Garden of Transformations

Recently I was given a gift of sustainability. Not a wind generator, or a rain barrel...I was given the chance to go on a retreat. Sustainable means simply, support or nourish. I am pretty good at sustaining my body...I like to eat, to drink...at times a little too much. I sleep when possible, breathe, and do the occasional exercise. But when it comes to finding the time to sustain my higher self, well that is another story.

I am going to be honest here. Bringing a new life into the world is no joke. Any stay at home parent will tell you that while the experience is wonderfully fulfilling, it is at times maddeningly overwhelming. There is barely enough time in a day for me to squeeze in a shower, and sleep...hah...I laugh at sleep. Even before Lil' Bit arrived on the scene there have always been so many things in my life I have wanted to do, things that I would love to do, but unable to find the time. Why is that? There is like 16 waking hours in a day, right?

As a first Mother's Day gift, Chef spent 4 days with Lil' Bit so I could attend a retreat at The Ritz Carlton here on the island.  Tara Meyer-Robson, a friend and neighbor, wrote an extraordinary book The Flow, 40 Days to Total Live Transformation.  I felt so blessed to be invited to her retreat and so grateful to have a life partner able to bring our child to work in order for me to attend.  There I met seven other beautiful strong women from around the country and our time together was life changing.

The past year, I have often been frustrated with the fact that I have had so little time to write. I have read article after article about authors with families that wake up at 5 am to write while their house is still quiet. I never felt capable of doing this, even before the baby. Granted, this is my first year as a mom so I have been cutting myself a little slack...but writing sustains my higher self...and when your soul is parched, lets just say life gets uncomfortably dry.

The Flow retreat really put this into perspective. I woke up every morning at 6 am to attend sunrise yoga on the beach. It was easy to wake up extra early to do something I cared about. Most days, I usually roll out of bed to a caffeinated beverage and set forth to do what I have to do, which is definitely not usually what I want to do. Mornings really set the tone for the day that follows, and waking up to the sun rising over a gentle ocean was a gift unto itself.

Chef spends more time than not doing what he loves. Now, he is not what you would call a morning person...more of a night owl, but he has managed to build a career around his passion in life. He worked like a dog in kitchens 60-80 hours a week for over a decade, and now he is the owner of his own award winning restaurant. He cooks all the time at home (yay or me!) and is constantly reading cookbooks, watching cooking shows, and researching foods he would like to learn more about. The garden at 29 South is a perfect example of how he is always striving to perfect his art.

Inspired by a community garden here on the island, and a recent trip to Northern California he decided he wanted to put an organic garden behind the restaurant. In two weeks time, with the help of Megan and Tim, two members of our staff with organic farming experience, a 14 bed garden was created. Chef is the kind of fella whose ideas never just stay ideas for long.

Organic gardening is one of those things that I had always wanted to do, but had never found the time before. When Chef asked me if I wanted to manage the garden, I said yes without thinking twice about time. What was once a whim of mine suddenly had become an opportunity to be seized.

We started our seeds in December, and by April we had enjoyed a successful winter crop of carrots and beets of all colors, salad mix, scallions, fennel, butter lettuce, romaine, radishes, snow peas, snap peas, cauliflower, and romanesco which is a super cool plant that reminds me of Dr. Seuss. Not bad for someone who had never grown anything edible other than a few herbs and tomatoes in a pot!

I decided I will make time to do what I love. It is a simple choice that is as important, if not more so than any other thing in my life. If that means waking up before Lil' Bit to write and then after she rises packing her into the station wagon to go tend the garden...well life could be a lot worse.

Take a little time this weekend to do something sustainable for your higher self...do something that you love. You deserve it! Check back on Monday for a fresh taste of EcoCulinaire.

Good Life Read #1 

The Flow 40 Days to Total Life Transformation, By Tara Meyer-Robson

www.flowwithlife.com

http://www.amazon.com/Flow-Days-Total-Life-Transformation/dp/1598009834

The coolest thing about this book is that there is a sort of test you take in it that allows you to hone in on what aspect of your life right now needs the most nourishing. I have never read a book of this type before, it is really unique, and it has really been a life changer for me.

