Edible Inevitable Tour, Lace Potatoes, Meatballs and Pork Chops Dijonnaise

Edible Inevitable Tour

Sally and I had a fabulous time last Thursday evening at the BB Mann Performing Arts Hall, watching my single most favorite culinary hero, Alton Brown, in his Edible Inevitable tour. If he visits anywhere near you -- GO! You'll hate yourself if you don't.  Sally had never seem Alton, but has heard me talk about him often.  I've been following him for years on Food Network.   Tickets to his show were Sally's Christmas present to me.

So much fun!! Belching and farting yeast puppets are the pre-show entertainment! Then AB comes on and opens the show with a Food Rap! Who knew he was also an accomplished guitarist, singer/songwriter -- rap, CW and folk-ballad?

There there was his rant about Things I'm (pretty) Sure I'm Sure About Food. I still can't decide whether my favorite bit was Trout Don't Belong In Ice Cream, where he relates Iron Chef Sakai's making of that substance and his having to taste the same, on camera. Or the Chicken Don't Have Fingers bit where he talked about making real chicken fingers (ie. deep fried chicken feet) for his then 5th grade daughter's sleep-over friends.

Two amazing, giganto food demonstrations. First, the Jet Cream Machine in which he and an audience participant made a gallon of carbonated chocolate ice cream in 10 seconds (plus a few minutes of audience participation) with plastic water cooler bottles, a CO2 fire extinguisher, a water fire extinguisher and a lot of plumbing.

Then came the Mega Bake, AB's 21st century descendant of the single bulb Easy Bake Oven. The Mega Bake made pizza in 4 minutes flat, with over a million lumens of former theatrical stage lights and lots of ABs signature showmanship with another audience volunteer.

If you look reeeeeaaallllyyy close in this photo by AB's crew, Sally and I are in the first balcony, third row back from the edge, center:

Here's a really good review of the show:

http://www.broadwayworld.com/rhode-island/article/BWW-Reviews-Alton-Brown-Cooks-Up-Entertaining-EDIBLE-INEVITABLE-TOUR-20140222

11:Eleven Cafe

One of the best bites, Alton says on the tour so far, was an Avocado Grilled Cheese from the 11:Eleven Cafe near here. We'd never heard of the place although it's only fifteen minutes from Sally's house. So we went for Saturday dinner.

This is my kinda place. A chef doing what s/he loves to do, and making you love it. No pretentions, no hype -- just a more than a dozen great comfort food flavor combinations presented as a Grilled Cheese sandwich, an open-faced Nan Flatbread, a Stuffed Baked Potato or a topped Savory Waffle.

Sally had the Mushroom and Garlic combination on a monsterous baked potato with a tasty side salad topped with the house Honey Lime dressing.  I had Alton's choice, the Avocado & Four Cheese base as a grilled cheese with a side of Krista's signature Sauced & Tossed Apples.

I know Krista had been swamped for lunch. Then we showed up for an early dinner. They were running low or out of a couple of ingredients. But that's a GOOD thing; trust me.  Especially when you can still make customers happy. Sally though her meal could have had more mushrooms and more garlic. I thought my sandwich could have used a bit more avocado. But the flavors were spot on and delicious. If you're in the area be sure to visit 11:Eleven Cafe!

Read more about Chef Krista Leigh, her food philosophy, and the 11:Eleven Cafe at http://www.11elevencafe.com

Bennett's Fresh Roast

The other place AB visited and enjoyed while visiting Fort Myers was Bennett's Fresh Roast, IMHO the best coffee and hand cut fresh every day doughnut shop in the state. The Maple Bacon doughnut is a manly-manly treat!!

Lace Potatoes

I'm a big fan of the science fiction and fantasy written by L.E. Modesitt, of Cedar City, UT. In a great many of his novels, characters are found eating "lace potatoes". For years  I thought it was a literary invention -- not a regular Earth potato, but an alien planet "potato equivilent".   But...  I just finished another of his many novels the other day, and sure enough there was this character having lace potatoes. But this novel was set on Earth.  Then I got to thinking (always dangerous).... So I looked it up on the Internet (which we all trust implicitely, of course) and sure enough there were several recipes for Lace(d) Potatoes.

