This weekend I returned to Wayfare Tavern for a wonderful dinner with Corey, our friend Chava and my sister-in-law, Michelle. Unlike my previous visit, I didn’t share an intimate moment with Tyler Florence – but the food was almost as delicious as the chef himself, and that’s really what matters, right?

Our dining companions are both vegetarians, so they shared two meat-free options from the Wayfare menu. The one featured at the top of this post was almost too beautiful to eat…but somehow, they found a way. Homemade ravioli stuffed with ricotta cheese and surrounded by a roasted summer squash puree, jack cheese and crispy “blossoms,” which we assumed were squash blossoms. Aren’t the colors fantastic?

Alongside their pasta, Chava and Michelle shared this tomato salad with heirloom tomatoes, black-eyed peas, feta cheese and a delectable aioli. I had a bit of salad envy when I saw this combination.

Corey and I took a decidedly non-vegetarian route, agreeing to share two meaty entrees that caught my eye the last time I dined at Wayfare Tavern. First up: this smoked pork chop, adorned with a grilled peach (yum) and marcona almond butter (double yum). The combination sounded so intriguing, I had to try it. The peach was a perfect complement to the juicy pork, and the almond butter was so unexpectedly good. The pretty stuff on top is shaved fennel, which doesn’t really do anything for me. But the brown stuff on the bottom is some sort of honey/brown sugar glaze, which does quite a bit for me.

Our second entree was the reason I specifically booked a table on a Sunday evening. Sunday’s blue plate special is chicken pot pie filled with yummy vegetables and encased in a wonderful buttermilk crust. I almost changed my mind about this dish when the woman seated next to us started babbling about it being too dry and too heavy on the tarragon…but Corey convinced me we should try it and form our own opinion.

And that opinion is that it is both delicious and beautiful. Love the pea pod served on top.

The filling was not overly seasoned, as our neighbor implied. It was delicious, as was the crust.

Dessert seemed necessary since our tablemates ordered such light entrees. I mean, we pretty much had to get a few desserts to share…right?

You may remember the pineapple upside down cake from my previous visit.

I let Chava and Michelle enjoy that one so I could try a few bites of banana pudding (which was good, but not nearly Southern enough for my tastes – only one vanilla wafer, Tyler?! really?!).

And then…this appeared in front of me.

It was simply described as peach pie with vanilla goat’s milk ice cream and rosemary sugar. I was expecting a nice piece of pie for the four of us to share. Instead, we had enough pie for four or more to share. Can we talk about how beautiful this rosemary sugar looks? I love rosemary, but admit it can be a bit harsh. Rolling it in sugar certainly makes it more palatable.

Once we broke into this bad boy, it was all over. Oh. Em. Gee. Perfect filling. Perfect (and I do mean perfect) pie crust. I could not ask for a more delicious dessert.

Pie for dinner and pie for dessert. It really doesn’t get any better than that. Well, unless those pies are hand-delivered by Tyler Florence himself. Can someone make that happen?

Remember when I was relaxed? That feeling lasted for approximately 12 hours after my last blog post. We continued to enjoy ourselves…

(Yes, this is how you entertain yourselves when you’ve been married for 10+ years. Am I the only former wannabe-cheerleader marveling at Corey’s toe touch?!)

But on the final day of our vacation, we learned our dog had been skunked and we’d be returning to a fairly stinky house. In the grand scheme of things, this is not a catastrophe – our dog sitter did an excellent job and handled the situation as well as she could – but when you’re 7+ months pregnant, fairly hormonal and sensitive to strong smells, it sure feels like one. We spent the next several days cleaning and deodorizing everything in our house. Furniture and rugs were steam cleaned. Massive amounts of laundry were done. And the source of all of this trouble received both a new haircut…

…and a new collar. His dad felt he needed something tough to ward off future skunk predators.

While the skunk drama and odor are starting to fade, we’re still not completely free of household problems. Our washing machine is acting up, and in a clumsy pregnant moment I managed to do this to our laptop.

The screen is now permanently damaged, and we have to decide whether to fix it or get a new computer. Fixing the screen is cheaper than buying something new, but before this happened we were considering a few software upgrades…and now it may be more economical to just buy a new one.

