The Farmer’s Rosemary and Mustard Pork Tenderloin

• Two pork tenderloins (about 1 ½ - 2lbs each)
• 2 cups of rough, largely chopped root vegetables (Cooks note...Most root vegetables (i used potatoes) will roast just fine with the pork roast...red onions, sweet potatoes, and carrots are a few i've tried and been greatly pleased!)
  

marinade

• ¼ cup of good olive oil…I even used an infused oil with herbs
• About ¼ cup of rosemary leaves stripped and lightly crushed
• About ¼ cup of parsley - I used the curly leaf that I have in my herb beds
• 3 tablespoons of grey poupon or course grain mustard
• 1 tablespoon of dry mustard
• 2 tablespoons of minced garlic
• Juice of one lemon
• ½ cup of red wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste…at least a teaspoon of each
• Make about another ¾ cup of the marinade to keep as reserve to cook with.

Whisk together the above ingredients and pour Marinade over the tenderloins…I’ve done this overnight or just a couple of hours…do what you have time for.

After marinating, sear the tenderloins in a little bit of olive oil and butter…about two tablespoons of each. Pour the reserve marinade over the searing tenderloins.

Add the root vegetables and baste them in the sauce. Cover and roast for thirty minutes at 375 Degrees…uncover after thirty minutes and roast at 415 degrees for another 15-20 minutes until the meat is browned and done. I like to let the meat rest for about ten minutes before slicing.

Slice into medallions and serve with au jus and sauce from the bottom of the pan.

From the farmer’s table to yours! Enjoy!

Think Green for Christmas Décor…literally!

Most always, I find nature as my inspiration for arrangements and décor, thus green becomes my “MO” for all things fresh, natural, and beautiful. Green is nature’s neutral - found in different hues and shades in every wood, vale, forest and dale! Here are a few tips on “thinking green” for the Holidays and year round decorating as well!

I always like to have a green base to build from when making an arrangement, tablescapes, or even holiday décor. Choose your greenery wisely – it will be your support and skeleton, your contrasting tone, and your “roux” that brings the arrangement together.

Use what is in season…for the Holidays, I like the traditional greens like holly, boxwood, cypress, cedar, and magnolia. Add some pizzazz by contrasting shades of green like the dark of the holly and magnolia (use those velvety brown backs as well), lighter green from cypress and blue greens from cedar or junipers.

Start with a good base and build from there…be sure your room, mantel, table or whatever you’re decorating is clean and ready to be gussied up. When a room is “done well,” then a less-is-more approach with greenery is good. A well thought out scheme of green and white or green and red for Christmas can go a long way. Let your decorations complement, not compete, with your décor.

Plan on a double shift with fresh greenery. If you are having “the hanging of the greens” right after Thanksgiving, then plan on freshening up your montage of nature’s bounty closer to Christmas proper. I like to deck the hall around the second week of December and freshen up Christmas week. Remember that roaring fire and constant heat will dry out everything fairly quickly.

Apples, limes, pears, etc. etc. etc…these are all green and look great as a “green on green” palette in most any home. I love a dose of that Williamsburg look, so pomegranates, red apples, oranges, and pineapples also make wonderful accents for the holiday tableau.

If you’re hosting a gathering or party, maybe use a few stems of fresh floral specimens as an accent…white lilies (‘Casa Blanca’ or ‘White Mountain’ are fabo!) , red roses (Charlotte is a good one), and any seasonal color floral stem mixed with greenery and berries from the garden is good looking!

Potted plants with their own greenery are a hit! Paperwhites, amaryllis, Christmas Cactus, and cyclamen. There’s nothing sweeter than a beautiful plant in a pretty pot…terra cotta, balled and burlapped, tied with some raffia, ribbon, or string…yeah…these are a few of my favorite things!

While thinking green, look up! Your chandelier or a big wreath on a big mirror is always a fun addition to the Christmas décor…sometimes that unexpected touch or attention to detail is just what you and your guests will remember from your soiree!

Bottom line…have fun! Have fun dashing through the snow and over the rivers and through the woods gathering your Christmas greenery. Invite some friends or family and make a night of it.

Cumberland "When I Survey"

“Were the whole realm of Nature mine, That were a present far too small!”

from the hymn "When I survey the Wondrous Cross"

Some versions of this hymn by Isaac Watts have “offering” in place of “present,” yet both were flowing through my mind this past weekend at Cumberland Island – the last pearl in a string of islands off Georgia’s coast.

Most recently known as the marriage site of the late JFK Jr. and his bride Carolyn, the tiny African church on the island sent my soul into splendor as I entered the church proper and saw the altar…laden with shells, feathers, flowers, and pine cones…part of nature’s realm as a present, an offering back to God.

I loved the simplicity, the beauty of the simplicity, and the heart and soul these offerings allowed. As a designer, new inspiration, mostly from nature, is always craved.

To be engulfed and surrounded by a perfect blend of natural flora and fauna and fine food and lodging was a true delight. "Then sings my soul" (a line from the hymn How Great Thou Art) also kept coming to mind as I surveyed the realm of nature that is the splendid Georgia coast.

Whether designing a new garden or restoring a historic home, getting back to the natural wonder of it all is the best inspiration and rejuvenation for this designer.

