the KITCHEN
at Honeyman Creek Farm
a cooking school
54986 Leberg Road
Warren, OR 97053
503.543.5610

Chef's Corner
Chef Robert's
Food Blog

This Month:
Sunday Dinner at The Farm
Coming Attractions
Cooking Classes
Wine Notes
Book Report: Grill Every Day
Renewing America's Food Traditions: Fried Green Tomatoes
From Garden to Table: PawPaw – The Hoosier Banana
Recipe of the Month: Hot Milk Sponge Cake

Celebrating Our Southern Food Traditions

Culinary traditions of the American South are as rich as they are varied. An amalgam of regional styles and variations on similar themes, these traditional cooking styles represent several of the oldest, most established regional cuisines in the nation. This region called the South has little unity whether in terms of geography, historical development, linguistic or cultural traditions. Yet, people from the area are Southerners first with a universal love of family, fellowship and good food. Celebrate and share with us the food traditions of our Southern heritage at Honeyman Creek Farm through our hands on cooking classes and Sunday Dinners.

Where is Honeyman Creek Farm?
Honeyman Creek Farm is located in Warren, Oregon, an easy 25 to 30 minute drive north of Portland along US 30 between Scappoose and St. Helens. It’s not at the end of the earth as some people might think and the beautiful drive into the country is well worth the trip.

Sunday Dinner at the Farm
Sunday Dinner in the South is traditionally a large and ritualistic affair. Join us on the first Sunday of each month for a home cooked traditional Southern family style Sunday Dinner based on local and seasonal ingredients. Loosen your belt and y’all come!

Reservations are required and space is limited. Don’t wait too long as the dinners fill up mighty fast. No hard libations are included, but you are welcome to bring your own. Contact us for more information.
View upcoming events

Coming Attractions
Summer Cooking Classes at In Good Taste, Portland, OR
We are bringing the farm to the city with three hands-on cooking classes to be held at In Good Taste in Portland this summer: Creole Feast, Creole Classics from Louisiana (July 25th, 6 pm), South by Southwest, A Journey to Tex-Mex Country (August 28th, 6 pm), and Soul of the South, African American Foodways (September 14th, 2 pm). More information about classes can be found at www.ingoodtastestore.com. From our garden to your table - Y’all come!

August Cooking Classes at the Farm:
Back by Popular Demand:
Barbeque is a Noun – The Art of the Southern Barbeque
Throughout the South, Barbeque is the result of the act of slow smoking meat and the gathering together to consume these vittles. Variations in style and sauces from North Carolina to Texas will be covered as well as all the fixins’ to go along with it. The class will prepare the dinner and each student can invite a guest to join us.
Date: Saturday, August 9th at 12 noon | Fee: $95 | View Menu & Details

Wine Notes from Megan
2007 Legado Munoz Tempranillo
Looking for a wine that really impresses you with its great value and its ability to go with just about anything you are eating this summer? Look no further than the 2007 Legado Munoz Tempranillo from Spain for just $12 a bottle. This medium-bodied red is strikingly supple and delivers rich scents and tastes of black cherry and plums with well balanced spice. Spain continues to deliver some great value wines despite the devalued dollar to the Euro. The wine has seen no oak aging, leaving it fresh and delicious, as well as perfect for warm weather drinking without the heaviness that a red can often hold. It’s truly a barbecue red great with grilled meats and vegetables or light pastas. You can find it at Vino 100 for just $12 a bottle.
www.qualitywinesofspain.com

Megan Markel is co-owner of Vino 100, a charming wine shop boasting 100 great wines for $25 or less. Vino 100 is located at 2092 NW Stucki Ave., Hillsboro, Oregon. For more information visit www.vino100portland.com or call 503.466.1606

Book Report
Grill Every Day by Diane Morgan (Chronicle Books LLC; Text copyright © 2008 by Diane Morgan; Photographs copyright©2007 by Jane Armstrong; ISBN 978-0-8818-5208-1)

As an old barbeque man I have always been a bit wary of cookbooks dealing with the subject of grilling. It probably comes from the fact that too many people use the term interchangeably. In Grill Every Day, Diane Morgan makes the distinction between barbeque and grilling, low and slow versus hot and quick. This book is definitely about the latter.

