It gets chile around here in August

LOCAVORE’S DELIGHT: The Series # 17. Follow us all summer long as we explore the bounty of our region’s farms.

by MOLLY McGINN

Water won’t cool down a hot chile in your mouth. Go for the milk. There’s nothing quite that hot cooking in Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen, but you never know. A Habanero Hot Paper Lantern could literally walk into the kitchen. Any day.

Chiles start popping in late August and won’t stop until the first frost. And with the 5th Annual Pittsboro Pepper Festival coming up Sunday, October 15th, Lucky 32 has chiles on the mind. We served the Local Lengua with Pittsboro Pepper Chowchow and a vegetarian option there the last three years. This year, expect the same dish, and something a little different, he says.

To celebrate the chile this month, we asked Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen’s favorite chile farmers – server and farmer Mark Schicker and Guilford College’s Korey Erb – to share a few tasty tidbits about these hot pungent pods.

Meantime, scoop up plenty of red, green, and Jalapeno peppers this weekend at the farmer’s market (we’ve got our Pepper Jelly recipe below), grab a glass of milk and toast the season’s hottest vegetable: the chile.

Chiles at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen

A southern staple, the chile is a member of the nightshade family and kin to tobacco. Lucky 32’s pimento cheese, hot pepper jelly on lambastic sliders and the house-pickled pepper vinegar all feature locally grown chiles. Fans of the Chef’s Choice at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen will notice we use a lot of pepper jellies.

Mark Schicker, Schicker’s Acre in Pleasant Garden, NC

Getting chile peppers started takes some work, but the beauty of peppers is that they’ll keep going and going until the first frost, says Schicker.

“I start my seeds in mid-March and you don’t have to put the plants in the ground until May 1,” says Schicker. “This winter was so warm that I put mine in the 18th. We had a frost in late April and it killed the plants. So don’t put your plants in the ground until May 1. That’s what I learned this year.”

• Schicker supplies the restaurant with Cayenne Peppers and Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers for the pepper vinegar.

• If blossom end rot is a problem, he plants the seeds with crushed egg shells.

• Ever wonder why red peppers are more expensive at the grocery store? Red peppers start growing green and turn red the longer they stay on the vine. Extra time on the vine exposes peppers to more bugs and diseases, making the red pepper a delicate commodity.

• The Scoville Scale measures a chile’s spiciness. The bell pepper is 0 and one of the hottest chiles — the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion — rates 1.5 to 2 million units (same as law enforcement grade pepper spray).

Korey Erb, Guilford College Sustainable Farms, Greensboro, NC

Chiles make up a small part of Korey Erb’s sustainable farm at Guilford College. He grows food for the school’s cafeteria and CSA program. He doesn’t necessarily need chiles for the food or resale value (the school uses some on pizzas and the like). He grows chiles on the farm for the same reason he grows flowers — he just likes them.

But every once and again Erb says, he gets lucky enough to find someone who wants to use one of the more unusual varieties in a unique way.

On Erb’s farm you’ll find:

• Anchos, Tiburon variety
• Four different types of Habanero
• Two different types of Jalapeno – Canchos (larger and sweeter) and El Jefe (a bit hotter)
• Cayenne, the Joe’s Long variety, a very long, really spicy chile; and Andy, not as spicy, and a really light and “flourescenty” color, Erb says, and a little bit sweeter.
• New this year is the Hot Paper Lantern, like a Habanero with a waxy finish

Why so many chile varieties? It comes from trying to develop a vegetable that’s disease resistant, Erb says.

“There is a lot fungal, viral pressure on these little suckers. Some variety has been created to make it more resistant to these pressures. And you can have a lot of variety within one pepper. When it’s green, it’s super hot, and when it starts to turn red it sweetens up. The same pepper can taste very different, depending on when you harvest it. If the weather’s drier, it’ll be hotter.”

Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen’s Pepper Jelly

• 1 cup red bell pepper
• 1 cup green bell peppers
• 1 cup Jalapeno peppers
• 3 fl oz white vinegar
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 box Sure Jell – 2/3 cup pectin

Wash peppers well and then chop. In a food processor, pulse peppers and 2 tablespoons vinegar three times for 2 seconds each. Do not liquefy. Transfer peppers to a sauce pot. Add remaining vinegar, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in Sure Jell and simmer 1 minute. Pour into a labeled container and cool before using.

Keep refrigerated.
Makes: 1 pint

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

Eat a Peach: recipes and tips for August peaches

LOCAVORE’S DELIGHT: The Series # 16. Follow us all summer long as we explore the bounty of our region’s farms.

by MOLLY McGINN

Nothing’s better than late summer peaches. It’s the platonic ideal of what a peach should be. Juicy, supple, and free of stones. Most folks think a peach ripens all summer to get to this perfect, late summer state. Not so.

Timing is everything. Of the 200 peach varieties, there are 12 that thrive in North Carolina, according to NC State’s agriculture department. Each variety comes and goes — thrives in its own window of the season. A few varieties are peaking right now with one more to go before the end of summer.

To honor late summer peaches, we offer four recipes for the three stages of a peach: underripe, ripe, and overripe, as well as a few peach-picking tips if you’re picking off a tree, or off the farmer’s cart.

When you buy peaches, odds are they’re not going to be ripe. Most retail markets sell underripe peaches, because a ripe peach needs to be eaten now. Unless you’re planning to make the Peach Chutney (recipe below), let them ripen a few days before enjoying the best way to eat a peach–straight out of your hand.

You want something that will yield to gentle pressure. That’s when the peach will be the sweetest.

Look for the sweetest part. A brown spot on a peach is going to be the sweetest. There’s a difference between a brown spot and a bad spot. Some spots mark a worm or a bird peck–check it out.

Store peaches at room temperature. Don’t refrigerate peaches. It’s too cold and makes them mushy.

Store peaches separately. Not with your apples. Apples release ethylene gas. One quick tip: if you want to make the Peach BBQ Sauce and need the peaches to ripen a little faster, put them in a paper sack with some apples to speed up the process.

Check the stem and look for green spots. If there’s any green, the peach will take longer to ripen.

WHERE TO GO

Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen gets their peaches from the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market in Greensboro, NC. Ask Tim at Cedar Hill Farms for NC Mountain Peaches.

In Cary, visit Pee Dee Orchards at the Western Wake Farmers Market.

• Farmer’s Cart at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen in Greensboro and Cary
• Piedmont Triad Farmers Market
• Western Wake Farmers Market in Cary

Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen peach recipes

• UNDERRIPE |Peach Chutney
• RIPE | Peaches and Cream (below), Grilled Peaches
• OVERRIPE |Peach BBQ Sauce

Peaches & Cream

• 2 peaches
• ¾ cup Boiled Custard (see recipe below)
• ½ tsp granulated sugar
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 sprig fresh mint

Peel peaches, remove pit and slice into 6 wedges. Ladle custard into a serving bowl. Arrange peach wedges around the custard.Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over peaches.

Makes 1 serving

Boiled Custard

• 1 quart whole milk
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp corn starch
• 5 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp butter

In a pot, heat milk to a low simmer. In a bowl, whisk together sugar, corn starch and eggs. Slowly temper the eggs by beating in about 2 ounces of warm milk. Repeat process until all milk is combined with the eggs.

Return mixture to the sauce pot and cook over very low heat for 3-5 minuets, or until mixture coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and add vanilla, then add butter in small pats, stirring until incorporated. If necessary, strain mixture to remove lumps.

Makes – 6 cups

Disclaimer: All our recipes were originally designed for much larger batch size. This recipe has been reduced – but not tested at this scale. Please adjust as to your taste and portion size.

“I try not to be choosy about most things in life, but with my peaches I am as choosy as can be,” Dori Sanders on peaches in her book, “Country Cooking.”

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

Rock Star Farmer at Guilford College

LOCAVORE’S DELIGHT: The Series # 14. Follow us all summer long as we explore the bounty of our region’s farms.

