While my quarantine cooking regime started with elaborate doughs that required three separate rises and two days of planning, I quickly settled into a routine of reliable, delicious recipes that require far less planning or time. These biscuits have become a fixture in my kitchen – within 20 minutes, I can pull a tray of warm goodness from the oven, perfect on their own, or topped with honey, chutney, or one of my favorite sweet or savory recipes below to complete the brunch, meal or snack. The heavenly aroma and joy of wrapping them in a fresh tea towel was the inspiration behind this “Biscuit Brunch” gift pack. It includes the dry ingredients for Cathead Biscuits, named for the supposed size comparison, though my daughters call them Kittenhead Biscuits. We also included some locally crafted add-ons (Elysium honey! Virginia Chutney!) as well as a hand-stamped tea towel from local Charlottesville artist Emily Ruth Prints to wrap the warm biscuits. And no gift would be complete without some delicious bottles of Early Mountain wine.

We hope that this gift brings joy to each recipient! Please share pictures of how you dress them up or enjoy them just as they are, fresh from the oven.

Cheers,

Aileen Sevier, Director of Marketing (aka Biscuit Fanatic)

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Cathead Biscuits

Adapted from "Secrets of the Southern Table" -Virginia Willis

Dry Ingredients (included in the Ball Jar):

3 cups White Lily flour + 4 T to roll

1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt

Fresh Ingredients (Not included)

6 T. cold unsalted butter - cut into pieces

1 1/2 cups buttermilk (if you don’t have buttermilk, use 1 ½ cups milk +1 ½ tablespoons fresh

lemon juice or white distilled vinegar

Preheat Oven to 500°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a bowl, combine the jar ingredients with the cold butter and cut together with a pastry cutter or two knives until it resembles course meal.

Add buttermilk and combine until just mixed. It will be a shaggy mass.

Turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead 4-5 times gently.

Using a lightly floured rolling pin (or empty wine bottle) roll out to about 1 inch thick. Using a 3-4 inch cutter (or large glass), dip it in flour and then cut out biscuit shapes. Transfer to baking sheet with about 1 in. spacing.

Bake until golden brown 10-12 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool slightly. Serve warm and fresh with jam or honey. Makes 6-7 biscuits.

Or if you’d like to turn your biscuits into a full meal, top with a delicious savory dish. I love Lee Bailey’s Tarragon Creamed River Shrimp & Chicken, simplified below:

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Creamed Shrimp, adapted from Lee Bailey’s recipe in Southern Food & Plantation Cooking

Ingredients:

¾ cup butter

½ cup chopped green onion (or sub small diced yellow onion)

Small bunch of fresh herbs such as tarragon (my favorite!) or thyme

1 cup chopped red pepper (yellow or orange are fine too! I don’t like green)

2 cups thick sliced fresh mushrooms (or if you or your children dislike mushrooms, peas are a delicious substitute)

¾ cup dry white wine (Pinot Gris is delicious!)

2 cup shrimp, smaller sized (or crawfish tails – Costco has frozen langoustine that is also delicious in this recipe).

Chopped chicken breast can also work)

2 Tablespoons flour

2 cups Half and Half (or Whole milk, which is what I usually use)

Dash of nutmeg or paprika

Salt and pepper to taste

Melt ¼ cup butter in a large saucepan and add the onion. Sauté until softened (1 minute for green onion, 4-5 minutes for yellow onion). Add the mushroom and red pepper and continue to sauté a few minutes. Add ½ cup of the white wine and turn up the heat. (Pour yourself a glass if you haven’t yet! Cooking deserves a reward ;)) Once the wine is half evaporated, add the shrimp (or chicken, or crawfish, or a combination). Sauté until cooked through. If you are using peas instead of mushrooms, add once the shrimp is almost done cooking. Remove from heat.

In a new saucepan, add ½ cup butter and melt over medium heat. Once the butter is bubbly, add the flour and whisk. Turn to low and let cook, continuing to whisk, until the flour smells slightly toasty. Whisk in the milk or half and half, continuing to whisk. If it starts to clump, just keep whisking until it smooths. Keep over low heat until there are some lazy bubbles and the sauce thickens. Add the remaining wine (1/4 cup) and some fresh chopped herbs. Season with salt and pepper, a few grates of fresh nutmeg (optional) or some sweet paprika. Whisk again. Combine the seafood/veggies with the sauce and warm through. Serve over fresh Cathead Biscuits with a sprinkling of paprika and fresh herbs on top.

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Holiday's are when even Chef's pull out those stained recipe cards written out years ago and cook the dishes that evoke memories of holiday's past. Often the thread of heritage can be found in this cooking, for Tim, the Slovakian culture of his wife's family and for Dan, the Italian roots of his mother.

Chef Dan's Anise Easter Bread (From his mom)

INGREDIENTS

• 9 lbs Flour
• 3 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 T salt
• 9 eggs slightly beaten
• 1 1/2 large yeast cakes or 4 packages dry yeast dissolved in 1 cup warm water
• 3 cups scalded milk
• 2-4 cups warm water
• 1 1/2 cap melted Crisco, cooled completely
• 2-3 T anise extract or 1 T anise oil

ASSEMBLE

• Mix together dry ingredients and then add liquids.
• Knead until smooth and bubbles form, use 4 cups of flour for this step.
• Grease pan, cover with a towel and make the sign go the cross over the bread three times.
• Let rise and punch down twice.
• Form brands. Let rise again in greased pan.
• Heat oven to 325 degrees.
• Brush tops of bread with egg whites and tuck in beautifully colored eggs.
• Bake until golden brown.