Laced in this case means "shredded". Now, where I grew up, Hash Browns were cubed potatoes cooked together with peppers, ham, onions and other goodies. But here in the South, Hash Browns are made with shredded (laced) potatoes. Laced or shredded, give Lace Potatoes a try! Here's my recipe for baked not pan fried Laced Potatoes:

1 large White or Gold Potato per person

Black Pepper to taste

Rosemary, to taste

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan (cylinder Parm is OK but real shredded is best)

Preheat the oven to 450F.

Shred the potatoes on the large opening of your box grater (or #2 slaw cone on a SaladMastertm). Toss to combine with pepper and rosemary.

Spray baking sheets with non-stick, or use non-stick foil. Make mounds of the potatoes about 4" in diameter, patted down to 1/4" thick. Dust with Parmesan. Bake for 20 minutes.

The above steps can be done early, and the baked rounds can be refrigerated up to eight hours. Then fire up the broiler and continue.

Change oven to Broil. While it heats, gently flip the cakes, dust again with parmesan, and broil 3 minutes (more or less) until brown and crispy. Watch closely or they're char around the edges, like mine did! 

A little carbon in your diet is a good thing!   This is where real shredded Parm melts better than that powdered stuff and would have helped prevent the burnt bits.

Be creative! There are tons of spices that would go great here -- smoked paprika, Emeril's BAM blends, Sazon Complete or other Latin blends, Italian blend, Cavender's, Everglades, Old Bay.

Breaded Meatballs

These are a great potluck/party offering. The original recipe I found on the Internet calls for 6 cups of Bisquick tm and two pounds of cheese. If you can incorporate more than 4 cups of flour and 12 ounces of cheese, you're a miracle worker!!

Preheat the oven to 300F

4 cups Bisquicktm

12 ounces of shredded sharp cheddar

1 lb Ground Pork (or spicy bulk pork sausage if you don't want to mess with the following spices

1 Tbsp Smoked Paprika

1 Tbsp Evergladestm seasoning

1 Tbsp White Pepper

Sounds like a lot of spice, I know.  But they will be diluted by all that flour.  My first batch, with just a teaspoon of each spice, was too bland by far.  Mix the spices into the meat first. Then add the Bisquick and cheese and mix well. Really well. Roll between your palms into golf ball sized pieces. Bake on non-stick pans for 30 minutes or until no longer pink inside. Skewer with toothpicks, and serve. Makes about two dozen meatballs.

For the Dipping Sauce

3 medium Starfruit, chopped

1/4 cup Sweet Baby Ray's Original BBQ sauce

Sugar to taste

Puree, chill, and serve.

Pork Chops Dijonnaise

Another simple meal created on the fly. You can make this sort of thing too.  Much better than those frozen dinner things!

1 Pork Chop per person, thick cut, bone-in for flavor.

Freshly ground Black Pepper, to taste

Wide Egg Noodles

Frozen Peas

1-2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard

1 Tbsp Corn Starch and water slurry for thickener

Start the water for the pasta. Dust the chops with pepper and start frying them in a splash of EVOO. While that's going on measure out the peas into a small pot with a bit of Di-hydrogen Monoxide* and turn the fire under the pot to low.

When the pasta water boils add the egg noodles and cook to package directions. Turn the chops when they need it. When the chops are done, remove them from the skillet. Deglaze the skillet with a 1/2 cup of water and scrape up all that great flavored fond (the brown bits stuck to the pan). Add the dijon mustard and stir to combine. When it starts to boil, add the corn starch slurry and stir again. Cook until the gravy thickens. Drain the pasta and plate everything. Top with the Dijonnaise sauce and serve.

* Di-hydrogen Monoxide is water -- H2 O.