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India, part one, The Brave Hearted Will Take The Bride, Then We Spoke of Andhra, Punjab and Bengal Cuisines


THE BRAVE HEARTED WILL TAKE THE BRIDE,

THEN WE SPOKE OF ANDHRA, PUNJAB AND BENGAL CUISINES

Food is one of the many things where if you cannot go to the birthplace you can at least find it in books, restaurants and friends. When I told a friend of mine that I was exploring the cuisines of the India by studying several cookbooks (seven so far) and dining out she suggested that I go to India. I do not have the money. “You can go there on the cheap.” I was hungry to learn now, so to the books I traveled and found the world of Indian Cuisines. It would be great to travel the world in an endless feast of cuisines, sights and love of the people.

Cookbooks, poetry and history open doors that would otherwise remain closed. India is an open book of secrets, sometimes easy and sometimes daunting. How fun is that? Lots, lots of fun. So if you lived or traveled there feel free to judge or take pleasure in this presentation. My Mother lived in and traveled a good bit throughout India. She tells great stories . I love retelling them. Her impressions and those of my friends led to this fascination.

After my Mother, I happily dedicate this to a romantic and idealized couple, Richard  and Sujauta Winfield, Professor of Philosophy and Attorney. Here is a couple who met, fell in love and married in spite of the protests from her family about marrying an American intellectual. He is brave and philosophical to her beauty and brilliance, and that equals Romantic! They are as in love today as when they first met. They are an inspiration. Hers was the first home style Hindustan Andhra vegetarian appetizers I had experienced. Over the years I have eaten in many Indian style restaurants but hers remains the memory. Whenever I have served them I present a treat at the start of the meal as a way to show my continued love and admiration. Usually it is mango in some form or another. A king of fruits, the mango adapts to all cuisines and preparations. I’ve made mango BBQ sauces, salads, grilled with fresh cheese, ceviche and pickles. Always remember that fruit and cheese reach across thousands of years of world cuisines. There is never anything odd about the pairing of a fruit (from melon, tomato, grapes to mango) with cheese. Mango with a bit of fresh cheese is amazing. So, Mother, Richard and Sujauta, this is for you. I hope that here and in future explorations I represent y’all well.

 

The first challenge was one of choosing regions. India is Asian and that there are things that carry across cultures from the sub continent to Korea. The cuisines of India includes: Pakistan, India, Kashmir, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and western Myanmar. Hindu India has a history of Muslim and British influence and occupation so the foods reflect this part of their history. We seek at all times to make the unfamiliar familiar. The foods of the South are spicy hot so that you perspire or cool off and the foods of the North so that the heat is warming, the same as for our Hemisphere. There are 33 regional Indian Cuisines. Yes, 33.

The following are distinct cuisines: Gujarat, Punjab (includes western Pakistan and is called “Land of Five Rivers. Mostly vegetarian but it is where tandoori cooking originated so some meats), Bengal (rice and fish), Kerala (Syrian Christian & Muslim immigrants includes meats), Parsis (Zoroastrian immigrants includes meats, small population in Mumbai), Andhra and Dakshin both Hindu of  southern India, Assam (Northeast includes fish and fowl), Goa (below Mumbai and is influenced by Arabian sea, Portuguese and Hindu), most of the distinctions between cuisines are religion based as in Hindu: Vegetarian and Muslim to Christian: non vegetarian and vegetarian. The lack of refrigeration means that fresh and local are not marketing terms, they are the way of existence. Practically every herb is a culinary herb so explore the options. It is with great pleasure that we all read, cook and admire cuisines for what they are and what they represent.

Bengal, Andhra and a touch of Punjab styles today. This is the first of a set of columns on Indian cuisines adapted to Georgia and Carolina kitchens. It is a venture of intellect, body and passion. Worcestershire, chutney, samosas (stuffed and fried breads), Basmati rice, rice pudding, curry and cinnamon are all from India.

Condiments are part of every meal, this includes pickles, chutneys, nuts, oils and clarified butter (ghee), breads and basmati rice or sweet potatoes. The parantha bread is in the family of pliable flat breads found in China, Ethiopia and Mediterranean Turkey, Lebanon and Israel; chapati is similar to puffy, toasted tortillas. The meals are generally not in stages, they are presented on trays at once with all of the necessary condiments. Chutney is not exactly always the Major Greys jam–like preparation. I was happy to find that they do relate in ways to pesto and spreads as well as chopped fruit style.

Legumes (pulses and grams) such as lentils, chick peas, pigeon peas, soy beans, mung beans and yellow lentils comprise a large part of the diet. Basmati rice is long and light starch. A lot of flour is made with these legumes and rice instead of the wheat flour style of our culture. We will be using brown rice and soy flour.

Eggplant with yogurt; basmati rice; cilantro chutney; mango pickles, red salt and cucumber shrimp cakes; pistachios in pepper oil; rose water lassi is our meal today. It is much easier than it seems. Organization is the key, the rest falls into place. All but two things can be made ahead of time. These recipes serve four.

MUSTARD OIL

This is a general purpose cooking and seasoning oil.

6 ounces Corn oil

15 black peppercorns

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

1 bay leaf

5 Sichuan peppercorns (optional)

Heat but do not cook over 150 degrees for ten minutes. Strain through cheesecloth and set aside. After it cools, cover and keep in refrigerator till use.

PISTACHIO

Shell 12 pistachios per person. Toast in one ounce mustard oil until the color of the nuts begins to tan. Strain. Reserve oil to use as condiment.

 

GARAM MASALA

‘Garam masala’ means hot spice blend. Like curry, there are many combinations of ingredients. The ingredients, along with ground red pepper make up the common spice wheel used in many regions. They are stored in small round metal containers in a round serving tray. No pantry storage, just the wheel and when they are emptied it is time to replenish. I make my own garam masala this way, but it can be purchased. In addition to the following spices I will sometimes add a bit of fenugreek and turmeric to give it a more curry style flavor. Combine and lightly toast.

1/3rd teaspoon Coriander

½ teaspoon Ginger

1/3rd teaspoon Black pepper

1/4th  teaspoon each: Cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves

GHEE

1 pound unsalted butter

Cut butter in 4 ounce pieces. Melt on medium heat in high sided pan. Once it has melted take off of the heat and let cool. Refrigerate in plastic container. After it has hardened lift solid out of container and pour off the water. Scrape off the top milky layer and discard. The yellow solid is the clarified butter or ghee. It can be heated completely on the stove top until the water evaporates. Do not use this method unless you are with someone who has clarified butter before.

BASMATI RICE

Basmati has a scent of roasting almonds. Great cooked in any style from pilaf to boiled. Cook rice in the water only. After it has cooked mix the butter and spice together and serve in small bowls at each plate for the diner to add as they wish.

½ cup basmati rice

1 cup cold water

½ teaspoon garam masala

1 ounce ghee (clarified butter, can substitute corn oil or olive oil)

CHUTNEY

Chutneys of Hindustan are different from what we use in the West. It was a treat to find their similarity to western pesto.

Make the cilantro chutney in a mortar and pestle in order to keep the integrity of the cilantro intact and to release just the right amount of oils from the crema without it separating. Mexican crema, a kind of crème fraiche, instead of making fresh cheese.

½ cup cilantro

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon roasted red chili peppers in corn oil

1 tablespoon +1 teaspoon Mexican crema

¼ teaspoon fine red sea salt

½ teaspoon lime juice

Combine and press together in a mortar and pestle until it is not quite smooth. Serve in small bowl or large spoon next to fish cakes.

EGGPLANT

Either the Japanese long style or ball shaped Indian eggplant is perfect for this dish. Peel the eggplant.

16 slices eggplant, thin slices

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

½ teaspoon ground coriander

½ teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon pink sea salt

2 tablespoons soy flour

1 ounce corn oil

4 thick slices tomato

Combine spices and sprinkle both sides of eggplant. After you sprinkle the seasoning on it let the slices sit for 15 minutes, then gently press with paper towel. Flour and sauté. Serve on top of tomato.

SHRIMP CAKES

This is our Bengal representative. The Bangladesh/Bengal and Coastal areas use shrimp quite a bit so I am using shrimp for this recipe. Whenever possible use Georgia Coastal shrimp.

16 ounces shrimp, chopped

2 ounces brown rice flour or mung bean flour

½ teaspoon granulated red sea salt

½ teaspoon serrano pepper, finely chopped

1 teaspoon ginger, peeled and minced

1 tablespoon lemon, juice

2 ounces cucumber, chopped

2 ounces corn oil or ghee

1 ounce brown rice flour, for dusting

Combine ingredients and pat into 8 small cakes. Dust with rice flour. Sauté on medium heat, turn four times until almost crisp. Internal Temperature will be 160 degrees. Serve on top of crisp lettuce leaves.

MANGO PICKLES

16 slices mango, peeled, thick sliced

2 ounces sweet pickle juice from the jar

2 ounces Shaoxing Chinese cooking wine

1 teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

1 bay leaf, crushed

Combine and store in jar in refrigerator overnight.

LASSI

2 cups greek yogurt

2 cups almond milk

1 tablespoon rose or orange blossom water

2 tablespoons turbinado sugar

10 ice cubes

Puree smooth. Serve immediately in cold glasses.

ROASTED PEPPERS

Make your own or buy a jar of roasted red peppers to serve as a condiment. If making your own combine, red bell pepper and banana chili pepper with 1 ounce corn oil and 1 ounce ghee. Wrap in aluminum foil and roast 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

Set up your serving trays for each person. Keep items separate. Serve flat bread of your choice.  Talk and eat. Share the love.

Sitting on the front porch,

Holding hands watching the sun set,

Over our herb and flower garden:

The scent of roses, tomatoes,

rosemary and geraniums,

Alone and together they rise,

The smell of the South in August.

Sort of like washing up

On a steamy beach and finding

New worlds waiting,

New worlds free of greed and prejudice,

No slander, war and lies,

This banquet of life,

This humanity,

This place we call our own,

All things can be fresh, pure,

Beauty is always around us,

Beauty is always near.

I am glad you here,

Here in our own perfumed garden.

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Country Ribs, Catfish and Smoking Big Green Egg


