A beautiful catch from western NC stream

     The first Saturday in June is like Christmas Day for fly fishermen.  That's when our friends Sally and Joe are awakened in the middle of the night, not by someone coming down the chimney, but by the headlights of pickups and SUVs, angling for a parking space along the dirt road that follows Helton Creek in Ashe County.  They're all trying to lay claim to the beautiful, deep pool by the rock, or under the hemlock where so many snagged flies hang like Christmas ornaments.

 "Just one more cast. . . ."

     So what's the excitement?  Aren't the rainbows, brookies or specks, and brownies - NC's beautiful mountain trout - there swimming and eluding fishermen all the time?  Yep.  But beginning Saturday, until October, fishermen can KEEP their catch, rather than having to catch and release.
     Do you know how sobering, how tempting it is to reel in a big one, and then have to let it go?  Knowing that it would fill up your frying pan but good?  It's enough to make a grown man cry, just like the younger boy did when he didn't get a racing bike or car keys one holiday.   I know the hubby has a tender heart, and he always says that he let the fish go to get bigger.  But I also know he's just made a promise to catch it again, when the controlled harvest regulations are lifted.

  COOKING TROUT
     The little brookies and brown trout that Steve has caught are throw-backs.  They are tiny, but fun to catch since they are so very elusive and wary.

Let's see, can I focus?

     But those rainbows, they can have some size to them.  That's a fulfilling day, to spend wading in a stream, have the thrill of reeling one of those big boys all the way in, and then having it grace your dinner plate.
     Trout can be lightly floured, then fried in a little butter and oil.  Throw in some subtle chopped herbs, salt and pepper to taste, and that's just mighty fine.
     Or, try the recipe that follows, shared with me by John and Julie Stehling, the lovely owners of one of my favorites, Early Girl Eatery in Asheville, for THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK.   I love to do trout this way, because you simply bake the trout, then top the fillets with a fresh blackberry and green tomato sauce.

At the farmers markets, no chiggers, no thorns.

     Some folks call the native wild blackberries "dewberries" and they're worth the chiggers.  Just wear long sleeves and pants, secured to your wrists and ankles!  And choose thickets, esp. those on the roadside, that have not possibly been sprayed.
     You'll find baskets upon baskets of fresh blackberries at area farmers markets soon.Many of the new varieties are named for Native Americans, like Arapaho, Kiowa, Navaho, and in keeping suit,  NCSU, named one of their research varieties  "Nantahala", like the river and area in western North Carolina.
      And if you can't catch your own, try for some fresh trout fillets at area markets, esp. those from Sunburst Trout in Canton, NC.
http://www.sunbursttrout.com/

RECIPE

(C) From THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK:  Authentic Recipes from VA's Highlands to NC's Mountains, by Elizabeth Wiegand, Globe Pequot Press, 2010.  

MOUNTAIN TROUT WITH GREEN TOMATO AND BLACKBERRY SAUCE

Trout with Green Tomatoes & Blackberry Sauce, from Early Girl Eatery

            Blackberry thickets grow along roads and mountainsides in the Blue Ridge, although you may avoid scratches and chiggers by purchasing gorgeous berries at local farmers markets.  Those cultured varieties are generally seedless and more plump without sacrificing flavor. 

            John and Julie Stehling have been leaders in the farm-to-table movement in the Asheville area.  “That relationship has to work both ways, with accountability and responsibility on both parts,” says John.  Many of the young farmers that supply Early Girl Eatery have become friends, sharing potlucks suppers with young kids racing around.   

            John features two favorite Blue Ridge foods – mountain trout and fresh blackberries – with this recipe.  The green tomato prevents the sauce from being overly sweet. 

1 green tomato

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon minced lemon zest

¾ cup sugar

pinch of ground cinnamon

pinch of ground nutmeg

¼ cup water

1 pint fresh blackberries

salt, to taste

4 trout filets, 5- ounces each

olive oil

1.     Core the green tomato and puree in blender or food processor.

2.     In non-stick saucepan, bring the puree to a low boil on medium heat.  Add lemon juice and zest, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and water.  Lower the heat and let simmer until the mixture is the thickness of a rich marinara.

3.     Remove from heat and gently stir in blackberries.  Add salt to taste.  Set aside while you prepare the trout.

4.     Preheat oven to 450°.  Lightly oil and salt both sides of the filets.

5.     Place trout on a rack over a baking pan and bake until fish is flaky, about 10 minutes per inch of thickness.

6.     Place baked trout filets on plate and top with sauce.

YIELD:  4 Servings

OCRACOKE & FRITTERS

Built in 1823, this simply beautiful lighthouse is the oldest operating beacon still operating in NC.

