Chicken Fried Gourmet

Merry Christmas 2007

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I just want to thank everyone who has visited this site over the past year and some months( Yes, I missed my anniversary). The relationships I have formed and the new techniques I have discovered have been amazing. I have been able to showcase my passion as well as be introduced to new friends and I cannot say thanks enough for this.

                  

I look forward to what the new year can bring and if you have any suggestions as to what you would like to see from this site please let me know.

Leftover Meatball Sandwiches with Caesar Salad topping

Recently I have been trying to change my habit of going to the grocery store on a daily basis. As you can imagine it can get quite pricey.

Last week I did all of our food shopping for the upcoming week on Friday after work. It did save us money but I also wanted to cook everything I had planned out for the week almost immediately. I could not decide what I wanted to cook first, what would keep the longest, a new recipe, etc.

One of my old standbys is Spaghetti & Meatballs. I usually make these on a Sunday and leftovers can usually supply us with two or three more meals. Towards the end of the week I was getting a little tired of pasta so I went to the store ( yes this defeats the whole logic behind the beginning of the post) and picked up some sliced provolone and ciabbatta rolls. All I did was slice the rolls and lightly brush them with olive oil and broil them. I added sliced meatballs, sauce and provolone and threw them in the oven till things were melted and crispy. I made a basic spicy Caesar dressing and tossed it with romaine and put the "salad" on top of the sliced meatballs.

Pretty good use of leftovers and the salad meatball combination worked fairly well.

Dinner with old and new friends

A couple of weekends ago we decided to have some friends over dinner. It started out as a usual Saturday night invitation where we would just grill and hang out. This “dinner” turned into something more. At the end of our street we had some new neighbors move into a house that had been neglected for quite some time. They just recently moved from Atlanta to Shreveport so we thought it would be nice to show them some Louisiana hospitality and as well my cooking. We ended up having about 8 people or so by the time dinner came around. I came to a  realization that I do not have 8 sets of anything: chairs, tableware, wine glasses, etc. You get the picture, I was hoping that the dinner would take their minds off the mismatched dinnerware.

Since Saturday night cooking is usually when I try out new things I thought that this would be an ideal time to try out new ideas as well as proven favorites. Here is the menu :

Fried Crawfish Ravioli with a Lobster Tomato Jus (which should have been plated differently)

Butternut Squash and Popcorn Soup

Crispy Pork Belly with Fried Pecan Cheesy Grits and Cane Syrup and Root Beer Glaze

Pistachio ‘Sponge” with Smoked Chocolate and Pistachio Crumble with a Bittersweet Chocolate and Cabernet Sauce.

On the Egullet forums I had seen a “pistachio sponge” in the style of El Bulli and Jose Andres’ MiniBar. I was even  pointed to a cookbook that had the recipe. It's basically a dessert that you can make using an ISI whipper (best way to explain that? it is the thing they use at your favorite coffeshop to top off your java with whipped cream) and a microwave. I incorporated this with a chocolate red wine sauce and smoked chocolate and pistachio crumble. This was a very interesting dish and at first I was not sure it would even work but it did, very well. The idea for the smoked chocolate was from the website Studio Kitchen. I will have to warn you though that once you start looking through it you will go through every page and all the archives. Then you will want to look up the Studio Kitchen Forum on Egullet. Between this site, Ideas in Food, Chadzilla , Chef Sean Brock and many more that I just do not have the time to mention, my cooking skills and dishes are really changing direction.

The smoked chocolate is basically OREOS without the creme filling; the cookies are cold-smoked for about a half hour. I used hickory wood chips but I imagine that any flavor chip would suffice. Really interesting flavor.

 

All in all the dinner was a success and I believe the new neighbors enjoyed it.

(EDIT) this was originally written about three weeks ago and since then certain people have inquired about when I may be cooking again. Good times.

Nancy & Meade- My two Moms

I try not to bring too many personal things from my life into this site unless they are directly related to the food. Well today is an exception. You see, I have two mothers. I am adopted and I was given up at birth way back in April of 1973. If you are not too familiar with things that happened in this year, in January of 1973 Roe Vs Wade happened and it gave pregnant girls everywhere an unfortunate choice. I was lucky enough that a scared 16 year old girl made a very unselfish choice to bring me into the world and give me a shot to have a family that could provide me what I need knowing that she may never see or know me. Well that was 34 years ago and I have to say that I have truly led a blessed life because of this decision. I have a wonderful mother and father even though we have disagreements like all families do but it is MY family. My birth-mother's decision has shaped my life for the better and I would honestly have it no other way. When I was 19 I had the chance to spend a week with her. She came to Louisiana from Ohio ( yes I am somewhat of a transplated yankee living in Dixie) and we went gambling, out for margaritas, taught her how to eat crawfish, you know .... all the things a mother and son should do. Unfortunately I did not keep in touch with her over the years and it is a decision I will regret forever. Well today December 7th 2007 is the one year anniversary of her death. She passed away much too young. The silver lining to this dark cloud/post is that for the past year I have gotten to know the most wonderful second family I could ever ask for.

I also have to say that my mother, who still critiques everything I do was the perfect person to get me (I am a blessing in disguise, she just does not accept it yet). I thank God every day for my life and all the people in it and look back at what could have been if she would have taken the "easy" way out.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

So no matter what your politics or beliefs are, if you enjoy this blog, my cooking or just my warped sense of humor - the person who is responsible for me being here, for all the words I write, the pictures I take and the food that I cook- needs to be remembered this day and thanked for all that she did at such a young age and that she found the perfect couple to take her place.

My two Moms.....................

Braised Pork Sliders with Garlic Aioli and LSU football

Last weekend while preparing to watch LSU play in the SEC championship I thought that a pork dish would be a good cold weather dinner. I have really been wanting to do a Cochon de Lait but until I can find a source for a whole baby pig this will have to do. I came up with the idea of grilling some boneless pork ribs then braising till tender. Last August we were in New Orleans and I had a terrific Cochon de Lait sandwich that I cannot get out of my mind. Yes everything you have heard about food in the Big Easy is correct.....it is insanely good.

Well this is my interpretation of it. When I was at the store I came across some split pork feet and I thought that they might add a new dimension to the dish as well as flavor. I marinated the pork in a mixture of garlic, beer, worchestire sauce, Crystal Hot Sauce and Tony's. I threw everything on the grill till somewhat caramelized then braised it in more beer, worchestire and chicken stock.

Once done I cooled the meat then shredded it and kept it warm on the stove with a little butter. I made a garlic aioli and sliced some red onions real thin. The rest is pretty self explanatory via the pictures.

And what a night for college football. Going into the day LSU had no shot at the national title, the coach was probably leaving and look what happened by the end. Agree or not never underestimate Louisiana no matter how backwards the rest of the world may think we are :)

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.