Savor the South Foodie Weekend in September

Here’s some news from our sister O.Henry Hotel on a big foodie weekend!

You are invited to join Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen and other food fanatics at the O.Henry Hotel in Greensboro for Savor the South® Weekend on September 26-28, celebrating the cookbook collection by UNC Press. The book authors, all well-known cooks and writers, will join hosts from Our State Magazine and the hotel culinary team to present extraordinary food and drink, mingling with guests, cooking demonstrations and samplings of more than 30 recipes from the books. Each day will conclude with an elegant five-course dinner.

Savor the South® cookbooks are a big celebration of a beloved food or tradition of the American South. Each book brims with personality and includes the culinary history of Southern foodways and 50 recipes. This event is the first occasion for all of these authors to gather for a single event:

• Belinda Ellis, author of BISCUITS
• Debbie Moose, author of BUTTERMILK and SOUTHERN HOLIDAYS
• Kathleen Purvis, author of PECANS and BOURBON
• Miriam Rubin, author of TOMATOES
• Andrea Weigl, author of PICKLES & PRESERVES
• Virginia Willis, author of OKRA
• April McGreger: author of SWEET POTATOES
• Kelly Alexander, author of PEACHES

In addition to ten cookbook authors, the weekend is hosted by Green Valley Grill culinary team, author Ronni Lundy, and Chef Nancy King Quaintance. Our State Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Hudson and Our State Storyteller Amy Jo Wood Pasquini will host a welcome wine reception with live music and a conversation about favorite food memories. There’ll be plenty of optional activities during the weekend including a farmers’ market trip.

Weekend Details
Friday, September 26: Our State Welcome Wine Reception in the O.Henry Hotel Social Lobby with small bites made from featured Savor the South recipes and music by NC Hot Club. The Farm-to-Fork Grand Dinner includes cooking demos by our culinary team and special guests, Miriam Rubin, Debbie Moose and April McGreger. The bespoke menu will pair seasonal farm finds with recipes from Savor the South books.

Saturday, September 27: Early risers take a trip to the Farmers Market. Return to the hotel for a Biscuits & Preserves Bar, hosted by Belinda Ellis and Andrea Weigl. For lunch, there’s a Tasting Extravaganza & Book Signing with samplings of recipes from all the cookbooks, as authors chat with guests and sign their books. After lunch, talk with Our State about favorite Southern food memories. The grand finale dinner, Bourbon, Bluegrass & Bacchanal, starts with a Southern cocktail party with bites, bourbon and bluegrass fusion music in the lobby. The bacchanal-style dinner is hosted by Ronni Lundy, Nancy King Quaintance, Kathleen Purvis, Virginia Willis and Kelly Alexander.

Packages
The Savor the South Weekend One-Night Package includes overnight accommodations on Friday, September 26,  tickets to the four-course Farm to Fork Grand Dinner on Friday, matched with wine, Southern-style breakfast buffet for two on Saturday morning, transportation to the Farmers Market on Saturday morning, tickets to the Tasting Extravaganza & Book Signing for Saturday lunch and a cookbook of your choice. $295/person, based on double occupancy

The Savor the South Weekend Two-Night Package includes Everything in the One Night Package above plus the four-course Bourbon & Bluegrass Grand Dinner on Saturday and a second night of accommodations at O.Henry. $449/person, based on double occupancy

The O.Henry Hotel has received the AAA Four Diamond Award every year since opening in 1998. It’s also the top rated hotel in Greensboro on TripAdvisor. O.Henry and the adjacent Green Valley Grill is located in central Greensboro, adjacent to Friendly Shopping Center.

For information or reservations, call 336-854-2000 or go to www.OHenryHotel.com.

About the Hosts
Ronni Lundy is the author of Shuck Beans, Stack Cakes and Honest Fried Chicken and Butter Beans to Blackberries, as well as seven other books. She is the recipient of the Southern Foodways Alliance’s Craig Claiborne Lifetime Achievement Award and the editor of Cornbread Nation 3: Foods of the Mountain South.

Nancy King Quaintance is Vice-President of Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants and Hotels, the owner/operator of O.Henry Hotel. She started her career at 15 as a dishwasher with Disney in Florida. She went on to Johnson & Wales in Rhode Island, then to Cornell’s Hotel School, where she studied hospitality and culinary arts. While at Cornell, she served as a culinary teaching assistant. From there, she went to work in sales and front office operations for several hotel companies. In 1994 she joined the Quaintance-Weaver team, assisting with the culinary team with everything from recipe development, to expediting, to doing weekly cooking segments for a local TV station. Now, she works with the company’s marketing, operations and culinary teams.

Elizabeth Hudson is a native of North Carolina who grew up in the small community of Farmer, near Asheboro. She holds a B.A. degree in English from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and began her publishing career in 1997 at Our State magazine, where she started in the circulation department answering telephones before moving to the editorial department. She held various editorial titles for 10 years before becoming Editor in Chief of the 80-year-old publication in 2009.

Amy Wood Pasquini is currently the marketing development director for Our State and is the Executive Producer of Content for “Our State,” a ten-time, Emmy Award winning, television show produced by UNC-TV. She is also the producer of many Our State travel weekends including the Best of Our State and Learn & Live Weekends. Born in Atlanta, Wood grew up in North Carolina. She obtained her BA in journalism from Georgia State University. She is the author of two books “Life Between Azalea Festivals,” and “White Bred, A Prodigal Jaunt Through the Suburban South” in addition to many articles for Our State.

More about the Cookbook Collection & UNC Press
Each little cookbook in Savor the South® cookbook collection is a big celebration of a beloved food or tradition of the American South. From buttermilk to bourbon, pecans to peaches, bacon to catfish, one by one each Savor the South® cookbook stocks a kitchen shelf with the flavors and culinary wisdom of this popular American regional cuisine. Written by well-known cooks and food lovers, each book brims with personality, the informative and often surprising culinary and natural history of southern foodways, and a treasure of some fifty recipes–from delicious southern classics to sparkling international renditions that open up worlds of taste for cooks everywhere.

Blue crabs are beautiful swimmers

Callinectes sapidus — commonly known as “Blue Crab” — is in short supply these days. Real American Blue Crab is what those of us in the South think of when it’s time to eat crab, whether we’re enjoying it as soft-shell crab, crab cakes, boiled crab or steamed crab. Blue Crab’s scientific name translates to “beautiful savory swimmer,” and this crustacean lives up to its name: It is sought after for its sweet and tender meat, and it’s considered a delicacy in many parts of the world. Most Blue Crabs are harvested in the Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, but they’re becoming more of a rarity owing to several factors including imported crabmeat and agricultural run-off into their spawning waters (Blue Crabs live and spawn in brackish waters, and they are highly susceptible to environmental changes).

Crabmeat needs to be cleaned by hand, and American labor is expensive, so in the U.S. it’s typical to encounter crab cakes made with imported meat from different species of crab. At Lucky 32, however, we only buy fresh American Blue Crab meat — we want to know where our food comes from. Because crabs are harvested between spring and fall, we don’t feature crab on our menu year-round; instead, we prefer to feature it when its flavor is at its peak. You don’t have to drive to the coast to get fresh, just-caught flavor of real American Blue Crab: When crab is on our menu, be sure to come and get it!

