Did you ever make a meal that was pick-up-your-plate-and-lick-it good? One that was a slam-dunk to serve for dinner? Would you like to? Come with me to my kitchen…We are slowing cooking Lamb Shanks for a tender and savory meat with a rich red wine infused gravy. A little known fact about Asheville is that we have a good sized Greek population. The first Greek arrived here in 1900 and opened a restaurant. He was swiftly joined by others and in 1920 the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church was established to serve the Greek Orthodox population of Asheville. Every year the church holds a ...
Meat & Fish
FROM PIG TO PLATE: PORK LOIN WITH HORSERADISH CREME FRAICHE, SAUTEED APPLES AND A RICH DEMI-GLACE SAUCE
Pork Loin is slow cooked then served with a fresh horseradish cream, butter-sauteed apples and a rich demi-glace sauce in this blog post which takes us from the butchering of the pig to the final dish on a plate. Did you ever learn something that changed the way you saw the world? It's that moment when something you knew intellectually becomes something you fully understand and can use. One of those moments came for me last week when I went to a whole hog butchery demonstration at Hickory Nut Gap Farm. (Quick disclaimer: this post relates the life the animal lived to the way the meat we eat ...
I LOVE FALL: APPLE AND SAUSAGE STUFFED ACORN SQUASH WITH BACON
Acorn squash is roasted then stuffed with an apple, onion and sausage mixture. It is finished with a layer of bacon and cooked until the bacon is crispy. Once removed from the oven, the bacon is brushed with maple syrup for a satisfying Fall dinner. I love September. I love the clear blue skies, the gradually cooling nights, the lingering touches of Summer, and most of all I love the food. Even when I lived in the tropics, September turned my mind to comfort food. Melted cheese, soups, winter squash and stews. Now that I am home in North Carolina, I am free to indulge in all things ...
SHEET PAN CHICKEN WITH FIGS
Chicken and Figs go together with a Simple Rub of Rosemary and Lemon Zest for an easy-to-make Dinner August is the Sunday of Summer. Like Sunday, it is bittersweet. There is still time for fun outside and summer eating but the quality of the light and lengthening shadows speak of Fall which will soon be upon us. Even the colors of August remind me of the coming cool weather. Gone are the vibrant reds, yellows and pinks of summer peaches and berries. The color of August is purple. Purple eggplant, blackberries, blueberries, plums and, one of my favorites, figs! Someday in the future, ...
CHICKEN POTPIE WITH FRESH PEAS AND TARRAGON
So many things are going on in my life right now. My garden is starting to produce vegetables and fruits and the herbs are green and lush. I have been working with pastry almost on a weekly basis. And I have been meeting potters all over Asheville, talking about their products and how they can be used in baking. It all comes together in a dish that is not something I usually go for, but it just spoke to me: Chicken Potpie with Fresh Peas and Tarragon. Let’s start with the peas and tarragon. My mother used to put fresh mint in with the peas when she made them which is ...
LET’S GET GRILLING: BARBECUED LEG OF LAMB
How to explain this dish? A whole leg of lamb is boned and butterflied, marinated in a spicy sweet sauce then grilled over charcoal before being finished in the oven. The meat is succulent and tender with a char-grilled crust that adds the perfect undertone of flavor to the almost beef-like cook of the meat. It’s lamb for those who think they don’t like lamb: barbecued leg of lamb. This recipe is a family go-to for feeding a crowd, impressing friends and creating the best leftovers ever for a sandwich. It came from my mother, who clipped it from a newspaper sometime in the 1960’s. It is ...
PORK LARB: AN ASIAN MEAT SALAD
You didn’t think I only made one dish with my Red Wattle Pork from Sugar Creek Meats, did you? Pork Larb, which can be made with almost any protein is, at its heart, a ground meat salad. The two most well known versions come from Laos and Northern Thailand. As an interesting aside, the Laotian version includes fish sauce and lime juice which is what I would have expected to find in the Thai larb. My recipe includes elements from both cuisines. You can serve your larb over rice or noodles, in lettuce cups, or pretty much anyway you want. It can be a light meal or a full dinner. Make ...
BEST PORK SANDWICH EVER
“Hello” The message popped up on my Instagram account. “Have you ever worked with red wattle pork before?” “No. I can’t say that I have.” I replied. Red Wattle Pork, for the uninitiated, is considered by many chefs to be the finest pork meat available. I was intrigued. And so, one dark and rainy day not long after, I found myself driving up a small dirt road in Big Sandy Mush Valley on a visit to the home of Sugar Creek Meats. Tyler De Francisco, a Sicilian transplant from New Jersey, is passionate about his pigs and his meat. Actually, Tyler is passionate about food in ...
TOP CHEF DINNER: LAMB BURGER PROVENCAL
All credit for this recipe goes to Chef Hubert Keller. A number of years ago, I went to Las Vegas with my daughters to celebrate Abby’s 21st birthday. Full disclaimer, this was her choice: like many others I know, I was skeptical that Las Vegas could be any fun. I was so wrong! One of the first things we found out when we got there was that it is kind of foodie paradise. In walking around through the malls and hotels we kept tripping over the restaurants of some of our favorite chefs. We had made reservations, of course, for our dinners but it was lunch that was the big ...
FINDING BALANCE IN JANUARY: CRAB CAKES WITH MANGO SALSA
I always called January “The Month of Atonement”. In the past I have viewed the start of the new year as a time to deprive myself as a means of repenting for the excesses of the December holiday season. But this year as the words slipped casually out of my mouth, I found myself wondering what was the sin I was atoning for? Christmas and New Year’s (to a lesser extent) are holidays of joy and celebration. All the feasting and partying with friends and family, the sharing of foods as gifts and offerings, are acts of love and happiness. This not something to atone for. This year I am ...
