The Objective

Food is a hobby for me. It is not just fuel. It can be art and it can be flavor. It can make my day and, many days, is the highlight. As with anything, you can't get better without practicing and reflection.

We don't always know how well a recipe or idea will turn out. In my opinion, cooking is as much about the experience as the food. Exploring techniques and ingredients makes our culinary experiences interesting. My expectation is to report on recipes I try. The collection of magazine recipes (Bon Appetit, Cooking Light, Everyday Food, etc.) and cookbooks has grown over the past several months without using any of them. I would be remiss if I did not give them the opportunity to wow me. That said, the objective of this blog is simple: to cook food -at least 1 recipe per week. The complexity of the recipes reviewed in this blog will range and, at times, seem completely random.

Although my objective is plain, I hope to change the pace now and then with adding a few "special features" related to food or food events.

I welcome your comments and critiques and hope you enjoy my experience as much as I do.

Monday, October 22, 2012

The Buttercream Takes the Cake

Recipe from Bon Appetit magazine (available online :: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2012/03/chocolate-peanut-butter-fun-cake)

The sponge on this dessert was intensely dark from the high cocoa content. Moderately moist when baked up in cupcake form. But the pinnacle of this dessert was the buttercream. Made from a cooked merengue base with a silky, fluffy texture, this is by far the best frosting I've eaten in a long time, if not ever!

A couple of things I've learned in the meantime: 1) salted butter does not make for a good buttercream and 2) I will "bloom" my cocoa in hot water before adding it to the mix.

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Thursday, September 13, 2012

Outstanding Weeknight Dinner

These were two new recipes for us and both were excellent in flavor. Great homely food for a chilly evening! Heavy in mise en place, but worth the effort!

I substituted balsamic vinegar in the sauce for the tomatoes and white wine vinegar for the lemon juice in the couscous (a reasonable substitution for the acid)

We have a couple of probe thermometers that we use to cook meat and it turns out the most delicious, juiciest chicken. Definitely worth the investment!

Chicken With Herb-Roasted Tomatoes And Pan Sauce: http://m.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-with-Herb-Roasted-Tomatoes-and-Pan-Sauce-51108240

Israeli Couscous With Asparagus, Peas, And Sugar Snaps:
http://m.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Israeli-Couscous-with-Asparagus-Peas-and-Sugar-Snaps-359410

Friday, March 9, 2012

Armchair Chopped - Easy Pleasy Plate

I'll save you from reading about what Armchair Chopped is and get right to the good stuff. If you don't know what Armchair Chopped is, go back and read my old posts (I'm sure you did that already or are planning to, so this shouldn't be much of an issue)!

On the most recent episode of Food Network's TV show Chopped I was challenged to create a dish in the entree round. My sister, to whom I dedicate this post, thought she was deciding the number of "slushies" for me to drink on a Friday night when in fact she was picking which basket of ingredients would be my judge. 

The ingredients that were in the basket were some of the most unique ingredients paired together that I've seen on Chopped:

Lake Perch: These fish typically range in weight from 0.5lbs. to 3lbs. One of the most popular "pan fish,"  Lake Perch possess firm yet flakey white meat and a delicate, sweet flavor that anglers prize.

Lake Perch
Food Techniques to Know

Avacado: The fruit of a tree and also referred to as an "Alligator Pear." This fruit has a large single seed in the meddle and has a soft creamy texture when ripe.

Avacado
Tomato-on-the-Vine: One website describes this "varietal" as, "Tomatoes so bright and fresh, they’re still plugged in." Whenever I see them in the grocery store, they are typically the best looking red tomatoes, particularly when tomatoes are not in season. They typically are a moderate/medium size and remarkably uniform in size. The flesh is nice and juicy and tender though often more expensive.
Tomatoes on the Vine
Rolled Oats: Oat groats that have been modified/flattened by heavy rollers and possibly steam treated or lightly toasted.

 

So what does a guy make with these four simple ingredients? The dish drawn below was the most forthcoming of the dishes I have come up with...

Working in a couple different casual dining restaurants, I have seen my share of Fish and Chips. Naturally, I decided that I would give the rolled oats a quick re-toast and then combine with a small amount of cornmeal and blend/grind until a fine breading. This mixture would be used to coat the filetted fish, which would then be fried to give the fish filets a thorough crisp.

