I love to cook. Be it alone, where I find an afternoon of solo chopping to be quite therapeutic, or tackling major menus with friends, there’s nothing better than wielding the knife with some music blasting (dub-step was a popular cooking choice of mine this year) and a cold beer next to the cutting board. I’ve learned much more, but have so far to go. I mean, I’ve never done a souffle! Or a standing rib roast! I want to learn Indian cuisine, and how to clean and filet fish, and charcuterie, and…the list goes on. For now, here are a few of my favorite cooking lessons from 2011.

Pasta dishes like aglio e olio, cacio e pepe, and carbonara made many appearances this year. Simple enough in design, to obtain the perfect texture and sauce consistency requires experiential timing and touch. I finally feel like I can make a proper pasta. Beautiful fresh pasta nests like these definitely help.

My favorite pasta all year was a quick pan sauce of salty pasta water and ‘nduja, a hot Calabrian spreadable salami I obtained from Jason at Cured Meats. I must have made that dish four times that week. I did spare a little to make a stunning grilled cheese with basil.

Cooler sous vide – I finally got my pastured pork at that exact right temperature.

Flannery beef. Still the reigning champ of steak in my book. So expensive. But so good. Look at the marbling on this strip!

Lasagna. My ultimate comfort food. I made many in 2011, including a few vegetarian versions so Katie could enjoy it along with me. But my heart belongs to Bologna. I made the bechamel (which I’ve finally nailed) and meat ragu version a couple of times, including once with calf livers, which made it extra funky and interesting. Lasagna for breakfast (with an espresso, in this one photo) is the best. Marone!

Soups. I’m making them quite regularly these days. They used to intimidate me for whatever silly reason, but now I know I can dig around my fridge and pantry and make SOME sort of soup. The Vitamix helps (understatement). This soup below is a mix of frozen peas and water and herbs. Nothing more.

Over the last week I’ve knocked out cheese sauces. I had a mac and cheese break (greasy, grainy) a few weeks ago, so I spent some time researching why this happens, then played around with a few variations of recipes. I wanted a cheese sauce that could take a real sharp cheese, melt smoothly, and hold up even when reheated. I’ve found my easy, no cream method – bechamel held with xantham gum. Mix in small quantities of grated cheese over very low heat.

The veggie plate. Chili oil marinated squash. Gently simmered pink eye peas. Yuzo kosho mashed cauliflower. Tomatoes with chives. No recipes, just preparing things simply and properly and seasoning in a way that makes sense.

Homemade biscuits. Buttery (but not soggy), flaky, crusty on the outside, made with buttermilk and frozen butter. Maybe not the prettiest, but I nailed the texture. It made my day.

Porchetta. Or a version thereof. This one was a picnic pork shoulder, with herbs, roasted for hours, the skin finished under the broiler.

2011 was the year I broke the oven in my kitchen. I began cooking my pizzas at 800F+ on the clean cycle, which is a process that requires some trial and error. I became a little more familiar with making, aging, and working with doughs, though I still need lots of practice there.

Moving on to other people’s food – my brother made some extremely impressive gougères. Better than the last time I tried the French Laundry recipe, and better than any I’ve tried outside of my meal at Per Se.

My friend Brad and I tackled a Momofuku meal. While I wasn’t overly impressed with the dishes, it was once again a great learning experience. This time we got to break down a whole pig’s head, debone chickens, and assemble this dish with meat glue.

And while I learn a lot by trying to follow complicated recipes word for word, my friend Rowdy continues to rock it in the kitchen and be an inspiration with his freewheeling style. I still can’t touch his hot chicken. How did he know that dish of cured, but uncooked bacon with a thyme dressing would be brilliant at 1:30 in the morning? I don’t think he did. But he just gets in the kitchen and experiments, and more and more I think that’s the way to do it.

Ms. Moore pointed me in the direction of Spice Junction, a restaurant which opened this summer, and happens to be less than a mile from my office way out in the access road wastelands of West Columbia.

