Ashley Mac, Mac, Mac, We'll Be Back, Back, Back!

After our big night at The Bright Star and all that wonderful James Beard award winning Chef Tory McPhail food, you might think we would never eat again.  You would be wrong.  The next day, after checking out of our hotel room, what do you think was the first thing we did before leaving Birmingham?  That's right...we looked for a place to eat!  We tossed around a few ideas, but Merri had been to a new place recently and since she had enjoyed it, we decided to try it out, too.

Ashley Mac's was started by Birmingham native, Ashley McMakin, and her husband, Andy.  Ashley began by catering out of her home, but business was so good, she quickly realized she needed to open up a shop outside of her home.  The first Ashley Mac's opened in 2007 in the Bluff Park area of Birmingham.  Now the business has expanded to two more locations in the Birmingham area.

Ashley Mac's has been getting a lot of attention lately.  It has been featured in Southern Living and Taste of the South magazines, in the Birmingham News and on blogs like Southern Plate.  Ashley has also been on local Birmingham stations demonstrating some of her yummy recipes.  She has really hit the big time now that Ashley Mac's is on Three Friends and a Fork!

The menu at Ashley Mac's is pretty extensive. It includes several kinds of sandwiches, from their Signature Chicken Salad and Pimento Cheese BLT to meaty varieties like Beef and Bleu or Hot Ham and Swiss and a Veggie Wrap for the non-meat eaters in your group. Likewise, the salad offerings are plentiful.  There are several varieties of leafy green salads, as well as Greek Pasta Salad, Fresh Fruit Salad and Broccoli Slaw.  Additionally, there is a Spinach and Feta Tart which can be combined with a salad or soup of the day.  Soups are available during colder months only.  We know, because we were thinking about getting some soup, but, alas, it was August and there was no soup.  The desserts included selections like cupcakes, brownies, shortbread and cookies.

 So, what did we order?

Well Merri and Julie got the salad trios which, for Merri, included Chicken Salad, Greek Pasta Salad, and the Mandarin Orange Salad

and for Julie, Chicken Salad, Mandarin Orange Salad and Broccoli Slaw. Their salad combo plates were beautiful and colorful.

Sherri had the Apple Havarti Sandwich made with sliced turkey, havarti cheese, fresh greens, homemade honey mustard spread and crisp apple slices drizzled with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette. Sherri had a side of fresh fruit with her sandwich.   That sandwich was filling, unusual and tasty!

I opted for the Signature Chicken Salad Havarti Cheese Melt, with a side of Greek Pasta Salad.  The chicken salad was piled high on a fresh, buttery croissant.  It was sooooo good.  I am not normally a big cheese eater, but that creamy havarti was perfect on the delicious chicken salad.  

No Mayo Lu went safely with the Spinach and Feta Tart and the Mandarin Orange Salad.  There was no way for her order to be ruined with a smear of mayonnaise, mustard or catsup with the selections she made.  She loved the quiche and the pretty salad.

We wound up our meal at Ashley Mac's with some of the Sweet and Salty Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cookies and the Almond Shortbread.  They were both delightful!  As you already know, I love shortbread, so that one was a no brainer for me and who doesn't love a chocolate chip cookie!  Yes, I know what you are thinking...after our meal the night before we should have left off the dessert, but, I promise, we only did it so that we could give you a complete report.  We are such professionals!

We enjoyed our lunch at Ashley Mac's and we will happily go back the next time we have a chance.  It is great to see an Alabama girl do so well in the culinary arena.  

 Three Friends and a Fork and our sweet friends, Julie and Merri, give Ashley Mac's
3 Homegrown Yums UP!

Pear and Rosemary

I love my herb garden and I love trying to find new ways to use herbs when I cook.  One of my latest obsessions is try to come up with interesting ways to add herbs to cookies.  I have recipes for lemon-thyme shortbread, orange-rosemary shortbread,  lemon-lavender shortbread, salted rosemary shortbread and cinnamon basil cookies.  As you can also see, I am a fan of shortbread as well.  So when I saw a recipe for rosemary-pear thumbprint shortbread cookies I just had to try it out!  The recipe was in a Fall Baking magazine from Taste of the South.  These just may be my new favorite cookie, so I wanted to share it with all our friends.  These cookies are easy, but you do have to allow for a 2 hour rest in the fridge to give the dough time to chill.  Here's what you do...

Vanilla, butter, corn starch, all purpose flour, fresh rosemary, confectioners' sugar and pear preserves

Cream 1 1/2 cups softened butter and 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar until light, fluffy and creamy.  This will take about 6 minutes. Add 1t. vanilla and 1/2 t. salt and mix well.  In a separate bowl combine 2 cups all purpose flour and 1 c. cornstarch.  Add this to the butter mixture and beat until completely combined.  Add 2 T. finely chopped fresh rosemary and mix well.  Shape dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap.  Place in refrigerator for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover cookie sheets with parchment.  Use a small scoop, make 1" balls of dough.  Place on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.  Slightly flatten each ball and make a thumbprint in the middle of the dough.  Fill each thumbprint with 1/2 t. of pear preserves.  Place in oven and bake until lightly browned, approximately 12-15 minutes.

The combination of rosemary and pear is a match made in heaven.  Try these sweeties and let me know what you think!

Get a Printable Recipe HERE!

