The Bitchin' Kitchin'

Sweet Potato Macaroni and Cheese with Peas and Bacon

2012-02-13T12:00:00.006-05:00

We all know that bacon makes it better. Who doesn't know that? You? Oh, well now you know. It does.

You know what else makes it better? Sweet potatoes. Truth.

This month for my Secret Recipe Club assignment, I was matched up to the Veggie Converter blog. Now I'm not a vegetarian. However, I don't think Kristi will hold my love of bacon against me. At least I hope not!

Kristi is a wife and a mom of two kids and makes delicious vegetarian and vegan meals for them. I really think Kristi and I were meant to be friends in this life. You may ask why. This is totally because we share a passion for freezing food. In Kristi's case, she's trying to feed her family healthy meals on a daily basis. In my case, I simply don't want my meals to spoil while I'm traveling for work each week. Freezing allows me to choose a variety of meals to defrost and eat whenever I return. I like to think of these as personalized gourmet meals. Kristi knows where it's at.

Hungry? Keep on reading...

Lamb Meatballs in a Mint Tomato Sauce

2012-02-06T09:00:00.004-05:00

Confession: This was my first time ever making meatballs. I've been cooking pretty regularly for years, but meatballs have never been on my radar. I'm not sure why. They really should be, since I love bite-sized food.

In an effort to get away from the various vegetarian meals I've been posting recently on this blog, I dug deep into the recesses of the black hole that is my Bookmarks library. I reached in and pulled out this recipe. It's been on my mind to make these lamb meatballs for a while now so I figured there was no time like the present.

I love lamb. Lamb chops, lamb ragu with mint, lamb burgers. Let's make it all happen. Let's also add these lamb meatballs into the rotation. They were succulent and delicious and perfectly paired with the mint tomato sauce and a serving of cous cous.

Frankly, I don't know how I've managed to live so long without this.

Hungry? Keep on reading...

Microwave Sea Salted Caramels

2012-01-31T00:17:00.001-05:00

My mind has been completely blown.

First, I found out about sea salted caramels. I bought some and they ended up being pure amazing-ness in each bite. Wow. And now you're telling me that I can make these in a microwave?!?! Don't tease.

Here are the main reasons you don't see many candy- or caramel-related recipes on my blog:

1) I don't own a candy thermometer so I'm pretty much guessing how things are going when I'm standing over a pile of burning sugar. I do not suggest this approach.

2) I'm terrified of completely burning my face off (or any body part, really). See Reason #1.

But with this recipe, I thought I might actually have a chance at pulling it off. I decided to take one for the team, so to speak, and check out if this microwave-caramel-making claim is truly possible. And it is! It was so simple and easy that I almost couldn't believe it, even though the caramel was staring me in the face. Don't worry, I took several sample bites to make sure it was real. You know you should always taste test before providing treats, right?

Hungry? Keep on reading...

Pasta with Curry Spinach Sauce

2012-01-20T09:00:00.000-05:00

I didn't set out to make this dish. What I really set out to do was make use of some wonderful curry and red onion pasta I had laying around the kitchen. When I started trying to figure out what sauce I wanted to pair with the pasta, I came across a wonderful spinach sauce recipe from Giada. Let me tell you why it's so wonderful. It has goat cheese and cream cheese.

I love cheese. I will eat it just about anytime and anyplace. Let's just say that I'm always ready. So when I saw the ingredient list, I was hooked. However, in my past experience with flavored pastas, I didn't think the curry was going to shine as much as I wanted it to. In the interest of punching up the volume, so to speak, I added some garam masala to give the pasta a smoky, spicy flavor. This pasta dish definitely reminded me of Saag Paneer. If you're a fan of that Indian dish then this will be right up your alley.

Hungry? Keep on reading...

Pea and Goat Cheese Risotto

2012-01-14T01:43:00.001-05:00

If you don't mind, I'd like to continue along my current theme of comfort foods. That's allowed, right? Regardless of the fact that it's only been arctic cold for about 5 days out of the past 30 or so, I am always ready to whip up rich and creamy dishes at the drop of a hat.

This particular recipe was initially born out of my love of goat cheese and my discovery of a package of frozen peas. This is the truth. However, my desire to bathe my face in warm goat cheese and risotto is really what lit a fire under my "you know what".

As I strongly suspected, this risotto was fabulous. It was creamy. It was goat-cheesy. It was good for you (hello, peas are vegetables). It was warm and satisfying in my belly.

My work here is done.

Hungry? Keep on reading...

Cranberry Turkey Meatloaf

2012-01-08T11:11:00.001-05:00

Say what? The holidays are over?

First they snuck up on me, and then they whizzed on by. Let's hit pause for a second. Because I'd still like to bring you a semi-holiday dish. (Do you like the word "semi-holiday"? I just made it up, in case you couldn't tell.) I like to think of this recipe as a way to grab one last turkey and cranberry fix before the New Year completely engulfs us.

And this dish has the added bonus of helping me clean out the pantry. Seriously, you don't even want to know what's in our cupboards and how long it may or may not have been there.

So let's get to it. Most families end up having turkey with cranberry sauce for the holidays, whether it's Thanksgiving or Christmas. Since I hold no grand illusions of roasting an entire turkey for myself and my roommate, I decided that maybe I could recreate these flavors on a smaller scale. Perhaps with a cranberry and turkey meatloaf? Oooh, shut it.

Hungry? Keep on reading...

Potato Leek Soup

2012-01-02T20:11:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year!

The days are getting colder. (Although it actually warmed up for the new year here in New York. What??) This means that it's time for some soup. Let's break out the immersion blenders and the chicken broth and step up to our next challenge: Potato Leek Soup.

Now I love soup, potatoes, and leeks separately. So of course it makes perfect sense to throw them all together into a beautiful dish. This soup can be chunky or creamy, depending on how you like it. Some people like to chew their food. Some people like to slurp their food. I personally like a little bit of both textures. But any way you look at it, this soup has got you covered.

Hungry? Keep on reading...

How To De-Seed A Pomegranate

2011-12-26T01:58:00.000-05:00

Did you know that it's pomegranate season? Why yes, it is.

I've always loved pomegranates, but this year I really got a hankering to nosh on those tart little addictive seeds (a.k.a. arils).

Did you know that you can purchase these tiny arils in convenient packages in select grocery stores?

Did you also know that they will cost you an arm and a leg?

Yeah. About that...

Hungry? Keep on reading...

Asparagus Spinach Quiche

2011-12-20T22:20:00.001-05:00

This is a fact: I haven't made a quiche in over a year.

What? I love quiches. What is happening to me?

In order to get back on track, I revisited my list of quiche recipes in my arsenal. (Yes, I call my Bookmarks folder an arsenal. Don't worry about it.) I quickly found a Closet Cooking recipe for an asparagus spinach quiche. I've been a fan of Kevin's blog for a while now and my family and I have made quite a few recipes of his, so I knew that this quiche would not disappoint. What's not to love about asparagus, spinach, and lots and lots of cheese? Yes, I can get behind this.

Hungry? Keep on reading...

Ferrero Rocher Cupcakes

2011-12-16T01:08:00.001-05:00

I know I just posted a dessert recipe the other day and now I'm following up with another sweet dessert. But it's OK. You're so going to love these ones. Because they're holiday cupcakes...

Ferrero Rocher Cupcakes.

Wow, right? Yeah, that's what I think too. If you're not familiar with Ferrero Rocher, you could simply search the candy aisle for the only spherical, gold-foil-covered candy you can find. Once you unwrap the foil, you're left with a ball of chocolate hazelnut goodness. You just want to hug everybody in sight when you eat it. It's that good.

So once I stumbled across a Ferrero Rocher cupcake recipe from Cupcake Project, I knew that I needed to make these.

Do you need my justification spelled out? OK, here's why:

1. I have a love affair with chocolate.

2. I adore a good chocolate hazelnut combination.(Think Nutella. Come on!)

3. These cupcakes have a filled center. 'Nuff said.

3. I am entranced by pretty shiny things. Ferrero Rocher chocolates pretty much have that market covered.

Hungry? Keep on reading...

Salted Caramel Popcorn Pretzel Clusters

2011-12-12T00:18:00.002-05:00

Can you seriously say the title of this blog post 3 times fast? Because I have trouble saying it right the first time and I was the one who (sort of) made this name up.

These clusters actually started out as bars. You know those really convenient square/rectangle things that give you a bite or two of pure goodness? Well, that's what I was aiming for. Clearly things fell a little short. The good news is that the taste did not suffer at all. Since this dessert was still quite delicious and only lacked the ability to stick together, I whipped out some cupcake liners and separated the sweet into individual portions.

I took these to my friend's brunch party over the weekend and they were a hit. I'm usually known for my cupcakes, but these treats did not disappoint the crowd.

Hungry? Keep on reading...

Mussels in a White Wine Sauce

2011-12-06T00:45:00.001-05:00

I really wasn't a fan of mussels until I took a term abroad trip to France during high school. My classmate and I ate dinner with our host family each night and this meal consisted of whatever our host mom decided to cook that day. One night she came to the table with a huge bowl of mussels. I had never tried them before, but since it's sort of frowned upon to turn down the main course, I tentatively placed a few mussels on my plate and tested it out. And I liked it.

Ever since, I tend to go through stages where I crave nothing but a substantial serving of mussels. I don't know why, but I roll with it. Recently I got that craving again. Unfortunately, things never seemed to work out and I would always miss out on those mussels.

After a few weeks of this, it finally dawned on me that I should just make a big ol' pot of mussels myself. Why was I waiting to go to a restaurant for this deliciousness? So let's do it.

Hungry? Keep on reading...

Roasted Apples

2011-11-28T08:00:00.002-05:00

I have a great idea.

My mom came to visit me a few weeks ago and we went apple-picking. She went a little overboard, as this was her first apple-picking experience. 15lbs of apples later, this was quite apparent. And then Mom left the next day to head back to The Bahamas, sans apples.

This got me thinking.

You know how apple pie recipes always call for "cups" of apples? Well, how am I supposed to know how many apples will yield 6 cups? This inevitably leads to that moment in the grocery store when I hog the spot in front of the Granny Smith apples while trying to figure out how many apples equal 6 cups. Awkward. Then there's always at least an apple or two left over that I have to deal with.

So here's my great idea. Why not roast those extra apples up and treat yourself to a fresh, homemade apple pie without the crust? Some people say the crust is the best part (and I concur), but sometimes you just do what you gotta do.

Hungry? Keep on reading...

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes with Whiskey Espresso Frosting

2011-11-23T01:11:00.003-05:00

It's November. It's Thanksgiving-time. This means that I have been slurping on Dunkin Donuts' pumpkin spice coffee approximately 3-4 times per week since the end of September. I'm not sure exactly why it took me forever to put two-and-two together and realize that the flavors of one of my favorite beverages should be recreated in cupcake form. I'm only slightly disappointed in myself.

OK, I'm over it.

When my neighbor informed me that he was once again holding his epic pre-Thanksgiving Deep Fried Turkey party, I knew exactly where I could debut these cupcakes. Yep, right amongst the deep-fried turkey, deep-fried ravioli, deep-fried risotto balls, deep-fried onion rings...Do you see where this is going? This would be an excellent chaser for all that excellent fried food.

Hungry? Keep on reading...

Red Onion Pasta with Spicy Zucchini-Tomato Sauce

2011-11-19T08:00:00.007-05:00

Let's be honest. We all crave pasta. Who doesn't? (Pssst...if you don't, you should.) And even though I just gave you some pasta sauce earlier this week, I just had to hit you with this. This is some amazing spaghetti sauce that I need to put in your face.

OK, not really in your face. Because that would be weird. Weird and not so nice. And I want this to be a nice, welcoming blog space for you. Let's just say that you would want to put your face in it.

Wait, that's odd too. This conversation is getting awkward and heading in the wrong direction.

Instead, let's think about fresh crisp zucchini and earthy tomatoes tossed with ever-so-slightly-spicy red onion pasta. Yes, now this is heading in the right direction.

Hungry? Keep on reading...

Bolognese Sauce

2011-11-14T08:00:00.199-05:00

I recently joined a new club. It's a not-so-secret club called the Secret Recipe Club.

Here's the deal. Once you join, you're randomly assigned another person's food blog. From that blog, you need to choose one recipe to make or adapt to your liking. One. Only one! There are so many recipes to choose from out there, I wasn't sure how I'd do it.

For my first month as a part of the club, I was assigned the Living Lou blog. I was surprised to learn that Lou is an 18 year old who's infatuated with everything having to do with food. Let's see. When I was 18, I'm pretty sure I was only concerned with consuming whatever food was within reach. And I definitely was not interested in making it. Clearly Lou's got her life together already. I'm still working on that. Let's not talk about it.

What really matters is Lou's food blog. On her website, she has several recipes that caught my eye, but the one that finally won me over was the recipe for Bolognese Sauce. This was the perfect choice for me for two reasons:

1. I've been thinking about making a Bolognese sauce for months; and

2. I purchased a ton of pasta recently from Flour City Pasta and obviously needed to make more pasta sauce.

I made a few adjustments to Lou's recipe, but I rarely ever leave a good recipe alone. You must know that by now.

Bolognese Sauce

adapted from Living Lou's recipe

makes 8-10 servings

Print Recipe

1 lb ground turkey (or ground chicken)
1 lb ground pork
1 onion, chopped roughly
1 red bell pepper, chopped roughly
1 carrot, chopped roughly
handful (~3 tablespoons) basil, julienned
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 5.5oz can tomato paste
1 tsp salt
habanero sauce, to taste
1 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 cup milk
black pepper, to taste

1) Add the onion, red bell pepper, and carrot into a food processor and pulse several times until vegetables are desired size. (You can choose to chop them by hand, but this is much easier.)

2) Meanwhile, heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large pot and add all the ground meat.

3) Once the meat is done, add the chopped vegetables and the basil to the pan. Cook the mixture for about 3 minutes.

4) Toss in the garlic and cook for another minute.

5) Stir in the tomato paste and cook for about a minute.

6) Pour in the crushed tomatoes and stir to combine the sauce.

7) Sprinkle in the salt, habanero, and the spices (oregano, nutmeg, celery seed). Stir.

8) Simmer the sauce for about 45 minutes so the flavors have a chance to blend together.

9) Pour in the milk and stir to combine. Add black pepper to taste.

10) Toss with pasta and serve.

Wow. I liked this sauce. I liked this a lot. I had some Rasta Pasta in my pantry so I poured the sauce over it and dug in. (By the way, who knew a sweet potato, red pepper, carrot thyme, and lime flavored pasta blend would be so amazing? Apparently these Flour City Pasta guys did.)

Lou mentioned that this would be a staple in her house during the winter and I tend to agree. This sauce is warm and comforting enough to get me through the nippy winter weather that has come barging into New Jersey way too early this year. The meat and vegetables formed a hearty savory/sweet base for the sauce and the tomatoes and seasonings were aromatic and spicy. As I have several pounds of pasta in my pantry, I will gladly consume all this bolognese sauce until it is extinct.

Thanks for the recipe, Lou!

Spekuloos Cookies

2011-11-07T21:19:00.002-05:00

Who doesn't love some gingerbread? It's getting closer to the holidays now and even though Christmas decorations are popping up like wildfire, I'm trying to take it slow. I want to ease into the holiday season.

Just let me have this moment and a spekuloos cookie, please.

Yes, the spicy spekuloos cookie. Tastes like gingerbread, ya know. I like gingerbread. This works.

And since I had spekuloos laying around (as we ALL should), I threw it in some batter and whipped up a few treats for no reason at all. I see no problem with this.

Spekuloos Cookies

adapted from allrecipes.com Peanut Butter Cookies

makes ~60 cookies*

Print Recipe

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup spekuloos
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1) Cream together the butter, spekuloos, and sugars.

2) Add the eggs, beating well after adding each egg.

3) In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.

4) Stir into batter, then put the batter in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

5) Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place on baking sheets. Flatten each ball with a fork, making a criss-cross pattern.

6) Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F oven for 8-10 minutes or until cookies begin to brown. Let cool for several minutes before removing from the tray.

* The original recipe for this says that this batter yields 24 cookies. I got much more than that, so I'm not sure what the deal was there. Just be aware that you may get a lot more cookies than you bargain for.

