cooking_school

Little Food part two

2007-12-21T06:26:17Z

White Bean Spread

ingredients
can of canneloni beans
a couple of cloves of garlic
kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
parsley
lemon juice
chicken stock
olive oil

utensils
saute pan
wooden spoon
sharp knife and cutting board
blender or hand blender

mise en place
Open and drain the beans
Mince the garlic and parsley.

Heat a little olive oil in the saute pan and quickly saute the garlic and parley then add the beans and about a cup of olive oil and bring to a quick boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for about five to ten minutes until the liquid is absorbed.

Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Pour into blender or use your immersion blender and blend it into a smooth mixture while adding a few splashes of lemon juice.

Stir in salt and pepper to taste, and serve with crostini to spread on.

Little Food

2007-12-21T05:58:38Z

Crostini

ingredients
baguette
olive oil
garlic cloves cut in half

utensils
baking pan
bread knife
pastry brush

mise en place
Slice the baguette thinly, at an slight angle is nice.
Pre-heat oven to 350o

Rub each slice of bread with the cut side of a garlic clove on both sides half then arrange on your sheet pan so that there's some room between each piece.

Brush each piece down with olive oil, also on both sides.

Place the pan in the oven for a minute minute or so, remove, turn them over, and then again for another minute.

The crostini should be crisp and a little moist from the oil. If they're underdone put them back in the oven at 30 second increments until they're right for you.

I like my crostini a little light, but it's a matter of personal taste.

cooking_school @ 2007-10-05T19:30:00

2007-10-06T03:05:35Z

Pork Cutlets with Paprika

ingredients
four boneless pork chops
a can of baby corn
one onion
two medium bell peppers or a small jar of paprika quarters
six or seven large mushrooms
chicken stock
some dry white wine
kosher salt and black pepper
good Hungarian paprika
sour cream
butter
garlic dill pickles

utensils
sharp knife and cutting board
a few small bowls
a large saucepan
tongs
a wooden spoon or stir stick

mise en place
Slice the mushrroms, onion, peppers or paprika quarters into managable slices and strips.
Salt and pepper the pork chops and dust them lightly with paprika.
Slice a few pickles as a condiment.

Place your sauce pan over high heat and melt about two pats of butter. Sear the chops in the butter turning down the pan if it starts to smoke. reduce heat to medium and cook for five to ten minutes. Set them aside. I suggest you put them on a plate in the oven on low.

Saute the onions, mushrooms, baby corn, and peppers or paprikas in the remaining butter until the onions turn translucent around the edges.

Splash in a half cup of the wine. Allow a few moments for the wine to permeate the onion and then pour in a cup of the chicken stock.

Simmer over low heat low heat for fifteen minutes.

Return the chops to the pan, sprinkle generously with paprika and simmer for an additional five minutes while covered.

Serve with spuds, speatzle, or buttered egg noodles,and the sour cream and pickles for condiments.

Notes
As you can tell, I'm not a fan of throw-away garnish. I think there are plenty of delicious things you can make food attractive with that become part of a meal instead of waste.

This can be a really attractive dish. Place the chop down on a bed of your starch, place a few of the veggies on top and stack a few mushroom slices around the edge, top with a dollop of sourcream, and then slice a pickle longways almost all the way through a few times and make it into a fan and place it against the sour cream with maybe a final small dusting of paprika.

What are paprika quarters? They're jarred whole paprika peppers. You can get them at a few better grocery stores, and some eastern European and Russian grocers. I've had great results with the Zer Gut brand from Indo-European Foods, which are apparently just called Roasted Red Peppers now.

Another simple soup

2007-09-07T18:45:27Z

Here's a quick and simple recipe I came up with the other night on the fly.

Sausage Spaetzle Soup

ingredients
four flavorful sausages (I used the garlic basil brats that Whole Foods has at the butcher counter)
eight or so stalks of celery
one large onion (a good sweet yellow is preferable)
five to seven carrots
two quarts of mushroom stock
one box of Maggi brand spaetzle
salt
pepper
a small palmful of flour
a third of a stick of butter

utensils
sharp knife and cutting board
large soup pot
wooden spoon

mise en place
Chop the celery, carrots and onion into soup sized pieces (not to small or they'll turn to mush) and set aside.
Slice the sausages into large chunks.

Place you pot on high heat and melt the butter in it, then toss in the handful of flour and stir into a roux. Don't worry too much about darkening your roux, that will come while you're putting a little caramel on the veggies.

Toss in your veggies and keep stirring so the roux doesn't burn.

When you start getting a little brownness on the veggies toss in the sausages and stir for about a minute more.

Pour in the two quarts of stock. If this doesn't cover all your ingredients you might want to add some more, or you can supplement with water or even beer.

