On the Road Eats - Black Cat Burrito

With summer winding down, I decided I needed to take one last mini-vacation. What better place to escape the hullabaloo of life in the Triangle than to head a couple hours west to the Great Smoky Mountains? Our primary stop was Boone, NC, home of Appalachian State University and a town near the Blue Ridge Parkway. From the parkway, you can find trails of all difficulty levels as well as local artisan shops. In the next few posts, I will be detailing the not-to-be-missed fooderies that we found.


One of the staple restaurants in town is Black Cat Burrito, which is a misnomer since they do not serve black cat meat and their burritos are not your typical Tex-Mex creations. The MO of this eatery seems to be stuffing tortillas with everything but the usual beans, ground beef and cheese.


For starters, we had to try their tortilla chips with a selection of dips. The Everything Sampler includes queso, guacamole and one of the salsas (we tried mild). The chips are cut thickly and nicely crunchy, helping them to resist sogginess when dipped into any of the three wells packed with great flavors. I included a my drink in this shot because Black Cat has an unknown Fanta flavor on tap - ginger ale. I find most ginger ale to be hit or miss, but this one was more balanced than most. With less bite and a bit more sweetness than other ginger ales, this one is probably the best one I've ever had. It was hard not to fill up on these munchies, but we did managed to save room for the main course.


We, of course, ordered burritos (you don't go to a place with "burrito" in the title without ordering some). In the background is Don't Be a Jerk featuring chicken, pineapple, jicama, and the house jerk sauce. While spicy, it also had a bit of sweetness from the pineapple to round out all the flavors. In the foreground of the picture, you can see the White Trash BBQ burrito with BBQ sauce, chicken, and slaw. While not as spicy as the jerk burrito, the white trash had all the competing elements of a great meal - sweet and lightly spicy, soft and crunchy. These burritos are also the kind you eat with a fork and knife and could easily be made into two meals, that is if you like to be "responsible" with your eating or something like that.

Cooking, Baking, Restauranting...Pretty much just eating anything I can get my hands on - 6/29/09

What a week! I managed to do a lot of cooking and eating this week and I'm not sure where it all came from. Let's start with what I made first.


Lunch this week, as a continuation of my soup series, is chili con carne. The recipe was from Cooks' Illustrated. After browning chunks of beef, you cook some onions and bell pepper (or jalapeno). Then, you stir in some cumin, oregano and garlic, then water, beef, diced tomato, and minced chipotles in adobo sauce, simmering it for 1 hour covered, 30 minutes uncovered. At the very end, you whisk in some cornmeal into 1 cup of the chili, then whisk this mixture back into the soup, simmering it until it thickens up. I was very surprised by the consistency of this soup. Most chilis I've had contained beans, but this one omits them in favor of thickening the soup using the cornmeal. The chipotles in adobo are a very easy way to bring some heat and a nice smokey flavor without resorting to liquid smoke. The beef stayed tender and everything else seemed to melt together into the background flavor. This chili was both surprising and outstandingly delicious for something homemade.


Dinner this week is a chicken fricassee with some citrus flavors. Briefly, the chicken is seared, then some root veggies and citrus are cooked in the same pot. Tomato paste is added, then flour, then some chicken stock, orange and lemon juices, white wine, and honey. The chicken is added back in to finish cooking. On the side, you cook some potatoes and blanch some veggies (I chose yellow squash and Mediterranean zucchini). Oddly, you remove the original veggies and citrus, then thicken the sauce using an egg yolk and milk. All of this is combined again to yield the final produce. Everything tastes good, but the citrus disappears into the background. I think adding in some citrus zest in at some point could help make the flavors more bold. But this makes for a fine dinner. The citrus lightens the heavier chicken with its skin on. Plus, lemon and orange are the perfect flavors for the summer.


A great deal of the ingredients used in the foods above came from this week's CSA assortment: corn, blueberries, potatoes, onions, zucchini, squash, cucumber, tomato, and three kinds of melon.


