The Big Sexy Sushi Roll...

Greeting loves of great food!

Last week for Valentine's Day, Patty and I had a late dinner at Kru Contemporary Japanese Cuisine.  I'm in there semi-regularly and while Patty doesn't care for sushi, the non-sushi items on the menu are to her liking so it's always a good destination.  I was introduced to the chef and Owner Billy Ngo by Randall Selland, Executive Chef and Owner of The Kitchen Restaurant, and my personal cooking "Yoda".  This was several years back during a Sushi Competition here in town, and if Randall says this guy has the goods, then you can take it to the bank.  I found Billy to be very nice and when invited me to try his then-new restaurant I went by and was floored by the skill and the flavors.  I don't know where he gets his fish from, but his supplier is among the best, I've been to other places in town and had dry, rubbery sushi.  And what sets a sushi place apart for me is whether or not they get the Unagi right.  For the uninitiated, Unagi is barbecued Eel, and when done right...yesssss...it's moist and tender, the sauce compliments but doesn't overpower, it's not that easy to get right. I've been to many places and if the Unagi is wrong, I never go back.  It's that simple.  My first visit to Kru, the Unagi was... Absolutely. Perfect.  Every time I go, it's... Absolutely.  Perfect.  I've even run into Randall there on a few occasions, and he can eat anywhere, including any of his restaurants, and if HE's a regular there...you know it's the stuff!

Recently I was there with a friend and we were talking about some business matters, and I wasn't feeling at all well so I wasn't eating that night, and as I watched what he ordered and it wasn't familiar to me, so I asked what it was and he said "It's not on the menu, I asked Billy to let his imagination run wild and do whatever he wanted."  Interesting.... Mental note made for my next visit...

Which brings us back to this past Valentine's Day, while we were dining, I asked Billy if he would make something up for me, not from the menu.  He said that he'd be glad to, and asked what I liked most.  We all know I love Unagi, and I am also a big fan of Hamachi (Yellowtail Tuna), so Billy took that sparse direction, and came up this:

He started with some chopped Hamachi and some green onions and placed them in the rice roll, then topped it with Unagi and some sliced Avocado, and topped that with Tempura Crumbles and thinly sliced Nori (Seaweed sheets).  And the sauces applied are Spicy Garlic Aioli, a house Teriyaki sauce and a Sweet Chili Oil Glaze.  There was one more sauce, but I didn't get it in my notes, and the best way to be sure is to take a trip there...  When the creation was served to me I was stunned by how it all came together, and if I'm being honest the photo above was taken yesterday, because the first time I had it, it didn't last long enough to be photographed...  Billy asked me what I thought of the new creation, and I told him that it was fantastic!  And next time I come in, (which was today coincidentally) this is what I want, so he needs to keep that recipe on his fingertips.  He said that he would but I needed to name it so he would associate it and be able to re-create it.  "I get to name it?" I asked, he said "It's your roll, you get to name it." So of course, I christened it "The Big Sexy", and when I went in tonight with Nicole I said to Billy "You know what I want..." and he prepared me a Big Sexy and it was magnificent again...

Next time you are having a Sushi fit, stop into Kru and give the Big Sexy a try...I'm trying to get it on the menu officially...:)

Until next time troops!

BBQ lessons with Big Bro

Greetings food lovers, the new year is here and what better way to kick things off than hanging with my brother Cass.

It's Playoff time in Football, (Playoffs?!? You kiddin me? Playoffs!?-That will never get old..) and since I hadn't had a chance to roll with my big brother Cass in far too long, we were talking the other day about new appliances in my kitchen, and I mentioned how I know nothing about barbecuing and reminiscing about the old days in Oakland fiending over Flint's Bar-B-Que joint.  If you lived in Oakland or Berkeley in the 70's or 80's and wanted some barbecue, you went to Flint's, everything else was a step down.  At any time of the day on Shattuck Avenue where it was there were two constants: There was ALWAYS a long line out front, and there was the aroma that could make you wreck your car.

(Above) The legendary Flint's Bar-B-Q in later years before its closure...

Once they closed down, I have been completely underwhelmed by barbecue because I was spoiled and didn't know how good it was, until it was gone...  I've tried several places here in Sacramento over the last couple of years, and nothing stands out.  In fact most were half-assed at best, and at worst just lethal...