Side story – Eva wrote a nice article about a new cookbook called The Whole Hog Cookbook, which generously featured pictures of my friend Emile’s pork farm, only for everyone to find out later that the cookbook was paid for by Smithfield. Not only was he unknowingly promoting the king (dictator?) of industrial pork, but they didn’t credit the photos as Caw Caw Creek farm. Essentially, they want you to think their facilities look something remotely close to Emile’s swine Xanadu. Sows crammed into crates, covered in blood and wounds and sores do not make for a great cookbook cover I guess.

While Spice Junction is the usual buffet of various regional Indian specialties, I enjoyed my lunch. Super friendly people, an open, clean space, and the curries are bright and flavorful, without any tired, soggy meats. The goat was especially notable, with that firm, but tender texture one aims to achieve in beef bourguignon.

The blistery, hot bread, doused in butter (or likely, ghee?) was a nice touch.

Another restaurant near my office I learned of via Free Times is a raw food restaurant called Good Life Cafe.

I have very little experience with raw food, but I was pleasantly surprised at how excellent my “tacos” were. My photo doesn’t do it justice; it was much more vivid and enticing in person. The kale side is stellar, so much flavor, and texturally on point. I liked the crunchy and juicy jicama “not potato” salad, though I think this portion exceeds the amount of jicama I’ve consumed in my life. The tacos were the opposite of bland. Salsa, guac, cashew “nacho cheese” and “sour cream”, and deft savory spicing of the walnut meat provide enough flavor for any doubter. I could eat this every day and feel good about myself. In that way, it reminds me of Dynamic Dish. I very much look forward to digging into their menu.

How can you not love a place called Chicken & Beer? Even if it’s really just the subtext for the actual name of the Korean chain – BBQ Chicken. Whenever I’m driving home from Greenville (which is often), I make a point to stop in Duluth for some grub. I usually check out Chow Down and Blissful Glutton’s sites for the must-visit places and make lists of where I want to go, this being one of them.

Which reminds me, I really want to write an iPhone app that is similar to Yelp, except it’s only for viewing (no feedback) and the only content is from bloggers, allowing you to filter by blogger and search geographically. So if I’m in Duluth I could check out a map and see pin points of all the places Chow Down recommends, maybe a 1-2 sentence summary, address/phone, and a link to her full blog post to view in Safari.

The whole problem with Yelp is credibility. As I mentioned yesterday, part of following a single blogger is you can develop a level of trust between blogger and reader. I keep whole lists of restaurants that Gene (Eat Drink Man) recommends, because I generally enjoy the style of food he cooks and the type of restaurant where he dines. It’s much more valuable to me than a bunch of aggregated data from random “Elites” or people with very different tastes. One day. If anyone wants to help, let me know.

Back to the chicken, which was really good. The olive oil fried surface is as crunchy as it gets, with more than a little spice and plenty of seasoning. I dug the flavor from the oil, which they must cook at a lower temp to avoid a bitter, singed crust. Olive oil burns somewhere around 320F. It’s not perfect as the chicken was overdone and not moist enough, but I’d rather more flavor and a super great crust than have a particularly great bird on the inside (LeRoy’s). Recommended for shizzle. It’s right next door to Honey Pig in a newer strip mall. Free Wi-Fi.

I also wanted noodles so I hit up Dan Moo Ji, where I feel about as old and boring as a white guy can feel in Duluth. They’re chock full of young and good looking Korean youngsters, sucking down noodles, and watching Biebs videos on the television. And apparently writing cutesy stuff on the walls. Tee hee hee!

Gratis pickled radish and broth (good even on a hot day) to start.

I started with kimchi gimbap, which is reminiscent of a maki roll. They aren’t mind blowing, but it’s a nice way to get your kimchi and rice fix in bite size form. They’re cheap too.

I also ordered the cold noodles with vegetables and spicy sauce, jjolmyeon. I had not read Jen’s post since last year, and I was definitely put off for a moment when the petite waitress asked me if she could mix up my bowl.

Though I was confused as to why she thought I couldn’t mix my noodles up with my chopsticks, I said sure, and she proceeded to put on a plastic glove and dove her hand into the bowl. As she man-handled my noodles, she gazed at me and asked, “How do you know about this place?”

To which I replied, “the internet.”

“Ah”, she said, as if that made perfect sense.

Just like that my first, and best, handle noodle mixing job was over. I hope it was good for her too.

