Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2007

Dear Culinary Friends,

Winter is well upon us, along with the desire to see pots simmering on the side of the stove or cozily tucked in the oven. I hope you are all steeped in culinary richness while dreaming of the summer bounty to come.

This summer's two weeks of the Swannanoa School of Culinary Arts, offered back-to-back, are shaping up beautifully with a total of 20 chefs on board to offer you a wide variety of culinary styles and secrets. The line-up includes Asheville's celebrated restaurateur Mark Rosenstein, award-winning caterer, Laurey Masterton, New York's garnishing expert Hiranth Jayasinghe, Italy's Wally Maria Mazzucco, well-loved "Everyone Cooks" chef Michael Gentry, prolific cookbook author Barbara Swell, cooking instructor veteran Marjorie Porter, Earth Fare educator Chris Aquilino, private chef Dee Dee Arthur, health care specialist Laura Pole, wine expert Eberhard Heide, master brewer Brian Cole, sustainable agricultural specialist Marc Williams, French baker Pierre Lestieux, artisan baker Danielle Creeksong, pastry expert Cynthia Pierce, herbalist Diana Schmitt McCall, British High Tea specialist Ian Robertson, administrator par excellence Katie Green, and director and Cordon Bleu aficionado (yours truly) Susi Gott Séguret.

While the themes of each of the two weeks will remain the same, the chefs will vary somewhat from week to week, and the recipes are likely to be different as well. Thus, anyone wishing to participate in both weeks would find very little repetition, and would also benefit from a special discount. In addition, we'd like to make a special Valentine's offer of 5% off for any couples who might sign up together during the month of February. There's nothing like cooking in tandem to solidify or to stir up a relationship, and the tools you might gain from working together could send you to new levels of ecstacy!

You'll find our schedule here. Please let us know if you have friends who might enjoy hearing from us, and we'd be glad to add them to our mailing list. Meanwhile, slip gracefully into spring, and we hope to see and celebrate with many of you in July.

Santé!

Susi Gott Séguret, Director
Auxy, France

BONUS SPRING RECIPE

Baeckeoffe

Ingredients:

1 pound of lamb or mutton
1 pound of beef
1 pound of pork
1 pig�s foot or tail
6 potatoes
6 turnips
6 onions
12 carrots
1 large leek
2 large cloves of garlic
1 bouquet garni
salt, pepper
1 bottle of Riesling

Preparation:

Cut all the meat (apart from the pig's foot or tail) into 1-2 inch cubes. Marinate (include pig's foot or tail) overnight with the sliced leek, garlic, bouquet garni (thyme, bay laurel, parsley, celery), salt, pepper, and Riesling. The next day, slice all the remaining vegetables thinly with a mandolin or a good chef's knife, and fill a large oven-proof pot with alternating layers of vegetables and the marinated meat. Add more Riesling, whip up a quick bread dough from flour, oil, milk, salt and baking powder (unless you happen to have some good yeast dough available) and line the rim of your dish with the dough before placing the lid so that it will be well-sealed. Bake at moderate heat for 3 hours. Serve with a green salad, a crusty loaf of bread, and plenty of good Riesling.

Note:

If you can't find a pig's foot or tail, the dish will still be excellent, but if you can find one, it will be amazing. If you don't like one of the kinds of meat, or don't have all the vegetables listed, feel free to delete or substitute. This dish was traditionally a means of using left-overs. The busy Alsatian housewife would throw everything she could in a huge earthenware dish, cart it off to the baker who would add the bread dough around the rim, and leave it in the baker's oven while she did her morning's errands. You will have to vary the quantity of meat and vegetables depending on the size of your dish. Make two dishes and freeze the contents of one, or invite all the neighbors in!