The end of one era meets the beginning of a new…

The holidays were met with both joy and pain for Jenny and me.  We entered into the Christmas season with the news that Mimi was sick.  While getting sick was nothing new for the 93-year-old matriarch of our family, with each year that passed, “getting sick” became more of and more threatening.  And finally on December 21, 2009 Mimi went to, in her words, “go see Grandaddy.”  With 69 years of marriage, three children, six grandchildren, extensive travels including an around-the-world trip and visit to the Holy Land, and years of cooking and gardening that would put any HGTV or Food Network show to shame, we should all be so lucky to live the life that she lived.  On that note, we should all be so lucky to have the death that she had: surrounded by family in her bed at home.  Just a week before her death, I Skyped with her for the first time ever and to see her you would’ve thought she’d been doing it all of her life!  Isn’t it amazing that in one lifetime she went from horse and buggy to Skype?  We discussed her ice box cookie recipe which, you may recall, I botched TWICE during my cookie-making festivities.  She had gotten wind of my misfortune and wanted to discuss it.  I know the trick now (details to come)!  And in that same week, she herself made multiple batches of the famed cookies.  To our sweet surprise, on Christmas morning each grandchild received a tin of  her ice box cookies.

Mimi's last cookies

And while there were tears, we all celebrated Mimi’s life by gathering together for Christmas and doing what we do best: cooking, eating, and drinking!  On Christmas Eve we had our traditional meal of oyster stew prepared by our cousins, Maggie and Katie.  Appalachicola oysters are some of the best in the world (not that I am biased at all!) and those girls know how to treat them right.

Appalachicola oyster stew

On Christmas Day we had a Mediterranean brunch which was orchestrated by my culinary expert of an aunt, Julie. Jenny and I were sous chefs.  I was more like a sous-sous chef.  The menu looked something like this:

Main Dish
Tuna and trout grilled on Mary Anne’s amazing brick oven, served with both romesco sauce and tapenade

Side dishes
Roasted fennel and artichoke hearts
Roasted butternut squash served with a balsamic reduction
Stone ground grits from Bradley’s Country Store prepared with parmigiano reggiano and fresh-frozen home-grown silver queen corn also known as sweet corn
Caprese salad
Green beans with olive oil, lemon, and pomegranate seeds

Drinks
Bloody Marys (a staple at any breakfast or brunch with our family)
Wine

Caprese Salad

Green beans with pomegranate seeds

Roasted butternut squash with balsamic reduction

Grilled tuna

Grilled Trout

On the actual day of Mimi’s funeral and graveside service, we received guests and of course needed to provide food.  Much of what we served was homemade and lovingly donated by our wonderful friends and family.  In addition, Jenny and I made a delicious shrimp salad, and Mimi’s fruit salad (see the picture below):

Mimi’s Fruit Salad
Use any fruit that you have around however, I would steer clear of really citrus-based fruit like oranges and pineapple.  Mimi usually always seemed to use red grapes (cut in half) bananas, and apples.  Then she would very lightly dress the salad in a modest spoonful of mayo or yogurt, whichever she had around.  Really, a little bit goes a long way.  Then add some poppy seeds and stir.  You will see in the picture at the end, we added pomegranate seeds this time.  Delish!

Mimi's fruit salad....with pomegranate seeds

While Jenny and I decided not to  provide all of the recipes for this food, we decided that we could provide the pictures above (thanks to my love, Michal, who bought us this amazing food camera) so that we can help you piece together how you might cook these simple and delicious dishes at home.

Since this a jointly written post between Jenny and me, I urge you to read on so that you may be as comforted by her words (and her grits recipe) as we were by Mimi’s cooking.

From Jenny:

For as long as I can remember, our family had a Christmas breakfast that was some variation of this menu: an egg dish (often a casserole), sausage and rice casserole, sour cream coffee cake, hot brandied fruit, and any number of other dishes.  I guess it’s fitting that this year, our first Christmas without Mimi or Granddaddy, we changed the menu completely.  My aunt Julie wanted to share one of her new family traditions: preparing a Christmas breakfast themed on the foods of one country or region.  Naturally Julie gravitated toward Mediterranean, which is her specialty.  Julie was a rock before, during, and after Mimi’s death and she, like me, enjoys cooking as a way of nurturing those she loves.  So Christmas breakfast was truly a labor of love and it was themed loosely on an Italian Christmas.  They have seven fishes, we had two – but it still seemed extravagant.

