In a web search for new-to-me stuff on a stick, I came across the Turkish Adana kebab (capitalized because it’s the name of Turkey’s fourth-largest city), consisting of hand-minced meat from a male lamb, lamb tail fat, minced red peppers, and salt.  Up to a meter long, Adana kebab is grilled over coals and served atop flatbread, accompanied by roasted tomatoes and an onion/parsley/sumac mixture.  These kebabs are taken seriously–the Adana kebab has been protected by a “Controlled Designation of Origin” since 2005.

Well, fat-tailed sheep are not a standard item in my local markets, nor is the lamb meat labeled with the sex of the animal.  So, despite the CDO regulations, I took the liberty of substituting 80/20 ground turkey, roasted red peppers, and added a little ground onion and za’atar to the minced poultry mixture.  After shaping it around sticks and grilling until done throughout, I served my not-Adana kebabs with a yogurt/lime/mint spread on toasted naan.  Perhaps all of these adjustments would be blasphemy to the culinary accountants who created the CDO for a kebab.  I thought the results were delicious; the finely cut onions and peppers lightened the ground turkey’s often too dense texture, resulting in tender, almost fluffy kebabs with a crisp crust and deep flavor.

My turkey and and red pepper kebabs, inspired by Adana kebabs

• 1 1/2 lbs ground turkey (choose a mixture with more fat for a succulent kebab)
• 1 large roasted red pepper, skinned (or equivalent jarred roasted red pepper)
• 1/4 cup onion (1/4 to 1/2 of a small onion)
• 4 tsp za’atar seasoning mixture
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 T olive oil
• kebab skewers; charcoal grill

Light a charcoal grill; set it up for direct cooking.  In a food processor, pulse the roasted peppers and onion until finely minced; take care not to over-process into a paste.  Place minced pepper and onion in a large bowl with the ground turkey, za’atar, and salt.  Stir until well combined, using hands to thoroughly incorporate the seasonings.  Using about 1/2 cup of turkey mixture at a time, squeeze it into an oblong shape around a kebab skewer, compressing it firmly around the stick.  Kebabs should be approximately 1.5-2″ wide and 4-6′ long.  Lay the formed kebab gently onto a sheet pan.  Repeat until all of the turkey mixture is used.  Brush formed kebabs with olive oil.  Cook over a hot charcoal fire until cooked throughout; kebabs will feel slightly spongy when poked with a finger.  Remove the skewers; serve on pita, naan, or flatbread of choice, with tomatoes and plain yogurt.  Yields 12-18 kebabs, depending on size/thickness.

Scoring off the charts on the toasted-sandwich scale is High Hat Cafe’s Cuban sandwich, a flattened (but still mouth-bursting) pile of roasted pork, ham, cheese, and pickles.  High Hat scores additional points in my book for offering a traditional southern vegetable plate; choose three favorites from 10+ choices (blackeyed peas, green beans, okra and tomatoes, potato salad, etc.), bookended by a big hunk of cornbread.

Other tasty Cuban sandwiches:  the Latin Corner in Morgan City, Norma’s Sweets in Kenner or Mid-City, Cochon Butcher in the Warehouse District, and the “Fancy Schmancy Cuban”, a Friday-only special at Stein’s Deli.  (Stein’s version combines Tuscan ham, roasted pork, Gruyere, pickles, and spicy mustard on pressed ciabatta.)  Have I missed your favorite Cuban in south Louisiana?  I want to hear about it….

The bill was amended in form again, and it now takes the form of slightly expanded wording of LA’s previous cottage food statute, adding specific dollar-amount revenue caps and the words “cakes and cookies” to the previously allowed list of jams, jellies, honey, and honeycomb.  I sure would love to see the single word “bread” added to the list.  Breads are safely stored and consumed at room temperature, pose extremely low risk of food borne illnesses, and are an important part of a healthy diet.  In a state with rampant obesity, you’d think that someone in the Legislature might appreciate the need to expand access to healthy foods, not just desserts.  So I’m still advocating for “breads” to be included in this legislation….won’t you join me?

UPDATE:  the bill was approved by the Senate, and it now advances to a House committee next week.  So on to the House of Representatives….

And now for a good laugh:  the erstwhile (some)Times-Picayune, our formerly daily but now occasional newspaper, offers the following “recipe” for Macho Nachos on its website.  I quote it below to demonstrate the rapidly eroding quality of content in the Internet journalism era.

