Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

While in Atlanta we had dinner at Brio Tuscan Grille.  Although it is a chain restaurant, it has the feel of a traditional neighborhood restaurant.  The ambiance is enhanced by dark green walls adorned with a multitude of oil paintings that appear to have been collected over the years.  One of the reasons I wanted to have dinner there was because I was craving pasta; in particular pasta carbonara.  I remember having the best carbonara in a small Italian restaurant in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  Instead of bacon, the creamy carbonara was studded with speck.  Speck is a juniper flavored Italian ham.  The dish was wonderful and I have had an obsession with carbonara ever since.

Now granted, I did not expect an Italian chain restaurant to have a carbonara to rival my favorite, but I was willing and anxious to give it a try.

Even though it does not look as creamy as the original, it was moister than my first attempt.  With the addition of all that extra butter, it should be.  I compensate for all of that richness by eating less.  The next time I make this I will add the alfredo sauce while the pasta is fresh from the pot and I have a feeling I will be closer to  what Brio did.   This was a good experiment.  I like the concept and the flavors, but a classic carbonara will always be my favorite.

GARGANELLI CARBONARA  (ala Brio Tuscan Grille)

3 strips of bacon
1/2 pound of chicken tenders, cubed
1 clove of garlic
1 10 ounce package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, grated
2 eggs, beaten
Splash of white wine

Alfredo Sauce:
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup cream
6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 pound penne pasta

Cook cubed bacon in a large saute pan until crisp.  Remove to drain.  Add cubed chicken and saute until no longer pink.  Add garlic and cook a minute more.  Add chopped spinach and cook until warmed through.

Meanwhile cook pasta according to package directions.

Beat together the eggs and Parmesan cheese.

Make the alfredo sauce.  Melt butter in a sauce pan.  Add the flour and stir together for a minute to let flour cook.  Slowly add the cream and whisk until thickened.  Add the cheese and continue cooking until cheese is incorporated.

Drain pasta and add to skillet.  Immediately add the egg mixture and toss to cook the eggs.  Add the alfredo sauce and stir to combine.  Pour pasta into a serving dish and sprinkle with bacon and extra Parmesan cheese if desired.

There is nothing more inspiring to a foodie home cook than to spend a long weekend experiencing fabulous restaurant meals in a major city.  My friend Jackie and I took off on a road trip to Atlanta because our husbands are on a two week motorcycle trip out West.  Unfortunately I took very few pictures of my own for various reasons; camera in the hotel room, low light, close tables and courtesy to other diners.  But I found many pictures already online.  The above picture was taken by an Atlanta blogger, Adventurous Taste and it is the dish that I had at Wisteria;  the Molasses-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Sweet Potato Souffle topped with Onion, Apple and Walnut Relish.  It was succulent and on the sweet side with many textures from the relish and crispy onion rings.  It is one of those dishes that I will try to duplicate in the future.  Outstanding! 

Chef/ Owner Jason Hill’s Southern inspired menu changes seasonally using many local sources and features comfort food with a twist.  Wisteria is housed in a century old building in the historic Inman Park neighborhood and was once a grocery store.  It has brick walls and muted plaster with low lighting and tables close together.  It put me in mind of an intimate Paris bistro.

Another excellent restaurant in the Buckhead neighborhood is Horseradish Grill.  One of the original chef’s at this charming converted horse barn was famed chef Scott Peacock.  He started the restaurant’s raised- bed organic garden as part of Atlanta’s farm to table movement.  Today under the stewardship of chef Daniel Alterman, the restaurant’s philosophy “that there is an immediacy to good food and cooking; that there is value in understanding the connection between a region, its history and its people, the seasons and natural rhythm of life” is still alive and well.  Chef Alterman began his career at Horseradish Grill at the age of 13 as a dishwasher and has worked all stations in the kitchen.  My dish of  Horseradish Crusted Grouper with Sweet Potato and Beet Gratin, Spinach and White Wine Butter Sauce proved that the chef has earned his reputation for good food.

A Buckhead institution, The Buckhead Diner glitters with neon tubing and shiny chrome.  Who would expect that the interior is posh with marble and mahogany with a well dressed waitstaff and elegant service?  When Jackie went to the ladies room, her discarded napkin was whisked from the table and refolded to standing attention.  In spite of such attention to detail, the service was never formal or pretentious.  We were there for lunch and found the food down to earth and welcoming.  All of the bread and rolls are homemade by The Buckhead Bread Company.

They are known for their homemade potato chips with maytag blue cheese.  With the chips I had a filling Flatiron Steak BLT with a Horseradish Aioli.  The sandwich was one of the best I have eaten in a long time.  Wish I had gotten a picture of it.

It was not all about the food.  We did our share of shopping too.  I coveted the French confit pot on a table in Foxglove Antiques in the Miami Circle Design District of Buckhead.  French confit pots were originally used to store duck confit and old ones like this are very pricey.  I came home without it.

But what I did come home with were good memories and lots of ideas for food and decorating.  Traveling always inspires me and I hope to share some of my creative attempts with you soon.

