Tasty Tuesday ~ Mikey's nearly world famous Dutch baby

We were able to buy our pots and pans after we were married, well not right after we were married. I am a strong believer in waiting for what is worth it. We had the money but they were not on sale. The holidays were approaching so I knew there would be some sales. I ended up getting them 15% off plus 10% off for our bridal registry and a lasagna pan, cookbook and oven mits. We also got measuring cups and a skillet with our monogram and wedding date. Before we got our All Clad pans we had a pretty entry level set that I bought years ago when I moved to Denver. I was thinking of getting a nicer set but my Aunt Alison talked me out of it. Why by something twice when you are going to replace it? Our set had plastic handles so it made recipes like this impossible. It was something that we were looking forward to. One day we were flipping through the Williams-Sonoma catalog and Mikey saw this, we made it the next day for breakfast. This combines so many of our favorite gadgets, pans, whipper, vitamix and our favorite vanilla. This is a recipe adapted from a recipe by Chef Cole Dickinson, Michael Voltaggio’s sous chef at Ink, Los Angeles, you can see the original recipe and a touching story here.

Ingredients:

3 eggs at room temperature

3/4 cup bread flour

3/4 cup whole milk at room temperature

3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. sugar

1 pinch of salt

4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted soft butter

Directions:

Put an 11-inch French skillet or ovenproof sauté pan in a cold oven. Preheat the oven to 475°F.

Put the eggs, flour, milk, sugar, salt, and vanilla in a blender. Blend on high until frothy, about 30 seconds, stopping the blender to scrape down the sides as needed.

When the oven is preheated, put the butter in the hot skillet. Let the butter melt, swirling the pan to coat the bottom and the sides. Carefully and slowly pour the batter into the center of the hot skillet. Delicately put the pan in to the oven making sure that the batter floats on top of the butter. Bake until the Dutch baby is lightly browned and the sides have risen, 17 to 19 minutes. Do not open up the door until it is time to take it out. 

While this is baking we put whipping cream in a whipper to make whip cream, we really enjoy it without sugar added.

Remove the skillet from the oven and let the Dutch baby cool for 3 to 4 minutes. Williams-Sonoma says it will feed 4-6, we cut it in half. We put fresh squeezed lemon juice, powdered sugar and whip cream on ours. Best way to start the day. 

Tasty Tuesdays ~ Pork Carnitas

Ingredients: 

·                     2.5 lb pork shoulder blade roast, lean, all fat removed

·                     6 cloves garlic, cut into quarters

·                     cumin

·                     garlic powder

·                     1 cup stock I used vegetable as I already had it on hand

·                     3-5 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce 

·                     2 bay leaves

Directions:

I cannot explain to you how very important it is to remove all the fat before you start cooking. I forgot and it was a super amount of work later. It also probably was not as healthy as it could have been.  Season pork with salt and pepper. In a medium sauté pan on medium-high heat, brown pork on all sides for about 10 minutes. Or if you have a cast iron insert for your crock pot you can put it right in there.

Using a sharp knife, insert blade into pork, cutting slits and insert garlic slivers. 

Season pork generously with cumin, adobo and garlic powder all over.

Pour chicken broth in the crockpot, add bay leaves and peppers. Place pork in crock pot and cover. Cook low for 8 hours. After 8 hours, shred pork using two forks and combine well with the juices that accumulated at the bottom. Remove bay leaves and adjust salt and cumin, if you like it spicy or just not so bland you will need much more. Let it cook another 15-30 minutes. Garnish with sour cream or plain greek yogurt, red onions and avocados. I adapted this recipe from skinny taste.

I also used some of the Great Northern Bean soup and added white rice with the juice of one lime and a palmful of cilantro. Add a scoop to each bowl after filling it half way full of soup. 

Tastey Tuesdays ~ Great Northern Beans Garlic Soup

A few months ago I made Thomas Keller's Slow Cooker Cassoulet, I was not a fan. I should say that it might have been ok if I just had a bowl, however the recipe called for 12 cups of beans and there are only two of us so you know what that means, Cassoulet for two weeks straight. yuck. I typically do not use dry beans and I was not sure how many I needed so I got too many and they have been hanging out in the freezer for 6 months now. I figured that it was time to make some more of them. So after I recently made pot pies I I saved the skin and the bones and made chicken stock. With the two combined I decided to adapt the Tuscan White Bean and Garlic Soup from the zoe blog. She had some great ideas when she adapted it from Giada De Laurentis on the food network she swapped the cream out for a medium potato. Genus! I changed her version in the spirit of kitchen sink cooking. Also I love my vita mix and I wanted to make less of a mess, plus I was feeling a little lazy so I decided to use it in more than one way.

Great Northern Beans Garlic Soup
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 shallots, peeled
4 sage leaves
32 ounces of great northern beans
7 cups of chicken broth
4 cloves of garlic
5 small red potatoes
salt
fresh ground pepper

The night before take beans and 4 cups of chicken stock and cook on high for ten hours until soft.
Place your shallots in your Vitamix or standard blender, add water until they are almost covered. Pulse three several times until minced. Drain, reserving liquid. Add the shallots along with butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Cook stirring occasionally until soft and translucent. 

