Maggie is hibernating this winter. As such, she’s been cooking up a storm at home. Breads from scratch, soups and more. She shares some of her favorites, plus her spot for her favorite Salmon dish on the island.

Jesse Blanco: Hey, hey, hey everybody, welcome to Mondays with Maggie. My name is Jesse Blanco, host of not only this podcast, but Eat It and Like It with Jesse Blanco, you can find that weekends, WJCL television. On the other end of the line here is my dear bestie Margaret, we call her Maggie, Crenshaw. How you doin’? Happy new year. 

Margaret Crenshaw: Good morning, good morning, how you doin’?

JB: I’m doing all right. How far into January do you say happy new year to people? Cause I caught myself this week saying it to a couple of people and I’m like, okay, you need to stop already.

MC: Well, if you haven’t seen them yet in the new year, it’s OK. Maybe through January. And then after that, yeah.

JB: Correct. That’s exactly why. Yeah. Yeah. Usually 2-3 weeks burns off like, “Hey, good to see you. Happy new year. See you next time.” Very good, very good. Well, there’s no other way to get about this and to just rip the bandaid, as we are chatting here this morning, it is the day of the national championship in college football, and if anybody’s been following me on social media, then you know that little old Jesse’s over the moon because his Miami Hurricanes are playing Indiana. Should be a good game. Looking forward to it. 

MC: Yeah.

JB: Yes. Will you watch? Cause I know you’re an Auburn fan, but you’re not that much of a–you’re an Auburn fan and an anti-Alabama fan, but beyond that, you’re kinda eh.

MC: (laughing) No, I’ll watch it. I mean, it’s the national championship. It calls for some celebration, you know.

JB: Yes. Yes, yes, agreed, agreed, agreed. A fine time will be had. Of course, it’s funny because January, you would agree, is kinda sorta “hibernation season”, is what I call it. Everybody’s licking their wounds and getting their credit card bills in order after the holidays. And it’s chilly out, cold, dare I say, wet, like it was over the weekend, and we all kind of stay home. But then, you know, Eat It and Like It starts throwing events all over the place, and we have to get out and enjoy, the biggest of which is next weekend at the Lowcountry Home and Garden Show and the Eat It and Like It cooking stage. You know I’ve been doing that, I counted it up, eight years we’ve been doing that cooking stage?

MC: You’re on a roll.

JB: (laughing) Yeah, on a roll, on a bagel. It’s a good time. So anybody who’s interested, it’ll be Friday, Saturday and Sunday, January 23, 24, 25 at the Savannah Convention Center. And the reason why I share it here with you, Maggie, and all of our listeners here, north of the Savannah River, is because you’d be surprised–I’ve been surprised, the last few years especially, how many people from Bluffton, Sun City, Ridgeland, even Hilton Head Island, come all the way down to the Savannah Convention Center, not necessarily just for the cooking stage, but they’re there for the Lowcountry Home and Garden Show experience, which is always free admission, by the way. And they stop by and say hello, we talk shop, we talk restaurants, I get some tips, “Hey, have you tried this place? Have you tried that place?” And I’ll say, “no, but have you tried this place?” And so there’s a lot of that dialogue going back and forth, and I very much enjoy it. I’ll be very honest here in front of the whole world, it’s a significant stroke to my ego to have so many people come and want to talk shop, because we talk, you know, into the ether, if you will, and you don’t see people listening, but people are most certainly paying attention to what you say and what I say and all of that stuff. So we are appreciative of all of that. What you been up to lately? Anything interesting, fun, edible?

MC: You know, I’ve just been doing a lot of cooking at home. I’ve been doing a lot of training on the computer, Zoom classes, and all that kind of boring stuff that I get done in the off season when things are quiet and we’re hibernating.

JB: Nothing wrong with that.

MC: I didn’t really have the opportunity to go out anywhere last week, except for one.

JB: All good, we’ll talk about the one that you did go out to eat, but have you made anything here, [in] the last couple of weeks since the first of the year, have you cooked anything that you put on the plate and you ate it and you went, “ooooo I nailed that. That was delicious.” And don’t say everything.

MC: Yeah, yeah, I feel like I nailed some things. I made sourdough bread yesterday and I nailed it.

JB: You made what?

MC: Sourdough bread.