Allow the soup to come to a full boil and then pour in the box of spaetzle. Turn the heat down and keep at a low boil for fourty five minutes.

Add salt and pepper to taste while it boils, I found that it didn't need a lot of salt, but benefited from quite a lot of fresh black pepper on the finest setting my pepper grinder has.

We ate this without any accompaniments, but I think it would be nice with a nice hard cheese and some chewy rye bread.

Notes
if your market makes sausages consider yourself lucky and buy them often. It's good to encourage this kind of ready made food at your grocery store. Don't be afraid to ask questions, make requests, and give praise either. Most butchers like most chefs are quite proud of their creations.

Because someone requested more about soup.

2007-08-22T02:38:16Z

I'll abondon the normal recipe format for a bit to talk theory. I'll do a Q&A type thing.

What is a soupbone? A soupbone is usually a section of beef bone with a lot of connective tissue that gives off a lot of fat and albumin when roasted and then boiled. Knuckles, shoulder joints, and the like fit just fine. Any good butcher counter can either sell you these or point you towards the freezer section where they keep them. I don't care for frozen meat of nearly any stripe, but you can overcome my prejudices and it'll be um... fine.

Hold on, what's albumin? Albumin is water soluble protein that coagulates with heat. You cook a burger and there's that light fat that gels up when it touches the pan? That's albumin. it's the same thing that makes eggs solidify when you cook them. Albumin helps soups have body and consistency.

So what do i do with a soupbone? At it's most basic, you roast or saute it with seasoning and mire poix to bring out it's flavor and then boil it to make a simple stock.

Mire poix? A fancy chef's term for carrots, celery, and onions, sometimes leeks too, that are the basis of much fine cooking. I was taught that you use the tops and tails of these vegetables with minimal washing, just enough to get the soil off. I do this for two reasons, One is because you're going to throw this stuff out anyway and then add veggies later that won't be mooshy, the other is that more flavor comes out of these parts of the veggies.

So here's a simple soup recipe using this information.

Simple Vegetable Beef Soup

ingredients
large soupbone
carrots
onion
celery
bay leaf
thyme
tomato
a large potato
mushrooms
garlic
salt and pepper
butter

utensils
large soup pot
sharp knife and cutting board
big wooden spoon
colander or strainer
hammer and/or chisel (optional)
garlic press

Mise en place
Top and tail the mire poix veggies and then cut the remaining good parts into rough one inch chunks, a peasant cut.
Quarter the mushrooms.
Peel the potato (or don't, I don't) and also give it a peasant cut.
Thaw the soupbone if it's frozen.
Mince the garlic.

We'll do this as a stovetop saute recipe and i'll tell you how to oven roast the bone in a later post.

Put a little butter in the pot and then the soupbone and the mirepoix. How much mire poix? about a double handful maybe a little more. Also add a few crushed cloves of garlic. Season a little with salt and cracked black pepper.

Saute on medium heat for about fifteen minutes or until the edges of the veggies and bone start to brown, don't let it burn. Watch and stir constantly reducing heat and removing from heat as needed.

Turn down to low and saute for another half hour to hour more, until the veggies are very soft and well browned.

At this point you can remove the whole thing from heat, allow to cool for fifteen minutes and then smash the bone open with the hammer and/or chisel. Then return it to heat for another half hour or so.

At this point turn up the heat to high and start adding water by half cups keeping it hot, but not allowing it to come to a full boil. You're going to want to just about fill the pot to full. Bring to a very near boil and then reduce heat so it doesn't boil. you can remove it from heat if it looks like it'll boil. Add the bay leaf and a big pinch of thyme.

Simmer like this for about two hours then strain into a large container.

Return to a boil and if you like (I rarely bother) you can skim the solids off the top with a strainer so you'll leave the oils.

Now add the veggies in this order, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, onion, celery, mushrooms.

Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Notes
This is an unthickened soup. the only real starch content is the potatoes. So really a true soup not a stew of some sort.

Feel free to add other vegetables, seasonings and even sauteed round steak or something like leftover roast beef. This is a very basic recipe and can be expounded upon quite a lot.

You'll notice i gave no amounts when it came to the veggies. This is up to you. Whether you want a simple broth with a few veggies for accent to start a meal with, or a hearty main course soup packed with stuff is really up to you. I did give the amount for the potato so that the soup won't be too starchy. To keep the broth really clear use several large waxy spuds instead of one large floury spud.

Also, you'll see that plenty of liquid will evaporate during the simmering. If you want a more brothy soup, add a little more water here and there, the more you cook this down the stronger the flavor will be, and the more liquid you add the weaker.

You can overcome the blandness of a weaker thinnewr brothe by cooking the soupbone and mire poix darker. Increase the cooking time before you add liquid, and maybe toss in some more garlic.

