Innholdsfortegnelse for June - July 2010 i Taste of the South

SUMMER MEANS SATURDAY MORNING TRIPS TO THE FARMERS’ market, following local chefs to see where they buy their tomatoes, and listening to excited chatter as vegetables change hands. Farmers’ markets are more than just places to gather supper ingredients. They offer community, a place for conversation, and an opportunity for recipe swapping. The Crescent City Farmers Market in New Orleans is one of the most vibrant and diverse markets you’ll find anywhere, with vendors selling everything from live blue crabs and produce to local ingredients like Creole cream cheese and filé. Take a tour on page 64. If you’re looking for new ways to use your farmers’ market vegetables, check out our pizza story on page 24. Grilled pizzas, with a delicious Southern twist, make entertaining during the summer fun…

strawberry chiffon pie Yield: 1 pie (8 servings) 2 cups graham-cracker crumbs 1⁄2 cup finely ground pistachios 1⁄4 cup sugar 1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 3⁄4 cup boiling water 1 (3-ounce) package strawberryflavored gelatin 1⁄4 cup small ice cubes 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 (12-ounce) container frozen nondairy whipped topping, thawed 2 cups finely chopped strawberries 1. Preheat oven to 350°. 2. In the work bowl of a food processor, pulse together graham-cracker crumbs, pistachios, sugar, and salt. With food processor running, slowly add butter. Continue blending until well combined. Press mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. 3. Bake until crust is golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.…

“FOR US, FOOD IS MAGIC,” SAYS BIRMINGHAM chef and restaurateur Chris Hastings. And after dining at Hot and Hot Fish Club, the restaurant he and his wife, Idie, opened on Birmingham’s Southside in 1995, few people would disagree. Chris’s famous Heirloom Tomato Salad is a tower of multicolor heirloom tomatoes, field peas, and whole fried baby okra drizzled with chive dressing—think a sort of deconstructed Southern succotash. Just one bite is enough to win anyone over to the Hastingses’ way of thinking. For Chris and Idie, the magic begins not with the chef who prepares the food, but with the farmer who grows it. That philosophy—that food should be eaten when it’s at it freshest—had its beginnings in a meal the couple shared in San Francisco more than 20 years…

My cooking group has been using your Taste of the South’s special 5th anniversary collector’s issue, Southern Favorites, for the past year. Will you have another collector’s issue this year? If so, I need to order eight copies for my group. We love cooking from your magazine! —Terry Kendrick Layton, Utah We’re excited to know that you loved the first issue of Southern Favorites. We had so much fun putting the issue together that we decided to do it again. This summer’s Southern Favorites issue will focus on baking. We’ve collected a lot of great recipes for traditional Southern cakes, pies, breads, and classic icebox desserts, plus some great baking tips. Southern Favorites 2010 should hit newsstands on June 29. You can also order it on tasteofthesouthmagazine.com. Authentic Chicken and…

LEXINGTON HAS A REPUTATION FOR PRODUCING FAST HORSES, BUT THE FOUR-FOOTED RACERS aren’t this town’s only homegrown assets. Almost all of Lexington’s tastemakers are locals, born and raised in the Bluegrass. This isn’t to say they never left. They’ve wielded cleavers and created sauces in cities such as New Orleans, San Francisco, and New York. But eventually, home called. Their respective restaurants are as unique as the personalities and experiences behind them. Still, all take advantage of the livestock that roam these bucolic hills and the produce that thrives in the fertile fields. PORTOFINO Portofino’s menu reflects culinary traditions far beyond the geographic borders its name implies. You’ll find seared yellowfin tuna with chili plum sauce and harissa-glazed salmon. Chef Nat Tate’s dalliances with Asian and Indian flavors have resulted…

BLACKBERRIES ARE A COMPLICATED SUMMER FRUIT. The simplicity of peaches or the candylike lovability of blueberries is friendlier. Peaches flood the mouth with a honeyed sweetness that’s fragrant with vanilla. Blueberries are a Disney version of a berry, round and gentle like a bouncing sing-along ball. Blackberries? These midnight purple berries are thick in the mouth like wine, musky, and sharp with sweet and sour edges—not much simplicity here. Wild blackberries grow prolifically throughout the South, in the ditches along dusty red-dirt roads, and they are the thick undergrowth of piney woods. Huge brambles protect the berries. Growing up, my sister and I would go blackberry picking with my grandfather. My grandmother Meme insisted we wear long sleeves and full-length pants, regardless of the sweltering heat, to protect our tender…

We love to simmer lady peas in water or a mixture of water and chicken stock until creamy and tender. For great flavor, cook with a sprig of fresh thyme, bay leaf, shallot, and dried chili pepper. Or throw in a few pods of okra. Serve as a side, stir into succotash, or use to top a tomato salad. ENJOY ALL YEAR: Blanch lady peas (for about two minutes), and spread on baking sheets lined with paper towel to dry. Then, freeze in plastic bags.…

menu lemonade mint tea grilled corn with compound garlic butter lemon-lime-basil grilled chicken tomato salad bacon-and-herb potato salad grilled peach salsa with tortilla chips red, white, and blue sundaes star sugar cookies lemonade mint tea Yield: 6 to 8 servings 10 cups boiling water 10 single-size tea bags 4 fresh mint sprigs 1 (12-ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed 1. In a large pot, combine water, tea bags, and mint. Let stand for 10 minutes. Remove tea bags. Stir in lemonade concentrate. 2. Refrigerate approximately 1 hour, or until ready to serve. grilled corn with compound garlic butter Yield: 6 to 8 servings 1 cup butter, softened 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 teaspoon ground black pepper 1⁄2 teaspoon salt 8 ears corn, in husks 1. Preheat grill to medium-high heat…

ONE OF NICK USNER’S REGULAR CUSTOMERS IS UPSET. BROW MOIST WITH SWEAT, THE MAN sprints from his car through the labyrinth of vendors at the Crescent City Farmers Market, ending at the stand where Usner sells organic produce from his Bush, Louisiana, farm, GROW. It’s too late. The farmer’s coveted free-range-chicken eggs are sold out In fact, nothing remains of the trove of fresh pickings Usner hauled in on this Tuesday morning— except handwritten descriptions scrawled on his tall, thin chalkboard. The weather is impeccably clear, a magnet for the enthusiastic patrons who have poured in steadily since the market bell sounded at 9 o’clock. “Oh man,” responds Nick, 25. “You gotta get here earlier.” The disappointment isn’t cause to part ways, however. The two men fall into easy chatter…

LIVING IN FLORENCE, SOUTH Carolina, Athena Russell is just an hour’s drive from Myrtle Beach, a proximity she has appreciated since she moved to this small town 10 years ago. She loves to go to the beach, and her Grilled Bacon Meatloaf Burgers topped with Fruit-and-Nut Pimiento Cheese are the perfect beach fare. They were inspired by a trip to a local Greek restaurant. “The idea came to me after my boyfriend and I had dinner there,” she recalls. “I had the grilled meatloaf, and I wanted to re-create it at home.” Athena substituted ground beef for the lamb, adding pork sausage to give her burgers a Southern flare. And she topped them with her homemade pimiento cheese. “I love burgers with pimiento cheese,” she says. Experimenting in the kitchen…