The Skinny Hot Brown is made skinny by:

whole grain bread
Lite soy milk
part skim mozzarella cheese

I also used chicken breasts instead of turkey, ham ends in lieu of bacon, and added caramelized onions. Mmmmhmmmm. Caramelized onions. I can’t imagine this dish without them.

The full list of ingredients:

2 slices whole grain bread
2 pre-cooked chicken breasts (or turkey, which, I bet has more flavor), thinly sliced
1 tomato
1 onion
¼ to ½ lb. bacon strips or ham ends
olive oil
salt

Sauce:

1 ¼ cup Lite soy milk (substitute other dairy at your discretion)
¼ onion
2 bay leaves
pinch of nutmeg
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. flour
1/3 cup mozzarella cheese, or other cheese of your choice, such as white cheddar
2 tbsp. Parmesan cheese
fresh ground pepper

Directions:

Since caramelizing onions takes so long, start those first. Cut the onion in half, peel, then slice thinly. Warm a couple tablespoons of olive oil over low heat. Add onions and sprinkle with salt. Toss in the pan to coat evenly with salt and olive oil. Cook over medium-low heat until onions brown, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes. Once they begin to brown, lower heat and continue to cook until they reach a deep brown color, continuing to stir frequently, for another twenty minutes or so.

At this point, you can preheat your broiler. You will need it in a minute.

When the onions are mostly caramelized, cook the bacon strips or ham ends.

To make the sauce, heat the milk in a small saucepan. Cut a quarter from an onion, peel, and then stuff two bay leaves between the layers. Add to milk in saucepan, along with a pinch of nutmeg. Simmer for 15 minutes, then remove onion and bay leaves.

While milk is simmering, melt two tablespoons of butter over low heat. Once melted, add two tablespoons of flour and stir until combined and slightly browned, about three minutes. Slowly whisk in milk. Continue to stir the milk into the flour/butter mixture until slightly thickened and free of lumps, about three minutes. Add 1/3 cup mozzarella or other cheese, along with the two tablespoons of Parmesan. Stir until cheese is thoroughly melted. Add fresh ground black pepper. Keep sauce warm while you finish the onions, bacon, tomatoes, heat the chicken and toast the bread.

Tired yet? I know. There’s a lot going on. But it tastes soooo good! Just perfect for a rainy afternoon.

Slice the tomato in thick slices. Place in a pan, sprinkle with pepper, and cook until warmed through.

For the bread, spread a thin layer of butter over the top (or skip, if you want an even skinnier version) and either toast in a toaster-oven, or in a pan over medium heat. Place bread in a baking dish large enough to accommodate the size of your slices.

Heat your precooked chicken or turkey, then place the thin slices on top of your bread. Top with sauce. Place in broiler and broil until the top of the sauce is bubbly and tinged brown. Remove from heat and place on individual plates. Top with tomatoes, bacon or ham ends, and caramelized onions.

And that is my Skinny Hot Brown. Version one anyway.

This one’s a bargain. Good ratings. Budget priced. Buy it by the case. I pay about $10.99/bottle for this best buy.

The 2004 Penfolds Koonunga Hills Shiraz Cabernet (Australia) is a dense purple color and hints of spice, chocolate and pepper on the nose. Plenty of berry and a hint of chocolate on the palate with a distinct earthy quality. It finishes rich and smooth. At times, this wine has a definite cab character, but at other times the shiraz definitely comes through. In the end, it is a well done blend and I think the taste profile is really dependent upon the food pairing. Currently, I am only finding the 2005 where I do most of my wine shopping - not as complex or smooth but it remains well worth the price.

Some of my favorite pairings are a buffalo ribeye, grilled lamb chops or any game meat - or - you may want to try roasted duck. With the steak or lamb try escargot, sauteed in olive oil and a little garlic and served with a bleu cheese sauce and wilted spinach (you may even want to try this right on top of your steak). The combination of red meat, earthy bleu cheese, spinach, and cream no less, will either blow you away or send you home from my house early with whatever excuse you can create on short notice. For the less adventuresome, substitute portabello mushrooms for the escargot.

Given its modest price, this is a great choice for a dinner party —plenty of wine, without breaking the budget. I have purchased various Penfolds wines for a good many years now, and I have never been dissappointed.

Photo by GC Smith

A Seafood Boil
first published by Southern Hum, September 2005

You, my frien,’ you got straw hat fo’ to keep da sun away. Dat ain’ too dumb. ‘Specially you gonna sit out in dat little boat all the day. I’s a waitin’ back here on da shore for you to come in wit the fish and da crab. Den we pluck fresh onions and corn and ‘taters from da garden and we cook us a boil. I can smell dem spices a roilin’ in da pot already. An’ dat slice smoke sausage. Mouth waterin’ tinkin’ ’bout them crabs and dat string o’ fish you gonna bring back from da sea. Sun getting low in da sky now and shadow grow long. It now time for you to get on back here, pull da boat up on the sand, and drink a cold beer or three wit me while we wait for the cookin’ to be done. Crank up yo liddle outboard ‘n get on back here now. We have us a party.

