The venison tenderloin I made last year on Christmas Eve. Photo by Lindsey Nair l The Roanoke Times.

In case you missed it, I wanted to point out Outdoors Editor Mark Taylor’s column that ran in Friday’s paper. In it, Mark shares some of his favorite recipes for wild game and fish.

Mark’s recipes include venison meatloaf, which he likes to turn into a sandwich with melted cheese and fixings on toasted bread. He also shared recipes for wild turkey schnitzel and striped bass crusted in macadamia nuts. Yum, those all sound delicious to me!

Click here to see Mark’s column and print out his recipes. When he posted about the column on his blog, the Wild Life, some readers shared their own favorite recipes in the comments, so be sure to check that out here.

I’ll soon have a bunch of venison in my own freezer and I can’t wait to do some cooking with it. I like to do tenderloin on Christmas Eve and may do it the way I did last year, when I wrapped it in bacon before roasting it and then served it with a horseradish sauce. Whole deer tenderloins are long and much skinnier than beef tenderloins, so I find that it works well to double them over before tying them or wrapping them in bacon. The bacon bastes the meat and makes it moister, in my opinion.

Other favorites in our house are pan-fried venison cubed steak with mushroom gravy and mashed potatoes, venison chili, and savory-sweet pot roast made with this slow cooker recipe.

Whether you like venison or not, check out my column this week about Christmas beef roasts. It’ll include recipes for a rub, a marinade and a horseradish sauce that would be good with beef or deer meat.

Do you like wild game? If so, what is your favorite way to fix it?

Photo by Lindsey Nair / The Roanoke Times

Connie Jenkins of Northeast Roanoke stopped by the newspaper office today to show me this Mortgage Lifter tomato she grew.

She thinks it looks like twin fetuses facing one another, but I told her I think it looks like a heart from the side opposite the stem. Either way, she said she didn’t think she could bring herself to eat it.

I’ve gotten several nice Golden Boys from my vines so far this summer, but nothing oddly shaped. There is still time this season, though.

Got a funny veggie or fruit? Send me a picture at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com.

Happy Friday!

I hope you are able to enjoy some time with family and friends today, with or without electricity. I will see you back here on the blog on Thursday.

Have a safe and happy holiday!

"Cake Boss" Buddy Valastro is coming to Salem in December. Maybe this photo, courtesy of the Salem Civic Center, will cool you down.

It’s time for the latest roundup of food-related event information. Check out these ideas:

* Member One Federal Credit Union will be hosting a hot dog eating contest today at noon on the Roanoke City Market. The contest will raise money for the Wounded Warriors Program and donations will be exchanged for a raffle ticket with a chance to win New England Patriots memorabilia signed by Danny Aiken. The winner of the contest will be awarded with a $150 gift card. I don’t know if I could choke down one hot dog in 100-degree heat, so more power to the contestants.

* Also hot will be the Great Downtown Grill Out tomorrow (Saturday) on the Roanoke City Market. For Haley Toyota’s City Market Saturday, six downtown restaurants will serve a variety of grilled food, from seafood to barbeque to burgers. All food will be available for purchase at each restaurant’s tent either in Market Square or along Market Street, and some restaurateurs will be grilling up local meats from vendors on the market. Take advantage of the fact that YOU don’t have to stand over the grill yourself! In related news, Downtown Roanoke, Inc. has decided to extent the Market at the Y through July.

* The Chef’s Circle at the Salem Farmers Market kicked off on June 23 and continues this Saturday with chef John McCrady of the Salem Civic Center. Check out the entire summer line-up by clicking here. It runs through August 18.

* Star City Motor Madness is largely about classic cars, but if you saw the special insert in today’s Roanoke Times you may have noticed there are almost a dozen food vendors involved in the two-day event, as well. These vendors will be set up along “the strip” of Williamson Road where the cruise night will take place tomorrow evening from 6 to 10 p.m. If you don’t have anything to do tomorrow evening and you can get to the strip without too much hassle, I recommend it. It’s quite the interesting scene.

Vendors include:
Angel and Teresa’s Shaved Ice
Big Squeeze Concessions (lemonade and kettle corn)
Blue Nile Halal Food’s Italian ice
Buffalo Mountain Concessions (lemonade and funnel cakes)
Grandma’s Lemonade (more lemonade and funnel cakes)
Homestead Creamery ice cream
Lunch Box, Inc. (variety)
Mark’s Very Good Candy Apples
Mom’s Fine Foods (chicken and BBQ)
Primo Wood Fired Pizza
Zach Swift Pizza and Calzones

Read more »

Floyd's new farmers market is one of many changes since our last survey. File photo.

In January 2008, I ran a column about “gastronomic gems,” or the 50 greatest food finds in Southwest Virginia. If you’ve been reading this blog since then, you might remember that list was a team effort – I took reader suggestions and wrapped them, with my own ideas, into an ode to the culinary treasures of our region.

I decided recently to dig through the archives and find that list to see how much it has changed. As it turns out, things have changed mightily for the better – and for the worse. Some gems, such as local farmers markets, have shown considerable growth. Other items, such as several of our favorite restaurants, have disappeared for good.

I’d like to share this updated list to see what you all think, then do an updated version for a future column. Have I missed any restaurant closings? If businesses have moved or changed ownership, are they still good enough to be on our list? What culinary gems has Southwest Virginia gained in the past 4 1/2 years that we can use to update our list? I wonder if we could get to 100 this time…

My update notes are in bold font. Go to the bottom of the list for a few of my ideas for additions. Feel free to disagree!

