“Throughout these pages, I’m going to (politely) refute the claim that Southern food is all bad for you and hopefully breathe new life into some tired, worn-out notions,” writes Lauren McDuffie in the first pages of her latest cookbook, Southern Lights: Easier, Lighter, and Better-for-You Recipes From the South (Gibbs Smith). McDuffie, an advocate of Southern cuisine, wants us all to know the entire truth of this regional way of cookery that many of us dismissively think of as fried and fat.
“Once you make your way through the stereotypes, past the overwrought, done-to-death, attention-seeking heavy hitters, the archives of Southern cookery shine with a special sort of brilliance,” continues McDuffie, noting that she is a home cook who has done the majority of her culinary learning in the South ranging from the foothills of central Appalachia to the sandy, abundant low country coastline.
McDuffie, who lives in Portland, Oregon now, created the award winning food blog: My KItchen Little: Recipes, Ideas, and Inspiration for Busy Home Cooks but her love of Southern cuisine and her ability to bring it to the fore was also apparent in her first cookbook, Smoke, Roots, Mountain, Harvest: Recipes and Stories Inspired by My Appalachian Home. The same passion is conveyed” in this magnificent cookbook with its luscious photos–McDuffie is also a photographer and her luscious color photos are a perfect accompaniment to the recipes that show us how to enjoy the rich heritage of Southern cuisine without the guilt and calories.
Southern Lights takes us into the world that McDuffie says she loves most– the people, places, things, and flavors that evoke feelings of home.
To accomplish this, McDuffie, an advocate for fresh and healthy, took a hard look at her kitchen pantry and asked herself a series of questions such as why she was using a particular oil or cut of meat in her cooking and what substitutions would work just as well when using her favorite recipes. From there she re-created favorite dishes incorporating different ingredients but yielding the same delicious results.
Her recipe for Frico Chicken in a Buttermilk Bath is a great example. Its origins are that perennial Southern classic—fried chicken brined in buttermilk and then deep fried in lard. A definite winner when it comes to taste. Not so in other respects. So what does McDuffie? She produces a healthier and low caloric alternative that really works.
Calling it a remix and noting that frico translates to fried in Italian, she describes this dish as similar to a simple baked cheese crisp that tops a boneless, skinless, and flattened chicken thighs browned in a minimum of oil. A surprising easy-to-make but sophisticated dish, it offers the crunch and flavor of buttermilk heavily battered chicken with no grease or guilt.
Like pulled pork sandwiches. McDuffie gives us a very creative take by substituting spaghetti squash (yes, you read that correctly) for the pork in her recipe for “Pulled” BBQ Spaghetti Squash Sandwiches.
“This has got to be one of the most unusual sandwiches I’ve ever made, but man is it a hit in my house,” writes McDuffie in the introduction to this dish. “Tangled strands of roasted spaghetti squash mimic the fatty pork in a classic meaty version, making for a lighter, more nutritious way to get your fix.”
The squash mixture is then topped with Halloumi cheese (smoked Gouda or cheddar can be used instead) along with coleslaw and barbecue sauce.
Voila! A low cal, high flavor profile meal and just one of many in McDuffie’s latest cookbook.
Frico Chicken in a Garlicky Buttermilk Bath
“I’ve taken the things I love most about classic Southern fried chicken and remixed them into something that is just as satisfying, but much lighter—a true win-win,” writes McDuffie about this recipe. “A frico (which means “fried” in Italian) is simply a baked cheese crisp, and here we’ll use them to almost mimic the salty crunch of fried chicken skin. Rather than rich bone-in, skin-on cuts, we’ll use leaner boneless and skinless thighs—my favorite protein of them all. The garlicky buttermilk-fortified bath in which they cook mimics my go-to fried chicken brine, helping the chicken stay tender and juicy. It also happens to be an easy, one-pan, 30-minute meal. So there’s that.”
Makes 4 to 6 servings
- 1 1⁄2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
- 4 teaspoons olive oil, divided
- 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 heaping cup diced sweet onion
- 10 ounces fresh baby spinach
- 3 garlic cloves, minced or grated
- 1⁄2 cup dry white wine (optional)
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can crushed or diced tomatoes
- 1⁄2 cup buttermilk
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Equally space the Parmesan into 6 (1⁄4-cup) mounds on the baking sheet. Use your measuring cup to gently press down on the mounds and work them into round, circular disks (they don’t have to be perfect). Bake until flattened and just beginning to brown lightly around the edges, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove and set aside. They will firm up as they cool.
Pour 2 teaspoons of the oil into a large pan over medium heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper to taste. When the oil is hot, add the chicken and brown really well on the first side; this takes 5 to 6 minutes. Flip and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes (they will finish in the sauce). Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Pour the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil into the pan. When it’s hot, add the onion and spinach and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes, until the spinach is fully wilted and the onion is soft. During the last minute, add the garlic.
Stir in the wine (if using) and cook for about 1 minute to reduce it. Add the tomatoes and buttermilk and slide the chicken back into the pan. Simmer for about 10 minutes to reduce the sauce and to finish the chicken.
Lay the Parmesan fricos over the chicken just before serving. They will melt and sort of adhere to the chicken, mimicking salty chicken skin in the best way.
Recipes excerpted from Southern Lights: Easier, Lighter, and Better-for-You Recipes from the South by Lauren McDuffie. Photographs by Lauren McDuffie. Reprinted by permission of Gibbs Smith Books.
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