12 January 2014

After the artic blast and sub zero temperatures, it was a pleasure to welcome the 60 degrees weather this weekend. Today was especially nice, and we started the day by hiking to the top of Kennesaw Mountain. While I am out of shape, I am determined to get in better shape this year! In addition to finding time for exercise and many more outdoor hikes, I am also paying more attention to what I eat. As for Sunday Suppers, I am experimenting with more ethnic dishes for a change, and in addition, they are usually much healthier than our food. The only issue can be in finding all of the ingredients, but that just presents a challenge.

For instance, tonight's Sunday Supper featured a Vietnamese twist. I love pho, so I made my first Pho Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Soup). Garnishes included basil, chili peppers, limes, Hoison sauce, Sriracha and Mung bean sprouts. For starters, I made Sweet and Sour Pork Larb in Lettuce Cups. It was very easy, healthy and delicious. Keeping with the fresh and gluten free theme, I made bananas and peach foster for dessert.

Next week promises to be as busy and chaotic as last week, and there is even a slight chance of snow on Wednesday. For now, my soul is warmed with a heaping hot bowl of pho while watching the Golden Globe Awards, but the channel will switch to PBS for Downton Abbey at nine o'clock.

Have a great week!

The Menu:

- Pho Ga – Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup with Assorted Garnishes

- Sweet and Sour Pork Larb in Butter Lettuce Cups

- Banana and Peach Foster


The Recipe – Sweet and Sour Pork Larb in Lettuce Cups

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons canola oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ground pork
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 head butter lettuce (6 ounces), leaves separated
Thinly sliced scallions, for garnish
Lime wedges, for serving

Method:

In a skillet, heat the canola oil. Add the onion and stir-fry over moderate heat until softened and golden, 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the pork and cook, stirring occasionally and breaking up the meat, until browned, about 3 minutes. Stir in the honey, fish sauce and sesame oil and cook, stirring, until no traces of pink remain in the pork, about 2 minutes.

Remove the skillet from the heat. Stir the lime zest and lime juice into the pork and season with salt and pepper.

Arrange the lettuce cups on a serving platter. Fill with the pork and garnish with scallions. Serve with lime wedges.

05 January 2014

Welcome to the first Sunday Supper of 2014! Jeff bought me a Staub tagine for Christmas, so I put it to good use tonight. Plus, we are expecting the possibility of some winter weather and very cold temperatures over the next couple of days, so some hot and spicy comfort food was in order. For dinner, I prepared a spicy chicken tagine with apricots, rosemary and ginger. Tagines are typically ceramic vessels used in Moroccan cooking. The signature domed ceramic lid holds all of the steam and flavor in the dishes. I also cooked some buttery cous cous with toasted almonds to accompany the main dish. The unique mixture of rosemary, ginger, chili peppers and dried apricots creates very exotic flavors. As an added bonus, this one dish meal is very easy to clean up afterward.

This Sunday Supper was a great way to end an exciting and interesting week. On Thursday, I was sworn in as Canton City Councilman for Ward Two, and we had our first council meeting of the new year. All in all, it went better than expected, and once the transition stabilizes, I think the new council is going to be very productive and much more civil. There is a lot of exciting work to be done in Canton, and I look forward to it. Over the weekend, I prepared a separate office at Grant Design Collaborative for my council work, so I hope this will help me to be more focused, productive and efficient as I juggle this position with my full time job.

It is also a special Sunday evening for another reason. Tonight, the fourth season of Downton Abbey on PBS! We love this show dearly and have missed it during the break between seasons. Maggie Smith is amazing as Lady Grantham, and the production quality is outstanding. If you have not watched the previous seasons of this show, catch up now and tune into season four. If you think you don't have time for such entertaining drama, just head the advice of Violet Grantham, "Don’t be defeatist, dear, it’s very middle class.”