Were the whole realm of nature mine

That were a present far too small

Love so amazing, so divine

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

The Farmer’s Coconut Cream pie…by way of Mimi

*Cook’s note: This is your base for cream pies…chocolate, fruit, etc…it’s basically custard and not a far cry from Crème Brule! For two pies, just double…ps…I cheat and use the Nilla Wafer pie crust.



Ingredients

* 2 cups of milk (use 2% to whole for cooking)
* ¾ Cup of Sugar
* 1/3 cup of Flour
* ¼ Teaspoon of salt
* 3 Slightly beaten egg yolks…save the whites for the meringue
* 1 teaspoon of vanilla…use good vanilla…the flavor is so much better than imitation.
* 2 Tablespoons of butter

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit…bake the Nilla wafer pie crust for five minutes to get it a bit crunchy.

Combine the sugar, flour, and salt. Pour dry ingredient combo into a sauce pan or small pot and gradually stir in the milk. Medium low heat is good.

This is one of those recipes that you need to stir and stir and stir…the flour will burn quickly on the bottom if you leave it still too long. **note…if by chance the mixture does stick to the bottom, strain it and use the liquid in another pot.

Stir the milk, flour, sugar, and salt until its bubbly and then keep stirring for another two minutes…remove from heat.

Lightly beat the three egg yolks in a small bowl and add some of the warm custard mixture to the eggs to temper them…if you add the eggs right into the warm custard you’ll have scrambled eggs – not the most desirable accoutrement to custard and cream pies! Ha!

Add the tempered egg yolks to the cream mixture and stir constantly back on the heat for about 1-2 minutes…just to make sure the egg is cooked.

Remove from heat and add the butter and vanilla…stir these two in well. Your kitchen should be smelling yummy once these two hit the mix!

Stir in one cup of coconut…frozen or bagged is fine. If you like really sweet desserts, then use sweetened coconut. If not, plain shredded coconut is just fine. **this is the stage where you would add chocolate for Chocolate cream pie or fruit for fruit cream pies instead of the coconut.

Pour the mixture into the baked pie shell and top with the meringue…see below for the recipe. Sprinkle with coconut (use shaved chocolate or fruit for the other pies…I like to get a visual of what I’m about to eat and the topping is a good starting point.) broil on low for just a few minutes…browning the meringue and coconut to your liking. Garnish with mint, pansies, or even almonds.

Good warm and chilled…just good period!!! Master this one and you’ll be the hit of the table!

Let’s Cut from the Garden…Holiday Style

Branches laden with berries, luscious greenery, pine cones and moss…its all out there for the taking, now take it and use it for our Christmas décor!

Nandina, holly, cryptomeria, eucalyptus, pine, boxwood, juniper, cedar, magnolia, and privet – this list is your start to your Holiday’s fashionable, affordable, and simply gorgeous style for the season.

Christmas arrangement

Here in the Deep South, we have a plethora of flora to choose from for our Holiday and decorating needs. Whatever the season, our native and landscape plants provide us a palette to pull from and “paint a canvas” of Holiday vistas for your mantel, table, and home in general.

I love to cut (I travel with my Felcos at all times) from the roadsides, woods, gardens, and landscapes all around me for my Holiday and seasonal décor. Clients’ homes notwithstanding either…I literally deck their halls with boughs of holly…and whatever else I can snip! Mantels are probably my favorite tableau to decorate. Something about filling that ledge with greenery, berries, stems, and even ribbon just transforms the whole room. If you don’t have a mantel, make a statement with your tree, tablescape or even front door – still keeping with the natural theme.

Start with verdant greenery. I like to use coniferous and evergreens like long leaf pine, cedar, boxwood, magnolia, and holly in contrasting textures tones of green…even using eucaplyptus and blue cedar for that blue green contrast. I don’t use much red in my décor during the year, but Christmas is just the time to bring it on! Holly berries, Pyracantha, and Nandina provide punches of radiant red. There too is just something classic about a deep green wreath with a red velvet bow I think…even Goldie and Georgia Brown, my Suburbans, get their own wreaths as well! Weave in those berries into the branches of greenery and arrange your mantle like it’s a trough like arrangement. Layer a base of greenery, add berries for accent, and highlight with a bit of embellishment like sticks, moss, or feathers.

I like to fill urns or containers with arrangements as anchors on the mantle. For example, use two glass vases or watertight containers as your oasis and fill these with stems of holiday themed florals and branches. Use a mirror or beautiful focal point as your centerpiece and build from there…lower from the center and gently arcing to the ends…even use an artificial garland to wire in your fresh branches so your garland can drape down the sides of your mantle a bit.

Feathers, pine cones, and candles are also great additions to your mantelpiece and tabletops. I like to pretend that my arrangements, as many of them are, are the products of my forages through the forest, walk through the woods, or gait around the garden…a collection or gathering from my journey…my souvenir.

Keep a sharp eye out for berries and greens for your Christmas décor…use fruit, dried hydrangeas, cut floral stems like roses, lilies, and amaryllis, and even sticks and branches to add some height and natural curiosity. Whatever it is you are decorating, put some love into it, ornament with passion, and simply have fun. Merry Christmas!

Holiday Mantel

my Foyer