January | 2011 | Regular Cooks

When one moves to a new town, one must decide on many things: Doctors, dentists, pharmacists, banks, mechanics and if one is religiously inclined, churches and sometimes even religions.

I am Lutheran. Baptized Lutheran and attended Lutheran school for nine years. I am Lutheran, through and through. Lutheranism is more than a religion to me. It’s a culture too. I mean, we have the whole Martin Luther thing going on, who saved the people from the mean ‘ole Catholic Church in 1517. We also have the whole German and Bach thing going on and a little Scandinavian thrown in for good measure.

Well, without reciting Luther’s Small Catechism (don’t laugh, after nine years of Lutheran school, I can still hold my own), I will tell you that I had to make some tough decisions when we moved to Elizabeth City.

We attended Epiphany Lutheran Church in Alexandria for many years before we moved. It had a great music program and was warm and wonderful. For a small church it had a lot going for it, but I hate to say it, I really chose it because of the food “Fellowships” they put on after the late service. I mean, you can worship anywhere, but where can you get a free lunch too? It worked like this: Every week two families would get together and host a large snack, or sometimes lunch, for the parishioners. Because of these gatherings each week, we were able to get to know people really well. It was a time for food and sharing and my family looked forward to it every week. However, what we most looked forward to was the International Advent Fellowships. We would have four International Advent Fellowships: German, Scandinavian, Asian/Hispanic and American. Many families would work all week preparing delicacies from different countries. I truly miss Advent at Epiphany.

The nearest Lutheran church in my town is situated in a temporary trailer about 10 miles from here. I have not visited that church, but have viewed their website. It looked fine for me, except that they are very small and had no choir, which is important to me. We also were hoping for a church that we could walk to since we moved to a walkable city. So, we decided to check out Christ’s Episcopal Church down the road, because I knew that their services were formal and contained similar liturgy.

Well, it took about two seconds to fall in love with this beautiful church and friendly people and we made an appointment with the pastor. He told us of the many wonderful things this church participates in and knew we were in the right place. The music program and Sunday school is top notch. The choir director is amazing and LUTHERAN to beat all! They do not have large weekly fellowships (tear, tear), but they do have occasional fellowships and dinners. They even had a German dinner where the choir director ran around in lederhosen, but that’s probably another blog in itself. However, what I enjoy the most is Supper Club.

Supper Club is made up of many members. They are divided into separate clubs of eight people. You get a new set of eight each time you gather, which is every other month. Out of the eight, one member hosts it at their house and the others bring a dish assigned to them by the host. I have only been to three, but I have thoroughly enjoyed each of them and find them to be an intimate and relaxing way to meet the members of the church. Two were sit down dinners and one, around Christmas, was a cocktail party of several of the Supper Club groups. It’s really flexible and you can do what you want. This is not your Mama’s potluck dinner, though. Beautiful meals are prepared. And because they are Episcopalians, there is always wine. Hey, if it was good enough for Jesus….

shapeimage_2 — Jim’s apricot glaze for the pork roast

Last night’s dinner was held at a neighbor’s (Bonnie & Jim’s) beautiful, historic home and we could actually walk there.

Check out this menu:

Tortilla Chips with Bacon and Sun-dried Tomato Dip
Pork Roast with Apricot and Almond Glaze
Mushroom Risotto
Goat Cheese, Pecan and Cranberry Salad w/Honey & Cider Vinegar Dressing
Homemade Lemon Ice Cream with Homemade Shortbread Cookies
Red and White Wines

165718_1872261490625_1363790138_32202825_4776213_n

I did not witness the making of any of these dishes, except for my salad. However, the hostess took some pictures.

I don’t know if I’ll ever formally become an Episcopalian, but they treat me like a member. And what’s more, my epicurean desires have been met. I think that’s good enough for now.

God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food. Amen!

I love recipes. I happened to run across a Southern Living Magazine recipe last year that truly shocked and awed my family, and especially my husband. It takes no time to make, and to me, personifies the “new southern cuisine.”

I make this dish all times of the year, but the best time (for me) to make it is right around Christmas time. Why? Because I usually get a donation of country ham from my neighbor, Sandi Her secret to country ham is not to soak it. Well, frankly I was taken aback at this, because everyone says you have to soak the salt out of a country ham, but Sandi just looked at me like I was from Mars. For this dish, Sandi is right. The saltier, the better.

Around here, we get our country ham from a local country store. You can buy country ham in the grocery store and bake it yourself or you can buy already prepared portions of it in small packages. All you need is one cup of minced country ham, so don’t feel like you have to go to a lot of trouble for this dish.

The first time I made this dish, my husband (who would just as soon eat beans and franks or PB&J everyday for dinner) looked at me and said, “You could sell this in a restaurant!” Well, coming from a man who never compliments food and dislikes shellfish, this was a big deal. I will have to say, it was heaven.

I use to serve this with a salad, but really, who are we kidding? A bottle of white wine and good loaf of crispy bread to sop up the olive oil and butter and salty bits and you really don’t need anything else. It’s great for company because it only takes minutes to make once all the ingredients are nearby.

Sautéed Shrimp & Country Ham

Buy 3 pounds of unpeeled, raw medium shrimp. Most “fresh” shrimp is frozen these days, so buy early in the day and thaw. Peel shrimp and removed tails. Set aside.

Mince 4 oz of country ham. Should be about one cup. Set aside.

Get the following ingredients ready:

CIMG2328

1/2 cup white wine or vermouth
2-3 Tbsp of fresh lemon juice
1 tsp of Cajun seasoning
2 Tbsp drained capers
2 Tbsp of chopped green onion (optional)
2 Tbsp of chopped italian parsley (NOT curly parsley)

Put 1/3 cup of butter and 1/3 cup of olive oil in a large, deep skillet and heat over medium heat.

Once butter is melted, increase heat to high and add shrimp and country ham. Stir constantly and cooking for 3-5 minutes or until pink.

Remove from heat and add wine/vermouth, lemon juice, green onions and capers. Adjust heat to medium/high and return pan to burner. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.

Add chopped parsley.