Goat Cheese Pappardelle with Pecans, Mushrooms, and Basil

I had a total blast yesterday with friends and fellow food-lovers The Bells as we headed up the dark interstate late last night to see Serenbe Playhouse’s “The Sleepy Hollow Experience.” We got to Serenbe a little early and decided to sample some drinks and desserts at The Hil, which has been featured in Southern Living, Bon Appetit, and Food & Wine among many other publications. While enjoying a lovely chat with the chef-owner’s delightful mother in the bar, we tasted the infamous bourbon pecan tart (I enjoyed it with an amaretto coffee, myself) that had an almost croissant-like crust.

heavenly

The play was delightful: eerie without being spooky and humorous without being campy, and good for all ages. The only downside: it was about 30 degrees and the entire experience was outdoors. This morning I awoke , after getting home at about 2am, to a raging headcold that shattered any plans of productivity for the rest of the day. This includes, of course, the regularly scheduled weekend grocery store run. Hungry and without much in the way of leftovers in the fridge, I scavenged what I could find for a warm, soothing pasta dish.

the fruits of my ransacking!

“Ok, cool, this looks normal. I can totally do this! Pasta, lemon, pecans, goat cheese, fresh basil, and WHAT THE HOLY HELL IS THAT ON THE END?”

I know. Trust me, I know. This, my friends, is a Lion’s Mane mushroom, supposedly one of the healthiest mushrooms you can possibly consume. I picked it up along with some baby shiitakes at the Mulberry Street Market this week from the delightful Jonathan of Sparta Imperial Mushrooms (actually, I inquired about it purely out of interest and he very generously threw one in with my shiitakes as a sample; what a guy!). Fresh mushrooms are in their ideal state of being when sauteed very briefly in only a tiny touch of butter. The mushroom itself has an amazing flavor that comes out when cooked and you don’t need to ruin it by making it mushy or throwing it in with a bunch of other stuff.

I cooked my pappardelle quickly (4 minutes tops, guys, this stuff is fragile) and tossed it with the goat cheese, a ladle-full of pasta water to thin it into a sauce, lemon zest, and the juice from half the lemon. I chopped and toasted the pecans, and also roughly diced and cooked the mushroom over high heat in a cast-iron skillet with a little bit of butter. The mushroom bits got crunchy and browned, and almost reminded me of lump crab meat in the end. I topped the pasta with these and some fresh shredded basil. Comfort food to the extreme, and I never even had to take my fleece socks off!

sigh…

Coconut Curry Chicken Stew

I’m having a whirlwind romance with chicken thighs, you guys. I’ve always loved them but very rarely bought them for home consumption. I saw them as a special moist treat for when I visited a fried chicken joint. But no more! I’ve been using them for the past few months in most every chicken recipe I can find and I have no regrets. This savory and filling stew especially needs the darker meat to keep up with the other strong flavors. Makes about a week’s worth of leftovers for one, or several days worth of very large helpings for two. Talk about a budget meal! And it tastes better and better the longer it sits.

Note: you can easily make this paleo-friendly by subbing out the peas and corn for other veggies like eggplant, carrots, or cauliflower. Win!

Ingredients

• 5-6 cloves fresh garlic, peeled
• 1 small Vidalia onion, roughly chopped
• 3 tbsp fresh ginger root, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp curry powder (this is my 100% favorite kind)
• red chili flakes to taste
• 2lbs chicken thighs, cut into 2-inch chunks
• 1 can baby corn, cut into manageable pieces
• 2 cups peas (or the veggie of your choice), can be fresh or frozen
• 2 cans coconut milk
• 2 tsp cornstarch

In a food processor if you have one (the blender will do otherwise), puree the garlic, onion, and ginger. Inhale deeply and feel it cleansing your pores from the inside out. In a heavy-bottomed pot (see, e.g. a Le Creuset), heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the puree and cook until extra fragrant (just a few minutes). Stir in your spices and cook for a few minutes more.

Add the chicken to the pot and bring the heat up just a bit. Mix it all up and keep moving the chicken around so it’s all evenly cooking. You’ll want to at least sear the chicken on all sides before you add the liquid.