I’ve shed more than a few tears over the past few days. Really, it’s all minor stuff, but it was a lot to deal with in a short amount of time. To combat this negative energy, I’ve spent a lot of time in my kitchen, which truly is my happy place. I made a delicious pork roast on Sunday, and while Corey would be content to eat straight-up pork for days on end, I wanted to do something different and delicious with the leftover meat. Roast pork enchiladas fit the bill.

If you are having a bad week, might I humbly suggest you increase your consumption of cheese, salsa and sour cream? This was so comforting and delicious. I’ve always loved Mexican food, but pregnancy has elevated that love to a much higher level. I have intense cravings for spicy salsa and tangy, pickled jalapenos; this recipe took care of both of those cravings, while fulfilling the more important task of using the leftover roast pork. I chopped the meat and mixed it with some caramelized onions, diced green chilies and a splash of chicken stock. It was a nice twist on the typical enchilada.

You’ll notice that the enchilada sauce is neither red nor green, which was something different for me. When searching for potential recipes, I found this one and was intrigued by the sauce ingredients: sour cream, salsa verde and chicken stock. Those who tested and reviewed the recipe said it was much too watery for their tastes, so I made a few tweaks and came up with something creamy, light and tasty. The pork was a great complement to these flavors, though I think leftover chicken or beans would be equally delicious.

Let’s hope this dish is a sign that things are looking up in our household. Mexican food certainly smells a lot better than skunky dog.

Roasted Pork Enchiladas

inspired by Emeril Lagasse

2 cups cubed or shredded cooked pork*

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1 tbsp canola oil

salt and pepper, to taste

7 oz can diced green chilies

1 c chicken stock

1 c lowfat sour cream

1 c salsa verde

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 1/2 c shredded monterey jack or Mexican blend cheese

8 to 10 small corn or flour tortillas (I really like these because they have the texture of flour, but a corn-like taste)

2 – 3 tbsp chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish, if desired

pickled jalapenos, for garnish, if desired

Preheat the oven to 400.

Heat the oil in a large pan set over medium heat. Add the onion and allow to slowly cook and caramelize, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes. (You want them brown, but not burnt). Add the cubed pork, diced green chilies, cilantro and a few splashes of chicken stock – just enough to give the mixture a slightly moist texture. Warm the mixture for a minute or two, then remove from heat and set aside. Taste and season with salt and pepper, if desired.

Whisk the sour cream, cumin and salsa verde together in a mixing bowl. When combined, add the chicken stock, starting with 1/2 cup and adding more until desired consistency is reached. You want it to be saucy, but not too thin; I added about 3/4 cup total. When the sauce is fully combined and the consistency is to your liking, use 1/2 cup to evenly coat the bottom of a glass baking dish. Scoop a generous amount of filling into each tortilla, add a sprinkle of cheese and roll them up, placing them seam-side down in the prepared baking dish. Cover the tortillas with the remaining sauce, shredded cheese and jalapenos, if using.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil that’s been lightly sprayed with cooking spray and bake for 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly. Broil for 1 – 2 additional minutes if you like a brown, crusty topping. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes before serving, and garnish with chopped cilantro and sour cream.

* I used leftovers from a pork shoulder roast that had been simply seasoned with salt, pepper and brown sugar. You can use any leftover pork, or even leftover roast chicken or beans.

Everyone knows that pregnant ladies have cravings. Most assume those cravings are for strange combinations (i.e. pickles and ice cream), but honestly, it’s not been that way for me. My cravings arise when someone talks about a specific food, or I see a specific food in a TV commercial or Food Network show, and then I cannot. stop. thinking about that food. It consumes me, and it takes every ounce of self control not to leap off the couch (or out of my office chair) and immediately leave the house to find and consume said food. Most recent cravings have included donuts (I literally dreamt about the Maple Glazed Bacon Apple donut at Dynamo Donut and knew that had to happen this weekend), salami, chocolate milk, barbecue potato chips, Pretzel M&Ms and Trader Joe’s Dried Fruit Bars. None of these foods were part of my pre-pregnancy diet, so it’s pretty interesting to see how differently my hormones interact with my taste buds.