Parsnip tops and tails add a semi-sharp flavor to the broth.

cooking_school @ 2007-08-01T19:54:00

2007-08-02T04:02:00Z

Basic Marinara

ingredients
1lb tomatoes
4oz of salt pork
olive oil
a clove of garlic
water and ice
salt if needed

utensils
sharp knife and cutting board
colander
wooden spoon
large non-reactive (not copper on the inside) pot
another large pot or bowl
Garlic crusher(optional, but you'll lose garlic juice if you just crush it on your cutting board)

mise en place
Fill the pot with unsalted water and boil.
Fill the other pot with cold water and ice.
cut a small x on the bottom of each tomato.
Slice the salt pork into little thin bits.
Mince the garlic.

Carefully place the tomatoes in the boiling water and boil for half a minute. Remove them into the icewater. This should cause the skins to split.

When the tomatoes have cooled enough to handle (about five minutes) peel them and remove the little green bits at the top and bottom.

Now slice each tomato in half cross wise (not top to bottom) and tap into the palm of your hand over the garbage or your disposal. This will remove most of the seeds.

Dice the tomatoes roughly and set aside.

Empty the water out of the hot pot and return to medium heat until it dries.

Put the salt pork into the pan and move it around until it's turned into little dark, but not burnt bits. If the fat is cooking away too quickly turn the heat down.

Once the little bits are all crackly and have given up most of their fat remove them (leaving the melted fat) and add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan if needed. If not needed add just a drop or two for flavor.

Add the garlic, stir around quickly and then add the tomatoes before the garlic burns.

Add a pint of water a little at a time each time the tomatoes start to bubble.

Stir well as it comes to a boil and then reduce heat to medium low and cover. Allow to simmer for an hour adding water occasionally to keep it from boiling dry.

At this point the sauce should be consistent, and not chunky. Moosh it around if it isn't. If it refuses to turn into a sauce run a hand blender through it.

Taste it. It should be almost not salty enough. Not bland, but not as salty as you'd want over pasta. If it's way too bland add a little salt. If it's way too acidic (like if you're using late season tomatoes, or grocery store romas) add a little sugar to mellow it. It should also have a little bit of an oily sheen on the top. If it doesn't add a tablespoon of olive oil.

Bring to a light boil a final time (this is for sterilization, if you are just going to use the sauce right away you can skip this step).

You can now either use this sauce right away or pour it into a container and save it. It will last about a week in the fridge and quite a long while in the freezer. I apologize for not giving exact freezing dates, but I don't often freeze anything as I hate what freezers do to food.

Notes
You can substitute salt and more olive oil if you have a problem with the pork.
You may notice there is a distinct lack of herbs and spices in this recipe. This is intentional. Marinara is a neutral vehicle for other flavors when making other saucesout of it.

Like...

Meat Sauce For Pasta

ingredients
one quart of marinara
half a pound of ground beef
half a pound of sweet Italian sausage
oregano
basil
rosemary
black pepper
three or four cloves of garlic
an onion
several large mushrooms
a bell pepper
a robust red wine

utensils
sharp knife and cutting board
wooden spoon or stir stick
large high sided saute pan
a pirate cutlass(optional)

mise en place
Slice the mushrooms, onions and bell pepper.
Mince the garlic, unless you have a garlic press.

Brown the sausage and ground beef. While it's browning add the minced garlic or crush it over the pan. Also add big pinches (or in my case small handfuls) of fresh or dried basil and oregano. Add a smaller pinch of rosemary as well. Give a few stiff grinds of pepper too.

Wave the cutlass over your head and shout "Arrrr! I be makin' spaghetti sauce, ya scurvy dogs!" at the top of your lungs. (optional).

Once the meat is fully browned reduce heat to medium and add the mushrooms onions and bell pepper. Saute until the onion is half translucent.

Pour in a liberal cup of red wine and return to high heat, when the wine starts to boil pour in the marinara and allow to boil again. Salt to taste. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for five minutes or until you are ready to serve.

Serve over pasta.

notes
skip any ingredient you don't care for here, except for the marinara.
You can add sliced pepperocinni, or a teaspoon of red pepper flakes for a little more Sicilian flavor.

A small survey.

2007-07-31T00:30:40Z

Are you guys actually reading this?

Do you find it easy to follow?

Do you find it helpful?

Would you like to call me a bastard for my infrequent posting?

How much cooking experience do you bring with you to your readership of this journal?

What recipes from here have you tried? How did they turn out?