The Menu:

- Spicy Chicken Tagine with Apricots, Rosemary and Ginger

- Buttered Cous Cous with Toasted Almonds

The Recipe – Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Apricots, Rosemary and Ginger

 Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 sprigs rosemary, 1 finely chopped, the other 2 cut in half
3 tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 red chilies, seeded and finely chopped
2 cinnamon sticks
3kg whole chicken, cut into 4 pieces
3/4 cup dried sour apricots
2 tablespoons honey
1 (14 ounce) can plum tomatoes or whole tomatoes, with their juice
Sea salt
Fresh ground black pepper
4 tablespoons fresh basil, shredded


Method:

Heat olive oil in a tagine or heavy-based dutch oven. Stir in ginger, onion, chopped rosemary, and chilies and sauté until the onion begins to soften. Stir in halved rosemary sprigs and the cinnamon 
sticks. Add chicken and brown on both sides.

Toss in the apricots and honey. Stir in plum tomatoes with their juice. Add a little water if necessary to ensure there is enough to cover the base of the tagine and submerge the apricots. Bring liquid to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover with a lid and cook gently for 35 - 40 minutes.
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle shredded basil over chicken. Serve immediately with cous cous and a simple green salad.

29 December 2013

It's my last post of 2013, and there is so much to talk about. The Christmas holiday was filled with the good, the bad and the ugly. For the most part, it was very good, but Jeff and I had the crud for most of this week. I am still recovering, but I should be a lot better just in time to go to work tomorrow. We closed Grant Design Collaborative for the week, so it's been a nice break. We've had something scheduled for every night, but I managed to squeeze in a few naps along the way. My wonderful family came down last weekend, and we celebrated Christmas with our annual Grant Holiday Hoedown. We laughed, did karaoke, cooked and ate ourselves through a great weekend. It was truly special, crud and all.

We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas Eve with Jeff's family in Jasper. On Christmas day, Jeff and I spent most of the day home alone, and it was glorious. The day began with homemade buttermilk pancakes and bacon. After opening gifts, we settled in for an actual Home Alone marathon, one and two. It was great. mindless fun, and the only thing that got us out of our pajamas was an after dinner invitation to our dear neighbors and friends, Pat and Nugget Gold. We joined Pat, Nugget and their beautiful daughter, Megan, for a night cap. Michael was still working at Disney, but we visited with him via text messages. There's no greater gift than great neighbors and dear friends, so our celebration was complete.

Tonight's Sunday Supper included some special people as well. After a year of discussion, we finally had our friends Mark and Peggy Moore over for dinner. We were also honored to have their out of town visitors join us from San Antonio, Texas: Allen Fuller, Gary Robison and Sissie and Mickey Hengos. The company was divine, and the supper delivered as well. I decided to cook a rack of lamb, duchess potatoes and Peggy's favorite, brussel sprouts. I also made some garlic and rosemary cream biscuits on the side. For dessert, I baked individual orange and olive oil cakes with orange scented whipped cream. Mark supplied some delicious local wine from Frogtown Cellars, and a good time was had by all.

In addition to New Years day, next week holds a lot of adventure as well. On Thursday, January 2, I will be sworn in as the newest Canton City Councilman for Ward 2. While 2013 was filled with many surprises, I have no doubt 2014 will be a banner year. I look forward to every experience, and I feel truly blessed by the special moments and memorable meals over the past year. Wishing you all a recipe for success in the new year!

Cheers!

The Menu:

- Roasted Georgia Rack of Lamb Persillade

- Duchess Potatoes

- Brussel Sprouts with Local Smoke Bacon

- Rosemary and Garlic Cream Biscuits

- Orange and Olive Oil Cake with Orange Scented Whipped Cream

The Recipe – Rack of Lamb Persillade

Ingredients:

- 3 small racks of lamb, french style
- Good olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups loosely packed fresh parsley leaves
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic cloves (3 cloves)
- 1 cup fresh white bread crumbs
- 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Place the racks in a roasting pan, fat side up. Rub the tops with olive oil and sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Roast the lamb for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the parsley and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process until they're both finely minced. Add the bread crumbs and lemon zest and process for a second until combined.

