SERVES 8 TO 10
Summer Squash Casserole
* * *
My granddad always grew squash in his summer garden, so my grandma would whip up some type of squash dish every night for months. This was one of our favorites.
* * *
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 white onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
11/2 pounds yellow squash, sliced
11/2 pounds zucchini, sliced
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons butter
24 Ritz crackers
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 large eggs beaten with 1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
* * *
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté 3 minutes. Add the garlic to the onions and sauté 1 minute more. Add the yellow squash and zucchini to the pan with the salt; sauté for 8 to 10 minutes, or until just tender. Transfer the squash to a colander to drain away excess moisture. Add the butter to the hot pan to melt and remove the pan from the heat.
3. Place the crackers in a large zippered bag, seal, and roll over them with a rolling pin, or a juice glass on its side, to create coarse crumbs. Transfer half of the crumbs, along with the drained squash, to a large mixing bowl. Combine 3/4 cup of the cheddar cheese, the egg-cream mixture, and the sugar, salt, and pepper and gently fold the mixture into the squash and crumbs. Transfer the squash mixture to the prepared baking dish.
4. Combine the remaining cracker crumbs with the melted butter, the remaining 1/4 cup cheddar, and the Parmesan. Sprinkle the mixture over the top of the casserole. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with parsley.
SERVES 6
Fried Okra
* * *
At my grandparents’ house, we had to work for our dinner. My grandmother would take the okra we’d just picked, slice it into thin coins, and fry them up in her little deep fryer in the kitchen. Yes, she had her own mini deep fryer! Odd as it may sound, okra remains my favorite vegetable to this day.
* * *
2 pounds fresh okra pods
Vegetable oil
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Kosher salt to taste
* * *
1. Wash the okra well and drain. Cut off the tips and stem ends. Slice the okra crosswise into 1/2-inch slices.
2. In a Dutch oven, heat 2 inches of oil over medium-high heat to 350°F.
3. While the oil heats, combine the cornmeal, flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper in a wide, shallow bowl. Roll the damp okra slices in the cornmeal mixture to coat. Carefully drop the okra into the hot oil and cook until golden brown, about 11/2 to 2 minutes on each side. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel–lined plate to drain. Season lightly with salt, if desired.
MAKES 11/2 TO 2 QUARTS
Tutti-Frutti Ice Cream
* * *
Most Sundays, my grandfather made tutti-frutti ice cream in a hand-cranked ice cream maker filled with ice and rock salt. He’d have us crank the machine on the porch. We’d fight over churning duty, eager to get the dessert done as soon as possible. The ice cream base does not use eggs, so it’s a bit lighter. It also freezes harder than custard-based ice cream, so let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes for easier scooping. You can also soften your favorite vanilla ice cream and stir in the fruit to make quick tutti-frutti.
* * *
FOR THE ICE CREAM BASE
1 quart (4 cups) heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 vanilla beans, split
Finely grated zest of 1 orange (about 2 tablespoons)
Pinch of salt
FOR THE FRUIT MIX-INS
1/2 cup drained preserved cherries, coarsely chopped (to class it up, try Luxardo gourmet maraschino cherries in place of the usual dyed variety)
1 (8 oz.) can pineapple tidbits, drained
5 apricot halves in syrup (half of a 15.3-ounce can), drained and coarsely chopped
* * *
1. Combine 1 cup of the cream and the sugar in a saucepan over low heat. Scrape the seeds from the split vanilla beans and stir into the cream along with the scraped pods, orange zest, and salt. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then remove the pan from the heat. Let sit for 15 minutes. Discard the vanilla bean pods and stir in the remaining cream and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
2. Churn the chilled cream in a 2-quart ice cream maker for 5 minutes according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Stop churning and add the chopped fruit. Continue churning until the ice cream is ready, about 10 to 12 minutes more. Serve straight from the machine, or transfer to a freezer container and freeze for up to 3 months.
CHAPTER 12
Road Trip!
One thing to remember about summer in the South: it’s hot. Really, really hot. When I was a kid, I’d hope to get invited somewhere with a pool or I’d sit in a kiddie pool in the yard. Still, when even the ceiling fans and sweet tea weren’t doing the trick, it was almost mandatory to take refuge. For my family, that almost always meant climbing into the car and driving somewhere, preferably to a body of water or to an air-conditioned movie theater or out to eat somewhere in the country or to go explore our glorious national and state parks, such as Cummins Falls State Park in Tennessee. And all along the highways, you’d see signs for the famously well-advertised Lookout Mountain roadside attraction Rock City.
I’ll never forget riding around in my dad’s 1976 Cadillac El Dorado convertible. It was the smoothest ride, like cruising on the ocean in a boat. We used it for road trips and for Sunday drives out to this quaint diner attached to a country motel called the Loveless Cafe. It’s thirty minutes outside Nashville. They serve the best hot biscuits and world-class country ham, not to mention collard greens, macaroni, fresh-made jam, and country-fried cube steak with gravy. Not exactly diet food, but well worth every single calorie.
