Xmas drink

On choice few occasions its ok to drink in the morning, I consider xmas to be one of these. This seemed like a good drink:

2 ounces egg nog
1 ounce brandy
1 ounce godiva liquer
1/2 ounce vanilla schnapps

stir ingredients together in a glass with ice.

or if your looking for caffeine:

2 ounces espresso
2 ounces egg nog
1/2 ounce brandy
1 shot godiva liquer
1/2 shot vanilla schnapps

mix ingredients together.

In other news, I made chili last night. Its really easy because you only have to cut up and onion, chilis, and some garlic. Some recipes call for none of these which would make the preparation even easier. It turned out good. Here's what I did:

1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground lamb
1 pound ground pork
1 medium onion, diced
6 cloves of garlic, minced
4 jalepenos, cored, seeded and sliced
1 habenero, stem removed
1 Tbs salt
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/4 cup cumin
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2 cans red kidney beans
1 can canellini beans
2 15oz cans tomato sauce
16 oz tomato paste
2 cans diced tomatoes with liquid
1 bottle new zealand lager, 12oz

brown the meat and drain, reserving the liquid. Seperate the fat from the juices and discard.

Saute the onions in the oil until golden, add the garlic, chilis and spices and cook another few minutes until fragrant. Add the tomato paste and cook another minute. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce and beans and bring to a boil. Add the meat and juices and the beer. Simmer 30-45 minutes and serve!

Roast Pork Tenderloin with Sweet Potato Hash and Yellow Pepper Compote

The inappropriateness of this image should illustrate my frustration at my inability to continue serious photography. I was sabotaged since I moved here. I no longer have access to lighting equipment, light metering equipment, cheap developing and film scanner. On top of which all my fujifilm somehow vanished in the move. I'm looking into a digital camera since its economically the best way to go.

In other news I made a nice pork dish the other night and added white wine to everything. In retrospect, it would have been better to periodically baste the roast with the wine instead of adding it to the jus reduction. This was a little to complicated in the combination of flavors. The sauce and the starch clash in differing sweetnesses and the It's incomplete as a full meal in that it lacks a vegetable, to which I have no suggestion. My reasoning was as follows:

1 the pork was cooked without any flavor as a blank canvas, leaving greater possibility for complexity of sauces.
2 lean white meat with subtle flavor is often paired with sweet items. I love the combination of sweet and spicy where peppers also excell - yellow as sweet and chipotle as spicy.
3 who doesn't like peppers and pork together?
4 I have no idea what vegetable would go well with this

It's extremely good. Could be served family style as well as plated for guests or an intimate dinner for two. Steph liked it a lot.

Roast Pork Tenderloin with Sweet Potato Hash and Yellow Pepper Compote

1 bone-in pork loin (about 5-6 pounds)
olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350. Rub the pork loin with oil and roast to 135 internal temp. While the pork is cooking, prep the ingredients for the sweet potato hash and the compote. Remove the pork from oven and cover with aluminum foil.

While the meat is resting, make the potato hash and yellow pepper compote simultaneously. When ready, slice 1 inch pork chops off the loin using the ribs to help guide your measurement.
Drain off the pan juices. Seperate out the fat and add to the same pan over the stovetop over medium heat. Reduce down to by 75% of original volume. You can add the sauvignon blanc during this as well.

For the Yellow Pepper Compote:
4 yellow peppers, small dice
1 large shallot, small dice
1 1/2 tsp thyme, chopped
4 Tbs butter
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup sauvignon blanc
salt and pepper

Heat the butter in a medium saucepan. Cook the shallots and peppers for 5 minutes over low heat. Season with salt and white pepper. Add the white wine and cook 3-5 minutes until the alcohol cooks off. Lower the heat to a simmer and reduce

For the Sweet Potato Hash:
1 large sweet potato medium dice
2 Tbs olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. chipotle finely minced w/some adobo sauce
1 Tbs sauvignon blanc
3 Tbs pure maple syrup
salt and pepper

Make this last because it cooks very fast and must be served hot. Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the chipotle and cook 1 minute. Add the sweet potatoes and stir through. Season with salt and pepper. Cook 1-2 minutes and add the white wine. Cook just until the wine is cooked out and potatoes are cooked through. Add the maple syrup and stir until potatoes are evenly glazed. Serve immediately.

For Plating:
spoon a small amount of potatoes on the plate into a mound. Rest pork chops on the potatoes with the bone up. Spoon a small portion of pan jus over the top. Top with a little compote and serve.

I pity the foo...

Who doesn't like butternut squash soup!

Regretably I didn't take this picture because I'm too busy eating this soup. Sure, you can make it with cumin, lime, ginger, curry and god knows what, but I prefer NOTHING.

I got one of these delicious squashes before thanksgiving and just haven't decided what to do with it. It would never have been as good as this if I tried to cram as much mise en place as I could in.

I decided I wanted to make a soup on my way home from work and I didn't want to spend all night doing it. I'm impressed with myself that I was able to bang it out in about half an hour with half of that simmering time. Everything is about this recipe is designed to make it quick cooking.

I originally roasted the squash to develop some of those declicious dry heat sugars, but it ended up saving me time since it was already cooked when I added it to the soup. The smoky bacon gives it great body and goes so well with the roasted squash making it hearty and earthy. It has an amazing velvety consistency and is perfect in the cold november rain. I highly encourage anyone to make this, but it's a very small recipe so double it if it's for more than one person. Since there's no cream in it it will keep for a long time in the fridge and reheat well.


Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
serves 2

1 1/2 tsp bacon fat (I had some in the freezer but if you cook bacon for it, crumble it over the top for garnish)
1-2 Tbs olive oil
1/4 medium onion, small dice
1/2 medium-small carrot, brunoise (1/8" dice)
1/4 celery stalk, brunoise
1 1/2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 sprig of rosemary
1 sprig of thyme
1/2 medium butternut squash, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch thick pieces
3 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper

Preheat the broiler to it's highest heat, broil. Rub the squash slices with olive oil. Place on the highest rack, closest to the heat source. Flip the squash when it starts to brown lightly, careful not to burn it.

I used the time the squash was cooking to cut up the rest of the ingredients.

Heat the fats in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the garlic, onions, carrot, celery, rosemary and thyme and season liberally with salt and pepper. Sweat the ingredients five minutes or so until softened and aromatic, stirring frequently. If you wanted to add a splash of white wine at this point you could and let it cook off for a minute.

While the mirepoix is sweating, cut the roasted squash into a small dice, trimming off any burnt edges.

Add the stock and bring to a boil. Add the squash and bring down to a simmer. Cook 15 minutes. Remove thyme and rosemary sprigs and blender with a stick blender until smooth. Check for seasoning adding more salt and pepper as necessary. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to a week. Also very good cold. Garnish with crumbled bacon.

Culinary School

these guys are confused and concerned.

