Ice cream

Ok, so Jake is giving me crap for not posting in a while. Here is the recipe for the ice cream I made last thursday. This was my first time so I made 2 batches; one cinnamon and the other vanilla. I used a compromise between 2 different recipes, one of which was from the Professional Chef. I love that book. They actually turned out pretty good, but I still think it could use some work. I think churning has a lot to do with it.
I'll give you the recipe for a basic vanilla. You can scale down (or up) as desired.
For ~1.4 L You need:
16oz/480ml milk
16oz/480ml heavy cream
~200-300g sugar (I'm not yet sure what the magic number here is)
a vanilla bean, split and scraped (or use vanilla extract since no one has vanilla beans)
28g glucose syrup (I don't know what this is or where you get it so I just increased the sugar. The range I've given will definitely work. For your info, I went on the high side of the range the 1st time. I think I can stand to scale back a little, but it is good. If using the syrup, add it at the beginning with the first ingredients.)
1-2 good pinches of salt
10-12 egg yolks (the PC said 15. the other recipe said 6. The eggs have a lot to do with the texture so I would put more than six, but I think 15 might be a little excessive. I also have no idea what to do with that many egg whites.)

How do you do it?
It's all about making the cream. Heat the milk, cream, 1/2 the sugar, salt and the vanilla bean pod and seeds in a saucepan on medium heat. If using vanilla extract, hold until just before you strain the cream.
Stir the mixture constantly for about 10 minutes.
Cover and remove from heat. Let it steep for 5 minutes.
While the cream steeps, mix the egg yolks with the rest of the sugar.
You'll need to temper the egg mixture with the hot cream before adding it to the saucepan. This is so the eggs don't scramble when you add them to the pan.
Add a few spoonfuls of the cream to the egg mixture and whisk rapidly. Slowly add more of the cream until you've mixed about 1/3 of it with the egg mixture.
Remove the vanilla bean and add the egg mixture to the saucepan.
Return the pan to medium heat and stir constantly to keep from scorching for about 5 minutes.
The consistency of the cream is more important than time. Keep simmering on medium heat and stirring constantly til it thickens. The cream is ready when it coats the back of a wooden spoon and the lines stay straight when a finger is drawn through it.
If using vanilla extract, add a good bloop of it just before it looks like it has reached the correct thickness.
Strain through a fine strainer into a metal container over an ice bath.
Stir occasionally til it reaches ~40 F, ~1 hr.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 12 hours.
If you've got an ice cream machine then process the cream as directed and freeze. This will help incorporate air into the cream making it light and fluffy, and also adding volume to it. It will also give it a deliciously smooth consistency. As it freezes, water ice crystals will form. The churner will keep these crystals at a minimum size so that the cream has a homogenous texture to it. I highly recommend the churner if you can get one. Hand churning just doesn't even compare.
Conversely, churn as well as you can by hand and place in the freezer. Churn every 1.5 to 2 hrs for 4-6 hrs til frozen.
IF you don't feel like waiting that long to have ice cream you can put the cooled cream from the ice bath straight into the freezer and start churning every 1-2 hrs. THis won't hurt the flavor at all, but it will affect the texture. It will still take 4-6 hrs to freeze. I prefer to just make the cream the night before, put it in the fridge and start freezing/churning when I get home from school/work.

For cinnamon ice cream:
Add 2-3 cinnamon sticks (if you're in Augusta I've got plenty) and a couple pieces of lemon rind with the milk, cream, and sugar at the beginning. Leave in until you strain the cream. Also add a couple of pinches of ground cinnamon to the egg mixture.

For chocolate ice cream:
add some chocolate. duh.
But seriously, just melt some chocolate and, once again, add it just before straining.

Coffee ice cream?
Substitute ~2 oz/57g coarsely ground coffee for the vanilla bean.

Once again, sorry we don't have pics. Our roommate's camera needs to be charged.

Venison Chili

History:

My brother gave me venison. We have had it for some time. I made a little loaf of bread today. Chili and bread on a cold day. Sounds good to me.

Recipe:

1 lb? of ground venison

2 cans of corn

1 red pepper

1.5 onions

1 can of black beans

1 can of kidney beans

2 cans chopped tomatoes

a bunch of garlic

salt

pepper

chili powder

baybere

cumin powder

Brown the meat in a large pot, put to the side. Saute onions and garlic with olive oil. Add pepper. Toss in meat and seasonings. Pour all the cans in. Turn on low and let go for some time.

Enjoy.

Eclairs [AB/JG]

History:

I made these once years ago for a friend in high school. I went back to them after I got a book with a recipe [now I have like 3], and I actually originally made these for Anita's birthday. I think this may be my 3rd-4th time making them. Big hit at the house with Clark and Patrick actually. I tried to make them to take to class, but by the time those Clark and Patrick had finished I didn't have enough.

Recipe:

Pata a choux:

1 cup of water

6 tbls of butter

tbl of sugar

salt

161 grams bread flour

4 large eggs

1 egg white

Bring the water, butter, sugar, and salt to boil. Once boiling pour all the flour in at once and start to mix. Very soon everything will come together in a ball. Put ball in a kitchenaid mixer and mix on low until steam is not coming off anymore ~5 minutes [sorry if you don't have a stand mixer.] Once cool add the eggs one at a time until fully combined. Then add the white. I use a gallon bag and pipe the shells onto parchment paper. Usually I put a bit on the batter in the corners of the parchment paper to hold it on the pan. Starting in the middle of the size of an eclair you want [~3 inches] go up 1.5 inches, come down 3 and then back up 1.5 inches. It is like making an 's' on itself. Or you can make a little spiral for creme puffs. Use a watery finger to push any tips down. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes and then 350 for 15-20 or so. Still perfecting the time on my end. Cool, poke a hole and fill. For the chocolate top melt via double boiler chocolate and some milk.

Enjoy.

Creme:

2 cups whole milk

56 grams sugar [2 tbls x 2]

28 grams cornstarch [~2 tbls]

salt

2 eggs

1 egg yolk [from white above]

vanilla

2 tbs butter

Heat milk, sugar [1 of the 56 grams], vanilla to a simmer. Whisk eggs, egg yolk, sugar [other 56 grams] cornstarch, and salt. Temper together. Heat on medium-low until the creme when stirred comes off the side of the pot. Strain into a clean bowl mix in butter, and let it get to RT. Use a gallon bag and pipe into eclair/creme puff shells.

I have also folded in fruit [blueberries] to give this a bit different taste. Very you can use the pata a choux for whatever you want. Chicken salad etc to made savory.

Have fun, and let us know what you do.

Pineapple-Jerk Pork [JG/CL]

History:

Great dish; and highlights that I am a creator and Clark is a executer. So we are in a management class and are learning how to label each other. We had this huge pork loin, what last semester? And we were deciding what to do with it.... Clark found a recipe that was stuffing it with savory items... sounded good, but as I was driving home that voice in my head said, 'Hey pineapple and pork are awesome together do that.'.... Thanks voice. And thinking on it I wanted something that was was spicy on the outside, but then as you bit into it, the sweetness of the pineapple came out and cut the heat. And not just spicy. We wanted it to burn. So here it is the Pineapple-Jerk Pork.

