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.

I wanted to recreate a cuban sandwich at home in an homage to our ATL days. I picked up some pork chops at the grocery, as well as some thick cut (1/8 in) smoked ham and a french bread. The bread was soft on the inside and “just” hard on the outside without being to hard. That’s important because I needed to press the sandwiches and if the bread was to crusty it wouldn’t press well.

The pork I cooked in the slow cooker with a “mixture of stuff”: Sprite, garlic, jalapenos, 2 slices of ham, butter, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika. That cooked for about 8 hours on low. It would have been better to use a pork roast…there wasn’t enough fat in the pork chops and they dried out and cooked too fast even in the slow cooker. That said, I think it would be possible to grill the pork chops (butterflied) instead of roasting the pork…but you are going to get a different flavor that way (and a tougher cut of meat). Anyway, I took the pork out after 8 hours and shredded it into a bowl. Traditionally, a cuban is made with roasted pork that is sliced. I made up a quick sauce out of the leftover liquid in the slow cooker to top the pork. At the same time I had the grill going on high with a few bricks wrapped in tin foil. These would become my press.

It was time for sandwich assembly. I took the bread, cut in half, put dijon mustard on both sides then pork topped with a little sauce. I put a few slices of ham on the grill for about 45 seconds a side. I pulled that off and put it onto the pork. Baby swiss cheese was next and then some dill pickles. I had a sheet of tin foil down on the grill grate and dropped the sandwiches down onto that. Then a brick went on top of each sandwich. It was a bit tricky to balance a super hot brick on a sandwich on the grill (also very hot). As you can see from the picture I was able to prevail with my makeshift sandwich press.

Off the grill and onto the plate. The finished cuban sandwich. What I didn’t put into the picture was the side of squash, cherry tomatoes and onions that were grilled up along side the sandwiches. Truth be told, they took a little longer to cook and Jody and I couldn’t resist the urge to dig into these tasty cuban sandwiches.

For those looking for a good cuban in Atlanta…you’ll have to make the drive to Birmingham, AL as it appears the Kool Korner moved away from its little spot.

Next up was making the maki. I used some sticky rice made in the cooker (thanks kit) that I added some rice vinegar, sugar, and black sesame seeds to. I mixed it up in a glass bowl making sure all the rice was coated well with the vinegar mixture. Once that had cooled down I spread it over a sheet of nori…trying to get an even layer of rice. Then on the edge closest to me I put strips of tuna, cucumber, jalapeno and avocado onto the rice. I don’t have one of the bamboo rolling mats so I just had to wing it. I rolled the maki’s up like my father used to roll up paper signs. You really only get one shot, so I tried to make sure it was as tight a roll as possible.

They seemed to turn out just fine.

Overall, the meal came together. I had forgotten to pick up any wasabi or pickled ginger for the side, so I used a pink lady apple, and some sirracha sauce on the side for clean and heat.

It was pretty easy to get it all together I had forgotten how easy and fun it can be to make a quick maki!

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.

I made a quick marinade of olive oil, old bay, salt, and granulated garlic. Poured into the bag with the fish and marinated for 45 minutes or so.

Then grilled it over high. I also setup the bun for the sandwich. Bottom was dressed with dijon mustard, the top was toasted and then buttered. As the fish came off the grill, I sprayed some lemon on it, and topped it with some baby lettuce greens.

It was tasty, good level of crunch from the toasted bun, and the crust that had formed on the grilled fish.

This may need to be repeated more often

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.

I won’t repeat the recipe for the gnocchi, you can follow it above.  The basic steps were:

1. Cooking potatoes
2. Potato ricer pulverizing
3. dough making
4. dough rolling
5. dough cutting
6. dough mushing
7. pasta cooking

Whew!

The easy part was cooking potatoes and passing them through the ricer.  We ended up with a nice big bowl of potatoes.  The conversion to gnocchi dough was a bit of a messy process.  Working in the eggs and dry ingredients was a bit of a messy process.   I can suggest to add flour little by little till the dough is not too sticky.  The consistency is really important.  Otherwise it will be too sticky to roll out.

The rolling process was just taking a chunk of dough, and rolling it back and forth while pushing your hands to the sides slowly.  This stretched the dough out and created the long rolls of dough.

Next up, chopping the dough into about 1 inch chunks.  This was easy enough, the cutter worked well. It would have been good to have one of those pastry mats with a ruler on it though.  Having a cutter with a ruler pretty much did nothing…because you can’t measure and mark.

Once we had our army of gnocchi chunks we pushed them over the board.  I found it worked best and I got the best shape to push the cut end against the board and roll downward with my thumb.  The cut side would stick a little bit rather than the floured side.  I’d be interested to hear if this is actually the correct technique.

Now we heated up the water for the gnocchi, and also started some garlic, shallot and pancetta in a skillet. Once those were going, we added in some mushrooms and white beans and cooked them down.  Next into another skillet was some spinach.  Once the gnocchi were cooked we mixed all three into one bowl.  The result was a simple bowl of gnocchi, wilted spinach, mushrooms, and white beans.  I think the beans added a nice balance to the gnocchi, and with the mushrooms added an earthiness to the dish.

