Well, that title pretty much sums it all up.  But, brevity has never been one of my strong points.

I wanted to take a minute to give a huge shout out to Chef Jasper of Jasper’s Restaurant in Kansas City, MO, who got to feed the first lady his unique brand of classic Italian dishes inspired by foods produced right here in town and ingredients from his home town.

I’ve seen the menu (Boulevard Pale Ale Lobster Mac & Cheese, which was previewed in a slightly different form at the Chocolate Experience), Louisberg Cider Glazed Guanciale, Chilled Leek and Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Garlic Chives, local roasted chicken and on and on the menu goes.

My only regret is that Ms. Obama did not get to sit down at the legendary Kansas City restaurant where, undoubtedly she would have experienced what it meant to be Jasper’s full, but oh well.  From the looks of it, I am sure she got a decadent meal.

In all seriousness, I am extremely proud of Chef Jasper and his entire team.  It’s not every day you get to cook for the first lady and I’m just happy to say that I know you.  I am less happy to think what this will do to my chances of getting a table at Chef’s restaurant any time soon.  /Sigh

Anyway, keep up the good work.  And if you want to have a Presidential Experience and let us taste some of the creations on your menu, Chef Jasper, you know I’m okay with that!

Oh, and One Other Chef Deserves a Major High Five

Chef Terry Mille of Cowtown Cheesecakes was also on hand to serve his CowTown Sweet Potato Cheesecake Missouri Praline Bourbon Drizzle.  So that’s two chefs I am seriously proud of.

Oh, and if you like cheesecake, try Chef Terry’s.  They’re about as perfect as cheesecake can be: sweet, just the right texture and firmness and the flavors.  Oh the flavors.  Lemon curd, chocolate, creme brulee, and the above mentioned sweet potato cheesecake.  Seriously, they’re divine.  My wife is ordering three next time she has the girl’s over.  (Not that I think she’ll serve them, I think we’ll have them all eaten, but still.)

Anyway, congrats to all!  You all deserve it.

Enjoy!

(Oh, and Chef Terry I grabbed that picture from your Facebook page.  If you want me to, I’ll take it down.)

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Red Gold Diced Tomatoes

Red Gold Tomatoes

So, every year Red Gold Tomatoes sends me an awesome gift tin filled with some of the coolest food swag imaginable.  This year I got Red Gold stationary, a cool pencil, and a toy that BWD, Jr. claims as his own.   (Last year it was a Red Gold 18-wheeler, this year we got a sweet Red Gold roadster which I would have taken to the office if someone’s grubby little fingers hadn’t grabbed it first.)  Most importantly, though, the tin is filled with Red Gold canned tomatoes (still in the can, not loose and sloshing around.)

This year’s take included Diced Tomatoes, Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic & Oregano, and other edible masterpieces.  Woot!

Wait…Canned Tomatoes?!

Every now and then, I still get this question.  Yes, I use canned tomatoes.  Yes, I swear by them.  Me and Mario Batali both.  (You may have heard of him.)  Why you may ask?

Largely it’s a convenience thing.  I can halve my own tomatoes, deseed them, roast them, and puree them to make a sauce that’s pretty much better than anything in a can.  However, that process takes at least an hour and the result, while good, doesn’t justify the additional time.  Besides, just because I can pull out the stops and make something amazing doesn’t mean that canned tomatoes aren’t great.  It does mean that if I was a purest and only ate homemade, there’d by no quick-and-easy spaghetti dinners on busy school nights.

Does Red Gold Make a Difference?

So, +1 for canned tomatoes, but does the brand make a difference?  Absolutely.  Even in Red Gold’s “plain” diced tomato cans (which are plain only in they are not spiced nor do they include additional ingredients like onions, cilantro, etc.), you can tell a difference between Red Gold and other canned tomato brands.  Red Gold has a bolder, fresher tomato taste that tends to be a little sweeter than other diced tomato brands.  (And believe me, it pains me to say that.  I’ve been a Hunts man most of my life.)

All of which means that when you’re shopping around, you should really give the yellow-labeled Red Gold tomatoes a shot.  I think you’ll find that the finished product really does turn out better, whether you’re making Swiss steak, spaghetti sauce or a big pot of delicious chili.

