food orleans

foodie times all around!

foodorleans — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 10:04:28 CDT

There are some great food events coming up soon in our fair city! Here are some you don't want to miss:

First up, Hogs for the Cause. This yearly fundraiser for pediatric brain cancer has been extended to include Friday evening, and has great music all day, plus a bbq cook-off. Tickets are $5 and the event is in City Park.

March 23-24, The Roadfood Festival in the French Market brings you famous "road food" from around the country. You can get your fill of ribs, tamales, cheese dip, and strawberry shortcake, with no entry fee! You might want to wear your elastic waist pants, though.

And if you're looking for a more organized event, try out Dishcrawl. The first New Orleans Dishcrawl event is set for Tuesday, March 26, and will take place in the Carrollton neighborhood, winding its way through (secret) restaurants in search of some of the neighborhood's best flavors. Tickets for March 26 are sold out, but the Irish Channel Dishcrawl, set for April 10, still has some available. Happy festing!

the miracle of 5-hour onions

foodorleans — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:05:57 CST

French onion soup, a la Bouchon, made with 5-hour onions

Paul had been requesting French onion soup for, I don't know, about 2 years? And I kept putting it off, partly because I knew there were so many different ways to make it and I had no idea which to try first. But Paul was pretty adament about trying Thomas Keller's version in the Bouchon cookbook. Two things about this recipe stood out at once: there's no alcohol involved in the cooking--no wine, brandy, or sherry, which nearly every recipe for French onion soup calls for (he does call for sherry vinegar at the end, but that's different). And the onions for the soup cook for 5 HOURS. Much, much longer than your typical formula for caramelized onions. But these are not your typical caramelized onions. Oh, no. These are onion butter.

All it takes it about 8 large onions, a stick of butter, a little salt, 5 hours, and a heat diffuser, aka simmer mat or flame tamer. Above is the one I got off amazon.com for about 10 bucks. The heat diffuser is a little disk that you place directly on your burner (gas, electric, ceramic, whatever) in order to evenly distribute the heat, so you don't get "hot spots" in the pot which lead to burned food. Only with a heat diffuser, and a very sturdy pot, can these onions even withstand the torture of 5 slow, hot hours. Being in the pot without a heat diffuser would be like going on a five-hour bike ride in Joshua Tree National Park and putting sunscreen on only half of yourself. Hot spots.

Start out by slicing about 8 large onions, or 7 quarts' worth. Throw them in a big heavy pot (this is our 8-quart Le Creuset) set on top of the heat diffuser and turn the heat to low. Toss in a stick of butter and a tablespoon of kosher salt.

The onions will give off a lot of liquid and start cooking down quickly. You'll need to stir them about every 30 minutes or so. This is after about 1.5 hours...

and this is after hour 4. If by the fifth hour they aren't dark brown and wine-scented, turn the heat up a bit and stir them more frequently. They'll color up and become the richest little devils you've ever tasted.

Like so. The amazing thing is that what started as 7 quarts of onions is now a mere 2 cups, but the same amount of butter is still in the pot. It's gotten acquainted with the onions and melded together so what you have now isn't really onions. It's like flavor magic. Truly, these do taste like they were cooked with a bottle of red wine. At this point, do whatever the heck you want with them. I'm no one to boss you around. But here are a few suggestions:

Use them on a pizza. We made this one with 5-hour onions, smeared around sort of like a pasty sauce, sauteed squash, prosciutto, and smoked gouda. Oh. My. Goodness.

Or, use them on a sandwich--they spread like jam once heated up a little bit (if you take them cold from the fridge, they're stiff because of all that butter). This was the beginning of a beautiful sandwich: 5-hour onions, roasted pork tenderloin, vinegary greens. Very good stuff.

Or, stick with a more classical use, and make good 'ol onion soup. Thomas Keller's recipe really is pretty simple: Place 1.5 cups of the cooked onions in a pot and sift a tablespoon of flour over them, cooking on low heat for a couple of minutes. Pour in 3 1/2 quarts of very rich beef stock. Add a sachet of 2 bay leaves, 12 peppercorns, and 6 thyme sprigs, tied together inside cheesecloth. Simmer for about an hour or so, until reduced to about 2 1/2 quarts. Season with salt, pepper, and a few drops of sherry vinegar. (The complete recipe, including croutons, can be found here.) You will be very pleased with yourself.