Any requests? (feel free to suggest any thing from a broad category like "chicken" to a specific recipe)

cooking_school @ 2007-07-30T17:04:00

2007-07-31T00:25:45Z

Classic Beef Stroganoff

ingredients
1lb beef (I learned with sirloin tips, but top round will do)
10-15 large mushrooms
1 large onion
about two cups of beef stock
a handful of flour
a garlic clove
olive oil
salt
pepper
good hungarian paprika (seriously, go to an ethnic grocer for this)
sour cream

utensils
sharp knife and cutting board
large saute pan
large bowl
wooden spoon or stir stick
a smaller bowl

mise en place
Slice the mushrooms.
Chop the onion into strips.
Trim the beef and slice into thin strips.
Smash the garlic and mince very fine.

Put the flour, two pinches of salt, a few stiff grinds of black pepper, and a pinch of paprika together in the large bowl and mix with a fork.

Put the sauce pan over high heat and pour in enough olive oil to coat the bottom and then some.

Saute the mushrooms, garlic, and onion with a little salt and pepper and then remove to the smaller bowl.

Dredge the strips of beef through the flour and lay in the hot oiled pan. If the pan is too dry you'll want to add some more oil)

Fry the meat until cooked on the outside, but still tender, about thirty seconds on a side. You might want to do this in batches if you're pan has a narrow bottom, or if you're cokking over a hotpoints stove, otherwise some of your meat will be overcooked and rubbery before the rest is done.

Return all the meat and the veggies to the pan.

Slowly add the stock Stirring the bottom of the pan to deglaze the flour that's cooked down to it.

Stir until the stock has thickened with the flour and then remove from heat.

Stir in about a tablespoon of paprika. (I use nearly three)

Take to the table, stir in about a pint of sour cream and serve over spaetzle, egg noodles, boiled red potatoes, or rice.

Notes
If you have whiny types that can't hadle a crapload of sour cream let your guests stir in their own amounts.
Speatzle is a tiny German egg and flour dumpling. You can buy boxes of it in better grocery stores and just about every store that sells food in Ballard.
I hate shitty midwestern Stroganoff recipes with the burning white-hot intensity of a thousand suns. Stroganoff does not have canned soup, half anf half, turkey burger, peas, nor chicken-in-a-bisket crackers in it. It also gets it's lovely coloring from PAPRIKA not catsup! Arrgh.

cooking_school @ 2007-07-26T19:09:00

2007-07-27T02:25:54Z

Roasted Almonds

ingredients
raw almonds
salt (I prefer a fine powdery salt for this like sel gris, a smoked artisan salt is nice too)
white pepper
garlic powder

utensils
baking sheet, preferably with edges to keep the nuts from escaping when you move it.
clean brown paper bag, lunchsack size or there-abouts

mise en place
Preheat your oven on to 350o.

Spread your almonds out on your baking sheet. You want a single layer with some room here and there.

Mix your dry spices together in a bowl to taste. I go with about a tablespoon of salt and a half tablespoon of garlic powder and then a small pinch of white pepper. Depending on how many nuts you're roasting you'll want more or less seasoning to toss them in, but the ratios stay the same. Pour your mixture into the bag.

Put the almonds in the oven for five to ten minutes. You'll need to check them frequently because everyone's oven heats a little differently. The nuts should darken in color a little, but you want to remove them before they blacken.

Remove the nuts from the oven and pour them into the bag. fold over the top of the bag (or just squeeze the top closed in what I call the "wino grip") and shake vigorously.

Pour them back onto the pan and shake around to dislodge excess seasoning. You can store these in tupperware or a plastic bag once they've cooled if you can keep from eating them all. They keep for a long time if sealed.

notes
you can do this with a variety of nuts and a variety of spices. Pecans with fine sugar, cayenne pepper, cumin, and cinnamon are really lovely.

Stock

2007-07-06T03:04:37Z

Ok, I think that by now you are ready to attempt your first stock. This will replace the canned or boxed beef stock you've been using so far. You can get the bones for this from a decent meat counter like at Whole Foods, one of the Markets, or a real butcher shop. A real butcher shop will even chop up your veal bones for you, actually the guys at those counters might too if you ask really nice.

Brown Stock (fast small batch method)

ingredients
1lb veal bones
2lbs chicken bones (I suggest a mixture of necks, leg and wingbones)
2 large carrots or 1 cup of carrot tops and tails (peels work too)
a couple of large onions or 1 and a half cup of onion tops, tails and peels
a big hand full of celery stems and leaves
a small leek
a three finger pinch of thyme leaves, preferably fresh
a bay leaf
a medium tomato, preferably the best and most flavorful you can find
a pinch of black peppercorns
five big garlic cloves
a hand full of parsley stems
water

utensils
large saucepan
wooden stir stick
sharp knife and cutting board
a few bowls
a strainer (either cheesecloth laid down in a collander, a chinios, or a very large mesh strainer. Don't worry, I don't own a chinios either. I use a big mesh strainer.)

mise en place
Cut the bones into smaller than 1" pieces.
Cut up all the veggies except the tomato into rough chunks.
You can cut the garlic cloves in quarters, no need to mince.
Mince the thyme if it's fresh thyme you're using, also the parsley stems.

