October 9, 2012. Where To Eat In Savannah.

The Hawthornes are in Savannah.

We've been looking forward to

coming back to Uncle Bubba's Oyster House.

Last time we were here,

we were served some of the finest grilled oysters

I've ever had the pleasure to down.

(Outside of my own.)

 I've always wanted a water feature in my garden.

Here's the menu:

We came for Uncle Bubba's Chargrilled Oysters

and that's what we ordered.

A dozen apiece.

We both ordered from the Lunch Specials menu.

The restaurant is very comfortable.

To me, comfort has a lot to do 

with proximity of tables.

Bubba's is open and relaxed.
My space is respected.

Here's our view looking out over the marshes.
I would describe it as ...
tranquil.

A complimentary basket of corn muffins

was brought to our table.

I had to put some of the honey/butter on my muffin.

My bouche was trés amused.

That flame is from our oysters!

Rosie is salivating.

Rosie gets very excited while watching

the flare-ups from grilling oysters
that are on the way to her table.

Rosie is in oyster-heaven.

Mr. Hawthorne and I are oyster virgins.

This is our first oyster of the season.

Mr. Hawthorne ordered the

 Fried Shrimp Lunch Special and cole slaw.

GASP!

No FRIED OYSTERS??!!

I ordered the Fish Taco Lunch Special.

Holy crap ... 

It's huge!

The fries were terrific.

Extra crispy as requested.

The fish was lightly fried and battered
 - in a word -
excellent.
The fish was swai,
one I'm not familiar with
although Mr. Hawthorne has seen it at the Teeter.

It's a very mild, sweet, freshwater fish from Vietnam.

A lively pico de gallo rounded out the plate.

I loved my fish.

Sweet flavor.

Nice, light crust.

Now, what I didn't show you

was my plate after I took a nose-dive into this.

The plate is huge.

I ate all the fish filets -
two 1-inch x 1-inch by 5-inch slivers.

And I shared a few bites with Mr. Hawthorne.

I could barely finish off one of the taco shells.

Ate all the lettuce and pico de gallo.

Ate less than half the fries.

I loved this.

Here's what I did NOT like:
The tacos had MELTED CHEESE over the fried fish.
NoNoNoNoNO.
Don't melt cheese over fried fish.
I didn't take a picture of it
because it looked like a mess
and I was lazy and tired.

This lunch meal ran us into the $60 range.
Rosie's BP rises.

Oh! Oh! Oh!  

I forgot to shoot a picture of something they served

that was truly different, asinwhydidn'tIthinkofthis?,

and excellent:

Roasted Red Pepper Tartar Sauce!

I must make this.

And when I do,

you'll be the first to know.

It's delightful.

Note to self:

Self, blacken garden peppers tomorrow!

I also got the recipes for:

Uncle Bubba's Corn Muffins

Heat oven to 375°.
Grease a 12-cup muffin tin.
In a large bowl, mix:
1 cup self-rising yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup self-rising flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
In another bowl, beat until well blended:`
1/2 vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
Stir in 1 8-ounce can cream style corn.
Add corn mixture to flour mixture
and stir until just mixed.
Pour into muffin tin until 2/3 full.
Bake 18-22 minutes until golden brown.

Uncle Bubba's Chargrilled Oysters

Place two sticks butter in a sauce pan
on high heat and bring to a boil.
Skim off and discard all foam
that rises to the top.
Stir in 1/2 tsp garlic powder.
On the grill,
put 12 - 16 oysters on the half shell
on an open flame grill.
Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over them.
Do not cover completely with cheese.
Let cook until cheese starts to brown
(2-3 minutes).
Drizzle garlic butter generously over each oyster.
Cook another 1-2 minutes.
Remove from heat.
Serve immediately.

Uncle Bubba's Low Country Boil
 In a stock pot,
pour enough water to cover all ingredients.
Add a sprinkling of crab boil seasoning,
appropriate for the amount of water used
and bring to a boil.
Add 12 baby red potatoes,
6 ears of corn, shucked and de-silked,

one 12-ounce can or bottle of domestic beer,
and 1 medium white onion, quartered.
Reduce heat and simmer for thirty minutes.
Add 2 packages smoked sausage cut into 1" pieces.
Cook 10 minutes more.
Add 1 pound medium to large raw shrimp, in shell.
Cook about three minutes
or until the shrimp turn pink.
Drain liquid into sink and pour the boil
onto a table with newspaper.
Sprinkle with extra crab boil seasoning.

 Uncle Bubba's Key Lime Pie.

Mix in a small bowl:

1 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup slivered almonds

Add 1/4 cup clarified butter and mix well.

Press evenly into a greased 9" pie pan.

Preheat oven to 325.

In a medium bowl combine

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1/4 cup key lime juice

3 egg yolks

zest and juice of 1 key lime

Mixwell.

Pour into the pie crust.

Bake for 20 minutes and then

let stand for 20-30 minutes.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

 
Rosie will be making all of these
and she'll let you know the results.

Good bye, little fishies.

See you next time.

Buh bye, Bubba.

Rosie Makes A Key Lime Pie.

Rosie decided to have a little fun yesterday afternoon and bake a treat for all the Little and Big Hawthornes.

We were at Harris Teeter yesterday and there was this bag of Key Limes and it called out to me: "Psst. Psssstttt. Rosie!

Pick me. Pick me! Take me home with you and eat me!" So I did.

The blueberries didn't speak to me at all. They can be sullen that way. But they were on sale. And I like blue and green together. Other times, blueberries can be extremely vocal. Go to the end of this post to see what happens when blueberries call to me. Soooo, let's make a Key Lime pie, shall we?

I must give credit to Kelly

of EvilShenanigans blogdom

for the idea of including the pistachios in the crust.

Ingredients for the crust: 1 package of graham crackers 16 ginger snaps 1/3 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup pistachios 6-7 TB melted unsalted Land o' Lakes buttah

After tasting the crust,

I think I'd add more pistachios -

perhaps 3/4 cup,

and use the whole stick of butter (8 TB).

I Magic-Bulleted the ginger snaps, graham crackers, and pistachios

1/3 at a time and added it to the melted butter ...

... along with the brown sugar.

I mixed all together.

Then I rolled the crust out with my mini-rolling pin

which has a a larger pin on the other end.

(And don't you just know if Mr. Brycer Sweetness ever caught wind of this little gadget he would be soooo envious of me!)

I zested a bit of lime over the crust, then it went into a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. While the crust baked, I prepared the filling:

On the left is my bowl of key limes. I juiced them until I ended up with 1/2 cup of juice. Only 7 limes were not needed. 1 can of sweetened condensed milk 3 egg yolks

Here's the crust after 10 minutes in the oven. It's kind of puffy.

I slowly added my lime juice to the beaten egg yolks, whisking merrily away.

Then I whisked in the condensed milk.

Then I poured the mixture into my baked crust.

Grated some lime zest on top. And baked for 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees, until set. I chilled the pie, then sliced after the Little Hawthornes had badgered me half to death.

Hey, if you get scared half to death twice, are you dead?

Sorry for all the pictures, but I couldn't pick out just one picture.

This pie was tart and sweet and graham-crackery and ginger-snappy, and pistachio-ey, and creamy, and blueberry-ish and zesty.

Oh. It was vanilla-ey too, what with the whipped cream.

Just feast your eyes.

This lasted maybe 10 hours.