FOOD by Andreas

Hiatus

2011-03-25T22:59:00.000-05:00

Dear readers,

I'm on what I thought would be a very short hiatus from the blog, but it seems that it's a little longer than anticipated. Between work and other things, I just haven't had the energy to write any new and interesting posts recently (although I am, obviously, still cooking), and it'll be a little while before I feel like it again. Stay tuned - I'm not giving up!

Crème Brûlée

2011-02-24T20:42:00.010-06:00

I finally went and bought myself a blow torch. As far as I'm concerned, Crème Brûlée can only be made using a blow torch, not with a broiler or any other heat element. I'm sure it can be done and the results are fine, but there's something truly special about serving this dessert straight from the fridge, very cold, but with a perfectly crisp layer of melted sugar on top. The picture above was taken before I had finished caramelizing all the sugar; it should be darker and cover the whole surface, but the blow torch is tiny and the flame is small, so it took quite some time!

Crème Brûlée

2 cups heavy cream
8 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar plus about 8 teaspoons more for the caramel glaze
1 tsp vanilla extract

Turn the oven to 325 degrees F. Heat the cream to almost a simmer over medium heat. In the meantime, stir the egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar in a medium bowl until just blended. Slowly, gradually add the cream. Really, do this slowly - you're looking to make a custard, not scrambled eggs. Strain into a second bowl using a fine-mesh sieve. Add the vanilla and divide in 4 larger or 6 smaller ramekins.

Place a few layers of paper towels in a large, oven-proof glass dish. Place the ramekins on top of the paper towels, making sure they do not touch each other or the sides of the dish (or the bottom, but the paper towels should be taking care of that). Place in the oven and immediately pour scalding hot tap water into the dish (but not into the custard, obviously) until it comes about 2/3 up the side of the ramekins. Cook for about 35 minutes, or until quite set but still quivery in the middle. Remove from the oven and extract from the water bath. Let cool on a cooling rack until the custards are at room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to two days.

Just before serving, remove the ramekins from the fridge. Evenly sprinkle about 2 teaspoons of sugar over each ramekin of custard and apply heat. You're looking for a dark caramel crust that you have to crack open with a spoon in order to properly eat. As mentioned before, a blowtorch would be ideal for this, but in a bind, you can use your broiler set to high. This will probably heat the custard as well, and the end result won't be as tasty, nor will it be prepared traditionally.

Chicken Noodle Soup

2011-02-09T18:13:00.004-06:00

All right, I'll be the first to admit that I have had canned soup from time to time. Canned soup is acceptable. At least when you have a bad cold and can't taste what you're eating. Seriously, canned soup is generally pretty horrible (including the "gourmet" kinds), and the effort it takes to make a good homemade soup is small - tiny, even, if you don't make your own stock. In this recipe, store-bought chicken stock is perfectly fine, and I don't even use the low sodium kind. It is still far, far less salty than a canned soup, costs less per serving, and tastes so much better. SO much better.

Chicken Noodle Soup

2 chicken breasts with rib meat
8 oz dried egg noodles
2 ribs of celery
2 medium carrots
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
2 quarts chicken stock, preferably homemade
2 bay leaves
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper

First of all, cook your chicken. I find that for soup, the easiest way is to simply boil it. It may not sound appetizing, but the end result is perfect for shredding into the soup. Cover the chicken breasts with cold water in a medium saucepan and cook over high heat until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Check with a knife to ensure juices run clear and no pink remains, then rinse with cold water to stop cooking and prevent them from drying out. Shred or cut into bite-sized pieces when cool enough to handle.

While the chicken is cooking, start with the rest of soup. Cut the celery, onion, and carrots into small pieces, and mince the garlic. In a large stock pot or soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the vegetables, bay leaves, and thyme and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables have softened but are not mushy, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock, increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil. Add the noodles and cook until al dente, about 5 minutes. At this point, lower the heat to a simmer and add the shredded chicken. Cook until heated through. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove the bay leaves and thyme sprigs (most of the thyme leaves will have fallen off at this point).

Serve with freshly baked bread or some good crackers.

For an extra kick, the soup can be made with a couple of tablespoons of some dry vermouth or even a splash of white wine. Add together with the chicken stock.

Red Berry Cobbler

2011-01-25T19:30:00.003-06:00

This is a variation of a recipe I found in New American Table, a cookbook by a chef born in Ethiopia, raised in Sweden, and living in New York City. The flavors are much more complex than a standard cobbler, thanks to the red wine, cardamom, and honey. You can prepare these until they're ready to go in the oven, then refrigerate for up to three days. Perfect, in other words, to make in advance for that big dinner party!

Red Berry Cobbler

2 cups AP flour
3 tbsp white sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
6 tbsp unsalted butter (cold)
1 cup milk or buttermilk
1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup honey, preferably raw
zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp cornstarch
3/4 cup dry red wine
2 cups fresh raspberries
3 cups fresh strawberries
confectioners' sugar for dusting

Start by heating the oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, white sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar. Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the flour mixture. Mix with your fingers until a mealy mixture is formed. Add the milk and stir with a spoon until a very wet dough is formed.

Cover a cookie sheet with a parchment paper. Divide the dough into 10 2-inch wide biscuits. Bake in the oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the filling. Hull the strawberries and cut them into quarters. In a small bowl, mix the honey, lemon zest, cornstarch, and the seeds of the vanilla bean or the vanilla extract, depending on which you're using. In a medium saucepan, bring the red wine to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, then add the honey mixture and stir continuously until it thickens slightly. Stir in the fruit and the remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar and cook until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat.

Butter either twelve 4-ounce or six 8-ounce ramekins. Crumble up the biscuits and divide half of them into the ramekins. Add equal amounts of the berry filling on top of the biscuits, then crumble the remaining biscuits on top. Cook in the (still 400 degree) oven for about 15 minutes, or until bubbling. Be careful not to let the biscuits on top burn - if they start to brown too quickly, cover with some aluminum foil.

Let cool for 5 minutes, then dust the top with confectioners' sugar and serve, preferably with ice cream.

Halibut in Lemon Butter Sauce with Pan Fried Potatoes and Cucumber Salad

2011-01-19T13:54:00.007-06:00

While I never say "no" to a good steak, I do love me some fish and seafood as well. One particular craving for a delicacy of the seas set in the other day, and I decided to make some halibut.

Halibut in Lemon Butter Sauce with Pan Fried Potatoes and Cucumber Salad

1 lb halibut fillet (or other firm-fleshed white fish)
1 lemon
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 shallots
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cucumber
1 lime
chives
extra virgin olive oil
1 lb firm potatoes
peanut oil (or other vegetable oil)
paprika powder
salt
pepper

Turn the oven to 400 degrees F. Next, start preparing the potatoes. Wash them and dice them into half-inch cubes. Add a few tablespoons of peanut oil to a large cast iron pan and place over medium high heat. Add the potatoes, sprinkle with salt and paprika, and fry, stirring frequently at first (to prevent sticking), until golden brown and delectable. Add freshly ground black pepper when finished.

While the potatoes are cooking, wash the fish and dry with paper towels. Place in a large, oven-proof skillet. Peel and chop the shallots. Remove about a teaspoon of zest from the lemon, then cut it in half. Top the fish with the shallots and dot it with the butter. Squeeze the lemon over the fish, pour the wine into the pan (to the side of the fish, to prevent washing away the "toppings"), and sprinkle with the red pepper flakes. Place over high heat until the liquid is boiling, then place in the center of the oven for about 10 minutes or until cooked through. If you use a particularly thick cut of fish (like halibut), you may have to cook it for 15 minutes instead.

While the fish is cooking and the potatoes are finishing, prepare the cucumber salad. Slice the cucumbers fairly thinly, then cut them into very small squares. Chop the chives finely (I used about 8 pieces). Place the cucumber in a bowl, and add a tablespoon of olive oil, the juice of a lemon, the chives, and a little bit of salt. Stir to combine and keep chilled in the fridge until ready to serve.

Once the fish is finished, remove it from the pan and place it on a plate. Place the pan back over high heat and cook the sauce for a minute or so until it thickens a bit. If most of the liquid has evaporated in the oven, add a little more wine. Slice the fish into portions, then pour the sauce over it. Serve with the potatoes and cucumber salad.

I love bread

2011-01-13T20:23:00.012-06:00

I love baking. I love baking bread. Four simple ingredients spend some time in a bowl, some time in a fridge, and some time in a hot oven, and suddenly, there's this spectacular new...thing. Eat it fresh out of the oven, put some toppings on it and call it a sandwich, or wait a few days and turn it into toast, or maybe even croutons.

I love bread.

(The recipe for the above can be found in this old post!)

I also promise to update the blog with something useful and interesting in the next few days!

Cheese and Artichoke Dip

2011-01-02T23:05:00.005-06:00

While the dip itself is more of a snack, we actually had this for dinner tonight! Cheese and artichoke dip, vegetables, ciabatta bread and oven-roasted potatoes may not sound like a traditional Sunday night dinner, but it was really, really good!

Cheese and Artichoke Dip
1 can artichoke hearts (16 oz)
1 package Neufchatel or cream cheese
4 oz shredded cheddar, Monterrey jack or similar cheese
paprika
black pepper
salt

Turn the oven to 425 degrees F. Finely chop the artichoke hearts. I used my food processor, but a knife will do the job just fine (it'll just take a while). Mix with the cheeses, sprinkle liberally with the spices and stir thoroughly. Put the dip in an oven-safe form and bake for 15-20 minutes or until just starting to brown. Serve with root vegetables cut into staves (I used carrots, cauliflower and cucumber).

Oven-Roasted Potatoes

1 lb firm potatoes
olive oil
black pepper
salt

Turn the oven to 425 degrees F. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil over high heat. Slice the potatoes into half-inch thick pieces and add to the boiling water. Boil for about 10 minutes or until just tender. Remove the potatoes from the water and dry on paper towels.

Place an oven rack over a cookie sheet. Spread the potatoes on the rack and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake in the center of the oven for 20 minutes or until the edges are crispy.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T12:05:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas! I promise to post some kitchen loot and, obviously, some new recipes in the coming days!

Swedish Pancakes

2010-12-18T00:10:00.006-06:00

While I absolutely love the American equivalent (and the way they are served), Swedish pancakes are probably my favorite type of pancake. Maybe it's because my grandmother will make these every time I visit. Maybe it's the way you serve them. Or maybe it's just the fact that they bring me back to my childhood, when I would say, "If I had to eat one kind of food every day for the rest of my life, it'd be pancakes." I don't know. All I know is that Swedish pancakes served with whipped cream and raspberry jam is one of those simple pleasures everyone should enjoy at least once...a week.

Swedish Pancakes

3 large eggs
2.5 cups whole milk (or 2% in a pinch)
1 cup AP flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter
whipped cream
raspberry jam

Start by melting the butter. In a large bowl, mix together the eggs and half the milk. Add the flour and mix until a smooth batter is formed. Add the rest of the milk, the salt, and the melted butter.

Over medium heat, melt about a teaspoon of butter. Pour about 1/3 cup of batter into the pan and tilt the pan until it covers the whole thing. Let cook until firmed up, then flip and cook for another 30 - 45 seconds. Serve with freshly whipped cream and raspberry jam.

Holiday Cocktail: Jolly Arrival

2010-11-30T22:10:00.005-06:00

It's the holiday season! Our Christmas tree is up, the fireplace is lit almost every night, and I get to indulge in cooking with those ingredients that are really only useful for about a month's time around the end of the year.

I came up with a drink that fits well with the holiday theme, and decided to name it Jolly Arrival (figure THAT one out). The only problem is that you can only really have one - it's almost like a dessert!

Jolly Arrival

1 oz vodka
0.5 oz Irish cream liqueur (Bailey's or similar)
0.5 oz coffee liqueur (Kahlúa or similar)
0.5 oz almond liqueur (Amaretto or similar)
0.5 oz hazelnut liqueur
0.5 oz peppermint liqueur
3 oz whole milk or heavy cream
freshly grated nutmeg
cocoa powder

Fill a cocktail glass with ice and set aside. Add ice to a cocktail shaker, and pour in all the ingredients. Shake for 5 seconds. Discard the ice in the cocktail glass and strain the contents of the shaker into the glass. Sprinkle cocoa powder and nutmeg on top. Serve immediately.

Quesadillas

2010-11-20T23:57:00.001-06:00

Quick, easy and great-tasting, I certainly adore quesadillas. The ones I make are probably nothing like the ones you’d get in Mexico, but at least they're tasty! If you make your own tortillas, the final result will be so much better, but there are plenty of decent store-bought ones out there as well. Use what works best for you!

As for the filling, I generally use shredded chicken, Monterrey Jack cheese, onion and red pepper, and top it with sour cream and some red salsa. You can really fill a quesadilla with anything you want, which is the beauty of this dish. Serve as an appetizer, a snack or even the centerpiece of a whole meal. If you do the latter, I suggest some tortilla chips and guacamole, perhaps some additional salsa and refried beans.

Quesadillas con pollo

2 tortillas (corn, flour, whole wheat, it’s your choice) – flour tortilla recipe below
1 chicken breast
1 red pepper
½ yellow onion
shredded Monterrey Jack cheese (or other soft/easy-to-melt cheese)
vegetable oil
salt
pepper
cumin

First of all, cook and shred the chicken. The easiest way to do this is to boil in salted water it for about 6-7 minutes, until cooked through. Drain, let the chicken cool slightly and shred with two forks. Next, dice the onion and cook with a little bit of vegetable oil over medium heat, until translucent (2-3 minutes). While the onion is cooking, cut up the pepper, discarding the seeds and any excessive white membrane. Add the pepper to the onion and cook for another couple of minutes, until cooked but still crunchy. At this point, add the shredded chicken and season with salt, black pepper and a little cumin.

Next, bring out your trusty cast iron pan – large enough to fit a tortilla – and set over medium heat. Add a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil to the pan, and start building your quesadilla. On top of the first tortilla, add a layer of the chicken filling. Top with some shredded cheese, then put the other tortilla on top like a lid. Place in the pan and cook until the bottom tortilla is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Flip carefully (so you don’t lose any ingredients into the pan) and cook another minute or two, until the second tortilla is golden brown as well. You’ll want to make sure there is some pressure on top after you flip, and that is easily done with the spatula.

Use a pizza cutter to slice into wedges, and serve with some salsa and sour cream.

Flour Tortillas

4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp lard or vegetable shortening
1 ½ cups warm water

Stir together the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Work the lard into the flour with your fingers, until completely incorporated. Add enough water to form a soft dough, but not so much as to make it sticky. Knead for five minutes. If you have a stand mixer, all this can be done with the paddle attachment to shape the dough, and the dough hook attachment to knead on low speed for a few minutes. Divide into portions weighing about 3 oz each, and form into balls. Let the balls rest under a towel for ten minutes.

Roll the balls into rounds, about 6 inches in diameter. Cook in a dry cast iron skillet until just starting to brown. When you do make your quesadillas later, you can actually follow the steps below, to prevent burning:

Cook one tortilla until golden brown on one side, then set aside. Cook the second tortilla until brown on one side, then flip it over. Add the filling (with the tortilla still in the pan), then place the first tortilla on top, with the non-browned side up. Flip the quesadilla over, cook until golden brown and serve immediately.

Open-faced Tomato and Mozzarella Sandwiches

2010-11-16T15:41:00.005-06:00

One of the best applications for day-old bread, in my opinion, is to top it with some good toppings and put it in the oven for a few minutes. I recently baked some bread according to the ciabatta recipe I've used before, but shaped short baguettes (bâtards) instead. The recipe below is a very simple sandwich, but providing you use high-quality ingredients, it tastes heavenly.

Open-faced Tomato and Mozzarella Sandwiches

A piece of baguette, 8-12 inches long
1 tomato
2-4 oz Mozzarella cheese
olive oil
dried oregano
dried garlic (garlic powder)
salt
black pepper

Start by turning your oven (or toaster oven) to 400 degrees F. Cut the bread lengthwise and place, cut side up, on a baking sheet. If you are unable to balance the pieces so the cut side is fairly level, you can trim the underside slightly.

Drizzle the bread with a little olive oil. Slice the tomato and cover the bread. Cut the cheese into chunks and place on top of the tomatoes. Add the herbs and spices to taste. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until cheese is bubbling and starting to brown.

Video 1: Cocktails - Aurora, Swedish Midsummer, and Serbian Ice Tea

2010-11-08T15:50:00.014-06:00

I finally got around to making my first video! Please enjoy the show, and find all the recipes below:

Aurora

3 oz sparkling white wine
3 oz Fresca or similar carbonated citrus drink
1 oz triple sec
1 oz vodka (optional)
Fresh raspberries, blackberries or sliced strawberries

Blend all the ingredients in a mixing glass. Pour into a chilled cocktail glass and add a couple of berries to garnish.

Swedish Midsummer

1 oz elderberry flower syrup
1 oz gin
3 oz sparkling white wine

Mix all the ingredients together and serve in a champagne glass.

Serbian Ice Tea

The recipe below is from the February 2009 post:

2 cl (2/3 oz) Malibu (or similar coconut rum)
1 cl (1/3 oz) Kalúha (or similar coffee liqueur)
2 cl (2/3 oz) Southern Comfort
2 cl (2/3 oz) peach schnapps
2 cl (2/3 oz) Triple Sec
1 cl (1/3 oz) vodka
cranberry juice
7-up or Sprite
grenadine
2 lime wedges

Add all the alcohol, the grenadine and the squeezed lime wedges in a shaker with a lot of ice. Fill up with about 5 oz (15 cl) cranberry juice. Shake.

Pour into a pint glass (with the ice and lime wedges) and top off with 7-up or Sprite.

Pasta con Pancetta e Asparigi

2010-11-07T00:02:00.001-05:00

I absolutely adore simple pasta dishes, especially the ones that look and taste like they took much more effort than they actually did. This is one of them – very simple and fast to whip up, and as long as you use high-quality ingredients (fresh is the key word here), you really can’t fail. Well, you could, but follow the instructions, and you shouldn’t!

Pasta con Pancetta e Asparagi (pasta with pancetta and asparagus)

12 oz tagliatelle (for this course, I generally use dried and not fresh/homemade and in the picture above, I actually used shells instead)
4 oz pancetta, thinly sliced
1 lb green asparagus
2 cloves garlic
1 bunch green onions
Italian parsley (flat-leaf)
½ cup heavy cream
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 lemon
olive oil
salt
black pepper

Start by boiling the water for the pasta, and add the tagliatelle when the water is boiling. Cook until al dente. Cut the pancetta into smaller pieces (I generally do roughly 0.5x1 inch strips) and place in a large skillet with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Cook over medium heat until crispy, and then move to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Reserve some of the fat in the pan (not too much, about a tablespoon).

Cut the asparagus into bite-sized pieces and cook in the skillet with the reserved fat for about 3 minutes over medium-high heat. Divide the green onion into dark green and light green + white. Mince the garlic and slice the pale green and white pieces of green onion, and add to the skillet with the asparagus. Cook another two or so minutes, until vegetables are cooked through, but still crispy.

At this point, add the pancetta back to the skillet together with the parsley, and the minced dark green parts of the green onion. Drain the pasta and return to the pot, reserving a few tablespoons of the water you cooked it in. Add the contents of the skillet to the pasta, as well as the juice of the lemon, the cream, the Parmesan cheese, and about a tablespoon of olive oil. If it seems a little dry, add some of the reserved water.

Serve immediately. Add some more grated Parmesan if desired.

Oatmeal Cookies

2010-10-30T19:20:00.002-05:00

I’m back! Finally! After a couple of crazy months (wedding, new house, new car, new department at work), I’m ready to start updating the blog again. I’ve been taking some pictures of things I made recently, so that should get me started at the very least!

First up: cookies. I do apologize for the low-quality picture, but I did not have my nice camera readily available. Cell phone pictures aren’t as good, but it’s what I’ve got! Either way, I decided to make chocolate chip cookies the other day, and while I was at it, played around with some oatmeal cookies. I think I liked the latter even better than the former, so here’s the recipe! The oatmeal cookies are on the right in the picture, if that wasn't obvious.

Oatmeal Cookies with Walnuts

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
3 cups quick oats
½ cup chopped walnuts

First of all, turn your oven to 375 degrees F. Next, cream the butter and sugars together until very pale. I recommend doing this in a stand mixer, but a handheld one will work as well. Lowering the speed of the mixer to the slowest, add the eggs, one at the time. Next, add the remaining ingredients and stir until combined. Be careful not to over-mix!

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Roll the batter into roughly golf ball-sized balls, and place them about three inches apart on the paper. Bake the cookies in the center of the oven for 10-12 minutes or until they just start to brown. Make sure you let them cool completely on a cooling rack, but don't move them for the first couple of minutes after removing from the oven – they will be quite soft and fragile, and might break.

Enjoy!

...and even busier

2010-08-17T00:50:00.000-05:00

So we bought a house. The kitchen is awesome, and I can't wait to start using it (gas stove (finally!), lots of counter space, larger fridge/freezer). Obviously, we're keeping busy updating what needs to be updated, so there will be no new cooking posts for a while here. I may have time to write up something about the honeymoon though - we DID go to Babbo, Degustation and Les Halles, and we went on a pizza tour in Little Italy and the Village. Hot like hell, but really awesome. Got some good pointers on homemade cheese, and I'll be making some pizza soon. Hope my new oven can get hotter than the current one I have!

More soon!

Off to get married!

2010-07-25T12:20:00.003-05:00

We're heading out to get married and hit NYC for our honeymoon, so I will be back in a few weeks, hopefully with some awesome food-related experiences to share here. We're certainly going to Degustation, and I'm hoping to hit Babbo as well, if we can get a table. A re-visit to Les Halles is on the menu too!

See you soon, loyal readers!

Busy days!

2010-07-08T23:21:00.000-05:00

Lots of things going on, including the fact that I'm getting married in a few, short weeks. As you may have noticed, I'm not posting as often as usual anymore, and I certainly won't post at all for a couple of weeks by the end of the month...but I'll be back, more active, very soon.