My cookies sort of flattened out and didn't hold the criss-cross pattern very well. I think the butter in the batter didn't chill as much as it should have, which lead the cookies to spread in the oven. In spite of this, the cookies were pretty tasty. Since they were thin, they were a little crunchy but I don't mind that at all. Just because a cookie isn't chewy doesn't mean we throw it away. Work with it, people. The cookies ended up being a cross between a sugar and a gingerbread cookie. This equals perfect yummy-ness.

Ground Beef Kheema

2011-10-29T17:17:00.000-04:00

For some reason, I have an obscene list of recipes bookmarked and just waiting to be created. For some reason my brain thinks that I have all this spare time in which I can cook and bake to my heart's content.

Yeah right.

One of the recipes that I had save to try out sometime was something called a kheema. More specifically, it was a turkey kheema recipe. It was on my "To Make Soon" bookmark list, which means that I really really wanted to make it soon. (I know I might be coming across as a deranged person right now, but really I'm not.. For serious.) Of course I kept putting it off. Then imagine my surprise one day when I was minding my own business, watching Aarti Party, and she began to talk about a kheema recipe. I looked on in food jealousy as Aarti made a ground beef kheema on her show.

The next weekend, I was on top of this recipe...

Ground Beef Kheema
adapted from Aarti Party
makes 4-6 servings

Print Recipe

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (1-inch thumb) fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon habanero sauce, optional
~1 pound ground beef
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup beer (I used Sam Adams Octoberfest)
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
2 teaspoons malt vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1) In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat.

2) Add the onions to the skillet and cook until golden.

3) Next, add in the garlic and ginger. Saute for another minute.

4) Stir in the coriander, paprika, garam masala, cumin and habanero sauce and cook the mixture for 1 minute.

5) Place the beef in the pan, break up any lumps, and saute until the meat is no longer pink.

6) Toss in the tomatoes, beer, some salt and pepper.

7) Stir in the peas and simmer the kheema, partially covered, for about 5 minutes.

8) Sprinkle in the vinegar and the chopped cilantro.

9) Serve with rice, pasta, or on a bun (as a sloppy joe).

Let's be honest for a second. I didn't read the reviews of Aarti's ground beef kheema at first. When I made this, I added the cup of liquid (beer, in my case) that the original recipe called for. Then I wondered why the sauce actually looked like soup for a hot minute. Hmmm...that was when I read the reviews and noticed that everyone was complaining about the amount of liquid used in the recipe. I updated the recipe above to only use 1/4 cup of beer instead.

Now back to the kheema...

Why did I wait so long to make this thing? I need to make this again and again. I can't begin to tell you how warm, smoky, and spicy the kheema was. The beer gives the sauce an extra depth and the peas provide a nice snap with each bite. I am torn as to whether or not I would try to add more spices next time; as in a healthier dose of the existing spices, not additional spices. My urge to heavily season all my food wants me to do it, but this tasted great in any case, so if you're making this yourself, it's all up to you.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

2011-10-24T22:58:00.000-04:00

I have been worn down.

My client has worn me down. My manager has worn me down.

Yes. They got me. Over some red velvet cupcakes.

Let me tell you that ever since I started making cupcakes on a semi-regular basis, I have had to fend off requests for these particular cupcakes. I routinely made the mistake of asking people for flavor suggestions and then I would hear the list of usual suspects. Red velvet would always be on that list. And I would always veto this suggestion because *gasp* I don't like red velvet cupcakes.

Somewhere in my distant past I had tried a red velvet cupcake and was turned off by it. So although I hadn't tried one in years I knew I didn't like it. And you can verify with any member of my family that I'm a stubborn one. If you try to get my to like something repeatedly, I'll put my foot down and claim instant dislike.

I was able to fend off my client for the past year or two. I finally caved in when my client and my manager teamed up to bombard me with red velvet cupcake requests.

FINE!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

cupcake slightly adapted from the Cupcakes blog recipe

yields ~36 cupcakes

Print Recipe

3 3/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 heaping teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 oz. red food coloring (half of a bottle) plus 1/2 - 1 teaspoon no-taste-red icing color gel (the original recipe states that you can use two bottles of red food coloring, but I was worried that it would give the cupcakes a funny taste)
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with cupcakes liners.

2) Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, cocoa and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

3) Using a mixer, beat butter and sugar together for a few minutes, until light and fluffy.

4) Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then add in the vanilla.

5) Add the red dye to the buttermilk and mix well to combine.

6) Beginning and ending with the flour mixture, alternate adding the flour and buttermilk mixtures into the batter. Beat well after each addition.

7) In a medium sized bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. Be careful, as it will fizz.

8) Add the vinegar mixture to the batter and stir well to combine.

9) Fill cupcake cups with cake batter until they are ~2/3 full. Bake for 16-18 minutes.

10) Place muffin tins in your preheated oven. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean.

11) Let the cupcakes cool for a few minutes in the cupcake tray. Then remove them from the tray and allow to cool completely.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
from my coworker Deirdre of Zoe's Cupcakes

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
6 ounces white chocolate, melted
3 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

1) In a mixer, cream together the shortening, butter and cream cheese.

2) Add the vanilla and melted chocolate. Stir to combine.

3) Slowly add the sugar to the mixture, a few tablespoons at a time.

4) Spread or pipe onto cooled cupcakes. (If you choose to pipe the frosting, you may need to double the recipe.)

I snagged this frosting recipe from one of my coworkers. She had used it to frost a red velvet cake and it was so delicious I knew I needed to "borrow" it for my red velvet cupcakes. The frosting that I made came out pretty much the same as hers, thank goodness. It was light and fluffy with an extra oomph of sweetness and flavor from the white chocolate. Most people couldn't figure out the identity of this secret ingredient but the chocolate really made the frosting outstanding. And combined with the red velvet cake, I have to say that I may now be a red velvet cake/cupcake believer. The cake had the cocoa flavor that is distinctive to any red velvet cake. I also found that the texture of the cake was pretty light and airy, which matched well with the frosting.

OK, so maybe the red velvet cupcake is beginning to warm my stone cold heart. Who knew? I didn't take these cupcakes to my client or my manager because I ended up over-baking them by a few minutes. I think our oven is having technical difficulties.... But I will make sure that my work family will get their red velvet cupcake fix very soon!

Fresh Corn and Goat Cheese Polenta

2011-10-17T22:31:00.000-04:00

For as much as I've been pretending it's still summer, I really do love fall. And I will have more fall-related recipes on this blog soon. But I think I've finally satiated my summer corn fixation with one final final final corn recipe. I've been saving this one for a few weeks. It's not because I'm selfish, but because I simply haven't had the time to get around to it. So now here it is. Hopefully this recipe isn't too late to catch the last ears of fresh corn at the market or store.

When I made that Chili-Corn Casserole the other day, I found that I still had a lot of polenta left over. I decided I would use the rest of it in a variation of a Joy the Baker recipe. And I would definitely recommend this fresh corn and goat cheese polenta action for a quick breakfast or brunch situation.

Fresh Corn and Goat Cheese Polenta
adapted from Joy the Baker's Fresh Corn and Goat Cheese Grits recipe
yields 4-5 cups

Print Recipe

1 ear of corn, kernels cut off
1/2 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, chopped
18 oz tube precooked polenta, chopped as finely as possible
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup 2% milk (or whichever kind of milk you prefer)
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 oz goat cheese, crumbled
Salt
Pepper
Paprika and/or cayenne pepper (optional)

1) Drizzle the olive oil in a saucepan and saute the onion for 1-2 minutes.

2) Add the corn and garlic to the pan. Saute for another 1-2 minutes, or until softened.

3) Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4) Meanwhile, combine the polenta, butter and milk in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave the mixture for a minute at a time, mashing the polenta and milk together periodically to make it creamy. (You can also do this step in a pot over medium heat on the stove, but it's quicker in a microwave.)

5) Stir the corn and onion mixture into the polenta mixture.

6) Add the crumbled goat cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste

7) Sprinkle a dash of paprika and/or cayenne pepper to taste.

I think this dish could have been amped up by using creamy polenta that was made from scratch instead of the pre-made polenta. But if you're in a pinch, or if you just have leftover pre-made polenta, then you can make this instead. The creamy, tart goat cheese melts into the butter polenta and provides the perfect complement to the sweet corn. This dish would be a great addition to any meal.

Goat Cheese Frozen Yogurt

2011-10-11T19:10:00.000-04:00

My taste buds are funky. They make me crave things at the oddest time.

Like that time when I wanted to eat some goat cheese but the only cracker-like objects I had in the kitchen were pretzels. Then I started craving goat cheese and pretzels. Because it's actually a pretty good combo.

More recently I've been craving frozen yogurt. Our neighborhood grocery store just opened up a frozen yogurt/coffee bar and it's absolutely amazing. I walk to the grocery store at all hours. I drive to the grocery store at all hours. I went there at 7am one morning to get some frozen yoguyt on my drive in to work that day. It turns out you cannot get frozen yogurt there at 7am, even though the they claim to be open then. That was a sad day.

So imagine my excitement when one of my favorite bloggers, Julia, busted out with a goat cheese frozen yogurt recipe. I knew I had to try this as soon as possible. Yes, of course I waited until it was fall to test this recipe out. You wouldn't think I'd do it during the summer, did you?

Goat Cheese Frozen Yogurt

slightly altered from the Fat Girl in a Skinny Body blog

makes 3-4 cups

Print Recipe

14 ounces 2% Greek yogurt
1/2 cup sugar
3 ounces goat cheese, softened
1 tablespoon cornstarch

1) Combine all ingredients in the blender and mix until fully incorporated.

2) Pour the mixture into a sealed, freezer-safe container. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

3) Place the container in the freezer for about 7 hours. The amount of time you will need to freeze the yogurt depends on how cold your freezer gets. Also, it depends on how soft or hard you like your yogurt. You can experiment with the firmness of the frozen yogurt and see what you like best.

* One of the things Julia recommended was stirring the frozen yogurt about halfway through the freezing process. I did this as well, but like Julia said, she wasn't sure if this actually made a difference or not. The frozen yogurt still came out fine!

What can I say? I loved this. The frozen yogurt was tangy from the goat cheese, and sweet and creamy from the yogurt. To break it down, this mostly tastes like frozen Greek yogurt with sweetened goat cheese. I know that should be pretty apparent from the ingredient list, but I was still surprised for some reason. Surprised in a good way though. In a good, stuff-your-mouth-full-of-goat-cheese-frozen-yogurt way.

Scalloped Corn with Bacon

2011-10-04T21:46:00.001-04:00

I know.

I know that corn season is almost over. I know that in spite of this fact, I've still been throwing corn dishes at you as if it was my job. Don't judge me. I am ashamed to admit that I really only discovered the wonderful lusciousness of fresh corn dishes this year.

This doesn't mean that I've never eaten fresh corn prior to this year. Let's not get it twisted. I just never took the time to cook or bake with fresh corn. So although I'm so late jumping on this bandwagon, jump on it I did. And I'm soooo glad that I'm there. Who knew the party was this much fun?

Just to make it funner (yeah, I just said that) I threw in some bacon too. Because everything's better with bacon. If you didn't know that, well, now you do.

Shout outs to Shutterbean and the Joy The Baker podcast for the heads up on this recipe. Otherwise I would totally have missed it and that would have been a tragedy.

Scalloped Corn with Bacon

adapted from Shutterbean's Scalloped Corn

Print Recipe

2 tablespoons butter
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Salt
Pepper
Habanero sauce
1 1/2 cups half and half
3 cups sweet corn (about 5 ears)
2 egg yolks
4 strips bacon, fried and roughly chopped*
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
Cooking spray

1) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly spray a baking dish with the cooking spray. I used a 9"x13" or 1-1/2 quart baking dish.

2) Melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat in a medium to large pan. Add the onion and a pinch of salt. Saute until softened, about 5 minutes.

3) Sprinkle in the flour, salt, pepper, and habanero sauce to taste. Stir to combine.

4) Pour in the half and half and stir until the sauce begins to thicken.

5) Add the corn and simmer for 2 minutes. Taste and add more seasonings if necessary. Remove the corn mixture from the heat.

6) In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks together, and then stir into the corn.

7) Stir in the chopped bacon.

8) Pour the entire mixture into the baking dish. Sprinkle the fresh bread crumbs over the top of the mixture and dot with 1 tablespoon of butter.

9) Bake for 30 minutes, or until the butter is melted and the breadcrumbs are golden and toasted.

* Tip: You can use my method and lay the strips of bacon on a foil-lined baking sheet. Pop them in a 400 degree F oven for 8-10 minutes. When the bacon is done, simply toss the foil away!

Seriously, let's use fresh bread crumbs, people. I have tried to dodge this step in the past, but the taste difference between fresh and packaged can't be measured. I gave in this time and I'm happy I did. You can do it too.

The fresh corn is amazing when it's mixed with the butter, cream, bacon, and breadcrumbs. Doesn't that sound like a perfectly balanced meal? It's definitely balanced. Again, don't judge me. This is a perfect and easy side dish that would complement any meal.

Chili-Corn Casserole

2011-09-26T22:12:00.002-04:00

Remember when I told you to save those few cups of Slow-Cooker Texas Chili for later? Well, have no fear. It is now later. And we're about to make some magic by mixing this chili with corn, scallions, polenta, and cheese.

Get on this. It is heavenly.

I shouldn't have to "note" this, but I will, just to make sure you know...You can use any chili you like in this dish. You don't have to make the Slow-Cooker Texas Chili recipe. You should make it because it's delicious, but I realize it may not be for everyone. So have at it with whatever kind of chili you want.

Now can we just jump right in? Because I'm starving (as usual) and I need my sustenance.

Chili-Corn Casserole

from Food Network Magazine

Print Recipe

1 - 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
4 - 5 ears of corn, kernels cut off* (I used 5 because my ears of corn were small)
Salt
6 scallions, chopped
3 - 4 cups Slow-Cooker Texas Chili (or any chili you have on hand)
2 cups white cheddar cheese and Mexican blend cheese (or you can use any cheese you like)
18 oz tube precooked polenta, cut into 1/2 inch rounds
Cooking spray

* Here's an awesome and time-saving tip I learned from the Shutterbean blog: Use a bundt pan to catch the corn kernels when you cut them off the ears!

1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

2) Melt the butter in a pan over medium-high heat.

3) Add the corn and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook for 5-6 minutes, or until tender.

4) Toss in the scallions and cook for about 1 minute, or until the scallions are soft.

5) Lightly spray the baking dish with cooking spray. (I used a 1 1/2 L pan, but the original recipe calls for an 8-inch square baking dish. Choose your poison.) Spread the chili in the bottom of the dish.

6) Sprinkle half of the corn mixture, and then half of the cheese over the chili.

7) Add the polenta rounds on top of the corn mixture.

8) Sprinkle the remaining corn mixture and cheese over the polenta.

9) Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Watch the dish to ensure the cheese is golden and bubbly. You really just want the entire casserole to heat through.

10) Let the casserole stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.

This was my first time trying ready-made/tubed polenta. I found out that I didn't really like it on its own. But once the polenta was soaked in the chili broth, then combined with the melted cheese, tender beef, fresh corn and spicy scallions, it was a whole different story. I ate forkfuls of this casserole without even thinking. I could probably finish half of the entire thing in one sitting. I think next time I would try using creamy polenta in place of the ready-made polenta, but that would be the only change. Other than that, I would say you should whip this up as soon as possible for a quick and easy brunch or dinner!

Slow-Cooker Texas Chili

2011-09-19T21:49:00.000-04:00

Summer, where did you go?

I enjoyed having you around. I liked the bright sunshine and the endless outdoor events. I liked the cute summer dresses I got to wear. I liked the warm breezes that blew past me in the evening.

I didn't like the stifling, humid days that turned (several of) my cupcake attempts into mush. I didn't like the way you made me sweat in places I really don't want sweat. I didn't like the endless block parties across the street from me which threatened to only end after 3am.

But now your cooler counterpart is here: Fall. Welcome. You are my favorite.

NFL football has started again. I can wear sweats with wild abandon. Pumpkin coffee is back at Dunkin Donuts. Nuff said.

