The Iscreamtruck

Sweet Thai Chile Sauce

2010-08-24T19:01:00.001-06:00

There’s not much to say about this other than it’s freaking fantastic! This stuff tastes like unicorn blood, I swear.

Lightly sweet, with a slight tang, and a punch in the face of heat (if you choose, and you should).

I ran into this recipe a long time ago, and I’ve been devouring it ever since. I’ve probably had more people ask for this recipe than any other, and I go through this stuff like it’s going out of style.

My favorite way to eat this sauce is when it’s drenching sticky calrose rice. Nothing more, just rice and this killer sauce.

Sweet Thai Chile Sauce

3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 Tbsp salt (yes, I know the spoon in the pic is tsp…)
2 Tbsp Sambal

1 Tbsp potato starch
1 Tbsp Water

**NOTE: You could certainly use 7-8 red bird thai chiles if you can find them instead of sambal, and you could also cut back on the sambal for less heat. I don’t recommend using the more common green bird thai chiles, or other green chiles like jalapeno or serrano. There’s something about their herby green flavor that turned me off.

And if you don’t have potato starch, corn starch would work, but make sure you continue the cooking for a couple of minutes afterwards to cook off the commonly starchy flavor that corn adds. Your sauce might be slightly more cloudy if you use corn instead of potato. Also, you could use arrowroot, but I noticed in the past, that it tended to separate in the ‘fridge after a couple of weeks.

Put the first 6 ingredients in a blender and buzz for a while, until orangey and kinda frothy. Everything should be well blended, but you should still see small chunks of chiles and garlic.

Put the blended mixture into a small pot and bring to a simmer. Cook the mixture about 15-20 minutes on a low simmer, for the flavors to blend. Meanwhile, mix the starch and water in a small container, and after the sauce has cooked for a couple of minutes, slowly add the starchy water to thicken. Don’t just dump it all in! Depending on how much starch you used, your sauce will thicken differently. Dribble a little in, stir, and then cook a couple of minutes (~5) while the starch thickens. Look at the consistency and judge if you need more. I’ve definitely messed this up, and ended up with sweet thai chile pudding before, so don’t over do the starch!

I hope you find this sauce as delectable as I do, and now I can just direct people to this page when they inevitably ask for this recipe!

Kale, Bitter Kale (Chips)

2010-08-24T18:40:00.001-06:00

I’ve been meaning to put these up for quite some time now, because, simply, they are AMAZING.

Even though some of you might balk at the idea of bitter greens (which I, by the way, LOVE), you still have to try these. They’ll change how to look at greens.

Once the kale has baked in the oven, they turn ultra crispy, way crispier than a potato chip (but still nice and salty, if you’re a salt monger, like I am), but they still have a little of that veggitive undertone. It’s really wonderful. And these chips are soooooo easy to make! Plus kale is hyper nutrient dense (Score)!

Kale Chips

1 bunch of kale
Olive Oil
Kosher Salt (or other flakey salt)
Fresh Cracked Pepper

Heat your oven to 350 F.

For each leaf, in a bunch of kale, fold the leaf in half so the spine is exposed on one side. Use a knife to cut the stalk/spine off (it’s too tough and bitter), and then roughly chop the remaining leafy parts. Be sure to rise the kale well, as they usually have quite a bit of dirt on them. Lay them out on a towel lined sheet to wick away some extra moisture. Place all your leaf pieces into a big bowl.

Toss the kale with a just enough olive oil to coat, and season with big flakey kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper. Now here’s where you can be creative, if you choose. You could certainly toss in some garlic, or maybe some balsamic, what have you, but I think you’ll be surprised at just how good simple ol’ salt and pepper are on these chips.

Line a baking sheet with parchment, and then dump your kale out onto the sheet.

Place in the oven for about 40 min, or until the kale is crispy. Touch them every 15 or so minutes, because they may look limp, but they’ll be crackling crisp before you know it!

Devoured Phoenix

2010-03-20T19:11:00.001-06:00

A couple of fellow food lovers and I got together to attend the annual Devoured Culinary Festival in Phoenix a couple of weekends ago. This time the promoters held the festival at the Phoenix Art Museum, which was a wonderful backdrop for all the tasty festivities. The day was practically perfect, a grassy lawn, sunny skies that weren’t too hot (yet), and all the food and wine you could manage!

The idea around this festival is to connect the people eating the food with the people making and growing the food. Along with all the restaurants that lined up in tents to showcase their wares, some of the local farms attended to make their presence known. There were seminars and cooking demos every hour on the half hour and while they were interesting, let’s be honest, everyone is there to stuff their faces.

I managed to snap a couple a shots of some of the food we tried, but of course, i couldn’t manage to get it all. I’m sorry i don’t remember which restaurants they all came from, so I guess you’ll have to just try all the restaurants in phoenix metro…

I wasn’t able to snap some photos of the awesome drinks we tried, but to elucidate, there was a dragon fruit infused rum from Bacardi that they had mixed with lemonade. It was far and away my favorite drink of the show. They also had some tequila from Corzo, that they had infused with watermelon, cucumber, and jalapeno. They shook it with some ice and served it straight up to sip on. It was much more nuanced than i would have guessed.

Rachel, I, and Brent.

Different types of bruscetta. On the right was mascarpone with figs, and pistachios, the middle (my fav) was homemade whole milk cheese with a tomato jam, and the far left was a homemade prosciutto and some other things i can’t remember.

Probably on my favorites, a smoked salmon mousse crostini with black caviar and drizzled with basil oil.

Brussels sprouts salad, shredded with cranberries, raisins, large flakes of parmesan, olive oil, and lemon. I <3 brussels!

Shrimp cheviche with jicama

Tuna Tartar with avacado and a radish chip. very rich and oily. great mouth coating.

Bolognese (pretty basic in all honesty)

Seared Shrimp with guac and a yellow tomato puree

Shrimp tacos and quesadillas (really, what would the southwest be without some mexican influence…?)

Deviled eggs and caviar.

Another one of my favorites. Tuna Tartar (there was a lot of tuna at this shin-dig), on a garlic tortilla chip, with cucumber, avacado puree and caramel. The rich taste of the tuna and avacado cleaned nicely with the fresh cooling taste of the cuke, and the crisp crunch of the chip finished off nicely what could have been a whole lot of mush in your mouth.

Roasted yam with a teriyaki glaze and sesame, with some seared beef tenderloin and “sashimi” seasoning (whatever that is…).

Some strange white fish that i don’t remember what it’s called, but it was delicious.

Again, a favorite (so much so, we went back for seconds). The most tender gnocchiette ever in a garlic cream sauce drizzled with truffle oil. wonderful.

I forgot what they actually called this, but it reminded me of a cross between panna cotta and mascarpone. served atop arugula and drizzled with balsamic and little red things, it was cool and refreshing.

and of course, carnitas. need there be explanation?

All in all, a wonderful time. If you get a chance and are in the phoenix area next time, go!!! I’ll go with you!

Snickerdoodles

2010-02-14T19:16:00.001-07:00

These are some of the most awesome cookies by any standard I’ve ever made. I used the recipe from the awesome Cook’s Illustrated cook book “Bakers Illustrated.” I *finally* got my Vietnamese cinnamon in the mail, and i figured this would be a perfect way to try out the potent spice. My house smelled like cinnamon for a couple days after! These cookies are so light and airy, with a nice chew, and a slight tang from the cream of tartar in the recipe. And the essence of cinnamon fills your nose as bite into one. I took them to work, and they were gone a couple of minutes.

Snickerdoodles

11.25 oz AP Flour (2-1/4 cup)
2 tsp Cream of Tartar
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
12 Tbsp Butter
1/4 Cup Shortening
10.5 oz Sugar (1-1/2 cup)
3 Tbsp Sugar (for rolling)
2 Eggs
1 Tbsp ground Cinnamon

Oven at 400 F.

Whisk flour, tartar, soda, and salt together

Mix the 3 Tbsp of sugar, with the cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.

Cream the butter, shortening, and sugar. Add the eggs, and beat until combined.

Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Scoop balls of dough, roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture and bake 9-11 minutes.

Guinness Brown Mustard

2010-02-14T18:49:00.001-07:00

I think mustard is one of my favorite condiments. I don’t know why people don’t make their own. It’s actually a lot easier than you may think. Basically, you just soak all the spices in a liquid for a day or two and then grind it up. The results are well worth it too. The spices come through a lot stronger than anything in the store, and you can control the elements in the mustard. I chose to use Guinness stout and Canadian brown mustard seeds. This mustard has a substantial kick. Right after I ground the mustard in my food processor, I made the mistake of taking the lid off and inhaling the mustard vapors that I had just released. It basically burned my face off. So needless to say, you can go light on this mustard when first putting it on things like crackers and sandwiches. It does tend to mellow with age. I found this recipe on Saveur.

Guinness Brown Mustard

12 oz. Guinness Stout
1 Cup Vinegar (i used red wine, but anything would work)
10 oz. (1-1/2 Cup) Mustard Seed
1 Tbsp Kosher Salt
1 tsp Black Pepper Seeds
1/4 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground Cloves
1/4 tsp ground Nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground Allspice

Place all ingredients in non-reactive bowl, with a lid. I used a ziplock container. Let the ingredients soak for a couple days, and then process in a food processor or blender. Make sure you check the consistency of the mustard when you’re done, and add water if you want it to be a little more spreadable. Mine is pretty thick.

When Engineers Build Gingerbread

2009-12-27T23:30:00.001-07:00

You should have seen the blueprints… no I’m serious.

We had to specifically keep the meddling hands of our non-engineer friends out of this until the last moments so that they wouldn’t interfere with our “vision,” complete with balcony, pool, and bay windows… with a little architectural flare.

Sure, sure some of you may disagree with the non-candy decorations, but honestly, what makes a better looking tree? I’ll tell you what, NOT pretzel's and M&M’s glued with frosting. In fact, that combination of confections along with some “grass” sprinkles turned into more of an alien spaceship irradiating ants in the back yard.