And as for today’s recipe, it, too was born from a craving that started more than a week ago when I joined my friend Melissa for a Saturday brunch. Melissa is a great source of information on SF restaurants, and we got to talking about Blue Plate, a place known for amped-up comfort food. When Melissa started to describe the restaurant’s signature macaroni and cheese, my craving was instantaneous. Apparently it’s made with Drunken Goat cheese (a semisoft Spanish variety that’s been soaked in red wine) and topped with buttery breadcrumbs. I’ve never dined at Blue Plate, and while this conversation was certainly enough to get my hiney over there, I thought it would be more satisfying to make a similar dish at home. A Google search found that the recipe is available online – but if you look closely at said recipe, it is most definitely NOT scaled down to make four portions. Fourteen cups of liquid to make a cheese sauce for 1 pound pf pasta?! Not only does that seem way too liquidy, it also appears that it would wash out the flavor of the cheese, which – after all – is the main reason we eat mac and cheese. I used the Blue Plate recipe as a general guide, but searched a few other mac and cheese recipes to find alternate proportions for my roux and cheese sauce. The end result:

Utterly fantastic, if I do say so myself. If you’ve never had Drunken Goat cheese, the flavor is so subtle and wonderful. Neither the wine nor the goat’s milk flavor is too overpowering; it’s lightly nutty and slightly sharp, providing a perfect contrast to the tangy white cheddar that’s also included here. Even those who think they hate goat cheese (ahem – Mom) might find that this variety is much more appealing than soft and creamy variations. I’ve seen Drunken Goat in a variety of supermarkets and cheese shops in San Francisco; it’s likely you’ll find it near you, but if you can’t, you could try to substitute any semisoft goat cheese.

Both Corey and I agreed that this was a near-perfect execution of “fancy” mac and cheese. High quality cheese made it luxurious, but it didn’t go over the top (as some restaurants tend to do) with the addition of lobster, truffle oil, or other fanciful ingredients. I have no idea how it compares to the real Blue Plate version, but I’m willing to bet it’s almost as delicious – if not more so!

Beth’s Drunken Goat Mac and Cheese – inspired by Blue Plate

serves 4 to 6

2 c elbow macaroni

1.5 c whole milk

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp flour

1 shallot, diced

5 oz shredded drunken goat cheese

4 oz shredded sharp white cheddar cheese

1/2 tsp dried mustard

dash of Tabasco or other hot sauce

dash of Worcestershire sauce

1/4 c plain breadcrumbs

1/4 c grated parmesan cheese

black pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 8×8″ baking dish with cooking spray.

Fill a medium sized pot with water and bring to a boil. Add salt (to taste) and the macaroni. Cook 6 to 7 minutes or according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

While the pasta cooks, begin the cheese sauce. Heat the milk in a small saucepan set over low heat; you want it to be warm, but not bubbling or scalded. (Note: to save time, I heated mine in the microwave using a glass measuring cup. It was perfect in 2 minutes on 50 percent power, but you have to watch it closely to make sure it doesn’t scald.) As the milk heats, melt the butter in another saucepan set over medium low heat. Add the shallot and cook for a minute or two, then add the flour. Whisk the flour, butter and shallot for about 2 minutes or until the mixture is golden and smells slightly nutty. Slowly pour in the warmed milk, whisking continuously. Continue to whisk over medium low heat until the sauce begins to thicken, 4 to 5 minutes. When thick, remove from heat and whisk in the mustard, tabasco, worcestershire, and black pepper, followed by the cheddar and drunken goat cheeses. Continue to whisk until smooth. Combine the cheese sauce with the cooked macaroni and stir well. Pour the macaroni into the prepared baking dish and top with the breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly and the breadcrumb topping begins to brown. Broil for 1 to 2 minutes if you prefer a crunchy topping.