"OCRACOKE is at the end of the world," said my fellow diner at the lovely Dajio, (www.dajiorestaurant.com),  a relatively new restaurant nestled under live oak trees near Silver Lake's waterfront.  "I wanted to take my wife to  where there were no lights, no cities, just peace," he explained with a bit of Quebecois accent.  The satellite image on his GPS pointed him to a strip of darkness that took them three days of driving from Montreal to get to.  He was a happy man.  He had devoured a pair of soft shells, his wife toasted him with wine, and he was trying Ocracoke's famous fig cake.

The British Cemetery on Ocraocke, where four British sailors who washed up during WWII were buried by the islanders, following seamen's traditions.

AN INTERNATIONAL PORT

This Canadian couple was just one of several "foreigners" at Dajio's that night.  Another from Switzerland, another from Germany.  And for centuries, boats from all over the world have carefully made their way through the shoals leading to this tiny port.  Blackbeard, a native son turned pirate, met his demise there at the hands of a British captain, anxious to stop the looting of their royal ships. 

During World War II, four British sailors washed ashore in May of 1942, when a German submarine torpedoed the HMS Bedforeshire, a retrofitted fishing trawler that was helping the US ward off the U-boats preying on tankers and freighters along the East Coast.  None of the crew survived.  When two, then four bodies washed up on Ocracoke, the islanders buried them in a donated plot under live oaks.  That's what seamen do for each other, sort of a unwritten code.  Recently, the son of one of those men arrived in Ocracoke to commemorate those four sailors.

Arrive by ferry, park your car, then bike or hoof it around town.  Sweet.

 I arrived in Ocracoke to eat.  I'm revising THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK, and wanted to check out some new sources and gather some new tastes.  It's hard work.

Guess this rooster can't read the No Trespassing sign

Ocraoke is famous for its figs.  Over eleven varieties grow on this 14-mile stretch of sand, mostly in the village that surrounds the harbor, Silver Lake.  Late April, I was outta luck. I found out the homemade fig preserves, used to make their equally famous Fig Cake, go like hotcakes during the summer.  Woccocon, by the way, was the Native American name of this island.  I can see how Ocracoke sorta came out of that.

Fig preserves are sold out, but what's the fish emulsion for?

 At the Ocracoke Seafood Company, I found fresh clams, delivered by ClamDigger Jane.  She takes her skiff out into shallow waters surrounding the island, and tends to her leased bed where she continuously sows baby clams, then covers them with matting to ensure their harvest.  The matting keeps the skates at bay.
 The clams of Ocracoke are prized for their salty but sweet taste.  They grow in the ever flowing, cleaner waters of the Pamlico Sound, which is miles and miles wide at that point.  Back in the day, there was a clam factory in Ocracoke, where local young women worked for pennies, shucking clams and packing them into cans.

That got my mouth watering for some clams, steamed, and then in the clear chowder broth the Outer Banks is known for, and especially for clam fritters.

Clam fritters made in the Outer Banks style are more like pancakes than thicker hushpuppy style fritters.  And they are usually chock full of clams.  So here's the very traditional recipe that I used in THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK (by Elizabeth Wiegand, Globe Pequot Press, 2008).

Traditional OBX clam fritters

The recipe is rather simple:

About 1 1/2 to 2 cups chopped clams
1 beaten egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
about 1/2 cup flour
Optional:  a tablespoon of chopped fresh chives or parsley
Canola oil for frying

Drain the clams; reserve the juice.  Mix together the egg and seasonings, then add enough flour to hold the mixture together.  Add the clams, and stir.  Add more clam juice, or flour, whatever is needed to make a nice, thickened batter.
Heat enough oil in a heavy skillet, preferably cast iron, to cover the bottom well.  When hot, add spoonfuls of batter, and fry until golden brown.  Flip and brown again.  Place on paper towels to drain.
Serve with softened butter, or softened cream cheese or goat cheese, that's enhanced with herbs or honey.  Enjoy!

As renowned Southern chef and writer Virginia Willis says as she closes her blog and recipes, please be nice.  If you decide to use or copy or re-post, please be nice and give credit.  Thanks!

SPRING FEVER!