Chef Tim's Slovak Stuffed Cabbage

INGREDIENTS

• 1 head green cabbage
• ¾ C white rice
• ¾ C water
• 1 finely chopped medium yellow onion
• 4 Tbl butter
• 1 ½ lb ground chuck
• 1/2 lb ground pork or pork sausage
• 1 large egg
• ½ C breadcrumbs or panko
• 2 ea cloves minced garlic
• 1 Tbl carraway seeds
• 1 Tbl paprika
• 1 ea 14 oz jar tomato sauce
• 1 ea 14 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 20 oz beef stock (or water if not available)
• To taste: salt & pepper
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Pre-heat oven to 350F

Core cabbage and place whole head in a large pot with salted, boiling water. Cover and cook 3 mins or until soft enough to pull off outer leaves. Remove leaves and return cabbage to pot for another 3 mins until next layer of leaves soften. You'll need approximately 18 leaves.
When leaves are cool enough to handles, use a paring knife to remove thick center stem from each leaf, cutting all the way through in a "V" shape.
Rough chop remaining cabbage and placed in the bottom of a large, greased Dutch oven.
Rinse rice and cook it in water until water has been absorbed. Remove from heat and let cool.
Sauté onion in butter until tender and cool.
In a large bowl, mix cooled rice, cooled onions, beef, pork, egg, garlic, carraway seeds, salt & pepper to taste, paprika, panko and 1/3 of tomato sauce and blend thoroughly. Don’t overmix as meat will become tough.
Place about 1/3 of a cup of mixture in each cabbage leaf and flip the sides to seal. Roll away from you to package. Add to dutch oven, seam side down.
Layer with remaining tomato sauce top with crushed tomatoes. Add enough beef stock to cover rolls.
Cover and bake for 2-2 1/2 hours & serve with sour cream (add juice and zest of 1/2 lemon to sour cream to brighten dish a bit)

As we have all been cooking much more at home, Chef Tim Moore, Early Mountain's Executive Chef, has filmed some easy instructional videos to make delicious restaurant meals at home. Check out the full video HERE and the recipe below.

‍Steak: (Lakota Ranch)
‍‍4 ea – 5oz Beef Tenderloin Medallions
3 ea – Cloves Garlic (smashed)
1 ea - Sprig Rosemary
1 ea - Sprig Thyme
1 Tbl – Unsalted Whole Butter
1 Tbl – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Cracked Black Peppercorn, to taste
Kosher Salt, to taste

Potatoes:
‍5 ea – Idaho Potatoes
1 qt – Heavy Cream
6 ea – Cloves Garlic (minced)
1/3 C – Parsley (chopped)
1 Tbl – Kosher Salt
2 Tbl – Unsalted Whole Butter

Salad:
‍½ lb – Local Spring Mix (washed)
‍Vinaigrette:
‍½ C – Balsamic Vinegar
½ C – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
¼ C – Sugar
1 tsp – Whole Black Peppercorn

Method for Steak:

• Temper beef at room temperature for about 15 minutes. While beef is tempering, heat a large sauté pan to medium-low heat. Salt and pepper both sides of beef and turn burner heat up to medium-high heat.
• Pour olive oil into hot pan. After oil is to its smoking point, very carefully place beef into pan (making sure not to splash hot oil). Give each steak a nice press down to ensure complete surface area is in contact with pan. Let sear for about 4-5 minutes.
• Check each steak individually for nice and consistent caramelization. After this is complete, carefully flip steaks and begin to sear other side of the beef.
• After about 2 minutes; add butter, thyme, rosemary and garlic to pan. Using a spoon, baste steaks for 2-3 minutes.
• After basting is complete, remove steaks from pan and let rest on a cutting board for 5 minutes.

‍Method for Potatoes:

• Wash, peel, and cut potatoes into a medium size dice (between the size of a nickel and a quarter)
• Add diced potatoes and heavy cream to a large pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn heat down to a medium-low heat and simmer. Stir occasionally to ensure cream doesn’t scorch on the bottom of the pot.
• Simmer potatoes until very tender. Add garlic and let cook for another 3 minutes. Turn burner off and remove from heat.
• Strain potatoes (making sure to reserve heavy cream) and add them back to the pot.
• Add butter, parsley, and salt; using a medium whisk, start to mash and whisk potatoes.
• While stirring, add reserved heavy cream to potatoes until desired consistency is obtained. Taste and season further if needed.

‍Method for Vinaigrette:

• Add all ingredients into a blender and blend on high for 30 seconds.
• Pour into a vessel of your choice and reserve for later use.

Harvest Squash Souppaired with Early Mountain Vineyards 2012 Pinot Gris
Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio are one in the same; however, our 2102 Pinot Gris is unlike other varieties of its kind: with its more exotic and subtropical profile, like guava and papaya, it can certainly hold up to the rich, fleshy flavors of squash. The wine's bracing acidic finish also coincides perfectly with its antithesis: the creamy weight and decadence of this wintry soup.Chef Jenn's Harvest Squash Soup:

• 1 stick butter
• 1 large sweet onion, sliced
• 1 large rutabaga, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 small butternut squash, peeled and roughly chopped (you can also use the pre-cut butternut)
• 5 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• ‍2 granny smith apples, peeled, core removed and roughly chopped
• water (enough to cover the vegetables)
• 1 cup heavy cream (or coconut milk can be used)
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• a dash of cayenne pepper (to taste)

In a large pot, over medium heat, add the butter and onions. Cover and allow the onions to break down for about 10 minutes. Stir every few minutes. Add the additional vegetables along with 1 tablespoon of sea salt, and enough water to cover the vegetables. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer for about 30 minutes, or until all of the vegetables are soft and easily break apart. Remove from the heat and carefully puree the soup in small batches in a blender until smooth. Add the heavy cream, additional salt, cayenne and maple syrup while blending. Add water to adjust the consistency and additional salt and maple syrup as needed, or to your personal preference. Enjoy!