I'm Still a Southern Gal!

Perhaps I am missing Texas or perhaps I was inspired by tomato season...either way I thought it would be fun to experiment with a southern classic, fried green tomatoes! Who doesn't love 'em? I picked some up from Green City Market Wednesday morning. Leaning Shed Farm had an excellent selection from which I chose a variety called green apple. These tomatoes were firm enough to fry up which is what makes an excellent fried green tomato. To go along, we whipped up some tarragon aioli using fresh herbs from my garden. These make a great dinner served on top fresh arugula or other veggies for a complete southern, vegetarian meal! Enjoy!

Fried Green Tomatoes
2 large green tomatoes
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup all purpose flour
Paprika to taste
Garlic powder to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
1 egg
Vegetable oil for frying

Tarragon Aioli
2 egg yolks at room temperature
4 garlic cloves
I TBS fresh tarragon
1 lemon
1 cup olive oil
Salt to taste

For the tomatoes: beat the egg in a bowl and set aside. Combine all dry ingredients. Slice the tomatoes about a 1/2 inch thick. Dip slices into egg wash then fully coat them with the dry ingredients. Bring vegetable oil to a very high heat, ideally using a cast iron skillet for maximum browning. Fry the tomatoes about one minute each side.

For the aioli: In a food processor mince the tarragon and garlic. Then add the egg yolk. The mixture will come to a paste. Slowly add the olive oil while mixing. Add the squeeze of one lemon and add salt to taste. Refrigerate before serving.

Sunday Salsa!

Tomato and pepper season have overlapped! What else would you make other than some spicy salsa? I can eat it by the spoon full (just ask #thesweetest!)

 Saturday morning, I picked up my salsa ingredients from The Green City Market. There are a few different farms you can find there every weekend. Tomatoes, garlic and onions from Leaning Shed Farm, jalepeños from Nichols Farm and cilantro from Genisis Growers. If you live in Chicago and haven't payed Green City Market a visit, you are truly missing out!

After a quick roast of the jalapeños and a rough chop of the tomatoes and onions, the ingredients can be thrown into a food processor or blender for a quick and delicious salsa. Warning: do not put your contacts in after making salsa! I learned this the hard way. Enjoy! I know I will...on some tacos!

Sunday Salsa

About a dozen vine tomatoes or plum tomatoes
About 8 jalapeños
2 small red onions
1 head of garlic
1 bunch of cilantro
Salt

Roast jalapeños under broiler for about 20 minutes. Remove stems and most of the seeds (more seeds = more heat). Cut tomatoes in half and squeeze out excess juice and seeds. Roughly cut tomatoes into smaller pieces to fit into food processor. Do the same with the onions, cilantro and entire garlic head. Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until desired consistency. Add salt to taste. Refrigerate overnight for the best flavor, if you can wait that long!

Sunday Brunchday!

If you live in Chicago you are aware that Chicagoans love their brunch. Especially on Sunday morning. There are people waiting outside as far as the eye can see. #Thesweetest and I don't go out for brunch often, but when we do, we do it right.

Brunch can often be strange. A large meal at 11 o'clock or so, leaves one confused. Do I eat a late dinner? Just an early snack then hit the hay? Despite being thrown off your meal schedule, brunch can be a great way to relax and indulge a bit before the work week.

So you ask, what is my brunch of choice? Longman & Eagle, the hip hotel and restaurant located in Logan Square. They sold me before I ever walked in the place. The sign on the front door reads "Eat, sleep, whiskey" How could you possibly go wrong?

Garrett and I snagged a spot at the bar. The best place to sit if you ask me. You have plain view of the open kitchen and it's just a stone's throw away from the bartender.

Garrett and I started with their special blend of coffee "Darkman & Eagle" which was made in collaboration with Dark Matter Coffee, my absolute favorite coffee in the world. That already makes this place perfect and I haven't even gotten to the food!

I went with the PBR breakfast, sans PBR. I told you this place was hip. This included eggs any style, sausage or bacon and house potatoes. Of course I went scrambled with bacon although, L&E makes their sausage in house, maybe next time. What can I say? I'm a bacon girl. And don't even get me started on those potatoes... perfectly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, sprinkled with chives.

Garrett opted for a not-so-brunchy entree. He has recently become obsessed with Cuban sandwiches since watching the movie Chef. So naturally that is what he ordered. Complete with pork belly and
house made zuchinni pickles. Oh and beef fat fries. Don't forget the beef fat fries. Doesn't sound like a bad brunch option huh?

After we...and by we, I mean me... cleared our plates we headed over to the Logan Square Farmers Market to pick up some flowers. The perfect Sunday if you ask me! Hope you all had a great one too!

