May 2012
3 posts
Seared Tuna with Sesame-Ginger Sauce and Segeumchi...
Oh man, I love raw/rare ocean fish. A nice hunk of tuna marinated then seared over white-hot coals for maybe a minute on the side is sublime. I could eat this a couple times a week, every week, and never get sick of it. Also, this is a pretty low effort meal, perfect for a midweek or lazy weekend dinner.
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Ingredient List
2 4-ounce tuna steaks or a 8-ounce loin 1/4 cup light soy...
Chocolate Wafer Cookies with Orange Buttercream
This evening, I had a craving for oreos. But not the disgusting store bought ones full of preservatives and voodoo magic which makes the frosting act like it does. Barf. Anyway, after digging through a couple different cookbooks stashed in the kitchen, I found a recipe for chocolate tuiles. I figured by rolling them out a bit thicker, they should substitute just fine for the cookie part of an...
Cochinita Pibil
Cochinita pibil is a traditional Mexican pork dish that is slow roasted in banana leaves with a citrusy marinade seasoned with a variety of spices and colored a deep red with a large amount of achiote (or annatto) seed. So delicious and damn simple to make. Dressed with pickled onion, queso fresco, avocado, crema, salsa verde, cilantro, and a squirt of lime, this was a fantastic way to have a...
April 2012
5 posts
Double Crust Beef and Veggie Pie
Oh yeah. Nothing like a hearty meat pie on a deary day to warm your body up. Hearty beef and sweet carrots, rutabaga, and peas in a caramelized onion, Guinness, and mushroom gravy, all served up in a puff pastry crust. So delicious.
Also, just like most things I eat, it’s surprisingly easy to make (and looks fancy enough to impress others).
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As you can probably see, one of...
Cioppino (San Francisco Seafood Soup)
I’ve been craving mussels like none other for weeks now and I’ve just never been able to get to the store when the fish counter had any in stock. Today I finally was in luck. The fish guy also had some nice looking cod and a good price on shrimp, so cioppino it is.
Cioppino, to the best of my knowledge is a San Francisco thing. Fishermen would make this with the leftovers from the...
Rabbit Marsala with Parsnip Mash
I acquired a delicious rabbit and was clueless about what to do with it for quite a while. While perusing the internet, I stumbled upon a decent looking chicken marsala recipe. Rabbit cooks up similarly to chicken and as long care is taken to not overcook the meat, it makes a great (and far more delicious) substitute in many dishes. This recipe works wonderfully using chicken thighs or breasts...
Homemade Puff Pastry Made Easy and Cocoa Palmiers
Puff pastry can be a real pain in the butt. Dealing with rolling the dough out and laminating with butter, then re-rolling, waiting, rolling again, and again, and again to get all the flaky layers is just horribly time consuming.
Therefore, I set out to make a puff pastry that takes a lot less rolling and no lamination. I think this resulting recipe is a success. It has all the flaky, crispy,...
"Red" Velvet Cake with German Buttercream
This was my first attempt at making a red velvet cake. I try not to post failures, but the crumb was fantastic, the flavor was great, and the frosting was sublime. In other words, it was a complete success as a cake, just not a red velvet cake.
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I’m not sure where I screwed up. They were still painfully red when I put the cakes into the oven, but by the time they were finished,...
March 2012
3 posts
Grilled Ribeye and Veggies with Radish and Beet...
This is why I love nice weather. Fresh veggies in the store and beautiful weather outside makes for a perfect combination for dinner.
I really like grilling ribeyes because I don’t have to pay attention as closely to the meat. Their really nice marbling means I can accidentally take them a bit over medium rare and still have a delicious slice of meaty goodness in the end.
Also,...
Granola Bars
What I love about this recipe is that you can really mix and match a lot of different ingredients to suit your current craving.
For instance, this batch is pepitas, dried cherries, vanilla chips, coconut oil, and maple syrup. But it could be apricots, flaxseed, peanut butter and agave if I wanted. Or any sort of combination you want, really. Also, they’re really easy to make and just as...
