No doubt, the bay area has its own terroir, its own folkways. But not like the South. The place is practically a continent of its own, a settled territory, a country within a country. And Atlanta is its capital. So if, like me, you believe that, within the crescent of black soil and isolated towns, each with gifted chefs operating in hothouse isolation from each other, the best chefs in America are now being grown, Atlanta is the place you have to be.

I should say here that I am favorably disposed to the festival. They flew me down there and they put me up. I had insider access, like all writers, so I didn’t have to wait in lines, and I am friends with a lot of the chefs, so don’t take my experience there as representative or objective. As an event founder, I thought it was run really well. But that’s not the point. The point is that I stood in the tents and tried five kinds of fried chicken, from four different states, each with its own vector on fried chicken. (The best one, by far, was a local southern Indian restaurant in Atlanta called Cardamom Hill, which served a perfect slice of cardamom-infused breast.) There wasn’t a single celebrity chef present; there wasn’t even a big-time restaurateur. All the chefs were actual working chefs, whom the festival had given a platform. “We made the decision to say no to celebrity chefs,” festival CEO Dominique Love told me. “It isn’t about the personality; it’s about what goes on in the kitchen.”

You could see it in the tents, normally a clearing house of lukewarm leavings plogged onto soggy toasts. These were organized by theme, and each one serving dishes as fresh, in most cases, as what you would find in a restaurant.   There was a pig tent with a pig-ear tacos from Farm 255 in Athens, a place I have never been, using a cut of meat I like but never really enjoyed much if the truth be told. Sean Brock is the best known southern chef, and may well be the best for all I know. But he’s not the only one that has found a way to elevate their chewy and cartiligineous pieces of pork; these guys have their own method, and their pig ears taste nothing like Sean’s. I went to the Rathburn Watch Dinner, which gives a platform to the Southern chefs who didn’t have big reputations even  in the south yet; and what an inside track that gave me in my never-ending war on my rival food writers. I will say here that the best thing I had there, by far, was a pork jowl, long cured, confited for 36 hours, seared off and served with some beans in a little cardboard bowl. It was served by Anthony Gray, Art Smith’s chef at Southern Art, a restaurant I didn’t know about and a man I had never met.

It doesn’t sound like much, does it? And yet it was magical. I had eaten 18 other dishes before it at the same event, and sampled a much buzzed-about hamburger at Bocato on the way. And yet that jowl stuck with me in a way I can’t entirely explain. I think the entire cuisine of the south is like that, at least in its current iteration. Whether it’s lardcore heroics like Gray’s or the celestial charcuterie handed to me by Kevin Outzs from The Spotted Trotter, the experience cemented the conviction in my mind that the South was where American cooking, in its most vital sense, is happening. If only there was a giant southern food festival every month I could go to to try all this food! Once a year is not enough. But Atlanta opened my eyes, and I won’t wait a year to go back. March to the sea, gastronomes! The South has risen.

My mom has always loved coconut cream pie. Her birthday was last week and we met for lunch at a local deli and lo and behold, there was coconut cream pie in the dessert case. We talked about getting a slice for dessert in honor of her bday, but ran out of time. I decided to take a stab at it for Mother’s Day and it was delicious, even though there was no chocolate involved. Anything that is a vehicle for whipped cream is worth having in my book. I happened to have a refrigerated pie crust dough in the fridge so I used it and no one noticed it wasn’t homemade (at least no one said anything - what good guests:-)).

Coconut Cream Pie

Ingredients:

(One baked pie crust - I used Pillsbury prepared pie crust or use your favorite pie crust recipe. Bake and let cool.)

Filling:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:

• 1 1/4 cups chilled whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons sugar

For filling:
Whisk 1/2 cup sugar, eggs, egg yolk, and flour in medium bowl. Bring milk, half and half, and coconut to simmer in medium saucepan over medium heat. Gradually add hot milk mixture to egg mixture, whisking constantly. Return to same saucepan; cook until pastry cream thickens and boils, stirring constantly, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Mix in vanilla. Transfer pastry cream to medium bowl. Press plastic wrap directly onto surface to prevent formation of skin. Chill until cold, at least 2 hours and up to 1 day. Transfer filling to pie crust. Cover; chill overnight.

For topping:
Using electric mixer, beat cream and sugar in medium bowl until peaks form. Spread whipped cream all over top of filling. (Can be prepared 4 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) Serve cold.

