Tammy Algood - Farm Fresh Southern Cooking: Straight from the Garden to Your Dinner Table

Farm Fresh
Southern Cooking
Straight from the Garden to Your Dinner Table TAMMY ALGOOD 2012 by Tammy Algood Killgore a/k/a Tammy Algood and Bryan Curtis All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc. Photography by Ron Manville Food styling by Teresa Blackburn Images on the following are from Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Algood, Tammy.
Farm fresh Southern cooking : straight from the garden to your dinner table / Tammy Algood.
p. cm. ISBN 978-1-4016-0158-4 1. Cooking, AmericanSouthern style. 2. Cooking (Vegetables) 3.

Cooking (Fruit) 4. Cookbooks. I. Title.
TX715.2.S68A39 2012
641.5975dc23 2011041377 Printed in the United States of America
12 13 14 15 16 QG 6 5 4 3 2 1 To my husband, George, who taught me how
to love life richly, deeply, and completely. Contents I think I have always been a farm girl even though I have never lived on an actual farm. There is something about the entire lifestyle that I can identify with and that I admire and adore.

Its that depth of appreciation for farmers and agriculture that has greatly influenced my food choices throughout my whole life. Locally grown, seasonal fresh foods that are sold straight from the producer to the consumer are more than just a passing fad. These unprocessed, beautifully natural foods have become a way of life not just for me, but for countless others in this country and beyond our borders. To that, I say, Glory! In my two decades of promoting foods produced from your own community backyards, Ive noticed something interesting. The challenge for a lot of people is how to locate local. Start with the farmers market that is in or around your town. Start with the farmers market that is in or around your town.

I promise you there is one, whether you know about it or not. The easiest way to find it is to go online at the Department of Agriculture in your own state. Youll be surprised at the treasures youll find on their websites. Not only do they have listings of community farmers markets, but of individual growers and producers as well. Most have local farm locator maps, divided by county or parish, making it a cinch to find those that are close to your kitchen. Youll also find produce availability charts to direct you through the local season wherever you live, in the South or not.

Use it through the entire year as your guide to where to find the freshest food at your fingertips. You will quickly see that it is an invaluable resource, so go ahead and bookmark the site as one of your favorites, because it soon will be just that. Dont stop there. Pay close attention to your local newspaper. If you dont subscribe to one, make it a point to do so today. It is an in the hand connection to your community and a wonderfully wise investment.

Youll see loads of advertisements from food producers of every kind within the pages. Find them! Get to know the people around you. Last, make it a point to shop for local foods as you travel. Its easy to forget that neighboring statesnorth, south, east, or westhave growing conditions that differ vastly from your own. Those other areas can be sources of unique food items that make routine meals tastier and a lot more interesting. Frequent welcome centers along interstates, and stand in front of those overwhelming tourist brochure racks.

Hidden among the slots are gems of local food outlets including everything from ice cream parlors to goat cheese farms. My hope is that this cookbook will inspire you to cook fresh and enjoy the bounty we routinely receive from our precious land. Annually, we are given incredible food gifts that sometimes subtly and other times dramatically shift and change in texture and flavor as the days move from long to short. The earth is natures grocery store and quite honestly, the finest food market Ive ever seen. Make it your regular stop and youll be amazed at the difference it makes when that foodespecially when its close to homeis placed on your breakfast, lunch, and dinner table. There is nothing better than knowing who grew or made the foods you enjoy daily.

It will change your recipes, your enjoyment of food shopping, and your entire attitude about which foods are just good and which ones are great. So go ahead and get started... local is calling! This is an elegant appetizer that is perfect for a patio party. I love the interest that crawfish adds to this dish, and its spiced just right to please both those who love heat and those who shy away from it. Makes 8 to 10 servings 20 large fresh mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided cup diced onions cup diced celery cup diced green bell peppers 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley teaspoon dried ground thyme teaspoon salt teaspoon black pepper teaspoon hot sauce 1 pound crawfish tails, cooked, peeled, and chopped 1 cup seasoned dry breadcrumbs Paprika Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 13 x 9-inch baking dish.

Place the mushroom caps in the baking dish and set aside. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter. Add the onions, celery, peppers, and parsley. Saut 4 minutes and stir in the thyme, salt, pepper, hot sauce, crawfish, and breadcrumbs. Remove from the heat and carefully spoon the crawfish mixture into the mushroom caps. Melt the remaining butter and drizzle over the tops.