Sunday, January 27, 2013

an american girl in the french quarter

no, i have not earned a stamp in my passport (unfortunately). but i did see the inspiration for parts of downtown san diego. that's right, this so cal girl went to nola. and i had a kulinary adventure indeed.

first let's do the rundown of what all i ate:

day 1:
(flying all day, arrived in time for dinner)
drago's at our hotel, charbroiled oyster appetizer and shrimp and grits


first time eating an oyster. first bite was delish. i think my mouth was tricked by all of the butter and garlic. so i went in for the second bite. my mouth realized that i was eating an oyster and was not so pleased. it went (and stayed) down but was not going to let another one in. the shrimp and grits-delish and more delish. i love grits. they are great. and the creole seasoning, yummy!

day 2:
(breakfast and lunch at preconference-it was not that i didn't want to explore)
cafe du monde for a chicory cafe au lait and beignets on our way to eat dinner & coop's place for dinner for coop's taste plate (seafood gumbo, shrimp creole, cajun fried chicken, red beans & rice with sausage, and rabbit & sausage jambalaya)

first, i love that as an adult, i can eat dessert before dinner. awesome! and fried dough covered in powder sugar is a delightful way to ruin your dinner. so i talked chris into ordering the sampler plate so i could taste one bite of everything but not actually commit to eating a plate of anything (because my belly was full of beignets). i will say that the cajun fried chicken was good and their coleslaw (not pictured) was fantastic (veggie plug #1).

we weren't ready to call it a night yet so walked around and i found a cool old building that was once a slave trading post and meeting spot for andrew jackson. after a while, i got hungry again and was told that the bread pudding was the best dessert on the menu. that was an understatement. i present to you bread pudding from the original pierre maspero's. that's right, homemade caramel sauce. i ate dessert, snacked for dinner, and had yet another dessert. bliss!


day 3:
lunch at johnny's poboy, the surf and turf (shrimp and roast beef) poboy, and dinner at the original pierre maspero's, fettuccine corn maque choux.

these are supposedly the best poboys in new orleans (which is like saying the best fish tacos in san diego). it's a hard claim because everyone has poboys in new orleans. i thought shrimp poboy was the quintessential one to get but their claims of having the best homemade roast beef sounded appealing. so the surf and turf was ordered...and immediately inhaled. they were dead-on with the roast beef claim, it was like something grandma made. and the shrimp were light (for being fried). and call me crazy but i loved the lettuce and tomato (veggie plug #2). the fettuccine corn maque choux was a refreshing change from the other fried foods we had been eating. there was not only corn but also peppers (veggie plug #3) tossed with tasso (ham) in a cream sauce. this was topped with blackened chicken. we also had the fried green tomato appetizer (not pictured) and those were glorious. good food with good people (bf and former grad school buddy) made for a great friday night.

day 4:
lunch at lucy's retired surfer bar, the cali burger (not pictured)
at this point, i needed something not fried, and something with veggies on it (veggie plug#4), hence the turkey burger with grilled onions, sprouts, avocado, tomato, lettuce, onion, and pickles on a whole wheat bun served with a salad. o.m.g. this was tasty and i felt like i was home. i felt that the veggies actually cleared some of my arteries so that i could proceed to dinner...
dinner at mother's, fried chicken special, with dirty rice, potato salad, and a biscuit
this was the best fried chicken i have ever had. it was fried but it was not at all greasy. the biscuit was the lightest, fluffiest biscuit i have ever had. and both the rice and salad were good. got me some tasty soul food.

day 5:
breakfast at the old coffeepot restaurant, calla cakes and grits.

again, i love grits. they are delicious with a little butter. and these calla cakes were a blend of sweet spices and long grain rice rolled into these cakes, which were then deep fried and dusted with powdered sugar and served with maple syrup. very dense and very tasty and unlike anything i have ever had for breakfast. wonderful! plus juice and coffee (great coffee) and a song performed by one of the servers (not our server) meant  breakfast and a show. a great start to the day!
dinner at deanie's, bbq shrimp appetizer and crfawfish quartet (crawfish etouffee, crawfish au gratin, fried crawfish tails andcrawfish dressng balls)


the bbq shrimp were way too much work. first, they were the most jumbo shrimp i have ever seen. then you had to peel and de-vein them-gross. not a fan. the crawfish four-ways: au gratin was creamy and cheesy and was good while warm (but not as good when it cools and coagulates); fried tails were sorta like fried shrimp with tasty homemade cocktail sauce; dressing balls were deep fried and were good with their homemade tartar sauce; and the etouffee had a tasty, smothered sauce, buttery, spicy with creole seasoning, but the rice it was served over was under cooked and crunchy. all in all, not the biggest fan. again, i liked the fries and the coleslaw.

