Five and Ten (Athens, GA): Great Recipes!

One of my favorite restaurants is Five and Ten in Athens, Georgia. The food is Southern-inspired, and the menus change seasonally. The menus include local, seasonal veggies with seasonings that will blow your mind, Red Mule grits, boiled peanuts in sauces, the list goes on and on. To see a sample menu, visit http://www.fiveandten.com/. Right now they have some awesome recipes posted including Braised Pork, Brussel Sprout Salad, Hoppin John, and Artichoke and Spinach Gratin. See below for reprints or visit the website yourself [note: these recipes make a lot so you might need to halve the recipes], and next time you're in Athens, GA, make sure to stop by Five and Ten! Do you have favorite Southern restaurant? Drop us a line at thesoutherndish@gmail.com!

Artichoke and Spinach Gratin
"This recipe was imagined after reading Franks book, The Southern Table. His use of Southern staples in French food is so natural .... This is a great early spring side to accompany a nice grilled rib eye with a simple demi-glace vinaigrette." from Five and Ten's website.

2 T butter
2 onions, minced
3 quarts cleaned spinach
2 quarts, cooked and cleaned artichokes
6 eggs, soft boiled and peeled and cubed
2 t chopped thyme
2 T chopped parsley
2 cups leek crema
¼ t grated nutmeg
salt and pepper
1 cup grated parm
1 cup panko breadcrumbs

Butter a gratin dish. Set aside. In a large fry pan sweat down the onions in the butter. Cook for twenty minutes until nicely caramelized and full of flavor. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl gently mix together remaining ingredients except for half of the parm and all of the breadcrumbs. Add your onions. Season and plate evenly in the buttered gratin dish. Top with remaining parm and the panko breadcrumbs. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. One half hotel pan will yield 16 to twenty orders.

Braised Pork Shoulder
4 Pork shoulders, trimmed and trussed, salted and peppered
20 cloves garlic
½ cup oregano
2 bunches parsley, chopped
1 bunch scallion, green only, chopped
Zest of 2 limes, 2 lemons, 1 orange
1 tbl cumin, ground
extra-virgin olive oil (evoo)
blend with just enough evoo to make a coarse paste and rub all over pork shoulders
4 onions, thinly sliced
2 quarts chicken stock, brought to a boil

Divide the sliced onions between two 4” hotel pans. Arrange the marinated pork in them, add chicken stock, cover with foil and braise in a 350 oven for three and a half hours.

Brussel Sprout Salad
"Look, brussel sprouts get a bad name. Most of the bad rap come from being forced to eat drastically overcooked, mushy, under seasoned versions when we were young. This will open your eyes to the wonderful side of a much maligned vegetable. You won’t have to hide them in your napkin ever again. Roasted peanut oil is a nice thing to have around the kitchen. It’s lighter than a sesame oil but still has than fresh toasty taste. Get one that’s unrefined. No trans fats too!" from Five and Ten's website.

1 quart Brussel sprouts shaved thinly by hand or on small mandoline
1 cup roasted peanuts, slightly broken up
1 cup shaved pecorino romano cheese (or parmesan)
1/ cup pulled flat leaf parsley, lightly chopped

for the vinaigrette:
1 teaspoon Dijon
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon walnut oil
1 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
1 Tablespoon finely chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Put the mustard in a heavy bowl that won’t move around when you start whisking. Grab your whisk and slowly add your oils. If it doesn’t completely emulsify that okay, it’s just a vinaigrette and your guests will still be happy as can be. Conversely, if it gets too thick you can dilute with a touch of water towards the end. When the oils are all incorporated add your acids (lemon juice and vinegar) and then finish with the parsley and season. To plate the salad put the brussel sprouts, the peanuts, the cheese and the parsley in a salad bowl and lightly dress to your taste. Toss, season and plate.

Hoppin John
2 cups dried black-eyed peas
1 smoked ham hock
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large Vidalia onion, minced
1 cup celery, peeled and minced
1 poblano pepper, seeded and minced
1 medium sized sweet red pepper, seeded and minced
pinch of chile flake
2 cups basmati rice

Place peas, hock and bay leaves in a large pot and cover with cold water. You want to have enough water so go about two inches over your dried peas. Place on medium high heat and bring to a boil. Once the boil has been reached then simmer to medium- low heat and cover. Cook until peas are tender but not so far as to mush them all up. They should be tender but intact. If there is still a lot of liquid in the pot then drain it off keeping the peas in the pot. Cook your rice according to how you like it. I like 1:1.5 rice to water for basmati. I usually add some butter
to the rice at the beginning and then just cook it until its done. While the rice is cooking place a large fry pan over medium heat. Add butter and let the butter melt, bubble and froth. Don’t brown the butter though. Add the onion and celery and cook for four minutes stirring once
in a while. Add poblano and red pepper, lower heat to medium low and continue to cook for fifteen minutes until the flavors have really developed. Add the pinch of chile flake and add this mixture to your peas. Remove the hock from the peas and pull all the nice meat off and coarsely chop it. The bone and sinew can be discarded. Add the nice meat back to the peas. Now you can marry the finished rice to the finished peas and you have Hoppin’ John! Eat on many other
days other than New Year’s Day and you will lead a well-fed life.