Why Lodge Cast Iron Enamel Pots Rock!

I got a toy for Christmas! A culinary toy, that is. Ta da!

*Source: Amazon.com

This thing flat out rocks! I have wanted one for a while, but I had no idea how versatile they were nor how well they performed until I actually put mine to use. I've made a few soups and they've all turned out wonderfully. I also made a great Thai Coconut Chicken from Cooking Light that was incredible. Sure, I played a part in how well it turned out simply by the addition of my own hand (/bragging), but the pot cooked so evenly and did a fantastic job of browning the chicken and cooking it all the way through while not drying it out or burning it at all. It really was amazing.

These pots do come with their very own set of instructions and the manufacturers are particular about how you take care of them. They're cast iron and sturdy, but the enamel is fragile and can chip or crack. It can be put in the oven, but not too hot because the black plastic handle on the lid will melt. Also, they advise that you not heat the pans to more than medium or so on the stove top, as they will hold more than enough heat for you at a low setting. I was able to maintain a low boil with one of my soups at a three or four setting (out of 10) on the stove eye. No metal tools in the pot, only wooden or plastic. The best place to store it is on top of your stove to prevent getting beaten up in the cupboards. Hand wash and don't air dry (oops...). But I plan to take care of this little jewel and look forward to using it for many, many years to come.

Fried Green Tomatoes

There are a few foods that are quintessentially Southern. Chief among those are sweet tea, grits with butter and salt (not sugar), chicken and waffles, pimento cheese, casseroles of any shape or form, and these little golden brown delicacies right here. You can't get green tomatoes just any time of the year, so anyone with a craving for them in, say, December, will have to find refuge in the freezer case of their local grocery store or try to satiate their desires with some suitable replacement. If you find out what that replacement is, please let me know.

Fried Green Tomatoes

Green tomatoes
Cornmeal
Buttermilk or regular milk
Oil, for frying
Salt and pepper, to taste

Slice green tomatoes to approximately ½ or ¾ inch thickness. Blot with paper towels to remove any excess juice. Dredge tomato slices in milk, letting excess drip off, then dredge in cornmeal to cover. Shake off excess cornmeal and set aside until the cornmeal has absorbed the milk. Fry in hot oil for two to three minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and season to taste. Serve hot.

There are some very important rules to follow in this recipe. First of all is the buttermilk versus regular milk debate. I've done both and the buttermilk holds the cornmeal much more effectively. Regular milk also does well, but there is a noticeable difference. If anything, the coating might be a little more crispy with the buttermilk since it will hold more cornmeal. Second is how thick to slice the tomatoes. I would definitely go with the 1/2 inch measurement at least. You don't want a floppy tomato slice. It should be firm. Additionally, blotting the tomatoes lets you control the amount of moisture in the slices. Too much moisture and they'll be soggy.

On that note, the other important thing to note is that when all of the slices are dredged and waiting to go into the fryer, make sure the cornmeal has been absorbed by the milk. This is important because if you were to dredge the slices and immediately drop them in the hot oil, the cornmeal would fall off in the oil and start to burn in the pan, thereby burning your tomatoes. Not good eats. But if you follow all of the directions, you should come up with something like this:

Then you can go one step better and add toasted bread and bacon:




Sorry, you'll have to give me just a minute to recover after seeing those pictures. They just look. So. Good.

Okay, I'm better. And yes, that's a pickle on the plate. We like our pickles fried in the South, too, but that's another recipe for another time.

Hot Chicken Casserole

This recipe is truly an oldie, but a goodie. It belongs to the Husband's side of the family and he's been eating it for years. It's absolutely the definition of comfort food and has really become a treat for us since we're eating healthier these days.

Hot Chicken Casserole

2 chicken breasts
1 small package of spaghetti
1 chopped green bell pepper
1 chopped onion
½ stick of butter
¾ pound Velveeta cheese, cubed
1 can Rotel
½ t salt
½ t pepper

Boil the chicken breasts until done. Shred the chicken. Using the same water, cook a small package of spaghetti noodles. Let it cook down but leave it a bit soupy.

