Simple Tastes of the Season

The more complicated and hectic my life becomes, the more I find myself trying to simplify everything.

As a full-time working mother of a two-year old, I find myself struggling to find the time to do just about anything.

Most days I’m like a duck on a pond: I may look calm on the surface, but below the surface my feet are kicking like crazy just to stay afloat.

Cooking has always been a passion of mine, but lately I don't have the time or the energy to invest in making complicated recipes with umpteen ingredients.

However, I refuse to sacrifice taste, quality or healthy options when it comes to meals.

I always associate each season with the produce available.

For instance, summer equals sweet corn, tomatoes, watermelon, green beans, cucumbers, blackberries, yellow squash, zucchini, etc.

My mom always found the time to grow a beautiful garden, and some of my earliest and fondest summertime memories include blackberry picking with our family dog, making jam and cobbler, the smell of a vine-ripe tomato, and the taste of my Grandma’s green beans with potatoes and bacon.

The entire gardening process was so enjoyable, from the plowing of the field, to the planting of the seeds, even the seemingly endless wait until I could taste the fruits of our labor.

Although I did not have the time to grow my own garden this year, I did find the time to become a member of the

Elmwood Stock Farm Community Share Agriculture (CSA) program

. All produce is grown on a local 350-acre family farm in

Georgetown

,

Kentucky

, and delivered to a convenient pick-up location near our home.

For 22 weeks (from mid-May through mid-October) we get to enjoy fresh, local, organic produce, along with weekly newsletters, food preparation tips, recipes, crops news and other items of interest.

As my old friend Ina Garten would say, “How easy is that?”

In my opinion, nothing tastes more like summer than a vine-ripe tomato.

And, they are simply perfect just sliced and eaten by themselves.

Seriously, you probably don’t really need these recipes; rather, they are more of a reminder that you can enjoy the very best of the season in the simplest ways.

Tomato

Sandwich

with Bacon and Mayo

Two slices of bread, lightly toasted

Duke's mayonnaise

2 to 3 slices of bacon

2 to 3 slices vine-ripe tomato

Caprese Salad

3 vine-ripe tomatoes, ¼-inch thick slices

1 pound fresh mozzarella, ¼-inch thick slices (

Buffalo

mozzarella is a favorite)

Garlic salt lightly sprinkled on tomatoes

Fresh basil leaves

Extra-virgin olive oil drizzled on top

Balsamic vinegar drizzled on top

Fresh ground pepper

Buon Appetito!

Mirko Pasta

I recently had the pleasure of visiting my hometown of Owensboro, Kentucky. Prior to our visit, I mentally (and physically—Tums® anyone?) prepared myself for the intestinal fallout of a week of cornbread-crusted and fried anything and everything. Like many of you, I grew up on good Southern cooking—deep-fried okra, gravy & biscuits, fried chicken, country fried steak. I love it all, but—after sixteen years of living in Minnesota—my forty-year-old gastrointestinal tract is not overcome with affection for me when I gorge on good old down-home cookin’.

After multiple excursions to various Owensboro institutions of fried food during our week-long visit, imagine my surprise when my brother suggested one night that we check out a fairly new Italian restaurant in town.

Honestly, I was not expecting to be wowed. Tucked into a corner of Wesleyan Park Plaza adjacent to a Long John Silver's, the restaurant was housed in the same building as the old Noble Roman’s Pizza of my youth. With a legacy like that, I wondered how good it could possibly be. I envisioned Creamette® noodles floating in viscous, artery-clogging alfredo sauce being served in gallon drums.

Fortunately, I could not have been more mistaken.

Mirko Pasta is a breath of fresh air in a town of cookie cutter chain restaurants. Mirko is the brainchild of Chef Mirko Di Giacomantonio, who wanted his customers to “feel like I felt when I went to my grandma’s house." His first restaurant opened in Macon, Georgia in 2010. Mirko Pasta now includes franchises all across Georgia, as well as Nashville, TN, Roanoke, VA and Owensboro.

