Living The Editors of Southern - Southern Living Southern Made Fresh Vibrant Dishes Rooted in Homegrown Flavor

SOUTHERN MADE FRESH Vibrant Dishes Rooted in Homegrown Flavor TASIA MALAKASIS Southern Living WELCOME When I was young, I couldnt wait to leave Alabamaor so I thought. I wanted to travel and explore, to make my way in the world and find that special something that would define and fulfill me professionally. I was sure it was out there somewhere. As it turns out, while I spent 15 years forging a career as an Internet technologies executive, my special something was waiting, not in New York or Philadelphia or any of the urban centers where I had worked and traveled, but on a goat farm in pastoral Elkmont, Alabama. In 2006, after many fast-paced years spent in and out of busy airports and boardrooms, I completely upended my life. on me. on me.

Why? Because I believed I had found something much more valuable than any job or career. I believed I had found my true vocationmy calling. A little backstory: Im blessed with a dual heritage in more ways than one. My fathers family is Greek, but Moms side is Southern to the core. So Ive been steeped in not one but two food-loving cultures. Also, the two women who influenced me most as a young girlmy mom and her motheroffered up radically different definitions of the Southern woman.

My mom is very independent and modern. Her culinary repertoire includes all of two dishesthree at most. My grandmother, on the other hand, believed in cooking to show love. I think my love of cookingof sharing great food with other peoplecomes from my grandmother, while the courage to blaze my own trail is likely a gift from Mom. Even with that gift in hand, it took me years to make the leap from industry executive to cheesemaker. During a work sabbatical in the late 1990s, I took some classes at the Culinary Institute of America, where I learned, first and foremost, that I didnt want to be a chef.

I had my son, Kelly, to raise, so working till 2 a.m. in a restaurant wasnt for me. Then one day, I went to Manhattan, specifically to shop at Dean & DeLuca. As I looked at cheeses from all over the world, I picked up one called Belle Chvre, labeled Made in Elkmont, Alabama. And then the heavens opened. Just kiddingit wasnt quite that dramatic, but it was definitely a moment.

For a while, I pushed that moment out of my mind. The sirens song of a big paycheck is tough to resist, and every time I would start to dream about Belle Chvre, I would get one of those offers you cant refuse. Eventually, however, the pull of a different life, one that would allow me to follow my passion, was too strong to resist. One day I just looked up and said, Im done. I called Belle Chvre founder Liz Parnell and said, Liz, I just quit my job, and Im coming home to make cheese. For six months, I worked there for free, and then I bought the business in 2007.

The best part of my job is the creativity. Weve developed a line of breakfast cheeses, which I think are wonderful, and weve made chvre-iced cookies and an amazing goat cheese cheesecake. Why? Because we can, and theyre good! For me, food is about fun. Its what we do when we come together. Its how we love and heal and celebrate each other. Its also about inclusion.

Theres no such thing as a food you cant have for breakfast or an ingredient you must use in desserts only. Once you embrace this idea, the creative possibilities in your kitchen will be endless. As I considered all the possibilities for Southern Made Fresh, I knew that I wanted everything in the book to be approachable. Americans today are fascinated with food, and weve elevated chefs to celebrity status, yet so many people are afraid to actually cook. I tell students in my cooking classes that there are only two rules: taste everything and have fun. I also want this book to celebrate the Souths rich agrarian heritage.

For generations, Southern cooks planned their menus around what was fresh and in season, with homegrown fruits and vegetables, fish from local creeks and rivers, hand-churned butter, and eggs gathered from the henhouse the day they were laid. Thanks to the abundance of farmers markets and other sources of fresh, whole foods in the South, you dont have to live on a farm to partake of this culinary bounty. My personal journey has taught me that the South is the place on this planet that owns my heart. To paraphrase what T. S. Eliot writes so beautifully in my favorite poem, Four Quartets , when you are a convert, when you come back home to a place you once left so eagerly, you can embrace it and appreciate it in a way that you never could have before.

Thats what I want to celebrate in Southern Made Fresh my deep appreciation for the South, its wonderful food, and the people who prepare it and share it with love. 2015 by Time Home Entertainment Inc. 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020 Southern Living is a registered trademark of Time Inc. Lifestyle Group. All rights reserved. eISBN: 978-0-84875-291-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2014951569 Printed in the United States of America First Printing 2015 Oxmoor House Editorial Director: Leah McLaughlin Creative Director: Felicity Keane Art Director: Christopher Rhoads Executive Photo Director: Iain Bagwell Executive Food Director: Grace Parisi Managing Editor: Elizabeth Tyler Austin Assistant Managing Editor: Jeanne de Lathouder Southern Living Southern Made Fresh Editor: Allison Cox Vasquez Senior Designer: Shay McNamee Editorial Assistant: April Smitherman Assistant Test Kitchen Manager: Alyson Moreland Haynes Recipe Developers and Testers: Tamara Goldis,
Stefanie Maloney, Callie Nash, Karen Rankin,
Wendy Treadwell, Leah Van Deren Food Stylists: Victoria E. eISBN: 978-0-84875-291-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2014951569 Printed in the United States of America First Printing 2015 Oxmoor House Editorial Director: Leah McLaughlin Creative Director: Felicity Keane Art Director: Christopher Rhoads Executive Photo Director: Iain Bagwell Executive Food Director: Grace Parisi Managing Editor: Elizabeth Tyler Austin Assistant Managing Editor: Jeanne de Lathouder Southern Living Southern Made Fresh Editor: Allison Cox Vasquez Senior Designer: Shay McNamee Editorial Assistant: April Smitherman Assistant Test Kitchen Manager: Alyson Moreland Haynes Recipe Developers and Testers: Tamara Goldis,
Stefanie Maloney, Callie Nash, Karen Rankin,
Wendy Treadwell, Leah Van Deren Food Stylists: Victoria E.

Cox, Margaret Monroe Dickey,
Catherine Crowell Steele Photography Director: Jim Bathie Senior Photographer: Hlne Dujardin Senior Photo Stylists: Kay E. Clarke, Mindi Shapiro Levine Senior Production Managers: Greg Amason,
Sue Chodakiewicz Contributors Author: Tasia Malakasis Designer: Teresa Cole Writer: Valerie Fraser Luesse Assistant Project Editor: Megan Thompson Brown Junior Designers: Frances Higginbotham, AnnaMaria Jacob Copy Editors: Jacqueline Giovanelli, Rebecca Henderson Indexer: Mary Ann Laurens Photographer: Becky Luigart-Stayner Photographer Assistant: Daniel Agee Photo Stylists: Mary Clayton Carl, Lydia DeGaris Pursell Food Stylists: Emily Nabors Hall, Erica Hopper Hair and Makeup: Mary Beth Wetzle Fellows: Laura Arnold, Kylie Dazzo, Nicole Fisher,