No Leftovers

At the end of last week, Kristin at the Kitchen Sink featured her first attempt at a Low Country Boil. This is a meal that I have made many times, and reading her article made me want to put that on our menu for this week’s meals. I added smoked sausage to the pot and cornbread to complete the meal. The first thing that my husband said was, “Are we having company?”, and then he became very excited that it was no special event, but just a Monday night dinner for the two of us.

This was our meal on Tuesday night:

Do you notice anything? You might not, but my husband did notice that there were no leftovers for him to eat for lunch on Tuesday. If you look closely, you will see that there are a lot of similar elements from our Low Country Boil! I took everything except the sausage and repurposed it for Tuesday’s dinner. Of course, my husband was a little disappointed when he realized that there were no leftovers for lunch, but he was very satisfied when dinner came around.

I was worried that because everything was cooked with the same spices on Monday night which is a good thing with that meal, that there would be the same essence throughout Tuesday’s meal (which I did not necessarily want). This really was not a problem; the new flavors that were added were really complemented by the Boil seasoning. Here’s how I did it:

1.) Corn on the Cob becomes a Corn and Cherry Tomato Salad

2 ears of corn, cooked

1 pint cherry tomatoes

1/2 red onion

2-3 stems of basil

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Cut the corn off of the cob using a sharp knife. Place the corn into a medium bowl. Half the cherry tomatoes and add to the corn. Finely dice the onion and add as well. Chiffonade or chop the basil, and add the basil and the rest of the ingredients to the bowl. Mix well, and serve at room temperature.

2.) Potatoes become Potato Salad

You can adjust your ingredients based on how many potatoes you have. Because I was using leftovers, I had fewer potatoes.

6 medium red potatoes, cut into pieces, boiled until cooked through

1 ¼ cups Mayonnaise

1 cup sour cream

¼ cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon celery seed

1 ½ teaspoon horseradish

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 cup chopped green onions

Mix all together and adjust for seasonings.

3.) Shrimp became Shrimp Burgers

½ pound peeled cooked shrimp

½ rib celery

2-3 stems parsley

1 green onion

1 large lemon

1 ½ tablespoons mayonnaise

½ cup cornbread crumbs (I used one cornbread muffin from the night before)

salt and pepper

hot pepper sauce
1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon butter

Chop the shrimp, celery, parsley and onion. Place into a small bowl. Using a fine grater, zest half of the lemon and add to the bowl. Add the mayonnaise and cornbread. Add salt, pepper, and hot pepper sauce to taste. Add about half of the beaten egg, and mix well. The mixture will barely hold together.

Using your hands, make two burgers from the mixture. They will hold together better if they are thicker, rather than wider. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Heat the butter over medium heat in a large nonstick skillet. Carefully add the burgers, using a spatula to press any parts that have fallen apart. Cook for 3-4 minutes, and then use two spatulas to carefully turn both burgers. Cook on the other side for 3-4 minutes. Serve over a bed of baby greens.

BBQ Sauce

Well, like I have said, last weekend we had some friends over for BBQ. It was my first time to cook Boston Butt, and although it was very good, I will keep looking for a good rub recipe. The BBQ sauce, however, is tried and true, and will make any mediocre BBQ sandwich an excellent one. I think that it is better than anything that I have ever had from a jar, even though it is made up from mostly canned and jarred items. Also, it makes quite a lot, but it freezes well and keeps for a long time in the refrigerator.

BBQ Sauce

From Ina Garten's The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

1 large Vidalia onion, chopped

3 cloves minced garlic

½ cup vegetable oil

1 cup tomato paste

1 cup cider vinegar

1 cup honey

½ cup Worcestershire sauce

1 cup Dijon mustard

½ cup soy sauce

1 cup hoisin sauce

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin (Original recipe calls for 1 tablespoon)

½ tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes

Sauté the onion and garlic over low heat in the oil for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, measure out all of the other ingredients into a medium bowl. Mix well, and add to the onions when they are done. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes; stir occasionally with a wire whisk. Store the sauce in the refrigerator.

One is Silver and the Other Gold

When I was a child, I listened to the “Wee sing” series of tapes. They had little songs for children; some silly, some Bible songs, some patriotic, etc. One song that was more of a proverb has been going through my head this weekend, “Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.” This is so true; what a blessing it is to have friends, old and new! We were blessed to have a wonderful group of friends before we moved, and while never forgetting or losing love for those friends, we are gaining new friends here, too.

I am convinced that one way to make new friends, and to show them how much we love and appreciate them, is by cooking. So that is exactly what we did this weekend. We served Boston butt with homemade BBQ sauce, two salads, sweet potato fries and strawberry shortcakes for dessert. All in all, it was a great meal, and we truly enjoyed the company.

Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take pictures of our dinner party in the midst of everything, so all that I have is a few photos of the shortbreads, sweet potatoes, BBQ sauce and the tomato salad.

One great side effect to having new friends over for dinner is that it lit a fire. That fire pushed us to finish setting up our living room (or at least what we can do until our sofa arrives), clean the apartment and ready everything for guests to actually see. So, here they are, photos of the final (or semi-final) product:

Our Bedroom

Another Shot of the Bedroom

The Living Room

The Bathroom