Blackened Blues

Groupon and Living Social are wonderful services, and no, I don’t get paid to say that (I wish I could). I use them all the time for everything from unique experiences, club memberships, and of course, restaurant discounts. I used one such Groupon last night at Black Eyed Salley’s in downtown Hartford.

I was originally introduced to Salley’s on a Wednesday night, after a dance lesson (which also happened to be a Groupon) when the instructor invited me to go blues dancing with some of his friends. That instructor became a friend of mine, and the group of people that night went on to grow and introduce me to the wonderful dancing circle of friends I have today. We went on a Wednesday night because Salley’s hosts open mic blues. Starting around 8:30, tables and chairs are pushed back to make an impromptu dance floor as local musicians wail, pluck, and belt out blues music. The band director at Salley’s plays the bass, and also quality assurance. I have seen everyone from middle school students to gray, old grandpa’s get up on stage, and it is always a good show. Oh yeah, and they have food too.

The menu is staple southern cooking. Gumbo, jambalaya, grits, and fried catfish all make their requisite appearances. However, I can make all of that at home. What takes more skill, and especially, more time, is barbeque. We got the sampler platter, trying as much of what they had to offer as we could. We started with the St. Louis style ribs. While often not considered one of the main regional styles of barbeque in the US, St Louis style usually refers to meat that has been grilled, then sauced, rather than smoked. Because of the higher heat cooking method, the ribs were not as “fall off the bone,” as other styles. However, what they lacked in softness, they made up for in smokey, crispy, charred exterior. We also sampled the pulled pork and beef brisket. The pork was leaner and came un-sauced. Tender and succulent, I only needed a little of Salley’s table sauce, which is a little on the sweet side. The brisket was juicy and needed no additional sauce, falling apart in your mouth, not even needing to chew.

The sides are classic partners to their southern fare. We got the cole slaw, which was more vinegar based than mayonnaise, collard greens, which were stewed, dark green, slightly bitter, and had a light porky flavoring, garlicky green beans, bright, crunchy, fresh, and herbaceous, and cheese grits, buttery, rich, and sticky. Of course, all meals come with corn bread and whipped honey butter. I especially like the corner pieces, with just a little more crunch and sweetness for my favorite flavor enhancer, the mallard reaction.

Hearthstone

Most people know Hearthstone as the online, collectable card game based on World of Warcraft. It also happens to be a plush toy in my friend’s living room, and the name of another friend’s pizza catering service.

                My weekend festivities started on Friday night with a “Mario Party Party,” celebrating the release of the 10^th installation of the game. As with most of these kinds of parties, food played second player for the night as we raced, smashed, and stole from one another in game after game. That being said, the offerings were far from standard gamer “junk food.” Brussel sprouts were split and tossed with chopped cauliflower, olive oil, salt and pepper, then roasted to a slight char. These were eaten rapidly with toothpicks. Meatball sliders made an appearance, thick and juicy, each almost two inches in diameter, they still had a slight pinkish center, belaying a taste of a medium burger. The star of the night though was the jello shots. Three flavors were laid out, first was a yellow pina colada, fruity, sweet, and just a little tart. Next was a red, mixed berry, with a layer of foamy whipped cream on top. Sweeter than the former, which also masked the vodka it contained. Last, and most novel, was the orange mango habanero, with just enough sweetness to mute some of the heat. Oh yeah, did I mention all of them were ½ alcohol?

                On a side note, the host had previously made some kimchee that I sampled. The texture and sour was perfect, though because she didn’t use the proscribed chili paste, the heat and “funk” weren’t all there. However, it was still tasty and a better first try than I could do, well made!

                

Saturday was the St. Patrick ’s Day parade in Hartford. Delayed because of rain, mother nature decided still not to cooperate and snow Saturday morning. Despite this, my friend still set up his Italian brick oven, mounted on a trailer, and grabbed an early morning parking spot to sell pizza. Unfortunately, because of the snow, business was a little slow. Because of the drunkenness of the crowd, he didn’t put out his hand tossed crust with gourmet toppings. That said, it’s amazing what a 500⁰ brick oven can do for a pizza. Crispy and toasted on the outside, with a slightly chewy crust, melty cheese, and most importantly, fresh from the oven. While he may not have sold as many as he would have liked, I certainly would try Hearthstone again.

