Beer and brats for breakfast in Davidson

They're calling it "Breakfast of Champions," but luckily, the food tasting at the Davidson Farmers Market on Saturday morning/June 30 (as in, tomorrow morning) doesn't start until 10:30 a.m. Still . . . you can sample locally made sausages and local beers provided by Summit Coffee.

You still need to get up early, though: There are only 100 tickets and they go on sale at 8 a.m. Tickets are $10. Go early, stay cool, and come back later in the morning.

The Davidson Farmers Market is between Main and Jackson streets, behind Summit Coffee and its neighbors. You can usually find free parking in the lots on Jackson; look for the red farm truck signs.

Serious Eats loves food trucks in the Triangle

Sure, I wish this was a slide show about food trucks here in Charlotte. But we did lag behind for a while, although we have a great crop of food on the roll these days. But the Triangle is certainly ahead of us.

To prove it, the food site Serious Eats has a slide show up featuring food trucks that are mostly around Durham. There's a steamed dumpling food truck called Chirba Chirba (above)? Who knew?

Foodtruck slide show here.

And if the slide show makes you hungry, go here for The Observer's map of food truck locations around Charlotte. (The Tin Kitchen is usually lurking outside my office on Wednesdays. Mm, tacos.)

PHOTO: seriouseats.com

Charlotte blogger featured for tomato recipe

Kelly Davis, a Charlotte cook who blogs about cooking on Foodie Fresh, has a recipe featured on a web site launched by a company called Lipman, the nation's largest grower of field tomatoes. Davis was one of 11 food bloggers nationwide who was asked to create a recipe for the launch of LipmanKitchen.com.

The recipe Kelly came up with was Crustless Quiche With Oven-Roasted Tomatoes and Basil. Now that both locally grown tomatoes and backyard basil are growing like crazy, it seemed like a good time to run it.

Crustless Quiche With Oven-Roasted Tomatoes and Basil

3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
8 Roma tomatoes, sliced 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick
6 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Use 2 teaspoons oil to coat a large baking sheet and place tomato slices on the baking sheet. Do not let tomatoes overlap. Bake for 3-4 hours or until tomatoes shrivel from dehydration. When cooking is complete, remove tomatoes from oven. Reserve 8 slices of tomatoes and chop the rest of the tomatoes finely.

Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees. In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk eggs. Add milk, basil, chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper; stir well to combine. Oil a 9-inch quiche dish (or pie pan). Pour egg mixture into dish. Layer reserved tomato slices evenly over the top of the egg mixture.

Bake quiche 25-30 minutes or until the center of the quiche is completely firm.

Cooking Sea Island peas

In my column Wednesday, I wrote about using the internet as a portable recipe search. Here's the recipe I promised, from chef Ashley Christensen of Poole's Diner (and several other restaurants) in Raleigh. It ran in Bon Appetit magazine in February and I found it using the Epicurious.com app for iPhone.

Sea Island Red Peas With Celery Leaf Salad

2 cups dried Sea Island red peas or black-eyed peas
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
2 cloves garlic
6 springs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup celery leaves (from the inner stalks)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley (optional)
2 tablespoons thinly sliced chives
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
Freshly cracked black peppercorns

Place peas in a medium pot. Cover with 6 cups water. Soak 3 hours or overnight.

Bring water with peas to a boil (do not drain). Boil for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; simmer, adding water by 1/2 cupfuls if needed to keep peas covered. Cook peas until they're tender but still hold their shape, 20 to 25 minutes. (They'll cook a little more later.).

Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon salt. Taste and add more salt if needed. (Can be made ahead to this point. Cover and refrigerate. Rewarm when ready to continue, adding a little more water if the cooking liquid is too thick.)

Place the garlic on a cutting board. Sprinkle with salt and chop, occasionally scraping up, until a coarse paste forms. (I crushed mine with salt in a mortar and pestle; it's a little quicker.) Tie the thyme and bay leaf in a bundle with kitchen twine.

Heat 1/4 cup oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add the garlic paste, thyme and bay leaf bundle, celery, onion and bell pepper. Cook until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes. Add the peas and their cooking liquid. Bring to a simmer. Cook until the flavors meld and the sauce is thickened, 10 tp 15 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in butter. Set aside.