So instead of sitting here beefing, (get it "beef"-ing? Thank you! I'll be here all week!) I decided that I would try and re-create the magic of Flint's in my kitchen.  The first thing I did was give Cass a call as, as previously stated, I know nothing about barbecuing. And I turned to Big Bro because he is a true Grill Master, so the first thing we talked about was what I wanted to accomplish, I told him "Flint's", to that he said "You don't aim low do you?"... So the first thing was to decide on the type of sausage to use, Flint's always used a coarsely ground sausage, and that pre-packaged stuff in the grocery store simply will not get it done.  He told me that I needed to get freshly ground sausage from my butcher, and let them know that I want it coarsely ground, and once I did that he would come up and show me how to smoke because that was how they did it at Flint's, smoking the links long over low heat.  I asked him what I needed for Smoking since I had no idea, he said wood chips, either Mesquite or Hickory, some coal, a sauce of my choice and we are ready to go!

The first thing I did was head over to my butcher at Corti Brothers, the lovely Lacy, and I asked her about ground sausage for smoking and she said "I have just what you need Sexy....", and she ground and cased me 2 pounds of Hot Italian Sausage and 2 pounds of Mild Italian Sausage, and I also picked up some Bratwurst for variety, then I picked up some Mesquite wood chips and sauce and was ready to rock!

Cass got here and we assembled the grill and let the chips soak in water for about 30 minutes, then the first thing I noticed was how he spread the coals on the grate of the grill, he took two small piles of coals, and put them on opposite sides of the grate, and when I asked why he told me that we are doing indirect heat which is the key to smoking.  After we lit the coals, and let them get hot, then we took a handful of wood chips and spread them on the coals, and since they were wet, they created the smoke.  We placed two groups of links on the grill, after spraying the top grate with Pam to ensure the links don't stick, we placed them on the grate and covered and watched the smoke pipe through the opening, from there we let them cook for about 8 minutes per side, then used the digital thermometer to check the internal temperature and once it hit 160 degrees they were just about done, but not quite...  as they simmered, Cass brushed some sauce on them so they could absorb that extra flavor.  Then we removed them from the grill and placed them on the cutting board to rest for about 5 minutes, then I sliced them on an angle like they did at Flint's back in the day, and slathered them with sauce and placed them in the oven, covered with foil, for 10 minutes on the "warm" setting.  That was to allow the sauce to infuse the links on the inside as well and retain their moisture and juices.  And once they were removed from the oven...yes! Cass had re-created the past!  All the local BBQ places are bullshit...yeah, I said it! I defy them to step their game up, show some passion, and make something like this. THIS is what I've been trying to get! THESE are the flavors that have been missing from my barbecue experiences.  And from a equipment and supply standpoint, it's not difficult, so there is no excuse not to reproduce this.  And some of these so-called barbecue places need to learn that hot dogs ARE NOT hot links...

Now that I have the knowledge and training as a part of my arsenal, I definitely will be doing this more frequently.  It's too good not to...!

(Above) Cass on a bottle of "Haterade", taken from at home office.  Can't get THAT everywhere...

As we were cooking, Cass and I start talking about doing a "Iron Chef" or "Top Chef" challenge to see what's up, I'm thinking we'll ask some friends to suggest some things and we will each do our slant on them.  Or let people decide the main ingredients and let us do the rest.  It's in the planning stages now, but why not? Anyone who knows me will tell you that I have a problem with words like "quit" ,"can't", and "no".  Lets do what we want to do and damn what the naysayers think!  I will keep you posted on the Big Sexy vs Cass "Top Chopped Iron Throwdown" cook-off in the near future.

Editors note: As I wolfed down my barbecue this afternoon, Cass and I watched a GREAT playoff game between the Saints and 49ers, and as much as it pains me I have to give it up to my 49er fans... So Rosanna, Vlade, Jeannine, and Alexis, enjoy the day, your team earned it...

Until next time troops,

Big Sexy

Big Sexy takes on....The French Laundry

Greetings food lovers!

