Local gin guys get a medal

Cardinal Gin, a small-batch gin from Southern Artisan Spirits in Kings Mountain, was the only American-made gin to win double gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, held earlier this month.

The competition had 1,200 spirits from 65 countries. All spirits are tasted blind by 34 judges.

Cardinal also has won a gold medal from the Beverage Testing Institute in Chicago and got the highest rating for a domestic gin in 2011. Cardinal is hand-crafted with 11 organic and wild-harvested botanicals. It's distributed in N.C., S.C., Virginia, Georgia and New Jersey. For details on where to find it, go to www.southernartisanspirits.com.

One Great . . . asparagus salad topping

Do I run too many asparagus recipes in the spring? Guilty as charged. With no apologies: Asparagus is one of those things that tastes fabulous when it's fresh and disappointing when it's frozen or canned. When it's in season, you have to eat your fill because it won't be back in season for 11 months.

Still, eating your way through that much asparagus can get a little repetitive. I've worked my way through several cooking methods -- microwave-steaming, oven-roasting, pan-braising. But what I wanted recently was a new way to top it.

I found just what I wanted on www.seriouseats.com, which in turn adapted it from Jacques Pepin: A really easy dressing with chopped hard-cooked egg. I made it for an impromptu dinner party this weekend and it was tempting to skip the asparagus and eat the dressing with a spoon. (The sauce made a lot, though: You could half the sauce ingredients and only use one or two eggs.)

Asparagus With Dijon Mustard Sauce and Hard-Cooked Egg

3 eggs
2 bunches thick asparagus, bottom ends trimmed or snapped off (about 1 pound)
1 tablespoon minced chives (garnish; optional)
Sauce:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Pinch of salt and a few grinds of freshly ground black pepper

PLACE the eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil. Cover, remove from heat and let stand 16 minutes. Remove eggs to a boil of ice water or rinse to cool. Peel and roughly chop.

COOK asparagus however you like (it works great with this microwave-steaming method from Alton Brown: www.obsbite.blogspot.com.

MIX mayonnaise, mustard, water and vinegar in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

ARRANGE asparagus spears on a platter or on salad plates. Spoon the sauce over them. Top with chopped egg and chives (if you're into garnishing).

YIELD: 4 servings.

PHOTO: Serious Eats.

New blog for elderly cooks

Cooking when you're older isn't the same as cooking earlier in your life. Smaller appetites, diminished taste sensation and health issues all play into it. And then there's the whole issue of cooking for one or two instead of a family.

The Sunrise Senior Living centers have a new food blog to address that, Senior Eats. Updated several times a week, it includes recipes and short articles with advice on things like shopping for one. Take a look or pass it along to someone who could use the information.

Charlotte native bests Canadians in contest

Francie Rudolph, 24, of Charlotte is a culinary arts student at the Art Institute of Vancouver. But Rudolph took on Canada recently and was named the grand prize winner of a Canadian contest for pear recipes, the 2012 "Pear Excellence" Canadian Culinary Student Recipe Competition, sponsored by USA Pears.

Rudolph won $2,500 and coverage on Canadian TV with her winning dish, Pear and Sweet Goat Cheese Filled Beignets.

Rudolph went to Charlotte Country Day School and the College of Charleston before heading to Vancouver and the Art Institute.



Pear and Sweet Goat Cheese Filled Beignets

¾ cup warm water
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ envelope active dry yeast
1 egg, slightly beaten
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup evaporated milk
3 ½ cups bread flour
⅛ cup shortening
Oil, for deep-frying
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Pear and Sweet Goat Cheese Filling:
2 cups green Anjou pears, peeled,
cored, diced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, crushed
2 pieces dried orange peel
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon each freshly grated lemon zest and juice
¾ cup goat cheese
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

Spiced Nuts:
⅓ cup dark brown sugar
⅔ cup white granulated sugar
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
1 ½ teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 egg white, at room temperature
1 pound walnuts pecans, or hazelnuts
Candied Pear Chips
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 Green Anjou USA Pear
Port Wine Reduction
2 cups Stoney Ridge Forte Port (from Ontario)
1 tablespoon lemon zest

Beignets: Mix water, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl and let sit for 10 minutes.

