New Orleans Sandwiches!!!

So I spent 8 days in New Orleans this July. New Orleans is just a culinary kind of town. Its impossible to say the name of the city without starting your mouth a-watering imagining crawfish and shrimp, etouffee and jambalaya, pecan pralines and crab gumbo. But one thing stood out. And that was the sandwiches. Two famous sandwiches call New Orleans home: The Po' boy and the Muffaletta/Muffuletta. Both are delicious. Both are indigenous to this unique city. And both got devoured by yours truly on my vacation to the big easy.

According to my friend Vincenzo, who has lived in New Orleans for a number of years now, the best muffaletta is to be found at an Italian diner type place called Franks, located in the heart of the French Quarter.

Here I am in front of the famous Frank's, which operates a bustling to-go service as well as serving sit-down diners.

Some of the delicious pickled olive salad that goes into an authentic muffaletta, on display in Frank's window.

Doesn't it just look delicious? Layers of cheese, Italian cold cuts and the most important of all: the olive salad. And dont forget, it should be warm upon serving!

This is a huge sandwich by the way. Frank's sells them whole or by the half. If there is only one of you, order a whole one and save the other half for dinner: believe me, this is a taste thats so good, you will want to enjoy it twice.

The other world famous sandwich from New Orleans is even better known: the Po'boy. Vincenzo took us to Mother's, a famous local spot that tourists rarely make it to, located near the business district downtown. They get a lot of lunch traffic from the nearby highrise office buildings as people hurry in to get the famous baked ham po'boys. The better known oyster, fish and shrimp po'boys are on offer as well, but its the meat the makes Mother's famous.

My friend Ted in front of Mother's.

Like any good down home joint, the menu is written on a chalkboard and the entrees are served up from a heat table. Almost everything is good, but we are here for the po'boys!

They only take cash.

The interior doesn't have to impress, the pictures on the wall tell the story of a place with staying power.

My sandwich. With the famous baked ham, as well as pulled pork bbq and roast beef. And coleslaw on the bottom. It was amazing. And mind you, this is only the half po'boy. Order the full size if you want enough calories to last you two days.

Vincenzo digging into his po'boy. If you ever go to New Orleans, don't forget to try these unique and delicious sandwiches out at these great locations. While there is always going to be plenty of argument about where the best muffaletta or the best po'boy can be found, I guarantee that Mothers and Franks both have excellent sandwiches. You wont regret a visit!

Culinary Madness at Fort Myer Army Base

As I mentioned in a previous post, my friends and I like to get together to do a little thing we call "Culinary Madness". This food-focused extravaganza can take place anywhere at any time and involve any number of people. This time we had an unusual locale: Fort Myer, an army base located next to the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, just across the river from Washington DC and about a 3 mile walk from my apartment. Fort Myer is home to the Old Guard, a prestigious group of soldiers who perform the funerals, stand watch at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and participate in many other ceremonial duties at Arlington National Cemetery.

One of our close friends happens to be an Old Guard soldier who was not allowed off base on this lovely weekend in late June. What made this particularly frustrating for him is that his only sister was in town specifically to visit him, yet he could not leave Fort Myer to spend time with her. So instead we brought the fun to him in the form of a Culinary Madness BBQ!

That morning I had visited the Dupont Circle Farmers' Market, where I picked up new potatoes, cross cut lamb leg steaks, zucchini and sweet onions. The fruits at the market looked tempting and I bought the season's first peaches, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and the juiciest most delicious apricots I've ever eaten.

A stop by the grocery yielded the rest of our ingredients. Back at my apartment I cut the leg of lamb steaks (which are basically a cross section of the lamb leg) into kebab pieces and marinated them in garlic, fresh rosemary, olive oil and salt, a touch of cumin and a dash of smoked paprika. Then we loaded everything into my friend Sophia's car and drove across the river and through the security checkpoint up to our friend's barracks. There we found the bbq pit and set out to make the best grilling action that Delta Company had ever seen!

Our work space consisted of a wrought iron table next to the grill:

Check out the new potatoes, which we dressed simply with salt and olive oil and cooked in foil packets on the grill:

Yum!

