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 ...
Meat & Fish
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 ...
The End of the Holidays: Turkey Hash
I love the holidays. I love the decorating and shopping, the mess and the clutter and the sheer busyness of it all. And then I love taking it down, putting away the ribbons and bows, the green and red, sweeping up the pine needles and tossing out the faded flowers. Included in all of this, of course, is ridding one's refrigerator of the remnants of the year-end feasting. In our house we always make sure to have a big enough turkey (or goose) to have left overs. Next day turkey sandwiches are required! And after that it might be time for soup or, if there is enough, my real ...
A HOLIDAY DISH FOR WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE TIME (BUT IT NEEDS TO LOOK LIKE YOU DO!) MAPLE BROWN SUGAR BAKED HAM
If you are like me, your holiday shopping is barely finished (or not even), you have 200 presents to wrap, regular work to do and people keep asking you out to fun events. And to top it off, family is arriving and you want them to feel loved and cared about but you don't have time. If you had a recipe that made it look like you took extra time over the meal (even if you didn't) you would use it, wouldn't you? Presenting Maple Brown Sugar Glazed Ham. Key to this recipe is two things, the ham and a gallon of fresh apple cider. I used to search all over for the ...
TREE TRIMMING DINNER: SPICY BAKED BEANS
This year my oldest daughter, Sarah, came over to help me trim my tree. I am lucky to have her live nearby and to have her help and support. We sorted through the boxes of ornaments, removing those which had been given to her so that she could take them home and laughing over memories of who picked which ornament at our yearly summer outing to the beach-side Christmas store. And I told her the story of this little fairy, who appeared on the tree when Sarah was just a year old. She had a rolled up note in her hand with the gift of a weekend's babysitting from my mother and a trip ...
Butternut Squash and Chicken Chili Because It’s Fall Y’all!
I had lunch the other day with some friends from England and we found ourselves talking about the long days of summer and the equally long nights of winter in that country. While they were all about loving the July and August evenings whose extra daylight hours keep the day alive until late in the night, I prefer the early darkness of fall and winter which gives me permission to sink into the cozy laziness of pajamas, tv and evening relaxation. For someone who enjoys the change of seasons so much, September and October were tinged with sadness for me when I lived in the tropical heat of ...