And now that I am thoroughly satisfied with the weather, I can sit down on the couch (in sweats, of course), watch some quality fall television programs, and chow down on a bowl of smoky, spicy chili. More specifically, some Slow-Cooker Texas Chili.

Slow-Cooker Texas Chili

slightly adapted from Food Network Magazine

yields 4 servings*

Print Recipe

2 1/2 lbs beef chuck, cut into 2 inch cubes**
2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
Salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 small onions, finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 4.5 oz cans chopped green chiles, drained
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 cup chili powder
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons ground (cayenne) red pepper
1 1/2 cups dark beer
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes with chiles
sliced scallions, fresh cilantro, and/or sour cream for topping

**I would recommend trimming as much of the fat off the meat as possible (as you will see, I didn't do this...)

1) Place the beef in a large bowl and add 1 tablespoon brown sugar and 1 tablespoon salt.

2) Pour the vegetable oil into a large pan over medium-high heat. Sear the beef on all sides. You will probably need to do this in several batches.

3) Remove the beef from the pan and place it in a 5-6 quart slow cooker.

4) Lower the heat underneath the pan to medium. Add the onion to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes, or until soft.

5) Stir in the garlic, chiles, cumin, chili powder, paprika, and cayenne pepper. Allow the mixture to cook for about 3 minutes.

6) Pour in 1 1/2 cups dark beer (I used Sam Adams Octoberfest) and the tomatoes. Allow the mixture to come to a simmer for about 3 minutes, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.

7) Transfer the contents of the pan to the slow cooker.

8) Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 7 hours.

9) Sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon of brown sugar over the chili.

10) Serve with scallions, cilantro, and/or sour cream for toppings.

Alert! Save 3-4 cups of chili for a Chili Corn Casserole that I'm posting soon on the blog! If you don't plan on saving any chili for this dish, then you'll probably get another 2-3 servings out of this recipe.

This chili was different from most chilis I've had before. In a good way. There weren't the usual distractions from the meat, such as beans and other fillers, so I could really focus on how spicy, tender, and hearty the beef was. I think there was a bit too much liquid in the chili once it was done. So maybe I'd 1/2 cup to a cup less beer when making this again. But otherwise, no complaints. Add a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle scallions and cilantro over the chili and you get a perfectly comforting fall meal.

Spekuloos Cupcakes

2011-09-14T23:45:00.000-04:00

I picked up a bottle of the "good stuff" several weeks ago. What, pray tell, is the "good stuff"? Spekuloos. It's a gingerbread spread that I picked up from the Wafels & Dinges food truck earlier this summer. It was a warm, gooey and spicy topping for a crispy, sweet waffle, so of course I devoured the whole thing. Then my friend Katie and I each took a jar of the "good stuff" home.

I'm a little ashamed to admit that I didn't envision a cupcake right away. Then I happened to be checking out one of my favorite blogs, Cupcake Project. Stef had made peanut butter cookie dough that was safe to eat. I thought that was pretty interesting, but I didn't get inspired by the recipe until I saw her next post: peanut butter cookie dough frosting.

I'm not particularly interested in making cookies. They're not my dessert of choice, though I rarely turn one down. But this frosting business sounded pretty tasty. I whipped out my jar of spekuloos in anticipation.

I got down to business using the spekuloos in a batch of frosting. I smeared this frosting over a batch of white cupcakes that I whipped up. How was it? The frosting ended up not being for me because I think it was a little too heavy for the white cake. If I could somehow lighten up the frosting a bit then I think I would like it more. But in terms of flavors, I definitely got the sweet gingerbread taste that I was after.

Spekuloos Cupcakes

slightly adapted from A Sweet Spoonful's Salted Caramel Cupcake recipe

yields ~24 cupcakes

Print Recipe

1 cup 2% milk
4 large egg whites, room temperature
2 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, room temperature
3/4 cup heavy cream

5) Beat at a low speed until blended, then beat at medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute.

6) Add the egg white mixture in 3 additions, beating the batter on medium-speed for 20 seconds after each addition.

7) In another bowl, using a mixer, beat the cream until soft peaks form.

8) Stir 1/3 of the whipped cream into the batter, then fold in the rest with a spatula.

9) Fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full with the batter. Bake for 20-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean.

10) Let the cupcakes cool for a few minutes in the cupcake tray. Then remove them from the tray and allow to cool completely.

Note: I used the same cupcake recipe for my Salted Caramel Cupcakes. I had issues at the time with the wrappers peeling away from the cake. This time I used a mixture of paper and foil cupcake liners and didn't have an issue with either one. I think I had the problem before because it was humid outside.

Spekuloos Cookie Dough Frosting
adapted from Cupcake Project's Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Frosting
yields ~4 cups

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup spekuloos spread
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoons each of cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg (I would go easy on the spices and add more later if you need too.)
6-7 teaspoons milk

1) Mix all ingredients together in a big mixing bowl, with the exception of the milk.

2) Add the milk slowly. Add more milk for a creamier frosting or less milk for a thicker frosting.

3) Spread frosting on cooled cupcakes.

Asian Wasabi Noodle Salad

2011-09-09T00:16:00.002-04:00

Sometimes I crave vegetables. I know. That's weird.

Sometimes I also crave soy sauce. Am I freaking you out yet?

I was trying to figure out how I could satisfy these cravings when I realized I had some wasabi fettuccine in the cupboard just begging to be used. Thus, the seed was planted to create an Asian noodle salad.

Yeah, I have wasabi fettuccine hanging out in my kitchen. What? You don't? No worries, just use regular pasta and stay the course...

Asian Wasabi Noodle Salad
yields 4-6 servings

Print Recipe

~1/2 lb wasabi fettuccine
2 small broccoli heads, chopped
3-4 small/medium carrots, cut into matchsticks
1 medium red pepper, cut into matchsticks
1/4 cup sliced scallions
1/2 cup soy sauce
4 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon habanero sauce (or chili sauce)
1 garlic clove, chopped

1) Add the pasta to a pot of boiling water.

2) When the pasta has about 3 minutes left, add the broccoli to the pot.

3) With about 1 minute left, add the carrot and pepper to the pot just to blanch them.

4) Strain the pasta and vegetables in a colander and add to a bowl.

5) Toss in the scallions, soy sauce, rice vinegar, olive oil, habanero sauce, and chopped garlic.

6) Serve warm or at room temperature.

One of the things I really like about this recipe is that it's super quick and convenient. By "quick", I just mean that you can whip the meal up in a timely fashion. If you have killer knife skills, you will definitely make this dish more quickly than I did. By "convenient", I mean that you only have to wash one pot when all is said and done. I can get behind that one.

Let's talk about taste. Phenom. The carrots, peppers, and soy sauce all combine to form a beautiful salty and sweet combination. You know I love a good salty/sweet combo. The vegetables gave the salad a crispy crunchiness (Yes, that's a phrase. I just made it up.) and the Asian flavors were pretty prominent. I definitely got my vegetable and soy sauce fix. One thing I was disappointed about was the wasabi pasta. I didn't exactly get any wasabi flavor from the pasta itself. All of the heat seemed to come from the habanero sauce I added, but in the end this didn't hurt the taste at all. Next time I think I'm going to up the ante and also add some edamame to this mix. Because that would just be amazing.

Strawberry Infused Vodka

2011-09-03T00:23:00.002-04:00

I've got a new obsession. Let's be clear. I have a new obsession every few weeks, but this one is cracking me up. It's called a podcast. And they're funny, people. Hilarious.

Let me stop here for a minute. I know that many of you are already familiar with such things as a podcast. But if you don't know, I'll explain. A podcast is similar to a radio broadcast. It's just broadcast across the internet instead of across the airwaves. Just as with regular radio shows, these podcasts have themes and regular hosts. They don't have to be funny, but why would you listed to a podcast if it wasn't entertaining?

My favorite podcast these days is hosted by Joy The Baker. And even though it's called the Joy The Baker podcast, Joy is actually having a discussion with Tracy from the Shutterbean blog. They talk about everything that you care about, everything that you don't care about, and sometimes they even talk about food. They have the most hilarious commentary ever and it's totally worth listening to every week.

What does this have to do with infusing vodka? I'll tell you. In one of these podcasts, Tracy mentioned that she likes to infuse strawberries into vodka. I'm not mad at her. I love this idea and ran out to purchase mason jars to do the exact same thing myself.

Strawberry Infused Vodka

recipe from the Shutterbean blog

Print Recipe

1lb strawberries, hulled and chopped roughly
750mL vodka (I used Skyy but any kind is fine)

1) Fill a mason jar or other sealable container with the strawberries.

2) Add the vodka almost to the top of the container.

3) Seal the container and store in a cool, dark place for 7 days.

4) Agitate the container daily. (Try to do it twice each day, but if you forget it's fine.) DO NOT open the container before the 7 days are up.

5) When the vodka is ready, use a sieve to separate the strawberries from the liquid. You can also choose to strain using a coffee filter if you don't want to have small dregs of strawberry seeds in your vodka. (I didn't care so I just strained the vodka once using a sieve.)

6) Store the vodka in the refrigerator so that it's well chilled.

There are so many things you can do with this vodka. Some of my personal faves include adding the vodka to cupcake frostings, drinking it chilled by itself, and including it in a mixed drink. My favorite strawberry-infused vodka mixed drink? A Strawberry G&T. Yeah, get that strawberry gin and tonic. I like my drink with a splash of lemon juice as well to make it a little tart. And if I'm being super creative (also known as a super lush), I also add in a splash of tequila. Do you see where this is going? So versatile. Love it.

Now get your drink on.

Potato-Portobello Gratin

2011-08-29T18:50:00.004-04:00

I've been neglecting sides lately.

Entrees? Covered.

Desserts? I got you.

But sides haven't been getting much love. Enter the Potato-Portobello Gratin.

The first gratin I made was a Broccoli Gratin, which was quite tasty. Since then I've been interested in making another gratin, but I never quite got around to it. I stumbled across this quick side dish a while ago so I finally made time to whip it up.

Potato-Portobello Gratin

slightly adapted from Alton Brown's recipe

Print Recipe

4 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled
2 Portobello mushroom caps, sliced thinly
1-2 teaspoons fresh dill, chopped
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan
3/4 cup heavy cream
salt and black pepper, to taste

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cheese for the top of the gratin.

2) Thinly slice the potatoes into rounds. (If you're fancy, you can use a mandolin for this. I didn't have one so I worked on my knife skills.)

Tip: I kept the potatoes in a bowl of water as I went along to prevent browning.

3) For the first layer, lay the slices in overlapping rows on the bottom of the pan. Lightly season the first layer with salt and pepper.

4) Place the mushroom cap slices on top of the potatoes.

5) Scatter a thin layer of dill over the mushrooms.

6) Spread a handful of the cheese over the dill.

7) Repeat Steps 3-6 until the gratin is completed. Don't press down on the gratin while you are building it. Otherwise, the cream won't be able to get between the layers.

8) Pour the cream over the gratin. You may not need to use the entire 3/4 cup of cream. Pour until you see the cream at the top of the gratin or until you run out of cream.

9) Sprinkle the 1/2 cup of reserved cheese over the top of the gratin.

10) Cover the baking dish loosely with foil and bake for 40 minutes. The gratin is done when you can easily pierce the potatoes with a sharp knife.

11) If the gratin is done, remove the foil and bake for another 5 minutes. You can also use a broiler for this step.*

12) Remove the baking dish and allow the gratin to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before cutting into it and serving.

* I have a confession: The broiler tray of the oven is storing baking trays and I was too lazy to move them in order to use the broiler. So there. Now you know.

Overall, I like this side dish. I didn't love it, however. You guys already know me, right? So you wouldn't be surprised if I told you that I wanted more cheese in this. There was also something else missing, but I can't quite put my finger on what it might be. Here's what I did like: the potatoes were tender, the portobellos were still a little firm and the dill provided a nice fresh flavor.

So there ya go. This dish doesn't quite stack up to my Broccoli Gratin, but I am not discouraged. It's time to try, try again.

Creamy Corn Chowder

2011-08-26T01:16:00.002-04:00

It's summer. Yes. It's still summer. Never mind the (very) minor chill in the air in the mornings and evenings now. I'm holding on to the dream of warm weather sticking around for the coming few months. It's still summer. I swear.

To help fuel my endless summer fantasy, I made a creamy corn chowder, courtesy of Rocco's Now Eat This Cookbook. I wanted to take advantage of the fresh corn that is still in season right now and sweet, fresh corn always reminds me of summer. For some reason I was also craving a chowder of sorts, so Rocco's recipe really addressed both of my cravings. Think of this as a gently compromise between summer and fall.

Creamy Corn Chowder

slightly adapted from Rocco's Now Eat This cookbook
makes ~8 servings

Print Recipe

2 small onions, diced
Drizzle of olive oil
Corn kernels from 6 ears fresh corn
3 cups cauliflower, diced
5 cups 2% milk (or any % desired)
Habanero sauce, to taste
4.25 oz can green chiles, diced finely
14 oz Greek yogurt
1 bunch scallions, sliced thinly
Salt and pepper, to taste

Tip: If you do harvest the corn kernels from ears of fresh corn, run the back of your knife down the empty ear of corn once you're done removing the kernels. "Corn milk" will be produced and you can add this to the soup for extra flavor.

1) Add the olive oil to a large pot over medium heat. When the oil is fragrant, add the onion and corn.

2) Saute the onion and corn until they start to soften. Season with salt and pepper.

3) Add the habanero sauce, cauliflower and milk. (Add the "corn milk" at this time as well.) Cover the pot and bring the chowder to a boil.

4) Reduce the heat to medium-low and allow the chowder to gently simmer until the vegetables are tender, approximately 15 minutes.

5) Strain 2 cups of the chowder solids through a sieve or finely-slotted spoon and reserve for later. Add half of the green chiles to the chowder solids.

6) Add the other half of the green chiles to the pot of chowder.

7) Using an immersion blender or regular blender, puree the chowder until smooth. (If using a regular blender, be careful when filling the blender with the hot chowder! Return the chowder to the pot once pureed.)

8) Add the chowder solids back into the pot and bring the chowder to a boil.

9) Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the yogurt and scallions.

10) Season the chowder to taste with salt, pepper, and habanero sauce.

If you like, you can choose to roast the ears of corn prior to adding them to the pot. That should infuse a smoky flavor into the chowder. You can also choose to puree the entire chowder, but I personally like that the chowder has chunks of corn and chile submerged in the puree. Every spoonful of the chowder is creamy from the puree, but then your mouth realizes that there are itty-bitty morsels in there to munch on. The corn is sweet, the chiles are tangy, and the scallions are mild and crunchy. The heat from the habanero sauce is subtle, but it adds a little kick to the dish that would sorely be missed otherwise. This chowder turned out to be more filling than I had initially anticipated but each mouthful was taken down with pure joy.

Bonnaroo Cupcakes (aka Chocolate Cupcakes with Espresso Malted Whiskey Frosting)

2011-08-16T00:29:00.002-04:00

I've had really poor "cupcake mojo" lately. As in really, really poor mojo. To give you a synopsis, these cupcakes were the result of 3 weekends of baking attempts. I even made two batches of cupcakes last weekend, but nothing was working. My cupcakes ended up either overflowing from the liners or deflating in the oven. Then there was that one time I accidentally added an extra cup of sugar to the batter, but we won't talk about that. Finally, after weeks of sucking at making cupcakes, I managed to pull out a dozen successful baked goods.

I'm not getting carried away just yet, though. I was actually trying to make 2 dozen cupcakes and only 12 made it out of the oven unscathed. It's a start.

Side note #1: I just read an article about how the summer humidity makes baking absolutely unpredictable. This is my excuse. Seriously.

Now we can get to the good stuff: my Bonnaroo cupcakes. They are fabulous. And they were inspired by a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor. Bonus.

A few weeks ago, I was on my way home from my dance studio and I realized that I was hungry. Of course I figured a pint of ice cream would be the perfect solution to this problem so I stopped at a local convenience store to check out the options. And what did they happen to have? Ben & Jerry's Bonnaroo ice cream.

Bonnaroo. What is it? In a nutshell, it's an annual music festival held in Manchester, Tennessee. Somehow Ben and Jerry have figured out how to capture the essence of the festival and everything Tennessee stands for in an ice cream flavor: "Coffee and Malt Ice Cream with Whiskey Caramel Swirl & English Toffee Pieces." This already sounds like a cupcake flavor, right? So I just made sure it became one...

