Carolina Foodie

QUICK LENTIL STEW

2012-01-23T16:59:00.000-05:00

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 RIDGECOOKBOOK, by Elizabeth Wiegand

AtBasic Necessities, a quaint bistro and market in Nellysford, VA, chef SallyJustice makes vegetarian dishes that have quite a following, especially amongthe skiers at nearby Wintergreen Resort, says owner Kay Pfaltz.

I’veadded spicy chicken sausages, and use chicken stock, to make a heartymeal. You can go completelyvegetarian, like Basic Necessities, by omitting the meat and using vegetablestock 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 rinsedthoroughly

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 overlow heat for about 10 minutes.

2. Add carrots, and sauté for another fiveminutes. Stir in garlic and becareful not to burn.

3. Add chicken stock to the pot and turn heat tomedium 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 15minutes, until potatoes and carrots are almost cooked and lentils aretender. Add sausages and broccoli,and continue to cook until sausages are heated through, about another five to10 minutes.

6. Stir in parsley, and serve hot.

YIELD: 4 to 5Servings

SWAN LAKE & OYSTERS - A GREAT, LOCAL HOLIDAY TREAT

2011-12-29T19:22:00.000-05:00

Tundra Swans at Lake Mattamuskeet, Down East, NC

During the Holidays, many of us are treated to performances of Swan Lake, the classic ballet, followed perhaps by champagne and oysters on the half-shell.

Down East, you can have a more down-home winter's treat of Swan Lake and oysters, too. I prefer nature's version at the Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge, where at least one hundred thousand and more tundra swans congregate from December to mid-February to put on quite a show. You'll also find them at the nearby Pungo Lake and at the Pea Island refuge just over the Oregon Inlet bridge.

These gorgeous and huge beauties fly in from their summer holidays in Alaska, and spend cold, wintry months in what they must consider hog heaven, feeding in the shallow waters of these lakes that might have been formed by meteorites. They're noisy, honking constantly when not grooming or dunking their heads to eat. Canadian geese and a variety of ducks also spend the winter here.

The swans also like to feed in the vast fields of winter cover crops sown in the black, fertile soil of the flatlands of NC's Down East. So, many farmers consider them royal pests who eat the grains they sow.

This is also where the US Navy wanted to put their Outlying Landing Field so that jet pilots could practice their stop and goes. I thought it fitting that during one of the demo flights to show the efficacy of this area, a Navy pilot had to abort a flight because of contact with these swans and Canadian geese in flight. Thank heavens, the plan itself has been aborted.

At sunset, the swans honk and start walking on the water for take-off, flapping their wings and finally taking flight, finding their night-time resting spots along the Pamlico Sound and other spots out of the wind.

After hiking around to find the best viewing of the swans on the water, we had built up an appetite. And that's a good thing, as Martha loves to say, for we were also in hog heaven, in oyster country. So at the dimming of the day, we continued our trek east on HWY 264, past humongous black fields dotted with escaped tufts of white cotton, to the tiny village of Engelhard.

"Stumpy Point is the best source of oysters in the Pamlico Sound, right?" I asked the fellow steaming a peck of fresh oysters at the Oyster Bar at Martell's Feed House.

"That's what they like to say," he said, an earnest look on his face. "We claim these here are the best, from right out there," he said, pointing over his shoulder.

"Rose Bay?" I asked, having stopped at the oyster processing plant on HWY 264 on our way to the lake. Rose Bay, right next to salt marsh on the sound's edge, used to be famous for their salty, tasty oysters they harvested from the Pamlico Sound. And just a few decades ago, they had competition from many other oyster houses that lined this section of our coast. But then, storms and pollution, in the form of farm run-offs and fresh water from the huge drainage canals and ditches near those lakes and the pocosin swamps, and over-harvesting, all worked together to decimate the oyster industry along the Pamlico Sound.

Amends have been made, with more conscious farming techniques, and the building up of reefs and oyster farms. During the last couple of years, oysters have make a comeback in NC waters. Hallelujah! Rose Bay Oysters are back.

"So where is out there?" I asked when my shucker shook his head to Rose Bay. Gull Rock, a hump in the sound, sorta near the route the ferry takes from Swan Quarter over to Ocracoke, he explained. Just over there, across those fields, he said, pointing. I reckon you can call THAT "local"!

"There was a build up of oyster shells where folks used to dump the shells, you know, to make it so there were more oysters." Over the years, hurricanes and nor'easters swept the heaps of shells away, he explained. But the water bottom had been recently leased, the oyster reef re-built, and oysters were making their comeback in the area.

Fresh steamed oysters shucked at Martell's Feed House in Englehard

He brought a huge peck of steamed oysters to the counter where we were sitting, and began to shuck them, ladling them gently into our shallow dish. We dipped those tender babies in melted butter and warm cocktail sauce, and popped them in our mouths. A faint taste of salt, just right. OMG. They were firm, like really, really fresh oysters should be. There was that oyster taste, the best I had experienced. Those Gull Rocks were absolutely rocking.

"Yeh," he said with a trace of that Outer Banks Elizabethan accent, "these oysters were in the water this morning," and shook his head. He talked about how the 4 a.m. start to his day on the water collecting oysters got to be too much for him, so he became a lineman for the power company instead. And he no longers eats oysters. Because? "I just got sick of oysters," he said, shaking his head. "Too many in my life."

NOT ME! Bring on another peck, we said, and proceeded to slurp every single one of them down. How often do we get day-old, fresh oysters plucked from the waters of NC? Now that was a holiday treat.

The Oyster Bar at Martell's Feed House in Englehard is open Tues through Sun during bear and duck hunting seasons. . . . meaning, the cold winter months when oysters are really, really good. Go get a peck!

A GREAT NEW YEAR'S RECIPE - Try to score some fresh NC oysters of your own, and use this simple recipe to enjoy them. No steaming required!

ANGELS ON HORSEBACK

Thisappetizer is so named because of how the oyster curls against the bacon whencooked. A traditional savory fromEngland, where ”rashers” wrapped around oysters are served on toast points,it’s also known as Oysters en Brochette in New Orleans. Since oysters are plentiful inthe sounds surrounding the Outer Banks, it seems a natural tribute to theWinged Horses scattered throughout these sand banks.

12 slices bacon, divided in half

1 pint shucked oysters, or 2 dozenraw, in shell

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper or ½teaspoon hot sauce, like Tabasco or Texas Pete

½ teaspoon salt

1 clove garlic, minced

toothpicks or skewers

In a large skillet, lightly cook bacon over medium heat until just translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes. (Partially cooking the bacon will help keep the oysters from overcooking.)
Drain shucked oysters, or if using raw, open oysters, retain juice and shells.
In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, cayenne pepper or hot sauce, salt and garlic and oyster juice from shells. Add the oysters and toss to coat. Marinate for 10 minutes.
Preheat broiler.
If using pre-shucked oysters, line a baking sheet with foil, then place metal rack on top. If you have the shells, rinse and settle the largest half shells in crumpled foil on baking sheet.
Roll each halved bacon slice around an oyster. Secure with toothpick or skewer, and place each on the rack or on a shell.
Place under broiler, and cook until bacon is crisp and the edges of the oysters have curled, turning once to cook both sides evenly. Serve immediately on toast points or fresh spinach dressed lightly with lemon and olive oil.

YIELD: 6 TO 8 appetizers – makes two dozen

SWEET POTATO BISCUITS....Well, just shut my mouth!

2011-10-13T18:12:00.003-04:00

Perhaps Stephanie and Vivian, chef and proprietors of Sweet Potatoes (well shut my mouth!!) will forgive me for using a portion of their restaurant's name, but I just couldn't help myself. With a name like that, don't you just want to make the trip to Winston-Salem and check them out? (336) 727-4844 529 Trade St. I met them recently at a foodie event, and loved hearing about their menu and their efforts to honor foods that they grew up with. Stephanie says she bakes hundreds of sweet potatoes a day!

I love sweet potatoes....baked whole, french-fried, oven-roasted, made into a pie, and especially into biscuits. These sweet and savory biscuits are perfect with butter, or perhaps sourwood honey, or apple butter, and especially with country ham.

This recipe is simple, and was shared with me by Early Girl Eatery in Asheville, for THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK. The recipe is EASY, and the biscuits will turn out tender and thick if you follow these simple directions. Only two things you have to remember: One, don't overwork the dough. It's like if you overwork a cook, she gets tough. Secondly, when you cut out the rounds with the biscuit cutter, don't twist to remove them. When you twist, it seals the dough and they're less likely to rise.

And really, there's a third thing to remember. Let the biscuits cool just a bit before taking a bite, otherwise you'll burn your tongue!

First order of business is to cook a large sweet potato. You can pierce it with a fork or knife tip, then microwave on high for about 5 or so minutes. Or bake, wrapped in or under foil for about 45 minutes to an hour. You might just as well cook 3 or 4 at a time to have on hand!

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly butter a large baking sheet.

Measure 1 2/3 cups flour into a large work bowl. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Then 2 1/2 teaspoons baking POWDER. And for a touch of sweetness, 1 tablespoon packed with brown sugar. Stir it up with a fork or the pastry cutter.

Cut 6 tablespoons of cold butter into tiny cubes. Add to the flour mixture, and work it into the flour until the mixture sorta looks like cornmeal, or no big globs of butter remain. If you don't have a pastry cutter, use two forks to crisscross and cut the butter into the flour. Or, just use your clean fingers to mash the butter in.

Peel the cooked sweet potato and mash it with a fork. You should have anywhere from 3/4 to a cup.
Add that to the flour/butter, along with 1/4 cup half & half. This is when you do NOT overwork the dough. Just sorta get it to clump together.

Sprinkle your work surface with flour. Rub your hands with flour. Dump the dough out, and knead or push the mixture together, folding, only SIX times. Make sure the last time you fold it over that there's plenty of flour under the dough.

With your hands, shape the dough into a circle that's about 1 1/2 inch thick.

I like to use a smaller biscuit cutter, 2 inches or less. Place some flour into a small dish. Cut out the biscuits, remembering to dip the cutter into flour EACH TIME BEFORE you cut. The dough will be less likely to stick that way. Gently form the scraps into rounds.

Place biscuits on baking sheet, and bake for about 10 minutes. They should be a bit more golden in color and firm to the touch. You may want to check their bottoms to make sure they are not turning black.

Allow to cool for just a bit, then serve. And they're actually good the next day, too, as long as they've been stored tightly from the air.

After testing several batches of these
biscuits, I needed to work off some extra calories. A hike to Bed Rock? I could have taken a nap like a lizard in the sun, looking out over the Blue Ridge at Beacon Heights across the BR Parkway from Grandfather's Mountain last week. Gorgeous view and colors!

DRIVING2EAT

2011-09-28T20:40:00.000-04:00

DRIVING2EAT

Destination Dining.....you know, when you don't care how long it takes to get there or about the long drive home, because the meal itself just rocks all your primary senses, and the scene and the setting compound the outstanding flavors. And more than likely, the chosen menu items are local and seasonal, cooked in a slow or at least a soulful way.

DRIVING2EAT is not a crazy thing to do. Edible adventures are extremely satisfying, in more ways than just solving your hunger game.

So, every now and then, Carolina Foodie is going to take you on a road trip to a very special place to eat. Grab your keys, gas up the car, and get hungry.

PEEP'n EAT ON THE BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

Leaf peepers are out in droves onthe Blue Ridge Parkway during the colorful fall months. Cars snake down the spine of thesesouthern Appalachian mountains, some times bumper to bumper with painfully slowrubberneckers. Reds and golds dominate, while rocks, waterfalls and mountain silhouettes delight even the most impatient drivers.

Then the hunger games begin, and there are only a few dinner options to play.

You can enjoy a delightful picnic at a gorgeous overlook, not a bad option if you planned ahead and packed some gourmet goodies. But it does get dark earlier now, and chilly, too.

Or, you can settle for someordinary fried chicken and mountain trout, along with long wait lines and eccentric waitstaff at thefew restaurants that are actually located on the parkway itself. We once had an elderly waitress tell us at 7:15 pm that if we wanted the trout, she'd have to stand there and watch us eat it, or we could just order that fried chicken that's sitting right there ready to go because the restaurant closed at 7:30. Yes ma'am.

Or, you can exit the parkway at severaltouristy crossroads, and again, face few options beyond the standard, ho-humfare.

Or, be a winner in the hunger games and follow this locavore’s lead tosome pretty good restaurants that rank as edible destinations all by themselves, with theBlue Ridge Parkway just a colorful way to get there.

And that's a winning combination in this Southern part of heaven - a marvelous meal and adramatic drive. There are even motels nearby. Just make sure youphone ahead for reservations for both.

THE NORTHERN HALF

If you startat the northern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, up near the Charlottesville, VAarea, head down and around Roanoke, VA, which will take you a good day,especially if you stop and take a gander, and maybe lunch, at Peaks of Otter.

NearMile Post 160 at Tuggles Gap, head west on Route 8 to funky Floyd, a one-stoplight town with a couple ofgreat places to eat.

Natasha's Market Cafe, 227 North Locust Street, 540 745-2450, is above a great gourmet type market, Harvest Moon. Natasha, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, worked as a chef in several places before settling in this SW Virginia community. Try goat cheese truffles, zucchini pancakes, or pasture-raised beef brisket slowly braised to melt in your mouth. Seventy-five percent of her food is sourced from local and organic farms, and from the coast of VA and NC.

Oddfellows Cantina, 110A North Locust Street, 540 745-3463, like it's name suggests, features casual but gourmet with a bit of a southwestern flair. They too, pride themselves on using local and seasonal foods. Some nights you can catch a great musical performance of progressive bluegrass, blues, Latin or Irish music.

NC'S BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

Blowing Rock, okay, yeah, it's a touristy town. But it's still got that old time charm, and Jimmy Crippens will use lots of his charm welcoming you into his namesake inn and restaurant, Crippen's, 239 Sunset Drive, 828 295-3487. A new chef, Stan Chamberlain, grew up in these mountains, and takes the food he cut his teeth on, like collards and trout, and gives them a creative contemporary twist. Plus there's foie gras and tuna and other delectables not necessarily Appalachian but definitely prepared with Southern polish. Some of the produce and herbs comes straight from Jimmy and wife Carolyn's farm garden.
In between Linville Falls and Crabtree Meadows, head west to Spruce Pine, an old railroad town that's on the bank of the Toe River. Down on the lower street you'll find Knife & Fork, a surprising little gem of a place at 61 Locust St., 828 765-1511. Chef Nate Allen won the Small-Town Chef Award from Cooking Light magazine, and Western North Carolina's Chef Challenge this year, then placed third in NC's Best Dish Contest, and in my book, is one of the best chefs around. He and wife Wendy Gardner decided to leave the star-studded but stressful L.A. area where he'd successfully cooked for ten years, and return to their home state. To Spruce Pines, population of about 2,000, that perhaps never gave up that farm-to-table status. You'll find rabbit, house-made bratwurst, and yes trout, but it's been house-smoked, among a very diverse menu.

LAMBTASTIC!

2011-08-24T13:25:00.007-04:00

Border Springs Farm photo credit Mike Saurez

WISH EWE WERE HERE....

Shepherd. Lamb fanatic. Owner of a thousand acres of Southern Heaven within the shadow of the Blue Ridge. A bon vivante whose contact list includes the who's who of chefs from the Mississippi to New York City. That's Craig Rogers, former Dean of Engineering, CEO of his own startup, now owner of Border Springs Farm in Patrick County, VA.

Once a year, Craig welcomes chefs, food artisans, writers, foodies and other professional fans of lamb to his Border Springs Farm for a three day orgy he calls LAMBSTOCK. Think Woodstock with music under a bandstand, yes, but more importantly, as a humongous picnic that allows you to gorge yourself with tender, succulent lamb prepared by some of the nations top chefs.

This year, George Mendes of Aldea in New York City, one of Food & Wines Best New Chefs; Sean Brock of HUSK, winner of the James Beard Best Chef in the Southeast; John Currence of City Grocery in Oxford, Miss, another contender for that award; and other big name chefs brought their staff and RVs or tents, slept in the sheep pastures and then for three days prepared lamb for our tasting.

EWE'RE HOT . . . . .COUNTING SHEEP. . . . BAAAAAD TO THE BONE (thanks to the American Lamb Board)

Here are a few things we tasted:

Lamb roasted on a spit supervised by Angelo Vangelopoulos of The Ivy Inn in Charlottesville.

Lamb tacos with a smoking hot adobe sauce, salsas. . . and did I mention freshly rolled, pressed on the spot, then grilled tortillas?

Lamb burgers, grilled with freshly made tomato catsup and homemade mustard.

Lamb posole, a spicy stew with hominy, salsa and fatback chips.

An older lamb, a whole splayed mutton, slowly grilled to 190 degrees like a whole hog, for a lamb pickin' by Jimmy Hagood, who owns the Que-osk in the newly opened Charleston Market. www.foodforthesouthernsoul.com

Clams with lamb? You bet, with Rappahannock River Oysters, too.

And to balance the menu, there was gazpacho, and collards, and more collards, and roasted tomatoes . . . .

And dessert? Cookies and a gorgeous coconut cake.

