Try your hand at making these festive dishes that bring joy to every course

Photo by James Steifuk

A Gracious Plenty

Chef Carrie Schleiffer of Alley Twenty Six highlights seasonal, locally sourced flavors perfect for a festive gathering with this multifaceted mixture. “Dips and crudités are not only popular right now, but they are super versatile,” Carrie says. “You can add or subtract ingredients to your liking. If you want it to be vegetarian, omit the bacon. If you can’t find pepitas, pecans or cashews would work just fine.

“These are just some examples,” she adds. “Feel free to have fun with it!” For the ingredients found in this recipe, Carrie says the butternut squash, apples, radishes, yellow onion, carrots and Boxcarr feta cheese can be sourced from a farmers market. “Produce purchased at the market is much fresher than what you can get at the grocery store, especially with the larger amounts being shipped across the country for holidays,” says Durham Farmers Market Manager Kaitlyn Breedlove. “Most of the produce you can find at the market was harvested the day before, meaning it’s more nutritious and has ripened naturally.” Shoppers can also discover heirloom varieties and unusual vegetables, making holiday meals a chance to try something new. Supporting the market in winter also helps local farmers and artisans through a slower season, bolstering the local economy when it counts most. “Support in the winter is crucial for their overall success,” Kaitlyn adds. And don’t forget to get there early; hours are now 9 a.m. to noon, and fresh produce – especially greens, Kaitlyn says – goes fast!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place butternut squash, onion, garlic and ginger in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and mix until everything is coated evenly. Place the mixture in a single layer on a sheet tray and roast in the oven for 25 minutes or until the squash is very soft. Rotate the tray halfway through. Browning is ok, but if the mixture starts to burn, cover it with aluminum foil.

Place the squash mix into the blender and blend until smooth. Spread the squash out on a sheet tray and allow the blended squash to cool until it is room temperature. Put the squash back in a large bowl and fold in the ricotta, orange juice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Chill the dip in the refrigerator.

While the dip is chilling, prepare all your toppings. To fry the sage, heat ¼ inch of vegetable or Canola oil in a pan to 350 degrees. Drop sage in oil and cook until crispy. Remove the sage from the oil and place on a paper towel.

PLATING

Place the dip in a serving bowl. Make sure the bowl is tall enough that there is space between the dip and the top of the bowl. Liberally sprinkle the feta, apples, bacon, radish and pepitas over the top. You can reserve some of each to “re-top” if needed. Dust with smoked paprika and drizzle olive oil over the top. Garnish with sage. Serve the dip with your choice of bread and crudités. Some options are pita points, crostini, carrot sticks and cauliflower florets.

*Note: “I like Boxcarr’s feta, and we use it at Alley Twenty Six,” Carrie says. “Any feta cheese can be used. You could also substitute goat cheese, if you prefer.”

---

Entrepreneur Gail Jennings blends heritage, heart and heat in her award-winning spices

By Anna Rhesa-Versola | Photography by John Michael Simpson

Gail Jennings takes pleasure in introducing adventurous foodies to her line of Kingʼs Pepper products, which combines West African herbs and spices like piri piri (also known as African bird’s eye chili pepper), ginger, clove, nutmeg, alligator pepper and dawadawa (dried locust beans).

“It takes a hell of a lot of self-confidence to present a food product to the public, ask them to try it and hope that they like it,” Gail says, remembering her initial launch of the recipe in Los Angeles in 2001. “One of the things I really love is when a customer comes up and is curious. They take a sample, you see a smile across their face, and their shoulder starts doing a little happy dance, [and they say to another], ‘Wow… you gotta try this.’”

Gail, who received a $20,000 City of Durham community development block grant in 2023, discovered her own enthusiasm for West African spices when she married her first husband, who was originally from Nigeria. She sprinkled the seasonings on eggs, meat, burgers, fries, popcorn and more, and eventually traveled to Nigeria to source ingredients she needed to make her own version of the mix. She found early success with her recipe as she continued to work full time for an ABC television affiliate in Hollywood, California. But life began to change course. Her marriage ended. She left her job and shelved her entrepreneurial dream. More than a decade later, Gail found new love and renewed energy to try again. This time, in 2012, she was in Durham, where she found the support and resources she needed to grow King’s Pepper. When the pandemic in 2020 threatened to shut down her business again, she prevailed with the help of Durham’s small business community. Gail met Geraud Staton, who accepted her into a program through The Helius Foundation he established to support minority and women entrepreneurs.