Take the lamb out of the oven and quickly press the parsley mixture on top of the meat. Drizzle with the melted butter and return immediately to the oven and roast for another 15 minutes.

Take the lamb out of the oven and cover with aluminum foil. Allow it to rest for 15 minutes, cut in double chops, and serve.

08 December 2013

We had a wonderful weekend with some very dear friends. On Friday, our friend, Leslie Westbrook, flew in from her beautiful home on the Chesapeake in Easton, Maryland to spend the weekend with us. Due to some serendipitous events, we wound up having access to a modern mountain home in Blue Ridge for the weekend. The house was very unique, and it was located in a very picturesque setting along the Toccoa River. In addition to Leslie, our friends Cory Wilson and John Clark joined us on Friday night, and Jennifer Dunn and Carmen Slaughter visited us on Saturday night after winding their way there on the North Georgia Art Ramble. We had a great time in the mountains, and I cooked chili and bacon jalapeno cornbread for dinner on Saturday night. We told stories, laughed, watched some classic Christmas specials, played Scrabble and relaxed. The weather was rainy, but it gave us a perfect excuse to stay inside and enjoy the good company and fellowship.

We arrived back at One Britt on Sunday around noon, so we had some time to make a few local stops on the North Georgia Art Ramble. We visited the studios of Elly Hobgood, Laura and Frank Ellis, and Phoebe Maze. We also stopped by the holiday shop at the Cherokee Arts Center. Jeff Brown and I bought a few things, and Leslie really racked up! She was very impressed with the quality of the work in our community, and we are going to have to ship a load of art to Maryland! While we were out, we also took Miss Leslie by the Cherokee Market to meet Lisa Meyer and sample some of Momma Kay's home cooking. Of course, Leslie was very impressed with the charm and quality of produce at the market, and she agreed it would be a terrible loss to loose this historic building and worthy local business to a gas station and convenience store.

After rambling into the dark, we finally returned home to catch up, relax and prepare Sunday Supper. Jeff, Leslie and Jazpur joined me in the kitchen while I prepared a Southern Chicken Stew with Herb Biscuits. The base of the recipe came from Ina Garten, aka the Barefoot Contessa. Her recipes are a great place to start, and I added a few personal touches along the way. The dish turned out beautifully, and it really warmed the soul on a rainy night in Georgia. Of course, catching up with our dear friend was the icing on the cake.

The coming week will be another busy one at work, and I begin my orientation for City Council as well. On Wednesday night, my team and I will enjoy our annual holiday celebration dinner at Seed Kitchen in Marietta. I look forward to a great meal and spending time with the greatest team in design: Matt DeFrain, Elizabeth Seidle and Kurt Seidle.

Here's hoping your holidays and weekends are also filled with great friends, good food, love and laughter.

The Menu:

- Southern Chicken Stew with Herb Biscuits

The Recipe:

(Adapted from Ina Garten)

Ingredients:

3 whole chicken breasts, bone in, skin on
3 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
2 chicken bouillon cubes
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups chopped yellow onions
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 cups medium-diced carrots (4 carrots), blanched for 2 minutes
1 cup chopped celery
1 10-ounce package frozen peas (2 cups)
1 1/2 cups frozen small pearl onions
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley

For the biscuits – Or use your own favorite biscuit recipe and add herbs of your choice:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 pound (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced
3/4 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley or herbs such as sage, thyme or rosemary
1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan, and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then remove the meat from the bones and discard the skin. Cut the chicken into large dice.

In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and dissolve the bouillon cubes in the stock. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and the heavy cream. Add the cubed chicken, carrots, celery, peas, onions, and parsley. Mix well. Place the stew in a 10 x 13 x 2-inch oval or rectangular baking dish. Place the baking dish on a sheet pan lined with parchment or wax paper, and bake for 15 minutes.

While the stew is baking, make the biscuits. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the butter and mix on low speed until the butter is the size of peas. Add the half-and-half and combine on low speed. Mix in the parsley. Dump the dough out on a well-floured board and, with a rolling pin, roll out to 3/8-inch thick. Cut out twelve circles with a 2 1/2-inch round cutter or clean aluminum can.

