Want a new recipe for the holidays?
Join us Saturday, December 10th at 7PM for a
POT LUCK RECIPE SWAP
$12 – BYOB and BYOD
RESERVE HERE
at the home of Founders Society Members
Stephanie and Patrick Warren
Send me your recipe info@forfoodssake.org . We’ll photograph the dish and throw it all into a pdf you can download from the website. Coolest cookbook ever[wink]. Carnivore, omnivore, vegetarian, or vegan, we all gotta eat. Just please be sure to make your ingredients known so those of us with allergies and/or dietary restrictions will know what’s cookin.
Address is on Buy Ticket Page.  Space is limited.

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by Amanda Trevelino of Full Dishclosure

Oakland Cemetery

A chilly October mist settles over us the minute we step
into the graveyard, making us a little unsure about having
agreed to dine with the dead, but Esther Andrew and
Chef Evan Cordes are about to shift our way of thinking.
Photos by Kitty Ray Swain.

In the three years since Andrew founded For Foods Sake supper club she’s treated invitation-only members to culinary experiences at secret locations from rooftops to farms; private homes to hidden gardens. But her October destination redefined underground eateries, considering many of the hosts had been dead and buried at Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery since the 1800′s. What could entice us here on a cold dreary night? Only the wizardry of Chef Evan Cordes of nearby H. Harper Station, paired with the promise of end-of-season organic produce from D&A Farms.

Garden and Gun Magazine singles out Cordes (a North Carolina native who formerly brought acclaim to Cakes & Ale and Serpas True Food) for his creative revival of classic southern cocktails. So we were sure he’d bring similar creativity to a meal in an historically significant location. After all, we were surrounded by Gone With the Wind author Margaret Mitchell, golf great Bobby Jones, former mayors and dignitaries and no less than 40,000 civil war soldiers.

In town less than 24-hours after his honeymoon, Cordes put together a layered menu that incorporated summer-time veggies we’d given up hope of enjoying until next year: roast okra to start, and sweet corn to finish, thanks to D&A’s hoop tunnel farming system that enables soil to maintain warmth.

Nestled under ancient oaks and magnolias, an appreciative audience of 50 foodies and friends felt quite alive savoring the first and second courses. Most seemed to agree the olive oil poached turnips paired with smoked trout couldn’t be topped. But when the entree was passed family style, the warm field peas and butter beans proved to be the perfect comfort food. There was a poignant awareness of past, present and future as we honored those no longer with us and focused on For Foods Sake’s mission of supporting 180 Degree Kitchen, a project of City of Refuge. Executive Director Bruce Deel reminded us of the extraordinary crime rate in a particular part of our city where the 180 Degree Kitchen offers a potential culinary arts solution to 18 to 25-year-olds. By learning the building blocks of a culinary career, students can find work with participating restaurants, meanwhile the food they prepare goes to feed the hungry and homeless, and money earned through the Kitchen’s outside catering services helps fund the program.

The Menu:
Amuse-pork rillette with espillette-cocoa mustard  and  pickled mushroom toasts  Wine: MontAsolo Merlot, Veneto
1st salad of pea shoots, broccoli and sunflower sprouts, D & A greens and okra with spiced pomegranate kernels and roast okra. pumpkinseed viniagrette.

2nd pickled shrimp and smoked trout on olive oil poached turnips with carrot gribiche and wood roast mussels Wine: Tiamo Chianti, Tuscany

3rd roast pork shoulder served family style with warm field peas, butterbeans, and roast pepper creme fraiche; butternut squash salad with proscuitto and cranberries; collard greens with sticky farro Wine: Pietra Majella, Montepulciano D’Abruzzo

4th fig sorghum buchon with sweet corn and local honey

D&A Farm:
Family owned an operated by Dave and Alan Bentoski, D&A grows more than 80 varieties of certified organic fruits, vegetables, melons, and vegetable transplants. The produce is raised on roughly 15 acres of cultivated ground which counts 1 heated greenhouse and 9 unheated high tunnels used for season extension. Certified organic since 2007, D&A’s premium produce is available direct to consumers through its CSA program and at Morningside Farmers Market.