You'll see why ;)

40-Clove Garlic Chicken

2010-06-21T21:34:00.004-05:00

40-clove garlic chicken is exactly what it sounds like: chicken cooked with 40 cloves of garlic (give or take). While it may sound excessive, the final result tastes great. Providing everyone around you has the same meal, nobody will notice the garlic breath you inevitably will have after eating this! I ended up serving this with oven-roasted potatoes and asparagus. The traditional recipe includes a whole chicken, quartered or cut into 8 pieces, but I decided to go with boneless chicken breasts, as that was what I had available.

40-Clove Garlic Chicken

1 lb chicken (any kind you want, but I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
4 garlic bulbs
bunch of fresh thyme
olive oil
salt
pepper

Start by heating the oven to 350 degrees F. Next, separate all the garlic cloves from the bulbs and peel them. The fastest way to do this is simply to smash the clove by pressing the "side" (the flat part) of your knife on top of them, and the garlic should come right out. Just make sure you don't press too hard, as you're not looking to smash the garlic, just peel it. We're not making mashed garlic here! Cut off and discard any browned parts of the garlic cloves and set aside.

Cut the chicken into roughly 1-inch pieces. Place in a large, oven-proof pot (a dutch oven works really well for this) together with about two tablespoons of olive oil. Brown over medium heat without cooking the chicken completely through. Add the garlic cloves, about 5 twigs of thyme and salt and pepper to the pot. Cover and place in the oven for 1h30m.

If you wish to serve this with potatoes, it's a good time to start preparing them as soon as the chicken goes in the oven. Peel two or three large potatoes and cut into bite-sized pieces. Place the potatoes in a roasting pan and toss with some olive oil (about two tablespoons should do it), salt, pepper and paprika. Place the potatoes in the oven (together with the chicken) and roast for the remainder of the chicken's cooking time, which will probably be closer to 1h15m at this time. Make sure you stir the potatoes occasionally, and check them when they've been in the oven for about 45 minutes to make sure they're not going to be roasted to oblivion.

If you're making asparagus, I suggest tossing the vegetables with some olive oil, salt and pepper and roasting in a shallow pan for the last 20 minutes of the chicken's cooking time.

Once all the food is ready, remove the thyme twigs from the pot and serve with a glass of red wine, a cold beer or whatever else you have available.

And, again, make sure everyone you think you'll be close to for the next day or two eats the same thing, because you'll be eating a lot of garlic!

Regional Dinner Party 1: Spain

2010-05-30T22:25:00.005-05:00

I've been meaning to have people over for dinner now and then, cooking a multi-course dinner from a specific region or country, and we finally had our inaugural event the other day. The first country to appear on the menu was Spain, and this was my first time cooking Spanish food other than some random odds and ends. The full menu consisted of:

Spanish cheeses with Pan de Horno
Cauliflower with cherry tomatoes and Serrano ham
Paella de marisco (seafood paella)
Bizcochos Borrachos (drunken sponge cake)
Licor 43 con leche

The dinner was certainly a success. I just wish I had taken pictures of everything!

Pan de Horno

1 tbsp instant yeast
3 cups warm water
7 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil

Mix the yeast and water in a small bowl and let sit for ten minutes. Sift the flour and salt together into a large bowl. Using your fingers, mix in the oil with the flour mixture. Pour the yeast mixture into the flour mixture and stir with your fingers until the dough is firm and slightly sticky. Pour the dough onto a lightly-floured work surface and knead another two or three minutes.

Grease a bowl with olive oil and place the dough in it. Cover the bowl with a towel and leave until doubled in volume, about an hour. Once the hour is over, punch the dough down and move to a floured work surface. Knead a few seconds, then return the dough to the bowl and cover for another 15 minutes.

Cut the dough into two pieces, then form loaves. Place on a greased pan and cut slits on top of the bread. Turn the oven to 450 degrees F. Cover and let raise for 30 minutes, then bake in the oven for around 30 minutes or until the top is toasted and the loaves sound hollow when knocked on the bottom. Remove to a cooling rack and leave until completely cooled.

Cauliflower with Cherry Tomatoes and Serrano Ham

1 large head cauliflower
1/2 red onion
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1/4 lb thinly-sliced Serrano ham
1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup finely-chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Start by cutting the cauliflower into 1-inch florets. Boil salted water in a large pot, then add the cauliflower florets and cook for 5 minutes or until tender. Drain in a colander and set aside. Next, cut the ham into 1-inch pieces and cut the tomatoes in half.

While the cauliflower cooks, fry the onion with the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Once the onion has turned translucent (about three minutes), add the tomatoes and ham. Cook until just heated, about two minutes. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice and parsley. Combine with the cauliflower and serve warm or at room temperature.

Paella de marisco

1 lb chorizo
1 lb shrimp
15 clams
15 mussels
1/2 cup white wine
1 large yellow onion
5 cloves of garlic
2 cups medium grain white rice
4 cups chicken stock
4 cups water
2 red peppers
1 green pepper
1 tsp saffron threads
1/4 cup olive oil
salt
pepper

I, unfortunately, do not have a paella pan or a pan large enough to cook a paella, so I have to resort to the oven method, which works quite well.

Start by peeling the shrimp, reserving the shells. Put the shells and four cups of water in a large pot over medium heat. Simmer for about 20 minutes, or until reduced to 2 cups. Pour through a fine mesh, reserving the liquid and discarding the shells. Set the newly-created shrimp stock aside.

Boil water in a large pot and add the shrimp. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until just cooked through. Drain and set aside. Crumble the chorizo and cook over medium heat in a large skillet. Set aside.

Clean the mussels and clams, discarding any that do not close when tapped. Add the wine to a large pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add the mussels and clams, then cover. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until the shellfish are open, shaking the pot occassionally. Remove any mussels or clams that did not open completely, then set aside.

Turn the oven to 375 degrees F. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, then add the onion (chopped) and garlic (minced) and cook for about five minutes. Add the rice, shrimp stock, 3 cups of chicken stock, saffron, about 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper and cover. Simmer for about 15 minutes or until the rice is al dente and some liquid remains. Transfer to an oven-safe dish, add the shrimp, chorizo, mussels and clams and cover with tin foil. Bake for 30 minutes and serve immediately.

Bizcochos Borrachos

4 eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup granulated sugar
8 oz water
1.5 tbsp honey
1 1/2 oz rum
1 cinnamon stick
peel from 1/2 lemon

Turn the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch cake pan with vegetable shortening and flour it (add flour, shake until coated, turn upside-down to remove excess).

Separate the egg yolks from egg whites. Beat the yolks with the sugar in a medium bowl until creamy. Using a stand mixer (or electric mixer), beat the egg whites until forming soft peaks. Carefully fold the yolk mixture into the egg whites. Next, fold in the flour and baking powder. Pour the batter into the cake form and bake in the center of the oven for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely before serving.

To make the sauce, add the sugar and water to a large sauce pan and place over medium heat. Add the cinnamon stick, honey and lemon peel and let simmer for about 2 minutes, stirring occassionally. Remove from the heat, add the rum and let cool to room temperature.

Cut the cake into 9 pieces and serve each piece with a drizzle of the syrup.

Licor 43 con leche

Licor 43
milk

Licor 43 is a liqueur from Cartagena, Spain, made from citrus fruits, vanilla and a variety of other herbs and spices - 43 in total (hence the name). I served this with warm milk, as I've been told that's the way they do it in Spain. The liqueur itself also works well on its own or on the rocks.

Mussels with White Wine and Garlic

2010-05-16T22:05:00.006-05:00

I love mussels, and I realized I hadn't had any for ages - I think last time was actually when I still lived in Paris (other than in paellas and with various seafood pastas). It turns out Jacquie had only had one or two mussels in her life, but she was certainly willing to try them out. I had to go to a few different grocery stores to locate the main ingredient, but once I had the mussels ready, the recipe took less than 20 minutes to prepare (plus time for soaking and cleaning the mussels). Make sure you use a good white wine and don't skimp on the saffron!

Mussels with White Wine and Garlic

2 pounds mussels
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp olive oil
5 medium shallots
5 garlic cloves
4 oz whole peeled tomatoes
1 packet saffron threads
1/2 cups chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
1 cup white wine
salt
pepper

Start by soaking the mussels in a large bowl with fresh water. Mix in 1/3 cup all purpose flour or cornmeal to help with getting rid of the sand (this is especially true if you picked the mussels yourself - store bought ones are generally cleaner). After soaking, rinse and clean off any dirt and remove the "beard." The beard is the strings that may hang out from some mussels - grab it with your thumb and index finger and pull it toward the "hinge" part of the mussel to get rid of it. Make sure you discard any damaged mussels or any that aren't shut tight and won't close when you tap them. Set the mussels aside.

Chop the shallots, mince the garlic, chop the parsley and chop the (drained) tomatoes. Heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat in a large pot. Add the shallots and cook for about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another 3 minutes. Add the parsley, tomatoes, saffron, wine and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium again. Add the mussels and stir well. Cover and leave for 10 minutes. Shake the pot now and then to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom and burns, but don't remove the lid.

Discard any unopened mussels, transfer to a large bowl and serve immediately with fresh bread (baguette is pretty much unbeatable for this recipe). Just make sure you have enough bread to soak up all that wonderful broth...

Chicken Parmigiana

2010-05-02T22:55:00.003-05:00

Chicken Parmigiana (or Chicken Parmesan, as it's generally known) is one of those Italian-American staples that I had never heard of until I moved to the US. While it's not standard fare at our house, I did decide to make it recently and thought the results were good enough to post about!

Chicken Parmigiana

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/4 cup AP flour
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 oz Mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
pasta, or whatever you want to serve it with
olive oil
1 tbsp butter
salt
pepper

Start by trimming any fat off the edges of the chicken breasts. Combine the flour and a teaspoon each of salt and pepper on a plate. Coat the chicken on both sides and shake off any excess flour. Heat about two tablespoons of olive oil and the butter over medium high heat in a large skillet. Saute the chicken breasts for four minutes on one side, then flip and cook another four minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

When it comes to tomato sauce, everyone has his own favorite recipe. Let me rephrase that: everyone should have his own favorite recipe. Tomato sauce can make or break a recipe. Personally, I like some sweetness (I add a carrot) and prefer San Marzano tomatoes, pureed together with the water they come in (yes, canned tomatoes). Here's a promise: I'll post my tomato sauce recipe at some point in the not-too-distant future, but not right now. For this recipe, use whatever tomato sauce you can get your hands on.

Turn your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13x9 baking pan and then put about 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce in there. Arrange the chicken breasts on top of the sauce, slightly overlapping. Sprinkle with 3-4 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese. Spoon the remaining sauce over the chicken, then cover with the Mozzarella. Top the Mozzarella with 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake in the oven until heated through, about 30 minutes. Serve with pasta (or whatever your choice of side dish is).

Tilaipa with Couscous and Salad

2010-04-26T23:56:00.002-05:00

I made something extremely simple, very healthy and really good the other night: pan fried tilapia, a green salad and couscous cooked partly in white wine. The meal took no more than 15 minutes from start to finish, which makes it perfect for a mid-week dinner after work.

Pan Fried Tilapia with White Wine Couscous and Salad

4 tilapia fillets, skin off

1/2 cup AP flour

1/2 cup couscous

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 cup water

1/2 lemon

1/2 cucumber

2 tomatoes

lettuce

olive oil

salt

pepper

Start by mixing the flour and about a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper on a flat plate. Wash and dry the fish fillets, then dip them in the flour. Shake off the excess flour. In the meantime, heat about two tablespoons of olive oil in a large sautee pan over medium heat. Fry the fish, about 2 minutes per side or until they begin to brown.

Bring the water and wine to a boil in a small pot. Once boiling, add about half a teaspoon of salt and about two teaspoons of olive oil, then the couscous. Stir, cover with a lid and remove from the heat. Leave for five minutes, then stir with a fork.

Cut up the ingredients for the salad - I picked a simple one (lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes), but add whatever vegetables you feel like. Mix with your favorite dressing.

Plate the fish, top with a couple of wedges of the lemon. Add the couscous and salad. Serve with some fresh bread and a glass of white wine.

Your Favorite Meal

2010-04-08T06:47:00.003-05:00

I'm going to be away for a week, and I thought this would be a good opportunity for a twist on the Food Network program "The Best Thing I Ever Ate." Please comment on this post (or shoot me an email or Facebook message if you know me "in real life") and tell me about the best meal you ever had. Maybe I'll try to recreate it in the future...

See you in a week or so!

Pizza - again!

2010-04-06T22:17:00.005-05:00

I know this is the fourth post about pizza, but...just look at it! The last pizza recipe I posted was Alton Brown's, and while it's good, it's not as good as this. I wrote about Peter Reinhart's ciabatta recipe relatively recently, and this recipe is based on the same technique but has slightly different ingredients. Look at that crumb! It's absolutely divine.

Pizza

24 oz unbleached bread flour (roughly 5 1/3 cups)
1 tbsp coarse kosher salt
1 tsp instant yeast
1 1/2 tbsp honey
2 cups plus 2 tbsp water at room temperature
2 tbsp olive oil

Place all the ingredients in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on low speed for one minute (with the paddle attachment if using a stand mixer or with a wooden spoon if mixing by hand). Let stand for five minutes. Switch to the dough hook and mix another three minutes on medium-low speed (or mix by hand if not using stand mixer).

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled surface. Stretch and fold the dough once, as described in the ciabatta recipe linked above. Tuck the dough into a ball, then divide into four pieces. Form each piece into a ball, then place into a separate sandwich-sized freezer bag misted with spray oil. Refrigerate overnight (or up to four days) or freeze for up to several months. If you do freeze, remove to fridge the night before baking the pizza, then follow the rest of the recipe below.

About 90 minutes before you plan to bake the pizza, remove the dough from the fridge. Stretch each piece of dough and make it into a ball, then place on a lightly oiled surface, loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rest until ready to bake. An hour before baking, place a baking stone in the lower part of the oven and turn the oven to the highest temperature it will go (usually 500 or 550 degrees F).

When ready to bake, dust the work area and each piece of dough with flour. If using a pizza peel, dust it as well (if not, the back of a sheet pan will work fine as well). Place one piece of dough on the work area, then press on the top to form a disc. Lift it and gently pull on the edges, rotating as you go, until the middle is very thin and you have a thicker edge. Place on the pizza peel and rest for 10 minutes.

Top the pizza as desired (the above photo was tomato sauce, fresh oregano and mozzarella cheese), then slide onto the baking stone and bake for about 4 minutes. Open the oven and turn the pizza, then bake another 3-7 minutes, or until crust is fully baked and cheese is browned. Remove from the oven and let cool at least a couple of minutes before slicing and serving.

Buffy's Bacon Biscuits

2010-03-30T22:37:00.001-05:00

Our dog, Buffy, is a wonderful little dog! She's a rat terrier mix and definitely has a lot of dachshund in her, considering her length and that cute little face. Buffy, like most other dogs, loves treats. She also has a fairly sensitive stomach, so I figured making some relatively healthy dog treats from scratch might be a good idea. This recipe has bacon and bacon fat (the less healthy part), as well as whole wheat flour, which is filling and somewhat nutritious, at least.

Buffy's Bacon Biscuits

5 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup milk
1 lb bacon
1/2 cup cold water

Start by heating the oven to 350 degrees F. In a cast iron pan (or other frying pan if you don't have one), cook the bacon in batches over medium low heat. Make sure you do not empty the pan - save those drippings! Crumble the bacon into a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer if you have one. Add the flour and milk and mix well (use the paddle attachment if you're using the stand mixer). Switch to the dough hook and stir in the bacon drippings. While kneading, add as much cold water as needed to make a moist dough.

At this point, grease a cookie sheet. Roll the dough out until it's about 1/4 of an inch thick, in batches if necessary. Use cookie cutters or a knife to shape the biscuits. Place them about 1 inch apart on the cookie sheet and bake for 35-40 minutes in the middle of the oven.

Let cool completely, then store in an airtight container. Note that bacon fat goes rancid faster than other fats, so you may want to store these treats in the fridge.

So did she like them? I think so:

Fish and Chips

2010-03-25T23:24:00.009-05:00

I try to eat something healthy once in a while, and this is not it. Fish and chips is definitely one of my all-time favorite meals, and having a deep fryer (albeit a toaster-sized one) in the kitchen is great. Messing with a heavy-bottomed pot and thermometers and trying to keep the temperature constant on an electric range is not my idea of a good time. If you have a gas range, you may have more luck doing so, but this meal really calls for a proper deep fryer. I recommend using peanut oil to fry the food, but safflower will work fine as well. If you want to serve this the way it's done in fish and chips shops in Britain, you'll want to use a folded up newspaper. I prefer the plate because ink and food do not go too well together.

(I apologize for not posting this yesterday - I had it all written out and forgot to actually publish it!)

Fish and Chips

1 lb firm-fleshed white fish - cod is recommended
2 large baking potatoes
1.5 cups unbleached all purpose flour, divided
1 bottle (12 fluid ounces/355 ml) dark or amber beer, cold
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp paprika powder
peanut oil for frying
lemon wedges for serving
lettuce for service (optional)
tartar sauce (recipe below)

Begin by washing the potatoes and cutting them into uniform pieces. The thickness is up to you - I made mine about 1/2 inch thick and 3 inches long. Place in a bowl filled with cold water. Heat the oil to 325 degrees F. Pat the potatoes completely dry before frying to avoid splatter. Cook the potatoes in small batches for about 2 minutes, until pale and floppy. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels. Repeat with the other batches until all of the potatoes are done.

Turn the oven to 250 degrees F.

In a large bowl, stir together 1 cup of the flour, the baking powder, the salt, the pepper and the paprika. Add the beer and whisk until smooth. Refrigerate for at least ten minutes.

Increase the temperature of the oil to 375 degrees F. In small batches, fry the potatoes until cooked through and golden brown, about 3 minutes. Remove to a paper-lined plate, then transfer to a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven while finishing the rest of the food. Repeat until all the potatoes are cooked.

Remove the batter from the fridge. Cut the fish into chunks, roughly 2 by 5 inches. Put the remaining half cup of flour on a plate. Dip the fish strips in the flour, then in the batter. Fry until golden and cooked through, about 3 minutes. Make sure you do not overcrowd the oil. If you need to fry the fish in batches, transfer the cooked fish to the baking sheet in the oven, to keep warm.

Serve with lemon wedges, tartar sauce and some lettuce. If there are leftovers, you can reheat them in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes (but this dish is definitely best eaten fresh out of the fryer).

Tartar sauce

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp pickles
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp capers
1 tsp coarse-grained mustard
salt
black pepper

Start by cutting the pickles into small pieces. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the pickles are finely chopped and everything is mixed well. Keep in the fridge and use within a week.

I Started Early

2010-03-24T13:26:00.019-05:00

This is me, a "few" years ago. As you can tell, I enjoyed cooking (or at least wearing hats) and drinking (or at least holding wine glasses) from a young age! I usually tell people that I grew up under my dad's stove (not literally, though) when they ask about my interest in cooking. Well, call this proof, or something. My sister found this picture in an old photo album and uploaded it to Facebook, which is why I'm posting it here in the first place.

Poll is finished! I'll be trying to get some dishes that match the top cuisine styles (Italian, Japanese and a tie for American and Mexican in third) in the next few posts. The lemon & almond biscotti is Italian, so let's count that as the first post for the winner. New poll coming up later today, as well as a new recipe - I made fish and chips!

Lemon & Almond Biscotti

2010-03-18T22:57:00.010-05:00

Ignoring the fact that I'm posting about something sweet twice in a row (man, those muffins were good), I really love biscotti and made some tonight, so I thought I might as well update the blog as well. Biscotti, or "biscuits" in Italian (it apparently also means "twice baked"), is a wonderful hard cookie/biscuit/cracker that goes great with a cup of strong espresso or even a glass of wine. You bake a sort of loaf of the "bread" first, then divide it into smaller pieces and bake those for some additional time to create the actual cookies. This recipe includes nuts, lemon zest, and a white chocolate shell. Heavenly - and simple to make.

The current leader in the most recent poll is Italian food, so here you go!

Lemon & Almond Biscotti

2 cups unbleached AP flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
zest of 3 medium lemons
3/4 cup almonds, blanched or roasted
12 oz white chocolate chips

Turn the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Mix together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. In a different large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the sugar and eggs until very pale, about 2 minutes. Grate in the lemon zest and slowly add the flour mixture while beating. Stir in the almonds and let rest for at least 5 minutes.

Divide the dough in half and make two 3x9 inch "loaves" on the baking sheet. If too sticky, use wet hands. Make sure the dough has a little room to grow; don't place the loaves too close together. Bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes.

Once finished, remove from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes. Next, using a serrated knife, cut the loaves into roughly 1-inch-thick slices and return to the baking sheet, cut side up. Bake an additional 25 minutes, or until golden.

Let the biscotti cool completely. Create a double boiler by barely simmering water in a pot and placing a heatproof (metal or glass) bowl over the pot - just make sure the bowl does not touch the water. Add the chocolate chips and stir until completely melted. Remove from the heat, and dip one end of each biscotti in the chocolate. Place on a cooling rack until chocolate has hardened.

These cookies will last you at least a week in an airtight container.

Raspberry Muffins

2010-03-09T21:53:00.012-06:00

I really can't believe I haven't posted a decent muffin recipe yet! I love muffins, and maybe it's just that I eat them so quickly that there's no time to post pictures or recipes! Either way, here's one of my favorites: raspberry muffins. The muffins themselves are very simple to make but do require a special tool: the muffin pan. I have a cheap version bought at Target, and this is definitely a case where you don't need to spend hundreds of dollars (or Euros, or...I guess thousands of crowns or pesetas, or whatever you use) on a piece of kitchen equipment.

Raspberry Muffins

2 cups AP flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 freshly grated nutmeg
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
2/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries
Sugar for sprinkling

Turn your oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 12-slot muffin pan with either melted butter or vegetable oil. Cut the raspberries in half. Mix your flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs, then add the milk, sugar, oil and vanilla extract. Using quick and light strokes, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Make sure you do not overmix, just wet the flour mix through. It's perfectly all right that the batter is lumpy at this point.