Oh, did I mention I was making chili?  ‘Cause I am.  And I am going to use Red Gold dice tomatoes, probably the Culinary Classics Diced Tomatoes with Chipotle or the Diced Tomatoes Roasted Garlic & Onion, but we’ll see when I hit the store.  (Tomorrow’s Grocery Day.)

Chris’s Champion Contest Winning Chili

Okay, so the title is a bit forward-looking since the contest is Friday, but I’m a “fake it until you make it kind of guy.” Still, I’ve made this before and it’s a crowd pleaser.

You will need:

• 4 tablespoons olive oil*
• 2 onions, diced
• Salt
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 pounds ground beef
• 2 tablespoons oregano
• 2 tablespoons black pepper
• 2 cans Red Gold diced tomatoes, your choice
• 2 chipotles in adobo, minced
• 4 tablespoons adobo sauce
• 4 cups beef stock
• 1/2 cup chocolate, grated
• 6 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons cayenne
• 1 tablespoon nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

In a soup pot over medium-high heat, add the olive oil and let it get very hot.

Add the onion, a pinch of salt and the garlic, then saute until the onions turn translucent, about 8 minutes.

Next, add the ground beef, oregano, and black pepper and brown the ground beef.  Once brown, add the diced tomatoes and their juice.  Cook for about four minutes, or until the juice starts to thicken.

Add the chipotles, adobo sauce, and beef stock and continue cooking until it the liquid in the pot is reduced by about half.  Finally, add the chocolate and the rest of the ingredients.  Stir to melt the chocolate.  The chili is ready when it begins to bubble.

Okay, that’s my award winning Red Gold chili.  Eat and enjoy!

Thanks to Red Gold for the image.

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(By the way, I go off on a tanget for a bit.   If you’re just here for the review, go down to the break!)

I was in the mood for Dim Sum this morning…but I had one obstacle standing in my way: BWD, Jr.  Ever the Chinese buffet connoisseur, BWD, Jr. wanted to get Chinese from a buffet and I wanted to go some place real.  So, we decided to go to the all-you-can-eat sushi place instead.  (Yeah, I don’t get it either.)

But … All You Can Eat Sushi???

Yes, all-you-can-eat sushi.  I know what you’re thinking.  When you’re paying $17.95 for all the sushi you can possibly stuff down your gullet (did I mention they’re learning to fear me there?), the first thing people think is: wow, the ingredients must suck.  You, know, that’s not an unreasonable thought.

Anytime you go to an all-you-can-eat anything, you can feel assured you’re sacrificing quality over what you would get in a by-the-plate restaurant.  However, in an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant, you have a leg up over most other buffets because the sushi is hand rolled.  So whereas that vat of beef with broccoli sitting in a steam tray has likely been given all the care shown to the garbage as its tossed in the dumpster (note: I don’t know if that’s true.  I am sure there are some places that really put effort into their buffet offerings, but I think about 99% of “Chinese” food was is made is a Cisco lab somewhere), the sushi you get at an all-you-can-eat place has been hand crafted.

Plus, Sushi Mido is pretty smart about how they do their all-you-can-eat.  First, you can only get rolls, which are full of rice and more filling than individual nigiri or sashimi and, while I haven’t done an extensive survey, the ingredients that form the rolls are pretty limited: crab, fried shrimp, cream cheese, cucumber, etc.  So, my assumption is that Sushi Mido buys a lot of stuff in bulk.

All of which leads up to something I figured out today

If You Turn Your Nose Up at All You Can Eat Sushi and Order Rolls Anywhere Else You Obviously Like Overpaying for Fish*

Well, at least you live in the Midwest.

Really, this insight hit me when the first artful plate of sushi arrived at my table.  Looking at the rolls they present, they’re essentially the exact same rolls you get at any other sushi place, even the really fancy ones like Ra or Nara, where hip KC-ers go for sushi.  Let’s face it, in the middle of the country, there are only so many outlets for sushi-grade fish.  Plus, once it finds its way into any roll, whether it’s a fancy lollipop thingy at Ra or the Midnight Fantasy roll at Sushi Mido, it’s still a sushi roll.  At that point, you should be judging the individual roll, not the style of restaurant.