Hot Chicken
When I was growing up, I knew of only one place that served Nashville Hot Chicken: Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack. Spicy-food junkies came for miles to eat there and to argue with one another about which was better: Prince’s in Nashville or Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken in Memphis. I’m happy to say that both Prince’s and Gus’s seem to be going strong to this day. And they are both must-visits. Now, hot chicken is literally the most delicious thing you’ve ever had. And you can take my word for that because as a rule I don’t even like spicy food. Nevertheless, hot chicken is impossible to turn down. And I’m happy to see that new hot chicken places are opening all the time these days. Not long ago I got to visit Hattie B’s in Nashville, which serves chicken with just the perfect amount of spice and flavor to make your mouth feel like it’s actually on fire. You need a glass of milk after every serving.
All over the South people stop for a meal at these sorts of restaurants. They’re called meat-and-threes, because you pick three vegetables to go with your fried chicken, smothered pork chop, or meat loaf. The rare southern vegetarian will stick to a veggie plate alone. Speaking of which, northerners are sometimes surprised to see mac-’n’-cheese or corn bread on the list of “vegetable” sides. Accept it: carbs are a major food group in the South.
The Cadillac is the quintessential southern road trip car, and it’s been that way for generations. I think that’s because it’s so comfortable, like sitting on a sofa. When my grandmother was a little girl, she and her parents drove in their Cadillac from Tennesse
e to Florida every summer. (I have a picture of my grandma young in her bathing costume looking beyond chic!) Then, when she became a mother with her own Cadillac, every March she would drive my dad and his brother down to Daytona Beach. And then my dad took me and my brother on road trips in his Cadillac. On those vacations, we would sometimes even forgo a hotel so we could sleep in the car. It was so big, we didn’t mind.
Road Trip Playlist
“I GOT YOU (I FEEL GOOD)”
JAMES BROWN
“ON YOUR WAY”
ALABAMA SHAKES
“HAPPY TRAILS”
ROY ROGERS
“ON THE ROAD AGAIN”
WILLIE NELSON
“THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND”
WOODY GUTHRIE
“ANGEL FROM MONTGOMERY”
BONNIE RAITT
“I’VE BEEN EVERYWHERE”
JOHNNY CASH
“AFTER YOU’VE GONE”
BESSIE SMITH
“AMARILLO BY MORNING”
GEORGE STRAIT
“MY SILVER LINING”
FIRST AID KIT
“THE GAMBLER”
KENNY ROGERS
“PANCHO AND LEFTY”
MERLE HAGGARD & WILLIE NELSON
“EVERY DAY IS A WINDING ROAD”
SHERYL CROW
“COME TO MY WINDOW”
MELISSA ETHERIDGE
“THE WIND”
ZAC BROWN BAND
“ROUTE 66”
CHUCK BERRY
“VIVA LAS VEGAS”
ELVIS PRESLEY
“SOMEWHERE SOMEBODY”
AARON NEVILLE
“THE STORY”
BRANDI CARLILE
“PROUD MARY”
TINA TURNER
“A HORSE WITH NO NAME”
AMERICA
“GO YOUR OWN WAY”
FLEETWOOD MAC
“LOOKIN’ OUT MY BACK DOOR”
CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL
“BIG ROCK CANDY MOUNTAIN”
HARRY MCCLINTOCK
Road Trip Games
I SPY: The person whose turn it is chooses an item within view and without signaling what it is says, “I spy something . . .” and then names the color, like “I spy something red!” The other people take turns guessing what it is. (“Dad’s glasses case!” “My hair!” “That car’s taillight!”) Because it has to stay in view the whole time you’re playing, this is ideal for pit stops, like when you’re waiting for food to come at a restaurant, but on the road you can make rules about how, say, the item has to be inside of the car. Everyone takes a turn being the I-spy-er.
THE LICENSE PLATE GAME: Everyone seems to have a different version of this, but here’s mine: You each get out a piece of paper and a pencil and write down all the states you see license plates from, keeping track of how many you see of each. When time’s up (either when you stop for gas or when some time limit you’ve set runs out), you tally what you have, getting a point for every plate from the state you’re in, two points for states that touch that state, and more (predetermined) points for states farther away. We ranked western states extrahigh, so if you could find one from California, you basically won.
THE ALPHABET GAME: This is a collaborative game. Looking out the window, you try to find (on street signs, license plates, billboards) all the letters in the alphabet, in order. So someone sees a sign for “Entering Alabama” and yells, “A-B!” Then someone sees a sign that says, “Car Parking” and says, “C!” And so on, until you get a hard letter, such as J or Z, and have a quiet few minutes searching.