Fold in the raspberries. Divide equally into the cups in the muffin pan. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean. If desired, remove the muffins from the oven after about 10 minutes and sprinkle with sugar, then let bake the remaining 8-10 minutes.

Let the muffins cool for a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack. They are best served within a few hours of cooking, but if not eating immediately, let cool completely and store in an airtight container for up to three days.

Poll 1: Results

2010-03-06T15:35:00.003-06:00

The first poll has closed, and the results are in!

More advanced food recipes	4 (20%)
More basic food recipes	7 (35%)
Instructional videos	8 (40%)
Kitchen gadget reviews	0 (0%)
General musings about food	1 (5%)
Something else (comment on a random blog post!)	0 (0%)

I guess nobody cares about kitchen gadgets and only one person is interested in general musings about food (although I do talk about food in general in pretty much all posts). The winner, by one vote, is videos. Thanks, guys, gee, now I have to pull out the video camera and make an ass of myself on the internet. Great!

Just kidding, I've been planning to make some videos for a while, and it's not a bad idea at all. Easier to show than to type out what you need to do in order to succeed, right?

Basic food recipes is the runner-up, so maybe I'll combine those two...we'll see. Expect the poll results to affect the blog in the coming weeks. And don't worry, people who wanted to see more advanced recipes, I'm not tied to the poll results like a boat to a dock (for lack of a better analogy), I'll be posting some more advanced stuff too for sure!

New poll posted. What's your favorite cuisine (out of those posted)?

Tiramisù

2010-03-04T22:05:00.010-06:00

Tiramisu is one of those classic desserts that you can find in pretty much any Italian restaurant. It's delicious, it's decadent, and it's definitely not for people who are trying to lose a lot of weight...but it's absolutely wonderful and even if it tastes like it's very hard to make, it's actually not that difficult. I made some recently, and even if we had a piece each pretty much every night, Jacquie asked me to make more as soon as we ran out. So, I made some more tonight. As a matter of fact, I'm having some right now. Jealous? Well, go make your own!

Tiramisù

30 ladyfinger cookies
5 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar, divided
1/3 cup sweet Marsala wine
1 tbsp water
12 oz mascarpone
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup espresso or strong black coffee, cooled
2 tbsp rum
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate

Turn the oven to 350 degrees F. Arrange all the ladyfingers on a cookie sheet. Once the oven is hot enough, bake the ladyfingers for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned. In the meantime, beat the egg yolks and 1/3 cup of sugar in a heatproof bowl with an electric mixer until very pale and creamy. Add the Marsala wine and water, then set the bowl in a skillet over about 1 inch of barely simmering water and beat constantly until roughly doubled in volume and the temperature reaches 160 degrees F.

Whip the (softened) mascarpone together with the cream and vanilla until soft peaks form. Let the egg/sugar mixture cool completely, then fold it in with the mascarpone mixture. Mix together the coffee, the rum and the other 1/3 cup of sugar. Dip half the ladyfingers, one by one, in the coffee mixture and place in a single layer in the bottom of a dish (large enough to hold two layers of ladyfingers plus the filling). Spread half the mascarpone mixture on top of the ladyfingers. Next, add the semi-sweet chocolate. You can either grate it finely or just put it in a blender or food processor and run it on high for about 5-7 seconds. Sprinkle about half the chocolate on top of the mascarpone mixture. Repeat with the second layer of ladyfingers, mascarpone mixture and chocolate.

Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour before consuming (it gets better after 2 hours, and I recommend eating within 4 hours for the best results). Will keep for at least three days in the fridge, covered, but if you manage to keep it for that long, you're a better man than I.

Overhaul...and let's try a poll

2010-02-27T12:21:00.000-06:00

Dear readers,

This blog may have a lot of interesting recipes and decent food photography - but the layout is pretty plain. I'm working with a friend to spice it up a little bit, so expect to see some major updates in the coming days/weeks.

I've also decided to start polling my loyal readers (and random visitors) on various things. First up: what would you like to see more of on the blog? The poll is on the right, and I'll listen to your answers. If you want to comment specifically, let me know in this post, or any random post!

Tuna Salad

2010-02-25T22:03:00.003-06:00

The title of this post should probably have been "Tuna Salad Salad" since that is technically what I made, but the second "salad" part was pretty much just lettuce and some cheese, so I'll stick with the part that actually requires a recipe to make.

There's a Swedish saying - nöden har ingen lag - which basically means "necessity has no law" or something like that. The necessity, in this case, was for food and there was nothing directly unlawful with what we did to stifle our hunger, but the saying came to mind anyway. We were hungry and didn't have the energy to go grocery shopping, so we checked what we had in our fridge and pantry, found some tuna and other delicious ingredients and made tuna salad!

Tuna Salad

1 6 oz tin tuna in water
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 stalks celery
1/2 small yellow onion
15 red grapes
1 clove garlic
1/2 apple (whatever kind you like)
1 tsp lemon juice

Start by draining the tuna thoroughly. I emptied the tin in a strainer/sifter and applied a little pressure with a fork to get rid of the water. Put the tuna in a medium bowl and set aside. Finely chop the celery and onion. Finely mince the garlic. Halve the grapes and cut the apple into small pieces. Add everything but the lemon juice to the tuna and stir thoroughly to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and place the salad in the fridge for at least 20 minutes, to chill. Remove from the fridge and stir in the lemon juice.

Serve on fresh bread (preferably whole wheat) or on top of your favorite kind of lettuce. If you do the salad option, sprinkling some form of shredded cheese works great (I recommend Monterrey jack or mozzarella).

Cinnamon Rolls

2010-02-23T23:41:00.001-06:00

There's a pretty major difference between the cinnamon rolls I remember from my childhood in Sweden and what I'm used to seeing in bakeries or, for that matter, in U.S. homes. Not that I've been offered cinnamon rolls in any U.S. homes lately, but I've just never seen the smaller Swedish version anywhere else. We call them kanelbulle, which means "cinnamon bun," more or less.

These cinnamon rolls are, as the picture may have already told you, more in the style of what you'd find in a bakery (or a U.S. home, I guess). Either way, they are delicious and I recommend you go make them right now!

Cinnamon Rolls

28 oz (roughly 6 cups) unbleached all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup + 6 tbsp sugar
5 tsp active dry yeast
2 cups + 2 tbsp whole milk
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar

Start by heating the milk until it is about 100 degrees F. Combine the flour, salt and 6 tbsp sugar in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the yeast and the milk until the yeast is completely dissolved. Pour the mixture over the dry ingredients together with the 1/2 cup of melter butter, then stir - use the paddle attachment if using a stand mixer, or a large spoon if you don't have the mixer (and if you don't, get one - seriously, best piece of kitchen equipment I've ever owned). Mix for about a minute, until the dough forms a ball.

If using the stand mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix for another five minutes, on medium speed (if you have no mixer, now is the time to switch to using your hands and kneading for five minutes instead). Add milk or flour to create a soft, tacky dough - not sticky.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, remove the dough from the fridge about 3 hours before it's time to bake. Once the three hours have passed, divide the dough in two equal pieces and let rest, loosely covered by plastic wrap, for 20 minutes.

Next, place one piece of dough on a floured work surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 12-by-15 inch rectangle (30x40cm, roughly). Melt the remaining butter (2 tbsp), and brush it evenly over the dough - you may end up using more than 2 tablespoons for the two pieces of dough. That's fine, just don't put so much butter on the dough that you create pools of the stuff! Whisk together the cinnamon and the remaining sugar (1/2 cup), then evenly sprinkle the mixture over the dough, making sure to leave about 1/2 inch (about 1.5 cm) around the border.

Next, roll the dough lengthwise like a rug, as tightly as possible. Once you have a "log" or "rug" ready, cut 1-inch pieces and place them on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Make sure you leave about an inch of space between each roll, as they will expand greatly while rising and baking. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel, then leave to rise for two hours. Repeat with the other piece of dough.

When you're almost ready to bake, turn the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake the rolls in the center of the oven for 10 minutes, then turn the pan 180 degrees and bake another 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown and delicious.

In the meantime, make some topping!

Sift 4 cups of powdered sugar into a bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1/2 cup of milk, then whisk until smooth. You may need to add a little more sugar if the glaze is too "watery" (milky?) - it should have the same consistency as pancake batter.

Once the buns are ready, let them cool for about five minutes, then drizzle as much glaze as you want over them. Let cool a little longer before eating, if you can manage. Once the buns are cool, make sure you place them in an airtight container as soon as possible to prevent them from drying out.

Oh, and enjoy them with a glass of milk. It's the only way! (I generally drink coffee with the buns, but that's because coffee is awesome and fantastic and the best.)

Bread and Blogs and Booty (in the pirate sense)

2010-02-22T02:02:00.009-06:00

I just put two batches of dough in the fridge to rise overnight: one to make ciabatta, the other to make cinnamon rolls. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, I'll tell you that much. Cinnamon roll recipe to follow, of course.

A cool thing happened today: A good friend of mine was reading an old high school friend's "tweet" (he hates that word) about a food blog she enjoys reading. It just so happens that the blog she was referring to is this one, and it's purely coincidental. She originally came upon it searching for a tzatziki recipe. Pretty cool!

This does make me curious, though! I know I have a pretty steady stream of new readers every day/week/month, yet the comments sections of these posts are pretty empty. Maybe I should just offer a prize - a randomly chosen reader who comments during the month of March gets a...batch of cookies? A cool kitchen gadget? A couple of original recipes before everyone else? We'll see, suggestions are welcome. You may post them in the comments section below (and you won't be winning a prize for it, because it ain't March yet)!

Vegetable Soup

2010-02-18T23:18:00.002-06:00

I wasn't feeling all too well tonight (sore throat), so I decided that soup was the way to go. This one is simple, quick (apart from preparing the vegetables themselves, takes a little while), and much more filling than I thought. I have about two quarts left of it after dinner last night, some of it in the fridge and some in the freezer.

I served this with some grilled cheese sandwiches, but it'd go great with just some freshly baked bread and maybe a little sharp cheddar cheese. Or, if you want it to be even healthier, serve it with nothing but a spoon!

Vegetable Soup

3 medium leeks
2 cloves garlic
2 medium potatoes
3 medium carrots
2 cups green beans
8 tomatoes
1 can corn (or 2 ears fresh corn)
2 tsp lemon juice
2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock (preferably homemade)
salt
black pepper

Start by preparing all the ingredients: slice the leeks (white part only), mince the garlic, peel and cube the potatoes (1/2 inch cubes), peel and slice the carrots (make "coins" of carrot), cut the green beans into 1 inch pieces.

Peel the tomatoes and remove the seeds: boil enough water to cover a tomato, make a small incision (an X) at the very bottom, then place in the hot water for 30 seconds. Transfer to an ice bath and peel off the skin (it should come right off at this point). Cut open, remove the seeds, then chop the tomatoes. If using fresh corn, I prefer it roasted. Set the oven to 350 degrees, place the cobs on a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes - you should obviously do this well in advance and not after you start making the actual soup.

Once you're ready, put about 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed stock pot over medium-low heat. Add the leek, garlic and a pinch of salt, and cook until soft, about 6 minutes. Add the carrots, potatoes and beans and cook another 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the stock and turn the heat to high. Once the liquid starts to simmer, add the tomatoes, corn and about a half teaspoon of black pepper. Stir the soup, then turn the heat to low and cover. Let cook for about 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are entirely cooked through and tender. Add the lemon juice and salt to taste, then serve immediately.

Orange Chicken

2010-01-23T00:37:00.001-06:00

"I want to make some form of Chinese food," I thought to myself the other day, "and I have chicken in the freezer! I'll just make something with that."

Chicken with any form of sweet sauce is one of my favorite poultry applications, and this orange chicken recipe was delightful. I served it on a bed of white rice, with a side of broccoli.

Orange Chicken

2 chicken breasts (skin off, bones out)
1 cup AP flour
olive oil
1.5 cups + 2 tbsp water, divided
3 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup rice vinegar (or white vinegar)
3 tbsp soy sauce
the grated zest of an orange (roughly 1 tbsp)
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 tsp minced ginger (not dried ginger, use fresh!)
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp chopped scallion + more for garnishing
3 tbsp corn starch
olive oil
salt
black pepper

Start by making the marinade and sauce base. Combine 1.5 cups water, the fruit juices, vinegar and soy in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, then add the sugar, orange zest, garlic, ginger, and scallion. Let boil for a minute, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Cut the chicken up into bite-sized pieces and place in a ziplock bag. Pour one cup of the sauce into the bag, seal and refrigerate for two to four hours. Keep the rest of the sauce - I put it in a Tupperware container and refrigerated.

When the chicken is done marinating, remove from the fridge. Mix the flour with a teaspoon each of the salt and pepper in a bowl. Add the chicken pieces to the bowl and stir to coat. Heat the olive oil in a large pan and cook the chicken until brown on all sides. Remove from the heat and place on a plate lined with paper towels. Cover with foil to keep warm.

Place the sauce back into the saucepan. Stir two tablespoons of water with the corn starch until no lumps remain. Add to the sauce and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Lower the heat to low, add the chicken pieces and simmer for five minutes.

Like I said before, I served this over rice with oven roasted broccoli, but you can do egg noodles, just various vegetables or anything else you think would go well with orange chicken!

A Year of Blogging

2010-01-16T00:33:00.002-06:00

So here we are, one year and exactly 56 posts later (including this one). I've learned a few lessons about blogging, one being the concept of feast or famine. I posted 19 times in January of '09, and a total of 10 times between May and November. This year, I will do my best to post a little more evenly - the goal is about two posts per week (so roughly twice the rate of last year).

There will be a break in late July/early August because my parents are coming to visit for a week, and then I'm getting married!

I have a multitude of recipes and things I want to try and write about, and I can't wait to get started. Tonight, I'll be attempting some middle eastern food with some Greek food thrown in for good measure - kofta (or kafta, or kufta, depending on who you ask) baked in the oven with potatoes and tomatoes, tzatziki, pita bread (that I baked last night), hummus, and feta cheese. Looking forward to it. And tomorrow is probably going to involve both bread baking and potentially baking something sweet. We'll see, I'll be attempting some new recipes so I can post them here instead of just doing what I've done in the past. Hmm, maybe I should revisit the focaccia - I've made it twice (once very successfully, once very unsuccessfully). I am definitely on a baking spree right now, and I don't see that stopping anytime soon, especially since it's had pretty decent results as of late!

Another anniversary, by the way: I'm celebrating 5 years at work next week. Not shabby - especially since I've been promoted a few times and got to move to a new country as well!

And now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Ciabatta

2010-01-14T22:22:00.001-06:00

Look at that picture. That's what I've been trying to achieve since I started baking bread for real, and it's all thanks to Pete Reinhart (and my parents, who got me his book). Yay! A condensed version of the recipe follows:

Ciabatta

22 oz unbleached bread flour (about 4.5 cups)
1 3/4 tsp salt or 2 1/2 tsp coarse kosher salt
1 1/4 tsp instant yeast
2 cups chilled water
1 tbsp olive oil

Combine all ingredients apart from the oil in a stand mixer bowl and run the paddle attachment for 1 minute (alternatively, in a bowl with a large spoon for one minute). Let rest 5 minutes. Add the oil, mix on medium low speed (or by hand - wet your hands first) for 1 minute. Thinly coat a bowl with oil. With wet bowl scraper or wet hands, transfer dough to the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, rest 10 minutes.

Now stretch and fold four times: oil the work surface. Using wet hands, transfer dough to work surface. Reach under the front end of the dough and stretch it out, then fold it back onto the top of the dough. Repeat with the back, then the sides. The dough should be much firmer now. Flip over and tuck into a ball, then put back in bowl and cover.

After the fourth stretch and fold, cover the bowl tightly and place in the fridge overnight or up to 4 days.

3 hours before you're going to bake, take the bowl out into room temperature. Leave for an hour. Place parchment paper on the back of a sheet pan and dust with flour. Dust the work surface with flour. Once the dough has been out an hour, transfer it to the work surface, being careful not to deflate it too much. Dust the top of the dough with flour, then, with floured hands, coax and pat the dough into a rough square. Cut the dough in half. Gently fold each part into thirds (like folding a letter but without applying pressure). Rest, seam side down, on the parchment paper while doing the second part. Spray oil on the top, then cover loosely with plastic wrap or a clean towel for one hour.

After an hour, with floured hands, lift and cradle each piece and, working form the underside, gently coax it to a length of 7 inches. Lay the pieces back on the parchment paper, seam side up. Spray oil, cover and leave another hour.

When there's 45 minutes left until baking, turn the oven to 550 degrees F (or as high as it will go), with your baking stone and a steam pan in there (steam pan at the bottom, baking stone in the middle). If you don't have a baking stone, you can use the actual sheet pan the dough is on right now. The steam pan could be, for example, a cast iron pan (although you wouldn't want to mess with one that is properly seasoned already).

Once the 45 minutes are up, lower the temperature to 450, put the dough (parchment paper and all) on the baking stone (both loaves) and pour 1 cup of hot water into the sheet pan.

Bake for 12 minutes, then turn and bake another 15-20 minutes, until rich brown crust and bread sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. The crust will be hard, but soften when cooling. Let cool on wire rack for at least 45 minutes before slicing. Try not to eat the whole thing in one sitting (difficult).

Swedish Christmas Dinner

2010-01-10T20:26:00.012-06:00

Finally! Internet is back, and so am I. Here's what I served a group of friends for Christmas dinner. I will explain what is in the picture and post the recipes below for anything that I actually made.

Starting at the "9 o'clock" position, we have:

Aged 2-year old English sharp cheddar cheese
Smoked salmon
Marinated herring - Abba's is the most famous Swedish maker. Available at IKEA.
Swedish limpa bread (recipe below)
Swedish meatballs (recipe has been posted previously)
Stewed kale (recipe below)
Prinskorv ("prince sausage") - found this at IKEA!
Jansson's Frestelse ("Jansson's Temptation") (recipe below)
Hard boiled egg - recipe below. Just kidding.

The dinner was served with a variety of beverages: red and white wines, glögg, and one of the more important parts of a true Swedish Christmas dinner: akvavit! Before drinking the shot, one has to sing a song in Swedish. Since I know most of my readers are not fluent in the language, here are the lyrics "in English" (basically, someone put English words to the song, to sound like it's in Swedish).

In addition, we made some Christmas-inspired cocktails, one of which is pictured above.

And now, the recipes.

Peppermint "Martini"

3 oz vodka
2 oz white creme de menthe
2 oz white creme de cacao
small candy cane

I hate calling anything that contains anything other than gin and vermouth a "martini," but I guess I have to get with the times. Place all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake, pour into a cocktail glass, garnish with a candy cane, enjoy.

Swedish Limpa bread

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup molasses
1 tbsp shortening or butter
1 tbsp salt
2 tsp caraway seeds
1/2 tsp anise seed
1 1/2 cups hot water
4 1/2 cups AP flour
2 cups rye flour

Place 1/4 cup warm water and yeast in a bowl. Stir to combine and leave for 5 to 10 minutes, until frothy. In the meantime, combine brown sugar, molasses, shortening/butter, salt, caraway seed and anise seed in a large bowl. Pour the hot water over the ingredients in the bowl, stir and set aside until lukewarm (about 5 minutes).

Add a cup of flour to the sugar mixture and beat until smooth. Add the yeast mixture and mix well. Add the rye flour and up to 3 1/2 cups AP flour (which is what remains), but not more than required to make a soft, slightly tacky (but not sticky) dough. You can do this by hand or in a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and let rest for 10 minutes. Knead until soft and tacky, then form into a ball and place in a large, oiled bowl. Turn to coat. Cover with waxed paper and a towel and let stand in a warm place until doubled (about 2 hours).

Punch the dough down, then pull the edges into the center and turn dough completely over in the bowl. Cover and let rise again until nearly doubled. Punch down again, then turn out onto a floured work surface.

Grease a baking sheet. Divide the dough into two portions and shape into balls. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Place on the baking sheet, then cover and let rise until nearly doubled. Turn the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly brown. Cool on wire rack before carving.

Stewed Kale

1 bunch kale
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
salt
black pepper

Fill a large pot about halfway with water and add about 1 tbsp salt. Bring to a boil. Clean the kale and remove the leaves from the stems. Discard the stems. Blanche the kale in the water for about 1 minute. Drain and let cool. Once cool enough to handle, slice into smaller pieces.

In a medium pot, melt the butter. Add the kale and cook for about a minute. Add the cream, about a teaspoon of salt and some black pepper. Cook over medium heat for about three minutes, stirring regularly. Serve immediately.

Jansson's Frestelse

3-4 large potatoes
1 medium onion
200 g anchovies
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
3 tbsp bread crumbs
2 tbsp butter

Turn the oven to 425 degrees F. Peel the potatoes and onion and cut into thin strips. Grease a 9" dish. Place a layer of potatoes in the pan, then a layer of onion, then finally anchovies. End with a layer of potatoes. Once finished, pour the liquid from the anchovies containers and the cream into the dish. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top and bake in the oven for one hour, or until the potatoes are soft.

Hard Boiled Eggs

I said I was just kidding. All right, fine: put eggs in pot. Cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, remove from heat and cover. Leave covered for 15 minutes. Rinse in cold water, peel, eat, enjoy, yada yada yada.

No Internet = No Posts

2010-01-05T10:38:00.004-06:00

Faithful readers,

I've been without the Internet (and TV) for pretty much exactly 3 weeks now. That's 504 hours. Gah!

I can't very well sit at work and update my blog, so I just wanted to briefly write and say why I haven't been updating recently. I still have a big post about the Swedish Christmas dinner I did on the 20th, and it's already January.

Oh well. Happy New Year, everyone!

Glögg (Swedish Mulled Wine)

2009-12-11T23:28:00.010-06:00

Glögg! What Swedish Christmas would be complete without it? No Swedish Christmas, I say! A lot of countries have their version of mulled wine, specifically ones that get really cold in winter (like the Scandinavian countries and central European ones). In Sweden, you can generally buy glögg with a very low alcohol percentage or that is based on grape juice in any grocery store a few months prior to Christmas. The real stuff, made with red wine and vodka, can be bought ready made at Systembolaget, and the makers generally come up with a variety of flavors for every season. Making your own is easier and cheaper either way, and the added benefit is that you can get the ingredients anywhere and don't have to settle for the alcohol-free version they sell at IKEA.

