Remember last fall when I attended a Next Door Chef Nashville pop-up restaurant at a local home? The evening was part of a Food Network commercial taping and followed the kickoff commercial taping which took place in Chicago.

I attended the event along with several food and lifestyle bloggers for this uniquely Nashville food happening. We enjoyed an amazing meal outdoors that brought a local Nashville husband and dad together in the kitchen with Biscuit Love chef Karl Worley.

The video from that fall dinner at Morton Salt’s Next Door Chef: Nashville event just went live March 20. Busy dad, husband and full-time musician Travis Nunn was given pointers by Chef Worley on how to prepare a remarkable family meal using different types of salt. That evening Travis’s West Nashville home was transformed into a fully decorated pop-up restaurant, “Indie’s Kitchen,” (named for his adorable daughter) and we tried the dishes, which all featured a different type of salt.

Two of my favorite parts of the meal were actually not the main course but the beginning and the end – cocktails to kick off the evening and a delicious biscuit strawberry shortcake to wrap things up on a sweet note. I’ll share the Lemon Spring Tea recipe at the end of this post. It’s the perfect refreshingly light spring cocktail for sipping on your porch or patio as temperatures rise!

This was Morton Salt’s second Next Door Chef event and was tied around spring entertaining and recipes, perfect for this time of year! Morton Salt has shared that they will be releasing video and recipes from their third Next Door Chef, in New Orleans, this summer. Stay tuned to the website for some amazing grilling inspiration. Also, if you haven’t seen it yet check out their site for the first Next Door Chef event that was held in Chicago for another great transformation and some delicious recipes.

Thanks to the Nashville event, I learned more about the benefits of using Morton Kosher and Sea Salt,versus the standard table salt when cooking. Turns out a lot of us, including myself, are using table salt for almost all cooking purposes, which is a huge miss in the kitchen. Using the right type of salt can make a big difference as it enhances flavors in a dish.

Visit MortonSalt.com/NextDoorChef to see more photos and features recipes from our meal and learn how you can host your own Next Door Chef with the same tasty culinary creations we enjoyed at the event last fall. Let me know if you make this refreshing Lemon Spring Tea cocktail I’ve shared below!

LEMON SPRING TEA (with a kick!)

Cocktail Difficulty: Easy

A refreshing start to any meal, this lemon spring tea is flexible to be a mid-day drink or served up as an adult beverage at night.

Ingredients

7 tea bags

2 cups granulated sugar

2 cups lemon juice – fresh

5 cups boiling water

2 cups vodka (optional)

Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan.

Place tea bags in water and allow to steep for 5 minutes.

Remove tea bags and stir in sugar until dissolved.

Add lemon juice and place in refrigerator.

Serve over ice.

Add the vodka for a fun adult drink!

Garnish with Morton Kosher Salt preserved lemons.