Which of course, at that point called for an exterminator…

Here’s a quick look at the custom pieces we baked to make the house.

Nothing Says Autumn Like Cacti!

2009-09-08T18:22:00.014-06:00

Or at least, nothing says autumn in the desert like cactus fruits, otherwise known as prickly pears, or in Mexico, "tunas."

It's really strange to think that something this juicy and sweet is all over the place out here.

You should note however, that picking these fruits off of state, county, or city land without a "removal of natural resources" permit is against the law, so you either have to get a permit through your state (which is expensive...btw), or you can harvest them from your property, or someone else's private property (with the land owner's permission, of course.) Or... if you live in a really exciting place, you may have a farmer's market where these are sold.

Harvesting laws aside, these fruits are a rare gem in the desert. They tend to be slightly sweet, very juicy, and have a real sour kick. Not like a lemon, but more like a tart kiwi, with some cherry, and berry flavors. They can be used for all sorts of goodies. I made a classic prickly pear jelly, a tuna infused tequila, and some prickly pear syrup for drinks. You can even eat the tunas straight up, but watch out, since they're full of seeds, and remind me of chewing on tasty gravel.

Preparing them is a somewhat laborious process, but doesn't have to be tricky or hard. You just have to take your time. Of course, since they're cacti, they have pokey thorns of death. And even worse than the large obvious stickers, the tunas have very tiny barbed spines called "glochids." These are the things that usually stick in you and give you a pain in the ass when you rub into a cactus. Although they're on the tunas, if you follow a few steps you can avoid getting poked by them, in your finger, throat or otherwise.

Harvesting requires some "ingredients" if you can call them that...

Bring with you:

a pair of leather gloves
long metal chef's tongs
a cardboard box or bucket you don't mind throwing away afterward

Dress in jean pants, and a long sleeve shirt in case you brush against any cacti.

Search for the bright colored tunas atop the prickly cacti. The ripe ones will be dark reddish-purple, uniform in color, and some what plump. It's easiest to remove them by grasping them with the tongs and twisting the tunas off. If you just pull them, they'll usually tear and leave some of the fruit left on the cactus. Once you twist them off, if you look into the tear wound, the flesh inside will be brightly colored and juicy. Some of the fruits may even gush magenta colored liquid down the cacti pads when you pull them off.

These are my tunas in a box. My box made a double batch of jelly, 750 ml of tuna tequila, and about 2 cups of prickly pear syrup.

Once you have obtained the fruits, now you have to prepare them for whatever.

This mostly involves washing any tasty nature bits off, as well as, scrubbing out some of the glochids.

For this part you'll need:

Lab gloves (vinyl, latex, nitrile, whatever)
Fork
Dish Brush that you don't mind throwing away afterwards
Sheet Pan
Pairing Knife (if you're planning on skinning them. we'll get to that later)

Put your gloves on!!! I learned this the hard way. If you don't, you'll end up with glochids in your fingers.

Start by stabbing a tuna and running it under cold water. I found it easiest to stab the top dried-out looking part. Use the dish brush to scrub off bird poop, and insect leavings, and also in the process start removing the glochids in your scrubbing. If you look closely in the sink, you'll see them going down the drain. They look like little hairs.

This is the part where you skin them. For making my tequila, I skinned mine. I wanted the tequila to get the best contact with the juicy flesh, since I wouldn't be squashing them like in the jelly/syrup recipe. If you're not going to do the skinning step, you just half the washed tunas and place them in a giant stock pot. We'll get to the jelly recipe and steps later.

Still holding the tuna with the fork, place it on the sheet pan like shown. It's important to use a sheet pan! If you use your wood, or plastic cutting board, you'll ruin it. It will become full of glochids and you'll have to throw it way. Metal washes off nicely. Hooray for hard materials!

Use your pairing knife to cut the skins off the tunas. This is just like skinning an apple, or grapefruit. Don't worry about getting really close to the top where the fork is. We're going to cut the top off anyways. When you're done rotating and skinning, you should have a little flower looking shape at the bottom. Hold the skin down, and pull the fruit up and off.

Now maneuver the fork so you're stabbing in horizontally, and chop the top off.

Halve the fruit, marvel at the obnoxious pink/red/purple/magenta color, and then chuck into a jar.

that's it!! (for preparing at least...)

Now you get to make stuff.

I'll start with my tequila infusion. I used two quart jars for 750 mL of tequila.

You'll need:

1 750 mL of blanco tequila
2 Quart Mason jars
your prepped tunas

Half the tequila between the two jars, and then fill with prepped tunas. Let sit for a week or so, and give a good shake once a day to the jars! it's that easy!

When the time is up, begin by coarse filtering the slop. This step will remove all the fruit and seeds. I used an unlined colander and filtered into a big bowl. I also pressed on the solids to extract as much juice as I could. Then fine filter the bowl of liquid. This step is for removing any extra glochids in the solution. I used a fine meshed sieve, lined with several layers of cheesecloth. Let the solution filter, ring out the cheese cloth if you're anal about getting all that tequila back and then place back in your bottle!! TADA!!

You can use this to make prickly pear margaritas. Although, I noticed that the prickly pears already added quite a sour kick, so you may be able to cut back on the lime juice, and possibly add a little more triple sec, or even some orange juice to cut the tang down.

Now... on to the jelly and syrup!

These recipes didn't need skinned tunas, so they were a bit easier.

For either recipe you'll need to first cook down the tunas to make "juice."

This is easy. Just dump the halved and washed tunas in a stock pot, add enough water to just come to the edge of the tunas, and then simmer. While the tunas are simmering, use a potato masher to mash the tunas and extract more juice. Cook 'em up for a while, and then strain the liquid just like in the tequila recipe.

Once you have strained, glochid free juice, you're ready for jelly/syrup!

I started by reserving 2 cups of juice for the syrup. Everything else went into the jelly.

Jelly Recipe:

2.5 cups of juice (or however much juice you have, and the rest is made up with water)
1.75 oz powdered pectin (1 package)
3 Tbsp lemon
3.5 cups sugar

begin by heating the juice in a pot. When boiling, add the pectin, and continually stir for a good 10 minutes. Skim the foamy stuff off the top for a clear jelly. Add the lemon juice, and then gradually whisk in the sugar until it's all dissolved. Ladle the hot jelly into jelly jars (i used 8 oz masons), and then follow the typical canning procedure of capping, submerging, boiling, and cooling the jelly. It should set up nicely, and you'll have the most obnoxious colored jelly to give to all your friends.

The syrup, is just a simple syrup, with 2 Cups juice, and one cup of white sugar. Boil to dissolve, and cook to allow some of the sucrose to break down, preventing it from crystallizing when it cools. Bottle it up and use it for things!!

I found a delicious drink was:

1 shot Gin
8-10 oz ginger ale
some of that syrup...

shake, mix, rattle, roll, drink, spill... what have you. oh yeah, it's more pink that you even know what to do

Fruit Tarts

2009-09-08T17:49:00.005-06:00

Dessert of the week 1.

Our office, has started dessert of the week, and one person per week is scheduled to bring a tasty delicacy in.

I got the hankering for tarts while i was at Flying Star in Albuquerque. They really have great tarts, although i'd have to say their custard tastes more like a light vanilla yogurt than an a pastry cream.

For this recipe, i used the esteemed "Baker's Illustrated" for ideas.

I'll try to keep updated on upcoming desserts.

Fruit Tarts with Cream Custard

Custard:
2 C Half-Half
8 tsp Sugar
5 Yolks
3 Tbsp Cornstarch
4 Tbsp cold Butter
1.5 tsp Vanilla
salt

Heat the half n half with 6 Tbsp sugar and a pinch of salt in a medium pot.

In a bowl, whisk the yolks with the remaining 2 Tbsp sugar until dissolved. Add cornstarch and continue whisking until the mix is pale yellow and thick.

Temper the yolk mixture with the hot half n half, and then add the eggs to the half n half and cook over medium heat till bubbles burst on surface and the mixture is glossy and thickened.

Off the heat, whisk in the butter and vanilla, and then strain through a sieve.

cover with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge

Shell:
1 Yolk
1 Tbsp Cream
1/2 tsp Vanilla
6.25 oz Flour
2.33 oz Sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
8 Tbsp Cold Butter (cubed)

Whisk the yolk, cream, and vanilla together and set aside.

process the flour, salt, and sugar to mix, and then scatter the butter cubes throughout and process in pulses until mealy.

process in the liquid mixture until dough just comes together, then wrap in plastic and fridgerate it for about an hour.

Roll out the dough into tart shells, and freeze for half an hour. then line the frozen shell with foil and cover with pie weights or beans. Bake in a 375 F oven for 30 ish minutes, then remove the foil and weights and bake another 10 ish minutes till golden.

Assemble the tarts by filling with chilled pastry cream, and placing fresh cut fruit atop.

It's Knot Bread, Even Though It Is

2008-11-22T18:58:00.002-07:00

This was inspired by one of the bread servings I tasted at Alinea a few months back.

While the radish isn't particularly as notable as I would have preferred, the bread is wonderfully smooth and chewy, and the egg wash atop created a nice crispy crust for the poppy seeds to stick to. I might consider doubling the radish amount to get more flavor into the dough.

The recipe is fairly simple. It's a basic bread dough, with radish puree, nothing special.

Radish Poppy Seed Knot Bread

3 tsp Dry Yeast

1 Tbsp Sugar

1 Cup Warm Water

1 Egg

1 Bunch of Radishs (puree'd)

3 Tbsp Butter

1 tsp Salt

Flour

Poppy Seeds

Proof the yeast in the water with the sugar, and then add the egg and radish puree. Stir in about 1.5 cups flour to form the sponge, and beat well. Let spong-i-nate for about 20 min in a warm oven.

