Lambstock 2011

How sweet it was, to spend a wee bit of time in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, feasting and visiting on Border Springs Farm. This magnificent, adorable, and extravagantly delicious toasted coconut cake came from pastry chef Lora Mahaffey of Stuart, Virginia. 

Late in August, my lucky stars converged in such a way that I was able to participate in a marvelous gathering in Patrick County, Virginia, hosted by Craig Rogers of Border Springs Farm. http://www.borderspringsfarm.com/  I met Craig at the annual Symposium of the Southern Foodways Alliance in Oxford, Mississippi, where he was roasting and serving his fine pasture-raised lamb to our grateful and happy crowd of SFA folks. Border Springs Farm is only about two hours from where I live in Chapel Hill, NC, and when Lambstock 2011 weekend rolled around, I eagerly loaded up the minivan with pillow and blankets for car-camping, while loading in an array of pies with which to supplement the lamb-centric savory feast I had heard was in store for one and all. Lambstock 2011 brought a happy crew of chefs, restaurateurs, farmers, food producers, brewers, winemakers, coffee roasters, and other food-loving people together to cook, eat, and enjoy hand-crafted artisan-made music from a host of fine bands. Here is a small souvenir of Lambstock, a delicious gambol in the fields of Border Springs Farm, and the finale to my memorable summer of 2011. Craig’s generosity is wider than the astounding panoramas backlighting every gentle hillside of the farm. Border collies zoom around, sheep graze in the distance, breezes meander even in the August sunshine, and culinary delights appear along with friends and new people you want to get to know. I am thankful to have attended, and I invite you to visit my Facebook page for a few dozen photos, an album of my good times at Lambstock. You’ll find them on my Nancie McDermott  Author Page .

http://www.facebook.com/NancieMcDermott

There I’ve posted a Lambstock photo album with several dozen photos of Lambstock fun. Check them out and share your comments on the photos if something comes to mind. You can also comment at the end of this post. Love to be in touch, and to hear what you think!

Minivan was stocked with Lambstock pies: Apple (top), coconut custard, chess, buttermilk, and brown sugar. No lambpie this year.

Lambstock World Headquarters: Border Springs Farm

Banh mi sandwiches with lamb sausage and lamb pate, freshly made by Chef Jason Alley of Comfort in Richmond, Virginia

For more good times at Lambstock 2011, visit my Nancie McDermott Author Page on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/NancieMcDermott

For more, do visit “Okra” Magazine, published by the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, for Lambstock reflections by Brent Rosen, here:

http://southernfood.org/okra/?p=1120

You can check out Brent Rosen’s blog here:

http://southxmidwest.com/

Three Swingin Chicks’ 20-Minute Apple Pie

Janice Cole's 20-minute apple pie is gorgeously good, and so beautiful coming out of the oven in my cast-iron skillet.

My friend Janice Cole writes a delightful and unique blog, one you will want to visit often. Here is where you’ll find it:

http://threeswinginchicks.blogspot.com/

Not only will you find excellent recipes from a superb food writer and great smart cook, you will also be able to befriend and follow the Three Swingin’ Chicks. I’ll let you discover Janice and her girls by clicking over to her blog for a visit. I’m here today to talk about Janice’s wonderful, simple, rewarding apple pie recently posted there. Had I only read the headline “20-Minute Apple Pie” out in the world, I’d have passed it by with a snort and a “yeah, right!”. But it was from Janice and it came with a most tempting photograph; and this being pie month, I knew I had a job to do…

Serve this apple in bowls, for breakfast as well as for dessert. Warm is nice, with ice cream, whipped cream or a generous pour of cream or evaporated milk.

I picked up a few Granny Smith apples and a box of frozen puff pastry from the grocery store, and the following night, I turned on the oven, set out the puff pastry to thaw, peeled and sliced the apples, mixed up the spice-sugar mixture, and put it all into my trusty cast iron skillet. Twenty minutes was all the prep time needed, indeed, and cooking time was only 35 or 40 minutes, the last few minutes perfumed by that fine fall fragrance of baking apples and cinnamon. It browned handsomely, even in my gas-fired oven, which doesn’t always provide for me in that department, and the pie came out juicy and divinely delicious. If you know or read Janice Cole, you won’t be surprised that her recipes are excellent, but you’ll be grateful, as am I, and you will stock up on frozen puff pastry and keep a bowl of tart apples on the dining room table, both as centerpiece and as ticket to a busy-night, easy-as, A-is-for-apple pie. And while it cools down just a little bit, you can click over to check up on the girls, those three swingin’ chicks at Janice’s place on the web.

Autumn pleasure in a bowl.

Janice Cole’s 20-Minute Apple Pie

from “Three Swingin’ Chicks”

http://threeswinginchicks.blogspot.com/2010/10/20-minute-apple-pie.html

Janice writes: “This pie is topped with a puff pastry crust over an apple crisp-style filling made with tart apples, raisins, brown sugar, and spices. Serve it topped with cinnamon ice cream or with plain yogurt sprinkled with cinnamon.

4 medium to large tart apples, peeled, sliced
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus additional for sprinkling
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 sheet puff pastry (from 17.3 oz. pkg.) thawed according to package directions
milk to brush over crust
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Heat oven to 425ºF. Spray a 9×2-inch deep dish casserole or pie plate with nonstick cooking spray. Toss the apples, raisins, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together in a large bowl. Pile the apple mixture into the casserole.

Lay the puff pastry over the top of the casserole and trim away the excess pastry with a small knife or scissors. Brush the pastry with milk, sprinkle with granulated sugar and lightly dust with cinnamon. Lightly score pastry with knife to decorate, if desired, and make a small vent hole in the center.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the apples are tender. Cool 30 minutes on wire rack to serve warm, or cool completely.

Serves 6  ”

This recipe comes from Janice Cole’s blog,  ”Three Swingin’ Chicks”   http://threeswinginchicks.blogspot.com/ . Used with permission. Copyright Janice Cole 2010, all rights reserved.