The noodles were great, super chewy and a bunch of sauce ended up on my shirt as I had difficulty snapping the strands with each bite. Appropriate spice level, I think. Plenty leftover to take home too.

After all that fried chicken and carbs I made a veggie plate for dinner. Tomatoes with chive and balsamic. Pink eye peas with pimienton and a shot of good sherry vinegar. Mandoline sliced squash quickly marinaded in chili oil. And yuzu kosho dosed cauliflower mash (sort of a play on the old horseradish mashed potatoes of twenty years ago). Katie and I were quite pleased with this impromptu and quickly produced meal. Summer vegetable season is a great one.

I visited The Shed recently a Thursday evening, which is their “Harvest Night”, featuring your selection of four vegetables (from roughly ten options) for $10. I’ve never attended slider night, because I’m in South Carolina every Wednesday, but on Thursday’s I am often driving back to Atlanta on I-20, so I pass right by The Shed and it’s easy to stop in. My house is probably only twenty minutes from The Shed, but it’s funny how proximity can play such a large part in my dining selection. The difference between ten and twenty minutes can be a major deciding factor.

Now with my third Thursday night visit under my belt, I actually look forward to the drive home from Columbia, so I can justify the need to stop; “…well I’m right here, I pretty much have to stop in for some dinner…”.

A few of the sliders are on the regular menu now, so I’ve had a couple of those, but the vegetable plate is the heat. No matter what the selection, they are always very well prepared. Mushy canned vegetables these ain’t. The selections available list a few expected mainstays, but there are always a handful of rotating items that make things interesting.

I’m somewhat embarrassed to even put up this post because my vegetarian girlfriend may smite me because I haven’t taken her for harvest night. Well, see you next Thursday.

Last week I once again traveled for work, but this time I was doing my annual visit to our North Carolina branches. Not only did I get to enjoy memorable food in Chapel Hill (Lantern), heady pizza in Greensboro (Sticks ‘n Stones), and numerous chopped pork sandwiches, I was also able to swing by my parents’ house Tuesday evening and have a belated Father’s Day dinner with my dad.

He’s the guy showing off this tomato plants above. They’re already very tall, huh? He’s somewhat fanatic about them. The plastic poles he was using to grow the plants were bending and falling over from the excessive weight, so a couple of years ago some guys at work took 4/8″ reinforcing steel rods (rebar), welded cross sections every few feet, and spray painted them green. Those suckers aren’t going anywhere.

We had a nice dinner of bruschetta (utilizing first tomatoes from the garden), arugula salad, red snapper, asparagus, and corn. A real taste of summer.

I brought a (allegedly) nice bottle of ’02 Roumier Corton-Charlemagne to celebrate. Dad brought the Chassagne-Montrachet. Turns out his was the winner (and saving grace) as the Grand Cru Corton was oxidized. I knew premature oxidation was a potential risk with white Burgundy, but damn I was still disappointed. This was my first three figure wine failure, and at my budget, it’s a loss that carries quite a sting. To put it eloquently, it’s a major bummer. I’m not shying away though, because I still crave them and think they’re some of the most exciting wines to drink, white wine or otherwise. Part of the Burg allure is their hit-and-miss nature…

We’ll see if I still feel the same way if my next few splurge bottles end up being bunk. :)

The burger below is from Pawley’s Front Porch in Columbia, SC. A local favorite, they were recently featured on Diner’s, Drive-In’s, and Dive’s. Not that I put much stock in that show, though Fieri’s ability to act like he just had his freaking mind blown after taking a bite of some unoriginal fried mess is impressive. “What’s that? The secret ingredient is Old Bay? Get the f out of here!”

I had a speciality burger with green tomato and bacon. It was huge, almost cooked like I asked, and satisfying. I liked the green tomato, though I took a bit of it off. The Tabasco onion rings were a let down, as I couldn’t place the faintest hint of the cayenne sauce. A worthy burger stop in Columbia. Topping/creativity driven.

Below is the grass fed burger at Yeah! Burger. I can’t say I was too impressed with the burger, and a few things were messed up on my order, but they’ve hardly been open so I’m not condemning them by any means. I won’t even get into the details until I have a chance to try it again.

