usi Gott Séguret is pounding black peppercorns into powder in the small kitchen of a log cabin on the Warren Wilson College campus in Swannanoa. On a thick cutting board, she chops rosemary and garlic for a rub that will flavor the spring lamb. When crocuses squeeze through the softening earth and chilly days are interspersed with hints of spring, a group of local chefs gather around one table to break bread as family.

The Madison County-born Séguret is visiting from her home in France to orchestrate a planning session for the Swannanoa School of Culinary Arts, the entity she founded at her alma mater four years ago. With some 26 chefs partnering to instruct two one-week sessions, the school reflects Séguret’s own sensibilities of carefully gathering fresh food, preparing it with skill and respect, and sharing the results with friends and family around one table.

Though she grew up on a farm in Shelton Laurel with gardens galore, Séguret credits her culinary inspiration to France, where she moved in her mid-20s after touring the world as a bluegrass musician. “Every experience in France was inspiring on a culinary level,” she explains. “Even young couples living together for the first time: they all knew how to cook far better than anyone I knew back home.”

Many Chefs, One Kitchen
Séguret found a wealth of enthusiasts for the program in Western North Carolina’s cooking scene. Already, four of the chef-instructors have met early at the cabin overlooking the college’s garden to begin preparing their dishes. The others will trickle in bearing potluck contributions. Today’s gathering is a time for relaxing before the summer session of culinary classes—hours for catching up on news, trying out fresh recipes, discussing teaching strategies, and enjoying each other’s company as compatriots.

Eve Davis, current leader of the group Slow Food Asheville and owner of The Hawk & Ivy bed-and-breakfast in Barnardsville, has beautified the Spartan but cozy cabin with blossoms, including cheerful daffodils and lavender-tipped African violets. Davis’ honey herb sauce will dress the spring salad, a mix of delicate watercress, mache, mesclun, and clover.

Tres Hundertmark of Asheville’s The Lobster Trap dredges plump trout fillets in fine flour for a first course of trout and oysters Rockefeller. Meanwhile, Michael Gentry, a volunteer at Warren Wilson’s gardens, picks tender lettuce leaves growing in the greenhouse for the salad. Back at the cabin, he steeps nettle tea for the group, sweetening it with warmed mountain honey and serving it over ice. This year, Séguret has decided to pair chefs and ingredients to inspire students. The grains and beer session, explains Pierre Lestieux, a native of Limôges, France, will include a workday at his North Asheville shop, Paris Bakery, and instruction about cooking with beer.

As other culinary artists arrive, they deposit their dishes on a staging table before heading upstairs to a sunny alcove. While enjoying glasses of crisp InFine Côte du Ventoux (a white wine from Provence) and Gentry’s nettle tea, they take notes and toast to a successful session.

Course Work
Séguret calls the culinary artists to the table, and the meal begins to unfold. The trout and oysters Rockefeller utilizes spring’s first flavors—fennel and anise—with a splash of the French spirit Pernot. As Hundertmark serves his peers, the first bites set the tone for an out-of-the-ordinary potluck lunch. Lashings of velvety hollandaise envelop this dish in warm richness, accenting the delicate trout and acting as the perfect bridge between decadent and light flavors.

The chefs pass small pitchers of the honey herb sauce and Gentry’s earthy ramp and miso dressing for drizzling over plates of delicate spring buds and shoots. Next, Mark Rosenstein, chef and owner of The Market Place in Asheville, pulls his large cassoulet—the ultimate French comfort food—out of the oven. Rich in its liberal use of chicken and pork belly, the casserole is made heartier yet with beans and a crust of breadcrumbs and shaved Parmesan and comté cheese. An elder statesman of the local culinary scene with more than 25 years in business downtown, Rosenstein is prodded to part with his recipe. “I just composed something out of what I cook every day,” he parries.

In no time, the second entrée—Séguret’s herb-rubbed spring lamb—is out of the oven and accompanied by pastry chef Cynthia Pierce’s savory mushroom and leek bread pudding and personal chef DeeDee Arthur’s new potato, asparagus, and goat cheese medley. Others jump in to assist with the carving and serving, sending platters around the table family-style. They are clearly having fun indulging in the gifts of spring and discussing great food.

Finally able to sit back and take in the afternoon’s proceedings, Séguret raises a glass of Domaine du Grand Prieur Côtes du Rhône. “I am overwhelmed by your generosity in making this gathering so rich and fruitful. Thank you, one and all, for being present, sharing your resources and talents, telling stories, and lending your laughter.”

Then Wally Maria Mazzucco’s schiacciata, a glorious Tuscan flatbread studded with plums, makes its entrance. The yeasty richness of this bread, the succulence of the tart fruit married with rosemary, and a drizzling of fine streams of honey create a taste of joy and dimension, offsetting the savory cheese course. Mazzucco, who offers Italian language and cooking classes out of her Weaverville home, suggests crumbling sweet Gorgonzola overtop.

Just when it seems the afternoon couldn’t get any better, Pierce and fellow pastry chef Diana Schmitt McCall, bring out their tortes. The Queen of Sheba, a dense almond and chocolate confection by McCall, an avid herbalist, achieves wholesome perfection. Pierce’s strawberry mascarpone cake, fluffy and light, made with delicate ladyfingers, exquisitely condenses the flavors of summer into each spoonful and inspires fevered planning late into the afternoon. Like Swannanoa Culinary School meetings of the past, this one has created a unique opportunity for some of Western North Carolina’s most talented chefs to come together without talk of their jobs, but rather to simply share and enjoy food.