Char Siu Bao
Okay, so my char siu bao (which is basically a Chinese steamed bun with bbq pork inside) are not the prettiest, and the dough to meat ratio was a bit skewed, but holy cow they were delicious. They were like hot little clouds stuffed with meat candy. Puffy yeasty buns with sweet, spicy, and piping hot meat filling. What’s not to love?
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Start with 3/4 cup warm water and mix in...
February 2012
8 posts
Tonkotsu Ramen
Look at this. Just look. This right here is perfection in a bowl. Tonkotsu ramen with char siu and a boiled egg. I really think this was the best dish I’ve made in quite some time. Everything about this tasted perfect, from the meat, to the broth, to the noodles to the egg.
But holy cow that was way too time consuming. From here on out, I’m going to a restaurant for a bowl....
Blood Orange Curd
Yum. I love when blood oranges are in season. They’re so much more complex, flavorful, and beautiful than valencia or navel oranges. Most of the time I just eat them solo or drink the juice. But, having a craving for something a bit sweeter, I decided to make some curd. Fruit curds are simple enough, lots of egg yolk, a mound of sugar, and some fruit is all that’s required.
12...
Angel Food Cake
Because of other fun times in the kitchen, I recently found myself with a large glass bowl with a dozen egg whites left sitting on the counter. I could do meringues. I could make the world’s most boring omelet. Or, I could make angel food cake. Who doesn’t love angel food cake? It’s light, it’s sweet, and it’s fairly hard to screw up. What’s not to love?!
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Beef Tongue Bulgogi
This was probably one of the more interesting experiments I’ve done lately. I’ve made bulgogi numerous times in the past, but I’ve usually stuck to pork belly or “normal” cuts of beef for the dish. Well, not this time. I picked up an untrimmed cow’s tongue for cheap, and decided to see if it would work.
It did, quite wonderfully too. So many times you get...
Radish and Carrot Kimchi
In celebration of the first annual kimchi week ever, I decided to make a different kind of kimchi than normal this last weekend. Instead of the usual chili paste + napa cabbage + fermentation, I decided to make something lighter, more colorful, and a lot less time-consuming.
Ingredient List
1 cup thinly sliced radish 1 cup shredded carrot 1 cup cold water 1/4 cup kosher salt 3 scallions,...
Ribeye and Roasted Asparagus with Beef Fat...
Just a simple meal this time. I saw a nice ribeye on sale at the store and the asparagus looked nice and crisp, so I combined the two for a nice late night meal (and leftovers for breakfast too).
This is a pretty straight forward recipe.
1 ribeye steak, at least 1.5” thick, 2” or more preferably Salt and pepper Canola oil
1 pound fresh asparagus, woody ends trimmed 2 egg yolks...
Steamed Mussels with Roasted Tomatoes and Leeks
Here it is. If I had to pick a last meal, I think a huge bowl of steamed mussels would be right up there at the top of my list of potentials. There’s something amazing going on when you steam mussels with a bit of delicious vegetable and some wine. When the shells open up, the resulting broth in the bottom of the pan is absolutely to die for. When I order mussels the actual meat is...
Buckwheat Pancakes
When I was young, one of my favorite breakfasts to wake up to was buckwheat pancakes with sausage, drenched in good maple syrup and fresh butter.
After not being able to find buckwheat at a reasonable price for quite some time, I stumbled upon a big bag of it a few weeks ago. Finally I can shovel these delicious, rich pancakes in my mouth once again.
Mix together 3/4 cup AP flour, 3/4 cup...
January 2012
5 posts
In Depth: Buttermilk Fried Chicken
Inspired by Ad Hoc at Home, I decided to fry up a chicken for dinner this last Sunday.
This chicken is fantastic. The heavily flavored brine adds a nice subtle flavor and juiciness to the final product, and shallow frying the pieces makes for an incredibly dark brown and crunchy crust, which is what everyone wants, right?
When I pulled the recipe up, I realized I didn’t have any honey....