Remove the stew from the oven and arrange the biscuits on top of the filling. Brush them with egg wash, and return the dish to the oven. Bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, until the biscuits are brown and the stew is bubbly.

17 November 2013

After a long, but successful campaign, it is so nice to get back into the kitchen! Today is rainy and foggy, and the multicolored Fall leaves outside the kitchen window create the perfect atmosphere for comfort food. As most of you know, I won my election for Canton City Council in Ward 2 with nearly 65% of the vote. While the drudgery of campaigning is not my favorite thing, I look forward to the challenging and meaningful work ahead, and I have a strong appetite for helping move my small town forward. The other two seats are in a runoff, so I am thankful to be done – for now. I officially begin serving the citizens of Canton on January 2, so stay tuned. I could not have achieved this milestone with the love and support of my campaign committee, friends, family, coworkers, neighbors and a lot of new supporters from across the city. Thank you all for believing in me, and I promise to work hard to exceed your expectations.

Just as one "campaign" is complete, it appears another one is now underway. This time it is a movement to help save one of my favorite local purveyors of farm fresh produce and local suppliers of meat, cheese and a variety of sustainable ingredients. Cherokee Market Farm Fresh Produce is located on Highway 20 at the corner of Union Hill Road. The owner, Lisa Meyer, has worked diligently over the past few years to bring farm to table produce and fresh foods to our community. Her market is located in the historic Bell's Store, one of the Buffington Community's greatest historic assets. Recently, a developer from Macon has expressed interest in buying the property to develop a Flash Foods convenience store and gas station. It would be tragic to replace a local and sustainable produce business with a haven of processed foods, beer, cigarettes, gas and video poker machines! The community seems to be rallying around Lisa and Cherokee Market, but we need all the help we can get. An online petition was created just a week or so ago, and it already has over 700 signatures! Click here to sign the online petition. In addition to the historic building, Cherokee Market is also home to one of the best BBQ food trucks in the South, Scott Boys BBQ, so a lot is at stake in this battle. If you live in the area, please join the movement to preserve our history and save our most accessible sustainable food provider.

Needless to say, I have been very busy trying to catch up at the office and fighting irresponsible growth, so it was nice to slow down this weekend. I spent most of Saturday catching up on my favorite PBS cooking shows. It had been months since I've had a chance to watch them, so it was a true gift in the form of downtime. I am beginning to plan my favorite meal of the year, Thanksgiving, and it was nice to get some new ideas. With the rainy weather today, I decided to cook a steaming pot of old fashioned beef stew. Earlier today, we went to Cherokee Market to have lunch at Scott Boys BBQ and to buy all of the produce. I was delighted to find some baby Vidalia onion bulbs and heirloom multicolor carrots for the stew. along with some of their fresh jalapeño cheddar bread to serve on the side. To go with the hearty stew, I made some delicious cream cheese mashed potatoes on the side, and it was a great combination. For dessert, I made one of the Pioneer Woman's recipes from her show on Saturday: individual cherry almond crisps.

All in all, it was a much welcomed and needed return of Sunday Supper.

The Menu:

- Old Fashioned Hearty Beef Stew

- Cream Cheese and Chive Mashed Potatoes

- Cherry Almond Crisps ala Mode

27 October 2013

Last night's Sunday Supper was very special. Back in May, I auctioned off a Bill's Sunday Supper for four at the Cherokee County Historical Society's Derby Day at the Rock Barn. The annual event and silent auction is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the Historical Society, and I was thrilled my Sunday Supper received the highest bid of the auction. Luckily, our friend, Richard Ryan of Charleston, won the bid and invited three other dear friends: Rick and Elaine Roberts and Nancy Snell. I spent all day in the kitchen, and it was a very nice distraction from the campaign.