Earlier this spring we met someone from the Guilford College Sustainability Office at Steve Troxler’s Commissioner Speaker Series at UNCG. They said, “You need to meet this kid, Korey Erb. He’s a rock star farmer, passionate, young, and interested.”

Guilford hired Korey from The College of William and Mary as an Agricultural Consultant a little over a year ago. They brought him in, gave him some land, dug him a well, and he built a climate-controlled greenhouse.

He grows food for the school’s cafeteria, the local foods underground scene, and for Guilford College students — it’s a subscription type service: students get $20 worth of fresh vegetables per week.

Read more about Korey Erb, featured in Greensboro’s Daily Photo series, “L is for Land, Sustainable Land.”

But like everything in agriculture, you never know what your yield will be, so with this year’s mild winter and wonderful spring, Korey had a bumper crop. And we were happy to help him out.

When we first met him, it was the week of finals at Guilford College and the cafeteria was closed. It just so happened that he had a truckload of vegetables that were recently harvested.

Among the farm’s bounty:

• Australian Brown heirloom onions
• yellow and red onion sets
• Swiss chard
• four varieties of basil
• four varieties of eggplant
• hot peppers—including anchos chiles, habaneros, and paper lanterns
• cabbage
• green and yellow summer squash
• okra
• mixed greens
• heirloom tomatoes
• cherry tomatoes and slicing tomatoes
• source: Guilford College Sustainability Web site

Now Korey calls us twice a week with beautiful, fresh vegetables for the restaurant. Right now we’re using the heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers (we should have more in 2 weeks) summer squash and zucchini, and beet greens, the daily vegetable on Saturday’s menu.

If you’re not a member of the Guilford College community, you can sample some of Korey’s Rock Star vegetables here, at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen.

Spread the word. Spread the love.

Sample Korey Erb’s fresh squash in the Parmesan-Crusted Pork Cutlet on the Locavore’s Delight Tasting Menu, now through August 21.

Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen’s Roasted Sesame Squash

• 1 lb summer squash cut into ½ moon slices
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp sesame seeds

Add oil to mixing bowl and stir in seasonings. Add squash and toss well. Roast on baking sheet at 350 for 12 minutes.

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

Schicker’s Acre: Lucky 32 server Mark Schicker farms unique finds

LOCAVORE’S DELIGHT: The Series # 13. Follow us all summer long as we explore the bounty of our region’s farms.

Sometimes the best farm find is in your own kitchen–if you’re lucky.

About 10 years ago, lacinato kale was the darling of the fine dining experience, an obscure delicacy found only in authentic Italian restaurants. The tuscany-grown green was less well known in the US. Even still, the full flavored vegetable is just a little off the beaten path, so to bring this green to a homestyle dining place like ours is really empowering.

Especially when the farmer — Mark Schicker — also happens to be a server at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen.

About four years ago, Schicker said, “I’ve got some land, is there anything you want me to plant?” We literally handed him a seed catalog, rattled off a few varieties — such as the lacinato kale — and he came back with a small harvest.

Since that summer, he’s been providing the restaurant with a variety of vegetables we can’t find anywhere else.

As a chef, you wish you had that kind of connection with your farmers, who literally stroll through your kitchen. Every other day we ask him about the vegetables, what’s coming in, what’s not. What’s fresh? We know more about pests and soil and more about farming, because we work with him.

Here, there’s a good chance the guy serving you the daily vegetable actually grew it. Go ahead. Ask him next time you’re here.

Sample farm fresh vegetables from “Schickers Acre” at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen in the following dishes. Or, find Mark’s vegetables on the farmer’s cart outside the Cary and Greensboro restaurants.

• Rutabagas, pickled and roasted at the end of the summer
• Lacinato Kale, featured in the daily vegetable “Beans and Greens”
• Four different radish varieties roasted with salt, pepper and oil and served in the spring and the fall
• White cucumbers: we make pickles every two weeks, and we pickle these for the fried pickle appetizers
• Black cherry tomatoes
• Japanese eggplant (everybody else grows italian)
• Banana peppers, which we use for the pepper vinegar for your collard greens

Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen Beans and Greens

This recipe is one of the Daily Vegetables at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen and uses lacinato kale from Schickers Acre. The texture of this full flavored kale cooks faster than most so it sautees easily in garlic and olive oil.

