Showing posts with label greens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label greens. Show all posts

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Jul 26: Southern BBQ in Seattle?

PK clipped a coupon for a new barbeque place in North Seattle that advertises itself as "A taste of the South" and "We have a wide range of true Southern dishes to make your mouth beg for more."

The slow smoked rib supper plate - four ribs and two sides.
Ribs are definitely smoked and "falling off the bone".
There's always a debate with rib aficionados about whether the meat should "fall of the bones" or the meat still should have some "bite" or firmness. Personally, as long as the food is good, I don't care.

These ribs were nice. Just slightly smokey and a light-tasting dry rub.


Two sides - cole slaw and red beans and rice.
Barbeque sauce was requested on the side. To me, the sauce tasted mainly like catsup. I'll pass on the sauce.


Chicken - 10 piece supper plate. My two sides were greens and red beans and rice.


Chicken drumettes fried in Fish Fry (Paul asked). Fish fry is mainly a mixture of corn meal and corn flour (finely ground corn meal).


Red beans and rice... Hmmm... I'm used to a different version where the red beans is more saucy and served over white rice.


Greens - with smoked meats and onions. No sugar! In the South, everyone has a way of cooking greens. Some people add sugar to their greens while others add vinegar. This one was straight forward. Greens and smoked meats.


Of course, you have to wash everything down with sweet tea.

When I lived in New Orleans and being a Yankee, sweet tea was something new to me. In fact, I remember one of my first lunches with coworkers and ordering iced tea. The tea I got was very sweet. I thought I was drinking out of someone else's cup. My coworkers set me straight about the sweet tea. In fact, it was difficult to find places that served unsweetened iced tea.


This version of sweet tea was actually only slightly sweet. Toned down for the Yankee locals?


Overall, I thought the food decent but toned down just like the sweet tea. For example, the greens weren't bad, but the liquor was on the plain side. Red beans and rice did not have the flavor of smoked ham that I was expecting.


I would go there again to sample more of their food.*

*Note: A couple reasons why I don't review restaurants.

1. I usually don't have a camera to take pictures.

2. I seem to focus on the misses which would lead someone to think I hate the place.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

May 11: Happy Mother's Day!!!

Today we celebrate the Mothers in our lives.
Those caring women that wipe runny noses, kiss boo-boo's and comfort their crying children.

I was invited to a luncheon. My mission is to bring Greens.
Greens is a boiled leafy vegetable dish flavored with smoked meats. The leafs come from one or all of the following plants - collard, turnip or mustard.

My recipe is a hybrid of two recipes: Pot O'Greens by Alton Brown and the recipe on the back of the package.

The Fixins'
1/3 C Green Onions, chopped
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 Smoked Turkey Leg
1 t Sugar
1 Medium Onion, Chopped (about 1.5 C)
4 C Water
Black pepper (a few grinds)
Salt (about 1/2 t)
2 lbs Greens



As the package states, "Cut, Cleaned & Ready to Cook"
Packaged veggies are definitely a time saver.
I did soak and wash one bag to see how clean the greens were... No grit was found on the bottom of the cleaning tub. We're good to go!


First... sweat the onion, green onions and garlic in a little oil and salt. Sweating is not browning... sweating helps draw out the flavors from aromatics.

Added the 4 C water and the turkey leg to make a broth. Simmer about 10-15 minutes. The turkey leg was too big for the pot so I had to chop in half. Instead of a smoked turkey leg, you can use ham, ham hocks, ham bones.. etc. The smoke turkey leg gives a nice smokey flavor without being overly smoky or too salty which happens sometimes with a ham hock.


2 pounds of raw greens takes a lot of space. However, like spinach, leafy greens will cook down and wilt.

Cover and let simmer another 45 minutes.


The cooked greens


The Final Plate
My contribution was a small part of the whole meal.
Ham, Greens, Mac Salad, Potato Salad, Deviled Eggs, Cornbread and Baked Beans.
The food was great and the company was wonderful!


Can't forget Dessert:
Two pies from Marie Callender's.

Strawberry Cream Pie


Lemon Cream Pie


I actually have many more food photos, but not sure how many photos I can have per posting.

Click the image below to see the rest!

Happy Mother's Day!
M_day_08