Fusion, hot or cold

Coconut rice pudding with mango. Lucy Mercer.A Cook and Her Books.

 

On the most perfect April Saturday afternoon in Georgia, one straight out of the Weather Channel’s Wish book, the hubs and I tasted our way through Roswell, a small town due north of Atlanta blessed with historic charm, a verdant setting and a vibrant foodie culture.

The afternoon was a fusion of ideas and influences ~  over three hours, we dined on everything from pristine Thai salads to Mama's meatballs to N'awlins beignets, and then on to Cajun fried pickles and Caribbean clam chowder and Bourbon pecan ice cream.

My friend Beth, whose Atlanta Culinary Tours are becoming must-do weeknight and weekend dates (see my Sweet Auburn Curb Market visit), recently added the Roswell tour after being contacted by Erin Susan Lark, a Roswell yoga instructor. Erin served as the tour guide, walking and talking us through a two-mile tasting course anchored on Canton Street in downtown Roswell. The tour  included three restaurants, one bakery and an olive oil and balsamic vinegar tasting.

We began with Rice, where Chef Kris Boonruang shared his philosophy and art, Thai heritage and cuisine. Chef Kris is a fine artist, with a painting in the collection of Atlanta's High Museum of Art, as well as other museums and private collections. He is also an artist in the kitchen, treating my fellow culinary tourists and myself to a lettuce wrap with larb (seasoned ground pork), cellophane noodle salad with Thai shrimp, and sticky rice pudding with mango. As interesting as the plates was Kris' discourse on gardening, art and creativity, including his routine of walking barefoot outside his home before sunrise or after sunset, each day.

Next stop on Canton Street was Table and Main, with owner Ryan Pernice sharing his restaurant's "simple, Southern, seasonal" style. We tasted Mom's meatloaf reinvented as a meatball, replete with sticky sweet tomato sauce, but my favorite bite was a scoop of Bourbon butter pecan ice cream, an ode to the South as true and sublime as Sidney Lanier's "Song of the Chattahoochee." ("Out of the hills of Habersham, down the valleys of Hall..." Roswell is near the Chattachoochee recreational area, and I can't help recalling the famous poem I memorized in middle school. "I hurry amain to reach the plain, run the rapid and leap the fall.." Oh, don't get me started...). A meal at Table and Main concludes with the check delivered in a Southern novel ~ lots of Flannery O'Connor to choose from, a bit of Zora Neale Hurston, some Faulkner, Shaara, Flagg and McCullers.

The bookshelf at Table + Main awaits diners' checks. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

A surprise for the staff are the comments that diners scribble in the books.

Diners pay their checks and comment on the literature at Table + Main in Roswell. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

After leaving Table and main, we crossed Canton Street and walked around the corner to get to Artisan Bakery, where Chef Hoyt Williams displayed a sugar-dusted pyramid of beignets and described in delightful detail the various breads, sandwiches and pastries produced at the bakery.

Mellow and full, we journeyed to Oli + Ve, a six-week old culinary shop, where we listened to the women owners talk passionately about the versatility of infused olive oils and balsamic vinegars. We traveled from room to room, tasting and sampling the various vinegars and olive oils. (I purchased the lemon olive oil and the strawberry balsamic for homemade salad dressings, and just to open them, breathe in and daydream.)

It's hard to say that we saved the best for last, because each of the stops was so incredible and the food so extraordinary, but the Fickle Pickle really stands out for the quantity and originality of its offerings. While Chef Andy Badgett shared his tales of the restaurant biz and the culinary history of Canton Street, I scarfed down still-sizzling-from-the-Fry-o-lator Creole fried pickles dipped in remoulade. Followed by Caribbean clam chowder and a fried green tomato BLT and two kinds of cookies - soft ginger and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

Cajun Fried Pickles from the Fickle Pickle. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 On the ride home, mellow and stuffed to the gills, the hubs and I performed the post-mortem, discussing our favorite bits and bites of the afternoon. As we talked through the walk, I remarked that as good as the food was, the secondary pleasure was listening to men and women who enjoyed their work and wanted to share their knowledge of food and service with others...

...Like Chef Kris sharing his morning routine of walking barefoot around his home, gardening before dawn and after dusk.

...Chef Andy telling the history of the Fickle Pickle restaurants, a history marked not with years, but each of his six children’s birthdays. And throughout, a history of the Canton Street restaurant revitalization, as well.

...Ryan, a young man with a passion for the hospitality business, on Bourbon and The Band and a commitment to local, seasonal food and first-class service.

...The women of Oli + Ve sharing their knowledge of infused olive oils and balsamic vinegars. Chef Hoyt discussing the variety of baked goods produced by his store.


Fusion is what you make of it. It can cross cultures, it can cross the street. It can be Cajun fried pickles with spicy remoulade  or the most divine pecan ice cream with real Georgia pecans infused with a buttery Bourbon streak of caramel gold.

