Kicked to the curb...

Street Vendors have been serving up cheap bites on the streets of New York and Los Angeles for decades but in the past couple of year's there has been a growing number of gourmet street vendors popping up across the USA.  Well-priced, high quality dishes served out of vans and mobile shacks is what typifies the gourmet street vendor. 

This trend has a fairly short history: started by chefs and foodies looking to do something new in a saturated market, or simply looking to offer a different dining experience, street vendors gained experience and popularity at farmers markets and cultural festivals around the Country.  These vendors are conscious of local, seasonal food and how to use online media to their advantage to draw in big crowds.  It’s fair to assume that a poor economy and a population with a growing sense of culinary adventure have helped to sustain this vibrant market.

The joy of modern street food is about how much can be achieved when the vans are kitted out with the right kitchens and passionate cooks.  Grabbing a burger on the go no longer means compromising on flavor and craftsmanship.  Take Latin Burger in Miami: hand-prepared chorizo, chuck and sirloin patty, with melted cheese, caramelized onions, jalapenos and red pepper mayo.  Or the grass fed steak burger with bacon jam, fresh arugla and blue cheese at Skillets in Seattle.  These two locations couldn’t be further apart, but like many other street vans, they're driven by the simple pleasure of offering great food that’s affordable to the mass public. 

In 2009 a who’s, who list of the greatest chefs in the world were clambering to get behind the steamy window of a street van to cook for charity, publicity and the simple joy of being part of a growing trend for honest, good food.  If, like me, you’re keen to try all of the vendors on offer then head for one of a growing number of festivals dedicated entirely to street food.  Celebrity and glitz aside, there’s something delightfully unlady like about eating in the street; wrestling with your warm dish of food, the smell of cooking in the air, people eating around you, napkins going awry as sauce trickles down your fingers.  It’s enough to make me thrown out the linen napkins and get behind the wheel of my own Airstream trailer.  Laziness prevails however, so I’ll log onto facebook, check out the location of my favorite gourmet truck and hit up the streets for an unbelievable meal!  

Fancy some more info?

Gather crowds through online media - Twitter from Chef Shack, MN, USA or Podcasting from Vendr TV for the lowdown on street fare 

NYC trucks - Gourmet Magazine's top food trucks  

Vendy Awards for best street fare in NYC 

Great street vendors:

Latin Burger  Miami 

Skillets Seattle 

Food Shark Texas

Rickshaw Dumpling NYC 

If you know a great street vendor then let me know!  

Let the good times roll - Laissez les bon temps rouler!

This week we’re polishing off our plastic beads, undoing our shirt buttons, getting our dancing shoes on and celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans!

Fat Tuesday is the pinnacle of Mardi Gras, the final blow out before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.  Traditionally the last chance for Catholics to over indulge before the sun rises on Easter.  Or nowadays, simply an opportunity for tourists to revel in the greatest free show on earth and who am I to hold anyone up to the religious significance when I could simply be getting buzzed with the best of them?

But New Orleans is so much more than Bourbon Street, so much more than the celebrations during Mardi Gras.  Colonised primarily by the French its history is both its shining light and its dirty past.  But what’s left is a truly unique city with a European heart and a Southern drawl.

I’m told that a trip to New Orleans should not be measured in days but in the amount of meals eaten and to get a sense of the history and diversity, you should approach it one dish and one drink at a time.  If you’re willing to undertake this foodie mission then come with an empty stomach as there’s plenty on offer: Café au lait and Biegnets at breakfast, Bloody Mary’s and Milk Punch if you’re looking for a heady brunch.  Perhaps the famed Po boy or Muffuletta sandwich at lunch.   Anyone for late afternoon cocktails?  Sazerac libations or frozen Hurricanes should ease you into your evening meal.  Then it’s time for the famed Creole or Cajun cuisine that has earned the city its trademark as a foodie destination.  Enjoy heartily as the food and drink can be danced off at the legendary jazz clubs before you clamber into your bed and let the crickets lull you to sleep. 