Add the butter in small cubes, along with the salt. Start mixing/kneading in flour until your dough comes together and is smooth, and not sticky (but not too dry either!!! better on the sticky side, than the dry side!). Raise in warm oven for 30 min.

Punch down dough, and then take hand-full sized gobs and roll into snakes, then tie into knots. if the dough is too tense for knots, let it relax for a few minutes, and then continue. Let rise for about 15 min, and meanwhile preheat oven to 350 F.

Bake until toasty brown (about 20 ish minutes).

Tomato and Bean Soup

2008-08-15T12:57:00.002-06:00

My soup obsession continues.

With all the great ripe summer tomatoes everywhere on the market, along with my basil plants overflowing, tomato soup is a perfect way to use all that summer freshness.

Tomato and White Bean Soup

2 lbs Tomatoes

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

2 medium Onions (about 10 oz), coarsely chopped

3 cloves Garlic, minced

3.5 cups Chicken or Vegetable Stock

2 Tbsp Tomato Paste (preferrably sun-dried)

2 tsp Paprika

1/2 tsp Ground Coriander Seed

1 tsp Ground Cumin

1 Tbsp Cornstarch

15 oz Cannellini Beans, rinsed and drained

few bunches of Basil, chopped

Dash of Cream

Salt and Pepper

First, peel the tomatoes by slicing an X on the bottom of the tomatoes and blanching in boiling water for 1 minute. Core and quarter the peeled tomatos, and then cut each quarter in half. I guess that's just essentially eighths. EIGHTH THE TOMATOES!

Heat the oil in a soup pot (5-6 quarts), and saute the onion and garlic until just softening up.

Add the tomatoes to the onions, along with the stock, paste, paprika, coriander, and cumin. Salt and Pepper to taste, and bring to a full boil. Then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 20 ish minutes.

Mix the cornstarch into a paste with 2 Tbsp of water, and add the paste along with the beans to the soup. Allow the soup to heat throughly (another 10 min or so), and then add in the basil and cream. Stir and ladle into bowls!

Shrimp Bisque

2008-07-15T21:48:00.002-06:00

First, I have to admit that I absolutely adore soups. Winter, spring, summer, it doesn’t matter. Second, shrimp bisque is probably my favorite soup of all (although tomato bisque is right there with it). This recipe is sort of a mish mash of all the flavors I found great in shrimp bisques that I’ve tried. The vegetables in the soup prevent it from tasting overly fishy, while the cream adds that distinctive creaminess, and the cayenne pepper give the soup a little bite.

Shrimp Bisque

Olive Oil
2 Leeks, green and white parts coarsely chopped
2 Carrots, chunked
1 Onion, chunked
2 Celery Stalks, chunked
3 cloves Garlic, smashed
¼ Cup Brandy
¼ Cup Dry Sherry
4 Cups Seafood Stock
4 sprigs Thyme
2 Bay Leaves
1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
2 lbs Shrimp, peeled and veined
¼ Cup Butter
¼ Cup Flour
2 Cups Half & Half (or Cream, if you want it really rich)
3 Tbs Tomato Paste

Begin by sautéing the leeks, carrots, onion, and celery with some olive oil. After the veggies begin to brown up, add in the garlic, toss around. Add the Brandy, and stir until the alcohol evaporates. Repeat with the sherry, and then add the seafood stock. Add the thyme, bay leaf, and cayenne, and bring to a boil. Allow the soup to cook on a simmer until the vegetables are tender.

Bring the soup up to a full boil, add the shrimp, and then remove from heat. Stir the soup until the shrimp are cooked and pink, about 5 minutes.

Puree the soup in batches in a processor, and store in a separate container from the pot it was cooking in.

In the original soup pot, melt the butter, add the flour, and whisk until the roux comes together. Add the half & half, along with the shrimp soup puree and whisk until it begins to thicken. Whisk in the tomato paste and serve bubbling hot with a few flash seared shrimps!

Toasts!!

2008-07-15T21:44:00.001-06:00

French Green Lentil & Arugula Salad with Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette atop Prosciutto & Goat Cheese Toasts

Sourdough Loaf
Olive Oil
6 oz Goat Cheese
¼ lb. Procuitto
1 cup French Green Lentils
1 cup Chicken Stock
3 sprigs Thyme
1 cup water
5 oz Arugula
1 Red Onion Sliced
1 clove Garlic minced
3 Tbs Balsamic Vinegar
1 Tbsp Honey
¼ cup Olive Oil

Oven at 375 F

Rinse lentils, and place in small sauce pot. Add chicken stock, water, thyme and season with salt. Bring to boil and cook for 15-20 min. Don’t let them get mushy!

Begin by slicing the sourdough into 1 inch thick slices. Rub with olive oil and crisp in the oven for 2-3 minutes. Remove the toasts and spread the goat cheese even over the toasts. Top with a ribbons of prosciutto and put back in the oven until the prosciutto begins to crisp up. Mix up the balsamic vinaigrette by combing the vinegar and the honey, and then drizzling in the olive oil while whisking.

Sauté the onion and garlic until it begins to caramelize, and then add the vinaigrette.

Pour the warm vinaigrette/onions along with the drained lentils over the arugula in a large mixing bowl, and toss to coat. Serve the toasts with the lentil/arugula salad overtop.

I modified this recipe from Tyler Florence’s similar dish.

Squid Ink Noodles

2008-05-12T01:58:00.002-06:00

These noodles are made with squid ink, which gives them their distinctive black color. While cooking, they omit a slightly briny odor, like the sea, but as far as taste, they're just like regular noodles. They're more for that wow "black" factor than anything else.

While I didn't make these, I can at least vouch for their tastiness. Although, it wouldn't be hard to make your own. All you need is 1 or 2 tablespoons of squid ink added to your regular semolina pasta recipe.

The brand I used is called "La Campofilone," which are surprisingly the best dried noodles I've had recently. They say that they only use semolina, and eggs (no water) to make their noodles, and then slow dry them at slightly higher than room temperature. I don't know much about noodle making, but apparently they do, because these dried noodles are the closest thing to fresh noodles that I've had short of the real ones.

Bacon CC Cookies with Maple Glaze

2008-05-10T01:04:00.012-06:00

Or any other time really. But these cookies are made with bacon, which makes them better than normal cookies! As Mike said, "Bacon is the candy of the meats." This started out with Liz sending me a link to a similar recipe. I made some minor modifications like adding rolled oats and such, and then tried it out.

I personally, think they're great. I got a lot of mixed reactions when I started making these. But I've yet to have someone say they didn't like them. The bacon adds a nice salty/smokey depth to the sweet cookies, and the maple-cinnamon glaze reminds me a french toast and the syrupy bacon that usually accompanies it.

Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies with a Maple-Cinnamon Glaze

Cookies

1 cup butter
2/3 cup packed brown sugar

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 egg

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup finely crushed walnuts

1 cup white chocolate chips

1 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 cups bacon bits (real bacon!!)

Directions-preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.

Beat together the butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs until creamy. In another bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and stir together. Dough will be slightly soft. Add in the oats and crushed nuts. Add in chocolate chips and bacon bits. Stir until well integrated. Set dough balls about 2 inches apart on heated baking stone.

Bake cookies for about 12 minutes, or until the dough starts to turn golden brown. Allow cookies to cool on a cooling rack while you ready the glaze.

Maple Cinnamon Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon maple extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoon cream

1 tablespoon water

Mix all ingredients together until smooth and creamy. If lumpy, use a whisk.

Spread a small amount of the glaze on the top of each cookie and top with a small piece of crisp cooked bacon.

Nori Crusted Ahi

2008-05-10T00:45:00.003-06:00

I got this recipe from another site, and decided to modify it a little for my own tastes. I got a lot of mixed reactions on the nori flaked ahi. Some liked it, others said they'd rather have it without. Either way, I liked it and that's all that matters.

Nori Crusted Ahi

3-4 Ahi Tuna Steaks

4 Tbsp Lime Juice

4 Tbsp Soy Sauce

2 Tbsp Honey

2 Tbsp Rice Vinegar

3 Nori Sheets

1 Cup Chicken Stock

High Temperature Oil (like vegetable, I used tea oil)

1 package Flat Rice Noodles

2 Carrots, sliced

hand full of Snow Peas

hand full of Bean Sprouts

3 Green Onions, sliced

Sesame Seeds

Begin by boiling a large pot of water. Once the water is boiling, turn off the heat, and throw the noodles in for 8 min to soften.

While waiting for the water to boil, place the nori sheets in a processor, and pulse until the nori is flaked, like fish food. Combine in a bowl, the lime, soy, honey, and vinegar. Dunk the tuna in the soy mixture, and set aside and cover. Add the chicken stock to the soy mixture in a small sauce pot, and reduce by half over medium-high heat.

In a wok, fry the carrots for 1 min in a little oil, and then toss in the other veggies for about a min, then remove from the wok.

Place the softened noodles in the wok, and place the veggies on-top. Pour the reduced soy over the noodles and toss to coat, until everything is hot.

While the noodles are frying in the wok, heat a heavy skillet with a few Tbsp of oil on very high heat. Take the soy dipped tuna, and "bread" the outside with the nori flakes. Once the oil begins to smoke, add the tuna steaks to the skillet, and sear for about 30 seconds on each side. An important note, try not the place the nori crusted tuna down after you crust it. The nori will come right off, and it's hard to put back on. Just crust the tuna and stick it in the hot pan.

Slice the tuna, sprinkle with sesame seeds, and place atop the noodles in a bowl.

Neapolitan Pork Cutlets

2008-05-02T11:37:00.002-06:00

This is a combination of apple, onion, and mushroom over marille pasta with mascarpone cheese.