Place the bones in your saucepan in a single layer. Don't stack them or they'll steam and the fats won't run out. turn on high for about five minutes until they start to sizzle, this may take a little more time on an electric stove.

Reduce to medium and cook for about 25 to 30 minutes more, stirring occaisionally. The bones should be well browned and the juices sort of congealing in the bottom of the pan. Be very careful not to burn these congealed juices or you'll make the stock bitter.

Use the pan lid to keep the bones in and pour the liquid fat off into a bowl. Discard that.

Return to medium heat and add the carrots and onion and brown for another ten minutes.

Add the rest of the ingredients except the tomato, which you then crush with your hand over the top. You can cut it up if you like, but I derive enormous satisfaction from smooshing it with my hand and yelling "HULK SMASH!" at the top of my lungs in the kitchen.

Fill the saucepan nearly full with water and bring to a boil.

Reduce to medium heat and allow to gently roil for 3 to 4 hours replacing water as it evaporates.

Remove the scum gently from the top every fifteen minutes or so.

Now you'll want to strain it through whatever strainer you're using into a container that you'll use to store the stock in the refrigerator. This is a two person operation, well, it doesn't have to be, but the first time through it's good to have a spotter.

Store in the fridge overnight and break the congealed fat off and discard.

You may now store your stock for a couple of weeks in the fridge or quite a lot longer in the freezer.

notes
You can substitute beef knucklebones for all the bones to make a rustic beef stock.
Good luck.

So, let's talk about eggs for awhile.

2007-06-17T22:00:27Z

Hard or soft boiled eggs

ingredients
eggs
water

utensils
pan

mise en place
Buy eggs.

Put the eggs into the pan and make sure they aren't crowding each other.

Cover them with cold water, enough to cover by an inch or so.

Bring to a full rolling boil and then remove from heat and cover with the pot lid.

Let them stand like that for 15 minutes for hard boiled.

Let them stand for two minutes for soft boiled.

Put the pan in the sink and run clod water over them until the cold water has replaced the hot.

I put ice in the water if I need them right away or if it's summer.

To peel the hard boiled eggs lift them out of the cold water, dent them on two sides on the edge of the sink and then roll in your hands until the shell is a mess of fragments held together by the membrane. The you can peel them and rinse them in the same pan the other eggs are in.

notes
Shelling hard boiled eggs takes a little practice.

Bistro Stuffed Eggs

ingredients
6 hard cooked eggs
mayonnaise
salt and pepper
dijon mustard
a dill pickle
three or four strips of bacon
one small shallot
white wine
a pinch of tarragon
white wine vinegar

utensils
sharp knife and cutting board
mixing bowl and fork and spoon
frying pan
tongs
paper towels
a few small bowls

mise en place
Dice the shallot very finely.
Either mince your pinch of fresh tarragon and put it in a small bowl with a tablespoon of the vinegar, or just put your dry tarragon into the vinegar. Let it soak for at least five minutes.

Fry the bacon until it is crispy and set to cool and drain on some paper towels.

pour off almost all of the bacon grease from the pan and put it over medium heat.

Saute the shallots until they're almost translucent and then deglaze the pan with the vinegar and tarragon. Stir briskly. I love this part because it clears my allergy riddled sinuses in the spring.

Remove from the pan into a small bowl and set aside.

Chop the bacon strips until they're bacon bits. Set aside.

Dice the pickle very small. This stage goes here instead of the mise en place because it will allow your sauteed ingredients more time to cool. If you hate pickles (weirdo) go watch a video on youtube instead.

Slice the eggs in half lengthwise and remove the yolks to a mixing bowl. Set the whites aside.

add a quarter cup(half handful) of mayonaise (warning: I tried this once with miracle whip. It was awful.) and one teaspoonful of dijon mustard.

Also add two good pinches of kosher salt and a few grinds of black pepper.

dump the shallots, pickles, and bacon bits into the bowl too and stir until smoothish with your fork.

Spoon the mixture back into the halved egg whites and place on a clean plate large enough to accomodate the eggs as well as a lowball glass or coffee cup in the center.

cover the plate with plastic wrap. The cup or glass will keep the plastic from smooshing the egg fillings. Place in the fridge for at least a half hour, though they'll keep for a couple of days in there, and serve.

A return.

2007-06-14T04:10:19Z

Sorry about the long delay.