With fried fish, one needs fries. I "plated" my Friday fish fry over a mixture of baked sweet potato and white potato fries. Not only that, I would pair the fish with an Avacado "tartar sauce" and a Tomato-on-the-Vine Ketchup. I haven't made my own ketchip or tartar sauce before, but I'm sure I could come up with something.


Armchair Chopped Entree Course: Lake Perch, Avacado, Tomatoes-on-the-Vine, and Rolled Oats


As with all of my Armchair Chopped challenges I paused the episode to concoct my own version of a dish from the basket ingredients. When I resumed the episode, I saw three preparations of Lake Perch, none of which included a fried preparation. After some consideration, frying the Lake Perch in this way would not be particularly wise. The Lake Perch provided were on the smaller end with very small filets. If I were lucky, I might get an appetizer portion of fish for 1 or 2 people, but not entree size portions. Perhaps my plan was not thought out so well. What might work better would be to clean the perch, crust it, and fry it whole. It would provide a better presentation though eating the dish would be particularly difficult. Fortunately, I don't have to face the "chopping block" and will survive to create another dish!

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Chicken Salad with Avocado Dressing

Date Prepared: 01/24/12


Source:  Everyday Food. Issue 89. Jan./Feb. 2012. Also available online: http://www.marthastewart.com/872698/chicken-salad-avocado-dressing


Chicken Salad with Avocado Dressing

*Recipe:

3 1/4 cups shredded cooked chicken (from 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 large shallot, finely chopped
1 avocado, diced small
3/4 cup Avocado Dressing
Coarse salt and ground pepper
4 large slices sourdough bread, toasted

Avacado Dressing

2 avocados
1 cup buttermilk
1 scallion (white and light-green parts only), thinly sliced
1/4 cup packed fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup packed fresh mint leaves
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup water
Coarse salt and ground pepper
To Serve:

In a medium bowl, combine chicken, celery, shallot, avocado, and dressing. Season with salt and pepper and toss to combine. Serve on toast.

Avacado Dressing

In a food processor or blender, combine avocados, buttermilk, scallion, parsley, mint, lemon juice, and water. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper and pulse until smooth.
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Difficulty: Easy - This recipe is a prep-and-serve and requires very little culinary expertise.

Accessibility: Common - There are very few ingredients required for this preparation, all of which can be obtained at a typical grocery store.

Visual Appeal:  I had mixed feelings about the aesthetic appeal of this dish. Avocado naturally turns everything green. Add green onions, mint, and parsley and there is no way of getting away from the Dr. Seuss coloring. There aren't any ingredients to really contrast the predominant monochrome of Avocado. That said, there was something extremely appealing about the smoothness of the dressing and the crispness of the toasty vessel for serving.

Overall Taste: In truth, the taste was a 5 out of 10. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't particularly exciting either. The dressing seemed a bit acidic alone but was not unenjoyable when mixed with the chicken. Unfortunately, the amount of shallot in the chicken salad was significant and just short of overwhelming. In the future, the amount of shallot would be reduced and the addition of nuts, seeds, olives, or other ingredients might add another level of flavor and texture that is otherwise lacking. The addition of a small amount of salt to the final dish was extremely helpful. It brought out some of the natural flavors of the Avocado.

Overall Experience: This recipe was extremely enticing in the magazine, a testament to the photography and food styling of this dish. It was relatively quick to make and very easy. It may or may not make it back onto the menu as a go-to recipe but it is worth a try.

Additional Notes: I chose to boil the chicken rather than grill or roast it. This helped to keep it moist. A layer on top of the dressing will turn brown after a couple of days but can be removed and the dressing still used.

*The recipe and instructions for this recipe have been reported to maintain the original instruction and is not an original recipe and belongs to the source indicated. This post has been prepared as a review only and with no intention to take credit for this recipe. This recipe has been reviewed without instruction or influence by the parties or companies mentioned therein.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Chicken Pot Pie (Little Sister Style)

Date Prepared: 01/02/12

Source:  This recipe was an adaptation of a chicken pot pie recipe obtained from Betty Crocker's Cookbook "New and Revised Edition" Copyright 1978. General Mills, Inc. Mpls, Mn. 

Mini Chicken Pot Pies in Crescent Roll Crust
Recipe:

1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup milk
2 cups chicken, chopped
1 package frozen peas or vegetables

3 - packages of crescent rolls (8 rolls per package)

*Alternative pie crust recipe:

2/3 cup shortening (+ 2 Tablespoons)
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons celery seed
1 teaspoon salt
5 Tablespoons water


 To Serve:

Cut 2-3 chicken breats into 1/2 pieces. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and cook in a nonstick pan until cooked through. Cool the chicken and coarsely chop. Set aside.

