Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Chop Chop!
These were supposed to be stuffed pork chops, but the chops were a little thin, so I just served the stuffing on the side, and it seemed to work out fine.
I modified this recipe from Alton Brown's pork chops.
Brined Pork Chops & Cranberry Corn Stuffing
4-6 Pork Chops
Brine:
1/2 cup Salt
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp Black Peppercorns
1 Tbsp Mustard Seeds, lightly crushed
1 Tbsp Cumin Seeds
1 Tbsp dried Thyme
shake of cayanne
1 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1 cup cold water
1 lb ice cubes
Stuffing:
4 cups crumbled corn bread
3/4 cup crumbled walnuts
1 6 oz. package of Dried Cranberries
3/4 cup Buttermilk
1/4 cup Chicken Stock
1 tsp Ground Pepper
1 tsp Salt
1-2 Tbsp thinly sliced Sage
In a small sauce pan heat the salt, brown sugar, spices, and cider vinegar until the salt is mostly dissolved. Allow mixture to sit for 10 min to develop flavor.
Add the ice cubes, water, and brine to a ziplock bag and shake until cold. Add the pork chops and let brine for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
For the stuffing, mix all the ingredients in a bowl, and then put in a greased 8x8 pan. Bake for 30 min at 350 F. Then turn the oven up to 450 F to brown the top of the stuffing an extra 10 min or so.
Grill the porkchops over on a grill, or in a grill pan being sure to oil the pan with a high heat oil if using the pan instead of the grill. Grill only until just done, and you have good markings. Mine only took about 4-6 minutes total per chop.
Dinner for Breakfast?
I got the hankering for these a few weeks after trying my friend Erika's pumpkin waffles.
I don't have a waffle iron, so I think pancakes work just fine.
There's always a trick to pancakes at first. Getting the temperature right on the range, judging how long to flip, and actually getting the flip down.
Pumptykin Pannycakes
2 cups Flour
3 tsp Brown Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups Butter Milk (plus a little extra)
1 cup Pumpkin Puree
2 Egg
2 Tbsp Oil
In a separate bowl, mix together the butter milk, pumpkin, egg, oil. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spice and salt, stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine. (add a little extra buttermilk if necessary to get that pancake consistancy)
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot with maple syrup.
Spiced Blackberry Sweet Rolls
3-1/2 Tbsp Active Dry Yeast
3 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1/3 cup Powdered Milk
1-1/2 cup Bread Flour
1/2-3/4 cup more flour for kneading
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Ground Cardamom
few Tbsp Cream
Lemon Juice
Burritos!
1 Onion, Sliced
1 Tbsp Ground Cumin
Pepper
1/2 Cup (or more) Green Chile, chopped
2 Tbsp Fresh Oregano, chopped
1/2 can Diced Tomatos, drained
Cheddar Cheese
Avocados
Sour Cream
Lettuce
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Autumnal Thai
4 Shallots, finely crushed
1/2 tsp Shrimp Paste
1 Tbsp Dried Shrimp, soaked for 10 min in hot water and drained
1 Lemon Grass Stalk, chopped
2 fresh Green Thai Chiles
2-1/2 Cups Chicken Stock
1 lb Pumpkin, skinned and cut into thick chunks
2-1/2 Cups Coconut Cream
2 Tbsp Fish Sauce
1 tsp Sugar
4 oz. Peeled Prawns
Salt
Pepper
2 fresh Red Thai Chiles, seeded and thinly sliced
fresh Basil leaves
Using a mortar and pestle, grind the garlic, shallots, shrimp paste, dried shrimp, lemon grass, green chiles and a pinch of salt into a paste.
Lower the heat, add the pumpkin, and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the pumpkin is tender.
Add the prawns and cook until they're heated through.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Cranberry Geleé
1/2 Cup All-Purpose Flour
1 Egg Yolk
1 tsp Almond Extract
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 inch section of Ginger pressed through a garlic press
1/8 tsp Ground Allspice
1/8 tsp Ground Cardamom
1/8 tsp Ground Cloves
1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
pinch of fresh Ground White Pepper
pinch Salt
10 oz. Pumpkin Pureé
1/4 Cup Heavy Cream
3 Tbsp Pure Maple Syrup (please don't substitute Eggo waffle syrup...)
1-1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
2 Cups fresh Cranberries (1/2 pound)
1/4 Orange Juice
1-1/2 tsp Unflavored Gelatin
Bake the crust for 10 minutes. Let cool.
Pour the filling into the crusted spring form and set the pan into a large roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with hot water, until the level of water is about half way up the spring form sides.
Bake the cakes for 60-70 minutes, until set, but the center is still jiggly (i.e. not liquid). Be careful not to overcook. The custard will set when it cools in the fridge, later.
*NOTE The cheesecake could have been a little more firm, and I would propose either adding an extra egg or even a Tbsp or two of cornstarch to the filling. But I have no idea if these will work to benefit.
