I’m not sure if many of you know or care, but I work full time plus in the restaurant industry. So finding opportunities to blog the way I want to has proven to be quite the challenge. Originally, I desired to visit your favorite local spots and grab interviews with the entrepreneurs behind them. But trying to find time to interview restaurant owners with my schedule has been relatively impossible. But that doesn’t mean we won’t bring you the ‘behind the scenes’ dish when applicable. This year what I desire to do is bring my followers the favorite things I enjoy from any given restaurant. Still inspired by Eating and Supporting your Local Mom & Pop, while allowing me to blog more and stress less. If you have any ideas on things you’d like to see featured on The Local Forkful food blog, drop us a couple of lines. We’d love to hear from you. And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook & Twitter for the latest in restaurant news and good eats!
It’s here again and I know you’ve been waiting for it like many of us. It’s Nashville Original’s Restaurant Week and time for you to break that wallet in a desperate attempt to snatch some of these deals. Many of Nashville’s favorite Eateries will be offering 2 for 1’s, bogo deals and pick 3’s from some of their regular menu options as well as daily specials. Here’s a list of all the offerings.
We haven’t tried all of them yet! But we’ll steer you in the direction of some of our favorite cheap eats.
And if you follow on Twitter some restaurants will even extend their deals into next week so choose your fav and visit more than once. In the future I would even like to see Coffee Shops get in on this, who wouldn’t love a pastry and a latte for $3.00?
Sometimes ice cream just won’t cut it, wait, scratch that! Ice cream will always cut it but sometimes your taste buds desire a different chilling experience. And you can get it all in this simple granita recipe that will satisfy your thirst and relieve your hot weather blues. I remember the first time I discovered this stuff. I made it with Blue Raspberry Kool-Aid. No, not grape, don’t judge me, but it was still amazing. I hope you love it now as much as I did then.
Mint & Basil Cantaloupe Granita
1 medium cantaloupe 1/4 granulated sugar 1/4 orange juice 5-8 leaves fresh mint 4-5 leaves fresh basil
1. Cut your cantaloupe in half. Use a large spoon or ice cream scoop to remove the seeds. Now you can either opt to scoop the fruit out using the ice cream scoop. Or resort to that culinary talent and cut the fruit into quarters and filet it off the rind.
2. Place fruit into blender or food processor with the sugar, orange juice, and herbs. You might need to do this in smaller batches if it won’t all fit, which is fine.
3. Taste mixture to check for sugar content. You might desire to add more. If not, pour mixture into a 13×13 cake pan, or casserole dish. Place in the freezer. You can either let it freeze over night or if you wish to use it same day. Then start 3 hours prior to usage, and you can revisit the mixture every thirty minutes for a broken glass like texture or fully freeze and scrape with a fork or ice cream scoop for a more snow-like consistency. Either way enjoy!
Garnish: I used a little coarse flake kosher salt, because I think cantaloupe and salt work so well together; or just some fresh berries will work.
How painful to only enjoy good peaches from June to July. Everyone knows a good ripe, juicy peach is often hard to find with local commercial chains peddling the unripened, often mealy ones. Most civilians aren’t aware that leaving them in a paper bag for a couple of days is the remedy.
The Peach Truck typically takes this process out of the equation by bringing you the best peaches from his aunt & uncle’s very own peach farm in Fort Valley, Goergia. The farm is located southwest of Macon on 1500 acres of supple peaches awaiting Nashville local chefs and foodies alike to whip up salivating culinary creations.
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I spoke with Steven Rose briefly, the man behind the tweets and pickup truck instagram shots. He says briefly after he and his wife married and began their lives in Nashville. He had somewhat of a hard time finding peaches to his satisfaction. He shared this hardship with his aunt and uncle who inspired him to bring the edible candy up the interstate to you and me.
We ran into Annie Downs. Check out the awesome christian author @ http://annieblogs.com/
You can find these incredibly delicious peaches outside of denim clothiers imogene & willie’s in the 12 South Neighborhood. As well as the Nashville Farmer’s Market located off Rosa Parks Blvd. Follow them on Twitter and Facebook to find out how you can your hands on these summer obsessions. But sorry, you’ll have to wait till next summer because peach season’s over. Unless you know something we don’t.
Peach Recipe. Here’s a simple but delicious Peach Cobbler with a White Chocolate Sauce you can make with your bag of peaches.
5 peaches (pealed,opt.) 1 tsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice 1 T. granulated sugar
Topping
1/2 c. AP flour 1 T. brown sugar 1/4 c. granulated sugar smidge of kosher salt 3 T. room temp. unsalted butter 1 egg (lightly beaten) 1 tsp. vanilla extract
White Chocolate Sauce
2 oz. White Chocolate discs or shaved bark 1 T. vegetable oil
1. Preheat oven for 350 degrees. Cut your peaches into bite size pieces. Toss in lemon juice and sugar. Set aside
2. Add first 4 dry ingredients for topping, set aside. Using a hand held blender, blend together your butter, egg, and vanilla. Add your dry ingredients a little at a time until all combined.
3. You can opt to use two 12 oz. ramekins or a 1.5 qt baking dish. Place sugared peaches in the bottom of ramekins or dish. I like to add a couple of dollops of butter in at the last minute. Completely optional, about a T. Spoon your batter over the top of the mixture. Don’t worry about covering it evenly. It will spread. Bake for 40 min. or until top of cobbler is lightly browned around the edges and peaches are bubbling around the sides.
4. Put the the white chocolate & oil into a microwave safe dish. Temper in 20 sec. intervals using a spoon to stir the mixture in between the intervals until completely melted. Top off your cobbler and Enjoy!
