Dinner on the Farm

Since the baby arrived, our nights out have pretty much come to an end. For only our second night out of the house in six weeks, we headed to the country. We were fortunate enough to attend a fabulous dinner for Georgia Organics on the grounds of the organic farm Woodland Gardens. After a tour through the farm with cocktail stations throughout, we sat down to a supper of epic proportions. Anne Quatrano of Bacchanalia designed the tables and the food kept coming from the best chefs around Georgia. It was a dinner that you had to remind yourself to keep pace, or you'd miss out on the next round simply from having no space left. That's my kind of meal!

Rekindled Love Affair

Just like the recovery after the loss of a great love, I’ve spent nearly a year missing something that is as much a part of my life as oxygen and water. At the sudden end of a passionate love affair, there is a yearning and a heart breaking that can only be felt, not described. When the heart is broken beyond repair, the body physically hurts, as if almost to compensate for an unseen emotional wound. If you’ve ever known and lost love this strong, you feel my pain.

The love I’ve been withdrawing from for nine months was joyously rekindled on Friday night at 7:23. It’s as if we never were apart. No, it’s not a man or a best friend that I’ve been missing. It’s simply, and most powerfully, wine. Wine is a part of my business, my leisure, and a major factor in my sanity. From the moment I learned I was pregnant with my second child, there was never a doubt that this integral part of who I am had to be put on a hiatus until the baby arrived. As it should be, for the entirety of my pregnancy, not one drop of alcohol touched my lips.

On some nights, I felt like a chef without a spoon. I spent much of my time at dinners with my husband sniffing his wine while practically tasting the winemaker’s genius as I inhaled. I even taught a few wine pairing classes while I sadly sipped on sparkling water. Even at a much-awaited celebratory dinner, I raised my glass full of lemonade and toasted to my new business endeavor.

With our sweet and perfect baby now at home, I pour from my favorite bottle with the zeal and zest of a child in a toy store. I’ve been waiting, for what seemed like an eternity, for this lover of mine to return. After all, isn’t a love lost and found far stronger than one that was here all along?

Quicker Frying

Breading vegetables takes the longest time of any of the steps of frying. While getting a batch of okra ready to hit the oil, I tried something a little different that did shave off some time. Most cooks that fry know that when breading, the steps are dry ingredients, wet, then dry again. The fancy term for this is "standard breading method." I just say, "dry, wet, dry."
I filled a sheet pan with flour and did the first step of dry ingredients on all the okra at one time. I think it went a little faster this time. But, no matter how long it takes, a piece of crispy, salty okra is worth it.

Pickled Okra and Fig Preserves

My weekend was filled with two of my favorite things. Pickled okra and fig preserves. Thanks to generous friends with gardens much larger than ours, I was overcome with fresh brown turkey figs. If there's one fruit I couldn't live without, it would be figs. We even bought a house once based mostly on the enormous fig tree at the end of the driveway. No wonder they are mentioned so much in the Bible; eating figs is the closest to Heaven many of us have been. I made a batch of preserves so I can enjoy them in the dead of winter. I cooked equal amounts (in weight) of halved and stemmed figs and granulated sugar. I cook my preserves for several hours before I begin the ritual of canning. While most people my age were out with a cocktail on Friday night, I was standing at the stove processing jars of liquid gold. No complaints here.

I also had a bag of fresh okra as large as a couple of watermelons. I saved some to fry for tonight and pickled the rest. I found the okra I pickled and canned last summer didn't last too terribly long on the shelf. It should be eaten within a few months to keep the pods from turning into sponges of vinegar. This time, I tried this recipe from myrecipes.com. It's spicy and goes straight in the fridge. I was eager to try a version that didn't need to be canned. The okra is fabulous and the recipe is now the one I'll use each time.
What's my next project? A huge batch of pepper jelly.

Friends in Business

My friends, the Matonaks, have started their own business. They make very cool platters with tile and wood. Check them out and order one. You'll love it.
www.D3GTrays.com

The First Tomato

You know those meals that are so incredibly good that you don't even want to talk in between bites? I just had one of the meals right here in my kitchen. Today was the day the first tomato from the garden was ready to become my ultimate lunch...a tomato sandwich. I picked the Mortgage Lifter Heirloom tomato moments before it hit the bread. As soon as I plucked it from the plant, I could taste it.
With some white bread, a slice of Vidalia onion and a little Duke's Mayonnaise, I created one of the God-given joys of summertime in about 3 minutes. The tomato was still slightly warm from the backyard sunshine and the onion was gloriously sweet from the South Georgia soil.
Life doesn't get much better than this.

Get Frying!

It's a zillion degrees outside and even too hot inside to turn on the oven. If you're like me and still crave a big hot supper, heat up some oil and start frying. Frying is often overlooked as a fast way to cook with little residual heat to make the thermostat dance. Before the miracle of air-conditioning, frying was so prevalent in the South because it didn't heat up the kitchen like cooking in the oven.
During the most scorching hours of yesterday afternoon, I was frying up a batch of my grandmother's chicken for supper. We called my grandmother Tom, and her chicken couldn't be beat. Instead of opting for cold salad or a chilled soup tonight, pull out the cast iron skillet and relish in an old Southern tradition. I promise you'll be glad you did.

Tom's Fried Chicken

3.5 lb. Cut up whole chicken
1/4 cup salt
1 1/2 cups vegetable shortening
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour

Place chicken in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup salt and cover with cold water. Cover and soak chicken for 45 minutes.

Remove chicken from salt water; drain on paper towels.

Heat shortening in an 8-inch cast iron skillet or a large deep skillet to about 360 degrees.

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Coat each piece completely with flour and gently place chicken in hot shortening. Fry 10 to 12 minutes per side or until golden brown, about 25 minutes total.

Check the temperature of the oil occasionally. If the oil is too hot, the chicken will be too brown on the outside but not fully cooked through.

Fry chicken in batches to prevent the skillet from becoming crowded.

Drain cooked chicken on paper towels or the more traditional folded brown paper grocery bag.

Serves 4-6