who needs phyllo?

There are many reasons to like staying in a hotel. Room service, comfortable beds, fancy pillows. (Kaytie once found pillow that she liked so much, we paid the front desk 50 bucks for it. They thought we were nuts.) One of our favorite things to do when we stay in a hotel is to watch TV.

I know that sounds lame. What you should know is that Kaytie and I only pay 12 bucks a month for cable at home. This means that we only get about 18 channels, two of which are shopping networks, and two of which are CSPAN. So, when given the opportunity to surf through dozens of channels, we have a tendency to veg out. And I'm sure you can guess what we usually end up watching. Food Network, of course.

During one recent stay, we saw someone use tortillas & muffin tins to make crunchy cups for a migas-style brunch dish (which was delicious, by the way, but you'll have to find that recipe on their site). We're always looking for new ways to serve hand-held food (because of the Christmas party), so I was excited to try some smaller tortilla cups.

Spinach Cups

makes 24

4 oz cream cheese

1/2 c mayo

1 egg

5 oz fresh spinach

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 onion, diced

6 slices bacon

1/4 c finely grated parmesan

juice of 1/4 lemon

salt & pepper to taste

6 flour tortillas

Preheat the oven to 350.

Cook the bacon over medium heat until crispy. Set the bacon aside, and drain most of the grease from the frying pan. Turn off the stove.

Cut the tortillas into quarters. Briefly warm a quarter-tortilla in the frying pan, about 2-3 seconds per side. Press the tortilla into an oiled mini-muffin tin. This is dangerous, and you may burn yourself. (No pain, no gain. Stop whining.) Repeat the warming & pressing maneuvers 23 more times.

Bake the cups for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, turn the stove back on to medium heat, and saute the onion until translucent.

Add the garlic & saute for about 30 seconds to a minute.

Remove the onions & garlic, and saute the spinach until wilted.

Crumble the bacon.

In a medium bowl, combine most of the crumbled bacon (reserve about 1/4 cup), cream cheese, mayo, and egg. Stir together, and then add the onion, garlic, spinach, and parmesan. Squeeze in the lemon juice and mix everything well. Season with salt & pepper. Stir some more.

Spoon equal amounts of the mixture into each tortilla cup.

Bake for 5 minutes.

Cover loosely with foil to prevent over-browning of the tortillas, and then bake about 5 more minutes.

Top with crumbled bacon.

These are best warm, but they're pretty good at room temperature, too. You'll see some variation of the tortilla cup at the 2011 Christmas party, I'm sure.

complex napoleons

I learned a lot in my first year of med school. For example, there is not quite enough time in the day to keep a food blog updated AND keep up with classwork.

But, now it's summer, and I have loads of free time. Kaytie's workload has recently lightened a bit, so we decided to have a small dinner party last weekend. Five courses with an Italian bent.

We started with prosciutto-wrapped cantaloupe. We followed with a caprese-inspired napoleon, but instead of just tomato, basil, & fresh mozzarella, we added some watermelon and mint. The seafood ceviche was served in ice bowls. The main course was roasted pork tenderloin in a picatta sauce with asparagus and easy Italian bread on the side. And for dessert, we made peach ice cream, topped it with caramel sauce, and served it with florentine cookies.

Everything was good (except for the squid in the ceviche - it got way too rubbery), but the napoleons were the prettiest.

Tomato & Watermelon Napoleons

good tomatoes from the farmer's market

watermelon

fresh mozzarella

fresh basil

fresh mint

red onion, diced

balsamic vinaigrette

This is pretty easy, but it's delicious and looks very fancy.

Peel and slice the tomatoes. Season them with salt & pepper. (Note: if you want to add some more color to this, get some heirloom tomatoes.)

Cut the watermelon into slices that are approximately the same size as the tomato slices. If you're nice, and I am, remove the seeds. Not only will your guests appreciate your efforts, it will also reduce spitting at the dinner table.

Slice the fresh mozzarella.