     

     Spring, oh spring, thank you! What a delightful beginning to the season of roadside stands and farmers markets.  What better way to soothe my sorrows from a dead computer?  It's taken a while to get out of the cyber doldrums and re-awaken my blog.  All it took was a stop at a roadside stand for purple and green asparagus cut from the ground this morning.  And a basket of strawberries that sent me into cyberspace myself!
     Isn't it amazing how the sight or smell of certain foods can send you so vividly traight back to childhood?  I thought I was going to get my hand slapped when I taste-tested a strawberry this week. As a kid, for one of my 4-H projects, I received 100 strawberry plants which my Daddy help me plant in the field right beside the house, behind the clothesline.  It was a sandy spot, not much good for anything other than turning the tractor around, but I planted those berries in the spring.  My instructions were to nip the blossoms off the plants when they bloomed, to bring on more berries the next year.  Drats!  I loved strawberries, and couldn't hardly stand the thought of waiting one more year.
     The next spring I had so many berries, bright red and juicy.  It was hard to pick a full bucket when I hit the berry patch, for I'd sit and eat my fill, toting the bucket half-full back to the house with juicy evidence dripping down my chin.
   
 A DIFFERENT TWIST FOR STRAWBERRIES  - CHOCOLATE PASTA!

    While in the Boone area this past fall, I picked up a package of The Pasta Wench's dried chocolate pasta.  Truly, CHOCOLATE.  Tastes like cocoa that's not overwhelming, and definitely visually interesting for a dessert. Check it out at The Pasta Wench.
     That chocolate pasta was a perfect backdrop for the sweet Camarosa strawberries I found at the farmers market this week.  The rest of the berries - at least those that survived the car ride home - will find their way into my morning granola, maybe some over ice cream, and some, well, eaten over the sink after a quick rinse!
     I look forward to more varieties of strawberries that will ripen later this spring.  Hum.....jam?  Freeze?  Will they make it that far in my kitchen?

ASPARAGUS
     My mother, who grew up in a rural area of Ontario, remembers how they'd pick wild asparagus that grew along the roadside ditches on her way home from school.  It's still one of her favorites.
     I can't decide which way I love asparagus better  - coated with olive oil and grilled or baked in a hot oven; barely steamed with butter; with crabmeat, butter and cheese over pasta; or with shrimp & grits.  I've sprinkled it with lemon zest and juice, and other times with a ribbon of boiled eggs pushed through a sieve over top.  And, how about, as a lot of chefs are doing now, barely steamed with a fried egg and crunches of crisp bacon on top?
    With just-picked asparagus, the less you do with it, the better.  Let its natural, crisp and rich flavor shine through.
     Got a favorite recipe?  Open a conversation here, please!

AND TO TOP OFF MY SPRING FEVER . . . . SOFT SHELLS!

     The exciting culmination of a trip to the Outer Banks for research was finding fresh soft shell crabs for sale at O'Neals Sea Harvest in Wanchese (www.onealsseaharvest.com/).  They've added a great cafe to the retail market. Turn off the main road at the huge old oak tree onto Harbor Drive.
     Soft shells are so easy to cook, after they are cleaned at the last minute.  I admit I always wait until the hubby is around to take care of that chore for me!
     Saute those babies in butter/olive oil combo then douse with lemon herbed butter, or, grill after coating them with butter and hot sauce.
     Need a recipe?  Check them out in THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK:  Recipes & Traditions from NC's Barrier Islands, by moi, Elizabeth Wiegand.

PI DAY

PI(E) DAY = 3/14, or as we non-mathematician, foodies see it, March 14th.

What exactly is "PI DAY"? 

     Pi is the Greek symbol used to show the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, which happens to be a mathematical constant of 3.1415926535 . . . . . . . , an infinite number computers can take to a trillion digits.  Remember that from school?

     The fact that it was voted in as a national holiday in 2009 is just too funny.  I think it was legislators looking for an excuse to have PIE, as in pizza pie, or apple pie, or whatever kind of pie.

    

"PIES AREN'T SQUARE, THEY'RE ROUND"

          And that joke comes from the equation used to find the area of a circle, using the radius, or diameter of the circle:  

A = PI R (squared)

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14TH is the day to celebrate!  So make a pie.....pumpkin, apple, or our fav, a chocolate pecan pie.   Get the lard out......or shortening..... and roll out your pastry.  Or, buy a pre-made crust.  I'm not proud, for they are mighty convenient.

     Just this week I made a Chocolate Pecan Pie for my youngest daughter, home for Spring Break.  Even though it has two ingredients I try to shy away from - corn syrup and sugar - it's one of the best pies ever and her favorite.  How often do we eat such an indulgence?  As Julia Child said, "Remember moderation."

   Here's the RECIPE:

Chocolate Pecan Pie

         CHOCOLATE PECAN PIE, (c) from THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK, by Elizabeth Wiegand, Globe Pequot Press, 2008.

