RECIPES

from Edible Columbus Summer 2021

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

LEMON BLUEBERRY SCONES

Makes 8 servings

Lemon Blueberry Scones might just be the perfect summer breakfast—or dessert! Filled with blueberries, lemon candies and vanilla, these scones from Hannah Lewis of The Beard and the Baker have delicious, fresh summer flavors. Serve these scones at a weekend brunch or make a batch for the week ahead and enjoy with a cup of coffee while watching your garden grow. If you’ve never made scones at home before, give them a try.

Ingredients 2 cups flour ½ cup white sugar 2½ teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon salt ½ cup butter, frozen ½ cup canned coconut milk (high fat) 1 egg 1½ teaspoons Rodelle vanilla extract 1 heaping cup frozen blueberries (do not thaw) ½ cup blueberry lemonade Wilton Candy Melts Directions Add flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together in a large bowl. Grate the frozen butter onto a plate using a cheese grater. Carefully add to the flour mixture and combine with your hands (pastry cutter or forks work, too) until the mixture comes together in about pea-sized crumbs. Set bowl in fridge.

In a small bowl, whisk coconut milk, egg and vanilla extract until combined. Remove flour bowl from fridge and drizzle coconut milk mixture into it. Add frozen blueberries and, using a rubber spatula, combine all ingredients until fully mixed with minimal dry spots.

Pour dough onto a floured counter and work into a ball, flouring your hands as needed. If dough is too sticky, add more flour. If dough is too dry, add a little bit more coconut milk. Shape into an 8-inch disc and then cut into 8 wedges using a knife or bench scraper.

Brush scones with coconut milk, then set on a parchment- or silicone-lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes, or longer.

Once ready to bake, preheat oven to 400°F.

Bake scones for 22–25 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges and lightly browned on top. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack while you prepare your blueberry lemonade Candy Melts.

Melt according to Candy Melt package then drizzle over slightly cooled scones and enjoy!

Find more of Hannah’s recipes at her blog (thebeardandthebaker.com) and on Instagram (@thebeardandthebaker) and Facebook (facebook.com/thebeardandthebaker).

STEELHEAD TROUT WITH GARLIC HERB BUTTER

Makes 4 servings

If you like fish, you’ll love this delicious Steelhead Trout with Garlic Herb Butter recipe. Steelhead trout are rainbow trout that venture into the ocean. When this happens, they grow larger and change color to look very similar to a salmon. This easy recipe from Christina Musgrave of Tasting with Tina involves baking a whole steelhead fillet topped with a garlic herb butter. This recipe is delicious and versatile! Serve with vegetables, on a salad, or chilled on toast as an appetizer.

Ingredients ½ stick softened butter Small handful basil, oregano and Italian parsley 2 cloves garlic, diced Pinch of salt and pepper 1 whole steelhead trout fillet Lemon slices

Directions Preheat oven to 350°F.

Make your garlic butter: Chop your herbs and mix with the butter and garlic. Stir well and add a pinch of salt and pepper.

Lay trout fillet on a lined baking sheet. Spread the herb butter all over the fish, coating evenly. Top fish with lemon slices.

Bake for 25–30 minutes, or until done to your liking.

You can find more of Christina’s recipes at her website (tastingwithtina.com) or on Instagram (@tasting.with. tina) or Facebook (facebook.com/tastingwithtinablog).

PRICKLY PEAR MARGARITA

Makes 1 serving

Laura Lee Pendy of the blog Cuisine & Cocktails cools down summer heat with this Prickly Pear Margarita. Filled with tequila, orange liqueur, lime juice, agave, prickly pear and jalapeño, this sweet and spicy cocktail is sure to be a hit. Serve this for a taco night on your backyard patio, or for a happy hour with friends. Directions Add all ingredients to a shaker.

Muddle pear and jalapeño into liquid.

Add ice. Shake 60 seconds.

Double strain into a glass with fresh ice.

Garnish with jalapeño and prickly pear slice.

Ingredients 2 ounces silver tequila ¾ ounce orange liqueur ½ ounce fresh lime juice ½ ounce agave syrup ½ of a prickly pear, removed from skin (simply scoop out with spoon) 2–3 fresh jalapeño slices You can find more of Laura’s recipes at the Cuisine & Cocktails website (cuisineandcocktails.com), and on Instagram (@cuisineandcocktails) and Pinterest (pinterest.com/cuisineandcockt).

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE PECAN BANANA BREAD

Yields 1 loaf

If you’ve been part of the banana bread craze over the past year, this recipe is for you. Local blogger and baker Autumn LeAnn makes a twist on banana bread that is delicious year round. Double Chocolate Pecan Banana Bread is a flavor-packed sweet treat. Our tip: Chill in the refrigerator before serving for a great way to beat the heat.

Ingredients 3 bananas ½ cup unsalted butter, melted ¾ cup brown sugar ½ cup granulated sugar 1 egg 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt 1 cup all-purpose flour ½ cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder (you can use any brand, but this is my personal favorite) ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips ½ cup chopped pecans

Directions Mix together the bananas, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg, vanilla extract and salt in one bowl until evenly combined.

In a different bowl, whisk together the baking soda, all-purpose flour and cocoa powder.

Add 1/3 of flour mixture to banana mixture and fold in to combine. Continue adding the flour mixture and folding in, 1/3 at a time until everything is combined.

Fold your chocolate chips and pecans into the batter.

Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan. If desired, sprinkle additional chopped pecans and chocolate chips on the top before baking.

