Obsessed with Good Eats!

Accidents will happen...

2009-11-12T13:12:00.000-08:00

So what do you do when you aren't really paying attention, and you add 1 & 3/4 cups of water to your eggnog scones mix instead of 3/4 of a cup? Add a beaten egg, pour the batter into a cake pan, and call it "Eggnog Cake". It actually turned out kinda tasty.

Pollo con Arroz

2009-09-06T15:19:00.000-07:00

Pollo con Arroz - We made this the other night and the result was delicious. The only nitpick was that it came out a bit too salty. That may have been the result of using store bought Adobo, rather than the one in the book. Next time we'll make it with the one specified in the recipe. Due to it being so salty, we opted out on the olives. Overall it was quite good, and it is even better the second day. Go make this!

Rainbow Cake!

2009-07-30T13:51:00.000-07:00

As a surprise for my daughters who were returning back from camp, I decided to create a "surprise" rainbow cake. The idea was that from the outside it just appeared to be a boring normal cake, but cut into it... POW, and explosion of color!

So let's make one!

Alright, prepare your favorite light colored cake recipe. I used Betty Crocker's Yellow Cake mix, because I didn't want to stress if the cake turned out less than awesome.

Separate the batter into 6 portions, or however many colors you'll be using.

I decide to use 6 colors, to mimic a real rainbow. Remember Roy G. Biv?

In theory, the 6 colors should have been neon versions of Red, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Green, and Purple. But as you can see, the colors were less than stellar. Who cares? Let's keep going. Ok, remember our order of colors. Start by pouring half of the red batter into the center of each pan. The, pour half of each of the rest of the colors into the center of the previously poured batters:

ready for the oven:

Out of the oven:

Frosted with whipped cream frosting and ready to eat:

The idea wasn't originally mine. Search "rainbow cake" and you'll find many, many hits. There's some from the Something Awful forums that are very helpful. Next time I think I'll try a scratch batter, and use gel dyes. Regardless, the cake was a hit!

Has it been a year?!

2009-07-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

In that case, pie!

This delectable creation was inspired by Nancy Horn, of Dish Cafe. You can find the recipe Here, along with some videos.

Here it is, ready for the top crust. This is actually about 1/2 of the peaches, so that means I'll just have to make another one...

Ready for baking

Golden brown, and smelling delicious. I must admit, pie crusts are usually my bane, but this one turned out quite well. Thanks Nancy!

Wanna bite?

Nancy's Corn Chowder

2008-07-29T22:48:00.000-07:00

What is this lovely mess of mis en place going to become? Some extremely delicious Corn off the Cobb Corn Chowder. I frequently eat at the Dish Cafe, and am always reading the owner's blog. So when I spied Nancy's recipe for Fresh Corn Off the Cob Soup, it sounded so delicious I just had to try it. To the right, we see the lovely mess o' mis en place. You'll notice extra carrots, and some Orangel. The carrots were a little spindly so I wanted extra, and Orangel & 7up is what the Dr ordered for a refreshing beverage on a hot day.

8 cobs makes lots of kernels!

It took a little while to brown the vegetables, but oh did it smell delicious. The prep went quicker than I thought, and don't forget to season, season, season your food as you're cooking. I also prepped some Tilapia with Balsamic Vinegar & Browm Butter sauce. (BTW it was delicious, but I was too busy eating to snap any pics.) Back to the chowder - after adding corn, cream, & herbs (including home-grown basil!):

This stockpot is full of WIN.

The chowder was really, really good. Only thing I did was under season it slightly. Nothing a little salt didn't cure.

Bragging about Brinkmann's...

2008-07-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

No photos with this one, just a post about some really good BBQ. A few weeks back I was able to get a great deal on a newBrinkmann's electric smoker. It took a couple of weeks, but I was finally able to smoke a pork butt. I used Alton's recipe, and it was divine. If I remember to snap a pic of a sandwich I'll repost it, but I'm usually too busy eating to remember. The current method of consumption has been with just some mustard-picklejuice-hotpepper sauce on a bolillo, but the pork has been great with leftover salsas on tortillas as well. If you've never smoked a large pork butt, please do so. No matter how risque it sounds.

ATK's Picnic Chicken

2008-07-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

To the left are some delicious cgicken thighs getting ready to be placed into the oven. I subscribe to the the America's Test Kitchen Newsletter, and the recipe for this chicken was inside. It sounded so delicious I just had to try it, and it was great. The skin was crispy; It wasn't to greasy; And the kitchen was cooked really well. Here - take a look:

[I know the meat looks pink, but I assure you, it was just weird lighting. The chicken was cooked to perfection!]

I realized as I was munching the last piece (and boy, did it go quickly) that I forgot to take a picture of the final result. The chicken was good when we ate it hot (we were too hungry to wait for it to cool) but it's flavor is really delicious cold. The recipe is available all over the 'net, as well as here:

Spice-Rubbed Picnic Chicken
from America’s Test Kitchen

5 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces (breasts, thighs, drumsticks, or a mix with breasts cut into 3 pieces or halved if small), trimmed of excess fat and skin
2 tablespoons kosher salt
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1. Use sharp knife to make 2 or 3 short slashes in skin of each piece of chicken, taking care not to cut into meat. Combine salt, sugar, and spices in small bowl and mix thoroughly. Coat chicken pieces with spices, gently lifting skin to distribute spice rub underneath but leaving it attached to chicken. Transfer chicken skin side up to wire rack set over rimmed foil-lined baking sheet, lightly tent with foil, and refrigerate 6 to 24 hours.

