One of my fond food memories from my time in the ATL was a little cuban grocery store over by Georgia Tech called the Kool Korner. It served (hands down) the best cuban sandwich I have ever eaten. While I know they sold other things…this place was 98% a cuban sandwich factory. I set out to recreate that awesome cuban sandwich taste, and the result was pretty darn tasty. I owe it to my buddy BC and the frisbee golf crew for introducing me to the mecca of cuban sandwiches.
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I setup my run this morning so that I would end at the fish market on the corner of halsted and fulton market. I knew I wanted to make fish for dinner tonight and I never previously had time to get fish from the fishmarket during the week. Aside from the fantastic selection…(they have both baby and regular octopus, soft shell crabs, clams, all kinds of tastiness)
I picked up some tuna for dinner…and saw some nice looking grouper filets. I love a grouper sandwich, and decided that would have to be lunch today.
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Last December Jody wanted to get into (or perhaps wanted me to get into) making gnocchi. Never one to turn down an opportunity to make pasta, I ordered up some necessary tools from Amazon.com and away we went. Now, I had never made gnocchi before so, I started with a recipe from the Food Network and Michael Chiarello. I just used the recipe for the pasta. The rest was improvised as always. The result was a tasty, warm bowl, without being too heavy (as I fear most gnocchi dishes are). Potato Gnocchi, with white beans, spinach, mushrooms and pancetta.
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Growing up in Massachusetts gives me fond memories of clam chowder. A few weeks ago Amazon brought me Thomas Keller’s ad-hoc at home, which included a recipe for the New England classic. A cold Sunday and a few hours to kill had me brave enough to attempt the soup. Generally, I like making soups…and this was no exception. A rich creamy soup, with fresh clams, bacon on a cold night. Yes, please.
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I made a Fresh tortilla soup and a skirt steak and goat cheese quesadilla. I’m not sure it was quite right for spring, might be really tasty in the fall. Still really tasty in my belly. The goat cheese and steak was a good combo..but a little heavy. The tortilla soup ended up a good consistency and a fresh contrast to the quesadilla.
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Aside from the general craziness that involves holidays at the Campbell house in Charlotte, we did manage to cook a few tasty meals.
It is a family tradition to eat Smithfield Ham on Christmas, and this year also brought us the salty treat!
We soaked the ham in water for about 8 or 9 hours, changing out the water ever 2 hours. Then we refrigerated it overnight. The next morning we put it on the stove, covered in water until it boiled. Once boiled, we let it simmer for 5 hours before pulling it out of the water and letting it cool for a bit. Once cooled, we cut the skin off the ham.
Our skinless pork product was then scored (diagonally in the fat) and then baked at 425° for 30 minutes. Now it was ready to eat!
We served it up with green beans and scalloped potatoes (bacon/chive cream sauce).
We also cooked up a mushroom soup. Baby bellas and shitakes were sautéed with shallots and garlic and a bit of chicken stock. We blended this with heavy cream and more stock, and returned it to the pot to simmer. Quick slices of toast (from a baguette) were topped with goat cheese for 5 minutes under the broiler. The soup was served in a glass with a bit of truffle oil and topped with the goat cheese toast.
Tasty!
I made a salad last night that Jody really liked. It is a shaved fennel salad with apples and lemon juice. I started with a thinly shaved fennel…about 3/4 of a fennel bulb. Then I added thin slices of 1 pink lady apple. Next, a bit of olive oil…perhaps 1/2 a tsp. I added a bit of salt, cracked black pepper, and some small cubes of manchego cheese and then I added some zest from a lemon and juice (1/3 cup) to the mix. I shook it up in the bowl…and then plated it on top of some baby arugula. I topped it off with some dried cranberries. The dish ended up with a nice fresh, summery taste. Next time, I might go for spinach instead. I served it with a hanger steak crusted in crushed fennel seed, black pepper, and lemon zest. The steak was grilled, and basted with butter.
*Update* – I made the salad again and I took pictures (above/below). I did indeed use spinach in this version and this time, I served it with a homemade turkey burger. The burger had some shallots and hot peppers in it and was served with avocado and roasted red pepper. It was quite tasty, if i do say so…
I’ve been neglecting my blog. I wonder how many blog posts start with that sentiment in the first sentence. Oh well, let’s talk food. Big food. Superbowl food.
Now, I’m not the biggest sports fan, but I try to pay some attention to the game. While the Patriots didn’t pull it off, I think I did OK with this scratch chili recipe.
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I am always throwing out celery. I need one stalk for something…and never use the rest. Cleaning out the rotter (fridge) yesterday I discovered 3 bunches of celery…they were all still good, but what was I going to do with three bunches of celery? Solution: Celery soup and celery mashed potatoes.
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Not for the faint of heart. I recently attempted to make roast squab for dinner. As I unpacked the squab from the store…I realized this was going to be an interesting evening. Jody and I had been discussing a roast chicken the night before, though when I arrived at Fox & Obel, I decided to go after the squab. I had never cooked it, and something poultry-ish sounded tasty.
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