Recipe:

1 large pork loin

brown sugar

pineapple [I tend to like the tidbits], washed and drained

dry rub [recipe at the bottom]

I start by getting separate bowls for the pineapple and brown sugar... the whole touching raw pork thing. Butterfly the pork. This really means to open it up into a wide flat piece of meat. Imagine there is a spiral in the meat, and just have the blade go through it. Cover the meat with brown sugar and then the pineapple. Put more towards you, and then roll up the pork like you would any kind of sushi or cinnamon bread. You have just created a spiral of brown sugar pineapple in the pork. Tie off with twine. Go crazy with the dry rub. Seriously. Again crazy burn. Let the pork rest like this for ~15-30 minutes, preheat to 350 either pop in the oven and go ~45 minutes or sear on all sides and then put it in.

Enjoy.

Dry Rub: [Clark add you magic]

Salt

white pepper

cayenne

berbere

dehydrated garlic

thyme

and some other things clark will add...

that's a really good base, but some other things you can throw into the mix:
I like to scale back some on the salt and also use celery salt
ground ginger, ground coriander...I think that's everything. c

La Ratatouille

History:

OK this is it. The real deal, the real Ratatouille. In short, I love this dish. Quick, easy, tasty, it has become a staple side for us. One of my favorite meals during the fall/winter= ratatouille and fresh bread. Nothing better.

Recipe:

2 Onions

2-3 zuchinni

2-3 yellow squash

4-6 tomatoes

1-2 cans tomatoes prn [pharmacy for as needed!]

garlic

salt

pepper

basil

parsley

oregano

olive oil

Mince the garlic. Start to saute with olive oil, and 1/3 of herbs. Add the onions chopped up. Go until translucent. Add zuchinni and squash. Cut how you like, but I like to have them as little wheels. Start to cook with 1/3 of herbs, salt, pepper. When medium to done [you should notice a bit of a color change] add the tomatoes. I use the cans if I don't have enough fresh to cover everything is juices. Add the rest of the herbs, s/p to taste, and cook on low for 20-30 minutes... or however long.

Enjoy.

We need to charge our roommate's camera. Hence no pictures.

I'm really getting worn thin

We just made the spice-encrusted salmon with yellow mole again. I told you, we've got so much mole left over. You can find the recipe with pic on an earlier post. Actually, Jake made some ratatouille. He makes it all the time. It's one of our other staples. Maybe he'll tell you about it. I'm exhausted and I can't wait for our health fair and my seminar to be over. This will be my first real spring break.
I did start making some ice cream but it will have to chill/freeze overnight. I'll write it up tomorrow although I have a feeling it will be more like ice-milk. I didn't cook the cream long enough.
good night

Chia Muffins

History:

First of foremost that is not a typo. These are chai tea muffins, but when I originally made the recipe I misspelled it Chia. And so it stays. I think by now you will have noticed language is not my specialty. I border on dyslexic [I spelt that right?], and tend to think one word, say another, and then what you really hear is a juxtaposed between the two. Hey we all have our faults. You may notice that in this we actual make our own chai tea... if you have chai tea you can try that, but we really like to try and show you how to make food from basic ingredients.

Recipe: [Again this is in grams.... see blueberry for conversion]

140 grams whole wheat flour

140 grams all-purpose flour

1 stick butter

3/4 cups black tea

2 eggs

266 grams sugar

cinnamon

vanilla

2.5 tsp baking powder

salt

cardomon [this is really expensive....]

fennel

ginger

clove

black pepper

Start to brew the black tea. You can use other teas a la oolong, I tend to just use any of the many teas we have on hand. One of the reasons is I like tea when making bread. Once the tea has seeped add the clove and fennel. [The clove and fennel we have are whole, hence this step. I also try to grind them a bit before putting in.] Cream butter and sugar, then add vanilla and eggs. Combine all dry goods. Small pinch of pepper and ginger. Mostly cinnamon then baking powder, then cardomon, then the rest. I don't really measure this part. Add 1/5 dry to egg/sugar. Add 1/4 cup tea. 1/3 dry. 1/4 cup tea. 1/4 dry. 1/4 cup tea. Add rest of the dry. Mix well. This will be more of a batter and liquidy then the blueberry muffin. Divide into 12 muffin tins [you may have some excess]. Put the cinnamon:sugar (1:4) on top. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until done. Enjoy.

Not really a ratatouille, but...

History:

I love movies. One of my favorite is Ratatouille. And yes, due to that movie I now eat ratatouilles. In fact one of my favorite meals is a ratatouille and fresh bread. Maybe creme brulee for dessert if I am trying to have a fancy date night. So I found this recipe in Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc Summer Vegetable Gretin.... something like that. It really looks like the ratatouille from the movie [he made it]. So I had to make this and here it is:

Recipe:

Onions

Yellow Squash

Zuccinni

Tomatoes [Roma or something like that.... not a big fat one]

Garlic

Egg Plant [I did not use.... same in my ratatouille]

Bread crumbs

Parmasean cheese

salt

pepper

thyme

Mince the garlic [~4 cloves; I tend to use a lot]. Chop the onions [2sh]. Saute in oil until transluscent ~15 minutes. [I add left over melted onions to this (see Southern Cooking)]. Pour and spread over the bottom of a baking dish [9x11 something like that]. Dice the zuchinni [yes I am changing how I spell it each time], squash, tomatoes [+/- egg plant]. Make them little circles about 1/4 inch thick or so. Try to get them the same size. They should look like little wheels. Keep in separate bowls, toss in oil, salt, and pepper. To the bread add some cheese and thyme. Going diagonal make rows of overlapping same vegetables. It will be like doing parallel overlapping lines of vegetables. Wow I wish we got a picture. On each line before adding the next put some of the bread mixture on top. I went squash, tomato, zuchynni [now I am just having fun]. After covering the dish sprinkle the rest of the bread on it to cover and then bake at 350 for about 1.5 hours. I was at yoga when it finished, so Clark tell them how long:

[Clark's soon answer]

Wow, Mar 14th before I realized I was supposed to give input here. Ummm, I think it went about an hour?

Nothing Green southern cooking.....until we remembered we had some broccoli

History:

I have a small group on Tuesdays. Each week someone brings in something to eat. Last week I help [made] cookies for Jenny to pass as her own. I think she did. The week before we had donuts. I suggested that I would do something savory. Not sweet. Hazaahs from all. Got two new cookbooks in the past week, both Thomas Keller, and both rock. So here is our menu:

Menu

North Carolina Western Barbecued Chicken [PC]

Potato Hash with bacon and melted onions [TK]

Biscuits [PC]

Chicken is just grilled no seasonings and basted with the sauce. Here is your sauce [PC]

Makes 1 Liter

43 grams brown sugar

9 grams paprika

9 grams chili powder

5 gram salt

9 grams dry mustard [clark scaled this down, and used mustard. In fact he used a gloop of mustard].

