What’s Cookin’ in Bon Temps - A Selection of Down-Home Southern Recipes

What’s Cookin’ in Bon Temps

A Selection of Down-Home Southern Recipes

Southern cooking has a style—and a flavor—all its own. When I decided to include recipes that would celebrate the tastes of Louisiana, not to mention the entire South, I decided to throw the doors open to my fans, who had already created a cookbook under the auspices of Charlaine’s Charlatans.

I was wonderfully surprised by the response—the recipes came pouring in! After taste-testing all of them, we selected a range that showcased Southern cooking, from breakfast to dessert, including drinks. I hope you have the chance to try and enjoy some of these true down-home Southern recipes—I know I sure did!

BREAKFAST:

Belle Rive Brunch Eggs
Eggs Benedict
French Market Beignets

LUNCH:

Burgers Lafayette Sauce
Cold-Weather Chili
Merlotte’s Chicken Strips
Mitchell’s Favorite Meatloaf

SUPPER:

Calvin’s Catfish
Crawdad’s Country-Fried Steak
Crossroads Jambalaya
Sookie’s Chicken Casserole
Stackhouse Smothered Pork Chops

SIDES:

Antoine’s Fried Pickles
Bon Temps Sweet Potato Harvest
Gran’s Easy Baked Apples
Hotshot Hush Puppies
Jannalynn’s Golden Biscuits
Mardi Gras Corn Salad
Michele’s Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
Michele’s Parmesan Garlic Croutons
Pinkie’s Fried Green Tomatoes
Sister’s Mashed Potato Casserole

DESSERTS:

Adele Hale Stackhouse’s Blue-Ribbon Chocolate Cake
Aunt Patty’s Sour Cream Cake with Praline Frosting
Caroline Holliday Bellefleur’s Chocolate Cake
Diner Key Lime Pie
Louisiana Pralines
Perdita’s Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce
Portia’s Sweet Potato Pie
Wicked Peach Cake

DRINKS:

Classic Southern Sweet Tea
Country Porch Lemonade

Breakfast

Breakfast

BELLE RIVE BRUNCH EGGS

TIME: PREP TIME 30 MINUTES, MARINATING TIME 8–12 HOURS, BAKING
TIME 90 MINUTES • SERVES 8–10

INGREDIENTS:

8 slices bread, torn into cubes
1 dozen eggs
2¼ cups plus ½ cup milk
¾ tsp. dry mustard
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 lb. ham, cubed, or 2 lb. cooked bacon, crumbled
½ cup green onions, finely chopped
½ cup red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 cup fresh mushrooms, coarsely chopped
1½ cups shredded cheese (cheddar, Monterey Jack, or a blend, your choice)
1 can (10¾ oz.) cream of mushroom soup

Place the bread cubes into a greased 9 × 13” pan. Beat the eggs, 2¼ cups milk, mustard, salt, and pepper. Pour over the bread cubes in the pan. Evenly sprinkle the ham or bacon, onions, bell pepper, and mushrooms over the top of the egg mixture. Top with the cheese. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Mix the can of soup with ½ cup milk and pour over the refrigerated egg mixture. Bake, uncovered, for 90 minutes. The dish will puff when baking but will deflate after it is removed from the oven. Cut into squares and serve hot.

Submitted by Debi Murray

EGGS BENEDICT

TIME: 15 MINUTES • SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS:

¼ cup mayonnaise (not salad dressing)
1 rounded tsp. brown mustard (not honey mustard, but horseradish mus-
tard or champagne mustard works very well)
¼ cup plain yogurt or sour cream
2 English muffins or 4 leftover biscuits
4 slices sandwich ham or Canadian bacon
⅔ cup water
Pinch of salt
A few shakes of Tabasco sauce (or your preferred pepper-vinegar sauce)
4 eggs, room temperature, as fresh as possible