Most kale is woody and needs be braised first, stems removed. Not so with lacinato — you can eat it fresh from the garden to the pan to the plate. So not only is 100 percent usable from a chef’s perspective, it’s easy to prepare and it’s a little off the beaten dining path.

• 4 cups kale
• 3 cups dried black eyed peas
• 5 tbsp canola oil
• 3 tbsp chopped garlic
• 1 ¼ tsp crushed red pepper
• 1 ½ tbsp rice wine vinegar
• salt & pepper to taste

Soak peas overnight and then drain. Cook peas in salted water until tender, turn off heat and allow to sit until needed. De-stem, chop and wash kale. Heat oil in large sauce pot over medium heat. Sweat garlic and pepper flakes until aromatic. Turn heat up to medium high and quickly add kale. Stir rapidly to wilt down the kale. When kale has reduced in volume to 1/3 its size, add drained beans and vinegar. Simmer until kale is tender. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Makes – 1 ½ quarts

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

Buckets of blueberries, crepes, cakes, and Edna Lewis

LOCAVORE’S DELIGHT: The Series # 8.

Follow us all summer long as we explore the bounty of our region’s farms.

Sunday just concluded our participation in the semi-annual Triangle Restaurant Week and one of the featured desserts was Edna Lewis’ Blueberry Cake from her book, “The Taste of Country Cooking.”

Edna was a spiritual mother in my research of southern foods for Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen. Her recipes call for “fresh, local” foods. And right now, Edna, we’ve got buckets of blueberries on the Farmer’s Cart.

Giant specimens from Bill Stevens in High Point on the cart outside the restaurant in Greensboro. In Cary, we have blueberries from Lewis Farms in Rocky Point. And yes: We have issues (thank you eatocracy.com) and every dollar spent on a blueberry from a local farm is a vote for the local farming economy.

Cast a vote for local blueberries:

• Fresh blueberries are best and frozen are acceptable as substitutes.
• If you must use frozen, freeze your own.
• Place whole, washed blueberries on a parchment lined baking sheet and place in the freezer.
• When they’re frozen, transfer blueberries to a ziptop plastic bag.
• Thaw what you need when you want to make our blueberry crepes (recipe is below).

Also this weekend — in both the Cary and Greensboro locations — is the last opportunity to enjoy Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen’s blueberry crepes, so we’d love to encourage you to pick up some fresh blueberries off the Farmer’s Cart and make your own at home. Also, opportunities are dwindling to take your kids (or yourself) to a pick-your-own blueberry plot. Check this website for more info: pickyourown.org

Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen Blueberry Filling for Crepes

Makes 4.5 cups (18 cups)

• 2 lbs of fresh blueberries (8 lbs)
• 2 tsp orange zest (8 tsp)
• 2 tsp  lemon Zest (8 tsp)
• 2 tbsp juice from orange (½ cup)
• ½ cup granulated sugar (2 cups)
• ¼ cup corn starch (1 cup)

Mix berries, zest, and sugar in a small stock pot. Stir until ingredients are well mixed. Add juice and cook over medium heat until sauce just starts to bubble – approx. 10-15 minutes. Dissolve cornstarch in water. Reduce heat and add cornstarch slurry and blend well. Allow to cool before filling crepe shells.

Place 2 Tbsp filling in each crepe shell and roll up. Calculate three crepes per person and arrange in a casserole dish. Bake in 350 degree Fahrenheit oven until heated though and browned on the edges. Remove to serving plate and garnish with sprinkled powdered sugar and more fresh berries.

Edna Lewis Blueberry Cake

• 2 cups fresh blueberries
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• ⅓ cup water
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• ¼ cup water
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• ¼ tsp salt flakes
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 fresh, local egg
• 1 cup Homeland Creamery Milk
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar

Combine 1/3 cup sugar with 1/3 cup water and blueberries in a medium saucepan; simmer for 3-5 minutes, strain berries and reserve for cake. Return liquid to a pot and return to a simmer. Combine cornstarch and ¼ cup water. Drizzle slurry into simmering juice and cook until syrup consistency is achieved. Set aside.

Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Add butter and blend until mixture resembles cornmeal. Beat egg and mix in milk; add to dough, stirring all the while. Add vanilla, continue stirring; add baking powder, mix well. Spoon into a buttered 2″ half hotel pan. Scatter drained berries over the top. Combine remaining 1/3 cup sugar with cinnamon and sprinkle over the top.

Place in 425 degree Fahrenheit oven and close. Turn oven down to 375 and cook 25 minutes or until center is done. Serve slices of cake with reserved syrup.

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

There’s no basil like home’s: Pesto recipe

LOCAVORE’S DELIGHT: The Series # 7.

Follow us all summer long as we explore the bounty of our region’s farms.

by MOLLY MCGINN

If you really want the best, freshest basil, grow your own. It’s one of the easiest herbs to grow from seed and you can plant it almost anytime in the summer.

Many basil lovers already have bunches growing in their home gardens. But if you’re a locavore newcomer, or simply new to the garden game, you can always learn a thing or two from the Edible Schoolyard. And, we have a few quick garden tips to help you get going.

Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen’s Pesto Sauce

• 3 ½ oz fresh basil leaves
• ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 ½ tsp minced garlic
• 1/3 cup grated Reggiano Parmesan cheese
• ½ tsp fresh lemon juice

Pick basil leaves from stems and place in a blender. Add oil and garlic; blend well. While continuing to blend, add cheese and lemon juice. Blend until no lumps are present.  Makes – 1 1/3 cups.

Lucky 32’s new gardner tips

Materials

• Basil seeds (we picked up this pack from 5th Season Garden Co. on Battleground Ave.)
• One bottom plate of a terra cotta pot, small or large
• Fresh soil
• Water
• Sunlight

Procedures

Remove the top of the terra cotta pot. You just want to use the bottom plate for this starter garden. Fill the terra cotta pot with soil. Sprinkle in the basil seeds and cover with a little dirt. Water gently. Set in the sun.

Tips: You don’t want to the sprouts to grow too close together, so I spread them apart, take some out and replant them around my house. Pinch the flowers off the leaf. You don’t want basil seeds, you only want the leaves to grow.

In 45 days, see the above recipe, and enjoy!

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

Fresh, cold, hothouse tomatoes: Screech Owl Farms

LOCAVORE’S DELIGHT: The Series # 4. Follow us all summer long as we explore the bounty of our region’s farms.

Hothouse tomatoes in a Liquor House Salad. Lashings of mayonnaise on the perfect BLT. Tomatoes are a transcendental experience in the summer. Screech Owl Greenhouse in Pittsboro, NC, is where we are getting the most luscious hothouse tomatoes you have ever tasted.

Ralph “Screech” Sweger is utilizing biodiesel to heat the greenhouses, so that the plants are fooled into believing that they are thriving in the midst of summer. This has been going on at Screech’s farm since October of last year. Folks-in-the-know have been slow to spread the word for fear of others scooping up the prized tomatoes. They’re quietly picking up Screech’s tomatoes at the Siler City, Pittsboro or Western Wake Farmers’ Markets. We are honored to be offering the best tomatoes in town, months and weeks before field tomatoes find their groove. Pick up a few of Screech’s tomatoes from the Farmer’s Cart outside the Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen restaurants and try them for yourself. Tasting is believing.

Cold tomatoes

This week’s recipes showcase uncooked tomatoes at their peak. We should also mention that the best use of a ripe tomato is on a sandwich. Schmear the bread with mayonnaise (pickled ramp mayonnaise, if you have it), salt and pepper the tomatoes and top with another slice of bread. We’ve got a diagram of our favorite sandwich here, rendered by our friend Chip Holton (to accompany our story on said sandwich on the Southern Foodsways blog).

