Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

I am beyond excited about the results of this year’s James Beard Awards ceremony.  The winner of Outstanding Chef of the year is Ashley Christensen of Poole’s Diner in Raleigh North Carolina. Her empire has expanded to several other restaurants in Raleigh.  We spend a lot of time in the Raleigh area because our family is there.  Eating at Poole’s Diner has been on our bucket list, but it hasn’t happened yet.  The lines are long and reservations are not taken.  We even have a kitchen connection.  Our DIL Kristen’s brother David is one of the line cooks at the restaurant.  We will make it in there one of these days.  Her other local restaurants are Death and Taxes which specializes in Wood Fired cooking, Beasley’s Chicken + Honey for fried chicken, biscuits and waffles, Chuck’s for burgers, Poole’s side Pies for Pizza and Fox Liquor Bar, a subterranean drinking den.  The chef is multi-talented.

Chef Ashley Christensen’s first restaurant, Poole’s Diner hit the mark for traditional Southern fare with a creative edge.  Her signature macaroni and cheese au gratin is the most popular item on the menu.  You can find the recipe here.

But the reason I am thrilled by Ashley Christensen’s recognition  is because she is a good person.  There is no cheffy persona in her wheelhouse.  She has turned her celebrated life toward good works.  She was quoted as saying  “I think that philanthropy, through restaurants, will ultimately end up being my life’s work.”  She works for both the Southern Foodways Alliance and the Frankie Lemmons School for Disabled Children.  The local Stir the Pot fund raiser is also one of her projects.  Supporting her community and other chefs is what she is all about. 

In honor of her Southern roots, I want to share this biscuit recipe that I have found to be a winner.  I could never find Ashley’s biscuit recipe on line, but I have a feeling that it might be close to this one.  The flakey layers are obvious in these biscuits.  It is important to keep the butter cold while working the biscuits.  Instead of cutting the butter into the flour, which will warm the butter, the stick of butter is frozen and then grated directly into the flour and stirred in.   Working and turning the dough a few times ensures that it is not overly handled and produces many layers.  Making these biscuits puts me in mind of Edna Lewis, Ashley Christensen and all of the Southern cooks that have made our region recognized for its creative cuisine.  Congratulations to Ashley Christensen, a North Carolina native.

FLAKEY BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

Ingredients

With the Super Bowl approaching, I wanted to make an appetizer that my husband would enjoy on his low Carb diet.  Over Christmas I made sausage cheese balls the way most people make them with Bisquick, sausage and cheese.  We both love this old standby.  I decided to experiment with lessoning the carbs by using almond flour.  But almond flour does not have a leavening agent like Bisquick.  After several attempts, I settled on a combination of almond flour, baking powder and Bisquick.  I halved the amount of Bisquick and combined the baking powder with the almond flour for the other half of the dry ingredients.

I loved the results.  Another tip for mixing the ingredients is to bring the grated cheese and sausage to room temperature before mixing them together.  Then add the dry ingredients.  All of this should be done by hand.

A friend and I spent a day in DeLand, Florida, a small inland community about 20 miles from New Smyrna Beach.  It is a vibrant community with lots of shops and restaurants.  One of my favorite shops is Anna Bananas. The subheading of the shop is Recycled, Repurposed and Reclaimed.

The owners build furniture using antique elements and creative uses of old wood.

We had lunch al fresco at a delightful restaurant (BakeChop) in a spiffed up alley.  It was a warm and sunny day; one of few that we have had in Florida lately.   The BLT on sourdough bread was great, but the chickpea salad with Brussel sprout leaves, tomatoes and red onions was a real winner.  The chickpeas were crispy and the dressing light.  I will have to experiment with duplicating this take on three bean salad.

Enjoy the Super Bowl.  Hope you give this adaptation of Sausage Cheese Balls a try.

SAUSAGE CHEESE BALLS (LOWER CARB)

1 Pound Breakfast Sausage (Hot or Mild or a combination)
8 Oz. Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 cup Bisquick Baking Mix
1 cup Almond Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

Grate the cheese into a large bowl and bring to room temperature.  At the same time, bring the sausage to room temperature.

While cheese and sausage are resting, combine the Bisquick, almond flour and baking powder in a small bowl.

With your hands, combine the cheese and sausage until well blended.  Add the dry ingredients and roll and squeeze until the flour is fully combined with the cheese mixture.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper or use a non-stick baking sheet.

Form mixture into about 1 inch balls and line baking sheet with them.  I can get 24 balls unto the pan.  The recipe makes about 48 balls.

Bake for 15-17 minutes.

Printable Recipe

Crumbly, rich cornbread always has a place of honor on my table.  My favorite is Rosa’s Cornbread which I blogged about here.  But Rosa’s Cornbread is almost too rich for most meals.  I save it for our yearly New Year’s Day celebration.  I found this recipe in a Southern Living Cookbook.  It has much less fat and more buttermilk.  Since I had a carton of buttermilk in the refrigerator that needed to be used, this was the perfect way to accomplish that.

This is a winner with its golden crust and tender crumb.