For cake decorating this week, we learned more piping techniques, including some specific to birthday cakes. Since my lab did not have any birthdays this week, I went for an "I <3 Cake" cake. The cake was supposed to be flavored by rose water, but that flavor did not come out. Instead, the major players were the apricot jam filling and vanilla icing. Cake writing is a little difficult, by the way, if you don't have the right size tip for one, but also because you have one shot to do it right (sizing, spacing, shaping). And always, always, ALWAYS remember to spell everything correctly. Here are some examples of what can go wrong with cakes: Cake Wrecks.


The SO (significant other) did some cooking this week too that was quite astounding. It started with some pork that was combined with pureed pears and plums. To this was added some cream cheese, cilantro and hazelnuts, among other ingredients. Wrap it in a tortilla, stick it in a pan with cheese and more hazelnuts, and bake it in the oven. The flavors for this dish were definitely out of left field, but they all combined together for quite a sumptuous dinner. Add a side of fresh cucumbers and raspberries and a cup of dilled sweet potato soup, and you've got one killer dinner.


As for eating out this week, I remembered my camera for most of our meals. First up is Pepper's Pizza on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. This was the second time I ate at this restaurant, and I've enjoyed it both times. The pizza pictured is one we made ourselves. They have some great ingredients and pre-formulated options, but we were in a creative mood. Half of the pizza was Italian sausage with fresh garlic (fantastically garlicky without being overbearing...but then again I don't know if you can have too much garlic), and the other half was a NC-style Hawaiian using pulled pork and pineapple (a great variation on true Hawaiian with ham and pineapple). Plus, they have great music while you eat. While we were there, they were playing Michael Jackson's album Thriller to honor his untimely passing. If you want some non-traditional options for pizza and you're in the area, give Peppers a shot.


While in Raleigh, we hit up the Flying Biscuit. This restaurant serves delicious, truly Southern food (breakfast all day to boot). I ordered my first chicken-fried steak and what an awesome dish it was! The crisp outside juxtaposed against a moist and delicious cubed steak, paired with a wonderful gravy made me want to wrap myself in the steak and never leave. The green beans were a good side, though a little oily. The homefries were seasoned with a house ("moondust," I believe) seasoning that made these tubers really pop. In the midground (between foreground and background), you can see their biscuits, served with strawberry jam. True to their name, these biscuits are light, airy, but totally indulgent with some good saltiness to them. Lastly, in the background, you can spy their sweet tea, which is one of the sweetest you can find without any sugar at the bottom. The South has risen again at this wonderful restaurant. Word to the wise: if there is a wait for a table, the bar seats in a first-come-first-serve fashion, so feel free to grab a stool and enjoy your food while others are still waiting outside.


In the Chapel Hill Timberlyne plaza is a rare find: an Ethiopian restaurant by the name of Queen of Sheba. If you've never had Ethiopian, try to find a restaurant and give it a shot. This one was very good with great service. To start off, we had an Ethiopian soda (flavored with spices and honey) as well as a sweet tea that was also given some depth by some warm spices. We had the vegetarian sampler, which had yellow lentils, a pea flour sauce, tomatoes, green lentils, and potatoes in a horseradish sauce, all atop and with a side of injera, the sourdough-ish spongy flat bread. Everything was fantastic. I love having lots of options when I eat, and this was the best way to get that. All of the flavors melded with each other but could still stand alone. They have many meat options too for compulsive carnivores. To finish, I had a cup of Ethiopian coffee, supposedly made with some butter, sugar, and more spices. The coffee was positively black with a rich and bold flavor that lacked that bitter aftertaste of many coffees. Overall, it was a marvelous experience that could not be beat.

Calamari, Sausages & Tacos - 3/28/2009

One of my old roommates used to make tomato sauce and then freeze it for later use. I decided to give this a try to see how my own tomato sauce would come out.


These are San Marzano tomatoes. They are recommended by many different chefs and websites as some of the best canned tomatoes available. I found this recipe to use from the internet.