Basic Beef Stew

ingredients
about a pound of beef stew meat or round steak in a thick cut like a london broil
about twice that volume in root vegetables like potatoes, turnips, rutabagas, carrots and/or parsnips. (you can use any or all of these.)
a large onion or two
several large mushrooms
a couple of quarts of beef broth
flour
butter
salt pepper
fresh parsley
fresh chevril
ground thyme
ground sage

utensils
very large pot
sharp knife and cutting board
wooden spoon

mise en place
Cube the meat if it already isn't. Then cube and/or slice the root vegetables. Quarter the mushrooms.

Put the pot on high heat and put a pat or two of butter in it. Put the meat down and let it brown on one side, then turn it and brown the other side. add the root vegetables and stir occasionally. Let it brown but not burn if it starts to smoke, remove it from heat and let it cool a few seconds.

Toss in a extra large handful of flour and stir until it's absorbs the grease and butter. If you still have raw flour add a little more butter.

Slowly add the broth until the chunks are well covered and then an inch or two more.

add the mushrooms and a small handfull of chopped chevril and parsley and a large pinch of thyme and a small pinch of sage.

Give a good stir and simmer over low heat for about an hour while stirring once in awhile.

Notes
The mushrooms go in later so they don't get smashed to pieces.

Variations
A few diced tomatoes can have a drastic effect on the flavor. Add them when you add the root vegetables.
Experiment with other herbs, marjoram and a little fennel, the classic parsley sage rosemary and thyme.
I've broken this recipe into it's basic form (meat+thickener+filler vegetables+liquid=stew) and done all sorts of "refrigerator soups." A super simple one is beef stew meat, canned chinese veggies, beef broth, flour, some soy sauce, and a spoonful of curry powder.

A last personal note: Julian goddamnit, this is a basic stew recipe. I realize a truly magnificent stew is an artform and agree, but this journal is about walking not running.

cooking_school @ 2007-04-22T11:23:00

2007-04-22T19:02:57Z

Taco meat

ingredients
ground beef, buffalo, or turkey
one smallish onion
ground cumin
ground coriander
New Mexico red chili powder in whatever strength you like
granulated garlic
cilantro
mexican oregano
beef broth, chicken broth, or beer
flour or masa(corn flour)

utensils
large saute pan
stir stick or wooden spoon
sharp knife and cutting board
large wire mesh strainer(optional)

mise en place
Mince the onion very fine.
mince a small handfull of cilantro.

Brown your meat on high with the onion. If it's particularly greasy you might want to strain it through the mesh strainer.

Reduce heat to medium.

Add pinches of the dry spices after it's browned. I usually go with a spoonful of cumin, a large pinch of coriander, a spoonfull of granulated garlic, a large pinch of Mexican oregano, and a medium pinch of the chili powder.

Add the cilantro and a small handfull of flour and stir until the flour has absorbed some grease and become like a light roux.

Deglaze the pan with a cup to two cups of your liquid. I usually use Dos Equis dark or Negra Modella. Stir until it's a uniform consistency and reduce your heat to low. Simmer for about fifteen minutes. The liquid should have evaporated mostly. If it's too soupy allow it to simmer longer.

Tacos are easy.
The easiest way to serve them is in store bought taco shells.

You can also warm tortillas (flour or corn) in a 350o oven for a minute or so. Just lay them out on the rack or a cookie sheet.

You can pan fry tortillas in a non stick pan too. You can use oil for a slightly crunchy texture, but it's pretty messy. I've taken to just warming them in the pan. It takes about the time you need to sing "happy birthday" per side.

Taco toppings
tomatoes
chopped onion
cilantro
cheese (cheddar, jack, queso fresco, cotija, requison makes for an interesting lasagna like texture.
chopped lettuce
sliced radishes
potatoes fried in bacon grease with chili powder
salsa
sour cream
guacamole
avacados
cabbage
shredded carrot
pico de gallo of various sorts

A note about cilantro
A lot of people complain of the overwhelming flavor of cilantro. Cilantro is an aquired taste. Start out slowly with just a few leaves. Avoid the stems if you can; the flavor is most intense in the stems.

More to do with your Italian dough.

2007-04-01T21:49:49Z

Sweet Zeppoli

ingredients
a recipe of pizza dough
some flour
powdered sugar or thin granule sugar
vegetable oil

Give the dough a quick knead and roll out to about half an inch thick and then cut into stips then rectangles about two inch by three inch.

In a large saucepan or deep fat fryer heat the oil to high. You want enough oil that you can immerse a few zeppoli at a time.

Fry them a few at a time without crowding them about 2 to three minutes each they should be golden brown when done. Remove them to a paper towel lined plate and let them drain.

Toss them in the sugar or just dust them with powdered sugar. These are best hot with cappuccino.

Tips
I like cinnamon with these too, or a really lovely wat to serve them is brushed with frangelico and then dusted with powdered sugar.