CATFISH, RIBS AND A SMOKING GRILL
Ever think about how funny it feels to crank up the grill when the temperature of the sun is the same as the thermostat? To stand by the grill is a position of honor, and yet it can be the sweatiest place in the land. But that’s the way it is when the werewolf days (formerly dog days) come rolling in on hot rocks and humid soil. We just burn, take note though that we do not burn pork or beef ribs, catfish and Nathan’s Franks. For all the right reasons we love living in the heart of the South. Keeping cool after a full day of imitating race horses and farm mules is not easy.
The grill calls like a beloved, you want to sit in front of the AC vents, the grill just sits and waits, a still life with wonder, a callous pioneer of ceramic and steel. So we answer the siren of the back yard and promise all a smoke blessed dinner of Georgia and North Carolina, two of my three favorite states, the other being Northern California, a state into itself. Menu is: pork ribs and catfish, figs and peaches, tomatoes and Vidalia onions, jalapeno and poblano peppers.
If you do not have catfish from your family fisherman you can find Vietnamese swai or basa and Southern farmed catfish in the grocery stores now. Swai and basa are farmed Asian river catfish. Swai has been served by many restaurants of questionable nature as grouper for grouper sandwiches or as steamed grouper. When you see a value meal or low priced grouper sandwich the bet is on that it is not grouper and is in fact swai. Grouper is not inexpensive anymore and has not been for a few years.
This deceit of breed is a favorite find for investigative reports on TV and in food journals. Kind of like restaurants that sell farmed perch (tilapia) from China instead of Central American or Texas farmed. The difference is significant. Perch/tilapia is a delicious fish. Izumi dai tilapia raised in near cesspool conditions with questionable feed just does not taste very good. Not all tilapia is alike and not all catfish is alike. Buyer be aware of what you are doing. Tilapia is a herbivore so it is not fatty and really does have a slight green vegetable flavor, as with catfish a buttermilk marinade will smooth out the flavors. Both are sustainable and that is ALWAYS a good thing. Seafood Choices Alliance lists American farmed catfish as a best choice and swai as a good alternative.
Our other star of the sunset grill are country pork ribs. The big rich meaty and fatty jewels of the rib family. Ribs love a marinade and a hot smoke even more. We will be using coconut and tamarind juices in our marinade for the ribs. Stop it, don’t even complain that you can’t find these ingredients. They are right there in Fooks, Asian grocery, any Super Mercado or in the Latin/Asian section of most grocery stores.
You can make your own coconut milk with shredded coconut and water. That is how canned coconut milk is made, from by pressing and squeezing the water and coconut together through a cheese cloth. Tamarind water and paste is made by running warm water over tamarind and separating the seed from the flesh. Throw away the seed and mix the tamarind and water together into a paste. It is that easy. It is also easy to buy a can of coconut milk and a can of tamarind juice. Worcestershire sauce is made with tamarind. So it is not unfamiliar to you, just by name, by name and a few spices. In Thai grocery stores you will see tamarind labeled as candy. It is used for making soft drinks, candy, British condiments, sauces and marinades. The flavor is in the neighborhood of lemons and limes. Young coconut juice and tamarind juice are healthy and refreshing as a summer drink should be.
MASTER GUIDE FOR ALL GRILL/SMOKING OR KETTLE GRILLING:
Prepare your grill with 10 to 12 pieces chunk hickory and apple, or pecan and cherry wood and charcoal chunks. You will also need two cups of fruit wood chips soaked over night in water and then loosely wrapped in aluminum foil. Cook the charcoals to gray. Place the aluminum foil wrapped chips on top of the coals. Grill screen 12 to 18 inches from heat source. When the wood chips start to smoke then begin grilling.
Be careful not to let the pork burn so regulate how much air enters the base of the grill to a minimum, and frequently turn the meat. Total grill time is about an hour for fast and 8 hours for slow smoke. During the last five minutes of grilling brush the marinade on the meat. I have smoked ribs and briskets for up to 12 hours. Pork ham took 20 hours for my best friends’ wedding and it was the best I ever cooked. Avoid the little no match charcoal briquettes, use real wood charcoal and wood. The best smoke flavor comes from the best ingredients. Treated coals will ruin a ceramic smoker like Big Green Egg, Komodo and Primo.
The smoke matters so choose wood to compliment what you are cooking.
PORK RIBS, PEACHES, FIGS AND POBLANO PEPPERS
Recipes are for 4 people . Cut the rib meat in three slices keeping it on the bone. This allows smoke and marinade for short cook time and flavor. Grill temperature will be 250 degrees. Cook ribs to 165 degree internal temperature.
5 pounds pork short ribs/country ribs
2 ounces corn oil
6 ounces soy sauce
6 ounces tamarind juice
6 ounces young coconut juice
4 ounces apple cider vinegar
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 ounces ginger, sliced long ways
1 onion, chopped
4 ounces honey
2 ounces maple syrup
Combine, add ribs and marinade overnight in sealed plastic container.
Reserve one cup marinade for the sauce. Mix the reserved with 5 ounces ketchup. Heat 20 minutes medium low heat and brush on ribs during last 15 minutes smoking.
4 peaches, cut in half and remove the stone
12 figs, whole (pig with fig!)
1 poblano pepper cut in 8 squares
1 Vidalia onion, peeled, cut in four pieces
Remove pork from marinade and grill for 30 minutes per side turning them four times. Keep the lid closed on the smoker grill between turns.
Grill onion and peppers for 20 minutes, grill fruits for ten minutes.
Serve with favorite slaw, grilled corn on the cob and grilled potatoes.
BUTTERMILK CATFISH, JALAPENO AND TOMATOES
The buttermilk marinade removes the pond flavor and fills it with the medium fatty and smooth taste we look for in fresh water fish. Catfish loves to be fried but properly treated it is a great grill fish as well.
24 ounces catfish (or swai), cut into 8 small steaks
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
Combine and marinade 4 hours to overnight (12 hours). Remove and shake off the marinade. Discard marinade. Set catfish on paper towels. Sprinkle again with Bay Seafood seasoning.
Grill temperature to 400 degrees. Grill 5 minutes per side turning four times.
Serve with onion hush puppies, tartar sauce, sliced tomatoes and jalapenos.
Thanks, keep cool and truly love the ones you’re with.

Everywhere around wild fruits
are racing with tomatoes
to see who ripens first,
leaves reach star-ward,
roots dig further and further
deeper down,
and we watch:
Hoping
the water and light
are just enough
just enough for the perfect
black Cherokee tomato,
just enough for long beans
and roses, Anaheim peppers,
basil, rosemary, garlic,
you name it,
Just enough for you and I
to bet on which will ripen first,
which green tomato is fried
and which lives another day.
This is the life, summer love
and patient love swinging
on the porch together at dusk.

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Watermelon Tuna, Scallop Ceviche and Fried Chicken Thighs


LOOK HOMEWARD, CHEF

What does it mean to approach food from a perspective? When we eat new foods and spices do we feel a rush of excitement? Is the unknown enticing? We start out with the basic set of senses for taste and texture. Sense of taste changes every decade or less. What was repulsive at 12 is a culinary siren at 30 and beyond. If all a person eats is canned or frozen then fresh is going to taste odd. If all we eat is fresh and clean, then it follows that  foods heavily processed (preservatives, color agents, chemical or radiation treated) are practically indigestible.  Part of the work of a chef is to bring the diner around into overcoming prejudice, the rest is to provide delicious.

We will be preparing tuna with melon, pecans, horseradish, sushi ginger and rice vinegar; bay scallop gazpacho; fried chili chicken with sweet gherkin pickles, orange zest and pickled peppers. Each dish symbolizes how we look homeward and outward at the same time without losing our identity or our culinary heritage. All recipes are for 2 people.

Once prejudice is removed then all it takes is a set of well prepared and presented ingredients to open the great gates of world cuisine. For me, I come from the perspective of a traveling Georgian, a deep South Southerner who has lived on both Coasts as well as Mackinac Island, MI with an all too brief time with Chefs in Shanghai. The good part is that I was raised in a home free of prejudice, both in life and in food. I began my apprenticeship when my sense of the world was still forming. These experiences infuse my food. Use your life as a part of your food.

Shop local, love the farms in your surrounding counties, buy clean meats and sustainable seafood. Northern California was almost all local as far back as the late 1970s. Georgia is making great progress and the Athens Locally Grown group is the prime example of how Georgia can make it work. If not local such as black peppercorns or salt, oranges or vinegar, then buy in quantities you will soon use in a relatively short amount of time. Dried herbs and spices do lose flavor with age. Use your own experiences to understand what quantities you will need. It is not the fault of the innocent spice if it is not used. Support the restaurants and grocers who are truthful and who care, the food will reveal this attention to ingredients.

Examples of fried chicken around the world: Nouvelle fried in walnut oil with orange zest in the breading, Sichuan with prickly ash and wild mushrooms, Korean with panko and sweet persimmon vinegar  and back again to slow fried in peanut oil or lard the way my Grandmother did from the Great Depression on into the modern age. As a note, oven fried is very good, use mayonnaise or brown mustard after dusting with flour to coat the chicken, roll in bread crumbs and then bake “oven fry”.

Combinations of ingredients can move a dish from Georgia to the Caucasus’ to the  Indian Ocean with the ease of one or two spice changes. Once one understands that wasabi, horseradish and mustards are all members of the cabbage family then it becomes obvious that this ingredient can be switched around with relative ease in such a way that we can have potatoes (Original Home: PERU), tomatoes, seafood or beef given a lift with a small shaving of any of the popular cabbages (the World), be it wasabi or horseradish. An open mind does change our perceptions and opens life in ways far beyond the culinary.

Hence the adventure begins. ALL food is fusion, is world cuisine, is rooted in a geographical place and is extended to new lands as human migration takes place historically and today. Think about the Southern debt to Africa, France, Latin American and the British Isles in the creation of Southern Cuisine. It took about 225 years but it did take and is still evolving.

GAZPACHO

We all have a favorite gazpacho. Some people just do not like cold soup. Convince them it is just a cold appetizer for a hot day. This recipe has bay scallops because they are sweet, delicious and easy to prepare. They are also easy to ruin so follow cook times exactly. Overcooked they taste like erasers. Remember high school, chewing on the end of your #2 pencil during the SAT? That kind of taste, yeah.

If very fresh they can be added raw to the soup when you put it in the refrigerator. The acids from the ingredients will cook it in the same way that ceviche is cooked. This process is called denaturing.  If you do feel comfortable with this then poach the scallops, shrimp or seafood you are using.

Do not use any kind of food processor or blender for the vegetables, no matter how much you want to just drop it all in and hit “start”, don’t do it. Mince by had. Keep the integrity of the ingredients intact. Respect the integrity of your foods. Processed they become irregular and lose their juices. The liquid for your gazpacho is from the tomato juice and ice cubes not from processed vegetables.

INGREDIENTS

4 ounces red bell peppers, seeded, no pith, minced

2 ounces red onions, minced

6 ounces tomatoes, seeded, no pith, minced

3 ounces cucumber, peeled, seeded, minced

1 ounce pomegranate vinegar

¼ teaspoon garlic, fresh, very thinly shaved with a microplane

1 tablespoon parsley, chopped

1/4th  teaspoon black pepper, coarse

1/3rd teaspoon coarse sea salt

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 cup tomato juice

4 ice cubes

2 ounces bay scallops, poached ONE minute, temperature is 160 degrees

3 ounces water

3 ounces apple juice

Poach and chill.

AT SERVICE ADD:

8 garlic croutons

2 leaves cilantro

¼ teaspoon Cholula or Srirracha

Your choice: ½ ounce per bowl tequila (optional)

Prepare cold ingredients.

Chill for 4 hours and no longer than 3 days before eating. As it rests the flavors will finish combining, this is cold cooking. The seafood cooks the whole time it is in the soup. If you will not eat the soup the day you make it then add the scallops a couple of hours before dining. The raw flavors are what makes gazpacho so perfect for summer. Healthy and refreshing.

PECAN AND MELON TUNA

Buy what is called “saku block” tuna. It is frozen as all tuna is because of regulations regarding histamines in tuna. Law is that it is frozen 72 hours at Zero degrees Fahrenheit. This can be purchased at Asian grocers. The combinations in this dish give an charming sense of cool ocean sides and backyard under the elms and magnolia. Tuna and watermelon are a match made for the modern palate, perfectly combing salt, sour, wood and sweet with the added attraction of umami (delicious, fifth flavor) by way of green tea.

INGREDIENTS

4 ounces Yellowfin tuna, slice paper thin while partially frozen

1 tablespoon Sushi ginger, chopped

1 tablespoon Sweet rice vinegar

8 Pecans halves, toasted

2 ounces Watermelon, thinly sliced, cut in thin strips

3 leaves Basil

1/8th teaspoon Green tea leaves

1/4th teaspoon Lime juice

¼ teaspoon Wasabi paste

1/8 teaspoon Sea salt

Shave the tuna as thin as possible. Doing this while it is partially frozen makes the task very easy. Except for the pecans everything in this dish is sliced thin. Make all preparations and chill.

When it is time to serve rub an 1/8th of a teaspoon of wasabi paste on each plate. Place watermelon tuna in a small mound in center of plate. Garnish with pecans. Sprinkle sea salt over the watermelon tuna. If you want to make it more of a salad use spinach or mizuna greens as a base under the watermelon tuna.

WATERMELON TUNA BITES

This is my absolute favorite amusee or sashimi presentation. Again, it meets all criteria for the five flavors of hot, sour, salty, sweet and umami (delicious/mouth watering).  Buy the sushi ginger, tobiko (seasoned flying fish roe) and nori (dried seaweed) at any Asian grocer or Earthfare. The purpose of the flavors is to present the sense of standing on the beach, this is by way of the combination of ingredients. Eat one, close your eyes and breath.

The tuna, watermelon and nori must be cut in equal sized quarter inch squares.

2 ounces tuna, cut in 6 squares

2 ounces watermelon, cut in 6 squares

1 sheet nori, cut 6 small squares

1 tablespoon tobiko

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

6 sushi ginger, thin slices

1 teaspoon soy sauce

Pour the rice vinegar into a small bowl. Dip your fingertips into the vinegar while making this bite. Pour soy sauce into small bowl. Touch your fingertip into the soy and then on the top of the watermelon; this really is all the soy you need for this dish. Stack:  bottom is tuna, then nori, watermelon, ginger then tobiko in that order with tobiko on top. Set on cold plate. Serve immediately.

FRIED CHICKEN THIGHS

2 Chicken thighs, boneless, skinless

1 cup Buttermilk

1/4th cup Plain Flour

1/5th cup Cold Water

1/3rd cup Avery Fried Chicken seasoned flour (Sometimes you just have to give in to a favorite.)