Once the chicken is mostly cooked, pour in the coconut milk, reserving a bit of the thick cream on top. This will be how you will incorporate the cornstarch later… Also add your veggies of choice and let it simmer away until the chicken is completely cooked through. Whisk the cornstarch into the reserved coconut cream and add to the pot at the end. If you like a thinner soup, just skip that part! I wanted something more stick-to-your-ribs, so I went with it. You can serve this over rice if you’d  like, but it’s pretty perfect just on its own. Enjoy in the cooling night air with good company and a glass of white wine.

Warm and satisfying!

Stuffed Pork Tenderloin Sammiches

You guys. I just had the best sandwich of my entire life. And, I mean, I’ve had a lot of great sandwiches. But this one was BANANAS. It all started with a take on Ina Garten’s fennel and onion stuffed pork tenderloin… *film blur*

Ingredients

• 3lb pork tenderloin, butterflied all the way out
• 1 cup plain breadcrumbs
• 1 cup thinly sliced fennel bulb
• 1 cup thinly sliced Vidalia onion
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
• 1 tbsp each butter and olive oil
• 2 tbsp pastis (Ricard is best, Pernod is acceptable)
• salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 425*. Melt the butter and olive oil together in a pan over medium heat, then saute the fennel and onions until they are soft and browned. Add the garlic, thyme, pastis, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss with the breadcrumbs, sprinkle your unrolled pork with more salt and pepper, then pack in the stuffing. Roll the tenderloin up and tie it together with some kitchen twine., and salt and pepper the outside. Place on a baking rack over a sheet pan and roast for 30 minutes, then turn the heat down to 350* and cook for 20 more minutes. Let it rest and slice it up!

This is my cat receiving his share of pork, moments before he nearly took my hand off for it.

It is phenomenally delicious as it is, especially when paired with the orange, fennel, and pomegranate salad I made, but DUDES. This is the epitome of leftover nirvana and was suggested by someone who is clearly a freakin’ genius. Slice up some of your leftover pork. This is what it looks like cold, fyi:

JEAH!!

Heat up a bit of butter in the pan and lightly grill a sandwich roll. Remove the buns and toast up the pork rounds until they get a nice crispy outside. Remove, add a bit more butter and your favorite bbq sauce to the pan to thicken quickly. I was recently turned on to Montgomery Inn, a Cincinnati-style sauce that is AWESOME with this sandwich. My knees go weak at the thought of it now. Hmmmmm. *blush*

Anyway…

Place pork on bun, pour sauce on pork, top with other bun like so:

Stop it, you tease.

Devour mightily. I know it looks insanely simple but this is just mind-blowingly good.

See, e.g., the carnage.

Tales of Tailgating: Watermelon Salsa, Seared Chicken Thighs, and Mercer Football

Football has returned to Macon! After 70 years of being without a football team thanks to Mercer’s (male) college students’ involvement in WWII, the Bears are back on the field! Friends Eleta and Alex and Andy and Heather have done a bang-up job of organizing what is surely the best and tastiest tailgate Mercer has ever seen!

See: this shitty photo for evidence of the awesome.

The best part about this tailgate is that we have a lot of folks who like good food, and that means amazing pre-game snacks and bevs (in school-sanctioned orange solo cups, of course…).

For week 2, pre-total field domination of the Warner Royals by the Bears (61-0, baby!!!), my contribution to the tailgating festivities was my watermelon salsa, a summer stand-by that is sweet and spicy and has many uses. It can be made with peaches or nectarines depending on what you find both ripe and available.

Ingredients

• 2 cups peeled, seeded, and cubed watermelon (I almost never recommend using seedless watermelons, because I think they are lacking in flavor, but here it would definitely be in your best interest.)
• 1 cup peeled, cubed peaches (or nectarines)
• 2 seeded and minced jalapeños (If you’ve never worked with jalapeños before, please be careful. It is not child’s play, unless you are talking about the 1998 film where a doll named Chucky comes to life and murders people. That might be similar to the pain of jalapeño in your eye.)
• 3/4 diced Vidalia onion
• 1 tsp orange zest
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 1/2 tsp salt

Enjoy with chips and friends. Then use the leftovers (if you have any) for this tasty dish!