This is our soldier friend's famous fruit salad which he concocted with the Farmers' market fruits. Macerated in a touch of sugar and topped and with whipped cream they made for a fantastic dessert.

Sophia's plate. Note the yogurt-mint-garlic sauce to complement the lamb, and our handy wine "glasses".

The siblings chowing down on some kebab with music from our barracks-blaster aka a blackberry perched above them:


Me dancing to techno and cutting veggies for the kebabs:

As we were cooking people from the company circled around and some ended up sampling our kebabs. Here our friend (to the far right) and some of his buddies pose with lamb.

It was a good day: we had great food and enjoyed the outdoors and our friend got to see his sister:



Enjoying good Food, Friends and Family, that's what Culinary Madness is all about!

Healthy Garlic Bread

Ok, those of us in love with the allium family know all about the glory that is garlic bread, right? Hot, crispy around the edges, dripping lashings of butter, fragrant with garlic, just asking to be torn to pieces and stuffed into one's hungry maw....

But one thing garlic bread isn't is healthy. Most recipes call for tons of melted butter. This one is made with heart-friendly olive oil, scads of Garlic, fresh herbs and large grained sea salt. If you are watching your sodium intake just omit the salt, its still delicious!

Healthy Garlic Bread

Serves 6 as a side dish. The choice of herbs is up to you, I list here the ones that I am partial to. This is a wonderful recipe to showcase fresh herbs from the garden.

1 (preferably whole wheat) baguette, split length-wise and then cross wise into 6 pieces total.

1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 to one large head garlic, minced or squashed

1 small handful basil leaves, minced

1 or 2 sprigs rosemary, minced

2-3 sprigs of oregano, minced

1 heaping teaspoon large grained sea salt (optional)

Optional: while not quite as healthy, the addition of 2 tablespoon of freshly grated parmesan or reggiano cheese contributes another layer of flavour to the garlic bread.

several grindings of fresh black pepper.

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the bread and mince the garlic and herbs.

2. Mix the garlic and herbs with the salt, pepper and olive oil in a small bowl. Stir in cheese if using.

3. Place the bread face up in a bake pan and using a pastry brush or a spatula, spread the cut surfaces with the garlic-herb-oil mixture.

4. Place the garlic bread in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until the edges get golden. A couple seconds under the broiler can toast the surface further if desired.

5. Serve immediately. Perfect with a fish or steak dinner along with a side salad or grilled vegetables.

It's been a while...

Those of you who follow my blog probably have been wondering what the heck happened. Where did she go? And whats this with no posts AT ALL for the month of April? I think I've hit a record high for not keeping up with my bloggerly responsibilities.

But its been a busy and exciting time for me. So I have excuses. Tons of them. Pages and pages of them. Books full, in fact. Starting with my Archaeology text books, and moving on to my Linguistic Anthropology text books (which ironically talk about, among other things, texts, intextualization, contextualization, detextualization and retextualization)and finally to a huge stack of fascinating work by Anthropologists from Latin America for my Anthropology of Latin America class. From the really frigid and dark depths of winter I have read, written and studied my way to the warm and sunny days of spring, past the cherry blossoms and into those fresh clean green days of late springtime when the weather demands that you rush outside and play. And now, I'm done.

As of mid-May I turned in my final paper and have found myself enjoying the joys of not having to read anything I dont want to, not having to write except when I feel like it and not having to get up at 6:30 in the morning and spend all Friday in front of books, notes and my computer just so I could justify a night of dancing instead of studying. I graduated with my Masters in Anthropology on May 18th and I couldn't have been more ready.

But thats not the end of it. As some of you know, I applied to various schools last fall to enter a PhD program in Anthropology. I even did a post all about Bloomington Indiana where Indiana Univeristy, with its PhD in Anthropology with a concentration in Food Studies, is located. As March turned in April this year I waited anxiously to find out where I got in. And finally I got the news that not only had I been accepted at Indiana University, but I got a full scholarship as well. So this August I will be moving to a whole new region of this fascinating country, where, no doubt, I will experience culture shock all over again, but will also eat some new and delicious food and have some great experiences.