that was our last night in the big easy and i can tell you that fried food, lots of seafood, and the lack of vegetables was not easy for me. i love vegetables. i love whole grains. i don't love everything fried or covered in lard, bacon grease, and other oily substances. i love that i tried lots of new things. some of them had very good flavors, and i look forward to having them again. but i am happy to be home and have eaten a bean and cheese burrito, tons of salad, fruits and vegetables.

all in all, it was an amazing place for food and non-food reasons. rich history (plantation visit), beautiful architecture (st. louis cathedral, jackson and lafayette squares), interesting people and cultural norms (we watch the krewe du vieux-the first of the mardi gras parades). we had a wonderful time and a kulinary adventure indeed, and i look forward to my next big adventure.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

out with the old, in with the new (orleans)

getting ready for a trip is work, especially if the (work) trip is more than a couple of days. we eat mostly fresh foods in this house and so there's a little strategery involved in not buying perishables before you leave and trying to eat what you do have so you don't have to toss it. when i was younger, my mom referred to this as "clean out the fridge" night. so tonight, we cleaned it out. we had salad, mashed sweet potato, broccoli and soup...and all these efforts will be rewarded. for tomorrow, we are on our way to the big easy. 



that's right, i have a conference (aka eduvacation) in new orleans.

 



i could not be more excited. and my tummy is eagerly awaiting the kulinary expedition on which i am about to embark.

in looking at recommendations and yelp, i fully expect to eat my way through this city (as i do in most new cities). my beloved said, "honey, we are only going for five days. we can't eat everything you are looking at." to him i say "ha! watch me!" 

he has not yet met vacation allie. (said in the same voice you would use to say "superman") my super power is that of an extreme appetite. like superman off of the planet krypton, outside of the 619 area code, i can eat my weight in food. and my curiosity is piqued in new places with new things. so i look forward to trying beignets and chicory coffee at the cafe du mond, cajun crawfish etouffee, po' boys, shrimp and grits, jambalaya, gumbo, anything cajun, anything creole, anything seafood...

he may have a point.

that's beside the point. i will make a valiant effort at trying as many new foods from as many different places as i can while i'm there. 

and i look forward to sharing them here :)

Thursday, January 10, 2013

now we're cooking with power

do you remember "tool time?" tim "the tool man" taylor getting into lots of trouble by trying to do everything with a power tool. well, not the trouble part, but i recently got a new power tool for my kitchen.
cuisinart smart stick immersion hand blender


isn't she a beaut? she has lots of cool new outfits and i have only tried the blender part, so i will have to fill you in as i use the other parts. but i am convinced - this is up there with the stand mixer (aka the beast) as far as cool!






what did i blend? (you ask)
a two-potato soup. the recipe was simple enough...onions and leeks, vegetable stock, and russet and sweet potatoes.



sidebar: it cooked in my other new kitchen toy - cast iron round casserole. sexy cranberry red!








once these were all tender, the blender went in. and that soup was not the same afterwards.
it was ah. mazing!
what was at one point chunks of veggies and potatoes was now a smooth, creamy soup. with one touch, or rather a series of touches, i used "more power" to blend away. and now all i can think about is "what can i blend next?" i am going to look up every creamy, blended soup and sauce i can find.
i also want to try out the other accessories - see what it's like to whip and chop with this thing.
oh the places i will go...