Heat up a tablespoon of oil on medium heat. I used this magnificent cinnamon and chili infused peanut oil from Oliver Farm in Wilcox County, GA. I met Mr. Oliver at the Mulberry Street Market a few weeks ago and sampled his delicious infused peanut, pecan, and sunflower oils. This is the one I walked away with:

Shop local, y’all.

Once the oil is nice and hot, gently lay in some salt-and-pepper seasoned chicken thighs and let them cook slowly for 20-30 minutes, uncovered. I bought boneless and skinless because that’s what was on sale at the Kro-zhey, but the bone-in ones will have even MORE flavor than these babies. Flip once they are golden and fat-rendered on one side, and cook for another 20 until thoroughly done, tender, and flavorful.

While you’re cooking the chicken, heat your oven to 350* and place some ears of corn (husk on) directly onto the oven rack. Let them roast for about 30 minutes as the chicken is readying itself. (If you lose the corn, I believe this becomes paleo-friendly. Do as you wish.)

Remove the chicken gently from the pan, top with watermelon salsa, and strip the corn of the husk (the silk will pull right off in one big chunk after being in the oven for so long). Rub a little butter on the corn and top with chunky sea salt and a tiny squeeze of lime juice, should you so desire. Enjoy this meal as summer weather comes to a close and we all start dreaming of sweaters and falling leaves.

*sigh*

Mango Curry Chicken Salad

Please excuse my absence, but I’ve been neck-deep in new job and moving. My new loft is right in the heart of Downtown Macon, which means I am two blocks from work and a hop, skip, and a jump away from all my favorite places to eat! The new job has left me little time for cooking, but tonight I made my first official meal in my new kitchen. *cue heavenly lights and angelic choir* My mom makes a divine curry chicken salad, but I decided that I wanted a simpler, sweeter version of the same. Don’t be weirded out by the ingredients – I promise it will all be alright in the end. Super simple, super tasty!

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp. mayonnaise (f’real f’real)
• 2 tsp. curry powder
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. Sriracha (awwww yeeeeah)
• 2 chicken breasts, cooked to your idea of perfection and chunked thoroughly
• 1 mango, cut into small cubes
• 1 or 2 scallions, sliced thinly
• lettuce of your choice

Mix together the first six ingredients in a bowl. This is your delightful dressing. Toss with the chicken and mango and gently add the scallions. Mound on top of a fresh bed of lettuce and sprinkle with a few more scallions. Tangy with a hint of spice. Add more Sriracha if you want to feel the burn. Nom!!

Oof. Yes.

Car-beer-nara: A Lesson in Spontaneity

I love my new job. Love love love love it. But I am currently keeping my head just above water in the catch-up game. Add to that the fact that I am moving at the end of the month and you’ve got one stressed-out lady, so I haven’t been able to cook as much as I’d like. I was invited to a local chefs’ dinner this evening, but I didn’t get home until 7 and I was a little bummed about missing it. The theme was Italian and it got me in the mood for pasta, so I decided to try a favorite of mine: carbonara.

Carbonara is a bacon, egg, and cheese pasta dish (no cream traditionally, contrary to what a lot of fake-o Italian restaurants will try to pass off as carbonara). How could you NOT like it?? Any long pasta will do but I used my personal favorite, which is pappardelle (a very thin, wide egg pasta). Usually you would deglaze the bacon pan with a stock or wine, buuuuuut this was very last minute and I realized too late that I didn’t have either. What I thought was chicken stock in my fridge was actually seafood stock… no bueno. Enter the beer! I am very pro cooking (and baking!) (and drinking!!) with beer, so I improvised with a bottle of Liberty Ale I had in the fridge. Winning! I’m gearing up for Macon Beer Fest on the 24th, so beer is ever present in my fridge.