Neapolitan Pork Cutlets with Mascarpone Cheese and Marille

1/2 stick + 1 stick Butter

4 Pork Cutlets or chops

1 Onion, sliced

2 apples, peeled, cored, sliced

8 oz button mushrooms

1 Tbsp Tarragon

Black Pepper

1 Tbsp Sesame Seeds

14 oz dried Marille

Olive Oil

1 cup Mascarpone cheese

Beef Tomatoes, halved

Oven to 300F

Bring pot of salted water to a boil

Lightly season the cutlets with salt, pepper, and paprika. Melt the 1/2 stick of butter in a skillet, and fry the cutlets over medium low heat for about 5 min each side. transfer to a dish and keep warm.

Fry the onion, apples in the pan until lightly browned, transfer to the veal dish and keep warm.

Melt remaining 1 stick of butter in skillet. Gently fry the mushrooms, tarragon, and pepper for about 3 minutes. sprinkle in the sesame seeds.

Cook the pasta until tender, but still firm to the bite.

Drain the pasta, and plate. Top with mascarpone, and a sprinkle of olive oil. Place the onions, apples, and cutlets ontop of the pasta. Spoon the mushrooms on to the cutlets, and place in the oven for 5 min to melt the mascarpone.

Sear the halved tomatos and serve with the pasta.

Dr. Pepper Ham

2008-04-24T16:21:00.003-06:00

Yet another mish-mash of recipes and ideas. I've done hams before in the traditional honey/brown sugar/pineapple syrup sweet glaze, with a cherry-port glaze, and a "city" ham with mustard and ginger snap crust. So this time I wanted to take what I liked from each recipe and blend them into something incredible. I think I succeeded with this one.

I kept the cherries from the cherry-port glaze, but lost the port, and added a bit of merlot that I happened to draining that night. Along with the spice of whole ground mustard from the city ham, and a bit of brown sugar to help make the glaze syrupy, I added a good bit of Dr. Pepper to the glaze. At first, it might seem a bit weird to either add soda to your ham, or that I've stuck too many things into a simple glaze, but it turned out great regardless. The mustard kept the ham from turning that predictable salty-sweet flavor, and gave it a bit of bite. The cherry/merlot/Dr. Pepper glaze reduced wonderfully into a thick sticky mess, which stuck to the ham, and began to caramelize in the oven, making it even more delicious. I think the cherries and merlot complimented each other well, and the cherries cut down on the "winey" flavor that might otherwise have overpowered. As for the Dr. Pepper? I just got lucky seeing it somewhere. And it worked out great. Dr. Pepper has an excellent flavor for ham, and it's dark, which looks pretty in the glaze!

Dr. Pepper/Cherry/Merlot-Glazed City Ham

1 Hickory-Smoked, Cooked, Non-Spiral Cut Ham

1/4 cup Whole Grain Mustard (i used grey poupon country dijon)

1/2 cup Cherry Preserves

1/2 cup Merlot

1 cup Dr. Pepper

1/2 Cup + 2 Tbsp Brown Sugar

Begin several hours in advance, by putting the ham (still shrink wrapped) in a bucket and covered with hot water and let sit for an hour or so. Replace the hot water when warm, and let sit for another few hours. This is to raise the internal temp of the ham and reduce cooking time later without drying the ham out.

Oven to 250 F

When the ham is uniformly warm (use your temperature probe: ~ 70F - 80F or so), remove from water and plastic. Rinse ham and discard the pad covering the bone. Make thin cuts on the ham fat in the pattern of a diamond. This helps the ham stay flat while cooking, instead of curling up, and makes for easy removal of the fat later on when it's glazed.

Put the warm ham in an oven bag, and stick your temperature probe into the center of the ham but not touching the bone. Place the hame on a baking tray cut side down. Bake until the internal temperature of the ham is about 115 F.

While the ham is cooking, mix the cherry preserves, merlot, and Dr. Pepper in a blender and blend until the cherries are not chunky. Be carefull as the Dr. Pepper will foam up when blended. Put the mixture in a small sauce pot, add 2 Tbsp brown sugar, and stir over medium-low heat until reduced at least by half, or until syrupy.

Take the ham out of the oven (about 1-2 hours later), remove from bag, and place on a baking pan, or roasting pan cut side down. Remove the fat diamonds and excess fat from the ham. Brush or spread the mustard on the ham, and then rub (careful 'cause it's hot) the 1/2 cup brown sugar over the ham and mustard.

Increase oven to 300 F

Give the ham, a good basting with the glaze and return to the oven. baste periodically until the internal ham temperature reaches 130 F, and the glaze begins to caramelize.

Au Gratin

2008-04-24T16:00:00.003-06:00

I made these to go with the ham. They're really simple, and delicious. I mean what's not to like? cheese, potatoes, toasted bread, sounds like a plan.

I must admit that I've never done au gratin before. I've dabbled with scalloped, and have a wonder version that uses herbs de provence... but that's for another post. I just sort of scavenged around the intarwebs looking for trends in au gratin recipes and took what I liked from each one, and made this recipe. I admit I used cheddar cheese soup from a can, instead of making my own cream of cheddar, but I figure it still turned out edible, so no complaining.

Au Gratin Potatos

3 lbs Potatoes, peeled, and sliced 1/8-1/4 inches thin (i used russet)

1 smal onion, halfed and sliced (think half-moon slices)

2 10.5 oz Cans Cheddar Cheese Soup

10.5 oz cream

10.5 oz milk

1 cup of Cheddar Cheese, shredded

2 slices bread

parsley

paprika

salt

white pepper

Oven preheated to 350 F.

Begin by making the bread crumb topping, by putting the bread slices and parsley in a food processor and pulsing until coase crumbs. set aside

Whisk the cheddar cheese soup with the cream and milk until smooth. You needn't heat it, as it will all be going in the oven anyhow.

Begin by layering a 9x13 pan with a 1/4 of the sliced potatoes (we'll make 4 layers), followed by a 1/4 of the onions. salt and pepper the layer, and then repeat for the second layer. On the second layer, sprinkle half the cheese, and then add half the cheese soup. Repeat layering again with third layer, then a fourth, followed by cheese, and cheese soup. Sprinkle a little paprika over the whole thing and put in oven uncovered for roughly 50-60 min (until the cheese starts to brown up). After the hour cooking, sprinkle the bread crumb mixture over the whole thing and bake another 10 min until crumbs toast.

Let sit 10 min before serving.

Finishing up those Anchovies

2008-04-14T21:07:00.005-06:00

I was looking around for a way to use up the extra anchovies I had from making caesar dressing, and came upon this blog:

http://myplatemyworld.blogspot.com/2008/04/mahi-mahi-on-wilted-kale-and-mushrooms.html

Seeing as how living in Socorro doesn't really lend itself well to fish, I decided to swap the fish with some chicken breast, and it turned out fine. This is surprisingly simple to put together and make. It takes less than 20 minutes to cook.

For once, I would recommend using the pre-packaged polenta tubes instead of making it yourself, not because homeade polenta isn't delicious (and it is), but because the polenta "cakes" will hold together much better with the pre-packed tube stuff. I wasn't able to find the tubes of polenta, and just ended up making my own, and rolled it up in aluminum and chilled it overnight, but it still tended to get a little smushy when I broiled it. Still tasted great, though, just a little sloppy!

Seared Chicken Breast with Wilted Kale and Portabella with Tomato Caper Polenta

4 Chicken Breasts

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Cayanne Pepper

14 oz. can of petite diced Tomatos

2 Tbsp. Capers (rinsed)

3-4 Anchovy Fillets, mashed with the tines of a fork.

1/2 tsp. Thyme

Salt & Pepper

Tube of Polenta

Parmesean Cheese

1/4 cup sliced Shallots

2-3 Portabella Caps sliced

3 Garlic Cloves

4 cups Kale, roughly chopped

1/2 cup water

Splash of Balsamic Vinegar

Combine the tomatos, capers, anchovies, thyme, and some salt and pepper in a small bowl and set aside.

Begin by turning on your broiler.

Slice the polenta tube into 1/2 inch slices and lay on a tray, ready to be broiled.

Prep the chicken by lightly oiling, then sprinkling with salt, pepper, and cayanne.

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat, add a little oil, and lay the chicken in to brown. 3-4 min on each side.

While the chicken is browning, pop the polenta in your broiler, for about 10 min on one side, 'till it crisps and browns.

Start the heat in another large skillet or saucier with a bit of oil. Throw in the shallots and mushrooms, and lightly saute. Add the garlic and cook a short while longer. Finally put the kale in the pan, pour the water over top, and slash with balsamic. Cover and let steam about 10 min.

After the Chicken is browned on both sides, pour in the tomato concoction and let that reduce a bit for 10 min of so over medium-low heat

When the polenta is browned on one side, flip it, top it with some cheese and put it back in the broiler to crisp the other side. It shouldn't take long.

Assemble everything on a plate and enjoy!

When Angels have a Tea Party

2008-04-14T20:58:00.002-06:00

I found this recipe from a blog through Tastespotting and had to try it out, considering how much I love tea. This cake is unbelievably moist and tender, and actually tastes like tea (unlike some other tea cakes I've tried before)! I topped this cake with a dollop of whipped cream, and of course, had a cup of tea. With some friends we almost ate the whole thing in one night...

English Breakfast Tea Angel Food Cake by Carole Bloom

Ingredients

1/4 cup loose English breakfast tea leaves (or other black tea)
1/2 cup boiling water
12 extra large egg whites, at room temperature
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cups superfine sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour
3/4 cup superfine sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Put tea leaves in a bowl.
Pour 1/2 cup boiling water over leaves. Let steep for 10 minutes. Press leaves through a fine mesh sieve and collect all of the tea. Mine came to about 1/4 cup of tea.

Prepare tube pan with parchment on the bottom. Do NOT grease. The cake needs to be able to cling to the sides and climb up the pan. If you grease it the cake will collapse.

Sift together the cake flour and 3/4 cups superfine sugar in a bowl. Add salt and set aside.

