Apples top the list of the Dirty Dozen.

I’ll be the first to admit I’m a little neurotic.

One of my neuroses involves a paranoia of chemicals — in short, I know human beings are routinely exposed to a litany of chemicals and I wonder if that has something to do with the scary health diagnoses I hear about every day.

One of the worst places for a person with chemophobia (that is a real word) is the grocery store produce department. If it isn’t organic, then what was used to keep all the pesky bugs and fungi from devouring or damaging it?

Despite the chemophobia, I do not buy all organic. That’s because one of my other neuroses revolves around money — buying organic is generally more expensive.

So what is an average-income person to do in order to save money without ingesting enough chemicals to make her glow in the dark?

The Dirty Dozen is a good place to start.

Minimize your exposure

For nine years, the non profit, Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group has analyzed pesticide data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration to come up with an annual shopper’s guide they call the Dirty Dozen.

I love this concept because it means that, according to the EWG, you can greatly minimize your family’s intake of pesticides by purchasing organic versions of specific fruits and vegetables rather than trying to go completely organic, which can be cost-prohibitive for many people.

To continue reading this column, please click here.

Here’s an addendum to today’s column: The EWG compares pesticide levels in almost 50 different fruits and veggies. The cleanest 15 are named the Clean Fifteen while the most chemical-ridden 12 are the Dirty Dozen. In between fall a number of other products. To see the entire list of 48, click here.

Do you buy organic produce? Do you think you’ll use the Dirty Dozen list to help inform your purchasing decisions?

Photo illustration by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times.

It wasn’t long ago that the word “app” meant something entirely different in the restaurant world.

“Let’s order some apps before our entrees,” one might say, or “Could you bring us some app plates, please?”

Now, millions of people turn to “apps,” or application software, on their smartphones to help inform their decisions about dining out.

According to the online industry magazine FastCasual.com, an April study of smartphone users found that 81 percent had searched for a restaurant on their smartphone in the past six months and 80 percent believe it is important to look at a restaurant menu before dining there.

In a far less scientific poll on my blog at roanoke.com, 60 percent of 40 responders said they have used restaurant apps on their phones.

Clearly, it would be prudent for restaurant owners to consider the effect of smartphone apps on their businesses.

One man, Bill Trifiro of Roanoke, is hoping he can capitalize on this trend and make a living selling customized smartphone apps to local restaurants. He is so excited about apps that he built one for his upcoming wedding.

“Every major chain has an app,” Trifiro said. “But there’s no reason smaller restaurants shouldn’t be able to afford to do this.”

To continue reading this column, please click here.

A Carolina dog and a Boston dog from Swine Drive Deli Dawgs at Salem Memorial Baseball park. Photo by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times.

If Tim Anderson had written the song “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” he probably would’ve asked for more than peanuts and Cracker Jacks.

Instead, that line might have gone something like “Buy me some smoked wings and cold craft beer” or
“Buy me a pizza and milkshake, dear.”

Anderson, 52, who is in his second year as food and beverage manager for the Salem Red Sox, understands the appeal of standards such as nachos and popcorn. Nevertheless, he wanted to start this season with the most varied food options the ballpark has boasted since it opened in August 1995.

“We just want to make it better,” he said. “We want for people to be able to get what they want.”

Anderson, a graduate of Staunton River High School and Radford University, was the food and beverage manager for the Roanoke Civic Center for 12 years. He said he spent the first year in his new job “laying the groundwork” for this year’s concessions changes.

This season just began April 12, but Red Sox Vice President and General Manager Todd Stephenson said fans have been pleased about the new offerings.

“The reviews we’ve been getting are very good,” he said. “You always want options. We like to tell people we have something for everyone.”

To continue reading this column and see some pricing examples, please click here.

ThinkStock photo.

When I lived in Leadville, Colo., as a child, my parents were practically kids themselves. Thousands of miles from their own parents, they gravitated toward a warm, loving couple named Lee and Viola Rhodus.

I remember that my surrogate grandparents’ back yard butted up against my elementary school playground, and that Mrs. Rhodus’ flower garden burst with the tiny blue stars of forget-me-nots. I recall that we were invited to their house for Thanksgiving, and that Mr. Rhodus was the first person we called after our truck got stuck in the mud during a surprise gully-washer.

But besides my memories, I have only one other reminder of the couple, with whom we gradually lost touch after moving back east in the early 1980s. It is Mrs. Rhodus’ recipe for rhubarb cake.

To continue reading this column, click here.

At that link, you will also find recipes for Viola Rhodus’ rhubarb cake, strawberry-rhubarb pie, and a spiced rhubarb chutney to serve with grilled pork or sausages.

Do you fall in the hate rhubarb category or do you love it like I do?

Patrick Maggi holds the pizza he made for an Orlando competition last year. Photo courtesy PMQ.

Most of the folks in Roanoke who know Patrick Maggi know him as a barbecue man.

I regularly hear people say they think his downtown Roanoke restaurant, Blues BBQ, has the best barbecue in town. On Friday, a film crew from the Destination America television show “BBQ Pitmasters” is scheduled to shoot a segment at the 6-year-old business.

For the past few years, Maggi has battled the best in some serious cooking competitions, and later this month he will travel to Parma, Italy, for one of the most prestigious contests in the world.

Not in the barbecue world, however — in the pizza world.

