&My Southern KitchenSHRIMP, COLLARDS GRITS
MY SOUTHERN KITCHEN
VOLUME II
Shrimp, Collards & Grits Southern Lifestyle Series
Recipes, Stories and Fine Art
from the coastal southeast.
Magic Hour, oil on canvas by Michael B. Karas.
&My Southern KitchenSHRIMP, COLLARDS GRITS
MY SOUTHERN KITCHEN
VOLUME II
The South is a place where nightfall beckons us to gather on the porch
and sit a spell, while tree frogs serenade us from their woodland home.
Wicker rockers invite us to linger awhile over glasses of sweet tea.
Everyone is darlin’, strangers say “hello” and someone’s
heart is always being blessed.
Shrimp, Collards & Grits - My Southern Kitchen
Recipes, Stories and Fine Art from the coastal southeast.
Shrimp, Collards & Grits Lifestyle Series - Volume II
Copyright © 2015 by Branning Publishing, Inc; original written content & photographs only.
www.branningpublishing.com
All artwork copyright remains with the artists.
Additional photographs provided by Adobe Stock Images.
International Standard Book Number: 978-0-9896340-4-5
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise-without prior written permission from
the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.
More Information:
www.shrimpcollardsgrits.com
Printed in P.R.C.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COVER ARTIST MICHAEL B. KARAS 8
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 11
WELCOME TO MY SOUTHERN KITCHEN 12
A MOTHER’S COOKBOOK 14
A PLACE CALLED HOME 17
LAND OF SHRIMP, COLLARDS & GRITS 20
COME ON IN 23
RASPBERRY LIMONCELLO PROSECCO 24
GEORGIA PEACH COCKTAIL 24
SMOKED SALMON AND HERBED CHEESE PINWHEELS 25
BROWN SUGAR BACON PARTY BITES 27
EGG SALAD PARTY BITES 28
BEEF TENDERLION BRUSCHETTA 30
WELCOME TO GEORGIA’S GOLDEN ISLES 32
J.P. MORGAN CRAB MELTS 34
SEA EAGLE CLAM APPETIZERS 37
MINT JULEP ICED TEA 38
CRAB-STUFFED MUSHROOMS 40
PECAN PRALINE BAKED BRIE 41
FARM STAND VEGGIES 42
OLD FASHIONED TOMATO SALAD 44
HEIRLOOM TOMATO & VIDALIA PIE 47
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES 49
SALTWATER GEECHEES OF SAPELO ISLAND 50
GEECHEE CORN SALAD IN VINAIGRETTE 53
CAROLINA OKRA BEIGNETS 54
OKRA WITH TOMATO GRAVY 55
GRILLED CORN WITH CHILI-LIME BUTTER 56
CARROT - FRUIT SALAD 57
SPAGHETTI SQUASH VEGGIE BAKE 59
SUMMER PEA SALAD WITH MINT DRESSING 60
MAMA’S POTATO SALAD WITH FRESH DILL 62
FARMER’S MARKET PASTA SALAD 63
BREADS, BRUNCHES & FIXIN’S 64
S.N.O.B. CORN BREAD 65
GARDEN VEGETABLE FRITTATA 66
AWENDAW SPOON BREAD 67
CHARLESTON ARTIST RHETT THURMAN 69
RISE AND SHINE BUTTERMILK BISCUITS 70
SORGHUM BUTTER 74
“OLD TIMEY” PEACH BREAD 75
CRÈME BRULÉE FRENCH TOAST 77
PIMENTO CHEESE BISCUITS 78
PIZZA DOUGH MADE SIMPLE 80
PIMENTO CHEESE FRITTERS 82
SUMPTUOUS SOUTHERN SEAFOOD 85
JOHN CARROLL DOYLE 86
LEMON BUTTERED JUMBO LUMP CRAB 88
CALABASH STYLE FRIED FLOUNDER 89
DOWN SOUTHERN ROADS IN SWEET CAROLINA 90
CAROLINA-STYLE DEVILED CRAB 93
CRAB CRACKING ON EDISTO 94
SPRING ISLAND CRAB CAKES 96
SHRIMP BISQUE 97
SEARCHIN’ FOR BLUE CRAB 98
SEARED SCALLOPS WITH BACON JAM 99
GINGER SHRIMP SALAD 101
BOWENS ISLAND RESTAURANT 102
CHARLESTON WRECKFISH WITH ALMOND PESTO AND
PARSLEY ROOT PURÉE 105
HATTERAS FISH TACOS WITH LIME GUACAMOLE 106
SEA ISLAND SEAFOOD POT PIE 107
SOUTHERN HEROES 108
AHI TUNA WITH NAPA CABBAGE 110
SUPPER IN THE SOUTH 112
STUFFED PORK TENDERLOIN WITH DIJON SAUCE 114
MRS. WILKES FRIED CHICKEN 115
THE SEARCH FOR THE WILD FLUSH 116
GRILLED POMEGRANATE MARINATED QUAIL SALAD 119
GRILLED SIRLOIN AND OYSTER MUSHROOMS 121
SORGHUM GLAZED HAM 122
SEA ISLAND FLANK STEAK 124
SWEET DREAMS 127
COLLETON RIVER STRAWBERRY 129
IMPOSSIBLE PEACH PIE 130
PLUFF MUD TART WITH SWISS MERINGUE 132
CRAZY- GOOD CHOCOLATE TUILES 134
BLUEBERRY SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE 135
ON BEING SOUTHERN 137
COCONUT – MANGO WHITE CHOCOLATE TART 139
STRAWBERRY – RHUBARB ALMOND CRISP 140
SAVANNAH FRUIT SALAD 141
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY 142
LIMITED EDITION REPRODUCTION PRINTS 144
Sun Bathed, oil on canvas by Betty Anglin Smith. Autumns Red Skies, oil on canvas by Betty Anglin Smith.