Toast the coriander seeds in a small, dry skillet over medium heat, 2 to 3 minutes. Cool. Coarsely grind in spice mill or crush with a rolling pin or the bottom of a heavy skillet.

Combine the celery leaves, parsley, chives, lemon zest and crushed corander seeds in a small bowl. Drizzle with a little oil and toss to coat. Season with salt and cracked pepper.

Serve the peas topped with a little of the celery leaf salad.

Makes about 8 servings.

One Great . . . way to use zucchini

The calls and questions are coming in: What to do with all the zucchini. What with that rainy spring and all, zucchini seem to be growing to baseball-bat proportions overnight.

So a posting by food writer Regina Schrambling on www.epicurious.com's Epi Log quickly caught my attention Tuesday afternoon: A Turkish-inspired zucchini spread. Just the thing to serve with pita bread and a salad for a simple summer supper, or maybe dip up with crostini or pita chips. I showed it to my zucchini-growing co-worker and we both agreed it needed to be tried.

Luckily, I had everything but fresh dill, which was optional anyway. I even had Aleppo pepper (my spice cabinets overfloweth), but that's really pretty optional too. Otherwise, you just need Greek yogurt, a little mayo, walnuts and garlic. And zucchini. But that part shouldn't be hard.

Turkish Zucchini Spread

Adapted from food writer Regina Schrambling on www.epicurious.com

1 pound zucchini
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 cup (or less) plain Greek yogurt
3 cloves minced garlic
3/4 cup ground walnuts (see note)
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
A pinch of sea salt
About 3 tablespoons chopped fresh dillweed (optional)
1/2 teaspoon ground Aleppo pepper or coarsely ground black pepper

Grate the zucchini on the large holes of a box grater. (Schrambling suggested peeling a few strips off the zucchini, but I skipped that. Zucchini skin is so thin, there's no reason to peel it.) Heat about 2 tablespoons oil in a skillet over medium-high. Saute the zucchini for several minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

Place the zucchini in a bowl and mix with the yogurt, mayonnaise, garlic and ground walnuts. Season to taste with salt. To serve, spread it on a plate or small platter and sprinkle with fresh dillweed. Mix the pepper and 1 tablespoon olive oil, then drizzle over the top. Serve at room temperature.

NOTE: I ground the walnuts and the garlic together in a mortar and pestle, which worked great. It left the walnuts a little chunky, adding more texture. Or you could mince the garlic and pulse the walnuts in a food processor. One cup walnuts should yield about 3/4 cup ground walnuts.

Changes coming up at Vivace Charlotte

When I heard over the weekend that the restaurant Frazier's in Raleigh was closing, I figured I'd better check on Vivace here in Charlotte.

Vivace, the restaurant in the Metropolitan development with the stunning views of the Charlotte skyline, is owned by Raleigh-based Urban Food Group, which also owns Frazier's (along with Vivace Raleigh, Coquette, Chow and Porter's Tavern).

Kevin Jennings, who co-owns UFG with his wife, Stacey, wasn't surprised to hear from me, and he was quick to say that Charlotte's Vivace isn't going anywhere. "We've very definitely committed to the space," he said. He said sales at the Charlotte restaurant were up 15 percent in the first quarter.

The Frazier’s decision was based on practicality, he says. The restaurant space was too small to justify the kind of staff it had. He wants to focus on bigger spaces with more potential to do bigger numbers.

The Charlotte space, with a patio overlooking the greenway and the Charlotte skyline, is already booked for one night during the Democratic National Convention and he’s fielding a lot of other calls for it.

He also says he’s looking at adding another Vivace in either Denver (yes, Colorado) or Washington.

Jennings is planning changes in Charlotte, though. He's always wanted Vivace to focus on high-quality Italian ingredients. He thinks the current menu has gotten away from that and is planning to bring in a new general manager and a new chef, Meredith Antunez.

“I’m all about having that be one of the best restaurants in Charlotte. Our challenge is doing it with finesse.”

Love chardonnay? Go celebrate

Arthur's Wine Shop at Belk SouthPark is pulling out the corks to celebrate with a Chardonnay Wine Festival from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. It's $10 a person and they'll have more than 50 wines to pour.

You do need a reservation to attend. Call 704-366-8610 or send an email to arthurswineshop@bellsouth.net.