Fancy Pants Foodie

Foodie news, reviews and how-tos from Arkansas and beyond.

Culinary Inspiration at Wildwood Wine and Food Festival

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Points for the most creative (and possibly the most delicious and complex) dish goes to Oceans for their tuna tataki. It was served on a watermelon base with fresh cucumber, sriracha, spicy mayo, and caviar. A bit hard to eat, but the combination of spicy, sweet, salty and savory was a bite to behold.

On Friday night, I got to experience the Wildwood Wine and Food Festival in a completely new way — as a diner.

In the past, if I was at this event, it was as a culinary student, serving up items we had made in class. This year, I got to casually walk from station to station, chatting with the chefs and visiting with friends I saw there. It was kinda fabulous, other than trying to figure out what in the world to wear since I couldn’t wear a chef coat!

Having this extra time to savor each dish (or at least study the gluten-having ones I couldn’t eat) also allowed me to learn more about each chef’s philosophy and ways to use different ingredients. I’m sharing some of these items with you in the slideshow below so we can be inspired together.

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Winner Winner Wildwood Dinner!

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Congrats to my friend Sam L., who won the tickets to Wildwood Wine and Food Festival tomorrow night. She and her hubs are awesome folks and college friends of mine, which gave her absolutely no extra credit toward winning. See?

By the way, Sam recently started a blog of her own, juicebox2go.com, about family travel and the perils and high points of traveling with little ones. The blog is particularly well-written and has lots of giveaways and travel tips, so go check it out!

I’ll have lots more contests in the coming months, so stay tuned. A particularly big and awesome one will be announced on Monday.

It involves footwear.

And Southwestern food.

Really.

 

Giveaway: Two Tickets to this Friday’s Wildwood Wine and Food Festival

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Manager Greg Robinson and Executive Chef James Hale from Acadia at the Wildwood Wine and Food Festival in 2010. Acadia will be among the participating restaurants again this year.

Note: The contest is over! Congrats to Sam L. See you at the event on Friday!

This Friday is one of my favorite foodie events of the year, the Wildwood Wine and Food Festival held at the Wildwood Park for the Arts in Little Rock.

I first experienced the event two years ago as a culinary student, as Pulaski Technical College Arkansas Culinary School had a table to present tasty wares created by students. This was one of the first times I was able to directly have a hand in creating good food, then handing it directly to the people who were going to (hopefully) enjoy it. It was extremely gratifying and was probably a defining moment in my passion to make people happy through food.

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Clarity and Goat Cheese Watermelon Salad (Recipe) at #AWBU

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Watermelon salad inside a hollowed watermelon half with rosemary sprig

Keep reading (or skimming) and be rewarded. Our winning Watermelon and Goat Cheese Salad with Rosemary. Not bad for thrown together, Iron Chef style.

I started Fancy Pants Foodie about three years ago now, with the original intent of showing you peoples how to make some upscale food, fairly easily, at home.

Having had the journalism bug (and degree) as well, the blog soon included coverage of food events, new restaurants and stores, chefs and other food-related news. Sometimes the voice I used in these didn’t exactly match the one I used for recipes and instructional posts. Still doesn’t. One day you get snarky and fun, and the next you get inverted-pyramid-style straight journalism.

At the recent Arkansas Women Bloggers Unplugged conference, voice was an issue of conversation. Yeah, we needed to clarify our purpose, and then our voice. But what if we’re a little bipolar in what our blog does, like me?

What’s the purpose of this blog thing, anyway?

I’m very humbled and honored to say that this humble space has received a lot of love over the past three years. This is despite the redesign and site upgrade that I’ve threatened now for two years and still haven’t accomplished. The theme you see here (if you’re reading before said upgrade happens) is the one I randomly chose in the middle of the night when I decided to pull a blog out of my rear.

At the conference, and even more so after, I had to really think about what I’m doing in this space.

Sometimes lists help with clarity, so I made this one:

  • I write the blog to teach people how to cook from a semi-pro perspective, especially upscale things that may be new to them.
  • I also tell people about food news that’s going on in Arkansas.
  • And occasionally, I use the blog to inspire people to participate in food-related things that are bigger than themselves, or just to mess around and have fun.

