Fried Goat Cheese Studded with Pistachios over Greens with Balsamic Vinaigrette

My house was a good place for a stomach to grow up, and I’m sure that it has made me into the discerning eater that I am today.  My dad is a great cook with a passion for fresh ingredients – you have no idea how often I sat down to a meal to hear that the shrimp or fish were “swimming this morning” or that those collards or tomatoes were “still in the dirt yesterday.”  It’s only natural that I would develop an association with southern cooking being fresh, flavorful, and downright perfect.  If you think of southern food as just salty and greasy, well then, son, you’ve just been doing it wrong.

Recently, The Charleston Chef’s Table arrived at my library.  I took a divergent path from my dad’s cooking to try out some of these recipes, starting with Fried Goat Cheese Studded with Pistachios over Greens.  Written by Billy Condon of Atlanticville Restaurant on my old stomping grounds on Sullivan’s Island, this recipe features a very decadent center piece that is moderated by its small size and greens tossed in a simple but complementary balsamic vinaigrette.  The fried shell of the goat cheese is a combination of panko bread crumbs and crushed pistachios, a great companion to the warm thyme and tarragon imbued goat cheese inside.

Roasted Portobello with Sweet Onion, Roasted Red Pepper, and Parmesan Spinach Spread

For my next forage into The Charleston Chef’s Table, I figuratively hopped over the Ben Sawyer bridge to cook up a recipe written by Casey Glowacki of the Five Loaves Café in Mount Pleasant.  To make this sandwich, first oven-roast a portobello cap with olive oil and chopped garlic.  Caramelize an onion on your stove top by cooking them slowly with olive oil in a sauté pan.  Then, focus on creating the great sandwich spread by blending spinach, Parmesan, and cheddar in a food processor.  With the spread, the garlic roasted mushroom, sweet slow-cooked onions, and the addition of roasted red peppers and a flavorful heirloom tomato slice, this was a fun combination.  It’s a big sandwich though — too big to fit all in my mouth at once.  I’m still working on my issues with mushrooms, and though it doesn’t solve them, garlic helps.

I tried two recipes, I had two successes.  Now I am looking at some more involved recipes for the future.  The Pimento Cheese Porkchop from the Old Firehouse Restaurant in Hollywood (yes there is a South Carolina Lowcountry Hollywood, not the one in my immediate vicinity),  and the Guinness and Tangerine Braised Beef Short Ribs with Cauliflower Purée from the Red Sky Grill on Johns Island are both on my radar to cook up sometime soon.

The Charleston Chef’s Table: Extraordinary Recipes From the Heart of the Old South by Holly Herrick.

Verdict: Check it out.

This is a decidedly modern collection of recipes from the one of the south’s best restaurant cities.  Good flavors abound in my hometown!