‘Food’ Category

18 September 2011

Weekend recap: The cheese tent is in the back

By: Jessica B.

I’m not kidding, someone said that to me. And it was one of the sexiest off-beat comments I’ve heard lately.

Yes, an entire tent dedicated to CHEESE.

On Saturday, my Wisconsin Badgers were playing Northern Illinois University at Soldier Field and I was fortunate enough to get tickets to the game and a Badger pre-game tailgate.

The tailgate had beer, brats, sandwiches, cookies, chips and cheese. But, given that I’m from a cheese-fanatic state, a local cheese company had an entire tent dedicated to cheese, separate from the other food and beverage tents.

The minute the woman at check-in told us about it, I was off like a shot. I may be muttered, “I want to go to there,” and then quickly started scanning the crowd, full of red-dressed Badger fans.

Of course, the cheese tent was a little hidden (no doubt to control the crowds) but when I saw it, I had to photograph the awesome-ness of this moment.

If you couldn’t tell, I love cheese. LOVE IT. I’ve been known to demolish a cheese plate at a party with only carnage left behind. It happens.

Here are some photos of this mecca:

Cheese tent, I want to go to there

No surprise, Cheddar was the most popular

And of course, the best way to tailgate is a plate of cheese and a beer, clearly, I took advantage of both.

I love the Midwest

How was your weekend?

Be Sociable, Share!

7 Comments

06 September 2011

Kitchen adventures: Three-bean salad with couscous and flank steak

By: Jessica B.

Tagged: Food

Lately, I’ve been a very bad home cook. I blame (as always) travel, but my new scapegoat is actually summer. It’s hot, I don’t want to cook and while the weather is nice, I would rather be outside than in the kitchen. Fall is around the corner so I’ll be spending MUCH more time indoors cooking soon.

But I miss it, so this weekend, I was determined to get back in there and dust off my skillet and mixing bowls.

Here’s part of what I made:

Real Simple’s Three-Bean Salad (with couscous)

Ingredients:

1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the cannellini beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, celery, onion, parsley, and rosemary.
In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, oil, salt, and pepper.
Drizzle the vinaigrette over the salad and toss. Serve at room temperature.
Prepare 1/3 cup couscous as directed, add to the bean salad and toss again.

Medium-Rare Flank Steak (inspired by this Real Simple recipe)

Ingredients:

Flank steak (fat left on or trimmed as you prefer)
Fresh black pepper
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:

Season steak with black pepper
Add the oil to the skillet over medium-high heat
Cook meat to desired doneness, I did it at 6 minutes on each side for medium rare
Remove meat from skillet, rest before slicing

Verdict and final plate picture:

The bean salad was really yummy, only, for me, I thought there was too much parsley. I don’t like that getting stuck in my teeth and it takes away from the beans texture. Next time, I would cut back on that. The vinaigrette was really tasty and not overpowering at all. The salad was a total home run. To be honest, the meat was a little more of an afterthought so next time, I would do a better rub and spice mix on the meat because it was tender and juicy, but not super flavorful. That said, for a first real foray back in to the kitchen, I’m pleased!

What are you cooking lately?

Be Sociable, Share!

4 Comments

03 September 2011

Street Food Friday: The Slide Ride

By: Jessica B.

Tagged: Food

Due to technical issues, this is a Street Food Friday…on Saturday! Let’s get started. Before I left on vacation, I had zero food in the house, which was perfect because I could catch up on my Chicago food trucks! Which brings me to another installment of….Street Food Friday!

Name: The Slide Ride

Twitter handle: @theslideride

Website: http://www.theslideride.com

What is it: This food truck is all over gourmet sliders beyond the traditional burgers.

Meet the truck!

What I ate: The menu rotates but when I visited, it had four sandwiches available. I picked up the signature Ribeye and Chicken Pesto sliders with a side of sweet potato chips. The Ribeye also came with a horseradish sauce to add on top.

Pesto Chicken (seriously I had to remember to take this photo, it’s so good!)

What else is on the menu: Depending on what the truck has available that day, you can also get a Southwest Black Bean, Korean or Mini Pork Banh Mi slider. Here was the menu the day I was at the truck.

The menu on my truck visit day

Verdict: I have to say, the Chicken Pesto slider was amazing. AMAZING. I thought I would love the signature ribeye more (especially with the horseradish) but the chicken blew me away. So good. To be fair, it could have been the prosciutto and cheese on top that put me over the edge, since I’m not much of a pesto fan, but with the bun, everything came together really well. The ribeye was tasty and well cooked but the horseradish wasn’t very strong and, personally, I like spicier horseradish when I have it. That said, it still had a great smokey steak flavor so I would order it again.

Want more Street Food Friday? Check out Lacey, Gretchen and Doni’s latest posts! No kidding, Lacey’s is about a truck called Feed Your Hole. LOVE IT.

What would be on your dream sandwich?

Be Sociable, Share!

2 Comments

10 August 2011

Kitchen adventures: Pasta Shells with No Cook Tomato Sauce

By: Jessica B.

Tagged: Food

It’s no mystery here that I love carbs. It’s actually on my “top five” food list, along with beer, candy, wine and rotisserie chicken. That sh*t gets me going.

Anyhow, after my recent success of Chickpea Salad (albeit lazy), my recipe supergoddess friend Liz emailed me another one to try from Everyday Food and Martha Stewart. It sounded easy and delicious and with her to vouch for it, that’s all I need to hear. Let’s check it out.

Oh yeah, no picture this week. Sorry! But you can see a picture here at the blog Deglazing.

Ingredients:

2 pints cherry or grape tomatoes (4 cups), any color

2 small red, yellow or orange bell peppers, diced medium

¼ cup EVOO

2 TBLspoons red-wine vinegar

1 garlic clove, minced

Salt and Pepper

¾ pound medium pasta shells

½ cup fresh basil leaves, torn if large

½ cup ricotta, for serving

Preparation:

1. In a large bowl, toss together tomatoes, bell peppers, oil, vinegar, and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Let sit at room temperature, 20 minutes

2. Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta. Drain and add pasta to sauce, tossing to combine. Add basil and toss. Divide among four bowls and top each with ricotta.

Verdict:

Good but needs some zing. For me, it was just a little…bland. To be fair, I did not include basil (since I have no plant to rob from) so I would absolutely make it again and it will likely taste better with it. I would also add a bit more pepper too for a some kick, but the no cook tomato sauce was surprisingly really good and didn’t get too sweet. I even really liked having a light tomato sauce and it was really easy to make (and refrigerated well). Another winner!

What is your favorite pasta dish to cook up?

Be Sociable, Share!

5 Comments

08 August 2011

Stay classy San Diego

By: Jessica B.

Tagged: Food, Friends, travel

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a great weekend!

This summer, I’m spending a lot of time on the West Coast. First, it was Los Angeles, then Salt Lake City, then San Diego, my most recent travel adventure. I was there for the BlogHer conference and not only was reunited with some of my blogging loves, but also, had some damn good food and fun.

So while I’m recovering from a few days in the whale’s vagina (see Anchorman reference), I’m also preparing for Seattle coming up! Time to put away the carry-on suitcase and prepare for the one I always bag-check. Crazy, but I’m excited.

Below are some pictures from the weekend. Sadly, I didn’t take a ton of food porn photos (bad, I know), but I think you’ll see the right amount of fun with the debauchery stories kept to those that were present :)