Glögg is served in a small cup (glass or ceramic) with raisins and slivered almonds. You place the fruit and nuts in the cup and eat them with a teaspoon as you drink the wine. Obviously, you should serve the glögg with pepparkakor, Swedish gingerbread cookies.

Oh, and about the picture above - I made a bunch to give away for Christmas and didn't have any non-bottled glögg to take a picture of. It's supposed to look like red wine. If it looks like anything else, you're doing it wrong.

Glögg

1 bottle dry red wine
1 cup vodka
1/2 cup sugar
2 whole cinnamon sticks
1/2 tbsp cardamom (whole)
1/2 tbsp cloves (whole)
The peel of 1 bitter orange (if you can't find these, a normal orange will suffice)
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Start by grinding the whole spices coarsley. Pour the vodka into a bowl, add the spices, the cinnamon sticks (break them up first) and the peel of the bitter orange. Cover with a lid, plastic wrap, or tin foil and let stand for 24 hours.

Once the 24 hours are up, remove the orange peel and cinnamon sticks, then filter the vodka into a large pot through a coffee filter or similar (a cheese cloth would probably work well). Add the wine and sugar. Turn to very low heat. The slower you heat this, the more alcohol it will retain, and the end result will be much better. Don't boil it. Once brought to a simmer, stir until all the sugar is melted.

Serve in small cups with raisins and slivered almonds.

You can easily double, triple or quadruple this batch and store in dark bottles for about a month. Just make sure you seal them properly and heat gently when it's time to have a cup.

If you do wish to make a virgin version of this, use alcohol-free wine and steep the spices in regular filtered water overnight instead of vodka (use 1/2 cup of water for each bottle of wine).

I've also found that heating the glögg in a slow cooker/crock pot is ideal if you have a lot of people over. Turn to "high" until heated, then keep at "low" and serve straight out of the crock pot - just make sure you turn it off once it's empty! A cracked crock pot is a sad crock pot.

Peppermint Bark

2009-12-09T00:08:00.010-06:00

All right, time for a break from the Swedish candy. Let's make some American candy! Peppermint bark is pretty awesome, and making it yourself is easy and way cheaper than buying the pre-made stuff sold by various companies.

Peppermint Bark

1 lb white chocolate chips
7 oz candy canes

That's it, ingredients-wise. You can add peppermint extract if you want a stronger peppermint flavor, but there's really no need to.

First, crush the candy canes. You can put them all in a strong plastic bag, fold the bag so no cane will escape alive, then pound the bag with a hammer or meat tenderizer (flat side, there's no need to tear huge holes in the bag) or you can use a food processor like I did. I crushed the canes a little too finely, but it turned out (very) well anyway.

Next, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. You're most likely not going to go all the way to the edge, so there's no real reason to cover all the sides of the sheet.

Next, start up a double boiler: pour an inch of cold water into a medium pot. Place a metal bowl that fits over the pot (make sure the water does not touch the bowl). Bring the water to barely a simmer - I put it on 3 on a scale of 1-10 and it got a little too hot after a while, so I had to lower it to a 2. Place the chocolate chips in the bowl and stir with a spoon or spatula until completely melted.

Take the bowl off the heat, then add the crushed candy canes. Stir to combine, then pour the mixture onto the center of the parchment paper, using a plastic spatula. Spread until about 1/3 inch thick. Leave to cool for about 15 minutes, then put in the fridge until completely firm (about 1 hour). Break up using your best tool (that would be your hands), then store in a glass, metal or plastic container for up to two months (if this lasts two months, your self control should be in the Guinness Book of World Records).

Gräddkola (Swedish Toffee)

2009-12-07T23:18:00.010-06:00

I'm on a Swedish Christmas foods kick recently, and one of the things I distinctly remember eating way too much of as a kid is what we call gräddkola, or cream toffee. This recipe was handed down from generation to...eh, not really, but it's from my mom's recipe book and it came out really well.

I can think of healthier things to eat, but it's pretty spectacular as far as candy goes.

Gräddkola

1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup half-and-half
2 1/3 cups sugar
1 cup golden syrup (or a mix of 1/3 cup molasses and 2/3 cup light corn syrup)
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
chopped almonds (optional)

Mix all ingredients apart from the vanilla extract in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Turn to low heat (I used 2 on a scale of 1-10) and stir occasionally, about every 10-15 minutes. Stir with either a heavy wooden spoon or a plastic spoon - note that the residue on the spoon will be very sticky after a couple of hours. That's right, you'll be letting this simmer over low temperature for about 4 hours. Add the vanilla after 3 hours and 45 minutes.

Once 4 hours have passed, pour cold water into a drinking glass. Place about a teaspoon of the toffee in the water, then pull the toffee out and try to shape it into a ball. If you are unable to, the toffee needs to cook longer. The softer the ball is, the softer the toffee will be (which means it will be harder to handle). The longer you cook, the harder the candy, so if you do go past the 4 hours, make sure you check it every 15 minutes or so. Mine was done after almost exactly 4 hours and came out a little on the soft side.

Butter a 9x13 inch glass baking pan. Once the toffee is ready, pour it into the pan and leave until completely cooled. Next cut the toffee into bite-sized pieces, using a knife or scissors (I used scissors and it worked perfectly). Wrap the toffee in wax paper. Try not to eat all of them before you've let at least someone else try one!

The toffee will last for about a month if kept in a cool and dark place (but not in the fridge).

Hot Chocolate with a Kick

2009-12-06T16:15:00.006-06:00

It's cold out there, and what better remedy is there than hot chocolate? I decided to make some the other night, with a slight kick added: whiskey cream liqueur (or Bailey's, as most people would call it, no matter the brand).

Hot Chocolate with a Kick

1 serving of hot chocolate (I use Swiss Miss milk chocolate)
3 tbsp heavy whipping cream
2 oz Bailey's cream liqueur (or similar)
cocoa for sprinkling

Mix the hot chocolate according to the instructions on the package. Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Pour the hot chocolate into a cup, add the Bailey's and stir. Top with the whipped cream and sprinkle cocoa on top.

Super simple, extremely healthy (not!), and so very, very good.

Gingerbread Cookies

2009-12-01T00:42:00.009-06:00

It's finally getting close to Christmas, and I decided to celebrate this fact by baking gingerbread cookies - Swedish style. The ones you can find in the U.S. seem to be a bit darker and heavier than what I'm used to, the main reason being that a lot of color comes from molasses. This traditional recipe uses golden syrup instead, but if you are unable to find this, mix 1/3 molasses and 2/3 light corn syrup for the same effect (I did find some, in the third store I checked).

I remember being (much) younger, helping my mom bake these cookies. As a child, you end up eating about as much of it as you finally end up baking, but I managed to exercise some restraint and had just a small taste of the dough while I was making it to make sure the spices came out the way they're supposed to. The dough won't take long to make, but plan on spending at least a couple of hours shaping the cookies with various cookie cutters if you end up making the full batch at once (I decided to make half the batch today and the rest in a few days; it will last in the fridge for about a week). The cookies themselves will last over a month if kept in a cookie jar or tin and up to six months if you freeze them. Depending on thickness, this recipe will make over 200 cookies.

Those are my fiancée's hands in the picture, not mine. Just saying.

Swedish Gingerbread Cookies

10.5 oz/300g/2.65 sticks unsalted butter
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup golden syrup
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp ground cloves
2 tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground cardamom
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 cups water
6 1/3 cups all purpose flour

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl, using an electric mixer), combine the butter (at room temperature), sugar and golden syrup. Mix well, until completely blended into a smooth batter.

Add spices and baking powder and mix well. Add the water and mix well. Next, add the flour, one cup at the time, and make sure the flour is completely incorporated before you add the next cup. However, if you're not using a stand mixer, add all the flour at once and turn onto a baking board and knead by hand.

Once the dough comes together, divide into two halves and wrap each with tin foil. Refrigerate at least overnight or up to a week.

Once it's time to bake, turn the oven to 400 degrees F. Arrange parchment paper (not wax paper!) on a baking sheet or lightly coat the sheet with vegetable oil (I strongly prefer the parchment paper). If you have multiple baking sheets, I suggest using all of them, one at a time. Next, cut off a chunk of dough - I cut mine into about a tenth of the total amount of the dough in one of the two foil packages, but it's down to how big of a work area you have to work with. I wouldn't recommend working with huge pieces of dough, though. Next, sprinkle some flour on the work area/baking board, add the dough and sprinkle some flour on top of it. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough thinly, to about 1/4 inch thickness (about half a centimeter).

Now comes the fun part: punch out shapes with cookie cutters. I used Christmas trees, Father Christmas heads, stars, hearts, etc. Once you're unable to fit any more cookies, remove whatever dough is left outside the shaped cookies. Next, using a thin metal spatula, transfer the cookies to the cookie sheet. These cookies will barely grow, so you can place them relatively close to each other.

Bake for 6-7 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Transfer to a cooling rack and bake the next batch. I prepared the second batch while the first was in the oven and basically didn't have an empty oven for an hour or so. Once the cookies are cooled, transfer to a storing vessel and store at room temperature.

If you wish, you can add colored sugar crystals to the cookies before you put them in the oven. You can also add a glaze and draw patterns on the cookies. Simply mix 1 tablespoon hot water, 1 egg white and 2 - 2.5 cups sifted confectioner's sugar. Place the glaze in a plastic bag, cut a very small hole in a corner and you're good to go. Just make sure you let the glaze dry before storing the cookies.

Serve the cookies with a hot beverage. While some may enjoy them with coffee, tea or hot chocolate, nothing beats Glögg, traditional Swedish mulled wine. I will be posting my recipe for Glögg in the coming days. Stay tuned.

Shrimp Gumbo

2009-11-09T01:24:00.005-06:00

I've been meaning to try to make some gumbo for a while now, and when a buddy requested it on Facebook, I decided it was time. For those not in the know, gumbo is traditional Louisiana fare, based on a roux, stock, some form of meat and/or seafood and thickened using either okra or filé powder. I was unable to find okra, so I went with the filé powder for the recipe below.

If you are unable to find okra and/or filé powder, it is possible to just use the roux as the thickener. Traditionally, you'll slave over the stove for an hour, stirring the roux, but the recipe below uses Alton Brown's genius technique of letting the roux bake in the oven instead. Saves a lot of work!

Shrimp Gumbo

4 oz all purpose flour (1/2 cup by volume)
4 oz vegetable oil (1/2 cup by volume)
1.5 lb shrimp, unpeeled, head-on
0.5 lb andouille sausage
1 green bell pepper
3 stalks celery
1 large yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
2 tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp filé powder
salt
pepper
cayenne pepper
rice

Set the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large dutch oven (I actually used a stainless steel stock pot and it worked fine, nothing burned), stir together the oil and flour. Place in the oven for 1.5 hours, whisking every 30 minutes. Next, peel and devein the shrimp, and place the shrimp in a bowl in the fridge. Place the heads and shells in a large pot along with 2 quarts (roughly 2 liters) of water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower to a simmer and reduce to half, which will take about an hour. I was unable to find head-on shrimp, so instead I replaced two cups of water with two cups of store-bought seafood stock. If you can't find either head-on shrimp or seafood stock, two cups of chicken stock together with the shells will do in a bind. Once reduced, strain with a fine mesh strainer and discard the shells and heads.

At this point, slice the andouille sausage into 1/2 inch slices and brown in a frying pan over medium heat. Move to a plate lined with paper towels. Note: if you are unable to find andouille sausage, the closest would be hot Italian sausage. If you can't find that, any form of pork sausage will do, and if it's not spicy at all, you can add a clove or two of garlic and a teaspoon of cayenne pepper later. Dice the onion, pepper and celery. Mince the garlic. Remove the skin from the tomatoes (cut a small, shallow cross at the bottom, boil in water for 15 seconds, move to an ice bath - skin should come right off), remove the seeds and cut up the flesh. Once the roux is ready, remove from the oven (you can turn the oven off at this point) and place over medium high heat. Add the pepper, onion, celery and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until onion is fragrant and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato, bay leaves, about a teaspoon of salt and pepper, and about half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper (to taste - you like heat, add more cayenne pepper, but remember that the andouille sausage is spicy as well). Add the stock, about a third at the time, while stirring frequently. Stir, cover and let cook for about 30 minutes.

When the 30 minutes are almost up, start making the rice according to the instructions on the package - I find that 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water works well. Turn off the heat on the gumbo, add the shrimp and sausage and stir. Next, add the filé powder and stir. Cover, and leave for ten minutes. Remove the bay leaves, then serve over the rice and enjoy with a glass of red wine, white wine, beer or whatever else tickles your fancy.

Baked Chicken and Macaroni

2009-11-03T22:51:00.006-06:00

It's getting "cold" out there (it's mid-70's in Austin these days, but I hear it's snowing in Sweden so it's getting cold out there somewhere...) - time to make some hearty meals. We had slow cooker chili last night, and tonight I decided to make a chicken and macaroni bake. Simple, filling, and really good. We washed it down with a bottle of 2004 Jacob's Creek Reserve Merlot that my good friend Craig gave me for my 30th birthday. I still can't believe I'm 30. Oh well.

Baked Chicken and Macaroni

1.5 cups elbow macaroni
1 large or 2 medium chicken breast fillets
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1.5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup "Italian" flat-leaf parsley
1 can crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup white bread crumbs
1 tbsp butter
salt
pepper
olive oil

Turn the oven to 400 degrees F. Boil the macaroni until al dente (generally, if the package says 8-10 minutes, 8 means al dente, 10 means way overcooked). Cut the chicken breast(s) into half-inch pieces. Put a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to a saute pan and add the chicken. Cook for a few minutes, then add the onion and garlic. Cook until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Drain the macaroni and place in a large bowl. Add the chicken, onions and garlic. Coarsely chop the parsely and add, together with the tomatoes. Sprinkle about a half teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper into the mixture, then stir thoroughly.

Place the mixture in a baking dish (I used my trusty 9x9x2 inch Le Creuset baking dish). Mix the parmesan and bread crumbs, then sprinkle over the macaroni mixture. Dot small pieces of the butter on the dish, then bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.

I served it with oven roasted vegetables (tossed with some olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper, in the oven at 400 degrees F for about 15 minutes) and it was great.

Apple & Raspberry Crumble

2009-10-12T20:07:00.001-05:00

There's a saying where I come from: a good crumble is better than two...in...th...uh...actually, I don't know of any sayings that involve crumbles, but they're really awesome so I decided to make one and post the recipe here. You can obviously try various fruit combinations, but this one is pretty fantastic.

Apple & Raspberry Crumble

1 stick + 1 tbsp unsalted, chilled butter (9 tbsp)
1.25 cups all purpose flour
0.75 cups granulated sugar, divided
2 medium apples (I like Gala, but pretty much any apple will be fine)
12 oz raspberries (about 1.5 cups)
ground cinnamon
salt

Turn your oven to 425 degrees F. Next, peel and core the apples. Cut them into small chunks, about half an inch. Wash the raspberries. Place the fruit in a 9 inch tart pan (preferably made of glass, but metal will work as well). Sprinkle about 1/4 cup sugar over the fruit.

In a bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, a small pinch of salt and about half a teaspoon of cinnamon. Next, cut the butter into the flour in chunks. Now, it's time to get dirty: mix the flour mixture with the butter with your fingertips. You're looking to divide the butter enough that there are no large chunks left, but you're not looking to form a uniform dough, like you would when making a pie or quiche.

Sprinkle the mixture over the fruit, making sure to cover as evenly as possible. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until the fruit is bubbling and the crust is golden. Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream.

This will keep, covered, for about 4 days if left in room temperature and about a week in the fridge. If you keep it in the fridge, I suggest reheating it in the microwave for half a minute on high before eating.

Mountain of Cookies

2009-10-12T01:04:00.005-05:00

I just had to share my mountain of cookies. Now I want one, and I'm all out :(

Swedish Meatballs

2009-09-15T22:25:00.010-05:00

Being Swedish, I can't believe it took me over 40 posts to finally post a recipe for Swedish meatballs! These are a modified recipe of my mom's meatballs (who else?) and are perfect for children as well as adults. In Sweden, meatballs are generally served as a kid's dish and they're usually a huge hit on the smorgasbord for Christmas. These have a slightly more "adult" taste.

When I was working in the kitchen of a bar outside of Paris (The Bitter End in St Germain-en-Laye), I made them and they became an instant hit. After that first try, I basically had to make them as the daily special every Wednesday! The main reason I'm posting right now is because someone I used to work with at that bar was checking out this blog for the first time and was wondering where the meatballs were at!

Meatballs can be made as almost "thin" food (by using water and low fat meats) or, even more delicious, as a decadent meal that you probably shouldn't be eating on a daily basis (by using cream for both the meatballs themselves and the pan sauce.) The below recipe is the more decadent kind, but I have commented what to substitute if you want a leaner dish. I served this with my creamy mashed potatoes, but the original dish is generally served with boiled potatoes or some form of pasta.

Swedish Meatballs with Mashed Potatoes and Cream Sauce

Meatballs:

1 lb ground beef (I use 7% fat which seems to work well)
5 oz ground pork
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 egg
1 large yellow onion
3 tbsp butter
white pepper
kosher salt

"Stock" and Sauce:

beef or veal stock (preferably homemade, or a reduced broth - dried will work)
1 carrot
1/2 yellow onion
2 bay leaves
4 garlic cloves
~10 oz heavy cream
corn starch
soy sauce

Mashed Potatoes:

6 large potatoes
1/3 cup sour cream
white pepper
kosher salt

Lingonberry jam for serving (available at IKEA all over the world)

Begin by bringing 1/2 gallon of water to a rolling boil. Add the carrot, half onion (cut up in chunks), bay leaves, garlic cloves (smashed and peeled) and the stock. If you're using homemade, well-reduced stock, about 1/4 - 1/3 cup will be enough. If using dried bullion, about 1.5 - 2 tablespoons should be enough. Let this boil (without a lid) while making the meatballs.

Peel the potatoes and cut them up into chunks (for faster cooking). Pour water into a large pot, add the potatoes and a pinch of salt and bring to a boil over high heat. I generally keep them covered while boiling; just keep an eye on the pot if you do the same.

For the meatballs, start by mixing the cream (this can be replaced by water for a leaner meal) and the breadcrumbs in a large bowl. Let stand for ten minutes. In the meantime, very finely cut the onion. I used a very fine grater for this - it basically turned the onion into a mush, which is fine. You don't want large chunks of onion in the meatballs. Once the breadcrumbs and cream have stood for ten minutes, add the ground beef, ground pork, 1 teaspoon white pepper, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, the onion and the egg. I wear latex gloves for the next step - if you do not have any available, make sure you have some cold water in a bowl to dip your fingers in.

Mix the ingredients well with your hands. Once there are no chunks of the breadcrumb mix left, you're ready to start rolling. Make meatballs around an inch to an inch and a half in diameter and place them on a plate.

Turn the oven to 250 degrees F. Place about 5-6 meatballs in the pot of boiling "stock" and leave for about 3 minutes. Most of the meatballs should start floating (but if they do not, don't let them stay in the pot for more than 3 minutes). Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a plate covered with a paper towel. Once you've cooked all the meatballs, let the water continue cooking. In a large pan (I prefer cast iron, but nonstick or stainless steal will work fine), melt the butter over medium heat. Add about ten meatballs and cook until they have some surface color. Be careful not to burn them. Once a batch is done, place in an oven-safe dish and place the dish in the oven. Repeat until all the meatballs are done.

Once the potatoes are cooked, drain and put back into the pot you boiled them in (or a bowl). Mash them with a fork or potato masher. Add about a teaspoon of white pepper and the sour cream, then stir to combine. Keep warm by placing a lid on top (mashed potatoes will also reheat well in the microwave if need be).

The final step is the sauce. If there's very little to no fat left in the pan you cooked the meatballs in, add a tablespoon or two of butter. Add about a tablespoon of corn starch and stir with a whisk or wooden spoon, removing brown bits from the pan. Next, bring out a mesh strainer and pour the "stock" into the pan. You'll need about a cup of the stock. Whisk together and add the cream (if you wish for a leaner meal, you can replace the cream with more stock, water or red wine) and about two tablespoons of soy sauce - make sure you taste it, soy sauce is salty! Whisk and let cook for a minute or two. Salt and pepper to taste.

Remove the meatballs from the oven, place on a plate and smother with the sauce. If you're using boiled potatoes instead of mashed, make sure they get a dose of the sauce as well! Serve with the lingonberry jam and eat immediately.

Hmm, I wonder if I should go have seconds now...

KitchenAid Pasta Attachment (plus a recipe!)

2009-08-25T21:33:00.011-05:00

I finally got around to buying the pasta maker attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer relatively recently - it's been a while since I actually bought it, but I've been too lazy to write about it.

The attachment is great - and the fact that I make the actual pasta dough in the mixer and then flatten it and make tagliatelle with the attachment is awesome!

In honor of my wonderful new piece of equipment, here's a recipe I came up with at some point in the recent past.

Tagliatelle with a Creamy Smoked Salmon & Mushroom Sauce

1.5 cup heavy cream
0.5 cup dry white wine
6 oz mushrooms
5 oz smoked salmon
2 tbsp butter
salt & pepper
Tagliatelle for two, preferably homemade

Start by boiling water for the pasta in a large pot with a tablespoon of salt and a little bit of olive oil (especially if using fresh pasta.) Slice the mushrooms thinly. Melt the butter over medium high heat in a saute pan. In the meantime, bring the cream and wine to a simmer in a pot. Slice the smoked salmon thinly. When the mushrooms have sweated out most of their moisture content, add the salmon and cook for another couple of minutes. Boil the pasta for 2-3 minutes, if using fresh pasta. If using dried pasta, follow the instruction on the package (and start cooking it earlier.) Add the mushrooms and salmon to the cream mixture. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately with crusty bread and maybe a side salad for the rabbit food lovers.