So, if you’re counting, that’s at least three different blogs. All run together.

Based on what I learned at #AWBU, here’s some ideas:

  • No more straight-faced journalism pieces. I’ll save those for any outside writing gigs that use that sort of style. Even for newsy pieces like chef interviews or openings, my natural snark and wit are going to appear if it kills me. This is a blog, not a newspaper, for crying out loud.
  • A blog redesign is urgent, and will include categories separating the major styles and topics of the blog. I’m thinking “Recipes,” “News & Events” and “Features,” plus a category for outside work I’d like to do. Or something like that. Opening clips of all the stories will flow on the front page, though.
  • Write more freely. I tend to overthink and thereby not post as often as I should. The more I write, the more other good things happen.
  • Work on developing more of a community of Arkansas food people, specifically those who want to learn more about upscale cooking at home or professionally. I get traffic from all over the world, but I’d love for more of that to come from right here in our state, and for those who visit to join me in conversation.

Other bloggers have recapped the details of our conference pretty well, so I don’t feel obligated to fill you in on every little thing. But, of course, the highlight for me was Foodie Friday, completely dedicated to food-related blog love, orchestrated by the fab Lyndi of NWAFoodie.

And the best part of Foodie Friday? Iron Chef. No lie. After some brainstorming, sensory and other writing exercises, we were assigned a group and were placed into the hands of Tina Marie Wilcox, the “Herb Lady” at the Ozark Folk Center. Of course, I bounced in my seat when this activity was announced. By the way, we’d be feeding all the other AWBU attendees who were showing up for a reception. With OUR food.

Our team was assigned its herb: Rosemary. Walkthrough of a room filled with random available ingredients. GO.

We ended up making a sautéed mushroom and herb bruschetta that wasn’t my favorite ever, due to minimal of access to the toaster oven, as well as a stellar rosemary & berry lemonade created by fellow food blogger Kat Robinson. But the winner-winner-herbal-dinner was our watermelon salad with goat cheese and a red wine vinaigrette. With rosemary. Fo reals.

We won the “Best Use of Herbs” category by judges from the local Anglers restaurant.

I’m sure I’ll write further about the conference, so stay tuned for more details, foodie and otherwise. Meanwhile, find one of the last Arkansas watermelons and make this!

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Watermelon and Goat Cheese Salad with Rosemary
From the Rosemary Team at #AWBU 2012 Iron Chef

  • One medium watermelon
  • 4 ounces goat cheese, small dice (feta works, too)
  • One half medium red onion, cut thinly into strips
  • 2 T. finely minced rosemary
  • 1/4″ red wine vinegar
  • 1/2″ extra virgin olive oil
  • Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
  • Fresh raspberries and a clean rosemary sprig for garnish

Cut a very thin slice off one side of the watermelon, not cutting into the flesh, to create a stable bowl. If you’re chicken, or you just forget like I did, just place the watermelon on a towel to keep it stable. Cut the watermelon in half, keeping your slice in the center of the half you plan to use as a bowl.

Using a spoon or knife, remove as much flesh as possible from both watermelon halves and cut it into chunks or cubes. Remove seeds as much as possible. Place all these pieces into a large bowl and drain all the extra liquid. Carefully stir in the cheese, onion strips and rosemary. (Save a bit of rosemary for garnish.)

In a separate bowl, whisk together the red wine vinegar and olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour over the watermelon mixture and gently toss.

Note: If you’re using the goat cheese, it will melt and get oozy. It’s what we had available. Go with it. If I were doing this at home, I’d probably go with feta, which has a known relationship with watermelon in some circles. 

Fill the chosen watermelon rind with your finished salad, and sprinkle the remaining rosemary on top. Garnish the edges of the bowl with the berries, and place a sprig or two of whole rosemary in the side so folks know what’s in it.

Seeking Hosts for Fancy Pants Foodie Culinary Classes

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My last batch of risotto, with a summer twist: sun-dried tomatoes, toasted pine nuts, and fresh Arkansas heirloom tomatoes.