The Italian theme was particularly appropos as my brother and his new wife were in Italy for Christmas.  They left just before Mimi died, knowing that they might be gone when she passed.  But this was their honeymoon and my sister-in-law’s first visit to meet my brother’s family in Italy (that’s another story and a whole lot of blog posts!).  They said goodbye to Mimi and left knowing they had her blessing.  Our Italian meal was a way to connect to them even when they weren’t with us – but we were in the South, after all, and not in Tuscany.  I prepared Southern polenta – oops, I mean grits! – to accompany the meal.  Instead of the normal cheese grits I usually make, on Christmas I incorporated cream, sweet onion, and corn.  Rather than cheddar or pepperjack, I used mounds of finely grated Parmiggiano Reggiano and plenty of salt and fresh black pepper.  My cousin Katie said, “I like my grits plain!” with a wrinkle in her nose.  She dipped her spoon into the pot, tasting…”Ok, well…these are good too.”  I think she probably had seconds.

Stone-ground grits with corn kernels and Parmigiano-Reggiano

When I was growing up, I can only remember Mimi preparing the quick-cooking 10-minute grits that can be found at any chain grocery store.  I imagine that the convenience of 10-minute grits was pretty irresistible, not just to her but to folks across the South.  She fixed them up with butter, milk (maybe), salt and pepper, cheddar or pepperjack cheese, and sometimes a diced jalapeno, and they were that rarest of food – something that is eaten regularly at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Nowadays I only cook stone-ground grits of the kind that can be found at Bradley’s Country Store, on the outskirts of Tallahassee, where they grind their own sugarcane, make their own sausage and headcheese, and mill their own grits.  Stone-ground grits are incomparably better than the quick-cooking grocery store variety: toothy, flavorful, substantial, and creamy beyond belief.   These aren’t too hard to find in the South, but when my mom and sister leave after a visit from Denver, their now-home, they often have a couple of bags of Bradley’s grits tucked into their suitcases.

Add a little kale for some color

So for our Italian-themed-Southern-funeral-Christmas-mourning-morning-breakfast-celebration, grits it was.  The photos below are from another day, when I cooked these for a friend who was visiting from California and was – like Rach and my mom, when they visit from Denver – craving good Southern cooking.  I topped the with a chiffonade of kale sautéed in garlic.

Southern polenta, or: Creamy stone-ground grits with sweet corn and vidalia onion
Adapted from Bon Appetit, Y’all by Virginia Willis

1 tablespoon butter
1 vidalia onion, finely chopped or grated
1 cup of corn kernels, preferably fresh
2 cups whole milk
2 cups water
Salt and fresh ground pepper
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1/2 cup heavy cream
Chopped parsley, chives, or green onions

Melt butter in a sauce pan and cook onion, stirring, over medium-high heat until it begins to soften (2-4 minutes).  Add corn and cook, stirring occasionally, until it becomes soft.  Add water, milk, and a teaspoon of salt and bring to a boil.  Stone ground grits need to be washed, so while heating cooking liquid place the grits in a bowl and cover with cold water.  Stir grits then allow to settle and slowly pour off water – the chaff will have risen to the top and will pour off with the water.  Repeat one or two more times then add grits to boiling water.  Decrease heat to low and cook, stirring often to prevent grits sticking on the bottom of the pan.  Cook for 45 minutes to one hour, until grits are creamy and soft, adding in cream toward the end of cooking.  Stir in Parmigianno-Regiano and herbs (if adding green onions, add these first and allow to cook for a few minutes).  Taste for salt and pepper, season as needed, and serve hot.

Variation: If you want a more substantial dish with a vegetable component, consider topping your grits with greens.  I slivered a clove of garlic and cut one bunch of kale into a chiffonade.  After sauteeing garlic in olive oil over medium-high heat for about 30 seconds, I added my washed chiffonade of kale to the pan and cooking, stirring often, for about 4 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper and place on top of a hot bowl of grits.