It involves using an entire head of garlic for what turns out to be about 3 cups of tomato sauce. It sounds like a lot (and it is), but the sauce turns out nicely balanced with garlicky tomato-ness. It is very easy to add whatever spices you want to it to alter this sauce to your own needs, which is exactly what I ended up doing a week later.


At the Cary Asian market, you can find all sorts of rare and wonderful ingredients. I found these frozen squid tubes and bought them immediately. These tubes are only available on occasion from normal grocery stores, so it would be great if I could find them at the Asian store year round.


I simply cut the tubes into medium-sized rings, cooked them slightly in some olive oil, lemon juice and thyme, then mixed them into the sauce and some cooked linguine. It has been quite some time since I last had pasta, and I forgot how filling it can be. This dish came out great. It's been a long time since my mom and I used to get calamari marinara from a restaurant called Angelo's around New Port Richey. The only thing missing is to find some tentacle pieces to go in there too.

I needed a new idea for my lunches this past week. Men's Health gave me a starting idea, but it took me some more thought and random inspiration to be able to bring it together.


Men's Health this past month gave a homemade alternative to potato chips: root vegetable chips. You simply take any root vegetable, slice it thinly, toss it with olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake it at 400 degrees until they are crispy. I used beet, sweet potato, daikon, parsnip, and carrots. Admittedly, I should have baked everything separately as the smaller chips got over-done and the bigger chips got under-done, but the baking process eliminated many of the bitter flavors in the chips and gave them a slightly sweet flavor.


My step-mom makes sausage and peppers in a large pot of tomato broth and serves them with hoagie buns. I thought, what better accompaniment to chips than some sausage and peppers. Harris Teeter last week had store-made sweet Italian chicken sausage, perfect because it is healthier and not spicy. I braised the sausages by cooking them in a pot until they were browned, then added some chicken stock and tomato paste to allow them to finish cooking. Meanwhile, I started cooking three sliced onions and three sliced bell peppers (one orange, one red and one green) in a large saucepan over medium heat. My goal was not to brown them, but to caramelize them all together. Once they had started cooking down, I added some salt, pepper, garlic, and tomato paste. Slowly, the onions and peppers cooked down to an aromatic mixture, at which point I figured they were done. I half-sliced a French roll (softer than an Italian one, apparently), added a sausage to it and topped it with all of the onions and peppers. I'm not normally a bell pepper person. I've been trying to get used to their flavor for a while, but this dish is nearly devoid of their overt flavors. The onions and peppers meld in flavor that is enhanced by the garlic to form a warm oniony sweetness that lifts up the flavors of the chicken sausage. This all heated up very nicely for lunch all this week.


Last and certainly not least are these atypical tacos. The recipe for these tacos came from Bon Appetit magazine. They are easy to make, relatively quick and vegetarian. I am by no means vegetarian (see previous posts for evidence), but every once in a while, it's nice to break out of the mold. After allowing a flour tortilla (the recipe calls for corn but I prefer flour) to brown slightly in olive oil, you add a black bean-cumin mash. Then you fold the taco in half. With some coaxing it will stay closed of its own accord. Then brown each side in the saucepan. Once it is cooked, remove it from the skillet, then sprinkle in some feta cheese and a slaw made from cabbage, cilantro, green onion, lime juice, and olive oil. The flavors of this taco explode with tanginess, sharp saltiness and warmth(ness). Who knows, maybe you could use these to spice up your next taco night.

Holiday Baking - 12.23.08

The past few weeks have been rather hectic. I've been juggling finishing my first semester of graduate school, Christmas shopping and doing what in hindsight appears to be a ridiculous amount of baking. Here's an overview of my culinary activities over the past few weeks:


My sustenance for the past week was a very veggie chili. After cooking some onion in garlic and oil, I added canned tomatoes, pinto beans, corn, chopped cilantro, cumin, salt, and pepper. At the end (since meat is a very prominent staple of my diet), I added some rotisserie chicken that I got at the local grocery store. This turned out to be one of my better chilis and it was very simple to put together. The recipe called for hominy, but I could not find any, so maybe next time. Now on to the good stuff...




