Dinner on The Wild Side! Visiting Chef Event October 21 (Event Canceled)

By now you know that when EatingOxford.com puts on a food event, it needs to stand out from the pack.

The Wild Game & Fish Dinner on Sunday, October 21, at Colonel’s Quarters at Castle Hill will be one of these events.

Wild Game & Fish Dinner
Sunday, October 21, 2012
5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Colonel’s Quarters at Castle Hill, 120 Castlehill Dr., Oxford, MS
RESERVE TICKETS HERE

Jesse Griffiths, a chef and author based in Austin, Texas, will, like many others, be in Oxford soon for the Southern Foodways Symposium. While he’s here, he’ll be teaming up with EatingOxford.com to cook all of us dinner and sign his new book Afield: A Chef’s Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish!

Joining Jesse will be local hunters and a fisherman, including Brad Solomon from Old Thyme Farms and James R. Davis, who will be supplying Jesse with proteins (duck, doves, wild boar, venison) and fish. All will be at the event and available for questions. In addition, fruits and vegetables to be used in main courses and sides will be obtained from farmer’s markets around Oxford.

An Afield-inspired cocktail—sponsored by Cathead Vodka—will be offered to guests to kick off the evening, and the Colonel’s Quarters bar will remain open throughout the evening for those interested in purchasing additional libations.

A portion of the events proceeds will go to support the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council.

Seating is limited; reserve your tickets and books early!

Tickets Starting at $65
Additional info: liz@eatingoxford.com

Art Crawl Seeks Restaurants

In preparation for upcoming Oxford Art Crawl events, organizers are seeking restaurateurs who would like to host tastings at one or more of the stops on the Art Crawl. Those interested can host one location or all four, and can reserve one month or several. To find out more or to reserve a spot, contact Wayne Andrews at the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council at 662-236-6429 or yacdirector@gmail.com

The Oxford Art Crawl invites locals and visitors to the Square to enjoy six or more art openings in one night. This monthly, evening event, features receptions at Oxford’s leading visual art spaces such as Southside Gallery, The Powerhouse, Gallery 130, and The University Museum. The next Art Crawl is scheduled for Tuesday, January 24 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

 

Apple Season

photo: Andrew Crowley

The following story and recipe was submitted to EatingOxford.com by Beth Ziegenhorn, operations coordinator for The Yoknapatawpha Arts Council:

CRUNCH

It’s officially fall. So what’s so great about fall? Apples! It is absolutely apple season. We all feel it, the brisk cool air that hits your nostrils on a fall morning. That certain dampness that makes you grab your sweater on your way to work, even though you know it will be a high of 98 degrees later on because of the Mississippi sun. I am thankful for it every day I wake up, mainly because that brisk air in the morning reminds me of that crisp taste of my favorite fruit.

I’ve told at least six of my friends by now that it’s apple season and they just look at me and say, “oh?” and shrug off, what I felt, was stimulating news. Apples are something to be excited about; healthdiaries.com says that a medium sized apple contains only 80 calories. That’s 80 calories containing fiber, antioxidants, water and sugar. Be picky if you want, because there are 2,500 varieties of apples grown in the United States every year. We’ve apparently been eating them for a long time anyway; Archaeologists actually have evidence of people eating apples as far back as 6500 B.C.

So since it’s apple season, and it is absolutely worth celebrating, I’ve decided to reach out and share my favorite apple recipe with you. Using my community’s Square Table Cookbook, I was able to quench my crunch with its Crunchy Apple Walnut Salad. If you ask me–apples are the only way to bring in the fall season.

Crunchy Apple Walnut Salad*

DRESSING

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons apple juice
• 2 tablespoons balsamic white vinegar
• ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

 SALAD

• 2 Braeburn or Fuji apples cut into bite-sized pieces
• 6 cups red leaf lettuce or other salad greens
• ¼ cup chopped walnuts
• Parmesan cheese, grated

For dressing, in a jar, combine ingredients and shake well.

For salad, in a serving bowl, combine apples, salad greens and walnuts. Pour dressing over salad and toss. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Makes 6-8 servings 

*Permission to use the Crunchy Apple Walnut Salad recipe granted by the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council. Square Table Cookbook is a community cookbook and a fundraiser for the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council and can be ordered on their website http://www.oxfordarts.com/. For more recipes from Square Table Cookbook check out: aroundthesquaretable.blogspot.com

–Have an Oxford food story or recipe you’d like to share with EatingOxford.com readers? Contact me at foodie@eatingoxford.com.

Vote to Renovate the Powerhouse

The Yoknapatawpha Arts Council (YAC) has been selected as a finalist for a $20,000 award in the 50 States for Good program sponsored by  Tom’s of Maine.  Tom’s of Maine receives thousands of submissions for this program and has selected just 41 groups to consider as finalists. YAC’s project to renovate the Powerhouse Community Arts Center was the only project chosen from Mississippi, and, if selected, would help ensure that Oxford residents continue to enjoy a variety of events—including food-centric ones—at the venue for years to come.

