• ellabee on July 12, 2017

  Cookbook of the Month July 2017: https://www.chowhound.com/post/july-2017-cotm-deep-run-roots-1059206. Link is dead because owners took down the archives when they ended the site, a real loss of years of hard-to-duplicate discussion & info.

• DKennedy on February 20, 2017

  I've watched the PBS series from start to finish and I think in the ideal, it would be beneficial to watch the series before delving into the book so as to truly appreciate the recipes in this book and Vivian Howard's approach to Southern food. I will be adding a lot of notes linking the book recipes with the episodes where appropriate.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Mom's cornpone

  • laur0684 on March 20, 2017

    Not super flavourful but could have been the quality of my cornmeal. Impossible to flip as she describes

  • twoyolks on September 05, 2018

    This was very dry and very dense. I did not care for it at all.

  • SheilaS on January 04, 2019

    I used Arrowhead Mills yellow cornmeal which is fairly fine. I had no problem flipping it but it was very dry in the center. The edges were nice and crispy.

  • MelMM on February 03, 2019

    7-17-2018 It warms my heart to see a recipe like this in a modern book. She was really taking a risk here, as there are a lot of people who already don't like southern cornbread, with it's lack of sugar, wheat flour, and softness. If you make this, you need to go into it knowing what to expect. This is an unleavened bread. It is dense, and it's only going to be as good as your cornmeal and your technique. But it is good, in the same way a square of fried polenta can be good.

• Grandma Hill's hoecakes

  • Rradishes on October 25, 2017

    Very simple, but results are good. Definitely best eaten hot right away.

• Foolproof grits

  • Katielang on March 08, 2017

    These were sooooo good. Tasted really light. I swirled in some sharp cheddar and topped with crispy prosciutto. Easy and mindless pantry meal. Will definitely make grits this way from now on.

  • SheilaS on March 27, 2017

    I've made these several times. I love the double boiler method - no risk of scorching and cooking them in milk makes them taste so creamy, even without adding any cheese.

  • baking4two on April 24, 2017

    Loved these easy to make grits. I added the grits and milk, in the amounts specified, into my rice cooker on the porridge setting. After it was done, I added the salt and butter.

  • pistachiopeas on July 02, 2017

    Made half a recipe. Perfect. I don't need another recipe for grits. This is the one.

  • stockholm28 on July 25, 2017

    I used Bob's Red Mill "corn grits/polenta" because they were the only non-instant grits that I could find. I really liked the double boiler technique and these were good. I made half a recipe and needed to add more water as it cooked. I used these for the pimento cheese grits.

  • TrishaCP on November 11, 2017

    I loved these too. I only had about 2/3 of the milk needed and it was just fine.

• Charred spring vegetables with creamy scallion dressing and hushpuppy croutons

  • DKennedy on February 27, 2017

    On episode 1, season 4 Vivian makes a spring onion gratin that is a variation of this technique.

  • SheilaS on March 15, 2017

    This recipe is a winner. Charring the vegetables in a cast iron skillet did set off my smoke alarm but it added great flavor to the vegetables. The hushpuppy croutons are a bit of a nuisance to fry but they are absolutely addictive. They also stay crisp for quite a while so everything for this recipe can be done ahead and assembled just before serving. I added a poached egg on top to make it a meal.

  • southerncooker on March 26, 2017

    Daughter and I fell in love with this salad. Even family members who don't enjoy asparagus enjoyed the hushpuppies. Love the feel the club soda gave to them. They reminded me of lace cornbread hubby and I had at the Outer Banks the first time we went there together in the 70's. Also daughter and I decided the dressing would be great on lots of other things.

  • meggan on May 08, 2026

    Made without hush puppies and still good.

• Grits and greens with hot sauce and pork rinds

  • doughet on November 12, 2017

    This was really good. We made it with Geetchie Boy grits, red giant mustard greens from our CSA (stems and leaves) and fresh goat cheese (because I'd forgotten to replenish our supply of parmesan). I sent my husband to the store for pork rinds, which surprised him to no end. The browned butter and lemon hot sauce was excellent. This would be a fun dish to serve as an hors d'oeuvre at a party, in the hot cast iron skillet with a bowl of pork rinds.

  • MelMM on February 03, 2019

    3-4-2017 Another delicious dish from Ms. Howard. The hot sauce vinaigrette is really a brilliant touch here, because people typically embellish their greens at the table with hot sauce and/or some lemon or vinegar. So you get all those flavors worked into this recipe. To make this vegan, I used shiitake mushroom bacon instead of pork rinds, vegan "chicken" stock, cashew milk, and a mix of vegan parm and provolone.

• Pimento cheese grits with salsa and chips

  • baking4two on April 24, 2017

    Very tasty! A great warm appetizer for a get-together.

  • stockholm28 on July 25, 2017

    As soon as I got the book from the library, I knew this would be the first thing I'd make. It was delicious. I made about half a recipe using a 6" cast iron pan. I had half for dinner and the remainder for breakfast the following day. I made the tomato salsa using her recipe, except I subbed lime juice for lemon juice. Lemon juice just didn't sound right to me. This would be a great, unique, appetizer for a party ... kind of like grits nachos.

  • MelMM on February 03, 2019

    2-24-2017 This is a novel presentation for grits. Obviously I had to make some substitutions to create vegan pimento cheese. I highly recommend this dish! A skillet full of gooey deliciousness, and as promised, the acidity and zing from the salsa offset the richness of the cheesy grits. It was really good.

• Deviled eggs

  • DKennedy on February 27, 2017

    Episodes 13 and 14, season 2

  • Dannausc on October 15, 2017

    Good but vinegary.

• Stewed tomato shirred eggs with ham chips

  • southerncooker on March 12, 2017

    This is the least favorite recipe I've tried so far from Deep Run Roots. Having said that I still enjoyed this dish, but hubby and son didn't like it at all. I made grits to eat with and stirred mine into the tomato and egg and thought that it was better that way. I think I'd just do an over easy egg if I made this again and top the tomatoes with it and the ham chips. One problem I encountered was that it doesn't say at what temp to bake the eggs. It's 350 for the ham chips, but then doesn't tell you after that so I baked at 350. I made in individual ramekins, since hubby and son will only eat an egg if it's completely done. I started theirs 10 minutes before putting in mine and theirs had barely started cooking. I cooked 10 min more and mine still uncooked, so I cooked all of them for 10 more minutes. Theirs was done at this point, but the white on mine was still a little under cooked but by the time I stirred in my grits mine was OK.

• Avocado and tomato with broken-egg dressing

  • southerncooker on March 19, 2017

    Good but not as good as I was expecting. Maybe my avocado not being completely ripe affected the out come.

• Turnip roots and greens

  • DKennedy on February 27, 2017

    Episode 9 and 10 season 2

  • TrishaCP on May 24, 2017

    A nice treatment for turnips and their greens, slightly better for the greens than the roots in my opinion. I used hakurei turnips, and they didn't need the full cook time.

• Turnip root and green gratin

  • TrishaCP on October 24, 2017

    This was very rich but was incredibly delicious. This is the recipe to introduce turnips to turnip haters. Many steps and many dirty dishes, but a lot of steps can be done in advance and then the gratin can be assembled and baked later. I was able to use my 1 1/2 quart casserole even though the recipe specifies 2-3 quart.

  • chawkins on June 29, 2021

    Very time consuming recipe, each ingredient other than the egg and the bread cubes needed to to pre-prepped in some way. Caramelizing the onion and steeping the garlic and thyme in the simmering cream each took over half an hour and the two cheeses needed to be grated on different graters, and the greens need to be precooked and drained. The end result was delightful, rich but not heavy. I made half a recipe but used a whole egg and substituted gruyere for the fontina. I cooked it for 30 minutes and it was a little burnt around the edges.

• Marinated turnips with orange and pumpkin seeds

  • SheilaS on February 10, 2017

    I made this dish with the smaller white Japanese turnips I get in my CSA box and really enjoyed it but it's not something to try with big old roots!

  • TrishaCP on June 21, 2017

    This was a very tasty salad- she is absolutely right that turnips and oranges taste amazing together. I had beautiful hakurei turnips from my CSA that I used, which were already very sweet for turnips. I wasn't able to eat this when I planned, so the salad sat for two nights in my fridge. The turnips were a tad soft, but they really did pick up the flavor of the marinade deliciously. Pepitas are a must for the crunch here. I think it was the size of my oranges, but I had a lot more dressing than I needed- I simply used a slotted spoon when serving to solve that problem.

  • chawkins on June 27, 2021

    Excellent use of the hakurei turnips from my garden. I made half a recipe and marinated only for an hour and the marinade did a good job of taming the turnips. Paired well with the merguez patties from Small Victories.

• Turnip run-ups in Parmesan pot liquor with ricotta cornmeal dumplings and tomato jam

  • DKennedy on February 27, 2017

    Episode 9 and 10, season 2

  • jcmlang on March 04, 2017

    We have a fairly large garden, so I've been looking forward to getting turnip "run-ups" so I can make this recipe. The broth (pot-likker) is delicious as are the dumplings. I feel like straining the ricotta for the dumplings is an unnecessary step, but I guess that depends on the ricotta you use. We eat kale and collard "run ups" (called rapini and napini) at every chance but haven't eaten turnip run-ups before. I found the turnip run-ups to be bitter, but my husband enjoyed them. Overall, I felt like the soup was not worth the time it took - and that's with already having tomato jam in our cupboard.

  • SheilaS on August 13, 2023

    Since run-ups aren't a thing here in So Cal, I made do with regular turnip greens, a recommended substitution. I followed the recipe and used a 2 oz scoop for the ricotta cornmeal dumplings. They are fine, they puffed up a bit during cooking and are nice and light but next time, I will use a smaller scoop. The recipe includes what Vivian describes as a "bare bones" tomato jam and she says to feel free to add herbs, onions or spices to make a more complex condiment so I used a spoonful of homemade tomato chutney instead

• Slow-roasted beef short ribs with herb-scented turnip puree and turnip gremolata

  • TrishaCP on November 20, 2019

    My beef needed longer than the specified time (maybe I didn’t get the right size cut), but otherwise this is a winner. The turnip preparations were the highlights for me, and I will use both of those preparations again in the future, with or without the ribs. You could use the gremolata recipe on basic roast turnips (the citrus and herbs were so good), and make the turnip purée separately too. (I increased the red pepper flakes in the purée and liked the results a lot.)

  • pastaplease on January 27, 2025

    Agree with TrishaCP, a winner, but the ribs definitely need more time (or better might be a quick stint in a pressure cooker before heading to the oven?). But the turnips -- OMG, so delicious (the pureed version anyway). The other version of the turnips also very good, but did not need even half of the marinade (so next time I'll make less). The pureed version would go well with all kinds of meats or just by itself if you left a bit closer to mashed potatoes than pureed. Will definitely make again. I'll have to figure out how to get the ribs to come out better. I'd already anticipated needing more time (from the other review), so added a full 40 minutes. Still not quite enough, though. I'm thinking pressure cooker ...

• Watermelon-rind pickles

  • SheilaS on February 10, 2017

    Great flavor combination in the brine. Make sure to remove all the tough outer rind. The smaller watermelon I used had fairly thin rind so I made little slabs which ended up being great to sandwich with a bit of ham on a small roll.

• Watermelon tea

  • stockholm28 on July 28, 2017

    Ms. Howard says she doesn't like sweet tea because she prefers "the dry tannins of cold black tea to simple syrup over ice". I laughed out loud. I totally agree as I hate sweetened tea. This is pretty good. Could be a snapple flavor. It was a good way to use up some leftover watermelon. It has a hint of sweetness without that cloying sugar taste.

