Archive for the ‘Cooking Adventures (with Recipes)’ Category
bw > tk
t says: Our newest castmember, bw, has been showing off quite a baking repertoire over the past 6 or so months. But this time … he made a dish especially for me. Ok, that’s totally not true, but it might as well have been – look at it:
bacon cheddar scones!
Ok … so … I don’t want to offend bw with this next statement, but I have to say it: it reminds me of a McDonald’s bacon egg and cheese biscuit. Well – but it’s better! It doesn’t have that mouth-coating-grease sensation, but packs a wollop of bacon and cheddar in a nice airy scone (and I didn’t even get ’em straight from the oven!). Now I know what you’re thinking: “t … you like everything with bacon … so this isn’t fair”. I figured you’d say that … so I brought out the one pig-eating person who doesn’t feel that bacon automatically increases deliciousness: g. g ate hers in 60 seconds flat. Afterwards she proclaimed, “wow – this is way better than at Bouchon Bakery”.
WHOA. Hey there now. Did she just go there? Did bw just take down Thomas Keller? Yea he did.
After her comment, I brought her attention to the truth: bw actually used the recipe from Bouchon Bakery cookbook (probably reproduced accurately here)! So … bw versus full-time paid professionals … and bw for the win! We tried to figure out how/why this could happen. g suspected that it was due to the larger bacon pieces and larger size of the scone, allowing it to have more substance in the center. I feel that bw’s was seasoned more aggressively, with brighter chives. Well, whatever it was, we give him an A+! And … because [according to TK] “you really only begin to learn the second time you prepare a dish” … we eagerly await the second time … although not too soon: my cholesterol levels are still recuperating from the 2.5 I ate this time …
Our Philly Diner en Blanc Primer
t says: Ah yes. Diner en Blanc. Pictures are everywhere. We have some, too, but a lot of them have our mugs on ’em, so we’re not going to be able to show those off. Instead, we’re going to treat this kind of like a “how g-&-t-&-a-&-v do Diner en Blanc”. Hopefully this post will be helpful for our planning next year …
g and I easily sourced our table and chairs, but we had to decide what was going to go on the tabletop. There were so many options of glasses and utensils that we needed to visualize it. Fortunately, Dr. Moody (a gift from lc) was ready-willing-and-able to help out:
Dr. Moody lends a helping hand by modeling different dinnerwares …
Eventually, we did decide on our tabletop selections, and everything looked pretty darn spiffy:
our tabletop!
The ONLY regret we had was that our selections were damn-heavy. The glasses: real glass. The dishes: real porcelain (and there were two!). The silverware: real metal. That bottle our water was in: real glass. g and I are not World’s-Strongest-Man material – we can say that by the time we got to the site, we were quite pooped. And we can only imagine what a was going through, as his table was even heavier than ours! Of course, part of why we were pooped was due to stupid-as-crap route they took us to go from 30th street to Logan Square, but that’s another rant … (“To the Main Line!”)
The official g & t mascots of Diner en Blanc … hiding under the shrubbery … we should have won “best table” for them alone … nevermind the edited, classy display of properly placed utensils, a single vase, a single candle, real steak knives, antique cheese spreader-thingees, big wine glasses …
The four of us also brought our own home-made food. There were others who did the take-out thing with some classy-looking foods (table next to us had some sliders, I saw some Italian take-out elsewhere). I saw there were a lot of people there trying to be “unique” by bringing sushi, but that ultimately ended up being as “unique” as getting a butterfly tramp stamp <re-read this sentence and play the effect at sadtrombone.com for full effect>. Ultimately, v and g took it upon themselves to craft a meal that was built especially for DeB. The food needed to be able to be served at room/outdoor temperature. It needed to be transportable. It needed to be light. It needed to be filling. It needed minimal number of components (i.e. minimal number of gladware). It needed to lack any sauces that would dribble everywhere or leak in our picnic basket. It needed to be pair-able with wine. It needed to be shareable in case we got friendly with neighbors. It needed to be eaten with fork and knife (after all, this is a classy event …) This is what they came up with …
quinoa salad
v made a quinoa salad and it was scrumptious. v said that it was based on a recipe she found here – except no gouda and a different vinegar; it turned out to be a feast for the eyes as well as the mouth. We paired it with a rose that a picked out from the PLCB and we were in heaven (seriously, this may have been the best rose I’ve had all year … it’s been such a tough year of roses for me – nothing like a legit Bandol to really show the world how to do a proper rose). I could not think of a more fitting start to an outdoor summer meal.