Okay, so all tangets aside, let’s get back to why we’re here.

Sushi Mido Review

Now that I’ve waxed poetic about the nature of all-you-can-eat sushi, let’s talk about Sushi Mido specifically.

Sushi Mido’s Food

I enjoy Sushi Mido.  I really do.  I like going there when I’m hungry or need to comfort my soul with sushi rolls.  As you can see the presentation is quit nice and the flavors are, on the whole, pretty good.  (With that said, if Shogun ever had all-you-can-eat night, I’d go there in a heart beat and put them out of business with the sheer quantity I’d consume.)  It’s the kind of place I’d go with friends to hang out, but perhaps not the sushi place I’d take clients who I wanted to impress.

Today’s lunch was highlighted, as always, by the tempura asparagus roll.  It’s a six piece roll filled with a single strand of tempura asparagus.  I wish I had ordered two because they do a nice tempura fry on the vegetable and it’s so good with salty soy sauce.  (Normally I also order the tempura sweet potato roll, too, but today I branched out.  More on that in a bit.)

I also ordered a Spicy Girl roll, a Natto maki, and two other rolls which, sadly, escape me now.  The Spicy Girl was really good.  It had spicy tuna, a spicy mayo, crab stick, and I think avocado (yes, I should have written this down, sorry.)  I also had a nice roll with shrimp tempura on the inside and topped with spicy tuna.  I liked it.  BWD, Jr. did not.

Sushi Mido’s Service

Oh, Sushi Mido what am I going to do with you?

I have yet to come away from this restaurant feeling like they wanted me to be there.  This lack of service starts with the owner (who once sat across the aisle from me eating.  I asked him a question, got a one word answer and never was looked at again) to the sushi chefs to the wait staff who range from below average to plain mean.

Even the sushi rollers themselves get low marks in the customer service department.  As mentioned above, today I ordered a Natto maki roll.  I got an Oshinko (Japanese pickle) roll.  Everyone makes mistakes, I get it.  I didn’t even complain, despite the fact I just don’t care for it (at least what passes for Oshinko at American Midwest Japanese venues.)  What does irk me is they never made me the Natto maki.  Sure, it’s all-you-can-eat joint so I could have just asked for it, but it’s kind of the principle of the thing.

Still, the worst is the wait staff.  For instance, the gentleman who waited on me today who has been working there longer than I have been a customer (well, unless he started working there on that day last July when my shadow first darkened Sushi Mido’s door) who can’t tell me what’s in the rolls and doesn’t bring a spoon for BWD, Jr.’s rice.  Smart kid, but he can’t quite eat rice with chopsticks yet.

On the other end of the spectrum is my favorite waitress there, who I will call S, who seems to take great umbrage to the fact that some people might order a lot of food at an all-you-can-eat restaurant.  How do I know S gets upset?  Well, she makes snarky comments when you hand over the sheet on which you mark what you want and then stands by the sushi chef and complains about what her customers orders.  The first time S did this, she was standing right by a table of about six people who had added more rolls to their order twice and was loudly commenting either about them or me since we were the only two tables in the restaurant.

Oh, and after convicing myself I made this up and she was talking about something else, she did it again the next time I ate at Sushi Mido.  Though not about my ticket.  I think S recognized me as a regular at the point and now limits herself to being generally snotty when collecting my order. 

Sushi Mido…Go At Your Own Risk

All of which leaves me scratching my head.

There’s  a lot to be said for paying $18 for $30-50 worth of sushi.  On the other hand, a little friendliness and competence wouldn’t hurt either.  So, I keep going back because it fills a niche in my eating-out routine, but I’m not going to say if you never go, you’re missing out on the meal of the century.

So, if you dare…enjoy!

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Celestial Seasonings Echinacea Complete Care Wellness Tea

And also it’s  the longest blog post title ever.  Woot.

So, this morning when I woke up and there was snow on the ground, it occurred to me. This is cold and flu season (which in case you’re wondering is what’s up with the dude over there.  He’s sick.)  My least favorite season next to allergy season!