  • TrishaCP on September 03, 2018

    The black tea and watermelon go nicely together. I agree with stockhom28 that it's a good way to use up leftover watermelon.

• Pork shoulder steaks in red curry-braised watermelon

  • SheilaS on February 10, 2017

    I can't give enough stars to this one - an amazing amount of flavor from such a simple recipe. I used country-style pork ribs as all the pork steaks available locally were very thin. I served it over rice and the leftovers were great as well.

  • TrishaCP on July 30, 2018

    I didn't have great success with this dish. I liked the flavor of the braise, but my meat came out tough and dry. I used a 2 lb pork shoulder- a permitted sub for the pork steaks- and cut them into four pieces. I think I should have either shortened the cooking time or reduced the temperature a bit.

  • MelMM on February 03, 2019

    7-14-2017 I made this using slabs of tempeh instead of pork. The tempeh was put directly into simmering brine (the one from p. 394 in this book), to cook and soak at the same time. This was removed from the heat and sat, covered, for a few hours. The tempeh was then removed and patted dry, then deep-fried. From there, I put the tempeh, watermelon, and the seasoning ingredients in to a ceramic braising pan. I did the braise on the stove instead of the oven. I lost enough liquid, even with the lid on, that I did not need to do an uncovered simmer. Total braising time was about 1 hr. I used a homemade curry paste for this, and it was hot. This worked beautifully, and is delicious. I can adapting this in quite a few ways. Tofu and mixed veg might be nice in the sauce. Or you could take the sauce turn it into a puréed soup.

  • jacqie on April 05, 2020

    This didn't work out - pork was dry, didn't love flavor.

• Spreadable coconut cheesecake with ginger-infused melon and salted peanuts

  • mlbatt on October 13, 2019

    Just OK. Tasted more of banana than coconut. I made this for a Cookbook Club gathering and pre-assembled the spread and melon before traveling. Unfortunately, the melon sank into the cheesecake by the time it was served. Should have assembled right before serving. The graham crackers came out great and tasted great.

• ENC-style steamed oyster party

  • DKennedy on February 20, 2017

    She demos how to do this in Season 1, episode 6, toward the end of the show (20:28).

• Oysters on the half shell with mignonette-marinated oranges

  • DKennedy on February 20, 2017

    Vivian demos how to shuck oysters in Season 1, episode 6 (15:41 to 19:28). Inspired by this, I bought oysters from SM Seafood and we had them tonight as a first course. I don't think I could have figured out how to shuck these puppies without the demo. Thanks Vivian for teaching me yet another skill.

  • DKennedy on February 21, 2017

    The mignonette recipe provide here is different from the one she made to go along with her raw oysters on the show - the one on the show was made with muscadine grape juice, freshly juiced, brunoise of pear and grated red onion. which sounds really good.

  • SheilaS on August 19, 2023

    I enjoyed this and thought the icy sliver of marinated orange was a bright complement to the fresh oysters that didn't overwhelm their flavor.

• Apple and scallion oyster ceviche

  • L.Nightshade on March 23, 2019

    Mr. Nightshade went out in a dinghy with a friend who cultivates oysters, and came home with a bucket full of fresh, fresh oysters. So of course I had to come to EYB and figure out some things to do to them, and this was one. I wouldn’t have thought of pairing apples and oysters, but it works beautifully. I liked the charred scallions too. (I once had bread served with leek ash on beef tallow, and have been interested in burnt alliums ever since.) After tasting I did double the amount of hot sauce. A very small amount is called for, and I used a locally-made sauce that is pretty heated. I used too many oysters for the two of us, and the shells got thrown away, so the next day we had oyster shooters. Happy to report they were even better after marinating for 24 hours!

  • SheilaS on August 19, 2023

    This mixture of citrus, cilantro, apple and hot sauce makes for a bright and refreshing marinade for the oysters. I think next time, I might add a diced jalapeño or serrano chile to the mix.

• Roasted oysters with brown-butter hot sauce and bacon

  • DKennedy on February 20, 2017

    Variation: This recipe closely resembles the oven roasted oyster recipe she served at the restaurant on episode 6 in which she shucked the oyster, set it aside, and to the shell added (1) a confit of pureed roasted tomato, garlic and onion, (2) topped with a thin slice of smoked mozzarella, (3) put the oyster back in and sprinkle with toasted corn bread crumbs that have been seasoned with bacon fat and lemon zest - bake at a high temp and serve hot. I made the show version last night subbing GF breadcrumbs for the cornbread and leftover tomato sauce for the confit, as that is what I had on hand. These were scrumptious. If oysters weren't so dang expensive, I'd be eating these every night.

  • SheilaS on August 19, 2023

    Seriously delicious! I like that these oysters are just bathed in browned butter seasoned with lemon and hot sauce and lightly topped with a sprinkle of crispy bacon and parsley and not buried under a stodgy heap of cheesy breadcrumbs like some versions of oysters Rockefeller. The oysters are still the star here.

• Fried popcorn oysters with kitchen-sink mayo

  • SheilaS on February 10, 2017

    I rated this recipe based on the Kitchen-Sink Mayo alone. I made it to serve with panko-crusted calamari but it's become a staple in my fridge. The recipe first blends most ingredients in a blender for smoothness then transfers to a food processor to slowly add the oil. I know I can control the oil and make a good one-egg mayo in my blender so I skipped the processor and it was fine. More than fine!

• Viv's addiction

  • okcook on May 22, 2017

    I used almonds because that's what I had. Delicious. Very easy to make. We thought they could do with a bit more salt for that salty/sweet/hot snack bite.

  • MelMM on February 01, 2019

    12-9-2017 Excellent spiced nuts. I made vegan by substituting aquafaba, whipped to a loose foam, for the egg whites.

• Salt-and-butter roasted pecans

  • bching on March 17, 2017

    These are good--but I get better, crisper texture when I roast at a slower and lower temperature--250 degrees fahrenheit for an hour rather than the 30 minutes she suggests (@ 350).

  • TrishaCP on March 15, 2025

    This is so simple but such a pleasing snack. The taste of the butter on the just toasted nuts reminded me of movie popcorn. So good!

• Spiced pecan and pumpkin seed crumble

  • SheilaS on July 25, 2018

    I encountered one oddity in the instructions. You're to whisk 2 egg whites until "quite foamy" then add additional ingredients, including 1/4 cup grapeseed or sunflower oil, and continue to whisk until you have stiff peaks. I'm not sure who can get egg whites to form stiff peaks with that much oil in there, but it's not me. No matter, it came out fine anyway. The header notes say this is like a savory granola, meant for a snack, salad or cheese plate. The savory spices (cayenne, fennel, Worcestershire sauce) appeal to me. Those who are sensitive to spicy foods might want to dial back on the cayenne.

• Pecan-chewy pie

  • taste24 on June 22, 2020

    I made this a few years ago so my memory is a little hazy, but I remember it not being as good as expected. Surprisingly it turned out dry and nobody went crazy for it. Maybe I will make it again and see what went wrong..

• Party magnet

  • SheilaS on February 11, 2017

    These cheese balls freeze beautifully so it's well worth making more. I usually make a triple recipe. Every time I bring one to a party, I get lots of requests for the recipe. The goat and blue cheeses make it a bit different from most.

  • DKennedy on February 26, 2017

    On the holiday special, season 2

  • mamacrumbcake on November 28, 2017

    This was very good and a lot easier to make than I thought it would be. I took it to a party that had 20 other appetizers and this was completely devoured. The amounts for all the cheeses is so small that next time, I will double or triple the recipe and freeze it. I would also increase the scallions because I think it would be even better if the onion flavor came a bit more to the foreground.

  • stockholm28 on December 10, 2018

    With the dates, scallions, and butter-toasted pecans, this is really an elevated cheese ball. I thought it was excellent. I agree with some of the other suggestions to double the recipe and make a couple.

  • Bloominanglophile on January 05, 2019

    I am not a big blue-cheese fan, but this is delicious! I love the hit of sweetness that the dates give to the cheese mix--would like to try dried cranberries in the future and see if that works, too. I did double the recipe and froze one, pecans and parsley included. This was fine, also, but next time I would just freeze the cheese mix and freshly roll in the pecans and parsley before serving. I do like her method for the roasted pecans--nibble-worthy by themselves. I plan on exploring roasting the pecans with various smoked salts in the future (not for the cheese ball per se).

  • hirsheys on December 26, 2019

    Unfortunately, my family wasn't terribly into this one, though I think they just might not like cheese balls. I personally liked the combination of flavors, though I'm not sure I need to make it again.

• Elbow-lick tomato sandwich

  • SheilaS on February 10, 2017

    I don’t have a grill or smoker so I rigged up a stove-top smoker http://www.saveur.com/article/Video/VIDEO-How-to-Make-a-Stovetop-Smoker to smoke the corn for the smoked corn mayo. Great smoky flavor – it’s worth making on its own. I used the leftover mayo to make chicken salad, on other sandwiches, as a dipping sauce for shrimp fritters and raw veggies. Don’t leave the pickled onions out of the sandwich, they add a great punch!

  • DKennedy on February 20, 2017

    Episode 5, season 1 This is the tomato sandwich recipe she made famous on the show. The version on the show was served on a house made bread (they later discontinued serving this at the restaurant) but it basically looked like a giant bagel and she cut wedges out of it to serve. It made for a beautiful presentation, with different colored heirlooms peeking out and the runny corn dressing.

• Roasted and fresh tomato pie

  • SheilaS on February 10, 2017

    Certainly a recipe for summer tomato season. Killer flavor. I made a half recipe in a 6-inch pie pan and it was perfect.

  • DKennedy on February 26, 2017

    Episode 5, season 1

  • MelMM on January 31, 2019

    7-24-2018 I have made this multiple times now. Sometimes I do in individual tart pans. I make it vegan by using vegan cheeses and mayo, and I make the crust gluten-free. The topping on this pie is so close to being pimiento cheese, that sometimes I add pimientos and/or jalapeños to it.

  • TrishaCP on July 27, 2019

    Amazing! As others have stated, it is pretty involved but well worth it. I had to increase the topping by about a third to cover my pie plate, but otherwise the filling and toppings were perfect. (I used a store-bought crust because of time.)

  • Bloominanglophile on October 24, 2018

    After reading several comments about this pie on Chowhound, I checked this cookbook out of the library to satisfy my curiosity. It is a bit of an involved recipe for a tomato pie, as one needs to make a piecrust (ok, you can buy one, but I don't like premade), the caramelized onions, roasted and fresh chopped tomatoes, and the topping. The results are a really nice, full tomato-flavored pie. The amount of topping was on point, I thought--no drowning in goopy mayonnaise here. I'm glad I tried it!

  • chawkins on August 08, 2023

    Very involved, a lot of steps but tasted good. I did not make her crust, I used an olive oil crust. However, mine turned out very soggy. I drained the fresh garden tomatoes for over an hour, but may be they were super juicy because of the amount of rain we had recently or may be I did not cool the roasted tomatoes enough and the heat cause the fresh ones to exude more juice and stupidly, I dumped the whole bowl of mixture, liquid and all, onto the pie crust; should have drained it first.

  • stockholm28 on August 10, 2018

    I loved the tomato filling. I had a lot of trouble with this pie crust. Even with an extra tablespoon of water. it didn’t really hold together. It did not roll out easily and I was really patching the dough.

  • inflytur on April 01, 2018

    A somewhat complicated recipe but well worth the extra effort. Everyone I’ve served this to has raved over it.

