♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> We are here at Houston's Low Country Grill, where the proof is in the tasting that indeed, healthy food can taste really good.

Chefs Frank and Millie Houston have been providing upscale catering services to the Midlands of South Carolina since 1994.

And now from their restaurant, Houston's Low Country Grill, located in the heart of downtown Columbia, the super-cooking combo continues to dish up their culinary delights, exquisite fine dining, and outstanding Southern cuisine.

We're cooking with the master today.

Now later in the show, we're going to show you how to shop and eat locally, and we're going to make one of the most delicious smoothies ever.

But first up, Chef, what's cooking?

>> Well, today we're going to really be cooking healthy and short-term.

The items we're gonna be preparing today will be prepared in about 12 minutes, so it's not gonna take a lot of your time to do it, but it will be healthy, and so we're going to start with a breast of chicken, slightly sautéed, and then placed in the oven for ten minutes.

The salmon we'll do the exact same way, goes in the oven for ten minutes.

While we're waiting on the salmon and the chicken to be finished, we're gonna quickly get our vegetables done.

>> Okay, let's-- >> Just how fast it's gonna take.

>> Wonderful, let's get going.

>> To begin with, we're gonna take a fresh cabbage.

Just gonna cut them in very thin slices so they'll be very easy to cook very quickly, and then we're gonna mix the cabbage with some boiled potatoes.

Like so.

And we're just going to be sautéing the cabbage in the skillet, seasoning it with some salt, pepper, a bit of garlic.

This will take about five minutes to be done, and we'll incorporate it with some roasted potatoes.

[oil sizzling] It is so important that we use root vegetables, and of course, asparagus is one of the oldest root vegetables in existence, and it's so good for you and so easy to do and so quickly done.

>> Now, you cut off the ends.

Why did you cut off the ends?

>> Because the tenderer part of the asparagus is the greener portion up here.

The whiter portion up here is a little bit hard to eat, and so, digestively, it's not good for you.

>>I got you.

Okay.

>> So we're just going to use the green portion of the asparagus.

Very quickly while we're waiting on our cabbage to finish up, we're gonna top that chicken breast that we're working on-- Let's do the salmon first.

This is just what we call a little marinade.

We're marinading the salmon in a bit of teriyaki glaze.

I added a bit of curry to it just to kick the taste up a little bit.

We're gonna sauté this, and we're gonna bake this in the oven for ten minutes.

Alright?

Breast of chicken, which is skinless and boneless, season it with a little salt, pepper, and garlic.

We're going to sear this for a minute on each side, and of course we're going to put it in the oven and bake it for ten minutes.

>> Now what's searing?

>> Searing is the same thing as sautéing, but you're using nothing but the oil that I have on the chicken to begin with, so we're sealing the outside, we're sealing the juices into the chicken.

We've starting already with the sautéed cabbage, which is being cooked now.

We're gonna do a little base for the chicken by just sautéing some fresh spinach.

>> Okay.

>> Got our cabbage done, got our spinach going.

The next thing we want to do is sauté a little garnish to go on top of the chicken.

>> Okay, make it pretty, huh?

>> Exactly.

We're going to take little shredded carrots, and I'll show you how to do this in a second, and you'll have a gourmet-style meal right at home.

>> That's beautiful.

>> Won't take but a second.

You'll be amazed how it's going to pan out.

>> What's the secret to cutting your vegetables to make it look so pretty?

>> What I used is a mandolin.

Using a mandolin, I can just, just slivers of the carrot.

I can do the same thing with the squash.

>> Now is there a home version?

>> Yes.

Actually because here in the flesh portion of the squash is where all your nutritions are.

>> Oh, really?

>> So that's why you just want to use the fresh portion of that.

Both being root vegetables, it's full of protein and vitamins.

So therefore you're getting all of that into one meal.

We're gonna take some small red potatoes... We just want to roast these.

>> P.A.

: Now how long would it take to roast potatoes?