Where to find fresh crab in the Piedmont:

• Ocean Fresh Seafood Market: 954 E. Bessemer Ave., Greensboro

• The Shrimp Connection: At Swedebread Organic Farm Market, Piedmont Triad Farmer’s Market-Colfax, Summerfield Farms and Josh’s Farmers Market. Click herefor addresses and hours.

• Locals Seafood (at the Raleigh City Farmers Market @ City Market): 214 E. Martin St., Raleigh; and at the Raleigh State Farmers Market, inside the Market Shoppes at 209 Farmers Market Dr., Raleigh

Tips on buying, prepping and cooking fresh crab:

• Visit retail locations with reliable fishmongers who turn their inventory over quickly.

• Talk to your fishmonger. Ask them what’s good, what’s the freshest, and where their crabmeat came from. The same applies when you go out to eat. Always ask where your seafood came from, if it’s not already stated on the menu.

• When prepping crab, carefully pick through the meat for any remnants of shell that escaped the initial cleaning.

• Remember that crabmeat is packaged pre-cooked, so all you need to do is re-heat it. Just be careful you don’t cook it at too high of a temperature, the higher the heat, the more likely it is you’ll rob the meat of its moisture. Crabcakes especially are ideal when they’re just warm enough in the center, rather than piping hot.

Crab Cakes

We won’t “steer” you wrong: How to build a better burger

LOCAVORE’S DELIGHT: The Series # 45. Follow us as we explore the bounty of our region’s farms.

There’s more to Bradds Family Farm than the delectable pork they produce. They also raise some of the finest beef in the state, and we’re proud to use their beef as often as possible, especially for our burgers. The most important part of buying local food is the connections you form—the relationships you build. Bobby Bradds is part of our family. We’ve been to his house and eaten his food, and his daughters came to our restaurant before their prom. Bobby is the embodiment of a principle that we believe in: Restaurants are nothing without the active participation of people who are passionate about growing, preparing and serving food.

Like any relationship worth having, ours is not always easy. We don’t just pick up a phone to place an order, then find an 18-wheeler dropping off all the beef we need. We have to plan it all out. Cows take 18 months to achieve market weight, and the abattoir takes almost a week to turn that into ground beef, so Bobby needs to know that we need beef two weeks before I even know. This extra effort and planning may be intimidating for a lot of chefs, but I think the guests who dine in our restaurants should be able to expect the best burger in town, and they deserve it.

Once Bobby provides the best possible quality meat for us to use in our burgers, we want to ensure our guests get the opportunity to enjoy the delicious flavors and varied textures in a well-crafted burger.

Where’s the beef?

Some people judge a burger by what’s on it, and some people judge the burger by the quality of the meat. In our opinion, you can put anything on a burger that your heart desires, but if the meat isn’t good, then what’s the point? We make our seven-ounce burgers with an 80/20 blend of lean/fat grass-fed beef, and we cook them on a griddle, seasoned simply with salt and pepper. The recipe is straightforward and consistent, and it makes for a fresh, juicy burger every time.

How to build a better burger:

Separate your layers. If you want more than two condiments, don’t put them directly on top of one another. For example, you don’t want fat on fat, so never put mayo on top of your cheese. Why? You lose the impact of each flavor: The name of the game is building flavor, not having them cancel each other out. Try putting one condiment on the bottom half of the bun and the other near the top half, either on top of the lettuce or tomato. Also, the tomato should be the cushion between your lettuce and your burger. It’s kind of amazing how different the juices and textures in a completed burger are!

Don’t skimp on the bun. At Lucky’s, we use a challah bun that’s made in New Jersey (we take this component seriously, and we’ve not found a sufficiently good local version), and it’s rich and fluffy — the perfect cradle for everything in between. If you can’t get your hands on any challah or brioche buns, buttermilk buns are also excellent. If you’re old school, it’s hard to go wrong with good ole-fashioned Martin’s potato rolls. Make sure you butter your buns, and toast them lightly on the grill before assembling your burger.

Hot tomatoes are good; wilted lettuce is bad. Remember this rule of thumb so you keep a nice texture in your burger. We prefer iceberg lettuce because of its that crunch, but use whatever you fancy. Just don’t put it on your burger until the last minute.

Ditch your main squeeze. Instead of always reaching for the trusty ole Heinz (which we still dig, by the way), think outside the bun, and check out our recipe for beet ketchup.

For more on the anatomy of a sandwich, check out my Southern Foodways Alliance post about our Ham & Havarti Sandwich here, and for some more tips on grilling, check out our summer grilling guide.

Here’s how we do it at L32:
Weigh out 7oz of ground beef, form into a ball. Place the burger ring (same diameter as hamburger bun) on a waxed sheet of paper. Press ground beef ball into ring, compressing to a uniform thickness. Season the burger with Kosher salt & black pepper and place on griddle. Season the second side. Butter the top and bottom of the burger bun with clarified butter and place face down on the flat top to toast. Toast the top and bottom of each piece. Once toasted, place buns on a plate. When the burger is seared well, flip it to sear the other side. When both sides have a hard sear, the burger should be about medium. Continue cooking to desired doneness. When the burger is ready, place it on the bottom bun, topped with the lettuce and tomato (when in season). We like to serve it with the onion and pickled okra on the side.

Want caramelized onions with that?

Caramelized Onions

• 1 pound yellow onions
• 1 tbsp canola oil

Remove the ends from the onions. Remove the peel and slice in half end to end. Cut onions into uniform ¼ inch thick slices. Heat oil in a sauté pan. Add onions and sauté until tender. Reduce heat and continue to cook until onions are caramelized to a golden brown. Pour off excess liquid. Makes about 2/3 cup

For more: See our current menu at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen and our Blog Recipe Index: http://lucky32southernkitchen.com/recipes/

Hickory Dickory Dock: Part one of our new beer & food series

A couple years ago we launched a new series of beer dinners at Lucky 32, where we highlight six brews from a local brewery and pair each of  them with a dish. It’s been a blast, and so many wonderful folks (old friends and new) have attended. April kicked off beer month in North Carolina, so our most recent dinner was particularly special. We featured Olde Hickory Brewery, a favorite brewery of ours, that we had been eager to share with our guests for some time.

The genesis of conceiving a beer dinner starts with the brewery and its beer, and is a matter of figuring out what the beer needs in order for it to be balanced. It’s important to us to feature breweries with personality — breweries that have a lot in common with what our guests want to experience. A story, a great personality, and of course great beer are all very important. We then choose a date, and then cipher through the brewery’s beer portfolio to figure out which six beers we’d like to feature. It’s a progression of lightest to heaviest; gradually increasing the hops, and ending with something sweet, or malt-forward, such as a porter or stout. We learned that the best way to pair food with beer is by featuring lighter beers with lighter fare, such as salads and seafood. Then as the hops intensify in the progression of the beers you can make the food spicier or more substantial in heft. High gravity beers that are low in hops pair wonderfully with cheese.

We were amazed at how many styles of beer Hickory Brewing offered and how many styles they executed well. So it seemed fitting that we feature them for one of our beer dinners. We always want to feature beers that are unique, and/or seasonal, so after sampling many beers and scribbling down copious tasting notes, the menu started to take form.

