the latest DISH

cooking a steak indoors (*Grill stance, still required)

2011-11-14T10:14:00.001-06:00

I suppose its only right and fair that I offer all of you some sort of explanation. At first, my posts were delayed because I was trying to think of a way to follow up that entry on snacksgiving (not an easy task, to be sure). Then, we were a man short at work. Then, we were a woman short at work, which just left john and I and one helper. for six weeks. one day off per week. all this on top of getting a house ready for a new babe (!!!!!!!:), you get the idea. sorry for the sparse postings, my friendlies, but alas, I am but a single dish in this cupboard we call life...

Soooooo, this is my first week with two days off and dagnabit, I'm fixin' to write a blog. about steak. and iron. and gravy. so, I hope you all accept my apology and let us march on and STEAK our claim. Let us CAST aside these IRON shackles of occupational obligations. ok, i'll stop. let's get down to this...

Just because grilling season is all but done, there is no reason you can't enjoy a nice steak. Cooking a steak indoors is something that everyone should know how to do and should do. often. I recommend picking up a cast iron pan for this, but any heavy skillet would probably work. the reason i go for the cast iron is because they are super cheap and maintain their heat for a long time (perfect for getting a good sear on our steak). You want to heat your skillet over med high heat until that sucker is starting to smoke.

Season your meat (however you fancy. I just use salt and pepper, because I'm going to cover these guys in some gravy) and drizzle it with a little olive oil. You want to oil the meat instead of the pan, because if you added oil to that super hot pan, your house would look like tommy chong was in the next room.

let your steak brown for about 3-4 minutes on the first side and take this time to season and oil the top sides of your steaks. be patient, no peeking. leaving these alone will ensure a better browning on each piece of meat.

using a pair of tongs, give them a flip and cook them for another 3-4 minutes. Now, here is where a good thing can turn bad in a hurry. If you like your steak on the rarer side, these are probably done enough for you. unless of course, you have a really thick piece of meat. the steaks you see above were actually only two steaks that I cut down to make cooking go quickly. If you prefer the thicker option that's just fine, but you will probably need some additional cooking, either in a 400F oven, or just longer in the skillet. how do you tell when it is done to your liking? you can use one of these and then consult this, but I just do this.

ok, its gravy time. Gravy is ridiculously easy to make and I am often surprised that more people don't do it. What were making here is basic beef gravy. its not a reduction or a jus or a glaze. this is just gravy. and its what I was in the mood for. after you have removed the meat from your skillet, turn the heat to a little lower mark, and then add a tablespoon or two of butter and let it melt, scraping the beef goodies from the bottom of the pan. then, however much butter you added, add the same amount of flour and whisk it together until it starts to darken.

Now, add some beef stock or broth (I think i used about half of a 14 oz. can here in this pic) and whisk to combine with the butter and flour. Let this mixture bubble up and reduce, whisking from time to time, until it reaches the thickness that you desire.

By now your meat has rested for about 5 minutes (perfect timing) and you are ready to plate up those beef treats and dig in like a BAWS! If you've never made a steak inside, I hope that you all give this one a go. I can get down with a grilled steak, don't get me wrong, but i like the option you have with this recipe to take the juices and fat that you lose during grilling and make a tasty sauce for which to bathe your beef with. I've missed writing this blog these past few months, hope to not take that big of a break again. thanks.

DISH recommends: getting acquainted with ol' "casty". Lately, these are the only pans that I use. you can pick one up from a place like tjmaxx or target or even a yard sale. keep them well-lubed and you will never go back to nonstick.
I was going to post a recipe but I thought that might be kind of redundant. I still can if you prefer that method, but I'll just leave as is for now...
*in case you are not familiar with grill stance, I thought this was a pretty good representation.

Snacksgiving

2011-08-22T11:52:00.005-05:00

Everyone likes holidays. We have holidays that involve turkey, holidays where we dress up like monsters and give and eat candy, and many more holidays for religious purposes. but we have no holidays that celebrate the art of snacking (which, it could be argued, is a religious purpose in and of itself). Who doesn't like snacks? nobody, that's who. Snacks were here looooooooong before the whole breakfast, lunch, dinner thing, and it's time we pay proper homage to le snack.

That's why I hereby propose a floating holiday (the only stipulation is that it be celebrated on a sunday afternoon) called, snacksgiving. Now, much like any other festive day of delight, snacksgiving, can be open for interpretation. However, there are a few rules here and I would like to take this time to lay the groundwork for this most precious of days:

Rule #1: Snacksgiving must involve at least 4 of the following 6 snack groups, with certain exceptions, and exemptions applying to dietary needs

Group #1: The chip/crisp family. no snacksgiving would be complete without this crispy addition. Whether it's kettle cooked, baked, or made in the traditional way, flavored or plain, we must have potato chips (pringles are somewhat acceptable, but only in a pinch. I'm still not convinced they are potato chips, bugger what the lord justice says). I prefer plain to flavored and that leads me to another sub-section

sub-section 1a: dips: Dips are glorious. they coat that crispy piece of heaven in a silky layer of goodness and say "nice to meet ya". nice indeed.

note: you may also choose to include a corn chip option in your snacksgiving, but let it be known that it must pair with a choice from the sub-section of salsas. nobody likes plain corn chips, nobody. these may be savory or sweet, hot, mild, of the guacamole nature, blah, blah, blah. this is my blog and I say potato chips.

Group#2: Meat snacks. Pretty self explanatory. a good snacksgiving spread usually has chicken wings. Just saying. and something from the sausage family. meatballs are good too. Jerky is acceptable, but only for host gifts. This group is obviously one of the optional ones, which can be set aside for vegetarian observers.

Group #3: the snack mix group. Nothing gets a snacksgiving going like a bunch of separate snacks tossed together and then shoved in your face. I love it, you love it, your neighbors even love it. its called snack MIX for a reason. it puts the tingle in your mingle. it's always encouraged to make a mix up yourself. store bought is marginally acceptable (c'mon, it's snacks giving, here folks!). You don't have a recipe for the most delicious snack mix in the world? it's ok, I've got you covered (recipe below).

Group#4: Veggie Snack. Every snacksgiving needs some veg. It needn't be raw veg, either. We had mexican corn on the cob at ours. it was delicious. branch out and make your favorite veg, just make sure it fits in the small bite/handheld category. vegetables wrapped in bacon are deemed acceptable, and encouraged. you could also do stuffed mushrooms, cauliflower fritters, potato skins, etc.

Group #5: Cheese. spreads, soft, semi-firm, firm, they're all good, they're all acceptable. Go out of your way and get some nice cheeses for this one that run the gauntlet. four or five should suffice. crackers are encouraged, but not entirely necessary.

Group#6: Stick food (i.e. kabobs). People love food on sticks. it's never going to change, so better to embrace it, than try and erase it. Now, you've a lot of room to work with this one, so be creative and be careful, these suckers are sharp. fruit on sticks (raw or grilled), grilled meat, grilled veggies (or both), tofu or paneer kabobs, you name it. deconstruct your favorite salad and stick it! the possibilities abound.

Rule #2: Drinks. Must. Flow. a party isn't a party without drinks, whether they be alcoholic or non. It's always great to have a pitcher of something at snacks giving. Pitchers of drinks make people feel like they can have as much as they like, and that's what this holiday is all about. It can be anything from iced tea to ice cold beer, as long as its in a pitcher. And as long as we're on that topic...

Rule#3: Dear friends. While most holidays are about family, this one is for your pals. your homies. your cronies, etc. family is definitely welcome, but most times, most of us aren't lucky enough to have them close by.

ok, you want that mix recipe? I thought so, just be forewarned that it makes a ton, and you'll need a good guard dog to keep it safe.

"The Drake" Mix:

(note: this recipe was given to me by an old workmate of mine. I have since elaborated on it, but the drake deserves a nod...)

1 small box Crispix cereal

1 16 oz bag pretzels

1 16 oz bag fritos

1 8 oz bag goldfish crackers

1 bag bugles

1 pound of mixed nuts

for the dressing:

2 cup brown sugar, not packed

1 pound butter

2 tbs curry powder

1 tbs, plus 1 tsp garlic powder

1 tbs, plus 1 tsp chili powder

2 tbs worcestershire sauce

heat oven to 250F. Empty dry stuff into a very large mixing bowl, or into several large mixing bowls. heat and stir the dressing ingredients until incorporated. pour over the dry stuff and mix well. Empty mix onto two large baking sheets (they will be heaped pretty high, don't worry) and bake, stirring every 20 minutes. rotate sheets once at the 30 minute mark. pour into parchment lined paper bags on the counter to cool.

DISH recommends: A big mixing bowl. My mom gave me something similar to this. I never thought I'd use it. I use it all the time.

you had me at french fries tossed in ketchup...

2011-07-18T11:05:00.000-05:00

I like to eat a lot of different things. I think that most of us do (at least I hope so). But once in a while, I stumble upon something that I REALLY dig and can't get enough of. Sort of like seasonal eating( the consumption of a food at it's tasty peak to the extent that you never want to see said food until the following season, i.e. sweet corn, nectarines, grapefruit, etc.) but instead of fruits and veggies, i'm just using condiments (kind of like a U.S. school cafeteria).

The first time that I had tried this sauce was at a snacky party my friend Rashi was throwing. I had loaded up a plate with all sorts of goodies and then came to a dish that looked to be just french fries tossed in ketchup and garnished with scallions. I was already excited about ketchuppy fries, but when I tasted these, it was far more than I had bargained for. if you've ever gone to a szechuan restaurant and ordered prawns in chili sauce, this sauce is sort of similar to that. except it's less ketchuppy, and more awesomey. It's not too sweet like a lot that I've had and the saltiness of the soy and the spiciness of the sriracha really round out the flavors. Most of you probably have the three main ingredients knocking about your pantry/fridge, so let's give it a go and cover the world in tangy waves of crimson!

ok, I know that somewhere on this site there is a little blurb about me loving intense prep work (and I do), but you know what else I like? easy prep work. causal friday prep work. there isn't much to this sauce ( even with a few of my own additions) and it takes very little time to make. so honey, throw on those khaki pants and a polo shirt and let's make some magic happen!

Indo-chinese chili sauce: (this is enough sauce for about a pound of boneless chicken pieces. If you need more just make accordingly and don't forget to adjust the seasoning to your taste. if you want more sweet- add more ketchup, more salty-add more soy, and spice it up with more sriracha, it's totally up for interpretation).

1/4 cup ketchup

1 tbs. soy sauce

1 heaping teaspoon sriracha

1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated

small handfull cilantro, minced

scallions, sliced to garnish

ok, if I am making this for chicken or shrimp, I stir fry the meat (seasoned with a little salt and peps) in a wok over high heat in a little peanut oil. when it is nearly done, i'll add the sauce (mixed up ahead of time, all but the scallions), and toss the meat in it until it glazes all the pieces. If I am going to be eating it with rice, I will also add already cooked rice to the wok so that all of the rice gets coated with the tangy goodness. If you find that the sauce is a little dry, go ahead and add a little water or stock until you reach your desired consistency. Like I said before, give it a taste and add more ketchup/soy/sriracha, as you like. enjoy.

this sauce woud also be good on: shrimp, prawns, squid, fried tofu or paneer, french fries, anything...

Dish recommends: sriracha hot sauce. flavor booster. regal rooster. this cocky sauce will keep all of your other condiments in check. don't mess with the rooster.

ps--I was out of scallions at the time that I took the above pic so I used cilantro as a garnish. I'm aware.

Life was being stingy, I had to pay for mine...

2011-06-14T13:37:00.003-05:00

About this time of year, we all could use a little bit of refreshment. Now you could try this, or if that didn't work there is always this, but I prefer to drown my tonsils in lemonade. It's pretty easy to do and it takes under twenty minutes. so give it a go and you'll be making your own versions in no time.

you could just use your hands for the squeezing, but I prefer to employ some sort of press here. it's way more efficient at getting out all of that lemon sauce and they're relatively inexpensive.

this is just a picture of lemon bodies...and some ginger skin...

I like to peel my lemons (being careful to only get the yellow, outer later and not the bitter white parts) with a veg peeler and steep them in the simple syrup along with the grated ginger and the mint sprigs. It's important to use the stems of the mint because they also have a lot of concentrated flavor in them. After a good ten or so minutes of steeping, the syrup is ready to strain and be combined with your lemon juice and cold water. it's great just like this, but if you're feeling sprightly, it makes for a great mixer.

I like to garnish the finished product with a sprig of mint and a lemon wedge. Think of it as dressing up your drink, but not too much. business casual beverage wear.

Ginger Mint Lemonade

5 lemons (juiced and peeled)

1.25 c sugar (I used sugar in the raw)

1.25c water

1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated

1 handful fresh mint (stems and all), reserving a few leaves for garnish

1 cup of ice

additional 1 quart of cold water

first we make the syrup:

peel the zest from your lemons, set aside. cut lemons in half and squeeze juice into a bowl, set aside juice. peel your ginger and grate it. now, in a saucepan over med-low heat add the sugar, the 1.25c water, lemon zest, ginger, and most of the mint. stir until sugar is dissolved, kill the heat and let steep for about 10 minutes. strain the syrup into a bowl and add the ice to cool it down. once it has cooled, combine with the lemon juice and the quart of water. stir, pour, garnish, and guzzle.

DISH recommends: microplane zester. Use this thing all the time. indispensable in the kitch.

Say hello to your mutter for me...

2011-05-16T11:36:00.001-05:00

I'll be the first to admit that I have a lot of different interests. that's probably why I have a hard time finishing some things. like a kitchen remodel...or writing a book...or lists of things that mames gives me to do around here... but you know what I'm good at finishing? curry. in most any shape or form. I love it, and I can polish off a bowl of curry like it's no one's bizzz.

it's versatile, and up until recently, I've discovered, is a lot easier to make than you might think. the recipe I am going to post is for a savory, somewhat spicy curry that has its roots in Indian and Pakistani cooking. I made it two different ways this week, one with spiced meatballs (beef pork mixture (50/50), minced garlic, coriander, cumin, garam masala, cilantro) and peas, and the other I used to make a curry with peas and paneer (semi-firm indian cheese, found in asian markets, or made by yourself, which is actually quite easy). both turned out really well and I'm sure there are tons of other possibilities for this sauce.

ok, non-foods: I've been getting into photography a little bit more lately and am having a lot of fun with it. As you can see, I am a fan of the close-ups. My sis sent me this crazy little toy from germany. If you press his backpack he squirts water out of his head. and he's really happy about it.

these are pics of flowers from our yard that only survive because of my lady. she spends a lot of time trying to beautify things that I would probably otherwise kill.

the smell of lilac mixed with curry is intoxicating, lowering your inhibitions and whispering "go ahead, have another helping, we'll take it from here..." I reckon it will soon be available in candle form,

or available in a diffuser...

I'm going to label this recipe as Mutter paneer, because that is what I think it most closely resembles. you can substitute whatever you want once the basic sauce has been made. I would think that it would be good with chicken thighs, lamb, beef, or also with some root veg or chickpeas.

Mutter Paneer:

STEP 1

don't worry about being too even with the dice on your veggies, it's all going to take a ride in the blender...

all of these veg are roughly diced

1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter. it's important to use this fat as it gives a unique flavor to the dish, you can use olive oil if you want, but it won't be the same)

2 onion

1 red bell pepper

3 clove garlic

1 inch ginger root, peeled

1 pablano or green bell pepper

small handful cilantro (stalks included)

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

1.5 tsp paprika (if you are using a hot paprika, omit the chile powder)

.5 tsp pure (hot) chile powder (check the ingredients, most reg chile powders have cumin, etc.)

2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

salt and pepper

1 28 oz can whole tomatoes with juice

ok, in a wok or dutch oven, melt the ghee and saute the veg (except the toms, those are later) until they soften and start to get some color. add a little salt and pepper and all of your spices. saute for a few minutes more and then add the can of tomatoes. cook the sauce about 5-8 minutes more over med heat and then transfer to a blender and blend until smooth. pour into a bowl and repeat until the whole batch has been completed ( you will have to do this in batches (only filling the blender to half, max) or you will burn your face off in a curry explosion, which might not be all that bad of a way to go...

STEP 2

1 tbs ghee

1 onion, minced fine

1 scant teaspoon cumin seed

sauce from above (the curry you just made, not gifts bestowed upon you from the heavens. however, one could argue...)

small handful minced cilantro

bag of frozen peas

1tsp garam masala

1-2 tsp chat masala (start with one and then see if you want more) (you're going to have to go to an indian grocery for this, or track me down and I will give you some)

1.5 tsp fenugreek powder

salt and pepper

2 tsp sugar (I used sugar in the raw, because that's what i had)

.5 cups milk/cream/yogurt (optional, I only add this if it is getting a bit too spicy)

couple tbs butter (also optional, but I think it really rounds out the flavor)

14- 16 oz paneer. they come in packages of differing weight, so just get close

ok, wash and wipe out your wok or dutch oven and heat the ghee over med heat. now add the onion, cilantro,and the cumin seed, along with some salt and pepper and saute for about 5 minutes or until it is starting to soften and get some color. now, add your sauce, peas, and the rest of the spices, sugar and simmer, uncovered for about thirty minutes to let the flavors party and thicken. taste your sauce, if it's too spicy for you, add the milk/cream/yogurt (the slashes mean "or" not "and") and stir. you may need to let it go a little bit longer to thicken back up to where you were before the milk. add the butter and stir until incorporated. now, add your paneer cubes or squares or whatever you want to cut them/shape them into, and simmer for 2-3 minutes more, making sure that they are immersed in the sauce, and kill the heat. put a lid on the curry and let sit for 10 or so minutes so the curry can get all of its flavors up into that paneer. serve with rice or naan or chapati. or whatever you want, really.

a good mayonnaise hard to find...

2011-04-18T10:20:00.000-05:00

It seems lately that there has been a shift in american consumerism. Words like Artisan and Organic are becoming more and more commonplace on grocery shelves and this is a good thing. We go out of our way to buy free range eggs and hormone free milk, but people, we are overlooking one crucial thing. Condiments. that's right, all the fixins, and more specifically, mayonnaise. Mayonnaise, you ask? yes, I'll say it again, Mayonnaise! Where has the artisan mayonnaise gone? Does it even exist? Is it thinking of me? and, will it ever return someday? Ok, you get the point. there aren't a lot of options out there for good mayo. So what's a peep to do when they don't want to buy a jar of the ubiquitous, white fluff? I'm glad you asked...

Homemade mayonnaise:
1 egg yolk (free range, please. seriously, quit buying factory farmed meat and eggs, it's bad stuff.)
healthy pinch of sea salt
tsp dijon mustard
lemon juice squeeze
1/2 cup olive oil
ok, if you have a blender, this will be a lot easier, but you can do this with just a big bowl and a whisk, if not. place the egg yolk in the blender along with the salt and mustard and lemon juice and give it a quick whizz, until incorporated. now, slowly ad the oil a couple drops at a time, until it starts to thicken. now, increase the oil to a very small stream and mix until an emulsion is created (about a minute or two). if your mayo breaks and the oil is resting on top, you went too fast, try it again. it should look like the thick stuff in the pic above. transfer to a small dish and add a couple grinds of black pepper if you like. this recipe is totally up for interpretation too, so if you would like to add more salt/lemonjuice/whatever, do it. you could even add some other tasties like pesto or chipotle peppers, or roasted garlic. the point of the whole thing is that this stuff is wicked easy to make, takes less than 5 minutes, and it's all stuff that you should have lying around anyway. Store-bought mayo is full of canola or vegetable (highly refined pirates) oil which is not very good for you, by making it with a good fat (olive oil), you increase the health value of this popular condiment. give it a try, you'll be the most popular kid on the block.
DISH recommends: reading this article. we've been lied to, people. it will change the way you feel about fat. and maybe mayonnaise.

spaghetti bolognese

2011-04-11T12:39:00.002-05:00

I'm sure that most people have made spaghetti with some sort of meat sauce. I know i've had (and made) my fair share of them, but up until recently, I had just not been that big of a fan of meat sauces with pasta. That is, until I read the book HEAT. In this book, we follow bill buford around on his quest to learn more about the origins of italian cooking (which entails everything from working in mario batali's kitchen at babbo, to being a butcher's apprentice in italy.) It is the time that buford spends in tuscany (more on this later) that inspired me to give this dish another go. You see, the problem I have with most meat sauces is that they usually end up just tasting like a bad version of italian chili. If I am going to deny the beauty of a traditional, meatless, red sauce, I want it to taste like, well...meat. lots of meat. I want to feel like it was worth giving up the perfect tomato sauce. I want to be rewarded with a meat trophy. and what better place to achieve such a badge of merit, than in tuscany, where most of the food is brown.

Buford spent some of his time in the book as a butcher's apprentice to a man named dario. he is often revered as one of, if not THE best butchers in the world. Mario batali's dad also trained under this guy before opening salumi, in Seattle, Washington. Anyway, one of buford's tasks whilst there, was making a meat sauce that was sold at the shop. It was heavy on the meats, with spices I had never used in italian cooking, light on the tomato, and well, let's just get to it, shall we:

Bolognese Sauce (Inspired by the book HEAT, and by my ladyfriend's constant request to meat up my sauce)
1.5 pounds mixed ground meats (your choice here, I used a pound of ground beef and .5 pounds ground pork, but you could get all crazy and use lamb, turkey, venison, yak, you get the point. OK, fine if you want the truth, I actually had some bratwursts that I squeezed out of their intestinal home for the ground pork part. sometimes we make food, sometimes we make do...)
2 slices prosciutto, minced
1 onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 red chile, minced
1 green (I used poblano) pepper, minced
small handful of flat italian parsley, minced
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
salt and peps
2 tsp coriander powder
couple healthy dashes fresh ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp marjoram
1/4 tsp fennel seed ( crush with the side of your knife or something blunt before adding)
1 tsp dried oregano
handful of fresh basil, stems and leaves separated, minced
port wine
big handful of cherry or grape tomatoes (left whole)
pasta water
ok, here's the do:
take all of your minced veggies (including the minced basil stems) and saute them over med heat in olive oil, about 10 or so minutes until softened and starting to golden-ize. add the prosciutto, ground meats, and a little salt and pepper. go until your meat is browned, breaking up any large chunks with a wooden spoon. now, add the tomato paste, cherry tomatoes, and spices (along with a bit more salt and peps), give it all a good mix and deglaze your pan by going around it a couple of times with some port wine. cook until most of the liquid has evaporated and then add your tomato sauce, an empty tomato sauce can full of water, and a little more port. turn to low and boil your pasta. once your pasta is done check your sauce. it should be pretty dry (if not turn heat up and cook off most of the liquid. now, add a couple ladles full of pasta water to the sauce. this will help mix all of the flavors and add some more liquid into the mix. I like my bolognese more on the dry side, but this last minute addition really ties the sauce together (does it not!).
DISH recommends: HEAT. usually I'm a nonfiction fan, but this was a really fast informative read. If you are a fan of food and wonder what it is like to work in a professional kitchen, this is a pretty realistic representation.

homemade yogurt

2011-03-14T10:31:00.002-05:00

Lately, it seems that I hear about a new "superfood" every other day or so, but honestly, I don't know if I am buying it. Are we handing out this title without merit, without truly thinking about what it takes to be "super"? I think so. You would probably never rub blueberries all over your (or your goats/sheep) body to get clean, and you certainly wouldn't want to give yourself an artichoke enema, and if you had a case of super-violent blasters no french doctor could cure (I'm talking to you King Francis I), I really doubt you'd have success by ingesting some olive oil. As strange as it may seem, all these things were done using yogurt. plain old yogurt. It's a fairly new food in the U.S., but it has been around for ages upon ages. This is how I have been making it at home.