Shrimp and Asparagus Risotto

2009-07-23T23:29:00.000-05:00

I'm back! Woo!

I do apologize for the delay in making this post. I will do my best to get back to the twice weekly updates now. Hopefully, at least!

I love a good risotto, and one of my favorite things with making one is how it tastes and looks like it was hard to make and cost a lot. This does not have to be true at all (unless you like to throw copious amounts of extremely difficult-to-cook ingredients in there, and top it all off with real diamonds, of course.) This specific risotto is pretty awesome, and very quick to prepare. Enjoy!

Note: apparently, there's one of these on Olive Garden's menu. This, however, is good as opposed to what I can only assume is a travesty of food that they would serve you there.

Shrimp and Asparagus Risotto (Risotto di gamberetti e asparagi)

Serves 2

10 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
10-15 asparagus stems
1/2 medium sweet or yellow onion
1 cup arborio rice (risotto rice)
1/2 cup dry white wine
3-4 cups chicken stock, possibly more
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper

Start by bringing a large pot of water to a rolling boil, and add about two teaspoons of salt. While you're waiting for the water to boil, clean the asparagus and cut off the very bottom ends. If there are some very large stems, cut them in two pieces. Once the water is boiling, add the asparagus and boil for four minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer to an ice bath to avoid further cooking.

Next, prepare the shrimp - peel and get rid of the veins. Add the shrimp to the boiling water and cook for about 3 minutes, or until pink. Set aside. Bring the chicken stock to a simmer, but don't let it boil so it starts reducing too much. Covering the pot should keep the liquid from evaporating.

Next, chop the onion into small pieces and place in a pan, together with the oil, over medium heat. Cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Next, add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, for about one minute. Do not let the rice get any color. Add the wine and lemon juice, and continue to stir constantly, until the wine has been absorbed. At this point, start adding the simmering chicken stock, 1/2 cup at the time, while you continue to stir. Once it's evaporated, add the next half cup and continue this process until the rice is al dente - cooked through, but still slightly hard.

Once the rice is finished, add the butter and Parmesan cheese, then stir. Salt and pepper to taste, then add the asparagus and shrimp. Stir until everything has heated up, then serve immediately with fresh bread and the white wine you used in the risotto, if you have any left!

I Am Lazy...

2009-07-01T01:01:00.006-05:00

Yes, I am aware that I haven't updated for a while now. It sucks. I'm sorry. I've been busy at work and haven't had the energy to update in the evenings. It'll get better soon - just got some new toys for the kitchen and will post about them in the coming days. That's a promise.

In the meantime, here's Alton Brown's segment on the Food Network All-Star Grillfest.

Pasta salad

2009-06-08T21:31:00.002-05:00

Yes, yes, I know that was more than a couple of weeks. I didn't forget about the blog, I was just crazy busy. Now I'm not...actually, that's not true, but at least I've decided to take the time to start updating the blog again! It's right around 100 degrees F out there (that's ~38 degrees C), so I thought a nice, cool salad would be a good idea. I've always had a special place in my heart (stomach) for pasta salads, and here's a pretty simple one that always leaves me hungry for more. For more substance, add some cold, cooked chicken and crumbled bacon - but this sucker is actually vegetarian in the original recipe, that follows (crazy, right?)

Pasta Salad

1 package (16 oz) penne pasta
15 cocktail tomatoes
1 cucumber
1 can corn (or 2 fresh corn cobs, cooked with the corn removed from the cob)
1/2 head romaine lettuce
8 oz feta cheese, crumbled
pesto sauce

Boil the pasta until al dente. Drain and let cool. Wash and shred the romaine lettuce. Wash and quarter the cocktail tomatoes. Wash, then dice the cucumber. Drain the corn (if using a can), or wash the cobs, remove the kernels and cook them (most recipes call for a non-stick pan with a little bit of oil over medium heat until the corn is cooked). Put the cooked and now cooled pasta in a large bowl. Add about five tablespoons of pesto sauce (recipe follows below, or you can buy a jar at the grocery store) and stir until all the pasta is covered. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until combined. If you wish, add cooked, sliced chicken or turkey and crispy, crumbled bacon to the mix at this point.

Serve with freshly baked bread and a cold beer on a sunny patio (unless it's friggin' 100 degrees out, you want the shade then) for optimum results.

Pesto Sauce

2 cups fresh basil leaves (packed)
1/4 cup grated fresh Parmigianio Reggiano
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (use the good stuff if you have it)
3 tbsp pine nuts
3 garlic cloves, finely minced

You'll need a food processor for this. Start by placing about a third of the basil leaves in the processor and blend until finely chopped. Add a third of the garlic and a third of the nuts and blend again. Add a third of the cheese and a third of the oil, and blend again. Once it turns into a paste (you may have to scrape the sides of the bowl). Empty the bowl, then repeat the process until you've used all the ingredients. Combine the batches. This will last about a week in the fridge, a few months in the freezer. If you're not making pasta salad, it works really well if you just add it to freshly boiled pasta. I used to heat it with a little bit of creme fraiche and serve over spaghetti, but it's crazy expensive and hard to get creme fraiche in the US and I wouldn't want to try it with sour cream. Heavy cream is probably a better bet.

Sweden Trip!

2009-05-01T10:41:00.001-05:00

I'm going to my native Sweden in a few days, and will spend two weeks trying to do as much as possible. Hopefully I'll bring back some Swedish goodies that will end up on the blog at some point :)

I won't be updating for about three weeks, starting now.

Homemade Lemonade (and vodka)

2009-04-20T00:48:00.008-05:00

It's officially summer! No, that's completely incorrect, but Austin has had temperatures around 90 degrees F the last couple of weeks, so it feels roughly like a really warm Swedish summer to me. Oh, Texas.

What could be more summery than lemonade? Well, probably a thousand things, but lemonade is pretty summery, so I decided to make some from scratch and mix with cheap vodka last night. It came out tasting like I expected it to, which is to say "really good". Enjoy:

Homemade Lemonade

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup cold tap water
3 large lemons

Let's start by creating a simple syrup. Pour a cup of water into a pot and place over high heat. When the water is boiling, add the cup of sugar and stir with a whisk or spoon until the sugar is completely dissolved, about 1 minute. Let cool completely.

Cut the lemons in half and extract the juice any way you see fit (pro tip: a juice press works pretty well for this). Mix the lemon juice with the simple syrup. This is now lemonade. If you feel it's too sweet or too sour, you can simply add more lemon or make a little more simple syrup and add to taste.

For the adults, and non-adults drinking illegally, mix 1 part vodka with 2 parts lemonade in a New York Yankees tumbler filled with ice, and enjoy on a patio, balcony, or any where else where you can find some early evening sunshine. All right, fine, if you don't have a New York Yankees glass, just use any ol' glass and make sure you order some Yankees glasses from the MLB store.

Pizza, oh Pizza

2009-04-20T00:48:00.004-05:00

Made some pizza tonight, with Italian sausage and some wonderful Mozzarella. It was wonderful, and I'm so happy I have leftovers.

Baked Peppers

2009-04-13T23:35:00.002-05:00

This course is not something you generally see in fine restaurants. It appears most of the time, you'll see these contraptions in cafeterias, and (from what I understand - I've not had one in a cafeteria), they're apparently not very good at all. I remember them from way back when I was a kid and my parents would make them, but I can't remember trying to make one myself.

I decided to try making my own recently and they came out great...much better than the photo I took, which is slightly blurry - but you can't really tell from the thumbnail above, so don't click on it. I mean, uh...here's the recipe.

Baked Green Peppers

4 medium green peppers
2 shallots
1/2 yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
1 lb ground beef
4 strips of bacon
1/2 can diced tomatoes
1 cup uncooked white rice
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
Salt
Pepper

Boil your rice according to the instructions on the package. I generally remove 20% - 30% of the water listed, as I like my rice al dente, but it's a personal choice. Boil water in a large pot with about a tablespoon of salt. Cut off the tops of the peppers and discard them (or eat them, I don't care). Remove the membranes and seeds, place in the boiling water and make sure they're submerged (place something on top of them if needed). Boil for about 3 minutes.

Set the oven to 350 degrees F. Chop your onions, garlic and shallots. Place in a frying pan with some cooking oil over medium heat for about 3 minutes or until the smell makes your mouth water. Add the ground beef, break apart and fry until cooked through, stirring regularly. In the meantime, fry the bacon crispy in a separate pan. Add the diced tomatoes to the ground beef. Once the bacon is done, cut it up in small pieces and add to the ground beef as well. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the cooked rice and take off the heat.

Next, make sure the peppers can stand on their own. If they cannot, slice off small pieces off the bottom until flat enough so they can stand up. Place in an oven safe form and add about 1/2 cup water around them. I also like to dash some olive oil over the peppers, but if you choose to do this, make sure you don't fill up a specific pepper too much. Now add the filling evenly to the peppers. If you have some left when they're all full - eat it. It's great on its own!

You now have a choice with the cheese! Either sprinkle the peppers right away and cover the dish with tin foil for the first part of the peppers' visit to the oven, or wait until they are halfway done and sprinkle then. Your choice! Either way, the peppers will need 35-40 minutes in the oven before they are ready, so add the cheese after about 20-25 minutes if you choose to follow the "halfway" option. If using tin foil, remove the tin foil at the very end to make sure the cheese gets browned.

Serve as is, or maybe with a green salad.

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

2009-03-27T01:06:00.002-05:00

I had read about it for months, I saw the show on TV and one day on the way back home from work, I decided to stop by the Container Store for some baking equipment. That's right, the Container Store! I got me a big plastic box with a lid, took it home, poured some yeast, water and flour in there, stirred it around for a minute and just a day later, I had beautiful, fresh bread. The cost, in dollars? About $0.50. The cost, in time? About 5 minutes. The prize? Let me tell you, not much smells as good as freshly baked bread, and when it took basically no effort and no time, it's almost too good to be true.

The "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" book by Jeff Hertzberg (an MD...uh) and Zoe Francois is supposedly great. I didn't buy it yet, I might, but for now I'm happy with the basic recipe, which is simpler than simple. Trust me.

You'll definitely need a big bucket, plastic box or...well, something like that. A pizza peel helps. A pizza stone is pretty much essential. Once you have these things, let's get to work.

(Basic) Artisan Bread

1 1/2 tbsp dry yeast
1 1/2 tbsp kosher salt
6 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 cups lukewarm tap water
cornmeal for dusting

In a large, resealable container, mix the yeast with the lukewarm water (around 100 degrees F is fine). Once mixed together, add the salt and mix again. Next, add the flour. Stir with a wooden spoon, until just combined. Do not knead. Do not over-stir. Do not add anything else. This will be an extremely wet dough, and it's supposed to be! Close the lid and leave to fend for itself (raise) for about 5 hours in normal room temperature.

Now place it in the fridge, and leave at least overnight. The longer you leave it, the more complex the dough will get and the better the bread will taste. Two weeks is max, though, don't leave it longer than that.

Once you're ready to bake, liberally dust a pizza peel with cornmeal. Remove the container from the fridge, and sprinkle the area of dough you intend to use with all purpose flour - you're looking to remove about a grapefruit-sized ball of dough from the container. Dust your hand with flour, grab the dough and pull. Use a serrated knife to cut the dough loose. Next, shape a ball in your hand - you're looking to gently stretch the dough. Do not knead it! Stretch, turn a 1/4, stretch again. Repeat until you have a smooth ball. If it's very wet, use more flour to dust, but the flour is not supposed to be incorporated into the actual dough, just cover the surface.

Let the dough rest on the pizza peel for about 1h30m. They say 45 minutes in the book, I believe, but I find waiting twice that length of time is better. When 40 minutes remain, place the pizza stone in the middle of the oven, something that can contain water and won't break in the bottom of the oven (a cast iron pan or a broiler pan works fine), then turn your oven to 450 degrees. Once the 1h30 is up, slash the top of the bread three times with a serrated knife, to prevent exploding bread in your oven. Transfer to the pizza stone. Pour about a cup of warm tap water into a glass and quickly add to the pan at the bottom of the oven, then close the door and leave it closed - the steam will help develop a much better crust.

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool on a cooling rack for at least 30 minutes before cutting into it and probably eating the whole thing in one sitting!

You don't have to wash the container when you run out of dough - just start anew and the small pieces of old dough will help develop a more complex taste for the next batch. Not quite like a sourdough starter, but not far off.

Pi(e) Day

2009-03-19T00:30:00.002-05:00

Nerd alert! Last Saturday was 3.14.09 - 3.14 is, as I hope you all know, also known as Pi Day. Jacquie and I had some people over, made some pies and watched the movie Pi. I made an apple pie (Alton Brown's recipe), a mixed berries pie and a quiche with broccoli, chicken and fontina cheese. All three came out splendidly (the quiche went in two minutes, the apple pie was almost finished, then everyone was too full) and good times were to be had.

For the mixed berry pie and the quiche, I decided to just use a pre-made crust. For the apple pie, things got slightly more advanced.

Alton Brown's Apple Pie

For the crust:

6 oz unsalted butter
2 oz vegetable shortening
5 to 7 tbsp apple jack (or apple brandy)
12 oz all purpose flour
1 tsp table salt
1 tbsp granulated sugar

For the filling:

3 lb apples, a mix of Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Breaburn, Golden Delicious or whatever else you can find - try to mix them up (tart, sweet, different textures)
3 tbsp tapioca flour
2 tbsp apple jelly
1 tbsp apple cider
2 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice (the juice of 1/2 lime, more or less)
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground grains of paradise

Start with the dough for the crust. Bring out your favorite food processor and combine flour, salt and sugar. Pulse a few times. Add the butter and pulse 3-4 times, until combined. Add the shortening and pulse 3-4 times again, until the mix looks mealy and everything is incorporated. Now add 5 tablespoons of apple jack and pulse another 5 times. Add more apple jack if needed, until dough holds together when squeezed. Weigh the dough, remove half and shape into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge. Repeat with the other half of dough. You want to leave this at the very least for 1 hour, or up to overnight.

Next, let's do the filling. Peel and core the apples. Slice into 1/2 inch wedges - about 8-12 wedges per apple, depending on size. Toss with 1/4 cup sugar and place in a colander set over a bowl. Let drain for 1 1/2 hours. Once drained, move the liquid to a saucepan and place over medium heat until reduced to 2 tablespoons. Set aside to cool.

Toss the apples with the tapioca flour, the remaining sugar, the jelly, cider, lime juice, salt and grains of paradise. If you cannot get grains of paradise, fret not and use caraway seeds instead (ground).

Next, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Remove a disk of dough from the fridge and place on a lightly floured piece of waxed paper. Sprinkle with some more flour on top of the dough and roll out into a 12-inch circle. Place into a 9-10 inch tart pan that is 2 inches deep, preferably with a removable bottom. Trim the edges. Set a pie bird in the center of the pan.

Place the apples in the unbaked shell in circles, starting around the edges, working towards the center and forming a slight mound in the middle of the pie, around the pie bird. Pour over any remaining liquid. Roll out the second piece of dough as you did with the first. Place the dough over the apples, pressing the pie bird through the dough. Press together the edges of the dough around the rim of the pie. Brush the top crust with the juice reduction, but be careful not to brush close to the rim of the pie, or it'll stick to the pan completely.

If you have a heating coil in the oven, place the pie on the bottom rack, preferably on a pizza stone. If your oven has a flat bottom, place the pie on a sheet pan on the floor of the oven. Leave here for 30 minutes, then transfer to the lower rack (or, if using a pizza stone, one rack higher but no longer on the stone) for another 20 minutes. Remove to a rack and cool for a minimum of 4 hours before carving.

If you were using a pan with a removable bottom, slide the pie out of the pan and carve around the pie bird.

Mixed Berry Pie

2 pieces of pie crust
15 oz blueberries (fresh if you've got them, frozen if you don't)
15 oz raspberries (same)
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice (the juice of half a lime)
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
cinnamon

This one is quick and simple, and absolutely delicious. Set your oven to 425 degrees F. Start by placing a piece of pie dough in a 9 inch pie form and trim any excess off the edges. Keep the excess dough if you want to decorate the final pie (more on that later). Next, combine the berries with the flour, sugar and lime juice in a large bowl. If you bought frozen berries, make sure they're at least somewhat thawed first. Stir the mixture around until the dry goods are soaked up by the berries and juices.

Add the berries to the pie crust, sprinkle with a little bit of cinnamon and cut up the butter into small bits. Next, let's make some egg wash: beat the egg in a small bowl or glass. Add the milk and beat to combine. Roll out the second piece of pie crust and brush the edge (about 1 inch into the crust) with the egg wash. Flip around and cover the dough - the egg was will glue the top crust to the bottom crust a little better than just squeezing the two pieces together. Lightly brush the top of the dough with some egg was, making sure there are no "puddles" anywhere. If you wish to decorate the pie, roll out any excess dough into a thin sheet, and use cookie cutters or a knife to make a pattern. A heart works well, I should have done the π sign, but didn't :)

Cut three slits in the top crust, to let out steam. Bake the pie in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes, then lower the oven heat to 350 degrees and bake an additional 30 to 40 minutes, or until the juices are bubbly and the crust is browned. Remove and let cool for at least an hour before carving. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Chicken and Broccoli Quiche with Fontina Cheese

1 pie crust
1 large broccoli head
2 chicken filets, skinless & boneless
2 tbsp grated onion
1 cup whole milk
1.5 cup shredded fontina cheese
4 large eggs
salt
pepper
nutmeg

Turn the oven to 350 degrees. Place the dough in a 9 inch pie form and trim off any excess (the excess can be discarded). Prick with a fork and, once the oven has reached the appropriate temperature, bake for 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove and let cool.

Cut the chicken into small pieces, about 1/4-1/2 inches. Fry in a non stick pan with a little amount of vegetable or olive oil, until cooked through. I usually increase the temperature when they're almost finished and get a nice, brown surface to the chicken bits. Makes for more flavor without drying the chicken out.

Wash the broccoli and cut off the florets. The size is up to you, I generally leave the smaller florets as they are and cut large ones into two or four pieces. Place in a microwave safe bowl with a 1/4 cup water and cook in the microwave on high for 1 minute. Remove, and discard the water. Place the chicken and broccoli in the pie shell.

Beat the four eggs in a medium bowl. Add the milk, shredded cheese, 2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper, 1/4 tsp nutmeg and the grated onion. Stir to combine, and pour over the chicken and broccoli in the pie crust. Make sure you do not overfill the crust - if you have too much batter, leave about 1/4 inch at the top.

Bake in the oven for roughly 1 hour, or until nicely brown and a knife inserted in the middle of the quiche comes out clean and it feels like it's set nicely. Let cool for 10-15 minutes before carving. Serve with a green salad.

Bagels

2009-03-10T21:29:00.002-05:00

Had I known bagels would be so easy to make, I would have attempted this way earlier. The process is like creating any kind of bread, really, with the added step of placing the uncooked bagels in boiling water for a few minutes. This is what creates the harder crust and the spongy interior, which makes bagels so good, so good.

Bagels

3.5 cups all purpose flour
1.25 cups lukewarm water
1 tsp instant yeast
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt

I make this in a stand mixer - if you're kneading by hand, make sure you have some good music, good company, good drinks or all three combined to make time fly by. Start by mixing the yeast and the sugar with the water - the water should be warm, but not hot. We're looking to awaken the yeast, not burn it to death. Once the yeast and sugar has dissolved completely, pour the flour into a large bowl (the stand mixer bowl, if using) and make a well in the middle. Add the liquid and incorporate some of the flour into it. We're looking to make a very loose batter, not an actual dough at this point.

Let this rest for 30 minutes - you'll notice that it gets very bubbly on top. Once the 30 minutes are up, add the salt and start kneading. If you're using the stand mixer, lube your dough hook up with cooking spray and knead for about 15 minutes. If doing by hand, mix everything up in the bowl and turn on to a floured working space. Knead for 30 minutes, without breaks! Breaks are for the weak. Oh, I'm just kidding.

Once the kneading is done, you should be able to "windowpane" the dough. Take a small piece and flatten it into a disc. Drag the edges, turning with each pull, and the center of the dough should be like a membrane, you should easily be able to see light through it. Here's an example of what that looks like.

Optional step: If you wish to make bagels with something in them, like cranberries or blueberries, now is the time to gently fold them into the dough.

Place the dough back in the bowl (or leave it in the bowl if you're using a stand mixer), cover loosely and let rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in size. Once done rising, turn the dough back out on the floured work surface and divide it into 8 equally large parts. Now it's time to form bagels - either make a lump and poke a hole in the middle, or roll the lump out into a roll and join the ends together. Either way works. Place the bagels on a baking sheet and cover again.

Turn the oven to 400 degrees F. Put water, a large pinch of salt and a large pinch of sugar in a large pot and place over high heat on the stove, until you achieve a rolling boil. Once the water is boiling, your bagels should have risen enough - you're looking to have them increase about 50% in size. Now put as many bagels as you can fit in one layer in the boiling water. Leave for one minute, then flip them over and leave for another minute. Place back on the sheet and repeat this step until they are all nice and cooked.

Optional step: at this point, you can top the bagels with whatever you see fit. Grated cheese works well, coarse sea salt is awesome (make sure you push the salt into the bagel lightly, don't squeeze all the air out of it!) and a mix of red onion and cheese is great too. Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, hell, maybe I should try something sweet on there at some point too.

Bake the bagels in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. If you're a thermometer lover, they need to be about 210 degrees F on the inside to be done.

Let rest on a baking rack for at least 10 minutes. They freeze exceptionally well - I generally thaw on "3" in the microwave for 1 minute and the toast them in a normal toaster. If not frozen, they won't last 24 hours - share 'em (with me)!

Scotch Pancakes Revisited

2009-03-08T12:56:00.001-05:00

I made the pancakes in the video in this post and they turned out better than I could have imagined. It's not the lightest of breakfasts, but the caramel sauce, the bananas (and I don't really like bananas) and the ice cream just works together so well, the pancakes are extremely light and fluffy...yum. I think I'll have to make some this weekend again!

