Southern Spoonful: Chill and Grill

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The story below is from our May/June 2021 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you! 

Celebrate summer with these refreshing recipes that are perfect for your patio or backyard gathering.

Let your icebox be your friend this summer. Prepare these recipes, pop them in your refrigerator and relax. Your delicious dishes will be waiting for you when you are ready to serve them. Enjoy yourself – remember you are on Summer Time!

Heirloom Tomato Watermelon Carpaccio with Basil Ice

4 servings

Basil Ice:

  • 1 ounce fresh basil, chopped fine
  • 1 ½ cup water
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Prepare Basil Ice the day before service so it will have time to freeze. Place water and sugar in a small saucepan. Stir and heat over medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat. Stir in basil and lemon juice. Pour mixture into 11” x 7” inch pan. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze. When mixture is frozen, drag a fork through the mixture to create ice crystals.

Carpaccio:

  • ½ personal watermelon, peeled and sliced into very thin slices (approximately 1/8” each)
  • 1 large heirloom tomato, sliced thinly
  • Olive oil for drizzling
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Yellow cherry tomatoes for garnish
  • Fresh basil leaves for garnish

Chill serving plates and salad forks in freezer for service. Place 2 slices watermelon on each plate. Place 2 tomato slices next to watermelon slices, allowing to overlap just a little. Drizzle tomatoes with a little olive oil. Sprinkle entire salad lightly with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Top tomatoes with basil ice. Garnish with yellow cherry tomatoes and a basil leaf. Serve very cold.

Dr. Pepper Burgers (for the grill)

*Requires marinating hamburger patties overnight.

4 servings

  • 1 pound ground beef (85% lean)
  • 9 Keebler snack size club crackers
  • 2 tablespoons sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon Greek seasoning
  • 2 tablespoons Clark and Hopkins Chesapeake Bay Pepper Sauce
  • ¼ cup Dr. Pepper
  • 4 American cheese slices
  • 4 brioche buns
  • Bibb lettuce leaves, tomato slices and condiments of your choice

Place ground beef in a mixing bowl. Place crackers in a plastic bag. Seal the bag and crush the crackers into crumbs by rolling a rolling pin over the bag. Pour the cracker crumbs into the bowl with the ground beef. Add sour cream, Greek seasoning and pepper sauce. Mix with clean hands to combine all ingredients.

Form ground beef mixture into 4 hamburger patties. Place in a baking dish and pour Dr. Pepper over patties. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.

Grill hamburger patties over medium heat until thoroughly cooked. Top with cheese slices. Wrap brioche buns in aluminum foil and warm on grill during the last few minutes of cooking hamburger patties. Serve Dr. Pepper burgers on warmed brioche buns with Bibb lettuce leaves, tomato slices and condiments of your choice.

Purchase Clark and Hopkins Chesapeake Bay Pepper Sauce online: clarkandhopkins.com

Old South Cucumber Lime Pickles

Recipe source:

Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime.

I got this recipe from my friend, Mary Ellen Stokes. She calls these pickles “Christmas Pickles” because she makes them in the summer and gives them as gifts, with the explanation that they must not be opened until Christmas. She said her mother always cautioned her daughters that the pickles needed time to “cure”. Honestly they are the best pickles I’ve ever eaten!

  • 7 pounds medium-size pickling cucumbers
  • 1 cup Mrs. Wages® Pickling Lime
  • 2 gallon water
  • 2 quart Mrs. Wages® Pickling & Canning Vinegar or other commercial white vinegar (5% acidity) (Mary Ellen uses ½ white vinegar and ½ apple cider vinegar.)
  • 8 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon Mrs. Wages® Pickling & Canning Salt
  • 1 tablespoon Mrs. Wages® Mixed Pickling Spice (Mary Ellen uses 2 or 3 tablespoons of pickling spices)

To start this lime pickle recipe simply wash cucumbers. Remove 1/16-inch from blossom end and slice crosswise. Mix pickling lime in water. Aluminum containers should not be used for the lime solution. Soak cucumbers for 12 hours or overnight in the lime water, stirring occasionally. Rinse three times in cool water and soak three more hours in ice water.

In a bowl, mix together vinegar, sugar, and salt until dissolved. Remove cucumbers from final ice water soak. Drain slices. Pour syrup over top. Let stand for five to six hours or overnight. Add pickling spice to taste.

Drain syrup off cucumber slices into a saucepan. Simmer for 35 minutes. Pack cucumber slices into hot quart jars. Pour boiling syrup over slices to cover and leaving a half-inch of headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust lids and process pints for 10 minutes and quarts for 15 minutes, using boiling water bath method.

Please note: Prepare and process home canning jars and lids according to manufacturer’s instructions for sterilized jars. Keep jars hot.

Frozen Strawberry Mousse Parfaits

4 Parfaits

  • 8 ounces whipping cream, whipped into stiff peaks
  • 16 ounces fresh strawberries, capped and cut in half (reserve 2 large berries with cap for garnish)
  • ½ cup powdered sugar
  • 4 tablespoons Baileys Strawberries and Cream Liqueur

Place strawberry halves in blender container. Blend until pureed. Add powdered sugar and blend. Fold Baileys Strawberries and Cream Liqueur into whipped cream.

In each of 4 parfait glasses (1 cup size) layer strawberries (1/4 cup each), whipped cream, then more strawberry puree and top with whipped cream. Garnish with strawberry half. Place in freezer and freeze for 2 hours. Remove from freezer one-half hour before serving.

Peach Blossom Cocktail

A fun frozen beachy drink!

Makes one cocktail

  • 12 frozen peach slices
  • 3 ounces Ketel One Botanical Peach and Orange Blossom Vodka
  • 3 ounces Master of Mixes* Peach Syrup
  • 2 ounces Chambord to float on top

Place peach slices, vodka and peach syrup in a blender container. Blend until peaches are pureed. Pour into a cocktail glass and pour Chambord slowly over the top of the cocktail.

The story above is from our May/June 2021 issue. For more stories, subscribe today or view our FREE digital edition. Thank you for supporting local journalism!