Place the egg whites in a grease-free bowl of a standing mixer. Whip on medium speed until frothy and then add the cream of tartar. Once you have soft peaks then slowly add the remaining 3/4 cup superfine sugar. Whip until the eggs are glossy and firm, but not stiff, peaks.
Slowly add the 1/4 cup of tea, and flour mixture in 3 additions.

Transfer to the prepared tube pan. Run a knife through the batter to get any air bubbles out and then gently tap on the counter. Smooth the top out. Bake at 325 degrees for 50 to 1 hour, until cake tester comes out clean.

Invert the pan over a bottle to cool. You do not want to cool bottom down on a cooling rack or the cake will collapse. Cool to room temperature before trying to remove from pan. Run a knife around the edge of the pan. Then around the center tube. Invert the pan over a plate and remove the bottom of the tube pan. Remove the parchment.

Real Caesar

2008-04-14T20:51:00.003-06:00

Don't cop out when doing caesar salad. Make your own dressing, it's well worth the effort (which isn't much). And real caesar has anchovies! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

CAESAR SALAD

3 Tbsp olive oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 Tbsp soy sauce
salt & pepper
3 cloves garlic
4 anchovy fillets
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp oil from anchovy tin
1 tsp dry mustard (I used whole mustard and ground it up so it had a little more texture to it than powdered)
1 egg (boiled for 60 seconds if you're averse to Sallmonella or whatever)
8 cups torn Romaine
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
Croutons

Mash garlic clove and anchovies into 2 Tbsp of olive oil until a smooth paste is formed. Using the tines of a fork for the anchovies can help you get a start.

Stir in 1/4 tsp salt, lemon juice, anchovy oil, and mustard.

Mash/whisk in the egg until smooth.
Rub both sides of chicken breasts with 1 Tbsp olive oil and soy sauce. Season with salt & pepper.

Grill chicken about 8-10 min until no longer pink (about 165 F) <-- that's important! NO HIGHER!! or you get dryness.

Slice chicken just before serving

Toss Romaine with dressing and Parmesan.
Add croutons and sliced chicken breast atop.

A Journey to Alinea

2008-03-21T14:17:00.044-06:00

It’s been quite a while since I’ve put anything up here. I don’t have a working camera, or even one to borrow, so I haven’t been able to blog anything.

However, this past week I was up in Chicago, and had reservations for Alinea. For those of you who don’t know about Alinea, Gourmet Magazine ranked it in 2007 as the #1 restaurant in America. Seeing that I was going to be up in Chicago, I couldn’t pass up the chance to eat at this once in a lifetime place (hopefully twice when my wallet recovers). I made reservations for three, and my two good friends Babicz and Liz accompanied me that evening to the most extravagant and wonderful meal I’ve ever beheld.

The restaurant exterior is very humble, just a simple black building, with but one doorman waiting outside to let you in.

Not only was the food amazing, and dare I say revolutionary, but the architecture and ambiance, along with wonderful wait-staff and sommeliers, made the night unforgettable to say the least.

Although a coat is required for dinner, the dress was rather casual, and not at all snobbish.

While the wait-staff certainly could have been arrogant if they chose, they were wonderfully attentive and constantly cracked jokes with us, told little anecdotes, and seemed genuinely concerned that we were having a good time, and our needs were met (actually surpassed).

The only drawback is in my wallet. The total experience cost me about $300. That’s $195 for the tour, about $40 for the glasses of wines, some tax here and there, and about $50 for tip. It was totally worth the money, but my walled is indeed lighter than before.

Thanks to Liz’s camera and picture savvy prowess, I have a photo essay of the night’s 24-course tour.
Steelhead Roe

The first dish was brought out and looked somewhat like a bug on a stick. The waiter explained that a soft center of coconut was embellished with steelhead roe, and wrapped in a lime blanket. The whole thing was wrapped around a vanilla bean, which we used as our utensil, but not before the potent and wonderful sent of vanilla from the bean wafted into our senses. Babicz exclaimed upon eating it that she had never tasted so many distinct flavors in her mouth at once, and I have to agree.

Yuba

I still have no idea what they were even talking about, however this dish was explained to be the skin of boiled down soymilk that was rolled and then fried. Around the crunchy yuba, spiraled a shrimp with garnishes of chive and orange zest, all nestled in a small dish with a miso mayonnaise.

Crab

To be consumed in a single bite, this chunk of king crab was wrapped in layers of passionfruit, zucchini, and hearts of palm, along with a dollop of pureed avocado.

Salsify

Salsify is a root that is cooked, and has a taste that resembles oysters. Along with the crispy fried exteriors of the salsify, came smoked salmon mousse and smoked salmon poached in olive oil. The caper and dill sauce that decorated the plate was pungent and refreshing, while the dehydrated bell pepper and red onion provided bright flavors and good textural contrast between the soft salsify, mousse, and salmon.

Beans

This one came out on huge pillows that were filled with nutmeg smoke that seeped out as you ate and filled the nose with wonderful smells. In the center was the most perfectly smooth white bean puree topped with a crispy pancetta chip and Guinness foam. Arranged around the centerpiece were various assorted garnishes that we were encouraged to mix around with each other and the beans in different combinations. This was probably my favorite dish of the night, despite its seeming simplicity. All the flavors were wonderful, and I really enjoyed the freedom and fun to mix thing around on my plate and play with the flavors.

Duck

When the waiters brought this bowl out, we were told this would be a somewhat interactive course. A forkful of duck with “Thai” flavors was organized on a fork, which sat in a bowl of butternut squash soup with intense banana foam. The dish couldn’t be set down until the forkful of duck was taken, lest the bowl fall over from imbalance and spill rich soup in our laps.

Lamb

The lamb was a very complicated dish with lots of flavors. In the middle the lamb was coated in a red wine reduction, and each corner of the plate focused on a differing flavor. Enoki mushrooms in one, buttery onions and crispies in another, the stickiest candied walnut ever with lentils, and a beet pierogi. And don’t let that red sauce smear in the middle fool you, it was like getting punched in the face with red bell peppers.

Hot Potato

This one is fairly well known, and for good reason. The dish is presented in a bowl with a pin that contains a ninja looking appendage. The pin is slid out of a wax cup containing a cold potato soup, which dunks the hot potato ball with the truffled ninja hat into the soup and the whole thing is taken like a shot.

Pork Belly

A wonderful combination of pork belly atop polenta with pickled vegetables under a blanket of smoked paprika, which the waiter described as a sort of “bbq sauce.” This was excellent.

Chicken Skin

The one dish that I really didn’t care for. I was expecting more of a fried chicken sort of texture, but the the chicken skin tasted mostly of corn meal.

Mango

Soy and mango combined to create a casing/shell, which was filled with foie gras. The mango shell provided an excellent contrast to the thick, rich and creamy interior. However, my one complaint was that the foie gras was too salty.

Caramel Corn

This was one of the neatest things we ate/drank all night. Out waiter asked us reminisce on cracker jacks while this was in front of us. Surprisingly, the liquefied caramel corn tasted EXACTLY like caramel popcorn. Most intriguing.

Cranberry

The cranberry on the plate was frozen with bitter orange compliments and a hint of chervil atop. Very cold and tart, it melted on the palette, creating almost a numbing sensation on the roof of my mouth. I can only hope they used liquid nitrogen in this preparation. Think high-tech sorbet.

Ice Fish

The serpentine fish dish was molded in the wake of a line of horseradish. While Babicz found the horseradish to be overwhelming, I (loving horseradish) also loved this dish. As it snaked across the plate, it dipped into pools of asparagus, lined with shellfish chips and garnished with parsley.

Apple Cider

The first of the truly bizarre/unique culinary sensations in our palate, a ball was presented in a shot class, filled with walnut milk. We were instructed to take the entire shot at once, and close our mouths immediately, lest we end up with the contents of our shot class all over ourselves. The small ball, upon light pressure, bursts in the mouth releasing heady apple liquid. The richness of the walnut milk went great with the clean apple cider afterwards.

Wagyu Beef

The famed “Kobe” or more politically correct (as we were informed) Wagyu beef, came buried in heated cedar, releasing an intense pine aroma. The cube of perfectly cooked beef was uncovered like treasure from under our steaming foliage to be devoured. Afterwards, the waiter casually added, “you didn’t finish your salad?”

Black Truffle

While the presentation was quaint and pretty, the black truffle in this ravioli was rather over powering. If you’ve never had truffle, this will certainly let you in on the secret as to its taste.

Sweetbread

This was another fun and playful dish that combined sweetbreads with cauliflower. The fried cauliflowers adorning the various bits and pieces were conceivably they crunchiest things on the planet. The swimming pool in the middle was made of toasted hay (for horses?) and accompanied by “burnt sauce.” Now hay is rather strange, but burnt sauce? It was quite peculiar, because our waiters warned us that if we tried the black dots by themselves, they would simply taste like burnt (and they did). The magic was their combination with the other elements on the plate, creating complexities akin to toast, and caramelization.

Transparency

This was one of the most fun dishes of the night. A moving ensemble, raspberry reduction was dusted with dehydrated yogurt powder, and adorned with rose petals. The crispy glass pieces moved back and forth on our table until we couldn’t resist any longer and stopped their pendulum motion to break them into millions of pieces.

Bacon

Another deliciously fun course, which merged bacon with butterscotch, twisted apply twine, and thyme. These flavors all melt beautifully, and the trapeze afterwards was so much fun to tinker with.

Persimmon

One of the first “desert” or sweet courses, the center focused persimmon, and carrot, with a blob of ginger liquid. Off to the side was a curry with complimented the dish nicely, and cleansed the palate from the sweetness of the persimmon. This dish reminds me of a apple crisp with a persimmon spin. As for the ginger ball, once again, the delicate skin holding the liquid contents burst in mouth, gushing spicy ginger liquid all over the palate. The finishing kick here, was a sailboat looking winter spice “Listerine strip,” which we slipped off its mast and dissolved on the roof our mouth. I wish I could freshen my breath with these everyday.