As I was puttering around the house this past weekend, I heard someone mention in passing the renown restaurant, The French Laundry.  The French Laundry is one of the most famous restaurants in the country, it's located in the Napa Valley region and is notorious for its spectacular food and long wait to get a reservation.  I have not been there yet, but it's something I plan to do just out of curiosity more than anything else.  Recently however I had discovered that they published a cookbook, back in 1999 Owner and Chef Thomas Keller published a cookbook filled with stories about flavors and their creation and several of his recipes.


Patty reminded me that we have this book in our small but growing cooking library, apparently I had purchased the book a few months ago, but that it had slipped my mind.  So, because I was in the mood to try something new this week, I pulled it off the shelf and gave it a read.  Now, admittedly, I am still a novice chef so a lot of the recipes were a bit more than I was comfortable trying at this stage, but a few did stand out, one in particular was "Eric's Staff Lasagna".

The accompanying article with the recipe talked about the importance of building camaraderie among the staff, and an ideal way to accomplish this is the staff meal.  Just the troops getting together and sharing a meal.  It's a great concept, and one I use often with my softball team.  Many times I gather up the troops on "Team Sexy", and we will get together away from the field for sushi or cocktails, and the most recent time was we had a barbecue at one of the teammates home.  I love hanging with my troops outside of the games because it gives us the opportunity to get to know about each other as people in addition to being teammates, and that only helps to build the teamwork we need, and it's obviously successful judging by our 6 League championships.....just sayin....:)

The simplicity of the lasagna was the prime factor in my selecting it, and that it also gave me an opportunity to prepare my own sauce from scratch, so without further ado, I give you "Eric's Staff Lasagna":

For the Sauce-
1/2 cup Olive Oil
1 1/2 cups minced Yellow Onions
2 tablespoons minced Garlic
1/2 cup Tomato Paste
8 cups cut-up peeled Tomatoes, into about 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup chopped Oregano and 2 teaspoons of chopped Basil

For the Filling-
1 1/2 pounds whole milk Ricotta Cheese
3 large eggs
1/2 cup chopped Parsley
Kosher Salt and Ground Pepper to season

and 1/2 pound grated Mozzarella for the top.

Let's go to work!

Preheat the oven to 350.

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot, then add the onions and garlic and let them cook gently for 4 to 5 minutes, then add the Tomato Paste and cook for 10 minutes.  Right about then the paste will separate and the oil will turn Orange.  At that point add your tomatoes and stir to combine, then let it simmer for 90 minutes to 2 hours, stirring periodically so the sauce doesn't scorch and stick to the pot.

When the sauce is done it will be nice and thick and chunky, add the Oregano and let cool to room temperature before assembling the lasagna.

For the filling, get a large bowl and take the ricotta cheese and three eggs and whisk them together until blended, then add the parsley and salt and put in the refrigerator to cool while the noodles are cooking.

Once your noodles are done, drain them and put them in a big bowl . Then drizzle some Olive oil over them so they stay moist and don't dry out.  From there it's time to assemble the masterpiece!  Grab your lasagna pan, I used my Mack Daddy stainless steel one for this, then spread some sauce over the bottom,then spread a layer of the noodles across the bottom, making sure they overlap slightly.  Then spread half the ricotta over the noodles and top with another layer of noodles, then add more sauce, add more noodles then cover with cheese, and place the final layer of noodles over it and cover with the remaining sauce.  From there take your mozzarella and lightly toss it with salt and pepper and spread over the top.

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour until the top is nice and golden brown, then remove from oven and serve it up!  Let's grub!

After having some, I must admit that the French Laundry cookbook is something I will be utilizing more often.  And now that I have one of the more simple recipes done, it's time to try something a little more complex, in the next installment I'm going to attempt something a little more advanced....and hope for the best!

Until next time troops!

Big Sexy

That's right ladies...I'm back.

Greetings and Salutations!  And a long overdue...Let's Eat!

First things first, my apologies for the large gap be+tween posts, my trusted HP dv9035 laptop have given up the ghost, so if you please, a moment of silence for a trusted friend.... No laptop meant not updating, I could do it from the desktop, but I like to use that machine for business and professional pursuits only, and my laptop for my creative things.  And now I proudly welcome into the fold my new laptop, the MSI A6400! I'll spare the technical details, but will say it's a much better machine and I'm quite happy with it!