5-hour onions (adapted from Bouchon)

7 quarts peeled, sliced onions (about 8 large yellow or white)
1 stick unsalted butter (8 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon kosher salt

Place a heat diffuser over a burner, and a large heavy pot (8 quarts at least) on the diffuser. Melt the butter over low heat.
Add the onions and salt, and cook over low heat for 5 hours, stirring every 30 minutes or so.
Use as your heart desires.

makes about 2 cups.

love and pasta at domenica

foodorleans — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 12:25:54 CST

passing the plates at Domenica

I have a serious, life-long, nearly debilitating crush on handmade pasta. I love its freshness, its tender bite, and the way just a little sauce elevates it into the highest form of art. When I see it on a menu, at places like La Petite Grocery or August, I'm done. Take the menu away, just bring me the pasta, please. Pronto. So Domenica, whose menu features handmade pasta at every turn, among other authentically prepared Italian delights, naturally holds a place very dear to my heart--my almost Italian, highly dramatic, pasta-loving heart.

Left: octopus carpaccio. Right: tagliatelle with rabbit and porcini

I met the chef of Domenica, Alon Shaya, last year at the Tabasco event I attended on Avery Island, where he proceeded to make fusilli by hand, torture shrimp into a beautiful stock, and generally wow us all with his homemade cured meats and warm olives. He's a master at his craft, and the restaurant reflects his easy-yet-professional style. Vegetarians and vegans have nothing to fear here: just tell them, and they'll please most eagerly.

roasted brussels sprouts with pancetta

with your cheese and/or salumi board, you get these savory "beignets", little puffs of crackly, buttery bread

At Avery Island, Shaya prepared a 5-course tasting menu featuring different Tabasco sauces. The meat course was a slow-roasted porchetta, but for the vegetarians, he offered a whole roasted cauliflower. You can order this at Domenica, along with the most fantastic whipped feta cheese as a sauce. Hint: try this whipped feta on everything you possibly can. It never fails!

whole roasted cauliflower with its accompaniment of whipped feta (looks like hummus, but is so not hummus)

This is a great place to bring a bunch of friends and order many small plates so everyone can have a taste of the good life. Be warned that it will be a little on the noisy side, so save your important discussions for another time and place. Also, though they have a wine list, you can bring your own bottles with NO corkage fee. True! Plus, they're making some smashingly good king cakes these days. Check out their happy hour, 3:00-6:00 daily, and be on the lookout for their Seder Menu, which promises to be special.

andouillin' it: spinach, mushroom, and andouille omelet

foodorleans — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:05:32 CST

Happy 2013! Let's get cooking!

You might have read this post last year when I talked about a resolution I'd made for 2012, to eat breakfast every day. For the most part, I kept it up--at least I did MUCH better in 2012 than I had in 2011. It's also a habit I plan to keep for 2013, with even more variety and vegetables in every breakfast. One of my favorite ways to sneak in extra vegetables is in an omelet, which makes it easy to use small amounts of meats, veggies, or cheese that you have sitting around in your fridge, patiently waiting to be adopted into some interesting concoction.

Omelets themselves can be kind of tricky, but I'm making a "country style" omelet here, which is much easier (in my opinion) than the traditional French style. If you want to try a French omelette, study this Julia Child video first. Just watch the first 30 seconds, and you'll see how easy it can be. That kind of omelet making is kind of like winning an olympic gold, so if you've got the guts, go for it! Or do it like I do below, which will give you an omelet big enough for two.

It takes a non-stick skillet or omelet pan to make an omelet, and I always use the same pan to pre-cook the filling first. After sauteeing the vegetables, just wipe the pan out really well; no need to wash it.

The filling, sauteed and ready to be tucked into the omelet. I have to tell you that this melange is really good on its own, and would make a nice dinner tossed with rice or pasta.

