Potato

Gina: Calley Anderson is Shelbi’s best friend, in large part because Belinda Anderson, Calley’s mother, is my best friend. Calley is an excellent student but the girl is a chef at heart. Baking is her first love, and one day Calley made this sweet potato pie for our family, and it knocked me off my feet. The filling relies on two sweeteners, brown sugar and maple sugar, for an incredible flavor. Warm spices and pure vanilla create an intoxicating perfume, and fresh lemon juice helps cut the sweetness and balance the flavors. So, I swallowed my pride (along with another slice of pie) and asked her for the recipe. Here I am, an adult asking my daughter’s friend for a recipe—pretty funny, huh?

Pat: This is a third-generation Neely dish. Grandma Rena used to cook it for my dad. Then she taught my momma how to prepare it. Now, you know Grandma Rena was a smart woman, showing Momma how to cook for Dad. Gina: Ladies, this is a very old Southern tactic. My suggestion, if you want to keep your man happy, is to spend some time in the kitchen with his momma and have her teach you a few things. Pat: I always listen to Gina. You should, too. My momma cooked this dish for my dad and for the kids. Kept us all happy. Now I’m cooking it for my girls (it’s one of their favorites on cold-weather days). And I’m sure someday they will cook it for their children.

Pat: There is nothing like the smell of a pot roast cooking in the oven. My mother made a mean pot roast; her secret was using dried Italian seasoning on the meat, and it’s a technique I’ve incorporated into this recipe. The flavors of the dressing really permeate and tenderize the roast. A well-seasoned cast-iron Dutch oven (or an enamel-coated Dutch oven) is our favorite cooking vessel for this roast. Here we call for a boneless chuck roast, because the well-marbled cut keeps plenty moist, but you can also use a 4- to 6-pound bone-in roast (you’ll need to cook it for another 45 minutes). Gina: Ladies, this is also a great dish to make when your schedule is tight. You can sear the meat, then throw it and the remaining ingredients into a slow cooker and head off to work. Make some cornbread when you get home, and it’s a wrap.

Pat: Brushed with butter, rubbed with spices, and dressed the way you want it, our barbecue baked potatoes (which are essentially baked potatoes loaded with toppings) will make your stomach skip a beat. These are fun to make with your kids, because they can dress up their taters with all kinds of goodness—meat, sour cream, shredded cheese, chives, and so forth. Depending on what stuff and how much of it you load onto each potato, these can serve as a side dish or an entire meal. For a healthier spud, Gina follows this recipe with a lightened-up twice-baked tater that is just as tasty as my belt-busting variety.

Pat: Good old mashed (or fried) potatoes are an everyday event in the South, but there’s something about a casserole of cheesy scalloped potatoes that makes a meal more special. After experimenting with countless variations, we decided that this two-cheese version was our favorite. You’ll love how the sharp cheddar mingles with the blue cheese, and how the finished casserole has a crispy top and a tender, creamy middle. This dish has become a Neely holiday staple, especially at Thanksgiving, because it’s delicious with turkey and buttered green beans.

Pat: Gina’s grandmother loved cane syrup, which is a sorghumlike syrup that has a deep bittersweet flavor. If you can’t find cane syrup, use an equal amount of dark-brown sugar plus 2 tablespoons molasses. This dish gives a new twist to a classic Thanksgiving side. The gooey marshmallows and brown sugar keep the kids happy, while the “big kids” will love the addition of orange liqueur, warm spices, and pecans.

Gina: Green beans and new potatoes, simmered with some type of pork fat, are a classic Southern combination. This dish is one we both grew up on, and when we cook it at home, the smoky aroma of these simmering vegetables instantly transports us to our mothers’ kitchens. There are few flavors more satisfying to any Southerner than the taste of tender new potatoes and green beans that have absorbed the salty, porky goodness of a smoked ham hock.

A plain old grilled chicken breast can be a bit uninspired, so we like to jazz up our breasts (who said that?) in this version of grilled chicken salad that has plenty of moxie. The marinade of fresh lemon juice and zest, olive oil, and fresh herbs infuses the chicken with a bright, sunny flavor (so yummy that you’ll want to use the marinade again and again for grilled meats). Here we team the grilled chicken with potatoes, celery, green olives, pistachios, and a creamy mayonnaise dressing for an over-the-top texture-and-flavor combination. This recipe doubles or triples beautifully, so it’s great for special lunches (think birthday parties, anniversaries, or bridal showers). It’s also great with a glass of chilled white wine and a crackly baguette.