Most of last week was spent planning the menu, and I wanted it to be memorable. I planned four courses to celebrate a "Summer into Fall" theme. The first course consisted of a crostini with local goat cheese and mulled muscadines. It set the perfect tone for the meal, and I followed with a pork belly and citrus salad. It was the first time I've cooked pork belly, and it won't be the last. The main course consisted of red wine braised grass fed short ribs over creamy polenta. The Honorable Rick Roberts said they were the best short ribs he's evert tasted, and he has a very discriminating palate! For dessert, I baked a molten chocolate cake with raspberries and whipped cream. Jeff worked with the sommelier at Harry's Farmers Market to pair a wine with each course, and he did a great job. Cory came over and helped serve our guests, and we enjoyed the meal behind the scenes in the kitchen. We felt very downstairs ala Downton Abbey!

Everyone enjoyed the meal and the evening, and it was gratifying to cook for great friends and a great cause. The Historical Society does great work, and the evening was only missing one thing: Judson Roberts. Judson is a great patron of the Historical Society, and he had planned to join us for Sunday Supper. Unfortunately, he is back in the hospital as his fight against lymphoma continues. We missed you Judson and look forward to treating you to a Sunday Supper of shrimp and grits in the very near future!

Election day is next Tuesday, November 5, so I hope to get back to a regular Sunday Supper very soon. Until then, vote for good people and great food.

Cheers!

The Menu:

- Crostini of Local Goat Cheese and Mulled Muscadines

- Heritage Pork Belly and Citrus Salad

- Georgia Grass Fed Short Ribs Braised in Red Wine
  Over Creamy Polenta

- Molten Chocolate Cake with Raspberries and Whipped Cream

29 September 2013

It has been another fun and busy weekend in Canton. The Service League of Cherokee County held their 29th Riverfest Arts and Crafts Festival in Boling Park. This annual fundraiser generates a tremendous amount of proceeds to assist children in need in Cherokee County. These 90 young women do an amazing job with this event, and I am always in awe of how well they organize and choreographed this event, and all without complaining at any time. I was honored to be asked by them to serve as a judge for the artists and craftsmen this year, so I spent Saturday morning reviewing all 130 exhibitors. I was impressed by the variety of arts and crafts from across the Southeast. I had a great time, and I was pleased to provide a very small amount of assistance in their great cause.

One of the most exciting things about Riverfest was the debut of their newest cookbook, "Gatherings & Traditions." I have all of their other cookbooks to date, and they feature delicious and easy to follow recipes from the League members. So I had no choice but to select a recipe for tonight's Sunday Supper! I was immediately drawn to my friend Wanda Roach's recipe for Beef Stroganoff on page 63. Wanda's reputation for great food is known far and wide, and her recipe did not disappoint. I look forward to trying many other recipes in this book, especially over the holidays when my friends and family gather in celebration and fellowship. There are no substitutions for a wonderful family and welcoming community, and I have found both in Canton.

For dessert, we indulged in more bounty from Riverfest – rum cakes from Rumtastic. I live for these delicious baked goods at Riverfest and Canton Festival of the Arts. If you have not tried one, you don't know what you're missing.

My campaign also participated in another great cause this weekend, the Angel Walk at Soleil Laurel Canyon. We have joined our friends in Soleil for this event the past three years, and the proceeds benefit the Angel House for young ladies in the community. Unfortunately, I was double booked with Riverfest, but Jeff, Cory and John represented Grant for Canton with style and grace. The event raised over $4,000, so congratulations to the residents of Soleil for another fine showing. I look forward to climbing the hill with you next year.

A pleasing supper of comfort food is exactly what I needed to prepare me for the hectic week ahead. We have some amazing new projects and clients at Grant Design Collaborative, and I have a campaign or city related event every night this week. The election can't be over soon enough, but I am enjoying the thoughtful and meaningful conversations I am having with Canton's fine citizens. They enjoy being heard, and I cherish the opportunities to listen.

Grant for Canton!

The Menu:

- Wanda Roach's Beef Stroganoff from "Gatherings & Traditions"

- Rumtastic Rum Cakes with Rum Infused Whipped Cream