Just a sneak peak at what was going on in our kitchen last night. Plenty of food and cooking to bring in the New Year.

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The Great American Food & Music Festival in Mountain View featured everything a food fanatic could ask for. Not only did you have chef demonstrations from local Bay Area chefs like Nancy Oakes and Chris Cosentino, but Food Network celebrity chefs made appearances as well.

The highlight of the event was having the opportunity to sample…

Katz’s Deli Pastrami Sandwiches
Pink’s Hot Dogs
Graeter’s Ice Cream
Anchor Bar Chicken Wings
Barney Greengrass Bagels
Southside Market Barbecue Brisket and Sausage
Zingerman’s BLT Sandwiches and Bacon Platters
Tony Luke’s Cheesesteaks and Roast Pork Sandwiches
Junior’s Classic Cheesecake
Burger Meister’s Hamburgers
June Taylor’s Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches
A Selection of Charles Chocolates
and Bouchon Bakery’s Chocolate Bouchons

You can picture the long lines now. And, believe it, the lines were epic.

Here’s a collection of photos from yesterday’s event.

Busy Grilling at Burger Meister’s Booth

Bite into Katz’s Pastrami Sandwich & Tony Luke’s Philly Cheesesteak

It’s All About the Snap in Pink’s Hot Dogs

Clockwise: Chef Nancy Oakes, Aida Mollenkamp, Chuck Siegel, and Chef Bobby Flay

In a perfect world, this event would have gone smoothly without any hiccups. Unfortunately, right from the start, things did not look so bright. Plastic electronic widget enabled bracelets that you load up with cash or credit were supposed to speed up the payment process failed from the moment we got there. Vendors were using the bracelets as the only form of payment. When people found out that the bracelets weren’t working, the complaints escalated. Delays in trying to get the bracelets to work led to longer lines. Cash was finally acceptable after the bracelet idea was scrapped.

A couple of friends of mine and I, just like any event goer, had to endure the long wait for food. Two hours in line for Tony Luke’s Philly cheesesteak? Some might have just left and say, “No way.” We waited. I expected the long lines and tried to make the best of it by chatting with people and joking with my friends. Once we got our sandwiches, it was just funny how we all managed to chow them down so fast as if we owed to to ourselves to enjoy every last greasy bite of steak and cheese. It was our sigh of relief.

After leaving the event I heard of reports of vendors running out of food. Not good… Plenty of people angrily left the event still hungry and perhaps feeling ripped off. I can’t speak on behalf of those who feel that way, but can understand why. It seems that you either left the event disappointed or tried to have a good time despite the madness.

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It came to me when I flipped through January’s copy of Bon Appètit and saw a recipe for Fettuccine Carbonara with fried eggs. The photo in the spread made the dish look delicious. I had to see if it tasted as good as it looked.

The recipe called for rabe broccoli and egg fettuccine. It was odd that our local Trader Joe’s didn’t have either. Perhaps I just overlooked it because I was too excited to make the dish. So, I opted to buy regular broccoli and instead of having smaller fettuccine pasta, I purchased larger pappardelle pasta. Time to get the stove fired up.

This recipe by Jill Silverman Hough was featured in Bon Appètit, January 2009:

Ingredients
8 large eggs
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 oz thinly sliced pancetta (Italian bacon), finely chopped
12 oz egg fettuccine
1 medium bunch broccoli rabe (rapini), cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Preparation
Whisk 4 eggs, both cheeses, garlic, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in medium bowl; set aside. Cook pancetta in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 7 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to small bowl. Reserve skillet with drippings.

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until almost tender (about 3 minutes less than package directions); add broccoli rabe. Cook just until broccoli rabe is crisp-tender and pasta is tender, about 3 minutes longer. Drain pasta-broccoli rabe mixture, reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid. Return hot pasta-broccoli rabe mixture to pot (off heat). Immediately add egg-cheese mixture, pancetta, and 1/4 cup hot cooking liquid; toss to combine, adding more cooking liquid by tablespoonfuls to moisten as needed. Season to taste with salt and more pepper, if desired. Cover to keep warm.

Heat skillet with drippings over medium heat. Crack remaining 4 eggs into skillet; sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook until whites are opaque, about 2 minutes. Carefully turn eggs over; cook just until whites are set but yolks are still soft, about 1 minute longer. Remove from heat.

I opted not to top the dish off with fried eggs. It still managed to be very delicious. I also enjoyed the fact that I was able to work with cheese as a main ingredient. Yes, you read that right, cheese. I don’t use it too often in my cooking. It was fun to try something new like that. That’s the beauty about cooking… You get to try new things and learn along the way.