Lime curd, Lemon Curd and a Coconut Paste separate the layers of this Coconut Cake.

FOR THE LOVE OF LAMB, A RECIPE FOR YOU

Here's the recipe for Lamb Burgers that Craig Rogers shared with me for THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK, by Elizabeth Wiegand, Globe Pequot Press, 2010. (c) Please be nice and give credit.

BORDER SPRINGS FARM LAMB BURGERS

Craig Rogers loves to wax poetic about his Texel sheep and lambs, and the Border Collies he trains to keep them in line at Border Springs Farm. These lamb burgers are the very best you’ll ever taste, he says. The mayonnaise provides an exquisite, finishing touch. “Leave the catsup and mustard in the refrigerator in you want to enjoy a true, farm fresh burger,” he says.

FOR HOMEMADE MAYONNAISE WITH A TWIST

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 pinch sea salt

¼ teaspoon pepper, freshly ground

¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 egg, large, fresh from the hen

1 cup olive oil

Optional: 2 teaspoons dill, finely chopped and 1/3 cup feta cheese, OR, 2 teaspoons mint and 2 teaspoons rosemary, both finely chopped

1. In a medium bowl, mix the red wine vinegar, lemon juice, sea salt, pepper, Dijon mustard and egg together well, using a whisk or egg-beaters (or a blender).

2. Very slowly add the olive oil while mixing vigorously or pureeing in the blender. The final product should be whipped-cream smooth and firm.

3. To add a twist try folding in your favorite herbs and cheese once the mayonnaise is complete.

a. For one variation try: 2 teaspoons dill, finely chopped and ⅓ cup feta cheese, crumbled. The dill adds some pizzazz and the feta a nice texture.

b. For another twist try: 2 teaspoons mint, finely chopped and 2 teaspoons rosemary, finely chopped.

4. Let the mayonnaise rest in the refrigerator for an hour before serving to allow the flavors to set.

FOR LAMB BURGERS:

2 pounds ground lamb

1 onion, finely chopped

½ cup fresh mint, chopped

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 eggs, large, fresh from the hen

½ teaspoon red chilies, crushed

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cumin, ground

1 teaspoon coriander seed, ground

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground

Homemade Mayonnaise with a Twist (as above)

6 Buns

Sliced tomatoes and onions, optional

1. Prepare charcoal or preheat gas grill.

2. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients well.

3. Form 6 burger patties from the mixture.

4. Grill slowly, for approximately 20 minutes. Leave the middle medium rare or to taste.

5. Serve on a good bun, with homemade mayonnaise, a slice of garden fresh tomato and onion.

YIELD: 6 Servings

BOAT-TO-TABLE FRESH with THE PASTA WENCH

2011-08-12T15:59:00.005-04:00

LOCAL SEAFOOD

Hey, it's beginning to happen here in the South, just like in metro areas such as New York City - fish and other seafood that were swimming in the ocean yesterday can land on our plates today, even on our tables at home.

It's the latest trend to hit the Fresh and Local scene. Shrimp, clams, crab and fish get loaded onto refrigerated trucks as soon as the boats hit the dock, and take a cold ride to inland farmers markets for lucky consumers like myself in Raleigh. Many CFAs, that's community supported fisheries similar to the CSAs that provide produce fresh from the farm, also give lucky subscribers boxes laden with the fresh catch of the week.

I've talked before about several of these fishermen-based co-ops, like Core Sound Seafood, www.coresoundseafood.org, based out of the Morehead City area, and also Walking Fish, www.walking-fish.org, a CFA that provides central NC customers with fresh seafood.

This Wednesday, I discovered LOCALS SEAFOOD, www.localsseafood.com at Raleigh's Downtown Farmers Market. They offered ice chests laden with tuna, mackerel and other fish. Shrimp was from Dare County, in the northern Outer Banks. The shrimp were huge and as fresh as could be, so two pounds went home with us.

Recipes started stirring in my head, esp. after I remembered some locally made dried tomato and basil pasta I had brought home from the farmers market at the Mast General Store in Valle Crucis. In fact, the fresh basil growing on the deck and tomatoes, fresh from our little garden, would be perfect paired with that pasta. And a nice wedge of crusty sourdough bread from La Farm Bakery's stand across the way would be perfect, too. A baby watermelon cut into chunks, sprinkled with almonds and basil, and feta? A perfect salad.

Yum, dinner was on the way!

THE PASTA WENCH

Fresh pasta is just, well, awesome. And business is awesome for THE PASTA WENCH, a home-grown business out of Boone. Andrea's Organics is their farm that provides seasonal and sustainable veggies and herbs for the fresh pasta made in small, artisanal batches. In fact, the company boasts that 85% of ingredients used for ravioli, fettucini and other pastas are from North Carolina organic growers.

Just recently, the pasta production was moved from the dining room to a large business facility, after contracts were made with Whole Foods and a few other stores. You can still find THE PASTA WENCH products at many farmers markets from the mountains to the sea, from Boone to the Wilmington area. Check them out at www.pastawench.com.

RECIPE *** SHRIMP with Tomatoes, Fresh Corn and Basil ***

I love mixing it up with fresh shrimp, adding whatever may be in season or in my pantry, like the few ears of fresh corn in the fridge. So I cut the corn from a few cobs to add even more taste to this awesome pasta dish.

And here's a handy hint I just read about myself: Get out a bundt cake pan or what I call a pound cake pan, the one with a hole in the middle. Place the cob on top of the "hole", and when you cut the kernels away from the cob, they'll fall into the cake pan rather than go all over your counter. Works like a charm!

As usual, it's best to have all your ingredients prepped and chopped and ready to go, because this recipe comes together fast. So go ahead and start to heat up the water for the pasta, and chop away!

SHRIMP with Tomatoes, Fresh Corn and Basil

9 to 12 ounces fettuccine, dried or fresh

1 small to medium onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined, washed and patted dry

3 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Optional:

1 cup of fresh corn kernels

handful of cherry tomatoes, cut in half, or a handful of sun-dried tomatoes

2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or parsley

1. Put a large pot of water on to boil for the pasta. While preparing shrimp, add pasta to boiling water and cook for the recommended amount of time. Pull out one strand and taste to see if done. Drain and set aside.

2. Add olive oil to a large saute pan, and add onions. Cook over low heat until onions are tender. Add garlic, and stir for about a minute.

3. Increase heat to medium, and add shrimp and butter, and corn if using, and stir frequently, until shrimp are pink and firm. Season with the Old Bay and salt and pepper. Add tomatoes, if using, and stir to heat through.

4. Sprinkle the basil or parsley over the pasta just before serving. Spread a mound of pasta on each plate, then spoon the shrimp mix over.

4 to 6 servings

As usual, be nice and give credit for this recipe to Elizabeth Wiegand, CarolinaFoodie, 2011.

GO TOUR A FARM!

2011-08-03T15:53:00.004-04:00

A baby goat being held during the 2010 Farm Tour at Horse Helpers at Wisteria Farm

You, too, can pet a goat or llama, get crowed by a rooster or clucked by a hen, or talk with a farmer about her sustainable methods of collecting and using rainwater or growing vertical tomatoes.

This coming weekend, August 6th and 7th, is the Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture's annual Farm Tour. Each afternoon, from 2 to 6, you can get up close and personal with farm animals, take in farming methods, and see some gorgeous countryside. There are even suggested bike routes to take in some of the farms. Here's the link.

http://www.brwia.org/node/479

The Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture is such a fantastic organization. Made up by women, and for women, in agriculture, the proceeds from this farm tour will help provide women farmers in the High Country with resources and educational programs.

And besides, this farm tour is a great way to spend a weekend, whether you've got kids you want to educate or if it's just yourself you want to entertain.

Spring House Farm

FAVORITES FROM PAST TOURS

I've visited most of these farms during past tours, and many of them wound up in stories or with recipes in my book, THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK.

Favorites?

It seemed as though we were driving to the top of the world as we wound our way up the steep and narrow drive to Big Horse Creek Farm, but oh, was the view alone worth it. Ron and Suzanne Joyner will delight you with their story of finding, saving and propagating heirloom varieties of apples, some of which would have died out if not for their efforts. The windmill and battery banks produce enough electricity for them to be "off the grid." And, they'll have some organic veggies and fruits for sale.

This year, I'm anxious to see Sally's new hoop-house and passive solar greenhouse used for growing and propagating heirloom tomatoes at Zydeco Moon Farm. Hang on for a fun but bumpy wagon ride to the top of the hill where they've got a field with a view. She and Joe will also have quite a variety of heirlooms for sale.

Hens gather at the Trailer Park(ed) at ASU's Goodnight Farm

Students will show you around the ASU Goodnight Sustainable teaching farm. I learned new things about garlic and egg production last year.

Charles Church has been farming the Watauga River valley for over 50 years

Charles Church is a delightful farmer, who ten years ago proved you could teach an old dog some new tricks when he switched from growing tobacco to growing organic foods. Purslane, beets, potatoes and some absolutely delightful spicy sausage made their way into my ice chest last year. Ask him to sign his own recipe for kohlrabi he contributed to THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK.

Maverick Farms provides an alternative, communal way of farming and during the last three years has established a CSA program with a few other farms. They've got a beautiful spot and usually have some good baked goods and homemade, organic pizza for sale.

The "Tunnel" at Tumbling Shoals Farm

And a little away from the Boone area is Tumbling Shoals Farm, where Shiloh and Jason are transforming a beautiful little valley into an organic oasis. AS former Peace Corps workers, they are used to hard work and being innovative. I enjoyed learning about the unheated high tunnels they use to grow tomatoes and other organic veggies, and the unorthodox use of rain gutters as a vessel for planting seeds in the passive solar greenhouse.

And I could go on and on, but you should go on yourself! Farm tours are a delightful way to see first hand the efforts it takes to bring good food to our tables. And, it's educational!

WHEN YOU GO

Be sensible. It's going to be hot, so wear protective clothing, a hat, and sunscreen. Take along some water, too.

Wear sensible shoes. Flip flops are not very good to walk in fields or rocky paths.

Mind your manners, and keep kids under control.

Note the visiting hours - two to six. Don't go early, and don't stay late. These are tired, working folks who may have been up since dawn to do the farmers market, or tend to animals.

Take some cash, and a cooler, to take home some of the wholesome, home grown food you'll find available at most farms. You can't get much fresher than that!

Tickets are available at each of the farms, or at The Mast General Store in Valle Crucis, Stick Boy Bakery or Earth Fare in Boone, and a few other retail outlets. For questions, call 828 264-3061 or email at contactbrwia@gmail.com

RECIPE

Here's a favorite from THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK, by Elizabeth Wiegand, 2010, Globe Pequot Press, (c) contributed by Shiloh Avery of Tumbling Shoals Farm. It's perfect for this hot weather, requiring little heating up of the kitchen!

CREAMY SUNGOLD PASTA
As consumers, we are admonished to get to know who grows our food. Shiloh says that works both ways. “Real people with real faces and lives make me the farmer care about what I’m feeding them!” she writes in a monthly newsletter.

2 tablespoons butter

6 to 8 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

3 cups sungold tomatoes, cut in half

2/3 cup heavy cream

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined (optional)

½ cup (packed) fresh basil, chopped

fettuccine pasta

Romano or Parmesan cheese to taste

1. Boil water for pasta. Add fettuccine when a rapid boil is reached. Cook and drain

2. Heat butter in a large pan. Sauté the garlic, being careful not to burn.

3. Add salt, pepper and halved tomatoes, allowing the tomatoes to “wilt” for a few minutes.

4. Add cream and cook gently, allowing the sauce to thicken.

5. When sauce is to your liking, add peeled shrimp directly to the simmering cream sauce. The shrimp will cook fast, so wait until the end to add them.

6. Add basil.

7. Mix with drained pasta, serve in bowls, and top with freshly grated Romano or Parmesan.

YIELD: 4 servings

LOBSTER ROLLS vs SHRIMP BURGERS

2011-07-11T14:26:00.008-04:00

So what happens when you take a Carolina girl as far north as you can go before you're out of the country, and as far east as the Atlantic allows?

You get comments like "Those look like crab pots." Or "We've got fish shacks like that." "Wonder how many up here have tasted Shrimp Burgers?"

We were in the Land of the Lobster Roll, traveling the coast of Maine, where a daily intake of lobster is required - not a hard regimen to follow at all. I can probably tell you where you can get the bestest and freshest, although with hundreds of lobster boats around, and floats marking lobster pots dotting the bays like flakes in one of those shake-up snow globes, fresh lobster is not an issue.

And why would I leave our Carolina beaches? Every summer when the temperatures soar, the heat really gets on my nerves, quite literally, since I have lived with MS now for over 30 years. So I was looking to escape the heat for a while. I just loved the cooler temperatures, and even the fog.

But I couldn't help but make comparisons to our NC coast.

KNUCKLE SANDWICHES

So-named because Lobster Rolls use only the claw meat, not the succulent tail, a real win-win (except for the lobster!) in that the tail meat can be used in fancied-up dishes and the claw meat doesn't go to waste. It's usually just moistened with a bit of mayonnaise, and sometimes a tiny amount of celery and onion are added.

The roll itself is important. It's like a hot dog bun that's sliced vertically, rather than horizontally. It's usually toasted, the best with butter. And the best are also, not surprisingly, homemade.

They're served in a one-ended cardboard slide, usually with chips, and go down fine with one of Maine's many local micro brews.

CRAB ROLLS, too

A Crab Roll and a cold local brew in Camden, ME

Another version, the Crab Roll, is made from Joshua crab, a big, fat old crab found in colder waters. We found that crabmeat not as flavorful as our luscious Carolina blue crabs.

Thurston's Lobster Pound near Bass Harbor on Mount Desert Island, ME

Most of the eateries serving mainly lobster are called "lobster pounds," like the entrapments used to house the many lobsters when the boats bring them in. Most are very casual places, many times a drive-in, with picnic tables available where you can watch the ten to twenty foot tides come in and out, and not have to worry about the inevitable mess that comes from eating whole lobsters!

The boilers for Trenton Lobster Pound on the causeway to Mount Desert Island

Most use a wood-fired outdoor stove to boil water in huge cauldrons in which they place the lobsters encased in a mesh sack. The one above is at the Trenton Lobster Pound, just before you drive over to the Acadia National Park, one of the most gorgeous places on earth. We took lobster rolls from here, along with a bottle of chilled Prosecco, to the top of Cadillace Mountain on Mount Desert Island, where we had a 360-degree view of the sunset. Spectacular!

THE CAROLINA VERSIONS.......

A Shrimp Burger from Big Oak Drive-In, Salter Path. Note the sandy beach.

SHRIMP BURGERS or BUSTER'S HIDEOUT or LOBSTER ROLL???

I gotta gimme a shrimp burger whenever I hit The Beach here in North Carolina.

When I'm headed to or from Morehead City, I stop at El’s, on HWY 70 between the railroad crossing and the hospital. El’s has been an institution in Morehead City since 1959, and it’s like driving into yesteryear. I love pulling into the parking lot, and vie for a shady spot under the spread of the live oak trees. It’s not long before one of the waitresses rushes out to the car, and asks through the window, “What’ll you have, shug?” Their shrimp burgers are always right on the mark with freshly fried shrimp, coleslaw that’s made daily, and ketchup.

Down in Salter Path, drive up to the Big Oak Drive-In. Coastal Living named the Big Oak as one of their top Seafood Dives a few years ago, and it's one of ours, too. Park, go place your order, then chat with others in line while you wait for them to call your name at the pick-up window. Then drive back up the island just a half mile to the beach public access and parking lot, and take your shrimp burger and big iced tea up the boardwalk and perch on the deck overlooking the beach. Can’t beat the view nor the burger.

Kill Devil Grill & Diner serves a fantastic shrimpburger, too, as well as a daily fish sandwich. Along the same lines as a shrimp burger are the fish or shrimp tacos served at The Bad Bean Taqueria way up in Timbuck II shopping center in Corolla.

The Wilmington area must have great shrimp or fish burgers, but I haven't been in a while. Why don't you send me some recommendations?

Although I absolutely love shrimp burgers, one of my very favorite sandwiches from the sea is a Buster's Hideout, a pita pocket stuffed with a fried soft shell crab, lettuce and tomato that's served at The Spouter Inn in Beaufort.

Crab pots waiting out the winter at Wanchese, NC

Lobster pots waiting for their turn near Bass Harbor, ME

CRAB POTS, LOBSTER POTS......TRAPPING & BAITING

Lobster pots are a bit bigger than our crab pots, but are similar in design. There's a place for bait to lure 'em in. A one-way funnel to get in. Distinctive floats that denote who the pot belongs to.

The lobster men and women haul in the pots in a very similar way, looping the line around a mechanical pulley, sorting the haul into baskets according to size, and baiting with fish. Lobsters have larger pinchers, but, they get wrestled into rubber bands. Crabs fling their pinchers about, all too eager to grab a finger.

LOBSTER SOFT SHELLS AND OUR OWN BUSTERS

At Round Pond near the Pemaquid Lighthouse, a young guy slung his jacket and lunch bag over his shoulder as he walked up the gangway from the docked lobster boat he'd been on since 4 a.m. "Got a good haul today?" we asked. "Pretty good," he replied, then laughed with us and answered a bunch of questions.