2. Secure skin of each breast piece with 2 or 3 toothpicks placed near edges of skin.

3. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 425 degrees. Roast chicken until thickest part of smallest piece registers 140 degrees on instant-read thermometer, 15 to 20 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees and continue roasting until chicken is browned and crisp and thickest parts of breast pieces register 160 degrees, 5 to 8 minutes longer, removing pieces from oven and transferring to clean wire rack as they finish cooking. Continue to roast thighs and/or drumsticks, if using, until thickest part of meat registers 170 to 175 degrees, about 5 minutes longer. Remove from oven; transfer chicken to rack and let cool completely before refrigerating or serving.

Piadina (Italian Flatbread) with Fontina and Prosciutto

2008-07-02T14:28:00.000-07:00

Take a gander at this sandwich - Italian Flatbread, with a spread or ricotta blended with lemon zest, salt & pepper, and topped with prosciutto and fontina. Simple and delicious. My wife surprised me with these a couple of weeks back. I'm glad she made a couple of days worth. And who knew WallyWorld sold prosciutto! Get Giada's recipe here.

It's a cuban Sandwich. It's a Pie. Wait - it's both!

2008-06-10T08:03:00.000-07:00

I made this last year, and forgot to post about it.

It's fantastic.

Guy Fieri's Cuban Pie alla Munee, from an episode of "Paula's Party" called Pie in the Sky.

Now go make it, eat it, and save me some.

Tres Leches Cake Redux: Los Chocolates

2008-06-09T09:50:00.000-07:00

How does one expand upon greatness? By doing it in chocolate, of course.

Last month's Tres Leches cake was so good, I had to make another. But, my daughter wanted a chocolate cake for her birthday. So... I make a Chocolate Tres Leches Cake.

I used the same Glaze as in the Original, but a different cake recipe. Feast your eyes:

Look Closer:

Closer!!!:

Tres Leches Cake

2008-04-06T11:03:00.000-07:00

Aka - the best cake ever!

Instead of letting my wife choose which cake she'd like for her birthday this year, I made the choice for her.

Here - take a closer look at the last bite:

Want some wallpaper?

Every day this cake sat in the fridge, it just got better & better.

Milk Made
Episode #EA1101, Milk Made
Recipe: Tres Leches Cake
Results: An easy to make cake that was authentic, and oh so tasty.

Giada's Orzo Stuffed Peppers

2008-02-09T21:11:00.000-08:00

OH My Goodness - you should make this recipe immediately! These are extremely good stuffed peppers. The raw garlic provides a snappy bite, and the tomatoes and orzo are really creamy. And odds are you'll have more orzo then peppers, so put it in another dish and bake for 20 mins or so, top with grated cheese, bake 5 more min and enjoy as an appetizer. Delicious!

The 2 changes we had 2 make was substituting basil for mint (it was really poor quality), and used green bell peppers, rather than yellow or orange. Because at more than $2 each there was just now way I was spending that much... We had an alfredo risotto from a box that we spiced up with some white wine and grated pecorino. It was really tasty.

Slow Cooker Cake

2007-11-19T16:29:00.000-08:00

OMG this is good. And super easy. I got the recipe for this from "A Taste of Home" Slow Cooker Recipes magazine. I think. It's called ministers delight.

1 Box Yellow Cake mix
1 (or 2) 21 oz can Pie filling (Recipe called for Cherry, I used Blueberry)
1 Stick Unsalted Butter (1/2 cup)

Melt the butter.
Dump cake mix in bowl, mix in in the melted butter
Pour pie filling into slow cooker (We have a 6 quart cooker, so I used 2 cans)
Pour cake/butter mix onto pie filling & level it out.
Cook on low for 2-3 hours.

Enjoy!

Mojito Mojo...

2007-06-05T13:12:00.000-07:00

So I've seen the Guy Fieri cook up his Mojito Chicken episode of Guy's Big Bite on more than one occasion, and it always looked so yummy, so yesterday I decided to make it. You can't go wrong with this one! Not only is it fairly simple to put together, it tastes fantastic.

Mojito Chicken
Episode #G10205, Guy's Big Bite: Mojito Chicken
Recipe: Mojito Chicken
Results: Moist, flavorful chicken that melts off the bone. The lime accents the spices perfectly. This recipe's a keeper.

I'm just here for the Food, v2.0

2007-05-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

I picked up this little gem a few days ago.

So far, we've had the Chicken Satay and Chip Chops, both of which were extremely delicious.

I've got no pics of the Satay, but here's some of the Chip Chops:

Yes, I know the last pic is crappy, but I wanted to eat, not take pictures...

I'm Just Here for the Food v2.0
Page #39, Searing
Recipe: Chicken Satay
Results: Good Tasting, kid approved Chicken Satay. A definate keeper.

I'm Just Here for the Food v2.0
Page #119, Frying
Recipe: Chip Chop
Results: Completely wonderfully tasting pork chops. Who'd have thought that Salt n' Vinegar potato chips would make such an awesome breading?

Sorry about the google searches but I don't think I can legally reproduce these recipes, and I can't find them printed online anywhere...

Click The Link, buy the book, and cook some food!

Buttermilk Pie

2007-04-03T22:14:00.000-07:00

Who'd have thought such a thing? I'd never hsve known, if a friend hadn't sent me this recipe, I'd have never made one.

How'd it turn out?

Quite good, I thought, even if:

I forgot the vanilla
Used "light butter" to grease the pie pan
Cooked it for 45 min @ 400' instead of 55 min @ 350'.

Ah well, I'm throwing it back in for a little longer at a slightly lower temp to firm it up a bit more, and it will be very difficult to resist eating the whole darn thing tonight...