While in Italy this summer, we found out how to make limoncello, a delightful lemon liqueur (if done right). Some of my family made a batch and gave it to me for my birthday. Since I'm not a heavy drinker (I failed binge drinking 101 at UF), I decided to put the limoncello to better use: in baking. The cookie itself has a base of ricotta cheese, giving it a cakey texture. You can see in the above pictures how much the cookies puffed up from the small dough balls on the baking sheet. The limoncello in the dough is backed up by vanilla and lemon extracts as well as some lemon zest. The glaze on top is a basic confectioner's sugar glaze with limoncello to make it spreadable. I was very happy with this cookie and it took me back to our enormous afternoon lunch in Rome where we first had this delightful drink. Warning: limoncello may induce napping.


To continue our world cookie tour, the next stop is Germany for some lebkuchen. The cookies themselves contain a base of toasted nuts (hazelnuts and almonds), cinnamon, cardamom, orange and lemon zests, and cocoa powder. After baking the cookie is accompanied by a simple glaze of confectioner's sugar and milk. These cookies came out dense, nutty and full of holiday spice flavors. For the recipe, see the January 2008 Cooks' Illustrated.


Now for an American twist on a classic favorite. These are potato chip cookies, in the family of pecan sandies. In fact, the probably are pretty much pecan sandies with crushed potato chips replacing some of the pecans. Don't worry about them being too salty or oily. These cookies bake up nicely with a salty undertone that is great for those who can't get enough of the salty-sweet combination (like chocolate-covered pretzels).


For those who want a quicker holiday cookie that is still a step above store-bought, these are the cookie for you. Anyone who enjoys peanut butter blossoms will recognize the general idea behind them. You can either use pre-made gingerbread dough, a gingerbread cookie mix, or you can start from scratch. I decided to try the first choice to save myself some time this year. After baking the cookie, you place a Hershey's chocolate kiss (or hug if you want something different) in the middle. You may notice the cookies in the picture have two different textures - this is what happens when you forget to roll half the dough balls in sugar before baking. Oh well, they were delicious anyways, but the peanut butter blossoms will still be my favorite.


If you've ever had thumbprint cookies and wondered, "Why do I only get to have one flavor of filling?" these are your cookie. You prepare three mini thumbprint cookies and add a small dollop of three types of jam - raspberry, apricot and strawberry. If you can fit it in your mouth at once (might be difficult), you can enjoy all three at once. Even if you can't, though, you still get to have a nice triplet of fruit flavors.


I love the look of crinkle cookies, and for the holidays, what better compliment to the white of the powdered sugar than a healthy red from a red velvet cookie? These cookies come out cakey with a slight chocolate flavor (red velvet technically is a chocolate cake, after all). Be warned, however, if you have allergies to red food dye, you should definitely avoid this cookie. I used 1 full ounce (4 little bottles) of red food coloring to get this color. But the end result is a cookie that I think Santa would enjoy.


Chai is a wonderful tea that has some strong, spiced flavors from cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and a variety of others (including but not limited to allspice, vanilla, anise, clove, and orange). While this version of shortbread cookies contain no actual tea, they do utilize some of the flavors, including cardamom, cinnamon, clove, and even a dash of black pepper. Feel free to substitute in your favorite holiday spices to add some punch to your holiday treats.


Though my favorite type of cookie is the drop-and-bakes, this set of cookies is a slice-and-bake. Poppy seeds are combined with orange juice and the zests of an orange and a lemon for a more refreshing, light cookie. Be careful about eating too many and taking a drug test, though (don't worry, you would probably pass unless you ate the entire batch of cookies...though that is a definite possibility).


