Mud Pie

I finally gave into my dessert craving last night at midnight by making the quickest and easiest dessert recipe that I have been making for years (probably since I was 5!). Mud pie. It's a quick brownie recipe that only requires a bowl, spoon, and measuring cups. No need to drag out your kitchen aid mixer! It only takes 3 minutes to make the batter and 25 minutes to bake.



MUD PIE

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 t. vanilla
1/4 t. salt
2 eggs
1/3 c. of flour
1/3 c. cocoa
1 c. chopped nuts, optional

1.) Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease round pie plate (8 x 1 1/4).

2.) Mix all ingredients (except nuts) in a medium bowl. Stir in nuts (if desired). Pour into pan.

3.) Bake until wooden pick inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean, around 25 minutes. This will give you a gooey brownie. If you prefer it more cake-like keep the "pie" in the oven until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center (this is what I do).

4.) Cool until bottom is cool to touch. Serve slices with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Mushroom Palmiers

When I was visiting my parents recently I went through my mom's cookbooks and stole her Australian Women's Weekly Finger Foods cookbook. It's mostly filled with appetizers that are perfect for entertaining but I saw several recipes I wanted to try just for my husband and I.

The first recipe I've attempted from the book is Mushroom Palmiers. They looked so cute in the cookbook and seemed like the perfect use of the huge bag of shitake mushrooms I bought at 99 Ranch Market.

My first attempt at this recipe was almost a disaster. I prepared the mushroom filling by chopping and mixing the ingredients and then put them in the puff pastry just like I was instructed to do so in the recipe. While I was doing this I kept wondering why they don't have you cook the filling. Everytime I've made anything with mushrooms they need to be cooked first. I figured I would just follow the recipe and I couldn't go wrong. Well, not cooking the filling was my first mistake. I hadn't noticed that the instructions for the filling were at the end of the recipe (which makes NO sense to me). I didn't realize this until I had taken the rolled up puff pastry out of the fridge. That's when I realized that I had misread the recipe. My second mistake was that I had folded the puff pastry logs in half vertically rather than horizontally.

Fortunately I was able to open the pastry logs up and take the filling out. While I didn't cook it according to the directions (it was too late, I had combined everything at once) the cooked mixture turned out fine). When I fixed the pastry logs they were pretty pathetic looking but I was not about to waste food. Especially since the puff pastry cost me $5 at the store (okay, you can tell how poor I am since I'm complaining about $5). I miss Jon's up in Los Angeles. They have great puff pastry for cheap.

So, long story short, they turned out pretty well despite all of the mistakes I made. The picture below on the left is my first attempt and the picture on the right is my second attempt. The second ones turned out perfectly (with some changes that I made to the recipe; see below).


















Mushroom Palmiers
from Finger Food by The Australian's Women Weekly
c. 1998

Makes about 70.

(translated into American measurements with added notes)

12 oz. package of puff pastry, thawed
1 egg, lightly beaten

Filling:
1 T. oil
1 T. butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
1 T. plain flour
2 T. water
1 T. chopped fresh chives

To make Filling:

1.) Heat oil and butter in pan. Add garlic and onion and cook, stirring, until soft.
2.) Stir in mushrooms, cook for about 4 minutes or until mushrooms are soft. Stir often.
3.) Add flour, stir over heat for 1 minute, gradually stir in water, stir over heat until mixture boils and thickens.
4.) Remove from heat; cool. Stir chives into mushroom mixture.

To make palmiers:

1.) Preheat oven to 375-400 degrees (When I baked them at 375 they took forever to brown).

2.) Roll pastry on lightly floured surface to 10"x13" rectangle, cut in half lengthways to form 2 rectangles. Spread half the filling over 1 rectangle; repeat with remaining filling and rectangle.

3.) Fold in the long sides or each rectangle so they meet in the center, brush along center with some of the egg, fold in half, press lightly; cover, refrigerate 30 minutes. Cut rolls into 1cm slices and place with cut side up on lightly greased oven trays.

4.) Bake for about 12 minutes (it took me more like 30 minutes at 375 degrees) or until well browned. Serve hot.

Vegetarian Spring Rolls

It didn't take long for me to realize that my new deep fryer was going to be trouble. Last week I made more hot wings (they're so quick and sinfully good) and then fried up a batch of spring rolls.

The recipe came from this cute little Thai cookbook (appropriately called Thai) that I got from a friend that has been my Thai bible. I'm sure there are better cookbooks but it's so small and handy.

VEGETARIAN SPRING ROLLS

1 oz. fine cellophane noodles
2 t. peanut oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 t. grated fresh ginger (see note)
1/2 c. oyster mushrooms, thinly sliced (I used shitake)
2 scallions, finely chopped
1/2 c. beansprouts
1 small carrot, finely shredded
1/2 t. sesame oil
1 T. light soy sauce
1 T. rice wine or dry sherry
1/4 t. ground black pepper
1 T. chopped fresh cilantro
1 T. chopped fresh mint
24 spring/egg roll wrappers
1/2 t. cornstarch
peanut oil for frying

1.) Place noodles in large bowl. Cover with boiling water and let stand for 4 minutes. Drain, rinse in cold water, then drain again. Cut into 2 inch lengths.