Show Day Eats

Yesterday I had my first show of the season with River North. It was held at The Ruth Page Center for Dance and it was for the kids taking the River North Dance Chicago Summer Intensive. We only performed four pieces, so it was an easier show for the company, normally our shows are twice as long, lasting about two hours. Regardless, I have to prepare myself just the same on any show day. One of the questions I get asked the most is, "what do you eat on show days?" Well, it is your lucky day because I am going to tell you exactly how I fuel myself for a hard days work, and how I treat myself at the end of it all!

5:00 am- I am up for spin class and I get my day started with a piece of Ezekiel bread, toasted, with peanut butter and coffee, lots of coffee. Ezekiel bread is a sprouted whole grain bread, that is a complete source of protein, contains 18 amino acids, high in fiber and low in sugar. If you are going to eat bread, this is my healthy pick!

6:00 am- Because I have an easier show tonight, I go to spin class. I have to be careful about extra exercise on show days because I do not want to tire my legs out. On this day, I think it will be a good warm up.

8:00 am- More coffee. And a plain croissant, because it is Friday.

9:30 am- Ballet class. Some people may think ballet class is for little girls in tutus, but it is really not. A professional dancer's ballet class is very intense and you have to be very focused to learn difficult combinations and perform at your best.

11:00 am- On this particular day, because of the workshop going on, I get a break. Time to eat again! I have an apple and a peanut butter, chocolate Quest Bar. Some good carbs and protein to fuel my rehearsal.

12:30 am- Rehearsal time for the show tonight! We space through the pieces with lighting and we are ready to go!

2:15 pm- Physical therapy. Athletico,  the local PT company who works with many of the Chicago sports teams also works on us. Today I have them work on my left metatarsal which I injured last season. Injuries are something you have to stay on top of, otherwise they will keep returning. We don't want that!

2:30 pm- Another break! I meet #thesweetest in the park. At this point I have not really had a "lunch." That is because on show days, when I wont be eating dinner until late, I like to break up my lunch into two parts so I do not feel too full and I do not get too hungry. Today I have another apple and Fage Greek Yogurt. I know, another apple, but there are worse things than having two apples in one day.

5:30 pm- Showtime!

7:00 pm- I am finally done for the day! Me and #thesweetest head across the street to Italian restaurant, Nico Osteria, one of Paul Kahan's many restaurants in the city. Others include Big Star, The Publican and Publican Quality Meats. All equally delicious! After about a 15 hour day at the office, a show and a grueling week I think it is time to treat myself. The dinner we had did not disappoint. When most people think Italian they think heavy cheese laden dishes. Not at Nico! We had the freshest of the land and sea! Oh and some pasta of course!

 (Front) Beef Tongue with, sepia, Persian cucumber and sea urchin aioli (Back) Octopus with favetta, grapefruit and preserved lemon

 Softshell Crab alla Romana with Bibb lettuce, salsa verde and agro mosto

Goat Cheese Caramelle with English peas, morels, hazelnuts and saba

Back to Work: What's for Lunch?

Being a dancer, I often get asked, "what do you eat for lunch?" It is a common misconception that dancers don't eat but the reality is, we have to eat! Without fuel I could not get through my day, which usually consists of yoga or spin class at 6 a.m. followed by a 9:30 a.m. ballet class that leads into about 5 hours of rehearsal. As you can see I have a very physically exhausting schedule. By eating small snacks throughout the day and getting good rest I am able to execute my best work.

I though it would be fun to show you all what I eat for lunch each week. In order to save money and time, I usually make one large grain and vegetable salad accompanied by fruit. For my first week back to work I made a quinoa tabbouleh with chickpeas. It is filling and light so it gives me the energy I need without weighing me down. Enjoy!

Using a mason jar makes is easy to measure portions

Quinoa Tabbouleh
(Makes enough for about 5 days worth of lunch. About 1 1/2 cups)

1 1/2 cups quinoa dry
1 can chickpeas (drained)
1 cup parsley chopped
1 pint cherry tomatoes sliced in half
3 Persian cucumbers diced
Olive oil (enough to lightly coat salad)
Juice of one lemon
1 clove garlic chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Prepare quinoa and then add  the rest of the ingredients. Chill overnight for the best flavor!

800 Followers! ...and a Blog!

As many of you know, this blog started as an Instagram account that was meant to document my culinary experiences as a traveling dancer with River North Dance Chicago. selfishly, I only wanted it for my own personal use. The more I toured, the more pictures and followers I accumulated. When at home in my tiny Chicago kitchen I began to recreate or create new recipes inspired by the food I ate during my travels. My followers began to ask for my recipes. Now that I have reached 800 followers, I figured it was about time I gave this blog thing a shot!

On Olive Eats you will be able to follow my travels and access my recipes! I can't wait to share my upcoming adventures with you all!