In a nonstick sauce pot, melt butter. Add flour and whisk constantly allowing the raw flour to cook some and forming roux. Add onion, salt, and pepper. Cook onions until soft and semitranslucent. Slowly whisk the chicken broth and milk into the flour and butter mixture. Slowly heat wet mixture until slow boil, constantly whisking. Add chicken and vegetables. Allow pot pie filling to heat until thickened.

While the pot pie mixture is cooking unwrap crescent rolls leaving them in squares (two crescent rolls per square). On a lightly flowered surface, roll the cresents to seal the seam and stretch the dough. Place one square of pastry in each of 12 muffin cups, allowing the excess to hang over the sides. Add pot pie mixture to each cup and pinch together the excess dough to enclose the filling. No egg wash or extra butter is required to glaze these pies. Cook at 350 degrees Farenheit until the pastry is baked brown 30-35 minutes.

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Difficulty: Easy - This recipe is a prep-and-serve and requires very little culinary expertise.

Accessibility: Common - There are very few ingredients required for this preparation, all of which can be obtained at a typical grocery store.

Visual Appeal:  These pot pies have a particularly cozy appearance. They are smaller even then mini pot pies you might buy in the freezer case. They aren't particularly fancy to look at and there is little color contrast to laud. However, the beauty of the basic cresent roll dough is clearly apparent. The pastry puffed nicely and provided a beautiful brown color. Through a couple of chives over the top or a sprinkle of chopped parsley and you'll achieve picture perfect results...in a sense.

Overall Taste: The taste of this version of the recipe is hit and miss. The mouthwatering aspect of this recipe is the natural butteriness of the crescent roll dough coupled with the homemade chicken and gravy filling. It tastes much better than it can be described. Where this version falls short is in the lack of a traditional pie crust, which seems to be somewhat lighter, flakier, and offers the option of adding celery seed baked right in. The flavor of the pot pie filling is basic and really hard to screw up.
Overall Experience: If I had all the time in the world, I would much rather have a traditional pie crust as a vessel for this very good chicken pot pie filling. It was fun to make these pot pies because my girlfriend and I got to both work on them together.
What I found most disappointing, however, was that the crescent roll soaked up virtually all of the liquid from the filling. When the pie was cut open, there was little of the traditional oozing you come to expect with a good pot pie. I might try this version again if I were to use large muffin cups instead of the traditional size. This variation might provide for a better crust to filling ratio and restore the natural pot pie order of things.

In addition, cooked crescent rolls do not reheat particularly well. Reheated the crust/dough became more chewy that flaky and particularly soggy.

Additional Notes: As made, it does not appear that docking the bottom of the crescent roll doigh is necessary. An alternative crust or vessel for this filling is egg roll wrappers, which was an idea presented to me by my little sister who is just learning to cook in her own home. It was very inspiring!

*The recipe and instructions for this recipe have been reported to maintain the original instruction and is not an original recipe and belongs to the source indicated. This post has been prepared as a review only and with no intention to take credit for this recipe. This recipe has been reviewed without instruction or influence by the parties or companies mentioned therein.

Year 1 Reflections and Year 2 Predictions

Just over a year ago, I had the "ambitious" goal of starting my own food blog. Not for profit and not for fame. Rather, I just wanted a reason to eat more GOOD food. Unfortunately, as with many new things, I pursue them fervently for a while -almost zealously- and then suddenly become bored and burned out.

This was an achievable goal, but I just couldn't stick with it. That said, I did enjoy my initial experience. Looking back on the posts I presented, I would say I appreciated some of the pictures I took far more than the actual recipes. Food presentation and/or styling has always been fascinating. My girlfriend appreciates a museum full of paintings, but I appreciate images of food...the colors, the contrast, the height and depth, it is edible art!

But I digress...

I plan to loosely continue my blog, posting interesting recipes and any beautiful pictures I can manage. The content will almost definitely stray from the original purpose but, hopefully, it will still give me a medium to express my passion and fascination with the things we eat, where it comes from, and how beautiful it can look.

I wish you all the food you might want this year. May it bring you peace, comfort, intrigue, and daring.