2.) Heat the oil in a wok or wide pan over a high heat. Add the garlic, ginger, mushrooms, beansprouts and carrot and stir fry for about 1 minute until just softened.

3.) Stir in the sesame oil, soy sauce, rice wine, pepper, cilantro, and mint, then remove from heat. Stir in noodles.

4.) Arrange the spring roll wrappers on a work surface, pointing diagonally. Mix the cornstarch with 1 T. water ( I used hot water so it dissolved) and brush the edges of 1 wrapper with this. Spoon about 1 T. of filling onto pointed side of wrapper.

5.) Roll the point of wrapper over filling, then fold the sides in over filling. Continue to roll up and moisten wrapper with cornstarch mixture.

6.) Heat oil in wok (or in my case, deep fryer) to 350 degrees. Add rolls in batches and fry for about 2-3 minutes (it took me 5-8) until golden brown and crisp.

I served the eggrolls with two different sauces. In one bowl I had sweet chili sauce (no changes, just served straight from the bottle) and in the other I combined soy sauce (a few tablespoons), honey (about 1-2 t.), and minced Thai chili (just one, they're hot!).

Note: the ginger grater below is the BEST grater you can buy for grating ginger. It keeps the juice and grates it perfectly and effortlessly for any dish. You can find it at Sur La Table or asian markets. I bought mine at The Wok Shop in Chinatown (San Francisco). More to come re: The Wok Shop. Oh, and you can buy plain ones. I just thought the cat was cute!

I also made some mango-avacado sushi with spicy masago for dinner that same night. The spicy masago is a beautiful red and really makes the sushi pop both visually and in your mouth. They are pretty spicy but that's left up to each individual's taste. I LOVE spicy food--the hotter the better. My husband, however, is a little wimpier with the spices. He thought it was pretty spicy but very tasty.

99 Ranch Market carries regular, wasabi, and spicy masago. All are very beautiful and have their own unique flavors.

Pear and Walnut Scones

Note: I've been posting a LOT this week so make sure you scroll down to see what other meals were cookin' in my kitchen.

I've been wanting to make the Sublime Scones from Eating Well's February/March 2005 issue for a while now. They cut back on butter and replaced some of it with reduced fat cream cheese (I admit it, I used regular cream cheese since it's cheap at Trader Joe's). The lower fat recipe that they came up with only has 233 calories, 3g sat. fat, and 3 grams fiber compared to 328 calories, 10g sat. fat, and 2 grams of fiber in the original.

I was disappointed in their height when they came out of the oven. I think they were supposed to rise a bit more. Otherwise, they tasted pretty good (not the best scones I've ever had, though). The pear added a nice moistness to the scone.

A few notes:

1.) When they say to "knead" the dough--don't worry about it too much. It's nearly impossible to need because of the stickiness and texture. I managed to do it but not the same way I would normally knead scones.

2.) Use a pizza slicer to cut the dough into six wedges.

3.) I used a pizza stone (which I always use for biscuits, breads, scones, etc.) and, if you have one, I recommend you use it too. It makes a huge difference. Be sure to preheat your stone.

4.) I found that 15-20 minutes was a better time estimate than 20-30. Then again, I only put six wedges on the pizza stone at a time.


PICTURES from STEP 3:







FINAL RESULT:

Chilled Tomatillo Gazpacho

In case you haven't figured it out, I LOVE gazpacho. I make tomato gazpacho around once a week. Now that I've found a delicious mango/cucumber version I make that a lot too. Another great gazpacho is a tomatillo gazpacho recipe that I've only made once but really enjoyed. Tonight I decided to make it again.

The main reason I love gazpacho is that it's refreshing and cheap. You can't beat that combo. Plus it's quick. So gazpachos are great for plan-ahead meals or for last minute suppers.

Tonight's Chilled Tomatillo Gazpacho recipe comes from a cookbook I recently acquired from my mother called Cool Green Leaves and Red Hot Peppers. It has beautiful pictures and wonderful descriptions of vegetables you've never (or rarely) heard of.

Here's my shortened and modified version of the recipe:

CHILLED TOMATILLO GAZPACHO

1 lb. fresh tomatillos, husks removed
2 green peppers, halved and deseeded
5 scallions, chopped
2 mild fresh green chilies (I've used Anaheim and for more heat, jalapeno), roasted, seeded, and roughly chopped
1 medium garlic clove, roasted
1-2 T. lime juice, to taste
2 T. chopped cilantro
1 cup chicken stock (homemade preffered, if store-bought, use low-sodium)
salt and pepper to taste
1 t. sugar
2-4 T. thick yogurt, for garnish
1 T. chopped cilantro, for garnish

1.) Set aside 2 tomatillos, 1/2 green pepper, 1 or 2 scallions and dice. This will be added to the soup later.

2.) Coarsley chop the remaining tomatillos, scallions, and peppers.

3.) In a food processor, puree the vegetables you just coarsley chopped (chili, pepper, scallions, and tomatillos) along with the garlic and 1 T. lime juice for 2-3 minutes. Strain through a sieve and extract as much liquid as possible. You can throw away the debris in your sieve.

4.) Add chicken stock and season to taste with salt, pepper, sugar, and lime juice (if needed).

5.) Add the diced vegetables from step 1 as well as the 1 T. chopped cilantro.

Serving note: right before serving add a dollup of thick yogurt to each bowl of soup and serve with tortilla chips, if desired.