I hate to admit that my kids are huge fans of the refrigerated cinnamon rolls in the biscuit-type tube. So easy, so fun to whack the tube and open it up, full of ingredients I can’t pronounce with lots of consonants. That said, I’ve stopped buying them but that doesn’t mean my kids have stopped asking for them. I wanted to make some quickly last weekend which means I needed a recipe without yeast so I could avoid rising time (and yeast - I am a yeast-a-phobe). I had all the ingredients on hand, plus the recipe was super quick and took no time to whip up. The dough was veeeery soft however and required a ton of flour while rolling it out. They didn’t look perfect, but my kids still deemed them delicious. Note - they would be tasty without the frosting as well.

No-Yeast Cinnamon Rolls (click here for printable recipe)

Adapted from recipegirl.com

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick spray. Prepare the filling: In a small bowl, combine the filling ingredients with a fork until a crumbly mixture is formed. Place about a teaspoon of the filling in the bottom of each muffin cup:

Prepare the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Use clean hands (or a pastry blender) to work the butter into the dry ingredients. Add the milk and the egg and stir to combine.

Sprinkle the filling evenly over the surface of the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border all the way around.

Carefully roll up the rectangle (the dough will be soft). Use a sharp knife to cut 12 rolls. Carefully place the rolls in the prepared muffin tin. Bake 20 to 25 minutes.

While the cinnamon rolls are baking, prepare the frosting: Combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar and milk in a medium bowl. Use an electric mixer to combine. Serve warm.

From eccentric unique haircuts to creative color schemes and placement the kids of the 80s set the stage! At home, self-taught color sessions became the norm, ranging from all over color to multiple tones, over processing their hair with bleach for a clean canvas as well as added texture for wild and ground breaking styles.

Today’s interpretations are all over the map, from avant garde to a hint of vibrant color and faded pastels. Just remember color placement is key to the level of expression desired. For example, if your life style allows you the option to have your entire head blue or multi-toned go for it! If your life style is a bit more reserved but you’re aching to try something new a few well-placed high lights can go a long way.

Blondes: Colors that work best on blondes are soft pastels such as pink, purple, yellow or even blue. When looking to achieve a subtle change highlights away from the face or even hidden pieces work well. Another option is a few pieces on the ends for a little pop.

For an allover temporary color (on blonde hair) have your colorist apply a gloss and depending on the amount of processing time will determine how vibrant or pale the tone. Another option for a softer pink glow is to add a few drops of red into a white based conditioner for some added sparkle to your overall hair.

Brunettes: The hair that you would like colored must be pre lightened to a pale blonde for maximum results followed by toning with desired color. Warm brunettes should stick to red, yellow and orange tones for best results. Cool brunettes look best in blue, green and purple tones.

Note: Blue tones are tricky with brunettes unless pieces are lifted to the palest shade of blonde with no yellow present they will quickly fade to green. (so if you are looking for a true blue you will need to pay more attention over the other vibrant shades).

Maintenance: Overall maintenance is high when choosing to rock vibrant colors, as they tend to fade after only a few shampoos (approximately 6 washes). Speak to a colorist regarding your options and which tones work best for your lifestyle. Remember pink, yellow and purple tones tend to fade more gracefully into pretty pastels.

And if all else fails and taking the permanent plunge isn’t in the cards there’s always a temporary option for a fun night out.

From: Kappy
To: RR
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 11:16pm
Subject: Aaaaand… BACK to Hill Country Chicken!

Hey Rach - I think I told you about the time I went to Hill Country Chicken when it first opened a little while back. I was with some former co-workers from the South Beach Wine and Food Festival. Chef Elizabeth Karmel was there and gave us a serious tasting of the menu, serving up fried chicken (served two ways, skin on and off), chicken strips, a bunch of sides, pies and more. I hadn’t been back in a while, but I’ve really been digging what Elizabeth has been doing and I had a few minutes to kill before my flight back to Chicago. Normally, I’d go for the fried chicken, but I was craving the chicken sandwich, so I went for it. As soon as I ordered it, I felt kind of weird going there and NOT getting actual fried chicken, so I ordered one wing. ☺ I later learned that the chicken sandwich was one of her favorite things on the menu. I also ordered a small side of the cole slaw and a little bit of the pimento mac and cheese, which was a special that day. I skipped the pie for dessert in favor of catching my cab to the airport, but I won’t make that mistake again! Fortunately, she just opened her second Hill Country BBQ in DC recently, so between my travels to New York and DC, I’ll get that pie sooner rather than later!