Scotch Pancakes with Caramel Bananas and Rum

3.5 oz (100g) all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of sea salt
1/3 cup (80 ml) buttermilk
1/5 cup (50 ml) cold water
2 large eggs
sunflower oil for frying

4 large, ripe bananas
1.75 oz (50g) sugar
1.75 oz (50 g) unsalted butter
rum
2 tbsp water
vanilla ice cream for serving

Start by making the pancake batter. Weigh the flour and sift it into a bowl together with the baking powder. Mix together the water and buttermilk in a separate container. Add the salt to the flour, make a well in the middle and add about half of the buttermilk mixture and the two (beaten) eggs. Mix until you have a smooth batter, then add the rest of the buttermilk mixture.

Put about a tablespoon of oil in a large, non-stick frying pan over medium high heat. Use some kitchen paper to evenly coat the pan with the oil. Using a small ladle, pour some batter into the pan - if the pan is large enough you should easily be able to make two pancakes at once. Flip after about a minute and cook another 45 seconds on the other side. The pancakes should be browned and puff up slightly.

Peel the bananas and slice them lengthwise, you're looking to make about 1-inch long pieces, about 1/3 inch thick. Add the sugar to a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Let the sugar melt without touching it - once it's melted, let it brown slightly before adding the butter. Stir to combine, then add the bananas. Let cook for about two minutes, or until the bananas are just tender. At this point, add a good splash of rum and light it - be careful, watch your eyebrows and the kitchen furniture. Once the rum, has burned and most the alcohol has evaporated, add about two tablespoons of cold water and cook for another thirty seconds or so.

Serve the pancakes on a plate with some bananas on top, add ice cream and drizzle with some of the caramel sauce. Eat immediately.

Brazilian Vegan Stew

2009-03-03T00:56:00.006-06:00

I am definitely not a vegan. As a matter of fact, I eat a lot of meat and I love pretty much all kinds of food - I'd hate to deny myself things like chicken, fish, eggs, cheese (oh, cheese), beef, pork and all the other foods out there. Now and then, however, I come across a recipe that just begs me to make it, and this Brazilian stew that just happens to be vegan (and extremely healthy, and filling at that) was one of those recipes.

Brazilian Stew

2 sweet potatoes
1 red pepper
1 sweet onion
3 cloves garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cans black beans (or any beans you'd like, just not baked!)
1 ripe mango
fresh cilantro (that's coriander outside the US - here, coriander is the seeds that grow the plant)
tortillas
vegetable oil
salt
pepper
1/2 tbsp Tabasco (optional)

Start by chopping the onion and mincing the garlic. In a large pot, add about two tablespoons of oil and place over medium high heat. Add the onion and garlic, cook for a few minutes. Chop the sweet potato into half-inch cubes. Add to the pot and stir. Remove the seeds and chop the red pepper into half inch pieces and add to the pot. Add the tomatoes and stir. Cover with a lid and let cook for about 15 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are getting soft. Make sure you stir now and then, to prevent burning. If it appears too dry, add a few tablespoons of water. At this point, it's a good opportunity to fight with the mango - try to get as much meat from it as possible. Here is a good guide!

Once the sweet potatoes are soft, add the beans to the pot, stir and let cook for about two minutes. Salt and pepper to taste, and add Tabasco if you wish. Remove from the heat and stir in the mango. Serve immediately with warm tortillas (I generally heat them on high in the microwave for 15 seconds) and sprinkle with the fresh cilantro.

This meal will make a lot more food than you'd expect and it's very filling. I usually have enough for three meals for two people...so if you're just looking to have a smaller meal for perhaps 4 people, remove one can of beans and one sweet potato from the recipe.

Shrimps with White Wine and Feta

2009-02-25T22:25:00.002-06:00

I love shrimps. Jacquie loves shrimps. Thus: we eat a lot of shrimps. I can't remember how I figured out this particular meal out - most likely I found the recipe somewhere and changed a few things around to make it better (or at least different). It's quick, easy and extremely flavorful.

Shrimps with White Wine and Feta

3/4 lb raw shrimps
1/2 red onion
3 cloves garlic
16 oz feta cheese
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 small bunch fresh parsley
1 small package of spaghetti
salt
black pepper

Start by bringing water in a large pot to a boil. Add a tablespoon of salt, then boil the pasta according to the instructions on the package - you're looking for al dente. Once boiled, drain and return to the pot. Next, peel and de-vein the shrimps, then set aside. Peel and chop the onion, peel and mince the garlic. Over medium heat, add a few tablespoons of cooking oil (or olive oil if you prefer that) and sauté the onions. Add the garlic after a couple of minutes, to prevent them from burning (as they will cook much quicker than the red onion). Once they are translucent and smell absolutely wonderful, add the shrimps. Cook the shrimps until just pink, then add the white wine. Stirring occasionally, cook until the shrimps are cooked through, about 3-4 minutes.

Crumble the feta cheese and finely mince the parsley (I usually put it in a coffee cup and go to town with a pair of scissors). Once the shrimps have finished cooking, pour the sauce over the pasta. Add the cheese and parsley. Toss and serve immediately.

Scotch Pancakes with Caramel Bananas and Rum

2009-02-24T14:44:00.005-06:00

My good friend Luke just sent a link to this video and I just had to post it. Wow.

More Cookies

2009-02-23T21:49:00.000-06:00

I made cookies recently, and decided to try again but with a slight variation. Instead of dark chocolate chip cookies, I made them with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. I decided to mix up some cocoa in the batter to give them some color instead of having light cookies with white dots of chocolate and nuts in them. Turned out great. Follow the previous recipe, but replace the chocolate chips with white chocolate chips, add about 1/3 cup macadamia nuts (crush lightly, we don't want huge chunks) and add 1/2 cup of baker's cocoa to the batter. Yum yum.

Salsa Chicken Tortillas with Guacamole

2009-02-22T17:47:00.004-06:00

I found a recipe for the slow cooker that is amazingly simple and the end result is pretty freaking awesome. Served on a tortilla with some homemade guacamole and shredded cheese, I can't believe it takes all but ten minutes to whip this up, including the time it takes to make the guacamole but naturally not including the 6-8 hour cooking time in the slow cooker.

If you do not have a slow cooker, it can easily be made in a dutch oven or similar, just shorten the cooking time to 1 hour and cook on medium heat.

Salsa Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast fillets (preferably with rib meat, not thinly sliced)
1 large can of salsa

Yes, making your own salsa will most likely make this recipe far better, but this isn't haute cuisine we're talking here - this is a simple, middle of the week, comfort food sort of recipe that is so easy to prepare on a day when you have no time or energy to actually cook (rarely for me, but still). Trim excess fat off the chicken. Place the whole pieces in the slow cooker. Dump the salsa on top, making sure to cover the chicken. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. The chicken should be cooked through and be shredable, but not dry.

Guacamole

3 ripe avocados
1 medium tomato
1/4 white onion
1 lime
salt
pepper

Make sure the avocados are ripe - they should be soft, but not mushy. You'll have a hell of a time getting the fruit out of the shell if they're too hard or too soft (but too soft is preferable over too hard). Place the avocado in a bowl. Finely mince the tomato and onion. Discard the tomato pulp, you only want to keep the meatier parts. I leave the skin on the tomato, you can peel it if you want to. Add the onion and tomato to the avocado. Cut the lime in half and squeeze the juice over the mix, making sure no seeds from the lime find their way into the bowl. Mash together, salt and pepper to taste.

If you wish to make the guacamole spicy, do not add Tabasco sauce. Tabasco is vinegar based and you do not want to introduce that element to your guac! I suggest a hot sauce made from chilis or - why not - a fresh jalapeño. Your choice!

Once your chicken and your guacamole is finished, heat a tortilla according to the instructions on the packaging (unless you make your own, but that's something I'll save for another day), add salsa chicken, grated cheese (anything goes, cheddar is great for this though) and guacamole. Wrap up, consume. Goes great with a light Mexican beer like Corona or Dos Equis.

The Serbian Ice Tea

2009-02-17T13:45:00.001-06:00

I was originally going to post this in my drinks post a while back, but couldn't locate the recipe. I asked an old friend who knows the creator (Marko, used to work at Chesterfield's (now House of Live) and Long Hop in Paris, I think he's still at Le Violon Dingue) and I finally have it! To the liquor store!

Serbian Ice Tea

2 cl (2/3 oz) Malibu (or similar coconut rum)
1 cl (1/3 oz) Kalúha (or similar coffee liqueur)
2 cl (2/3 oz) Southern Comfort
2 cl (2/3 oz) peach schnapps
2 cl (2/3 oz) Triple Sec
1 cl (1/3 oz) vodka
cranberry juice
7-up or Sprite
grenadine
2 lime wedges

Add all the alcohol, the grenadine and the squeezed lime wedges in a shaker with a lot of ice. Fill up with about 5 oz (15 cl) cranberry juice. Shake.

Pour into a pint glass (with the ice and lime wedges) and top off with 7-up or Sprite.

Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo

2009-02-16T23:49:00.003-06:00

Fettuccine Alfredo (Fettuccine al burro e panna in Italy, although that is generally made without the cheese) is a relatively heavy dish, consisting of pasta tossed with butter, cream and cheese. It's apparently pretty unusual outside of the US, as I don't think I've ever had it in Europe but I've had very similar courses - unsurprising since butter and cream is pretty common in all Western cooking.

Today's recipe is an Alfredo from scratch, with chicken and broccoli. I opted for farfalle pasta instead of the more classic fettuccine. I like the way the farfalle looks and feels when you eat it, and it works well with the bite-sized chicken and broccoli.

Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo

2 1/2 cups farfalle pasta
1 large head of broccoli
3 chicken breasts, skinless, boneless
1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup)
2 cups heavy cream
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated mozzarella cheese
white pepper
kosher salt
olive oil

Turn your oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Cut the stem off the broccoli and discard. Place the broccoli florets in a bowl, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a couple of pinches of kosher salt. Toss to coat. Transfer the broccoli to a roasting pan. Once the oven is hot, roast the broccoli for 10 minutes - we're looking for it to be cooked but still have resistance.

Slice the chicken into strips, about half an inch wide. Fry the strips in a frying pan with a little bit of vegetable oil over medium high heat. Once cooked through and beginning to brown, remove the chicken from the heat and set aside.

Bring water in a large pot to a rolling boil. Add 2 tablespoons of salt. As soon as the water is boiling, cook one package of farfalle. Once cooked al dente, drain and leave until the sauce is ready.

Finely mince the garlic. In a medium sauce pan over medium high heat, melt the butter and add the garlic. Let cook for about a half minute, making sure the garlic does not brown at all. Add the cream and cook, stirring, for about three minutes. Add the Parmesan cheese and stir frequently until sauce has thickened, about 5 minutes. Add the mozzarella cheese, a couple of pinches of salt and about 1/2 teaspoon of white pepper (taste!), and cook another 2-3 minutes or until smooth. Add the chicken and broccoli and let cook until reheated (another minute should do the trick). Add the pasta and serve immediately.

London Broil with Mac'n'cheese

2009-02-12T01:35:00.003-06:00

Mac and cheese. How something so simple (take macaroni, mix with cheese) can be so good is beyond me. Making it more complicated (take macaroni, mix with cheese, add something else) often seems to make it better and adding multiple kinds of cheeses is just plain genius. This is a far cry from Kraft's version of the mac and cheese and while not being extremely unhealthy, it's full of saturated fat and the pasta itself is just simple carbs. But it's so damned good!

I served it with a piece of London broil which was more tender than I had expected, and that made me happy. Steak served medium rare (well, the center of the center was more rare than anything), I'll explain how I cooked it in the recipe as well.

Credit where credit is due: Jacquie saw a show on Food Network called "Barefoot Contessa" that featured this recipe. It's been slightly modified from its original version.

Mac and Cheese with a London Broil

4 oz thick-sliced bacon (roughly 4 large slices)
2 cups macaroni (farfalle, shells, penne, elbow...your pick - I used shells)
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp all purpose flour
4 oz Gruyere cheese
3 oz sharp cheddar cheese
2 oz blue cheese
2 slices white sandwich bread
10 fresh basil leaves
kosher salt
olive oil
black pepper
freshly grated nutmeg

Start by heating your oven to 400 degrees F. I refuse to use the term "preheat" - to quote George Carlin - "there are only two states an oven can possibly exist in: heated or unheated. Preheated is a meaningless term." Bring a large pot of water to a boil. While waiting for the water to boil, heat a large frying pan (preferably cast iron) over medium high heat. Add the bacon, fry until crisp. Remove from the heat and place the bacon on a plate, covered with paper towels. Leave until cold and crumble into small pieces once cooled enough (I generally use kitchen shears for this if it doesn't crumble easily enough, something some people think is weird).

Add the macaroni to the boiling water together with about a tablespoon of kosher salt and a dash of olive oil. Cook the macaroni according to direction - we're looking for al dente, so if it says "10-11 minutes", I'd say try a piece after 9 minutes. If it's slightly chewy but doesn't leave that "dry pasta" taste in your mouth, you've got al dente. Anything beyond will be soggy and that just won't fly. Once the pasta is done, drain in a colander and set aside.

While the pasta is boiling, heat the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat. Do not let the milk boil! At the same time, melt the butter in a medium pot over medium low heat and add the flour once it has melted. Stir constantly with a whisk after adding the flour. Do not burn this mix (called a roux, hey, you're making something with a French name!), but let it get a little color or the flour taste will linger. This should take about two minutes. Once the flour reaches the desired color (hint: not black and smokey), add the milk. I usually raise the heat to medium at this point, or this will take all night - and don't forget to turn off the burner you used to heat the milk (unless you used a microwave, which I didn't tell you that you could do earlier).

Once the sauce is smooth and thick, after about 2-3 minutes, take the sauce off of the heat. This is where I stop using a whisk and start using a large plastic spoon to stir with because cleaning chunks of cheese off a whisk is really not my favorite activity. Again, off the heat, add the (grated) Gruyere, (grated) cheddar and (crumbled) blue cheese. Also, add about a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper. Get a pinch of nutmeg in there while you're at it and stir, stir, stir. Taste the sauce - add more salt/pepper/nutmeg if you feel it's needed. Once the cheese is incorporated and the sauce is once again smooth, add all the macaroni and the bacon to the mixture.

Now, you have two options. You can put this mixture into individual (oven-safe) bowls or you can put it in one larger (oven-safe) dish. I opted for the latter, since I wasn't throwing a fancy dinner party and the leftovers are easier to keep in one dish rather than a few. I also don't have smaller, oven-safe dishes at this time, so that may have had a small influence on my decision.

At this time, you can cover the bowls with tin foil or plastic wrap, and put them in the fridge. Leave it overnight or even a couple of days - just make sure it's adequately covered up so it doesn't go bad. If you're having people over, making this in the morning and just heating it when it's time for the main course is a pretty awesome concept.

Once you've placed the mac/cheese/bacon mixture in a bowl, it's time to bring out the food processor. Put the bread in the bowl, attach the knife and close the lid. Pulse a few times - we're looking for relatively large piceces of bread still left. Next, pull about 10 basil leaves off their stems and add to the processor. Pulse another few times, until the bread is well crumbled and the basil has been chopped up. Now, cover the macaroni mixture with bread. Bake in the oven for 35 - 40 minutes. If the bread appears to get too dark too quickly, cover loosely with tin foil to prevent burning. Enjoy with your favorite protein source - steak is naturally the best choice.

What I generally do is as follows: heat the oven to 500 degrees F. Place your cast iron pan over relatively high heat (I do 7 or 8 of 10 on my stove). Add canola oil or other oil with a high smoke point.

Make sure your steak is at room temperature. If it's a big piece of meat like a London broil, remove it from the fridge at least 30 minutes before cooking. Pat it dry with paper towels. Feel free to salt and pepper now. No, it's not going to "dry out" your steak. Trust me.

Now, once your pan is nice and hot, put the steak in there. Don't touch it for a minute. I said do not touch it. If it's a thick steak, you may want to also sear the sides for about 30 seconds each. Next, flip it over and put the cast iron pan in the oven. I repeat "cast iron pan" here because if you put a teflon pan or a pan with a plastic handle in the oven...you'll end up with a potentially toxic steak and a ruined pan.

Leave the steak in there for about 5 minutes for medium rare. If it's a thick steak, you may need 10 minutes. It may get smokey, so if you have a smoke detector in the kitchen (like me), prepare to push a button on it or wave at it with a kitchen towel. After the 5 minutes are up, remove the pan from the oven (use oven gloves and continue to do so for the next 30 minutes if you handle the pan - this thing stays hot for a while!) and put the steak on a carving board. Cover loosely with tin foil. Leave the steak for at least 3 minutes, preferably more. If you cut into it now, you know all those lovely juices that make the steak so nice and juicy and wonderful? All over your carving board and counter is not where you want them and that's where they'll end up.

Once rested, carve the steak. If the mac and cheese has cooled down, you can put the dish(es) in the recently turned-off oven for a few minutes to reheat.

Baked Ziti

2009-02-09T00:22:00.002-06:00

Ziti is plural for "bridegroom" in Italian ("zito" is singular), but this recipe does not involve any newlyweds at all. A baked ziti is, as far as my extensive research shows (checking Wikipedia), an Italian-American dish. Makes sense, since I'd never heard of it before I moved to the US and I do love me some Italian food. To me, it'll always be like something out of the Sopranos - hell, Bobby Baccalieri kept his wife Karen's last frozen Ziti for ages, before Janice talked him into finally eating it. So, a ziti is essential ziti pasta (or penne, which is very similar) mixed with a tomato based sauce and cheese, baked in the oven. My recipe is a vegetarian version and as it'll last about a week in the fridge, it's usually enough for two dinners and a couple of lunches for me and Jacquie. I prefer making my own sauce, but you can always use a can of tomato sauce if you're pressed for time/like that sort of thing.

Tomato Sauce
16 oz whole peeled tomatoes (canned tomatoes are fine for this)
3 shallots
4 cloves garlic
1/2 cup dry red wine
olive oil
fresh basil or oregano

Mince the shallots and put them in with some olive oil in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan and place over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 2 minutes. Finely mince the garlic cloves and add. Cook another minute or so, we're looking for some translucent shallots here. Next, add the tomatoes. Chop them coarsely first. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add the wine, salt and pepper to taste. Stirring occasionally, let the sauce simmer until it's reduced by half. This can take anything between ten minutes and half an hour. Once the sauce is finished, fold in the herbs (chop them coarsely first) and remove from the heat.

Baked Ziti

1 1lb package ziti or penne pasta
8 oz ricotta cheese
8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
2 oz freshly grated parmesan cheese
tomato sauce (above)
salt
pepper

Set the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Boil the pasta al dente, according to the instructions on the package. Make sure you salt the water first. Drain the penne and return to the pot (but not the heat!) and add the ricotta cheese and about half of the mozzarella. Mix well. In an oven-safe dish, place about half of the tomato sauce. Next, place about half of the pasta/cheese mix in the dish, add another layer of tomato sauce, then the rest of the pasta. Top with the remaining mozzarella and sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the top.

Cook in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until the cheese is nicely browned and the sauce is bubbling. Let cool a few minutes before cutting, and serve with a fresh green salad.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-02-05T01:35:00.004-06:00

Cookies rock. Chocolate chip cookies doubly so. That is all.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups minus 2 tbsp cake flour (8 1/2 oz by weight)
1 2/3 cups bread flour (8 1/2 oz)
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp coarse salt - kosher salt or sea salt, preferably
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1 1/8 cups (8 oz) granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 lb bittersweet chocolate disks/chips
sea salt

Start by sifting together the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl. Next, cream together the butter and sugars. You'll need to use an electric mixer at the very least - a stand mixer with the paddle attachment is your best bet. Cream for about 5 minutes until very light. Add the eggs, one by one, and incorporate fully before adding the next. Stir in the vanilla (I like cookies with some extra vanilla so I used a little more than the 2 tsp listed).

Next, mix in the flour. Do it in batches to save your kitchen from a cloud of flour, but be quick, as you don't want to mix this too much either. Once incorporated (5 to 10 seconds after adding the last batch), stop mixing. Add the chocolate chips, carefully so you don't break them too much. I did it with the stand mixer on the lowest setting, and everything was mixed up within a few minutes.

Cover the dough in cling film (in multiple sections, if desired) and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, preferably 36. You can leave the unbaked dough in the fridge for up to 72 hours.

When ready to bake, set oven to 350 degrees F and remove the dough from the fridge. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (or grease it, but the paper is preferred). Scoop out the cookies. They should be roughly the size of golf balls and then some. If you don't play golf or have never seen a golf ball up close, they should be round and roughly 1 inch in diameter, maybe a little bit more.

Place the cookie dough balls on the cookie sheet, making sure to leave at least an inch between each cookie. A standard size sheet should hold roughly 12 - 14 cookies. If you wish, lightly sprinkle the cookies with sea salt at this time (I did, and it's delicious).

Bake in the middle of the oven until lightly brown but still soft. In my oven, it took pretty much exactly 18 minutes, but when they're ready depends on a lot of factors (your oven, the size of your dough balls, your altitude, whether or not you shaved today) so keep a close eye on them once you've passed the 15 minute mark.

Remove from the oven, leave the cookie sheet for five minutes and then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. I use a spatula - for now, the cookies will be extremely tender and will collapse if you poke around them too much. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before biting into them.

If there's dough left, repeat the process to create more cookies.

If there are cookies left when they've cooled down completely, store in airtight containers. They will last a week or so, and they should stay nice and chewy for about 2-3 days, maybe even more if you're lucky.

If you wish, replace the chocolate chips with white chocolate chips and maybe a few macadamia nuts. Yum.

These are a Few of My Favorite Drinks...

2009-02-02T22:44:00.021-06:00

I was going to come up with lyrics for a parody of "My Favorite Things" from "The Sounds of Music" and end it with the title of this post, but I didn't manage to come up with something witty enough. Thought counts, though, right? ;)

So, what's a food and drink blog without posts about drinks? I've been planning this post for a while, but never got around to actually writing it because it's hard for me to pick out just a few "favorite" drinks. It's always down to my current mood, and I often don't decide what I want until I reach the bar when I'm out - and I don't always order something from the list below.