“After all, a BLT is all about the tomatoes’ sweet acidity heightened by the luxuriousness of the mayonnaise; the bacon plays second fiddle by contributing smokiness and salt (not so much fat, because the best BLTs feature crispy bacon). A slice of cheese would throw the entire thing out of whack. Ultimately, by reducing the ingredients to their base properties, and arranging them thoughtfully, the resulting sandwich can be a transcendental experience.”

Cucumber-Tomato Salad “Liquor House Salad”

• 1 ½ pounds cucumber
• 1 pound tomatoes
• 1 2/3 cups white vinegar
• 1 ½ tbsp sugar
• 3 ½ tbsp Soy Sauce

Wash, peel, seed and slice cucumbers. Wash tomatoes and cut into wedges. In a bowl, combine all ingredients. Allow to sit at room temperature for 1 hour before serving. Makes 4 cups.

Tomato Mozzarella Stack

• 4 tomato slices
• 3 slices fresh mozzarella
• .5 oz chiffonade basil
• 1 tbsp balsamic syrup
• 7 pinches flake salt
• 7 pinches fine black pepper
• 1 tbsp scallion oil (or for an extra adventure, use garlic scape oil)

Season both sides of each slice of tomato and mozzarella with salt and pepper. Alternate layers while stacking in center of a medium round plate, starting with tomato and ending with tomato. Drizzle scallion oil in a circle around plate; drizzle balsamic in zigzag over stack and garnish with chiffonade of basil.

#1 Learning to forage for ramps with Diane Flynt of Foggy Ridge Cider

#2 A wild recipe: Ramps harvested by hand in the Appalachian Mountains for this month’s Chef’s Feature

#3 Slow heat to summer: Green Garlic Confit from Plum Granny Farm

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

Slow heat to summer: Green Garlic Confit from Plum Granny Farm

LOCAVORE’S DELIGHT: The Series # 3.

Follow us all summer long as we explore the bounty of our region’s farms.

This weekend is the unofficial start of summer. We all want a table outside where we can spend hours talking with friends in the temperate weather, eating good food cooked in a cool oven for hours while we waited for the timer out-of-doors. Today, we shares a recipe for celebrating this spring’s slow rise to a hot summer: Green Garlic Confit.

Find some fine Green Garlic specimens on our Vegetable Stand outside Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen in Greensboro and Cary; picked fresh from Plum Granny Farm in Capella, NC.

Confit Green Garlic

Known for its subtle, earthy flavor, smear this late-spring garlic bulb confit on freshly grilled or toasted bread. Save the confit oil and toss with salad, or use it as a dipping oil with bread.

• 1 lb garlic green bulbs, about 12 bulbs
• 1 8 x 8 inch loaf or banana bread pan
• Lower grade olive oil, such as pomace oil

Clean the green garlic bulbs. Trim off the leafy green top (save for your chicken broth), and leave a 4-inch stem above the bulb. Peel off the garlic’s tough outer skin, much like you would peel off the papery layer from an onion or garlic bulb.

Place the the prepped green garlic tops in the loaf pan. Pour in pomace oil, or a lower quality olive oil, over the garlic bulbs, using just enough to cover the bulbs.

For a gas oven with a pilot light, set the pan in the oven to cook the garlic and bulbs for 4 hours, or overnight. For an electric oven, set the temperature to the lowest possible setting and set the pan in the oven. The confit process is about turning up the heat as slow as possible, up to 212 degrees Fahrenheit without going over 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Let the bulbs cool to room temperature. Remove the garlic bulbs and place on a plate with fresh rosemary. Save the remaining oil and season with fresh salt and pepper to use as a bread dip.

Green Garlic

Green garlic is harvested before the head divides into cloves, and is usually the result of farmers thinning their crop by picking every other plant to allow the remaining garlic to expand into the vacated space (much like spring onions). This young plant has a milder taste than the mature garlic that is usually encountered. Green garlic is usually available at farmers markets or directly from farms growing garlic. The “season” for green garlic is usually brief, toward the end of spring.

Read LOCAVORE’s DELIGHT: The Series.