It is one we have made since…and will likely make again.

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.

What I didn’t fully realize was just how laborious a process it was to make.  After cleaning out the nearest Whole Foods of their clam collection, I headed back home to make my soup.  I figured an hour maybe 2 to make it.  More like almost 3.5 start to finish.  It started out scrubbing the clams to get any grime, sand, and salt off the shells.  Then I soaked the clams in a saltwater bath.  Twice.  This was to further get the salt and sand out of the clams.  As those were bathing, I chopped a ton of leeks and onions and potatoes.

I chopped the bacon, and cooked it till it was soft, but cooked and then took it an put it to the side.  The onions and leeks then cooked in the bacon fat for about 35 minutes under a parchment lid.  I had never tried a parchment lid…I’m not sure it helped…but it was fun to make.

I boiled the potatoes till they were just soft (as the recipe said) then let them cool on a tray.  The potatoes were added back to the soup later, this seemed to help keep them from becoming mushy.

Now oodles of cream and whole milk joined the onions and created the base for the chowder.  Shallots and garlic went into a skillet with some white wine.  These cooked down for a bit and the clams were added to them and covered.  As the clams opened, we pulled the meat out and discarded the shells.  The white wine, shallot and clam sauce was strained and then added to the soup base.  This gave the soup a saltly, clammy, taste.

I added most of the clams to the soup, and then crisped up the bacon in a skillet. The soup was served up with a bit of bacon, chives, and a clam as garnish.

It was the richest, tastiest chowder I have ever had.  Keller scores a point for this one.

Tortilla soup:

• 2 heirloom tomatoes
• 4 roma tomatoes
• 1 small can of tomato sauce
• 2 shallots
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 tsp of cumin
• 1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder
• salt
• 1 flour tortilla
• 2 -> 3 cups of chicken stock
• 1 jalepeño pepper
• cilantro
• lime

I grilled the tomatoes, pepper, shallot and garlic, then peeled them all.  A rough chop took care of garlic and shallot.  The tomatoes and pepper were seeded and a diced.  They were tossed in a pot with the chili powder, cumin, and salt and tomato sauce This cooked down for 20 minutes or so.  Then I added about half the chicken stock.  A flour tortilla on the grill was ripped up and tossed into the soup.  I also added about 1/4 cup of crushed corn chips.  Then immersion blender time.  I blended up the soup adding a bit more chicken stock from time to time.  I added a bit of lime zest, a bit of lime juice, a little cilantro followed, then cooked it over medium/low for about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so.

The soup went into a bowl with a little avocado crema on top and a drizzle of fresh lime juice.

The steak quesadilla:

• skirt steak
• rub: chipotle chili powder, salt, granulated garlic, cinnamon.
• avocado
• creme fraiche
• jalepeño
• goat cheese crumbles

Rub the skirt steak with the spice mixture, cook for 7 minutes on the grill (direct high) flipping halfway through.  Mix half an avocado with a spoonful of creme fraiche to make a avocado paste.  Take the skirt steak off the grill, let rest for at least 5 minutes.  Spread the avocado paste on a flour tortilla, slice the steak into very thin strips, spread around the quesadilla.  Add the jalepeños (mine were grilled, peeled, seeded, and diced) and sprinkle the goat cheese crumbles.  Cook in a pan with butter for a few minutes a side.

Cut, eat, enjoy!

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.

Starting out…the ingredients:

• Top Sirloin
• Fresh Tomatoes (Roma,Vine Ripe)
• Fresh Garlic
• Yellow Onion
• Tomato Sauce
• Tomato Paste
• Jalepeno peppers
• Green Peppers
• Dried ancho chipotle chili peppers
• Chipotle Morita Chili peppers

Step 1: Soaking the beans. This you have to do the night before…longer if you can help it. I got a mixture of dried kidney beans and black turtle beans from Whole Foods and soaked them over night.

After they had some time in the bath …it was time (afternoon the next day) to rinse. Basically, you drain off all the beans, take out the cracked and nasty ones, etc.

Now that they were rinsed…it was back into a pot, with a little bit of yellow onion, garlic, and cumin. I think I also added a little bit of water. These would cook for a few hours before I added them to the chili.

Once the beans were underway…it was time to tackle the peppers, toms, and meat!

The peppers can be done a number of ways.   I like to roast the peppers and then peel the skins off.  Which I did for a couple of the jalepenos.  I dice them up, and put the peppers in with the beans, meat, and some I saved for the jalepeno cornbread.    I also keep a baggie of dried ancho chipotle peppers.  I usually chop a bit off of one, put it in the mortar and grind it up into a powder.  I use a bit of this powder to season the beans and the meat.

