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.
Continue reading ‘Cuban Sandwiches’
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.
Continue reading ‘Gnocchi Goodness’
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 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.
Continue reading ‘What to do with celery?’
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.
Continue reading ‘Cooking Squab’
