Cookie Cornucopia

So for Christmas, I was invited to a Cookie Party.  I am not a good baker, so rather than baking cookies I opted for making a couple of drinks.  One was Alton Brown's Eggnog, which I made an entire gallon of.  Even though it was very delicious it was a bit excessive.  The other thing I went ahead and made was a Hot Toddy.  My recipe was extremely easy to make and was done in a crock pot overnight.  It was the more popular of the two beverages and was completely gone by the night was over.

The party was a good idea and everyone bought a different type of cookie. This cornucopia of cookies was a child’s dream.  There was even a spot for decorating cookies.  I used my awesome artistic ability to make two cookies that were just a giant glob of yellow.  I did very well if I do say so myself.  We also had  a fun time with a bit of Christmas Karaoke.  It was a brilliant idea.  I had no idea that you could do Karaoke on YouTube.  It makes good sense and you can do karaoke very cheaply using it.

Anyway  here’s the recipe:

Hot Toddy

Ingredients:

1 Gallon Apple Juice (I used Simply Apple)

10 3 inch Cinnamon Sticks

4 Star Anise Pods

¼ Cup Sugar

2 Vanilla Beans

250 mL Ameretto

1 Liter Whiskey (I use 750mL Crown Royal and 250mL Southern Comfort, just what I had available)

125 mL Goldshlagger

Method:

Combine the first five ingredients in a crock pot.  Slice the vanilla beans in half and scrape the seeds out with a knife before adding the beans and seeds to the mix.

Let the thing go on low overnight.

Just before serving remove the anise, vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks, and add the booze, serve at your party with the crockpot set to warm.

Here's the Crock pot that I used:

After a pretty fun game of Scategories, we ended up going out for Mexican food.  The location, Los Comales.  The food was actually very straight forward and pretty tasty.  I ended up getting a chicharone (Pork Belly) gordita as well as a Steak Hurrache.  The food there was pretty good and came out pretty fast.  They even had a variety of vegetarian options. It is a good place that I say would deserve a stop if you’re ever in Pilsen.

Happy Holidays. 

NAH6: A Foodie Dice Challenge Edition. Curried Bean Cakes

With the second roll of the dice, I chose to use the vegetarian protein and I ended up with:

Beans

Rice

Cabbage

Curry

Dill

Hot Peppers

Roast/Bake

 The hardest part of this was the roast bake thing, and the dill element.  Dill is an herb that I rarely use.  There is something about these dice that makes me much more creative.  Curry is an herb that I do use a lot though.  Then all of a sudden everything just sort of clicked together.

 

I knew that the roasted element would have to be the cabbage straight away.  I couldn’t think of any way of roasting the beans at all.  I decided to make a panko crusted bean cake with basamati brown rice.  It would go alongside curry roasted cabbage.  With the dill I made a pickled fennel, raddish , pimento and finger chilies.  To tie everything together I had a sweet coconut sirracha sauce.

It winded up pretty well balanced.  You had the spiciness and depth of the entire dish, lots of richness.  You had all sorts of great textures going on, the crispness of the bean cake along with the soft roasted cabbage.  The rich creamy sauce went well and countered perfectly with the pickled vegetables.  I’ve got to say these foodie dice have reinvigorated my desire to cook.

I wish I would have though plating through more though because this doesn't really do the dish justice.

Ingredients:

For the pickled vegetables:

One Fennel Bulb

4 Pimento Peppers

3 Finger Peppers

½ Bunch Fennel

1 Teaspoon sliced fresh ginger

1 Bunch Raddish

2 Cups Vinegar

½ Cup Sugar

Juice of one Lime

1/2 Bunch Fresh Dill

Two star Anise Pods

For The Bean Cakes:

2 Cups cooked white beans drained

½ Cup Flour

2 Tablespoons sweet Curry Powder

¼ Cup Panko

Coconut Oil for frying

1 Cup Cooked Basamati Brown Rice

For the Coconut Sirracha Sauce:

1 Can whole fat coconut Milk

Zest of one lime

1 Tablespoon Siraccha

For the Cabbage:

1 Head Cabbage

3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon Curry Powder

1 Teaspoon Cumin

1 Teaspoon Coriander

Method:

For the sauce:

Refrigerate a can of Coconut Milk for around 8 hours or overnight.  DO NOT SHAKE

Scoop off the cream from the top half of the can leaving the rest of the clear liquid behind

Whisk the sirracha and lime zest together with the removed coconut cream.

For the Bean Cakes:

Add cooked beans to blender and pulse until finely ground

Transfer mixture to bowl and add in all remaining ingredients except Panko and stir until combined.

Season the mixture with salt and pepper

Form into round cakes and coat both sides with panko

Cook both sides over medium heat until browned

For the Cabbage:

Cut the cabbage into large wedges.

Combine all ingredients and mix until coated.  Season with salt and pepper.

Roast at 375F for 45 minutes

For the Pickled Vegetables:

Over Medium Heat, dissolve the sugar over medium heat

Add all of the thinly sliced vegetables to the mix along with the lime juice and cover and let sit for at least two hours.

