Growing up in the small town of McRae, Ga., Rebecca Lang learned about Southern cooking at her grandmothers’ apron strings. One granny could whip up a batch of divinity without a recipe and kept a dish of fried fatback on her stove for snacking. The other was famous for Friday night fish fries and iced tea as sweet as syrup.
Though her family matriarchs left an indelible imprint on Lang's culinary philosophy, today the 34-year-old mother of two small children hardly has time for elaborate meals and complicated recipes. In her latest book, "Quick-Fix Southern: Homemade Hospitality in 30 Minutes Or Less" (Andrews McMeel, $16.99), the Athens author presents an indispensable blueprint for time-starved foodies: 115 recipes of astonishing simplicity and maximum flavor such as Real Tomato Soup, Divine Chicken and Dumplings and Double Chocolate Scoop Pie. Grounded in the classics but crafted with panache, all of Lang's recipes require a half-hour or less of kitchen work.
"Quick-Fix Southern" is an invaluable resource for both well-seasoned cooks and novices who need gentle guidance in finding their way around the kitchen. It is a rebuttal to anyone who believes Southern food requires hours of labor and vats of fat. And it is a celebration of fresh summer produce that is coming into season now. Peach Salsa, Quick Icebox Pickles, Lazy Girl Berry Cobbler, Watermelon Margaritas. Makes you want to run to the farmers market, doesn't it?
Arriving at Lang's house on a recent day, we found the perky, petite author barefoot and ready to cook up a spread: Stuffed and Baked Chicken (with country ham and goat cheese); her grandmother Sarah Dopson's signature Okra Fritters; and Lazy Girl Berry Cobbler, which brought back memories of Lang's time as an apprentice with Southern food icon Nathalie Dupree.
The author of “Southern Entertaining for a New Generation” (Cumberland House, 2004) and “Mary Mac’s Tea Room: Stories & Recipes from Atlanta’s Classic Southern Kitchen” (Looking Glass Books, 2005), Lang knew in college she wanted to be a food writer. But there was no road map of how to get there.
So she got a journalism degree from the University of Georgia (1998) and then a culinary degree from Johnson & Wales University, which then had a Charleston campus (2000). Before heading off to cooking school, however, she worked with Dupree. "I just called 411 and asked for Nathalie Dupree's number," Lang says of her pluck — and luck. "That one phone call changed my life."
She has worked as an assistant food editor at Oxmoor House, the publishing company affiliated with Southern Living, Oprah magazine and other brands; and today she represents Southern Living magazine in the cooking segments of the nationally syndicated show "Daytime."
“Quick-Fix Southern,” with its Short-Cut Barbecue and Fast Brunswick Stew, is her answer to being a busy food professional and mother of 5-year-old Camden and 21-month-old Adair. (Husband, Kevin, is an Athens attorney.)
“I just feel like a lot of people who are about my age end up going through the drive-through or getting something out of the freezer that’s already prepared,” she says. “I really wanted this to be a manual for easy weeknight suppers. You don't have to spend hours in the kitchen. But you can still have homemade food. And it can be something you are proud of and that’s made from scratch.”
INTRO FOR RECIPE PAGE
These recipes from Rebecca Lang's "Quick-Fix Southern" are all you need for a delicious supper worthy of company. Put the cobbler in the oven first; then stuff and bake the chicken. While the cobbler and chicken cook, fry the okra fritters. We did it all in about an hour and half — 30 minutes per dish.
Stuffed and Baked Chicken
Hands on: 15 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes
Serves: 4
For this wonderful main course, studded with salty country ham, goat cheese and sage, Lang suggests asking the butcher to debone the chicken breast. But she insists on using the skin. "Leaving the skin on keeps the meat moist and adds flavor," she writes in her book. Agreed. Love that crispy skin, y'all.
3 ounces country ham
4 ounces goat cheese, softened
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
4 boneless chicken breasts, skin on
1 tablespoon olive oil
Preheat the 425 degrees.
Finely dice the ham. Heat a small frying pan over medium heat. Add the ham and cook until slightly browned, about 4-5 minutes.
While the ham is cooking, combine the goat cheese and sage in a small mixing bowl.
Removed the skillet from the heat and add the lemon juice to the pan. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the ham and pan drippings to the goat cheese. Stir in the pepper, and mix well.
Place the chicken breasts on a rimmed baking sheet. Stuff about ¼ of the goat cheese mixture under the skin of each chicken breast. Rub the olive oil on top of the skin.
Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes, or until the skin is brown and crispy.