Historic Oakland Cemetery:
This garden cemetery, founded in 1850, is the final resting place of many of Atlanta’s settlers, builders, and most noted citizens like Bobby Jones, Margaret Mitchell, and Maynard Jackson. It is also a showplace of sculpture and architecture, and a botanical preserve. Cemetery photo by Joel Silverman 2008.

Oakland Cemetery

]]> http://forfoodssake.org/2011/09/29/harvest/feed/ 0 http://forfoodssake.org/2011/09/29/da-farm/ http://forfoodssake.org/2011/09/29/da-farm/#comments Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:05:16 +0000 Esther http://forfoodssake.org/?p=4795

Q&A with Chef Evan Cordes
Why is sustainability important to you & your restaurant? This really just boils down to doing the “right” thing. Supporting the local economy is essential, the more we can support the farms that surround the city, the more jobs can be be created; which, as we all know, is the ultimate driving force for the economy. Supporting businesses like organic farms that support their local community is also essential to healthy happy families, that live and work in their community.

If you were a farmer what would you raise or grow? Chicken and Hops. A small family of goats, eggplant (i love the eggplant), and some really spicy arugula.

What one seasoning can you not live without? Thyme, but really hot sauce.

What should every kitchen not be without?  A good sharp knife that the kitcheneer feels comfortable with. Brown pan liner paper, makes clean-up a breeze. A cast iron braising dish, I have a 5 quart Staub that I love.

What chef,  person and or book inspired you to enter the culinary world? Juan Esparza, Chef de Cuisine at Poole’s Diner in Raleigh, North Carolina. I met Juan seven or eight years ago, he inspired me then and he inspires me now. He has a fantastic sense of humor and an even better palate.

What are some can’t miss items on the menu? Chicken Livers hot wing style; Braised Bacon and Shrimp with Shiitake Relish; Skirt Steak with Arugula, Crisp Potatoes and Smoked Peanut Picililli.

What celebrity or historical figure would you most want to serve a meal to?  Abe Lincoln, he seemed like a pretty reasonable fellow. If Abe Lincoln was unavailable, Joel Nathaniel Cummins.

Where and with whom would be your ideal location for your last supper? What would you eat, drink and listen to ? I would eat dinner with my wonderful wife in the bite of Cape Lookout on the NC coast. We would eat deviled eggs, white anchovies, chunks of hot calabrese sausage, and roast chunks of foie gras over a campfire like marshmallows. We would enjoy a couple of bottles: Falanghina, Duvall Leroy, a nice smokey Malbec. I would have Matthew Bettinger make white whiskey cocktails all night with little umbrellas in them and Wilco would play live from about fifty feet away. When the meal was over, we would dance.

 Having etched out a niche in the Atlanta market as a destination for classic cocktails, H Harper Station is now furthering their commitment to local, seasonal and sustainable food with the addition of Executive Chef, Evan Cordes.  “We have always been focused on sustainable meats and local produce, and with Evan’s natural affinity for those things it’s just getting better and better” states Jerry Slater, Harper’s owner. 

Evan Cordes, born and raised in North Carolina, and most recently of Cakes & Ale and Serpas True Food, is excited about crafting menus in H. Harper Station’s relaxed, yet still elegant atmosphere.  “I believe that a delicious meal, crafted from local ingredients should not be out of reach for anyone” states Cordes. 

Guests can expect the menu to change more frequently as items come in and out of season.  Making a summer debut on the menu is a locally harvested eggplant carpaccio with tomatoes and marinated peppers, a summer bean salad featuring green beans, sunflower sprouts and black cherry tomatoes and a ribeye with smoked potato salad and roasted okra. Cordes and Slater have partnered with local farms like Bes’ Maid Garden Essentials, D & A  Farms and Gaia Gardens to ensure a frequent supply of high quality, organically grown local produce.