Fusion is hot or it’s cold. It’s strawberry infused balsamic vinegar paired with lemon-infused olive oil because a saleswoman recommended it. It can be the irresistible idea of a pimento cheese fritter that Chef Andy kept talking about as I dove again and again into the basket of obscenely hot and crunchy fried pickles. (Salty and fried. Do not judge me, we’ve all been there, girlfriends).

There are so many culinary roads to go down with this post, but I think I’ll journey back to the first stop on Canton Street, Rice, and my version of Chef Kris Boonruang’s sticky rice pudding with mango.

Coconut Rice Pudding with Mango. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Coconut Rice Pudding with Mango

 This is my adaptation of a traditional Thai home-style treat. I based the recipe on one found at Serious Eats that uses jasmine rice instead of the typical Thai glutinous rice. I like the richness of the full-fat coconut milk, but light coconut milk may be substituted.

1 cup raw jasmine rice
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/4 cups coconut milk
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 ripe mangoes, peeled and sliced

1. In a medium saucepan, preferably nonstick, set over medium heat, combine water and rice. Bring the water to a boil, cover the pot and reduce the heat. Cook until the water is absorbed.

2. Add the coconut milk, sugar and salt; stir and bring to a boil. Cook for two minutes, stirring constantly.

3. Cover the pot and remove from the heat. Let the rice sit for 10 minutes, to completely absorb the liquid.

4. Serve pudding warm or at room temperature, garnished with mango slices.


This post is part of #LetsLunch, a monthly Twitter party on a given theme. The theme for May is fusion.

Check out more #letslunch stories and recipes here:

Ana‘s Miso Salmon with Mango Salsa at In Foodie Fashion
Cathy‘s Bacon-Studded Polenta With Tomato Gravy at ShowFood Chef
Eleanor‘s Wok Picadillo at Wok Star
Ellise‘s Salty Lime Sablés (Margarita Cookies) at Cowgirl Chef
Emma‘s Kimchi Bulgogi Nachos at Dreaming of Pots And Pans
Felicia‘s Mexican-Lebanese Hummus at Burnt-Out Baker
Grace‘s Taiwanese Fried Chicken at HapaMama
Jill‘s Southern Pimento-Stuffed Knishes at Eating My Words
Joe‘s Grilled KimCheese Sandwich at Joe Yonan
Karen‘s Ukrainian-German Cabbage Rolls at GeoFooding
Leigh‘s Venezuelan-Italian Cachapas Con Queso at Leigh Nannini
Linda‘s Project Runway Pelau: Rice & Beans Trinidad-Style at Spicebox Travels
Linda‘s Edible Salad Totes at Free Range Cookies
Lisa‘s Sunday Night Jewish-Chinese Brisket at Monday Morning Cooking Club
Lucy‘s Coconut Rice Pudding with Mango at A Cook And Her Books
Maria‘s Spanish Shrimp with Bacon, Cheddar & Chive Grits at Maria’s Good Things
Nancie‘s Chili-Cheese Biscuits with Avocado Butter at Nancie McDermott
Patricia‘s Buttery Tofu, Pasta & Peas at The Asian Grandmother’s Cookbook
Patrick‘s Kimchi Jigae and British Mash at Patrick G. Lee
Rashda‘s Mango Cobbler at Hot Curries & Cold Beer
Renee‘s Asian-Spiced Quick Pickles at My Kitchen And I
Steff‘s Chicken Fried Steak at The Kitchen Trials
Vivian‘s Funky Fusion Linguini at Vivian Pei

Thanks Beth and Erin of Atlanta Culinary Tours for a delightful afternoon, tasting, walking and talking. Check out Atlanta Culinary Tours’ fantastic tours ~ I highly recommend the tour of Sweet Auburn Curb Market, too! (and full disclosure, this was a gratis tour for media.).

My pictures from the tour were not so great, but my fellow bloggers took gorgeous pictures ~ check them out:

• Digital Cornflakes 
• Dr. Princess Julia
• Brandy Nagel writing for Roswell Patch
• Beth's Atlanta Examiner article. Check out the slide show!

Words and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer.

The noblest of emulsions

Tie-dye Easter eggs by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

This is my contribution to April's #LetsLunch Twitter Party on the theme of eggs. I got a bit mixed up in the Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg riddle, but there are eggs in here if you have the patience to read it.

When I last wrote about mayonnaise, I described a fish stew with red pepper aioli and my husband's Proustian childhood treat ~ pound cake slices spread with mayonnaise and pan-fried. At the time, my new foodie friend Pedro commented "mayonnaise is the noblest of all emulsions!"

Two years later, I still consider that a great comment because it touches on how Southerners feel about the French-by-way-of-Spain sauce. It's omnipresent, particularly in the sandwich realm. It's the glue that keeps my minner cheese together, the binder for the tartar sauce that augments our Friday fish fry, the finishing touch to my lunchtime ham and cheese sandwich.

