The library recently acquired the book Screen doors and sweet tea by Martha Hall Foose.
From Publisher's Weekly "The warm, languid air of the South filters through this engaging book, in which Foose shares the traditional recipes that she ate while growing up on the Mississippi Delta and has returned to after training as a pastry chef in France and traveling the world."
And although my Mom wasn't from the South (unless you want to count her parents being from Southern Italy) this book made me think of her and her famous Iced Tea.
Mary’s Iced Tea
5 tea bags
2-3 sprigs of mint
4-5 cloves
6 c water
Sugar & Lemon to serve
Pour boiling water over first 3 ingredients. Brew about 5-6 minutes. Remove teabags. You can sweeten the whole batch while still warm, then refrigerate and serve over ice with a squeeze of lemon.
Mom used Lipton tea bags, but I prefer Red Rose of Luzianne. If you like the flavor of the mint & cloves, don't remove them before refrigerating the tea. The clove flavor gets pretty strong after a few days, but iced tea in my house is usually long gone before then.
Like alot of the food Mom just made throughout my childhood, I have no idea of the origin of this recipe, but everyone who ever visited our house during the summer drank it and loved it.
And to eat while drinking Mary's Iced Tea is another childhood favorite
Hot Cherry Peppers!
Hot Cherry Peppers
1 large jar of hot cherry peppers
1 large jar of sweet cherry peppers
1 can button mushrooms
2 stalks of celery, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
olive oil
oregano
Drain the liquid from the peppers. Remove stems and seeds and cut peppers into quarters. Place in a glass bowl and add drained mushrooms, celery, garlic, a splash or two of olive oil and a teaspoon or more of oregano. Mix and refrigerate until ready to serve. You can eat this immediately, but if you let it marinate for a while, the celery and mushrooms become more flavorful.
WARNING--this can be very spicy!
My friend Pam and I would head over to my house after school and eat Hot Cherry peppers on saltine crackers and drink Iced Tea. Sounds like a strange after school snack for two teenage girls, but we loved it.
