An Ivy League Grad Learns How to Build a Beautiful Life

Sebastian thought he had learned all he needed to learn at Columbia. Double majoring in Classics and History—and graduating with honors, mind you—he believed his education had been as broad and as profound as any young sophisticate's could hope to be. 

He was wrong.

What Sebastian didn't realize was that there was a world of knowledge waiting for him outside the halls of academia. And, perhaps not entirely by chance, he stumbled upon the very heart of that world: the Charleston Academy of Domestic Pursuits.

At the Charleston Academy, we welcome pupils at all levels—including slightly arrogant intellectuals. But there is one trial that all pupils must undergo:

The Charleston Academy Southern Biscuit Preparatory Exam

Our Columbia grad passed with flying colors, despite being a total neophyte to the art of the Southern Biscuit.

Watch his trial below and marvel at the mouth-watering portraits of the final product. 

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CHARLESTON ACADEMY SOUTHERN BISCUIT

MAKES 12 to 18, depending on size of biscuit cutter

INGREDIENTS

3 cups self-rising flour, preferably White Lily

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 4 equal pieces

1  1/2 cups whole buttermilk

1.  Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.

2.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.  Using two knives or a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour until it forms pea-size pieces.  Add the buttermilk and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough almost forms a ball.

3.  Place the dough on a silicone baking mat and begin folding up the sides, right and left, until a ball forms.  Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to 1/2-inch thickness.  Fold one side of the dough into the center and then fold in the other side.  Roll out again and refold in the same manner three to six times.  (Each roll and fold creates flaky layers within your biscuits.)  Roll out one final time until the dough is 3/4-inch thick.

4.  Cut the biscuits with a 2-inch biscuit cutter or an inverted glass.  Place the biscuits on a nonstick baking sheet.  Gather the scraps, re-roll, and cut out more biscuits until all of the dough has been used.  (At this point, you can cover the unbaked biscuits with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours, or freeze up to 3 weeks.)

5.  Bake until lightly browned on the top and bottom, 10 to 12 minutes.  (Bake frozen biscuits at 425 degrees F for 25 minutes.)

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New Year's Eve is For the JV Squad

New Year’s is for the JV team. We Varsity players stay at home. We either indulge in Oyster Pan Roast or Creamy Scrambled Eggs with shaved fresh truffles, or at least we imagine ourselves doing this. Neither one of us has actually shelled out for a truffle yet, but living in the low country the pan roast is well within our grasp, because even the Deans can harvest oysters.

To inflate the oyster meal to New Year’s status the Deans pair the pan roast with a Gougeres hors d'oeuvres, a tart side salad and finish with a chocolate tart. And even if you are a bench warmer and not on any team, everyone drinks champagne on New Year’s Eve.  

Merry Christmas

Christmas Day is the one day that the Deans are convinced houses are being actually lived in and used. People take the time to make a tasty breakfast, talk to each other, lounge around in their pajamas while opening gifts, many of which are for the home, and enjoy a meal seated around the dining room table.

What the Deans want to see, minus the gifts, is you people doing this once a week all year long. Our gift to you is leading the way on how to live a beautiful life and to stay on top of you until you have learned.

HOW TO LIVE A BEAUTIFUL LIFE

Feast

The Thanksgiving meal is way too delicious to be served only once a year.  Our cry is that a once a year tradition for this meal is insane.  All you people are only serving this turkey dinner in November because of the myth perpetrated down through the ages: this meal takes 18 days to put together at the very least.  Dean Manigault loves turkey and it’s trimmings so much she made Feast again for her tree trimming party just last night and plans to make it again for Christmas and then again in January once the family has cleared out and she can have some friends over.  She proved once and for all that this meal need not be a behemoth.

Having made the stuffing the day before (stuffing is the most labor intensive of all the dishes weighing in at 45 minutes) and concurrently roasting the sweet potatoes for tomorrows Thanksgiving, the majority of the labor was already out of way.

Day of Feast

Heating the oven takes longer than getting the turkey ready.  Jean Anderson told us in her cookbook Food of Portugal to not touch the turkey while it’s in the oven to obtain the crispiest skin, and she is 100% right.

1. Dean Manigault puts the turkey in the pan and the pan in the oven (5 minutes).
2. Assemble Medway Sweet Potatoes (20 minutes).
3. Make the cranberry sauce and serve warm (from start to finish 10 minutes, only 1.5 minutes of actual labor).  Dean Manigault’s trick is to boil the cranberry sauce on super high until the cranberries all pop.
4. Trim two bags of Brussels sprouts (7-10 minutes) cooking time (10-15 minutes).
5. Dean Manigault’s CSA arrived just in time to join Feast, and in it was a baby turnip and carrot recipe.  The CSA suggested roasting them, but Dean Manigault served the turnips and carrots julienned raw with a light vinaigrette as a fresh, crispy contrast to the heavy food.

Total time: 36.5 minutes of labor

Of course everything takes time to cook, and she did have to borrow her neighbor’s oven, but for a such a delicious outcome she would go to far greater lengths.  Just like Tom Sawyer she can sit back and watch people wrangle the lights on the tree without a flicker of guilt because they are all so well fed.

