This Labor Day weekend, the Grand Hotel is offering a culinary weekend. Eight chefs from Alabama’s Resort Collection on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail will convene in Point Clear for two nights and three days of culinary activities, education, food and wine pairings and an 11-course dinner.

The Culinary Weekend Package includes two nights at the Grand Hotel on Friday, August 29 – Saturday, August 30; a personalized chef coat; a reception in the Chef’s Garden on Friday night; breakfast buffet with the chefs in the dining room on Saturday morning; be “Chef for the Day” – includes tours of the kitchens, culinary education and lunch. There will also be educational classes – two, one-hour classes addressing “Entertaining at Home,” and “Food & Wine Pairing”.

The weekend will end with a dinner competition with each chef pairing up with a team of students to compete with a specific course. And eleven course plated dinner will follow the competition.

All of this can be experienced for $600 per couple. Among the chefs will be one each from the Battle House and Riverview Plaza hotels. Reservations are required. Call 1.800.544.9933 today to reserve your spot at the table.

Spreadin’ the Q

Are you interested in starting your own BBQ joint, but don’t know how? Well, learn from longtime businessman Elbert Wingfield about the business of Saucy Q, and you can purchase a franchise. That’s right, Saucy Q is now franchising locations, with one currently in the plans for the Mississippi Gulf Coast. First, you have to qualify by completing an application. After they make sure you can handle it financially and interview, you will then start a training program that gets you on the way. If you are interested, contact Jarret Wingfield at 433-7427 for more details.

New joint

Camille’s Sidewalk Café is coming to town, moving into the strip center just west of University on Old Shell Road. If you have ever been shopping at the Silver Sands Outlet in Destin, you have likely eaten at Camille’s. Camille’s is another of the fast casual concepts similar to Newk’s. Camille’s focuses on salads, sandwiches and wraps.

Market recipes

If you have not been shopping at either of the local Farmer’s Markets lately, now is the prime time to take advantage. Living downtown, I frequent the Saturday morning market in Cathedral Square. Farm fresh produce and vegetables are in abundance, and on my last trip I came home weighted down with food. There must have been at least five blueberry vendors, plenty of corn and I bought the best cantaloupe I have had in a year out of the back of a truckload of them. I am the worst at picking out good ones, and among the many benefits of shopping at the market, you can have the vendors pick out the best. So what did I come home and make? Here are some of my favorites. This blueberry tart was made by a good friend years ago, who later gave me the cookbook as a gift. Don’t be daunted by the ingredient list, I promise it is not that hard, or takes that long to make.

Blueberry Lemon Tart

Come on In!

Serves Eight

Crust

Five ounces finely chopped almonds

One half cup unsalted butter at room temperature

Two tablespoons sugar

One and half cups all purpose flour

One fourth teaspoon salt

One large egg

One half teaspoon almond extract

Filling

Two pints fresh blueberries, washed and drained

Sugar to taste

Lemon Curd (follows)

Three fourths red currant jelly, melted

For crust blend first five ingredients together in processor until well combined. Add egg and almond extract, pulsing until well mixed. Press mixture into buttered tart pan with removable bottom. Chill for at least thirty minutes, preheat oven to 350 and bake crust until golden brown – twenty to thirty minutes.

For curd

Two teaspoons grated lemon zest

One and a half cups sugar

Five large egg yolks

One half cup fresh lemon juice

One eight teaspoon salt

One half cup unsalted butter, melted

Combine sugar and zest in processor and pulse until zest is as fine as sugar. Add eggs, lemon juice and salt and process ten seconds. With machine running, pour in melted butter. Transfer to double boiler and cook over lwoo heat until thickened. Cool and refrigerate.

For filling, combine blueberries with sugar and set aside. To assemble, spread lemon curd over crust, arrange blueberries over then lightly brush with currant jelly.

Kinnon Phillips is Lagniappe cuisine editor. Contact him at kphillips@lagniappemobile.com.

Archives