"What about soft shell lobsters? Are they any good?" We were curious because they were listed on the menus at a much cheaper price.

"My favorite." The meat is sweeter, he said. Juicer. "Just know they aren't as full," he said.

What he didn't say was that they would be full of water. And taste salty. And succulent and sweet. We were glad we were sitting outside on the balcony of our hotel room eating, where we could break each section of the lobster out over the ground, because the water literally gushed out of the shells.

Same concept as our soft shell crabs, but way different, too. The sea beast breaks free of its old shell, then retreats and hides while growing the new one. Those soft shell lobsters reminded me of the new but getting hard "paper shells" I've had on the Outer Banks.

RECIPE *** SOFT SHELL BLT***

I was so honored to find the SOFT SHELL BLT in THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK on the menu down at O'Neal's Seafood Market in Wanchese, in their new facility which now included a cafe´.

This is a fantastic sandwich, one of my very favorites.

SOFT SHELL BLT (c) from THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK: Recipes & Traditions from NC's Barrier Islands, by Elizabeth Wiegand, Globe Pequot Press, 2008.
This is a delightful play on the classic Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich. Pancetta is an Italian bacon made from the belly of the pig, salt-cured but not smoked.
You choose whether you grill, fry or saute the soft shells. A gas grill is the easiest and less messy for cleanup. Also choose either a savory mayonnaise or a spicier version.
4 thin slices pancetta or thickly sliced bacon
4 jumbo soft shell crabs, cleaned
4 round, soft sandwich rolls
3/4 cup Creole Sauce (recipe follows)
4 to 8 romaine lettuce leaves or mesclun
4 large slices very ripe tomato
Place the pancetta in a skillet and turn heat medium high. Fry until almost crispy, then drain on paper towels.
Prepare soft shells by either grilling , frying or sautéing.
Meanwhile, place inner sides of sandwich rolls on the grill on under a broiler to toast lightly. Slather with your choice of sauce.
Layer the lettuce, tomato and warm pancetta on each roll. Top with cooked, hot crab, add another dollop of sauce. Serve immediately.

CREOLE SAUCE

With just a bit of a kick, this sauce adds a sassy finishing touch to crabs, shrimp or grilled fish, and it couldn’t be easier to make.

½ cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoons drained capers, chopped

2 teaspoons finely chopped chives

2 teaspoons sweet pickle relish

1 generous tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce, or to taste

1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

¼ teaspoon salt

several grinds black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a small serving bowl. Taste for seasonings and adjust.

PULLING POTS

2011-06-20T17:08:00.007-04:00

A big jimmy, a prime crab!

One cool day last week down in the Outer Banks, we headed to the 'cheese - that's Wanchese - to "pull" Margaret's crab pots.

Vicki Basnight got the cranky old engine started, then pulled away from the dock at the family's compound on Roanoke Island, winding her way through the marsh's water trails, under bridges and to the back of one of the oldest fishing villages on the East Coast. Someone unfamiliar with those waters would have been aground in an instant, but Vicki has had her own boat since the age of 10.

Margaret and Vicki share the chore of pulling each other's pots. Margaret, an ex-restaurantuer and ex-accountant, now fishes for a living. Next time out, it'll be for Vicki's pots, the catch going straight to the kitchen at her family's restaurant, Basnight's Lone Cedar. Mark, who also works at the restaurant, is the muscle man for this trip

It was hard to believe, as I leaned back onto the railing, enjoying the sun on this glorious clear day - the smoke from the peat-fueled wildfires Down East were finally blowing the other way - that this was a working trip on the water.

Everybody's got a specific job. Vicki maneuvers the boat toward the float marking their pot. Each float is distinctive, like a signature, so that crabbers know whose is whose. In a choreographed moved much like a dance, Mark hooks the line near the float, slips it around the winch, flips the switch and waits for the pot to surface. Then he hauls it over to the sorting table and turns it upside down and shakes out the crabs. It takes a shake or two, for those crabs know they don't want to leave the safety of the pot where they've fed and possibly gotten it on with the chandler's wife.

Then with gloved hands, Margaret measures each crab against handy measuring sticks in the catch basin, checking to see that it's long enough from shoulder to shoulder or else it gets thrown back in. The crab then gets tossed into a bushel basket sorted according to size.

"Country," who works nights as a probation officer, has the worst job, picking out three thawed bait fish, today stinky menhaden, to stuff into the bait trap. Then Mark picks the pot back up, rotates it so that the bait trap faces down, then stuffs in back in the water once Vicki has the boat in place.

My job? To stay out of the way, and then entertain the crew, along with my friend Della. So we tell jokes, and I ask a lot of questions.

I'll tell you one thing I learned: I will never, ever, complain about the cost of seafood, like crabmeat, ever, ever again. The work involved is tremendous, dirty and needing lots of muscle, and the cost of a boat, dock, and fuel are tremendous as well. Then someone has to pick the crabmeat out of its shell and pack it into pound cups, another tedious job that used to be done by older women in the small fishing villages lining our coast, like Oriental or Ocracoke. Today it's mostly migrant workers or Latinos.

I learned that females have to be a certain length to be legal. Those with bright orange roe sacks - some huge - are thrown back in so that they can make little crab babies.

The big boys - the huge jimmies - are the once most prized and bring the most for the crabbers. Margaret expected them to fetch about $75 per bushel, and the other smaller sizes to bring in $40 and $30 each.

I had to bail on them at the Manteo town dock to go to my book signing at Manteo Bestsellers (after a shower!). After they dropped me off, they found their "honey spot" and wound up with 11 bushels total. Margaret was pleased with her sale later over at Wanchese.

Margaret saved a bushel to take up to her sister's in Greensboro for the weekend. She steamed them on her back porch in South Nags Head to keep the smell and cooking mess at bay. I bet they spread newspapers on a big table and spent a pleasant evening with beer and conversation while cracking crab.

You can do the same. Just follow the RECIPE below!

CRAB BOIL

Boil up a big pot of live crabs, spread them on newspapers and provide pliers, lobster crackers, small hammers, and plenty of towels to extract the marvelous meat from the bellies and claws. A meal will take hours and dozens of crabs, so make sure you’ve got some good conversations going. And ice cold beer. And some paper towels!

Big pot 2/3 full of hot water

3 Tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning

1 Tablespoon crushed red pepper

12 live crabs

melted butter

cocktail sauce

1. Bring water to boil. Add Old Bay and crushed red pepper. Stir. Add crabs, reduce heat to medium. Cover and boil for five minutes. Drain crabs into sink or pluck from water and place in extra large bowl.

2. On the table, have lots of small knives, forks, pliers, lobster crackers or small hammers and a roll of paper towels. Have small bowls of melted butter and cocktail sauce within easy reach of each person.

3. Place crabs directly on the newspaper. Let guests have at it, let conversations roll, and hope no screaming babies demand attention, for you’ll have to wash up first.

Serves 4 to 6

Chasing Soft Shells

2011-05-17T16:50:00.002-04:00

Last week the soft shells eluded us Down East, on Harkers Island. We were told they had headed north.

And sure 'nuff, on a sailing trip this weekend, a few hours further north where the Rappahannock River meets the great Chesapeake Bay, we found 'em, in the lovely, little historic town of Urbanna, VA.

In a small shack near the dinghy dock, "peelers" were being watched 24/7 in filtered and aerated tanks. As soon as they slipped out of their hard old coats, they were snagged, packed between layers of newspaper, and set into a refrigerator.

We snagged a dozen ourselves, carefully transporting them back to the boat for a gourmet lunch indeed.

PAPER NUGGETS

Spry at 82, and quite talkative, the silver-haired lady with painted fingernails and in white fishing boots clipped claws and legs from "paper shells," crabs who've shed their hard shells and gone beyond the "nekkid" state of being a soft shell, to building back their crusty armor.

Born on Tangier Island, the island across the bay inside the Eastern Shore that's much like the sandy spits of land that make up NC's Outer Banks, her father, brothers, son and just about anyone in her family have always fished and crabbed.

Clipping the apron, removing the lungs and all the vestiges, she was stripping the paper shells down to their bare innards. Only tender cartilage remained between chunks of that famed, delicate blue crabmeat. The resulting round "nugget" would be deep-fat fried.

"It was something my son came up with," she said. Most paper shells are just tossed back dead into the water, so this was a way to use the still tasty meat. She would freeze what she had prepared that day, adding it to others stocked up for the annual Oyster Festival held each November in Urbanna, when these tasty morsels would be fried and sold under her family tent.

GRILLING SOFT SHELLS

Back on board, we considered our options for cooking our nabbed soft shell treats. My favorite way to cook them is to saute them in butter, but it can be a rather messy transaction with butter splatters when the crabs spit and pop. So we opted for the grill attached to the side of the boat, which would keep any splatters out over the water.

Oh yum. Those soft shells were worth any splatters of rain we endured on our sail, any wind on our nose, any chop in the Chesapeake. Nothing could be finer than soft shells, even if they weren't in Carolina!

Here's the recipe from THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK: Recipes & Traditions from NC's Barrier Islands, by Elizabeth Wiegand, Globe Pequot Press, 2008. (c)

GRILLED SOFT SHELLS with CREOLE SAUCE

Hot and crunchy is how these soft shells come straight off the grill. This is one of the easiest ways to prepare this seasonal treat, and allows the succulent texture and taste of the crabmeat to shine.

Simply serve 2 to 3 soft shells per person over a bed of lightly dressed greens. We found using a perforated grill pan kept the crab legs from falling through the grates and breaking off. If you prefer to leave out the hot sauce, it will still be delicious.

12 medium soft shells, cleaned

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

12 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 ½ teaspoon hot sauce, such as Tabasco, or to taste

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat grill.
Pat cleaned soft shells dry, and lay them in a shallow dish.
Over medium heat, melt butter. Add garlic and stir for about one minute. Remove from heat and add the hot sauce and lemon juice. Stir to mix.
Brush the butter sauce over both sides of each soft shell, then dribble excess over the legs. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Allow soft shells to sit until the grill is ready, or about 10 minutes.
When grill is medium hot, place crabs evenly over grill without touching. Close the lid and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes, depending on thickness. Turn the crabs over, and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, or until crabs have gotten a bit crisp and golden brown.

YIELD: 4 to 6 servings

I GOT CRABS

2011-05-06T16:36:00.008-04:00

I had a big, significant birthday this week. One present I had to open on the spot because it came straight from the fridge. Inside was one of my favorite foods ever......crab claws.

These blue crabs were just caught in pots baited with mullet and thrown over their dock at the mouth of the White Oak River outside of Swansboro, NC. Norva boiled up a mess of them for a magnificent crab dip for her dinner party, and Mike got the job of "picking" the backs, saving the claws for another event - my Birthday Gift! What a great present for this foodie!

Bring out the newspaper and the cocktail sauce and crab crackers and forget the damned candles, the number of which could burn the house down! What a treat!

TIS THE SEASON

When the waters start to warm, the crabs crawl out from the mucky muck of the sounds and creeks where they've spent the winter. Folks all up and down the Carolina coast start baiting their crab pots and throwing them into their favorite spots usually sometime around Tax Day, April 15th, or earlier.

This year, the crabs were on the move a bit earlier. On April 8th, I was down in Southern Pines with THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK to "advise" participants on the Sandhills Farm to Table Co-op about what to do with the wonderful bounty supplied by Core Sound Seafood, a wonderful CSF or community supported fishery that delivers all over the state. Eddie and Alison Willis of Harkers Island brought some very active jimmies, male crabs, along with flounder and scallops for co-op members.

Eddie is the fourth generation to fish from Harkers Island. He and Alison tend to crab pots, hunt down clams in the wild (rather than farm), and tend to soft shells 24-7 during the season.

There's an old saying that the soft shells crabs start coming in at the first full moon in May. That would be May 17th, but already the soft shells have headed north from Core Sound toward the Pamlico and Albermarle Sounds. Just this past weekend I stopped in to see the Willis's soft shell operation at Mr. Big's Seafood, to find them gone like the soft shells, in search of more peelers.

PEELERS PEEL OUT

"Peelers," what those in the know call crabs ready to shed or peel their coats, have had a very early season.

But the hard crabs are out there and are filling up baskets headed to markets here and further north in the Chesapeake.

There's nothing finer than spending an evening after boiling up a mess of crabs doused with Old Bay, or as the old timers do, with onions and potatoes and sometimes corn. Spread newspapers on the table, melt some butter and dish up some cocktail sauce, then sit, pick and enjoy while sipping on a cold beer.

DO YOUR OWN CRAB BOIL

adapted from THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK: Recipes & Traditions from NC's Barrier Islands by Elizabeth Wiegand, Globe Pequot Press, 2008.

And picking crabs yourself will earn newfound respect for the art and hard labor required for providing cleaned, cracked crabmeat in one-pound containers. Just decades ago, the older women in outlying communities of the real Down East, like Smyrna and Atlantic, spent hours each day, sitting and chatting and carrying on while cracking crab for commercial distributors. Now, women from the Yucatan in Mexico come up by the busload to spend each season standing for hours at huge metal tables, cracking and extracting crabmeat.

Big pot 2/3 full of hot water

3 Tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning

1 Tablespoon crushed red pepper

12 live crabs

melted butter

cocktail sauce

1. Bring water to boil. Add Old Bay and crushed red pepper. Stir. Add crabs, reduce heat to medium. Cover and boil for five to 10 minutes. Drain crabs into sink or pluck from water and place in extra large bowl.

3. Place crabs directly on the newspaper. Let guests have at it, let conversations roll, and hope no screaming babies demand attention, for you’ll have to wash up first.

Serves 4 to 6

THE BEST LAMB MONEY CAN BUY

2011-04-22T13:01:00.007-04:00

Julia Child walked up behind me, and looked over the buffet table laden with sliced lamb roasts. "Ooohed," she cooed in that famous weird voice. "That's not lamb, that's mutton!" She turned and looked at me, and asked, "Can't you smell the fat?"

She then leaned in and whispered, "Americans just don't know that lamb is supposed to be harvested while young, while still small and tender." Julia had taken a shine to me at this food writer's conference because I am six feet two, the height she used to be, and wore big shoes like she did. I was just in awe, struck by her consummate interest and passion for foods, in her late 80s. I wanna be like her when I grow up!

I wish I could have introduced Julia to Craig Rogers, the shepherd presiding over a flock of 600 Texel and Katahdin blended sheep, bred for their fat. His sheep graze on rye, tasty white and red clover, and timothy or orchard grass seeded on rolling hills that butt up next to the Blue Ridge mountains in Patrick Springs in southwest Virginia, and are kept in line with border collies that Rogers breeds and competes. Thus the name of his farm - Border Springs Farm.

CRAIG ROGERS, SHEPHERD, PhD

He's such a jolly fellow who truly loves what he's doing that I refer to him as "Mr. Rogers" in THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK. But Dr. Rogers is more like it, as he is a former dean of engineering. He and his wife, Joan, bought the farm for horses when he got a job at VA Tech. On campus one day, they both watched a demo with border collies, and well, a dog or two was brought to the farm. To compete, these super smart dogs need something to herd, so thus, six sheep joined the farm. But as Craig says, his competitive spirit got in the way. The more sheep trainers had, the better their dogs did, and so more sheep were added.

But then what to do with all those sheep?

Well, why not raise them for food?

BRED FOR FAT

Julia Child would have loved the lamb from Border Springs Farm, especially their fat.

Craig sought out breeds that would produce a good fat profile and yet have a mild flavor. He like the Katahdin breed because they shed their wool and thus he would not have to shear them. They "...don't have a lot of lanolin, which is where the musky taste comes from in the fat. But the meat tastes too mild," he said in a recent Washington Post profile. So they are sired by Texels, who provide an earthy flavor.

Their offspring are weaned naturally, then grass-fed on that gourmet salad bar Craig re-seeds every other year. They're slaughtered at between seven and 10 months, when they are just under 100 pounds.

Their meat is just fabulous. It's full of flavor that's sweet and not at all muttony, and nicely marbled with a mild, creamy fat. Craig says the thick layer of fat on the racks are used by some chefs to make bacon! And unlike some pasture-raised meat, it is not so lean that it requires slow and low cooking. He takes exception to that general rule, and says that other farmers must not be providing good grasses for their animals.

Notable chefs in New York, Washington DC, Richmond, Atlanta and other Southern cities receive lamb from Border Springs Farm, some hand-delivered by Craig. You may also order from his website, www.borderspringsfarm.com

LAMBS ARE JUST TOO CUTE

Yes, lambs are cute, as well as delicious. So how can we rectify our human consumption?

Craig's farm and lamb meat are Animal Welfare Approved, which means the animals are treated humanely at all times. The lambs at Border Springs Farm are treated with respect and lovingly attended. Happy animals make good meat, Craig says. And he and Joan bring lambs into their kitchen and bottle-feed those rejected by their mothers. Those with names become pets. Note that Joan is a vegetarian.

As the Native Americans did, it behooves us to give thanks and our respect to those animals sacrificed for us.