Not much to comment on. I'm finally going back to work after my nearly week long hiatus. I can finally stop pretending to be a cook. I'm trying to write my application essay for culinary school. This paragraph didn't make the cut:

Rafael, the chef de partie, my first real culinary mentor and source of all my stress and anxiety at the kitchen where I work, said it more poetically through his thick south-mexican accent than Brillat-Savarin ever could have, "If I could not work with food, I would die of sadness." It was causally spoken without great thought or intention and might have been heard by no one other than myself, but this was the first time I ever felt connected to my coworkers. How could I? I had yet to prepare a dish without almost constant supervision, my knives were often dull and improperly honed, my battonet's too small, my julienne too big and all of them inconsistent and these were seasoned pros. I was, and still am, green as any blanched vegetable and clumsy and awkward at best in the kitchen. But Rafael might as well have been speaking for the entire culinary team with his accuracy and conciseness that somehow explained our devotion to a job that paid poorly, consisted of long and odd hours and lead others to search for a history of mental illness in the family. I knew I was at home.

Steph thought, and I agree, it's good but not something that admissions boards would take particular delight in and I need to realize I'm not Bourdain. :-P I still like it but need to tone it down. In other news, I'm about half way through Kitchen Confidential and it's really good. I highly recommend. Someone buy me a copy the The Silver Spoon for the holidays!

THANKSGIVING

I love thanksgiving so much I manage to have it twice each year. Usually a traditional one and the other less formal. This year my parents came out for a few days with my sister. I brined a turkey with turkey stock I made weeks earlier. Unfortunately the turkey got overcooked and any benefits were lost. :-( The usual suspects were found hanging around the turkey: mashed potatoes with roasted garlic and bacon, stuffing with sage, and turkey stock, gravy and cranberry compote. I wanted to do something different with the sweet potatoes so I made biscuits with them using a recipe I found on food network. They had a great orange color and were delicious, but didn't quite rise, a never ending problem with my biscuits. I found a recipe for that looked amazing so I made that as well; it was all we hoped for. Desert was a pumpkin creme brulee also from the food network website. I was made very similar to a pumpkin pie but then strained for a smooth custard. The whole thing was quite satisfactory.

Tonight we decided to give the old bird a rest and roast a leg of lamb. Using the same recipe from the post "leg of lame? NO!" but tweaked a little. It's an amazing roast rubbed with a garlic-rosemary-anchovy paste and roasted to a nice rare and served with a parsley mint pesto.

This meal was mostly planned by Steph while I was stressing the details of my parents visit. It included a classic oyster-cornbread stuffing, recipe courtesy of food and wine. It was a little wet from too much stock, but still very tasty. We planned on doing a deep fried okra, but decided it was better for tomorrow. The best part I owe entirely to Steph because I would not have made it without her insistence. It's her favorite so it wouldn't have been thanksgiving without: Green bean casserole. It was actually incredibly simple with a disproportionately delicious yield. I took the ramekins leftover from the creme brulee and filled them with a mixture of raw green beans cut into 1" pieces and grated fontina cheese, poured over some leftover cream of mushroom, topped with a little more fontina and baked until the cheese got some nice color on top. The individual casserole idea originally started out as a cute way of serving a revamped classic but evolved into necessity with all of our oven dishes in use at the same time. I would definitely make these again. My advice is make the mushroom soup, you won't be dissapointed. Then if you like, make the little casseroles if you're in a pinch, it'll turn out, trust me.

For desert we had another unforgetable classic: pumpkin pie. I wanted to make the crust but steph insisted on buying some. Another excellent thanksgiving for the books. Thanks everyone!

Chinese Steamed Dumpling

The nice thing about these is how incredibly easy they are to make. You can make the filling up to a day ahead. It's a little time consuming and unless you have a multi-tiered steamer, you'll end up doing at least 5 batches, but they're well worth it and it's almost impossible to screw up. I like serving these dim sum style with a little bit of soy sauce and sambal for dipping. You could also make a big batch and then freeze them to eat at your convienence.

I was walking through the local town and country the other day looking for inspiration. I was truly at a loss for what I felt like eating. I spied a package of ground pork and knew immediately, that this was perfect.

That night I actually ended up making a muffaletta because steph had mentioned wanting one and it had been a little while. So I made these the next day on my friday with stir-fried broccoli and carrots.

Chinese Steamed Dumpling

1 lb ground pork
3/4 pound ground shrimp, or chopped with a sharp knife or food processor
1 Tbs garlic, finely chopped
1/2 Tbs ginger, finely chopped
1 1/2 cup shredded napa cabbage or green onions or both
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp salt
1 egg white
1 package square wonton wrappers
napa cabbage leaves for steaming

Combine all ingredients except the wonton wrappers in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate up to overnight.

fill a small bowl with water and place within reach. Spoon 1-2 tsp of filling in the middle of each wonton wrapper. keep the amount of filling consistent so cooking times will be the same.

Dip you index finger in the water and lightly wet two corners of the wonton. Fold all of the corners together at the top of the wonton making the dumpling. Place on a sheet pan and repeat.

Cover the wontons with a damp paper towel to prevent to tops from drying out.
Line the steamer with bamboo leaves and steam for 5-8 minutes or until cooked through. Serve immediately.

Cutlery metallurgy is a big interest of mine, though I still know very little about it. I have however, learned some important things to look for when considering a kitchen knife.
All knives are different and have different metallurgies. A sword for example, requires a softer steel so it won't shatter on impact. Since this is not an issue with a kitchen knife, hardness is the bottom line. If you happened to catch my earlier post regarding the henckels ceramax line, you'll know that steel hardness is measured using the rockwell scale. The unit is a degree.
Unfortunately, steel is a relatively soft metal. To harden it, knife makers add carbon to make 'carbon-steel.' However carbon-steel knives require more maintainence and are highly susceptible to tarnish and rust. For these reasons carbon-steel knives have lost popularity in the kitchen and have become difficult to find, even though they are sharper than any other knife. The most popular knives today are high-carbon steel knives or HCS. These knives are made by adding elements like, chromium, vanadium, nickel, cobalt and others to decrease the corrosive properties. This negatively effects the sharpness of the knife so manufacturers are constantly trying to find new ways around this tradeoff with different metallurgies and processes.

Any serious knife maker will drop forge their knives. Forging changes the atomic structures and creates a harder, longer lasting knife. Chef's knives, vegetable knives, bread knives and paring knives should always be forged. Boning knives, some slicers and other thin bladed knives benefit from being stamped, because they are always thinner than their forged counterparts.
Ceramic blades are very sharp but often cannot be resharpened and break and chip very easily.
Blade hardness usually means a sharper edge and longer edge retention. However, it's not the only thing that matters. Because most popular knife makers use very high quality steel (which you definitely pay for) as well as state of the art processes, most knives are 56-58 degrees rockwell. What I mean is most blades are comparable as far as strength and hardness and personal taste comes into play. Professional chef's don't all use the same brand of knives. The best knife is one you'll use often for many different tasks that fits comfortably in your hand. The new Henckels line boasts the highest rockwell of any other kitchen knife, however the handle is shaped and weighted in a way I find uncomfortable, making is useless to me.
Blade length is also important, chef knives, slicers and bread knives are completely useless when too short, the way a paring knife is when too long. A chef's knife is also useless when too long. I find using myself poking into other things and running off the board when using my 10" chef knife at home.

