Epic Portions

Author: admin

  • Moroccan Chickpea Soup

    Winter is upon us with a vengeance, and what better night to enjoy soup than a frigid Michigan winter evening.   In that spirit, epic soup consumption has become a Friday ritual for us.  My lovely and talented wife comes home from work early and plays with the kids while I get to cook. With the magic of Pandora radio and Hoegaarden (the greatest beer in the universe) I look forward to my Friday soup adventures all week.

    This week I made one of our favorites, my take on Moroccan Chickpea.

    Start by melting a tablespoon of butter in a large pot. Actually let me start over. Set your iPod on Pandora and select whatever artist suits you that particular day. Then, open up one of these:

    Then melt one tablespoon of butter in a large pot. Add roughly one cup of mirepoix, which is fancy French talk for celery, carrots, and onion. But believe me, it is much more fun to say mirepoix. Add a pinch of kosher salt and allow the aforementioned mirepoix to saute in the pot with the butter for about five minutes. Enjoy the smell and sip/guzzle your beer, depending on how you feel that day.

    After five minutes are up, add 32 oz. of low-sodium chicken broth (personal preference, I’d rather add salt if it needs it) and 8 oz. vegetable stock and bring to a boil.

    Once you have achieved a rapid boil, add one cup of elbow pasta. Allow pasta to boil for 5-6 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and add the following:

    1/2 teaspoon turmeric
    1/2 teaspoon black pepper
    One 16 oz. can of chickpeas, drained
    One cup tomato puree

    To this add a pinch of parsley, no problem using the dehydrated version. Use your best judgement, if you are into precise measurements, soup isn’t your thing. Try baking. Please. I hate baking and am happy to let my wife be the baker.

    Back to the soup. Allow this wondrous concoction to simmer for about 10-15 minutes while stirring and smelling frequently.   Then, add the crucial ingredient:

    Fresh chopped cilantro

    Add fresh chopped cilantro and let simmer for five more minutes. Save a little for garnish.

    The final result:

    Serve with pita bread for dipping.

    If you are in the mood for a delicious, healthy, and hearty winter soup, this should hit the spot.

    And if you don’t like, just drink a couple more of these:

  • Steak ‘n’ Shake!!!

    I looked through the archives of this site and was shocked to see that Steak n Shake has never been reviewed on this site!  Of course, it may have something to do with the fact that the one in Ypsilanti is one of the worst in the nation and I have no clue how close Todd is to the ones in his area.  I know there are NONE in VA, which really pisses me off.  So I knew when I went back to Springfield, MO for leave, I would definitely have to make a trip to Steak n Shake.  Why?

    Maybe it’s because the five best S n S’s in the country are here due to the fact that the owner of the company lives in Branson, MO.

    Maybe it’s because I’m a former employee and I know the standard of service to expect from the place.

    Maybe it’s just that I love burgers made from grade A steak cuts rather than ground beef.

    Maybe it’s the shoestring french fries or the hand-dipped, home-made Milkshakes.

    Maybe it’s…

    BEAN CROCK!

    Anyway, for a brief history of the place go here, I’m not making this any longer than I have to…

    So for our little culinary jaunt to our oldtime haunt, Amy Went with a classic fave…

    The Mid-westernly famous Frisco Melt!!!

    In case you have trouble reading image captions, that’s a Frisco Melt.  Two Steakburger patties with swiss and cheddar cheese, 1000 Island dressing, and lettuce on sourdough bread.  She also got cheese fries.  In fact, this is pretty much all she ever orders from Steak n Shake.  For her drink, she went with a Vanilla Dr. Pepper (that’s right, you can add cherry or vanilla flavor to your drink at no charge!).

    So what did your bespectacled and currently enbearded author order?  Well, usually I go with a Mushroom n Swiss Steakburger with Fries and a cup of chili and have a chocolate shake, but I was feeling a bit adventurous and saw a new menu item that caught my fancy!

    The Western BBQ Bacon Steakburger!!!

    Yes, once again, I’m doing a review where I ordered a BBQ Bacon Burger.  What can I say?  I love them.  This one wasn’t outstanding but it was pretty good.  It had french fried onions on it, which was pretty tasty.   I used to eat entire cans of that stuff like they were potato sticks.  Anyway, digressing. I also got a cup of chili with cheese and crackers.

