July HG Visits Asheville, Grills Like Mad
With summer firmly upon us and the season’s best produce popping up in farmers’ markets around the country, we hope you’ll dive into the July issue.
This one was a lot of fun to put together, since we decided to focus on fresh veggies and fruits with stunning, unadultered flavor.
I also did my best to describe one of the most fun culinary experiences I’ve ever had, visiting Asheville, North Carolina late last month with a tiny army of food blogger cohorts. These folks inspired me in a serious way — my brain has been whirring a mile a minute since I returned. I feel very fortunate to have spent time with them at a key juncture, when I’m about to jump off a cliff!
More on the forthcoming cliff-jumping soon. For now, back to Asheville:
From left to right: me, Brian from The Food Geek, Tami from Running With Tweezers, Diane from White on Rice Couple, Jaden from Steamy Kitchen, Todd from White On Rice Couple. Kneeling is Helen from Tartelette.
Hosted by the kind folks at Explore Asheville, we sipped, tasted, and wandered our way around town — and far afield from it, in the case of our adventure to a trout farm in the Great Smokies. (Read more about the city’s food offerings in this month’s main feature, Ode to Asheville.)
I was blown away by the food focus there, and thrilled to find a range of farmers, chefs, and restauranteurs who truly walk the local/regional walk. To see a slideshow of the trip, head here.
We even battled it out in a mystery “CSA cookoff” that paired each food blogger with an Asheville chef. This was a TON of fun, with the first 15 minutes spent brainstorming uses for local ingredients that included fennel, summer squash, apples, radishes, potatoes, and the aforementioned trout. Then, we had an hour to craft a two-course meal for the judges.
It was close, but Chef Annie Pettky of Savoy and I pulled out the win! We were pretty thrilled (and surprised, given the excellent dishes turned out by our competition). Check out one of the winning recipes — Pan-Seared Trout with Red Quinoa-Chorizo Risotto — here.
For a truly excellent set of photos and cookoff play-by-play, head over to Diane and Todd’s recap on White on Rice Couple.
Wishing you an inspired and most enjoyable July. Let us know what you’re grillin’!
Cheers,
Alison
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By Alison L. McConnell
Alison L. McConnell is the HG’s editor and publisher. She also runs The Humble Gourmand’s catering and prepared food business, which serves as a conduit between Chesapeake Bay watershed farmers and butchers, artisan/small-batch producers up and down the East Coast, and hungry clients in the Washington area.
A native of New Jersey and upstate New York, Alison attended Bowdoin College in Maine and the London School of Economics before settling in Washington in 2004. She studied the culinary arts at L’Academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, MD. She abides by a long-standing family motto: McConnells always finish their desserts.
About The Humble Gourmand
The Humble Gourmand is published the first Friday of each month, edited by Alison L. McConnell, a Washington, D.C.-based journalist and writer. It is designed to offer straightforward lessons and advice to aspiring cooks, oenophiles, and all other eaters and drinkers.
The Humble Gourmand encourages users to comment on any and all of its features, but reserves the right to remove any material deemed inappropriate.
lynnseldon
October 2 10:22 a.m. 1LUVed this and your "Ode to Asheville"...check out: http://www.airtranmagazine.com/features/2009/09/vegging-out
Cheer,
Lynn Seldon (www.lynnseldon.com)