Chicken Larb with Georgia Peanuts
A recipe from Chef Virginia Willis's new cookbook 'Secrets of the Southern Table.'
A recipe from Chef Virginia Willis's new cookbook 'Secrets of the Southern Table.'
Last weekend, the Deep South crew headed to Birmingham for the second-annual Food Blog South. With promises of delectable Southern food (there's a huge pic of okra on their homepage) and guests like Virginia Willis and Helene Dujardin, the event drew close to 200 attendees this year.
"The first time I had sweet potato grits, it was a revelation." - Chef Virginia Willis
Atlanta-based Chef Virginia Willis's bag of Southern recipes is filled with foods fit to grace the table at any holiday party. by Erin Z. Bass When Chef Virginia Willis contacted us over the summer to find out if we wanted to post a couple of her recipes on our site and add a copy of her latest cookbook, "Bon Appetit, Y'all: Recipes and Stories from Three Generations of Southern Cooking," to our library, we of course said yes. (I believe my exact response to her e-mail was: "I feel like I've been contacted by a Southern celebrity!") Virginia has worked with Martha Stewart as kitchen director for her TV show, where she cooked for President Clinton, Aretha Franklin and Julia Child, as well as tested and edited "The All-New Joy of Cooking." Her career in the kitchen began in Atlanta as an apprentice to Nathalie Dupree, credited with starting the "New Southern Cooking" movement that has spread through restaurants across the South. Dupree's influence can be found in "Bon Appetit, Y'all," which is distinctly Southern in feel without being cliche. Alton Brown may have summed it up best in his praise on the back cover: "Most Southern cookbooks, even the really
Serve these as a delicious appetizer at a holiday party or meal, courtesy of Chef Virginia Willis.