This week I did a little shopping for new goodies for the kitchen>  I was at Selland's with Smurf the other day, and I asked Evan where I should get a new Stainless Steel frying pan.  He told me that Randall gets all of his equipment at Economy Restaurant Supply, and since Randall is the owner of my absolute favorite restaurant, The Kitchen, if I can get my goodies where he does maybe some of the magic will rub off...:)
The first thing I saw when I got there was that the place is HUGE!  Everything anyone could possibly need for their kitchen, personal or commercial, is there for you.  I was shown too an area where there were rows of Aluminum this and non-stick that, and then to the stainless area. Yeah baby, this is how I roll... I needed to get a 12" inch frying pan and a new cutting board.  The last cutting board I got was from IKEA about a month ago and is crap. Yeah, I said it! The thing began to warp in a month! I was shown a stainless frying pan that must weigh 10 pounds, its perfect! Then I was taken to the area where the cutting boards are and I selected one that has nice thickness and smooth grain and good density.  And of course I couldn't wait to get my new utensils back to the house and get started!

I prepped the board with the supplied oil and let it set up, and once that was all done I thought the best way to see what I had was to cut up some onions, mushrooms and jalapeno peppers and then caramelize them in the new stainless frying pan.  The cutting block was solid and sturdy, didn't slide around the counter like that cheap-ass one from IKEA did...it felt like a cutting board should feel like.  From there I put a little butter and Olive Oil in the new pan and put in the onions, peppers and mushrooms, and put the stove on low to simmer and left it alone for about 20 minutes to let them caramelize...and once they were done I took a look and they were evenly browned, it was a thing of beauty...this is how it should be.  I've said that I will never use non-stick again, and now I'm gonna double-down on that and say that I will never buy my kitchen equipment from any other location.  I used to get my equipment from various department stores, no more, I shop where the professionals shop, and I love doing so!

Today was football Sunday, (can't believe we lost to Tim Tebow...) and I was feeling like something more out of the ordinary, no Hot Dogs or Nachos or Chili today.  Today I was feeling the need for a Shrimp Louie, so as the Raiders stunk out the building by a complete lack of tackling skill, I started boiling the eggs for the Louie dressing.  The entire process is fairly simple:

• 
  
• 1 pint mayonnaise
• 1/2 pint tomato ketchup
• 1/2 cup sweet relish
• 1/2 cup chopped black olives
• 2 hard boiled eggs, chopped

Crab Louie Salad:

• 1 head iceberg lettuce, chopped
• 8 to 12 ounces fresh picked Dungeness crabmeat
• 1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and sliced lengthwise thinly
• 3 tomatoes, quartered

Combine the mayo, ketchup and relish with the eggs and olives for the dressing.  From there make a bed of lettuce, and sprinkle the shrimp, and in this case crab, over it then add the tomatoes and avocado, and from there pour the dressing over the top and POW! you have a Crab/Shrimp Louie!  Very simple and tasty! And I needed a pick me up after watching my beloved Raiders stink today.  And they stunk like bare feet in Topsiders in Arizona in July kind of stink.  Just awful.  But the Crab/Shrimp Louie helped to ease the pain... I needed it

Next time I try and re-create a Pit Pie I had at The Kitchen back in September!  Step by step I will take you tough the journey and hopefully we will make it at least edible...:)

Learning from the Master

Greetings food lovers and chefs of all skill level!

The Summer is upon upon us, and I hate it! Too much heat can be a pain! Last week at my Softball game I got a bit of  heat fatigue, got light headed and one of my teammates had to drive my car home. Big thanks to J.J. and Katie! Once I got back to "Casa Sexy" and got an ice pack on me to cool my body down I was fine.  But it got me thinking about some cool things to try in the kitchen, a hot-ass kitchen in 95 degree heat is simply not a fun experience...

Anyone who knows me well knows that my absolute favorite restaurant is The Kitchen.  That is not open for debate, over the years I've shared great times there with several of my closest friends, and they all love it as much as I do.  Recently I came across a link from The Kitchen's sister restaurant, Ella Dining Room and Bar, where owner Randall Selland was doing a demonstration on making an Heirloom Tomato soup.  To me this was a major thing because one of the alluring facets of The Kitchen is that it is a place where they do demonstration dinners.  Everything is prepared right in front of the guests, so each person can see how the magic is done.  But the food and service there (and the wine list!) is so good, its impossible to pay attention to anything else!  

