When you love to cook, sing, make music, and enjoy friendly gatherings, it only makes sense to bring it all together. Jennifer Taylor does all of that at the Old Quail Run Farm.
Located in Sherman, The Old Quail Run Farm is an intimate entertainment venue focusing on food, wine, and music - the whole experience. The food is grown locally within twenty miles of the farm and served literally farm-to-table. Jennifer owned a catering business in Sherman, Bon Appétit Y’all, which helped start the farm to table movement. In fact, she was one of the first in North Texas to focus on local food sourcing.
Now at Old Quail Run Farm, the dinners become an event with performances by renowned musicians. This is partially because of Jennifer and her family’s background, touring the country performing Christian music at camps and churches. As young adults, Jennifer and her sister continued their career in Nashville writing, singing, and performing. Those music connections carried over to the dinners at the farm today. The size of event often determines the artist who performs. The farm has hosted artists such as Suzy Bogguss, Billy Dean, Texas Playboys, and Jack Ingraham. Each dinner had a theme with Jennifer documenting each theme, recipe, and event.
Fittingly, she created a series of cookbooks documenting the occasions. “Gatherings and Guitars: Making Memories one Meal and Song at a Time,” the first book, should be released early this year. According to Jennifer, each chapter features an artist who performed at the event plus all recipes from that special dinner, plus a QR code linking to their music. The artists contributed a recipe plus a story explaining the food or experience. Jennifer says it’s not a cookbook but “a storybook with recipes.” She has over five years of content for the books thus planning to release a series of books each with a different theme. Jennifer shares one of those recipe’s this month.
Jennifer Taylor has considerable plans for Old Quail Run Farm. Having lived in Sherman for the last thirteen years, she is excited to expand the farm as the community continues to grow. Almost certainly, Jennifer will live up to her book’s title making memories, each meal and song.
STREET CORN & KALE SALAD
1 bunch of Kale, leaves cut from stems and chopped
1 head of romaine lettuce chopped.
1 cup of grilled fresh corn - cut from the ear
1/2 cup of cotija cheese, crumbled 1/2 of a red onion, chopped
Cilantro Lime Dressing:
1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt
1 lime squeezed
1/4 cup of fresh cilantro - chopped fine 2 garlic cloves minced
Salt and pepper
1/4 teaspoon of canned chipotle
Add all dressing ingredients to a food processor. Blend until smooth. Add chopped Kale to a bowl. Drizzle with a little olive oil. Massage kale until softened. Then add your corn, cheese, red onion, and avocado. Toss together, then add amount desired of dressing. Toss until completely coated. Sprinkle cotija cheese on top.
