Author Archives: cssmith

RESTAURANT REVIEW….IN ODESSA

December 8, 2014

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My bestie sans baby and I like to venture out and about in Midland to find the most edible restaurants in the Tall City. Since neither of us have littlens attached to our teet, we are able to travel for food, so we decided to revisit a favorite from a year ago.

When I called my family and told them I was finally going to do another restaurant review in Midland, the first thing they asked was where?! It’s no secret that there’s a shortage of non-Mexican restaurants in West Texas, so they are always curious. I told them that I was going to make the LONG TREK (12 miles) to Odessa, to go to Odessa Donuts. All I could hear was judgmental silence, and I could picture them thinking of me with wearing a hoodie and sweatpants, with an overgrown fupa and yesterday’s makeup. RELAX mom, Odessa Donuts serves delicious Vietnamese food, namely Pho. And I wasn’t wearing sweatpants, I was in Lululemon. With an XL hoodie…

When you pull up to Odessa donuts, they have an incredible display of advertisements for literally everything. There is a weight loss pill add next to the same poster that ice cream trucks have displaying the popsicles for sale. A donut sign next to a picture of soup. It is the most ADD storefront I’ve seen, and it makes me happy.

Here’s what you order: No. 8 Beef Pho, No. 11 Chicken Lok Lak, and an order of spring rolls. Get your own soup (because people who share soup also probably share needles), and share the chicken and spring rolls. Warning: When you order, they will as “Is dis all FO YOU?”. Yes, a**hole, it’s all for me, so zip it, and enough with that judgmental look. Phok you, alright?

The Pho is served with two types of questionable beef, but that isn’t an issue for me, since I’ll pretty much eat anything.  Add in plenty of life, sriracha and a small amount of hoisin (that they bring you), and you’re set. Did I mention that this is a sit down restaurant? Yes, we sit down at donut shops in West Texas. I think some of the tables even had tablecloths. FANCY. The chicken is served with tons of grilled jalapeños and a fried egg, and it rocks. The egg rolls are crunchy and legit but so is everything else that is fried-they are more like fried spring rolls than egg rolls, and I’m pretty sure they are vegetarian. Which means they are healthy. I was tempted to get a donut for the ride home, but decided against it, since my lulu’s were getting a little tight, and I don’t want to have to buy a double XL hoodie.

Chicken Lok Lak

Chicken Lok Lak

You can’t go wrong, and it’s worth the trip across the tracks to get it.

PS- They also are a deli and serve sandwiches. Because why wouldn’t your traditional donut shop/Vietnamese restaurant not serve a club?

PPS- I HIGHLY recommend checking out their facebook page. They have better pics, but it’s also incredibly entertaining.

Egg Rolls

Egg Rolls

Shrimp & Scallops – even YOU (well, maybe you) can do it!

December 7, 2014

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Pan Seared Scallops and Shrimp with Cauliflower Foam

  • 6 medium/large scallops
  • 6 medium/large gulf shrimp (MAKE SURE THAT IT’S NOT FROM ASIA!)
  • 1 clove of minced garlic
  • Wedge of lemon
  • ½ tbs butter
  • 1 tbs. grapeseed oil (no taste, high heat oil)
  • 1 head (or one package) of cauliflower. I bought the bag that already is in florets
  • ½ – 1 cup heavy cream (woof. But worth it)
  • ½ tsp. black truffle salt

 

Steam the head of cauliflower. My husband thinks that steamed or roasted broccoli/cauliflower smells horrible, so light a candle. Without fail, every time I cook broc or cauli, he walks in the house, and thinks that I’ve just been tooting all around the place. I swear it’s the broccoli!? Put the steamed cauliflower in your Vitamix with the salt and heavy cream and puree just until smooth. It looks like whipped cream and tastes just as fattening. Put to the side.

Peel and devein your shrimp. I have to P&D my shimp b/c the only peeled and deveined shrimp we have at HEB are sickass ones from Thailand or Cambodia. Fresh gulf shrimp is where it’s at, and the extra step is no big deal. Pat all the seafood dry, and set the scallops on a paper towel for a minute to absorb any extra moisture. Season the scallops and shrimp with salt and pepper. Heat a nonstick skillet to high. Once hot, add in the grapeseed oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add in the scallops and make sure they are sizzling—you want to get a really good sear. Otherwise you just have weird , somewhat moist, rubbery  seafood. Sick, I wish my mind didn’t wander to where it is right now….so NOT kosher for a Sunday morning. (I am however watching church on my laptop, so that counts, right?) Glad my mom doesn’t know how to use the internet. Cook each scallop for 45-60 seconds and flip to finish. Remove the scallops and let them rest on a paper towel and put your shrimp in the skillet. Once I put the shrimp in, I like to add in a clove of minced garlic, a squeeze of lemon and a tiny bit of butter. Shrimp take like a minute to cook, so once they are pink, remove.

Put a little bit of the cauliflower puree on a plate (the recipe above makes a lot more than you should eat….) and top with the seafood. Garnish with chopped parsley if you so fancy… Enjoy!

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Roasted Tomato Basil Soup–Because, Mondays….

November 4, 2014

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So, Monday showed up again. Mother f’er. My ideal week would consist of Tuesday – Friday. Obviously no Mondays, but I don’t know that I would mind not having Saturdays. I just can’t handle a full Friday and then a full Saturday. Being closer to 30 than I am to 20 is downright tiring, and I really don’t like to socialize with more than like 10 people, so I am good with a solid T-F week. My husband is now over 30 (ok, he’s 30 and like 20 days), but still, I don’t know how he even gets up in the morning. (Oh ya, he has a smoking hot wife who will make him dinner every night…..And by smoking hot she’s got a nice face and a little extra to love….) I already feel achy at 27. Mad props to all you 30 plus-ers out there. I don’t know how you can even read font this small. Also, I have no idea how I got on this, so here is a legit recipe to mellow out your Monday.

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

  • 6 medium/large tomatoes, sliced in half
  • 2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt
  • 4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
  • ½ white onion, roughly chopped
  • Handful of cherry tomatoes (or small yellow tomatoes), sliced
  • 1 c. white wine (drink the rest, Monday sucks anyways)
  • 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
  • 6 small tomatoes, quartered
  • Handful of basil, chiffonaded (don’t think that’s a word)
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced

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Heat oven to 300. Place the larger tomatoes on a baking sheet and drizzle with 1 tbs. olive oil, and sprinkle with some salt. Roast for 2.5 hours, flipping every 45 minutes. Once they are done, transfer to a blender. In a large Dutch oven (I can’t not laugh every time I use that word), heat 1 tbs. olive oil. Add in garlic, onions and sliced cherry tomatoes, and sauté until soft, about 8 minutes on medium. After they have softened, add in the white wine and reduce for about 5 minutes until the alcohol has cooked out. Transfer to the blender with the tomatoes, and add in the chicken broth. Add in 3 basil leaves and blend until smooth. Once blended, add back into the Dutch oven and simmer for 2 hours. You really don’t have to cook that long but I put it on the stove and forgot about it and it ended up good, so I just say 2 hours. If you wait two days, you can thin this out with another cup or two of chicken stock and use as a pasta sauce. It makes 6 servings, so unless you are a human-whale hybrid, you can’t finish this in one sitting.

If you want to make a little “bruschetta” topper, combine the bottom three ingredients and serve on top. I had leftover pesto, so I mixed it with some sour cream for a garnish.

I served mine with grilled cheeses with avocado and arugula. Turns out, I don’t like warm arugula, but avocado in a grilled cheese is da bombbbbbb.

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