>> Well, actually, I'm gonna boil them instead of roasting them.

>> Okay.

>> And it's much quicker when you boil them.

You roast them, it's gonna take about 30 minutes.

You can boil them in about ten minutes.

We're coming back to our sautéed cabbage, which is al dente.

We don't want it to be completely.

That's good right there.

Need to add a little seasoning to that.

Little salt, little pepper, little garlic.

Gonna blend that.

You don't want to overcook your cabbage.

Still want it to be firm so it'll have a bite to it when you chew into it.

We're gonna take some of the potatoes that we boiled.

That should be enough.

We're just going to mash that.

Very simple, very easy to do.

Meantime while you're doing this, you're getting your exercise.

>> P.A.

: Yes, you are!

[laughs] >> Actually, that's basically it.

Now you're blending the potatoes and the cabbage together.

Makes a great combination.

And a quick and easy vegetable that takes little or no time at all.

Right?

>> P.A.

: I hadn't thought of cabbage and potatoes together, but that's-- >> We're doing the spinach.

We're also sautéing our zucchini and carrots to top the chicken and the salmon with.

We're almost there.

Just that quick.

>> P.A.

: The good thing about this, Chef, we talked about presentation.

It's gonna look really good, too, right?

>> So Chef, we're getting ready to plate it up.

Is that how you term it?

>> Yes, getting ready to plate it up!

>> Plate up it.

>> But the thing about it, P.A., is that most people think that cooking fresh, cooking healthy, is an all-day situation, but this has only taken up, what, 10 to 12 minutes?

Because you're only taking ten minutes on your salmon, ten minutes on your chicken, while you're waiting on the chicken or your salmon to be finished cooking, can you also just sauté your vegetables very quickly, and for the one reason, you don't want to overcook, to cook all of the vitamins out of the product.

So we have a habit of overcooking our vegetables.

So that's why I said earlier, we want to cook the cabbage just to a point of being al dente.

Okay?

And then of course, at that point, you're retaining most of the vitamins there.

Same thing with your green beans and the same thing with your asparagus.

>> Well, I'm looking forward to it.

I was just thinking, it's all about presentation too, isn't it?

>> Well, yes, but you can do restaurant presentation even at home for your family.

>> Right.

>> Using just very basic, very simple ingredients, and they would think you took them out for dinner.

>> Yes, exactly.

And it's cheaper too, right?

>> It's a lot cheaper.

You can buy the chicken breast.

It will cost you about a dollar approximately.

Salmon roughly in the area of about $2.

Each of your vegetables will cost you probably a dollar a quarter per family of four.

So under $15, you've completely a wonderful meal for your family.

So we're gonna just take the same sautéed zucchini and carrots.

Just sit it on top just to add a little color.

Whether you do your carrots, whether you do it in your salmon or the chicken breast, you can still end up with that same effect.

>> Chef, that is so beautiful.

>> Using fresh asparagus, believe me, fresh asparagus is one of the oldest ancient vegetables there is.

Asparagus goes all the way to biblical times.

Just as Millie will be showing you later about the wheatgrass, wheatgrass goes back to the early 600s.

Before, 0-6.

In biblical times.

And your asparagus goes right about back at the same time.

The green beans again are just cooked al dente.

It's not overcooked.

You want it crunchy to the bite so that you don't really cook all your vitamins out of the green beans.

>> P.A.

: I love this color.

Like I said, I love the presentation.

I think when the food is beautiful, it tastes even better.

>> It tastes better.

It makes the kids happier.

And you can hear them singing at the table.

>> Absolutely, absolutely.

>> Of course, take the potato, with a something added to the cabbage potatoes.

>> And there's so much variety here, Chef!

>> So much variety, that's just to let you know that you can do so much for your family on a short bit of time and feed them in a healthy manner, and that is what is so important.

And of course, when you start with good ingredients, fresh ingredients, when you start with items like olive oil, because potatoes and the cabbage are so good, and you can always give them good, healthy portions.

