Recent Feast is Tribute to a Legend
Edna Lewis, famed southern chef and cookbook author left a lasting impression on the food world. Two months shy of her 90th birthday, and the day before Valentine’s Day she passed away. Her longtime caretaker, Scott Peacock, hosted a feast in her honor at the Atlanta History Center, inviting many admirers and friends.
On that day in May, the Atlanta History Center was filled with some of the most well-known Atlantans of today - Jane Fonda; chef Anne Quatrano; Nikki Giovanni just to name a few. Guests shared stories of how Lewis touched their lives and left her indelible mark on the food world. Lewis was a woman of grace and simplicity. According to those who knew her, there is no denying the spiritual energy and magnetism that radiated from her. Nikki Giovanni shared a poem about the passing of Lewis, her mother and Rosa Parks.
According to feast attendee and writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, John Kessler, Edna Lewis had a reputation as a “skilled cook with a keen touch, a voice for the essential difference of pre-industrial ingredients, a chronicler of disappearing Southern foodways, and a civil-rights activist.” Lewis, author of “The Taste of Country Cooking” and “In Pursuit of Flavor” seemed to focus her efforts on simple recipes that require fine ingredients.
Host, Peacock and his staff from Watershed Restaurant prepared a generous feast of many of Lewis’ recipes for guests to enjoy. They dined on buttermilk biscuits filled with Smithfield ham and sweet butter, tomatoes and field peas and garlic mayonnaise, fried chicken and then for dessert; coconut cake, Sunday Night cake with caramel glaze and blackberry cobbler. A truly devine southern feast indeed.
Peacock sent guests home with a few mementos reminiscent of the late chef, including her recipe for mint sauce.
Edna Lewis’ Mint Sauce
1/2 cup chopped mint leaves
1 cup vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
Place chopped mint in top of a double broiler, pour vinegar and brown sugar over top. Keep hot, but do not boil.