Licorice Cake

A truly hands free dining experience, we were asked to lean forward and bite a licorice cake, with orange and hyssop, covered in muscovado spun sugar from a wire. The licorice flavor was deep but not overpowering, while the spun sugar cracked and crunched heavily in our jaws.

Chocolate

This had to be the messiest, and most playful dish all evening. We were persuaded to break the chocolate coated “cake,” which contained a liquefied brioche, and a chocolate covered egg yolk, into a pomelo pool and mix it up with gellified smoke. The flavors were peculiar, and unique. This dish was very original, and pushed the boundaries of what I would consider “desert.”

Coffee

Finally, we ended the night with some coffee. Colloidal coffee, five ways that is. Each cube of gellied coffee was adorned with different flavors. First, saffron, followed by sassafras, Chinese almond, red chile, and some other I forgot. Maybe lavender? You decide. Or better yet, go to Alinea, and experience it yourself!

Pumpkin Bread

2007-12-14T17:37:00.000-07:00

Firstly, this is some of the most perfect looking bread I've ever made.

I got the recipe from another blog, who in turn got it from some other blog... and so on.

And after having this bread, it's no wonder it's spreading so quickly.

Also, this bread makes the most amazing french toast.

Pumpkin Brioche

For the Sponge:

¼ cup whole milk, at room temperature2
½ tsp active dry yeast
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup bread flour

Combine the milk and yeast in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment ans whisk until the yeast is dissolved. Let stand for 5 minutes, then stir in the pumpkin puree, sugar, and flour, forming a thick batter. Cover with plastic film and let rest in a warm environment until bubbles form, 30-40 minutes.

For the Dough:

5 cups bread flour
2 tsp salt
6 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ lb(2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1.Add the flour ans salt to the sponge, then add the eggs. Mix on low speed for 2 minutes, or until the eggs are absorbed. Increase speed to medium and knead the dough for 5 minutes. The dough will begin to slap around. Hold on to the mixer when necessary.

2. On medium-low speed, add the butter, 2 TBSP at a time. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally.(Recipe did not say to, but I switched to the dough hook at this point). Knead until the dough is shiny ans smooth, about 5 minutes. Scrape out the dough, wash and dry the bowl, and coat it lightly with oil.

3.Place dough in the oiled bowl and turn it so that the top is coated with oil. Cover with plastic film and let rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.

4.After the dough has doubled in volume, press down to deflate, folding one half into the other. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. This is the second rise.
5.Spray three 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pans with pan spray. I used one large pan, two mini loafs and made 8 rolls.

6.Remove dough from fridge. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough evenly into thirds. With a rolling pin(that is floured), roll the dough into a rectangle equal to the length of the pan and double its width. Starting from the short side, roll up the dough like a jelly roll. If you would like you can add a filling. I added pumpkin pie spices with sugar in one of my loafs. Pinch the seam together. Place the dough seam side down in the prepared pan. Gently work the dough into the pan with your fingers so that it touches all sides. The dough should fill the pan halfway.

7.Cover the dough with plastic film coated with pan spray and let rise at room temperature until it has doubled in size and filled the pans completely, 1 ½ to 2 hours.

8.Toward the end of proofing preheat the oven to 400F. Adjust the rack to the center of the oven.

Egg Wash:
1 large egg, plus large egg yolk

Whisk together the egg and yolk. Gently brush the surface of the dough with the egg wash.

Baking:
1.Bake for 10 minutes. Turn down the oven temperature to 350F and bake for 30 minutes more(the mini loaves only need 17 minutes more), with a golden crust and an internal temperature of 180F.

2.Remove the brioche from the pans as soon as they come out of the oven and cool it on a rack before serving.3.If making rolls, roll them to golf ball size. Proof in paper lined muffin cups for easy baking. Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes.

An Arm and a Leg

2007-12-14T17:25:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since I've put anything up. I've been rather busy at school, and haven't had much time to cook, let alone blog anything.

This lamb leg post is long over due. I made this weeks ago, maybe even a month or two, and I'm just now getting some downtime.

Things should pick up around here, while I'm on winter break.

Rosemary-Garlic Leg of Lamb with Roasted Red Pears and Polenta

1 Leg of Lamb
1 Head of Garlic
2-4 Sprigs of Rosemary
Salt
Pepper
Oil

Puree the garlic and rosemary into a paste. Butterfly the leg of lamb and score the flesh. rub the paste into the meat. season with salt and pepper. roll up and tie the leg with butchers twine and rub with olive oil. Roast in the oven at 450 F for about 30 min, then reduce temperature to 350 F and continue to roast until internal temperature reaches 130 F.

8 Pears
Olive Oil
Rosemary Sprigs
Salt
Pepper.

Half and core the pears, drizzle with oil, salt and pepper, and lay rosemary atop and roast for 30 min in a 350 F oven.

Serve with polenta. and don't forget the parmasan and balsamic!

Waxing Poetic

2007-11-14T20:04:00.000-07:00

I saw this little poem in some magazine while having some tea at Flying Star a while back.

In my kitchen
I preheat a memory
I fold in old friends with new
I bake a good laugh.

Although, I thought it was cute, Renee pointed out to me that it didn’t represent my outlook on life and in the kitchen. So it was remodeled as such.

In my kitchen
I preheat the oven
To bake a new friend
Which gives a good laugh.

I suppose that doesn’t have anything to do with food, but it is kind of connected to cooking…

Alright, alright. Food porn. I know. What’s food porn without pictures? We’re such a visually stimulated culture. Who wants to read about how delicious food is? No one. Just show me the graphic carrots, and luscious slabs of ribs already!

I admit, I don’t have any ribs for this post… but I do have some awesome grilled tofu. You’ll make due. It’s uber simple. Just firm tofu cut into slabs, brushed with oil and salt and pepper, and seared on a hot grill. The sauce is 1 part soy sauce, ½ part honey, ½ part wasabi powder.

Which by the way, isn’t really wasabi. It’s a mixture of mustard, horseradish, and green. Getting the whole root and grating it yourself is the only way to be sure you’re getting the real thing. But hey, I like the powder of it’s own accord.

Waiter, There's a Banana in my Soup

2007-11-14T19:45:00.000-07:00

This soup has the most amazing smell. It was actually drawing people from outside my apartment who were just curious as too what I was making.

Don’t get me wrong it tastes great too! After all, isn’t that the reason why we’re eating it anyhow? This soup blends the delicious autumn flavors of pumpkin and root vegetables along with the richness of beef and strangely enough, the sweetness of bananas. The spices and herbs in this soup are warm and earthy as well. Tumeric takes charge, and gives the soup a beautiful yellow color that stains the sliced onions as well. Think curry. Only, it doesn’t really taste like curry. Think curry-ISH. This isn’t your mom’s chicken noodle soup. It’s got some esoteric flavors along with a quasi-exotic taste.

This soup is full of warm-curl-up-in-that-flannel-blanket-on-the-couch flavors. Perfect for the fall, and upcoming winter.

Remember to use green bananas, as cooking with even yellow (let alone brown) ones will turn to mush really fast in your soup. Even using green bananas, by the time I got to the bottom of my 2nd bowl, they were starting to mush up. Which doesn’t taste bad… just mushy.

Also, I’d recommend using fresh pumpkin chunks in this recipe. I used some frozen pumpkin that I had cut up a few months earlier and froze. The frozen pumpkin cooks really quickly in the soup, so if you’re hell bent on using frozen since there’s no fresh, then watch the soup really closely when you add the pumpkin, or else it will fall apart.

The black-eyed bean pureé gives the soup a little more heft, and could be left out entirely. But I like beans.

Who knew soup would be so finicky?

I had this with some slightly sweet light rye bread that I baked earlier today. But that’s another story…

Pumpkin Banana Beef Stew

2/3 cup Black-Eyed Beans, soaked overnight
1-1/2 lb Beef Stew meat
1 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Thyme
2 Bay Leaves
5 cups Beef Stock1 Onion, sliced
8 oz Pumpkin, cubed
1 tsp ground Cardamom
1-1/2 tsp ground Tumeric
1 tsp ground Coriander
1 tsp ground Cumin
a few shakes of cayenne pepper
handful of Parsley, chopped
2 Green Bananas
2 Carrots, sliced
Salt & Pepper

Drain the beans and place in a saucepot and cover with fresh water. Bring to a boil, and boil vigorously for 10 min. Reduce heat and simmer for 50 min. Remove from heat and let cool.

Quickly sear the beef in a stew pot and then add the stock along with the thyme and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer and cook for 1 hour.

Add the onions, pumpkin, cardamom, tumeric, coriander, cumin, cayenne, and parsley. Bring back to a simmer and cook for 15 min.

Pureé the cool beans with some of the cooking liquid until smooth.
Peel and slice the bananas. Add the bean puree, along with the bananas and carrots. Cook until the carrots have the desired tenderness (about 10 min). serve immediately.

Chop Chop!

2007-10-30T19:57:00.000-06:00

Ok, I'm finally caught up, and seem to have at least some access to a camera that doesn't also double as a phone...

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?

2007-10-30T19:43:00.000-06:00

Yet again, the deliciousness of pumpkin shows through...

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

2007-10-30T19:04:00.000-06:00

These rolls were the direct response to my Fundamentals of Engineering Test on October 27.

After 8 hours in a gym surrounded by answer bubble sheets, and only calculus problems to keep me company, I think I needed these rolls more than you know.

When I actually made these, I still didn't have a camera to take pictures. So I left a sign up that told my roomates they weren't allowed to eat them until I found a camera.

Andy tried to steal them...

I used the extra leftover blackberry jam from the thumprint cookies. I spiced up the jam, and then used in place of butter and brown sugar in a cinnamon roll dough recipe.

