Tastiest Town in the South

What's the “Tastiest Town in the South”? 

There are so many options. Beignets in New Orleans.  Barbecue in Birmingham. Bourbon in Kentucky.... 

After our trip to Charleston last year we'd have to give that city a nod for its great Thai food and delicious Shrimp and Grits.    But we're just a sample size of one (channeling my researcher husband here, though he'd say something really geeky like "It's not statistically significant because our N is only 1").  

Southern Living Magazine is backed up by an N of more than 500,000 when it declares "The Tastiest Town in the South" in its latest issue. 

Hot off the iron skillet presses: Lafayette, Louisiana, is the "Tastiest Town in the South". 

How They Determined That?  Southern Living editors chose the "Top 10 Tastiest Towns in the South” based on the following criteria:

Food as a culturalidentity: The unique food or ethnicity that defines a particular Southern region

Growth of a culinary-minded community: The influence that the culinary industry has on the local community and tourism

Diverse cuisine at a variety of price points: Accessibility to hearty, flavorful meals at any budget

Local, sustainable food practices: The focus on sourcing products from local purveyors to geographically define where each meal comes from

Hot chefs on the rise: The influence of the area’s culinary talent in the media and pop culture.

Abundance of buzz-worthy food events: The number of festivals in the area that celebrate all things food and drink

Their choices (published in the December issue) were: 

Lafayette, LA:                      Cayenne-spiked Acadiana

Baltimore, MD:                    Harboring Chesapeake flavor

Birmingham, AL:                Refined Southern comfort

Charleston, SC:                  A homegrown heirloom revival

Charlottesville, VA:            Toasting Jefferson’s Legacy

Decatur, GA:                        A suburb made from scratch

Houston, TX:                       A distinct ethnic twang

Louisville, KY:                     A bourbon-soaked renaissance

New Orleans, LA:               A gumbo of beloved excess

Raleigh, NC:                        Where farm fresh never expires

The magazine then let consumers decide the winner.  Sort of an American Idol of Food. More than a half-million votes were cast. 

Here's a clip from today's press release announcing Lafayette's top spot: 

In this month’s issue (avail 3/23), the magazine looks at the tastemakers, chefs, artisans and restaurants that give each food destination its distinct local flavor.  The magazine outlines “the perfect eating day” in each city, and includes recipes created by the Southern Living Test Kitchen thatfeature iconic ingredients from each of the 10 winning cities—from andouille-stuffed pork chops to “Jefferson” Virginia ham pasta.  

“Southern Living veered way off the hot sauce and barbecue trail to get at the deeper story of who and what is shaping the South’s incredibly rich, diverse and delicious culinary landscape,” said editor Lindsay Bierman. “We’re pleased to highlight the South’s vibrant food scene in each and every town we profile.”
  

“Lafayette’s distinct culinary identity as the capital of Cajun country, its spicy, sausage-laden roots, and a new generation of locals devoted to preserving their heritage while putting a fresh spin on tradition have made it an incredibly satisfying place to eat,” writes Senior Editor Paula Disbrowe in Southern Living.

 While our homebase, Birmingham (AL), didn't take top honors, it did get a particular shout out: 

Birmingham is known for its refined Southern comfort, according to Southern Living.
  

“Little did Frank Stitt know when he was cooking in the south of France in 1978 and falling in love with just harvested vegetables, tapenades and aiolis, that he wouldreturn home from Alabama to change the culinary landscape of the South,” writes Senior Editor Paula Disbrowe. 

“As one of the first chefs to reverently elevate Southern staples with refined French techniques, Frank’s kitchens became incubators for an armada of acolytes who continue to keep Birmingham bellies full of buttery grits and joie de vivre,” reports Southern Living.

Want to visit your own favorite Tastiest Town?  You've got until Monday, April 30th, to enter for a chance to win a $2,500 trip to Tasty Town of your choice.  

  

NPR. It's a Necessary Pleasure...

Did you know Anthony Hopkins writes music? He talked all about it with 'Weekend Edition Saturday’s' Scott Simon and showed some love for NPR. (Photo by Melissa Kuypers/NPR).


Geek out on some more NPR <3 here.  

Celebrate Girl Scouts' 100th Anniversary with Cookie Recipes

photo credit: Tovia Smith/NPR

Look at those faces. Aren't they adorable?!  

It's cookies season for the Girl Scouts and girls are out in force hawking Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs and more.   But Girl Scouts is about a whole lot more than baked goods, as this story from NPR's Tovia Smith explains.

Listen to the story here...

We're a Girl Scout house. Miranda was a scout for several years, Hannah's been one since kindergarten and Olivia has racked up 8 years so far and swears she's Going for the Gold (and the college scholarships that come with it!).  

