So, I've officially become obsessed with the cooking aspects of Top Chef. I still don't care for the reality show aspect of it, but I do like hearing critique and learning about how things work (or don't work) together. That said, I think that it's pretty clear that there's a large gap between the best and the next tier of chefs. For example, I would've placed even money on either Tre or Hung to win this season, after the first episode. But, I love the notion that even for something that's as simple as cooking, that there are superior levels to be reached. And I'd love to be able to reach those levels. I think that I can fire up a stove pretty well, and I consistently manage to put out solid food for myself and my friends. But I don't know if I ever could, or would ever want, to be a chef in a restaurant. I could see myself making it through culinary school, without a whole lot of trouble. But I'd never want to put in the crazy hours. I think that if I ever open up a place (and I would love to at some point), I'd hire on good people to run the day-to-day operations, and I'd just go around, shaking hands on the floor and wander into the kitchen to bother my cooks and come up with an "owner's special" every once in a while. So, I think that my culinary ceiling is pretty limited, but still reasonable enough so that I can make myself some good food at home.
Currently in my kitchen, I've been playing around with a couple things. One is paella. I think that I've gotten a decent grasp on how to flavor rice with the spices that help give paella that nice flavor. And obviously, I know how cooking meat and seafood in the rice adds flavor, as well. I'm trying to get down how to get the nice crunchy edges on the paella, without drying everything out. The other thing is ceviche. I really enjoy using the citrus to cook fish, but figuring out what to use in there has been interesting. I'm trying to work out a nice salmon version with some Pacific Northwest flavors, but it's hard to make it distinct from the traditional Latin American-style recipes. Maybe there's no need to, though... we'll see. And finally, I've decided that I need to develop my knife skills. So, I've bought some extra veggies and chickens so that I can work on my chopping and boning skills. Heh-heh. I said "boning skills."
Anyway, there's not been a whole lot new in the food scene here in Champaign. There's a new sandwich joint that opened up next to Crane Alley, but that's lunch only. I'll try to make it in to give it a look over. I know that I promised a few reviews, which will be coming soon. Really, I've been just rocking it out in my kitchen more the last few weeks, with occasional trips out to KO Fusion for sushi (trying to stay healthy) and Harold's for fried chicken (failing to stay healthy). But, I've still got some good thoughts on the brunch scene, the tapas scene, and the adventures of the Escobar's/Milo's folks which I need to get out to you guys (preferably after I go out for brunch, tapas, and to Escobar's and Milo's again to refresh my palate :-)
We'll catch you soon!
-foodgeek
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
Quick Hits
First off, I have to say that I absolutely love going to KO Fusion now, but again, only for the sushi. Chatting with some folks, they agree with me about the rest of the menu being sort of discombobulated. And I even had someone talk about how the plating there out of the kitchen (not the sushi bar) was like that of a normal diner, not a place charging $20 a plate. However, the sushi chefs there are great. They really take care of me, and I've gotten to know them a bit. The cool part is that they already know my order before I sit down. I love that I get a little side salad to open up the meal, and that when they've got time, I can get some stuff off the menu. The other day, I got a great little sashimi appetizer - cubes of yellowfin tuna with a nice sweet miso dressing and scallions - to go along with the usual order there.
All of this speaks to the value of becoming a regular and having loyalty for the places that you want to stay open.
Another similar place for me has become Harold's Chicken, which stands on the opposite end of the spectrum from KO Fusion. Most of the time, it's me and a bunch of black dudes hanging out there. Which is sort of my natural state, really. Chilling out, talking hoops, eating fried chicken. I could do that every day, and I would if I wasn't trying to avoid dying young from my heart exploding. But I will say that fried chicken cooked to order at Harold's here on campus is wonderful. It's probably good that they're not open late at night this summer. I've probably lost 5 pounds by not eating fried chicken at 2am once or twice per week :-)
The third place that I want to give a shout out to is Milo's. They deserve a full writeup, which they haven't gotten. Probably one of the best kept secrets in the CU area. They still consistently have phenomenal food. Great goat cheese and roasted red pepper strudel. Good crabcakes. Solid fries with great homemade ketchup. Reasonably priced entrees that are legitimately good. They've got a little homey feel, and really good food. What can you say?
In any case, for those of you who are familiar with the area, Pickles (a local family restaurant) is no more, and is now Papa George's, a local family restaurant with more of a Greek feel to it has replaced it. Which, gives me an article to write here. Papa George's vs. Pasha for Mediterranean food. Which reminds me that another one that I've been sitting on is Silvercreek vs. Jim Gould's for brunch.
Anyway, let's see if I can't actually deliver on a couple of these in the near future.
-foodgeek
All of this speaks to the value of becoming a regular and having loyalty for the places that you want to stay open.
