Stephanie Izard

Credit: Getty

Celebrity Diners Club

CMT Artists of the Year: What Taylor Swift, Brad Paisley Ate

Originally posted 12/13/2011 10:05AM

How do country's biggest stars prep for the CMT Artists of the Year show? With some southern-style cooking, of course!

This year's crop of honorees – Taylor Swift, Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, Lady Antebellum and Jason Aldean – all chowed down on a feast prepared by Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard prior to the show, which airs Tuesday (9 p.m. ET on CMT).

"For the dinner, I wanted to show my style of cooking but have influence from the artists and Nashville," Izard told PEOPLE of the three-course meal, complete with wine pairings. (See the full menu below.)

Using notes from each musician, the Top Chef winner created a meal tailor-made for the stars.

"Taylor Swift loves sausage and gravy from Cracker Barrel, so we did mini biscuits with goat and pork gravy," Izard, who owns the Chicago restaurant the Girl & the Goat, said. (She also personally met Swift because, Izard explains, "All of the young guys that work for me would have been disappointed had I not!")