Johnnie Gabriel - Second helpings with Johnnie Gabriel

SECOND
HELPINGS SECOND
HELPINGS by
Johnnie Gabriel
with photography by RON MANVILLEand food styling by LIBBIE SUMMERS
2010 by Johnnie Gabriel All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc. Photos by Ron Manville Food styling by Libbie Summers Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010934161 ISBN: 978-1-4016-0001-3 Printed in the United States of America 10 11 12 13 14 QG 6 5 4 3 2 1 CONTENTS by Paula Deen I m blowin a big kiss to my talented Marietta cousin Johnnie Gabriel for this, her second wonderful cookbook. It doesnt surprise me one bit that shes written a second helping of scrumptious recipes from her popular restaurant, Gabriels. I know a little about cooking, and Johnnies food will keep you coming back for more, just as it keeps her faithful clientele coming back to Gabriels day after day. Those two little words second helpings hold so much meaning. Yall know what Im talking about? To a cook, they almost seem like coded messages. Asking for second helpings means that your food is goodreal good.

Good enough to hold your plate out and ask for more. Good enough for the kids to fight over the last serving. Good enough that there is nothing left on the plates when you take them back to the kitchenthey will surely be licked clean. And best of all, good enough that your family, friends, and guests will ask you for the recipe. The food included in this cookbook comprises those extra-special recipes. Johnnie has time- and taste-tested each and every one, and theyve gotten the second-helping approval stamp many times over.

She has lovingly collected the compliments to share with you in each of these yummy dishes. And Johnnie knows Southern tastes, too. You can tell by the ingredients that keep showing up: tomatoes, pecans, sweet potatoes, cornbread, and pork. Heres a little clue: Youre not eatin Southern if there arent at least two or three of these on your plate, Honey! Of course, Im also willing to bet that youre gonna love Johnnies Crown Pork Roast with Maple and Cranberry Rice, Tomato and Mozzarella Pie, and Sweet Potato Bread Pudding even if youre not from the South. Now, go ahead and treat yourself to second helpings. You deserve it, Hon! PAULA DEEN I am so excited and happy to bring you Second Helpings.

After writing the first cookbook, Cooking in the South with Johnnie Gabriel, and the comments I heard from folks who love to cook, just as I do, I knew there were more great recipes I should put in print. I heard from folks who came into Gabriels for a meal or a dessert: The creamed corn recipe tastes just like my grandmother [or mother or Aunt Ginny] used to make! Others remarked that they liked the recipes because they didnt call for a long list of unfamiliar ingredients. Most often, the ingredients are items you normally have in your pantry. As a person who loves to entertain and takes pride in what I serve my guests, I have a large number of recipes that my husband, Ed, and I have prepared at home. Combined with recipes for the desserts and savory dishes that Gabriels Desserts prepares daily, I have a cookbook full of recipes. Now here I am with Second Helpings and more delicious dishes to cook. Now here I am with Second Helpings and more delicious dishes to cook.

It is full of scrumptious recipes because there are a lot of great Marietta cooks, both men and women, who love to entertain. I was able to include only a few... I hardly scratched the surface because all the contributors recipe boxes were full of good things I didnt want to ignore. With every generation there are recipes that should be passed on to the next generation; dishes that we may not necessarily use every week but that provide such great enjoyment for the family when they are prepared. For example, recipes for Red Velvet, Italian Cream, and Hummingbird cakes that Mary Moon shared with me in 1989. Mary Moon was the cake lady of Marietta for many years until she decided it was time to retire.

Many might think it coincidental that I needed to earn a few extra dollars about the time Mary was retiring and she graciously shared her recipes with me. I, however, know there are no coincidences in my life. Gods hand is working in all good things that come my way, and me sitting in Mary Moons kitchen one day writing down the recipes for cakes she had made Mariettans for years, myself included, was no coincidence. Here I amtwenty-one years and thousands of cakes laterwith the opportunity to share delicious recipes with you, just as Mary Moon shared with me. Southerners still enjoy a reputation of being hospitable. As far as I can tell, it might have begun right here in Marietta, Georgia.

This great town has been my home now for forty-three years and any reason to get together with friends or family for a meal is seized with great fervor. For many of us looking for a new dish to cook, the recipe boxes come out, we scour magazines and the Internet, or best of all we call a friend for the recipe of a dish we enjoyed at her house. The pursuit of looking for the best new dish never ends, just as shopping for the outfit that will make us look five pounds thinner is ongoing. We all believe that dish or dress is just over the horizon. After the invitations are issued and the shopping and cooking are done, we sit around the table and spend a few minutes discussing the pros and cons and perhaps how we might prepare the food differently and where we might share it next. I dont want to insinuate that food is the only topic of conversation around the tables that I frequent, but the topic is held in high esteem.

We are just as curious about who is happily getting married and who is sadly getting divorced, who is expecting a baby and who has died, who is looking for a new job and who is retiring, whether high heels or flats are in, whats the hot new color for the next season and what church is looking for a new preacher. Oftentimes we take the conversation back again to food when we talk excitedly about a new restaurant that is opening. When a topic consumes that much of your social conversation youve got to know that its an important subject. I have had so many fantastic dishes at other cooks houses and events that I knew there was a wealth of recipes out there that needed to be chronicled and shared. I approached friends, young and old; professional chefs and want-to-be chefsanyone interested in good food. I asked for their best recipes and they gladly shared.