I’m probably not completely prepared to put this all out there, but I’ll never be ready unless I start sometime. So here goes.

My awesome hubs and I have been remodeling our house in a way that would allow me to teach cooking classes. But, it’s not ready yet, and I’ve got some teaching to get out of my system!

Therefore, I’m currently seeking hosts for some classes to help me get this part of my vision for Fancy Pants Foodie off the ground. Classes will start very small and in the Little Rock metro while we figure out possible capacities, maybe four or five people.

A couple questions for you:

  1. Would you be interested in classes in your home or mine? In your church, activity center or the like?
  2. What kind of skills would you like to learn? What kind of dishes? (I’ll work to incorporate knife skills and other basics into each dish.)

Leave me a comment below with your thoughts. If you’re seriously interested in hosting a class, say so in the message and I’ll get back to you. I understand that not everyone will have the space to be able to host something like this, so instead, you may want to find out more about cooking classes which you can attend until mine are sorted. I’m planning on my first classes being about risotto, depending on burner capacity at each location. Yummmm!

Feeding Arkansas’ Hungry Kids, One Celeb Chef at a Time (No Kid Hungry Little Rock Dinner 2012)

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Lovely table settings by Share Our Strength staff and volunteers.

Tuesday night, Governor Mike Beebe told a sold-out crowd at the Oxford American headquarters that Arkansas has become a success “poster child” for the No Kid Hungry program of Share Our Strength, the nonprofit group working to end childhood hunger in America by 2015. And based on the results of the event, raising over $30 thousand with a night of spectacular culinary achievement, I am not at all surprised.

The local chef rock stars who cooked for the event included Jeffrey Owen of the Capitol Hotel, Brian Deloney of Maddie’s Place, Kelli Marks of Sweet Love and a host of rising-star culinarians and other volunteers. The out-of-towners included two Top Chef graduates: John Currence of City Grocery in Oxford, Miss. (Top Chef Masters, season 3) and Marcel Vigneron of Modern Global Tasting Inc. in Los Angeles (Top Chef, season 2).

Share Our Strength is holding other No Kid Hungry Dinners across the country to raise funds for their worthy programs, including the Cooking Matters program I had the privilege to teach this summer. The secondary purpose, however, is to create a buzz, getting folks together who love to cook, love to eat and love to make sure our kids have the opportunity to do both.

Behind the scenes was an absolute hoot. The best thing about being one of those up-and-coming culinary types is being able to schlep into these things as extra hands, learning from everyone there. I was able to help plate dishes, wipe other dishes down (the rental company didn’t send them all clean!), even deliver dishes to the waiting crowd of about 120 guests.

I absolutely loved watching the chefs prepare their dishes. Each chef, from the locals to the guest chefs, had something extraordinary to offer. As I watched Vigneron finish his plates of pea soup with peas, salmon, beets, beet ice cream and a beet chip, I was astounded by the level of mastery. And, honestly, at that point in the evening I hadn’t even realized why he looked so darn familiar! (I’ll tell you this: His jerk persona on Top Chef was all editing. He’s a doll.)

The other chefs all brought their own passions, as well. Currence was especially passionate about the Cooking Matters program, telling me about the Chefs Move to Schools kickoff event he helped cook for at the White House earlier this year. He said it was essential that we work to get kids excited about healthy cooking, just as previous generations of kids were the family catalysts for litter control and recycling.

Our own local chefs created amazing dishes, as well. Owen’s cocktail-hour appetizers reflected the precision and depth of flavor that embodies the Capitol Hotel. Deloney presented the first course, a “muffaletta” napoleon of heirloom tomatoes, showcasing the beauty of fresh, seasonal ingredients. Newcomer Kelli Marks astounded the seasoned veterans with her light, perfectly balanced cheesecakes. (Vigneron loved them.) And without credit on the program, former Argenta Market chef Shane Henderson, now with Ben E. Keith, prepared beautiful vegetarian entrees on the fly for those who requested them.

