Wasabi Yoghurt Sauce

Alright so for lent I gave up beef, pork, lamb, fowl (not eggs though), and basically all other land based meat. So, before I drive myself mad with omelets and oatmeal I decided to make a shrimp sauce that was amazing. Unfortunately, I have no way to really measure accurately.

Ingredients:
Yogurt (hell if I know, one Fage container?)
Wasabi, to taste (1/4 tsp)
Sugar, to taste (1/2-1 tsp)
Fish Sauce/Worcestershire Sauce (Seriously, fish sauce is nasty smelling but you need the salt. Use very little. By God man, be careful)
Soy Sauce (again a splash, it is very salty and can throw the sauce)

Method:
Mix it together. Seriously. Stir and Serve. Takes 5 minutes. Kicks ass.

Heart Ache Pizza

Ingredients:
1 whole recipe dough
4 slices of bacon
2 baking potatoes
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (more or less)
12 oz mozzarella (more or less)
12 oz cheddar cheese (more or less)
enough Alfredo sauce to coat, (no more than 1 cup I believe)

Method:
Preheat 450*F. Grease pizza pan.

Slice the potatoes into thin, thin disks. Then slice into thin sticks. Like for hashbrowns. Saute until done (20-30 minutes on medium heat) with salt and pepper.

Lightly (or not) coat the pizza crust in Alfredo sauce. Top (in this order) Parmesan cheese (dusting would be the way you describe it), mozzarella cheese, potatoes, cheddar cheese, crumpled bacon and another dusting of Parmesan cheese for good luck.

Bake between 10-20 minutes until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly. Let sit for 5-10 minutes for consumption to fully enjoy the pizza and to let the cheese set.

Notes:
Very filling. Pairs welly with Chimay Blue.

Pizza Dough

Ingredients:
2-1/4 cups semolina flour
2 cups bread flour
generous pinch of salt (1/4 tsp)
1-1/2 cup warm water
3 tbsp sugar (or 1/4 cup honey)
1 package yeast (1/4oz, I think)
2 tbsp olive oil

Method:
1.) Combine sugar, warm water and yeast. Bloom 15-20 minutes. Add Oil
2.) Combine flours and salt. Mix.
3.) Bring yeast water to flour mixture and mix and knead. Add flour/water if sticky/dry.
4.) Overnight let it rest (best) or let it rest 1 hour (still very good)

Notes:
This dough is more than enough to divide into 3 whole 16" thin crust pizzas. Bake at 450*F and it should be ready in 9-15 minutes. For most pizzas.

Hybrid Theory

I have designed this cookie based on Southern United States flavor profiles. Currently being tested.

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 tbsp vanilla sugar (or regular, I guess. Cheapass)
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon finely chopped orange zest
1 1/2 teaspoons Frangelico, or brandy or Vanilla Extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (Giradellhi, works well for all)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped pecans
TU ground? black pepper

Instructions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, the yolk, orange zest, milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips, pecans, and cranberries. Pepper it to taste

Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Brush on maple syrup. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 7 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Cookies with Honey and Maple Syrup

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tbsp vanilla sugar (or regular)
2 tbsp honey
2-4 tbsp grade maple syrup (3-4 grade A or 2-3 grade B)
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (Giradellhi, works well for all)
1/2 cup milk chocolate
1/2 cup 60% cacao.

Instructions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add honey and maple syrup followed by the egg, the yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Brush on maple syrup. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 7 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Chewy Cookie Base, from Alton Brown

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Blinchiki cheese filling

Absolutely delicious. A full recipe of this fills two recipes worth of crepes praline. Generally 2-3 per person is enough, and you can easily produce about 15 with two recipes of crepes.

Ingredients:
8oz cream cheese
8oz sour cream
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar

Mix together.

Filling:
Cook only one side of the praline crepes.
Place large dollop on cooked side off center towards you. Fold over the dollop away from you. Bring the other side towards you and fold the sides in.

Heat skillet on medium with a pat of butter. Brown the all around, about 5 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar, honey, golden syrup, maple syrup, or sour cream.

Creme Anglaise di Saronno

So, I've started my dessert rotation and for my first dessert I'm making a lava cake with a creme anglaise (krem ahnGLEZ.)