“I sell direct to consumers,” Gail says, noting her concerns about bringing the virus home while her husband, Melvin Mitchell, was undergoing treatment for lung cancer. “I’m face-to-face with folks, so it really presented a challenge to go out there and trust that I would be OK. [The pandemic] was almost like a pause, and I was able to build a stronger foundation, and from that, it just seemed like things really started to click.”

She grew her business from a one-woman, part-time venture that barely made enough to cover the cost of a tank of gas into a thriving multi-person operation based out of the Piedmont Food Processing Center in Hillsborough that produces thousands of bottles each year.

Gail’s products – including single bottles, two-packs, three-packs and an African taco kit, which won a Scovie award in 2022 – can be found on the shelves of Food Lion, the Durham Co-op Market, Part & Parcel, Weaver Street Market, Butchers Market in Raleigh, Revival Butchery in Greenville, South Carolina, and in City Box Durham’s pantry box. King’s Pepper is available online through We Power Food gift boxes and Amazon, too. Folks can also find Gail and her family – including her grandson, Dante Johnson, who manages in-store sampling for the brand – handing out tasters at the State Farmers Market in Raleigh from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

This year, Gail is introducing two new products: a spicy cracker and a candy called Bubbling Brown Sugar made with dark chocolate, toasted pecans, caramel and a dash of extra hot King’s Pepper. She plans to bring back a snack item called King’s Pepper Crunch (a combination of Cheetos and King’s Pepper), which won a Scovie award in 2003 and was listed in Chile Pepper magazine.

“People tell us all the time [that King’s Pepper is] delicious on popcorn,” Gail says. “Customers say different things, like, ‘I loved it on my pork butt. I smoked some brisket with it. I put it in my ramen noodles.’”

As a direct descendant of slaves who were freed on June 19, 1865, in Crockett, Texas, Gail says she honors her ancestry by sharing her spices. “When I took a DNA test, I found out that I’m 81% Yoruba,” Gail says of her West African heritage. “My roots go back to the people who taught me the recipe years ago.”

---

Gumbo’s Daddy With Chicken, Shrimp and Turkey

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

• 1 to 1¼ pound chicken wings
• 1¼ teaspoons fine salt, plus more as needed
• 1 tablespoon plus ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper or chili powder, such as King’s Pepper, plus more to taste
• 3 cups chicken or turkey stock, or water, plus more as needed
• 1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 small red onion, coarsely chopped
• ½ cup chopped red, yellow or orange bell pepper
• 1 habanero or Scotch bonnet chile, seeded (optional)
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1½ tablespoons tomato paste
• ¼ cup olive or vegetable oil
• 1 (15-ounce) can collard greens (with liquid) or 1 large bunch collard greens, stems removed, leaves torn into bite-size pieces
• 2 cups chopped or shredded leftover turkey
• 1 to 2 turkey bones (optional)
• 1 pound large shrimp, peeled, deveined and cut into 1-inch pieces
• Cooked rice, for serving

Pat chicken wings dry with paper towels. Season all over with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon chile powder (or a pinch of cayenne), and set aside.

In a blender, combine 1 cup stock or water, tomato sauce, onion, bell pepper, chile (if using), curry powder, tomato paste, remaining 1 tablespoon ground chili (or ½ teaspoon cayenne) and a pinch of salt. Blend until smooth. Set aside.

Add oil to a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Once oil is hot, but not smoking, add chicken and cook until browned on both sides, 4 to 6 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate. While the oil is still hot, carefully pour the onion-tomato mixture into the pot. Do this slowly to avoid splattering the sauce. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until thickens slightly, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Add the reserved chicken wings, collard greens, turkey, turkey bones (if using), remaining ¾ teaspoon salt, and 2 cups stock or water. Cook on simmer, partly covered, until chicken is cooked through and very tender, 20 to 30 minutes. If the gumbo looks dry, add more stock or water.

Stir in shrimp and cook until it is just cooked through and opaque, another 3 to 5 minutes. Taste, and add more salt and chili powder, if needed.

Remove turkey bones, and serve gumbo with rice.

---

Rose’s Noodles, Dumplings & Sweets’ Katie Meddis shares festive flavors and family-friendly baking tips to fill your kitchen with cheer

By Leah Berry | Photography by John Michael Simpson

There’s a chill in the air, signaling the return of cozy flavors, cherished holiday traditions and – chiefly – noodle season. Which means Roseʼs Noodles, Dumplings & Sweets is bustling as locals flock to the restaurant for comforting dishes and delectable desserts. “It’s our busiest time of year,” says Katie Meddis, who opened Rose’s with her husband, Justin Meddis, in 2013 as a full-animal butcher and pastry shop before evolving the concept into an East Asian-inspired eatery in 2017.

