Monday, October 30, 2017. Great Sandwiches @ Lola. Mary Ann is on for lunch, and the place she suggests is Lola, the restaurant operated by the husband-and-wife chef couple Keith and Nealy Frentz. Lola (no apostrophe-s) is two restaurants in one. In the evening, it's a gourmet bistro. In daytime, it's a lunch house with an excellent array of sandwiches, made with good deli meats, house-made breads, and well-assembled salads of find greens and vegetables. Perhaps it's because I went there a few times while I was on jury duty (the courthouse is across the street), I consigned the place to the fast-lunch category. Which is why we never went there at midday.
The lunch we had made that response clearly inaccurate. We started with a pair of homemade hot soups made with shredded beef, potatoes, and white cheddar. A little cream was in there, with just enough red pepper. The sandwiches were equally rustic and good, served on focaccia with a filling of ham, roast pork, cheese and greens. It was almost like a Cuban sandwich, but with a more interesting texture. Both orders came with good piles of salad. The grilled salmon salad with French dressing (made with blue cheese and tomatoes went to Mary Ann.
We were sitting outside, of course. Although the temperatures were on the cool side--and it's about time they did--it was not uncomfortable for us to sit next to the ancient but recently- added railroad passenger car next to the deck. (The building is the old Covington Railroad Depot from the 1940s and before.)
MA likes the environment well enough that we now have a new restaurant for lunch on Mondays. (She picks restaurant according to atmosphere, not food, and she freely admits that.)
Lola. Covington: 517 N New Hampshire. 985-892-4992.
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Pumpkin Soup With Tasso
Every October, people begin asking me what they can cook with all those beautiful and inexpensive pumpkins out there--especially if they have children. That's the wrong kind for pumpkin pie, but it does make interesting savory dishes. This soup gets a bit of spice and smokiness from the tasso--the Cajun-style cured ham. (Buy the very dry, crusty, peppery kind.) It's also a little rich. Go nuts and serve it in a pumpkin shell, if that's not too Martha for you.
- 1 medium-large pumpkin, 5-7 lbs.
- 2 Tbs. butter
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 1 1/2 oz. Bourbon
- 4 oz. tasso, finely chopped
- 1 tsp. marjoram
- 1/2 tsp. Tabasco garlic hot sauce
- 1 quart chicken or vegetable broth
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- Salt to taste
- 1 green onion, tender green part only, finely sliced
1. Cut a round hole in the top of the pumpkin about five inches in diameter. Scrape out the seeds and juicy membranes and discard. Then scrape out the flesh of the pumpkin, leaving about a inch-thick shell if you're planning on using it as a soup tureen.
2. Chop the pumpkin flesh roughly in a food processor. Measure out between four and five cups worth.
3. Heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat and sauté the onions until soft. Add the Bourbon and bring to a boil. (Careful--it might catch fire if the flame touches it. This is not undesirable, but use caution. Maybe do this outside.) Add the pumpkin, marjoram, Tabasco, and broth. Bring to a light boil and lower to a simmer. Cook for about a half-hour, or until the biggest pumpkin pieces have no crunch at all.
4. Puree the saucepan contents in a food processor (in batches, of course). Strain through a coarse-mesh strainer back into the rinsed saucepan. Add the tasso and cream, stir, and return to just below a simmer. Cook for about ten more minutes, then add salt and Tabasco to taste, and a little water to thin out the soup if necessary. Note: Tasso is salty and peppery, so taste before seasoning. You should do that all the time, anyway.
5. You can serve the soup out of the pumpkin shell if you like. Garnish with thinly-sliced green onions.
Serves eight.
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November 2, 2017
Days Until
Thanksgiving (Nov. 23): 22 Christmas: 58 New Year's Eve: 65.
Today's Flavor
Today is Deviled Eggs Day. Deviled eggs used to be common as an appetizer around New Orleans. The most famous place for them was Maylie's, which served them with remoulade sauce. It sounds strange, but it's actually very good. Arnaud's revived the idea a few years ago and had them on their lunch menu as "The Count's Eggs." No lunch there at the moment, though. So if we're going to eat deviled eggs remoulade, we have to make them ourselves.