Charred Octopus Salad with White Beans, Smoked Tomatoes, and Rosemary, paired with the Ruby Lager. Tasting Notes: Guests found the octopus to be ultra tender, as their knives sliced into it like butter. They savored its wonderful smoky elements, from the char of the octopus and the smoked tomatoes. They found it to be incredibly light and refreshing, with the frisee and the lemon, and the crisp Guinness-style Ruby Lager that accompanied it equally refreshing.

We wanted to start with a salad, and because of the crispness of the Ruby Lager and its lingering sweetness, knew we could do something hearty and vegetal, but that the pairing would benefit from a little bitterness in the dish. We decided on a charred octopus salad with smoked tomatoes, white beans and rosemary, over a bed of frisee. Since there are minimal hops in this beer, by having frisee and lemon, and charring the octopus, we achieved a bitterness in the food that helped cut the sweetness in the beer.

Curried Lamb Samosas with Coconut Chutney and Dal, paired with the Bee Student. Tasting Notes: This was one of the most praised dishes of the evening. The buttery pockets of flaky pastry dough practically dissolved on the tongue, and guests found that all of the dish’s components worked really well together. The beer — brewed with local honey — was a delicate one, full of notes of floral and citrus.

For the next course we wanted to do an appetizer or a soup. After some brainstorming, we thought it would be cool to do individual pies, and decided on lamb samosas. We used puff pastry for the dough and made a curried lamb filling with potatoes and English peas, and lamb from Border Springs Farm. That was the foundation of the dish, that was meant to pair well with the Bee Student — a honey beer made in conjunction with Appalachian State’s brewing studies program. The dish begged for a sauce and an accoutrement to round it all out, so we served it with a coconut chutney and a dal with crimson lentils.

Turnip Roots & Shoots, Sea Island Red Peas, and Boiled Peanut Succotash, paired with the Table Rock Pale. Tasting Notes: The turnip roots and shoots were tossed in vinegar, and reminiscent of collards; the succotash was studded with sweet corn kernels and sweet potato; and the red peas (similar to lentils) were in a smoky ham broth, with the tenderest of ham hocks. It was the end all-be all of veggie plates.

We’ve been trying to incorporate more vegetables in our dishes. We had gotten some positive feedback about having a vegetable course in the past, so opted for a hearty dish of three down-home vegetables that would all pair well with a pale ale. Turnip roots and shoots, Sea Island red peas with ham hock broth, and boiled peanut succotash are all things we’ve had on our menu, or featured as our vegetable of the day. All three complement each other well, and really stand up to the Table Rock Pale Ale, which has a nice bite to it.

South Carolina Squab with Dirty Rice and Chipotle-Spiked Jus, paired with the Black Raven (a black IPA). Tasting Notes: This dish was another big hit among guests, who were pleasantly surprised by the rich savoriness of the succulent bird and creamy green pepper studded Carolina Gold rice. It packed a bit of a punch too, from the chipotle jus.

For the entree we wanted to do something off the beaten path. We’d never served squab at Lucky’s and the concept was alluring, especially since it was something we’d never attempted before. I figured we could do squab with a black IPA if the seasonings were appropriate. We seasoned the squab with our fried chicken seasoning, roasted it, and served it atop some Carolina Gold dirty rice, with a rich chipotle jus. The dirty rice was earthy and provided grounding to the dish, and by having the chipotle in the jus, it elevated the spice and balanced out the hoppiness of the Black Raven.

Tasting Notes: This lovely cheese plate featured creamy, slightly funky hunks of Chapel Hill Creamery’s Hickory Grove cheese, kale flowers (in the broccoli family), grilled naan, and wild ramps. It was paired with the Irish Walker, a sweet, malt-driven beer.

Any big, funky cheese is fantastic with a barley wine, so we got a little whimsical and selected Chapel Hill Creamery’s Hickory Grove cheese with Olde Hickory’s Irish Walker beer (a limited-release barley wine). We had come across some ramps, so we grilled them and served them alongside some kale flowers and some naan, which helped cut the rich creaminess of the cheese.

For the sweet finale: Flourless Mocha Grand Marnier Cake with Orange Creamsicle Ice Cream, paired with the Hickory Stick Stout. Tasting Notes: Guests loved the airy texture of the decadent cake, the ice cream made them nostalgic for their childhood, and they found the stout to be the perfect complement, with its notes of chocolate and orange.

For the final course, I wanted to showcase the Hickory Stick Stout, which had a nice nuttiness to it, and wasn’t too heavy, pairing it with a chocolate dessert that wasn’t too rich seemed like a good plan. We made a flourless chocolate cake with cold-brewed Counter Culture coffee, and Grand Marnier, and served with orange creamsicle ice cream, and the ice cream really helped balance everything out.

Ultimately, the goal is for attendees to leave sated – mentally and physically. There are always new flavor combinations to taste and ponder. We want folks to tell all of their friends about the amazing experience at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen, and make plans to return.

For more: See our current menu at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen and our Blog Recipe Index: http://lucky32southernkitchen.com/recipes/

This little piggy went to market: Bradds Family Farm, Part 1

LOCAVORE’S DELIGHT: The Series # 44. Follow us as we explore the bounty of our region’s farms.

We were visiting the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market one Saturday morning and saw this guy in a bright orange hat, and the sign on his table said “whey-fed pork.”

It turned out the guy’s name was Bobby Bradds, and the whey was from Goat Lady Dairy’s chevre operation (his wife Carrie is a cheese maker there). He was selling all the choice cuts of pork that he could at the farmers market, but he often took the off cuts back to his freezer at the end of the day. We offered him a proposition: if we bought all the things he couldn’t sell, then he could raise more hogs and have more meat to sell. We started using his liver in our liver pudding, and used his fresh pork fat to replace the commodity fatback we were using in our collard greens. We think that is what really sets them apart. Those collards became a sensation. For seven years now, folks have been commenting on our collards, saying they were really transported back to eating their granny’s collards.

This new relationship with Bradds Family Farm was just the beginning of what would evolve into a beautiful friendship. We then began buying whole pigs and eventually cows from Bobby, and we haven’t looked back. Bobby and his wife Carrie raise around 80 hogs each year on her family’s farm— just down the road from Goat Lady Dairy, in Grays Chapel, NC. They understand the philosophy that you are what you eat, so why not feed your animals healthy, flavorful food? It makes all the difference in the meat, and their hogs’ diet of goat cheese whey and whole grains makes for some of the healthiest, most delicious pork in the Piedmont.

Not your mama’s meatloaf

We make lots of dishes with the pork that we get from Bobby, but one of the most popular is the meatloaf. Most of us grew up eating mom’s all-beef meatloaf with brown gravy and mashed potatoes. And often the traditional ketchup-covered meat loafs were served at friends’ houses. Lucky 32’s meatloaf is a French country-style pâté, served hot, with red wine mushroom gravy. We use 75% beef, 25% pork. It’s seasoned, loaded with vegetables, and baked in a Pullman loaf pan that we line with bacon. We cool it, remove it from the pan, slice it, and then bake it in the oven once more, before serving it with gravy.