Bake at 350°F for 45–55 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Check out all the great recipes on Autumn’s website (autumnleann.com), and follow her on Instagram (@theautumnleann) and Facebook (facebook.com/theautumnleann).

When Carnell Willoughby was a child, his grandmother would shoo anyone out of the kitchen who didn’t have good energy, believing their negativity would bring bad energy to the food she cooked.

If there is truth to the notion that the mood you are in when you cook a dish will affect those who ingest it, then everyone who eats Willoughby’s food will be smiling all day long. He is a warm soul with a wide cheese-eating grin, except he doesn’t eat cheese or any other dairy and you won’t find it on the menu either at his new vegan eatery in the North Market, Willowbeez Soulveg.

Diners won’t find themselves missing anything, however, in Willoughby’s vibrant, colorful, celebratory food. With offerings such as No Fish Fry (lightly breaded banana blossom flash-fried and served with fries and colorful “rebel slaw”); BBQ Jerk Portabella; and the original standby, Curry Cabbage, diners will find an array of bright and healthful options to tempt any palate. In his words, it’s “good fruit ... from strong roots.”

The Curry Cabbage is a sentimental favorite because it’s a nod to his Aunt Ivy’s slow-cooked cabbage, taught to her by his aforementioned grandmother. It’s also the first dish he re-created with his own twist and started slinging at farmers markets almost a decade ago.

The women in Willoughby’s family clearly shaped his early love of food—from his Grandma Brown, to his Aunt Ivy, to his mother, whom he refers to as the “Queen of Beans” because she could take what seemed like nothing and turn it into a wonderful something. His decision to become vegan, however, can be directly traced back to his neighbor, Frank Alan Hinkle, known by the neighborhood affectionately as Papa Doc. Hinkle promoted veganism for its health benefits. “He’d lecture us until we fell asleep at the dinner table,” laughs Willoughby as he fondly remembers long dinners he and his brother sat through with Hinkle growing up.

Willoughby met Hinkle shortly after he arrived in Columbus from Atlantic City at the age of 12. After a few restless years living here and never quite feeling like it was home, he moved back to Atlantic City to live with his grandmother. At the height of the crack epidemic, he quickly found himself on the wrong side of the law. “My cousin was a charismatic cat connected to the underworld in Atlantic City,” he says. “I was caught up in a drug raid when I was 18 and ended up going to prison for a short period of time.”

When he got out on parole, his mother wanted him to move back to Columbus. “It took everything I had to not immediately start hustling again,” he said. “I got a couple of legit jobs, but I got brought in by a friend for ‘help,’ which quickly became hustling and I ended up getting locked up again. When they put me in the kitchen to work, it felt like home, like a sanctuary. My soul felt settled there, in that kitchen space.”

Although he didn’t have much know-how on technique when it came to cooking, he had a deep love and memory for being in the kitchen.

“Watching my mom cooking, she was very fluent. I saw the transference of her energy to the food, coupled with my grandmother’s words about what spirit goes into the food. I saw the power in transforming raw stuff to palatable stuff. Food is a huge equalizer: You might not speak the same language, but you share an experience.”

“After I got out of prison, I went from destroying the community to trying to do good. I felt guilty about how much destruction drugs had [caused]. I thought, ‘This karma is going to kill me. How do I repair what I’ve destroyed?’”

Willoughby worked in the food industry for a number of years, but didn’t get into his own cooking business until later. It was his brother Malik who conceptualized Willowbeez and called Willoughby up one morning with the idea. Carnell was immediately hooked. This was a clear pathway to giving back to his community—healing through food.

The business started small with a handmade sign and a Crock-Pot of Curried Cabbage at the 400 Market in Franklinton. From there, he expanded the menu and started running catering gigs and pop-ups, most notably out of The Hills Market.

In 2015, Carnell also helped found Maroon Arts Group (MAG) with his partner, Sherri Neale. Through funding by the Greater Arts Council of Columbus, they turned an empty lot into a community gathering space in the Bronzeville neighborhood. A set of shipping containers serves as a stage, a gallery and a space for Willowbeez Soulveg, surrounding a green space filled with garden beds. Willowbeez serves food during MAG events, running May to October each year. The concept was to transform their community through art and wholesome food.

“I wanted to take time to learn the infrastructure and build consistency before investing in a more permanent location,” says Willoughby. After seven years of impermanence, he was ready to start his first brick-and-mortar restaurant. He found a location on Long Street that seemed perfect, then the pandemic struck and the owner backed out. But when Pistacia Vera closed its operation in the North Market, another door opened and Willoughby gracefully stepped in.

Willowbeez Soulveg opened on April 27 with rousing support from his community. In his usual cheerful manner, he welcomed them with a plate of love, good for the soul, and his signature bear hug. “There are no moments wasted when I see community members, they are going to get their hug,” declares Willoughby with his 1,000-watt smile.

Willowbeez Soulveg is open each Tuesday through Saturday from 9am to 6pm and Sunday from 10am to 5pm in the North Market. Learn more at willowbeezsoulveg.com.

Rebecca Tien enjoys finding ways to weave together stories through images and words. An award-winning photographer, she is drawn to capture the small, beautiful, messy, universal moments that make people feel connected. She has written for various publications including The New York Times, Edible Columbus and 614 Magazine. Rebecca has worked in all aspects of food production— from farm to table, brunch cook to bartender—and is most happy puttering in her gardens and sharing beautiful food with people she loves. You can find her on Instagram at @rebeccatienphotography.