• Pecan, pepper jelly, and stinky cheese panini

  • SheilaS on February 10, 2017

    I used a really ripe triple creme brie and it was delicious. I've made it panini-style as written and assembled the ingredients on toasted ciabatta for an open-face version. Both were very good.

  • MmeFleiss on March 23, 2017

    This was a really great sandwich. I subbed taleggio, and it worked well.

• Blueberry chutney

  • SheilaS on February 10, 2017

    I've served this with salmon, chicken and as part of a cheese platter. Also made some for Christmas gifts. I used fresh blueberries but I think the recipe would work with good frozen berries as well. It took longer than stated to cook down, but that is the case for many jams and preserves that I try. The second time, I used a wide, shallow pan and that help.

• Fried chicken livers with balsamic-marinated figs

  • SheilaS on February 11, 2017

    Great combination of flavors and textures in this dish, particularly the spices used in the buttermilk used to soak and bread the livers. I would pre-soak the livers in plain buttermilk or make up extra of the spiced buttermilk so I'd have a fresh batch to use for coating. I used drop-dead ripe figs and they were delicious but I believe the recipe works well with dried figs (steam first to soften). It's different but good. I followed the suggestion to serve this on arugula with pickled red onions. The livers are rich and I think it works best as a smaller first course. Leftover figs were great drizzled on polenta and roasted squash or on fresh ricotta-topped crostini.

• Breakfast in the car

  • SheilaS on February 11, 2017

    The vanilla pecan butter that's part of this recipe is good stuff. I used my Blendtec Twister jar and it came out perfect. Great on toast with a squiggle of hot honey or for dipping slices of tart green apple.

• Buttermilk orange rice pudding with pistachio

  • prvrbs31gal on February 11, 2017

    I didn't add the buttermilk or the pistachios at the end because I thought it was perfect without them. Loved that unlike most rice pudding recipes, I didn't need leftover rice to make it. The perfect amount of spice.

• Blueberry BBQ chicken

  • DKennedy on February 12, 2017

    This is a signature dish at the restaurant. Episode 1, season 2

  • vickster on July 29, 2017

    Painted the BBQ sauce on chicken thigh/leg pieces and then cooked in the smoker. Not being grilled, the chicken wasn't too pretty (quite blue!). But it was delicious. Love the Blueberry BBQ Sauce!

  • sarahkalsbeek on July 13, 2018

    Really yummy. Have tried on chicken legs and thighs. First time we made it, I didn't let the sauce sit as long as she says to, but it was still great. Also used the blueberry sauce in some sparkling water for a little mocktail - delicious!

  • allisonsemele on July 30, 2021

    My husband loved this, but it was a bit too sweet for me on the chicken. I thought it could benefit from additional savory flavors, like thyme, maybe. Grilled a chicken as written, and have ~1.5 c of sauce leftover. I look forward to trying the leftover sauce with goat cheese and drizzled over vanilla ice cream.

  • metacritic on June 12, 2020

    Stunningly good. Cooked 2 chickens on a wood fired grill and basted after 20 mins using 1.5 cups of the sauce total and then slathered with an additional .5 cup of the sauce after it was cooked.

  • lou_weez on January 11, 2022

    We loved this! It is sweet and really lovely with chicken. Will make it again.

  • chawkins on July 16, 2020

    Good barbecue sauce, a bit on the sweet side. I cooked the chicken pieces in the oven for about 40 minutes. Grilling would have been better, would probably yield crispier skin.

  • stockholm28 on August 24, 2019

    This was great. My ”sauce” was the consistency of grape jelly after chilling, so I needed to heat it back up to get it to a consistency where I could brush it (or rather spoon it) on the chicken thighs. This had great flavor. I’ve got a jar in the fridge and have used it a couple times when grilling chicken.

  • meginyeg on May 01, 2021

    Thought this was a tasty twist on bbq sauce. We all really enjoyed it.

  • MelMM on February 03, 2019

    7-6-2017 Let me say that this sauce is very tasty, and I had to restrain myself from just drinking it up. It's sweeter than a typical eastern NC vinegar sauce, and it's a bit sweeter and thicker than the shrubs I've been making lately. But it's tangier, by quite a bit, than saba. So maybe that will help you place it on a sweet/sour spectrum. The spices are present, but subtle. This is a carefully balanced, nuanced, and precisely written recipe, which is what I've come to expect from Ms. Vivian. So what does a vegan do with blueberry barbecue sauce? I've used it cocktails, and I've used it as a barbecue sauce (for soy curls). The answer to how this stands up to smoke is dang well, thank you very much. And if you are the type who likes some aged balsamic vinegar on ice cream, then I think you'd like this as well. Or over sliced peaches.

  • TrishaCP on July 09, 2017

    Wow, this is great! The blueberry BBQ sauce takes a while to prep, but it is well worth it. (And we grilled about 3 lbs of chicken and still have tons of sauce left.) It is sweet, but not too sweet and the blueberry flavor is definitely there and delicious with the charring from the grill. (We used our gas grill rather than charcoal, but it was still great.)

• Grandma Shirl's survival cookies

  • DKennedy on February 20, 2017

    G. Shirl's original version was made with dates instead of figs. I want to try it made with dates.

  • mark_bnltpc on February 03, 2026

    I made this with pecans and dates instead of figs. They taste like pecan pie! Will make again!

• Blueberry cobbler with a cornmeal sugar-cookie crust

  • DKennedy on February 20, 2017

    I am interested in trying the sugar cookie crust.

  • metacritic on July 13, 2022

    This is an incredible dessert. It is savory from the cornmeal, sweet from the sugar and blueberries, and unctuous with butter. Simply sublime.

  • stockholm28 on August 04, 2019

    I’ve had this on my list to make for some time. I subbed blackberries for the blueberries and only had 1.5 lbs so I made 3/4 of the recipe. I used an 8 x 8 pyrex dish and that was about right for 3/4 a recipe. I only had a very finely ground cornmeal which was not too flavorful. I think it would be better with a better quality cornmeal. This was very good, but I did not love it. I found the cookie crust too sweet for my taste. I prefer the very simple traditional cobbler that is made with a just slightly sweet shortcake-like topping.

  • TrishaCP on July 14, 2019

    The sugar cookie crust is delicious. It's the crispiness of it that makes it more interesting than a typical cobbler. I used a 9 X 13 pan and the 2 pounds of blueberries specified didn't equal to the 1 1/2 inches of fruit called for when describing the right ratio of fruit to crust. So I added an additional pint of blueberries at the last minute, which unfortunately didn't benefit from the maceration.

• Perfect rice with herb butter

  • DKennedy on February 26, 2017

    Episode 8, season 1

• Boiler Room butterbean burger

  • DKennedy on February 26, 2017

    Episode 3, season 2

• Butter-baked turkey with pecan cranberry relish and warm sorghum vinaigrette

  • DKennedy on February 27, 2017

    Holiday episode variation and also on episode 8 season 2

  • DKennedy on November 25, 2017

    Am I the first to make this???? I loved everything about it! Made for T-giving '17 and every year since. It is now my go to recipe. Opted for 2 smaller birds, 12 pounds each, one heritage, one Mary's organic. Modifications: Dry brined using William Sonoma brine the night before, and under the rack added carrots, leeks, garlic and celery, along with a container of TJs turkey stock and a glug of wine. Baked at 500 for the first 30 minutes facing breast down then turn over still at 500 for 30 more minutes. Rrduce the heat to 350 for the remaining time, facing breast up. Basted with lemon butter every 30 minutes, the birds were done in less than 2 hours. Rested for 30-45 minutes. The cranberry relish, sweet potato butter and vinaigrette make this a showstopper T-giving centerpiece. Incredibly balanced. Next time, can reduce the butter by 1/2. Braised greens would be great alongside too.

  • DKennedy on November 25, 2017

    Cranberry relish: Really quite wonderful. The balance of sweet and savory makes it perfect atop turkey and essential for turkey leftover sandwiches. I'd double this next time.

  • DKennedy on November 25, 2017

    Warm sorghum vinaigrette: Worth keeping sorghum in the house just for this recipe. A slice of turkey, some pan drippings, a bit of this vinaigrette, and the relish make for a perfect bite. I am using up the leftovers on turkey panini sandwiches and may need to make a second batch.

• Whole-fruit fig and lemon preserves

  • DKennedy on February 27, 2017

    Episode 3, season 3

  • SheilaS on September 20, 2017

    I had my doubts about putting my beautiful, perfectly ripe figs into this recipe for Whole-Fruit Fig and Lemon Preserves but the finished product really captures the lovely tender texture of ripe figs into a preserve. The recipe calls for Brown Turkey figs and I used Black Mission figs as that's what's most common around here. I would double the amount of thinly sliced lemon next time as they add a nice touch. The recipe estimates a cooking time of ~ 1 hr for the figs and mine took much longer but that's pretty much the story of my life with preserves. Now, a whole preserved fig is way more sweetness than I want in one bite so even though they were tasty on grilled bread with a smear of goat cheese, I think they will really shine simmered into a red wine, port or sherry vinegar sauce for duck or pork and you'll be eating those with knife and fork so it will be easy to control the size of that bite of sweetness.

• Corn grilled with bacon mayonnaise and pecorino Romano

  • DKennedy on February 27, 2017

    Variation of recipe in episode 1, season 1

  • PennyG on July 01, 2017

    Delicious! Though we didn't get a lot of bacon flavor. I think next time I might add some finely chopped bacon pieces to the mayonnaise. And this method could serve as a jumping-off point for various flavors. Will definitely be doing this again!

• Hoarded corn

  • DKennedy on February 27, 2017

    Episode 1 season 1

• Big N's sour pickles

  • DKennedy on February 27, 2017

    Episode 4 season 3

• Scarlett's chicken and rice

  • DKennedy on February 27, 2017

    Espionage 8 season 1

  • twoyolks on March 04, 2025

    I made this with a stewing chicken that I had tucked away in the freezer. The chicken simmered for about 5 hours and was very tender by the end. The chicken and rice had very good flavor. But at the same time, this just wasn't something that I really enjoyed eating or would eat again. It very much felt like it was missing something.

  • southerncooker on January 24, 2021

    Both my daughter and I loved this. Not sure why it took me so long to try this one but I'll definitely be making it again. This is comfort food at its best and perfect for a cold night. I used three leg quarters and 1 1/2 cups of rice. The black pepper is so good in this.

  • Rradishes on February 28, 2021

    Good flavor, comfort food type of meal. Added carrots and peas as well. Used a smaller chicken and 1 cup of rice, so did not use all of the broth. Also make sure that the chicken is completely covered for it to be tender.

  • lacyann84 on January 10, 2018

    One of my favorite winter recipes! Easy, yummy, and filling. We like to eat it with saltine crackers. Also great to make as a meal for someone who is sick or just had a baby :)

  • Dannausc on December 27, 2017

    Pretty easy and good.

  • jimandtammyfaye on October 01, 2022

    I don't know how so few ingredients bring so much flavor and comfort. This is an often repeated recipe that checks all the boxes.

  • alyin2000 on February 19, 2026

    This is the recipe I break out when the whole house comes down with illness in the winter. It’s the perfect nourishing comfort food from the bone broth and easy on the stomach. My mom makes it too and adds carrots and bay leaf. I do add a couple carrots to make it more enticing to the kids, but it’s great as-is. Freezes well in souper cubes.

  • Silver.bird22 on June 06, 2024

    Added two egg yolks to make it a little richer. 12 minutes on rice.

• Rice-crusted catfish with cilantro-lime sweet corn and sun gold sauce

  • DKennedy on February 27, 2017

    Season 4 episode 7 covers catfish

  • Foodo on July 18, 2025

    LOVED this!