Meatloaf with Red Wine Mushroom Gravy

• ½ stick butter
• ¾ cup chopped yellow onion
• ½ cup finely chopped celery with stems and leaves
• 2 tsp minced fresh garlic
• ½ cup diced green bell pepper
• ¼ cup chopped green onion
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup half & half cream
• ½ pound ground pork
• 1 ½ pounds ground beef
• 1 tsp Tabasco
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire
• 1 tsp ground mustard
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme
• 1 ½ tsp salt or to taste
• ¾ tsp pepper or to taste
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 12 slices bacon

Melt butter in skillet and sauté onions until golden. Add celery, garlic and bell pepper and sauté until tender. Remove vegetables to a sheet tray to cool. In a large bowl add eggs and half & half and mix until combined. Add pork, beef, Tabasco, Worcestershire, spices and herbs and mix well. Work breadcrumbs by hand and then set aside. Line a loaf pan with 12 bacon strips, six on each side, so that the bacon will wrap the meat loaf. Place a strip at the joint where the bottom meets the side of the pan and bring the strip up the side of the pan and allow the excess to fold over the out side of the pan.

Continue in this manner alternating from side to side and leaving about an inch of space between each strip on the right and an inch a space between each strip on the left. When bacon is all laid out, place meat mixture in pan. Fold the bacon strips over the top of the loaf, completely wrapping loaf with bacon. Place in oven at 350 degrees and bake until thermometer inserted in the center reads 155. Makes: 1 Loaf Pan

Bring home the bacon

At Lucky 32, we make our own bacon for some recipes (we surely can’t make all of the bacon that we use). We take whole pork bellies and rub them down with our pork cure mixture (salt, pepper, and sugar). We age them for about 10 days and then smoke them with hickory. A lot of people think pork belly is the stomach of the pig, when it’s actually just bacon that hasn’t been cured and smoked. Pork belly is the same cut as bacon, it’s just prepared differently.

Homemade Bacon

• 5 pounds pork belly
• ½ cup Pork Cure (see recipe)

Rub pork bellies with ¼ cup of Pork Cure. Lay bellies out in a perforated pan and set the perforated pan over a non-perforated drip pan. Allow to sit for four days. After four days, season bellies with the remaining ¼ cup of Pork Cure. Place back in perforated pan over non-perforated pan and allow to sit for three additional days. Place bellies in a smoker with wood chips at 200 degrees for four hours. Place bellies directly on rack of smoker and add additional wood chips after two hours. Cool and slice to desired thickness. Makes 4 pounds

Pork Cure

• ½ cup kosher salt
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 tbsp black pepper

Combine well. Makes 1 cup

Be sure to come in and try our Whistle Bite Sliders (with pork belly from Bradds Family Farm), featured on our current Spring’s Eternal menu, through May 13th.

Lucky 32’s Whistle Bite Sliders with Pig & Whistle sauce and green tomato chowchow, on local rolls.

For more: See our current menu at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen and our Blog Recipe Index: http://lucky32southernkitchen.com/recipes/

Which Came First? Massey Creek Eggs

LOCAVORE’S DELIGHT: The Series # 43. Follow us as we explore the bounty of our region’s farms.

Most of us take eggs for granted. Not the role they play in our lives – they’re a staple of breakfast and brunch menus, and integral to desserts – but until recently, where they came from was not consciously pondered by folks. Most people we know lacked any connection to their eggs, and where they were from. Nowadays it’s become more trendy to buy more sustainable eggs or to raise raise your own in the backyard; but many of us remember over the last five to ten years, shopping in the grocery store and buying organic or free-range eggs, and just not noticing the flavor difference. It has been well-documented that organic produce (and eggs) usually travels further to get to your plate (so it’s not as fresh or sustainable as you think). Ultimately, we thought we could make a better impact on our guests and this community by focusing on the food that is grown nearby and working with these producers to collaborate on better tasting, more sustainable food.

Massey Creek Farms 

If you Ruby McCollum, of Massey Creek Farms, gives you an egg, you just have to crack it open. The first thing you’ll see is how firm the white is. One of the first things to deteriorate in an egg is the white, which gets soft, so a firm white is a good sign. Also exciting is that Ruby and her husband Garland have a chicken tractor, where the chickens live in a moveable house, or “hotel.” This pasture-raised method affords them a higher quality of life, with frequent exposure to better grass and bugs, thus producing healthier, tastier eggs, and happier chickens! Massey Creek Farms, which is located just north of Greensboro, in Rockingham County, is a family affair. Garland originally started out as a hog farmer on his family’s 200 year-old farm. But Garland became disillusioned with the harsh reality of a massive hog farming operation and in 2008 he completely re-evaluated his family’s practices. This led to raising lamb on pasture and learning the ins and outs of farming chicken eggs with those chicken tractors. He and Ruby are responsible for the farming, with the help of their children and his parents. The farm is Piedmont Grown certified, and has a strict no added hormones, antibiotics, and animal by-products policy. Their practices are humane and eco-friendly, nurturing both the animals and the environment in which they live.

While they also raise pigs, lamb, chickens, and turkeys for meat—some of which you may have seen us cooking at the annual Farm to Fork picnic in Hillsborough—eggs are at the forefront of what they do. If their ethos and practices weren’t reason enough to support them, their eggs sure are. We especially love them for making poached eggs, which we do on Saturdays and Sundays at Lucky 32. We feel fortunate to have this relationship with Garland and his family, and as a chef, it is gratifying to work with genuine people, who endeavor to create a healthier and better planet. Garland has evolved into an earnest pillar of our local food community, and several restaurants, bakeries, groceries and co-ops in the triad, use his eggs and meat. He’s very generous with his time and experiences, and people really enjoy stopping by his stall at the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market, which is turning into a regular scene on Saturday mornings. Stop by, pick up some eggs for yourself and tell ’em we sent you.

Where to Find Massey Creek Farms Eggs:

• Greensboro Farmers Curb Market
• Deep Roots Market
• Bestway Grocery
• Loaf Bakery
• Camino Bakery
• Washington Perk & Provisions
• Company Shops Market
• Chatham Marketplace

Deep Fried Grit Cakes with Poached Eggs & Country Ham Cream Sauce

There’s a poached egg dish that used to be a staple of our brunch menu and we still feature sometimes. I feel that poaching eggs are the best way to showcase how lively they can be, and this dish is one of the best (and most delicious) ways to eat Massey Creek Farm’s eggs. our grit cake recipe cooks the grits for a shorter duration than we normally would for creamy grits, then we dredge them in our a cornmeal creole-seasoned breader, deep fry them, and top them with poached eggs, country ham cream sauce and Texas Pete fried onions. It’s simple and soul satisfying. Come have brunch with us this weekend and try it for yourself!

Brunch is served on Saturdays from 11:15 AM-3 PM and on Sundays from 10 AM-3 pm. We’ll save a seat for you!