As a member of the U.S. Pizza Team, the 43-year-old Adelphi, Md., native will compete against some of the most talented pizzaioli from around the globe in the World Pizza Championship. He’ll even have to bake beside experts from his ancestors’ home country of Italy.

“Pizza is in my blood,” he said. “My dad had a place for 20 years and I love the BBQ thing, but I have always loved making pizza.”

To continue reading this column and to see Patrick’s father’s recipe for Bolognese sauce, click here.

ThinkStock image.

Thanks to everybody who made last week’s blog post about deviled eggs such a great discussion, I devoted today’s Front Burner column to the scrumptious little treats.

I ran into a lady at the gym this morning who said, ” You made me want deviled eggs this morning!” I guess that means I’m doing my job.

The results of the poll were 74 percent in favor of traditional deviled eggs, while 20 percent of voters said to fancy it up. I figured we can all find recipes for simple deviled eggs, however, so I shared some souped-up versions with the column.

Check out today’s column, which includes recipes for three different kinds of fancy deviled eggs:

Green eggs and ham (whites dyed green, stuffing filled with chopped country ham)

Crabby eggs (with crab meat, avocado, capers)

Dirty martinis (with a splash of vodka, green olive juice, and sliced green olives)

Do you plan on making deviled eggs this weekend? If you are having a special dinner, what else do you plan to fix?

Photo by Hiltrud Schulz. Courtesy of Interlink Publishing.

I’ve called my mother for plenty of food and cooking advice over the years, so it’s only fair that she occasionally comes to me with culinary questions.

Recently, I opened an email to find this message from Mom: “What is the difference between Greek yogurt and regular yogurt and why is it all the rage now?”

It is a great question and a topic I have been researching. But Greek yogurt is only one corner of a much larger picture: Whether it be tangy and plain or fruity and sweet, yogurt in general has experienced a remarkable boost in popularity.

Harry Balzer, vice president of the marketing research firm NPD Group, recently went so far as to declare yogurt “the food of the decade,” pointing to the fact that consumption of this creamy dairy product has more than doubled over the past 10 years.

To continue reading this column and to see recipes for herbed yogurt cheese spread, chicken in yogurt-orange sauce, and apricot and yogurt custard, please click here.

How often do you eat yogurt? Do you like to cook with it and if so, what are some of your favorite culinary uses for this versatile product?

Scott Koerner, bartender at Annie Moore’s Irish Pub, with his drink, the Irish Dreamsicle. Photo by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times.

St. Patrick’s Day is historically a holiday when Roanoke bartenders pull a lot of draft beers and pour a lot of shots. The top-selling beers are probably Guinness and anything dyed green, while you can bet the Irish whiskey bottles don’t collect much dust, either.

But I thought it would be fun this year to challenge a few local bartenders to test their luck at inventing a holiday-themed cocktail. The rules were simple: It had to be their own concoction, it had to be inspired in some way by St. Patrick’s Day, and it did not necessarily have to be green.

The following good-natured folks happily took me up on my request: Brad Joynes and Laura Jeter at Macado’s in downtown Roanoke, Diana Dixon and Alejandro Rivera at Pomegranate in Troutville, Jennifer Wilcox at Corned Beef & Co., Scott Koerner at Annie Moore’s Irish Pub and Hunter Johnson at Lucky Restaurant.

To read more about these bartenders and see the drinks they created, please click here.

Do you plan to celebrate or observe St. Patrick’s Day in some way this weekend? If so, what do you plan to do/eat/drink?

Carrie Forbes, originally of Botetourt County. Courtesy photo.

Carrie Forbes was raised in Botetourt County, where her mom and dad (retired Roanoke Times reporter Cody Lowe) instilled in her a love of good food. But she never knew how much she enjoyed cooking until she grew up and moved to North Carolina.

There, the James River High School graduate also decided to start a blog about her attempt to switch to a gluten-free diet, which eventually would relieve her of some miserable health problems. It happened that Forbes’ switch to the gluten-free lifestyle came as more and more Americans were making the same choice.

Forbes’ blog caught the attention of a publisher, who asked her to write a cookbook. “The Everything Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Cookbook” was released in October.

I asked Forbes to tell us more about her experience and share a couple of her favorite recipes.

To read the Q & A with Forbes, click here.

Click the links for these gluten-free slow cooker recipes:

Peruvian Roast Chicken with Red Potatoes

Blueberry Cobbler

Peter Radjou prepares vegetarian quesadillas in the Roanoke Catholic School kitchen. Photo by Rebecca Barnett | The Roanoke Times.

Factors such as nutrition and cost can make planning school menus challenging enough, but this time of year brings additional considerations for Peter Radjou, cafeteria manager at Roanoke Catholic School.

Although some Catholic families abstain from eating meat every Friday of the year, Lent is a time when all Catholics are supposed to skip meat on Fridays in favor of vegetarian dishes, fish or shellfish. Furthermore, quite a few give up meat for the entire 40-day period, which also includes fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

But Radjou, who has been working at the school for about a year, is up to the task. As the owner of Taaza Indian Restaurant and The Elephant Walk Restaurant & Lounge, both in Roanoke, he has lots of experience catering to the needs of individuals. He is also Catholic himself and both of his daughters attend the school.

Radjou does more than accommodate the dietary requirements of staff and students, said campus minister Beth Derringer. “He spoils us,” she said. “We are very blessed to have him.”

To continue reading this column, click here.