JB: No kidding! Nailed it, huh? Look at you! Now, is this with a bread machine or just rustic in the oven?

MC: Rustic in the oven. I’ve also been cooking a lot of vegetables, you know, vegetables can be boring, but if you make them the star of the plate, there’s a lot of really interesting things that you can do. I like to roast cauliflower, I like to roast a whole cauliflower head with chipotle peppers and mayonnaise and Parmesan cheese and smoked paprika that I mix up and I paint all over it and bake it for an hour… it’s so good. It’s the star of the show.

JB: First time I had roasted cauliflower like that, just like you prepared it, except the seasonings were different, was up at a restaurant that I adore, very popular in Charleston, called Chubby Fish. If you’ve not been to Chubby Fish and you love seafood, it needs to be on your short list, but that is a story for another time. They brought out, and I believe I have a photo of it, but it was, like you said, it was like snowed under the Parmesan cheese after it roasted, but it was basically salt and pepper, if I recall. They roasted the fool out of it, to the point where it was charred, and then right before they served it, I watched him just put this blizzard of freshly grated Parmesan on it so that the heat from the freshly roasted cauliflower would melt, and it was just unbelievable. I had never had it to that point. It was actually, true story, it was this weekend, three years ago, I was in Charleston for my Charleston Food Crawls book, and long story, I ended up sitting at the bar and talking, and they started firing off food, and I got the cauliflower, and it was so good. Now, you use chipotle mayonnaise you said?

MC: I use Duke’s mayonnaise and then I add chipotle peppers to it. Parmesan cheese, smoked paprika, mhm.

JB: That sounds amazing. Since then I’ve had it a few other places, and a couple of places, they call them cauliflower steaks. They kind of cut little wedges, if you will, and either roast them that way, or roast them and then sear them. It’s very—I can’t say under the radar, because restaurants are all about it. If you go out enough, you see it everywhere, but it’s not something I’ve ever thought about making at home. That’s a good call on your part.

MC: I’ve been making this cauliflower like this for a long time, and you know what I also made? I don’t do the cauliflower steaks as much because it crumbles a lot, but cabbage steaks are my jam, and I made those yesterday too. Cabbage steaks, you sear them off and then you finish them in the oven, char them nice and good on either side. Yeah. Cabbage steaks.

JB: I don’t know about all that. I would try it though. Interesting.

MC: You’d like it.

JB: Interesting. I would eat it and like it? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?

MC: Yes. Or you’d fake it.

JB: (laughing) Yeah, been doing that for a long time too. So tell us, you got out once last week, you braved the elements. It was cold last week, a little bit, wasn’t it?

MC: Yes, but Friday–I think, was it Friday? No, it was Thursday. Thursday was a nicer day. I had the pleasure of dining with 10 of the alumni board members of the Hilton Head Prep Alumni Association. We had our monthly meeting at Smokehouse. We tend to do that because the owner of the restaurant, the manager’s son, is a graduate of prep, and also on our board. So it’s always my opportunity to have my favorite salmon salad, just, that piece of salmon they do there has hung the moon for me. Kind of like you feel about Pomodori’s chicken piccata. Like, the salmon at Smokehouse is so good. It’s just, it’s a good product they use, it’s prepared perfectly, it’s seasoned perfectly. And I have it at least once a month, because that’s where we go for our meetings.

JB: It’s funny that you would feel that passionately about salmon, because you know very well how I feel about salmon.

MC: It’s not your favorite.

JB: No, no, you bring me salmon, and under the right circumstances, I go running off like a little poopy baby pants, just like, “aaaaaaaagh! Leave me alone! You can’t make me!” No, but I’ll have to go with you one time so you can order it and I can taste it.

MC: Crispy, crispy on the outside. That’s the key. 

JB: Yes, as it should be. That is the key.

MC: Yeah, you don’t want it to be gelatinous.

