HUNTINGTON -- When Katie Lee Joel was a kid growing up here in Cabell County, she used to make her mom, Kim Becker, pancakes for Mother's Day.
This year, she'll do one better. Not only will the 26-year-old remember it's a teaspoon not a tablespoon of salt that gets blended into the batter, but Joel also will be back home to make her those pancakes again using her mom's recipe just published in her new book, "The Comfort Table" (Simon and Schuster, $25).
Packed with more than 125 recipes, "The Comfort Table" is filled with a bounty of home-grown and freshly-twisted recipes from Joel, her husband, her friends and her family for starters, salads, soups, entrees, side dishes, breads, breakfasts, desserts and drinks.
They range from her grandma Dora Harshbarger's to-die-for biscuits and her stepdad Jim Becker's hill-tromping morel mushroom recipe to Joel's new twists on home-cooking and drink recipes gathered right off a Marshall University football tailgate table.
Fresh off a recent appearance with her husband, Billy Joel, on the "Oprah Winfrey Show," we talked with Joel who writes for "Hampton's Magazine," "Gotham" and the "Huffington Post" and is a frequent judge on the Food Network's "Iron Chef America."
Joel will be back home to share the book with the Tri-State at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 10, when she does a book signing at Borders at the Huntington Mall.
LAVENDER: "Tell us about the importance of sharing and explaining "The Comfort Table" with the masses who sometimes have a bit of a disconnect with where their food comes from."
JOEL: "I truly believe that to be comforted by your food you need to be comfortable about where it comes from. I grew up with my grandpa having a garden, and I have a garden where I live out on Long Island, N.Y., and I think it is important to have conscientious consumption and be aware of where the food came from and where it was raised not only for your body but for future generations and the environment.
"You think about buying an apple that came from a local farmer versus buying one that came from 400 or 4,000 miles away and what affect that one apple can have. It is a way all of us can have direct impact on helping the environment. I think it is not only a greener way to live but much more economical. Everything is rising in price, so going down to the farmer's market is going to help the environment and help the local farmers, which helps the local economy. It's the best -- like keeping it in the family. West Virginians are so lucky to have all the food at their fingertips. Everybody can have a little patch and do their own victory garden."
LAVENDER: "Tell us about the joy of putting the book together. It truly reads and feels like a labor of love. It's really a great blend of family and fresh culinary ideas."
JOEL: "My family is the most important thing to me. We are from modest means but always ate like kings. My grandma didn't have jewels to pass down to me, she had recipes, and they are more precious than any diamond or ruby. I will always cherish them and pass them down to my children. When I was putting together the book, I asked my grandma for her recipe box. I looked through it, and every recipe and memory came back. It is like music, when you hear a song and it takes you back to that place in life. I was back, and it was Saturday morning, and I was thinking back to the table and my uncles and grandpa telling stories and all the laughter and love that we have."
LAVENDER: "Tell us about the photo shoots with the family."
JOEL: "We did the photo shoots at my house in New York City and the house out on Long Island. I wanted the balance of country and city girl, and I had my mom and grandma and great-aunt (Pat Townsend) come up, and all three of them have recipes in the book. We had the best time, and I will always have those remembrances of having them up here doing the photo shoot. We had our hair and makeup done, and after that we all went out for dinner since everyone was gussied up."
LAVENDER: "It looks like you came up with some really cool fusion dishes. The Fiesta Wontons sounded really great. Is that part of cooking that you love, that sort of unknown aspect once you start creating?"
JOEL: "Fiesta Wontons, believe it or not, started out as Italian meatballs. That slowly evolved into the wontons that are really tasty like fried tacos. I think, in the kitchen, a lot of people get afraid to experiment. You should just have a good time with it, and of course you will have some disasters, but other things will turn out great. Then you have a new creation. If you have a complete disaster, call up Gino's."
LAVENDER: "You had to be stoked that Paula Deen wrote the forward and gave you a recipe as well. Tell us about getting that very cool stamp of approval for 'The Comfort Table.' "
JOEL: "I call her my fairy godmother. We are going out to dinner tonight and filming her show, 'Paula's Party.' I love her dearly. The best thing is to always be true to yourself, and she has always done that, and you know it was such a compliment that she wanted to write the forward. She was touched and believes in me, and I really feel like she is part of the family. She told me my deviled eggs were the best, and she's been making them at home. Paula Deen is making a recipe of mine. I made her my recipe for spaghetti with meat sauce, and everybody is trying to get that Jim's Spaghetti taste, but nobody's is as good as Jim's. She loved it."
LAVENDER: "One thing I like about the book is you have a real celebration of fresh food and don't sacrifice anything for flavor. You're not afraid of a little butter or fat."
JOEL: "I put a half a stick of butter in the mashed potatoes. You don't have to eat that everyday, and you don't have to eat large portions, but I think everybody can eat a little fat. I think the key is to buy more fresh foods and not to eat processed foods. What is good is to cut out all the hydrogenated fat and all of that high fructose corn syrup. They are the root of all evil."
LAVENDER: "The book is coming out around Mother's Day. Was that planned or a happy accident?"
JOEL: "It was a happy accident, and certainly my mom's most favorite Mother's Day gift ever. It's an appropriate Mother's Day book since it is all about family and being together. It's a gift I know Mom will always appreciate. I used to cook for my Mom every Mother's Day -- that was always her gift. One year, I had gone up to make her pancakes, and I read a tablespoon of salt instead of a teaspoon. I plan on making her pancakes. I serve them with caramelized bananas. We had always dreamed of going to Africa. My husband was playing a concert there, and we tagged along with him and took a safari, and the chef where we were staying served pancakes with caramelized bananas. So it was one of those recipes I picked up traveling."
LAVENDER: "Does Bill (who has his own recipe of Billy's Skirt Steaks on page 102) have any favorite recipes of yours in the book?"
JOEL: "There is a funny story about chicken and dumplings. I love chicken and dumplings, they're one of my all-time favorites. So I said, 'We are having chicken and dumplings, and I made them and brought out a bowl of them, and he looked at me like I had five heads. He thought it was like Chinese dumplings and thought we were having Chinese for dinner. You can imagine how surprised he was, but he really likes them now. He loves our kind of food, and I think the meatloaf is his favorite and peach cobbler. My grandma was born in Peach Creek, W.Va., and she has the best peach cobbler. He had never had peach cobbler. Now he has seen the light, and there's no turning back."
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