Click these links to see Peter Radjou’s recipes for:

Dill Crusted Salmon

Tilapia in Lobster Sauce

Does your diet change during Lent? If so, what are some of your favorite fish or meatless recipes to have during this time?

STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS | The Roanoke Times
There’s new black-and-white tile in the buffet area of the Regency Room, which could have a soft reopening Saturday.

Good morning!

Today’s Front Burner column is about the renovations going on at Hotel Roanoke’s 74-year-old Regency Room. Expect the same elegance with an update, plus a menu with new locally sourced offerings.

The column begins below.

**************

Hotel Roanoke is the grand old lady of the Star City, but it recently became clear that one of her most elegant features was in need of a face-lift.

Remodeling the 74-year-old Regency Room, however, required some difficult decisions by hotel management. They had to strike the perfect balance between modernizing its interior and menu while preserving the qualities that diners expect, including a tasteful, formal atmosphere and signature dishes.

Since the hotel reopened in 1995 after an ownership change and a long closure, the main dining room has had only minor upgrades. The menu was reworked in 2007, but changing times called for an overhaul that could showcase the hotel’s commitment to local food sourcing and contemporary preparations.

While the restaurant is widely known for its lavish buffets, the hotel’s executive chef, Billie Raper, wants diners to also be tempted by the menu offerings.

“We are really hoping that a la carte becomes more of a player,” he said.

If R.L. Lucas Construction of Roanoke continues to work at a rapid clip, the Regency Room will have a soft reopening on Saturday.

Read the rest of the column

Thinkstock image.

Some of you asked if I could get recipes from The Souper Bowl fundraiser on January 20, and I decided those recipes would be great Super Bowl grub for parties this weekend. So the Front Burner column today is dedicated to that idea.

Along with the column, we ran the five recipes you see linked up below. If you have not seen them already, check them out. Also below is one recipe from The Souper Bowl that didn’t make it into the paper – Kroger’s Black-Eyed Pea Soup with Kale.

You’ll notice that two of these recipes call for seafood stock, or “shell stock.” To make seafood stock from scratch is not a quick process. It involves simmering things like lobster, crab and shrimp shells down over several hours to achieve a rich broth, much like making chicken stock.

If you can’t find seafood stock at the store and don’t want to make it, one chef has suggested using a combination of one part chicken stock to one part clam juice. I’m interested in hearing from anybody who has made seafood stock in the past or who has purchased a good product at the store.

To read today’s column, click the link above. Hit the following links to see these recipes:
Read more »

An aisle at Saigon Market on Williamson Road. Photo by Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times.

Late last year, I promised blog readers that I would revisit the subject of ethnic markets in the Roanoke and New River valleys. It had been about five years since I shared a comprehensive list with my readers, so I thought it was time to get out there and do a little scouting and update that list.

The result is what you see in today’s Front Burner column in Extra. Although the column includes a pretty long list of markets, I know for a fact that I’ve missed something. That’s because these markets are the kinds of businesses most people — including myself — discover either by word-of-mouth or by driving by and deciding to stop in. I hope that if you know of a market I’ve missed you’ll give me a little word-of-mouth so I can share it.

Also, while I reviewed five new-to-me markets in today’s paper, I discovered a sixth one after it was too late to get it in the story. I’d like to tell you a little bit about that market below (click “Read More”). To read the column and see the list, please click here. To see a recipe for Thai Curry, click here.
Read more »

Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

On a recent weekday at Parkway Brewing Co. in Salem, only me and a few employees rattled around inside the yawning industrial building.

As I talked to brew master Ryan Worthington, company founder Mike “Keno” Snyder was busy scooting one of six picnic tables in the warehouse space into a diagonal position.

“I don’t like them all in a straight line,” he said. “It reminds me of a school cafeteria.”

That’s Keno for you, his friends say — always thinking and never walking a boring straight line.

As they prepare to open the brewery in a few weeks, life is about to take an interesting turn for Snyder and his wife, Lezlie. It is a diversion born of a love of good beer, a fascination with the brewing process and a firm belief that craft brewing is a sound investment right now.

There is strong evidence to support that belief. According to the Brewers Association, a nonprofit trade association based in Boulder, Colo., the craft beer industry grew 13 percent by volume and 15 percent in retail sales in 2011. Alcohol sales in general — including wine, beer and spirits — have continued to climb despite the recent recession, presumably because people like to drink as much — if not more — when they are bummed out than they drink when they are happy.

The caveat is that craft beer enthusiasts have to like the product. Judging by what I’ve seen and tasted at Parkway Brewing Co., that’s not likely to be a problem.

To continue reading this story, click here.

What do you think about southwest Virginia’s craft beer scene so far? Are you looking forward to tasting Parkway’s beer?

File photo.

If the most miserable stretch of summer is known as the dog days, then what is this dreary lull between New Year’s Day and the first whisper of spring?

It seems appropriate to call these the cat days of winter, because all I want to do is stay curled up in bed, bask in any little patch of sunshine I can find, and have someone respond to my whining by serving me a bowl of food.

So far, this dream has not come true, but my hopes remain high.

Meanwhile, I survey the contents of my refrigerator and freezer every weekend trying to decide what I will put in my own food dish. The other day, while my head was stuck in the chest freezer, it occurred to me that although ground beef has lately gotten a bad rap, few ingredients are easier to fashion into a respectable supper.