*For summer Feast the Deans plan to fry our turkey and serve with a bread tomato salad, a panzanella. Our mouths are watering already and we haven’t even digested last night’s feast. 

The Deans Have Cryogenically Frozen Christmas and You Can Too! Here's How....

Dean Pollak woke this morning already dreaming of Christmas breakfast. As ever, she believes there is no time like the present, so she whipped out her handy silpat, bag of flour and ice cold butter and biscuit making commenced. As she got further into her task it occurred to her that not everyone might have Christmas breakfast already chilling in the freezer, and almost as magical as baby Jesus himself, a new Christmas miracle was born. Of course none of the Deans friends will forgive them if they don’t receive a trove of their spicy crispy cheese coins, but now, in addition, they can expect a dozen frozen biscuits ready to be popped into the oven on Christmas morn. Has anyone ever had more thoughtful friends than the Deans?

The Academy's Southern Biscuit

MAKES 12 to 18, depending on size of biscuit cutter

INGREDIENTS

3 cups self-rising flour, preferably White Lily

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 4 equal pieces

1 1/2 cups whole buttermilk

1.  Add the buttermilk and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough almost forms a ball.  Place the dough on a silicone baking mat and begin folding up the sides, right and left, until a ball forms.  Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to 1/2-inch thickness.  Fold one side of the dough into the center and then fold in the other side.  Roll out again and refold in the same manner three to six times.  (Each roll and fold creates flaky layers within your biscuits.)  Roll out one final time until the dough is 3/4 inch thick.

2.  Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch biscuit cutter or an inverted glass.  Place the biscuits on a nonstick baking sheet.  Gather the scraps, re-roll, and cut out more biscuits until all of the dough has been used.  (At this point, you can cover the unbaked biscuits with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours, or freeze for up to 3 weeks).

3.  Bake until lightly browned on the top and bottom, 10 to 12 minutes.  (Bake frozen biscuits at 425 degrees F for 25 minutes.)

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At Christmas time, the Deans receive a cruel lashing from friends if they attend any event without bearing canvas bags overflowing with cheese coins.  They are the Academy's signature treats and Dean Manigault's muscled arm is a testament that the cheddar is lovingly grated by hand.  Sometimes this can mean up to 25 pounds of cheddar because we have so many friends and students to bestow our coins upon.

A Treasure Trove of Cheese Coins

MAKES dozens

INGREDIENTS

16 ounces shredded sharp cheddar

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

2 cups flour

1 heaping teaspoon cayenne

22 twists freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

2.  Using a standing mixer or food processor, whirl all the ingredients until combined.  Form the cheese dough into 2 logs, about 1 inch in diameter.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days (or freeze for up to 6 weeks).  

3.  Cut the logs into 1/4 inch slices and place on baking sheets.  Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.  

4.  Serve warm or at room temperature (or let cool and store in airtight containers for up to 7 days).

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Having solved the Christmas morning debacle for every and all, we now set our sights to plugging up other holes in the Christmas dike. We are always telling people to cook together and we’ve said it so often that we almost forgot to practice what we preach. This week is going to be dedicated to not only biscuit making, but we are ratcheting up the fun another notch by making batches of gumbo for our freezer too.

Now we are not only ready for Christmas breakfast but pop up dinners too. 

5 Things to Make in Charleston This Fall

1.        Rye Cocktail

2 ounces of rye whiskey, 1/2 teaspoon demora sugar, 2 dashes of Angostura, 2 dashes of Orange Bitters. Pour over large ice cubes. Makes one cocktail. 

And yet another great drink. . .

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2.       Wild Mushrooms on Puff Pastry

          Serves 4

2 tablespoons salted butter

2 shallots, minced

1 tablespoon minced thyme

1 pound wild mushrooms, roughly chopped

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 package of Dufour's Puff Pastry

1 egg

Melt the butter in a hot skillet and when the foam subsides lower the heat and add the shallots.  After two minutes add the mushroom and cook until they release most of their liquid.  Add the cream and thyme and heat until hot and the cream has reduced by half.  

Meanwhile, thaw the pastry and cut into a square and line the outside of the square with strips of pastry to form a box.  Brush with the egg.  Bake according to directions and when puffed and golden remove from oven. Place mushrooms in the center of the pastry and serve. 

Serve with a tart side salad for a lunch or a light dinner.  So woodsy and autumnal. Dean-licious.

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3.       Charleston Banh Mi 

Fill soft rolls with roasted sliced okra, peanuts, mayo, herbs, sweet soy and jalenpeos, shredded carrot and cucumbers.

The key to a Banh Mi is a soft roll. 

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4.       Benne Dressing 

1/2 cup olive oil 

1 teaspoon mustard

1 chopped shallot

Juice of 1 lemon 

1 teaspoon benne seeds

Whisk together. Use on any lettuce. 

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5.       Fall Vegetable Melange  

2-3 large yellow beets 

1 large butternut squash

2 onions

1/4 pound wild mushrooms,

Flat leaf parsley

Olive oil 

Place large yellow beets, scrubbed clean, in a shallow casserole. Toss with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and a splash of water. Cover with tin foil and roast at 425 degrees for 60-75 minutes, until a knife inserted in beet can pierce flesh easily.  

