Brunswick Stew

I fell in love with Brunswick Stew when we had it at my friends North Carolina BBQ themed rehearsal dinner.  At first glance I thought it was just pork and beans so I took a small serving, once I tried it on top of a saltine cracker though, I was in love and found myself getting another larger portion!  Please check out the yummy goodness we had- dear hush puppies I miss you as well.   

Brunswick Stew
adapted from Foodnetwork.com

1/2 Rotisserie Chicken, shredded
2 cups fat free chicken broth
1 15oz can of lima beans, undrained
1 28oz can of whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped
8oz frozen lima beans
1 large potato, peeled and diced
1/2 large yellow onion, diced
1 can cream corn, or 1 cup frozen corn
1/8 cup sugar
1/8 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup ketchup or BBQ Sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
hot sauce, to taste
1/2 tsp liquid smoke

1.  Add 3 cups of chicken broth, the liquid from the canned lima beans (reserve beans for later), and the canned tomatoes to your dutch oven.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat, cook stirring often reducing the liquid by 1/3 for 40 minutes. 

2.  Mash reserved lima beans and add into the pot with shredded chicken, potatoes and onions to Dutch oven.  Cook over low heat for 3.5 hours, stirring often.  Stir in corn and remaining ingredients and cook for an additional hour. 

Serve with saltines or hush puppies. 

This was so yummy with the colder weather we are having and since this makes a pretty large portion I was able to freeze some for later as well!  I want to know what other Southern foods I am missing out on!  I’ll share with you all the things I DID get to try when I went out to North Carolina. 

Summer Corn Cakes

Sorry if I have been MIA for the past couple of weeks, a lot has been going on and I find myself starting another chapter in my life…  It seems like change is all around, as my good friend and freshmen year roommate from college is about to start an exciting chapter in her life!  In a few short months she will be marrying a great guy.  He’s really sweet (and a foodie) my first memory of him is him working the grill making portabella bruschetta's and bringing it to all the girls in the hot tub and being jealous when he planned a surprise trip to a Hollywood Bowl concert- complete with a gourmet picnic and wine for my friend.  Can we say dream date and a keeper?!  A bunch of my friends flew in from across the country this weekend, and an amazing shower and bachelorette shenanigans ensued…  I’ll try to post some of the great eats we had soon!    

But back to the point of this post, I have been wanting to make corncakes forever!!  I am a huge corn lover, so when my friend who also loves corn, invited me over to hang out and BBQ I knew it was time to try these babies.  Let me tell you they did not disappoint and they were the perfect compliment to our BBQ feast!

Summer Corn Cakes
adapted from several recipes from epicurious

1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup cheddar cheese
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
3 ears fresh corn, shucked
1/4 cup red bell pepper, diced
1 Tbsp. jalapeno
3 stalks green onion, chopped
olive oil
 

1.  Shuck 3 ears of corn and remove kernels from the cobb.  *Place ear of corn on a small bowl and place in a bigger bowl to catch all the kernels.*

2.  Heat skillet and add olive oil to the pan.  Sautee corn and red bell pepper for a couple minutes, to soften the bell pepper.  Remove mixture from heat and set aside.

3.  In a large bowl add in cornmeal, flour, baking soda, salt, pepper, Jalapeno, cheddar cheese, green onion and corn mixture and mix.  Add in the buttermilk and egg and mix well till ingredients are well blended.   

4.  Add a small amount of olive oil again to the hot skillet and drop about 1/4 cup of mixture into the pan to form cakes.  Cook till each side is golden brown. 

I ate this a couple different ways… Serve with some chopped tomatoes, crumbled goat cheese and green onions or try it with some mashed avocados.  I think it would be REALLY good with some chili on top too.  Yum!!