MY INAUGURAL POST IS UP AS A MEMBER OF THE ALL TOP CHEF TEAM

Yikes! Here's the link.

Meanwhile, Bourdain is writing a novel about violent food nerds. Make that "ultraviolent food nerds." Double yikes. More info over at my ATC post.

I'll have more benevolent and tasty photos from my CA trip to share soon.
eggy

AN AMUSE BOUCHE FROM MY CA TRIP, AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

My vacation was everything a vacation should be. Perfect weather. All week long. New sights, tastes, and experiences. Easy-going traveling companions. And I got to to cook - for other people! While I continue to cull through my some 600 photos, and split things into more readable posts, here's a taste.

I even managed to finally try my hand at stuffed squash blossoms, thanks to those in my Aunt Marilyn's garden! As well as a few other dishes I've been longing to make before this summer is over.

Meanwhile, I discovered a few surprise opportunities when I managed to snag some internet time.My shrimp and street corn sandwich won me another gift certificate to the CSN stores over at Sandwich365!

I am also honored to have been invited to join the blogging team at All Top Chef. Some of you may know I have a history of dwelling in that dank, dark TC crack monkey googling basement. I hope to put my obsession with Top Chef and newsy bits about it to useful purposes as I join forces with these great folks.

As fate would have it, when I retired to my room to catch the Top Chef 7 finale, followed by the Top Chef Desserts premiere (which I tried really hard to take good notes on in order to get up to speed on my new ATC gig), I heard a knock at the bedroom door. Here's what Marilyn brought me. What a perfect entree to Top Chef: Just Desserts!

Speaking of desserts, results are up for the September Culinary Smackdown: Battle Chocolate at Karkilette's. Be sure to check out Rebecka's winning dish, Chocolate Tamales with Ancho Chile Fudge Sauce.

Jet lag and multi-tasking are catching up with me, so must sign off. Lots more good stuff to share soon.

SIMPLE PLEASURES

A hearty plate of soul food (New Orleans To Go's "Bowl of Soul," with mac and cheese, cornbread, collard greens, and creole meat loaf with barbecue sauce yesterday - thanks again, guys!).

Finishing a load of laundry and discovering all your socks still have their mates.

Going on vacation for the first time in a year.

I'll be winging my way to California tomorrow morning, and it may be a while until I catch up with you again, my friends. But if you're good, I'll bring back photos to share. My traveling companions and I may not have all our plans nailed down. But one thing we're not going to miss is the San Francisco's Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.

Better get that last load of pre-vacation laundry out of the dryer. With any luck, there are more matching socks in my future.

GREETINGS FROM THE CINCY FOOD TRUCK SCENE

Those of you who've been reading along for a while know I've been excited ever since Cincinnati's first food trucks took to the streets. I held my breath when a brouhaha erupted over whether they could operate legally in our fair city. Then I breathed a sigh of relief when a plan was adopted to permit them to park in three designated locations with city limits, and happily blogged about opening day here.

I'm not sure how long this mobile food vendor sign has been up at the Fifth and Race location (which is closest to my office and has become a go-to place for interesting lunches), but I'm hopeful they are an indication food trucks are here to stay. I love what these folks are doing and wanted to share a little report. The three I'm featuring here have also been nominated to compete in the next season of the Food Network's Food Truck Race, and you can vote for them through Friday, Sept. 10 (voting details and contact info for all these great vendors below).

NEW ORLEANS TO GO/STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
I finally caught up with New Orleans To Go, aka Streetcar Named Desire, a week ago Friday, and wow was I glad I did. (I think the proprietor had been out of town for a while.)

On my first visit, I had this fried shrimp po'-boy "dressed" (with lettuce, tomato, pickle, and mayo), which came with a side of excellent red beans and rice filled with chunky andouille. The shrimp were lightly breaded and freshly fried with cajun seasoning that added kick but wasn't too hot for my palate. Both the sandwich and the side knocked me out! A huge, and steaming hot, plate of food for the price, which I think was $6.95. (Apologies for vagueness on the price - I was much more focused on the food.)

On my next visit to the Fifth and Race location, I'd intended to check out Senor Roy's taco of the week. But when I saw shrimp and grits on NOTG's daily specials board, I simply could not pass it up.
You can see just one of the many plump shrimp peaking out from under the cheesy, creamy grits, lightly flecked with green bell pepper, which came with sweet cornbread that incorporated actual kernels of corn. I think this was $7.95 - again, a stunning plate of food, steaming hot, and a bargain for the portion.