Before the event even got rolling, the former-PR-person in me had to go work the crowd during cocktail hour. Turns out I walked by just as P. Allen Smith was walking in, as he was one of the guest speakers for the event. Bless his heart, the awesome ladies who came in from Share Our Strength in Washington, D.C. didn’t know who he was! I helped them all alleviate the situation without anybody getting embarrassed. My reward: Soiree and the Dem-Gaz snapping photos of me with said Mr. Smith. The white coat, they love it, even if I’m a nobody.

I may write a separate post about just hanging out with these awesome folks all evening. It’s a story unto itself. But, for now, enjoy these photos knowing that we’re this much closer to No Kid Hungry in Arkansas.

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Stage #1: KJ’s Caribe Restaurant + Cantina, Part Three (With Recipe)

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Read here for part one or part two

It was time to party down. Just not for us. Yet.

As early as 8 p.m., crowds were showing up for the 9:30 event that Caribe was hosting as part of the Fleur Delicious Weekend: a crazy-awesome band in the restaurant’s event room, in the front of the building. KJ had decided that, due to the high volume the kitchen had already put out that night, the menu would be limited to the third page. We were running out of food and steam.

So, what could possibly go wrong?

The short version: The crowd orders food, moves around the room. Tickets get mixed up, and I help troll the crowd for whoever the heck ordered these flaming-hot cheese enchiladas that are burning my hands. The crowd continues to *ahem* enjoy the bar and the incredible music. Later, KJ shuts down the kitchen again, as we are completely out of cheese and enthusiasm. A couple (notably intoxicated) folks get upset, but quickly forget due to the aforementioned bar and incredible music. All ends pretty well.

Even when completely stressed out facing one of the busiest nights Caribe has ever seen, KJ’s community spirit is still there. Several folks pop into the kitchen to say hello, as is the case every night at Caribe. (I told you, she’s a community fixture.) One mentions that she never got a chance to eat, and after a brief hesitation, KJ scrapes something together for her. She loves these people too much to say no.

As midnight loomed, KJ, Keegan and I cleaned the kitchen. What a crazy night to have stepped in! I only wish I had come a little earlier to learn the menu, so I could help make more of the dishes. No matter, we had all benefited from the experience.

While KJ and Chris settled up the tickets for the night, I stepped into the event room for a little sit-down. The band was Earl and Them, and award-winning blues singer and guitarist Jimmy Thackery had dropped in to play with the band. The crowd was going nuts. I sat, alone, quietly enjoying the musicians (did I mention they were incredible?) and getting my mind around my crazy awesome first restaurant experience.

KJ has left her mark on me, as she has the entire community of Eureka Springs. The food she puts out at Caribe exudes love and passion, just as she does in person with every person who comes into contact with her.

Her generosity may occasionally get the best of her, but she’ll always come back for more. I know that I will.

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One of KJ’s vegetarian dishes uses marinated broccoli, the likes of which I had never seen before. She was generous enough to share some tips about the marinade, which I converted into a salad dish. Enjoy!

Caribbroccoli Salad (Marinated Broccoli and Pineapple Salad)

Caribbroccoli Salad (Marinated Broccoli and Pineapple Salad)
Inspired by KJ Zumwalt, Caribe Restaurant + Cantina

  • 2 large stalks broccoli, cut into medium florets, about 2 cups
  • 1 fresh pineapple (or, 2 cups diced pineapple and 1-2 cups pineapple juice)
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 small red hot peppers, your choice (I used serrano), seeded and chopped finely
    Note: If you don’t care for hot peppers, you can use 1/4 of a red bell pepper
  • 2 limes, zested and juiced
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
  • Optional: 1/2 teaspoon adobo seasoning (see note below)

If using a fresh pineapple, cut away the rough skin, base and top, as well as the tough inner core (I thought about this, you can get the best skincare experts). I put these extra pieces through my juicer to get the juice, but you could also use bottled pineapple juice.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the juice, olive oil, peppers, lime juice, zest and garlic. Place the broccoli and pineapple in the bowl and gently turn the ingredients with a large spoon to toss. (Honestly, I just poured each ingredient over the broccoli and pineapple, and it was fine. Just make sure it gets mixed well.)

Cover the salad and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving, preferably overnight. You can drain off the extra liquid before serving if you like, but it’s not entirely necessary.

