Dining In-A Culinary Tour of America: St. Louis, Missouri

The City: St. Louis, Missouri
This stop marks two milestones for me: The first is that we are officially 1/5 of the way through the states of this country. That's pretty exciting to me! The second is that we are in a city that was featured in the most famous road trip movie in American history-National Lampoon's Vacation. The first, the original, and the best. You might recall Clark Griswold pointing out the world-famous St. Louis Arch to his family as they drove over the "Mighty Mississip" and then claim that they had no time to actually go to it. Then they got lost in the city in a hilarious, if racist sequence featuring the dangers of inner cities...If you have not seen this movie, do yourself a favor and watch it.

St. Louis was founded in 1763, and was a slave state. It has a long and complicated history, much too long to get into here, but I will focus on a few points of interest.

Prior to the European invasion, the region all along the Mississippi River was home to the Osage and numerous other tribes. They lived there for at least 700 years, during which time they created mounds of earth for various reasons. These reasons included ceremonial rites, burial mounds, and commemorative purposes. The majority of these mounds, sadly, were razed when Europeans began to settle the area and needed the space for their own needs. Several mounds still exist, however, and you are able to see them if you travel to the area.

A couple of interesting factoids about the city: It is the home to the country's first gas station, and not surprisingly, also the location of the very first car accident.

The current population, as of the 2010 census, is 319,294 people. 49.2% are African American, and 43.9% are white. This isn't the first time I have visited a city where white people are the minority, however this is the first large city I have visited where this was the case.

There is too much history to get into here, but there is one moment I would like to highlight. As a history major who focused on food and its role in history, the 1904 World's Fair marks an important time in American food history. It introduced a number of foods now considered to be standard American fare, to the nation. These foods include: hot dogs, hamburgers, ice cream cones, banana splits, iced tea, Dr Pepper, cotton candy and peanut butter*. Most of these foods existed in some form in other countries or areas of the United States already, but the World's Fair popularized them across the country. Imagine our nation now if the hamburger had never been introduced. No Burger King, no McDonald's...Some of you would love that idea, I know, but it has shaped our nation's history, whether or not you like the food. Roadside restaurants began popping up around the same time as highways were being built and people began to take long car rides on vacation or to get away for a few hours. The foods at those restaurants all had their beginning at the 1904 World's Fair.

The World's Fair is also the subject of one of my favorite musicals of all-time: Meet Me in St. Louis, starring Judy Garland.

This movie introduced one of the most famous Christmas songs ever, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. Again, if you have never seen it, do yourself a favor and watch it. It's such a sweet movie.

The Food: Gerber Sandwich and Toasted Ravioli

You're probably asking why I chose these foods over the foods I've just waxed poetic about from the World's Fair. Well, the answer is simple, I've never had a Gerber Sandwich or toasted ravioli before, but I've had all the foods from the fair. I am trying to feature items that are new to me, or at least items I have never made for myself before. These are currently very popular foods that define St. Louis culture today, and for good reason--they're super delish.

I have links I will post for both recipes but as they are both so simple I will write out what I did for them here as well.

Toasted Ravioli:
-Your favorite brand of frozen ravioli, thawed(I used Rising Moon Organics brand and selected their vegan spinach and soy cheese flavor. I have eaten this brand before and highly recommend it to any vegan/vegetarians or lactose intolerant people who miss being able to eat ravioli. Be sure to look at the package carefully though, as they also have non-vegan ravioli as well.)
-Italian seasoned breadcrumbs(I used Trader Joe's brand since they have no corn syrup in theirs, and added my own Italian seasoning, as well as salt and pepper to flavor it)
-milk
-1 egg
-oil for frying
-Spaghetti sauce of choice(I used my sister's that was sitting in the fridge. Nobody tell her...)
-Parmesan cheese for sprinkling on top

Combine the milk and the egg in a small bowl, whisking until well mixed. Pour the breadcrumbs onto a plate. Dip the ravioli one by one into the milk and then place in the breadcrumbs and carefully cover both sides with the breadcrumbs. Place onto another plate and let sit for 15 minutes or so to let the breadcrumbs adhere to the pasta really well.

Using a saute pan, heat oil over medium-high heat and carefully place the ravioli in the pan. Pan-fry both sides until nicely toasted brown. Do not worry about the pasta not being cooked in water first. The heat from the frying will cook it through as well as heat the filling. When they are done, remove from the pan and drain on a paper towel for a minute. Serve them on a plate with the sauce on the side and a sprinkling of cheese on top.

This was really amazing. So simple really, but unlike any other ravioli I've ever had before. These could be used as an appetizer if you wanted, but it could also be a meal.

Gerber Sandwich:
Made famous by Ruma's Deli in the city, this open-faced sandwich feels almost like eating a French bread pizza, minus the tomato sauce. It is traditionally made with something called "provel" cheese, but I don't have access to that here, so I made an approximate substitute that was recommended, of one part white cheddar, one part Swiss, and two parts provolone. I diced all of these up and mixed it together and sprinkled it on top. Here is how I made it:
-1 small loaf of French bread(my store sells individually-sized French breads so I just used one of these) split down the middle and laid out flat
-butter
-garlic powder
-deli ham slices
-cheese, as described above

Spread both halves of the bread with butter and sprinkle with garlic powder.(None of the recipes I found specified what kind of garlic, so I went with garlic powder. I was concerned that fresh garlic might not cook through fast enough and I don't like raw garlic, though I found I didn't really taste the flavor of the powdered kind. Granulated might have worked better, though fresh probably would have cooked through so I might try that next time.)