4 Sweet gherkin pickles, cut in half longways

2 cups Peanut oil, heated to 350 degrees before adding meat

1 tablespoon Sliced Pickled peppers

2 teaspoons Orange zest

3 tablespoons Sweet Chili Sauce

6 dashes Cholula

1 ounce Rice vinegar

1/3rd teaspoon kosher salt

Combine in bowl.

Put chicken in 1 cup buttermilk, cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove chicken from buttermilk and drain off excess liquid. Dust with flour and let stand five minutes. Sprinkle thighs with cold water. In a paper or plastic bag shake the chicken with the seasoned flour.

Dust pickles with flour, the water, then in bag with seasoned flour.

Fry chicken for 11 minutes, turn every 2 minutes. Keep oil temperature at 325 degrees. Remove and test temperature for 165 degrees inside the chicken.

Add pickles to oil and fry for two minutes at 350 degrees. Remove and drain.

Put chicken in bowl with peppers, orange and sauces, move it around to make sure that the thighs are covered.

Place one thigh on each plate, then the pickles, pour ingredients from the bowl over the thigh. Serve with your choice of breads.

And there we have a light three course meal for these hot summer days and nights of our beautiful, green and humid Georgia. Thoughts of the great Southern writer, Thomas Wolfe stayed with me for this column. No matter how far I travel my home is the South, culinary, spiritually and family. Peace.

Still life moves.

The way the world changes

Is too much sometimes,

And then it slows down

To perfect measures.

A face,

A smile,

An open hand.

Turning everything over,

Revealing lives together

By a grove of purple plums,

We move into the shade

Of giant tulip maple trees

And cool by the road,

Like this

For more than awhile.

And so we are.

Yeah,

A life

A grace

An open love.

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SAYING WELCOME Y’ALL IT’S TIME TO EAT WITH RIB EYES, BEAN TAMALES AND HONEY BISCUITS


SAYING WELCOME Y’ALL IT’S TIME TO EAT

WITH RIB EYES, BEAN TAMALES AND HONEY BISCUITS

 

Spring is running head on into Summer where we have temperatures in the high 80s and midnight thunder storms. Even before we finish emptying that last bag of Rebel rye and fescue grass the trucker tan hits and we all have funny half red arms. This is the time for attacking mosquito breeding waters and carpenter bees in the rafters. Time to fertilize the tomato and pepper plants. Singing Sound Of Music “getting to know you” to the cashiers at Cofers and Home Depot. This is the time to clean out the grills and back yard smokers like Weber Kettle, Brinkman Capsules and best of all, the Big Green Egg.

Marinade the rib eye steaks, make a steak sauce, soak the corn husks, simmer the corn meal and chicken for tamales, and lastly, make the best biscuits in all of World Cuisine. Today we stand here in our South and say hello to the borders on all sides, reach out an open hand say “yes, share my peace, enjoy the day.”

We will prepare inside and finish the meal outside. Any grill will do but

only two will bring out the best of your hickory, apple or cherry wood. Like the dirt our produce is grown in, the wood smoke matters for that perfect taste of our terra terroir. If not for the wild soil then where would our Vidalia onions be?

Georgia dirt has flavor. The smoke we use to cook has flavor. The grass our cows eat add flavor. The soil is central to how flavor evolves in a dish. And the Sun, that beautiful burning star, it is everything to our farms and ranches whether full on in the Dog Days or hidden behind the welcome rains, it is everything to our harvest.

Keep in mind that food goes beyond ‘you are what you eat’ in that it becomes ‘you are what you eat eats.’ Prejudice is the greatest enemy to the evolution of cuisine. Cooks enhance and build, manipulate heat and cold, structure salt and oil so that we taste what is best about a protein and what is best about that day. Eating a melon, tomato or jalapeno raw right beside the plant is about as good as it gets. After that it is up the cook in the kitchen to find what is best and bring it forth.

Practice this mantra when friends ask how you are doing: “How’s it going?” “Great, except I don’t have a Big Green Egg.” “You cooking out tonight?” “Yeah, I guess so. It would better if I had a Weber Kettle or a Big Green Egg.” I am not paid to name names, not paid at all actually, but I sure love pointing out products and places that are sure things and have good people. Recently I was out on my back deck at 1 a.m. finishing up a hickory-apple wood smoked hen and flax seed enhanced biscuits. My neighbor, Randy, came home from his job as Sous Chef at the University Center for Continuing Education. They do a lot for our NE Georgia farms there with an all sustainable Friday every week. We talked deck to deck over the honeysuckle fence. Dogs barking across back yards like dominoes falling, kinda funny as the barks change from hound to beagle to distant Labrador to silence and then they start all over again. We shared hellos and how fun it is to stay up late when the food is so perfect, so delicious. Just relaxation, the stars and unhurried preparation.

I move the tamales to center heat, adjust the bread stone to bring the biscuits home. Close it and open the baffles to increase the heat to 500~. 10 minute biscuits. A little bit more to cook the tamales through and through. The steaks are on the shy side of 5 minutes in this heat. Then the apple wood smoke curls and waves bye-bye as I lift the steaks off the grill. That’s all it takes, just a few minutes. But what a wonderful few minutes. Prepare in the kitchen during the dusk hours, set it all aside and wait for night to grow a bit cooler. Light the wood and wait for the smoke. That’s all it takes. Just a grill and your love.

APPLE WOOD RIB EYE WITH DR PEPPER STEAK SAUCE

Check the butcher section of your favorite market. Ask the guys behind the counter which rib eyes they recommend for grilling. Grass fed gives a leaner, omega 3 rich and hormone clean steak, which I have grown to prefer. Corn fed will be more marbled and juicier. It all depends on what you are in the mood for in your beef. We build up the flavor with the smoke and sauce. You can always melt a slice of Irish or Plugra butter to bring that delicious fat flavor up in the grass fed. Our New Classic American is the Black Angus whereas Hereford are generally the ones for grass fed. There are some amazing farms promoting true all natural Black Angus grass fed and hormone free that is from right here in Georgia off of the Will Harris Ranch. Grass fed has higher Omega 3 than wild salmon. How about that for good tasting and good for you? This is the South, Georgia style.

Soak two pounds of apple wood chunks in water overnight. Use hickory as the base wood for your grill and the apple wood for the extra heat and flavor. The tamales will take the longest to cook at 30 minutes with the temperature no more than 200 degrees. After 30 minutes adjust so that the temperature goes up to 500 degrees. When it is time to cook the steaks and biscuits the biscuits go on first. Remove the biscuits and the bread stone and brush the grill with corn or peanut oil. Add the steaks and close the lid. Two minutes. Turn the steaks and baste with the sauce. Close the lid. Two minutes later check for temperature and let it go to your desired doneness. For me a good grass fed steak is done at 115 degrees or rare. Well done will be at 150 degrees.

DALE-BERRY MARINADE

2, 12 ounce                                    rib eye steaks, look for good fat content in the tail

Set aside.

4 ounces                                    cranberry-pomegranate juice

3 ounces                                    Dale’s steak marinade

1 two inch stalk                        rosemary, pull leaves off the stem, put all in marinade

2 cloves                                    garlic, crushed and chopped

1 tablespoon                                    black pepper, crushed

1 ounce                                    extra virgin olive oil

Whisk together and pour into glass or plastic container. Submerge the steaks and cover with plastic wrap pressed down on the liquid. Wrap top of container again in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for only two hours.

 

DR PEPPER STEAK SAUCE

4 ounce                                    Dr. Pepper

1.5  ounce                                    Worcestershire

1 ounce                                    Soy sauce

3 ounce                                    Apple juice

1 ounce                                    Balsamic vinegar

1 ounce                                    Raisins

3 ounces                                    Peaches, fresh, peeled (2 oz if dried)

Soak raisins and peaches overnight in Balsamic. Don’t worry when the fruits will soak up the vinegar.

1 teaspoon                                    Heinz Ketchup, HFCS free

1 clove                                                Garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon                                    Onion, powder

1 teaspoon                                    Chipotle in adobe sauce

1 teaspoon                                    Brown mustard

1 ounce                                    Light brown sugar

2 ounce                                    Honey

1 ounce                                    Molasses

 

Combine and heat on medium. Frequently stir. Cook for 15 minutes. Turn down to low. Stir and cook for 5 more minutes. Transfer to blender and blend on “puree” setting until smooth. Transfer to deep container and let cool uncovered in an ice bath. When it is 40 degrees put it in your refrigerator, uncovered. When it reaches 38 degrees you can cover it. This prevents any kind of bacteria from forming. The home cook must be as careful as the professional when it comes to sauces and dairy products.

When it is time to cook you will glaze the rib eyes after you turn them over. For rare steak on a very hot grill you only need to cook it for two minutes per side. Glaze on the last turn. The smoke will penetrate the meat fairly well when you close the lid.

OAXACA CHICKEN ‘N’ BEAN TAMALES

Moving further along on our world loving supper we will prepare chicken and bean tamales reflecting tastes of the Oaxaca region of South Western Mexico.

Using corn husks and banana leaves for this fine dish. If you don’t have the leaves just use aluminum foil, and if you don’t have husks then wait until another day.

Oaxaca is famous for their variations on mole, an amazing sauce, way of cooking that involves chili peppers and pure chocolate. The region has stayed close to it’s own history. There are many hills and valleys that keep it secluded and somewhat isolated from outside influences. The Oaxacan tamale is characterized by the banana leaf and black beans. Sometimes they will use avocado leaves as a wrap for their tamales.

4                                    corn husks, washed and shaken dry

Set aside.

1 tablespoon                                    butter

3 ounces                                    onion, diced

2 cloves                                    garlic, chopped

3 ounces                                    chicken, thigh, chopped

3 ounces                                    black beans, cooked

2 ounces                                    chicken stock

.5 ounce                                    cilantro, stem and leaves, chopped

.5 ounce                                    guajilla pepper, soaked in warm water and chopped

Sauté the onions and garlic for one minute on high heat, add the chicken and stir. Cook for two minutes. Add the cooked black beans, cilantro and pepper and cook for five minutes on medium low heat. Stir a lot. Add the chicken broth and cook for five more minutes, frequently stir to keep the flavors mixing together and to prevent burning to the pan. Mash the beans and chicken together so that when you have finished it will be a paste. Remove from heat and let stand for a few minutes.

Portion the chicken and bean paste between the four corn husks. Roll into cigar shapes. Wrap again with banana leaf, aluminum foil or avocado leaves, whichever you have available.

Refrigerate until time to grill.

HONEY BISCUITS

You will need granulated honey for these biscuits. You can find it in Korean and Pacific Asian markets, or in gourmet sections of the grocery store. The granulated honey is essential to these biscuits. If you do not have granulated honey you can use fine light brown sugar or grind turbinado sugar in a coffee mill so that it is finely granulated. The honey is the thing though since it cooks into the flour so well.

I have made these with buttermilk and week out of date sweet milk. Sour milk has been used for biscuits since the beginning of biscuit making. I remember mistakenly pouring a glass of milk at my Uncle Joe’s house when I was still a kid and being shocked at the awful sensation! My Aunt Phyllis came running into the kitchen to tell me that was her milk for biscuits. And so my love of sour milk biscuits began….I also use half butter and half Crisco non-transfat vegetable shortening for these perfect fluffs of flour.

If you have never made a biscuit or you were dropped on your head as a child then please pay attention to the directions and do not add baking soda or mush the butter up too much in the dough.

Heat your oven or smoker/grill to 500 degrees. While the oven is heating you can make the biscuit batter.

2 cups            +1 tablespoon            White Lily Self Rising Flour (only White Lily)

.75 cup                                    buttermilk

1 tablespoon                                    granulated honey

2 ounces                                    cold butter cut into pieces the size of oatmeal

2 ounces                                    Crisco cut into small pieces

 

After you cut the butter and Crisco put it back into the refrigerator so that it remains cold. Combine the White Lily self rising flour and honey granules in a medium sized metal mixing bowl. Chop the butter/Crisco into the flour with a knife or pastry whip so that it is barely mixed. There will be little flat pieces of flour. This is how it is supposed to look. Do not mix it in fine or smooth. This is a biscuit not a pastry.

Move the dough into a circle with a well in the middle. Pour the cold buttermilk into the well. Mix the buttermilk and batter together with your hands. Fold it as you go. If it sticks too much to your fingers then add more flour a teaspoon at a time until the flour pulls away from your hands.