For assembly, I started with a tomato slice. I put a couple basil leaves on it, and then added a slice of mozzarella. Next was a slice of watermelon topped with a couple mint leaves. Then, I just kept stacking.

Once the tower was an appropriate height, I sprinkled on some diced red onion and a little julienned basil.

These can be assembled before everyone arrives - just splash a little balsamic vinegar on top right before you serve them.

franks n beans

This is a recipe that I tried to have ready for Kaytie when she got home from the Coast. (She's been working weekends away from home. It's very lonely here, and I have no excuse not to study. It sucks.) I did not have it ready when she got home. It was ready an hour and a half after she arrived. But it was good.

So, two weeks later, after Kaytie's next weekend on the Coast, I made it again, with a few alterations. This confused Kaytie - "I'm not sure why you'd want to make the same thing twice in a month." Well, I was perfecting it. (By the way, it was not ready on time, either.)

Making this may make you feel like a French chef. Because instead of calling it a casserole, we can call it a cassoulet, which is a nice way of saying white bean stew. Now, traditionally, a cassoulet would use confit. This doesn't, which makes it easier. Anyway, here's a recipe for some fancy pork and beans. It's based on a recipe from Cook's Illustrated.

Pork & White Bean 'Cassoulet'

1 lb dried white beans
2 ribs of celery, cut into 3-inch pieces
1 bay leaf
4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme
2-3 inches of fresh rosemary
1 lb fresh bratwurst
6 oz salt pork
1 lb pork tenderloin, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 medium carrots, diced
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs tomato paste
1/2 c dry white wine
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
4 c chicken broth
1 c cornbread crumbs
1/2 c chopped parsley
salt & pepper
a Dutch oven
some cheesecloth

Stir 2 1/2 Tbs salt into 10 cups warm water in a large pot. Dump the white beans in. Bring to a boil, and boil for 2 minutes. Cover, and let the beans soak for an hour. Drain & rinse the beans.

Move your oven rack to the bottom third of the oven, and preheat the oven to 300.

Make your bouquet garni: Wrap the celery, bay leaf, thyme, & rosemary in cheesecloth, and tie the bundle closed with string.

In a large saucepan, cover your sausages and salt pork with an inch of cold water. Bring to a boil, and boil for 5 minutes. Drain and let the sausages cool for a minute or two. (Save the salt pork!) Slice the sausage into 1-inch pieces.

In a Dutch oven, over medium-high heat, brown the sausage on all sides in about a Tbs of olive oil. Set the sausage aside.

Brown the pork chunks on all sides. This should take about 5 minutes.

Add the onions & carrots. Stir constantly until the onion is translucent. This will take about 2-3 minutes.

Add the garlic & tomato paste. Stir for about a minute.

Add the sausage, and stir everything together. Add the wine to deglaze the pan. Use a wooden spoon to scrape any crusty bits off the bottom of the pan. Cook for a minute to reduce the wine a little.

Stir in the tomatoes, bouquet garni, and salt pork. Add the white beans and chicken broth. If any of the beans are above the level of the liquid, add a little water.

Increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil. Cover, and put it in the oven for an hour and a half.

Remove the bouquet garni and salt pork. Season the stew with salt and pepper.

Increase the oven temperature to 350, and bake uncovered for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the cornbread crumbs and parlsey with a couple Tbs of olive oil. Season with a little salt & pepper.

Sprinkle about half a cup of the crumb mixture over the top of the cassoulet. Bake covered for 15 minutes.

Uncover, and bake for 15 more minutes.

Sprinkle the rest of the cumbs over the top, and bake for about 30 minutes, until the crumbs are a golden brown. (If you get impatient, or if your wife gets home earlier than you expected, you can turn on the broiler to brown the crumbs. Just keep an eye on it, so they don't burn.)

Let it rest for 15 minutes, and enjoy.

mmmmmm.....

What's better than delicious chocolate cake?













