Enjoying Empire State South

Last night I finally got the time to celebrate Mother's Day with my family. My mother and I have a recent tradition of honoring special occaisions with attending a cooking class together. This time I planned a perfectly themed night. We started with dinner at Empire State South and ended with her present, Hugh Acheson's new cookbook A New Turn in the South, which recently won a James Beard award for best American cooking, and reservations for an Atlanta Community Food Bank cooking class with Chef Acheson himself!

I have to admit this one will be a treat for me as well! If you have not experienced one of the ACFB cooking classes, you should give them a try. They are typically hosted by Cooks Warehouse as a part of their quarterly schedule of classes. They showcase some of Atlanta's best chefs, prizes, enough food to call it dinner, and wine tastings. As an added bonus the proceeds go to the food bank itself. What a fun way to give back!

Although he has turned over the reigns of Executive Chef to Ryan Smith, Chef Acheson's strong influence is present in the tasty menu. After his recent James Beard wins, the dinning room was again packed with guests. We were looking forward to all of the great takes on traditional southern flavors.

 To start, we chose the In Jars an amazing selection of tasty spreads presented in miniature mason jars. The choices included pimento cheese with bacon marmalade, smoked trout, boiled peanut hummus, ricotta with sauteed mushrooms, and a selection of house made pickles. The waiter laughed as we picked up the jars to scrape out every last bite saying, "that is how we know people like them."



In Jars



For our next course we tried several of the Beginnings, a mixed green salad with duck bacon and a house made cheese puff, a warm vegetable salad with goat cheese, a fried shrimp salad with foraged greens and the farm egg served almost like bi bim bab over rice. The flavors were rich, but not over powering. These were imaginative takes on salads with a southern spin.

Fried Shrimp Salad





Mixed Greens

 

Warm Vegetable Salad



Farm Egg

For our entrees we chose the pork loin with a light gravy. It was served with beans and roasted vegetables. We also enjoyed the duck over farro with a mustard mustard sauce presented in an iron skillet. Finally we tried the trout paired with Asian greens and mushrooms. The duck was rich and set off by the spicy grain mustard. The pork was light and flavorful. At first I was skeptical of  gravy in the summer, but this presented more as a light sauce. The trout was enclosed in crisp skin and perfectly moist. We added a side of collards and creamed field peas. I could have eaten three bowls of each of these. My mother, who prides herself on her collards, conceded these were some of the best she had tasted!


Trout



The Duck




Pork Loin

For dessert we chose the blueberry tres leches cake served with blueberry sorbet and a peanut brittle side, the chocolate and sassafrass creme brulee, and the ginger snap and creme cookies that were melt in your mouth good. Our dinner was a great way to celebrate my mom and for our family to enjoy some of our favorite southern flavors in a new way.



Watching the Pros Test the SFA Cookbook

Monday night, I had the pleasure of attending a cooking class based on the new Southern Foodways Alliance Cookbook. The recipes came to life courtesy of four fabulous chefs, Virginia Willis, Steven Satterfield, Angie Mosier, and Lynne Sawicki.  

Chef Steven Satterfield has earned his fame recently at his amazing Westside hot spot Miller Union.  Steven grew up in Savannah and has lived in GA most of his life. His contribution to the cookbook was a great recipe for a version of cheese straws. For our class, he chose a recipe from Louisiana, dirty rice and skillet greens! 

The dirty rice was sinful featuring a combination of 3, yes three forms of meat! He started by sauteing chicken livers, in bacon grease! He added house made sausage (Boston butt), the bacon, red pepper flakes, and the "holy trinity" or "Cajun trinity" onions, green pepper, and celery.  This mixture is cooked together. The rice is first sauteed in the fat from the meats, then cooked with water until ready. All ingredients were combined, and topped with green onion for an amazingly rich dish. This was offset by the crisp greens. Collards (of course) were sauteed with garlic, red pepper, and anchovies which were ground to a paste. This added a rich ans salty flavor to the bitter greens and cooled the heat from the rice. Amazing choice Chef Satterfield!

Up next was Lynne Sawicki. Chef Sawicki formerly of Floataway Cafe and Star Provisions now owns an amazing meat and provisions shop, Sawicki Meat and Seafood,  in downtown Decatur. Lynne prepared another Louisiana influenced dish. It was a take on Osso Bucco, but using frog legs! Lynne sauteed the breaded frog legs in olive oil and set them aside. Then again added the "holy trinity" and a number of other veggies. She also added Merlot to the mix. The combination of the vegetables and the gelatin in the frog legs she explained, created a thick gravy-like consistency, perfect over rice or as we had it over biscuits!

The fabulous biscuits were made by Ms. Virgina Willis. Virgina is one of my favorite chefs in Atlanta. She has the culinary pedigree and the interesting scientific information that hits the mark for me. I guess you can say I am a groupie! She prepared a recipe from the cookbook of a simple buttermilk biscuit dough. She prepped the ingredients in a food processor, and showed us how to properly roll out the dough, and place the biscuits in the pan. I enjoy that she chose to use southern simple ingredients found on the shelf at anyone's grocery store. The biscuits buttered were light, fluffy and flavorful with a gorgeous golden top.

The frog leg osso bucco with a homemade biscuit!