Brown the chopped bell pepper and onion in butter in a medium skillet. Mix pepper and onions, noodles in remaining liquid, shredded chicken, Velveeta, Rotel, salt and pepper in a large casserole dish.

Cook at 200˚ for 2 hours covered, stirring occasionally.

Who doesn't love a dish smothered in Velveeta? No one I know. If you don't cook with Velveeta in the South, people look at you funny. Now I sure don't use ¾ lb of the stuff as the recipe suggests, but I can assure you the cheese level is sufficient. This recipe also makes a ton - I cook it in a 2 ½ quart baking dish and it comes to the very top. Leftovers heat very well and last for a few days, so you have to not mind eating the same thing over and over again for a short time. Freezing does weird things to the texture of pasta in my experience, so I don't know if I would do that. It's also important to stir it about every 20-30 minutes so the top doesn't get crunchy and everything melts well.

Yes, I forgot to wipe the plate before I photographed it. I once had a kitchen manager who insisted all plates went out clean and would personally inspect them. I guess it makes for a good impression. And yes, this is a fairly monochromatic dish thanks to all that cheese. You can see some of the green peppers and the tomatoes from the Rotel, but everything else is the color of Velveeta. Again with the onion, I don't use a whole one. I'm good on about two or three slices, finely diced. I do use a whole green pepper, though, but it's going to be on the smaller side than some of those behemoth peppers. As for the cooking time, I have been known to cheat and raise the temperature to 300˚ and cook for only one hour. It still turns out fine. Just remember to stir it occasionally. So there you have it - a down home, creamy, cheesy, comfort food. Should you attempt to pass this off as a family recipe of your very own, I won't take offense.

Shrimp and Grits

Woo-hoo! Shrimp out the wazoo for us lately. I buy it on sale and I always have a bag or two in the freezer of peeled, deveined, cooked, frozen shrimp. Thaw it out in the sink under running water for a few minutes and you can do a million things with it, including this recipe. This was kind of a cheating recipe for me since it's not a new meal, but it's still worth adding. I got this from a Southern Living magazine a few years ago and it's absolutely incredible. This dish also comes together fairly quickly. It's very indulgent with the cheese, bacon and bacon fat, but it's so worth it.

Shrimp and Grits

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Serves: 4

1.5 C quick cooking grits
¼ C shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1.5 T butter
4 T hot sauce, divided
1 pound unpeeled, medium-size fresh shrimp
¼ t salt
2 bacon slices
½ C chopped green onions
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 T chopped flat leaf parsley

Cook grits according to package directions. Remove from heat, and stir in cheese, butter and three tablespoons hot sauce until melted and blended. Cover and set aside.

Peel shrimp and devein (unnecessary if you're using frozen shrimp). Toss with salt and remaining 1 tablespoon hot sauce.

Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes or until crisp; remove bacon, reserving drippings in skillet. Crumble bacon. Add shrimp and green onions to skillet, and sauce 3 minutes or just until shrimp turn pink. Stir in lemon juice.

Spoon grits onto a serving platter; top evenly with shrimp mixture and sprinkle with parsley and bacon. Serve with additional hot sauce, if desired.

Yumma. A few things I change - I cook about a quarter of the amount of grits called for. I use Quaker plain grits in the cardboard canister and I split the difference between the two serving and four serving amounts. Two isn't nearly enough and four will feed a small army. The three servings gives us plenty for one serving each and a little left over to eat out of the bottom of the pan if you're still yearning for more cheesy goodness. Also, I add more cheese, salt, hot sauce, pepper and garlic than the recipe calls for. I like all of those things, so I add more of them. Just my preference.


As far as cooking the bacon and reserving the fat, I can't really bring myself to do it. I cooked it that way the first time I made this dish and while it was delicious, I usually stay far away from using actual fat in my cooking. Instead, I cook the bacon in the microwave and either A) reserve a tiny bit of the drippings to put in the pan for the shrimp, or B) cook the shrimp in olive oil. You can do either. I think they taste the same. Oh, and I also cook more bacon because, well, bacon is heavenly.

Cheese, bacon and shrimp. The Holy Trinity.

And there you go! This really is something I only cook occasionally, especially now that the husband is back on the health food band wagon. It's a nice treat, and a tasty one at that.