                Sunday night was a night in. A friend and I decided to adventure a little beyond our usual culinary limitations and try to make tom ka gai, Thai coconut chicken soup. Traditional tom ka gai is actually quite simple, sautee shallot and garlic in a pot, then just combine chicken stock, pulled chicken, mushrooms, coconut milk, fish sauce, and lemon grass, finish with a little lime and cilantro. Of course there are variations on this recipe, including ours. The soup was going to be our entire meal, so we loaded it with chopped water chestnuts, thinly sliced carrot, bamboo shoots, and bean thread noodles. We also blotted our bowls with sriracha. The results were amazing and only encouraged me to boldly go where I have (eaten, but) not cooked before.

Cooking with Friends – Pie day meets St. Patrick’s Day

Eating on my own usually consists of leftovers, quick eats, and if I’m going to be preparing something, it’s often a dip, soup, or something that will last more than one meal, which of course fuels the leftovers. However, cooking with friends provides an opportunity to cook something a little more extravagant, make a special trip to the grocery store, and enjoy a glass of wine over a sizzling sauté pan.

We were in the mood for pork, namely, a pork loin. I remember a delicious sandwich from D’nicks in the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia. It was a roast pork sandwich (rather than the Philadelphia staple of cheese steak) stuffed with broccoli rabe (or broccoli raab, or rapini, depending on where you live) and a sharp provolone cheese. Reminiscing, we purchased the pork loin and rubbed it with salt, pepper, and zoug, a blend of green herbs and garlic often used in falafel stands throughout the Middle East. The pork was seared in a pan then placed into a 400⁰ oven until an internal temp of 150⁰, then let rest and come up to 160⁰. To continue our rif from D’nicks, we sautéed the rapini with onions and garlic, then added a splash of chicken broth to steam the rapini in the pan. In place of a bun, we had a cheese plate (what a replacement) with horseradish cheddar, manchego, and of course, sharp provolone.

Another night, another meal, another inspiration. We wanted to make pasta. In Italy, pasta is one of many courses, and that’s the way I like it. I love my carbs as much as the next person, but a meal of nothing but is boring. So, we decided to make ravioli. Being the intrepid cooks we are, we decided to get fancy and stuff them with caramelized onion and sautéed mushrooms. But of course, we couldn’t use just any mushrooms, we had to venture into the unknown and get oyster mushrooms, a variety neither of us have experience with. Our foray into foreign food territory quickly went downhill as the oyster mushrooms were firmer than expected, even after a sauté. Not only that, but I think we mixed the dough wrong, or didn’t let it set, or both, as it was thick, heavy, and firm. Our fervor unabated, we pressed on, literally, pressing the edges of our cut dough closed around our ravioli and we sunk them into a broth (rather than a sauce) of our own concoction (undoubtedly the best part of the meal, chicken stock, roasted garlic, herbs du provence, shallot, fresh cracked pepper). The ravioli didn’t soften as much as we would have liked, but despite the texture, we got the flavor. Always eat your mistakes, it makes you a better cook next time.

Saturday was the most Pie Day we will see in our lifetimes (π = 3.1415926 = March 14, (20)15 9:26am/pm) In addition, it was a St. Patrick’s day weekend, so we felt inspired to take on both. Rather than going for a dessert pie, we opted for the pot pie (I suppose we could have gone for Shepard’s Pie…) The leftover rapini was sautéed with onions, garlic, carrots, and celery in a large skillet. Once sweated, they were pushed to the side and we built a roux with butter, flour, and chicken stock. We cheated a bit and got a rotisserie chicken, picked apart the breasts and folded them in. The top of the pie was lined with puff pastry and into the oven it went until the pastry was golden brown and delicious. We noshed upon Irish cheddar cheese and did a little whiskey tasting while we waited. Turned out perfectly, and provided leftovers.

