I eat what tastes good!

Seattle - the Land Devoid of Good Tex-Mex Food

2015-11-06T13:57:00.000-08:00

I suppose I could edit that title to say: "The Pacific Northwest - the Land Devoid of Good Tex-Mex Food" and it would still be true.

When I first moved to the Pacific Northwest - around Eugene, Portland, and then the Seattle area - I missed my comfort Tex-Mex food. I didn't even realize how much it was a comfort food for me until I couldn't find it anymore! It quickly became clear that I had to find a way to make my favorite foods for myself.

Growing up in south Texas, my family could afford to dine out one night a week. Every Friday, almost like clockwork, you could find my family at a local Mexican restaurant named El Corral in Kingsville, Texas. Of course it wasn't called a Tex-Mex restaurant; it was just called a Mexican restaurant! When you are in Texas, there aren't any restaurants that advertise themselves as Tex-Mex. Sure, if you strike up a conversation with the owners or other enthusiasts, they'll agree they are serving Tex-Mex food and not authentic Mexican food. There are restaurants that tout themselves as "Authentic Mexican Restaurants" in Texas, and of course the food is very different than the Mexican food most Texans have grown to know and love. Black beans and mole sauce, anyone?

I cried out for good Tex-Mex food in Oregon and Washington, and people would point me to a few restaurants. I would leave utterly disappointed.

First of all, why don't these places have a simple staple appetizer on their menu - queso dip?! Sure, some of them have queso dip on the menu, but much like certain droids, it is not the queso dip you are looking for. Queso dip shouldn't be made with a stringy cheese; queso dip should melt beautifully!

American cheese is the way, and I'm not talking about Velveeta or Kraft singles. Sure, we might have a special nostalgic place in our heart for those Kraft singles and Velveeta melted with a can of Rotel, but you know what? We can have nice things now. Velveeta and Kraft singles are perfectly acceptable in a pinch or when finances are tight, but you can indulge yourself now. You've earned it. Go to your deli counter and ask for yellow (or white) American cheese. Boar's head, Land O'Lakes, Kroger brand - whatever you can get your hands on - will all work! Deli yellow American cheese is made of a blend of cheddar and colby cheese, and white American cheese is a blend of white cheddar and jack cheese. Both are perfectly acceptable choices when making a queso dip!

During my time in Austin, I found a Mexican restaurant called Matt's el Rancho. While they did not have my favorite cheese enchiladas in town (that honor belongs to a restaurant called Maudie's - the Josie's enchiladas, without onions on top) they did have some amazing beef fajitas and a queso dip called the Bob Armstrong dip.

That dip was named after a friend of Matt Martinez, a man named Bob Armstrong. They met each other through wrestling, and Bob is still a frequent visitor of Matt's el Rancho. In fact, I had the honor of meeting him one day! I ordered the famous queso dip (it's almost sacrilege not to...), and he walked up to my table and several others and asked: "Is that the Bob Armstrong dip?" "Yes it is." "Well, hi! I'm Bob Armstrong!" He was a charming, affable man, and you could tell he was immensely proud of that dip and its ability to strike up a great conversation. Texans have a reputation for being friendly, and Bob Armstrong keeps that reputation going!

I've sent many friends to Matt's el Rancho for beef fajitas, and they have all agreed they are some of the best they've ever had! One Mexican friend I grew up with is pretty loyal to her family recipes. I told her: "Just try them out!" She's hooked now.

The best part about Matt's el Rancho is that a lot of their recipes are available through their cookbooks! Unfortunately they are out of print, but you can find them through used book stores and the like. I have all three of Matt's books, but my favorite by far is the first one listed here:

Go. Buy it now.

If you can't wait for it to arrive or if you can't find the book, here are a couple favorite recipes of his that I have tweaked to my own taste. Once you get the hang of making beef fajitas and you have the Texas Sprinkle & Black Magic Finishing sauce on hand in your pantry, it will take you a total of 30 minutes or less to make fantastic fajitas for dinner!

Queso Dip

For Matt Martinez's Tex-Mex Spice:
3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons ground cumin
3 tablespoons granulated garlic
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon coarse ground black pepper

For taco meat layer:
1/4 cup finely chopped bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped white onion
2 tablespoons Tex-Mex Spice
1 pound lean ground beef

For chile con queso layer:

1 1/2 cups canned chopped green chiles or fresh chiles, peeled and finely diced

1/2 cup diced fresh tomato
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
4 teaspoons Tex-Mex Spice
1 cup chicken broth
2 pounds American cheese or more if needed, cubed, or if sliced, torn into 4 pieces

For guacamole layer:
2 large Haas avocados
1/4 of a package of Concord Foods Guacamole season (regular or spicy, your preference)
2 teaspoon King Cajun cream spice
1 teaspoon dried onions
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon Tex-Mex spice
2 teaspoon Salt Grass spice
Juice of 1/2 a lime

Additional serving requirements:

Tortilla chips for dipping

A glass baking dish & hot serving tray or Crock pot for serving warm, possibly an additional smaller one for serving a separate version without avocado.

Prepare the Tex-Mex spice by mixing together the above 4 spices. Store in an airtight container, and be sure to label it for future use in other Tex-Mex cuisine.
Prepare taco meat layer. In a cold skillet, stir together bell pepper, celery, onion and Tex-Mex spice. Spread the uncooked meat on top. You can leave it in one solid piece. Place over medium heat. When meat starts to simmer, stir and break up the meat. Simmer on low for 20 minutes or until the meat is cooked throughout. Remove from heat; drain and discard any fat. Cover to keep warm, and set aside.
Prepare chile con queso layer. In a saucepan, combine chiles, tomato, onion, celery, Tex-Mex spice and chicken broth. Bring to a light simmer; gently cook for about 5 minutes. Reduce heat; add cheese. Simmer and stir periodically until cheese melts. (If mixture is too thick, add water; if it's too thin, add more cheese.) Remove from heat.
Prepare the guacamole layer. Halve avocados and scoop flesh into a mixing bowl; discard pits and skin. Add lime juice; mash together until mixture reaches a chunky texture. Add the other seasonings and stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap, making sure the wrap touches the surface of the guacamole. Set aside.
In either a large glass baking dish with a hot serving tray underneath, a Crock pot set on low, or other warm serving dish, combine the taco meat layer, chile con queso layer, and the guacamole layer. Personally, I combine the chile con queso layer and the taco meat layer into one giant crock pot, stir, and then I pull put a smaller serving and put it into a 1 qt crock pot where I then add some of the guacamole to the mix. Several people (read: non-Texans) in my circle don't like avocados, so I always serve the guacamole queso dip in a smaller dish. It's easier to make more of that vs. removing avocado! Plus if someone wants guacamole, they can just eat some guacamole with their chips! Alternatively, you can warm the queso dip in a glass baking dish in the oven and pop it back in when it needs to be reheated.
Also note that this recipe can be easily doubled. Just make sure your pans and crock pot can handle a double amount! This dish is always available at my house for Superbowl parties and the like.

Beef Fajitas (chicken, shrimp & veggie too - but choose wisely & make beef!)

For Texas Sprinkle:

4 tablespoons cracker meal or finely ground, unflavored bread crumbs

3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons granulated garlic

3 tablespoons salt

2 tablespoons coarse ground black pepper

Combine & store in an airtight container and label. Rule of thumb for meat, chicken and seafood: Use 1 teaspoon per 4 ounces. For veggies: Use 1 teaspoon per 2 cups.

For Black Magic Finishing Sauce:

1 bottle (10 ounces) light soy sauce

1/3 cup red wine vinegar (not balsamic)

1/3 cup red wine (recommended: Cabernet Sauvignon)

Combine & store in an airtight bottle and label it. This pairs well with fire-grilled and skillet-grilled foods. Rule of Thumb: Use 1 teaspoon per 4 ounces of veggies, meats, chicken or seafood.
Black Magic should be added at the end of the cooking process. When the product is cooked the way you want it, add the sauce, stir, flip, and coat evenly. Let the sauce meet the heat to do its work. Black Magic will react to a hot skillet or open flame and make lots of sizzle! When cooking indoors, it may cause a little smoke, so turn your overhead vent on high.

For Meat Fajitas:

1 pounds beef sirloin or tenderloin (sirloin preferred), cut against the grain, on a bias; or boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs; or 16-20 count shrimp, peeled and deveined

8 teaspoons Texas Sprinkle (recipe above, portioned according to the weight of your meat)

3 tablespoons cooking oil

2 cups sliced onions

2 cups sliced bell peppers

Black magic Finishing Sauce (recipe above, portioned according to the weight of your meat)

8 to 12 flour or corn tortillas, warmed

Shredded cheddar cheese or a tablespoon or so of queso dip (above)

Other optional garnishes:

Sour cream

Pico de gallo

hot sauce/taco sauce

Set aside your Texas Sprinkle, Black Magic, and other ingredients mise en place so you can quickly combine ingredients.
In a 10- or 12-inch (cast iron, preferred) skillet, heat 3 tablespoons of oil to medium-high. Turn heat down to medium and cook meat 1 pound at a time: For beef, cook for 1 minute first, then add onions and peppers to cook 2 to 3 minutes longer, or until redness is gone from the meat. For chicken and shrimp, put down at the same time as the onions and peppers, and sauté for about 3 to 4 minutes
Once meat is cooked, drizzle Black Magic over skillet and toss to coat evenly for 15 to 20 seconds and listen to that sizzle! Place on a family style platter or in the warm cast iron skillet and serve immediately with tortillas, hot sauce, garnishes, and sides such as my borracho beans!

For Veggie Fajitas (no meat):

Use a combination of corn, chopped broccoli, and sliced onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, zucchini and yellow squash. Allow 1 cup of veggies per serving.
Cook 2 cups of veggies at a time: Use 4 teaspoons of Texas Sprinkle and 3 tablespoons oil. Saute for 3 to 4 minutes on medium-high. When veggies are cooked, drizzle with Black Magic and toss for 15 to 20 seconds.

We Have Pork Leg Steaks - What Now?

2015-05-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, we went "halfsies" with a friend on a half of a pig. For the most part, a lot of the pig has been sitting in the freezer without many ideas on what to do with it. Sure, we know what to do with pork chops, ribs, ground pork, pork belly, etc. Some of the cuts are a bit unfamiliar to us, so we have to get creative with them!

Fast forward to tonight, and we had a pork leg steak that we needed to use. Chance pulled it out of the freezer the other day, and I was left with the responsibility of cooking dinner tonight. He told me it was pork chops (and essentially, it is), so I looked up a recipe for pork chops.

Plus I needed to cook those fiddlehead ferns that were sitting in my fridge before they went bad. It would be tragic if I let them go to waste! Of course the real tragedy is their short availability season - late March through mid to late May. They're my favorite side dish! Sometimes I will just saute them with bacon, butter, garlic, salt and pepper. I know, I know - it's cheating. Of COURSE any vegetable would taste great that way!

I saw the label on this cut of meat and began to doubt myself. He explained that I should just cook it like a pork chop and we will cut it in half after it is done. So off I went!

I found a pork recipe that sounded good - mostly because I knew I had all of the ingredients in the kitchen and I wouldn't have to run to the store - and tweaked it. So here is my entire dinner recipe, folks!

Balsamic Pork Chops/Leg Steaks

3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of chopped rosemary (dried is fine)
1 pork leg steak
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 2/3 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup fig balsamic vinegar (or whatever other balsamic vinegar you have in your pantry)
Salt & pepper, to taste

Stir the flour, rosemary, and some salt and pepper together on a large plate to make a nice dredging flour.
Place the leg steak in the flour, and use a spoon to get some of the flour mixture in all of the little crevices. Flour both sides of the leg steak.
In a large skillet on medium-high heat, melt the butter together with the olive oil. Put the crushed garlic cloves in the oil and let it simmer in the oil for about 1 minute.
Place the flour-coated leg steak into the skillet and cook each side for about 4 minutes per side, or until golden.
Remove the leg steak after cooking for 4 minutes on each side and set it on a plate.
Pour the chicken broth and vinegar into the same skillet and use a whisk to scrape up any stuck on bits. Reduce the mixture until about half of the liquid is gone - about 5 minutes.
After the liquid has reduced, put the leg steak back into the skillet with the balsamic reduction and cook it for about another 6 minutes total. You can flip the steak about halfway through so the liquid nicely coats both sides of the meat.
Remove the leg steak from the skillet and cut it in half. One leg steak should be two servings.
Serve with a tablespoon or so of the balsamic sauce on top.

Fiddlehead Ferns and Yellow Squash

1 yellow squash, cut on a bias in 1/3 inch thick slices
1 lb fiddlehead ferns, washed to get the darker leaves off and end pieces trimmed
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp "Dirt" brand Creole blend seasoning
Salt & pepper, to taste

Put the butter and olive oil in a medium size skillet on medium heat.
Stir the squash and fiddlehead ferns together in a bowl with the Dirt seasoning.
Place the garlic, squash, and fiddlehead ferns in the skillet and stir.
About 10 minutes into the cooking process, add the chicken broth and stir. If you prefer, you can add more dirt seasoning, salt and pepper, at this time.
Cook for another 5 minutes, or until ferns are softened yet still a little crisp and the chicken broth has mostly boiled down. I put the vegetables in the pan at the same time I put the leg steak in, and the vegetables took almost the same amount of time as the leg steak. I just turned the heat down when the chicken broth had mostly boiled down.

Steamed rice

2 cups steamed rice, cooked per your rice cooker's instructions

Seriously, go buy a Zojirushi rice maker. It will CHANGE you. It keeps cooked rice perfect for almost 2 entire days! Nope, I am not going to list instructions on how to cook rice! Just pour some of that balsamic sauce on the rice, and serve with the rest of the above dinner items.

Enjoy!

Sous Vide Tomatoes Confit and Other Cute Christmas Food

2015-01-27T13:58:00.004-08:00

Aah, sous vide. It is the technology that has been around for several decades now, and you probably only recently heard of it through Kickstarter.

My partner and I attended a special Sous Vide cooking class hosted by Chef Jason Wilson at Crush a little over a year ago. What a treat!

Sous vide is a beautiful way to infuse flavors together with slow, gentle, and consistent cooking throughout the entire food. Jason talked about how different foods require different temperatures and cooking times through sous vide and how you have to bring food back to room temp with an ice bath to prevent harboring food pathogen growth (especially when it comes to animal proteins). It is also much better to use some sort of vacuum sealed bag when using sous vide. For one, the water is then able to form a better surface area to the food which allows for a more consistent cooking. The pressure also helps the flavors infuse a lot better.

One of my favorite parts of the evening was when Jason demonstrated a compressed watermelon recipe. First, he sealed the watermelon and other ingredients in a Food Saver bag and vacuumed it. Then he showed us a pressure chamber sealed bag with the same ingredients. What a difference it made! The chamber sealer was able to form a much stronger vacuum than the Food Saver, so the watermelon was much darker (crushed slightly better, though not very different in size) in the chamber sealed bag vs. the Food Saver bag. We already had a Food Saver machine at home, but about six months later, my partner dropped the hammer and bought a chamber sealer. We love it! That chamber sealer is great at sealing liquids. The Food Saver tried to suck air out of the bag, whereas the chamber sealer created a negative pressure chamber to pressurize the bag. Minimal air is left in the chamber sealed bags, and the Food Saver machines suck so much air - and liquid! - out of the bags, it can even cause itself to shut off due to overflowing the liquid catch tray. It was very annoying.

We tried to thaw some frozen fish that had been sealed in Food Saver bags, and there was freezer burn on them. This is almost never the case with our chamber sealed bags (within reason, of course). It definitely has saved us quite a bit of money in the long run!

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Since I know so many of you have purchased an Anova sous vide cooker through Kickstarter, I decided it would be a good time to share one of my favorite sous vide recipes. One of my go-to recipes that I took away from Jason's class was a Sous Vide Tomato Confit. It is so cheap, easy, and quick! Our guests love it! I serve it year round. It's crazy to take a bite of a perfectly sealed cherry or grape tomato and you get a burst of basil, garlic, and chili flake flavor inside the tomato! I sometimes serve it with some cherry size mozzarella balls. It makes a beautiful "wreath" display when you put them on a stick - cherry tomato, basil leaf, and mozzarella ball.

With Jason's permission, I am posting this recipe for everyone out there.

Chef Jason Wilson's Tomato Confit

Oven bath temperature: 135F

1 pint cherry or baby heirloom tomatoes (or similar sized tomatoes)
10 leaves of fresh basil
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 bay leaf
1 tsp red chili flakes
5 cloves peeled garlic
Optional ingredient: 1 package of cherry size mozzarella balls

Procedure:

In a small pan, simmer the garlic in olive oil for 2-3 minutes and remove just before they brown.
Add all the ingredients to a vacuum bag and remove all air by pressing against a sink ledge or counter and expel the air.
"SEAL ONLY" the bag and place into the 135G water bath for 1 hour.
Serve or preserve when timer sounds.