             This is one of the most decadent pies, almost fudge-like, featuring two favorite ingredients – chocolate and pecans!

1 uncooked pie crust

1 cup corn syrup (light or dark)

¾ cup sugar

6 Tablespoons butter

3 large eggs

¼ teaspoon salt

4 to 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 tablespoons bourbon

2 ½ cups pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2.
2. Place corn syrup and sugar in small saucepan.  Stir together, then bring to a boil without stirring further.  Remove from heat, and add butter and chocolate and stir until both are melted and mixture is smooth. 
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs until frothy and add salt and bourbon.  Slowly whisk chocolate mixture into eggs, and stir until well blended.  Add pecans, and stir. 
4. Pour mixture into unbaked pie shell, smoothing pecans into filling.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes, or until filling is set in center.   

YIELD:  6 to 8 servings

ROASTING RAINBOWS

    Wish we could catch our own rainbow trout, but it's not that easy.  I've spent many a pleasant afternoon hiking up streams or planting myself by a flowing river, taking a nap or reading a book while the hubby casts over and over with high hopes of catching dinner.

    Not a bad way to spend a day, huh?




     And sometimes, we get lucky.  He gets the thrill of reeling one in, and I get the final thrill of a delicious fish for dinner.

     The rule is, he catches, he cleans, I cook.  I'm not into gutting anything!


     






Here's one of his prize catches last year, a brook trout, the only trout that's native to the Blue Ridge.

                                        
                                                                Native Brook Trout


Rainbows, that touted mountain trout, were originally imported to the Blue Ridge!

During the early 1900s, the Blue Ridge mountains were heavily timbered, so much so that the environment was decimated, with heavy soil erosion that ran into streams.  That killed much of the fish.

To make amends, the railroad company brought in trainloads of tanks loaded with rainbow trout from Idaho and Montana, to re-stock the streams of the Blue Ridge.  That's how rainbow trout became our "mountain" trout.  Today, trout farms have ponds where you can catch your own, or we can find rainbow trout in our groceries supplied by Sunburst Trout Farm near Canton, NC and others.

A RECIPE FOR YOU.......

Watch me prepare this recipe for pan-roasted trout with pecans on Daytime Blue Ridge  (click)  with host Natalie Faunce that we taped last week.  

And here's the recipe!

PECAN-ENCRUSTED RAINBOW TROUT  adapted from THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK, by Elizabeth Wiegand, Globe-Pequot Press, 2010.

            Fly fishermen love to practice their casts in the wild streams of the Blue Ridge, where rainbow trout are often stocked.  Or, try catching your own at a trout farm.  Rainbow trout filets are available at most seafood counters.  This is a simple and quick preparation, so have all ingredients ready to go, as well as your side dishes that you'll be serving along with the trout.

4 fillets of rainbow trout - about 4 to 5 ounces each (sea trout is good, too)

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup cornmeal

1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt

1 egg

2 tablespoons milk or buttermilk

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

2 tablespoons minced fresh herbs – choose lemon thyme, regular thyme, parsley, chives or a combination

2 to 3 Tablespoons butter and 2 to 3 Tablespoons olive oil OR 4 tablespoons canola oil

juice of one lemon

1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash trout and pat dry.  

2.     Mix flour, cornmeal and salt together on a plate or in a shallow bowl.  In another shallow bowl, whisk together egg and milk.  And in a third shallow bowl or plate, mix the pecans and herbs together.

3.     Press fillets in  the flour mixture on each side, lift, then knock away coating until just a thin haze of the flour/cornmeal is left.  Dip just the skinless side into the egg mixture, then press that side into the pecan mixture. 

4.     In a large, ovenproof sauté pan, (or use 2 pans if filets are large), melt butter and add olive oil, or just heat the canola oil, over medium high heat.  

5.     When hot enough to make a sizzle with water droplets, add trout, skin side up, and sauté for about 2 to 3 minutes, depending on thickness.  Turn fillets over, and saute for another 2 to 3 minutes.  

6.     Slide sauté pans into oven to finish cooking, for about 3 minutes, or until the trout flakes easily with a fork.  Sprinkle with lemon juice and serve immediately.

SERVINGS:  4

THYME WASTED, NEED SAGE ADVICE

      No use crying over spilled milk, or broken water pipes that flooded my herb garden and required it being dug up to find the leak.

     Gone are the thyme, chives, rosemary and thyme that had been happily growing here for over a dozen years.  The well-worked soil embellished with compost is now laden with chunks of thick red clay, pounded and smoothed by the worker on his mighty little backhoe, thinking he was doing me a favor.

