Tag: food

Homemade Booze: Sparkling Elderflower Wine

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I’ve always wanted to have a go at making my own booze, but I’m about as far from a scientist as you can get, so it always seemed a daunting task. That was, however, until I saw a video by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall from River Cottage making some sparkling elderflower wine. That was a few years ago, but I vowed as soon as I had a garden, I would plant elderberry bushes and give it a go. You can find them in the wild, too, if you don’t have them in your garden.

A couple of side notes before we begin:

1. If you haven’t heard of Hugh and River Cottage, go and Google. There are loads of videos and recipes online and, if you get the chance to watch Escape to River Cottage or Return to River Cottage, his first two TV shows, binge on them immediately!

2. As the brew continues to ferment after bottling, it can explode — but don’t let that put you off. I was very cautious this year and released some of the fizz out of some bottles as an experiment, but none of the ones I left blew up. So, next year, I’m just going to leave them all. Just to be on the safe side, though, it is worth placing the bottles in a bin with a towel over the top until they are ready to store.

All you need are elderflowers, water, sugar, and lemon juice — that’s it. The elderflowers have a natural yeast in them. You can add additional yeast if fermenting doesn’t start after three days, but I didn’t need to. You’ll also need some bottles. I used swing top one-litre bottles from Speciality Bottles since they have a warehouse here in Nashville. The bottles are a bit of an investment, but I know I’ll be using them for years, so well worth it.

For 10 x 1-litre swing top bottles:
8 cups sugar (1.6kg/3.6lb)
8 lemons (juice and zest)
10 quarts of water
8-10 hand-size heads of elderflowers or 4 cups without the stems.

Boil enough of the water to dissolve the sugar in a food-grade bucket. I got mine from Lowe's. Add in the rest of the water and wait for the liquid to cool down, then add the lemon zest and juice.

Remove most of the stems from the elderflowers — it doesn’t matter about the really smaller ones — and add to the bucket, then cover it with a cloth. Muslin or row covers, which was all I had, work fine, too, as it’s just to stop dust getting in.

After about three days, you should see the elderflowers start to ferment, but you’ll need to leave the mixture for six days altogether stirring once a day for the first five. Then it’s time to drain and bottle.

Pour the mixture into a fresh fermenting bucket through a sieve lined with the cloth/muslin to remove the leaves. Leave it for a few hours to settle, then pour into bottles either using a siphon or jug.

After about another week, the sparkling wine is ready to drink. It stores well, too — up to a year or two in a cool, dry place. I tried it with some friends over the July 4 weekend, and we all decided it’s best served with ice and a couple of "crushed with your fingers" leaves of lemon balm. You could also add vodka for an extra boozy kick.

There are other methods involving fancy equipment for the more serious brewer (demijohns and hydrometers, etc), but this was a really fun, quick, and cheap way to have a go at home brewing. From one elderberry bush that I planted last year, I was able to get about 35 bottles.

Singer/songwriter Susan Enan spends any time not on the road or in the studio working in her East Nashville garden. Follow all the Edible East Nashville action on Instagram.

Mango-Butterscotch Pudding

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I recently had the honor of hosting a notable birthday dinner for one of my besties, Kristin Russell. It was notable for a number of reasons — a celebration of life, resilience, and all things new. Kristin has been one of my go-to touchstones for the past few years in this wildly complex journey of life to date. The least I could do to show my gratitude for her constant feeding of my soul was to feed her beautiful belly, as well as the beautiful bellies of some of her lovely friends.

The menu was all things Comforting (capital C, if you know what I mean). Chicken liver mousse with strawberry and pomegranate gelée and all the accoutrement, sun dried tomato and chickpea dip, cornish game hens with pear bourbon sauce, zucchini gratin, creamy parmesan and garlic polenta made with local Riverplains Farms corn meal, and the pièce de résistance which I would like to share with you now — mango butterscotch pudding.

This sweet, salty, creamy, and cloud-like dessert was a complete brainstorm.

Translation: I had no idea what I was doing.

I'm not a major dessert eater. Never have been. When I do partake, I rarely take more than a couple of bites of the thing — even if I spent hours creating it. I generally fret about making desserts overall, unless we're talking about pies. To me, though, pie making is all about the dough and the crust, so I'm just saying that I'd much rather wrap my all-butter-crust around some chicken or corned beef instead of, say, apples … if it's all the same to you.

So back to fretting; I had stayed up the night before until almost 4 am reading through dessert recipes. I had gone foraging in the fridge already to see what I had that I might be able to utilize. I found two beautifully ripened mangos — so that was happening. I also knew that a friend of Kristin's (and now a friend of mine), Jennifer Niceley, would be bringing a harvest of farm fresh chicken's eggs from her family's East Tennessee farm, Riverplains, so I was Googling "dessert recipes with a LOT of eggs." Would it be a mousse? Hmm … Meringues? Weeeelll? Then, I read through a pudding recipe and got that spark in the dark! Seven other pudding recipes and a few videos later, I had my marching orders for the next day.