Ok, this is a really simple process, but there are a few key things that you have to do in order to ensure success. The first thing you need to do is heat your milk up to 180F. I use a candy thermometer because it has a handy-dandy little clip that hooks onto the side of my pot. this process is called "denaturing" and is done to eliminate any bad bacteria that may live in the milk and prevent the formation of the good bacteria that lives in the yogurt and that your body needs. once you have heated the milk up to proper temp, it must be cooled down to between 105F-110F, so as not to kill the good guys in the yogurt we will add to the milk. now, it is time to add your culture (I do this by way of some organic, plain yogurt, but I think that you can actually get yogurt starters out there if you want, although I don't really know why you would...). this process is called "inoculating", and just means that you have invited the good bacteria to totally take over the milk party (i like to imagine them as the uninvited guests who bring an acoustic guitar to a house party).

Now, here is where it can get kind of tricky. Your yogurt needs to stay at a pretty constant temp of 90-100F. if it dips down below there, it will never really get thick enough, and you are going to end up with something like thick buttermilk. My buddy John and I came up with the idea that if you added hot water to a cooler and then added the yogurt to it and closed the lid, that it would maintain a pretty decent temperature. I've found this method to work really well.

I always wrap the pot I heated my milk in with some plastic wrap, to help seal in the heat, and then I put the lid on. This is also done in the rare event that an unsuspecting spouse/co-worker/roommate/raccoon/dog/albatross, disturbs the cooler and causes some sloshage.

set the wrapped and lidded yogurt pot into the hot water and make sure that it only comes up about 1/2-3/4 of the way. you don't want any to sneak into the pot and ruin your end product. Now, go do something else. anything else, but think about your yogurt. not for another good 8 hours at least. I like to leave mine for around 12 + hours because I like it to be pretty tangy. the longer you leave it, the tangier it becomes. the next day, portion it out into containers and refrigerate. The end product is so versatile and can be used in both sweet and savory applications. I like to eat mine with fresh fruit and granola or also with some onion, cucumber, tomato, etc. hope you give this a try. it is a little involved but it is a fun one that has a big payoff. also, It makes quite a bit and keeps for a long time (3 weeks to a month!) so there is definitely enough to share with your homies. pieces.

otherstuffs: I am having a go at "corning" my own beef brisket for st. Patty's day. If it turns out, I'll post about it. Also, I finally got my eames lounge chair and have been enjoying it immensely (ultimate reading station achieved). it's probably the reason for my lack of posts lately. you'd understand if you sit in it...

homemade yogurt:

1/2 gallon whole milk (preferably organic)

1 6 oz. container plain yogurt (preferably organic) (I used stonyfield farm)

you will need

a pot big enough to hold the quantity you are making

a therm of some sort

a cooler big enough to fit the pot

patience

Here's the do:

heat the milk to 180F stirring once in a while so it doesn't burn. while that is going on, there are two things you need to do. first, fill your sink with iced water and a little salt (this makes the iced water colder, it's science..saw it on mythbusters) second, fill a cooler with hot water (I just use hottest water from the tap). once you have heated the milk to 180F, set the pot into the iced water and stir occasionally until it has cooled down to 105-110F. cover with plastic wrap and the lid to your pot and set into the cooler (or I guess in this case, the warmer) with the hot water. if you overestimated the water level, simply take some of the water out until desired level is achieved. now, it's just a waiting game. leave at least 8 hours, or longer if you want more tang-age.

check out this link to yogurt cheese. it's good stuff, you should make some.

DISH recommends: All-Clad 3.5 quart casserole. this little guy is one of my favorite pots. I use it for small batches of soup, yogurt, blahblahblah. love it to pieces. a little on the pricey side, but I will never buy anything but all clad for stainless. it has proven itself very worthy of my hard earned clams.

coq au vin...or...braised and infused

2011-02-09T10:11:00.002-06:00

every meat-eating cook should know their way around a chicken. more specifically, everyone should know how to braise a chicken. now don't get me wrong here, I like roast chicken, and fried chicken will always hold a special place in my heart, but more often than not, if I am going to eat chicken, it's going to be braised. there is something magical that happens when you braise food. It's not just the chicken that takes center stage here, it's anything and everything that you put in this dish. all the flavors seem to combine for a great end product, but still stand out enough that you are able to taste all the great components of this cooking method.

for the sake of time, we'll focus specifically on a braised chicken dish called Coq au Vin . Traditionally, it's a rooster braised in wine. I didn't have a rooster. but I did have a chicken.and wine. and that's where we begin.

To do this dish (and any other braised dish, which are numerous in almost every cuisine) justice, you really need to pick up a dutch oven. if you are squeamish about dropping hundreds of clams (which is understandable) on one of these, might i suggest this as an introductory dutch oven. Lodge makes great stuff and with proper care, it will last indefinitely. having a dutch oven with a tight fitting lid is necessary for this process because nothing else heats as evenly and seals in steam that in return, ends up basting your food so you don't have to. ok, now that that is out of the way, back to the rooster...

first of all, we need to break this bird down into manageable pieces. how do we do that, you ask? instead of trying to explain it in words, i made a rough video of how to cut up a chicken. check it here.
note: this method is for braising. It's a rough berakdown and I didn't remove any bones because I wanted maximum flavor, and bones=flavor.

If you have braised something before, there is no big surprise here (hack up a chicken, brown it, throw it in a pot with half a bottle of wine, some root veg, stock, herbs, and salt and peps. put in 300F oven for a couple of hours, sit back and wait for this boozed up hot tub of love to work it's magic.)

on the other hand, if you are new to the braising world, and "boozed up hot tubs of love" have only led to illegitimate children and regret, don't worry, I'll be as thorough as I can:

Coq au Vin:

you'll need

1 whole chicken, butchered by you, backs reserved to make stock (see above video)

4 slices very thick bacon or side pork (lardon) sliced into 1/2 inch strips

1/2 bottle red wine (preferably a burgundy, but can be substituted as you like)

14 oz chicken stock (hopefully made from the hacked up back pieces, hooray!)

4 carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces

2 stalks celery, small dice

2 med onions, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

herbs de provence, for seasoning chicken (if not available can be substituted with a mix of dried thyme, rosemary, sage, and savory

1 bag (10 oz.) pearl onions

8 oz button mushrooms

roux

brandy

olive oil

heat oven to 300F

season the cut up chicken pieces with salt and pepper and herbs de provence, set aside. brown the bacon/sidepork, in a dutch oven over med heat. remove pork. you want to end up with a couple good tablespoons of bacon fat here, so if you have too much, pour a little off, not enough? you could add some olive oil, or better yet, add some bacon extract (leftover bacon/pancetta/prosciutto drippings that you keep in a can in your fridge...you do this right? I thought so:). next, brown the seasoned chicken pieces in the dutch oven over med heat until golden (3-4 minutes per side). remove from pan and set aside. now, add your carrots, celery, onions, garlic, salt and pepper, another healthy dose of herbs de provence. saute for 5-6 minutes, scraping up the fond (browned tasty bits) from the bottom of the pan. add a good slug of brandy to the mix (take your pan off the flame for this!!) and ignite with one of those aim n flame thingys. a word of caution here: brandy flames can sometimes get out of hand. While I do enjoy kitchen pyrotechnics as much as the next person, I also enjoy having eyebrows...and un-scarred genitals. So, the key here is to anticipate a big flame and cope accordingly. once the flame dies down and extinguishes, add the stock and wine. now, rest your chicken on top of the veg pile. place in oven, covered, for 2.5 hours. Sometime in that next 2.5 hours, you need to get your pearl onions and mushrooms ready. the mushrooms are easy, just trim them up and cut them into pieces you wouldn't mind sticking in your bacon trap. the onions are a little fussier, but really worth the prep time. what you need to do here is par boil these little guys, which simply means to cook them halfway through in boiling water. soooo, fill a pot with salt water and your pearl onions (skin and all), and bring to a boil. let boil for 2 minutes, and then drain and rinse under cold water until cool enough to handle. now, make a small cut off of each end and peel or squeeze the little onion out of its jacket. prep each of them and set aside with the mushrooms. Still here? good. we're almost done, promise. After 2.5 or so hours, remove pot from oven and if your chicken is falling-off-the-bone tender, then remove it and all the veggies with a slotted spoon to a large bowl (if not, then, just wait a bit longer, you do have half of a bottle of wine just sitting there, so...there's always that.). strain your sauce and put in a sauce pot over med heat. Now, while that's heating make a roux (lets say 2tbs flour, 2 tbs butter--melt butter first, then whisk in flour) and add to the sauce, whisking until smooth, and continue to heat until it's as thick as you like. once you get to this stage, add the veg, chicken,bacon pieces (if there are any left!) and sauce back into the dutch oven and place over warm heat. ok, now is the last step. heat a saute pan with some generous drizzles of olive oil over med-high heat until the oil starts to shimmer. now, add your mushrooms and pearl onions and saute those little treats of wonder until they are golden and delicious (see first pic for golden, delicious, visual). remember that brandy trick? if you didn't burn your house down (or your face up) doing it the last time, then repeat it here for an extra flavor burst. once the brandy cooks off, add the onions and mushrooms to the rest of the dish and serve. I like it just with crusty bread. you could do some mashed tates, or snips or something. or noodles. but it's good enough to eat alone (equally good if you are with somebody, but you might have to share...)

DISH recommends: global meat axe of doom. this thing is like a hammer. I use it mostly to cut up chickens and the occasional, unsuspecting squash. seems like a lot of clams, but I think it's worth it if you are going to make your own stocks.

Sole Food

2011-01-03T12:34:00.002-06:00

At the end of each year, we make resolutions. Some of us go on diets, some of us vow to finally fulfill a lifelong dream, and some us vow to eat more seafood. I fall into the latter category. I recently watched the movie "Julie and Julia", and was motivated by the first dish they show julia child eating while she was in france. It was sole ala meuniere, which is basically a fillet of sole sauteed in clarified butter and then served with a simple pan sauce of parsley, lemon, juice, and (ahem), more butter. In the movie, Julia Child's eyes rolled back into her face as she tasted the first bite and if you follow this method, I guarantee that yours will also.

Sole Meuniere is all about the butter. I should clarify (sorry, cheap joke)...instead of sauteing in an oil we use clarified butter here, so unless you have some on hand, this needs to be your first step. it's super easy, all you do is heat a stick or so of butter in a saucepan until melted, and then skim the foamy milk solids off of the top. turn your heat to low, and then wait for the rest of the milk solids to fall to the bottom.

then, you need to strain what's left through a cheesecloth-lined sieve for later use. Voila!! Butter clarification complete. We do this so that the butter has a higher smoke point, therefore, giving you the benefit of sauteing in oil, with the taste of butter. what you have leftover, you can use for eggs, potatoes, or whatever.

from here on out, it is remarkably simple. season your flour and dredge both sides of the sole in it, shaking off the excess. add about 3 tablespoons of the liquid gold that you just so expertly made and give your fish a ride in the butter hot tub for about 4 minutes. Notice how the edges are getting golden brown and crispy like? Of course you do, now it's time to flip, carefully using a fish spatula (like the one in the next pic in the upper right hand corner.). I say this because the sole is an extremely delicate fish that requires a soft touch (like kitties, or rolling out pasta, or brain surgery).

now, once you've flipped, let the fillet cook for about 3 more minutes, and then add your butter, parsley, and lemon juice, and kind of shake your pan to combine everything. there you go. this dish is extremely versatile, pairing wise, and would go well with lots of different sides. we served it with some rosemary baby dutch tates and a small salad. pour remaining pan sauce over fillets and garnish with some lemon wedges (that you put face down into the butter bath for a few minutes).

one last thing...this meal had an amazing contrast of being delicate but still being totally rich and amazing. As you can see, we cut the fillet down into two small portions and had reasonable sides. The thing about french food is, they don't skimp, but they don't gluttonize everything either. if you are making a resolution for a healthier life, this is definitely not something that you would eat every day, but it is definitely not something that you should be afraid to make or serve, once in a while either. my personal guideline is one of moderation, not deprivation. it is the small treats and little things in life that make it worth living/enjoying, and if we take those away, it just kind of, well, sucks. Happy new year everyone, I hope that you all are looking forward to learning new recipes, techniques, and methods to enrich your cooking skills.

peace.

Sole ala Meuniere (serves 2, but i trust y'all can figure it out if you want to make more.)
1 fillet sole
3 tbs clarified butter (see above on how to make)
1 lemon halved
2 tbs butter (non clarified), cut into pieces
1tbs minced flat leaf parsley
seasoned flour for dredging (i just used salt and peps)
(see pics and read method above for instructions)

DISH recommends: Chemex coffee maker. I love this thing. christmas present from the lady in my life. it makes awesome coffee with no bitterness. it was developed by a chemist, so, you know...

a recipe so good, you just may have to laminate it...

2010-12-13T09:56:00.006-06:00

I've always been a pretty big fan of puff pastry (well-made, all-butter puff pastry). It's a very versatile dough to have around, it freezes exceptionally well, and there is no proofing involved, so you can pretty much just prepare it however you like, and when you are ready to bake, it is also. However, the problem(s) with puff pastry, are finding one that actually tastes what puff pastry is meant to taste like (hard to find here in the midwest), and if you actually manage to accomplish that, not spending a ridiculous amount on it. the mainstream brand you will probably come across most often is pepperidge farm, and I'm sorry to say that it not only sucks, but uses a lot of margarine, not butter.

A couple of weeks ago, I was watching PBS, and stumbled across an episode of julia (please, please, please, click here and watch this!), where Michel Richard and she were making puff pastry. the old school way. all butter. all the time. it was a revelation. it seemed so easy, it was exactly what I had been looking for. so, in true latestDish fashion, here we go (I could jut assume you all watched that video link, but just in case...)

After you have combined your flour and salt with the water (in your food processor) and made a rough dough (the dough ball will clean the sides of your processor), knead it a few times (on a floured surface), and slash the top like this so the dough will be easier to roll out and work with.

cover it with a damp kitchen towel and move on to making your butter block. lay a large piece of plastic wrap down on your work surface and line up the sticks of butter(straight out of the fridge, very cold) so they are close together. make sure that your plastic piece is big enough, the butter is going to spread out quite a bit. And please, people, use real butter. don't even try to use margarine or anything of the sort. butter is real. real is good for you, in moderation.

Had a rough day? Stressed out? well, lucky you! this is the part where you get to smash the butter together with a blunt object (hooray!). all joking aside, you really have to lay in to this stuff. don't be afraid to commit and connect here. picture your arch nemesis, or the DMV, or the cable company. Whatever foe you choose, just remember to follow through, don't want any damaged countertops here. you want to end up with a uniform rectangle here, like below. you shouldn't be able to see any gaps in the lineup where the butter was touching.

now, roll out your dough into a sort of rounded square shape. this dough is great because it has fairly low gluten formation, and rolls out like a champ. really fun stuff to work with. you can see that I left it thicker in the middle, because that is where my butter will rest, and the edges of the dough will be folded over the butter, making it thicker on the edges. It also sort of acts as a little insurance so that the dough won't rip in that area.

lay your butter in the middle of the dough and then fold the edges over the butter completely sealing the butter square and leaving you with a uniform rectangle.

flour your work surface and the dough again, and roll out into a long, vertical rectangle, like below. I don't have an exact measurement for you guys here, but I would say that it is prob close to 24 inches or so ( basically the width of my counter top). once that is done, use a pastry brush to brush off excess flour, and fold like a business letter. (this process is known as lamination. it is used in several doughs and that is what gives us all the buttery, flaky, layers of goodness. We do this at work with the croissant doughs also). We are going to do this a total of 6 times.

bring the bottom third up to the middle

and then fold the top down to meet the edge of the bottom third

you should have a nice square at this point. even if it is a bit wonky, you can use a pastry knife or your hand or whatever to kind of square it back up (it just makes for easier rolling as you go). Rotate the dough so that the seam is running vertically, and repeat this process one more time, and then wrap in a damp towel, and set in the fridge for 30 min to harden the butter. (this step is crucial! do not skip it, or your dough will not turn out.) After the 30 minutes are up, roll out and fold again two more times and then back in the fridge for another 30 minutes. then, after those 30 minutes have passed, repeat the two turns one more time. It sounds like a lot of work but trust me, it's not. it takes maybe 4 minutes to do each two turn process. do some house work during the fridge rests or exercise, or whatever. It's basically like making a soup or stew or something that you occasionally have to check on and should be no reason to deter you from trying this excellent recipe.

this is just a pic of me brushing off the extra flour, to enable maximum rollage.

this is my dough after the second rest and fold process. I still have one more fridge rest to go and two more turns (or folds, if you prefer) to make but I made indentions to show how many times I had rolled out and folded it up to this point.

this is a just a shot to show how much this dough puffs up after baking. It was probably rolled out a little thicker than a pie crust would be.

this is a shot of the inside of that same trial piece. I can only tell you that it is the most flaky, buttery, piece of goodness that you will ever eat.

I wanted to make a sweet treat with some of the dough, so I decided to try my hand at making palmiers. I wasn't sure how to make them so I just did a quick search and this is the first thing that came up. Might not be the best video, but I did like the technique of brushing the pastry with water and then dipping it in sugar. made a nice caramel crunch.

this is another pic of an apple tart that I made at thanksgiving with the same dough. ridiculously easy. It was from a martha stewart recipe.

Basically, the whole point of this post is to encourage you guys to make this dough. Yeah, it seems like it is a little daunting at first, but just break it down step by step and it is not bad at all. really easy actually. It's really nice to have something in your kitchen repertoire that can be used for everything from a crust for a tart to a flaky little dessert. Being a good cook is all about versatility, and I can't think of many things that could be more versatile than this. give this process a try and I promise that you will never go back to the mass produced versions.

Puff pastry dough (ala Michel Richard) (once again, it would be in your best interest to watch the video link above!)

1 pound pastry flour (however, I took julia's advice and used 4 oz. cake flour, 12 oz. All Purpose Flour, because that is what I had on hand)

1.5 tsps salt

1.25 cups water.

combine all this in food processor and pulse to make a rough, dough ball.

you will also need 1 pound butter.

for steps and process, follow the pics and directions above.

Good Luck! and happy holidays, hope you make this dough and enjoy it as much as I have:)

DISH recommends: Video.pbs.org. I love pbs. I recently got the pbs app for ipad and it is so cool. it downloads all the shows from the week and you can sort through and pick whatever you want to watch. i don't have cable so its a really cool way for mames and I to get our pbs on. however, this website is pretty cool too. I wasn't sure I'd be able to locate that video of Michel and Julia, but a quick search led me to this site. looks like the same deal (lots of julia vids here). check it.

in true thanksgiving style...

2010-12-06T12:26:00.004-06:00

ok, first of all, I apologize. As per usual, there has been a pretty giant gap in postings, but I have been extremely bizz...For a while there, we were a baker short at work and so that was eating up a lot of time. then, I had a test to study for/take, so that I may advance in my job, and then it was thanksgiving (which is one of our busiest baking days of the year (I was baking at a 500F oven for about 12 hours straight, but, in true pilgrim form, we made it through. To add to the list, my wonderful ladyfriend in crime, contracted mono and was seriously toast for a solid month.

speaking of mames, check out this turkey finger puppet she made. pretty cute, huh? We invited a bunch of indians (holla!) over for thanksgiving (very pilgrim-ey, indeed), along with some other close friends who couldn't (like us) make it home to be with their families. We had such a blast and everyone was so hungry that we forgot to snap pics of the people and food, so these are just a few of the table that amy took in advance.

my wife can set a mean table.

so, on top of these plates we really did have food. we took the napkins and wheat off, of course, and enjoyed some autumnal fare. Actually, I did something quite out of the norm this year and braised my turkey. I bought a small one (10 lbs) and cut it up and braised it in a dutch oven with a little fat tire ale, some chicken stock and root veg. I made the gravy the same way I always do (check out the roast beef post for info), and it turned out really great. It's going to be hard for me to ever roast a turkey again, given how juicy and tender the turkey turned out. the skin even got crispy because of some dutch oven magic!

this is the aftermath. hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving and hope you all have a great holiday season. I am planning to do quite an extensive scratch puff pastry post here in the next few days so please check it out and give the recipe a try. it is a really handy dough to have on hand and is so much better than anything that you can pick up in the stores, I assure you. if you love, buttery, flaky, pastry, you will have to give this one a go.

psst: need some help finding the right gift for those on your list? Of course you do! then check out this great gift guide and spend, spend, spend away!

Co-operation, makes it happen...

2010-11-10T16:38:00.000-06:00

I wrote a guest post for the nebraska coffee association. Check it out here

for british eyes only...

2010-11-10T13:35:00.004-06:00

around christmas time last year I made my first prime rib. ever. and while it was glorious, it was pretty darn expensive (expect to pay anywhere from $10 per pound on up to ridiculous $$ per pound if you get the prime rated stuff). Lately, I had been craving some roast beef like it was nobody's business. However, since I can't just go rib-roasting it up all the time, I needed to find an alternative cut to satisfy my beef needs.

On the whole, the british aren't really known for their food, but one thing that they know how to do is roast a beef treat. I discovered that while they do love their rib roasts, they are also fond of top round roasts. this seemed more my speed. so I headed to the store to see what I could find and EUREKA!! top round roast spotted, not to mention EUREKA EUREKA!! 9 dollars. that's about 5 times less coin than a rib roast of the same weight. While I was excited at this bargain, I was also pretty skeptical. Was this going to taste good at all, I mean you get what you pay for right? I was scared that without all of the intra-muscular fat and marbling that I was going to be feasting on something closer to resembling hydrated jerky than basking in the beef nirvana of my dreams.

But I figured that at this point 9 bucks was 9 bucks. that was the beauty of this whole experiment. It wasn't like I had coughed up 50+ clams for this thing, so I dove right in. I basically went about this like I do for any roasty treats, Veg-pile (you can call it whatever you like. how about veg-bed, or veg-rack, or you could even call it a veg-table...ahem...), salt and peps, some herbage, throw on the well seasoned meat (always, ALWAYS, fat-side up). and roast away. Cooked to med-rare, thinly sliced, and smothered with gravy goodness, this was fantastic! It was the roast beef I had been looking for. while it was much leaner than the rib roast I had made earlier, it was equally delicious, just in a different way. It was a bit chewier, but in the best way possible. I like to think of it as the beef just taking the long way home.