Homemade Croutons

Yesterday I had a half of a leftover baguette from Bread and Cie which I decided to turn into croutons as to not waste the bread. The baguette was completely hard so I had to put it in a 350 degree oven in a paper bag with water sprinkled on top (for about 10 minutes). I then cut off a piece for myself to enjoy with some roasted garlic and brie and cut up the rest of the baguette into cubes.

I let the cubes dry out on a cookie sheet for a few hours while I ran errands. I then tossed them in a bowl with extra virgin olive oil, a tiny amount of homemade pesto, salt, pepper, and some Italian seasonings. The newly flavored bread cubes went into a 350 degree oven until they turned a nice golden brown.

Normally I don't eat croutons because they're not very good for you. If you make them yourself you can control all of the ingredients, though. Plus it's a great use for stale bread. So far we've used them in a homemade ceasar salad and in my gazpacho (I make gazpacho about once a week). They would be great in a hot soup too.

The best part is that I made these croutons for about a buck and they are just as good as the La Brea Bakery croutons that cost almost 7 bucks for a small bag.

PS. Nothing goes better with a ceasar salad than Stella Artois.

X-rated North Beach (2nd day in San Fran)

I'm cranky if I don't eat right away in the mornings. Unfortunately our hotel in San Francisco (the Adante Hotel) had a nearly nonexistant breakfast. If you can live on toast and o.j. that tastes like orange soda then you'll be fine. I need something more substantial.

We decided to walk down Geary and see what we could find for breakfast. All of the diners we passed seemed unappealing. I think it's because that area of San Fran is really dirty (way dirtier than NY, which I found surprising) and it kind of turned me off. I couldn't make a fair judgement about the diners with all of the trash on the ground.

When we made it to Union Square we found a small cafe that served sandwiches, gelato, and pastries. I had an almond croissant and my husband had a chocolate croissant with espresso. The total ended up being almost $11 which is a bit pricy for those three items.

Since my husband had an appointment at the Academy of Art University at 1pm we knew we had to eat lunch early and decided not to fill up on breakfast. After walking around some more I'm greatly embarassed to tell you where we ate lunch. I promised myself I wouldn't eat here on our trip but I have to tell you it was a good decision given our time and budget. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory. I know, I know a foodie like me should have tried someplace local--but I still didn't have my guide books and I really like having recommendations when I don't immediately see a place that strikes my fancy. Again, the dirtiness of the area was affecting my judgement.

The Cheesecake Factory was exactly what I expected with one excellent addition: the view. This particular CF was on the 8th floor of the Macy's building and it overlooked Union Square. Our lunch was simple. For me: a luau salad (greens, honey wontons, mango, green beans, peppers, chicken, etc.). For him: a side salad, tomato soup, and a half of a chicken salad sandwich.

After our tour of the Academy of Art and the industrial design building (he wants to go back to school for transportation design) we were pretty exhausted. We took a quick nap and were starved when dinner rolled around. All of that walking really builds up an appetite! We settled on Tomasso's in North Beach because it got great recommedations from every guide book (I have two books that tell you about "hidden" places to go) and I was in the mood for a good pizza.

On our walk to North Beach we saw familiar sites of Nob Hill and Chinatown. When we crossed over into the North Beach area I was shocked. The guidebook mentioned it had a lot of XXX shops but I couldn't believe how many! Not that I care, I'm very liberal and that kind of thing doesn't bother me. I was just surprised that this was the same area recommended to us by an admissions person for family living! I may not care about the stores but I don't really want to raise a child right there. Maybe it looks totally different during the day. At night the neon lights are flashing everywhere.

We came across Tomasso's and were feeling a bit uneasy. There were no windows and all of the shops around them were either "peek-shows" or, well...you can see for yourself:

Fortunately we stepped into the restaurant and were surprised to see what appeared to be a family dining room. There was a really long table in the middle and booths on the side. There was even a booth by the kitchen that said "Reserved for Tomasso family" (or something to that extent). We were sat at the end of the long middle table with a nice view of the brick oven. The Tomassos cook their pizza in the brick oven with oak wood inside. That's what initially brought us to the restaurant.

We started out with a cesear salad. I had a feeling this would be an authentic cesear salad and luckily I was correct. This was definitely the best cesear salad I've had (at least in a long time). It only consisted of romaine lettuce, freshly shaved parmesean (some of the best parmesean I've had), and a light coating of dressing. Their dressing was traditonal (not visibly creamy) with the slightest hint of anchovy. Normally I hate anchovies but this tiniest bit of flavor made the salad just perfect. Perhaps they were fresh anchovies?

For our main course we split a small (their small is 12") vegetarian pizza with Italian pepperoni. Small round morsels or hard pepperoni. My favorite kind. I was a bit disappointed that they just had regular black olives on the pizza but everything tasted great. You could taste a hint of oak and the crust was perfectly crispy. While it's not the best pizza I've ever had it's definitely one of the top 5.

Since we were planning on going to the San Francisco Brewing Company after dinner I didn't get anything alcoholic to drink but my husband got a bottle of Peroni. We had never had it before and found it went perfectly with Italian food (duh, Kady! It's an Italian beer!). The beer is very light but still flavorful and very bubbly.