  • SheilaS on July 27, 2018

    This is a 3 part recipe. The Sun Gold sauce can stand on its own as a cold soup made with yellow cherry tomatoes, cooked down with onions and garlic then puréed with buttermilk, cream and sherry vinegar. The Cilantro-Lime Sweet Corn uses a compound butter with cilantro, lime juice and zest. I used frozen, roasted corn instead of fresh. The fish gets an extended bath in buttermilk, garlic and lemon zest before breading in a seasoned mix of ground long grain rice and cornmeal. Makes for a very crunchy crust. It went against my nature to fry up a crispy piece of fish and serve it with a cool or room temp sauce but the rice/cornmeal crust stays pretty crisp and it makes for a good dish.

  • TrishaCP on August 03, 2019

    Delicious. The crust of ground rice and cornmeal for the fish was shatteringly crisp as promised. The recipe needs about a half portion of her sun gold tomato soup recipe.

• Blueberry-rosemary breakfast pudding

  • SheilaS on March 09, 2017

    I made 1/4 of this recipe (1 egg) and baked it in a standard loaf pan. Perfect for 2 generous servings.

  • baking4two on March 13, 2017

    I added a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the milk mixture. Also, reduced the nutmeg to 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated.

  • laurenlangston on August 21, 2017

    I used the New Seasons non-sandwich sourdough, and 14oz was significantly more than 6 cups, even when I packed the cups in a little. A friend had brought this to cookbook club a couple of weeks ago with what looked like a little more than 6 cups, and it was almost dry, so I decided to go with the lesser amount that the recipe called for, and I put it in a 13" oval baking dish (photo submitted). The eggs I used were largeish/jumboish sized instead of medium. I let it sit overnight and then baked for about 50 minutes, when most places were brown enough; I torched the remaining spots so as not to overbrown the remainder and also because brulee. Very tasty, even more so when it's been out of the oven for an hour.

  • metacritic on August 02, 2020

    Great dish. Made once with sourdough as called for and a second time with brioche. Both were excellent.

• Blueberries and cucumbers with pistachios and yogurt

  • SheilaS on March 09, 2017

    This is a great, simple and pretty salad that really lets the flavor of the cucumbers and blueberries shine. Looks great on a platter or individual plates.

  • TrishaCP on July 18, 2017

    This is a really delicious salad and beautiful as well. We really liked the dressing- I used plain yogurt in place of the Greek yogurt/buttermilk combo- it worked for us and I think we may use the dressing in other applications too. We omitted the mint because we didn't have any on hand- the dill and chives were nice savory components with the sweet blueberries however.

  • bching on August 07, 2017

    Refreshing salad--great for a summer side.

  • inflytur on July 30, 2021

    Serve this on top of a strong salad green like arugula or spinach for a proper dinner salad.

  • Dannausc on August 06, 2020

    I used wild blackberries and wineberries in place of the blueberries. Good, different, and refreshing.

• Crispy ginger rice with leeks, shiitakes, and a fried egg

  • southerncooker on March 10, 2017

    This was delicious. I did use leftover brown rice since that's what I had on hand. I'd definitely make this one again.

  • baking4two on March 15, 2017

    I used portobello mushrooms instead of shiitakes. I added soy sauce and sesame oil after I stirred the rice mixture. Great easy weeknight dinner!

  • meggan on March 24, 2017

    I tried to double this in the same size pan and that was a mistake because it didn't crisp the way it should have. I will use my wok next time.

  • Aggie92 on April 02, 2017

    This made a lovely lunch. Used cremini mushrooms instead of the shiitakes, green onions instead of leeks, and leftover brown rice. Didn't follow the cooking instructions about crisping the rice. I just stir-fried it like fried rice. Also added a splash of soy sauce. Loved the egg (over-easy) with this.

  • clcorbi on July 14, 2017

    Very nice. Simple, but the flavor is good. I substituted button mushrooms. Next time I might want to add the leeks at the same time as the mushrooms, because they didn't get as caramelized as I would have liked. Also, I do think a dash of either soy sauce or sesame oil would be nice here. I cooked the whole thing over medium (as instructed) because I was afraid of it getting TOO done on bottom, but next time I would definitely go up to medium-high, because it didn't get quite as crunchy as I wanted. I'm sure that just depends on the stove.

  • stockholm28 on September 03, 2019

    This is a quick weeknight meal with leftover rice. I made this twice ... once as directed and once with a splash of soy sauce. I preferred it with the soy sauce.

• Sweet potato and turkey shepherd's pie

  • Aggie92 on March 11, 2017

    We really enjoyed this dish. Since I only cook for 2, I cut the recipe in half and cut the brown sugar down to 1 tablespoon. That was just enough sugar to gently enhance the natural sweetness of the potatoes. Baked the dish in a 10-inch cast iron skillet for 35 minutes. My only complaint about the recipe is the vague wording calling for 4 or 5 medium sweet potatoes with no mention of weight. Um, what's a medium sweet potato? Is it 4 or 5? Ugh! For my half-recipe, I guestimated the amount needed and used 1 1/2 lbs of sweet potatoes which was enough for a nice layer of mashers on top.

  • meggan on March 15, 2017

    This was flavorful and easy to make. If my broiler worked, I would have crisped the top a little. My kid liked it too!

  • southerncooker on March 19, 2017

    I made a half recipe and put in 3 - 8 oz. mini cocottes and a 16 oz. ramikin. Not a big fan of sugar in sweet potatoes but it was good in this recipe.

  • pandasaurusrex on April 03, 2017

    Meh. Relatively healthy, decently tasty with all the spices, and comforting in the way shepherd's pies generally are -- but not super-special. This is neither quick nor esp hands-off before the baking step. It also took way longer than expected due to adding 8(?!) oz of water to the turkey mixture as instructed and letting it all cook down until it's "thick and saucy". It was super-watery and took a long time (30+ min) to even partly evaporate, which toughened the turkey in the process. I see no need to add more than 1-2 oz. of water max. We halved the amount of brown sugar. I don't really know what difference the 1 hour of baking made... You could probably halve the baking time then put it under the broiler for 5 minutes. I also thought the recipe-writing was a bit sloppy (e.g. she lost track of the "remaining oil", says to caramelize mushrooms for one minute, no, it's two minutes, etc).

  • TrishaCP on January 23, 2018

    This was ok for us, but probably not a repeat. Like others, we reduced the sugar in the sweet potatoes (halved it) and I also subbed a teaspoon of smoked paprika with sweet paprika, since I was concerned two teaspoons would be overpowering. As it was, it was still pretty smoky (since it also has ground chipotle). I agree the water in the turkey mixture seemed superfluous, especially as my final pie was pretty watery.

  • Rradishes on November 06, 2017

    Nice and satisfying. I didn't put any sugar into the topping, used ground chicken instead of turkey. I was worried about filling being too bland, but spices, tomato sauce and mushrooms definitely make it flavorful. Also used fresh spinach instead of frozen since that's what we had. I made about half the amount the recipe called for and baked in 9in pie dish. It was ready after about 20-25 min of baking.

  • lou_weez on October 31, 2017

    A tasty meal enjoyed by the whole family. I prepared the base for this dish on Sunday and finished it off on Monday. I think you could prepare and assemble this dish 24 hours in advance. After reading other's comments I decided not to add the water, which meant I saved time as I didn't need to reduce the liquid. I didn't defrost the spinach and just plonked the frozen lump into bubbling mixture. I also only baked for 30min at 200C which was plenty of time. Next time, I would halve the amount of sugar that goes into the sweet potato topping, as it was a little too sweet.

• Spice-rubbed flank steak with cucumber and charred onion relish

  • southerncooker on March 11, 2017

    Son and I loved this one. The spice rub gives a nice flavor to the steak and the cucumber relish goes well with the meat. I did my onions and steak in my cast iron grill pan instead of on the grill. I used an English cucumber and instead of sherry vinegar, rice wine vinegar.

  • twoyolks on June 28, 2018

    The flavor of the steak and the relish were very good. I didn't rest my relish for the required two hours as I didn't have time but the flavor was still good. The cucumbers were still quite crunchy and I'd consider cutting them smaller in the future. The sugar in the spice rub for the steak makes it easy to burn so cook accordingly.

  • TrishaCP on June 30, 2018

    This was incredible. The spice rub and relish are absolutely delicious together.

  • MelMM on February 03, 2019

    5-28-2017 This is supposed to be served with a spice-rubbed grilled flank steak. I put the seasonings for the steak into a melted vegan butter (Miyoko's Creamery), and poured that into portobello caps and grilled them up. I replaced some of the salt in the mix with soy sauce to up the umami. The dressing for the relish is basically a chimichurri sauce, I realized as I was making it. Then later went back and noticed that Ms. Howard says as much in the headnote, if I'd bothered to read it. So you know that this relish is going to be great with anything grilled, and it is. Another thing I love about it is that the onions are grilled, so there is no harsh raw onion flavor.

  • metacritic on July 17, 2021

    This was terrific. I've never used a rub on a steak but won't hesitate to make this recipe again. The cucumber relish was perfect with the dish -- and would be totally satisfying on its own. I had about half the rub leftover after making the steak so look forward to eating this again a few weeks from now. It was a crowd-pleaser, to boot, including with young children.

  • ellwell on April 04, 2022

    This was delicious. The cucumbers are essential to balance the flavors of the rub. Do not cook it past medium rare—it was the perfect tenderness!

• Stewed tomatoes

  • southerncooker on March 11, 2017

    Made this to use in the Stewed Tomato Shirred Eggs with Ham Chips for our Sunday breakfast. Had to eat some of the stewed tomatoes as soon as they were done and they were delicious. I know they will be even better when I can get some summer tomatoes so I'll be making these again.

  • TrishaCP on August 18, 2017

    This was delicious! A great way to use second tomatoes that isn't pasta sauce. I used cornmeal to thicken, and after sitting for a while, it did clump together a bit. Not necessarily bad, but a bit noticeable. I used less than half a batch for the recipe with grilled squash and basil, and now I have leftovers in my freezer for the winter.

  • MelMM on February 03, 2019

    5-26-2017 Delicious, slightly sweet, tomato recipe. This has become a summer standard for me.

• Crab hoecakes with blueberry corn salsa

  • SheilaS on March 15, 2017

    This is a 3-part recipe: a blueberry corn salsa, a lemony crab salad and Grandma Hill's Hoecakes. The hoecakes can be made ahead and I would recommend that option as the re-heated cakes had a nice crispiness that the fresh off the frying pan cakes lack. Without that crispness, it's just stuff on a pancake. I enjoyed the flavors of this dish but I don't think I'll bother with the hoecakes again. I'd prefer to pile the lemony crab salad into an avocado half, top with the salsa and serve more of it on the side with some crispy corn tortilla chips.

• Everyday cucumbers

  • southerncooker on March 19, 2017

    Daughter and I thought these were too sour so I added a little more sugar and they were still super sour but hubby liked them.

  • PennyG on July 02, 2017

    No kidding -this was definitely quick and easy, nicely showcasing the vegetables. Sometimes the simplest recipes are exactly what is needed. This time for me it allowed this morning's Farmers Market haul to really shine.

  • TrishaCP on June 24, 2019

    We really enjoyed this side dish. I have eaten a similar dish my whole life with cucumbers and onions but never would have thought to add tomatoes to the vinegar party. But it worked! (Sun golds, because that’s all that was available tomato-wise this time of year from the CSA.) I had to sub sherry vinegar since I didn’t have apple cider vinegar, and it was good that way too.

