Author: I'm Gonna Cook That

I'm Jordan. I'm a chef, food activist, and a voracious consumer of culinary knowledge.

IFBC New Orleans is coming!

There once was a woman with a food blog. She blogged and blogged and blogged, and then a week went by when she didn’t blog. And then a month. And then she started to wonder, “Am I still a blogger?”

I think I am. If you’ve been exclusively waiting for me to post here, I’m going to gently guide you by the hand over to my Instagram, so you can get caught up. Someone called it “micro-blogging,” and for some reason that has sounded a lot more manageable than blogging here. There’s a lot going on in my world these days. Three jobs, volunteer committments, all that jazz. Long-form blogging has sort of floated to the bottom of the pile for now. I’m also trying to figure out exactly what I want this blog to be. I think I’m close to figuring it out, but one step at a time.

The International Food Blogger Conference starts in just a few days, and I’ll be headed off to New Orleans for a little learning, a little eating, and hopefully, a chance to just walk around and see the city. I’ll circle back here to do a wrap-up post when I get home, but again, I’ll tenderly push you from behind to go follow me on Instagram to see the food and fun as it happens.  Of course, I’m 100% on board to learn, and this year’s conference is jam packed with expert speakers and fun activities, but as with past years, there are definitely things that have really peaked my anticipation.

This year, IFBC is celebrating its 10th birthday, and to be doing it in such an iconic food city like New Orleans means the traditional “Taste of…” event on Friday night will boast some tasty bites from some of the Crescent City’s hundreds of restaurants and food producers, including Arnaud’s, Emeril’s, and Salt & Light Pastry Co. I’m SO ready to get my grub on, and maybe snag a few recipes from the local chefs.

On Saturday night, we’ll get to have some fun in what IFBC is calling a “Live Food & Drink Social.” Over 20 local food producers will each have five minutes to “pitch” their product while we, the intrepid food bloggers, try to share as much as we can in real time on our chosen blog/social media platforms. We did this last year and it was super hectic, but we all had a blast. It’s also a great exercise in how to prioritize. Do I spend my five minutes trying to get a great picture and letting my fellow bloggers ask all the questions, or do I put the presenter through their paces and just pray I get the shot?

One of the highlights of this year’s IFBC will be, for me, hearing from our Keynote speaker, African American-Jewish culinary historian and James Beard Award winning author Michael Twitty.  Go check out his blog, Afroculinaria, and get totally sucked into his unique style of storytelling.

Obviously, there’s a whole list of places I want to visit, and restaurants I’d like to try, but, I’m a girl on a budget. August just happens to be “COOLinary” month in New Orleans. If you’re familiar with the concept of Restaurant Week, it’s like that, only all month long. Perfect timing to get to try one of the city’s upscale restaurants for a fraction of the cost. I haven’t decided where I’m headed yet, but of course, there will be pictures and a full recap when I finally sit down to stuff my face eat a beautiful dinner like the classy lady that I am. I’ll also be utilizing a few other tried and true tips to get a taste of what the city has to offer without burning a hole in my wallet:

* Check out the bar menu. Small plates and bar snacks are a great way to try a little of what a restaurant has to offer without all the fuss of a full, sit down dinner. If you can catch a happy hour,  even better, because you might find one of the restaurant’s signature cocktails on the menu for a discount.

* Ask a concierge. IFBC is being held at the Royal Sonesta on Bourbon Street. You best believe I’ll be quizzing their concierge staff about where to get some great, local eats that won’t break the bank. A knowledgable concierge will know their city’s restaurant scene like the back of their hand– not just the fine dining places, but also the hidden gems you might miss if you’re relying on your average travel guide.

* Ask a local. If you’re looking to step out of the tourist stream and experience the city like you live there, be brave and ask a local. For every IFBC I’ve attended, I’ve utilized the Couchsurfing app to find a local host, rather than staying in a pricey hotel. One of the most obvious benefits is all the great advice you can get from your host on where to eat, which attractions are worth the cost of admission, and the activities that really should not be missed. I’ve not been steered wrong, yet.

* Hit the grocery store before you leave. I know, it’s tempting, especially in a city known for its food culture, to want to eat out for ALL the things. There are so many places to try! But, you’ll find yourself blowing through your food budget pretty quickly that way. Obviously, I’ll be hitting Cafe du Monde for those iconic beignets and chicory coffee at least one morning, but I’ll also bring some snacks and breakfasty stuff with me from home, to fill in the meal gaps. When your dining dollar has to really stretch, let the grocery store do some pinch hitting.

I am, not surprisingly, not packed, or even close to packed yet, but my excitement for this little working getaway is set to 11. See you in New Orleans!