Again, I'm sooooo sorry that I didn't take a picture but the WHOLE family was right next to us and I get paranoid that they'll be upset that I'm taking pictures of the food.

After dinner we had saved room for some microbrewed beer at the San Francisco Brewing Company on Columbus. I ordered the Emperor Norton Lager and hubby ordered the Gripman's porter but we ended up switching because we liked each other's beer better. I've found that lately I prefer darker beers while my husband is starting to go lighter. I don't like beers that are thick since it fills you up to much but I do love a dark beer. Since I'm a lightweight (I'm not sure how but I got drunk off of that one beer) I didn't order a second but my husband tried a pint of ShanghaI.P.A. (clever, huh?). He liked it a lot but it's always hard to tell whether it's your tastebuds that like the beer or the fact that you're already tipsy and almost any beer would taste okay.

We were both impressed with the bar. There was an antique wooden bar and really fascinating palm fans in the center of the room that were rotating vertically rather than horizontally. The San Francisco Brewing Company is a cozy bar and offers typical bar grub.

Are you going to San Francisco? (1st night)

I'm going to have to write my posts on San Francisco in installments since we were there for four days and spent most of our time doing food related activities.

Our first night we arrived in San Fran around 7pm on Monday after a four to five hour drive from Santa Barbara. We stayed at the Adante Hotel (the picture above is the view from our hotel) on Geary which is on the west end of the Union Square area. The reason we chose this hotel is that it was the only hotel that offered a reasonably priced "parking included" package. If you're driving to San Fran it's a LOT more expensive to find a place to park your car. Most hotels charge around $30 a day for parking. Outrageous! We only paid $79 a night included parking (with in-and-out priveleges).

We did, however, have to endure the hideous murals on the walls. I knew about that ahead of time from online reviews so I wasn't surprised. I would only recommend this hotel for budget travellers (like us, who were on a SUPER tight budget). We think they were stealing the cable for their tv because 1) it was on eastern time and 2) only around 4 channels came in clearly (the rest had bars on the screen or were fuzzy). If you stay here, ask for their bigger rooms (7th floor?). Our first room was tiny.

Since we were starved that first night we decided to take a walk around the area to look for a place to eat. I had left my tour guides in the car (which was parked far away in the valet lot) so we decided to play it by sight. When I started to get a feel for the neighborhood I realized that Bar Crudo was nearby (a bar that serves fresh small plates that was recommended by a fellow blogger). We found the tiny restaurant but the menu was too pricey for our hunger. We knew we would be eating a lot and many of the small dishes were around $12. However, the place was very cute and the food looked delicious from what I could tell. The restaurant seems to only fit around 10 people (unless looks are deceiving) and it was already almost full. When we move there in a few years I will definitely check out Bar Crudo to find out what it's all about.

On our journey to find a good meal we walked through the Union Square area and up into the Nob Hill area. We were amazed (and our amazement continued throughout the trip) that there were so many massage parlours. I asked my husband if he thought these were the kind of places that offered "happy endings" and his assumption was that "yes, I'd guess only 1% of these places do not offer happy endings." Anyone know the answer?

We soon wandered into Chinatown. I hadn't realized how easy it was to walk around the city. Strike That. Actually, it's easy for the average person. I'm very out of shape from dealing with migraines constantly for the last year and those hills are killer. Fortunately I managed to make it through the trip and feel very good about myself for walking the bzillion miles that I hadn't expected to survive.

Since it was a Monday everything looked closed or abandoned. In fact, the whole city was generally vacant during our trip since it was 1) rainy 2) January 3) during a time before colleges start up again and before tourist season. So Chinatown was out that night. Plus we were ready to pass out from starvation.

We ended up going to a Thai restaurant around the corner from our hotel on Post called Thai Stick. The place seemed clean and cute and was populated by locals (all single men, it was a little strange). Immediately we ordered Thai ice tea and "My Aunt's eggrolls". I've had a lot of Thai ice tea in my day and it's fascinating to me how different they can taste. This one was nice and sweet. The eggrolls were great but a little greasy.

For our main meal we ordered Shrimp prig king (the sauce is made with chili paste and peanuts and served with shrimp and green beans). The beans were nice and crisp and the sauce was just spicy enough without worrying about having "tummy troubles" later. We also ordered cashew chicken with white meat (my safety dish when I'm completely unsure how the food will taste). The chicken was extremely dry but the sauce was fine.

I felt uneasy about taking pictures during most of my trip to San Fran restaurants because most of them were so small that it just didn't feel comfortable to pull out my big digital camera and take pictures. I promise next time I'll gather up more courage and take pictures.

Stay tuned for Day 2 in San Francisco

Steak Banh Mi

Tonight I decided to try Everyday Food's Vietnamese Steak Sandwich recipe (a variation on the Vietnamese banh mi). I've made a really delicious shrimp version that is now a staple but I decided to give steak a try. In their version they don't use mayo or any sauce similar to mayo. They only use the vinagrette (rice wine vinegar, a bit of crushed red pepper, garlic and sugar) in which they soak the shredded carrots and scallions. I decided to add my homemade aioli (my favorite condiment even though I HATE mayo) to give it more flavor and moisture.