Most of my childhood was spent in the Midwest, but I moved to North Carolina when I was 15 and stayed until I was 28. Those formative years yielded a deep appreciation for Southern cuisine, and now that I live on the west coast I often lament the fact that authentic country delicacies are hard to find in my new environment. When California restaurants tackle Southern food, they turn simple fare into (unnecessarily) fancy and overpriced haute cuisine. I don’t like paying exorbitant prices for fried chicken, collard greens and mashed potatoes. I don’t care if it’s all organic and cooked with fancy spices and oils. I just want it to taste real, and I want it to taste good!

Foodbuzz 24×24 offered an opportunity to cook some Southern classics for my San Francisco friends. Some of these friends are just like me: Southern transplants in need of good home cooking. Others are native Californians who don’t know the important difference between grits and polenta. I couldn’t promise that my efforts would be as tasty as an established country grandma’s, but I could guarantee that we’d all have a good time and enjoy food not normally found in a California kitchen. My goal for this meal was to experiment with recipes, ingredients and techniques that were completely new to me. It would have been easier to fall back on my reliable recipes for NC pulled pork, cole slaw and baked beans, but I wanted to reach beyond my comfort zone and try a full repertoire of country classics.

First up: one of the dishes that scared me the most…collard greens. Done well, they’re tender and smoky with a subtle tang. Done poorly, they’re mushy and gritty and gross. I armed myself with a fabulous recipe (from this cookbook), a fabulous flavoring agent (ham hocks, where have you been all my life?!), and a fabulous friend, Leslie, who is ten times the Southern belle I could ever hope to be.

After an hour or two on the stove, that massive pile of collards cooked down in a salty broth filled with dark, tender greens and meat that fell right off the bones of the ham hock. No gritty, mushy collards here; these were nicely flavored with a bit of heat coming from a few teaspoons of crushed red pepper flakes.

My second challenge: buttermilk biscuits. I was instantly terrified when my mother (who I consider an expert baker) told me that even her biscuits turn out like hockey pucks. Biscuits, like pie crust, are temperamental, becoming tough and tasteless if you overmix or overhandle the dough. Since my own mother couldn’t weigh in with a great recipe, I consulted a real Southern mama named Valerie, who – according to her daughter – has been making wonderful biscuits for most of her life. The recipe was simple, with self-rising flour, buttermilk, baking powder, and the power combo of butter and Crisco. Mix, roll, cut and bake. Easy, right?

Turns out it’s not that simple. I think I rolled the dough a bit too thin, because these were laughably small. Maybe you can’t tell from this aerial view…

…but this side-by-side comparison with Pillsbury biscuits really shows how tiny mine were. (Yes, I had bake and serve biscuits as a backup. My mama didn’t raise no fool!)

Does size matter? Probably not. These tasted pretty good, and they weren’t hard or tough, so I guess that’s the most important thing. My friends pointed out that two mini biscuits were perfect stackers for a ham sandwich.

After tackling the biscuits and collards, I felt more comfortable with the remaining dishes, which were still outside my comfort zone but not nearly as stressful to make.

Hushpuppies - fried, buttered (or ketchuped) and happily consumed as a pre-dinner appetizer. Rather than making these from scratch, I used a mix imported from Oak Ridge, NC. They were oniony and sweet, just as a hushpuppy should be.

Chicken and dumplings, made the North Carolina way. These are not biscuity dumplings; rather, they’re noodle-like pastry thrown into simmering chicken broth and cooked until tender and puffy. You can add veggies if you wish, but most traditional recipes are a simple combination of broth, chicken and the dumplings themselves. It’s little more than a basic chicken soup, but it still feels special.

Creamed corn, made under the capable hand of my friend Melissa. The combination of sweet, fresh corn with butter and half and half made this dish part vegetable, part dessert. It was absolute heaven and a far cry from any canned version.

Hoppin’ John, a salty combination of field peas, bacon, crushed tomatoes and long grain rice. I made this dish in advance and reheated it before dinner. This dried it out a bit, which was somewhat disappointing, but the flavors were nice.

And to accompany the aforementioned biscuits, a true Southern classic – country ham. You can’t find country ham outside the south, but through the magic of mail order, I procured one for this special occasion. We couldn’t be prouder of our little bundle of pork.

