Southern Baked Eggs with Cream & Bacon are on the menu today for Sunday Brunch. For clarity A Yankee in a Southern Kitchen post was written almost two weeks ago when the circumstances in my life were much different than they are today. That being said, I am most grateful for the early morning wake-up calls from God.

It just isn’t my style to tell a story without good food to go with it. So along with the story of what pushed me over the edge and made me do something drastic like deciding to cook Southern for a year, we will have Baked Eggs with Cream for Sunday Brunch. But first the story.

A Yankee In A Southern Kitchen

Being woken unexpectedly at 5:30 am for a few weeks now has left me bright eyed and ready to go. I rise early in the morning, but of late have had to rely on the alarm to make sure I am out of bed by 6:30am. Early morning has been my alone time in the world, my best time of the day. The daunting task of going to work has slowed me down as I attempt to avoid the inevitable………going to work and dealing with a difficult situation.

When I am woken extra early it has meant that God is at work in me and not wasting at time at the task. This is a pattern I can rely on. Being woken early with this kind of energy typically means God is about to do something great. Something like change a bad attitude I am holding on to. Laying on my heart to prayer more fervently or simply to start praying with a fresh spirit once again. Sometimes, and this is the most exciting. I am being woken early in preparation for being creative. Morning is my creative time, and I hope this is what God has in mind. Whatever the reason, I believe God is helping me find my way out of the pit. This is his Grace. God is extending a hand; I am grabbing hold while keeping my eyes ahead, and I do not know where I am going.

So here is what I have been waking up with in the morning………………….Pimento Cheese. Yep, you heard me right, Pimento Cheese. Pimento Cheese is in my head and it is not budging one bit.

Having lived in the South since 1978 moving to Charleston in 2000 from Atlanta, I have not made any attempt to try and cook Southern. I can make descent biscuits and butter-beans but that is it! I have no idea about the culture, why they ate like they did, what they eat, what season produces what food, nothing………. zip. Shame on me; as I have even had the distinct pleasure of having a 7 page spread of myself and my dinnerware featured in Southern Lady a few years back. You would think fame lurking in the background would have prompted me to get with it in the kitchen and embrace my new culture. A Southern home worth its salt has a crock of this good food tucked away in the refrigerator just in case someone should have a hankering for a Pimento Cheese sandwich. My cupboard is bare of this simple food.

Well, Gourmet Magazines recent tribute and article on Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock prompted me to purchase their book; The Gift of Southern Cooking a month ago. Coincidentally one of the first blog comments other than my family came from a woman named Bailey Barash. Bailey did a wonderful documentary on Edna Lewis titled Fried Chicken & Sweet Potato Pie. It is a great piece and I encourage anyone who reads this post to visit her site or Gourmet Magazines site and watch the short film at www.bbarash.com. Unfortunately my work schedule did not allow me to attend a presentation and feast by Scott Peacock while he appeared at the Charleston Food & Wine Festival last week.

I am taking all this information as a sign as to where I should be going. I am heading to the South. The South you say, aren’t you already in the South? You bet, I am here but have not been present. I have had my head in the pit. At the very least my head could have been in the sand seeing that the beach is a mere 5 miles from my house. I am A Yankee in a Southern Kitchen. A woman clueless to the wonderful world of Southern cooking and the heritage that surrounds me. A woman who 25 years ago washed laundry for five by hand while on a luxury holiday in lieu of Bahamian Cooking lessons. I’ve lived here for over 7 years and haven’t had the sense to learn to cook to much of anything in the South.

I need a miracle or two and while I wait for God to do whatever God has planned. I am going to become as close to being a Southerner as I can short of a blood transfusion and a mint julep.

This is what I am going to do while I wait for God, or while God waits for me. I am going to cook Southern. This is a feat that is going to require a change of heart, perseverance, good humor and a new-found appreciation for all that is Southern. You can read the guidelines to my year long sabbatical on the Southern Kitchen Rules page.

Southern is all about hospitality, so we are going to eat well, enjoy the finer things in life. I promise you when the year is over, you will be saying y’all while making the best Southern Biscuits, Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Butter Beans you have ever had.

What’s in it for me? I don’t know………but I am certain GOD does.

Southern Baked Eggs with Cream & Ham

Adapted from; Gourmet Magazine, January 2008

I improvised a lot as I was minus a few ingredients. It did not matter as this dish was the perfect meal after returning home from church. A fresh pot of hot coffee was made to go with it. What is that hiding next to the eggs you ask? Stop by tomorrow and find out.

1/4 cup thinly sliced ham or chopped cooked bacon

1/3 cup heavy cream

3 tablespoons finely chopped sweet onion

1 chopped scallion with some of the greens

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped garlic

3 tablespoon of fresh chopped parsley

2 large eggs

• Preheat oven to 390 degrees with rack in middle.
• Bring bacon and cream to a boil reducing till thick and creamy.
• Cook chopped onions in 1 tablespoon of butter till softened.
• Add chopped parsley to mixture.
• Divide onion mixture between two ramekins
• Add 1/3 of the bacon cream mixture to it.
• Crack an egg into each ramekin, seasoning with salt & pepper.
• Spoon remainder of cream mixture between the two ramekins.
• Set ramekins in a shallow baking sheet and bake for 15minutes.
• The original recipe called for spinach an ingredient I was out of. I also am a little funny about eggs and usually only eat omelets or a Frittata. Therefore I added more of the ingredients to the eggs. Gourmet’s recipe courtesy of Scott Peacock was much lighter than my version.

It is beautiful and sunny here today in Charleston, with a nice cool spring breeze. Most appropriate for an outing to a Strawberry Farm…………………….