Blaze the Trail | Feed Your Fire Podcast Episode

In today's episode, we draw inspiration from the historic NBA victory by the NY Knicks as we aim to celebrate each and every win as well as those prized, hard-fought triumphs. Together, we prepare a winning meal for Father's day as we tap into a team first mentality.

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Feed Your Fire Podcast Episode Transcript:

Hello and welcome to Feed Your Fire. I'm your host, Kim Baker. Today, we're celebrating trailblazers, the people that have changed the status quo and redefined what's possible, even at their own risk. A celebration well timed, as we head towards the Fourth of July, paired by a recipe that was popularized by a restaurant that changed US dining, and one that could be loosely interpreted as red, white, and blue.

Trailblazers don't just clear a path, they ignite something in others. It takes an innovative mind and a fiery spirit. They transcend group think and the pressure to conform. It's these purpose-driven leaders that have shaped the world that we live in today. And once these trails have been placed. It's nearly impossible to imagine the world without them, and while these trail blazers are celebrated in hindsight, at the time they were probably considered insane.

Sociologically, nonconformity is considered a form of deviance lumped in with other violations of social codes and laws like stealing or fraud. I started to think about the courage and independent thought that's required to make that type of impact, and how we, even at a smaller level, might be able to apply some of those same ideas in our own lives.

Galileo, the father of modern science, was once sentenced to life in prison because his planetary observations conflicted with the Catholic Church, but what he really was was a truth seeker.

I saw an interview with Katie Couric, and she said that if you want to blaze a trail, you need to be prepared to get burned. And it got me thinking, if there's so much at risk, why do people do it? And as I started digging into it, I realized that trailblazing is essential. Without it, the world stagnates. And much like fire has transformed our human evolution, finding a fire within us helps us transform. Connecting with that spirit that moves through us or lives within us is a force like creativity that needs to be expressed.

Is there a trail you want to blaze, or maybe you're shining a light on someone else's journey?

As I was thinking about this idea of trailblazing, I realized that it can't be done alone. Sure, maybe there's a headliner, but it's really influence that can drive movement, and if you can't ignite a spark in others, the light just dies out.

And perhaps there's a season, a time in life when we're most ready and able to mark a trail. I don't think I had the courage when I was younger to be disruptive, but as I've let go of some of these limiting beliefs that I had about myself, recast the line of my life's journey, and quieted some of the noise, I started to hear a sound of a less familiar whisper that I've only recently begun to listen to.

And I think ultimately all of us are pioneers in our lives. We're constantly creating new pathways and doing things that we just never had done before. And yeah, maybe we're not curing cancer or doing something that's a first for mankind, but it's a first for you, maybe it's a first for your children, or your partner, or your friends. And that in those moments, you're marking the place where the trail head begins, and with every step you're increasing your capacity to pave a bigger, bolder path. I think that's something to be really proud of.

I recently had this experience that, to the outside world, is of no significance, but for me it was, and what it represented was an assertion of my value and a vision for my life. And what's been most interesting about this is, as I've shared this story with my friends, especially women, it's really resonated as something symbolic, a ceiling being broken. And I realized I was equally feeding off of their encouragement as they were my emboldenment. It was a symbiotic feedback loop that we had created, and that's how we move forward in this world together. The sum of parts compounding.

Today's recipe was inspired by two trailblazing restaurateurs that revolutionized dining in America. Del Monico's in New York City is nearly as old as our country's founding. It opened almost 200 years ago in 1837 by two immigrant brothers, and it said that Abraham Lincoln was a frequent patron. Not only did this restaurant shift our culinary experiences from inns and taverns to something more a la carte and upscale, they were also the first restaurant that allowed women to dine alone, unaccompanied by a man.

Yes, that's the sound of my head exploding. It's hard to even imagine that that was once a thing, but that's how it is when any trail has been blazed, as we celebrate these moments of progressively bold defiance that shape our world.

We're going to have a steakhouse classic, and one that was popularized by Delmonico's, the wedge salad. It was all the rage in the 80s, went out of style, and now has had a bit of a renaissance, crisp, creamy, luscious, crunchy, and absolutely delicious. This recipe is more an active assembly than cooking, but you will need your oven and a bowl and a whisk.

The first thing we're going to do is make our dressing, an adaptation from a real steakhouse recipe. The base of the dressing is mayo, sour cream, and buttermilk. Yeah, don't let the word salad fool you. This is not a light recipe.

You can play with these ratios, but I like to use three tablespoons of mayo, a half a cup of sour cream, and a half a cup of buttermilk. Put that in a small bowl with two tablespoons of maple syrup, a half a teaspoon of a grainy or dijon mustard, a small garlic clove minced really, really finely, a pinch of Tabasco, the zest of about a half of a lemon, a half a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, and about two tablespoons of tarragon vinegar. As an alternative, you could use some fresh tarragon and another type of vinegar. Add in some salt and pepper and whisk that all up, then crumble in about two or three tablespoons of blue cheese and combine it well. Pop it in the refrigerator while we get everything else prepped.

For this recipe, I like to use some roasted grape tomatoes. It's tomato season. You can use whatever you prefer. To make the roasted tomatoes, pop your oven on to about 350 degrees at Add about a cup of grape tomatoes to a sheet pan, drizzle them with olive oil, sprinkle it with salt and pepper, and bake it in the oven for about 15 minutes. They'll kind of shrivel up, but in the best possible way, and their flavor gets all concentrated. Once those come out of the oven, let them cool.

Raise your oven to about 400 degrees, and cook some bacon until it's nice and crispy.

Now we've got all of the components ready. You're going to need a head of iceberg lettuce. Cut away the coarse stem, and then slice it into quarters. You can run them underwater to just get them all nice and clean, preserving them in their quarter shapes.

Let them dry, and then pop them on a platter, cut side up. I like to add a little bit of very finely chopped red onion. Then I pour on those tomatoes. I slice up the bacon and sprinkle it over top. Add another two to three tablespoons of that blue cheese, and then drizzle on the dressing we made, season it all with a little bit of salt and pepper, and that, my friends, is a salad you won't forget.

And as we head into the Fourth of July weekend, enjoying a red, white, and blue salad created by pioneers, it's a reminder that we're all the descendants of trailblazers, the people that founded, built, fought for this country, and the progress we've made over time. And even if the works that you're doing don't make it into the history books, they're important for your own life storybook and those in your family and your community.

But before we can even begin to blaze a trail, we've got to light the fire, we've got to question the truths we've been served, be willing to stand in the discomfort of going against the grain, and we have to share the light that comes from within ourselves generously. The trail that's left behind is really the outcome of those three things, and I hope the fireworks that you see on display this weekend set off a spark in you with their illumination.

Until our next episode, I say so long. Feed your Fire, where food nourishes growth.