Just to clarify: In the 1950s and ’60s, Daytona wasn’t a wild spring break destination. Back then, it was just the place everybody in Nashville wanted to take their kids for spring break or for a couple of weeks during the summer. And there was never a question about how you’d get there: of course you’d drive.
That’s something very southern: people don’t take airplanes if they can possibly help it. It doesn’t matter if it’s a three-hour drive or a fifteen-hour drive: they will get into the car. Still, to this day, my brother will pack his kids into the car with his wife and drive across several states to go on vacation. We don’t do that in California. That’s right, I’ve mostly succumbed: if I have to go to San Francisco, six hours away, I will get on a one-hour flight. And I do go in for more fuel-efficient vehicles now, though I still get awfully sentimental over those old Cadillacs.
I still love taking my kids for a road trip whenever possible. I think it’s good for them. A road trip teaches you good, old-fashioned patience. The moral is: to get somewhere great, you have to put in the hours. The anticipation is exciting, and you’re so appreciative when you arrive. A road trip also lets you see just how vast and beautiful this country is and how many different ways people live.
What’s more, a road trip is all about family togetherness, whether having long talks, playing car games, or listening to loud music. For my family, the music has always been a big part of that. My dad loved Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite for Destruction, the Steve Miller Band, Tom Petty, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fleetwood Mac . . . those types of bands are the soundtrack of my childhood. My father also played a ton of James Brown on road trips. When I hear “I Feel Good,” I can almost feel the wind in my hair.
Southern Cinema
Northerners might not associate movies with cars, but where I come from we got into the Cadillac to go see a movie—ideally at a drive-in (there are still a few of these left in Tennessee!).
And while we’re talking film, how great is it that so many classic films have been made in or about the South over the years? Here are some of them. If you can’t get to a drive-in movie theater, I highly recommend movie nights at home with friends or family and a big bowl of buttered stove-top popcorn, whatever the weather.
FORREST GUMP
GONE WITH THE WIND
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
THE HELP
A TIME TO KILL
O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? (Does it get any better than this soundtrack?)
DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD
STEEL MAGNOLIAS
THELMA AND LOUISE
TERMS OF ENDEARMENT
SWEET HOME ALABAMA (a shameless plug)
DRIVING MISS DAISY
THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES
WALK THE LINE (another shameless plug)
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES
SELMA
HUSTLE & FLOW
RAY
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF
THE BLIND SIDE
CHAPTER 13
The Perfect Book Club
From the minute I could read, I always had my nose in a book. Every year when we got out of school in May for the summer, we would receive a summer reading list, and there’d be two required-reading books and five optional books. I wanted them all, and my grandmother would buy them for me. I spent lazy summers lying on the back porch of her house reading books that filled my summers with imagination and creative learning.
I love a great story—tales of adventure, historical fiction, mysteries. Reading is a relaxing escape to another world. Early on, Dorothea was the one who fostered a love of reading in John and me. Just as she’d done with my dad and uncle when they were young, she took us on outings to Nashville bookstores such as Davis-Kidd to browse the shelves and pick out a book. When I was really young, my grandmother read stories out loud to me in a very theatrical way.
Must-Read Books by Southern Authors
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
BY HARPER LEE
THE SECRET HISTORY
BY DONNA TARTT
THE COLLECTED STORIES OF EUDORA WELTY
BY EUDORA WELTY
SING, UNBURIED, SING
BY JESMYN WARD
THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING
BY CARSON MCCULLERS
THE COMPLETE STORIES
BY FLANNERY O’CONNOR
THE MOVIEGOER
I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS
BY MAYA ANGELOU
BLOOD MERIDIAN
BY CORMAC MCCARTHY
AS I LAY DYING
BY WILLIAM FAULKNER
ALL OVER BUT THE SHOUTIN’
BY RICK BRAGG
QUEEN OF THE TURTLE DERBY AND OTHER SOUTHERN PHENOMENA
BY JULIA REED
She started with picture books, but by the time we were about four years old, she graduated us into chapter books. I would sit on her lap, and she would read in all the different voices and accents. She did A. A. Milne’s Now We Are Six and Margery Williams’s The Velveteen Rabbit with particular verve. I think watching her perform a book probably inspired me to become an actor. It also made me love reading, and fiction in particular.
Dorothea adored her book collection, and I’m fortunate enough to have some of her old first editions, including East of Eden. She read us some Jane Austen novels and a lot of southern literature, plenty of stories about little kids and their grandmas. She was a first-grade teacher, so she had all kinds of books around that were appropriate for kindergartners, but I just remember that she read and read and read to us. She always played music on her record player for us to dance to. And she had a lot of stories on the record player, so I could listen to Disney stories and follow along in the books.
Whiskey in a Teacup Page 10