The tomatoes are a bit of work, but I think worth it.  Both for making salsa and for the chili I tend to take the skins off the tomatoes first.  I suppose you can use canned tomatoes, many people do.  I think they do have a nice concentrated flavor, but I like the fresh ones .  I heat up a pot of water (about an inch and a half, cut an “x” on the top of the toms and drop them in.  I also keep a pot of cold water with ice ready.  After a few seconds (10-20) in the boiling water, you can see the skins starting to peel off the toms.  Then we drop them into the ice bath.  Once cool, I pull them out, and the skins should come right off.  This keeps you from having skins floating around in your chili without toms attached.  I dice up the toms, taking out the seeds.

The meat is Top sirloin that I chop up into cubes then dust with cumin, cinnamon, the ground up ancho pepper, salt and garlic.  I mix it up in a bowl so the cubes all get a nice coating of the spices. I toss them into a pot with some olive oil and brown the meat.  Then once brown I toss in some onions.

Once that is ready, I toss in some jalepenos and some of the tomatoes.  Seasoning a bit here and there with salt and pepper.  A little bit of tomato sauce (maybe half of one of the little cans, and a tablespoon or two of tomato paste add a bit of red color and a saucier consistency to the chili meat mixture.  Now, let this cook for a while.  Say…30 minutes.  Keep an eye on your beans, they should need some attention.  Throughout this process you should be keeping them stirred, simmering over low heat.  You are hoping that they get semi-soft, once they do, add them into your chili mixture.  Now they will cook in with the rest of the spices in your chili and meat and add some nice flavor.

I cooked up some jalepeno corn bread too.  Unfortunately, I can’t remember the process…I have a picture of it though…and it was tasty!

The chili came together in the end…at about halftime.  It was meaty, thick, and hearty.  A nice way to start off the second half.

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.

I’ve been experimenting with the soups this winter. I made a mushroom soup, a couple versions of butternut squash, but hadn’t attempted the green variety. So here was a great opportunity. I did a search on epicurious to find some recipies that used celery. It was about 10 degrees in Chicago…so soup was in the back of my mind.

I found a good starting point recipe for the soup. When I am cooking something totally new…sometimes I like to start with a recipe to get me going in the right direction.

Then I needed something to go with the celery soup. I’m sure chicken would have gone well, but we had recently had chicken…so I went with pork. I usually do the pork on the grill, rubbed with some spices…but I wanted to “branch out” so I went with an apple/pear apple sauce and a cider gravy.

The goods from the store…Celery, Leeks, Granny Smith apples, pears, chicken broth, creme fraiche, goat cheese, yukon golds, shallot, bread, garlic, pork, and a lemon.

I started out chopping all my ingredients, peeling potatoes, etc. I used one apple, 8 or 9 stalks of celery and 6 potatoes. I also used half a clove of garlic and about a tablespoon of shallots. I added about 5 tbls of butter at the start. I ended up only cutting up one leek, two was too much.

Now the hard part was over. The butter went into the pot, the shallots and garlic, then the leeks and celery. I reserved about 3/4 of a cup of celery for the potatoes. All this cooked down till the veggies got a bit soft, then I added the 4 cups of stock, and the potatoes. I saved about 2 or 3 of them for the mashed potatoes.

This stuff simmered for a while…maybe 30 minutes. Then went into the blender, and came back out and looked like below. Man I wish I had an immersion blender. I put the soup in to the blender in batches…but it was so hot the steam blew the top of…after burning my hand so I let go of the top. Much cleaning followed.

The soup tasted a little bland. The recipe called for cayenne pepper which I put in, but it wasn’t really rockin. I added a little bit of goat cheese crumbles to give it a different flavor. I also added a little bit of dried thyme, ground sage, and celery seed.

Next was the applesauce, pork, and potatoes. I don’t have as fun pictures of those…But here is how it went down. I took 3 granny smiths and one pear. I peeled them, and diced them and put them in a bowl. Apples and pears (save for about 1/4 of a cup of each) went into a pot with about 2 tbls of butter, a dash of garlic and shallot. These got cooked up for bit, then some apple cider joined them. I added a bit of salt and cinnamon and stirred often.

At the same time I cooked up the pork. I salted the pork, put some fresh ground pepper, and a bit of cinnamon onto the pork and cooked over the stove in some olive oil to brown the outside. This then went into the over at 425 for 20 minutes or so.

Potatoes got boiled, then mashed, then added a bit of creme fraiche and balanced with skim milk. I then cooked up some of the remaining celery (chopped finely) with some shallot and garlic in a pot and once those were going, dropped in the potatoes and mixed them up.

The pork was nearing completion so I pulled that from the oven and used the pan to make a cider sauce/gravy. A little cider went into the pan whisked with some garlic. I added a touch of cornstarch. Then once all the bits had come up from the pan and it was getting a bit reduced, I tossed in some pears and apples so they would be crunchy, but warm.

With the rest of the meal about ready, I added a bit of creme fraiche to the soup (1/2 a container) this gave it a nice creamyness and helped the flavor as well.

Soup Garnished with a dollop of creme fraiche and a bit of celery

Roast Pork Tenderloin, Cider gravy, applesauce, and celery mash potatoes

Overall, I think it came out pretty tasty. The pork and apple sauce stole the show from the soup in the end. But hey, it used up all that celery!