Name a popular dish made with ground beef – now there’s a great “Family Feud” survey question. Spaghetti would score high, as would meatloaf, chili, tacos and sloppy Joes (and hamburgers, of course). When I was a kid, my mother and grandmother always seemed to be dishing up steaming plates of goulash, lasagna and other beefy favorites.

Those were the blissfully ignorant days, before terms such as pink slime, E. coli, grass-fed and sustainable were part of our culinary lexicon.

I’m not suggesting we should ignore those issues, but they shouldn’t preclude us from turning to pinch-hitters such as meatball subs and stuffed peppers when we need an easy supper idea that’s sure to be a winner.

To continue reading this column, please click here.

That’s also where you’ll find recipes for Gyro Burgers with Tahini Sauce, Chinese Ground Beef with Noodles, and Pakistani Beef Curry. Please note that, as I say later in the column, you can make these recipes with any kind of ground meat you like. So if you are trying to lighten up for the new year, consider ground turkey, chicken or venison.

Photo by Lou Freeman for 7-Day Menu Planner.

The turkey may reign supreme at the Thanksgiving table, but when Christmas rolls around, old Tom has nothing on the king and queen of all beef roasts.

At meat counters across Southwest Virginia, standing rib roasts and beef tenderloins are the top-selling cuts of beef in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Although not all families choose beef for the holiday dinner, sales of those two roasts can hold their own against alternatives such as duck, ham and seafood.

But one does not enter lightly into the preparation of either cut, because the price is pretty heavy. In our family, the adults chip in $10 apiece for a standing rib roast — otherwise known as prime rib — that usually rings up at about $80. I’m so fearful of ruining the high-dollar cut that I have never cooked it myself. I leave that up to my father, who somehow manages every year to turn out a beauty that satisfies both my aunts, who like theirs bloody, and my sister, who likes hers well-done (or “ruined,” as the aunts put it).

But self-doubt should never prevent cooks from attempting a new recipe, and the truth is that neither of these roasts is as difficult to cook as we may think. In fact, it’s more challenging to make other holiday staples such as yeast rolls and fudge than it is to prepare a nice roast.

The key to delicious results, according to experts I consulted, is to have proper equipment and to remember a few important steps.

To continue reading this column, click here.

Click the links to see recipes for:
Aaron Deal’s Beef Roast Dry Rub

Aaron Deal’s Beef Roast Marinade

Horseradish Cream Sauce

Does your family have beef for one of your holiday meals? If so, what cut do you prefer and how do you like to prepare it?

Laurie McAdam l The Modesto Bee, 2007

‘Tis the day before Thanksgiving, and all through the land, new cooks look at turkeys and think, “I need a hand.”

The giblets are nestled all snug in their bag, and new cooks are thinking, “Please, don’t let them gag.

“Don’t let the gravy be lumpy or the ‘taters be cold, or the stuffing be dry or the pie taste like mold.”

In the holiday spirit I offer this guide, because you are my readers and I’m on your side.

Now STUFFING! Now BERRIES! Now WHITE TURKEY MEAT!

You’ll get it all done and say “Bon appetit!”

Thanksgiving Dinner Q&A

Q: I don’t have time to thaw the turkey the standard way — in the refrigerator. Is there a safe way for me to do a last-minute thaw?

A: Turkey can also be thawed in cold water or in the microwave. To thaw in cold water, allow 30 minutes per pound. Keep the turkey in its plastic wrapping and submerge in cold tap water (the sink, a five-gallon bucket or a cooler works well). Change the cold water every 30 minutes until the turkey is thawed. Cook immediately after it is thawed to prevent foodborne illness.

Because microwave cooking times vary, you will need to check your owner’s manual to determine what power level to use and how long per pound to nuke the bird. It is important to cook the turkey immediately after it is thawed.

To continue reading this Q&A, please click here.

Check out the Roanoke.com food page for last-minute recipe ideas.

Got any Thanksgiving questions I did not address in the Q&A? Feel free to ask here on the blog. I’ll be responding all day!

They’re weird-looking, they’re dirty, and for a long time, nobody wanted anything to do with them.

But much like awkward teenagers, root vegetables clean up well and their positive attributes shine through. Over the past few years, they’ve even become popular.

Five to 10 years ago, local produce distributor Tenley Weaver of Good Food-Good People couldn’t unload products such as turnips, parsnips and celeriac in Southwest Virginia. Even customers who had heard of those veggies weren’t sure how to prepare them or whether they would like them.

But thanks to the local food movement and experimental chefs, root vegetables are now en vogue. During the winter, when high-demand crops such as summer squash, tomatoes and green beans are finished in Virginia, we still can find three major categories of produce at farmers markets, in farm-share baskets and at local food restaurants: greens, winter squash and root vegetables.

Celeriac (aka celery root) has been offered by Good Food-Good People for five years, but Weaver said that first year she probably couldn’t sell 100 pounds of it. This year, she contracted with local farmers to grow 2,000 pounds.

“I was a bit nervous that I exceeded public demand,” she said, “but they are really moving.”

It probably helps that diners are tasting delicious preparations of root vegetables at local restaurants or are seeing more sophisticated recipes in print or online. Gone are the days of simply peeling and boiling root veggies and plopping them on a plate (although some folks still enjoy them that way, too).

To continue reading this column, click here.

Do you like root veggies? If so, what is your favorite and how do you like them prepared?

