The Key Ingredient

Food writer Sheri Castle admits her love affair with homegrown tomatoes and talks with the “Tomato Man,” heirloom tomato gardening expert Craig LeHoullier. She shares her recipes for a savory summertime tomato pie and a cherry tomato and black pepper cornbread panzanella. Sheri also cooks along with Yordanys “Jay” Bastardo to make his Dominican tomato and shellfish gumbo.

Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? The egg clearly comes first in Sheri Castle’s lemon angel pie and deviled-egg salad. She rises early with the chickens to gather fresh eggs and cooks with food culture preservationist Gabrielle Carter, who makes Sheri swoon over gorgeous jewel-toned pickled eggs. Sheri also shares a helpful hint on how to quickly assess the freshness of an egg.

Sheri Castle visits Ocracoke Island in the Outer Banks to find one of the world’s greatest diversity of fig trees. She shares recipes for pan-seared chicken thighs with a fig pan sauce as well as a fresh fig, orange and bourbon crostata. On the island, Sheri learns the secrets to a prize-winning fig cake and shares a helpful hint on a way to quickly roast figs.

Sheri Castle shares recipes for Low Country-style red rice with shrimp and sausage as well as rice and garden peas in Parmesan broth. She visits Lee’s One Fortune Farm to see how it grows heirloom rice in the mountains, and then cooks with chef Ricky Moore for his “church lady good” rice and summer-squash gratin. Sheri also shares a tip on how to select the perfect rice for a recipe.

Sheri Castle heads to Old Orchard Creek Farm in Lansing, NC, to find fresh blueberries. She picks blue beauties with owners Walter Clark and Johnny Burleson and helps make a farmhouse blueberry pie. She shows us how to make blueberry parfaits with pistachio crumble and granola porridge with warm maple cream, and offers a hint about washing and freezing fresh blueberries.

Sheri creates a country ham salad and a peach and lemony ricotta salad. She heads to Madisonville, Tennessee, to meet Allan Benton, the King of Country Ham, who shares secrets about his legendary Smoky Mountain hams and bacon. Allan and his wife, Sharon, make two-ingredient biscuits and red-eye gravy, and Sheri gives a tip on using all the parts of a country ham.

Sheri Castle learns how Sunburst Trout Company of Waynesville, NC, gets their tasty fish from their farm to your table. She heads to the kitchen and makes a smoked trout and potato soup as well as cornmeal-crusted trout with a creamed corn and tomato relish. Chef Cleophus Hethington joins her to make a beautiful whole trout dish, and then Sheri shows how to safely store fresh fish at home.

Sheri Castle shows the freshest way to procure this beautiful berry. She tours the McAdams Farm in Efland, NC, and gets a visit from “Farmer Strawberry.” In the kitchen, she shares recipes for strawberry tiramisu trifles and an ice-box salad perfect for your next potluck, while baker Brian Noyes makes a strawberry buckle. Sheri gives a helpful hint about keeping strawberries fresh in storage.