The recipe calls for the following:

Ingredients

2.5 lbs. heirloom tomatoes (any variety you prefer) 

3 Tbl extra virgin olive oil

¼  bunch cilantro 

1-2 cloves garlic (coarsely chopped) 

½ shallot (coarsely chopped)

2 Tbl salt 

salt and pepper to taste

Core and chop the tomatoes into eight to ten pieces each.  Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and gently mix together. Allow to sit for five (5) hours at room temperature for the olive oil and salt to break down the tomatoes and combine the flavors. Run the mixture through a food mill or blender then salt and pepper to taste. Serve soup chilled or at room temperature.  

 

Serving suggestions for accompaniments: burrata cheese and chives, crispy soft shell crab or Dungeness crab salad.

That's it.  Sounds simple because it was simple to do.  As always when I try something new in my kitchen, I like to invite my best friend Nicole over, because if I didn't she would be...irritated.  I also invited my buddy Amir to come out to try it.  I invited him because he's always saying that he wants to see my skills in the kitchen with something new, so this was his shot.

The prep work started early Saturday morning, while Patty was out and about she called me and said she was by the Davis Ranch Farmer's Market and did I need anything.  Since I wanted to stay as close as I could to Randall's directions, I asked if she could bring home a few pounds of Heirloom Tomatoes while I gathered the rest of the things I needed.  Once I had the tomatoes I went ahead and sliced them up, placed them into a big bowl added the Olive Oil, garlic, shallot and cilantro, covered with plastic wrap and left it alone for 5 hours...

Once Nicole arrived it was time to finish the soup.  But first Patty wanted to use some of the remaining tomatoes for some grilled cheese and chicken sandwiches.  While that was happening I prepared some Dungeness Crab salad for the topping on the soup.  And I used fresh real crab for this, imitation crab has it's places...but my kitchen isn't one of them.  The salad was equally simple to prepare, I used 1/2 a pound of lump crab meat, 1/2 a shallot, some chopped parsley, 1/4 cup of mayonnaise, and three drops of Sriracha sauce.  And I mean drops, this stuff is seriously hot and can overwhelm the taste of the crab if too much is used, we're just going for the hint of flavor, not the burn of the heat.  After finely chopping the shallot, I added it to the crab and parsley and mixed in the mayonnaise and the drops of sriracha.  As it chilled I went to finish the soup.  After seeing how the tomatoes had broken down in the olive oil of the past several hours, I scooped half of it into my blender, I don't have a food mill, and I blended it until it was the right consistency and poured in into the soup tureen, I then blended the remaining portion and placed in the tureen as well.  Now it was time to plate it up!   I took a ladle and put two scoops of the soup into each bowl, then topped it with a tablespoon of the crab salad and served it with the sandwiches Patty made, along with some corn on the cob she whipped up too.  And to top it off I had a bottle of La Crema Sonoma Coast Chardonnay that a teammate had given me, (Thanks Aimee!) and it was time to grub!

All of us were stunned at the flavors and how they were so rich but not heavy.  Nicole staked her claim for seconds, and a T.G.P., which I have always felt is the best compliment a person can pay their chef.  Believe me, I've had many T.G.P.s from The Kitchen.  Dinner was great, it was fun to hang out on a Summer night with my Randall Selland-inspired soup.  And for me watching him prepare it was like a lesson from one of the true culinary masters, and if he does any other demos like this I will be trying them as well!  Truly a good night!  

And since I'm all about sharing the wealth, so for those who want to see Randall walk you through the preparation of it...

http://www.elladiningroomandbar.com/blog/post/randalls-heirloom-tomato-soup

Until next time!

Big thanks to Randall and his teams at The Kitchen and Ella!

The Mack Daddy Lasagna. Bigger is Better.

Greetings lovers of good food!

