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Home-GrownChampions

• Charles Howell’s Comeback• Vaughn Taylor’s Roots• Local Young Stars on the Rise

The Augusta National:Building the Course

Masters PredictionsFrom Area Pros

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APRIL 2007

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Dazzling Dahlias • Inside a Champions Retreat Home • A Southern Sunday Brunch

ColaCnty-APR07Cover 4/16/07 6:19 PM Page 2

ASouthernSundayBrunchRecipes by Virginia Willis

Columbia County Magazine 96

mustard in Dijon. She also produced TurnerSouth’s Home Plate with Marvin Woods,appeared on Real Simple Television and canbe spotted in commercials for Duke’s may-onnaise and Springer Mountain Farmschicken. Her varied food career started inAtlanta when she worked with NathalieDupree on four PBS series and cookbooks,including the James Beard award-winningComfortable Entertaining.

A graduate of L’Academie de Cuisineand Ecole de Cuisine LaVarenne, Virginia isfeatured in Atlanta Cooks at Home, a cook-book of menus from Atlanta’s top chefs. Theauthor of Pasta Dinners 1, 2, 3 and co-author of Home Plate Cooking, she’s cur-rently working on her cookbook and com-panion television series: Bon Appétit, Y’all!

Three Generations of Southern Cooking

(Ten Speed Press, 2008).

Cook, teacher, author and culinary tele-vision producer Virginia Willis is based inAtlanta now, but she can trace herColumbia County roots back to the 1700sand Daniel Marshall, founder of KiokeeBaptist Church.

As the former Kitchen Director forMartha Stewart Living Television, Virginiasupervised the food segments for theEmmy-award winning television show. Whileshe worked for Martha Stewart, she wasalso responsible for preparing private mealsand events for Martha and her guests —including President Clinton, Aretha Franklin,and Julia Child.

As Executive Producer for Epicurious onThe Discovery Channel, Virginia traveled theworld taping fantastic stories about food —from harvesting capers in the shadow of asmoldering volcano to making authentic

Virginia Willis takes a Southernmoment on her front porch.The popular chef and cookbookauthor creates a SouthernSunday brunch just forColumbia County Magazineand shares memories of howher love of Southern cookingbegan in the Evans kitchen ofher grandparents.

APRIL 200797

Food & Wine

Bourban Baked HamServes 10

1 cup sweet clover honey 1/2 cup molasses 1/2 cup bourbon 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard 1 cured ham butt or shank half

(6-8 pound)

Heat the oven to 350°F. Lightly greasea roasting pan with nonstick spray. Setaside. Heat the honey, molasses, bourbon,orange juice, and mustard in a medium potover medium heat until melted and com-bined. Set aside. Remove the skin andexcess fat from the ham and discard. Usinga sharp knife make 1/4-inch-deep cuts inham in a diamond pattern. Place the ham inthe prepared roasting pan. Pour thereserved glaze over the ham. Transfer to theoven and bake for 2 to 2-1/2 hours or untila meat thermometer inserted into the thick-est portion registers 140°F, basting every 30minutes or so with the glaze on the bottomof the pan. Remove to a rack and transferthe ham to a cutting board. Cover the hamloosely with aluminum foil to keep warm.Using a large spoon, remove and discardthe excess fat from the collected drippingsin the bottom of the roasting pan. Transferthe drippings to a small saucepan. Bring thedrippings to a boil. Slice ham and serve withwarm drippings.

Ham comes from the hind leg of the hog and

can be fresh, cured, or cured and smoked.

They’re available bone-in or boneless, but

bone-in hams are more flavorful.

Columbia County Magazine 98

Food & Wine

my mother, Virginia(known as Jenny), grew up inthe country when Fury’s FerryRoad had just been paved. Shereturned there almost 25 yearsago and lives once again in thehome where she grew up, builtby my grandfather. Whenasked where I am from, I gen-erally reply, “My family is fromEvans, and I live in Atlanta.”Funny thing is, I haven’t lived inColumbia County since I wasthree years old. Although myyounger sister, Jona, went toEvans High School, graduatingexactly 30 years after my moth-er did, I was already in schoolin Athens by the time my moth-er returned. Later, my careeronce again took me far fromhome. But home is far morecomplex than a simple mailingaddress. My deep roots inColumbia County and familyhistory continually help definewho I am and what I will be.