The program has entered the public support phase and YAC needs our help with votes You can vote once per day until the deadline on September 9th.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

Please take the time to vote and share the link.

UPDATE 9/7: Local restaurants are also supporting the Arts Council with 1/2 off gift certificates available here. Restaurants include: Newk’s, Burger King and Papa John’s (Ravine will be added soon).

Sock Hop Saturday, July 24th

Here’s something super fun happening on Saturday—a sock hop at the Powerhouse from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.!

Admission is free and there will be live music as well as a DJ playing sock hop favorites. The only requirement is that you wear your dancing shoes and your best sock hop attire.

Pizza and beverages will be provided by Papa John’s and Main Squeeze with proceeds from the sale of both going toward the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council.

Fourth of July Traditions

I was recently approached by Beth Ziegenhorn, the operations coordinator for The Yoknapatawpha Arts Council and a new journalism graduate. Being away from her family for the first time during the coming Fourth of July holiday has made her think about starting her own traditions here in Oxford–starting with a potato salad recipe which she explains below.

How Family Recipes Get Preserved
College graduate keeps tradition for 4th of July.

By Beth Ziegenhorn

It sneaks up on us as we grow up that we enjoy reliving our past. There is a comfort in those family traditions surrounding the holidays. The recognition of this has come after I graduated from college and plummeted into the real world. By securing that first full-time job, moving two states away from my parents, and paying for my own car insurance; all of this happening as we approach for what my family knows as a big holiday- July 4th. Being on my own made me realize this will be the first holiday of many that I will not get to enjoy family traditions.

July 4th for my family was a trip to my Grandparents farm for the holiday weekend. It is a holiday that had certainties of running through the fields to fish in the lake, waiting for the sun to set for fireworks, and barbecuing with the perfect side item of my grandmother’s potato salad. I wanted to make my July 4th celebration a continuation of the traditions I grew up with on the farm, I wanted to make my grandmother’s Potato Salad.

My grandmother doesn’t write down recipes, she has that photographic memory I never inherited, so when I ask her over the phone how to make the potato salad I end up feeling lost in translation. The 4th of July preparation has commenced with less than a month away, and at least 10 guests are all looking forward to home cooking.

After several trials and tribulations with my lost-in-translation potato salad recipe and various resources from the web, I decided to consult our local bookstore. There were all kinds of community cookbooks; it’s like a compilation of grandma’s recipes from across the country captured in one book. It was in the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council’s Square Table Cookbook that I found Shout Hallelujah Potato Salad. Just reading the title made me know I had to try it, the hint of spice into a savory, creamy potato gave a whole new meaning to potato salad.

I knew with the Shout Hallelujah Potato Salad recipe I wouldn’t have my grandmother’s tradition, but I could craft that potato salad to be my own and start making new traditions.

Shout Hallelujah Potato Salad
(Featured in the Square Table Cookbook, p. 60)

5 pounds petite gold potatoes
5 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
1 4-ounce jar diced pimientos
4 drops Louisiana Hot Sauce
4 ribs celery, chopped
2 teaspoons celery salt
1/4 cup seasoned rice wine vinegar
1 cup sweet salad cube pickles
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1/4 cup yellow mustard
1 to 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Paprika for garnish

In a large pot of salted water over high heat, boil potatoes with skin on until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain in colander and peel off skins with fingers while holding under cold, running water. Cool potatoes, chop into small pieces, and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add eggs. In a small bowl mix drained pimientos with hot sauce. Add to potato mixture. Add all remaining ingredients except paprika. Do not stir. Mix by hand, mashing some potatoes and leaving others in chunks. Add salt and pepper to taste, transfer to serving platter, and shape into mound with a spoon. Dust with paprika. Cover and refrigerate 3-4 hours.

20-25 servings

Square Table Cookbook is a community cookbook and a fundraiser for the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council and can be ordered on their website.

*Permission to use the Shout Hallelujah Potato Salad recipe granted by the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council

Pizza and Designer T-Shirts

Tuesday night (April 20) the Powerhouse is opening its doors from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. for a T-Shirt and Blue Jean Ball designed to raise money to benefit the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council and the Student Arts Association.

Admission is free, and you can purchase a chance to win uniquely designed and autographed T-shirts by artists such as Jerry Edmund, musician Jimmy Buffet and Eli Manning. You can also have the clothes you wear transformed into works of art, or make your own wearable art with assistance from artists on site.

So wear your favorite T-shirt and jeans, grab some pizza from Papa John’s who is helping to sponsor the event, and walk away with some great wearable art.