Based on my experience, NOTG offers a selection of three to five lunch specials each day, rather than a fixed menu. So don't go with your heart set on one particular dish, but go - you will not be disappointed!

SENOR ROY'S TACO PATROL

Senor Roy's also blew me away on my first visit, and I've been coming back ever since. Their standard offerings are grilled marinated flank steak, spice-rubbed chicken, and al pastore (pork with pineapple and adobo), on wheat or corn tortillas, with a wide array of cheeses, salsas, and other accompaniments - don't miss the pickled red onions! While some bloggers have compared the customized ordering process to Chipotle's, the food is far superior, and at only $5.00 for two or $6.00 for three soft tacos. Check out their website for more info about their full standard menu.

To spice things up, Senor Roy's recently held a contest for customers to suggest their own taco creations, which I posted about here. Each week through the end of October they will be featuring a taco of the week based on one of the winning customer creations.

I’m sorry I missed the featured taco the first week: Duck, Duck, Duck, Taco! suggested by Glenna McLendon, served with a corn tortilla piled on roasted duck in a chipotle/cumin/coriander rub, topped with a slaw of cabbage, mango, cilantro, sweet onion, hot pepper, lime juice and apple cider vinegar.

But I loved this week's Thai Taco, suggested by Chris Isbell – Curry chicken, cilantro, tomatoes, onion, basil, peppers, thai chili sauce.

Per Polly Campbell's blog in the Cincinnati Enquirer, here are the upcoming tacos of the week. Innovative suggestions from fans coupled with excellent execution by Senor Roy, I want to try them all. For my long-distance readers, maybe a few of these ideas will inspire you to try something different in your own kitchen.

Winner # 3 “Twisted Teriyaki”

9/6 – 9/10

Lauren Brandstetter- Shredded teriyaki chicken (or pork), grilled pineapple salsa, cheese, and a little lettuce for crunch

Winner # 4 “Asian Fusion”

9/13 – 9/17

Rebecca Crouse Kelley – Asian-Mexican fusion with orange-marinated chicken with stir-fried rice, with some cucumber sour cream salad

Winner # 5 “The Wingman Steak”

9/20 – 9/24

Cincy Wingman – Marinated/Grilled flank steak, caramelized onions, goat cheese, habanero salsa verde, on a corn tortilla

Winner # 6 “The Buddha”

9/27 – 10/1

Matthew Hoover - Butter curry chicken, roasted red pepper, mango chutney, a sprinkle of rosemary, all on top of a nice piece of romaine lettuce, wrapped up in thin naan. Wild rice optional.

Winner # 7 “Little Piggy Tacos”

10/4 – 10/8

Mati Senerchia – Grilled corn tortilla, barbecued pulled pork, fresh coleslaw with apples

Winner # 8 “Man Taco”

10/11 – 10/15

Nick Rodish – Steak, feta cheese, onion straws, bacon, garlic butter

Winner # 9 “Oktoberfest”

10/18 – 10/22

Diego Sebastian Moena – Apple chutney tacos: traditional pork/chicken tacos served with a red onion/granny smith/cinnamon chutney, sharp cheddar cheese

Winner #10 “The Little Ratita”

10/25 – 10/29

Little Ratita – Vegetarian taco of grilled eggplant, mushrooms, onion with roasted corn, zucchini flowers and cotija cheese (Flor de Calabaza relish)

CAFE DE WHEELS

This truck makes a serious, and seriously tasty, burger, which they will cook to medium rare if you ask (I hate being told places won't cook burgers to anything less than medium). It is sloppy and delicious, with balsamic onions, and a sauce so good that it actually makes me enjoy lettuce on a burger :) Cafe de Wheels also has a number of other options, including a Cuban sandwich and several grilled cheese sandwiches, most of which I haven't tried. Kind of got stuck on the burger ($6.50) and the feta fries, which add another $3.00 to the bill, but they're a large portion.