The Mirko Pasta in Owensboro had a bit of a “special occasion” feel to it, but the prices were extremely reasonable (read: cheap!) for our casual Monday evening excursion.  Pasta made from scratch daily is served with your choice of fresh toppings and sauces.  Mirko specifically incorporates seasonal vegetables and changes up some of the sauces to offer customers lighter choices in the spring and summer, and heartier choices during the cooler months. Mirko Pasta also boasts a wide range of wines to pair with your lunch or dinner, as well as a full bar.

When we were seated, the waitress immediately brought us a couple of carafes of cold water and a basket of warm rolls with an accompanying spread of pureed cannellini drizzled in olive oil. It was perfect. However, being gluttons for bread and dip, we also decided to order an appetizer—traditional spinach and artichoke dip with homemade grilled bread. Mirko’s version was nothing short of creamy and satisfying.

I had a small, light and flavorful salad—the Insalata di Spinichi—which was comprised of baby organic spinach, raisins and goat cheese with a walnut, honey and balsamic vinaigrette. It was delicious paired with an Italian Pinot Grigio.

It was more than a little difficult to decide on a main course. With 18 different types of pasta and 12 different sauces to choose from, the combination possibilities were nearly endless (someone else can do the math because, frankly, it hurts my head). Eventually, after much pomp and circumstance (not to mention a healthy dose of impatient sighing from my dinner companions), I ended up choosing the tagliatelle with carbonara sauce (egg yolks, pancetta, cream, black pepper and parmesan), and I was not disappointed. The sauce was rich and flavorful and the fresh pasta was cooked perfectly.

My children shared an order of macaroni and cheese from the children’s menu which was more than enough for my two seven-year-olds with leftovers for lunch the next day. And to make my parmesan-drunken smile even wider, I was surprised to learn that kids eat free on Monday nights! Score!

If you are looking for good made-from-scratch Italian food in a casual environment with attentive wait staff that barely puts a dent in your pocketbook (and really, who isn’t??), check out Mirko Pasta in Owensboro.

Feel free to tell them Shannon sent you (you know...just to utterly confuse and befuddle them)!

Mirko Pasta

611 Emory Drive
Owensboro, KY 42301

Phone: 270-683-1100

Patti's 1880's Settlement

That we have come this far in our journey together and not yet talked about Patti's is either a testament to the restaurant's ubiquity or my failure as a guide to all things Western Kentucky.

Patti's is a DESTINATION. In 1975, it started as a family burger joint attached to a six unit hotel. Over time it has grown to two restaurants, a full size hotel, shops, petting zoo, and park that serve over 350,000 people a year.

Located in Grand Rivers, Kentucky, what made Patti's famous was the pork chop.

It's slap your momma good and when accompanied by Patti's bread in a pot with strawberry butter. Well... wear loose fitting clothes is all I'm saying because THEN there's dessert. A veritable smorgasbord of pies and cakes but, if you're asking an expert (AKA me!), skip it all and go for the world famous Bill's Boat Sinker. 

The Boat Sinker a rich, dark double fudge pie topped with coffee ice cream, piled high with whipped cream, "drizzled" with chocolate syrup and topped with a cherry. It is FANTASTIC.

Did I mention that all this delicious food is served to you by waiters and waitresses in "traditional" 1880's garb and they sing "Let me call you sweetheart" to anyone celebrating an anniversary?

Y'all, it's an experience.

If you're planning a visit, summer is always good so you can stop by Kentucky Lake while you're there. However, if you're making a special trip, then Christmas is the time to go. The entire park is strung with more lights and every room in the restaurant is decorated with a different holiday theme.

It, as we say in the South, a SIGHT.

We went to Patti's for my senior prom and I've celebrated many a holiday season there as well. I take my own children there to celebrate birthdays and family occasions. It was the first place I took my best friend when she flew all the way from New York City for a visit.

On the phone with her mother in Connecticut, my friend told her mother, who has never been to the South, she was eating the best pork chop of her life.

"Are you at Patti's?!?" her mother replied.

Word gets around is all I'm saying.

~ Sarah Stewart Holland 

Biscuits and Maple Bourbon Bacon Gravy

Maple Bourbon Bacon Gravy Essentials

Bacon Gravy Reducing

Biscuits and Maple Bacon Bourbon Gravy

Biscuits and Gravy is such a classically Southern dish. It was a staple at my house growing up and whenever I am around it now, I unabashedly ask for seconds. Recently, I have been enamored with all things bacon and thought that Bacon Gravy might just be divine!