Miller-Union burger. All around well done, executed with precision. Well formed/right size patty, great bun, toppings were the proper size, well melted cheese, properly seasoned beef, etc. It’s just clear when care goes into something, even when it’s just a burger.

Can’t go to M-U without the veggie snack!

*sorry for crappy iphone pics*

I had a stellar dinner at the bar at Cakes & Ale last night. The restaurant was full, and I could have waited less than thirty minutes for a table, but I’m still on a bar dining kick. This was my third visit to C&A, but it was the first time I was really able to dig into the wine list, which is above average. The options are all over the globe (almost too varied, unfocused), with well-priced selections. Miller-Union may be the most interesting wine list I’ve seen recently, but Cakes & Ale has them beat in one area – wine by the carafe.

Roughly half the wines are available by the glass or by carafe, which is equal to three large glasses of wine. The price is slightly above the cost of two glasses of wine. If a glass is $9, the carafe will probably be between $20-22. I ordered a carafe of delicious Sancerre for $24. The bottle retails for $20-$26.

We ordered two appetizers and one main – plenty for two people. The salad of thin sliced zucchini, fennel, radish, onion, and goat cheese toast was mouthwateringly good; perfectly dressed vegetables, at just the right temperature, contrasted well with the slightly salty cheese.

We also had the gnocchi with small tomatoes app – the gnocchi were the best I’ve had in recent memory, expertly toeing the line between firm and mushy. Warm cross sections of cherry and small heirloom tomatoes were my long-due reintroduction to summer. Smoky mozzarella and aromas of pesto tied it all together, like a nice rug.

The main of fregola with roasted vegetables and mint-lime yogurt was surprisingly good. A hodgepodge of pasta similar to Israeli cous cous, charred lemon, tomato, oyster mushrooms, the craziest tender but snappy firm turnips, creamy yogurt, and seemingly just plucked from the garden micro-greens will bring any veggie lover to their knees.

Sounds like I loved this dinner, no?

Farmer’s market season is (finally) in full effect, and I’m back this year at the Peachtree Road Farmers Market. I’m ashamed to say I’ve never even been to the Morningside market, as PRFM is so close to my house. But it’s a very good market and it seems to be getting better too – more vendors, more people…less parking. I took these shots on a visit a few weeks ago.

Surprise, surprise – the city wants more money…, or I guess just enjoys being a pain in the ass.

Souper Jenny out selling her lobster rolls.

The line at Crepe Masters is always 5-10 people long so I’ve never had one, but they must be good.

My favorite vendors include: Native Juices, Riverview Farms, H&F Bread, Pine St Market, Moto Bene, Zocalo Salsa (salsa verde!), and Farmer Jeff’s produce.

Dan Latham (Moto Bene) is making some outrageous pizza from his portable oven. Kessler wrote about him here.

The pies often utilize whatever is in season at the market. This past Saturday I had a pie with ricotta, mozzarella, thin slices of zucchini, breakfast sausage, topped with squash blossoms after cooking. Wow. His end crust is some of the best I’ve had – light, slightly puffy inside, and just crispy enough. Really fantastic. Texturally, it’s somewhere in between Varasano’s and Antico. If and when Dan sets up shop, his pie is going to be formidable. Based on a two minute conversation, he seems to be a nice guy that loves pizza; definitely a welcome addition.

Bought some greens…

Roasted spring onions and cherry tomatoes, bibb lettuce, dandelion greens, homemade ranch dressing

Burgers last night – H&F bread made the burger

After being on the road for 8 days, I’m finally back in Atlanta. The trip was mostly work, though I did participate in a triathlon on Jekyll Island on Saturday (5th in my age group!) and hung out on the beach the rest of the day. Not too awful.

I had lots of good food on the trip. I ate at Noble Fare in SAV on Friday night. Savannah food is sort of a mystery to me. There’s lots of the touristy overpriced garbage, decent and plain seafood, but not much in the way of intriguing, off-beat meals. I think Noble Fare is the best I’ve had in Savannah to date. The tasting menu was missing a little umph, and a few dishes were just a notch or two from being very memorable. But I enjoyed it and recommend it.

