Featured
Woodford Salad — The Winter Edition
It’s sunshine on the plate, full of bright flavor!
Watermelon Wisdom
We took a trip out to the melon patch at Happy Jack’s Farm. David Jones showed us the lay of the land and shared his watermelon wisdom, including advice on picking out a winner.
Watermelon Salads
With so many watermelon salad options out there, we asked three of our chefs how they like to prepare this summertime treat.
Pickled Watermelon Rind
When it’s all said and done and you’ve savored the last of its sweetness, you’re still left with a lot of watermelon rind. Don’t toss it; make these delicious pickles instead and enjoy them after summer’s long gone!
Okra Fritters
Okra was just coming on at the Whitesburg Farmers Market while we were there. For this recipe, seek out the smallest okra you can. And don’t be deterred by okra’s mucilaginous quality; it’s the secret ingredient to successful fritters!
Growing Home
We spent an afternoon trailing Valerie Ison Horn around her Eastern Kentucky community. Learn how Valerie's advocacy for her neighbors led to a 2023 James Beard Foundation Leadership Award.
Little District, Big Job
How did tiny Frankfort (Ky.) Independent Schools manage to serve over 45,000 meals in six weeks? Learn what happens when a farmers market and a school district join forces to feed a community.
Green Gazpacho
Chef Hannah’s Green Gazpacho is the amuse bouche on Holly Hill Inn’s Restaurant Week menu and we’re already getting customer requests for the recipe. Enjoy it at Holly Hill Inn, then recreate its refreshing flavor at home when Restaurant Week is done!
The Seer of Frogtown
Jim Embry has made sustainability his lifework and was recognized for it with a 2023 James Beard Foundation Leadership Award. We took a drive out to Jim’s Madison County farm to learn about his vision for the earth.
Three Sisters Succotash
In honor of Jim Embry’s work on sustainability, we coaxed a recipe for Three Sisters Succotash out of Honeywood Chef Cody DeRosett. We took a few liberties with Chef Cody’s recipe but you can enjoy his version at Honeywood during Lexington Restaurant Week.
Stalks & Vines
Our beanstalks aren’t quite as tall as Jack’s yet but they’re getting close! Learn why heirloom beans reach for the sky and other gardening lore from our DirtWorks gardener and seed saver Ian Feeback.
Farmers Market Panzanella
Our panzanella recipe was inspired by Marcella Hazan’s “Bread and Vegetable Salad with Anchovies” from The Classic Italian Cookbook, first published in 1973.
Holly Hill Inn Corn Sticks
We’re exploring the Peytonia Cook Book, written in 1906 by Atholene Peyton, a domestic science teacher at Louisville’s Central Colored High School during the first half of the twentieth century. Try our Holly Hill corn sticks, based on her 100+ year-old corn muffin recipe.
Hewing to Heritage
Tobacco sticks once transported burley leaves from field to barn and barn to market. A few of them now support shelves sawn from salvaged wood, and frame delicate watercolors on the walls of our Holly Hill Cooking Studio.
Kentucky Spring Rolls
Cool, crispy, crunchy, fun to make and fun to eat, our Kentucky Spring Rolls can be filled with all kinds of farmers market veggies. Pick up a package of rice paper sheets and one of rice noodles and turn the production into a tasty project. Chef Tyler McNabb says these spring rolls are great just as they are, but feel free to add proteins like tofu, shredded cooked chicken, beef or pork; or poached shrimp or mussels.
Bonus! no cooking required except for boiling water to soften the noodles.
Growing Minds, Growing Bodies
Sharon Stone retired from teaching and turned her hand to growing food for the families of the kids who used to sit in her classroom. The Seedleaf garden she tends on Lexington’s E. 4th St. is a textbook example of all the ways in which citizens come together to nourish our community.
Sweet & Sour Southern Cherries
We stumbled across a cherry tree in Sharon Stone’s urban garden. Her husband had just picked most of the ripe ones but we tracked down more at a Frankfort friend’s house and made this quick pickle with bay leaves from our soon-to-be-open Cooking Studio. They’ll be perfect for your summer charcuterie board.
Bread & Butter Pickled Poke
Pokeweed is a foodstuff that people turned to when little else was available. In spite of its natural toxicity, it was and still is valued as a reputed spring tonic. If you’re feeling adventurous (and in good health), here’s a recipe from Chef Ouita Michel’s great-grandmother Myrtle Molly Zimmerman.
Peytonia Picnic Punch
It’s picnic season! Mix up a pitcher of this fruity, bourbon-spiked wine punch, adapted from the Peytonia Cook Book, written in 1906 by Atholene Peyton, Kentucky’s first Black cookbook author.
Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake
It’s rhubarb season! And it doesn’t last long, so take advantage of it by making this cardamom-scented upside-down cake, with its slight crunch of cornmeal.
Roger Solt - the hidden figure of Holly Hill Inn
He’s been a man of mystery for many years. Meet Chris and Ouita’s business partner and Ouita’s long ago college debate coach.