Lucky 32’s Deep Fried Grit Cake with Poached Eggs & Country Ham Cream Sauce

Deep Fried Grit Cake

• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 ½ tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 cup yellow grits
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• 2 medium eggs (or 1 large), beaten
• 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper (or to taste)
• 1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1/4 cup corn flour
• ½ tbsp Creole Spice Blend (see recipe)
• canola oil for deep frying

In a large sauce pot, bring vegetable stock, heavy cream, and butter to a boil. Stir in grits and reduce to medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until grits are cooked and liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and stir in cheeses, beaten eggs, salt, and pepper. Spread mixture onto a greased 8 x 8 pan and cool completely. Grits may be refrigerated overnight. When cooled, cut grits into desired shape and set aside. Meanwhile, blend cornmeal, flour, and Cajun spices in a shallow baking dish. Heat oil for deep frying to 350 degrees. Dredge grit cakes in cornmeal mixture and fry in hot oil, turning to brown on both sides. Drain fried grits on paper towels. Makes four 4 X 4 squares or 8 triangles.

Creole Spice Blend

• 2 ½ tbsp paprika
• 2 tbsp salt
• 2 tbsp garlic powder
• 3 tsp black pepper
• 3 tsp onion powder
• 3 tsp cayenne pepper
• 3 tsp oregano leaves
• 3 tsp thyme leaves

Add all ingredients to a large bowl and combine with a whisk until spices are evenly distributed. Store in an air tight container with lid. Makes – ¾ cup.

Country Ham Cream Sauce

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ½ pound country ham cut into small pieces
• ¼ cup diced onions
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 ¼ cups heavy cream
• ½ tsp fresh ground pepper
• 1 tbsp cornstarch

Heat oil in stock pot. Add onions to the stock pot and sauté until tender. When onions are tender, add country ham to stock pot and sauté until hot throughout. Do not overcook. Add butter to melt, and then add cream and pepper. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. Cook 8-10 minutes. Dissolve cornstarch in a little water; add only enough to slightly thicken. Remove from heat. Makes – 3 cups.

Poached Eggs

• 8 eggs
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 3 tbsp white vinegar
• 3 quarts water

Bring 3 quarts of water to a simmer in a 4 quart sauce pot. Dissolve salt and vinegar in water. Crack eggs, one at a time, into a small bowl. Stir simmering water with a spoon. Slide each egg from the bowl into the simmering/swirling water. Cook until the whites are firm and the yolks are just set. Lift eggs out with a slotted spoon and serve. Serves – 4.

Texas Pete Fried Onions

• 1 pound yellow onions, ¼ inch julienne sliced
• ½ cup Texas Pete® Hot Sauce
• 1 cup Corn Flour Onion Dredge (see recipe)
• canola oil for frying

Slice onions to ¼ inch slices. Break onions apart into rings and place in a bowl. Pour Texas Pete Hot Sauce over the onions, toss to coat well and then marinate for at least 20 minutes. Add ½ cup of dredge to bowl and toss to coat. Add the remaining ½ cup of dredge to bowl and toss to coat. Shake off excess dredge as you place onions into hot fry oil. Cook 2-3 minutes or until crispy.

Corn Flour Onion Dredge

• ½ cup yellow corn flour
• ½ cup cornstarch
• 1 tbsp salt (or to taste)
• 1 tbsp dried thyme leaves

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl until seasonings are evenly distributed. Makes 1 cup.

All About Eggs:

• Most hens begin laying eggs when they are around 20 weeks old, and will lay eggs for up to two years before decreasing their production.
• Some hens lay eggs every day, while some are less consistent, only laying once or twice a week.
• Laying eggs depletes calcium from the hen’s system, so that calcium must be re-obtained through feed or supplements (oyster shells are a good source of calcium, and are a good supplement).
• Egg shell color varies among breeds, and the size depends on the breed, age, and weight of the hen.
• Eggs are a complete protein, since they contain all of the essential amino acids. They also are a good source of calcium, choline, phosphorous, potassium, iron, omega 3 fatty acids, vitamins A, B2, B6 ,B9 and B12. The yolk contains most of the vitamins and nutrients, as well as over half the calories of the entire egg (around 60 for a large egg yolk).
• Eggs contain so much protein, the United States Department of Agriculture classifies them as meat in the food guide pyramid.
• Typically, the richer the hue of the yolk, the richer the egg will taste; it’s all dependent on the hen’s diet.

Cooking Tips:

• One way to determine if an egg is too old is to submerge it in water. If the egg lays on its side at the bottom of the bowl, it’s the freshest. If it lays upright on the bottom, it’s still okay to eat, but should be eaten soon, preferably hardboiled. If the egg is too old for consumption, it will float to the surface.
• When hard boiling eggs, it is important to know that fresh eggs don’t peel well; the shell sticks to the egg and it tears. Age your eggs about two weeks for better results.
• If you’re trying to quickly bring an egg to room temperature (which is best for baking), place your eggs in a bowl of warm water for at least 10 minutes.
• If you’re allergic to eggs (or just don’t eat them), apple sauce, arrowroot powder, and bananas can be good binder substitutes in baking.
• If you’re poaching eggs, add a little vinegar to your boiling water, to help the eggs maintain their shape.
• Ever wonder about the easiest way to separate an egg? Watch!

For more tips on cooking eggs, visit: http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-cook-an-egg-20-egg-tips-138160

For more: See our current menu at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen and our Blog Recipe Index: http://lucky32southernkitchen.com/recipes/

In Sheep’s Clothing: Shepherd’s Pie Revisited

LOCAVORE’S DELIGHT: The Series # 42. Follow us as we explore the bounty of our region’s farms.

We spend a lot of time on this blog talking about what we get and how we craft it into the delectable dishes that you’ve come to know and love at our restaurant. This post is a bit different; we’d love to take you behind the scenes of the genesis of one of our newest dishes – “Shepherd’s Croquettes.” It all started with a desire to find the perfect lamb dish…

The center of the lamb industry in the United States is in Colorado, because they can raise lamb at high altitudes (where they thrive and are not as susceptible to heat waves). Colorado lamb typically is finished on corn like beef, and correspondingly has a taste and texture reminiscent of beef, but it comes with a premium price tag. Most of the other lamb on the market is New Zealand or Australian grass-fed lamb, which is a breed that does well in warmer climates, so it has a significantly different flavor profile. They are leaner, and gamier in taste, and smaller animals in general. Most American diners prefer the taste of Colorado lamb and the price of Australian lamb. In the past, in our restaurants, we didn’t focus on lamb because we weren’t able to get the highest quality of lamb at a good value, and we didn’t have a story about lamb worth telling. Then we met Craig Rogers.

Border Springs Farm 

Craig Rogers is the owner and shepherd of Border Springs Farm, in Patrick Springs,Virginia. The farm is a breathtaking sight, situated among 60 acres of the scenic rolling hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The small family-run farm raises Kathadin and Texel sheep, herded by a vigilant pack of hard working border collies. The lambs they raise are healthy—free of hormones and antibiotics, and that care really shows in the amazing flavor of the lamb. Border Springs provide phenomenal lamb to some of the finest restaurants on the east coast, but , being only an hour and some change away from Greensboro, they feel like our neighbors, and we value their proximity.

