Inspired Foodie

Journal of a Food Hobbiest

Grateful Growers

Feb 20

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If you’re looking for local, hormone-free and anti-biotic free pork in Charlotte, NC, look no further than Grateful Growers Farm in Lincoln County. Grateful Growers is located in Lincoln County, North Carolina. Owned and operated by Natalie Veres and Cassie Parsons, Grateful Growers Farm supplies many restaurants and local food buyers with fresh local pork, duck, mushrooms, chicken, eggs and other produce. Due to the farm’s proximity to Charlotte, NC, you’ll often see Natelie at local farmer markets and on menus of restaurants that buy local.

The Tamworth hog is the cornerstone of the farm. Grateful Growers offers a variety of cuts including chops, roasts, ribs, shanks and tenderloins. The farm also offers breakfast & Italian sausages, prosciutto style country ham, Chorizo, Bratwurst and other delicious products.

Rudy’s Italian Restaurant & Bar

Feb 3

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I’m off to Rudy’s Italian Restaurant in Charlotte tonight to meet a friend for dinner. Thursday is gnocchi night at Rudy’s. The gnocchi is hand-made in-house and you can choose any sauce for the gnocchi. Yum!

Gnocchi aside, Rudy’s has a great menu with many unique and simple Italian dishes. The wait staff is very professional, warm and friendly.

Short Rib Ragu with Gorganzola on Rigatoni Pasta

Dec 27

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Short Rib Ragu with Gorgonzola Cheese

Short Rib Ragu with Gorgonzola Cheese

This recipe was originally inspired by a lunch dish of Short Rib Ragu at Bistro La Bon in Charlotte, NC. During the holidays, I found myself craving this dish and decided to attempt a recreation.

I found a wonderful recipe on Gastronomer’s Guide for Pappardelle with Short Rib Ragu and modified it slightly, adding frozen peas in the last 30 minutes of cooking and using Gorgonzola instead of Pecorino Romano because these details were closer to the dish at Bistro La Bon.

This dish would be fantastic with the fresh pasta suggested and is also great with a quality pre-packaged pasta. I made fresh tagliatelle pasta last night and wanted a rigatoni for this dish for “something different”. The rigatoni holds the meat sauce well.

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Fresh Every Day: More Great Recipes from Foster’s Market

Dec 26

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When I’m looking for fresh, healthy, easy and inspired recipes, I turn to “Fresh Every Day” by Sara Foster and Carolynn Carreño. The recipes are both elegant and easy to prepare which is a rare combination.

Stated simply, Sara Foster understands good food and offers readers a very down-to-earth guide to her palate. The result is delicious!

Sara Foster’s previous book, The Foster’s Market Cookbook, was coauthored with Martha Stewart, whom Foster worked with during the ’80′s. Fresh Every Day features recipes from the author’s North Carolina gourmet takeout shops.

Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Breads

Dec 26

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Peter Reinhart has written several books about bread baking techniques. In this book, Peter explains how he developed his own delayed fermentation technique that gives whole grain breads the lift and appeal that rivals traditional white flour breads.

Peter includes a scientific approach to the interactions that occur when making bread to help readers understand what gives bread it’s different and wonderful attributes.

With over 50 recipes that vary from traditional sandwich bread, Indian Naan, Challah, Cinnamon Buns, Pita, Pizza dough and hearth breads, this book is sure to give readers a new respect for whole grain breads.

Persimmon Pudding

Dec 26

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Snapshot of a Persimmon pudding made for my father-in-law's 81st birthday.

My grandmother, Clara, was the first of many to teach me how to cook. She taught me how to make homemade buttermilk biscuits, Christmas ham and many other delicious comfort foods from the Southern US. She made this recipe on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Every fall, she would gather Persimmons from her tree outside, wash and then pulp the Persimmons. She would then spend several hours processing the fruit using a food mill or sieve with a wooden tool to mash the pulp through the sieve. She would then pre-measure into 2 cup ziploc bags, placing them in the freezer, in preparation for this recipe.

The fruit used in this recipe is not the Oriental Persimmons you find in the grocery store. I believe it’s the American Persimmon variety. Persimmonpudding.com has a variety of resources listed to find the necessary Persimmon pulp.

The key to this recipe is the mix of flour and liquid. When it’s correct, the result is a wonderful dessert with the consistency of a traditional pudding cake (not really cake and not really pudding). Too much flour creates a cake and too little creates a watery pudding, neither of which is very appealing.

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