Sunday, January 6, 2013

knock knock...gnocchi

my first new dish of the new year...gnocchi. with this new dish came some revelations.
first, homemade gnocchi is deceptively hard work, which is why i think i have not yet made them. you've got the potatoes (peeling, cutting, boiling, draining, cooling and ricing). you've got the dough (eggs and flour and lots of patience). you've got the actual gnocchi (rolling out said dough into thin little ropes, cut into even littler pieces, and then stamped with a fork). finally, like any dough, you have to boil it and dress it with some sorta sauce.
second, potato ricers are cool.
third, consistency (size and shape) is difficult. as much as i tried to make them all the same, it wasn't until i was actually cooking them when i realized that some of them were floating to the top quicker than others. something to work for...
fourth, freezing them is a handy little tip i learned at a culinary festival and it worked like a charm. this recipe gave me roughly three separate servings so i have two bags of gnocchi in my freezer for another night. meatless mondays...maybe i will eat them tomorrow.
fifth, i have always respected italians but my respect is renewed and at a much deeper level after this affair. this was a lot of work and and a lot of effort and although it was not even close to my best, i am proud of myself for trying this and i hope to try it again. much like my repeated attempts at perfecting risotto, i think striving for perfect gnocchi could be a noble effort.
finally, i need to go to italy.
that is all.


Thursday, January 3, 2013

holiday traditions...old and new

picture it: december 24th, 1946; it's a wonderful life
fast forward: december 20th, 2012; san diego, california. our christmas dinner. (yes, it was a little early but it was because we would not have our "own" christmas until after the fact, so early would have to work.)

i felt like george bailey finding that newly reestablished love for the simple things in life that are already around him. "merry christmas snowmen appetizer platter. merry christmas little cheese knife. merry christmas fancy red wine glasses."
we had a bottle of decoy cabernet sauvignon. as daddy rog would say: it's a very drinkable wine. drinkable indeed. to the right, i did a new stuffed mushroom this year: goat cheese pesto. so easy and so delicious! in the middle we had a simple cream cheese covered and smothered in cherry pomegranate habanero sauce served with carr's table water crackers. this was a wonderful starter and we were both full of food and drink and holiday spirit. a perfect way to start our very own holiday.
i let that tide us over while the main course baked and cooked and prepared.
like last year, prime rib. unlike last year, different flavors: whole black peppercorn, whole mustard seed, dijon mustard, and worcestershire rubbed across the top. garlic under the skin. zinfandel sauce to accompany both the prime rib and the mashed potatoes. i also made fresh horseradish for the prime rib and the two together (zinfandel and horseradish) were phenomenal! fresh carrots from our csa steamed to perfection. the fluffiest of mashed russets. and a beautiful salad to finish it off. baby spring greens, oranges, pomegranate seeds with fresh pressed garlic and citrus to dress. one of these best meals i have made all year. everything was perfect, in taste and in look. shockingly, we didn't even make it to dessert because between the appetizers, dinner, salad, and wine, there was no room at the inn. 
after dinner we exchanged gifts. i got a new kitchen toy (enameled cast iron pot--dutch oven-like), and new baking gadget (scone pan), and a gift card to williams-sonoma to increase my ever-expanding collection/er, kitchen. stay tuned for new exciting kulinary kreations in 2013...

but before we start, i leave you with the new year's eve of my discontent.

we decided to stay in and cook and eat and just be together. not freeze. not be around strangers. not overpay for everything. not pay a cab to get us home. not risk our lives going out our home.
like with christmas, a tradition of drinks and appetizers.
i made those same goat cheese pesto stuffed mushrooms, but the oven was too hot and i put too much olive oil of the mushrooms and they were oily and squishy. fail. i made chicken wings with that same cherry pomegranate habanero sauce. i marinated them all day and baked them. they were cooked and good but i think chris burned his hand and mouth on them. finally, i made a gorgonzola-artichoke dip. that was the only thing i liked and i ate tons of it. i have made it before which is why i did not mess it up. chris was doing an excellent job of making himself martinis and he found them very drinkable (and nibbleable of the olives). that did tide us over while i attempted to make osso buco with risotto alla milanese (williams-sonoma italian cookbook). sidebar: i love osso buco at this local, authentic italian place. when i order it, it is so tender and melts in my mouth. i was hoping for that same feeling, but this was my first time so i thought, let's give it a try. i get the best meat from a local butcher. i follow the recipe exactly, step by step.

