South Carolina cooking and writing are a way of life

Growing up in South Carolina, certain things are entwined and tangled in my DNA and I can no more untangle myself from them than I can walk on water. The famous Palmetto tree whose spongy wood protected troops on Sullivan Island during the Revolutionary war stands guard in my spirit. The town I grew up in, Aiken, is famous for wintering racehorses from New York and the dusty smell of horse and hay and leather is an elixir.

Then, there is the native son of South Carolina, Pat Conroy, whose words entered into my spirit in high school with The Water is Wide. No writer, me especially, was worthy to dust the eraser residue from the legal pads on which he wrote his tomes. In high school, my JROTC buddies and I formed a loose book club solely to read The Lords of Discipline. All four of us eventually went into service and two of us ended up at North Georgia College (now the University of North Georgia). To be honest, I never considered the Citadel, where Conroy’s semi-autobiographical coming of age story takes place and where he graduated from, because at the time, the Citadel didn’t allow women. I cried ugly tears on March 4, 2016, when news broke that a period had been placed on Pat Conroy’s life after battling pancreatic cancer.

So, in memory and honor of this great Southern bard, the son of Santini, I’ve pulled my favorite recipes from The Pat Conroy

Cookbook: Recipes of My Life, a biography interlaced with recipes from the deep south to Italy.

By far, the recipe for Breakfast Shrimp and Grits is my favorite (fun tidbit, it was Don Conroy’s, Pat’s father, favorite as well.) It’s a regular at Casa Kirkland and soothes our bellies and souls after a hard day.

 

Breakfast Shrimp and Grits

1 cup coarse white grits

2 thick slices of country bacon, cut into matchsticks (about a 1/2 cup)

1 small shallot, finely minced

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 tsp strained fresh lemon juice

Coarse or kosher salt

2-3 drops Tabasco sauce

1. Slow-cook the grits according to the package directions. This will take about 60 minutes. Set aside.
2. Place a medium, heavy skillet over moderate heat. When the pan is hot, add the bacon and cook until the fat is rendered and bacon is crisp, 5 to 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the bacon and reserve in a small bowl, keeping the pan as is, fat and all. This can bed done in advance. Do not cook the shrimp until the grits are ready and resting.
3. In a low oven, warm four heatproof serving plates.
4. Return the skillet with the bacon fat to moderate heat, add the shallot and cook until soft but not colored. Add butter and it’s melted, add shrimp, cooking until just pink, about 3 minutes. Add lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Toss to coat.
5. Spoon about a 1/2-cup steaming grits into the middle of each warm plate. Using a slotted spoon, place shrimp on top of the grits. Add reserved bacon and Tabasco to the pan juices, swirling the skillet for a few seconds to create a thin sauce. Pour over the shrimp and grits.

The beautiful thing about this recipe is it’s flexibility. We often use onions instead of shallots and sometimes we had cheese to the grits. In true rebellion, we always use salted butter.

 

Peppered New Potatoes

1 3/4 pounds small red new potatoes (about 24)

3 Tbsp unsalted butter

Coarse or Kosher salt and coarsely ground tricolor pepper

1. Wash the potatoes, but do not dry. Peel a ring around the center of each potato. In a pot large enough to hold the potatoes in a single layer, melt the butter over medium-high heat until foamy and almost browned. Place the wet potatoes in the pot and over tightly.
2. In about 3 minutes, the potatoes will start to sputter. Holding the lid in place, shake the pot to crisp all sides of the potatoes. Continue to shake the pot frequently until the potatoes are browned on the outside and tender inside, the tip of a knife or fork should slide in easily, 15 to 18 minutes. Season with salt and abundant coarsely ground tricolor pepper.

Try this with Bear Meatloaf, find the recipe here.

Creme Brulee

2 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 vanilla bean

6 egg yolks

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees.
2. Pour the heavy cream into a large saucepan and set aside. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds from inside the pod into the cream. Add the pod.
3. Over moderate heat, bring the cream and vanilla mixture to a low boil. Remove from the heat, cover and the mixture steep for 15 minutes. Remove the vanilla pod.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks and granulated sugar until pale yellow. Slowly whisk the egg mixture into the cream.
5. Pour into four to six shallow broiler-proof custard dishes. Set the dishes in a shallow roasting pan and pour boiling water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the dishes.
6. Bake until the custard is set, about 30 minutes. The tops will still look jiggly.
7. Remove the dishes from roasting pan and cool on a rack to room temperature.
8. Preheat the broiler.
9. Press the brown sugar through a fine mesh strainer onto the custard in an even layer. Wipe excess from the rims.
10. Broil about 5-inches from the heat source until the sugar liquefies, then starts to bubble and caramelize. This can take from 1 to 3-minutes. Rotate the pan to ensure even browning and be extremely careful not to burn the tops.
11. Remove the custard dishes and cool on a wire rack to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least one hour.