While staying with my Brother and SIL in Michigan, Barb made this delicious chicken casserole.  It was one of those times when the family needed to be elsewhere for other obligations and Barb had the foresight to put together the main components of it so that we could pull it together when we needed to.  The chicken and the ham were assembled ahead of time and the cheese was added to it.  All we had to do later was to make the sauce and topping and put it in the oven. 

I have blogged about Chicken Cordon Bleu before.  Here is my favorite recipe for the real thing.  The only bad thing about the real thing is that it is not crowd friendly.  Sometimes you just don’t have time to roll and assemble individual chicken packages for lots of people.  We had lots of people on the evening in question and this was the perfect solution.  It has all of the good flavor of chicken cordon bleu but is easy to dish up for a crowd.  Everyone loved it from the kids to my picky Brother. (Sorry Bill, but you are kind of set in your ways about food.) 

So thanks Barb for the recipe.  The original recipe called for cheddar cheese and both Barb and I agreed that Swiss made more sense.  We had it with Cheddar the first time, but this time I used Swiss and the results were great.  There are some interesting ingredients in the recipe;  dill weed, dry mustard, nutmeg and walnuts, but they all work together to make a great casserole.  And if you have followed this blog for awhile you know that I have a problem with most chicken casseroles.  This one is a winner.

David and I will be traveling for the next few weeks.  He is leaving on Saturday on his two week motorcycle trip out West with stops at a few Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives when he can.  You can follow him on his blog on my sidebar.  I am spending a long weekend in Atlanta with one of the Biker Babes.  We hope to shop, eat good food, and take in the ambiance of Atlanta.  Let me know if you have any suggestions about where to go and things to do.  Then I will be going to Cary, NC to spend time with family.  But I will be blogging.  I have a new camera, so I am looking forward to improving my skills.  We will see.  Stay tuned.

CHICKEN CORDON BLEU CASSEROLE

6 cups cubed, fully cooked chicken
3 cups cubed, fully cooked ham
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese ( Or cheddar if you prefer )

1 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp to 1 Tbsp dill weed
1/8 tsp. dry mustard
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Topping:
1 cup dry breadcrumbs
3 Tbls melted butter
1/4 to 1 tsp dill weed
1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/4 to 1/2 cup choppped walnuts

1.  In large bowl, combine chicken, ham and cheese.
2.  In saucepan, saute onions in butter until tender.  Add flour.  Stir to form a paste and cook for a few minutes.
3.  Over low heat, gradually add cream stirring constantly.  Bring to a boil and  add dill, mustard and nutmeg and mix well.  Remove from heat.
4.  Butter a 9 X 13 inch casserole and add chicken mixture.  Top with cream mixture and mix gently. 
5.  In the large mixing bowl, toss together bread crumbs, butter and dill.  Stir in cheese and walnuts.  Sprinkle on top of casserole.
6  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly and brown.

We are still enjoying the Honey Crisp apples that we brought back from Michigan.  I thought about making a traditional apple pie, but the weather has been so hot this month that a pie seemed too heavy to be enjoyed properly.  Laura Calder to the rescue!  I am enjoying her French Food at Home show on the new Cooking Channel.  One of the things I’ve noticed about her is the simplicity of her recipes and the fact that she uses very few kitchen gadgets.  She whips her cream by hand in a copper bowl, she chops and dices without the aid of a food processor, and her kitchen always seems so serene.  Now I’m not saying that I am giving up my kitchen gadgets, but I love the sense of calm that she projects in her kitchen.  You can almost hear the birds singing in her yard.  But I digress (borrowed that one from My Year on the Grill).

Laura made this simple apple tart last week.  The crust is cookie-like, comes together simply and is patted into either a springform pan or a tart pan.  I considered using my 9 inch tart pan, but thought the filling would overflow, so I made it in my high- sided springform pan.  Next time, I will be brave and use the tart pan because the filling takes up very little space and I love the ridges that result on the crust.

But what makes this tart so special is the cream cheese filling.  It is what makes this “Pastry Shop” good!  You know those wonderful cream filled pastries that you get from the bakery.  That is what this tart tastes like.  It is so good that I had it for breakfast one morning with my coffee and I was enraptured.  The gilding on the lily of this tart is the layer of cinnamon spiced apple slices with almonds scattered about.  Simple and decadent at the same time.  A perfect tart.

EASY PASTRY SHOP APPLE TART

For the crust:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vinilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour

For the cream filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the top:
3 apples, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup slivered almonds

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Make the crust:  Cream the butter and sugar.  Stir in the vanilla.  Finally, mix in the flour to make a smooth dough.  Press into the botton of an 8-inch springform pan (I used a 9-inch pan or a 9-inch tart pan), giving it about a 1-inch rim.  Bake 15 minutes, or until lightly golden.  Remove the tart shell from the oven.

While the crust bakes, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla for the cream filling until smooth.  Make the topping by tossing the apple slices with the cinnamon and sugar.

Spread the cream cheese mixture into the tart shell.  Arrange the apple slices on top in a spiral pattern and then scatter the nuts on top.  Bake until the apples are tender and golden, about 40 minutes.

I am submitting this recipe to the Hearth ‘n Soul blog hop.  Go over to Girlichef’s blog to see all of the wonderful “REAL” food entries this week.

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