with a very limited budget i schlepped on out to my local marc's for some groceries. old mother hubbard no more!
hmmm....what did i want for dinner? i walked through the produce section (with its somewhat limited options) and came upon the cheese case. mmmm....boursin cheese. that's it!
when i got home i sauteed some sliced onions, mushrooms and red pepper in a lil' olive oil and butter until they were brown and soft. i also sauteed some spinach in a lil' olive oil and butter till it was nice and wilted.
while the veggies were cooking i worked on my sides and toasted my ciabatta rolls.
side number one - cousin regina's ranch potatoes. so simple. so, so delicious. i just cubed up a couple of potatoes and tossed them with a lil' olive oil and a half packet of ranch dip mix and roasted 'em on a cookie sheet.
side number two - roasted cauliflower with lemon dijon sauce. i came across this recipe in the bon appetit cookbook my gma got me for christmas and it has become a house favorite. the sauce is also killer on broccoli and green beans and really just about anything.
i chopped up the cauliflower and roasted in the oven for just about 10 minutes or so while i made the sauce. for the sauce i melted a half stick of butter over low heat and then added in the juice of two lemons and a few good squeezes of dijon mustard. you just whisk this together and voila! kick ass lemon dijon sauce. i poured the sauce over the cauliflower and then put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes or so. mmmm.
once my rolls were done baking (underbaked by just a couple of minutes) i took them out and cut them in half. then i put them under the broiler - cut side up - for just a minute so they'd get brown and toasty.
i shmeared both sides with a lil' boursin cheese and then started stacking on my spinach and veggies. along with the sides i also enjoyed a nice glass of zinfandel. not bad for a monday night (and a meatless monday at that!)
and now for a farm update.
here is the garden so far though we are looking to expand it this weekend to put in a few more things. so far we have lettuces, leeks, onions, radishes, peas, tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes, peppers (red, yellow, green, poblano, jalapeno, chili), kale, collard greens, cabbages, brussel sprouts (a whole row!), cauliflower, broccoli, squash (butternut, acorn, crook neck) and watermelon. whew!
and the poultry. three barred rocks, three delawares, two leg horns, two pekin ducks and one mallard. the mallard (peepers) is a pet and we're hoping to keep the two leg horns as long as they lay eggs (which hasn't started yet - hopefully in a few more weeks) but the rest....well the rest will end up on the dinner table come fall.
i've never butchered anything before although when i was a kid i used to hold the legs of rabbits while my dad skinned them. it's going to be an adventure. i've checked out countless library books and read numerous internet forums but i don't think any of it is going to prepare me for actually killing a chicken.
i am nervous.
BUT - i have come to the conclusion that if i can't do it, if i can't kill these chickens, then i don't deserve to eat chicken at all. or any meat for that matter. i have become very serious about knowing where my food comes from - reading labels, buying locally and only buying meat from farmers (which is difficult and expensive) but i am committed.
and eating the fruits of my labor (or the poultry of my coop as it were) is important to me. stay tuned. i'm sure i'll share all the bloody details.
nothing says, "thanks for taking one for the team!" like roasting a whole pig. so, this weekend in honor of memorial day we're doing just that. i'm picking up the 150 lb. porker later today and marinating it overnight in a cuban-style mojo. we'll be roasting it tomorrow over charcoal in a homemade
cinder block/rebar/fence contraption.
enjoy your holiday weekend!
memphis. what a city!!
good eats and great people - i LOVE southern hospitality!!
after driving through the night we got into the river city around 10AM and after checking into our hotel (not quite a flea bag but no memphis classic that's for sure) we hit the streets.
we headed to beale street to see what all the fuss was about and the closer we got the stronger the smell of smoky bbq got. we read that before 1pm we could get into tom lee park / the world championship bbq cooking contest for free. excellent!
we walked around in the hottest heat of the day and realized, to our dismay, that you can't do much of anything at the world championship bbq cooking contest without a V.I.P. pass. and there were no V.I.P. passes to be had. none. not for us anyways. we decided that if we want anything to do with this cook off in the future we're gonna need to register with our own
award winning bbq!
walking in the hottest heat of the day really makes ya' hungry. so we hit rendezvous. they don't officially open until 4pm but you can get ribs early on so we did. it's what they're famous for anyways. and they were pretty damn good. as we chugged yuenglings and licked that delightful dry rub off our fingers we couldn't help but notice that two ladies at the next table were washing down their ribs with chardonnay. chardonnay?!
fucking amateurs.
we started out our first full day in memphis at brother juniper's. i had oatmeal with blueberries and cheesy grits. mmm....grits.