Ingredients:
2 tbls sugar
pinch of salt
4 large egg yolks
1 cup of milk
1 tsp vanilla extract or, for better, 1/2 vanilla bean split lengthwise
1/4 cup Amaretto

Egg yolk mix: sugar, salt, and yolks; well blended
Bring milk just to boiling with vanilla and Amaretto
Temper egg mix
Bring whole mix to 180 degrees
Cool

Honey Ginger Chicken Stir-fry

Probably one of my best recipes to date I made this when I wanted to create General Tso's Chicken, but decided to add honey and eventually it morphed into something else entirely.

Ingredients:
2 Chicken breasts, cut into bit sized pieces
1 head of broccoli, bit sized
2 green leaves, shredded (Swiss chard preferred)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp grated ginger, fresh
1 half head of red cabbage, julienned
1 cup bourbon
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup dark soy sauce
enough honey
1 chili pepper, seeded and sliced

Method:
Place cut up chicken in bowl and cover with enough honey to coat and mix with peppers. Leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Heat wok on high heat until hot.
Add 2 tbsp of high heat oil (peanut, vegetable, canola)
Add ginger and garlic.
After 30 seconds add vegetables and rapidly cook for 5-7 minutes.
Add chicken and honey and cook until done (5-7 minutes usually... depending on how thinly cut)
Add fish sauce and dark soy.
Remove from heat and add bourbon (to avoid flames). Then return to heat for 5 minutes.
Reduce to low and let thicken or plate immediately and drizzle the thin sauce over the plate.

Serving:
Pasta, rice, quinoa, or add more veggies and plate as is.

Louisianna Thai Barbecue Sauce

I braised ribs in this and then reduced this into a sauce for those ribs.

Ingredients:
1 cup of bourbon
1/2 cup of honey
1/4 balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp balsamic caramel
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp grated ginger
pinch of kosher salt

Method:
combine, bring to simmer, reduce heat and stir occasionally until thickened into barbecue sauce

Mayan Moroccan Rub

I always wanted to use cocoa and cinnamon with pork barbecue rubs. So I made it.

Original:
8 parts Brown Sugar
3 parts Kosher Salt
1 parts Chile powder
1 parts Cinnamon + Cocoa Powder + Cloves + Nutmeg

Might adjust to:
8 parts Brown Sugar
3 parts Kosher Salt
1 parts Chile powder
1 parts Cinnamon
1 parts Cocoa Powder
1 parts Cloves + Nutmeg

Italian Stirfry

I made this when Emily bought me some squid ink pasta and really wanted to cook it with mussels. This isn't the original (I forgot it) but this hypothetically should be better. Some lemon would do nicely added towards the end.


Ingredients:
1 bag of mussels
1 lb calamari, tubes cut into rings. Tentacles cut from bases
1 head broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces
1 chili, sliced and seeded
1 cup bourbon or brandy
3 cloves garlic, chopped and crushed
2 tbsp grated ginger
3 mint leaves, bruised
Red Wine vinegar
1 cup White Wine
1/2 cup olive oil
Pasta

Method:
Toss broccoli in red wine vinegar, enough to coat. Set aside.

In a large pot, bring a gallon of very salty water to boil. When boiling add pasta cook as directed.
Drain when al dente.

In another large pot steam mussels with mint, white wine, and olive oil on low heat until they open.
Drain when all are open.

Bring a wok to high heat, add a little bit of high heat oil (vegetable, peanut, canola)

Stirfry:
For 30 secs heat garlic, ginger and chili
Cook broccoli for 5-7 minutes
Cook calamari until opaque, and tentacles curled.
Add bourbon, cook for 5 minutes.
Cut heat.
Add mussels and pasta. Toss to coat.

Note:
Timing is weird. Generally you should start the mussels when you start the broccoli and the pasta when the calamari is done.

Balsamic Caramel

I realize not many people have caramelized balsamic vinegar around the house. I stole this from The Improvisational Cook, by Sally Schneider.

1/2 cup of Madeira
1 cup balsamic vinegar (cheap is fine)
2 tsps dark brown sugar

Reduce Madeira to 1 tbsp, add vinegar.
Reduce to 1/4-1/3 cup
Add sugar
remove from heat when dissolved.
store and when cool cap.