Dust a cutting board with a teaspoon of flour and roll the dough out into a quarter inch thick slab. Fold it over twice and then roll again, but not too hard. At this point you want it to be a half inch thick. Using a pastry circle or metal measuring cup push down on the batter to cut biscuits. Do not twist. Push. Making drop or cathead biscuits is perfectly fine if that is what you like, but you will change the cook time by one minute more. Then place the biscuits on the ceramic bread stone or on a pastry pan and cook for 12 minutes. During the last two minutes brush the top of the biscuits with melted butter. They will be light tan, steamy and slightly sweet with crispy (not burnt) bottoms.

And there you have a hot spring supper of tamales, rib eye and honeyed biscuits. Best served with fresh jalapenos, cold sweet tea and slices of honeydew. Doubt you’ll need dessert after this one, just pour a little maple or cane syrup on the biscuits and live it up.

 

 

 

 

Tired of being isolated,

Set aside to season in darkness.

Inside, the house is empty,

Just Doc Boggs on the stereo

Singing to his Pretty Polly,

To sweet cornbread and peach whiskey,

And I join in the play of song and food,

Make Krispy Cream bread pudding

With Fruit Loop Almond Milk,

Top it off with Cheerwine sweet sauce

And steaming hot chicory coffee.

Like magic on cue or a promise met,

She walks in the door

As I pull the foil off of the bread pudding.

And she walks in the door right

As I am singing “I love you yeah yeah yeah”.

She smiles and tastes this days

Expression of past and present,

She smiles and tastes this evolution of now,

Yeah, for her this is glory, dreams realized,

For me it is pure, pure love alive,

Happy we found it in sugary donuts,

These silky charms of our childhood,

Happy I found her in my days of becoming,

Glad that this is not trapped in time…

Beautiful moment: you touch forever.

 

 

 

 

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Athens Banner Herald Article on Book Signing


Athens chef Lamar Thomas matches romance and recipes

By JOE VANHOOSE – joe.vanhoose@onlineathens.com

Published Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Buzz up!

Lamar Thomas has two passions in life: food and the humanities. If he’s not cooking up a four-course meal, he’s working on a rich narrative or poem.
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Special
Chef Lamar Thomas will sign books from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at The Rolling Pin, 196 Alps Road.

Lamar Thomas book-signing
When: 1-3 p.m. Saturday
Where: The Rolling Pin, 196 Alps Road
Cost: Free
Call: (706) 354-8080

So when the founder of East West Bistro and The Iron Grill decided to step away from the restaurant business to write a book, he knew just what he wanted to write about.

“Ginger, Lily and Sweet Fire: A Romance with Food” isn’t a traditional cookbook or a book of literature – it’s both.

“It’s a book for regular people, not industry types,” Thomas said. “It’s for people who are not chefs who want to cook world cuisine.”

The book goes beyond just recipes. Thomas assembles different dishes into entire meals and takes readers through them, step by step.

The first menu in “Ginger, Lilly and Sweet Fire” calls for chicken coconut soup, baked tilapia with cashews and yellow and red peppers, jasmine rice and sesame broccoli and chilled slices of pear and mango with chocolate cream.

In the “Mediterranean Hillsides and Beaches” chapter, Thomas combines frittata with shrimp, potatoes and onions, pan seared beef with a apple-almond harrissa and tiramisu.

In “Island and Oasis,” he puts scallops with jalape o and pears together with a tomato and basil couscous with vegetables and chicken, and finishes the meal with white chocolate meringues poached in orange water.

For every recipe, Thomas keeps the instructions conversational so that anyone can follow them.

“It’s packed with information, not just ingredients and instructions,” he said. “They’re all recipes for regular people.”

And they all have a new world spin on them. Really, they are a reflection of Thomas and his travels. He’s spent time in Athens, Atlanta, San Francisco and even China, traveling the country and the world in his pursuit for great food.

But food is just one of Thomas’ pursuits. He’s a published writer and offers poems, narratives and essays throughout the book.

Thomas has written essays about salt and the real nature of Italian food. His poems kick off every chapter, including this:

She was there alone by the counter

watching the herbs and fruits

like a perfect still life with wonder,

and it was here, downtown by the pines

in a neighborhood of open fires

that I saw her, and I saw my reflection,

so I rose and stood beside her

and together we began,

with the ginger and the lily,

we began our lives together.

The poems are followed by recipes that he has installed into restaurants around the world.

The recipes, he said, are his writings on society’s wall. But he couldn’t write a cookbook without squeezing his other passion in.

“The book is very much original,” he said. “It represents my whole life.”

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Learning the Charm Of Crock Pots From Kitchen Sink To Cassoulet


LEARNING THE CHARM OF CROCK POTS
FROM KITCHEN SINK TO CASSOULET
Happy New Year and Hello 2011! The black eyed peas and collards have all been eaten and it is time to keep the crock pot out for more great food. We owe a lot to the crock pot or slow cooker. Slow cooker dishes are made for families of one to full sized classic family of five. One pot is good for a week or a big Sunday. They cook smoothly, evenly and by keeping the top on they recycle the liquids. Since no stock is lost to the room it all stays in with the vegetables and meat. By simmering for 6 to 10 hours the meats become very tender and full flavored. Crock pots are excellent for short ribs. There are people who live by the crock pot, and this is dedicated to all of you who love or will love the beauty of a long simmered pot of navy beans/black beans/pinto/, okra, chicken and pork, and the elegantly peasant staple of cassoulet.
When I was getting ready for this I called my friends Don Chambers, Jarad Blanton and then Bryan Redding. I asked what they thought of crock pots. Immediately each said they used them all the time and love ‘em; and of course added that it is in high favor by all Mothers. Enough said. I had to do it. But the problem was how do I make it unique? I do not. The recipes here are classic French cuisine with the cassoulet and classic Southern as in gumbo variations. While shopping I saw that crock pots are now being sold in dual units. Side by side in the same console for optimized slow cooking! This is the way to save money and labor while putting together either a big family meal or a weeks worth of base for one or two people.
Purists put your heavy hand aside as this cassoulet recipe has smoked duck instead of duck confit in the recipe, nor are there copious amounts of thick cut pork belly or fatback, just hickory bacon and olive oil. I have adjusted for a slow cooker style. The rest of the dish is fairly standard in relation to the history of the dish. It is family food, farm food, a celebration of harvest. For us here in the South, crock dishes and cassoulet are festive enough by the very nature of the happy unity of flavors that takes place in the cooker. Winter demands we have big pots of something cooking from venison chili to cassoulet.
STANDARD PANTRY CROCK POT
Here we have the standard “there’s nothing to eat” emptying of the pantry and refrigerator. I know this because I have done this, and what fun it is to find jewels where we thought there were none. Not enough praise can be lain upon a cooking tool like a crock pot. I use a Cuisinart one that is all ceramic. The dual ones that I saw in the store were stainless-aluminum alloy in a polycarbonate cabinet. Pretty impressive stuff and well worth owning if your family needs require that much on going cooking.
The ingredients are not unusual. Everything is seasonally appropriate and if not fresh then dried is always there on the grocers shelves. I use guajilla pepper because the hot background to the fruity aroma adds a good even spicy heat to the dish. The peanuts and dried cranberries came as an after thought. On my second helping I thought that something was missing. This thing is crunch and the citrus sweet of peanuts and cranberries. Call this a gumbo if you want to, add fried crawfish tails to garnish and there you have a salty, crackly, smooth and earthy plate of goodness.
Cook pearled barley ahead of time and add to pot with other ingredients. Cook time for this recipe is 1 hour on high to bring it to a stable 300 degrees, then turn to low, 140 degrees, and cook for 7 hours. Cook a total of 8 hours. You can cook it for up to 10 hours if you want to really intensify the flavors. There are recipes requiring 16 hours time in the slow cooker. Keep covered except when adding ingredients. When using ground meats like our sausage then brown it first, pour off the grease and then add to the crock pot. Thick cut vegetables go into the bottom of the pot. Add fresh herbs and seafood add during last 60-45 minutes. Vinegar based seasonings like Tabasco and Cholula will get bitter so stick to the dried and fresh peppers. Do not uncover, between seasoning, just let the crock pot do the job it was made to do.
There is no “reducing” of liquids in a crock pot because the liquid recycles back down into the pot. Do not fill more than two inches from the top. Every time you lift the cover add an additional 20 minutes to your cook time. Do not stir after it starts cooking. Slow cooking is that sensitive! It is not merely mix and walk away, there really are techniques. Do not think of the crock pot as a place to empty straight from freezer to pot. Do not do it. Adding frozen foods to an already cooking crock pot is one of the things that causes intestinal discomfort, i.e. food poisoning. Best solution is to use fresh vegetables only and if you are using frozen meats then thaw thoroughly and sauté before adding to the cauldron of deliciousness.
A CHICKEN AND A HOG WALK INTO A BAR
Ingredients are listed in the order you should put them into the slow cooker.

1 1/2 quarts Chicken stock
1 1/3 cups White corn kernels
10 ounces Chicken, skinless, thigh and breast, thick dice
4 ounces Bacon, chopped, cook with sausage
6 ounces Ground sage pork sausage, browned and degreased
1 cup Pearled barley, cooked
2 cups Okra, sliced
1 cup Chayote squash, thick dice
1/2 pound Red potatoes, thick dice
½ pound Butternut squash, peeled, seeded, thick dice
6 stalks Green onion, sliced
4 cloves Garlic, crushed
Add during last hour of cooking
1/3 cup Cilantro, fresh, stems and leaves, chopped
15 fronds Rosemary, crushed
3 Bay leaves
1 tablespoon Guajilla pepper, dried, seeded and sliced
1 tablespoon Coarse black pepper
1 ½ tablespoons Coarse salt
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
12 ounces Dark Beer
At Service
2 tablespoons Peanuts per plate
1 tablespoon Dried cranberries per plate
4 ounces cooked basmati rice per plate

Garnish with whole cilantro leaves.

Serve over a plate of basmati rice with basil and olive oil. Cornbread is required.

A HUNGRY SOUTHERNER WALKS INTO A SUPERBOWL PARTY
This is a five ingredient slow cooker dish but the beef and potatoes do not count. Perfect for a base for chili.
1 pound Beef sirloin, cut in thick cubes
1 ½ pounds Russet potatoes, cut in thick dice
2 cups Cooked red beans
1 teaspoon Tony Chacheres Original Creole Seasoning
1 tablespoon Coarse Black Pepper
12 ounces Beef stock
12 ounces Good pilsner like a Terrapin brew
Combine and cook for 10 hours. Garnish with chutney or chow chow. Think chili. Serve over thick pasta like fettuccine.

SONOMA TO CLARKE COUNTY, CASSOULET IS HERE TO STAY
My best day with cassoulet was at St. Jean Winery in the early 1980s. We sat outside at a long wooden table under a huge magnolia in front of the main house. They treated the staff of St. Orres where I was working to a day at the farm. It was magnificent. The owner and his wife, Jean, were regulars at St. Orres and loved our food. What is not to love about any foods all fresh from Mendocino and Sonoma Counties? I sat next to the wine master. I did not know it at first and as I raved about the cassoulet, rye bread and Chardonnay he began to laugh and introduced himself. I felt honored and humble. The Coast and the Valley was vibrant with the rush of New American Cuisine back then, when Chefs worked together and Alice Waters was discussed at every meal, when farm to table first began in 1979 and still today seems like something new. Farm to table should never be a memory, it should always be now.
The smoker here is the Big Green Egg, Weber, Lil Indian, Brinkman or whatever brand you have for smoking the turkey and duck. I smoked a whole duck seasoned with rum, sweet soy, sambal and ginger for 6 hours with hickory wood. I seasoned the turkey with a traditional thyme, sea salt, black pepper, oregano, rosemary, sage and white wine rub. Let it stand overnight and then smoked with cherry wood for 12 hours. Crispy skin and smoky smooth meat. Cassoulet is a farm, home, peasant dish that originally used duck confit (duck cooked and chilled in duck fat) and haricot beans as the base. If you do not want to cook outside then roast the duck and turkey in the oven. You can cut the turkey in half and thus reduce the cook time. Internal temperature for duck should be 150 degrees while the turkey should reach 180.
The basic definition is “mixed bean and meat stew” so a lot is left to the particular bias of the chef preparing the dish. As I learned cassoulet from German and French Chefs it was duck, lamb, turkey, pork fatback, cranberry beans, white beans, white wine, tomatoes, wild rice and chicken stock.
As time goes by our tastes change a bit and the weather demands a nice day in and out by the smoker. Cold weather is perfect for grilling out in the South. Our cold weather is thankfully mild. If you have a Big Green Egg or other kind of ceramic smoker/grill and it is still hot from smoking the turkey you can make the cassoulet inside of it. Use an iron pot with lid, put the ingredients in and use hickory wood and apple wood for the smoke. Set it so that the temperature is at 200 degrees and leave it inside to cook for seven hours.
When using a standard slow cooker/crock pot you will cook the cassoulet for 10 hours, 1 hour on high and 9 hours on low. Add the duck during the last two hours of cooking. Start with all the other ingredients. When using dried herbs use flake, not powder.
10 ounces Duck, boneless, skinless
2 Turkey wings, skinless, cut in fourths
10 ounces Turkey breast meat, thick chopped
10 ounces Summer sausage, cut in thick cubes
4 strips Hickory bacon, dice, sauté, add all to pot
2 cups Navy beans, cooked
1 pound Red potatoes, large dice
1 cup Carrots, peeled, large dice
1 cup Turnips, peeled, medium diced
1 cup Onions, diced
1 Green bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons Tomato paste
1 cup Tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 ½ quarts Chicken Stock
1 pint White Cooking wine
1 teaspoon Thyme
1 teaspoon Rubbed Sage
½ teaspoon Oregano
1/3 cup Parsley, chopped
2 tablespoon Sea Salt
1 tablespoon Coarse Black Pepper
Garnish:
2 cups Spinach leaves, chiffonade cut (thin strips)