1. Artichoke-brie soup and veal marsala at Carlos Brazilian International Cuisine.
2. [GONE] El Palenque desserts (Yes, I know El Palenque closed. But their cakes and cookies can still be ordered at www.galvancakes.net. [No, they can't])
3. Southwest Virginia farmers markets: Peaches! Tomatoes! Flowers! Potatoes! You name it, it’s fresh and we love it.
4. Floyd County, a virtual mecca of homegrown produce and pasture-fed livestock.
5. Ethnic markets: J&L on Brambleton Avenue and the Oriental Market on Williamson Road are just the beginning. [J&L is still open and we've gained some new markets, but we've also lost a couple]
6. Hotel Roanoke peanut soup and spoonbread (recipes inside).
7. Sausage gravy at The Roanoker Restaurant.
8. Roanoke Weiner Stand chili [downtown location closed temporarily, but it'll be back!]
9. Good Things on the Market fudge [Closed]
10. Crabcakes by Capt. Paul’s seafood market in Salem.
11. Bagels at Roanoke Bagel Co. [expanding!]
12. Picking berries at Crow’s Nest Farm in Blacksburg. [under new ownership]
13. Authentic Middle Eastern dishes at More Than Coffee in Blacksburg. [Now Pita Vera]
14. Crawfish etoufee (no longer on the menu), softshell crab (seasonal) and Big Easy-style platter at Stephen’s Restaurant in Roanoke.
15. Burger in the Square: the burgers, of course! [Moved to Brambleton Avenue]
16. Subs and pizza at On the Rise bakery on the Roanoke market.
17. Table 50 in downtown Roanoke: Caribbean chicken salad, seared jumbo sea scallops in Armagnac cream sauce.
18. Taco soup at Little Dipper’s on the Roanoke City Market [Closed]
19. Rare roast beef sub (with slaw, not lettuce) at The New Yorker Delicatessen on Williamson Road.
20. Orange Dog at Towers Shopping Center (The restaurant is opening a second location in downtown Roanoke.) [The downtown location was not open long. The Towers location is under new ownership and is now called Rescue Dog]

Read more »

Diane Flynt at Foggy Ridge Hard Cider in Dugspur. The Roanoke Times l File photo.

It sure has been an eventful week so far! And now I’m here to toss out a few other tidbits for your intellectual consumption:

* Diane Flynt, the owner of Foggy Ridge Hard Cider in Dugspur, will be at Tinnell’s Finer Foods in Roanoke next week to conduct a tasting of her beverages. She will also talk about the history of hard cider production and the interesting variety of heirloom apples she uses in her ciders.

Diane and her crew have earned many accolades over the past few years. Foggy Ridge cider has been featured in Food & Wine (twice), Imbibe, Esquire, Flavor, Gourmet, Garden & Gun, Saveur, Bon Appetit and several other national publications. In addition, Foggy Ridge was recently spotlighted on “Sunday Morning” on CBS. To see the full list of articles and awards, click here. To see an article I wrote about Foggy Ridge back in 2007, when they were still a fairly new company, click here.

Foggy Ridge Hard Cider is a real treat. My favorite is the Serious Cider, which is like apple champagne. All of the varieties are lovely and are worth a taste. If interested, head over to Tinnell’s Finer Foods at 2205 Crystal Spring Ave. SW on Friday, March 23 between 4 and 7 p.m.
Read more »

Photo by Eric Brady l The Roanoke Times

Today’s featured restaurant in our market building review project is Firefly Fare, which offers local and organic bistro fare, as well as a juice bar.

Please share with all of us what you thought when you dined at Firefly Fare by leaving a comment on this blog entry.

You should aim to respond to specific questions about your experiences at the restaurant. For example, what have you tried, and how did you like it? How would you rate the pricing for what you got? How was the service? The atmosphere/vibe? What is your favorite thing about this restaurant? What still needs work? Would you eat there again?

Keep it short. Try not to write more than 300 words.

If you have not been following this ongoing project, you can click here to read more about it and to read the rules.

We are still accepting reviews of all the previous restaurants we’ve featured on the blog so far. Click the links below to add your review of each restaurant. On Thursday, we’ll feature Euro Bakery. I’d love to see as many reviews as possible, and I’m sure others would agree. Thanks!

Allsports Cafe

Queso Southwestern Grill

Habana Cafe

Bayou Snowballs

New York Subs

Hong Kong Restaurant

Greek Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

Happy Monday, blog readers. And it’s the day before Valentine’s Day, too, so don’t forget to do something nice for your sweetie.

My sweetie and I enjoyed our unofficial Valentine’s Day celebrations this weekend, going out for a nice dinner at Hollywood’s Restaurant on Saturday night and staying in for a tasty, home-cooked meal last night.

Last night, I tried a recipe I’ve been saving for a couple of weeks for Greek stuffed pork. The tenderloin is butterflied and stuffed with a mixture of red onion, spinach, tomato, lemon zest, bread crumbs and feta cheese. The pork is rubbed on the outside with oregano, salt and more lemon zest, and the finished product is served with a port wine pan sauce good enough to make you want to lick the plate.

This recipe is meant for a large pork tenderloin but I already had one of those skinny tenderloins in the freezer, so I adapted the recipe a bit. It was a lot of stuffing for my tenderloin and the kitchen twine was definitely a necessity. You can see in the picture that it cooked with stuffing side up, like a hot dog. But I think the larger roast would look more like a sandwich, with the stuffing in the middle and a nice surface area on top for the rub. However, even with this variation, it was a smashing success. I must share with you all this delicious recipe (below).

Did you try any new recipes this weekend?

