The Fire & The Hearth

A Poor Man's Guide

2012-03-07T15:35:00.000-05:00

It is always my contention that there is so much good wineout there that it doesn’t make sense to pay high prices.

Two current examples are available at Tower East (223 Moreland Ave. at Memorial Dr. in East Atlanta).

PrimalRoots is described as a 2010 Red Blend. It contains merlot, syrah and zinfandeland, as promised, it is a big full-bodied red, lush on the tongue and verysmooth. We drank it along side a supperof ham and bean soup but it would also go well with a steak. Currently $6.99 abottle while it lasts.

Fordrinkers of whites, there is Simply Naked Unoaked Sauvignon Blanc 2011. It is acrisp with citrus notes, very refreshing. It was a perfect pair to someApalachicola Bay oysters that I brought back from Saint George Island. It’s$5.99 a bottle.

Oysters on Saint George Island

2012-02-28T10:09:00.000-05:00

Our friends Anne and John Stavisky had the oysters and wine waiting when we arrived at Saint George Island. John and I have really increased our production. We cracked open the first three dozen -- yes, I know -- in less than 20 minutes. With the "huitres" John brought out a 2009 Zugibe Gruner Veltliner from the Finger Lakes. It was crisp, dry with citrus at the start at minerals at the end -- perfect with the oysters which were sweet and briny. Ambrosial.

Buckwheat Biscuits

2012-02-19T11:27:00.001-05:00

It was cold and rainy this morning, the kind of morning that makes you yearn for something heartwarming for breakfast.

Recently, I bought some buckwheat flour from the DeKalb Farmers Market http://www.dekalbfarmersmarket.com/, and I thought buckwheat flour, which can be heavy and dense, might make a good edition to some buttermilk biscuits.

Served alongside an omelet made morsels of spiral cut ham, grated sharp cheddar cheese and scallions, they were a perfect match.

Buckwheat Biscuits

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cups of all purpose flour, plus bench flour
¼ cup buckwheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons shortening
5 tablespoons butter
¾ cup buttermilk, plus extra for painting the biscuits

Method

Preheat the oven to 400f. I use convection-bake but just bake is fine.

Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine.

Add the butter and shortening, pulse to cut the shortening and butter into pea-sized bits -- about 5 to 6 times. (You can also do this with a pastry cutter or two dinner knives.)

Turn the mixture out into a bowl, make a well in the center, and add the buttermilk. With a fork, combine to form the dough.

When the dough has combined loosely, roll it out onto a floured surface and knead twice or three times. If loose bits of flour haven’t been incorporated, dampen one hand and roll them into the ball of dough.

Pat the dough into a circle, fold the circle on itself, combine into a ball, and pat out into a circle again. It should be about an inch thick.

Line a sheet pan with a Silpat or a sheet of parchment paper. Cut out the biscuits with a 2-inch biscuit cutter and place on the sheet. Prick the tops of the biscuits with a fork. Paint the top of each biscuit with a little buttermilk.

Place the sheet pan on a middle rack in the oven. Check the biscuits after 11 minutes. Especially if you are using convection, the pan may need to be turned to brown the biscuits evenly. Continue to bake until the biscuits have risen and are golden on top, about 4 to 5 more minutes more.

The recipe makes about 8 biscuits. Serve warm with butter. Peach jam, sorghum or honey is delicious with the nutty flavor these biscuits have because of the buckwheat flour.

Roast lamb for a birthday fête

2011-11-20T16:40:00.000-05:00

A few weeks back we gathered with our friends Leigh Kirkland and Bob Sattelmeyer and Tom and Pearl McHaney for our fall birthday party. This has been an annual event for more than a decade.

This year the menu included pate de foie gras with brioche toasts, a savory cream of fennel soup made by Leigh, garnish with creme fraiche, leg of lamb stuffed with southern greens and roasted in caul fat, cheeses with aged balsamic vinegar from Modena, and finished with a light and tangy lemon cake baked by Pearl.

The lamb is a version of a recipe -- Roast Leg of Lamb Stuffed with Greens and Garlic -- from Frank Stitt’s cookbook Southern Table (http://tinyurl.com/72p9pry). We know Frank and his bride Pardis from the Southern Foodways Alliance where we are also members.

In Frank’s recipe, he stuffs the leg with mustard greens and garlic. I used a mixture of mustard, kale and collards, keeping to Frank’s direction to use 8 cloves of garlic.

The leg I bought from the DeKalb Farmers Market had been trimmed of most of its fat, which gave me an idea. I asked Kevin Outz of Spotted Trotter (http://thespottedtrotter.com/) if I could buy some caul fat, which Kevin uses to wrap his mouth-watering lamb crepinettes. The answer was of course.

What is caul fat and why do you use it? Caul fat is a spider-web like membrane of fat that lives between a pig’s stomach and its rib cage. When you wrap something -- like a terrine, a meatloaf or, in this case, a leg of lamb -- with caul fat, it melts during the roasting, keeping the meat beneath it moist and infused in porky wonderfulness.

Wrapping a turkey breast in caul fat, for example, would keep the meat moist while creating a taste sensation that’s like no turkey you’ve ever eaten.

In this case, my wrapped leg of lamb went into a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes to brown the meat. I reduced the oven temperature to 350 and continued roasting the leg until the internal temperature reached 130 for medium rare.

After letting the leg rest for 20 minutes, I sliced it and served the slices atop a succotash of French lentils, quinoa and Southern field peas.

With the lamb we drank a 1990 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou, Saint-Julien. This is a classic Bordeaux blend but what amazed us was how light it was 21 years after it was produced.

At the end of the evening I can truly say, borrowing a phrase from the society pages of the late lamented Jackson, Miss., Daily News, a “good time was had by all.”

Fall garden haricot verts

2011-11-20T11:35:00.000-05:00

In mid-September, I decided to gamble that frost would not arrive early this year. I planted a raised bed of French green beans, haricot verts. And, I was lucky.
The temperatures have been up and down this fall, but amid the days of warmth followed by lows near the frost point, the plants blossomed and then the beans began to mature.
Friday night, I gathered a large handful off the vines to prepare for dinner.
My method was pretty standard. The beans were plunged into boiling salted water for six minutes until tender-crisp, then shocked in cold water to set their bright green color and drained.
While the beans were cooking, I cut about four medium to small Jerusalem artichokes into small dice and began to sautee them with a generous half ounce or so of thin sliced onion. The Jerusalem artichokes were also from out garden (see a separate entry on them).
Just before the meal was ready, I added the drained green beans to the pan of Jerusalem artichokes, tossed them and let them warm through for two or three minutes, sprinkling the dish with a little kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Inspired by the beans, I decided that the whole meal should be vegetables.
I steamed broccoli spears and sticks of carrot, spritzing them at the end with lime juice.
A Roma tomato was thin sliced on the bias and drizzled with a little olive oil and red wine vinegar.
The final vegetable was corn. I cut the kernels from four ears of corn. In a saucepan I sauteed one thin slice of pancetta, slivered, until the slivers began to curl. I added the corn and about a quarter cup of water. The corn simmered for about 10 minutes until tender. The pancetta added a little hint of salty porkiness to the background, but because I had added only water, the corn tasted like fresh sweet corn.
To go with our plate of vegetables, I baked a pone of my Aunt Bertha Hubbard’s cornbread.
With our meal we drank a plush Georgia red, Scarlett from Habersham Vineyards at Helen, Ga.
There are still a few green beans to be gathered and, believe it or not, there are about five small eggplants and a couple of bell peppers still coming along. I’m actually looking forward to a good frost. The fall lettuce seems to taste sweeter after a frost, and maybe, the bugs that can’t avoid chewing up the leaves of the Savoy cabbage will finally be killed off.

Soupe de Poisson for a cold night

2011-11-08T17:53:00.000-05:00

You don’t need cold weather for this soup, but it certainly works well eaten in front of a nice fire. The soup is creamy, the fish meltingly tender, and the rouille gives the soup a garlic-pepper zing.

Like many French classics, there are multiple versions of the recipe for this soup. In Provence, the fish is cooked in the broth and then eaten separately in a traditional bouillabaisse. In Bordeaux, along the Bay of Arcachon, chefs puree the fish along with the soup base to make a deliciously thick soup.

This version owes something to the catfish stews that I ate as a boy in Screven County in southeast Georgia. In that recipe the vegetables were not pureed and the fish was actually cut into chunks, all of it simmered in a savory broth. For a really good version of a catfish stew recipe, see Virgina Willis’ book “Bon Appetite, Y’all.”

Virginia’s recipe, in the traditional southeast Georgia way, begins with bacon as the ingredient that drives the flavor. I left out the bacon here, turning instead to the traditional French ingredient: fennel seed. Fishermen along the French coasts made Soupe de Poisson out of whatever fish were left when they were done selling their fish that day. Fennel’s mild, sweet anise flavor brings the flavors of the fish together. And, if you have a bottle of Pernod around, a splash in the soup bowl before you add the soup is not a bad touch at all.

I spent a couple of enjoyable hours on a Saturday afternoon making this soup from start to finish. Fish stock only takes about 20 minutes to make, but if you don’t have a lot of time you can use clam broth as a substitute.

Another shortcut I’ve tried is to use vegetable stock, but I add anchovy fillets along with the garlic when cooking the vegetables. The fillets disappear, no one will ever know, but they leave a wonderful flavor.

The recipe, as written here, serves two but can easily be scaled up to feed a larger crowd.

To accompany the soup, you need a wine that is crisp, citrusy with a hint of minerals at the end. A Cotes de Gascogne is perfect. The DeKalb Farmers Market carries them, but my new favorite is Yvon Mau Colombard Chardonnay 2009 Cotes de Gascogne, on sale now at Tower East (towerbeerandwine@bellsouth.net) for about $5 a bottle.

