Chicken Fried Gourmet

TCHO Chocolate from Blake Makes.com

A couple of weeks ago I was able to procure some free TCHO chocolate from Blake Makes. The only thing I had to do to get some of this free chocolate is sit at my computer around 8pm and hope to be one of the few people to be the first to comment on Blake's site. Once I was able to "win" this chocolate all I needed to do was sit and wait by the mailbox(impatiently I might add)to arrive and blog about it once it did.

Well it is here now and it is good. Well I say it is good, I have not tried it yet but it smells REALLY good. When I opened that little brown package I smelled chocolate like chocolate is supposed to smell - this is no Hershey's bar for sure.

I was told to just write about the taste and what not, I did not have to cook anything with it. Well I cannot just bring myself to do that, so my mind has been constantly spinning about what to do with it.

What do you think I should try?

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Issues with design and a question for my readers

Okay I am in the process of redesigning some elements of this blog and Typepad is not the easiest thing to use. For now, none of my links to other sites show up as well as my Flickr badge.

I do have a question for my readers though, before these past few weeks : has anyone had any trouble with my site?

Do the Flickr slideshows load correctly and in a timely manner?

Do the external links work?

Any feedback you can give will be much appreciated........

Oh and I am on Twitter now, username is Chickenfried

Thanks

Chicken Fried Gourmet

Balsamic Fig marinated ribeye with corn tortilla puree

So the other day I was at the store and came across a thick piece of ribeye that was priced fairly well. Since the ribeye contains more fat than I should consume on a daily basis (yes I know I contradict myself with previous posts) I usually only buy one and cut it in half to split between Ann and I.

I have this Fig-Balsamic vinegar in the fridge and decided to use this to marinate the steak along with some red wine,the usual spices  and olive oil. It ended up marinating for about 4 days before we decided to grill it. The weather here in Louisiana is crazy,last Thursday it snowed , the weekend was nice and sunny with temps in the 70's, this morning was 40 and ended up with a high of 70. You can see why outdoor grilling can be sketchy.

Anyway I usually pair grilled steak with some sort of grits concoction, but not this time. I am not sure why I thought of it but I took some corn tortillas and tore them into small shapes and added them to a pot with a little bit of olive oil. I sauteed these for about 5 minutes then covered with chicken stock. I brought it to a boil then simmered for about 10-15 minutes. I pureed then strained this mixture and kept it at a simmer while the steaks were cooking.

When ready to serve all I did was add a touch of milk to loosen the puree and added salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

For the sauce all I did was add the leftover marinade and some red wine, brought it to a boil then reduced to a syrup like consistency.

For an additional side I made a simple zucchini soup flavored with garlic and jalapenos. I was not too impressed with it as it was too "grassy" for me but Ann loved it.

BTW, my wife pointed out the seemingly "risky' pictures" of the puree........

Pork Belly Peanut Butter Dulce de Leche won something

Last year around this time I entered a small bite contest for an appetizer to be featured in a tasting menu put on by Joe DeSalazar from Foodie NYC. I entered a Crawfish Grits Croquette with Creole Mustard Foam and green onion "dust". I didn't win. This year he had the same contest but not for small bites. I entered my Pork Belly PBDDL that I made from the excellent Peanut Butter Dulce de Leche from Blake of BlakeMakes.com. I did clear it with Joe that I could submit a previously blogged about dish beforehand.

Well guess what....I won. You can see the write up here FoodieNYC. I was so excited that I won although I could not claim the prize - a seat at one of Joe's upcoming tasting menu dinners :( since I will not be in NYC anytime soon.

I did however find a person that I thought would thoroughly enjoy it - Lisa from HomesickTexan. She happily agreed to take the invite off my hands.

If you want to find out more about PBDDL go visit Blake Makes, you won't be disappointed. Today is is his birthday and he has some exciting news as well.

I also have to credit Joe with having such great taste to finally pick me as a winner....j/k but in all seriousness he did introduce me to one of my most listened to albums of the past year : The National's Boxer......people go check out this album.

Alright that is all for now, I have to go finish dinner and continue to work on my bubble gum recipes, yes you read that right :)

St Patrick's Day Parade Shreveport LA

This is the 1st year that this parade has happened here in Shreveport. It was put on by 4Shreveport to benefit an all access children's park for the handicap here in our neighborhood. It started at 10am this morning and circled several blocks. There was not a big turn out and that was a shame. It was really put together well and it was a great family atmosphere. Being irish myself it was hard not to crack open a Guinness at 10am, but hey 11am was not too far away :)

I really hope that they do this again next year and more people come out. At a time when some in this city want to take every Mardi Gras parade and move it to a parkway near the river(which I am totally against) it is nice to know that you can have something in your neighborhood that you can be proud of. Happy St Paddy's day everybody, enjoy your Monday and throw back a couple of Guinness' in honor of the Irish.

And just because this post has nothing to do with food here is a recipe for Guinness Chocolate Milkshakes.

Take one pint of Guinness and reduce it with about a 1/8 cup of sugar till it is a syrup. Place in fridge to cool. Once cooled take about 3 scoops of chocolate ice cream and place in a blender, add a liitle bit of Guinness syrup and about a 1/2 pint of fresh Guinness. Pour and enjoy.

Togarashi,Peanut Butter Dulce de Leche, Pretzel Ice Cream,Corn, El Bulli chocolates,ravioli, corn nuts,steak and BBQ sauce

Okay so I haven't really had time to create new posts although I have been cooking quite a bit recently. For now I would just like to leave you with some images to tide you over till I am able to make some proper posts. I have been experimenting with new ingredients, different flavors and have even just ordered a bubble gum making kit. Watch out world !!!

I realized after sitting at my computer and compiling all these images that it took just as long if not longer to make this post than it would a regular one. Oh well.

I do have some exciting news coming up, still working out the details.