When I set out to write this recipe, I knew that I wanted it to stand out among other bacon gravy recipes and I wanted it to be elegant enough to entertain. I started playing with different flavor profiles and found foodie bliss in Maple Bourbon Bacon Gravy.  The bacon is salty and the maple and bourbon play off its smokiness. The half and half adds an elegant touch and leaves you with a gravy that is creamy and decadently delicious. 

Ingredients

1 LB Maple Bacon

4 Tablespoons of your favorite bourbon

1 Tablespoon of Salted butter

1 Tablespoon of Flour

2 Pints of Fat Free Half and Half

Instructions

1. Start with your essentials; Bacon, Bourbon, Butter, Flour, Half and Half and a Maker’s and Diet in J Charles monogrammed glass.
2. Cut 1lb of maple bacon into lardoons and cook until crisp.
3. Remove bacon from Pan and drain bacon fat.
4. Return pan to heat and deglaze with 2 tablespoons of bourbon. Once it has reduced slightly, return bacon to pan and add the last two tablespoons of bourbon. Cook until all bourbon is absorbed by bacon and remove from pan.
5. In same pan, add 1 tablespoon of salted butter at a medium heat. 
6. Once butter has melted, add 1 tablespoon of flour and stir for 1-2 minutes until flour is cooked through.
7. After flour is cooked, slowly add your pints of Fat Free half and half, while stirring. 
8. Simmer half and half over medium heat until it is reduced by half. About 10 – 15 minutes. If it over reduces, add a little milk and it should thin out.
9. Add bacon, stir and serve over your grandma's homemade biscuits!
10. This recipe yields four 1/2 cup servings.

Tom + Chee

The other day, I was walking down Bardstown Road when a sign caught my eye.

A whole restaurant devoted to grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. How intriguing is that?

It turns out Tom + Chee started out as a food tent in downtown Cincinnati, and now has three locations in the Cincy metro area as well as two in Louisville. I've obviously not been watching much television lately, or I'd have known that the restaurant has been featured on Man v. Food. And they received some fairly serious capital from Mark Cuban on Shark Tank a few months ago. It's a pretty interesting story. And the food is delicious.

You can choose most any kind of grilled cheese at Tom + Chee. The bread, cheese, and add-on options are seemingly endless. The soups are great as well; I'm quite a fan of the creamy tomato basil. But they  really up the "y'all ain't gonna believe this" factor with their grilled cheese donuts.

Yep, you read that correctly. Grilled cheese donuts. A donut sliced in half, filled with cheesy goodness, and warmed on a griddle. Their signature donut is filled with cheddar cheese, but my beau and I each opted for more exotic concoctions. All in the name of blog research, of course.

He had the Strawberry Lemonade, which was filled with a lemon mascarpone, mozzarella, and fresh strawberries. It was a really unique flavor; we both really liked the mascarpone filling. 

I ordered the Mint Julep. The name was just too perfect to overlook. And, I have to say, I kind of loved it. The combination of bourbon caramel, mint mascarpone, and graham cracker was decadent and delicious.

Tom + Chee has Kentucky locations in Louisville (Bardstown Road and U of L's campus) and Newport, as well as two stores in Cincinnati. If you're in the mood for fun comfort food, Tom + Chee is a great spot.

Ina Garten's Foolproof

Ina Garten is a girl after my own heart. Her recipes are elegant, delicious and possess a wow factor that can make any southern hostess look like a master chef.

Photo credit www.amazon.com

While I was living in New York City, I had the opportunity to attend the book signing for her new cookbook Foolproof. At the book signing, we were treated to an hour long conversation where she discussed flavor profiles, frying latkes in clarified butter, Union Square Cafe (it IS as amazing as they say) and her fabulous new cookbook! Ina is even more adorable in person and her friends from her show, Barefoot Contessa, were there to cheer her on; it was so sweet! 

Please excuse the grainy picture.