Psst...Do you like gravy? If your answer is no, then you can leave this blog right now and never come back!!!...Still here? I thought so. ok, I have a trick I use for gravy every time. remember that veg pile we rested the meat on? of course you do. It looked so pretty before, but now it kinda looks like complete annihilation...that's just fine. it's probably swimming in beef fat. and needs to be drained of about 90 percent of that. I drained my beef fat into a pot, added about a spoonful of flour and made a quick roux, and then added stock to the pan of veg, and smashed it up. put the roasting pan with the veg over your burners on high heat, add the roux and add some booze (wine, ale, sherry, port, whatever) or more stock , and then whisk and mix it all up together, scraping up the tasties from the bottom. lower heat and let it reduce to your liking and then pour through a strainer. Now that's a gravy you can be proud of!

A proper Bloke's Roast Beef (adapted from jamie oliver, he's british, I kind of figured it was a safe play)
preheat oven to 475 (do this now, it's important that your oven is crazy hot at the get go)
for veg pile:

2 onions rough chop

2 carrots ""

2 celery stalks ""

couple turnips or parsnips ""

garlic cloves (to your liking, you can use the whole head if you want), left whole

olive oil

salt and pepper

1 handful Simon and Garfunkel (parsley, sage, you get the rest...)

for herb paste:

6 good sized sprigs rosemary

4 sprigs sage

4 sprigs thyme

4-5 cloves garlic

olive oil

salt and pepper

the rest:(or in this case, the roast)

3-4 pound top round roast

In a good sized roasting pan or a large skillet, add the chopped veg and herbs. season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. toss well and set aside.
to make the herb paste, mince all the herbs and garlic together and add a couple healthy pinches of salt and pepper. add to a a bowl and drizzle in some oil. just enough to make it paste like, not swimming. rub this on the meat and then (I know sounds like a lot) salt and pepper the meat again, but don't go overboard. place meat on top of veg stand and either let hang out in the fridge until you are ready to roast, or go for it at this moment (this VERY moment!!!!). put pan in oven (in middle rack) and lower heat to 400F. if you are using a dig-thermometer (like the one i linked up there) make sure to put it in before you put the beef in the oven, it's sort of crucial to your cause (never again...) if you don't have one, don't sweat it, you can get it close by roasting around one hour for medium. If you want med-rare, just take it out around 10-15 min. earlier. and so on. baste the beef around the halfway mark and if the veggies are starting to dry out, you can add a splash of water to the pan to prevent burnage. once roasted to your desired doneness, take the pan out of the oven and let the roast rest on a cutting board (at least 15 minsok. this is normal. pour this stuff into your gravy. you thriftster, you...
serve with roast veggies (not posting a recipe, but what you can do here is par-boil some root veg and then toss them with oil and salt and peps and when you pull the roast out, put these in and then turn the oven to 450 to finish them off and get some color. should be done around the time everything else is).
or mashed tates. or just serve them with your favorite sides.

DISH recommends: all-clad lasagna pan. this pan says it's for lasagna, but so far has met all of my roasting needs. and it's way cheaper than their roasting pans and only like an inch smaller. check it.
ps--like the new look? hope so. mames gave me a much needed make-over. hope to actually get organized around here...

sea change...or...we have a MCwinner!!!

2010-10-25T08:53:00.012-05:00

I've always considered myself to be on the busy side. I like to do things, whether it be cooking, exercise, home projects, whatever. but lately...well, lately I had been pushing it to the limit. much of my time has been eaten up at work by learning how to operate/figuring out how to implement this, and testing and experimenting with this (links to John's blog, should check it out and become a follower, very informative, cutting edge stuff.) so yeah, you get it, I needed a break. sooooooo, mames and I decided that on the spur of the moment we would head out west to california. specifically, Santa Catalina Island (a tiny island 26 miles off the coast). we had such a good time, it was definitely rejuvenating. I think that a lot is to be said for little vacations. You can take more of them during the year, and it is just enough to get you out of the craziness of everyday life. we were gone for four days, and I felt like we maximized our time out there. the crazy succulent pic is from a plant called a "red hot poker". We rented bikes the first day we were there and rode up to the botanical gardens and checked out all the cactus (still not going to say it, marth...) and such. was pretty beautiful. other pic is of us at the top of the observatory/memorial thing (I'm a naturally shady person). all in all, it was a great time...but the food sucked. it wasn't just bad, it was flavorless. we're crediting it to the fact that the majority of the inhabitants were geezers. seriously, it should have been fabulous. The seafood was excellent quality, just under-seasoned, or not seasoned at all. that was the only bummer.

ok, foodstuff: I have been experimenting with my pressure cooker a lot lately. The last pic is potato leek soup that I made in about 15 minutes. yeah, you read that right. I can't believe it took me this long to get one. i love it. for someone who doesn't have a lot of time, it has been a lifesaver. you'd have to pry it out of my dead lifeless hands. for the soups I have made the method has been pretty much the same. saute aromatics and seasoning, add veggies, liquid, whatever, and then cover, lock, bring to pressure (there's a little knob that pops up), and then cook for about 10 minutes. ridiculous. I haven't cooked meat with it yet, but I'm sure that it will happen soon.

you didn't think i forgot about the giveaway did you???? well, of course I didn't...not entirely. like I said, super bizz at work and then took a little vacation, and also have been doing a three week experiment on cold brew coffee, but that's another post entirely. anyway, the winner of the giveaway is...Martha!! Marth and I used to be partners in baking crime. she has been at the bakery for a long time and has since gone on to bake at the omaha location. it's your lucky day.

use them well.

for those of you non-winners, an even bigger giveaway is still in the works, stay tuned.

also, I apologize for the lack of bloggage lately. like I said, I have been working on a guest post for a different site that I want to be really concise. hope to be back to norm soon.

DISH recommends: taking a minication!!! go somewhere, anywhere!! take a plane, take a car, doggone it man, take a bus if you must, just get out of your home city for a few days. sometimes a break is all you need to get things back in order and focus. plus, you can take 3 or 4 of these a year instead of 1 long trip. bonussssss.......

I know you came here for the equinox, but how about a giveaway instead?!?!?

2010-09-28T11:22:00.006-05:00

My ladyfriend had asked me the other day if I was excited that autumn was here. I thought about it for a minute and then replied that I wasn't any more excited than I would be for the other seasons because I kind of like them all. I was momentarily happy with my zen-like answer (even if it did turn out to be a bald-faced lie). As much fun as it is to see your neighborhood covered in a frosty blanket, and to then see that blanket turn into all sorts of flora/fauna, and then to bask in all it's glory with icy cold drinks and bathing suits, it all pales in comparison to the season when everything dies, we dress up like monsters, eat lots of candy, and wear sweatshirts (Kirstie Alley, I'm talking to you baby!...or wait, maybe I'm talking about you...). I mean come on people, it's not even close!!! I'm sorry I ever doubted you autumn...

Anyway, the dishes up top are of the heartier fare, one is a ground beef/pork ragu that was slow simmered on the stovetop with some onion, celery, and spices. pretty amazing flavor for minimal ingredients. I was inspired ( I tried to make a "Dario's" version) to make it from this book I read. check it out, was a really great read. Other pic is some chuck roast and carrots braised in wine and stock, blah, blah, blah. let's get down to business here: GIVEAWAY. Yep. I am giving away a set of 8 and 10 inch skillets made by cuisinart. they are stainless steel and built like a team of tanks. can go from stovetop to oven and all that jazz. they treated me well and will last forever if you take care of them. I have recently upgraded and thought they would make a nice giveaway. So how do you enter? just leave a comment saying that you want to be entered into the giveaway. it's that simple. I will accept entries for two weeks (so sign up by Oct. 12!) and then post the winner when I return from a much needed jaunt out west. lavish praises, becoming a follower, and nonsensical flattery don't necessarily increase your odds of winning (notice how I said necessarily...). so, sign up, win some pans, make some treats, and put on a sweatshirt, it's autumn after all.

DISH recommends: lavish praises, becoming a follower, and nonsensical flattery. I mean, if there's one thing that can increase your chances in this whole giveaway nonsense, this has GOT to be it! I wish I was kidding...snarks.

startin' the mornin' off right...

2010-09-20T10:22:00.005-05:00

if there's one thing that is really important to me, it's breakfast. If there's one thing that I absolutely do not have time for during the week, it's breakfast. You see, when you have to get up around midnight and crawl into work, you tend to maximize the amount of time that you can stay in bed. I basically hit the alarm clock off, throw on some clothes, brush my teeth, and then head out. not leaving a whole lot of time to fill my body with nutrients. That's where my love affair with granola bars began. granola bars definitely fit the bill for a fast breakfast. however, most of them are fluff or far from anything resembling tastiness. I used to eat peanut butter cliff bars, but when you down five a week, they start to get expensive. A while back, I had made a batch of g-bars from a martha stewart recipe. In theory, they sounded great because there was no refined sugar or preservatives or anything of the sort, but in actuality, they sort of came up short for me. I think that I didn't like the whole tropical dried fruit nonsense or something, not my style. the one thing I did really like (and steal for this recipe) was the fact that instead of sugar, this recipe used simmered, pureed dates. they act as your binding agent and hold everything together, also adding another, earthily sweet dimension to this bar, something I can totally get into...

yeah, it seems like there are a lot of ingredients to this, but just hang in there and try it at least once. they are all something you can get at a grocery that sells bulk ingredients ( I picked all of my stuff up at super saver on 48th, with the exception of the local honey, found at open harvest). At first it may seem like a lot to buy, but if you make this once, it won't be a waste, because it will definitely get reruns...

wunderBARS:

you're going to need: a food processor/chopper, biggest sheet pan you have, big mixing bowl,

and your mitts...

start with:

turn oven to 350F

2 cups pitted dates--put these in a saucepan and cover with water. simmer without a lid for around five minutes, or however long it takes to assemble the rest of the stuff

3 cups old fashioned oats, finely ground in a food processor

2 cups walnuts, coarsely ground in a food processor

1 cup almonds, coarsely ground in a food processor

2-2.5 cups dried fruits of your choice (lately I have been doing dried cranberries and dried currants, but you can use whatever you like. Raisins are good in here, but so are cherries, blueberries, etc)

4 tbs oat bran

6 tbs ground flax seed

4 tbs wheat germ

1 tsp coarse salt

6 tbs local honey (make sure to get local if possible, it fights off allergies/asthma. etc, honey that is foreign to the region doesn't do this)

1 tsp cinnamon (optional, I stopped adding this, as i found it unnecessary, but you can decide for yourself.

ok, here's the do:

combine ground oats, ground nuts, the dried fruit(s), oat bran, ground flax seed, wheat germ, salt, and cinnamon (if using) in a big mixing bowl, give it a little mix. drain the dates, leaving a couple of tablespoons of water in the pot, and pour this into the food processor. add the honey and puree everything until smooth. go wash your hands. do it. they may seem clean, but just do it anyway. clean? ok, now pour the date mixture over the rest of the ingredients and use your hands to mix everything up uniformly. it's sticky, but that's ok, you have to do it this way or it just won't get fully mixed. the dry ingredients should look moist and it should be slightly tacky to the touch. spray your big sheet pan with cooking spray and transfer the mixture to the pan. don't worry if it doesn't extend to the end of the pan just try and get a uniform rectangle going with about a 1-inch thickness. pop into oven for around 30 minutes. bars will be done when edges start to darken and middle is set. now, if you happen to have a vacuum sealer, let these cool and make individual packages for your breakfast for the next two weeks. if not, I'm sure they will last quite a while in just plastic wrap.

non-foodstuffs: we recently adopted a 9 year old english setter. who has kennel cough. who has proceeded to give kennel cough to gus. I miss sleeping.

DISH recommends:Fagor 6 qt duo pressure cooker. I made a curry in 4 minutes the other day people. FOUR minutes!! I almost cried. I am loving this thing. get one. it will change your life...or at the very least, dinnertime.

"that roma's hot, for sure, but I've got my mind set on "fleur"

2010-08-24T11:45:00.006-05:00

If you thought about your vegetable garden like it was a high school, then cauliflower would be the timid, shy girl that is actually quite fetching, if only someone would give her the time of day. Not like that showboat, "sweet corn", his silky hair, and towering height, the envy of all the class. or what about that tramp, "tomato", those wicked curves and blushed skin, always saying, "go ahead, give me a little squeeze, I don't mind ;) " and btw, she's been paired up with just about every vegetable possible (girlfriend gets around...)

and then, there's cauliflower...I mean, it looks like a friggin brain, people. who wants to eat a brain (ok, let me rephrase that, who wants to eat a brain when it's not tucked inside some delicious ravioli or made from jello...cause I would eat either of those things)?!? If it weren't for a little ingenuity and a little makeover, we might never tap into the potential that lies within this smart little vegetable.

Cauliflower on it's own and uncooked is, let's be honest, less than stellar. it has a nice crunch, but I imagine that locusts and crickets do also. it's very pale. it needs a tan. and a spicy outfit. we get this by a trip in the saute pan with some olive oil, sea salt, fresh ground pepper, and some chili flakes. now it's ready to party. throw on some grated parmesan if you want to hit a home run (leave it off if you just want to make it to 2nd base:)

crispy sautéed cauliflower

(I like to cut my pieces vertically into sections about 1/2 inch thick. this way, one individual section is a single serving. also because it looks, like, totally awesome. also also, I really like this method because the cauliflower gets all golden and crispy on the outside, almost as if it were dredged in flour and deep fried.)

1 head cauliflower, cut vertically, into 1/2 inch slices (see pic)

olive oil

coarse sea salt, peps

chili flakes

grated parmesan

lemon wedge (optional. i squeezed this over mine at the end. was delicious, forgot it for the pic)

heat a few glugs of olive oil in a saute pan over med heat until shimmering. add cauliflower and let cook until golden brown (approx 5-6 mins), turn (carefully, she's sensitive) and repeat. season browned side with salt, peps, and chili flakes. check for doneness by piercing stem with a pairing knife, should be tender, but not mush, set on platter, newly-browned side up and season again. grate cheese over, give a squeeze of lemon and enjoy. I like this paired with lots of things. It's also good alone. it's also good if you are with somebody...

ps. I suppose you could do this in the oven. I suppose...

DISH recommends: All clad saute pan. I use this all the time. it has fast become a workhorse in my new kitch. kind of pricey, but will last forever.

I know that, somebody's frying...

2010-08-07T10:45:00.008-05:00

sometimes the simplest things can end up being the most difficult. like riding a bike (yeah... I had that faceplant out in wilderness last week, then, mames decided to one-up me and ate pavement coming back from the farmer's market and ended up breaking her wrist:(. kind of a bad week), or using a coaster (I may never get that down), and even frying an egg (or in this case, explaining how to properly fry an egg:). yeah, you read that right. It's not that the act of frying an egg is difficult. you've probably done it dozens of times, maybe even hundreds. I may even have entered into thousands territory as I use to be a brunch cook, but until the other day, I'd never fried one properly. you see, the problem with frying eggs is getting the yolk (which should always be over easy:) and the white (firm, yet silky, with a crispy outer edge) perfectly done at the same time. to do this, you need to cook the egg at a low temp, which allows for the whites to firm up, but remain soft and not get rubbery, which happens with the introduction of high heat, but you also have to mind that creamy orange-gold orb of goodness on top, and make sure not to overcook the yolk, but you need to apply some heat without totally killing it. whew!, sounds like a lot to deal with? yeah, I know. that's why I made a video. clicksters.

DISH recommends: iPhone4. mames filmed this vid with my new phone. i love it. I'm sure someone will tell me there are better phones out there and bigger screens, and a million other reasons I should have bought a droid, but guess what? iDon'tcare. does that make me an elitist? probably. tell me something I don't know...

ps: youtube version here.

wild turkey wipeout

2010-07-28T12:04:00.006-05:00

(video is kinda crappy, "blair witch" style, sorry, for better quality, click here)

It seems that most times, the funniest things that happen to me, happen when I am alone. This was yesterday in wilderness park. Was trying to get some good footage (which means one- handed riding, no helmet cam yet) to recruit some of my non-riding friends to get bikes and got a mouth full of single track instead. I work weird hours so its hard to find peeps to go with, but if anyone out there is down for hitting up wilderness (or platte, mopac, branched oak, whatever) sometime, let me know. the wolfpack needs to grow...at least by one, right now I'm sort of just one wolf...one wolf who has perfected the dive roll. almost forgot--I saw some turkeys out there too!

Mastering Pommes Frites...or...Les Halles fare (in love and cooking)

2010-07-26T12:42:00.014-05:00

If you've ever tried to make some decent fries at home, I'll bet they most likely sucked. now hold on there, you might be appalled and might be cursing my name in defense of your flabby, greasy tuber sticks, but the truth is the truth. hey, I'm just as guilty as the aforementioned crime against potatodom. until yesterday, that is. I had made fries before and they were nothing spectacular. you use a lot of oil and there's all the clean up and, blah, blah, blah. you get it, I know.

A couple of weeks ago, mames surprised me with anthony bourdain's Les Halles cookbook. I had borrowed this from a friend before and while it was full of good recipes, I remembered that few of them looked like things I could make with the resources we have here ( where do I find wild boar, rabbit, foie gras, etc). apparently,at the time, I didn't see the recipe for fries, because once I laid eyes on it, I knew I would have my glory day in the hot sun with this process.

you can't really stray from this recipe and get the same results. Do you have to use peanut oil? YES! that much of it? YES!! do you really need a candy thermometer to get accurate temps? ummm....I feel like you guys get the point by now, but, YES! also, you must use russets, try to get really long ones (I used "baking" potatoes). I used 1 quart plus 1 pint of peanut oil in a 3.5 quart pot. and had to do the recipe in 3 batches.

one last thing: These are the best thing ever. crispy, not greasy at all, tender and fluffy inside, you get it, I know. make them. and invite some friends over. would be great with a nice aioli, or serve with a steak for steak frites. enjoy.

french fries, pommes frites, or whatever you want to call them: (adapted from les halles cookbook) (probably should of served four...)

3 russet potatoes, (big long ones)

1 quart plus one pint peanut oil

salt

parsley chiffonade (its for pretty)

could also season with: cajun seasoning, or a combo of parsley, lemon zest and minced garlic (have had this before and loved it)

peel the potatoes and cut them into 1/2 inch sticks. don't go too skinny, mames and i decided that the 1/2 inch ones were perfection. put them into a bowl of iced water to prevent oxidation, and leave for about 30 minutes, rinse well to get rid of starch.

put your oil into your pot and heat it up to 280F (see, that thermometer is handy right about now). what we are essentially doing here is blanching the fries first. cook the fries in batches for about 6-8 minutes. their color should be a semitranslucent white, not browning yet. remove with a skimmer and drain on a paper-towel lined baking sheet. let rest about 15 minutes.

now we are ready to fry! bring the oil up to 375F and fry the potatoes in the same sized batches for 2-3 minutes until crispy and golden brown. remove from oil with the skimmer and place fries in a large bowl, lined with paper towels (or just a clean, dry towel you don't mind washing later) sprinkle with salt (i just used plain, old kosher salt, but you could get all fancy pants and use whatever you want) and then whip out the towel, toss the fries a bit to incorporate seasoning and serve hot.

even though i did these in batches, the first batch was just as good as the last, even with the wait-time. they don't take a long time to fry after the blanching so you definitely have time to finish the process before you devour them, if you want to wait that long:) Also, after i was done, I let my oil completely cool and just funneled it back into the original bottle, ready to use for next time. thriftster...

DISH recommends:Les Halles cookbook. certainly hit a homer with that fry recipe. And I have tried the coquilles st. jacques recipe and it was equally good. check it out.

too much of a good thing is never enough???

2010-07-23T09:15:00.004-05:00

right now I should probably be sleeping. I should be covers-to-chin in sleepsville, but I can't stop thinking about lasagna. now, for me, this is quite a shocker. I'm not what you would call a huge fan, especially not when it comes to meat versions. I have been known to make some veggie lasagnas in the past, and while they were good, it's not something I found myself thinking about the next day. The problem I have with this classic dish is that it is (99% of the time) just so dang heavy. It's usually made up of a pound of meat, a pound of cheese, oodles of noodles (wait, why don't I usually like this?), and sadly, it's just not that good. I have to credit a jamie oliver recipe for changing my mind on this one. Somehow, he managed to cram all things good in the world of lasagnadom into this dish, yet still manage to make it seem not overly cheese-laden, and really well balanced. I adapted a little bit for what I had on hand. I also did this in two stages, making the sauce earlier in the day and then when I was done with my nap, I assembled the final dish.

This would be a great weekend dinner to break bread over (bread from LeQuartier, that is!), or you could assemble ahead of time and refrigerate (or freeze) for later.

Lasagna Bolognaise (adapted from j-ol)

1/2 pound ground beef

1/2 pound ground pork

1 onion, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper, small dice

drizzles olive oil

1 red chile, de-seeded, de-veined, small dice

handful of fresh basil (stems and leaves separated), leaves picked and stems minced

2 14 0z cans tomatoes

2 tbs tomato paste

healthy splash(s) of vermouth (optional...as in you have the option to leave this out if you want your final product to be lacking the sweet kiss of an apertif:)

salt and pepper

2 tsps dried oregano

lasagna noodles (I used 1 box of the flat, barilla brand)

1.5 cups ricotta cheese

.5 cups sour cream

2 oz. grated parmesan.

tomato slices

for sauce bolognaise (can be made ahead of time and frizzled, or even freezled. also, would be great over your favorite pasta)

heat a saute pan with olive oil over med. heat, when oil shimmers, add onion, bell pepper, garlic, red chile, basil stems and saute until just starting to get some color. season with a little salt,pepper, and oregano and then add your meat (you could just use beef or pork, but I thought the combo was a really good...combo) and saute until almost cooked through, stirring frequently. add some serious splashes of vermouth and scrape up the yum yums from the bottom of the pan, now, add your tomatoes, tom. paste, half of your basil leaves (you can cut/chiff them if you want, or just leave them whole)and fill up one of the cans with water and add that too. and now we reduce. You want this to end up like a thick pasta sauce. if you don't reduce enough, you'll get a watery lasagna, and no one, I mean NO ONE, likes a watery lasagna. once it is to your liking, let cool and either assemble, or store for later.

assemblage: get a pot of salted water boiling and add the lasagna noodles, just for a couple of minutes to slightly soften them, drain, and drizzle with olive oil to prevent them sticking together. grate your cheese, set aside, and then combine the ricotta and sour cream. I used a 9x13 pan for this and actually ended up a little short on the sauce, so I think it was originally meant for a smaller dish, so keep in mind that you need to either make more bolognaise, or you'll have to improvise, yay! if you use the pan I did, here's what you do: ad about half your sauce into the bottom of the pan, don't be scared. then add a layer of noodles (I did 4 overlapping each other). now, add your ricotta mixture(try to use 1/3) and spread to cover said noodles, sprinkle 1/3 of your parm over the ricotta and then add another layer of noodles. add the rest of your meat sauce, a layer of noodles, a second layer of the ricotta mix, and another sprinkle of parm. one more layer of noodles, then add the rest of the ricotta mixture. now lay some thin slices of tomato across the top and tear some basil leaves and scatter them over the tomatoes like your the business (because, honestly...you kind of are. seriously peeps, you just made a lasagna people are going to gossip about...hard). sprinkle with the rest of parm, cover with foil. you can now either bake (375 for 20 minutes, uncover and then bake for an additional 35 minutes until golden and bubbling (the lasagna, not your ego).

ps. if you be freezing this, let it come to temp before you bake it, you could ruin your pan, and the dinner inside it:(

DISH recommends: jamie olivers food revolution. gets used a lot around these parts...

mine's Orbit peppermint...