1.5 grams cayenne

30 mL Worcestershire

240 mL white vinegar (clark's note: I actually like to use white wine vinegar and a little apple cider vinegar)

720 mL ketchup

60 mL water

Mix it and rock it. [Rock it because we listened to The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium]

Potato Hash with Bacon and Melted Onions

Lardon [type of cut] 12 oz of bacon. IE make into little fingers or so. Cook on medium-low with 2 tbs of water... this allows the bacon to not crisp as it cooks. All the water will evaporate, cook fully, then set aside. Cube the potatoes and cook in oil/butter/bacon fat. Season with thyme, salt, and pepper, and fold in bacon and melted onions.

Melted Onions [this can be used in other dishes.... we kept some for later]

3 large onions, diced

1 stick of butter

thyme

salt

bay

cook the onions with the salt until the water is gone. add the butter and spices and cook slowly on low for about 30 minutes covered. will have flavor, not be too mushy, and retain shape.

Biscuits [makes 40]

1.59 kg of ap flour

113 grams sugar

85 grams baking powder

21 grams salt

227 grams eggs [~50 grams for a large egg]

720 mL of buttermilk [we used whole milk]

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt

add butter and rub together until mixture has appearance of coarse meal

combine eggs and buttermilk and add to dry goods

combine, knead, then roll out til 1 inch think

cut biscuits

bake at 425 until golden brown ~15 minutes

enjoy.

Poached Egg Version One

History:

This is my play on juevos rancheros. One day I will put the original up. So we haven't been cooking much recently due to school and what not, and I wanted a quick bite to eat. This is my stab at something quick. Plus I wanted to work on my presentation here. Small meals, with a focus on the look and taste. Because cooking is like an art, and you know what else is an art, Clark?

Recipe:

Nice and easy. Boil some water. Add maybe a hint of vinegar. When it is boiling turn down to simmer, then with a spoon in a circular counter clockwise motion create a current. Put 1 egg in the center. Watch some art. Let go for 2 minutes or so, depends on how cook you want it [I kinda poked mine until I was happy]. Put on 1-2 slices of toast [I had pita bread], and then I used a peach salsa for a sauce. I wanted something green on top [chives etc] but we didn't have.

Do you see the steam?

PIZZA!!

I love making pizza. I'd still be working at a pizza joint if it paid anything. Since it doesn't, I had to find me a good pizza dough recipe. Now I can make better, cheaper, and healthier pizza in the comfort of my own home. And now you can, too!!
I made 2 different ones today. One with spinach, bacon, and tomato. Yeah, basically a BLT pizza. The other with feta, roasted red peppers, green olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and roasted garlic.
For 1 dough:
200 g white bread flour (I have been messing around with the ratios on this dough for a while. I usually make up ~1/5 of the amount with wheat flour. I also recently decreased the total flour from 225g to 200 to make a thinner crust. Do what you will with it.)
1 packet yeast
3 pinches sugar
1 pinch salt
stir together
Mix the following 3 ingredients together and add to dry mixture
1/3 cup water lukewarm
1 tbsp olive oil
90 ml milk
Stir it up little darlin' til you've got a nice dough ball. Adjust flour/water as necessary.
Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes. Form into a ball. Lightly oil a bowl. Transfer dough ball to bowl and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap/damp towel. You can let it rise at RT for ~1-1.5 hr and it will be ready to go. I pull kind of a Reinhart method and put it in the fridge after letting it rise for about 30 min. This way it slow proofs until taken out. You can do this the night before and then use it the next day. In this case, I did it this morning and then pulled it out for tonight. Either way, you want to give it at least an hour to take off the chill and maybe 2 to let it finish rising.
When you shape this baby don't be stingy on the cornmeal. This will keep it from sticking to the counter, baking stone/pan, and will allow easy transfer. Cover your work area with cornmeal and turn out the dough onto it. Press down in the center to flatten it just a little bit. Place the side of your hand (kind of like a curved karate chop) about a cm from the edge and rotate the dough. This will form the crust and help to stretch out the dough a little. Bring the dough up onto the back of your hands and gently stretch and rotate to shape it. Conversely, start tossing if you feel comfortable doing it. It's a lot quicker and really isn't as hard as it looks...once you get the hang of it. Once done, lay the dough down on a cornmeal covered pan or other flat surface to transfer to a baking stone (it's fine if you don't have one but they are nice).
When you go to cook this thing jack the temp on the stove up as high as it will go. The higher the temp the better the crust. Most big-time pizza joints (no, not papa john's or mellow mushroom, the real places) cook at upwards of 600-800 degrees F, some even 1,000. My oven goes to 500 and that's just fine. If you have a baking stone let it heat up in the oven. Transfer the pizza from whatever you've got it on to the stone with a gentle, but quick, back and forth shaking motion. At 500 deg F and with a baking stone it will cook in 5-7 minutes. On a regular baking tray give it at least 10 minutes.
Note: At that temp things like spinach and sun-dried tomatoes will burn. Put them on before the cheese and other toppings. Then add cheese et. al on top. This will protect them.

For the sauce:
Fry up some garlic in olive oil. Add a bay leaf. Add a can of crushed tomatoes. Add basil, oregano, thyme, a couple pinches of sugar, some salt, and a bloop of red wine. Stir. Simmer. Taste. Do what needs to be done.

Burgers for my Baby (& chana masala per smittenkitchen)

This post is actually from yesterday. Sorry but I've got 2 jobs, 4 research projects, 2 tests, putting together a health fair, teaching a class, writing a newsletter and a girlfriend in town. That didn't stop me from cooking all day long yesterday but I didn't have time to post it.
Due to the lack of time I will direct you to www.smittenkitchen.com for the first recipe I made. If you're in to food blogs, this chick is going to steal you from ours. Go here (http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/02/chana-masala) for her recipe for chana masala and ditto everything she said. I love indian food. It is my all-time favorite. I've been searching for a good chana masala recipe for a while and now I finally have one.
Since my lady friend graced me with her presence this week I had to tailor the menu to her desires. And what did she want from her wannabe gourmet beau? Hamburgers. I grilled them but I did a little spicy prep work and, of course, I had to bake the buns myself. Recipe will follow.

Burgers: [CL]
For 2 of them I chopped up onions and garlic and mixed it in with the meat with some s/p. I also added some worcestershire sauce into the mix.
For the rest I chopped up green apples, celery, and a little onion and garlic, s/p. Mix well and form into patties. For three of these I added a bunch of cajun seasoning.
Grill to desired doneness. Some got provolone. Some got bacon. All got eaten voraciously.
I like the green apple/celery mix in it because it makes em really juicy.