    Oh yeah, I got this with my meal too…

    For my beverage, I got…

    A Hershey's Syrup Special Dark ChocolateMilkshake

    Oh yum…  Seriously, that was an amazing shake!  I don’t know if it’s worth $5, but it’s a damn good shake (100 pop culture cool points to the first person other than John or Todd to name that quote).

    On the subject of their shakes, they have over 20 different varieties of milkshakes.  I mean, it’s half their name, so one would expect some quality and variety, am I right?

    Here’s a few pics I took of their selection…

    These ones are candy inspired…
    Some classic shakes: Chocolate, OrangeFreeze, Strawnana side-by side, Root Beer Float, and Turtle sippable Sundae

    They have your regular shakes in Chocolate, Vanilla, Mocha, Strawberry, Spec Dark, and an

    Orange Freeze which is made by mixing vanilla ice cream with water and orange flavor instead of milk.

    Then they have the specialty shakes such as Butterfinger, Cookies n Cream, Cookie Dough, T urtle Nut Supreme, Mint Cookies and Creme, Double Fudge, Peanut Butter Cup and Banana Split.  These are called Sippable Sundaes.  They also have strawberry and raspberry smoothies.  My favorite thing they do with their shakes though, is the Side-by-Side.  You can take two flavors of shakes and have them side by side in the same glass.  Create flavors such as Banocolate, Strawnana, Chocnilla, or MochaChocolate.

    Another thing I like about the location I went to today is the fact that if you sit at the counter, you can see the food being made on the line.

    View from the side

    ORDER UP!

    So if you’re ever in any of the states from Texas to Pennsylvania (excluding LA, VA, NJ, and MD), check this place out for a fun, nostalgic, good food served fast experience.  And if you want the best service from Steak n Shake, come to Springfield, MO.  Seriously, I scarcely had time to think “where’s the food?” when it was in front of me.  Excellent service. I leave you with some pics of my kids playing with the fold up cars  they gave us.

    Amelie's car

    Steak n Shake
    Various locations throughout the Mid-West to East Coast
    http://www.steaknshake.com/

  • Chopped

    The new season of Chopped debuts on Food Network next week, and if you haven’t seen this culinary competition before, despite its short comings it is fine entertainment on most nights. The premise of the show is intriguing; hosted by uber-nerd Ted Allen, Chopped has four chefs competing for $10,000 by having what is in essence a cook-off in three rounds, appetizer, entrée and dessert. The contestants are usually pretty skilled and handle themselves well. Occasionally one of the typical emotional basket cases that seem to populate reality TV sneaks in, but overall I have been impressed with the caliber of the contestants. This is mostly because the trick of the show is that in each round a basket is presented with ingredients that must be used in the dish. This can be great fun, watching some obsessive-compulsive chef who is used to running a restaurant try to make an appetizer out of unsweetened chocolate, jumbo prawns, and clamato never loses its appeal.

    What makes Chopped annoying is the judges. Each one tends to be overly dramatic in their criticism, and their outrage is usually disproportionate to the crime. They have the same level of anger towards someone who double dips their finger in the sauce or serves a dangerously undercooked turkey dish as they do the person who fails to coherently make gummy bear encrusted chicken. A typical comment will be something like this: “I would be ashamed to serve this gummy bear encrusted chicken if it were my restaurant.” You don’t say. Perhaps you should get up and try your hand at it. I’ve seen Aaron Sanchez on Chefs vs. City. He seems to spend half the show running around, I don’t seem to recall him being presented with a basket containing starfruit, ostrich, and instant grits and being forced to make something delicious.

    One of the worst of the judges is Alex Guarnaschelli. Below is a photo:

    While I’m certain that in life Ms. Guarnaschelli is a fine human being, she comes across particularly shrill. You would think she would have a word with the editors and ask that they not make her look like a complete bitch every show. The funniest part about this is that now Ms. Guarnaschelli has her own show, Alex’s Day Off. I have a great idea for an episode, someone should drop off a basket containing plantains, frozen scallops and Cheese-Its and then berate her for coming up with a less than perfect dish.

    Will the annoying judges be toned down next season? Who knows, odds are Food Network will find a way to botch it even more, or have some stupid event where Bobby Flay takes on pastry chefs and the basket coincidentally contains ancho chilies, Kobe beef and fingerling potatoes. I will still check out the newest episodes and see if Chopped remains worthwhile viewing. I sure hope so, Food Network is becoming unwatchable, and Chopped is hanging under the cleaver itself.