While it is cooking you can make a favorite rice or even mashed potato dish to use as service for the cassoulet. I have even had it in hollowed out bread bowls. Just take a thick crust round bread and heat it to very warm, cut out the top and remove the bread leaving a half inch to the crust so that it does not leak. Then spoon the cassoulet inside of the bread. Place a duck leg and turkey wing section on top of each serving. Garnish with thin sliced spinach over the whole serving. This is a rich dish that is good for any cold weather afternoon or evening.
If you don’t want to use the slow cooker for this dish you can cook the beans on the stove and roast the meats, then combine the ingredients in a roasting pan and cook again so that the ingredients are more distinct. After you remove the ingredients from the roasting pan pour the juices into a sauce pan. Add a cup of chicken stock and cook on high heat, stirring infrequently, until it has all reduced to one cup. Arrange each portion on a plate and pour the sauce over the cassoulet. Decorate with the chiffonade spinach. To really take this to the next stage you can then place a grilled lamb chop or pork chop next to the duck leg and turkey wing on the plate. This is as hearty and hardy as food can be.
This marks a great time for me. My book is finally in print and available in bookstores, Amazon, the publisher (Lummox Press) and from me at book events. This has been a labor of love for so many reasons and most of all it is a love letter to World Cuisine. The world is such a beautiful banquet of hundreds of cuisines and each as important as the next. Southern Distinction is where these recipes are first expressed beyond home or restaurant, and I am thankful to Bryan for his photography and inspiration, to Cindy and Keith for publishing such a great magazine and most of all to the cooks and readers here. It is all for you:
“Ginger, Lily & Sweet Fire: A Romance With Food”
At The Gates
Reading the Song of Songs
The way I have for years and years,
This little book,
The greatest love poem,
It goes beyond one man one woman,
It goes into the scope of life,
Of how to love
To hunt to harvest and enjoy,
To live upon this earth,
To simplify the seasons
Into the grace
Of doves and deer,
The sweetness here
Of almonds and figs,
The kiss of the Sing-Shulamite,
Of all things beloved,
We learn what is a grace
When we awake to being loved.

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Bison, Boar And Georgia Deer With Dumpling Squash And Sweet Root Beer


BISON, BOAR AND GEORGIA DEER

WITH DUMPLING SQUASH AND SWEET ROOT BEER

There are so many beautiful things here in Georgia that it is hard to pin down a few and say “that’s what it is” that makes life here so fine. I have to say that in late Fall (some call it Winter) it is the pines, the rhododendrons, pecans, fresh venison, thick skinned squashes, sweet potatoes, morning fog, and…oh well, I guess it is all those things and more that defines what is Georgia in December. This column is for those of you with a hunter in the family. If there is not one then you can find these meats online or in specialty grocery stores. The venison, boar and bison that you can buy commercial are all of course raised on ranches. We can only sell meats that have been inspected. The only non-inspected hunted species that we can sell in restaurants and grocery stores is fish and shell fish.

Venison, boar and bison that you buy are semi-wild. We call them game meats because that is what hunting on large estates (pre 20th century) was once considered, game. Gaminess, or more pronounced flavors were desired back then which was acquired both by the age of the animal and by how long it was hung to cure. Hunting is now sport. What will it be 25 years from now?

Today our tastes have become more attuned to less pronounced flavors than what was once desired. The diet for hogs and sows that are left to go wild on the ranch is regulated the same way that it is for red deer and American Buffalo or bison. This hold true as well for our beef and lamb. Corn feed has a lot to do with flavors for beef. Beef cattle that are allowed to eat hay and grass and are not fed corn and weight gaining feeds in the stockyards have a flavor that is perceived as slightly wild. After 30 years of corn fed beef I became bored with the one flavor germane to American bred cattle. If I want it to taste like butter or corn then I will add butter or corn, and then of course vary the types of meat. Near wild game meats and fowl have flavor. The food you eat tastes like what it eats. It continues to be true that you are what you eat eats. Fattier meats are more tender by the very fact that fat/oils do tenderize the muscle. The more we learn about our foods the more we learn how to cook them so that the flavors and textures compliment one another.

The Fall to Winter fruits that we have available match up to our inherent sense of taste of what goes together. Fuyu persimmons, dried cranberries, oranges, kumquats, pomegranates, apples, blackberries, aged cheeses, rice, pecans, hazelnuts, almonds and winter squashes are all perfect with our game meats. I like Georgia venison so much because of their diet this time of year, pecans. The famous Blackfoot (Serrano/Iberian) pig of Spain is famously delicious for the same reason except that they eat acorns. Virginia ham was once prized because of their diet of peanuts. Variety is good. Yes it is the spice of life and spice is good as well, so spice up and roll out the cutting boards we are doing what is natural in this time of year: eating. The more we buy the good foods the more they will produce to meet demand, and in the long run equals lower price.

From the edge of extinction to holding on enough to be raised on ranches the American Bison is one incredible animal. The flavor is what beef should taste like, full, robust and lean. For some reason most of what can be found in stores is always ground or sirloin (if you are lucky). I would like to buy bison ribs or bison T-Bone one day, now that would be a grocery store treat. The interesting meats should be made more available in butcher shops in areas that show support for near wild game meats. Restaurants can offer just about anything, but sometimes it is nice to cook the cool stuff at home. You can substitute any of our recipe meats with lamb, ostrich, Berkshire pork and ground hormone free grass fed beef.

BISON BURGERS

Our burgers will be mixed with gorgonzola cheese, cranberries. An easy root beer ketchup on whole wheat toast with hickory bacon and a small wild greens salad. Ground bison and sirloin are the only forms I have found it in grocery stores. Great, and I mean GREAT things about bison: Sustainable, low cholesterol, high in iron and protein, lean, grass fed, NO growth hormones, slightly sweeter than current corn fed beef and still has rich flavor. There are still people that think sustainable and grass fed are bad words but let me tell you, they are the only words we should be using today in terms of our red and white meat production. It is expensive. You can always mix with grass fed beef to balance the costs if you are on a budget.

Grilled or cooked in an iron skillet will work for this burger.

ROOT BEER KETCHUP (you can substitute Malta, Coca Cola or Dr. Pepper)

4 ounces root beer or ginger beer

6 ounces Heinz Ketchup

1 teaspoon Chipotle Mustard

Combine and simmer in sauce pan on low until it again thickens. Frequently stir as it cooks so that it does not burn and most of all so that the ingredients combine. When it is the texture again of ketchup remove from heat and set aside. This will keep in refrigerator for months.

BACON

8 slices maple bacon, thick cut

Cook crisp. Drain and keep warm while burger cooks.

BURGERS

1 pound ground bison

1/3 teaspoon ground sea salt

1 clove garlic, crushed

¼ cup white onion, minced

2 ounces gorgonzola, crumbles

Gently combine and pat into four 4 ounce square patties. Grill to desired temperature.

While they cook you can set up the plates:

4 teaspoons Root beer ketchup, one teaspoon per burger

8 slices whole wheat toast

8 slices grape tomato

4 leaves romaine

SALAD

2 ounces wild greens

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

½ teaspoon peach bitters

1/3 teaspoon soy sauce

4 figs, quartered

Mix in bowl when you are ready to eat. Divide between four plates.

Arrange all of the parts and leave the sandwich open faced.

This is the kind of burger that calls out for russet potato french fries or even sweet potato fries, yucca chips, boniato chips and even Southern Dukes Mayonnaise potato salad. Beer. Have a beer or high quality root beer with this sandwich.

BOAR SAUSAGE

Roasted dumpling squash stuffed with ground sage boar sausage and brown rice, blackberries and almonds. What can be said about Berkshire pork that does not get the ring in the nose and is allowed to roam the ranch and go semi wild? Sow or boar, both are delicious. Meaty, fatty, slight smoky taste and enough grain to have firm texture. I like boar chops. Boar sausage is what most of us have if you hunt them in the wild. If you have them in restaurants or specialty butcher shops you can get the loin, chops or hams as well as in sausage form.

Our recipe here puts to use the best of the season. Dumpling squash are fantastic receptacles for roasting. Nutty and sweet, firm, yellow meat and beautiful green and cream striped skin. Don’t try to eat the skins of winter squashes, they are all too thick and are perfect as they are for leaving on and roasting. You can also remove the skin and make french fries out of winter squashes like pumpkins, butternut, acorn, turban and dumpling. We will make garlic mashed potatoes out of butternut squash in the recipe for venison.

Follow all sanitation when working with boar. Wear latex gloves and always add this last to your mixtures.

Cook the brown rice early and let it cool.

2 dumpling squash cut in half and seeded

4 tablespoons butter, 1 tablespoon in each squash

Set aside in roasting pan.

STUFFING

1 cup brown rice, cooked with chicken stock

10 ounces boar, ground

5 ounces Jimmy Dean sage whole hog sausage

1/3 cup almonds, chopped

½ cup white onion, diced

1 ounce pickled peppers, diced

½ cup apple, diced

½ teaspoon oregano, fresh, chopped

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup Italian style bread crumbs

1 pint blackberries, fresh

Combine all ingredients except the blackberries and meat. Put the ground sausage and boar into a mixing bowl and gently mix. Let it rest a minute, then add the blackberries taking care not to crush them.

Divide between the four halves of squash. Add just enough water to the roasting pan to cover the bottom half of the squash. Roast 30 minutes at 350 degrees. The internal temperature of the stuffing will be 165 degrees.

If you want to add anything to this comforting harvest dish it would be a poached egg on the top of each stuffed squash. And again, this is a dish that calls for a beer or ale, full red table wine, sour mash, hot tea, hot Dr. Pepper with lemon or as simple as a glass of sparkling water with cranberry juice.

VENISON

Venison shoulder chops marinated in pomegranate juice and Dale’s sauce, with pomegranate seeds, fuyu persimmons, and whipped red potatoes and butternut squash. Again, this is for the home with a hunter or buy through upscale butcher.

Shoulder chops can be tough but they are flavorful which is why this is our cut of choice for this dish. Ask them to cut it into primal cuts for you if it is wild venison. It is just a waste to grind it all into sausage. You can also use Maggi Seasoning Sauce if you do not have Dale’s on hand. If you are gluten intolerant then use wheat free tamari.

Pomegranates are easy to seed. Lightly hit the bottom end on the counter and then cut it open over a glass bowl. Push your fingers into the back of the skin towards the seeds so that they gently pop out. Then separate the seeds from the thick pulp and skin. You cannot eat the pulp and skin. Only the seeds, eat only the seeds. Remember the story of Persephone in Greek mythology? She was kidnapped by Hades and she was bound to return to hell for six months every year because she mistakenly ate pomegranate seeds. The fruit also represents fertility and hope. Hope because even after the coldest of seasons Spring is near.

Fertility because of the abundance of seeds. Pomegranates are high in antioxidants as well.

The Fuyu persimmon is native to Japan and Korea. It is similar to our native persimmons of the South except that they do hold longer and are easier to commercially farm. The taste is close to that of Anjou pears and limes, the meat is soft not hard.

Try to find a ricer to use for making your garlic butternut and red potatoes. There are hand held ones that are perfect for smooth and well mixed mashed potatoes. If not then use a slotted spoon or electric mixer. The flavor is everything that triggers food memories of childhood Christmas. Why? Because of the allspice and maple syrup in the mix.