Read more »

… make dinner for their families every night * take their wives out to eat on Friday * have made 450 pies in their lifetime * couldn’t live without frozen vegetables * put bacon in everything * can’t eat bread * think skim milk looks like blue water * are repulsed by mushrooms * can get homemade biscuits in the oven in 10 minutes * buy all of their eggs from local farmers * can’t get their kids to eat anything except Kraft macaroni and cheese * make the same cheese ball every Christmas * like leg of lamb for Easter * use Philadelphia Cooking Creme and don’t care who knows it * give a little wine to the dish and a little to themselves * have a huge collection of cookbooks * have a huge collection of food phone apps * eat an apple a day * hate oatmeal * visit a new restaurant the minute they hear about it * spend every Sunday in the kitchen * look at the clock driving home and wonder how another work day stretched to 7 p.m. and they don’t know what’s for dinner again * wait all year for fresh, local asparagus * like canned asparagus and don’t care who knows it * drink only microbrews * tried to bake a cake but couldn’t get it out of the pan in one piece * make their kid a milkshake when he comes home crying about bullies * cook eggs for breakfast every day * drink Carnation Instant Breakfast every day * carry on ethnic food traditions * know when a restaurant has closed before anybody else * hit up the Asian market every Wednesday night to get the best stuff * know what fischietti is * get up at 2 a.m. every day to run the bakery * opened a dream restaurant and lost everything * have ice cream every night before bed and don’t care who knows it * grow the finest tomatoes around * can’t coax a tomato from the vine no matter how hard they try * are allergic to nuts * are allergic to everything * cut out recipes they’ll never make * turn out perfect fudge every time * shovel a path through the snow to the grill * won’t eat high fructose corn syrup * have never been to a farmers market * make collard greens on New Year’s Day * think Monsanto is the devil incarnate * don’t know who Monsanto is * like to kick it up a notch * get ticked when the Indian restaurant doesn’t believe they want it Indian-hot * vow to eat baby carrots then throw them away when they’ve turned white * are known as the “cake lady” * make a whole bowl of popcorn just for themselves * sliced off a finger tip in the mandoline * make hollandaise sauce look as easy as making a peanut butter sandwich * know how to butcher a deer correctly * eat squirrel and don’t care who knows it * turn to chocolate on a bad day * haven’t drank a drop of alcohol in years * aren’t afraid to try new recipes on company * think they’re better than any 5-star chef around * are doing well to get soup and sandwiches on the table some nights * treasure nothing more than getting the whole family around one table.

Most of all, happy holidays to my readers who love to eat and never get tired of thinking and talking about food. You’ve made another year wonderful. Here’s to 2012!

Let Rosie do it!

As I stood over my sink peeling apples the other day, I thought about how little I enjoy the chore of peeling fruits and vegetables. I don’t know what it is about it – perhaps it’s because my hand cramps sometimes, particularly when I’m peeling a whole pile of potatoes.

As much as we all love to cook, I thought, we probably all have a few tasks in the kitchen that we would happily hand over to someone else if we could. This started my mind down a bizarre path (not an uncommon occurrence) and I decided to ask you guys, if you were given a kitchen robot that could only do one task, what would you have it programmed to do?

Here’s what makes it a tougher decision: dishes don’t count. Yes, I can hear some of you saying “That’s not faaaiir!” but that would just be too easy. Besides, that’s what dishwashers are for.

So, would your robot be a raw chicken handler? A pie crust-maker? A stove top cleaner? A dish-drain emptier?

I have given this a great deal of thought, and I don’t think I’d program my robot to peel fruits and vegetables after all. I think I’d program mine to clean the microwave, because cleaning microwaves makes me want to gag.

Let’s have a little fun – tell me what one kitchen task you would happily hand off to a kitchen helper.

Bruce Proffitt has managed and/or owned the Cat & Owl Steak and Seafood House in Low Moor for 40 years. Photo by Sam Dean l The Roanoke Times

LOW MOOR — In a tree-lined cranny between the interstate and the railroad tracks in this little Alleghany County community sits a restaurant that is as much a secret to some as it is a stalwart to others.

The Cat & Owl Steak and Seafood House opened on Labor Day weekend in 1971 under the management of a 24-year-old Virginia Tech graduate named Bruce Proffitt. A 12-oz. filet mignon cost $6.95, the 24-oz. sirloin for two set customers back $9.95, and the restaurant’s signature banana fritters were 50 cents per order.

In the 40 years since, the prices are about the only aspect of the business that has changed much. Indeed, the Cat & Owl is the epitome of consistency.

In the mid-1990s, while I was studying at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College in Clifton Forge, Proffitt rescued me from a nightmare restaurant job by hiring me as a hostess. But that’s not why I’m writing this column; I’m writing it because of the Cat & Owl’s longevity, and because Proffitt, 64, and chef Scott Dew, 46, taught me enduring lessons about competent restaurant ownership and kitchen leadership.

Upon this twoscore anniversary, I received an email from Proffitt’s 25-year-old daughter, Courtney.

“Dad is so humble and focused on his day-to-day work that he wouldn’t think to seek that attention,” she wrote. “I’ll do it for him. Forty years is a huge milestone for a restaurant, especially when it’s a locally-owned, pricier place located in a county that has seen so many economic ups and downs since 1971.”

To continue reading this column, please click here.

Roadkill connoiseur Tom Blackford. Courtesy photo.