Another similar place for me has become Harold's Chicken, which stands on the opposite end of the spectrum from KO Fusion. Most of the time, it's me and a bunch of black dudes hanging out there. Which is sort of my natural state, really. Chilling out, talking hoops, eating fried chicken. I could do that every day, and I would if I wasn't trying to avoid dying young from my heart exploding. But I will say that fried chicken cooked to order at Harold's here on campus is wonderful. It's probably good that they're not open late at night this summer. I've probably lost 5 pounds by not eating fried chicken at 2am once or twice per week :-)
The third place that I want to give a shout out to is Milo's. They deserve a full writeup, which they haven't gotten. Probably one of the best kept secrets in the CU area. They still consistently have phenomenal food. Great goat cheese and roasted red pepper strudel. Good crabcakes. Solid fries with great homemade ketchup. Reasonably priced entrees that are legitimately good. They've got a little homey feel, and really good food. What can you say?
In any case, for those of you who are familiar with the area, Pickles (a local family restaurant) is no more, and is now Papa George's, a local family restaurant with more of a Greek feel to it has replaced it. Which, gives me an article to write here. Papa George's vs. Pasha for Mediterranean food. Which reminds me that another one that I've been sitting on is Silvercreek vs. Jim Gould's for brunch.
Anyway, let's see if I can't actually deliver on a couple of these in the near future.
-foodgeek
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Kitchen Happenings: An American Tour
Hey gang. If you're a reader here, then there's a good chance that you were around for some of the glory days in the foodgeek kitchen. Back when we'd have 25 people over to watch the Illini and eat some pretty good food. Let's just say that we probably ate better than most students who weren't in culinary school. Flash forward a couple years. It had been a while since I had a crew over for a big meal. So on a whim, that changed today. I realized that I was in town for Easter weekend, as were a bunch of my crew down here. A plated Easter dinner for 9. The menu was solid, with some relatively modern appetizers, a changeup for the opening course, a old school main courses, and a nice mix of side dishes with roots all around the country.
Appetizers:
Pair of crostini - one was grilled chicken breast, drizzled with basil oil, and the other was an old standby: my two-bean and corn salsa. A nice opener which I knew would be a hit, as the execution was simple and the tastes actually popped in your mouth. I had the chicken breast already cooked and the basil oil is something that I always have on hand. Easy. The salsa can be made entirely with canned or frozen veggies, except for the fresh chopped onion. Easy. The trick is to work heavy on the spices, since the beans can take a lot of additional flavor. Also, adding a little olive oil adds a richness to the salsa that no one expects.
Grade: A-. Didn't feel like getting fancy with the presentation on the chicken crostini, and I made the bean and corn salsa a make-it-yourself thing.
Opening Course:
Fruit salad. I thought about going with a traditional salad, but decided to switch it up. And fruit salad is so easy. I wanted to add strawberries, but the ones at the store were awful, so I improvised. Fresh cantaloupe, fresh grapes (red and green), canned chunk pineapple, canned mandarin oranges. The two canned fruits are probably the canned fruits that taste the freshest - canned pears and peaches, which I actually like, just don't feel fresh. On the other hand, the pineapple and mandarin oranges hold up well. It was light, fresh, and a good transition from the sort of heavy appetizers.
Grade: B+. I wanted some berries, but was thwarted by the grocery store.
Main Courses:
Spiral ham. Store bought - just heat and glaze. Even a caveman can do it.
Baked chicken. Simple - season and brown. Bake until done. One of my solid standby dishes. Mental note - gotta convince people to eat the skin on the chicken.
Grade: B. Timing was off becaues of delays in guest arrivals, so the chicken wasn't hot out of the oven and the skin wasn't as crispy as it should have been. The meat was still tender and darned tasty. Ham is always good.
Side Dishes:
Turnip greens, cooked w/ ham hocks. This is definitely Southern soul food. A bit tricky. First time I've ever made these. These guys are so bitter that you've gotta cook them for a while in just plain water, strain them out, and then add more water and some flavoring to cook down. But after they cook down, they become soft, rich, and take on that smoky flavor that the ham hocks add. Only down side was that it was a bit on the salty side. This will be a future standby.
Grade: C. Next time, this will be much better.
Mashed potatoes. Takes you into the heartland. Credit for these go back to Mrs. C, who gave me the start point for making some incredible mashed potatoes. These were awfully decadent, though I did show some restraint. Low fat cream cheese, fat free sour cream, olive oil, and skim milk were added, as well as the usual spice blend. You got a nice tang, as well as the rich texture, and paired nicely with the turnip greens.
Grade: A-. Need a signature on this dish to make it really pop, like the appetizers. At the risk of being cliche and snooty, I'm thinking white truffle oil next time as a finisher to give depth.
