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
By
Betsy Thaggard
Photos by Jacquelyn Torbert |