A great disservice

2007-03-03T22:15:00.000-08:00

I realized I did my wife a great disservice. Last year my daughter got braces, and in an effort to make her a meal that she'd like, but wouldn't be stressful on her teeth, my Wife made Giada's Lasagna Rolls.

They were extremely delicious, and the kids enjoyed eating them very much.

Episode #EI1F15, Italian Fast Food (Everyday Italian)
Recipe: Lasagna Rolls
Results: Absolutely delicious meal! Thanks, Honey!!!

More Bread. of the "No-Knead" variety.

2007-02-19T10:44:00.000-08:00

Yep, I'm at it again with the bread. I've actually made 3 so far, and will be making another tonight. (They make a great gift, btw).

Here's results from loaf 2:

And here's a revised recipe. Have fun!

Super Easy No-Knead bread

The software:
3 Cups/430g Flour
1 1/2 Cups/340g Water
1/4 tsp/8g Instant Yeast
1 TB Salt (actually, just a "tad" less)

The Hardware:
Scale and/or Measuring cups
Measuring spoon
Big Bowl
Silicone baking mat and/or kitchen towels
4-5 qt (heavy or cast iron) dutch oven or baking stone.
Spray bottle if using baking stone

Mix all the dry ingedients together in a bowl. Add the water and mix until the dough has just come together. It will be messy. That's fine.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for 20 hours.
On a well floured surface, pour out the dough ball and fold it into thirds in on itself, like a letter. Turn it 90 degrees, then fold it in on itself again.
Flour a towel (or use a silicone mat) and flip the dough ball, seam side down, onto half the towel. Flour the top of the dough ball and cover it with the other half of the towel.
Let that rise for 3-4 hours.
1 hour before baking, preheat your oven to 425. Preheat your dutch oven or baking stone as well.
If using a dutch oven, (carefully!) flip your dough into it seam side down. Cover, and bake for 35 min. Then remove the cover and bake for an additional 25-35 min.
If using a baking stone, spray the interior & sides of the oven thoroughly with your spray bottle. Then bake your dough, seam side down on your stone for 50-65 min. Spray the inside of the oven every 15 min to get a good crust.

Remove from the oven when done, let cool, and enjoy your bread.

No Knead Results

2007-01-31T08:54:00.000-08:00

As has been written about by billions of bloggers, the results are quite good.

Click the pics for full size goodness.

How very artisany.

But how does it taste?

Quite good. Needs more salt, for my taste, and I need to tweak temp/baking time/water because this particular loaf was a tad bit wet still in the center, and the crust was drier and harder than I'd have liked - but, I used a stone and water spritzer rather than the dutch oven.

If you are at all intimidated by baking bread, try the no knead method. It is revolutionary.

Late to the game... But hey, No Kneading!

2007-01-29T21:19:00.000-08:00

It's after 9pm, late for me on a work night (5am comes early!) But this will be going together tonight...

Results & Notes tomorrow!

New Year, some new recipes...

2007-01-14T09:47:00.000-08:00

It's been a while, but I have managed to cook up a couple of new things, especially since i got one of these:

clicky

For Christmas. It makes great paninis and Cuban Sandwiches.

Also, it's great for leftovers. Say you make Grandma's Pot Roast, and have some meat and vegetables left over? Make a panini out of it. It's really good.

Also made a new Giada recipe, Pannetone French Toast. Yum!

Episode #114, Sandwich Craft
Recipe: Cuban Sandwich
Results: A very delicious sandwich, although pulled pork is preferable to sliced, but that's just my opinion.

Episode #EI1 E03, Simply Sweet (Everyday Italian)
Recipe: Panettone French Toast
Results: Quite simply, it's just an absolutely delicious way of making french toast. And the leftover "custard" makes delicious scrambled eggs.

My Grandmother's Pot Roast (foodfit.com)
Results: Quite nice pot roast with vegetables. The red wine gravy was superb. Make sure you toss in a few potatoes; they'll be delicious!

Alton does it again.

2006-11-20T22:42:00.000-08:00

I won't be doing this, but behold:

The turkey Derrick:

Click here for the details.

I would like to try frying a turkey, though, someday.

Giada's Thanksgiving for two.

2006-11-19T11:46:00.000-08:00

This year, for our thanksgiving meal, we're eating Sushi. Why?

Why not?

But yesterday, we had a delicious "Thanksgiving" meal directly insipred by Giada DeLaurentis. Earlier in the week my wife and I were watching Everyday Italian, and the particular show was "Thanksgiving for two. The recipes looked delicious, so we decided to make them.

We started with a Cornbread and Panzanella Salad, then had Turkey and Cranberry Ravioli as our main course, and finished with Apple and Walnut Torta. A great meal.

The salad was a definite surprise. The cornbread matched extremely well with the cheese and tomatoes, and the lemon & olive oil dressing was delicious. The ravioli were sublime, and the hit of cranberry was a delightfully sweet contrast with the flavorful turkey. The recipe called for .25lb of turkey; my wife quadrupled it. Good thing, they were almost all devoured. The torta was a great dessert with the taste or orange layering over everything. I slightly undercooked it, but it still came out well. With vanilla ice cream, sheer bliss!

Bloody Mary Flank Steak

2006-07-02T12:11:00.000-07:00

Well, we're back from our vacation in Mexico, where we ate lots of good food, and I now have a new obsession with bollilos and Oaxacan Tamales. Haven't done much good-eats-wise, but I did have the chance to try Guy Fieri's Bloody Mary Flank Steaks and Grilled Romaine with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette. Tonight we're having it again, this time with the Parmesan Taters. I can't wait.