Click these links to see recipes:

Cassoulet with Root Vegetables (from Bruno Silva, chef/owner, The Landing, Bruno’s GastroPub and Bruno’s GastroTruck)

Roasted Roots with Honey Dijon Dressing (from Chris Parkhurst, chef/owner, Firefly Fare)

Getty Images/iStock photo

Remember that old Pace Picante sauce commercial where the cowboys discover the other brand is made in New York City?

“Get a rope,” one guy growled.

Well, I’m nervously rubbing my throat right now, because I’m about to declare what some might consider another hanging offense: I believe beans belong in chili.

Whoa, some of you are thinking. Rein up. That’s not real chili!

Actually, as I’ve discovered while talking about any contentious food subject (barbecue, pizza, Coke versus Pepsi), it all depends upon perspective.

To continue reading this column, click here.

To see the original blog entry where we discussed beans in chili, click here.

Check out this recipe for Texas Chili.

John William Houston of Floyd County helps to raise pigs for Tendergrass Farms. Photo by Rebecca Barnett l The Roanoke Times.

FLOYD COUNTY — My visit to a farm last week inspired the same sentimental feelings those trips always do.

As I scratched a pig’s back and laughed at the ornery turkeys pecking a hole in a feed bag, I thought about how neat it would be to live on a farm.

But then I yanked my thoughts back to reality, because I know farming is one of the most difficult, dangerous and least profitable jobs — especially livestock farming, which brings with it prohibitive processing laws and high feed costs.

That reality gives me great respect for what Floyd County resident David Maren is trying to do with Tendergrass Farms, a new online store that sells grass-fed Virginia meat and ships it all over the country.

“What Tendergrass Farms is offering is convenience for both sides,” said Maren, 23. “We’re trying to do the legwork so it isn’t hard to be the farmer or hard to be the consumer.”

To continue reading this column, click here.

To visit the Tendergrass Farms website, click here.

Mark Santoroski, 8, (left) and his best friend, Thomas Lantham, 8, hang around outside Krispy Kreme doughnut shop on Melrose Avenue in Roanoke after their sugar fix on Friday afternoon. Photo by Stephanie Klein-Davis l The Roanoke Times.

Today’s Front Burner column in The Roanoke Times is a tribute to Krispy Kreme doughnut company on its 75th anniversary year. If you did not get a chance to read the column, click here.

To test your Krispy Kreme knowledge, take our quiz here.

And to see what happened when we popped those quiz questions on people wandering around downtown Roanoke last week, watch Ryan Loew’s video here.

Finally, here’s a list of fun facts about Krispy Kreme. Bet you didn’t know…

- Although newer shops have automatic dippers, frosted doughnuts are still hand-dipped at the Roanoke store. “And there’s a technique to it,” said manager Jeff Bacon. “If you twist it, there won’t be a tail on it.”

- The chocolate creme doughnut is the best seller behind Original Glazed and chocolate glazed.

- The creme filling is made in-house on Melrose Avenue in 100-pound batches that only last about half a day.

Read more »

Chicken Normandy. Photo courtesy Thinkstock images.

When it is too cool for the pool and the kids are back in school, Virginia’s monthslong apple season is truly at its height.

Throughout autumn, we’ll find piles of local apples at the markets. Fortunately, there are piles of different uses for those juicy gems.

It’s really quite amazing to consider the versatility of this ancient fruit, which has been cultivated for more than 3,000 years and is available in some 6,000 varieties around the world. Apple pies, cakes and dumplings are high on the list, but the humble apple also can be made into juice, vinegar and a tasty alcoholic beverage.

This season, however, I’ve been thinking about how apples can be incorporated into main courses. They complement the flavors of roasted meats, add a sweet bite to sandwiches, and become a pleasantly tangy and crunchy element in any salad.

When I talked to some Southwest Virginia chefs, they agreed that apples should never be limited to the dessert menu.

“I try to play a lot where you have savory components but a little bit of a sweet component, too,” said Michael Behmoiras, executive chef at The Bank Food and Drink in Pearisburg. “There is a very happy marriage you can do between savory and sweet.”

To continue reading this column, click here.

Click these links to see recipes for:

Apple Scalloped Potatoes

Roasted Pork Loin with Sweet Potatoes and Apples

Chicken Normandy

Gallagher

About four years after she graduated from Virginia Tech, Krista Gallagher realized that she had many fond memories of college that included food — small wonder, as Tech now ranks as one of the top three schools in the nation for its culinary offerings.

“I had been reflecting a lot on how much I missed the food at Virginia Tech,” Gallagher said. “Not just the food, but it was the memories of how each dish connected with me.”

She associated the broccoli and cheese soup at West End Market on campus with rainy days and hangovers; the spicy wings at Sharkey’s with failing a cholesterol test for a class assignment; and the grilled cheese at Top of the Stairs with the place she met her future husband.

When she didn’t find any cookbooks dedicated to the food in Blacksburg, Gallagher decided to put her love of cooking into a book. Five years later, the working wife and mother found her project stuck on pause, and that’s when her college sorority sister, Kris Schoels, came back into her life.

Schoels

“There was a day when she did a blog post about following your dreams and how sometimes it can be very scary risking failure,” Gallagher said. “I was just finding it very difficult to finish [the book] given the time constraints I had. I looked at my husband and I said, ‘I feel like I know what I am supposed to do. I need to invite Kris to help me with this.’ She wrote me back in just a matter of minutes, being thrilled that I had asked it of her.”

Schoels, who does lifestyle segments for television, is also an amateur photographer and runs the blog Young Married Chic from her New York residence. She was a perfect fit.