Ina's signature

While this is not a southern cookbook, it centers around entertaining which southerners love to do! With recipes like Cosmos with fresh sour mix and Crab Strudel, you will have your guests impressed for weeks! She also includes a cake that features Maker’s Mark bourbon in this cookbook...did I mention she was a girl after my own heart?

Some of her recipes could even be considered southern! For an updated twist on a southern BBQ staple, give her Lobster & Potato Salad a try. You could also turn her Jalapeno Cheddar Crackers into cheese straws, a southern cocktail party favorite. And why not try frying your fried green tomatoes in clarified butter for an added touch of glamour and elegance?

Her recipes are always simple, easy to follow and full of fresh ingredients and the recipes featured in Foolproof are no exception.  To gild the lily, Ina provides foolproof menus, tips for cooking and elegant table settings. I recommend this cookbook to all who love entertaining. 

Enjoying the Season

Here in Kentucky, we're getting ready for the bumper crop of tomatoes that summer inevitably brings. Over in Arizona, Erin is reflecting on tomatoes, parenting, and spiritual growth. You can read more of Erin's unique blend of sassiness and faith on her blog, Facebook page, and Twitter.

It’s fixin' to be June in Phoenix. Lord help us…

Some of you know that I’m kind of a snob about tomatoes. I mean, I LOVE tomatoes…But by "tomato," I do not mean those things that come out of a California hot house in January. That is NOT a tomato. A tomato comes from Mamaw’s garden. You go get it right before dinner, you rinse off the dirt, and you slice it up to top the burgers.

I can rhapsodize about a real tomato all day long—and the perfect BLT that I make when, on the rarest of occasions, I can lay hands on an actual tomato in the desert. My 4-year-old daughter loves tomatoes, too. In fact, she frequently asks for them at the grocery store. I usually say, "no, it’s not time for tomatoes." Which, 9/10ths of the time, is the dang truth.

So when she spied some on the kitchen counter recently, she said excitedly, "Is it TIME for tomatoes??!" And when I said yes, she proceeded to eat one whole, on the spot. “I want to eat tomatoes with things for like, a WEEK," she said. (As everyone knows, a WEEK, in 4-year-old time, is an eternity…)

Was it a real, Kentucky-grown, July garden tomato? Nah. But it was not too shabby for Arizona. It made a decent BLT.

Thing is, for all my vigilance in the seasonal produce department, I often forget that other things have seasons --and off-seasons-- too. Every year, in this May-to-June window, I say, “This is it. This is going to be the year when our summer worship attendance doesn’t fall off, and we will maintain all this momentum, and we will build programs, and nothing will slow down at all…And come August, it will be time to start TWO SERVICES!”

And yeah, every year, I make a liar of myself.

Thing is—it’s not such a bad thing to have times of year when things move a little more slowly. I think the key is to focus intention in these off-seasons. For instance--if we are planning a slower pace, an easier schedule, and a simpler rhythm during the summer months…what will we do with that time? What is our goal in slowing down? Are we doing less, so that the Spirit can do more in us? Or are we just getting lazy? Might seem like a fine line, but there is a difference.

The cluster of stories in the 10^th chapter of Luke’s gospel—I call it the "Hear-do-be" trifecta—illustrates the seasonal truth of spiritual growth. The connected narratives of the Parable of the Sower, the Good Samaritan, and the Mary/Martha Moment, remind us that there is a right time for everything: there’s a time to hear God’s word and grow in it; there’s a time for DOING, and living out our faith in tangible ways; and, there’s a time to simply be…enjoying life in the presence of God and community.

It’s summer in Phoenix. It is a THOUSAND degrees in the shade. You can’t go outside. Lots of folks (smart folks) skip town, so regular church-as-we-know-it has to stop until September. Meanwhile, I am getting ready to move my family across the country…in September. Which is to say that NOTHING about my life feels seems to be in the normal rhythm right now.  Mentally, I am everywhere (Kentucky, Arizona, Kansas, and, somehow, the beach) while also being exactly nowhere.

So my goal, in this season of soul-crushing heat, and soul-challenging transition, is to enjoy that which is in season. To be fully present the life that is, right now. Because this season—even with its climate-related misery and life-related ambiguity—is a gift. The slower pace and the sacred space remind us that the Spirit’s timing is present, and right, in everything..

Even tomatoes.