OUR BLUE RIDGE

Craig appeared this week on Roanoke's WSLS 10 noontime show, OUR BLUE RIDGE. See video footage of his gorgeous farm, and his thoughtful comments.

http://www2.wsls.com/lifestyles/2011/apr/21/border-springs-farm-ar-987529/

RECIPES

A food writer told me recently that Craig loves to cook as much as he does raising his lamb and training his dogs. And it's true, he says with a laugh. He shared recipes for lamb burgers and lamb meatloaf that are just dynamite in THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK.

At the bottom of the taping below, you'll find his recipe for his version of rack of lamb, as well as mine. Craig sears his rack, then finishes it by roasting in the oven.

Watch me on the same segment of OUR BLUE RIDGE showing how to execute Craig's recipe.

http://www2.wsls.com/lifestyles/2011/apr/21/rack-lamb-elizabeth-wiegand-ar-987517/

GRILLING A RACK OF LAMB

Here's our favorite way of preparing a rack of lamb, by grilling. First, the meaty part is rubbed with olive oil, then coated with chopped herbs and garlic, and set aside to marinate before grilling. RECIPE FOLLOWS!

GRILLED RACK OF LAMB

1 rack of lamb, 8 frenched ribs

1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or oregano

1 to 2 tablespoons minced garlic, or to taste

sea salt

freshly ground pepper

aluminum foil

1. Preheat charcoal or gas grill.

2. Coat lamb with olive oil.

3. Mix herbs and garlic together on a cutting board or plate, then press both sides of the lamb rack in the mixture.

4. Cut small squares of aluminum foil, and wrap the end of each exposed bone to prevent charring.

5. Let lamb sit at room temperature for about an hour, or marinate in herb mixture in the refrigerator for up to six hours.

6. Place lamb on grill, fat side down, and cook until nicely browned, about 8 to 10 minutes. Watch for fat flare-ups. Turn and cook until a thermometer reads about 130 for medium rare (the best temp for lamb!), for another 8 to 10 minutes.

7. Remove lamb from grill and allow to sit for about 5 minutes. Slice between the bones, and serve.

YIELD: 4 servings (2 slices each)

RAMPS!

2011-04-11T16:11:00.006-04:00

THE HUNT STARTED WITH MORELS . . .

We were looking for morels. I'm sure I should look for "morals," too, but last week when Alan Muskat lead another couple and I out into the woods near Barnardsville, he thought we just might find this coveted gastronomic treat, even though it was a bit early in the season for them.

As soon as we got out of his car at his friend's farm, he gave us a challenge: Find a mushroom. Alan is known as Asheville's Mushroom Man, the one who forages for chicken-in-the-woods, lobster mushrooms, morels and other gourmet treats for local chefs, and leads folks on mushroom hunts along the Blue Ridge.

And that's when I discovered how hidden and camouflaged wild mushrooms can be. If they had been a snake, I'd been bitten. Brown, floppy fungi, about ten in all, were just up under our noses and I must admit I don't remember their names. But he placed them in his basket along with some creasy greens and dandelion leaves, to add to his own sauteed dinner, foraged for "free" out in the wilds, as per his usual.

We trudged up a steep driveway to a house that he once lived in. It's being torn down now, its gardens abandoned, with no one to appreciate the bright yellow sundrop blooms. And that's when one of us spotted the gray morel nestled among fall's leftover leaves. Note "the." For that was the last of morels we were to see, despite our hopes.

A gray morel, one of three varieties found in the Blue Ridge

Alan led us up steep ridges and down to a valley floor where it took little to imagine that's where the early Native Americans would have camped, right beside the knobby tree that signaled the headwaters of a prominent creek. No morels, but we found acorns to taste, a spice berry tree just leafing out, and more cressie greens along a tiny stream. All of which we tasted. And that was my biggest "take-away" from this outing, that there are lot of things that grow wild that are there for the eating - IF you know what's what, and what's toxic.

Completing the seemingly miles-long hike up and down steep hills, we came upon the backside of the farm's livestock barn. As we stood talking, someone pointed at a "stand" of bright green across the hillside. We sauntered over. Were they daylilies left from someone's forgotten garden? Or better yet, were they ramps, that odiferous but tasty springtime treat?

Either way, Alan would eat them. Daylilies are delicious chopped and sauteed, he says. And if they were ramps, well, we had hit a motherlode, as there were several large gatherings of greens spread among the bare trees.

The beautiful dark green leaves of ramps remind you that they are a member of the lily family. Chewing on one, I could definitely taste the oniony-garlicky flavor that is unique to ramps. I laughed, remembering when one old mountain fellow told me that he had been sent home from school because of his highly odiferous breath after finding and eating a "bait" of ramps.

We had only knives with us, so with no way to dig up the bulbs, we could only harvest the leaves and stems down into the moist, loamy earth. And that's just as well. Ramps are being somewhat depleted from their natural growing habitats, so it's recommended that just the leaves be harvested, or in the very least to only take a few of the bulbs to ensure future growth.

Kneeling on the soft earth, carefully harvesting the pungent leaves, was a rather sensuous experience, one that I know has been repeated through the ages. I felt encased within that "circle of life," gathering food out in the wild. Alan just shook his head. It's just there for the taking, and it's his mission to educate the rest of us.

Alan Muskat, Asheville's Mushroom Man, harvesting wild ramps

WHAT TO DO WITH RAMPS

I doubled bagged those leaves before putting them into my ice chest. I had a few days left before getting home, and didn't want to stink up the car, as I had once when given a few ramp bulbs.

So what to do with my ramps?

We had some leftover cooked potatoes, so I chopped up a few of the whole leaves and stems, and added them to the potatoes while they were being sauteed in olive oil. I replaced onions and garlic with the ramps while making shrimp and grits. We coated some leaves with olive oil, then placed them on the grill with a rack of lamb. My grillmeister misunderstood and they became charred but still tasty as a bed for the lamb.

RECIPE

And there's a great recipe for Rampalicious Chicken Soup in my book, THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK, which you will find below. Can't get ramps? Then substitute those strong smelling green onions you'll find at the farmers market during the spring and early summer. It's a bit involved, but we love this hearty soup.

RAMPALICIOUS CHICKEN SOUP from THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK, by Elizabeth Wiegand, Globe Pequot Press, 2010.

Hearty, spicy, and soul-satisfying, this chicken soup could almost be called a chili. It’s delicious, even without the ramps.

Strong-smelling and wild, ramps are dug from mountain coves during the early spring. A “bait” of them are sold at farmers markets or shared with neighbors. If ramps are not available, substitute spring onions, or just yellow onions with an especially strong taste. Palette Butler serves this soup for the lunch crowd at Veranda Café & Gifts, co-owned with husband Jeff in Black Mountain, NC.

1 whole chicken, about 4 pounds

1 or 2 bay leaves

12 black peppercorns

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup chopped yellow onion

2 15-ounce can red kidney beans

28-ounce cans diced tomatoes

1 6-ounce can tomato paste

1 15-ounce can beef broth

2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced

2 to 6 whole ramps (to taste), leaves and bulbs chopped

1 large sweet onion, chopped

½ to one 4-ounce can chopped green chilies, to taste

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon chili powder (or more, to taste)

1/8 to ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (to taste)

1 ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste

freshly ground pepper, to taste

1. Place chicken in a stockpot with the peppercorns, carrots and yellow onion. Barely cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Skim off any foam. Cook the chicken for at least 45 minutes to an hour, or until the chicken is cooked through and fork tender.

2. Remove the chicken from the pot. Using a fork and sharp knife, shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces and toss the bones and cartilege. Strain the broth from the stockpot and reserve.

3. Add the shredded chicken back to the stockpot. Add kidney beans, tomatoes, tomato paste, beef broth, garlic, ramps, onion and green chilies. Add enough reserved chicken broth for desired consistency, about 4 to 6 cups. Stir in oregano, cumin. chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper.

4. Simmer for at least one hour or more to allow flavors to meld and onions to soften.

NOTE: Freeze any leftover stock for use later.

YIELD: 8 to 10 large servings

SPRING GREENS, FETA & PASTA

2011-03-26T09:01:00.006-04:00

Rainbow Chard

Spring is my favorite time of year. Not only for the yellow and pink blossoms that erupt from leafless trees and as daffodils, but also for the GREENS from the garden. And now, thanks to hoop houses and growing tunnels, mustard greens, Tuscan kale, curly kale and the above Rainbow Chard hit the markets even earlier.

At Tumbling Shoals Farm, in NC's northwestern corner, Shiloh and partner Jason grow a smorgasbord of terrific veggies. Former Peace Corps workers, they came home and apprenticed with an organic grower in the Triangle area, took some classes in sustainable farming, then found their mountain farm to pour their hearts and souls into.

Last summer during the Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture's farm tour, I saw tomatoes in hoop houses, rain gutters adapted as a growing place for starting seeds, and the elaborate schedule used to rotate crops.

Shiloh is a great cook, and I was so happy that she shared this recipe with me. It's become one of my favorite "meatless meals." I just love the slightly bitter flavor of the chard with the tang of the feta and the flavor of the spinach pasta. And it's quick and easy! Try the recipe that follows.......

And, watch my latest appearance on Roanoke's WSLS10's OUR BLUE RIDGE, where I make this dish with co-host Natalie:

http://www2.wsls.com/lifestyles/2011/mar/25/spring-greens-and-pasta-elizabeth-wiegand-ar-927660/

Here's the RECIPE:

SPRING GREENS FARMERS MARKET SUPPER

from THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK, by Elizabeth Wiegand, Globe Pequot Press, 2010

At the Watauga Farmers Market, Shiloh Avery and Jason Roehrig of Tumbling Shoals Farm, sell chemical-free strawberries, lacinato kale, rainbow chard, escarole, endive, arugula, and lots of other spring greens. They recommend procuring the rest of the ingredients at the market, also.

1 package spinach linguine or other fresh pasta

one bunch (4 to 6 cups) chopped rainbow chard or other spring green

4 tablespoons olive oil, plus a splash

2 bunches chopped green onions

salt to taste

5 ounces feta cheese

freshly ground black pepper

1. Cook the pasta in a pot of salted boiling water with a splash of olive oil. If pasta is fresh, be careful not to overcook.)

2. Meanwhile, separate the stems from the chard leaves. Coarsely chop the stems, then roll the leaves together and coarsely chop.

3. Heat the 4 tablespoons olive oil in a large, heavy skillet. Saute the onion and chard stems (not greens) in the oil for about six minutes.

4. Add the chard greens and salt. Cook until wilted.

5. Add the feta cheese and pasta and continue cooking for another minute, until feta begins to melt. Add ground black pepper and serve.

SERVES 3 to 4

THE BUZZ

2011-03-17T13:35:00.008-04:00

BEE SMART

Our honey bees are in trouble. Since 2006, beekeepers have lost from a third to 90% of their hives, in what is called "Colony Collapse Disorder" or CCD. And no one knows what causes this sudden disappearance of all adult bees.

Pesticides are the most suspicious culprits, as is urban sprawl and decreasing farmland. For a while, cell phones were thought to bother the bees. There's a varroa mite that feeds on bee's blood and transmits viruses, and a pathogenic gut microbe, nosema, that also cause bee deaths. It could be a combination of all of the above problems, scientists say.

WHY YOU SHOULD BE CONCERNED

Bees pollinate as they search for food to take back to the hive. And 130 crops - most of them food - depend on bees, from almonds in California to blueberries right here in N.C. Without a healthy bee population, our food supplies will dwindle. Beekeepers here in NC and VA truck their bees all over the South and even out to California, earning money from farmers who rely on bees to pollinate their crops. Without bees, there would be little fruit or veggies.

That's why I'm posting the link below that I want you to follow. Let Congress know that you want the EPA to look into pesticide use and colony collapse disorder.

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5986/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5833

HONEY DO LIST

Honey in tea, on a warm piece of toast, in marinades, vinaigrettes....I do love my honey. Gallberry is the flavor I have left in my pantry, and I look forward to the spring crop of wildflower honey, and tupelo honey during early summer and . . . .

Here's a bread recipe from THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK that comes from Sweet Providence Farm near Floyd, Va, given to me by Ann Houston, the just-turned-20 year-old who is the chief baker at her family's roadside market. As a teenager, Ann loved to bake so much and had such success, that they had a "barn-raising" for the bakery/market they built to sell her oven-baked apple turnovers, pies, cakes and bread. She and her siblings man the cash registers, order and sort the produce and meats that come from other local farmers, and display other Southern products. It's worth the drive to check it out, and during the summer, Ann and her six young siblings play bluegrass on the porch on weekend afternoons.

MAPLE, HONEY AND OATMEAL BREAD, from THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK

butter for pans

3 cups boiling water

1 cup rolled oats, plus ¼ cup oats, for topping

2 ounces (1/2 stick) butter

2 tablespoons maple syrup

¼ cup honey

1 ½ cups wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt *(I added)

1 teaspoon yeast

about 4 ½ cups white flour

2 egg whites

1. Boil water.

2. Combine 1 cup rolled oats and butter in a bowl.

3. Add boiling water to oat mixture. Let stand until butter melts.

4. Add maple syrup, honey and wheat flour, and mix.

5. Let stand until room temperature. Add yeast and stir.

6. Add white flour slowly, stirring, and then kneading until a soft and smooth dough forms. You may not need all of the white flour.

7. Place dough in a clean bowl and let rise until it doubles.

8. Punch down and let stand for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°. Grease two loaf pans with butter.

9. Divide the dough into two equal amounts, shape loaves, and place into loaf pans.

10. Let rise until double.

11. Glaze with egg whites and sprinkle with oats.

12. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until dark golden brown and hollow sounding when thumped.

YIELD: 2 Loaves

TWO PLACES WHERE YOU NEED TO EAT BEFORE YOU DIE

2011-02-28T15:34:00.004-05:00

Hey, I'm not kidding. You need to eat here. Now. You've got two months left before it closes for this year, and who knows if the Cypress Grill in Jamesville will survive hurricanes and the economy for yet another season. Although, it's been open for business since 1936 and the place stays crowded.

Eat a bit of history at the Cypress Grill, NC's only remaining "cook up" shack, those impromptu eateries that lined the Roanoke River each spring during the annual herring run.

And I do mean "shack." Stains run a few feet up the old board-and-batten siding, made from cypress harvested from the trees interspersed with tupelo gums that grow up and down the Roanoke River. Inside, crude booths make you sit up straight, and a sideboard full of pies remind you to save room for dessert.

Articles singing praises about the place, from Gourmet, Southern Living, and the Smithsonian, hang in frames on the wall, along with photos of a nine-foot, 92-pound diamondback rattlesnake caught nearby.

Turn off of HWY 64 into Jamesville, then head to the river and head right till you see a small sign for the Cypress Grill. Go down to the boat ramp, and it's on your right.

WHADDYA EAT?

Herring and/or shad. You can have either "sunny side up," meaning crisply fried till golden, or "cremated," cooked till hard and crunchy. Each fish, headless but with its tail, is gutted, then slashed or what they call "notched" to the bone several times, rolled in cornmeal, then put into the fryer.

Herring is a fishy fish. You gotta like fish, oily fish, to like herring.

And you've got to deal with bones. Lots of bones. Not for the squeamish or picky eater, herring is a primordial sensation. But you need to eat it, here at the Cypress Grill, at least once in your life.

"Scrape the meat up with your fork down the middle," our waitress recommended when my husband asked her how to eat it. That was after she rolled her eyes. "Or, just pick it up and scrape it with your teeth. And you can eat the bones." Now my husband rolled his eyes.

And you need to try the ROE, as well. We missed out on the roe by one week, said our waitress (last week of Feb 2011). Herring and shad roe are an Eastern North Carolina treat that old-timers really look forward to. The roe is also rolled in cornmeal, then fried, and served with scrambled eggs. In years past, I've enjoyed its naturally salty, fishy taste and crunch.

Save room for the homemade lemon and chocolate meringue pies, made by owners Leslie and Sally Gardner. I can personally attest for the scrumptious fudgy chocolate version with its cloud-like meringue.

The Cypress Grill is open from January through April, in Jamesville, NC. (252) 792-4175.

A DAY DOWN EAST

We feasted with our eyes and ears, too, during our day Down East.

Tundra Swans beckon us to Lake Mattamuskeet each winter to watch their graceful movements in the shallow water. One year we were so lucky to watch hundreds of them take off, right at sunset, for their beds somewhere west. At February's end this year, only dozens remained, but there were egrets, hawks, herons, and all sorts of ducks to amuse us.

ROSE BAY OYSTERS

Along Swan Quarter, near the ferry that goes over the Pamlico Sound to Ocracoke Island, there are names that make oyster lovers swoon. Rose Bay. Engelhard. Stumpy Point.

On our way to Lake Mattamuskeet, we stopped at this oyster processor. It's the only one left in this area that could be likened to California's Cannery Row, with dozens of big oyster canneries that employed the locals and migrant labor, too. Back in the '70s, oysters just about disappeared from NC's waters, due to over-harvesting as well as the draining of land with canals and ditches that dumped too much freshwater and pollutants into the sounds. Oysters have made a comeback, thanks to regulations and efforts to re-establish oyster reefs with used oyster shells and other materials.