“Right as Krista contacted me, I was telling my husband ‘I really owe it to myself to pursue a cookbook.’ I think it took me about five seconds” to decide, Schoels said.

Their partnership has resulted in the recently released “A Taste of Virginia Tech,” a beautiful, hardback cookbook filled with recipes from the university’s various dining halls and Blacksburg restaurants.

To continue reading this column, click here.

Click the links to see recipes for:

West End Market’s Cajun Cream Pasta Sauce

Gillie’s Banana Walnut French Toast

Photos courtesy of Laura’s Focus Photography

The new sports/cigar bar at 202 Market. Photo by Rebecca Barnett l The Roanoke Times.

Some restaurants in Roanoke offer fine dining with wine, some focus on a specialty such as vegetarian cuisine, and others serve up fried bar food.

When the dinner hour shifts into the late-night cocktail hour, customers can dance at clubs, watch sports or smoke cigars.

Any one of these concepts would be a worthy and challenging undertaking for an entrepreneur, but at 202 Market in Roanoke, they are doing all of the above — and then some.

Since it opened in April 2007, 202 Market has been a chameleon, changing its skin every so often to match what physician/owner Steve Rosenoff and his staff feel is in demand.

Now, the 5-year-old establishment has expanded again, adding a sports and cigar bar on the ground floor that opens onto a charming patio on Kirk Avenue and offers smoking patrons a place to puff in peace. Upstairs, Rosenoff is adding more space for events and private parties.

All of this has led me to wonder what I’ve pondered in the past: How do so many small restaurants with fairly simple concepts come and go while 202 Market, with about 13,000 square feet and a seemingly amorphous identity, marches on?

To continue reading this column, please click here.

Click these links to see 202 Market chef Meghan Gill’s recipes:

Summertime Chilled Ruby Beet Soup

Grilled Watermelon Salad

Strawberry spinach salad. Photo by Stephanie Klein-Davis l The Roanoke Times

When summer brings its grueling hot spells, the last thing we want to do is crank up the oven to 400 degrees or have multiple burners glowing on the stove.
It’s awfully tempting to nix the idea of cooking altogether and head out for dinner at an air-conditioned restaurant, but that’s not friendly to the wallet or the swimsuit physique. That’s why I’m always looking for simple, healthy ideas that don’t take a lot of energy — whether yours or the oven’s — to pull together.
Several Southwest Virginia registered dietitians were kind enough to send me their favorite summer recipes, which they promise will pack a lot of flavor and leave you feeling full. The most heat they require is one stove burner or an outdoor grill, and if you have a side burner on your grill, it might be worth firing that up to keep the kitchen cool.

Click here to continue reading this column.

You can find and print these recipes just by clicking the link:

Vegetable Frittata

Strawberry and Spinach Salad

Grilled White Fish with Apricot-Ginger Relish

Indian Spiced Grilled Baby Squash

Penne Pasta with Ricotta

Tangy Marinated Lentils

I was also sent some recipes I couldn’t fit in print today, but I’ve added them to the Plateup recipe database at plateup.roanoke.com. Here are the direct links:

Read more »

Marilyn Montano helps her brother, Marty, get the restaurant ready to reopen after the storm knocked out power there for six days. Photo by Kyle Green l The Roanoke Times.

When the storm blew through Virginia on June 29, its effects on home and business owners were so severe and widespread that they have been nearly impossible to fully grasp. My brain has struggled to stuff the hundreds of painful anecdotes in one big, heartbreaking file.

To understand the impact on restaurateurs, perhaps it would be easier to zoom in on one example: Montano’s International Gourmet in Roanoke, which was without power for six days last week.

Marty Montano, whose family has owned the restaurant for 43 years, said a utility pole behind Townside Festival strip mall snapped, and both the pole and transformer had to be replaced. By the time he realized the restaurant would not have power restored within a day or two, it was too late to seek food storage space elsewhere.

About a dozen employees reported to work over the June 30 weekend even though they had no power at home. Montano said they showed up to help with everything from trashing food to documenting losses for insurance purposes, all with “no complaints, no begrudging words or anything else. They were just here to help.”

To continue reading about how the storm affected restaurants and residents’ food budgets, click here.

The Roanoke Times l File 1978

In yesterday’s Front Burner column, I shared some history of The Tearoom in downtown Roanoke and asked readers if they have any memories they can share. Please feel free to leave your thoughts as comments on this blog entry or to email them to me at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com. You may also snail-mail them to P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010.

If you leave a comment on this blog entry, please indicate whether it is OK for me to use your full name if I quote you in my article. Thank you. Random little note: I know the name of the store has an ampersand instead of the word “and” spelled out, but my blog software, Word Press, wigs out if I try to use ampersands in the title of blog entries.

Here is yesterday’s column:

Seeking Memories of Miller & Rhoads Tearoom
By Lindsey Nair

My friend Jean Robbins has treasured memories of a special activity she used to share with her daughters in the late 1960s, when they were girls.

On certain Saturdays, Jean would leave her husband, Mal, to his gardening while she and their children, Cathy and Leslie, traveled to Miller & Rhoads in Roanoke for a morning of shopping. This was always followed by lunch in the Miller & Rhoads Tearoom, where diners could eat while beautiful models showed off the latest store fashions.