You can make small balls instead of rectangles as well, but they'll need to be small so that the center will cook without the outsides burning. The small balls roll in sugar and cinnamon well.

The best batch I ever made was when I smooshed a cup of frozen blueberries through the dough first.

The versatile Italian dough.

2007-04-01T21:35:18Z

Pizza dough

ingredients
1 cup of slightly warm water
1 package (quarter ounce) of active dry yeast
a quarter teaspoon of sugar
3 cups of flour (all purpose works best, cake flour is too fine)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of olive oil

utensils
large flat clean surface to knead the dough on
large metal mixing bowl
a glass cup or bowl to mix and activate the yeast in
measuring spoons and cups
large glass bowl
clean kitchen towel

Measure about a quarter of the cup of warm water into the small cup or bowl, add the sugar and the yeast and let stand for ten minutes or so. The yeast should become bubbly and smell like yeast.

Mix the flour and salt in the large bowl then make a well in the middle, add the yeast the olive oil, and the rest of the water.

Make sure your hands are clean, and take off any rings and then start to mix well using a squishing motion. You should end up with a dough ball that cleans the sides of the bowl.

Sprinkle some flour on your work surface and transfer the dough to it. Smash it flat with the heel of your hand and then fold it back into a ball. Repeat this for about five minutes and you should end up with a smooth elastic dough.

Transfer the dough to the glass bowl put it in a warm place. What you want is about ten degrees more than room temperature, about 80o. I achieve this by putting it on top of the the oven I'm pre-heating for the pizza or bread. Let sit for one or two hours.

The dough should have expanded to twice it's size. Punch it down in the center and fold the edges in. Knead again for a minute or so.

Your dough is now ready for what you intend it for.

Pizza Margherita

ingredients
the pizza dough from above
a handfull of cornmeal
several good sized fresh vine tomatoes
a ball of mozzarella
parmesan cheese
a few leaves of fresh basil
olive oil
salt

utensils
Sharp knife and cutting board
two large baking sheets or two pizza pans

mise en place
Slice your tomatoes thin
slice the mozzarella thin too
chiffonade the basil (chiffonade means cut into small thin strips)

Preheat your oven to 500o.

Pull the dough in half and roll into balls. Sprinkle the pans liberally with cornmeal. Put the doughballs on the sheets. Roll out flat with a rolling pin or your fingers to form either rough rectangles or to fill the pizza pans.

layers tomatoes across the pizzas evenly then cover with slices of mozz. I use a lot of mozz torn into little strips, but do whatcha like. Sprinkle the basil and some parmesan cheese and a small scattering of salt. Now drizzle everything with about two tablespoons of olive oil per pizza.

Bake for twelve to fifteen minutes until the dough is brown and crusty around the edges.

Some hints and tips
If your dough is thinner in the center than the edges and it will cook a little more evenly. It evens out the fact that there are more toppings towards the middle.

You can use marinara or pizza sauce in the place of tomatoes.

I like a mix of provolone and mozzarella.

Let's talk simple, and then fancy schmancy.

2007-03-31T00:43:21Z

Classic toasted cheese sandwich

ingredients
cheddar (or any other medium density) cheese
sliced bread
butter

utensils
saute pan
spatula
knife or cheese slicer and cutting board

mise en place
It's toasted cheese sandwich.

Heat the pan to medium.

Slice the cheese relatively thin.

Butter the outsides of the bread.

Place a slice down, cover it with cheese, and place the other slice on top.

Flip the sandwich when the cheese has started to melt. You can check frequently by pulling up a corner with the spatula.

Fancy toasted cheese sandwich

Ingredients
a mix of hard, and medium cheeses (I like white cheddar, and aged gruyere)
ripe vine tomatoes
slices of dense chewy artisan bread
shredded parmesan or peccorino cheese
butter
black pepper

utensils
as above plus a baking pan or cookie sheet

mise en place
slice the tomatoes thin

Heat the pan to medium and preheat your oven to 350o.

Butter the outside of the bread.

Place it down on the pan and cover with cheese. Place a layer of tomatoes over the cheese and then another layer of cheese.

Carefully turn the sandwich over after one side is browned and brown the other side.

Sprinkle down enough parmesan or peccorino to cover one side of the sandwich on the baking pan or cookie sheet.

Carefully move the sandwich from the saute pan the the baking sheet, covering the shredded cheese. Sprinkle shredded cheese down onto the sandwich.

Finish the sandwich in the 350o oven for about five to seven minutes, or until the cheese is fully melted throughout the sandwich and crusty on top.

Notes
I'd like to thank Ron, who used to run the kitchen at Molly McGuires, for teaching me the secret of getting a parmesan crust onto a toasted sandwich without cooking it into a burnt mess.

At my house, Irish food doesn't just happen once a year.