2010-07-12T09:42:00.011-05:00

I am by and large an autumn person. I'm usually all about the fall months, but right now, I'm definitely having a summah... What has brought about this mysterious change you ask? I'm not too sure myself, but I think it may have something to do with nectarines. I realize this entry is completely void of any nectarinesque photos/desserts/sauces, etc., but that's because, well...I usually eat them before I can make anything out of them. I used to be a little up in the air about fruit. I like fruit and all but I've never had a favorite...until yesterday. I had washed a nectarine and took my first bite, and it was pretty much one of the best things I've ever had. So juicy that I had to stand over the sink. I felt (and looked) like a hyena devouring a zebra. I felt like all fruit should be eaten this way...in private, without any onlookers to detract from the annihilation. When it was gone, I actually sucked on the pit for a while as to extract any remaining goodness. I can foresee this being a problem, like I am going to have a real problem when the season is over.

Another sign of summer for us has been eating a lot more vegetarian dishes (with the exception of that big, beautiful t-bone, there). With produce in such great supply right now, it's so easy to make great food (the veggies do all of the work for you). Pics up above are Thai-style stir fried veggies (super easy, just stir fry chosen veg in oil and then add some oyster sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce, hoisin, and a little stock until it thickens up a bit.) next pic is a t-bone with grilled potato chips and braised collards. Also made some awesome yellow curry that we threw some leftover chicken in (this is a great way to use up leftover grilled or roasted meats). The last dish is one that I promised I would post and that I can't quite get enough of. In it's simplest form, it is just a roasted potato and bean tostada, but one bite will have you thinking it's anything but simple. there are a lot of flavors going on here that just seem to work really well together. now, if you don't constantly have a summer supply of homemade pico de gallo and guacamole on hand, this may take you a little longer, but never fear, I have recipes for both. For the guacamole, just see the last post and watch the vid...easy.

the pico is just about as easy and can probably be made in the time it takes to watch how to make the guacamole.

pico de gallo

2 nice sized tomatoes, diced (4-5 if using romas)

1/2 -1 onion, diced small

1-2 jalps (i cut mine into quarters and de-seed most of them, leaving one or two quarters seeded, and dice super small. /i reserve the seeds and membranes and then add them in to taste, later.

juice of 1 lime

handful cilantro, minced

salt to taste

combine all of this stuff in a bowl and mix thoroughly. now, this is basically just a guideline, I probably make this a little bit different every time, so just taste it and tweak it however you like. I like to eat this with corn chips (obviously), but is a great topper for grilled meats, and any mexican foods.

the potatoes: this is easy, see the tates in the pic up above? you want to cut them into that size, toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and just lay out on a pan and roast them at 400F until they are tender and start to turn golden brown. set aside...you can eat one though, just to check...I said one, not a quarter of the pan (this is a note to myself...have no self control with potatoes...in any form)

ok, onto the other stuff:

Roasted potato and bean tostadas: (this is from memory, so might need a little tweaking:)

you will need:

olive oil (drizzles and glugs)

1 large onion, small dice

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeno, small dice (can de-seed/de-vein, if desired)

2 poblano (pasilla) peppers, diced, could use green/red bells if you like, I prefer the poblano for the flavor it gives

large handful minced cilantro

3 tomatillos, diced

2 potatoes thinly sliced and roasted (see above for details)

1 can black beans, rinsed

1 can pinto beans, rinsed

2 cans (8 0z.) tom. sauce

2 tsp. coriander

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. chile powder

1 tsp. cumin seed

tostada shells

(it is a good idea to heat up your oven while you are prepping all of the ingredients so you can have your potatoes roasting and finished by the time everything else is ready. also, when the potatoes are done, it would be a good time to toast your tostada shells (in oven at same temp, I'd even use the same pan as the potatoes, just make sure you have taken the potatoes off the pan:), they only take a few minutes, set a timer or you will forget, at least, i always do:)

start roasting your potatoes.

in a large saute pan over med-high heat, saute the onion, garlic, and peppers in olive oil until just getting some color, about 5 mins. add the cilantro, tomatillos, and spices (including a good pinch of salt and pepper) and saute for a couple minutes more. add the tomato sauce and fill both empty cans with water. pour one of the cans in, and reserve the other. stir until the mixture starts to thicken, then add the drained/rinsed beans. turn your heat down a little and let the mixture thicken again, add the rest of the water, stir and let thicken one last time (seems like a lot of reducing/thickening, but I do this because when you reduce/thicken things, the flavors get really concentrated, leading to a better end-product.) you want the beans to be pretty thick so they stay on the tostada. turn to low/warm. now it's time to assemble. I usually do a layer of potatoes, then the bean mixture, some guacamole, then pico, and sometimes i will add some cheese (usually feta or cotija) and finish with some minced cilantro. this recipe serves quite a few hungrys.

recommended garnishes are guac, pico, cilantro, crumbly cheese, or any other salsas you might like. this recipe leaves itself wide open for interpretation, so have fun with it and play around until you find your perfect summah combo!

ps:I realize there is corn in the tostada pic up above. if you want to add some to the mix, I just used one ear's worth, and added it when I added the beans.

DISH recommends: a Molcajete. yeah, you can make guacamole using something else, but I warn you, it pales in comparison. something about that lava rock...this is the cheapest one I could find on amazon. unless you live in lincoln...and want to take on the task of seasoning your own. If so, go to la Mexicana, 15 bucks, but I don't recommend it, it's worth the extra money just to get already seasoned (speaking from experience:)

I was introduced to smut at an early age...or...guacamole en molcajete!!

2010-06-28T12:07:00.012-05:00

Well, it's officially summertime. The weather is getting warmer, the rain is seeming to dissipate, and it won't be long until we are able to get some really fresh produce. I have a tiny garden this year. I planted some tomatoes and a jalapeno plant. you see, every time I try to go big and have a huge garden, I end up failing to keep up with it. I'm more of a do-er than a maintain-er. So, this year I thought I would plant a small amount that I could manage, and so far things are looking pretty good. I love making pico de gallo, so I thought that having tomates and jalps would be a good thing. another thing I will be using these for is guacamole en molcajete. (click below for vid!) It's very simple to make and really fresh and versatile.

I also have a video up on you tube if you'd rather see it there. Other food pics are sticky chicken thighs with chickpeas, tomatoes, and bacon, and a little tuna and potato salad with sugar peas. The chicken dish was sort of an improv of a jamie oliver recipe called "pot roast meatloaf", but I obviously switched out the ground beef for chicken.

other stuff:

summer also has had me thinking about food memories. for example: corn day. Two words that can strike fear into the heart of any nebraska kid. You see, corn day involved waking up super early and picking 47 truckloads (ok, perhaps my number has been a bit skewed by nostalgia) and then bringing it back to your grandma's house to shuck ear after ear while the grown-ups sit inside and laugh at the toil that overcomes your soul (I later learned that they were blanching, cutting, and bagging the corn to be frozen. The worst part about corn day was smut. No, we didn't have a secret stash of nudies to browse, I'm talking about the straight-up funk that lives under the husk of some unlucky ears of corn. It stinks, is usually covered in bugs and was usually wiped on some part of me by my brothers. I hear it's a delicacy in some countries, probably the same ones who eat donkey wieners and boar buttholes. there was an upside to corn day, however, and that was, well, obviously the abundance of corn that would later grace our tables throughout the year. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and tuesdays were all incomplete without this sweet golden staple. Since it is just mames and I, corn day has kind of fallen by the wayside, but I know it still goes on strong. perhaps I will revive the tradition when I have kids of my own who can learn the value of the sweet sting of sweat from a hard days work...

do you guys have fond/unfond(?) food memories? let me know in the comments secth. pieces

dish

DISH recommends:Lodge cast iron 10.5 inch griddle. I use this thing almost every day. It's great for everything from frying eggs and searing meats, to roasting potatoes (I like to slice the tates thin and fan them out in a galette, like this. seasoned with a little salt and peps and olive oil and roasted at 400, they're hard to beat. $22.95, but I picked mine up at the teej for way less. also, they still have those sweet wusthof ikons I posted about, and they have added a couple of santokus to the mix. check it...

also recommended:flip video camera. Mames got one of these free at neocon and I have been playing around with it. used it to record the guac vid and is pretty handy. the youtube link is a better quality...don't know the price as we got it for free, but loves it...

booyah alert!!!!!...or are you seriously serious?!?/ take that omaha...

2010-06-25T09:08:00.003-05:00

This is the face of mames commanding you to check out her blog (which is actually very informative, concise, and helpful to boot!)for info on bicycle awesomeness (should be cool, plus free quesadillas!)

this is also the face of mames telling me not to pick up (and telling you to pick up!) the super sweet white wusthof ikon chef's knives and slicing knives that are on clearance at tjmaxx right now in lincoln (69.00 clams for the 9" chefs, and only 49 for the slicer!!!!!). I thought about it, but c'mon, can you see how serious she is? they are back in the clearance section. thank me lates alligates...

And the Winner Is...

2010-06-21T09:57:00.006-05:00

ok, before we get to that part...I just wanted to post a pic of gus eating ice cream. notice the crazy eye. anyway...The winner of the drawing was Nell! Congrats. I was thinking that since I have to approve comments before I post them, that you could give me your address in a comment and I just won't post it and will mail the pan promptly. I'll give you a week or so to contact me. If I haven't heard from you in a week, I'll draw again.

ok, otherstuffs: Made some mole before I went to chicago and it turned out really well. I think that a lot of people just assume that mole has to be eaten with meat, but we had ours with some roasted sweet potatoes and it was glorious. other pic is a stir fry with beef and green veg with oyster sauce. I have been loving using the wok on the gas stove. It gets so hot and is a great addition to the kitch. The little box of sweets you see is from an indian shop called sukhadia. they were amazing, and I had to use all of my self control not to go overboard. some of them were like a shortbread that took crumbly to a whole new level (but in a good way).

was in chicago last week. followed mames there on a business trip. I had some spare time to myself and enjoyed walking around and watching all the peeps. spent a day with sister erin, had my first chicagodog (was a big fan, which was surprising because I always thought they were out of control with the toppings), mames won a free flip camera (expect some video footage soon!), and ate a 25 dollar sandwich. also went to the art institute (which further cemented my dislike for modern art) and goofed around in the old stock exchange. I had a pretty busy time there and felt like I saw a lot of the city. the glorious fountain photo (this one shot by mames) you see there was from my "glorious fountains of chicago photo series:)" It's gonna be big...

also, went to an amazing kitchen supply store there. they had a lot of awesome hard to find knife makers and lots of cool kitchen stuff. picked up a new steel for my knives. I bought the mac black ceramic steel that has had the interwebs abuzz. I love it. With just a few passes on this baby my knives were back to razor condition.

also also, went to IKEA and bought hardware and lighting stuff. getting close on the kitchen. countertops and a sink in three weeks. Cabinets are all in now. hope to be back in full kitchen awesomeness by august.

DISH recommends: Black ceramic steel mentioned above. I can't stress enough how awesome this thing is. I would definitely categorize it into the must have column if you are serious about cutlery.

A giveaway! A giveaway! for realsies?...for suresies!!

2010-06-07T15:35:00.004-05:00

wowwee!! It has been ages since I was able to post something. have been super busy at work, not to mention on the home front. we are still making progress here on the kitch and the end is finally in sight. Just have to finish up a couple more major projects and we'll be ready to move back in. wanted to post a pic of my majorly tricked out spice rack. mames organized it to the deeps. Labels, arranged by how often i use them, etc. it's basically my favorite part of the kitchen. except for my new stove of course! oh jackpot! I have been loving the gas range/convection oven. I've never had a gas stove at home before and am hearting it. bigtime.

food pics are a sausage gumbo that I made a while ago (back when I was still using that single burner. I think that gumbo took about 2 hours to make:) some mixed grill action when we weren't getting an inch of rain every day, and a breakfast of spicy tomato sauce and fried potatoes with an egg. I would elaborate more but the big news here is that this is my first giveaway! I have been slowly replacing a lot of my cookware and so I have some odds, ends, duplicates, etc. that I will be giving away to my reader friendlies. up for grabs here is a cuisinart stainless steel 12" everyday pan with lid (click for more info). You can do a lot of things with this pan. I used it for roasting, braising, reducing and sauteing quite a few things. would also probably work for paella and would be a decent stir fry pan. It's slightly used and has a lot of life left. only reason I am giving away is because I just have more than I can use/I feel guilty for leaving everyone in the dark these last few months/I'm full of awesomes/I want it to go to a good home. so, yeah. If you want to be entered into the giveaway, just leave a comment saying something like: "booyah! a free pan!?! just for reading this garbage!" I can't believe it!, sign me up! or enter my name into the giveaway, or something along those lines. but you have to say you want in, not going to enter commenters who don't follow the rule...s. I'm a stickler. if it goes well, I have plenty more to giveaway. I will write names of all the participants on little tiny pieces of paper and then toss them into a headwind and see which one flutters to the ground in the most carefree manner...or i'll just have mames pull one out of a hat. anyway...that's that. so comment up, and you could have a slightly used, new workhorse in your kitch. (I'll get the winner's info after the drawing ends.) Results will be posted in prob a week or two...Best of luck!

I'll get it later...we've got important work to do...

2010-05-14T08:36:00.003-05:00

You all know that I've had to simplify things here a bit lately...like really, really simplify things. For example, I have one little burner to cook on and it has all the power of about 3 disposable bic lighters, so I have to make things that are fairly quick to come together. With that said, it hasn't been all that bad. Sure, I am getting a little discouraged (I suddenly have cravings for anything baked), but it won't be much longer and things will really start to get going (have a carpenter coming tomorrow and then drywall folks after that) and we can all forget this little speedbump that pretty much derailed the dish for a couple of months...

anyway, back to my thoughts...I am starting to embrace simplicity. The photo in the middle is one of the best things that I have eaten recently and couldn't have been more simple to make. Boiled yukon golds that are just smashed with a fork, topped with this tomato sauce (i cut my onion up and then pureed everything), a few cherry toms, basil leaves (from my plant that i still haven't killed), and some fruity olive oil. all of the flavors blended really well together, but without getting lost in the final product. whole wheat baguette came along for the ride.

the other two pics are pork chili MADNESS!!! I read a very good article in bon apetit a while back about making big batches of things and freezing them for later use. Pork shoulder was one of the things they recommended. they roasted theirs, I called on the help of smokey to stock my freezer with this pleaser. Seriously though, it was really handy having that pork shoulder ready to go. would totally recommend it. Other photo is of pork chili over scrambled eggs, or as mames likes to call it: The best. thing. ever. I think she would eat pork chili for days on end.

otherstuffs: The market is in full swing, so I have been quite busy. started reading a new book. amy got a sweet new bike, and probably tons of other stuff I'm too tired to remember. will try to be more frequent in the coming weeks. Oh, also, we went to the boiler room for our anniversary. It was really good. I think that it is probably one of, if not the best non-ethnic restaurants in the state. Their staff is so good at getting the maximum amount of flavor out of their food without it being overkill. we had a few amazing cocktails (sidecar, old havana), a great first course of oxtail agnolotti with asparagus and shaved black truffle (was soooo amazing), and main courses of braised pork shoulder with morels and asparagus (and some kind of dumpling that i can't remember) with pureed parsnip and also some wagyu short ribs that were paired with lobster claws and creamed kale. if you haven't been before, it is totally worth checking out. and I think that it is really affordable for a nicer place. service is great and their bread is delicious ( naturally:)

DISH recommends: the boiler room. it is now my go to place for nicer dinners in omaha. They try to source as much local stuff as possible which is something I can totally get in to (kind of like paul rudd and that tayne fella)

what we are down to after all we've been up to...or...they were out of two tickets to paradise so we booked the last two to crazy town

2010-04-30T08:52:00.004-05:00

a few remodel pics. bottom pic is of dish having a very bad time under the kitchen in a small hidey hole, doing some ductwork and whatnot. it may as well have been a poison oak patch. was itchy for days under there with all that ancient insulation. top pic is our new stove. it's pretty pathetic. takes like 10 minutes just to boil water in the kettle. Kind of funny though. actually, right now, everything is kind of funny. I think we are at that point where everything is so ridiculous that the only way to survive is to find the humor in all of this. kind of like last weekend when I left for a meeting and when I came home most of the wall was gone (see lower left pic). (Love you mames:) but, we did fix it and it is actually working out for the better now. Papa dish came up and between the three of us ((mostly he and amy). I am basically just here to hammer:) we figured it out. the framed area is going to be where our open shelving is going. nice , eh? looks like someone knew his way around a hammer (and most of a box of 16 penny nails). Last two pics are insulation (save the formaldehyde for science class kiddies!) and mames' super sweet support frame/box/stair extravaganza for the shelving to rest on. She's kind of a genius lady, which is excellent, because I am indeed, not (a genius...I would think that by lock of chest hair struggling to climb out of my shirt in above pic, you would figure out the lady part on your own.)

I just ruined the picture on my brain's plasma tv.

2010-04-30T07:57:00.006-05:00

Just wanted to do a quick post to let everyone know that I am indeed still alive and cooking (but it's definitely getting harder, more on that later). These past few weeks have seen the departure of the beloved/hated flair, the completion of insulation and electrical (minus lighting) and the tearing down of a few walls (some literal, some metaphorical...). Mames and I have been pretty busy and most nights it seems like it is tough just to make it through dinner without our faces falling into our plates. however, for the first time since we started remodeling, it feels like we are finally starting to make some real progress.

anyway, this is a food blog about food so: the salad above is a sort of ramshackle cobb salad. This one had all the traditional stuff minus the eggs and blue cheese (chicken, bacon, avocado, grunions, and tomatoes. made a roasted walnut dressing. was delicious. I had smoked a pork shoulder earlier in the week and had gotten about 7.5 pounds of meat off of that sucker, so I froze some of it and made some cassoulet with the rest. click here for method. next pic is fish tacos. I used some wolf fish for these. I'm not sure what this fish even looks like...perhaps a quick google image search is in order, hold on...OH.MY.GOODNESS!! Why the deuce is open harvest selling me meat from demonic water dwelling gremlins!?!?!?!?! if you dare...click to see wolf fish here or here or here. Now I just feel awful. I was just about to say that they were fabulous but now I feel all sorts of violated. I always like to pretend that everything I eat is always either faceless or super cute.the other pic is just beef stew. I feel ok about beef stew. Man. I am still a little shaken up from that picture. well, I have to go now. with any luck I'll catch a teletubbies marathon or at least some gabba gabba...

DISH recommends:

NOT CLICKING ON THOSE WOLF-FISH PICS. (if you did...I'm sorry. I just thought, you know, solidarity and whatnot. If enough of us clicked, maybe we could start a support group or something...)

all I really need is a skillet...all I really want is a sink...

2010-04-12T09:54:00.005-05:00

The Cupboards are gone (along with the countertops), the kitchen sink is awol, my dishwasher is in the basement (along with new stove, cabinets, and exhaust hood), I don't even really have walls or lighting in the kitchen, but for the most part...I'm fine. But so help me, if someone were to take away my cast iron skillet, I...would...freak. It would literally be a scene out of "falling down." I have come to rely pretty heavily on this thing for its versatility and easy cleanup (or should i say wipe-out). Some people are grossed out by the fact that you don't really wash these, but when you are doing dishes in a bus tub in your bathroom, you get over it really fast. basically you just rinse these out with water (you can use a scrub brush if you need to) and wipe them out with some paper towels. the more that you use them, the more nonstick they get. The three dishes above were all made in the cast iron and all turned out really well. the one addition I would suggest getting would be a lid. You can use foil in a pinch, but it's kind of wonky looking and you are better than that. you could buy the matching one (that costs just as much as the skillet) or you should be able to pick one up at any random store or you might already have one that fits in your collection.

ok, ontootherthings:

Lets talk about food...obviously have been making a lot of one-pot/dish meals lately. actually, that's kind of a rule right now since washing dishes is a total pain. we've been trying to keep it interesting with stir frys, curries, and braises, but have also tried to grill once in a while. The food above is: braised beef brisket (a backlog st. patty's day pic), shakshuka, and irish bacon and eggs. Irish bacon is something that I'd never had before. the package said that it contained 60% less fat than regular bacon, and since that's a reason I LIKE regular bacon, i was a little skeptical on how it would be. It was sort of like someone shaved slices off of a porkchop, but in a good way.

nonfoods: bowled the worst game of my life on saturday night (may or may not have been around 60...), but also had some of the most fun. I'm exploring the maze of electrical wires that past homeowners have installed in our haus. Finished reading "the sun also rises." it was a personal challenge because I was a self -proclaimed Hemingway hater. I have since changed my mind because although i might not like all of his subject matter, it is, in fact, pretty well-written.

Also: I've decided the only things you really need to prepare awesome tastys are: a sharp knife, a cutting board, a cast iron skillet, and a pot.

with that said: The things I don't need but am still going to get once my kitchen is finished:) this, this, this, and well, I have some ideas...

DISH recommends:

Lodge Cast iron skillet 12". on sale right now for 27.95. pretty sweet deal considering your grandkids could probably use it (this is mostly directed to those of us without grandkids...or kids of our own...not to say that your lovely, lively grandkids couldn't use it...but only under adult supervision...

kitchen bones

2010-04-05T10:46:00.002-05:00

this is what's left of the kitchen right now. i would write more about the process, but since I live with a designer lady who has a blog solely devoted to things of the sort, I won't steal her thunder. just thought I would post a little pic. (if you strain your eyes you can prob see the gas line! (i'm so excited...)

You would not believe the things i've put down the bathroom sink...