JB: Too many places serve you up some gelatinous, orangey thing, and I just can’t go for that, like Hall & Oates said. No. Speaking of Amanda’s Piccata at Pomodori, two locations, one in Hilton Head, one in Bluffton, Pomodori Too, that we love so much. A friend of mine, I told you– what was it, a couple of months ago? About Coastal Capri, Italian restaurant on the island, remember that? And I shared that it was my favorite Italian meal that I’ve had in the area ever. And I told a couple of friends that and they were like, “gasp, how could that be?” I’m like, I’m telling you, it’s because it was. Well, this weekend, a friend of mine took a small group to Coastal Capri, and I got the text late Saturday night, I was watching NFL and I got the text,  “having dinner at your recommendation.” Okay. And, “okay, let me know.” So Sunday morning, I got the review, and their experience was just as I had had. They said the service, even though the restaurant was full, was excellent. It was just a wonderful meal, the food, it was one of the– I think her quote was, “one of the best experiences I’ve had in a while.” And so much so that, you know, I shared that to Instagram, if you want to see the photos of their meal, you can see them on Instagram at Eat It and Like It. But I even included my text exchange with her where she said, unsolicited, “how was it?” “Well, it was this.” So, I mention it again only because it–you know, obviously I feel a tiny bit validated, but my opinion is… as you know, Maggie, I like to say I’m an expert on my opinion, but it is that good. I’ve spoken to a number of people who have been to Coastal Capri since then, who have all said, “oh, yeah, no, I went with a group of four, I went with a group of 10,” and everybody says, “no, it was outstanding.” So you and I are going to need to go. After we get through restaurant weeks, I’ll give you a shout. 

MC: Yes. I can’t believe I have not been yet. 

JB: Yes. I’ll be over there for Seafood Festival, and if I can come over early in the week–I’ll be there most of the week, but if I can come over earlier in the week, I’ll let you know. And we can go have dinner. We’ll see how that goes. 

MC: Sounds good.

JB: Yes. So anything fun coming up for you in the next… or are you just still in hibernation mode? When does your industry start percolating again?

MC: Well, we’re getting folks prepared to prepare their homes for the spring market. So it’s going to come barreling at us here pretty soon. I’ll spend the next three or four weeks immersed in the training that I mentioned that I’m enjoying doing, and kind of tap into some good reminders. You know, after you’ve been in the business for 10 years or so, you forget some of the basics. It’s nice to be reminded and to kind of restructure yourself. And I tend to be a more creative thinker, and not as regimented in my daily routine as I should be, so trying to get all that on track. But yeah, we’ll have–listings I have that didn’t sell in the fall are prepped and ready for–in fact, we have been getting a lot of showings on them since the new year, which is great.

JB: Good! Knowledge is power.

MC: Correct. Be a learner of life. 

JB: I believe that.

MC: Be a student of life.

JB: Yes, yes, yes. You don’t rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.

MC: Whoa, that’s a good one.

JB: That’s a favorite of mine that is very important, given all of the bowling pins that I attempt to juggle on a regular basis. But that’s a whole other Dr. Phil you and I can get into over a couple of glasses of wine sometime. Before we go, a quick reminder to everybody that the Hilton Head Island Seafood Festival is coming up, February 23 through March the 1st. Tickets available now at hiltonheadseafoodfestival.com, including what they are calling a curated VIP foodie ticket. Gets you into a handful of events, we’re going to have a meet and greet wine reception before Zero Forks Given at the Omni, you get autographed cookbooks from the chefs that are involved, and you get to skip the lines. It’s basically the Eat It and Like It experience, you get to skip the lines. All of that packaged for one price. If you’re interested, you can find them at eatitandlikeit.com 

MC: Perfect.

JB: It will be a good time. Tell us where we can find you if we’d like to stage a listing or otherwise sell a humble abode.

MC: I’m a member of the Kiser Jetton team at EXP Realty, and you can view listings for sale at my website, margaretcrenshaw.com.

JB: Very good. Short and sweet. We have waxed about cauliflower, roasted cauliflower, Italian at Coastal Capri, the national championship game tonight as we record this, and no partridges in pear trees. That was last month.

MC: That’s over with. We’re done with that.

JB: We are evolving as a species. Thank you, Maggie. It’s good to see you. Yes, I will if I’m out your way–which I might be, I’m knee deep in restaurant week over here, so it’s kind of tough to get over there, but I was at Alljoy Donuts, by the way, over in Bluffton on Friday. That was a treat. So we’ll talk about them another time. 

MC: They do a good job. Yeah.

JB: They do, they do. Totally annihilated my diet, but that’s life. We’ll see you next time. Thank you, Margaret.

MC: Sounds good. Take care. Have a good week. Bye.

JB: See you soon. Bye.