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Tag: good eats

  • December Food in Review

    December Food in Review

    I’ve come to realize that most of my food posts have been to my social media sites. Which if you aren’t following you should. I’m on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as you guessed it TheChefInPearls.( go follow me now if you aren’t already) . I seem to always have something food related on those sites.  So this month I’m going to do a review of some of the things I have created or eaten that were posted and not blogged about. Keep reading it should be fun.

    First I’d like to share with you an amazing time I had at a food tasting with Chef Ed Harris. He was a Food Network “Chopped “winner. I got a chance to see why first hand. He created a night of Dim Sum. Anyone that knows me well will tell you Asian cuisine always wins in my book and Chef Harris did a great job of presenting on this night.

     

     

    Another event I attended in December was Bella N Black. I had the opportunity to vend as Gems and Baubles while taking in the networking, music and food. The event took place at the Glenn Hotel. They did their take on a passed hors d’oeuvre of Chicken & Waffle. It came off a bit large for a passed hors d’ oeuvre and a little messy since it had been drizzled with syrup and served on a napkin. Other than that it was quite tasty.

    In honor of winter, the holidays and childhood memories I spent some time creating hot chocolate which I did blog about. If you missed it you can always check it out here. Had to include it because it happened in December.

    Hot Chocolate with fresh whipped cream with grated chocolate on top
    Hot Chocolate with fresh whipped cream with grated chocolate on top

    Whenever I get a chance to visit the DeKalb Farmers Market it always brings me joy ( I smiled just writing that sentence). The fresh ingredients always inspire me. The fresh broccolini inspired an Asian dish along with fresh ginger and Shiitake mushrooms. Those ingredients became Gingered Beef with Broccolini & Shiitake Mushrooms served over steamed rice.

    I always try to get some clams when I visit the farmers market because well, I like them and also they make an easy lunch. I start off by dicing onions, celery and sweet bell peppers and sauteing them in olive oil with chopped garlic and a few red pepper flakes . I add the cleaned clams and then approximately 1/2 cup of either wine or chicken broth to steam them open. Once open I removed them from the pan turn the heat up to reduce to a sauce adding butter and fresh chopped parsley to finish it off. I top the clams with sauce and then serve with french bread slices.

    Steamed Clams for lunch
    Steamed Clams for lunch

     

    For the Christmas Holiday I was able to travel to North Carolina where my Dad and his wife relocated to from New Jersey. I love a good road trip and this turned out to be pretty good. We got to stop at one of my favorite spots off I-85 for lunch, JPeter’s Grill & Bar. They make a juicy burger and their steaks are like buttah. Check them out the next time you are in South Carolina. They keep expanding so I’m sure you’ll be able to find one close to where you may be visiting.

    We made it just in time for Christmas Eve dinner with my Dad and older brother’s family.  Since both men are married to Filipino women we were lucky to have some Asian cuisine on the dinner table. I always enjoy good Asian food and this was no exception. Christmas morning we were blessed to have a traditional Jamaican breakfast of cabbage & saltfish, fried dumplings, plantains and bammy courtesy of the Dred aka my husband. I think it’s great to have such an international flair within my family.

    I hope you enjoyed my December food recap. I look forward to bringing you more interesting things in the coming new year. Now go forward and make memories.

    Ooh yeah I forgot I made this wonderful frittata with broccoli, sweet potatoes, cheese and topped with a black bean corn salsa…hey I made it in December so it should be included. Now go get fab for NYE!

    Frittata
    Frittata

     

  • Turkey, AGAIN? (Holiday Series Finale)

    Most people haven’t thought beyond turkey sandwiches on the day after let alone what’s gonna happen to the leftover leftovers. And by day 3 believe you me your family doesn’t want anything more to do with turkey either. Here’s a way to move beyond that bump in the road.

    My one suggestion is to get rid of the turkey. No I don’t mean throw it away.  I mean get it out of your family’s eye sight. Then you can re-introduce it at a later time…in a different form. First things first you have to…

    Freeze your leftover turkey. Remove you turkey meat from the carcass. Portion them out into plastic freezer bags and date. Try to remove as much air as possible to prevent freezer burn.The USDA says that turkey can last in the freezer for up to 4-6 months. If you want to keep it moist when you thaw, freeze with gravy or some stock.

    Now that you know how to freeze turkey you need to know what to do with it once you decide to thaw it. Actually this is one for the day after the big meal or the day before the big freeze. This one may get rid of quite a bit of your leftovers and still keep the family interested. Got turkey? Mashed potatoes? Gravy? Vegetables? Then you’ve got the makings of Turkey Shepherd’s Pie.