CINCY FOOD TRUCK 411

WHO'S WHERE WHEN

These three vendors, and others as well, have no set schedule as to when they'll be at any particular location inside or outside city limits. That's one of the points of being mobile, after all! All seem to have their own strategies about where they can get the most traffic, and seem to be interested in catering, especially if you have a group who would like them to set up at a spot near you. My lunch-going experience has been primarily at the 5th and Race location, which is closest to my office. I usually try to check out who's there before I go (via their twitter or facebook). I've never walked over on my lunch hour and found zero food trucks there. I have occasionally found only one. In my experience, Fridays seem to draw more food trucks to that location. Then again, downtown office workers tend to go out for lunch and be more adventuresome as the weekend draws near, especially if it's a payday Friday.

EXPECT TO WAIT FOR YOUR FOOD

Rather than grumble about it, go in with an appropriate expectation. Depending on how many people are in line when you arrive, and the fact that these vendors are at least assembling, if not also cooking, your food to order, don't be surprised if it takes 10-20 minutes to get your lunch. Cafe de Wheels  offers an option for you to email your order ahead, but I've had mixed success with how effectively that works, especially when they're slammed.

SEATING

When I've talked up these trucks, people have asked about this too. This is take-away food, people, and my suggestion is to figure that out where you'll eat it yourself. I usually take mine back and eat at my office. For outdoor dining, Fountain Square is only a block from the Fifth and Race location, and I noticed plenty of tables available last week. Cafe de Wheels has a couple of tables and chairs it puts outside its truck.

WHERE TO VOTE FOR OUR TRUCKS

You can cast up to 10 votes a day through Sept. 10 for any of these great food trucks to become contestants on the next season of Food TV's Great Food Truck Race show (and become eligible for some sort of sweepstakes the network is offering if you vote). Just go here and follow the directions.    

VENDOR CONTACT INFO

The best way to find your way to these trucks is to keep track of them via twitter or facebook (which you can do even if you don't have your own twitter account or haven't friended them on FB). With apologies to anyone who caught this post before it was "cooked," here's the 411.

You'll find the New Orleans To Go truck listed as Streetcar Named Desire on the Food TV contest website. New Orleans to Go's website. New Orleans to Go's twitter. New Orleans to Go's facebook.

Senor Roy's website. Senor Roy's twitter. Senor Roy's facebook.

Cafe de Wheels website. Cafe de Wheels twitter. Cafe de Wheels facebook.

WHERE DID SUMMER GO?

So much going on as the summer draws to a close! But I wanted to take a minute to thank just a few of the fine folks who've fed me - literally, inspirationally, even monetarily :) - in ways that have made this a great summer I will be sorry to see end.

First up, Cooking With Caitlin, whose Fried Green Tomato Burger with Remoulade at the top of this post last Tuesday was, sadly, my last opportunity to taste their food this summer. I've been eating Caitlin's inventive little burgers every Tuesday this summer when they've participated in Market on Fountain Square, including this awesome burger with asparagus slaw I blogged about here.

Tuesday Market on the Square continues through September, although last week, alas, was CWC's last outing at this season's market - my first jolt, other than all that back-to-school morning traffic, that summer has about run its course. Thanks, gals, for your big smiles and delicious food all summer long!

Next, for those of you who've been following the Culinary Smackdown cooking/blogging competitions I've participated in a few times now - Battle Lobster, Battle Picnic (which I won), and Battle Summertime Veggies (which I hosted) - a big thanks to Doggy Bloggy of ChezWhat? for his ongoing culinary inspiration, as well as doing a fine job hosting this month's Culinary Smackdown. Check out Doggy's wrap-up of the Battle Sandwich entries for some wide-ranging and delicious sandwich inspirations. I believe he drew in a record number of participants, including Anette of Krakilette, from Norway, who was this month's winner! Here are Anette's details for the September Culinary Smackdown: Battle Chocolate.

Dog upped the stakes for the August Smackdown by offering a $100 CSN Stores gift certificate. Imagine my surprise when the same day I learned I did NOT win one from him I also learned I DID WIN one for $60 from All Top Chef. If you're a Top Chef fan and don't already know about this blog, you'll find lots of newsy tidbits about chefs from all the seasons, plus terrific podcast interviews with each week's auf'd contestant by the fabulous Laura Kluvo, founder of Blogging Project Runway, which I discovered in its infancy and which inspired me into the blogosphere in the first place.You'll also find linkage to Top Chef recaps, including the hysterically funny ones from hard-working ATC team member, cartoonizer, and dialectician Minx Eats.

