We have a couple of recipes from Gullah Geechee Home Cooking, from Emily Meggett. The first is Okra Gumbo. You can use fresh or frozen okra. She cooks on a wood stove, but you can use any kind of stove. She also puts a little sugar in the recipe and says it helps to cut the acid from the tomatoes. You can serve this gumbo alone or over a bed of white rice.
From Gullah Geechee Home Cooking, Emily Meggett’s Dirty Rice recipe. One-pot rice dishes are deeply rooted in West African cooking. Dirty rice is yet another dish that is well seasoned, well cooked, and comes together in just one pot, making it an easy and sure-to-satisfy dish to serve to ten hungry people. The pork sausage adds a sweet and savory flavor, and the rice gets a nice velvety texture thanks to the fat from the pork and bacon drippings.
Macaroni, Tomato, Cheese Bake comes from Paths of Sunshine. It looks like a wonderful side dish. They recommend it to accompany roast pork, ribs or chicken. It serves 6 to 8.
We have Melinda Stokes Allanson’s Greek Chicken Salad. It looks wonderfully refreshing and change of pace. This is from our friends in Punta Gorda’s book, A Taste of Heaven.
From our Zellwood friends, who published Pot-Pourri of Zellwood, we have a Corn Pudding dessert from Gladys Lunde that is prepared in your microwave.
The recipe for Double Chocolate Pie is from AllRecipes.com and said to be “rich and chocolaty, a truly sinful pie!” Chocolate fans will love it! Garnish each slice with whipped topping.
EMILY MEGGETT’S OKRA GUMBO
Recipe from Gullah Geechee
Home Cooking by Emily Meggett
3/4 pound salt pork, cut into
1-inch pieces
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 28-ounce can crushed or
diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
3 pounds okra, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, or 2 lbs frozen cut okra
Crushed red pepper
Gold Medal seasoning salt
1 tablespoon sugar, plus more
to taste
1 15-1/4 ounce can corn, drained, or kernels cut from 2 ears fresh corn
1-1/2 pounds small shrimp, peeled and deveined (optional but
recommended)
1) In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, fry the salt pork over medium heat until crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the onion and bell pepper and sauté together for 5 to 7 minutes, until translucent. 2) Add the tomatoes and tomato paste. Rinse out the tomato paste can and refill the can with water. Pour the water into the pot. Repeat this process two more times. Bring to a boil over high heat. 3) Turn down the heat to medium and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. If the mixture is too thick, add more water. Add the okra, crushed red pepper, seasoning salt to taste, and the sugar. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes. 4) Finally, add the corn and shrimp, stir, and cook the gumbo over low heat for about 10 more minutes. Serve with rice or eat plain.
EMILY MEGGETT’S DIRTY RICE
Gullah Geechee Home Cooking,
Recipes from the Matriarch of
Edisto Island
4 slices bacon
1 (16-oz) pkg loose pork sausage
1 large onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
4-1/2 cups tepid (room
temperature) water
1 tablespoon Nature’s Seasons
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1-1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon Kitchen Bouquet
(optional)
3-1/2 cups long-grain white rice, rinsed
1) In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, cook the bacon over high heat until crisp. Remove the bacon – but not the oil and drippings – from the pot and allow the bacon to cool. Once cooled, cut the bacon into small pieces and set aside. 2) Meanwhile roll the sausage into small balls. Heat the same cooking pot, and cook the sausage in the bacon drippings until browned, about 5 minutes. Add the onion and bell pepper to the sausage and sauté for another 5 minutes. 3) Return the bacon to the pot, and add the water. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium, then add the Nature’s Seasons (from Morton’s), crushed red pepper, soy sauce, and Kitchen Bouquet, if using. Return the mixture to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. 4) Add the rice and stir with a fork. Reduce the heat to low and cook until most of the water has been absorbed, about 30 minutes. If using a steamer, fill the bottom halfway with water, transfer the rice mixture to the top of the steamer, cover, and steam for 20 to 25 minutes, or until done.
MACARONI, TOMATO,
CHEESE BAKE
Recipe from PATHS OF SUNSHINE
1 16-ounce package macaroni
3 cups stewed tomatoes
1/2 cup onions, chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
3 cups Cheddar cheese, shredded and divided
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper
Cook macaroni according to package directions reducing cooking time by 2 minutes. While macaroni is cooking, stew tomatoes, onions and sugar together until onions are tender. Drain macaroni and rinse thoroughly in hot water. Pour in large mixing bowl and immediately add hot tomato mixture and 2 cups shredded cheese. Stir quickly and blend well. Add garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Pour into greased baking dish. Top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes until mixture sets up.
MELINDA STOKES ALLANSON’S GREEK CHICKEN SALAD
Recipe from First Presbyterian Church of Punta Gorda’s
A Taste of Heaven
3 cups cooked chicken, cubed (about three breasts)
2 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped
1-1/4 cups Feta cheese, crumbled
2/3 cup (or 1 can) black olives, sliced
1/4 cup fresh parsley, snipped
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon dried oregano
3 cloves garlic (or to taste)
Lettuce
Combine chicken, cucumber, Feta, olives and parsley. Set aside. In a small bowl, mix mayonnaise, yogurt, oregano and crushed garlic. Use much less garlic if salad will stand more than a couple of hours before serving. Add to chicken mixture. Toss to coat. Cover and chill. Serve over lettuce. Also very good over toasted French rolls.
GLADYS LUNDE’S
MICROWAVE CORN PUDDING
Recipe from Pot-Pourri of
Zellwood from the
Zellwood Community Center
2 tablespoons margarine
1 cup milk
2 cups cream style corn (fresh or canned, fresh is better)
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon parsley flakes
2 eggs slightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup pimiento
Melt margarine in 1-1/2 quart casserole about 30 seconds on high. Add remaining ingredients. Mix well. Cook uncovered on high for 9 minutes. Stir twice during cooking, pushing sides into center. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
DOUBLE CHOCOLATE PIE
Recipe from AllRecipes.com
Ingredients:
1 9-inch pie crust, baked
1-1/2 cups white sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups milk
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate, chopped
4 egg yolks, beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Directions:
1) Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a 2-quart saucepan. Stir in milk gradually. Add chocolate chips and unsweetened chocolate. Place over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute. 2) Place egg yolks in a medium heatproof bowl. Gradually pour half of chocolate mixture into egg yolks, whisking constantly. 3) Whisk egg yolk mixture back into mixture in saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring back to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla extract. 4) Pour mixture into baked pie shell. Press a layer of plastic wrap onto filling. Refrigerate at least 4 hours but no longer than 48 hours. Remove plastic wrap before serving and top with whipped topping.