You only have to marinate the beef for an hour in the lime marinade and it turns out perfect. I think we grilled our steaks for about ten minutes and they were in between rare and medium-rare (normally I like mine medium-well). The marinade also had crushed red pepper and garlic which added more flavor than I expected (sometimes marinades don't soak in well, especially for only an hour). We put the thin slices of steak on sub rolls from 99 Ranch Market (which were definitely baked for banh mi sandwiches) along with the shredded veggies and a drizzle of the vinegar sauce.

This is an excellent meal. And easy too! I made the marinade ahead of time since I thought I would be out and was going to have my husband put the steak in the marinade so that when I got home it would be ready. This is perfect for working families. I'm sure you could substitute chicken, pork or shrimp if you don't eat beef.

If you'd like the recipe let me know. It's super simple. You could probably figure it out just from my post.

Note: the picture doesn't do this sandwich justice. Also, my bread/buns/toast are always burnt because we have a TERRIBLE toaster oven and I hate turning on my oven if I'm only toasting buns. Anyone have a good recommendation for a reasonably priced toaster oven?

Thai Citrus Shrimp with Long Beans and Szechuan Noodles

Hey everyone! I'm back from my trip to Santa Barbara and San Francisco and while I don't have as many pictures as I would like, I have a lot of stories of good food to tell. It'll take me a few days but I'm hoping to have my San Fran posts up by the end of the week.

Meanwhile I've been to the 99 Ranch Market in the day since my return and have cooked up a few good things.

Before I tell you about tonight's dinner I have to share this story about my husband's attempt to "cook" last night. We got home late from running errands yesterday and it was too late to cook an actual meal so we decided to open the Oaked Arrogant Bastard growler we got before our trip and heat up a frozen CPK pizza (I NEVER eat frozen pizzas but I had one in the past and it was actually decent).



Well, all you have to do is heat up the oven to 425 (which he was able to do) and put the pizza on the rack (for a crispier crust) for 16 minutes. When I went to get it out after 16 minutes I realized that he had forgotten to take the cardboard off of the bottom of the pizza!!!! I mean, how hard can cooking a frozen pizza be?!?! Guess it's up to me to make all of our meals--fancy OR frozen. He'll never hear the end of this one. Even the cashier at the grocery store today thought that was a funny story (since he lives on these pizzas, apparently).

Okay..so now onto tonight's dinner.

I create my own recipes all of the time (just simple recipes) and I almost never remember to write it down. So I'm posting this blog right after dinner so that I don't forget. The main course of my meal tonight was Thai Citrus Shrimp.

THAI CITRUS SHRIMP

1 lb. shrimp, shelled and deveined
salt and pepper

Sauce:

Flesh of 1 orange
Flesh of 2 lemons
E.V.O.O. (olive oil)
2 small garlic cloves, diced
salt and pepper to taste
approx. 10 Thai basil leaves


In a food processor or blender: process flesh of orange and lemons. Add equal part e.v.o.o. in steady stream. Add salt and pepper and Thai basil leaves. I added a few at a time just to make sure it wasn't overwhleming. Basil should be a complimentary flavor to the citrus and not overpowering.

Heat wok over high heat with a tablespoon of olive oil. Cook approximately 2 minutes each side. Add sauce and conitue to cook over medium-low heat until hot (about 2 minutes).

Voila. An extremely easy meal that would meet Rachel Ray's approval.

***

As a side dish I made my favorite veggie dish: long beans (a la Kady?)

LONG BEANS A LA KADY

Serves 2.

1/2 package of Long beans, trimmed and cut into 3 inch pieces
2 garlic cloves, diced
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, diced
crushed red pepper flakes, optional and to taste
1-2 T. soy sauce

Steam long beans for 5-10 minutes, or until soft but still a little crunchy.

Heat wok to high heat with 1 T. e.v.o.o. Lower to medium heat and add garlic and ginger. Cook 1 minute. Add long beans and cook until slightly withered and browned. Add soy sauce (and turn on stove fan) and continue to cook for another minute to allow the beans to carmelize a bit.

Extras: you can add snow peas, cashews, or almonds for added flavor.

***

I always have to have a starch with my meals whether it be rice, bread, noodles, or potatoes so tonight I made Szechuan Noodles.

The recipe came from a cookbook called Hot and Spicy that I found at Marshall's for $8 and it's one of my favorite cookbooks.

A few weeks ago I research copyright laws and found that I'm not allowed to post recipes from cookbooks unless I've greatly altered it, so I'm going to just give you an idea of what's in it and if you'd like the recipe, feel free to email me.

SPICY SICHUAN NOODLES

Serves 4.

1 pkg. Fresh Noodles
(the thick Chinese kind, 99 Ranch Market has a LOT of brands and varieties)
roasted cashew nuts

Dressing:
scallions, cilantro, garlic, peanut butter, sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, sherry vinegar, sesame oil, olive oil, chicken stock, pepper

1. Cook noodles in boiling water with 1 T. olive oil (to keep noodles separate) for 3 minutes. Drain and run under cold water.

2. Mix dressing ingredients. My changes: I forgot the cilantro, used crunchy (instead of the smooth) peanut butter, used rice vinegar, and pepper to taste.

3. The recipe just calls for it being mixed cold but since the rest of our meal was hot I stir fried the noodles with the cashews (instead of toasting the cashews in our TERRIBLE fire breathing toaster oven) and then mixed the noodles with the sauce before serving. I always like to stir fry my noodles a bit to keep them from being to slimy.