Shoturday: Cinnamon Toast Crunch Shots

I first had this shot on Halloween.  It was at the Bottom Lounge before we went somewhere else.  We simply went up to the bartender and I asked to make a shot, anything.  We ended up with this awesome thing that tastes exactly like cinnamon toast crunch.  It is a great shot that I highly recommend.

1.25 Parts Rumchatta
0.75 Parts Goldschlager

Shake with with ice strain and enjoy,  you can also drink it as a cocktail if you like.

Enjoy

Foodie Dice Challenge 1: Beef with Kale and Bulgar

With the first roll of my foodie dice I ended up with the following combination:

Beef

Millet

Bacon

Kale

Basil

Cayenne

Sautee

I had to go to work that day so I couldn’t find any millet at the nearby grocery store and with no time to go to whole foods or Trader Joe’s to look for it so I subbed in the closet thing I could find which was bulgar.  For the beef element I decided to go with beef shanks.  And I wanted to braise them along with some mushrooms.

A slight problem arose along the way since I was cooking at work.  This means I didn’t have the chance to be in constant attendance of the food.  I lost the mushrooms to them burning and the beef was overcooked as well.  Still everything turned out to be alright and outside of those two faux pas, I ended up with a pretty successful meal. 

What I ended up with was a braised beef that was seasoned with spicy cayenne pepper, over a salad that was a play on the Middle Eastern tabouleh salad.  For the salad I sautéed the cooked bulgar with bacon and kale and finished with the basil.

Anyway here’s the recipe

Ingredients:

2 Beef shanks about 1.5 lbs

1 Tablespoon Cayenne Pepper

2 Slices Bacon

1 Tablespoon Butter

1 Cup Bulgar

3 Cups beef stock

1 Bunch Basil

3 Handfuls of Kale

1 Teaspoon dried rosemary

½ pint mushrooms

Method:

1. Soak bulgar in 1 Cup of hot beef stock for one hour
2. Cook the bacon until crisp and reserve
3. Season the beef with salt, black paper and cayeene pepper,  cook on both sides.  Remove and Sautee mushrooms until tender.
4. Deglaze the pan with one cup of the beef stock and add beef and simmer over low heat until tender.
5. Add  the remaining beef stock and bulgar to a medium saucepan and simmer over low heat until liquid is absorbed.
6. Sautee the bulgar with kale and basil in butter, stir in crumbled bacon

Happy Thanksgiving* (Belated)

I’ve been wanting to work with Oysters for a long time.  This Thanksgiving presented me with the perfect opportunity to do so.  Oysters were one of the items that were likely at the first Thanksgiving so I wanted to stay true to that.  This recipe is also a good use for left over cornbread.  I got invited to dinner, so the most practical thing for me to do was to make appetizers.  I decided to go with two good ones.  First off, I made a nice little play on a Oysters Rockefeller, substituting the breadcrumbs with cornbread and adding a little bit of pancetta.  The other was a tasty and smooth mushroom pâté.

I’ve only really worked with oysters once before in the kitchen and it wasn’t that crazy, though this time I learned a lot.  The main thing is shucking oysters is kind of a pain in the ass.  It’s one of the reasons you should definitely enjoy them fresh (my favorite place to have them is a Fishferman’s Warf in San Francisico, where you can dine on them for just 50 cents each).

For the Oysters:

Ingredients:

A Dozen Oysters

1 Clove Garlic

1 Bunch Chives

1/8 Pound Pancetta diced

¼ of a small pan of corn bread or two prepared corn muffins

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter (I’m picky about butter and my favorite big brand of butter is Kerrygold)

Method:

1. Clean the outside of the oysters.
2. Cover the bottom of  a baking pan with salt.  This will keep the oysters stable when cooking
3. Cook the pancetta over moderate heat until almost crisp
4. Add minced garlic and sautee until crisp and remove  the mixture from the heat.  Reserve half of oil
5. Crumble the cornbread and sautee it in the combination of reserved pancetta fat and unsalted butter, mix in chives and sautee for about a min.
6. Shuck the oysters discarding the top shell and leaving the meat in the bottom shell.
7. Allow to cool and top the oysters with the mixture.
8. Bake at 375F for 20 mins until browned

Mushroom Pâté

Ingredients:

1 four ounce bag of wild dried mushrooms

1 Pound mushrooms of any variety (I used cremeni and button, but most any variety would work, you would want to remove the stems if they are woody like in shitakes).

8 Ounces Neufchâtel Cheese (You can use plain old cream cheese if you so desire)

3 Tablespoons unsalted Butter

Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Add dried mushrooms to blender and run until the mushrooms become a fine powder.
2. Sautee the fresh mushrooms in 1 tablespoon of butter until browned and tender and season with salt and pepper
3. Allow mushrooms to cool
4. Add everything to blender and puree until smooth.
5. Refrigerate overnight to allow the dried mushrooms to absorb moisture of the cheese for a smooth texture