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Some of my favorites: Parisian Herb Blend, Sweet Curry, and Smoked Spanish Paprika

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Take some shrimp and turn it into…

Tamarind Soup with Shrimp or Sinigang na Hipon, in Tagalog. This soup combines the sour and tangy flavors of tamarind with the sweetness of shrimp. Throw in some spinach and radish for the vegetables. After that, add in some spiciness with jalapeño peppers. Prepare your taste buds for an assortment of flavors.

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My Mom likes to add twists to the dishes she cooks. Instead of using vinegar, she uses pineapple juice with her version of Adobo. I have the recipe here for those who want to make it.

Ingredients
1 Pound Pork
5 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
1 Cup Pineapple Juice
4-5 Cloves of Chopped Garlic
½ Chopped Yellow Onion
1 Bay Leaf
Salt
Pepper

Steps
To make the Adobo, combine the onion, garlic, soy sauce, pineapple juice, and bay leaf into a large sauce pan. Add in the pork with a little bit of salt and pepper. My Mom uses pork belly which is very fatty, but adds lots of flavor. You can use pork spareribs instead of the pork belly if you don’t want the added fat. The choice is yours.

After combining all of the ingredients together, cover it and let it simmer over medium heat for 30-40 minutes or until the pork is tender. Be sure to stir it occasionally.

Remember, you can always alter the proportions of soy sauce and pineapple juice to your taste. For the more traditional style Adobo, substitute the pineapple juice with distilled white vinegar. When it’s ready, just serve it with rice and you have yourself a classic Filipino meal.

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Ingredients
Large White Mushrooms
Roll Sausage or Sausage Links
Parmesan Cheese
Salt
Pepper

Steps
If you only have access to sausage links, you’ll have to remove the sausage meat from the casings. Using a roll of sausage is easier because you don’t have to deal with removing any casings. It makes for less mess a well. To remove the casings from link sausages, just make a slit into the link and squeeze the meat out. You can then set the meat aside in a bowl. If you’re working with a roll of sausage, take some sausage out of the roll and set it aside in a bowl.

Take the sausage you have and season it with a little bit of salt and pepper. Sausages come in all types of special flavors, so you can use those here. My favorites to use are the Spicy Italian Sausages. Feel free to experiment with different flavors. To get a good idea of how much sausage to use, each mushroom requires a small meatball sized portion to stuff the mushroom.

Before you begin stuffing, you will want to remove the stems from the mushrooms. Start rolling up the sausage meat into small meatballs and prepare to stuff the mushrooms. Place the meat into the pit of the unstemed mushroom. Set the stuffed mushrooms into a baking safe dish. You can top each mushroom with some parmesan cheese. Just sprinkle as much as you want on each. After you are done preparing the mushrooms, it’s time to bake them.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and once it’s ready, place the baking dish inside the oven. Cook the stuffed mushrooms for 20-25 minutes or until the sausage is cooked thoroughly. After they’re done, take them out of the oven. They’re best served hot.

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Ingredients
Roasted Chicken (Using rotisserie chicken from the supermarket also works)
Wonton Wrappers
Ricotta Cheese
Lemon Juice
Hot Sauce
Unsalted Butter
1 Egg, Lightly Beaten
Parmesan Cheese
Salt
Pepper
Parsley Flakes

Steps
First, you’ll want to shred the Roasted Chicken. Use your hands or a fork to pull apart the chicken. Throw the chicken into a bowl and combine the ricotta, lemon juice – to your taste, salt, pepper, and some hot sauce. Stir to combine.

Next, place a few wonton wrappers on a cutting board or any other dry surface. Place about a teaspoon of the chicken mixture into the center of the wonton wrapper. Make sure you don’t put too much of the mixture into the middle or you’ll have a hard time forming a pouch. Using a pastry brush or your fingers, brush the egg wash around the mixture. Bring all four corners of the wonton wrapper together and form the pouch. Make sure you tightly press the edges together so it won’t fall apart.

Now, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Once the water starts boiling toss in a few of the pouches, and let them cook. Don’t over crowd the pot you don’t want them sticking together. You’ll know they’re done once they float to the surface, this should only take about 3-5 minutes. Once done, transfer the pouches to a plate and set them aside.

Finally, melt some butter in a skillet or pan. Season the melted butter with pepper and salt, then set the heat to low, and add the cooked chicken pouches. Gently toss them around to evenly coat the pouches with butter. Place them on a plate sprinkle them with some parsley flakes and then grate Parmesan Cheese over the finished product.

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