Guy's Big Bite
Episode #1, Bloody Mary Flank Steaks
Recipe: Bloody Mary Flank Steaks
Results: Delicious, and easy to prepare. A keeper.
Recipe: Grilled Romaine with Blue Cheese-Bacon Vinaigrette
Results: Interesting, cheesy, flavorful, and smokey. Delicious!

Watermelon Sorbet

2006-07-02T11:59:00.000-07:00

Holy Crap this stuff is good. I made it about a month ago but I guess I forgot to post it.....

Episode #121, Melondrama
Recipe: Melon Sorbet
Results: Really freaking good watermelon sorbet....

Misc breads

2006-06-05T07:45:00.001-07:00

Hm. Dunno why these were never posted, but I've made AB's "Day After" bread, from I'm Just Here for More Food, and the Multigrain Bread from the March 2006 issue of Cook's Illustrated. Both turned out good, but I need to improve my baking skills.

Nutella Pizza!

2006-05-30T14:39:00.000-07:00

This one was a hit with the kids.

Ingredients:

Your favorite pizza dough
Nutella (enough to cover whatever size pizza you make)
Sweetened (or unsweetened, your choice) coconut
Cinammon sugar

Flatten out your dough using your favorite method.
Sprinkle cinnamon sugar liberally over dough.
Bake until just golden brown (425'F for 8-12 min?)
Remove from oven and smear nutella liberally over dough.
Sprinkle coconut over nutella.
Sprinkle more cinnamon sugar over the pizza.
Throw pizza back into the oven until coconut is toasted to your satisfaction.

Remove from the oven, slice up, and enjoy. Good hot or cold.

Cinnamon sugar:
1 vanilla bean
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Cut the vanilla bean in half, lengthwise. Using the back of a knife, scrape along the inside of the vanilla bean to collect the seeds. Scrape vanilla bean seeds into a small bowl. Add sugar and cinnamon and stir to combine. Set aside in a small serving bowl.

A multitiude of meatballs....

2006-05-25T13:11:00.000-07:00

Wow, must be slacking. I don't see the entries for Great Balls of Meat or, the Giada mini Turkey Meatballs we made a couple of days later. Both were made with ground turkey. For the record I liked the texture of Alton's, but the flavors of Giada's. Maybe next time we'll do some genetic cross breeding and create the ultimate meatball.

Episode #139, Great Balls of Meat
Recipe: Baked Meatballs
Results: Good tasting meatballs with a great texture.

Scallops. Delicious Scallops.

2006-05-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

Shell Game IV (Scallops) was a great episode. It was a parody of one of my all time favorite movies, Jaws. I also love scallops. So it only is right to make this recipe... and although I ended up cooking them for 20 minutes instead of the called for 8, they came out really well. We'll be making this one again.

Episode #149, Shell Game IV
Recipe: Scallops on the half shell
Results: Delicious scallops "on the half shell".

A couple of weeks ago, my wife made the Seared scallops. She wasn't pleased with them (they were a bit overcooked), but I liked them, and appreciated her cooking them up.

Episode #149, Shell Game IV
Recipe: Seared Scallops
Results: delicious, if not slightly overcooked scallops. Ya' really got watch em...

I like'a the Pizza, alla' da Time!

2006-05-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

Oh, I like pizza. A lot. I've made some pizzas in the past, and they turned out pretty good. But this time, they were great. Armed with a good dough recipe, some technique, and some good toppings, we had 4 really good pizzas. The kids had cheese, and pepperoni pizzas, my wife had a roasted turkey and capers pizza, and mine was roasted peppers, garlic, and articchokes. Yummy, yummy! I also highly recommend getting a throwdough to practice with, to perfect your dough throwing technique. If you want some "glow in the dark" dough, check out ProDough!

Episode #37, Flat is Beautiful
Recipe: Pizza Pizzas
Results: Great Pizza!

Tuna Steaks

2006-04-28T14:12:00.000-07:00

Episode #EA1F01, The Other Red Meat
Recipe: Chimney Tuna Loin
Results: Delicious Tuna Steaks. I opted not to use sesame seeds (too damn expensive), and I didn't use a chimney, but a hot, hot, cast iron pan. Yummy, yummy, yummy.

Got Stale Doughnuts?

2006-04-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

If you have oh, say 16-18 stale doughnuts, and don't know what to do, make Doughnut Bread Pudding. OMG it's good.....

Nuts about Dough!

2006-04-23T11:01:00.000-07:00

Circle of Life was on the other day, and that inspired us to create some Doughnuts!.

1. This recipe makes a lot of doughnuts.
2. This recipe is quite the project (4 hours, from dough to doughnuts)
3. They are really good doughnuts.
4. Did I mention that this recipe mskes a lot of doughnuts? (about 4 dozen).

Let's get (Dough)Nuts:

Little rings of doughy goodnest after proofing:

Fry 'em up!:

(note to self: a 3 quart dutch C.I. oven just doesn't cut it)

Drain 'em:

Ice 'em:

Homer Approved!

Episode # EA1H04, Circle of Life
Recipe: Yeast Doughnuts
Recipe: Doughnut Glaze
Recipe: Chocolate Doughnut Glaze
Results: Really yummy doughnuts. Lots of Really Yummy Doughnuts.

Chops Ahoy!

2006-04-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

What do you do when you don't know what to do with those pork chops? Stuff them! While these chops were good, my wife thought they were a bit salty from the brine. I quite liked them though, and thought they weren't over salted. Regardless, they were quite tasty.

