q+a

What were your earliest food experiences and memories?

I grew up in Reynolds, Georgia, a small farming town of about 1000 people that didn’t even have a stop light. Although my dad never farmed full time, he grew peanuts, cotton, and soybeans and we always had a huge vegetable garden. Since we did not have an option to “eat out” in such a small town, my mom cooked every night, always from scratch and always delicious. She is still known for her biscuits and we looked forward to the Sunday lunches every week.

Growing up in a small Southern town, what kinds of things kept you busy?

During the summers, I woke up many mornings to a list of chores on the breakfast table. My mom worked so I had jobs like preparing the marinade and marinating pork for dinner or making cookies for the Woman’s Club Bake Sale.

My dad had a peach stand built for me, my brother and my sister and put it right at the end of our driveway, just on the edge of the peach field. During the hot months of June and July we sold peaches to folks traveling on highway 96. It was fun and it was hot and we always looked forward to jumping in the pool at the end of the day.

Beginning at the age of 8 – my best friend Anne and I would help our moms cater weddings, luncheons, and a variety of small town events. We did everything from helping prepare Benedictine sandwiches to serving punch at weddings.

My dad and his best friend both farmed peanuts so every fall when the peanuts were “green” he would come home with a pick up truck full of pulled peanuts and dump them in our driveway. Anne and I would pick the peanuts off the plants and help our moms boil and bag them. On Saturdays we would head into town and set up a stand outside Anne’s dad’s Western Auto Store. We sold them for fifty cents per bag, but we would easily make $100 on a busy Saturday and that was a lot of money to us.

As soon as I was old enough to drive, I got a job at the local peach packing shed and sold peaches to tourist and shucked corn for the vegetable market. I was always entertained when I had to explain to the northerners exactly what boiled peanuts really were!

What were your culinary influences growing up?

My mother, grandmother and great grandmother, like most Southern women, always cooked seasonal using fresh butter beans and other vegetables. When I was in high school and college, my mom really starting experimenting with different flavors which inspired me to get creative in the kitchen.

How would you describe your style of cooking?

My recipes are generally rooted in Southern cuisine, but I enjoy giving them a modern twist and making them a little lighter than the more traditional Southern dishes. There are so many ways to add rich flavor to foods and still keep them light and healthy, especially when you are using fresh ingredients.

What is a menu you would suggest as a “light” version of a full Southern meal?

Wow, this could be so many things, but a fun summer supper would be…Appetizer of Pickled Georgia Shrimp with artichokes and lemons; Oven Fried Catfish with fresh corn and lima bean succotash (drizzled with basil olive oil); Marinated Vidalia Onion, Cucumber and Tomato Salad; and for dessert: Jewel’s Georgia Peach Cobbler with vanilla frozen yogurt

What local ingredients do you use the most in your Southern dishes?

All kinds of fresh, homegrown produce vegetables like butter beans, lima beans, tomatoes, okra, silver corn, and black eyed peas. Growing up, my mom would always freeze the vegetables when they were in abundance so we could enjoy them year round which is more sustainable than buying produce off-season (and they taste better!). I absolutely love goat cheese and luckily Georgia is home to an award-winning goat cheese farm.

What non-food components do you think are important to the Southern food experience?

Every Southern meal, whether a formal occasion or an afternoon picnic on the farm, carries with it the stories and traditions behind all of the dishes. Beyond your taste buds, I love considering the history of the recipes how they each have evolved.

What holiday food traditions do you have with your family?

Christmas Eve dinner is always grilled quail, baked apples and bananas, homemade biscuits, and a delicious broccoli casserole. Christmas morning is a big breakfast with stone ground grits, eggs, biscuits, and country ham. My dad makes cane syrup every Thanksgiving which is perfect served with biscuits.

We always spend Christmas day at the farm where we have family quail hunts, lots of great food, and wine. For Thanksgiving and Christmas my dad has mastered the turkey. After brining it, he cooks it over charcoal on a rotisserie and bastes it all day with melted butter and Worcestershire Sauce. My mom and I fix homemade cornbread dressing, sweet potato casserole, and fresh vegetables. We also have the traditional Southern congealed cranberry salad that is my favorite.

What is one of your favorite, go-to ingredients?

Basil infused olive oil. I usually make my own at the end of the summer when I have a ton of basil to harvest, but you can easily buy it online. Not only does it make a delicious salad dressing, but it is perfect for finishing simple, fresh dishes like homegrown tomatoes, creamed corn, or grilled fish and vegetables. It is one of those ingredients that makes a boring dish turn into something spectacular with almost no effort.

Is there an ingredient you like to cook with that the average home chef may not be familiar with, and should definitely try?

Cane syrup and cane sugar are some of one of my favorite ingredients to have on hand. The syrup is produced by boiling down sugarcane juice which is similar to the process used to make maple syrup. My dad makes cane syrup every year and it is the perfect all-natural sweetener. It is very rich and full of flavor, but slightly lighter than molasses. The syrup is great for baking or in marinades, salad dressings, etc. I use cane sugar in place of refined sugar and it give dishes an extra dimension of flavor (plus makes the best coffee in the morning!).