The Purple Pig

Right off the bat, any restaurant that has the word pig in it, then I'm sold!  Add to that that this place is right off Magnificent Mile in Chicago... even better.  One of my last days in Chicago I was hanging out with this incredible girl... she knows who she is... and we both decided that we wanted to try this place out.

  I'm still waiting for the other pictures that were taken at The Purple Pig... I'll post them whenever I get them.  We had Pig ear, Brussels sprouts, Octopus and Pork neck gravy... it was pretty good!

Roasted Chicken Drumsticks and Rustic Roasted French Fries

  I bought the book, Think Like a Chef by Tom Colicchio and I've been reading it over the last couple of days.  In this book he explains how he views ingredients and thinks about their preparations.  As I was reading his section on techniques, I was inspired to try roasting some chicken.  So I bought some chicken drumsticks and one potato and used some onion, red bell pepper, rosemary and garlic (all of which I had at the house).  I started on the stove top in a cast iron skillet and then moved it to the oven.  I think it all turned out well, and there was enough to feed three people easy.

Cheese Pizza

I think I've found my crust recipe!  I still have some tweeking and playing around to do but I really liked this crust.  The recipe is as follows:

1 cup warm water
1 package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon of brown sugar
1teaspoon of coarse kosher salt
2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour four kneading

this makes one large pizza or two small pizzas.  I think that one large pizza is best, because you don't have to stretch the dough too thin and can still have a nice crust.  Now onto getting my sauce down, learning how to make cheese and so-on and so-forth...

I also brushed the crust with a little olive oil, garlic salt and some crushed black pepper!

Pork Tacos

I'm sure my roommates love it when I get a craving for a particular food...  I say this because then I cook, and I usually don't cook for just one person... so there are always left overs.  Well, last week I had a craving for pork tacos.  So I go to Familia Foods, a highly Hispanic grocery store and do some shopping.  Those that know me, know that I tend to not follow recipes (I might look at one to get an idea, but I think cooking should be something that just happens, organically).  I had found a recipe, couldn't really tell you what was in it, but I decided to get a couple different peppers, make a sauce to pour over the meat and let the crock pot do the rest.  I ended up with some poblanos, jalapenos, ancho chilies, and guajilio (not sure the spelling of that) chilies.  Blended them up, made the sauce, added some onion and garlic, a little cumin and salt.  Let the meat get nice and tender in the crock pot and there ya go.  I also added some lime juice and clementine juice (that's what I had available).  I whipped up a fresh pico de gallo made from tomatoes, onion, roasted garlic, jalapeno and some cilantro and lime juice... mouth is now watering... threw the meat onto a corn tortilla, topped with the pico, mexican queso and some fresh cilantro... done!

Holiday Season

Once again the holiday season has come and gone, more food eaten and cooked than is necessary, but hey, its the holidays!  That magical time from Thanksgiving to New Years is truly a great time... you've got a great excuse to cook, eat and relish in company.  This holiday season I was unable to be at home for Thanksgiving, so my holiday cooking was made up at Christmas time (which my parents flew me home from Chicago for).  Before I left Chicago however, I made some white chip chocolate cookies with a peppermint drizzle... I was in the Christmas spirit even before I step onto the plane! 

After I cooked Thanksgiving last year (2009) I was told in no uncertain terms by my nephew Brandon, that I was to always cook the turkey.  Which I take as a compliment, since Brandon has a somewhat picky palate.  Since I wasn't home for Thanksgiving, This posed a problem... or so you would think.  My sister Sara took her son Brandon to the store, they picked out a turkey for me to cook over Christmas.  Did I mention Brandon picked out a 22 pounder!!

So when I got home, I began preparations for this behemoth of a turkey.  I used my standard fall back turkey recipe, its a salt herb rub that permeates the meat and keeps it moist while roasting.  There was more than enough to go around.  Instead of having another Thanksgiving dinner though, we made turkey sandwiches...

With all kinds of sides and desserts.  Like I said, there was probably enough to feed a small neighborhood.  But isn't that what the holiday's are about, having an excuse to spend time with family and friends... and there is always the food.

Since I was home, I wanted to bake with my mom... (in case ya'll didn't know, mothers always know how to bake!).  So we made all kinds of appetizers, meals, desserts.  It goes on and on,  but I really wanted to bake some homemade bread with my mom.  It turned out better than I'd ever made it...

Nearing the end of the holiday season, we cooked a ham, made some mashed potatoes, and I made a non-alcoholic punch.  You see, punch is in... everywhere I look, old time drinks are making a comeback.
From old cocktails and preparation methods to drinks in general.  I think it turned out well and everyone enjoyed it.

So when the next holiday season approaches, get out your knives, whisks and recipes and cook food till you can't cook anymore, and relish in the company that surrounds you.  Happy Holidays!

Pizza - Pancetta, Tomato and Fresh Mozzarella

Probably my favorite food is... pizza... I know that's kinda generic.  But hey, it's awesome, if done right.  I know my favorite food should be something like crab cakes, lobster and steak, corn bread and pinto beans, cajun seasoned turkey with homemade gravy or something along those lines... but its pizza, always has been... and probably always will be.  That being said, I love to make my own.  And I mean make my own, everything I can from scratch.  So on this occasion I made the dough, the sauce (with fresh tomatoes) and used fresh mozzarella and then sauteed some pancetta, onion and garlic and then used that as my main topping.  I also threw a few tomato slices on it.  So the crust needs a little work, needs more flavor.  Sauce was good, I'd like to let it simmer longer... but alas, I will continue to have to make more pizzas until I get the crust, sauce and toppings i like.

Flacos Tacos

After I was here in Chicago for a few weeks, I finally got to eat downtown.  Crazy right, living 20 minutes from downtown and it took about 2 weeks before I ate in town!  I was cruising around town, met up with a friend and decided I was hungry.  So, I found this local joint around the corner and thought with a name like Flacos Tacos, how could I go wrong... I decided to just order the nightly special, Chicken Fajitas!!  You just almost can't go wrong with something so simple.  Sauteed peppers and onion, mexican rice and re-fried beans, warm tortilla shells, yeah that's good.  All I needed was an ice cold Goose Island root beer and I'd have been set!