MARINADE AND GRILL

4, 5 ounce venison chops

1 cup almond milk

1 tablespoon Dale’s or Maggi

4 ounces pomegranate juice

1 tablespoon coarse salt

1 teaspoon coarse black pepper

Combine the marinade ingredients so that it is smooth. It may look a bit coddled but that is OK. Add the chops and cover. Let marinade at least 2 hours.

Do not marinade over 6 hours as the meat will start “cooking” after that because of the acidity in the marinade.

Grill or broil until cooked to desired temperature.

4 teaspoons pomegranate seeds

2 persimmons cut into 8 slices

Divide seeds and fruit over the four chops.

MASHED

1 pound red potatoes cut in half

1 pound butternut squash pulp, no seeds or skin

3 quarts water

1 tablespoon salt

1 clove garlic, minced

Combine in large pot and boil for 20 minutes until firm but soft enough to mash. Strain. Press the squash and potato through the ricer into a metal bowl.

Add:

1 teaspoon allspice, ground

3 tablespoons maple syrup

3 ounces unsalted butter

Whip together until well incorporated and smooth. Keep warm while the venison is cooking.

Spoon the mashed onto each plate next to the chop. Garnish with baby lettuce greens.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all, be good to each other, to family and friends, and even better to those who are not.

Sometimes a smile equals

All the people

We can and cannot count

In these long winter hours.

To hold a hope

And set free a dream,

Watching ice melt

Watching fires around the lake,

Something really is always

Glistening here,

Blue shadows,

Silver clouds,

Bells ring in dreams

And a cynic tries to steal

With dollars

What their heart

Cannot create,

To this reach we pull away,

Try again with a hymn

Of redemption and peace,

Sit down to the table

With love, with bread,

Push away the fear,

Listen again for prayers to peace,

This is the day

We were living for,

Today is the day

All hearts embrace.



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DIFFERENT HENS IN FAMILIAR PLACES


DIFFERENT HENS IN FAMILIAR PLACES

Chilly weather and the beautiful change of colors of North Georgia in November, the Georgia-Georgia Tech game, and of course, Thanksgiving. Just thinking about the season makes me hungry. It is a favorite for us all, and normally we gather with our extended families around the traditional 15-pound turkey and a dozen side dishes. But what if there is just the two of you, or a turkey isn’t what you want this time around, and you want to save the big bird for Christmas. Well, you have a few choices for your poultry needs and they are poulet rouge (from Plow Point Farms), duck, goose, chicken, turkey, pigeoneaux, dove, quail, pheasant, and Rock Cornish game hens. We will be preparing the game hen. The recipe will work just as well with any of the other birds, but there is something of a guilty pleasure in having a whole bird of your own on the plate. Choose your sides from whatever is looking the best in the produce section.
(If your mood is towards one whole bird to split for two then use a poulet rouge hen from Plow Point Farms in Oconee County. The BEST chickens I have ever eaten. )

Tyson Farms created the Rock Cornish game hens we normally see in the grocery store in the middle 1960’s. The original Cornish game hen is from the land of King Lear, Cornwall, England. They are quite affordable and just the thing if you want treat yourself to something special for dinner without the high cost, hours of basting, or endless leftovers hanging out in your refrigerator.
Poulet rouge, aka red hen of the piedmont and in our case, of Oconee county, Georgia. This breed of chicken is longer, meatier without being fatty but remaining juicy at any stage, be it fresh and roasted to 165 degrees internal temperature on the thigh bone, or as leftovers. The flavor is very smooth, texture is meaty yet juicy. I am amazed by this perfect chicken in any preparation. I have mostly approached it with the cuisine of my past, Haute Cuisine, French Continental and whether stuffed under the skin with herb butter or chevre and roasted; boned and folded around shiitake mushrooms, garlic and feta cheese; buttermilk marinade and Southern fried; cut into six pieces and roasted with a light golden stock; Thanksgiving style roasted whole with carrots, turnips, small onions, garlic and red potatoes, it does not matter because any way it is prepared it is the best chicken you will ever eat. Cornish game hens and poulet rouge are definitely my two go-to birds when I have a need for chicken…and that’s a lot!
You will find adobo seasoning in the Mexican section at your grocery store. Cardamom is usually used in sweet pastries, but in this case it is a great compliment in bringing together the spice of the adobo and the deep flavors of black strap molasses. If you can find it, black cardamom adds a very unique Indian flavor to your dish. What you end up with is a combination of bright and deep flavors, with each taste complimenting the other.
(Please try out all of the choices that we have for sweet flavors, from granulated white sugar to the different honeys, molasses, palm sugar, turbinado, maple syrups, and grades of sugar, including slices of raw sugar cane. Although most sugars are not considered healthy, black strap molasses is truly good for you as it is converted into energy and is not stored as fat in your body. Take a cup of wild flower honey and add orange, lemon and lime skins (no white), 1 stick of cinnamon and one piece star anise. Mix and cover. Store in cabinet for three days. Honey syrup to live for!)

ADOBO AND PLUM GAME HENS
2 1 1/4 pound each, Cornish game hens
Thaw them out in your refrigerator. This will take a day or two, but don’t rush it. Remove neck and giblets from cavity. Rinse in cold water. Pat dry with paper towel.
COMBINE
2 tablespoons Adobo seasoning
1 tablespoon ground cardamom
1/3 cup Molasses
1/4 cup Light soy sauce
Rub the season mix half of it over the skin and inside the cavity of the hens. Refrigerate overnight. Save the rest of the seasoning for when you cook them.
STUFFING
2 stalks celery, diced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
8 purple plums, peel and remove the stones
2 teabags Darjeeling tea, remove tea from bags
1/3 cup dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup warm water to bind the stuffing
(If you cannot find fresh plums, don’t be ashamed to use canned or dried. It’s ok to substitute with nectarines, apricots, lychee, rambutan, jackfruit, peaches or even apples and pears.)

Mix the stuffing in a small bowl. Now fill the cavity of each hen with the stuffing mix. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Rub the rest of the seasoning on the hens. Roast in small roasting pan for one hour.
There are two ways to check for doneness. The first is with your trusty thermometer, which will register 180 degrees, the second is to insert the tip of a boning knife into the section between the thigh and breast, the juices of the bird will run clear. If the liquid is cloudy then it is not done. Do both and you will see how it works. The skin is going to be dark, so don’t think that you have burned your dinner, remember, we seasoned with molasses and soy. Let the birds rest for 10 minutes after you take them out of the oven before you have your dinner. This allows the juices to settle and the meat to tighten back up after the cooking. They will slice easier, and will taste better if you allow this resting time.
CORNISH HEN MOLE (pronounced MO-Lay)
A mole is a very popular central Mexico and Central American dish and style of cooking. It involves a clay pot. That’s easy. Then it uses chocolate, chilies, aromatic spices, tomato, herbs, nuts, garlic and dried apricots or other dried fruits to balance the heat. Mole is one of the more complicated sauces/dishes to prepare and requires a bold hand with the seasonings and a gentle method of cooking. Think of it in terms of Thai curries, Vietnamese soups, French cassoulet, or Spanish paella and you’ll get an idea of how serious this dish is to the Oaxacan cooks of central Mexican. As you may have noticed, chocolate is not just a dessert or drink; chocolate can be used throughout a meal as a garnish and central ingredient to every course. Chocolate is bitter, sweet, dry, moist, bittersweet and even hot, but never white, as white chocolate has no chocolate and is made with coconut and palm sugars.
We are using Cornish hen because it is small, tasty, and tender, doesn’t take forever to cook, will fill up with the mole flavors and not fill you up. And because I think that Cornish game hens taste great and are an easy small entrée for two to share in a meal of several courses.
Toast the nuts/seeds with the spices before adding to the mix. Do this in a pan in a 475~ oven for ten minutes. Do not be afraid of the list of ingredients. You can use garam masala as your base and go from there if you like, or buy a premade mole as your base and season from that as a starting point.
MOLE
¼ cup duck fat or olive oil
1-tablespoon chipotle, chopped
2 tablespoons poblano, diced
2 tablespoons onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup tomato, chopped, seeded
1/3 cup dried cherries, chopped
1/3-cup mixed peanuts and cashews, toasted
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
½ teaspoon cloves, toasted
½ teaspoon cinnamon, toasted
½ teaspoon ginger, toasted
1-teaspoon allspice, toasted
2 tablespoons dried Oregano
1/3 cup fresh Cilantro, chopped
¼ cup fresh Parsley, chopped
1 cup unsweetened Chocolate
½ cup chicken stock
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon sea salt

The mole takes one hour of cooking on the stove for the sauce to reach the correct flavor and consistency.
I prefer a large iron skillet to cook this part of the dish. If you do not have one then use a stainless steel thick, large high sided pan, not a soup pot. Use a large wooden spoon for the stirring. Heat the duck fat, lard or oil on medium high heat in the pan, and add the peppers and onions. Cook until they are soft. Add the garlic and tomato and cook on medium low heat for fifteen minutes. Add the toasted nuts and herbs and stir. Add the fresh herbs, stir. Cook for fifteen minutes. Add the chocolate and stir, turn up the heat to medium and keep stirring for five minutes. Add chicken stock and Worcestershire, stir and turn heat to low. Let simmer uncovered on low for about fifteen more minutes. You will need to stir it from time to time to keep it from splattering or sticking to the pan. It will be thick but still liquid. If it is too thick then add more chicken stock.
Remove from heat and let cool. Overnight is fine or you can mix it with the hen and immediately cook in the oven.
HENS
The mole is enough for two hens. Thoroughly wash the hens in cold water and pat dry with paper towel. Did you remove the giblet bag from inside the cavity? Cut the bird into six pieces.
Put the pieces into a large bowl and mix with the mole. Put in heavy duty roasting pan or clay pot. Preheat oven to 375~ and cook for one hour.
You can also add the cut up hens to the mole sauce as it cooks and simmer it this way for thirty minutes right in the sauce and it will be very tender and spicy. It’s just that the way in the pan requires constant attention and in the oven you can just let the oven do the work while you enjoy the other courses of your fine Valentine’s dinner.
Divide between two plates. Squeeze a half lime over the dishes to add an extra lift to the flavors. A good side would be quinoa or wild rice. Divide an apple, Asian pear or a bunch of grapes to share with this as well. Fruit and Chocolate
POULET ROUGE TRADITIONAL
If you are feeling more traditionally inclined and want to make your hens taste like the bird of the last 25 years then but better:
SPICE RUB
2 ounces butter
½ teaspoon dried thyme
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon poultry seasoning (ground sage and bay leaves)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Crush ingredients in your spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle. Rub under the skin.

STUFFING
1 stalk celery, fine dice
½ medium white onion, fine dice
2 cups coarse Italian bread crumbs
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
1//4 cup dried cranberries
1 teaspoon coarse salt
½ teaspoon coarse black pepper
2 egg yolks
Combine and divide, stuff into the cavity of the bird.
ROASTING
6 small red potatoes
1 large turnip, rough chopped
2 cups acorn squash, peeled, seeded and rough chopped
1 leek, washed and diced up to the light green stalk
4 cippolinni onions, peeled and stems removed
2 stalks celery, diced
1 cup very rich chicken stock

Roast 45 minutes at 425 degrees. Baste every 15 minutes. Turn the oven to 350 degrees and cook for 30 minutes. It really is that easy.
Collards and field peas go great with this way of cooking the poulet rouge.

THANKSGIVING
Early evening opening into a November sky

Of fog brightened stars and shadowed trees,

Wicker chairs creaking as we lean back and yawn,

Sharing sweet warm tea and Anjou pears.

Coltrane’s Meditation on the stereo,

It flows and rises.

Dark eyes, brown and gold, sea deep,

Mahogany-black hair, thin strands

Moving along with the autumn song

Of the wind and the birds in our garden.

It’s so peaceful here, after dinner,

Relaxed and easy, where this is the wish:

The working world slips away and it’s just us,

Here on the back porch, feeling the night,

Feeling it all wrap around us

So vibrant and crisp,

Alive with thanksgiving,

With each other.