Good Spirits

You can pretty much always find my grandma in the same place on any given day at 5 pm. Sitting in her sun room with a cool glass of cheap Chardonnay. She lives in a historic home her uncle built over 100 years ago. "Nanny, it's wine time," she says in her little crickety voice, perched on her wing back chair. She is a good Presbyterian with an affinity for white wine. It doesn't matter if you are driving that evening or pregnant for that matter, if you are at her house at 5 pm she is going to try her hardest to get you to have a drink. Why? Because that means you are going to have to stay and visit just a little bit longer. At 87 years old, Sister, as we all lovingly call her, is pretty fabulous.

My grandmother reads the New York Times every day, as well as the Jacksonville Times Union, and she is totally addicted to CNN. She graduated from Florida State College for Women in 1942 with a degree in Political Science. A true yellow dog democrat, I really think the last election cycle revived her from death's door. She has read all of Barack Obama's books, and thinks Bill Clinton is a dear.

Sister has been living with breast cancer for the past four years, without treatment. I moved to Amelia Island after college to help care for her, prior to the cancer's encore appearance after being in remission for six years. In 2002 she was going through a rough time, and asked me to come, so I did. Call it a karmic debt. She cared for me quite a bit as a small child during my parents' divorce, and I thought it time to return the favor.

Sister was born and raised in Fernandina, the historic downtown on Amelia Island, and at wine time you can be sure to learn a bit about her life. She has a beautiful low country accent, and the poise of a true Southern lady. She was born in the house next door, a gorgeous Victorian that her youngest son lives in now. It is rare in America to have a family that has lived in the same place, much less in the same homes for over 150 years. That was part of the draw for me to move here...I wanted to learn about my roots, and my grandmother is a fantastic historian.

I have spent more "happy hours" with my grandmother than any other single person.  Friends and family know that if you visit with her in the hours of the early evening, a glass a white wine will be served upon entry, with perhaps "nibbles" of some sort. Stone wheat crackers and cheese, or seafood dip...or sometimes just a little bowl of Fritos. Her favorite vino is Chardonnay, but any white will do. For Sister, wine is medicinal. There have been times when she has been prescribed medicine that doesn't mix well with booze, and more often than not she will forgo the pill for a nice glass of Chard. At her age, it is hard to argue with that choice. I have tried to get her to switch to a red, because of the known health benefits...but living in a place that is terribly hot most of the year, she craves the cold crisp whites.  I think she sees them more fit for a lady.

Recently I learned that there are actually health benefits to white wine. In 2007, a group of Italian scientists did a study which showed that there are elements in both red and white wine that help fight the bacteria which creates tarter on your teeth, and sore throats. I asked Sister what she thought of this and she said with a big Chardonnay smile, glass in hand,

"Well, I think that's great, I just thought white wine had less calories. At 87 years old I still have a full mouth of teeth, so there must be something to it."

I think she is right. There is something to it.

Good Life Quest #2/ Chardonnay

*Chardonnays can be buttery, or not. They can be full of oak, or not. They can be light yellow, or honey gold in color. There are hundreds of Chardonnays out there, and they are all different. One of my favorites is Free Mark Abbey, which is from Napa Valley. This week, go to your local wine shop and ask the shopkeeper to pick out two Chardonnays within your budget. Ask for one that has a smokey oak flavor, and one that is more fruity and crisp.

Take them home and pour each into a glass. Notice the color difference. Give it a good swish in the glass and stick your nose in and see if you can smell the difference. Then...do a taste test and see which type of Chardonnay works best for your palette. If you don't like either, that's okay too...a lot of people don't. If you find one you love, recommend it in the comment box below. We are always looking to try a new wine! Happy sipping!

Restaurant Widows

"Restaurant widow" is a term I first heard about 2 months ago from a house guest that was visiting from North Carolina. Her husband is a chef, and she would spend evenings with other ladies whose men worked in the industry. They called themselves restaurant widows.

The average chef, if he is lucky, works a 14 hour shift between lunch and dinner services, often times even more. 9 am to 11 pm five days a week as a minimum, and holidays...lets just say I have never spent a Valentines Day with my life partner, forget most of New Year's Eve...although Chef always manages to track me down in the last minutes before midnight. I think you have to be a little bit crazy to be a chef, and a bit of a masochist at that. To be a chef's life partner you have to be okay with a lot of alone time, and as a writer that kinda works out perfectly for me.

