This post and all the links contained in it are dedicated to Sherry Cermak, author of the What Did You Eat blog who died of a sudden heart attack a week ago today. Sher was my friend, my confidante, and my personal cheerleader for the last decade. I loved her, I miss her, and I cherish every memory of the friendship we shared. I am a better person for having had the good fortune of having her in my life and I will always be grateful to Heavenly Father for allowing our paths to cross. The fact that we met on a Robert Redford fan site is the ultimate proof that God does, indeed, have a sense of humor as twisted and perverse as our own.
All over the food blogging community today, you will find Sher's friends cooking her recipes in her honor as our way to say "Good bye and We love you, Sherry."
Personally, I couldn't decide which one dish to make from Sher's blog to honor her by so I picked the two dishes we probably talked about the most over the years. The first is Sher's family's File' Gumbo. I love this dish not only for it's deeply comforting taste but for the stories Sher would tell about it and how hilariously offended she would get when her family's file gumbo was confused with regular gumbo. She told me many times, proudly, that her family's gumbo was a thing of purity and should be touched by no Andouille, no chicken, and certainly no okra, not that they had anything against okra per se, it just didn't belong in their gumbo pot. According to Sher who was passionate on this subject, to say the least, it was actually close to heresy to even mention the words "okra", "sausage", and/or "chicken" in the same breath with Gumbo. Shrimp and crab only, please.
As for the second dish, if you asked Sherry her favorite food she would say "Cheese", or at least that's what she always told me. Her all time favorite was Cowgirl Creamery's Triple Cream. She said it was heavenly. I keep intending to mail order some but haven't gotten around to it yet. When I do, you'll be the first to hear about it.
Sher's mac & cheese dish from Martha Stewart has no Triple Cream Cowgirl Creamery cheese in it but it was damn good anyway. Sher and I used to laugh about how we both loved mac & cheese so much even the Kraft blue box was a treat now and then. Yeah, except the blue box has no actual cheese in it, ahem. But it's the taste of childhood so it's still worth a splurge now and then.
The tomatoes in this recipe are a wonderful addition, roasted with thyme for summery herbiness. When I first saw this on her blog, I thought "Tomatoes????" But they really are necessary for the full effect. No wonder Sherry was drawn to this recipe. I have a feeling her love for fresh tomato, home-made bread, and real mayo sandwiches from the first sun-warmed tomatoes from her back yard were legendary to more folks than just me.