Let me jump right into it: I hate Summer. That's right, I said it! 100+ degree days aren't my idea of fun.  But ever since I have lived in the State Capital, each Summer hits and I beef about about it until about September, then I let it go.  Until the next Summer hits, then I do it all over again.  The reason it annoys me this time is that I spent a morning down in the Bay Area and the climate was so cool, there was a nice gentle breeze, reminded me of growing up there. I loved it and miss it.  I get back here and the minute I stepped off the Amtrak train...POW! Like a punch in the face! It was 22 degrees hotter here with ZERO breeze! Yuck!  Couldn't wait for the serenity of my air conditioned Expedition... I cranked it up to "freeze" and I was ok.

But onto other things.

Recently some of the ladies at the office mentioned that they were doing an Italian themed lunch time Pot Luck, and asked if I wanted to be included, and I of course jumped at the opportunity!  But what could it be?
Fettuccine Alfredo? Too simple.  Spaghetti with Bolognese sauce? Been there and done that. No, I wanted to try something new, something that I had never done before.  I had seen an episode of Tyler Florence's show where he created the "Ultimate Lasagna", and he used this cavernous lasagna pan to do it.  It was layers upon layers of grub, and I thought "Well that looks tasty", and at some point I was going to try it.  So the Italian Pot Luck would be the unveiling of the "Mack Daddy" Lasagna.

The only hurdle I had was also the biggest one: where to get a pan deep enough to do what I want to do?  That took some doing but I finally located a pan that was 16 x 10, but was also 5 inches deep. Now we're talkin! 5 inches of depth would allow for many layers of creation!

Let's go to work.

First things first, let's do the sauce.  In a deep Dutch Oven, I poured a little Olive Oil in and let it get hot.  I wanted to see the oil smoke before I added 2 pounds of beef and 2 pounds of pork.  The heat of the oil would really act to sear the meats, really bringing out the flavors.  After I put the meats in I seasoned them with a little Kosher salt and Fresh Ground pepper.  As the meat started to come together, I started a big pot of water boiling for the noodles, and I also gathered my vegetables for the sauce.  I took 2 big red onions, one yellow onion,  a half a head of garlic, two stalks of celery and a carrot, gave them all a rough chop, then put it all in my Cuisinart.  Before I start to process I added some parsley, basil and oregano to it then I processed it until it was a thick puree'.  At that point I poured it on top of the beef and stirred it all together letting it all cook together.  Then I added two teaspoons of flour to help it thicken up and added two cups of red wine, and let it cook.  Once the wine has reduced down I then added two large cans of tomatoes, one diced and one whole, and two tablespoons of chili powder for a little POW, and three tablespoons of heavy cream to add in the thickening process.

As the sauce came together it was time to prep the noodles and ready the cheese.  I first drained the noodles before they were fully done, because they were going to cook again while they were in the baking stage.  So after draining the noodles, I placed them in a wide baking dish and drizzled them with olive oil as they cooled, that was so  they wouldn't stick together when it was time to assemble.  From there I prepped the cheese.  I got two quarts of ricotta cheese and put it in a big bowl, added two eggs, and some Parmeseano-Reggiano that I bought in a block but used my Cuisinart to process it into a fine powder.  I took half a cup of the ground cheese and added it to the ricotta and eggs and mixed it together with a wooded spoon. Now I was ready to assemble.

First I took my big deep Mack Daddy pan and coated it with olive oil, the bottom and the sides.  Tyler Florence said that if you use a small dinky lasagna pan you get a small dinky lasagna. We never do dinky in the Big Sexy kitchen. Then I laid out a row of noodles, making sure they overlapped so there would be a nice seal there, then I spread the ricotta on top of the noodles with a plastic spatula, then I took a ladle of and spread sauce over the ricotta, and from there I sprinkled some mozzarella on the sauce.  Then do it all again, noodles, ricotta, sauce, mozzarella, and since I had the big pan I got one more rotation through.  When it was don it must have weighed 25 pounds when I put it in the oven!  The oven should be pre-heated at 350 and let it cook for 60-70 minutes and then....yes! Layers of rich Italian goodness.  After rem,moving it from the oven, let it sit for 30 minutes to cool and firm up, then dig in!

Everyone at the lunch loved it! I was very satisfied with the outcome and glad that it was well received.  It was a bit of work, but well worth it in the end.  I made so much that I froze bout a third of it, so on the days I'm not feeling like cooking anything new I can pull some out of the freezer and I'm good to go!