Optional steps:

Add some strained cherry size mozzarella balls and gently stir to coat the mozzarella with the confit juices.
Drain the excess olive oil and refrigerate to serve cold or serve immediately.
For a cute "wreath" presentation, put a single cherry on a toothpick, then a small basil leaf, and then a cherry size mozzarella ball, and alternate the placement of the toothpick (cherry side next to the cheese side on the next stick, as pictured to the right). Since some of the sous vide tomatoes will burst during the cooking process, be sure to double the amount of cherries for this recipe and try to use the soft but still-sealed cherry tomatoes on the toothpicks. Sometimes they would ooze a little bit once they were pierced, and that was fine. Just be gentle and pierce the tomatoes slowly; don't jab them or else you will send tomato juice flying across the table. For the rest of the tomatoes that didn't make the skewer cut, just eat them!

I decided to get extra cute with it during the Christmas holiday time. I made a cream cheese snowman as the centerpiece to an appetizer tray, and adorned the side with a wreath of sous vide tomatoes and mozzarella! That was one delicious tray!

I wasn't fully prepared to make a snowman that day. It was sort of a last minute thought. I stood there in my kitchen asking myself "I do want to build a snowman, but what should I use to make the snowman's face?" I wandered over to my spice rack and found some inspiration.

Cream Cheese Snowman

2 8-oz packages of cream cheese

3 capers

1 apple (any reddish skinned apple will do)

7 pink peppercorns

1 japones chili pepper

2 black peppercorns

2 sleeves of Ritz crackers

2 sprigs of fresh dill

Robert Rothschild's sauce of your choice (pomegranate, raspberry, cherry, or mango flavors will suffice)

Wash your hands thoroughly, but do not dry them.
Take both packages of cream cheese out of the wrapper.
With your hands wet, take one of the packages of cream cheese and try to form a ball shape as best as you can. You can put it on the center of your serving tray and turn it like it is a pottery wheel, using your hand to shape it.
For the second package of cream cheese, separate a wad of cream cheese that is about the size of a golf ball. This will be for the snowman's head.
Take the remaining cream cheese and form a second ball, slightly smaller than the base of your snowman. This will be for his/her belly. Make sure you keep your hands wet while trying to form the ball.
Place the snowman's belly on top of the base and make sure they stick together nicely. If necessary, you can sprinkle a little bit of water on it with your fingers and mold them together.
Form the snowman's head with the remaining golf ball size cream cheese and place it on top of the snowman. Make sure they stick together nicely.
For the snowman's buttons, push 3 capers firmly in the snowman's belly.
For the snowman's smile, push 7 pink peppercorns firmly in the snowman's face, but be careful not to push in too far.
For the snowman's eyes, push 2 black peppercorns firmly in the snowman's face, again, be careful not to push in too far.
For the snowman's nose, cut off the tip of a japones pepper and push it firmly into his face, again, be careful not to push it in too far.
For the snowman's arms, push 1 sprig of fresh dill into each side of the upper part of the showman's belly.
For the snowman's scarf, use a vegetable peeler to peel a long, continuous skin along the apple - about 1 & 1/2 to 2 times around the apple. Wrap the skin around the snowman's neck.
Place two sleeves of Ritz crackers around the circumference of the snowman base.
Put a small ramekin of dipping sauce at the base of the snowman.
Provide a small cheese knife or spreader to allow guests to scoop away at the snowman.
Enjoy!

Chicken Sausage & Tortellini

2014-10-20T20:06:00.004-07:00

This is a typical conversation that happens somewhere between 3-7 pm, almost every single day:

"So what's for dinner?"
"I don't know."

"What's in the fridge?" (usually in reference to what type of animal proteins are thawed and ready to be cooked)

"Umm, there's some ___"

"What are we going to make with that?"

"I hadn't really planned on anything."

"Hmm, what can I make with ___ without going to the store?"

Sometimes the "without going to the store" factor works out in our favor, and other times it does not.

Today, the protein du jour happened to be some of Aidell's chicken mango sausage. When I heard that was the thawed meat, it called to mind an old recipe I had picked up from one of the cooking demonstration stations at good ole H-E-B in Texas! Sure enough, I still had it in my recipe box. I pulled it out and decided I was going to sort of follow this recipe as a "skeleton" recipe and make it my own.

So, here we have it, folks!

Larena's Chicken Sausage & Tortellini

Prep time - approximately 20 minutes, makes approximately 5 servings

Ingredients:

~20 oz rainbow tortellini - cheese
1 package of Aidells chicken mango sausage, sliced in ~3/4-inch thick slices, or whichever chicken sausage you prefer
2 teaspoons caramelized garlic slices with the oil, or use 3 cloves of fresh sliced garlic
1 Serrano pepper, diced
1/2 cup olive oil, divided - 2 tbsp for cooking sausage
1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
8 large basil leaves, sliced into 1/2 inch wide strips
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tsp King Cajun - Cajun cream sauce spice
Red chili flakes and/or cayenne pepper to taste

Cook the tortellini according to the package instructions. Since you will be finishing the tortellini in a large skillet, be sure to only use the lowest cooking time listed on the package. Be sure to stir occasionally and not hard boil it too long to prevent the tortellini from bursting open.
As soon as you toss the tortellini into the boiling water, put the 2 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. (stir the tortellini!) Saute the sausage, garlic, and Serrano pepper until the sausage is lightly brown. Use some tongs to flip the sausage so both sides of the slices get a nicely browned edge. (stir the tortellini!) Cook for 4-5 minutes.
Once the tortellini has finished boiling, strain it and add the tortellini to the skillet, add the remaining olive oil, and stir to distribute evenly. Add the Cajun cream spice, basil leaves, and cherry tomatoes. Stir again to distribute evenly, and then top with the freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Garnish with a few red chili flakes and/or cayenne pepper according to your spice preference.

Optional ingredients: fresh sliced mushrooms and/or ~1/2 lb uncooked & unshelled/deveined shrimp added at the same time you cook the sausage, garlic and Serrano pepper.

For the nutritional values of this recipe, you can log it through the My Fitness Pal application. Just search for "Larena's Chicken & Sausage Tortellini." Disclaimer: this nutritional value calculation is just an estimation.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/view/137730541440173

Larena's Borracho Beans

2014-02-23T12:01:00.003-08:00

When my father asked my mom's dad if he could marry her, my grandfather had a few questions for my dad. You see, my grandfather knew that my dad wasn't going to pursue riches or any sort of fancy lifestyle, and he knew that wasn't something my mom was looking for either in life. He knew my mom wasn't a gourmet chef (after all, she was only 16 at the time!), but she also knew how to make cheap, simple meals in order to make ends meet. Most of all, my grandfather wanted to make sure my dad would take happy, willing and able to care of my mom for the rest of her life.

He asked my dad "Will you be okay with just eating beans and cornbread every day?"
My dad responded with "Absolutely! I LOVE beans and cornbread!"

Yeah, I don't think he quite understood my grandpa's point... haha! Grandpa was aware my mom knew how to make beans and cornbread, and he knew my parents' budget was going to be pretty tight and meals weren't going to be very extravagant. My dad didn't really care. He was raised by a single mom in Texas for many years, so beans and cornbread were A-Okay by him! Living on a meager budget was not going to be a big problem for him, and it wasn't going to be a problem for my mother either.

My dad was born and raised in Texas. My mother was born and raised in Texas. My brother and I were also born and raised in Texas. Where we grew up, beans and cornbread were a staple food! You could go to H-E-B and buy bulk pinto beans for drastically cheap prices, and guess what? You just bought an excellent source of a cheap protein that could feed your family for days. Beans are incredibly cheap, and they can be delicious! Nowadays, my dad can make a pretty fantastic pot of beans. It's one of his specialty dishes!

I was never a very big fan of refried beans, but if you put some borracho beans in front of me - oh, it was ON! I grew up on beans and cornbread, especially during the winter months. Since my father was in the construction business, the winter season was usually less prosperous because people were saving up money for the holidays and then recovering from the holiday spending. People weren't able to spend the money on getting the house fixed after taking a big financial hit at Christmas! Throughout the year, my mom would buy staple foods that wouldn't spoil so that we could be sure to have plenty to eat during the months when income was a lot lower.

These old, ingrained habits are largely why my pantry is so full all of the time! At any given point, you can almost always find things like beans in my pantry! But please, don't show up at my house if a zombie apocalypse happens :P (In other words, I am not worried about anyone showing up at my doorstep looking to ransack my pantry!) When I set out to make these Texas style borracho beans (translation: "drunk beans") the other day, all I had to buy was an onion, cilantro, canned tomatoes, a lime, and a garlic clove (I had one, but I wanted a fresher one). I spent about $5 at the grocery store to make this meal, and it made a very large family serving! I had the rest of the stuff sitting in the pantry (or fridge - bacon, bell pepper and jalapenos). I always use the dried chicken granules to make my own chicken stock, and I always use whatever bottle of beer is leftover from previously hosted gatherings. It is a delicious and cheap way to feed large parties of people!

Also, please note you can use a crock pot to make these beans, though I recommend using an enameled Dutch oven. I do recommend doing steps 1-2 in some sort of enameled Dutch oven or other large pan on the stove (for at least 30 minutes) before you put it in a crock pot. It will save you a lot of time, and you really should soak the beans for at least 4 hours. If you have a large amount of time, you can put all of the ingredients together in a large capacity crock pot and just leave it overnight or in the morning before you go to work.

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As I discussed in a previous post, if you are concerned about the alcohol in the beans, please look at this link. Since you will be simmering the beans for over 2.5 hours, there will be less than 5% of that one bottle of beer left in your beans. 5% of the 5% of alcohol by volume in an average beer leaves you with about half of the alcohol in an Alcoholics Anonymous-approved "Near Beer"! When you divide that out into how many servings this dish makes, the amount of alcohol is almost negligible.

Larena's Borracho Beans

1 lb dried pinto beans, washed (and “sorted” to ensure there are no rocks mixed in)

Water (no salt) to soak the beans

2 quarts chicken stock

1 ½ tbsp of Salt Grass Spice (if you don’t have it, use salt/pepper to your taste, and add about ¼ tsp paprika)

2 cans Mexican style stewed tomatoes, cut into ½” pieces

1 white onion, diced

6 cloves garlic, minced

3-4 bay leaves

¼ cup pickled jalapeno slices, cut into half-slices

1 ½ cup (approximately) of chopped fresh cilantro, including stems

1 – 12 oz bottle/can of a dark beer (or a Mexican beer such as Dos Equis, Corona, Negro Modelo, etc)

3 slices of bacon, cut into ½” wide slices (or salt pork, bits of ham from ham hocks or sliced deli meat, etc)

½ of a bell pepper, diced into ½” pieces
1 tsp mesquite flavored liquid smoke

1 ½ tbsp dried oregano

2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp cumin powder

¼ tsp cayenne

½ tsp garlic powder

2-3 tbsp of tomato paste (to taste)
a small squeeze of lime juice

Additional salt/pepper to taste

Soak the beans (covered) overnight, or for at least 4 hours.
Drain the beans, and refill the pot with enough chicken stock to cover the beans with approximately 2 inches of chicken stock (you may need to make additional stock, depending on the size of your pan). Season with the Salt Grass spice (or salt/pepper/paprika if you don’t have any of the 7-spice). Cover and bring the beans to a boil. Once it has started to boil, reduce the heat to medium low, re-cover, and cook for 1.5 hours. Stir your beans occasionally to prevent the beans from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Once the beans have finished their main cooking process, add in all of the remaining ingredients and stir well to combine and distribute the ingredients.
Continue to cook the beans, uncovered, for 1 hour, or until the beans are nice and tender.
Taste the beans and add some additional salt or pepper if necessary (I add approximately 1 more tsp of pepper if I am using the Salt Grass steak spice).
Optional step: you can crush the beans just a little bit with a potato masher or a meat tenderizer to thicken the liquid. I prefer to just cook out some of the additional liquid instead! The beans will be quite forgiving if you keep stirring and cooking them, uncovered, at a low setting. Just keep an eye on them and don't let them sit for more than another hour or so.

For a nutritional value breakdown of this recipe, you can find it on My Fitness Pal by doing a search for "Larena's Borracho Beans." Disclaimer: this nutritional value calculation is just an estimation.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/view/41575906

Beef Minestrone Soup

2014-02-10T18:07:00.002-08:00

Soup. Buttered saltines. My little panda bear Chinese soup spoon. My Care Bears TV tray.

During my childhood, these were the things that made my lunch on sick days. Sometimes it was just lunch on a cold day. Sometimes it was just lunch when mom wasn't feeling up for making a whole big deal out of lunch.

I don't know how she did it. She managed to butter (okay, it was probably more like Imperial margarine spread) those saltine crackers and splay them out so that only one side of the cracker would be sticky but not too sticky to have all of the crackers stick together. That sort of mom-prepared-meal-perfection is still endearing when I think back about it.

Progresso Beef Minestrone soup was my favorite "go to" canned soup when I was a kid. It had all of the beans most kids wrinkle their nose at - lima beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, cannellini beans, and peas. I loved them all!

Then Progresso switched to only doing the minestrone soup without beef. I was so sad! But, I put on my big girl panties and learned to love the soup without beef. Then at least a decade ago, they completely changed the recipe altogether. They switched up the broth and the pasta. They switched from a long ditalini pasta shape to a short penne shape. *In my best sad little girl voice* It was not the same.

I've had lots of this new recipe of minestrone soup over the years, and I would long for the old recipe every time I had it. Then one day I decided I should make some homemade minestrone soup for myself! This is what I came up with. Enjoy!

Special note: it can be made in a crock pot, though it will take a bit longer. Just make sure you brown the beef and onions in a small covered skillet first. You can experiment with it, but I recommend cooking the ditalini pasta for the last 20 minutes, if not longer, in the crock pot. It can also stay on low simmer for much longer than an hour. The longer it stays on simmer, the more the flavors will bloom. I highly recommend an enameled Le Creuset Dutch oven to make this recipe. Le Creuset pots are great in that they only need to run on very low amounts of heat to get the job done consistently. They are *not* cheap, but one will last you a lifetime, and I have never had problems with cleanup. It's pretty difficult to burn things in an Le Creuset pot if you maintain a low temperature.

Larena's Beef Minestrone Soup

Ingredients

· 1 lb of stew meat (beef)

· Salt (to taste)

· Pepper (to taste)

· 2 tbsp. of olive oil or coconut oil

· 1 small onion, diced

· ~6 cups of vegetable broth (or chicken broth), or ~2 14.5 oz cans to start, 1 extra can after pasta is added

· 3 tbsp. of tomato paste

· 1 ½ tsp. Herbs de Provence

· ½ tsp. basil

· ½ tsp. oregano

· 2 bay leaves

· 1 cup of green beans, ends snapped off and pod snapped in half (fresh, not canned)

· 2 cups of cannellini beans (soaked overnight, or frozen or canned - drained)

· 1 cup of garbanzo beans (soaked overnight, or frozen or canned - drained)

· 1 cup of red kidney beans (soaked overnight, or frozen or canned - drained)

· 1 cup of lima beans (soaked overnight, or frozen or canned - drained)

· 2 cups of diced fresh Roma (Italian plum) tomatoes, or canned

· 2 medium sized carrots, peeled and sliced, large discs cut in half (yields ~1 cup)

· 2 large stalks celery, diced
· 1 small russet potato, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes (approximately 1 cup)

· a pinch of dried red pepper flakes

· 1 tbsp. of lemon juice

· 2 cloves of garlic, chopped or crushed

· ½ - ¾ cup dried ditalini pasta or other small pasta (macaroni, shells, etc)

  Optional ingredients:
·   2 tsp. of Salt Grass spice (no need to add additional salt/pepper aside from seasoning the beef if doing this step)
·        ½ tsp. cayenne

Method

1. Pat the stew meat dry with paper towels, and season the beef with salt and pepper according to your personal taste.

2. Using an (enameled, preferably) cast iron Dutch oven, put the stew meat and onions on low-medium heat. Cover and brown the stew meat in the oil and onions, stirring occasionally. This will take approximately 45 minutes to an hour on low-medium heat. The onions should be “sweated” and soft and translucent, and the beef should be nice and brown all around the outside.

3. Combine all the remaining ingredients in a large stock pot or saucepan (except for the pasta), mix well, and simmer for about 2 hours.

4. Add the ditalini pasta, stir and simmer for another 20 minutes. If the soup doesn’t have enough broth for your taste, add additional soup stock or water if you are out of soup stock.

5. Remove the bay leaves, and enjoy! This soup can be kept warm if covered and the heat is reduced to an extremely low level. It can also be frozen or refrigerated for a second round.

For the nutritional values of this recipe, you can log it through the My Fitness Pal application. Just search for "Larena's Beef Minestrone Soup." Disclaimer: this nutritional value calculation is just an estimation.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/view/41572843

Amazon.com Widgets

Gigante Beans by Any Means

2014-01-28T13:45:00.000-08:00

When I try new foods, I'm often surprised at how fantastic they are. Gigante beans are definitely one of those foods! The first time I tried them, they were cooked Greek style. I was thoroughly impressed!

A few months ago, one of my friends asked me if I was familiar with them and if I knew where to find some in bulk. I was familiar with them, but I had no idea where to find them. After at quick Google search, I figured out I could find them here in Seattle at Big John's PFI near the International District. If you are a foodie in the Seattle area, you simply must go visit this store!

