Flavour of Nick

Hi, I am Chef Nick. This is my personal food blog. In this I will share my recipes, food ideas, and bizarre food experiences. My culinary background is I worked for a local pizza joint for about 8 years. Please enjoy my blog. Bon Appétit.

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Taco Truck Time!

I had heard the rumours at work. All the review, all the five star reviews. Today I finally got the chance to get to Taco El Rey, a taco truck parked on Toledo’s east side.

The menu actually had more depth than I thought it would. Tostadas, tortas, tacos, burritos, and quesadillas. Meat includes asada, pastor, pollo, lengua, trippas, and others that I can’t currently remember.

I got the asada, pastor, lengua, and trippas. The lengua and trippas cost a bit extra, but four tacos for $5 is a steal. For topping I chose cilantro, and lettuce. Got a side of hot sauce and salsa verde. Corn tortilla, of course.

I'm not sure if it were the bottom of the pot but the meet was a little too crispy. To be fair, however, I like my food chewy, really chewy, like an old person chrewy. Wasn’t too big of a fan of this, sadly. I’m always willing to go back and try it again, today could have been an aberration.

The steak was my favourite. Nice cut of meat, good flavour went really well with the verde, and hot sauce.

The trippas was okay, but I’ve had better. Chewy..a little too chewy, but I won’t hold that against them as every other trippas I’ve had some rubbery pieces too. I'm willing to accept that that is just simply the nature of the beast (no pun intended).

This lengua was really, really, good. I’ve had it at another joint and, simply, couldn't swallow it. It had tasted like hay/straw. This, however, was nice and tasted like a nice pot roast. No regrets here.

Overall: the stuff I liked I really liked, the stuff I didn't like I didn't care for but didn't hate. So long as I stick to what I know I like I don’t see why I wouldn't ever come here again.

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Ghost Pepper Fries

Long story short: my family from LA is in town and wanted something to snack on late night, we ended up at Wendy’s, and what I see shocks, and amazes me: ghost pepper fries. You could say I am a total hothead when it comes to spicy food. The spicier the better, so you know I had to check it out.

From Wendys.com: “ We're kicking up the heat with our new Ghost Pepper Fries. Our classic, natural-cut fries topped with fresh, diced jalapeños, ghost pepper sauce, and warm Cheddar cheese sauce bring the right amount of heat. It's too hot to last, so try one today! “ 

The flavour, and the heat seemed to be lacking. The jalapeños tasted like chives (which, isn't necessarily a bad thing), and the “ghost pepper sauce” wasn't really that spicy. My theory is that maybe with the “dairy” from the cheese either cancelled out the heat, or maybe mixing with the cheese diluted down the flavour.

I wasn't really impressed with it, but I am willing to go back tomorrow and try it again and give it a second chance. But as of now $2.38 isn't worth it for these.

[flavourofnick-blog]

Ravioli, Ravioli, Give Me the Formuoli

I've been thinking about Italian food lately. More specifically, squid ink pasta. Unfortunately I can’t buy any locally but I did stumble across some ravioli on sale. I know its not the same, but I had been etching a marinara sauce recipe in my head the last few days so I figured this would be a great way to try it out.

INGREDIENTS:

1 bag of non-frozen ravioli (I used spinach and ricotta).

1 Tsp olive oil

2 tsp minced garlic

half and onion, diced

1 cup of white wine

1 12 oz. can of cream of mushroom soup

1 16 oz can of crushed tomatos

1 TBSP of Italian seasoning

Pack of mushrooms (portion to taste)

Ingredients.

Brown the onion, and garlic in the olive oil. Add white wine.

Add the mushroom (I recommend using your wooden spoon to break them down) and brown.

Add crushed tomatoes.

Add spices and cream of mushroom soup. Cover and simmer.

Boil the ravioli....

Smother ravioli in sauce. Enjoy, brother.

[flavourofnick-blog]

Ballpark Food: U.S. Cellular Field.

It has been a cod and lonely winter, but today is opening day in major league baseball. Following baseball, and more importantly the Chicago White Sox, are one of my favourite hobbies. So naturally I am going to find a way to incorporate my love of food and baseball into my blog.

I love two states away from Illinois but I have still managed to go to handful of games at U.S. Cellular Field (home of the White Sox). Despite a 4-8 attendance record I've always had a good time..except for when it rained the whole game last August. That sucked. But aside from that, I love arriving to Chicago via Amtrak, hoping the blue line switching to the red and getting off a Sox-35th. Walking to, and inside the ballpark and smelling the sausage and onions. 

