West Coast BBQ Classic – Queen Mary

I’m new(er) to the BBQ world and my eyes have been opened!  BBQ has its own language and I want to become fluent.  Good thing I’m moving to Texas!

Everyone has their opinion about what makes good BBQ and why theirs is the best.  Is it the rub, the marinade, the cut of the meat, smoke it, grill it, or the type of wood they use to produce their tasty morsels?  Taste is subjective, preference is personal and cooking styles vary.  Because of that there are so many variations to BBQ and everyone had a different preference when it comes to BBQ.

The 5^th Annual West Coast BBQ Classic at the Queen Mary was a great introduction into the BBQ world for me.  Forty Four BBQ teams gathered to compete for the coveted Title of Grand Champion and the cash prize of  $10,000!  The event was sanctioned by the Kansas City BBQ Society and they were responsible for the judging and scoring of the Teams.  Teams were judged on 4 different categories; Chicken, Pork Ribs, Pork, and Brisket.  Teams had a 10 minute window to turn in their entries; It was intense 10 minutes watching as teams turned in their items. 

With 44 competitors it is difficult to try it all.  I tried a lot of BBQ that day.  Even though I tried a lot of BBQ a few places stuck out.  I had a few favorites of the day.  The first one would be Triple T BBQ and their tri tip.  Let me give you a little bit of info about me I was born and raised in Northern California (where tri tip is king).  I am a sucker for a good tri tip, it is my all time favorite and honestly I didn’t see a lot of tri tip offerings so I was excited.  It was some of the best tri tip I’ve ever had!  Another favorite that  from the day was Que’d Up! They were serving Frito Pie, and we were lured in by two of the cutest kids so we couldn’t say no.  We ordered our frito pie; meat, crisp cool coleslaw, meat and BBQ sauce!  To wash it down we had a pork rib…moment of silence…..both were SO good.  Another favorite of the day was West Grove Smokehouse, their bacon wrapped meatballs “Moink Balls” really caught my attention.  How can you say no to that, meat wrapped in meat topped with spicy BBQ sauce.  After you enjoy that you can move onto  bacon wrapped corn on the cob dipped in melted butter….I died!  In fact the bacon wrapped corn was the only item of the day that I went back for a second helping.  I’ve had a lot of bacon wrapped items in my life and this was some of the best, the fat of the bacon was perfectly rendered leaving it crispy and meaty.  Last of my honorable mentions goes to Lady of Q, she is a one woman team who is in it purely for the competition.  We were lucky enough to get a nibble of one of her brisket burnt ends.

 

After all was said and done, and pitmasters poured their hearts out into their BBQ the judges conferred and the winners were chosen!

Overall:

1.      Big Poppa Smokers

2.      Left Coast Q

3.      Land of Q

Chicken:

1.      DG Firehouse BBQ

2.      Porkchop & Bubbas

3.      Smoke Hound BBQ 

Pork Ribs:

1.      Left Coast Q

2.      Yard Lobster BBQ

3.      Smoke Hound BBQ

Pork:

1.      Ridge Route Boys BBQ

2.      Slap Yo’ Daddy BBQ

3.      Lady of Q

Brisket:

1.      Ridge Route Boys BBQ

2.      Smokin’ Hearts

3.      ZZYZX Bar B Q 

So my choices may be  a little different than the official standings but it’s a tough completion and there are a lot of great pieces of meat that were put out. Thank you West Coast BBQ Classic for my first BBQ completion experience.  It certainly will not be my last. Texas here I come!

Souk Shawarma & Sucre Sweets

If you talk to any of my friends they will tell you much I love Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food…I’m slightly obsessed!  So when I heard about Souk Shawarma in DTLA I had to check it out. 

I love going on foodie adventures to check out new spots so one my fellow foodie adventure buddies and I to a stopped in on a Saturday afternoon for a late lunch.  We both had checked out their menu so we had an idea of what we wanted to try but there is so much good stuff on their menu we decided to ask the staff for some suggestions.  Matt, one of the owners, was there and he was able to help us narrow down our choices (good thing there were two of us and we love sharing).