After putting beets in the oven, toss large chunks of peeled butternut squash and peeled onion quarters with a little olive oil to lightly coat. Place on a baking sheet and roast on another rack in the same oven  turning once, for 45 minutes.

Wipe any dirt off of mushrooms, cut off woody stems, toss very lightly with olive oil and place on baking sheet. When butternut squash comes out of oven, put mushrooms in the oven. Butternut squash and mushrooms should crisp at the edges.

When beets are cool enough to handle, peel and cut into large wedges. Place all roasted vegetables in a large bowl, toss with chopped parsley leaves, coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Delicious hot, room temperature, or cold. 

What's for Dinner?

Image Courtesy of Tania Lee

Everyone, everyday, asks themselves, “what’s for dinner?” The Deans will prove once and for all that cooking for your family is the second most important thing you can do.  We are still working on number one. Our students come together over bubbling pots and simmering stews and our alums and book fans are armed and ready to tackle satisfying even the most persnickety palates.

Morning

Nobody has the time or desire to make a flaky croissant first thing in the morning.  The Deans are here to tell you that you can make far more delicious biscuits yourself.  Well, the Deans do and so should you.  Smeared with your own homemade preserves or filled with ham or melted butter- this treat is a love letter to your family first thing in the morning. 

THE ACADEMY'S SOUTHERN BISCUIT

Makes 12 to 18, depending on size of biscuit cutter

INGREDIENTS

3 cups self-rising flour, preferably White Lily    

1 tablespoon baking powder              

1 teaspoon salt                         

1/2 teaspoon baking soda      

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 4 equal pieces       

1 1/2 cups whole buttermilk      

1.  Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

2.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.  Using two knives or a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour until it forms pea-size pieces.  Add the buttermilk and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough almost forms a ball.

3.  Place the dough on a silicone baking mat and begin folding up the sides, right and left, until a ball forms.  Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to 1/2-inch thickness.  Fold one side of the dough into the center and then fold in the other side.  Roll out again and refold in the same manner three to six times.  (Each roll and fold creates flaky layers within your biscuits.)  Roll out one final time until the dough is 3/4-inch thick.

4.  Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch biscuit cutter or an inverted glass.  Place the biscuits on a nonstick baking sheet.  Gather the scraps, re-roll, and cut out more biscuits until all of the dough has been used.  (At this point, you can cover the unbaked biscuits with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours, or freeze up to 3 weeks.)

5.  Bake until lightly browned on the top and bottom, 10 to 12 minutes.  (Bake frozen biscuits at 425 degrees F for 25 minutes.)

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Image Courtesy of Tania Lee

Noon

Lunch is when the Dean’s genius is in evidence. Transforming last night’s dinner into a healthy and satisfying lunch is our specialty. Almost any leftover - fish, fowl or meat - can be placed between two pieces of crisped bread and made into a wonderful meal for lunch or a simple dinner.  Chicken Salad is the perfect meal for eating at home, taking to the office or putting in a tart shell for an elegant lunch party. 

CHICKEN SALAD

Take the leftovers of your roasted chicken and create a variety of meals using simple ingredients found in your refrigerator.  

• Carve out an avocado and place the chicken mixture and avocado inside the shell to transport to work. 
• Wrap your tasty leftover chicken inside a crepe and marry with mushrooms and Parmesan cheese.
• Take thick slices of sourdough crisped in hot olive oil and layer with roasted peppers, shaved red onion, and your leftover chicken mixture.

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Night

We’ve heard every excuse why a home cooked family dinner is not possible - every single one. Stop yakking at us about this. All stews benefit from a night in the refrigerator and a reheat the day of serving.  The minute you walk in the door, put a pot of water on to boil to make rice, pasta or boiled potatoes to serve the stew over and dinner can be ready in 20 minutes, far less time than gathering everyone up and going out.  Below is the Deans favorite stew.  To take it even one step further, pair your stew with beer you’ve bought at Charleston's Beer Exchange or your local brewery.  

LAMB SHANKS

Serves 4      

INGREDIENTS                                                              

4 Lamb shanks                               

Onion, chopped

Thyme

Red Wine

Salt & Pepper    

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  Sauté lamb shanks in a little olive oil in a sauté pan, over high heat, to lightly brown each side.  Remove shanks, season with salt and pepper, and place in stock pot.

3.  In remaining oil, sauté onions until lightly browned.  Place onions in stock pot.  Cover lamb shanks with red wine and thyme and simmer for 2 hours.

4.  Eat right away, make in the morning, or the day before (even tastier).  

*You can stretch one shank to feed three people by shredding the cooked meat.  Reheat in the wine sauce and use the meat and sauce for pasta another time.  Dean-licious.

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You can find all of these recipes and more by visiting us at the charleston academy. 

What Shoes Are You Wearing?

Jackie Onassis knew that being properly dressed for every occasion is the ideal.  Not over, not under.  Just right.  Unless you are a professional chef, you have most likely given no time to the shoes in which you cook. We teach you how to live a beautiful life and this blog is about your shoes in the kitchen.

