Recipe Reparation

Please note, the salt measurement for the Drunken Bourbon Pumpkin tart should be 1 teaspoon salt in the filling, not 1 tablespoon. It is modified in the blog listing, but in case you've already printed it out, I wanted you to know. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

A hush descends upon the 'hood,

Foreshadowing all things good,

For a Thanksgiving Day that would,

Deliver all that it should.....

Health, happiness, fellowship and deliciousness to all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cranberry Dreams

Reflections on childhood Thanksgivings' past, as lovely as they really were, always include nightmares of those scary cranberries in a can. You remember the stuff? Gelatinous muck that comes out in the shape of a tube and sticks on the wall when you throw it. I'm sure that my brothers, sisters and the Lally kids, with whom we shared practically everything Thanksgiving, were guilty of that at least once. Sorry, Mom and Aunt Nancy.

There is really good news to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and for the entire holiday season: Cranberry Chutney. It's simple to make, delicious, infuses the house with holiday fragrance as it cooks, and, it even gets better the longer it sits. I make this delicious chutney a couple days ahead (that would be today!) of Thanksgiving. I found it in Bon Appetit magazine almost 20 years ago and make it (in a modified form) every year. It's the kind of thing people ask for, it's that good. Here's to cranberry dreams! This recipe includes apples. Use Winesap if you can find them. Happy Thanksgiving.

Cranapple Chutney
(Makes 18 servings)

1 pound fresh cranberries (4 cups)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup golden raisins
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup water
1 cup diced sweet onion
1 sweet/tart apple (recommend Winesap or McIntosh), cored, chopped
1/2 cup pecan halves

Simmer first 10 ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the berries pop (about 15 minutes). Reduce heat, stir in onion and apple, simmer uncovered until thick (about 15 minutes). Remove from heat and cool. Refrigerate in an air tight container for up to one month. Stir in pecans just before serving.

Drunken Pumpkin-Bourbon Tart

People tend to have strong opinions about pumpkin pie. They either love it or they hate it. In the South, where I live, most of my friends prefer pecan or sweet potato pies for their holiday feasts, yet nobody ever turns down my pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. In fact, I'm making two of these babies this Thursday to share with said friends.

This tart is similar to a traditional pumpkin pie, but, it's sleeker and sexier. It's not as deep and not as filling as pie, but it's plum full of fresh, roasted pumpkin flavor. Please don't substitute canned pumpkin unless nothing else is available. It literally pales in comparison in every way and it's so easy to roast pumpkin. Look for the petite pie pumpkins that are on grocer's shelves as we speak. They can be roasted off and pureed days in advance (see directions below).

In this recipe, the custard gets pumped up with bourbon and plenty of spice so that it takes on a beautiful, burnt caramel color and layers of festive flavor. It is best served cold or at room temperature served with a generous dollop of freshly whipped cream. Maybe it will become part of your holiday table's annual offerings. Happy Thanksgiving!

Drunken Pumpkin-Bourbon Tart
(Serves 8 to 10)

Equipment Needed: One round 9" X 1" round tart pan with removable bottom

For the pastry:
2 1/4 cups White Lily All Purpose Flour
1/4 cup sugar
generous pinch sea salt or kosher salt
2 sticks cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" cubes
approximately 1/4 cup ice cold water, or enough to just hold together the pastry

1 egg wash - yolk, pinch salt, splash water, blended together

For the filling:

2 cups of roasted pumpkin flesh
3 large eggs
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons bourbon
1 tablespoon best-quality vanilla extract
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
2 tablespoons molasses
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375. Prepare the pastry. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a plastic blade, pulse together the flour, sugar and salt. Add the cold butter all at once. Pulse 40 - 50 times or until the flour is the size of tiny peas. Gradually, drizzle the ice water through the mouth of the food processor, while pulsing. Stop just when the pastry begins to hold together. Pour out onto a lightly floured surface and form into a disk using your hands. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. (Note: This can be done several days in advance and stored in the refrigerator until baking day, which, for me, will be Thanksgiving).