Annals Of Royal Food Proclamations
Today is the birthday, in 1755, of Marie Antoinette, the queen of France. Aside from her famous recommendation that certain people eat cake (actually, she recommended that they eat brioche), she had a New Orleans hotel named for her on the corner of Toulouse and Dauphine. That was the original location, in 1970, of Louis XVI French Restaurant, named for Marie's husband. The restaurant later moved to where it is now, on Bienville off Bourbon.
Gourmet Gazetteer
There are two Rum Creeks in Alabama. One of them runs northwest eleven miles alongside the old Montgomery Highway and the current Kansas City Southern Railroad main line, meeting Cypress Creek at the outskirts of Tuscaloosa. The outflow of Rum Creek is right behind a Waffle House and a Hooters. Not promising. How about Costas Barbecue, another three blocks away? The other Rum Creek is ninety-two miles south of the first one, seventy-seven miles west of Montgomery. It's a tributary of the Alabama River at a spot where the Alabama has reservoir characteristics. Although this Rum Creek is only four miles long, it's wider and has better fishing. The nearest restaurant is eleven miles south in Camden: the Southern Seafood and Steak House.
Edible Dictionary
chocolate mint, n.--The flavors of chocolate and mint go so well together that it seems almost too good to be true that there is a variety of mint plant that actually does have a chocolate aroma as well as a peppermint flavor. The chocolatiness is mostly in the nose, however. And the stuff tastes a little greener than spearmint would. Still, it's a great garnish on fresh fruit.
Deft Dining Rule #204:
If you order two Napoleon pastries for yourself at one time, you may expect to hear the French lady on the other side of the counter exclaim, "mon dieu!"
Food Records
Today in 1978, fishermen off the coast of Newfoundland caught the largest squid ever: fifty-five feet long, almost two tons. These giant squid are known to battle sperm whales to the finish in a fair fight. One fried ring feeds a family of twelve.
Food In Show Biz
The Soup Nazi--a guy who made great soups but who put his customers through hell to get them--appeared for the first time today in 1995 on the Seinfeld television show. The character was based on that of Al Yeganeh, who ran the Soup Kitchen International in Manhattan. It has become a small chain of souperies in the last couple of years.
Food In Art
Today is the birthday, in 1837, of Emile Antoine Bayard, a French painter and illustrator. Among his best-known works are the drawings in several of Jules Verne's novels. He is remembered (barely) on the menu at Antoine's with a salad. It had a Cubist look, with an artichoke heart stuffed with a mix of minced celery, parsley, and green onions, topped with a rolled anchovy stuffed with caviar. As weird as this sounds, it is of interest because the chopped part of this is the starting point for Antoine's oysters Rockefeller recipe. Salade Bayard is no longer on the menu--it never was very popular, and my then-waiter Joe Guerra refused to let me order it. probably--but I always liked it.
Food Namesakes
Danny Cooksey, a television actor who played Sam on Diff'rent Strokes, was born today in 1975. . . Former Saints tackle Chris Port was born today in 1967. . . British cricket star Fred Bakewell stepped up to life's wicket today in 1913. . . Long-time Kentucky Congressman Romano Mazzoli, whose name sounds like a dish, was born today in 1932. . . The Spruce Goose, the largest airplane ever built, was taken on its first and last flight today in California in 1947. The pilot was Howard Hughes, who designed it.
Words To Eat By
"They say that a good cook can ignite sparks by the way he kisses. The way I see, just because a guy can turn on the stove doesn't necessarily make him a good cook."--Stephanie Powers, who played the girl from U.N.C.L.E. on the 1960s television show. She was born today in 1942.
Words To Drink By
"I have seen all, I have heard all, I have forgotten all."--Marie Antoinette, born today in 1755.
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Halloween Breakfast.
The major curse here involves the pounds you will add by routinely eating a standard stack of five flapjacks.Click here for the cartoon.
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