There are few people in the world that hate cold and flu season more than me.  Not only do I not like being cold, I don’t like getting colds.  Fortunately, for me, there’s a tea for that.

I don’t know if I really believe in the healing power of echinacea, especially after it has been steeped in hot liquid for fifteen minutes, but there’s something about this tea.  I think it’s the fact it tastes like medicine, but drinking it makes me feel healthier.  Anyway, to the review.

Celestial Seasonings Echinacea Complete Care Wellness Tea

I wish I could take a formal stance on whether or not this stuff actually makes me feel better.  Sadly, as far as aroma and taste goes, Celestial Seasonings teas tend to rate a bit low for me in general and the Wellness tea is no exception.  Still, the minute I get the sniffles, I reach for a bag.  So, what am I to do but complain?

(Oh, and by the way, Celestial Seasonings, could you consider individually packaging your bags or at least separate the packages so the two aren’t stuck together?  I feel gross offering a tea bag to friends after my hands have been all over it!)

Anyway, how does Celestial Seasonings Echinacea Complete Care Wellness Tea stack up?

Celestial Seasonings Echinacea Complete Care Wellness Tea: Ingredients

Echinacea is obviously the big ingredient and the tea packs a whopping 650 mg of the stuff.  (Can someone tell me if that’s good?)  Other than that, the tea is all natural and includes peppermint, licorice, star anise, and other flavoring ingredients.

I’m pretty sure this tea is an herbal tea, not a true tea itself, and mostly consists of the natural flavorings listed above and chicory.  Still, the tea gets high marks for caring about its ingredients.

Celestial Seasonings Echinacea Complete Care Wellness Tea: Aroma

It smells like a eucalyptus plant with menthol extract (which in many ways it is.)  So, in this humble blogger’s opinion, not very good.

Celestial Seasonings Echinacea Complete Care Wellness Tea: Taste

It tastes like a eucalyptus plant with menthol extract, which sadly is not a flavor even honey can  cover up.  So…um…next!

Celestial Seasonings Echinacea Complete Care Wellness Tea: Effects

Okay, so I’ve never done a study where all I drank was Celestial Seasonings’ tea when I don’t feel well.  I tend to slam orange juice, take vitamin C tablets, and eat raw garlic along with drinking the tea.  So I can’t be sure that it actually does anything.

On the other hand, when I have a cold, I don’t want to be without it.  And the literature is pretty good in favor of echinacea.

Celestial Seasonings Echinacea Complete Care Wellness Tea: Overall

I don’t know…I recommend Celestial Seasonings’ Echinacea Complete Care Wellness Tea during cold and flu season for the perceived effects and because I seem to have a little more superstitious medicine man in me than I’d care to admit.  It does not taste or smell good, but at least the taste  can be improved (not perfected) with sweetener.  Perhaps Marry Poppins was right: a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down?

So, with that said, I give this tea 2 cups out of 5.

Enjoy!

Thanks to bark for the picture.

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One other note:

Twitter Party Details:
When: 11/9 @ 8PM ET
TweetGrid Dashboard: http://bit.ly/tn7IQR
Follow: #RecipeShare
RSVP bitly.com/sYftgI

Stop by and we’ll talk holiday cooking.

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Macy’s and SheSpeaks Recipe Share Program

Got a favorite holiday recipe?  Wanna win $1,000?  (I do!)

If so, great!  Because SheSpeaks has teamed up with Macy’s to offer the Recipe Share Contest which will award one lucky winner $1,000 and the chance to get their recipe featured in Food Republic!  Not too shabby, right?

(Oh, and if you are a regular reader and remember the SheSpeaks Aetna Healthy Food Fight contest…um…yeah…those rules don’t apply here.  This is holiday cooking.  It’s about comfort and chocolate and butter, which is okay because no one gains weight off holiday cooking.  Trust me.  I’m a food writer. )

What do you need to do?

Well from November 1st to November 30th, all you need to do is:

1. Head to www.facebook.com/macys
2. Click the Recipe Share tab (it's on the side bar)
3. Submit your recipe
4. Share the contest via Facebook and Twitter

Really, it’s that’s easy.