Another type of cookie is the cut-and-bake, seen here in the shape of Christmas trees. The difference in these sugar cookies is the lemon zest and chopped rosemary to give the cookies a woodsier, earthier taste. Feel free to decorate them as you wish. I opted for simple white icing and some dragees (the edible silver balls...don't worry, I did not know what they were called either).


For a lighter cookie, here is a set that is similar to a meringue. After melting some chocolate, whip up some egg whites with cream of tartar, vanilla extract and sugar. Fold in the chocolate and some chopped walnuts. Bake the cookie until shiny and cracked. These cookies almost melt in your mouth and have a decidedly bittersweet chocolate flavor. Thanks to Fine Cooking magazine for the recipe.


Gluten addicts look away. This batch of sugar cookies has two surprises: first, there is no gluten in this recipe. I used a gluten-free (GF) baking mix so my mom could eat them. The second surprise is that they are stuffed with apple butter. You can make these cookies normally. Just take your sugar cookie dough, roll it out a little thick, and sandwich two cutouts around some apple butter, sealing the edges before baking. You can add some glaze to these if you want to hide the pocket of apple butter.




I bought a pomegranate and was looking for something to do with all of the arils (first picture, above). I had been using them as part of snacks and desserts for myself throughout the week as the fresh pomegranate is a lot sweeter than the juice you buy in the store (be careful because they will stain like nobody's business). Then I found a recipe for a chocolate chunk cookie using the pomegranate seeds. Be sure to delicately fold the pomegranate arils into the dough, otherwise you will end up with something that looks like the red velvet cookies. The pomegranate added a nice, fresh, fruity flavor to brighten up the basic cookies.


Here ends the cookies, but now begins the parade of other confections. In the south, the above are only known as brown candy. They taste like a cross between fudge and a pecan praline. I was wary of making this because I recently failed at making caramel, but these candies came out very nicely. Be sure to toast your nuts if you can because the flavors are much more intense.


If you want an easier pecan candy, here it is. You simple melt together some candy coating (vanilla or chocolate) with sweetened condensed milk, salt and vanilla, then add in chopped pecans. Simply let it cool in the fridge then cut. Even though you did not slave over the stove for an hour to make this candy, they still come out quite nice.


Speaking of easy recipes, here is the world's fastest and tastiest peanut butter fudge, courtesy of Alton Brown. You microwave 1 cup of butter with 1 cup of peanut butter in the microwave until it is all melted. Stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 pound of confectioner's sugar. Pour into a pan and refrigerate until it is cool, et voila! This recipe used half of a regular jar of Jif peanut butter (is there any better). I don't normally keep peanut butter in the house, just because I finished off the other half of a jar in about a week.


Those who have followed this blog for a little while know I like to make fruit and nut breads. I found this recipe on foodnetwork.com and had to make it. The bread features pumpkin puree, raisins and apple cider, along with some extra cinnamon to bring together many of the holiday's best flavors. While I could not taste it myself (the one drawback of gifting someone a bread is you can't taste it without making it obvious), I hear the bread turned out nicely.


Lastly, one of the first things I did upon arriving in Florida for the holidays was to bake. This month's Gourmet magazine had a recipe that, like the limoncello cookies, reminded me of our trip to Italy. Vin Santo is a grape-based, sweet wine that can be served with biscotti. This recipe, though, pairs Vin Santo with red grapes and orange zest. The batter is baked in cupcake molds (1/2 cup- or 1 cup-sized) and served warm. The Vin Santo flavor permeates the cakes and gives them a wonderful, fragrant flavor.

After all that, you would think I would take the rest of the year off, but my family has enlisted me to assist in making various dishes this year, including Pietro's cheese bread. I hope everyone has a safe, fun holiday season. Look for more cooking in 2009!

Chachos - 04/18/08

Look at me, I'm Robin Miller!


