Hot Dish Review

It’s canning time again!Farm to table is the hottest trend in dining. It’s funny because that’s how I grew up, eating vegetables right out of our garden. We would pick squash, beans, okra, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, and whatever else was ripe, and cook it for dinner that day. Now that’s sustainable, organic, and local!

Of course, there was a surplus of some vegetables. My Dad intentionally planted more green beans than we could eat so we could can them for the Winter. I have great memories of days spent stringing beans in the backyard under the big old apple tree with my Grandma.

She taught my Mom the art of canning. Using a pressure cooker and Mason jars, it was a Summer ritual. Years later, my parents still plant a garden every Spring. But with their time split between Tennessee, Helen, Georgia and Florida, they’ve downsized the plot, only planting the necessities.

But there were still enough green beans for my Mom to can a batch or two this year so I snagged a couple of cans. As delicious as always, I ate the whole jar by myself!

It’s that time of year again! This post is dedicated to my friend Scott at Hairology, LOL.Yep, I’m Southern. You wouldn’t guess it from my accent or from the tell-tale shotgun under my bed. No, you’d be hard-pressed to figure that one out until….

Until someone brings up food. Specifically, the proper way to prepare certain Southern foods, like fried green tomatoes, for example. Few vegetables get my dander up quite like thickly breaded, deep fried green tomatoes. Check out my post on how to prepare them correctly.

Once I’m on the subject of Southern food, it takes me back to my childhood when fried okra, corn on the cob, green beans, tomatoes, zucchini and squash were daily Summer fare….fresh from the garden, naturally.

The current restaurant trend toward sustainable, organic, and local produce is a natural draw for me. Flavors are more pronounced when the vegetables were recently plucked from their vines.

Last night I was craving yellow squash so I thought I’d cook up a mess of it! God only knows how many days the yellow squash I bought at Walmart had spent en route to the store.

Sometimes us Southerners are blamed for cooking our veggies to death. I find many of them are best that way…..greens and squash especially. It tames the bitterness of greens and brings out the sweetness of squash.

I slice my yellow squash thinly, along with some Vidalia onion, and sautee them until brownish and falling apart (like in photo above, and yes, that is one serving). Celery salt, black pepper, and dried parsley and spice. Yum!

By the way, about that gun, I ain’t got nar’n.

(There is some debate about the spelling of “nar’n”, the contraction of “nary a one”, which is slang for “never a one”, “not any” or “none”.)

I kept the bag of Bob’s Red Mill Pearl Barley from my mushroom barley soup recipe in the freezer for future experimentation. My nutritionist is vegetarian so she is a big advocate of barley, quinoa, any grain really. Combined with vegetables, fruit, and tofu, this is the basis of her diet.

So I thought I would give a vegetarian dish a try last weekend….a combination of the barley plus a veggie recipe I started making last year. A savory combo of zucchini, squash, onion, scallions, carrot, and poblano pepper, I cut the veggies julienne giving them a spaghetti-like texture and season them with black pepper, celery salt, and a dash of cayenne.

I made a batch of barley according to directions on the bag….3 cups of water to one cup of barley. It said to simmer for 50 to 60 minutes, however, after just 20 minutes or so I had to add more water, which I continued to do to prevent scorching, cooking it for a total of 45 or 50 minutes.

Then I divided it into four equal servings, the first of which I flavored with a few drops of hot sauce and a handful of cilantro. I spooned half of the veggies over the top…..tasty! I really like the toothsome quality of barley.

Remaining veggies made a satisfying lunch today with another portion of the barley. And a third portion will be a breakfast experiment!

What to do with the fourth serving?

Named for former Atlanta mayor Livingston Mims (OK, I’m not a history buff but I never heard of this guy, however, he sounds like he was a partier back in his day!), this place has everything going for it. Located at the gorgeously restored Georgian Terrace, the setting is subdued elegance. With a view of the Fox Theater and the busy corner of Peachtree and Ponce, it is the quintessential landmark dining experience.

The chef is Gary Mennie who spent ten years at Canoe then opened Taurus to much initial success. But Atlanta sprouts new, hot restaurants seemingly every week, even in this economy, so it’s hard to sustain the hotness. He gave it quite a go!

The Georgian Terrace hosted Harvest Midtown on Sunday, the annual food and wine fair sponsored by Barrelman, the wine store connected to Eno. So, naturally Eli Kirshtein, Eno chef and current Top Chef contestant, was there, as was Hector Santiago from Pura Vida, who Padma already asked to “pack his knives and go”. I gushed to him briefly about his duck maduros and my love affair with his establishment. Keep in mind this was after 3 hours of wine tasting (and no, for $45 I do not spit it out for God’s sake!)

B was my companion for Harvest Midtown. We have found ourselves at Livingston on many occasions, drinking, dining, requesting the to-die-for short rib ravioli at midnight! (John, the manager, made it happen). Yes, we are regulars. We ran into chef Mennie’s awesome sous chef Zeb Stevenson repeatedly, finally introducing us to Mennie as we sipped our last glasses of wine on the terrace.

The menu here focuses on local produce and proteins, the trend du jour, although one surely can’t complain about farm fresh veggies and supporting local farmers. My family had a small farm every summer and I picked okra, squash, corn. Me and my Mom canned green beans. Vegetables had flavor, and that’s what you’ll find at places like Livingston and Abattoir.

The short rib ravioli appetizer here is delectable. Filled with savory meat the ravioli rest in a bit of broth with sweet notes from acacia honey and a hint of horseradish, creating the perfect balance and making this dish one of my favorites in town. (The most amazing thing about this post is that I don’t have a photo of the ravioli….ridiculous!) Duck croquettes are tasty as well, set upon dollops of pureed sweet potato.

On one visit we split the rabbit and a side of brussels sprouts served in the cutest little individual saucepan. Both of us already had some prosecco and a couple of glasses of A to Z pinot noir so I can’t recall the exact preparation of the rabbit but I do remember we enjoyed it. B has had the veal with cauliflower gratin, I have tried the pork with Vidalia tart and peach mustarda which was short on delivering the sweet/savory combination that I craved. Didn’t care for the chopped salad that everyone raves about or the lemony grits. Another salad with arugula and pecorino was simple and satisfying.

The desserts have been quite good, however, the best came at Harvest Midtown where we met the adorable pastry chef Derrick. His apple crumble was the best bite of the show and will hopefully be on the Fall menu!

Zeb promised a seared foie gras on the new Fall menu as well….you know I’ll be back for that!