I woke up at 8 am the next morning with pudding on the brain. I efficiently completed the remainder of prep work for the meal I had to do, put some Nina Simone on the speakers, then sat on a kitchen stool like a kid on Christmas morning waiting for Miss Niceley and the Eggs to arrive. "Miss Niceley and the Eggs" … I need to hurry up and write that children's book.

When Jennifer arrived, it was like handing your baby to grandma. I confidently handed my iPad to Jennifer with some additional gibberish-filled mad science instructions about my hopes for this dessert. Let it be said that only another fellow avid cook could interpret what I told Jennifer that day. I also have to note that I don't know what I would've done without Jennifer's warm presence and helping hands that afternoon, in general … We shouted to each other over the Vitamix the whats and hows of pudding prep and muscled through the steps together. The biggest challenge for me in the process was eliminating the sensation that you were eating fur while eating the mangoes. I solved that by straining the mango pulp (after blending it) two or three times through a sieve until I could guarantee that not an ounce of the puréed mangoes' texture resembled cat fur.

In the end, it looked and tasted like all birthday pudding should taste — immaculate. Indeed.

Hope you think so, too.

Mango-Butterscotch Pudding

SERVINGS: 8

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter*
3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (*leave this out if using salted butter)
3 1/2 cups whole milk
6 large egg yolks (or 7 small)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 ripe mangoes — peeled, chopped, puréed, and STRAINED (They're hairy little buggers, so you will need to use a sieve to remove the "hair.")
1 small packet or sheet gelatin
1/4 cup cornstarch, sifted
3 tablespoon sugar

Optional: fresh mint, pomegranate seeds, berries, whipped cream, and/or crumbled ginger cookies for garnish

DIRECTIONS
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until just golden brown; do not let it get dark or, sorry to tell ya, you'll need to start over.
Add brown sugar and cook while stirring, until sugar is just starting to dissolve.
Add milk and salt; bring to a simmer. Remove from heat.
Whisk egg yolks, sifted cornstarch, and sugar in a large bowl until smooth.
Add puréed and strained mango to egg mixture. Stir until smooth.
Add gelatin to hot milk mixture, whisking with speed constantly to avoid getting lumps.
Pour hot milk mixture from saucepan into egg & mango mixture, slowly and in rounds, whisking per every small pour.
Wipe out saucepan. Strain custard through a fine-mesh sieve back into saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking very often, until it bubbles occasionally and starts to thicken (about 5–6 minutes).

Optional: If you do have any lumps in your mixture for some reason, transfer the mixture to a blender and blend briefly on low speed until smooth.

Place 8 ramekins or bowls on a rimmed baking sheet. Divide pudding evenly among ramekins and chill until set, at least 3 hours.

Optional: Top each pudding with whipped cream and any of the suggested garnishes, if desired.

Salmon Cakes with Mirepoix

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When I was 18 years old, I moved to Alaska and found myself in the middle of wonderful adventures in music, hunting, and fishing. My good friends Ginger Boatwright and Doug Dillard were about to play some shows the Summer I arrived. They invited me to join them and fill the fiddle slot. Good times were had!

I met plenty of friendly folks traveling around the state. Many became life-long friends. Some of the folks I met that first Summer and my family that lived there would often invite me along on their annual freezer-filling hunting and fishing expeditions. I even brought my dad along when he would come to visit from California. There was so much about Alaska’s bounty. Of course, respecting Mother Nature and taking only what you needed was paramount. And the idea of not having to go to the supermarket for meat was an incredible idea. It is a foreign idea to some, but it didn’t take me long to get used to making it happen all the time in the North Country.

I found a different way of life than what I grew up with in California. I had done some hunting and plenty of fishing, but not like what I was doing in the last frontier. It was more about subsistence, and the quality of Alaska’s protein is remarkable — the most organic, free range, healthy, and flavorful critters you can imagine, including deer, moose, caribou, salmon, halibut, cod, king crab, tanner crab, Dungeness crab, scallops … the list goes on and on. Harvesting the animals and packaging them for safe storage in the freezer or jarring/canning them for the shelf takes energy, but the rewards are immeasurable.

Alaskan summers were always filled with a plethora of flavorful, rich salmon. I have an affinity for it. Glazed, marinated, grilled, smoked, beer battered, poached, and even raw. Having so much around meant finding new ways to prepare it, as to not get tired of the same old, same old. So, I experimented and started making salmon cakes using ingredients I always have on hand like onions, carrots, and celery. These aromatics are often referred to as mirepoix. (Pronounced, MEER- pwah.) I often add garlic to it and use the combo for soup and sauce bases, too. In addition, caramelizing it in butter will get a sweeter, more complex taste. It’s a great starter for many dishes.