Hamburger buns: [PR]
I used his Kaiser Roll recipe for the buns minus the cutesy little twist cut you do for Kaiser rolls.
You'll need a pate fermentee for this one. That's another one of those pre-ferments you make the day before and stick in the fridge.
For pate fermentee you need:
1 1/8 cups AP flour
1 1/8 cups bread flour (bread flour has a higher protein content than AP which adds to the chewiness)
I substituted whole-wheat for ~1/2 of the total flour. You'll find that I do that a lot. Besides being healthier and having a good flavor, WW flour also has more protein.
3/4 tsp salt (like I ever actually measure 3/4 tsp of anything)
1/2 tsp instant yeast (like I said before, I usually just dump a little out of the packet, roll it up tight, and use the remainder in the full recipe the next day)
3/4 to 1 cp water at RT

STir together flour, salt, and yeast. Add 3/4 cp water and mix. Adjust flour/water as needed. Remember, sticky is better than dry. You can always add flour later.
Knead for ~ 5 min.
Lightly oil a bowl, roll dough around to coat, cover and let rise to ~1.5 times size, ~1 hr.
Remove dough from bowl. Knead lightly to degas. Return to bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight. Will keep up to 3 days.
For the buns you need:
2 1/4 cups bread flour
~ 1 tsp salt
1 tsp barley malt powder (you can get this from a brewery or brewery supplies shop. There was a guy in Athens that brewed his own beer and said anytime I wanted some malt powder to just give him a call and whenever he's brewing I can come grab his left over malt powder. I only had to do this once as I use teaspoons at a time and they produce massive quantities for beer. So if anyone in Augusta wants some barley malt, I got you.)
the rest of your yeast (1 tsp)
1 large egg slightly beaten
1.5 tbsp vegetable oil or shortening, melted
~ 3/4 cp water, lukewarm
poppy/sesame seeds if youz'a be wantin' um

Take pate fermentee out of the fridge an hour before making the dough. Cut into ~10 small pieces and cover with a towel to take of the chill.
Stir together flour, salt, malt powder, and yeast. Add pate fermentee, egg, oil, and water. Stir to mix.
Knead on floured surface for about 10 minutes. Transfer to oiled bowl, cover, and ferment at RT for 2 hrs.
Divide dough into 6-9 equal pieces (2.5 to 4 oz if you've got a scale). Form pieces into a ball and then press down firmly on top to form a round. Transfer to a baking pan lined with parchment paper, oiled, and dusted with cornmeal.
Mist the rounds with spray oil and cover. Let proof for ~1 hr.
Heat oven to 400F. If adding seeds, mist rolls with water and add seeds.
Bake for ~30 min depending on size of rolls.
Let cool on rack for 30 min before serving.
Or just buy some hamburger buns.

Blueberry Muffins!

History:
Jake loves blueberry muffins. And I started to buy really good muffins, but they were expensive. So like a cocky jerk I am I said 'pst, I can do that.' So that is how this began. My quest for the perfect blueberry muffin.

Recipe:
Note this will be in weight. When I bake I use a scale. Sorry. And due to non-reader Charlie 135 grams flour = 1 cup and 212 grams sugar = 1 cup. Thanks Charlie
150 grams whole wheat flour
87 grams all purpose flour
212 grams sugar
1 egg
1 pint fresh or frozen blueberries [I have been using frozen... store bought :( I have considered letting the blueberries come to RT first.... I think this will help since my cooking time keeps increase due to the nature of iced berries.]
Cinnamon
2.5 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla
salt
Extra cinnamon:sugar 1:3 for topping
1.5 sticks of butter
3/4 cup of milk

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg, then vanilla. Mix all dry goods together [FYI sugar is NOT considered a dry good]. Add 1/4 cup of milk. Mix. Add 1/3 dry; mix. Repeat until everything is involved. Fold in blueberries [Buy in bulk over the summer when cheap and then pack in bags until later use]. Divide into 12 muffin tins. Top with cinnamon:sugar mixture. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes or until done.

Enjoy. Seriously these rock.

Beef Stew

In a hurry. Gonna do this one free-form style.
This stew is one of my staples. That means it's easy, it's tasty, and you can make a lot of it and it will last a few days. I do this one in a crock-pot. I suggest cooking on low for ~12 hrs but if you're wanting food that day you can cook on high and it should be ready in about 6.

I usually go with anywhere from 2-3 lbs of beef. A good roast will work or you can buy stew chunks. I like the big-ass roast better because it's beautiful to watch the meat just fall apart when it's done cooking.
What else do I put in it?
onions (duh)
garlic
carrots
potatoes
tomatoes
1-2 cans of diced tomatoes
1/2 head of cabbage
1 beer (of darker variety. The really hoppy beers make great stews.)
And I added celery this time since I had it.

Chop up the onions and throw those in first to make a nice bed for your meat. Some people like to make a dry-rub or seasoned flour coating, sear the meat in a pan, and then add to the pot. Go with what you like. Lately, I've just been throwing it in as is after seasoning with a little s/p. Then add in the rest of the fresh and canned vegetables, except the cabbage. I usually add this towards the end.
I add a little flavor concoction I made up. Two parts balsamic vinegar and worcestershire sauce to ~1 part red wine vinegar. Enough to make ~ 1 cup. Add that in with everything else and don't forget the beer. That should be plenty of liquid but add water if the meat is not covered.
I usually let this cook for several hours and then come back and season.
Salt, pepper, granulated garlic (I love garlic), thyme, a little rosemary, and some Texas Pete hot sauce. Not a lot of hot sauce, just enough to give it a little kick.
Once it is at least halfway through I'll add the chopped cabbage.
Once the veggies are soft and the meat is falling apart you're good to go.

Jambalaya for Mardi Gras

History:

This is the 18th year in a row that my family has had a Mardi Gras party. Like any good Irish/Spanish Roman Catholic we take our Fat Tuesday seriously. Many of those years we have made jambalaya. And we do go a bit crazy sometimes with the tasso, gator meat, and other New Orleans specials. So here is the basic

Recipe: [I am going a bit more traditional with this]

>5 Cups chicken stock [Easy to make by boiling the chicken you need for this the night before]

Dark Roux [ie flour and fat]

Salt

Butter

Onions

Bell Pepper

Celery

Garlic

Creole Seasoning [salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper, granulated garlic, onion powder, celery salt]

Tasso/Ham

Crushed Tomatoes

Tomato Paste

Pork [Sausage]

Chicken

Rice

Made Roux. [Butter/Oil and Flour.... cook until til you can smell and it is dark; the more you have the more thickening power to you]. Add a hint of stock for flavor; get the rest of the stock into a boil. To the roux add onion, celery, garlic, green pepper, Creole. Saute til mostly cooked, then add tasso/Ham. Keep saute-ing, then add tomatoes. Bring to bubble add paste. Add boiling chicken stock. Add enough for however much rice you want. IE 2 cups stock to 1 cup rice. Take for seasoning, should be a little too salty. Add pork, then chicken. Once boiling again, add rice stir, and cover on low.

Baklava Picture

Because our roommate left his camera on the counter....

Grilled chicken with Salad

Typing this as it cooks. Really, really easy.