“g surprise”
g whipped up a pasta dish inspired by something her mom crafted the other day. The main idea was pasta and cheese and chorizo and wilted spinach and multi-colored bell peppers for some crunch. g’s still got it! And, of course, we microplaned some more cheese at the table. For this course, a pulled out a delightful red he found at Moore Bros. I was worried at first that it was going to overtake the summery pasta, but the tango was pleasant (there was a good amount of cheese in the pasta, so there was some richness and flavors in there to compete with the red). The pairing probably wasn’t “perfect”, but of course a also had no idea what was going to be in the pasta, either (we literally called it “g surprise” when we made up the sample menu).
cheese plate
For the cheese plate, we had some Pecorino Fulvi, a triple creme goat/cow blend from GTC, and garrotxa. This was accompanied by garlic dulce de leche (not pictured), some pistachios, prosciutto, and fig. It was a very interesting assortment of mild cheeses – fun to mix-and-match with accompaniments and wine. By now, we moved on to Erath “Le Jour Magique” White Pinot Noir … it rocked my socks again.
dessert …
We finished with an apple tart that v made (recipe here). It was beautiful (and somehow we managed to transport it still intact). I topped it with some crushed heath bar, and we would have had some diced cherries had I not forgotten them at home (my one actual regret!) Nevertheless, the tart was bold enough to stand on its own, proudly proclaiming its appleness and showing off a crust that kept me coming back for more. The dessert, combined with a Vouvray bubbly (NV Francois Pinon Brut, of NYT fame) was a solid outdoor sparking wine (not that I could drink the bubbly … but I’m told!). I heard so many positive things that I bought another bottle!
In all, DeB was a great time. We liked our food choices. We liked our wine choices. The “lows” of the evening were probably the lugging of our stuff to Logan Circle/Square and trying to manage a cracked cork without spilling red wine everywhere (I hope a’s official DeB attire is ok!). The people around us were nice enough. Fun was had by all. Can’t wait for next year!
w’s bash
t says: w’s thoughtful and loving fiance threw her quite a party in celebration of a milestone in her career. I have to admit that I was pretty tired that evening (i.e. I was working that weekend), so I wondered whether I could find a gracious way to bow out – sleep was very desirable. Boy am I glad I did no such thing … cuz then I would have missed this:
Lord of the Flies, anyone?
w’s fiance wasn’t kidding when he said he would supply “lots of meat”. g and I were thinking, “charcuterie platter?” No – this was WAY better. And it didn’t just have shock value – it was a damned tasty pig. Super-succulent. And it also had a gallon of what I can only imagine are pig drippings in case you wanted to have some jus on the side. (Speaking of which: kp, did you freeze that stuff?). This was perhaps one of the most brilliant moves I’ve ever seen at a potluck-y celebration – so much so that I will certainly steal it. If anyone knows where the pig came from, comment on the bottom and I’ll add it.
There was a LOT of other food there – and it was all spectacular. g whipped up her nana’s potato salad, which seemed like it had some pretty fervent supporters. Stay tuned for a post in the recipe section for more details on how to make it.
And finally, there was a ton of great homemade desserts. The one that caught my tongue the most was this one:
[a melting] key lime pie
g’s mom conquers bacon-chocolate cupcakes!
t says: g and I visited her mom a few days ago, who proceeded to surprise us/me with cupcakes! And not just any ol’ cupcaktes … bacon-chocolate cupcakes!
homemade bacon chocolate cupcakes
I think she said she was inspired by the latest donut post. Behold the power of suggestion!