Last up was Angie Mosier. Angie was the past president of the Southern Foodways Alliance, and she is a writer, baker, teacher, and food stylist. She chose to share with us her recipe from the cookbook which was a take on her version of the Rich's Bakeshop coconut cake! Angie also shared with us her tricks and tips for icing, baking, and styling a cake. She made it look effortless, but I appreciate her sharing her insecurities about her baking and her ease about imperfections in her product. She is a true role model for the home baker, and her cake was out of this world!

Coconut cake with buttercream icing!

The Southern Foodways Alliance is an important organization connecting Americans and the world with the old and new traditions in Southern cuisine. I am so excited that people care about preserving and promoting the tried and true as well as the innovating things happening with food in the South! Thanks to this organization and these chefs for keeping the movement going!

Paris Day 5: Cooking with Class!

Our last day in Paris was the day I had been waiting for. Our time in the city was culminating in a chef lead market tour and cooking class offered by Cooking with Class.  We met our chef/ host Pino Ficara early in the morning in the residential neighborhood of Monmartre. I loved the neighborhood. I would compare it to the Upper Westside in NYC. It was a great mix of small businesses, restaurants, markets, and residential buildings. It had a homey feel. We made introductions with a couple from Darwin, Australia and a couple from Monterrey, California. Pino lead us through the streets in search of the perfect ingredients for our meal.

Our first stop was an amazing cheese shop. These small shops dotted the streets of Paris, but this one had a selection that made me want to cry. The smells of stinky cheese wafted out into the street. We were walked through the various types of cheese, their production, and type as well as interesting information about storage and use. Pino shared with us historical information about cheese in France and facts about government regulations and differences between the US and France.

Next we toured a butcher shop. There we were able to see the variety and differences in what French shoppers can choose from on a daily basis. There were many more birds than we readily find in the US at a general market, squab, duck, 4 or more types of chicken, hens, etc. There were amazing cuts of beef and pork and and entire counter filled with different cuts of duck. In the back of the store they offered house made terrines of foie gras, and other delicious pre-made treats.

Then it was onto the fish market. We were educated about how to choose a really fresh fish. Based on these qualities I am not sure we get really fresh fish in Atlanta. The shop keepers were friendly and descaled and filleted our choices on the spot.

Next was produce market. From the amazing strawberries, to the huge pears to the unlimited fresh herb section, I was in heaven! The fruit and vegetable selection was much more seasonal than what we find in the US, showing that the French like to eat everything when it is at its peak of flavor. We selected the perfect herbs to compliment the fish and duck as well as some fresh berries for our creme brulee.

Our final stop was the bread shop. Of course we purchased the customary baguette, but also some thicker more rustic bread, and nut bread to pair with out cheeses. This shop had been in existence for years and was originally the site of a communal oven for this neighborhood. They still have the oven in the basement under the store. We all stopped to smell and to taste some bread. Then we were off to prepare our meal.

The cooking school is located in an unassuming store font off of a main intersection. It was well equipped with all the tools for our class, but still small enough that we had an intimate experience with each other and with the food. Pino quickly put the group to work chopping onions, and beginning to saute shrimp for our fish sauce. He was instructive in knife techniques, food preparation tricks, and some excellent recipe ideas. Our first dish was a fillet of fish brushed with olive oil and cooked on a bed of herbs. To top it, we had a reduced sauce of creme, shrimp, shallots, and white wine. This was served on top of a fennel and orange salad with the shrimp in the side. I could not have thought of a more beautiful dish. The fish took on the herb flavor and overall it was light in flavor but filling. I would love to have this for lunch every day!

Our second dish was a seared and broiled duck breast served with quail breast drumsticks on the side. To sauce the duck, we created a reduction of caramelized onions. It was so rich and flavorful. In the preparation, I learned to de-bone and prepare the quail as well as how to use sugar and butter to caramelize onions, two skills I had always been afraid to try. With each dish, Pino instructed us on not only how to prepare, but hot to plate each item. The result was picture worthy!

Our cheese course, purchased at the market  was the largest I have ever seen, and fairly unrealistic for a party or even a restaurant, but it was a great way to try so many cheese I had not experienced. I of course loved the goat cheeses, my typical favorite, but was surprised by some of the blues, and well as one cheese we are calling spider cheese because spiders actually eat the rind as it is caved! 

Lastly we came to the creme brulee. While I had learned how to make this dish in other classes, I gathered some useful tips on the preparation as well as the cooking and storage. My favorite tip was to ditch my small Williams Sonoma kitchen torch in favor or an industrial model from Home Depot! I went right out to buy one when I got home. Pino instructed us in the proper way to spin the ramekin to distribute the sugar topping and the best ways to get the perfect carmelization on top. The result was pretty and delicious!

This was by far my favorite day in Paris. The market tour gave us insight into French food and culture. Pino was an excellent guide and able to talk with us about customs, culture, and differences in food between France, the US and other countries. I feel like I made friends, toured the city, learned some new skills and ate a delicious meal all as a part of this class. I would highly recommend taking a cooking class in Paris. This path seems to be less stuffy and formal than some other schools, and the experience is well beyond courses I have taken in the past. Thanks to our chef and guide for a wonderful day! I will be back to Paris in the future and signing up for another course with Cooking with Class will be first on my list of things to do!