February Thrifty - Week 2 #1 ~ Southern Style: Atlanta Cooks and Nathalie!

Atlanta Cooks at Home, published in 2006.  Menus on home entertaining for every occasion with wine, beer or cocktail suggestions for each meal. The recipes and menus were contributed by various chefs in the Atlanta area with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the charity of the contributor's choosing ~ several chefs picked the Atlanta Humane Society and  Atlanta's Table - a community food bank.  Each section features hand crafted menus for a variety of celebrations, with photos, quotes and a short Q &A of each chef.

The first menu is for Dinner Under the Tuscan Sun, with light, yet elegant Italian fare, an International Brunch is next, followed by a Supper Club menu with Shrimp & Grits and Springer Mountain Chicken. The Bridal or Baby Shower menu utilizes a simple Chicken Salad, while Dinner with the Gambinos features a spinach & ricotta gnocchi and a leek & ricotta cannelloni. There are menus ranging from Summertime meals, a Romantic Dinner for Two, a Cocktail party with duck tacos and crab cakes, to the Great Outdoors featuring steaks, steamed shrimp and corn, plus a Southern Evening Soiree.

We finish the last of the chapters with a Day of the Dead Fiesta, a Greek Easter with lamb as the main course, while Luck of the Irish features fish & chips and Irish soda bread. Bringing up the rear are suggestions for Meet the Neighbors, Brunch for Friends and my personal favorite - Just Desserts.

Shrimp & Grits, published in 2006.  Two Southern staples in one beautifully photographed cookbook! No instant grits were harmed in the testing of the recipes, since they are NOT used in any of the dishes. The beginning pages give the reader the basics on shrimp - how to buy, methods of cooking and the many varieties available then jumps to grits doling out the same advice plus a short summary of grits versus hominy.

The first dish, Breakfast Shrimp and Grits, was the earliest recipe found by the authors and dates from a 1930 edition of "200 Years of Charleston Cooking". The recipes then begin in earnest with starters & soups ~ there are crab cakes, grits cakes, shrimp paste and a yummy gumbo with grits ~ followed by Anytime Grits consisting of dishes like a Shrimp Grits Cake with a Lemon Sour Cream sauce and a strata made with fennel, apple sausage and of course (say it with me!) shrimp AND grits.

There are frittatas, souffles, timbales and tarts, and in the Chef's Recipe section ingredients include fresh hominy and truffle oil. The last chapter is titled Grits Alone and is filled with recipes for peach & grits, a parfait or two, pudding, cobbler, waffles and bread.