Southwest Corn Casserole: A little Tex-Mex flair here. Again, credit to Mrs. C for the original dish, which I've modified. Incredibly simple. Can of corn, drained. Can of creamed corn. Package of Jiffy corn muffin mix. Half stick of butter (went with the real butter since I had it on hand!). 8oz of fat free sour cream. Some chopped jalapeno peppers. Chopped onion. Spices and a little habanero sauce. Mix it all up and bake. Incredibly tasty.
Grade: A-. Oven spacing issues forced me to bake on the bottom rack at a higher temp than i wanted, so the bottom was a slightly burned.
Honey, Pineapple, and Ginger carrots: Going for a West-Coast fusion sort of thing here. Becca (whose mom is Mrs. C) gets props here, for making a version of these when I was out in Cali. I left the ginger chopped little too big, which made the flavor a little uneven (a little spicy if you got a bigger chunk than intended. But, the flavor was good - a little tang, some sweet, and a little zing with the ginger. The carrots were cooked and then the glaze added the night before. So, the flavors got soaked into the carrots well, but the glaze sort of broke down, so it didn't have that nice sheen. Maybe next time I set aside half of the glaze to add at the end.
Grade: C. This will also improve next time.
To complement my handiwork, one of the gals brought some nice Illinois and Wisconsin wines for us to have with dinner. One of the gals brought a very tasty pumpkin bar sort of dessert which had a soft, yellow-cake sort of crust, pumpkin pie filling, and was topped with a nice strussel topping. This was definitely a winner. And some of the guys brought some ice cream, which is always a winner.
If wasn't out-sourcing dessert, I may have gone with one fewer side, only done ham, and added on my chocolate mousse and raspberry puree napoleon, served on fried won-ton wrappers. Though, as I think more, I may have opted to keep it lighter with a napoleon with white chocolate mousse, a chunky peach-pineapple mixture, and topped with a ginger syrup.
All in all, the food was solid. Would improve the turnip greens (less salt!) and carrots (only use the ginger juice, and keep some glaze for presentation) next time. Once I get a handle on these dishes, I'd need to figure out a way to really own the dishes (just like I need to do with the potatoes, and like I've done with the corn casserole). Would have gotten a smaller ham and found better baking trays for the chicken (space constraints make it a pain in the butt with all of the last-second adjustments you have to make. I'm going to consider easing up on the seasoning on the chicken and finishing with my mild, sweet, pepper sauce for my next go-around. And I wish that I would have done a nice cocktail as an opener with the appetizers, maybe my fresh grapefruit martini shots. Considering that I didn't even think about this until late on Friday night, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. I'll grade myself out pretty well.
Overall grade: B/B+. I sort of wish that I would have done dessert myself. The napoleons would have been a pretty modern way of finishing the meal, which would have given some interesting bookends to pretty classic main courses and sides. And I sort of wish that we had a soup course. I think that I may be better at making soups than cooking, which is a strange thought. Maybe I go back to a soup with turnip greens, white beans, and italian sausage.
Of course, I think that the soup will be a heck of an idea for the leftovers... I'm just happy that I've got a fridge full of leftovers like I used to back in the day. The current task, other than than eating a ton of leftovers, is to get my herb garden back in order. My basil is wretched, my sage needs to be trimmed, and I may need to completely re-do my soil. I haven't changed soil in a while, and it may be leeched. Anyway, until next time.
-foodgeek
Appetizers:
Pair of crostini - one was grilled chicken breast, drizzled with basil oil, and the other was an old standby: my two-bean and corn salsa. A nice opener which I knew would be a hit, as the execution was simple and the tastes actually popped in your mouth. I had the chicken breast already cooked and the basil oil is something that I always have on hand. Easy. The salsa can be made entirely with canned or frozen veggies, except for the fresh chopped onion. Easy. The trick is to work heavy on the spices, since the beans can take a lot of additional flavor. Also, adding a little olive oil adds a richness to the salsa that no one expects.
Grade: A-. Didn't feel like getting fancy with the presentation on the chicken crostini, and I made the bean and corn salsa a make-it-yourself thing.
Opening Course:
Fruit salad. I thought about going with a traditional salad, but decided to switch it up. And fruit salad is so easy. I wanted to add strawberries, but the ones at the store were awful, so I improvised. Fresh cantaloupe, fresh grapes (red and green), canned chunk pineapple, canned mandarin oranges. The two canned fruits are probably the canned fruits that taste the freshest - canned pears and peaches, which I actually like, just don't feel fresh. On the other hand, the pineapple and mandarin oranges hold up well. It was light, fresh, and a good transition from the sort of heavy appetizers.
Grade: B+. I wanted some berries, but was thwarted by the grocery store.
Main Courses:
Spiral ham. Store bought - just heat and glaze. Even a caveman can do it.
