The rare occasion that brings friend and colleague Robb Warfield to the house must be celebrated in style. That's why Tuesday's dinner proved perfect to break out an enduring favorite from the Tupelo Honey Cafe bookbook: lamb and multi-mushroom meatloaf, along with smashed sweet potatoes and hoisin-roasted whole green beans. I'm getting dangerously close to the 20-year mark of knowing Robb, beginning when he helped launch the new Atkins High School magnet programs here in Winston-Salem. We still work together today, although it involves me flying over to Senegal where he is superintendent of Dakar Academies.
Special company called for a special appetizer, and it was easy enough to serve up a fresh dish of warm Swiss, Gruyère, and bacon dip as the evening got underway.
The first time Robb was scheduled to sup here was almost 13 years ago, and it was a bust because my hot water heater had gone on the fritz and I couldn't make dinner as a result! As has dependably been the back-up on similar occasions, that night so many years ago we just dashed around the corner to Foothills for our meal. I'm glad this year everything worked out and we could keep the dinner party here in the glorious confines of the Roediger House.
"Lamb and Multi-Mushroom Meatloaf" (p. 150) and "Smashed Sweet Potatoes" (p. 128), in Tupelo Honey Cafe: Spirited Recipes from Asheville's New South Kitchen, by Elizabeth Sims with Chef Brian Sonoskus. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing (2011).
"Swiss and Bacon Dip," from Rachael Ray. Available online at the Food Network website.
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