2010-04-05T09:48:00.005-05:00

There is a certain freedom that comes to you when you let things go. In my case, it has been letting go of the comforts that even a really bad kitchen can provide you. The past two weeks we have been letting go of many things...like walls...and a sink (you know, nothing major). This was depressing me at first, but it made me realize how much you can still do with very little at your disposal. I still have(minimal(it was out of commission for about a week due to plaster dust taking over our lives)) access to the flair (not much longer though, we had a gas line installed this week, just waiting on electrical, drywall, etc, before we hook it up!)so I still have a heat source and we have been washing dishes in a bus tub (not recommended:). About half of the food pictured was made on webster. I just put a cast iron pan in the coals and use that as my heat source. it works pretty well. The ham was mame's idea. we were without the use of the flair for a while and she suggested we use the smoker for it. it turned out really great and we made a glaze for it out of jaggery, tamarind concentrate, and water. the sweet and sour flavors went really well with the smokey, hammy goodness. next pic is pepper steak made on the grill. turned out a little spicy. mames and I are used to it (we've been conditioning for years), but I gave some to my neighbor and think it may have taken him down. also did some white beans in tomato sauce with homemade meatballs, sauteed pork chops, and potato and bean nachos. the nachos are one of my favorites (as far as nachos go), and ridiculously easy to make.

nonfoodstuff:

hmmm...already went over house stuff. lets see here...did finish a fantastic book I picked up a couple weeks ago. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, was the book's title and I thoroughly enjoyed it. it took a while to get going but as I look back on it, I am glad that the author wrote it the way that she did. I have a really weird process on picking out the books i want to read. I just go to the bookstore and look around. Sometimes (I know this is bad...) i will buy a book because i think that the cover is interesting (Yeah, I judge...).

jaggery/tamarind sauce

1/4 c jaggery

1.5 tbs tamarind concentrate

2 tbs water

heat until solids dissolve. brush on pork, fish, chicken, etc and grill/smoke/roast. or use as a dip for samosa or papadum.

potato and bean nachos (super easy)

2 russet potatos

14 oz can pinto beans

8 oz can tomato sauce

1 onion minced

1 pablano pepper diced small

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp cumin seed

1 tbs coriander

1 tsp chile powder

salt and peps

big hand full cilantro

salsas of your choice ( I think i used salsa verde and some red salsa heavy on the cilantro)

sour cream

feta cheese or cotijo cheese

cilantro to garnish

corn chips ( i like frontera corn chips)

oven at 400F

cube up the potato and fry along with half of the cilantro, onion and pablano, cumin seed, and salt and pepper until the potates are done. set aside. while that is going (in a saucepan) fry the rest of the onion and pablano, the cumin powder, coriander, chile powder, and cilantro. once that has some nice color and is starting to soften, add the beans and tomato sauce and turn to low until heated through. you can either smash them up or leave whole (i smash). once these two parts are done you can either make the nachos now or refrigerate for later (if you are one of those people who think ahead). Spread the chips out on a big sheet tray, top with the beans and then the potato mixture. add the cheese and then bake (if you are a warm salsa person, you can add the salsas now, if not just hold off and top later). garnish with sour cream, cilantro and salsa.

at least dante had the option of getting some protein into his diet...

2010-03-15T09:50:00.003-05:00

I love when things don't quite translate from other languages. example: Marth brought back a cookbook from china and here are just a few gems contained within: (First sentence: "How do we stick to a tight budget without assaulting our tastebuds? dining in sounds like a good answer.") another sentence talking about celery:"rich in dietary fibre, it can lower blood pressure and blood lipids significantly. especially suitable for fat people." love it.

Wanted to share a dish that mames and I really liked from last week called eggs in purgatory. Don't let the title fool you, it is far closer to heavenly than being hellish. In it's simplest form, it consists of eggs that are cracked into a spicy tomato sauce and baked until desired doneness. While that's just fine and dandy, I wanted this purgaliscious dish to be a a little heartier. I did make a pretty fiery sauce to start out with, but also added some par-boiled potatoes, and some red kidney beans to the mix. The end result was nothing short of heavenly (despite what the title implies). Served with some crusty bread (from LeQ, of course) for mopping up the lake of fire.

Also made a batch of stroganoff last week. turned out pretty good. I was out of brandy so I wasn't able to set it on fire:(

Also: USER FRIENDLY MEAT SALE!!!! don't know how much longer it is going on but stocked up on the sale at supes. Bought an entire chuck roll and turned it into a lot of roasts, stew meat, and ground beef. Also loaded up on pork. Suck and sealed all of it and sent it into the icy depths of the basement.

eggs in purgatory

1 28 oz. can whole tomatoes

1 onion, diced small

tsp (or more if you like) chili flakes

salt and pepper

2 potatoes, peeled and par boiled

1 can red kidney beans

4 eggs

turn oven to 400F.

In an oven-safe skillet, saute onion in olive oil until it gets some color, add salt and pepper and chili flakes. add tomatoes and smash with back of spoon. let reduce until sauce starts to thicken, you can keep smashing tomatoes or leave chunky if you like, up to you. add potatoes, beans, and a little water if sauce is getting too thick. check seasoning and adjust if necessary. make little wells in sauce and crack eggs into pan. bake until eggs are set or until desired doneness.

Some other nice additions for the sauce would be: olives, capers, artichoke hearts, bacon, ham, roasted red peppers, etc. This is a very versatile dish that you can customize to your liking. try it out for breakfast or any other time you feel like getting your egg fix.

DISH recommends:

Lodge cast iron skillet: bought one of these for work and we are using it a lot. nice to have around since you don't really have to wash it (kind of like winter coats! )

I have a kitchen in my basement...or VIVA la VIDE!!

2010-03-10T12:14:00.009-06:00

one of the things I love most about cooking is the experimentation process. I get a pretty big kick out of trying new dishes, but I also really like trying new ways to prepare things, whether it be deconstructing a dish and finding out an easier way to get the same (or better) results, or whether it involves a new tool that might help the process. A couple of weeks ago, i picked up a vacuum sealer. I had always wanted one of these and was elated to find one at tuesday morning for like 75 percent off (they might still have one left, bottom shelf). So for, 25 clams, i was halfway to making myself a sous-vide rig (you can buy this one, of course, but it is wicked expensive, and I just can't abide by that.). I had heard of people making their own setups with slow cookers and was pretty intrigued. I already had the crock pot, so I filled it with water and set it to low. While i was waiting for it to heat up, I vacuum sealed a goose breast that i rubbed with some coriander, caraway seeds, and cumin seeds that I had pulverized in my molcajete, also drizzled some olive oil in there too. Once Crocky had heated up, I just dropped the sealed goose breast in the water and let it hang out for about 3 hours. How sous-vide works is this: You take out all the oxygen that can touch what you are cooking and bathe it in a really even heat. What does this mean? Well, a really delicious, end product that has lost virtually no flavor in the cooking process. A quick sear helps out the appearance of meat greatly when you use this process (otherwise, you end up with something that looks, well, kind of gross). The goose breast was a really even pink the whole way through, and I was pretty happy with the results, this being my first try and all. I'm anxious to see how this process works on a thick steak, like a tenderloin...

Also tried my hand at making gnocchi. If you've never had it before, it's basically pasta that has been made with the addition of potatoes (however, you can also make semolina gnocchi, but for the sake of time we will stick to the potato version for this post). It turned out pretty good. It was a good vehicle for a creamy sauce with some lacinato kale and peppers.

ok, otherstuff:

We received our kitchen cabinets over the weekend and are now waiting on some estimates from a plumber as we have to get a gas line put in, etc, etc, blah, blah...(can you tell I'm getting impatient here:) Papa DISH and i are going to try our hand at installing them ourselves. Hopefully with my nerves of steel (obvious joke) and his unfaltering enthusiasm (My dad is pretty pumped for this project, for reals), we can make fairly short work of it.

Also: finally solved the rubiks cube. whoever said that thing was for 8 year olds was a nutjob.

Also Also: am going to be without a sink for almost a month. just know that if you come over for dinner, I probably washed your dishes with my shampoo...

oh yeah, almost forgot (for melissa)

Quick chicken stock:

at least 2 chicken backs/wing tips/etc, hacked into 2 inch pieces (invest in a heavy cleaver, save your chef's knives from getting chipped. (It's crucial to hack these up as the marrow is what gives the stock that hearty robust flavor (i save mine in the fridge until i have enough)

1 onion.

couple bay leaves

salt (start with 1/2 tsp, you just want a little in here, most likely, you will be adding this to other dishes that you will also salt)

water to cover

heat up a stockpot on med, and then saute the chicken back pieces with the onion until you get a little color going on. turn heat to low, then cover and sweat ingredients for about 5-8 minutes. increase heat to high, add water, salt, and bay leaves. bring to boil, then reduce heat to low and cover and simmer until rich and flavorful (about 30 min). skim foam, strain, and discard solids. or, if you are like me, pick over the carcass and make something chickeny (there's still some meat on that bone, son!)

Eating Haman's Hat

2010-02-28T20:38:00.024-06:00

Get out your groggers {noise makers} this is a wifeshow blogjacking! This blog in disguise is in honor of the holiday of Purim. Similar to Mardi Gras with costumes, carnivals and libations, Purim is the celebration of Queen Esther's defeat of Haman.

Here's the story in a nutshell...The King of Persia got ticked at Queen Vashti for refusing to greet his guests {must have been a bad hair day} so he decided to have a beauty contest to find a new wife. Hadassah aka Esther, was chosen {her heritage hidden from the king} and became the new queen of the Persian Empire. Meanwhile Haman, a prominent Persian prince, offered the king 10,000 clams to annihilate the Jewish people because Esther's uncle Morty {Mordecai} refused to bow down to him. The king refused. Esther discovered Haman's plan and told the King what a rotten dude he was and that she was Jewish. The King stood by his lady, hanged Haman, and allowed the Jews to defend themselves against any would-be attackers. {read the full story here or in the book of Esther}

To celebrate, Steve and I made hamantaschen, triangular shaped cookies modeled after the shape of the main villain's hat. Usually filled with jam or poppy seed paste, we decided we wanted to make ours a little more rustic and not so sweet. {we're not huge jam session fans}

For the dough I mostly followed this recipe from Epicurious with modifications taken from my friend Molly's version. For the filling, we substituted jams for our own mixture of apples, cranberries, raisins, cherries and dates. Our version is similar to a fig newton crossed with a sugar cookie. They're pretty tasty but next time we'll tweak it a bit and add more salt and maybe a little jam to add some sweet, glossy, gooie, goodness.

Recipe below :)

Dough Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt - I would double this next time

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

3 tablespoons fresh oj (Gourmet only calls for 1, but the dough was too dry so I added more liquid)

1 tsp. vanilla

For the how to, follow the link above except add an egg wash before you bake. This will make them glossy and help the corners stick together.

Tip: You definitely want to chill it overnight, and only roll out parts at a time. The dough is significantly easier to work with when cold.

For the filling we used 2 apples, and wifeshow size handfuls of the following: raisins {golden and regular}, dried cherries, dried dates, and dried cranberries. Steve cut up the apples and cooked them in brandy and water with cinnamon and sugar. Not sure what all he did, so maybe he can comment on that part. I plumped the dried fruit in brandy then we combined the two mixtures into the Cuis and pulsed until smooth. We then put the mixture into the freezer to cool it down. Finally we assembled the cookies.

I was nervous about them popping open so I folded mine a bit more than some people do. Mine aren't as pretty as Deb's, but they worked. This recipe should make 2 dozen and last in a container about 5 days, but Molly tells me they also freeze really well.

Happy Purim!

Making thick roll sushi

2010-02-22T08:34:00.006-06:00

ok, while I have a few other things to say, this post is mostly going to be about sushi. So, let's get that other stuff out of the way right from the get-go. Non sushi pics are a tomato and bell pepper soup, a masaman curry, and a "full monty" breakfast. the tomato soup is much like this version only with the addition of some baby red, orange and yellow bell peppers. i also added some chili powder to give it some heat. The masaman curry was a repeat of this recipe. just hadn't had it in a while and you know, had to feed that addiction we have. So if you are wondering how to assemble a proper bloke's full monty, it's basically just this: get some beans going ( I used some canned pintos to save time. I just combined mine with some sauteed onion, a little tomato sauce (actually I think it was v8 juice), salt and pepper, smoked paprika, and some coriander.) and once those are ready, set aside and then fry up some bacon or sausage (or both!), toast some bread, and then quick fry an over easy egg. I like to place mine on top the beans and crack the yolk. pretty filling...you could probably skip lunch with this one.

ok, sushi. Wow, where to begin? well, for the sake of time here, we'll talk about making rolls. While a perfect piece of hand formed sushi is one of life's great pleasures, it's not one of life's easy tasks. Rolling sushi, however, is pretty easy and quite fun. but first, there are a few things you need to pick up.

First, you need to get yourself a rolling mat. These are relatively inexpensive and can be picked up at most asian markets and even some grocery stores around town (i think I saw one at supes on 48th). If you have trouble finding one, I would recommend something like this.

Also, it doesn't hurt to have a guidebook. There are a plethora of good books out there, I just happen to have this one and like it for it's simplicity.

As far as ingredients, the main things you need to pick up are: short grain sushi rice (usually available in bulk, get mine at open harvest, but have also purchased this brand in a pinch at local stores), roasted nori sheets, and rice vinegar. you also need some sugar and salt but I assume most people have those already.

First step would be to get your rice going. I use my rice cooker, but you can very well just use a pot with a lid. You want to make sure you give the rice a good rinsing under cold water in a sieve until the water runs clear. once that happens, either put it in your rice cooker or into a pot with a tight lid. here is a rice recipe:

1 and 1/3 cups sushi rice

1.5 cups water

put washed rice and water in pot, cover with tight fitting lid. bring to a boil over med heat. resist the temptation to lift the lid, just listen for boiling sounds and once that happens, boil for 4 more minutes, adjusting heat if it boils over. after 4 minutes, reduce heat to very low and simmer for 9 minutes, then remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes.

while your rice is going, you need to make the vinegar mixture. For this you'll need:

4 Tbs rice vinegar

2 Tbs. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

now, you could put this in a saucepan and heat it up until the salt and sugar has dissolved, but I just nuke it in a microwave for like 40 seconds. make sure it doesn't boil, you just want to dissolve the solids. after 40 seconds it should be hot enough to dissolve everything and if not, you can usually just help it along by giving it a good stir. once you have done this, set aside and wait for your rice to finish cooking.

ok, so rice is done and vinegar mixture is done also. now, you want to move the rice to a wide shallow dish like a baking dish or pie dish (i use the latter) and slowly pour the vinegar mixture into it, mixing and distributing the vinegar so that all of the rice is shiny. fan the rice gently (with a piece of paper, or towel, or, um a fan..., until it starts to cool. once cooled, you are ready to use the rice, or can cover it with a damp towel if you want to use it later (this is what I usually do. I make my rice earlier in the day and cover it so that when I am ready to assemble, I can just get my ingredients ready and go. this way, it seems super easy. a good way to spread out the work. and don't worry, the rice is basically pickled, bacteria would hate this rice, you'll be fine leaving it out.

now, the fun stuff.

now, you are ready to assemble. make sure your work surface is clean and then place your mat on your work surface, top the mat with a nori sheet (shiny side down), and then top with two handfuls of rice in the center. spread the rice evenly across the sheet and leave about 1/4 inch margin on the edge furthest from you. now it's time for your ingredients. whatever you are using, you want to be in long strips. In the photos above, I ended up using smoked salmon and avocado with some cream cheese. whatever you are using (especially in the case of raw fish) you want it to be of the highest quality possible. ok, so lay your ingredients in the middle of the roll. if you have multiple ingredients, just lay on either side of the fish/veggies/etc. now, place your thumbs on the rolling mat and lift the near edge of the mat with your thumb and index fingers. hold the fillings in place with the rest of your fingers. holding a small flap at the top of the mat, bring the near side of the roll over that it covers the fillings. bring the rolling mat down to meet the strip of nori, and gently squeeze along the length of the roll to tuck in the near edge of the nori. Lift the front edge of the mat slightly with one hand and use the other to gently push the roll forward so that the strip of nori not covered by rice seals the roll. Pull back the mat and neaten the ends. set aside in a cool place (not the fridge), while you make the remaining rolls. use a sharp knife to cut the roll into 6-8 pieces. after each cut, the knife will need to be wiped off and moistened to make the additional cuts. serve with pickled ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce.

ok , so I know that was a lot to process, so for you visual learners out there, try this as a reference. (vid is for a half roll, prob better ones out there, but this is what I found right away)

other stuff:

finally went to bread and cup over the weekend. was pretty excited to go as I really respect what they are trying to do with using locally sourced ingredients, etc. I have to say that I was pretty underwhelmed, and bummed, because I really wanted to enjoy it. Our service was pretty terrible, our wine was forgotten until after we received our entrees, and the bread was pretty dense, ok it was really dense, but I didn't go there for the bread. I ordered the beef brisket which was said to have been braised in red wine with mirepoix but I certainly didn't taste that. it was served with butternut squash puree and roasted potatoes, and there was a rumor that grilled leeks were in there somewhere. I think i had about a 1 inch piece of leek (singular) on top of my meat. The meat was certainly tender, but lacked a lot of flavor and I was left wanting some sort of non-starchy vegetable to cut through the large amount of starch I was eating (perhaps more leeks?). Mames had some grilled flank steak that was very tough and fatty (I don't know if this had to do with the fact that it was grass fed or not, but they certainly could have taken extra measures to ensure tenderness) Perhaps it was an off night...i don't know. I don't think that I will be going back anytime soon, which was a pretty big bummer, because I dig what this guy is trying to do (I even follow his blog), i just think that he needs to spend a little bit more time concentrating on bringing the flavors of his food, up to the standard of the presentation (they did have very nice presentation, I will give them that.)

going to be working a lot these next couple of weeks, so that's why I decided to post two blogs. Marth is in china so, until next time...pieces.

take comfort in this...

2010-02-22T07:37:00.006-06:00

Sometimes I wonder if the only reason that Valentines day is in february is to distract us from the awfulness of this wretched month. I have said for the longest time that I hate february. It's cold, dreary, and I swear that its 28 days feel like 56. So, what's a disgruntled chap to do with this most melancholy of months? eat...things...in...bowls. More specifically, comfort foods. Nothing gets me out of a feb funk faster than a warm bowl of soup/stew/curry/whatever. I think that most of us have the wrong idea about comfort foods; meaning that comfort is associated with things that are bad for you, or at least not necessarily all that good. However, the tasties you see above were not only delicious, but also pretty good for you as well.

First pic is a fried rice with leeks that is topped with a sunny side egg and sprinkled with crisped ginger and garlic. We had it for chinese new year. it was really nice because the richness of the egg yolk, along with the leek had a really nice, velvety texture that contrasted well with the crunch of the ginger and garlic.

Next up was an elk stew with parsnips and carrots. Just threw some leeks (had a little left over from what I didn't use in the rice), carrots, mushrooms, parsnips, and chunked elk meat (all seasoned with salt, pepper, thyme, paprika, and fresh rosemary) into a dutch oven along with one beer and one can of beef broth, set the oven to 250F and took a four and a half hour nap. when I woke up, it was perfectly done. I honestly spent about 10-12 minutes putting this dish together. you could do the exact same thing in a crock pot if you wanted to.

Next up was a chana masala so we could get our weekly curry fix in. I'm really not kidding on that one by the way. If mames and I don't get curry at least once a week, things can get pretty nasty around here...

Last was a parsnip and ginger soup. It was interesting because the end product almost tasted like sweet potato. another really easy dish. Just sauteed some onion and garlic, then tossed in about 3-4 parsnips, a couple carrots, 2 stalks celery, and about an inch piece of peeled and diced ginger, salt and peps, and then chicken stock to cover. let go until the veggies were tender and then blended it up. I topped it with some sourdough croutons and some cilantro. I did fry some bacon to top it with also, but ended up eating all of it while i was waiting (anyone else ever have this problem?)

non-foods:

Have been spending a lot of time lately trying to solve rubiks cube. have gotten close a couple of times, but not totally solved. I hate/love the rubiks. can't believe they sell this thing in the kid's toy section of stores. anybody else out there ever solve one of these? let me know.

Went and saw shutter island last night. All in all, pretty good. I had already read the book so I knew all the twists and turns already. Scorsese and Leo seem to make a pretty good team.

Had a minor kitchen freakout...turns out the guy forgot to add our window measurements in when laying out the cabinets in 20/20 (which almost resulted in mames' lovely face melting off of her skull and the walls of our house being cloaked in a tapestry of obscenities:), but we figured everything out and now all seems to be right with the world.

Oh yeah, got some new clogs for work. I'll have to get back to everyone on how they hold up as I've only been wearing them around the house. I used to only wear birkenstocks for clogs, but bought a pair of sanitas as they are supposed to be more supportive. Bad thing is, I'm like three inches taller in them. we'll see...

DISH recommends:

Cuisinart 4 cup rice cooker. I use this little guy all the time. I know that having a rice cooker is kind of an extravagance, but I just.don't.care. It's an extravagance I can embrace (like my body pillow made out of gold lame fabric).

Cia Pet

2010-02-08T10:40:00.002-06:00

I've been thinking lately that I should have more posts about bread. it is my livelihood, after all; and although, you can't live by it alone...you can come pretty darn close. I wanted to take a little bit of time today to talk about crust and crumb. Everyone is pretty familiar with "crust". it is the outside layer of the bread and can be baked to a spectrum of different hues and inundated with things such as seeds, grains, herbs, etc. One particular thing that I wanted to talk about is the importance of a crisp, darker, crust (at least in most european hearth-style breads.) notice the thickness of the crust in the middle picture above. this full sized ciabatta (available now at LeQuartier on weekends!), has a darker, thick crust, giving it a really nice nuttiness and a great crispy, crunchy mouth feel (baking it lighter would lead to a more chewy, american style texture, which i am not particularly a big fan of). not only is this good for taste and aesthetics, but it is also a way to extend the life of the finished product. Baking a loaf of bread darker like this adds to the overall shelf life.

Crumb is just another word for the inside texture of a loaf of bread. Many things affect the finished crumb, such as hydration, mixing time, the addition of pre-ferments, etc. while I'm not about to give our secrets to supreme baking awesomeness away, one thing I can tell you is this: hydration is key. I would say that most american bakeries under-hydrate. Which is kind of sad really. I can't imagine choosing a dense, compact crumb over an airy interior.

So, like I mentioned before, the above picture is of a full sized ciabatta loaf that we just started baking a couple of weeks ago. In italian, it means "ladies slipper", or "flat slipper", but I assure you, it tastes nothing like shoe leather. This is a great bread to slice horizontally for paninis or pressed sandwiches, or in vertical slices for bruschetta, crostini, or just to dip in some fruity olive oil or some nice, sticky balsamic. or...you could make the tomato sauce pictured above (ridiculously easy recipe to follow) and dip away.

other stuffs.

hosted a first b-day party for a good friend's son yesterday. Houseful of peeps, one dog, and what seemed like a billion little girls. all in all, was a pretty good time, but it does seem starkly quiet around here...the dog is still totally passed out from all the madness.

Also, would encourage people to pop into the bakery. we have been doing some cool stuff with the pain de campagne, sourdoughs, etc. Also, we have v-day treats perfect for your lady-friends or your man-beasts.

Three ingredient tomato sauce (click for link, this is a great, simple sauce with really good tomato flaves.)

DISH recommends:

Icelander. by Dustin Long. this is a great first novel by this guy. A quick read that is interesting from the get-go.

tarts, flanks, and tender flakes...

2010-02-01T08:52:00.005-06:00

A little short on time today but wanted to share a few things soooo...

I heart flank steak. I was surprised to find, recently that a lot of people have never tried it. it has a ton of flavor. it can tend to be a little tough (like most flavorful meats), and benefits greatly from a marinade or spice paste. I marinated this one in whiskey, beef broth, salt and peps, and a little shaved garlic. give it a quick sear and slice AGAINST the grain. delicious. Also in the rotation up there are my first attempt at hot and sour soup and one of the best braised chickens (super vague recipe here, although this time I strained the broth and made a roux to thicken it with, then combined everything back together) I have ever made. but that is not what this post is about. this post is about the best pastry dough (as in pie crust) recipe you will ever make. trust me (I'm talking to you erin reitz!!--you better try this, at least once!). it's from gourmet magazine's (r.i.p.) "Best of gourmet, 2007 cook book", and it is flaky, tender, buttery, etc. the best I have ever had or made. so without further...