Oysters from the natural half-moon-shape along this inner coastline, known as Rose Bay, are today prized for their salty yet sweet, briny taste. In season, during the colder months, you can now get oysters from Rose Bay at a couple of oyster bars across the state, even in Cary.

We headed to Williamston, to Sunny Side Oyster Bar, an icon in North Carolina. . . . one of those places you just have to eat at before you die.

THE OTHER PLACE TO EAT DOWN EAST BEFORE YOU DIE . . . .

Sunny Side has been open for business since 1936. When new owners took over in 1991, they decided it needed little improvement, and tried to leave it as it was.

That included the use of sawdust, cedar shavings, on the floor of the horseshoe bar. No kitchen, but rather an outdoor roaster, where galvanized buckets of oysters are placed to be steamed. The swinging hook and circle to amuse you while you wait. And a big dance floor where you can boogey to live music some weekends.

You might have to wait 30 minutes or more to belly up to the oyster bar, which occupies the room in back. But it's worth the wait, and lately, the oysters have come from NC waters, like Rose Bay.

Passing time while our oysters were steaming, one of our party was game to try "The Rooster" - an oyster on a saltine, topped with a bit of horseradish, then a habanero pepper and more hot sauce. Folks around the bar chided and peppered her with dares to "just do it," then cheered loudly as she sputtered down a beer.

"Geezer," like many of the shuckers, has been working at Sunny Side for decades. He poured melted butter into a small bowl, and filled another with a warm, slightly spicy hot sauce whose recipe, bought back when the place was just opened, is still a secret.

Geezer returned from out back with our bucket, a peck of Rose Bay oysters lightly steamed, which he swiftly and deftly opened one by one, laying each like a pearl into a bowl in front of each of us.

Those Rose Bay oysters were plump. Salty, tasting of the sea. Done to perfection, still juicy. Like jewels themselves.

"Ever found a pearl?" asked the guy next to me. "My wife has a jewelry box full of them," Geezer answered. "If she hasn't lost them."

Sunny Side Oyster Bar, 1102 Washington St (where US 17 & 64 meet), Williamston, NC (252) 792-3416.

BREAD PUDDING, CHIPPED & ALED

2011-02-21T12:24:00.002-05:00

Okay, I admit it. I am "ruint." After a sweet sail in the Caribbean, I returned home pouting. So I sought some comfort food.

Bread pudding soothed my soul that was plagued by our winter weather.

It's a magical dish, turning leftover stale bread into something so sweet and delectable. Called "poor man's pudding," it's a good way to use up leftover loaves of French or country white bread that has a bit of texture to it. Soft, fluffy bread just will not do.

I thought bread puddings were a just a Southern thing until I did some research. Turns out just about every cuisine has developed a sweet way of using up yesterday's manna. Bread pudding is famous in New Orleans, usually made with golden raisins and smothered with a bourbon sauce.

DOUSED IN LOCAL BREW

For THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK, I found a marvelous recipe for bread pudding while visiting a brewery near the Blue Ridge Parkway at Afton, VA. Blue Mountain Brewery is a fabulous place, with great scenery and a crop of hops just out the front door. I'd never seen the tall vines growing before.

Virginia used the be the hops capitol of the New World, but these days most hops are grown in the Northwest of the country. So it's a bit unusual to find a nearby brewery that grows its own hops for fermentation.

Blue Mountain Brewery has several varieties of beer, but there's one that matches up with Bread Pudding just perfectly, at least the way co-owner Mandi Smack makes it for their tasting room. She adds chocolate chips and nuts for a crunchy topping, and soaks it all with their Evil Eight Degree, a dark, caramel and chocolaty flavored ale. I fell in love with it at first bite, and begged for the recipe.

Please note that if you cannot find that particular bottle, substitute a dark, Belgian-style ale. Make it a local brew, if possible.

TV DEMO

Roanoke's WSLS10 noontime show, Our Blue Ridge, has invited me several times to prepare some of the recipes from THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK. It's a live show, and I get FOUR minutes to complete a dish. Four. It's been fun to do, and I love working with Natalie and Jay, the hosts, and their producer, Stephanie.

Catch my latest episode where we make this very Bread Pudding!

http://www2.wsls.com/entertainment/2011/feb/18/chocolate-and-brew-bread-pudding-ar-852725/

Recipe follows....

BREAD PUDDING WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS & ALE

vegetable oil cooking spray

2 cups sugar, turbinado or granulated

5 eggs, beaten

2 cups whole milk

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

½ bottle (6 ounces) Blue Mountain Brewery’s Evil 8° Belgian Double Ale

3 cups country white bread pieces, stale

½ cup chocolate chips

1 cup brown sugar

2 ounces (1/2 stick) softened butter

1 cup pecans, chopped

aluminum foil

FOR THE EVIL 8° CARAMEL SAUCE:

1 cup sugar, turbinado or granulated

6 ounces Blue Mountain Brewery’s Evil 8° Belgian Double Ale

4 ounces (1 stick) butter, melted

1 egg, beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla extract, pure

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9 x 13-inch pan.

2. Combine the sugar, eggs and milk in a mixing bowl. Add the vanilla and Evil 8° ale.

3. Lay out the stale bread pieces in the bottom of the greased pan.

4. Pour the egg mixture over the bread pieces and let sit until most, but not all, is absorbed, about 15 minutes.

5. In a separate bowl, mix and crumble together the chocolate chips, brown sugar, butter and chopped pecans to make the topping mixture.

6. Sprinkle the topping mixture over the soaked bread pieces in the pan. Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes.

7. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until nicely browned.

8. Meanwhile make the Evil 8° Caramel Sauce. In a saucepan, mix together the sugar, butter, egg and vanilla. Cook over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is melted. Add Evil 8° ale and stir.

9. Spoon warm caramel sauce over bread pudding.

YIELD: 6 to 8 Servings

NOW THE WORLD KNOWS ABOUT NC FOODS

2011-02-04T13:15:00.005-05:00

Barbecue, ramps, sweet potato pie. Yes, indeed, we've got great things to eat here in North Carolina, just as they do in MOROCCO.

And that's what two prominent travel publications think.

They've ranked both Durham and Asheville in the same keeping as MOROCCO.

It's not often that Durham, NC is thrown in as a destination with the likes of Morocco, Zanzibar, Greece or China. But a recent Sunday NY TIMES Travel piece placed this Tar Heel city in WHERE TO GO.

I'll be posting about SCRATCH BAKERY soon, as I've stopped in several times. Read on.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/travel/09where-to-go.html?pagewanted=4&sq=January%209,%202011&st=cse&scp=2

35. Durham, N.C.
A downtown turnaround means food worth a trip. A decade ago, downtown Durham was a place best avoided after sundown. But as revitalization has transformed abandoned tobacco factories and former textile mills into bustling mixed-use properties, the city has been injected with much-needed life. In the heart of downtown, a crop of standout restaurants and cafes has recently sprouted around West Main Street, where low rents have allowed chefs and other entrepreneurs to pursue an ethos that skews local, seasonal and delicious.

The farmers’ market favorite Scratch Bakery has a brand-new storefront for its seasonal homemade pies that include chestnut cream pie and buttermilk sweet potato pie. At the cafe-cum-grocery Parker and Otis, the menu features sandwiches made with freshly baked bread from nearby Rue Cler and locally roasted java from Durham’s Counter Culture Coffee. And at the sophisticated Revolution, squash tamales, mascarpone gnocchi, and tuna with wasabi caviar rotate through the seasonal menu.

ASHEVILLE IN FODOR'S TOP SPOT Fodor's, the much respected travel guide, also recognized Asheville as a culinary destination...and brew hub, too, along with exotic places likes Tokyo, Copenhagen, Nicaragua and again, Morocco.

Trout with Green Tomato & Blackberry Sauce from Early Girl Eatery

21 Places We're Going in 2011

Why Go Now: Get a taste of Asheville while it still feels local and before it goes global. On the edge of the alluring Smoky Mountains, the food and drink scene of the recently dubbed "Beer City USA" is the perfect compliment to the scenery. You'll find over 30 galleries and 20 music venues devoted to everything from folk pieces to modern mash-ups.

Check it out:

http://www.fodors.com/travel-photography/21-places-were-going-in-2011-216.html

YELLOW-EYED PEAS

2011-01-25T16:41:00.003-05:00

GOLDEN EYES...

James Bond's Golden Eyes came to mind the first time I laid eyes on these peas.

"What do you call these?" I asked the older lady manning the farm stand, one of many on HWY 64 between Chimney Rock and Hendersonville, back in October.

She just stared at me, like I just didn't have any sense at all in my head.

Finally, she cocked her head and pointed to the sign below the basket that read YELLOW-EYED PEAS.

"Oh. So how do you cook them?" I asked, undaunted.

She kept staring, then shook her head. "Honey, you do them just like you do black-eyed peas," she said with disgust and turned away.

A SOUTHERN TRADITION

In most regions of the South, peas and beans were dried for winter use. Often times, this staple was all folks had to fill and warm their stomach on cold, dreary days, such as we've been having lately. Traditionally, they were cooked with a bit of fatback, or if they were lucky, a ham hock.

Both black- and yellow-eyed peas are members of the cow pea family, brought here by the enslaved from Africa, and developed by farmers for feeding livestock. Hence the name.

COMFORT FOOD

Most folks have Hoppin' John or some such on New Year's Day, with the black-eyed peas representing coins, served with greens of some sort, with hopes that digesting such would produce a good flow of money, green bills or change.

My yellow-eyed peas might bring me GOLD, I hoped, as I stirred the pot filled with the hock of a ham we had devoured during the holidays. I added some kale during the last 15 minutes of cooking for good measure, too, thinking for sure some greenbacks might also come my way.

We devoured the whole pot in one sitting.

With the nasty cold weather we've had lately, I've been thinking about that pot of peas. Truly comfort food, warm and filling, the dish is quite simple and no-nonsense. Just like that old lady. Yet, I'd place that mess of peas right up there on my list of great foods, one that brought me and mine much pleasure. That in itself is good fortune this year.

Before cooking, dried peas and beans need to be either soaked in water overnight, or covered with water, brought to a boil, then soaked from two to four hours. I'll put my leftover stash of dried yellow-eyes in water before I head up to bed.

RECIPE That old lady at the farm stand left me wondering about the best way to use my novelty peas. Fortunately, New Year's Day dictated that I needed to produce something to bring me "luck and money". Forgive the generalities of this recipe, but I imagine it's how my grandmother would have told me to do this!

If you'd prefer, you can do a healthier version of this minus the ham or bones.

about 2 cups dried peas

one onion, chopped

hambones or a bit of chopped country ham

small bundle of kale

salt and pepper to taste

Place the peas in a bowl or pot and cover with about two inches of water. Let sit overnight. Or, if you're in a gall-durned hurry, put them in a pot and cover with water, bring it to a boil, turn the heat off and let them sit for a couple of hours.

Add the onion, and the ham or bones. Bring to a slow boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for about an hour or so, until the peas are tender.

Coarsely chop the kale, and stir into the pot. Continue to cook until the kale is tender enough for your taste, probably about 15 minutes.

Taste and season with salt and pepper. (Be careful with salt, for the ham may have added plenty.)

NUTS FOR PECANS

2011-01-13T16:09:00.004-05:00

PECANS

It's pecan time.

The season for pecans gears up just before the holidays, allowing cooks to go nuts making all sorts of marvelous holiday treats, even into the winter. Pecans have been in the markets for the last couple of months, with one gallon bags fetching at least $20.

And believe me, that's worth it.

Dan Finch, owner of Finch Blueberry Nursery in Bailey, NC, also grows pecans for his family. And I am now family, since he married my sister a few years ago. When they were first courting, he brought me several of those gallon bags full of beautiful, already-shelled pecan halves, ready for cooking, sorta like a peace-offering to a future in-law.

Since then, he's shared big boxes of pecans that have been dried, boiled, then cracked, ready for ME to pick out the nuts from among the shell fragments. Didn't appreciate how spoiled I was the first time!

A LABOR OF LOVE

I love, love, love getting these big boxes of pecans. However, it takes me several evenings going through them to pluck the meat from the shells. It's tedious work. And believe me, I am NOT complaining. I tend to fill my mouth as I fill my bags with the pecan pieces, sorta OCD-like in raking my fingers through the fractured, brown shells.

Note that I wear rubber gloves. The tannin in the shells will stain your fingers but fast.

And I now have a year's worth of pecans to make pies, add to salads, cakes and other cooking ventures.

So that twenty bucks or more for a bag of pecans at the market seems quite fair to me. And that's not even taking into account the effort it takes to grow and then maintain the trees. Or to collect the nuts in the first place. Dan tells me he shakes the trees with a front hoe or whatever attached to his tractor, and the nuts fall onto a drop cloth laid on the ground. Then they've got to dry out for a while, then he takes them to a facility where they quickly boil the shells to soften them, then cracks and shakes the majority of the outside shell from the meat.

Anything considered a treasure takes time and labor to produce. And pecans are definitely a Southern treasure.

AN ALL-AMERICAN NUT

Pecans are native trees, found in the Southern states. Texas and Louisiana are big producers, as is North Carolina.

"Pee-can" or "puh' kahn"? Native Americans called them "pecaunes" which translates as "a nut requiring a stone to crack." Ha!

There's an art to cracking them gently enough to open them and pull out the two complete, pretty halves. My dad could put two together in his big hands and crack them open.

Thomas Jefferson loved pecans, and had several planted at Monticello. He knew that you need at least two varieties for cross-pollination. Today, you'll find most pecans planted in a "grove."

And, they're healthy for you! Pure protein. Full of omega-6. Antioxidants. Can lower cholesterol.

Guess that mess of pecans I've been eating as I sort through my boxes is doing wonders for my health, as well as my soul.

RECYCLE THE SHELLS

I could place the shells in my compost bin. Better yet, I'll spread them over my herb garden, and let the birds and squirrels pick out the little pieces of nut left, digging and hiding them in the soil. It should be a good mulch. Any one with a negative experience doing this? Please let me know.

RECIPE - CHOCOLATE PECAN PIE

We recently helped our youngest daughter move to Pennsylvania. I picked out enough pecans to make her favorite, a chocolate pecan pie, to take with us. We christened her new house and eased our aching backs with big ol' slices of the fudgy sweet.

Enjoy this recipe that appeared in my first cookbook, THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK.

1 cup corn syrup (light or dark)

3/4 cup sugar

6 tablespoons butter

4 to 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

3 large eggs

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups raw pecans

1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

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 then add salt. 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 45 minutes, or until filling is somewhat set in the center.

HOLIDAY APPETIZERS

2010-12-15T11:51:00.002-05:00

THE HOLIDAYS BEET ME!

The best of the holidays is the gatherings of loved ones, friends and family.

Feeding them is another story.

But here are two ideas that are really rather simple, although they do require some cooking ahead, and are quite savory. You'll have folks singing your praises rather than carols.

TAKE IT FROM TV

Roanoke's WSLS 10 has had me on its noon time show, OUR BLUE RIDGE, several times the last few months.

Last week, I demonstrated two recipes. The first was for an awesome spread made with artichokes and goat cheese, or chevre. It's a step beyond the typical artichoke, mayo/sour cream and cheese dip, and is a bit healthier. Roast frozen artichoke hearts first with herbs, and you'll find folks in your kitchen drawn to the aromas. Then, while it's hot, add the chevre. Serve bubbling hot from the oven on warm baguette slices or crackers, and you've got one mighty hors d-oeuvre.

GIFT PACKAGES

A beautiful little package of roasted beet, chevre and rosemary appetizers is also one of my favorite things to serve from THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK.

Roast those ruby red beets, defrost a package of puff pastry, chop some fresh rosemary and slice a log of chevre, then assemble quickly. A bit involved, yes, but really rather simple. Get your guests involved, and what a merry way to spend time in the kitchen - with tasty rewards!

Go to this link for the recipes already printed. And please watch for more helpful hints.

http://www2.wsls.com/lifestyles/2010/dec/10/holiday-appetizers-elizabeth-wiegand-ar-707576/

APPLE PANCAKES

2010-12-02T16:57:00.002-05:00

WEEKEND BREAKFASTS

One of my best presents I received for Christmas last year was home delivery of the Sunday NEW YORK TIMES. I relish curling up on the sofa and diving into the politics, fashion, movies and book reviews, while downing a huge pot of coffee, and when it's the season, having a nice roaring fire going in the fireplace.

A nice breakfast treat just adds icing on my cake. And I am a fool for anyone who wants to cook me breakfast. My husband, bless his heart, has finally mastered eggs-over-easy. But that's about the end of his repertoire.

With Pink Ladies and Golden Spices in my larder, and apples a favorite of the hubby, I tried recently to also make his day by making a breakfast version of an apple pandowny.

Buckwheat is a favorite of mine, especially with maple syrup. Whenever I find stoneground grits, there will usually be pancake mixes available, too. So I've got a stash of buckwheat pancake mixes in the extra fridge in the garage.

APPLES & BUTTER

The small, six-inch cast iron skillet that was my grandmother's brings back such sweet memories every time I use it. And isn't that what the weekend's more relaxed time should be about? Conjuring up memories of a loved one while stirring up something yummy?