For Shawarma we decided on the Duck Shawarma.  You can get your shawarma as a wrap or a plate (rice pickled veggies, hummus and pita).  We opted for the wrap, It was unreal!  They make their spice blends and marinades in house and it shows.  The meat was perfectly cooked (wood-fire cooked to be exact) nestled in a wrap with fig spread (HELLO, that may have been what sold me on the Duck!) piquillo peppers, garlic sauce and souk mix! 

Next we got one of their hummus bowls, hummus topped with sautéed garbanzo beans, tahini & lemon and olive oil topped off with your choice of protein…we picked the Lamb and Aleppo Sausage.  I had to try the Aleppo Sausage, I am basically obsessed with Aleppo (seriously I season almost everything with it!). It did not disappoint, and may have been my favorite protein of the day.

We also had to try the falafel and the vegan shawarma so we could fully experience all they had to offer.  I don’t normally like falafel it’s usually too dry, under seasoned or over seasoned (hello parsley) for my taste, but I was pleasantly surprised!  The falafel came with two sauces a green tahini and spicy zhoug sauce both of were phenomenal but the spicy zhoug, I should have gotten some to go so I could slather on some eggs!   The vegan shawarma, looks like chicken tastes like chicken and the texture is even like chicken.  For most veg/vegan options texture is usually a problem, its usually funky and off not here! I am a serious meat eater and I would totally order the vegan shawarma again. 

I saved the best for last…the Souk Fries.  Unreal!!!  First they take perfectly cooked French fries and top them with beef shawarma, feta cheese, piquillo pepper sauce and green onions.   I know….

They were amazing!  I will have dreams about these fries and crave them regularly!

I will be back to Souk Shawarma, they know their stuff!  They know their stuff and take time to craft it so well, from the wood fired meats, artfully blended spices/marinates, amazing sauces and dips and they have defiantly hit the high notes of various culinary delights from so many amazing middle eastern and Mediterranean Countries!

I know you are all full just hearing about our lunch but save room for dessert at Sucre Sweets.  It’s the cutest little Parisian bakeshop that shares a space with Souk.  Lauren the owner is baking goodies like  Madeleines, Macarons, Cookies, Brownies and Knaffe!  I had never had Knaffe so we had to try it….OMG!  Phyllo topped with a magical ricotta and rose water filling then topped with crispy, buttery angel hair phyllo drizzled with more rose water and crushed pistachio, to die for!  Lauren told us that the Knaffe recipe she uses has been passed down to her from her grandmother and mother.  To go we grabbed a pistachio & cardamom brownie as well as a date, walnut and oatmeal cookie, they were an excellent treat for the drive home!

DTLA never ceases to amaze me with amazing spots for my foodie adventures and Souk Shawarma were great way to enjoy a beautiful Saturday in LA.

Souk Shawarma

1111 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 104
Los Angeles, CA 90017

Sucre Sweets 

1111 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 105
Los Angeles, CA 90017

I've been saying for years that I wanted to start my blog but I have dedicated that 2016 to the year that I am actually going start posting to my blog....regularly (you can all keep me accountable).  So tonight this recipe is brought you by to Sur La Table. This recipe was sent to me yesterday by the lovely people at Sur and after reading it I knew I needed to make it.  So tonight after work I made a quick trip to Trader Joes and picked up what I needed.  I made a frew minor tweeks to the original recipe (don't worry I didn't change it too much).  This soup is great for a cool night.  Its super filling but somewhat heatlthy so I didn't feel guilty eating it (except for the amazing egg bread I had with it).  I hope you all enjoy!  Its going to make great leftovers, can we say lunch for the week?


Senegalese Sweet Potato and Peanut Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, cut into small dice
• 3 ribs celery, cut into small dice
• 3 large carrots, peeled cut into small dice
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into medium dice
• 4 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons minced ginger
• 1 medium jalapeño, seeded and finely diced (or more if you like more spice)
• 1 bunch cilantro stems minced, leaves set aside for garnish
• 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes with juice
• ⅔ cup creamy (all natural, no sugar added) peanut butter
• 1 (12-oz) can coconut milk
• 7 oz baby spinach, roughly chopped
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

In a Dutch oven heat the oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onions, celery and carrots and sauté until onions are translucent. Add the sweet potatoes, garlic, ginger, jalapeños and cilantro stems and sauté until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in vegetable broth and chopped tomatoes and simmer until sweet potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.