Episode # EA1F07, Chops Ahoy!
Recipe: Stuffed Grilled Pork Chops
Results: Tasty Stuffed Pork Chops!

Total(tm) Cereal Banana Bread (a recipe redo)

2006-03-27T10:07:00.001-08:00

This past sat, I was shopping with my bonnie bride and saw the back of a Total Cereal coupon, with a recipe for Banana bread on it. It incorporated the Total cereal into the recipe. Intruiged, I decided to make the bread. It is Good.....

Let's get our ingredients together:

Mixed and ready for the oven:

Done, cooled, and eaten:

YUM.

1/16th of the loaf, about a 1/2" slice, equates to about 125 calories. As made via the recipe, it would work out to about 180(?). MasterCook equated 93 cals/slice for this recipe, with my substitutions, but my paper calculations yielded 125. Regardless, it's some tasty bread.

Here's my recipe:

1 1/4 cups Splenda
2 tablespoons Smart Balance
3 egg whites
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas, about 3 to 4 medium
2/3 cup plain fat-free yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 A.P. flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups Total® cereal, slightly crushed

Preheat oven to 350'F.

In large bowl, mix sugar and margarine.
Stir in eggs whites until well blended.
Add bananas, yogurt and vanilla; beat until smooth.
Stir in remaining ingredients except cereal just until moistened.
Stir in cereal.
Pour into 2 greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch pans, or 1 greased 9x5x3 inch pan.

Bake for about 1 hr if using 8" pans, or 1 hr, 15 min if using 9" pan. Remove when toothpick inserted into middle of loaf comes out clean.

Cool for 5 min then turn out onto cooling rack; let cool for another hour. (If you can wait that long.

Variant: Substitute 1 cup of blueberries and 1 cup of bananas for the 1 1/2cups of bananas!

Variant 2: Add 1 jar (3 1/2 ounces) of chopped and toasted macadamia nuts, and 1/2 cup flaked coconut. Sub 1/2 cup buttermilk instead of the yogurt (or not), and sub 2 eggs instead of 3 egg whites (or not).

Variant: Substitute 1 cup of blueberries and 1 cup of bananas for the 1 1/2cups of bananas!

Variant 2: Add 1 jar (3 1/2 ounces) of chopped and toasted macadamia nuts, and 1/2 cup flaked coconut. Sub 1/2 cup buttermilk instead of the yogurt (or not), and sub 2 eggs instead of 3 egg whites (or not).

Emeril's Sourdough 101

2006-03-27T09:55:00.000-08:00

Oh, Yeah, babe. Emeril's Sourdough 101 inspired me to try my hand at creating a starter, making a basic sourdough loaf, and making some sourdough blueberry pancakes. Everything was great, except I forgot to allow the loaf to bench proof the 2nd time. D'oh!

A decent loaf of bread:

Some really good blueberry pancakes:

Oh, and as a side note, it's pronounced "MOO-Fah-Leh-Ta", not "moofah-lahta".... argh. And, I'd make Giada's before I tried another... although Dang this Muffuletta Calzone sure sounds good!

Let's smoke some pork butt....

2006-03-27T09:39:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to smoke some pork butt in the home made cooker from the Good Eats episode "Q" for some time now, but I haven't been able to assemble all the parts for the smoker. Anndddd, research shows that buying everything will cost about the same as buying one off the shelf. Although it's not nearly as cool... Anyway, on to the recipe:

Kalua Pig
From John Fischer,Your Guide to Hawaii / South Pacific for Visitors.

INGREDIENTS:

* 4-5 pound pork butt
* 2Â½ tablespoons Hawaiian salt (substitute kosher salt)
* 2 tablespoons liquid smoke
* 1 banana leaf (substitute 4-5 whole, unpeeled bananas)
* 4-6 ti leaves (substitute aluminum foil)

PREPARATION:

Trim any excess fat from the roast. Make several shallow long cuts along the roast or pierce liberally with a fork. (This allows the salt and liquid smoke to penetrate the meat.) Rub with salt and liquid smoke. Wrap the roast with banana leaf or in the absence of same, place whole bananas on top of meat .

Cut the ribs from the ti leaves and wrap over the banana leaf. Substitute aluminum foil, if ti leaves are not available. (Ti leaves can often be obtained from a local florist). Tie securely with twine.

Roast in a 325-350Âº oven for about 45 minutes per pound. When meat is done, remove ti leaves, banana leaf (or bananas) and shred pork.

I got a 7lb pork butt, rubbed it with salt and liquid smoke, put it in a pan, and covered it with some unripe bananas:

Wrap it, throw it in the oven, and wait. Then, after several hours:

Which yields 3 lbs of pulled pork:

Which is great with a dash of barbeque sauce, spicy banana ketchup, or just plain. Tonight.... we're making enchiladas.

Even Lower Calorie Cinnamon Rolls

2006-03-16T09:58:00.000-08:00

The Latest Cook's Country had a "recipe makeover" for Cinnamon Rolls, taking them from 430 cals down to 280 cals. Yum! But I brought them down even lower, to 178 cals! And, I've found out that they make a "Brown Sugar Splenda", and with a couple of more ideas, I can take them down even further. Try them, you'll like them!

Dough -
1 1/2 c warm soy milk (Instead of skim. hey, it's all I had - T.J.'s Vanilla)
3 TB Maple Syrup
2 TB Smart Balance (instead of unsalted butter), melted
3 1/2 c A.P. Flour, plus extra
1 pk rapid rise yeast
1 tsp salt

Filling -
1/2 c dark brown sugar
1/4 c Splenda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 TB Smart Balance, melted

Icing -
1 c confectioner's Splenda (i just ground up my splenda in my Food Proecessor)
4 TB light cream cheese
1 TB soymilk (see above note)
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

Heat oven to 200', then shut it off.

