We love when our younger set calls with: “Aunt Kim, can we come for the weekend?”
Hmmmmm, let us think about it for a millisecond…
“YES!”
So this is how the long Memorial Day Weekend at Glover Gardens became a lively one, to say the least.
And a lovely one.
There were stories. There was laughter, and playfulness. And food, and wine, and chocolate. And rest and relaxation, too. Check it out.
Let’s Talk about the Food
As always, cooking was a key element of our entertainment strategy. And while we are self-described foodies, the food that weekend was unapologetically and unabashedly not fancy. Memorial Day Weekend is not a time to be fussy about the food.
One night, we had another session of our Gumbo Cooking Class in which the Gen Zs and Millennials did most of the heavy lifting: the “chopportunities” (chopping all the vegetables for “the trinity”), cooking the rice, and the Big Kahuna of Gumbo, making the roux. I helped out with the sausage-slicing and chicken-picking, and was the general contractor. There aren’t any pics of the cooking portion of the evening except this arty closeup of “the trinity” that I took.
But here are some pics from our non-fancy gumbo meal in our fancy dining room.
On the first night when only two of our five funsters had arrived, the menu was a fabulous crawfish pie that we brought home (frozen) from our last visit to Kimball’s Seafood in Pass Christian, Mississippi, accompanied by broccoli. The broccoli was also part of the evening’s entertainment. We had about 4 pounds of broccoli and only 4 people, but we knew it would get eaten throughout the weekend, so we organized a “Broccoli-Off” (broccoli cooking contest) and made three different versions. All had cheddar cheese and garlic, and all were baked at a relatively high heat, but that’s where the similarities ended. The variations included lemon zest, nuts, chiles, the addition of different cheeses, various herbs and spices, and flavored olive oils and balsamic vinegars. They were all good! Sadly, we have no pics of that, either, but the Broccoli Fun from Night #1 was super-useful as a side dish for the Gumbo Night at Glover Gardens a couple of days later.
Trash Can Nachos, Baby!
Friday night’s meal is the main subject of this post. Finally! Let’s talk about Trash Can Nachos. I already used the words unabashedly and unapologetically and confessed to the non-fancy nature of this “trashy” dish.
But that doesn’t mean that the nachos weren’t ab-fab! They were an audacious delight, a venture into the fun one can have with a 28-oz. metal can, some super-melty cheese, more grated cheese (because when can you ever have too much cheese on a nacho?), black beans, two meat options (grilled beef skirt steak and pulled pork), the creamy goodness of sour cream and Mexican crema, the fiery heat of chile peppers and piquant flavors of pico de gallo, smooth guacamole and the golden, crunchy foundation that supports it all: sturdy, golden tortilla chips.
The beauty of the Trash Can Nacho Meal is that you assemble your own.
Don’t like pork? No problem! Skip the pulled pork option and go with the beef.
Black beans not your thing? No problem! Add more pico.
Vegetarian? You can make a great version without the animal proteins.
Each person’s “trash can” is their own unique and perfect creation.
Oh, and if you’ve never had them, the moniker “Trash Can Nachos” refers to the can which is used to stack your goodies onto the bed of chips. Everyone gets a clean 28-oz. aluminum can with both ends removed, which provides structure for the goodie-stacking process.
Just like the other confessions above, I have nary a photo of the prep of this bodacious dish. Nada. But luckily, my niece Joie took a video of the unveiling of her creation, which she posted on Instagram and allowed me to use. She also took a Before picture.
Voila! Push the play button to see the magic.
Our guide to Trash Can Nachos was Guy Fieri’s recipe from the Food Network: click here. We did a Glover Gardens variation of his grilled skirt steak by adding our Zippy Southwest Spice Mix (delicious!) and made his Super-Melty Cheese, being pretty faithful to the instructions on that one. We used canned black beans instead of making our own, and members of our house party made pico de gallo and guacamole according to their own north stars on those nacho staples. We made a batch of Glover Gardens Pulled Pork before the weekend started, and the rich, slow-cooked flavor of the pork with its unctuous texture was THE BOMB on my own Trash Can Nacho party-on-a-plate. I was pleased (can you tell?). The recipe is in the post below, if you want to make some and then dive into your own Trash Can Nacho celebration.
More Non-Fancy Food for a Party-Party Weekend
What other comfort food did we have during the weekend? Well, how about Deviled Eggs? Can you ever go wrong with Deviled Eggs? Carmen was our chef for this deliciousness. We paired them with grape tomatoes that we dipped in Tito’s Vodka and then a mix of habanero sea salt and cracked black pepper.
The Grill-Meister’s Jalapeno-Bacon Poppers in wanton cups were a requested appetizer. He delivered on the request and I couldn’t snap a pic fast enough before the first one was snatched off the platter.
‘Til Next Time
Come on back, young folks! The party at Glover Gardens is waiting for you.
© 2023, Glover Gardens
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