Soupe de Poisson

Ingredients

For the fish stock

2 fish frames (medium sized, including the heads, gills removed – the fish mongers at Atlantic Seafood in the Sweet Auburn Curb market will give you all you want when you buy shrimp or fish)

1 cup shrimp shells

4 cups water

For the soup

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup milk (I use 1 percent but whole milk works, too)

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

1 carrot, peeled and diced

2 Roma tomatoes, split seeded and chopped

1 stalk celery, peeled and chopped, about 1 to 2 tablespoons

8 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon fennel seed

¼ teaspoon saffron, crushed

1 medium Yukon gold potato, peeled and diced

About 8 to 10 ounces of firm-fleshed white fish (snapper, cod, or catfish for example). Cut into slices about 1/8 inch thick by 1 inch

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Fresh chives (optional)

Day old baguette, cut into four ¼ inch slices

For the rouille

2 medium cloves garlic – peeled, smashed and chopped to form a puree

2 tablespoons – mayonnaise (I use Duke’s)

1 teaspoon – Dijon mustard

Pinch – cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon, lemon juice (if needed)

Method

For the fish stock

Put the bones and shells into a boiler, add the water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and allow the stock to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. If any scum rises to the top, spoon it off and discard.

After 15 minutes, strain the stock and reserve. You should have about 3 ½ cups of broth. If you have more, reduce the stock; if you have less, add enough water to come to 3 ½ cups. If there is meat on the fish bones, pick it off and reserve to add to the soup.

For the soup

Put the olive oil in a medium-sized pot over medium high heat. Add the fennel seed and let them cook until they release their aroma. Do not burn. Add the onion, carrot and celery and let the vegetables cook down for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds until aromatic. Add the potatoes and continue cooking until the potatoes begin to color. Add the tomatoes, bay leaf and crush saffron.

Add the fish broth and the milk.

Bring the soup mixture to a boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and allow the soup to cool a bit to make it easier to handle. Pour the soup into a blender and puree.

Wipe out the pot and pour the soup back in. Bring the soup to a good simmer.

Add the sliced fish and stir gently so as not to break up the fish too much. Let simmer for another 5 minutes until the fish is done. Add any reserved fish from making the stock.

For the rouille

Toast the slices of baguette and keep warm.

Mix the rouille ingredients together and taste. If the flavor needs to be a little sharper, add the lemon juice. Reserve.

Service

Warm two soup bowls.

Place a dollop of the rouille on top of each slice of baguette. Ladle the soup into the bowls, place the baguette slices on top and serve.

Serves two.

A savory ingredient: Jerusalem artichokes

2011-11-06T17:52:00.000-05:00

There were Jerusalem artichokes at the Grant Park Farmers Market this morning, which inspired me to come home and dig a few of our own.

Jerusalem artichokes are neither artichokes nor from Jerusalem. Instead they are the tubers of a plant that is a cousin of the sunflower. We have them growing in flower beds in the back yard.

They shoot up into tall stalks that have, at the end of the summer, one yellow flower.

They don’t store very well, so it is best to leave them in the ground until they are needed. These will be sliced, sautéed in butter and olive oil and then mixed with steamed broccoli as a side dish to go with tonight’s main course, pork chops cooked with shitake mushrooms.

Jerusalem artichokes have a wonderfully nutty flavor all their own, but they pick up the flavors of anything they are cooked with. So, I chop them and add them when cooking a braised pork shoulder, a coq au vin or a beouf Bourgogne.

One word of caution, once planted in a garden or flower bed, they will be there forever. You can never dig them all up and each spring new shoots are bound to emerge. Kathy was a bit upset to realize she had lost the use of one of her favorite flower beds but to me it was just another reason to cook a savory stew.

Sunday morning biscuits...

2011-10-23T13:18:00.000-04:00

Eating in ... Breakfast with buttermilk biscuits

Sunday morning breakfasts are special. I like to take a little extra time to do the sorts of things I can’t do during the week – like make biscuits.

This morning I made them to go with a breakfast that included sautéed slices of Broadbent’s country ham and a French-style omelet made with Gruyere cheese.

A biscuit is more than a simple piece of quick bread. For anyone who grew up in the South it is, at minimum, part bread, part memory.

The best biscuits I ever had were made by my Grandmother Eunice Risner, who got up ever morning on their farm in the Reed Creek community of Hart County to make pans and pans of biscuits for my grandfather and her nine children.

She used a wood tray to make the dough, filling the dugout wooden tray with flour then adding lard, rubbing it in by hand, and then a dab of salt and enough buttermilk until the dough was “right.”

Then onto a baking sheet they went and into a wood-fired oven.

The crusts were golden and crunchy; the interiors were light and flaky. Just to eat a warm biscuit on a cold morning -- spread with fresh-churned butter, stuffed with country ham, or slathered with sweet, dark sorgum – was a moment to savor and an unforgettable memory.

Since my grandmother’s passing, the closest I have eaten to her biscuits are at Savannah Street Café in Clayton, Georgia where the golden biscuits are so light they virtually float off the plate (31 Savannah Street, Clayton, Tel. 706-782-9550).

My biscuits, based on a recipe of my mother’s, are not in the same league as my Granny’s, but on a cool morning like this one they offer a rare savor and comfort.

Buttermilk Biscuits

Ingredients:

2 cups (450 grams) sifted all purpose flour

3 teaspoons (14.3 grams) baking powder

4 tablespoons (57 grams) of shortening or lard if you can get good lard and are allowed to eat it

1 tablespoon (15 grams) unsalted butter

¾ teaspoon (4 grams) salt

¾ cup (170 ml) buttermilk, with more if needed for the dough, plus extra for brushing the tops of the biscuits

Method:

Preheat the oven to 475f (246c) if using a conventional oven or 450f (232c) is using convection. Sift the flour into a bowl, add the salt and baking powder. Add the shortening and butter. With a pastry cutter, mix in the shorting and butter until the bits are the size of small peas, the goal being no big lumps.

Make a well in the flour and pour in the buttermilk. How much you will actually need depends on the humidity and how dry your flour may be. If, after incorporating the ¾ cup of buttermilk, there is still dry flour in the bowl, add a little more until a ball of soft dough forms and all the flour is incorporated.

Roll out the ball onto a floured surface and pat the dough down with a floured hand until it is a disk about 1 inch (25mm) thick. Cut out the biscuits with a biscuit cutter and place them on a baking sheet. I use a silicon mat on my sheet, but a plain sheet is fine.

Reroll the scraps into a smaller ball, flatten, and cut out the last biscuits.

Prick the tops of the biscuits with a fork to allow the steam to escape. Then paint the tops of the biscuits with buttermilk.

Put the biscuits in the oven and bake for about 12 minutes. If using convection check them at six minutes and turn the sheet so they brown evenly. If using a conventional oven start checking the biscuits at 10 minutes. In both cases, bake them until they are golden brown.

Makes about 10 biscuits.

As we finished up our breakfasts, Kathy and I had the same idea. A dab of sorgum would be a perfect way to finish eating our biscuits. Luckily, I have a jar of sorgum from The Sorgum Mill in Monterey, Tenn., brought to us by our friend Fred Sauceman at East Tennessee State University.

Within a few minutes, all that was left on my plate was a golden crumb of biscuit next to a black streak of deep, rich sorgum. I crushed the crumb beneath my finger, smeared it in the sorgum and popped it in my mouth. Ambrosial.

A Poor Man's Guide ...

2011-10-23T13:14:00.000-04:00

Merum Monastrell 2006 has become my new favorite bargain wine. It is $6.99 for a single bottle, or $6.59 a bottle in a case, at Tower East on Moreland Avenue (towerbeerandwine@bellsouth.net).

Monastrell is the Spanish word for the French grape variety Mourvedre, which you normally find blended into Cotes du Rhone in France.

Not only a perfect pair with a steak, we drank it recently with a vegetarian entrée – a creamy rutabaga and potato gratin with a crunch crust of Gruyere cheese.

Hot summer dining

2011-08-14T16:15:00.000-04:00

The sweltering temperatures this summer have been real appetite killers. As a result, we’ve been resorting to light, fresh entrees, often meatless and easy to prepare.

From a recent week’s selection of dinners, we begin with the classic tomato sandwich.

Tomato Sandwich

Ingredients

• Mayonnaise -- homemade or a good tart one like Duke’s

• Salt -- kosher is best

• Fresh ground pepper

• Slices of fresh tomato

• Slices of soft, white sandwich bread

Method

Core and peel the tomatoes in slices from 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick (1/2 to 2/3 cm). This is controversial. Some wouldn't bother to peel a tomato, but I like mine without the peel. Some people also like thick slices of tomato, up 3/4 of an inch (2-cm). You decide.

Slather two slices of bread with mayonnaise. Grind a few grinds of black pepper on each slice.

Arrange the tomato slices on one slice of the bread. They can hang over the edge.

Sprinkle over kosher salt; cover the sandwich with the second slice. Cut the sandwich on a diagonal with a serrated knife.

The sandwich shown in the photo has some crisp Iceberg lettuce, too, just one of the many variations on this classic.

To me, this is gourmet dining -- light and refreshing. And, the more tart the tomato, the better.

On Wednesdays, our niece Kelly comes over for Family Dinner and last week she asked me to fix one of her summer favorites – Rotini with Pesto.

Rotini with Pesto

Ingredients

• 1 cup (235 ml) packed basil leaves, about 30 to 35 leaves

• 1 clove of garlic

• 2 tablespoons (28 ml) of pine nuts

• About a half dozen cherry tomatoes -- quartered

• 2 ounces (56 gr) grated pecorino cheese

• 1 ounce (28 gr) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

• Big pinch of salt

• Two or three grinds of black pepper

• Up to 2/3 cup (160 ml) olive oil

• 6 or 8 green beans (optional)

• 4 small new potatoes (optional)

• 6 ounces of pasta – we used whole grain rotini which the pesto clings to easily

Method

Put salted water on to boil for the pasta. If using the new potatoes, add them as soon as the water begins to boil. After two or three minutes add the pasta and green beans.

In a fry pan over medium heat, toast the pine nuts and allow them to cool.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the pine nuts, garlic, basil leaves, cheese, and salt.

Pulse a few times and then turn the processor on allowing the ingredients to combine. When they begin to ball up, stop the processor, scrape down the sides with a spatula. Turn on the processor and allow the pesto to ball again. What you are doing is allowing the food processor to mimic the traditional way pesto is made in Genoa, which is pounded in a mortar and pistil.