Side note #2: I'm sure Tennessee stands for a lot more than coffee, whiskey and malt flavors, but just go with it for now.

Bonnaroo Cupcakes (aka Chocolate Cupcakes with Espresso Malted Whiskey Frosting)

adapted from Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake recipe
makes ~24 cupcakes

Print Recipe

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 rounded tablespoons espresso powder
1 cup boiling water

1) Heat oven to 350°F. Place cupcakes liners in cupcakes tins.

2) Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla in mixing bowl.

3) In another bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

4) With the mixer on medium speed, gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in several increments. Mix ingredients together for another 2 minutes to blend completely.

5) Dissolve the espresso powder in the boiling water.

6) Stir the boiling water into the batter. The batter will be thin.

7) Pour batter into cupcake liners. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter.

8) Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely.

Malted Whiskey Frosting

adapted from Smitten Kitchen's Bailey's Frosting

6 tablespoons whiskey (such as Jameson)
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 teaspoon malted milk powder
4 - 5 cups confections sugar
2 sticks (1 cup or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
~24 miniature Heath bars (or ~6 regular-sized Heath bars)

1) Whisk the espresso and malted milk powders into the whiskey. The powder will dissolve a bit, but not entirely. That is fine. Set this mixture aside.

2) Whip the butter using an electric or hand mixer for several minutes. You want the butter to look almost white and be very light and fluffy.

3) Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.

4) When the frosting is thick, drizzle in the whiskey mixture. Whip until combined. If the frosting is too thin at this point, add another spoonful or two of powdered sugar. If the frosting is still too thick, add more whiskey!

5) Pipe or spread on the cupcakes.

6) Sprinkle Heath bar pieces on top of the frosting.

I had excellent intentions of also adding a drizzle of caramel on top of the cupcakes, but in all honesty I totally forgot. But you should get your caramel on. Totally do it.

I held back on the whiskey because I was taking these cupcakes to work, but if I was making them for friends I would have added another tablespoon or two. I don't normally consume whiskey, but I've discovered that I love it in my desserts because it turns into a sweet, oak-y flavor when mixed into the frosting. Add that to the espresso and malt flavors, along with the chocolate cake and the crunchy toffee and you have a pretty bangin' cupcake there.

Sausage-Cauliflower Spaghetti

2011-08-08T00:03:00.003-04:00

I've really been into pasta lately.

Now let me drop some knowledge on you. Pasta is not your friend in the summertime. Why can't I understand that? Oh, I can't. I'm too busy eating pasta. I guess it didn't help that I bought more than 2 lbs of pasta from Flour City earlier this summer. Hmmm...probably not the smartest move. (My taste buds would disagree with that statement.)

As I was flipping through one of my favorite recipe sources, a Sausage-Cauliflower Spaghetti recipe jumped out at me. It was from one of my favorite sections of the Food Network magazine, which is Weeknight Cooking. All of these recipes are relatively quick to whip up which pretty makes it appealing to me. Lately I've been wearing myself down with the amount of time spent at work, working out, running errands, hanging with friends...Ok, I could go on but I'll spare you and just say that I needed to make this. Now.

Sausage-Cauliflower Spaghetti

slightly adapted from The Food Network Magazine's recipe

Print Recipe

12 oz spaghetti
Salt

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
12 oz Andouille sausage, casings removed
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 small head cauliflower, chopped into small florets
1 bunch scallions, chopped (for me this equaled 6 scallions)
1 1/3 cup grated Manchego cheese

1) Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a handful of salt. Pour in the spaghetti and cook until al dente, or to desired texture.

2) Reserve two cups of cooking water, then drain the spaghetti.

3) In the meantime, heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking the sausage up as it lightly browns. Cook the sausage until it is no longer pink.

4) Clear a space in the pan and add the garlic . Cook until golden, 2 to 3 minutes.

5) Add the cauliflower and cook until it starts to brown, about 2 minutes.

6) Add 1 cup of the reserved cooking water, cover the pan, and reduce the heat to medium.

7) Cook the mixture until the cauliflower is tender, about 5-8 minutes.

8) Uncover the pan and boil over high heat until the liquid is almost evaporated.

9) Add the spaghetti and scallions to the pan. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt.

10) Toss the pasta with the sausage and cauliflower for about a minute, in order to wilt the scallions and coat the pasta with the sauce. Add the extra cup of cooking water, if a looser sauce is desired.

11) Remove the pan from the heat, sprinkle with the Manchego and toss. Drizzle with more olive oil, if desired.

I really didn't change much about this recipe. It was quick and easy and that's exactly what I was looking for. The recipe list wasn't crazy out of control either, which means that I could totally handle making this happen. And it happened. The combination of spicy sausage, tender and sweet cauliflower, and melted cheese all came together with the pasta and sauce to provide the perfect quick meal.

Indian Curry with Paneer

2011-08-01T22:21:00.003-04:00

Somehow, I missed it. What, you may ask? Only the first milestone in a blogger's online life: the 100th blog post. If you can count (apparently I can't), you will see that this is the 103rd blog post on my site. Which means that it has taken me weeks to even realize that I passed the 100th blog post. So. Happy 103rd post to me!

What does this have to do with my Indian Curry with Paneer recipe? Nothing. I'm just venting. So let's get back to the food.

I sort of stumbled across this recipe. I had a block of paneer in the refrigerator that I needed to use. After a web search for recipes, I came upon this one at allrecipes.com (the original recipe's link is below). Since it sounded similar to other Indian dishes that I've made (and loved) in the past, I figured I'd give it a try. Bonus points to this dish for allowing me to use those stray peas which were hanging around the freezer for a while.

Side note here: I love a showy blog, with pretty pictures and the like. But if the food sucks, then it's no good. All Recipes usually doesn't have picture-perfect photos. You're lucky if you see a photo of the food at all. But that doesn't matter in the long run because I've never made a bad dish from this website. Seriously.

Indian Curry with Paneer

adapted from All Recipe's Basic Indian Curry with Paneer recipe

Print Recipe

1/4 cup olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3/4 teaspoon grated ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger powder
2 jalapeno peppers, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
3/4 teaspoon garam masala
3/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 (~14 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, pureed
1 tablespoon ketchup
14 oz paneer, cubed
6 ounces frozen peas, thawed
1/4 cup greek yogurt
1/4 cup water

1) Cube the paneer and place in a bowl of boiling water for 10-15 minutes. Drain the cubes and set aside for later.

2) Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat.

3) Add the onions and saute until lightly browned.

4) Add the garlic and ginger and saute for another minute.

5) Turn the heat down to low and add the jalapenos. Saute for another minute.

6) Mix in the spices (chili powder, cumin, coriander, garam masala and turmeric). Allow the mixture to cook for another minute.

7) Stir in the pureed stewed tomatoes and ketchup. Add about 1/4 cup water.

8) Add the paneer and peas. Allow the curry to simmer for 2-3 minutes.

9) Stir in the greek yogurt.

10) Increase the heat and let the curry come to a boil. Cook for 3-4 minutes.

11) Serve warm, over rice or with naan.

This was the best paneer dish I've made so far. I'm especially grateful, considering how the recipe was a complete leap of faith for me. Way to go All Recipes. In adjectives, this curry was spicy, tangy, smooth and creamy. Does this make sense? You don't get all those flavors/textures at once, but rather over the course of eating the dish, which is a pretty pleasant experience. And I can't forget the peas, which I love. I definitely need more peas in my life. This will pretty much be my go-to curry dish from now on. That is all.

Baked Tilapia with a Tomato-Feta Sauce

2011-07-24T19:32:00.004-04:00

It's hot in New York. Yeah, I know, I live in New Jersey. Guess what? New Jersey's hot too.

In times like these, it's best to stick to eating some form of ice cream. Unfortunately, since I've been really busy in the last few months and also started working out 3-4 days a week, I've discovered (the hard way, of course) that I should probably eat something with at least a smidgen of nutritional value on a somewhat regular basis.

I remembered that Kevin over at Closet Cooking had made a tasty-looking fish dish on his blog a while ago. A light fish dish is exactly what I needed to counteract the heaviness of the weather. I'd never made anything with fish before either, so this would be a new challenge for me.

Baked Tilapia with a Tomato-Feta Sauce

slightly adapted from Cod Baked in a Tomato and Feta Sauce

Serves 4-6

Print Recipe

5 filets of tilapia (~1 1/2 lbs of fish)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
habanero sauce (or chili pepper flakes), to taste
1/4 cup white wine (I used Riesling)
2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 cup dill, chopped
1/2 cup feta, crumbled
salt and pepper to taste
lemon juice to taste

1. Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat.

2. Saute the onion for 5-7 minutes, or until tender.

3. Add the garlic and habanero sauce and saute for another minute.

4. Pour in the white wine and simmer for 5 minutes.

5. Add the tomatoes and oregano. Simmer for about 15 minutes or until the sauce just starts to thicken. (Tip: You may want to begin preheating the oven at this point.)

6. Remove the sauce from heat and add the herbs, feta and season with salt and pepper to taste.

7. Lightly spray a baking dish and place the tilapia in the dish.

8. Pour the sauce over the fish fillets.

9. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven until the fish is cooked, about 20 - 25 minutes*. The cod will be cooked when it flakes easily and it is no longer translucent.

*The original recipe states that the fish should be cooked in 10-12 minutes. My fish was definitely not cooked until about 25 minutes had passed. And no, it wasn't dry after that amount of time in the oven, either. I would suggest starting to check on the fish after 10 minutes and periodically thereafter, until it's cooked through.

10. Sprinkle with lemon juice to taste.

I never knew that cooking with fish would be so easy. Since this is all new territory for me, I'm pretty proud of it. The fish turned out to tender and flaky and the sauce was fresh and light, but slightly tart. I think I was a little heavy-handed with the dill so I would cut back on that the next time I make this. If you love dill, then go for it. I personally have a great relationship with feta cheese so I would double up on that next time.

Almond Cupcakes with Boozy Almond Frosting

2011-07-17T00:17:00.003-04:00

Each month, I typically obsess for a few days about what kind of cupcakes I'm going to make. This month was no different. First, I thought amaretto cupcakes. Then I realized that I don't drink amaretto. And there's already too much odd liquor around this apartment without me adding more.

Next, my roommate and I brainstormed some Independence Day themes. And I promptly realized that I had already executed our top two picks: some sort of apple-flavored cupcakes or berry cupcakes.

Determined not to give up, we next thought that I could make a fruity daiquiri cupcake (think strawberry daiquiri). I confess that I don't really like fresh fruit. I think the fruit knows this because each time I try to incorporate it into a cupcake, things don't turn out exactly as planned. You know how some people have a "black thumb" instead of a "green thumb" when it comes to gardening? Well, I have a "black thumb" when it comes to fruity cupcakes. I can't seem to make them both look AND taste great. If I'm lucky, I'll get them to look OR taste great. But that's as far as I've gotten. So after a few more days of thought, I nixed the daiquiri cupcake idea.

I looked at a few more recipes, but in the end this month's cupcake flavor was determined by several key factors: 1) my lack of free time to make cupcakes; 2) trying to adapt to the lack of time by using ingredients I already had on hand; 3) my constant desire to make almond cupcakes. Note how my desire to make these cupcakes comes after the convenience of making these cupcakes. Don't get me wrong. I actually have been wanting to make almond cupcakes for a really long time, but I kept getting caught up in more elaborate cupcake ideas. There's something to be said about making a simple(ish) cupcake.

So almond cupcakes it was. And of course, what would a TBK cupcake be if it didn't have alcohol in the frosting? As I stated above, my roommate and I seem to have a large supply of alcohol that we never drink. We get these odd liquors and liqueurs at one of the two parties we have each year. These beverages tend to just hang around until the next party, when someone may finish a bottle or two. But that doesn't matter because by the end of the night, more bottles of alcohol that we won't drink will show up. It's a vicious, never-ending cycle.

Almond Cupcakes
slightly adapted from Smithalicious
yields ~24 cupcakes

Print Recipe

3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups + 5 tablespoons cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups milk

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Fill cupcake tins with liners.

2) Sift (or whisk!) the cake flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.

3) In another bowl, cream the butter at medium speed for several minutes until smooth and almost white in color.

4) Mix in the sugar and beat until combined.

5) Add the eggs and beat until the batter is smooth.

6) Slowly add the dry ingredients which were mixed together earlier. Beat the batter until smooth.

7) Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean. I recommend rotating the cupcakes halfway through so they'll bake more evenly.

Boozy Almond Frosting
slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen's Bailey's frosting

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 - 5 cups confections sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons Godiva liqueur
1 tablespoon Bailey's Irish Cream
24 drops blue food coloring (optional)
8 drops green food coloring (optional)

1) Whip the butter using an electric or hand mixer for several minutes. You want the butter to look almost white and be very light and fluffy.

2) Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time. Slowly.

3) When the frosting is thick, add the almond extract, Godiva, and Bailey's. Whip until combined. If the frosting is too thin at this point, add another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.

4) Add food coloring, if desired.

5) Pipe or spread on the cupcakes.

For the frosting, I first decided to make an almond and Godiva-flavored frosting. Almond and chocolate flavors go great together, right? Well, in actuality I really didn't care for it. So how do you fix this? Bailey's. Bailey's fixes everything. It's like duct tape for frosting. Yum!

The cake turned out light and slightly crumbly, but still moist. The frosting was a smooth mix of the almond and Bailey's flavors. I don't think I really needed the Godiva in there, but the flavor wasn't prominent at all. If I were to make the frosting again, I would just leave out the Godiva. I made the frosting a bright Tiffany blue because I liked the color, but also because the un-tinted frosting was an unattractive tan color. Obviously you can make the frosting whichever color you like. Overall, this was a cupcake success!

Irrelevant side note: Interestingly enough, when I took these cupcakes to work, no one picked up on the boozy frosting. Am I working with drunks?

Zucchini Bread with Dried Cranberries & Almonds

2011-07-03T00:44:00.005-04:00

As a part of my "I need to clean up all these Food Network Magazines lying around my room" effort, I've been finding some new recipes. Well, really they're old recipes since they were published months, if not years, ago. But I'm just re-discovering them, so I'll say they're new. I'm ripping them out of the magazines so that I can have a recipe stash to dig into in the future. You know, for that day when I win the lottery, quit my job, and eat massive amounts of food all day long.

I'm digressing...

One of the recipes that I had forgotten about isn't really a recipe. It's more like those Mad Lib games that we used to play as kids. If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't tell me. Just go here and check it out. Food Network Magazine has a Mix & Match section that allows you to choose a variety of ingredients and customize your own dish based on your preferences. The article that I stumbled across was for a Quick Bread. I had wanted to make a version of this quick bread since I first saw the article a few months ago, but of course time ran away from me and I forgot about all about it. The particular combination that I was looking forward to making was a zucchini bread with cranberries and almonds. Awesomeness.

Zucchini Bread with Dried Cranberries & Almonds

recipe adapted from Food Network Magazine, May 2011

Print Recipe

1 cup grated zucchini, squeezed dry (~2 small zucchinis)
1 cup dried cranberries, chopped
3/4 cup toasted slivered almonds*
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 eggs
1/2 cup cooled melted butter (or vegetable oil)
1/2 cup greek yogurt (or plain yogurt or sour cream)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* I toasted my slivered almonds in a 400 degrees F oven for only 2 minutes. If your almonds aren't slivered, they may be able to be toasted longer, but make sure to watch them. They can go from "fine" to "burned" in seconds.

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter or spray a 9" x 5" loaf pan with cooking spray.

2) Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl: cranberries, almonds, salt, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

3) Whisk the wet ingredients together in another large bowl: eggs, melted butter, greek yogurt, and vanilla extract.

4) Stir the zucchini into the wet ingredients.

5) Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.

6) Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

7) Cool the bread in the pan for 30 minutes, then remove the bread to cool completely before adding the glaze.

Vanilla Glaze

recipe adapted from Food Network Magazine, May 2011

1 cup confectioner's sugar
~2 tablespoons milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1) Whisk together all ingredients until combined and no lumps are visible in the glaze. (You may need to add more or less milk to get the consistency you want.)

