I answered the doorbell early one Saturday evening last summer and found myself greeting a smiling, free-spirit kind of fellow holding a gallon bucket of black raspberries.  Turns out, he and his best girlfriend were enjoying a nature walk and discovered a field full of wild raspberry plants just hanging full of juicy ripe fruit.  They picked until the sun headed down and ended up at our door with 5 gallons of raspberries.  Someone in town had told them to come see us as we were probably the only place that would be willing to buy fresh fruit in any quantity.  So, he wanted to know if I were interested in buying them.  I sure was!  We settled on a price and they left to fill the VW van with gas, while I headed to the kitchen to figure out what to do with the berries.
One taste and I realized that they were at peak ripeness and were already beginning to weep juice under their own weight.  These were too ripe to leave set in the fridge overnight and wait until Sunday afternoon when I’d have more time to work with them.  So it was quick, draw enough water in the sink to float a gallon of berries, set sheet pans next to the sink, pick out the stems, leaves, etc., and transfer the freshly cleaned fruit to the pans.  Next it was off to the freezer with each pan to quick freeze and then transfer the hard, frozen berries into gallon zip-lock bags.
Well, since then, we’ve enjoyed black raspberry pies and cobblers at breakfast, but the biggest hit has been using just the thickened berry cobbler base as a topping for our Croissant French Toast. Just ladle a little over each piece of French Toast before you take it to the table and pass the rest in a gravy boat for folks to help themselves.  The best part is that since our French Toast has no sugar, you get to enjoy the full eggy flavor of the toast and offset it with the sweet-tart flavor of the cobbler compote.  So, now that you have the recipe for the French Toast, here is the recipe for a mouth-watering cobbler topping for your French Toast when you make it:

Ingredients:
1 quart fresh or frozen berries of choice
1.5 cups sugar
2 cup water (reserve 1/2 cup for later use)
2 cup fruity white wine or champagne
4 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
juice of 1/2 lemon

Preparation
Put water, wine, sugar and salt in a 3 or 4 quart sauce-pan and bring to a boil for 10 minutes.  Separately, in a cup, mix 1/2 cup water with the flour, beat until there are no lumps and set aside.  Add the berries to the boiling liquid and bring to a boil again.  As soon as the berry mixture begins to roll at the edge, turn the heat to lowest possible setting and simmer 10 minutes without stirring.  Next, add the lemon juice and stir the berry mixture without pressing or mushing the berries.  Then, take the pot off the fire, mix the flour/water mix to get the flour fully dissolved from the bottom of the cup and dump the flour mixture into the berry mixture.  Carefully stir the flour mixture into the berry mixture and return to heat.  Turn the heat up and continue carefully stirring until the mixture comes to a full boil.  As it boils, it will thicken to a runny, juicy consistency.  Take the pot off the heat, cover and allow to set for 10 minutes.  At this point you can use the topping for breakfast or you can transfer it to your containers of choice and refrigerate it until ready to use.  Reheat on high for a minute or so in a microwave to reheat when ready.

Comment:
You may find that you need to adjust the amount of sugar and flour depending on the fruits you use.  I’ve tried using strawberries, but have not liked it as well as with blackberries and raspberries.  For a different take, try mixing 1/2 cup of whipping cream into some of the compote just before going to table and you’ll have a topping close to cobbler ice cream in flavor, but hot too.

Welcome back to the South Court Inn B&B Blog. It has been a while since I last posted, but hope springs eternal and I’m hoping I’ll be able to stick to it a bit better this Spring. As you can well imagine, cooking for the public is a real challenge. When we opened Memorial Day Weekend, 2000, (and yes, please note that we are coming up on starting our 12th year in business!) I quickly discovered that our guests had some very strong ideas on what a B&B breakfast was supposed to be, and, at least here in Luray, heuvos rancheros was not on their list of things they wanted to try! Recent discussion at the breakfast table seems to tell me that tastes have changed over the past 12 years, so I promise to give heuvos rancheros another try sometime in the near future. So don’t be surprised if you are here during the week if you come down to a great plate of eggs over a mound of refried beans splashed with green chili sauce and chili con queso with Spanish rice on the side.