A Frogmore Stew

I can make a Frogmore stew,
o’ course, ’cause I know what ta do.

I gets me a new clean garbage can,
fill him half up with water an’
put him on da cooker for to boil.

I trow in six-eight cuppa Old Bay spice, tree pound
a creamy butta, an’ five pound smoked sausage.

Gotta get that boil to a roil, then toss in
ten pound of yellar onion an’
fifteen pound of redskin tater.

When dat water boil one more time,
I toss in two dozen ear o’ new picked corn.

Now I bring stew water to a boil again
an’ twenty pounds of headed shrimp goes in
the garbage can wit all dat other stuff.

Soon as da mess boil one more time
I pour off da liquid and serve da stew.

Course, I gotta trow steamed blue crab on top
and get dem long neck Bud offa da ice.
Now smack yer lips; doan tink twice.

Dig in. Enjoy.
bon appitit!

How to Make Frogmore Stew

A kitchen sized recipe uses:

A stainless steel or enamel cook pot (24 quart) filled half way with water.

About 3/4 cup of Old Bay* seasoning (or any shellfish boil seasoning) and a pound of butter. Bring to boil.

A bunch (5-7 lbs.) of redskin potatoes quartered and three lbs. of yellow onions quartered. Add three pounds of sliced smoked sausage (Hillshire Farms Brand is good, but there are many others). Let this stuff come back to a boil and cook until the potatoes are fork tender.

Six ears of sweet corn (I like Silver Queen, broken in halves). Bring back to a boil again.

Then five pounds of shrimp (in the shell) and reboil.

Pour off liquid and serve in big soup bowls.

Optional: Top each bowl with two or three steamed blue crabs.

* buy the Old Bay at Sam’s Club in the big container, it’s much cheaper that way.

About the Author:
GC Smith is a southerner. He writes novels, short stories, flash fiction, poetry. Sometimes he plays with dialect, either Cajun or Gullah-Geechee ways of speaking. Smith’s work can be found in: Gator Springs Gazette, F F Magazine, Iguanaland, Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Naked Humorists, The GLUT, Flask Fiction Magazine, N.O.L.A. Spleen, NFG Magazine, Cellar Door, The Beat, Dispatches Magazine, , Beaufort Gazette, Coyote’s Den, Southern Hum, Lamoille Lamentations , Quiction, The Landing, The Haunted Poet. He has completed and is shopping a novel, WHITE LIGHTNING –Murder In the world of stock car racing.

Gastronomic Geographic by GC Smith

Hot Dog, cheese steak, hamburg,
corn bread, Cajun shrimp, red rice,
Manhattan and New England clam chowder,
pulled pork Bar-B-Que, beef brisket, baked beans

Feta cheese, hero, spanakopia, moussaka, dolmas
falafel, couscous, sheep’s eyeball, pita bread, garbanzo beans,
curried meats, tandoorai chicken, chutney, goat stew, tiger sauce,
baguette, Kaiser roll, cinnamon bun, rye and pumpernickle, tortillas

Chop suey, chow main, egg foo yong, wonton,
Sichuan chicken, pressed duck, twice cooked pork,
egg drop soup, sweet and sour, pork fried rice, egg roll,
crispy duck, Hunan beef, kung pao chicken, Mongolian fire pot

Spaghetti, manicotti, linguine, spicy meatball,
olive oil, anti-pasta, red sauce, mussels marinara,
minestrone, pasta-fazul, roasted peppers, clam sauce,
garlic bread, fettuccine, wedding soup, oregano, Jordan almonds

Paella, bouillabaisse, picadilla, saffron rice, wine in bota,
chateaubriand, cassolette, veal Francais, pate’ de fois grace,
taco, tamale, burrito, salsa, frijoles, fajita, quesadilla, sopapilla,
wiener schnitzel, sauerkraut, bratwurst, liver sausage, sauerbraten

Lots of other yummy stuff
is found in earth’s far corners, but
never anything that has been cooked
by the Brits, or the Scots, or the Irish

Bon Appetite

About the author:

GC Smith is a southerner. He writes novels, short stories, flash fiction, poetry. Sometimes he plays with dialect, either Cajun or Gullah-Geechee ways of speaking. Smith’s work can be found in: Gator Springs Gazette, F F Magazine, Iguanaland, Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Naked Humorists, The GLUT, Flask Fiction Magazine, N.O.L.A. Spleen, NFG Magazine, Cellar Door, The Beat, Dispatches Magazine, , Beaufort Gazette, Coyote’s Den, Southern Hum, Lamoille Lamentations , Quiction, The Landing, The Haunted Poet. He has completed and is shopping a novel, WHITE LIGHTNING–Murder In the world of stock car racing.