Southern-Style Meal, on a Shoestring!

Charleston Chef Robert Carter Seeks to Keep Tab Under $35 for Eggs Benedict, Shrimp with Cheese Grits, Mystery Dessert

(CBS)  What's better than Southern hospitality? "Down-home" Southern cooking!

And one of the South's most celebrated chefs accepted "The Early Show Saturday Edition"'s "Chef on a Shoestring" challenge this week.

Robert Carter, executive chef and partner at Charleston's Peninsula Grill, agreed to try to serve up a delicious, traditional three-course, low country meal for under $35.

And as our "Chef on a Shoestring," Robert automatically takes part in our "How Low Can You GO?" competition, in which the "Shoestring chefs" with the lowest ingredients totals will be invited back to prepare our year-end holiday feasts.

The Peninsula Grill offers diners an elegant and stylish dining experience in the heart of downtown Charleston.

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Southern Eggs Benedict
Shrimp with Pimento Cheese Grits
Coconut Cake

FOOD FACTS:

Collard Greens: Long a staple of the Southern United States, collard greens, unlike their cousins kale and mustard greens, have a very mild, almost smoky flavor. Collards are leafy green vegetables that belong to the same family that includes cabbage, kale and broccoli. While they share the same botanical name as kale, Brassica oleracea, and some resemblance, they have their own distinctive qualities. Like kale, collards are one of the non-head forming members of the Brassica family. Collards' unique appearance features dark blue green leaves that are smooth in texture and relatively broad. They lack the frilled edges that are so distinctive to their cousin kale. The taste of collards can be described as pleasantly green and bitter.

Pimento: The pimento or cherry pepper is a variety of large, red, heart-shaped chili pepper.

Pimento cheese is a common food in the Southern United States. The recipe for most pimento cheese spreads has few ingredients: sharp cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, pimentos, salt and pepper. It is typically served either as a spread for crackers or celery, or as a sandwich. As with many southern foods, its appeal crosses class boundaries. A pimento cheese sandwich may be a quick and cheap lunch for children, or it may be served as an elegant cocktail finger food (with crusts trimmed, a bit of watercress, and cut into triangles). Pimento cheese sandwiches are a signature item at The Masters Tournament.

Grits is a Native American corn-based food common in the Southern United States, consisting of coarsely ground corn. Grits is similar to other thick maize-based porridges from around the world such as polenta. It also has a resemblance to farina, a thinner porridge. The word leads back to the traditional Northern European grit gruels. Grits can be served hot or cold and as a base for a multitude of dishes from breakfast to dessert, depending on the additives. Additives can range from salt and butter, meats (especially shrimp on the east or gulf coast), cheese, rarely (but in nouvelle Southern cuisine) vegetables, and sugar. It is also common for people from above the Mason-Dixon Line to have sugar with their grits.

RECIPES:

Southern Eggs Benedict

Biscuits
4 ounces Self Raising Flour, extra for rolling
2 ounces butter
2 ounces milk
Salt

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 450°F.

In medium bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut butter into flour till pea size pieces form. Make a well in the center of the flour, and fold in milk, being careful not to over work. Transfer dough to a flour dusted work surface and roll with rolling pin to ½-inch thick. Punch out biscuits with a 2½-inch cutter. Transfer to a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with non stick spray. Place in preheated oven and bake for 10-12 minutes till golden brown.

Country Ham
4 slices Country Ham

METHOD:

When biscuits come out of oven, place country ham onto hot pan to heat. Set aside.

Creamy Braised Greens
4 ounces Collard Greens (mustard greens, spinach or Swiss chard)
2 tablespoons onion, minced
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
2 ounces chicken broth
2 ounces heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste
1 ounce vegetable oil

METHOD:

In medium sauté pan, heat 1 ounce vegetable oil. Add onion and garlic, sauté for 1 minute. Add Chicken broth and heavy cream. Add Greens and simmer for 10-12 minutes or till tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Poached Egg

INGREDIENTS:
4 Egg Yolks
2 quarts Water
1 tablespoon Salt

METHOD:

Bring water to boil. Reduce to simmer. Gently add yolks to simmering water. Simmer for 3 minutes remove and serve immediately. Do not over cook, the yolk should be runny.

Plating

Split biscuit in half and place in center of plate. Place a slice of warm Country Ham on top of biscuit.

Spoon braised greens on top of country ham and top with poached egg yolk.

For more recipes, go to Page 2.

[chefcarter]

This cake is a 'rendition' of the Ulitmate Coconut Cake that is served at Peninsula Grill in Charleston, SC! As stated earlier, there is a link that you can go to to get the recipe and a video on how to make it...but, I will warn you that it is easier to go to www.coconutcakes.com and order the cake!

[rhode21]

I went on the conconutcakes.com. beware-- cake cost $100.00 and $89.00 for overnight delivery, only delivery available. $189.00 for this cake?