For the novice, she takes you through the world of grills and how to use them from selection all the way through cooking techniques. The tantalizing recipes (including side dishes and desserts) and stunning photos will tempt even the most skilled of grill masters. What I like best is that they use familiar and easy to obtain ingredients, especially from the garden at my back door. Presented in a relaxed and straight forward manner, you’d think Diane was right there talking you through each one. As a bonus, there are numerous suggestions in how to create two meals out of one night’s provisions.

For all of you who complain you don’t have the time to cook, especially grill, then think again.
This old barbeque man is going to do some grilling. I am waiting with anticipation to sink my teeth into Chili-Rubbed Shrimp with Soft Tacos and Salsa, Grilled Sweet Corn, Black Bean, and Cherry Tomato Salad all finished off with Dark Chocolate S’Mores Sundaes. It’s time to get grilling! Go for it!

Fried Green Tomatoes

“I miss the smell of coffee, and of bacon frying. But most of all I miss fried green tomatoes.”

– Ninny Threadgoode
From “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café” by Fanny Flag

Eyeing the long rows of tomato plants heavily laden with plump, green fruit, garden visitors most frequently pose this question, “Do you ever make fried green tomatoes?” I smile real big and answer back, “I certainly do!” But every time the subject comes up, I have to stop and wonder. “How many of those folks have actually eaten a fried green tomato.” I suppose the name itself conjures up a mouthwatering image – a cornmeal coated, pepper-laced, slice of thick tomato fried crisp to a mahogany brown in sizzling pork fat. Umm! It’s fried; it has got to be good.

Cooking up a mess of fried green tomatoes is a pretty simple task so it’s the simplicity that’s the trick. Some folks dip them in batter and deep fry them. Some folks, like me, prefer to dredge them in corn meal and pan fry them. But before you can do anything you have to have the right tomatoes. Pick a medium-large tomato that is firm and green, not the ones turning pale white that are apt to have a pink blush on them somewhere. Choosing the right tomato makes the difference between a great fried green tomato and one that is just ok. It’s so important in fact that at many a farmers market or produce stand throughout Georgia, green tomato “fryers” are give a special display bin of their very own.

Once you’ve selected your green tomatoes, slice them into quarter inch slices or so and season them up with salt, black pepper and a pinch of sugar. Put about a quarter of an inch or a little less of bacon drippings in an old cast iron skillet. Heat the skillet over moderate heat until the fat is hot enough to brown a bread cube. In the meantime, dredge the tomato slices in seasoned flour, dip in beaten egg, and roll in seasoned corn meal. Carefully slide a few slices at a time into the hot grease and fry until nice and brown. Turn them over and fry them on the other side. When they are finished frying, lay them on a pan lined with paper towels. That’s about all there is to it, well except to eat them.

Fried green tomatoes are great eaten plain simply sprinkled with salt and pepper. I prefer them, however, blanketed with light brown cream gravy made by browning a little flour in some of the pan drippings and then adding some rich milk diluted with water. Season the gravy up with some salt and a good dose of ground black pepper, let it cook until it’s as thick as heavy cream, then lap it up.

If you want to dress them up to take to town, try serving up a slice as a first course or light entrée. Place some shredded lettuce on a plate, add a slice or two of fried green tomato, then top it off with some shrimp Remoulade, crab Louis or even a pan fried soft shelled crab swathed in a tarragon laced Béarnaise sauce.

If this doesn’t tantalize your taste buds, I don’t know what will. Try frying up some for yourself. Once you get a taste for fried green tomatoes, you’ll be eating them up with the gusto of a hound dog!

From Garden to Table – PawPaw, The Hoosier Banana

“Pickin’ up paw paws, put ‘em in your pocket,
Way down yonder in the pawpaw patch.” – Old American folk song

Thumbing through the Raintree Nursery catalogue recently, there they were staring me in the face. I hadn’t heard of paw paws since I left the American south. I was thrilled to find out that Raintree offered several cultivars that could be grown in the Pacific Northwest. I chose two different cultivars and planted them along the woodland edge of at the back of the house. “What on earth is a pawpaw?” some of you may be thinking.