Mardi Gras may be what draws people from across the US and around the world but as the sun sets on the hundred and seventy third Mardi Gras parade, as the litter gets swept up and the revellers tuck their dignity back into their bras I’ve learnt three very important things about  New Orleans: firstly, don’t ever call it The Big Easy, that’s marketing talk and the locals call it the Crescent City.  Don’t ever wear plastic beads outside of the Mardi Gras celebrations; everyone will know you’re a tourist.  Finally, eat.  Eat with unbridled enjoyment and a sense of adventure.  As Tom Robbins muses in his novel Jitterbug Perfume:  The minute you land in New Orleans, something wet and dark leaps on you and starts humping you like a swamp dog in heat, and the only way to get that aspect of New Orleans off you, is to eat it off!

A basic definition of just some of the popular dishes to be had in New Orleans:

·      Beignets – A light holeless donut customarily served with café au lait

·      Creole – French technique, subtle but sophisticated flavours, blending the different flavours and influences of this ex-port city.

·      Cajun – Bolder flavors than Creole cuisine and slow cooked, typically a one-pot cuisine, historically eaten around the swamps and waterways of Louisiana.  Popularised during the 80s by celebrity chef Paul Prudhomme.

·      Crawfish – Freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters

·      Café au lait – Strong chicory coffee and hot milk with a smoky aroma

·      Dirty rice – White rice cooked with giblets and gravy

·      King Cake - Cake that’s typically eaten during the Mardi Gras celebratons. A small plastic baby is baked inside the cake and whoever gets the slice with the baby in it has to buy the next cake. 

·      Muffuletta – Round Italian loaf filled with deli meats and cheese, topped with an olive salad (typically crushed olives and some sort of pickled veg with plenty of garlic and oregano)

·      Milk punch – Holiday cocktail typically made from light cream and a dark liquor (bourbon or brandy) with different grace notes (vanilla, sugar, grated nutmeg) 

·      Po boy – (called subs or hoagies in other parts of the US but always called a Po Boy in New Orleans) should be made with good quality French bread, typically filled with meats or seafood

·      Pimms Cup – A British import made with Pimm’s liqueur garnished with cucumber.  Recipes vary. 

·      Sazerac – The city’s trademark whisky drink (a long history and unique set of rituals goes into this drink depending on where you have it)

·      Turtle soup – A spicy, savory and rich soup with finely diced turtle meat in it, bits of hard boiled-egg and a dash of sherry. Traditionally eaten in Creole restaurants. 

"Great food is like great sex. The more you have the more you want" (Gael Greene)

Gael Greene knows a thing or two about great food, as New York Magazine’s food critic for 34 years; Gael practically defined what was fabulous about dining throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s.  She also infamously spent an afternoon with Elvis Presley and one can only hope that the title of rockstar referred to his presence both on and off stage…

Seeing as Ms Greene has experience abound, I thought I’d look to her for thoughts on the art of creating a fabulous meal: the skills and emotions involved in producing a great meal are exactly those at play in making great sex: passion, timing, sensitivity, the adventurous appetite, the brilliant chance of pace, the shock of surprise.  When put like that I can hardly wait to don my apron, whip out the whisk and create a masterpiece for my loved one.  And what better time to lay your heart on the table than Valentines Day?  Oysters on the half shelf?  Something a little spicy and sizzling for the main course?  Chocolate dipped strawberries?  Perhaps a little something to feed the libido?  I read recently that asparagus, when crushed and made into a powder, is so powerful that it should be used with caution and, if taken during daytime, erection often results.  Which would certainly offer the “shock of surprise” that Gael was referring to. 