     Happiness once was tripping out to this little herb garden with scissors in hand to snip a sprig or two for whatever was cooking on the stove.

     Woe is me!

   

Starting from scratch, once again, I'm goin' to rebuild this sucker.  You see I've spread a layer of leaves I chipped up with the mower.  I'll work that in, as well as another layer of compost and more leaves, to help enrich the soil and give it some air and volume.  Again, I'll try to do this organically.  

     Below is my spinning composter.  It keeps the raccoons, squirrels and deer out, but doesn't do a great job over the long haul.  I find it difficult to remove the "black gold," that great dark, aged composted material that's ready to go to work, from the new kitchen scraps I add just about daily.    And, I found water had leaked in, so I've had to deal with a very wet mixture.  Help!  

    One of my upright rosemary plants seems to be surviving its holiday in a pot, and the bay tree seems to be thriving in its new potted home.  But I want to to find thyme that I don't have to wait on.  Okay, I know, a bad pun.  But you get my drift....I want mature plants that I can start cutting on fairly quickly.
     I plan a trip down to Sanford to Big Bloomers, and to Logan's in Raleigh.
     Any other garden shops I should check out in the VA/NC/SC area where I'd find a great variety of herbs and perennials?  Please send me your advice and suggestions via email!
      I could use some sage advice!

QUICK LENTIL STEW

          A Quick Stew seems to be a bit of an oxymoron, doesn't it?  Yet, this lentil stew can be pulled together within an hour, which, all things considered, is not that long.  This stew is built by adding that holy trinity of flavors - onions, carrots and garlic.

Get it going with a quick chop of onions, then while they're cooking, chop the carrots.  After adding them, work on peeling and chopping just two potatoes.  Mince the garlic.  Then add those along with the stock and lentils.  Don't forget to stir in the cumin, salt and pepper at this point.

     Pour yourself a glass of wine, and sip.  We enjoyed a mellow old vine zin with this meal, but a tempranillo or pinot noir would work.  Take a deep breath over the pot, and get a good whiff of the cumin.  Relax, dinner is almost done.
     While you're waiting about 15 minutes for the lentils and potatoes to become tender, cut up the broccoli into small florets.  And if you're doing the sausage version, cut those into bite-sized pieces.

Sip some more wine.  Taste a sample of the stew.  Are the lentils tender? Are the potatoes beginning to break up when pierced with a fork?  Then it's time to add the broccoli and sausage to the pot.  Stir them in, and wait another five minutes until they're heated through.
Meanwhile, chop up a couple of tablespoons of parsley.  This will sharpen up the flavors of the stew, and add more green contrast.  You eat with your eyes as well as your taste and smell, remember.
At the last minute before serving, stir in that chopped parsley.
This is a meal all by itself, but a simple green salad makes a lovely accompaniment.

Wanna see my video from Roanoke's WSLS10 DAYTIME BLUE RIDGE, on making this stew?  Click here
Recipe below.

RED LENTIL AND VEGETABLE STEW adapted from THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK, by Elizabeth Wiegand

            At Basic Necessities, a quaint bistro and market in Nellysford, VA, chef Sally Justice makes vegetarian dishes that have quite a following, especially among the skiers at nearby Wintergreen Resort, says owner Kay Pfaltz.

            I’ve added spicy chicken sausages, and use chicken stock, to make a hearty meal.  You can go completely vegetarian, like Basic Necessities, by omitting the meat and using vegetable stock or bouillon cubes with water.

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 large carrot, halved lengthwise and sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

5 cups chicken stock (Or use 32 ounces with 1 cup water)

1¼ cups dried red lentils, picked through and rinsed thoroughly

2 medium potatoes, cut into ½” cubes

1 cup broccoli

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried

1 teaspoon salt

freshly group pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon cumin

½ pound kielbasa or spicy chicken sausage

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1.     Heat olive oil in large pot, and sauté onions over low heat for about 10 minutes. 

2.     Add carrots, and sauté for another five minutes.  Stir in garlic and be careful not to burn.

3.     Add chicken stock to the pot and turn heat to medium high.

4.     Add lentils; stir.  Add cubed potatoes to the pot and bring mixture to a boil.

Stir in thyme, salt and cumin.

5.     Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes, until potatoes and carrots are almost cooked and lentils are tender.  Add sausages and broccoli, and continue to cook until sausages are heated through, about another five to 10 minutes.

6.     Stir in parsley, and serve hot.

YIELD:  4 to 5 Servings