Don't get seduced by fancily shapen blades. There are four basic knives essential in every kitchen. They are:

a good Chef/Cook's Knife - 8-10 inches. This is your all purpose knife used for for anything from boning chicken to cutting vegetables. This is the most valuable knife in your collection and should be the nicest. A well made knife will easily last a lifetime properly taken care of. 8" is usually ideal for the home cook. Any shorter is worthless). Most professionals find anything longer than 10" to be cumbersome for home use. My problem with the chef's knife is the 10 ones are too heavy for lighter work like mincing herbs, cutting fruit etc. But the 8 inch is too short. One of the guys I work with has gotten around this problem with the global 8 1/4" carving knife. Because it's made for slicing, the blade is thinner and light. Global has a habit of making their blades wider than other brands, so it makes sense that the carving knife be just right for light chef knife work. One drawback is that it's not forged, and will probably not keep and edge as long.
Straight Paring Knife - 3-4 inches. There are many different styles, but this is the most useful.
Serrated Bread Knife - 8-10 inches. I personally prefer the round as opposed to pointed tip because it cuts through though crust better.

Secondary knives include:

Slicer - 8-12 inches. Length is important because many items being sliced greatly benefit from a single motion and can be damaged by sawing.
Boning Knife - should have a thin blade, preferably stamped
Chinese Cleaver - chinese chefs use these as you would a western style chef's knife. Heavy blade works great for cutting through bone and smashing garlic and ginger.

Meat Slicer with a granton edge. Thin blade and "scallops" cut down surface friction.

Bird's Beak Peeler/Paring Knife - extremely useful for peeling and small or decorative cuts.

Many different asian styles have become popular in recent years. They take the place of western style blade and can easily be swapped out for their western counterparts. These knives are very beautiful and include:

Chinese Vegetable Cleaver - Usually single beveled, which means the edge is ground on only one side producing a very sharp edge. Often used in place of a chef's knife, though bad for cutting through bone.
Santoku Knife - 6-7 inches. Thin bladed Japanese vegetable knife. Often used in western cooking as a chef's knife, though not designed for cutting meat or bone.
Deba knife - a heavy duty, all purpose knife. Single beveled. Japanese chef knife great for cutting off fish heads. Properly used in place of a western style chef's knife. similar to a santoku
Sashimi Slicer - 10-12 inches. Takes the place of a regular slicer. Designed for more delicate items: fish, sushi, etc.

Since I'm a big geek and japanese knives are extremely beautiful, I plan to put together a set of professional set of them. this would include:

Yanagiba or Takohiki 300mm
Nakkiri 180mm
Kurouchi Mioroshi Deba or Usuba 180mm
Kurouchi Santoku 180mm
Mukimono 105mm
Makiri 75mm

Shun knives are really good, but they're almost more a work of art than a tool. Also, the ebony handles fade when washed with regular dish soaps.

Stay away from specialty knives like, tomato knives and salmon slicers, they take up space and are mostly useless. Any good serrated knife will cut a tomato as well as a tomato knife.

Brands I've found to be popular among professionals include but are certainly not limited to knives from either Solingen, Germany or Seki City, Japan (the knife capitols of the world.) Among these, Wusthof, Global and Messermeister are extremely popular and all rate 56-58 HRC.

One final note. No knife blade is as hard as glass or ceramic, which is why cutting on these surfaces destroys the edge. You should never under any circumstance cut on these surfaces, especially when using a high quality knife. A tight grained wood cutting board is the best surface. Properly maintained wood is more hygegnic than poly or plastic boards because knives cut grooves in plastic that cannot be cleaned. Knives need to be honed often to re-align the edge. Use a fine-ceramic or diamond embedded steel to hone your knife. Regular steels can actually strip metal from the blade and wear down the edge. They are also not hard enough to properly hone a knife. And if you use these knives in the dishwasher, take one out and KILL YOURSELF with it.

My New Favorite Chili

This is my first time trying the korean red chili, but it's definitely love at first bite. It has that great flavor imbued in so much korean food that I love and it's not too hot. I probably would've tried these sooner but I haven't seen them. I had to go to Uwajimaya which is the only place around here that doesn't mark up there produce to no end. It's also, aside from the local Town and Country Market, the only non-kroger food source which I'm always happy about.

FUCK KROGER.

they're all bitches. Anyway, these badboys still ran about $10/lb so I only got a few cause I didn't know what to expect. I initially got them cause they're so scary and evil looking but they're really quite nice.

Chris' RED SAUCE

This is not an actual picture of the sauce but the similarities are remarkable. If you're like me and searched far and wide for a solid recipe for red sauce, you need look no further!

I'd been wanting to make a slow simmered red sauce for quite a while now, so I jumped at the first opportunity. I basically threw everything but the kitchen sink in it, but it payed off big time - A rich full bodied red sauce that won't cop out with the heat all around. I also have today off so I'm gonna make shrimp stock with the thousands of shrimp shells we've acquired after I get some dim sum with steph.

Sherry vinegar and sugar are two absolutely essential ingredients to this sauce. There's something amazing about sherry vinegar and tomatoes, it almost makes them taste more tomatoey, like worcestershire and beef. I froze a bunch of this stuff but left some in the fridge for zucchini lasagna and maybe some calamari, who knows.

You could add an celery in the same amount as the carrots for a less fruity, more rounded and earthy bodied sauce, but I like it a little tangy and sweet.

Also yesterday I made a red pepper aioli which is THE SHIT. I was planning of using it as a dipping sauce for homemade steak fries, but that never ended up happening. We have two pounds of whole squid in the freezer so I think I'll make a salad and mix it with some balsamico for a dressing. mmmmm. recipe follows.

Red Pepper Aioli

1 red pepper
1-2 Tbs lemon juice
vegetable or other flavorless oil (about a cup)
1 egg
1 egg yolk
pinch of salt
½ tsp red wine
1 tsp honey
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
pinch white pepper

This sauce is surprisingly mild and gentle. It would be excellent eaten with any food of similar characteristics. Add chopped and seeded plum tomato to make sauce andalouse.

Preheat oven to 350. Cut the pepper in half and remove the stem and seeds. With a paring knife, cut out any of the white membrane. Rub with olive oil and roast in the oven until the flesh is tender, about 30-45 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer to a plastic bag or covered dish. Let the skins steam off for 10 minutes. Remove the skin and set aside.