I peeled, cored and thickly sliced two apples. I also used an additional small skillet so that I could cook two pancakes at a time, and melted a pat of butter in each.

The apples slices looked like a pinwheel when added to the skillets. I cooked them over a low heat so that they would not brown too quickly before softening up, then flipped each slice over.

Then I mixed up the pancake batter, and slowly poured it over the apple slices, again over low heat.

FLIPPED

I'll confess that flipping the pancakes didn't work with one. The trick is that, just as with regular pancakes, you must wait until the bottom is fully cooked. Usually you can see what looks like popped bubbles, or tiny craters, that indicate that the batter is cooked through. And that's when you can successfully slide your spatula under the apples and batter, and then flip them over.

Good luck. I've had success with that two out of the four times I've made them!

But let me tell you......no matter if it's pretty on top or not, these pancakes are just divine. We splurge with real maple syrup from either Whitetop Mountain in VA, or from Maple Springs Farm near Burnsville, NC.

PUMPKIN EATERS!

2010-11-23T16:47:00.006-05:00

"They really love 'em," the farmer yelled over to me as he flung yet another pumpkin from his truck with a shovel. These Halloween rejects were quite the treat for these pasture-raised mommas and their calves.

At this time of year, Ashe County roads are humming with huge trucks hauling Christmas trees, Fraser firs, cut during the cold snap of November. Farmers markets are full of beautiful round cabbage heads and winter squash, as well as the start of Christmas decorations.

At Zydeco Moon Farm & Cabins, we were treated to some of Sally's zesty tender greens she's growing in a new hoop house. Her CSA patrons will enjoy more greens all winter long with a clever new growing system that re-purposes gutters. Drainage holes were drilled in the bottoms and then they were filled with soil. What a great growing environment in the greenhouse during the winter!

Ashe Co. Church Marquee. . . . We don't need more to be grateful for; we need to be more grateful. Happy Thanksgiving, y'all.

PUMPKIN IN THE OVEN........

So what if it's full of warts and getting old......Like me, it's still full of flavor and usefulness!

De-seeded, my Halloween pumpkin will be roasted, and I'll use the puree for either a soup or a pie.

My friend from Chapel Hill, Nancie McDermott, author of SOUTHERN PIES and SOUTHERN CAKES and several other cookbooks, writes that she prefers to use canned pumpkin in her pies, for the fresh pumpkin can be rather watery when cooked down. Purists like Barbara Kingsolver, in ANIMALS, VEGETABLES & MIRACLES, recommends cooking with fresh pumpkin.

Frankly, I think whatever you have time for is just dandy. If the pumpkin's flesh is too watery when roasted, it will be perfect for soup. So keep some cans of pumpkin puree to use with pies or muffins in your pantry!

Ditto for pie crusts. Nancie and I shared a secret at a recent Pie Contest where she was signing books at Quail Ridge Books.

We keep a stash of pie crusts in the fridge or the freezer. Not the homemade kind. The boxed, rolled up pie pastry for me, the crusts in the tins for her.

If time is limited, wouldn't we rather have pie, even if we don't use not made-from-scratch pastry?

Enjoy your Thanksgiving gatherings of loved ones and eating!

STOKES PURPLE SWEET POTATO

2010-11-09T17:00:00.005-05:00

I like the color purple.

Folks who know the Carolina Foodie often see her wearing purple.

So when I saw PURPLE SWEET POTATOES at the State Farmers Market in Raleigh, I had to have them. I wanted to EAT PURPLE!

I had heard that NCSU had been working in their micro-propagation program with the Saura Pride Co in Stokes County, trying to rid a purple sweet potato of any possible viruses. The fact that they were now for sale meant success.

STOKES PURPLE

That's its official name, the Stokes Purple, and it has an interesting story.

After retiring from a state job, Mike Sizemore of Walnut Cove decided to farm some land he owned. Another farmer who wanted to retire approached him about selling his equipment and sweet potato business. As an added bonus, the elderly farmer threw in some slips of a purple sweet potato, an Asian variety, that he thought had potential. Sizemore grew some and was impressed. So he took it to NCSU to get a "clean" plant, one free of viruses that often ravage a crop.

Nearby, Hanging Rock State Park hovers over fertile fields that are perfect for growing potatoes. They don't like being wet, so the soil needs to drain well. But it can't be too sandy, or else the nutrients won't be there.

Now, other former tobacco farmers in Stokes County have a replacement crop, and can use most of the same farming equipment as they did for planting and growing tobacco. They sell them for cash to Saura Pride Company, (named for the Saura, the Native Americans who once inhabited the fertile soil of this northwestern Piedmont area), which distributes them to markets.

You'll find sweet potatoes overflowing market bins now. After being dug up in the fall, they spend several days "curing" at a steady warm temperature inside a warehouse. In the old days, folks laid them to "cure" in the sun, before packing them into root cellars or even "potato hills," holes dug in the earth where the potatoes were mounded in a heap, then covered with soil. Cured sweet potatoes will store much better than those in their "green" state.

PURPLE PEOPLE EATER, oops, maybe PURPLE EATING PEOPLE?

Remember that catchy, bouncy song by Sheb Wooley that made the charts back in 1958, also sung by Jimmy Buffet? It's been stuck in my head ever since I sliced into that Stokes Purple.

"I said Mr Purple People Eater, what's your line?

He said eating purple people, and it sure is fine

But that's not the reason that I came to land

I wanna get a job in a rock 'n roll band."

PURPLE IS HEALTHIER?

Maybe we should be eating more purple.

Turns out that the chemical responsible for the purple color, anthocyanin, can reduce cardiovascular disease and improve vision. The purple variety has more antioxidants, with 8.5 times more Vitamin E than in an orange sweet potato, and more Vitamin C. And those antioxidants get stronger when the sweet potato is cooked.

THE COLOR PURPLE

Under the peel, the Stokes Purple was still purple. The cutting board turned purple. My hands were purple. Under my nails, it was purple.

I diced it, along with another new NC variety, the bright orange Hatteras, then stirred in olive oil until they glistened, sprinkled it with sea salt and herbes de Provence, and set it into a 375 oven for about 30 minutes until barely tender.

And guess what?

The Stokes Purple was still purple after being cooked.

Now, that sure is fine. And it tasted better than fine, too. I love sweet potatoes!

Note: our teeth did NOT turn purple. With a bit of scrubbing and filing, the stains came off my hands and nails.

WATERMELON RADISH

2010-11-03T14:48:00.004-04:00

WHOA!!! I screeched to a halt in front of Edible Earthscape's booth at the North Hills Farmers Market.

"What is that? It's gorgeous!" I cried.

"A Watermelon Radish," Haruka Oatis replied.

What does it taste like? "A radish," she said with a laugh.

I took one home, for fifty cents, and set it on the counter.

"What's that ugly thing?" I was asked. "Just wait," I said with smile.

I peeled away the thin, outer skin, then cut the radish into thin slices.

"Wow!" was the reaction. "That's gorgeous."

Toasted walnuts, some fresh mizuna, also from Haruka and Jason's farm, and freshly grated Parmigana cheese were added to the Watermelon Radish for a salad that was as delightful to the eye as to our tastebuds.

I'm going to try and find some seeds so that I, too, can plant this edible beauty. Anyone have a resource for us? Please comment!

A SIMPLE VINAIGRETTE

Last post, I told you about Theros Olive Oil and Virginia Vinegar Works.

I should have told you how to make a vinaigrette using them.

Vinaigrettes are so easy to make and so very much cheaper - and tastier - than bottled dressings.

Here's the classic RECIPE:

One part vinegar (or lemon juice or combo)

salt & pepper

squirt of Dijon mustard

MIX THOROUGHLY (I usually opt for a recycled jelly jar, and just shake the hell out of it)

Add THREE or FOUR parts oil (I prefer extra virgin olive oil for most)

MIX THOROUGHLY

Options: minced fresh herbs added before the oil, and/or minced garlic

If you should choose to use a small bowl, use your whisk to mix. With small bowls like that, you can create a neat whirlwind by rubbing the handle of the whisk back and forth between your palms. Try it!

Olive Oil and Vinegar from the Blue Ridge?

2010-10-29T13:58:00.006-04:00

THEROS OLIVE OIL from ASHEVILLE

One can only wish that olive trees could be grown in the Blue Ridge. However, the Theros family has grown a fine business in Asheville, importing organic olive oil from their own 400-year old trees in Greece that the family has tended for generations.

Theros Extra Virgin Olive Oil is really special. We dipped some crusty bread into a bowlful, and soon were slurping it up.

I loved its taste - pure, full of fragrance, with a bit of a peppery taste. Some of that flavor can be attributed to the salty Mediterranean Sea air, and to its lower acidity - about half that of standard olive oils, so the website claims. It's not co-mingled with oils from other regions, making it pure Greek. That's a big plus, says Spero Theros.

Spero Theros, who immigrated from Messinia, Greece, arrived in Asheville via Minnesotta, where he landed as a boy. His son, Nick Theros, a co-owner, now spends half the year in Greece, tending to the 1,300 trees, harvesting the olives, and seeing to the cold pressing at an olive crushing plant. He even takes friends and family from Western North Carolina to help out.

The oil is then shipped to Asheville, where it's bottled at the Blue Ridge Food Ventures facility. Several local restaurants use and serve Theros, and it's also available at EarthFare Groceries across the state. I bought my bottle at the Manna Cabana in Saluda, NC, and also found some at the EarthFare in Raleigh.

You may also order at the website, by the bottle or case and get it at a much better price.
www.therosoliveoil.com/therosoliveoil/index.htm

VIRGINIA VINEGAR WORKS

In the real mountain hometown of the fictional Walton's, in Schuyler, VA, a couple is converting wine into vinegar. I know I've tasted some wines that tasted a bit like vinegar, but that's not the case here.

Finely crafted vinegars are smooth and redolent of the flavor from which they were made. You can almost sip them. This is the quality that Virginia Vinegar Works shoots for. And they are locavores, too, using local wine varietals, the Petit Mansang or Viognier, among others that do well in Virginia's Central and Southwestern wine regions.

Owners Jay and Steph Rostow are also glass-blowers, who wondered what to do with the gorgeous bottles they were creating. Now they know.

They make the vinegars in small-batches, using a traditional method that dates back to 1616 in Orleans, France. It takes three months to convert the wine into vinegar, and another six months to age in oak barrels, which helps to impart the terroir of the grape variety. Then it's filtered before bottling.

Order from the website: www.virginiavinegarworks.com

WHADDYA CALL IT?

2010-10-27T17:15:00.009-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I found this squash or perhaps pumpkin at a roadside farm stand near Woolwine, VA. (Don't you just love that name, Woolwine?) What's it called? I asked. Permelon, the farmer answered.

Then I saw this bin of Pink Bananas between Fruitland and Hendersonville:

The very next day, at the City Market in Asheville, there were more of these long, cylindrical squash, with a sign that said CANDY ROASTERS.

What gives with all the names?

Turns out they are all of the Cucurbita maxima family, which makes me wonder if the squash were so named because of the faint cucumber scent of its flesh.

I do know that Candy Roasters, Permelons, and Pink Bananas are all prized heirloom squash that old-timers are quick to tell you that of course, they're great for making pies. "Or whatever you do with pumpkin," said one impatient older lady.

FROM THE CHEROKEES

The Cherokee people cultivated this squash that migrated to North America, from South America, by the 16th century, and eventually shared the seeds with European settlers. Today, it's still grown all over the southern Appalachians.

Georgia has a variety of Candy Roaster, and sites post "do not confuse with the Carolina Candy Roaster which is slightly different." And vice versa . . . As if one state could lay claim to the delicious orange and sweet flesh. The variety also makes its home in Bangladesh, Burma and India. How's that for traveling around the world?

Part of my trouble in identifying the Candy Roaster aka Pink Banana also known as a Permelon, is that the C. maxima varies so much by shape, size and color. It can be pink or blue or gray. Tubular, round, tear-drop or squat. Most weigh in at 15 pounds, but can grow as large as 250 pounds.

ROASTING THE "THING" - HOW TO

I love roasting veggies, so thought I'd roast the Candy Roaster/Permelon with a sweet onion.

So to best manage this long squash that hung over my cutting board, I chopped both ends off, then sliced open the middle. The scent of cucumber floated up. The center was full of round, plump seeds, and the filaments scraped away easily.

After simply slicing off the outer skin of a couple of those middle pieces and chopping them into bite-sized pieces, I quickly realized I'd have enough to feed an army, more than enough for the three of us. So with the other half, I left the skins on and placed them cut side down in another pan to roast alongside our dinner. I'd use those pieces in a soup the next day.

The chunks of squash were mixed in with a sweet onion also cut into chunks, drizzled with olive oil, and seasoned with salt and pepper. Placed into a 350 degree oven, within about 40 minutes or less the squash was tender and fragrant. After it was out of the oven, I seasoned it again after tasting, and sprinkled some chopped fresh oregano from the garden over the mixture.

Not as sweet as she expected, said my daughter. But good. Very good. And so easy to prepare, too. I like that!

SOUP'S ON!

Okay, October should be full of brisk fall days begging for sweaters and soups. This week, records have been set in the 80s. Not exactly a fall soup day, but there was the squash thing I had already roasted.

So I chopped up half of a large onion and sauteed it in a little olive oil. Stirred in some minced garlic. Then I pureed the squash, along with the cooked onion and garlic, all in the food processor, adding a little bit of chicken stock to loosen it up. I then added that puree to the pot, and stirred in some chicken stock until it was the "soupy" consistency I wanted.

Seasonings? It could be the French style, with fresh or dried thyme, esp. But my tastes buds were remembering some "pumpkin" soup from the Caribbean, probably made with a calabash or huge squash, that got its savory flavoring with nutmeg.

Freshly grated nutmeg is very worthy sensory experience. A bit sharp at times, spicy, unlike what you think of as a traditional pumpkin pie spice. A favorite use of nutmeg is grating it over a creamy Painkiller, that tasty cocktail with rum and coconut milk from the British Virgin Islands. And freshly grated nutmeg takes sauteed fresh spinach to a different level.

So the recipe for Candy Roaster Soup? There's one in THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK from the outstanding Asheville chef, Mark Rosenstein. Or, you can just follow the steps I outlined above and wing it, tasting and seasoning as you go.

To top off my soup, literally, we grilled some shrimp wrapped in bacon (all natural, pasture-raised from Hickory Nut Gap Farm), and placed the skewers across the shrimp. All of us wound up dipping the shrimp into the soup. . . a glorious and tasty combination.

I'd say that C. maxima was worth it's weight....for $2 dollars we had a marvelous roasted veggie one night, and a terrific soup, with leftovers, the next. Not matter what it's called, what an heirloom veggie. I'll try a pie from it the next time.

Dig LOCAL ROOTS

2010-10-20T18:11:00.009-04:00

TIME TO GET TO THE ROOT OF THINGS . . . . .

Visit any farmers market these fall days and you'll find a bevy of potatoes, turnips, winter squash and sweet potatoes - all tasty root vegetables. While at the City Market in Asheville (and without my camera, I am sorry to say), I found gorgeous carrots - purple, yellow, white and orange - and Scarlet Queen turnips, a red one that's great for salads or lightly roasted. Kale and other greens spilled out of baskets. Candy roasters, butternut and acorn squash filled the tables, too.

Inspired by all those root veggies, we made a communal dinner after a family hike off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Take a look see below, with the recipe!

MEANWHILE, I MUST TELL YOU ABOUT A SPECIAL DINNER I ATTENDED . . . .

Roanoke, VA

Rappahannock Oysters. Golden Trout. Lamb from Border Springs Farm in Patrick County. How local can you get?

And visiting Chef Ed Lee, a James Beard award winner this year and chef/proprietor of 610 Magnolia in Louisville, KY, was pretty excited about working with such fine local ingredients for last week's special dinner. Chef Lee and Executive Chef Joshua Smith shared the menu, alternating preparing the six course menu.

What made this meal such a culinary delight? Using local ingredients with such a global influence, thanks in part to Chef Lee's Korean family background and his New York City upbringing.

A tiny, perfect little quail egg was criss-crossed with tiny strips of duck bak-kua, a traditional Chinese salty-sweet dried meat similar to jerky. Fried kale to add color and crispness. The lamb done "kalbi"-style, a traditional Korean method of marinating, then grilling meat. The final touch for dessert - a damson plum consomme with black sesame paste and basmati sherbet.

LOCAL ROOTS is open for lunch and dinner. Check out their marvelous seasonal menus. 1314 Grandin Rd SW, Roanoke, VA 540 206 2610

HOW TO SIMPLY ROAST A DINNER . . .

We scored a gorgeous eye of round from Hickory Nut Gap Farm at the City Market also. We seared it on the stove top in a bit of olive oil on high heat, to seal the fat and juices, just until it was browned, then placed it in a big roasting pan. Sweet onions, new potatoes, those Scarlet Queen turnips, and the multi-colored carrots were cut into chunks, then added to the pan, along with a green pepper from my daughter's garden. Her roommate also harvested and chopped some rosemary and fresh thyme, which we added with slivers of garlic. Drizzled with olive oil and with several grinds of pepper, the veggies were glistening and gorgeous. Set into a 325 degree oven, stirring occasionally, the veggies were tender and the meat at about 150 after about an hour.

