Fall Put A Spell On Me

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."
- George Eliot

The fall season is finally upon us in Nashville, and it is bewitching. The bright leaves of red and orange, the bountiful pumpkin displays, the smell of apple cider lingering in the crisp autumn air, candy corn, and the excitement around Halloween costumes and Thanksgiving pies make me euphoric.  Even the opportunity to wear scarves and boots again tickles my fashionable fancy. This is my happy place.

This past weekend was the first in three weeks that I have been home. And I've never been more content to answer "absolutely nothing" when asked if I had any plans for the last two days. But I did know of one familiar place where I wanted to spend some time this weekend: my kitchen. I've had it in my head to make a pot roast for about a week. And Saturday presented the perfect opportunity to do so. Because this recipe called for a good 5 hours of my time, I needed a lazy weekend to enjoy the process from shopping for the ingredients to serving it on the plate. 

From our apartment, you can see a snippet of the downtown skyline. So I opened the door to our balcony, letting the brisk air fill the room, and began to prepare a traditional Yankee pot roast. About an hour into cooking, Nina Simone's "I Put a Spell on You" started to play on Pandora. And I thought
 this song was the perfect compliment to my dish.

A hearty meal that could leave you with a week's worth of leftovers is a great choice for the fall. The flavor is good. The level of difficulty in making this dish is easy. And the pot roast comes out wonderfully tender. You could serve it over brown rice, or we chose to simply eat it as is - soaking up any leftover broth with a crusty fresh loaf of bread.

Bon Appétit!

Julia

Traditional Yankee Pot Roast

Ingredients

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 (4-pound) boneless chuck roast, trimmed
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
2 cups coarsely chopped onion
2 cups low-salt beef broth
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 cup chopped plum tomato
1 1/4 pounds small red potatoes
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Preparation

* Preheat oven to 300°.
* Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sprinkle roast with salt and pepper. Add roast to pan, browning on all sides (about 8 minutes). Remove from pan. Add onion to pan; sauté 8 minutes or until browned. Return roast to pan. Combine broth, ketchup, and Worcestershire; pour over roast. Add tomato; bring to a simmer.
* Cover and bake at 300° for 2 1/2 hours or until tender. Add potatoes and carrots; cover and bake an additional 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in lemon juice. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

A Texas Sized Appetite

Quand l'appetit va, tout va.
- Obelix

 

 

Upon leaving rise, a quaint French restaurant in Dallas, the hostess hands you a small piece of paper with a unique quote printed on the inside. Written in French, my quote read: "When the appetite goes, everything goes." And here I am, writing this post 5 months after my last entry. It's funny how a seemingly insignificant piece of paper, a random luck of the draw, spoke straight to the core of me.

This past week, I had random encounters with three of my lifelong loves: French food, the French language, and friends (best friends). And so my appetite kicked in to reconnect with each. This past weekend marked the third annual girls' weekend. Each fall, my closest girl friends from college get together for a long weekend. And this year we traveled to my girlfriend's hometown of Dallas, TX. The Big D was awesome! I would also like to take this opportunity to thank her boyfriend who endured sharing one bathroom with 4 women as we paraded and primped in front of the mirror for hours before going out each night.

Girls' weekend is similar to the holidays for me. You're surrounded by people you love; there's always a lot of commotion, and I indefinitely gain a few lbs from the amount of food and alcohol I consume. And so the word appetite takes on a more literal tone as it relates to how much I managed to eat and drink in one weekend. And it was all worth it. But you better believe it's gonna be soup and salads for the remainder of the week.

Of all the wonderful restaurants we sampled this past weekend in Tejas, my favorite was rise. Hedda Gioia Dowd, a Memphis native (my home girl!), is co-owner and creative genius behind this charming salon de souffle. Known for their souffles, rise specializes in both the savory and sweet versions of this classic French food. I had the ever so scrumptious raspberry souffle. French music softly plays in the background. Fresh coffee is served in a French Press. All the dishware is unique pieces of pottery. And your water for the table is contained in recycled wine bottles - great idea for the home might I add. It just doesn't get cuter than this place.

Of course rise has a cookbook (Rise to the Occasion). And, of course, I had to have it. I feel the need to make a souffle of my very own in the near future! My copy was signed by the Chef and co-owner, Cherif Brahmi. He writes: "Le bonheur est dans la cuisine..." Happiness is in the kitchen. Well said monsieur.

Keeping in theme with all things French, I had to choose a song from Edith Piaf. I love her. And if you ever have any interest in learning more about this cultural icon, I highly recommend the film "La Vie en Rose" with Marion Cotillard. Excellent. Quite a depressing life Edith lived. But it's an amazing one at that. 