• 2 or 3 strips thick-cut bacon (I’m a huge fan of the Black Forest bacon from Fresh Market), chunked
• 1/2 cup finely chopped Vidalia onion
• a bottle o’beer (light, not too hoppy)
• 1 cup grated parmesan
• 2 egg yolks
• black pepper to taste
• pastaaaaaaaaa

Cook up your bacon in a skillet that will be large enough to accommodate all the pasta in the end.

gratuitous bacon shot

Once a suitable amount of fat has been rendered, throw in your onions and soften them for a few minutes. Add the beer, scrape up all the bacon goodness from the pan, and bring to a boil. Let it reduce by about half.

Cook your pasta to your liking. Add the pasta to the bacony sauce along with a bit of the pasta water to bind it all together. Remove the skillet from the heat and quickly stir in the yolks one at a time. The heat from the pasta will be plenty to cook them appropriately. Mix in the cheese and black pepper, and plate it up! Save room for seconds…

Cheers!

Also, in a food related flashback, on Saturday my friends Stacey, Molly, and I hit up one of our favorite establishments (Dovetail, holla!) for a much-needed ladies night. Please look at this quail risotto. Thank you.

Garlic-Riddled Pork Tenderloin: The Triumphant Return

And we’re back! I’ve been home (New Jersey, of the NYC Metro variety) for the past week on a rather spur of the moment trip, spawned by a super cheap plane ticket and a slight personal crisis. It was really nice to see my mom (obviously, because she rocks my socks off), to eat and drink my way across three states, and also for it NOT TO BE RAINING OMG. And then I got back to Macon and in less than 24 hours it was, naturally, raining like the end of days. But in the great obnoxious metaphor that is life, after the rain comes the sun. We may not be seeing much sun in Georgia right now, but after my own personal thunderstorm these past 5 months (good grief, has it really been that long and yet only that long?) I have finally seen the sunshine. I start my very own full-time, health insurance-providing, ass-kicking lawyer job next week. Say whaaaaaaaat! F’real f’real. So here is a tasty celebratory meal thanks to Fresh Market’s on-sale pork tenderloin and a whole lotta garlic. Super easy and makes fantastic leftovers for sandwiches or just snacked on plain.

Ingredients

• 1 pork tenderloin (I bought a two-pounder and got home to find that it was actually two one-pounders stuck together…winning!)
• 1 head of garlic, cloves skinned nekkid
• fresh rosemary stalks
• olive oil
• salt’n’peppa

Preheat your oven to 325*.  Place the tenderloin(s) in some sort of walled cooking contraption – I used a deep baking sheet. Strategically poke holes in your loin and insert whole (you heard me) garlic cloves firmly into the meat. As much as you want. I went garlic-crazy, but that’s totally normal for me. The garlic will try to work its way out, so just push it back in. Also take some spears of rosemary and shove them into the pork as well. If you go with the grain of the meat, they’ll run in quite easily. Drizzle a little olive oil on and add salt and pepper to your taste.

like so…

I was intending on cooking my 2lb conquest for an hour and a half, but since they turned out to only be 1lb each, they got an hour. Remove and tent with foil for 10 minutes while it rests.

serious om noms

Extract the rosemary as best you can from the pork. Slice into medallions and marvel at the gems of garlic studding your magnificent loin (have you been giggling every time I’ve said that? GOOD!!). I enjoyed this with simple sauteed yellow squash’n’onions, a Southern summer favorite. Deeeeeelish!

American Jamstand: a 4th of July jam and other tales of the flood

It feels like it’s been raining for days… oh wait, it HAS been raining for days! And days and days and days. But I’ve kept myself occupied with various and sundry activities such as:

• mysterious goings-on at Dovetail that, while I am not at liberty to discuss, are VERY exciting indeed

• Steve teaching me how to homebrew, specifically this imitation of Bell’s Hopslam that went a little crazy in the pot

• top gal pal and birthday twin Melinda showing me Your Dekalb Farmer’s Market in Decatur for the first time and me going APESHIT over the tubs of spices for 88 cents

It’s been a not-too-sucky week for the most part! I’ll be heading to Edisto tomorrow for a holiday weekend with Kirsten and some of her gal pals. You know it’s gonna be a good time when everyone involved is super into food. I drove down to Lane Orchards this afternoon to stock up on some fresh seasonal peaches to take with me as my contribution. What I did NOT remember was that it was their July 4th Festival today. Poor planning, Melanie. So I parked in the middle of the field and schlepped up to the madhouse that was the store. There were festive locals and rude tourists alike. Lady who opened the box in my cart and removed some of my peaches while I was standing right there – you are on my shit list and I will find you. You do not manhandle another person’s produce after it has been claimed. This is not the Wild West.