Let the Good Times Roll: A Taste of New Orleans at The Bright Star

If you see Three Friends and a Fork and we seem a little uppity...well, it  is because we ARE uppity!  We've been hanging out with a culinary rock star and we've got the big head!  My sister's friend, Angie Moon ( I know...cool name!) mentioned on Facebook about going to the Bright Star in Bessemer to eat food prepared by the executive chef of Commander's Palace in New Orleans.  What!  Now you know we just couldn't let her do something so cool without the Three Friends getting in on the act!  So, we got ourselves online and got our own reservations to the event.  We even beat Angie Moon to the punch!  We went on Friday night and she didn't go until Saturday. Thanks for the tip, Angie!

The event is a collaboration of two historical restaurants.  The Bright Star in Bessemer is Alabama's oldest restaurant.  Since 1907, The Bright Star has delighted hungry folks from all over Alabama.  The Commander's Palace in New Orleans is equally historic.  It was established in 1880 and is owned by one of the premier restaurant families in New Orleans, the Brennans.  The current executive chef of Commander's Palace, Tory McPhail is one of the bright and shining stars of the culinary world.  He is the latest James Beard award winner and as the executive chef of Commander's Palace, he is in a long line of talented and successful culinary giants...Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse just to name two.

For our Taste of New Orleans adventure, The Three Friends invited some more friends and we decided to make it a spend the night party.  Our friends, Merri and Julie, and Merri's college friend, Susan, joined us for a fun night on the town.  We left Scottsboro and arrived in Birmingham with a little bit of time to check into our hotel and freshen up before our 8:00 pm reservations.  When we finally pulled up at The Bright Star, we noticed that the place was packed.  Even with reservations, we had to wait for a while before being seated.

At our table, our server presented us with the special menu for the night.  It was divided into two parts....The Bright Star side which included Bright Star specialties and the Commander's Palace side which had the selections Chef Tory McPhail would be offering for the evening.  I have to say, I was sorely tempted by the Greek snapper on the Bright Star side of things, but, since it is easier for me to get to Bright Star than it is for me to get to Commander's Palace, I opted to order from the Commander's Palace side of the menu.
Here's what we ordered...

Turtle Soup

Oyster and Absinthe Stew

For appetizers we tried both the turtle soup and the oyster and absinthe stew.  The turtle soup was rich and dark and delicious.  The oyster and absinthe stew was creamy and light and absolutely wonderful.  Everyone who ordered one of the soups was beyond pleased.

This salad was sooooo good!

 Then came the salad and we all agreed the honey roasted peach and sugar cane salad was absolutely one of, if not, the best salads we have ever had. The Chilton County peaches were marinated in peach schnapps and some other liqueur, the name of which escapes me now, and then grilled.  Wow!  With the candied pecans, blue cheese and barbequed Vidalia onions piled on top of tender baby spinach and then drizzled with a spiced rum and sugarcane vinaigrette, well, it was pretty darn close to salad heaven!

The Bright Star's famous beef tenderloin

Our entrees included the pecan crusted Gulf grouper, sugarcane laquered Manchester Farms quail and The Bright Star's famous Greek-style beef tenderloin.  The Bright Star is famous for that steak and they did not disappoint.  It was so tender you could cut it with a fork and full of flavor.  One of the best steaks I have ever had anywhere.

Pecan-crusted Grouper

The grouper was covered in spiced pecans and topped with sweet summer corn and Gulf blue crab.  It was, of course, cooked perfectly...very delicious.

But the entree that surprised us the most was the quail.  Our server actually recommended it to us and she was right on the money.  That quail was ah-mazing!  The description of being laquered was absolutely accurate.  The little birds were shellacked in a sweet and crunchy coating and then stuffed with andouille cornbread dressing.  Then they were perched on top of  bacon wilted Vidalia onions and summer cabbage.  My gosh!  Those little birds were so good!

A mighty tasty little quail!

For dessert, we shared Commander's Palace warm mixed berries topped with butter pecan ice cream. The berries were flambeed with orange peel, cinnamon, cloves, brandy and Grand Marnier.  Those berries were divine!

Berries...Oh, boy!

But the best part of our dinner?  It was when Chef Tory McPhail...the James Beard award winner...came to our table, played OUR fork like an air guitar and SAT down at our table!  Oh, yeah! And, not only did Chef McPhail stop by the table to meet us, but Jimmy Koikos, owner of The Bright Star, also came by to check out our fork.  We've hit the big time and will be signing autographs!

Lu explains the famous fork to Bright Star owner, Jimmy Koikos.

Mr. Jimmy takes the fork!

Sherri gets in on the action.

Rock star chef, Tory McPhail

Honestly, though, Chef McPhail is as cute as can be with a personality to match.  He told us about
growing up in Washington state where his family owns a huge berry farm.  He said when we buy raspberries at the store, they likely come from his family's farm.  He invited us to come visit him in New Orleans at Commander's Palace.  We are so taking him up on that offer and, Chef McPhail....we will be bringing our fork!

We've got our fork and we're ready to eat!

Oh, look!  There's that cute Chef McPhail at our table and with our FORK!

Three Friends and a Fork and our friends, Merri, Julie and Susan give The Bright Star restaurant and Commander's Palace and Chef Tory McPhail 3 HUGE Yums UP!

                   Laissez les bons temps rouler!