(2018) Brunswick Salad

David Larkworthy demoed this recipe at the Morningside Farmers Market in 2010 and I still remember it every year when okra arrives in season. It looks a little complicated because it’s a riff on Brunswick stew, a mixture of lots of flavors, but it really goes together pretty quickly and will surprise anyone who thinks okra can only be served cooked.

Recipes for Brunswick Stew are some of the most frequent requests we get at the AJC. Here’s a delicious summer variation, adapted from a recipe Chef David Larkworthy of Five Seasons Brewery as demonstrated at the Morningside Farmers Market this July. The okra in this recipe is raw, and it’s delicious. But here’s a tip: don’t expect this salad to keep. The okra is fresh and crisp when first cut, but after a day in the refrigerator, it starts to exude that sap that makes it such a great thickener, and that’s not a texture you want in your Brunswick Salad.

(2017) Summer Succotash

I wish I remembered where this came from. But it’s a great way to use the corn and peppers from today’s box. We don’t have field peas yet, but I’m betting we’ll see some soon. And this is delicious without field peas – so consider maybe dicing up a zucchini if you have one left from last week. It’s an easy recipe for a slow cooker.

Field Pea Tamales

This is an adaptation of an African street food dish called Abala. In Senegal, the little packets are wrapped in banana leaves. At one time I had a banana tree in my yard, and could harvest my own banana leaves for wrappers. I used them to make a Burmese dish of steamed sweet rice – yum. But I digress. If you don’t have your own banana tree, there are plenty of banana leaves for sale at the DeKalb Farmers Market in both fresh and frozen form, and probably at any store that caters to a Caribbean or African customer base.

Or – make it simple – use corn husks as I suggest here. Those are pretty ubiquitous these days.

Just reading through the recipe will remind you that many cultures have leaf-wrapped dishes with a starch – like field peas or corn masa – surrounding a savory filling. And the relish here? If this were a recipe from Mexico, we’d be calling it pico de gallo.

Redeye Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Black-Eyed Peas

And finally – a fabulous recipe from Linton Hopkins of Restaurant Eugene. It ran in Bon Appetit back in February 2012. You could just do the peas and tenderloin if making the gravy seems like too much, but for a meal when you want to impress someone with fabulous Southern flavors, this would be a beautiful thing to make. It’s complicated, but so representative of the kind of cooking that’s made Hopkins an Atlanta treasure.