Turn soup down to low and use and immersion blender to blend till mostly creamy but leave some chunks.  Add peanut butter and coconut milk, stir until thoroughly combined and peanut butter has melted. Add chopped spinach and cook for about 1 minute to wilt spinach. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

To serve: Divide soup between 4 soup bowls and garnish with cilantro leaves.

ENJOY!!!!

Chicken Chowder (recipe from Whole30)

½ tap salt
½ tsp cumin
¼ tsp smoked paprika
¼ tsp cayenne
1 rotisserie chicken, de-boned (white and dark meat) and diced
1 quart chicken broth
2 medium sweet potato (1 inch cube)
1 head broccoli, 1 in pieces stems included
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, finely diced
1 14.5 oz can coconut cream
Cilantro, minced
Lime, cut into wedges
½ small red onion diced

Add broth, salt, cumin, smoked paprika, and cayenne to a pot and bring to a boil, add diced sweet potatoes. Cook over high heat until the sweet potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove the potatoes with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add the broccoli, garlic, jalapeno, and coconut cream to the broth.  Reduce heat to medium high and boil for 15 minutes (or until broccoli is tender). Remove the pot from the heat.
Transfer the broth and vegetables from the pot to a food processor and blend until smooth.  Return blended broth and veggies to pot and add the chicken, sweet potatoes and cilantro. Return the pot to medium high heat, stir well and cook 5 minutes to reheat the chicken and sweet potatoes.

Garnish the chowder with fresh lime and finely diced onion.

Cardamon Yogurt and Mango Granola (Gluten/Grain Free)

Cardamom Yogurt

 Inspired  by a sample I had at Expo West from Straus Creamery.

2 cups (16oz) 2% Greek Yogurt

2 Tablespoons Milk (of your choice)

3 Tablespoons Honey

Dash of ground Cardamom

Dash of ground Cinnamon

Dash of ground nutmeg

Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl with a wisk.

Divide in to two bowls and top with diced pears, {local bee pollen} and Mango Granola.

* The amount of Milk, Cardamom, and honey can be adjusted to your liking depending your preference for constancy, taste and sweetness. 

·          

Mango Granola (Gluten/Grain Free)

Original recipe for this is from The Roasted Root, I swapped out the dried cranberries they used for the dried mango because mango goes with Cardamom so well and I knew I was going to be eating this with the Cardamom yogurt.

2 cups raw walnuts

2 cups raw cashews

1 cup raw pepitas

1 cup shredded (unsweetened) coconut

1 cup chopped dried mango

1 egg white

2 tablespoons water

3 tablespoons coconut oil

1/3 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon kosher salt

How To:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
2. Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper (fold paper under if needed so nothing hangs over the pan). 
3.  Put the walnuts, cashews and pepitas in a food processor and pulse until the nuts are chopped into smaller pieces. 
4.  In mixing bowl wish the egg whites and water together until slightly foamy.
5.  Add the coconut oil, honey, vanilla, cinnamon and salt to the egg white mixture.
6. Add the chopped nuts , chopped mango, and shredded coconut to the mixing bowl, toss until everything is coated.
7. Spread the granola on your prepared sheet pan. 
8.  Bake for 30 minutes (stirring halfway through) until golden brown and crispy.  Since ovens vary you will want to keep an eye on the roasting process so you don't burn the nuts and you may need to make longer to achieve the golden crispy goal.
9. Remove the pan from the oven when done and let cook completely .  Break up the granola into clusters and enjoy.  Store any leftovers in an airtight container. 

First Post...

Coming up with what your first post is hard. 

Everyone go to my Instagram (@jennfromscratch) and comment on this post and let me know what recipe you would like me to start with.  Don't worry I will eventually post most (especially my recent posts) of the recipes that go with the posts.  I just need help knowing where to start.

I can't wait to start but I need your HELP!

Jenna