“That was always a neat atmosphere,” said Leslie Spigle, who now lives in Buchanan and has kids of her own. “I think about how we don’t have anything like that today — everybody is in and out of shopping and on their way. It was a really nice, relaxing lunch.”

The five-story department store, which was built in 1957 on an old Heironimus site on Campbell Avenue, was a destination for shoppers from miles around Roanoke. The Roanoke Tearoom was smaller than the one in Miller & Rhoads’ flagship Richmond store, but it still saw plenty of traffic.

To continue reading this column, click here.

Click these links to see these Miller & Rhoads Tearoom recipes:

Chicken Salad

Opera Mints

Missouri Club

Brunswick Stew

Getty images/iStock

A typical spice rack comes pre-loaded with basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme and garlic powder — in other words, all of the seasonings necessary to prepare a basic Italian dish.

However, many of us also own a container of Italian seasoning blend, which probably contains little more than the herbs and spices already taking up real estate on our countertops and in our cupboards.

So why own them both?

Some would argue that purchasing seasoning blends can save time and money, which might be true for folks who don’t cook frequently. But for those whose spice racks already are groaning with dozens of little jars, a lot of seasoning blends are just one more $5 to $10 expenditure, one more jar to cram into the rack and one more source of unwanted sodium.

“Maybe some of the herb blends don’t have a lot of salt in them,” said chef Jeff Bland with US Foodservice, “but the spice rubs probably have quite a bit.”

To continue reading this column about making your own seasoning blends, click here.

Do you rely mostly on seasoning blends for some particular reason or do you usually season your dishes piecemeal? Do you know of a blend I forgot or have a better way of making one? Let us know!

Miami Herald illustration.

Today’s Front Burner column was inspired by all of you and the wonderful stories you had to tell about your fathers. I did not plan to print them when I first asked for your memories – in fact, I had another column all ready to go (you’ll see that next week) but I had to jump on those great anecdotes and share them with all the folks who read the print version and don’t see this blog.

Here’s how I started the column:

I’ll never forget the anticipation with which my family sat down around our heavy oak dining room table to sample Dad’s latest attempt at gourmet cooking.

Being the type of person who latches on to an interest with both hands, Dad had been devouring cooking magazines and books for some time and enjoyed testing his newfound skills on his wife and two teenage daughters.

That particular evening, he served up warm grilled radicchio with a blue cheese sauce. It looked and sounded so wonderful, but we chewed, swallowed, and then reluctantly agreed: It was bitter and awful.

Dad was disappointed, but not discouraged. Since then, whenever I’ve ruined a dish, I’ve thought about that radicchio and the mantra my father eventually took up: “That’s what the trash can is for.”

Fortunately for my family, Dad never got bored of cooking and he didn’t let failures dampen his enthusiasm. In fact, I don’t remember any other mishaps but I can vividly recall so many successes: the standing rib roasts during the holidays, homemade dressings for his homegrown veggie salads, chicken wings so crispy off the grill you’d swear they’d been deep fried, and batches of cookies at Christmas.

To continue reading this column, click here.

To see a recipe for my dad’s Rosemary and Sage Potatoes, click here.

To see Dad’s recipe for Pasta with Italian Sausage and Vegetables, click here.

I’d still love to hear anybody’s stories about their dad and food! Feel free to continue this discussion here on the blog.

Photo by Lindsey Nair l The Roanoke Times

Today’s Front Burner column in the Extra section is about cherries, which have ripened earlier this year than some growers can ever recall. I know I had a passel of them on my cherry tree (pictured here) and I could only reach a tiny percentage of them. Look at all the cherries in this picture that I could not reach! Maybe I should rent a cherry picker next year!

Here is a link to my column.

Click these links for the recipes that ran with my column:

Mom’s Fruit Cobbler
Cherry-Cashew Cookies
Cherry Bounce (a cherry-infused liquor)

I didn’t have room to fit a couple of other recipes in print today, but you can find them in the PlateUp database by clicking the links below:

Strawberry-Cherry Coconut Crumble
Cherry (or Strawberry) Muffins

After you read the column and/or check out the recipes, I’ll be interested in your thoughts about a couple of different things. First, do you have a cherry tree or memories of growing up with a tree that produced enough cherries every year to do a picking?

Second, I’d like to know how my family’s cobbler recipe compares to any cobbler recipes you may have used before. Because I find that a lot of people who say “cobbler” actually mean something much different than what I grew up with. For example, some people call fruit with a pastry crust on top a “cobbler,” but that’s never been my idea of one. I’m not saying any one is right or wrong, I would just like to conduct a little sociological culinary experiment.

A roasted eggplant sandwich, the vegetarian special of the day at CUPS A-GO-GO. Photo by Rebecca Barnett l The Roanoke Times.

Michelle Bennett has two important rules when it comes to hiring for her Roanoke coffee shops.

“I am very much a believer in paying for the expertise,” she said. “I also hire people who can smile and make conversation at 7 o’clock in the morning. And that’s not me.”

Bennett, who owns CUPS Coffee & Tea in Grandin Village, recently opened a second coffee shop on Brambleton Avenue called CUPS A-GO-GO. Quality is important to her when it comes to the beans, but she said she doesn’t want the food to be an afterthought.

That’s why she put rule No. 1 into action when she hired Alexis Hinchey, 48, to lead the Brambleton kitchen, which will produce food for both shops. Hinchey and her husband used to own a popular Grandin Village cafe and gift shop called Kneadful Things, and when it closed in early 2007, regulars “went into deep mourning,” as Bennett put it.