Add the olive oil to the pesto a tablespoon or so at the time until it is incorporated and makes a smooth sauce. Taste for seasoning, add more salt if necessary and the pepper.

Drain the pasta, reserving about a half cup (110 ml) of the pasta water.

Put the pasta (along with the potatoes and green beans, if using) into warm bowls, spoon dollops of the pesto onto the pasta. Spoon about a teaspoon of the reserved pasta water over the pesto. Garnish the dish with the cherry tomatoes and serve.

Serves 2 to 3

Adding the reserved pasta water helps the pesto to relax and the flavors to blend. If you happen to make too much of the pesto sauce, do this:

Save an egg carton and cut 12 squares of plastic wrap 3 inches x 3 inches (7.5 cm x 7.5 cm). Put the squares in each section of the carton. Spoon a tablespoon or so of the pesto into each section and fold over the wrap to cover. Freeze the dollops of pesto. Months later when the weather is cold, add those tablespoons of pesto to bowls of soup or thaw and add them to a tossed salad or to a winter pesto sauce made with walnuts and sun dried tomatoes.

Finally, at the end of the week, our prolific Japanese eggplant had produced another two eggplants that were begging to be eaten. I made them into a tian (a Provincal French word meaning casserole) of summer vegetables, topped with nutty Gruyere cheese and roasted in the oven for a savory main course.

Tian of Summer Vegetables

Ingredients

2 – medium Japanese eggplants

2 – medium to large yellow squash

1 – medium red onion, or any onion, cut into thin slices

3 – medium to large cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

1 – large tomato, cored, peeled, seeded and chopped

3 – large leaves of basil cut in chiffonade

¼ cup – parsley leaves, chopped

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil for the pan

3 ounces – grated Gruyere cheese

1 ounce – grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

Method

Preheat the oven to 375f (190c).

Cut the eggplants on a bias into slices about ¼ inch thick

Lightly oil the sheet pan, place the eggplant slices on top, brush with more oil and bake in the oven 8 minutes per side or until the slices begin to brown. Remove the slices to a plate.

Repeat the process with slices of yellow squash.

In a 10-inch ovenproof skillet, add just enough oil to coat the onion slices and sauté until the onion is soft and just beginning to color, five to eight minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Turn off the heat and remove the onion and garlic to a plate.

In the same pan used to cook the onion, build the tian. Begin with slices of eggplant, lightly adding salt and pepper. Top the eggplant layer with onion, followed by yellow squash, sprinkled with chunks of tomato, sprinkling the tomato with basil and parsley, repeat making a second round of layers. At the end, spread over the grated Gruyere cheese, then the grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

Place the skillet in the oven and bake for 20 to 30 minutes until the top of the tian is brown and crispy.

Remove from the oven and allow the tian to rest for five minutes before serving.

Serves two to four.

To add more protein to this dish, cut 4 ounces (118 grams) of firm tofu into small dice, soak the tofu in two tablespoons (30 ml) of soy sauce, and sprinkle over the layers of vegetables as you build the tian.

This is also a good way to use leftover bits of steak, roast of chicken you may have, cut into small dice.

Eating out... in Burgundy ... Le Terminus

2011-06-11T17:45:00.000-04:00

Precy-sous-Thil, a village of about 800 souls,

lies in the rolling hills of Burgundy about an hour north of Dijon by car or an hour southeast of Paris by the sleek and speedy TGV trains.

There used to be a rail line here, but that was long ago. Even though the station building still stands, the tracks have been pulled up and are gone. But the restaurant and hotel that served the riders of the trains, Le Terminus, remains.

We were in Burgundy to visit our friends Francois and Daniele Pitavy who have a country house in an even smaller village nearby.

On the website of Le Terminus it says on the third Tuesday of each month, on market day, the special dish of Tete du Veau is prepared. Francois, who is always keen to find a new experience for me, was eager for us to go. “This is a little country place. There is no pretense,” he said.

The bright, sunny dining room has windows lined with lace. There is a wooden cabinet along the wall, judged by our friends to be the style of late 18th century. Beneath it sat a large man having plate of tete du veau. At his feet, in the French style, sat his poodle, waiting to be handed an ort or two. Everyone in the place seemed to know each other.

The meal begins with a visit to the large, square buffet table that dominates the center of the room. On the buffet were interesting salads -- carrots, celebry root, ham and tomatoes, a selection of pickles, olives, and oeufs dur or hard boiled eggs. But even better there were saucissons, a rillette du porc or pork pate, as well as one of the best pates de compagne or country pates I have ever eaten with a subtle smoky flavor.

Kathy, who was not that certain that she could eat an entire plate of tete du veau, chose a “demi” portion of another Burgundian classic, escargots. The six snails came in their shells exuding the rich aroma of warm butter and parsley.

But for the rest of us, there was the tete du veau. This dish is not made from the brains of the calf, as some who have never had it might believe. Instead, it is everything from the calf’s face -- ears, snout, tongue and the muscle structure of the face.

The one time I had this dish in the past, everything was wrapped together in a cheesecloth roll or torchon and slow braised. It came out as a cylinder that was sliced and served cold.

At Le Terminus, the individual pieces are cooked separately, slowly braised over hours and hours. There were gelatinous portions which had that savor that only comes from fat. There were also lean portions, with the meat, rich, unctious, moist and falling apart. All of it was served in a mellow brown sauce with steamed carrots and potatoes and plenty of fresh French bread for sopping up the sauce.

With our main course, we drank an Epineuil 2007. This is a wine from the village of the same name in northern Burgundy. It has a light red color. The taste is full of fresh fruit flavors with smooth tanins. I had never seen or heard of the wine before, but its lightness and freshness went perfectly with the veal. Like all red Burgundy wines, it is made with pinot noir.

Then came the desserts. At my urging, Daniele got a gateau basque, a moist brown cake with a lemony center, the slice floating in a pool of creme anglaise. I had a slice of mirabelle tart, packed with plums in a sweet egg custard highlighted by a crispy crust.

The messieur with his poodle had wandered away along with everyone else in the restaurant by the time we finished. But, there was no rush. Francois stopped to talk a few moments with the young woman who runs the place and soon we were out in the Burgundy sunshine, on our way home for long naps.

This extraordinary meal for four people was 81 euros or about $118 at the current exchange rate.

Le Terminus, Precy-sous-Thil, France, www.leterminus-auxois.fr

Eating out ... in Paris ... Lou Pescadou Chez Julien

2011-06-06T16:05:00.000-04:00

This trip to Paris, we asked our friends to find “restos dans le mur” -- or “hole in the wall” restaurants where real French people go to eat.

Our friends Beatrice Toulon and Jacques Pothier were eager to show us just that type of restaurant. They met us on the left bank in the 6th Arrondissement not far from the Saint Sulpice church. We first visited Le Bistro d' Henri, which has the same owner as our final destination, and found it absolutely packed with French people having dinner.

“Pas de problem” was the response of the owner, who then, attired in his apron, walked us around the corner to his other restaurant, Lou Pescadou Chez Julien, where he assured us it had “le meme cuisine,” the same cuisine. It, too, was filled with French people. Not a tourist in sight. But there was a tiny table for us before the mirror pictured at right from the restaurant's website.

I had come down with a bug the previous day, but that didn't stop me when I saw soupe de poisson on the menu. These wonderful brown soups have the consistency of light crème. There are no chunks of fish. Instead the soup, which begins with leeks and fennel, as well as a pinch of saffron, is blended. This one had a deep rich flavor, with just a hint of anise, just the way I like it. It is served with squares of toast that you can slather with rouille, a garlicky, spicy mayonnaise and grated Gruyere cheese.

Kathy chose the soupe a l'onion, a deep rich broth of beef and onions, also accompanied by more grated Gruyere, but not the traditional cap of cheese.

Jacques chose a rocket salad, crisp arugula dressed in a light vinaigrette. Beatrice, like me, had been a little under the weather and skipped the first course.

In the next course both Jacques and Beatrice had one of the best of the comfort food dishes – Canard Parmentier. In this dish tender duck is taken off the bone and baked with a puree of potatoes until the top is golden and crispy. It is smooth and creamy on the tongue.

For her main course, Kathy chose the salad Italienne, which was full of prosciutto ham and mozzarella, over a bed of fresh greens, including more pungent rocket. Not French, but light and refreshing and just what she wanted.

For my main course, I had lamb braised for seven hours. I make this dish at home and was eager to see how they did it in Paris. In this case lamb shanks are slow braised in a rich broth laced with prunes and flavored with cinnamon. The lamb is so tender it just falls off the bone. I would have used just a little less cinnamon but the prunes added a wonderful richness and sweetness to the sauce. The lamb was served with a green salad and a disk of potatoes dauphinoise, potatoes cooked in milk and cream with cheese, another of the great comfort food dishes.

With our meal with drank a Coteaux de Lyonnais, a light red from the region where Jacques was born. I had never had it before and it was a very nice wine. Made from gamay, the Beaujolais grape, it had a light red color and a smooth taste with little peppery notes that blended perfectly with the food.

We finished with a shared dish of clafloutis, creamy and spiked with sweet cherries.

As good as all this food was, the highlight of this occasion was the opportunity to dine with old friends. We lingered catching up with each others lives, talking about friends and children, discussing French politics as well as American politics. There were discussions about starting your own business, which Kathy and Beatrice have done. And we got around to the pace of life. Even though they are Parisiens, I think our friends have a better sense of the need, at least, to slow down and enjoy ourselves more.

It was a wonderful evening as I had imagined it with wonderful French food and French voices all around.

It was my intention, at the least, to split the bill, but Jacques wouldn't hear of it. “It's too small to split,” he said. But I can tell you that entrees start as low as 7 euros and the most expensive entree was 24 euros. Lou Pescadou will definitely be on our list to visit again.

Lou Pescadou Chez Julien, 16 rue Mabillon 75006 Paris, www.chezjulienloupescadou.com

Eating out... in Bordeaux... Le Relais des Gourmets

2011-06-05T12:26:00.002-04:00

When we visit Bordeaux, which isn’t nearly often enough, our friends Toto and Josy Rosenfeld always find some delightful little place to take us for lunch. This visit was no exception.

