Chicken Fried Gourmet

............in the midst of gardening

............in the midst of gardening, planted some new things this year at the new house : golden beets, kholrabi, corn salad, arugula, lemon thyme, sorrel, purple basil, several diffrent types of heirloom tomatoes, pimento peppers, ancho peppers, two types of radishes, garlic and micro-greens.

 

we'll see how this year goes........

some random pics from Easter weekend

Here are some pictures from this past Easter weekend.

We had a couple of get togethers and family meals. We had mini burgers with fried green tomatoes on Saturday while we dyed Easter eggs, on Friday we had some snapper with steamed snow peas, passionfruit vinaigrette and balsamic syrup. I really wanted some texture with the fish dish, a crunch if you will. On the way over to my in-laws I stopped at a local convienence store looking for corn nuts. I wanted to grind up the corn nuts to give the fish some crunch, a sprinkling if you will after plating. For some reason this store did not carry corn nuts at all, bummer :(

Happy Easter everyone, hope everyone remembers the real meaning behind it.

Chicken & Grits "Waffles" with Sweet Potato and Rosemary Cane Syrup

Sometimes I like to cook the same things over and over and routinely change up one of the ingredients either by presentation, preparation or texture. I had wanted to do something with chicken and grits and thought I had the idea perfected. Instead of just making a pile of cheesy grits I would turn them into Grit Waffles. Crazy you say? Yes but the idea sounded really tasty, crispy on the outside but with cheesy gooey grits inside.

They sell chicken and waffles so why not make an “upscale” if you will version. I started by making the grits as usual – one part milk to one part chicken stock, add grits, cook ,add cheddar cheese and butter, salt and pepper to taste. For the chicken I chose boneless skinless breasts and marinated them with a mixture of beer, creole mustard, worchestire sauce, garlic, and cayenne pepper. I seared these on a flat top till cooked through.

Sauce wise I went with sweet potato. I juiced about three sweet potatoes and added this to about a cup of milk, crushed garlic and simmered for about 30 minutes. I strained the garlic out before serving. Why juice the sweet potatoes? No particular reason other than I had not done it before and I thought it would give me a lighter cleaner sauce. It did.

I had one sweet potato left over so for a different texture I peeled and cut it into chunks about half the size of a piece of dice. I seared these on the flat top as well with a little salt and pepper.

To cut the richness of the whole dish, I took about a ½ cup of cane syrup and heated it on the stove with about 5 sprigs of rosemary, a shot of worchestire and garlic. I probably heated it too much as when it hit the plate it immediately firmed up like a piece of caramel candy. It still served its purpose though.

Back to the “grit” waffles, they did not work out like I thought they would. Next time I think I will just incorporate a mixture of the finished grits with a waffle batter mixture.

To finish plating the dish I added a “streak” of creole mustard, added a scoop of cheesy grits, the chicken, some sweet potato bits, topped it with sweet potato cream and drizzled the rosemary cane syrup over everything.

For dessert, and please keep an open mind here, I took some french bread slices and toasted them. I then smeared these with Nutella, sprinkled some Maldon Sea Salt and topped with shredded fresh parmesan cheese. It just works......

4th of July with Peach BBQ Ribs, Fried Pickles, Black Bean Garlic Chicken Wings, Fireworks and Family

For the 4^th of July we kind of kept it low key. We joined our neighbors down the street for simple BBQ (Grilling for the BBQ purists) and fireworks. I had some baby back ribs in the freezer so the 4^th holiday would be as good as anytime to cook them.

I wanted to go with a peach based marinade and sauce for the ribs and was trying to find a peach based iced tea to incorporate into the marinade as well as the sauce. For convenience sake I just needed a bottled version but everywhere I went they were sold in packs of 12 or not at all. For a flavor I had never tried before and the fact that I do not drink tea I chose to go with another method. I marinated the ribs in peach nectar, bourbon, garlic and chicken stock. I made a quick BBQ sauce with peach nectar, bourbon, ketchup, red wine vinegar,honey and brown sugar. I added the usual seasonings and reduced it down to a sauce like consistency.

Other dishes I decided to make were Grilled Chicken wings with a black bean garlic sauce ( black bean garlic sauce from a Chinese market, honey, siracha, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar), a corn dish I saw on StarChefs.com and fried pickles with a bacon ranch sauce( I saw this item on Graham Elliot Bowle's new Chicago Restaurant menu).

Usually during holiday events like this I am cooking most of the day and do not get to relax, this day was different. Most of these items could be prepped and pre-cooked ahead of time so it left me more time for having fun and hanging out (plus more time to relax and enjoy beverages of the adult nature).

We lucked out and the forecasted rain never came our way so it turned out to be a good night for fireworks. The only downside of the night was when ,in my sheer stupidity, I attempted to light several sparklers at once in turn burning my thumb and index finger. Yes only I could get injured, not by real fireworks, but by sparklers. Oh and at one point, one of the kids accidentally knocked over several lit fireworks causing everybody to run for cover – I wish I could have gotten a picture of that,it was funny afterwords.

How did you spend your 4^th?

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" :)

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.

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........

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.