Chicken Fried Gourmet

Patton ave Block party with Pork belly and Mini-Burgers

This past weekend our street had its annual Block Party. We moved in here about two months before Ethan was born and he is now four years old. Over this time we have never been able to make it to one of these parties for one reason or another. This year was different. At first we started to get worried because usually we receive a flyer about a week before but eventually one made its way to our door.

For this party, you are asked to bring whatever it is you want to eat plus stuff to share. They say grills will be provided but I, like most people, prefer to grill on their own. You can also chip in $10 and get some crawfish as well. I am not sure where they got them but there is a place at the edge of our neighborhood in an old gas station that sells them. On a windy day, even though I can no longer eat crawfish(long story), the smell in the air is intoxicating.

I wanted to do something that would show off my culinary skills a well as be approachable and finger food. I decided on pork belly (surprise) with ancho bacon bbq sauce and a play on corn on the cob. I also cooked mini burgers from a recipe I found HERE that is basically 50% sirloin and 50% untrimmed brisket. People, go out and buy a meat grinder, you will N E V E R buy ground meat again. Trust me on this.

For the play on the corn on the cob, I pureed fresh and grilled corn with garlic, butter and heavy cream. I strained this mixture, seasoned it then put it in a ISI foamer. It is the consistency of a very light whip cream with all the taste of corn on the cob. It was served on spoons. The picture I had to do at home does not look appetizing - I know but it tasted damn good.

Some of the pictures had to be recreated at home due to a number of factors - lack of table space, getting dark, the amount of beer consumed etc......

Anyway my two neighbors on our end of the street brought their grills as well. They both cooked chicken and it was great. I did not get a picture of the chicken that Teddy made (SORRY) but it was really good as were the stuffed mushrooms.

The rest of the offerings are pretty self explanatory from the pictures.

All in all we had a great time and made some new friends, I look forward to future get togethers and hope I am not labeled the "freak down the street who does weird things with his food" :)

Tomato Garden

Yesterday I was feeling great, my mind was constantly processing thoughts on new food ideas and such and I felt very creative. Today not so much, I woke up and felt sick. I stayed at home all day and basically just slept and watched crappy movies on TV. My food mojo was dead, I didn't even feel like watching my TIVO'ed food shows.

Over the past few weekends I have been steadily getting my tomato garden ready for planting. Over the past few years I have been planting in some old whiskey barrels but this year I decided to build a raised bed. It is 8 feet by 4 feet and is filled with organic potting soil designed specifically for tomatoes and herbs. Right now there are about 25 or so different varieties of tomatoes,herbs and peppers. Every time I go to the local Wal-Mart/Lowes or garden store I add a plant or two. I may need to build another box.

BTW the 2x4's sticking above the ground around the box are strictly for support/level while the box "settles".

My birthday, Canon SLR, Mini Burgers and Honeydew Melon Margaritas

I apologize for the time between posts. It seems like everything is going so fast and there is not much time to just sit down and just type out my thoughts. Although I have not posted frequently, I am still cooking on a daily basis and hope to document everything soon.

A couple of things are going to be happening soon. I have been working on a project that “some” of you may already know about. It will be a big thing for me, as well as for this site, I will let everyone know once the details get nailed down. It is something I have wanted to do for a long time and with the help of a few friends "I Think" it is going to happen.

I also just received a new camera for my birthday. In the past I have used a digital point and shoot but have just acquired a Canon SLR that I think will bring a new quality to the pictures for this site. Until I can sit down and start formulating more posts here is a ‘snapshot” from this weekend.

Now on to the food, we made mini-burgers/sliders this past weekend. I came across a recipe for making your own ground beef using 50% top sirloin and 50% untrimmed brisket. This mixture worked out pretty well and yielded a very juicy burger. I topped mine with onions sautéed with beer and added blue cheese. We forgot to get potatoes for the fries so I found a bag of tater tots in the freezer – bad choice. The tots suffered from a bad case of freezer burn so I just ate extra burgers to compensate. We also made honeydew melon margaritas.

There is also a new tomato garden, that I am still working on, in my backyard.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Kiroli Park West Monroe LA (not food related)

This past weekend my 8 year old clone had a cub scout event at Kiroli park in West Monroe. This park is an oasis in the middle of the city(kinda). Here are some photos from our weekend in West Monroe.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Easter 2008 : Figgy Ham, carrots and pasilla, watermelon Oysters

Last year for Easter I experimented with some molecular gastronomy techniques I was just learning. This year I decided to rely on old favorites as well as trying new recipes, but nothing too out there.

You would think that living in the South you would be able to find rabbit meat pretty easy, well guess what - you cannot. For the past two years every time I visit this one store (who btw has great mexican ingredients) I see a whole cut up rabbit in their freezer section. Well knowing my luck, when I decide to go buy some two weeks before Easter they are out. I called the meat market manager and he said he has had trouble getting it lately. Is there a run on rabbit meat I do not know about???

I started calling around some places and you would not believe the responses I got. One place I called which bills itself as an upscale meat market basically thought I was speaking a foreign language( this is the same place I asked about duck confit and they were clueless). Another "meat market" I called was highly offended that I even asked for rabbit. They then proceeded to tell , before I even asked, "and no I do not know where you can get some". Excuse me, do you think those cows or chickens go gracefully? They sure as hell aren't lining up screaming "pick me,pick me" like you did in elementary school when the teacher asked the one question you knew.

Well to make a long story somewhat short I was unable to find rabbit. I did have one more option I was thinking of but the few people who I asked said it would be completely wrong to go to PETCO and asked for the "fat" rabbits. The dish I had wanted to do was a beer braised rabbit leg over fava beans and garlic aioli. It would have been good but oh well - maybe next year.

So without further suspense :) here is the menu that I settled on for Easter 2008

Carrot and Pasilla Soup shooters - two ways

Grilled Oysters with Watermelon Foam

Ancho Fig glazed Ham sandwiches with fig jam, garlic aioli and buttermilk biscuits(that did not rise)

Chocolate mousse with candied Kumquats and whipped cream

I did make some sauteed fava beans but they did not turn out so well :(

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.