Country ham is distinguished by a strong salty flavor. As my friend Leslie aptly pointed out, some are so salty that they make you hurt. This one was pleasantly mild, but still offered that traditional briney twang. We brought it to room temperature, sliced it and served it as-is, with the option to add it to a  buttered biscuit.

All of the above was washed down with two bonafide Southern beverages: sweet tea, expertly prepared by Leslie…

…and Cheerwine, a cherry soda bottled in Salisbury, NC. Corey recalls a moment in his childhood when he visited family in West Virginia and was shocked to learn that this sweet nectar isn’t widely available outside North Carolina. It’s a true regional beverage, delicious on its own or mixed with a bit of gin, lime and club soda.

No Southern meal is complete without dessert, and our menu included two classics. Banana pudding (made by Melissa using this recipe, but with half the sweetened condensed milk and only 2.5 cups regular milk):

And Red Velvet Cake, made by me using this recipe:

The cake looked impressive – gorgeous color, perfect cream cheese frosting – but the taste was a bit lackluster. Maybe it was still too cold from being in the fridge overnight. Maybe I overbaked it. Maybe red velvet cake just isn’t that awesome. I was bummed about the final product, but instantly felt better after a few bites of Melissa’s banana pudding. That woman may hail from  Vermont, but she does the South proud with her ‘nana puddin!

As we gathered around the table to fill our plates, I was reminded of the thing I love most about Southern meals: they’re all about friends and family coming together to celebrate traditions, new and old. I was  surrounded by friends I’ve known for a long time…

…friends I’ve made since moving to San Francisco…

…and friends who like to randomly recreate scenes from Top Gun.

I’m thankful these friends were willing to sample my Southern experiments and give me valuable feedback on each dish. I’ll continue to tweak them and share the fruits of my labors at future group dinners. I’m not a bonafide country chef, but I’m as close as a Midwestern-Southern-West Coast hybrid can ever hope to be.

*****

If you’re curious about Southern cooking, please look beyond the world of Paula Deen and consider a few of these resources, which helped me create the meal featured in today’s post:

This cookbook is my new Southern foods bible. It’s friendly enough for newbies and experts alike, with a nice collection of recipes from various Southern states. If you’re new to country cuisine, this book provides an excellent introduction (and tasty results).

The chefs behind that cookbook, Matt Lee and Ted Lee, have a wonderful online store filled with Southern staples. I purchased my Cheerwine, hushpuppy mix and field peas there; other goodies include Duke’s mayonnaise, fruit preserves, canned pickled vegetables and true country grits. I was impressed by their selection and their excellent customer service.

Other Southern goodies are available via mail order from A Southern Season in Chapel Hill, NC. Country ham and other NC treats are just a mouse click away.

Of course, you don’t need to mail order anything special to create a delicious Southern meal – many recipes rely on fresh, seasonal vegetables and pantry staples found in most major grocery stores. But it sure is fun to experiment with treats only available below the Mason-Dixon line.

Next week, I’ll go for a very important ultrasound. In addition to checking the baby’s growth and ensuring that all organs are developing and functioning as they should be, this ultrasound will also tell us whether our little one is a boy or a girl. If pregnancy hasn’t seemed real to this point, it certainly will hit home when I hear that bit of news.

I don’t know what kind of parent I will be. I have an idea of how I want to raise a child, but I also understand that parenting is something that evolves as you, your partner and your child grow together and adapt to one another’s behaviors, needs and personalities. Regardless of the challenges and joys that lie ahead, one thing’s for certain: taco night will be a necessary family tradition. I get ridiculously excited about tacos. And while I have access to some of the best, most authentic taquerias in California, I get even more excited about old school gringo tacos prepared in my own kitchen. The shell must be crunchy, the meat must be beef, and the toppings must include sour cream, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and taco sauce from a notoriously inauthentic Mexican eatery. I do make my own taco seasoning, but that’s as far as I go in trying to make this meal remotely fancy or sophisticated. I value its simplicity because it takes me back to my own childhood, when taco night was easily the best night of the week. Excitement stemmed from being able to build our tacos exactly as we wanted them, as well as the potential to have Coke instead of the usual dinnertime glass of milk.

Many things about parenthood are unknown and uncertain. But the power of taco night? That’s something I know for sure.