We are enjoying the restaurants in New Smyrna Beach.  I loved this wall of herbs at the entrance to The Third Wave Cafe.  The secret garden behind the restaurant is a favorite place to eat.

It is a magical spot at night.

The food is sourced from local farmers.  The chicken salad croissant is made from organic chicken, dried cranberries, orange mayonnaise, apples and mixed greens.  The evening menu includes tapas, wood-fired pizzas and full entrees like Shrimp and Grits and Shrimp and Scallop Scampi.

Forgive me for not blogging more often, but we have been very busy this winter.  Our friends will arrive for bike week tomorrow so I probably won’t be on my blog for a little while.  We return to Lake Lure the first of April.

If you like cornbread, I think you will like this one.  Hope you give it a try.

BUTTERMILK CORNBREAD (Southern Living)

1/3 cup butter
2 cups self-rising white cornmeal mix like White Lily
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs

Place butter in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet, and heat in a 425 degree oven 5 minutes or until melted.

Combine cornmeal mix, flour, and sugar in a large bowl.

Stir together buttermilk and eggs.  Add to dry ingredients; stir just until moistened.  Pour over melted butter in skillet.

Bake at 425 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden.  Cut into wedges.  Makes 6 servings.

Printable Recipe

One way to usher in the New Year is with this Cointreau spiked French toast.  The French bread is soaked overnight in a mixture of eggs, orange juice, the orange liqueur, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla.  It can be topped with powdered sugar and an orange infused maple syrup.  We enjoyed this Christmas morning, but it would be perfect for New Year’s Day.

The recipe came from one of my childhood friends.  I have mentioned before that a group of my high school friends and I self-published a cookbook of our favorite recipes.  Norma had spent many years as a caterer and this was one of the breakfast dishes that she liked to serve.  It is very easy to assemble for a crowd once the initial soaking is finished; just brown and serve.

Serve with Champagne and orange juice for a celebration of the new year.  I offer you love and hope for 2018.

ORANGE FRENCH TOAST

1 loaf of French bread
6 eggs, beaten
2 cups orange juice
1/8 cup Cointreau or other Orange liqueur
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Powdered sugar
6 ounces maple syrup
2 ounces orange juice concentrate
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Slice bread into 1-inch thick slices.  Lay bread in jelly roll pan.  Pour next 7 ingredients that have been whipped together, over the bread and refrigerate overnight.  Turn griddle on medium and heat up.  Lightly butter griddle, lay bread on griddle and cook for 5 minutes on each side.  You can finish cooking if need be in the oven at 325 degrees.

In a saucepan, mix together the maple syrup, orange juice concentrate, and vanilla.  Cook mixture for 15 minutes.  Sprinkle french toast with powdered sugar and pour sauce over it.

Printable Recipe

There is no better way to start a blog post on Paris than with French bread.  Baguettes are available in every Boulangerie in France and it seems that every other person that you see on the street has one tucked under his/her arm.  This was my attempt at duplicating it a while back.  You can find the recipe here.  We are back from our two week trip to France and are slowly easing back into our normal time zone.

On a drizzly day in Paris, we walked from our apartment near Notre Dame Cathedral in the 5th Arrondissement to the Place Vendome in the 1st Arrondissement.  We were with our French friends Laurent and Carole.  Place Vendome is home to the Paris Ritz Carlton where Lady Diana was staying before her unfortunate accident.  The Ritz is temporarily closed for renovations.  All of the high end jewelry stores are also on the square.

We also visited the Palais Royal.  The inner courtyard was transformed in 1986 by a controversial art installation known as Les Colonnes De Buren.  The artist, Daniel Buren, envisioned a conceptual grid of varying heights of black and white striped columns.  Many thought that the whimsical columns clashed with the classical architecture surrounding them.  But today it appears that people are enjoying the whimsy.  There was even a bride and groom posing for their photographer on two of the taller columns.

Our French friend Carole also posed.  I couldn’t enhance the previous picture because it was on another camera, but this was from Instagram on my iPhone.  Love the options for enhancement on Instagram. Love Carole’s French elan.

On a sunnier Fall day we spent some time in the Luxembourg Gardens.  The Luxembourg Palace was commissioned by Marie de’ Medici, the widow of  Henry IV.  She designed the gardens to conform to designs from her native Florence.

David got up early one morning and walked the several blocks to Notre Dame with the intention of climbing to the top of Notre Dame Cathedral to commune with the gargoyles.  I am pleased to report that he made it to the top.

The 400 steps winding upward were a challenge but he was proud that he made it.  Not bad for a 70 something guy.  The views of Paris were awesome.

We enjoyed visiting the iconic Shakespeare and Company.  This bookstore has been around for decades and was a hang out for some of our most illustrious American authors.  Browsing the books was enjoyable and we also appreciated the staff who Googled information for us.  It is such a friendly place.

After leaving Shakespeare and Co. we crossed the bridge to the island of Ile de Cite to walk through the Flower and Bird Market.  It is always a tranquil place in the busy city.

We ended a day with a river cruise on the Seine.  J’aime Paris.  There will be more about restaurants in my next post.