Spiced Blackberry Sweet Rolls

Bread:

1 cup lukewarm filtered water
3-1/2 Tbsp Active Dry Yeast
3 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1/3 cup Powdered Milk
1-1/2 cup Bread Flour

3 Tbsp Butter

1 tsp Salt

1 cup Bread Flour
1/2-3/4 cup more flour for kneading

Filling:

1 Cup of Jam
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Ground Cardamom

1/2 tsp Ground cloves

Splash Lemon Juice

Icing:

1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
few Tbsp Cream
Lemon Juice

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water, and then add the sugar, and let proof for about 10 min. Add the egg, powdered milk, and 1-1/2 cups of flour. Mix well, and then set in a warm place to sponge for 30 minutes or so.

Fold in the butter and salt, add the flour and mix until the dough comes together. Knead for 15 minutes, adding flour until a smooth but slightly wet dough comes together. It should still be minorly sticky...

Rise in a large oiled bowl until doubled in size.

Turn out the risen dough, and roll into a rectangular sheet about the size of a medium baking sheet.

Spread the blackberry mix onto the dough in a thin layer. Wrap the roll up starting at one end and then using a bit of water at the other side to seal the roll.

Cut the roll into 12 equal pieces, and place in a greased 9x13 glass pan. Let rise once more until the rolls fill the baking pan. Here's one of the few times that I don't use my baking stone. It over carmelizes the sugars into a burnt mess...

When the levening is complete, bake in a 350 F oven for about 30 min, until just browning ontop.

To make the icing, mix the cream with the powdered sugar until a slightly pourable icing comes together. Add lemon juice to taste, and then slowly ice the tops of the rolls.

Burritos!

2007-10-30T18:53:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the bad photo. The camera I usually use for my foodie pictures was temorarily lost, so I used my camera phone instead. Turns out, phones don't even have macro modes... or at least, mine doesn't.

Shredded Beef Burritos

1-2 lb Arm Shoulder Roast
1 Onion, Sliced
1 Tbsp Ground Cumin

1 tsp Red Chile Powder

Salt
Pepper
1/2 Cup (or more) Green Chile, chopped
2 Tbsp Fresh Oregano, chopped

1 Tbsp Fresh Thyme, chopped

3 Cloves Garlic, Crushed
1/2 can Diced Tomatos, drained

Tortillas
Cheddar Cheese
Avocados
Sour Cream
Lettuce

Layer the onions, followed by the beef roast, spices, salt and pepper, green chile, herbs and garlic in a slow cooker and turn to high for 4 hours

After 4 hours, turn heat to low.

Remove the roast, and shred by pulling the meat apart with a knife and fork. Add all the shredded beef along with the tomatos back to the slow cooker, and continue cooking for another 3 hours on low.

Serve the shredded beef up in tortillas rolled with cheese, avacados, sour cream, lettuce and anything else you feel like adding!

Autumnal Thai

2007-10-24T20:48:00.000-06:00

Have I told you all just how much I love pumpkins?

I LOVE pumptykins!

This south-east asian inspired pumpkin and coconut soup blends sharp and hot flavors with a sweet and rich mouthfeel. The end result is savoury yet not to the point of being cloying. And some recipes which include intense flavored ingredients like thai fish sauce, and shrimp paste can definately go overboard and make dishes so intense that only a bite or two will put you over the edge.

But not so with this soup! It's perfect for all that extra pumpkin you've began freezing. Well, at least I've been freezing every pumpkin I can get my hands on for the upcoming winter, spring, and summer without those delicious squashes.

The only drawback to this recipe is grinding the lemon grass, dried shrimp and a few other things into a paste. I either needed a much larger mortar and pestle or some other high tech means of turning all that tough cellulosic material into a paste. For the record, I don't own a liquid nitrogen hammer mill, so I guess that's out of the question.

The shrimp paste can be a little overwhelming straight out of the jar, but it's worth it in the end. Don't be put off by it's... intense odor. Shrimp paste, which is made from fermented ground shrimp in brine, is used to give foods a savoury flavour.

I threw this soup together with some simple flat rice noodles tossed with some sambal chile puree, sesame oil, and some sauteed mushrooms.

Pumpkin and Coconut Soup

2 Garlic cloves, crushed
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.

Bring the chicken stock to boil in a large pot. Add the paste and stir until dissolved.

Lower the heat, add the pumpkin, and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the pumpkin is tender.

Stir in the coconut cream, bring to a simmer. Add the fish sauce, sugar, ground pepper to taste.

Add the prawns and cook until they're heated through.

Serve garnished with the red chiles and basil leaves.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Cranberry Geleé

2007-10-21T21:43:00.000-06:00

This started out as a pumpkin cheesecake TART with the cranberry goop on top, but after realizing that:

1.) Pastries take a long time, and this cake was already going to take at least a day to do, with chilling times and everything,

2.) New Mexican dry air conditions are rarely beneficial to pastry dough

and

3.) I don't own a tart pan.

I decided to just turn this into a regular pumpkin cheesecake.

Now, I realized this all after I had powdered the almonds, and blended the flour, and creamed/fluffed the butter and powdered sugar for the pastry.

I decided I would try to just turn this pastry into a pecany almondy bready crust for the pumpkin cheesecake. Unfortunately, I didn't take into account that the crust would rise, and when I finished baking this kitchen sink crust, I ended up with a "crust" that more resembled a puffed up cookie. This "cookie" took up about half of my spring form, which meant a really thin cheesecake.

I scrapped the cookie crust, and started over. This time I'd make a much more traditional pecan crust. Thin, and perfect for cheesing and caking.

After the colossal crust confound, everything else went smoothly. Dare I say creamily? I think so.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Cranberry Geleé

Crust

1 Cup Pecans, finely chopped (almost powdered, like sand)

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup All-Purpose Flour

2 Tbsp Butter, melted
1 Egg Yolk
1 tsp Almond Extract

Filling:

16 oz. Cream Cheese
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

Cranberry Geleé

2 Cups fresh Cranberries (1/2 pound)

1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Orange Juice
1-1/2 tsp Unflavored Gelatin

Water

Oven at 350 F.

Combine all the crust ingredients until homogeneous. Press into a 9X3 inch circular spring form pan, using a measuring cup to press the crust about half way up the sides of the spring form.

Bake the crust for 10 minutes. Let cool.

Oven down to 300 F.

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, brown sugar, ground spices, nutmeg and salt, and blend until smooth. Beat in the pumpkin pureé, until once again smooth. Beat in the cream, maple syrup, vanilla, and eggs slowly until uniform... and smooth!

Wrap the bottom of the spring form in a few layers of aluminum foil and crimp the foil up the sides (so the cheesecake won't get wet when we stick in a bain-marie)

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.

Let the cake cool.

Ok, the cranberry goop.

In and medium sauce pan, combine the cranberries and 1/2 cup of water and cook over moderate heat until the cranberries pop and open up. Let cool, and transfer to a blender. Blend until smooth, and then press through a fine sieve. Rinse out the sauce pan.

Add the sugar, and 1/4 cup of water and cook over moderate heat until the sugar dissolves and just begins to boil. Stir in the orange juice and cranberry pureé.

In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over 2 Tbsp of water and let stand until softened. Microwave the gelatin about 10 seconds until melted. Whisk the melted gelatin into the pureé mixture, and pour the cranberry sauce over the cheesecake, SLOWLY!

Refrigerate the hell out of the cake. Usually over night.

Make sure to slip a knife between the spring form and the cake before removing the sides. And use a warm knife to cut the cake.

*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

2007-10-21T21:18:00.000-06:00

Nothing screams New Mexico like green chile cheese burgers.

And they're all the more esoteric when they're green chile BUFFALO cheese burgers. I'm not really sure that using ground buffalo makes that much of a difference in taste, but it sure is exotic. Well... at least until you go up to Albuquerque and drive out Tramway and see all those buffalo standing around nawing on grass.

I'm glad I don't eat grass, specifically. Although it seems like a lot of favored flavors have a "grassy" profile... like sauvignon blanc, and green tea, and parsley, and asperagus.

"Grassy profile?" Who makes this shit up? And who tastes grass to know what is and isn't "grassy?" I mean sometimes you can get that flavor profile by just smelling things, but then again, have any of you ever smelled shrimp paste? That stuff smells awful, but it makes a delicious thai pumpkin soup.

The green chile I use is all grown and roasted right here in New Mexico. More specifically, in San Antonio, NM. I get it in 30 lb increments at this little farmer co-op called Sichler's. They have the best chile I've tasted in NM. I cover the tables in butcher paper, and invite some unknowing friends over to help me with all the peeling. But once it's done, there's green chile for months, and my friends don't complain when I invite them over for green chile buffalo burgers.

Green Chile Buffalo Cheese Burgers

Burgers:

2 lbs Ground Baffalo
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:

Slices of Medium Cheddar Cheese
Lettuce
Tomato
6 Sesame Buns

And of course: GREEN CHILE

Mix all the burger ingredients and let sit for an hour to mingle. Shape into 6 patties, about 180 grams each.

Grill over extremely hot coals until nice grill marks are evident and they're to your desired doness.

Pile up with fixings, and make a mess.

*NOTE remember when cooking the burgers to moke them as little as possible. It's best to flip them only once. Generally I cook them about 2-3 minutes on one side, flip and another 2-3 minutes on the other.

Paranormal Mother Russia

2007-10-17T22:10:00.000-06:00

Paranormal Mother Russia? Or, at least that what I heard while sitting in Mechanics of Materials. Turns out it was "polar moment of interia." Who knew. At least I was interested in class for about 15 seconds.

What better way to celebrate paranormal mother Russia, than with beef stroganoff?