[ckuritz]

I see that many people are having trouble with this recipe. I went to Google and typed in "Robert Carter Coconut Cake". There are 13,200 hits. Robert Carter was on Martha Stewart's show and gave his recipe there, and there is a video to watch.
He also gives his complete recipe on the discover south carolina website.
http://dining.discoversouthcarolina.com/giftforyou/recipe.aspx

Martha Stewart gives the Cake, Syrup and Filling recipes on this first website, and the Frosting recipe on the second website.
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/ultimate-coconut-cake
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/coconut-cake-frosting

[CathyEButler]

$35 is a sin in the south. The Food here is about taking nothing, and cooking it into gourmet eating WITH nothing. Have to be a good cook to pull that off. Homemade biscuts? Simple. Dump Self rising flour into a bowl, grab a handfull of butter or lard, make a well, dump it in, add milk or buttermilk, add or subtract till a still moist ball forms, hit a hot oven of your choice temp up to 450, butter a cookie pan, form large balls of dough touching sides,flatten down with back of hand, dab with butter on top, stand back, the things come out huge, soft and crispy on the bottom. A staple of the South. From that comes homemade jam with butter on the biscut, or sausage gravy over the top, or sliced ham or sausage in it split. Next day, slice, heat a griddle, butter and fry for instant 'pancakes'. Add shredded cheese to the dough and you have cheese biscuts. We in the south laugh at the version of McDonalds breakfast sandwhiches..."what yall talkin bout this is sausage biscuts?" Ours are the size of a large man's hand, opened with a thick slice of meat that would make a meal. A real southern cook, a REAL Southern cook, would look at you confused if you asked how many cups, how many tablespoons of salt, how hot the oven, how many ounces. In the old south, each cook is unique and each recipe altered to fit climate, tastes, supplies and needs. Has nothing to do with recipes per say, it has everything to do with the cook's ability to adapt.

[lorajeantn]

These recipes sound great, but $35 for one meal is hardly "on a shoestring"! I feed my family of five for a week on about $70, so this is half my weekly food budget! I could eat in a restaurant for less than this...

[daisyjingles]

I once wore my bib overalls to the supermarket and for the first time in my life somebody asked me if I knew where the collard greens were. For some reason the question made me happy!

[Marybreath]

I purchased the 6" pans and all necessary ingredients to make the Coconut Cake. What a disappointment this recipe turned out to be. I believe I correctly converted the ounces to cups, tablespoons etc., but the cake did not adequately rise. Was there only 1 egg in this recipe? Were there other errors? In the filling portion, the recipe neglected to indicate how much water should be added to make a "slurry." The Assembly directions state that a simple syrup should be used....what's that? I am very frustrated. A response would be appreciated.

[OkraGumbo]

These cake ingredients have to be weighted using a scale. They don't convert properly. Any cookbook or the internet will explain how to make a simple syrup. Add enough water to the vanilla and cornstarch to disolve the cornstarch (same amount of water as cornstarch would work). Do give it another try. The cake is devine (haven't made it, just gotten it from the restaurant).

[feistyjourn]

Hey Dgunner, I'm on the same page as you. Love that blackstrap, but I prefer sorghum. And 35 bucks!? Where I come from that's highfalutin eatin'. I can make great Southern food for a lot less than that. How about country ham with buttermilk biscuits and red-eye gravy, summer squash casserole, fresh corn off the cob, black eyed peas and chow chow, and strawberry spinach salad? Hand-cranked peach ice cream, anyone? Yuummm yum!

[greenid]

can you post a corrected receipe for the coconut cake with the measurement without ounces.

[sam-kiley]

bonjour erica..chris..chef carter
j'ai aimé le tout ..et surtout la tarte aux noix de coco..recette du sud super...merci beaucoup de nous faire découvrir..au revoir

[lmdiede]

Coconut cake sounds divine. However the recipe states "add eggs one at a time" while ingredient list calls for "1 egg". Also, why the weight or metric measurements for an "old South" recipe?







'

[phyllisofhavelock]

how do we convert ounces into cups in the coconut cake recipe. Also it calls for one egg but says to add one egg at a time?

[mswolfestock]

This is TOTALLY confusing . . . . . . . . There are liquid-measure ounces and then there are dry-weight ounces. Oh my aching head!!!!

HEY CBS -- WHY IN THE BLEEP DON'T YOU DO SOME EDITING ON THESE RECIPES BEFORE YOU POST THEM. WE ARE ALL PRETTY P. O.-ed ABOUT ALL THE MISTAKES AND CONFUSION. ALL WE WANT TO DO IS ENJOY GOOD FOOD AND YOU'VE GOT IT TOTALLY HOSED UP.

[renglebe]

It seems the coconut cake recipe is not user friendly. Although it is easily converted, most people measure cups not ounces. Icing proportions do not seem correct. Are you sure?

[carolchi]

I just read the receipe for the coconut cake, I,m interested in making this cake , in the receipe for the cake batter it calls for 1 egg, than you go down to the method and it says to add eggs one at a time, how many eggs is there in the cake batter? thank you

[judirosol]

Can you post the recipe for the fire fly ice tea?

[stephmclee]

Firefly Sweet Tea vodka is AMAZING!! All you have to do to enjoy this refreshing southern spirit is: Fill a 12 oz. glass with ice (to the top), pour the Firefly Sweet Tea vodka to fill a little over a half of the glass, top off the rest with your favorite lemonade (I suggest Simply Lemonade), garnish with a Lemon and ENJOY!! Nobody will know you are enjoying a Sweet Tea with a KICK :)

[vbell631]

Very impressive presentation - all foods I love! I can't wait to make them all.

Thanks -