2) Pour the glaze over the cooled bread and allow to set for 15-20 minutes.

This thing smelled so good while baking that I barely restrained myself from slicing into it before it was cooled and the glaze was set. Why does "quick bread" still take so long? When I was finally able to dig into the bread, I found that it was several things all at once. There was a tangy taste with each bite because of the cranberries. The bread was sweet because of the vanilla glaze. And it was hearty because of the zucchini and the almonds. I couldn't really taste the zucchini very much in the bread, but I think this it's one of those ingredients which is similar in nature to salt where you won't miss it until it's not there. I thought the bread ended up being closer in nature to a cake, rather than an actual bread, but if you're more interested in something savory, the simple solution is to leave off the glaze.

Butternut Squash Risotto

2011-07-01T01:12:00.004-04:00

Butternut squash risotto just so happens to be one of the first dishes that I ever made myself. I'm not exactly sure why I chose a dish that I wasn't very familiar with at the time. In fact, that was the first time I had ever tasted risotto. Luckily, I did good. So I decided that after a 2 year butternut squash risotto hiatus, it was time to revisit the recipe.

It also couldn't hurt that I had some extra butternut squash puree hanging out in the freezer for a while and I had some arborio rice in the cupboard that I wanted to use up. (Note: I have made other risottos recently. I haven't had this arborio rice in my cupboard for 2 years!)

I mean, what's not to like about a mixture of butternut squash, leeks, and arborio rice?

Butternut Squash Risotto

adapted from Naturally Ella and Cooking After Five

serves 6-8

Print Recipe

2 cups roasted butternut squash puree
6-8 cups chicken stock
2 cups arborio rice
3 medium leeks
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup Castellano cheese, grated (can substitute Parmesan or Manchego cheese)
splash lemon juice
salt & pepper, to taste

1) In a medium pot, heat the chicken stock to a simmer.

2) Dice the leeks and soak them in cold water to remove as much dirt as possible.

3) In a large saucepan, melt the butter and olive oil together. Add the leeks and saute for a few minutes, until tender and translucent.

4) Add the rice and stir to incorporate. Once the rice has cooked for a few minutes, add a splash of lemon juice and stir until absorbed.

5) Add 1 - 2 cups of simmering stock. Once the first addition of stock is absorbed, add another 1 - 2 cups of stock until that is absorbed. Continue adding stock until the rice is creamy and tender, but slightly firm. (I ended up using about 6 cups of stock, but probably could have used up to 7 cups. You may prefer to use more or less.)

6) Turn off the stove. Stir in the butternut squash puree, cheese, and salt and pepper to taste.

The risotto turned out creamy and cheesy, which happens to be just the way that I like it. When I first made this risotto, I used chunks of butternut squash. This time, I decided to use butternut squash puree since that's what I had on hand. I definitely prefer the risotto with the pureed squash, since it blends well with the consistency of the risotto. I was also able to taste the squash in each and every bite, which is something that doesn't always happen if you use squash chunks in the risotto. I really liked the leeks in this dish as well, since they're heartier than a regular onion and stand up well to the other aspects of this dish.

(If you don't have leeks available, you can still use regular onions. I won't tell!)

Prosciutto Dijon Cheddar Puffs

2011-06-19T11:21:00.004-04:00

I'll admit it. I might have a slight obsession with Joy The Baker. I love her photos and her blog posts and her live-life-to-the-fullest-while-stuffing-your-face attitude. And yeah, I kinda love her recipes too.

I was invited to a dinner party and we were all asked to bring appetizers to share. As I browsed through my rather extensive list of appetizers, I kept in mind that I wanted to make something that was simple, portable, and (obviously) tasty. Enter Joy's Prosciutto Dijon Gruyere Puffs recipe. Perfect.

I firmly believe that packaged puffed pastry should be a god among desserts. For me, it's up there with Nutella, chocolate, anything that may be laced with alcohol, and, more recently, Spekuloos spread. There's nothing wrong with layers of pastry and butter that are puffed up in the oven to form a crispy, flaky shell. Add to that the tang of a thin layer of Dijon mustard, creamy melted cheddar cheese (I didn't have Gruyere so I made a quick substitute), layers of salty prosciutto, and a final dash of spicy black pepper.

These appetizers went over well at the party later that night. And it took me approximately no time at all to make them. Win.

Prosciutto Dijon Cheddar Puffs

slightly adapted from Joy the Baker's recipe

Print Recipe

1 package puff pastry
~ 8 slices prosciutto
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 cup sharp white cheddar, grated
flour for dusting
fresh ground black pepper

1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2) Thaw puff pastry in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours (or just leave out on the counter for 30 minutes).

3) Once thawed, carefully unfold and lay on a floured work surface. If the pastry tears at the seam in the unfolding process, gently press it back together.

4) Dust a little bit of flour on top of the pastry as well.

5) Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 11×9-inches.

6) Layer the prosciutto on top of the puff pastry.

7) Using a butter knife, layer the mustard on top of the prosciutto slices.

8) Top with grated cheese and as much fresh ground black pepper as desired.

9) Roll the right side of the pastry in towards the center. Then roll the left side of the pastry in towards the center. Press together. (Joy's note: Dough will not stick together, but if you brush away some of the excess flour on the center dough pieces, they will stay together better during baking.)

10) Using a sharp knife, slice the dough into 1/2-inch thick slices.

11) Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 400 degrees F for 12-15 minutes, until the puffs are a deep golden brown.

12) Let cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from baking sheet and serve warm or at room temperature.

Midtown Lunch Birthday Party: A Review

2011-06-12T22:04:00.003-04:00

I've been doing a lot of food reviews on this blog lately. A lot of reviews and a lot of eating. I can't help it. Summertime is here and the NY food trucks have come out in full force. Even better, there are a ton of food events during which those food trucks get together and I can sample just about all of them at once. Yes, please. I'm on it.

This week's food event? The Midtown Lunch Birthday Party. Midtown Lunch is a website dedicated to finding New Yorker's a decent lunch. Originally, as you have probably guessed, the idea was to help find New Yorker's a decent (and cheap) lunch in the midtown area. However, they've now expanded to include other areas of NY and a few other cities. Obviously, you can also check out the site anytime of the day and not just for lunch. So anyhow...did I mention the website turned 5?! That's right. The big 5. So the Midtown Lunch crew decided to throw themselves a birthday party complete with all-you-can-eat food and all-you-can-drink beverages. Because why not? The ticket cost was $55 if purchased in advance and this included food and drinks for a full 3 hours. Can't beat that.

Although Saturday's weather threatened to unleash a thunderstorm or two on us, the stars aligned to give us mostly dry weather. The food trucks and tents were set up on City Winery's outdoor patio area, in the West Village part of town. There were also extra tents available for us to stand under whenever the rain started spattering down a little to hard upon us. Unfortunately, the temperature also dropped dramatically so it was a pretty cool outside. Still, that didn't stop me and my friend Katie from descending upon the food and drinks like it was our job. Since I was planning on blogging about this experience, I guess I could say that it was my job. Totally. Yeah.

First stop, as always...booze. Brooklyn Brewery lovingly provided alcoholic beverages at this event. They had several varieties of their beer to dish out to willing drinkers: Brown Ale, Pale Ale, Pilsner, Pennant Ale, Summer Ale. I always enjoy some good Brooklyn brews. City Winery also had a tent where you could purchase a glass of red or white wine if you weren't a fan of beer. And for the non-alcoholic drinkers, Gus Soda was on hand to provide additional beverage options. I'm not exactly sure what flavors were available since I didn't actually make it over there...

The first place that I stopped for food was Certé, where they had lobster sausage. Lobster. Sausage. I had never heard of this before and after speaking to the gentleman doling out the food, he admitted that this was the first time they ever made lobster sausage. After tasting it, I know that if they kept making this stuff I'll be at the restaurant every weekend. Similar to sausage, the lobster was stuffed in a casing and when I bit into the roll, the meat was tender and juicy and slightly spicy.. To add even more to the flavor profile, a vanilla mustard was drizzled on top of the lobster sausage and then it was all dusted with a sprinkle of coarse lobster salt. Truffled fingerling potatoes played the role of "side dish" here. The delicious lobster salt was also added to these potatoes for another layer of flavor. As much as I wanted a second helping, I was able to restrain myself so that I'd be able to munch on the other goodies around me.

The next stop was at Eddie's Pizza Cart. The special of the day was Tomato Basil Pie. It was pretty good but Katie and I agreed that it was pretty much a standard piece of pizza. I did enjoy the appropriately portioned size of their slices, since I doubt I could have finished an entire slice with so many other options available.

After that, it was time for some serious spice. Enter the Biryani Cart. Their chicken kati roll was amazing. The chicken was wrapped in a chapati and it was perfectly seasoned with curry, exotic spices and lots and lots of heat. They did not hold back on the seasonings here. It was definitely a head-clearing experience, but I enjoyed every minute of huffing and puffing and hoping my mouth wouldn't have any permanent scars.

I was so excited about this roll that I took a bite out of it before remembering to take a picture for the blog post.

Next up, I had to stop at what is swiftly becoming one of my favorite food trucks of the summer: Kelvin Slush. I've blogged about them twice before, so I'll keep it short. I ordered a Ginger slush with a mango mix-in. Gotta love those mangoes. And it was delicious, as expected.

Right next to Kelvin Slush's tent was Wafels & Dinges. What are Wafels & Dinges? Well, it's a food truck in which people make and sell various types of authentic Belgian waffles. They also sell dinges ("things") to adorn these waffles. At the birthday party, they were offering waffles (I'm not sure if they were their "brussels wafels" or "liege wafels", but they were quite tasty, all the same) covered in spekuloos spread and topped with a dollop of whipped cream. Let's talk about this spekuloos spread, since this is my new favorite thing in the world. The gentlemen at the Wafels & Dinges tent described spekuloos as a gingerbread cookie spread. I describe it as deliciousness in a bottle. Imagine spekuloos sandwiched in between a warm, fresh-off-the-iron waffle and cool, creamy whipped cream. Yeah, it's pretty good. Before the end of the day, Katie and I each purchased a bottle of spekuloos spread from them. They weren't really for sale, but since the guys had a few bottles left over at the end of the event, we were able to purchase them. It's time I find this truck out on the streets of New York so I can sample other items on the menu.

Spekuloos: "Shelf life is 3-4 months, but once opened, it usually lasts only 3-4 days."
I'm slow. I didn't get this joke right away.

As Katie and I wandered around digesting our waffles, we headed toward a tent for Momofuku's Milk Bar. I had spotted these guys coming in but hadn't made it over there yet. Since they were near the entrance of the event, I had almost forgotten about the cookies they were giving away. As we approached the tent, we were informed that there were only two cookies left! We eagerly picked up the cookies (which were Blueberry & Cream Cookies) as well as our complementary "green bag" courtesy of Seamless Web. We actually ate the cookies after the event was over but they were sweet and chewy, with the blueberries providing periodic bursts of tartness.

One extra cookie was found duct-taped to the Milk Bar sign.

Our final stop of the day was Momofuku's Ma Peche tent. Ma Peche is an Asian fusion restaurant in the midtown area. At their tent, they were serving Beef & Pork Belly Banh Mi with crab mayo and cucumbers. Banh Mi is actually the name of a Vietnamese baguette, but typically the sandwich which is made on this type of baguette is also referred to as Banh Mi. It was my first banh mi experience and it was incredible. I drizzled some sriracha (a type of Thai hot sauce) on the sandwich to add some spice as well. The meat was tender and the cucumbers added a nice crunch to each bite. I couldn't really taste the crab mayo, but I don't like mayo very much so I wasn't bothered by this.

So here's the verdict on the entire experience: totally worth the $55 dollars and an uncomfortably full stomach. I got to sample food from several different places that I probably wouldn't have made it to otherwise and everyone in attendance, from the eaters to those manning tents and food trucks, were extremely nice and friendly. There were a few places that I didn't get a chance to go, but there's always next year, right? Can we please start planning Midtown Lunch's 6th Birthday Party?

Sea Salted Caramel Cupcakes

2011-06-09T23:33:00.001-04:00

I usually go to the gym on Friday nights. Given my propensity for consuming fairly large quantities of food and drink, heading to the gym on a regular basis is probably a good idea. Last week, it was my friend Kat's birthday so we decided we would pick up a few beers and toast to another year. Somewhere between the beginning of class and the end of class, "picking up a few beers" turned into "getting a Luke's Lobster Roll". How could I argue with that?

We headed over to 7th St. and devoured Luke's lobster rolls like there would be no tomorrow. Yes, we made spectacles of ourselves. I asked for extra seasonings. Kat took pictures of me sniffing the seasonings which were stuck to my fingers after the lobster roll was inhaled. (Don't act like you don't do it too.) I may have badgered the nice guy at the counter to obtain the seasoning ingredients. OK, maybe I just made a spectacle of myself. Anyhow, at one point we noticed the Luke's guys were munching on some tasty cupcakes. Immediately, we demanded cupcakes from the unsuspecting workers. It turns out that these cupcakes were from Butter Lane, a cupcake bakery that was just down the street.

Stomachs full of lobster, but still unable to pass up a cupcake opportunity, Kat and I headed to Butter Lane. I'm not going to get into all that Butter Lane has to offer. I think I need to do some more...um..."hands-on research" before I blog more about it. But essentially, you can customize your cupcakes by picking a cupcake base flavor and then choosing a frosting from their extensive list of specialty frostings. This is so much more than a cupcake shop. It's 500 square feet of heaven.

So. What does this very very long story have to do with Sea Salted Caramel Cupcakes?

One of the frosting options at Butter Lane was a Sea Salted Chocolate frosting. Kat and I both chose this frosting on a plain vanilla cupcake (it is possible that 2 other cupcakes were also involved in our purchase, but we need not speak of them). The cupcake was completely delicious. However, it felt a little heavy. (In all fairness to Butter Lane, I had already eaten a Luke's Lobster combo and a Butter Lane Espresso-frosted cupcake before I got to the Sea Salted Chocolate cupcake.) I began wondering how the frosting would turn out if it wasn't chocolate. My client has also been raving lately about the sea salt/caramel flavor combination, so I got to thinking that perhaps I should try making similar cupcakes with a caramel spin on the frosting.

Sea Salted Caramel Cupcakes
cake slightly adapted from A Sweet Spoonful's Salted Caramel Cupcakes
frosting slightly adapted from Sprinkle Bakes Triple Salted Caramel Cupcakes
yields ~24 cupcakes

Print Recipe

1 cup 2% milk
4 large egg whites, room temperature
2 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 cups cake flour*
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, room temperature
3/4 cup heavy cream

1) Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2) In a bowl, mix 1/4 cup of the milk with the egg whites and vanilla extract.

3) In the bowl of a mixer, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

4) Add the butter and the remaining 3/4 cup of milk.

5) Beat at a low speed until blended, then beat at medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute.

6) Add the egg white mixture in 3 additions, beating the batter on medium-speed for 20 seconds after each addition.

7) In another bowl, using a mixer, beat the cream until soft peaks form. (You can also do this by hand, but from personal experience, I don't recommend this approach.)

8) Stir 1/3 of the whipped cream into the batter, then fold in the rest with a spatula.

9) Fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full with the batter. Bake for 20-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean.

10) Let the cupcakes cool for a few minutes in the cupcake tray. Then remove them from the tray and allow to cool completely.

* I would recommend using cake flour instead of all-purpose flour for this cupcake. I usually use all-purpose flour just because it's what I have on hand, but I splurged this week and bought cake flour. It really made a difference in the texture of the cake.

Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting

frosts ~24 cupcakes

1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons water
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 sticks salted butter
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 teaspoon sea salt
4 cups powdered sugar

1) In a saucepan, stir together granulated sugar and water. (I don't have a small saucepan, but if you do then you should use that.)

2) Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Cook without stirring until mixture turns a honey color.

3) Remove from heat and slowly add in cream and vanilla, stirring until very smooth. Let the caramel cool for about 20 minutes, until it is just barely warm and still pourable.

4) Meanwhile, in a mixer, beat butter and salt together until light and fluffy.

5) Reduce speed to low and add the powdered sugar very slowly. Mix until thoroughly combined.

6) Add the cooled caramel to the frosting. Beat on medium high speed until light and airy, and completely mixed (about 2 minutes). If your caramel was too hot when added, the frosting will be runny. Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes in order to stiffen the frosting again.