Themed cooking - a slightly belated post

Meandering through the grocery store can be debilitating, at least for me. The choices and options are limitless, making a decision becomes impossible. That’s why I am always armed with a shopping list. That said, when cooking for an event, I always find it helpful to have a theme upon which to lean for ideas, or rather, to ideas to exclude.

It started at an apartment in Manchester Friday night. Some co-workers hosted an annual wine and cheese night. The crowd was younger, and not as acquainted with wine, but that didn't lessen the fun. Bottle after bottle popped open as we sipped and sampled along with a variety of cheeses and appetizers. My offering was a fromage forte, a blend of cheeses mixed with dry white wine, lemon, pepper, fresh herbs, all into the food processor for a tasty dip. However, the highlight of the evening was a homemade lox. It still had a slight briny flavor and almost a sashimi mouth feel, not that smoky, dried texture you may have come to expect from a New York Deli, but it was delicious all the same.

Saturday night was another themed food event. A friend of mine recently decided to modify her diet to exclude many GMOs, high fructose corn syrup, artificial ingredients, etc. She has been feeling great about it and wanted to share her experience. Healthy appetizers was the theme as everyone laid out their offering of vegetable-filled, kale wrapped, whole grain, and turkey/chicken (instead of pork/beef) foods. Contrary to what many might think, healthy and delicious are not mutually exclusive. I brought a sweet potato vermicelli noodle stir fried with onions, garlic, green chilis, mushrooms, soy sauce, cilantro, and a bit of peanut butter to give it a Thai flavor. Luckily, the sauce covered the almost translucent gray noodle. But the hit of the night was a quinoa cake, held together lightly with egg and slightly sweetened by agave. The cake loosely crumbled in my mouth as I bit into it, yet I could still get a crunch from the individual grains.

The next day was a quarterly event, the seasonal brunch. Despite the snow on the ground, it was a beautiful sunny day for a spring inspired late morning meal. Calling it a meal may be an understatement, it was more like a feast. In no restaurant would you be able to get the variety of dishes that were brought. Freshly made waffles topped with real maple syrup, whipped cream, and berries sat next to an assortment of breakfast meats including thick cut maple glazed bacon, kielbasa, turkey and veal sausages. My potato hash, stuffed with peppers, onions, garlic, and cooked in bacon fat, complimented well the egg quiche which used English muffins as a base and baked in a 9x13 pyrex rather than a pie crust in a pie pan. We all left stuffed and ready for a nap. Note that the picture below was taken in the later parts of setup. There was more food laid out, another room full of mimosas and bloody marys, and a third room with coffee and tea.

Big Red for the Arts

Thursday night, the Society Room in downtown Hartford and the Greater Hartford Arts Council played host to a rosy gala. The hall quickly became filled with red gowned women, often on the arm of equally color-clad men, and a din of clinking glasses and conversation.

For VIPs, the evening started at 5:30 with a premier wine tasting on the balcony level. Specialty wines were paired with specialty appetizers from Rob Maffucci, Chef of Vito’s restaurant group. Chef Maffucci laid out three dishes: The flat noodles in his pasta Bolognese had a texture of gnocchi, soft and pillowy, and had a thick red sauce interspersed with chunks of slightly spicy Italian sausage. His second dish was an octopus salad. Contrary to most seafood, octopus needs to be boiled substantially before it loses its rubbery texture. He finished it on the grill and placed atop a mélange of marinated artichoke heart, white bean puree, and topped with micro chives and a dab of olive oil. His last dish was an oyster cocktail, freshly shucked and plated in small cups with lemon, shallot, diced tomato, garlic, and just a hint of horseradish. I took both the octopus and the oyster as a shot, providing a mouthful of briny, sweet, and bright vegetative flavors.

On the main floor, beer, wine and food tables were interspersed as the crowd meandered. The Capitol Grille made an appearance with a top loin steak, cut into two thin slices and topped with a garlic butter. While delicious and decadent, I preferred the steak “naked,” allowing the flavor of the meat to come through. It was paired with a lobster mac and cheese, whose sauce was buttery and runny. It made an equally decadent topping on the steak.