Our friends met us at our hotel in downtown Bordeaux and took us north to the small town of Ambares to visit Le Relais des Gourmets. We love places like this. The restaurant, an old stone building, sits on a slight hill, shaded on all sides by giant plane trees. Inside, there are wood beams, giant fireplaces, and amoires filled with linens and crystal.

But, said Toto, do not be fooled, this is a restaurant where the locals eat. And, sure enough, everyone there seemed to know someone else.

Toto, who we know because he once imported wines in Atlanta for the wonderfully named Atlanta Improvement Company, brought his own wines. We began with a bottle of Roderer champagne. When the glasses were poured, our server brought a tray of amuse bouches -- in this case small glasses of tomato mixed with cubes of smoked salmon and fresh herbs and eaten with tiny spoons.

While the rest chose an assiette that featured crevettes, I chose the assiette groumand. It came on a large rectangular piece of slate, anchored in one corner by a salad of cured duck breast, sliced thin and served atop a bed of lightly dressed baby spinach leaves. In the opposite corner was a ceviche of lotte de mer or monk fish. In between where figs, dates, cornichon pickles as well as a small morsel of foie gras.

The monkfish was light and lemony while the duck breast was like thicker slices of prosciutto, chewy and laced with salt but lightened by the freshness of the salad.

The next dish, which Kathy and I both chose, was a daurade roti au fenoule. In this case an entire sea bream is put down on a bed of fennel and roasted. The fish was sweet and moist, punctuated by the mellow anise flavor of the roasted fennel.

For our main courses, Toto brought a bottle Chateau Haut Ferrand 2005 Pommerol.

A mixture of 80 percent merlot and 20 percent cabernet franc, it has a berry nose and a plush feel on the tongue, with cherry notes and lots of structure. Toto watched to see my reaction, and when I said I liked it very much, he informed me it will soon be for sale in Atlanta, at Green’s Liquors. Toto is 85 now, but he is still in the wine business.

Next came a plateau des frommages, a plate of cheeses, with a fresh basket of bread.

The plate included a very nice sheep’s milk cheese, a Pyrenees Brebis, that was pungent yet smooth on the tongue.

For dessert came a plate of sorbets and mousses. There were several outstanding flavors, including a tart raspberry that was so light that it floated on the tongue.

We talked into the afternoon about what life is like in Atlanta these days, how things are going for them in their little right bank village of Cubzac-Les-Ponts, the DSK scandal, how Obama is doing, and so on.

We had arrived sometime after 11 a.m. and by the time the last course was served 3 p.m. had already passed by. The staff was attentive but we were never rushed. This is what a weekend lunch in France is all about -- good friends, sitting around the table, enjoying good food, wine and conversation.

I was not allowed to pay, but the restaurant’s web site says that the four course menu is 23,50 euros. During the week, a very similar menu is a mere 14,50 euros, and Toto says a lunch there is not a spare seat in the house.

Le Relias des Gourmets, Ambares, France www.le-relais-des-grourmets.com

Eating out ... in Paris...Marie-Edith

2011-05-28T15:23:00.002-04:00

Our old friend Andrei Brauns was up to the challenge when we announced that this trip to Paris we wanted to visit neighborhood restos.

The place he took us to is a small cafe right on the edge of the 7^th arrondissement, not far from Les Invalids.

“I'm taking you to a little place, very neighborly, very French where all the ingredients are always fresh,” said Andrei.

We began with kir royals – in this case some unusual ones – Andrei chose the traditional white champagne and cassis, Kathy had a kir flavored with framboise or raspberry syrup, and mine was flavored with a chestnut syrup.

Our lunch began with a plate of sauteed mushrooms for Andrei. They were tender and rich in flavor, not overdone at all. Kathy had a rich and creamy crab casserole with big chunks of crab meat.

I think mine was the best and most unusual -- rillettes of sardines topped with roasted peppers. Rillettes are, in essence, a pate. The generous slice of rillettes was creamy with deep fish flavor while the peppers that were criss-crossed on top were a wonderful counterpoint .This is a dish I'll try to replicate at home.

For the main event, Andrei had magret de canard-duck breast-cooked “a pointe” or rare and served with bright red currents. Andrei pronounced the duck good, but said the berries were a tad overwhelming.

Kathy chose a beouf Bourguignon which was served with a creamy potato casserole and broccoli that had been pureed, but left with nice chunks of the stalks, which she loves. The beef itself was tender with deep flavor.

I chose a classic...confit de canard, a duck leg slow cooked in its own fat. The skin is then crisped under a broiler and the duck was served with sauteed potatoes and a green salad.

With our meal, Andrei chose a Chateau Coucheroy 2007, a red from Pessac Leognan in Bordeaux. It was deep and rich, with good structure. These Pessac Leognan wines are heavy with merlot and this one followed form, soft and plush on the tongue.

For dessert, Kathy chose a spoon to sample Andrei's ile flotant, a big wedge of meringue floating in a pineapple crème anglaise. I chose the apple tart tatin, an upside down disk of slow cooked caramelized apples on a crispy crust.

I was not allowed to pay but Marie-Edith offers two formulas – an entree plus the main course or main course and dessert for 26 euros. Or, you can have the Menu 29 euros which includes entree plus main course and dessert.

Marie-Edith

34, rue du Laos, 75015 Paris

Tel: 01 45 66 44 60

Eating out … 4th & Swift

2011-05-10T17:32:00.001-04:00

On Saturday night we gathered with our old friends Tom and Pearl McHaney along with Leigh Kirkland and Bob Sattelmeyer to celebrate, as we have done for a number of years now, our wedding anniversaries which all fall within a few months of one another.

This year, among us all, we celebrated 75 years of marriage.

I’m not going to go bite by bite, but the meal was excellent and so was the service.

Among the many outstanding dishes was a Sapelo Island Clam Carbonara. In this preparation the clams were tossed with pasta in a sauce of eggs, bacon, and cheese. Savory and unctuous.

Another was the Tybee Island Shrimp Ceviche made with avocado, chilies and a red pepper sorbet. The shrimp were tender and the sauce piquant .

Another interesting small plate was Vitello Tonnato. This was a veal carpaccio with crispy capers and a tuna mayo.

Among the standout large plates were a braised beef shortribs, and something our server, Joe, described as a the restaurant’s signature dish. This was a preparation of pork three ways including little cracklins served over creamy grits.

One of the highlights of the evening was a suggestion Bob made. A couple of years back, he and I bought Bordeaux futures. From our cellar I brought a 2006 Chateau Phelan Segur Saint-Estephe and he brought along a 2005 Chateau Lanessan Haut-Medoc. The restaurant was happy to open them for us (they charge a $20 per bottle corkage fee).

The Phelan Segur was classic Bordeaux – big on the tongue, lots of structure, deep fruit flavors. It was a really nice deep red. But 2005 in Bordeaux was one of those miracle years, a 100-year vintage, and the Lanessan was even more impressive. Rich and velvety, it also had a real gravitas that comes with big Bordeaux wines in a great year. It was the perfect accompaniment to our anniversary meals.

Dinner per couple, including tip, $176.24 and we plan to visit again.

A harvest of lettuce ...

2011-04-27T17:33:00.000-04:00

For the last couple of week's we've been having salads with lettuce from our garden. The taste of fresh lettuce with a simple vinaigrette is satisfying and delicious.

Tonight is family night when niece Kelly comes to dine with us. The menu: Barbecued chicken, pan roasted sweet potatoes, and salad from the garden. The vinaigrette will feature a splash of tarragon vinegar, Dijon mustard, and walnut oil.

The lettuce has at least a couple more weeks and then the sweet peas, planted, like the garlic, when the ground was still cold will be maturing. We've already started tossing young, tender pods into stir-frys.

Ah, printemps...

Remembering Ole Boo ...

2011-04-05T18:02:00.000-04:00

Here is a salute to Buster ... Ole Boo ... who for more than a decade up until today never ceased to amaze us with his energy and enthusiasm, charm us into giving him at least one more morsel from the plate at dinner, and generally blessed our lives with his love, devotion and wonderfully sweet personality.

It was cancer that finally took the energy from his step, but he was our dog up until the end. For his last meal, he dined on bites of roast lamb and duck braised in ham hock jus.

We loved him greatly and we will remember him always.

Travel: Visiting St. George Island

2011-03-24T18:18:00.000-04:00

Every year our friends John and Anne Stavisky flee the snow and cold temperatures of their home of Fairport, N.Y., for a few weeks at St. George Island. For the last few years, they have invited us down to help celebrate John’s birthday in early March.

John and I are both lovers of Apalachicola Bay oysters. By the time we’ve traversed Route 98 and crossed the bay bridge to St. George, John has already been to Lynn’s Quality Oysters in Eastpoint (www.lynnsqualityoysters.com) for a “party pack” of oysters, a box that I think contains about seven dozen or so.

That was the case again this time as we arrived to find a plate of oysters on the half shell and glasses of crisp sauvignon blanc.

Aside from some fog, the weather this year really cooperated, with the temperature getting up to 79 one afternoon.

The St. George State Park, which takes up the east end of the island, now allows a few cars a day to drive all the way to end of the 9-mile long island. We took the drive one morning, walking the last few hundred yards to a spot where Dog Island lay off to the east a couple of miles.

But, of course, it is the wonderful fresh ingredients that remain, to me, the charm of a trip to SGI.

We had inquired at 13 Mile Seafood (www.13milebrand.com) on Water Street in Apalachicola if they had any Alligator Point Clams and were told to come back in an hour. We did, just in time to snap up the only bag they were to get that day ($24 for 100 clams).

Matched to some fresh red snapper fillets bought from Island View Seafood (326 Patton Drive) in East Point proved just the thing for John’s birthday dinner.

Poached Red Snapper fillets with Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette

For the sauce

Ingredients

2 dozen little neck clams – Alligator Point if available

½ teaspoon – brown miso

¼ cup – finely chopped Vidalia onion

½ cup – dry white wine

2 tablespoons – sherry or Madeira

1 teaspoon – smoked paprika

1 tablespoon – fresh thyme leaves

5 – medium Roma tomatoes, cored and split in half

1 – tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 – tablespoons olive oil

canola oil

salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees f

In an ovenproof skillet, heat the canola oil over medium-high heat. Place the tomato halves, cut side down in the oil and let them simmer until colored, about 10 to 12 minutes.