Low and behold, there they were - $4.99/lb for gigante beans. Score! The cheapest I could find them online was for $5.99 per pound plus shipping fees through Amazon . Alternatively, I just purchased several pounds of them from Big John's and went home. Now what?
After doing some searching for similar recipes to the one I had previously eaten, I pieced this recipe together. I have to say it was superb! It is definitely being added to our "cycle" of foods we make every so often. Though it does take a bit of time, it can be broken up easily by soaking overnight, cooking them in the pressure cooker the next evening, and baking them the next day. Or it can all be done one weekend afternoon.

This recipe can be easily doubled. It yielded about 6 servings. Alternatively, you could probably easily double all of the other ingredients in the recipe (except for gigante beans) and it would still be quite tasty.

1 lb dried gigante beans (soaked overnight, or at least 4 hours)

Water to soak the beans

Water to cook the beans in a pressure cooker

½ large onion, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)

½ orange bell pepper, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

½ red bell pepper, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

1 – 14 ounce can diced tomatoes, preferably Italian seasoning

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 large carrot, sliced into 1/2 inch discs, big disc pieces cut in half or quarters

1 stalk celery & leaves, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

1 chicken bouillon cube, crumbled

1 tablespoon ketchup

1/3 cup coconut oil (or olive oil)

1/3 lb bacon, chopped (or 6 oz. bacon and 6 oz good quality pork sausage, cut up) (optional)

Ground pepper, to taste

Hot water to cook the beans in the baking dish

1 tablespoon fresh dill, minced

¼ cup (approx.) of crumbled Feta cheese

Directions:

Cook the pre-soaked beans in a pressure cooker, with enough water to cover by one inch, for 20 minutes. Depending on the style of pressure cooker you have, only count the 20 minutes once the pressure cooker has begun to whistle at regular intervals (for mine, this is about 3x a minute using a 5 lb weight). Once the 20 minutes are up, turn the heat off the beans and leave them in the pressure cooker, undisturbed, for 2-3 hours before proceeding with recipe. (Note: if you do not have a pressure cooker, cook the beans with 3 cups of water for every 1 cup of beans in a heavy saucepan with a lid. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and then cook them for 45 minutes to an 1 hr 30 minutes, depending on how fresh your beans are. You might have to add cooking liquid if cooking for a long period of time. I would suggest letting them sit in the water, covered, for at least 1 more hour after they are done cooking.)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees farenheit.
Strain the beans and pour them into a large glass baking pan. Note: it is okay if the beans are still a little firm at this point, but they should be plumped up quite nicely.
Combine all of the remaining ingredients, except the dill, and mix well.
Pour in enough hot water to cover beans by 1" in the baking dish. Note: If the baking dish is not deep enough to cover the beans, pour enough water until it reaches 1“ from the top. You only want to cover the beans 1” above where they originally came to in the pan before you added the other ingredients.
Place the baking dish in oven and bake for 1 hour 45 minutes. If you prefer to have your beans more tender, check the beans for the consistency after the 1 hour 45 minutes time is up. If you want them to have a more tender texture, cook them for an additional 30 minutes.
Stir the dill in, and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
Remove the baking dish from the oven, and serve in bowls.
Top with a few crumbles of Feta cheese in each bowl, and enjoy!

For the nutritional values of this recipe, you can log it through the My Fitness Pal application. Just search for "Larena's Gigante Beans." Disclaimer: this nutritional value calculation is just an estimation, and it is based off 6 servings.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/view/44023960

Zipper, My Precious Baby Dog

2013-12-03T13:41:00.000-08:00

Zipper

April 18, 1997 - November 29, 2013

I know, I know. This is a food blog. You don't come here to read about dogs. The thing is, this post isn't about just any old dog. This is about a foodie dog and one of the best dogs who has ever graced this planet with his presence - and my oh my, did he have a presence!

Rest in peace, baby dog. Those 16 & 1/2 years between those 2 dates were a great "dash" of a life. Thanks for living up to your name and making that dash between your date of birth and the day you had to go so "zippy" and wonderful. You didn't just dash through it - you always “Zipped” right through! 16 & 1/2 years is an incredibly great, long run, especially for a miniature Yorkshire Terrier. You were simply the best there ever was, and that doesn't even begin to capture who you were to everyone. You made every day around you a pleasure for everyone you ever met, and I am incredibly grateful for your existence in my world for just over half my lifetime. We have all been incredibly lucky to have you in our lives, and I'm very thankful my parents took such good care of you. The fact that you were super sweet in giving kisses from the moment I met you until your last waking moment speaks volumes about who you were.

You were a fighter through and through, my little mighty dog, and so much more.

A best little buddy.

An always-available petting recipient.

A consistently cheerful, playful, and loyal companion.

A believer in living life to the fullest.

A fierce and fearless six-pound home defender.

An always-ready, champion fetcher.

A unabashed smiler, miraculously managed even without lips.

An intuitive therapist.

A bedside nurse.

A masterfully active and animated dreamer.

An overflowing container of so much personality.

A genetic hybrid comprised of an unexplained concoction between pure cane sugar and dog DNA that managed to melt even the coldest of hearts.

A seemingly endless, though diminishing with age, ball of energy.

A bath disloyalist.

A post-bath shampoo-smell remover.

A chewer of hair dryer air.

An electric hair trimmer antagonist.

A shameless ham for attention.

A converter of dog-haters.

A converter of the dog-fearing.

A converter of an "I don't want an indoor dog" father.

An ever-ready travel companion.

A highly upset announcer when you saw your “mom” bleed.

A dancer in exchange for treats or attention.

A ball-substitute that happily ran between people for attention when they lost the fetching ball.

A highly successful beggar of food morsels.

A stealthy, compulsive and shameless kisser.

A flawless finder of all the good spots to mark during walks.

A sniffer of only the good leaves.

A lantana leaf junkie.

An avid fan of the great outdoors.

A one-litter father.

A sneaky chocolate thief and a subsequent hydrogen-peroxide-induced-chocolate-removal survivor.

A survivor of a Great Dane attack.

A survivor of rat poisoning.

A fearless yard defender from giant, Texas-size opossums and other non-fluffy tailed creatures.

A vet's office protester.

A hunger protester who only accepted hand-fed morsels from favorite, worthiness-self-assessed-people when overly excited or upset.

A fierce women-of-the-house defender.

A perverted, non-believer in bathroom privacy and a believer in a highly probable statistics of getting attention from a captive throne-sitter.

A connoisseur of sunspots.

A beggar of corncobs.

A mad-dash out of kennel morning-potty runner.

A post-morning potty-run torturer of teenage daughters and sleepover victims who refused to get out of bed.

A vehicle engine noise-recognizing greeter.

An insistent and incredibly dashing sweater model.

A sniffer of anything butt-like.

An eager-to-please trick show-off.

An equal opportunity game player with cats and dogs alike.

A little dude with a complete inability to hide naughty ideas with body language.

A greeter and fetch player, even over the phone.

A stunningly comprehensive canine student of the English language.

An unapologetic food snob who only ate Cheerios soaked with milk upon gaining the knowledge that they could be soaked in milk.

A cheerful part of returning home each and every day.

A sweet welcomed-guest-greeter and an intimidating unwelcomed-guest-greeter with the remarkable ability to always know the difference between the two with absolute, 100% accuracy.

A stunner of veterinarians with your age, personality, and vigor for life.

The gift that truly kept on giving.

An unrepentant thief of hearts.

A beautiful dog, inside and out.

Thanks for making everyone love you SO much, little dude. You are sorely missed, and will always be remembered for everything you were to all of us. Clearly, it was a LOT.

Pre-PAX Sky High Tabletop Play Benefitting Food Lifeline

2013-08-07T18:04:00.000-07:00

Hello, readers! I am co-hosting a charity dinner later this month, and thought some of you might be interested in attending. 100% of the proceeds go to a great charity, Food Lifeline. Food Lifeline is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending hunger in Western Washington. Food Lifeline makes every penny count, and 95% of the food they receive from local, state and national contributors is donated. Event details are below.

Who: Hopefully you, along with 249 of your closest friends or soon-to-be friends
What: Pre-PAX gaming party. A night of tabletop gaming, drinking, socializing, and general merriment from the absolute most scenic location in the entire West coast and the swankiest spot in Seattle, with 100% of all proceeds going to Food Lifeline.
When: Thursday, August 29th, 7:30 pm - 2:00 am
Where: Columbia Tower Club, 76th floor, downtown Seattle. Google map directions are available here.
Why: Because you're like us - you like to game. Because you want to kick off PAX in style. Because you'd like a tasty alcoholic beverage and a supplied meal whilst you play your games. Because you're bringing an S/O whom you would like to dazzle with the most stunning views imaginable (or to at least distract them long enough for you to play). Because you're traveling and want to go someplace special. And, most importantly, because you'd like to do all of this whilst supporting a fantastic charity - and getting a tax write-off in the process. That's a lot of wins in one package.

What's included in all ticket levels:
Up to 249 other people to game with
A game library that you can borrow from (feel free to BYOG, as well)
Dinner
Full (cash) bar access
Guaranteed seating! We will have more than enough seats for everyone attending, so no waiting to play games.
A pop-up game store to make acquisitions, if you so choose
A ticket-based drawing, with prizes including gift cards to many of Seattle's best restaurants, tabletop games - and, oh yes, PAX badges in case you struck out and want to go.
As all monies spent are going to Food Lifeline, all monies spent are 100% tax deductible
(Pending final acknowledgement) Representation from the Cookie Brigade, who will be giving away their delectable treats to raise funds for Child's Play

VIP ticket levels also get:
A swankier plated dinner
Drink vouchers
Free drawing tickets
Private-access gaming rooms, if you so desire
A bigger tax deduction

For more information, and to link up to buy tickets: www.dawgsledevents.com (big link at the top that reads "tickets on sale now" that will take you to the ticketing agent).
Direct link to ticket site: shindigg.com/Event/PZFMEiVs

Map of the event in relation to the PAX location:

Homemade Gnocchi

2013-05-08T11:34:00.000-07:00

Before I get into my next post, I figure I should explain my absence. I have been focusing on school lately, so I have been neglecting my blog. Sorry, folks! Don't worry, I've still been out and about and enjoying food as it should be enjoyed! I just haven't had a whole lot of time to spend on writing things that aren't school assignments. I figure for every hour I spend on my blog, that's one hour I am taking away from school time. I'm allowing myself this one reprieve since this one won't take a whole lot of time to churn out.

Since a certain someone recently had some dental work done, he needs some soft foods for the next few weeks. I offered to make one of my favorite dishes: homemade gnocchi!

The finished product

Some of my readers might remember me posting a link to Salumi's gnocchi recipe. The original recipe can be found here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/549147 Salumi's also has printed copies of their gnocchi recipe available near the cash register in their store (you can just nicely ask for a copy). The previous recipe was posted in honor of their famous gnocchi maker, Aunt Izzy, who passed away in 2008. These days, Mario Batali's mother makes it almost every Tuesday. She's a really sweet lady. You should stop and say hello sometime! If you are more of a "visual learner" (like I am) and you have trouble following the recipe below, you could always stop by Salumi's on gnocchi day, and watch Mario's mother roll, cut, and strike the gnocchi from the storefront window!

Do you know the great thing about gnocchi? It's very simple to make, and it's super cheap to make! All you need is potatoes, eggs, flour, salt, cornmeal, your favorite sauce, and some of your favorite cheese (bread is optional). That's it! All together, this recipe takes ~1.5 hours to make, and about half of that time is spent waiting for the potatoes to boil. All in all, it's very easy to make, and it's delicious! It does not keep very well in leftovers since the gnocchi will just turn into mush. So if you were planning to make the whole recipe and only cook half of it, I have to strongly advise against that. The dough will turn grey, and the gnocchi will be very mushy. When you strike it the next day, the ridges will not hold very well. If you decide to make all of it and eat the leftovers the next day, I don't recommend that either. Let's put it this way: Salumi's will not serve their gnocchi even to go, let alone leftover from the day before! The texture gets mushy, and they simply will not compromise the quality of their gnocchi!

Special notes:

This recipe can be halved, and I listed the halved ingredients below. When halved, it will serve a generous portion for 2 or a regular sized portion for 3. The instructions are mostly the same for doing a full batch vs. a half batch. The only real difference is it takes less time with the halved recipe since you are cutting less gnocchi pieces!

I also strongly recommend using a kitchen scale that can measure in grams. I also recommend purchasing a gnocchi board (they're ~$5), a pastry scraper or cutter, and a potato ricer. If using the ricer I recommend, I suggest using the "fine" setting. Through the Amazon link below, there's a very helpful instructional video for the ricer in the Amazon reviews. If you do not have a ricer, you can use a large-hole cheese grater to break down the cooked potato into tiny bits. Remember, you don't want big chunks in your gnocchi dough, so it does need to be broken down as best as it can be. Kneading the dough also helps break down the potato chunks. I have included a link for all of the recommended tools through the Amazon widget at the bottom of this post.

Homemade Gnocchi

Ingredients - full size / half size

500 grams potatoes (approximately 1 lb) / 250 grams potatoes (approximately 1/2 lb) (Yukon Gold is recommended, though Russets or most other types of "starchy" potato can work too)
300 grams flour / 150 grams flour
2 eggs / 1 egg
2 tsp salt / 1 tsp salt

Salt for gnocchi boiling pot
~3 tbsp + ~3 tbsp cornmeal / ~2 tbsp + ~1.5 tbsp cornmeal

Your favorite sauce (some form of marinara, spaghetti sauce, or meat sauce is recommended)
Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (or any other favorite cheese), grated

Optional: Small loaf of Italian bread or French baguette (for dipping and soaking up the leftover sauce) -

Directions:

Scrub but do not peel the potatoes. Place the potatoes in a large pot of unsalted water, and bring it to a boil. Cook until they are tender - approximately 30-40 minutes. Cool and peel the potatoes while they are still warm. Be sure to cut off any dark spots from the potatoes as well. If you are short on time, you can peel the potatoes, cut them into large chunks, and then boil them for about 10-15 minutes. However, I recommend boiling the potatoes whole since they will stay together easier, and you will "lose" less potato!
Put a separate large pot of salted water onto boil while you prepare the gnocchi dough. Alternatively, you can use the water from the potatoes you previously cooked, and you can just add salt to it. If you are going to use the potato water, it is recommended to thoroughly scrub and then boil the potatoes whole, otherwise you will have too many little chunks of potato and dirt floating in your water. Personally, I recommend just using a new pot of salted water.
Put some flour down on your kneading surface, and press the potatoes through a ricer onto your floured surface. Add the measured flour and salt so it makes a nice round mound, and make a hole in the middle of the mound - kind of like a small bird's next. Crack the eggs into the hole.

With your fingers, break apart the egg yolk and mix it a little bit with the egg white. Start to stir the dough mixture with your fingers, mixing the potatoes, salt, flour, and eggs together. Once you have mixed everything together and it's soft, knead the dough until it is smooth. Set it aside for 5-15 minutes to let the gluten expand.

These are all 4 stages of gnocchi dough. Starting from the upper left corner, going clockwise: the unformed dough, the dough after it's been formed and cut, the gnocchi after it has been "struck", and the dough after it is rolled out but before it is cut. My gnocchi board and pastry cutter are also pictured.

Flatten the ball to about a 1/2 inch thick rectangle shape, and cut the flattened side into 6 strips or so strips.
Add more flour to your kneading surface if needed. Roll one of the strips like a snake until it gets about as big around as your thumb. You might have to break the piece in half or in three pieces as it gets longer.
Take a butter knife or a pastry cutter and cut the "snakes" into pieces about as big as the length of the last knuckle of your index finger - a little more than half an inch. The flour on the table should help keep the gnocchi from sticking together, but do not use too much. Once you have cut all the gnocchi pieces, you can lightly roll them in the leftover flour. This can also help prevent them from sticking to each other. Remember, you want to keep the gnocchi relatively the same size since bigger gnocchi will have a longer cooking time.
Roll the gnocchi on a fork or on a gnocchi board to "strike" the gnocchi and make ridges. The ridges on the gnocchi helps the sauce stick to the gnocchi better. Basically you roll it with the side of your thumb to make the impression on one side of the dough. It will look a little bit like a bigger version of "Velveeta shells and cheese." It can take some practice.
Take first measurement of cornmeal and spread it on a cookie sheet. Place the "struck" pieces of gnocchi on the cookie sheet. Since you don't want the gnocchi to stick to each other, try not to place the gnocchi on top of each other as best as you can. Once the cookie sheet is full, spread the remaining cornmeal on top of the gnocchi and gently shake the cookie sheet to help roll the gnocchi in the cornmeal. This will also help prevent the gnocchi from sticking together.

This is the result from the half-recipe
When the water is boiling, gently place half the gnocchi in the pot. I typically use a fine mesh strainer spoon to place the gnocchi in the pot. A "spider" wok tool will work too, as will a large slotted spoon. I just like using as wide of a tool as possible so I can get as much gnocchi into the pot as possible at the same time, and I prefer to not just toss all the cornmeal into the pot and I don't want to run the risk of having "gnocchi mush" if the gnocchi gets stuck to each other while sliding off the cookie sheet.
At first, the gnocchi will sink to the bottom. After a minute or two, the gnocchi will float to the top. Once it has floated to the top, cook it for one more minute. (Hint: this is why you want to try to get all the gnocchi to be the same size and put it in the boiling water at the same time). Once it has been cooking at the top of the water for one minute, scoop the gnocchi out and put it in a colander to drain. Repeat for the remaining gnocchi.
Serve the gnocchi in warm bowls with a couple spoonfuls of sauce, and grate some Parmigiano Reggiano cheese on top. I typically serve it with some meat sauce, and I use some of my meatball meat I always keep in the freezer. I will post another post with my meatball meat recipe in the near future!
Enjoy!