Tossed some chicken breasts in with oil, garlic, balsamic vinegar, lemon and lime, and marinated all day. The idea was a moist Italian-like chicken. And then I thought. It happens at times. 20 minutes prior to grilling, I let the chicken hit RT [room temperature] and just a jerk dry rub on it. I went with this because the lemons and limes were making me think Island Flavor. Easy jerk: white and black pepper, berbere [spelled wrong of course (editor's note: spelled correctly, now). (berbere is an) Ethiopian spice. Longer heat, doesn't hit as hard. We are fans.], salt, sugar, and cayanne. A la the Jerk Pineapple Pork [recipe another day.... and damn this is good. Seriously]. Rub down the breasts and rest for a few. Grill. [As they are doing now].

Salad... hydrate and clean the leaves. Toss dry. Mix in with carrots, olives, and mandarin oranges. Should go well together.... dressing is oil, balsamic, salt, pepper, mustard.

Enjoy. As we are about to.

Spice-encrusted Salmon with Yellow Mole, Summer Squash Noodles, and Quinoa

The menu:
-Spice-encrusted Salmon with Yellow Mole [PC]
-Summer squash noodles [PC]
-Quinoa [JG]
Dessert: (because Jake always has to make one regardless of whether or not we still have 2 left over)
-Baklava [JG/AB/PB]

Another adventure into the Professional Chef cookbook tonight and very satisfying indeed. The salmon was good. The salmon with the mole was great. The following recipes can seem daunting given the list of ingredients but they are really pretty simple. You just throw it all together and then cook it for a few minutes.
One thing to keep in mind when using the Professional Chef: CHECK THE NUMBER OF SERVINGS BEFORE PREPARING!! I failed to take this into account on this outing and we subsequently have quite a bit of spice mix and mole left.
For 10 servings of the salmon you need:
...well, salmon
2 ancho chiles (I happened to have red thai chiles. I'm a big fan of the 'use what you got' philosophy)
1 tbsp/6 g cumin seeds
1 tbsp/6 g fennel seeds
4.5 tsp/7.5 g coriander seeds
1 tbsp/6 g whole black peppercorns
1 tbsp/6 g dried thyme
1 tbsp/6g dried oregano
1.5 oz/43 g salt
1 tbsp/6 g dry mustard (I didn't have so I used mustard seeds. Don't know if that's a proper substitute or not)
45 ml oil or clarified butter (or just butter cause who the hell is going to spend the time to make clarified butter?)
600 ml Yellow Mole (recipe follows...And notice that is 600 ml for 10 servings of fish from the 960 ml mole recipe that I made just for Jake and myself on a tuesday night. Yeah, we've got some freakin mole left over. I'll let you know how well it freezes.)
Now do this:
Remove stems and seeds from chiles and chop. Toast the chiles, cumin, fennel, and coriander seeds in 300F oven for 5 min or until fragrant. Remove and chill to RT.
If you've got a spice grinder that's great. Combine the toasted spices with the peppercorns, thyme, and oregano. Grind to a coarse powder. We used a combo of food processor and mortar and pestle.
Stir in the salt and dry mustard.
Coat each portion of salmon with the mixture.
Saute spice side down on med-high heat for ~2 minutes, til spices brown.
Reduce heat to medium and flip salmon. Cook until done ~6-8 min depending on thickness.
Serve with mole.

Yellow Mole
32 oz/960 ml (you do the math)
You need:
1 oz/30 ml olive oil
340 g sliced onions
3 g sliced garlic
1 lb yellow peppers seeded and chopped
142 g chopped fennel
1 2in cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp/0.5 g ground allspice
1.5 tsp/3 g dried epazote (this is a mexican leaf with very distinct flavor which means you can't really substitute anything for it if you, like I, don't have it. It's good without it. Interesting note, epazote is toxic at high concentrations)
21 g sugar
85 g tomatillos, quatered (about 2 medium sized ones)
1 oz/30 ml lime juice
salt

Do it like this, son:
Heat oil in heavy-bottomed pot over med-high heat. Add onions and garlic til translucent.
Add peppers, fennel, cinnamon, allspice, epazote, sugar, and water.
Cover and simmer on low heat til peppers are soft, ~20-25 min.
Transfer mixture to blender and puree with tomatillos til smooth. Strain through a large-holed strainer.
Season with lime juice and salt.

Summer Squash Noodles:
This recipe was less than spectacular. I mean, it was good, but not that much different from sauteing up some squash and zucchini.
Once again, for 10 servings you need:
1 lb yellow squash, long julienne
1 lb zucchini, long julienne
4 oz/113 g leeks, long julienne
1.5 oz/43 g butter (yeah, I used oil. It's good for you. Check my HDLs, baby.)
s/p to taste
minced herbs (tarragon, basil, cilantro)

Saute the squash, zucchini, and leeks on medium heat for ~5 min.
Season with s/p.
Add the chopped herbs and serve.

Quinoa:
Put it in a pot. Add some water. Boil it. Add a little salt. Maybe some honey?
eat it. I like quinoa.
For those of you unfamiliar with it, quinoa is a grain. Very popular in Peruvian dishes. As a matter of fact, that's how Jake and I were introduced to it. It's very different from rice but you can think of it that way in terms of how you cook it and what you can do with it. It has a very nice flavor to it and, I believe, more nutritional content than rice. I'm sure you'll run into a more dazzling quinoa recipe on this blog at some point. It was freakin tuesday. We do have school work, you know.

Jake's two cents:
Baklava [JG/AB/PB]

History:

I love baklava. Love it. And after we made the snake for the first time this is all I have wanted to make. As I have said, like most of the food here we read a few recipes and then work our magic. So this is a baklava recipe that is mine [that's copy righted material.......] but I took some ideas from AB and PB and went with it. I should have used more nuts to fillo in this one. the books varied from 3-9 sheets.... but more on that here: [And yes I know I have been just free forming my recipes, not doing the traditional list of ingredients, numbered steps, yet I envision our few readers to read and get ideas, and maybe cook along with.]

Recipe:

Get 1:1 of almonds and walnuts.... maybe 1.5-2 cups each. Toss in a gallon bag with sugar [1/2 cup?], cinnamon [you shouldn't need me to tell you how much], allspice [a lot less then cinnamon]. I also happened to have some crushed pecans that I added. Do pistachios if you have some. Take out frustration on the bag with rolling pin. You don't need dust, but kinda crumby. I did not seal the bag either. So be careful. Preheat oven to 350. Get you some fillo dough. 9x13 dish. Now talking first. The dough will be bigger then the dish. Two options either cut to fit or fold in. I went with fold in, but I rotated the dish 180 degrees each time to even out. I had the dough be flush on the lower left corner, and would fold in the top and right side. So, bottom of the pan paint with butter. Fillo then paint x 7. This number is approximate. Go anywhere from 5-10. Spread nut mixture out [about 1/3]. Fillo paint x 7. Nut. Fillo paint x 7. Nut [rest], and finish with fillo and paint. What I did and what I would do here is different. I just baked for 30 then cut and baked more. Scratch that. Chill [to harden butter], then cut, then bake. Do those cute little triangles. Bake for 40-50 minutes. Pull out to cool. As cooling combine 1:1:1 of sugar: water: honey. Bring to a boil with 1-2 cinnamon sticks. Keep boiling until when you spoon the syrup it drops in drops not a stream. Pour over baklava, and finishing cooling. Share with a teacher to try and get a good grade.

