Driving Miss Daisy

Finally!

A great movie that wasn't depressing and kept us entertained throughout. It's been awhile, I know.

Miss Daisy Werthan (Jessica Tandy) is a Southern Jewish woman who isn't keen on relinquishing her independence. When her son Boolie (Dan Aykroyd) hires handy Hoke Colburn (Morgan Freeman) to be her driver she stubbornly resists, doing her best to ignore him altogether. As Daisy and Hoke age, the pair develops a friendship that deepens and endures for years. Driving Miss Daisy (1989) won four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Makeup, and Best Writing Adapted Screenplay.

The movie takes place in Atlanta, Georgia--The Peach State--and is filled with food references ripe for the picking (couldn't resist!). Choose from homemade pickles, grits and gravy, canned salmon, pork chops, ambrosia salad, deviled eggs, Coke in glass bottles, shelled peas, fried chicken & biscuits, iced tea, okra, garden tomatoes, pumpkin pie or anything peachy and you have a winning dinner match-up.

Movie Rating

Plot: 4 stars

Cinematography: 4 stars

Acting: 4.25 stars

Average: 4+ stars

We award Driving Miss Daisy the prize for:

BEST DRIVING MUSIC

The little ditty that plays off and on throughout the movie while Miss Daisy and Hoke are in the car sticks with you and fits the mood perfectly.

I took a simply Southern tack when choosing the meal and am excited to finally be able to share a smittenkitchen (sk) recipe on the blog. Seriously, I read her blog and want to make every. single. thing. The handful of sk recipes that have been tried in my kitchen have been PERFECT and I'm happy the stars aligned so that I can pass along a great blog link to our readers.

Corn Bread Salad. Sounds overly simple, maybe even soggy--right? Wrong.

WOW. This unimposing dish was so delightful! I cannot even imagine how other-worldly it would be if we had garden fresh tomatoes on hand to throw in. Honestly, the early July tomatoes found in the store were pretty darn good anyway. Due to a time crunch, we used Whole Foods cornbread from the bakery--a winning substitute that shaved a solid 20-30 mins off the meal prep with mildly sweet, perfectly crumby results.

Dinner Rating

Movie Relevance: 3.5 stars

Taste: 4.5 stars

Average: 4 stars

CORN BREAD SALAD

Adapted (only a bit!) from this recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients

3 cups of 1-inch cornbread cubes (Whole Foods bakery cornbread is great)

1 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes (4 to 6 medium)

6 cups roughly torn sturdy fresh lettuce, such as Bibb, butter, or Boston

2 cups arugula

1/2 large Vidalia onion, trimmed, peeled, sliced crosswise as thinly as possible and separated into rings

1 recipe Buttermilk-Lime Dressing (below)

Directions

Toast cornbread cubes until lightly browned, about 7 minutes (we used the toaster oven).

Chop the tomatoes into 1-inch pieces, discarding any large seedy globs.

Place lettuce, greens, 3 cups of toasted corn bread, onion, and tomatoes in a large bowl. Drizzle with buttermilk dressing, season with salt and pepper and toss gently until the dressing is evenly distributed. Serve immediately.

Do ahead: If you won't be eating the salad within 30 minutes of preparing it, keep the corn bread, salad, and dressing separate and toss just before serving.

BUTTERMILK-LIME DRESSING

Ingredients

3/4 cup whole buttermilk

5 TB freshly squeezed lime juice (or bottled in a pinch!)

2 TB olive oil

1 TB apple cider vinegar

1 TB honey

1/4 cup finely minced fresh basil

1/4 cup finely minced fresh parsley

1/4 finely minced green onions

1/2 tsp salt, plus more as needed, to taste

Directions

Whisk all of the ingredients together in a small bowl until combined. Will keep covered tightly and stored in the refrigerator for up to two days.