Dough:
Mix milk, syrup and butter in large cup.
Mix flour, yeast, and salt together in mixer bowl. Attach dough hook.
Turn machine on low, and slowly add liquid mixture. When dough comes together, bump speed up a notch and mix until dough is smooth, 4-6 minutes. (dough should be sticky. If it's too wet, and not balling up, add up to 1/4c more flour, and knead 2 min).
Turn out dough onto floured work area, and shape it into a ball, and place it in greased bowl. Cover and proof it in the warm oven for 10 min.

Filling:
Mix the sugar, cinnamon, butter and salt in a bowl until well mixed.

Rolls:

Roll out the dough into a 12"x18" rectangle, on a well floured surface, with the 18" sides to your left & right.
sprinkle the sugar mix onto the dough, leaving 1/2" at the far end. Press the sugar into the dough slightly.
Starting at the near end, roll the dough into a log. Brush the 1/2" border with water, then press dough to seal the log.
Cut the log into 12 pieces. (I cut off the each end, for neatness, then smushed them together for a 13th roll). Place each roll into a greased 9"x13" pan. Cover then with greased plastic wrap. (I used cooking spray).
Place the pan into the warm oven, and allow the rolls to rise until doubled, 30-40 minutes.

remove the pan from the oven, and preheat to 350'.
Remove platic wrap from rolls and bake them until they are deep brown and filling melts, 20-25 minutes. Rotate pan 1/2 way through baking, if needed.

While the rolls are baking, prepare the icing:

whisk together the powdered splenda, creame cheese, milk and vanilla.

When the rolls have cooled for 10 min on a wire rack, smear the icing on the rolls. Eat them warm or heat 'em up piping hot.

Cook's Illustrated

2006-02-26T07:00:00.000-08:00

I got trial issue of Cook's Illustrated, and inside was a recipe for multi-grain bread. It looked intruiging, and since I am afraid of baking, I decided that it would be a good next project to conquer. And conquer I did. It came out really well. The only thing I didn't do was add the nuts (who'd have thought sunflower or pumpkin seeds would have been so hard to find) and I didn't spray the loaves with water or cooking spray before I rolled them in oats (which resulted in many of them falling off when I slice it.) On the plus side, the bread came out nearly perfect, because, I think, I used a probe thermometer and cooked to an internal temp of 200'F. Also, the Cook's Illustrated recipe gave flour measurements by weight, not just volume. Much more accurate.

De chicken is Divan....

2006-02-26T06:58:00.000-08:00

Continuing with the trend of cooking stuff other than Good Eats, Last night we had Rachel Ray's Deluxe, Devine, Chicken Divan. And it was good to. I especially liked the rice - it was the first time in a long time that I didn't have any burnt or stuck to the pan...

Giada Attack!

2006-02-05T11:23:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been some time since this space has been updated. That doesn't mean I haven't been cooking, just not much new... I've made Chicken and 40 cloves at least 4 times since the first, and I've drank several Tofu Thangys, but lately, I've been on a mexican and italian kick. Dunno exactly why. Maybe I miss Italy...

Regardless, we had some yummy eats last night. Chicken Parmesan, accompanied by Lemon Spaghetti. Wow, was that ever good.

I've also made Pizza de Spaghetti, and I think it turned out really well:

Oh, speaking of Good Eats, I have made a recipe... I made "Morning After Bread" from I'm Just Here for More Food. It came out ok, but I'm no Master Baker. Yet.

Episode #N/A, I'm Just Here for More Food
Recipe: Morning After Bread
Results: Dense, but somewhat airy wheat bread, with a good flavor. This recipe makes 2 standard loaves. It is interesting to watch what happens when you put the dough into 1 loaf pan... Suffice to say I'm glad I used my Probe Thermometer to cook it to temp, because the cooking time was nearly doubled... Ain't nothing like homemade bread, I just wish I was better at it. Time to get baking!

Sin City Breakfast Tacos

2005-12-15T20:02:00.000-08:00

Like Once Upon a time in Mexico, Robert Rodriguez includes "10 Minute Cooking School" on the Expanded version of Sin City. It's for "Sin City Breakfast Tacos", which he and the crew used to eat while staying up late at night shooting and chopping the film. I had already tackled Puerco Pibil, so I decided to make the tacos for dinner. I made them tonight, and they turned out pretty good:

The potato filling was a bit dry, and I had no jalapeno for the tomato/onion filling, but otherwise they were pretty dang yummy. Plus, it's the first time I've ever made my own tortillas!

Here's the recipe (transcribed, soft of):

Sin City Breakfast Tacos:

Warning: "If you learn how to make this, you will crave it every night, and every day, like I do." - Robert Rodriguez

2 C all purpose flour
1/t tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 C butter or lard, or combination (1/2 of each), or all lard
1 tomato
1 Potato
1 Onion
6 eggs
2 Corn torillas

Go to the fridge, and throw away your store bought flour tortillas.

Get:
2 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
"" baking powder
1/4 c butter or lard or combo (1/2 & 1/2).

Cut the fat into the flour, until you've got a "cornmeal like texture". (RR uses his kitchenaid, with the paddle attachment.)

Add 3/4c of warm water, or hot if you're using lard. As it starts to come together remove some of the flour and set aside. Add water to what's left.
You want it "not too sticky and not too dry." Knead it for a couple of minutes. It should feel smooth and elastic. (I'm assuming the set aside flour is to fine tune your dough, if you add too much water to the mix.)

