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Osage Farms, located on Hwy 441 North in Rabun Gap, is just one of a handful of local farms that call Rabun County home.  While I haven’t visited any one of those other spots, I imagine that Osage is one of the better options for fresh produce in the entire state of GA, let alone Rabun Gap.

Roughly a month ago, the AJC asked everyone to identify the best place to get produce in and around Atlanta.  The resulting lists contained all of the usual suspects.  The DeKalb Farmers’ Market and the Peachtree Road Farmers’ Market showed up on both top 5s, while the Morningside Farmers’ Market showed up on the staff section.  Meanwhile, two or three people chimed in regarding this highway side farm some two-hours drive from the heart of Atlanta.

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Given m recent travels, I’m in an ideal position to drift away from my usual habit of posting restaurant reviews.  A recent trip to Osage Farms in Rabun Gap, GA helped me create this post.  So for those of you looking for some more information on all things pea, here ya go!

As a general rule of thumb, shelled peas should be kept in a fridge and used within 2-3 days.  For the best flavor, peas hiding out in armor should be used as soon as possible.  When freezing fresh peas, you should first wash and clean them.  The penultimate step is to bleach blanch them before placing them in the freezer.  Also, salt your peas just prior to serving and not sooner.  If you add salt in early on in the cooking process, you are likely to have some pretty hard bites ahead of you.  Here’s some background on a few varietals of these little green pellets.

Crowder Peas
Crowder peas are also called Purple Hull Peas or Conch Peas.  They are earthy in taste and should be shelled.  The “liquor” from your Crowder peas will be dark as will the peas.  Some people like to break a few of the tender pods in with the shelled peas.

Zipper Peas
Zipper peas get their name due to the ease with which they are shelled.  The liquor and peas will be light.  These also have a flavor similar to that of Crowders; however, the flavor of the Zipper pea is a bit more subdued.

Lady Peas
Lady peas are very small and have a “delicate” flavor.  These are one of the better peas to cream.  As suggested preparation is to simmer the peas (having washed and cleaned them), add in some butter and/or bacon.  Salt juts before serving and have at it.

Butter Peas
Butter peas are a lot like their friendly “neighbor,” the Butter bean.  Butter peas are generally fuller and more round than their counterparts.  As you might expect, they will be sweet in flavor.  It never hurts to season them with some butter and when eating them, you should find them tender with a hint of firmness.

Pink-Eyed & Black-Eyed Peas
As these two peas are particularly similar, I thought it was appropriate to consolidate the description into one section.  The Pink-Eyed varietal are milder and lighter in color.  Meanwhile, the Black-Eyed peas drift toward an “earthier” flavor.  The suckers are often called Cow peas.

Anyway, there you have it – thanks much to Osage Farms – more on that trip when I have the time.

Believe it or not – I do eat homemade meals.  While I’m usual the only one around to cook, every now and then – someone takes pity on me and treats me to some of their home cooking.  Recently, my father volunteered for the job.  This past week, he whipped up some Lobster Thermidor based on the Julia Child recipe.  Before you jump out of your seat at the idea of preparing a costly lobster dish, you should check out this article in the Atlantic.  Lobster prices are way down and I hear that even the largest examples of the crustacean are pretty inexpensive over at the DeKalb Farmer’s Market.

The preparation is quite intense, so you can’t whip this dish up if you’re getting home late from your 9-5.  In addition, I wasn’t around when he cooked the dish, so I don’t have photos of the assembly process.  I have included some post preparation photos.  Anyway, get your hands dirty after the jump!  This dish would easily fly in the finest of restaurants here in town.

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Bulgolgi has long been a staple of my diet.  Ever since college, when I made weekly visits to the Korean spot just across the street from my pad, I’ve had a soft spot for Korean food.  I was actually introduced to Bulgolgi over at a friends house and ever since then, I’ve been trying every version I can get my hands on.