Hill Country Chicken
1123 Broadway
New York, NY 10010
(212) 257-6446
www.hillcountrychicken.com

And that’s what’s on my plate!
- Kappy

Andrew “Kappy” Kaplan loves food. A professionally trained chef, by day he runs Yum-o!, Rachael Ray’s charity focused on kids and cooking, and keeps special projects running smoothly for her. By night he hops course to course, place to place, all across the country. He’s Rach’s own personal dining guide! You can also follow Kappy on Twitter to see what’s On Kappy’s Plate in real-time!

I remember having congo bars when I was little so I was psyched to stumble upon this recipe online a few weeks ago. I have made them three times since - a testament to how crazy good they are. They are thick, rich and “toothsome” - thanks to lots of butter and all brown sugar - no white. Call them blondies, call them chocolate chip cookie bars (another favorite recipe - calls for melted butter though which results in a different texture - still good, mind you). For the life of me I cannot track down the origin of the name congo bars - if anyone has knows, please post!

Congo Bars (click here for printable recipe)

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, softened
2 1/4 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside. Combine butter and sugar using a mixer until blended. Add eggs, one at a time to sugar mixture, mixing on low in between each addition. Add vanilla and mix. Add flour and mix until combined. Stir in chips.

Coat a 9×13 pan with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into dish. Bake 30 minutes, then cover top with foil to avoid over-browning. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out with moist crumbs. You will think they are under-done - they aren’t. Make sure you don’t over bake.

People are always asking me for tricks on getting their kids to eat better. The short answer is, there are no tricks only persistence and patience. I always tell them to lead by example and keep offering and usually things fall into place. There really is no magic trick. Some kids like to eat and some kids don’t. Some will happily eat sashimi with a side in foie gras and others will only eat french fries. if you have always offered them healthy choices and continue to do so, rest assured, their picky eating phase is more about them asserting their independence and less about your failed parenting skills. It’s hard and can be very trying on a parent who really wants their child to eat well but if continue to cook and eat together as a family, they will come around.

There are all sorts of books out there on getting your kids to eat vegetables by hiding them. Not A. Fan. I really feel that hiding vegetables isn’t teaching your kids anything. Also, I don’t know about you, but I barely have the time to make dinner on most nights let alone start pureeing up black beans to sneak into my kids brownies (oh! and um…yuck!). I get the appeal of the books, because as parents all we want to do is protect our children and keep them healthy. And as much as I know about how developmentally appropriate it is for a two and three year old to be a pain in the tuchas about food, it still made/makes me crazy. Rather than resort to hiding veggies, I just stay the course and steer clear of junk food and fast food. I’m a big believer in one dinner for everyone and try and offer meals that everyone can at least tolerate if not love. I have two kids and my three year old still refuses many vegetables but we keep trying and offer him the ones he does love. I make the most out of the things he like eating and hope that with most phases of parenting “This too, shall pass”. Keep calm and cook on.

My oldest son practically lived on rice balls for his entire two’s and that was pretty much OK with me. When the picky eater phase of the terrific twos came, I was just happy he ate anything so who was I to argue, right? Besides, when you think about it there are a lot worse things he could have been demanding. I love rice balls. Who doesn’t right? Their portability and self contained deliciousness make them the best kind of fast food and so darn cute! And you know what? Rice balls make the perfect finger food and kids usually love them!

Being the crazy woman that I am, I decided to make the most out of his obsession by playing around with different flavors and ingredients, packing quite a nutritional punch into that little ball of goodness every chance I got. Spinach, peas, mushrooms, ground beef, chicken, white, rice, brown rice, you name it, I rolled it into a ball and he ate it. Success!

One of my favorite rice ball recipes is my Arroz Con Pollo Balls. They’re packed with yellow rice, chicken and olives—a real meal in and of itself. I like to serve these to company as an appetizer with cocktails or to the family as a light lunch with a side salad. They are incredibly delicious and so unexpected. From the outside you think you know what you are getting into, but as soon as you bite into one of these babies and their beautiful saffron yellow peeks out, you know you are in for something special. Eat up!