COVER ARTIST MICHAEL B. KARAS
I t’s tempting when viewing a Michael B. Karas
painting to insert yourself into the frame — so
adept is he at nailing a moment, a mood and what
a landscape feels like. Those of us who feel transfixed or
more likely transported by Karas’ creations
have plenty of company. His works have been
exhibited in museums across the country, and
nearly 3000 of his paintings are included in
private and corporate collections worldwide.
The paintings of Michael B. Karas transcend
both time and place with a sincerity of
execution that lock the images into our minds
forever. His southern works have catapulted
him into the ranks of the most renowned
artists of the Lowcountry and beyond.
Recently I had the privilege of visiting
Michael at his studio. “I don’t try to paint a
‘portrait’ of a scene,” he said, “it’s the essence
of the scene I’m after.” Rather than to simply
represent the outward appearance of the
landscape, his paintings evoke a certain emotion
revealing a deeper inward significance.
This region, perhaps as much as his native New England,
has unleashed a creative force within him that has led to
the creation of many highly acclaimed landscape paintings
expressing his passion for nature and the natural world
around him. He loves the low light of early morning and
late afternoon for painting the serpentine creeks that
wind through endless Lowcountry marshes. He is drawn
to dramatic cloud formations, the sea and the majesty of
our sunrises and sunsets across the water.
When I asked him, “Who are your heroes?” he quickly
replied “Frederick J. Waugh”, the great marine painter and
the acclaimed master painter, John Singer Sargent.” He was
inspired by their works early on. Karas grew up on Boston’s
North Shore, a few miles south of Cape Ann, Massachusetts,
which consists of the historic seaport city of Gloucester and
“Master of Lowcountry Landscapes.”
Beach Morning, oil on canvas by Michael B. Karas.
the nearby town of Rockport. Both of these have thriving
artist colonies, where artists run their own galleries. There
he learned he could make a living selling art and has done
so successfully since high school.
Michael’s routine includes working in his
home studio on Callawassie Island, a private
sea island in coastal South Carolina. Here the
sweeping expanses of marsh, winding estuaries,
vast pristine tidal waters and the abundance
of bird and wildlife provide the creative
heartbeat of his Lowcountry paintings.
When not at work, Michael enjoys inshore
saltwater fly fishing. Why fly fishing? “There
is a pleasing aesthetic in the way the rod and
line move through the air when making a
cast, which propels the nearly weightless fly
to silently land near it’s quarry. Then, when
a fish is hooked, the long rod bends in the
most graceful arch.”
Michael adds, “The places where I fish are also
the places I paint. Time spent fishing gives me
the perfect opportunity to observe my subject.”
And whenever time allows, he and his wife Fern, both
Disney enthusiasts, love going to Walt Disney World in
Orlando, Florida. Beyond the rides, they enjoy the amazing
environment of outstanding design, creativity and attention
to detail. They delight in just strolling around the parks or
sitting on a bench, soaking in the magic.
Michael B. Karas is represented by The Red Piano Art Gallery of Hilton Head, S.C.
I wish to thank all dear friends and family who have
gathered through the years to eat, laugh and enjoy
my Southern kitchen. And all who read and enjoy
my books, thank you for reminding me what is best about
living in and loving the South. To stop and chat with any
one of you is as restorative as a sunset over the salt marsh of
the May River in all its burnished golden splendor.
From the time I was a very young girl, I loved writing
stories and it’s continued throughout a lifetime. I don’t
know why I feel compelled to do this, I only know that
writing and storytelling has always been as essential to
me as breathing. I especially thank my dad for always
encouraging this endeavor.
A special thanks to my husband, Cloide, for his continuous
encouragement and enthusiasm, mixed with a healthy
appetite for tasting and critiquing all the recipes.
My gratitude to the creative team that helped put this book
together; it is as much theirs as mine. A most special thanks
to Andrew Branning, my son, for dedication, wit, endless
intellect and countless hours behind the camera — thank
you. All the amazing photographs and design of this book
would not have happened without you—you bring such
style and fun to the project. I can’t imagine writing books
without you. Without question, your technical support and
business expertise are constantly taking us to new levels.
And Lindsay Gifford, who teaches me to be organized and
turned my office wall into one giant grid of pages and chapters.