Quick Recipe: Yu Xiang Rou Si (Sichuan-Style Pork)
This is one of my favorite authentic Chinese dishes, right after mapo dofu. Slightly spicy, lots of flavor, and full of porky goodness, this dish is a great meal served with some steamed rice.
Also, if one is confident with a knife, this dish is fairly simple and quick to make.
This recipe is for 1/2 pound meat, which would serve four people comfortably. I doubled the recipe in the photo so...
In Depth: Shortbread Tarts with Madiera Sabayon
I wanted to do something that would impress the extended family at our Christmas party. Looking through the pantry I came across a mini muffin pan and thought of miniature tarts. After seeing the bottle of madiera on the counter that needed to be used up, my idea was settled. Shortbread tarts with a madeira sabayon it is. Lots of steps, but it’s a fairly easy dessert.
First you need to...
In Depth: Brioche Bread Pudding
Just before Christmas I had baked another couple loaves of brioche, and lo and behold, Christmas Eve there happened to be a fairly stale-looking loaf leftover. What a perfect accident for Christmas dinner’s dessert: brioche bread pudding.
Mind you, I really enjoy a bread pudding with a creamy, eggy, sweet bottom and a crisp, dryer, toasted top, so my recipe does go about it slightly...
In Depth: Foccacia
I love foccacia. Its really crispy crust with a dense, chewy interior makes for a perfect dipping stick in soups. Also, you can dress it up with fancy herbage, slice it up for sandwich bread, and it makes killer croutons and stuffing if you let it go stale.
Also, it’s stupidly easy to make. I like stupidly easy foods.
Start with a biga the day before you want fresh bread.
Combine...
December 2011
9 posts
In Depth: Pão de Deus (Portuguese Sweet Rolls)
Pão de Deus, which translates to God’s Bread, sounded fantastic to me. I mean, it has holy approval, how bad can it be? Turns out it’s pretty rocking, but the rolls I made came out ridiculously dense. Like, eat half a roll and you’re stuffed dense. Delicious though. I would probably make smaller rolls and let them proof longer to get them to be less of a challenge to eat.
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In Depth: Carnitas
I love carnitas. Love carnitas. Love carnitas. I think I typed both love and carnitas enough to make the words semantically satiated. Anyway. Carnitas own. They’re also really easy to make. Brown meat, throw in dutch oven with some liquid and let braise for hours. Crisp. Eat. Yum.
This is where you start. Pork shoulder or butt is the ideal cut. It is fatty, tough, flavorful, and...
In Depth: Pretzels
Pretzels. I absolutely love pretzels and realized I never attempted pretzels before. After looking up a few things about them, they seemed fairly simple. I was right.
Everyone should make pretzels. If you can follow directions and are not afraid of kneading (or have a stand mixer than can do it), they’re simple and fairly quick for a bread-type food.
First off, start by making a...
In Depth: Thit Heo Nuong Xa (Viet Grilled...
After taking my dad out to this awesome Hmong/Viet restaurant in Stevens Point four or five times now, I’ve decided to attempt making his favorite dish at home instead of having to drive up there every time he gets a craving.
The grilled pork is fairly representative of the wide variety of viet flavors and the marinade I create for the pork can be adapted to pretty much every type of meat...
Quick Shot: Oatmeal Toffee Cookies
Holy cow. I’m really on a baking kick it seems. I guess it is the season for it after all.
Anyway, these cookies have been a delicious part of my yearly cookie intake for quite some time now. The oatmeal makes the cookies hearty, chewy and moist while toffee bits add a great sweet, nutty, buttery flavor. A hit of cinnamon in the dough bumps up the deliciousness level even more.
Oatmeal...
In Depth: Chicken Madeira
Chicken Madeira? Well you see, I really wanted Chicken Marsala, but had an open bottle of madeira from another dish I made previously in the week. Both are fortified wines, so I the madeira would be similar enough to try at least.
As it turns out, the madeira works quite nicely in place of marsala. I do think I prefer marsala, but this would be a decent substitute.
Start by slicing up 8...