Now, I don’t care if people are now “over” bacon, because I’m sure not! It’s no surprise then, that these were obviously awesome. Maybe she’ll point to the recipe she used so that all of you can share in the bacony chocolatey goodness. I recall her admitting that it wasn’t an easy recipe (requiring espresso, coffee, bacon, etc), but I feel like the steps were worth it, as these were probably the moist-est cupcakes I’ve ever had – blowing away anything from a box. Furthermore, they survived for days in the fridge with losing only the slightest, if any, moisture (which, in retrospect, is actually kind of weird?! But why complain about not-rock-hard cupcakes?). The bacon did get chewy by day 3-4, so I’m glad I employed the help of friends to consume them – people seemed more impressed with the cupcake than the bacon. Oh well. I liked ’em!
Great job g’s mom!
a serious tofu post
t says: I like tofu. I don’t like it because of some health-related reason (i.e. it will never replace meat in my book). And I certainly don’t like it because eating it is sometimes hip/cool/fashionable. But sometimes, I just need a little tofu in my life. g doesn’t like it. sr doesn’t like it (he points out that it sounds remarkably like “dogfood”). lc, despite being tricked into eating it, doesn’t like it. But man-o-man, put it in a good kimchi jige and I’m a happy guy.
The thing is, what do you do with tofu that’s nearing the expiration date but hasn’t yet been used? My mom likes to make something that she calls “tofu steaks”. Don’t be misled by the name – there’s no meat in it. Actually – I’m confused because as far as I can tell, at no point does the cooking process resemble that which one could use to cook a steak. Thus, I decided to find a recipe that does …
The one I settled on was this one. It’s pretty simple and has some nice pictures. I followed it and got the same result:
fried tofu
The golden crust was sweet and crunchy. The consistency was kind of like a scrambled egg (it wasn’t just watery mush). And as for taste, it was probably some of the best unadulterated (i.e. un-sauced) tofu I’ve ever had. I don’t know if it was the olive oil, the salt, the pepper, or the crushed red pepper flakes I added, but I’d buy some tofu and try it again just to make sure it wasn’t some kind of mistake (maybe I was really hungry?). I do need to note that I wasn’t eating all that tofu completely solo – I had it with some rice and bulgogi and kimchi. g didn’t even try it it – she doesn’t know what she’s missing. Oh well – maybe I’ll trick her into it next time! Or maybe I’ll try this!
cm gives up the family cranberries
t says: I made cm an offer he couldn’t refuse. Here is his family’s cranberry sauce recipe from our recent Thanksgiving get-together. But now we owe him g’s mom’s lasagna recipe …
Separately, rumor has it that a is a cranberry sauce connooissieur with a secret recipe of his own … guess I’ll have to evaluate it at our upcoming holiday party? It’s on like Donkey Kong.
Ingredients:
__ 12 oz bag of cranberries
__ 1/3 c H20 (we had apple cider so used instead and used less sugar)
__ 2/3 c sugar (most recipes will call for 1-2 cups)
__ zest and juice of one orange
__ 2 cinnamon sticks
__ splash of orange liqueur
Directions:
0) Combine berries, water, sugar in a pot and bring to a boil.
1) Add zest/juice/cinnamon and simmer until all cranberries have popped. You can simmer as long as you want – the longer you boil the thicker it will get.
2) Splash the liqueur in a few minutes before it is done.
cm says: Also sometimes i throw in random other stuff like vanilla to mellow it out a bit (or the apple cider as noted above).
impending steak-off
t says: I’m a fan of Alton Brown … but I’ll be first to admit that his recipes are often a little complicated/fussy. In his defense, he at least attempts to justify the extra steps with some kind of logic/theory/evidence. I often use his steak-cooking procedure when I cooking my steaks at home. But then I saw this:
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/119838-the-best-way-to-cook-a-thick-steak/
My world has been rocked. Hmmmm … I think we need a steak-off.
after dinner sneeze 