Add beans and sage, stir to incorporate.

In the Vitamix, place the remaining 3 cups of chicken stock, the water reserved from the shallots and the garlic. Pulse until minced. Slowly pour in to the pot. Bring to a simmer.

Chop the potatoes in to quarters drizzle with remaining olive oil, bake at 400 degrees for 22 minutes.

Add potatoes and oil to soup. In batches blend soup. Heat, again add salt and pepper to taste. 

To jazz it up a bit I added a piece of sourdough toast smothered in garlic butter. You could also add bits of bacon. 

"I could be a vegan, with a little bacon on top" ~ David Bromstad

Let's Get Heated Buffalo Chili ~ Tasty Tuesday

3 pounds ground buffalo
3 onions, diced
3 pounds of red, orange and yellow peppers, diced
3 tablespoons chili powder
3 tablespoons cumin
2 tablespoons coriander pods, smashed
4 jalapeno peppers cored, diced
cloves from 1 large head of garlic, minced
1/2 small can adobo chilies in sauce, chopped 
1  can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 large can and 1 small can of diced tomatoes
1 large can tomato sauce

In a large sauce pot, or cast iron insert of your slow cooker if your dad and step-mom got you this for your wedding (Thanks guys!)

Williams-Sonoma

At a recent cooking class I was told that you really have to use salt to unlock flavors in food. I never ever do that I only use it if the recipe calls for it. I do not think anything is worse than a too salty dish, while you can always add more (each person to their liking), but it is not as easy to take it away. I decided to try it on this chili and I was not disappointed. So after I seasoned the buffalo well with salt I cooked it on medium high heat. Break it apart as it cooks and when it is done drain the meat, reserving a small amount in the insert, and put the buffalo on a plate. I did not make sure to get all the juice as buffalo is pretty healthy.

Reduce heat to medium and add the diced onions and peppers to the buffalo juices. I started with the onions adding the peppers as I diced them. I used my professional multi-chopper that the Porter's got you for your wedding. (Thanks Porter's!) This also makes quick work of pot pies.

Williams-Sonoma

 Continue to cook the vegetables, till the onions are translucent and the peppers will start to sweat their pigment into the onions. Add chili powder, cumin, coriander pods, garlic and jalapeno. Cook for a few minutes and then ass the chili in adobo sauce, and then add the buffalo and beans in. Stir well.  Put insert or empty pot into the slow cooker, cook on low for 8 hours. 

Serve with cheese, plain Greek yogurt or sour cream if you prefer and garnish with sliced jalapeno or avocado. 

Chocolate & Raspberry Coffee Cake

For Easter brunch last week I was asked to bring coffee cake. I am a pin-a-sorous and I had seen this recipe over at Melangery and decided that is what I was going to do, based on the gorgeous picture she had taken, she working as a food photographer and man is she good. This was the picture that caught my eye:

  Her site

Ingredients:
Cake:

·         3 cups all-purpose flour

·         2 teaspoon baking powder

·         1 teaspoon baking soda

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

·         1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

·         3 large eggs, at room temperature

·         1 teaspoon vanilla

·         2 cups sour cream or yogurt I used some of both

·         melted chocolate for top of the cake

Filling:

·         1/4 cup granulated sugar 

·         1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

·         1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder 

·         1 1/2cup raspberries (frozen or fresh), plus extra for decoration

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour or spray a 9- to 10- inch Bundt pan.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside dry ingredients.

In the bowl of stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy about 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add vanilla.

On low speed, in 3 additions of each, mix in the dry ingredients and sour cream, alternating the dry and wet ingredients until ingredients are just blended. Be careful not to over mix batter.

Make the filling by mixing the sugars  and cocoa powder  in a medium bowl.

Scoop in 1 ½ cups cake batter into your prepared Bundt pan (I did not have one so I used an angel food cake pan and it worked fine) and spread evenly to cover the bottom. Sprinkle one-third of the filling and scatter one-third of the raspberries over the filling. Scoop in 2 cups cake batter and spread evenly. Sprinkle one-third of the filling and scatter one-third of the raspberries over the filling. Scoop in 2 cups of cake batter and spread evenly. Sprinkle the rest of the filling and raspberries. Add the rest of the cake batter and spread evenly over the raspberries.

Bake for 50-60 minutes at 350F until a cake test inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow cake to cool in pan for 30 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack, remove pan and let cool completely before serving. I sifted powdered sugar on top and then followed her directions and followed it by melted chocolate on the top of the cake and raspberries.

Rachel Ray French Onion Dip Hamburgers

Ingredients

·         3 tablespoons butter

·         5 onions, 4 thinly sliced and 1 peeled

·         1 bay leaf

·         Sea salt and pepper

·         1/2 teaspoon ground thyme

·         1 cup beef consommé

·         1 1/2 cups sour cream

·         2 pounds ground beef sirloin

·         About 1/4 cup Worcestershire  sauce (eyeball it)

·         A handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

·         EVOO, for drizzling

·         6 brioche buns, split 

·         36 good-quality ridged or thick-cut potato chips, preferably cooked in olive oil

·         Sliced sweet pickles, for serving

Preparation

Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced onions and bay leaf; season with salt, pepper and the thyme. Cook, stirring occasionally, until deep caramel in color and very soft, 35 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the beef consommé and cook until all the liquid is almost absorbed. Let cool, then discard the bay leaf. Stir in the sour cream.