Not an Im-pasta

It really is me! I’ve been really Instagrammy for the past few months, but I’m finally in my own place with a decent kitchen, so it’s time to start cooking again. This is a super easy pasta dish that comes together fast and leaves you plenty of room to play around with the ingredients. It serves 4-6 people easily.

Equipment:
1 large pot for boiling pasta
Cutting board and chef’s knife
1 saute pan
Colander

Ingredients:
1 leek, cleaned, trimmed, and sliced
1 turkey smoked sausage, cut into slices
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 10 oz. package “Steam in the bag” broccoli
1 cup of water
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan, plus more for garnish
1 16 oz. box of rigatoni pasta
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil. Season generously with salt, and add the uncooked pasta. Follow the package directions for the proper cooking time for whatever pasta you’re using. Almost any shape would work for this. I like rigatoni because it’s substantial, holds on to the saucy bits well, and is just kinda fitting for a rustic dish like this.

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While your pasta is cooking, add a good drizzle of olive oil to your saute pan, followed by the sliced leeks. Season them with a big pinch of salt, and cook over medium heat until they’re softened. Add the sausage, and cook for 5-7 more minutes, until the sausage just starts to take on some color.

Toss in your cut tomatoes and give everything a stir. Season with a bit more salt to help the tomatoes give up their juice. Cook for another couple of minutes, then turn off the heat.

Your pasta is probably done by now, so go ahead and drain it in the colander, then pour it back into your large pot. Pour the contents of the saute pan into the pot, as well, then add 1 cup of water and cook over medium-low heat until the liquid reduces by about 25%. While that’s happening, ,you can throw your bag of broccoli into the microwave and let it do it’s thing. Just follow the package directions for the cooking time.

When the broccoli is cooked, add it to the pot. Then, add the shredded Parm and give it all a big stir. Give it another quick check for seasoning… adding salt, pepper, and whatever else strikes your fancy. I kept it simple because I was cooking for some kinda picky kids, but some torn, fresh basil leaves would be great in this, or even just a good sprinkle of your favorite Italian seasoning blend.

You can also substitute pretty much any other green veg for the broccoli. Green beans might be interesting in this dish, or even spinach. You could even make the dish vegetarian by using sliced portabella mushrooms instead of the sausage.

The whole thing came together in about 35 minutes, so this makes a really great weeknight dinner. Also, if you wanted to make this a one pot dish, just cook the pasta first, then cook the rest of the ingredients while the pasta is draining in the colander. One less thing to clean! Bonus!

BLOG_END

 

My crazy, fun, adventurous, happy, educational 2017
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Reduce Food Waste at Home with Ends + Stems

Indulge me for a moment, will you? Go to your fridge right now. Do a quick inventory. Take special note of any fruits, veggies, or odd leftover boxes of Chinese take-out rice that might be inching just a little close to “not edible anymore.” If I asked you to make dinner tonight with JUST that food, could you do it? Would you want to?

It’s tough to come up with ideas on the fly for all those odds and ends, right? You’ve had a long day, the kids, or well, probably YOU, too, want dinner NAOW! You may not feel terribly motivated to be creative after giving all your energy to other stuff all day. I get it. But, I think we all also get that those leftover bits we don’t know how to use will probably end up in the trash, maybe the compost, but definitely not on the dinner table– that’s money wasted, time wasted, and (duh) FOOD wasted.  That’s why I’m so stoked about a new meal planning service called Ends + Stems, designed specifically to help make sure you use up those, well, ends and stems.

Alison Mountford is the brains behind the operations at Ends + Stems. She’s been a professional chef since 2004, and her career has spanned from personal cheffing, to running a meal delivery service, to some time spent in large scale food tech. Over the course of the last 14 years, she’s had the opportunity to work closely with small farmers, to get an up close look at how our food system works. But, she’s also worked in the homes of families who use the food grown by those farmers, and has taken note of how they do their shopping, how they utilize food, and the logistical concerns that could stand in the way of making that little bit of extra effort to help reduce or even eliminate household food waste.

“The classic advice to reduce your food waste is 1. Write out a meal plan, 2. Shop intentionally. But that takes so much time and effort! The thousands of families I’ve spoken with do care about their waste and its effect on the environment, but they’re already so busy and asked to care about so much,” she says.

In other words, Alison gets it.

She decided she wanted to launch Ends + Stems as a full blown meal planning service in July of this year, and TODAY the very first meal plan goes live.

Meal plans come with easy to follow recipes for nutritious meals, as well as your weekly shopping list, designed to help you purchase only what you need to cook through the recipes.  The final recipe for the week helps you pull together what’s left over from your shopping trip, so nothing goes to waste.

This post isn’t sponsored. She didn’t ask me to write it. I heard about Ends + Stems through another chef friend, and after getting the full scoop, I was totally on board to support a product that ticked so many boxes for me. Woman-owned business? Check! Helps reduce food waste? Check! Does all my thinking for me (at least when it comes to meal planning)? Check! Check! Check!

