SIDEBAR: Recipes from Early Girl Eatery

As Wendell Berry notes, “eating is an agricultural act.” When we make choices about what we eat we directly affect the landscape where we live. When we eat locally grown food we vote for a local landscape that includes farms. Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) wants to make it easier for people concerned with the loss of local farms, and who want to eat the freshest and healthiest food, to find restaurants, grocers, and other sources of locally grown food. The ASAP Buy Appalachian program asks local businesses to purchase food from local farmers and to support local farmers by increasing their purchases whenever possible. All ASAP partners are listed in the Local Food Guide and on-line at www.BuyAppalachian.org <http://www.BuyAppalachian.org>. Businesses that make an exceptional effort to support local farms (while serving the freshest food!) will be profiled here. Become a Buy Appalachian Partner by visiting the website at www.BuyAppalachian.org.
Growing up in North Carolina gave John Stehling a deep appreciation for southern food and family farms. At Early Girl Eatery John and Julie Stehling treat their customers to wonderful made-from-scratch southern cooking using fresh food from local farms. From breakfast to dinner, Early Girl Eatery serves up southern food with a twist. All the food is made from scratch so they know all the ingredients, and it is made modern by using ingredients that are healthier, and as much as possible they use locally grown food from our Appalachian farms.
John and Julie make the extra effort to get to know the farmers that grow the food that they will prepare and serve to their customers. John feels that his relationship with farmers and the food they grow gives him more respect for the food. “I know the effort put into the food that farmers deliver to me. It reflects the pride of the farmers,” says John. And the fresh local, and mostly organic, food helps give Early Girl food that special taste. “Fresh food has texture, aroma, and feel that is lacking in food shipped from thousands of miles away. It is totally different when fresh.”

Even before Early Girl opened Julie and John visited local farms to find the highest quality and freshest foods for their restaurant. “We want to be a community restaurant and having food grown in our community is very important,” says Julie. You can enjoy fresh foods from Yellow Branch Cheese, Rock-a-Chick Farm, Myco gardens, Hickory Nut Gap Farm, Green Toe Ground Farm, Fobes Farm, Farside Farms, Sunburst Trout, and Warren Wilson Farm at Early Girl Eatery. Being part of the community means responding to the demands of their customers. “We now serve only free-range eggs because it is what our customers want. We also make sure that we have many vegetarian dishes.” Being a part of a community, John and Julie agree, also means supporting the local farms.
Early Girl Eatery is located at 8 Wall Street in downtown Asheville. They are open for Breakfast Monday through Friday from 7:30 to 11:30 am, lunch Monday through Friday from 11:45 to 3 pm, dinner Tuesday through Saturday from 5 to 10 pm, and brunch on Saturday and Sunday from 9 am to 3 pm. Daily specials featuring seasonal foods. Phone 828-259-9292.

Recipes
Granola
42 oz. dry oats
1/2 quart pecans
1/2 quart chopped walnuts
1/2 quart blanched almonds
3/4 cup sesame seeds
1/2 quart sunflower seeds
1/4 cup peanut oil
1 1/4 cups maple syrup
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups raisins

Preheat oven to 250F. Mix oats, nuts and seeds and spread thin on sheet tray. Toast in oven until toasty, stirring frequently. Combine syrup, brown sugar, salt and oil. Simmer and stir until homogeneous. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Turn oven up to 350F. In a large mixing bowl add raisins and then pour syrup mixture over grains. Mix thoroughly. Bake for 10 minutes at 350F. Cool completely before serving.

Tahini Dressing
1 cup organic tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 dashes Tabasco
2 dashed salt and pepper
1/2 yellow onion
1 roasted red pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1 heaping tablespoon minced garlic

Mix all ingredients in a Robot Coup or food processor. This dressing thickens as it stands. Thin out with water if necessary.

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