Southern Chefs

This past Sunday, after dropping my hubby off to watch five to six hours of nonstop football, I spent the rest of my day at one of my favorite places—the bookstore. For me, there is no better way to spend my time then at the bookstore pouring over books and sipping coffee. Since I’ve had recipes on my mind, I spent a majority of my time in the cooking section. I was quite overwhelmed with all the Southern cookbooks, although, I am in the South, it could have something do with it.

Before I get started, I wanted let you know that I did find the book Picnics, which I had spotted on The Paris Market & Brocante blog. Since I have no plans, unfortunately to be in Savannah on October 26th for the book signing, I just went ahead & snagged it. I love this book and I highly recommend it. The Hubby, Rolle (canine pet) and I squeeze in several picnics a year, so this book will come in handy. Plus, the photography is very beautiful, great recipes and you can’t beat the price.

Picnics

Now back, to my Southern chefs! One book that I did stumble across, actually it was in plain sight, right next to Paula Dean, was the Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook. I’m not all that familiar with the Lee Bros., but I did recall House Beautiful doing a feature on them in the March 2007 issue. I even tried the she-crab soup and loved it! So naturally I picked up the book and plopped down and starting reading. I love good rags to riches story. They graduated from school in ‘94 (same year my hubby graduated with his MBA), had a hard time finding work, and started a mail-order catalog selling boiled peanuts. I also noticed they lived in Charleston part time (sounds very familiar, I want to live in Charleston, part time or full). Obviously, reading all this sparked my interest and I spent the rest of my day thinking about boiled peanuts! However, I should say that when I first moved to the South, and was working through college, I had mistaken grits for hash brown potatoes. Perhaps not my calling. Regardless, the book is on my Xmas list!

The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook

On Friday, I thought I would share with you another recipe from a Southern chief, Lucilla, (my Italian neighbor via New York and now around the corner from me)—her version of butternut squash soup!