The Evolution of Shepherd’s Pie

We’ve put chicken pot pie on our menu at Lucky’s in the recent years, and because it was so well received, we pondered doing variations on other pot pies. We hadn’t thought about doing Shepherd’s Pie until we started buying this incredible lamb from Border Springs Farm. Then we thought, what if we did real Shepherd’s Pie—not like the milquetoast 1950’s American version with ground beef and mashed potatoes. In America, we have a tradition of making things more convenient, and then they lose their symbolism. People who raise cows have never been called shepherds, so why make shepherd’s pie with beef? Instead, we wanted to use turnips, lamb stock and lamb, as an attempt to honor and recreate the Scottish heritage of the North Carolina Piedmont in a Shepherd’s Pie. So without actually having been to Scotland, that’s what we set out to do. We made a rich lamb stock and included ground lamb and turnips, since they’re abundant this time of year, and we topped it with mashed potatoes. It had a wonderful taste, but it was not a glamorous dish to look at, and an awkward one to serve, with the task of putting a solid over a liquid.

Last year we prepared a Shepherd’s Appreciation Dinner at Lucky’s. Naturally we served five courses of lamb. We wanted to make Shepherd’s Pie, but needed to do it family-style for 50 people, which presented a challenge. As a simpler alternative, we decided to mix the root vegetables and ground lamb in with the potato cakes, and breaded and fried them. We served them sitting in the gravy. We ended up crowning them “Shepherd Croquettes,” because croquettes are potato cakes and the word reminded me of the shepherd’s crook—a historic cane-like tool for catching sheep. Having shepherd’s pie in this kind of presentation delivers a textural element that traditional shepherd’s pie lacks. The croquettes provide that crispy, crunchy element so many folks crave and love. We like that we are presenting something familiar, but in a different form, and we think that’s become the hallmark of what we do at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen. The croquettes were an overwhelming success at that dinner, so we vowed to recreate these for the spring menu at Lucky’s the following year, and now they’re on our spring menu, for the month of March. One of the purposes of dining out is to eat the things you don’t cook. Some people may attempt this recipe at home, but others might not want to take the time for it. For me, the magic of dining in a restaurant is that you’re essentially dining in someone else’s home. This is our home. We spend more time in this restaurant than we do in our own homes, so we invite you to come into our home and try these croquettes for yourself this month.

For more: See our current menu at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen and our Blog Recipe Index: http://lucky32southernkitchen.com/recipes/ 

Lucky’s Legacies: One pot wonderful part two

One of the challenges of cooking southern food these days is for many people, southern food is synonymous with being inexpensive and coming from a can. When you cook food from scratch, with fresh, seasonal ingredients, and you reference old cookbooks and relative’s memories, it means something different for everyone. Interpretations of hushpuppies, meatloaf, and shrimp and grits differ from family to family. That being said, there are some dishes that we serve at Lucky 32 that resonate regardless of your background because they’re just simple, honest and hearty. The thing they all have in common is they’re kind of a Piedmont interpretation of one-pot wonders.

Sometimes beef stew is chunky, with potatoes, and it tastes like pot roast. You can eat it over rice, and it really isn’t anything special, it’s just something to eat. However, if you want to explore some southern foodways, go visit these little mom and pop places and order the daily special. It’s kinda funny because you can order stew beef and rice and chose rice as your side simply because it sounds redundant, and what will come out is beef stew over rice, with a side of rice. The difference between beef stew and stew beef and rice is stew beef and rice is mostly meat. It’s about the meat and the gravy, whereas beef stew is about the vegetables, the meat, and the gravy. At Lucky’s, we thought it would just ring true to people’s sense of place if we called the dish stew beef. When it first arrived on the menu, there were a handful of folks who thought we had gotten it wrong, because they thought it was more like beef stew. However, it really resonated with some people because many of them hadn’t seen stew beef on a menu in a long time and it was nostalgic and comforting to them.

Stew Beef and Rice

• 2 ½ pounds beef tips
• 2 tbsp corn starch
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 ½ tbsp canola oil
• 2 cups yellow onions, diced medium
• 1 cup celery diced medium
• 1 cup carrots diced medium
• 2 fl oz red wine, Burgandy
• 1 quart beef stock

Season beef tips well with salt and pepper. Toss meat with cornstarch to evenly coat each piece. Heat oil in a large skillet, add meat and sear on all sides. Remove meat to an oven proof pan. Add onions, celery and carrots to a sauté pan and brown. Deglaze the sauté pan with wine and continue stirring. Add beef stock. Pour vegetable mixture over beef tips in oven proof pan. Cover with foil and cook for 2.5 hours at 300 degrees. Serve over rice. Makes: 6 servings

There’s a divide in North Carolina where people east of here prefer rolled dumplings in their chicken and “dumplings” (so they’re flat, like noodles), and those are referred to as chicken and pastry. West of the Triad instead of rolled noodles, chicken and dumplings is made with biscuit dough, which is dropped into a simmering pot. We wanted to recognize both of those traditions and make our own middle path, so what we do at the restaurant is make biscuit dough and roll it into little gnocchi style dumplings and cook them in the broth with the chicken. This is a dish that was a favorite for a long time, and when it appears on the feature menu, it’s on two menus in a row. It just recently came off, so we wanted to share the recipe with you.

Chicken and Dumplings

• ¼ cup canola oil
• 2 cups yellow onions, medium diced
• 1 ¼ cup carrots, medium diced
• 1 cup celery, medium diced
• ½ tbsp garlic, chopped
• 4 each bay leaves
• 1 tbsp thyme leaves
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 ½ tbsp salt (or to taste)
• ½ tbsp cayenne pepper
• 1/8 cup all purpose flour
• 1 gallon chicken stock
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/8 cup heavy cream
• ¼ cup dry cooking sherry
• 3 pounds roasted chicken, pulled or rough chopped
• 8 each Buttermilk Biscuit dough circles (see recipe)
• ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped

Heat oil in a large sauce pot and sweat the onions until golden. Add carrots, celery, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, salt, pepper and cayenne. Continue to sauté until garlic is fragrant. Stir in flour and whisk until combined. Add stock and bring to a simmer, lower heat. Simmer until carrots are tender. Add sherry, cream and lemon juice. Add chicken.

Tear dough into ½ inch pieces and add to broth. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until dumplings are done. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley. Makes – 8 servings

Jambalaya

While Jambalaya isn’t rooted in the Piedmont, it’s definitely become a tradition here at Lucky 32, and it actually evolved from our New Orleans menu. We’ve done a version of it for many years as part of the New Orleans menu. Once we graduated from doing American regional food to seasonal food, we decided to bring Jambalaya to the base menu and feature it year-round, because it’s not seasonal. Traditionally it’s based on Spanish Paella. It’s a pilaf-style rice dish with onions, celery, bell peppers and a combination of meat (often times crawfish, chicken, sausage, and sometimes oysters). It was created as a budget-conscious way to use rice to extend a meager portion of meat to feed a whole family. Some of us grew up eating it with ground beef and sausage, but at Lucky’s we like to make it with wild American shrimp, roasted chicken and andouille sausage. This dish is a comforting one, perfect for carrying you through these remaining frigid nights. It’s definitely south Louisiana soul food, as filtered through the North Carolina Piedmont.