Last Monday night was beautifully blustery. Lil' Bit and I were trapped inside all day due to foul weather, so it seemed like a good night to get out of the house and go see what Chef had on his plate. He has been pulling some long hours lately, and that particular Monday was the debut of our Spring menu.

When the seasons change, so does our menu at 29 South. The items that are customer favorites, we let them be. For example, we would probably get a brick thrown through our window if we ever took the sweet tea brined pork chop off the menu, but we do change about 40% of our menu four times a year.

My favorite part of a menu change is getting to play guinea pig. I come in the first evening the of the new menu for an early dinner and feast on all the new items, giving Chef my humble opinion on presentation and taste. I tell you it is a rough life I live. This evening I invited my friend Andrea, fellow restaurant widow and lover of food, to dine with us. Her husband is also a chef and that evening he had been called into work on his day off. We had a great time catching up over some vino as plate after plate of fabulous food came rolling out.

So...drum roll please...here is a run down of our new dishes.  Each dish is absolutely fantastic, but I highlighted my favorites in red.

Small Plates:

• Chive Risotto Cake with Little Finger Eggplant Caponata
• Lumpy Blue Crab Cake on Pinot Grigio Butter with Lemon Marmalade and Salsa Rosa
• Seared Scallop on Rock Shrimp Tamale with Adobo, Manchego, and Avocado Jicama Slaw (I am not a big scallop fan. The texture is usually too fleshy for my taste, but this was absolutely perfect.)

Small Salad:

• Herb Roasted Tomato - Roasted Conner Farm Tomato with Buffalo Mozzarella and Baby Greens on Grilled Ciabatta (I have been on a big Caprese salad kick lately...and this is a really nice version of a classic. Roasting the tomatoes with herbs and olive oil concentrates the flavor of the tomatoes that are starting to come into season.)

Entree Salads:

• Grilled Chicken basted with Pomegranate Molasses on Fingerling Potato and Summer Bean Salad

Entrees:

• Pan Roasted Halibut on Curried Mussels with Cilantro Chili Salad and Minted Raita (This is one of those dishes you eat and you sit back after the first bite and realize you better eat slowly...because you are dining on something truly special.)
• Filet Mignon on Roasted Shitake, Fingerling Potato and Onion Salad with Sweet Corn Chimichurri (for some reason I love the word Chimichurri)
  
• Painted Hills Rib Eye on Rosemary Garlic Fries with Butter Braised Lobster Knuckles
• Line Caught Wild Salmon on Pressed Beet Israeli Couscous, Roasted Scallions, and Saffron Citronette (I know it seems like I have a seafood bias, but the night I ate this we had Copper River salmon on the menu which is only fished for 3 weeks a year...uber fresh, and a gorgeous color, almost red.)

Sweet Tooth:

• Buttermilk Pana Cotta with Berries and Naked Bee Honey (smooth, creamy, fresh...delish. Naked Bee Honey is from a local beekeeper husband/wife team who make hand-pressed honey in the traditional Tuscan style.)
• Sweet Grass Dairy's Finest / An assortment of Artisan Cheese with Seasonal Condiments
  

Good Life Recipe #2 / Chef Scott Schwartz, 29 South

Buttermilk Panna Cotta
*Panna Cotta is a classic Italian dessert, and it is one of my favorite things to eat. If there is such a place as heaven I imagine it to be me floating in a giant bowl of panna cotta.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1/2 packet (1 teaspoon) unflavored gelatin powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of cold water
• 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream
• 3/4 cup of plain whole-milk yogurt
• 1/4 cup of buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
• 1/3 cup of sugar
  

Directions:

• In a small bowl, pour the 1 1/2 tablespoons of water in bowl then sprinkle gelatin on top. Stir and then set aside for 10 minutes allowing the gelatin to bloom.
• Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup of the heavy cream with all of the yogurt, buttermilk, vanilla extract, and vanilla been seeds.
  
• Take the remaining cream and heat it with the 1/3 cup of sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.
  
• Remove it from the heat and add the softened gelatin to the hot cream and stir to dissolve. Pour the hot cream - gelatin mixture into the cold cream- yogurt mixture and stir to combine.
  