>> I just never thought of putting potatoes and cabbage together.

>> Yes, it is so good together, and of course, it's a great combination, and it's a good way to trick your kids into eating healthy food.

>> This is a beautiful presentation.

We appreciate this so much.

We're gonna take another step, and we're going to show you how to eat healthily locally.

We're joining Chef Fatback at the state farmer's market.

♪ >> Hey, folks.

I'm Chef Fatback here live in West Columbia at the new farmer's market, here with the director, Mr. David Tompkins, and I want to thank you, David, for letting me come and bother you on a cold, cold Thursday morning here at the market.

Tell me about the new market.

>> Well, we're so happy to be over here.

We've got nice, new facilities.

We've got a lot of space here.

People are able to come in and find what they want very easily.

They can, the trucks can move in and out, and people can move together.

We don't have the conflicts of space in the facilities we did over at the old market, so it's nice to be here at a new place, and I really encourage people to come out, because it's something they need to see and something they need to learn out to use.

>> Well, it's not only open to public, but it's open to restaurants like mine, and my restaurant, coming out here and pick local groceries and local produce, stuff like that, go back to our restaurants and cook 'em.

But that makes it more, keeps that money in the community a little more.

You think it helps turn a transition once or twice in the community before we let it go out.

>> Oh, yeah.

It makes a big difference.

Our farmers can come from all over the state into this market very easily, be here within a couple of hours from the time the crops are harvested, bring it into our sheds and sell directly to the public, to the restaurants, to the grocery chains.

>> Now, me having a restaurant in downtown Columbia, I got a choice to make, to buy my groceries from somebody from Texas, or somebody from California, whoever wants to supply me stuff.

But how more, how more convenient or how more important is it for us to try to get local groceries together, you know, from local farmers?

>> Well, we keep things in our state.

We keep 'em in our community when things are bought here.

Plus the other part of it, you're buying stuff that is local, so it's fresher.

It's been brought in, as I said, made be harvested one evening and for sale here next morning on the market.

And so you're getting something that has not gone through a lot of change.

It's brought in here by the farmer and sold directly to the consumer or the customer.

>> So would could almost track where it came from, and I can take a picture or show you the farmer that grew the greens and grew the okra and grew the tomatoes.

>> Right, we have a process here.

We register our farmers.

Farmers register to come in and sell at our market.

They tell us what they're going to have.

So if you come in and you say, you found some especially good watermelon, and you know I want to buy watermelon from that farmer, we can tell you who it was, 'cause we know where they were that day and where they sold, you know, we just have to know what day you came in and what stall you bought it on!

But we can go back, and we can track things back to the farm.

>> Well, listen, can I look around and get some groceries today?

I'd like to put together a nice winter soup for my restaurant.

My customers love my fresh soups, so I know we've got something growing now, right?

>> Sure we do!

Right here at Clayton Rawl Farms, we can walk over there.

They have a lot of locally-grown greens.

They sell other product, too.

They bring it from other places, but they have a lot of local produce.

They have over 2,000 acres of produce being grown in Lexington County, just by Clayton Rawl Farms.

We have a lot of other producers over there as well.

>> I don't even have to go to out to Lexington County to get the stuff I need to grow, make my soup.

>> Tompkins: Don't believe you do.

Think you'll find it right here.

>> What have we got here?

>> This is a Carolina sweet onion, grown in Lexington County.

It's a branded name, with that sweet onion name.

A very good product.

These are green onions.

They also do a dry onion later in the year, but these are good example of what we grow this time of year in South Carolina, so there's a lot of fresh produce grown during this season that can be found here on the market.

>> You know, in a good soup, you've got to have some onion, so I'm gonna take these with me to make my soup with, a vegetable soup, and I can know it's South Carolina-grown, and-- Look at it, got a little label on it, got the address and everything on it!

>> Exactly.