Jambalaya

• 5 tbsp canola oil
• 10 oz andouille sausage, cut into half moons
• 1 pound boneless chicken, chopped
• 1/3 cup green bell pepper, chopped
• ½ cup yellow onion, chopped
• 1/3 cup celery, chopped
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 2 cups long grain white rice
• 1 tsp ground paprika
• 3 tsp Creole Spice Blend (see recipe)
• 1 each bay leaf
• 1 pound small shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 3 cups chicken broth

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in large skillet. Add sausage and chicken. Sauté until chicken and sausage are browned on all sides. Remove to a plate. In the same sauté pan, add 3 tablespoons of oil. Add bell pepper, onion and celery.

Sauté for 5 minutes or until tender. Add garlic, rice and spices and continue stirring until oil has coated all of the rice and garlic is fragrant (about 3 minutes). Return chicken and sausage to pan and add shrimp.

Add broth and turn heat down to low and cover. Simmer until all liquid is absorbed, about 10-15 minutes. Adjust to taste with salt and pepper. Add additional chicken broth if needed. Makes – 6 servings

Creole Spice Blend

• 2 ½ tbsp paprika
• 2 tbsp salt
• 2 tbsp garlic powder
• 3 tsp black pepper
• 3 tsp onion powder
• 3 tsp cayenne pepper
• 3 tsp oregano leaves
• 3 tsp thyme leaves

Add all the ingredients to a large bowl and combine with a whisk until spices are evenly distributed. Store in an air tight container with a lid. Makes ¾ cup

What are some of your favorite one-pot wonders, or winter comfort meals?

For more: See our current menu at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen and our Blog Recipe Index: http://lucky32southernkitchen.com/recipes/

Flounder: A nice light fish for those long, dark days

One of the things that you don’t hear a lot of people talk about is that we in Greensboro and Cary are very close to the coast. We’ve got a tremendous seafood industry at our fingertips, which makes us very fortunate. Until the last couple of years, most of the fish landed at North Carolina docks between Memorial Day and Labor Day—which is prime fishing season in the Atlantic. However, they were shipped north to New York or south to Miami. There they are auctioned off to seafood distributors and then transported back to Raleigh or Atlanta, and then put on another truck to finally be delivered elsewhere. This process can put somewhat of a delay on us folks in the Piedmont getting our fresh fish, but the times, they are a changing. We are now becoming increasingly more able to obtain seafood directly from our coast, through small, independent distributors and other like-minded folks interested in strengthening our local food system. We’re happy to acquire our seafood from Southern Foods, in Greensboro. They work with several small Southeast coastal seafood markets and fishmongers, and we like supporting them because they support these family-run businesses.

One fish in particular that we have an advantage in procuring is North Carolina flounder. Because flounder’s season is opposite that of the deepwater fishing season, most flounder is caught during cold weather when most commercial fisherman are down south in Florida for the winter. It’s usually caught in shallow waters by locals, in smaller boats. It’s an easier process and the flounder stays in local markets rather than getting shipped to New York or Miami.

Coastal folks will tell you that when you eat flounder there are two sides: a light side and a dark side. The dark side is at the top of the fish and the white side is at the bottom. Essentially, when seen from atop they blend in with the sand and when seen from below they blend into the sky. Flounder begins its life as a round fish and then it starts to swim on its side, one of its eyes migrates to the top side, and it evolves into a flat fish. The dark side is typically thicker and more moist, while the white side is thinner and milder. When the weather gets cold, in addition to procuring fish elsewhere, we at Lucky’s like to feature flounder on our menu two to three times a week because it’s from our coast and the flavor is at its peak. We prepare our flounder simply: we get fileted flounder, leave the skin on and cut the bones out, pan fry it, sear it, and flip it and it’s delightful. Light, flaky fish such as flounder taste like what they eat—in this case little fish, crabs and shellfish, so flounder has a pleasant sweetness to it.

Tips for cooking flounder

When you have a relatively lean and flaky fish like flounder, you need to be careful about what you accompany it with. One of the reasons broiled flounder is most commonly served with lemon is that the fish’s flavor is so mild that you need the acidity of the lemon to excite your tastebuds, making you more able to appreciate the fish’s delicate flavor. You don’t want to overpower the delicate nature of flounder with bold, dominating flavors, so at the restaurant we tend to keep our preparations pretty simple. That simplicity allows us to really taste the flounder and appreciate its freshness. We want to do the fish justice and serve it with respect. At Lucky’s when we pair a sauce with flounder or create a dish with it, we prefer flavors that are rich or assertive without being heavy, like our lemon caper butter.

Sautéed Flounder

Season your skin-on flounder filets with salt and white pepper and sear flesh-side down in a hot skillet with one tablespoon of canola oil. Cook one filet at a time. Cook filet halfway through,then flip to skin side, and cook through. Add a slice of lemon caper butter and serve.

Lemon Caper Butter

• ½ pound butter
• 1 oz capers, drained and rinsed
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Remove butter from the refrigerator ahead of time and allow it to soften to room temperature. Ingredients may be blended in food processor or by hand. Whip the butter in a food processor until smooth. Add lemon juice and mix. Add capers and mix until capers are rough chopped. Place mixture on a piece of parchment paper and form into a log shape. Roll up in the parchment paper and freeze. Slice into coins as needed. Makes 1 cup

Flounder Roulades or Flounder Paupiettes

Another dish that we like to prepare with smaller,skinless flounder is this preparation of Flounder Roulades. Cut each fillet along the centerline, into two long, thin pieces. Make the following crabmeat stuffing, then spread a thin layer on each piece of fish and roll them up with the stuffing on the inside. Stand the roulades on their side and bake in a 300 degree oven until the centers are warm.

Check out this little slideshow to see how the roulades are made:

Crabmeat Stuffing

• 12 oz crabmeat
• 12 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 3 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 ½ tsp A-1 Sauce
• 1 tbsp Creole Spice Blend (see recipe)

Combine cheese, minced garlic, A-1 Sauce and Creole Spice Blend in a  mixer with paddle attachment. Mix to a uniform smooth consistency. Remove bowl from mixer and fold in by hand the crabmeat until well combined. Makes 24 ounces

 Creole Spice Blend

• 2 ½ tbsp paprika
• 2 tbsp salt
• 2 tbsp garlic powder
• 3 tsp black pepper
• 3 tsp onion powder
• 3 tsp cayenne powder
• 3 tsp oregano leaves
• 3 tsp thyme leaves

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until well-blended. Transfer the breader to a shallow dish for dredging.

Recipe: Buttered Breadcrumbs

•  1 quart panko breadcrumbs
• 3/4 cup melted butter
• 2 tsp ground paprika
• 2 tbsp parsley flakes

Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl. Toss to coat breadcrumbs well. Store in an air tight container. Makes 1 quart

Flounder 411

• Flounder are also known as Fluke
• Flounder can be found in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.and in the Gulf of Mexico
• There are five species of flounder: Japanese, Summer, Winter, Southern, and European.
• Flounder’s changeable colorings and markings allow them to often camouflage into their habitat to ward off predators.
• Flounder are most prevalent between Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Cape Fear, North Carolina
• They spend most of their lives near the ocean floor and move to shallower waters in the evening, post sunset.
• The largest flounder ever caught weighed 30 pounds and was four feet long.
• Female flounders migrate offshore to spawn, from October to December. They tend to produce 100,000 eggs per spawn.

Where can you get fresh fish around here?