Stay Tuned for the upcoming Spring 2012 For Foods Sake. It’s always unique and always underground!

City of Refuge Gala

City of Refuge provides both life-saving resources and life-building tools to individuals and families living in poverty each year.  Each year 10,000 people come to City of Refuge to overcome the barriers preventing them from achieving a fulfilled and successful life.  While they are there they participate in a multitude of programs specifically targeted to restore dignity and increase personal responsibility.  When men, women and children leave City of Refuge they are no longer hungry, homeless and sick.  They have the tools to achieve independent living, experience success in their education and career, and work hard to rebuild their lives.  Thank you to the past donors who have made these essential steps to independence possible.

To celebrate the transformations that have taken place at City of Refuge and the courage of the individuals currently participating in the program, the board of directors and dedicated volunteers are planning the 2011 City of Refuge Gala: Writing Stories of Hope to be held on Thursday, November 3, 2011 at 6:30 p.m.   Guests will enjoy an inspirational evening filled with stories of lives that have been transformed, silent auction and prize drawing, and a wonderful dinner.   The event is limited to 400 attendees.  Last year’s event sold out of tickets, which sell for $125.00.  You will not want to miss this evening.

Please consider joining us as a Host of this special evening.  Host Committee member receive priority seating and have their name listed in the program.  Responsibilities the Host committee include sending in the names and address of 10 couple you would like to invite to the event to Elizabeth Hornbuckle at Elizabeth@wellspringresource.com and donating an item for the silent auction.

Why is sourcing local and or organic produce important to you & your restaurant? Knowing what you eat is important and we as chefs should know not only what we are feeding people but also where it is coming from.  I try to use organic ingredients when possible but using local and seasonal ingredients is imperative.  Supporting local farmers is important to me and I try to utilize their sources whenever possible.  I always design my menus around seasonality and availability using ingredients at their peak.

If you were a farmer what would you raise or grow? Chickens/Eggs.  Eggs are my favorite things to cook so I would love to raise them myself.

What one seasoning can you not live without? Salt-all kinds

What should every kitchen not be without?A good chef’s knife and tasting spoons.

What chef or person inspired you to enter the culinary world? Thomas Keller.  The first cookbook I ever read cover to cover was “the French Laundry” it inspired me to become a chef and taught me the importance of the industry

What celebrity or historical figure would you most want to serve a meal to? Gordan Ramsay

Where and with whom would be your ideal location for your last supper? What would you eat, drink and listen to ?My last supper would probably have to be my dad’s spaghetti sauce with homemade meatballs, bruschetta, and a tomato-basil platter.  This was the first meal I learned to cook and I love it’s simplicity and flavors.  I remember smelling the fresh garlic and basil as a little girl when this meal was being prepared; these are still my favorite kitchen smells today.  I would enjoy this meal with a bottle of red wine with my family and my dog Sawyer preferably on the water in a warm climate.  I would have to go with a slice of carrot cake for dessert that was heated in the microwave for about 7 seconds.

Suzanne was born and raised in Atlanta, GA and was brought up around good food. With a grandmother or “Nona” as it’s referred to in Italian, hailing from Rome, Suzanne was educated early on about the importance of good food and it’s power of bringing people together.  In college as a hospitality major at the University of South Carolina, Suzanne discovered her passion for food by watching the food network and re-creating the recipes she had seen.  Upon graduation she decided to explore this passion and enroll in culinary school back home in Atlanta.  Suzanne worked under chef Richard Blais at Concentrics’s ONE Midtown Kitchen and chef Eli Kirstein before deciding to start her own business, the Hungry Peach, specializing in private dinner parties.   In 2009 she partnered with best friend, Conor, and the two opened the Hungry Peach Cafe in the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center (ADAC) in Buckhead.  Suzanne has recently paired up with pastry chef Jonathan St. Hilaire to execute his BYOBakeshop dinners concept; family style dinners held the 1^st weekend of every month at his bakery Bakeshop in Midtown.  She creates BYOBakeshop dinner menus based on seasonality and availability, always keeping quality in mind and putting her heart into every meal.

Southern Swiss Dairy is a milk processing facility located in Waynesboro, GA that is family owned and operated. Our milk is natural and free of artificial growth hormones. We process and bottle milk products the same day our cows are milked, ensuring our customers will have the freshest milk possible

Q&A with Farmer Jimmy Franks

What prepared you to be a farmer? Born and raised on a farm and have always wanted to be a farmer. We go back 6 generations of farmers beef and crop and now I’m the first dairy farmer.  I chose dairy because we are more interactive with our animals and better cash flow.  I am happy to see that both of my children will be going to college this year and are studying agriculture engineering and animal and dairy science.

What is a unique feature and how many acres do you farm? We have 1000 acres and 675 acres is dedicated to our cows for grazing and crops.  Our unique bottling is right on the farm thus a lot fresher and non homogenized.  We regulate very closely what our cows eat to insure they produce the best quality milk. Brown Swiss milk has a high fat-to-protein ratio. This means that the milk is extremely rich. Our cows produce natural milk that is free of artificial growth hormones. When our milk is pasteurized, it is heated to 140 degrees or more. However, the milk is not homogenized. This allows the cream to rise to the top inside each jug of milk.

Tell us about your feed and how they live on your farm. We try to graze as much as possible but in the summertime our cows can’t take the heat. We have a freestyle barn with shavings and an evaportive cooling system with misters that blow water on them. We grow corn, soybean, hays and sorghum. . Varieties are more digestible and . .. Gates are open . 4:30 am and 3:30 in afternoon. 4 fulltime emplyees. We graze our

How much of food goes to farmers markets and or restaurants? 20% goes to restaurants and farmers markets including  Stateboro farmers markets, Buford Hwy Farmers Market and HighRoad Craft Ice Cream and Sorbet. The rest goes to cooperatives that re-distribute it.

What challenges do you have as a farmer? Not sure if I have enough room here as it will take a novel.  From permitting to cow nutrition, it changes daily.

Where do you see farming in the future? We need to be more efficient and be able to make more with less. It seems it is up to US to feed the world so we’ve got to continue advancing with technology but with a humane approach

Where would be your ideal location for your last supper, what would be your meal & music and who would join you ? On the farm with BBQ and vegetables listening George Straight with my family

An incredible night on the rooftop of the Terminus Building with Chef Suzanne Vizethann of The Hungry Peach and Farmer Jimmy Franks of Southern Swiss Dairy featuring High Road Craft Ice Cream.  In case you missed it, Chef Suzanne was the WINNER of the The Food Network’s program CHOPPED.  Below is the link to my CHOPPED episode.  When you go to the page a video box will appear, click on the tab “close ad and watch as a free user” towards the bottom.  It will take you to another screen and you need to click, “start video”.  If it takes you to a screen where you have to register, start over and try again.  You should not have to fill out any information.  A slideshow of the evening is loading below. Thanks to Kitty Ray Swain for providing the photos!

http://www.free-tv-video-online.me/player/sockshare.php?id=44B9C0F8877A8FE1

Chef Suzanne Vizethann & Connor Hubbard

Stephanie Warren and Allen Richardson

An afternoon with author, Kathryn Stockett of The Help, Chef & cofounder of Serenbe, Marie Nygren and FarmerWilliam Hennessy

Southern Sunday at Serenbe by Julie Bryant Fisher
Ducking under the wisteria to find a spot on the porch at Serenbe’s Farmhouse, you know you’re in for a true taste of  what the good ole South has every right to brag about. The For Foods Sake salute to spring March 27 was one of those warmly relaxed gatherings where everything just comes together. You catch fascinating people in their unscripted moments, you gather up with friends new and treasured, and the food  – well it takes  you on a culinary journey that gives your tongue something fit to wag about -  right down to the pickled okra garnish in your dadgum good Bloody Mary.

From the steps of the Farmhouse porch, proprietress Marie Nygren greeted guests along with her daughter Garnie Nygren. The pair represent four generations of prized Southern cooking genius. Marie’s mother was Margaret Lupo, the famed founder and face of Mary Mac’s Tea Room in Atlanta. And it turns out that Marie’s grandmother was one of the first dieticians in the country. Now Garnie, a graduate of hospitality and operations at Cornell University, has freshened the roots of her heritage by joining her mother in the kitchen and taking over operations at the wildly popular Serenbe community just outside Atlanta. After cooking for her own family for so many years, Marie made the leap two years ago to stand over the ovens at the Farmhouse, carrying on the beloved tradition of Southern cooking – but with her own handy twist.  “My mother’s cooking was the Southern food you drink with sweet tea. Mine is the Southern food you drink with a glass of wine,” said Marie, describing how her mother’s collard greens often simmered for hours, while hers are a quicker fix, coated with a savory lemon butter. It’s clear the family ties are strong ones. Marie turned a little misty as her daughter proudly told the family’s tale before turning the floor over to her beaming mother. Perhaps the greatest Southern tradition is hospitality, Marie explained. And the South can’t be touched when it comes to the fresh variety of ingredients that create its legendary recipes. “I love the cornucopia of vegetables,” she said. The beans, squash, collard greens and the list goes on. Serenbe is unique in that it is also a farm – a place Marie said she hopes people come not just to visit, but to experience farm-to-table dining and good Southern food that is also healthy and delicious. Marie – who is married to Atlanta hospitality icon Steve Nygren of Peasant restaurant chain fame – maintains an all-female staff of cooks that has mothered over the creation of a New South menu dotted with deviled eggs and pimiento cheese fit for even the most gracious of banquets. Surprisingly, one of the South’s most prized recipes – fried chicken – is a new one to Marie, who decided that after witnessing her mother’s sheer mastery of the dish, she didn’t plan to touch it with a ten foot pole. She finally gave in, but brings to her tables a skillet-fried, lightly breaded version, versus a deep-fried soul food style. You can catch it most Sundays at the Farmhouse. Between Marie’s zesty descriptions, tempting aromas were drifting across the crowd, cueing the assembled For Foods Sake guests that a feast was upon them.

Giving a lesson in what goes into creating artfully fresh-grown dishes, local farmer William Hennessy was on hand to talk about the emerging modern age of farming.  Just down the road from Serenbe, the budding agrarian nurtures a picturesque slice of his family’s land, bringing everything from garden vegetables, to muscadine grapes and shiitake mushrooms up out of the ripe ground. It’s refreshing to see a 20-something farmer coming into his own, since the average age of a farmer is closer to 55, Marie explained. It’s a trend she said she hopes Serenbe can help grow by enticing other farmers to move into the area with the idea of turning the surrounding Chattahoochee Hill Country into a kind of Napa Valley for modern farms that grow and sell a host of healthy offerings. It’s been a learning experience for Hennessy, who laughingly described the first time he got an order from a big-time Atlanta restaurant. They wanted 40 pounds of beets and Hennessy had to dash over to the Nygren’s doorstep just to make sure he had what the restaurant was looking for. Not much of a beet eater, Hennessy obligingly accepted a little 101 training in not only what a ripe beet looks like, but how scrumptious they can taste. Since then, he’s branched out, growing heirloom rattlesnake beans, Asian pears and hops for a brewery in Atlanta. Hennessy now cultivates about three acres of his family’s land, part of a much larger farm and wildlife habitat. There are no animals on his part of the farm yet, save for his yellow Lab pal Delk, but there are preparations underway for the introduction of chickens.  Hennessy said he hopes that people see local and sustainable agriculture as a necessity for the long-term well-being of our environment and the generations to follow.  With the hopeful and earnest spirit of Hennessy’s words still ringing, guests shuffled onto an expansive, wrap-around porch, picking seats around a generously and elegantly set table. And if you didn’t know why the porch ceiling was painted sky blue, others were happy to explain that it’s a time-honored tradition that keeps the wasps from nesting – or keeps the haints away, depending on where your Southern is coming from. Peering in at the spread, served buffet style inside what was once the Nygrens’ country home, it was hard not to snatch a plate and cut in line.  Guests stuffed their plates to overflowing with Marie’s skillet-friend chicken, her buttery collards, fried green tomatoes, rice onion casserole and a host of other delectable choices. And just as the caramel cake (natch) was being served alongside fresh cobbler and a moist, semi-sweet chocolate cake, out from behind her corner of the banquet came none other than best-selling author Kathryn Stockett, the beguiling scribe behind list-topping Southern tell-all “The Help.”

Primed for an intimate chat, there wasn’t a question Jackson, Mississippi-born Stockett wouldn’t answer as she perched herself lightly on a stool at the head of the table. Charmingly shy and humorously grounded about her success as a novelist, Stockett said she, indeed, drew from a collage of her own experiences when telling the 1960s story of growing up in a traditional Southern household managed by black help. Though she isn’t really Skeeter, she certainly identifies with the book’s lead character, having perpetrated her own rebellious escapades as a young Southern belle – like the time she got all dolled  up and played hooky from high school, heading down to New Orleans to wile away the day drinking Hurricanes.  The kind of book that may make some Southerners blush over its only-too-true revelations, it has delivered to Stockett her share of curious, and sometimes angry, followers. She has taken it in patient stride, finding some interpretations of the book – now translated into many languages all over the world – downright funny.  Like the UK’s interest in the novel. Ever enthusiastic about pointing out less flattering images of America, the country was quick to snap up the book for British audiences, even changing the book’s cover to a candid picture of two black maids with a white baby in a stroller. Of all things, when asked for permission to use the picture, Stockett was shocked to find the photograph credited to a town in Mississippi. She rather easily traced the picture down and was able to name the maids pictured – something she found fairly hilarious since popular opinion of Southerners has them either all related, or all bumping into each other at the grocery store.  Perhaps even funnier have been the various thoughts about a possible secret meaning behind the cover photo on the American version of the book, which shows three birds resting on a wire against a simple backdrop of warm yellow and purple.  Stockett received a hasty message one day from a college professor who claimed to have cracked the code, happily announcing that her class had determined that the birds represented certain characters in the novel. Not so.  Turns out the cover was the result of one of those exhaustive back-and-forth efforts that ends with a resounding ‘…Oh, fine. That will do.’ In fact, Stockett said, all she really requested of her publishers was that the cover please not be yellow or purple. So much for that.  As coffee cups were being filled and the last bites of dessert were proving irresistible, Stockett turned to talk of the Big Screen. The screenplay for her novel, written by her dear childhood friend Tate Taylor, has become a major motion picture due out in August.  Having turned this chapter over to a trusted friend, she has been all too happy to relinquish control and stay out of the mix – making only the single request that the screenplay writer be from Mississippi, of course. Taylor also directs the movie.  She said she’s pleased with the cast of actors chosen to play the characters in the book, especially Sissy Spacek, who will play what Stockett called a “s*&t-bird crazy” Mrs. Walters. Emma Stone plays Skeeter.  Now working on her next book about a group of women who come together during the Great Depression, Stockett said she can almost promise she “…is going to get into a lot of trouble over this one.”  Stockett stayed behind to sign a few autographs as guests drifted away from the morning’s repast, having reconnected with the soul of  great dining, reminded again of why it’s so good to be in the South.  For Foods Sake member- Julie Bryant Fisher

Photos Provided by Kitty Ray Swain