At the first Afternoon in the Country, a benefit for the Atlanta chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International held annually at Serenbe, a grassroots team of volunteers assembled old wooden folding tables from a church and made directional signs out of #10 cans, lumber and nails to guide 150 people to their seats.

Fourteen years later, it is a sold out event with people coming to Serenbe a few Sundays ago to sample food from 60 chefs, plus wine, beer, liquor and coffee vendors. There was a silent auction and cake raffle. And it was all held under five tents with massive electrical that took the better part of a week to set up.

Though the surroundings have upped their game a bit, the feel of Afternoon in the Country is the same as it was 14 years ago. This is no parking lot food festival—it’s held on the green grounds on The Inn with gorgeous fall trees all around and the smells of the season in the air. It was the kind of day when you’re just in love with everyone and everything. And people can’t get enough: It is the most successful Les Dames fundraiser in the United States.

This is the first year I didn’t do a dish, which left me free to socialize and sample other chefs’ dishes. Chef Steven Satterfield did a lovely chicken stew with White Oak Pastures chicken and Anson Mills polenta. Kevin Gillespie was up all night cooking a pig, which he pulled and put on a homemade bun with coleslaw. And Anne Quatrano did all kinds of hand pies—some sweet, some savory, all delicious.

When Thaddeus Barton moved to Serenbe to take over the kitchen at The Farmhouse, he brought his fiancé Lane Hajack with him. Lane is a very talented chef in her own right, having studied the culinary arts at the Art Institute in Chicago and worked in kitchens from Chicago and Martha’s Vineyard to Manhattan—so we snapped her up and put her in charge of the kitchen at The Blue Eyed Daisy.

What I love most about Lane is her enthusiasm. She jumped right in and figured out the flow, as well as the little details of the day. It wasn’t long before she realized that, every morning, Steve would bring a bowl of red rice into the Daisy and ask them to top it with poached eggs and jalapenos.

The red rice was suggested by Steve’s accupressurist as a natural cholesterol reducer and alternative to prescription drugs. So every morning he’d cook the rice here, take it across the street, get his eggs, eat it and inevitably leave our bowl in their stack of dirty dishes.

“Lots of people in the community would order ‘Steve’s Breakfast,’ even though it wasn’t on the menu, and didn’t realize he would add red rice and other elements to the dish,” Lane says. “So when the breakfast menu was set to change, I thought we should make a dish that was composed of all the elements of Steve’s breakfast, and eliminate his need to supplement the dish!”

Now that Lane has added “Steve’s Bowl” to the menu, Steve leaves the house each morning empty-handed, knowing a big bowl of red rice topped with two poached eggs (or egg whites), guacamole, pico de gallo and cojita cheese is just a few steps away.

It is delicious, a huge seller and the reason all my bowls are back in the cabinet where they belong.

Steve’s Bowl

• Serves 4
• Pico de Gallo:
• 3 Roma tomatoes, seeds removed & small diced
• 2 tablespoons minced onion
• 1 clove minced farlic
• ½ jalapeño, seeds removed and minced
• ½ lime, juiced
• Salt to taste

Mix all ingredients. This part is best if assembled a few hours before serving.

• Avocado Mash:
• 2 ripe avocados
• ½ lime, juiced
• Salt to taste

Mash with a fork until creamy yet still chunky.

• Other ingredients:
• 8 eggs, soft poached
• 2 cups cooked Bhutanese red rice (follow package instructions)
• 1 head romaine, chopped
• 1 bunch of cilantro, leaves picked
• 1 cup pickled jalapeños (store bought or home made)
• 1 cup crumbled cotija cheese
• Olive oil

To Assemble:  

Toss the pico de gallo with a small handful of romaine per person (this is not a salad so no need to offer a ton of lettuce).  This mixture goes on the bottom of the bowl, making sure each bowl gets enough pico de gallo.  On top of that, your warm red rice, then your perfectly poached eggs.  This is garnished with a heaping spoonful of avocado spread, a sprinkle of crumbled cotija cheese, a few pickled jalapeno and some fresh leaves of cilantro.

A few weeks ago, we hosted a developer conference for Nygren Placemaking, Steve’s consulting business for those interested in creating their own version of Serenbe. People came from all over the country to learn the secrets to Steve’s success, though they are not really secrets because he is happy to share.

Over the course of a few days, Steve filled them in on a variety of topics—sustainability, arts, agriculture, design, zoning, etc.—then brought them to me at the Bosch Experience Center. There I talked about the most important aspect of creating a community: hospitality.

