Busy volunteer makes time to dig into his Southern roots in the kitchen
David Thompson, a locomotive engineer, takes time out of his busy schedule that includes time spent refereeing and volunteering to put passion into his cooking.
He and his wife, Carol, a retired teacher and reading specialist consultant, live in Independence. David referees many high school sports and volunteers for Special Olympics. He was a basketball referee at the Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
Q: What influenced your cooking?
A: I was born in Greenville, South Carolina, and love Southern cooking. I remind everyone that the word “grits” is both singular and plural.
I was often in the kitchen with my mom when she cooked, licking the spatulas and the beaters. She was a great cook, making simple but really good recipes, and she still types her recipes on 3-by-5-inch cards on an old, manual Royal typewriter, never using a computer. She was also a gardener and arranged meals to be delivered to neighbors who might need cheering up or help when ill.
She hosted a women’s group in our home each December and used our screened porch, which my parents lined with plastic, as a spot to store cookies and party scramble mix she prepared for the party. I was not allowed to taste any of it until after the party, and it was hard to wait until all the women left.
I still make lots of her delicious, addictive party scramble. It is a private recipe that I will not share, but each year I make about 140 roasting pans full to give to all of my friends. Now, my co-workers, fellow referees, and many I meet ask me for some. It is different than the popular, common snack mix, and I still make it exactly as my mom did.
Q: Have your travels influenced your cooking?
A: We often travel, tasting food and wine from other places. Once home, Carol will frequently cook dishes inspired by our travels. When we eat out, we enjoy dining at a variety of ethnic restaurants.
Q: What other projects do you volunteer with?
A: I volunteer at the food pantry at my church, Community Christian Church.
When my wife and I travel, we enjoy tasting wine, then buy bottles of red and white wines to bring home. Each year in December, for the past 15 years, we have hosted a wine tasting, featuring the bottles we purchased on our travels. It is a fun way to raise money for Tabitha’s Closet, a nonprofit organization where students from Fort Osage or Independence school districts can “shop” for free, gently used clothing.
Q: What recipe are you sharing?
A: My summer tomato and shrimp salad is a favorite summertime recipe that is easy for anyone to make. I started making it when living in Myrtle Beach in the 1980s. It is the ideal recipe to make when it is just too hot to cook and you don’t want to turn on the stove. Growing up in the South, and especially in Greenville, like I did, you only use Duke’s Mayonnaise, which originated in Greenville and is still wildly popular throughout the South.
The salad is a lot of fun to create and serve, so families with young children may want to get them involved with making it. It was a favorite with our goddaughter since she was in middle school, and it remains so now that she’s an adult.
When she was young, she liked to decorate the salad by making a face with lemon slices and using fresh basil leaves for the hair. When first making it, we experimented with adding other vegetables or seasonings and have decided that for us, this is the best combination.
Summer Tomato and Shrimp Salad
Makes 6 servings
1 pound cooked, frozen medium shrimp (50-70 count per pound), peeled and deveined
6 large Roma tomatoes, cubed
1 sleeve saltine crackers, unsalted preferred
1 1/2 to 2 cups mayonnaise, Duke’s Mayonnaise preferred
1 (15-ounce) can black beans
1 (15-ounce) can whole kernel corn
12 to 15 small broccoli florets
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Several slices of lemon (cut crosswise), optional
Basil leaves, optional
Thaw the shrimp in the refrigerator according to the package directions. Drain and cut each shrimp in half.
Place the tomatoes in a mixing bowl. Crush the sleeve of saltines and add to the tomatoes. Use enough crackers to absorb the juice. Stir the mayonnaise into the tomatoes and crackers.
Pour the beans and corn into a colander, rinse, and drain.
Add the beans, corn, broccoli and shrimp to the tomato mixture. Stir well. Season with black pepper.
Chill in refrigerator for about an hour before serving.
Tip: I find a dry Riesling or medium dry Chardonnay great wines to pair with this salad. Children will enjoy a sparkling grape juice.
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Roxanne Wyss and Kathy Moore are cookbook authors and food consultants that make up The Electrified Cooks. They have published over fourteen cookbooks and thousands of recipes. They are members of Les Dames d’Escoffier and blog at pluggedintocooking.com.