In an 8"- to 10"-skillet, melt the butter over medium heat (closer to medium-high) until the foaming subsides.

Pour in the eggs!

Start dragging eggs from the outside edge toward the center with a rubber spatula. It will seem like you're making too many lumps in the middle, but all the rest of the liquid egg will become the same thickness as those first lumps, so don't worry.

Keep repeating this dragging motion, letting the uncooked egg run under the cooked edges,

until the top of the omelet has only...

a little runny egg left on top. It should take about a minute and a half to get to this point.

Turn the heat to low and cover the top for a minute, to help set the runny egg whites.

Place two-thirds of the filling on one half of the circle, topped with the cheese.

And carefully, very gently, coax the empty half over the filled half with the rubber spatula. I spy a crack in my omelet!

Yep, that's a pretty big crack! But I'm not worried, because that's what I saved the rest of the filling for:

to help cover mistakes.

spinach, mushroom, and andouille omelet

2 tablespoons butter, divided
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/3 cup diced andouille (remove the casing before you chop)
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup (packed) baby spinach
1 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper, to taste
Tabasco or other pepper sauce, to taste
5 eggs
1/3 cup shredded swiss cheese (or use 1 big slice, torn into pieces)

Heat a medium (8" to 10") nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, and melt 1 tablespoon of butter in it. Add the onion and andouille and saute for five minutes, until they start to brown. Add the mushrooms and thyme, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and saute another 3 to 4 minutes, until the mushrooms give up their liquid and turn soft. Add the spinach, stir until it wilts (about 30 seconds), and remove the filling to a bowl or plate.
Wipe out the skillet well so there are no stuck-on parts of anything left.
Beat the eggs in a bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper to taste, and a few shots of Tabasco if you like it (I do!).
Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in the nonstick skillet over medium heat (leaning toward medium-high, but not too high). Swirl the pan to completely coat the bottom with butter--add more butter if you need it. When the butter starts to lightly brown and most of the foam is gone, pour in the eggs. With a rubber spatula, start pulling the cooked egg from the edge of the pan toward the center, forming large curds of egg. Do this for a minute, dragging eggs and letting the runny parts cook at the edges, until you have just a little bit of wet egg on the omelet top.
Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan with a lid, and let the top cook for about 30 seconds, until it's just set (it will still be a little wet, but that's totally fine).
Place 2/3 of the filling over one half of the omelet circle and top with the cheese. Carefully, and with a great deal of faith in yourself, use the rubber spatula to lift the empty half of the omelet over the filled half. Keep loving yourself even if there's a crack!
Leave the folded omelet in the pan for a few more seconds, to help the cheese melt. Carefully slide or lift it onto a plate and top with the remaining 1/3 of the filling.

serves 2

5 easy pieces, part 5: mashed potato cakes

foodorleans — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 10:45:45 CST

Finally, here's an easy recipe for turning leftover mashed potatoes into something other than soup. These cakes are simple to mix, quick to cook, and will do wonders for your brunchatude (top it with a poached or fried egg, above, and you're in business!). You can also jazz them up further by mixing in any little bits of cheese you have lying around, goat cheese and cheddar being two excellent choices.

mashed potato cakes

2 cups leftover cold mashed potatoes
1 egg

1 cup seasoned dry breadcrumbs
butter and olive oil

In a medium bowl, combine mashed potatoes and egg and mix well (it should be a little stiff still). Season with salt and pepper if you think the potatoes might be a little bland.
With your hands, form potato mixture into small cakes, about 2.5" in diameter and 1/2" thick. You'll have 4 to 5 cakes.
Dredge the cakes carefully in dry breadcrumbs, pressing a little to help the breadcrumbs stick.
Heat a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil together. When the butter stops foaming, add the cakes without crowding (you may need to do two batches). Cook until golden brown on the bottom, about 4 minutes. Carefully turn and cook until the other side is browned, about 4 more minutes. Serve immediately.

makes 4 to 5 cakes

MORE EASY PIECES: smoked salmon breakfast pizza; roasted potatoes and turnips; butter bean hummus; greens with andouille.