***

Here is one more photo for you to ponder before you go back to whatever it is you were doing:

Stay tuned for San Fran posts.

Chilled Mango and Cucumber Soup

This will be my last post for the next week since I'm off to San Francisco. I've never been so I'm extremely excited to take a culinary tour of the city. We'll be stopping at my parents' house (they just moved to beautiful Santa Barbara) on the way up and back so hopefully they'll have internet by next weekend so I can post some of my San Fran findings. I'm praying that I don't forget to take pictures while I'm there. I used to be notorious for not taking pictures on vacations.

So, last night I made Chilled Mango and Cucumber Soup for the second time this month. The first time it was fabulous. My one change to it was that I did not add the cup of water to the gazpacho the first time I made it. I like my gazpachos with a lot of substance. This time I did add the water because I'm taking it up to my parents' house tomorrow and I think they'd like it a little more watered down. Hopefully it's still to my liking. Actually, I love spicy food so if I made it for just me I'd add some jalapeno.

Note: I didn't add the cilantro to the soup yet because it says to salt and add the cilantro right before serving.

By the way, I just wanted to comment that I don't ALWAYS make food network recipes. It's just that the food network is on my tv a LOT (even though I spend most of my time making fun of the chefs like Emeril and Giada..and don't get me started on the oh-so-revolting concoctions by Sandra Lee. I will NOT watch that show.). So I tend to get inspired on dinner ideas from the tv but most often times I don't follow their recipes very closely. Or, I'll follow their recipes the first time and change them completely the following times I make the dish.

Oh, I just tried it after taking a picture---so good! It's actually better with the extra cup of water. I also let it sit for ten hours and the flavors have melded nicely. This would be a great soup for company. It's pretty and so easy to make.

I also recommend serving brie with this soup (on crostini or in a quesadilla). The idea came from Rorie at Milk and Honey when she made mango and brie quesadillas. They are to-die-for. I've made them at least three times since she posted the recipe. You can make them so many different ways too. Since I still can't find the kaffir lime leaves in my neck of the woods (next time I'm near a Whole Foods I'll pick them up) I just use some scallions and lime zest with brie on Trader Joe's homemade tortillas (the sun-dried tomato tortillas actually work fine). They would be perfect with this soup (as long as you don't over-do the mango).

Well, I'm off to bed. Wish me luck that it doesn't rain all week on my vacation! Hopefully I'll be back with great stories of San Francisco delights!

Champagne and Pancakes

I think it's already been agreed upon that breakfast for dinner is the way to go at least once a month. This morning I was craving pancakes but was too tired to make them so I opted to make them for dinner instead. Nothing exciting, just the plain pancakes from Joy of Cooking.

The exciting part comes after dinner: champagne! I've had this almond champagne in my fridge for months (unopened) and tonight seemed like a good time to make mimosas. The champagne is from the Wilson Creek Winery in Temecula and is very sweet and very affordable ($8) if you buy it at Costco instead of at the winery.

While I was visiting Wilson Creek Winery last year I picked up a bottle of their Angelica cream sherry which goes perfectly with the almond champagne. They call it "Nut n' Honey" (or was it "Honey and Nut"?). The cream sherry can also be used in cooking (ex: pies).

I think tomorrow I'll try out a recipe I saw recently for rice pudding with champagne. I'm guessing the almond flavor will work well in rice pudding (but I'm not a fan of pudding so I'll probably have my husband review the final results).

Cilantro-Tequila Grilled Chicken

Much to my chagrin I made a recipe last night from Emeril Lagasse. You may wonder why I would be embarassed about making a dish from him. He irks me. My husband calls him "Quasimodo" because he's always hunched over when he's cooking. There's just something so fake about him. He's too gimicky.

Don't get me wrong, this is not the first dish I have made with his name on it. However, I never make his recipes exactly the way he does. For the cilantro-tequila grilled chicken recipe I used chicken breasts instead of legs and 1/2 t. ground cumin instead of 1 T. toasted cumin seeds. I also cooked it in a grill pan instead of on a grill. It's a very simple recipe but you MUST like cilantro because the flavor is a bit overwhelming. It makes the dish rich and filling.

I made some extra marinade to use with the rice or chicken in case it was dry. The chicken actually blackened quite a bit but had to be returned to the pan because it was deceptively underdone.

The chicken made excellent leftover sandwiches. I used some leftover Istara with sourdough rolls, sweet honey mustard, lettuce, and leftover cilantro sauce with the remaining chicken. For some personal flair I added Tim's Jalapeno Potato Chips inside my sandwich for a nice crunch and a little heat.

Tag You're It?

Okay, it took some research to find out what "tag, you're it" means but I think I've figured it out. Thanks to Rorie from Milk and Honey for the 7-meme tag. Let me know if I'm not doing this right!

7 Things to Do Before I Die:

only "7"? This is going to be hard.....

1.) Go to culinary school (preferably somewhere like the C.I.A.).
2.) Start an ecclectic bakery/cafe/store called Kate's Place.
3.) Have kids (at least one boy and one girl).
4.) Travel with my husband around the world.
5.) Buy my parents a house or something extravagent (I owe them that much).
6.) Own a pig, a monkey, a cat, and a dog.
7.) Star in a Broadway play or a Sundance film.