Here’s another big win– If you sign up with Ends + Stems anytime in the next six months, it’s free! Alison and her team believe that by building a community of Ends + Stems meal planners, trading tips, talking about their favorite recipes, and really helping to make Ends + Stems a resource for home cooks, word will spread and everyone will want to get on board this No Food Waste train. Small, meaningful change in how we shop and cook CAN make a difference.

I’ve made it super easy for you to sign up… just click anywhere you see Ends + Stems in this blog post to head over to the website and get started. Once you’ve signed up, spend a little time checking out any of the great videos posted there, look through more tips on reducing food waste, and connect with Ends + Stems on social media to keep up with all the newest stuff being added to make your experience even richer.

Instagram: @endsandstems
Facebook: Ends + Stems

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

-Margaret Mead

Happy Cooking!

Live Blogging: Product Tasting

Hi folks! I’m at IFBC, the International Food Bloggers Conference, in Sacramento. We’re closing out the conference with something really new for me, a Live Blogging Session. Feel free to follow along as I try to describe each product in 5 minutes.

Product 1 is from Fish People Seafood, @fishpeople on social media. They’re a sustainable seafood company based in Oregon. All the fish is caught in the left coast of the U.S., and it stays in the country. They are passionate about keeping those jobs in the American coastal towns that do the fishing. They buy their fish from independent fisheries, which are paid a fair wage. We could go to Tracethisfish.com, type in the code, PWS101 and learn more about the fisherman who caught the fish we ate today.

https://fishpeopleseafood.com/pages/track-your-pouch-PWS101

Fish People’s fish meal kits provide you with everything you need to produce a beautiful, chef quality meal.

Product 2 is a two-fer, olive oil and balsamic vinegar from Capay Valley Ranches, @cvranches.

Their Arbosana EV Olive Oil won silver at the New York International Olive Oil Competition this year. We also sampled the cranberry white balsamic vinegar.

Product 3 is Classy Hippie Tea Company, @ClassyHippieTea. We tried a tea called Beautiful People, which is a green sencha with strawberry and orange, blended with a little bit of champagne. It’s light, fruity, and refreshing. The second tea we tried was a Puerh Chai, which is a tea that is naturally fermented. There’s more spice on the nose than in the taste, but it really does smell lovely and spicy.

Product 4 is a 2016 3 Graces Blanc from Bella Grace Vineyards. It’s a blend of Grenache Blanc, Vermentino and Roussanne. It’s a very light straw color. It has pear and kiwi on the nose, with more pear at first taste. It’s a little tart on the back-end. I’m not a wine expert, but I’d definitely drink this as a summer wine.

Product 5 is Naples Drizzle, “The Italian Hot Sauce that Goes with Everything.” It’s all natural, with no sugar and no vinegar. It’s made with 100% EV olive oil. We tried it on a Margherita pizza, and it’s got the kind of kick you want from that little shaker of pepper flakes that sits on the table at every pizza spot, but as a drizzle. I think it would be a great addition to Asian inspired sauces, as well.  It can be purchased on Amazon.com.

Product  6 is kind of a surprise… Almond Butter from Lindsay Olives. This new product comes in Classic Creamy, Classic Crunchy, and a Honey Cinnamon. All three spread well, and that Honey Cinnamon flavor was so yummy on apple slices! There’s no added sugar, just the honey to add a touch of sweetness.

Product 7 is another wine, Obsession Symphony from Ironstone Vineyards. It’s a blend of Muscat of Alexandria and Grenache grapes. It’s super floral on the nose, with some fruit and a little grass (I think, because I don’t know much) on first sip. It goes really nicely with spicy food, and meatier dishes, like the pork with jalapeno we tried.

Product 8 is a beautiful citrus drink, a Chilean Clementine Cooler, from @FruitsfromChile. Chilean Clementine, Lime Juice, Club Soda, and a little simple syrup make up this yummy mocktail, but they recommend vodka or gin if you want to spike it. It’s Citrus season right now, so take advantage of the lingering warm weather before the fall chill takes over and we all start switching to ciders and hot cocoa.

Product 9 is a flash brewed coffee on nitro from Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters. They heat the water, and a concentrate is brewed over ice, which melts the ice, which Chocolate Fish says brings out more of the natural sweetness in the coffee. They just won 2nd overall in the largest coffee competition in North America, competing against over 800 other coffees.

Product 10 is California Strawberries. They recommend that strawberries be stored in the fridge, but should be served at room temperature for maximum sweetness and flavor. Eight strawberries make a perfect snack, weighing in at just 45 calories, packed with vitamins and antioxidants.

That’s the end of our live blogging. That was a wild ride, you guys! Thanks for tagging along.