Amazon.com Widgets

For the nutritional values of this recipe, you can log it through the My Fitness Pal application. Just search for "Salumi's Gnocchi (without sauce)" Disclaimer: this nutritional value calculation is just an estimation, and it is based off 6 servings.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/view/44057413

And now for a different topic...

2012-12-17T15:07:00.000-08:00

In light of the recent random shootings here in the United States of America, I’d like to say a few words. Feel free to share them if you’d like.

First of all, my heart goes out to the victims, their families, their friends, their colleagues, and their classmates. This sort of senseless violence should have never happened in your lives, and I am truly sorry it ever did. I hope you will all find the necessary peace and acceptance to get through this tragedy. I can't even count how many times I have broken down in tears over these last few days. I don't personally know any of the victims of these tragedies, but it's still heart-breaking to only *begin* to *imagine* the pain that you all must be going through.

Second, I’d just like to put a word out there in case anyone out there is suffering from depression or thoughts of harming themselves or others.

If you’re mad at the world, try focusing on the good that happens in the world. Yes, we live in a truly screwed up world, but there are still good people out there. Why contribute to the negative or mar the innocent? Is that the type of reputation you want for yourself when you depart from this world? Find someone you can confide in – a family member, a counselor, a church leader, a best friend, or even just a random stranger with a listening ear.

If you don’t have anyone you believe you can trust in, go to a church or call a suicide hotline. 800-SUICIDE is a toll-free number for one here in the US. You can also find help at www.crisischat.org. It is also available 24/7, and all online. You might be able to find compassion and understanding in places you never thought of before.

If you’re mad at God, try atheism or agnosticism. If that won’t work for you, try searching for *something* within your belief system that would explain your concerns or try searching outside of your religion. Maybe you were misled by religion. Many have been over the years, and they went on to find peace and contentment in a new belief system. Just remember that sometimes bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people. Time and unforeseen occurrences happen to us all. It’s just the nature of the random acts of life.

If you’re mad at someone in particular, talk to them using calmly articulated words. If that isn’t an option, try the serenity prayer. Try writing them a letter that will never be sent to them. Move on with your life. Talk to a counselor to try to get past your anger. Having a “sounding board” to talk to can help you to gain a healthy perspective of the past, present, and future. A counselor can also guide you through the decision making process of dealing with removing an unhealthy relationship from your life or how to work through your issues together.

If you feel like you just can’t go on with your life, again, try calling a suicide hotline. If you don’t want to go on with your life, don’t take it out on those who still have so much to live for. Think of all those things they would want to live for. Couldn’t you picture yourself doing some of those things in the future?

If you feel unloved and like there isn’t anyone out there in the world who cares for you, get a dog or a cat. You will have instant unconditional love from someone who thinks you are the single most awesome person there ever was! If that dog or cat passes away, there isn’t a better way to get over the death of a pet than to get a new one. Though it might seem impossible at the time, you will fall in love with a new puppy or kitten. You will grow to love them just as much (if not more) than you loved your previous beloved pet. They won’t be the same as your previous pet, but you will grow to love them and the personality traits that make them unique. Pets can be incredibly therapeutic.

If you feel as though life will not get any better, you’re simply wrong. Unless you have a terminal illness, life will get better if you let it. Life is what you choose to make out of it. Even if you have a terminal illness, you can still make the best of your last few moments on this earth. Tell someone you love them. Tell someone how much they meant to your life. Make someone smile. Put forth some good deeds into the world, and watch it multiply.

If you feel as though your past keeps haunting you, just know that you are not defined by your past. Even if other people choose to judge you by your past mistakes, don’t judge yourself the same way. Prove who you are to yourself and others by doing things that would make someone important in your life – dead or alive, a relative, a friend, a teacher, or even just yourself – proud of what you’ve accomplished and how much you’ve grown as a person.

Seek help when you need it. If you have a loved one who suffers from these things, please do not ever give up trying to find them the help they need, and do not ever underestimate the troubles they are going through. It is not likely to be an easy thing to deal with. In fact, I could imagine it will be the hardest thing you've ever dealt with. Just remember this is one of those situations where you will always need to err on the side of caution. Be safe.

Remember that life always has and always will go on. This world won’t necessarily be a better place without you. Make a positive difference in someone’s life, and you just might find a sort of peace and fulfillment you believed was non-existent. Do you want to know the secret to live a happy life? It’s living a life without regrets. Regrets can mean a myriad of different things to different people – i.e. “I regret having kids when I was so young” “I regret not having kids when I was so young” or “I regret never telling them I loved them” or “I regret falling in love with them” – so figure out what you want out of your own life, and stop at nothing to make it happen. Sometimes it is impossible to avoid regrets, and that where the peace and acceptance have to fill those voids.

Live to fulfill these sagely wise words from one of the most unexpected sources of such wisdom: “Be excellent to each other.” – Bill, from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure

Adventures in Triple Layer Pumpkin Pie Making

2012-10-31T16:47:00.003-07:00

It is officially the fall season, folks! You know what that means. Pumpkin galore!

When I was a kid, I wasn't very big on pumpkin. There were plenty of opportunities for pumpkin pie, but I could never tolerate much of it without whipped cream. I am of the belief that is sacrilege to serve pumpkin pie without whipped cream. You've been warned!

We had the pleasure of meeting Bradley Ogden at his namesake Las Vegas restaurant before it closed. We decided to have a nice dinner at his restaurant on our last day in Vegas, and we were drawn in by his cookbook. No, we are still not ready to admit we have a cookbook addiction. When we ordered the book through our waiter, we asked if Bradley was available to sign it. It just so happened that he was in the kitchen that day, and he graciously agreed to sign our book! He was a very nice man, and we thoroughly enjoyed our wonderful dinner.

Triple Layer Pumpkin Pie

Imagine my delight when I was thumbing through our newly purchased Holiday Dinners with Bradley Ogden cookbook, and I found a recipe for a triple layer pumpkin pie. At that very moment, I knew it was ON!

I prefer not to serve any dishes to my guests if I haven't made the dish before. Since we are hosting a big dinner next month, I knew it would be important to try this recipe out before the big dinner. I am very glad I did. This is a masterful recipe, and I feel that there were some very important steps and tips left out of the recipe. Also, I tweaked it here and there.

If you're up for a challenge and want to see just how much of your hair you can pull out in one day, by all means, check out the unaltered recipe at this link. Knock yourself out!

If you'd rather have someone vet the recipe and give you tips on making it absolutely perfect, keep on reading. If you haven't gathered by now, I am very detail oriented. I frequently add my own variations to the recipes I find. I try to explain why each step is very important, and I try to let you know what will happen if you don't follow the instructions.

I know some people might find this more annoying than helpful, but I hope the majority of my readers find the details to be helpful! I would also really appreciate it if people would share this recipe, and post in the comments when you have tried it out! If you run across any recipes that make you want to pull your hair out, send them to me. I might see if I can figure out how to "fix" them for you.

There is a discrepancy in the cookbook that is sort of not listed on the above website. In the book, it lists 1 teaspoon of the pumpkin spice in the custard layer ingredients list, but in the instructions it says to add 2 teaspoons. If you look closely enough, you will notice the pumpkin spice ingredients create 4 teaspoons of the spice blend. If you go off the instructions in the website above, you would only use 3 of the teaspoons. It doesn't tell you what to do with the extra teaspoon. Tsk on the editors who missed that! It kind of drives me batty when recipes are not properly tested and written out.

Before you decide to take on this daunting task of a pie, there are some important things to note:

You will need to set aside a lot of time to make this pie. I'm talking all day long! If you follow my instructions and stay on top of things fairly quickly, you can make this pie in about 7 1/2 hours. Fortunately it's not 7 1/2 hours of "active" time. Even so, your pie will not be ready to eat in 7 1/2 hours since it needs to chill before serving! It requires a lot of waiting time for things to get to the right temperature. If you get the crust dough ready in advance, you can shave off about 1 1/2 - 2 hours off that big chunk of time. The recipe below is for a double pie crust, so at least you will have a back up if something goes wrong with the first crust! You can also make the pumpkin spice mixture ahead of time. I also highly recommend reading this entire recipe before getting started. It will help you prepare if you are able to imagine the process ahead of time.
You will need a large food processor for this recipe. Since the butter will be frozen, it will need something strong to help cut and break it down. I also suggest cutting the butter into the 1/4 pieces well in advance. You can put separate the pieces and place them on some wax paper on a cookie sheet, cover them, and freeze them. I suggest giving them at least 45 minutes to freeze. It will make it easier to break them apart and sprinkle them into the food processor. If you work too much to break them apart, it will warm them up.
If you do not have a KitchenAid stand mixer, be very careful with the speed settings on your hand mixer. You will be whisking a lot of ingredients together for this recipe. At the very minimum, you will need an electric hand mixer. If you're feeling up for torturing yourself, by all means, whisk by hand! Just remember that the medium setting speed on a hand mixer is much faster than medium speed on a KitchenAid stand mixer. With the hand mixers, you have to watch the blade speed vs going by the marked speed settings. If you have both a KitchenAid stand mixer and a hand mixer, I still recommend using only the Kitchenaid stand mixer just to make life a little simpler. For this recipe, I have noted in my instructions when you should clean up your bowl and whisk for the stand mixer. I also highly recommend using a spatula to scrape the bottom of the bowl. I included an Amazon link below for the best shape spatula for scraping the bottom of the KitchenAid bowls. Yes, it does make quite a difference. Every KitchenAid stand mixer owner should have one!
You will need a very deep dish glass or ceramic pie pan for this recipe. The recipe suggested using a 9-inch pie dish. This pie will overflow even if you use a 9.5 inch pie dish! If that is the only size you have, then you will need to set aside some of the pumpkin chiffon. I am trying to find one that has a wavy edge. I think a wavy edge will help give it a little extra room for the filling. I think I need to see them in person before making a selection. Once I find one, I'll come back and add it to the Amazon link below!

Plunger measuring cup

In order to make your life easier, I strongly recommend getting some of the pie crust bags. The 14" would be good, though the 11" one will work out as well. They cost less than $10 on Amazon (link is below), and they are wonderful! Even though you are using a 10" pie plate, using the 14" pie bag would be good so you can trim off some of the crust. If you only have the 11" pie bag, then you can take out a nice golf ball size chunk out of the crust before rolling it out. Since most people don't have pie crust bags, Bradley Ogden's recipe doesn't call for the pie bags. So this recipe does create a bit of extra crust. If you don't take some of the crust out before using the 11" pie bag, it will end up a little too thick.

I also recommend getting a squeegee measuring cup (pictured on the right, and link is in the Amazon list below). These are really good for thick liquid measurements such as creams, honey, condiments, balsamic vinegars, syrups, thick oils, etc. Basically you move the plunger to the required measuring line, and you pour your ingredient into the cup. There are two sets of lines and measurements marked on the cups. One is for "liquid fill" and the other is for filling to the rim. With the latter, you can level the measurements from the top of the container. They come in different sizes. I have a small one for measurements up to 2 tablespoons, and it comes in very handy. I genuinely love these tools!
You will need an instant read probe thermometer. Any type will do. You absolutely should have at least one in your kitchen!
Make lots of room in your fridge! You will have two medium size bowls in your fridge at least for 20 minutes, and this pie does need to be chilled.
On the brandy, unless it is an absolutely hard and fast "no no" for your personal beliefs, do not skip this ingredient. It does make a huge amount of difference in terms of flavor. If you are worried about alcohol content goes, there isn't a whole lot that will be left in the finished product. For more details on alcohol content after cooking, visit this link. First of all, the brandy portion of this recipe is baked for 30 minutes, so approximately only 35% of the alcohol will remain. Mind you, that is 35% of the approximately 35-60% alcohol contained in 1 tablespoon of brandy - for the entire pie. To start off, 1 tablespoon isn't even a shot, and it's not a lot of alcohol! After it's all cooked, there would be 2.1 milliliters (approximately .42 of a teaspoon) of alcohol left in the pie, divided over 8-10 slices! There is more alcohol in a single can of O'Doul's non-alcoholic beer than there would be in this entire pie! Even the biggest lightweight on the planet isn't going to get any alcohol effects from this recipe! The first time I made this recipe, I only had cognac on hand, and I didn't have access to my car at the moment. So instead of using regular brandy, I used 1 tablespoon of Remy Martin XO Cognac. Hey, it was all I had in the liquor cabinet! That was a very expensive pie, but it was a fine tasting pie! Since the Remy is a very strong cognac, the cognac flavor sort of overpowered the pie. In my most recent attempt, I used a mid-range price bottle of brandy - E&J XO Extra Smooth limited release brandy. This brandy in particular has 40% alcohol by volume, as did the Remy Martin XO Cognac. For those of you who are wondering "So which should I use? Brandy or Cognac?" The only real difference between cognac and brandy is the region they are crafted. All cognacs are brandies. Much like champagne is only called champagne if it is crafted in the Champagne region of France, true cognacs are crafted in the Cognac region of France. There, you even had an alcohol lesson today!
I substituted turbinado sugar instead of granulated sugar in the pumpkin custard layer. It is in fact true that turbinado sugar is better for us. I won't go into a diatribe about this, but I do suggest doing your own research about all of the ingredients and processes it takes to make granulated sugar. My friends who know me well enough know that I am not one of those who gets blindly caught up in the "food should be healthy and organic" mindset. Even with that in mind, I strongly suggest not substituting turbinado sugar for the egg whites and whipped cream portion of this recipe. Turbinado sugar doesn't break down like granulated sugar does in cold ingredients such as heavy cream and egg whites. You don't want a gritty chiffon or whipped cream. If you are taken back by the high cost of turbinado sugar (you should be!), I suggest purchasing a large 6 lb bag of it at Costco. Just the other day, I saw it there for just over $7. It costs more than double that at the regular grocery stores! If you don't have a Costco membership, you can purchase it for approximately the same price with the super-save shipping program at Amazon (when it is on sale). If you really want to be cheap about it (Hi, mom!), you can pick up a couple of packets of it at your local coffee shop ;-) You only need 1 1/2 tablespoons of it anyway!

Triple Layer Pumpkin Pie

Grocery list:
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 sticks of unsalted butter
1 1/2 cup sour cream (remember, 8 fluid oz = 1 cup)
~2 tablespoons cinnamon-sugar (2 tablespoons sugar + 1/3 teaspoon of cinnamon, mix)
Allspice
Cinnamon
Ginger
Salt
Cloves

2 1/4 cup of heavy cream
6 large eggs
1 tablespoon brandy or cognac
2 cups of pureed pumpkin
1/3 & 3/4 cup of packed brown sugar
4 tablespoons of granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon of turbinado (sugar in the raw) sugar - though this can be substituted for regular sugar
1 envelope (1 tablespoon) of unflavored granulated gelatin

Ingredient list:

Pie crust
3 cups all-purpose flower
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon cinnamon sugar
12 ounces (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces and frozen
1 1/4 cups sour cream

Pumpkin Spice Mixture (yields 4 teaspoons, more info on pie dusting later)
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Pumpkin Custard
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 large eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon brandy or cognac
2 teaspoons Pumpkin Spice Mixture (above)
1/2 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree
1/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons turbinado sugar (granulated sugar can be substituted)

Pumpkin Chiffon
1 envelope (1 tablespoon) unflavored granulated gelatin
1 1/2 cups canned unsweetened pumpkin puree
3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
4 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons Pumpkin Spice Mixture (above)
3 large egg whites
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Whipped Cream
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

For the pie crust:

1. Pulse the flour, salt, and cinnamon sugar together in the food processor until combined.

2. Scatter the pieces of frozen butter over the top of the flour mixture (see image to the left).

3. Pulse until the butter is the size of large peas, approximately 20 pulses (see image to the left). Remember, a "pulse" is about 1 second on, and 1 second off.

4. Add the sour cream and pulse until the dough forms one large ball.

5. Divide the dough into two pieces. If you want, you can use a kitchen scale to try to even the two sides out.

6. Put the two mounds of dough on top of sheets of plastic wrap (I recommend the Glad Press & Seal wrap), and flatten each into 4 inch wide disks.

7. Wrap up the dough disks, and refrigerate one of the doughs for 1 hour. (Tip: you can put the other one in the freezer for up to a month. The dough will keep in the refrigerator for up to two days. When using the frozen dough, let it thaw completely on the counter before rolling it out). This is the 1st part where you get to take a 1 hour break!

8. When you are ready to bake your crust, take it out of the fridge and set it on the counter for 10 minutes.

9. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

10. If using a pie crust bag:

Pie crust rolled out in the pie crust bag

If using the 11" pie bag, take out about a golf ball size amount of dough from the mound of dough. If using the 14" pie bag, skip this first step. I do recommend using the 14" pie bag instead.
Lightly flour the inside of the bag - top and bottom.
Put the dough inside the bag and zip it up.
Roll out the dough, and be sure to spread the dough all the way to the edges of the bag (see image to the right).
Unzip the bag, and carefully loosen the edges of the dough from the bag, and peel off one side of the pie bag from the dough.
Place your pie pan centered and upside down on the rolled out dough.
Flip the pie pan and dough over.
Remove the pie crust bag from the dough.
Spread out the pie crust in the pie pan, and make sure the dough is evenly placed around the edges of the pan.
Using your fingers or the back of a spoon, spread out the dough where it is about 1/2 an inch larger than the edge of the plate.