7) Spread or pipe the cupcakes with the frosting. Drizzle extra caramel on top of the frosting and dust with a little extra sea salt. (I cheated on this step and used store-bought caramel here.)

The only issue I had with these cupcakes was that the wrappers seemed to want to come off. I don't know if it was because it was a really hot and humid day when I made them, but watch out for this if you make these. Maybe you'll also have some ideas as to how to prevent this. A coworker of mine who makes tons of cupcakes said it may have been the humidity but it may also have been that the cupcake wrappers weren't filled with enough batter in some cases. I would suggest making a batch of test cupcakes before baking the entire batch of cupcakes. I usually do this, however as I just mentioned it was a really hot and humid day and I couldn't stand the idea of leaving the oven on long enough to bake up two batches of cupcakes.

The final verdict? These were some amazing cupcakes. And I don't say that because I made them and I'm biased. I'm pretty much neutral about my cupcakes because by the time the cupcakes are done, my taste buds are totally confused. I'm a thorough quality control analyst and I make sure to taste test the cupcake batter, the frosting, the finished cupcakes (without frosting), and then finally the cupcakes with frosting. I can tell if the cupcakes are inedible, but it's hard for me to tell if the cupcakes are only "good" or if they're "great". So I just wait until someone (usually my roommate) comes along and lets me know. I took these babies to work the next day and everyone loved them. The cupcake was light and airy, and the frosting's sweet, salty and caramel flavors were a perfect balance to round out the entire experience.

Smorgasburg: A Review

2011-06-08T00:51:00.002-04:00

For the past two weeks, I've been meaning to head across the rivers (yes, "rivers", as in more than one river) to check out Smorgasburg in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. For opening weekend, May 21st, I was in California. The following weekend, I was swamped with errands and didn't find the time to make it there. This past weekend though, I just knew I had to have a Smorgasburg outing.

Wait, what? You haven't heard of Smorgasburg?

Let me school you then. Smorgasburg is a spin off of the Brooklyn Flea market. Except it's all about food. The website refers to this event as an "all-food bonanza" and that's a pretty accurate description. Food is everywhere! There are vendors selling food they prepare on-site. There are other vendors selling food for later consumption. There are even vendors selling food-related products. You can't get away from food here. Not that you would want to, because it's all delicious and it's what you came here for. So bring it on.

My foodie friend, Ya-Roo, graciously volunteered to spend a few hours with me so that we could properly check out the wares. The weather was pretty decent, so people seemed to be out in full force. And since the Smorgasburg location is right on the East River waterfront, many people were grabbing food and sitting near the water to relax for a bit.

Of course we were only mildly interested in this at the time, since we were starving. We veered toward the Smorgasburg area, which was enclosed by some aluminum fencing, and we were immediately assaulted by the amazing visuals and odors that comes with having so many talented individuals in one area. There wasn't an actual map showing which vendors were located where, so Ya-Roo and I began wandering around.

Our first stop was at a bakery called Dough. They were a few regular as well as exotic donut flavors on display. We hadn't arrived at Smorgasburg until after 2pm, so the selection was pretty slim by that time. But if I judge Dough by the selection that was left over, I'm sure the rest of the donut flavors were utterly delicious.

The next stop was Liddabit Sweets. The main attraction for me was the shiny cotton candy machine! I'm a huge cotton candy fan and I pick up a cone or a bag whenever I can. I've even been known to purchase the packaged cotton candy that you know has been prepared weeks ago and is not very light and fluffy. But I have to have it! Turns out Liddabit was selling maple cotton candy. Yes, please. However, in a surprising move, I opted to pass on the cotton candy (only temporarily though) since I wanted to try some actual food before inhaling too many sweets. In the meantime, I purchased some of their caramel corn and "Beer and Pretzel" caramels. I can only fight one craving at a time.

Pushing our way further into the maze of tents, I passed a biscuits and chicken tent. I'm not exactly clear as to whether or not this is the actual name of a store or truck, but it's evident that they were making some good food there. The menu looked appetizing, the aromas were very promising and the line was several people deep. I moved on though, as I spied a lobster roll that needed to be in my immediate future.

Now if you know me, you know that I can be a little "all-over-the-place" sometimes. Well, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Flour City Pasta. Pasta is near and dear to my heart. I don't eat it all that often, but whenever I see pretty pasta, I'm always itching to buy it. I detoured over to the Flour City Pasta tent. My new best friend who was working at the tent (I don't actually know his name, but he was very helpful) explained the different pastas to me. Each pasta purchase also comes with a recipe that you can try out. I ended up leaving the stall 15 minutes later with $20 worth of pasta: Sweet Potato Pappardelle, Wild Mushroom Fettuccine,Wasabi Fettuccini, Red Onion Linguine, and Curry Linguine. Unfortunately, I didn't see the Rasta Pasta blend until I was ready to leave. I was tempted to also purchase the mix of sweet potato shells, lime rigatoni, carrot thyme radiatore and cayenne fusilli. But instead I vowed to come back another day, once my newly acquired stash of pasta has been taken care of.

After a few more moments checking out the surrounding tents, I was definitely ready for a lobster roll. Red Hook Lobster Pound makes a weekly appearance at Smorgasburg. There were two styles of lobster rolls at their tent: Maine-style or Connecticut-style. Maine-style is cold lobster served with mayonnaise while CT-style is warm lobster served with butter. I'm not a big fan of mayo, so Connecticut-style it was. It was everything I hoped it would be. The roll was soft, buttery, and warm. The lobster was also warm, succulent, and plentiful. There seemed to be a few dashes of a paprika-based seasoning on top and a light sprinkle of green onions. I wasn't a huge fan of the paprika seasonings, but the rest of the sandwich most definitely made up for this. I would eat this roll anytime of the day or night. Lobster Love.

In the meantime, Ya-Roo purchased a pupusa from Solber Pupusas. I'll admit ignorance here and say I didn't know what the heck a pupusa was. Apparently it's a hand-made tortilla that's filled with cheese. (It can be filled with other items too.) It looked really good, but I was so into my lobster roll I missed out on an opportunity to taste this. Hopefully I'll get to try it the next time I'm there.

As I devoured my lobster roll and Ya-Roo worked on her pupusa, I dragged us over to the Kelvin Natural Slush Co. line. This is called multitasking, people. I was first introduced to Kelvin's slushies at last month's Hell's Kitchen Gourmet Food Truck Bazaar. I've been a convert ever since, but because I don't live or work in the city, it's hard to get my fix. Now was my chance. I ordered an Arnold Palmer slushie with a Pink Guava mix-in. In my opinion, you can't have enough of either flavor and I loved the combination.

Cool and refreshing

Ya-Roo went on to sample some oysters at another tent while I wandered over to the waterfront to play with my new camera's panoramic feature. You like?

Just ignore the chain link fence to the right.

Let's focus instead on the beautiful Manhattan skyline.

Then it was time to head back to the city (that's New York City). But not before we stopped back at Liddabit to finally get a maple cotton candy to snack on for the ride back home. The cotton candy was made-to-order once we requested it. It only took a minute or two before the spun candy was stuck between our fingers and making its way to our mouths. It was tasty and maple-y and I totally regretted agreeing to share a cone with Ya-Roo because I could eat the entire thing by myself.

As we walked away from my first Smorgasburg experience, I knew it would not be my last visit there. There were so many vendors whose food we didn't get to try. But my stomach is only so large, and unfortunately that is the limiting reagent in this equation. It appears that next time I will need to make this an all-day affair which will allow me some "downtime" in between pig-out sessions. Who's up for this challenge with me?

Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

2011-06-01T23:40:00.002-04:00

Back in March, I went to a couple of shows at City Winery in New York City. While sipping my Cabernet and waiting for the show to start, I found myself getting a bit hungry. Now this is a common occurrence for me when drinking, so I also found myself searching out my favorite cure for this issue. French fries. City Winery happened to have Rosemary Fries. (To be honest, I can't remember if that is the actual name of the side dish, but essentially the dish consists of fries with a rosemary flavor). I discovered my love of rosemary that day. And I "rediscover" it every time I returned to the restaurant since that first night.

Lately though, I haven't been spending any quality time with City Winery. Since I've been denied my rosemary fries for a few months now, I decided it was time to recreate these flavors at home.

I will admit that I have no patience for frying food in my apartment. My reasoning is a combination of several things which include, in no particular order:
- inability to withstand scorching hot oil droplets hurling at my face and arms;
- smelling like I work in grease pit (been there, done that, not pleasant);
- figuring out how to dispose of cruddy oil once the frying process is finished.

In light of these things, I chose to bake up some rosemary potatoes. I searched for fingerling potatoes in my neighborhood supermarket, but the only thing I could scrounge up were "tiny red potatoes". So "tiny red potatoes" are what I used. If you find potatoes in another size (larger or smaller), you'll have to play around with the amount of seasonings and the baking time of this recipe to figure out what works best for you.

Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

Print Recipe

1 1/2 lbs tiny red potatoes, quartered
2 teaspoons minced rosemary
2 cloves minced garlic
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2) In a large bowl, mix together the potatoes, rosemary, garlic, and olive oil.

3) Add salt and pepper to taste.

4) Spread the potatoes out evenly on a baking sheet.

5) Bake for ~35 minutes, or until the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork.

These potatoes were tender and salty, with just a hint of rosemary. The roasting process gives a nice crust to the outer edges of each potato. In all honesty, I could have used more rosemary in this dish, as I was lacking some of the rosemary flavor that I was so craving. Maybe next time I would also try to use a rosemary-flavored oil to pack more of a punch. However, this is not to say the potatoes weren't good. I thought they were quite tasty and would make an excellent side dish for any meal.

Saucy Pulled Pork

2011-05-25T18:26:00.002-04:00

There is nothing like the idea of perfectly seasoned strands of pork dredged in barbecue sauce to get me excited. Like REALLY excited! Maybe giddy is a better description. I just know that life in general is pretty awesome when I'm about to take a bite of a pulled pork sandwich. Or when I stand over the slow cooker and shovel forkfuls into my mouth.

When my friend Lindsey sent me a link to some cupcakes at the AmyBites blog, I naturally perused the website for other recipes. Why wouldn't I, right? Then the heavens opened and people started singing when I alighted upon a recipe for pulled pork. I've made pulled pork before, but the results were OK. The pork was pretty good, but I later realized that I hadn't allowed the meat to get to the "falling apart" stage before attempting to shred it. So although it was fully cooked, I had to exert excessive energy into shredding. At any rate, I was also interested in trying out another pulled pork recipe. You really can't have too many, you know.

Saucy Pulled Pork
recipe slightly adapted from the amybites blog

Print Recipe

2lbs pork butt
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
30 oz barbecue sauce (I used ~3/4 of a 40oz bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's, my favorite)

1) Combine the salt, ground mustard, and cayenne pepper. Rub the mixture all over the pork.

2) Add a drizzle of olive oil to a pan, over medium to high heat.

3) Brown the pork butt on all sides. Do not attempt to cook the pork all the way through.

4) Place the pork in a crock pot, along with the onions and barbecue sauce.

5) Turn the crock pot on high and cook for 6-8 hours. The pork is done if the meat falls apart when shredded with a fork.

6) Remove the pork from the crock pot and shred in a bowl. Place the shredded meat back in the crock pot and mix with the sauce. Serve as you wish.

This pulled pork would be a part of my last meal. I swear it. The pork is tender and melts in your mouth. Every few bites, you also get a taste of the crust which was seared into the pork. The sweet and spicy barbecue sauce was the perfect accompaniment to the meat. I think it tastes best on a roll with some cheese, but if you don't have a roll handy, try it tossed with some pasta!

Warm Pear Tart with Cheese & Honey

2011-05-18T23:10:00.005-04:00

I've had Tyler Florence's "Eat This Book" cookbook decorating my desk for the past several months. I'm embarrassed to admit that it may have even been closer to a year. It was a glorified bookend. Actually, my desk is littered with various packages of gum and candy, so I can't even give this cookbook the distinction of having been a bookend.

I've been mistreating this poor cookbook for way too long. I finally laid down the law with myself and made it a requirement to make a recipe out of it. I settled on the Warm Pear Tart with Blue Cheese and Honey. What can I say? I'm a sucker for that salty/sweet combination.

After checking out the refrigerator, I quickly realized that I already had 3 different types of cheeses in there. This made me reluctant to purchase the blue cheese for this tart. And unfortunately, none of the cheeses I already had would be a good substitute. I wanted something that I would definitely use up in a reasonable amount of time. Once in the grocery store, I decided to purchase a soft ripened cheese, very similar to a Brie or Camembert. I could always wolf that down with some bread, crackers, or by itself.

Now. I love Tyler Florence. He was one of the first Food Network chefs I remember from when the network first started out. But I have to question the proportions in his original recipe. I ended up adjusting the proportions of this tart to suit one roll of puffed pastry. (The puffed pastry usually comes in a box with two rolls of pastry. I used just one of them in this recipe.) I only needed one pear and a few ounces of almonds and cheese. This is a much smaller quantity of ingredients than the original recipe calls for. I guess the Food Network chefs go big! But for my tastes, I think I can handle a scaled-down version.

Warm Pear Tart with Cheese & Honey
adapted from Tyler Florence's Eat This Book Cookbook
yields ~ 6 servings

Print Recipe

1 sheet frozen puffed pastry
1/2 cup blanched almonds
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 Bosc pear, sliced lengthwise (I prefer to remove the seeds, but you don't have to if you don't want to)
Honey
5 ounces soft ripened cheese, sliced
1 egg white, beater with a drizzle of water for glazing

1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2) Spray a sheet pan with cooking spray. Place the puffed pastry on the pan.

3) Using the tip of a knife, score the edges of the pastry, about an inch from the edges.

4) Use a fork to poke holes in the pastry inside the scored border.

5) Combine the almonds, sugar, and water in a food processor. Grind to a paste. If the mixture is too crumbly, add a few more drops of water.

6) Spread the almond paste over the inside of the scored pastry.

7) Place the cheese over the almond paste.

8) Arrange the sliced pears over the cheese.

9) Drizzle with honey, to taste.

10) Brush the border of the pastry with the egg white glaze.

11) Bake for ~15 minutes, until the pastry is golden and brown. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing and eating.

This recipe was a winner. I might have had several slices in one night. OK, of course I did. Would you expect anything less? The pastry was crisp and buttery, the cheese and almonds provided the "salty" and the sugar, honey and pears provided the "sweet". The pears were still pretty crispy after their excursion in the oven, which was a pleasant surprise. It made me feel like I was eating something healthy! Just maybe.

Champagne Cupcakes

2011-05-15T21:51:00.003-04:00

I was having a few drinks with my coworkers the other day and of course this led me to talk about boozy cupcakes. Because who doesn't love a boozy cupcake, and why wouldn't I want to talk about it? Since I haven't seen my coworkers in so long, they didn't know that I have a food blog or that I have a slight obsessions with making alcohol-laced cupcakes. This then led to the inevitable question of "When are we getting cupcakes?". I tried to think of which cupcake recipe I wanted to tackle next. I had a few recipes that I was planning on making soon, but within a matter of hours, two things happened:

1. My roommate sent me a recipe for Champagne Cupcakes, and
2. Stef from Cupcake Project posted these Bellini Cupcakes.

The signs were overwhelming! I knew I had to whip up a batch of champagne cupcakes.

Champagne Cupcakes
slightly adapted recipe from Cupcake Project for Paula Deen
makes ~24 cupcakes

Print Recipe

6 large egg whites, room temperature
2 cups champagne, room temperature
3 cups minus 6 tablespoons* all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2) In a bowl, combine the egg whites and champagne. Set it aside.

3) In another larger bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. You can also do this by hand if you're ambitious.

4) Add the butter to the dry ingredients and mix until the batter resembles moist crumbs.

5) Pour the egg whites/champagne mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until fully combined.

6) Pour batter into cupcake liners** until about 3/4 full.

7) Bake for 25-28 minutes or until cupcakes spring back when touched lightly.

* I converted measurements for cake flour to all-purpose flour. The ratio isn't 1:1. The end result requires the use of 3 cups of all-purpose flour minus 6 tablespoons. I couldn't figure out how to convert this new measurement into cups, so there you go.