Layer the ham slices on top of it and then top with the cheese. Place them on a sheet pan(I actually did everything on the sheet pan to start with and found it was easier that way) and cook in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes until the cheese it melted and starting to brown on top.

This was pretty tasty, though like I said, the garlic didn't really come through. It was also really hot and the roof of my mouth is still burned the next day. I would recommend letting this sit for a while before eating it. The flavor of the cheese combination was pretty tasty, though the cheddar was drowned out by the provolone and Swiss.

Both of these recipes were really easy to make. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the actual ingredients, it's all pretty simple stuff. But putting it together in that way was so unique to me that it really stood out as a special treat. I highly recommend both of these, but if I had to choose one over the other, it would be the ravioli. They were just fantastic!

Sources:
Map

City Pic

Movie Clip

Worlds Fair Food info*List of food is a direct quote taken from here

More World's Fair info

City History

Toasted Ravioli recipe

Gerber Sandwich recipe

Provel Cheese info

Cooking Light Tuesday

Tonight I made Sausage, Tomato, and Arugula Fettuccine and it was quite possibly the most amazing pasta dish I've ever made in my life. It was super simple, but the flavors were great! Cherry tomatoes break down really easily in a frying pan, good to know...And chicken Italian sausage is fantastic! I used that instead of the turkey Italian sausage it called for since I'm not a huge fan of ground turkey. The arugula didn't taste very peppery, and got a little bitter after a few bites so I picked around that but maybe later in the year I'll try it out again. I think the best part, was the pasta. I used a new brand of fresh pasta and I may never be able to go back to the dried kind again. It had the best texture I've ever had for pasta. I loved, loved, loved this dish and seeing as it's stove-top only I can make it again in the summer when the fresh ingredients will be at their peak and I can possibly buy locally, and as for the cherry tomatoes, I could even grow those myself!

Cooking Light Night

Last night I made this: Baked Pasta with Spinach, Lemon, and Cheese

I am really starting to love making my own homemade macaroni and cheese. I can control what goes in it, and it's really not much harder to make than the stuff in the box. This wasn't much different in terms of the time it took to make than any of the other recipes I've made.

It definitely needed more salt than it called for, and I didn't really pick up on the lemon flavor, so I would add more zest next time. The wine was a great addition and I'll have to remember that in the future. I also liked the addition of the spinach. It was not too overwhelming, flavor-wise, and a great way to add more veggies and vitamins to my diet.

I would definitely recommend this to anybody interested in experimenting with homemade mac and cheese. It's worth it for sure.

Cooking Light Night

Roasted Red Pepper and Herb Shrimp with Pasta

Last night I made this and it was tasty. I am slowly adjusting my palate to bell peppers, but it's coming along pretty well, I'd say. I don't eat a lot of shrimp in general, and I never have any in the house, so I bought a bag of shrimp to keep in the freezer for such dishes, rather than have to buy it each time I want to cook shrimp. It was a good buy, I think, with the exception that I didn't notice it still had the shells on. But they were easy enough to peel off when they were cooked. I was shocked when I was measuring out the pasta at how small 4 oz of uncooked fettuccine looks.(I made a half batch of the dish) But when it was all cooked, it really was enough for two healthy servings. And 4 oz shrimp was also quite satisfying for two servings as well.

I would definitely make this again. It's pretty easy, though there's a bit of prep work involved prior to making it. I might try this again and see how it works with fresh fettuccine instead. I think that would be wonderful too.

Cooking Light Tuesday

Well I was going to do my Cooking Light night on Sundays, but sometimes life gets in the way. And in this case, not feeling well on Sunday and a three day weekend got in the way. But, I did a recipe, just on Tuesday. Last night's recipe was Tuna-Fennel Pasta Salad. Until I actually read the recipe, which I still have the tendency not to do until just before making it, I thought this was going to be a hot dish, akin to Tuna Noodle Casserole. I was very much mistaken. So this was a side dish, but I thought it was quite tasty. I splurged, which is big for me, and bought a fancy glass jar of tuna from Italy. Boy was it worth the money. It was delish! I'd never use it for sandwiches, only for special dishes because of the cost. And I've never had fresh fennel before so I'm not sure exactly how it's supposed to taste, other than anise-like. But this stuff didn't have much flavor. I'm guessing January probably isn't fennel's peak season. But I wasn't too grossed out, so that's good, right? I have some potatoes I was going to roast, and maybe I'll throw the extra fennel into that and see how it works. The recipe was really simple, and I liked the combination of flavors. I'd definitely try this again, or maybe make it for a family gathering some time.

Here's the link to the recipe: Tuna-Fennel Pasta Salad

Pizza Pasta

My mis-en-place. Fancy French term for "everything in its place".
Just before adding the sauce.

This was a fun meal. I used up my last two Italian sausages, added black olives, mushrooms, onions, green peppers, garlic, and tomatoes to the pot. All the best pizza toppings. A little red wine, a jar of spaghetti sauce, and some Italian seasoning added to the mix, and it made one tasty spaghetti sauce. I had some organic multi-colored corkscrew pasta that I cooked up. Before adding sauce to the cooked pasta, I topped it with shredded mozzarella cheese, then added sauce, and more cheese on top. The cheese melted and got all stringy just like with pizza. I really enjoyed this one.