A bigger chocolate cake! (Duh.)


So, here's the genesis of this post: Bon Appetit's Cocoa Layer Cake. A couple weeks ago, Kaytie said she wanted some cake, and since I suffer from a bona fide sugar addiction, I was happy to oblige her craving.


We'd just gotten our February Bon Appetit, and the cake on page 90 looked delicious. I followed the recipe, almost. And it was great. BUT, it was only about 3 inches tall. And because I'm a red-blooded American, I believe that bigger is better.


So, I doubled the recipe, moved some espresso powder around, and added some nuts. This is the best chocolate cake ever, and it looks like a cake that you could buy at a fancy bakery. Guaranteed to impress.


Chocolate Cake


1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups warm water, divided
1 cup buttermilk
3 cups cake flour
1 tsp instant espresso powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
scant 1/2 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
2 eggs, room temp & beaten slightly
1 cup toasted pecan pieces/chips


Note: You need 3 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides.


Position your oven racks so one is in the top third of your oven and the other is in the bottom third. Preheat the oven to 350.


Cut parchment paper rounds that fit into your cake pans. Butter (or spray with Pam) the pans. Press the parchment paper rounds into the pans, and grease the paper. Dust the sides of the pan with flour. (Tilt the pan, dump a pinch or two of flour on the side, and rotate the pan so the flour lightly covers the inside of the walls of the pan.) This will give the batter something to grab, and your cakes will rise evenly, instead of rising more in the middle.


Whisk the cocoa and espresso powder into 1 cup of water in a small bowl.


Whisk buttermilk and 1 cup of water together in another small bowl.


Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.


Use an electric mixer to beat the butter and both sugars in a large bowl for about 5 minutes.


With the mixer running, add the eggs, and beat about 15-30 seconds, until smooth.


Add the cocoa mixture. Beat to blend.


Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the buttermilk mixture and beating to blend with each addition.


Divide the batter evenly between the 3 cake pans. (About 3 1/4 cups each)


Bake cakes about 20 minutes, reversing the pans about halfway through. The cakes will be done when a tester (or toothpick) inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cakes (in pans) completely on racks.




Icing


10 Tbs unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups packed light brown sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp instant espresso powder
scant 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tsp vanilla extract


Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.


Stir in the sugar, cocoa, espresso powder, and salt.


Gradually stir in the cream. Keep stirring until the mixture just begins to simmer at the edges.


Reduce heat to low, and stir for about a minute.


Dump the mixture in a medium bowl, and stir in the vanilla.


Stick the icing in the fridge, and let it cool for an hour and a half, stirring occasionally. Then, let it stand at room temperature.



Now, it's time to assemble the cake. To get the cakes out of the pan, run a knife around the sides of the cake. Carefully, invert one cake onto a plate. (Please note, these cakes are fragile and very moist, almost sticky. Handle with care.) Peel off the paper, and spread about 1/2 cup of icing on top. Invert the second cake onto your palm, and carefully slide it onto the first layer. Peel off the parchment, and spread about 1/2 cup of icing on that layer. Repeat with the third layer. Spread the remaining icing over the top and sides of the cake.


And finally, it's time for fun. To get the nuts on the cake, I literally threw small handfuls of pecans at it. And they stick. (This is the dogs' favorite step, because some nuts inevitably end up on the floor, which means the dogs get to eat them.)

put this on your pork & smoke it

Well, another Christmas party has come and gone. We don't have a lot of new recipes because (1) we wanted to make sure the food was great, so we went with some old favorties, and (2) we were too rushed to write down what we were doing. (My last exam was on the 21st, and the party was on the 23rd.)

But, rushed as were were to get everything out on time, it was a great party, and the food was excellent. Lots of recipes are already on the blog. We served peanut butter balls, white chocolate-cranberry cookies, boiled shrimp with my cocktail sauce, mushrooms stuffed with duck sausage, and cured salmon.