Pastry dough (from Gourmet magazine, best of 2007)

for a double crust pie (just halve it for singles, natch...)

2.5 cups all purp flour

1.5 sticks cold unsalted butter

1/4 veg shortening

1/2 tsp salt

5-7 tbs ice water

blend together flour, butter, shortening, and salt (you can use a bowl with your fingertips, pastry blender, or a food processor. just don't put your fingertips in the food processor...) until the mixture resembles coarse meal with some small (roughly pea size) butter lumps. Drizz 5 tbs. water over mixture and blend until incorporated.

give the dough a squeeze: if it doesn't hold together, add more water, 1/2 tbs at a time, stirring (or pulsing) until incorporated. (don't overwork dough or pastry will be tough)

turn out dough onto work surface. divide dough into 8 portions. with the heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. gather all of the dough together with a pastry scraper. divide dough into 2 pieces, then form into a ball and flatten into a 5 inch disk. if dough is sticky, dust with additional flour. wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 1 hour.

for sweet pastry dough, add 2 tbs. sugar to flour mixture and proceed with recipe as directed.

for fancy pants savory dough (dish's addition) you can add things like rosemary leaves, parsley, thyme, etc. I would do this If I were making a quiche or a pot pie or something.

pastry dough can be chilled up to 2 days.

I froze mine directly after I made it. I like to have it on hand for a quick dessert. just thaw and you are ready to rock. on the tart pictured above I just did this:

peeled, cored and sliced 3 apples

plumped a half cup dried fruit in a sauce pan on med heat in a little brandy (I used golden and reg. raisins, and some dates, and then strained this.

combined this with the apples and a 1/4 cup dark brown sugar and about a tsp. cinnamon.

rolled out my pastry dough into a sort of circular amoeba-type shape (i have tried and tried but rolling pins are just not my strong suit, if you have any tips, let me know), and pour the filling into the middle. next, fold in the edges, overlapping one another until the whole tart is sealed. place on a parchment or silpat lined sheet, brush with eggwash (one beaten egg, a little dash milk) and bake at 350F until golden and delicious (about 30-35 minutes). serve with espresso or strong tea. yums it.

Let me just check my schedule...

2010-02-01T07:40:00.006-06:00

yeah, yeah, yeah...Haven't posted for a while. been pretty busy with stuff lately around here, so It's time to play catch-up. It's no secret that I like to have a plan. For what, you might ask? well...I like to have a plan for pretty.much.everything. Some people might find this a little obsessive, crazy even, and I think that I would probably agree with you, but the fact of the matter is this: I get a lot of stuff done for someone that works the amount of hours that I do, not to mention the type of hours I work. While I will agree that it is good to have some measure of spontaneity in your life, it is the fact that a lot of my time is scheduled out that I have the extra time to be spontaneous. Lost? I thought you might be, so I'll give you an example of a typical day in the life of dish.

12:15 am. wake up. get dressed. brush teeth. check phone for messages from bakery accounts to see if I need to make additions to my first mix.

12:30. bowl of cereal. glass of kefir. glass of water.

12:45. smooch my lady. pet the dog. off to work.

1:00 am. get to work. load pastries into proof box. make a cup of green tea. start whole wheat yeasted mix/start white yeasted mix. weigh out specialty ingredients.

1:15 weigh out whole wheat yeasted into tubs/wwy pizzas " "

1:25. weigh out white yeasted into tubs

1:40. mix ciabatta

1:50-2:00 weigh out ciabatta.

2:00 turn white yeasted that needs to be turned/ start dividing pizzas, cia pizzas, etc

2:15 turn on the oven, turn on the internet itunes radio (eclectic, "dynamic range"--check out this station, pretty good tunes on here, it has become the unanimous favsies)

2:30-3:00. continue dividing/forming rest of dough (baguettes, pan loaves, cheese breads, etc.) until marth gets in.

3:15. start baking, starting with baguettes (super hot oven is good for these to produce excellent crust and great oven spring), and sourdoughs.

3:30-5:00. continue baking rest of breads such as pain de campagne, rye, ciabatta, various rolls, burger buns, etc. and ending up with pizzas.

5:00-6:00. either help get pastries finished up or help hassan load the orders for delivery.

6:00-6:30. make recipes for the following day, call south store for my orders. either marth or I will make lunch.

7:00-9:30-10:00. prep for the following day which may or may not include: dicing up cheeses, forming sourdoughs, forming brioche/butter buns, sliders, baguette rolls, cleaning oven/oven doors, smashing olives/walnuts/pecans, making poolish, prepping the pastry cart, putting away deliveries (50 pound bags of flour--we all have huge guns, mind you), making beer bread for lazlos, mixing viennois dough, mixing croissant dough, and of course general cleanup...

10:30ish. arrive home. let buster outside/inside, wrestle, snarfs, etc.

10:35ish. go on walk/run/hike (whatever the weather will permit) w/ gus ,as to release pent up wiggles.

11:00. get back home. change into workout garb, go down to basement and workout/ride trainer (can't wait till the weather gets better so I can go out to wilderness again), to release pent up wiggles.

12:00. snack. shower. check out the internets, run random errands. read and wind down.

1:00-5:30. sweet, sweet naptime.

5:30-6:30. let dog out, start dinner, and try to ungrogify.

6:30-7:30. mames arrives. smooches. dinner.

7:30-8:00. cleanup/ wind down/get ready for bed

8:30-12:15. snooze, the sequel.

so, there you have it. Thorough? You betcha. but, I kind of have to be. schedules help me out a lot. Perhaps I am just a person that needs a little extra guidance. Oh, and before you start thinking that I am totally insane, the weekends aren't like this (at least not as much...)

oh yeah, this blog is about food....

sorry, sometimes I forget. First pic is from a dish that I made in my crock pot. Yes, crock pot. I don't know how people have come to look down on these lovely little devices. sometimes even I don't want to worry about dinner. that's when I rely on crocky. A meatwad, some root veg and a handful of herbs and spices can party in there all day while you do whatever it is you do. This is some round steak, potatoes, carrots, onions, beef stock, tomato paste (from a tube!), and some thyme and rosemary, salt and peps. pretty basic, but magical after eight hours. next dish is turkey burgs with oven fries. then there is grilled salmon with roasted cauliflower w/ cumin seed and ground almonds, and then red-braised pork belly w/ saffron stovies.

thought I would share some bombtastic sides with you peeps:

oven fries (one of my easy faves)

peel (if you want to) and cut desired amount of potatoes into batons

toss with olive oil, salt and peps, and desired spices/herbs. (some things I like to use are: rosemary, thyme, savory, lemon zest, smoked paprika, cumin, steak seasoning, pesto, anchovies, raw bacon, etc.)

roast at 400F, until golden and delicious. about 30 mins. great with steaks, burgers, chickens, alone, or with somebody else...

roasted cauliflower w/ cumin and almonds.

peel away greenage from head of cauliflower. slice vertically into 1/2" pieces, set aside. smash up a good handful of almonds, or put them in a food processor. toss the cauliflower with some olive oil, the almonds, and a couple teaspoons of cumin seed, salt and pepper. lay out on a baking sheet so that they have some room between each other and roast at 400 F until the edges start to brown and they have softened up a bit.

thought I would also share the menu for the week. if you guys don't do this (which you probably don't...I don't run into too many nerds of my stature that do), I'd really recommend making a menu for the week. it really helps cut down your grocery bill and makes sure you don't make a lot of the same things over and over.

mon- caramelized onion, sweet potato, and spinach risotto

tue- ribeyes, w/ risotto cakes, sauteed broccoli

wed- sausage ragu w/ potato rosti

thur- panang curry with potato and peanuts

fri- parsnip and ginger soup with sourdough croutons

sat- ground beef empanada with rice and beans.

DISH recommends:

Kefir. Just started eating/drinking this a couple of weeks ago. It's kind of like liquid yogurt. has a lot of active cultures and is really good for you.

the girl who played with fire. awesome book. Melissa, you were right. it was even better than the first one. Hope that the third one is available soon.

p.s. You think I'm nuts with the facade of organization I'm presenting? you've obviously never met my better half:)....

Even hell is starting to feel the pains of recession...I hear they started paving their roads with BAD intentions...

2010-01-18T10:40:00.010-06:00

Lots of new stuff happening lately. Have been making a lot of changes at the bakery. we are starting to bake a lot of "Miches", which are round 1 kilo loaves of bread that look super cool and if purchased will make you the envy of everyone else in near vicinity. We proof them in baskets which give them a really cool design and then slash and bake them. They are baked a little longer than normal which gives them an excellent crust and also more lasting power. many people also believe that the flavor of the bread actually changes and improves over the first few days. if you haven't been in in a while, be sure to stop in and check out the new stuff. Have been working on a take and bake croissant process also. Did a few today at my house and they were awesome. I just set them (frozen croissants) out overnight on my countertop (on a sheet pan and brushed with veg. oil) to proof and when I woke up this morning, they were ready to go. they had great oven spring and lots of great layers when cut open. Flaky, buttery, goodness has never been easier to achieve! which is good, because flaky, buttery sadness...well, that road just leads to loneliness...

Also picked up a trainer for wifeshow and I to hook up to our bikes so we can ride inside during this crummy weather. I had to do something...was starting to get pretty crazy. It's been a really great addition to my reg. workout and I already can't imagine not having it. i like to watch dvd's of tv shows (arrested development, currently) while i am riding, an episode is just under 30 minutes, which is a decent amount for an indoor ride. Also, picked up (and received) some new kitch gear recently. sur la table in omaha had some all clad mc2 stuff on clearance and I also picked up a Shun santoku knife. I love both of them equally...simultaneously. I have been really impressed with the shun stuff that I have and would definitely recommend them to peeps. Also received an all-clad grill pan from my pal nick. used it to make some pork chops and was really impressed with the even heat it produced. have a feeling that it's going to get some major usage in the months to come. Have also been reading quite a few books lately. Most notably, the girl with the dragon tattoo. was a great thriller, pick it up for a really good read.

ok, getting too sidetracked...FOOD! I can't say enough about jamie oliver's new cookbook. everything i have made from it has been so good. the meatball dish was a little spin-off of his recipe for "pot roast meatloaf". the combination of smoked paprika, tomatoes, bacon, and chickpeas makes for one crazy delicious end product. please try this one out, you won't be disappointed. other dish is a vegetable jalfrezie that I served with papadum and rice. also from the same cookbook. can't say enough good things...

Pot roast meatloaf: (adapted from Jamie's food revolution) serves 4 hungrys or six regs.

2 onions

olive oil

sea salt and fresh ground peps

1 level teaspoon ground cumin

1 heaped tsp ground coriander

12 cream or plain crackers

2 tsps dried oregano

2 heaped tsps dijon mustard

1 pound ground beef 1 large egg 2 cloves garlic

1 fresh red chile

1 tsp. smoked paprika 2 tbs worcestershire

1 can chickpeas

1 28 oz can tomatoes 2 tbs balsamic vinegar

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

12 slices bacon

1 lemon

for meatloaf:

preheat oven to 475. peel and chop one onion until fine. place in frying pan on med heat with olive oil, salt and peps. add cumin and coriander. stir every 30 seconds or so until they get some color (around 7 min.) transfer to bowl to cool.smash up the crackers and add to the onions along with the mustard, oregano, and ground beef. crack in the egg and a good pinch of salt and pepper.mix well with clean hands (yours or a willing partner's). once mixed, mold into a football shape and rub with a little oil. can be cooked now or wait and refrigerate until needed. when ready to cook, place meat in dutch oven (or baking pan), uncovered. put into preheated oven and turn down temperature to 400F. bake 30 min.

for sauce:

peel other onion and chop fine. peel and slice garlic. finely slice red chile. place onion, garlic, and chile in a large pan over med high heat with olive oil, paprika, and salt and peps. cook around 7 minutes again, until goldy-like. add unpronounceable sauce that starts with a wor, chickpeas, tomatoes, and balsamic. bring to boil and then turn heat down to simmer for about 10 min. taste and ad more salt/peps if needed.

to finish:

pick off rosemary leaves from stalks and put into little bowl. remove meatloaf from oven, and pour off fat into bowl of rosemary leaves. spoon tomato sauce around the meatloaf. lay slices of bacon on top of meatloaf and sauce. scatter over the beefy,rosemary leaves. put dutch oven (uncovered) back into oven for 10-15 minutes or until the bacon is done to your liking and sauce is bubbly and thick and delicious.squeeze some lemon wedges over finished dish and snarf. parsley chiff looks good here...

DISH recommends:

all clad mc2 cookware. loves it...hard. hefty, consistent, and easy cleanup. apparently the things that I love about cookware are also the things I love about trashbags.

shun premier santoku. Love the sharpness of this wifeshow sized knife. actually bought it sort of for her but have been using it a lot:) still love my mac, but shun has moved up in the ranks for me...

Jamies food revolution. A very popular cookbook around our house right now. pick it up, it's well worth it and really easy to follow.

Flapjack of all trades

2010-01-11T09:01:00.004-06:00

Historically, I'm not a huge fan of pancakes. My partner in crime, however, is...big time. On most sundays, we sleep in a little later than we probably should, and wake up and make a big breakfast. I generally try to convince mames of more savory adventures. she generally tries to convince me to make pancakes. It wasn't until we did some major tweakage to our standby recipe that I started to become a fan.

It should be noted that there are, indeed, some steps that you need to follow to get consistent results.

#1. everyone says don't overmix (but I say don't undermix either), whoever says that it doesn't matter if you have lumps in your batter is sorely mistaken. Odds are that those lumps will be in your finished product, whether in the form of baking powder or flour. not a fun time. I find that if I sift all of my dry ingredients together and then add the wet, I never really have that problem.

#2. heavy pan (I use a well seasoned cast iron) and a 2 oz. ladle. The even heat of the cast iron lets your pancakes cook at a lower temperature, which (I find) leads to more consistent results, and eliminates the chances of your first pancake either being for the trash or your dog. The 2 oz. ladle is the perfect size for a medium sized flap j, and also the perfect tool to place in the middle and swirl to get a uniform circle (see middle photo).

#3.Med-low heat and butter. I always set my burner to med-low (maybe a little closer to low) and let my skillet heat properly (5 min, approx.). Once i can place my hand over the skillet and feel the heat rising, I take a pad of butter and swirl it around the skillet with a spoon until the skillet is pretty well covered, then I remove whats left of the butter for later. I don't want a pool of butter to cook in, just enough to coat the bottom. Only do this once, I never add more and never have problems with the rest of the batch sticking. It's important to be patient on your first one. Let it brown uniformly and you won't be throwing it away. If you find by the third cake, if they are browning too fast, lower the heat a little.

#4 keep them warm. If your oven has a warming option, set it to this first thing, if not, just turn it to its lowest setting and transfer the finished pancakes to an oven safe plate in your oven until you are ready to chow down.

This makes around 8 med sized pancakes (and 1 tiny buddycake)

Flapjacks

1.5 c ap flour

3.5 tsp baking powder

.5 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 tbs sugar

3/4 c milk (no less than 2%)

1/2 c sour cream

1 egg, beaten

4 tbs butter (1/2 stick), 3 tbs melted, other tbs. reserved for pan

set oven to warm/ set skillet over burner on med-low heat

Combine the drys (flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and sugar) and sift into a large bowl. add your milk and sour cream and stir to incorporate. add the egg and stir a little more. finally, add the melted butter and stir until everything is well combined ( I do things in this order to eliminate lumpage and also so that my butter that was once melted, doesn't hit the super cold milk and eggs and turn into solids). once the pan is hot, add the last tbs. of butter and swirl around just enough to coat. remove whats left and set aside for later. Now, fill your 2 oz. ladle and pour the batter directly into the center of the pan. place the bottom of the ladle in the middle of the batter and swirl from the middle, slowly going outward. You should end up with a pretty good circle. the batter will release tiny bubbles, wait until they become less frequent, and then flip over to the other side (i always peak a little by lifting up the pancake with my spatula:). They should get very puffy, resist the urge to smash them down, I can't explain it, but that seems to be the natural reaction. You don't want to destroy the floofiness. once you are done, place it on the plate in your warmed oven and move on to the next one. These should take about 2-3 minutes per side.

*you can also add ingredients like bananas, bluberries, choc chips, etc. Just sprinkle them on top, after you have swirled the pancake into a circle. I usually just eat mine straight up with some maple syrup. I like grade "b". It's darker and more caramelly

Because "mole" sounds better than dried pepper, peanut butter chocolate tomato meat sauce

2009-12-28T11:14:00.006-06:00

Mole Poblano holds a special place in my heart. I grew up in a place that had wonderful mexican food, much, much different than the awful sludge found here in lincoln. Mole was something that a lot of mexican families were very proud of, not to mention very secretive with. Want to get a families mole recipe off of them? Nice try. You'd either have to marry into the family or break into their home to get it. Which is exactly what people will be wanting to do to you once you master this:) Exaggeration? possibly, depending on how good my memory is here:) Seriously people, this is a special one that I have been tweaking for a couple of years. This is real mexican food. not cheddar cheese laden, sour creamified fluff. Get good at this dish and you will have something in your repertoire that can stand up to any dish, no matter how fancy pants it is.

Hardware: tea kettle/big pot/blender

Dish's mole poblano:

5 -6 dried ancho chiles, (stems and seeds removed)

handful of raisins

1 tbs epazote (wrapped in cheesecloth) (optional, dried herb found in mexican aisle of grocery)

2 slices stale bread (i use pain de campagne, i think it gives a good rustic flavor)

28 oz can whole tomatoes in juice

2 med sized onions

1 red bell, diced fine

2 poblano peppers diced fine

3 cloves garlic

handful celery leaves, minced

handful cilantro, minced

2 tsps chile powder

2 tsps cumin seed

2 tsp coriander powder

couple tbs peanut butter

1 round bar of ibarra mexican chocolate

1 heaping tablespoon turbinado sugar (you could use white or brown, just had it out)

fresh chiles, sliced (depending on your hotness/masochist tolerance)

meats of choice / i happened to use pork butt this time, but it's delicious with anything. could also be used with potatoes or beans or fried polenta for a good veggie main dish.

Fill kettle with water and bring to a boil. Put dried anchos, raisins, and sachet of epazote in a large bowl, fill with water, just enough to cover. let sit for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large pot, heat some olive oil and saute your onion, garlic, peppers, celery and cilantro leaves until you get some color on them, and then add some salt, pepper, and your chile and coriander powder and the cumin seed. lower your heat, adding stock/water if the bottom of your pan is getting too much color. After about 20 minutes, remove the sachet of epazote, and pour the can of tomatoes and tear up the bread into the bowl with the dried peppers. Pour this mixture into a blender (you'll have to do this in batches) and puree until smooth. (when pureeing hot liquids, never fill blender more than half full and give quick, short pulses, otherwise, you could burn your pretty face off). Add the puree into your pot and also add your peanut butter and mexican chocolate. I'm going to be a stickler here and say that you must use nothing other than this chocolate, it has the perfect amount of cinnamon in it. you'll just have to trust me. keep stirring until everything has been incorporated, and then turn to low. Now it's time to add the well seasoned (salt and pepper) meat of your choice. Like I said, I added pork butt this time, but you are pretty safe with anything here. The key is to simmer away until what you are braising is incredibly tender. You can leave the pot on the stove for this, or, if your vessel permits, simmer away in the oven at 300F for about 4-5 hours, checking periodically. Alternatively. If you wanted to make this a veggie dish, just simmer some root veg in here (potatoes, carrots, etc) for a couple of hours. some soaked, dried beans would also be a great addition, just simmer until they are ready (prob at least a few hours.)

serve with fried tortilla chips (cmon you went this far, just fry them yourself, you won't regret it!), some rice and guacamole.

DISH recommends:

Oster classic beehive blender. Three years and running and this blendy has never let me down. now that I said that, it will probably break...

Primal fears...

2009-12-28T10:50:00.005-06:00

For whatever reason, I had always been scared of making a prime rib. I guess it's because it seems like a big investment to have turn out poorly, so the other day when I saw one on "manager's special (aka, buy me before I go bad) at supe's I was ready to finally face my fears. My plan of attack was a simple one: trim off some fat, smash some herbs and garlic on top and roast away. I was baffled by how ridiculously easy this was. I will recommend, however, that you pick up a probe thermometer like this, to make your life that much easier. Just set the desired internal temp and an alarm will sound when ready. couldn't be easier. Oh, and those potatoes that I used as a roasting rack...awesome. 1.5 hours of basting with herb crusted beefhunk made them crispy, beefy, potatoey...gurgle, gurlge...

Herb crusted Prime rib

hardware: roasting pan (or big skillet), probe thermometer (preferably with alarm, see link above)

3-5 lb rib roast

8 sprigs thyme, fresh

6 sprigs rosemary, ""

6 good sized garlic cloves

couple tbs olive oil

sea salt. black pepper

2 med. size potatoes ( i used klondike rose)

oven at 450F

mince garlic and herbs together until very fine, add to bowl with olive oil until thick paste forms. trim roast of excess fat (you still want a decent amount, just not the inches they leave on at the butchers.), salt and pepper generously, then add the herb and garlic rub to the top and the sides. Slice potatoes longways into thirds, trimming off round end so all sides have a square edge. Lay potatoes out on pan so roast can rest on top , see pic. Roast @ 450 for 10 -15 min., until a golden brown crust starts to form, then lower heat to 350 for the remaining time (prob 1.5 to 2 hours depending on size of roast and preferred doneness.) Eat delicious potatoes asap, share with a friend, if you are nice.

let roast rest about 20 minutes before carving.

DISH recommends:

Mastering Beef and Veal. A really, really, good book on beef/veal cookery. I consider this an indispensable book for the meat lover. The williams sonoma books that I have, I really like.

How to throw/survive a holiday party (appetizer edition)

2009-12-28T09:36:00.007-06:00

I'm going to let everyone in on a little tip: The key to throwing a great party is to have great appetizers/finger foods/one or two bite offerings. whatever you want to call them, they are essential to kicking your shindig off right. it doesn't matter if you had the most awesome main dishes (if serving). what people will remember the most are the smallbites that you probably didn't want to make in the first place. i don't know many people that love to make appetizers. They're tiny, fussy, and require a lot of attention and work (the puppies/babies, of the food world, if you will). But just like all things tiny, people go nuts for appetizers. The trick here, is to make things that are interesting/colorful/tasty/cute/awesome, but to avoid a lot of heartache and stress. So, with all that said, here are some tasty treats to get any party headed in the right direction:

hardware you will need:

baking sheet(s)/saute pan/food processor/various platters/patience/mad skills

Salad bites: super easy. you will need some endive (usually available in most groceries) and then it's basically whatever you want to put in the leaves. The leaves on this belgian lettuce are great because they act as a little spoon or bowl. Basically, just make a salad that you really like, only put it on one piece of lettuce. I filled mine with some diced grapefruit, smoked salmon and avocado. dressed with a little reduced balsamic/pomegranate juice. this is a really easy one to put together but, like all of these little buggers, just takes a steady hand and some assemblage time. other filling ideas : blue cheese/walnut, bacon/tomato/ curried chicken, etc. you get the idea.

creamed mushrooms on brioche toasts: got this idea from here. a really easy one to make as you can do the filling ahead of time. I did substitute brandy for the vermouth in the recipe, but followed it otherwise. this one is sure to be a hit among the fungus lovers.