In a blender, combine the egg, egg yolk and lemon juice. While it’s still running, drizzle in the oil until it reaches a desired thickness. It should be slightly liquid with a defined lemon flavor. Pour out half the mayonnaise and reserve for another use. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.


Red Sauce

3 (28oz) cans whole peeled tomatoes, seeded with liquid
1 medium red onion, diced
½ cup carrot, peeled and small diced
8 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp crushed red pepper
½ tsp anchovy paste
2 Tbs tomato paste
1 Tbs fresh thyme, chopped
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp dried basil
1 ½ Tbs sherry vinegar
2 Tbs white wine
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbs chopped parsley (optional)
salt and pepper


Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-low heat. Add the red pepper and cook for a minute or two. Add the onions and carrots and season with salt and pepper. Sweat over low heat for 5 minutes. The onions should not take on any color. Add the garlic and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the anchovy and tomato paste, basil, oregano and thyme and cook 2-3 minutes. Add the sherry vinegar and red wine and cook 1-2 minutes. Pour in the tomatoes with liquid, sugar and parsley. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. DO NOT BOIL. This would be the time to add any accent ingredients, roasted pepper, roasted garlic, fresh basil, oregano or thyme etc.. For a mushroom sauce, fold in ½ pound of sliced cremini mushrooms in the last 45 minutes.

Simmer covered over low heat 4-6 hours. You need to stir this often, especially toward the end. In the last few hours the sauce may need to be stirred constantly. It will reduce enough from the evaporation during stirring. If it becomes too thick, water will need to be added. If you want a really thick sauce, let it reduce.

'Velvetizing'

I recently picked up a wok and stir fry book, not so much for the recipes, which are pretty half assed, but to get ideas. Almost all of them that include meat use this process. Anyway, I read about it a little and tried it with a shrimp stir-fry recipe I made for steph, and now I'm totally in love.

Velvetizing is a chinese method of poaching meat. Meat is always boneless and cut into small stir-fry-sized pieces. The meat is lightly coated with corn starch and egg white (and a little water if necessary). A small amount of oil is heated to 260-280 degrees in a wok. The meat is then cooked, not fried, in the oil for only a minute or two. Because the pieces are small they will be thoroughly cooked and then added back to the stir-fry at the last moment. Intuitively named, it's designed to cook the meat gently while sealing in the flavor and moisture. I've only tried it with shrimp so far, but it did amazing things. The shrimp was cooked perfectly, fluffy, moist and tender. I have never had results like this with a dry heat method.

Thinking about it, it's really ingenious. It combines the extremely efficient dry heat method of frying with the gentle low heat method of poaching. Because it's poached in oil, not water, the moisture has nowhere to go. The egg white and cornstarch create a thin barrier to aid in this effect. However, unlike frying, the heat is low enough that the internal temperature of the food never gets high enough to steam is from the inside, so it stays very very tender and moist.

The draw backs are it adds additional time and mess to your stir-frys, but you can't argue with the results or 5000 years of delicious home cooked food.

Sharpest Knife EVER!

Now that I'm once again in the market for a new knife, I've found that Henckels has just released a new line that may rightfully take the title of the sharpest high carbon steel cutlery around.

For awhile Kershaw's Shun line with it's VG-10 core and 16 layers of SUS-410 stainless steel offered about the best edge retention around. and with a rockwell hardness rating of 60-61 degrees, it was in a league of it's own compared to most other major knife makers at 56-58 degrees. However, J.A. Henckels just released it's Twin Cermax knives, boasting an impressive 66 rockwell score, making it by far the hardest HCS knife around. You can't use a regular honing steel with these because most are 66 degrees as well; you have to get Henckels diamond steel. Those 5 points are gonna cost you though. the twin cermax 6.5" santoku sells online for $189 compared to the shun 6.5" santoku at $99.

To combat Henckels new line, Kershaw has released the Shun Elite, also scoring a 66 and in a similar price range.

As a result, Shun knives are finally starting to come down in price. Most of them are about $20-30 cheaper than last year around this time, which is awesome. Anyone looking for a new knife should check these babies out. I have nothing but good things to say about my Shun santoku.

Leg of Lame? NO!

I didn't take this picture so it's not my fault it looks bad. For some reason it's almost impossible to find a leg of lamb with the sirloin or thigh part still attached. Instead you get the shank half, with or without the bone. This is ok as long as you cook it rare to medium rare (125-130 degrees F) any more well done and you might as well slather yogurt on it and wrap it in a pita.

I went to a job interview this morning and the executive chef told me "everything has already been done, either accidental or otherwise." I took a queue from this and used a recipe from Gourmet magazine. The April '05 issue included a recipe entitled Anchovy and Rosemary Roasted Lamb. I didn't quite follow the recipe exactly so I'm not worried about the feds busting down my door for posting this recipe I did, adapted from the one in the magazine. I served it with a garlic and red pepper couscous with pistachios and mint pesto. Here's how I did it!:

Roast Leg of Lamb:
1 (4-5lb) shank half semi-boneless leg of lamb
5 large cloves garlic, finely minced
6 1/2 anchovy fillets, finely minced
3 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mash the garlic and anchovy's into a fine paste, combine with the olive oil and salt and set aside.

Trim all but a thin layer of fat from the lamb roast. Place the lamb in a roasting pan and score the top with a sharp knive. Rub the spice paste all over, making sure it gets into the cracks. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.

Stick a thermometer into the thickest part and roast until internal temperature reaches 125-130 degrees. Remove from oven and let sit at least 20 minutes before cutting. Serve with mint tea, mint pesto and couscous.

for the mint pesto:
4 Tbs parsley, finely minced
3 Tbs mint leaves, finely minced
1 Tbs anchovy paste
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbs capers, finely minced
1 splash red wine vinegar

For the couscous:
1/4 cup dried couscous
2-3 cups stock
2 Tbs olive oil
1/4 cup pistachios, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 red pepper, seeded and diced

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes, stirring. Add the red pepper and pistachios and cook another 2-3 minutes. Add the couscous and stir until coated with oil. Pour in the stock slowly, adding less than you think is necessary. Cook until absorbed, adding more stock if necessary. Serve immediately.

for the mint tea:
Bring a quart of water to boil. put 7-10 mint leaves in a coffee mug or tea glass. Put about 5 drops of lemon juice in the mug. Pour the boiling water over the tea leaves and let steep for 10 minutes, covered. Remove the leaves and stir in a drop of honey before serving.

Minneola

I'm not in the habit of trying random citrus fruits that show up in the produce section, but that doesn't mean I never do. The minneola is a delicious not-to-sweet, not-too-tart citrus fruit, notably different than a tangerine. Perfect for someone disheartened by the sweetness of the orange as well as the sourness of a grapefruit. I was interested, so Stephanie looked it up to find its from a group of fruits known as tangelos.