Thank you for your brilliant creative guidance and energy.
Thank you to Robert Wysong, John Soulia, Matthew
Roher, Jeff McKinney, Patrick Alford and Leslie Rohland
for bringing your own style and creativity to the project.
A warm and special thanks to each of you for sharing
your knowledge, insight and great sense of design and
encouraging me to develop my own. Your passion and love
for locally sourced, great food and quality preparation was
a constant inspiration.
To my team of artists—there is a very deep heart felt
acknowledgment. Charleston’s art scene embraces the
best of both tradition and modernity. The magnificently
preserved antebellum architecture, rich colonial and
Civil War past hide another side of the city — one that’s
sophisticated and thrumming with cultural energy. May the
high art of the Lowcountry shine through these pages in
all its glory.
Thank you, Angela Stump, manager of the John Carroll
Doyle Gallery on Church Street in Charleston, for steadfast
courage and for always going above and beyond. You are a
constant source of help and encouragement.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
And finally, a toast to all the home cooks and dear friends
who inspire my culinary imagination and work with me
to ensure cooks everywhere have recipes they can easily
master in their own kitchens. They deserve a clinking
together of a goblet of very good cabernet. But there’s
more to it than that. Together we have created dishes that
are deeply satisfying to eat; recipes that are simple, soulful
and Southern. May you love and enjoy each one as much
as we do.
And lastly, but certainly not least, I wish to thank our cover
artist, Michael B. Karas, master of the Southern landscape.
Anticipation, oil on canvas by John Carroll Doyle.
12 12
WELCOME TO MY SOUTHERN KITCHEN
S hrimp, Collards and Grits celebrates My Southern
Kitchen with recipes, stories and fine art capturing
life below the Mason-Dixon line — simple,
soulful, Southern.
Welcome to the land of Shrimp, Collards and Grits—
an extraordinary place rooted in love and tradition;
where nightfall beckons us to gather on the porch
and sit a spell while tree frogs serenade us from their
woodland home. Wicker rockers invite us to linger over
glasses of sweet tea. Everyone is darlin’, strangers say
“hello” and someone’s heart is always being blessed.
You’re invited to step through a creaky screen door into my
Southern kitchen, where fresh-from-the-farm ingredients
and dedicated preparation make every bite a succulent
mouthful of down-home simple, soulful, Southern comfort.
Our farm vegetables have come to symbolize for me the
essence of what it means to live in and love the South. If
you get off the interstate just about anywhere south of the
Mason-Dixon line and follow the fence line out into the
countryside, you’ll find a pick-up truck on a dirt road loaded
with vegetables, which pretty much ensures their authenticity.
Roadside stands with primitive handmade signs invite us to
pull off the road and explore the rows of vegetables. Tons of
fertile soil turned again and again to face the torrid sun and
time produce crops of the sweetest watermelons, tomatoes,
cucumbers and squash. Men in straw hats and bib overalls on
tractors plant them each year with great faith and promise
and harvest them with love and hope.
Southern peas, field peas, crowders and black-eyed peas are
the beloved peas of the South displayed on rickety old carts
and wooden stands. They show up at church picnics and
family reunions and come in a variety of shapes, colors and
sizes. After the peas are passed around our southern table,
pepper vinegar is not far behind, followed by the corn bread.
Plump red, yellow and green heirloom tomatoes
overwhelm us with their brilliant colors while baskets of
fresh herbs intoxicate amidst rows of cascading heads of
light and leafy lettuces.
All these humble ingredients, prepared masterfully together
in our home kitchens, formica diners and barbecue huts
produce the elixir that tastes and feels like home in the South.
“Simple, Soulful, Southern.”
There’s a tradition in the South—great flavors, soulful
colors and light so magical it stirs artists to greatness.
Surely the cup of life overflows on our sun-splashed islands,
sometimes desolate and pristine. Sandpipers, plovers,
oystercatchers, ruddy turnstones, laughing gulls and scores
of feathered species live here.
But it’s our Southern food that takes center stage these
days — why a country ham and the person who smoked
it are as revered as a new Pat Conroy novel. We’re serious
about our food wanting to know who made it and where
it came from.
Celebrities are now writing cookbooks, politicians
are bragging about their cooking skills, while young
entrepreneurs are opening grass fed burger chains.
Homemade sausage used to be the stuff eaten by peasants,
now it’s the new luxury food.
Farmers’ markets have gone from being precious playgrounds
for the elite to weekly fixtures on the town square. In fact, a
farmers’ market in the South is a bona fide tourist destination
and the number is growing by leaps and bounds, cropping up
everywhere, including church parking lots.
Our barbecue is legendary and our peach pie, grits, fried
green tomatoes and buttermilk biscuits are more than just
shared dishes; they are the things that bind us together.
Let’s raise our glasses in harmony as we celebrate the
Southern table. Linger awhile and prepare to be enchanted.
Local Produce, watercolor on linen by Shannon Smith Hughes.
Battery Stroll, oil on canvas by Angela Trotta Thomas.