  • stockholm28 on September 16, 2019

    Very simple recipe to highlight cucumbers and tomatoes. Worked well as a side with grilled chicken.

  • twoyolks on July 09, 2019

    Really simple but tasty all the same.

  • pistachiopeas on July 02, 2017

    Delicious and easy. It won't replace Shirazi salad for me but a nice acidic complement for richer food.

• Cool cucumber crab dip

  • SheilaS on March 27, 2017

    This dip is cool as a cucumber and nicely highlights the flavor of the crab. It has enough crab that it could easily be stuffed into an avocado or tomato and called crab salad. It calls for 1 lb of crabmeat, which is a lot so I scaled down the recipe with no problems.

  • foodgloriousfood on January 21, 2023

    Had to add extra hot sauce, horseradish, scallion and mint for flavor otherwise it was a bit bland.

  • bernalgirl on December 04, 2025

    Like a crab tzatziki, this was absolutely delicious with fresh Dungeness crab. Next time I’d cut the cucumbers into quarters or thin strips to make the dip more manageable.

• Miso flounder with cucumber noodles and gingered collards

  • SheilaS on March 27, 2017

    This recipe has a great combination of flavors and textures. I used a spiralizer for the cucumber noodles. They are delightfully fresh and crunchy. I would use them as a bed for any sort of grilled seafood or shellfish. The gingered collards seemed a bit chewy to me at first bite but they are a good contrast in flavor and texture to the rest of the plate. The miso butter sauce is delicious so it's good to serve this with rice to pick up the extra sauce.

  • TrishaCP on June 23, 2019

    This recipe is a lot of steps, but it was worth it. The flavors all came together beautifully. The miso honey sauce is amazing! I did have some difficulty with her steps for making the cucumber noodles. Perhaps I didn’t use the correct blade on my mandoline, but it was hard to get them even. A spiralizer, or even just a vegetable peeler, would work better. I served with the gingered collards and brown rice.

• Stewed collard greens with ham hock

  • vickster on April 01, 2017

    Will be my go-to collards recipe. Basic but delicious.

  • vickster on October 20, 2017

    Delicious collards! I love collards and this will be my preferred way to cook from now on. Used smoked pork neck bones from Grocery Outlet instead of ham hocks (which I have tried before) and liked them better.

  • SheilaS on January 04, 2019

    The first time I made these, I used a smoked hock from the grocery store and I didn't care for them. More recently, I purchased smoked hocks and bacon seasoning meat from Father's Country Hams and the flavor is an order of magnitude better.

• Slow-cooked limas

  • vickster on October 20, 2017

    I don't usually cook dried beans in the oven, but this is a great way to cook them, especially lima beans. I did a quick soak before putting in oven and used smoked pork neck beans I happened to see at Grocery Outlet. They came out tender and creamy.

• Cast-iron-cooked red rice and softshell scampi

  • JoanN on June 29, 2019

    6/28/19 Terrific recipe. Used shells from 1 lb of shrimp and it was plenty for stock. Can substitute canned or Pomi for fresh tomato in rice. Be careful garlic and lemon sauce doesn't boil down too quickly in too hot skillet; my sauce ended up clumping.

  • MelMM on February 01, 2019

    8-8-2017 This is a good version of the classic lowcountry red rice. This version is not as sweet as many, which is a good thing, imho. I veganize this by using a kombu stock instead of shrimp stock, and I skip the crabs.

• Corn boiled in a big pot with coconut ginger butter

  • SheilaS on August 26, 2017

    Perfect sweet corn doesn't need any adornment in my book but I still really liked this. The cooked corn gets tossed with a mixture of coconut oil, butter, fresh ginger, orange zest, lemon juice, salt and a little hot sauce plus a sprinkle of scallions and mint. That fresh ginger and other flavors complement the corn rather than covering it up. A winner.

  • MelMM on February 03, 2019

    6-26-2016 I refuse to boil corn in a big pot unless I'm making it for 50+ people. So I microwaved a couple ears in the husk, then pulled the husks and cut in half, put in a serving bowl, and dressed with the the coconut ginger butter and garnished with mint and scallion. For the coconut butter, I used the unrefined coconut oil called for, and Miyoko's creamery vegan butter. The butter has good flavor, but the dish will really only be as good as your corn. The butter is not a really strong flavor, but as I ate the corn, the flavor combination really grew on me. Nice, delicately flavored side for summer.

• Cocktail tomatoes with brown-butter scallops

  • SheilaS on August 26, 2017

    The cocktail tomatoes need to marinate for at least a week so this requires some planning ahead but once they are done, the dish comes together very quickly. They have some flavors similar to cocktail sauce but after being warmed in the brown butter, they turn into something very special. The scallops get dusted with cayenne before being seared and are served over Vivian's foolproof grits which taste especially creamy as they are cooked in milk. The creamy grits were the perfect balance to the vinegary tomatoes. I was going to use plain polenta cooked in water but I'm glad I trusted Vivian and used her recipe.

  • stockholm28 on August 24, 2019

    While I loved the scallops with the creamy grits, I wasn’t a fan of the cocktail tomatoes with this dish. I thought the tomatoes were too strong in flavor to go with the delicate flavor of the scallops. I made half a batch of the cocktail tomatoes which made about 2 quarts.

  • MelMM on February 03, 2019

    The cocktail tomatoes are a component of many other recipes, and delicious on their own. I have not made the scallop portion of this.

• Fried green tomatoes with curried peach preserves and whipped feta

  • SheilaS on September 20, 2017

    I haven't made the entire recipe yet, but the curried peach preserves are a winner! I can't wait to try them with chicken, salmon and/or pork. The recipe says to remove the lime and orange peels with a vegetable peeler and I would recommend taking the time to cut those strips of zest into a fine julienne as it looks much prettier and you'll get a little of that candied citrus in almost every bite. My curry powder was not particularly hot so I will likely add a dried hot chile or 2 next time. I accidentally used about twice the amount of ginger but I love ginger and would do it again!

• Perfect peaches with almond pesto

  • SheilaS on August 26, 2017

    Vivian says, "Because these peaches have only a few nuts to hide behind, don't make this if you don't have fragrant, ripe, perfect peaches" - I totally agree! But if you have perfect peaches, this is a lovely way to showcase them. The almond pesto (also delicious on pasta) and fried sage leaves can be done ahead so the dish comes together quickly. The small amount of amaretto tossed with the peach slices and the fried sage leaves make the dish something special - don't skip them! Very nice with a glass of fino sherry.

• Country ham-wrapped and roasted peaches

  • SheilaS on August 26, 2017

    Peach wedges get wrapped in thin slices of smoked country ham (I subbed prosciutto) and roasted. They're served on gingered goat cheese (goat cheese, buttermilk & grated, fresh ginger) with a drizzle of balsamic honey and a sprinkle of the Viv's Addiction sweet & spicy pecans (also in the book). Assuming the spiced nuts are done ahead, this comes together very quickly. It's also best served while still warm from the oven so you get the best of the crispy ham, warm, juicy peach, cool, gingery cheese and spicy, crunchy nuts. Very decadent.

• Day-at-the-beach pork picnic with peach and melon salsa

  • SheilaS on August 26, 2017

    The Peach & Melon Salsa is excellent. As noted by cicorbi & TrishaCP, if your peaches and watermelon are really ripe, the salsa is not going to hold up for next-day leftovers but the flavors are great. Luckily, it's easy enough to toss together that it can be made shortly before serving. I'd make this on its own to serve as a side or with chips. I might add a jalapeño instead of the chipotle pepper in adobo but it was great as is. The cumin-sugar-salt rub is great on the pork and I'll certainly use it again. Served this with corn on the cob - Boiled in a Big Pot with Coconut Ginger Butter p 226 and Assorted Squash Pickle Salad p 343. The corn was especially great with this.

  • clcorbi on July 17, 2017

    The pork shoulder portion of this recipe is phenomenal. The rub--equal parts cumin, brown sugar, and salt--is absolutely scrumptious, and the pork shoulder is totally hands-off as it roasts. Five stars! I would totally make it again. I wasn't quite as sold on the salsa. I think part of it was our produce--our peaches were very ripe and juicy, which would normally be a good thing, but I actually think firmer ones would hold up much better here. We prepared the salsa about an hour before eating and it had already thrown off a ton of water, probably from the added salt. The flavor was good but it was quite watery. We had leftovers and they got even more watery and limp overnight. I wish I had just made a half-recipe and not even considered having leftovers. So, with those factors in mind, I might not repeat the salsa as I have tried other fruit-based salsa recipes I like better. But if you are feeding a big group, and will have no leftovers, this won't be an issue. 4 stars overall.

  • mrshalf on July 26, 2018

    On a forum, Vivian suggested the following as a summer dinner party menu: Butterbean Hummus with Charred Okra and Marinated Peppers Blueberries and Cucumbers with Pistachios and Yogurt Salad Squash Fontina Casserole Pudding and Sweet Corn Vanilla Souflee with Blackberries I'm trying this tonight. Will update with reviews.

  • twoyolks on September 05, 2018

    I really liked the peach and melon salsa (as did my savory fruit hating wife). It really complimented the pork well. The pork itself was a pretty generic roast pork shoulder. I've had better versions. The sugar and spice rub from the pork did burn onto the bottom of my dutch oven and was a pain to clean.

  • TrishaCP on July 29, 2017

    We loved this. The spice rub for the pork is awesome, but I had to keep throwing in spoonfuls of water to keep the sugar from caramelizing too much. So not quite a problem, but don't throw it in the oven and forget it totally either. I really liked this salsa-it was great with the pork and definitely a make again for us. We made it 30 minutes in advance. Ours did throw off water too, but a slotted spoon resolved that problem. We served with corn on the cob, which went really well with the other flavors.

  • chawkins on September 02, 2025

    Both the pork and the salsa were excellent. My picnic was close to eight pounds, so I increased everything in the rub by a teaspoon and the covered cooking time by an hour and the uncovered cooking time by 10 minutes. The pork was falling off the bone tender and the crackling crisp. I oiled the sides and bottom of my cast iron dutch oven and had no problem with burning or sticking, the picnic did exude a bit of liquid during cooking.

• Squash noodles with crab and jalapeño

  • SheilaS on September 02, 2017

    I really enjoyed making and eating these squash noodles. I used both yellow and green zucchini and they cooked at different rates so it was a bit of a balancing act to get them both cooked but not too limp. When making the noodles, avoid getting into the seedy part of the squash as that will turn mushy and cause the noodle to fall apart - tastes fine, just not pretty! I garnished with lemon zest & grated salted egg yolk.

• Cumin-crusted pork belly with sweet and sour beet bottoms and tops

  • SheilaS on February 28, 2017

    Great combination of flavors here with the cumin-cardamon-mustard seasoning on the pork, garlicky, slightly bitter and astringent greens and sweet/sour orange-glazed beet roots. At first bite, I thought the beet roots were awfully sweet but they grew on me over the course of the meal. Still, when I make it again (and I will) I'll probably use 1/3 to 1/2 of the amount of honey specified, depending on the sweetness of the oranges - today, I used some very sweet cara cara oranges.

  • DKennedy on February 20, 2017

    I am not sure if this is similar to the pork belly she makes at the restaurant, but if it is, it will be fantastic. At the restaurant, the raw pork belly is cut into sticks (the size of cheese stick) and a stick is poked in one end. All sides are seared on a plancha until crispy, then served with a glaze. That is what I will do when I make this recipe.

