Serves 8

1 medium red onion, sliced into thin rings

½ cup red wine vinegar

1 small head each of romaine, red-leaf lettuce and curly endive

½ cup pine nuts, toasted

3 whole scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal

3 ounces shaved Parmesan

3 ounces prosciutto, cut into bite-size squares

1 cup basil leaves

1 cup parsley

8 large cloves garlic, cut into ¼-inch dice

2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Soak the onions in ½ cup vinegar for 30 minutes to reduce their sharp taste. Wash and dry the lettuces and tear them into bite-sized pieces. Toss the greens with all but 3 tablespoons of the pine nuts, most of the scallions, half the cheese and prosciutto and all of the basil and parsley.

In a medium skillet, cook the garlic in the olive oil over very low heat for 8 minutes, until barely colored. Remove with a slotted spoon. Turn the heat up to medium-high and add the vinegars to the oil. Cool for a few moments, add the brown sugar and let it bubble slowly for 1 minute. Add the garlic back in and season with salt and pepper.

Top the greens with the drained red onion and the remaining scallions, pine nuts, cheese and prosciutto. Spoon the warm dressing on top and serve.

Makes about 2 ½ cups

2-3 large lemons

1 cup filtered or bottled still water (not distilled)

1/3 cup superfine granulated sugar

With a vegetable peeler, remove zest in long pieces from 2 lemons. Squeeze ½ cup juice from lemons.

In a small, heavy saucepan, heat water and sugar, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Stir in zest and transfer syrup to a bowl to cool. Chill syrup, covered, until cold. Discard zest and stir in lemon juice.

Freeze lemon mixture in a metal bowl, stirring every 30 minutes to remove ice crystals from side of bowl, until liquid has become granular but is still slightly slushy, about 3 to 4 hours. Serve immediately.

Courtesy of Gourmet magazine

6-8 peaches

1/2 cup mint leaves, chopped

1/2 cup ginger liqueur

Natural sugar

2 cups heavy cream, whipped

Powdered sugar

1 recipe sour cream pound cake (recipe follows)

Peel and slice peaches. Place in bowl. If not sweet enough, add some natural sugar. Then add mint leaves and ginger liqueur. Let sit for 30 minutes to 1 hour to macerate.

Whip cream in a mixer. Sweeten with powdered sugar and some ginger liqueur. Set aside in refrigerator until ready for use.

Slice pound cake and arrange nicely on a platter. Take macerated peaches and spoon over the cake slices. Let sit for several minutes for the syrup to soak into the cake. May want to sprinkle more liqueur over the slices.

Top with whip cream. Garnish with some mint leaves.

Sour Cream Pound Cake

1 pound butter

2 teaspoons vanilla

¼ teaspoons baking soda

6 eggs

3 cups sugar

1 cup sour cream

3 cups flower

Cream butter and sugar together. Mix baking soda into the sour cream and add the vanilla. Add 1 cup flour and 2 eggs alternately until all is used.

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes in a 10-inch tube pan.

2 quarts water

1/3 cup sugar

8 black tea bags (preferably Lipton)

4 cups fresh mint

Bring water to a boil. Stir in sugar until dissolved.

In a half gallon pitcher or container, place mint and tea bags and pour hot water over this.

Let cool to room temperature. Strain the liquid by squeezing the liquid from the tea bags to achieve maximum flavor.

Add more water, if needed, to make a full ha

Serves 6

6 each 1-inch slices of crusty, rustic bread

1 each super ripe, local tomatoes, cut in half cross-wise

½ cup good extra virgin olive oil

1 clove fresh garlic

Maldon salt to taste

Either pre-heat oven to 450 degrees or heat a wood grill to medium high heat. Brush bread slices generously with olive oil. Season to taste with maldon salt. Grill or oven toast the bread until the edge are almost burned while the center is medium toasted and still chewy.

Rub a garlic clove across the toast softly then rub rip tomatoes over the toast, somewhat smashing the tomato. Serve warm.

Fish Tacos

½ pound tilapia, cut into strips

½ cup buttermilk

1 cup white cornmeal

Salt

Vegetable oil for frying

Corn tortillas

Chopped cilantro and pickled jalapeños for garnish.