When the tomatoes have colored, place the pan the oven and roast the tomatoes until they collapse, about 45 minutes.

When the tomatoes have cooled, chop them into medium dice and reserve along with any liquid left in the pan.

Reduce the temperature of the oven to 200 degrees f.

In a boiler with a lid, dissolve the miso in the white wine, add the onions and bring to a boil.

Add the clams, reduce the heat to a simmer and simmer until the clams open. Check the pan after 5 minutes and begin removing the opened clams to a bowl.

Place the bowl with the clams in the oven to keep them warm.

When all the clams have opened, add the Madeira, the chopped tomatoes, the thyme leaves, the balsamic vinegar and the olive oil. Whisk to emulsify the sauce.

Taste the sauce. If it is too tart, add canola oil, teaspoon by teaspoon until the sauce tastes smooth.

Keep the sauce warm until the fish is ready.

For the Red Snapper

Ingredients

4 – Red Snapper fillets, about 6 ounces each, skin on

1 – deep sided skillet large enough to hold the fillets (I used a 12 inch skillet with 3 inch sides)

1- quart water

¼ cup – all purpose flour

Finishing salt – like pink Hawaiian sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Bring the water to boil in the skillet over high heat. Reduce the heat to a bare simmer.

In a small bowl, mix several tablespoons of the water with the flour to make a slurry. Add the flour slurry to the water in the skillet and bring the water back to a boil for one minute.

Reduce the heat until the water barely simmers.

With a large spatula, slip the fillets into the water and adjust the heat until the water just simmers.

Cook the fish for approximately five minutes. The fish will be done when the point of a knife inserted in the thickest part and left for 5 seconds feels warm when touched to your lips.

To serve:

Place a fillet on each of four warm plates. Surround each fillet with six clams. Spoon the warm vinaigrette over the fillets and drizzle over the clams.

Sprinkle finishing salt and add a couple of grinds of black pepper to the fillets.

Serve with a crisp, citrusy white wine like an Entre-Deux –Mers from France or a Sauvignon Blanc from California, Chile or New Zealand.

Serves 4.

An urban adventure on our 35th wedding anniversary ...

2011-01-30T18:30:00.000-05:00

To celebrate our 35^th wedding anniversary last week, Kathy and I decided to have an urban adventure. I had to show up at CNN at 6 a.m. the following day, so we decided to make it a day out with a French lunch as the centerpiece.

We took the MARTA train north to the Buckhead station and walked south to Bistro Niko (http://www.buckheadrestaurants.com/bistro-niko/) for lunch.

Bistro Niko bills itself as a little corner of Paris. They don't speak much French there (although it is interesting to hear Spanish in return when you speak French to some of their staff). Yet there food, as promised, is simply and delightfully French.

Kathy and I began with flutes of Piper Heidsieck champaign. With that Kathy chose a butternut squash soup, creamy and golden, garnished with almonds.

I enjoyed a half dozen Hood Canal oysters. They were briny and fresh. They came with a mignonette sauce that was crisp but not too tart. Just right for the ocean freshness of the oysters.

For the main event, Kathy chose the truite muniere, which was delicious. At Bistro Niko, Chef Gary Donlick briefly smokes the trout, we were told by our server, Kristopher. The result is that the tender, buttery trout has just a hint of smoke. The fish was served over tender-crisp green beans along side creamy mashed potatoes.

I selected something I almost never get or make at home, a salad of frisee aux lardons. In this preparation, white chicory, the frisee, is tossed with vinaigrette made with the warm fat rendered by cooking cubes of pork belly, the lardons. To make the dish complete, a poached egg is served on top.

When you break the egg, the yolk mixes with the salad below to give it an unbelievable creaminess. There is the warm, rich flavor of the pork belly and then your palate is wiped clean by the slightly bitter, refreshing taste of the frisee.

With our main courses, Kristopher recommended glasses of Chateau Lamothe sauvignon blanc, crisp and citrusy with minerals in the finish.

Left alone, we would have chosen to end the meal with a cheese plate, but the chef and Kristopher were ahead of us. Instead, they presented us with a plate of profiteroles – little balls of puff pastry, stuffed with vanilla ice cream, slathered in a rich chocolate sauce and garnished with toasted almonds. It was done just right, down to “Bon Anniversaire” written in chocolate on the edge of the plate..

A glass of Louis Jadot pinot noir for Kathy and a cup of espresso for me rounded out the experience.

As we dined, Kathy and I remembered that many of the best moments in our 35 years together have been spent at the table, with friends, or like this lunch, with just the two of us. It was a wonderful time, and we will be headed back to Bistro Niko. Lunch for two, $102 plus tip.

After our leisurely bistro lunch, we ambled back to the train station. Got off at Arts Center and took the shuttle to Atlantic Station where we saw “The King's Speech.” It's a grand story with Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush giving great performances. It is no wonder the film has gotten so many Oscar nominations.

A bus ride, then a train ride, and we were back at King Memorial station. It was a great day for two old pals, remembering good times in the past and looking forward to more in the future.

Ending cabin fever … Twelfth Night at The Shakespeare Tavern

2011-01-15T19:36:00.000-05:00

With Kathy suffering from cabin fever after four days at home, last night we joined our niece Kelly Alderman and her friend Jesse Culbreth for a night out at the Shakespeare Tavern http://www.shakespearetavern.com/.

The production was Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” and the only reservation I had was that being as authentic as they can, the Tavern has British cuisine, if that’s the right term. I wasn’t concerned about something to drink, and it turned out it was half-price pint night with Guiness on ta, so I was content..

But, to my surprise, there was French food on the menu. Kathy, Kelly and I both had the Rainy Day Tomato Soup, creamy, smooth with little chunks of tomato. It was just right for a cold night. Then Kelly and I had the Tavern’s cassoulet -- not traditional but very tasty -- duck off the bone in a sauce with pureed beans studded with spicy sausage and garnished the croutons. Nice.

Jesse tried the Antipasto Pasta Salad followed by the Cornish Pasty. Aside from the pasty not being all that hot, he said it was all okay. With it he drank a Rogue Ale.

Kathy chose the Black Forest Ham and Gruyere Cheese on a baguette sandwich, which she also found good enough. The ladies washed their meal down with a Columbia Crest Merlot from California. Not too bad either, smooth and fruit forward.

“Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?” -- “Twelfth Night, Act II”

The actors, you could just tell, were also tired of having cabin fever. The performance was as raucous and fun -- not to mention well done -- as Shakespeare Tavern performances always are.

Shakespeare is at his comic best when there is mistaken identity or cross-dressingin the play, and in “Twelfth Night” there is both. The performance -- with Veronika Duerr as Viola and Mary Russell as Olivia -- was just a delight and the perfect way to end a snowy, icy week in Atlanta.

Tickets to the play -- which runs until January 30 -- range from $12 to $20, depending on where you are sitting. Our dinner for four was about $85 plus tip.

Best dishes ...

2011-01-09T12:14:00.000-05:00

Our friend Fred Sauceman, the editor of Now & Then, The Appalachian Magazine, likes to make lists. He has posted on his Facebook page the 12 best dishes he ate in 2010, including Smoked Trout Towers, which we served to Fred and his wife, Jill, during a visit last summer.

The Smoked Trout Towers are a variation on the recipe Crab Towers, which is posted on this blog. Just enter crab in the search box.

Eating out ... La Fourchette

2011-01-09T11:55:00.001-05:00

We’ve done this before – made a reservation at a restaurant that we think is interesting and then have fellow Southern Foodways member John Kessler, the lead restaurant critic at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, write a review just before we go there.

The result is that the place is packed and the kitchen stressed. But there is no need to be dissatisfied with John. That’s just the way life is, and we can say that even though La Fourchette, www.lafourchetteatlanta.com, was packed and the staff stressed, the kitchen remained on target.

We chose La Fourchette because I continue to be delighted with the efforts of those who spent time working in the kitchen at the former Joel. Chef Joel Antunes ran a very traditional French kitchen, and the people who he hired worked long and hard. But it is obvious by Joel alumni and La Fourchette Chef Jeff Wall that the place was also an inspiration.

We were joined by our friends Bruce and Ellen Lindemann, who just happened to be celebrating their 34^th wedding anniversary (our 35^th comes up later this month).

Among the best of the appetizers was a butternut squash soup, rich and creamy with a nice nutty under taste, and the smoked trout tart which was smoky and spiked with peppery arugula. As she often does, Kathy made her meal from the appetizers, enjoying the soup and start with a local greens salad she found a bit over-dressed but fresh.

I had wanted to try the pork belly appetizer, but John had criticized it and it was not available – perhaps being retooled?

So I “settled” for the foie gras torchon served with brioche toast that was rich and fat on the tongue. I look forward to a time when you can go to La Fourchette and your server will have the time to suggest a Sauternes or late harvest Riesling, which would have worked wonderfully with the torchon.

Among the main courses, Ellen chose the osso bucco that was cooked just right, rich and tender with an unctuous sauce. Bruce, who went for the lump crab pasta that is bathed in a sauce of preserved lemon, cleaned his plate.

I was tempted by a number of dishes, including the paella , which features Georgia shrimp. However, I decided to go with the loup de mer. The fish – served along side plump mussels -- had a wonderful smoky flavor from the grill and was served over crispy fingerling potatoes in a delicate saffron emulsion. It was a delight on the tongue.

I had wanted to wash this all down with a bottle of Chateau La Graviere, a sauvignon blanc based wine from the Entre Deux Mers region of Bordeaux, but alas, the wine was out of stock. In substitute, we drank an unoaked Chardonnay d’Ardeche from Burgundy. It was less dry than the La Graviere but is smooth and crisp and went well with our dishes.

For dessert, Bruce and Ellen chose the profiteroles – puffs of pastry stuffed with ice cream and drizzled with a chocolate sauce. They pronounced them excellent.

