Southern Spoonful: A Cozy Winter Supper

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The story below is from our January/February 2022 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you! 

Warm up with these recipes that are perfectly packed with flavor for chilly winter nights.   

When the weather outside is frightful, dinner by a cozy fire is delightful! Start with a winter citrus salad to brighten up your taste buds, followed by roasted pork with pepper, cognac and cream sauce served with classic French Duchess potatoes and lemony parmesan green beans. Settle in to enjoy the rest of your cozy evening with a hot toddy infused with lovely winter flavors of cinnamon, apples and citrus.

Winter Citrus Salad

4 servings

  • 1 head Bibb lettuce
  • 1 blood orange, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 1 naval orange, peeled and thinly sliced
  • ½ small red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
  • ½ English cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
  • ½ cup pomegranate seeds
  • ¼ cup fresh chopped mint
  • 1/3 cup roasted walnuts
  • Poppy seed dressing

Place salad plates and salad forks in freezer to chill while preparing salad.

Place Bibb lettuce leaves on a platter. Arrange blood orange, naval orange, red onion and cucumber slices on top of lettuce. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds, mint and walnuts. Serve with poppy seed dressing.

Poppy Seed Dressing

Recipe compliments of Christina Nifong.

Makes 2 cups

  • 1/2 cup sweet onion (about a quarter of a large onion)
  • 1 tsp. fine sea salt
  • 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
  • 1/3 cup honey (local if you can get it)
  • 1 tsp. ground mustard
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 cup canola or avocado oil
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp. poppy seeds

In a food processor, using the knife blade, chop onion, with salt, until ingredients are ground into a liquidy paste.

Add vinegar, honey and mustard. Process until all is well-mixed.

Mix two oils together in a pitcher or measuring cup with a spout. Slowly (so slowly!) pour oil into the food processor while processing. The slower you go, the better incorporated the oil will be with the other ingredients.

Add poppy seeds and mix gently. Pour salad dressing into an air-tight container (such as a Mason jar) and keep in the refrigerator for up to a week. If dressing separates, shake to recombine.

Duchess Potatoes

6 servings

(3 duchess potatoes per serving)

  • 2 large russet potatoes, peeled and chopped into cubes
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon white pepper
  • 3 Tbsp. butter
  • 1/3 cup grated baby Swiss cheese
  • 1/8 cup whipping cream
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 3 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place potato cubes in a pan of salted boiling water. Cook over medium-high heat until tender. Drain. Mash potatoes with a potato masher until they are smooth with only a few small lumps, but not so much that the potatoes become “gluey.” Add salt and pepper, butter and baby Swiss cheese. Stir until butter and cheese are melted. Add whipping cream and stir to combine. Add egg yolks one at a time and stir briskly into the potatoes.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (dab a little water underneath each corner of the parchment paper to help it adhere to the baking sheet). Place some of the potato mixture into a piping bag fitted with a ½” star tip. Fold top of bag over so the potato mixture will not come out of the bag (do not overfill the bag). Pipe 20 (each about the size of a 50 cent piece) round mounds onto lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle each mound with grated parmesan.

Bake potatoes for 10 minutes, rotate pan in oven, then bake 10 more minutes. Remove pan from oven, turn on broiler and broil 3–4 minutes until tops of potatoes are golden brown.

Pork au Poivre

Virginia Wine Pairing: OX-Eye Riesling 2020. Available at Mr. Bill’s Wine Cellar. $19 range.

Serves 4

  • 1.2 pound Smithfield roasted garlic and cracked black pepper pork tenderloin
  • 1 tablespoon black peppercorns, freshly ground
  • 1/2 tsp. salt (or a little more to taste)
  • 2 Tbsp. butter
  • 1/4 cup cognac
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream

Roast pork tenderloin according to package directions. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Slice tenderloin into ½ inch slices.

Melt butter in a frying pan.  Place pork tenderloin slices in the pan and sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Heat the pork over medium heat, turning once, for 2 or 3 minutes, until browned.

Carefully remove the pork slices from pan and place on a plate.  Add cognac to pan and warm slightly. Add cream to cognac and stir, warming for a minute or two.  Place the pork back into the pan and spoon the sauce over the pork. Serve warm.

Meyer Lemon Parmesan Green Beans

4 servings

  • 1 small shallot, minced
  • 1 Tbsp. butter
  • 12 oz. fresh green beans, trimmed
  • 1 Tbsp. fresh Meyer lemon juice
  • 3 Tbsp. grated parmesan cheese
  • ¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Melt butter in a small sauté pan. Add shallots to the butter. Stir and sauté shallots until lightly browned. Remove from heat.

Place green beans in a pot of boiling lightly salted water. Cook until crisp tender. Drain and place green beans back in pot.

Add shallots and Meyer lemon juice to green beans. Toss. Add parmesan cheese and black pepper to green beans. Toss. Serve warm.

Camp Craft Cocktail Hot Toddy

Infuse  whiskey, rum or bourbon (or hot water for a zero-proof toddy) with apple, cinnamon, star anise, clove, lemon and citrus conveniently packaged in a mason jar.

To make your hot toddy, place hot water in a mug to warm it. Discard water. Strain infused Camp Craft Cocktail. (Save infusion ingredients so you can infuse another jar – it won’t be quite as strong as the first, but equally as delicious). Place 1½ ounces infused Camp Craft Cocktail in the mug. Fill your mug with hot apple cider or hot tea. Stir. Garnish with cinnamon stick or a slice of dried fruit.

Craft Cocktail kits are sold at Ladles and Linens Kitchen Shoppe.

The story above is from our January/February 2022. For more stories, subscribe today or view our FREE digital edition. Thank you for supporting local journalism!