As a variation, a friend (Whats up Diana!) asked me about a Vegetarian version so upon some thought I tinkered with my sauce to see if I could figure something out.  What I came up with was removing the meat, adding two more onions, another big can of diced tomatoes and two baskets of mushrooms to the sauce and ad the pureed sauce to that was definitely on point! I added half a small can of tomato paste to thicken it up....yeah baby...that's whats goin on!

For the ricotta, take the two eggs out, and add another 1/2 cup to a full cup of the parmeseano-reggiano, that will still allow the layer to firm up while baking, and with those subtle modifications, we have the Mack Daddy Mark II!

I definitely encourage you to try either or both game plans, you will not be disappointed!

One more thing.  The ladies at the office tell me there is a Chili cook-off planned for July, and one of my co-workers Rachel, says her man Jerry has been callin out my name.  Say What?! You never pull on Superman's cape, so Jerry gear up your BEST chili, because Big Sexy is coming for you!

Until next time!

  

Meatloaf Showdown, Part 1 ...and other stuff

What is up lovers of all things culinary!

It is I, the Big one, the Sexy one, The Big Sexy!  Back with some tidbits of food experiences and sharing things along the way.  But first I must humbly apologize for the large gap, a combination of work, and a lack of seeing trying new things lately in my kitchen and out and about.  But that is done.  Seen a few things recently and enjoyed some other things as well, and revisited an old haunt which is now "Back in Rotation".

To kick things off with the search for some truly exceptional Meatloaf.  Last year I experienced the truly magnificent meatloaf from the gang over at Selland's Market and Cafe, (http://www.sellands.com/ ) (Hi Pippi! No I haven't forgotten you...) and I later obtained the recipe and attempted to duplicate the genius in my kitchen.  While I got close, it wasn't quite the same.  So, I thought "Who else out there can produce a seriously satisfying meatloaf?".  Only one way to find out: let's take it outside.  I came up with a seriously un-scientific formula to see who out there can deliver the goods when it comes to meatloaf.  So after much debate and research, I've narrowed it down to a list of 5 very lucky finalists. But who will it be? Which of the 5 will be the lucky 1? (Yes, I stole that from a movie...)

First up: Dad's Kitchen (http://www.ilovedadskitchen.com/ )

A couple of weeks ago I got a call from Jessica and she mentioned that she had seen something called the "Hot Blonde" sandwich at Dad's Kitchen and since they serve meatloaf, why not start there with the showdown.  So we made our merry way over there and once we entered the facility several of the servers and wait staff said hello to me, nothing unusual about that, people just being polite.  Jessica pointed out they were a little familiar with me like they had knew me, she asked if I had been there before and I said that I hadn't.  One of the managers came by the table and mentioned that he had me before when he was working at The Kitchen Restaurant, (http://www.thekitchenrestaurant.com/) so that was why they were so familiar.  That was cool, and so I told him of my search for some exceptional meatloaf, and that the search was starting at Dad's.  Perusing the menu there was the meatloaf entree' or there was the meatloaf sandwich.  Since I was feeling a little tired from a long workout I opted for the sandwich.  Jessica decided on the Hot Blonde sandwich, but wanted Cheddar instead of Swiss on it.  They flubbed it.  It came out with Swiss.  She was not pleased.  Also not a good start... However when my sandwich arrived it was flawless!  The meatloaf was a combination of beef, pork and veal with a ketchup glaze and severed on foccacia bread,  with crispy onions and jack cheese, served open-faced style.  The meatloaf was moist and tender, the combination of the veal and pork brought something new to the flavor, something familiar yet new at the same time.  But the ketchup glaze was tad...blah. Not bad by any means, just boring and ....blah.  That could be because I went for the sandwich and not the entree', but I'm not certain.  But the sandwich was very tasty! A good start...