Addendum:
Forgot to mention that this is designed to be used as a substitute for good (e.g. 15+ year aged) balsamic vinegar.

Great on my famous peach grunt.

Honey Tuna with Leek "Pasta"

I came up with this dish as something that could be intensely tasty, without too much fat or sugar. Given, I did use honey.... but the veggies make up for it, I swear!

Tuna Steak Marinade
Enough honey to coat each steak
2 tbsp shredded ginger (via cheese grater)
3 cloves smashed then chopped garlic
1 tbsp olive oil, unflavored
5 mint leaves

Bring pan to heat, add oil, saute garlic and ginger until fragrant. Should only be a few minutes. Oil should be used up. Place honey rubbed fish in an airtight container with garlic, ginger, and shredded mint leaves. Add some extra honey to coat bottom of storage vessel and toss a few times to coat and store for at least 8 hours.

To Cook:
Right before cooking, heat a cast iron skillet(1) in a cold oven set to 400*F and squirt 1/2 a lemon's worth of juice over the steaks.

When the oven is preheated so is your pan. Place on a burner on high with a little bit of canola, vegetable or peanut oil to lubricate the pan.

Add the steaks and cook on each side for two minutes, or until delicious looking. The steaks should be almost raw (not cold) on the inside.

Sauce:
Any extra marinade you have from the fish throw into a pan on high until foamy. Makes a delicious counterpoint to the leek pasta

Leek Pasta
2 leaks, halved and then thinly sliced
2 Swiss chard, julienned [Any green (bok choy, escarole, kale, collard, beet, etc) would be fine]
1 clove garlic, crushed and chopped
3 tbsp caramelized balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil

Saute leeks in oil until softened and almost pasta like (2) and then add the garlic and your greens. Add salt and cook for 5-7 minutes. Slash some rosemary olive oil if you wish.

(1) I used cast iron because it gets wickedly hot and you want that in this case. Non stick just can't compete with this.
(2) Start the tuna around this point, also the sauce

Coconut Shrimp

This recipe borders on madness for because I gave up math for lent (well... no, but I didn't measure anything at all for this recipe, ergo it will be mostly hypothesis)

Shrimp:
seasoned cornstarch (salt, pepper, cayenne)
eggwash
shredded coconut

Roll shrimp in cornstarch, removed excess cornstarch
dip in eggwash
press into coconut
fry
drain

Sauce:
Chunky Peanut butter
White Wine (Trebbiano is what I used)
1 lime's worth of juice (1/4 cup)
1 coconut's worth of juice (broken into 3rds... think I had about 1.5 cups total)
4 jalapeños (sliced)
1 red bell pepper Julianed
tablespoon of ginger toot shredded
3 garlic cloves
vanilla extract
sugar
salt

heat pan to high heat with a little oil
add ginger and garlic, after about a minute add the jalapeños and red bell peppers.
Add salt
When peppers soften add lime juice, 1/2 cup white wine and 1/3 of the coconut juice.
reduce
add sugar enough sugar to up the sweetness and balance the lime juice.
add another third of coconut juice
reduce
add sugar/salt if necessary
add peanut butter and rest of coconut juice and a splash of vanilla extract (if so inclined.)
stir over medium low heat until a thick sauce is obtained.


The end result is something borderline insane tasting, but incredible.

Kahlua and Cream

So lately, I've been drinking this:

Andy's Kahlua and Cream:
Combine, in order
enough vanilla extract to cover bottom of glass
1 part Kahlua
1 part heavy cream
1 part milk agitated until foamy
dusting of cinnamon

I serve in a Old Fashioned... mostly because Kahlua will sneak up on you and it looks nice.

Tastes great with (warm) cookies.

I need a name for this....

Seriously.... anyone that reads this I need a name for this disk

Ingredients:
3 Bacon strips, chopped
1 leek sliced thin
1 celery stalk chopped
1/2 cup brandy
a few pinches of salt

cook bacon until done, remove from pan but leave rendered fat.
add leeks and a pinch of salt, when they start to coil around a fork as you move them around the pan add celery and a tiny pinch of salt. When leeks are soft and chewy add back the bacon and CAREFULLY add the brandy to avoid flame ups. Cook for a couple of minutes and eat.

