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The Mississippi Side-Wheeler Natchez, c.1870
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La Belle Cuisine
Lunch Under the Trees at Edgewood
Lee Bailey's Southern Food and
Plantation Houses: Favorite Natchez Recipes
by Lee Bailey and the [Natchez, MS] Pilgrimage Garden
Club,
1990, Clarkson N. Potter
 
“Blooming shrubs and neatly
trimmed stands of trees suddenly give way to green open vistas on the long,
winding drive up to Edgewood [Natchez, MS]. This is
even before you glimpse
the house, all pink stucco and white trim, standing on
a small rise. If you
turn when you reach the front entrance, you’ll see a great
swath of lawn
rolling in the direction from which you have just come.
Each time you visit there, gardeners are busy. This is a place whose owners
obviously love their special and serene landscape.
So, as beautiful as the interior of Edgewood was, we just couldn’t resist
setting
up a table for our lunch in the center of a growth of towering cedar
trees. The
day was warm, but there was a constant current of air moving the
limbs to
cool us.
As you see, we started off with a smooth carrot and sweet red pepper soup. I
like
it served slightly chilled, but it is also very good at room
temperature – and on
this day it got that way fast.
Soup was followed by the star of the meal, a seafood salad made from typical
Natchez ingredients: spicy boiled shrimp, crabmeat, and crawfish tails.
Everyone down here is partial to seafood and their salads are delicious; but
what I think
made this particular version so tasty was that the shrimp were
boiled in that fiery mix of herbs and spices so favored in the Gulf states.
After cooking, the shrimp
were added to the onions and marinated overnight.
The crabmeat one buys in Natchez is backfin lump, which is precooked but
unseasoned – just as well, because the shrimp is so potent it can stand a
milder ingredient for balance. And of course the ubiquitous crawfish tails
have a very strong and distinctive flavor no matter how they are prepared.
Along with the salad were fresh bread sticks with Tabasco butter. I have a
real weakness for this butter and like it on almost anything.
Finally, dessert was melon with blueberry sauce. Melons are particularly
sweet
here, where summers are so hot. It’s said that the hotter the weather,
the sweeter
the melon – one of nature’s thoughtful compensations.”
Menu
Carrot
and Sweet Red Pepper Soup
Natchez Seafood Salad
Bread Sticks with Tabasco Butter
Melon with Blueberry Sauce
Iced Tea [the house wine of the South]
or Wine, Coffee
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Carrot and Sweet Red Pepper Soup
“For a
slightly heartier soup on another occasion, you might
try adding cooked
shrimp and serving it warm.”
6 cups grated carrots
3 cups milk
2 sprigs fresh savory
6 cups homemade or canned chicken stock
4 large sweet red peppers
1/2 cup coarsely chopped red onions
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon each salt and freshly
ground black pepper, or to taste
Sour cream, plain yogurt, or
crème fraîche, for garnish
Combine the carrots, milk, 1 savory sprig, and half the
chicken stock
in a saucepan. Simmer for 15 minutes over medium heat.
Meanwhile, roast peppers under broiler, turning occasionally, until
skins
blacken. Set aside in a closed paper bag.
Strain the carrots from milk and set aside, reserving liquid. Peel and
seed
peppers. Chop coarsely and heat in remaining stock along with
onions
and
remaining savory sprig. Simmer rapidly over high heat for
about 10 minutes.
Lower heat to medium and add reserved carrots
and cooking
liquid, lemon
juice, and salt and pepper. Heat for 5
minutes. Do not boil.
Allow to cool,
then purée in batches. Serve hot or cold, garnished
or plain.
Serves 8 to 10
Natchez Seafood Salad
“You
could add or substitute scallops or lobster in this recipe if you live in
an
area where they are plentiful. Should you do this, though, remember to
cook
and marinate one of the ingredients as the shrimp are here.”