My grandparents, Samand Louise Baston, bought 50acres on Fury’s Ferry Road in1938, but our presence in Columbia County starts longbefore that. My grandfather’s mother’s maiden name wasMarshall; our ancestor Reverend Daniel Marshall foundedKiokee Baptist Church in the 1770s. And although mygrandfather was born in South Carolina, his family was orig-inally from around Euchee Creek and Appling. According tothe U.S. census, there were members of the Baston clan liv-ing in Columbia County in 1820.

This isn’t to insinuate some sort of landed aristocracy.They were farmers, mostly cotton, and simple country peo-ple. His brother, Marshall, had a fish camp on the banks of

the river. My grandfather drovea Greyhound bus. He was a tall,strapping man with massivebiceps. He only completedeight years of school andimpressed upon me at an earlyage the importance of educa-tion. He’d tap my head with hisgiant hand and say, “Get yourknowledge up here — no onecan ever take that away fromyou.” My grandmother howev-er, graduated from YoungHarris College in 1927, some-what unusual for a woman ofher times in the rural South. Herdiploma, a real sheepskin, hashung in the dining room for aslong as I can remember. Shemet my grandfather at a fish fryon the Savannah River andwent on a boat ride with thehandsome, dark-headed Sam.They later eloped and weremarried for 65 years until hepassed away. Together theymade a family, helped start acommunity, gave the land tobuild Riverview UnitedMethodist Church, and most

importantly, left a long-lasting legacy of what home really is. I spent much of my childhood with grandparents, who I

called Meme and Dede, in their heart of pine kitchen acquir-ing skills I would later develop into a profession. There arephotos of me standing on a chair cooking with Meme or sit-ting on the kitchen counter with my feet in the cool steel sinkshelling butterbeans that Dede had picked early that morn-ing. And rolling out biscuits with Meme — I remember we’droll out the biscuits and she’d let me make a handprint withthe scraps of dough. The tiny fingers on my handprint bis-cuit would cook very dark in the heat of the oven, taking on

Country Roads & Deep RootsBy Virginia Willis

“I spent much of my childhoodwith grandparents, who I calledMeme and Dede, in their heartof pine kitchen acquiring skills Iwould later develop into a profession.”

APRIL 200799

a slightly bitter almost nutty taste. I knowthat’s where my love and passion for cook-ing took root, working at her side on herlinoleum countertop in the gentle breeze ofthe oscillating fan. To this day, the smell ofbiscuits cooking reaches into my soul.

Meme was a strong and determinedlady, the president of the Evans ExtensionHomemakers Club for many years, and anincredible cook. Dede would sit with her inthe kitchen and hand beat the dough forher yeast rolls. I was nurtured by their sto-ries of growing up on a farm, milking cowsand making butter and cheese, maintaininga root cellar, killing hogs in the fall and cur-ing hams in the smokehouse.

My mother tells of raising chickens andcows even when she was a child, but milk-ing the cows stopped when one surly beastkicked my grandmother. They filled thefreezer with beef instead! Meme servedgrits every morning for breakfast and Mamasaid she filled the plates to the rim. Theschool bus would pull up at the end of thelong driveway and my grandmother wouldmake it wait until all the plates were clean.No one, including the Board of Education,argued with the forceful personality ofMeme. Dede said he got the last word, butthose of you reading this who rememberthem won’t be surprised that his blue eyeswould twinkle and he’d say, “My last wordsare always, ‘Yes, beloved.’”

This is what home means to me — lis-tening to outrageous stories told by mymother, fishing for bream in the pond mygrandfather built, pulling the wishbone withmy sister just like when we were young, andsharing sweet kitchen memories. My mail-ing address may not be in Columbia County,but this is certainly home.

Parmigiano Reggiano Grits Souffle Serves 8Southerners have a tendency to call anything baked with beaten egg whites a soufflé.

Properly beaten egg whites are the key to the rise of this dish. While the dish is in

the oven, the air trapped inside the egg whites expands, causing the dish to rise.

2 cups water2 cups milk1 cup coarse grits 5 large eggs, separated1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese2 cloves garlic, finely chopped1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for the dish2 scallions, thinly sliced Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oven to 375° F. Butter a large oval casserole or soufflé dish, set aside.Using a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over high heat, bring water, milk, and 2 tea-spoons of salt to a boil. Gradually stir in the grits; reduce the heat to medium, andcook, stirring often, until thick and creamy, 30 to 45 minutes. Using a large bowlwhisk the egg yolks, temper by whisking in a spoonful of hot grits. Stir yolks intoremaining grits. Add the cheese, garlic, and butter. Set aside to cool slightly. In thebowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whiteswith a pinch of salt on medium speed until foamy. Increase the speed to high andwhip until stiff peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside. Add about a quarter of thebeaten egg whites to the grits mixture and stir until well mixed. Pour this mixture andthe scallions over the remaining whites and fold them together as lightly as possible.Pour the mixture into the prepared dish. Bake until the grits are set, 30 to 40 min-utes. (If the surface begins to over brown, cover with foil.) Serve immediately.