We've got nearly 500 boxes of cookies in our living room right now (down from the 2,000 we did have!) .... and lots of ways to use them.  Um, let's see: 

1. Straight out of the box one Thin Mint sleeve at a time!
2. Not Yo Mama's Banana Pudding (with Trefoils) 
3. Bourbon Samoa Bars (bourbon. need I say more?)
4. Thin Mint Chocolate Cheesecake

And that's just a sample. Check the links for even more recipes.

Need some cookies to do your recipe sampling?  There's an app for that.  And if you're local, Olivia and Hannah's troops are sponsoring a cookie booth tomorrow (3/10) from 10 a.m. to ?? at the Hoover WalMart on 150. Come out, say "Hi!" and get your sugar on... 

I Want So Badly To Love This Recipe.....

Ale-Braised Cabbage with Leeks 

It looks gorgeous, doesn't it?!? Here's the recipe from Vegetarian Times:

Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil
2 medium leeks, white portions sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 red cabbage, cored and finely shredded
2 cups pale or white ale, such as Blue Moon
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp chopped fresh dill

Sounds delicious, doesn't it?!?

Veg Times describes it thusly: "This classic British side dish is given gastropub treatment by using red cabbage and delicate leeks, rather than green cabbage and yellow onions."

But I had green cabbage and a Vidalia onion that needed used up, so I figured, why not?  And despite the 9,000 bottles of high gravity beer in our fridge, we didn't have a suitable pale ale so we stopped by the store to grab some of this (read the reviews ... they're pretty funny!)

Supplies in hand, we started cooking.

1. Heat oil over medium heat in a skillet or dutch oven.
2. Add onions and garlic, sprinkle with salt.
3. Saute 1 minute, then add cabbage and cook 15 minutes until it begins to brown. (stir frequently, btw)
4. Add ale and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes or until most of the ale has evaporated.
6. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and dill.
7. Salt and pepper as desired.

8. THROW THIS STUFF OUT! 

I don't know if it was the beer we used or the recipe itself, but even I couldn't choke this stuff down.   Ended up eating a bowl of Raisin Bran instead.

End of story.

(Okay, one quick P.S. to this story. If you've got a thyroid problem or suspect you might have one you'll want to avoid eating a lot of cabbage.  It inhibits thyroid hormone production. So do several otherwise healthy foods...)

Stuffed Peppers circa 1939

Jennifer Reese's new cookbook Make The Bread, Buy the Butter inspired us to actually open some of the vintage cookbooks we inherited years ago from Grandma Ott (a.k.a. Tutu -- grandmother in Hawaiian).

 
This one was published in 1939 and, honestly, I was a little afraid to crack it.  Many years ago, when the kids were young, we were guardians of one of Jason's students - a 17 year old whose parents lived in the Dominican Republic. Adding a nearly grown teenager to our house was quite an adjustment for us (curfews? dating? We were barely out of that territory ourselves!) and for Tom.

One of the most surprising challenges for Tom was food.  The first week he lived with us we made a pot roast. We sat down at the table to eat and Tom just stared at the plate. Finally, he timidly spoke up, "What is it?"

"It's a pot roast! You know, meat, potatoes, carrots, onions... Pot Roast!"

"Um... I've never had one."  He tried it. And liked it (not so much the crawfish we served a couple weeks later.)

But it got me thinking. Maybe we should try to make some Dominican food to ease the transition. I channeled my high school Spanish teachers and wrote Tom's mother a letter. I explained that he was a little homesick, and I thought that making some of her favorite dishes might help.

She wrote back and sent a small cookbook. The first chapter: How to pick and slaughter your dinner.

Um. Yeah. I wasn't going any further.

I guess I assumed Grandma's cookbooks would also take cooking to a level of DIY this former flexitarian wanted no part of. And yes, there are plenty of references to lard (sorry, I know I've lived most of my life in the south, but I just can't get on the lard boat) and too many photos of ring molds (here are some more modern versions with Coke and spinach and - wow! - look at this Hawaiian mold featuring Ahi, Avocado, and Crab. Definitely not your grandma's ring mold!).

But back to our 73 year old cookbook. We also found this gem...

Stuffed Peppers


Ingredients:

• 6 green peppers
• 1 cup cooked meat, chopped fine and seasoned (the cookbook suggests that "potted meats that come in cans are excellent for this purpose". Um, yeah, we'll be using ground beef - one pound -  seasoned with a dash of salt and a liberal sprinkling of pepper)
• 1/2 cup bread or cracker crumbs (make your own... it's easy!)
• milk or cream (the original recipe doesn't say how much. use enough to moisten, but not soak)

A note: Jason was really skeptical. For him, stuffed peppers has always meant tomato paste and cheese and rice.  He was convinced this dish would be dry and bland. I had to bribe him with promises of Mr. Chen's if the recipe didn't work out. 