I also want to give a shout-out to Findlay Market and the team of stellar Cincinnati chefs (including Jean-Robert de Cavel, Julie Francis, Joanne Drilling, and Summer Genetti) who will be bringing their talents to bear at the Lunch on the Land benefit for Findlay Market September 19 at organically certified Turner Farm.

For more details, and a video from last year's fundraiser, click here.

Photo courtesy of J. Greg Henry of SippitySup.com.

Finally, if you're looking for corn recipes, you will find a spectacular array of them over at Sippity-Sup, who has just finished a week-long "Sweet on Corn" blogathon that includes:
Grilled Corn with Feta and Lime

Grilled Chicken with Raw Corn and Grilled Bread Salad

Seared Scallops with Succotash

Corn and Zucchini Fritter Stacks with Bacon and Avocado

Old Fashioned Corn Chowder

Fresh Corn & Sun Dried Tomato Angel Hair Pasta

and his final, knock-out installment, a savory Corn Brulee and Tomato Sorbet - hint, bacon is also involved! Go check these out. You will find gorgeous photos and outstanding dishes that just may convince you there's a whole 'nother world of things you can do with corn besides dousing it in butter.

Meanwhile, I'll leave you with this roasted corn shot I took myself. What are you eating as Labor Day approaches?

CULINARY SMACKDOWN: BATTLE SANDWICH

Yes, I know this is month's Smackdown is Battle: Sandwich, not Battle: Corn. But bear with me, friends, while I explain. You might recall that recently I received a thoughtful surprise package from my thoughtful and surprising sister.

It contained Iowa sweet corn!

I set about looking for new ways to use my sweet corn bounty and, inspired by a post from this month's Culinary Smackdown host and last month's winter, Christo aka DoggyBloggy at Chez What?, tried my hand at Mexican street corn.

I also tried oven-roasting corn for the first time. Husk on for about half an hour at 400 did the trick.

I mixed up some mayo with this chile lime salt and tossed in some roasted red pepper for good measure.

I doused an ear of corn in the sauce and added a squeeze of lime - which is key for this dish! Since I couldn't locate any cotija cheese, I rolled my coated corn ear in some feta, which has a similar crumbly consistency.

Yes, my first attempt was pretty goopy. But what good goop! I mixed leftover sauce with some corn off the cob, and it was heavenly.

My second attempt was a little more restrained, but I still couldn't get the deliciousness of these flavors out of my mind.

I realized the flavorful corn-lime-chile mayo would make an interesting sandwich condiment, and I set about building my Smackdown sandwich from there. Here's my trial run with chorizo atop Mexican street corn mayo on baguette.

My photo may not have turned out too well, but the sandwich sure tasted good.

Then it occurred to me shrimp would go exceptionally well with the Mexican street corn mayo. So here you have my entry for this month's Culinary Smackdown - Mexican street corn shrimp salad sandwich with cilantro, lime, and feta, and a mixed tomato salad on the side.

I'm looking forward to checking out everyone's Smackdown entries. Head on over to ChezWhat? to see DoggyBloggy's round-up of the entries tomorrow (I think). And may the best sandwich maker prevail!

ETA: Dog's round-up of the entries and announcement of the winner is now up here.What a terrific array of sandwiches - and what a huge turn-out! Great job by all the entrants, and a big thanks to DoggyBloggy aka Christo for being such a great Smackdown host!

SUMMER PANZANELLA WITH OKRA - AND YEAR-ROUND PANZANELLA RECIPE ROUND-UP

Here in the Intuitive Eggplant Kitchen, I love dishes that take well to adaptation, especially when they inspire me to come up with tasty uses for my overzealous farmers market purchases - or to stretch what I have on hand.

Panzanella is just such a dish. Dating back to 14th century Italy, it originated as a peasant dish to breathe life back into stale bread. More recently it has spawned year-round adaptations - even a dessert or brunch twist or two. I love it when my creative juices are sparked by chefs, bloggers, and quirky home cooks like myself sharing their own innovations. You'll find a round-up of wide-ranging panzanella recipes later in this post. But let's start with the fresh summer version I made this week.

First you start with some bread. I had more than enough on hand in anticipation of upcoming Battle Sandwich.

