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!
The Fall Break Fried Pie Project
One Southern specialty would be the fried pie. When we were at a Farmers Market earlier this fall, a vendor was selling baked goods and fried pies. Carly wanted to get a fried pie – it was pretty pricey and then not that good. We decided that one of our next projects would be making a fried pie at home. I mean, how hard can that be????? Well, this became our first cooking project for Fall Break. Since I'm not from a Southern background, I had to start by researching different fried pie recipes. What surprised me to start was that every recipe started with dried fruit. From there, the recipes were all over the map! So there were basically two ways to prepare the fruit filling (we started with apple) – either soak for 4 or more hours in water to reconstitute, then cook. Or simmer in water and add some sugar and butter and not have to wait so long. I decided the second method was the way to go for me. Many of the recipes gave an amount of water to use with the dried fruit. The problem with the first batch was that the water didn't…
Frozzzzzen Perfection
I love Italian food – and I love it even more when I get to eat it while I'm in Italy! With great pastas, meats and desserts, there is one treat that I have to have at least every afternoon I'm there – Gelato! I think my favorite Gelato place is Il Gelato Vivoli in Florence. At least once every afternoon any time I am in Florence, I make the trek towards the Uffizi Gallery, cutting through the Piazza della Signoria, past the Palazzo Vecchio, down a few blocks, take a left and I find myself at Vivoli. If I'm too far away when the Gelato urge hits, there are many wonderful places to stop and get a treat until I can get back to Vivoli. Just stay away from the tourist style carts where they will be happy to sell you bad Gelato at a very high price! Some of the Gelato at Il Gelator Vivoli If you are in Florence, there is a great battle over which is the better Gelateria – is it Il Gelato Vivoli? Or is it Gelateria Carabè ? I've had both, and I would take either one! Gelateria Carabè is next to the…
Not All Chains are Created Equal…
If you know me well, you know that I much prefer a nice local restaurant over a chain any day. There are, however, a few chains that I will seek out. For Lori and I, the Chart House has always been one of those. After this visit to Detroit, I’ll add another to that list – The Capital Grille. Food is special – a great meal experience can evoke a sense of place or trigger memories. Last night was one of those. I end up eating at a lot of restaurants alone because of how much I travel on business. I’ve gotten used to going in, ordering quickly, eating quickly and moving on. Yesterday, our meetings ended a bit earlier than planned and my flight home was early Thursday morning. I stopped at the Somerset Mall in Troy to walk around out of the heat wave that reached even Detroit. After walking, it was about 5:30 so I looked at the restaurants and decided to try the Capital Grille on the first floor. I had eaten at the one in Washington on a previous trip and it was good – however, this visit blew the DC visit out of…
Pepper Place Cooking Demo
We spent the 4th of July weekend in Birmingham with the family. Whenever we are in Birmingham during market season, I love to go to Pepper Place Market on Saturday morning. This Saturday, Chef Chris Vizzina was doing the cooking demo. The menu for the morning was Panzanella Salad – a Tuscan bread salad with tomatoes. Besides his day job at Samford University, Chris works with Slow Food Birmingham and the Chefs to Schools (or Farm to School) program working with local city and county schools on incorporating more fresh produce and ingredients into the menus. Chris has totally transformed the food service at Samford utilizing more local and fresh ingredients. The Panzanella Salad included more than just bread and tomatoes this week! The produce from the market was absolutely beautiful. (Check out the pictures of the veggies!) Along with Chris, Jones Valley Urban Farm was there and provided some of the produce. The rest came from Snow’s Bend Farm. Chris grilled sweet peppers, eggplant, squash, zucchini and red onions. Along with the incredible heirloom tomatoes, they had two fantastic cherry tomatoes. The bread was freshly baked Olive Bread from Continental Bakery in Birmingham. The Panzanella Salad is a simple…