So…what recipe you’re going to submit?  I’m thinking holiday punch, maybe my mom’s Christmas noodle soup, maybe a new family creation.

Who knows…but let the best recipe win!

FCC Disclosure: SheSpeaks and Macy’s provided incentive for this post.  With that said, I still am working up a recipe for the content.  I could use $1,000 this Christmas.

About Macy’s:

Established in 1858, Macy’s is the Great American Department Store – an iconic retail brand with over 800 stores across the country and online at macys.com. Macy’s offers an incredible selection and the best brands, tailored to each and every customer, while providing an experience that transcends ordinary shopping.

A big part of Macy’s unique heritage includes our special events?the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Fourth of July Fireworks, flower shows, fashion extravaganzas, celebrity appearances and holiday traditions that range from the arrival of Santa Claus to tree lightings and festive window displays. But beyond our signature events, Macy’s delivers magical moments every day through our shopping environment, service and merchandise – a great deal of which is sold exclusively through our stores. It’s all part of the excitement we’ve been creating for 151 years, and it’s all part of the magic of Macy’s!

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If you click that link you’ll be taken to a listing of the best blogs on every topic in the world.  And my little site is listed!!  Yay me!

No related posts.

Catfish Stew

Okay, so I don’t know how authentic catfish stew is in terms of good pirate fare, but I do know it tastes good (which is important) and it’s a great way to keep warm as it cools off.  Even better, unlike a lot of my recipes it only has a few steps.

Argh you ready?

Catfish Stew

Here is the basic catfish stew recipe.  If you don’t have catfish, any white fish will do.  Also, salmon can work well, but be careful.  Salmon can be very strong.

You will need:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon each salt, pepper, garlic powder
• 2 pounds catfish, cut into 1 inch squares
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 bulb fennel, fronds removed, and diced
• 4 stalks celery, diced
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• 2 cups chicken broth

1.  Pour the flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder into a bowl and mix thoroughly.

2.  Dip the catfish into the flour and coat well.  Shake off the excess.

3.  Pour the olive oil into a soup pot and get it hot over medium-high heat.  Saute the fish until it starts to turn golden brown and crispy.

4.  Remove the fish and then saute the onions, fennel, and celery until the fennel is soft.

5.  Pour in the tomatoes and broth, then bring to a boil.

6.  Add the fish back to the soup and continue boiling.  Serve when the fish is warm.

Enjoy!

Thanks to James for the picture.

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With all apologies to the #GoJunkFood crowd, this post is incredibly late (like months late), but as a few sharp people have noticed, I haven’t exactly been posting a lot.  Which is no good.

Most importantly, though, I must say sorry to the egg rolls.  You should have your story told to the world so you can be eaten.  You deserve it.

And if I don’t say something about you, egg rolls, who will?

Egg Rolls

Okay, that’s just silly.  Just about everyone who digs Chinese food (and many who don’t) love egg rolls and why not?  They’re fried.  Fried is awesome.  And they have pork inside.  Pork is awesome.

And they’re really easy to make at home.  No foolin’.  It really only takes three steps to put them together:

1. Make the filling.

2. Roll the roll.

3. Fry

Then it’s meal time.  Ready to give it a try?

How to Make Egg Rolls

The following recipe is pretty basic and kind of “no frills.”  You can get as wild and complex as you want with your egg rolls, but if you’ve never made them before, this is a good place to start.

You will need:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 1 inch ginger, minced or 1 tablespoon ginger powder
• (optional) 4 shitake mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 head cabbage, shredded (about 1 1/2-2 cups)
• 2 cloves garlic or 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 12-16 egg roll wraps
• 1 Egg
• Oil for frying

In a wok (or skillet) over high heat, add the oil.  When it’s hot, add the ground pork and ginger (in that order so that the ginger doesn’t burn.)  Cook the pork until it has lost most of its pink color and it has taken on a whitish, almost gray color (yeah, that doesn’t sound appetizing, but whatev…)

If you are using mushrooms, add them about 2 minutes after you added the pork.  Cook them until they are deep brown and have surrended their liquid.  By that time, the pork should be cooked all the way through.

