Featured
Southern Coconut Cake —
an heirloom recipe from Katherine McCutchen
A Little Happy Spot
We walked into Ruth Hunt Candy Co. looking for a bourbon ball story. We left with our story, a box of chocolate-dipped cookies, and the feeling that we’d just spent an afternoon with a big, boisterous family. Everyone was smiling and eager to share details of their work, and the personal imprint of their hands was obvious on every piece of candy.
From the Kentucky Governor’s Mansion
Our Kentucky Governor’s Mansion is proudly referred to as the “People’s House”, belonging to all Kentuckians. And it’s one of just a few executive mansions in the United States that are open to the public, as befits Kentucky’s legendary reputation for hospitality. So you can imagine how thrilled we were to receive not one, but two, recipes from the kitchen of the “People’s House.”
Our Bouquet Garni
A bouquet garni flavors everything we do. It’s the perfect illustration of our focus on Kentucky’s food culture – and how our stories grow richer together. Farmer and long-time collaborator David Wagoner has brought our bouquet garni to life on the grounds of Holly Hill Inn and is a wealth of knowledge and creativity.
Dressed vs Deviled Eggs
It’s the time of year when our fancy turns to springtime celebrations and racetrack tailgating. Holly Hill Culinary Director Tyler McNabb and Events Chef Scott Darnell share two delightfully different takes on how to dress up (or devil down) your fresh local eggs.
The Measure of Her Worth
Freda Raglin is 100% genuine. We can’t resist the pull of her stories or the lingering aroma of her famous yeast rolls or the realization that Freda is a self-taught culinary genius. Her innate skill and ability to create delicious dishes by taste and touch are a treasure worth preserving.
Shady Lane Chicken Salad
Chef Ouita named her signature Wallace Station chicken salad after beautiful Shady Lane. They make it in house every day with freshly prepared chicken, crisp celery, toasted almonds and sweet/tart dried cranberries and this is a peek behind the scenes.
Wallace Station Then and Now
Chris and Ouita Michel opened Wallace Station on Old Frankfort Pike in the summer of 2003. Referred to on maps as US Hwy. 1681 and by oldtimers as Shady Lane, Old Frankfort Pike is a national scenic byway. It’s a beautiful drive any time of the year but especially in the spring and summer as ancient trees embrace in the center of the roadway to cast a canopy of shade.
Salad for Ouita
Pamela Sexton wrote a poem called “Salad for Ouita.” It’s an ode to salads, a lyrical recipe. Chef Ouita built a salad with her mother’s poem as a guide and the contents of Holly Hill’s refrigerator as an inspiration. Where will Pam’s poem take you; what will go in your salad bowl?
Living Our Salad Days
Maggie Dungan grows fresh produce on her Salad Days Farm in rural Woodford County. We cherish her green lettuces in the dark days of winter and celebrate living our salad days all year round.
Penny’s Pumpkin Seed Vinaigrette
One of Chef Ouita’s family salad traditions included her mom’s pumpkin seed vinaigrette. Pam, or Penny as was her childhood nickname, made it every week and kept a small jar of it in the fridge. Enjoy Ouita’s secret tribute to her mom on any lettuce or cabbage salad, or as a dip with crudite!
The Incomparable Agnes
Chef Agnes Teresa Marrero Rosa infuses the warmth and spirit of her native Puerto Rico into everything Smithtown Seafood serves. Chef Agnes melds Puerto Rico’s sensuous tropical flavors with Kentucky Proud ingredients. “Every week, I try to put that on the menu in my specials. That’s my inspiration. My cuisine and the Caribbean and all that. I grab it with all my heart.”
Foraging Fools
Forager Storey Slone explores a local wildlife area with us, looking for edible wild plants and fungi. Along the way, she shows us that collecting and preparing wild-harvested products is a labor of love. A connection to the natural world and a reminder to be thankful for those things that are often invisible and yet bountiful in our daily lives.
Earth Apples and ‘Shrooms
The beauty of this dish is that you can make it with whatever is fresh and in season locally; this is what we recently found at the Lexington Farmers Market. Measure with your heart and based on your audience. Cooking for yourself? Maybe two potatoes, a handful of mushrooms and a fried local egg on top for a great meal. Cooking for a group? Go for a couple pounds of potatoes, more mushrooms and serve it as a side!
Treasure Hunt
Ray Papka has been foraging since he was a kid on a paper route in Thermopolis, Wyoming. But instead of food, he searches for discarded objects, found around us everyday, that contain inherent beauty or the promise of an idea. Then he turns those objects into vividly imagined and intricately composed pieces of art.
Dreaming Up a Restaurant
Chef Ouita Michel dreamed of a restaurant. Inspired by culinary icons like Julia Child and Madeleine Kamman, and the intersection of Old World traditions and Southern cuisine, she aimed to open a slow and one-of-a-kind place in a world of fast and casual eating. A restaurant that would celebrate history, agriculture, family, poetry and art and be an expression of Kentucky.
Lisa’s Étouffée
Former Holly Hill Inn sous chef Lisa Laufer loved New Orleans. Countless cooks in our kitchen learned techniques and dishes at her side but when it came to writing down actual recipes, she liked to keep some things to herself. That’s why we say our recipe for Étouffée was inspired by Lisa. Because we’re pretty sure we’ll never be able to duplicate the secret ingredient she added to every dish ~ her own ineffable touch.
Homecoming
Wendell Berry said “it all turns on affection.” For people, creatures, place and planet. Learn how The Berry Center and Our Home Place Meat bring to life this timeless advice from Kentucky’s leading philosopher, poet, and protector of our land.
The Art of the Menu
Writing a menu is an art form; take a peek behind the curtain at the creative process used by our renowned culinary team
Peyton Had a Little Lamb
Fruits and vegetables usually get all the local love but lots of Kentucky farmers raise livestock, too. Meet Peyton Zinner, one of Kentucky’s future farmers, and her lambs.
Put Love on the Table
Love should sustain us all year round. So we’ve compiled an arsenal of Cupid-worthy ammo to arm you in your own efforts at kitchen romance.