Quick Shot: Buttermilk Buckwheat Pancakes
Last Thursday night I had a huge breakfast craving at some obscene hour. According to the photo’s exif, I took this photo at a little after 0100 on Friday. I guess it’s not that obscene,but it is pretty late. Anyway, perusing the pantry and the fridge, a bag of buckwheat flour caught my eye. As soon as I saw some buttermilk left in the fridge, I knew what I had to do.
Buckwheat...
In Depth: Red Wine Chocolate Cake
This cake. I really don’t have words for this cake. Something this simple shouldn’t have such a complex flavor, such a delightful crumb, such a moist bite. I have no idea what’s going on chemically, but holy cow does red wine and cocoa do something magical when combined.
This really has been a theme lately, extremely simple desserts just blowing me away with how complex and...
In Depth: Pumpkin Profiteroles
I could have sworn I had already posted this recipe, but alas. I wanted something flavorful but light, as well as being not overwhelmingly large at the end of a meal.
Wanting to do something interesting, but still tested, I settled on profiteroles after flipping through my stacks of recipes. They’re classy but easy enough to make, so I didn’t have to worry about screwing up and...
November 2011
15 posts
In Depth: Pommes Pave
Sounds fancy doesn’t it? It’s basically a potato gratin with a couple more steps to make them look fancier and a bit more delicious. I normally wouldn’t take the time to prep these, but when waiting to fold croissant dough, I might as well do something else in the kitchen too.
This is a pretty simple recipe really. It just requires some forethought, as you need to rest the...
In Depth: Crescent Rolls for Thanksgiving
For the first installment in the Thanksgiving series, I give you the crescent roll: the croissant’s slightly less flaky and buttery, yet much easier, American cousin.
Start with 1/4 cup of 100F water with 2 tablespoons dissolved in it. Add a package of dry yeast and stir. Set aside and let activate.
Meanwhile, scald a 3/4 cup of milk and add it to a mixing bowl with 1 beaten egg, 1...
In Depth: Tonkatsu (Japanese Style Fried Pork...
Having a pack of pork chops to use up, I decided something a little bit different than the usual sear and finish in the oven chops was in order. Flipping through various things looking for inspiration, I came upon a menu for a Japanese restaurant, and tonkatsu caught my eye. Fried golden brown and served with a sweet and tangy sauce, this seemed like the perfect dinner.
I find that the...
In Depth: Browned Butter Sugar Cookies
These cookies are not the most elegant ones. They’re not going to win any awards for beauty either. They will probably be overlooked on a dessert table for a while, until someone bites into one, and realizes that these light, crispy, simple, yet oh so delicious crispy bites should have been the first eaten.
I’m fairly certain these simple sugar cookies are the best I’ve made...
In Depth: De-boned and Stuffed Chicken
I have grand plans for Thanksgiving this year, but in order to make sure I won’t massacre the bird, I did a trial run with a chicken this afternoon.
All in all a success.It took me a lot less time than I figured to de-bone the bird, stuffed it with mushrooms and spinach and roasted it with some brussels sprouts tossed in garlic and some red potatoes steamed then smashed and fried in...
In Depth: Parmesan Butter Crackers
Because of a hankering for something crunchy and salty, but not wanting anything like pretzels or chips, I went flipping through some random cookbooks to look for something tasty. I stumbled upon this super easy cracker recipe and decided to whip up a batch.
Crispy, buttery, cheesy, and oh so easy.
Start out with a cup of grated parmesan (or any hard cheese, really).
A cup of AP flour.
...
In Depth: Speculoos (Dutch Spice Cookies)
Speculoos, speculaas, spekulatius, gingersnaps, gingerbread, Dutch windmill cookies, biscoff. These are all names for a thin, crunchy spice cookie that is very popular during the holidays. Simple to make and great with milk, tea, coffee, or by themselves, they are a perfect quick cookie for busy holidays.
Start by creaming a stick of softened butter, a 1/2 cup of brown sugar and a 1/2 cup...