Here is the guide to one of my favorite uses of mirepoix and canned or jarred salmon. When I made this last, I was listening to Black Prairie’s A Tear in the Eye Is a Wound In the Heart. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

1 pint jar of wild Alaska or Pacific NW Sockeye/Red or Chinook/King salmon, broken up
1/2 medium sweet onion, minced
1 medium sized celery stick, minced
1 small carrot, minced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 of a sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed into fine bits
2 eggs
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS

In a nonstick skillet on medium-high heat, caramelize onion, celery, carrot, and garlic in butter. Salt and pepper to taste. Let aromatics cool and then, in a bowl, mix with salmon, eggs, and crushed Ritz crackers. Form into 3-inch diameter by 1/2-inch thick patties. Heat olive oil in a skillet on medium-high heat. Place patties in hot skillet. Cook a couple at a time as to not crowd them in the pan. DO NOT MOVE THEM AROUND until they are browned on one side. Once brown, gently turn them over and let cook until brown on the other side. Should make about 4-5 patties.

Serve with steamed rice or potatoes, or green leafy vegetables, or on a sandwich.

Message in a Bottle

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I have been planting beets since I first started my garden in 2013. But a few young seedlings were being nibbled to the point of losing all the early leaves. Since all that was left was the stem, they didn’t survive. My guess was that birds were the culprits, but there are other possible explanations — including the dreaded cutworm, which wraps itself around the stem and squeezes until the top breaks off. I was losing too many beets to not try to do anything about it.

This Spring, after the latest attack, I resowed seeds and placed small plastic bottles over each one to see if that would protect them. I didn’t lose one plant. 

I also decided to put bottles over the rainbow chard, and bigger bottles over squash and melons. Once the seedlings grew too large, the bottles were removed and the plants thinned out where necessary.

I’ve discovered there are many other advantages to using bottles. Previously, I would remove the mulch from the beet bed, sow, and then replace the mulch once the seedlings were tall enough. That meant mounds of mulch over the garden in the meantime. But when using the bottles, the mulch can go back on the bed straight away, since the bottles create a safe barrier.

They also provide each plant with its own mini greenhouse, whilst allowing ventilation through the top. (Although I haven’t tried it yet, I suppose you could also place the lid back on top, if temperatures dropped and you had bottles over plants that were susceptible to that.) Also, the condensation that gathers inside effectively keeps the soil moist, so I haven’t had to water them — with help from the Tennessee rain.

This idea isn’t new to gardening — just to me. Farmers have been using glass cloches for centuries, and although I’d much rather have glass bottles in my garden, plastic ones are a good alternative. From now on, I’m going to be planting the beet seeds like this from day one.

Singer/songwriter Susan Enan spends any time not on the road or in the studio working in her East Nashville garden. Follow all the Edible East Nashville action on Instagram.

Traveler: Your Guide to Napa Valley

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Point yourself in any direction from the San Francisco Bay Area and you will find a weekend getaway to fulfill every desire. I’ve gotten into a bit of a regular routine which involves heading north through the Napa Valley to take in the waters in Calistoga with a few select stops in the valley going up and coming back. The basics include good food, plentiful wine, the valley of the moon, and the waters.

My driving music for this trip? A CD of the five songs from NPR’s First Listen of Brandy Clark’s new album, Big Day in a Small Town with “Love Can Go to Hell” on repeat and the sunroof open.

Getting There and Where to Stop on the Way Up

From downtown Oakland to Calistoga, the distance is about 68 miles. Driving time depends how many stops you make once in the valley on CA-29 which is full of strip malls until you get through Napa. Eventually, the road narrows to two lanes as you enter the valley.

My first stop is always Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery in Yountville for a mid-morning coffee and sweet. Thomas Keller is known for the French Laundry, Ad Hoc, Per se, and the Bouchon collection of restaurants and bakeries, but as a sometime pastry chef, Bouchon Bakery is my perfect storm. Everything is just exquisitely beautiful and elegant in its simplicity. Honestly, I like to look more than taste. Visiting Bouchon is my ritualistic entrance to the valley.

Chocolate tarts at Bouchon Bakery.

In terms of wine, I allow for exploration and stop at new places when I am headed north. I like to just go where the winds take me. But if there are places you have your heart set on stopping to taste, it is best to call ahead as some wineries taste by reservation only.

Next stop on the Food & Wine Highway is the historic Oakville Grocery, which has been in operation since 1881, as evidenced by its rustic charm brought into the 21st century after a recent restoration without cliché. This is my picnic stop — perfect for picking up sandwiches, cheeses, and other specialties to go with the wine you will soon taste and purchase at a newly discovered winery for your picnic along the way.

If picnics just aren’t your thing, another option for lunch is farther up the road at Gott’s on Main Street in St. Helena — a locally sourced, roadside burger joint with picnic tables under the trees and a fair wine and beer list or $5 corkage when you bring your own bottle.

Shopping

Main Street in St. Helena is perfect for window shopping or shopping shopping, depending on your pleasure. Park and walk up one side of the street and down the other.

Accommodations

Napa Valley is awash with hotels, B&Bs, and Airbnbs. My favorite place to stay is at Indian Springs in Calistoga in one of the original cottages. This place has recently undergone a big facelift with new buildings added to the old, an “adult” pool added to the original geyser-fed pool built in 1913, new landscaping, and a new restaurant. My whole goal in Napa Valley is to take to the waters. Even a day spent floating in the Olympic-sized pool (temp 92-102 degrees) has the effect of a vacation. My preferred weekend involves two nights and a full day at Indian Springs. Sleeping in, a big pile of catch-up magazines and a good book, a good hat and naps on the lounge chair when I am not floating, and getting a spa treatment (volcanic ash mud bath) or two in the spa. I just love this place.