Kathy and I chose the Tunisian beignets, hot puffs of a pastry served with toasted almonds and honey ice cream.

On reflection, I do look forward to going back at a less stressful time for the staff and the kitchen. While our server was attentive the place was just too packed, and the noise level got too high. However, I join John Kessler in celebrating the fact we have a wonderful new bistro that is showing lots of talent.

Dinner for two $135 plus tip.

Eating out ... The Shed at Glenwood

2011-01-02T12:49:00.000-05:00

Over the holidays, Kelly's mom, Pat Alderman was in town for a visit. Instead of my cooking our usual “family night” dinner last week, we all adjourned down the street to The Shed at Glenwood,www.theshedatglenwood.com, to eat with Chef Lance Gummere.

What I like about what Lance has done to the menu is that it's possible to mix and match from the small and large plate menus for a variety of tastes.

Among the plates we sampled were a fried banana pepper with goat cheese and tomato confit. The pepper was very hot – there is no way to predict since the range is mild to explosive – but the flavor combination with the goat cheese and tomato was terrific.

Perhaps the best small plate was a duck confit ravioli with cremini mushrooms and tallegio cheese. One large sheet of pasta makes the ravioli. The tender duck, the mushrooms and cheese make for a deep rich flavor that shouldn't be missed.

I should also mention we started with small cups of there tomato bisque, garnished with shredded cheese. It's rich and smooth on the tongue, with just a background hint of bacon behind the tomato.

Pat started off with the iceberg wedge. I have to say that there are some times when this dish just hits the spot. I like the wedge at The Shed because it is good sized, the blue cheese is creamy and blue and the there is enough bacon to satisfy the most demanding bacon lover. Some days the wedge and a glass of red wine are enough for me to make a meal.

Pat ordered a rib eye medium-rare for her main course. It came wonderfully seared and full of flavor, but for me, what was under the dish was the real highlight. Lance makes a saute of sun chokes – otherwise known as Jerusalem artichokes – which are nutty and pick up the beef flavors.

Among the other tasty small plates were pork dumplings along with an arugula salad ordered by Kathy and a trio of sliders for Kelly. The dumpling was full of flavor and the arugula, despite the cold weather lately, was fresh and peppery.

Among Kelly's sliders, I liked the meatball and fried green tomato the best.

In fact, they inspired me to have a fried cod slider napped with housemade tarter sauce.

We had been sipping along on a bottle of Arrogant Frog chardonnay-viognier recommended by our server and down the street neighbor, Carla. It was plush on the tongue and smooth. But for my last dish I had taken advantage of something The Shed lets you do with a number of large plates – have a half order. In this case it was moules frites – mussels steamed with white wine, garlic, and cream – served along side French fries. With the mussels we had a Cakebread Cellars sauvignon blanc – crisp, citrusy and just wonderful with the shellfish.

For dessert we introduced Pat to profiteroles – puff pastry stuffed with ice cream and drizzled with dark chocolate. It's a dish she admitted she would consider having again. There was also a plate of Neapolitan ice cream that was yummy.

I finished the evening with a glass of late harvest riesling while Kathy and Kelly chose a port.

The Shed is a relaxed, laid-back restaurant where you can mix and match your way though a potpourri of interesting flavors. Dinner for four $203 plus tax and tip.

A dinner to benefit Refugee Family Services

2010-11-09T17:21:00.000-05:00

Each year, Kathy and I donate a dinner – six courses for six people matched with wines – for the auction to benefit Refugee Family Services.

For those of you who haven't heard of RFS, it is an organization whose mission is to support the efforts of refugee women and children to achieve self-sufficiency in the United States by providing education and economic opportunity.

This year the dinner was purchased by our new friend Sarah Lowe and prepared at the home of her friend Terry Evans for an ensemble of six women.

The menu went like this:

We began with Kir Royals, champaign stained red with crème de cassis. The drink is named for the much beloved mayor of Dijon, France. And in the style of Burgundy, with the kirs I prepared gougeres. They are made with a chou paste that is mixed with Gruyere cheese that puff up in a hot oven into little clouds of cheesy goodness.

Following that I prepared a non-traditional she-crab soup. In this case I made a corn velouté by simmering corn kernels, their cobs, garlic cloves and a sprig of rosemary in milk. The cobs and rosemary are removed and the mixture is pureed and strained so that the resulting velouté is light and smooth with creamy corn flavor.

Flavorful claw crab meat is placed in the bottom of each soup bowl, the bubbling soup is poured around and the dish is finished with a traditional drizzle of amontillado sherry. The soup was served with a crisp Spanish sauvignon blanc.

Next came an amuse bouche. For this bite, I simmered chunks of celeriac and Jerusalem artichokes in water and a little cream until tender. The liquid is poured off and the vegetables pureed. Next I thinly sliced fennel and sauteed it in olive oil until it was golden and melting. I finished the fennel with a spritz of wine vinegar.

The “dish”, served in an Asian soup spoon, begins with the warm puree topped with shreds of the roasted fennel and drizzled with a few drops of white truffle oil.

Before the main course, I always like to serve a taste changer. This year my friend Leigh Kirkland, who is also a supporter of RFS and just a magician at sorbets, contributed the taste changer – a hibiscus, back tea sorbet. It is fuschia in color and sweet-tart on the tongue, just the perfect transition to the main course.

The main course was a Moroccan-scented pork shoulder. The shoulder roast is stuffed with preserved lemons, a very common ingredient in the dishes of Marrakesh, then browned. The roast is braised in chicken stock with fall vegetables – kale, rutabaga, carrots, Vidalia onions, Southern field peas – and the final touch, a cinnamon stick. The shoulder is braised for several hours until the meat is falling-apart tender. Terry's kitchen was redolent with the aromas of pork and cinnamon.

With the pork, I prepared a traditional potatoes Dauphinoise – thinly sliced Yukon gold potatoes, milk, cream, and Gruyere cheese – baked until brown and bubbling.

On each plate went a portion of the potatoes and a serving of the pork shoulder studded with preserved lemon and surrounded with the sauce of stock and vegetables.

With the main course, we served one of our favorite Georgia wines, a sangiovese from Blackstock Vineyards in Dahlonega, Ga. Dark with cherries and smooth tannins, this claret from winemaker David Harris is a wonderful example of some of the fine vintages now being made in north Georgia.

Following the main course, in the French style, we served a “Les Halles” salad, named for the old food market in central Paris.

For this dish, I sliced champignons de Paris, or as we know them here, white button mushrooms. They were slowly sauteed with olive oil, garlic and thyme. The mushrooms go into a small ring mold that is spread with goat cheese and then run under the broiler until the goat cheese is brown and bubbling.

The ring molds are each placed in the center of a salad plate, the mold is lifted off and the pillow of goat cheese-topped mushrooms is surrounded by a green salad dressed lightly with balsamic vinegar and walnut oil. With the salad we served a lush Rio Seco malbec from Argentina.

Because Georgia apples are coming to market now, I wanted to make a dessert that highlighted them.

I prepared thin, sweet crepes that cooked up lightly gold. The apples were peeled, sliced and sauteed in a little butter until they began to turn soft.

In a large skilled I melted butted and added the apple slices along with dried cherries that had been refreshed in Cognac. Apple juice was added and the mixture was flamed in more Cognac.

The fruit was spooned to the side of the skillet, the crepes were added, one at a time, to soften and then filled with apples and cherries. Each crepe was then folded, put on a plate and topped with more apples. And, just for fun, I mixed a little cream with Nutella, the hazelnut spread from Europe, and drizzled it over the crepes, finishing the dessert with a chiffonade of mint.

I like these events because the hosts can entertain their friends without a worry about preparing dinner or serving it. Most of the work is done in advance, but we arrive early, set the table, serve the dinner, and at the end the kitchen counters are clean, the dishes stacked in the dishwasher, the glasses dried and we are off home for our own dinner – sometimes and omlette, sometimes left-overs – and, of course, a well-earned glass of wine.

We'll be an auction item again next April when RFS holds its auction in conjunction with its popular “Taste the World” event. For more information on RFS visit www.refugeefamilyservices.org.

Eating in ... A birthday celebration with old friends

2010-10-07T17:12:00.000-04:00

It's my belief that some of the best times in life are spent around the table. So, when my birthday rolls around, I like to cook and have in old friends to celebrate.

This year we invited Jane Maxwell and Rick Brown, who were at CNN with me 30 years ago when CNN got its start.

I prepared a menu of old favorites. We began with a silky velvet corn soup laced with white truffle oil and garnished with leaves of fresh thyme. With the soup we drank a dry, crisp Renwood 2005 rosé from the Sierra Foothills of California.

The main course was duck legs braised in a ham hock jus.

A broth is made by simmering smoked ham hocks for an hour or so. The duck legs are browned in a skillet, then placed in a roasting pan atop seasonal vegetables – this time of year carrots, rutabaga, baby butter beans, finely chopped collard greens and garlic. The broth or jus goes in the and duck braises in a slow oven for two hours until it is fork tender.

Just before serving, the duck legs go onto a sheet pan and are run under the broiler until the skin is crisp.

To serve, I placed a round of a summer squash casserole, topped with a crunchy Parmesan topping in pasta bowls. The jus and vegetables go around and each dish is topped by a duck leg.

With the duck we drank a 2003 Clos Junet, an inky-dark claret from Saint-Emilion in southwestern France. It is smooth with hints of leather and cherries.

Next, I wanted a light salad to contrast with the hearty duck. Shavings of fennel were mixed with shaved celery root, snipped chives, wedges of Cherokee purple tomato, and leaves of peppery arugula. The salad is tossed with a dressing of balsamic vinegar and walnut oil and finished with freshly ground black pepper and crunchy pink Hawaiian sea salt.

For dessert, Jane brought a cream-filled berry tart, and to go with it, a late harvest shiraz from South Africa. The shiraz, called Jam Jar and available at the DeKalb Farmers Market, was perfect with the tart. It had an old fruit sweetness, as a late-harvest wine would have, but there was just an acid hint at the end that left your palate clean and ready for another sip.

We remembered the past with lots of laughter, cast an eye to the years ahead, and celebrated a friendship that has endured over time. It is a great way to spend your birthday.

