A Visit to Blackberry Farm
It’s always a wonderful treat to spend a few days at a luxurious resort and spa, even if it's all part of a business trip.
Last week, I was invited to Blackberry Farm, in Walland, Tennessee, to share my perspective on food and cooking with the resort’s guests as part of a two-day special event. While there, I gave a lecture and a demo of some of my favorite Easter dishes. I also conducted a book signing, and planned the grande finale dinner menu for the last night of our stay. Editorial food director, Sarah Carey, and director of food development, Thomas Joseph, joined me for the event, and also provided an informational demo and discussion. Frederick Corriher, the owner of Frederick Corriher Wine, a Charleston, South Carolina-based French wine import company supplied all the wines for the affair.
It was a lovely time at one the nation’s most celebrated hotels. If you're ever in the area, I encourage you to visit Blackberry Farm.
Enjoy these photos.
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- This is a table at The Barn, the fine dining restaurant at Blackberry Farm. The table setting is simple, yet elegant. The charger plates are from Bernardaud of France. http://www.bernardaud.fr
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- Blackberry Farm’s impressive wine cellar includes more than 150,000 bottles of wine in its collection.
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- The wine cellar is extremely well-organized and well-maintained. Blackberry Farm won the 2014 James Beard Award for Outstanding Wine Program.
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- Sarah, Thomas, special projects producer, Judy Morris, and my makeup artist, Daisy Schwartzberg stopped for a quick photo outside the wine cellar.
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- This is Frederick Corriher and his fiancee, Lindsey Walker. Frederick is the owner of Frederick Corriher Wine, a French wine import company specializing in grower-made wines. What was even more exciting was that he actually proposed to Lindsey on the first day of our visit.
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- Here, I am joined by Mr. and Mrs. Wishnatzki, the owners of a family run strawberry and blueberry farm in Plant City, Florida. http://wishfarms.com
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- A quick smile for the camera
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- I stayed in The Garden House, Blackberry Farm’s newest accommodation. It includes a main house and two charming cottages clustered nearby.
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- One of the cottages is called The Root Cellar – this is where Sarah stayed.
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- And, Thomas stayed in The Woodshed, the other cottage that is part of the Garden House accommodation.
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- Most of Blackberry Farm’s produce is grown in their fields. Blackberry Farm practices organic gardening. In this section are two hoop house for growing vegetables.
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- The Farm has an expansive vegetable garden, both indoors and out. This is the inside of one of the hoop houses. Blackberry Farm has three gardeners to maintain all the crops – a garden manager, the Farmstead School manager, and a master gardener.
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- These are hazelnut trees used as host trees for growing truffles. These trees were inoculated with the fungus under controlled conditions. Truffles will eventually grow on their roots.
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- This tree served as an original line-marker indicating the boundary between the newly formed United States and the Cherokee Indian Nation as defined by the Holston Treaty under President Adams in 1797.
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- This dining room is for the children. It is often offered for Camp Blackberry, a fun-filled fully supervised activities program for guest children staying at the Farm.
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- Here’s another peaceful spot to sit and relax – it was such a clear, sunny day. The Great Smoky Mountains, commonly shortened to the Smokies, are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border.
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- This is the spa, or the Wellhouse, where guests can enjoy weekly lectures, classes and demonstrations about beauty, fitness and nutrition.
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- Here I am waiting to begin my culinary discussion on Easter brunch and the dishes I plan to prepare this year, including salmon coulibiacs, pierogis and paskha.
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- The books were available for sale before my book signing began.
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- Here I am with Blackberry Farm’s proprietor, Mary Celeste Beall, wife of the late Sam Beall, a leader in the farm-to-table movement, who grew up at Blackberry Farm, and who made it into a national fine dining destination.
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- After the demo, I conducted a book signing. Here I am signing copies of “Appetizers”, “Clean Slate” and “Cooking School”.
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- It was so nice to see lots of guests line up. Many purchased multiple books for themselves and to give as gifts.
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- As always, I try to stop for quick snapshots during my book signing events. This couple also saw me at the South Beach, Miami book signing.
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- The farm designed plate sketches were done by Blackberry Farm’s master gardener, John Coykendall.
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- These are my salmon coubliacs, traditional savory Russian fish pies with poached salmon, celery, dill and cayenne.
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- This is a traditional Russian dessert called paskha. It is a festive dish served in eastern Orthodox countries and made to be eaten on Easter. It is typically molded into the form of a truncated pyramid. Here is my recipe. http://www.marthastewart.com/1144159/paskha
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- The paskha is decorated with traditional religious symbols, such as the “Chi Ro” motif, a three-bar cross, and the letters X and B. All of these religious decorations symbolize Christ’s Passion and Resurrection.
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- These are my potato and green pea pierogies. The recipe is also in my March 2016 issue of Living. http://www.marthastewart.com/1144156/potato-and-pea-pierogi
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- At the Garden Shed, I came across a very cute cat napping in a bowl of peppercorns and okra.
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- Here’s a large bowl of beans.
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- This adorable cat was very comfortable and very friendly.
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- And a big vessel full of corn
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- This is The Harvest Dining Room at The Barn.