What we got left in a pot day

I wasn't feeling too good today so I basically took all the leftover veggies from our last few days of cooking and made a soup. One day we'll get a camera and actually have pictures to go along with all this stuff.
Black-eyed peas and Veggie Soup:

You need:
1 medium white onion (diced)
2 medium carrots (diced)
2 sticks celery (diced)
~2 cups black-eyed peas (already soaked from when I made fritters)
garlic
2 tsp ground ginger (or the real thing if you got it)
2 tsp cayenne pepper (if'n you want a kick to it)
couple good pinches of dried thyme and oregano
~3 cups chicken stock
~3 more cups water
s/p to taste
~3/4 cup of white roux (see sherry wine vinegar sauce recipe on 1st entry for roux)

Boil the peas with a little salt. For those of you who use dried black beans and chick peas, black-eyed peas don't take nearly as long. Probably less than an hour.
While they are going prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Saute mirepoix (onion, celery, carrots) on med heat with olive oil in a soup pot. Cook until onions are translucent and celery and carrots begin to brown. Maybe 10-15 min. Add garlic about halfway through.
Add ginger and cook for ~30 seconds.
Add chicken stock and water (or just use one or the other. I tend to mix half and half.)
Hopefully your peas are ready. Drain and add to pot. Increase heat to a slight boil and then decrease to a simmer.
Season with s/p, cayenne, and herbs to taste.
Let simmer uncovered for about 15 min. Taste and season as needed.
Add roux.
You're done.

Herb and Lemon Chicken

OK this is from last Saturday. But I am starting to think without hyperlinks [come on clark] that such a huge post is kinda hard to read. So here is the recipe.

History:
I love reading cook books. One of my favorites is Tyler Florence. He has great recipes that really are easy to do. This is a variation on one of his. Clark and I tend to cook like this. Read books, get excited and then change as we deem. Everyone said this was one of the moistest [don't know if that is a word, but by now I am sure you have realized language is my not strongest ability (and yes I almost made a geek reference there)] pieces of chicken we have had.

Recipe:
Get some split chicken breasts on the bone. I had 6 large breasts.... like really big. So I heated up about 2 cups of oil with rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, and lemon zest to infuse the oil with the flavor. Like making tea. Then toss in smashed garlic. I love garlic. You really just warm the oil. That's it. I then put ice in it to chill. Now for the chicken. I took fresh parsley, oregano, and basil and tossed together. Thinly slice some lemons. Lift up the skin of the chicken and stuff with 2-3 lemon slices and the herb mixture. In a big pot pour the oil on the chicken, mix to coat. Add about half bottle of white wine. I used 2 buck chuck. Add more if you want. After the wine I filled with water until the chicken was covered.
Pop in fridge and marinate for ~6 hours. Don't forget to rotate the chicken [oil and wine separate, gotta make sure even flavor]. Fifteen minutes prior to grilling pull out of marinade, shake off excess liquid, salt and pepper well. Grill and love.

Italian Breakfast (Carbonara)

History:

This dish was taught to me by an Italian exchange student, Ceci. Now there are many variations, and this is probably due to the regional differences of Italy. I don't remember where Ceci is from, but she learned from her grandmother; so I consider this one of the more authentic versions. I do this dish every so often when I want to make a big pot to last a few days, or when we have bacon and Parmesan sitting around.

Recipe:

Bring a pot of water to boil. Now, everyone says salt the water... but how much? The true way [Italian] is to recreate the Dead Sea. Once you have that boil your water. I won't do this all the time, but it really adds to the flavor of the Carbonara to use this much salt. I like to use Fettuccine with this recipe. Do you have to? No, but the girth of the pasta helps.

Oil a wide, kinda deep pan. [Enough to hold the pasta]. Chop up some bacon strips [4-5 strips for 2-3 servings], and put one in the oil. As soon as the one piece of bacon starts to cook put the rest in with a small pinch of the fresh Parmesan cheese. Once the bacon is cooked, add the noodles [after draining!]. Add 2-3 beaten eggs [about 1 egg per serving], with 2-3 good pinches of cheese, to the pan and quickly start to toss. This is the key. You want the egg to cook on the pasta so the quick toss is important. Top with more fresh Parmesan, and enjoy.

What we cook from

Per our reader, Rachael, we should talk about where we get the recipes from, so here is a guide:

Clark Lee [CL]
Jake Galdo [JG]
Alton Brown [AB]
Tyler Florence [TF]
Peter Reinhart [PR]
Professional Chef [PC]
Professional Baker [PB]
King Arthur [KA]

Thomas Keller [TK]

Sharing really is caring

So I use to have Dinner at Jake's... like Breakfast at Tiffany's only better. But then I moved to Augusta. And that stopped. I [we] are finally getting back into hosting others over for dinner. As clark just mentioned. So remember that crazy week of awesomeness we talked about? Well here it is:

Wednesday with Naseem:
-Barbeque grilled tuna [JG/CL]
-Soba noodles in a peanut sauce [JG]
-Cucumber salad [CL]
-Dessert was a small snake (see entry "We actually got to share" feb 3rd for definition of 'snake')

Thursday and Friday:
-Philly Cheese Steaks with Italian hoagies [CL/PR]

Recipe:
Philly Cheese steak [CL]
I actually used london broil cause it was on sale but flank steak is what I would recommend.
Marinate overnight in:
equal parts balsamic vinegar and worcestershire sauce
a little olive oil
onions
garlic
bay leaf
salt
The next day, sear the meat on a grill (or in a pan) on both sides and set aside.
Chop up green peppers and onions and fry in light oil (I use very little oil since I add a little marinade later) on med to med-high heat.
Slice the meat very thin and add to the veggies when close to being done.
Add little of the marinade
When meat is just cooked cover in provolone (or swiss) cheese.
Serve on hoagie roll.

For the rolls: [PR]/cl
I used an italian bread recipe for the rolls. This required a biga. The biga is a type of pre-ferment made the day before and allowed to slow ferment overnight in the fridge to help maximize flavor.
For biga:
2 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour (I used about a cup of whole wheat)
~1/2 teaspoon instant yeast (I usually pour a little bit from the packet and then roll it up to use the rest in the full recipe the next day.)
3/4 to 1 cup water at room temp (RT)
Stir together dry ingredients. Add water and mix to form a ball. Adjust water and flour so that it is not too sticky. Remember, it is better to be too sticky than too dry. You can always add flour.
Flour your surface area, turn out dough and knead for a few minutes til soft and pliable.
Lightly oil a bowl and transfer dough to bowl, rolling it around to coat. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise at RT for 2-4 hrs, til doubled in size.
Knead again lightly to degas. Return the dough to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight or up to 3 days.
Day 2:
Pull the biga out of the fridge ~1 hr before ready to make the final dough to take off the chill. Cut it into about 10 small pieces, cover with plastic wrap or towel and let rest.
For the remainder you will need:
2.5 cups bread flour
1 2/3 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
the rest of the yeast packet
1 tsp barley malt (if you have it)
1 tbsp olive oil
3/4 - 1 cup water or milk (lukewarm, 90-100F)