Tangelos are hybrids of tangerines and grapefruit or pomellos. First known crosses made by Dr. Walter T. Swingle in the late 19th century. They are significantly different from other citrus fruits and comprise a category in themselves. They were discoveredOther tangelos include, 'K-early', 'nova', 'orlando', 'seminole', 'Thornton" and of course the 'Ugli'.

Scotch Eggs

I just recently came across this classic pub fare at Brit's Pub in downtown minneapolis. I had literally been in town an hour. Our waiter forgot the original order and returned with the late-night menu, where it grabbed our attention. This is by far the most significant British contribution to the culinary world I've tasted as well as the only reason our waiter received any tip at all. I thought of Steph immediately when I had this cause I think she'd like it and it's amazingly delicious. I'm planning on making it soon.

It consists of a hard boiled egg, wrapped in breakfast sausage, covered in bread crumbs and deep fried. Not exactly diet food, but damned you are if you dimiss it on those grounds. They served it with a dijon mustard mayonnaise based sauce. Here's my attempt at reverse engineering the recipe:

2 hard boiled eggs, peeled
2-4 links breakfast sausage, casings removed
1/2 cup flour
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup bread crumbs
oil for for deep frying

1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbs dijon mustard
1 tsp sherry vinegar
fresh ground black pepper

Put the flour in a shallow dish and roll the eggs in it to coat lightly. Enclose the eggs in the sausage and dust again with flour. dredge in the beaten egg and roll in the breadcrumbs. Fry for a minute or two until the sausage is cooked through. Slice in half and serve warm or cold with dijon mustard sauce.

Mighty Muffaletta

EAT IT! My hands still smell like brine from chopping of all those olives and giardinera, but it was worth it. This is the first thing I've made since I moved to Seattle. There's an italian deli not too far from me, so I couldn't help myself. If I had time I would have put roasted pepper in it.

italian bread
mortadella
genoa salami
proscuitto
mozzarella
provolone

for the olive salad:

kalamata olives, chopped
capers
pimento stuffed olives with some liquid
chopped giardinera with some liquid
garlic
pinch of dried oregano
pinch of dried thyme
pinch of crushed red pepper
olive oil

What I Learned From Studying Fat for 2 1/2 Months

In 1994 the USDA released their first nutritional pyramid guide. This was, needless to say grossly inaccurate (I imagine most people wouldn’t think it healthy to eat between 6 and 11 servings of grain per day). We’ve learned a little bit in the last 11 years that show the original to be not only inaccurate but very unhealthy.

(old pyramid) The bottom layer (bread, cereal, rice and pasta) lumps all grains together, when there’s an important difference between whole and processed grains. Refined carbohydrates (bread, pasta, sweets, table sugar etc.) are absorbed into the bloodstream too quickly, because there is no bran left on the grain for your body to breakdown in digestion. As the starch is absorbed into your blood and broken down into glucose your blood sugar rises dramatically. In order to compensate for the elevated blood sugar level your pancreas must secrete insulin into your blood. Aside from putting a strain on your pancreas, a state of heightened blood sugar allows for fast calorie absorption into your blood and ultimately faster weight gain. When people are overweight, even slightly, their pancreas must work harder than normal to supply the larger mass with insulin. This eventually leads to pancreatic failure resulting in a number of health problems including onset diabetes. The new pyramid recommends refined carbohydrates to be eaten sparingly.

Various artificial sweeteners are usually unhealthy. High-fructose corn syrup or HCS, was created in the 80’s by a Japanese company. Because it is six times sweeter than sugar, it quickly took over as main sweetener in soda and fruit juices along with most beverages sold. It is not metabolized properly by the body because of it’s chemical structure and goes straight to your liver and puts a huge strain on it. Because of it’s high sugar content and , high-fructose corn syrup should be avoided. Aspartame (marketed under the brand name nutra sweet) aside from having unappetizing qualities, is but no means healthy and is known to cause serious health problems in children under the age of 2. Otherwise it is little to no risk. Sucralose is a chemical manufactured from sucrose (table sugar) that is too complex to be metabolized by your body. It passes through your digestive system without raising blood sugar levels or increasing insulin production. Since no carbohydrates (which have 4 calories per gram) are digested, it does not affect your calorie consumption. Sucralose has not been shown to cause any health problems and is marketed under the brand name Splenda.

Along with grains, all fats and oils are lumped together in one category, when some are healthy and some are not. To understand this difference I must briefly digress into a little chemistry, but bear with me, it all comes together.

Fats are long molecules made of chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms with other miscellaneous elements. When two carbon atoms are double bonded together this leaves an opening in ‘the chain,’ and it is ‘un-saturated.’ If there is more than one carbon-double-bond the fat becomes ‘poly-unsaturated.’ And if there are no double bonds, the chain is full or ‘saturated.’ These chemical differences affect a number of factors including melting temperature. Un-saturated fats, or oils, stay liquid at room temperature (and usually come from plants) and thus are more likely to stay liquid inside your body. Because of the nature of the molecular structure; saturated fats melt at much higher temperatures and are more likely to stay solid inside your body. Your brain is composed almost entirely of fat and needs to be constantly replenished. Your cells use fat to lubricate their walls.

The double bond(s) of an un-saturated fat make it susceptible to oxidation which causes rancidity. Rancid foods are not shown to be unhealthy but may contain free-radicals, which have been strongly linked to cancer. As a result, un-saturated fats have a relatively short shelf-life. By adding hydrogen and thus completing the chain - or saturating the fat - the molecule goes from a ‘cis’ formation to a ‘trans’ formation. This process is used in several commercial products to increase overall life and is called ‘hydrogenation.’ The terms ‘cis’ and ‘trans’ describe the shape of the molecule. ‘trans’ fats have been linked with a number of heart problems and increase your risk of heart disease immensely. These fats are shown to cause a serious health risk and should be avoided entirely. Margarine and other butter substitutes are made from this same process, along with most processed/frozen foods.

Diets high in saturated fat lead to high levels of LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol, and greatly increase the risk of heart disease and atherosclerosis in both men and women. Heart disease is almost always linked to high levels of LDL cholesterol. On the other hand, diets high in un-saturated fats lead to high levels of HDL cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein) which is inversely proportional to risk of heart disease. Diets high in red meat and dairy fat have extremely high instances of heart disease, where diets high in plant oils and vegetables, low in saturated fat, have extremely low instances of heart disease. There are many other contributing factors to heart disease including age, race, location, family history, weight and activity levels. Saturated fat is necessary in a healthy diet in smaller amounts. However, diets very low in saturated fat are equally unhealthy and cause serious health problems over a prolonged period of time. Walter Willett who designed this alternative pyramid, suggests no more than 5 percent of your calories should come from saturated fat.