• Pour into 4 six to eight ounce ramekins or custard cups and refrigerate uncovered until cold. When the panna cotta are thoroughly chilled, cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight.
• When ready to serve top with berries drizzled with honey, and when in season and you are lucky enough to find them, roasted figs tossed in aged balsamic vinegar or saba.
  

Fried Green Tomatoes Part II

Our fried green tomatoes are a customer favorite at 29 South, and are rated as "One of the Top Ten Best Comfort Foods" by Jacksonville Magazine.  What makes ours special over the usual Southern staple is the creamy goat cheese oozing out when you take that first bite, and the sweet and tangy roasted red pepper jam.  Over the past week a number of fans of this little Dirty South delicacy have written asking me for the recipe for the red pepper jam.  

So here it is! It is super easy and you can use it on a variety of foods, such as grilled fish and chicken. Enjoy!

Roasted Red Pepper Jam

• 1 cup of sliced roasted red peppers You can roast some yourself, or pick up a jar at the store.  I like to keep a jar of roasted red peppers in our fridge at all times!  They low cal and are great on pasta, pizza, couscous, salads, chicken, and fish.
  
• 1 cup of sugar
  
• 3 Tablespoons of white Balsamic Vinegar
  
• Salt & Pepper
  

Add all the ingredients together in a small sauce pot and cook over medium high heat until thick. Boiling liquid should form large bubbles and resemble syrup when spooned on a cold plate.  Salt and pepper to taste.

If you try this recipe out this weekend please let us know what you think. Have a great Memorial Day!

Teeth

Teeth are weird. I mean really...aren't they? They aren't bones, because they don't have marrow, and the inside of your tooth is called pulp.  It is not really something you want to think about as you swig down a nice glass of fresh orange juice, is it? Your pulp is what sends messages to your brain.  Messages like, "ooh...crunchy."

We use our teeth to eat, speak, and occasionally tear at things. There are different types of teeth...canine teeth, wisdom teeth, baby teeth. Lil' Bit has exactly 1 one and one half teeth, which we brush every day. The average adult has 36 teeth, including wisdom...and of my 36 teeth one in particular has been giving me mega problems.

There is nothing like getting major dental work done with a head cold. Today the whole time I laid there with my mouth stretched open trying not to sneeze. Last week, I had a temporary veneer put on my front tooth which fell off twice. Once while Chef and I were eating lunch at 29 South. I had just taken a big bite of a soft and delicious Mediterranean wrap. I felt the thing dislodge, spat out my food, and my tooth then ran to the bathroom. The second time it happened over an Americano in mid-conversation with a friend at a coffee shop. Without the veneer my front tooth looked like a Halloween pumpkin fang. Needless to say, last week was a toughie. Today they put on the real thing, to the tune of $1400. Isn't strange that health insurance doesn't cover dental? I mean, teeth are kinda essential to your general health.

My problems with this ornery central incisor began about 3 years ago, when Chef and I were still in the relatively early stages of dating. He had me over for dinner, and was really excited about the beautiful crackling bread he had just pulled out of the oven.  It was a proper boule, which is a big round loaf of French bread.  It is supposed to have a nice crisp crust, which you achieve by cooking it in an oven with steam. 

Well, Chef's oven must have had a geyser in it.  The crust was like armor.  You could have used it to reinforce tanks in Iraq.  I took one bite into the crust and the veneer on my front tooth popped off. I reached into my mouth thinking it was something gross in the bread, pulled out the little piece of porcelain and flicked it off his second story balcony onto the courtyard below.

As it flew through the air, I realized what I had done. My hand went to my mouth and I ran to the bathroom. I smiled in the mirror and to my horror my front tooth was half the width of the other, and a ghastly yellow. Imagine if someone took a razor and shaved the front layer off your tooth. That is what had happened. I then ran downstairs and searched in the courtyard until I found the veneer. The thing was the size of a pinkie press on nail and cost about $800, but there was no salvaging it.

For the past three years I have been living with a half tooth. Chef wasn't bothered by it, he loved me even with my half tooth, so I figured why should I be bothered by it? The first few months I smiled a little less, but then forgot all about my fakakta tooth. In reality you could barely even notice that there was something wrong with it...but I always knew. Today, amongst sniffles, I got my smile back.