7 Things I Cannot Do:

1.) Post my damn picture to the "about me" section of my blog.
2.) I absolutely cannot refrain from over planning my trips.
3.) Miss my favorite tv shows (I must get a DVR!).
4.) Go on a low-carb diet (or any diet for that matter).
5.) Get rid of the ten pairs (at least) of shoes that I never wear.
6.) Understand the inner workings of a car no matter how many times my husband explains it.
7.) Pay full price for anything.

7 Things that Attract Me to Blogging:

1.) Knowing that I'm not the only one obsessed with food and cooking!
2.) Taking pictures of food. I had no idea it was so much fun!
3.) Becoming a nerd--I'm proud of myself every time I learn something new with html.
4.) Meeting new people with similar interests.
5.) Always having something new and interesting to read.
6.) The diary aspect: it's a reference manual on dishes I've made (well, since Dec. '05).
7.) The good kind of pressure that keeps me cooking new things more often.

7 Things I Say Most Often:

1.) "gourmetish": hence the name of my blog.
2.) I love you (Yes, we're mushy in my household. Don't worry, I won't write our pet names.)
3.) My husband's SSN: I've had to deal with WAY to many customer service issues lately.
4.) Argh!
5.) I want a fill in the blank (baby/cat/dog/pig) !
6.) I'm hungry!
7.) We don't have any food in the house! (which is never really true.)


7 Books I Love:

1.) One Hundred Years of Solitude (my favorite)
2.) The Making of a Chef
3.) The Soul of a Chef
4.) Catcher in the Rye
5.) Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray
6.) Cyrano de Bergerac (en Francais)
7.) The Griffin and Sabine series by Nick Bantock


7 Movies/DVDs I Watch Over and Over Again:

I rarely watch movies more than once. These are the movies that I watch over and over but are not neccessarily a reflection on my taste in movies...

1.) The Princess Bride
2.) Sleepless in Seattle
3.) Any Molly Ringwald movie (yes, I'm a product of the 80's)
4.) Finding Nemo (We quote this way too often in my house)
5.) Futurama dvds
6.) My Girl (on tv)
7.) any Doris Day movie

7 Tags:

I'm new to this, so my apologies in advance if any of you don't want to be tagged....

1.) Beth at Zen Foodism
2.) Scott at Firefly Fifty Five
3.) Kirk at mmm-yoso
4.) Lisa at Comfort Food
5.) Angie at Crazy Salad
6.) Annie at Green Beans in Writing
7.) kitchenmage at KitchenMage

Istara

The other day I was at Sprouts and tempted by their gourmet cheese section but everything was around 8 bucks for a tiny hunk of cheese. Fortunately I found a few small pieces that were reduced. One was a gorgonzola which I bought for my husband (I'm allergic to blue cheeses) and the other was a semi-hard Spanish cheese called Istara. I've tasted a few Spanish cheeses in the past that were impressive (my favorite is Mahon, usually carried by Whole Foods) so I figured this cheese would be tasty.

After the first bite I wasn't really sure how to describe it. My first thought was "cheddar" even though after the following ten bites I realized that it was sharp like cheddar but tasted very similar to a swiss cheese. This would be great on a cheese plate to serve to guests.

I think I'll stop by Sprouts again soon and see if I can try some more reduced chunks of cheese. If it were up to my taste buds (and not my sensitive lactose intolerant stomach and aging metabolism) I would eat bread and cheese for every meal.

Eat your greens! And your purples!

Last night's dinner was a standard meal in my household. Grilled chicken basil sausages (this part will change depending on the night) on buns with homemade aioli and tequila mustard with a side of grilled veggies, grilled eggplant wraps with feta, and grilled lemon-garlic artichokes. I LOVE grilled food. Especially grilled veggies.

My first side-dish, grilled lemon-garlic artichokes, was inspired by an appetizer at the Yardhouse. It took me a little while to figure out how to perfect the grilled artichoke. I use Trader Joe's medium-size chokes that come in a tray of four. I usually boil/steam it ahead of time for up to an hour after chopping off the stem and top of the choke; making sure to cut off any sharp edges. After they're done I cut them in half and scoop out the hairy choke. Then they're ready for whenever I want to grill.

When I'm ready to fire up the barbie I coat the chokes in olive oil (I always have a lifetime supple of ziploc bags) and get my basting sauce ready. One of my favorite kitchen tools is my silicone pastry brush which works great for desserts and bbq. My sauce is simple and could be varied depending on what ingredients you have in the house. I usually use a tablespoon or so of butter (or smart balance), a couple of tablespoons of olive oil (always e.v.o.o.), a healthy pour of lemon-pepper seasoning, and a large clove of garlic diced. After putting the halves of artichokes on the hot grill for a few minutes I started basting. The result is tremendous. They are so tender that you can usually eat the whole thing and each bite is filled with lemon and garlic flavor. Sometimes the artichokes get very crispy and slightly burnt (which is fine by me because only the outside leaves get burnt and the flavor is still incredible). This time my chokes didn't burn at all for some reason.

My second favorite grilled veggie dish is from Nigella Lawson (Forever Summer). I find that her recipes are not consistently good BUT they are always inspiring and sensual like Ms. Lawson herself. By far my favorite recipe of hers (that I've tried) is her grilled eggplant wraps with feta and mint. They are super easy to make but not always pretty.