Here’s a quirky little collection of food news items to wrap up the week:

* A Christiansburg man was recently honored to be chosen as a judge for the West Virginia Roadkill Cook-Off. Although I personally would call that a dubious honor, Ed Blackford did get to check out some very unusual grub and will surely be telling the tale for many years. There is a Q&A with Blackford and some photos from the event over on The Burgs website. Check it out! Have any of you ever eaten roadkill? I believe my father may have picked up a freshly car-struck deer on the side of the road in Colorado one time. I’ll have to verify that story since time tends to embellish memories.

* On a MUCH, MUCH more appetizing note, First & Sixth, the American-style restaurant that recently opened inside the former Patrick Henry Hotel on Jefferson Street in Roanoke, will have its official grand opening ceremony tomorrow (Friday, Nov. 4) at 5 p.m. I understand there will be live music and more at the festivities, so stop by and check it out. Maybe grab a cocktail in the Penny Deux Lounge or have yourself a nice dinner to end the work week while you’re there.

Read more »

How could a combination of dessert and cocktails be a BAD idea? Some of the best sweets I’ve ever eaten have been enhanced with a little spirits. Think rum sauce on bread pudding.

At a recent book club meeting (We read “Bossypants” by Tina Fey), my colleague Meg Martin made some amazing food. This was no surprise to me because Meg always has a table full of interesting dishes whenever I visit her place. One of the standouts was a smashed pea spread that was heavenly on crackers. I’ll attach that recipe to the end of this post for anybody who is interested.

But back to the sweets. Meg made a Mojito pie that had a crushed pretzel crust and a creamy, frozen body. It had a delicate flavor of lime, a touch of rum and that cold, ice cream-like consistency that was perfect for summer. Here is a link to the pie recipe.

Also last week, another colleague brought me a recipe for margarita cake, which looks like a bundt cake made with frozen margarita concentrate, vanilla pudding and lime zest with a lime-heavy glaze on top. I have not made it yet because I don’t do a lot of cake baking in the dog days of summer, but you can bet I’m saving this for autumn. Look for the recipe below.

Do you have a favorite dessert made with booze?

Note: I’ll be out on Monday and Tuesday of next week, so the blog may be slow. But check out PlateUp and the Storefront for any food news! Have a great weekend!

Read more »

Photo courtesy Paul Glazzard/Wikimedia Commons.

Welcome back, everyone. Hope you had a great July 4th weekend.

Today’s New River Valley Current features an article about how the weather so far this year has caused a lot of problems for farmers. My favorite line in the story by freelancer Jane W. Graham is “Some years are known for drought or floods or hail or wind. So far, 2011 is known for all of that.”

If you were anywhere near those storms that rolled through this area yesterday, you know we saw three out of the four in just a few hours’ time. I believe some of the worst of that storm came through Northwest Roanoke, where I live. Some 75 mph wind gusts were measured at the airport, which makes sense considering that I watched the 4-story pine tree in my backyard trying to bend over and touch its toes. We also got a lot of hail and waves of hard rain.

The whole time, I was watching my tomato plants and my squash plants in the garden, hoping they weren’t being too badly battered by that hail and wind. The water would be good for them (we all love it when we can skip a watering day), but after all the hard work I’ve done out in the hot sun, I would’ve been highly annoyed to find broken plants.

And my tiny garden is nothing compared to the fields and fields of crops tended by farmers in Southwest Virginia. The farmer featured in Graham’s article, Chuck Shorter of Montgomery County, said he had to cut hay about three weeks behind schedule and lost blueberries, peas, kale and cabbage to heavy rains. It is a little cruel when a farmer has to pray for rain, then sees it come in such fast, heavy downpours that it only runs off and causes damage or flooding. Be careful what you wish for, I reckon.

I’ve always heard that if a gardener gets a ripe tomato in Southwest Virginia before July 4th, that’s really something to brag about. Mine are still as green as the weeds I need to pull out of my garden. Despite the fickle weather, has anybody out there pulled a red tomato off your vines? If so, go ahead and brag, but also tell us if you’ve got any secrets for the rest of us.

Photo courtesy Ellen Arnold.

“Look Who’s Cooking” spotlights successful home cooks in our area. Today, we meet Ellen Arnold, who has not let dormitory kitchens deter her from whipping up delicious food for herself and her roomies.

Name: Ellen Arnold

Age: 19

Home: Christiansburg

Occupation: Student at Christopher Newport University, Newport News

Nominated by: Mother, Mary Evans Arnold, who wrote: “She has yet to buy/cook ramen noodles, preferring to start something from scratch and cook with the freshest stuff she can get. There is always something on the dorm room stove.”

Why I love cooking: Cooking is something that I’ve been increasingly interested in since I was in middle school. I started out thinking I could just make up recipes in my head and they’d turn out perfectly, but I learned you have to both practice cooking and be willing to learn from your mistakes in the kitchen. Cooking is an escape for me, and feeding people and seeing them enjoying my food is one of the most joyful experiences I can have.

Continue reading about Ellen by clicking here.

Curious about the Momofuko Milk Bar Compost Cookie Ellen mentions in her interview? You can find the recipe here. Thanks to reader Debbie for sending the link.

Sam Dean l The Roanoke Times

By Dolores Kostelni
Special to The Roanoke Times

In the 1950s, Trader Vic’s Polynesian restaurants brought exotic flaming foods, mai tai cocktails and tiki culture to the states. The tropical menu and totem decor, along with live hula music, made for a fun experience, and the restaurant chain became phenomenally popular.

Roanoke’s Fiji Island restaurant carries on this spirit in its concept, name and totems, combining Chinese cuisine with many Polynesian-influenced dishes.

To continue reading this review, please click here.