The Deans know first hand that cooking starts from the ground up, literally. Dean Pollak used to wonder why three days after she spent a day baking bread her legs ached, and she was only 30. Every day she was playing two hours of tennis, and of course those four children never left her side, but the day of bread baking was the breaking point. It took her a long time to look down and realize it was the shoes in which she was standing for six hours that was the genesis of the problem. Dean Pollak can say with authority that after three years of baking in flat thonged leather sole Jack Rogers that these are not baking shoes. 

There are so many obstacles to getting people back in the kitchen that if aching legs are one of them, we are never going to see the resurgence of domestic bliss that we are so longing for. Most girls love their shoes- starting at a young age.

Different recipes, however, call for different types of shoes.  

If you are putting out chilled champagne and pitted olives for your paramour then those five inch Louboutin's with the stacked heel are the perfect choice for this amount of cooking.

If you are cooking anything that involves boiling water, oil or sauce, then long pants and closed toe shoes are mandatory because if the liquid falls on you it's better to scald your pants or shoe than your skin.

If you are going to spend multiple hours standing in the kitchen then sneakers are your choice.  You can slip into a more sexier shoe before the meal is served.  Here we are showcasing the Adidas Stan Smith Sneaker.

If you are taking our advice completely to heart and feel that you are going to live in your kitchen, then go ahead and install a cork floor. If that is not an option there are floor pads to put in front of your sink and stove. You may want to try this one-- GelPro Elite. If you have wood floors you are in luck but you still may want to augment with these pads.  We know from our own experiences that the worst floor surfaces for the kitchen are marble, stone and brick. No matter how good they look, they will reek havoc on your legs. 

Living a beautiful life starts from the ground up and we hope you continue to build your foundation one step at a time.

The Deans Divide

She Crab Soup - one of us can't get enough and the other won't touch it. Dean Pollak stated "it's just like drinking heavy cream", and Dean Manigault said, "Exactly!"

Dean Pollak thinks fresh picked crab is tastier cold and luxurious all on it's own. She wants as little tampering with the pristine jumbo lump crabmeat as possible. She likes a squeeze of lemon and a few twists of black pepper, no more. Dean Manigault, on the other hand, thinks that hot and creamy crab is the bees knees, be it in a soup, puff pastry, or in a souffle. Dean Pollak just realized that if you were to break down the Deans go to flavor profiles, Dean Manigault prefers hot and creamy, and Dean Pollak dry and crispy. Examples can be found in our different preferences for Thanksgiving stuffing (p 119 of our book), fried oysters and crab preparation. If you live in South Carolina, you can catch the crabs yourself. Crabbing is such a fun activity to do with friends and family.  Just grab some chicken parts, string, a bucket to fill with sea water and crabs, and a long handled net.  Find shallow sea water near the shore and start crabbing. Picking the crab clean is a bit of a chore, but the end result is well worth the effort.  

"Lowcountry Crabbers" by Charleston artist Doug Grier

One of Dean Manigault's favorite soups is from our friend Paula Deen.  Don't forget to watch us on her new network.  We are in the Naked Hot Wings segment and the Leftover Do Over Chicken Pot Pie segment.  Here are two recipes to use for your crab!

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SHE CRAB SOUP

(from Paula Deen)

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup chopped green onion, with tops
2 teaspoons minced garlic
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups fish stock
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 pound crabmeat, picked free of shell

1/4 cup sherry
1/2 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/2 cup chopped fresh chives

1.  Sauté chopped green onion and garlic in butter until tender.  Stir in flour, stirring until well blended.  Slowly add 2 cups of the fish stock, continuing to cook until smooth and bubbly.  Slowly add cream and milk.  Stir in crabmeat.  Add sherry, lemon-pepper seasoning, salt and white pepper.  

2.  Simmer until piping hot; adjust seasoning (sherry, salt, and pepper) to taste.  

3.  Serve in bowls topped with cheese and chives.

Dean Pollak's favorite way to eat crab:

Pick jumbo lump crab meat carefully to remove the cartilage, leaving the crab piece in tact.  Chill crabmeat.  Snip chives on top, add a slice of lemon and serve in cocktail glasses.

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Not Being Hungry Never Stops the Deans

Everyday the Deans start thinking about what's for lunch about 10:30 in the morning, and bear in mind, we have both eaten breakfast. When Dean Manigault moved to Charleston from New York City she was appalled that people ate lunch at eleven and invited you for dinner at six. Twenty years later she can assure you it is her absolute favorite thing about living in the South. Now, when she goes back to NY and the dinner is called for 8:30 in the evening (or even later) she wants to weep like a little baby girl and she can't wait for her flight home.

We don't let being full or even GI distress keep us from enjoying the current meal. On last week's drive to Charlottesville Dean Manigault was excited to introduce Mamma Zu's in Richmond to Dean Pollak. Dean Pollak had entered the first stages of food poisoning but she did not let this impede her ordering four, and yet a fifth, appetizer, because she spied a little gem she hadn't tried yet. 

The Deans are the exact opposites of Buddhists. Gluttony is our deadly sin. We are not proud but we don't know how to change. 

Image courtesy of Artisan Meat Share

THE DEANS LIST 

Discover Craig Deihl's artisanal meats and so much more at Artisan Meat Share (of Cypress Restaurant.)  Customers can purchase cooked, cured and smoked meats (to name a few) on a daily basis.  The Artisan Meat Share also offers gourmet sandwiches, condiments, and wine or beer.