Meanwhile, cut the pumpkin in half horizontally, and remove the pulp and the seeds using a stainless steel spoon. Discard the pulp and the seeds. Turn the pumpkin halves cut-sides down on a roasting sheet and cook in the pre-heated oven until the flesh is soft to the touch and beginning to implode, about 45 minutes. When the pumpkin is done, remove from the oven and cool at room temperature.

Once the pastry has rested/chilled at least 30 minutes, roll it out on a lightly floured surface, to about 1/4" thickness. Line the tart pan with the pastry, leaving enough pastry to create a slightly elevated pastry border, about 1/2" higher than the edge of the tart pan. Line the pastry with crumpled parchment paper and fill it with pie weights or dried beans, gently pressing the beans into the bottom and edges of the paper so that they're evenly distributed. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove the parchment and weights, brush down the bottom, sides and edges of the tart shell with the egg wash using a pastry brush. Return the tart pan to the oven and bake another 10 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven and set aside. Reduce oven temperature to 350F.

To prepare the filling, scoop two cups of the roasted pumpkin flesh out of the pumpkin halves and place in a large bowl. (Note - any left-overs can be stored in the freezer or refrigerator and later turned into a lovely savory soup or puree!) Using a hand-held mixer, blend together the pumpkin for 2 minutes on medium and blend into a smooth consistency. Add the eggs and light brown sugar, and blend together on medium for another minute, or until fully incorporated. Add the remaining ingredients and blend to combine on medium until fluffy, aerated, and fully incorporated. Gently ladle or pour the custard into the prepared tart shell, leaving a 1/4"-deep tart border. Place on a baking sheet and bake on the center rack of the oven. After 15 minutes, reduce the heat to 325F and continue baking until the custard has just set and quivers slightly to the touch, about 45 minutes total. Cool completely before slicing, or refrigerate for several hours or overnight before serving.

Bring on the whipped cream!

Recipe from Tart Love - Sassy, Savory, Sweet and Southern by Holly Herrick (Gibbs Smith, Fall, 2011. Photo taken and generously shared by Helene DuJardin, www.mytartelette.com)

Husk Remembers When

Time changes everything. Or, maybe not. A friend of mine remembers working with Sean Brock a decade ago when he was still a Johnson and Wales student working double-time as a cook at Sweet Grass Cafe, a humble southern comfort food joint. She called the 2010 James Beard winner "fried chicken boy" because he loved Southern Culture on the Skids and enjoyed throwing it around at their concerts. She remembers how "excited" he was when he left to start a new job at the celebrated Peninsula Grill. Kind of makes you smile, doesn't it?

As a restaurant critic and long-time observer of Charleston's ever evolving and increasingly delicious restaurant scene, I remember when Sean Brock first stepped up to the chef plate at McCrady's, in the wake of much lauded local chef, Michael Kramer's departure. Just in his 20's at the time, it had to be a significant challenge, but Brock pulled it off. Still flexing his southern muscles, the West Virginia native worked a lot of foams, froths and sous vide technique into his work at a time when no one else in Charleston was doing it. His culinary identity was a little jumbled, but never his food. McCrady's, to this day, remains one of Charleston's very best restaurants. Brock's exploration and evolution and talent are three of the biggest reasons why that is so.

Yet, at the just-opened Husk Restaurant, Brock's newest baby, all fried chicken boy's passions and experimentation pay off in a 100% perfect and pure southern way. At Husk, Brock's come home to the heart of southern cuisine and is breaking ground in ways that could safely be called revolutionary, if not super human. Brock's mantra and his mission is to create a new Husk menu daily using only ingredients produced and raised in the South. On the side, he grows his own heirloom plants from seeds he's rescued, tended and loved to ensure precious crops and southern traditions are not plowed under the deadly tills of mass farm production. Let's not forget the heirloom pigs he feeds, slaughters and cures, and the fact that he has a wife he adores and a life, to boot. Yet, when he was beaming down at his smoked bacon cornbread at the soft opening I attended a few weeks ago, he looked like a little boy that had just gotten first prize at the school fair. So excited, and ebullient and jubilant was he. Kind of makes you smile, doesn't it?