Having worked as a bartender for a bunch of years in a number of bars in a couple of countries, I have had plenty of time and resources to experiment and figure out what I like and what I dislike in the world of alcoholic beverages. I'm still not even sure what I think about certain products (fruit-flavored beer, for example) and some of my old favorites I hardly ever consume anymore (I used to order a shot of Bailey's and a glass of cider once upon a time...). What I do know, however, is that the list below is my go-to, won't-get-tired-of, incomplete list of drinks I like a lot.

These are not necessarily the classic recipes, but they are the way I make the drinks and they taste great to me, ok? ;)

The Dry Martini

2 oz gin. I prefer Bombay but go with whatever you like.
0.5 oz Vermouth. I like Noilly Prat
a twist of lemon peel

Tools: cocktail shaker, spoon
Glass: martini ("cocktail")

Start by putting ice in the glass and the cocktail shaker. You'll need to fill the glass, cocktail shaker should be about half full. Next add the gin and Vermouth to the glass. Stir. Do not shake. James Bond may like his "martinis" full of ice but I do not. If you don't have a spoon that is long enough or clean enough, you can put the lid on the shaker and slowly turn it upside down a few times, but stirring is preferred.

Once stirring is complete, discard the ice from the glass. Pour the liquid from the shaker without any of the ice. If you have a Boston shaker, this is achieved by using a separate strainer. If you're using a Cobbler shaker, use the strainer in the lid. Finally, garnish with the lemon peel. Some people like to rub the inside of the glass with the lemon peel, but I personally think you'll have enough of the lemony taste from just putting it in the glass. In addition, every second from when you place the liquid in the shaker until it hits the glass is precious - you don't want to water the drink down, but you do want to make it cold. Since there's no ice in the glass, you need to consume the drink within ten minutes unless you like warm gin (and since it's so good, you need to make another one right away).

Rusty Nail

2 oz scotch (blended whiskey)
1 oz Drambuie

Tools: n/a
Glass: Old fashioned ("rocks")

Put some ice in the glass, add the two alcohols, mix. It's simple and it's oh-so-good. Now, Drambuie is a whiskey liqueur made with herbs and honey. It's very smooth and relatively sweet, and has the same alcohol content as most whiskeys on the market (80 proof/40% alcohol by volume). Very much like the dry martini, this cocktail is made from alcohol mixed with other alcohol with only some ice added - no mixers here. If you do not like whiskey (or drinking any hard alcohol straight up), chances are you won't like the Rusty Nail. If you do, however, order one at a bar and prepare to feel the respect from the bartender (just kidding, although I'm sure a bartender would prefer the Rusty Nail guy over the four-shots-of-your-cheapest-tequila guy).

Black Russian

2 oz vodka
1 oz coffee liqueur (Kahlúa, for example)

Tools: n/a
Glass: Old fashioned ("rocks")

Another simple recipe: fill the glass with ice. Add the liquids. Stir, consume. The Dude in all his honor - and don't get me wrong, I really do love a White Russian - the Black Russian is where it's at. The coffee liqueur by itself is too sweet, the vodka by itself is...vodka by itself, which is fine as long as the vodka is decent. The mix? Fantastic. Yes, it's the third cocktail with no mixers, just booze, but it's so damn good that I can't really help putting it on this list.

If you do want to make a White Russian, prepare the above recipe and add 2 oz ice cold whole milk, or cream if you like that sort of thing.

Long Island Ice Tea

1 oz vodka
1 oz silver tequila
1 oz white (silver) rum
1 oz gin
1 oz Cointreau (or triple sec)
2 oz "sour mix" (equal parts simple syrup, lemon juice and lime juice)
dash of cola
slice of lemon to garnish

Tools: n/a
Glass: Highball

Oh, Long Island, how I love thee. If you go out and drink five of these, you'll wake up the next morning and your liver will sit next to you with a cup of coffee, going "you're an asshole." Yes, I stole that line from Denis Leary, thanks for noticing. The Long Island Ice Tea has been around since the late 70s and is the drink of choice for a lot of people, if I'm to believe my years behind the bar. I've served this potentially lethal mix of liquids to anything from high school students (where it's legal to serve high school students alcohol, of course) to old ladies out with their after-work social club. I've also consumed a fair amount of them, although I tend to limit myself to one a night, once every...month, maybe two. If mixed properly, it will taste like ice tea, but most places overdo the coke and it'll taste like alcohol mixed with coke and a splash of lemon.

First of all, prepare your sour mix. Place equal parts sugar and water (say, half a cup each) in a pot over medium heat. Stir constantly, until the sugar has dissolved. Pour into a container (made of glass, not plastic) and let cool. Keep in the fridge if you're not using right away. When it's time to make the sour mix, blend the syrup with an equal amount freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice. Keep in the fridge, should last a couple of weeks. Or, you could always buy some at the liquor store.

Next, assemble the drink. Take a large highball glass and fill it with ice. You'll want a glass large enough to only be about 2/3 full when you've added the ice and the 5 oz (total) of alcohol. Pour the alcohol in the glass, fill up with the sour mix (eyeball it - you want it to be roughly 2/3 inch from the top) and stir. Pour a dash of coke over the top. Garnish with a lemon, consume.

There are several things that can "go wrong" with this drink. If it's too sour, increase the simple syrup ratio in the sour mix - unless you bought the sour mix in the store. If that's the case, use less sour mix compared to the alcohol, not the coke. You're not supposed to use enough coke to color the drink brown, it should be yellow with a hint of brown.

See, I can make drinks with fruit in them too! ;)

Flaming Dr. Pepper (shot)

3/4 oz Amaretto (or similar almond liqueur)
1/4 oz 151 proof rum (Bacardi 151, for example)
1/2 pint lager beer

Tools: bar spoon (unless you're a pro)
Glass: 1 oz shot glass, pint glass (US pint - use a half pint glass if in Europe)

Let's do a shot then, shall we? Some innovative bartender invented the Flaming Dr. Pepper, and since you can't find Dr. Pepper in France, it became one of my shooters of choice when I lived there. Now, I rarely do shots, but when I do, I like them a bit fancier than "tequila with salt and lemon."

Fill the beer glass halfway up the rim. Next, fill the shot glass roughly 3/4 of Amaretto. Now comes the hard part: top the shot glass off with 151 proof rum. A seasoned bartender can easily do this by tilting the glass and slowly pouring the rum (through a bottle pourer) into the shot glass, thus layering the rum on top of the Amaretto. If you're not a seasoned bartender, you might have more luck slowly pouring it (still, using a pourer) over the back of a bar spoon.

Once layered, here comes the fun part. Light the rum, preferably with a lighter (a match is harder and you might get some phosphorus in the drink if you're unlucky). Let it burn for a few seconds, then drop the shot glass into the beer glass and drink it down in one big gulp. Bam! Instant Dr. Pepper!

The Matrix (shot)

1/2 oz white (silver) rum
1/2 oz vodka
1/2 oz blue Curaçao
1/2 oz grenadine
Strongbow cider (or similar English cider)

Tools: n/a
Glass: two 1 oz shot glasses, pint glass (preferably the European pint)

I have no idea who invented this shot, nor have I ever seen it outside the Paris bar scene. It was taught to me by the assistant manager at The Freedom, Dimitri, and it's...let's just say that if a shot of Jägermeister is "not for the seasoned drinker" (quote from Jacquie's dad), this is. It's also for the nutcase drinker. It's not a shot I'd recommend you take very often.

Start by putting vodka and grenadine in a shot glass, with a bit more vodka than grenadine. Next, put the Curaçao and the rum in the other shot glass, with more rum than Curaçao. This is not an exact science. Now, place the glass with the Curaçao and rum in the bottom of the pint glass. Stack the glass with the vodka and grenadine on top. Next, pour the cider down the side of the glass, making sure you don't directly hit the shot glasses. Fill 'er up.

What you have here is a drink with two "pills" - red and blue - and thanks to the cider mixing ever so slightly with the blue Curaçao, the drink itself will be green and green is a pretty dominant color in The Matrix.

Now comes the hard part: drink it all down in one go. It's a shot, even if it's a pint-sized shot.]

Not-so-Irish Coffee

1/2 oz Bailey's (or other whiskey cream liqueur)
1/2 oz Amaretto
1/2 oz Irish whiskey (optional)
4 oz hot, black coffee
whipped cream

Tools: n/a (or a whisk, if whipping cream), bar spoon, straw (optional)
Glass: highball

A traditional Irish Coffee is coffee and Jameson's whiskey mixed up with sugar, topped with lightly whipped cream. While I enjoy that, I actually prefer this not-so-Irish Coffee because I like whiskey more on its own and it feels like a waste to put it in coffee. That being said, I like to add a little Irish whiskey in this just to give it some extra kick (there's not much kick in Bailey's or Amaretto, so why not?).

Recipe is quite simple: mix all the ingredients but the cream together. If you whip the cream yourself (as opposed to buying it in a can), make sure you whip it very lightly - it should still be quite runny - and slowly pour it over the drink. Put a straw and spoon in there first, so you don't mess up the look of the drink by having a strand of cream come down through it, caused by the straw.

If you want to make the drink even sweeter (and, as some would say, "girlier"), replace the whiskey with chocolate liqueur.

By request: Mojito

2 oz white (silver) rum
2 limes
brown sugar
mint leaves

Tools: muddler (pestle for you Brits out there), ice crushing device (see below)
Glass: highball

Luke, here's for you. I can't believe I didn't think to include this in the original post, so instead of making a whole new post called "Request: Mojito", I'll just sneak it in here.

Quarter your limes and place them in the glass. Sprinkle about 2-3 tbsp of brown sugar, and finally add about 15 mint leaves. Now go to town with the muddler. We're looking to release juice from the limes and flavor from the mint leaves, as well as partially dissolve the sugar. Don't destroy the mint leaves too much!

Once you've destroyed the poor mint leaves enough, it's time to add the alcohol. Once this is done, it's ice time. Now, you already have the muddler in your hand, so one way (the best way, of course) is to crush the ice with it! If you don't want to completely ruin your good hand, or any hand for that matter, feel free to use a mechanical ice crusher or even a blender. You're looking to crush the ice, though, not emulsify it. Amount-wise, you need enough ice to fill the rest of the glass.

Garnish with a slice of lime and why not a mint leaf or two?

Some people enjoy a splash or two of soda water to be added on top, I don't think that is necessary at all.

Mmm...Mojito.

Perfect Scrambled Eggs

2009-01-28T23:51:00.006-06:00

I can't believe I haven't posted this yet. Gordon Ramsay shows us how to create the best scrambled eggs you've ever had. Enjoy.

And here's some I made a while back:

Semlor

2009-01-26T23:25:00.003-06:00

It is said that King Adolf Fredrik of Sweden (Adolf Frederick in English) died after having had a meal consisting of lobster, caviar, saurkraut, herring, champagne and then no less than 14 servings of semlor. That night, he had a cardiac arrest and died, 60 years old, in his bed. Not quite as exciting as his son - Gustav III of Sweden - who was assassinated (well, he died from the wounds some time later) . The semla, however, has survived and is still one of the most famous desserts in Northern Europe.

Originally, it was a sweet bun (baked with cardamom) served in a bowl with hot milk and they called it "hetvägg", which literally means "hot wall". These days, there are some more...let's say expensive ingredients, like almond paste and whipped cream, but some people still serve it with the hot milk as originally intended.

According to reliable sources (eh, Wikipedia), the name comes from the Latin "semilia" which was the finest wheat flour. There seems to be no translation to English for the words generally used for this fine product (semla, fastlagsbulle or hetvägg), so I'll just use the Swedish word for it - one semla, many semlor. There, you learned some Swedish today!

Traditionally, these baked little wonders were only served on the last Tuesday before lent, while Sweden was still a catholic country. Then, in the 16th century, protestantism came to the country and there was no more lent. These days, you can usually find it in pastry shops starting around Christmas all the way through Easter and I'm sure some places sell them throughout the year. Since they're not available in the US and I still have some of the almond paste my family sent me for Christmas, I decided to make some from scratch.

The only ingredient I have difficulty finding is fresh yeast. Luckily, it's not that hard to use active dry yeast instead. In addition, the recipes all call for ammonium carbonate (a predecessor to baking soda and baking powder), also called baker's ammonia, and that's not easy to find in normal convenience stores either. No bother, I modified a recipe a little and the end result tasted just the way I remember semlor should taste, so I will call it all a success. Now: let's get decadent!

Semlor

4 1/2 tsp (2 packets) active dry yeast
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
6 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 cup whole milk
1 pinch salt

almond paste (marzipan)
heavy whipping cream
powdered sugar

Start by melting the butter in a small pot over medium heat on the stove. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl (or the stand mixer's bowl if using). Once the butter is melted, add the milk and heat up to around 115 degrees Fahrenheit, or a bit warmer than lukewarm. If you burn your finger testing the liquid, it's too hot! Add the egg to the dry ingredients and mix well (use the paddle attachment if using a stand mixer). Once the liquid is warm enough, add it to the bowl and mix well. You are looking for a slightly sticky, smooth dough. Add flour as necessary to achieve this - use the dough hook attachment for the stand mixer if using.

Once the dough is easy enough to handle without clinging to the bowl, knead it for another few minutes, then place in a warm place (free of drafts) under a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 30 minutes or until doubled in size. Once done, turn the dough onto a clean baking board (or your counter top, just...clean, ok?) and punch it down. Divide into about 15 equal pieces, roll them into smooth buns and place on a baking sheet (either greased or covered with baking paper). Make sure there's some space between each bun.

Turn the oven to 425, cover the buns with the towel and leave for 30 more minutes. The should roughly double in size again. Place in the middle of the oven for 10 - 15 minutes or until golden brown (but watch out, you don't want to burn them!). Let rest under a kitchen towel until cool. This is important, or the top of the buns might get too hard.

Once they are cool, it's time to assemble the actual semla! Cut off a lid (see picture above), then dig out the contents of the bun, making sure you don't destroy the "walls" of it. Place the bread you removed in a bowl and combine with roughly an equal amount of marzipan (almond paste) and a small splash of milk, just enough to moisten the contents. Mix this together, then place it back in the bun. Whip enough of the heavy whipping cream to cover the bun, replace the lid and sift powdered sugar on top. Enjoy!

As mentioned before, some people serve this in a bowl with warm milk. Me? I remove the lid, dip it in the cream and then eat the bun, one big bite at the time and it's extremely yummy.

Keep the unused buns in a zip lock bag in the freezer. When ready to use, remove from the bag and place in the microwave at low power for a minute or so.

Pork Tenderloin with Gingered Sweet Potatoes

2009-01-26T00:14:00.002-06:00

Pork rocks. If it wasn't on the opposite end of "healthy" on the "things that are good and bad for you" scale, I could probably eat bacon every day. I mean, any food where the leftover grease can be used for frying pretty much anything and making it taste much better is fantastic in my book. This isn't about bacon, though, it's about a great pork tenderloin recipe I decided to make. The pork came out very tender, the mashed sweet potatoes were a great compliment and broccoli is always tasty as a side dish.

A note about pork: the risk of getting sick from eating undercooked pork is much smaller than they seem to warn you about in every restaurant out there. As long as the internal temperature is over 140 degrees Fahrenheit, you're safe and most of the time, you'll be taking it out of the oven at 155 degrees and letting it rest (and thus letting it continue to cook internally) for 10 minutes until it reaches the desired doneness. Pink pork will not kill you, but gray pork will make anyone with a desire to eat good food shed a tear (or eat elsewhere). Enough talk, here's the recipe!

Pork Tenderloin

1-1 1/2 lb pork tenderloin
1 2-inch piece of fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves
3-4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
salt
pepper

Remove the silver skin, as it will not break down when cooking. Place the pork in a zip lock bag. Peel the ginger and cut the piece into smaller chunks. Crush the garlic. Add all ingredients (a couple of pinches of salt and pepper is enough) to the bag, close it and toss to coat. Leave in the fridge for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight. I did this in the morning and cooked at night.

When ready to cook, turn oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the pork on a rack in a roasting pan. I added a little bit of white wine and apple juice in the roasting pan together with some more crushed garlic and ginger, and basted the roast with it every 5-10 minutes, but this is not necessary. Roast for 30-45 minutes (depending on thickness), until a meat thermometer reads 155 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from the oven and place on a plate. Cover loosely with tin foil and leave for 10 minutes before carving.

Gingered Mashed Sweet Potatoes

2 large sweet potatoes/yams
1 2-inch piece of ginger
1 cup heavy cream
salt
pepper

Bring water in a large pot to a boil, add salt. Wash the sweet potatoes and cut them lengthwise, once. Add to the pot and boil until tender enough that a knife easily cuts through them. In the meantime, peel the ginger and cut into smaller chunks. Add to a small pot together with the cream and bring to a simmer. Stirring frequently, keep simmering for at least 10 minutes, or the time it takes to finish the potatoes.

Once the potatoes are done, remove from the water and leave until cooler, but still warm. Remove the skin and place the potatoes back in the pot (you may need to rinse the pot first). Mash with a potato masher or fork. Add the cream and stir to combine. Salt and pepper to taste.

I serve the dish with oven-roasted broccoli. Wash a head of broccoli, remove the stem and cut into smaller pieces. Toss with a few tablespoons of oil, some salt and pepper in a bowl. Place in a oven-safe dish and roast for 10 minutes at 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Enjoy!

Request: Shrimp Fried Rice

2009-01-21T23:22:00.003-06:00

I bought a wok a while back, after Jacquie told me she was craving some fried rice. Now, fried rice is very simple to make and the taste is wonderful, so I wasn't late to oblige. It's not the healthiest of meals, perhaps, but I don't always care that much about that.

This is for Stassney, who requested a fried rice recipe the other day. Enjoy!

Shrimp Fried Rice

1lb shrimps
1 sweet onion (yellow onion is fine as well)
4 cloves garlic
1 large head of broccoli
1 cup uncooked white rice
3 eggs
1 bunch scallions (green onion)
dark soy sauce
cooking oil
salt
black pepper

Start by boiling the rice. The Uncle Ben's I used said "2 1/4 cup water for 1 cup of uncooked rice" and I used just around 1 1/2 cups of water. You do not want to overcook the rice. Once it's finished, let cool and place in the fridge. You want it to be completely cold before putting in the fridge, to avoid spoiling other food in there - you can do this many hours in advance as long as you cover the cooked rice.

Peel the shrimp. Add a little cooking oil to the wook and put on the stove over medium high heat. Add shrimp, fry until just pink. Remove from wok. Add more oil if necessary to fry the vegetables.

Dice the onion, mince the garlic and cut the broccoli into (roughly) half-inch pieces - or larger if you like that sort of thing. Fry the vegetables for about 5 minutes over medium high heat, or until they start to get softer and the onion is becoming translucent. At this point, add the three eggs and stir until they have scrambled in the pan. (Jacquie thinks the egg pieces get too small by doing this, so she has me scramble them in a separate pan and add them to the wok at this point.)

Next, put a few tablespoons of cold water in the rice, stir it to make sure it's loose and add to the wok. Add a few dashes of soy sauce and pepper, and salt to taste. Stir frequently until rice is getting warm and everything is covered by the soy sauce. Add the shrimp and the finely chopped scallion to the pan, cook and stir for another couple of minutes. Serve immediately in a bowl.

This will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days, but is best eaten right away.

More pizza

2009-01-21T09:00:00.000-06:00

I made pizza recently, and decided that it was time to post a picture since I didn't have time to take one last time. Yum yum.

Movie Night

2009-01-17T15:38:00.004-06:00

We're having some people over tonight to watch The Big Lebowski - hopefully the first of many movie nights. We've decided to try to pair the movie with food and drinks, so we're naturally making White Russians, grilled cheese sandwiches (bowling alley food) and french fries (also bowling alley food).

I'm curious to see what food and drink pairings we can come up with for future movies. I think we're planning to have a "watch party" - seeing the two movies Night Watch and Day Watch - and I suppose we'll just have to go for Russian food with those two. And vodka, neat. Of course :)

Apple Crumble

2009-01-16T00:04:00.003-06:00

I am fully aware that I posted a recipe for apple marzipan pie just a week ago or so, but I made an apple crumble the other day and it's very different from the pie so I decided to post the recipe. Now, a crumble is very hard to mess up and it's quick to prepare. Just make sure you have some vanilla ice cream or custard to serve it with, as that will double the deliciousness.

Apple Crumble

3-4 apples (use a variety, if possible)
1 stick very cold butter (8 tbsp, 125g)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cups white sugar + a few pinches
ground cinnamon

Turn your oven to 425 degrees F (225 degrees C).

Start with the apples. Peel, remove the seeds and slice. A normal sized apple should make roughly 10-12 slices. The size isn't of a huge importance, and you can really dice them or cut them into little shapes that are vaguely reminiscent of Disney characters. It does not matter. I slice, because slicing is fun.

Next, grease a 9 inch form. You can use a pie form for this, or a square dish - as long as it's oven safe. I use butter, a little bit of vegetable oil would be OK too. Place the apples in the pan, coat with a few pinches of sugar and cinnamon.

Place the flour and sugar in a bowl. Add the chilled butter in small chunks and start crumbling with your fingers. Your goal is to get pea-sized grains of dough, but be sure not to over-work it. You're not looking to melt the butter and form a ball of dough here, we want crumbles. Once combined, drizzle the mixture over the apples. You don't have to completely cover everything, but you should be able to.

Place in the center of the oven for 30 minutes. Let cool slightly, but serve while still warm with some vanilla ice cream or cold custard to make it even better.

Lasagna Bolognese

2009-01-14T20:50:00.000-06:00

I absolutely love lasagna, so when I read a recipe (from The Silver Spoon, although I don't own the book yet) featuring homemade pasta and béchamel sauce, I just had to try it. Recipe follows!