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Below are two recipes that will jumpstart your meal planning at anytime of the day.  

In the morning, the dinner preparation has already started.

THE ROAST

INGREDIENTS

Rib Roast

Sea Salt & Black Pepper

Garlic clove

1.  Coat a rib roast with sea salt and lots of black pepper.  If you are feeling zippy, smear it with crushed garlic.  

2.  Pop it in the oven at 375 degrees F and roast until your meat thermometer tells you it's done (about 125 degrees F), roughly 17 minutes per pound. 

3.  Easy, elegant, and uplifting.

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After dinner, we go to bed dreaming of what we will have when we wake up in the morning.

THE OMELET

Serves 1

INGREDIENTS

2-3 eggs (per person)

Butter

Salt and Pepper

Filling: spinach, cherry tomatoes, shredded cheese, bacon, diced ham

1.  Melt butter in skillet over medium-high heat.  Crack 2 to 3 eggs into a bowl and whisk; season with salt and pepper.  Pour egg mixture into the skillet.  As soon as they are set, cover half of the eggs with your favorite filling.  

2.  Fold the other half of the eggs over the filling and slide onto your dinner plate.

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The Forgotten Fowl

Cornish Game Hen

Cornish Game Hens have changed since the last time the Deans went to cook them.  The rule of game hens of our youth was one for each person.  Dean Pollak went to cook dinner for herself the other night (her husband was away) and she was shocked about how large the modern day game hen was, but this did not daunt her in the slightest.  She realized that she could get two meals for the price of one.  The game hen retains a hint of gamey flavor, lost in larger chickens.  A simple preparation we find is easiest and tastiest.  Everyone's favorite kind of recipe. 

Our favorites are by Belle and Evans.

Crispy Cornish Game Hens, Edamame Beans and Juicy Heirloom Tomatoes 

CORNISH GAME HEN

INGREDIENTS

Herbs de Provence

Cumin

Olive Oil

1.  Run hens under cold water, inside and out, and dry with paper towels.  Sprinkle heavily with Herbs de Provence and Cumin.  Put hens on a plate, uncovered, and let rest in refrigerator until ready to cook, for up to a day. 

2.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Remove hens from frig. 

3.  Place a very light film of olive oil on a saute pan just large enough to hold the number of hens you will be cooking.  Put pan in oven to heat.  When oven temperature has reached 425 degrees F, take pan out of oven using pot holders (pan handle is very hot by now) and place hens back side down in saute pan.  Place back in oven for one hour. 

4.  Remove and eat right away, room temperature, or cold the following day. 

School Night at the Manigault's

Cooking is Dean Manigault's artist outlet, but yet, she has been cursed with two daughters who don't like to eat her food. Last night's dinner was a roast chicken with a homemade gravy, black rice, haricot vert, and melon and prosciutto. India (15) took one slice of chicken and one string bean and then ate neither. Gigi (12) took several pieces of chicken, a little bit of rice and some beans. She ate a few beans, a bite of rice, and left most of the chicken and gravy. After seven minutes of communal dining they both begged to be excused. Thankfully Dean Manigault has two neighbors who love to come to dinner most nights, because her ego couldn't take the lashing her daughters inflict. 

Since Dean Pollak's children are adults, she knows what works. Her solutions:  Give birth to seven foot sons. Insist that your children participate in a lively sport every day. Only allow carrots and apples for snacks. Any food that they look askance at, announce that the food is just a different kind of chicken, such as, "that's not salmon, that's pink chicken." The final and most useful tip is to enlist the children's help in cooking, starting when they are toddlers and taking over a whole meal by the time they are teenagers. 

Below are a few recipes that may help entice your child to participate at dinner.

FRIED ZUCCHINI

Serves 4 to 6

INGREDIENTS

1 cup water

2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 pound zucchini, sliced lengthwise 1/8 inch thick and 2 inches long

Vegetable oil, fro frying

Salt

1.  In a shallow bowl, whisk together the water and flour.  The batter should have the consistency of sour cream.  Adjust your measurements accordingly. 

2.  Into a Dutch oven or stock pot, over high heat, pour enough oil to come 3/4 inch up the side of the pot.  When the oil reaches 375 degrees F, dip the zucchini slices into the batter.  Transfer to the hot oil one handful at a time, so as not to crowd the pan.  Flip a couple of times until the zucchini are golden brown all over.  Your oil must be hot enough so the cooking is finished within 2 to 3 minutes.  

3.  Sprinkle with salt and serve piping hot with homemade mayonnaise or remoulade.

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EGG STRATA

Breakfast for Dinner!

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

1 sourdough boule, sliced 3/4 inch thick

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

Thin slices of Gruyere or cheddar, enough to cover the bread on the bottom of the pan

6 eggs

3 cups whole milk

1 pound bulk sausage, browned

1.  Grease a 9x11 inch glass or ceramic baking dish.  Spread both sides of the bread with the butter.  Layer the bread in the bottom of the baking dish.  Top with the cheese.

2.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk.  Pour over the bread, up to 1/2 inch below the top of the baking dish.  Any more liquid will bubble over when cooking.  Add the sausage.  Cover and refrigerate the strata overnight or for up to 2 days.