11. If not using a pie crust bag:

Lay the prepared dough on a lightly floured work surface.
Roll out the dough outward from the center into a 12-inch circle, about 1/8 inch thick.
Loosely fold the dough into quarters, and gently transfer it to the 10 inch pie plate.
Unfold the crust and gently press it into the pie plate, letting the excess hang over the pie plate.
Using a sharp instrument, trim off the excess dough to about 1/2 inch larger than the edge of the plate.

12. Tuck the excess 1/2 inch of dough underneath itself to form a neat, even edge that sits on top of the pie plate.

13. Press a decorative trim into the edge of the pie. You can use a fork to make some impressions, or you can use the back of a butter knife to make a rope-like impression.

Pie beads in the pie, ready to be baked.

14. Line the pie shell with a double layer of aluminum foil and fill with pie weights, old (uncooked) beans, or (washed) pennies (see image to the right). You will find a link for pie beads in the Amazon list below.

15. Bake the pie crust for 15 minutes. Hint: you will want to get started on the custard right after you put the pie in the oven.

16. Once the 15 minutes are up, remove the crust from the oven and remove the weights and foil. Since the pie beads will be hot, be sure to pour them into a temperature safe bowl or colander so they can cool off.

17. Continue to bake the crust until light golden brown and crisp, approximately 5 minutes longer.
Fair warning: the crust will likely bubble up in the last 5 minutes of baking time. You can use a fork to stab some steam holes into the crust before or after it is done baking, and be careful to encourage it to settle down to an even layer. Don't put your hand right over the steam holes! For the most part, it will settle down fairly nicely on its own - after the steam holes have been vented.

18. Place the pie plate on a cooling rack while assembling the custard. Keep the oven on.

Before mixing the spices

For the pumpkin spice mixture: (you can also do this step in advance)

1. In a small bowl or ramekin, combine all of the ingredients for the spice mixture.

2. Set aside.

After mixing the spices

For the pumpkin custard:

1. While the pie shell is baking, put the eggs into your mixing bowl and lightly beat them with a fork (if you haven't beaten them yet).

2. Add the cream, brandy, and 2 teaspoons of the spice mixture to the eggs.

3. Whisk until combined.

4. Using a spatula, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure all of the ingredients are incorporated (pictured on the left).

5. Add the pumpkin, brown sugar, and turbinado sugar to the mixture.

6. Whisk until combined.

7. Using a spatula, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure all of the ingredients are incorporated (pictured on the right). Notice it is a little darker and more "pumpkin" colored now.

8. Using the spatula to stir while scraping the bowl, pour the pumpkin custard into the warm pre-baked crust (pictured to the left).

9. Bake until the edges of the pie are set, and the center of the pie registers at 175°F on an instant read-thermometer. This should take about 30 minutes. If you do not like dark golden crusts (I don't!), you can use a pie shield (pictured to the right, listed in the Amazon link below).
Hint: While the pie is baking, this is the 1st part where you will want to wash your mixing bowl and whisk. You don't want that pumpkin custard mixture to get caked on.

10. Remove the pie from the oven, and set it on a cooling rack to cool it to room temperature. This should take approximately 1 hours (pictured to the right). It will be a bit darker than before, and it will largely resemble the pumpkin pies you are familiar with. This is the part where you can take a break!

11. Refrigerate while you are preparing the chiffon layer.

For the pumpkin chiffon layer:

1. In a small sauce pan, combine the gelatin and 1/4 cup cold water.

2. Let it soak (without heat) for 5 minutes.

3. While the gelatin is soaking, put a separate medium sauce pan over medium-low heat, and whisk together the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, egg yolks, and 2 teaspoons of the pumpkin spice mixture.

4. While stirring constantly, bring it to a simmer.

5. Once it has started to simmer, remove it from the heat, and transfer to a medium sized mixing bowl. You are going to be adding 3 whipped egg whites to it, so make sure you use a large enough bowl for this task.

6. Place the gelatin sauce pan over low heat until the gelatin is completely melted. After about half a minute or so, you can stir it gently to encourage the gelatin to melt. This will take approximately 1-2 minutes.

7. Remove the gelatin from the heat.

8. Add the gelatin to the chiffon mixture, and stir until thoroughly combined.

9. Cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator until the mixture is just slightly set, and the center jiggles just slightly when shaken. This will take 15-20 minutes. You do not want to let it sit too long, otherwise it will become too firm. It will be relatively forgiving in this regard. You just don't want to let it sit in the fridge for hours on end.

Note: You are going to come back to complete the chiffon layer. For now, there are a few more steps that need to be done quickly while the chiffon layer is firming up.

For the whipped cream layer:

1. Pour the whipped cream into your mixing bowl, and whisk it on medium speed until small (not medium or large) bubbles form. This will take approximately 30 seconds.

2. Increase the speed to medium-high speed, and sprinkle in the granulated sugar. Continue to whip until the cream thickens and forms stiff peaks. This will take approximately 2 minutes.

3. Set aside 1/4 cup of the whipped cream, cover it, and refrigerate it.

4. Transfer the remaining whipped cream to a separate bowl, cover it, and refrigerate.
Hint: you will need to quickly wash your mixing bowl and whisk again.

For the remaining portion of the chiffon layer: (see the section below titled "If you prefer to cook your egg white meringue")

10. Pour your egg whites into your mixing bowl, and whisk the egg whites at medium-low speed until frothy. This will take approximately 1-2 minutes.

11. While the mixer is running, sprinkle in the granulated sugar, and increase the speed to medium-high. Keep whisking until stiff peaks form. This will take approximately 1-2 more minutes.

chiffon layer, before egg whites and whipped cream are added

12. Hopefully your chiffon will be done gelling up by this time (see image on the right). Remove the chiffon layer and the baked pumpkin pie from the refrigerator.

**12. Using the whisk, stir about 1/4 of the whipped egg whites into the chiffon mixture to lighten it.

13. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the remaining egg whites and reserved 1/4 cup of whipped cream until no white streaks remain.

After the chiffon layer has been added to the pie

14. Spread the chiffon mixture onto the prepared pumpkin pie, mounding it slightly in the middle. Depending on the size of your pie pan, you may have some overflow. Considering there is one more layer to this pie, you might need to set some of the chiffon mixture aside (see image to the left). Another option is to chill the pie very well before you add the whipped cream layer. I highly recommend doing this since it helps "set" the layer in order to prevent it from overflowing when you add the whipped cream on top.

15. Gently spread the whipped cream attractively over the top of the pie.

16. You can either lightly dust the pie with some cinnamon or you can create another 1/2 batch of the pumpkin spice mixture. Since it is going on top of whipped cream, you can probably skip the salt.

17. Cover with a dome cover or cake cover, and refrigerate for a few hours before serving. You can serve it immediately, but the chiffon layer will run all over the place. It is much more attractive if you serve it cold. It must be refrigerated at all times since it has uncooked egg whites in the chiffon layer. This brings me to the final hint.

If you prefer to cook your egg white meringue:

1. Place a thick glass, medium size bowl over a sauce pan of barely simmering water, and add the egg whites and sugar. (See Further explanation below*)

2. Lightly whisk until the egg whites register 140°F on an instant-read thermometer or they are hot to the touch.

3. Pour the hot egg white into your room temperature mixing bowl.

4. Whisk on medium-high speed until doubled in volume and stiff peaks form. This will take approximately 1-2 minutes.

5. Add to the chiffon layer per the instructions above.**

*Further explanation:

This process creates a double boiler, and it is used for putting indirect heat on ingredients that need to be cooked with a hot steam. It helps ensure the ingredients will not scorch or burn. Since you want the steam to heat the bowl, do not let the water touch the bottom of the glass bowl. You will want to use a glass bowl that can fit inside the pan and form a seal over the top of the pan. Holding the bowl over the heat would be a very bad idea! Using a metal bowl would require a lot more stirring since metal doesn't conduct heat as evenly as glass does.

------

I hope you enjoy the recipe! I promise you, it is an absolutely divine pie! It really is worth all the effort.

Amazon.com Widgets

The Sacredness of Everything Barbecue

2012-10-01T12:15:00.000-07:00

As a born and raised Texan, certain things are sacred to me. No, this isn't a pro-NRA post nor some diatribe about Republican ideology. In fact, I break almost every single stereotype about Texans - except for one: my shameless, undying love of all things barbecue and meat. For those with Jones disease, my heart genuinely aches for you and your body's inability to tolerate beef and cow's milk products. I will grill a steak and a jalapeno popper in your honor, and I'll try to keep my audible enjoyment to a bare minimum. I cannot make any grandiose promises, but I'll do my best.

There is so much that can be said about good barbecue food. When I hear someone say "We're barbecuing! We've got some hot dogs, hamburgers and ..." it's like hearing nails scratch on a chalkboard, I swear. Call it a grill-out, a cook-out, a burger/weenie roast, or whatever else you want to call it. Just please do not call it a barbecue just because you are cooking it on a "barbecue grill." Barbecue is something that takes lots of time and patience. It involves barbecue sauce (*gasp*), a rub, and a grill and/or a smoker (if you're good at it). Sure, it's perfectly okay to have hamburgers, hot dogs or even fajitas with your other barbecue food. Some kids are finicky eaters, and sometimes you need veggie burgers for the vegetarian crowd. That's fine. Please, for the love of everything that is pure, holy, and sacred (i.e. barbecue), do not call it a barbecue if it doesn't involve barbecue sauce! Don't try to get cute either and say "we put barbecue sauce on our burgers!" Nice try. It still doesn't count!

Some of you may wonder "Since you're a Texan and you're living in Seattle, where do you find good barbecue?" The answer is simple: my back yard. Seattle's barbecue scene is notoriously mediocre. Every time a new place pops up, the general consensus is "Yeah, I tried it. It was totally ... decent." It saddens me on a very profound level. One of these days, I just might open up a barbecue restaurant here in Seattle in some form or fashion. Who knows.

I'll share with you my one and only means of survival in the land that is completely devoid of good barbecue: my dude. He has participated in some Kansas City Barbecue Society competitions, and he's won! Of course he and his team would spend ~$20k to win $5k. His brisket and ribs (similar to the picture above) are simply awesome. He went through over 90 briskets before arriving at the absolutely perfect brisket recipe. That's a lot of brisket meat! His barbecue sauce is superb. I'm actually going to be bottling and selling it, but we'll see how that goes. I'll keep you posted when we do!

This dude knows his barbecue. It's practically his food opus. I always make sure to accommodate his barbecue making endeavors by chilling a few glass bottled Mexican Cokes, helping out with the sides and sauce, doing any grocery runs, etc. I make him cheesecake; he makes me barbecue. It's a winning deal. He's not from Texas (or the South, period), but he knows his stuff.
He knows his ingredients.
He knows how select the perfect cut of meat.
He knows how to smoke meats.
He knows how to perfect a rub.
He knows how to make a damn fine barbecue sauce.
He knows how to keep me from begging to fly home for some good barbecue.

Sure, barbecue is a shamelessly high caloric meal. We take healthy foods such as zucchini or jalapenos, and we stuff them with foods that make your arteries clog with joy. That's right, those are bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers pictured to the left. Of course they're awesome! They're wrapped with bacon! Look, you know what you're getting into when you show up for a barbecue at my home. I'll usually offer some grilled veggies and fruit as the only compensatory low(ish) calorie food on the menu.

I stumbled across this article the other day. It's called "Slim Down Your Barbecue Sides." I feel the title should be changed to "How to Practically Ruin a Barbecue." Now before I disect this article, I have one disclaimer: I realize these articles are geared towards those that are trying to lose weight, be healthy, and make lifestyle changes. More power to you if you are! I know it's difficult, and kudos to you for deciding to take your life back. If you are struggling with your weight and being healthy, I have an even better suggestion: don't go to a barbecue. It's not going to be good for you. If you simply must go for social purposes, eat before you go, load up at the veggie tray, and control your portions. That is how you survive a barbecue without your stretchy pants. Though I do agree with a few of suggestions they had, they suggested some ridiculous things such as:

Instead of coleslaw…Swap cabbage for broccoli, which has more than twice as much vitamin C and three times as much protein as a serving of cabbage. Just make sure you choose a slaw recipe without mayonnaise for the best results. Though I've never personally been a big fan of cole slaw, I know some people who would stab you with their fork if you tried to substitute regular cole slaw for broccoli slaw. I love broccoli and all, but don't mess with the cole slaw.
Instead of macaroni salad…Trade this dish for a quinoa and vegetable salad. A cup of the ancient grain has 8 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber. Plus you’ll get a healthy dose of manganese, magnesium, and folate to boot. Not ready to give up pasta completely? Opt for whole-wheat varieties instead of ones made with white flour. Again, I'm not a big fan of macaroni salad, but to trade macaroni for quinoa? Quinoa is alright, but it's not an acceptable alternative to macaroni salad! Gross! Also, wheat pasta in a macaroni salad? Please don't ruin the macaroni salad! If you're worried about grains, just bring a loaf of bread instead.
Certainly the most egregious of suggestions: Instead of bottled marinades…Packaged marinades and dressings can carry more than 20 percent of your recommended daily sodium intake in a single serving. Fresh herbs like basil, parsley, mint, and rosemary pack flavor without weighing down your dish with additional fat, sodium, or calories. Plus many herbs actually serve up antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, O’Shea says. I know they said "marinades and dressings," but were they slyly suggesting to get rid of barbecue sauce?! Do *not* do this to people. This goes back to the "Please do not call it barbecue" argument as stated above. Make your own sauce. When I ever get my dude's barbecue sauce on the market, buy an artisinal sauce! For the love of everything that is pure, holy, and sacred (i.e. barbecue), do not say "I put some rosemary sprigs on the ribs instead of the sauce. S'cool, right?"
Instead of sugary soda and alcohol mixers…If you’re planning on indulging in a cocktail, skip the soda and brightly colored juices. “Use your calories on your meat and side dish; don’t also spend them on liquid calories,” O’Shea says. Try water with lemon and cucumber, an herbal iced tea with lemon and mint, or sparkling water with a splash of fruit juice. They get only half-credit for this one. As I mentioned, there isn't a better drink to pair with barbecue than an ice-cold glass bottle of Mexican Coke. When you spend all day slaving over a smoker or a grill, you earn it. Blueberry mojitos are another favorite alcoholic drink to pair with barbecue. Of course ditching alcohol is a great way to save calories, so that's why I say they get half-credit for this one since they are absolutely right in this regard. Stay hydrated, by all means.

As I mentioned, they did have a few good suggestions:

Instead of pie…A seasonal solution to your sweet tooth: grilled fruit. Throw peaches and pineapple on the grill, and serve them with one small scoop of ice cream. A slice of peach pie can set you back more than 300 calories, where a serving of grilled peaches and a scoop of fat-free frozen yogurt comes to only about 160. Yes! Grilled fruits are awesome! You can put a nice minty glaze on them, or sprinkle some cinnamon on them. If you have a rotisserie, shove a cinnamon-coated pineapple on it and slice away! Recoat with cinnamon after you slice away pieces, and keep it rotating on the grill.
Instead of creamy chip dips…Replace sour cream- and mayonnaise-based dips with homemade salsa, guacamole, or Greek yogurt mixed with herbs. Two tablespoons of chip dip runs at about 60 calories and 5 grams of fat, where salsa carries only 35 calories per half cup and no fat. Likewise, guacamole—in moderation—fills you with healthy fats and at 40 calories for two tablespoons. Veggie trays are great at barbecues, and there are tons of great, healthy dip recipes out there! Experiment!
Instead of potato chips… Food Should Taste Good chips are made with quinoa and flaxseed, which provide a dose of fiber and protein you won’t find in a bag of Ruffles. “I don’t feel so guilty about eating them,” says O’Shea. For an even healthier dunkable snack, station chopped carrots and peppers near the chips and dip, which will encourage you—and your guests—to grab for nutrient-rich veggies instead of fat-filled chips. Though there is a certain level of nostalgia that goes with eatting Ruffles (they have ridges!) at a backyard barbecue, I've had some of the Food should Taste Good chips, and they're not too shabby. Personally, I save my calories for the grilled foods. Veggie trays are a great appetizer! Grilled veggie skewers are even better!
Instead of traditional potato salad…“Focus on recipes that use dressings made with olive oil and vinegar instead of mayonnaise,” O’Shea says. If creaminess is a must, substitute Greek yogurt for up to half the mayonnaise in the recipe—you shouldn’t be able to taste the difference. I've never been a big fan of potato salad since it contains so much mayonnaise. After about 3 bites, I'm done. I know the majority of people wouldn't even consider it to be a real barbecue if it didn't have potato salad, and they just might try to stab you with a fork if you didn't offer a potato salad. My dude does a great bananas and spuds potato salad. The name freaks people out, and some people don't like it since it's not your stereotypical potato salad. It involves blanching bananas, and it's not a typical mayonnaise based potato salad. It's really good, and it's very different. You'll either like it or hate it. I like it because it's creative and different!

