Sunday Dinner

Sunday dinner was the week's "company" meal. A traditional Sunday dinner came about because working families demanded their Sunday's off to spend with their families. We have American Christians to thank for the way a Sunday dinner was orchestrated. My Dad told me a story about his Grandmother who lived just down from the church. Every Sunday as the parishioners walked back home, she would stand out on her porch and welcome them in for a meal. It was a just the way things were and they didn't deviate from it. I guess you could call it a ritual. A roast has been such a traditional Sunday meal, but naturally depending on where you live, it could vary. A traditional Sunday in the south was chicken and pickles and are amongst grandmother's treasured recipes. In Summer there was ice cream, home made, most likely, and in such quantities that every one was sure to get enough. No one left hungry and the evening was shared with stories, learning and valuable conversations and a cultivation of relationships. But the oncoming generation will cherish no such memories. The pace of modern life is to blame and unfortunately many of us mourn the demise of the traditional Sunday meal. I consider myself a traditionalist, in the culture I was raised in, it was always a big breakfast after church and then a lighter meal later in the day. For a while growing up we had roasts with potatoes, rolls, homemade gravy and vegetables. We loved it, it was tradition, but sadly now our Sunday meal has switched to Saturday and Sunday is a day of relaxing, lounging around and whipping up simple smaller meals, instead of a big family sit down. Today, it's different. As I write this, I have a delicious Ham in the oven as well as homemade Au Gratin potatoes, fresh green beans in a pot and I am making homemade sour dough bread from a starter I received from a friend.
Traditional Biscuits prep time 20min, cook time 20min makes 1 dozen

• 2 cups flour                                                 
• 4 teaspoons baking powder                        
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda                           
• 3/4 teaspoon salt                                          
• 2 tablespoons butter              
• 2 tablespoons shortening                            
• 1 cup buttermilk, chilled

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together.   The dough will be very sticky.
Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. (Biscuits from the second pass will not be quite as light as those from the first, but hey, that's life.)
Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes.

Crispy Fried Chicken

• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup water
• About 1 cup “Texas Pete” hot red pepper sauce
• 4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 teaspoon paprika
• 3 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 1 quart buttermilk (optional)
• Salt, Pepper, and Garlic Powder (to taste)
• 1 (1 to 2 1/2-pound) chicken, cut into pieces
• Peanut Oil, for frying (Canola Oil works fine)

1. Place cut-up chicken in a large bowl, and cover with buttermilk. Cover and chill for two hours, or overnight. This is an optional (but recommended) step.
2. In a large bowl, add eggs, water, and red pepper sauce. Whisk until combined.
3. In a large gallon freezer bag, mix flour, pepper, paprika, and cayenne.
4. Remove chicken from buttermilk (if marinated) and sprinkle lightly with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
5. Place all chicken pieces in freezer bag with flour mixture. Shake until all pieces are evenly coated.
6. Remove chicken pieces one at a time, shaking excess flour. Dip each piece in the egg mixture, and return to bag of flour. After all pieces of been dipped in the egg mixture and put back in the bag, give it a second shake to coat chicken pieces again.
7. Heat oil in deep fryer or deep pan to 350 degrees. Working in batches, drop each piece of chicken into the hot oil. Fry for 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown, turning occasionally if oil does not completely cover chicken. Keep in mind that dark meat chicken takes longer to cook than white meat. Watch your wing segments, as well; these will finish cooking first.

Fridge Pickles

• 2-3 cucumbers (about 4-5 cups sliced)
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of celery seed
• 1/2 cup vinegar (I love seasoned rice vinegar, but the traditional is white vinegar)
• 1/4 cup white sugar

1. Thinly slice the cucumbers.
2. Place the sliced cucumbers in a shallow dish or directly in to your jar that has a lid. 
3. Add remaining ingredients. Stir.
4. Place in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours. Stir 2-3 times during that time to make sure that all cucumbers contact the juice.

The celery seed makes these “pickles” different from their friends and I love that, but if you are into the more traditional pickle variety, use 1 teaspoon of dill instead of the celery seed.

I had not made the pickles by the time I made the biscuits and chicken so I just used a canned pickle which is always yummy too.

Who doesn't love a great Sunday Roast?

I have yet to fall upon a roast recipe that is as good as my Moms recipe. Try it, see how you like it. 

2-3lb Chuck Roast

8 Bay leaves

1 tsp onion salt

1 tsp garlic powder

Enough water to come up on the roast half way

1 cup carrots and 1 1/2 cup russet potatoes and 1 bunch of asparagus or 1 cup of green beans.  

In an electric skillet or heavy saute pan, add seasoned meat minus bay leaves and brown on all sides until you've created a crust. Place your bay leaves all over the top of the roast, add some extra pepper on top, pour in your water and cook on medium until the fork or knife doesn't give resistance when you put it in and pull it out of the roast meat. Make sure that you keep the water level on the roast up halfway while it's cooking. Once the meat is tender, add your potatoes and carrots and cook for 20 minutes. Add the asparagus right on top for the last 8 minutes of cooking time. Ladle out the juice that is remaining in the pan. Place the drippings in a small sauce pot, add 1 T. parsley, made a slurry of 1 T. water and 1/2 T. of corn starch and add it to the drippings. Bring the sauce to a simmer and you have the best sauce in the world. *Optional add 1/2tsp of kitchen bouquet to your gravy for even more flavor.

What is a Sunday meal without an 

Amazing Coconut Cake recipe by Paula Deen

Yes, it is as good as it looks, yes, you'll want to eat a bunch of it, but the good thing is that you can share and not feel so guilty. Be really good during the week and then reward yourself with this cake on the weekend. It's worth it and you'll thank me. 

Basic 1-2-3-4 Cake:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups sifted self-rising flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and flour 3 (9-inch) cake pans. Using an electric mixer, cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar and continue to cream well for 6 to 8 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Add vanilla and continue to beat until just mixed. Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Level batter in each pan by holding pan 3 or 4 inches above counter, then dropping it flat onto counter. Do this several times to release air bubbles and assure you of a more level cake. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until done. Cool in pans 5 to 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto cooling racks. Cool completely and spread cake layers with your favorite frosting to make a 3-layer cake.

Cake:

Yield: 1 (3-layer) cake
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Ease of preparation: Easy

• Basic 1-2-3-4 Cake but substitute 1 cup canned, unsweetened coconut milk for regular milk, recipe follows

Filling:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 4 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 cup flaked, sweetened coconut

Frosting:

• 1 recipe 7-minute Frosting
• Flaked, sweetened coconut, for sprinkling

Directions

Follow directions for Basic 1-2-3-4 Cake, substituting coconut milk for regular milk. While cake is baking, prepare filling. Stir together sugar, sour cream, milk, and coconut in a bowl until well blended. Remove cake layers from oven and allow cake to remain in pans as you prepare to stack and fill. Remove first layer and invert onto cake plate. Using the wrong end of a wooden spoon, poke holes approximately 1-inch apart until entire cake has been poked. Spread 1/3 of filling mixture on cake layer. Top with second layer, repeat process. Top with last layer and repeat process again. (As I stack layers together I stick them with toothpicks to prevent cake from shifting).

Prepare 7-Minute Frosting. Frost top and sides of cake. Sprinkle top and sides of cakes with additional coconut.
With the Holiday season coming up, I'm sure we all have plans for big family meals. My hope is that each of you will gather together, help cook up the meal, listen to the stories and laugh at the jokes. Make your memories worthy of passing on to your children and if you can squeeze out one Sunday night to sit down around the table for a beautifully prepared meal, do it!