To see an archive of past Roanoke Times restaurant reviews, click here. And to add your own user review of restaurants in Timesland, simply search for the restaurant in question on the PlateUp website, then click on “Rate us”. We want to know what you think!

Don’t miss Jenny Kincaid Boone’s report about a new restaurant moving in at the old A&N location near Michael’s in Northwest Roanoke. Click the link for more.

Photo by Jeanna Duerscherl l The Roanoke Times

A simple, brick shopping center near Lynchburg Turnpike and U.S. 419 in Salem houses an equally nondescript little restaurant with sand-colored walls and bare-bones furniture.

But when customers walk through the door, a familiar mustached face pops into view through the kitchen pass-through window, and suddenly it feels like the most colorful restaurant in the world.

“Hello!” crows Adel Eltawansy, aka Zorba the Greek. “How you doing? Good to see you!”

Eltawansy, a native of Egypt, purchased the 25-year-old Bobbi Jo’s Pancake House business shortly before the Roanoke City Market building closed for renovation, rendering his longstanding booth at least temporarily defunct. He renamed his new space Bobbi Jo’s Restaurant and Zorba’s Small World Cafe, promising that “Zorba will make everybody know where Lynchburg Turnpike is.”

Continue reading this column by clicking here.

Hey there, Michelle Skeen filling in for Lindsey here.

Halloween is fast approaching, and my sweet tooth is kicking in. I’ve already dipped into lollipops and mini chocolate bars this October, so now I’m turning to another one of my favorite treats- caramel apples.

My favorite caramel apples are the ones from the Maryland State Fair, sour Granny Smiths dipped in a layer of caramel and then coated in M&Ms, marshmallows, or peanuts. My favorite was called the “apple pie,” a sticky mixture of caramel, cinnamon and sugar.

But the Maryland State Fair is about 5 hours away, plus it ended the first week of September. It occurred to me that if I wanted a caramel apple, I could probably make it on my own, and what a better time than Halloween?

So I’m on a search for the perfect caramel apple recipe. I found this one on foodnetwork.com, and it’s something I’m planning to try:

• Mix 2 cups sugar, 1/4 cup light corn syrup and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring just until the sugar dissolves. Cook, swirling the pan (do not stir), until the mixture is light amber and a candy thermometer registers 320 degrees, 8 to 10 minutes.

• Remove from the heat; slowly whisk in 1/2 cup heavy cream, then 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.

• Return to low heat and whisk until smooth. Let cool until the caramel is thick enough to coat a spoon. Insert sticks into the stem ends of 6 apples and dip the apples into the caramel, letting the excess drip off. Roll in toppings if desired, then let cool on a parchment-lined baking sheet coated with cooking spray.

Some added advice — if you wash the apples off, make sure they are dry. Water will prevent the caramel from sticking. If the caramel is too hot, it also may not stick.

And if you are looking for creative toppings (my favorite part) here are some more photos from the same website that might give you ideas.

Does anyone out there have a favorite caramel apple recipe?

I’m about to make someone’s dreary Monday a little brighter. Our summer intern, Melissa, picked a random number to determine the winner of “Awesome Recipes & Kitchen Shortcuts” by Sam Zien. The lucky winner is blog reader Jason, who left this comment: “It’s bittersweet when I forget to take a meat out of the fridge because then I can enjoy a vegetarian meal instead.”

Congratulations, Jason. If you will e-mail me at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com with your full name and shipping address, I’ll get this book in the mail.

But first, some of you requested recipes and ideas from the book. Flipping through it, I see quite a few quick tips for easy meals. On the topic of deli-roasted chickens, for example, Zien suggests these uses: Toss a handful of shredded chicken into read-made soup, add to a bagged Caesar salad, cook with a little onion and make tacos, mix with cheese and salsa for enchiladas, make a chicken pizza, or stuff with leftover mashed potatoes into ready-made pie dough circles, fold over and bake.

The book is filled with actual recipes, too. His Meatball Stroganoff is whipped up with thawed, frozen meatballs, jarred beef gravy, sour cream and prepared horseradish. The Pulled Chicken Sandwich calls for deli-roasted chicken mixed with BBQ sauce and a little white vinegar, then piled on crusty rolls with coleslaw and onion rings.

I’ve added Meatball Stroganoff and Pulled Chicken Sandwich to the recipe database. Hit the links to have a look-see and print them out. This book should be available through any major book retailer.

Some weekend updates to our behind-the-scenes blog administration tools have left a few kinks behind. As you can see, as of this posting, my latest entry is an old one from February. Too hot to bake a casserole today, eh?

We’re working on getting this straightened out. As soon as that happens, I’ll be back with a blog entry. Thanks for your patience!

I watered the vegetables after dark last night, during what Howard and I have been calling “peak lightning bug season.” I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many lightning bugs as I have in my yard this past week, not even out by the Cowpasture River when I was a kid.

Walking through them as they rose from the warm grass made me feel saturated with the mood of summer. As my mind does, it wandered to food: Grandma’s mustardy potato salad, watermelon, Cool Whip pies, corn on the cob, deviled eggs, and of course, burgers.

We’ve eaten burgers about every weekend for the past two months, it seems. Every occasion in summer calls for them. But the best, in my opinion, are those prepared on my own grill and constructed in my own kitchen with my entire ‘fridge and garden at my disposal.