3.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Bake the strata until puffy and golden brown, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

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Find the Chicken Pie recipe and many more recipes here.

Monticello's Heritage Harvest Festival

The Deans are giddy after our talk at Monticello. We simply had the best time ever. We cannot encourage you more heartily to attend the Heritage Harvest Festival in 2015. We already have next year's event on our calendar.

Monticello invited the Deans to kick off their Art of Living portion of the weekend. We were put up in the most sumptuous guesthouse we have ever seen on a farm in Keswick. On Friday morning we took a walk to get our blood flowing and then on to Monticello for a Behind the Scenes Tour (all four floors) with the most competent tour guide who has ever led us around. The house spoke to us and we listened. Thomas Jefferson is THE founding father of gracious living.

Monticello's Dining Room 

Image credit: Thomas Jefferson Foundation/Sequoia Designs
Copyright © Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc.

Friday night's Heritage Harvest dinner was sublime; atop Monalto was a glorious food tent filled with the best wines, ciders and foods that Virginia has to offer. Thomas Jefferson was passionate about vegetable cuisine, plant experimentation and sustainable agriculture...a full two centuries ahead of his time!  Aaron Keefer, the head gardener for the famed French Laundry, was the keynote speaker Friday night and the Deans were enthralled.  He led the audience around his garden and even brought samples including a spinach that tasted EXACTLY like an oyster.  Both Deans wanted to put him in a doggy bag and take him home. 

Saturday saw us on a panel with Charlotte Moss moderating, and Annie Vanderwarker (Fearless Flowers), Holly Shimizu (former director of the US Botanic Gardens) and Gabriele Rausse (Monticello's Director of Gardens and Grounds) and the Deans, all answering questions about The Art of Living. After posing for copious photographs, we were whisked away to deliver our own standing room only talk. We left the Visitor’s Center to sign books on the lawn of Monticello, then were in a short video interview and on to an unbelievable dinner at Red Pump. We are tired just reading about it. How we did it we’ll never know, but boy, it was fabulous. Thank you, thank you Monticello.

Fun facts we learned this weekend:

• Jefferson kept 33 chairs in Monticello's front hall so anyone who wished could wait to see the great man himself.
• Jefferson was so egalitarian that even in his own house, as well as the White House, seating was first come first serve.
• There is no central staircase at Monticello because Jefferson thought it was a waste of precious space and heat. The Deans would follow President Jefferson anywhere, but we are not sure he was 100% on this point:-)
• He made sure his granddaughters were educated because he told them they had a one in fourteen chance of marrying a blockhead.
• The fact that resonated most with the Deans: Thomas Jefferson used his dining room twice a day! How many times have you used yours in the last year?

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The Monticello dining room has seen many fabulous meals in its day.  In the book Dining at Monticello: In Good Taste & Abundance, we have found an authentic recipe from Monticello using Mutton Chops which today can be substituted for lamb. 

MUTTON CHOPS

Serves 4 to 6

INGREDIENTS

8 mutton or lamb rib chops (at least 3/4 to 1 inch thick)

Salt

Whole black pepper in a pepper mill

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup Mushroom Catsup (can be found by some specialty condiment companies)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits

1/2 cup freshly grated horseradish

1.  Prepare a grill with hardwood coals.  When the coals have burned to a medium-hot fire, rub the grill rack with a cloth dipped in lard or bacon drippings and position it about 4 to 6 inches above the coals.

2.  Season the chops with salt and several grindings of pepper and grill them, turning once, until cooked to the doneness of choice, about 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium rare.  Remove them to a warm platter and set aside to keep warm.

3.  Bring the water to a simmer in a small saucepan.  Add the Mushroom Catsup, additional salt if needed, and simmer for about 1 minute more.  Remove from the heat, whisk in the butter, and pour it over the chops.  Sprinkle a little horseradish over them, and spoon the remaining horseradish around the edges of the platter.

NOTE: Readers who are not concerned with authenticity or who are unable to grill-broil may use the oven broiler.  Position a rack about 6 inches below the broiler and preheat for 20 minutes.  Rub the broiling pan rack with lard or drippings and lay the chops on it.  Lightly brush them with melted butter and season with salt and pepper.  Broil, turning once, until done to taste, about 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium rare.

This Weeks NYT Food Section

Dean Pollak's favorite restaurant of 2014 is the Saltry, on a tiny slip of an island, Halibut Cove, (population 30) off Homer, Alaska. She's been wondering how to get herself back to the coolest spot on the most western tip of the United States to relive an extraordinary July day feasting, boating, and hanging out with the Hotes Foundation gang. Today's NYTimes Dining Section came close to the rescue with a lovely profile of Saltry and its owner, Marian Beck. The Times photos capture the spirit of the restaurant, sitting on stilts overhanging Halibut Cove.

Maybe because Marian Beck grew up on Halibut Cove, she had to learn how to do EVERYTHING. Cook, bake bread and pies, grow vegetables and flowers, preserve moose plus berries, catch salmon, halibut and cod, paint, fillet fish (I watched her fillet a giant salmon with the ease that I chop cabbage), greet customers and make the world's most extraordinary chocolate cheesecake. So Academy fans won't feel left out, we've copied Marian's cheesecake recipe below, from her fabulous cookbook, Salmon Patties & Rosehip Pie. 

CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

Serves 24

A Saltry Classic; Saltry Restaurant, Halibut Cove, Alaska

INGREDIENTS

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 1/2 cups sugar, divided

1/4 cup butter, melted

3 pounds cream cheese, softened 

6 eggs

2 cups sour cream

1 pound high-quality semisweet chocolate (Marian Beck: top quality European chocolate)

1.  Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

2.  Prepare a 12-inch springform pan by cutting baking paper in a circle to fit the bottom.  Mix graham crackers, 1/2 cup sugar, and butter together and press against the bottom and sides of pan, keeping the top edge uniform so it will be attractive when sliced.

3.  Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth.  Add eggs, 2 at a time, and sour cream, mixing all the while.  Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, and when it's completely melted and silky in texture, add it slowly to the cream cheese mixture, beating constantly.  Pour into the pan and bake for about 1 1/2 hours.  Watch it carefully; you don't want it to crack or the edges to puff up too much. 

4.  Serve with a drizzle of chocolate and whipped cream.

The Two Most Dreaded Words in the Western World: School Lunches

The only person we ever knew who liked making school lunches was Dean Pollak. She relished what the others of us despise. She even took it to irritatingly dizzying heights: homemade breads, hand pulled mozzarella, organic apples picked by virgins –- even she can’t believe what a dork she was. Not until years later she discovered that her children never ate those lunches, and were further burdened because they couldn’t trade them with anyone else either. Today they would kill for those lunches but not back then.

So, what are the rest of us to do? Dean Manigault has her children join her at the store so they can select what they will actually eat, not what she wants them to. You can’t have your child starving all day, neither can you have them eating lunchables. If they truly adore Oreos above all other cookies, let them have an Oreo but counterbalance it with a piece of fruit. Let them choose, just not the entire lunch. Compromise is key.

Lunchtime...

Starting in kindergarten make your children invest their own time and energy making their lunch the night before so there is no time crunch involved in the morning. 

Even though her mom is a Dean, Gigi Manigault's favorite mac and cheese recipe is not her mom's, but from local chef, Robert Stehling, from Hominy Grill. Maybe because Robert's daughter, Carson, is Gigi's classmate, or maybe because this is the best mac and cheese recipe ever? The Deans use Yeti's thermos cup to keep the mac and cheese at the optimal temperature until lunchtime because Gigi does not like the cold mac and cheese, and we doubt anyone else does either. 

An alternate version to the classic mac and cheese is our cheesy rice recipe which provides just as much cheesy satisfaction.

Beginnings and Endings

We simply cannot be on call for you people 24 hours a day.

This summer we begin our mornings with sliced peaches and strawberries and iced coffees. Sometimes we need a kick and grind black pepper into our fruit. Have the Deans lost their minds? Certainly not! Originality is in our DNA. While everyone else ups the sugar content, we prefer spicing things up. Black pepper and creme fresh bring fruit to a level you cannot imagine on your own. If you don’t agree, the Deans will hang up their aprons. 

We start our evening around 5:00 p.m. or 6:00 p.m. by signing off and creating dean-lious cocktails for ourselves. We always garnish our drinks from our pickle pantry. While in our pantry deciding on our perfect peppery pickle, sometimes we grab a jar of our homemade jam to create a tasty tart with which to end the evening. Since we usually keep homemade pie pastry in the freezer (we always make two pie doughs at a time, one for now, one for freezing) it takes no time to defrost (Charleston is HOT this summer), roll out, and fill with jam. Keeping the summer vibe going!

The Salad Question

No less than the venerable and esteemed Dick Jenrette, formally of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, and Classical American Homes, was thoroughly distraught on when to serve his salad. If the Deans had come a moment later, Dick’s salad leaves would have completely wilted.

At first, salad service may seem like a not so difficult problem to solve but immediately upon reflection, the Deans realized that Dick was right. There are many aspects to consider. Salad means many things to many people.

In restaurants the custom is to serve salad before dinner because it is a light and easy first course.

Some always want salad with their food, hence the salad plate. It sits off to the left awaiting to fulfill its purpose.

However, if you want the elegance and grace of the Deans (and frankly who doesn’t?) you must serve your salad after the meal. Its better for the dinner’s timing, conversation, and digestion, not to mention, it is the perfect time to serve a little bit of cheese. When can that be wrong?

The Deans solved the salad question once and for all. 

A few seasonal salad recipes to try and Discover more recipes from the Deans here!

Enough with the Summer Salads - The Deans Crave Meat

The Deans consumed so many salads this summer we are a tiny bit bored. Is our skin turning pale shades of green and leaves sprouting from our ears? We do not know. We do know our bodies need a big hunk of meat.

What better choice than prime rib? Prime rib belongs on many more tables than December's Christmas Dinner. It's a one roast wonder. Sliced left overs can fill french rolls, replace ham in cocktail biscuits, cut into thick strips and tossed into tomato and peach salads, diced for breakfast hash or chopped and combined with something fat and stuffed inside ravioli...the question is when isn't prime rib appropriate? 