There were quesadillas filled with the stuffing from our sausage & smoked gouda poppers. The corn, crab, & brie dip was, as always, a hit. We filled phyllo cups with mashed sweet potatoes and topped them with candied bacon.


There were little bowls of roasted walnuts scattered throughout the house for easy snacking. Kaytie made a punch with citron vodka, creme de cassis, pomegranate juice, and prosecco. We always serve mulled wine, and of course, we served med-rare venison tenderloin slices on toast with gorgonzola-horseradish butter. (It's one of the party standards.)

My favorite thing this year was an open-faced Cuban-inspired sandwich. Smoked pork, garlic aioli, and homemade pickles on toast, topped with dill Havarti cheese.

That pork was damn fine, if I do say so myself. It tasted even better than it looked. Here's the rub I used:

Garlic Pork Rub

5 dried chipotle peppers
1 dried habanero (dump the seeds out)
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1/2 Tbs cumin seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 Tbs coriander seeds
1/4 tsp white peppercorns
1/4 tsp black peppercorns
1 1/2 Tbs paprika
2 Tbs onion powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
8-10 garlic cloves, diced ultra-fine

I have a reformed coffee grinder that we use to grind dried peppers, seeds, and peppercorns. If you're a traditionalist, I suppose you can use an old-fashioned mortar and pestle. Either way, once you get everything ground down to a powder, the instructions are pretty simple: mix everything together.

Rinse your pork shoulder, and pat it dry. Rub the spice mixture all over the pork. I usually put it on a rack over a baking sheet so I can pick up any rub that falls off and rub it back on the meat. (Tip - if you wear rubber gloves, less rub will stick to your fingers. Plus, once you take the gloves off, you can rub your eyes or pick your nose without fear of pepper residue under your fingernails.)

I smoked the pork, but you could definitely roast it in the oven. I'm not going to get into specifics of cooking it because I haven't made careful enough notes about time & heat, but you can get good information from a google search. I will tell you that I normally cook a pork shoulder to an internal temperature of 150-155 degrees, which is lower than many sites will recommend. Use your own discretion.

so much stuffing...

In the week after Thanksgiving, our fridge is normally full of leftovers. I assume that yours is, too. I've offered an option for your leftover turkey, and now I'm moving on to stuffing.

Or dressing, depending on where you're from. I've always called it stuffing, even though I've always been eating dressing. I don't think it really matters, as long as it is cornbread-based.

Regardless, you can use your old stuffing for turkey sushi. Don't freak out - the turkey's not raw. This is just a convenient way to get your holiday dinner in one bite, and it looks kind of like sushi. People love it.

We did this a couple years ago for one of our Christmas parties. For those of you not in the know, Kaytie and I throw a big Christmas party every year. It's a chance to see everyone we know, and it's also a chance to show off. There's usually a theme, like cajun or comfort food, etc. One year, we were inspired by our big 28-course anniversary dinner at Alinea, and we decided to do Christmas dinner, deconstructed and reimagined.

Some of the highlights were sweet potato & marshmallow nachos, mushrooms stuffed with green bean casserole, and, of course, turkey sushi.

Turkey Sushi

smoked turkey breast from the deli
(turkey should be sliced thick enough to stay together instead of all the slices falling apart)
canned cranberry sauce, cut into long strips
green onions
stuffing (see below)
mayonaise
seasoned cream cheese (see below)

Mix the stuffing and the mayonaise together. You only need enough mayo to moisten the stuffing and make it stick together. Probably about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of mayo for a whole pan of stuffing.

Lay one slice of turkey on a bamboo sushi-rolling mat. Spread a thin layer of seasoned cream cheese all over the turkey. Lay a green onion and a strip of cranberry sauce longways across one edge of the slice of turkey. Spoon some of the stuffing mixture over the cranberry sauce and green onion. Use the mat to roll the turkey around the stuffing, sauce, and onion, forming a roll about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Slice into 1-inch slices with a very sharp knife.