Add the cabbage, garlic, and soy sauce.  Continue cooking until the cabbage has started to wilt, which should only take 1-2 minutes at most.

Set the mixture aside to cool.

Lay out the egg roll wraps.  Then mix the egg with a tablespoon of water to form an egg wash.  Paint all four sides of the egg roll wrap wih egg wash and put about 1.5 tablespoons of mixture into the middle of the wrap in a straight line.

Use the burrito roll method.  Fold two of the edges of the wrapper over the mixture, then roll the wrap like a cigar.  Repeat with all the wrappers.

Heat the frying oil to 375 and fry the egg rolls in batches of 6-8.  Cool and serve with more soy sauce.

Enjoy!

Thanks to stevendepolo for the image.

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Jasper’s Restaurant Announces

To celebrate Jasper’s National Cannoli Month, local baker and jeweler collaborate to make
 
The Golden Cannoli; Jasper’s sells a 24k gold cannoli.

Kansas City, MO (Sept. 12, 2011) – Kansas City’s King of Locavore and an intrepid traveler on the mythical
Cannoli Trail, celebrated Master Italian Chef Jasper Mirabile Jr., has declared the month of September
“National Cannoli Month.” By decree of Chef Jasper, master cannoli maker, dessert lovers in Kansas City
will be able to enjoy a massive show of cannoli power during September.
 
To commemorate National Cannoli Month, Chef Jasper has enlisted the expertise of famous Kansas City
jeweler, Tom Tivol, and award-winning Sprinkled with Sugar owner, Carey Iennaccaro, to create the World’s Most Expensive Cannoli. Tivol discovered a 20th Century Italian Diamond Necklace, valued at $26,000, which he is pairing with the cannoli created by Iennaccaro. This special star-power cannoli features edible gold and is paired with a bottle of Louis Roederer 1999 Cristal Champagne, making it the World’s Most Expensive Cannoli.
 
The cannoli can be ordered, with 24 hours notice, through December 2011. A replica gold leaf Cannoli is on display in the lobby of Jasper’s Ristorante. For those who don’t want to spend $26,453.25 but still want to enjoy a Golden Cannoli, Jasper’s is selling a 24k gold cannoli-dusted with real gold-for only $12.
 
“I’m obsessed with finding the perfect cannoli,” says Chef Jasper. “I even invented a Cannoli Therapy Patch for people who need a cannoli fix. I dressed up last year as a cannoli for Halloween. The last story in my most recent cookbook is On the Cannoli Trail’ that recounts my search for the greatest cannoli in Sicily. Two years ago I traveled to 15 cities in Sicily searching for the greatest cannoli ever. I finally found it, but you have to read my cookbook, The Jasper’s Kitchen Cookbook, to discover where!”
 
Chef Jasper claims the cannoli originated in Palermo and its surrounding areas. The dessert, which is a sweet shell filled with a ricotta cheese mixture, was originally made for Carnival, a festival occurring before Lent. The cannoli takes its name from its long tubular shape and dates back to the time when the Arabs occupied Sicily during the 9th century.
 
Jasper’s offers melt-in-your-mouth cannolis that satisfy any craving. The local, award-winning institution has served cannolis for nearly 58 years and uses an old Sicilian recipe passed down from Jasper’s greatgrandmother in Gibellina, Sicily. The shells are crisp and flaky and are filled with fresh ricotta cheese, chocolate bits, candied orange and lemon peel, along with a hint of cinnamon. Jasper’s cannoli recipe can be found in The Jasper’s Kitchen Cookbook published by Andrews McMeel.
 
Join Chef Jasper “On the Cannoli Trail” in Kansas City at Jasper’s Ristorante and around town, as he appears at festivals and farmers’ markets around the Kansas City metropolitan area in his custom Cannoli Mobile. He’ll also make live appearances in the Cannoli Mobile from Hen House Markets on his weekly radio show, LIVE! From Jasper’s Kitchen/KCMO Talk Radio 710. Jasper’s Ristorante will offer daily specials and dozens of specialty cannoli flavors and unique cannoli creations to celebrate “National Cannoli Month.”

For more information contact:
Chef Jasper Mirabile, (816) 941-6600
jasperjr@aol.com

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