Arroz Con Pollo Balls

Makes 12 Rice Balls

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked yellow rice, cooled

3/4 c store bought Roasted Chicken, shredded

1/2 c chopped pimento stuffed green olives

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

2 tbsps chopped cilantro

1/4 c cotillo cheese (or any grated cheese you like)

3/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs

1 egg beaten with 1 tbsps of water

2 cups vegetable oil (or use your favorite frying oil)

Instructions:

1. Cook your rice according to package directions and allow to cool. ( I used Canilla white rice in a 1-2 ratio and added in a pinch of saffron threads to give it the yellow color).

2. In a medium bowl, combine rice, chicken, olives, salt, pepper, cilantro and cheese. Mush the mixture with your hands until it is stick enough to form balls (if it isn’t coming together add 1-2 tbsps of water to the mixture). Form mixture into 12 equally sized balls.Roll each of the balls into the egg/water mixture and then in the breadcrumbs. Refrigerate balls for 10 minutes.

3. In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, pour in enough oil to fill the pan about 1/3 of the way. Heat over medium heat until it reaches 350 degrees. Fry the rice balls in batches (4 at a time), turning occasionally, until golden, about 4 to 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels and serve.

TIP: If you do not have a frying thermometer, simply sprinkle a little breadcrumbs into the oil. If the breadcrumbs begin to sizzle, then the oil is hot enough.

I continued to ignore this spice, even as I got older and became a very interested and adventurous home cook.  It wasn’t until Rachael used this product one day when we were shooting some web videos:

Pimenton de la Vera, which from what I can tell is named so similar to how wines are authenticated, ensuring that where it says it is from (La Vera) and the style in which it is produced is accurate.  Rachael tends to use the smoked variety, but you can find sweet, hot or bittersweet as well.  The smoked kind really blew me away when I first tried it that I started adding it to everything from soups to mac and cheese to breaded chicken and I finally even made my first Paella.

It’s so good and like nothing I ever had before, especially not in this category.  The process is simple but careful.  Peppers of all varieties are dried or smoked and dried and then slowly ground to a powder.  It’s such a beautiful seasoning that I am addicted and constantly trying new ways to use it.  However, it should be noted that this is a strong essence and does not go with every dish as it could overpower other flavors.

Here are some great websites to purchase Spanish Pimenton:

Hot Paella

La Tienda

So what is Paprika then?

Paprika is really the same thing in concept-dried and ground peppers, but it is generally produced in Hungary.  The two products couldn’t be more different in taste.  Interestingly, both pimenton and paprika, whatever you want to call it, came from Christopher Columbus-he brought it back from the Americas and delivered it to Spain.  From there it traveled all over and found its popular growing home in Hungary and Spain.  Peppers need a hot and dry climate to grow.  Each country has established its own types of peppers to grow and its own ways of grinding, drying and smoking.

Otto’s is a good site for buying Hungarian Paprika

Hungarian paprika is usually categorized as sweet or hot.  I use it for one of my favorite dishes, Chicken Paprikash, which I actually made here using Cornish Hens:

Paprika is also used in the famous Hungarian dish, Goulash.

I figured out that my mother was not actually incorrect when she said that paprika was added to Deviled Eggs for color.  Paprika or Pimenton does not release its flavors until it is heated.  You should therefore heat the paprika in oil when cooking instead of sprinkling it on at the end as you would a condiment.

There are so many ways to experiment with this spice and that’s exactly what you have to do-experiment.  It is like a wine or a cheese-you will find your favorite brands and figure out which flavors do well in which dishes.  This is one spice that could make all the difference in a dish.

Rosemary Maggiore is our Last Minute Lady. A single mom of two kids plus a full time job (she runs this website!) keep her busy and usually pushing things to the last minute. Somehow she manages to keep her cool and her sanity while she enjoys good food, wine, friends and most importantly, family.

For more Ro, see:

Mom Talk

Follow me on Twitter at @lastminutelady

I am therefore founding the Bare Bones BBQ Contest, an all-natural, back-to-basics, IROC-style skill contest. It is for master barbecuers only. No special equipment is required, or allowed. This will be a purist’s contest, animistic and fundamentalist, with each cooker given identical smokers to cook on, IROC-style, along with a pile of wood, a bag of charcoal, and some meat. They bring seasonings and a thermometer and their skill in cooking. That’s it. The slogan is “Wood, Fire, Smoke, Skill.” They are given identical portions of beef and pork to cook, and they are welcome to use the seasonings of their choice. Period. The event will be held on September 22nd and 23rd at Jack London Square in Oakland, California, as part of Meatopia @ Eat Real, our inaugural Bay Area event. I’ll be giving barbecue pointers all summer here on Rachael Ray.com, and if you want to do your own contest, I’m in the process of preparing an open-source guide for how to do it. In the meantime,  Here is the Bare Bones Barbecue Manifesto. It’s not so much an event announcement as a cri de couer, a passionate plea to bring back barbecue to its roots. It’s animistic and fundamentalist and not for everybody. The prize pool will be $5000, winner take all.  If you don’t live on the west coast, fret not; reach out to us and we will hook you up with the basic rules. Here at Rachael Ray.com we are out to further good cooking and good eating. Here then, without further chit-chat, is our statement of purpose.

The Bare Bones Manifesto

BARBECUE, primal and profound, has been corrupted. Its essential elements are wood, meat, fire, and smoke, in a state of encounter with a barbecuer. That connection is simple and sacred, an unbroken continuity based on skill, patience, intuition, and desire. It is is uniquely and universally human, and an art that is essential to the human experience. It comes out of Eden; and it returns us to that uncorrupted state, if only for a few hours.  It does not and should not require pellets, propane, vacuumn tumblers, or aluminum foil. Those objects have rightly been called crutches and, at best, are impediments and obstacles in the union between barbecuer and barbecue, between the art of cooking and the food we eat.

• To go back to basics; to promote true cooking and true eating; and to give real masters of barbecue cookery a clearing to test and show their skill, in a fair and even playing field: for all these reasons Meatopia and Eat Real have joined forces to create the Bare Bones Barbecue Competition, to promote true natural barbecue and the deep arts of cooking it. The key principles are as follows:

• All entrants will be issue identical “stick burning” offset-firebox smokers and cast-ironpans and trays as requested.

• The only acceptable fuel is natural hardwood, and charcoals made on premise from that hardwood. A standard hardwood will be available to all teams, but they have the option of bringing their own wood.

• No manufactured materials of any kind are allowed to teams, including but not limited to aluminum foil, bluetooth-equipped digital thermometers, meat glue, etc.

• All voting is done by barbecue experts with a minimum of ten years of barbecue experience either as a cook, judge, or commercial pitmaster. Celebrity judges will render honorary verdicts only. A People’s Choice honor also be awarded.

• In all categories, entrants may use any natural spices, herbs, seasonings, etc. they wish, as well as any sauces, mops, or glazes desired.  KCBS garniture and blind-tasting protocols do not apply. Entrants can present their food in any manner they wish. Two supporting non-protein elements can accompany the meat but if cooked they must be cooked via the same means as the meat itself, i.e. via smoking or grilling

• All meat must be all-natural, antibiotic- and hormone-free, and from a certified cruelty-free manufacturer. Meat, setup, and fuel will all be inspected before cooking begins.

The Bare Bones BBQ movement is presented not as a condemnation of contemporary barbecue practice, but instead as a celebration of the art of barbecue cooking, distilled down to its purest principles. We welcome all existing barbecue organizations to adopt our protocols, and we welcome all sanctioning requests.

I am usually all about making dishes completely from scratch, but last week did me in, and some corners needed to be cut. The stomach bug hit all three kids in succession over the course of five days, starting with my son who needed to be picked up from a slumber party at 2 am, and ending with my daughter who was sick in bed on her 12th birthday, while the family party in her honor continued downstairs.

My daughter’s favorite meal is from a much loved local restaurant - Chef’s - and she always orders spaghetti parm. I decided to try and make it at home in her honor, while she battled through the stomach flu upstairs. It took no time -I used a jar of prepared spaghetti sauce instead of making my  own, and everyone loved it. I quickly baked some meatballs in the oven for the side, and this lazy spaghetti parm was loved by all (well, almost - my daughter enjoyed some leftovers the next day).

“Lazy” Spaghetti Parm (click here for printable recipe)

Ingredients

1 pound spaghetti or pasta shape of your choice

1 24-ounce jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9″ x 13″ baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Cook pasta to about 2 minutes less than done, as it will be baked and you don’t want the pasta to be mushy. Toss drained pasta with about 1 cup of sauce. Add 1/2 of the sauced pasta to the prepared dish, and top with about 1/2 cup of tomato sauce and 1/2 of the cheeses. Add the remaining pasta and top with the rest of the sauce and cheeses. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is golden brown and bubbly. Serve with baked meatballs or sausage if desired.