That is a classic foodgasm.

Speaking of food, at U.S. Cellular Field I have never ordered a food item that I didn't like. Here is a list of my favourite foods from U.S. Cellular Field:

Helmet Nachos: Helmet nachos are kind of pricey, $15 if I remember correctly. But you get to choose your own toppings. I went with chicken, tomatoes, salsa, lettuce, cheese, and onion. And you get to keep the helmet. How dank is that?

Chicago Style Hotdog: People not from Chicago, excluding me, will call this a hotdog with a salad or some kind of rubbish of the sorts. But I love the Chicago style hot dog (they call is a Comiskey Dog at USCF). A hot, fresh, Vienna beef hotdog with relish, mustard, tomato (it was diced on this one), onion, peppers, and a dill pickle on a poppy seed bud topped with celery salt. Its a good mix of flavours and a signature staple of cuisine in Chicago.

Polish with Onion: Probably my favourite. Being of Polish heritage I am biased but the sweetness of caramelised onion really contrasts the flavourful spices in the Polish sausage, and it is heaven.

Cuban Sandwich: The first time I ordered a Cuban sandwich was my last visit in August. The game was in a rain delay and I was in a horribly pissy mood. At the time I thought it was a rip off but now that I’ve long since calmed down, this was a good sandwich. My only beef with it is the pickle slices, not a good mix.

Churro: For desert you need to get a churro. My favourite flavour of the churro is vanilla. Its basically fried dough coated with cinnamon sugar and filled with various flavours.

I have eaten a ton of food at U.S. Cellular Field over the years, I’m sure there are things I am missing. But these five things stuck out the most in my memory. If you ever come to Chicago please stop by U.S. Cellular Field and catch a game. Ticket prices are plummeting and the team may actually be somewhat good this year. Get in and live the old saying: “You can’t beat summers in Chicago, and food at the Cell.”

[flavourofnick-blog]

A Throw Back Thursday: La  Tourtière

Today I thought I would throw back and show you the first real thing I ever cooked. As you can see by the title, you can see I cooked a warm, delicious, tourtière. It actually tasted pretty bad, I put way to many cloves in it. The second one turned out pretty good though.

What is a tourtière? A tourtière is a Québécois  (French Canadien) meat pie usually served for Christmas in the providence of Quebec. I first got the idea for making the meat pie when watching Chilly Beach on CBC. Dale, one of the main antagonists of the show, wears a hockey sweater 24/7, since he’s a Canadian after all. The hockey sweater is for the fictional Montreal Tourtières. Naturally I googled the tourtière and boy did it look good. I knew I wanted to cook and eat that.

Ingredients: 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil 2 pounds of any ground meat 1 ½ cup of beef stock 2 cups of onions, chopped 2 teaspoon of garlic 1 cup of celery, chopped 2 cups of mushroom, sliced ¾ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon of cinnamon ½ teaspoon of pepper ½ teaspoon of savory ¼ teaspoon of thyme ¼ teaspoon of sage ¼ teaspoon of black pepper pinch of cloves 1 cup of bread crumbs ½ cup of parsley Pastry for double pie crust 1 egg, beaten 1 teaspoon water

Instructions: Mix in the salt, cinnamon, pepper, savory, thyme, sage, cloves, in a bowl Brown the meat on medium heat. Add chopped onions, chopped celery, and mushroom, mix it well Add beef stock, garlic, and spice mixture Add breadcrumbs and parsley Cook and mix until 2 teaspoons of liquid remain Put pot into fridge and let it cool (but not get cold) Once cooled, put meat into pastry shell Cover meat with pie top, slice slots into top let air escape Take a bowl, beat an egg and add teaspoon of water, brush water-egg mixture onto top of pie Bake at 375℉ for 40-45 minutes

Ingredients

Brown the meat

Add the onion and celery

Add the spices, garlic, stock, and breadcrumbs.

Cook, and stir until 2 Ts of liquid remain.

After letting the meat cool in the fridge for about 20 minutes or so, stuff into a pie crust.

Cover with another pie crust and coat with the egg and water mixture. Do not forget to cut slits into the pie so steam can escape. You do not want this bursting in the oven.

Cook for recommended time and let cool.

Have yourself a nice slice of culture! La Tourtiere!

-Chef Nick