Sammich shop - Food Heads

Met Adrienne for lunch today at a sandwich place on 34th just off the drag called Food Heads.  She got the rec from a coworker who has a finger on the pulse of the Austin food scene.  Despite being 10 blocks down the road from me, I'd never heard of it but the menu looked solid.

Parking was a little suspect as any pseudo West Campus location suffers from, but the sandwiches....oh the sandwiches.

Adrienne got the Grilled Portabellas & Bleu Cheese ($6.75)
Served on toasted sourdough with fresh spinach, tomato and blackberry balsamic vinaigrette.  My inner carnivore prevented me from ordering this, so I was glad she did.  The combination of portabella, bleu cheese and vinaigrette was outstanding.  Crisp sourdough worked well.

I had the Spicy Apple Pork Tenderloin Sandwich  ($8.25)
Marinated and grilled pork tenderloin on toasted baguette with smoked gouda, spinach, spicy apple relish & honey dijon. With all those ingredients, surprisingly it was the honey dijon that really made the sandwich.  The spicy apple relish wasn't all that flavorful and the flavor of the pork was just kind of meh.  But the dijon along with the bread really saved it.

I overheard a customer talking to one of the waitresses about where they got their bread.  Everything they have is local (nice touch) and we may have to pay a visit to Panaderia Chuy soon.  This is about the 3rd recommendation I've gotten for this place and I love me some bread.

Final verdict, great sandwiches and great location but a little on the pricey side.  There are a few other items on their menu I'd like to try so I'll be back but it probably won't make the regular sammich rotation.  Jimmy John's has nothing to fear.

Spaghetti with fresh tomato and basil

This is my second attempt at a recipe I caught on my favorite food related tv show, No Reservations.  The show usually takes Tony Bourdain to far off lands and showcases the foods and culture of the area.  This episode took a break and focused on basic cooking techniques; things every cook should know how to do.  The one that really caught my eye was chef Scott Conant of Scarpetta and his take on spaghetti.

Recipe

Growing up, spaghetti was a staple at home, mostly for its simplicity.  You boiled some noodles, heated some pre-canned sauce and added a meat if you were so inclined.  It was never something I craved...until I caught Conant's version.  Fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, olive oil, garlic and spaghetti.

Adrienne and I have been hitting up the local farmer's market the past few weekends and this Saturday I loaded up on locally grown tomatoes, a bunch of basil and decided to give this another go.  Prep time is the toughest part.  The tomatoes I got were heavy on the seeds and needed the skin removed.  The easiest way to pull this off is to score an X on the bottom of the tomato and toss it in boiling water for 20-30 seconds.

   
 Take them out, let them cool and the skin should peel right off.

Cut the tomatoes, get out as many seeds as you can and place them in a saucepan with some heated olive oil.  Allow them to heat up for 10 minutes or so then use a potato masher to break them up.

Let the sauce simmer for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.  While that's going, get a small saucepan and put ~1/3 cup of olive oil on some heat.  Once it begins to heat up, add a couple cloves of garlic and some freshly cut basil.  This is where the magic happens.

Get your pasta going and once its close to al dente, move it into the tomato sauce and add your garlic/basil infused olive oil (everything is better with something that's infused).  Make sure to strain out the garlic and basil.  Toss the noodles (this is where you can work on that nifty wrist flip thing the pros do) and make sure the sauce really coats everything.  Add tablespoon of butter, some more chopped basil, plate and serve.

Muck & Daves - New BBQ Trailer on South Congress

Vegas has stolen my wife for a few days and to make things a little more interesting, we've put our condo on the market so we're having random strangers walk through our place during the week.  To avoid our potential buyers being scared off by our intimidating dog, I've been coming home just before a showing to grab Mads and get her out of the house.  Having to do this the past 3 days I've decided to take advantage and hit up a few of the local trailers I've yet to enjoy.

Last week driving into work, I noticed a new smell as I passed the South Congress trailer park.  The sweet sweet smell of bbq...at 8am.  Could it be a new Franklins expansion trailer within coronary distance?  Alas, it was not....instead, its a place called Muck & Daves.

The menu is pretty standard bbq fare: brisket, sausage, ribs and chopped beef sammiches.  I went with the two meat plate of brisket and sausage (my standard measuring stick for bbq) with a side of slaw and potato chips.  The woman working was on her 2nd day but was extremely nice and warned that they were still working out the kinks.  

To be fair, they've only been open less than a week so there were kinks to work out.  This is especially difficult with meat you have to smoke overnight and then maintain the quality throughout the day.  The brisket was really dried out but there was a pretty good rub used so there was potential for something flavorful.  The sausage was extremely good, but it was Elgin sausage and not a homemade product.  Hard to knock too many points there, but they have the unfortunate position of being compared to Franklins.

BBQ purists will say that sauce is an afterthought and the meat should stand on its own merit.  While I typically agree, a good sauce can make average cue slightly above average.  Their sauce is a second cousin of The Salt Lick.  Very different than most with a definite sweetness to it.  If you took their sauce and put it on the table at Franklins......sorry.....my stomach is doing a happy dance.

I do award them +10 internet points for the sign on their fridge:

Snack Bar

A, J, E and I went out Friday night trying to find a new locale on South Congress to try for dinner.  We'd seen Snack Bar but heard few things about it positive or negative.  We decided to give it a shot.  The location is the old Sol y La Luna restaurant adjacent to Austin Motel.  They'd done a good job renovating and the projector showing Tom and Jerry cartoons was a nice/odd touch.