Teeth are pretty important. I mean if you were to die in a fire the only way they would identify your body is by your teeth. From now on in, I am going to take better care of my chompers. Watching Lil' Bit gum her food every meal reminds me how lucky I am to have them.  Although, Chef told me once he was looking forward to loosing his teeth so he would have a reason to eat braised meat seven days a week.  Personally , I wouldn't mind slurping risotto, but I think I will wait until my twilight years.

ps. Thank you to everyone who made this first week of this blog a grand success. Come back Monday for a fresh taste of EcoCulinaire!

Eco-What?

Over the past seven years or so the prefix "Eco" has been popping up everywhere, from oil company advertisements to toilet paper packaging. "Eco," that aesthetically pleasing little prefix has really made quite a name for itself. Eco living, Eco friendly, Eco design, Eco tourism, Eco building, Eco furniture, Eco products, Eco sensitive, Eco fashion...the list goes on and on. The question is what does the prefix "Eco" really mean? I asked Chef when he hears the word "Eco" what first comes to mind, and he responded "For me, I think of the woods." Most of us associate something"Eco" as having something to do with the environment, or being earth-friendly, which is an essential part of its meaning, but the word ecology, from which "Eco" is derived has a much broader definition.

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, the word ecology has two main definitions.

Ecology: 1. a branch of science concerned with the interrelationship of organisms and their environments. 2. the totality or pattern of relations between organisms and their environment

Both have the common thread of relationship with environment, so let's take this a step further and define environment, because it means much more than Nature.

Environment: 1. the circumstances, objects, or conditions by which one is surrounded 2. a. the complex of physical, chemical, and biotic factors (as climate, soil, and living things) that act upon an organism or an ecological community and ultimately determine the survival. b. the aggregate of social and cultural conditions that influence the life of an individual or community

So now, let's combine the two definitions to come up with a savvy understanding of ecology that we can apply to daily life.

Ecology: The pattern of relations between organisms and the circumstances, objects, or conditions that surround them and influence their lives.

With this new grasp on the word "Eco," it is safe to say that its meaning goes way beyond a trendy way to brand something as earth-friendly. In reality, it is the way we relate to pretty much everything.

Food is something we all relate to in one way or another...our survival depends greatly on that relation. In exploring our relationship with the food in our life, we can learn a lot about ourselves and how we relate to the world as a whole.

For example, our daughter's relationship with food is all inclusive, much like her relationship with the world. She takes everything in all the time. At 11 months old she considers pretty much anything she can get her grubby little hands on as a possible food item, ranging from a lizard carcass left as a gift by Pork Chop, our chubby Tabby, to a grocery store receipt that slipped from my purse onto the floor. Most of us do not remember exploring the world with our mouths as infants, for which I am thankful because according to my mom I ate a cockroach once. But we all did explore the world in that way, and learned a great deal from that exploration. When was the last time you bought something to eat that you have never tasted before? When along the way did we stop exploring the world with our sense of taste?

Behind every piece of food there is a story. We don't usually think about food in that way. We go to the store, buy something based on what we know it to taste like...or perhaps the calorie content, and then we eat it. Many of us don't want to know the story behind that ripe pineapple sitting on the shelf in December, or the frozen dinner that was packaged eight months ago, because the story behind most of our groceries is a long sordid tale.

Let's face it, most of us have a pretty shallow relationship with our food, and regardless of whether you eat organic, local, industrial, or fast food one thing is for certain...we are all guilty of taking our relationship with food for granted. The ecology of food is particular to each human, but there is one common way for each of us to get to know our food a little better. Just to make our relationship with it a little more personal, a little more intimate.

That singular way is to grow a little food for yourself. It could be nothing more than a small pot of herbs in a window, or a little tomato plant on your patio...or it could be something grand like a full blown summer vegetable garden, or you could even raise a pig! When you start a plant from seed, or raise an animal from birth, you develop an appreciation for the life and ecology behind the shelves of plastic wrapped food in the produce and deli sections of the grocery store. You gain awareness of their life stories. It is a small, but important step to nourish a really fundamental aspect of your own ecology...and a delicious one at that.

Good Life Quest #1: Next time you are at the grocery store buy a piece of food you have never tasted before, or if you are feeling really adventurous a piece of food you have never heard of before. Google that food, learn its life story, then eat it!