So get out there and grill up a barbecue feast! You'll know it's a successful barbecue when everyone is sitting down at the table, they've got both of their hands holding some pork ribs up to their mouth, and the room is completely silent - except for some sounds of food-joy. That, folks, is what a good barbecue is all about!

In Honor of Julia Child

2012-08-15T00:19:00.001-07:00

Today, August 15, 2012, marks the date that would have been Julia Child's 100th birthday! I cannot think of a more appropriate blog post subject than to talk about this inspiring woman and the cuisine she brought to the average American household - French food!

One of the qualities I admire the most in people is their ability to rise above struggles. Julia Child certainly fits this category. The more I discover about Julia, the more I like her. I do relate to her in one big way. Her husband, Paul Child, introduced her to fine cuisine much like my dude introduced me to fine (and diverse) cuisine! She inspires me, and she inspired so many chefs - including Thierry Rautureau (pictured on the right with Julia). Her cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking was ground-breaking. I admire her cookbooks' great attention to detail. I admire her desire, ability, and dedication to teaching others. I admire Julia and Paul's great love story. I admire how fearless she seemed to be. I am in awe of the fact that she was prophetical in her prediction that a "fanatical fear of food" would take over the country's dining habits. "Just a little bit of butter!" You tell, them, Julia!

She once said something that I wholeheartedly agree with: "We should enjoy food and have fun. It is one of the simplest and nicest pleasures in life." This, my dear readers, nicely sums up the reason my blog exists.

I was a fan of the movie Julie and Julia. I really enjoyed Meryl Streep's performance, and it made me smile to see a wonderful portrayal of the love between Julia and Paul. If you want to learn more about Julia, there are plenty of books available out there, and I have included them in my widget below. Every home should have a copy of her debut cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking. If you don't have a copy of it, click the link below to add it to your collection! Get the hard copy. It's a worthy addition to your library. It's a masterful book, and Julia made it easy to master for even the most inexperienced chefs. In case you want to stock up or just browse through her masterpieces, I went ahead and included links to all of her cookbooks. Even if you aren't looking to purchase any of her books (some of them are quite expensive!), just thumb through it to get an idea of how many wonderful books she produced during her lifetime.

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Crêpes are one of my favorite French foods to make at home. I mostly make them for breakfast, but they are great any time of day! I usually make sweet crêpes instead of savory crêpes. I usually fill mine with bananas, Nutella, and coconut. Sometimes I use strawberries or raspberries instead of bananas. Sure, I could top them with powdered sugar and whipped cream, but I exclude those 2 ingredients in my ever-so-slight attempt to behave calorie-wise. Yeah, I know, I just listed Nutella in the ingredients, so it's probably moot. I can't help it! I simply love Nutella! It's sort of like cheating to add it to desserts to make them tasty!

To honor Julia, I am including my sweet crêpe recipe that I have adapted from one of Dorie Greenspan's recipes. I hope you will honor Julia's memory by making some crêpes too!

Dessert Crêpes

2 tablespoons sugar
fine zest of 1/2 lemon (details below)
fine zest of 1/4 orange (details below)
pinch of salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup of milk (preferably whole, details below)
1 tablespoon of dark rum (that's how I roll!)
1 tsp of vanilla extract
2 teaspoons Grand Marnier or Cointreau liqueur (both are orange liqueurs, and yes, that's how I roll!)
3 tablespoons melted, unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
butter or other flavoring oil for the pan (details below)

First step is to determine if you will be using a stick/emulsion blender or a regular blender to create this recipe. If you wish to double (or more) this recipe, then I would recommend using a regular blender. I recommend using a stick blender for a much easier clean-up. You can easily mix and store the batter in the large measuring cup. If you are using a stick blender, I recommend using a glass/see-through large (4-cup) measuring cup.

For the milk/creme ingredient, you can use 2% milk. I usually use 2% milk since that is what we keep on hand. If you want a slightly heavier crêpe, you can use whole milk or even a light cream.

To create your zest, be sure to use a fine-grain/microplane zester instead of the zesters with the 3-5 circles that create a "curly-cue" type of zest. If using a stick blender, combine the zests and the sugar in your large measuring cup. If using a blender, combine them in a small bowl. You will notice the zest of 1/2 of a lemon and 1/4 of an orange are about the same amount of zest. Using your fingers, rub the three ingredients together until the sugar is moist, colorful, and fragrant. This step helps get all of the flavors of the zests' essential oils into the sugar. If you are using a regular blender, you can now add the sugar and zest to the blender pitcher.

Next, add the salt, eggs, milk, rum, vanilla, and orange liqueur to your mixture. Give it a few pulse blends until the egg yolks are broken and slightly blended. Next, pour the butter and pulse blend until the mixture is well blended. Slowly add the flour and pulse the blender to incorporate the flour. Make sure the flour is blended, but don't mix the batter too much.

Next, you will need to cover the batter and store it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. If you used a regular blender, pour the batter into a large measuring cup with a spout. The batter can be refrigerated for up to one day.

The batter is ready when it is a little bit thicker than heavy cream. You do not want to strain this batter because that would strain out some of that delicious zest! If the batter it is too thick, you can thin it with extra milk. If it's too thin, you just couldn't wait the full 2 hours could you?!? Put it back in the fridge! It truly does need the full 2 hours in the fridge in order for the flour particles to expand in the liquid. It helps the crêpe to be tender, light, and thin. I've grown impatient in the past and used crêpe batter that has only sat for ~1 hr, and it was very runny. It just didn't cook properly either. It looked almost rubbery.

For cooking the crêpes, Julia recommended cooking dessert crêpes with clarified butter to lubricate the pan. That's certainly delicious and true to the French style! If you are using a (good quality) non-stick pan to make your crêpes, you might not find it necessary to use butter. True French crêpe pans are not non-stick. If you're starting out, I'd recommend using a non-stick pan to get used to the technique. Personally, I'm a huge fan of my electric crêpe maker. It's a 12-inch non-stick pan, and I've found butter to be a bit of a hindrance when making crêpes with non-stick cooking surfaces. Here's the biggest bonus for the electric crêpe maker: I can take it to work to make crêpes for coworkers! In fact, I'm doing so on Friday! It also has a raised edge that helps make a perfectly round crêpe. It helps avoid having any batter spill over.

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Just before you pour the batter to cook your crêpe, stir it up since the batter will separate during those 2 hours it is in the fridge. If you want a thicker crêpe, use a smaller pan (5-7 inch pan). If you want a thin crêpe, use a slightly larger pan (9-12 inch pan).

If you are making a crêpe with an iron skillet or crêpe pan, rub the pan with butter, and set the heat to a moderately high heat until the pan is beginning to smoke. If you are using a non-stick pan, just set it to moderately high heat. Remove the pan from the heat. Immediately pour about 1/4 cup of crêpe batter (~3-4 Tbsp) into the middle of the pan. Quickly tilt the pan in all directions to run the batter all over the bottom of the pan to create a thin film. If you have excess batter pooled on top of your crêpe, just pour it back into your measuring cup. The entire coating process should take about 2-3 seconds.

Return the pan to the heat for about 60-80 seconds. Quickly jerk the pan back and forth and up and down to loosen the crêpe from the pan. Lift its edges with a spatula to check the underside of the crêpe. If it's a nice light brown, it is ready for turning. You can turn the crêpe with 2 spatulas. I usually take an icing spreader, roll the crêpe around it about halfway through the crêpe, and then flip it and unfold it from the icing spreader. If you get really good with it, you can just flip the pan to turn the crêpe over.

Brown the crêpe lightly for about another 30 seconds on the reverse side. The second side is rarely more than just spotty brown.

With my electric crêpe maker, I have found it is easiest to start with a cool pan before the crêpe batter starts to form that thin film. It comes with a spreading tool, and you can't exactly flip the crêpe maker all over the place to spread the batter like it's in a pan. Since my batter is usually relatively thick, you can turn the machine on, pour the batter immediately, and immediately start spreading the batter with the tool. If you create some gaps when using the crêpe spreader, you can cheat and add a dab of crêpe batter to cover the holes. In between each crêpe, you can clean the surface with a wet paper towel to cool it down. It takes some practice, but you will get to the point where you can churn them out without adjusting temperatures and using a cool pan to start. It takes a bit of practice to become adept with the spreader!

Crêpes can be kept warm by covering them with a dish and setting them over simmering water or in a low temperature oven. You can also freeze them, refrigerate them, and reheat them. You can separate them with waxed paper to keep them from drying out.

For serving, you can either roll them up and put toppings on them, or you can fold them in 1/2, 1/4, or 1/3 folds with toppings in between the folds. Top or fill with fruits (strawberries, bananas, raspberries, blackberries), sauces (Nutella, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, lemon curd, etc), nuts (almonds, peanuts, macadamia nuts, et), a sprinkle of powdered sugar, and some whipped cream. Want to get fancy? Flambe some bananas Foster for a wonderful filling! Don't forget the Nutella!

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I hope I have done justice to Julia's memory by including plenty of tips to help you make a proper crêpe. If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to contribute below.

Julia ended her last book with a quote that I hope I will remember, and I think we would all be so lucky to remember this at the end of our days on this earth: "... thinking back on it now reminds that the pleasures of the table, and of life, are infinite – toujours bon appétit!"

National Cheesecake Day

2012-07-30T20:57:00.000-07:00

That's right, today is National Cheesecake Day. In honor of this very important holiday, I decided to make a cheesecake yesterday.

"Wait, you made a cheesecake the day before National Cheesecake Day?"

Why yes, that's right. I made it the day before the day of celebration. After all, it takes about 8-10 hours to make my cheesecake! I typically use blackberries in my cheesecake, though it's much better with marionberries. I've made it with raspberries too, but it wasn't nearly as good. I made one without any berries for a friend of mine who is allergic to all berries (so sad!). He wrapped and froze that thing, and he ate it over the course of a month. He even hid it in his freezer when his family stopped by to visit. He didn't share one bite! Haha! His name is remaining anonymous for fear of retaliation by his family members. The cheesecake does magically taste better when it's frozen. The wonderful berry flavor permeates!

"Will you give us your cheesecake recipe?"

Ha! No. Even if I did, who amongst you would dedicate an entire day to making a cheesecake? Wait? No one? That's what I thought. I've given my recipe to a few friends who have asked, and I've never had anyone come back and say "I made it, and it was a hit!" ... because nobody's ever made it! Let the record show that my dedication to food is pure and strong!

Yesterday afternoon when I finished mixing the cheesecake batter, I called out to my dude so he could come downstairs to lick the mixing blade. I turned around, and he was already patiently and quietly waiting behind me like a cake batter ninja. Very, very sneaky, sir!

At one of my old jobs, I had brought in some cheesecake to share with the office. I offered some to our building maintenance guy since he was always helping us out with favors around the office.

After he took a bite, he said "Oh my god... that's a good cheesecake. Now ... why are you still single?" Haha! It always makes me feel good to turn cheesecake non-believers when they say "I like that cheesecake!" I certainly can relate. Don't even get me started on the Melting Pot's cheesecake. It's just so gross!

Alright, enough about my cheesecake. Since I'm not going to share my recipe, it's time to talk about how you can make your cheesecake perfect! First of all, no-bake cheesecakes don't count. Sure, they're fine in their own right, and they come in handy when you don't have a lot of time or energy to invest into a cheesecake. A true cheesecake is baked!

The two main elements to a good cheesecake are: temperature and a well-aerated batter.

First of all, you need to start off with all of your cold ingredients are at room temperature. That means the eggs, cream cheese, and anything else that would normally be in the fridge. "Cool" doesn't count; it has to be room temperature. Using a water bath is also a great way to ensure a proper temperature for your cheesecake. I bake mine in a water bath for about an hour and a half at 325 degrees. Then I turn the oven off, leave the door propped open, and I let it sit in the water bath inside the oven for an hour. After that, I put it on a rack and let it cool to room temperature for a few hours. Then it has to go into the fridge to chill for another 4 hours minimally. When you follow these steps, it helps ensure that your cheesecake won't crack or cave in. Cheesecake takes a lot of time to prepare! I usually set aside at least 8 hours for my cheesecake, and that doesn't include refrigeration time.

For a well-aerated batter, you have to make sure your cream cheese is nice and fluffy. You have to be careful to not over-fluff it! A good 4 minutes on medium speed is a good start. Then add your sugar, and whip at medium for another 4 minutes. When you add your eggs, whip at medium speed for a full minute after you add each egg. Of course this largely depends on the ingredients you are using for your cheesecake.

All in all, today's cheesecake was a hit! I wished I had a blow dryer to help get it out of the spring form pan for a smooth finish. Of course it tasted just the same. I'm just glad I came home with a leftover slice!

Bite of Seattle 2012

2012-07-24T15:52:00.000-07:00

As usual, the Bite of Seattle was a tasty, tasty blast! The Bite of Seattle is always my favorite festival of the year. There are plenty of food vendors to choose from, there's a comedy stage, and they even have cooking demonstrations!

My favorite part of the event is always the Alley. It's a program hosted by Tom Douglas, and it benefits Food Lifeline. For $10, you get a plate with one featured sample from 7 local resterauteurs.  They do vary the menu day by day, and they had 15 total restaurants participating this year. We always make sure to stop by Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. 96% of the proceeds go straight to the mouths of those who need it the most here in Western Washington. Last year, funds raised by The Alley allowed Food Lifeline to provide nearly 86,000 nutritious meals to hungry people. That's a huge benefit! This really is a great cause, so I strongly encourage everyone to participate again next year and beyond. Beyond that, it's a tasty, tasty charitable event, and it's a great way to try out 7 local restaurants in one sitting! If find yourself at the Bite of Seattle and can't figure out what to pick for lunch or dinner, keep it simple and just go with the Alley! There are always clear "winners" (and sometimes "losers") on the plate, so you'll be able to find out which restaurants you want to visit later on.

The Bite Cooks (sponsored by Viking) was wonderful too. Oh, how I want one of those stoves! She will be mine. Oh yes, she will be mine... As usual, Thierry Rautureau did a fantastic job as the emcee.  If you want to learn more about cooking, this is a great opportunity to learn some tips in the kitchen. Thierry and some of the local chefs provided some excellent cooking tips (including some I covered in my video). This is also a great opportunity to get out and meet some of your talented local executive chefs, sommeliers, and mixologists. They also do audience give-aways if you pay attention and answer some questions at the end, and we made off with a nice little bonus!

Speaking of Thierry, don't forget to watch Thierry on the Top Chef Masters, Wednesday night, July 25th (tomorrow!) on Bravo. Good luck, Thierry! We're rooting for you! Thierry is a simply amazing chef! This is going to sound like a very "mom" thing to say, but he's already a winner in my eyes! We would go to the viewing party at Luc tomorrow night, but it would be very late for us. Of course, Thierry already knows the outcome, but he's under contract to not tell anyone who won.

I was kind of surprised to find out they didn't have a camera crew filming the Bite Cooks event this year, so I'm significantly less bummed about losing the competition :) But hey, budget cuts happen! Fortunately Festivals Inc gave all of the contestants $50 in Bite Bucks due to their flawed voting system. Hopefully they will fix the voting system next year. Even though I truly don't care about the money, I don't think I'll bother with it again next year since the payout just isn't worth the effort. But who knows, maybe one of these days I will start including video demos here on my blog. Instructional video blogging is a lot of work - especially when you don't have a camera crew! I did get a chance to meet Bonnie, one of my fellow contestants, and she was super sweet! She would have been a great presenter too! Oh, and yes, I did make my video private. If you ever want to see it, you will need to send me a private message or put a comment on this page.

A few of the featured chefs at the Bite Cooks have items featured on the foodie 100 list! The Stumbling Goat has the Anderson Valley lamb T-bone on the Foodie 100 list.  We spoke to the executive chef, Joshua Theilen, at Stumbling Goat about this dish since we haven't had the opportunity to try it just yet.  We found out they are sourcing their lamb T-bones from a different place than Anderson Valley.  Obviously it's still a lamb T-bone, so it still counts! We will have to go check them out sometime this week. Incidentally, Joshua won the Bite Cooks Cook-off competition on Saturday, and he won $200 for his favorite charity. Congrats, Joshua!

Thanks to the Bite Cooks, I also found out about a wonderful winery called Sozo. Sozo is a winery that helps provide anywhere from 1-25 meals (per bottle) for orphans, widows and homeless who lack basic needs. The name "Sozo" is a greek word that means "to save." Each bottle has a number on the front part of the label, and that number tells you how many people will be fed with your purchase. That's right, you can drink wine *and* save lives, people! I'll totally toast to that! I know what you're thinking: "A charity wine? It probably tastes like swill!" You're dead wrong. They had some wine to sample at the wine garden, and I tried a bottle of the Pinot Noir. That was a fantastic Pinot Noir! Their goal is to sell only quality wines while saving lifes, and they have a very talented and well-renowned vintner working for them. When they go to restaurants to sell their wines, they don't even lead with the "This wine saves lives" bit. They have the sommeliers and restaurant owners try the wines, and then they tell them what they're all about. The only downside is that you can't just go out to a grocery store and buy their wine. You can find it on their website (link above) and at some local restaurants. They also had some bottles for sale at the wine garden, so I picked up a bottle. That's right, I saved 10 lives by adding a bottle to my wine fridge. Everyone's happy! If you want some great quality wines with an even better excuse to drink - check them out!

