SEAFOOD SAFARI

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

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!

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

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

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!

VACATION BLUES? TART IT UP!

Rum Point, Grand Cayman

MY TRIP'S OVER, SO HERE'S HOW I COPED.....TARTING IT UP. . . ..

What's not to love about blueberries? Hardly a calorie, high in antioxidants, full-flavored. Easy to work with, easy to pick or find during the summer months, versatile in tarts or on granola or in salads, or even in barbecue sauce, like the spicy blueberry rib sauce I love at Twelve Bones in Asheville, NC....and I'm working on duplicating that here, too.

But here's my fav......a very tart lemon curd topped with fresh blueberries.

And, it's easy. Just take it a step at a time. Zest and juice the lemons. Make and bake the crust, then while that's chilling, cook the lemon curd. Be sure to strain it, as shown, for that removes the lemon zest and leaves the curd smooth on the tongue.

While the curd is cooling, wash and dry the berries. Then it's child play, dropping berries until you couldn't possibly add another blue bomb.......Chill or just dive into it!
RECIPE...........LEMON CURD and BLUEBERRY TART, from my first book, THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK: Recipes & Traditions from NC's Barrier Islands.

For the Pastry:

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

zest of 1 lemon, finely grated

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 to 1 1/4 cup flour

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch fluted tart pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine butter, vanilla, lemon zest, sugar, and salt. Graduallly stir in enough flour to form a soft ball of dough.

3. Place the dough in the center of the prepared tart pan. press the pastry evenly over the bottom and up the sides, using your fingertips.

4. Place the tart shell in the center of the oven and bake until pastry is lightly browned, about 15 to 18 minutes.

5. Place on a wire rack and cool before adding the lemon curd.

For the Lemon Curd:

3 whole eggs

3 egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest

3/4 cup fresh lemon juice, strained (from 5 to 6 large lemons)

pinch of salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1//2-inch cubes

1. In a large sauce pan, whisk eggs, yolks, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice, and pinch of salt.

2. Add butter, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, scraping sides and bottom or pan. DO NOT BOIL.

3. Cook for 7 to 10 minutes, until the mixture is the consistency of loosely whipped cream, thick enough to coat the back of the spatula and leave a trail when a finger is drawn through it.

4. Pour mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into the pre-baked pastry shell.

To finish the tart:

1 1/2 pint blueberries, rinsed, picked over, and patted dry

1. Allow the tart to cool to room temperature, about 1/2 hour.

2. Sprinkle the blueberries evenly over the top.

3. Refrigerate, for up to one day.

4. When ready to serve, remove the outside ring from the tart, and let sit at room temperature for 20 t0 30 minutes before serving. Best eaten the day it is made.

P.S..................

Let me show you why I have not posted lately.....below is my husband standing on top of Grandfather Mountain, where we celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary.

And then we spent a week snorkeling, drinking beer, eating conch ceviche, conch fritters and red snapper on Grand Cayman with our friends. Great getaway!

RED, WHITE & NOT BLUE

Chevre on toasted baguette, with ripe tomato and basil.

RECIPE BELOW

CELEBRATE INDEPENDENTS

Nope, that's not a misspelling. Today, with more and more big box groceries, bookstores, and WalMarts, we consumers need to support our local, independent merchants now more than ever. Sure, you may have to pay full price for a hardback book, but in the long run, we all pay in so many ways. Keep the independents in business, and we'll have more diversity and a stronger, local economy. That's my 4th of July message!

T-Shirt from Sterling Bridge Dairy, Floyd Co, VA

CELEBRATE CHEVRE

So it's got a French name, but fresh goat cheese is All-American. Goats are such a trip. They can be "hired" to clear fields....they love kudzu! And climbing on cars. And at Caromont, in Esmont, VA outside of Charlottesville, Gail Hobbs-Paige's goats line up, in the exact same pecking order, every day, twice a day, outside of the milking parlor. www.caromontfarm.com

Here she's with some of her new kids, weaned from their moms so that their milk can be turned into mild and creamy cheese, some dusted with herbs, others with a layer of ashe, still others aged for a bit then washed in a local vinegar, produced from local wines, from Virginia Vinegar Works.

TASTY CHEVRE from NC

Ripshin Dairy, from Love Valley, is sold at the Watauga County Farmers Market. Love Liza's chevre with lemon, and with lavender. www.ripshindairygoat.com

Three Graces makes lovely chevre flavored with a variety of herbs. Look for them at Asheville's tailgate and farmers markets. www.3gracesdairy.com Also, Spinning Spider has been making chevre for quite a few years, with lovely aged cheeses, esp that I have enjoyed. www.spinningspidercreamery.com

Looking Glass Creamery, near Asheville, hopes to make the area "the Napa Valley of cheese." Jennifer Perkins was the "sheep technician" at the famed Blackberry Farm resort, where she tended the goats during the day and experimented with cheese at night. Now, she's producing a fantastic variety of aged and creamy cheese. www.ashevillecheese.com

One of the oldest goat dairies in the Piedmont is Celebrity Dairy, where you can also take a peaceful retreat at the Inn, built among the pastures where goats and chickens roam near Siler City and Pittsboro. Fleming Pfann's cheeses are exceptional, especially those aged and/or herbed.

At just about every farmers market throughout the Southeast, you'll find a goatherder and their cheese, or soaps. Indulge, and enjoy.

LACTOSE INTOLERANT?

Here's something to cheer up those of us who suffer from gas, bloating, or worse with cream, milk or some cheeses: Goat and sheep cheeses are more easily tolerated by our lactose sugar intolerant tummies. And, the harder the cheese, the better for us, too. Check out the explanation given by Barbara Kingsolver in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life.

WAYS TO USE CHEVRE;

- Spread on toasted bread, then top with herbs, or tomatoes and herbs, or roasted sweet peppers

- Add to sauteed vegetables and pasta, while all is warm

- Crumble over spinach or variegated lettuces

- Drizzle chevre with honey, for a sweet treat, esp when served with fresh figs or peaches

In THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK, you'll find some outstanding recipes using chevre, like Roasted Beets, Rosemary and Chevre in Pastry; Warm Goat Cheese and Artichoke Spread; Fried Green Tomato Napoleon with chevre as one of the layers; and Tomato Ramekins with Goat Cheese.

Here's one I'll share from THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK that came about one evening at the beach when we were racing to prepare our sunset cocktails. I threw together what I had on hand....as lots of cooks do. The results were worth repeating.

Crabs and Goats Cocktail Spread

1 cup backfin crabmeat

1/4 cup bottled cocktail sauce iwth horseradish

1/3 cup chevre

juice from 1 lime

1 tablespoon chopped chives

salt and pepper to taste

crackers, crostini or toast points

Mix all ingredients together. Spread and enjoy!