Blackberry Winter
Food & Drink November 24th, 2009
The Inn at Blackberry Farm, a much-adored small luxury hotel situated on 4200 stunning acres in Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains, has long been home to one of the finest farm-to-table restaurants in the country. Now the Beall family, which has owned the property since 1976, has produced a long-awaited and equally fine cookbook.
The Blackberry Farm Cookbook (along with its breathtaking photographs) captures the essence of this idyllic place, and is aptly subtitled “Four Seasons of Great Food and the Good Life.” Fall features chapters titled “Quail Hunters’ Dinner” and “Fathers Frying Turkeys with Sons,” while Winter includes “Sunday Supper” and “Dinner in Deer Season.” They are also the chapters from which we’ve taken the recipes featured above, perfect for holiday dinner parties or for the Big Meal itself. The colors of each dish reflect those of the seasons; they also cry out for special china like these pieces from Georgia Tapert Living.
Made by Bates, Walker and Company sometime between 1875 and 1878, the set is ironstone (also known as “English porcelain”) in the “Old Lily” pattern, and is actually slightly more purple than it appears in the photographs. I love the orange of the persimmons against it—in fact, one of the dishes not shown was filled with an acorn squash puree of the same color. The deep red of the cabbage in “Skillet Slaw” also looks terrific with the pattern, as does the lovely green of “Pecan Brussels Sprouts” and the rich pink of the “Fig Tart.” The plump little poussins are from the winter section of the book, and are a tasty alternative to a big bird.
I served this meal with biscuits, made from a recipe in the book to which I added a bit of chopped fresh rosemary, and we had a cheese course accompanied by a simple salad of fresh watercress, mainly because I wanted to show off another of Georgia’s pretty platters with the cheese.
She is selling the set separately or all together. Either way, it includes: one large tureen, two smaller tureens that are really more like footed covered vegetable dishes, one small serving dish, two cake stands, four platters, eight dinner plates, eight salad or dessert plates, and eight cups and saucers. I can’t imagine anything more beautiful on a table with lots of holiday greens, bowls of persimmons, pomegranates, or the citrus of the season, and maybe even some green glass or ruby-colored goblets.
Pictured above: Large “Old Lily” tureen with two smaller tureens filled with “Skillet Slaw” and “Pecan Brussels Sprouts;” “Poussin Roasted with Sumac-Ginger Butter” on “Old Lily” platter; and “Fig Tart” on “Old Lily” cake stand.
Shop Georgia Tapert on TAIGAN
Below, the recipes:
Poussin Roasted with Sumac-Ginger Butter
Serves 4
From The Blackberry Farm Cookbook
2 medium Vidalia or other sweet onions
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon ground sumac (zest of one lemon or a teaspoon of lemon juice can be used instead).
1 tablespoon freshly grated peeled ginger
4 1 ½ pound poussins, wing tips removed
1. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.
2. Cut two ½-inch-thick slices from the center of each onion. Place the slices in a roasting pan, brush them with the oil, and set the pan aside. (Save the rest of the onions for another use.)
3. In a small bowl, stir together the butter, sumac, ginger, and ½ teaspoon of the salt; set aside.
4. Rinse the poussins inside and out under cold running water and pat them dry with paper towels. Sprinkle them inside and out with the remaining 1 teaspoon salt. Use your fingers to gently loosen the skin over the breasts of the poussins, being careful not to puncture the skin. Push a quarter of the butter mixture under the skin and over the breast meat of each bird, then gently smooth the skin back into place. Massage the skin to evenly distribute the butter.
5. Cut a small slit in the skin above the legs on each poussin. Crisscross the legs and tuck the ends through the slits on the opposite leg to hold them together. Place a poussin on top of each onion slice in the roasting pan.
6. Roast the poussin for 30 minutes, or until they begin to brown. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and roast for 10 minutes more, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh (but not touching bone) registers 170 degrees, or when the juices run clear when the thigh is pierced with the tip of a sharp knife.