I couldn't help but notice there were significantly less vendors this year than there were last year. Out of sheer curiosity, I looked up the booth prices.

$350 for a Hand-crafted or specialty food product booth (not too bad)
$1700 + 16% of sales for a 10x10 Restaurant Booth (16%? ouch!)
$2975 + 16% of sales for a 20x10 Restaurant Booth (dang!)
$3175 + 16% of sales for a 20x20 Restaurant Booth (double dang!)

I get that the festival doesn't charge admission, so they have to make their money somewhere. I was really astonished to find out how much they charge the food vendors! Wow. So get out there and support your local food vendors!

The Comedy Stage also had a few talented comedians ... and they had a few "eh" comedians in my opinion (but hey, I'll be nice and won't name names!). Kermit Apio was a hoot! With a little bit of self-deprecating humor combined with some very important life lessons for the gentlement out there, he had a great routine! You should definitely check him out if he ever tours through your area.

All in all, it really was a great festival! If you didn't get to check it out this year, you missed out! There's always next year! It will probably be July 19-21 2013, so mark your calendars!

Foodie 100 List - Altaye Ethiopian Restaurant

2012-07-16T12:04:00.000-07:00

Since the Alligator Soul is now closed, I officially move to replace the crawfish etoufee with the Altaye Special at Altaye Ethiopian Restaurant on the Seattle Foodie 100 list. I've already had one person second the motion, and several have been in favor. There. It's a done deal. You're welcome! Sadly, I have not yet figured out how to have the owner of the list update it with changes like this.

Simply put, Altaye is one of Seattle's best hidden gems. Located at 8135 Rainier Avenue South in Seattle, you will find one of the most welcoming restaurants in all of Seattle. It's in a rather small and unassuming building, but do not be deterred by appearances. The owners, Essa and Titi, are incredibly friendly, and they serve up some spectacular food for great prices! If something were to happen to this restaurant, I would pitch an unabashed fit!

If you've never had Ethiopian food before, you need to head over to this place. Fair warning though: you might not like Ethiopian food at other restaurants once you've tried this place! I make no apologies for the fact that knowledge of this restaurant's food will ruin other Ethiopian food for you! I've had Ethiopian food at other establishments, and it was just not good at all. NOT good, I tell you. We're talking the "Wow, dinner last night just wasn't a good idea" kind of not good. No, I won't publicly name names, though you can probably figure it out if you do some hunting.

Where you're going: you don't need forks. Since you will be eating with your fingers, just wash your hands (they do have a restroom available), and get ready to be dazzled! To describe Ethiopian food, I would say it's similar to Indian food, but there won't be any rice or naan. If that description turns you off - don't be misled.   You will love this stuff! Hey, you never know if you like or dislike something until you've tried it, right? Eat it! It tastes good, I promise! Let them know that you've never had Ethiopian food, and they will guide you through the process. If you are a vegetarian, they will provide some wonderful lentils and a wide array of vegetable sides.

If you decide to stop by just for lunch or dinner, you should order the Altaye Special. For $12.95, you will receive a huge plate of food with a side of unlimited injera bread. The special will feed 2 easily. That's right, for less than $7/person, you will leave feeling as happy as a stuffed tick at a nudist camp! Their sambusas are great too, though the Altaye Special will be more than enough for you.  The first time we went here, we ordered 2 sambusas and 2 specials, and Essa reined us back in since that would have been way more food than we needed. I give them mad props for not trying to upsell us on food!

What is injera, you ask?  Injera is a crepe flat bread, and the pores that form on the top of the bread help soak up some of the yummy goodness on your plate. Titi makes the injera herself every day, and she even grinds the flour herself! It is made from teff flour, so for those with Celiac disease, yes it is a gluten-free bread. It does have a slightly sour taste, though it's not nearly as sour as sourdough. A friend once had enjera bread (from somewhere else across the world in England) that tasted like dirty dishsoap. Let's suffice it to say - they didn't do it right. Some places don't use true teff flour, so if you've had bad injera experiences at other Ethiopian restaurants, that might have been part of the culprit.

I mentioned you don't need forks, right? Basically the way you eat Ethiopian food is you tear off a piece about the size of 2 to 3 of your fingers, and you scoop up the food with the injera. Think of it like a mini-taco. Once you've started to clear some space on your plate, eat some of the injera at the bottom of your plate. It will be even tastier than the other injera since it has all of the food flavors thoroughly soaked into it.

When we order, we usually get the Altaye Special plus an order of the chicken tibs (pictured in the bowl), and we specially request them to be extra-extra spicy. For those of you who enjoy spicy food, this is one of the few places in Seattle where you can request some spicy and delicious food! Those chicken tibs are superb! My stomach doesn't handle spicy food very well, but I am unable to control myself when Titi's chicken tibs are at stake.

When you order the Altaye Special, you will notice some white cottage-cheese type of stuff on the platter. That is the eyeb (also known as aib, ayib, iab, etc). Save that for last. Basically it's very similar to a dry cottage cheese, and it's to help calm your stomach down after you throw so many foreign spices and flavors at it. If you're lactose-intolerant, I can't help you there. If you have a particularly sensitive stomach like I do, feel free to ask for a little extra eyeb. Just make sure that is the last thing you toss down your gullet!

A few times a year, I host a group event here for some friends through the Yelp and Meetup crowd. For $10 per person (the group rate), you get all of the food you could possibly desire. She usually serves a few extra options than you will normally find on the Altaye Special. If you would like to join us for one of our group events, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. Just let me know if you require a vegetarian meal or if you have any food allergies. The picture on the left is a platter for 4 people.

Never once have any of my guests said "Eh, it was alright" when they were done. Don't let the surrounding location deter you. We've parked on the street hidden our valuables (be smart, people - you should never do this anywhere!), and we've never had any issues. Sure, it's not in the most desirable part of town (by Seattle standards), but it's still not bad. The food is at a great price, service is superb, and the food is simply the best Ethiopian food in town!

In summary, there are a few staples at every Ethiopian restaurant:

1) Tasty, fresh injera bread = Altaye gets a check in this category.
2) Warm fuzzies from the restaurant owners = Altaye gets a check-plus-plus in this category. This place is also very kid-friendly. Titi just loves children, and they adore her!
3) Tasty, tasty noms = Altaye also gets a check-plus-plus in this category. The flavors might be a little foreign to those with limited food experiences, but they're great!

Foodie 100 list - Chicken and Asparagus Risotto - Il Terrazzo Carmine

2012-07-05T21:08:00.001-07:00

At Il Terrazzo Carmine, there is a chicken and asparagus risotto on the Foodie 100 list. I scoped out their menu online, and I noticed only a mention of the risotto of the day. So I decided to call ahead and ask about the chicken asparagus risotto.

They said since the risotto changes daily, we should specifically request the chicken asparagus risotto with a little bit of advance notice. When I made my reservation for the next day, I requested the dish. They happily obliged!

The restaurant itself was a little difficult to find. Signage is a little odd from 1st Avenue since a lot of the pictures are from the main entrance from the patio area. To reach this restaurant from 1st street, you go through the building lobby, through the restaurant's back door. The ambiance is very nice, and the wine menu is very extensive.

We were seated promptly and offered some bread to nosh on. We also ordered some bruschetta as an appetizer. It was kind of mediocre. The tomatoes should have been mixed with the basil a little better. The bread was also incredibly tough, and the olive oil messily seeped through the giant holes in the bread.

The chicken asparagus risotto was very well prepared. It is a rather large portion. The risotto was cooked just right, and it had a great flavor to it. Though the flavor was a one that I grew tired of before the plate was finished. If you're craving a risotto, I would still recommend it since it was so well prepared.

I ordered the cannoli for dessert. They were a bit gritty and also mediocre. I've made cannoli's before, so I know it's not easy to get rid of that gritty texture. Perhaps a little more investigating is needed?

Service was prompt, friendly, and very attentive. Prices weren't completely unreasonable. It's a lovely Italian restaurant, and I would still go back to try some of their other dishes! I certainly enjoyed it much more than the Pink Door.

Foodie 100 list - Theo Chocolate

2012-07-05T18:33:00.000-07:00

Since we are still working on knocking out the last few of the items on the Foodie 100 list this week, we decided to go do the Theo Chocolates tour today. The name "Theo Chocolate" originates from the Greek name of the cacoa tree - Theobroma Cacao.

For $6 (credit cards accepted), they will give you about a 1 hour tour through their little factory. You will need to reserve your tour in advance, though there isn't a way to pay for the tour in advance online. You can reserve your tour on their website at: http://www.theochocolate.com/.

We arrived a bit early for our tour, so we decided to stop by the storefront. They had about a dozen different samples of some of their chocolates. That's right, you can cross this foodie item off your list for free! My favorite was the salted almond milk chocolate.

When we paid for the tour tickets, they handed us some hairnets for obvious sanitary reasons. They asked if we were wearing sandals (which we weren't), though they will give you little booties for your sandals if you are. They requested to tuck every bit of hair possible and any dangling earrings into the hairnet. For the gentlemen with beards (or for any ladies with hypertrichosis!), they will hand you a beard net.

You would think there are more chocolate factories out there, but in fact there are only about 20 other chocolate factories in the US. Sure, there are plenty of other chocolate "melters" in the US, but Theo is one of the few chocolate makers in America.

The tour guide walked us through the process of harvesting the cacoa bean and getting it to their factory. Did you know that cacoa pods grow on the trunks and lower branches of the tree? They are also hand-picked since an automated machine would probably damage any new growth from the cacoa trees.

She passed around samples of the chocolates while she spoke. She explained that we were going to experience the chocolates in order of dark chocolates to milk chocolates so we wouldn't experience palate fatigue from the sweetness of the milk chocolates. I am a huge fan of milk chocolate, so I had to be patient!

I was quite surprised to find out exactly how many cacoa beans it takes to make just a 3 oz chocolate bar. It was a lot - enough beans for about 3 pods! They also use only organic products to make their chocolates, and they only participate in the fair trade program. Basically the fair trade program is for giving the cacoa farmers a liveable wage, access to healthcare and education for their children, and they don't allow child labor. That's pretty much awesome!

Our tour guide then walked us through the factory and explained what each machine does. She also showed us the shell coating of the cacoa bean that they sell as mulch. That was the best selling mulch I have ever smelled in my life! When I buy my own house and start doing some flower beds, I'm coming back here for some mulch!

She then took us to the kitchen where we sampled some chocolate covered caramels and ganaches. Most of the people working in the kitchen came from a culinary background, so they had some very interesting combinations stuff going on in there.

After the kitchen portion was over, the tour was pretty much done. They do offer the tour patrons 10% off of the fresh treats behind the glass pane.

All in all, it's an interesting tour. I would recommend it. It would be fun to do as a date thing, though fair warning: you and your date are not going to look very sexy with your hairnets. There just isn't a way to get around that!

Bite of Seattle - Bite Cooks Video Competition

2012-06-28T10:08:00.002-07:00

For the last 30 years, the Bite of Seattle has been one of the biggest festivals in the Pacific Northwest. In 2003, there were 60 restaurants participating with over 450,000 visitors. That is a LOT of foot traffic!
The Bite of Seattle is by far my absolute favorite festival in the Pacific Northwest. This year will be my third year in a row. One of my favorite parts of it is The Bite Cooks event!

The Bite Cooks! is an interactive and high energy live cooking entertainment showcase located on the Fisher rooftop for everyone to enjoy. Participants include some of Seattle’s finest chefs and local culinary experts who will spice up the stage with creative programming segments and cooking demonstrations. Local chefs will compete in a Bite Cook Off!, where they will be given three mystery ingredients, a small pantry of basic cooking staples and leave it up to the audience to judge there final entrée. The winner will be crowned The Bite Cooks Master! All demonstrations will be done on a fully-equipped stage provided by Viking. Mmm, Viking.

They have recorded this event indoors for the last few years, though this year they are going outdoors. I hope the weather cooperates!

Over the last few years, I've had several friends tell me "You should have your own cooking show!"

Alrighty, friends: now it's time to put your money where your mouth is. Well, actually it's time to put your votes (via mouse-clicking) where your mouth is!

This year, for the second year in a row, The Bite Cooks is holding a home video contest. Home chefs are invited to prepare a recipe that represents "Fresh Northwest" cuisine, and demonstrate the recipe in a 20 minute video. The winner will receive $100 in "Bite Bucks" certificates and $350 worth of Viking kitchenware. Mmm, Viking. Beyond that, the winner gets 20 minutes of fame (albeit on local tv ... through Comcast) to demonstrate their recipe with Thierry Rautureau.

I was not aware of this contest last year, but I am totally participating this year! I am super excited to submit my video! :) In case you can't tell, I love learning and sharing knowledge with others - especially when it comes to food!

Now, this is the part where I must shamlessly ask my friends to get out there and vote for my video! Pretty please? Sorry for the low production value of it. What can I say? I'm more of a videographer than a chef!

Here is the link to vote for my video. Please feel free to forward this to your friends and get the word out. Even if people do not want to vote, I at least hope they can learn something and enjoy the video!

I've sort of racked my brain to select a recipe to submit to the contest, and I have put a LOT of work into this video. I have plenty of great recipes to submit, though they might not all work well for a 20 minute segment. Plus they don't all fit with the "Fresh Northwest" theme since I'm not originally from the Northwest. Barbecue contest? Oh yes! Tex-Mex cuisine contest? The judges in this region wouldn't know what hit them! Baking competition? The fat kid within me squeals with delight! Recipes using bacon? Oh it would be ON! Northwest (summer) cuisine? Oh, hrm... Yeah, it was difficult, but I think I've picked a winner. I hope the judges think so too!

Wish me luck!

What to do with a chub of Salumi's salami?

2012-06-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

I recently sent a very dear friend the most glorious gift anyone could possibly send: the gift ... of pork. *cue the angels standing below the Salumi's flag, singing an aria chorus as they look up into the heavens*

Of course this friend doesn't truly know how glorious this gift is just yet. You see, I sent this salami chub to a friend in Texas. She has only tried salami from the local grocery store chain called H-E-B in Texas. Obviously this had to be remedied! Don't get me wrong, I still love H-E-B (and miss that place immensely!). They're just not known for their quality salami. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if I did her a true "favor" since she will be forever spoiled!

So she received her chub of Salumi's DaVino salami in the mail yesterday, and she sent me a message saying "It smells wonderful. Now what to do with it?!?"

We-heh-heh-hell then. First of all, the best thing to do with a perfect artisan salami chub is to cut it with a meat slicer. If you don't have one, call around to your local deli or butcher and ask if they will cut it for you. Some places will charge a nominal fee - $.50 or so - to slice meat. You want to slice it very thin - thin enough where you can sort of see through it and you won't have to really bite down your teeth to cut through it. You don't want it sliced so thinly that your slicer isn't able to capture a fully-round circle with it. My slicer will do that with the lowest setting sometimes. That's right, folks, I have a meat slicer in my kitchen. I'm not even sorry. I included a link for it in my widget below in case anyone is interested.

You can create a sandwich just like Salumi's would! You can use sticcole or giuseppe bread (think: ciabatta bread). Add some olive oil with some finely minced garlic as a base to the bread, add some olive tapenade, provolone cheese, lots of salami (maybe about 2 layers of very thinly sliced salami), some grilled onions and Italian peppers (pepperoncini's if you like them).

I would also strongly recommend putting the salami on a pizza. My personal favorite combination is pepperoni, white onions, and some Italian sausage on it. Need specifics?

Fine, you twisted my arm. I am hereby giving you my pizza crust recipe. That's right, my very own first recipe that I am sharing on this blog. I am making blog history today! Of course I reserve the right to perfect it and not tell you how I've tweaked it. You get what you pay for, folks! :)

Larena's deep dish pizza dough

1 1/2 cups of warm water (105-115 degrees)
1 package of active dry yeast, or 2 1/4 teaspoons if you use yeast from the jar
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 teaspoons of Kosher salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
3 1/2 cups of bread flour
extra olive oil for the baking pan

In a large bowl (preferably a KitchenAid stand mixer bowl), add your warm water, and sprinkle the yeast onto the surface of the water. Let it sit for 5 minutes until the yeast is bloomed and dissolved. Basically you want to see lots of bubbles that moved around, and you shouldn't see granules of yeast anymore. If the yeast is not dissolved at the end of the 5 minutes, stir it completely to finish dissolving. Tip: If you have a clear glass KitchenAid bowl, it will be easier to see when it is fully dissolved. Also, make sure your yeast is not expired! If you use regular flour instead of bread flour, your crust will be just a little more tough.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt, and sugar and whisk the ingredients together.

Next, add your regular mixing paddle to the mixer. Add in the dry ingredients and the olive oil to the bowl, and mix at a low speed for 1 minute.

Remove your mixing paddle and replace it with the dough hook. If you do not have a stand mixer or a dough hook attachment, then you will need to start kneading old school style! Knead using the dough hook on low to medium speed until the dough is smooth and elastic. This will take about 10 minutes with the stand mixer. If the dough still seems too wet, sprinkle it with a little more flour.