Mayonnaise wasn't always the ubiquitous sandwich spread. Time was, another egg-based spread was whipped up for sandwich- and salad-making, boiled dressing. This old-fashioned sauce is similar to mayonnaise - it uses egg yolks and a tiny bit of mustard for flavor and thickening, but whereas mayo relies on oil and a prayer to emulsify, boiled dressing adds flour and cream, caressed with a finishing swirl of butter. Mayonnaise is only slightly acidic, but boiled dressing will pucker your mouth with the tang of cider vinegar.

If mayonnaise is the noblest of emulsions, then boiled dressing is the tarted-up, some might say eccentric, Aunt Flossie brought out for non-public family occasions. Non-public, because by today's standards, it's really a bit of trouble and yields a small quantity. And family because, this is secret recipe kind of stuff, the kind of sauce on which legends and maybe fortunes can be made.

Boiled dressing is properly made in a double boiler, and it's sometimes called cooked dressing. As in Cole Slaw with Cooked Dressing, or Potato Salad with Cooked Dressing. I prefer boiled dressing on that staple of the Steel Magnolia circuit, chicken salad.

Easter eggs. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Forgive the tangentially-interesting pictures of the Easter eggs. We decorated 10 dozen Easter eggs, that's a lot of vinegar and color tabs, don't you think? Back to the subject at hand: eggs and chicken salad:

Southern boiled dressing. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

You use only white meat on your chicken salad, right? You know the girls in Junior League will talk behind your back in you put dark meat in your chicken salad. Just kidding. Here's how I poach chicken for chicken salad:

Poached chicken breasts

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about a pound and a half

Juice of half a lemon

1/2 teaspoon salt

A few grinds of coarse black pepper

Water

1. In a skillet with a lid, set over medium heat, place chicken breasts and just barely cover with water. Add salt, lemon juice, and fresh ground black pepper. Let water come to a boil. Cover with lid, set heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, use a fork and knife to determine doneness of the meat. If meat is still pink, cover and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Repeat as necessary until meat is cooked through.

2. Remove chicken breasts from broth (which may be saved for another purpose). Let cool enough to handle comfortably. Chop into smallish bites for chicken salad. And here's something I like to do before I mix together the chicken salad: I sprinkle a teaspoon or two of good-quality red wine vinegar over the chicken, and maybe a 1/4 teaspoon salt, just a tetch.

Favorite tip for bringing refrigerator-cold eggs to room temp: place in bowl of warm water. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books.

 Old-fashioned Boiled Dressing

1 teaspoon dry mustard

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup water

2 egg yolks, beaten

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons heavy cream

1. Place a double boiler on stovetop over medium heat. Fill bottom with enough water to just touch the bottom of inset. Let water come to a gentle boil.

2. Add dry ingredients into top of double boiler, whisk to break up lumps. Gradually whisk in water.

3. Add the egg yolks and vinegar and continue stirring. Let cook for at least five minutes, continually cooking. When mixture is thick, remove from heat and stir in butter, then cream. Season to taste, adding salt and pepper as needed. Ladylike cooks will add white pepper so as not detract from the creamy yellow sauce. I think white pepper tastes like soap, so I leave it out.

4. Let sauce come to room temperature. Use immediately in a recipe or store in a tightly covered jar in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Chicken salad on croissants. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 My Chicken Salad


3 boneless chicken breasts poached according to recipe above, or 2 cups chopped, cooked chicken


2 stalks celery, chopped fine


2 green onions, chopped


1 recipe Boiled Dressing from above recipe


1/2 to 1 cup mayonnaise or sour cream, depending on your preference


1/2 cup chopped pecans

Salt and pepper to taste


1. Toss together chicken, celery and onions. Add boiled dressing and taste. Add mayonnaise or sour cream, stir together, then taste. Adjust seasonings and dressing. Stir in chopped pecans. Serve.


For more egg-citing recipes, check out these #LetsLunch posts: 

- Cheryl‘s Singapore-Style Chai Poh Scramble at A Tiger in the Kitchen

– Charissa‘s Gluten-Free Leek, Ham & Pecorino Souffles at Zest Bakery

– Denise‘s Beet Dye & Pink Deviled Eggs at Chez Us

– Emma‘s Eggs In A Hole at Dreaming of Pots & Pans

– Felicia‘s Perfect Sandwich at Burnt-Out Baker

– Grace‘s Scrambled Eggs & Tomatoes at HapaMama

– Joe‘s Kim-Chi Deviled Eggs at Joe Yonan

– Linda‘s Home-made Cadbury Eggs (Maple Chocolate Eggs) at Free Range Cookies

– Lisa‘s Legendary Egg & Onion at Monday Morning Cooking Club


– Rashda‘s Bombay Toasts (Spicy French Toasts) at Hot Curries And Cold Beer

– Vivian‘s Oeuf Chaud Froid at Vivian Pei