In the meantime, Saturday breakfast here at South Court Inn almost always features my version of French Toast and I want to share the recipe with you. This recipe is different from those you might be accustomed to in that I bake it in sheet pans, use croissants instead of French or other breads, put no sugar in the custard and give it a haunting flavor by adding ground cardamom to the seasoning. Note too that I do not salt to the custard because the croissants have enough salt to carry the whole dish. With that said, sound the trumpets…here is the much requested recipe for croissant French Toast as we serve it here at South Court Inn!

Ingredients:
1 large or 2 small plain croissants per person
2 eggs per person to be served
1 cup half and half
1 tblspn vanilla
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 can non-stick spray

Mixing and Cooking:
Put the eggs, spices and half and half into a blender and blend on medium speed for about 1 minute. Turn the blender off, remove the blender jar and set in the fridge until ready to dip the croissants. Slice each croissant lengthwise into two pieces and set aside until ready to pan for baking. When ready to prepare for baking, preheat your oven to 325F. Thoroughly coat your baking pan with non-stick spray and set it for convenience on your prep table. Remove the blender jar from the fridge and pour the contents into a bowl which is as wide as the croissants. Starting with the croissant bottom, dip them in the custard mix just long enough for them to become moist but not sopping wet. In fact, allow excess custard to drain from each bottom for a few seconds after dipping. Arrange the bottoms across the pan and repeat with the tops, placing each top over a corresponding bottom. Once completed, spray the top of all the croissants with non-stick spray. Transfer the filled pan to the preheated oven and cook for 45 minutes or done, according to your oven’s cooking idiosyncrasies. When done, the croissants should be nicely puffed and browned across the top. Serve immediately with your favorite syrup or topping alternative.

Alternative Preparations:
During the fall color season, our guests really like the pumpkin version of this recipe I prepare. Add a cup of pumpkin puree to the custard while it is is in the blender and blend for another minute. Then (here’s the hard part) put the custard through a fine strainer before dipping the croissant in it. The final product looks better without random strands of pumpkin fiber sticking up into the air. Serve the pumpkin croissant French toast with a sauce boat of caramel pecan syrup so folks can help themselves and stand back for the onset of a good case of MMMMMMMMMMMMssssssssssss to fill the room!

Hey!!!  Luray has a diner…again!  For everyone who mourned the loss of Southern Station Diner, there is reason to celebrate…and hope.  Even more important, there is now reason to go and patronize Frost Station Diner, which took over the building in June 2010…and that reason is that they are serving good food; not just any food, but old diner comfort food meals we all want to find on the menu when we visit any diner.  Best of all, the Frost Diner in Luray is the 3rd in a private chain.  With any luck, their experience in Warrenton will help them figure out how to survive the winter months in this tourism centered economy and make sure they enjoy a healthy rate of growth at this newest location.

Well, we ate there last week and we can testify that they offer the old standards …  start off with breakfast any time and then move over to steaks and potatoes, grilled pork chops, country fried beef or chicken steaks, fried chicken liver dinners and meatloaf, followed by a long string of sandwiches, hot plates, desserts and beverages.  Our meal was good, hot and delivered sooner than expected given the crowd having lunch at 2PM that afternoon and the price was right.  We’ll certainly keep it on our list of places to grab a quick meal and hope you’ll try it when you are in Luray.

So remember, when you are headed for Luray and want a quick breakfast from 7AM to 10PM or something else from the diner menu, look for Frost Station Diner at 913 East Main Steet, Luray, VA 22835…tele 540-743-9000

If you’ve fried in July’s cauldron of 100F days, if you are frizzled at the gills from humidity AND the heat, if you can’t face another weekend in the city, well then,  you need to head for Luray, Virginia and the Shenandoah River!  We, of course, hope you will decide to stay at South Court Inn and make us your home base for fun on the river.  The river is only 9 miles from Luray if you have your own boat and outfitters only a bit further.