Baked chicken. Simple - season and brown. Bake until done. One of my solid standby dishes. Mental note - gotta convince people to eat the skin on the chicken.
Grade: B. Timing was off becaues of delays in guest arrivals, so the chicken wasn't hot out of the oven and the skin wasn't as crispy as it should have been. The meat was still tender and darned tasty. Ham is always good.
Side Dishes:
Turnip greens, cooked w/ ham hocks. This is definitely Southern soul food. A bit tricky. First time I've ever made these. These guys are so bitter that you've gotta cook them for a while in just plain water, strain them out, and then add more water and some flavoring to cook down. But after they cook down, they become soft, rich, and take on that smoky flavor that the ham hocks add. Only down side was that it was a bit on the salty side. This will be a future standby.
Grade: C. Next time, this will be much better.
Mashed potatoes. Takes you into the heartland. Credit for these go back to Mrs. C, who gave me the start point for making some incredible mashed potatoes. These were awfully decadent, though I did show some restraint. Low fat cream cheese, fat free sour cream, olive oil, and skim milk were added, as well as the usual spice blend. You got a nice tang, as well as the rich texture, and paired nicely with the turnip greens.
Grade: A-. Need a signature on this dish to make it really pop, like the appetizers. At the risk of being cliche and snooty, I'm thinking white truffle oil next time as a finisher to give depth.
Southwest Corn Casserole: A little Tex-Mex flair here. Again, credit to Mrs. C for the original dish, which I've modified. Incredibly simple. Can of corn, drained. Can of creamed corn. Package of Jiffy corn muffin mix. Half stick of butter (went with the real butter since I had it on hand!). 8oz of fat free sour cream. Some chopped jalapeno peppers. Chopped onion. Spices and a little habanero sauce. Mix it all up and bake. Incredibly tasty.
Grade: A-. Oven spacing issues forced me to bake on the bottom rack at a higher temp than i wanted, so the bottom was a slightly burned.
Honey, Pineapple, and Ginger carrots: Going for a West-Coast fusion sort of thing here. Becca (whose mom is Mrs. C) gets props here, for making a version of these when I was out in Cali. I left the ginger chopped little too big, which made the flavor a little uneven (a little spicy if you got a bigger chunk than intended. But, the flavor was good - a little tang, some sweet, and a little zing with the ginger. The carrots were cooked and then the glaze added the night before. So, the flavors got soaked into the carrots well, but the glaze sort of broke down, so it didn't have that nice sheen. Maybe next time I set aside half of the glaze to add at the end.
Grade: C. This will also improve next time.
To complement my handiwork, one of the gals brought some nice Illinois and Wisconsin wines for us to have with dinner. One of the gals brought a very tasty pumpkin bar sort of dessert which had a soft, yellow-cake sort of crust, pumpkin pie filling, and was topped with a nice strussel topping. This was definitely a winner. And some of the guys brought some ice cream, which is always a winner.
If wasn't out-sourcing dessert, I may have gone with one fewer side, only done ham, and added on my chocolate mousse and raspberry puree napoleon, served on fried won-ton wrappers. Though, as I think more, I may have opted to keep it lighter with a napoleon with white chocolate mousse, a chunky peach-pineapple mixture, and topped with a ginger syrup.
All in all, the food was solid. Would improve the turnip greens (less salt!) and carrots (only use the ginger juice, and keep some glaze for presentation) next time. Once I get a handle on these dishes, I'd need to figure out a way to really own the dishes (just like I need to do with the potatoes, and like I've done with the corn casserole). Would have gotten a smaller ham and found better baking trays for the chicken (space constraints make it a pain in the butt with all of the last-second adjustments you have to make. I'm going to consider easing up on the seasoning on the chicken and finishing with my mild, sweet, pepper sauce for my next go-around. And I wish that I would have done a nice cocktail as an opener with the appetizers, maybe my fresh grapefruit martini shots. Considering that I didn't even think about this until late on Friday night, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. I'll grade myself out pretty well.
Overall grade: B/B+. I sort of wish that I would have done dessert myself. The napoleons would have been a pretty modern way of finishing the meal, which would have given some interesting bookends to pretty classic main courses and sides. And I sort of wish that we had a soup course. I think that I may be better at making soups than cooking, which is a strange thought. Maybe I go back to a soup with turnip greens, white beans, and italian sausage.
Of course, I think that the soup will be a heck of an idea for the leftovers... I'm just happy that I've got a fridge full of leftovers like I used to back in the day. The current task, other than than eating a ton of leftovers, is to get my herb garden back in order. My basil is wretched, my sage needs to be trimmed, and I may need to completely re-do my soil. I haven't changed soil in a while, and it may be leeched. Anyway, until next time.
-foodgeek
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