Lightly coat the inside of a large glass or metal bowl with olive oil. Toss the dough into the bowl, and turn the dough until it is nicely coated with oil. Loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and set it in a warm place until it has doubled in size. I recommend either putting it in a (clean) dishwasher near the heating element after it had finished a cycle (don't turn the dishwasher on while the bread is in there!), or you can heat your oven to 150-175 degrees, turn off the oven, and place the bowl into the warm oven.

Using a deep metal baking dish, coat the bottom of the pan with a bit of olive oil. Tip: You do not want to use a glass baking dish because it will make the dough soggy. A metal baking dish will ensure a crisp crust bottom. Take the dough out of the bowl, and spread it around the bottom of the metal baking dish - to the edges - until it largely resembles the shape of your dish. Press the dough all along the bottom of the baking dish to prevent bubbles.

For the actual pizza, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Coat with your favorite pizza sauce (according to your taste), lightly sprinkle some Italian herbs or Herbs de Provence, spread about 2-4 cups (according to your taste) of mozzarella cheese, and add the Salumi's salami, white onions, pepperoni, and (cooked and cooled) Italian sausage. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the cheese is fully melted and has a few golden spots. The crust should be a nice light golden color.

Enjoy!

Today, a friend asked me for cookware recommendations. I cannot recommend Viking and All-Clad enough! Their stainless steel pans are awesome. I am including a link below in my widget. Don't bother spending the extra money for the copper core pans. Maybe one day I will post a blog about what each pan is purposed for!

Foodportunity - Summer 2012

2012-06-25T21:07:00.002-07:00

Tonight was the Foodportunity event for summer 2012. Of course, good eats were abundant! Tom Douglas is the host of this event, and it was packed and sold out as usual.

This is the second time I've been to this event, though it was my first time as a blogger. This is a great event to get out there to meet your fellow bloggers and food enthusiasts. It's also a great opportunity to get to know some of your local chefs.

The chefs try to bring their A-game here. We have so many great James Beard award winners in this city. They know the crowd loves gourmet food, so they do try to impress! If you aren't familiar with the James Beard award, well, basically it's the Oscar of the food world.

My first time visiting here, I was just a food enthusiast. Now that I'm blogging more, I decided to plug it a little bit at the event. I even got my first tchotchke as an official blogger: a little gift bag from Chocopolis for bloggers! Aww :)

I had the foodportunity to meet the mother of local chef, Wayne Johnson. Wayne participated in an Iron Chef competition, and was a former chef at Andaluca. Now he is the Executive Chef at Ray's Boathouse. I also learned that at the Iron Chef, they give you a list of food items the "secret ingredient" could possibly be in advance. You truly only get one hour, but at least you get to have some brain-storming in advance. I didn't know this about that competition!

As always, it was nice to see one of my favorite local chefs there, Thierry Rautureau. He owns Luc and Rover's here in Seattle. He's such a nice man, and an even more amazing chef! If I were Oprah-rich, I'd try to steal him away as my private chef! Alas, Thierry, don't get your hopes up. There is only one Oprah out there, and I am not her!

I wish my camera phone was working. I would post more photos from the event if it had been.

Who knows, maybe at the next Foodportunity event I will have my own teeny-tiny-small-time award to my name :)

Foodie 100 list - Gnocchi alla Romana - The Pink Door

2012-06-18T20:18:00.000-07:00

I had such high expectations with the Pink Door restaurant. Nestled in the middle of Pike Place Market, this little Italian restaurant has built up quite a good reputation over the years. People on Yelp rave about the patio and the food. The views might be nice, but it seems they have based their success on their location in the famous market and the effects of flowing wine.

The item on the foodie 100 list is the Gnocchi alla Romana. Translation: Roman Gnocchi. Roman gnocchi ... using gorgonzola cheese ... that originates from a town named Gorgonzola in Northern Italy. *in my best Dr. Evil voice* Riiiiight.

They were the biggest gnocchi I've ever seen in my life! They weren't struck on a gnocchi board, and they had a char on the top and bottom of them. I have never seen gnocchi charred before. As you can see from the picture, they were quite large. All of these traits were the "alla Romana" part, and I can't say I was a fan. I couldn't even finish the dish. As you can see from the picture, there is a lot of gorgonzola sauce. It was too much for me to clean my plate.

There were only 3 gnocchi to the plate. Three was more way more than I could handle! The gorgonzola and walnuts completely over-powered the dish. The older I get, the more I lose a taste for marbled cheeses.

For the best gnocchi in town, skip the Pink Door and head over to Salumi's on Tuesdays during the lunch hour. Wait through the line. It's totally worth it, I promise. Some Tuesdays aren't gnocchi days since it depends on when their aunt can fly out to make the gnocchi fresh that day. They will sell out! They won't serve it to go either, so you should get there as early as you can. You can try calling ahead to see when they will be serving gnocchi next.

All around, I don't get it. I was thoroughly unimpressed. They do have a Yelp check-in deal for a free glass of house wine, so that was a plus. The rigatoni pasta was under-cooked. Their "Mama's meatballs" were also pretty good. Though if I don't say so myself, mine are better! Maybe one of these days I'll get around to posting my meatball recipe.

The only time I'd go back would be to show any out of town guests a nice view of the Puget sound .. if they wanted Italian food .. and free wine. If you can read between the lines, you can probably figure out I won't be going back.

Like I said before, the foodie 100 list seems to have a 2/3 success rate.

Kitchen Gadgets No One Needs

2012-06-17T22:48:00.000-07:00

The other day, Yahoo published an article titled "Kitchen gadgets no one needs."

I am here to tell you: I agree with the majority of the article.

The Margaritaville machine
You know what else works? A blender. Heck, some refrigerators with built-in ice makers will have their own crushed ice setting. The thing is, I know I'll probably buy one of these eventually. For those of you who remember the South Park episode that shamelessly made fun of this machine: yeah, I know... You have my full permission to mock me if/when I ever buy one. I can't justify the expense for now, and I've managed to get this far in life without one. I don't have the space for it in my kitchen either! Sure, it chills and mixes things to a perfect proportion. It is still a ridiculously expensive item, especially if you don't entertain often.

Microwave omelet maker
I guess they marketed this item towards college kids and moms in the 1980s who were amazed they could just microwave breakfast. As truly innovative as microwaves were in the 80s, you should not use them to make eggs .. ever. The result is just plain nasty! The only exception to this rule is sheer desperation (like I said, college kids!). Let's face it, folks - college kids aren't really known for their discerning food palettes, and that is perfectly okay. They might be able to tell you how to cook ramen noodles in some of the most inventive ways using a computer tower case and an iron ala MacGyver style, but do not trust them if they recommend this item to you!

Banana slicer
You know what else slices a banana? A butter knife! Even a spoon will do the job, you twit! It's dull, and I promise it won't hurt more! For years now, mothers everywhere have mastered the art of adding sliced bananas to their children's cereal. Heck, if you want to show some "super powers", take a needle and poke a hole along the seam of a banana peel. Turn the needle to the left and right to cut the banana slices without poking through the banana peel; repeat. Then peel the banana, and voila! You will amaze some gullible kids with your awesome pre-sliced bananas!

Quesadilla maker
I'll admit it: I have one. No, I didn't buy it, I swear! My dude bought it for $3 during a clearance. If you ask me, that should have been hint #1 as to why this item shouldn't been purchased. You know what else makes a great quesadilla? A pan and a knife. I haven't used this thing *ever*. I'm still not sure why we've moved this thing around to so many different houses over the last few years.

Pressure cooker
I had a friend who loved his pressure cooker. He learned a little trick from watching Iron Chef. He would bring it to cookouts and boil bratwursts in them before putting them on the grill for a little char. It prevented them from bursting like they tend to do when they are cooked entirely on the grill. If you cook with tough cuts of meat, sure it might help break them down easier. You should probably practice on tenderizing your meats the old fashioned way - with time - first.

Garlic peeler
The article was spot on with this one. Take your chef's knife, lay it flat on top of the garlic clove (sharp side pointing away from you), and just smash the side of your knife onto the clove. Voila! The skins will be broken up and easier to peel away. Here is another tip for dealing with garlic: either use latex, powder-free gloves, or rub a teaspoon of lemon, lime, or orange juice on your hands to get that garlic smell off of your hands. I keep a little squirt bottle of the lemon or lime juice in my fridge, and it comes in handy for dealing with stinky foods like garlic. If you go with the citric juice method, just be careful if you have any minor nicks or cuts on your hands. Of course if you are unsure if you have any nicks or cuts on your hands, you will figure it out very soon! :)

A wok
I tried buying a wok at the grocery store. After one use, it turned black from the creosote, and it rusted. I returned it to the store and decided to try to find a better one. I searched all over, and they all seemed to be made from a very thin metal, and they seemed to be designed for a bunsen burner. Ultimately, I bought a non-stick Breville electric wok. I know most Asian cuisine chefs would shake their head in disgust at the idea of an electric wok, but I love this thing! Wok cooking is supposed to be done in phases. You're supposed to move things and stick them along the upper sides of the wok once you're done prepping them. This gets them away from the heat source while still keeping them warm. You reintroduce them to the rest of the dish once you're ready. With the varying temperature dial, it will take some experimentation before you grow accustomed to it. The Breville wok will take up quite a bit of real estate in your cabinets, so I only recommend it if you have a lot of cabinet space.

Hot dog cooker
Come on, now! This thing is about as hokey as it gets. The article was spot on with this one too. Toaster ovens are awesome! Personally, I love my Breville Smart Oven. I don't even own a toaster; I just use my toaster oven instead. They sell a compact version of the Breville Smart Oven. If you can, you should use a toaster oven instead of the large oven. It will save a lot of energy, and it won't heat up your house in the already-hot summer months. If you're not too limited on counter space, I recommend going with a bigger toaster oven in order to cook bigger things (like chickens as the article recommended) in them. Which brings me to the next and final item...

Pizza baker
Once again, I agree with the article! Toaster ovens and ovens will do a much better job, and they are much more versatile! The Breville Smart Oven comes with its own round pizza pan, and they sell a pizza stone that will fit in the oven. You will need to preheat the pizza stone before using it to cook a pizza. I personally don't own or use Breville's pizza stone since I prefer to bake deep dish pizzas. I do have a pizza stone, though it doesn't fit in my Smart Oven. I have used it for frozen pizzas in the past. Now I use my Smart Oven if I'm heating up a frozen pizza. Incidentally, we are going to sell our old toaster oven in our garage sale next weekend. If any of my Seattle-area friends are interested in it, let me know! It still works great too. We just needed a bigger one. It especially comes in very handy when we are making big turkey feasts with multiple side dishes.

Adventures in Mastering the Art of the Ebelskiver - and KitchenAid recommendations

2012-06-17T19:46:00.000-07:00

A good, long-time friend of mine recently got married. While trying to pick out a wedding gift for her, I found out she was hoping to receive the donut maker she had on her registry. I mentioned this to my dude, and he said "Forget donuts. You should get her an ebelskiver maker!"

"What the heck is an ebelskiver?" I asked.

He pulled up a Google search, and explained that it was a Danish puffed pancake, usually filled with fruits, jams, or any other sweet or savory ingredients. How the heck did I never know about these things before?! They are also known as aebelskivers, evelskivers, Æbleskivers, ebleskivers, etc. The pan has special hemispherical indentations. The pan exists in versions for gas and electrical stoves (the latter with a plain bottom). Pans are usually made of cast iron to allow good heat conduction, though they also come in non-stick coating.

I usually like to stick to people's gift registries in order to ensure I give them a gift I know they will enjoy. Once I found out about ebelskivers, all bets were off. I told my friend "I'm going off-registry. You're just going to have to trust me on this one." She said she trusted my taste, so I went with it! As it would turn out, I did very well in selecting the ebelskiver maker! She has some Danish roots in her heritage, and her mother practically grabbed the cookbook out of her hands when she saw the gift! She went on to talk about how her grandmother would make ebelskivers in her cast-iron pan. She said she thought she had a copy of her grandmother's recipe somewhere (hint: I'd love to try it for myself *wink*). I just love it when I hit a home-run with my gifts!

I did some research, and decided I would go with an electric ebelskiver maker since a pan could possibly have issues with uneven cooking. I found one electric ebelskiver maker available at William Sonoma. There I was, standing in the store about a week before my friend's wedding. I had a very serious dilemma: do I get one ebelskiver maker for my friend, or do I get two (one for me, one for her)?

As you probably guessed, I'm weak. I bought two. Not sorry. Yes, I realize I have a serious problem with my kitchen gadget addiction. Though I must say I have discerning taste. I almost got suckered into buying the "ebelskiver turners" for $12.95 at William Sonoma as well. I read some reviews, and several people said chopsticks or bamboo skewers work just fine. They were right!

The next morning, I opted to test out my new toy. I couldn't very well give my friend her gift without being able to provide some sort of help in figuring out how to make them, right?!

I found a batter recipe online, and I decided to make some ebelskivers with blueberries. They were great! Then I decided to make a few with Nutella. They were awesome too. Oh, but then I decided to make some with Nutella *AND* blueberries! It felt like that scene from Ratatouille where Remy eats the strawberry and cheese separately; then .. oh then .. he combines the two and it's just glorious!

My first batch had a few failures. For one, I didn't cook them long enough. I quickly learned that they need to be a nice golden color all the way around, otherwise they will be raw and runny in the center.

I found that adding just about a quarter of a pad of butter - just a very tiny amount - helps grease the pan. Even if you're using a non-stick pan, it helps. It's probably vital if you're using a cast-iron pan.

I also learned that you only need to fill the pan indentations to about a half-inch below the top. This will allow your fillings to fill in that extra space.

When using a semi-liquid ingredient such as jam or Nutella, it's best to put about a raspberry sized dollop on the top of the raw batter right away. You have to act fast before the batter starts to cook too much! Let it sink or use your skewers to cover it up with dough from the sides so the filling will be encased. If you're using fruit with Nutella/jam/etc, then put the fruit in immediately after the other filling so it can help push the filling further into the ebelskiver. For my ebelskivers, I use about 5 blueberries with the raspberry-sized dollop of Nutella. They taste fantastic with a little bit of maple syrup! I am eagerly awaiting trying out some new recipes from the cookbook I bought as well, and I included a link below. You can even make little egg puffs in the ebelskiver maker!

My one and *only* complaint is that the electric ebelskiver only has 9 slots. I sort of wish it had 12 since that would make it easy for dividing between 2, 3, and 4 people. Of course it's easily remediable by just making more! I do enjoy it being a stand alone product. This way I can take it into work if I ever want to make ebelskivers for my coworkers. I have noticed a few "hot spots" with the heating element. It just takes a little time to experiment with filling each slot in an order to ensure an even cook time.

The regular ebelskiver pans run anywhere from $20-30, though they typically only have 7 slots. I included links to some of the Amazon offerings in my widget below. You will notice there is a link for a 12-slot Takoyaki pan. They're basically the same concept in terms of how the pans are made. If you purchase a non-stick pan, make sure you only use wooden turning utensils such as bamboo skewers or chopsticks. You wouldn't want to scratch your ebelskiver pan. The non-stick pans are easy to clean up with a damp cloth, and I am a fan of that!

Of course there are a few other kitchen gadgets that make the ebelskiver-making process very easy. I absolutely LOVE my KitchenAid stand mixer! I don't know how I lived all of those years without one! It is hard to imagine life without it now! If you don't have one (I know, they are NOT cheap!), Black Friday and Cyber Monday are usually the best time to purchase these. Trust me when I say this: do not go off-brand and get a cheaper brand of stand mixer. You won't be able to use the same variety of attachments with them. KitchenAid makes a vastly superior array of products. Costco also usually has some good deals as well, though usually it's for the larger one with the bowl lift. I purchased it in the past, and I found it to be kind of a pain to get it locked into place. Hint: guys, this would make a great present for your wives!

I still use my old electric hand-mixer on occasion, especially for making ebelskivers. Why? Sometimes you need to whip up egg whites or whipped cream separately. It is a bit of a pain to have to clean KitchenAid attachments and bowls (if you have an extra bowl - something I intend to purchase one of these days) between batters - only to combine the two batters again later. So if any of you find yourself upgrading to a KitchenAid stand mixer, do not get rid of your old electric-hand mixer thinking you won't ever need it again!

I also recommend a gadget upgrade for every KitchenAid stand mixer owner. A couple of years ago, they started selling a paddle attachment with a rubber scraper built in on one side. It has the same base as the regular paddle attachment that comes with each KitchenAid stand mixer. It works really well at incorporating as much of the batter ingredients as possible. Depending on how full your bowl is and which speed setting you choose, you will notice a tiny line of ingredients along the top edge where the paddle stops. It's almost negligible compared to how much gets left behind with the old paddle attachment. It costs about an extra $20, but it is definitely worth the extra cost. I included a link to it in my widget below. I have seen larger ones available for the larger stand mixers, though I do not see them on Amazon at this point in time. This scraper paddle should be your very first attachment upgrade!

One last tip on KitchenAid mixers: the steel blades aren't really dishwasher safe. They will change colors and lose their sheen if you put them in your dishwasher. I've never had that issue with putting the enamel coated blades in the dishwasher - including the scraper paddle.

I have tons of other KitchenAid attachments, so stay tuned for more reviews on those!