It's simple: take a lovely looking eggplant and make thin vertical slices (down the long side of the eggplant). Brush both sides of each slice with olive oil and grill. The time greatly depends on the grill but it doesn't take long at all (maybe a minute or two per side?). Sorry, a lot of my recipes are from my head. I rarely ever measure unless I'm baking or using a complicated recipe or new technique. In fact, I rarely follow recipes. I'm almost always using different ingredients or cooking times. So, when it comes to grilling--it's done by sensory experience. Does it smell done? Does it look done? Does it taste done? Then it's done!

After your slices are grilled, take your filling mixture (crumbled feta, diced chili or jalapeno, chopped mint, and fresh lemon juice) and put on one end of the slice. Roll up and enjoy! A couple of notes: 1) I love TJ's mediterranean feta which has herbs in it already and adds a much better flavor to almost any feta recipe 2)use fresh mint, of course 3) make sure all of the flavors are balanced: don't use too much mint or chili unless that's your thing and 4) you'll know how much lemon juice to add when the mixture is wet but not mushy.

Could I make this recipe more complicated? Hmm. Hopefully that translated o.k. from my ADD brain. Feel free to ask questions.

Well. Now I'm craving these eggplant wraps and there are no more. Sigh. I suppose food blogging is going to make me perpetually hungry.

Fry 'Em Up!

Lately whenever I fry something I use my all-clad skillet. My husband is tired of trying to clean all of the grease off of it so yesterday I decided to buy a cheap deep fryer at Target. Rival was the cheapest at $26 so I decided to go for it. It has different temperatures to choose from (a lot of cheap ones don't), the safety plug, and it's not too big. It looked perfect for the small batch of hot wings I was going to make last night.

I decided to play it safe and cook two wings at a time but I think I could have cooked three or four (the cooking time would have been more like 10 minutes rather than 5). I marinated the wings overnight in hot sauce and a little soy sauce. That makes for a messy fry but I really think it makes a difference in flavor (and color). Then after I fried each batch for about 5 minutes I let them drain on paper bags and covered them with hot sauce before serving.




So hot. So crisp. So good.

The fryer worked out fine. You can't take the oil resevoir out so it's not the easiest thing to clean but I didn't have too much of a problem cleaning it out today. The best part about owning a deep fryer now is the lack of splattered grease all over the stove. I can finally make tempura and wontons without a huge mess. However, there is a huge drawback: the guilt. Now that I have an easy option to fry without the mess, I will always be tempted to make food like hot wings more often.

Ah well. I'll just use my husband as an excuse. He's super skinny and I've been trying to fatten him up for a while. So everytime I make fried food it's really for him (wink, wink).

I love those Australian Women!

Thank you, Australian Women's Weekly, for yet another fantastic meal. My inspiration for dinner tonight came from an Australian Women's Weekly cookbook called "Best Food." (Note: you can buy any cookbook from the Australian Women's Weekly series for very reasonable prices at Amazon.com). I was turned onto their cookbooks years ago when my grandma gave me two entertaining cookbooks from a yardsale. Ever since then I've been buying them when I can online. While most of the recipes are super easy, they are very inspiring. For instance, tonight I made couscous coated chicken. While I didn't really use the recipe I took their idea and I added guacamole on the side like they suggested. Delicioso. (Is there Australian slang for "yummy"?)


Basically, you just take your chicken filets (I pounded mine a bit) and coat with flour, then an egg/milk mixture, and finally in cooked couscous. Fry in a skillet until both sides are golden brown and serve with a side of guacamole (just something simple like avacado, lime, and chile or hot sauce).

I decided to pair the chicken with brussel sprouts and mashed roasted garlic potatoes. The latter didn't turn out very well tonight because I was unable to use my ricer. Turns out the ricer makes all the difference. They weren't light and fluffy like they usually are when I rice them before mashing.

If you can believe this: I've never had brussel sprouts. Well, until tonight, that is. Tonight I made a side of Roasted Brussel Sprouts with a recipe from Bobby Flay. Instead of pancetta I used Farmer John's bacon. While I absolutely loved this dish, I'm not sure if I would like the brussel sprouts without the bacon and shallots because generally I'm not a fan of cooked cabbage. Even though it's kind of fattening, at least Bobby got me to eat my brussel sprouts! I'm going to hang on to this recipe for when I have kids.

Sesame-encrusted Teriyaki Ahi

Last night's dinner was a success despite the fact that it was all last-minute. I had heard on Alton Brown's Good Eats that you should buy your shrimp frozen since it's frozen soon after being caught and deveined. It was on sale at Ralph's so I bought a 2 lb. bag of shrimp and two ahi tuna filets that looked super fresh (and were not dyed the way they do with a lot of farmed salmon). I wasn't feeling too creative so I just marinated them in teriyaki sauce and coated them with a mixture of black and white sesame seeds. It turned out to be delicious. At first I thought I had cooked them too long (about 4 minutes a side) but they were perfectly pink inside.

I had some leftover fresh pinneapple that I turned into a quick salsa (a staple of mine, especially when it comes to seafood dinners) which livened up the basmati rice and makes the meal light and refreshing. We can't eat too healthy, now, can we? That's why I just had to make sweet potato tempura. Yum.

This will definitely be a repeat dinner soon.