In another bowl, beat the egg, salt, and evaporated milk together. Add egg mixture to the yeast mixture.
Add the flour to the yeast mixture and stir to combine. Add the shortening and continue to stir. Remove
dough from the bowl, place onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Spray a large bowl
with nonstick spray. Put dough into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a towel. Let rise in a warm
place for at least 2 hours.

For the pear filling: Sauté diced pears, ginger, and orange peel in butter over medium-low heat until
soft. Remove from heat and cool. Puree half the pear mixture until thinned out, adding lemon juice.
Stir in remaining pear mixture, soft goat cheese, honey, powdered sugar and grated lemon zest.

For the spiced nuts: Mix sugars, salt, cayenne, and cinnamon; set aside. Beat egg white and water
until frothy. Add nuts and stir to coat evenly. Sprinkle nuts with sugar mixture and toss until evenly
coated. Spread sugared nuts in a single layer on a cookie sheet fitted with parchment paper. Bake at 300
degrees for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven, and separate nuts as they cool.

For the pear chips: Bring sugar and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Slice pear on a mandolin
slicer, or as thin as possible with a knife. Add pear slices to simple syrup and cook for 1 minute. Remove
slices from pot and place onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 200 degrees for 2 hours.

For the sauce: Combine wine and zest in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce until the sauce is
thick and syrupy.

To prepare beignets: Preheat oil in a large pot to 350 degrees. Roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch
thickness and cut into 1-inch by 2-inch rectangles. Spoon a tablespoon of pear and goat cheese mixture
into center of dough. Fold dough over and pinch to enclose the dough. Deep-fry, flipping constantly,
until they become a golden color. After beignets are fried, drain them for a few seconds on paper
towels, and then dust with confectioners’ sugar.

How much do you love pimento cheese?

I know some of you aren't exactly reasonable on the subject of pimento cheese. So I'm just going to put this one out there and back up a few steps:

The restaurant Tupelo Honey in Asheville has started something the world is surely waiting for: A Pimento Cheese of the Month Club. For $199 (with free shipping if you order before Mother's Day, not that they're making a hint), you get six shipments, one every other month for a year.

Each shipment includes 16 ounces of "gourmet hand-crafted pimento cheese" from the restaurant, 7 ounces of grass-fed charcuterie from Hickory Nut Gap Farm, and artisanal vegan crackers from Roots and Branches.

For more information or to sign up, go to www.tupelohoneycafe.com.

And before you get all het up, remember: I did not willingly type the words "gourmet hand-crafted pimento cheese." I'm just the messenger, people.

2nd class for sausage fans

After the Harvest Moon Grille/Grateful Growers Farm sausage-making class sold out recently, they added a second one. This one is 2 p.m. April 29 at Harvest Moon Grille (in the Dunhill Hotel in uptown Charlotte, at North Tryon and 6th Street).

For your $30, you get a lesson from chef Cassie Parsons and Kelly Slade, and you get a package of sausage to take home.

The class is obviously very popular, so you need to reserve a spot. Call 704-342-1193 to do that.

Sam Talbot plans Charlotte book signing

Several weeks ago, I wrote about the journey of Charlottean Sam Talbot, who started out working in local restaurants when he was 14 and was an early finalist on "Top Chef."

These days, he's not only a celebrity chef in New York, he has a book, "The Sweet Life: Diabetes Without Boundaries," that's part cookbook and part lifestyle book on how he lives the high-profile life while managing Type 1, insulin-dependent diabetes.

Talbot will be in Charlotte at 11 a.m. May 12 to sign copies of his books at Park Road Books.

He doesn't come back to Charlotte all that often, so make sure you stop by and say hello.