Note: KJ uses a Latin Caribbean spice mix called adobo in her marinade, as well as many of her other dishes. I didn’t find it in my closest Kroger, but I found this easy recipe to make your own batch. If you find or make some, throw a half teaspoon into the salad.

Stage #1: KJ’s Caribe Restaurant + Cantina, Part Two

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Click here for Part 1

It didn’t take long for things to get a little out of control.

Due to additional traffic brought in by the Fleur Delicious event in Eureka Springs that weekend, the ticket printer in Caribe’s kitchen was screeching a little more often than usual, even for a Friday night.

KJ told me later that night about her cozy 50-seat dining area she now uses, just a small part of the multi-room building.

“When I first moved here from downtown, we had the whole thing open, and we fed several hundred a night,” she said. “It was just too much. I went a little crazy. It was still just little old me and one salad guy in the back. We managed, but it was just too much.”

She later trimmed service down to the main dining room, and she ended up making more money due to reduced overhead.

Tonight, she had extra help (me), but I wasn’t really much help without knowing the menu. We never really had gotten around to that.

KJ shows me how to do the sauce for the fajitas.

During slight lulls, KJ showed me how to start fajitas and a salmon dish on the grill and finish them on the stove, with her special combinations of Caribbean-inspired sauces. Small pans lined up with coconut milk, veggie stock (with pineapple juice), rum and other goodies.

“I’m a real believer in the two-phase cooking process,” she said, moving the beef or chicken from the grill to the waiting pan, and later to a plate of salad, rice and beans.

Ohmygosh, the beans… we’ll get back to those.

The real crazy came around 7 p.m. A waitress went home sick. Tickets were slightly piled up. A few folks in the dining room were getting testy.

Dying to help out, I inched into the line a few times, but KJ was in the zone. She politely/tersely told me that I’d have to wait, it was easier right now for her to just get.it.done.

Meanwhile, Chris, the front of house manager, is slightly freaking out. I offered to help in the front, and he and KJ thought that was a dandy idea.

Chris had me help bus tables, check on folks’ water, deliver plates from the kitchen and such. I wasn’t anyone’s waitress, officially. But, of course, you step into the dining room and you’re fair game.

“Could you tell me about the heat level on these salsas (from the platter)?” I was asked more than once. I politely responded that I was just helping for the night and wasn’t familiar, but I would send someone (Chris) over right away. (Yes, I did.)

I fetched requested sides, refilled water, sliced limes, even served a margarita or two. But my favorite part is talking to people, when appropriate, a remainder from my PR days. I actually really enjoyed it.

Back in the kitchen, things eventually slowed enough where I could get involved again. Rice, beans, kids’ tacos. More fajitas, enchiladas, ring the pickup bell, go, go, go. Running. Out. Of. Stuff.

Around 9 p.m., KJ shut down the kitchen. No more dinner tonight, folks. She had to get ready for the event she had agreed to, which was to start at 9:30. She collapsed for a moment in the corner, doing a combination of stretch, faint, yoga, something.

A whole new crowd loomed, many of whom will be fed for free. I had to wonder if she was still feeling all the “community” jazz she mentioned earlier.

One more installment, plus an “inspired by” recipe, coming soon!  

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Stage #1: KJ’s Caribe Restaurant + Cantina, Part One

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It was 4:55 p.m., five minutes before I was supposed to start my first stage, or mini culinary internship. I sat in my car in the parking lot of the wildly colorful building, having a mild panic attack.

I was at Caribe Restaurant + Cantina in Eureka Springs, or just Caribe, as the locals call it. It’s Fleur Delicious Weekend, the city’s annual celebration of food and fun with a French twist. And Caribe’s owner, KJ, was as laid back (and pleasantly wound up) as all get out, I could already tell from our email and Facebook conversations. So what was the problem, already? Just.go.in.and.COOK.

You see, ever since that terrible, awful, amazing class in culinary school called Food Production IV, where we did restaurant service every week, I’ve had this same paralyzing fear: What if I don’t really know how to cook? What if I’ve just skidded by so far, and they’re gonna find me out? I’ll have to go back into PR. And that’s not happening.