Until recently, fat in general was thought to be unhealthy and a number of fat substitutes were introduced. The much debated Olestra was created by the Proctor and Gamble Corporation in 1968. It’s synthesized by combing 6 or more fatty acids to a sucrose molecule. The result is a molecule to complex to be broken down and is not absorbed into the body. Aside from the unpleasant side affects, Olestra absorbs fat soluble vitamins A, E, D and K preventing them from being absorbed. To compensate for the vitamin loss manufacturers saturate snack products with these vitamins, so this is not an issue. It also takes any carotenoids out of your body including beta-carotene which could prove a health risk considering most Americans don’t get enough beta-carotene to begin with. When Olestra was originally released, the FDA required the product have a label indicating it contained Olestra. In 2003 that requirement was revoked. Now most reduced-fat and no-fat food products contain fats similar to olestra if not olestra. Olestra and like fats should probably be avoided entirely as they may pose a health risk.

Mario!

I had a really weird dream last night that I went to one of Mario Batali's restaurants and he was there. He was really stressed out and crazy, but he let me check out some food book he got in high school. But then I got tomato sauce fingerprints on it and he put me in a headlock. Then we ran out.

Brillat-Savarin

The legendary gastronome said many things, two of which strike me:

"The world is nothing without life and all that lives takes nourishment"

"Desert without cheese is like a pretty woman with only one eye."

Peach Melbas and Care Bear Villians

There's a fly in here I can't kill. It keeps flying around, just cruising around my apartment mocking me, taking it's time, waiting for me to drop my guard before it buzzes back around my head again.

Anyway, the night was hot and fevered and so is my sleep. It's about 3 in the morning and I've woken up about every hour to pour an ice cold glass of water down my throat so I can sleep again. During one of these periods I dreamed the the color from my pictures was bleeding away. I couldn't stop it but sought to capture ALL the colors as they seeped away and became like a care bear villian. I think it had something to do with this image of the peach melba lingering in my subconscious from earlier.

This drink is actually the opposite of the picture and refreshing on many levels and not abrasive, but definitely intense. It's made from ground up frozen peaches, simple syrup, raspberries, lime juice, spiced rum and ice. It's a lot like a smoothie and can be made hours ahead of time and stored in the freezer. The recipe came from . I topped it off with white flesh peaches which brings me to my next point;

PEACHES ARE IN SEASON. GO EAT PEACHES.

Steph had to work the 4th so my day was fairly uneventful. I had a beer lunch: beer brats with carmelized vidalia onions in beer reduction, served with beer. By the way, the time for vidalia/walla walla onions has passed.

Dinner was simple but delicious: Steaks with grilled vegetable-pesto salad and garlic potatoes. We started out with the peach melbas I got some really beautifully marbled new york strip steaks from top and grilled them. I made a steak sauce that tasted a lot like homemade A-1 but way better:

Steak Sauce

1/3 cup worcestershire
2 Tbs ketchup
pinch of salt
several dashes of tapatio or other pepper sauce

I grilled asparagus, mushrooms and tomatoes and drizzled the last of the pesto over it with a little balsamic vinegar salt and pepper.

I quartered some russets and grilled those as well and then tossed with butter, salt and roasted garlic.

Desert was a raspberry chocolate puff pastry. Aside from some eggwash brushed on the outside for color, these were the only three ingredients. I cut the thawed puff pastry sheet into quarters about 4x4" and placed ~4 raspberries and 5 or 6 semi-sweet morsels and then folded them up. If I had some coarse cane sugar I would have sprinkled it over, but only a pinch.

I love puff pastry dough, it makes you look like you spent a lot of time on something when, in actuality this is the extent and complexity of the desert I make.

Teriyaki

I wanted to make buffalo burgers for the fourth, but top wasn't stocking any buffalo meat. For some reason it makes me think of Teriyaki sauce. The french neglected to take into account the whole spectrum of mirin based sauces when they left it out of the 5 categories. It's incredibly simple and the difference between homemade and store bought is expectedly large. There's reason not to make it just before you need it since it only requires you combine 4 ingredients:

1/2c. mirin
1/4c. shoyu (soy sauce)
1/4c. sake
2 Tbs. sugar

warm to dissolve sugar.

This teriyaki isn't thick and syrupy like the kind you'd buy already made, and can be brushed onto meat as it grills in layers. The extremely high salt from the soy sauce makes it into more of a brine than a marinade and consequently more effective. The mirin really makes all the difference in the world - use a good one and your dreams will come true, but use a bad one and see what I'm talking about. Unfortunately there's not much selection when you're living in a fairly small town like olympia. There's nothing to be learned from the smell, you have to taste it. It should be rich and much to sweet to ever be consumed on it's own and taste only of rice. It's the perfect representation of the japanese simplicity and love of sweetness in savory dishes.

Another in the mirin sauce family is tare, or yakitori basting sauce. It's made with mirin, sugar, shoyu and sake, but is simmered with grilled chicken wings for 30-35 minutes afterward. The result is unbelievable. In restuaraunts the grilled chicken on the skewers would be dipped into the tare pot during cooking and acquire more chicken flavor with each skewer. According to the cookbook this recipe came from - The Japanese Kitchen by Hiroko Shimbo - Restaurants boast to have been using the same tare base for ten years. Eating the wings afterward is the recipe thanking you for making it.

Momos Momos!

Not much more to say. Delicious as usual. I'm not crazy about this presentation. The napa cabbage should be turned around to draw out the off-white momos instead of fading them away.

Momos

1 large package wonton wrappers
1 recipe turkey filling
Momo sauce

Garnish:

½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
½ cup chopped green onions

Wet the corners of the wontons so they stick. Place ~1 tbs of turkey filling in the middle of each wonton and fold together. Steam the momos a few at a time, making sure they don’t touch each other. Cook until the dough turns transparent, about 5 minutes. Serve immediately with momo sauce poured over. Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro and green onions.

Turkey Filling:

2 pounds ground turkey
½ cup chopped fresh dill
1 bunch green onions (green part only)
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper

Combine ingredients in a stand mixer or by hand. Use immediately or refrigerate up to 24hrs ahead of time for optimal flavor infusion.

Momo Sauce:

2 29oz cans tomato sauce
1 sliced serrano chilis
5 cloves minced garlic
3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
remaining dill (throw in whatever is leftover from the turkey filling)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tsp of salt

In a large saucepan, heat the oil. Add the shallots and cook 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic, herbs and chilis and cook another minute. Add the tomato sauce and remaining ingredients. Bring up to a boil and then down to a simmer. Cook until flavors are infused, tasting periodically, about 30 minutes. Serve warm over momos.