In particular, I needed to use this lovely baguette from Jean-Paul's Paradiso, which started to do its authentic baguette thing and dry on me before I could make my way through my bonanza o' bread.

It was "panzanella perfect" when I broke it down like this.

For a classic Italian summer panzanella, you need tomatoes, and I had a superlatively juicy large red one that needed to be used, as well as sweet yellow pears at their ripe peak.

Although some panzanella recipes suggest hydrating your bread with a vinaigrette, I opted to add as much juice as possible from my overly ripe red tomato, holding off on the dressing until after I'd added more veggies to my bowl.

First, I added sliced raw okra. If you'll indulge me in a quick okra detour, I must confess that I've never purchased or attempted to cook with fresh okra before. But after eating fried okra from Andouille Restaurant's back-yard garden recently, I couldn't resist the chance to do something with okra myself when I found mounds of it at a farmers market. When you can find okra this fresh, there's no slime factor whatsoever (a perceived deterrent some of you commented on). I tasted a few slices to see how okra tastes raw, and sold myself on the idea of leaving it that way, without sidetracking myself with further research about how to prepare this lovely veg.

Next I added farmers-market-fresh cucumbers and some green onions I bought as an after-thought at the supermarket. Thinly sliced red onions, shallot, and/or garlic would be excellent substitutions or additions.

I drizzled my summertime salad with olive oil and added splashes of both sherry vinegar and balsamic, since at first I inadvertently picked up the balsamic when I thought I had the olive oil. Both vinegars marry well with the fresh veggies in this salad. I'm just glad I remembered to hold my index finger over the top of the bottle to slowly dribble out its contents - the better to catch my "mistake" and to keep from overdressing my dinner.

Fresh basil may be the classic summer panzanella herb, but thyme or rosemary work too. Go with what you have on hand. Trying to photograph in natural light on my porch before the sun got too low, I skipped the tedious process of stripping fresh thyme leaves from their stalks and just tossed in some dried thyme and a little salt and pepper. Darn, the days are getting shorter.

To finish my salad, I topped it with some roasted red pepper, parmesan, and kalamata olives.

Summer in a bowl! But you can also adapt this dish to highlight the flavors of fall, winter, or spring. On to my panzanella recipe round-up.

Ina Garten takes summer panzanella in a Greek direction with this recipe featuring feta, lemon, and olives. She also offers a grilled panzanella and goes with capers, bell peppers, and cucumbers here.

Alton Brown adds bacon for a BLT twist in this recipe.

For autumn, you could use butternut squash, cauliflower, and Asian pear as in this recipe. Or sweet potatoes and pumpkin seeds as in this one.

For a panzanella version of Thanksgiving dressing, you could try mushrooms, celery root, lentils, and turkey stock, as in this Bill Telepan recipe (on page 13, from Martha Stewart).

Smitten Kitchen makes a winter panzanella with butternut squash, sage, and brussels sprouts here. Or you could use beets, pancetta, and goat cheese as this blogger did, based on a Tyler Florence recipe. Blogger Sippity Sup takes things in a Nicoise direction with this winter panzanella of cranberry beans, white beans, green beans, and tuna.

For spring, try this winter panzanella from 101 Cookbooks featuring asparagus, peas, and spinach. Or this "late spring" version with patty pan squash, sugar snap peas, leeks, and pea shoots.

Taking panzanella in a sweeter direction, this Guy Fieri recipe includes strawberries, onions, tomatoes, and blue cheese. At first I thought that sounded like an odd mash-up of flavors, but then I remembered the classic Italian salad of berries (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries - take your pick), balsamic, basil, and blue cheese. If you've never tried it before, you should. You won't believe how well balsamic complements the berries.

And for a brunch version of panzanella, Michael Chiarello uses almonds, brown sugar, fresh lemon and orange juice, strawberries, blueberries, golden raisins, balsamic, and mint, with a vanilla yogurt topping.

So what panzanella adaptations do all these variations bring to mind for you? What about using panzanella to stuff tomatoes or portabello mushrooms? It occurs to me I could do a sausage panzanella based on that Alsatian salad of marinated sausage and gruyere I made for the Picnic Culinary Smackdown and added rye croutons to.

I'd love to hear your ideas. And don't forget that panzanella isn't just for summer. Because, darn it, the days are getting shorter and the season will be over before we know it.