How Not To Make Crabcakes

This was a bad attempt at making crabcakes.  First off the crabcake included some lump crab, spices and I believe it was some eggs and matzoh meal.  The issue was that the egg seemed to make the mixture a bit too liquidy.  Second I had no clue whether to pan fry or bake so I did both.  You can see the results of the pan frying - not so good.  Then I had to bake the thing to cook the insides of it...not so good either.  I decided to make grits because whenever you pair something with grits it always seems better.  The sauce on top is chick-fil-a sauce which you can't tell because it looks orange on the green plate. Bad choice.  Next time I'll stick to leaving it to the professionals.  Also if you know of a good place to get crabcakes in Atlanta, let me know.

Some Questionable Ravioli & The Virtues of Whole Grains

Recognize this sauce? Neither do I...

This is some sort of ravioli covered in a ricotta-tomato based sauce with canned green beans and some Parmesan cheese.  I honestly don't remember how good or bad this was, but it's not something you'd put in a food photography magazine for sure.  This is what happens when you try and get creative with boring food.  I think the ravioli was whole-wheat cheese filled. 

Now let's talk about whole-wheat, and whole grains really, and the pros and cons:

Pros: it's better for you, it's heartier, whole grains are healthy, they add texture and they fill you up more

Cons: the taste can be somewhat lacking at times, it's not a colorful item, microwaves as well as a Frisbee, doesn't make a good pizza crust, also not suitable for pie crust I'm guessing

Now, I have become a whole grain (wheat, rye, etc.) advocate this year.  Whole grains are better for your heart, cholesterol and is a great source of fiber.  Now some people I know like to get their whole grains via something we all enjoy called beer.  While beer is indeed a form of whole grains, the nutritional value is a notch above donuts and bacon.  Here's how can you get your whole grains everyday:

1. Whole-wheat bread.  It's better than white bread and holds up better under duress (i.e. condiments and the toaster). Plus it's a great source of fiber, while white bread is a great source of empty calories.

Translation: Turkey sandwich on wheat; not roast beef on white

2. Wild & brown rice.  Uncle Ben (or Ben's) has a brown rice microwaveable pouch which is pretty edible and takes 90 seconds to cook.  Substitute that for white rice and you'll be good to go.

Translation: grilled shrimp and wild & brown rice; not pepper steak over white rice

3. Whole-wheat flour.  Yep.  If you like the sweets, then substitute some whole-wheat flour.  It's good for cookies, cakes & other baked goods (sans pizza crusts).  A chocolate chip cookie with whole-wheat flour and dark chocolate chips is almost as good as your traditional slice and bake cookie from the tube.

Translation: homemade goodness; not processed sketchiness

So basically I've covered your lunch, dinner and dessert there with whole grains. 

Breakfast, you ask? Eat a banana.  Don't forget to eat your fruits and veggies (hint: it saves room for beer).

The Blog is Back! Plus Donuts and Soup...

OK, so I've been lazy, slack, forgetful, lazy, tired, lazy and other adjectives on why I haven't blogged in a month or so.  There's no excuse so here we go.  This entry focuses on two things I didn't cook and most likely don't go well together, donuts & soup.

First off the donuts....

This first donut is from July 3 and was brought to my office, so essentially it's a free donut.  This was a chocolate glazed original topped with red, white and blue sprinkles to commemorate July 4th obviously.  The best part of this donut is that it's from Krispy Kreme and not Dunkin Donuts.  Not to disparage a large and successful chain, but DD is not that good.  If you're only going to have one doughnut from a chain you should go to Krispy Kreme.  First of all it's southern so you know they're going to use the best ingredients (i.e. nothing low fat). Second of all they tell you when the donuts are ready.  I've never seen a "hot donuts now" sign outside of a DD.  All I see is them selling their coffee which I'm sure is alright (I don't touch the stuff).  So onto donut #2.

Residents of midtown Atlanta should recognize this one.  It's the A-town cream doughnut from Sublime Doughnuts on 10th street in Atlanta. Sublime Doughnuts are freshly made daily and worth the drive.  I've had Sublime twice and they never failed to disappoint.   The A-town cream is very light but with a great filling and really great chocolate outside.  You can probably down five of these if you're hungry and although that's not a way to intake your daily caloric intake, once a year would be passable.

http://sublimedoughnuts.com

Now to the soup.  Probably one of the best soups I've ever had.  I've heard rumors about soup places in Buckhead, food carts, etc.  Forget about it.  This isn't your grandmother's chicken soup but it comes very close on it's own.  Take a look...

Ok, the bad news, you can't actually see the soup.  The good news is that this soup costs like $3.50 at La Carreta in Marietta near the Big Chicken.  The soup - chicken tortilla - is a very light but flavorful broth with loads (I mean loads) of chicken along with veggies.  It comes with many sides.  Rice, avocados, tortilla strips and tortillas.  Basically you take a few sips of the soup from the top and then you add the rice, avocados and a few tortilla strips.  Then you can dunk in the fresh corn tortillas on the side.  Not pictured is their red mole hot sauce which you can add directly to the soup.  It's a bit thick but once you stir it in it will change to soup from a yellow to almost a rose color and I promise it will clear up anything in your sinuses and beyond.  I will say that this place was a hidden gem but if you're in the area and like great mexican food it is worth a visit.  Subtle hint: TRY THE FISH TACOS...
 

La Carreta

1252 Roswell Road

Marietta, GA 30062-3609

Shrimp Pomodoro With A Twist

yes, that's real shrimp

This was a great, great dish.  Basically linguine from a box, nothing special there of course...but add to it a great sauce made from fresh garlic, crushed tomatoes, sauteed shrimp and a twist.  After adding the usual seasonings I decided to change things.  Not garlic salt, fresh pepper or oregano..nope you're not even close. In fact, if I give you 30 guesses you're not going to get it.  I'll wait....


Waiting....

Nope....not it...

Ready?

Cocktail sauce!  Yes, cocktail sauce.  It added a great kick and to help firm up the sauce yet it didn't thin it out.  I'm not saying I'm Kevin Rathbun or anything, but this was a brilliant idea I gotta say.  The sauce turned out fantastic and overall this was a superb dish.

Dish created: 5/29/2011

Experiments With Flightless Birds-Part 2

So after the first chicken adventure I decided to shake things up a bit.  First change was to bed the chicken on top of some baby carrots.  This added a bit of sweetness to the bird.  Then we went at it.  Sea salt, parsley, cracked pepper, parsley, chopped garlic and raw garlic cloves were all part of the action.  Then I added a cup of vegetable broth to help baste the browned bird throughout the 90 minutes of cooking at 400 degrees.  What we got was a darn tasty bird from start to finish.  The chicken was extremely tender and juicy while the skin was crisp and tasty.  The only issue with the chicken quarters is that some parts cook faster than others so there is some unevenness in the end result.  My advice, go to KFC and steal their grilled chicken recipe, it's pretty tasty.