Penne alla Vodka

By making this with the spicy pepper vodka we had leftover from the bloody mary's, I thought, at the time, it was a bold and daring experiment that would yield untold glory or total ruin. It was however, mediocre. I didn't realize that as the vodka cooked away it would take all of it's infused flavors with it leaving us with a sweet (and still very good) tomato sauce. Also, I have to thank John Graham, who let me borrow his negative scanner which brings us this image. The recipe came from my beloved


I found this book on half.com while looking for 1,000 Indian recipes. Both are hardcover and came out the same year, but this was about $3 with shipping and the other was $21 and I doubt 1,000 Indian Recipes was endorsed by Mario Batali.

The recipe I used was:

1/4 c. unsalted butter
1/4c. finely chopped red onion
1 28oz. can of whole peeled tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped, w
1/2 c. tomato puree saved from tomatoes
salt
1 Tbs. tomato paste
1/4 cup spicy pepper vodka
1 pound penne
1/2 cup grated parmesan

1,000 Italian Recipes called for a 1/2 cup of cream instead of the puree and no tomato paste. Keep in mind while I was making this I thought there would be a nice peppery bite to balance out all the sweet tomato-iness. The whole time I was eating it, I couldn't help but think about this capaldi recipe for a deconstruction of a tomato ravioli. I haven't been able to find agar agar (or Kanten) around, but once I do I'm totally gonna make that.

More Shrimp From Steph

Shrimp on Shabbat? Maybe. Delicious? Definitely. This fusion recipe wasn't particularly impressive, but very nice. A variation on the spring roll that included a pesto salad dressing. It works well as a delicious summer food but lacks the substance and heat for a colder season. Steph found the recipe on Epicurious and made it while I tried to get john's negative scanner to work. the good news is I did! more to come

What's Up With Copper River Salmon?

For only about 4 weeks in may the markets have been flooded with this pricey fish. Supposedly the cold waters of the copper river require the salmon store more fat for the journey, resulting in their unparalleled deliciousness. This phenomenon has been growing in popularality for the last few years and accumulated such a buzz that prices have soared to $22+/pound. I guess the higher costs come from the brief time period during which it's available

Back in Town!

Finally back in olympia! The trip was culinarily action packed and included: butter chicken, peach champagne cocktail, french toast with rum spiced pears and whipped cream, mexican breakfast casserole , baked brie, strawberry parfait, grilled honey lime chicken sandwiches, and more. (if anyone is interested in these recpies let me know and I'll post em) We drove from the twin cities to spokane in 20 hours straight. It was intense. To save money and time, we brought our own food in a cooler. Everything was really good, but by far the prize was a grilled chicken breast salad with rotelle, grilled peppers, grape tomatoes and kalamata olives. The dressing was made with oils, mayo, white wine vinegar, tomato paste and liquid smoke. There wasn't a recipe really because it was based on one of those premaid salads I got from the grocery store. I'll write down the recipe when I make it again cause it's something that needs to experienced.

Anyway, before I left I started making the coveted vodka, so it would be ready when I returned.

There's absolutely nothing that's not amazing about pepper vodka. It's basically a tincture of chili. It works so beautifully because alcohol will dissolve capsaicin and perfectly extract the flavors of the peppers and garlic, leaving you with essence of pepper in a 40% alcohol solution. Unfortunately this also naturally makes it much less tolerant of lower quality ingredients. The first time I made it I used an older clove of garlic that had gotten really spicy and the aroma overpowered the whole thing. You have to use the best quality peppers and garlic you can get your hands on. I like the purple stripe garlic cause it's really sweet. Jalepeno's are flavorful but always a gamble, especially in a recipe as finicky as this. They have a huge range of spiciness depending on when they're picked. I've had ones that went from bell-pepper-neutral, to fiery hot. Also Top Foods sucks bals because they don't have more than 5 kinds of chilis and no serranos, which I needed for the recipe. They were selling thai chilis as serranos. Both peppers look the same but serranos have 5-15,000 scoville units and thai chilis have 50-100,000, which is hotter than most habenero hot sauces.

I like drinking it 1-1 1/2 oz at at time, straight and chilled. The pleasant spiciness of the chili replaces the burn of the alcohol. But because the capsaicin dissolves in the alcohol, most of the pepper spice is washed away and doesn't linger. Extremely nice.

GET READY TO GET PEPPETIZED!

If memory serves me correct, I might wanna change the name of my blog to the pepper cult, since at least one out of three posts has to do with them. I took this picture in heaven, where I found this stuff. Don't look at it too long though it'll make you garf. I can't stop eating it on bruschetta, it's marvelous.

I have one more pepper post planned for soon, but I'm holding off for various reasons. After that, there will be NO MORE pepper posts for a long time. Even though I have a pretty big diversity in the food I make, I don't like to see my blog becoming peppercentric.

Ketchup? Not on my frites!

I probably wouldn't post about this if I was not trying to avoid writing a final paper - possibly the last paper I ever have to write for school. It's not very exciting and neither are french fries - messy, labor intensive and unhealthy, but I felt like making em. I originally planned to use the potatoes I had, in a recipe for smothered pork chops, but it will probably appear soon on my blog.

This might be the first time I fried anything in my apartment, I can't remember, but it took about a half gallon of oil to fill the wok. In the end, everything in my kitchen was covered with oil, including myself. As a lay on the floor, stuffed to the gills, making oil-angels in the puddles, I could only think of how happy it made me to have a perfect french fry. None of that crap they serve at Dick's.

I fried them twice, since that's how I understand you get a crispy product. After I cut them, I soaked em in ice water for 1/2 hour and then dried thoroughly with a clean dish towel. Fried at 350 degrees for about 6 minutes until they started to brown. Laid out on a cooling rack. I looked up a recipe that said you're supposed to let them sit for at least 20 minutes and up to 2 hours. I'm not quite sure what the logic was behind that. But chef Raymond Capaldi does:

The perfect French fry
Science is a wonderful thing. You take the French fry, you steep it in water for 20 minutes and then you’ve got starch breaking up around the potato. When you fry it, that gives you a nice glass, crispy French fry, simple as that.

By the time I finished the first fry, the first batch had probably been sitting for 20 minutes. They went back in the oil, splashing like little sea otters, getting all crispy, before I pulled out a perfect french fry.

The aioli was nothing special, just garlic mixed with chopped chipotle and mayonnaise. Unfortunately some of the adobo oil got in the mix and broke it. That's why it looks all nasty in the picture. The garlic I used was old and spicy so it had a nice punch. This was an amazing sauce, I have to say. I ate it along with some leftover roasted chicken, mmmmm.

Seattle International Film Festival

Armed with a pound of smoked turkey, a half of swiss, a loaf of bread, some fruit and a bucket of homemade trail mix, I journeyed to the city for a week long extravaganza of non-stop international film. It was, needless to say, insanely awesome. Some highlights included: Somersault, My Summer of Love, The Holy Girl, Open Hearts, 3 Iron, Genesis, 4, After Midnight, Frozen, The Lizard, The Ninth Day, Kekexili: the mountain patrol, Earth and Ashes, Mcdull; Prince de la Bun and The World. A week later I return with three oranges and a grown dislike of nutella.