Stir together dry ingredients. Add the biga pieces, olive oil, and 3/4 cp water. Mix until slightly sticky and soft.
Transfer to a floured surface and knead for ~10 min.
Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, roll around to coat, cover with plastic wrap.
Ferment for 2 hrs or ~ doubled in size.
From here you can divide into two loaves or 7-9 pieces for rolls.
Form dough into torpedo shape gently to prevent degassing the dough.
Lightly dust with flour and cover with plastic wrap.
Let rest for 5 min.
Complete shaping and extend the rolls to desired length ~12 in.
Line a baking pan with parchment paper, dust with cornmeal, and gently transfer rolls to pan.
Lightly mist with spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
Proof at room temperature for ~1 hr, or until ~1.5 times original size.
Heat oven to 500F and place an empty pan on the bottom rack. This is your steam pan and will help develop the crust.
Place the baking pan with rolls in the oven, pour 1 cup of hot water into the steam pan and close the door.
After 30 seconds spray the walls of oven with water and close the door. Be careful not to hit the light or any glass. We do not want it to shatter.
Repeat after 30 seconds and then lower the temp to 450F.
Bake for 15-20 minutes. Rotate 180 degrees halfway through, if necessary, for even baking. Bread should have a hollow sound when thumping the bottom.
Cool at least 1 hr on a cooling rack before slicing.



Saturday with roommates and other PA kids:
-Grilled Herb-and-Lemon Chicken [TF/JG]
-Smashed broccoli and garlic with red pepper flakes [TF]
-Spinach salad with feta and the works
-Fresh cinnamon-raisin bread [PR]
-Madeleines with Lemon Curd [TF]

Sunday:
Pan-seared venison over a salad of lettuce with roasted red peppers, olives, and a red wine vinegarette [TF/JG]

Recipe:

Chop 1-2 red peppers in half, deseed/vein, toss in oil, salt, and pepper. Pop in the oven on broil. Go until skin is bubbly, then put in a bowl, cover and let steam.

Heat some type of fat [oil, butter etc... depends on cut of meat. The venison I used butter] in a skillet [oven proof]. Sear on both sides, toss in some thyme and pop in oven [at 350 F] until desired "doneness" [I like this medium or so].

Skin the peppers, chop, and toss in some greens [arugala, lettuce, spinach etc] with different olives [we used Spanish and Katamata] including the juices from the pepper pan. Add half a juice of lemon.

Let the meat rest, while you deglaze the pan with a bit of red wine.

Plate by putting the salad down, and then sliced meat on top with some of the sauce to finish.

Monday:
-Baked salmon with Cholula seasoning [CL]
-Basmati Rice
-Seaweed salad

For those of you who find our excursions a little too complicated, and you'd be right to think so, check this one out. It is one of the most simple recipes you will ever come across.
Salmon:
Sprinkle salmon with Cholula chili/lime seasoning. You can find it at any grocery store.
Bake @ 375F for ~15-20 min.
Squeeze a lemon over it about 5 minutes before taking it out and then again just before serving. Viola. (I don't know if I spelled that right. I don't speak french.)
Basmati Rice:
I just boiled it. Seriously, that's it. It was 9:30 and I wasn't even hungry. Jake had just gotten home from the gym and looked like he was going to punch me in the face for not making dinner. Although, a really simple and good rice recipe is to fry up some onions and mixed frozen vegetables in a pan with a little oil, salt, and pepper. Add the rice and some oregano. Toss to mix. Presto! (I spelled that right, but I don't know what language it is. Maybe Italian?)
Seaweed Salad:
Here's the kicker. We actually bought it. I admit it. We did. Although, Jake did get it from a specialty Asian food store in Athens, GA. Fook's Foods, holla!
This lead us into Tuesday.....which due to the ass-backwards way we started this blog means it's been posted somewhere totally out of order.

We actually got to share

Had a couple friends, Phillip and Kristina, over tonight to share with. Went with some of the more tried and true recipes.
The menu:
-Hot curry sweet potato soup (slight tweek on the original)
-Black-eyed pea fritters
-Chicken in tomato sauce with honey and cinnamon (supposed to have almonds also but we ran out)
-basmati rice with fennel and caraway seeds
-tossed salad
Dessert:
-The snake or, M'Hanncha (it's Moroccan)

synopsis:
The snake is my new favorite dessert. You grind up some almonds. Fry up some more with butter. Grind those and add it to the others with more butter and a bunch of sugar to make a paste and chill. Then wrap the whole thing up in filo dough and link the tubes end to end to form a spiral. Brush some egg yolk over it and bake for 30 min at 350 F. Then sprinkle with powdered sugar and cinnamon. Most delicious thing ever. I might actually spend more time talking about recipes if people start reading this blog. I don't see it happening, but if anyone is interested in AMAZING recipes, just ask.
And by the way, Phillip and Kristina loved my sweet potato curry soup so, screw you Jake!

The Recipes

Hot Curry Sweet Potato Soup:
The recipe is the exact same as the Sweet potato curry soup from the 1st post. I actually made them at the same time cause I wasn't sure how it would turn out and wanted to try a slightly different version. I'm still not sure if I like one more than the other.
Basically, skip the step (it's noted in the recipe) where you add the spices. Nix the yellow curry, allspice, ginger, and garam masala. Instead, add some thai red curry paste to the onion/carrot mixture in the pot and fry for ~1 minute. The amount depends on how much heat you want. Somewhere in the ballpark of a tbsp should be good.
Add the potato/pepper mixture from the baking pan and fry for a couple minutes to mix the flavors.
This time, when you blend it, use coconut milk as your liquid. For 3 good sized potatoes I would probably only use 1/2 a can of coconut milk so as not to overpower the flavor. You may need to add vegetable stock or water to reach desired consistency. Do what you like.
Return to pot. Simmer. Season. Taste. Eat. Like.

Black-eyed pea fritters:
So it's midnight and I just typed this recipe up and the website crashed and lost my entry. Here we go again minus the hilarious and charming banter you love this blog for. damnit.
In short, these things are really way tastier than you would expect them to be.

You need:
~2 cups DRY black-eyed peas (canned ones are too wet and come apart when you fry them)
1 small-med onion (white/yellow, NOT red)
1 chili pepper (red or a small habanero works) optional
a little salt

Soak the peas overnight. Place in a large bowl with water and run your hands through them to separate the skins. Discard the skins as they float to the top.
Drain and place the peas in a food processor with the onion and pepper. Process until fine and able to form a paste. You may need to add a little water, not more than a tbsp or 2.
Add salt to the mixture and stir.
Heat frying oil (I use Canola) to ~ medium heat.
Fry spoonfuls of the mixture til golden-brown, ~5 minutes.
Let cool, then eat. They're hot!