Here is the recipe for the corn soup, which originally appeared in the May 2003 edition of The Fire and The Hearth.

Velvet Corn Soup

Ingredients:

6 ears of corn -- use the corn that is in season; this was made with yellow field corn, but the soup would have yet another dimension if made with sweet corn

48 ounces (14.2 dl) skim or 2 percent milk

1 clove garlic

1 sprig rosemary

kosher salt

white pepper

About 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves

White or black truffle oil

Method:

Shuck and silk the corn. Cut the kernels from each cob and scrape the corn cream from each cob into a bowl. Reserve.

Put the cobs into a pot, add the rosemary, garlic, and milk. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, and simmer for 10 minutes. Be careful, the mixture will easily boil over.

Add the corn kernels and corn cream to the pot. Simmer another 10 minutes.

Remove the cobs, rosemary and garlic. Working in batches, transfer the soup to a blender and blend for at least 3 minutes a batch. Strain the soup and, when done, return it to the pot. Add salt and a pinch of white pepper.

The recipe can be made up to several hours in advance to this point.

About 15 minutes before serving, put the soup back on the stove over low heat. Stir often. Be careful, the soup will easily scorch if the heat is too high. Let the soup heat through.

Using an emersion blender or a whisk or an eggbeater, froth the soup. Ladle the soup into bowls. Garnish by putting a sprinkling of thyme leaves in the center of each bowl and drizzle truffle oil around the edge.

Serves six.

This soup is surprising on a number of levels. The heat of the soup releases the pungent aroma of the truffle oil. The feel on the tongue is light and silky. Every time I have served it, someone wants to know if there is cream in it. They are amazed to hear just the opposite, that the soup is made with skim or reduced fat milk. Finally, the thyme leaves add a wonderfully peppery, herbal flavor.

Eating out ... Giovanni's Restaurant

2010-10-07T17:09:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, my mom, who is 84 and lives at Presbyterian Village in Austell, decided she wanted to take me to lunch for my 61^st birthday.

We went down the street to one of our favorite restaurants, Giovanni's, 2495 East-West Connector, 678.384.1169.

We began with green salads laced with fresh spinach and dressed with the house balsamic vinaigrette.

Mom and Kathy decided on manicotti while I went for the stuffed shells. The large shells are stuffed with a ricotta mixture, topped with shrimp and napped with Giovanni's light cream sauce. It was washed down with a robust chianti. Molto bello!

And, since it was my “compleanno,” Giovanni would not be satisfied unless I celebrated my birthday with a large wedge of his cheesecake -- “an Italian recipe” -- surrounded with ice cream, drizzled with chocolate sauce and topped with maraschino cherries.

Giovanni, whose family traces its roots back to a little town south of Rome, has a wonderfully light touch with sauces, especially his cream sauces. And while it's not necessary, if you want to practice your tourist Italian -- pratica il tuo turistiche italiane – Giovanni is happy to comply.

Eating out ... Empire State South

2010-10-05T19:00:00.003-04:00

With a little time off, Kathy and I had one of our urban adventures today. First, we went to the High Museum to see the Salvador Dali exhibit, then walked down Peachtree Street in the bright sun to have lunch at Empire State South.

This is Hugh Acheson’s venture into Atlanta, an upscale meat and three. We are continuing fans of Five and Ten as well as The National, Hugh’s restaurants in Athens. So, we were eager to try Empire State South, 999 Peachtree St.

It is a warm, comfortable room with bright views of the surrounding skyscrapers. And, with a good crowd for lunch, you were able to hear your companion and actually have a conversation without hearing your neighbor’s. That’s something I wish that other restaurants in town would try to provide.

For Kathy there was a glass of crisp, citrusy but not too tart , Scarbolo sauvignon blanc from Italy, $9. That was followed with a glass of Chateau Pesquie Ventoux rosé from the South of France, $8. It was also crisp and dry with the hints of grenache I love.

I started with a glass of bone-dry Schwarzbock gruner veltliner, $7, and later had a glass of Simmonet-Febvre chablis from Burgundy, $12. The chablis was smooth and crisp without a hint of oak.

Kathy went straight for the salad called “Super-food.” It is a composed salad with tender morsels of grilled hanger steak, delicious roasted beets, candied pecans, green beans laced with mint, grilled corn and pimentos, tomatoes, local lettuces, and surprisingly tangy and good wheatberries with feta and tomatoes, $12.

I chose to start with the field pea and ham hock soup. The menu promised collard green pistou. There were collards in the soup, but the pistou preparation wasn’t present. Nevertheless, it was a hearty vegetable soup with lots of ham flavor, $5.

Next I chose the grilled andouille sausage served with a pickled peach salad, $11. It came with two sides and I chose the roasted okra with butter almonds, along with green beans in a fennel dressing.

The grilled andouille sausages were spicy and flavorful. It was a very decent lunch portion. But the dish was made by the peach salad, which included peppery arugula and picked onions.
The okra was tender and flavorful, not the slimy mess people fear. The flecks of almonds gave it a buttery fresh taste. While the menu says the okra is “roasted,” our server said it was instead a pan sauté.
The tender-crisp green beans were drizzled with a creamy dressing laced with the fennel’s tones of licorice. It was a very nice contrast to the heavy flavor of the sausages.

We finished up with espresso and what was promised as a biscotti, $5. The cookie served was actually a pecan sandy, but it went well with the dark, rich espresso.

Obviously the kitchen is still finding its way but we rated it a good effort and plan to be back for dinner.

Eating out...

2010-09-22T07:26:00.000-04:00

Ate Apalachicola oysters and then split a seafood platter -- steamed oysters, shrimp, clams, mussels, crab legs, sausage, potatoes and corn -- with my sweet niece Kelly at Six Feet Under West last night. Washed it down with Spaten lager.

Eating out ...

2010-08-26T05:12:00.001-04:00

Kathy, Kelly and I had an excellent Japanese meal last night at Miso Izakaya, 619 Edgewood Ave. The miso soup is a cut above and don't miss the plate of Japanese pickles.

While the sushi is top notch, the best of all were the buns that featured long-braised pork belly and duck.

A light and tasty raw sauce for pasta ...

2010-08-10T16:30:00.000-04:00

Penne pasta with sauce tomate crue

After bringing home wonderfully ripe summer tomatoes -- including some beautiful Cherokee Purples -- from the East Atlanta Village Farmers' Market, I decided to make a sauce tomate crue, a light and flavorful raw tomato sauce for pasta.

While it is good to make this sauce and let it sit for a half hour or so, the sauce can be made in the time it takes to cook the pasta. That makes it great for a busy work night.

The measurements in this recipe are guidelines. If you like more garlic, add it. If you don't have a jar of artichoke hearts, leave them out, perhaps adding capers instead. I bought feta from Decimal Place Farm because it is mild and not too salty, but feta or even goat cheese from other producers will work here. In short, this is an invitation to play with your food.

Sauce Tomate Crue

Ingredients

1 large or 2 medium tomatoes, cored and cut into dice

2 – tablespoons Vidalia onion cut into small dice

2 – small or 1 large clove of garlic, minced

6 – green olives, pitted and chopped

6 – artichoke quarters, cut into thin slices

1 – teaspoon balsamic vinegar

¼ cup (6 cl) extra virgin olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

4 – ounces (114 grams) feta cheese, crumbled

4 ounces – (114 grams) penne rigate

Method

Mix the first five ingredients in a bowl. Once the garlic is minced, add a sprinkling of coarse salt and rub the garlic against a cutting board with the blade of your chef's knife to make a paste.

Stir the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Leave the sauce to sit a room temperature for about 30 minutes so the flavors can blend.

Cook the pasta according to package directions, about 12 minutes.

When the pasta is done, divide it between two serving bowls and top with the sauce. Crumble half the feta cheese over each bowl. Add a grind of black pepper and serve.

Serves 2

To complete the summer experience, I always serve this dish with slices of French bread that can used to soak up the juices left in the bottom of the bowl. And, a delicious wine to wash it all down with is a crisp 2008 Madam Fleur rosé from the south of France, less than $10 a bottle.

You can do this ...

2010-08-10T12:06:00.002-04:00

Recently I've been conjuring up recipes for our niece Kelly and our friend Emily Schmidt. They, like many of us, just don't have the time to do a lot of meal planning and often don't feel like doing a lot of cooking.
And yet, they, too, like to eat a good meal at home.
With just a modest amount of planning, a roast tenderloin of pork makes a great tasting main course that is simple and easy to prepare.
We like to keep a tenderloin weighing just over a pound in the freezer. Because the meat is rich, I plan 4 ounce portions per person. That way a tenderloin can make as many as four meals for one person. For robust eaters, buy a bigger roast and plan for 6 ounce portions.
The technique I use is to brown the meat in an oven-proof skillet and finish the meat in a medium oven.
In the simplest version of this recipe, when the meat is done and resting on a plate. I add white wine to the juices in the pan, scrape up all the flavorful brown bits, and then, off the fire, add just a small amount of butter to emulsify and thicken the sauce.
I like to serve the pork along side yellow rice and a tossed green salad. The entire meal can be on the table in less than an hour. Washed down with a crisp white wine like a sauvignon blanc, the pork is juicy and flavorful.

Roast Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients
1 - pork tenderloin weighing a little more than 1 pound (half kilo) cut into approximately 4 ounce (115 gram) pieces.
2 – teaspoons butter, divided
2 – tablespoons olive oil
4 – ounces (12 cl) dry white wine
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Method
Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C).
Rinse the meat in cold water and dry with paper towels. Salt and pepper the meat.
Heat a skillet large enough to handle the four pieces of meat over medium high heat. Add the olive oil and 1 teaspoon of the butter. When the butter stops foaming, add the meat to the pan to brown, turning the meat every five minutes or so until the meat is golden brown on all sides.
When the meat is brown, put the skillet, uncovered, on the middle rack of the oven. Continue cooking for about 15 minutes until the temperature of the meat reaches 150 F (66 c) and the juices run clear.
Remove the meat to a plate, keep warm, and allow it to rest for 10 minutes.
While the meat is resting, return the skillet to the stove.
Over medium heat, add the white wine and deglaze the pan, stirring up all the brown bits that have adhered to the bottom. Keep the sauce warm.
When the meat has rested, slice the portions on the diagonal and place the slices on warm plate. Off the fire, stir the last teaspoon of butter, swirling the butter to emulsify the sauce. Taste the sauce and add salt and pepper as necessary. Spoon the sauce over the meat and serve.
Serves 4

Variations

There are any number of variations on this dish. They can be as simple as adding a dash of garlic powder to the meat, or sprinkling the meat with soy sauce and allowing it to marinate for 10 minutes before browning.