Spring

The Meyer Lemon tree in bloom reminds us that spring is refreshing. It is a season where life starts; at least that is what I tell myself as I try to ignore the dusty blanket of pollen that tortures many of this balmy season. It is a time for new beginnings, thus it's the perfect season for the launch of this blog.


EcoCulinaire is a celebration of the ecology of food and living.

This is a spring of many firsts for us. It is the first spring my life partner, Chef, and I have experienced as parents. It is the first spring of our daughter's life. It is a time of fertility, and this spring we have an organic vegetable garden in full swing. It is tucked behind our restaurant, 29 South, which sits in a historic purple house 2 blocks away from the Amelia River on Amelia Island, Florida. We have 14 beds in which we grow organic fruits and veggies for both work and home, as well as six farming partners that sustainably raise ingredients for our restaurant.

Vegetable gardening is a definite first for us. Last December, I went from being "good with house plants" to the Farm/Garden Coordinator for 29 South. It has been a major life change for the entire family. Rather than reading a novel before bed, I now read about dirt and bugs. Chef flips through seed catalogs over his morning cup of coffee. Water has taken on a whole new meaning for us. Before it was for drinking, bathing, and swimming. Now it is part of a daily ritual of sprinkling, dripping, and hosing. I have social relationships with bumble bees, and worms...which I find strangely fulfilling.

A first time gardener learns quickly that warm weather planting is an entirely different animal than cold weather crops, particularly in the blazing climate of Florida. I am building an arsenal to combat the pests, weeds, and all of Mother Nature's other virulent gifts that inevitably seek to destroy our vegetables. It is going to be a heck of an exercise of trial and error, learning as we grow.

Why are we doing this? Because our family believes that food is essential to humanity both physically and culturally. It is the fuel that keeps our bodies running and a common thread that binds a society through sharing. Plus, to put it simply, we just like good old fashioned ingredients. It is the quality of food our grandparents ate growing up, when tomatoes tasted like tomatoes and beef came from healthy cows that ate grass.

But this blog isn't just about food, it is also about how one family can take small, but consequential steps to living a more sustainable life. This doesn't mean we are going to build a yurt and begin foraging for acorns! No, the economic crisis isn't that bad yet. Sustainable simply means nourishing the balance between your life and the world around you. That balance is the definition of ecology.

We know the farmer that raises the Berkshire pigs for our pork, and the farmer that collects the eggs from our chickens. Our farming partners take great care in their stewardship of their animals, which in turn produces ingredients of extraordinary quality. Chef always says "If you cook with fantastic fresh ingredients, there is very little you have to do to make a great meal."

I think there is one thing in life most humans can agree on, which is that there are few better experiences in life than a great meal. That being said, every Monday I will post a recipe that we have tried and think is fantastic. Some will be shared from cookbooks and chefs we love, and others will come from Chef's own bag of tricks. Take a moment during the week to try it out yourself and tell us what you think, and check back this Wednesday for another taste of EcoCulinaire.


Good Life Recipe #1 : Fried Green Tomatoes / Chef Scott Schwartz

This is a great recipe for late spring because green tomatoes are ripe for the picking!

Serves 6 People

3 Medium Green Tomatoes
9 Ounces of Goat Cheese
3 Ounces of Cream Cheese
1 Tablespoon of Parsley, Finely Chopped
1 Clove of Garlic, Finely Minced
1/2 Cup of All Purpose Flour
4 Eggs Beaten
3 Cups of Panko (Japanese Bread Crumbs you can find at any grocery store)
1 Tablespoon of Salt
1 Teaspoon of Black Pepper
2 Cup of Vegetable Oil

Thinly slice the tomatoes and season with the salt and pepper. Mix the goat cheese, cream cheese, parsley, and garlic in a mixing bowl. Sandwich 1 tablespoon of the cheese mixture in between two slices of tomato. Take the sandwiches and dredge with flour, then dip in the beaten egg, and then coat with bread crumbs. Place in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Heat vegetable oil in a saute pan over medium heat until temperature reaches 350 or until a small piece of breading immediately bubbles when placed in the pan. Fry until golden brown (about 2 min per side). Remove from oil and drain on paper towel.

We like to serve these at 29 South with red pepper jam, and a drizzle of herb coulis and balsamic vinegar reduction. At home just pick your favorite relish, chutney, or condiment. Enjoy!