Graubart - Sunday suppers: simple, delicious menus for family gatherings

Southern Living SUNDAY SUPPERS Simple, Delicious Menus for Family Gatherings CYNTHIA GRAUBART SUNDAY SUPPERS Introduction Sunday Suppers have always been special in my family, even if they were not laborious gastronomic feasts. We mark the end of the weekend with this casual meal, often eating a little earlier (its a school night after all) and many times including another family at our table. The atmosphere is always relaxed, and no one wants the dayor the weekendto end. And the food is always good. How could it not be with our vast array of agricultural riches? Just-picked flavorful produce, fresh seafood, and meats and poultry of every kind remind us just how good it is to be a Southerner. Historically, Sunday supper in the South was a light meal at the end of the day.

Sunday dinner was the big meal of the day, shared with nearby family and friends and served around noon or after church. My grandmothers sideboard always held an impressive array of vegetablesgreens beans, corn, sliced tomatoes, potato salad, and more. A ham, beef roast, or chicken took center stage, and to top it all off, a dessert display promised a sugar high followed by a glorious crash into an afternoon nap. Today my Sunday dinners are enjoyed on special occasions and might be a late brunch, sometimes in a restaurant or eaten at home in the traditional style served at midday. But its a rare occurrence. Most of the time, its just a quick sandwich or other light bite before we head out for an afternoon of activities or chores.

Its our Sunday suppers, served in the evening, that are sometimes a full meal, sometimes a soup and sandwich, but always all about family. If your family is struggling to find time to eat together regularly, Sunday supper is a great place to start. We have more time to spend cooking on Sundays, and it doesnt have to be fancy. Family mealtime is heralded by educators, clergy, and grandmothers as an important part of a childs growth and development. Some studies even suggest that gathering regularly at the table is an influential behavior that contributes to higher grades in school, increased vocabulary, and more. My Sunday suppers of the winter season are celebrated with one-pot meals of soup or stew, big roasts, and hearty vegetables.

In summer, the menu changes to lighter, easier, and more casual food. The meal has a different rhythm, and we often eat outdoors for a picnic or barbecue. Fresh, light salads are brimming with savory garden vegetables, and summer fruits star as dessert. And no matter the season, Im always looking for leftovers that will provide for a quick-cook meal for Monday night. Youll find a variety of seasonal meals and cooking methodstheres something here for everyone. We all know Monday morning arrives soon enough, so we savor this time around the table before the new week begins and the treadmill of life gains daily momentum.

Even when the meal has finished, we might linger at the table in conversation, still picking at the crunchy seasoned bits of the end of a roast, or enjoying another small spoonful of corn souffl. My mother would often grab the honey jar and bring it to the table at the end of the meal, and we would sit and eat the leftover biscuits with rivers of dripping honey. Its one of my fondest memories from childhood. I hope this book will help you make special mealtime memories, too. HOW TO USE THIS BOOK Although this book is written in menus, the recipes are easily exchanged between menus. Each menu presents three recipes as a jumping-off point.

Add other recipes as needed to complete the menu as you see fit. Sometimes all thats needed is a salad. The note at the beginning of the menu gives a clue as to the tastes and textures youll find in the recipes, plus a bit of preparation strategy. I hope youll write in this book, recording the new menus you create and the changes you make in a recipe. Its a sign of a well-loved cookbook when the cook records successes, failures, tips, and notes on the recipes theyve used. Cookbooks begin as teaching tools but become diaries of family meals and fond memories.

HOW TO READ A RECIPE Success in the kitchen depends on many factors, and it begins with how you read the recipe. A well-written recipe is a roadmap, complete with clear directions and important commentary along the route. After all, the writer is rooting for your success! Start by reading through the recipe twice (all the words!). Check the ingredientsdo you have everything on hand? Check the equipment do you have the right sized pans? An electric hand mixer? Sometimes underlining the verbs helps make sure you have all the tools you need. What about the timing? Are there overnight marinating times, long rises, or resting times? Room-temperature ingredients? Lots of hands-on time? Do you have enough time to make this recipe? CREATING A MENU This book is written in a menu format to aid the cook in putting dishes together, but its not the only way to approach the book. Pulling recipes from multiple menus to create your own is easy to do.

Often I look at the main course first: Am I serving a large meat-loving crowd, or do I need something lighter for a small family meal? Lets say Ive selected . Its easily assembled and bakes in the oven. Even without mixing and matching like this, you have 52 menus in this book! SUBSTITUTIONS AND CREATIVITY New cooks are often nervous when wanting to make a substitution in a recipe. But the recipes here are very forgivingtheres quite a bit of wiggle room for making changes. For instance, look at the recipe. I dont have green beans on hand, but I do have some Brussels sprouts.

Consider the following when making a substitution: What is the ingredient adding to the recipe? Does it contribute to the texture? To the color? Is the ingredient dense? Thin or thick? Solid or liquid? Is it sweet, salty, savory, or spicy? Often these answers will lead you to a good substitution. Since the green beans are prepared separately from the potatoes, I think chopping the Brussels sprouts into quarters and steaming them a few minutes will create a compatible substitution for the beans. And the sprouts love to be paired with bacon. What if you see two recipes for a dish and you want to take some of the ingredients from one and combine them with ingredients from the other? Bravo! You are on your way to really making a recipe your own. But how do you do it? Lets say you like both the , but you prefer the oil and vinegar in the second salad and adore the cucumber, radishes, and feta cheese in the first salad. No problem.

The cucumber would easily substitute for the cauliflower, and we know from other recipes weve read and tasted that cucumbers, radishes, and feta are all at home with the other ingredients, even the oil and vinegar. MAKING AHEAD No organizational strategy beats making ahead. Its every successful cooks secret weapon, and its the only thing that can save a cooks sanity when timing is important. So many different types of dishes can be made ahead. Even making ahead has different applications. Some dishes, such as many vegetable dishes, can be made a little early and left at room temperature, then quickly reheated before serving.

Some recipes are made in stages and can be finished off at the last minute or can be prepared to a certain point a day or two ahead before finishing. Other recipes are completely make-ahead and are cooled and frozen until needed. A good recipe will mention if all or part of the recipe can be made ahead. REHEATING Having a well-stocked freezer is a boon to every cook, but reheating can be a little tricky. Typically I defrost most cooked dishes at half power in the microwave oven at 1-minute intervals. If the food is dense, Ill start with 3 or 4 minutes and continue incrementally, stirring each time to note the progress.