Have dinner, raise money for RAIN

The Dining With Friends event Saturday for RAIN -- the regional AIDS Interfaith Network -- reminds me of the days in the 1990s when one of Charlotte's biggest events every year was "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," a fundraiser for the Metrolina AIDS Project.

Both of them have a simple idea: Have a party or go to a party and raise money. The old "Guess" was always held in early May and it always ended with a big dessert party. The newer Dining With Friends ends with dessert and champagne at 9 p.m. at the McColl Center for Visual Art, 721 N. Tryon St. And it's held in October -- Oct. 6, or Saturday night, to be exact.

RAIN hosts are holding more than 25 parties all over town, from sit-down dinners to parties at nightclubs and restaurants. Some people have theme parties; others keep it as simple as barbecue. All the money raised from donations and tickets goes to RAIN.
www.diningwithfriendscharlotte.org
If you aren't going to or giving a party, you can still donate. Or you can sign up to go to the McColl dessert party ($30 in advance or at the door). Or sign up to go to a public party given by the Drex and Maney Show for KISS95.1 FM at Blackfinn American Saloon at the Epicentre from 7-9 p.m. Saturday.

Get information on all of it at www.diningwithfriends.org.

Want to make sausage?

Of all the things I've made in my kitchen, making my own sausage is one of the most fun. It's just so cool to have control over what goes in it, to watch how it comes together and to end up with a whole bunch of sausage that's all your own.

You can learn how to make sausage and and other things in Central Piedmont Community College's community cooking classes, Charlotte Cooks.

Coming up:

The Art of Sausage Making, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Oct. 20 or Dec. 1 on the Central Campus; $125. Hands-on class that includes equipment selection, proper handling of meat and equipment, and how to use casings.

A Taste of Italy, 6-9 p.m. on Tuesdays from Oct. 23 to Nov. 6 on the Central Campus; $135 for the series. Covers regional foods from northern, central and southern Italy.

Wrap and Roll, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Nov. 3, Harris Campus; $85. Learn how to work with a variety of spring roll wrappers and fillings.

To register, go to www.cpcc.edu/cce and click on "register now," or call 704-330-4223. Deadlines are the Friday before the start of the class.

One Great . . . roasted red pepper relish

Most of the year, recipes with red peppers are what I call "snorters." I look at the recipe, then look at the price of red sweet peppers, usually up around "worth their weight in gold." Then I snort with derision and either grab the cheaper green bell peppers or go without peppers all together.

But there is a brief time in early fall when there are suddenly red peppers everywhere. At the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market on Saturday, one farm stand had a big basket of beauties, all striped in various shades from green to red to yellow. And a price tag on the basket was one I liked even better: 16 for $4. That's more like it.

I grabbed a small bag and picked up another bag of small but meaty tomatoes that were the size of cherry tomatoes but promised more flavor. Then I searched my memory of good food writing and remembered that Regina Schrambling had run a nice piece on www.epicurious.com recently on Jacques Pepin's method for using roasted red peppers.

Regina adapted Jacques, I adapted Regina, and now I have a lovely pot of peppers and tomatoes in my refrigerator. I've already added them to sauteed zucchini, spread a few on a turkey sandwich, tossed some in a green salad and added a few tablespoons to scrambled eggs. Even the oil alone will find uses all over my cooking for a couple of weeks.

I'm definitely getting my money's worth from these babies.

Roasted Red Peppers and Tomatoes

Adapted from Regina Schrambling, who adapted it from Jacques Pepin, who probably wouldn't recognize it by the time I finished with it.

3 to 4 mostly red sweet peppers (AKA bell peppers)
About 2 cups small tomatoes
2 to 3 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced
Salt and pepper to taste
About 1/3 cup good-quality olive oil

Preheat oven to 500 degrees, then turn on the broiler. (Or just heat the broiler, depending on your oven.) Place an oven rack close to the broiler element. Place the whole peppers and tomatoes on a baking sheet and place under the broiler. Broiler, turning the peppers occasionally with tongs, until the skin is blacked or well-blistered and the skins of the tomatoes show black spots. (I left mine get much darker then the ones in the picture at the top.)

Remove from the oven. Using tongs, drop the peppers in a paper or plastic bag, close and let them steam for a minute. Just leave the tomatoes on the baking sheet and let them cool for a few minutes, then grab the skin of each with the tongs and pull most of it away. Remove the peppers from the bag, pull out and discard the core with the seeds attached, then pull away and discard the papery skin.

In a glass container with a tight-fitting lid (or use a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap), layer some of the tomatoes and pieces of peppers, then sprinkle with garlic and a little salt. Continue layering in the container. Pour the olive oil over it all, cover and refrigerate.

Use peppers and tomatoes on bruschetta, in a salad, with eggs, or pretty much anywhere you want. Also use the oil to add flavor when you saute vegetables.

Makes about 2 cups. Keeps in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks.

PHOTO: Topspanishtapas.com.

Wake up: Discovery Place is featuring coffee

Time to give some serious thought to the subject of coffee. Discovery Place has opened a new exhibit on coffee, sponsored by S&D Coffee and Tea of Concord and featuring information and photography from the book "The Birth of Coffee," by Daniel Lorenzetti and Linda Rice Lorenzetti.

The Lorenzettis traveled the world to capture photos of the people who plant, pick and produce coffee. It took more than a quarter of a million miles to eight countries.

Tracy Ging, director of sustainability and corporate social responsibility at S&D, summed up the Discovery Place exhibit's focus as "relatedness":

"Millions of people are involved in growing, harvesting and caring for the coffee we love so much." That's worth thinking about when you pour your morning cup.