If I’m building the perfect burger for myself, I follow these detailed steps:

1. Burger medium-well with American or cheddar cheese.
2. Bun toasted on grill.
3. Heavy mayonnaise on bottom bun.
4. Four dill pickle chips sealed on with the mayo to form a perfect platform for the burger (the wavy aspect of the pickle chips create a non-slip surface).
5. Burger mounted on pickles.
6. Thick tomato slice on top of burger (preferably one wide slice, of course, instead of little pieces).
7. Two crunchy lettuce pieces (this is the only time I prefer iceburg).
8. Thin, even layer of brown mustard on top bun.
9. Massive slathering of ketchup over mustard.
10. Cut burger in half.
11. If the mood strikes, dip in additional ketchup.

I’m sure some of you are thinking things along the lines of “Medium-well? Ew!” or “Ketchup and mayonnaise? Ew!”. Obviously, this is a very individualized set of preferences. How do YOU build the perfect summer burger?

UPDATE 11:44 a.m.: A Carilion spokesman says Daniel Knight is in good condition. And here is a little more info on Cathy Benson’s blog, The Botetourt View. End update.

I have learned this morning that a devastating house fire in Botetourt County yesterday evening was at the home of Daniel Knight, the owner of Blue Collar Joe’s donuts. Here is a link to reporter Lerone Graham’s story about the blaze. My colleague, Nona Nelson, who writes the Happy Wag blog, is a big fan of Blue Collar Joe’s and stopped in this morning to see how Daniel and his family are doing.

She was told Daniel suffered smoke inhalation during the fire and is in the hospital recovering. The Knights are such wonderful, friendly people. I pray that nobody else was hurt, that they got their pets out in time and that Daniel has a rapid recovery.

I’ll be back later with some other food news. Gotta go to the dentist.

UPDATE: I’m told Crock & Roll will have a ribbon cutting on Monday and will open for business officially on Tuesday.

Business reporter and Storefront blogger Jenny Kincaid Boone has reported that a soup restaurant called Crock & Roll is preparing to open in the 23rd Street Shoppes at Towers Mall. This week, I learned the official opening date is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 25.

Crock & Roll (great name) will be a mother-son operation for Bonnie and Charles Hooper. Mr. Hooper is originally of Salem and graduated from North Cross School before leaving Southwest Virginia to find work experience in New York and the West Coast. He has a lot of restaurant experience, so I’m hopeful that he’ll be able to make this work. His mom, Bonnie, is a native of New Orleans, and they plan to serve her chicken gumbo, along with many other varieties of homemade soup. The restaurant will also have fresh bread and salad.

In the news release I got this week, Charles Hooper says “We are looking to bring in the newest food trend – soup – to Roanoke ahead of the curve.” I guess I never realized that soup was a new trend. Perhaps it’s a trend in L.A., where he lived most recently, to devote restaurants entirely to soup. We used to have just such a restaurant — remember Howard’s Soup Kitchen? Mr. Hooper also said he noticed a lack of good quality soups in the area. I think they can be found here and there, but I do agree that it will be nice to be able to go to an eatery that concentrates solely on the quality of their soups and hopefully serves them HOT instead of tepid! Now there’s a restaurant pet peeve of mine!

Read more »

Slow cooker stroganoff

As promised in Monday’s blog entry, I’m going to attempt a new Crock Pot recipe every week through the winter. This will hopefully save us some money on dining out and give me an opportunity to check out new dishes so I can pass my experiences along to readers.

Yesterday, I tried an allrecipes.com recipe for beef stroganoff. If I had made the recipe exactly as suggested by Allrecipes, I probably would have been VERY unhappy with it. Fortunately, I read some reader comments and made adjustments based on their recommendations, so it turned out delicious with just a few minor corrections needed.

Read on to see the original recipe and my suggested variations.

Read more »

UPDATE: Congratulations, Debbie! You are correct — three of these terms refer to a flatbread that is typically used to scoop up food. Chapati is common in India and Pakistan, pita is Middle Eastern and Mediterranean and injera is Ethiopian. Grissini are Italian bread sticks! E-mail me with your shipping address! Thanks for playing, folks. New book tomorrow…

As we count down the last days of 2009, I offer up another opportunity to win a free food book. Today’s selection is “Falling Cloudberries: A World of Family Recipes” by Tessa Kiros. Kiros writes that “these are some of the memories I carry with me from a life in many countries and a family who has loved many kitchens.”

Filled with beautiful photographs of both food and places, Kiros’ book also includes myriad recipes from Finland, Greece, Cyprus, South Africa, Italy and other places around the world. A random flip to one page revealed a recipe for tom ka gai, the delicious Thai soup made with chicken, coconut milk, lime and cilantro. The next random page held a recipe for South African-Portugese prego rolls, made up of marinated fried steak on soft rolls.

Sound good? You need only be the first person to correctly answer this trivia question from the game Gourmet Smarts to win:

Which of the following is NOT like the others? Why?

a) Chapati

b) Pita

c) Injera

d) Grissini

UPDATE: Blog reader Paul H. was the quickest on the keyboard today, and he answered correctly that Bombay Duck is actually fish! More specifically, it is a dried salt fish used to season East Indian curry dishes and is sometimes eaten as a snack. Paul, please e-mail me at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com and give me your full name and mailing address so I can ship you the book. I will not publish that information. Look for another trivia question tomorrow!

Welcome back to the Fridge Magnet blog to those of you who — like me — have been on vacation from your computers for a while!

After all of the holiday indulgences, I think I’d be happy to wait an entire year before baking another cookie or eating another piece of fudge. Judging by all of the holiday tins showing up at work today, I’m not the only one trying to exorcise my house of evil, calorie-laden goodies.

But we still have another week before the 2009 holiday season officially draws to a close. I’d like to gradually usher in the new year with a week’s worth of free books for my food and wine-loving friends. Check in each day this week for a food-related trivia question. The first person to post the correct answer to the question will win the prize. I will post the entries at random times, so be sure to keep checking back.