Anyway, I finally mustered the courage to step into the building, and I asked the server for KJ. She’s in the kitchen. Of course.

KJ Zumwalt is a fireball, if you haven’t heard. But if you’re from Eureka, you’ve heard. She’s a presence, one that I picked up on right away. She’s here to work like all heck putting out the restaurant’s stunningly beautiful Caribbean-style fare, strutting her stuff while she does it, and having a good time doing it.

No time for a lot of pleasantries, or even to show me how to do the dish she’d pre-assigned me, a lovely crab cake number. Orders had already started rolling in, and they were just about out of their famous guacamole.

“KEEGAN!” she hollered, with a mix of urgency and family sweetness. Keegan was the adorable sous chef/salad guy, the only other soul in the kitchen besides KJ when interlopers like me aren’t around. “Keegan! I need that guacamole like yesterday, baby.”

I stood awkwardly while Keegan slung salads and salsa platters from previous tickets. He managed to get out a bowl of ingredients to be prepped for the guac, and KJ had an idea.

“Hey, Christie’s got knife skills. Put her on it.”

So here I am, about 90 seconds in the door, and I’m making one of their most famous dishes. No pressure. Lemme just put up my hair and wash my hands right quick.

Despite my earlier doubts, I did remember how to use a knife and dispatch a couple dozen avocados, several onions, a handful of serrano peppers, lime juice and some other stuff. (Hey, I’m not giving you the recipe!) She told me what seasonings to work in. Done. Plated. And it was beautiful.

KJ started to show me a few of the entrees she was preparing, telling me stories about herself and the restaurant as she went. Another of her famous starters, the salsa platter, came from a rather unusual muse — Oysters Rockefeller plates.

A few years back, KJ and her partner, Panama-born Clary Perez, ran the restaurant in downtown Eureka, an entirely different experience (and real estate price point) than her current digs further down Highway 62. When they first started renting the rather expensive downtown space, the previous tenant’s dishes were part of the deal. The heavy, white dishes were shaped for holding Oysters Rockefeller. Six oysters, to be exact.

Guess how many salsas went into their salsa platter? Yup. With a dollop of sour cream in the middle and a basket of freshly-made corn chips and spicy wheat crisps.

Clary later passed away, and KJ moved from front-of-the-house operations to the kitchen, turning out all the dishes the community had grown to love. (Read Kat Robinson’s touching story about this part of KJ’s journey over at Tie Dye Travels. I didn’t know she had written this when I first connected with KJ for a stage; it was a great introduction to the restaurant and its history.)

KJ’s passion for her community continues to draw her in and hold her up, as evidenced by the very night I was there to cook with her. She had agreed to offer specials as part of Fleur Delicious, then host a large gathering that evening after normal service hours for a music event. This included feeding a good number of those involved in the project for free.

“We do a lot of charity events and dinners. You have to support your people, the community,” she said. “I’m totally into that. I’m not just doing this for the money.”

To be continued…

Fleur Delicious Weekend 2102 Kicks off in Eureka Springs

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An extended weekend of food, drink, music and art began today (Thursday, July 12) in the pleasantly beatnik town of Eureka Springs for the second annual Fleur Delicious Weekend. The event continues through Sunday, July 15.

The city, already known for its narrow streets, Victorian architecture and carefree attitude, has added several degrees of French-themed fun. Several area restaurants will feature French food and specials, and the streets will be active with live music, shopping and activities.

Some related events have already taken place, including one I wish I could have attended: “Uniquely Edible Arkansas” at the Dairy Hollow Writers Colony on Tuesday featured fellow blogger Kat Robinson, my former chef instructor Andre Poirot of the Peabody Hotel, and Margie Roelands of Raimondo Family Winery.

I’ll be participating by cooking — or getting in the way, depending on how things go — alongside the more experienced KJ Zumwalt and crew at Caribe Restaurant y Cantina (link is a fantastic story by the aforementioned Kat Robinson) on Saturday night. So if you’re in town, come have dinner with us and see how it goes.

Several hotels are offering specials for the weekend, so be sure to ask. And check the event’s Facebook page for up-to-the-minute photos and information.