Next up: Evan's Kitchen (http://www.chefevan.com/)

This week I heard from Jessica again and she wanted to try out Evan's kitchen, so we met up over in the Antiques District and took a seat in Evan's Kitchen.  We were greeted by our server for the evening, and his name coincidentally enough was Evan as well, but we avoided the easy jokes at his expense.  I'm sure he's heard them all, and is probably no longer amused by them.  I started off with an appetizer of the Parmesan Prawns.  And according tor the menu they are "Prawns breaded with seasoned bread crumbs, fresh garlic and Parmesan cheese baked and served over Parmesan cream sauce."  And I have got to give it up!  They were magnificent!  The prawns were delicate and nicely breaded and the sauce was perfection.  Not too thick or thin, just right for coating the shrimp, it was great! When I next visit Evan's I will be seeking the recipe for this, it was that good.  Next up was the meatloaf, and this time I went for the entree' and not any sandwich.  This one came with Mushroom gravy and Sour Cream Mashed potatoes.  This was what I was talkin about! Now I must confess that I am a sucker for Mushroom Gravy, and this one was outstanding! Nice and rich and creamy, and just all over the meatloaf and around the potatoes, it was incredible!  As for the taste, because we all know the presentation is nothing without the taste to back it up, and I am happy say that Evan backed it up with a rich and tender meatloaf.  This was great, and dare I say, in the class where the Selland's meatloaf is running around.  It's that good.  And I paired it with some wine from the Coppola vineyards, their Director's Cut Zinfandel.  I'm not a big red wine fan, regardless of the meal, but this one? I might have to pay a visit to the winery for  a case, it was excellent!  And I'm not claiming to be any kind of wine expert at all.  Once several years ago my buddy Erich and I were out having a guy's night out over some dinner, and when the choice for wine was presented to me I said "Ripple?"  I of course got the look from Erich and the Wine Steward that said "Peasant..", and Erich selected a 1997 Silver Oak Cabernet.  That was the best wine I ever tasted.  Expensive too.. But now I know the differences in good wines and not-so-good wines, and this offering from Coppola is definitely one of the better wines I've had lately.  But the meatloaf was clearly the star of the night.  It was a generous slice, expertly prepared, moist and rich and probably would have been great on a sandwich the next day, but none of it made it to the next day...it was truly delicious.  I have say that Evan's Kitchen is in the rotation of favorite places to dine out.  If you're in the are, and you haven't already done so, give them a look, you will not be disappointed.

And as for places "back in the rotation", last Thursday Nicole and I met up after work and went over to Kru (http://www.krurestaurant.com/index.html) for the first time in several months..For those unfamiliar with them, Kru is one of the preeminent sushi places in the area.  Chef-Owner Billy Ngo has always been creative in his presentation as well as his selection of fish that he serves.  Anyone who thinks fish is fish is sorely mistaken.  And Billy has one of the best suppliers in the region judging solely by the taste, because each bite simply melted in our mouths.  We started with a couple pieces of Unagi (Eel), and Hamachi (Yellowtail Tuna).  I always say that you can judge a sushi restaurant by their Unagi, if they get the Unagi right then everything will usually fall into place.  And they got the Unagi right. Nicole and I looked at each other after that first bite, both of us just stunned at good it was.  This was going to be a fun night!  Nicole then order us the Tesla Roll, it was something neither of us had tried previously so she wanted to take a chance on something new.  The roll featured soft-shelled crab, topped with avocado, Albacore tuna and Salmon, it also had a Garlic cream sauce and chives sprinkled over it.  Then we went for the Panko-crusted Salmon served with Crab Remoulade, again something neither of us had tried previously, and again another winner! For the life of me I can't recall enjoying sushi this much, it was great! And before we left I pooped in to tell Billy how much we enjoyed dinner, we ate outside, and the first thing I hear was "Where you been man?" I had that coming, I hadn't been there in several months, but after this effort? Back in the rotation! In fact Billy also owns Red Lotus, but I haven't tried it yet, but if it's anything like what we experienced at Kru...Billy will have another winner on his hands.

One last thing, on facebook i recently mentioned that I was learning to grill.  Well tomorrow morning I'm taking a cooking class at Waterboy  Restaurant (thttp://www.waterboyrestaurant.com/ ) where the subject matter is all about cooking fish!  Can't wait! I've always wanted to try and prepare lobster, but was afraid that if I goof then I'm out a nice chunk of money.  Lobster is not cheap, thus I need training before I take it on.  The class sounds like fun, so I'll try get some photos and post them with the results in the next installment.  Plus my thoughts on what I learned about grilling as well.

Until then troops...

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