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Between The Sea And The Chattahoochee (eating lean)


BETWEEN THE SEA AND THE CHATTHOOCHEE
(how to eat lean in the Autumn times)

Our Autumn adventure begins with those things that come into season when the first chill nights arrive. Watch the color of the leaves turn and you know it is time for wild Georgia deer (or farmed New Zealand or Texas). From Georgia ranches like Harris Ranch we have grass fed beef flank steak. The sea is always offering something in each season so if pole caught mahi mahi is not available see what else is from the wild or from the farms. All of these recipes are quite healthy and lean. Venison “Denver” leg steaks with turkey sausage, spiced peanuts and local blackberries with honey-rosemary olive oil. Grass fed beef flank seared with caramelized onions, Maytag bleu cheese, thin sliced apple on chicory greens and acorn squash. Atlantic mahi mahi grilled with roasted garlic aioli, jalapeno, raspberries, rum and pumpkin fries. If there is a wild boar hunter in your family or if you can buy it then by all means include wild baor/sow on your post frost Autumn table.
Today we shop, cook and dine in ways far beyond those of our parents and grandparents. They may have drank a beer, sweet tea or glass of wine with their dinner but the expectation was never that it be a beer brewed up the road, a wine from the West Coast, new age cocktails or tea arriving in hundreds of flavors. Mine had Liptons Orange Pekoe tea, Pabst Blue Ribbon, moonshine and very refined wines of France or on the border at Alsace-Lorraine. Today we are aware, very aware that our meals can be best paired with a boutique beer or herb and roasted tea from flower to white to green and black, with any combination of spirits and mixed drinks, and of course with wines from any place in the world. Pair your foods with beverages reflecting the ingredients, the tastes, the general aroma and appeal of your meal.
Since Autumn invites a host of seasonal memories it is always fun to invoke what has passed, what was before and then to create what is yet to be. Food is as alive as you and I, the dishes we prepare help to define who we are at the table, with guests and family. Food reflects our vision of the world. Some embrace and some set up boundaries. The adventurous cook is constantly studying all things taste and combination both with boundaries and without boundaries. Perfection often arrives by way of repetition. I am justifiably interested in the way our foods are produced, raised, farmed, harvested and hunted. Create the memories with a love of the world and all it has to offer.
Every now and then it is important to reevaluate what “sustainable” means. The overall effort of serving sustainable, something I have been doing for over 15 years is to seek variety. If we eat the same fish over and over, if we fish the same trenches or reefs over and over eventually the snapper/flounder/grouper post office will run dry. Just because something is in abundance today (re passenger pigeons of last century) does not guarantee that without management it will be there tomorrow. Harvest is not greater than reproduction and there is little to no impact on local ecosystem: Sustainable.
As consumers we should be involved in proper food source management for ALL of our foods as well as in protecting blue fin tuna and orange roughy, Chilean sea bass (Patagonian toothfish), Atlantic cod, red snapper, shark, imported swordfish, grouper, monkfish, imported caviar and skate. All of these are all long over fished and on a short list for threatened. Easy solution is to simply lay off of these fish for a few years. Easy kill is to continue on our present path. Check out Seafood Choices Alliance, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Seafood Watch, Blue Ocean Institute, the Marine Stewardship Council and of course Clean Fish (through Inland Seafood) and anything Honolulu Fish out of Hawaii. All of which can be found online or by phone within a days reach of UPS or your home.
I use a lot of fish that are caught by sport boats. Yes, when you see that “moby” marlin or redfish hanging in those sport boat photos the next step is often off to a middleman and then to a chef (such as myself!) and on to your plate.
The ways of keeping the last hunted wild protein (seafood) around are many, the ways to destroy are few: overfishing, pollution and habitat destruction. It is not a matter of left or right. It is a matter of how do we feed our enormous population and maintain healthy farmland and waters. There are many fresh water farmed fish and shellfish that are life and health friendly operated such as tilapia, catfish, oysters, clams, mussels, striped bass, arctic char, rainbow trout, white sturgeon and agria (red fish, a member of the drum family) that help us to keep some menu variety. The rest of our strong stock is all wild caught from healthy fisheries like wreckfish, black cod, stone crab, Pacific halibut, albacore, pink shrimp, pole/troll caught mahi mahi, Alaskan salmon, pole/troll caught Hawaiian big eye, yellow fin and skipjack tuna. Imagine, all wild caught.
My career and that of all involved in the seafood industry depends on diverse seafood and reasonable prices. It is implausible to figure a future without wild seafood. So what do we do? Be wise shepherds of our land and waters. Keep it clean and keep it diverse. Every mammal matters and every cetacean matters, every fish and every shellfish, fowl, every fruit and vegetable, they all really do matter in this, our own vast and hurried span of life and time. It is our only earth.
Long ago we learned that if the same plant is grown in the same soil for too long without diversity then the soil becomes infertile. The same holds for our waters.
VENISON
Venison “Denver” leg steaks with mergheza sausage (beef and lamb), spiced peanuts and local blackberries with honey-rosemary olive oil.
Any thoughts about venison always arrive at how lean it is and how different it tastes from county to county, state to state. I like Georgia deer the best because it is less acidic or gamey than deer I have had from elsewhere in the South. Some say it is because of the pecans. Could be. The restaurant industry is dependent upon New Zealand and Texas venison. Both are quite delicious and are very stable in their flavor and texture profiles. Look for venison that is deep red, almost the color of a Romane Conte vintage wine.
The most economical cut is the Denver leg. This is the leg bone removed and the meat already broken down into sections. When cutting your meat do it so that it best resembles a cut of beef filet mignon, round and thick. There will be a few stray pieces of meat so set those aside to use for a pasta dish or to grind with sausage. People generally take this lean and healthy mean and grind it with pork sausage, a tactic that I have never really liked but do understand why people do it.
VENISON
4, 5 ounce venison steaks, shaped into round
2 ounces Worcestershire sauce
1 ounce Tiger Sauce
4 ounces red wine or black grape juice
1 tablespoon pickling spice
Combine and marinade venison for 5 hours.
SPICED PEANUTS
¼ cup shelled and hulled peanuts
½ teaspoon wasabi powder
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon butter
Mix with peanuts and toast in 300 degree oven for 10 minutes.

ROSEMARY HONEY
1 small stalk rosemary
3 ounces local honey
3 ounces Spanish extra virgin olive oil
Combine and warm in pan on low heat for 8 minutes. Remove rosemary.
8 ounces mergheza sausage (a mix of lamb and beef)
Cook sausage on grill. Set aside.
20 blackberries

Grill venison to desired temperature. While venison is cooking the last turn brush the olive oil honey over the meat. Paint the bottom of four plates with the olive oil honey. Place one steak on each plate. 2 ounces of sausage with each steak. Garnish by placing peanuts and blackberries on top of venison.
This is the kind of meal that is great with a fruit and spinach salad, yeast rolls and grilled corn on the cob.
BEEF
Grass fed beef flank seared with caramelized onions, Maytag bleu cheese, thin sliced apple on chicory greens and acorn squash.
People who are unfamiliar with the distinct flavor of grass fed meats are quite surprised by how once fatty meats are now lean and still taste great. That is the thing about grass fed, hormone free meats. They taste like the land around us smells, at least here on the border of woods, river and open pastures. There are many ranches in the South that are grass fed. Harris Ranch is one of the better and more established. The real add ons to beef happen in the stockyard and that’s where grass fed takes the advantage in that nothing is done to the meat as far as changing their diet. What it lives on is what you get. Grassy, fresh and lean.
Flank steak is good for searing and thin sliced. Very lean, very flavorful and easy to prepare. Maytag blue cheese is produced in Iowa in caves and made by hand as it has been done since the late 1800s by the very family that makes Maytag appliances. The herd of Holsteins were favorites of the Maytag family and it turned out that their milk was perfect for making this rich and sweet, best of America blue cheeses. Go for the gold every now and then. Treat yourself and your dining mates to something they will swear is British or Danish. Maytag blue cheese is another in a long line of great American cheese. The first in that line is Cowgirl Creamery in Point Reyes, California. Find these cheeses and splurge on their goodness.
MARINADE
24 ounces flank steak
1 1/2 cups apple juice
4 ounces Dale’s steak marinade
1 onion, sliced
Combine and marinade 6 hours minimum.

3 onions, thin sliced
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
½ poblano pepper, very thin sliced
2 ounces corn oil
Combine and place in small pan. Cover. Roast for 45 minutes in 375 degree oven. Remove and leave covered. Let stand for one hour.
1 (16 ounces peeled) acorn squash, diced
1 teaspoon butter
1 tablespoon sourwood honey
1/3 teaspoon granulated sea salt
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
Combine and cook in 375 degree oven for 15 minutes. Remove. Cover and reserve till dinner. If longer than 30 minutes then reheat in oven.
1 gala apple thin sliced into 16 slices
10 ounces autumn chicory and sweet lettuces
1/3 cup crumbled Maytag blue cheese
4 ounces fig balsamic vinegar
Sear flank steaks in iron skillet. Remove and thin slice against the grain. Divide lettuces and caramelized onions between four plates. Place 4 slices flank on each salad. Set slices of apple between the steak slices. Garnish with blue cheese. Eat and drink an autumn pale ale with this great beef and cheese salad entrée.
MAHI MAHI
Atlantic mahi mahi grilled with roasted garlic aioli, jalapeno, raspberries, rum and pumpkin fries.
It seems that when the full moon is up more than werewolves prowl. Beyond the moors of Northeast Georgia and across the boiling hot piedmont region of South Carolina lies Charleston Harbor and beyond there when the moon rises the surface of the ocean comes alive with feeding sea creatures. Lucky for us this includes mahi mahi. Long a sport fish and for many a good luck symbol the mahi mahi is a staple fish for many tables in the South. Great on the grill and great sautéed mahi mahi is fine with any high heat preparation. I have poached it in extra virgin olive oil to great success. Poached in olive oil? Yes! Keep the oil at 120 degrees and lower the fish into the oil and cook for 15 minutes. Perfection. It is not oily. In fact it is simply moist, velvety and cooked to the same temperature as the oil. Poaching is not frying.
Pumpkin fries! Yes anything can be fried. Peel, seed and cut into classic french fry sizes. Put in cold water bath and leave in refrigerator over night. This will help them to crisp when it is their time for the oil.
Roasted garlic aioli makes for a very rich fish. Brush it onto the fillets while they are grilling. This version of aioli does not contain egg. Originally back in the pre Caesar days of the Etruscans they made aioli simply by mashing the roasted garlic and olive oil into a paste. All the other stuff (eggs) came later with the French. We will use rum instead of lemon juice to thin out our aioli.
October is a great time for blackberries and raspberries. Use them in all the places that you can from salads and entrees to desserts and teas. The jalapeno is there just for the flavor and the heat. Jalapeno is a nice addition to this smooth entrée.
AIOLI
6 cloves garlic roasted
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 ounces dark rum
1/3 teaspoon pink sea salt
1/3 teaspoon fine ground black pepper
Roast garlic wrapped in aluminum foil in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Remove and place in blender. Turn blender on and slowly add the olive oil, then the rum. Set aside till time to cook.
GRILL FISH
4, 6 ounce fillets mahi mahi, skin off
Hot grill. Grill fillets for 5 minutes each side; more if you like it cooked well done.
FRY
20 french fry cuts pumpkin
2 cups frying oil like peanut or corn
Fry in oil at 350 degrees for five minutes. Remove from oil. Place in 300 degree oven and bake for 10 minutes.

OTHER
12 slices jalapeno
20 raspberries, large, ripe

Remove mahi mahi from grill. Paint one more time with the aioli. Arrange pumpkin fries in criss cross pattern on plate. Set fillet next to potato. Garnish with raw jalapeno slices and raspberries. Grilled squashes would be perfect with this crisp dish.

Have a great time this Fall. When you are not cooking at home please go out to eat and enjoy the Autumn flavors offered by our beautiful South. Especially at my new home, “Chef Lamar’s Iron Grill”!

SIGNS
A voice soliciting sunrise,
She throws back a cup of sweet Kenya coffee,
Offers crumbs to the cardinals on the back porch,
She watches as they flit away, hunting,
Crunching seeds, scratching mulch,
Rousing the six o’clock yard dogs
From their dreaming running across the fields,
Waking me with barks, chirps and laughter.
Seems a whole zoo is loose out here today.
Seems a Rothko sunrise, layered, the way the leaves
Crank out the colors one by one into the other,
The Autumn palate goes hazy,
And there is no blues before this sunrise,
It’s all a shout of raw sienna rock and roll.
Bacon on the stove top,
Buttermilk biscuits in the oven,
Cold orange juice and a kiss so sweet
It seems that wars really were fought for her.
A kiss at dawn so sweet that the world is at peace.
The world rests in her arms the way it should.
And I am more a man just by being so blessed;
Blessed to be with her on this brisk October morning.

