What I learned Spending a Night with Sorted Food

I got an email from my editor, Gina Doost, asking if I wanted to join Sorted food along with other food bloggers? My answer was clearly going to be “yes!” What an amazing opportunity to cook with some incredible chefs at the beginning of their tour “Lost and Hungry.” Then I realized, “oh no,” I’m not a food blogger specifically, I’m just a person who cooks and blogs. But as they say, fake it till you make it, so yes it was.

Monday night comes, I’ve spent two hours on transit in my power suit and I arrive at the location. I enter into a gorgeous home that belongs to Erika, the creator and owner of Not Ketchup, which we will discuss shortly. It was the perfect location blended with the perfect crowd. The Sorted food crew Jamie Spafford, Ben Ebbrel, Barry Taylor, Mike, and James Currie were all there to share with us food aficionados a meal of our own choosing. It was our own personal Big-Night-In (a segment they film on their show) with the boys. The love of food was rich in the air like Devonshire Cream (now that’s thick).

For those of you who don’t know, Sorted food is a youtube show based out of England. They are hilarious, talented, and love food just as much as I do, if not more. After running a succesful youtube show for about 5 years they’ve taken it to the next level and are traveling around the world eating at places we the people choose for them. Pretty much they are our food puppets that get to enjoy our personal tastes in our towns. They’ve started off their journey here in LA, which is why I’ve had the distinguished pleasure of cooking, dining, and of course eating with them.

Let’s get down to the important stuff, the food we cooked. My favourite part of the whole experience is the fact that we all cooked it together, Sorted and us bloggers.

Our menu was delicious, nutritious, and boy did I love it.

Starters

Avocados with Strawberry Salsa. Recipe by: Emily Turner AKA Gluten-free with Emily 

Sides

Serbian Potato Salad. Recipe by Lana Watkins AKA Bibberche 

Butternut Squash Noodles in Sage Butter. Recipe by: Kelly Page AKA Tastingpage 

Main Dishes

Lamb chops with blueberry white pepper sauce. Recipe by: Erika Kerekes AKA NotKetchup

Garides Saganaki (Greek Shrimp). Recipe by Chrystal Baker AKA the duo dishes

Dessert

Chocolate and Port cake. Recipe by: Jennifer Richmond – AKA Kitchycooker

I have never seen a kitchen so full of people who loved food as much as we all did and weren’t getting paid to cook it. It was a familiar experience as I grew up in a community that would regularly cook communal meals together. It’s a really wonderful thing to do with your friends or family, I highly recommend it.

The Avocados with Strawberry Salsa were right up my alley. I love California fresh foods such as avocados and strawberries. The salsa itself was bright, sweet, citrusy, and had a nice kick to it. Its kick against the avocado was softened by the avocados deliciously mellow flavor. The two worked together wonderfully.

Ben and I made a gorgeous and simple tossed salad together. We had a big box of mixed greens and he taught me to make a perfect vinaigrette dressing. We used three parts oil to one part vinegar and a splash of lemon juice. We combined it with a bit of salt and pepper. Ben took one garlic clove and split it with a knife so he could rub it against the edge of a bowl. Tip: He explained this was so that the flavor of the garlic was not overpowering, this is especially true the day after when the garlic has had time to set. With a bit of parsley and some whisking we had made a gorgeous vinaigrette.

The Serbian Potato Salad was like seeing my grandparents one more time. A delicious potato salad using vinegar and olive oil with leeks and potatoes. It was a distinctly Eastern European dish that brought me back to the warmth and love of my grandmothers kitchen as she prepared Eastern European style meals for my grandfather who was an immigrant from Latvia. The starch of the potato worked beautifully with the vinegar to create a balanced flavor accented by the olive oil. And of course the leeks add that little somethin’ somethin’.

I joined in on the peeling of butternut squash and dicing of the mushrooms for Kelly’s Butternut squash noodles with sage butter. Tip: We cut off the bulbs of the butternut squash since they weren’t usable in the spiralizer which created our noodles. We used a healthy amount of sage and I cut up three portobello mushrooms into lovely little diced pieces.

When it was all cooked, it was delicious and nutritious, I don’t have my own spiralizer but I will be getting one now. It’s a fantastic way to be Gluten-free and eat pasta dishes.

I also did a bit of rubbing of salt and pepper for our Lamb Chops.

The gamey and slightly sweet lamb with the bright blueberry Not Ketchup sauce had a playful and delicious relationship with my tastebuds. One bite and I was in love. I was pleasantly surprised by the unlikely combination that worked so well together. I will definitely be exploring my options with Not Ketchup.

 

The Garidas Saginake was layers of yumminess. With shrimp, olives, and feta nothing can go wrong. It was bright and juicy and I loved it. I would eat this dish while overlooking the ocean thinking about how wonderful my life is. Because boy does that taste wonderful. Tip: A nice glass of wine is great to join it with.

The cake was deliciously decadent with chocolate and wine and everything nice. This creation was the perfect stopper to a most excellent meal. I felt finalized and that my experience was complete.

Overall the meal was like being hugged in the mouth. With both familiar and new flavors. Every person’s dish was incredible and the Sorted crew was so helpful and also totally open to learning new things. I am so excited to watch them as they cross America and the world with their new adventure of “Lost and Hungry.” The adventures of culinary wonder are going to be amazing and I’m so glad I’ve gotten to be apart of it.

 

You can check out Lost and Hungry on youtube at SORTEDfood. This is a worldwide trek in both food and foot. It’s going to be wild crazy fun. Subscribe, watch, and learn.

SORTEDfood Youtube

If you go to their blog or download their SORTEDfood app (for Iphone/Ipad). You can participate in their journey as they travel the world by uploading and sharing recipes and commenting on their updates here.

Tell them where to eat all over America over on Twitter: @sortedfood

Need your help so that we can eat! What food would you say best represents the Bay Area in California? #LostandHungry

— Sorted Food (@sortedfood) April 28, 2015

A big shout out to Freza Palermo for taking all the pictures. You can find her on Instagram @frezapalermo

It was the best of times and unlike a Dickens novel it was not the worst of times. What a wonderful evening. Join in the fun!