• You don’t have to work for a restaurant to get things from Southern Foods, in Greensboro. They have a cash and carry window where you can pick up seafood. Call first for pricing and availability.
• Locals Seafood, in Raleigh sells their fresh seafood at the Raleigh State Farmers Market (in the indoor shoppes). Hours are: Thu-Sat 10am-4pm, and Sun 11am-3pm.
• Tom Robinson’s Seafood, in Carrboro carries an array of fresh seafood. Hours are: Thu-Fri 9:30am-6:30pm, and Sat 8:30am-6:30pm.

If you’ve got a taste for fresh seafood, come see us and ask your server about our Chef’s Specials for the day! In addition to the Cornmeal Crusted Catfish, one of our Lucky’s Classics, we often feature some other kind of fish or seafood, fresh from the water!

For more: See our current menu at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen and our Blog Recipe Index: http://lucky32southernkitchen.com/recipes/

Creole for Carnival

For many years at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen, we used to do a New Orleans menu surrounding the Mardi Gras holiday. However, about five years ago we decided to shift the focus of the restaurant from regions of America and their foodways to seasons and seasonally appropriate food. In doing this we were able to take several dishes from the New Orleans menu and incorporate them into a seasonal menu which celebrated the Carnival season—the whole month leading up to Mardi Gras. Some people happen to visit us for the first time during the winter months, when we feature our Mid-Winter Carnival menu with classic New Orleans dishes, so naturally, they think we’re a Cajun restaurant. We devote our feature menu (which we rotate seasonally, about every six weeks) to New Orleans dishes because in winter time, not too many things are in season and folks get tired of eating turnips. So, we cook some unseasonal things, like Gumbo, Fried Oysters, Boudin Balls, and our Vietnamese Po’Boy.

The carnival season in Louisiana goes from January 6th (traditionally known as “Twelfth Night,” “King’s Day,” or “Epiphany”) through the day before Ash Wednesday. Some years it’s five weeks long and some years it’s nine weeks long, so we like to pay tribute to that by starting our New Orleans Mid-Winter Carnival menu on the first Wednesday after the new year, and going all the way up until Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras.

This year we get to celebrate these New Orleans dishes a little bit longer than we did last year. Some of these dishes are a bit involved, so most won’t make them at home, which is why we enjoy featuring them at the restaurant. In our previous post, we mentioned our Grillades and Grits, Gumbo, and Red Beans and Rice, which are some classic New Orleans staples that are part of this Mid-Winter Carnival menu. We make Boudin Balls instead of traditional Cajun boudin (pork sausage), which is piped into links, steamed, and eaten with mustard. It’s really a tribute to the heritage of German settlers of southwest Louisiana. We prefer to make little fritters out of our boudin, deep fry them, and serve them with a mustard sauce.

We also serve a fried oyster appetizer with creamed spinach, which is evocative of Oysters Rockefeller, and our version of a bahn mi, which is a Vietnamese Po’Boy, in tribute to the sizable Vietnamese population in east New Orleans. There really is a vibrant new cuisine that is being incorporated into every aspect of New Orleans culture. We even make an Eggplant Creole, which is a southern Louisiana version of eggplant parmesan. We make ours with provolone cheese and a chunky creole sauce, reminiscent of a marinara.

Eggplant Creole

• 2 each eggplant (slice into 20 – ½” thick rounds)
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup whole milk
• 2 tsp Cajun Spice Blend (see recipe)
• 2 cups breadcrumbs
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 fl oz canola oil
• 10 slices provolone cheese
• 2 cups Creole Sauce (see recipe)
• 5 tbsp grated Reggiano Parmesan cheese

Trim ends from eggplant and slice into ½” thick rounds. Combine eggs, milk and 1 teaspoon Cajun Spice Blend. Combine breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, salt and 1 teaspoon Cajun Spice Blend. Set up a dredge station by placing the following items in three separate shallow pans: 1. flour, 2. egg/milk mix, 3. breadcrumb mix.

Run each slice of eggplant through the dredge station in the order listed and place on parchment paper. Heat oil in skillet until hot. Brown eggplant slices on both sides over medium heat. Top each slice with ½ slice provolone cheese and allow to melt. Sauce plate with Creole Sauce. Top sauce with slightly overlapping slices of eggplant. Garnish with grated Reggiano Parmesan. Serves 4-6

Creole Spice Blend

• 2 ½ tbsp paprika
• 2 tbsp salt
• 2 tbsp garlic powder
• 3 tsp black pepper
• 3 tsp onion powder
• 3 tsp cayenne pepper
• 3 tsp oregano leaves
• 3 tsp thyme leaves

Add all ingredients to a large bowl and combine with a whisk until spices are evenly distributed. Store in an air tight container with lid. Makes – ¾ cup

To end on a sweet note, the Mid-Winter Carnival menu features Red Velvet Cupcakes and our Bananas Foster Bread Pudding, which is a hybrid of two classic New Orleans desserts. Bananas Foster is a classic table-side preparation of flambéed bananas served over ice cream, which is always quite an exciting presentation. Basically what we do is make an old-school, boozy bread pudding that most people expect, and combine it with white chocolate and flambeed bananas, then serve it with the actual Foster sauce. It’s pretty awesome because it’s essentially the best of both desserts.

White Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding with Foster Sauce

• 1 loaf ciabatta or French bread, diced
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1 ½ cups heavy cream
• ½ cup milk
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 oz white chocolate block, shaved
• 1 tbsp butter, softened
• 1 ½ bananas, diced ½ inch
• 1 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 tbsp Myer’s Dark Rum
• 1 tbsp Crème De Banana
• 1 quart Foster Sauce (see recipe)
• Whipped cream (optional)
• Vanilla ice cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly toast diced bread in oven. Using pan spray, lubricate a 7 x 12 baking pan. In a mixing bowl, whisk together ½ cup brown sugar, cream, milk and beaten eggs. Add vanilla, cinnamon, bread and chocolate. Stir to blend thoroughly. Heat a sauté pan over medium heat; add softened butter. When melted add bananas and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add remaining brown sugar and mix with a rubber spatula until sugar is melted. Remove pan from heat and add rum and banana liqueur. Return pan to heat and ignite alcohol. When flames die, fold bananas and syrup into bread pudding mixture. Stir in melted butter. Mix well and transfer to baking pan. Bake until firm, about 45 minutes. Makes – 6 portions

Recipe: Foster Sauce

• 1 stick butter
• 1 pound light brown sugar
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1 ½ tbsp Myers Dark Rum
• 1 ½ tbsp Crème De Banana

Melt butter in a sauce pan and stir in brown sugar. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly for three minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until sauce is nappé (coats a spoon); about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and serve. Makes – 1 quart

To Assemble:

Place warmed portion of bread pudding in a shallow bowl. Ladle warm Foster Sauce over and serve with a garnish of whipped cream and vanilla ice cream.

All of these things for me are ultimate comfort foods and we look forward to making them for our guests every year. If you pay close attention, you may even notice that we spike our playlist with some south Louisiana favorites, such as Dr. John, Professor Longhair, and The Neville Brothers, to further amp up the festive atmosphere.

For more about our seasonal recipes, see our current menu at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen and our Blog Recipe Index:http://lucky32southernkitchen.com/recipes/