And look on the back, you'll see it says Certified South Carolina Grown.

Shows right there on our label.

Turn that around a little bit, but it shows.

When you see that Certified South Carolina Grown, you know it's one of our South Carolina products.

Good handful of 'em there so you can see that color in the stems there, and that color will carry right on into the tuber.

> When I was a little boys, my mama used to make me eat beets, and I was tormented by that.

I just was scared of 'em to death, but now since I've grown up and I'm a big boy, I'm gonna throw some beets in the soup also.

>> You know, a lot of people don't realize that you can come out of the market and shop anywhere on this market, they can go to any of the warehouses, any of the farmer's sheds.

It's open everywhere, and it gives a wide variety.

Even though we're talking about South Carolina product here and the beets, you can come out here right now, and you can find product from all over, so if you want fresh grapes, they're here on the market now.

If you want a watermelon, you can find a watermelon out here!

So it's all here.

Even though we're right in the middle of winter, you can find product from all over here.

It's brought in and distributed out to markets and restaurants all over the state.

>> Now I know about these!

My grandmother used to have these in the backyard.

These are called sweet potatoes, right?

>> One of the best things you can possibly, one of the most complete foods we can have.

My problem is I like to soak 'em down with butter.

[laughs] >> Well, I tell you what.

Now, these sweet potatoes are grown down in Lowcountry, right?

>> A lot around Horry County, over that way in the Pee Dee is one of the big areas, but we have other people in the state grow 'em as well, so you find them in several places.

But yeah, it's one of our good South Carolina products, sweet potatoes.

>> Well, I know I need some of these in my soup, too.

You know, I throw a couple of those in there.

So I've got onions, we've got sweet potatoes, we're gonna have to add some greens, some kind of greens-- These are mighty fine-lookin' collard greens here.

These came from Lexington, too?

>> These are from Lexington.

Lexington is one of the biggest collard-producing areas in the country.

>> Wow.

We're producing not only for South Carolina, but for the whole east coast, then?

>> Oh, sure, they move all over the country out of Lexington.

>> Well, you know, any good soup's gotta have some greens in it, so I'm gonna take a head of these collard greens and chop it up and put it in the soup.

I'm telling you, folks, this is going to be the best soup you've had in your life.

And I know I need some root vegetables.

Turnips, roots.

What are these here?

Turnips?

>> Turnips, yup.

I'm gonna have to come eat with you tonight.

>> Look at that!

Man!

Mm.

>> Fresh.

Look at how crisp that is.

That's fully full of water and ready and fresh and ready to be used, 'cause those leaves are just as crisp as can be.

>> See, I take, chop the leaves off the top, and I even keep the bottoms too, chop those up and throw that in the soup.

This is going to be a vegetable-filled soup.

I'm telling you, it's gonna be the best soup you ever had in your life.

>> All right.

♪ >> See, I got my collards, I got my onions, got my beets, got my greens and my potatoes down in there.

I think we're ready, David, ready to make this soup.

>> And I'm ready to eat it!

>> All right.

It's gonna take a couple of hours, now, 'cause any good soup's gonna take a good hour or two to boil down and really simmer, but I know it's gonna be able to warm the soup and make me real warm, especially this cold day it's been out here at the farmer's market.

>> Well, thank you for coming out.

It's been a pleasure to have you out, and I'm looking forward to coming down and trying it.

>> We promised you the healthiest smoothie ever.

We are here with Miss Millie Houston, and she's gonna put it together for us.

Hi, Millie.

Thank you so much for being with us.

>> Well, thank you for having me, and thank you for being here.

>> It's going to be a lot of fun learning how to make this smoothie.

I am so impressed with the combination of fruits and vegetables that you have here today.

Tell me especially about wheatgrass.

Why is wheatgrass so important in your smoothie?

>> Well, you know, we recently discovered that wheatgrass is just super healthy.

It's a body cleanser.

It's good for the immune system, for the digestive system.