i love, love, love grits.
breakfast was followed by a tour of the national civil rights museum. wow. it was one of the most powerful and moving places i have ever been in my life. the museum is actually housed within the lorraine hotel. all i can say is if you're ever in memphis you should definitely check it out. makes you think. and makes you wonder how anyone could possibly hate someone else so much simply for the color of their skin.
after the museum we tooled around the city some more and worked our appetites back up for some of gus's world famous hot and spicy fried chicken.
gus's fried chicken is world famous for good fucking reason. it. was. awesome! we started with some fried green tomatoes which were superb and then the chicken. oh man, the chicken. kp opted for the all white (breast and wing) and i like my meat dark so i went with the thigh and drumstick. the dinners came with baked beans and slaw and it was freakin' heaven on earth. some of the best fried chicken i've ever had. ever.
more tooling around. more beers. and then before we knew it it was time to eat again! for dinner we opted for pearl's oyster house and a dozen oysters on the half shell later and
all was right with the world.
all was even more right with the world when we ended the night (and started the very early morning) at wild bill's. the tunes and the people were fantastic and even the ragin' tin can headache i had saturday morning due to several budweiser 40oz was worth it.
we got a bit of a late start saturday morning (see ragin' tin can budweiser headache) but were still up in time to make it to the farmer's market.
i love farmer's markets.
we were really hungry by this point and though the tell-tale touristy signs of the arcade were blarin' and blastin' the draw of the mystery train was too great. we waited over 30 minutes for a table and 30 more minutes for our food and this would've been ok if the food was worth it but alas it was not. huge disappointment. major strike out. do not bother.
a disappointing breakfast was followed by two really kick ass pieces of music history - the stax museum of american soul music and sun studio.
we were thirsty after all the touring so we headed to boscos. the ed's porter was pretty tasty and if the desire for bbq hadn't been bubblin' up inside of us we probably would've stayed for
another beer.
with the civil rights museum still fresh in our minds we had beers with some locals friday afternoon before dinner. we were discussing bbq and i mentioned i had several places listed but wasn't sure what we should check out. when i mentioned corky's the local gal made a face and said, "it's owned by jews."
now, there are several ways to approach this situation. this blatant ignorance. this rampant anti-semitism. what i wanted to do was punch her in the throat but instead i said, "well i'm sure jews like bbq!" and then she suggested tops bbq where apparently there is nary a jew.
saturday, our last night in memphis, we decided to test the dumb broad's hypothesis. we embarked on the jews vs gentiles memphis bbq showdown.
first we hit tops.
it certainly looked promising. a lil' rickety and billowing smoke and it smelled pretty good. and it even said "best." in italics no less! we ordered the bbq plate (pulled pork, baked beans and slaw) and a cheeseburger to split. the pork was ok. nothing all that special and the sauce certainly left a lil' to be desired. the cheeseburger was very tasty but this is memphis for god's sakes! i wasn't there for the burgers!
it kinda reminded me of hamburger station. it was memphis bbq's answer to northeast ohio's cheapest, grittiest burger joint.
and this corner - the jews!*
corky's ribs and bbq was packed! to the gills! lucky for us we had perfect timing and were able to score two seats at the bar. with mugs of corky's own brew in hand we ordered the house specialty - a slab of dry ribs with (of course) baked beans and slaw. these ribs were fucking delicious. man oh man these ribs were good. sadly, we were half full of mediocre tops bbq so we barely made a dent in the slab. our significant others benefited greatly since we brought along a cooler and some freezer bags.
the jews won the jews vs gentiles memphis bbq showdown
HANDS DOWN. no question.
as for my final bbq opinion - memphis ribs were really tasty but it was no carolina pulled pork. and the sides were always beans and slaw. beans and slaw. there was no mac-n-cheese or collard greens to be seen!
one side dish i did love though was grits. grits are so delicious and the perfect accompaniment to dippy eggs and toast or a good omelet, hell they even compliment a bowl of oatmeal. what the hell is wrong with us up north? no real bbq and no grits.
i may have been born in the wrong region.
*note - i have no idea the race, ethnicity or religious background of the people at corky's.
in a few short hours i am heading to the bluff city. the home of the blues. the river city. a city near the top my bbq dream list - MEMPHIS, TN!
kp and i are loading up the matrix with raincoats and a cooler of starbucks double shots, turkey sandwiches and trail mix and embarking on an 11-hour drive to gorge ourselves on beers, bbq and the blues.
the lil' notebook that travels with me to far-flung destinations has 2 pages devoted to bbq joints and fried chicken shacks.
man oh man. i can almost smell the hickory smoke....