Julia

Tyler Florence is Walkin' in Memphis

There's no profound way to lead into this post, other than to say: I MET TYLER FLORENCE! My day, my weekend, and my month of May are complete. I’d like to thank Twitter, Nicole, and Kim for a terrific team effort in making this moment happen.

I’m so happy for the city of Memphis. This weekend we are hosting Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race as they film the upcoming season – which airs this August. And you know yours truly was on the case to find out exactly where to get in on the action.

Around 11:30 this morning, Tyler Florence tweeted “Charcoal Smoked Ribs at Rendezvous in #Memphis #AmericanTreasure”. Done. Within two minutes I was out the door and on my way to Rendezvous for lunch. Good thing it’s just down the alley from work. Once our group was seated and ordered drinks, our waiter informed us that Tyler was there but already left. He just picked up large orders of ribs as part of the show’s competition. I was defeated and my bank account was now short $12.

But we weren’t throwing in the towel just yet. After lunch, the ladies and I walked up the street to Court Square where the food trucks were stationed and Food Network was filming. The trucks were not serving food until Saturday. Friday was for filming only, so there was a glimmer of hope that Chef Florence would appear.

And appear he did within fifteen minutes of patiently waiting. My co-worker, quite arguably the biggest Tyler Florence fan aside from my mother, was determined to meet him. She ever so boldly called out his name and waved for him to come over; and he did! The nicest (and only) celebrity chef I have met to date, Tyler Florence was most gracious in shaking our hands, having a little sideline conversation, and posing for photos with us.

To Tyler Florence: thank you for making our day! And to the competitors on this season’s The Great Food Truck Race: GOOD LUCK! I leave you with a musical tribute to this city and my memorable day of walkin' in Memphis.

I’m off to Florida for a family wedding! Have a great weekend everyone!

Julia

My Kind of Town

I'm off to Chicago for the weekend! Will have lots to report upon my return - including new eats and beats! And so I will leave you with none other than Ole Blue Eyes paying tribute to my favorite city.



Have a great weekend!
Julia

This Rice Would Be So Nice

Somebody stop me! Or just feed me...until I'm full. My stomach has been a bottomless pit the past two days, neither craving a particular food nor satisfied by anything I feed it. I refer to my stomach as its own being in times like these because I can't control its insatiable appetite. The food cravings run rampant from the moment I wake up until the time I go to bed just (just to stay out of the kitchen).

The tragedy in this situation is two-fold. First, I have no food in my kitchen. I've stalled on a visit to the grocery store and consequently have a random assortment of food in my pantry that doesn't add up to a single meal. Second, my hungry hippo self is attending a formal on Friday night...in Chicago...with college students! Stewart's fraternity chapter at our Alma Mater is having their 55th annual formal, and a lot of the alumni decided to use this opportunity for a reunion. And while we're at it, I might as well tell you that I'm sporting a lobster red farmer's tan. And my dress is red! Don't get me wrong. I'm so excited for this weekend. I love getting glammed up and going out for a night on the town; and this night involves an open bar. Woop woop! But me, green tea, and a spray tan are going to rendezvous asap.

So while I'm thinking of all the food I want to eat and don't have, this brown rice salad comes to mind. The recipe originally came from my best friends' family. And I can't compare it to any rice dish I've ever had. This is a quintessential summertime dish. There are so many colors, textures and flavors in this rice, it will send your taste buds on a roller coaster ride! You have to try it. I've made this dish before for a group of co-workers and they loved it. Last weekend we had it at my parents' and the leftovers didn't make it past the first night in my house. This rice dish makes a statement, and people will remember you for it...in a good way.

The perfect beat to pair with this summertime rice salad is Astrud Gilberto's Summer Samba. The song was made to play alongside this dish. It's colorful, happy and exotic.

I hope you enjoy this eat and beat as much as I do!
Julia



Brown Rice Salad: 1 Cup rice (white or brown) cooked.
1/2 Cup golden raisins
1/4 Cup olive oil
1/4 Cup red wine vinegar
1 small red onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 Cup roasted pistachios, roughly choppped (buy them roasted to cut back on time)
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1 tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp red pepper flakes
15 oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 Cup basil leaves (chiffonade)

1. Cook rice and set aside
2. In a Cuisinart, pulse the golden rasins, 1/4 cup olive oil and red wine vinegar together until blended into a vinegrette. Set aside.
3. In a pan, saute the red onion and garlic in 2 tbsp olive oil. Set aside.
4. Mix the rice, vinegrette, garlic/red onion and all remaining ingredients together in a large bowl. Serve hot or cold.

*You'll notice in the picture that the chickpeas were substituted for yellow bell peppers. Make it your own. I've made had it both ways, and you can't go wrong.