Click here to continue reading this column.

Click these links for recipes:

CUPS Hummus
Alexis Hinchey’s Gazpacho

Blog reader Alison sent in this picture of Jewel Tea mixing bowls that belonged to her great-great-grandmother.

After our earlier blog conversation about kitchen heirlooms – appliances, gadgets, cookware and the like that have been passed down in our families – I decided to craft a special Mother’s Day column about the topic. If you have not seen it, click here. It includes recipes for blog reader Bill Joppich’s family’s “Crumbie Chicken” and Kaitlin Kennedy’s great-grandmother’s peanut brittle.

I received a few stories and a recipe I was not able to get into my column before deadline, so I’d like to share those with you here. Enjoy, and happy early Mother’s Day to all the moms out there.

From Debbie Mooty of Botetourt County:

Family food memories for a Southern family include a great deal more than just about recipes or even the meal itself. My grandmother was a fantastic cook –she could fix biscuits and gravy and good ole down home food! She always seemed to be cooking or preserving or working in the garden while I was growing up and some of my favorite memories of my grandparents’ small Blacksburg farm centered around family meals and their preparation.  However, nothing brings a tear to my eye more quickly than the sight of those brown Maxwell House mugs that I still have in my kitchen today because they represent who “my people” really were – hard working folks who could take nothing for granted and who worked for everything they had.

Back when I was growing up, my grandmother shopped at the local Radford Brothers in Blacksburg and Maxwell House coffee had these mugs that you could purchase cheaply with a purchase of their coffee. My grandmother doggedly bought one each time she got the coffee until she had 6 and I so remember my grandfather drinking steaming black coffee out of them. They were cheap and not that decorative but they are a treasure to me as I still have two. After my grandfather passed away, there were a few possessions I really wanted and those mugs came home with me the first day. At first I kept them downstairs and didn’t use them and then one day, while cleaning up downstairs, I caught sight of them on the shelf and thought,“no, Buddy and Granny would want me to use these” so I brought them upstairs and we use them daily just like my other cups.

I have purchased a lot of nice things for my kitchen over the years but those mugs to me are priceless and bring instant joy of fond memories – and sometimes a tear for all that I now miss.

Read more »

Photo by Kyle Green l The Roanoke Times

I had a GREAT time working on today’s Front Burner column, which is about refrigerator pickles. Seeing as how we are in the South, I’ll bet a lot of you are quite familiar with refrigerator pickles. But have you noticed, if you’ve been eating out a bit in the past couple of years, how popular pickled vegetables have become in restaurants?

The other night, a friend and I had a beautiful cheese plate at Local Roots Restaurant that included pickled carrot, rhubarb and onions. Along with sweet daubs of honey and peach, and salty nuts, the pickles were extraordinary. Talk about delicious layers of flavor!

And that’s what today’s column is about: How to make your own refrigerator pickles and how to pair them with foods at home. If you’ve ever made pickles, you probably know recipes can be adapted to suit your tastes so long as you don’t mess with the amount of vinegar in them (that helps preserve them and keep them safe to eat). But you can add more or less sugar and any kind of spices you like.

In the photo above, you’ll see three kinds of pickles I made last week: Sweet peppers and onions with garlic and hot pepper, which I seasoned with bay leaf and mustard seed; red onions with star anise, cinnamon and bay; and carrots and cauliflower with serrano chiles, bay leaf and mustard seed. I can’t wait to put those onions on a burger or serve them with some roasted pork. And I want to chop the pickled veggies finely and add them to some pasta or potato salad. Or just eat them out of the jar!

I’m sure there are a lot of people reading this who know a heckuva lot more about pickles than I do, so please share your knowledge. What veggies or fruits do you like to pickle and what do you serve them with?

To see the recipes I used, click the links below:
Pickled red onions
Spicy pickled vegetables

Today’s Front Burner column is about the sights, sounds, and – most importantly – flavors I experienced at the Virginia Food & Beverage Expo in Richmond last week. I took a lot of pictures and wanted to share with all of you the variety of different food products represented at the show.

To see captions, maximize this slide show to full screen and click “Share info” in the upper right corner of the screen. I hope you enjoy this slideshow. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve started to experiment more with slideshows on this blog. I welcome any feedback about how well they are working on your computer.

Pan sauces are easy and delicious. Photo by Stephanie Klein-Davis l The Roanoke Times.

After yesterday’s conversation about pink slime, I thought you guys would appreciate a more appetizing blog entry. Ha!

Today’s Front Burner column is about pan sauces. The idea for this column stemmed from an earlier blog conversation. It seemed as if a lot of folks would benefit from learning more about making pan sauces. I set forth the basic procedure in my column today, but there are multiple variations. If anybody has other ideas or makes their sauces in a different way, I’d love to hear about that.

Also, this past weekend I made a cake from a recipe I found in the PlateUp database. The recipe is for Hershey cake, which calls for an entire 16-oz. can of Hershey’s syrup in the batter. That sounded like a lot to me, but the cake came out perfectly moist and delicious, and the icing is fudgy and decadent. This cake is so easy to make that you might as well make this the next time you are tempted to use a boxed chocolate cake mix. Your family and friends will not be disappointed!

I will be away today judging at the Virginia Food & Beverage Expo in Richmond. It proves to be an interesting time, so I’ll be sure to fill you all in on my adventures when I return.