I’ll use all the information at my disposal to make sure no one person wins twice, so please try to be honorable. And try to avoid looking up the answer if possible!

Today’s book is “The Wine Trials 2010″ by Robin Goldstein and Alexis Herschkowitsch. It is billed as “the world’s bestselling guide to inexpensive wines.” Newsweek said the book “might rattle a few wine snobs, but the average oenophile can rejoice.”

To win this book, be the first person to correctly answer this question from the game Gourmet Smarts: You’re traveling abroad, and you see Bombay Duck on the menu. This is in fact:

a) Duck

b) Pork

c) Fish

d) Chicken

By Heather Brush, filling in for Lindsey.

In honor of the Winter Solstice, mix a batch of Wassail and drink a toast to time. Today, the days start getting longer again. Wassail has an old history. In days gone by, Romans, Greeks and pagans of Northern Europe celebrated this day in recognition of the returning sun and hopes for another growing season. (Many people still celebrate this holiday today.) During the Middle Ages, ale, made specially for the holiday season, was brewed by European monks, Englishmen and Scandinavian brewers.

The English toast at the time was an Anglo-Saxon term, “waes haeil,” meaning “be whole” or “be in good health”. Roving bands of wassailers strolled village streets spreading good cheer, caroling and carrying their festooned wassail bowl. Upon arriving at each door, they offered their drink to the residents or asked their neighbors fill their bowls. Many would visit the homes of lords, singing in exchange for food and drink. Wassail was a popular combination of apples, wine, ale, sugar and spices.

Here’s a more fruity recipe:

2 quarts sweet apple cider
2 cups orange juice
1 cup lemon juice
1 large can pineapple juice
1 whole cinnamon stick
12 whole cloves
Honey to taste

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients into a large pot on the stove and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
2. Do not let mixture come to a boil.
3. These ingredients may also be combined in a slow-cooker and heated on high until mixture is hot, but not boiling. Reduce setting to low.
From: http://beverage-recipes.suite101.com/article.cfm/best_holiday_wassail_bowl

And here is a more traditional recipe:
2 pints and 1/4 cup brown ale 
3-4 cinnamon sticks
4 cloves
Zest from 1/2 lemon
4 apples
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup port
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground all spice
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large sauce pan, pour in 2 pints of ale. Add the cinnamon sticks, lemon zest and cloves and bring to a simmer over low heat.
Take an apple, and score it with a knife around the circumference of the apple. Place in a baking dish. Repeat this step for all of the apples. Cover with one cup of brown sugar, 1/4 cup of ale, and all of the port. Cover baking dish and place in oven, cooking for 30 minutes.
While apples are baking, place remaining sugar and spices into the sauce pan, ensuring it’s well mixed.
When apples are done baking, place entire contents of baking dish into sauce pan. Allow to cook over a low heat for another 30-40 minutes.
Serve hot, one-two ladles into your favorite mug.
From: http://www.accidentalhedonist.com/index.php?title=wassail

For more on Wassail: http://www.suite101.com/reference/wassail

In case you want to sing the song while mixing up a batch, or after you’ve shared a glass or two, here are the lyrics:

The Wassail Song 
 
Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green,
Here we come a-wand’ring
So fair to be seen.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year.

We are not daily beggers
That beg from door to door,
But we are neighbors’ children
Whom you have seen before
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year.

Good master and good mistress,
As you sit beside the fire,
Pray think of us poor children
Who wander in the mire.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year

We have a little purse
Made of ratching leather skin;
We want some of your small change
To line it well within.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year.

Bring us out a table
And spread it with a cloth;
Bring us out a cheese,
And of your Christmas loaf.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year.

God bless the master of this house,
Likewise the mistress too;
And all the little children
That round the table go.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year.

Guess we won't be grilling tonight!

Thank you to Heather Brush for writing those fun, engaging blog entries while I was away in the Outer Banks visiting family. We returned to quite the mess!

On the coast, folks were calling the storm a Nor’easter, and it consisted of a very cold rain, which drove sideways off the sound while we darted from shop to shop in the outlet mall. Finishing shopping was not a fun experience!

Howard’s mom worriedly sent us on our way with a blanket, a flare and a bag of snacks — we’d heard about friends stranded for 16 hours on I-81 Friday into Saturday. But fortunately, U.S. 460 turned out to be only wet in some places by Sunday. We even stopped at the Virginia Diner for a few tins of peanuts.

The hardest part was the last 100 yards or so, getting into our neighborhood from Williamson Road. It hadn’t been plowed and our driveway and sidewalk were still buried under a heavy quilt of snow, now compacting under the sun. We had to shovel out before we could get IN and unload the car. But our kind neighbors were already starting to work on the sidewalk in front of our driveway and came over to help us finish some of the shoveling.

I’ll be finally staying in today as I begin a week of vacation until Christmas. I received an early present from my husband – two shiny, new cookie sheets and a new mini muffin pan! I think I’ll put them to good use today baking some goodies for the folks who helped us get unburied yesterday.

I hope everyone else is thawing out and staying safe today. If Heather would like to blog again, I know she will be welcome. If not, I’ll be approving and making comments this week and picking up with the entries again on Monday. Everyone please have a wonderful and blessed holiday.

By Heather Brush, filling in for Lindsey.

Snow is forecast for the weekend and folks will be making stops on the way home from work for needed items. Me? I need a snow shovel and cat food. But the rush I’m talking about is the run on milk and bread I see every time the hint of snow is in the air. You know how it is…everyone runs out for these items and the stores get mobbed. (Good for them!)