Bear’s BBQ laid out generously filled pulled pork sliders. Owner, Chef, and competitive eater, Jamie McDonald has been making the rounds to every function, fair, and festival, spreading the word about his Kansas-style BBQ. He certainly knows what he is doing as the meat was tender and juicy, only asking for a light sprinkle of sauce (the sriracha being my favorite).

The Society Room’s own kitchen put out a number of dishes. In the middle of the room was a 4 foot wide paella serving paella (the name of both the dish and the pan) stuffed with clams, mussels, chicken, chorizo, and yellow rice, a delicious and traditional approach. Next to them was a shaved pork slider, complete with pickled onion and deep fried pickles. Both were complimented by a bright orange chili aioli which brought creaminess and a touch of heat to the meat. Lastly, The Society Room featured a butternut squash risotto with pan seared lemon garlic shrimp. Unlike many of the other stations, the risotto was made fresh, combining butter, herbed parmesan, rice, and a squash puree in one pan, and searing the marinated shrimp in the other. The whole concoction was finished with a balsamic reduction.

The night was finished with a sampling of local ice cream. The mini cones and single scoops were as adorable as they were delicious. The ice cream was made with high-fat dairy, providing an unctuous texture. The flavors were uncomplicated, yet highly present. I could taste the individual pieces of ginger in the lemon ginger, and the cinnamon crunch came through in the Biscoff (or speculoos) cookie variety.

Roll the Dice

One of the food/cooking Meetup groups of which I am a member has an organizer that is diligent about capturing new and innovative ideas for events. This time, the event was “Foodie Dice.” A few weeks prior to the scheduled evening, each participant rolled a set of dice, each with an ingredient theme. There was a die for protein, spice, vegetable, seasonal ingredient, carbohydrate, fat, and cooking method. There were some additional dice for those who took on the challenge of dessert like sugar type and dessert type (cake, pie, cookie, etc). I rolled the following: Fennel, basil, chicken, polenta, mushrooms, and braise.

As I mulled over my options, it became clear early on that one of the first things I would have to decide is if I would make a composed plate, or a single dish. Considering that the cooking was on-site, potluck, style for the event, I decided that it would be easier to go with the single dish. The next option was creamy or firm polenta. Firm discs of polenta seemed an easier way to plate than a globule, so I went that direction. Polenta is Italian, basil calls to mind Italian, basil makes pesto, and pesto goes great with chicken. What better way to top fried polenta discs than a chicken salad? Chicken salad needs texture, and often celery is used. I added both fresh fennel (the green part) and roasted white bulb for a slight note of char and nuttiness and two additional textures. That just left me to braise the mushrooms in chicken stock to use as a layer in between the polenta and chicken. Now I know what you are thinking, braising is method wherein high, dry heat is used to brown the food to enhance flavor via the Maillard Reaction, followed by wet and slow heat for breaking down fibrous connective tissue (like braised beef short rib or coq au vin). You would be right (and have watched a lot of Good Eats or read Wikipedia), but you can just as easily braise vegetables and fungus (namely mushrooms) as well.

My dish was a hit and in spite of the culinary handicap, everyone else pulled through fantastically too. One attendee made a hot and sour soup with spinach, tomatoes, quinoa, and a Moroccan spiced ground turkey. The red broth gave the impression that the dish was spicier than it actually was. Another member made a lamb curry with halved olives, apricots, tomatoes, onion and garlic, all served over baby kale and topped with chopped pistachios. The apricots gave a sweetness and the black olives provided a briny flavor, allowing the complex spice mixture to come through uninhibited.

Even dessert had its share of complexities. A chocolate Bundt cake had to include mustard and avocado. The baker mashed ripe avocados the point where they served as a substitute for other fat. Only fine green stripes betrayed its presence. I was told that there was only a pinch of a pinch of mustard, just to satisfy the requirement.

After dinner, we voted for most creative and best plated. The lamb (pictured) won for plating, the soup for best flavor. Mine, along with two others, tied for second. The night was so much fun that we all decided that the dice challenge would have to be taken up again.