Cornbread Stuffing/Dressing

1 pan of cornbread (we make ours from a mix)
4 cups of dried herb-flavored white bread stuffing
1 stick of butter, melted
1 can of chicken stock (about 2 cups)
2 onions, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp poultry seasoning
2 tsp fresh sage, chopped

Preheat oven to 350.

Saute the onion and celery until wilted.

Crumble the cornbread, and add it to the white bread stuffing. Add the veggies, and stir everything together. Pour the butter and chicken stock over everything, and add the spices. Mix everything together.

Spread the mixture evenly in a casserole dish, and bake for 30-45 minutes, until browned.


Seasoned Cream Cheese

1 pkg cream cheese, room temp
1 Tbs poultry seasoning
1 tsp garlic salt
1 Tbs fresh sage, chopped

Mix it all together.

too much turkey?

So, Thanksgiving has come and gone (time for Christmas! Whoo hoo!), and you have a bunch of leftover turkey, right? (Unless you ate at my Thanksgiving dinner - the head honcho prefers roast chicken and ham. But I'm cooking a turkey next year. Fried or smoked, it matters not to me. With God as my witness, there will be turkey at my next Thanksgiving dinner!)

So, a fridge full of turkey - now what? Well, there's always the obligatory turkey & cranberry sauce sandwich, but how many sandwiches can you eat?

I have your solution: turkey bone gumbo. It's a recipe handed down to me from my mom and modified a little ('cuz that's how we roll) by Kaytie. It's friggin' delicious.

By the way, you may be wondering how we made this, since there was no turkey at our Thanksgiving dinner. Well, we like this recipe so much that we begged for bones from another house!

(Historical note: The first time we made this was the first time we ever made stock. Now, we make stock all the time! Like pioneers.)

Turkey Bone Gumbo

(makes a lot)

for turkey stock:

turkey bones

2-3 carrots

2-3 stalks celery

2 onions

1 rutabega

2-3 bay leaves

1 tsp black peppercorns

a few sprigs of fresh thyme

for the gumbo:

1/2 stick butter

1/4 c olive oil

3/4 c flour

2 onions, diced

1 bell pepper, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 bay leaves

1 tsp dried oregano

1 Tbs dried basil

1-2 Tbs fresh parsley, chopped

1 Tbs powdered sage

hot sauce, salt, & pepper to taste

1 pint heavy cream

2 c chopped turkey

1 lb smoked sausage, cut into bite-size pieces

1 bunch of green onions, diced

Put the turkey bones in a big stock pot. (We had a discussion about this at Thanksgiving dinner this year. What's the most appetizing word for turkey bones? Carcass? Body? Cadaver?)

Chop the carrots, celery, onion, and rutabega into large chunks, and dump them in the pot. Add the bay leaves, peppercorns, and thyme. (Please note: all of this stuff is optional, but it will make the stock delicious!)

Cover everything in the pot with water. Boil (covered) for about 1 1/2 hours. The meat should pretty much fall off the bone.

Strain everything out, and reserve the meat and the broth.

Saute the sausage in a frying pan. Get a good browning on most sides. Reserve the sausage.

Now, make a roux in the sausage drippings. First, melt the butter over low heat. Add the olive oil and flour. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the flour turns light brown and no longer smells raw.

Add the onions, garlic, celery, and bell pepper. Cook until the veggies are wilted.

Add 2 quarts (8 cups) of the reserved turkey broth. (Freeze the rest in 2-3 cup containers for later use when making more turkey bone gumbo, cooking rice, making soup, etc...)

Add the bay leaves, oregano, basil, parsley, sage, hot sauce, salt, and pepper. Bring the whole thing to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, for an hour.

Add the cream. Bring to a boil, and boil until the liquid level reduces by about an inch.

Add the sausage and chopped turkey. Lower the heat to med-low, and cook for 15 minutes.

Add the green onions, and cook for a few more minutes.

Serve over rice.