Gina: Wow, life sure has a way of kicking you in the stomach when you least expect it. Ladies, I am sure you will understand what I’m talking about. You know that person who’s been in your life all along and you’ve never really seen him? That’s how it was with Pat and me. His mom and my mom went to school together, his brothers and my sisters were classmates, and, yes, you guessed it, we went to the same high school. . . . Sometimes the best things in life are right in front of you (if you keep your eyes open). That’s how I feel about my mom’s potato salad. She always made it for us when we were kids, but I didn’t truly appreciate it until I moved away. What is it they say about absence and the heart? That’s when I knew I had to master this recipe on my own. The first time I prepared it for Pat, he recognized that this was one apple that hadn’t fallen far from the tree. This potato salad remains a standout at all of our big family gatherings. Even if Mom can’t make it to an event, her potato salad will always be there! I think the creamy red potatoes, sweet-pickle relish, and sharp yellow mustard give this salad a distinct flavor and an appetizing color. Pat loves the richness that the big chunks of hard-boiled egg provide (and the way a little sugar brings out the flavors of the other ingredients).

Pat: My brothers and I have always been good eaters. As you can imagine, this meant a lot of work for our momma—feeding five hungry boys was no easy task. We all played football, and would come home after practice absolutely ravenous, ready to eat everything in the house. Lucky for us, she specialized in hearty dishes like spaghetti, lasagna, pot roast—and this rich stew. Packed with vegetables, tender beef, and a savory broth, it managed to satisfy my brothers and me . . . at least for a few hours. When the first fall chill sets in, I find myself drawn back to Momma’s cooking, so this stew remains a Neely staple (these days, however, we make it with more red wine). It’s a great weekend recipe, when you’ve planned a day of projects around the house, because it requires only a bit of up-front work—then you get to enjoy the intoxicating smell of the stew as it simmers. Although I live in a home with three girls, don’t be fooled: They hold their own when it comes to projects and this stew (they can polish off plenty of both). As Gina says, “Everyone has an inner pig that needs to be set free once in a while.”

Pat: When Gina and I are on a fitness kick and determined to lose a few pounds, I love having healthy, vibrant vegetable soups on hand. The soups help us fight the flab without sacrificing taste. And they fill us up, too! We often serve soup as a nourishing lunch or first course, and this carrot soup is one of my favorites. It has a velvety texture and an orange color that pops, and it includes a secret ingredient (sweet potato) and warm spices like cumin, coriander, and cayenne to give it depth and an irresistible aroma. Puréeing this soup in a blender instead of a food processor makes it especially silky. It’s great hot, but it’s also good chilled, topped with a swirl of plain yogurt or sour cream, during our sultry Memphis summers.

Pat: This creamy corn chowder, packed with vegetables and spices, has more sass than your average chowder (and the sweet potato and spices give it a distinct orange hue). The ingredients smoky bacon, fresh herbs, and a little Neely kick (cayenne pepper) combine for an over-the-top, out-of-this-world chowder flavor. When corn is at its peak, during the summer, we use fresh kernels straight from the cob. But since we crave this soup all year long, we use frozen corn as well and get great results. If you use frozen corn, look for the white kernels—they are particularly sweet.

This is the side dish to make when you find yourself with leftover mashed potatoes. (If you are using leftover mashed potatoes, use your judgment about the ingredients you want to add, since the mashed potatoes may be flavored already.) It also makes a wonderful dish for entertaining—everyone loves them, and you can keep them warm in an oven up to 30 minutes after you make them.

Try this salad as it was made traditionally, without vinegar. If you feel the capers don’t supply the necessary zing, sprinkle a little wine vinegar over the salad and toss it again. Warm salads like this take the chill out of a cold-cut lunch and go very well alongside grilled fish, chicken, or sausages.

Thermometers—whether the instant-reading type used for meat, the large-dial models used to measure the temperature of oil for frying, or those used to test an oven’s temperature—are key tools to have in the kitchen. Why twice-fried potatoes? The first cooking, at a lower temperature, cooks the potato fully, and the second frying, at a higher temperature, makes a delicious crunchy crust. This comes in handy if you want to make the dish for company—the first frying can be done several hours in advance, and the second cooking takes only 5 minutes or so.