The healing waters at Indian Springs.

Another, less expensive option is the El Bonita Motel in St. Helena. The El Bonita is a classic, retro chic motel replete with a classic neon motel sign, a pet-friendly policy, a pool, jacuzzi, and nice grounds. The best deal in the valley.

Food

It is hard to find a bad meal in Napa Valley. The chefs in the valley are interested in working with fresh, locally sourced ingredients. I have my favorites, and one is Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen in St. Helena. Created by Cindy Pawlcyn — the James Beard Award-winning cookbook author, chef-owner of Napa Valley’s Mustards Grill, and numerous restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area — Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen is housed in a building built in the 1800s which was a bordello in the '20s. The menu meets a certain home cooking jones with a modern flair in a friendly warm environment. A creature of habit, I always start with the artichoke with black garlic and tarragon aioli. My traveling companions usually go for oysters or mussels and then we go from there. They have a monthly feature called Cindy’s Supper Club which focuses on whole beast cooking from local farmers and growers. This month is the month of fried chicken. Be still my heart: Exploring fried chicken recipes from around the world for an entire month.

Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen.

If you are in the mood for a different and unique culinary experience, I suggest going to the Culinary Institute of America’s Greystone. The CIA has a number of special events and dining options on a spectacular terrace with vineyard views. Your chefs are culinary students at the Institute, and your dining pleasure is a crucial portion of their culinary education.

A trip to Calistoga is never complete without breakfast at Sarafornia on Lincoln Avenue, the main street of Calistoga. You can walk the couple of blocks from Indian Springs. Sarafornia is an old-school diner. Considered the best breakfast in Napa Valley, the menu includes home-made corned beef hash, Belgian waffles, big omelets, and plentiful servings. Classic.

Drink

I do have a couple of favorite wine stops which I try to save for my last day in the valley — my return home day which I do in an extremely relaxed and leisurely fashion having reached a peak state of mellow from my time in the healing waters.

From Calistoga, start the return trip south on the Silverado Trail.

Robert Sinskey Vineyards does an “unscheduled flight” meaning, on a first come, first served basis, you can stop in and taste wine. Using organic grapes grown in the Carneros region, two of their offerings have always been favorites: Their pink is a Vin Gris of pinot noir and the pinot blanc, which only comes in a half-bottle, always bring on the happy. I’ve shared both of these bottles on numerous occasions with dear friends which probably goes a long way toward my warm fuzzy about these wines.

Tasting wines at Brown Estate.

Brown Estate is what one might call a well-known secret, especially among zinfandel aficionados, the gem you want to keep all to yourself at the same time as you want to share it with the world. Visiting this winery is by appointment only and it is well-worth planning ahead — it’s that special. Brown Estate is a family-owned winery not really in the valley but above it. Reading their tasting notes is like reading poetry. To drink their wine is to take in beauty. Everything they do is gorgeous — the wines, the environment, the hospitality. Once, at a special luncheon tasting, one guy took his first taste and was so overcome he blurted out for all to hear, “Oh my God. These guys aren’t fucking around!"

Zinfandel isn’t all they do. The winemaker, David Brown, has over the years created a perfect summer sauvignon blanc and a lovely pink. They have a new white I have yet to try, but it is sure to become a regular on my Summer table. This Fall will mark their 20th vintage. Don’t miss Chaos Theory, Brown Recluse, Mickey’s Block, and the Big Damn Cab. Did I mention they are all poets at Brown Estate?

After my Brown Estate visit, I come down the hill and make my last stop at Rutherford Grill for a lite dinner on their patio before heading home — a grilled artichoke and iron skillet corn bread, for example. On a warm Summer day, it just feels light years from the madding crowd, like Italy maybe, but by this point, only 30-some miles from home.

Music

If you really want to stretch things out, plan your weekend to include a stop at the Uptown Theatre for a show and drive home after. I’ve done just this on numerous occasions with Rosanne Cash, Brandi Carlile, and Lyle Lovett. The Uptown is a classic Art Deco movie house recreated into a beautiful, intimate live performance venue.

Lede photo credit: Urban_Integration via Foter.com / CC BY-SA.

Sheep’s Pie (with Prince’s Purple Rice)

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Prince Rogers Nelson was taken from us far too soon, on April 21, 2016. I have to imagine that he's still out there somewhere … not finished raining his magic down upon us.

In honor of His Purple Princeness — gah, I adore him so much! — this month's recipe features a dish that I would like to believe that Prince would've enjoyed. If you don't already know, Prince was a most-devout vegetarian. (Listen to his song "Animal Kingdom" to hear what I'm talking about.) In 2006, PETA crowned him their Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity. (I think that they should've let him keep the crown in perpetuity.)