I was planning on just getting a couple of quart baskets, but the lovely young lad at the store informed me that a 1/2 bushel box was only $20, and I would be paying just as much for less than half the quantity if I went with the quarts. SOLD.

Debatably good decision.

I carried my half bushel plus some beautiful fresh-picked blackberries back to my car, which I found firmly stuck down in the mud of the field upon my return. After a lot of wheel spinning (sorry, white minivan parked next to me…), I drove back home through what looked suspiciously like an almost-tornado.

Bring me Bill Paxton and a $5 Walmart belt.

I used the sinfully delicious blackberries along with the wonderfully fragrant Thai basil that I found at YDFM (for a DOLLAR) to make yet another round of summer jam.

LOOKADEM BERRIES!

Blackberry Basil Jam

• 2 pints blackberries
• 1/2 cup Thai basil simple syrup (we’ve covered this before…), made with ~1 cup basil leaves
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp powdered pectin
• squirt o’ lime juice
• extra fresh Thai basil leaves for extra basil power!

I mixed the pectin and extra sugar together and sprinkled it over the crushed berries while I was making the simple syrup to macerate them a little. Extra juices are always good. Boil the fruit and simple syrup, and if you want extra basil flavor, throw the whole leaves in near the end. Thai basil is so good. It’s more fragrant than sweet basil and has an almost licorice-y taste to it. Look for the bright purple stems and buds. I adore it and can never seem to find it anywhere. Thanks, YDFM!

Once the jam is good and fragrant, remove the shriveled whole leaves and jar it up! Seeds included because I love them, but you could strain them out if you like.

Happy birthday, America! Go drink a beer. Look out for updates from Edisto if we stop eating long enough to get online.

Also, I’ve joined Bloglovin. Go here if you want to follow along via them!

Gravlax and Honeyed Figs: A Collection of Thank-You Foods

Here’s the deal – if you feed me, I will probably insist upon returning the favor. I will make every effort to figure out what you might like, and I will probably make it for you within a week. It seems only fair.

I had a fantastic dinner at new friends Steve and Laura’s house last Thursday. Much food and wine (and some bourbon) was consumed by all (but actually John Buckner drank all the bourbon… I’m calling you out on that, buddy), and everyone left feeling very satisfied in bellies and in hearts. Enter the thank-you food!

Gravlax is salt-cured salmon and should not be confused with smoked salmon, which is cooked during the preparation process. There is no cooking involved in this, only pressure and science. It is pretty critical that you get good fish for this as a result – don’t go cheapsies and get some half-priced about-to-turn stuff. Your digestive system will thank you for this later. Gravlax is surprisingly easy to make (I’ve done it only once before); it just takes a bit of a time commitment and some patience, plus somewhere to get a very fresh, large, center-cut salmon filet.

Ingredients

• 2lb salmon filet, center cut (thicker filet = larger slices at the end), skin on
• 2/3 cup coarse sea salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tbsp black peppercorns
• a few tablespoons akvavit, gin, or other suitable liquor (I used herbe de bison)
• fresh dill, and mounds of it

Grind up the fennel and peppercorns, and mix with the sugar and salt to make a rub. Lay out a big sheet of plastic wrap and sprinkle about a third of the salt mix on it in roughly the size and shape of your fish. Place the fish on the salt, skin-side down.

A magnificent fish.

