Chef and food writer Virginia Willis grew up in Georgia and Louisiana surrounded by food. She cooked with her mother and grandmother, fished, and enjoyed harvesting the fruits of her grandfather’s farm.
“There are photographs of me making biscuits at 3 years old standing on a chair in my grandmother’s kitchen,” she told me in a recent interview at her Hatfield home. “Fresh food and vegetables were always at the center of my life.”
Nevertheless, it took her a while to decide to center her professional life around food. She studied history at the University of Georgia.
“Even in college, I was the house chef,” she noted, recalling “glorious dinner parties.”
She went into retail management but found it unfulfilling. She confirmed that food was her calling when she met chef Nathalie Dupree, the doyenne of Southern cooking, and began a part-time apprenticeship with her.
“She took me under her wing, and I became one of her little chickens,” Willis said of Dupree. “On my days off, I went to her house.”
Soon, with Dupree’s encouragement, the fledgling chef enrolled in culinary school. Her first job after graduation was cooking on one of Dupree’s television shows. She went on to study in France at l’École de Cuisine la Varenne.
After her return to the United States, Willis worked as kitchen director for Martha Stewart. In the course of this work, she started to make the transition from chef to writer, and began working on her own cookbooks.
Her most recent book is perhaps her most ambitious one. It’s also educational, inspiring and delicious.
For “Secrets of the Southern Table: A Food Lover’s Tour of the Global South,” Willis and photographer Angie Mosier visited 11 states over the course of eight months, experiencing all four seasons in a region that offers year-round produce.
Each chapter of the book features essays about a couple of farmers, fishermen or food manufacturers, along with 10 recipes. The book illustrates the diversity of people and food in today’s South.
“Secrets” is anchored by the first two farmers Willis visited, both of whom farm land in Georgia that has been in their families for generations. Will Harris of White Oak Pastures raises livestock where his white great-grandfather settled in 1866 after being mustered out of the Confederate Army.
Siblings Matthew and Althea Raiford of Gilliard Farms raise organic produce (and use it in a nearby restaurant, where Matthew Raiford is a chef) on land they inherited through the generations from an African-American ancestor who began life in slavery.
Together, these two farms exemplify the commitment of many Southern producers to food, and to caring for the Earth and its residents. Their juxtaposition also intentionally reminds Willis and her readers of the South’s (and our country’s) history of racial division.
“Someone called (this book) my love letter to the South,” she said. “When you love something, you love it all. You love the beauty and the warts and all. … I know that the South is a really complicated region. There’s a lot of beauty in it, and there’s a lot of history in it, and there are a lot of problems.”
She takes hope from the ways in which the food producers she profiles are creating new histories.
Through the people she visits and the recipes she shares, she highlights the range of cooks and cooking styles in today’s South. She focuses on both traditional and new foods, foods that draw on a variety of ethnic traditions.
“I wanted to present the unexpected. I wanted to paint a bright and broad view of the South,” she said with enthusiasm. She also wanted to come up with recipes that were accessible to the home cook. As the dishes below demonstrate, she succeeded beautifully.
As we wrapped up our conversation, I asked Virginia Willis how spending time in western Massachusetts has fit into her ongoing culinary story. (She divides her time between Georgia and Hatfield.)
This Southern food lover explained that she feels right at home in Hatfield.
“There’s such an emphasis on local produce, it’s amazing,” she observed. “And there’s such a strong food community. I love the ruralness of it. … I strongly believe that food is grounded in agriculture.”
Willis will teach a class based on “Secrets of the Southern Table” at The Baker’s Pin in Northampton on Tuesday, Aug. 14, at 6:15 p.m. To register for the class, call 413-586-7978 or visit thebakerspin.com and click on “Cooking School.”
Willis and her partner recently hosted a book signing at their home in Hatfield at which several dishes from “Secrets of the Southern Table” were served. Of course, I went and brought along my appetite! Here are two of the recipes we ate. Both use produce that is in season right now, and both burst with flavor.
Ingredients:
1 lb. string beans (French-style haricots verts work especially well), stem ends trimmed
1 T canola oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
¼ cup very finely chopped fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tomatoes, cored, seeded and chopped
½ jalapeño pepper, or to taste, seeded and chopped
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Coarse kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil over high heat. Fill a large bowl with ice and water and set it nearby. Line a plate with paper towels.
Add the beans to the boiling water and cook until crisp-tender (about three minutes). Drain well in a colander, then set the colander with the beans in the ice water bath to set the color and stop the cooking, making sure the beans are submerged.
Once chilled, transfer the beans to the prepared plate. Pat dry with paper towels and then transfer to a bowl.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shallot and cook until tender (about three minutes). Add the ginger and garlic and cook until fragrant (45 to 60 seconds). Add the tomatoes and jalapeño, and cook until warmed through (five minutes).
Add the cooked green beans, and toss to coat and combine. Cook, tossing and stirring, until the green beans are heated through (three to five minutes). Add the cilantro; taste and adjust for seasoning with salt and pepper.
Ingredients:
3 or 4 small yellow squash (about 1 lb.)
3 or 4 small green squash (about 1 lb.)
Zest of 1 lemon, juice of a ½ lemon
2 T extra-virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, mashed to a paste with a pinch of salt
1 tsp. harissa or chile paste, or to taste
¼ tsp. ground cumin
Coarse kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 T chopped fresh parsley
Trim the stem and flower ends of the squash, and then use a chef’s knife to quarter each one lengthwise. Using the tip of your knife, trim away the seeds. (The seeds can make the dish watery.) Cut the squash into one-inch pieces.
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Without crowding, add the squash to the dry skillet and cook, stirring often, until lightly blistered on both sides and tender to the point of a knife (five to seven minutes).
Meanwhile, in a small bowl or jar with a lid, combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, oil, garlic, harissa and cumin to make the dressing. Stir or shake to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
Place the squash in a large bowl and drizzle some of the dressing over the top. Toss to coat and combine, and add more as needed. Sprinkle with parsley.
Both dishes are delicious served hot, warm, room temperature or cold. If serving it cold, make sure to taste and adjust for seasoning with salt and pepper, as chilling a dish dulls the seasoning. Each recipe makes four to six servings.
Tinky Weisblat is the author of “The Pudding Hollow Cookbook,” “Pulling Taffy,” and “Love, Laughter, and Rhubarb.” Visit her website, www.TinkyCooks.com.