Mad Hungry with Lucinda Scala Quinn
January 18, 2013

Epic Game Day Eats for Sunday

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It’s kind of awesome for me to announce that I’m participating in the Visa/NFl Make It Epic Campaign. For any TV viewer not living under a rock—you’ve proably glimpsed the Epic action while watching the football games. Truthfully, football has generally fallen under the “if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em” category my whole life. And so it goes that my true path in to the whole football affair is food. With #MakeItEpic, I've been asked to lend my expertise on what I cook in real life: epic game day eats. With the big game up on Sunday, read up below for some state-driven game day strategy.

As the single sister to three brothers in the very footballish city of Detroit and the mother of three son’s and a husband in our very "footballish" New York City apartment—it was really my only choice.

Feeding and being fed by our Mad Hungry crowd is my goal. The NFL teams themselves BECOME THE JUMP OFF FOR our menu strategy.

And the tactics start here:

This week I’m thinking San Francisco eats (Shrimp Scampi) VS Atlanta eats (Fried Chicken and Waffles).

Baltimore eats (Crab Cakes) VS New England eats (Clam Chowder).

We’ll face off Shrimp Scampi against fried chicken and the chowder against the crab cakes (with maybe a grasshopper cake as "ref"). Each Quinn male can make the recipe of choice. I’ll happily sit back and watch the games while nibbling away on my favorite team.

 

 

I am blogging on behalf of the Visa Make it Epic campaign and receive compensation for my time, but the thoughts, words, and promotions on this page are mine, not Visa's. 

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Posted on January 18, 2013 in Blogging | direct link to this entry |

January 17, 2013

Peter Luger Steak House

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 All my boys know that their birthday will be a food-fest celebration for the whole family. Whatever else they may have planned with friends (who may or may not join us), we gather together on the actual day. Sometimes someone requests a favorite meal or we throw together an impromptu party. As they’ve gotten older, more often or not they request the restaurant they are not likely to take themselves to meaning, where can mom and dad pay the bill?

This year Calder chose his hands-down favorite steakhouse in NYC, Peter Luger, an old school 120 year old institution in Brooklyn. I remember the first time I went there as a newbie New Yorker in my 20s and made the mistake of asking for a menu. The waiter looked at me with an intimidating glance; “what else are you going to order?”, I’m sure he was thinking.

Subsequent visits over the years have taught me—its not that the waiters are snobby, rather, they are a professional, no-nonsense sort who take their jobs very seriously, which is to have cooked and delivered tableside the right size steak, fired and sliced to perfection along with the desired side dishes. As far as I’m concerned, those are your only decisions: what’s the doneness of your steak and what are your sides? The actual steak flavor is top-tier, beefy, tender, buttery with a perfect top crusty edge seasoned to perfection.

On the side are Tomatoes with White Onions, Hash Brown Potatoes, Creamed Spinach and a plate of Bacon. Atmospherically, it is a rollicking good time in spite of the guy-heavy, after-work, "we’re-on-expense-accounts" vibe.

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Posted on January 17, 2013 in Blogging | direct link to this entry |

January 15, 2013

Virtual Vermont

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A couple of updates on one of my favorite states, Vermont.

I love this state. It’s a food lovers dream. It’s a rare state where everyone comes together to help build a responsible food culture. It is clearly detailed in a great book published a few years ago called The Town That Food Saved by Ben Hewitt.

We’ve covered a few VT cheesemakers in Martha Stewart Living, which is one of my favorite stories ever.

When my son graduated from University of Vermont, we had an awesome graduation party at Shelburne farms and it was so cool to have all the food made from mostly local ingredients. The coach barn also happens to be where the annual Vermont Cheesemakers festival is held.

Check out this little video I did for them last year. AND-  If you are in the area, stop by the 2013 festival and while you are at it,  there is a very interesting, educational, and MAD fun beer festival too. I’m not talking about a slosh-fest but rather a gathering of very serious artisinal beer makers. One of my favorites from last year was Heady Topper. And if you want in on one of my guilty little daily secrets, indulge yourself with Vermont Butter & Cheese european-style cultured butter. This is not my everyday butter, but one I hide in the back of the fridge for the toast-indulgent mornings.

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Posted on January 15, 2013 in Blogging | direct link to this entry |

January 14, 2013

Meat-Filled Monday

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While I aspire to a more meatless meal time (sort of), I remain surrounded by a group of young men (and their pops) who really want to eat meat at mealtime.

It doesn’t mean they don’t love the veggies nestled up next to the meat—it just means that meat tends to be the main event, plain and simple.

Out of the blue, my hubs requested Salisbury steak for dinner with a mushroom gravy. This recipe is so old school and Stouffers throwback—that I was sure it’d faded into the history-of-the-homemade pile. Utilizing a recipe we printed in MSL on bringing back the TV dinner, I just added some mushroom to the gravy.

But here’s the surprise:

I posted a picture to Instagram (follow me @madhungrylsq) and naively asked the question if anyone under 40 knew of this recipe. Like I said—I assumed it to be so old-school that it hadn’t even come back yet! But—there were several comments from my twenty-something peeps saying YES—they did know and love this recipe. Of course, many credited their grandma’s for turning them onto it. Funny how what goes around comes around. Meanwhile, I think my husband hopes that we will add this to weekly rotation, which-- now that he is hooked on it—can be his cooking contribution, don’t you think?

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Posted on January 14, 2013 in Blogging | direct link to this entry |

January 10, 2013

Meatless Cookbook

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Moi Meatless?

Well I am a bit of an island in my family when it comes to eating full on no-meat meals. Many times (as a pork roast slow roasts in the oven) I am really just longing to eat the veggie sides. Just the other night, after returning from a trip, my husband surprised me with a mushroom and spinach omelet--presenting it with the same pride one might hand a juicy grilled steak over to a hungry athlete--just knowing how happy I'd be to eat meatless.

In a household with 4 hungry males--there is a meat heavy tendency.

Meanwhile at work, helping to create many kinds of food content from fancy cakes to weeknight meals, I have eagerly awaited the completion of our new Meatless book. Countless times I've said to our book editor, Ellen Morrissey, "I can't wait to have this collection on my shelf at home." See, I've eaten most of these recipes, and for them to grab me with the same big flavor that meat-based ones do means a lot of thought and skill has gone into their development.

Here, vegetarian takes center stage in a thoroughly and satisfying way. When I go home tonight (the Meatless book tucked under my arm), a new era begins in the Quinn household meal time where Meatless gets weekly rotation.

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Posted on January 10, 2013 in Blogging | direct link to this entry |