For those unfamiliar with Food Network, Robin Miller usually has shows where she does a good amount of prep work over the weekend. That way, she can make meals faster during the week. Most notably, though, she uses food she cooks earlier in the week (meats, pastas, rice, etc.) to speed up cooking later in the week. This is exactly what I did. If you remember my chacos, I turned them into chachos. I made more tortilla chips with the corn tortillas. I reheated the chicken tenderloins and chopped them up roughly. I spread the chicken over the chips along with some cheese, then melted the cheese in the microwave. On top, I spread some salsa, sour cream, green onion, and olives. I mainly did all of this because I had eaten the chacos for two meals a day for two days in a row, so I wanted to mix it up a bit. It's just as easy to do this with other meals too. Just ask Robin Miller.

Chacos - 4/16/08

For lunch (and probably dinner too), I made chicken tacos, or as I like to call them, chacos. These are not to be confused with facos (fish tacos) or sacos (steak tacos).


As long as you have all of the right ingredients, these are quite easy to make. I used chicken tenderloins so I would not have to cut up the chicken, but you can easily to this with chicken breasts and slice them up after they are done cooking. Grill or pan fry the chicken. For seasoning, I used garlic salt, pepper, cumin, Sazon Goya, and a little lime juice. When the chicken is done, place it in a tortilla (I love flour tortillas, but corn tortillas are better for you, so I used those this time). On top, you can use whatever you like. Today, I added chopped cabbage, cheese, sour cream, salsa, olives, and green onions. You could easily have chiles, tabasco, lime juice, black beans, cilantro, or anything else you want.

On the side, I made some tortilla chips. The corn tortillas always come in packs of about 50, so there are plenty to spare. I chopped some tortillas into sixths and placed them on a greased cookie sheet. I sprayed them with Pam and dusted them with salt, garlic powder, pepper, and lime juice. I then put them in a 350 degree oven until they were crispy, about 20 minutes or so (I wasn't watching the clock, so don't quote me on it).

Turkey Chili - 3/31/08

I was in a soupy mood, so I decided to make a delicious chili.


This one started with a base of onions and zucchini. They key for soups is not to saute or sear the veggies, but rather to "sweat" them over lower heat with some spices. To this I added the ground turkey and let it cook all the way through. Then I added garlic salt, tomatoes, some tomato paste, and water. I let this simmer for about a half hour, then added the kidney beans. The original recipe called for some cornbread dumplings, but when I made their dough, it was too wet to form real dumplings upon the first try. So instead, I made some small cornbread ovals and baked them in the oven. To serve, I spooned the chili into a bowl and topped it with two cornbread ovals, a dollop of sour cream and fresh cilantro. The dish turned out good and has made great lunch and dinner leftovers.

Chicken Chili with Tostones - 3/4/08

So here's the story. This meal started out greatly different than it ended up. The original idea was to make a yuca-chicken chili with tomatoes. Then my yuca was freezer-burnt. Then my tomatoes had mold on them. I was just going to omit them, but the meal looked so plain. I found some green beans in the freezer and put them in to add some color. So here's what I ended up with.


I sauteed some onions and garlic until they were tender. I added two cans of chick peas plus their juice and let this simmer for a bit. I cut up the meat from one of those Publix rotisserie chickens (this one was mojo flavored) and added that to the pot and let it simmer with a bay leaf, cumin, turmeric, Adobo seasoning, and garlic powder for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, I cut up some plantains (they were a little riper than the should have been) and placed them on a greased cookie sheet. I baked them at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. When I took them out of the oven, I smashed them down with the bottom of a 1 cup measure. Then I baked them for about 10 minutes more until they were a little crisp. Once I removed them from the oven, I salted them. Traditional tostones are made the same way, except they are fried instead of baked.

To bring this all together, I put the chili in a bowl, added a couple of tostones and garnished it with some cilantro and scallions. I am disappointed I was not able to use the yuca (it tastes delicious after it is boiled in lime-water for about 40 minutes), but this result was a good alternative.

On a personal note, I am done traveling, so I should have more updates coming on a more regular basis. I have decided to go to Duke Graduate School. Durham, North Carolina was just an awesome place to live and I feel it will be a great fit.