• Stuffed butternut bottoms

  • SheilaS on February 10, 2017

    I love the way this recipe uses butternut squash bottoms as that part of the squash always seems to take forever to chop for a small yield. And the size is conducive to a single serving, unlike larger squash that are too big for this. I used a generous amount of spicy Italian pork sausage and served as an entrée. Could use less sausage and cut in half for a side. I wrapped a few for leftovers and they reheated beautifully.

  • jacqie on April 05, 2020

    Takes about 1.5 hours, but there's about half an hour in there that you can just leave it. Really good- sweet, salty, tangy! A smallish main course with everything included.

  • Barb_N on March 28, 2017

    I sliced my butternut at the equator so only had 2 cavities to stuff instead of 4- they were also small. I augmented the stuffing with some left over cooked rice to make it more substantial. Skipped the brown sugar- the squash is sweet enough. Baked the extra stuffing in a pan. This is the third recipe I've made from this book and I seem to be using cider vinegar at an alarming rate- I could easily skip it in this recipe and not miss it.

• Jalapeño peach chicken

  • SheilaS on February 10, 2017

    In rating this dish, I'd give the jalapeño-peach jam a top rating and score the wings a bit lower, just because I prefer a crispy wing and a glaze like this is going to make them more sticky, The recipe yielded 5 jars of the Jalapeño Peach Glaze and I used it on salmon and with cheeses. It’s tolerant of flavorful, but less than perfect peaches. It’s worth the time to cut the tendon to “lollipop” the wings. This was not mentioned in the recipe but seems to be shown in the photo in the book.

  • jhallen on January 04, 2021

    This was amazing. Yum.

  • taste24 on June 22, 2020

    My family and I loved this glaze - it tasted so good on the charred chicken. As others have notes, you will have a lot leftover.

  • allisonsemele on September 14, 2022

    I made a half-recipe of the glaze, and mine turned out thicker, more like a jam. It was delicious with grilled chicken, and with cheese. I think it would also be excellent with tofu or salmon.

  • TrishaCP on August 14, 2017

    Loved the glaze. I was a bit intimidated by the pound of jalapeños requested, but it didn't get too spicy. We grilled the chicken using our own method, so I can't comment on that part except to say the glaze tastes great with chicken. I also tried it with cheese, and it was even better. I will say that my "glaze," while not chunky, still had discernible pieces of peach and jalapeño- not sure if I didn't blend it enough at the beginning or if it didn't cook it enough on the stove.

  • stockholm28 on July 25, 2017

    These were delicious. I made a full recipe of the glaze and I have plenty left. I only cooked 6 fairly small chicken legs, so only used a small amount of glaze. 35 minutes was plenty of cooking time in my convection oven. These were excellent! I used just under a pound of jalapenos and I did not find the glaze very spicy. I did remove the ribs and seeds. A small spoonful of glaze on top of a piece of sharp cheddar is also delicious.

  • MelMM on February 03, 2019

    7-1-2017 I used this glaze for sweet and sour sauce in Chinese dishes. It's less sweet, more tangy, and more spicy than the standard Americanized restaurant version. My husband loves to have this sauce on hand to pour over steamed vegetables and tofu when he's on his own for dinner.

  • clcorbi on July 24, 2017

    All the work in this recipe is in the peach glaze--once you have that made, the chicken is dead simple. We made a half-recipe of the glaze and still have plenty leftover, so I probably wouldn't ever make a full recipe unless I felt like doing some canning (also, we are only a 2-person household, so it's hard to use these things up). I had to extend the cook time of the chicken by 7min, and it still wasn't nearly as browned as in the photo--maybe a better idea next time would be to throw the chicken under the broiler for a few minutes before serving. At any rate, the chicken was delicious! We really enjoyed this, and I am already thinking of several different ways to use up the extra glaze, which is extremely tasty. Definitely repeatable.

• My favorite beet salad

  • SheilaS on March 09, 2017

    This salad is pretty amazing. The marinated beets, orange segments and pecans sit on an airy cloud of blue cheese-buttermilk dressing that's lightened with whipped cream. The texture is so luxurious! It should really be plated individually rather than served on a platter.

  • xi.huang on April 16, 2022

    Phenomenal! People who didn’t like blue cheese loved it, as did people who don’t like beets. Will definitely repeat. The rosemary and orange zest shouldn’t be left out. We used Cara Cara oranges and it was absolutely delicious with the beets.

  • hillsboroks on May 26, 2021

    This was such a delightful way to serve roasted beets. I was able to simplify my prep a bit by using beets I had roasted earlier and then frozen. The texture suffered a bit but the overall flavor was fantastic! Next time I might add a bit extra blue cheese to amp that flavor up a bit.

  • TrishaCP on March 15, 2025

    This is an incredible salad. I don’t really enjoy beets, but I loved them in this dish!

  • Dannausc on October 02, 2017

    It was really good, but rather time consuming (roasting beets and pecans, supreming oranges, making blue cheese dressing). However, the flavors, textures, and colors were wonderful. It was well worth the effort. I highly recommend it!

• Grilled lamb kebabs with beet tzatziki

  • SheilaS on March 09, 2017

    I really liked this dish. I adapted the recipe by using the marinade spices with ground lamb to make little meatballs. Great flavors. I initially cut the beets in wedges as shown in the book photo but I prefer tzatziki with smaller pieces so it's more of a condiment and less of a vegetable side dish.

  • TrishaCP on June 20, 2020

    I’m not a huge fan of beets, but I really enjoyed this dish. I had lamb steaks so I marinated them but didn’t bother cutting the meat. I was out of parsley so I used basil in the tzatziki, and it went well with the beets. I did cut the beets in smaller cubes than specified.

  • ksg518 on February 08, 2024

    I just made the beet tzatziki so can’t comment on the lamb kebabs but the tzatziki is wonderful. I didn’t have mint so I doubled the dill. I also skipped the honey since the beets were so sweet. My only regret is not doubling the recipe.

• Lentil apple soup with bacon

  • SheilaS on March 09, 2017

    Great soup. Leftovers re-heated well, although I didn't try freezing. Yogurt works as a good substitute for the buttermilk that gets added to the bowl. Both add a nice tang that the soup needs.

• Brussels sprouts, apples, and pomegranate with blue cheese honey vinaigrette

  • SheilaS on March 09, 2017

    This is an easy, beautiful salad that holds up really well if it needs to sit a while. Nice to have a fresh-tasting salad where all the ingredients are readily available in the fall-winter timeframe. The most time consuming part (if you make a large batch) is separating all the brussels sprout leaves.

  • ldholakia on January 02, 2018

    Wonderful salad, also possible to make it with pears. I made it for Christmas Eve and was requested to make it again on December 26th! Will definitely be in the rotation permanently.

  • stockholm28 on November 15, 2021

    This is a very nice salad and it looks quite festive. Ms. Howard has you separate the sprouts into individual leaves. I couldn’t be bothered to do that, so I just sliced them thin. The blue cheese that I had on hand was fairly mild and I would have preferred a slighly more assertive blue. This will be repeated.

  • allisonsemele on October 22, 2021

    Served this alongside brats, and it was a wonderful combination. A really good salad--I loved the dressing. I cut back a bit on the honey and apples because I wanted less sweetness. Will make again.

• Hamburger steak with red pea and onion gravy

  • MelMM on February 03, 2019

    2-25-2017 To make the meal vegan, I broiled portobello mushroom caps, coated with a dressing made from the garlic confit, thyme, and a bit of juniper vinegar. To make a gravy that is both vegan and gluten-free, I am too often reliant on mushrooms. And every now and then I have a need to make gravy for someone who doesn't like mushrooms. This gravy gets its richness from caramelized onions, and its texture from cooked red peas. It was easy to make vegan by substitution vegetable oil + smoked salt for the bacon grease, vegetable stock plus a touch of Marmite for beef stock, and a cashew milk for cow's milk. For the garlic confit, cooking at 300 degrees for 40 minutes was perfect for my convection oven.

• Creamy, tangy, and sweet blueberry dressing

  • MelMM on January 31, 2019

    8-10-2018 This is so delicious under a summer chopped salad of tomatoes, peaches, cukes, and other fun summer stuff.

• Fresh corn roasted in chicken drippings

  • metacritic on July 13, 2022

    Love this dish. It is dead-easy, requiring the shucking of corn, the scattering of kernels and thyme on a pan-sheet alongside a bit of salt and sugar, and laying gently browned chicken over the corn. Some kernels caramelize. Others roast gently under the chicken thighs, which obtain perfectly crisp skin. This is sheet-pan cooking at its finest. A perfect meal.

  • Globegal on July 04, 2017

    The chicken was moist. Baked the corn by itself about 16 minutes longer. Not much got caramelized on the edges. This may have been due to my baking a fifth leg quarter on the corn since the package had five leg quarters. Only 3 legs would fit in my 12 inch cast iron pan so had to do it in batches. Fairly simple recipe & worthy results.

  • twoyolks on August 28, 2019

    The chicken was great but the corn burned for me.

• Cilantro-lime sweet corn

  • MelMM on February 03, 2019

    7-4-2017 This was simple, but absolutely delicious. It helps that corn is at its peak right now, really flavorful so it's hard to keep from just eating it raw. Normally when corn is at its best, I go for the simplest preparation - microwaving in the husk. But this was one really delicious pile of corn. Served with the brined pork chop (ha! tofu!) with pickled peanuts from p. 194

  • TrishaCP on June 29, 2019

    This is an amazingly delicious way to prepare corn. I cut down on the butter substantially, but not the herbs, and subbed a serrano chile for the cayenne.

  • jacqie on April 05, 2020

    yummy, fresh and easy

  • twoyolks on August 28, 2019

    I found this simply okay. It's just basically sautéed corn in butter with lime.

  • metacritic on September 13, 2020

    Easy and terrific. Reminds me of a variation of Gjelina's corn/feta recipe. Or elote.

• Corn and snap bean succotash with basil and jalapeño

  • MelMM on February 03, 2019

    7-16-2017 Very nice dish, similar to the cilantro-lime corn, but if you have green beans on hand, this is a great way to incorporate them. Once again the reduced corn stock plus the butter make for a sauce slightly reminiscent of creamed corn, but nowhere near as cloying. And the ginger and herbs make for a bright note that complements the sweet corn nicely.

• Frogmore steam

  • metacritic on August 02, 2020

    Dead easy and tastes like the essence of summer. Cannot recommend enough. A one-dish meal to boot.

• Raw corn and cantaloupe salad with red onion and roasted poblano

  • clkandel on October 24, 2019

    Love the fresh flavors of this salad.

• Fancy sandwiches

  • MelMM on February 01, 2019

    7-18-2017 Made vegan with straight substitutions. These are surprisingly good. Ideally use hot radishes.

• Cucumber ginger limeade

  • metacritic on July 13, 2022

    This is a delicious drink, much like a mocktail. It was a hefty amount of work for a beverage but absolutely delicious. A summery five stars.

  • Dannausc on August 09, 2020

    Good but strong. We both added extra water to our drinks to dilute it.

  • ripleypickles on June 11, 2021

    Refreshing and delicious. Perfect summer drink and great alternative to a margarita if you're not drinking.

• Wedge you like a salad with that ranch?

  • hirsheys on July 05, 2020

    I loosely followed this recipe, which was a yummy cucumber ranch dressing on a wedge (except I chopped up the iceberg, since it's easier to eat that way.)

• Tomatoes and rice

  • pistachiopeas on July 02, 2017

    Very easy and quick but a bit bland tasting to me. Not sure I'd make again.

• Cherry tomatoes in basil vinegar

  • hillsboroks on September 24, 2019

    We loved these tomatoes. The hardest part is getting the skins off the cherry tomatoes. Tip: use only medium to large cherry tomatoes or you will go crazy with trying to skin tiny tomatoes. The rice vinegar is fairly mild but still potent so start tasting them after one day to see how you like them.

