Fervent Foodie

Restaurant Review: E2 Emeril’s Eatery

January 25, 2012 4 Comments

Emeril Lagasse’s newest restaurant, E2, opens in Charlotte Thursday January 26th. Monday night, Vanessa, my favorite foodie friend, and I got the opportunity to check out the new restaurant space and sample the wares. For those who aren’t familiar with Emeril, he is a boisterous celebrity chef, author, and restauranteur and (most importantly) my grandma loves him. I first became acquainted with Emeril through his shows on the Food Network. I was instantly attracted to the peculiar pairing of his cheerful easygoing personality and his serious kitchen demeanor. He is, in my mind, an ultimate foodie, and I both admire and envy him for it.

I’ve always liked watching Emeril cook. He’s a burly man with a big personality who likes even BIGGER flavor. Arguably, Emeril is most known for adding spice to food. He lets you know things are about to get serious by exclaiming “let’s kick it up a notch!” or voicing a booming *BAM* at the addition of a spicy ingredient. Given this *BAM* factor and Emeril’s ties to New Orleans, I was ready for some serious flavors at E2.

Restaurants

E2 Emeril’s Eatery – Charlotte, NC {restaurant review}

January 25, 2012 7 Comments

Emeril Lagasse’s newest restaurant, E2, opens in Charlotte Thursday January 26th. Monday night, Vanessa, my favorite foodie friend, and I got the opportunity to check out the new restaurant space and sample the wares. For those who aren’t familiar with Emeril, he is a boisterous celebrity chef, author, and restauranteur and (most importantly) my grandma loves him. I first became acquainted with Emeril through his shows on the Food Network. I was instantly attracted to the peculiar pairing of his cheerful easygoing personality and his serious kitchen demeanor. He is, in my mind, an ultimate foodie, and I both admire and envy him for it.

I’ve always liked watching Emeril cook. He’s a burly man with a big personality who likes even BIGGER flavor. Arguably, Emeril is most known for adding spice to food. He lets you know things are about to get serious by exclaiming “let’s kick it up a notch!” or voicing a booming *BAM* at the addition of a spicy ingredient. Given this *BAM* factor and Emeril’s ties to New Orleans, I was ready for some serious flavors at E2.

Recipes

Amaze(meat)balls.

January 20, 2012 11 Comments

I shamelessly consider myself a meatball connoisseur. If meatballs are on the menu, you can bet your last breadstick I’m gonna order one. Just one solitary meatball is all I need for my analysis. Texture, taste, accouterments. More often than not, I’m disappointed. I’m not a fan of mushy ones and I need them to be thoroughly seasoned, preferably bobbing along in a vat of marina sauce (though I’m flexible on that stipulation). Every once in a while, about 1 in 5 tries, I will sink my teeth into an amazing meatball and for that brief moment this crazy messed up world is right again.

I have been trying to create a delicious healthified meatball recipe for YEARS, and have been wholeheartedly devoted to the cause. I’ve tried dozens of impromptu turkey meatball concoctions, but they always left something to be desired. Too dry, too poultry-ee, not meatbally enough, etc. I kept crawling back to my favorite, albeit it no-so-healthy, meatball recipe: Meatball Nirvana on Allrecipes.com. I LOVE this recipe because it results in meatballs that are juicy, flavorful, and that have the coveted sink-your-teeth-in meaty texture.

Recipes

Sausage Stuffed Peppers

January 19, 2012 3 Comments

During my kid years, stuffed peppers were in the regular dinner rotation at my dad’s house. I hated them. My step mom would fill crisp green peppers with a beef mixture in the morning, pop them into the slow cooker with some tomato sauce, and when we got home in the evening we’d find the crunchy green peppers had been transformed into a slimy mushy mess. Back then, I had deep-rooted hatred for lots of cooked veggies—carrots, celery, and tomatoes to name a few—but cooked green peppers took the medal for most loathed cooked vegetable. To my young taste buds, cooked green peppers had this toxic unnatural taste to them—like they’d been marinating in a puddle of Windex for a few hours. It just wasn’t right. Luckily, peppers were pricy so my step mom was more than happy to make me a meatball sans pepper for dinner while the rest of the family subjected themselves to green pepper poisoning. I love a good meatball.

To this day, I’m still not a huge fan of stuffed green peppers. As I aged and grew wiser, I discovered that other types of peppers could be stuffed just as easily and infinitely more deliciously than green peppers ever could.

Case in point:

Some of my favorite peppers to stuff are banana peppers, cubanelles, and Anaheims. I usually buy whichever variety is the biggest (i.e., most stuffable) at the grocery store that day.

Ramblings

Detox.

January 17, 2012 9 Comments

A spongy glazed doughnut. A homemade scone, still warm from the oven. A yellow-cake cupcake slathered with thick chocolate icing. A piece of jam-filled chocolate straight from Germany. Sugared pecans. A lemon ricotta cookie. A miniature cupcake filled with champagne strawberries and topped with a dollop of vanilla icing. A slice of carrot cake. A caramel drizzled pecan bar with sugar cookie crust.

All of it.

Each and every sugary treat… down to the last crumb and gooey morsel.

I ate it all.

Today.

This is what we call an extreme lack of self control, and I am ashamed. When presented with not one but TWO potlucks in the very same day, I cracked. I ate with reckless abandon. As I type this I can feel the jitters in my fingers and the creepy crawlies in my shoulders from all that sugar seething through me.

I am addicted and something has to give.

Sugar, I need a break. Just some time to clear my head, get my thoughts straight, and get back on track.

It’s not you, Sugar. It’s me.

Just one week apart, Sugar. And then? Well, we can still be friends?