In the meantime I am trying to enjoy every moment of my time with all my friends here in Washington DC. This has involved a lot of eating out, but there has been some cooking via a program we call "culinary madness". I'll be talking a bit more about that in my next post. For now, I leave you with a picture of the graduate celebrating at the Cheesecake Factory where I had possibly one of the best vegetarian sandwiches, an amazing eggplant sandwich, that I have ever consumed. I know, I can't believe it either! The cheesecake factory is not exactly known for fine cuisine but this was scrumptious! And a perfect celebratory meal after standing in drizzle on the National Mall for several hours of graduation commencement.

Some ideas for your next one pot dinner.

Its that time of year again. Asparagus time! The farmers market down at Dupont Circle is full of bunches of green and purple tipped sprouts, fat and tasty, just waiting to be chopped into a salad or sauteed with olive oil and lemon. Here is a great one pot spring dish that is flexible enough to be adapted to your left-overs. Turkey, Orzo, Fresh Asparagus, Lemon Juice, Olive Oil, Parsley and Capers dress up this spring "stir fry" in my version but feel free to substitute barley, wheat berries, brown rice or some other grain for the orzo, omit the turkey entirely or use ham or chicken instead.

Orzo with Asparagus, Lemon and Turkey

About 2 cups turkey meat chopped into bite-sized pieces (or chicken or ham or omit entirely)

2 large bunches of asparagus, washed and cut into sections.

2 cups cooked orzo (or substitute brown rice, barley, wheat berries or other cooked grains)

1/2 cup feta cheese, or to taste (you may use low or non-fat feta if prefered)

Zest and Juice of one large lemon (organic of course)

1-2 tbsp capers or to taste

around 1/2 cup of white wine

about 1/2 cup minced flat leaf parsley

2 medium cloves garlic, minced or smashed.

1 large bunch green onions, chopped

2 tsp-1 tbsp olive oil

Salt and fresh ground black pepper

Red pepper flakes to taste

Procedure:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan to medium heat. Sautee the green onions and asparagus, add the garlic and half the parsley and cook for a minute.

2. Add the cubed turkey meat and brown for a minute or two.

3. Add the white wine, capers, lemon zest and half the juice. Stir in the cooked orzo or grain of your choice. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for several minutes, stirring regularly.

4. Add salt and pepper, red pepper flakes and lemon juice to taste. Stir in remaining parsley.

5. Turn off the heat, stir in the feta cheese, adjust seasonings if needed, add more lemon juice if necessary. Serve with a side salad and a nice glass of wine.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

A little bit of Ireland in Florida, at TooJay's Gourmet Deli in Altamonte Springs. Happy St. Patrick's Day everybody!

My Grandma's "Raisin Breakfast Biscuits"

My Grandma is famous for these delectable breakfast breads, which she has been making since the early sixties, when she had 8 hungry little kids begging for them on special occasions like Easter and Christmas and their birthdays. My Mom always called them breakfast cookies, and that is an apt name, as they are sweet and moreish. One simply can't eat just one of these tasty brunch treats. They are a staple at Grandma's house when relatives come to visit, and so it was no surprise that we enjoyed them this week during my spring break visit with my mom, aunt, uncle and cousin.

My Grandmother got the recipe from a magazine proudly toting the virtues of California Raisins. It is easy to make and relies on pre-made biscuit dough. You, however, are welcome to substitute a recipe of your favorite biscuit dough if you would prefer to make them from scratch. Simply roll and cut the biscuits and then proceed as below. This recipe makes enough topping to cover at least 30 biscuits, but you can simply store any leftover topping in a tightly closed container until you want to make some more. And believe me, you will want to make these regularly!


Mix together the 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 cup of chopped nuts and 1 cup of raisins. My cousin hates raisins, so my grandma always mixes up a bit of sugar and nuts (sans the hated dried grapes) for her. If you are in the no-raisin camp, you can simply use 1 and 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 and 1/2 cup of chopped nuts, or replace the cup of raisins with dried cranberries, blueberries, cherries or chopped dried fruit of any kind. You may also flavour the topping with cinnamon, ginger or other spices or add a bit of minced candied ginger if you so desire. Personally, I love them just the way they are, but that won't prevent me from future experimentation.

The pre-made biscuits.

Patting them out.

The magic mixture!

Ready for the oven!