    2 cups cubed leftover turkey meat

    1 1/2 cups gravy

    2 cups of leftover vegetables (broccoli, peas, carrots string beans whatever you like or rather whatever you have on hand)

    3 cups leftover mashed potatoes

    1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

    Heat oven to 400°. Lightly grease a 9″x 9″ pan. Heat gravy and turkey together in a sauce pan. Transfer heated mixture to 9″x 9″pan. Top meat with vegetables and then top vegetables with mashed potatoes (Have potatoes at room temperature or warm some. It makes the next step easier to do). Spreading potatoes out to within a 1/2″ of edge of pan. Sprinkle shredded cheese across top of potatoes.  Place pan on top of sheet pan and bake in oven for 30 minutes.

    Ok so suppose you still have turkey to freeze after this dish. Consider yourself lucky and proceed to freezing it. What do you do with the turkey when it comes time to thaw. It’s really up to you. Take your favorite recipe and substitute the meat it calls for with your thawed turkey meat.   Like Chili or maybe a Brunswick Stew. Or try adding it to a dish that doesn’t traditionally have meat in it like maybe your favorite Mac & Cheese recipe. Use your imagination. .you never know you create a favorite for your family.

    I hope this series has helped with the madness of holiday meals. Let me know how this series may or may not have helped you. Leave a comment.

    Happy Holidays from Cassandra as The Chef In Pearls and owner of Gems and Baubles. Now go make some memories!

  • Cranberries Uncanned (Holiday Series Pt 3)

    Cranberries Uncanned (Holiday Series Pt 3)

    Are you still eating cranberry sauce from a can? I know I say I won’t judge you but I will give you the side-eye for not going fresh. I mean, once you learn how easy it is to make cranberry sauce from scratch you’ll never go canned again.

    I want you to walk away from this post with not only the know-how on how to make cranberry sauce but that cranberry sauce ain’t just for turkey. That’s right i said it. You can do so much more with cranberry sauce like appetizers, drinks, entrees and desserts. The sky’s the limit or at least your imagination.

    Basic Cranberry Sauce

    1 12oz. bag of cranberries (fresh or frozen)

    1 cup of water

    1-2 cups of granulated sugar

    Wash and sort cranberries. Place cranberries in a sauce pan with water and 1 cup of sugar. Allow to simmer. You can add more sugar depending on how sweet you like your sauce. After about 10 minutes of cooking and you can no longer hear the berries popping you can turn off stove. Pour sauce into a bowl and allow to cool. Sauce thickens as it cools.

    Cranberry Sauce
    Cranberry Sauce

    Here are some other dishes I used cranberry sauce in.

    November 23 2014 021
    Baked Brie topped with warm Cranberry Sauce
    Pork Tenderloin Medallions and Whipped Sweet Potatoes with a Cranberry- Pomegranate Sauce
    Pork Tenderloin Medallions and Whipped Sweet Potatoes with a Cranberry- Pomegranate Sauce
    Wine Spritzer made with Cranberry, your favorite white wine and topped with seltzer.
    Wine Spritzer made with Cranberry Sauce, your favorite white wine and topped with seltzer.
    Cranberry Shortcake made with a cranberry, apple & pear compote
    Cranberry Shortcake made with a cranberry, apple & pear compote

    I hope the post has you ditching the can and being inspired by fresh cranberries.  CIPapproved

     

     

  • 2+2+1= Gravy (Holiday Meal Series Pt 2)

    So your gravy is…well…not the best.  Lumpy is just the start of what makes your gravy unappealing.  So what do we do to make it better? Well we turn to a little math, If you have this little equation you are well on your way to better gravy. 2 + 2 +1= Perfect Gravy. That is 2 Tablespoons of fat plus 2 Tablespoons of flour plus 1 cup of liquid and you’ve got gravy kinda. The only special equipment I suggest for this gravy making task is a whisk,it  helps to eliminate lumps.

    2 Tablespoons  Fat ( butter, olive oil or fat drippings from meat)

    2 Tablespoons all Purpose Flour

    1 cup Liquid  (stock,broth or meat drippings)

    Salt & Pepper to taste

    Melt fat in a sauce pan. Once melted add flour and allow to cook for about 1-2 minutes. Then add liquid while whisking to prevent lumps. Allow to simmer until thickened 3-5 minutes. Taste so that you can adjust seasonings as needed.

    Once you have this basic gravy down then you can get a little fancy with it.  You can make a mushroom beef gravy by sauteing freshly sliced mushrooms before melting fat and adding flour and using either a beef broth, stock or dripping from cooked beef. Or maybe you want something a little spicy add cracked peppercorn to the melted fat before adding flour.  The varieties are limitless and left only up to your imagination and taste-buds.

    Now you’ll be the champion of gravy at your next holiday meal

  • A Quickie….Teavana

    Teavana 11-9 019-1I grew up in a Jamaican household which means tea was a part of my everyday life. You were not allowed to leave the house without something warm in your tummy. Every ailment was met with a cup of tea…stomach ache… ginger tea…start of a cold… garlic tea. Let’s just say I grew to have a love for tea.