Bolognese Sauce

1 carrot
1 onion
1.5 lb ground beef
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 16 oz can whole, peeled tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
olive oil
salt
pepper

Finely chop carrots and onion. Add to large frying pan with 2 tbsp olive oil over medium high heat. Fry for 5 minutes, then add ground beef and brown. Once brown, add the wine. Let the wine boil off (5-10 minutes), then lower the heat and add the tomato and salt. Let simmer for at least 30 minutes, then pepper and remove from heat.

I should have used a lower fat version of the ground beef, or at least drained it, but it came out tasting very, very good.

Béchamel Sauce

1/4 cup butter (one half stick)
1/4 cup flour
2 1/4 cup milk
freshly grated nutmeg
salt
pepper

Melt butter in a pan over medium heat. Once melted, whisk in the flour. Once incorporated, add the milk and whisk constantly until boiling. Add nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Lower the heat to medium/low and put a lid on the pan. Leave for 20-30 minutes, whisking every five minutes or so.

Pasta

This was easier than I thought! I have no pasta machine (yet, I want that attachment), so I rolled them by hand. Took some energy, but they came out nice and thin.

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup semolina flour (durum wheat)
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp water
1 tsp salt

Fill a large pot with water, bring to a boil, add salt.

I used a stand mixer for this - if you have one, put everything but the water in the mixer and mix up with the paddle. Once incorporated, mix with the dough hook for 10 minutes, adding the tablespoons of water if needed. You're looking for a shiny texture, almost like leather.

If not using a mixer, mix the flours and salt and make a mound on a clean surface. Make a well in the center and add the eggs, yolk and olive oil. Incorporate the flour into the well with your hands or a fork. Once incorporated, knead for 10 or 15 minutes, adding some water if needed.

Let the dough rest for at least 15 minutes before dividing into 6 pieces and rolling each piece very thinly. Don't worry too much about the size, but if you can make the pieces roughly 1/2 of the form you're making the lasagna in, you're ahead of the game.

Place one sheet at the time in boiling water for 1-2 minutes, remove into a colander and let drain, place on moist (clean!) kitchen towel and leave until ready to build lasagna.

Building the Lasagna

1 cup parmesan cheese
Bolognese sauce from above recipe
Béchamel sauce from above recipe
Pasta from above recipe
2 tbsp butter plus extra for greasing

Set your oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C)

Grease a large, oven-safe form. Cover the bottom of the pan with pasta, then spoon a layer of bolognese sauce, drizzle béchamel sauce and finally add some of the parmesan cheese. You can add some grated mozzarella cheese too, if you wish. Continue with the layers until all is used (I managed three layers). Finish with béchamel sauce. Place in oven for 30 minutes, let cool for 5 before cutting. Serve with some lettuce and fresh tomato, or just devour the whole thing from the pan.

Enjoy :)

Cornbread Croutons

2009-01-13T23:03:00.000-06:00

I recently made cornbread and had some leftovers. Following a suggestion from someone at the Something Awful Forums, I decided to make cornbread croutons! I cut up the bread, tossed with some melted butter and a little kosher salt, roasted them in the oven at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes (and only set the smoke detector off once!) and let cool down.

Tasted really good on a bowl of hot chili. I'm probably going to try them on a salad too, before they go stale :)

Pizza

2009-01-12T09:45:00.004-06:00

I made pizza last night, from scratch. Actually, I started with the dough on Saturday afternoon, because Alton Brown said so!

After watching the above video and reading the recipe a few times, I felt ready to toss my own dough and create one of my favorite dishes (and, I'm assuming, Jacquie's absolute favorite). I even went as far as to go pick up a pizza stone ($10 at Target - will definitely replace it with something "nicer" in the future) and today I bought a pizza peel! Either way, Saturday afternoon, I quickly mixed up the ingredients in the stand mixer and let the dough hook do its magic for 15 or so minutes. Once it was finished, I could stretch the dough out to see the "window pane" and I was pretty amazed that I managed to get it that good my first time around.

Last night, it was time for the actual pizza baking (after letting the dough rise for the recommended 24 hours in a fridge). Unfortunately, I didn't have the pizza peel at this time, so I had to build the pizzas on a cutting board and one of them did tear just a little bit when I had to move it around...but the pizzas did come out really well. I topped them with some canned tomato sauce I happened to have in the fridge (nothing spectacular, I'll make my own next time), fresh basil, mozzarella cheese (whole, fresh) and nothing else. It was pretty delicious and I can't wait to do it again to introduce my pizza peel to my 500 degree oven!

No picture today, as I forgot to take one before it was too late and the pizzas were completely devoured. I might add one next time I do this :)

Apple Marzipan Pie

2009-01-08T23:30:00.001-06:00

A few weeks before Christmas, I received a large box from Sweden. I quickly tore it open and found a bunch of Swedish food from my family! In the pile (which also included Swedish coffee that I plan to drink over the next few weeks, yum) was a package of marzipan. Now, marzipan doesn't seem to be very common in the US. You can get it here, sure, but it seems to come pre-colored in smaller packages. In Sweden, not so much. You buy it in just-over-a-pound packages (500g) or more, some make little gnomes with red hats for the holidays, others bake with it, and - more often than not - most people I know end up consuming half the package, idly snacking away while it's stored in the pantry.

I decided to bake with it! Now, I love to make apple crumble and I had apples at home for that very reason. I then realized I had the marzipan and some pie crust and thought it might be an even better idea to try out something different. I'll make the apple crumble soon again and might post my ultra-secret, century-old family recipe (mostly because Jacquie liked that better than this) and I'll use the second half of my marzipan for something else. Mazarins, perhaps?

I happened to have pie crust in the fridge, but you should make your own because it will be approximately 2.32 times better than the pre-made, store-bought one. Here's the recipe. Enjoy!

Apple Marzipan Tart

For the crust:

4.5oz chilled butter
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp powdered sugar
1 egg

For the filling:

4 apples (your choice - I generally do two or three different ones)
0.5lb marzipan, uncolored
3 eggs
0.5 cup whole milk
4 tbsp raw/brown sugar

Start with the crust. Make sure you work quickly and efficiently, as the butter cant be allowed to heat up. Place the flour and sugar in a food processor and pulse a few times to mix well. Add the chilled butter in half-inch cubes and pulse again, 4-5 times, until it looks like crumbles. Add the egg and pulse another few times until it's combined. Remove from the bowl, form a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the fridge for a minimum of one hour, up to one day.

Once finished, press the dough out into a greased 9-inch pie pan (preferably with a removable bottom). Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork and place back in fridge.

Turn your oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

In a bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer), coarsely shred the marzipan. Add the egg and milk and mix well - use the paddle mixer if you're using a stand mixer. Once combined, pour into the pie crust.

Next, wash and peel your apples, then slice into thin wedges. Press the wedges into the battered pie crust in a circle. Sprinkle with the brown sugar.

Place in the lower half of the oven for 40 - 45 minutes or until the batter has set completely and the apples have browned nicely. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or custard. Store, covered in tin foil or plastic wrap, for up to a week.

Improving the work environment

2009-01-07T11:41:00.005-06:00

I brought a pulled pork sandwich to my colleague at work today. Sourdough bread, coleslaw, pulled pork. The result?

Fritz [11:32 AM]: I believe the word I'd use to describe this sandwich is "heavenly" :P
Fritz [11:32 AM]: Soo good man.
Andreas [11:32 AM]: Oh, you like?
Fritz [11:32 AM]: Yeah it's awesome
Andreas [11:32 AM]: I'm posting that comment in my blog

:)

The Slow Cooker

2009-01-06T22:04:00.004-06:00

The slow cooker has gotten a bad reputation over the years, at least that's what I've gathered from reading various recipes, cookbooks and talking to friends who enjoy cooking. Everyone seems to have an older relative who has served them a soggy meatloaf or a dry pot roast that has spent untold hours in a crock pot.

I bought a slow cooker a while back because I read a recipe for pulled pork - and I love pulled pork - that the author promised would be fantastic. Now, a slow cooker (for those lucky enough to not have had grandma make soggy meatloaf in one) is essentially a countertop cooking device that applies low heat to food over a long time and is suitable to leave unattended while off doing more important things, like...well, there are few things as important as cooking, but let's pretend "going to work" is and leave it at that.

After having owned the slow cooker for about six months, I can safely say it was well worth the investment ($20 at Target) and I've made a few dishes in it that were really, really good. The fact that you can take a cheap hunk o' meat, stick in a pot and leave it for 8 hours while at work to come home to a house that smells fantastic is actually not a bad idea at all. Maybe grandma was right after all, but the application was a tad off? (I use the term "grandma generically here, both my grandmothers are great cooks and I've never seen them use a crock pot, nor have they served me soggy meatloaf.)

I generally make the pulled pork or a chili in the pot (the picture above is of my chili on chips with some melted Mexican cheese), but have tried other recipes too and I'm always on the lookout for new things to put in there. We had pulled pork sandwiches tonight (made coleslaw from scratch, served in pita bread) and it was pretty damned great.

So give the crock pot a chance - and share your interesting recipes with me! Here are a few:

Slow Cooker Chili

1 lb ground beef
1 medium yellow onion
5 garlic cloves
2 shallots
2 cans diced tomatoes (or fresh, peeled and seeded)
1 small can tomato paste
2 cans chili beans, black beans or red kidney beans, or any mix thereof (or roughly 2 cups dry beans that you let soak overnight)
2 large jalapeños
salt
black pepper
red pepper flakes
ground cumin

Start by browning the beef in a large skillet. I generally add a little salt and pepper at this point, but it's not necessary. Once browned, drain in a sieve to get rid of most of the liquid (which is basically fat and a little water). Place the browned beef in the slow cooker. Peel and dice the onion, peel and slice the shallots, and peel and finely chop the garlic. Dump it all in the slow cooker.

Next, I highly recommend putting gloves on. No, not the kind you wear when you go outside in North Dakota in January, I mean the disposable plastic gloves you steal when you go to the doctor and get bored in his office. We're chopping jalapeños and trust me - you do not want to touch your nose or eyes after chopping these spicy little peppers. Slice them in half, remove the seeds, chop them up and add to the slow cooker.

Next, open up your cans. Drain and rinse the beans if you're using canned ones. Add everything to the pot. Next, add about half a tablespoon of red pepper flakes and half a tablespoon of cumin. Add a few pinches of kosher salt and some black pepper.

Next, turn the slow cooker on. Aim for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low - a little more than that won't hurt either. If possible, stir occasionally. If you find, when time is up, that the chili appears a bit too "wet", feel free to put it in a large pot and place over medium high heat on the stove, stirring frequently until the liquid is reduced to your preferred consistency.

Serve with rice, or over chips with shredded cheese (cheddar or provolone are good, I use a Mexican tri-cheese for this). The chili will freeze well, and be fine in the fridge for up to about a week. I usually freeze mine in smaller batches to be brought out and heated for a quick dinner or snack.

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork with Cole Slaw

Pork:

1 large pork shoulder or "Boston butt" (bone-in or not, your choice)
1 yellow onion
8 tbsp apple cider vinegar
4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
brown sugar

Coleslaw:

4 cups shredded white cabbage (or red, but that will color the mayo and make pink coleslaw)
1 carrot, shredded
1/3 cup mayonaise (light, if you must)
1 tbsp white wine vingegar
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Start by coating the pork with brown sugar. If there is a large piece of fat at the bottom, feel free to cut it out now (although leaving it on won't hurt, you can just remove it later). Quarter the onion and place in the bottom of the pot. Place the pork on top of the onion - if it does not fit, you can cut the pork in half to be able to squeeze it in there. Next, pour the vinegar and Worcestershire sauce over the pork, cover and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4-5 hours. If possible, flip the pork halfway through cooking.

Once finished, remove the pork from the pot and shred. I usually use two forks to do this. Throw out excess fat when shredding.

To make the coleslaw, shred the cabbage and carrot into a bowl. Add the mayo, vinegar, oil, salt and sugar and stir. Taste it and add more salt/sugar as needed.

Serve the pork with the coleslaw on a soft bun or in a pita bread or just eat it straight out of the bowl if you want to. I usually mix a bunch of BBQ sauce with the meat too, which gives it some extra flavor.

I was going to post a picture of the pulled pork sandwiches I made tonight in this blog, but once I checked them and found they were out of focus, we had already consumed them. I might add one later, if I make more (since I still have plenty of pork left in the fridge, where it will last up to a week).

Request: Cornbread

2009-01-05T15:10:00.003-06:00

I recently received a request for a good cornbread recipe and, having never made it before (it's an American dish for sure), I decided to give it a try. What better reason to try out one of the pans Jacquie gave me for Christmas?

I went to Randall's (our standard grocery shopping place) to get ingredients but as they didn't have normal buttermilk in stock (only the low-fat kind), I made a quick stop at Whole Foods Market as well. Whole Foods is almost interesting enough to write its own post about but suffice it to say, had it not been for their whole "health nut" image, with half the store filled with dietary supplements and vitamins, combined with their slightly higher prices, I'd really enjoy shopping there. I go there for the fish, and for certain specialty items that are harder to find elsewhere. In addition, they seem to have a pretty nice cheese counter so I'm sure I'll stop by for that from time to time as well. As I was about to pay for the buttermilk, the lady in front of me asked if I was going to drink it "just like that". I answered "nope, makin' cornbread" and she seemed pleased with that answer. Who the hell drinks buttermilk "just like that"?

This is the first request I do, and I really enjoyed the challenge of making something I have not made before (not that cornbread was particularly challenging). Hell, I've only ever tasted cornbread once before, but at least Jacquie let me know that it tasted the way it's supposed to and was good to boot. If you have a request - be it a recipe, a bartending technique or something else (related to food or drink, naturally), feel free to leave a comment to a blog post, shoot me an email, post on my Facebook wall, or send a carrier pigeon my way.

Roy, here's your cornbread recipe. Enjoy!

Cornbread

1/4 lb unsalted butter (1/2 stick) + butter or oil for greasing pan
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt

Start by preheating the oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 inch pan (at least 1 inch deep) with melted butter or vegetable oil. Next, melt the butter in a pan over medium low heat. Once melted, add to a large bowl (or to the mixing bowl of your stand mixer, if you're using that). Add the sugar and stir. Add eggs immediately and beat until everything is well blended.

Next, mix buttermilk and baking soda in a different bowl. Add this to the butter/sugar/egg mixture and stir. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt. Once combined, pour into the form.

Cook in oven 35-40 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in form, cut into squares and serve with your favorite meal.

"Put in the Pan"

2009-01-04T23:00:00.005-06:00

Pytt i panna is a common Swedish meal, generally made from leftover beef the day after having steak. There are probably as many recipes as there are Swedish chefs (so fourteen or so), but it usually includes the previously mentioned beef (in small pieces), cut up hot dogs, potatoes and onion. I decided to make this with a little bit of a twist because I didn't have any leftover steak and I don't really want to put hot dogs in anything that isn't shaped like a bun (and doesn't taste like a bun).

My parents served a form of pytt i panna at their (now closed) restaurant - Le Petit Piteå in Perpignan, France. Here's my take:

Put in the pan (Andreas-style)

1/2 lb ground beef (I used 20% fat)
2 Italian sausages (I used mild, but spicy would work well too)
2 large russet potatoes
3 large shallots
salt
black pepper
Tabasco sauce

Cut the potatoes into half-inch squares. Peel and thinly slice the shallots. Put a pan over medium high heat on the stove. Add a little oil and a small dab of butter, if you wish. Add the potatoes to the pan. Flip the potatoes occasionally, making sure they get evenly fried. When they look like they are more or less done, add the shallots. In addition, add salt and pepper to taste.

Remove the skin from the sausages, and cut them into small pieces. In a separate pan (cast iron skillet if you have it), add the sausages and the ground beef. Use a spatula to make sure the ground beef is adequately separated (we're not making meatballs here). Once cooked through, add the potato/shallot combination to this pan and stir. If you decided to use Tabasco sauce, now is the time to add it. Add more salt and pepper if required.

Serve immediately with fresh sliced tomatoes and cucumber. Enjoy this fantastically healthy meal (no, not really).

Pita Bread and Tzatziki

2009-01-02T15:49:00.016-06:00

I went to a Greek/Mediterranean restaurant for lunch the other day and had a Gyro sandwich (unidentifiable meat in a pita bread with vegetables and a tzatziki sauce on the side). I'm happy to have located such a restaurant considering I love that sort of food and I didn't think I'd be able to locate something that tastes so authentically Greek in Austin. Since we decided to throw a New Year's Eve party and needed snacks, I figured I might as well make some tzatziki and pita bread from scratch. Here's a quick and simple recipe for pita bread and tzatziki. I use the stand mixer, of course, but it works well to knead by hand as well.

Pita bread

1 package (2 1/4 tsp) quick-rising yeast
3 - 4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup hot water (but not too hot)
1 tbsp olive oil + 1 tbsp for coating

Put the yeast, 2 cups of the flour, the salt, the water and 1 tbsp of oil in a large bowl. Mix until fully incorporated, then add flour until you have a soft and relatively sticky dough. Turn onto a floured board and knead for 5 minutes. Lightly coat a bowl with oil and place the dough in the bowl, turning it to cover. Next, cover with a kitchen towel and leave in a warm place for 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

Turn your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit (230 degrees Celsius).

Once the dough is done rising, turn it out onto a floured board again and punch the air out. Divide into 8 equally sized pieces and form little balls. Roll each ball out into a circle, about 1/4 inch thick (be careful not to handle it too much at this point!), then place on a cookie sheet (lightly greased, or covered with baking paper). Place cookie sheet close to the bottom of the oven for 4 minutes, then turn and leave for another 4 minutes or until lightly brown.

Remove from oven and immediately cover in a kitchen towel for 4-5 minutes. Once this is done, gently press each pita bread to release the air from it, but be careful and do not do this once the bread has cooled completely. Store in zip lock bag - it will last 2-3 days in room temperature or a couple of months in the freezer. Makes for a great sandwich, just cut open and stuff with vegetables, beef, chicken or anything else you can think of.

Tzatziki

16 oz Greek yogurt (or plain yogurt)
2 cucumbers
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
the juice of 1/2 lemon
5 - 10 cloves of garlic (to taste)
1 tsp salt

If you were unable to find Greek yogurt, the first step is to place a coffee filter in a funnel, put the normal plain yogurt in the coffee filter and let drip (into a bowl!) for at least 12 hours in the fridge. This will remove most of the moisture from the yogurt, which is imperative. I did my latest batch with Bulgarian yogurt, which was a little too "wet" and I should have let it drip for 4-5 hours but I didn't have the time.

Once your yogurt is prepared (or if you're using Greek), start by carefully washing the cucumbers and then cutting them in half, lengthwise, and remove the seeds. Once removed, grab a grater and coarsly grate the cucumber into a bowl. Next, you need to remove as much moisture as possible from the cucumbers. One way is to place them in a (clean!) dish towel and squeeze it, but remember that it will be completely green when you're done and you may not be able to clean it completely. Don't use grandma's favorite towel, mkay? I generally just grab a handful of cucumber, squeeze it in the palm of my (clean!) hand and then place on paper towels. Once all the cucumber is done, place another paper towel on top and get rid of even more moisture.

Finally, the garlic. Peel and chop very finely (use a press if you have to, but...no, don't use a damned garlic press) is all you have to do.

Now, combine the oil and juice in a medium bowl. Add the yogurt and mix very well. Add the cucumber, garlic and salt. Stir well and taste - you may need to add some more salt. I generally add black pepper as well.

Garnish with a little parsley if you want to, or just eat it because that's what it's there for. Lasts a week in the fridge if well sealed. Does not freeze well.

Enjoy :)

Butternut Squash Soup & Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

2009-01-02T15:11:00.008-06:00

A grilled cheese sandwich with a cup of soup is one of the staples in the Great American Diet - perfect for chilly fall evenings or perhaps as lunch in the midst of the snowy winter. Since we don't get snowy winters here in Austin, and "chilly" is when the mercury hits 60 degrees (that's 15 degrees Celsius for the rest of the world), I make my grilled cheese sandwiches and soup whenever I damn well please, thank you very much.

I was charged with the "make the food" task for Thanksgiving this year (all right, I charged myself with the "make the food" task, so what?) and decided to start people off with a butternut squash soup. It went down really well, so I decided to make it again recently, removing the canned tomato soup that generally seems to be the standard side for a grilled cheese from the equation. And now, the recipe!

Butternut Squash Soup

1 large butternut squash
2 cups chicken stock (homemade if you're into that sort of thing, low salt content if you buy it)
1 cup heavy cream
salt
pepper
freshly ground nutmeg
butter or olive oil

Heat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius). Cut the squash lengthwise and scoop out the seeds - these can be toasted in a pan for a snack once cleaned and dried, but I'm not going to go into detail here. Cut the squash halves into half inch-thick pieces (leave the peel on) and put them in an oven pan, skin side down. Dab with butter (or drizzle with olive oil), salt and pepper. Put the pan in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until very soft. Remove from oven. Scoop the fruit from the peel into a blender. Add the chicken stock and puree until no lumps remain (you can also use a stick blender if you have one, just put the ingredients in a pot instead). Pour the mixture into a pot and bring to a simmer. Add the heavy cream and nutmeg and bring back to a simmer. Salt and pepper to taste.

Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Yes, you probably don't need the recipe for a grilled cheese sandwich, but I'm going to be thorough here, so here it is anyway.

2 slices of bread. I prefer sourdough, but anything goes
Enough cheese to cover the face of one slice of bread. I like Cracker Barrel Cheddar, but anything that melts goes (Mozzarella is interesting, and provolone is fantastic too)
Spreadable butter
Black pepper (optional)

Spread the butter on one side of each slice of bread. I usually grab my bread from the freezer and by the time it's about to hit the pan, it'll be thawed enough. Now, add slices of cheese on the non-buttered side of one slice of bread. Add freshly ground black pepper, if you want to. Now add the other slice of bread on top, buttered side up.

Heat a skillet (I use my iron cast pan because iron cast pans rock) to medium high, add a tiny bit of vegetable oil if you want to, fry bread on each side for roughly one minute or until golden brown. Serve immediately with a cup of hot soup.

The soup will last in the fridge for 3-4 days, in the freezer for about a month but is absolutely best served right away. The sandwiches won't last long, at least not with me around because I'll eat them all.