Let the poussins rest at room temperature for 5 minutes, then serve one per person. If you’d like to serve the birds halved rather than whole, use kitchen shears to split each poussin down the breast bone and then cut along both sides of the back bone.
Pecan Brussels Sprouts
Serves 4 to 6
From The Blackberry Farm Cookbook
2 pounds Brussels sprouts, yellowed leaves and stem end trimmed off
¼ cup pecans, chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place a casserole dish inside to heat up.
2. Quarter the Brussels sprouts and add them to the hot casserole dish along with the pecans, oil, salt, and pepper. Toss the vegetables to coat and then bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until tender and very lightly browned.
3. Remove from the oven, toss with the butter, and serve hot.
Skillet Slaw
Serves 4
From The Blackberry Farm Cookbook
2 ounces bacon, diced
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
½ small head of white cabbage, cored and very thinly sliced
½ small head of red cabbage, cored and very thinly sliced
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1. In a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium-high heat for 10 minutes, until crispy. Transfer the bacon to paper towels with a slotted spoon and set it aside.
2. Reduce the heat to medium. Add 1 teaspoon of the oil and the white cabbage to the skillet. Toss the cabbage with tongs until it is lightly coated with fat. Cover the skillet and cook, stirring often, for about 8 minutes, until the cabbage is just tender. Transfer the cabbage into a bowl and set aside. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon of oil and the red cabbage to the skillet. Toss the cabbage with tongs until it is lightly coated with fat. Cover the skillet and cook, stirring often, for about 8 minutes, until the red cabbage is just tender. Add the cooked red cabbage to the white cabbage.
3. Pour 2 tablespoons of the vinegar into the skillet and stir to scrape up the browned glaze from the bottom of the pan. Pour this hot vinegar over the cabbage and toss to coat. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of vinegar, the caraway seeds, salt, and pepper to the slaw; toss to combine. Sprinkle the reserved bacon over the slaw and serve warm.
Fig Tart
From The Blackberry Farm Cookbook
Serves 8
½ recipe basic pastry [see below]
¼ cup fig jam
1 pound fresh figs, stemmed and halved lengthwise
1/3 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar
¼ cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly butter a baking sheet and set it aside.
2. Divide the pastry in half. On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece of dough into a 9-inch circle. Place the pastry on the prepared baking sheet; overlapping the two circles a little on one side is okay as the edges will be fold in later. Spread 2 tablespoons of jam evenly over each piece of pastry, leaving a 1 ½ -inch border. Arrange the figs over the jam. Cover the tarts with plastic wrap and set them aside.
3. In a small saucepan, cook 1/3 cup of the sugar over medium-high heat without stirring until it melts and turns amber in color. Remove the pan from the heat and carefully stir in the cream and butter, stirring until the mixture is smooth. Brush the tops of the figs with the caramel mixture. Fold the edge of the pastry over the outer edge of the figs, pleating the dough to hold it in place.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and milk. Brush the edges of the pastry with the egg mixture and then sprinkle with the remaining 1 teaspoon of sugar. Bake for about 25 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown and the figs are just tender. Serve warm or at room temperature, cut into generous wedges.
Pastry:
Makes pastry for two 9 or 10-inch pie shells or one double crust 9-inch pie
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons shortening
1 large egg
1/3 cup plus 1 to 3 tablespoons ice water
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
1. Place the flour and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the shortening and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Transfer to a medium bowl and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, 1/3 cup of the ice water, and the vinegar. Pour the egg mixture over the flour mixture and stir with a fork just until the dough comes together. If the dough is too dry, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently into a ball. Divide the ball in half and flatten each piece into a disk about 1 ½ inches thick. Wrap each disk in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 3 days; the dough can also be frozen for up to 6 months and defrosted overnight in the refrigerator prior to using.
[Note: this tart can be made in no time flat, by substituting a good jarred caramel sauce for the home-made caramel, and Dufour or any other all-butter brand of puff pastry. I did, and it was still delicious. J.R.]
Elusive Find: Oyster Roll