• #1 Learning to forage for ramps with Diane Flynt of Foggy Ridge Cider
• #2 A wild recipe: Ramps harvested by hand in the Appalachian Mountains for this month’s Chef’s Feature
• #3 Slow heat to summer: Green Garlic Confit from Plum Granny Farm

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

A wild recipe: Ramps harvested by hand in the Appalachian Mountains for this month’s Chef’s Feature

LOCAVORE’S DELIGHT: The Series #2.

Follow us all summer long as we explore the bounty of our region’s farms.

It took 5 years, a 4-hour ride in a London taxi cab, and a tradition as old as the Appalachian Mountains to make this Pickled Ramp and Mushroom Relish. And it’s all for you this month at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen in Greensboro.

The prized perishable in the relish is the wild ramp. The heirloom vegetable still grows in abundance in the wet hollows and ravines of the Appalachian Mountains.

Favored in high end restaurants for its scarcity and garlic-onion flavor, getting your hands on a batch of ramps either takes some extra scratch – up to $25 a pound – or a sense of adventure.

Ramps are slow to divide and propagate. Its life-cycle is 5 years from stem to seed, and because ramps prefer the steep mountain side near ravines, they can only be harvested by hand.

Good thing Lucky 32 has a taste for adventure. We were recently a special guest at Foggy Ridge Cider and hunted ramps with Diane Flynt, co-owner of the community-friendly cider farm. Read about the ramp adventure here.

Taste the adventure and the spring tonic known as the ramp in this Pickled Ramp and Mushroom Relish. Ask for the Chef’s Selection of Fresh Fish, a special item on the right side of the menu.

And to get the full adventure flavor, try our new New Jersey Cocktail, made with Foggy Ridge Hard Cider or their First Fruit Cider, now available by the glass, made from apples grown in close proximity to these wild ramps.

Pickled Ramp and Mushroom Relish

Pickled Ramps

• 1 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 pound ramps, cleaned
• 1 tbsp sea salt

Wash the ramps under cool, running water. Drain the ramps well and place them in a mason jar. Combine the vinegar, salt, sugar, and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the bay leaf, and peppercorns. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the ramps in the mason jar and let cool, sealing tight and transferring to the refrigerator.

Pickled Ramp and Mushroom Relish
Yield= 1 qt

• 2 pounds shiitake mushrooms, weighed with stems
• 2/3 cup canola oil, divided
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1/3 cup tamari
• ½ pounds pickled ramps
• 1/3 cup pickling brine from ramps

Trim stems from mushrooms (and use when making stock). Julienne mushroom caps. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1/3 c oil with tamari and pepper; add mushrooms and mix well. Distribute mushrooms evenly on a baking sheet and cook in a 350 oven for 7-9 minutes, or until partially dried. Chop ramps finely (white and green parts); combine with mushrooms and remaining ingredients.

Adapted from Serious Eats

Read LOCAVORE’s DELIGHT: The Series.

• #1 Learning to forage for ramps with Diane Flynt of Foggy Ridge Cider
• #2 A wild recipe: Ramps harvested by hand in the Appalachian Mountains for this month’s Chef’s Feature
• #3 Slow heat to summer: Green Garlic Confit from Plum Granny Farm

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

Beer Dinner | Reserve your glass, Greensboro

Corn Beef Sliders on Anna Mae Rolls. Catfish Pate’ on ciabatta crostini. Hickory-Smoked Rappahannock River oysters with house-made kimchi. “Cherry Wheat” Spiked Red Velvet Cake. We take a quick look back at pics from a recent Beer Dinner to help you get ready for the next one, Monday, May 7, 2012 in Greensboro, NC.

“This is just an example of the way we blow minds at beer school. Education with a mission,” our Lucky 32 chef says.

Beer & Cheese School Monday, May 7, 2012 at 6:30 pm in Greensboro | Sign up and reserve a seat.

Cost is $30 per person (plus tax and gratuity)
Advance reservations are required
Limited seating, so please reserve today by calling 336-370-0707

• Meantime: Prepare yourself with 6 tips to drink a beer like a boss.
• Make some Purple Sweet Potato Chips, from fresh local ingredients available this month on the Farmer’s Cart. The chips are pictured with the Corn Beef Sliders below.

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