—From "Quick-Fix Southern" by Rebecca Lang (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $16.99)
Per serving: 354 calories (percent of calories from fat, 62), 31 grams protein, 2 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 24 grams fat (11 grams saturated), 100 milligrams cholesterol, 435 milligrams sodium.
Okra Fritters
Hands on: 30 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Serves: 6
Lang attributes this recipe to her paternal grandmother, Sarah "Sa" Dopson, who was famous for her fish fries, creamy grits and sweet tea.
½ pound of okra
¾ cup cornmeal
1/3 cup self-rising flour (note to desk, this is one-third cup)
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
1 large egg
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup vegetable oil
Cut the okra into 1/8-inch slices. You should have about two cups. Combine the cornmeal, flour, buttermilk, egg, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the okra.
Heat the vegetable oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat.
Scoop out heaping tablespoons of the okra batter and carefully place in the hot oil. Use the back of the spoon to flatten slightly in the pan. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until browned and crispy. Drain on paper towels. Repeat with the remaining batter.
—From "Quick-Fix Southern" by Rebecca Lang (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $16.99)
Per serving: 204 calories (percent of calories from fat, 46), 5 grams protein, 23 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 11 grams fat (1 gram saturated), 32 milligrams cholesterol, 305 milligrams sodium.
Lazy Girl Berry Cobbler
You can make this with any kind of berries or fruit. Don't hesitate to have vanilla ice cream of whipped cream at the ready. Lang apprenticed under Southern culinary icon Nathalie Dupree, who is the mother of the "Lazy Girl Cobbler."
Hands on: 10 minutes
Total time: 50 minutes
Serves: 6-8
¼ cup unsalted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt (note to desk, one-eighth)
1¼ cups buttermilk
4 cups fresh blackberries (or other fruit)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
In a 10-inch cast-iron skillet, melt the butter in the oven while it is preheating. Once the butter is melted, remove skillet from the oven.
Meanwhile, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Whisk the buttermilk into the flour mixture.
Pour the batter over the melted butter in the hot skillet. Sprinkle the blackberries evenly over the batter.
Bake for 50 minutes. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.
—From "Quick-Fix Southern" by Rebecca Lang (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $16.99)
Per serving: 204 calories (percent of calories from fat, 46), 5 grams protein, 23 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 11 grams fat (1 gram saturated), 32 milligrams cholesterol, 305 milligrams sodium.
Also recommended:
Summer has brought us a fine lineup of new Southern cookbooks. A look at some of the best:
"A Southerly Course: Recipes & Stories from Close to Home" by Martha Hall Foose (Clarkson Potter, $32.50). The follow-up to the Mississippi writer's James Beard Award-winning "Screen Doors and Sweet Tea," this book is as essential as a tomato sandwich. Blackberry Jam Cake, Peanut Slaw, Hominy Salad, Bacon Crackers: We can't wait to try Foose's deliciously inventive recipes.
"Cooking in the Moment: A Year of Seasonal Recipes" by Andrea Reusing (Clarkson Potter, $35). The chef at Lantern in Chapel Hill, N.C., Reusing just won the James Beard Award for Best Chef of the Southeast and is known for spiking indigenous Southern ingredients with Asian flavors. Written like a journal, this lovely book will put you in the mood for Crispy Pan-Fried Catfish with Hot Slaw, Chilled Berry Pudding with Cream (it's made from a loaf of white bread) and a Homeward Angel cocktail, which is a resuscitated Manhattan laced with sour cherries and named for Thomas Wolfe's classic novel.
"Southern Biscuits" by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart (Gibbs Smith, $21.99). Like a coffee-table book for biscuit-heads, this pretty tome features recipes for fat, skinny, tall, hard, moist, crumbly, tender, stuffed, flavored, tart, tiny, sweet, cheesy and creamy biscuits. Plus embellished biscuits (pimento cheese, benne seeds, cranberry and orange rind) and things to do with leftover biscuits.
"Sarah Foster's Southern Kitchen: Soulful, Traditional, Seasonal" (Random House, $35). From the North Carolina chef and road-tripper, this wins the prize for books I most want to curl up with. Does it get any better than Pea and Bacon Pirlou made with summer field peas, Summer Corn Cakes with Chopped Tomato and Avocado Salad or Farm-Stand Peach Ice Cream? Want it all. Foster also makes side trips to the likes of Athens' famed The Grit restaurant, chronicling its Hummingbird Cake, Grilled Pineapple Upside-Down Cake and Lemon Rub Pie (with cornmeal crust).
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