Luckily, Eat Drink Man has thrown his hat into the ring.  He just posted an excellent recipe for Bulgolgi over on his blog.  In addition, he took the time to give you some details about the dish as well as some insider tips on what to do when preparing this meaty goodness.  When you are done perusing that recipe, check out his Flickr feed as he takes excellent pictures

(photo via Flickr courtesy of LarimdaMe)

Was puttering around the ‘net the other day.  A cookout was around the corner so I wanted to see if there was something out there for me to do with my burgers.  Luckily, the James Beard Foundation recently posted a recipe straight out of 1972.  It’s pretty simple, but quite delish if cooked properly.

“My Favorite Hamburger” comes from James Beard’s American Cookery cookbook, a book well worth its $17.15 price tag.

Anyway, here’s what you have:

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground chuck or round with a minimum of fat
3 tablespoons grated onion
1 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons heavy cream
3 teaspoons oil
3 tablespoons butter

Yields 4 Servings

Method:

Pat the meat into a rather flat cake. Grate the onion directly into the center. Add the salt and pepper and carefully spoon the heavy cream into it. Blend well with the hands and form into one large cake or 4 smaller cakes. If you want the meat rare, have the cakes about 1 1⁄2 inches thick.
Heat the oil and butter in a heavy skillet. When quite hot, add the meat and cook to your favorite state of doneness. Turn once or twice during the cooking process. Add salt and pepper to taste.
If you make one large cake, use two very wide spatulas to handle the difficult job of turning it. Serve at once, along with sautéed potatoes and a tomato and onion salad.

[Via JBF]

Who says computer geeks can’t cook?

Lifehacker.com is one of my daily reads (as it is for most every other professional in the technology sector).  Every once in a blue moon, they drop something cooking related.  Such was the case with yesterday’s post.  Creatively named “The Lifehacker Cookbook,” you’ll find a collection of [mostly] American grub all linked up and ready to go.

Fear not my fellow foodies, the cookbook is really just a link resource to some really excellent stuff.  It includes real stuff from real cooks.

Of the available recipes (which are sorted by meal of the day), my favorite is the homemade ginger ale recipe.  Granted, I haven’t tried most of these recipes.  The post for the ginger ale hit the web-waves just a few days ago; but, the recipe has been around for a bit.  It was extracted from the Jean-Georges Vongerichten cookbook entitled Cooking At Home with a Four-Star Chef.  I had a lot of luck with it; my friends and I gladly polished off a couple of batches in a single sitting.

Apparently a Pizza Puda (plural being Pizza Pudas) is this nasty looking thing:

This may be one of the best resources to come along in a long time.  The Kitchn is one of my daily reads.  Today, they posted a long list of instructions for the home cook.  Not much more I can say about it … so go check it out!  Boo ya!

So the Mushroom Channel is a blog dedicated to all things funghi.  It’s a pretty good read despite it’s lack of diversity.  Yesterday, I noticed they had an interview with Riccardo Ullio, the owner of notable Atlanta restaurants Sotto Sotto, Fritti, Cuerno, and Beleza.  In that interview, Ullio shares with the crowd the method behind his Funghi Fritti.  Enjoy!

Chef Riccardo’s Funghi Fritti

• 12 pounds assorted mushrooms (such as white, crimini, portobello, shiitake)
• 4 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups white wine
• 6 cups rice flour
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh rosemary
• Truffle oil, as needed
• Canola oil, as needed
• Salt, to taste Pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Stem and cut the mushrooms into bite-sized pieces.
2. In a large bowl, add the water and wine, then slowly whisk in the rice flour until the batter is the consistency of a thick gravy.
3. Add the rosemary and season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Add the mushrooms and toss until the mushrooms are lightly and evenly coated.
5. For each serving to order: Fry 8 ounces of the mushrooms at 350 degrees F, using a metal spoon to keep them from clumping, 3 to 4 minutes, or until the batter is crisp.
6. Drain the mushrooms on a paper towel, then drizzle very lightly with truffle oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

So a few days ago, Eat It Atlanta posted these pics:

That made me hungry! No matter what any food picture conglomerate says: his photos do not suck!

Back on point, I read his post and was pleased to see that his technique is very similar to the one my dad uses for his eggs!  Mmmmm…. ahhhhhhhhhhh….. ucchchchchchchchchch.  Breakfast was good! ENJOY!!!!