Brock's passion oozes from every lovely pore of Husk. Situated in a lovingly and painstakingly restored single house on sleepy Queen Street, its decor is polished with exceptionally tasteful southern love. Just like the food, there is nothing cliche in the decor. No gingham, no chintz, no frills. Hard pine floors, muted, earthy tones, and gorgeous ceiling to floor draperies dress the setting. Dried okra pods in a vase full of stone-ground grits are the organic, lovely center-pieces while cloth, grit-fragrant, grit bags house some of the most decadent salt and benne studded Parker House rolls you could ever hope to eat.

An adorable, miniature brick kitchen house is the sleek and sophisticated-yet-still country bar. Brock pays homage to all of his well-vetted artisinal suppliers on his ambitious daily menu. A huge blackboard at the front of the restaurant repeats the theme. I'm happy to see that Brock and his team have scaled back a bit on things since the soft-opening. The man, as hard as it seems to believe at times, is a human and there are only 24 hours in a day. Gone are the "snack" options - small matter because similar options are available at the bar. It frees up time for attention to the food - and that is what outshines everything at HUSK. Above all, it is the reason to go.

I could go on and on about all the things I sampled last night when I was there - such as the sublime Cornmeal Dusted Triggerfish (pictured) on a Potato Puree that flirted with butter and fennel in the most delicious way, but there is no point. Today's menu will be altogether different. I predict that's all that's ever going to change at HUSK. Brock's brought the South home, to where it's always been best, rooted closely to the earth and heritage cooking. HUSK's only going to get better from here. Reserve your seat today. The wait's only going to get longer.

Husk Restaurant
76 Queen Street, downtown Charleston
(843) 577-2500
www.huskrestaurant.com

A (Temporary) Farewell to Tarts

It's been five long months in the coming. Nights of creative tart thoughts turned into mornings of new tart recipe creations, followed by afternoons of buttery aromas wafting through the house, followed by yet another evening of tart possibility dreams.

It was an exciting time. Despite the tarts' relentless creativity call, it was a welcome opportunity after nearly a year on the road promoting Charleston Chef's Table (Three Forks, Dec., 2009) and Southern Farmers Market Cookbook (Gibbs Smith, June 2009). Being in the kitchen, is, after all, what I love best. So, to be there, snuggled in the warm aromas of baking tarts and tartlets, with the loving shadows of my dog Tann Mann and cat Chutney within flour-dusted arms reach, was pure delight.

We developed a cadence, the three of us. First stop, coffee and breakfast for me, food and walks for them. Next stop, the meditative process of making pastry, sometimes three batches at a time for the late morning and early afternoon recipe testings. Once the tarts were out of the oven, the next step was to deliver them to neighbors and, on some days, the construction crew that was building the house across the street. It was nurturing and peaceful and fluid. And, even when the taste-testing news was not always perfect, it always felt like a good days work.

Well, now the house across the street is complete, and so is the recipe testing stage of "Tart Love" - Sassy, Sweet, Savory and Southern. The simultaneous timing of the end of the house building and tart creations seems ironic and emotional, somehow. The next step, starting tomorrow, is to complete the writing of the book, which will be released next fall (Gibbs Smith). Saying goodbye to the tart-making step of the process feels a little bit like sending a young child off to school. I can bid goodbye, only knowing they'll be back later that afternoon (or later this holiday season) to warm my heart and my belly. For now, the final writing and editing stages begin and I'll have to bid a temporary farewell to my beloved tarts until they come back to me in book form sometime next year.

I can't thank my wonderful photographer Helene DuJardin enough for her tireless efforts and beautiful photography. My neighbors and pets always get thanks, just for being them. The photo above is of the final tartlet tested for the book, and it's not by Helene (just so you know!), but by me. They are Pimento Cheeseburger Tartlets, savory, final odes to a wonderful journey I will not soon forget.

Look for recipes from the nascent book in the several months prior to its eventual release in fall 2011. Happy cooking!