Preheat a griddle or large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Place the beef in a bowl and season with the Worcestershire, salt (for a crusty coating on the burgers) and pepper. Using a box or hand-held grater, grate 3 to 4 tablespoons of the peeled onion over the meat (the grated onion and its juice will flavor the meat itself, plus keep the burgers moist as you cook them). Add the parsley. Mix the meat, but do not overwork it. Form 6 patties, thinner at the center than at the edges for even cooking. Drizzle with EVOO. Cook the burgers, turning once, for 6- 8 minutes for pink centers.

Serve the burgers on the bun bottoms and top with the sour cream sauce, potato chips, a couple of pickles each and the bun tops.

Rachel Ray Website

I LOVE BACON, WELL WE BOTH DO

Marriages are based on things you have common love for (besides each other) complimented with enough differences to keep it interesting. It is said that they way to a man’s heart is though his stomach and I can tell you that it works the other way around too.  Mikey wooed/wowed me with wonderfully prepared dishes though out our friendship, through us dating and even now. The first time they had me over breakfast he cooked bacon that made me want to cry, perfectly crisp, coated in brown sugar, sprinked with the right amount of salt and pepper. You might be skeptical right now as I was when I heard the description but let me tell you if you ever ate it you too would be a convert. We love bacon, I have posted about adding bacon to other great things like a BLTA and Nate, Mike’s older brother and best man at our wedding had a chocolate bacon cupcake that we had made especially for him. If you have not tried these cupcakes let me tell you they are not that bad. Our bakery put maple syrup in the cake batter and it is reminiscent of pancake breakfast with chocolate. I generally stand by the saying that everything is better with bacon. One time when I was in Vegas I ordered a shrimp taco they asked me if I wanted bacon on it, nobody ever had before and let me tell you it was a revelation! So when I heard about this restaurant in New York City called FAT that cooked popcorn in clarified bacon fat I was ready for this adventure. We do try to have as little waste as possible in our household, and we make bacon a lot, but we also make popcorn a lot so it seemed like the perfect marriage, right after ours of course.  So I googled how you clarify bacon fat and it is quite easy, you fill a jar with water and pour all the drippings leftover from making the bacon in the jar, seal it and put it in the fridge. 

You let it cool  overnight and all the little bits sink to the bottom and the pure fat stay at the top. 

You then scoop out the hardened bacon fat. Put it in the pot warm it up and add the popcorn. I am not sure if we did something wrong, I know that fat can get rancid but ours was in the fridge the whole time and not more than a few days, on line is states that it can last for months. The smell was awful and stayed in the house for days and the popcorn was not good either. 

Tasty Tuesday ~ You had me at Avocado 2 ~ AACB

Grilled Apple Avocado (Pepper Jack) Cheese & Bacon

 2 pieces of sourdough bread buttered on a skillet.

Put pepper jack cheese on bread.

Mash and avocado up and put it up on the other side, top with cooked bacon.

Add thin apple slices.

Enjoy. 

Had inspiration via 

You had me at Avocado ~ Avocado Fries

Ingredients 

• Canola oil for frying (I used olive oil)
• 1/4  cup  all-purpose flour
• 1/4  teaspoon  kosher salt, plus more to taste ( I used sea salt)
• 2  large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 1/4  cups  panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 2  firm-ripe avocados, cut into 1/2-inch wedges

1. Pour oil into a small pot until you have a depth of 1 1/2 inches. Heat to 350° over medium-high heat. 

2. While oil is heating combine flour and salt in a small bowl. Put beaten eggs and panko in separate small bowls. Dip avocado wedges in flour, shaking off excess. Dip in egg, and then coat in panko.

3. Fry avocado wedges, in batches, 30 to 60 seconds or until golden brown, and drain on paper towels.

Place on a baking sheet in a 200° oven to keep warm while frying remaining wedges. Sprinkle with additional salt to taste.

Leftover Ham Salad

There is a Rachael Ray recipe for a Ham Salad that I love to use when we have leftover ham. This was our plan when we took ham home from Thanksgiving. I knew that I was going to make some substitutions but when I got home and looked in my cabinets I ended up having to make many more which changed the whole recipe. Here is the one that I came up with:


Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, grated
• 1/4 cup EVOO - Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 4 shakes of dried tarragon
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1 bunch asparagus, woody ends discarded, thinly sliced on an angle
• 1 pound of leftover ham, cut into very thin strips
• 4 slices of Munster cheese
• 2 babybel original wheels
• 1 slice mozzarella cheese
• A loaf of crusty bread

Mix together Dijon, Balsamic vinegar, tarragon, olive oil, garlic salt and pepper. 

Add the rest of ingredients.

Serve as a salad or on bread as a sandwich.