  • TrishaCP on August 28, 2019

    This recipe is quite time-consuming. First, you make a basil vinegar by steeping basil in rice wine vinegar, and letting it steep for a few days. Mine steeped for a week. Then you blanch and de-skin cherry tomatoes (not hard and necessary but definitely annoying to do), and let them steep a few days before serving. The texture of the pickles is good. Even after a week and a half they are still pretty firm. They also have a lovely perfume of basil. (Note, this vinegar is worth making alone - I plan to use it in salad dressings.) But the tomatoes themselves soak up so much of the vinegar. Even using the mild rice wine vinegar, this is a potent bite, and I can’t eat them on their own like I can a dill pickle. We will finish them off, but I probably won’t be making anything but the basil vinegar again. I would caveat that I’m pretty sensitive to vinegar, so if you are a fan of that type of flavor you should go for it.

• Chilled sun gold tomato soup with lots of summer stuff

  • TrishaCP on September 02, 2018

    This is a delicious way to use lots of summer ingredients. The soup is pretty fiddly to make, especially compared to Deborah Madisons's version of chilled sun-gold soup. (In this version, you strain it through a sieve, while DM uses a food mill. And this one adds calories with buttermilk and cream that aren't necessary to me.) The bay leaf here was a nice touch, along with the star of all of the garnishes (I used cucumber, tomato, melon, and basil.)

  • MelMM on January 31, 2019

    9-5-2018 I didn't have sungolds, so I used homegrown yellow tomatoes. Used a homemade cashew cream instead of buttermilk and cream called for, and I adjusted the acidity to taste with lemon and sherry vinegar. The garnish is a mix of cucumber, tomato, cantaloupe, peach, corn, basil, three kinds of mint, and chives. This was a cold soup, clearly inspired by gazpacho, but Ms. Howard begins her recipe by saying, "This is not gazpacho!".

  • metacritic on August 03, 2020

    Really liked this dish. Easy and utterly fresh tasting. The garnishes make the soup. I used cantaloupe, heirloom cherry tomatoes, cucumber, corn, and mint. This will make future appearances to be sure. Would be company worthy if not for a pandemic.

• Sprouted hoppin' John salad with hot bacon vinaigrette

  • Frogcake on September 01, 2017

    Great salad! It's the bacon bits and bacon fat simmered scallions that take this rather ordinary rice salad over the top. Delicious! Will be making this one again!

• Country ham and celery creamed rice

  • Rradishes on October 23, 2017

    Very good, made with prosciutto but could work with any ham.

• Citrus sweet potato butter

  • DKennedy on November 25, 2017

    Made as written for T-giving 2017. I used 1 5 lb. bag of orange fleshed sweet potatoes, and omitted the sugar. Perfectly balanced as written. Will definitely make again.

• Sweet potato mostarda

  • MelMM on February 03, 2019

    3-14-2017 I never would have thought of doing this with sweet potatoes! But the idea instantly intrigued me. The pickle is sweet, mustard-y, and the sweet potato is still crisp, but doesn't taste raw. When I first made these, I had no idea what I was going to do with these pickles. Now they have become a staple ingredient for me. They get diced up and put on salads, they get mixed into egg/tofu salad, they get mixed into a tagine. You get a bonus with this recipe - slices of preserved lemon.

• Sweet potato onion bread

  • DKennedy on February 20, 2017

    I am so glad this recipe is included in the book! At some point during the PBS series an episode focused on The Chef and the Farmer decision to discontinue serving complementary bread and changing over to a bread service for a nominal fee. I love that the show discusses these kinds of decisions!!! This is the bread recipe they introduced when they started their bread service. The feedback online indicates it is absolutely delicious. I can't wait to make it.

• Fried yams with five-spice maple bacon candy

  • DKennedy on February 20, 2017

    The presentation for this dish is gorgeous!

  • SheilaS on August 13, 2023

    I will surely turn to the boiled, then fried trick for sweet potatoes. They develop a lovely crisp crust that can be best enjoyed if you serve them fairly promptly, The rest of this preparation was OK but I'm not a lover of the bacon in syrup situation. I'd make the bacon fat/ginger/five-spice/maple syrup but crumble crisp bacon over the top of the dish instead of putting it in the syrup to get soft. Personal taste.

• Braised pork shoulder and sweet potato free-form lasagna

  • ellwell on November 27, 2022

    This is delicious. It takes planning—making the pork (I used slow cooker) can be accomplished the day before. I found smoked mozzerella at the local Italian grocery. This would be a nice dish for casual company.

• Squash and onions

  • Rradishes on June 27, 2022

    Very tasty. Take your time and cook down the whole mess of onions and squash into almost a paste. So simple and delicious, as a dip, spread, or even pasta sauce. Great way to use up all the squash.

  • TrishaCP on August 24, 2017

    This makes a ton, which is great if you love crookneck squash. If you aren't a huge fan, I'd skip it. So I'm not, but my mom had bought some, and I was hoping this would be as tasty as some of the other recipes in this book. It was fine, I ate it, and others ate it, but no one touched the leftovers.

• Squash and onion smother

  • Sleeth on September 04, 2022

    Delicious! I think even better than chickpea hummus because of all the layers of flavor. I did substitute shredded zucchini I had in the freezer instead of yellow squash, and added some leftover lentils and jalapeño to the squash and onions mix. Other than that, I followed the recipe as written... which involved other recipes: Squash and Onions, Garlic Confit, and Okra Oven Fries (Sadly, I only had 1 okra.) I've never had a bad outcome from any recipes in this book.

• Grilled squash, basil pesto, and stewed tomatoes

  • TrishaCP on August 18, 2017

    This was great. I made the stewed tomatoes in advance for faster assembly on a weeknight. The pesto doesn't use garlic, which was new for me, but uses lots of lemon and a bit of honey. (Also new to me.) I was scared to use the juice of two lemons with the enormous lemons that I had on hand, so just used one and I was glad about that choice. I also had to forego mint, so used purple basil in its place. The lemony pesto was great with the grilled squash (I used zucchini) and stewed tomatoes.

  • MelMM on February 03, 2019

    5-28-2018 The basil pesto is really a basil/mint pesto. The lemon, honey (I used vegan B-Free honey), and mint make this a very different pesto, light and zippy. The grilled squash get tossed with the pesto, and are served atop the stewed tomatoes from p. 270. I was generous with the pesto! The dish is finished with a drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar. I didn't have any, so I used saba instead. The sweet saba made a great counterpoint to the tangy and herbal pesto, and really balanced the dish. Another winner from Ms. Howard!

• Squash and Fontina casserole pudding

  • hillsboroks on August 17, 2017

    We were drooling from the delicious aroma coming from the oven as this was baking. With an abundance of yellow summer squash from the garden this recipe looked like a great way to make a dent in the daily harvest and it most certainly was. I sautéed the vegetables in butter and then added a bit of olive oil when it looked as if they were sticking. I also threw in a cup of cooked corn kernels cut off the cob after cooking the night before and the corn melded in beautifully. Actually I think you could add bits and bobs of any vegetables you may have. The long slow cooking and fresh herbs brought out the best in the yellow crookneck squash I used and would probably do the same with zucchini. I may try mixing them next time. We loved this and will definitely be making it again soon.

  • DKennedy on February 27, 2017

    Casseroles are covered on episode 7 of season 3, squash on episode 1 of same season

  • TrishaCP on September 19, 2021

    This was great. I made a half recipe, using one egg and a combination of yellow squash and zucchini (what the CSA gave me). I really like sage and rosemary so may consider bumping up the amount next time, but otherwise I thought this was perfect.

  • chawkins on August 30, 2021

    Absolutely delicious, well worth the time and effort put into it. I used zucchini from the garden (four for half of the recipe, about 41/2 C sliced) and since I only had a little bit of fontina, I used gruyere and butter instead of bacon fat.

• Twin muffins

  • TrishaCP on July 06, 2020

    These are delicious, especially warm. Mine didn't rise, but I think it was user error (oh you know, just completely forgetting the baking powder- sigh). This was a good way to use up the big CSA squashes.

  • DKennedy on February 24, 2017

    Habit forming! I encountered a few challenges when making this recipe. Any negative thoughts I might have been thinking were washed away the second I took my first bite. These are spectacular hot out of the oven, still very delicious at room temperature, and I have been waiting a respectable amount of time to eat my third one this morning. These are moist, flavorful satisfying muffins and considering how little sugar is used, mindblowingly good. Note: Batter yielded 15 muffins, not 24. Mine baked for 23 minutes, not 18. Modifications: Used 1 cup GF flour mix, 1 cup faro flour and 1 cup almond flour (in lieu of the flax). Mix-ins: zucchini, sour cherries, pecans, pineapple and mini tollhouse chocolate chips. The tip about using liners is essential, these stuck to the liner when eaten warm out of the oven. I found her instructions re when to fold in the egg whites either unclear or counterintuitive. I ended up adding mine after everything else was mixed in, not sure if that was ok.

• Fresh sausage

  • MmeFleiss on March 23, 2017

    I'm normally not a fan of store-bought breakfast sausage, but this was really good. I followed the recipe as written but I think I will try it with the dried spices variation mentioned in the headnote next time just to compare.

• Air-dried sausage biscuits

  • DKennedy on February 27, 2017

    Holiday episode season 2

• ENC-style buttermilk biscuits

  • metacritic on July 26, 2020

    Severely lacking in salt. I'll try doubling or tripling next time though I'll probably just go elsewhere for biscuits. Laborious, too, though the texture is fantastic.

• Tom Thumb with dirty farro and rutabaga relish

  • DKennedy on February 27, 2017

    Episodes 4 and 5 of season 2

• Baked pimento cheese and sausage

  • southerncooker on March 19, 2017

    Daughter and I enjoyed and even son did and he doesn't normally like pimento cheese. We ate it with Ritz crackers and daughter and I with bread and butter pickles and son with dill pickles.

  • MmeFleiss on March 23, 2017

    The pimento cheese was seriously addictive. It's also well-worth making her fresh sausage recipe since I found it superior to store bought.

• Dirty farro

  • inflytur on September 30, 2019

    Wow! I’ve often thought that dirty rice is such a strong flavored dish that it would stand up to whole grains. I think it is even better. This will be something I make regularly. I used jasmine brown rice because it was in the pantry.

• Peanut, Pepsi, and bourbon float

  • DKennedy on February 20, 2017

    Drinking peanuts in pepsi is apparently a Southern thing.

  • pattyatbryce on July 31, 2020

    Float was good, but we liked better without the bourbon (and drank that later).

• Big bone-in pork chops with pickled peanut salad

  • MelMM on February 03, 2019

    7-4-2017 I made this with tofu instead of pork. The brining time needs to be reduced for tofu, and the salt reduced, as tofu absorbs the brine more than pork would. I smoked this on the big green egg. It is important to prepare the mustard seeds properly to get the bitterness out. Taste the seeds before using!

• Fried okra hash

  • bching on August 09, 2020

    Easy and delicious. I tossed a handful of corn kernels scraped off the cob in the skillet, too. This is a summer time keeper.

  • MelMM on February 01, 2019

    8-8-2017 As someone who grew up eating fried okra, simply dredged in cornmeal and then deep-fried, this pan-fried version seemed like sacrilege. But guess what? It's good. Not the same as deep-fried, but good in a different way. Seasonings are perfect.

