Friday, February 12, 2010
Happy V-Day
Here is the brownie recipe which is really quite easy and delightful, though way too cakey to fall under the traditional definition of a brownie. (I think increasing brown sugar would make it chewier, probably knock down the flour amount too). Best served with ice cream, because it is hella rich. A great lesson in changing up your usual style with TK's advice on combining melted and room temperature butter instead of using softened. And I can't overemphasize how happy the purchase of dutch press cocoa has made me. Worth seeking out, chocoholics! Gonna try out Alton Brown's chocolate syrup recipe using it as soon as we re-up on the granulated sugar. Till then -- brownie sundaes with cherries on top for me and the Boy until we die! Happy V-Day!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
King Cake
So, back to Le Roi. It comes from Emeril but not from the Food Network (his own that site is very different and does the fruit and nut filling rather than cream cheese). I was thrilled with the results chiefly because yeast + any dessert + me = 98% chance of plutonium-grade failure. So you can make a cake that rises twice and has to be shaped and stuffed with a filling and even make the icing and color your own sugar too! Because if I can do it, so can you. And maybe you can top me by actually finding a tiny plastic baby. If you can't, use a pecan half like I did. Of course, then you may run the risk of cutting right through the pecan-- thus making a king and queen of Mardi Gras from one cake. Better than dissecting an icon of the baby Jesus I suppose. If you're not in the loop as to how or why a plastic baby is a necessary ingredient for your Mardi Gras celebrations, I suggest you go here and New Orleansify yourself.
Laissez les bons temps rouler and all o' that.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Unseasonable Eating
Hi folks! I know you've missed me. I'm going to jump over all the apologies and explanations and just say I'm going to make a concerted effort to post more around here. If for no other reason than it gives me a reason to be excited about cooking and dining out and arranging things artfully on a plate.
So winter is a little boring in the cooking department. For some reason I get tired of all the heavy stuff -- the stews, the chilis, the roasted vegetables, the red meat. So while I think seasonal eating is awesome when the market is stuffed full of fresh local fruit and vegetables, when it's just kale and parsnips I get a little bored. I was missing the lighter side of the palate so we fudged a little bit and used unseasonal (at least in this hemisphere) mangos and plantains to do a little Caribbean dinner. Pan seared haddock, rubbed in a Cajun blend of spices, atop cilantro brown rice, topped with mango salsa, with a side of fried plantain slices. I feel like a waitress in the Bahamas for just writing that out. I know, I know, it was extremely unfoodie and possibly unethical to construct a meal chiefly of things that were flown in 1,000 of miles but there is only so much "comfort food" one person can take.
I at least went enviromentally conscious on the wild haddock (red snapper would have been more in keeping with the theme but also more expensive since he doesn't live around here). Honestly I think tilapia would have worked better, but this worked well, despite a few bones that made me paranoid of choking to death.
Anyways, the mango salsa was my job mostly because it's super easy. Here's what I did: chop up 1 mango, half an onion, a big handful of fresh cilantro, half a tomato, and a 1/3rd of an anaheim pepper. Add olive oil, lime juice, and salt to taste, along with Sriracha for some heat. Some jicama and red onion and jalapenos are all good substitutions. And anything citrus is in season (in FL or CA anyway) so you can make your concessions there if your ethical code requires it.
The fish was rubbed with a blend of cayenne, cumin, black pepper, red pepper, whatever you want pepper, on the side that doesn't have the skin on it. Then pan seared about 4 minutes per side. You can finish it in the oven or broiler if you have a thicker fillet and don't want to dry it out.
Plantains: you get the almost black ones, slice them in half and remove the peel, and then slice them and fry them. That's it. Although I would probably have slice ours thinner because they can be dry and a little mealy (potato-like) if the chunks are too big.
The rice was cooked like rice is cooked (honestly that's not my field of expertise but you boil it in water, or so I've heard). Then when it was close to being done, the Boy drained the rice, dumped the water and finished cooking it in butter and chicken stock. He promises me that he only used 1 tablespoon of butter. I guess I believe him. So it's kinda like a risotto but kinda not. And then more cilantro was added in there because no meal can have too much cilantro especially when it's the middle of winter and it feels like centuries since you've seen sunlight or guacamole or your own forearms.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
Before we part to pursue our various Turkey Day preparations, let me share one piece of advice I learned the hard way last night. Sometimes convenience foods are bad and not worth it, i.e. Easy Mac, Lean Cuisine, frozen pizza. Sometimes convience foods are so very, very worth it. This is a short list since I like to take the long route and time is not a factor in my meal preparations whatsoever. The only thing I don't have the patience to try to figure out, as I mentioned before, is pastry, and I'll probably break down and try that out soon enough. And breadmaking as well, though I do make occasional forays there.
But as of last night, there's a new shortcut to the list. Whatever you do, do not buy a pound of whole pecans and attempt to shell them yourself out of a desire to make a truly "from scratch" praline cheesecake. You see, they make these little packets, and even bigger 2-cup bags, of shelled nuts. And you can buy them halved, or chopped, or slivered. Any which way but loose. I had ascribed to that form many Thanksgivings previous, but this time....oh, this time.... I figured I'd take the hard route. And my thumbs paid dearly. You see, despite my kindergarten memories of cracking pecans in the playground, pecans are not that easy to crack. Hence the expression. They aren't edamame, let's just say. And a nutcracker isn't something a person of my age and income bracket has just sitting around. So last night, much to my neighbor's pleasure I'm sure, I was forced to whack each and every pecan with a hammer two or three times until they cracked. I think one split well enough to get two halves out. The rest were little bits. And lots and lots of nut dust.
So, you're welcome. I did it so you don't have to. And I hope my nut cracking adventures have made your holiday season a little easier!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Apple Pie
Monday, October 26, 2009
Biaggi's
The soup special (mushroom barley) was very good, though 5 or 6 bucks, which is even more extortive when they ask you if you want soup or salad after you order your entree, such that it sounds as if you have a choice between the two included in the cost of your entree. I didn't fall for it but I don't appreciate when places do it either. The soft drinks were also almost 3 dollars. I can put away a lot of Diet Coke in the course of a meal, but the amount of Diet Coke necessary to make a $3 price tag justifiable equals the entire volume of Biaggi's itself. Flooded up to its faux stucco vaulted ceilings.
The Boy had the chicken parmesan (substituting marinara for cream sauce) as is his long-established Italian dining custom. Bonus points for the spring of actual, fresh basil on the top. I mixed it up with Penne Sardi. Penne in a too-thin sun dried tomato cream sauce (surprise, surprise) with chicken, onions, and mushrooms. Topped with bread crumbs. Kind of a casserole, but better. I was pleased, but not overwhelmed. The onions were cut too large and I really wanted more mushrooms. But the penne was cooked well (as was the Boy's angel hair) and there was lots of chicken. So even though our minds weren't blown, and it was a little on the pricey side, we did leave decadently full and slumberous. Just the condition you want to be in when going shopping.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Feliz Cumpleano, John!
This is a luscious photo from Annie's Eats recipe for Irish Car Bomb cupcakes. They've been on my to-do list for awhile. (And they still are, John, so don't expect to see them at your party tonight).
Chocolate stout cake with Bailey's ganache filling and frosting (probably should sneak some Jameson's in there to be perfectly legit). Talk about the right way to amp up the celebration factor!