Buffalo, New... Mexico
1/2 Onion, diced
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1 Tbsp Hickory Liquid Smoke
1 Egg
1 Tbsp Dijon
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Ground Pepper
Fixings:
Pile up with fixings, and make a mess.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Paranormal Mother Russia
1 Carrot, roughly cut
3 big sprigs of Thyme
2 Bay Leaves
2 lbs beef chuck roast, cut into small cubes
Oil
1 Onion, chopped
2 Tbsp Dry Sherry
5 Tbsp Butter
8 oz. Mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves Garlic
1-2 Tbsp fresh minced Thyme
2 heaping Tbsp Sour Cream, plus more for garnish
1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
1 lb Wide Egg Noodles
Cook the noodles in a large pot of salted water until al dente, and then drain. Toss with the remaining 2 Tbsp butter until melted.
Nuts About PaJAMas
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Cup Butter
3 Large Eggs (Separated)
1/4 tsp Salt
1-1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Pecans (Finely Chopped)
1 Cup Fruit Preserves (this is the jam!)
Friday, October 12, 2007
Who Needs Take-Out
1 Cup Luke Warm Water
3 tsp Active Dry Yeast
1 lb Pork
Black & Tan and Oatmeal Stout
They're black & tan cookies, and coriander steel cut oatmeal with wheat berries, and chinese black rice with whipped cream atop.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Bun Thit Nuong
Finding what this stuff was even called was quite a task. Starting off in some small little green Vietnamese restaurant up in Albuquerque called Viet Taste, I found this dish to be completely irresistible. Unfortunately, I never bothered to take note of the name of what I was eating. After a good while surfing Google, and drawing circles on the closest pad of engineering paper, I found some things that looked similar.
My entire explosives surety class was spent focusing not on... well... explosives but rather getting back to my kitchen. Mind you, explosives surety is my longest class all week, spanning around two and half hours...
Finally, I got home, and with the help of a friend and a few drinks, we succeeded in our goal.
Complaining about how people won't shut up in class...
no, no, no. That's not it.
Making food! Right. Vietnamese noodles with veggies and pork and shrimp, along with that delectable salty sour sauce that goes over the whole dish.
Bun Thit Nuong:
1 lb pork sliced thin
3 Shallots minced
3 cloves of Garlic
2 T Sambal
2 T Fish Sauce
2 T Lime Juice
2 t Sugar
Salt
Pepper
Rice Noodles
Sesame Oil
Matchstick Carrots
Cucumbers
Napa Cabage
Bean Sprouts
Marinate pork in first set of ingredients 30 minutes or more.
Bring rice vermicelli to boil in water. Remove from heat. Let set 5 minutes till softened through. Drain and rinse in cold water. Toss with sesame oil.
Blanch carrots in boiling water 1 minute. Drain. Then blanch sprouts 30 seconds. Drain
Heat a sauté pan over high heat. Add 2 Tbsp oil. Remove pork from marinade, and sauté quickly till just done, about 2 minutes. Add shrimp afterwards and sear just until done.
Place pork and vegetables on noodles to cover of them.
Pour nuoc cham over all for flavor and eat.
Nuoc Cham:
2 T Rice Seasoned Vinegar
3 T Lime Juice
1/4 C Fish Sauce
1/3 C Water
1 T Sugar
1 clove Garlic
1 Thai Bird Chile sliced into rounds
1 T julienned Carrots
Mix all ingredients and let sit for a while.
Recently
Be patient while i figure out how this thing works. I'll be adding a lot of entries right off the bat from old archived projects. Things will calm down after a while.
Who am I?
Brains. One thing I've never tried, but don't think for a second that I wouldn't. Alright, so who I am, let's see... My name is Lance Wilson, and I live in a total void of anti-culinary culture called Morenci, AZ. I know some of you probably have no idea where that is, but don't worry, I won't hold it against you.
Living here can often be troublesome for someone who enjoys food so much and has very little access to anything worthwhile. I mean, aside from the fact that the number of amazing places to eat here numbers at ZERO, the availability of ingredients for making your own decadence is rather limited too. Not only is it a scavenger hunt to find anything in the store here, but if the store that actually sells anything edible doesn't have what you're looking for, you're out of luck. Better go redesign dinner.
I grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico and I went to school in Socorro, New Mexico at New Mexico Tech for chemical engineering. And of course, (for those of you who know nothing about New Mexico) our chile rocks your socks off. I'm not saying it's the hottest chile ever, there are certainly some litte thai peppers that have rocketed my head right off my throat, but there is simply no substitute for green chile. It's addicting to say the least. At any rate, I work as a metallurgist in a copper mine, overseeing the production of the world's largest hydrometallurgical copper process. How's that for a side note on culinary adventures? What's hydromet copper, you ask? Go ask google, this is a food blog... sheesh.