My evenings in Charleston on Monday/Tuesday were another matter. McCrady’s Monday night, FIG on Tuesday night. The tasting menu at McCrady’s was my favorite meal there there to date. It’s not cheap, but I felt the price was fair for such a perfectly executed and creative experience. The range of dishes touch so many ingredients and techniques, it was so much fun to see what would come next.

The FIG meal was a little more low key, but equally delicious. A much more comforting meal to me. The largest lump crab I’ve ever seen and English peas in a light creamy broth. Veal agnolotti. Pan sauteed soft shell crab with bitter greens. Warm blueberry and strawberry crisp with a glass of botrytis semillon. I don’t know if it’s a “grass is greener” syndrome, but the meals were more memorable than what I’ve had in ATL lately.

If you’re ever in North Charleston, I highly recommend EVO for pizza. The “pork trifecta” pizza of locally made bacon, homemade sausage/pepperoni was really good. Cool place too.

In related news, check out Besha’s foodie guide to Charleston.

First order of business back in the A; date night at our happy place – Dynamic Dish.

After a week of guilty eating, DD is always delicious and gut friendly. Check out the patty pan’s below!

Tomato/scallion/avocado – so simple

Lentil burger with crispy potatoes, really tasty!

Repast for dessert – ice cream and sorbet. Carrot cake on the right was my jam.

Chocolate terrine, sea salt, olive oil, pistachio

I’m really interested to see how Repast and Watershed develop when Joe heads to Watershed on June 1. I think it could work out very well for both restaurants. The staff I spoke to at Repast last night seemed to be invigorated when I inquired about the change.

Last Wednesday evening a friend and I dined at Saskatoon, in the spot that housed the amazingly-fast-failure Atlanta location of Harry Bisset’s. The Atlanta location is a franchise, and I was interesting in trying their game, but I also had interest because the original Saskatoon in Greenville was the first > $10 dinner I ever paid for myself. I was a 16 year old lifeguard making $6.50 an hour, and my buddy and I thought we were big shots paying for a steak dinner.

The Saskatoon concept has long endured in Greenville, and I’m interested to see if the idea will be able to stick in a stiff Atlanta/Buckhead market, and an even tougher economy. All of our food was cooked excellently, exactly to the correct temperatures specified. Even the lamb lollipops pictured above were cooked perfectly to medium rare, and I think they are often overcooked at many restaurants, presumably due to their very small size.

We also tried the sausage sampler seen below, then the elk steak, and the game sampler entree, which featured duck, lamb, and quail. The sausage appetizer was very large, so I was glad to be sharing with another person. They were good, though I’d prefer they weren’t cut long ways and seared, as they were a bit dry. The entrees were solid too, making for an overall pleasant experience, though I wonder about the novelty factor. It was great to try elk loin, but when it comes to a steak, my heart still belongs the grain fed NY strip. I do recommend Saskatoon though, especially if you’d like to try well prepared game without getting your hands dirty with a large caliber rifle in Saskatchewan.

Disclaimer! This meal was complimentary, because I’m big time.

As part of my dinner on Friday night I made colcannon. I used the traditional cabbage, but added kale, shallot, and garlic. I would have used lacinato (dinosaur) kale, but Kroger didn’t have it.

I used Yukon Gold potatoes, with chevre, butter, and cream. Everything the body needs.

Of course, top it with some more goat cheese when serving.

When I had the leftovers at lunch I topped it with some fresh butter, which I made in my stand mixer. I tried to use the food processor method found in the local blog Whisk Away, but the buttermilk wouldn’t separate from the cream. I think my dough blade wasn’t wide enough for my mixer to effectively mix all of the cream.

The mashed potatoes were a warm up for my real lunch – the short rib special at Fox Brother BBQ. Seen below: brontosaurus BBQ.

Dude. I should have won a prize for finishing all of this.

Finally on Sunday I had to get rid of a lot of vegetables before another work road trip. I roasted potatoes, beets, celery, carrot, leeks, red pepper, and garlic in olive oil in a cast iron skillet for one hour, turning occasionally. Then I reduced the last of my stock from my Ad Hoc short ribs until it could almost coat a spoon. I then cut and seared the vegetables in a very hot skillet, plated, and poured the sauce over them. It was like fantastic beef stew, but without the beef. Also, the jus turned an awesome red wine color from the beets.

I drank the stock once the veggies were gone.