As for the sweets, Rose’s winter lineup stars warm, seasonal spices and fresh ginger from nearby Transplanting Traditions Community Farm and Ten Mothers Farm. “Ginger [is] one of my favorite ingredients,” Katie says. “The young ginger that is kind of spicy and isn’t too fibrous … offers a really nice flavor to everything you put it in.”

Dessert menu highlights include apple mochi cakes – which incorporate apples sourced from the North Carolina mountains – pumpkin cheesecake and fresh ginger cake with burnt honey buttercream or cream cheese frosting.

“Wintertime is also citrus season, so as we get into January and February, we start seeing more Meyer lemon and blood orange,” Katie says. She often adds these bright flavors to treats like pistachio Meyer lemon macarons or Meyer lemon meringue tarts.

Rose’s holiday ice creams also rely heavily on spices. “Right now we’re doing a cream cheese ice cream with apple butter or pear butter, and gingerbread everything,” Katie says. “Gingerbread cookies-and-cream ice cream, and gingerbread men.” Ginger is predominant among the macaron flavors, which also include cinnamon sugar and chocolate peppermint. “One of my favorite things to make are these snowmen macarons,” Katie says. “They’re just kind of cute, and the kids really love them.”

Katie says that, while baking wasn’t a significant part of her upbringing, she fondly recalls the moments spent making cookies and loaves of bread with her family during the holidays. “[Pumpkin bread is] my mom’s go-to recipe,” she says. “It always makes it feel like it’s the holidays when I see that bread.” Her family also enjoyed baking spritz cookies with chocolate Hershey’s Kisses in the middle and crescent cookies – a shortbread that, as Katie puts it, “basically falls apart when you touch it, and it’s covered in powdered sugar.”

The Meddis family carries these traditions forward, and now that Rose’s is closed on Christmas Eve, Katie, Justin and their 7-year-old son, Lucca Meddis, spend much of the day in the kitchen. “Lucca likes to decorate cookies, and I do the baking part,” Katie laughs. “He’s also a big fan of making muffins and pancakes.” Families keen to cook together this season can find a simple but beloved recipe from Katie for chewy chocolate chip meringues on the next page. Her go-to tip for baking with young children is to assign specific tasks to your kiddo. “[Lucca] is definitely gonna crack the eggs, he’s definitely gonna whisk for some of the time,” Katie says. “We talk about what we’re going to do ahead of time so it doesn’t get out of hand.

“And then try to be patient,” she adds, saying sometimes it helps to leave the room for a second if things get chaotic. “Oh, and make sure that [the kids] are at the height of the counter, too.”

But don’t fret if the baking doesn’t go according to plan; Katie says Rose’s is ready to welcome you and your little ones for a relaxing meal in a kid-friendly space. “We also understand how hard it is to go out to eat with small kids, so we try to make that the best experience we can.

“The holidays are such a stressful time,” she adds. “We hope to be a place where you can sit, have a relaxing meal and get reenergized.”

---

Chewy Chocolate Chip Meringues

MAKES 18 1-OZ. MERINGUES

• 8 oz. powdered sugar
• 4.5 oz. egg whites
• 8 oz. 70% dark chocolate
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• A pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine powdered sugar and egg whites in a mixing bowl fitted for a stand mixer. Place bowl over a double boiler with gently simmering water. Using a whisk, mix the whites and sugar at a moderate speed until the mixture is warm to touch, melting all the sugar.

Transfer bowl to a stand mixer using the whisk attachment, and begin mixing at a medium speed. After 2-3 minutes, increase to a high speed. Mix until stiff peaks form – this should take about 8-10 minutes. While the whites and sugar are mixing, chop the chocolate into smaller pieces. (The ideal size of the chocolate should be similar to small Hershey’s chocolate chips.) Once you have reached stiff peaks, add the vanilla and salt.

Take the bowl off the mixer and gently fold in the chocolate with a rubber spatula. Try to add it until just combined, but don’t over mix.

Scoop onto a parchment-lined baking sheet (space out slightly, because the meringue will puff up and spread a little).*

Place in preheated oven.

Check after 20 minutes – gently try to lift one off the parchment, and if it does not want to come off easily, try again in 2-3 minutes.**

Let cool on the tray, and don’t try to remove until completely cooled. The dessert is best enjoyed day-of, but you can also freeze them.

* You can make the scoops whatever size you like, if they are roughly 1 oz. in weight.

** It will take approximately 24 minutes to bake; if making ½ oz. meringues, they should take about 20 minutes.

---

Ready to explore culinary delights? Subscribe to our monthly Eat & Drink newsletter for foodie ideas, news and events in the Bull City and beyond!