Saturday, November 26, 2011

Turkey Gravy

  1. Bring 4 cups turkey stock to a boil in medium pot.  Remove from heat, keep warm
  2. Melt 4 TBSP unsalted butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Whisk in 1/4 cup all-purpose flour.  Whisk until it turns golden brown and smells slightly toasted.
  3. Gradually whisk in the turkey stock, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
  4. Add 2 bay leaves or 1 sprig thyme.  Toss in some umami flavor with porchini mushrooms and 2 TBSP madiera wine.  Season with salt

Monday, October 10, 2011

Naan

Shamelessly stolen from Serious Eats


  • 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 3 tablespoons milk
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 4 1/2 cups bread flour
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted
  1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume
  2. Punch down dough. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
  3. Light one chimney full of charcoal. When all the charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and spread coals out evenly over the charcoal grate and oil the grill grate.
  4. At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Place dough on grill, and cook for 1 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 1 to 3 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Braised Chicken with Potatoes, Olives and Lemon

  • 2.25lbs chicken thighs
  • Coarse salt
  • 1 tbsp EVOO
  • 1.25 cups chicken stock
  • 12 baby fingerling potatoes
  • 5 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
  • .5 cups green olives (we used kalmata)
  • 1 small lemon, washed and cut into wedges
  • 6 thyme sprigs
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  1. Preheat oven to 450F
  2. Season chicken with salt
  3. Heat a lodge cast iron skillet on medium high heat with oil
  4. Cook chicken for 5 minutes, then flip and push to the side
  5. Add 1 cup stock and 1/2 tsp salt
  6. Add potatoes, bring to a boi
  7. Add garlic, olives, lemon wedges and thyme, return to a boil
  8. Put the skillet in the oven, cook for 30 minutes, flipping the potatoes after 15
  9. Return to stovetop, add cornstarch and remaining stock, bring to a boil
  10. Serve

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon

  • 2 pieces Salmon
  • 4 TBSP brown sugar
  • 1 TBSP mustard
  • 1 TBSP soy sauce
  1.  Preheat over to 425F
  2. Mix non-salmon ingredients
  3. Lay out one piece of aluminum foil for each piece of salmon, and place the salmon inside, skin side down
  4. Spread the sauce on top of the salmon
  5. Close the aluminum foil
  6. Bake for 10 minutes
  7. Change the oven to high broil
  8. Open up the aluminum foil
  9. Broil for 2 minutes
  10. Serve

Friday, September 9, 2011

Chocolate Coca-Cola Cake



·       2 C. Cake Flour
·       2 C Sugar
·       ½ tsp. Ground Cinnamon
·       2 Sticks Butter
·       ¼ C Cocoa
·       1 C Coca-Cola
·       ½ C Buttermilk
·       1 tsp. Baking Soda
·       2 Eggs
·       1 tsp. Vanilla
·       ¼ tsp. Salt


1.      Sift together the flour and sugar.
2.      Heat butter, cocoa and Coca-Cola to boiling point.
3.      Add to the flour/sugar mixture. Stir to blend.
4.      Add buttermilk, soda, eggs, salt and vanilla & stir.
5.      Pour into a greased and floured oblong pan.
6.      Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes. (Batter will be thin.)
7.      Ice while hot.



COCA-COLA ICING:
·       ½ C Butter
·       ½ C Coca-Cola
·       4 C Confectioners' Sugar
·       ¼ C Cocoa
·       1 T Vanilla
·        
1.      Heat to boiling point the butter, cocoa and Cola-Cola.
2.      Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla; stir to blend.
3.      Poke holes in the hot cake and pour the hot icing over it.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Rogan Josh Lamb Curry

  • 2lb lamb leg, cubed
  • 4 TB oil
  • 4 TB Penzy's Rogan Josh seasoning
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt
  • 1 large onion, minced
  1. brown lamb in oil
  2. remove lamb, brown onion in same oil
  3. add seasoning, salt to onion, stir 1 minute
  4. add in lamb, water yogurt
  5. let cook on low heat 1-2 hours
  6. raise heat and reduce until thick