So it's just one of those power foods, you know, we've got power foods now.

And to me, any food that's natural, in its original form is power in terms of fruits and vegetables.

>> Let's talk about the smoothie you're gonna make today.

What are you going to throw in this wonderful concoction?

>> Well, you know, you can do whatever you want with a smoothie, you know?

We believe there's no better way to start the day than to have a fresh smoothie, and it's not complicated!

Use what you have in your home or your fridge.

If you don't have fresh, you can even use frozen berries and frozen fruits.

I wouldn't use canned, but anything fresh or frozen.

And basically, you start with a nice juice, either-- I always use orange juice, or you could start with a pineapple juice.

And then just take it from there!

And it's something wonderful that your family, they could make their own individual smoothies with whatever you like, and if you're really into the health thing, then we get really creative by getting extra protein powders and extra health extracts to add.

Keep in mind, once you add your fruits and vegetables, you're going to increase your portions.

So you may end up having enough to set in the refrigerator for later.

>> So what else are we gonna add here?

>> I always add a banana, because for me, I could do just orange juice and banana.

>> Really?

>> That does it for me.

The potassium and then the vitamin C?

Awesome.

Just put your banana in there.

>> The banana adds a nice texture to it, doesn't it?

>> It does!

>> Kind of a creamy texture.

>> I love it!

For this particular smoothie, we're gonna add some of this wheatgrass, because again, it's so good for you.

And it's gonna turn it a little green.

You know, this is an afternoon smoothie, if we need a pick-me-up.

>> Is there a taste to the wheatgrass?

>> It tastes like grass.

[laughing] It tastes like grass, literally.

>> But now, when you put all these other nice tastes in-- Gee thanks, Millie, you're giving me grass to eat!

>> You're welcome!

Since this, I usually do just fruits and maybe a little avocado or whatnot in the morning.

>> P.A.

: So you're putting pineapple in now.

>> I'm putting pineapple for some sweetness.

I'm gonna even add some spinach since I've added my wheatgrass, because I need a pick-me-up right now!

And then I'm gonna add a little bit of avocado.

So this is really-- >> This is a diverse smoothie, isn't it?

>> It is!

I'm gonna add a little wheatgrass powder.

It's gonna turn this smoothie green.

[loud whirring] [whirring growing louder] Doesn't take long.

>> So now, is that going to be, what are you looking for?

Are you looking for taste?

Or are you looking for strictly nutrition here?

>> It's gotta taste good!

You know, everything's gotta taste good.

>> P.A.

: So is it gonna taste good?

>> It's gonna taste awesome.

The kicker is, it's good for you.

That's the bonus.

>> And is it filling?

>> Oh, it's like having a breakfast or a meal in a glass.

>> All right, I'm gonna try it.

>> Please do, and tell me what you think about it, okay?

>> I'm gonna tell you.

>> And again, you can add anything to your smoothie.

>> You know, I'm really surprised.

This actually tastes pretty good!

>> It's good, it's good.

And if you wanted to make it, I could add ice to it.

I like things at room temperature or just fridge temperature, but I could add ice to it and make it more like a slushy, like a milkshake.

>> Millie-- I was just thinking, she's giving me, and this is not gonna taste good, but this actually tastes pretty good.

>> And it's healthy!

>> Yeah, avocado.

>> Millie: We put avocado, pineapple.

We could do papaya.

Oh man, you could do anything.

But the great thing about it is use what you have, and then if you've got some leftover fruit or something-- >> Throw it in there!

Let's see, put a little ice, and then you have more of a dessert-y kind of cold mixture.

>> Millie: Exactly, exactly.

>> Well, Millie, thank you so much.

This was a delicious experience.

We appreciate it.

>> And we thank you for coming.

>> Absolutely.

And thank you all for being with us here on "Connections."

I'm P.A.

Bennett, and remember, stay connected.

We'll see you next time, right here on "Connections."

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