Meanwhile, we laughed, cajoled and teased as we played Apples to Apples. They didn't let Mom win.

The crowd of twenty-somethings that gathered around Bec's table finished off everything in the pan, including the turnips that everyone had sorta scoffed at. Carrots were fought over.

See, it pays to get to your roots, especially with your family around.

Green Tail Shrimp

2010-10-11T17:42:00.007-04:00

White Shrimp, known to OBX locals as Green-Tails

GREEN & GOURMET

It's time to be seduced by some of the sea's most succulent goodies,

the green-tails.

Green-tail shrimp are prized and sought after by chefs and foodies along the Carolina coasts, and we have to wait it out till the fall before the bounty comes in. Just this past week, a marquee at the seafood market at Whalebone Junction in the Outer Banks announced their presence, so I stopped to fill up my cooler. In years past, I've had Atlantic Beach Seafood clean and freeze 20 pounds to last me through the winter, just like many chefs do whose restaurants stay open year round.

The Pamlico Sound in NC is the northernmost border for most shrimp. Core Sound, near Morehead City, and the Wilmington area, at Southport, get loads of shrimp from their waters as well.

Didn't know that there were different kinds of shrimp?

The pink or spotted shrimp are the most scarce and are the first to be harvested in the spring, from April to June. They're most active at night, burrowing into the mucky muck during the day.

There's the brown shrimp, the most plentiful and what you typically find in most seafood markets in the Carolinas, netted from July to November. They are also most active at night in open waters, and that's why you see the big shrimp trawlers out after dark, with the crew anchoring at Lookout Bight and other safe harbors to sleep during the day.

Green-tails, or white shrimp, have a more subtle, sweeter flavor. They like to hang out in brackish marshes, preferring soft, muddy bottoms. Shrimpers start bringing them in during late August and usually their season lasts until the end of November.

Trawler at Wanchese, the ultimate Outer Banks fishing village

SHRIMP WERE PESTS

Can you believe that shrimp were once scoffed at and considered inedible up until the 1900s? Even though the Native Americans considered them gourmet treats, catching them with weirs or baskets made from marsh grasses and supple bark and tree limbs.

Fishermen along the Outer Banks down to Southport would pick what they called "bugs" -the pesky shrimp - from their nets and throw them into barrels, then trade them with farmers for corn that would be dried and ground into cornmeal. Farmers worked the shrimp into their gardens as fertilizer, so it was a win-win.

Then settlers got brave or hungry enough and finally developed a taste for shrimp. Ice plants in the early 1900s enabled them to keep shrimp fresher for longer periods of time, and that helped sales. By the 1930s, commercial canning improved the status of shrimp, too.

The introduction of trawlers, in 1933, proved to be much more efficient than the long-haul seine traditionally used to net catches from the Pamlico and Core Sounds in NC. After World War II, shrimping became NC's major seafood industry.

Today, you'll see the long-armed trawlers working the sounds or just offshore. "Otter" trawls are traditionally used in deeper waters and catch a majority of the shrimp in NC. A newer trawler, called a "skimmer," seems to be more efficient for white or green-tailed shrimp especially, with a lot less by-catch as well.

Once, out in our little motor boat, we followed behind a shrimp trawler as it culled its catch, just outside the Beaufort Inlet. The kids screamed when they saw several six-foot long sharks gobbling up the goodies in the shrimper's wake.

COOKING GREEN-TAILS

Green-tails are usually sweet, firm and have a very clean taste.

I was in the mood to grill, but didn't want to overwhelm the subtle taste of the shrimp. So after shelling and deveining, I marinated them in a mixture of olive oil, garlic, salt and Spanish smoked paprika, with a bit of lemon juice. Skewered, they shared the grill with some beautiful, firm yellow zucchini that have been so prevalent in our farmers markets lately.

Easy and quick, and, delicious!

GARLIC GRILLED SHRIMP

2 pounds shrimp, cleaned, washed and patted dry

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika

couple grinds black pepper

juice of half large lemon

2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Soak wooden skewers, if using. Preheat grill.

2. Mince the garlic, then while on cutting board, sprinkle with salt. Using the flat side of your chef's knife, press the salt into the garlic, mashing it together. Place in a bowl large enough to hold the shrimp, then add the paprika, black pepper, lemon juice and olive oil. Whisk until blended well.

3. Add shrimp to the bowl and stir to coat. Let sit while grill is heating.

4. Place on skewers. Grill on both sides for just a couple of minutes, until shrimp is firm and pink. Eat immediately!

BEST BURGERS IN THE US

2010-10-04T17:21:00.002-04:00

Nothing like a good, juicy burger every now and then. Carolina Foodie made a recommendation to USA TODAY for their travel story about 51 GREAT BURGER JOINTS, one from each state.

Char-Grill has been a favorite since I was a student at NC State. I love the nostalgic music, the car parts sticking out from walls, and how you can custom order your burgers just the way you want them.

Check it out!

http://travel.usatoday.com/destinations/greatamericanbites/hamburgers/40391418/1

Join these Gourmet Adventures

2010-09-28T18:00:00.008-04:00

courtesy of Foggy Ridge Cider

A FAVORITE PLACE TO TASTE

Cider has become a favorite of mine. And not that brown, thick juice, either, although I do enjoy that. But REAL cider. What is sometimes called "hard cider," apple juice that's fermented and become more than 7 percent alcohol.

Diane Flynt, of Foggy Ridge Cider near Dugspur, VA, has quite an artisan's touch with the cider she makes from a variety of "spittin' apples," those varieties that are so tannic to taste but perfect for fermentation. She's studied and apprenticed with the best in France, England and New England, and her product shows.

This coming Saturday, welcome autumn with a visit at her cider-tasting facility. You'll be amazed at the marvelous taste - so food friendly, too - and how different each of the varieties of cider she produces tastes. I bought a case the last time we stopped in.

October 2 Fall Open House with Dogtown Pizza

Foggy Ridge Cider

Sample Grimes Golden, Newtown Pippin, Ashmead's Kernel and Pomme Gris with nationally known apple expert, Tom Burford, at Foggy Ridge Cider's fall open house. Learn about heirloom apples and bring your own mystery apples for identification. Enjoy Dogtown Pizza's famous artisan pizzas and fall mountain views. All this and 91 year old Eldon Gardner playing his harmonica and washboard tie. Cider tasting free. Pizza $10 to $15. Open 11 to 5.

www.foggyridgecider.com

TERRAVITA - OCTOBER 16TH

Terra meaning “of the earth” and Vita meaning “life,” captures in its definition the very spirit of this event. The first of its kind, TerraVITA Food & Wine Event will bring together some of the finest biodynamic and organically-grown wines and microbrews in the world with the very best locally-grown organic edibles in the Southeast!

Alongside dozens of international fine wine producers and a select few microbrewers, chefs from North Carolina’s top restaurants, confectioners, cheese-makers and food artisans will prepare culinary treats using seasonal organic fare for all attending this sustainable celebration! If you appreciate fantastic food, love locally-grown, consider yourself a wine lover, or find yourself waking up early to get first dibs at the farmer's market, or know enough about beer to recognize the terms "hops"

and "microbrew," you will want to put this event on the calendar.

There will be an array of enticing food and beverage samples that will blow you away! The month of October offers a plethora of locally-grown ingredients, and whether you’re into grass-fed meat or you are a vegetarian chowhound, there will be plenty of choices - setting us all up for one of the most amazing buffets in the Southeast!

TerraVITA’s Grand Tasting on the Green will take place on The Green at Southern Village, an upscale, environmentally-conscious, mixed-use community in Chapel Hill, NC. Tickets are all-inclusive (Yes - all alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, as well as food samplings are included) and can be purchased for $65 each. That means the only reason you'll need to break out your wallet is to support our deserving non-profits!

We are fortunate to have some of the very best chefs in the state of North Carolina signed on to participate in TerraVITA! Look forward to experiencing wonderful tastings by Bill Smith and Paul Covington from Crook’s Corner, Vivian Howard from Chef & The Farmer in Kinston, Amy Tornquist from Watt’s Grocery, Stephen Ribustello from On The Square in Tarboro (and featured in the August issue of Our State magazine), Jimmy Reale from Carolina Crossroads, and on and on... See the Food & Beverage page for more specific details on “who” will be with us on October 16th!

The event will begin at 1 p.m. with will-call at check-in (there will be no tickets actually sent), where you will receive your wine glass and begin experiencing an afternoon of tastings – selecting from more than 80 Biodynamic or organically-grown wines, sustainably-produced microbrews and some of the best locally-grown organic foods available…

For more info or to get your tickets www.terravitaevent.com/

October 19th, Love at First Bite

photo courtesy of Todd Elliot

Alan Muskat is Asheville's WILD MUSHROOM MAN, who forages for chefs and takes amateurs out into the woods to teach what's edible and what's toxic. He also shares his enthusiasm for devouring the goodies he finds in the wild, and has a new eating/cooking series to share.

Wild Mushrooms with Alan Muskat and wild canapés with Kim Hendrickson at Laughing Frog Estate, Walnut, NC (near Asheville)

Finding Our Place at Nature's Table

This Autumn to Spring, join us for one or more of seven “slow food, slow mood” experiences -

a wild foods "forage and eat" dinner series the third Tuesday of each month

October 19th to April 19th 3-9 pm

Each event will feature:

• a foraging expedition or food prep “playshop” led by regional experts

• a behind-the-scenes look at wild food preparation and fine cooking

• an intimate four course dinner with wine pairings prepared by distinguished area chefs

AND FROM OUR COAST - A NEW CSF - Community Supported Fishery

Core Sound Seafood was started as a way to connect the fishermen of Down East Carteret County, North Carolina to a viable, local market. Most of the fishermen that make up this coastal community have been fishing all their lives – often they can trace their fishing heritage back four or five generations. Sadly, these fishermen are increasingly leaving their life on the water as global markets, community economic loss, rising fuel prices and decreasing buying prices threaten their livelihood. Our goal is to provide a market to these fishermen and their families by offering locally caught, fresh seafood to the Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Raleigh community through a weekly CSF (community supported fishery) share. We believe that North Carolina fishermen are a tremendous resource in our state’s diverse agricultural offerings, and including them as producers in our local food shed is vital.

They are making deliveries of seasonal seafood - clams, fish, etc., from now through December. Check them out at

www.coresoundseafood.org

The Gunk-holing Gourmet

2010-09-24T13:17:00.006-04:00

MAKING A MEMORABLE MEAL

You know those trips you take when you find yourself smiling a bunch? When conversations flow, laughter erupts, and the weather gods are looking out for you?

We just spent a couple of nights on the Chesapeake with our buddy, Rob, and it was the twelfth year we've taken his 32-foot Fidelio out of the South River near Annapolis and sailed to the Eastern Shore.

And don't tell his wife, Christy, but he claimed the last night's meal "the best meal of his life."
A DAY OF GOOD EATING

At first light we heard the chug-chug of a crabber's boat as he set his lines; later we'd sail by as he netted the famed Maryland crabs into his buckets. Crab cakes made with freshly picked crabmeat, barely breaded and dusted with Old Bay, found their way onto my lunch plate when we later pulled into the dock at Oxford. We sat outside under the shade of an umbrella as we ate and chatted and listened to the sea gulls and lapping of the waves, the smell of marsh and Chesapeake mud overtaken by lime and beer and the spicy whiff of Old Bay seasoning.

That's terroir. That's eating where you are, being in the moment. Is there anything sweeter?

MARYLAND HAD A LITTLE LAMB.....

Rob is not just a family doc extraordinaire who relates with his patients with his heart wide open, but he's also a published poet.

After a day of wind in our sails, we find a quiet gunk-hole up a creek and toss the anchor. We tidy up the mess we made while under sail, while he usually fixes us all a RumDumbDumber. Then Rob pulls out, or more recently, pulls "up" a file of poems from his iPhone to read to us as we lounge around the cockpit. They're free-form impressions and observations that make you chuckle or lament or nod your head in recognition of the minutae and the bigger issues that make our world go round, and I feel richer for his outpourings.

We throw the pits of seasoned olives overboard, or at each other if deserved. We miss Rob's wife, Christy, a busy attorney who sent us off with a lovely salsa made with their own cherry tomatoes, some fresh corn and black beans. As the coals build on Fidelio's small charcoal grill attached to the stern, we again talk politics, movies, books, kids, you know, life. No easy answers to any problems, we decide.

HOW TO COOK A LARGE MEAL ON A SMALL BOAT

I place the beets from the farmers market in Raleigh that I had slow-roasted at home and covered in foil, on top of the hot coals to heat them up. On top of them, I place roasted tiny potatoes acquired from Charles Church, at Watauga River Farms at Valle Crucis.

I believe behind every good bite of food is a good story, so I tell Rob about Charles, one of my favorite farmers I met while researching THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK, and how he switched from growing burley tobacco like his father and grandfather, to going organic. How the fields touch the banks of the river, how he's pulled so many arrowheads, shards of pottery and other remnants of the Native Americans who toiled his soil before him. How when I asked if he had any beets for sale, his helper asked how many I wanted and went to pull some from the field.

We pull our beets and potatoes off and smother them with jackets and a pillow to keep them warm.

Meanwhile I readied a rack of lamb to assume the space on the grill. I had chopped rosemary and oregano from my garden and placed them in a jar with olive oil and minced garlic. We smeared the herbal mixture all over the lamb, then covered the bare, naked bone tips with foil to keep them from burning. As flames flared from the droppings of melted fat, we all gravitated to that end of the cockpit, taking deep breaths and long sips of the tempranillo Rob opened.

One section of the rack was just perfect before the rest were ready, so we sliced up three chops and ate them from the bone, like starving food worshippers. "That is the best meat I have ever, ever put into my mouth," Rob exclaimed.

Oh my God, he said as he took a bite of beets. "And the potatoes, you can almost taste the river soil," he said. We all grinned, and toasted to our good fortune.

The final touch? An apple tart made with the lovely, green Pippin apples I found in Woolwine, VA last week. We groaned and stretched under the moonlit night, looking for constellations.

MEMORIES on the CHESAPEAKE BAY

The deal with these sailing trips is that Rob supplies the boat and the booze, and I do the food. I have become such a locavore and seasonal cook, and it travels with me.

I loved the enthusiastic response to my meal planning and food prep from Rob and the hubby. Yet dinner required teamwork and coordination, so we all "owned" it.

What makes a memorable meal? Is it just the food? The primal taste of garlic and lamb?

The earthy taste of terroir from root vegetables like beets and potatoes?

Or the wine that brought out the best in the food?

Or is it the company and the conversation that make a meal memorable? Or the locale?

How about all of the above?

After dusk, as the sky dimmed and moonlight laid on the water, we were all mellowed.

Our hunger for meaningful moments was as filled as our bellies. An that, folks, makes a

MEMORABLE MEAL.

Carolina Foodie: IS IT ALMOST FALL?

2010-09-15T18:02:00.000-04:00

Carolina Foodie: IS IT ALMOST FALL?

IS IT ALMOST FALL?

2010-09-15T17:02:00.004-04:00

MY MOUNTAIN STASH

"Stop! Turn around," I screamed.

We had just flown past a farmers' stand on the side of a back road that led to Woolwine in southwest VA, on the way home from the Galax VA area and the Blue Ridge Parkway's 75th Anniversary celebration, where I signed copies of THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK.

"Apples!" I yelled louder. So he stopped and made the turn, I'm sure anticipating pies and crunchy snacks.

But this stop was a gold mine. Apples, warty pumpkins, sourwood honey, cushaw pumpkins, and a long squash I did not recognize.

PERMELON

It's a what? How do you spell that? "I dunno," said the farmer. "But I do know the deer love them. They've pawed their way through several boxes worth." At two feet long and several inches thick, it will provide a lot of flesh to devour, I thought.

An internet search tells me that PERMELONS are a term for Old Appalachian winter squashes that are found especially in West Virginia and southwestern Virginia.

Aha.

Another source says they were grown by Native Americans all over the east.

Someone else said they were a sweeter relative of pumpkin, and more nutritious.

Another site said they were available at farmers markets in SW VA, and that she makes permelon butter, like apple butter, or serves it like any other squash.

I'm thinking I'll roast some cubes with olive oil. Any one else have any suggestions or experience with permelons?

CURSHAW PUMPKINS

Now this one I recognized as an heirloom squash - the cushaw or sometimes spelled kershaw - that many farmers in the Blue Ridge are growing. You treat it like any other pumpkin or butternut squash, roasting it to use the flesh in pumpkin pies or in soups.

It will keep well for several months if stored in a cool, dark space.

I plan on using this big boy in a spicy, ginger soup. Any other suggestions?

SOURWOOD HONEY

A favorite and a treasured food source, sourwood honey comes from what's also known as the "Lily of the Valley" tree. The highest concentration of sourwood trees are found in western NC, with some in Virginia and Georgia. Bees flock to sourwood blossoms in late June through July, with new crops of honey available in August and September.