• Good-quality tortilla chips
• Seasoned taco meat (beef or turkey) or chili
• Heated black or pinto refried beans
• Shredded cheese
• Optional: Chopped green chiles, drained
• For serving: Chopped tomatoes, chopped green onions, sliced pickled jalapenos, sour cream, salsa

Spread chips thickly on a jelly roll pan.  Preheat broiler.  Lightly daub the chips with the taco meat or chili, then the beans. Sprinkle lightly with shredded cheese. Immediately run under the preheated broiler until cheese is just bubbling, 3 to 5 minutes. Do not leave the oven area; watch continuously so chips do not burn.

Serve with chopped tomatoes, chopped green onions, sliced jalapenos, chopped green chiles, plus sour cream and salsa.

Optional: Thin sour cream with lime juice and serve it in a squirt bottle, so guests can drizzle their nachos with it.

That’s it.  It is an assembly guide to making *nachos*, a food so pervasive in 2013 America that I cannot imagine a kindergarten student needing instructions to assemble a decent version.  Sigh.  And that’s what passes for food content at http://www.nola.com these days.  Adding insult to injury–it is simply the REPRINT of a “recipe” originally published in 2011.

Now, if you read this blog, you know I’m a bread baker, so I wrote to the committee and asked for the inclusion of bread in the allowed foods list.  Here’s the text of my letter to the committee below:

Members of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee:

I am writing to express my support for Senate Bill 18, which goes before the Senate Health and Welfare Committee next Wednesday, April 17^th.  If made law, this bill would allow home-based bakers to prepare cookies and cakes in home kitchens for sale to the public.  Baked goods are shelf-stable at room temperature, pose very low risk of food-borne illness, and are already created and shared from home kitchens every day.

I would really like to see the bill expanded to specifically include breads.  Breads pose even less risks of food-borne illness than cakes or cookies, as breads quickly stale into unpalatability and become inedible long before any risk of illness from spoilage is present.

Allowing home bakers to legally sell the products from home kitchens is a form of economic empowerment:  present state regulations place expensive burdens on startup bakers who must create entirely separate baking kitchens with commercial-grade equipment.  Especially in rural areas, a bakery business might never achieve profitability due to relatively modest demand for the products.  A small town, home based baker can offer a quality product to neighbors without having to “scale up” the business to unsustainable levels.

Again, I write to express my support for SB 18, and to plead for the addition of breads to the list of allowed products in the bill’s text.

If you want to contact the Senate Health and Welfare Committee to express your support, feel free to borrow the text above or to write your own.  Here are the nine members of the Committee, with email addresses:

Senator David Heitmeier(chairman) (New Orleans)
HeitmeierD@legis.la.gov

Senator Fred H. Mills, Jr(vice chair) (New Iberia)
millsf@legis.la.gov

Senator R.L. ”Bret”Allain,II (Franklin)
allainb@legis.la.gov

Senator Sherri Smith Buffington (Keithville)
smithbuffington@legis.la.gov

Senator Dan Claitor (Baton Rouge)
claitord@legis.la.gov

Senator Yvonne Dorsey-Colomb (Baton Rouge)
dorseyy@legis.la.gov

Senator Dale M. Erdey (Livingston)
erdeyd@legis.la.gov

Senator Elbert L. Guillory (Opelousas)
guillorye@legis.la.gov

Senator Ben Nevers (Bogalusa)
neversb@legis.la.gov

Now go get involved in the democratic process, people.

Check out the full list of seafood-friendly blogs here.

Lots of great content within the 100 finalists; some of my favorite bloggers  from around the country are on that list, like David Leite/Leite’s Culinaria.

Only one glaring omission:  Hank Shaw of Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, a blog well worth your time.

Read the Lafourche Daily Comet’s coverage of the Family Fun Festival.

This weekend also marks the local premier of Besh’s new PBS series, “The Family Table”, which will air on Saturday, April 6th, at 9:30 AM.  The series and companion cookbook focus on family meals and home cooking.

$75 buys quite a LOT of ribeyes–according to this week’s sales circular, ribeyes are $6.77 a pound.  YOU try hiding 11 pounds of meat and sneaking out of store; it’s no wonder the plan failed.

I hope Mr. Ran Away in a Moment of Crisis had the decency to bail her out.

To get the crisp, flattened texture of a good Cuban, a fairly heavy press is required.  Merely mashing on the layered sandwich, even with a sturdy metal spatula, won’t compress the bread into a crisp shell.  What I needed was some serious heft…..

Le Creuset to the rescue.  Turns out that a 3-quart, oval enameled cast iron pot is the ideal shape and size to press sandwiches.  Simply butter (or oil) the bottom lightly, and place the pot atop a griddle to heat.  When the butter starts to sizzle, insert a sandwich. A few minutes per side and a bit of gentle pressure just after turning yields toasty, crusty results (see above).

No need to buy a specialized, single-use appliance.  A good, heavy pot did the trick.