** I used 12 paper liners and 12 foil liners when making these cupcakes, since I couldn't decide which liner I liked better. This worked out really well in the end because I unfortunately realized that the cupcake was sticking to the paper liners. I'm not sure why this happened, but I would definitely recommend using foil liners. The cupcakes come out of those liners very easily.

And of course...champagne frosting...

Champagne Buttercream Frosting
from Gimme Some Oven

4 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 1/2 tablespoons champagne, room temperature

1) Whip the butter for several minutes, using a mixer. The butter should be almost white.

2) Add the sugar until incorporated with the butter.

3) Add the vanilla and champagne. Beat together for a few minutes until the desired consistency is achieved. If the frosting is too stiff, add more champagne. If the frosting is too thin, add more sugar.

These cupcakes were pretty easy to make. I didn't have to fight with the batter, since it was pretty runny, but at the same time the cupcakes turned out to be light and fluffy. So did the frosting. Personally, I couldn't really taste the champagne. I just thought it tasted like a really good vanilla cupcake. However, my roommate Kimmy was able to discern the champagne flavor in the cupcake. I guess her taste buds are a little more sensitive than mine. My coworkers were also divided with the final product. They liked the flavor but some said they could taste the champagne while others couldn't. I'm not concerned. I still think they are pretty good cupcakes and it's likely that I'll make these again since they're so simple. I'll probably make some sort of variation though, such as strawberries with champagne cupcakes, mimosa cupcakes, or bellini cupcakes (a la Cupcake Project).

Note: I kept this cupcake classy with some cheap Andre champagne. Because I could.

Hell's Kitchen Flea Market: Gourmet Food Truck Bazaar Review

2011-05-11T00:50:00.003-04:00

View from the entrance to the flea market

This past Sunday, my friend Katie and I partook in an amazing new-to-us event: the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market Gourmet Food Truck Bazaar.

Has someone looked into shortening this name? Seriously. I have trouble remembering it every time.

Inflatable devil / official greeter at the entrance

I have a soft spot for a good food truck. Show me some food on wheels and I'm there. Maybe it's the convenience of ordering "fast food", or maybe it's the fact the food HAS to be good because no one's showing up for the atmosphere.

Usually I stalk food trucks on Twitter to see where they're located, then try to justify a convenient detour which would place them directly in my walking or running path. But when Katie suggested heading to a food truck festival, I jumped at the chance to encounter several trucks at once.

The following food trucks were on the roster for Sunday, May 8th: Luke's Lobster, Kelvin Natural Slush Co., Gorilla Cheese NYC, Rickshaw Dumpling Truck, Vegan Cinnamon Snail Organic Vegan Food Truck, Kimchi Taco, and Coolhaus NY Gourmet Ice Cream Sandwiches.

Once we got to the festival, our first stop was at Luke's Lobster truck. I love seafood, especially lobster and crab. I grew up with them and they've been good friends to me over the years. Pair these shellfish with a buttered, grilled bun, and special seasonings on top and they become out of this world. Initially, I tried to appear civilized and ordered half a lobster roll and half a crab roll. I immediately wolfed them down and was amazed at the fresh deliciousness of the meat. Each bite was a taste of heaven. We tried to wheedle the seasoning ingredients out of Ben, our new friend at the truck, but he wasn't giving up the goods and we were left to sniff it out on our own. Probably some oregano, thyme, and other herbs and spices. I may have to go back for a lot of more "research" until I get this spice blend down pat.

Half crab roll (top) and half lobster roll (bottom). They give you more lobster
on the roll than shown in this picture. I lost myself in the lobster and forgot
I was supposed to document this experience.

After our lobster and crab roll adventure, we realized that it was actually hot outside! Spring was here and the sun was beating down on us. In a search for a reprieve from the heat and also to quench our thirst, we ended up at the Kelvin Natural Slush Co. truck. They have an interesting ordering system there. There are three base flavors (Ginger, Citrus, and Tea) to choose from. Then you can choose to add a "mix-in", which could be pink guava, mixed berries, basil, mango, mint, raspberry, white peach, or a few other flavors. Katie had the citrus base flavor with a pink guava mix-in. I chose the citrus base flavor with a white peach mix-in. Let me tell you that they are not kidding when they say citrus. Wow. That thing was tangy. But after the ice melted a bit and the mix-in became more incorporated in the drink, it mellowed out and came together nicely. I bet it would be amazing if a shot or two of alcohol were added...

Unfortunately, we didn't make it to the other trucks to taste their food. Their menus looked amazing, but we just couldn't handle it. The Gorilla Cheese truck smelled delicious and as you all should know, I love my cheese. Especially melted cheese. But it was too hot that day to have a grilled cheese sandwich. I've heard nothing but amazing reviews of the Rickshaw Dumpling truck, but their line was the equivalent of at least a 20 minute wait, so that truck was out of picture fairly quickly. Ditto for the Kimchi Taco truck. I love me some Cinnamon Snail, but I had caught up with that truck the previous weekend in Hoboken and wanted to try out the other places while I had the opportunity. (I had the Basil Pesto Grilled Tofu sandwich, Raspberry Ganache donut, and Strawberry Cheesecake donut last weekend at the Cinnamon Snail. Vegan never tasted so good. And yes, I had it all at once. I had run a 5K that morning, so I deserved it.) It turned out that the Coolhaus truck had some issues and they weren't able to show up after all. That was sad. Ice cream sandwiches remind me of hanging out with friends on warm high school nights.

But the primary reason we didn't get to eat at all the trucks? We were so full! These people are not messing around when they hit you with this food. Can I get a sample size please? I need to make this suggestion.

Menu at the Gorilla Cheese truck

And to top it all off, there were desserts! We spied two dessert vendors set up at tables next to the food trucks: Lloyd's Carrot Cake and The Cavity Shoppe. They were selling sweets that looked completely delicious. Although I'm a big fan of carrot cake, The Cavity Shoppe won my heart over with cupcakes. Not just ordinary cupcakes, but cupcakes in a jar. They had a beautiful presentation and this place specializes in interesting (and boozy!) flavors, so obviously I had to have one. They only had a few cupcakes left, so I chose a Maple French Toast flavor. Delicious! It appears to be a combination of cinnamon and maple flavors wrapped up in a 3-tiered cupcake, served in a small mason jar and eaten with a spoon. So good. Only problem was I had to eat it in several installments because I was still full. Obviously even that could not stop me from eating the entire cupcake. Obviously.

To feel as though we were getting some sort of exercise, we finally walked around and checked out the eclectic vendors on the outskirts of the flea market. The flea market is always an interesting place, filled with random but fascinating people and wares. Eventually we decided to call it a day, otherwise known as "we headed to a bar". On our way out though, we had to hit Luke's Lobster again for a half lobster roll each. And it was just as incredible the second time as it was the first time. Unfortunately, (or fortunately?) they had run out of napkins by this time. After chomping into our lobster rolls for the second time that day, we were left only with the scent of butter and special seasonings (come on Ben, can't you just spill the beans?!) on our hands. I shouldn't admit this, but I sniffed my fingers constantly for the next hour. I have no shame.

Our inaugural food truck bazaar trip was an amazing experience! This event takes place at the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market (entrance on 39th St and 10th ave in NYC) on the second Sunday of each month. I've already spread the word that I'll be back in June. I'm looking forward to finally eating at Coolhaus as well as digging into different menu options at the other trucks. So who's with us?

Bahamian Johnnycake

2011-05-10T21:04:00.003-04:00

I recently went home to the Bahamas and each time I've been with my family lately, I've been trying to snag another recipe to post on the blog. There are two reasons for this. The first is that I think it's pretty cool to make food from different parts of the world and learn more about other countries. The second reason is purely selfish. Since most Bahamians tend to cook without recipes, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to recreate my favorite dishes years down the road. So I guess I'm also trying to record as many recipes as possible for posterity.

The latest installment in this series is a something called a johnnycake. I looked up the word "johnnycake" online and Google came back with some cornmeal- or cornbread-type thingy. Let me assure you that this is not what we make in the Bahamas. Apparently the term johnnycake has different meanings in different countries. (Although this does make me want to try the American version of johnnycake. I gladly accept gifts of food, just so you know.)

The Bahamian version of johnnycake is a cross between a dense bread and a slightly sweet cake. It's best served warm, slathered with butter and accompanying a soup or stew. However, if you're anything like me and my family, you can have it anytime of the day.

Bahamian Johnnycake

Print Recipe

1/2 cup butter, room temperature + extra for greasing pan
3/4 cups sugar
4 cups flour
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
~3/4 cup milk

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2) Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until combined.

3) Add the flour, water, salt, and baking powder to the bowl.

4) Add the milk slowly until the batter is sticky.

5) Dust hands with flour. Transfer dough from bowl to greased 9x9 pan. Gently flatten the dough in the pan.

6) Bake for ~1hr or until the edges of the johnnycake are browned. The johnnycake will not rise much.

7) Let cool for several minutes before cutting into the johnnycake.

This is an easy, simple recipe which will provide you with a warm and delicious addition to your breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Saag Paneer

2011-05-08T22:53:00.002-04:00

I’ve been partaking in some “gin moments” lately. This ultimately leads to a little bit of a “headache” the following day. In the case of such events, the roommate and I usually recline on the couch and order for Indian food the next day. Paneer Makhani and Saag Paneer are my go-to items.

Although ordering from an Indian restaurant is easiest, I eventually decided to try my hand at making my own Indian dish. I’ve already made Paneer Makhani, so I decided to experiment with Saag Paneer.

Saag Paneer
adapted from Quick Indian Cooking

Print Recipe

14-oz paneer, cubed
2 10-oz packages frozen, chopped spinach
1 teaspoon habanero sauce (can adjust to taste or use another type of hot sauce)
2 tablespoons ghee or vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced finely
4 cloves garlic & 1 inch ginger, pureed to a paste
2 teaspoons coriander powder
2 1/4 teaspoons cumin powder
1 1/4 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon fenugreek leaves, crushed lightly
3/4 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 cup heavy cream
salt to taste

1) Place the paneer in a bowl of boiling water for 10-15 minutes. Drain the cubes and set aside for later use.

2) Microwave the frozen spinach for five minutes, or until thoroughly defrosted.

3) Add the habanero sauce to the spinach, then puree the mixture by placing it in a blender or by using an immersion blender.

4) Add the ghee (or other type of oil) to a frying pan over medium flame.

5) Fry the paneer. Once the cheese is golden brown, remove from the oil and drain on paper towels.

6) Add the onion and garlic/ginger paste to the oil and fry until the mixture is slightly browned.

7) Add all the spices except the garam masala. Stir to incorporate. Let the mixture fry for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

8) Add the spinach to the onions and stir to combine. Add salt to taste.

9) Lower the flame so that the spinach and onions are simmering. Let the mixture simmer for about 5 minutes.

10) Stir in the garam masala and the paneer cubes. Let all the ingredients simmer for another five minutes.

The end result was different from the food I usually get from the Indian restaurant in Hoboken. Let’s face it, I knew this wouldn’t taste exactly like the entrée I order since I’m pretty sure the restaurant uses more cream and a more intricate spice blend than I do. But. I still got the same flavor of the Saag Paneer. The spinach was smoky and spicy and the paneer was firm on the outside but soft and a little chewy on the inside. I spooned some of this over a plate of rice and my hangover was on its way to being cured.

Broccoli Gratin

2011-05-03T23:40:00.003-04:00

I've been on a personal quest.

I have a subscription to the Food Network Magazine, yet how often do I make recipes from the magazine? I'd prefer not to answer that. But if you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know that I've recently been trying to rectify this situation.

So when I wanted to make a quick side dish one day, I shirked my trusty computer's Bookmarks folders and instead picked up my Food Network binder. This happens to be exactly what it sounds like: a binder where I've gathered Food Network Magazine recipes that I want to make. I ran across a Brussels Sprouts Gratin recipe that called for a few non-standard items I already had on hand: heavy cream and breadcrumbs. And who doesn't love using up items that are already in the kitchen?

Unfortunately, I have come to realize that in spite of my repeated attempts to like brussels sprouts, this just may not happen. In light of this, I quickly swapped in broccoli for the sprouts and all was right again in my world.

Broccoli Gratin
adapted from Food Network Magazine's Brussels Sprouts Gratin recipe

Print Recipe

~1 1/2 lbs broccoli
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2 cup heavy cream
Salt & pepper, to taste
1/2 cup grated white cheddar cheese
1/4 cup breadcrumbs (I used Italian style but any kind should do)
1 tablespoon butter, cut into pieces
Butter or Pam (or similar cooking spray) for the dish

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2) Spray the bottom of a 1-1/2 qt baking dish with cooking spray or coat with butter, as desired.

3) Place the broccoli in salted, boiling water for 3-4 minutes, or until tender.

4) Drain the broccoli and chop into bite-sized pieces. Add the broccoli to the baking dish.

5) Add the red pepper flakes, and salt & pepper to taste. Toss to coat, then spread the broccoli out evenly in the dish.

6) Pour the cream on top of the broccoli, then sprinkle with the cheese and breadcrumbs.

7) Add the pieces of butter on top of the broccoli.

8) Bake the dish until the dish is bubbly and the cheese is melted through, ~15 minutes.

In my version, I opted to take a shortcut and use canned breadcrumbs. Don't. My breadcrumbs provided great flavor, but the texture was more like dust. These breadcrumbs would be fine in a meatloaf, but take the time to make homemade breadcrumbs for this dish.

Beside that little hiccup, I have to say I really enjoyed this. I love broccoli, so I was already one step ahead of the game. After adding some butter, heavy cream and cheese to the mix, this dish just became a new "go-to" item for me.

Margarita Cupcakes

2011-04-26T16:52:00.005-04:00

I realize that I've been lax in making cupcakes lately. What started out as the heart and soul of this blog has been passed over recently in favor of other dessert recipes and savory dishes. I also realize that Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner. Granted, it's not an actual celebration of Mexico's Independence Day (that's September 16th), but it's still a celebration of Mexican heritage. And when I think of Mexico, I think of tequila. There are other things I can think of as well, mostly having to do with food, but tequila is obviously the most important.

I dug around in my Cupcake Bookmarks folder (yes, I have one) and found a cupcake I've been meaning to make for at least a year now: a Margarita Cupcake.

I first heard of this cupcake when I was perusing the Cupcake Project website. Unfortunately, the cupcakes were vegan and I'm so not vegan, it's not even funny. No offense to my vegan peeps. I just enjoy eggs and butter as often as possible. So I looked around on the internet and to my not-so-great surprise, I found several other margarita cupcake recipes. I ended up combining the frosting from one cupcake recipe with the cake of another cupcake recipe and I think I ended up with some pretty respectable alcoholic cupcakes on my hands.

Margarita Cupcakes
recipe from Annie's Eats
makes ~24 cupcakes

Print Recipe

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
3 limes, zested and juiced
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

1) Preheat oven to 325˚F.

2) In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.

3) Using a mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.

4) Pour in the sugar and beat until combined with the butter.

5) Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

6) Add the lime zest, lime juice and vanilla to the batter and stir to incorporate.

7) Turn the mixer speed to low and alternately mix in the dry ingredients and the buttermilk, in 3 additions, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat each addition just until incorporated.

8) Fill each cupcake liner ~3/4 full of batter.

9) Bake 20-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

10) Let cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from the cupcake tins.

Margarita Cupcake Frosting
recipe adapted from I Heart Cuppycakes!

Note: I doubled the recipe for this frosting because it only frosts ~12 cupcakes. The doubled recipe is below:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 - 3 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon tequila
~5 cups powdered sugar

1) In a mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy, ~5 minutes.

2) Pour in the vanilla extract, lime juice and tequila.

3) Add the confectioners sugar, slowly, until the frosting is sweet enough and/or has the desired consistency.

I liked these cupcakes, but I wasn't 100% sold on them. Ultimately, I felt that the lime flavor shone through quite well, but the taste of the tequila was not very prominent.

Let's tackle the cake and the frosting separately. The cake was amazing. Very lime-y and soft and fluffy (even though the cake did sink slightly in the middle). And this could have been the best batter that I've ever eaten. I called my roommate into the kitchen to sample it, it was that good. And then I may have proceeded to eat the leftover batter with a spoon. Maybe.