Tastes.... interesting. The brandy is the key element. Give a very nice subtle flavor. Though, a minced garlic glove and a 1/4 cup of diced onions and peppers would suit nicely.

Any suggestions? So far I got Bacon brandy over leek pasta.... which sucks ass.

Crepes Praline

I've successfully made crepes... and flipped them and sweet baby Jesus are these buggers good.

Crepes Praline
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup + 1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (you know, I should make my own.... hmmmm)
1 tbsp Frangelico
1 tbsp melted butter (Microwave 30 seconds on high)
3/4 cup milk

Other Stuff:
> 1/2 cup vegetable oil
some Lyle's Golden Syrup (not the same as me) and powdered sugar for garnish

Whisk Eggs and flour until creamy. Add sugar, vanilla, liquor, butter and milk. Whisk until smooth but thick and runny.

Coat pan (a small one... about 8") with a little bit of oil and remove excess.
Drop ~2 oz of batter into pan and form a disc. Flip when edges brown slightly. Eat when bottom looks good. Top with Lyle's Golden Syrup (or whatever... honey is good) and sugar.

Notes:
I want to add a filling.... like this one:
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
6 egg yolks
1/2 flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 oz Praline Liquor (probably use Frangelico instead)
1 1/2 tbsps pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp softened butter

Bring cream to boil then simmer
Whisk sugar, yolks, flour and salt until creamy.
While whisking add 1 cup of boiling cream (tempering would be better I think)
Add to pot of simmer cream and stir constantly
Remove from heat and add vanilla and liquor
Cool and fold in butter.

WINE:
Trebbiano d'Abruzzo is an excellent white wine that is fruity but not too sweet. I think I'll try it with these crepes. Maybe with some chopped fruit on top?

Pain Perdu

A few days ago I attempted Pain Perdu (or "Lost Bread" in French.... basically, it is French (freedom) toast) for the first time (well, technically second, but first using this method.)

Anyway, it basically went like this:

Syrup on bottom of pan made from:
2 tbsps Cane Syrup (Lyle's Golden Syrup in this case)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar

heat till bubbly and pour into a baking pan 2" high

place French bread croûtons in syrup

Batter poured over the bread:
5 eggs
1 cup of milk
1/2 cup of light whipping cream (instead of heavy, make it lighter, duh)
1/4 tsp cinnamon (doubled from recipe, omitted nutmeg)
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tbsp Frangelico

(whisk)

pour over croûtons in syrup

chill overnight

bring to room temperature for 1 hour

bake at 350F for 40 minutes

serve with cane syrup and powdered sugar

Notes: delicious, but the bread floated too much because I used a pan smaller than 8 1/2" x 11," and the syrup denatured a little bit (cook longer?) Maybe increase Frangelico for fun.

Addendum 1/1/08: I cooked the syrup longer and while it set faster it completely denatured while cooking, though after it sat it hardened a little bit. Letting it sit longer would be better.

Adjustment: 5x Frangelico (hand slip) and added Kahlua 1 tbsp

Wine

Cheers, lads and lasses.

This is my diary of recipes, hypothetical recipes, and things I've tasted.

Before I bombard your brains with my notes on recipes and thoughts about taste I will present the wines that I've been drinking as of late.

Coppola Rosso: spicy and smooth and easy to get at the restaurant.

Werewolf Cabernet Sauvignon: tart and musty

Allegrini La Grola: simple and friendly

Allegrini La Poja: complex and showy and a little minerally, but very nice

Bosco Montepulciano d'Abruzzo: spicy and silky and very enjoyable.

Bulls Blood of Eger: brutal and simple, but possible the most enjoyable of all my wines... also brown in color.

Tomorrow I hope to procure some Fat Bastard and maybe some Midori, Triple Sec, Grand Marnier, Calvados, some sort of Burgandy Pinot Noir, and maybe a Tawny Port. Maybe a few gallons of whiskey (of the bourbon type possibly)

Probably won't, but hope to stuff some pork chops Wednesday.

Ah well, should figure out what I'm going to eat.