This dish has a few intricacies that maybe the traditional beef, sour cream, and noodles doesn't. This predominately has the great herby flavor of thyme, and lots of it. I love thyme. It has such an interesting characteristic. It can be bright and lively, or it can be calm and earthy depending on how you use it. In the recipe I used, thyme definately adds that earthy feeling along with the mushrooms, and sour cream, and rich beef stock. This is definately a dish for when it starts to get cold outside, and you need something to curl up on the couch with...

Or curl up with your Mechanics of Materials. At least it provided a good distraction from all that beam bending nonsense.

Beef Stroganoff Over Noodles

3 Cups Beef Stock
1 Carrot, roughly cut
3 big sprigs of Thyme
2 Bay Leaves
2 lbs beef chuck roast, cut into small cubes

Salt and Pepper
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

Heat the beef stock with the carrot, thyme sprigs, and bay leaves to a boil.

Season the beef with salt and pepper. Heat a small amount of oil in a large sauce pan over high heat. Fry the beef in batches until browned all over (it took me about 4 batches), adding more oil if necessary. Add the onions, and cook until softened. Add all the beef back to the pan, and add the sherry. Cook until the alcohol has evaporated off.

Strain the beef broth to remove the carrot and herbs. Add the broth to the beef and onions, and simmer on an extremely low flame for 1.5 hours, uncovered. You're looking to reduce the stock by about half...

In a large skillet heat 3 Tbsp butter along with 3 Tbsp of oil (I used olive oil) over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, garlic and chopped thyme. Cook until the mushrooms are browned and releasing their juices.

Once mushrooms are done, add fold them into the beef mixture along with the sour cream and dijon.

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.

Serve the stroganoff over the buttered noodles with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of parsley.

Nuts About PaJAMas

2007-10-17T01:36:00.000-06:00

I've had this jar of local fruit spread for about 6 months now, and I've never gotten around to use it. It's perfectly good jam. It's blackberry, even! But short of the good ol' 2 a.m. staple, PB & J sammich, I don't really use jam that much, unless it's in something.

Which is precisely why I decided these cookies were worth this jar of jammy goodness.

Jarry jammy jam jam june and july, jimmy jauntily jolts his joints.

I'm sorry but we don't serve belligerent bully bears beer in bars in Billings. Billings is in Montana.

I wonder how their jam is?

Thumb Print Jam Cookies

2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
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!)

Preheat Oven to 350 F.

Beat sugar and butter until fluffy, add the egg yolks, vanilla and salt. Slowly add the flour and stir until well blended.

In a small bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Put the pecans in a serarate bowl.

Form the dough into 1 inch balls. Dip each ball into the egg whites, and then roll in the pecans to coat. Place on baking sheet and use your thumb to press the top of each cookie, making an indent (Thats for the Jam!)

Bake the cookies for 8 minutes, and then remove from over (they won't be done yet). Carefully spoon jam into the center of each cookie, reshaping the thumbprint as needed with a spoon.

Return the cookies back to the oven for an additional 6-9 minutes, until they are lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.

Who Needs Take-Out

2007-10-12T20:25:00.000-06:00

Honestly, other than the time and maybe convenience that take out pizza provides, why on earth would people rather eat some cheap rendition of pizza with "hut" in the their name, or a company that should be making board games?

This crust is more heavenly then any greasy pizza chain could possibly hope to replicate. And more over, you choose the amounts of ingredients. I love my pizzas piled up with toppings, and a nice thick crust on the end. Take-out is blasé. I'll pass Papa John. Thanks, but no thanks.

I always wonder why people seem so inspired to pick up the crap that all these fast food places dish out. Ok, now, I admit, every once in a blue moon, I end up at one those joints wanting a greasy oily burgery burger, but I more than not regret it afterwards. Err...rather my stomach regrets it...

It certainly could be the huge amounts of salt that chains use in all their food. I mean, lets get things straight, salt makes things taste good. The salt aggitates the taste buds on your tongue, which in turn makes them more receptive to flavors. But sometimes, I wonder. The other night I was re-reading a book called "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell, and the selected chapter was curiously on taste tests and the aptitude for people to choose certain products over another based on the snap judgements from things like labels, advertising availability, and strangely... packaging. The tests were done with E&J Brandy, and Christian Brothers. Through a series of tests, they had fangled out the plausibilty that people were choosing E&J over Christian based solely on the packaging of the product. Rather tragic, I'd say.

So what about pizza? Chains may have more of a hold on the market through advertising and brand name recognition than just flavor profiles by themselves.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love it if food was solely about the pallete. Unfortunately, and no matter what anyone else tells you about "plating doesn't matter, it's all about the taste," it simply isn't true. Looks matter. Especially when it comes down to which foods people are going to eat, and more importantly, like.

I know, I know, I wish it wasn't this way, but I really can't argue anymore from some purist stance. People are just way too swayed by aesthetics. So I'll try and accomodate. For you. Don't thank me, it's the least I can do.

Back to creations.

During my little wait for the dough to rise, I made a little trip to the Socorro Brewery to pick up 2 growlers of their oh so delicious pumpkin beer. God, I love pumpkins. It's seriously my favorite ingredient ever... for right now. I have a whole slew of pumpkin goods on their way. It would make me hungry all over again if I hadn't stuffed my face with pizza just moments ago.

Better than the HUT Pizza:

Oven at 375 F.

Dough:
1 Cup Luke Warm Water
3 tsp Active Dry Yeast

1 T Sugar

1-2 T Olive Oil

1 tsp Salt

Bread Flour (we'll to portions later...)

Combine the water and yeast to dissolve. Add the sugar and let proof for about 10 min or until foamy (this is to give the yeast a little boost).

Add in the oil and the salt.

Now here's the flour part... Add flour and knead until the dough is just minorly sticky, but still holds its shape and is relatively smooth. Essentially, you're just adding a little bit less flour than you would for making a regular hearty loaf of crusty bread. This will come in handy when spreading the dough out for the crust.

Let rise until doubled in size.

Filling:
1 lb Pork

1/2 Onion diced

2 cloves Garlic

As much Red Pepper flakes as you can endure

2-3 Spoonfuls of Green Chile

1 pint of cherry or grape tomatos crushed with your hands (oh goody, sloppy fun)

2 T Tomato Paste (so your pizza isn't drippy)

1/4 Cup Parsley loosely chopped

4-5 sprigs of Basil loosely chopped

Mozzerella

Parmasan

Fry up that pork and onion in a hot skillet until brown.

Add the garlic, flakes and green chile, and set aside off the heat.

Pour your mixed crushed tomatos and tomato paste over the top while you spread out the dough.

Dump your risen dough on a well floured surface, or even just on your baking stone which has been dusted with cornmeal. Stretch and pull the dough untill you've covered your stone or have it as big as your little heart desires.

Add the pork and tomato mixture. cover with basil, and parsley. Then cover with the cheeses.

Bake in oven for about 30 min until crust is crusty, and cheese is just beginning to brown.

Black & Tan and Oatmeal Stout

2007-10-12T01:29:00.000-06:00

NO!!! Not beer, you alcoholics...

They're black & tan cookies, and coriander steel cut oatmeal with wheat berries, and chinese black rice with whipped cream atop.

This was inspired by the teahouse in Santa Fe. I think they made it with coriander, or at least the coriander tastes fanstastic even if they didn't use it.

Black and Tan Cookies

1/3 Cup Cocoa

2-1/3 Cup All Purpose Flour

3/4 Cup Sugar

3/4 Cup Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

1 Cup Butter

1-1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Nutmeg

5 oz. Chocolate Chips

5 oz. Peanut Butter Chips

Preheat Oven to 365 F.

Black Mixture:

Combine the hot chocolate, 1 cup flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 tsp salt in a bowl.

Tan Mixture:

Combine 1-1/3 cup flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 tsp nutmeg in a bowl.

In a large bowl, beat together butter, brown sugar, sugar, and vanilla untill fluffy. Add eggs and mix thoroughly. Split into 2 equal batches.

In one batch, gradually beat in the "black mixture," and repeat with the other batch and the "tan mixture." Combine the chocolate chips and peanut butter chips and add half to each batch.

Drop small rounds of the "black" onto a cookie sheet or baking stone. Repeat using the "tan," and use your fingers to form a "black & tan" round by squishing the two doughs together.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, and then cool on a wire rack.

Coriander Steel Cut Oatmeal with Wheat Berries and Chinese Black Rice

1 Tbsp Butter

1 Cup Steel Cut Oats

3 Cup Boiling Water

1/2 Cup Whole Milk

1/2 Cup + 1 Tbsp Buttermilk

1 Tbsp Brown Sugar

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp (or more) Coriander

1 Cup cooked Wheat Berries

Cooked Black Rice

Honey

In a large sauce pot, melt the butter and then add the oats. Stir for 2 minutes or until the oats begin to toast. Add the boiling water and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer on low heat for 25 minutes, without stirring.

Combine the milk and 1/2 of the butter milk with the oatmeal. Stir to combine, and allow to gently cook for an additional 10 minutes. Add the spices, and cooked wheat berries and spoon into bowls. Lay a glob of sticky black rice on top of the oatmeal and drizzle with the extra buttermilk and some honey. Top the whole thing off with a dollop of whipped cream.

**NOTE**

Cooking wheat berries is simple. Just add about 1 cup of wheat berries to about 3 cups of water. Boil until soft and delicious. ... About 20-30 minutes.

Same sort of situation with the black rice. If the rice you bought doesn't have plain and out directions, just follow a simple rice recipe of about 1 cup rice to 2-1/4 Cup water. boil for 20 ish minutes until done. Honestly, just get a rice cooker, it's easier that way.

Bun Thit Nuong

2007-10-11T22:25:00.001-06:00

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

2007-10-11T22:11:00.001-06:00

UPDATE:

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?

2007-10-11T17:24:00.001-06:00

Well I suppose that's not really the point of this, but I'll let you all in on a little of the brains running this shin-dig.

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.

Enjoy.

Firstly

2007-10-11T17:00:00.000-06:00

first stuff. making things work.