Slowly pour your alcohol of choice onto the top of the fish, evenly cover it in the rest of the salt mixture, and dump all the dill on top. I used too little dill here. I will learn from my errors next time. Wrap the fish up tightly in the plastic wrap. It’s going to cure in the salt and its own juices, so make sure they stay in there! Plus, you don’t want fish juice all over your fridge.

tasty tasty package

Put the fish package in a baking dish (just to be safe from leakage) and bung it in the fridge. It can take anywhere from 24 to 48 hours to fully cure, depending on the thickness of the fish and the proportions of your rub. Mine was pretty well done in about 24, though I will probably leave it in longer next time to let the flavors absorb more (see also: more dill). You will know it’s done when it turns darker and opaque and has shed much of its moisture into the pan and plastic wrap. Go ahead and unwrap it now.

All done!

Scrape off the herbs and the salt rub, or rinse it lightly if you’d prefer no bits of salt and pepper (shoop shoop) hanging around. Slice at an angle very thinly (remember, you don’t eat the skin…) and serve up! Mine went on a sourdough round with a bit of butter and a few capers.

Get in mah belleh!

Also good for gifting are things in jars. They don’t have to be eaten right away and are more easily shared. My friend Jennifer tipped me off to some figs on sale at Fresh Market, so I grabbed the last(!!) package and scurried home with them.

Anyone else thinking of Fern Gully?

I sliced their jewel-like bodies in half and sprinkled them with some cinnamon, sugar, and orange zest, then baked them slowly in the oven at 225* for about two and a half hours. It took every bit of self-control not to gobble them all up as soon as they came out.

om nom nom!

You could eat them just like this, but I chose make them gift-able by covering them in some local sage honey from Weeks Honey Farm in Omega, GA. They’ll stay good for quite some time like that. Enjoy as is, on toast, or over ice cream!

Delivery!

 

A Simple Italianate Dinner: Tomato Salad, Warm Ricotta Dip, and Broiled Peaches with Gelato

I’m still working through the rest of the sweet heirloom tomatoes I picked up from East Georgia Produce at the Mulberry Street Market this week.  That plus thinking frequently about the warm ricotta starter I had at Proof in Louisville last summer when I went to visit Kirsten got me plotting and scheming. Also, I mean, who doesn’t like a warm buttery peach served with gelato? I’m not sure I want to be friends with you if you don’t.

Tomato Salad

• assorted heirloom tomatoes
• kosher salt
• fresh oregano
• balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• red chili flakes
• fresh garlic

Slice the tomatoes, put them in a colander, and salt them liberally. I promise they won’t be too salty at the end, but the salt will help leach some of the water out and concentrate the flavor. Let them sit for 10 or 15 minutes to drain.

Mix up a simple dressing with balsamic, olive oil, a clove of garlic crushed and finely chopped, and some red chili flakes to taste. Shred some fresh oregano leaves over the tomatoes and dress accordingly. I had some extra mozz hanging around in the fridge, so I bunged that in as well.

MATERRRSSSSS

Warm Ricotta Dip

• 15oz whole milk ricotta
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan, plus more for sprinkling
• 1 tbsp fresh oregano, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp horseradish
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp truffle oil

Mix up everything except the truffle oil and smooth into a baking dish. Top with extra shredded cheese and drizzle the oil over top. Bake at 400* for 20-30 minutes until the cheese is melted and the edges are just golden. Serve deliciously warm with toasted pita wedges or little crostini.

Swoon.

Broiled Peaches

• 3 fresh ripe peaches, halved and pitted but with skins still on
• good honey (I used a local honey from Ambrosia Apiaries in Perry, GA)
• small pat of butter for each peach half

Set your oven to broil (500*ish) and place the peach halves in a baking dish. Put a pat of butter in the center of each half and drizzle honey over the lot.

sweet Georgia gold

Roast up those peaches until the tops have started to crust up and the butter is bubbling away. I am still fantasizing about future gelato purchases at Ocmulgee Traders, but for now I’ve gotta get it where I can. I picked up a container of Talenti’s Tahitian vanilla gelato at Publix and served it up with these golden glories. Mmmmmm!!!

Shut the front door.

I enjoyed all of this goodness with a tasty glass of my friend Kelly’s peach lemonade recipe, plus some sparkling water and a little bourbon. I need a nap now.

*faint*