My great-grandmother, Nanny, was a modern woman before her time and if she were alive today she would have still broken the mold when it comes to strong, southern women.

Growing up in Mississippi, she had her sights on going to college in Tennessee to become a teacher and star basketball player. So she set out to make her way by selling tomatoes on the side roads of the Delta to get where she intended to go and never looked back.

Nanny was so independent that she once drove herself to Nashville, checked in the hospital for surgery not even telling my great-grandfather, Frandaddy. Her reply was that he didn’t need to know!

Nanny never slowed down, some of my fondest memories are picking vegetables in her garden and watching her tend to her beloved tomato plants. It was nothing for her to go out in the morning, wring a chicken’s neck and the next thing you know it was fried chicken for breakfast.

In her seventies, she won the Van Buren county beauty pageant, walked 10 miles to raise money for cancer and got up every morning to work-out on her stationery bicycle.

So yes, I come from a long line of strong, southern women. I like to think I have Nanny’s steely will and her love of tomatoes.  Enjoy an updated classic wedge salad with a modern twist!

For the blue cheese dressing:

1 – 4.4 oz light Boursin Cheese

4 oz light blue cheese crumbles

1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk

1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

salt and pepper

In a blender, combine Boursin cheese and buttermilk until you reach a smooth consistency. Add fresh parley, blue cheese crumbles and salt and pepper. Pulse a few times, until the blue cheese is incorporated. If you like a thinner dressing just add a bit more buttermilk. Chill until ready to serve.

For the fried green tomatoes:

2 medium, firm green tomatoes

buttermilk for soaking

1/2 cup cornmeal

1 cup flour

1 tbsp Cajun seasoning

Canola Oil for cooking

Slice green tomatoes in 1/2″ thick slices and place in between paper towels to soak up excess moisture. Let sit for about 5 minutes.

Place tomatoes in a shallow dish and cover with buttermilk. While tomatoes are soaking, combine cornmeal and flour in another shallow dish. Season well with salt and pepper. I prefer my favorite Cajun seasoning instead of salt and pepper for the extra kick.

In a large skillet, heat about an inch of oil over medium-high heat. Take tomato slices, shaking off excess liquid and dredge in cornmeal mixture, place in hot oil and cook for 4-5 minutes per side. After cooking, place fried tomatoes on paper towels to drain off excess oil.

For the wedge salad:

1 head iceberg lettuce, chilled

6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 red tomato, diced

hot jalapeno pepper jelly

blue cheese dressing

fried green tomatoes

Cut the iceberg lettuce into 6 - 8 wedges. Top each wedge with a spoonful of blue cheese dressing, diced tomatoes, crumbled bacon and fried green tomatoes. Drizzle a spoonful of hot jalapeno pepper jelly over the wedge salad before serving.

Notes:

Need a fast hor d’oeuvre, pour the rest of the pepper jelly over a block of cream cheese and serve with Triscuits!

Last week I was watching Top Chef All Stars and realized how much I love a good plate of spaghetti! They were cooking a traditional Italian meal in the kitchen of Rao’s in New York City. My granny’s kitchen is a long way from Rao’s but I swear her spaghetti and meatballs could go toe to toe with theirs any day.

Each year for my birthday, she would make my favorites, spaghetti and meatballs and a strawberry cake. We would spend hours in the kitchen perfecting those meatballs, letting them slowly simmer in a big pot of sauce and one thing that all good Southern and Italian cooks know is that food cooked with love is just – better food!

Recipe:

1 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup carrots, finely diced

1/2 cup onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 lb lean ground beef

28 oz can crushed tomatoes

1 cup low-sodium beef broth

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp sugar

1 tbsp half and half

salt and pepper

Heat oil in a large, heavy pan over medium to medium-high heat. Add onions and carrots cooking until tender. About 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for a minute more. Add ground beef, season generously with salt and pepper and continue cooking until no longer pink.

Add broth, bring to a steady simmer, continue cooking until almost all of broth has cooked away. Stir in milk, simmer and let most of the liquid cook away. Then add crushed tomatoes, sugar and season with more salt and pepper if needed. Let sauce simmer for 30 minutes or so. Just before serving, stir in half and half.

Serve with pappardelle or your favorite pasta and a crisp green salad. Here’s a recipe for a quick creamy herb salad dressing perfect on a simple wedge of iceberg.

Creamy Herb Dressing

1/4 cup Fage 0% greek yogurt

1 tbsp light sour cream

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp basil, dried

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp oregano

salt and pepper

Whisk all ingredients together and chill before serving.

Notes:

Bolognese is a hearty meat sauce that is typically cooked for hours. This is a quicker version but the trick is to use good canned tomatoes. I prefer San Marzano tomatoes. I buy mine at The Fresh Market and they can be found in the italian specialty section at the grocery.

A heartier pasta works best with this sauce. I use pappardelle but a tubular pasta like penne or rigatoni would also work well.