YATS

This is the first in a series of blogs on restaurants in the Indianapolis area. This idea dawned on me when I was thinking of when I was going to have time to cook, blog, and write my history paper on archeological and documented historical evidence...like anyone anywhere cares, I mean I love the history channel as much as anyone but this is outrageous. Anyways I will not bore you on that crap anymore.

For the first restaurant I want to take you all to a place where you can gorge yourself while listening to snazzy jazzy music, and enjoying a relaxing Marti Gras themed environment. Yats is located in the broad ripple area of Indianapolis, to be specific it is on College Ave. just a few blocks south of Westfield. That, however is more than enough on the location and atmosphere on to what really matters....FOOOOOD!!!!

This place has Cajun down to a T or what ever other letter is more Cajun. Offering an ever changing menu that rotates through choices of chili cheese ettuffe, jumbulaya, white chili with chicken, and hunter's stew (which due to horrible timing and menu rotation I have still never tried) Yats is grade A+ food. It is my belief that the chili cheese ettuffe with crawfish is hand made by angels and sent to the restaurant daily. If however the huge portions of delicious glop is not enough for you, they also throw a few slices of the the best buttery garlicyish bread I have ever eaten.

For anyone who really cares to know the pricing for what you get is great. It is about 7 bucks for a plate and a drink and only 50 cents you can get EXTRA BREAD!!!!!! Also, free refills on drinks, but that's nothing compared to the bread. 

To wrap things up, if you come to Indy and are looking for a quick bite that is way worth the buck and Cajun suites your fancy, then Yats is for you. Large portions of great chow is just something that can't be beat in my book.

Check out more of their menu at the official site www.yatscajuncreole.com  

Garlic Packed Dirty Bird Breasts With A Side Of Sweet Fries

Chicken Breast
Sweet Potatoes
Celery Salt
Curry Powder
Chili Powder
Onion Powder
Black Pepper
Cayenne Pepper
Garlic Powder
Paprika
Rosemary
Garlic Clove
toothpicks

This little treat is re-gosh-darn-delicious. It brings together some REALLY bold flavors to create a debauchery of taste in your mouth. To start things off you first make the rub for the chicken. First add equal amounts of the curry powder, chili powder, celery salt, cayenne, black pepper, paprika, and rosemary, and for the rest of the spices at double the amount of each of those (kind of a one part all of those and then two parts garlic powder and onion powder). This is a pretty mean flavor but it blends well with the chicken and some of the bite will cook off.

Next, prep the sweet potatoes because they will take longer to bake. as you can see I just cut them into fries and then hit them with some cold water being sure to dry them off well after. then spread them on a baking sheet and hit them with a little cayenne pepper and salt to add some flavor. After that, throw them puppies in the oven at about 350 and let them go for about 20 min... be sure to watch them cuz I am not positive on that time and you don't want them to burn.

Now lets get to work on that chicken. Start by slicing your garlic into thin slices. Now you take your chicken breasts and make a pocket in them. I did this by making a lateral slit in the chicken in one direction and then pulling that flap back and making a cut in the other direction (be careful not to cut through the chicken)

Once you have your pockets formed slide your garlic slices into them and then use the toothpicks to pin the flap closed (this is important because it will want to open up when you start to cook the breast.

Once you have the garlic in the bird, rub it down with your seasoning blend and then get ready to grill. Throw the birds on the grill and let them go. I wanted to make sure that the garlic was nice and soft in the middle so I let them go about 8-10 min a side depending on the size of the breast.

NOTE!!! be sure to watch your fries through the whole process you they may burn... I said I wasn't sure about the time. If you have more experience with this and know please comment or shoot me an email.

Lastly, once all is done, plate and eat... enjoy

Sweet Potato Chips and a Onion Topped Wiener

Sausage
Onions
Dijon Mustard
Olive oil
Hoagie Bun
Beer
Sweet potato

I know this is exciting having two posts in one week but don’t get to anxious this is just a really simple combo of ingredients to make a tasty morsel of deliciousness.
First off, take your potato and run it through a mandolin slicer (I was amped about this being that it is the first time I actually got to use it) being sure to slice them thin. If you don’t have a slicer, use a knife… not as class but will get the job done.

This next step is kind of important when it comes to crisping and sadly it was forgotten when we tried it. After you slice them you take them and SHOCK them in a bowl of cold water (I have heard this will remove the starch? and help the chips crisp up). If you want a little soggier chips then don’t do this but if you want crispy… try it and let me know if it really works.

Next, dry them off, hit them with a little olive oil and then lay ‘em out on a baking sheet. We put the oven at about 300 and just kept an eye on them. It took about 10 min a side with the junky oven we had access to.

While those are baking, cut your onion into slices and toss them into a pan with the olive oil and cook ‘em up. Once those are on their way to the caramelization station take your wiener and put her in the pan. To add some extra flavor we added our beer to the mix pouring about ½ of a can into the pan with the onions and sausage. I like to poke a few holes in the casing of the sausage to allow the beer to soak up.

After you feel like you are getting close with your sausage onion pan, throw your buns in the oven and toast them up a little.

Finally once everything has cooked and is done, take everything away from the heat and plate it. Add a little bit of the mustard to your dog and eat away.

Boiled Chicken with a Chipotle Mushroom Hat

Chicken Breast
Mushrooms
Chipotle Powder
Garlic
Oregano
Olive Oil

This is a quick and easy little diddy and that has come up off of me trying to boil or poach chicken... (I want to try poaching a whole chicken, but that is a future story)... but anyways I started by halving some mushrooms and thawing out the chicken.

I threw the garlic in a pan with some olive oil and let the heat pull the flavor out of the garlic. After a few minutes, I laid in the mushrooms and began to cook them up. I gradually added the seasoning as they cooked to taste.

While that was going I began to boil some water and tossed in the chicken. When cooking chicken in this way. You really do not have to watch the time, you just have to watch the chicken and once it starts to float to the top of the water its done.

I pulled the chicken out put a layer of shrooms down atop of them and TADAAAAH!!!! done.