They have a brunch/lunch menu with entrees, but the dinner menu is more of a "shared appetizer" type fare.  The beverage selection was pretty solid:

 

Between the four of us, we knocked out a good portion of the menu:

Chile Rellenos - sweet peppers instead of the typical spicy poblano.  The sweet peppers were an interesting twist but quite frankly, the thick batter and lack of flavor really didn't do much for me.

Tres Sopas - We got one of each type, Picadillo, Mango Shrimp and Black Bean.  All three were pretty good.  The beef had a nice peppery spice, the mango worked well with the shrimp and the beans...well, A ate that one but I didn't hear complaints.

Spring Rolls - I'm not the best judge b/c spring rolls just aren't my thing.  But the general consensus was too much rice filling and not enough veggies.

Mac and Cheese - Find me one person who isn't a fan of Mac and Cheese and I'll show you a communist.  Problem here was that the m&c didn't seem like much more than the boxed stuff you get at the store.  A little parsley sprinkled on top does not gourmet make.

I've yet to throw out a negative review in my blog infancy, but this place was just subpar, especially given how much the dinner cost.  Save your time and walk over to South Congress Cafe.

Crabmeat Stuffed Portabellos - Proving once again, any food stuffed in another food is bliss

The nomBlog and I have had a talk and I have agreed to pay her more attention.  The truth is, I've got several meals piling up in my "yet-to-be-blogged" list its just a matter of throwing them up there in the ether.

I love cooking shows.  Good Eats, Emeril, Rachael Ray, even a little Paula Dean when I want to increase my cholesterol just by watching.   They provide some great recipe ideas but also show technique and the prep that can go into meals.  Emeril in-particular tends to have fairly involved recipes with many ingredients and steps.  I tend to go for simpler recipes so most of his stuff I stray away from.  However, I came across this recipe of his and was thrilled at the simple ingredients and potential awesomeness that could result.

 

    * 6 portobella mushrooms, stemmed caps (fresh from Greenling)
    * 3 tablespoons olive oil
    * 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
    * 3/4 teaspoon fresh ground white pepper
    * 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
    * 1/4 cup small-diced onion
    * 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
    * 1 cup whole milk
    * 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
    * 1/2 lb lump crab-meat, picked over
    * 1/3 cup grated Gruyère
    * 4 teaspoons breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F

Toss the mushroom caps with the 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and season with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

Place the caps on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet, stem-end up, and roast in the oven until well roasted and browned, about 35 to 40 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes.
Result:

Set a 1-quart saucepan over medium heat and add the butter to the pan.

Once the butter is melted, about 1 minute, add the onions and sauté until translucent, about 3 minutes.  I went ahead and diced up some of the mushroom stems to add to the mix.

Sprinkle the flour into the pan and stir to form a roux.
Continue to cook the roux for 2 to 3 minutes before adding the milk.
Result:

 

Bring the milk to a boil and reduce to a simmer, season with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper and the nutmeg.

Cook the bechamel sauce for 5 minutes before removing from the heat. Allow the mixture to cool slightly before folding in the crab-meat and cheese.
Result:

 

Combine the bread crumbs with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil.

Spoon 1/3 cup of the bechamel over each mushroom cap and sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the bread crumb mixture over each stuffed mushroom.

Place in the oven and roast until the bechamel is bubbling and lightly browned on the edges, about 8 to 10 minutes.
Result:

 

At this point I had 20 minutes to scarf down the stuffed goodness before my softball game so no plated photos.  A and I were both happy with the results.  Portabellos are about as close to meat as you can get w/o involving something with 4 legs.  The seasoning may need to be tweaked a bit as the flavor was a little bland, but the Gruyère cheese made sure I didn't care that much.

Pulled Pork Sammiches - Hot Crock-Pot Action

Quick. Easy. Cheap. Plentiful.  That's the way to properly rock the crock-pot my friends.  We'd used ours once since the wedding so it was time to break it back out.  Last week was a busy one but with softball being rained out I swung by HEB on the way home for the essential ingredients:

1 pork shoulder (~3.5 pounds)
1 liter-O-Cola (this Super Troopers quote/reference shamelessly brought to you courtesy of my recent celeb sighting Saturday night http://twitpic.com/tiar0 director and star of Super Troopers, Beerfest and newly released Slammin Salmon, Jay Chandrasekhar )
1 12 oz bottle of Stubbs BBQ sauce
1 pack of slider buns

This was ridiculously easy to put together and fed an army (or A and I for 3 or 4 meals):

1. Trim any excess fat off the shoulder
2. Place it in crock-pot on low heat
3. Cover in Cola (we used Coke but I've heard Root Beer works well)
4. Get on with your business for the next 8-9 hours
5. Remove from crock-pot and use forks to shred (save a cup of the liquid)
6. Return shredded pork to pot, add bbq sauce and cup of the liquid
7. Mix and put on high heat for 30 minutes.
8. Plate on toasted slider buns
9. Win!

We had ours with sweet potato fries which were even easier to prepare:
1. Cut up sweet potato into 1 inch wide, half inch thick, whatever length.
2. Toss in bowl with olive oil
3. Place on oven sheet and dust with salt, pepper and some chili powder.
4. Cook on low rack @400 for 20 minutes.  Move to high rack for 10 minutes to crisp them up.

Behold