The common pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is a small, deciduous, understory tree native to temperate woodlands of North America from southernmost Ontario and New York west to eastern Nebraska and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas. Native Americans spread the pawpaw across the eastern U.S. to Kansas and Texas, and from the Great Lakes almost to the Gulf. In the same family (Annonaceae) as the custard apple, cherimoya, sweet sop, and sour sop, the pawpaw is the only member of that family not confined to the tropics. As a matter of fact, it is the largest edible fruit native to this continent.

The pawpaw tree produces small, fetid flowers either singly or in clusters varying in color from white to purple to red-brown. Although perfect, the flowers are self-incompatible, requiring cross pollination from another unrelated pawpaw tree. Pollinated in nature by scavenging carrion flies and beetles, the scent of the pawpaw flower attracts few pollinators, thus limiting fruit production. Since bees show little interest, hand pollination for better fruit yields is recommended. (If this sounds like too much trouble, hang some chicken necks from the trees to attract pollinators.)

Seldom found near the Atlantic or Gulf coasts, the pawpaw is adapted to the humid temperate climate of its native habitat. Requiring a minimum of 400 hours of winter chill and at least 160 frost-free days, it appears to be sensitive to low humidity, dry winds and cool, maritime summers. Several cultivars have been successfully grown in parts of the Pacific Northwest. The tree can grow up to 25 feet tall but can easily be kept at a manageable 10 to 15 feet. It is prone to producing suckers a few feet away from the trunk and if permitted to grow, the single-clone pawpaw patch appears.

Purchase grafted plants of known cultivars for best success. As the roots are very fragile, container grown plants are more likely to survive transplanting. Gently slide (do not pull) the plant out of its pot and carefully place it in the prepared hole (follow guidelines for planting fruit trees). Plant trees 10 to 15 feet apart. Water them regularly during the growing season keeping the spoil moist but not waterlogged. Although naturally growing as understory trees, a pawpaw can be grown in full sun. Young trees, however, need some shade for the first couple of years. Paw paws grow very slowly at first, using energy to develop strong root systems, and may take five to seven years to start producing.

The pawpaw responds well to applications of organic or granular fertilizer high in potassium twice a year. Although little pruning is required other than to remove dead, damaged or errant branches, pruning may be done periodically to stimulate some new growth each year on older trees (new growth produces fruit the following season). Since it is bothered by few pests, pawpaw cultivation has attracted renewed interest, particularly among organic growers.

The fruit, a large edible berry, weighs in at a whopping 5 to 16 ounces, is 3 to 6 inches long and often occurs in clusters of up to nine individual fruits. This thin skinned fruit is green when unripe maturing to yellow or brown, often developing black splotches that do not affect its flavor or edibility. When ripe the flesh yields slightly to the touch like that of a ripe avocado. Since paw paws don’t ship well, they have never been cultivated on the scale of apples or peaches.

With a creamy, custard like texture when ripe, the flavor of the pawpaw is similar to both banana and mango with pineapple notes. It is best eaten fresh out of hand, but can be used in preparations that employ minimal cooking to preserve its delicate flavor. A chiffon pie would be a good choice, but this unusual fruit can be used in any recipe (cup for cup) that calls for bananas. Quite perishable, the fruit will only last for two or three days but may be kept for up to three weeks if refrigerated at 40° to 45° F.

Mmmmm! Just thinking about the exotic flavor of this American native fruit makes my mouth water. I’ve planted two trees and am tempted to add a couple more to complete my pawpaw patch. If all goes well, in five years or so I just might be pickin’ up paw paws and puttin’ ‘em in my pocket!

Recipe of the Month: Hot Milk Sponge Cake
Sponge cakes can most definitely try a cook’s mettle. At best they require a quick and gentle hand as well as a trained eye to know when the eggs are properly beaten. This sponge cake relies on the addition of baking powder and milk which adds both lightness and moistness. It’s the easiest to make of all sponge cakes. I use it as shortcake with fresh berries and whipped cream, cream cakes, fresh coconut cake and even pineapple upside down cake. It’s a great one to have in your repertoire. View Complete Recipe

More Information
For more information on Honeyman Creek Farm, cooking classes, farm dinners, recipes or to read Chef Robert’s blog on food and gardening visit www.honeymancreekfarm.com. Feel free to contact us at info@honeymancreekfarm.com or 503.543.5610.

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