Good morning folks. How’s everybody today? We’re glad you guys stopped back by to visit this morning, and we hope everyone is doing just fine! Why don’t you all pull up a chair, prop your feet up, and just as soon as I finish “bumpin my gums” this morning we’ll probably fire off a cook stove.
We had a little warm snap, which I could probably better describe as actually, we’ve had a couple cool snaps, then it warms back up again. Whichever, but since the nights have gotten back up in the 60’s, and the days in the 80’s, the grass has started growing a little again, and the okra is really putting out once more.
We’ll have okra until the first frost, so we could still get quite a bit more off them. We planted them back in August from seed, so we were getting kinda a late start, but the production we’ve gotten off it already was more than worth the time and effort, and actually everything else we get from it we consider to be a bonus!
Deb and I picked it last Saturday and we pickled 23 pints. Then yesterday we picked again and we pickled another 29 pints. So we put up 52 pints since Saturday. I don’t know how many we’ve already put up, but it’s considerable. I know we’ve had to have given away at least another 35-45 pints away.
We love it and we don’t know many that don’t, so, it’s going to good use! Matter of fact we’ve got a buddy coming today who ate a whole jar the last time he came by. I had maybe three or four pieces, and he ate the rest.
Deb got us a jar, and we started off sharing the jar and a fork to “stick em with.” Well, once I quit, he took the jar and fork, sat it across from him, and proceeded to “knock the jar out!” The man might eat a dern pickled okra or two! I wonder why he’s stopping by today, huh? LOL!
He’s a great guy though, and Deb and I love him to death. They don’t make em much better than ole Sonnie!
Years ago when he and I met through our business, we started corresponding pretty regularly, and became fast friends. He called one day and requested I fax him over a bid. I asked his e-mail address, and he gave it to me verbally…so, I e-mailed him the bid, and took off again.
Anyway, after 2-3 hours he called once more and asked, “Dub, are you going to send me your bid…I need it pretty quick.” I told him I had sent it to him, to check his mail once more. He says no, he still hadn’t gotten it. I went back, looked, and sure enough, it had been returned…non-delivery.
I called him, and said that he must have not given me his correct e-mail address, and he gave it to me once more. I said, “Sonny, that’s what I’ve got, “so he asked me to spell Sonny. I said, S…O…N…N…Y!
He said , “NO Dub, it’s S…O…N…N…I…E!”
I said, “I, E??? How the heck you expect a fellow to send you a dern e-mail, and you don’t know how to correctly spell YOUR OWN NAME, dad-gummit! It’s Y, not i, e!!”
He laughed and said that that’s how he’s always spelled it. I then told him that it was alright. It’d be easier to teach me how to MISSPELL it, than teaching him how to spell it CORRECTLY, since he’d spent his entire life spellin his dern name wrong anyway! LOL!
Today’s recipes come from the cookbook, “Best Kept Secrets of the South’s Greatest Cooks,” and it comes from the Editors of “Southern Living.” For any of you who haven’t gone through an issue of this magazine, you’re sure missin out. Pick up an issue next time you’re in town and “look into it!”
The first recipe today from Miz Judi’s Kitchen is…Baked Ham with Bourbon Glaze. I figure this recipe to be very good ( I love ham anyway you want to serve it), and after looking at it for a while, I know I’d enjoy this, and the very next ham we bake, this will be it!
I can hear myself sittin at the table now…”Hey Deb, how bout passin me another PINT of that dern glaze…I mean ham!”
Baked Ham with Bourbon Glaze:
- 1 cup honey
- ½ cup molasses
- ½ cup of bourbon
( I’m thinkin maybe they MEANT…a cup and a half!! Lol)
- ¼ cup orange juice
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 (6-8 pound) smoked ham
- Garnish: fresh herb sprigs
Microwave honey and molasses in a 1 quart microwave safe dish on HIGH 1 minute; whisk to blend. Whisk in bourbon, orange juice and mustard.
Remove skin and excess fat from ham, and place ham in roasting pan.
Bake on 325 on lower oven rack for 1-1/2 hours or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest portion registers 140 degrees, basting occasionally with honey mixture.
Bring drippings and remaining glaze to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat, and serve with sliced ham. Garnish, if desired.
Roevis McKay, New York, New York.
The cookbook states Mr. and Mrs. McKay have lived in Manhattan for many years, but still feel close to their North Carolina roots. By the way, this recipe is so good, that it is in “Southern Livings, Recipe Hall of Fame.”
Pork Medallions with Blackberry Sauce:
- 2 (1 pound) pork tenderloins
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon coarsely ground whole allspice
- 1’4 cup butter or margarine, divided
- ½ cups diced shallots (about 3 large)
- 2/3 cups dry white wine
- 3 tablespoons seedless blackberry fruit spread
- Garnishes: fresh blackberries, fresh thyme sprigs
Sprinkle pork evenly with salt, pepper, and allspice. Cover and chill 30 minutes.
Grill pork over medium-high heat (350-400) 20 minutes, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest portion registers 160 degrees, turning pork once. Remove from grill, and let stand for 10 minutes.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat while pork stands. Add shallots, and sauté 5 minutes, or until tender. Add wine; cook 13 minutes or until liquid is reduced by half. Reduce heat to low; whisk in fruit spread and remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Cook 2 minutes or until slightly thickened.
Cut pork into ¼ inch thick slices. Drizzle blackberry sauce over pork. Garnish, if desired.
Kathy Hunt Dallas Texas
Well, since we’ve already had Baked Ham with Bourbon Glaze, and Pork Medallions with Blackberry Sauce which has wine in it, we might as well insure getting a DUI driving back home, with a dessert that might “put a little pep in your step, too!”
Bourbon-Chocolate Pecan Pie:
- ½ (15 ounce) package refrigerated pie crusts
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 6 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons bourbon
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
Fit piecrust into a 9 inch pie plate according to the package instructions; fold edges under, and crimp. Whisk together eggs, corn syrup, butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, bourbon, flour, and vanilla extract, until mixture is smooth; stir in chopped pecans and chocolate morsels. Pour into crust.
Bake on **lowest oven rack on 350 for 1 hour or until set.
** The reasoning for baking the pie on the lowest oven rack is it keeps the crust from becoming soggy.