Friday, September 2, 2011

Panang Curry with Chicken

  • 5 tablespoons Panang curry paste (you can find this at an asian market)
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 4 cups coconut milk
  • 2/3 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cubed
  • 2 tablespoons palm sugar
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce, or to taste
  • 6 kaffir lime leaves, torn
  • 2 fresh red chile peppers, sliced
  • 1/4 cup fresh Thai basil leaves
  1. Fry the curry paste in the butter in a large skillet or wok over medium heat until fragrant
  2. Stir the coconut milk into the curry paste and bring to a boil
  3. Add the chicken; cook and stir until the chicken is nearly cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes
  4. Stir the palm sugar, fish sauce, and lime leaves into the mixture; simmer together for 5 minutes
  5. Garnish with sliced red chile peppers and Thai basil leaves to serve

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Potato Casserole

Needed a quick potato casserole recipe to bring to our friends house, and Allrecipes.com did not disappoint.  Here it is:

Ingredients:

  • 5 pounds red potatoes, cooked and cubed  (scrub the potatoes then boil them for 25 minutes)
  • 1 pound sliced bacon, cooked and crumbled
  • 4 cups cubed Cheddar cheese
  • 4 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped (saute in garlic and olive oil if you have a couple extra minutes)
  • 1 cup mayonnaise (we use the mayo with EVOO)
  • 1 cup sour cream (we used Creme Fraiche, and it turned out great)
  • 1 tablespoon minced chives (feel free to use lots more of this)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Recipe:
  1. Combine potatoes and bacon in one bowl
  2. In another bowl, combine everything else and mix
  3. Add those two bowls together, mix (but not TOO much)
  4. Transfer to a greased 4.5 qt baking dish (we actually halved the recipe, and it filled up an 8x10 casserole dish)
  5. Bake for 50-60 minutes at 325F until bubbling

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Molten Chocolate Cake...

This is a richer version of our famous chocolate souffle.  We ate it instead of dinner one night this weekend:). You have to refrigerate the "dough" for 1 hour before putting it in the oven, so this recipe takes a bit of time, but it is well worth it.

Ingredients:
6 oz. semi sweet chocolate
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate
3/4 cup unsalted butter
3 egg yolks
3 whole eggs
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup all purpose flour

Directions - Butter 8 six-oz. ceramic ramekins and dust with flour.  In a bowl over a double-boiler, melt butter and chocolate, set aside and let cool.  In a mixing bowl, use electric mixer to combine eggs and sugar until pale yellow batter holds shape and forms ribbon on beaters.  Blend flour into egg-sugar mixture with the mixer for 3 minutes.  Add chocolate mixture, being careful to incorporate everything; mix for 2 more minutes.  Pour about 6 oz. of batter into each ramekin and refrigerate for 1 hour.  In an oven preheated to 475F, bake ramekins on a cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes, or until they are puffed up and don't jiggle when moved.  Remove from oven and serve immediately.  Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

*Note: We made this recipe in one large ramekin (chocolate souffle dish), and it was wonderful, but it would be better in smaller ramekins.  The molten part in the middle was large and overwhelming - it would be more balanced with the cake outside/molten center if it was separated into individual ramekins.

Posted by Stephanie

Apple Crisp

This recipe is from allrecipes.com - we recommend making a little more topping then the recipe calls for - it is amazing!

Ingredients

  • 4 apples - peeled, cored and chopped
  • 1 dash ground cinnamon
  • 1 dash ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup walnuts
  • 1/2 cup pecans
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 4 tablespoons butter, diced
  • 1 pinch salt

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Place apples in a pie pan and dust with cinnamon and nutmeg. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.
  3. In a food processor chop nuts with a few short pulses. Pour in sugar and flour and process to combine. Add butter and salt and process until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle topping over apples.
  4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Crispy Black Bean Tacos with Feta and Cabbage Slaw

Awesome recipe, but I'm super busy now.  With no pomp and circumstance, here it is.

  • 1 can black beans, drained
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 1 TBSP lime juice
  • 2 cups coleslaw mix
  • 2 green onions, chopped
  • 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • corn tortillas
  • 1/3 cup crumbled feta
  • hot sauce
Directions
  1. Combine beans and cumin.  Partially mash the beans
  2. Combine everything else (except for hot sauce, feta and tortillas), and toss
  3. Heat up a non-stick pan with a dab of olive oil in it until just before the smoking point
  4. Toss a tortilla in.  Spoon some beans on.  Once it's browned, take it out of the pan, add the slaw mixture, feta and enjoy (with hot sauce)

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Herb-Crusted Rack of Lamb with Honey Mustard Glaze and Garlic Confit

I received a copy of Thomas Keller's cookbook Ad Hoc at Home from my wife for Christmas.  The recipes in it are amazing so far, but quite a bit more complex than we normally make.  With a free Saturday night, we decided to take a shot at the Rack of Lamb with Honey Mustard.  Here's my thoroughly documented walk-through of how it works:

The first thing you have to learn with Thomas Keller's recipes is that to make any given recipe, there are probably 1-3 recipes you have to make before.  Case in point, the Rack of Lamb requires 4 cloves of Garlic Confit.

