Welcome to the Cooking with C.C. Blog. I will be discussing all things food and travel related. Be sure to join me for information from recipes, cookbooks, restaurants and places to visit. I look forward to hearing from you!
Huntsville Highlights April 2016
Well, it's been quite a while since I commented on our experiences with local restaurants. While I don't focus on restaurant reviews, I do share my experiences. Be sure to check out my friend at Huntsville Eats for full restaurant reviews. Over the last couple of months, Lori and I have visited a number of places, so here goes. Farm Burger: I enjoy a great burger and like trying them in different spots. My first experience at Farm Burger was a lunch meeting of a number of the Rocket City Bloggers. Bo Williams was one of them and wrote about the experience (You can read his review here.) I thought the burger was very good. The fries were also very good and on the lunch special, I got quite a few. I had to eat a fair number of fries before I could get a hold of the burger. The structure of Farm Burger is you stand in line to order, then sit down with a number and they bring it to you. When we went the line was long, but moved quickly. Another HUGE plus for Farm Burger is that they have Abita Root Beer on tap (Along with…
Weekend Escape to Nashville
Since Nashville is about an hour and a half from our house in Huntsville, we'll do an overnight getaway from time to time. Lori and I headed to Nashville a few weeks ago. I have some of my favorite stops and then we like to find other places to go visit. This trip was no different. My first stop on the way into Nashville was in downtown Franklin. My real destination was the Savory Spice Shop where I needed to restock my pantry and try a few new items. (When you are in the area, be sure and stop in - you will enjoy the experience. Be sure and tell Hollie hello! Check out their Savory Spice Shop Facebook Page as well.) We walked around downtown and looked in a few of the other shops and boutiques. By the time we walked around Franklin, Lori was getting ready for lunch. I like to head to the Nashville Farmers Market to wander around and eat lunch, so it was off to downtown. There are a number of excellent permanent vendors and also one spot that rotates. This particular Saturday, Caracasville was serving in the rotating spot. They are now at the Farmers…
2016 National Pi(e) Day
March 14th is also now known as National Pi(e) Day. So, I wanted to bring you something just a little bit different. The recipe I'm going to share is a cousin to a pie - a tart. So, what's the difference? Well, the crust is different to start - a pie generally has a flaky crust while a tart is going to be more crumbly or more cookie like. Also, a pie is baked and served in the pie pan or plate where a tart pan has a removable bottom and is unmolded before serving. There are lots of great sources about pies, and being from the South, one of my favorite books, Southern Pies was written by my friend Nancie McDermott. Be sure and check it out, I'll include an Amazon link to the right. So, since I decided to cook a tart for pi(e) day, the next choice was what to make. One of the tarts I've taught in class is a Chocolate Caramel Tart which kind of resembles a famous candy bar with a caramel center covered in chocolate. This tart has several steps, none of which are terribly difficult. The first step is to make the crust.…
Back to Basics
Sometimes, it's the basic things that can trip you up..... When I was working on the menu for the upcoming classes in Atlanta, I was asked to add Hollandaise Sauce and Poached Eggs to the Roasted Asparagus dish. Since the asparagus dish already has lemon flavor in it, seemed like a reasonable addition for a brunch class. I've always done the asparagus as an appetizer or side for a dinner class - not sure why - just always have. I've also never done poached eggs in a class. Always thought of that as kind of a basic thing and didn't put in on a menu. Since I've poached eggs, but never taught them, figured I needed to figure out the best way to write up and teach a poached egg recipe. I thought it would be pretty simple, but as I got into it, I found that if you had 4 chefs in a room, you would probably have about 5 different variations on how to poach an egg. This weekend, we had thirteen 8th grade girls spending the weekend at our house as part of DNow for our church. Since we have the basement and it's a great spot…