• Okra oven fries

  • stockholm28 on July 25, 2017

    This recipe is really a snack food, I cut back on both the salt and coriander, and thought it was too much salt, although I still ate them all (I made 1/4 of the recipe). There is absolutely no slime. They are just crispy little okra sticks.

  • hillsboroks on August 30, 2017

    I agree with Stockholm28 that these are more of a snack than a side but boy are they delicious! And this is a fabulous way to use up bunches of okra from the garden. We also thought there was way too much salt. Next time I will cut it in half or less. We made a half batch and dipped them in a bit of ranch dressing and my husband loved them. I found that using larger okra worked better. The 4" ones survived in the oven much better than the 2" ones. The best bet might be to separate them by size and adjust the cooking time down for the small ones.

  • MelMM on February 03, 2019

    These are comparable to my standard roasted okra, but cut lengthwise, so they get extra-crisp. I've also cut okra this way to fry it. Anyway, this recipe produces perfectly crisp slivers of okra. If you aren't up for doing the tempura okra on p. 410, but are intrigued by the ranch ice cream that goes with that recipe, this is a good alternative.

  • abrownb1 on July 18, 2025

    A recipe for okra haters! This method totally avoids the slimy texture and love the coriander. Definitely serve with ranch or something creamy and I agree it was more of a snack since it cooks down a lot. My okra were huge and ones that were closed to 6 inch were a bit tough so I'd probably keep to ones smaller than 4" in the future.

• Summer vegetable scallion pancakes

  • MelMM on February 03, 2019

    6-18-2017 This is summer on a small plate. There's a bit of genius to this recipe, in that it is making use of the sliminess of okra to bind the pancakes. I used rice flour instead of AP, and a chia "egg".

  • ksg518 on September 28, 2022

    These were good but I couldn't help but think they needed some sort of extra seasoning. Perhaps I should have served them with the recommended stewed tomatoes. The idea of using the sliminess of more mature okra to bind the pancakes is a great idea.

• Tempura-fried okra with ranch ice cream

  • MelMM on February 03, 2019

    5-26-2017 Brilliant okra. Hot out of the fryer, with the cool ranch ice cream. Yes, make the ranch ice cream.

  • DKennedy on February 26, 2017

    Episode 5, season 3

• Shrimp and grits with gumbo sauce

  • Dannausc on September 14, 2020

    Good but took awhile, especially with making the shrimp stock first.

• Creamed collards with pickled collard stems

  • SheilaS on January 04, 2019

    Vivian says this is best as a spread or dip so I served it crostini-style on toasted baguette slices. The pickled stems are the perfect crisp-tart-sweet-spicy complement to the rich, creamy collards. They were also great added to a bowl of black eyed peas or beans. I will never throw collard stems away again!

• Twice-baked collard potatoes

  • janichkokov on July 19, 2024

    Labor intensive (it requires two other recipes to make) but absolutely delicious, showstopping, and perhaps surprising, considering how humble the ingredients. I think this would be great for a special occasion with guests coming over, because you can prep em ahead of time.

• Collard, carrot, and raisin salad

  • Emily Hope on February 27, 2017

    This was a quite nice salad--collards weren't too chewy and it kept well for a couple of days in the fridge. Skewed a little sweet for our tastes, so I'd probably dial down the honey a bit next time.

• Gingered collards

  • TrishaCP on June 23, 2019

    I thought this was a great vegetarian method for preparing collards. The ginger and the orange juice go beautifully with these greens. I cut the greens into fairly small squares, which was quite labor intensive, but necessary because they don’t cook too long. The texture was fairly chewy, but not at all in a bad way. The final step of letting them cook down with water and orange juice is definitely needed. I tasted the collards before that step and found them really bitter at that point in the recipe, but the last bit of cooking tames it.

• Healthy soup

  • Emily Hope on February 27, 2017

    We liked this soup. I started with a leftover roast chicken rather than a raw one--cooked the carcass in the pressure cooker for an hour with the parmesan rind, which actually made the broth taste quite strongly of parmesan (maybe more than I'd like it to)--next time I'd do as the recipe suggests and cook it with the broth and tomatoes for 20 minutes instead. I bulked it up with some chickpeas as there wasn't that much meat left on our bird--this was OK (and she suggests lentils as an option in the headnote), but I think we'd have preferred with with more chicken instead.

  • DKennedy on February 28, 2017

    I made quite a production out of this, dirtying quite a few pots and pans in the process. I started by making the simple chicken stock the way she describes in the first paragraph. Not wanting to wait, I sautéed up the veggies in a separate pot. When the chicken was ready, I moved it to a large bowl to cool down so I could shred it. I then returned all the bones back to the original stock and reduced it by half. Meantime, I added the cheese rind and tomatoes (subbing rotel for regular) to the sautéed vegetables with a small amount of stock to allow the flavors to marry. I strained the stock, and added it to the veggies along with the shredded chicken. All this went into the fridge overnight. Today, I added the sugar, salt and pepper and a bit of chopped basil in place of the pesto. Spectacular.

  • mrshalf on July 26, 2018

    I must have made this recipe exactly as written but to the exclusion of the optional pesto, at least ten times. It's everything you want a healthy soup to be! My daughter watches the show with me and wants to meet Miss Vivian to thank her for such a healthy soup. Think chicken noodle but carb free and full of veggies. A real keeper.

• Collard dolmades with sweet potato yogurt

  • SheilaS on January 04, 2019

    I've made these a few times now and they are delicious! I prefer to make them a bit smaller than written, using ~ 1T filling instead of 2T which makes for a nice 2-3 bite appetizer. The sweet potato yogurt sauce is delicious with a bit of heat from the cayenne and tanginess from the lemon juice and zest. I prefer to reduce the amount of honey as the roasted sweet potatoes are usually quite sweet on their own

• Canned peaches

  • DKennedy on February 27, 2017

    Episode 2, season 3

• Ain't that a peach

  • hillsboroks on September 06, 2019

    This is the perfect hot summer afternoon sipping drink. I used peach syrup from a jar of home-canned peaches but found just the peach syrup and bourbon a bit sweet and heavy for me so I added a bit of soda water and loved it. My daughter makes this too and adds a few peach bitters as well as the soda. I will try adding the peach bitters next time.

  • Wende on July 21, 2025

    I’m going to say that the peach syrup is the make-or-break with this drink recipe. I have top shelf bourbon, so it must have been the peach syrup, which was not very sweet. I had to doctor it quite a bit and add some soda, but I couldn’t seem to push it past ‘just ok’

• Stewed rutabagas

  • pistachiopeas on July 02, 2017

    This was very good. I had young (unwaxed) rutabagas with the greens attached and they were wonderful prepared this way. Would be a good dish for Thanksgiving. M really liked it too.

• Sage honey-glazed pork tenderloin with bacon-roasted rutabagas

  • TrishaCP on February 26, 2024

    This is another good one. The dish has three components- a pork tenderloin, bacon roasted rutabagas, and a honey vinegar sauce for the pork. I liked all three parts together, but the star was the rutabaga, which can be made without the other two parts if you just need a side dish. I ended up cooking the rutabaga longer than the specified time, following her instructions to keep roasting if it looked too blonde. The crispy bits of rutabaga together with the bacon were so good.

• B&S applejacks

  • prvrbs31gal on February 11, 2017

    These were delicious, but very work intensive. I did find my tortilla press, so I'm hoping to try again using that and hope it won't take as long.

  • DKennedy on February 26, 2017

    Episode 6, season 2

• Dried apples

  • DKennedy on February 26, 2017

    Episode 6, season 2

• Apple pie moonshine

  • DKennedy on February 27, 2017

    Episode 13, season 1. Can substitute vodka.

• Charred carrots with apple brown-butter vinaigrette

  • pattyatbryce on August 25, 2023

    Definite make-again recipe. Great flavors and would be great with a nice protein on the side to round it out as a meal.

• Hot apple jelly thumbprints

  • SheilaS on March 09, 2017

    These are delicious savory cookies. Recipe says to use a pastry bag and pipe them out but I used a small scoop. Dough can be made ahead and refrigerated but needs to warm up in order to shape them. Recipe says they are good for a few days but due to the moisture in the jelly, they lose that perfect crispness. Best on the day they are baked. I used sharp cheddar and will try other cheeses.

• Whole trout with apple mustard and charred cabbage apple slaw

  • DKennedy on February 27, 2017

    Episode 4 season 4

  • allisonsemele on November 25, 2022

    Trout and apple mustard were phenomenal together. Made 1 trout and half recipes of the slaw and apple mustard. Looking forward to the leftover mustard with other proteins. I was a little bit less enamored with the slaw, but I may have under seasoned. Served for thanksgiving for two along with a potato gratin and it made for a very festive meal.

• Pickled beets

  • twoyolks on February 17, 2021

    Very similar to a good pickled beet with the twist of having a bit of a chile kick which really adds to the beets overall.

  • DKennedy on February 22, 2017

    This is from season 3, episode 6. I bought 5 bunches of candied beets from the outdoor market and made up a batch of these tonight. I used the technique in the video of leaving the greens on the beets so they wouldn't bleed out. The beets were so sweet right out of the pot, I almost hesitated pickling them. Indeed, keeping the greens on did keep them from bleeding out and when I peeled them, my hands didn't even get stained. Ingenious. I made only a 1/2 recipe of the pickling liquid. It was more than enough for my needs. I sliced some jars, quartered others and left the rest whole.

• Basic roasted beets

  • DKennedy on March 06, 2017

    Made these and have been snacking on them for days. I boiled them as instructed when making the beet pickle, then dressed them as instructed in this recipe. The dressing is light and subtle and perfect in every way.

  • Dannausc on December 27, 2017

    Good and easy

  • pistachiopeas on July 02, 2017

    Roasted these according to the recipe. Loved dressing them with sugar, salt, and lemon juice. Wonderful and hard to stop snacking on.

• Hot pink lemonade

  • janichkokov on December 29, 2025

    Indeed intimidating looking but tasty. Will make a beet-liever outta you!

• Chocolate orange beet cake with cream cheese walnut icing

  • nadiam1000 on April 16, 2018

    First recipe from the book that I tried. I love red velvet cake (my go to recipe is from Bobby Flay) and chocolate beet cake but this one was a miss for me. Something about the orange, beet and chocolate flavor combination that just didn't work. The cake tasted of beets and orange which maybe was too savory or something and the soaking syrup with the cocoa was just off. Nice and moist and the frosting is a winner - will make that again but on a different cake.

  • DKennedy on February 12, 2017

    Episode 6, season 3, This cake is made with beets which naturally colors the cake to a red velvet color. The orange syrup and chocolate cream cheese frosting are supposed to play nicely with the rich chocolate.

• Grape-roasted Brussels sprouts and sausage

  • inflytur on November 19, 2018

    Excellent side dish for Thanksgiving. Very easy to scale up for a large group.

• Muscadine-braised chicken thighs

  • TrishaCP on September 16, 2017

    I loved this dish. It's a bit too time-consuming for a weeknight (in my opinion), but is a great weekend supper dish. The technique for keeping the skin crispy worked absolutely perfectly. I only had about 1 1/2 cups of muscadine grapes, so I supplemented with Concord grapes (an acceptable sub per the book). I also realized at the last minute that I didn't have (non-alcoholic) apple cider, so I went with the alcoholic version (added to the grapes and leeks and cooked a bit to burn off the alcohol) and skipped the apple cider vinegar since my cider was very dry.

  • stockholm28 on September 20, 2020

    I’m glad I tried this but I didn’t love the dish. The muscadine grape ”sauce” reminds me of a spiced apple sauce. I do agree with TrishaCP that her technique for keeping the skin crispy worked very well.

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