I set out to create a dish in Prince's honor that sang of comfort. I've been in a comfort food mood lately, myself, even before we got the news on April 21 — and that only made my cravings that much stronger. However, you should know that I'm the girl who chooses comfort foods that leave me feeling better — not worse. I'm not your frozen pizza or French fries friend. I'm not a hater; I'm just a regulator. I'll have some fries, but I just won't let it get out of hand because I know how my body works best. When I'm feeling down, I need to eat foods that help pick me back up.

Let's talk for a minute about a well-known comfort food that's covered in creamy, buttery mashed potatoes, browned and crisped to perfection in the oven. Underneath all of that pillowy goodness there's usually a combo of meat, vegetables, or both. If your mouth is watering even slightly at this moment like mine is, you're probably picking up what I'm putting down: shepherd's frickin' pie.

Today we are going to flip the script on this traditional offering and even change its name!

With that, I'd like to introduce you to Sheep's Pie … because shepherds eat sheep, and sheep eat grass and grain (the latter being generally reserved for the mothers-to-be who need more fortifying nutrients, so I'm told). Don't worry: There ain't no grass up in this dish; it's just a play on a theme. We'll have leeks, mushrooms, carrots, warm exotic spices, and more topped with fluffy jasmine rice instead of mashed potatoes for an added twist! In honor of Prince, I made my rice purple, which is rather easy to do. You might not want to go there with me but, if you do, instructions* will be below.

Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS
Ample kosher or sea salt (multiple specifications below)
*1/2 head of red cabbage, cut roughly into 3" inch pieces
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup jasmine rice
2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp coconut oil
1 pound large crimini, button, or portobello mushrooms — quartered
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 large leek, split lengthwise, washed, chopped into 1/2 inch slices
1 inch ginger, peeled and minced
1 tsp salt
6 garlic cloves, course chopped
2 Tbsp unbleached all purpose or GF flour
1 Tbsp curry powder
2 Tbsp ground coriander
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 can coconut cream (split into 2/3 and 1/3 portions)
4 cups of water, mushroom, or vegetable stock
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
salt to taste
1 pound russet potatoes, washed and cubed into 1" pieces
2 medium to large vine tomatoes, diced and salted
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 cup frozen (thawed) peas

DIRECTIONS
Place 1.5 cups of water in a small pot. *Add cut cabbage and bring to a boil, then cover and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes. Remove cabbage and strain purple water to remove any loose cabbage and return to pot. Add 2 tsp salt and 1 cup of rice, bring to a boil, stir well then cover and turn down to simmer for 15 minutes. Remove pot from the stove and let sit, covered.

Place 2 Tbsp coconut oil in a large pot (dutch oven is even better). Turn heat to high. Once oil melts, immediately add all mushrooms and distribute evenly in the base of the pot. Do NOT touch them for 60 seconds. After this, toss immediately, and lower your heat to medium-high and sprinkle 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper over mushrooms and toss. Do NOT touch them for another 60 seconds. Toss one final time, remove mushrooms from pot, and set aside. I like the mushrooms to retain some of their meatiness so I do not overcook them.

Place 1 Tbsp coconut oil into same pot still on medium-high heat. Once it melts, add the carrots, celery, leeks, and ginger. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp salt over top and stir frequently until carrots and celery are al denté (10-12 minutes). Add garlic and stir frequently for 2 minutes. Check for salt and add 1/2 tsp more, if needed. Turn down to low and cover.

In a small bowl or cup, combine flour, curry powder, coriander, and chili powder — mix well. Sprinkle mixture over vegetables in pot and turn heat to medium, stirring for 5 minutes to coat the veggies and heat the flour and spices.

Add 2/3 can of coconut cream, 4 cups water or stock, 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar — stir well. Check for seasoning and add salt to taste. Add potatoes and cover pot. Let cook on medium to medium-high for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Uncover pot and add tomatoes. Let cook for 5-10 minutes. If it's too soupy, turn the flame up a bit and cook a little longer to reduce some of the liquid. Once it's thick and rich, add back in the reserved mushrooms and parsley, and stir. Turn off heat and cover.

In a food processor, combine thawed peas, final third of coconut cream, and a pinch of salt — pulse until spreadable.

Ladle the potato mixture evenly into a deep round, square, or rectangular baking dish, leaving 2 inches of open space on the top. Then, scoop out mashed peas on top of that and spread evenly into a thin layer. Scoop rice on top of that and spread out with a spatula and a firm touch. Feel free to press rice into place, if needed.

Place into oven on a low broil for 3-5 minutes. Watch it very carefully! You're going for a lightly toasted flavour, not colour. Crunchy rice can mess up your dental work!

I hope that you will try this dish at home and feel the comfort that I felt when cooking and eating (lots of) it. Eat it whilst listening to "Purple Rain." Eat it whilst listening to "7." Eat it whilst listening to "Raspberry Beret." Eat it whilst listening to "Diamonds and Pearls." You catch my drift. Have second and third helpings.

P.S. — This dish would also go nicely with some pesto broccolini on the side. I heard that was one of his favorites, too.