The frosting was a bit too sweet. I understand that this was my fault because I added too much sugar, but I kept trying to "infuse" as much tequila and lime as possible in the frosting. The flavors kept getting lost, so naturally I kept adding more tequila and lime and then, consequently, more sugar! It's a downward spiral.

I think if I make these again, I would opt to brush some tequila over the cooled cupcakes to help infuse the margarita (read: tequila) flavor better. This was a suggestion from Annie's Eats, but somehow I missed that when executing the cupcake recipe.

All together, I still think the entire cupcake was pretty good. I just wish the tequila was a bit more pronounced and the frosting was stiffer (aka easier to pipe onto the cupcakes). Otherwise, this is still a cupcake I can get behind. Because why would I ever turn away a margarita in cupcake form?

Hummus

2011-04-23T13:51:00.002-04:00

My work schedule has been a little...odd...lately. I've been working from the client site for a few days each week, then either working from home or my actual office for the rest of the week. Since I've been spending so much quality time with myself, sometimes sans work cafeteria, I've gotten the hankering to keep some healthy snacks around the apartment. Because I can't eat Giant Chocolate Toffee Cookies all day long. Not that I wouldn't give it my very best effort.

Hummus is healthy, right? Since I do still have a massive tub of tahini in the refrigerator, I decided that hummus could be the way to go. So I gave it my best shot. And came up with a savory, creamy dip that could be slathered on just about anything.

Hummus
slightly adapted recipe from AllRecipes.com

Print Recipe

2 cups canned garbanzo beans, drained
1/3 cup tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pinch paprika

1) Combine the garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, salt and garlic in a blender or food processor.

2) Blend until the hummus is smooth.

3) Transfer hummus to a serving bowl and drizzle olive oil over it.

4) Sprinkle with paprika.

Creamy Dijon Chicken

2011-04-10T15:35:00.005-04:00

Let me preface this post with the fact that I am not a mustard lover. In fact, I don't think I've even blogged about mustard in the 2 years of this blog's existence. Really, the only condiments I like are ketchup, BBQ sauce, and any form of hot sauce. I have limits, ya know.

But when I saw how easy and beautiful this chicken dish looked on the Simply Delicious blog, I completely forgot about my aversion to mustard. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a pretty picture.

Conveniently enough, my mom is a huge mustard lover, and is therefore quite ready to recreate this recipe as soon as it's posted. And I need to be on her good side right about now, so I can get lots of home-cooked food when I head back to the Bahamas later this month. Life's a trade off sometimes.

Creamy Dijon Chicken
slightly adapted from the Simply Delicious blog

Print Recipe

4 large skinless & de-boned chicken breasts
olive oil
3 small-medium leeks or 2 large leeks, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 - 1 1/2 cup cream
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt & pepper to taste
dash of chili flakes (optional)

1) Drizzle a few teaspoons of olive oil to a pan over medium heat.

2) Once the oil is heated through, add the chicken to the pan and saute until mostly cooked through.

3) Remove chicken from pan and set aside to rest while you create the sauce. Do not throw out the oil in the pan!

4) Add the leeks and garlic to the pan and saute for about 5 minutes or until the leeks are softened.

5) Add the cream, mustards, and lemon juice to the pan. Stir so the cream doesn't develop a skin.

6) Allow the sauce to reduce for a few minutes.

7) Meanwhile, cut the chicken into cubes. (Note: This step is not necessary. I just preferred cutting up the chicken so it cooks evenly, but you can leave the chicken as-is if you like.)

8) Place the chicken back into the reduced sauce. Stir to coat the chicken with the sauce. This will also finish the cooking process for the chicken.

9) Season with salt, pepper, and chili flakes to taste. Serve warm.

I think my favorite part of the dish is the leeks. The leeks were softened during the cooking process, but there's still a little crunch there that I like. The sauce was tangy and creamy but not overly heavy. Maybe because of the lemon juice? I'm not a real chef so I have no idea. But I know it tastes good! I served my chicken up with a side of rice and the two went really well together, but you could also try serving it over some pasta.

Giant Chocolate Toffee Cookies

2011-04-07T21:27:00.005-04:00

Who am I kidding? The real reason I blogged about roasted tomatoes is to make up for this post.

Giant. Chocolate. Toffee. Cookies.

Remember that dance reunion I was talking about a while ago? Well, I also brought these along with me. My favorite comment was that these cookies should be called "brookies" because they seem to be a cross between brownies and cookies. I thought that was innovative. And quite true since the cookies did have a dense, brownie-like consistency.

And chocolate. Lots of melted chocolate was harmed in the making of these brownies. And here comes the kicker. Heath bar toffee pieces. Can you believe that? I need a moment.

I love Heath bars. To be honest, it's really what pushed me to make these cookies. Toffee just makes everything better. Ever.

Giant Chocolate Toffee Cookies
recipe from Epicurious.com
makes 16-18 cookies

Print Recipe

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
16 oz bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used 4 oz bittersweet & 12 oz semisweet chocolate)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups (packed) brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 1.4-ounce chocolate-covered Heath bars (or a similar toffee candy bar), coarsely chopped
1 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped (optional)

1) Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.

2) Stir the chocolate and butter in a heat-proof bowl over a pot of simmering water (this would be a double boiler). Stir until the mixture is melted and smooth.

3) Remove from over the water and allow the mixture to cool until it is lukewarm.

4) Using a mixer, beat the sugar and eggs together for about 5 minutes, or until thick.

5) Add the melted chocolate mixture and the vanilla.

6) Stir in the dry ingredients, then the toffee and nuts. (I chose not to use nuts in my cookies.)

7) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 45 minutes.

8) Preheat the oven to 350°F.

9) Line baking sheets with parchment or waxed paper. Drop 1/4 of the batter onto the sheets, spacing each cookie about 2 1/2 inches apart. (Yes, these cookies are massive! This recipe writer was not messing around!)

10) Bake just until tops are dry and cracked but cookies are still soft to touch, about 15 minutes.

11) Cool the cookies on the baking sheets. These cookies can be made a day or two ahead. If you need to store them, make sure to place them in an airtight container at room temperature.

Roasted Tomatoes: Two Ways

2011-04-06T19:56:00.003-04:00

Can you feel it getting warmer? Yep, it's almost summertime!

In preparation for the summer and my long-awaited return to the Union Square Green Market, I picked up some grape tomatoes for some pre-summer roasting in the kitchen. Because I could.

The inspiration for this snack is the roasted tomatoes in the salad that comes with the Warm Goat Cheese and Caramelized Onion Tart at Balthazar Restaurant in NYC. Are you still with me after that explanation?

I wasn't exactly sure how to roast tomatoes since I'd never done it before, but really, how hard could it be?

Apparently there are two ways you can do this. The slow-roasted way, or the quick and dirty way. (There's no real methodology called "quick and dirty", but you get the idea.)

Since I wasn't sure which roasting method I would prefer, I picked up two pints of grape tomatoes and resolved to try both roasting methodologies.

Print Recipes

Slow-Roasted Tomatoes
slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen's Slow-Roasted Tomatoes

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

1) Preheat oven to 225 degrees F.

2) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the tomato halves on the sheet.

3) Drizzle with a thin layer of olive oil. You can also toss the tomatoes lightly in the olive oil if desired.

4) Sprinkle salt and pepper over the tomatoes.

5) Roast the tomatoes for 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours. (If you choose to use larger tomatoes, you will probably need to keep them in the oven longer.) The tomatoes will be shriveled when they are done, but you don't want them to be too dry and rubbery.

6) Eat right away or let cool and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

"Quick and Dirty" Oven Roasted Tomatoes
slightly adapted from marthastewart.com

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

2) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the tomato halves on the sheet.

3) Drizzle with a thin layer of olive oil. You can also toss the tomatoes lightly in the olive oil if desired.

4) Sprinkle salt and pepper over the tomatoes.

5) Roast the tomatoes for about 15 minutes or until they begin to brown on the bottom. (If you choose to use larger tomatoes, you will probably need to keep them in the oven longer.)

6) Eat right away or let cool and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Tip1: You can add herbs to the tomatoes before they go in the oven as well. I've really gotten into rosemary lately, but I chose to go au natural with these tomatoes.

Tip2: I like to roast the tomatoes cut-side up so the juices will marinate in the cup while the tomatoes are roasting. But you can roast them any way you prefer.

And here are the results -- The slow roasted tomatoes were firmer and chewier. They reminded me of the texture of dried cranberries. On the other hand, the quick and dirty tomatoes were softer and juicier. They were closer to actual tomatoes than the slow roasted version.

So which one did I like better? I prefer the Slow Roasted Tomatoes. Primarily because they're chewier and I like that texture. They were also pretty close to the roasted tomatoes I had at Balthazar. Win!

Mini Pretzel Turtles

2011-04-01T00:50:00.004-04:00

My dance friends and I have been threatening to get together for a while and watch old dance videos of ourselves from 10 years ago. Some of these videos may have been on VHS back then. Crazy!

Of course we would need to have snacks to munch on in between our video-watching and our spastic recreations of our smoking hot dance moves of yesteryear. I found a recipe that was so simple I just couldn't leave it alone. I didn't even have to change the recipe at all. It was already everything I could ever want in a one-bite dessert: salty, sweet, crunchy.

Although I was already making a batch of bad ass cookies (more on those in a future blog post), I still had to add these to the mix.

Mini Pretzel Turtles
recipe from Jane Deere's Mini Pretzel Turtles

Print Recipe

1 bag mini pretzels
1 bag Rolo candies
1 bag pecan halves

1) Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

2) Line a baking sheet with foil and spread the pretzels over the baking sheet in a single layer.

3) Place a single Rolo on top of each pretzel.

4) Bake in the oven for 4 minutes.

5) Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Immediately press a pecan half into the Rolo.

6) Let cool before eating. You can pop the tray into the fridge or freezer to help this process along. (Make sure to let the turtles come to room temperature before serving, otherwise the caramel will be hard.)

Jalapeno Relleno Bake

2011-03-24T21:20:00.007-04:00

I am my own worst enemy.

Me and my inability to read recipes correctly. Or the ability to read recipes correctly, but the inability to pick up the correct ingredients. Who knows what's going on in my head. My thoughts are probably drifting toward my next meal and not focusing on what's happening in the present.

The reason for this tirade? I really wanted to make the chile relleno bake that I had seen on the Circle B Kitchen blog. I had a recipe for it. I went shopping for the ingredients. I came home and made it. My roommate and I promptly gagged and choked from the heat of the dish. What the heck?

I've never had a chile relleno before. I know, what am I doing trying to make a chile relleno bake then, right? I like to jump headfirst into things and this is just my way of doing it. OK? So I had no idea how this thing was going to taste, but I was surprised by how much it burned going down. Now before you stop reading, I didn't say that this dish tasted bad. It tasted great. But it was super spicy. And if you're kinda into that, keep going...

About a week later, as I was sifting through my food porn folder, I happened to shuffle through some pictures that I had taken of the Chile Relleno Bake. And I realized that I hadn't used chiles in the dish. I had used jalapenos. Yes, the lightbulb is now on.

The culprit

So now I have a nice little Jalapeno Relleno Bake recipe to share with everyone.

Jalapeno Relleno Bake
slightly adapted from Circle B Kitchen's Chile Relleno Bake

Print Recipe

6 oz shredded Mexican blend cheese
6 oz shredded taco blend cheese
5 eggs
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup flour
1 2/3 cup milk
1 7-oz can diced jalapenos (I bought a can of whole jalapenos and diced them myself)
1/2 cup tomatillo salsa

1) Spray a 2 quart baking dish with cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2) Combine the two types of shredded cheeses.

3) Spread 3/4 of the cheese in the bottom of the baking dish.

4) Sprinkle the chopped jalapenos over the cheese. Try to get it in as even a layer as possible.

5) In a bowl, beat the eggs together. Slowly add the flour, salt, and milk.

6) Pour this mixture over the cheese and jalapenos in the baking dish.

7) Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top of the dish.

8) Top with the salsa.

9) Bake in the oven for ~45 minutes, or until the center is set.

10) Let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving. Serve with an extra drizzle of tomatillo salsa over each slice.

No, this little lady won't win any awards for beauty, but each bite of this casserole is creamy, cheesy, and spicy...a wonderful combination in my book.

Tomatillo Salsa

2011-03-20T00:19:00.007-04:00

This is one of my favorite. salsas. ever.

Not only is it green (I like the color green), but it's also tangy and spicy and perfect over a piece of grilled chicken or eaten on it's own with a tortilla chip.

I was first introduced to this little gem when I visited my friend, Matt, in Austin, TX a while ago. He pulled out a batch of this stuff and I knew I needed the recipe.

Except that he doesn't really use recipes. But he was able to give me some guidelines and recommendations so I could run with it. Here ya go!

Tomatillo Salsa
from my friend Matt

Print Recipe

~12 tomatillos, chopped
~10 jalapenos, chopped*
~4 cloves garlic, chopped
dash salt and pepper, to taste
1 bunch fresh cilantro
1/3 cup vinegar

1) Add all items into a blender until creamy.**

2) Pour the salsa into a saucepan and simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes.

3) Let the salsa cool, then use as desired!

*You can add more or less, depending on how spicy you like it. I'd probably start out with ~6 jalapenos if you're not sure. Don't worry. The heat really mellows out when you simmer the salsa.

** The blender chose this precise moment to crap out on me. Thus I ended up using my immersion blender to make this salsa happen. Still worked out perfectly!

I've heard of variations in which roasted tomatillos have been used for the salsa. I haven't tried this yet because it will increase the time it takes for this salsa to get into my mouth. But you let me know how it tastes if you do roast those tomatillos.

I've got the perfect plan for this salsa...Stay tuned!

Penne Alla Vodka

2011-03-13T16:03:00.003-04:00

I'm so excited to tell you all about this dish because I think it's going to be a new fave.

Actually, it's already my new fave. I guess I just need to tell you about it then.

A while ago, on Twitter, I randomly saw someone reference Rocco DiSpirito's latest cookbook "Now Eat This". Well, it probably wasn't that random. I follow a bunch of foodies so I'm sure it was bound to happen sooner or later. To satisfy my curiosity, I looked up the cookbook and saw that each of the recipes in the book was 350 calories or less. Now I'm not on a diet, but there's nothing wrong with eating healthy. And of course if there are fewer calories involved, I feel so much better about going back for seconds!

Now, it's time for me to make an admission of guilt: I added calories back into this dish.

Yep, I did that. But in my defense, I was trying to use up items that I already had in the apartment. And for some reason (I don't know why!) these items weren't as healthy as the ingredients which were called for in this dish. But they could still act as substitutes, so I went ahead and used them. I grabbed regular pasta instead of whole wheat pasta and used up some compost spaghetti sauce instead of using Rocco's Low-Fat Marinara Sauce. See, that wasn't so bad, right?

Penne Alla Vodka
adapted from Rocco DiSpirito's No Cream-No Cry Penne Alla Vodka
(serves 8)

16 ounces penne pasta
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 cup compost spaghetti sauce (something like this)
3 cups Tomato Basil spaghetti sauce
crushed red pepper
2 7-oz containers 2% Greek yogurt
2 cups chopped fresh basil
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
salt
freshly ground black pepper

1) Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, then add the pasta. Cook, stirring every few minutes, until pasta has the desired texture.

2) In the meantime, add the olive oil to a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until transparent, 3-5 minutes.

3) Add the spaghetti sauces and crushed red pepper to the saucepan.

4) Bring to a simmer until the sauce is thickened, about 5 minutes. Then remove the pan from the heat.

5) Stir ~1/2 cup of marinara sauce into the yogurt to temper it and prevent the yogurt from curdling.

6) Stir until the mixture is smooth, then whisk the mixture back into the marina sauce.

5) Add the drained penne pasta, marinara sauce, basil, and cheese in a large bowl. Toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

I actually forgot to add the crushed pepper in Step 3 when I made this, but I just added it in at the end. If you wanted to, you could also brown some ground beef (or other type of meat) in the saucepan before adding the sauce.

This dish was creamy and comforting in the best way possible. I didn't even notice that the yogurt replaced the cream. And if you love the tomato-basil combination, then this recipe will be your new best friend, as it is mine.