In Depth: Doro Wat (Spicy Ethiopian Chicken Stew)
This is doro wat. It is a spicy curry-like Ethiopian stew. It is delicious, it is rich, it is spicy. It also hit all the areas I was craving lately. It is also really easy to make.
Before one can make doro wat, the essential spice mixture is required. Indians have garam masala, and the Ethiopian equivalent is fairly similar.
This is berbere. This particular blend consists of the following:
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In Depth: Roasted Garlic and Mushroom Mac and...
Today is cold, slightly snowy, and just an all-around perfect day for some soul food. In this case, mac and cheese sounded perfect. I could have grabbed a blue box and eaten a bowl or two of powdered cheese pasta, but that wouldn’t really satisfy the itch. Instead, I braved the cold to go to the store and make proper mac and cheese.
And here we go. A super cheesy (three cheese!), extra...
Quick Shot: Stewed Apples with Salted Caramel...
I had a major sweet tooth tonight, so I decided to throw something together quick. I had some extra apples in the garage, and plenty of sugar, so I thought something stewed would be nice. I’m not sure this even warrants a whole blog post, but alas.
Stewed Apples in Salted Caramel Sauce
So, this was kind of an off the hip sort of thing. I grabbed three small apples, peeled, cored, and...
Quick Shot: Maple Pumpkin Pie
I’ve had a craving for something pie-like and not horribly sweet. After coming upon Cooks Illustrated’s article on the best canned pumpkin pie, I decided I would whip one up quick. It really is one of the lowest effort pies I can think of. Just dump stuff in a bowl, mix and pour into a crust.
Maple Pumpkin Pie
1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup maple syrup 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp salt 1/2...
In Depth: Mandoo (Korean Dumplings)
I’ve been talking about making these for at least two weeks, but have had other things come up instead. So, with nothing else queued up for dinner tonight, I decided to stop at the store for the basics and make mandoo. They’re basically the Korean version of potstickers/gyoza/jiaozi.
And with that, let’s get cooking.
Here’s almost everything you need. One pound of...
In Depth: Chicken Pot Pie
I love pot pie. Something about the combination of vegetables, meat, and an unctuous sauce under a layer of crispy, buttery and flaky pastry really strikes a note with me. Thankfully, there were enough leftovers from the chicken I roasted last night for one!
First up, a pie crust must be made, for it should rest in the refrigerator for at least a half an hour before baking.
Two and a half...
In Depth: Simple Roasted Chicken with Root...
One of my favorite simple meals is an oven roasted chicken with lots of root vegetables. it is extremely low effort, and if the chicken is high quality, the simple dusting of thyme, salt, and pepper accentuates the natural deliciousness of the poultry without weighing it down.
For this iteration, I roasted the chicken with potatoes, rutabaga, and turnips, and had a side of peas with pearl onions...
In Depth: Oven Braised Spare Ribs
Today was a dreary, cold, rainy day and there was no way I was going to deal with smoking ribs in the rain for six to eight hours. I do fine cooking in below freezing, nigh-blizzard conditions, but grilling while soaking wet does not constitute a good time to me.
I remembered reading a NYT piece by Harold McGee about oven roasting ribs, low and slow, for hours. After spying a nice rack of spare...
October 2011
12 posts
Two For One: Dulce de Leche Bars and Puri
Wow. I’ve caught up with my entire backlog of recipes and photos. This is an odd feeling. I haven’t had a clear Lightroom in months. This calls for a celebration, and celebration means sweets! That’s why, when I stumbled upon this recipe for bars, I had to make em. Especially with the author claiming these were his favorite cookie ever. That is a pretty large claim and I hoped...
Quick Recipe: Vietnamese Grilled Lemongrass Wings
Still playing catch-up, blah. Anyway, Saturdays are football from morning to midnight. Football means one things, tasty, really bad for you foods while you veg out in front of the tv all day.
Well, I really didn’t want to do that because the day was so amazingly nice. Instead, I fired up the grill, turned the radio on and grilled some delicious wings.
Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken
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