Should cooking not be your forte, or your home not offer the intimate surroundings that you’d hope for, then do as many others do and make reservations for a romantic meal.  IBIS World, a leading market research firm predicts a 3.3% increase on last year’s Valentines dining, accounting for a whopping $17.6 billion in sales, in the US alone.  Choose wisely though will a contrived and over-priced evening leave you lusting for more?  Perhaps not, but what are those meals or individual dishes that you’ve thought about days and weeks after you ate them?  I often find myself thinking about meals that I’ve had in the past, some dishes are even elevated to the realm of food fantasy – flavors so divine that I can only hope they pass my lips again.  If there’s a restaurant in your locale that offers up the kind of food that you dream about, then that’s the place to take your loved one.  After all, waxing lyrical about the food that you love is sure to enhance the mood more than the off-key violinist playing in the corner of the restaurant.

Dining-out or dining-in, the choice is yours but lets all hope for a meal that has us begging for more…

A bad case of Super Bowl Fever!

It’s the Super Bowl on Sunday!  New Orleans Saints versus the Indianapolis Colts, The Who is going to rock the crowd at halftime, then there’s the National Anthem, the celebs, paparazzi, big hulky football players and beer, baby, lots of beer!  Nachos, burgers, wings, chilli, chips, dips - everything going to your hips.  Beer, beer, beer!  Oh god, I’m going to gain 5 pounds and I don’t even know the rules of the game.  Come to think of it, I don’t know the National Anthem either. 

Six years ago as an international student, studying in America, I went to my first and only Super Bowl party: Tampa Bay Buccaneers took the title of NFL Champions but I hardly recall the game.  Shania Twain, No Doubt and Sting took to the stage at half time.  Male friends were hollering from the living room and I spent the game discussing the finer points of a perfect Margarita.  On a day that represents the 5^th largest beer sales in the US, it’s no surprise that Super Bowl fever pulls in plenty of fake-fans like myself.    

With two days to go until the big game I’m debating which dish to take to a friend’s house on Sunday night.  I pitched the idea of doing Buffalo burgers but can I be bothered to hand-make all of those patties when I could be enjoying the pre-game fun?  I suspect the answer is no.  Also, should I pay homage to the host city, Miami and opt for something with a Nuevo Latino flair?  Or take into account New Orleans cuisine and create a dish from there?  And what’s specific to Indianapolis?  So many decisions and will anyone really care?     

I’ll be supporting the Saints on Sunday though in reality I have no idea who’s got the sporting edge.  I do know that New Orleans has a greater culinary tradition therefore they get my support.  In honour of this, here’s a recipe for Jambalaya.

Ingredients for roughly 4 servings:

·       350 g short grain rice, or Spanish rice

·       2 tbsp olive oil 

·       225g roughly chop Andouille or Chorizo (or any spicy pork sausage)

·       2 boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs

·       30g butter

·       1 red onion, chopped

·       3 Peppers any colour

·       2 cloves garlic, crushed

·       1.5 tsp smoked Paprika or Cayenne

·       3 bay leaves 

·       400g tin tinned chopped tomatoes

·       1 tbsp sun-dried tomato purée

·       200ml vegetable stock

·       175g shrimps

Instructions

1. Cook the rice according to the instructions on the packet. Drain and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, heat half of the olive oil in a large shallow pan, add the sausage and cook for 30 seconds on each side until golden. Remove from pan and set aside.

3. Add the chicken to the pan and cook for 10 minutes, until golden all over. Remove from pan and set aside.

4. Add the remaining oil and the butter to the pan. Add the onions and peppers and cook for 5 minutes or until the vegetables are lightly golden. Stir in the garlic, paprika, cloves and bay leaves. Cook for 1 minute.

5. Stir in the drained, cooked rice and transfer the chorizo and chicken to the pan. Pour in the tomatoes, tomato puree and stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 6-8 minutes then add the shrimps and cook for a further 2 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Season to taste and scatter over fresh parsley if you have any to hand.   

6. Pop a bottle of hot sauce on the table so that people can add extra heat to their dish.