The Deans are of two minds when roasting our slabs of ribs. Sometimes we salt them all over and pop in a 425-degree oven for one hour and 15 minutes. Other times we need a quicker job. The oven is cranked up to 500, the meat slathered with salt and pepper and slit randomly with a knife tip to insert bay leaves into those slits. This roast cooks for 30 minutes and then another 30 minutes at 325.

Naturally, the Deans have a few tricks to put up your sleeves: 

• Make sure your oven heats to the temperature that it says it is. 
• Use a meat thermometer - at 125 your meat will be rare and delicious. 

Gin and tonics and cold prime rib are a match made in Academy heaven. For the best tonic order Charleston's finest, Jack Rudy. 

Outside summer buffets, garden cocktail parties, picnics - all are perfect opportunities to showcase the summer prime rib. Its an unusual hot weather menu choice which immediately establishes you as a free thinking original hostess. No one needs to know that you learned the surprise summer menu trick from the Deans. 

Hoping for the Best is Not a Plan

Since we have several PhD's in Food and its Many Uses and Feeding the Family Nightly , we are the perfect experts to lead you through the Grocery Store.  

If you go to the supermarket at 10:30 a.m. you hit the yoga Pilates crowd.  If you go at 3:30 p.m., you slam into after school mom's.  And between 5:30 - 6:00 p.m., you encounter the onslaught of Afterworkers. The Deans like to go at 8:00 in the morning.  We are fresh and plucky and like to get this chore done early.  A small caveat: sometimes deliveries are running late and the selection is from yesterday, not today.  This means a last minute menu change and dinner becomes Bottles, Cans, Boxes and Jars.  

Make sure most of your shopping is done around the perimeter of the store.  Why? Because this is where the vegetables, meats, dairies and wines are located.  These are the items that need to be front and center and filling your grocery cart.  We see too many carts brimming with sodas, boxed snacks, cartons of crackers and cookies and per-prepared frozen dinners.  The Deans cannot stand seeing this much waste in terms of calories as well as money.

Number one rule is to not go shopping with an empty stomach.  You will buy way too much and regret most of your choices.  Rule number two; have a plan about what you want to eat tonight, tomorrow night and what's for breakfast and lunch if you're going to be at home.  Rule number three; in order to be the best prepared, most organized as well as to not waste valuable money - have a written list.  The more you have going on in the rest of your life, the more important the list becomes.  The Deans have both spent time tracking down exotic spices only to return home with one million bags of groceries but not the center piece of the meal.  We know we didn't invent the list, but it's so important that it bares repeating.  Often, we bring the magazine or book we are cooking from with us instead of transcribing so there is no room for error.  

If we see something particularly good-looking or a wonderful sale item, and we are not sure how to use it, we Google the item right in the store to come up with ideas.

If you are a creative person, cooking can be one of the most fun outlets.  Taking a huge array of  non-homogenous items that, alone don't amount to much, and creating one tasty meal, is quite an accomplishment.  

Mint. More Than an Herb. Almost a Way of Life.

Everyone spends the whole summer simpering about basil. Why is basil so great while mint whiles away in ignominy?  Mint elevates all it touches; tea, lamb, lemonade, watermelon, salads, chimichurra sauce, tarts, ratatouille, cocktails, ice creams and sorbets and for extra freshness, iron your sheets with mint infused water.  This fall plant some in an indoor pot, just like you did with basil in the summer, and when you feel like basil, try mint instead.  We guarantee a new love in your life, and who doesn't want that?

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MINT JULEP

INGREDIENTS

2-3 sprigs of fresh mint plus 2 sprigs for garnish

1/2 ounce simple syrup

2 dashes Angostura bitters

2 1/2 ounces bourbon

1.  Rub three sprigs of the mint with your hands, strip the leaves off the stems and add the leaves, syrup, and bitters to a highball or julep cup and muddle.

2.  Add bourbon and fill cup with crushed ice.

3.  Stir and garnish with more fresh mint. 

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FIGS with MINT, GOAT CHEESE & VINAIGRETTE

INGREDIENTS

1 head red or green leaf lettuce

1 cup mint, leaves off of stems

20 ripe figs, halved or quartered, depending on size

4 ounces creamy goat cheese

one bunch green onions, white and pale green parts finetly chopped

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons olive oil

1.  Place green onions, mustard, salt and olive oil in a bowl and whisk. Add an ounce of the goat cheese and whisk to get a creamy dressing. Add lettuce and mint to the dressing and toss gently.

2.  Cut the figs and arrange over leaves. Place the rest of the goat cheese, in small pieces over the lettuce.

3.  Serve with salt and pepper. 

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MINT PESTO

INGREDIENTS

half bunch Italian flat leaf parsley, about 30

bunch of fresh mint leaves, about 30

bunch of basil leaves, about 15

5 tablespoons unsalted (sweet) butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup Parmigiano cheese

1.  Place the parsley, mint, basit and 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt in a stone mortar and use a pestle to grind ingredients together. (This can be done in a food processor too. Switch on and off so ingredients do not puree).

2.  Transfer mixture to a bowl, add butter, cream and cheese and mix with a wooden spoon. Add salt and pepper.

3.  Sprinkle with mint leaves after tossed with pasta.