Things wrapped in salty meat: I know what you are thinking..."How could this ever be bad!?" well the answer to that question is...it really can't. I'm a sucker for salty cured meat treats. bacon, prosciutto, jambon, etc., etc. the obvious trick here is to make sure you are wrapping these tasties in something CURED. pancetta and bacon should be avoided because they are most likely raw and wouldn't be nice to serve the people that you love. however, if you are indeed hosting a party for your enemies, by all means, go ahead with the pancetta...and maybe wrap it around some orange roughy that you left out in the sun...Anyway...where was i? oh yeah, things wrapped in meat. My "things" of choice here were prunes. and goat cheese. I don't want to hear any whining about prunes either. They're delicious. So are dates. So enough with the bad rap already. If it makes you feel better, you can call them dried plums...

You put your hand upon my hip... Yeah, sorry, but cmon, couldn't resist. Every party needs some dippage. I like to make hummus, particularly, roasted red pepper hummus. here's my do:

1 can chickpeas (or equal weight of cooked dried), 14 oz.

1 generous teaspoon tahini

1 garlic clove

couple squeezes lemon juice

salt and pepper (white pepper if you are super picky about little black flecks, i'm not)

1 roasted red pepper (or if you bought a can of rrp's because you just didn't have the time or motivation to do it yourself...ahem...about 4-5 pieces.)

olive oil drizzles, my nizzles (fashizzle!)

throw everything in food processor. blend until super smooth, scraping down sides once ( you actually should stop the machine here, unless you are a fan of spatula death). now, slowly drizzle your olive oil in until the mixture starts to emulsify. Now, there are a lot of different schools of thought on proper hummus making. i tend to like mine very inundated with olive oil, it should look kind of like neon cream of wheat. There are folks who like it really thick, but i think that it kind of sucks that way. just my opinion:) top with some diced rrp and drizzle with olive oil. Serve with pita chips. I like these..a lot, but you could make your own (but this is supposed to be easy, remember, and honestly, i like the thinness of these compared to homemade pita chips.)

Mini loaded baked potatoes! these were a pretty big hit. they are really easy to make, just require a steady hand and some creativity. I loaded mine with prosciutto crispies, avocado, and diced red chili. But you can do whatever you want. the trick is to get super tiny potatoes. the variety that I used was a banana fingerling. I suppose you could use just regular potatoes, but these have some extra panache and you can't argue with extra panache, well, maybe sometimes...

anyway:

mini potatoes (preferably banana fingerling, for their excellent, one-bite shape/cuteness)

toppings of your choice

roast mini tates at 400F for about 30 minutes (your cooking time might vary, remember, I'm still using the stupid flair. Click here for more on that)

You could use any toppings you like. To fancy them way up, add some creme fresh, caviar and dill. options are wide open here. Get creative.

So, yeah. Hope that you all give these a try. They are all pretty easy and a great way to put a decent spread out with not too much time/worry. pieces.

Tips/tricks

hummus can be made ahead. (actually, I am demanding that you do so. To save your sanity, and to let the flavors party a little, best made the day before)

Mini salad bites need to be made close to party time

potatoes also close to party time (about 30-45 minutes before, you want them to be warm/room temp)

mushroom mixture can be a day ahead, just reheat and assemble on toasts before you do the potatoes.

things wrapped in meat should be made day of, you can do this first, it's easy.

If "to err is human" well, then, I am like king of human ville, or at least a very prominent figure...

2009-12-07T12:19:00.006-06:00

So...Pretty embarrassing here. Last year for christmas, Wifeshow bought me an espresso machine. It is a francis! francis! machine and is super cool looking. however, for the last 11 months, I had been less than pleased with the drinks I could produce. I was attributing it to the fact that It was a pod machine, but I know now that it has more to do with the fact that I am an idiot. You see, there are three settings on the machine, and you turn the portafilter farther to the right to achieve each setting. I never did this. So while I was thinking that I had been making lattes, cappucinos/ macchiatos, etc. I had just been making...coffee. Not that it was bad, but I was disappointed in the amount of crema I was getting. Such a moron. So, now, that I actually went back and read the manual, I am getting some pretty great drinks out of this little guy. This is a pic of a macchiato I had at breakfast. Milk is a little bubbly, but I'll get the hang of it. and for all of you elitists out there, I know that a machine that uses ground coffee over pods produces a better end cup. but the fact is, you need an excellent grinder for those results, which I don't want to spend the money on. I have no plans on becoming a great barista (I rely on tams for that postition:), I just want to have an espresso ( or two) at home once and a while. So, for the espresso lover that doesn't want to trek all over town for the perfect cup or shell out a month's wages. I would totally recommend the francis! francis! line of stuff. Just make sure you read the directions:)

ALSO: learned something new from my friend karina. She made reference to an "ibrik" used for making turkish coffee. turkish coffee is quite delicious. here's some info for the curious.

Some more catch up photos

2009-12-07T12:00:00.006-06:00

noodle soup was made with thanksgiv leftovers. just boiled some stock, and then slowly kept adding ingredients., started with chiles and ginger, then some paper thin onions, garlic, and snow peas. then noodles, and leftover turkey meat. added some bok choy and soy sauce at the very last and then garnished with a little cilantro and some sriracha sauce. really tasty way to use up roasted poultry. Other pics are yellow curry with tofu, cider chicken with squash risotto, hoisin beef stir fry, and a huge breakfast with home made sausage, potato and onion rosti, Pain de campagne (version 2.0, soon to be at LeQ, oh man is this stuff amazing, look at the great crust on that thing!) and farmyfresh eggs. I didn't eat lunch after this...

DISH recommends: eating a huge breakfast. curbs your lunch intake, which is most likely the most sedentary part of your day...

also

ALL CLAD mc-2 14'' inch frying pan. This pan is unbelievable! A breakfast workhorse. Was able to make a pretty big rosti, eggs, sausage, and toast all at once. totally loves it.

holla(back)daze

2009-12-07T11:26:00.005-06:00

Yeah, I know, super late, but thought I would post a few thanksgiv pics. Crudite and cheese/bread/cracker plates are essential (not to mention crazy fast, you just need to find what you like and plan ahead). Also, if you prefer, cheese board can wait until last, it's kind of nice to end a meal that way, try it out. First pic is a cheese board with some St. andre (soft triple cream), Beechers flagship, black diamond white cheddar, and some locally produced aged gouda from branched oak farm. The little mugs have some local honey ( a must for cheese boards, great to dip semi-firm/firm cheeses in), and some diced dates (go really well with soft cheeses like the st. andre and also chevre). plate below has different bread/crackers and also some serrano ham- wrapped figs. Try these out, seriously. You could use any salty cured meat, just happened to have the serrrano. just wrap around the figgage and toothpick them. easiest appetizer ever. Crudite plate was just some carrots, cukes, celery, tomates, and a creamy dressing made from sour cream, white wine vinegar, olive oil, garlic powder, and salt and peps. also had some artichoke hearts, mixed olives and pickles. Other two pics are my turkey that was brined, compound buttered, and rubbed with lemon zest and fresh herbage. Notice that I don't use a roasting rack (in fact, you might as well toss yours out, I did). Cut up some veg and place the bird on this while it roasts. I do this for every big meathunk. The reason being, when you go to make a sauce with the drippings, you pour everything through a sieve and press on the veg, releasing all of their juices. Makes for delicious gravies. The other cured meat-covered turkey pic is, well exactly that. Before roasting any poultry, I lay some sort of cured meat across the top, whether it be bacon, or prosciutto, or pancetta, etc. Take it off when it starts to get crispy and this will let the breast skin catch up to the rest of the bird. Plus, you now have bacon crumblies for your gravy. Magical...

that other pic is the full thanksgiving monty. was so stuffed. there was also delicious pie.

TG sides were roasted brussels, sourdough stuffing with dried apples and andouille sausage, mashed tates, cider gravy, and corn from dish's folks. Also made a cranberry apple and toasted walnut conserve, but failed to snap a pic.

DISH recommends: Plain White dinnerware. Your food looks better on it, trust me. I don't really know what the brand is (I think it is just called "HOME") but we get our dinnerware, service dishes, etc., from target. It's inexpensive and built like a sherman tank. It has it's own space in an aisle and is all open stock, so you can piece it together little by little. The crudite and veg plates (along with most of the other plain white dishes You'll see on here) are in this collection.

If you burned alive in your car this morning, it's not my fault...

2009-12-07T10:31:00.007-06:00

Right about now, I'm wishing that I was the owner of a snow-blower. New house=lots more driveway=huge amounts of snow schleppage. and while this is a valid gripe (and I assure you that it is), the main reason that I am wishing this is because of a major privacy infraction that was administered to the dish around 8:30 am this morning. As I was outside, I saw a local news car (10-11) drive by. I was instantly taken back to the time that I was a little kid, outside having a picnic with my cousin (eating sausages, duh!) and the same thing happened. The cameraman came up to us and filmed us playing/snarfing, and then left and we were on the news later that night. Seriously, there is nothing newsworthy about kids eating sausage. fast forward to this morning. Dish is outside wishing for snow-blower, cameraman drives back by, gets out and starts filming me scooping my drive. He says, "Really wanted to get a shot of someone clearing their drive the "old school" way. I calmly replied, "mister, I'm nothing but old school." (ps. really hope they edit out sound, probably said a bunch of stupid stuff to the guy, I was pretty annoyed at the dude) About this time I'm thinking, "dude, seriously? this is the most newsworthy thing that you could be doing?" so, as I am in the middle of this, camera guy gets a phone call and when he's done goes right back to filming. I sarcastically say "breaking news?" and he replies,"there's an automobile fire holding up traffic." About this time I'm wondering why is he still here filming, and he calmly says, "let's get a shot of the scooping from the shovel's eye view." ?1?! So, If by some major coincidence you are in the small microcosm of the population that reads my blog and/or you were either held up in traffic this morning by the flickering flames of a burning daewoo/and/or you were in the burning vehicle, trying to escape but your skin was melding to the bucket seats, I heartily apologize. See, if I had a snow-blower, none of this would have ever happened.

oh yeah, food...honestly, I have a back-log of like a month's worth of food here so I am going to barrage you peeps with pics. the first pic is some brown sugar and chile-rubbed pork loin with some bourbon glazed sweet tates and beer braised greens (lacinato kale). Second is a quick potato salad with green beans, tuna, sourdough croutons and vinaigrette, and third is penne and meatballs (half beef, half italian sausage). the sweet potatoes were pretty excellent and also easy. Just peel them and toss them with a few glugs of bourbon and a couple tablespoons of dark brown sugar. salt and pepper them, and put a few pats of butter on them and bake in a buttered dish at 400F for about 40 minutes. pretty awesome stuff.

Othersnewsbitsofthingsotherthanfoods: I bought a machine to carbonate things. I heart it, bigtime. I was a pretty big Perrier addict, so this thing will pay for itself (works out to be like .20 a bottle). I am excited to make some sodas and lots of other fizzy drinks. Should be a big hit at parties, which is good, because my conversational flashcards are... indeed...not.

DISH recommends: Sodastream Pure. making unfizzy things fizzy is my new passion. Which is good because that whole making unfuzzy things fuzzy campaign didn't really take off. Really thought the world would embrace a fuzzy nectarine...turns out that spot's already filled.

pieces.

Tick tock, you don't Strop? well, you should.

2009-11-23T13:49:00.007-06:00

I am a classic non-listener. I can't explain it. It's not that i don't hear you...it's mostly that I think I'm right...about everything:) ok, I hope I'm not that bad (no comments on aforementioned subject, wifeshow), but I kind of feel like I can get that way about certain things. for example, I thought that I had a pretty decent idea on how to sharpen my knives properly. They were in need of some love, so I got out my stones and steel and as I was getting ready to take them to a respectable level of sharpness, I thought, "Hey...maybe I will do some research on knife sharpening." You see, I recently bought a new pairing knife and it pretty much floored me with how much sharper it was than my current line-up. I thought that maybe I was missing something. I found a pretty informative website called japaneseknifesharpening.com. it was talking about stropping your knives after sharpening them. I had never really done this before. WOW! couldn't believe the difference that it made. I used an old belt and stepped on one end, pulling the other end tight and then ran the knife's edge up and down the back side of it at a slightly aggressive angle (a little more than you would use to "steel" it) 5-6 times. if you want to take your knives to a new level (we're talking razors here, my arm hairs are scared to death, like they went to a midnight showing of paranormal activity) try it out. You could, however, buy a super fine grit expensive stone to get rid of the burr, but come on, whose wife doesn't have an old leather belt lying around? HA! (just kidding mames, used my own:)

ok, food: It's fall, which means it's time to get your roast on. all you beefeaters out there (the meat not the gin) had better fire up the oven, set it to low, grab some root veg and a hunk of meat, a dutch oven and set your watches to party. I like to chunk up some onion, potates, carrots, turnips, etc., season liberally with salt and peps olive oil drizz, and then set my beefhunk (a little thyme, a little rosemary, salt, peps, and paps) on top and then add some stock or beer (enough to come up about 1/2 way), put the lid on and slow roast at 300F for about 2 hours. can't be beat. after it's done, I let the meat rest, take out the veg with a slotted spoon (put in a bowl, it's too hot for your face at the moment), and thicken up the gravy with some roux and more stock. tasty.beefy. other pics are red beans and andouille and also shahi paneer. I based it off of this recipe, but ended up using a little tomato paste (my pal anuj tipped me off on that one) and also red chile instead of green and also some chaat masala (mdh brand. actually a long story, couldn't find any here and ended up getting some brought back from chicago. really funny, because they don't have it on their website either:)

So, I imagine that everyone making a thanksgiving dinner is either freaking out about everything they have to do, or has already started. Hopefully, most everyone is in the second category. Start doing little things like prepping veg that is preppable and making your compound butter that you are going to shove under the skin of the breast. You were planning on that, right? of course you were, but if not, I'll post it at the end.

DISH recommends:

le creuset 5.5 quart dutch oven:

Staub 5 qt dutch oven

either of these is a great pot to have in your kitch. I use mine every week and can't say enough good things about them. a bit of change to fork over, but so worth it. good for braising, stews/soups/frying/risottos/sauces/justabouteverything. would make a great gift for the hols. alittletip: there is a red one at tjmaxx right now for way less than the one I linked up. cheers

compound butter for your turkey:

1 stick butter

leaves from :

2 sprig rosemary

2 sprigs thyme

3 sprigs italian parsley

and about three sage leaves.

throw it all into a food processor, and blend it up. after combined. roll it up in parchment and fridge it. do this ahead of time. one less thing...

when you are ready to cook your bird. loosen the skin of the breast and rub (well-softened, as in take out the butter on thanksgiving morning and let it hang out for an hour or so) the compound butter all up in that turkeys business. super basty, super tasty. Do this after the brining process! and for extra goodness, lay some bacon/prosciutto/pancetta/jambon across the breast for the first hour and a half of roasting. once you are close, remove it (this will even out the browning process) and set aside. I like to crumble this stuff into my gravy.

going to have thanksgiving here in dishville this year with nance and carroll and three dogs. should be a good time. pieces.

It's hard to fall in a rut, when you run with the wolfpack.

2009-11-17T12:33:00.009-06:00

CHEESE DISCLAIMER: The following post contains some supercute dog pics and some slight gushing about loving dogs. If you find this uncomfortable please go away or click on one of these websites for a more palatable internet experience.

www.antidog.com or Ithinki'lljuststayhomeanddonothing.com

I'm convinced that dogs were put on the earth to teach us lessons. You want to know about unconditional love? get a dog. Cuteness beyond measure? get a dog. how about cheering people up? get a dog. how to never take crap from clowns or magicians? yeah, get a dog. ok, so maybe that last one is an isolated event, but you get the point. One thing that I've tried to pick up from my four legged friendly is how to take advantage of every moment that I can. If people were as committed/excited to getting out and doing things, the world we live in would be a much different place. There are so many times that I have things I want to do or try, but for whatever reason, I get lazy and let them fall by the wayside. Dogs would not do this. in fact, this is anti-dog behavior. So, where on earth am I going with this? I don't really know, but it has something to do with thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is a great holiday, no question there. people gathering around food, etc, etc. The problem with thanksgiving is that, well, there are actually two problems.

unfortunate thanksgiving problem #1.

The turkey. If you are not super careful and don't have a proper plan, you are going to be serving your loved ones dry roasted cardboard. Luckily, in this modern world we live in, people have eaten enough dry cardboardy fowl, that they have come up with some methods to get out of the turkey rut that takes down so many thanksgiving cooks. The one I most highly recommend is brining your bird. When you brine something it allows the protein molecules to expand and become hydrated to almost a false juiciness. you are kind of cheating here, but that's ok, just this time. this technique is better (in my opinion) than just basting, because it is like basting the meat from the inside. even if you overcook the bird, it will still seem juicy. you can still just baste the bird and cross your fingers, but you probably shouldn't. check out brining tips here. ( I always add some simon and garfunkel (come on, you know this by now right? (hint: scarborough fair)) to the mix, just in cases...

and

Unfortunate Thanksgiving Problem #2:

Leftover turkey.

This is assuming you have made plenty of delicious sides to go along with your meat, but I maybe have two times I can eat thanksgiving dinner before I am sick of it. So, to remedy this, I just use my turkey like it was raw poultry (within reason), and tackle any new (fitting) recipes that I have been wanting to try. hotpots, noodle bowls, not boring sandwiches, etc. Get out of your comfort zone this year and make something that you have never made with your leftovers. Or, use most of your leftovers to make something else. What about a turkey/caramelized brussels sprouts, and cranberry chutney panini, eh? sounds good to me. Or maybe take your leftover mashed potatoes and pour a little coconut milk and some curry powder in there, you get the idea. So, this year, on black friday, get creative and don't eat the same thing over and over. You had better not throw away that turkey carcass either, them's primo stock fixins, fools.

oh yeah, food: Made an asian noodle broth sort of thing (perfect way to use leftover turkey carcass/turkey meat) with meat that I had leftover from making chicken/duck stock. the duck added an extra dimension and made for a super flavorful soup. Just got the broth to a rolling boil, and added ginger, onion, chiles, cilantro, grean beans, and then some noodles, and threw the chicken meat in there at the end along with some fish sauce and soy sauce. Middle dish is sausage gravy made from the close to 50 pounds of sausage that was made this weekend! Should be stocked for a while (should be...). Last pic is of the ultimate slider. Well, ultimate as far as food goes. I knew this kid andy in first grade that was king of the playground...anyway, these particular mini burgs were topped with onion soubise (2 onions, 1/2 stick of butter, 1/2 cup of water, and tsp kosh salt cooked very low until they turn into a sort of jam, try it, it's unbeleivable, takes around 1.5 hours though, stir every once and a while) a fried egg, bacon, and ketchup. eggs on burgers are awesome, try it...tomorrow.

ok, nonfoods: I have been riding wilderness park a lot lately. It's my favorite time of year to ride the bike trail (in fact, I'm going there right after this.). Dusted off my camelbak and have been having a lot of fun out there. Also, made it through a hellish two weeks at work, too many hours, too little rest. Ready to relax a little and possibly take some time off.

Also: We are getting closer to the remodel and as of now are toying with the idea of stainless countertops., if we can find somewhere to get them.( ok, I know what you are thinking, resale, and that they scratch. but the thing is, it's my house. and I'm not living in it with the sole intention of pleasing the next peeps, so there:P)

ok, hope to post more frequently, pieces

DISHrecommends: getting out and doing something. get out and enjoy the outdoors. go on a walk (with your dog!), ride bikes, jog, run, whatever. just don't get sedentary. it's the root of all evil. so is money, though. So, I guess if you are rich and just do nothing all day, you're pretty much the worst person in the world. Or at least really, really, ridiculously bad.

About this food, I have no reservations...

2009-11-02T11:52:00.007-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, I received the new jamie oliver cookbook, "Jamie's food revolution." I've always been a pretty big fan of his stuff, and this one didn't disappoint. I was excited to see that there was a whole chapter on curries. He recommends using a brand of curry paste (korma, masala, vindaloo, called patak's.), if you choose not to make your own (but he does give recipes to make pastes, which I eventually want to try.) The chicken tikka masala pictured above was from that book. It was pretty good, would have been even better if I hadn't accidentally doubled the amount of tomatoes involved.

So, yeah, have kind of been on an indian food kick here recently. Also have been experimenting on making different interpretations of aloo (indian spiced potatoes). they're pretty addictive, if you are like me and could live solely on potatoes...forever. Last pic is of gus, who has permanently taken up residence below the flair's cooktop. Wifeshow and I were wondering what he is going to do with himself once the remodel starts. He loves it under there, primo spot for snarfs.

getting sidetracked here...Back to the cookbook, actually cookbooks in general. I really have been trying to utilize the ones that I have more completely. I know that a lot of people (self included) fall into the trap of buying cookbooks and never use them even to half of their potential. So, this week, take some time and pick out at least two recipes you have always wanted to try. It will add so much to your kitchen skills and give you more ideas to play off of. The finished product may not look like the picture, may be different than you had planned, but you will have learned something and perhaps can tweak it to fit your tastes. I try to do this at least twice a week, you'll be amazed at how fast you learn to cook new things and how much more interesting it will make your cooking seem. Totally interested to hear what you guys are going to try out, let me know!

Other stuff: Picked up some black mustard seeds at a shop on 25th and O street the other day. It's an eastern market that has ridiculously low prices on spices (even better than OH!). Also, We went to a halloween party as zoolander and hansel. Will let amy post those pics if she wants. Had a great time, ate some eyeballs, partied with devils, cowboys, indians (pun intended) gomez, pirates, and gypsies. In other words, a typical saturday night for the dish. oh yeah, I made some killer chocolate mousse, and piped it into phyllo dough cups, but forgot to take a picture:( recipe is here.)

Also, nonfoods, sort of: Finished the shining. Thank goodness for resolutions. I don't think I could have made it through that book without one. got so scared at one point that I slept on the couch with the dog ( i read before I go to bed during the day). Definitely a halloween-worthy read. Bakery boss is going on vacation so it's up to marth, the nabster, and I to run things. Sounds scary, think we can handle it though. not really looking forward to working all by myself on wednesdays, though. just have to suck it up...

Dish's Aloo (great as a side or all alone served with chapatis or papadum)

serves 2

2 russet potates, peeled

1 medium onion, minced

1 clove garlic minced

I red chile, small dice

1 tsp black mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

small handful of cilantro, separated into minced stalks and leaves

5 threads saffron

1tsp, smashed coriander seeds (or 1/2 tsp coriander powder)

salt and peps

olive oil

med. heat, add a couple of glugs of olive oil in a medium size pot and add the mustard seeds. they will start to pop, then add your onion, garlic, and chile, stirring frequently. add the rest of the spices and the minced cilantro stalks, and a little salt and pepper. Saute until the onions start to get some color. Then add your potatoes, and make sure that they are coated with the spices. Add approx half cup of water and stir potatoes every 30 seconds to a minute, until the water evaporates. do not cover pot! do this process multiple times until the potatoes are done to your liking. when you reach this stage, instead of adding one last 1/2 cup of water, add a little olive oil (or ghee if you have it), and lightly fry the potatoes, until you see the bottom of the pan starting to go brown. add the cilantro leaves, and more salt and pepper to taste. kill the heat, let sit for one more minute and then scrape up the browned bits on the bottom and stir to incorporate. (this should give you some nice crunchy bits, in with the soft potatoes) Garnish with natural plain yogurt and papadum.