Place buttermilk in a bowl and cornmeal in a dish. Sprinkle some salt in cornmeal and mix.

Pour oil into a cast iron skillet, about 1 inch deep. Place pan on stove and turn heat to medium to heat oil. Have a cookie sheet with paper towels to drain fish on.

When oil hot, dip fish strips into buttermilk then cornmeal. Shake off excess. Place fish into hot oil and fry until crispy. Remove with tongs and place on paper towel to absorb extra oil.

In another heated skillet or hot oven, heat corn tortillas.

Cilantro-Jalapeno Tartar Sauce

½ cup mayonnaise

½ cup sour cream

2 tablespoons cilantro,chopped

1 ¼ tablespoon pickled jalapeños , chopped

¾ teaspooon salt

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix.

To assemble:

Place warm tortilla on plate. Put 2-3 strips of fish on tortilla. Spoon tartar sauce over and garnish with cilantro and pickled jalapeños.

Butterflied Leg of Lamb

From New Southern Cooking by Nathalie Dupree

These days, butterflied (boned) legs of lamb are available at the supermarket.  Usually they come in an elastic web, which should be removed.  Open up the lamb and spread out to roughly resemble a butterfly.

Marinade:
8 ounces Dijon Mustard
2 tablespoons rosemary, chopped or crumbled roughly
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons peanut or other oil
1 whole leg of lamb, bones removed, about 5 pounds before boning

Mix together the mustard, rosemary, ginger, garlic, soy sauce and peanut oil . Smear over the lamb, on both sides, and marinate in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

When ready to cook, prepare a grill or the broiler. Remove the lamb from the bag, with the marinade, and cook on the hot grill or under the broiler 15 minutes on each side. Test for doneness. (I prefer my lamb rare.)  The lamb should be dark brown or black around the edges, rare inside. Don’t worry if the marinade burns…the meat will still be delicious.

Autumn Harvest

1 tablespoon fig preserves
1.5 ounce Bulleit or Belle Meade Bourbon
Ziegler’s Apple Cider

Add fig preserves and bourbon to a glass, fill with apple cider and shake well. Pour over ice and garnish with a sage leaf.

Beet Salad with Onion Vinaigrette

Yields 4-8

For the salad:
2 pounds baby golden beets
2 pounds golden beets (about 4)
16 oz fresh squeezed orange juice
1 bay leaf
5 thyme sprigs
Water
Salt

Wash all the beets well using a scrub brush. Toss the baby beets in grape seed oil, salt, pepper, and roast whole at 375 for about 45 minutes or until tender. For the larger beets, put in pot with orange juice, bay, thyme, pinch of salt, and cover with water. Simmer until tender, remove beets to cool, then strain cooking liquid into a smaller pot and continue cooking until it’s the consistency of a light syrup. Baby beets can be halved or quartered, leave skin on. For the remaining beets, remove skin, and cut into small bite sized pieces. Once the liquid has reduced, toss the beets back into it.

For vinaigrette:
1 Vidalia onion diced and cooked at low heat for one hour
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
3/4 cup grape seed oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

After the onion is cooled from cooking, place in blender with vinegar and mustard. Purée mixture until smooth, then drizzle the oil while blender is running, season with salt and pepper.

1 fennel bulb shaved thin
2 ruby red grapefruit segmented
1/2 cup pecans toasted
4 oz Many Fold Farm Brebis
Lime streaks mustard greens for garnish

To assemble, place the fennel, grapefruit, pecans, and mustards in mixing bowl. Dress the mixture with just enough vinaigrette to barely coat everything, season with salt and pepper. Arrange the beets on a plate, then whimsically place other ingredients along side beets, finish with a few dollops of the Brebis.

1 whole chicken
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Fresh thyme
Fresh lemon

Rub the chicken all over with olive oil, salt and pepper. Take whole sprigs of fresh thyme and put it into the cavity of the bird and under the skin of its breast.

Roast it at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes until fork tender. When it’s done, let the meat rest a bit and squeeze fresh lemon juice all over it before cutting into small pieces and serving.