Southern Weddings

Hospitality is well-celebrated across the South, and few people I know exemplify this better than Camille Styles, of CamilleStyles.com and Camille Styles Entertaining, and her husband, Adam. It’s easy to feel at home from the moment you walk through the doors of their gorgeous Austin house (which also happens to have the most amazing back porch, as seen in the pictures below). I interned for Camille during my senior year of college, and one thing that always struck me about her and Adam is how much fun they always seem to have together! They truly act like best friends, and even though they’re both incredibly busy as business owners and parents, they always found time for dinners and date nights–something y’all know we believe in fiercely. I am so delighted that Camille is sharing their top ten favorite recipes in Southern Newlywed today, complete with beautiful photos by Buff Strickland–enjoy!

By day: Camille runs the lifestyle site, Camille Styles, and is the author of Camille Styles Entertaining; Adam is the founder and CEO of SpaceCraft, a software platform for small business websites.
How they met: We met at work! I planned the events for Adam’s former marketing agency–we were both in relationships when we met, so we were just friends at first. Later on, when we both found ourselves single, Adam asked me to meet him for a drink one evening after work. We’ve been inseparable ever since.
Their wedding: When we got engaged, I owned my own event planning company and had been on the planning side of lots of weddings. If there was one rule I knew I wanted to stick to with my own, it was “Keep it simple!” We invited 70 of our closest family and friends to a Sunday morning ceremony and elegant brunch reception, and by late that afternoon, we were on a flight to our honeymoon in Italy! It was a little untraditional, but for us, it was just perfect.

Who does the meal planning? We both love food, and it’s not uncommon for us to talk about what we’re going to have for dinner while we’re still sitting around the breakfast table! Adam throws out ideas, and I’m usually the one who gets our plan organized, makes a massive grocery list, and tackles the shopping for the week.
Who does the cooking? I cook on most nights of the week, but my favorite thing for us to do together is to turn on music, open a bottle of wine, and make a meal together in the kitchen. For me, it’s the most romantic “date night” there is! Usually, we’ll make something Italian, like grilled pizza or Adam’s signature caprese pasta dish that he used to woo me with when we first started dating.
What’s your favorite meal-related memory? A few summers ago, Adam and I took a trip to Greece, and one day, we took a sailboat ride around to some different islands. In the afternoon, our boat captain pulled out a loaf of crusty bread and big chunks of salty feta made fresh on the island, then started slicing tomatoes and cucumbers he’d plucked from his garden that morning. He spread it all out on a wood chopping board and added a bowl of mixed Greek olives and liberal sprinkles of sea salt. To this day, I’ll never forget the way those olives tasted like the saltiness of the sea, and the cherry tomatoes like sunshine; that simple meal will forever define the taste of Santorini in my mind.

Camille and Adam’s ten favorite recipes:

1. Dutch Baby Pancakes: When Adam and I first started dating, he had a couple of “signature” dishes he would make when he wanted to pull out all the stops for an at-home date night. This Dutch Baby is still one of our very favorite brunch dishes; we serve it with fresh berries, lemon wedges, and lots of powdered sugar.
2. Tuna Tartare with Avocado & Radish: Many of our favorite recipes to make at home are inspired by great dishes we’ve had in restaurants, this tuna tartare included. It couldn’t be simpler, but makes any night feel like a special occasion.
3. Kale Caesar Salad: Adam has a major thing for caesar salad, and I like to make ours a little healthier by using dark, leafy kale. It’s the perfect starter for a pizza or pasta night!
4. Crispy Baked Sweet Potato Fries: Finally, sweet potato fries that are baked in the oven and are actually super crispy! It took us years to perfect this recipe, and now it’s on weekly rotation at our house, usually served with chicken piccata, grilled salmon, or BLTs.
5. Shaking Beef: I was so excited to nab the recipe from The Slanted Door, one of our favorite San Francisco spots. It’s simple enough to make for just the two of us, though I love placing a big family-style platter of this dish in the center of the table for a summertime dinner party.
6. Asian Sesame Chicken Salad: A Chinese chicken salad is one of those things that if I spot it on a restaurant menu, I’ll probably order it, and this is our super healthy, super yummy take on it. It’s one of our most frequently-made weeknight meals, and we always devour every last crunchy bite.
7. Bucatini all’Amatriciana: This delicious pasta reminds us of some of the versions that we sampled on our honeymoon in Italy. Lucky for us, there’s a shop down the street from our house that makes bucatini (similar to spaghetti, but with a hole running through the center so it catches every last bit of sauce!). We pick up a batch of the fresh pasta on our way home from work and toss together an authentic Italian feast.
8. Sweet Potato Tortilla Soup: We eat tons of Mexican food at our house (we live in Austin, after all!), and this is our favorite unexpected take on tortilla soup: a super spicy broth made with toasted spices, adobo sauce, and black beans.
9. Dark Chocolate Orange Soufflés with White Chocolate Chunk Whipped Cream: If you were to ask Adam the way to a man’s heart, he’d probably answer “chocolate soufflés!” This one takes a bit of time, but on nights when I want to turn up the romance, it’s a decadent recipe that always does the trick.
10. Sparkling Citrus Punch: We love to invite friends over and entertain, and lately, we’ve been mixing up big bowls of boozy punch. There’s something about it that instantly gives off a “let’s get this party started!” vibe the second guests walk in the door, and most importantly, it saves us from playing bartender all night, since guests can serve themselves. This bubbly citrus concoction is our current favorite.

Thank you so much for sharing, Camille! Follow along with her on CamilleStyles.com, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and be sure to pick up a copy of her gorgeous new book, Camille Styles Entertaining for lots more food and entertaining inspiration!

P.S. We’d love to hear from you! Our hope is to feature real couples in the South – your inspiring friend, super talented cousin, or neighbor with the cutest house – the kind of person everyone would love to “e-meet.” If that sounds like you or someone you know, take a peek at our Southern Newlywed submission page and shoot us an email!

Written with love by Lisa