     

    Enter Teavana. ..I had the pleasure of joining The Brains & Beauty Academy meet-up for a tea tasting.  We got a chance to taste many blends including Oprah’s chai tea. I enjoyed the subtleness of it in comparison to their Maharaja Oolong Chai blend, which had a strong spiciness to it. But the tea of the day was their Iced Raspberry Limeade. ..addictive. When you get a chance head over to Teavana at Phipps Plaza for a great cup of tea. This is definitely Chef In Pearls approved.

    PhotoGrid_1415753771311Photographs courtesy of Nia Mason Design

     

     

  • Bring on the Holidays (Holiday Series)

    tholiday meal pic

    So Halloween is over and now it’s time to prepare for the big guns….Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s a time of family and friends and lots of food.  So many make it a very nerve racking time of year and it doesn’t have to be. It’s all about planning and being prepared for anything.  For the next couple of posts I will help get you ready for the holiday meals before you. I’ll take you from shopping lists, how to make the perfect gravy, un-canned cranberry sauce and even dessert. Hope it helps to ease your mind for this holiday season.

  • A Quickie…Potato Wedges

    A Quickie…Potato Wedges

    CAM00071

    As you already know I am a football girl.  To be more exact I am a New York Giants football girl.  Unfortunately I now live in Atlanta Falcons territory.  So when my Giants were scheduled to play dem dirty birds of course I had to hit the kitchen.

    I wanted to keep it simple so I went with making a batch of loaded potato wedges. Pretty simple to do and you only need a few ingredients.

    baking potatoes

    thick cut bacon

    green onion or chives

    sour cream

    cheddar cheese ( shredded)

    olive oil

    kosher salt

    black pepper

    Lay bacon strips on a baking sheet. Place in cold oven and adjust temperature to 400(by doing this you actually have strips that don’t curl up)should take 12-15 minutes. Split potatoes in half(cuts baking time down). Drizzle potatoes with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt & black pepper. Place potatoes cut side down on baking tray and place in oven, roughly 25-30 minutes. Check tenderness with a knife. Remove bacon from oven and place slices on paper towel to drain. While potatoes finish baking dice bacon and cut green onions.  I like to thin my sour cream out with heavy cream to make it easier to drizzle(you can add thinned sour cream to a squeeze bottle for even easier drizzling).  Remove potatoes from oven. You want to work with them while still hot. Place a couple of halves on a plate and slice into wedges.  Sprinkle with cheese, bacon, drizzle sour cream and then top with green onion. Viola.

  • A Quickie. ….Flatout

    A Quickie. ….Flatout

    I wanted to add something else to the pantry list, flatbread. I usually keep naan in my freezer. Naan or nan or khamiri is a leavened, oven-baked flatbread. It is typical of and popular in West, Central and South Asia. I keep them for times like today where i needed a quick fix for lunch.

    CAM00006

    On my last supermarket visit I decided to try Flatout’s Artisan Pizza Crust. I thawed one added sauce, spinach, mushrooms, bell peppers, garlic and cheese  (all leftovers from yesterday’s frittata) placed it on a lightly greased baking sheet for about 10 minutes.

    CAM00008

    Voila. ….lunch.  Cut & plated and added some wine. It’s all about the pantry baby.

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  • A Quickie…..Cami Cakes

    Cami Cakes sign

    A dear friend of mine (who shall remain nameless) gave me a short list of places I should visit and try their eats. Cami Cakes was on that list. While out earlier this week I finally made it. I’m not even sure where to start about this place. I have gone to many places where the presentation was phenomenal from the opening of the door to the customer service but then fell flat on the taste of the food. Not so at Cami Cakes. I had the pleasure of visiting their Vinings location. The place was inviting and the staff friendly and most helpful. I wanted to try their Red Velvet cupcake but the young lady behind the counter would not sell me what she had been removing from the case. She said they were no longer fresh (so they aren’t all about profit but good eats). I opted for the Cami Sweetheart since I couldn’t wait for the fresh batch of Red Velvet. The Cami Sweetheart is Chocolate cupcake with a cream cheese filling topped with a chocolate glaze. It was delicious…the cake moist…the filling not too sweet…the chocolate glaze was the truly the icing on the cake. I was in cupcake heaven. I plan to visit their newest location that has a creamery……cake & ice cream. How could you go wrong?. They have several locations and also now ships across the states.  Click here for more on Cami Cakes

    The Showcase of yummy goodness
    The Showcase of yummy goodness

     

    Presentation is KEY
    Presentation is KEY

     

    The Cami Sweetheart
    The Cami Sweetheart

     

    Cami Cakes Collage