with strips of foil halfway though the baking {to prevent the crust brown browning too much}. Transfer the pie to a rack and let cool completely before cutting into wedges. Serve with whipped cream
The chocolate pie can be refrigerated over night.