What you’ll find is a host of businesses and activities just waiting to put you in a canoe or kayak, on a tube or boat deck or something else entirely.

New this year for example, did you know that we have a company offering leisure cruises on the Shenandoay River?  Well, we do.  It is Shenandoah River Cruises and they are offering sightseeing and wine tasting cruises, as well as specially themed  and private cruises like birthday and anniversary celebrations.  They are new and we’re hearing good things about them, so check out their web site.  BTW, you really do need to heed their suggestion that your book cruises for the fall color season long before October arrives!

Here are links to and a few comments about some of our favorite outfitters… you know, the folks that rent you a canoe for the day or put you on the river for several days.  Click each of the links here and you’ll get a web site to help you find somebody that specializes in just what you want:

Shenandoah River Outfitters is celebrating 40 years in the business and has a discount coupon for your to print right from their web site.  Nancy and her folks know the river and business backwards and forwards and keep folks coming back year after year.  They are the closest to South Court Inn.

Do you want to go fishing?  We’ve referred folks to C.T. Campbell at Page Valley Fishing for years now.  He knows where the brook trout are in the mountains and can clamber over some of the hardest terrain going to get your fly just where it needs to be.   Or, if you want something a little less strenuous, he knows the river just as well.   Give him a call!

Enjoy Nature in Shenandoah National Park and on Skyline Drive!

Good morning!  Just as we tell our guests at South Court Inn that they haven’t been to Luray until they have seen Luray Caverns, we also tell guests that they haven’t enjoyed Mother Nature until they visit Shenandoah National Park and drive the scenic Skyline Drive.

A word to the wise here:  If you would like to visit the Park or the Luray area during the fall color season, you need to plan ahead.  Book a stay with us here at South Court as soon as you can.  The best rooms and days will be take by 1 Oct 10.  The time of peak color varies from year to year, but you should have color to enjoy from mid-October to mid-November.  Keep in mind too that everything will be crowded on weekends, but fantastically uncrowded from Monday through Thursday.  Come during that time and you’ll be able to enjoy all the attractions without feeling pressed by the visitors who only come on weekends!  The same advice goes for dining.  Ask us and we’ll be happy to make reservations for dinner as soon as you make reservations with us.  Arrive on a weekend without planning where you will eat and you will probably have to settle for whatever we or you can find that has an open seat at after 8 or maybe even 9PM.

The Park stretches from just South of the Town of Front Royal to Interstate 64…a distance of about 105 miles…and encompasses nearly 200,000 acres. The Park is well-known for its spectacular fall color, the number and variety of hiking trails spread out across the sides of the Blue Ridge Mountains.   Click the first link here and you’ll find their home page where you can branch out to make reservations for campsites and rooms at the lodges.  NOTE TO BLACKBERRY LOVERS:  The food at the Skyland Lodge dining room is very good, but more importantly the Mile-High Blackberry Pie is fantastic.  As you head off to your camp site or room, you’ll be proud of yourself for remembering to call ahead for reservations and for ordering the pie!

Now for a bit about Skyline Drive.  Several years ago, we did a travel log of Skyline Drive and posted photos and comments about the entire 100+ mile road on the web site called MilebyMile.com.  We started at the northern terminus and drove the entire length of the Drive.  Click this link and you’ll be able to read about Skyline Drive and see photos of overlooks and activities all the way to the southern terminus, the point where it crosses over I-64, and shortly thereafter becomes the Blue Ridge Parkway.

So, I hope today’s post will grab your attention and get you thinking not just about enjoying the Park, but planning a great visit during the fall color season.  The mountains are especially beautiful during the fall color season and planning ahead will turn your visit into a great and enjoyable getaway!