"Birth of Coffee" will run through Jan. 7 at Discovery Place, 301 N. Tryon St. in Charlotte. Go details on visiting the museum, go to www.discoveryplace.org .

One Great: Black bean and coconut soup

After a constant round of travel, there wasn't much that was fresh in the refrigerator. So I stared into the cabinet where the cans live, waiting for dinner to magically suggest itself. Canned this, canned that. Nothing that seemed to go together.

Except those black beans and that can of coconut milk. Black beans and coconut milk? They didn't seem to belong together, yet something in the back of my brain thought they might. I tapped the two ingredients into a Google search to see if such a crazy idea had occurred to anyone else.

Why yes, actually. I found Caribbean versions and Southeast Asian versions. I ended up making it a real hybrid with a couple of links of chicken-based Italian sausage there were waiting in the freezer. But you could skip the meat or go with something like leftover grilled chicken.

Seriously, you never know what will happen when you stare into a cabinet.

Black Bean and Coconut Milk Soup

Adapted from my brain and several online recipes.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 or 1 whole diced onion
2 cloves garlic, peeled and diced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 or 2 links of Italian sausage, sliced, or 1 cup diced, cooked chicken (optional)
2 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15-ounce) can coconut milk, preferably light
1 1/2 to 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth (canned or frozen)
1 tablespoon Asian hot sauce, such as sriracha
1 tablespoon peanut butter
2 tablespoons minced cilantro or a squeeze of lime juice (optional)

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, reduce heat to medium-low, and cover. Cook 5 to 10 minutes, until softened. Stir in the garlic and and cumin and cook 1 to 2 minutes, until fragrant. If you're using meat, add it, raise the heat to medium-high and saute until just cooked through or reheated.

Stir in the black beans, coconut milk and broth.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 to 15 minutes. If you want a creamier soup, scoop half the beans into a blender and puree (cover the lid with a kitchen towel so it doesn't splash) or use an immersion blender to puree some of the soup. Or skip all that and leave the beans whole. Stir in the hot sauce and peanut butter and cook a few minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Serve garnished with cilantro or a squeeze of fresh lime juice. .

Makes about 4 servings.

Want to learn how to cook in an emergency?

The phrase "culinary history" can sound like dusty stuff, with "receipts" for strange foods like pumpions and dried green beans.

Ah, but there is much to be learned in how people used to cook. Our local group of culinary historians, the Historical Cooking Guild of the Catawba Valley, wants to prove that to you with a class on Saturday, "Emergency Prep: Eatin' High on the Hog When the Power Goes out."

The class will cover things like equipment and supplies, how to "put food by" (canning, curing, drying, smoking and bucket storage), kitchen safety in the dark and useful resources. You'll get hands-on lessons in cooking in fireplaces, fire pits and gas cookers. You'll learn the tricks to washing up in a bucket. And you get lunch: pork barbecue, baked beans, corn cakes and apple crisp.

The class will be at the President James K. Polk Historic Site, 12031 Lancaster Highway, in Pineville from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The cost is $20, and advance registration is required. To check on whether there are spaces left, email Leila Merims at thebulldoggess@yahoo.com.


PHOTO: Pam Dudeck demonstrating fireplace cooking at the James K. Polk Historic Site. Courtesy of the Historic Cooking Guild of the Catawba Valley.

"Savor the South" book signings in Charlotte, Raleigh and more

We interrupt our usual newsworthiness to bring the list of book signings.

Yes, I have a book out, "Pecans: A Savor the South Cookbook" (UNC Press, $17.95). In case you missed last week's story, this is a series of books on Southern ingredients. It debuted last week with my book, "Pecans," and Debbie Moose's "Buttermilk."

The series will continue with at least 10 more, released a couple of books at time; I have a second book coming in fall 2013, "Bourbon: A Savor the South Cookbook." I'm tickled to be a part of this series, which includes all kinds of writers I know and admire, including John Shelton Reed on barbecue, Virginia Willis on okra and Andrea Weigl on canning and preserving.

Since this is the start of a long series, Debbie and I will be making the rounds of bookstores all over the state, favorite pens in hand, for book signings. Here's what's on the list so far:

Thursday, Sept. 20 (yes, as in tomorrow night), 7 p.m., Park Road Books. I'm delighted to start the signings here. Sally and Frazer are terrific supporters of local authors and cookbook authors.
Sunday, Sept. 23, 3 p.m., Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh. I've heard so many great things about this independent bookstore. I can't wait to visit.
Saturday, Oct. 6, Chapel Hill Farmers Market, 8-11 a.m. This is the one in front of A Southern Season. This will be just me.
Saturday, Oct. 6, Parker & Otis, Durham, 11:45 a.m. Love this store and the deli. If no one buys a book, I have to make sure I don't shop up all the profits.
Saturday, Nov. 3, 2 p.m., Barnes & Noble, Greensboro. Debbie and I will be back together at this one.
Saturday, Nov. 10, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Atherton Market. Yea, back in my hometown.
Saturday, Nov. 17, 7 p.m., Malaprops in Asheville. Not only will you get three UNC Press authors -- Debbie and I will be there with Fred Thompson and his new book "Fred Thompson's Southern Sides" -- you also get an excuse to hang out in one of the best independent bookstores in the country. I was so happy when they asked us to be there.
Saturday, Dec. 8, 1-4 p.m., Old Salem in Winston-Salem. I haven't been to Old Salem for the holidays in several years. I'm hoping to get at least one bite of hot sugar cake.

There are a few more still being scheduled, but that covers the fall. I hope you'll stop by one of these and say hello, even if you don't buy a book.