For a different sauce, add Marsala or Madeira, both of which have a nutty flavor, to the pan instead of white wine.

After the meat has cooked and is resting, add slivers of Vidalia onion or sliced mushrooms to the skillet and saute them before making the sauce.

There is a simple Greek sauce called ladolemono which is also a great accompaniment to the pork. Mix 2 tablespoons of lemon juice with a little salt and pepper, 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard, and 1 teaspoon of dry oregano in a bowl. Drizzle in 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil and whisk to emulsify the sauce. Spoon the sauce over the roasted pork or serve in a bowl along side.

Eating at home with good friends ...

2010-07-14T17:41:00.002-04:00

The Southern Foodways Alliance www.southernfoodways.com recently staged a wonderful field trip to one of America's culinary jewels, the Buford Highway.

Prior to the start of the event, we asked our friends Fred and Jill Sauceman, whom we had not seen since last summer's SFA field trip to Bristol, Tennessee, to come by and have dinner with us.

Fred and Jill are the kind of folks who know that among the best gifts you can give are gifts of food. So, they brought us half gallons of creamy milk and tart buttermilk from Cruze Dairy Farm in Knoxville, Tennessee. Now, this is the way milk ought to taste. Cruze doesn't homogenize their milk and the cream just floats to the surface.

They also brought rich, deeply flavored Sorghum from The Sorghum Mill in Monterey, Tennessee as well as a copy of Fred's latest film “Beans All the Way, A story of Pintos and Persistence.”

On this night, chronicled here in photos taken by Fred, I decided to cook one of my favorite concoctions that mixes the French technique of braising with southern ingredients to make “Duck Legs in Ham Hock Jus.”

Earlier this year, I wrote an article on Georgia wines for "Now & Then -- The Appalachian Magazine" http://www.etsu.edu/cass/nowandthen/ which Fred edits at East Tennessee State University. So, one of my goals for this meal was to serve Georgia wines with each course.

Veteran readers may remember the duck recipe. But not willing to leave anything alone, I made some changes. This time I added both French lentils and southern field peas to the vegetables braised with the duck.

We began the meal with smoked trout towers, a variation on the crab towers recipe you can see on this site by searching for crab. I used the trout instead of crab, mixed with my version of aioli, the garlicky French mayonnaise.

Next came a chilled velvet corn soup, one of the best to serve sweet corn. The corn, cut from their cobs, along with the cobs, are simmered in milk with a sprig of rosemary.
The cobs and rosemary are tossed away, the soup is pureed and then strained to remove the corn solids. What's left is a silky soup with intense sweet corn flavor. I served it garnished with a drizzle of white truffle oil.

With the first two courses, we drank a dry, crisp Georgia Riesling from Persimmon Creek Vineyards in Clayton.

The duck legs followed, paired with two robust reds – Hellbender, a bottle of 100 percent Cabernet Norton 2009 from Crane Creek Vineyards in Young Harris and Cabernet Franc 2009 from Tiger Mountain Vineyards in Clayton.

And, for dessert, fresh ripe cherries were pitted and topped with a zabaglione laced with dark chocolate. With the dessert, we sipped Sweet Sally, a sweet, tart 100 percent Catawba from Crane Creek Vineyards.

Duck Legs Braised in Smoky Ham Hock Jus

Cuisses de Canard Braisée dans Jus Jarret de Porc Fume

Ingredients

4 duck legs (leg and thigh quarters) trimmed of excess fat (leave about a half inch overhang of fat)

½ cup (114 grams) French lentils

2 smoked ham hocks

1 cup (114 grams) Southern field peas

2 medium carrots cut into small batons

1 large Vidalia onion halved and cut into thin slices

2 cloves garlic diced

2 bay leaves

Salt

Pepper

Method

Smoky Ham Hock Jus

With a paring knife cut incisions into the skin of the hocks, circling them with cuts. Put the ham hocks in a saucepan with a quart (1 liter) of water and bring to a boil.

Skim any scum that forms on the surface. Reduce the heat and simmer the hocks for about one hour. When done, the jus will have the rich flavor of pork and smoke.

Remove the hocks from the jus. When they are cool enough to handle, cut way the skin, dice the meat from the hocks and reserve, discard the skin, bones, and fat.

For the legs

Heat a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Salt and pepper the legs. Put them skin side down in the dry pan. They will render their own fat.

Saute the legs until they are deep golden, about 12 minutes. Turn the legs and saute for another two minutes.

Remove the legs from the pan to a plate. Pour off all but two tablespoons (30 ml) of fat.

Preheat an oven to 325 F (160C).

Return the Dutch oven to the stove over medium heat. Add the Vidalia onions and carrots, saute until the vegetables begin to wilt, about two minutes. Add the garlic and saute for another 30 seconds. Add the lentils, the bay leaves, the reserved chopped pork meat and enough of the jus to cover the lentils. Bring to a boil. Remove the pot from the stove. Nestle the duck legs into the vegetable mixture, making sure the jus comes up to, but does not cover, the surface of the duck legs.

Cover the Dutch oven and place it in the oven.

Check the pot every 30 minutes or so and add more jus if the pan begins to dry out. After an hour of cooking, stir the peas into the vegetables. Continue to cook for a total of 2 ½ hours.

Once done, the duck legs can be held in a 200 F (93 C) for up to two hours, checking and adding additional jus so the pan does not dry out.

At time of service, heat the broiler. Remove the lid from the Dutch oven and place it beneath the broiler to crisp the skin of the duck, about 4 to 5 minutes. Be careful not to let them burn.

To serve, remove the bay leaves, check the seasoning of the vegetables and add salt and pepper if necessary. Add more jus if the mixture is dry and bring to a simmer on the stove. Arrange a serving of the vegetable mixture and jus in a pasta plate for each person and top with a duck leg.

Serves 4.

Notes: The excess fat you have trimmed from the duck legs can be placed in an iron skillet in a 300 F (150 C) oven to render the fat. Check after 20 to 30 minutes. Pour off the fat, raise the heat to 350 F (175 C). The skin will form cracklins in 10 to 15 minutes that can added to salads or eaten just as you would pork rinds. The fat can be stored in the refrigerator to use to make duck confit or to cook fried eggs or hash browns that will be ambrosial.

Visiting Grindhouse Killer Burgers at the Sweet Auburn Curb Market

2010-07-09T15:00:00.001-04:00

After tolerating an ... ah, um ... procedure at Piedmont Hospital where I was told to stay away today from salad, peas, lentils, and fresh raw vegetables, Kelly, Kathy and I headed for the Sweet Auburn Curb Market for Grindhouse Killer Burgers, grindhouseburgers.com.

Kathy chose the Euro Style Burger with mushrooms, Swiss cheese, mayo and mustard on a potato bun along with a side of hand-sliced Vidalia onion rings. I picked the single with blue cheese, pickle, mayor and mustard sided by crinkle-cut fries. Kelly, who breakfasted late, chose fries and the hand-spun chocolate milkshake.

Add a tall sweet tea, a squirt of ketchup and 30 minutes and I was a very happy guy. These are the best burgers I had since I ate last at my other favorite burger joint, Ann's Snack Shop on Memorial Drive near Maynard Terrace.

Grindhouse get their burgers -- a blend of chuck and brisket, I'm told by owner Alex Brounstein -- come from a North Carolina producer and the buns come from a Pennsylvania Dutch bakery.
The tab is very affordable, $22 plus tip for lunch. Get there early, the lines can be long.

Since we were right there, after lunch we dropped by Country Meats for a yard-long link of the country sausage, some of the best in the city, plus some center cut pork chops for dinner tonight. You can get all sorts of yummy things here from terrific spare ribs to more exotic cuts like tripe, pig's feet, goat meat, all the way up to a whole pig.

We also visited several of the vegetable vendors, buying fresh Georgia peaches, okra, sweet potatoes and fresh scallions.

You have probably seen the Sweet Auburn Curb Market, 209 Edgewood Avenue, while driving south on the downtown connector. Next time pull in, it's a real treat.

Dining on chanterelle mushrooms and fresh veggies

2010-06-06T08:29:00.002-04:00

Last night for dinner, I sautéed bits of house-made pancetta from Antica Posta with extra virgin olive oil, then added fresh chanterelle mushroom purchased at the East Atlanta Village farmers market.

The mushroom slow cooked and were served along side a stirfry of veggies... new Yukon gold potatoes and green beans from our garden along with snow peas from friend Larry Shealy's garden as well as Vidalia onions, garlic and slivers of fresh carrot dashed with a bit of soy sauce.

We wiped up the sauce with crusty French bread and washed it all down with a crisp, citrusy pinot gris.

Visiting friends ...

2010-05-23T09:20:00.000-04:00

We had our friend Deborah Tokars and Kevin Catalano from Kansas City visiting this weekend.

Last night I grilled bacon-wrapped fillets of beef wrapped in bacon, served with a sauce marchand du vin.

Alongside we had potatoes rubbed with bacon drippings and then baked and a green salad from our garden.

The salad featured three kinds of lettuce plus fresh blanched green beans tossed in a dressing of
wine vinegar, garlic, Dijon mustard, and Palestinian olive oil from the West Bank.

With our meal, I served our guests Blackstock Vineyards 2008 Georgia sangiovese. Smooth with lush fruit
but also a lot of structure.

Then for dessert I opened a bottle of Creekstone 2005 Georgia Chambourcin dessert wine served with morsels
of German-style bitter chocolate made with 70 percent cocoa. The chambourcin has great body, not too sweet, with
a complex structure similar to a port with a much greater age.