DISH recommends:Shun Pairing knife/peeler, and all clad 14 inch non-stick skillet. sweet holy moses! That is one sharp pairing knife. Totally impressed with shun knives now. can't believe that something came from the factory that sharp. blade has a nook in it that is perfect for peeling things. while some would say the size of the pan is overkill, I am totally excited about it! my first position in a restaurant was saute so it's something that I am totally fond of and something that has a lot of good memories. Can do like a billion chicken breasts or whatever in this thing. these were both b-day gifts, great ones...

I've been making lists my whole life, what's one more?

2009-10-22T11:42:00.007-05:00

I've been building/discombobulating a lot of stuff lately. It's been really interesting to see how things work and to understand what makes things run (or not run:). It got me thinking...if someone were to take apart my kitchen, what would they find at the heart of it? Besides a healthy dose of intuition and a sprinkle of narcissism here and there, they would find a bevy of staples that have become like an old friend to me (not the ones in my red swingline, but, yeah, those are special too:). So, I've started a list here of things I always have to have, or think I have to have. without further ado:

FRESH VEG

potatoes (come on. only like the most versatile veg on earth.)

carrots (mirepoix component, good for roasting, soups, stir fries, snacks)

celery (mirepoix component, good snack, leaves are great for flavor boosts)

onions (I put onions in everything. Just know that right now.)

garlic (see onions. above:)

cilantro (like to have on hand for making chutney, flavoring mex/asian dishes

flat leaf parsley (it's mostly for pretty, come on, I take pictures of dinner...)

ginger root (actually use this in a lot of stuff, more than you would think)

some sort of pepper (usually poblanos/pasillas, sometimes bells, sometimes jalps)

DAIRY

milk

parmesan

butter (salted and un)

a range of cheeses (try to have a few ranging from soft to firm, in case emergency cheese plate assemblage is needed, it's for guests and stuff. and seriously, sometimes you just want to eat some good cheese.)

eggs? (why are eggs always in dairy? weird. always buy cage free organic, unless my mom brings them to me.)

sour cream

plain yogurt ( Really like greek stuff, but is wicked expensive, usually get dannon)

fruit yogurts ( I like wallaby, and brown cow brands the best.)

heavy cream (was reluctant to put this in there, but I do usually have it.)

DRY/CANNED GOODS

canned whole tomatoes (I like the "clearly organic" brand at super saver)

canned tuna in olive oil

canned broth/stock (chicken, beef, veggie)

Tomato sauce

tomato paste

various pasta (like to have a thin spaghetti, and penne or something shorter)

rice( jasmine, basmati, sushi, and arborio)

quick couscous

dried chiles (ancho, new mexico)

ap flour

wheat flour

sugar/dark brown sugar

baking powder/soda

vanilla

dark chocolate

cocoa powder

olive oil (of course!)

roasted walnut oil (for dressings)

veg oil/canola oil

sesame oil

balsamic, red wine, rice, apple cider, and distilled white vinegars

fish sauce

soy sauce

oyster sauce

dried beans (pinto, baby lima, lentils, split peas, black turtle, and navy)

pam (or other pan spray)

MEAT/FROZEN STUFF

Bacon

some good sausages (andouille, chorizo, brats)

at least one whole chicken

peas (don't be a hater, frozen peas are top notch for risotto and stews)

at least one good, big, roasting meat for entertaining (lamb, beef, pork shoulder, etc)

shell-on shrimp (talk about a quick, easy dinner.)

ice cream (wifeshow would be disappointed if I forgot, yeah, I know we're out:)

MISC

perrier (2 bottles a week)

crackers

pickles/olives

potato chips (I try to buy a bag of kettle chips once in a while, not too often though)

corn chips/salsa

tortillas

tostada shells

red curry paste

so, yeah, seems like a lot, but there are ENDLESS possibilities here. It is really nice to have this stuff on hand, because it all keeps really well (with the exception of the cilantro) and you'll be able to throw together a good, healthy meal really easily. I won't even go into my spice cupboard, that's another post entirely...not even joking.

oh, almost forgot, food. first pic is roasted sausages with scallions and cherry tomatoes on grilled ww baguette. (used staples). 2nd pic is a braised chicken (whole chicken, potatoes, carrot, celery, onion, beer, spices) (all staples). 3rd pic is creamy potatoes and peas (potates, peas, onion, milk, butter, bacon, parsley.) you get the idea. Outfitting your pantry with stuff like this makes your life so much easier, and will make you such a better cook.

I probably left out a ton of stuff, but my kitchen is up stairs and I'm in the basement.

Let me know what you guys have to have in your kitchens. I'm interested to see what things are lurking in your cupboards...

DISH is reading: "The shining", Stephen King. I try to read a scary book every halloween season. I have to admit, I'm kind of scared...

DISH recommends:

St. Andre cheese. Thanks to Mia, I have a new weakness. If I ever get locked in that cracker prison, I hope I have this on hand. Those salty bars of wheat won't have a chance. ( got it at super t. Expensive? some would say, but cheaper than selling your soul away, which is what you might have to do to quit eating it.)

The end of one season, the start of another...

2009-10-12T12:41:00.004-05:00

I can't believe that the farmer's market is finally over. A collective sigh of relief can be heard all through the bakery as things (at least on friday nights), hopefully slow down just a touch. I have sooooo many things that I want to accomplish before next may, so I've had to prioritize. Here are a few:

Start Kitchen Remodel: It literally kills me to know that I have a brand new super sweet convection oven just camping out down in my basement. I pretend it's not there. However, I don't really want to start remodeling in the dead of winter so this whole subject is kind of up in the air. We have our cabinets picked out (sort of), Wifeshow has been drawing out the kitch in her sparetime, we are just waiting it out until our cabs go on sale again...

Resume production of dishbook: Yeah, Yeah...you guys try and write a book. it's super hard (right Marth!). Not only do you have to have original ideas, you have to have the time, and more importantly, the motivation, which I've been lacking greatly here in the last few months. Although, I've been thinking of enlisting a certain crafty lady, if only I can steal her away from her awesome sewing machine and borrow some of her fairy dust to sprinkle on my computer... (seriously, mia, think it over, I don't know when you would have the time but...:)

Acquire some new furniture: It's time to get some new stuff. you know that old couch that was your first piece of furniture that you moved from apartment to apartment? yeah, that's where we are.

Try and take some sort of vacation: oh man do we need this one. Two people, each working around fifty hours a week. different schedules. you get the idea. We see each other for about 3 hours per day during the week. hopefully we can get away for at least 3-5 days. don't have anywhere in mind though, mames has to go to alaska later on, maybe I'll meet her there...

ok foodstuffs: if you have never roasted a piece of meat all day long, put it on your list of things to do this next weekend. The first pic there is an all day roasted pork shoulder. It was around seven pounds and it cooked from 9am until about 6 pm. The trick here is to start the roast off at a really high heat (450-500F) for about 20-30 minutes, and then knock it down to 250 for the remainder of the time. you can season the beast however you like. I just did some herbs (scarbourough fair style) and salt and pepper. You score the skin on top and give the meat a good rub down, getting into all the scored areas. I rested the shoulder (always, fat and skin side up!) on some roughly chopped veg (potates, turnips, onions, celery, and carrots) and then just let it do its thing. the roasting meat and herbs perfume your house with a great smell. Your neighbors will be jealous, even more than normal:) about an hour before the meat is done, tip a whole bottle of white wine into the pan and let that cook for the last hour. when it's done, pull the roast out and set aside for about 20 minutes before you start dismantling it, and pour some stock (chick or veg) into the roasting pan and let it reduce to your liking. You could thicken it if you want a gravy, but I just kind of like "jus" style. Served with some sauteed lacinato kale. Next pic is some braised elk and carrots with super creamy mashed potatoes, which were kind of an accident, but will become a mainstay now. here's the do: Peel the tates, salt the cold water and set them on high. let them boil for about 4 minutes and then cover and turn down to low and let cook for about 35 minutes (seems like a long time, I know, just go with it). Drain water and then smash with butter and sour cream (no milk!) until desired consistency is reached. Yeah, they're fatty, but seriously how often do you eat mashed potatoes? well, you might eat them more if you try it this way...season with salt and peps. next dish was butternut squash soup with braised kale, mushrooms, and bacon. a very good soup that will definitely ward off the frigid briskies. Last dish was chicken madeline, a dish I made up for the Iske's. basically chicken paillards, sauteed with brocolli, caramelized onions, and garlic, then simmered in parmesan cream and served with roasted potatoes.

ok, non-foods: Last week, we bought some power tools. Nothing that I ever thought that I would be saying, but, hey, this is definitely a year of firsts. We debated and debated and decided to go with dewalt stuff, and let me tell you, I couldn't be happier. Very well made and definitely full of zip. I've already used the reciprocating saw that I never thought I would use...

Also, Back to foods: sorry, almost forgot. I eventually knew this was going to happen, but have been putting it off for a while...Wifeshow and I are switching to buying organic stuff. Well, right now we've converted to just produce (except for a few things). We are so close to open harvest now and the quality is just so much better. If there is one thing I hate, it's mediocre produce. I thought that there would be a huge increase in cost, but honestly, we did the math and we only spent 5 extra dollars. 5 bucks, peeps. To me, that's totally worth it, just have to be smart about what we buy there. It may not necessarily be better for our bodies, but I know that it is better for the earth. and it's kind of cool that my carrots came from only 5 miles away, instead if a bajillion. if you haven't been there in a while, check out open harvest. they've remodeled the place, and it's pretty nice. hmmm, I forgot to post the cassoulet recipe again....perhaps later in the week...

DISH recommends:

Bubbies Pickles: It used to be my goal to find the best pickle in lincoln, or nebraska for that matter. until a while ago, I had given up, everything that I had found was lackluster and just riddled with neon green chemicals. that was, until, I picked up a jar of these hunger inducing gems. I can't recommend them enough, just be prepared to shell out 7 bucks a jar ! (Got mine at open harvest)

Duck, Duck, Loose!

2009-10-09T09:48:00.011-05:00

For the longest time now, i've wanted to make some duck. It's something that I am not the most familiar with, but I do enjoy it quite a bit. For whatever reason, I kept putting it off, until last week, when I decided to just go for it. Made a cherry cider and balsamic reduction to drizzle over the top and also had some potatoes and asparagus that were roasted in rendered duck fat. Pretty decadent dish, but you know, sometimes you just have to...

Also, the legs and thighs were smoked and then used in cassoulet (will post recipe later, would make this too long), along with smoked pork butt and smoked sausages. That dish was so good that I had wolfed it down before I realized I didn't take a picture. Other dish is veggie risotto, probably an effort to offset the massive meat consumption. Speaking of ducks, wolfing things down, etc, here is a story from my childhood, thought you guys might enjoy this:

"The Year of the Duck"

“You have to come over and check this out.” Those were the words coming from my best friend on the other end of the phone line. It was his birthday, and I was sure that his parents had just given him a super Nintendo. After all, it was all that I had been asking him to ask them for. I was out the door in record time, pedaling toward marioland. I don’t even think that I hung the phone up. On the way there, I thought about how much my life was about to change, how I was going to play a super Nintendo before my brothers, and how jealous that would make them; especially when I wouldn’t tell them anything about it.

When I got to his house, I knocked on the door and tried to contain my excitement. I’m sure one of his parents answered the door, but I couldn’t concern myself with such trifle things as saying hello, so I ducked under his mom/dad’s arm and ran back to his room. There he was, on his bed with his back turned to me crouching over his great new “Excalibur” of a present. I took two steps sideways to take in the glorious view of the machine that would dictate our lives for the next year, only to find that what I had come over to see was a baby yellow duck. “I named him “Mighty Duck!” said my best friend. “Do you want to hold him?” Now, of course I didn’t want to hold the duck, I wanted to escape into a land where eating mushrooms makes you bigger and where plumbers can defeat angry, hammer-throwing prehistoric turtles. I wanted to feel the sweet sting of sweat that only comes after an all-nighter of intensive 16-bit video game overload, but all I could say was “Sure.” So I reached out my hand, letting go of my hopes and embracing what did not at all resemble the second player controller. “I think it’s the best present ever!” he said. “It’s pretty great,” was my apathetic reply. What was I suppose to say to him? It was lame and that we couldn’t use it to play contra? About that moment, Mighty duck pooped on my hand. That was it; any hope this duck had of me being nice to it was over. My friend laughed and I wanted to smear my poop hand all over his face, but it was his birthday, and even I wasn’t that mean…yet.

As the duck grew, so did my hatred for him. It would follow my friend around wherever he went and he treated it as if it was his new best friend. The duck was even getting in the way of our playing “home run derby.” That was our favorite game, since we had no super Nintendo. His yard was our baseball field and it was pretty hard to hit a home run. That stupid duck was always in the way. Let’s just say that a lot of low grounders were aimed in the duck’s general direction.

One particular day, we were playing a pretty good game of “derby” and I happened to notice the back gate being open. “Hey man, are you going to shut that gate?” I said. “No, Mighty duck stays right by my side, there’s no need,” he said, with an almost mocking tone. For some reason that statement burned in me like a hot ember and further fueled my resentment for that stupid duck. All the frustration of not being able to live vicariously through a present I, I mean he, had never received had finally taken it’s toll on me. I knew that the next pitch was going to be a worm- burning grounder headed for Mighty Duck. My friend wound up to throw me a fastball, and just as he was about to release the baseball, it happened. A stray dog had run into the yard from the open back gate and headed towards mighty duck. The dog grabbed the duck by the neck and ran off shaking the duck until it flapped lifelessly in the great beast’s jaws. At that moment, essentially a moment that seemed like it was orchestrated by me, the ducks arch enemy, I felt something I had not experienced before. Part of me wanted to cry (a very small part, and mostly for my friend), another part of me wanted to laugh, (because seriously, what are the odds that sweet irony would rain down so heavily upon us?) but most of me was so incredibly confused that all I could do was say, “uhhhhhh…” Sometimes I think that I felt bad because the dog beat me to the punch, but that would make me a monster; sometimes I think that I felt bad for my friend who lost one of his friends in such a horrible way; but mostly I think about how much I wanted a super Nintendo and how much I hated that duck. I guess the moral of this story is, If the dish asks you to ask for something for your birthday, solely for selfish reasons, you should probably do it, or else wild, roaming beasts may run off with your present:)

When I went to the apple jack, I had a caramel apple, but that's only because I couldn't take a dumpling.

2009-10-02T09:24:00.006-05:00

I think that I have said before that autumn is my favorite season. I have this theory that you always prefer the time of year that you were born in. Maybe it is because we look forward to that time so much when we are little because we get to celebrate our birthdays and we get used to anticipating it all year long. Anyway, whatever the case, autumn wins out. as the weather turns colder, we find ourselves craving heartier things like soups, stews, and APPLE DUMPLINGS!!! That's right, peeled, cored and stuffed apples wrapped in buttery dough and then baked, and then getting a warm bath in a caramely, brandytastic sauce. Could it get better? only if you ate them on a plate made out of 100 dollar bills with a fork made of diamonds! Wifeshow and I made these (mostly her, except I rolled out the dough (we cheated and bought puff pastry from ideal:)). here's your do: (adapted from martha stewart)

use your favorite pastry dough recipe (or buy puff pastry dough if you spent the whole day helping friends move and then went on a laborious trek to outfit your kitchen with new cupboards and suffered a huge attack of sticker shock, launching you into a post-lowe's coma).

and then:

for syrup:

1/4 packed brown sugar

2 cups apple juice (we used some cider from arbor day farms)

1/2 c brandy

2 tbs honey

1/4 c pure maple syrup

1.5 t freshly grated ginger

2 tbs butter

2 tbs lemon juice

for filling:

2 tbs brandy

2 tbs dried cherries

2 tbs all purp flour

2 tbs almonds

2 tbs brown sugar

1 tbs butter

1/8 t ground nutmeg

1/8 t cinnamon

not filling:

4 apples, I used some jonathans, peeled and cored

4 cinnamon sticks

1 lemon, cut into quarters

dumpling assemblage:

egg white lightly beaten

egg yolk, beaten with tbs heavy cream.

ok, now:

combine all the syrup ingredients in a medium saucepan, and cook over med-high (stirring occasionally) until reduced by half (20 minuntes-ish), remove from heat, set aside.

then:

combine all the filling ingredients in a food processor, pulverize. peel and core apples, and rub them with the lemon quarters so they don't turn brown.

heat oven to 450. roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness into 6 inch squares (might need to be bigger for bigger apples). brush entire surface of dough with egg white and then set apple in middle. Fill apple with filling and then insert cinnamon stick, wrapping the dough around and then overlapping it slighty (dipping finger in egg white and pressing overlapping corners into each other), should look like a rustic tart. brush with egg/cream mixture and repeat with the other apples. transfer apples to roasting pan lined with parch or silpat. bake for 15 minutes, then reduce to 375. remove pan from oven and baste with the syrup mixture. return pan to oven and bake 10 minutes more, basting every 5 minutes (twice), continue baking dumplings until golden brown, about ten more minutes (total time 45 minutes). transfer pan to wire rack to cool slightly. heat up syrup mixture and serve with the apples. We put ours in syrup filled bowls (with more syrup over the top, naturally:).

ps, if you have scrap dough (which you will) and you want to be a fancy pants, then take a pairing knife and cut little leaves out of the dough and stick them on, using egg white for glue. then, take your knife and make little "veins" in the leaves. cute points abound. ENJOY!

Foodie Food Chain...or...I went to the applejack festival and all I brought back were, well, apples...

2009-09-21T16:07:00.005-05:00

Nothing excites me more than being around a bunch of people that are totally into food. Whether I am at work, at a festival, or out to eat with a bunch of close friendlies, I am right there in my element, soaking up every bit of it. Having a passion for food is contagious. Just look at the picture of me in the apple tree (I was trying to help people get the best picks), case in point.

I have come up with a few categories here to help you figure out where you are in the foodie food chain, so without further introduction (and in no particular order):

Vegan/Vegetarian: The original foodies. These peeps go way out of their way to find the food that they need/want, often times preparing it for themselves. A huge part of the world is vegetarian (a lot based on religion) so this is not a new thing. Veggies are feisty little buggers in the kitchen and some of the most resourceful cooks out there. Vegans take it one step further. I once tried my hand at the veggie way of life, until I got hungry for sausages, but I still eat tons of veggies/fruits. The tastiest Indian food I've had is from my vegetarian friends. Summary: one of the most respectable foodies out there. If you aren't one, buddy up to one, stat. You'll learn new tricks and tips crazy quick. Pairs well with: Food Missionary, Snooty Foodie. Avoid: Fast Foodie, (sometimes)Foodzilla.

The Fast Foodie: This foodie is the subject of much controversy. There's no arguing that they love food, but it must be attainable through a plexiglass window and have sizing upgrades to regular, huge, and you can't be serious. The good news is, most of the fatties, I mean fasties are easily converted into a different category. the love is already there, they just need some help moving onto the next step. Pairs well with: Food Missionary, Foodzilla

Avoid: Snooty Foodie, Vegan/Vegetarian

Foodzilla!: The All-encompassing foodie. A literal walking, talking, vacuum of food consumption. there is no place too big or small for these guys. give them a bag of white castle sliders for lunch and butter poached lobster at the french laundry for dinner and these foodies would be on cloud nine. Being a foodzilla should not be considered a bad thing. It's the more adventurous of us that find ourselves at home in this category. pairs well with: Food missionary, Fast foodie.

avoid: snooty foodie. (sometimes) Vegan/Vegetarian

The Food Missionary: A foodie with a desire to get every one else they know into food. They love to teach others how to cook things and love learning how every one else does things in the kitch. they have no problem going out of their way for a food find. While not the most practical people, knowing a food missionary can be a very beneficial friendship. Also, be forewarned that these foodies can get a little annoying at times, there eagerness to help can often be shrouded as thinking they know everything. Pairs well with: Foodzilla, (sometimes) Snooty Foodie, (sometimes) fast foodie (usually to convert), (usually with) vegan/vegetarian.

Snooty Foodie: everyone knows at least one. These people claim to have the best palettes and be the authority on everything, and a very select few, actually are. The difference between these guys and the other categories is that they think no one else can know more than they do. A snooty foodie wouldn't be caught dead eating something from the state fair or pretty much anything a fast foodie would eat. These people are seldom great cooks, because they can't replicate the wonderful meals that they have had and to them, food is a luxury. Now, Snooties shouldn't get a totally bad rap, because a lot of them know what they are talking about. they've eaten at places that would blow your mind, and relish in the fact that you probably won't:) Pairs well with (other snooties), avoid: everyone else. (we all think you are a bit full of yourself:)

So, let me know where you stand in the pecking order, totally interested (even if you are a snooty( I could use some suggestions on where to go to eat around here:)).

Otherstuff:

ok, now that that's over with,

food:

made some pork chili on thursday, along with rice and beans. the other dish is a vegetable au gratin, made with veggies from mom and dad dish. The super sweet (almost type 2 diabetes sweet) photo is of wifeshow and I having a caramel apple smackdown. We paid an out of work, one-armed, farm-hand to snap a quick photo (man, that guy could focus). he did a pretty good job. Did a bunch of bungalhaus stuff over the weekend, including a ceiling fan install, thanks to my pal, Green.

Here's a quick one for you:

Vegetable au gratin (simpler than simple)

1 head cauliflower, sliced into big sections

3 med potatoes, large dice

3 medium carrots, large dice

1 onion. minced

3 cloves garlic

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 c bread crumbs

1/2 c parmesan, grated

salt and peps

olive oil

slice cauliflower into big sections, drizz olive oil and salt and peps and roast in oven at 400f until golden brown (around 30 min). While cauliflower is roasting, put potatoes and carrots and garlic in big pot of boiling, salted water and boil until barely just tender, 5-7 minutes. While the veg is on the boil, caramelize your onions in some olive oil and add a little salt and peps. maybe a knob of butter, if you like. this dish is already super cheesy and creamy, so you might as well:)

then, drain your veg, toss into the pan with the cauliflower, add your onions,another healthy drizz of olive oil and roast an addtional 10-15 minutes, or until they get some color. then, add your cream and cheese and bake until golden brown and bubblified. garnish with some parsley and enjoy with good bread and pals.

DISH recommends: Making a food trip. You'll be surprised how much fun you have going out of your way to get really fresh delicious tasties (not the terrible north 48th sandwich, those are definitely not fresh!). yeah, it's not very practical, but it's a good time. and you always learn something new, whether it be about yourself, or the food you are getting. pieces.

ps: I'm somewhere in between foodzilla and food missionary:), where are you? (there is no wrong answer, or make up your own category!)