Root 66: Nick Drummond’s Roadside Favorites

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Touring artists spend so much of their time on the road that they, inevitably, find all the best places to eat, drink, shop, and relax. Want to know where to find the best burger, beer, boots, or bunks? Ask a musician. Better yet, let us ask them for you.

Name: Nick Drummond
Hometown: Seattle, WA
Latest Project: Nick Drummond

Tacos: I’m sure I’m just asking for trouble, but if I see a small taco truck in the middle of nowhere, you can bet your belly I’m gonna stop. So far, it’s worked out okay. I’ve had extra good luck in the Central Valley.
Health food: Skagit Valley Food Co-op. Mt. Vernon, Washington. I’ve done the trip from Seattle to Bellingham more times than I can possibly count, and this co-op sits in the perfect location for a quick adjustment. Bladder relief and quinoa under the same roof? Sign me up.
Sushi: Sushi Hana. Sebastopol, California. I have no idea if this is actually the best I’ve had on the road, but every time I’ve been there, it’s been with good friends who live nearby and it has filled my belly with the type of company one craves while on the road.
Dive Bar: I don’t think it’s fair to call this a dive, but Coop’s Place in New Orleans might be my favorite place on earth for eating and drinking. Just make sure you know how spicy your hot sauce is before you pollinate your po’ boy … I had to order a couple glasses of milk once to quench the burn.


Music Festival: It’s not known as a music festival per se, but Oregon Country Fair is heaven on earth.
Backstage Hang: Again, Oregon Country Fair. Some of the best songwriting I’ve ever heard was played around a campfire here well into the morning.
Listening “Room”: Halibut Cove. Homer, Alaska. We played on a floating stage for an audience on a deck over looking the water in Alaska. It was an incredibly beautiful place. They have to set the showtimes to correspond with high tide, otherwise we’d be something like 20 feet below the crowd.
House Concert: Chicken Barn. Whidbey Island, Washington. They turn a wood shop into a concert venue, and you’d be hard pressed to find a more engaged audience. Really sweet people, too.


Coffee: Haymarket Café. Northampton, Massachusetts. If it wasn’t such a lovely café, I’d want to kick everyone out and make it my home.
Highway Stretch: Highway 20. Washington Pass. I’m a Washington boy, and these views are top notch. I’m usually an advocate of keeping both eyes on the road, but over this pass, all bets are off. They close it in the Winter because it’s just too beautiful.
Driving Album: Paul Simon's Concert in the Park. Masterful, start to finish. That album just gobbles up the miles.
Radio Station: KTRT 97.5 — The Root. Winthrop, Washington. Great community radio is a force for good in the world.

Traveler: Your Guide to Joshua Tree

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Of all the stories that populate the mythology of American roots music, few weave a tighter thread than the connection of Gram Parsons to Joshua Tree, California. For Parsons, the high desert was an escape from the craziness of Los Angeles and a chance to hang out with his friends. In 1969, he brought Keith Richards here with little more than Pendleton blankets and acoustic Gibsons. It was the year of “Honky Tonk Women,” Parsons’ undeniable country influence on the Rolling Stones during their creative apex. Four years later — on September 19, 1973 — Parsons would be clinically dead of a drug overdose at the Joshua Tree Inn and the bond between musician and place cemented into legend. He was 26 years old.

For decades, far-out eccentrics, war veteran homesteaders, and creative artists have all found inspiration in the widescreen landscapes and cultural freedom that the California desert provides. In its wildness, time becomes abstract — a slower way of life that’s fiercely protected by the locals. The food is decent, the shopping becomes a treasure hunt, and the live music can be transformative. But the spiritual heart of this place — its calm emotional anchor — lies in the vistas of Joshua Tree National Park.

In our age of digital hyper-connectivity, the park is one of the few remaining locations in the United States where, in just a couple of miles, all of your devices go silent as the grid dissolves. This rare, involuntary disconnection might help explain the park’s explosive popularity (a record two million visited in 2015), a salve to the debilitating nature deficit and frenetic pace many urbanites experience daily.

It’s a place where the messages you receive are not about work, gossip, or a change in plans, but something bigger and soul evolving. While under the canopy of a million stars or taking in the beautiful surrealism of ancient Joshua trees, you’re forced to remember how small you really are, how fragile the balance of ecology truly is, and how lucky you are to be here — now, in the moment — as a witness to its magic.

Getting There

There are four airports to choose from, and deciding which to use is a balance of cost versus convenience. Traditionally, the most affordable option is to fly into Las Vegas’s McCarren International (LAS) and drive three-and-a-half hours south on US-95. Fill the tank, bring some water, and take it slow. Cell phone service is spotty for most of the barren drive and there are few places to stop. Los Angeles International (LAX) is another option, with the drive east from the airport to Joshua Tree at approximately two-and-a-half to three hours (depending on traffic). LA/Ontario International (ONT) is located about an hour-and-a-half west and is an easy drive on I-10 to Route 62. Finally, the most convenient airport (and usually the most expensive to fly into) is Palm Springs International (PSP). From there, it's a 50-minute drive on Route 62 “up the hill,” as the locals say.