Basmati Rice:
You need:
1 cup basmati rice
1 medium white/yello onion (chopped)
1-2 tsp caraway seeds
pinch of ground fennel
1 bay leaf

Fry up the onion in olive oil til translucent. Add the caraway seeds and bay leaf and fry ~30 seconds.
Add the ground fennel and fry for ~30 seconds.
Add the rice and stir fry, stirring constantly to keep from sticking, for about 2 minutes. This helps cook the flavor into the rice.
Add ~1.5 cups water and bring to a boil. You may want to add a little salt here.
Reduce heat to low and cover.
Simmer til done. This will depend on the type of rice and if you pay attention to the time. Mine is usually done in about 20 minutes.

Pork and warm cabbage salad with sherry wine vinegar sauce

If you want to get serious with your cooking I highly recommend The Professional Chef by the Culinary Institute of America. It's basically their textbook so it is full of a bunch of stuff the average home cooker doesn't need to know, but there is a plethora of information on various cooking techniques, styles, and recipes. Yesterday's meal was one of our first outings using recipes from the Professional Chef. Our second, in fact, and both meals were amazing.
The menu:
-Sweet potato curry soup
-Pan-fried pork chops with sherry vinegar sauce
-Warm cabbage salad with bacon and sherry wine vinegar
-Roasted peppers and tomato salad
-Italian bread loaf
Dessert:
-Peach cobbler
-Blueberry Madeleines with yellow curd

Quick synopsis since I really should be going to school soon.
Actually, I need to go to school. The sauce was magnificent. The end.

The Recipes

Sweet Potato Curry Soup:
This one I just made up a couple weeks ago while at work. It could use some tweeking but, despite the fact that Jake was hating on the idea, it came out pretty tasty.

2-3 sweet potatoes depending on the size (peeled and cut into chunks)
1 red bell pepper (sliced)
1 small onion (sliced or chopped)
1-2 carrots (diced)
chopped garlic
tbsp of yellow curry powder
2 tsp allspice
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground cloves
ground coriander
chopped cilantro for serving
s/p season to taste

Peel the potatoes and cut into chunks. Place in a baking pan. Slice the red pepper and add to the pan with the potatoes. Sprinkle with coriander and salt. Drizzle with olive oil and bake at 375F til soft, about 30-40 min depending on size.
Fry the carrots and onions in a large pot in olive oil on medium heat til onions begin to turn translucent. Add chopped garlic and fry for a couple minutes.
Add the cloves, ginger, garam masala, allspice, curry powder, and fry for ~30 seconds. *(skip this step for hot curry sweet pot soup)
Add the potato/pepper mix from the baking dish.
Fry for a few minutes to combine the flavors.
Cut the heat down and transfer to a blender or food processor. Add water and blend until smooth.
Transfer puree back to pot and bring up to temperature. Add s/p to taste and adjust water as necessary to reach a good consistency. Let the soup simmer for a little while for the flavors to develop.
Serve with cilantro garnish.
NOTE: As this is was my first time making this soup I made up while delivering meds at a hospital, I would like to make a few comments.
I was actually using heavy cream as my liquid (in place of water) when I realized potatoes are pretty thick and maybe I should use water instead. I ended up using way more water than cream, but I can't say if it might have a better flavor with some cream instead of only water. I also think a good vegetable stock would add a lot to the flavor, but I didn't think of it at the time. You may notice a revision to this in the future if I use it and like it. Also, feel free to experiment with the spice measurements. I didn't measure any of them and kind of just made up the numbers while typing this. Ratios are probably pretty close. Everything's relative. Overall, I was happy with the outcome. Enjoy.

Pork Chops in Sherry Vinegar Sauce
There's really nothing special about the pork chops in this recipe. Pat them dry, salt and pepper them, and fry em up in a saute pan. The sauce is where the magic is in this recipe and it is absolutely stunning. We were seriously just eating spoonfuls of it at a time. Stupid good.
This one is straight out of The Professional Chef which means multiple steps. Really, you could probably make the sauce in ~1.5 hour but I chose to do the 1st couple steps the night before and then complete it while preparing the pork chops and sides. I also skipped a step by using beef stock instead of making a veal stock. The sauce recipe calls for a demi-glace which is equal parts veal stock and espagnole sauce. An espagnole sauce is largely veal stock with some added ingredients. So I simplified it and basically made an espagnole sauce and went heavy on the beef (veal) stock. So to make a short story long, let's start with a roux.
A roux is a basic thickening agent used in many stocks, soups, and sauces. Basically 3 parts flour (all-purpose) to 2 parts fat (butter, oil, ...umm fat).
The longer you cook it the more nutty flavor it develops, the darker it develops, and the less thickening power it has. The stages of roux are white, blond, brown, and dark. For this sauce, you want a brown roux.
I've lost where I wrote down the amounts I used and we tend to measure by weight. Will revise in the future.
1 oz of butter
~1 tbsp of olive oil
~1/4 cup AP flour
Heat the oil/butter on med-low heat. Add the flour slowly while stirring to mix. It will thicken before it relaxes. Continue cooking the roux while stirring to keep it from scorching. It should take ~15 min or so to go from white to brown. The consistency should be similar to beach sand at low tide. You should notice a nutty aroma develop as it darkens. Set aside.
For the Espagnole Sauce/Demi-Glace you will need:
2 tbsp Olive oil
Mirepoix ingredients separate (see below)
~ 1 tbsp+ tomato paste
32 oz beef stock
Brown Roux (see above)
Sachet d'Epices (sprig of thyme, bay leaf, clove of garlic, 3-4 parsley stems, cracked peppercorns)
s/p

Mirepoix: this is a combination of diced onions, carrots, and celery in a 2:1:1 ratio, respectively. Used in many soups, stocks, and sauces as base ingredient.
A small onion, med carrot and stick of celery should suffice for the sauce.
Saute the carrots in oil on medium heat til they start to brown.
Add the onions and saute til translucent.
Add the celery and cook til browned.
Add tomato paste and cook to a rusty brown with sweet aroma. Few minutes.
Add the stock and bring to a simmer.
Whisk the roux into the stock, return to simmer, and add the Sachet d'Epices.
Simmer for 1 hr, skimming the fat from the surface as necessary.
Strain the sauce and season with s/p.
Continue to make Sherry Vinegar Sauce or keep refrigerated for later use.
This can also be used in other sauces. If used in the future I will refer to this recipe.
Sherry Vinegar Sauce:
You will need:
~50ml sherry wine (cooking sherry will work)
~50ml white wine vinegar
some brown sugar (once again, I lost my math. Maybe 30 grams? Tablespoon?)
Espagnole Sauce/Demi-Glace
s/p
Cook the sherry wine, white wine vinegar, and sugar in a saucepan over med-high heat til it boils and sugar is dissolved.
Remove from heat and add the demi-glace. Stir to combine and simmer over medium heat until reduced to thickness that covers the back of a spoon, ~15 minutes.
Season w/ s/p.

After sauteing the pork chops, degrease the pan. Add a little white wine to deglaze the pan and reduce til almost dry. Add the sherry vinegar sauce and reduce to a good consistency. Serve over the pork. Start a blog to tell people how good it was.