THis has been sitting in my draft folder long enough that I’ve lost track of what I wanted to say. Since tonight we’re going to a second of these meals (by the same chef), I thought I should publish this one as is.

Back in February, Urban Daddy ran a story on a series of underground dinners in Chicago. We’d been familiar with this in San Francisco (in particular ForageSF) so we were excited to learn of this.

Suzanne made the arrangements, and Sunday night we caught the train North and embarked on our culinary adventure.

The menu was titled “Summer Solstice”, as it took place on June 19 and was driven largely by the previous day’s farmer’s market.

The Meal

Summer Squash blossoms, stuffed with Ricotta, with a green garlic puree.

Grilled soft shelled crab, dusted with curry, with pickled turnip and galangal puree.

Whole sardines with a peach, caper, fennel, sorrel, and mustard sauce and a panzella.

Wild Boar with a peppered beet puree and a pear and basil salad.

Strawberry tart with a vanilla and balsamic reduction.

The Experience

In all we had a great time.

There were five trucks in attendance, and we got something from four as we’d had food from the tamalespaceship before.

Gaztrowagon: we got two naan-wiches: Caprese (tomato onion salad, pesto, mozzerella), and Beef Cheesesteak (beef, peppers, onions, pepperjack cheese). The Beef Cheesesteak was very tasty, if a little small. I’d get it again. The Caprese was tasty enough, but seemed very odd hot (it reminded me of Rimmer’s “Hot Gazpacho”). I think would be much better served cold. I’ll pass on the Caprese, but would;t mind checking out some of the other options.

Southern Mac & Cheese: New Mexican (green chili, pepperjack, and cojita). This was really good, but then who doesn’t like a good Mac & Cheese. This one was especially nice. And the flavor we chose was only available in the large container, so there was plenty to have some each for dinner with a lunch for Suzanne left over for the next day. We’re eager to try some of their other flavors.

Meatyballs Mobile: Thai’d Balls (turkey, coconut milk, Chili sauce, sweet peppers), Pizza Balls (ricotta balls, tomato sauce, mozzarella, sausage). We both loved the Thai’d Balls (but then we’re a little kinky anyway). The Pizza Balls (a chef’s special that night) left a bit to be desired. Not so meaty with just a bit of sausage, and with plenty of green peppers (leaving Suzanne out of this one). The ricotta was fine, but the whole package fell short of what we’d expected after the Thai’d. We’ll go back tho this truck, but not for Pizza Balls.

Flirty Cupcakes: Devil In Disguise (red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting), The McDreamy (chocolate cupcake with a cream cheese & chocolate filling). What better way to finish off our food truck meal than at a cupcake truck. These were very tasty, indeed. No disappointments here.

Overall, the food was good, but suffered from having to be prepared and packaged in advance. The naan and meatball rolls were somewhat soggy and doughy from being exposed to the fillings for some period of time. The rules around food service in Chicago are retarded. Being able to do final prep and assembly on the spot, as required, results in such a better product. Both of us agree that we wouldn’t be interested in a prefab burrito. We got burritos from the taco truck outside our place in San Francisco occasionally. That was a big thing there, and they had reasonable rules.

Not quite so bad is the fact that the cupcakes had to be prepackaged as well. We ended up getting 2 full sized cupcakes in stead of the selection of 4 that we would have preferred, since they didn’t have our mix of choice made up.

Next Tuesday is the last chance for this event, and we expect to be there.

Chicago is coming along, and may someday join the the 21st century in this regard. Then we just have to ditch the unions.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve signed up for a produce delivery service. The first delivery arrived this week.  Here’s what was in it, after unpacking:

Clockwise from the top:

• Green leaf lettuce
• Bacon avocadoes
• Minneola tangerines
• Comice pears
• Collard greens
• Leek
• Savoy cabbage

A friend & fellow foodie gave me some advice on preparing the collard greens… which I’ve never run into before.  That sort of challenge was, as you may recall, one of the reasons of getting the delivery service.

I’m thinking about making

• soup with the leek & collards,
• salad with the lettuce, avocado, and pear, with a citrus dressing
• maybe some of the cabbage leaves as wraps for some tuna salad.
• finally, tangerine mimosas might be a nice start to the day tomorrow.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Cod is not really one of my favorite fishes. There are many other fish types that are richer in taste which I enjoy much more than this Atlantic fish.

Still I decided to bake cod that I bought at a local market  today (it is really difficult to find good fish variety in England, specially if you where brought up in Spain).

For this recipe you will need the following ingredients (light dinner for 2 people):

• 2 Cod fillets (boneless and clean)
• 2 tomatoes (I used vine ripened claret tomatoes which have a sweet and juicy aroma)
• 1 onion (in this instance I used a small shallot onion)
• 1 garlic clove
• Dired oregano
• Black pepper
• Salt (I used sea salt flakes; a natural occurring sea salt)
• Virgin olive oil (I was tempted to use my newly acquired ‘2008 Frantoio Gulielmo di Malavalle‘ oil, but I will leave it for another dish)

Preparation

1. Sprinkle the cod filets with the salt and pepper to your taste.
2. Place the fillets on the oiled baking pot.
3. Chop the tomatoes, garlic and onion into small pieces and mix them.
4. Spoon the mix on top of the cod fillets.
5. Sprinkle the top with the oregano.
   
6. Bake at 450ºF for around 30 minutes (possibly less ~20 minutes)
7. Take it out of the oven and let it rest for 2 minutes before serving.
   

You could also serve it with a nice mediterranean salad as it will mix very well with the taste of this cod recipe.

I hope you enjoy trying it out as much as I did eating it tonight

I know pretty much how I should be eating.  I know what the industrial food complex does. I know how to read food labels. I know all that because I spent 14 years living with a vegan/health/natural/organic food zealot.  When I left her (for non-dietary reasons) I quickly backlashed against all that I’d learned in those 14 years (well, being vegetarian stuck for a while).

Then I went to work at Google, and I got to know the chefs there. They introduced me to a whole new level of gourmet food and cooking.  That got me thinking seriously about food.

Then I got hit with Type-1 diabetes (yeah.. wierd.. late onset Type-1).  That got me thinking even more seriously about food. For a while, but I slowly got lazy about it.

Recently I got the bug again and started diving into gourmet cooking with a vengeance.  I’ve been seriously looking at upscaling my ingredient choices: organic, local, seasonal, grass-fed, etc, etc.

So I was doing pretty well, I thought.

At dinner on Saturday a friend encouraged me to read “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” which had also been suggested several times before by other people. Ok. The audiobook was on iTunes and I have a lengthy commute, so I figured why not.

I’m on chapter 11 now… and damn.  I had no idea just how fucked up and plain bad the industrial food complex is… even if what’s in the book is an exaggeration. I’m on the verge of getting militant about my food choices.  Wholefoods is looking overly industrial (I do love their grassfed beef though… but need to get more background on that).  I just signed up for a local organic fresh produce delivery service.
Throw that in with my plan to do a monthly gourmet dinner party for small groups of close friends… and there’s going to be some fine food happening around here.

So my main goal is to eat less… but eat better… way, way better.  You should too.