The long ribbon of California State Route 62 (aka Twentynine Palms Highway) connects five adjacent communities where the action is: Morongo Valley, Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, Twentynine Palms, and the unincorporated community of Wonder Valley.

Lodging

As of this writing, there are over 300 places to rent on Airbnb in Joshua Tree alone, including small rustic cabins; large, amenity-rich homes; and everything in-between. For the best nighttime stargazing, rent a converted homestead in Wonder Valley, a rural outpost east of Twentynine Palms. If you want to commune with the ghost of Gram, book the room he OD’d in (room #8) at the Joshua Tree Inn. Or you can party with the truckers and the kickers and the cowboy angels at Pioneertown Hotel.

Food, Booze, and Live Music

There is currently no venue in the area specifically devoted to live music, but the restaurants and bars here more than fill the void, attracting both underground up-and-comers and established acts. Pappy and Harriet’s in Pioneertown is a must-visit, with regular live music, great food, and a stocked bar. It’s busy, so make reservations for dinner and check the calendar before you head up there. (They are typically closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.) Their annual Desert Stars Festival always boasts a mindboggling roster of talent.

To fuel up for hikes in the park, Crossroads Café in downtown Joshua Tree is a good spot for breakfast or a sandwich. (Their seitan Hell Burger rocks!) Joshua Tree Coffee Company provides wicked strong coffee, served by friendly staff. Pie for the People offers up New York-style pizza by the pie or the slice. Joshua Tree Saloon hosts occasional music, decent pub grub, and craft beer on tap. The Palms Restaurant out in Wonder Valley has a dark, musty bar and hosts trippy indoor/outdoor concerts. If you’re looking for more adventurous menus, La Copine and 29 Palms Inn offer “finer dining” — for lack of a better phrase — beyond typical burgers and Mexican food.

Attractions

Tourist traffic is divided into two distinct seasons here, “high” and “low.” High season is busiest during the most temperate months of March-May and September-November, and low season constitutes the hot summer months and the cold-ish winters. But with the right preparation and smart precautions, any time of the year is good to visit. (Note that some businesses scale back or shut down operations in July and August.)

Plan at least one full day of hiking and sightseeing in Joshua Tree National Park. Camping is allowed in the park — there are nine campgrounds in all — and reservations must be made in advance on a first-come, first-served basis. Seven-day vehicle permits can be purchased at time of visit. Try to catch the Key’s Ranch tour. Running February through mid-May, it's an incredible story of ingenuity, perseverance, and cold-blooded murder.

 

To visit the site of Gram Parsons’ bizarre “cremation” in Joshua Tree National Park, visit Cap Rock Nature Trail. High Desert Test Sites / A-Z West is a unique arts organization that holds tours on its 50-acre site focusing on sustainable living and innovative design. Get a sound bath at George Van Tassel’s space-age invention the Integratron and don’t miss a chance to experience Noah Purifoy’s Outdoor Desert Museum, a major socio-political exhibit created entirely out of repurposed materials.

Shopping

For a taste of California desert weirdness, visit Sky Village Swap Meet, a sprawling outdoor flea market open every weekend. Ranch and Camp Mercantile boasts a quirky mix of vintage goods and local art. The Hoof & the Horn boutique specializes in rootsy Americana clothing, vintage t-shirts, and accessories. (They have a stoner rock selection on vinyl, too.) Dig through Tamma’s Magic Mercantile for lots of cool antiques. You can buy your very own baby Joshua tree at Cactus Mart and meet Butch and Sundance, two of the friendliest kitties in Morongo Valley. For bibliophiles, the Cactus Wren bookstore is a great place to search for old desert homesteader histories.

Photo credit: Melissa Grisi

Grilled Rosemary and Garlic Lamb Chops

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The flowers are blooming, the bees are buzzing, and grilling season is here again. One of my favorite meats to grill for a dinner party is lamb chops. They cook fast, taste great, and please dinner guests beyond expectations.

I was shown this recipe 25 years ago when I was in chef school, and it remains my favorite. The marinade is simple, but perfect. If you serve these at a dinner party, plan for about five chops per person. They’ll start with three, reach for another one, and then almost always politely check to see if there might be one more available. People eat more of these little chops than they think they will, because they are so delicious.

Frenching a rack of lamb — that is, removing the fat and membranes which extend to the end of the individual rib bones — gives the rack a clean look for an elegant meal. Elegance aside, you can hold the rib bone and eat the chop like fried chicken without any worry of offending anyone. In fact, it’s nearly impossible not to. They are so tasty, you’ll want to grab every last bite. You can buy them Trader Joe’s, already Frenched.

The perfect lamb chop grilling album? Gillian Welch's Time (The Revelator).