Separate your dough into 8-10 golf ball size balls, and cover them with a damp cloth for 20 minutes.

While they're proofing, make the stuffing:

Peel & chop up a potato.
Fry the potato in corn oil, on medium heat, and season with (kosher or sea) salt & pepper.

Dice up some(2?) corn tortillas, tomato, onion and jalapeno.

When your potatoes are done, remove them from the skillet and season to taste.

Toss your diced tortillas in the skillet, and fry them up using the same oil as your potatoes.

Set a teflon pan on medium heat, and start preparing your tortillas. Flatten the balls into discs, and roll them out a couple of times.

When your corn tortillas are done, remove them from the pan, season to taste with s & p. remove the oil from the pan and add your onion, tomatoes, & jalapenos. Cook it for a few.

When the teflon pan is hot, roll out your tortilla one more time, and lay it on the skillet. Cook it for about 8 seconds on one side, then flip. It should have a little bit of coloring already. That's how you know your pan is hot enough. Let it cook about a minute/minute and a half. You'll notice some bubbling. If it's getting dark too quick, turn the heat down; if it's taking to long, turn the heat up. It should take about a minute/minute and a half. If you press the edges with your spatula, and see the tortilla bubbling up, that's a good thing. That's the baking soda in action. Transfer the tortillas to your tortilla warmer.

Throw some butter in the pan, and put it on a med to med-high heat. Whisk some (3) eggs together and throw them in the pan. add your potatoes. Let it set a bit, then slowly move your eggs around. Don't overcook them. Remove them when they're almost done.

Add more eggs in the pan, and add your onion/tomato/jalapeno mix, and your corn tortilla chips. Cook em up just like before.

Plate each dish of eggs, and then pile them on your tortillas, and eat!

"Enjoy your tacos."

Curveball (thanksgiving, etc)

2005-12-11T10:09:00.000-08:00

Wow.

The day after thanksgiving I received some Horrible news, so the last couple of weeks have been, well, pretty shitty. But, that doesn't mean we didn't have a decent thanksgiving anyway, because I didn't want to ruin it for my kids. Plus it helped to have something to focus on... Aaaaannnyyyway. Here's the lowdown:

Episode #14, Romancing The Bird—A Good Eats Thanksgiving
Recipe: Good Eats Roast Turkey
Results: One primo bird:

Episode #14, Romancing The Bird-A Good Eats Thanksgiving
Recipe: Sweet Corn Bread Pudding (stuffing)
Results: Really good stuffing, that was a tasty adjunct to my wife's awesome Italian Sausage & Fennel Stuffing.

Episode #14, Romancing The Bird-A Good Eats Thanksgiving
Recipe: Tart Cranberry Dipping Sauce
Results: Great alternative to the can, or even homemade sauce. Note, a regular blender wasn't sufficient to demolish the cranbeery skins. Either that or there were "threads" of skin because I used fresh cranberry. Either way it was delicious stuff!

Now, on to the leftovers... I've been planning this for weeks, and now I can finally make it: Thanksgiving Pizza!

This lovely mess of mis en place is:

Turkey (light & dark), cornbread stuffing, sausage stuffing, cheese, canned cranberry sauce, gravy, corn, mashed potatoes. Not visible - crust, cranberry dipping sauce.

To assemble, obtain a pizza crust, either from your favorite shop, market, or bake your own. Note that the crust was baked until just slightly golden brown, then the fixin's were placed on it, then the whole shebang was baked again, to reheat the ingredients but not overcook the crust. Worked like a charm.

Place a layer of cranberry dipping sauce as a base.
Sprinkle a light layer of grated cheese. I used mozarella from a bag, but I was lazy.
Place leftovers on pie. For gravy & potatoes, I recommend dipping fingers in dish,. then flicking onto pie.
Slice canned cranberry into rounds, then use a shot glass or similar to cut out "pepperoni". Place on pizza, sprinkle on more cheese, and bake for a few minutes.

The results:

Fricken' YUM.

Baby Back Redux

2005-11-18T11:29:00.000-08:00

Episode #14, Pork Fiction
Recipe: Who Loves Ya Babybacks
Results: We did babybacks already, but this time around I followed the show recipe more closely. They were good, but because I was asked to omit the "heat", there was no jalapeno seasoning in the rub, and I think that ended up costing a bit in flavor. They were still delicious, but not all they could be. I also had to substitute cumin for chili powder as I didn't have any...

Macerate, definately.

2005-11-18T11:25:00.000-08:00

Episode #70, Strawberry Sky
Recipe: Strawberry Pudding
Results: 3.5 very yummy desserts. 3.5 instead of 4 desserts because I ran out of strawberries... Also things to note - this isn't one for the kids, it's very heavy with the wine, from the macerated strawberries. We'll be making this one again.

Dare to Cream. Ice Cream, that is, Avocado style

2005-11-18T11:20:00.000-08:00

Episode #140, Curious Yet Tasty Avocado Experiments
Recipe: Avocado Ice Cream
Results: Surprisingly good, sweet avocadoey Ice Cream. It's darn good! (If you like avocado. I do.)

Busy Morning.

2005-11-14T07:06:00.000-08:00

First things first was to finish the Chocolate Ice Cream I started the night before.

Episode #133, Churn Baby, Churn II
Recipe: Chocolate Ice Cream
Results: I'm not *entirely* done - the Ice Cream is sitting in the freezer at the moment. I'll have some after lunch. But if licking the bowl was any indicator, this will be some Good Eats.

Then, for breakfast, a quick, yummy, nutricious "meal".

