We walked past fragrant, loamy rows of sorrel and leeks, three sizes of carrots, and fresh herbs most people know only as dried-and-bottled on the supermarket shelf. Tomatoes were about to take over the section next to a plot where a scare-cat stood guard over lettuce. The pick of the day was a spinach-like green called tatsoi, for which Carter created a sesame-based stir-fry with pork.
"I've grown spoiled," Carter says of her nine years at Eastside. "I walk outside, ask what's available that day, and design the specials around it."
Besides her music, Carter has published two Eastside Cafe cookbooks with restaurant owners Elaine Martin and Dorsey Barger, and fans will be happy to hear that two more books are in the works. The summer recipe featured here was chosen after a very tough decision process because Carter says it works double-duty when it's on the menu: Customers often order it as the soup accompaniment to their entree, but save it for dessert.
Soup for dessert. So creative. So iconoclastic. So...Austin.
|