This honey is spicy yet sweet, a bit floral, with a rich, buttery feel. I just love it, and save it to pour on toast where I can appreciate its taste pure and unadulterated.

SEAFOOD SAFARI

2010-09-01T16:42:00.005-04:00

The Shackleford Wild Ponies

EARL WHO?

A nap was in order during the calm before the storm, Hurricane Earl, caused a mandatory evacuation of the Cape Lookout area. That meant that all four sailboats anchored in the bight, and folks like us, out for a sunny, calm day cruise, today would be scooted away by the Coast Guard. And the wild horses? I'm sure they'll endure the high winds and possible overwash. They seem to be hearty souls.

I'm grateful to have been there a few days ago to enjoy a picnic of freshly steamed Pamlico brown shrimp, with cantaloupe that tasted of the Carteret County black soil, and cool off with a float in crystal clear and smooth waters. That area of the Southern Outer Banks does call itself "The Crystal Coast."

Just south of Ocracoke along the chain of "Outer Banks," Cape Lookout is also part of the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" that extends down from its northerly neighbor, Cape Hatteras. Decades ago, I observed short, stout cement-block buildings that were bunkers used during World War II, when German subs were sunk within a couple of miles of the shore. Here, over a century ago, there was also a "processing plant" for porpoises, or bottle-nose dolphins, to gather the oil from their carcasses to use in lamps and crude machines. Oh my.

This trip, we witnessed a half-mile long pod of these graceful, gentle beauties as they fed on bluefish right along the cape. I had to wonder if they knew a storm was coming, and were filling up while they could.

A BEVY OF SEAFOOD

On the way to Atlantic Beach, we stopped at a favorite fishmonger, B & J Seafood in New Bern, where they clean and pack fresh blue crabs from the Pamlico Sound. We netted a beautiful, pulled from the water that day Southern flounder, which we stuffed with lump crabmeat and laced with lemon juice, melted butter and a sprinkle of Old Bay. Another delightful, memorable meal was jumbo lumps of crabmeat that I panned in butter, and paired with a buttery, smooth California pinot grigio from Mirrasou.

But my man loves scallops, and we had scored some big boys that were dry-packed and fresh from cooler waters than ours.

Fresh corn from home - well, I had cut it from the cob, flash-boiled, then frozen for this trip - and some tasty heirloom tomatoes made a pretty and tasty plate. He loved it.

The recipe follows.

SEARED SCALLOPS WITH CORN VELOUTE AND TOMATO CONCASSE

1 pound sea scallops

2 cups or so of freshly cut corn

1 large heirloom tomato, seeded and finely chopped

1/4 cup finely chopped sweet onion

olive oil for cooking

salt and pepper

fresh chives or parsley, minced, if desired

1. Wash and pat scallops dry.

2. Heat corn in just enough water to almost cover the corn. Scoop out about one cup into a blender with just a bit of the cooking water. Puree until smooth. Heat veloute in a small pan if needed. Season both corn and veloute with salt and pepper.

3. Heat chopped tomatoes and onions just until warm. Season.

4. Add just enough oil to a large saute pan to coat the bottom. Heat until very hot. Add just a few scallops - NEVER over crowd when sauteeing scallops, or else you get rubbery discs. Brown on both sides - it should take just about two or three minutes per side. Remove to a plate, and continue to brown the remaining scallops.

5. To plate, place the tomato concasse in the middle of each plate. Pour the veloute around the edge. Scatter the scallops evenly. Ladle the drained corn over the scallops and veloute. Scatter herbs if desired. Eat immediately!

NC Best Dish 2010 Winners

2010-08-22T19:11:00.012-04:00

NC BEST DISH CONTEST 2010 WINNERS!

Twenty lucky restaurants in North Carolina presented their very best dishes to a trio of judges, and to their eating public, during the months of May, June and July, as finalists in the Best Dish NC. The judges tried to be sneaks, to be "mystery shoppers," and not let on that they were there to taste and witness each restaurants efforts to present local foods at their finest.

There were two categories - fine dining, and casual dining.

Each restaurant could enter one or more courses for their Best Dish entry, although most wound up presenting about three courses - an evening's worth of delicious eating. Each dish was judged not just on how well and yummy it tasted, but also how delicious it looked, or its presentation; on how creative the dish was; how it and the contest were promoted and marketed; and the use of NC products. The contest is, after all, designed to promote the wonderful foods produced in our state.

Fine Dining Category Winners? What a choice.....all are marvelous choices to spend an evening eating well. But here are the final three....drum roll please......

1st Place

Ashten’s

Southern Pines

2nd Place

Table at Crestwood

Boone

3rd Place

Deluxe

Wilmington

Isn't it interesting that these three represent three unique regions of North Carolina? From the mountains to the sea, and in-between!

ASHTEN'S

Ashten's chef is Ashley Van Camp, who was influenced by her grandmother's old-fashioned country food. The difference? It was cooked with love, she says. Her winning entrees were Egg Drop Soup with chicken, presented with the poached egg at table; an asparagus strudel; trout with black eyed peas; lamb shoulder stew; and finished off with a dessert of polenta cake with strawberries. Chef de Cuisine Matt Hannon and Pastry Chef Jen Curtis helped pull of this magnificent menu. Ashten's is located in a cozy but hip older building in downtown Southern Pines. http://www.ashtens.com/

TABLE AT CRESTWOOD

Chuck Nelson heads up the kitchen at Table at Crestwood, and saw the contest as a way of promoting the fresh, local products he loves to use. His first course arrived at the table as a soup dish with a mound of fresh blue crab with basil, and the server swirled a sweet tomato bisque around it. Delicious! A field green salad followed with a log of fresh, local chevre rolled in almonds, with the main course a grilled ribeye steak from Asheville area's Hickory Nut Gap Farm. A cheesecake made with goat cheese and surrounded with a wild berry compote ended this delightful meal. The location was a plus too. The location was a plus, too, as the view was of Grandfather Mountain. http://www.crestwoodnc.com/restaurant.html

DELUXE

Deluxe is also located in a hip, older building, but in downtown Wilmington, just a block from the Cape Fear River. Chef Trinity Hunt's contest winner was fried soft shell crabs from Snows Cut, gathered by Phil Smith, and presented on a veloute of corn with tomato jam as an accent. What a dynamite combination. It looked pretty and tasted divine. Chef Hunt is a Native American who has developed "a keen sensitivity to the harmony between the fisherman and his fish, and the farmer and his farm, and how enlightening the stomach can be for the spirit." This entree certainly was a prime example of that philosophy. http://www.deluxenc.com/

WINNERS FOR THE CASUAL DINING AWARD

1st Place Bistro 42 , Asheboro

http://ncbistrofortytwo.com/

2nd Place Kornerstone Bistro, Wilmington

http://www.kornerstonebistro.com/

3rd Place Yancey House Restaurant Yanceyville

http://www.yanceyvillage.com/yanceyhouse/restaurant.html

LIVE, from Roanoke!

2010-08-16T10:08:00.005-04:00

THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK was featured on OUR BLUE RIDGE on WSLS Channel 10 in Roanoke, VA. Check it out! I had four minutes to talk about the book, then four minutes to demo with three different recipes from the book. Do you know how fast four minutes go?

http://www2.wsls.com/sls/entertainment/ourblueridge/article/the_new_blue_ridge_cookbook_pt._1/117290/

http://www2.wsls.com/sls/entertainment/ourblueridge/article/the_new_blue_ridge_cookbook_pt._2/117291/

FARMVILLE

2010-08-10T12:00:00.013-04:00

BLUE RIDGE WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE ~ Annual FARM TOUR

The Blue Ridge has got to be one of the most gorgeous places on earth. It's

fertile, too, producing some of the best food in the world.

Last weekend I got to meet my meat.....goats, sheep, cows. I also got to meet

some of the farmers behind all the tasty veggies offered at the Watauga Farmers market.

And, yes, just like a kid I got to pat some very cute, shorn alpacas this past weekend. Stayed away from the donkeys, those cute little thing that farmers use to protect their livestock from coyotes, bears and cougars. Turns out donkeys can be quite ferocious and show their, well, ass!

I also got to tromp down rows upon rows of staked tomatoes, step over and around bright yellow globes of fall pumpkins, cantaloupes and watermelons, and peer into drying sheds of garlic and growing "tunnels" that protect cantaloupes and tomatoes, esp. from rain damage.

Chicken "tractors" and this chicken mobile home provided quite the lovely fowl housing.

The BRWA's annual Farm Tour was such a blast this year, with ten farms spread over 3 counties. Each farm was a model of sustainable farming, an ode to a way of life that these lucky few have embraced.

Apple orchards, honey hives, sunflowers, purslane and potatoes were on display, with farmers talking and explaining over and over to each visitor what their farm was all about. This is a great way to put a face and a place to the food that you eat. I strongly encourage you to find farm tours that are being staged near you, all across the country.

Charles Church of Watauga River Farm in the beautiful Valle Crucis community is one of my favorite farmers. Perhaps he reminds me of my Daddy, the farmer. I just know that he is smart and funny, and to sit and shoot the breeze with him is a delight. A lifetime ago he grew tobacco on his farm, but after the buyout program, he opted for help with the Golden Leaf Foundation to turn his acreage into an organic garden. That takes guts, time and commitment. I admire him for that.

Squash, potatoes, and zucchini were lined up in ice chests for sale. Someone asked about beets, and his helper said, "Oh, I'll go pull you some." Get some for me, I shouted.

How fresh is that?

Charles said too much rain had been a problem for him this growing season. And he will have no broccoli this fall, due to his plant provider. Five acres of broccoli has always been one of his main income-producers. Meanwhile, he has some terrific looking pork products, including a spicy sausage, for sale.

At Tumbling Shoals Farm, Shiloh Avery and partner Jason Roehrig showed us their growing tunnels, as well as the slips of fall crops they had started from seed in their greenhouse. They've cut out that middleman, the plant starter, so they won't have Charles' problem. But that requires a lot of man or woman hours, too. Shiloh is looking forward to December and January when they can actually leave the farm together for more than 24 hours.

BEETS ME!

I was in a pickle, so to speak, as to what to do with such fresh beets. Pickle them? Roast them for a salad? Or stack them with goat cheese? Or sandwich them between puff pastry with chevre? All of those recipes can be found in my latest, THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK.

I laughed when I remembered my friend who told me that she had never eaten the roots. She thought they were inedible, and so just went for their green tops and threw the dirty things away.

I roasted those babies in a 400 degree oven for about an hour, or until fork tender. Then rubbed them with a paper towel, to keep my hands from turning "beet red," to release them from their skins. So much easier than peeling before cooking.

Now, I'll chill them, then slice them onto a salad with chevre and toasted pecans or walnuts. Or at least what's left of them. I admit I downed a few while peeling. A girl can only show but so much restraint!

BRAGGING RIGHTS

Here are two nice pieces about THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK, one about my appearance at the Mount Holly Farmers Market, right outside Charlotte. The other is from the Boston Globe, and all about Tomato Pie. Another blog at another time, I promise.

http://www.carolinaweeklynewspapers.com/story/20100806/author-bringing-passion-local-food-farmer’s-market

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/articles/2010/08/11/tomato_pie_is_more_than_just_garden_variety/

COASTAL TERROIR

2010-08-05T12:40:00.010-04:00

Manteo Farmers Market, Saturdays 8 to 12

COASTAL GOODIES

You just have to love a farmers market where you can pull your dinghy up at the dock and get farm-fresh provisions. In Manteo, NC, every summer Saturday morning, farmers and their brokers set up tables under a huge sprawling oak and tents, and barely have time to display the blueberries picked from 50 year old bushes, or cantaloupes from Rocky Hock, or creamer potatoes from Camden County before customers like myself starting buying. Note, go early.

Usually I come home from the Outer Banks laden with freshly picked crabmeat and heads-on shrimp from the Pamlico Sound, or soft shells if they're in season, or fresh blood-red tuna.

This time space in my ice chest was shared with Mattamuskeet Sweets, the sweet Spanish-style onion grown near Lake Mattamuskeet where tundra swans and Canadian geese congregate during the winter. This sweet onion's season was cut short this year due to the hot, hot weather, and then rain that July brought. None were available at any of the markets I checked, and so I called. Out of luck, I made a note to go online and order a box early next summer. www.alligatorrivergrowers.com Thank heavens my friend Della had a big bag on her porch and shared a few with me.

COASTAL TERROIR

Not terror, as in pirates swarming the waterfront, but terroir, a French term that essentially means the growing conditions - the "where," the type of soil, the amount of moisture perhaps from being close to the sea, and breezes, the amount of sunlight, etc.

North Carolina's coastal plain, particularly those counties that abut the sounds created by the Outer Banks, our "barrier islands," have a terroir that's particularly good for melons, onions and potatoes.

Rocky Hock is a small community near the banks of the Chowan River, right before it dips down and becomes the Albermarle Sound. The soil there is light and dry, sorta like beach sand, and doesn't hold water. That could be a problem for other veggies, but it's perfect for melons. The last week of June and usually through the end of July is their prime harvesting time. Rocky Hock cantaloupes are sweeter, like I remember the Charentais or Cavaillon melons of France. Their flesh is firm and crisp, and a bit longer-lasting. Ditto for watermelon. I have almost eaten a whole 10-pounder all by myself this last week! Sweet and juicy...dribble down the chin juicy....and did I say sweet, esp in the heart of the watermelon? And with seeds that could help me win a spitting contest (I think seedless varieties are not as flavorful.)

Rocky Hock melons are just about gone for the season, for the same reasons - July was so very hot and wet.

TATERS and PEACHES, TOO

But you can still stock your larder with some of the creamiest creamers and white potatoes from Camden County, a skinny sliver of land that juts from Virginia, bordered by the Pasquotank River which flows into the Albermarle. This northeastern corner of North Carolina is potato country, with over 5,000 acres devoted to growing the tubers. The terroir is similar to that in Rocky Hock, with sea breezes and sandy soil.

Currituck County is tucked between Camden Co and the Albermarle Sound, and faces the beaches up past the last real road in Corolla. Take a ferry over to Knotts Island, and you can find "peaches at the beaches." The last weekend in July is when the annual Peach Festival is held. I apologize for not letting you in on it sooner :>(

GAZPACHO

My favorite treat this summer is SUN GOLD TOMATOES. Tiny, sweet, "pop them in your mouth now" treats, they made a terrific gazpacho. I was thrilled to find a recipe using them in Thomas Keller's latest cookbook, AD HOC AT HOME. The founder of the famed French Laundry in Napa, Keller is of course a proponent of cooking local and seasonal, although he doesn't mind searching the globe for the very best ingredients and spices.

I took some liberties with his recipe for Sun Gold Tomato Gazpacho, substituting our wonderfully crisp, sweet Southern pickling cukes for Armenian or English cucumbers, the Mattamuskeet sweet for a regular onion, and used a combo of smoked sweet paprika and hot chili pepper in place of the piment d'Espelette, and champagne vinegar instead of sherry. In other words, I used what I could find at my markets and in my pantry.

The result? A gazpacho made in heaven. Creamy and smooth, redolent of that sweet tomato taste. We all loved it.

****RECIPE**** SUN GOLD TOMATO GAZPACHO

1/2 cup cold water

1 medium garlic clove, crushed and peeled

3 tablespoons coarsely chopped sweet onion

1 pint sun gold tomatoes (12 ounces)

2 small pickling cucumbers

1/2 large yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded and coarsely chopped

1/2 large red bell pepper

1 1/2 teaspoon sherry or champagne vinegar, or to taste

1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/4 teaspoon chili powder (or use 1/2 teaspoon piment d'Espelette

kosher salt

freshly ground pepper

about 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon minced chives

1. Place water in a medium bowl and add onions and garlic. Pull out 2 tomatoes per diners, then cut the tomatoes in half, over the bowl, catching any drips. Add tomatoes to the bowl.

2. Peel the cucumbers. Slice one cuke in half, then coarsely chop. Add those to the bowl. You'll use the other cuke as a garnish.

3. Add yellow pepper to the bowl, and toss all together. Let sit and "marinate" for at least five minutes.

4. In the meantime, prepare the garnish. Cut the remaining cuke into a very fine dice. Ditto for the red pepper. Refrigerate, separately, until ready to serve.

5. Transfer the vegetables to a blender (or as Keller recommends, a Vita-Mix). Start on low speed, then increase the speed until the mixture is thoroughly blended.

6. Put a fine meshed strainer over a bowl. Pour the tomato mixture into the strainer and press until all the juices are out. Discard the tomato skins and other veggie remains.

7. Rinse out the blender jar, and then add the strained tomato mixture. Add the vinegar, the paprika/chili powder, and season with salt and pepper. Blend to combine.

8. Then, with the blender running, slowly add the olive oil through the top opening, blending until the gazpacho is "velvety smooth."

9. Taste, and add more vinegar or spices or salt and pepper if needed. Refrigerate in the blender jar until cold, or for up to 2 days.

10. When ready to serve, give it a whirl or two to blend again. Pour the gazpacho into individual serving bowls or cups. Garnish with a sprinkle of the diced cucumber and red pepper, and the tomatoes, halved, saved for the garnish. Serve and enjoy!