On a recent visit to Charleston, my hubby and I enjoyed a delightful dinner at Virginia’s on King, a restaurant that specializes in “upscale lowcountry cuisine.” After placing orders for Carolina Bouillabaisse (with shrimp, scallops, clams and fish in saffron broth), Southern Fried Chicken (with red rice & sausage) and Virginia’s macaroni and cheese, our friendly server brought us a few pieces of Executive Chef’s Eddie Wiles’ broccoli corn bread. So tasty was the corn bread, we had to stop ourselves from eating it all for fear of spoiling our appetites for the food yet to come. While we relished our meal from start to finish, it was the recipe for the corn bread I was hoping to persuade Chef Eddie to share – and he generously obliged. Although the recipe has been scaled down from the bulk recipe used at the restaurant, it still makes quite a lot, good for sharing or for freezing for another time. I bought more broccoli than I needed for making the corn bread, so with the surplus, I also made some cream of broccoli soup, delicious served hot or chilled, with a swirl of basil infused cream. If you’re thinking you really don’t like broccoli very much, don’t be too quick to dismiss these recipes. Just a sip of soup, or a nibble of Chef Eddie’s corn bread, and you, too, might be saying, “I love broccoli, and I’m going to eat it more.”
Sue Ade is a syndicated food writer with broad experience and interest in the culinary arts. She has worked and resided in the Lowcountry of South Carolina since 1985 and may be reached at kitchenade@yahoo.com.