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- The chefs are getting ready for the dinner service in the kitchen.
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- Freshly made baguettes
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- This is The Larder, where racks of salumis and charcuterie hang and dry.
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- Blackberry Farm makes and sells its own pickles and preserves. http://www.blackberryfarmshop.com/cook-shop-at-home/shop/pickles-and-preserves.html
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- This is David Rule, Blackberry Farm’s butcher.
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- Mary Celeste’s daughter, Cameron Beall, known as Teensy, created a special blend of chocolate chips, crunchy pecans, Southern corn, rice and buckwheat flours for her Chocolate Nut Chunk Cookie Mix recipe – and, it’s is gluten free.
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- Chris Osborne is Blackberry Farm’s master cheesemaker.
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- This is one of the cheese caves in The Larder, where there were lots of cheeses aging.
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- The cheeses were all in different stages of the aging process.
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- The cheese caves are in a temperature controlled area. The ideal cheese cave temperature used for aging is 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Most home cellars are 40- 55 degrees Fahrenheit, which make them a desirable aging environment.
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- Members of the Farmstead team – Chris, Preservationist, Shannon Walker, and David.
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- The grounds of Blackberry Farm are stunning. This is the small Boathouse on Walland Pond. Look at the pretty shadow of the fence on the footpath.
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- Kreis Beall, who purchased Blackberry Farm in 1976, attended one of my “Cooking School” entertaining classes many years ago in Westport, Connecticut. She saved the folder all these years because she felt the class was so inspiring – I was touched.
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- The demo took place in the Gambrel Demonstration Kitchen at The Barn.
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- I planned the final dinner menu, and decided we would have Pot au Feu. This was the meat for the dish before it was cooked.
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- Our editorial director of food, Sarah Carey, and our director of food development, Thomas Joseph, arrived at Blackberry Farm a day earlier.
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- After their demo, Thomas and Sarah posed for a photo with The Barn’s executive chef, Cassidee Dabney, Farmstead School manager, Jeff Ross, and Blackberry’s owner, founder and director of design, Kreis Beall.
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- They did a kitchen demo for the guests. It was a masterclass in pies – sweet crusts and savory pies, pie crusts, Kitchen Conundrum tips, and custard fillings and meringue.
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- And, this is the Lemon Meringue Pie.
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- This is a breed that comes from the Romagna sub-region of Italy. The name means “lake dog from Romagna,” originating from the Italian word lago, meaning lake. Its traditional function is a gundog, specifically a water retriever; however, it is often used to hunt for truffles.
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- As part of the demo, they also made two dishes. This is the rainbow swiss-chard quiche with phyllo dough. The recipe is from our March 2016 issue of Living. http://www.marthastewart.com/1144107/rainbow-chard-quiche
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- The Pot au Feu was served with short rib, veal shank, beef brisket, and winter vegetables. Every meal was paired with an appropriate wine donated by Frederick Corriher. http://www.marthastewart.com/916498/how-make-pot-au-feu-part-1
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- To accompany the pot au feu, French baguettes were served with whole grain mustard, cornichons, beet horseradish, horseradish, and fruit mostarda.
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- Here I am with Kreis Beall.
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- This is master gardener, John Coykendall.
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- I always enjoy book signing events because I get to meet so many interesting people. Many of them share stories of how I’ve inspired them over the years.
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- Thomas helped me remove the paskha from the mold.
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- Judging by the well-worn dirt hole under the swing, this is probably a popular spot to enjoy the scenery and the views.
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- Garden manager, Michael Washburn
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- The Garden Shed is where the day’s harvested produce is stored, and where ingredients are allowed to dry or ripen. On the table are bowls and plates of beans and corn.
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- Blackberry Farm owns several Lagotto Romagnolo dogs. The Lagotto is used primarily as a truffle-searching dog.
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- This is the inside of The Garden House – it was very comfortable and luxurious.
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- We also had our own screened-in porch.
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- More than 140-guests attended my lecture, demo and book signing event. Many of them are Blackberry Farm regulars, and enjoy the special culinary discussions with visiting experts.
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- Blackberry Farm is located on a 4,200 acre estate in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in Walland, Tennessee, and includes more than 60-luxury and cottage style rooms. http://www.blackberryfarm.com
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- Blackberry Farm’s artisanal cheeses are made from the milk of their East Friesian sheep, a breed of dairy sheep originating from East Frisia in northern Germany. It is among the best sheep breeds for producing the highest milking yield per ewe.
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- Here’s a view of the Boathouse from the other direction.
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- I love this fence – I would love this for my farm at Bedford.
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- It was a lovely time at Blackberry Farm.
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- The menu included Fresh Green Salad, Pot au Feu, French Baguette and for dessert, a Citrus Sorbet with Brown Butter Shortbread.
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- Chef Cassidee with her two sous chefs, Trevor and Joey
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- When not in use, the beds are raised into the ceiling, so fitness and yoga classes could be conducted below.
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- In the spa’s tranquility room, beds are raised from the floor and hung from the ceiling using strong rope. These beds are often used after spa treatments, where guests can relax and enjoy a little cradling.
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