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A steak a fish a sour mash


A STEAK, A FISH AND A SOUR MASH
There is no secret to the fact that I love wine butter sauces and of course that I love all things seafood. Our South Gulf Coast has been under severe
environmental attack and ruin of late and it will be a while before we can fully enjoy the fruits of the Gulf of Mexico. Southern oysters will be available again someday, but just not yet so I will hold off on any oyster raw or cooked. We will be cooking clams in beer and sausage broth; tilapia with ginger-sake butter sauce and fresh melons; rib eye steak with sour mash sautéed pecans and avocado on butternut squash and tempura okra. Sauces can involve any properly used alcohol, juice or tea instead of classical creams, stocks and egg based sauces. Let’s have fun with what each season offers!
The culinary exploration and work involved in developing my new restaurant was herculean and with ease at the same time. When I realized that there is nothing so great as this love for my home land and nothing so professionally awkward for me as Southern cuisine I knew I had to take on the task. My 30 year career has opened many beautiful experiences in the foods of the world. The most difficult was the food of my family, of Georgia. The most inspiring has been the foods of Pacific Asia. The most technically important, valuable and necessary has been Classical Continental. Bringing it all together is an act of love. I feel as if every day in this life of food and literature has been a love letter to my beloved South and to the intriguing woks of Asia. If there is no love then how can there even be a cuisine? Each recipe is a paragraph in this love affair with cuisine. For those who live to eat you will understand, for those who live to cook and eat you will have already uncovered the reasons why this love is so great and never ending.
The weather this year has brought a lot of vegetables and fruits into an early ripe stage so things like butternut squash and small pumpkins, okra and various melons are perfect in September. Various beans have taken a hard hit this year but tomatoes have gone wild, especially the smaller, sweeter ones. To take advantage of this we are using butternut squash and okra, melons and basil as contenders for best bounty thus far this year.

Our first dish is a bowl of fresh, salty, gently chewy middle neck clams. Clams come in all shapes and sizes. The best is open to any number of argument. Discuss among yourselves but I am partial to razor clams, cherry stone and middle neck.
CLAMS
This one is so easy it is kinda funny. Hardest part is finding fresh, perfect clams. Check each clam by tapping the back end of it on the counter. If the clam slowly closes then it is alive. Never eat dead clams. Throw dead ones away. Cook from live.
A good clam will be a bit chewy but have a rich, brine flavor cherished by all lovers of bivalve sea creatures!

2 dozen very fresh middle neck clams
½ cup tomato, seeded and chopped
1 cup dark beer
1 cup dark chicken stock
2 sprigs oregano, fresh
4 slices jalapeno
2 wedges lime
½ teaspoon flaked pink sea salt
Bring liquids to a boil and reduce by half. Add clams, tomato, oregano and jalapeno. Squeeze lime over the clams and then sprinkle salt.

Serve with toasted french bread.

TILAPIA WITH MELONS AND SAKE BUTTER
I feel obligated to write about this wonderful super food of the perch family at least once a year. Sake is rice wine but what a complicated wine it is. Most of us understand sake as something reserved for sushi night out but there is a complicated array of interesting flavors going on as one goes up and down the list of sakes made today. They can taste like lighter fluid and moonshine on the one hand and as sublime as a fine Pinot on the other. Sake is in many flavors and the best will have a plum cured in the bottle the way that Poire William Liquor has the pear inside of it. Sake is not for everyone but when it is made via the classic style of a fine pan butter sauce then it fully expresses itself as a great cooking wine.
Melons define the South as much as anything else does and what better way than to use melons of the world that grow well here? Sweet, complex, refreshing and everything good about a late summer day.
Cook jasmine rice, sweet potatoes and pineapple together as a starch to go with your tilapia.
TILAPIA
2, 6 ounce tilapia fillets
1/3 cup flour
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon black pepper, cracked
10 thin slices Crenshaw or honeydew melon
10 thin slices Korean watermelon
1 shallot, minced
4 ounces sake
½ teaspoon ginger, minced
2 ounces butter, very cold, cut in small squares

Dust tilapia in flour, salt and pepper and sauté on medium high heat for two minutes per side turning four times. Add melon and cook just enough to soften. Remove from pan and place in warm spot on the stove. Add shallot and ginger to pan, then add the sake. Cook the sake down until the shallots begin to bubble and almost dry. Stir in the butter piece by piece until fully incorporated and it is like a thick cream. Reserve in warm place.
Place tilapia and melons on the rice. Pour sake butter over the fish.
This is good with a well mixed and represented mesclun mix of lettuces with a tangy vinaigrette (citrus and coconut water with rice vinegar and corn oil style).
SOUR MASH, AVOCADO, OKRA AND BUTTERNUT SQUASH!
About avocado, a local newspaper, the Athens Banner Herald on 8/17/10, reprinted this research from a column by “You Docs”:
1. They’re full of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, which increases your healthy HDL cholesterol and lowers your triglycerides. Only olives have more.

2. Their good fats are full of omega-3s, which are world-class do-gooders when it comes to your arteries, brain, skin, sex life and more.

3. They have more potassium than bananas, which helps keep your blood pressure in check, and a ton of magnesium, too, which every cell in your body needs to work well.

4. They make good foods taste even better and, like a great teammate, make them better for you. Add, say, 1/2 cup sliced avocado to your spinach salad, and your body will absorb five times more lutein.

5. They contain compounds that may slow the growth (or even kill off) some precancerous and malignant cells.

6. They turn up your levels of leptin, the feel-full hormone, which turns down your appetite, so that bowl of guacamole may not disappear.

So have at it but not too much on the avocado. Avocado and rib eye is just too delicious to pass up these days.
Sour mash is one of those things whose flavor is so pronounced that the difference between a sour mash and bourbon whiskey is easy to sense. A Jack Daniels Black, Makers Mark or Wild Turkey next to Knob Creek bourbon (one of the best by the way) is as different as Dr. Pepper next to Coca Cola. Slight but enough to divide the ranks. Sour mash is made with bourbon, brewers yeast and a bit of water to the mix, it is then fermented and strained. You can have bourbon without sour mash but you cannot have without bourbon. Sour mash will always be Sour Mash Bourbon. It is not necessarily the best choice of sipping whiskies though so choose by asking your bar tender to give you samples of high end and low end Sour Mash, and then the same for high and low end Bourbons. You will notice a tremendous difference in flavor between each level of whiskey.
The flavor of a sour mash is more pronounced on the back of the tongue in the form of being almost like that of wheat and corn (like oatmeal and grits at the same time) whereas that of a fine bourbon rests on the edges and center of the tongue in a way more akin to fresh ground hominy. Think sour dough bread and regular white bread. Bourbon and Sour Mash Bourbon are often overlooked in matching food to beverage. Don’t be limited in how you approach a complete meal, all you have to do is look around in the region where you live and you will find that there is more to taste that first meets the eye.
We live in Georgia so use those just off the stalk okra and off the vine butternut squash. Tempura okra, whole okra is amazing. Pass over this fresh vegetable of the South and you really missed on something essential to our very cuisine. Butternut squash is not just for mashing, baking and roasting with butter and cinnamon sugar. Butternut squash likes to be fried as well. Yes, you can peel it, seed it, cut it into long french cuts and fry like a potato. It tastes great.
RIBEYE STEAK WITH AVOCADO, PECANS AND SOUR MASH
This is the part we all like the best, the big, thick, rich indulgence of red meat and even richer sides. Rib eye is the cut that is fatty and has a perfect tenderness of texture and fullness of flavor much prized by beef eaters everywhere. A good rib eye can make any day a grand day.
2, 12 ounce center cut ribeye steaks
1 tablespoon butter
10 halves pecans
10 slices avocado
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon worchestshire sauce
2 ounces favorite sour mash whiskey (it is your meal)
½ teaspoon garam masala spice blend
1 large iron skillet
Heat the skillet to medium heat and add the butter. When the butter melts and foams add the steaks. Cook to desired temperature. Add soy and worchestershire, reduce. Remove meat from pan. Add pecans and sour mash whiskey. Add garam masala spices. Pour over meat. Place avocado on meat.
OKRA AND BUTTERNUT SQUASH
6 okra
½ cup tempura flour
3 tablespoons vodka
1 cup peanut oil
Dust okra in tempura flour, place in another plate and sprinkle with vodka until it mixes into the flour/okra. Fry in hot oil, 350 degrees, for three minutes. Lift out and drain.
10 slices butternut squash
1 teaspoon honey granules or coarse brown sugar
1/3 teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon cornstarch
2 cups peanut oil (use same oil as for okra)
Dust the butternut french fries with the spices and fry at 350 degrees for 4 minutes. Lift and shake off excess oil.
Keep okra and squash warm while you cook the rib eye or cook them while you cook the rib eye steaks.
Arrange okra and butternut squash in Lincoln log style on two plates and set rib eye next to them. Eat. Really eat.
Thank you and I hope your meals are a success. Please visit me at our new restaurant, Chef Lamar’s Iron Grill. We are new and the adventure is just now beginning.

I dream of her curves even when she is beside me,
I see her almond eyes shining as she looks at our feast,
She could sweeten the bitterest herbs and olives.
Given that there is a way of oranges and sweet shrimp,
Given that there is a path of glory and ceramic grills
And given that the summer days are better with her.
She does this,
She does this when we are together,
Simply by enjoying all things,
Her lips curve towards heaven,
And everything around becomes richer and more full,
Everything is born again in her smile.

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Immature poet imitate...but the mature one steal from the depth of the heart

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IN MEMORY EVERYTHING SEEMS TO HAPPEN TO MUSIC - Tennessee Williams

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Welkom op de blog van Discobar Bizar. Druk gerust wat op de andere knoppen ook, of lees het aangrijpende verhaal van Harry nu je hier bent. Welcome to the Discobar Bizar blog, feel free to push some of the other buttons, or to read the gripping story of Harry whilst you are here!

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a resource for moving poetry

MY TROUBLED MIND

confessions are self-serving

D.H. Glass

Author. Poet.

Sketches from Berlin (& Parts Beyond)

Poetry, Fiction, Essays & Art by M.P. Powers

proletaria

politics philosophy phenomena

Poems for Warriors

"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." Ps 147:3

LUNA

Pen to paper

Dirty Sci-Fi Buddha

Musings and books from a grunty overthinker

Confessions of a Readaholic

Eclipsed Words

Aspire To Inspire

Art at the push of a button

Photography

Tiger Blog

susansflowers

garden ponderings

𝓡. 𝓐. 𝓓𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓵𝓪𝓼

Poetry, blogs and more.

Claudia Hernandez

RhYmOpeDia

Immature poet imitate...but the mature one steal from the depth of the heart

hotfox63

IN MEMORY EVERYTHING SEEMS TO HAPPEN TO MUSIC - Tennessee Williams

errinspelling

Lordess

Welcome to my world.

Discobar Bizar

Welkom op de blog van Discobar Bizar. Druk gerust wat op de andere knoppen ook, of lees het aangrijpende verhaal van Harry nu je hier bent. Welcome to the Discobar Bizar blog, feel free to push some of the other buttons, or to read the gripping story of Harry whilst you are here!

the poet's billow

a resource for moving poetry

MY TROUBLED MIND

confessions are self-serving

D.H. Glass

Author. Poet.

Sketches from Berlin (& Parts Beyond)

Poetry, Fiction, Essays & Art by M.P. Powers

proletaria

politics philosophy phenomena

Poems for Warriors

"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." Ps 147:3

LUNA

Pen to paper

Dirty Sci-Fi Buddha

Musings and books from a grunty overthinker

Confessions of a Readaholic

Eclipsed Words

Aspire To Inspire

Art at the push of a button

Photography

Tiger Blog

susansflowers

garden ponderings

𝓡. 𝓐. 𝓓𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓵𝓪𝓼

Poetry, blogs and more.

Claudia Hernandez

RhYmOpeDia

Immature poet imitate...but the mature one steal from the depth of the heart

hotfox63

IN MEMORY EVERYTHING SEEMS TO HAPPEN TO MUSIC - Tennessee Williams

errinspelling

Lordess

Welcome to my world.

Discobar Bizar

Welkom op de blog van Discobar Bizar. Druk gerust wat op de andere knoppen ook, of lees het aangrijpende verhaal van Harry nu je hier bent. Welcome to the Discobar Bizar blog, feel free to push some of the other buttons, or to read the gripping story of Harry whilst you are here!

the poet's billow

a resource for moving poetry

MY TROUBLED MIND

confessions are self-serving

D.H. Glass

Author. Poet.

Sketches from Berlin (& Parts Beyond)

Poetry, Fiction, Essays & Art by M.P. Powers