Garlic Confit:

1 cup peeled garlic
2 cups canola oil


  • Put the garlic in a saucepan and cover with canola oil.
  • Turn the heat on medium - low, so that the oil is just barely bubbling.
  • Cook for 45 minutes, until the garlic cloves get soft.  They'll look like this: 

  • Take the garlic off the heat, and let it cool in the oil.
  • When it's cool, drain it.  You can keep the oil for the lamb.
  • Only 4 cloves are required for the lamb, so I tossed the rest of them on some parchment paper and froze them.  They'll be great to add some easy flavor to sauces and recipes in the future.

Now that the garlic is done, it's time to move on to the real recipe.

Herb-Crusted Rack of Lamb with Honey Mustard Glaze

2 frenched 8-bone racks of lamb
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
Canola oil (I reused the oil from the garlic confit)
0.25 cup dijon mustard
3 TBSP honey
6 TBSP unsalted butter at room temperature
4 cloves garlic confit
3-5 anchovies
1.5 cups ground panko bread crumbs
3 TBSP finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 TBSP minced rosemary

My first piece of advice is to buy racks of lamb that are already frenched.  I attempted to do this, but got confused at the Halal Butcher and walked away with a normal rack of lab.  Here' what it looked like when I got home:

Frenching the lamb basically means pulling all of the meat off the end of the bones.  It makes them look cleaner.  I used this website for instructions on how to french the rack.  Here's the outcome:

Next, score the fat on top of the lamb and season well with salt and pepper.
This would be a good time to turn the oven on to 425.
Get out a roasting pan with a roasting rack (we use a cooling rack in a jellyroll pan) - you'll need this as soon as you're done searing the rack.
Heat the canola oil (peferrably garlic confit oil) in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.
One rack at a time, cook the racks fat-side down in the pan. 

After 90-120 seconds, move them to the roasting pan.

Next, you'll need to prep your topping. Puree the garlic, butter and anchovies in a food processor.
Transfer this puree to a large bowl, add in the bread crumbs, parsley and rosemary.  Combine well, but the result should still be chunky.
Combine the mustard and honey, and brush this mixture over the fat and meat side of the racks.
Pat a thick layer of the bread crumbs on the top of the lamb.
Bake for 25-35 minutes (it took us 24), until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 128-130 F.
Let the racks rest for 10 minutes, and you'll have:

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Best-Ever Brownies

So we get a subscription to Bon Appetit magazine.  Not exactly sure why we get it, because I don't think we pay for it.  At any rate, the recipes tend to be more complicated than I like to make on any given night.  Their February issue has a huge picture of brownies with the title "Best-Ever Brownies" on the cover.  We had to try them.  The long and short?  They're really good brownies, and they taste not at all like the Gheradelli brownies we normally make.  They're very dense, very chocolately, and pair very well with coffee the next morning.  Here's how it works:

10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1.25 cups granulated white sugar
.75 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (we used cocoa powder from Penzey's Spices, which was fabulous)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (we used home made)
2 eggs
.33 cup + 1 TBSP flour
1 cup chopped walnuts

  1. Preheat oven to 325.
  2. Line bottom and sides of 8x8 pan with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick spray.
  3. Measure out the sugar, cocoa, vanilla, 2 TBSP water, and 0.25 tsp salt into a large mixing bowl
  4. Melt butter (cut into 1 TBSP slices) in saucepan over medium heat.  Cook until the butter starts to brown, but before it burns.  Stir it as it cooks.
  5. Remove the butter from the heat, immediately dump it into the dry mixture.  Stir vigorously to mix.
  6. Let cool 5 minutes
  7. Add eggs to mixture, 1 at at time.  Beat them in very well.
  8. When the mixture is consistent, add the flour.  Beat 60 strokes.
  9. Lightly stir in nuts.
  10. Put the brownies in the pan (note: this word here should be "coax" - the mixture is very thick)
  11. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a fork / toothpick / olive pick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Waffles

We add peanut butter to the recipe.  It tastes good.

Waffle Recipe

  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 3/4 cups milk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon white sugar
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1. Beat egg whites
  2. Fold in all ingredients and mix until just smooth
  3. Cook in a waffle iron