Steve and I share a history in the food business and I think it’s a big part of why Serenbe is beloved by so many. Being a child of Mary Mac’s, I grew up seeing how my mother used food as a way of nourishing people. When people are well fed, they feel taken care of and it opens up their senses to other forms of nourishment.

From the farm and farmer’s market to the Inn and Farmhouse, food—and the hospitality that comes with it—is a big part of what draws people to Serenbe. You can have all the pretty houses you want, but neighborhoods alone don’t nourish people.

The Blue Eyed Daisy Bakeshop was our first commercial endeavor not by happenstance, but by design. Steve and I understand the central role food plays in a community and how quickly neighbors become friends over a hot cup of coffee and a buttered biscuit.

And to prove my point, I served the developers my chicken pot pie. It’s a Southern staple and wonderfully simple dish. This recipe, which I adapted from my favorite cookbook author, Lee Bailey, has a cornbread crust. I serve it in a huge cast-iron skillet with jasmine rice, a green salad and cranberry hot sauce on the side. My dear friend Ryan Gainey likes to say, Marie, if you’re coming to visit me, you’d better bring a chicken pot pie.

Chicken Pot Pie with Cornbread Topping

• Serves 8
• 6 chicken breasts
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup carrot rings
• 1 cup butterpeas
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 6 tablespoons flour
• ½ teaspoon white pepper
• 8 drops Tabasco
• 1 package White Lily cornbread mix
• Salt to taste

Parboil chicken breasts in the stock for 5 minutes. Remove breasts and let cool, then cut into bite-sized pieces. Simmer the butterpeas in the stock for four minutes then add the carrots and continue cooking an additional four minutes. Drain and set aside, reserving stock and straining it.

Saute the onion in butter until wilted. Stir in flour and mix well. Slowly stir in the stock, whisking constantly. When smooth, add seasonings.

To assemble, sprinkle chicken cubes, peas and carrots into the baking dish. Pour the stock sauce over the top. Top with 1 recipe of White Lily mix, made according to package directions. Bake until cornbread is set and golden brown, approximately 30 minutes.

After reading my two previous posts, one might think that the most fascinating person I met during my trip to Rhinebeck for the FDR Victory Garden fundraiser—a benefit to bring back the victory garden at FDR’s estate—was Alice Waters. Now Alice is a lovely woman and getting to know her better was wonderful. But she’s no Miss Doris.

As soon as I saw Miss Doris—who was a volunteer during my private tour of the FDR estate—I knew she was a character. I saw fascinating things during that tour, including Top Cottage, FDR’s private estate, and Val-Kill, Eleanor’s private estate, but the only thing I wanted to know more about was Miss Doris.

I walked right up to her and said, “I’m Marie. Who are you?” Turns out, Miss Doris is 93 years old, has lived in the Hyde Park area most of her life and was friends with FDR and Eleanor. She’d have dinner with them when they were in town. Can you imagine the stories this woman could tell?

She had a spirit that could not be denied. I wanted to put her in my pocket. I may wind up hosting my own fundraiser for the FDR victory garden at Serenbe, and if I do, the very first order of business will be making sure we get Miss Doris on a plane.

As Miss Doris would tell you, FDR encouraged all Americans to grow a victory garden during his presidency to offset food rations during WWII. His own victory garden, which eventually became a parking lot, was two acres and full of produce his mother sent him in packages when he traveled.

What didn’t fit in those packages was often pickled. Preservation was very important then and it’s enjoying quite the renaissance now. FDR might not know what to think of the $12 jars of pickles available today, but I bet he’d approve of this recipe for pickled squash and onions, which keeps summer alive all year long.

Pickled Squash and Onions

Makes 6 cups

• Scrub and slice very thin:
• 2 pounds small yellow squash
• 1 large white onion (about ½ pound)

Place one layer of squash, then one layer of onions, in flat crockery or glass baking dish.

Sprinkle with 3 tablespoons salt.

Cover with crushed ice and let stand for about 3 hour or place, covered overnight in the refrigerator.

• Mix together in a 2-quart saucepan:
• 3 cups apple cider vinegar
• 4 ½ cups sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons celery seed
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 ½ teaspoons mustard seed
• ¾ teaspoon turmeric

Bring vinegar mixture to a boil. Drain water from squash and onions. Add them to the boiling vinegar and bring mixture back to a rolling boil for 2 minutes. Cool quickly by immersing pot in sink of cold water. Place in clean glass jars with good seals and refrigerate. Will keep for about 2 weeks.