Unfortunately, I had no access to a computer during the festival. I did not have had time to make food anyway, but the U-district has like 10 restaurants on every block. There's a nice little thai place that I enjoyed a lot, on university street near 45th, called Thai Tom. The place was packed and the size of a large walkin closet. I sat no more than 6 feet from the cook on the other side of the bar and watched as he worked five burners, constantly making sauces and stirfrys, cranking out a dish every few minutes. Lots of bubble tea and korean food in the area.

Siff Trail Mix

1 1/4 parts honey roasted peanuts
1/2 part lightly salted cashews
1/2 part dried cranberries
1 part banana chips
1/2 part brazil nuts
1/2 part almonds
1/2 part dried apricots, cut into quarters

I think that's everythin. combine ingredients

If you downplay the cashews in this recipe because they're so heavy, it's more nicely balanced. The brazil nuts have that great earthiness like an almond with a subtle creaminess. I noticed after a few days the salt from the nuts sucked all the moisture out of the apricots and they became tough to eat.

Trio of Pizzas

Shallot and Baby Portobello, Cheese and Basil, and Roasted Garlic and Caper and Toasted Nut Pizza




These were all quite good and highly recommended. The best and most interesting was the roasted garlic, caper and pine and walnut pizza. The corner is missing off the cheese pizza cause my cousin Robbie got anxious and stole it.

Naturally this reminds me of a story about a man camping in the woods. He had run out of his regular hair care product, but was unwilling to leave his hair unruly and unkempt before the majesty of nature so he started greasing it back with the olive oil he had with him. This went on for a few days. He didn't wash it out, he just kept adding to it. Then, he was walking through the woods and a bear picked him up like a savory lollypop and bit his head right off!

Toppings:

Mushroom and Onion pizza:
3 fairly thick sliced mushrooms
1/2 of a very learge shallot, thinly sliced
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
shredded p over the top

Cheese and Basil pizza:
4 or 5 whole basil leaves placed underneath the cheese
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
shredded p over the top

Fancy Pizza:
1 1/2 Tbs toasted pine nuts
1 1/2 Tbs toasted chopped walnut
1 Tbs capers
about 2 heads worth of roasted garlic
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
shredded p over the top

Pizza Dough:

3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 package dry active yeast
2 Tbs honey
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs butter
2 Tbs chopped herbs (I used parsley and thyme)

Combine all the ingredients and knead for 10 minutes. Put in a large bowl and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise to double it's original size before punching it back down. Divide the dough into three rectangular sections and spread out. Poke holes in the dough with a fork to let the air escape when baking.

Pizza Sauce:

2 28oz cans whole peeled tomatoes, seeded and hand crushed
1/2 medium carrot, diced
2 Tbs garlic, minced
1/2 small white onion, diced
1/2 of a large shallot, minced
3 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs parsley
1 1/2 Tbs thyme
15 large basil leaves
salt and black pepper
4 thin sliced baby portobellos

heat the oil and add the onion, cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the carrots and the shallot and season with salt and pepper, cook another 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and herbs and cook 2 more minutes. Pour in just the tomatoes and bring to a boil. Fold in the mushrooms and whole basil leaves. Reduce to a simmer and cook as long as possible, at least 1/2 hour.

Perfect for a Sunday afternoon

Roasted Pepper Soup



I may be a little obsessed with roasted peppers, but they are one of the greater simple pleasures in life. So when I noticed I still had a bunch lingering in my fridge, their fate was sealed. Unfortunately my apartment has a horrible, indecisive electric stove so I end up roasting them the old fashioned way. It gives me the time I need to prepare the other ingredients for the soup.

It was a little creamier than I expected it to be, but I used a homemade chicken/duck broth, which might explain the mysterious richness. I left cream or other dairy out of it since I knew I'd be reheating it, so I could have delicious soup to eat on a lazy sunday afternoon without any effort. The flavor of the roasted pepper didn't come through as much as I would've liked, but there's a lot of mirepoix in this recipe. Next time I'll probably cut it down.

It has a bright almost citrusy flavor from the peppers and is very savory. Sandwich recommendation would be Grilled Cheese, it's worked great so far. I wanted to go straight-up gourmet and make goat cheese and tapenade paninis, but I don't have either of those things so, whatever. It makes me sad to be eating the last of it as I type without anyone else having known the goodness of the roasted pepper soup.

Roasted Pepper Soup

3 red bell peppers
2 yellow bell peppers
1 Tbs garlic, minced
4 Tbs olive oil
1 cup onion, diced
2 ½ Tbs shallot, minced
1 ½ tsp red wine vinegar
½ cup celery, diced
½ cup carrot, diced
3 ½-4 cups homemade chicken broth
1 ½ tsp thyme leaves
pinch red pepper flake

Roasting peppers:

Preheat the oven to 350F. Cut the peppers in half lengthwise and remove the stem and seeds. Place on a baking sheet, cover lightly with olive oil salt and pepper and roast until the flesh is soft and the skin becomes wrinkly and charred, about 1 hour. When the peppers are done, cover with a large bowl or paper bag for 10 minutes to let the skins loosen. Peel the skin and let cool. Chop coarsely and set aside.

In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the carrots, onions and celery and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 3 minutes. Add the garlic, peppers, red pepper flake and thyme and cook another 3 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 25 minutes. Blend until desired smooth with a stick blender and garnish with goat cheese.

Pork!

For some reason this topic has come up several times in various contexts, so I finally decided to do it myself - This summer I will roast a whole pig.

I haven't decided how to do it yet. Luau-style would be fun but I don't have a yard to dig a hole in.

After making a few inquiries, I learned Uwajimaya in Seattle will order them at a price of $150 for 50lbs and under. I have no idea what I'd do with 50lbs of pork.

Coming Soon...

So, I'm going to use this site to learn the art of food blogging. The intention being that soon this site will move to it's own domain. Everything here is intended to be temporary, and is here now as an excuse to shirk my responsibilities.

I have just ordered a 35mm camera so I might provide the sandwich cult with only the highest quality film images and not low-contrast digital stills, which the first few pics unfortunately are.

The remainder of the month is very busy. I'm hoping to have a new recipe and something to show for it in the beginning of june. Until then, these miscellaneous low quality stills will have to suffice.

Roasted Pepper Sushi: Sashimi with Maki-Roll

I love the texture of roasted pepper; similar to raw fish. The maki roll wasn't as good but contained avocado, roasted asparagus, green onion.

Berry Mousse

This actually isn't a recipe at all, just equal parts of raspberry and blackberry puree folded into whipped cream. This didn't stop it from being absolutely exquisite.

A Tasty Brew

I took this picture awhile ago and don't really remember what this beer was like, other than it was very good. I just put it up so there would something on here.