Grits are the coarser part of maize

that has been ground through a stone

mill. The finer part is corn meal.

Columbia County Magazine 100

Food & WineOven Roasted Asparagus withBlender HollandaiseServes 8To make the sauce ahead, heat a clean ther-

mos or coffee pot with hot water. Dry the

thermos completely and hold the prepared

hollandaise up to 45 minutes before serving.

Note: Pregnant women, young children, the

elderly, or anyone whose health or immune

system is compromised should not consume

raw eggs.

2 bunches asparagus, stem ends trimmed2 tablespoons canola oil3 egg yolks1/2 teaspoon saltJuice of 1/2 lemonDash of cayenne pepper1 cup (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, prefer-

ably Land o’ Lakes, melted and heateduntil bubbling, but not brown

Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat oven to 425°. Spread out aspara-gus spears in a large shallow roasting pan.Drizzle with oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper.Shake roasting pan gently so asparagus iscompletely coated in oil. Transfer to the ovenand roast until spears are just tender. Cookingtime will depend on thickness of asparagus,about 10 minutes for medium-thick aspara-gus. Pencil asparagus will take much less time;thick stalks will take more. Shake panhalfway through cooking time to keep spearsfrom sticking. Meanwhile, place egg yolks,salt, pepper and lemon juice in the jar of anelectric blender, blend for a few seconds athigh speed until you have a smooth frothymixture. Still at high speed, add the hot but-ter in a thin, steady stream, not too slowly. Asyou add butter, the sauce should thicken.Continue blending until all butter is used.Taste and adjust for seasoning with salt andpepper. Serve immediately. Does not keep.Discard remaining sauce after serving.

Asparagus is actually a member

of the lily family.

APRIL 2007101

Quick & Easy Buttermilk BiscuitsMakes 9 biscuitsThese biscuits are somewhere between a rolled biscuit and a drop biscuit. The

exterior should be golden brown and slightly crisp, while the interior should be

light and airy. With all biscuits, a very hot oven is essential. The steam interacts

with the baking powder to create the ideal textures.

3 cups White Lily brand all-purpose flour, or cake flour (not self-rising)1 tablespoon baking powder1 teaspoon salt4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes2/3 cup buttermilkUnsalted butter, room temperature, for servingHoney, jam, or jelly for serving

Heat oven to 500°. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the bladeattachment combine 2 cups of the flour, baking powder, and salt. Pulse tocombine. Add the butter and pulse until it resembles coarse meal. Pour in but-termilk, and mix until just combined; the mixture will be very wet. With a largeice cream scoop or by pinching a lump off with your hands form the mixture intoballs and place in the remaining 1 cup of flour. Working one at a time, roll to coatin flour then place in an ungreased round 8-by-2-inch cake pan or on a bakingsheet. (If the biscuits are baked close together and touching, their sides will bemoist. If the biscuits are baked further apart and not touching their sides will becrisp.) Bake until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Allow to cool to the touch andserve immediately with room temperature butter, and honey, jam, or jelly.

Columbia County Magazine 102

Fruit Salad with Sweet Clover HoneyServes 6 The color and flavor of honeys differ depending on the nectar source or flowers

visited by the honeybees. As a general rule the lighter the honey, the milder the

flavor. My grandfather, Sam Baston from Evans, had a sweet tooth for honey.

When I traveled I would always bring him a jar from whatever country I visited. He’s

passed away, but I still carry on the tradition, literally bringing home a little bit of

where I’ve been.

3 tablespoons sweet clover honeyJuice of 1 lemon Pinch of salt1 large orange1 large Granny Smith apple, unpeeled, cored, diced1 pear, unpeeled, cored, diced1 cup seedless red and green grapes1 cup strawberries, hulled, halved1 cup raspberries and blueberries2 tablespoons freshly chopped mint

Whisk honey, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt in large bowl to blend. Using asharp paring knife, remove the ends of the orange. Set orange on end andremove the peel by cutting between the peel and flesh, rotating as peel isremoved. Working over a medium bowl, slice between membranes to removesegments, allowing juices and segments to fall into bowl. Add apple, pear, grapes,strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries. Cover and chill in the refrigerator atleast 30 minutes and up to 4 hours. Just before serving freshly chop the mint andadd to the salad. Stir well to combine and serve immediately.