Shrimp
6 quarts water
1/2 cup salt
4 fluid ounces Zatarain’s Crab Boil
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
6 lemons, halved
2 medium onions, quartered
3/4 pound fresh medium shrimp
Marinade
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup German Riesling wine
2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup chopped sweet red or Vidalia onions
Crawfish
1 pound peeled crawfish tails
3 lemons
Salt to taste
Salad Assembly
1 pint fresh backfin lump crabmeat, carefully picked over
Capers, grated hard-boiled egg, minced green onion tops,
or minced chives,
for garnish
Homemade mayonnaise
To cook the shrimp, boil the water, spices, lemons, and
onions for 30 minutes. This is a strong concoction so I advise not only
turning on the
vent but vacating the kitchen until the 30 minutes are up.
People here
often do this in the yard. Add the shrimp and cover the pot.
Remove
from heat immediately. Allow to steep for 5 minutes, then pour shrimp
into a colander and cover with ice to stop the cooking. Peel and devein
when
cool.
To make the marinade, purée vinegar, wine, basil, garlic,
mustard, salt, pepper, and olive oil in a food processor or blender/ Place
shrimp in a
bowl and toss with chopped onions. Pour marinade over all and
cover. Refrigerate overnight.
To steam the crawfish tails, fill the bottom of a small
steamer with water.
Cut lemons in half and add to water. Place crawfish
tails in the top of the
steamer and cover. Bring to a boil and steam for 10
minutes. Cool.
To assemble the salad, drain marinade from shrimp and toss
shrimp with crawfish and crabmeat. You can also add a few capers and, if you
like,
grated hard-boiled egg and minced green onion tops or chives on top.
Serve with mayonnaise on the side.
Serves approximately 8.
Bread Sticks with Tabasco Butter
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 package active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt plus 1 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm water (about 110 degrees F)
1 tablespoon light oil, such as safflower or sunflower oil
Tabasco butter (recipe follows)
In a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine 1 1/2
cups of the
flour with the yeast, sugar, and 3/4 teaspoon salt. With machine
running,
add water and oil. Add the balance of the flour and process until
mixture forms a ball.
Divide dough into 4 portions and each of these into 10 balls. Form each
into a “rope” by rolling between hands. Coat baking sheets with cooking
spray and
arrange ropes evenly, leaving about 1/2 inch between. Cover
with a lightly
dampened cloth. Allow to rise in a warm place for 50
minutes. These will not
double in bulk, but will expand.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees [F]. Sprinkle ropes with remaining
teaspoon
of salt [preferably coarse salt] and bake for 25 minutes.
Serve
with Tabasco
butter. Makes about 40 sticks.
Tabasco Butter
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco
Whip the butter with a wire whisk or hand mixer until fluffy,
adding
Tabasco as you go along. Scrape into a small crock. Refrigerate until
ready to use.
Makes 1 cup.
Melon with Blueberry Sauce
“We call
for honeydew melon here because it is so plentiful in
Natchez,
however you
can substitute any melon that’s ripe.”
2 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon vodka
Dash of ground cinnamon (optional)
1 very large honeydew melon, peeled, seeded,
and cut into medium-thin slices
Place the berries, sugar, lemon juice, vodka and cinnamon in
a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and cook slowly for
20
minutes. Cool, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.
Arrange the melon slices on individual plates and put a line of sauce
down the middle of each. Serves 8.
Featured Archive Recipes:
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Mouthwatering Melons
Seafood-Stuffed Avocado Salad
w/ Creamy Artichoke Dressing
Shrimp and Potato Salad
Shrimp, Zucchini, and
Red Pepper Bisque
More from Lee Bailey:
Angel Biscuits
Black Bean and Macaroni Soup
Butterscotch Pecan Cookies
Crab with Ravigote Sauce
Endive Salads
Jalapeño Corn Muffins
New Orleans Oyster Shooters
Shrimp Maque Choux Salad
Spice Applesauce Cake
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