i browned the veal
<-----


i softened the veggies
----->



i deglazed the pan with red
and let it thicken and reduce
by half
<-----
i added beef stock
brought it to a boil
----->

 i returned the veal to the pan, covered, and simmered.
<-----







meanwhile, back at the ranch, i was making the risotto and i was steaming green beans for our veggie. i also made a gremolata (parsley, lemon zest, and garlic) to sprinkle on the top of the veal.
the finished product:

it was not too bad to look at, that's for sure.
but the taste was a whole different experience...
the green beans were totally out of season. the osso buco was so tough and full of parts i don't want to eat (fat, gristle, sinew). the flavor of that meat was delish but i was so deflated after having made it. the only thing i liked on that plate was the risotto because i worked so hard on risotto for so long that i feel i know a little about what's going on there.

finally, if bibical end times don't signal in three, there was the dessert course. i bought a bunch of strawberries and blueberries and some cream that i was going to whip for a light topping of fresh fruits. and i couldn't even get my cream to whip. instead chris is upset about the sound of the mixer and after going longer than it should have, i realized it was not going to make cream and my dessert just wasn't going to be.

recap: appetizer=i lose; dinner=i lose; dessert=i lose

so i messed up our supposed-to-be-better-than-going-out evening. i should have just gone to bed and hoped for a fresh start with the new year. 




Friday, December 21, 2012

do-it-yourself (revised)

does anyone remember those cute little mason jars, with chocolate chips on top and the dry materials necessary for making cookies layered all cute. they usually had some kind of instructions about mixing butter and eggs and vanilla and then adding the dry ingredients from the jar. you don't have to measure but you do have to do work. it was a cute (enough) idea, but really not worth the work.
this year, i had a different idea on the do-it-yourself.
*some assembly (might be) required
hot fudge chocolate chip cookie sundaes (just add ice cream)
no need to stir or bake any cookies, no need to stir or cook (or cool) any fudge.
instead, place cookie in a bowl, put ice cream on top of the cookie, heat fudge (in your microwave safe tupperware) a little bit and pour on the ice cream. enjoy!
this was a huge hit with my colleagues.
and for those who didn't have ice cream, the cookies and fudge on their own were both big hits. all in all i was quite pleased with my holiday treats this year.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

don't bother me...i'm cooking

it's been a little while since my last post. it's not for lack of inspiration. in fact, i have gotten a lot of goodies in my csa box and it was thanksgiving, so plenty of reasons. but alas, no time...
today i take a break from my 11-hour day (that's right, 10+1, you need more fingers than you've got to count the hours i worked today) to reflect on my recent culinary victories and ogle my foodie porn.

roasted winter veggies. all major players present and accounted for, including butternut squash, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and grape tomatoes and rosemary. with the addition of an onion from the store, this was to die for. not actually, or i wouldn't be here typing about it. but talk about the perfect blend of delicious and nutritious!

simple salad. never underestimate the power of a good salad to brighten up your dinner. spinach, avocado, and heirloom tomatoes. with the addition of green onions and feta cheese and dressed with a oil and vinegar, this was one of the prettiest (and tastiest) salads i have made in a while.
persimmons. who knew??? some of you might be thinking "where the hell have you been that you've never had a persimmon?" apparently, under some sort of rock that did not have persimmons. but as i spoke with friends and colleagues about this curious, orange goodness, i quickly realize i am not alone in my persimmon virginity. what to do??? i made a fruit salad per some recipe from epicurious with one of them. but i had five more. so i searched for more to do with them when i see persimmon cookies. fruit + cookies = happy belly. so i pureed them and mixed them up with your standard cookies ingredients. oh. my. cookie. so good!
brussels and greens. another good winter vegetable is the sprout of brussel. sauteed in a brand new boojie garlic infused olive oil (see temecula olive oil company), i cooked them until them were browned and a little crispy. i finished them with a little bit of honey infused balsamic (see temecula olive oil company, again). next time, i will use a little bit more balsamic to get a little more flavor from it. either way, tasty. it's plate partner in crime is the green of mustard. sauteed red onions in regular olive oil, i added the greens and some salt and pepper and cooked them down a bit with a little bit of cider vinegar. i finished them off with a little lemon. this was a magnificent way to spend meatless monday :)