USING UP THOSE EASTER EGGS WITH MACARONI TUNA SALAD

Part of the problem with me trying to share recipes is I'm a pretty typical down-home southern cook. My measurements go something like this:

Pinch: a small amount between the thumb and forefinger.
Large pinch: an amount between the thumb, forefinger, and middle finger
A Hand-full: the amount grabbed up with your fist.

Years ago, as a  bride, I fixed my new husband a pot of beans. I remembered my mother de-gassing the beans with baking soda but I had no idea how much she used. I called her and asked. "Just put some in."

I tried to push her on an amount. "Just put some in. I don't know."

So I put some in. In fact, it should have been a large pinch. Not knowing any better, I put in about 1/4 cup. Yep. Damn near killed him.

Here's my last recipe for using up those left over Easter eggs. If you want to cut down on the amount of maccaroni, do it. But maccaroni is a great way to stretch this salad. I prefer the large shell instead of the elbow because the shell will hold the other ingredients better.

MACARONI TUNA SALAD
1 large can flaked tuna, drained (If you use chunked tuna, mash it up with a fork)
3 stalks celery, cleaned and thinly chopped
1/2 small onion, diced small
4 large sweet pickles, diced small
4 hardboiled eggs, chopped

Cook half of a large package of Large shell macaroni, putting a tablespoon of salt in the water. Drain and rinse in cold water until macaroni is cold. Then drain well.

Here's some of those "southern cook" measurements.
In a large bowl, put first 5 ingredients.
Add some mayonnaise. How much? I dunno. Some. Guessing I'd say start with 1 cup.
Add some of the juice from the sweet pickles. Forced into a guess I'd say about 2 - 3 tablespoons. I just pour some in and mix well. You want this just a little sweet.

When the macaroni is cooled off, put in the bowl and mix until all ingredients are mixed well. Refrigerate immediately. I suggest fixing this ahead so the salad can sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving to allow the salad to get completely cold and the flavors to meld together well.

SOUTHERN SAUSAGE GRAVY, AND CREAM GRAVY

When I started this blog, it read: "Make a cream gravy." All of a sudden it hit me: "Is it possible cream gravy is a southern thing and lots of people won't know how to make it?" I know some of the younger people might not know how because they've been raised on instant gravy. Having that epiphany, I decided to alter my plans.

I remember Alan telling me one time he had just made biscuits and gravy, asking if I would like some. He brought me a plate of them and my mouth starting watering. I took a big bite. "What the hell is that stuff???" That's cream gravy. Turns out it was a packaged instant cream gravy. Just add milk and you get…..(how should I describe it)….a tasteless kinda gelatinous substance. If you salt it you can make a salty kinda gelatinous substance.

I'm going to start by telling you gravy is healthier if you use a vegetable shortening in the base. I'm also going to tell you this…if you want a serious southern cream gravy, you'll use bacon drippings, leftover oil from pan frying chicken or country fried steak.

Remember that all measurements are approximate. Southern cooks don't measure like normal people. I'll explain in another blog. I'm going to start with a true southern favorite: sausage gravy because you make it a little different.

SOUTHERN SAUSAGE GRAVY
1 tube of breakfast sausage. Most people prefer the hot breakfast sausage. I also like the sage flavored one but it's your choice.
1/4 cup sausage grease and vegetable oil if it needs it to make 1/4 cup.
3/4 up flour
3 - 4 cups milk
salt and pepper

Break the sausage up into a skillet. Keep breaking it up as it fries. Fry the sausage slowly because you want to render as much fat as possible out of the meat. Don't just fry until sausage is done. Cook it a little longer to get out as much fat as possible. Place a strainer over a bowl. With a slotted spoon, remove sausage from the pan, place in the strainer and let drain for about 10 minutes.

Place sausage grease back in skillet adding enough vegetable oil to make about 1/4 cup. Heat oil, scraping all the sausage goodies off of the bottom of the pan.

Add about 3/4 cups of all purpose flour, a little at a time, mixing it with the oil. Keep adding until it begins to "come together". Making sure to keep stirring the mixture off of the bottom of the pan, and keep cooking until it begins to turn a little brown.

Stirring constantly, start adding milk, a little at a time, and incorporating with the flour mixture each time before adding more. Keep heat where the mixture will simmer. You can add a little more milk if needed to thin gravy a little but you want it thick.

Add a little salt to taste and go a little heavy on the pepper.

Add sausage back into gravy, stirring in until sausage is hot.

Serve over biscuits, even canned biscuits are delicious. If you have no biscuits, you can serve over toast.

All of the other gravies are made using the grease from where bacon, chicken or something like that has been fried.

Basic cream gravy is just made with the oil, flour and milk. It's wonderful over mashed potatoes. If you're in the South you might even see it over french fries, hash browns, or used as a dip for eggs or meat.

This is how I use up those left over Easter eggs.

I use a stick of butter.
3/4 cup flour
 3 - 4 cups milk
Quite a bit of pepper
Salt to taste
and make cream gravy like above.

The difference is after gravy is made, I chop up hardboiled eggs in it. Then I serve over toast.

If I have any ham left over, I will add the ham. However, if you use ham, go really easy on the salt because the ham will add salt.