Directions: 

1. Cut off tops of peppers or cut them in two lengthwise. Remove the inner fibers and seeds. Drop into boiling water, remove ("from the fire" ... says the cookbook!), let stand 10 to 12 minutes, then drain. 
2. Meanwhile, mix the meat with the bread or cracker-crumbs and moisten with a little milk or cream. 
3. Fill the peppers with the mixture and serve at once or cover with buttered crumbs and set in the oven (400 degrees) for ten minutes to brown. 

We did the browning route and the results were ...

pre-browning

Delicious!  

The girls loved them and Jason ate his words. Thanks Grandma Ott! 

Rockin' Moroccan Meatballs

Hey, this is Olivia again, and I just wanted to tell you about these ladies...

The Real Housewives of New York

They took a trip recently to Morocco and that inspired me to cook a meal from Morocco for my World of Food Series.  I chose meatballs because they're my favorite thing to make!

Because Mom says recipes from some websites sometimes don't work out so well, I decided to try a recipe from Rachael Ray. She has a TV cooking show. You might have heard of her ;-)  Because I don't really like eggs, I changed her recipe a little (sorry Rachael!).

Ingredients: 

• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (we just used the nutmeg that has been in our drawer for years)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 pound ground lamb or beef (We do cow. Can't stand idea of eating a lamb.)
• 2 slices of good quality stale bread, crusts removed, processed into fresh bread crumbs (or use box bread crumbs)
• 5 eggs (1 for meatballs, 4 for poaching and serving, optional -- We DON'T do this. I DON'T like eggs)
• 1 medium onion (1/4 grated and juiced and 3/4 chopped)
• 4 large cloves of garlic (2 minced or pasted, 2 sliced -- We use garlic out of a jar in the refrigerator)
• 1 small handful fresh mint leaves, finely chopped (We skip this. Dad hates mint.)
• pinch ground cinnamon
• Few grates of nutmeg
• kosher salt & ground pepper
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small zucchini, sliced on an angle or chopped
• 1 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes
• 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon spice blend (Don't worry... we're making the spice blend. Remember all those spices I listed above?!?)
• 1 14-ounce can chickpeas
• a handful of chopped cilantro (We skip this, sort of. We use cilantro paste out of a tube in the refrigerator)
• couscous or bread (We like Naan) to serve with it

Directions


First, make the spice blend. Combine the cumin, coriander, turmeric, paprika, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, cayenne pepper and ground cloves. Store in a tight container for up to several months.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. And get a couple of things ready too. You need a wire cooling rack (the kind you cool cookies on) over a large baking sheet.  Put a large mixing bowl next to it and a smaller bowl of warm water. The water helps your hands from getting all sticky.

In the big bowl, combine the meat, bread crumbs, 1 egg lightly beaten, 2-3 tbsp of grated onion and juice (be careful grating it... I hurt my fingers doing this!), 2 cloves minced garlic, mint, pinch of cinnamon, pinch of nutmeg, salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.


Get your hands wet and roll little meatballs (about the size of a big bubble gum ball) and set them on the wire rack.  Roast the meatballs for 20 to 25 minutes.


Heat more oil in a pan (dutch oven, if you've got one) to medium-high. Add the chopped onions, sliced garlic and zucchini. Cook for 7 or 8 minutes, then add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, honey and spice blend. Let it bubble.  Drain the chickpeas and stir them into the sauce.


Remove the meatballs from the oven when they're done cooking and put them in the sauce in the pan.  Serve! (or, if you like eggs - YUCK! - and want to do the rest of the recipe - the egg part - you need to make four dents in the sauce and drop in four cracked eggs. Cover the pot and cook it until the eggs are "poached"... sort of cooked all soft and mushy - again, YUCK!)


SO GOOD! (without the eggs!)

USDA Updates Plant Hardiness Zones

Are you planning your vegetable garden already?  We are! We built a raised bed last summer, but never got it filled. Here's Peter the Cat helping with construction...

We're gonna fill it up with beans and tomatoes and herbs and maybe some okra... and ... and... and...  (what are your Must Haves?!?)

We're also planning to do some container gardening using our friend Andy's ingenious plastic tub subterranean watering system.  As you can see, it's a pretty productive!

Andy has promised a guest blog soon to explain his system.

In the meantime, it's good to note that the USDA has just updated its Plant Hardiness Zones.  They've been working on this update for about a decade.  Our zone changed. Yours may have too. You can search by zip code here.