Chicago Fare

G has never been someone that does things the easy way.  Except perhaps when coaxing friends into assembling furniture or helping him pack for another move.  So when it took us 4 hours to make our seafood gumbo.  I wasn’t surprised.

Approaching a Peanut Butter Colored Roux

This was our second gumbo attempt year to date and we hoped that it would be a success.  Our last attempt left us with an awful taste in our mouth, quite literally, from a burnt roux.  For those of you who are unsure about what a roux is let me clear it up.  Its an oil and flour mixture(usually 1:1) used as a thickening agent and can add a depth of flavor.  Yes indeed, its oil and flour that is heated with a watchful eye and wooden spoon in hand until it reaches certain color checkpoints.  These checkpoints are based on the type of protein utilized in the gumbo, family recipes and are quite subjective if you ask me.  With time the roux progressively gets darker making its way through each checkpoint, blonde, peanut-butter, and chocolate brown.  The one roux rule: Do not burn!

Seafood Stock

We started making a homemade seafood stock from our cleaned shrimp shells, crab claws, crayfish shells and let that sit on low heat for about an hour.  While the stock simmered I was responsible for the roux.  Since our last attempts failed we decided to heat the oil over low-medium heat for the next hour and a half until it turned into what we deamed an appropriate peanut butter color.  Yes.  That’s right… I stood at the stove for an hour and a half watching oil and flour in a pan.  Sounds fun, I know.  I hadn’t watched something this intensely since Michael Jackson passed away.

As our roux cooled, G began frying the andouille, okra, and a New Orleans triad(onion, celery and bell pepper).  We drained the shells, onions, celery, etc. from our stock and added it to our triad, andouille, and okra. We added a cup and a half of the roux to our mixture and let it simmer for 45 minutes.  After about 40 minutes we plopped in our fresh bay scallops, crab meat, crayfish, and shrimp in.  We cooked them for about 10 minutes and then sat down to eat!

Seafood Gumbo

We adapted our recipe from Emeril Lagasse.  You can find the original recipe here.  It calls for a lager beer, and after perusing the shelves at Whole Foods, we ended up with Tusker, a Kenyan beer.

The gumbo was tasty with a multitude of different and spicy  flavors.  The okra was my favorite addition as I feel that it is a vegetable often over looked in homes and restaurants in the midwest.  For more information regarding creole and cajun recipes check out the gumbo pages. (I wish we had checked this out before we started!)

This is a question I find myself contemplating on practically any given cold and dreary evening in Chicago.  We had tried a few noodle shops only to be let down by the lack of flavor in their ramen broth.  But we have been comparing our Chicago ramen with the likes of San Francisco’s Genki Ramen. Perhaps there is no comparison in the midwest?  When we saw Tampopo on “Check Please” we decided to venture north in hopes that we would find our Chicago ramen spot.

Without our camera, GPS or the address we recalled that it was definitely in Lincoln Square.  After driving in circles for five minutes we gave my ever-so-slightly drunken brother a call to identify the exact location.  He notified us that we were about 5 minutes too south and needed to get to the Roger’s Park area.  So with an address in mind we headed toward our destination quite hungry and concerned about a potential wait.

Parking was a breeze and we headed towards the intimate family-run operation.  As we entered a party of five was leaving and two other pods of people were waiting.  The waitress told us it would be about 10 minutes.  We didn’t mind as we expected a busy crowd post “check please”.

After about 15 minutes we were seated and served hot tea.  As I perused the menu I was delighted to see items such as Yakitori (skewered chicken in a mirin/sake/soy glaze) and Negima.  Naturally, I become a little disheartened if I don’t see something resembling either of these at japanese restaurants.

We ordered the Negima, Spicy Salmon Roll, Shoyu Ramen, and another favorite of mine Yakisoba. Our negima and sushi arrived at our table at the same time.  I must say that I was quite impressed with the lightening speed of the sushi chef.  The fish was fresh and ample, but the sushi rice seemed a bit dry.  The negima was different than others I have had before but tasty none the less.  The beef was sliced thinly around the fresh scallions and the sweet soy-based sauce was light.  This dish was simple in its execution but had the essence of a fresh and home made meal.

The ramen and yakisoba appeared next.  Perhaps we have too high of expectations, but I would say that both meals were average, and for our chicago ramen adventure thus far just didn’t match what they are serving in San Francisco.  The yakisoba was… well… okay I guess.  I appreciated the thinly sliced carrots, cabbage, and bamboo shoots, but I am unhappy to report that we weren’t incredibly impressed with the execution.

Unfortunately,  I can’t say that we will be giving up our search for the elusive Chicago ramen.  I do think that we will return to Tampopo one day, perhaps after the hype from the show has died down. We still want to try a few more of the many appetizers we didn’t have room to order, and give the staff a chance to cook on a less hectic evening.

Tampopo| 5665 W. Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60686 |  773-561-2277

What does trout taste like?  hmm… I didn’t know.  I had never tried trout before, and G for once couldn’t remember if he had ever even tasted it, but it looked so alluring in the Whole Food’s fish case we just stood there for a moment hoping we might be able to come up with an excuse to purchase it.

After an epiphany we chose our trout and gathered some spinach, goat cheese, and a meyer lemon.  As we were about to leave I thought we might need just a little something more.  For some reason I envisioned my trout in his prime eating grass hoppers and other insects that found themselves floating helplessly atop the water. It was this image that prompted my desire for something “earthy”.  As we ventured toward the mushrooms my eyes flickered toward a box of pretty chanterelles.  They looked interesting and according to the signs it supposedly had a subtle sweet flavor, so we decided to incorporate it.

After sauteing the spinach, chanterelles, and garlic in some olive oil and meyer lemon juice we placed the stuffing into our trout. We added fresh thyme sprigs, sprinkled on some goat cheese, folded the trout over and added a few Meyer lemon sliced on top. Why a Meyer lemon?

We used chive infused goat cheese from Capriole

After a mere 15 minutes in the oven:

Results:

Spinach, Goat Cheese and Chanterelle Stuffed Trout

So… what does trout taste like?

The fish is light and slightly sweet. Delicate even.  I think G will remember what trout tastes like from now on.