Episode #40, Tofuworld
Recipe: Tall & Tangy Tofu Thangy
Results: A tart, delicious smoothie that wieghed in @ around ~300 calories. My usual breakfast smoothie usually settled in @ ~500 calories, so I could add flaxseed oil to this and still be under budget. Hmmmm.....

Yummy Pineapple upside-down cornmeal cake.

2005-11-09T22:29:00.000-08:00

Episode #117, True Grits
Recipe: Pineapple Upside-Down Cornmeal Cake
Results: I had a really bad day today. Really bad. I turned to food as solace. Bad, I know. But, I didn't care. I'd been wanting to make this cake since I saw AB make it last week. I love pineapple, and the skillet method intrigued me. I had everything to make it except pineapple rings. I had crushed pineapple. I didn't have coarse cornmeal, I had corn flour. I didn't have whole milk, but I had 1% and cream. No maraschino cherries. Overall, It turned out really well, I think and was fairly easy & straightforward to make. A definate keeper.

Burgers, of the ground turkey variety.

2005-11-09T13:14:00.000-08:00

Episode #101, The Man Food Show
Recipe: Mini Man burgers
Results: Although I used ground turkey rather than ground beef, they came out great! What a tasty burger!

Power Bars.

2005-11-08T16:51:00.000-08:00

Episode #134, Power Trip
Recipe: Protien Bars
Results: Very good, healthy protein bars. Were they as good as a Cliff bar? Well, no. Were they cheaper than a Cliff bar? Well, maybe, but not by much. Because I could not get a good chop on the dried fruit (why the hell is it so expen$ive?) I tried using the mini food processor, which was a mistake. It created a fine powder of some of the fruit, while not chopping the rest... Not wanting to waste this fruit (did I mention it was expen$ive?) I incorporated everything into the mix. They are good (and still are, I eat them every day or every otheer day - the recipe makes quite a few), and I know I'll make these quite often. I'd like to bump up the protein, and maybe reduce the heavy peanut butter taste a smidge... Also, the recipe as listed is supposed to make 24 2"x2" square "bars", but on the show it looks as if (it's not specifically shown, however) that he cuts the "cake" into 16 pieces. The bar he munches on camera is definately not 2"x2"...

Pina Colada Waffles.

2005-11-08T12:43:00.000-08:00

Episode #, The Waffle Truth
Recipe: Basic Waffle
Results: Ok, so I veered from the show, and used a recipe from I'm Just here for More Food, and the Pina Colada Waffles were very, very, very good. The accompanying rum sauce was most excellent.

Yogurt.

2005-11-08T10:40:00.000-08:00

Episode #73, Good Milk Gone Bad
Recipe: Fresh Yogurt
Results: Great tasting home made yogurt. Although, I have to admit I didn't follow the exact recipe... I had found another recipe "inspired" by the Good Eats episode. It was much more basic - two percent organic milk fermented overnight with a couple of tablespoons good quality yogurt as a starter. Home made is always good eats.

Braaaaaiiiiinnnnssssssssss...........

2005-11-08T10:34:00.000-08:00

Episode #56, Deep Space Slime
Recipe: Panna Cotta Brain with Cranberry Glaze
Results: I made this for the office on Halloween. It was very tasty, and looked Great! The only problem I had was trying to get the grey color... It ended up being too greenish. I was surprised at how many people didn't know what "Panna Cotta" was. It's been a favored dessert of mine for years.

Garlicy chicken. Yum!

2005-11-08T10:30:00.000-08:00

Episode #51, The Bulb of the Night
Recipe: 40 Cloves and a Chicken
Results: Wonderful roasted chicken, and aweome, I mean Awesome garlic bread. And, I learned how to cut up a chicken!

Poached Eggiweggs.

2005-11-08T10:24:00.000-08:00

Episode #39, Mission: Poachable
Recipe: Poached egg tips
Results: Some really great, perfectly poached eggs. Yum!

Eggiweggs.

2005-11-08T10:19:00.000-08:00

Episode #3, The Egg Files
Recipe: Lemon Curd
Results: Damn fine custard, that was a bit runny because I didn't cook it long enough. I also needed more water in my double boiler setup; it just didn't seem hot enough. Still, though, it was "Good Eats."

Ribs!

2005-11-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

Episode #14, Pork Fiction
Recipe: Who Loves Ya Baby-Back?
Results: Babybacks. Damn good babybacks... Now then, I didn't use the recipe from the show, but rather the one from "I'm just Here for the Food. They turned out great! The difference in recipes were: Different "rub" ingredients, and different braising liquids... So does this count as far as show recipes? I say sure, why not, the method was the same...

Coffee!

2005-11-07T14:39:00.000-08:00

Episode #8, True Brew
Recipe: Coffee: Black, No Chaser
Results: Yes, it was coffee. It was damn good coffee, though. I'd been grinding for a while, but this show prompted me to get a (cheap) espresso machine, and pursue the mystery...

Roasted Chicken

2005-11-07T14:33:00.000-08:00

Episode #5, A Bird in the Pan
Recipe: Broiled, butterflied chicken
Results: I've made this a few times now. Yummy chicken! I've never butterflied before this; it's not as hard as I'd thought.

Steak.

2005-11-07T14:28:00.000-08:00

Episode #1 , Steak Your Claim
Recipe: Pan Seared Ribeye
Results:
2 Very, very delicious steaks. This is now my method of choice.

Intro.

2005-11-07T13:55:00.000-08:00

Why is this here? To chronicle my obsession with food, and in particular, the TV Food Network Show, Good Eats.

It is my intention to cook every recipe presented on that show. Why? Why not??