Growing up in New York on Long Island, I don’t recall there being any items in particular that people would make a snow run for. I also lived in Vermont for a number of years and while we didn’t rush to the grocery with every snow prediction (We’d have been there every day for months) when a “big one” was forecast, folks would make sure they had Ritz crackers and peanut butter. It’s weird how different items are habits in different areas. 

I do like to have hot chocolate with marshmallows on hand for my kids, coming in out of the snow, and I hold a tradition of making chocolate chip cookies with the first snow fall of the year. But I won’t go into the throngs of bread and milk buyers to have them tomorrow. Call me a Scrooge.

Talking with friends and joking over the habits of people, we admitted to the greater likelihood that a before-snowfall-beer-run would be in order, or a visit to the wine aisle. Of course parents of young ones need diapers and formula; parents of teens need pizza rolls and soda, but in reality, is there any item from the grocery store you just can’t live without for a couple of days?

Let me know! I’ll stay out of your way this evening.

I just wanted everyone to know that I’ll be sharing recipes throughout this holiday weekend, first with some ideas for leftover turkey and then for some excuses to make something as different from turkey as possible! So keep checking the Fridge Magnet blog if you’re looking for easy inspiration.

Also, I’m collecting holiday meal disaster stories for an upcoming feature in Extra. While I certainly hope that nobody has a meal disaster this year, I would love to hear stories from winter holidays past. E-mail those anecdotes (250 words or less, please) to extra@roanoke.com or mail them to me at Lindsey Nair, The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010. Please include your first and last name, hometown and a telephone number in case I need to clarify something.

Thanks!

Hi, this is Kathy, Lindsey’s editor. Lindsey is taking a day off today, so I’m filling in for her a bit.

Just wanted to alert you to a story about Robert Cooper, a senior in Pulaski County High School’s culinary arts program. He is one of six students statewide who has been chosen to work in the kitchen of Guy Fieri, who hosts three programs on the Food Network. Cooper will spend more than eight hours behind the scenes building on the lessons he’s picked up in class. It’ll be interesting to hear what he learns.

The story ran in today’s New River Valley Current. Read it here.

www.myrecipes.com

I had little or no exposure to Brunswick stew before I met my husband, which is a bit surprising considering that it is a Southern specialty and I’m a Southern gal. But I think this stew is more common in barbecue country because it is traditionally served as a side dish with barbecue, and Roanoke and the Alleghany Highlands really aren’t “barbecue country,” in my mind.

Most folks suspect the hearty concoction was invented in Brunswick County, Virginia and named for that place. Down near the border of North Carolina – now that’s probably closer to barbecue country. It was invented by hunters who traditionally used rabbit, squirrel or chicken in the mix.

My husband just loves Brunswick stew, so I thought I’d try to make a pot of it for the first time last night. I chose a recipe from “Joy of Cooking: All About Soups & Stews.” My only complaint with this recipe is that it called for waaaaaay too much chicken. Even bone-in, five pounds of chicken is too much. I also chose to pull the meat off the bone near the end of the cooking process. I’d just rather have tender chunks of chicken in my stew than have to cut it away from the bone in my bowl.

So, you might say I stuck with tradition and made this with bone-in chicken and barbecued pork, but broke from tradition by removing the bones before serving. I also left out the lima beans (gasp! I know, not traditional) because I didn’t want to see the sad little pile of them that hubby would no doubt collect in one corner of his bowl. I added some Great Northerns instead because I would have at least missed the texture.

Let me know what you think if you try this recipe. And also let me know if you think you’ve got a better one, because I’m not wedded to this one.

Read more »

Just a quick note this morning to tell you about two great food and drink deals I recently stumbled across in my social flutterings:

1. TGIFridays has one of the best happy hours I’ve found in Roanoke recently. Every weekday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., all of their appetizers are half price and they have some extremely affordable drink specials. I think domestic drafts are $2, and they have mixed drink specials, too. We had some Jack Daniels chicken strips for about $5 and a three-for-all sampler for about $6.50.

2. Awful Arthur’s in downtown Roanoke has a new bar menu that’s available during happy hour and after kitchen hours. It offers some great deals on their appetizers – most are about $4.95. This includes a slider sampler that comes with two sliders (your choice of crab cake, burger or tuna) and a pile of fries. You can get two crab cakes, two burgers, or any combination of the three. Howard and I recently shared this appetizer and found it to be delicious and filling. Great value for the money.

If you know of any other great deals, please share them!

This week, I’ve received word that TWO fellows with local connections are finalists in national cooking competitions! Katsuko “Katz” Sandifer, who up until recently was a kitchen manager at The Casino Club at The Homestead in Warm Springs, is one of four finalists in the professional category of Ocean Spray‘s recipe contest. His dish is Asian Shrimp and Scallops with Ginger Cranberry Syrup. Patrick Maggi, owner of Blues BBQ in downtown Roanoke, is one of 10 finalists in the American Pizza Championship. His winning creation is a Prosciutto Pear Pizza, a sweet and savory combination of poached pears, prosciutto and Gorgonzola cheese.

Katsuko Sandifer

Katz was born in Japan but his family moved to America when he was about 13 and he went to high school in Chapel Hill, N.C. He received an Associate’s Degree from the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute. He says he worked at The Homestead for about five years, starting as an intern and moving his way up to a kitchen manager. He recently quit and moved to Rhode Island to finish up his culinary degree at Johnson & Wales University. He would like to eventually be a teacher at a culinary school.

Read more »