Monday's Meal

We went all Southern around here last week. It was a fried food day. It started with Hubby's favorite appetizer -- fried mushrooms. They are really easy to make but he doesn't get them very often because he is the only mushroom lover around here. All you do is cut fresh button mushrooms into halves or quarters depending on the size. You can use other types too. Just cut them into appropriate sizes.

You can also use this batter to deep fry vegetables or anything else you want to try. I'm thinking about doing french fries. My favorite fries are the batter dipped ones that Rally's serves (a burger joint in Arkansas -- other places too).

I lightly flour them but you don't have to.

Then you dip them into the batter (recipe below). Make sure they're coated well.

After that, it's just a matter of deep frying them until they're golden brown.

Drain them on paper towels. And enjoy them while they're warm.

The other thing we had was hush puppies. If you've ever taken a carriage ride in downtown Charleston, you know about hush puppies.

They were developed because kitchen workers had to carry dinner from the kitchen (which was not attached to the house due to the possibility of fire) to the dining room in the main house. Unfortunately that meant a track through the dogs' territory (probably hunting dogs too). Dogs love a meal on legs. So hush puppies were just extra dough that was deep fried. They then could throw that fried dough to the dogs to distract them and they would yell "hush, puppy" as they did. Hence, the name.

Another interesting tidbit is that the servants/slaves would have to whistle or sing as they carried it to the dining room so the master of the house knew he or she wasn't nibbling as their dinner made its way to its destination.

Anyway, hush puppies are also very easy to make. It's a basic cornbread recipe with some chopped onions mixed in. I usually just use the recipe on the back of the bag of corn meal -- like the one below. You drop spoonfuls of it into hot oil and allow it to cook until golden brown.

Then drain them and eat up while they're warm. When I make homemade hush puppies, my children "arise and call me blessed."

I can't blame them. They are pretty darn good.


All-Purpose Batter

1/4 cup flour
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 Tablespoon baking soda
1/4 Tablespoon salt
1/4 cup water

Mix together oil and water. Add salt, soda, cornstarch and flour. Mix until smooth, whisking if possible. Should be the consistency of pancake batter.


Hushpuppies

2 cups self rising corn meal mix
6 Tablespoons chopped onion
3/4 cup sour milk or buttermilk
1 egg

Combine all ingredients. Drop by spoonfuls into hot oil. Brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels.