The Art of the Plate: Farm to Plate Class Takes a Field Trip to Asheville

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Farm to Plate Class Takes a Field Trip to Asheville

There are so many places that we love to go when we're on the Asheville Field Trip. In Fall 2, the class was able to have an extra special treat: the Biltmore mansion decorated for Christmas! Christmas trees and poinsettias galore - plus wonderful coral singers. We went to Sunburst Trout Farms for a lesson in aquaculture. Their smoked trout and trout caviar are award-winning. At Spinning Spider Creamery, we saw the goats and the cheeses, and tasted samples. Another artisan company that brings home the blue ribbons! We dined at Curate, Chef Katie Button's fabulous tapas restaurant. We missed our regular visit to the French Broad Chocolate Company because they were moving into their new digs. Something to look forward to next time!

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What We're Reading

“Eating from the Ground Up”

Out just in time for the vegetables appearing at our farmers markets, Alana Chernila’s cookbook focuses on creatively using every root and leaf. While some of the recipes may be familiar concepts – think stuffed tomatoes – hers are packed with millet, basil, and parsley. Fried rice stars salmon, fennel, and Swiss chard stems. Roasted asparagus are sauced with a combo of butter, garlic, nutritional yeast, and tamari. Stone fruit, raw corn kernels, scallions, basil, and jalapeño make a cool salad for hot weather. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC.

"Soul: A Chef's Culinary Evolution in 150 Recipes"

“This book is my homage to the cuisine of my family,” Chef Todd Richards writes in his autobiographical collection of essays and recipes. “These are the ingredients of my people. This is my sermon about my Soul food.”

Bringing accolades for his stints at Atlanta’s Ritz Carlton and Four Seasons, James Beard nominations, and, of course, his prowess at Southern cooking, Richards seasons the pot with a powerful bouquet of flavors as he pays his heritage forward. Collards cooked with ham hocks are accented with piquant pickled collard stems. Blueberries are found in fried pies; strawberries are plated with champagne aspic, whipped cream, and honey. Grilled peaches pair with radishes on toast spread with pimiento cheese. Sweet potatoes are layered with cauliflower and crab in a lush gratin.

"Soul food," Richards tells us, "is the original cuisine of the South, born from an involuntary collision of cultures."
Published by Southern Living. $35.