INGREDIENTS
1 package of Frenched New Zealand Lamb Chops (about 10 chops)
10 pods of fresh garlic, chopped fine
5 sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped roughly
6 tbsp Olive oil
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Tony’s Creole seasoning

DIRECTIONS
Use a very sharp knife to slice the lamb into individual chops. Set to the side. Combine the chopped garlic, rosemary, lemon juice, and olive oil in a bowl, toss the chops in, and coat them. Then lay them in a single layer in a flat glass container and cover them with the marinade from the bowl. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours.

Remove from the refrigerator two hours before you plan to grill them, bringing them to room temperature. This helps the garlic and rosemary to sink into the meat.

Heat the grill up on high, and then wipe the grill down with a paper towel thickly coated in olive oil. This cleans it, and helps the chops not to stick. Turn it down and prepare to barbecue on medium-high heat.

Place the marinated chops on the grill. They cook very quickly — about 3-4 minutes per side for medium-rare.

Serve with warm garlic bread and a huge salad.

Lede photo credit: InterContinental Hong Kong via Foter.com / CC BY-ND.

Spring Is Beginning to Get Sprung

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Yesterday, I got a call from a friend because she has a lot of garlic growing in her yard and wondered if I wanted any. Once you start gardening, freebies are impossible to turn down, so I headed over to her place to dig up a bundle. It was the most beautiful Spring day. There is something magical about Spring colours when the sky is bright blue and gives the new greens a yellow hue. The top photo was the view from her garden in East Nashville.

I haven't had the chance to plant the garlic, but here's what else has been going on in my East Nashville Edible Garden.

Peas! These are one of my favourites. I was rather reserved in 2015 so stepped it up this year and have three different kinds of garden pea, plus the sugar snaps and snow peas. The beets, carrots, and salads are coming up, too, and the fruits and herbs are starting to bloom. The strawberries are throwing out flowers and, since each one becomes a fruit, the berries aren't too far off.

Although planted, the beans remain underground and there are a few seedlings left to go in. The kale and chard are in pots, but will go into the ground this week, along with the onions, leeks, and shallots, while the peppers and tomatoes will be kept inside a little while longer. It's not quite warm enough for them to be outside all day and night.

It hasn’t all been a success story, though. I had planned to grow cauliflower, savoy cabbage, and broccoli but after lovingly tending them from seed to seedling in a grow box, and I mean lovingly … 

… they were eaten within a week of being in the garden by worms munching at the stems. I begrudgingly let it go with a plan of attack ready for the little blighters in the Fall.

As if I haven't enough seeds already this year, I just bought some more — including squash and melons — from my favourite online seed store, Baker Creek. (I’ve now banned myself from the site until the Summer, knowing full well there is no chance I’ll stick to it.) There's still time to order, if you want to have a go at planting those this year.

I will confess that I’m new to growing melons and squash, so it will be another learning curve. When I started the garden three years ago, I planted what I knew and loved, which were the foods my dad grew on his allotment at the back of our house in England. As well as having his experience at hand for those particular foods, they took me back to my childhood: the June strawberries which we would long for every other month off the year and stuff ourselves silly when the time came around; the daily bowl of raspberries I’d collect from late Summer through the Fall; the leeks, peas, and carrots that were the brightest orange you could imagine. I remember knawing around the middle core, saving that most juicy part until the end. I still do that sometimes.

Another staple were his potatoes. When there weren’t any left in the garden once the cold set in, they would be in a huge paper bag in our garage ready for Winter feasting. So, from the first year I began planting, the potatoes were in. They've always done well, both directly in the ground before I started mulching in my second year, and after. This year, though, I read about a no-dig growing method when using mulch so am giving it a go.

Traditionally, potatoes are planted about four inches deep in the ground and, as the plants grow, the surrounding earth is mounded up around it, a little more earth being added as the plant continues to grow. The potatoes can be dug up earlier for new potatoes or left a little longer for larger ones.

This year, instead of planting in the ground, I placed my potatoes on top of the soil.

Then, rather than the usual four-inch wood chip cover that's on the rest the garden, the potatoes will sit under about eight inches. Instead of just mounding the extra four inches, I built a border from cedar fence posts (using the same technique I used to build all my borders). That way, the mulch stays in place and I can plant other crops very close to it. Once the potatoes are ready, there is no need to dig (which usually results in a few potatoes being stabbed), just a bit of ferreting around in the chips is all that's needed. And you shouldn’t need to weed or water, either. Now to just sit and wait to see if they grow.

Just a note about planting: Don't plant store-bought potatoes; you'll need seed potatoes to begin with. I order mine though Grow Organic. This year, I bought Burbank Russett, Viking Purple, and Desiree Red. All these varieties are good for both the Spring and Fall which will hopefully make the replanting easier, and it's not too late to get an order shipped for this year.

My other hope for this method is that harvesting and planting happens at the same time, which means even less work. When one plant and all it's potatoes are dug up, the best potato is replanted in the same space, on top of the soil, and covered again, ready to grow when the seasons allow. That means, if this works, once the ground work is done, that's it — a potential lifetime's worth of potatoes.

Singer/songwriter Susan Enan spends any time not on the road or in the studio working in her East Nashville garden. Follow all the Edible East Nashville action on Instagram.