2007-03-21T23:41:41Z

Soda bread

ingredients
4 cups of flour plus a little extra
2 cups of buttermilk
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt

utensils
big mixing bowl
fork
cookie sheet

Mise en place
measure out the buttermilk.
Sprinkle flour on your cookie sheet.

Preheat your oven to 350o.

Mix the dry ingredients well in the mixing bowl.

Pour in the buttermilk and mix with your fork in big circular motion immediately. The soda and the buttermilk will react as soon as you mix them. You don't need to mix this long, just enough to make a rough dough. What you'll end up with is a crumbly mass of dough amongst a lot of crumbly powdery bits. Smoosh these all together and mash them into the bits to pick up as much as possible.

Separate the dough into two parts and form circular loaves and place on the cookie sheet.

Cook for twenty minutes to a half hour. To test for doneness thump it with your knuckles or a wooden spoon. It should sound hollow.

notes
Soda bread with raisins, currants, and nuts is called spotted dog. Soda bread recipes that include butter and/or eggs are technically soda cake. I don't care for them.
Sometimes I add a few pinches of ground thyme, or fresh rosemary to this.

cooking_school @ 2007-03-07T20:28:00

2007-03-08T04:57:51Z

Swiss Steak

ingredients
4-6 thin round steaks preferably with fat around the edges
a thin red wine or rose
flour
salt
pepper
garlic powder
dried marjoram
several large mushrooms
a large onion
a large green bell pepper
A 16oz can of stewed tomatoes
olive oil

utensils
large saute pan
tongs
wooden spoon
plate
fork
meat tenderizer or the back of a large knife or cleaver
cutting board

mise en place
Dice the onion and pepper and quarter the mushrooms.

Mix a handful of flour with a few pinches of salt, pepper, and garlic powder on a plate. Dredge the steaks through them and lay them out on your cutting board. Pound them flat and then sprinkle with more flour. Pound them flat and ragged, turning over frequently and tossing more flour over occaisionally.

Heat your sauce pan on high medium and add a small pour of oil. Let the oil heat up and add the steaks. Sear the steaks on both sides and add the onion, pepper, and mushrooms.

Fry for a few more minutes and then sprinkle with a few pinches of marjoram, then add a healthy splash of the wine.

Pour over the tomatoes and then cover and simmer over low heat for about twenty minutes.

I serve this over rice.

cooking_school @ 2007-02-28T20:28:00

2007-03-01T05:05:09Z

Ground taco meat

ingredients
1lb ground beef, buffalo, turkey, pork, or chicken
flour or masa flour
cumin
chili powder
salt
minced garlic
minced onion
water or beer
fresh finely chopped cilantro
dried Mexican oregano

utensils
large saute pan
stir stick or spatula

mise en place
Mince any items listed as minced.

Set your pan on medium high and brown the meat. Make sure to smash it down into small chunks as it browns. reduce the pan to medium.

Add the minced garlic and onion and stir for a minute or so. Add the dry spices and stir some more. Toss over a medium handful of the flour or masa.

Pour in a cup or so of water or beer. I prefer Negra Modello.

Allow it to cook down for about ten to fifteen minutes.

Warming tortillas
You can warm tortillas (corn or flour) in a non stick pan over medium heat. You can heat them in a normal pan with a little oil as well. You can also warm them in the oven on a cookie sheet. None of these methods require very much time. You really only need to warm them until they're a little more pliable.

Salt and battering.

2007-02-18T22:38:47Z

Beer battered fish

ingredients
white fish fillets no more than an inch thick (three quarter inch gets the best results)
a cup of flour
a cup of beer (I go for something in an amber, but anything that isn't hugely dark will do, and by hugely I mean a stout or porter)
several shakes of salt
a couple grinds of pepper (I like white pepper for this)
a small pinch of baking soda
an egg
oil to fry it in

utensils
large saute pan
whisk
large mixing bowl
paper towels
plate or platter
tongs

mise en place
Pat the fillets with a paper towel to remove excess water.

Mix all the other ingredients in a bowl with a whisk and allow ten minutes to warm to room temperature. You're looking for a consistency that sticks to your whisk and isn't arduous to stir, about like pancake batter.

Heat about two inches of oil in your saute pan.

Dip the fillets into the batter and then fry until dark gold. Remove them to your plate or platter lined with paper towels.

Crumb battered fish

ingredients
white fish fillets as above
flour
salt
pepper
buttermilk
bread crumbs or panko
oil to fry it in

utensils
saute pan
three bowls
paper towels
plate or platter
tongs

mise en place
Fill one bowl halfway with buttermilk, another halfway with flour, and the third halfway with bread crumbs of panko.
Pat the fillets dry.

Heat two inches of oil in your saute pan.

Season the fillets lightly with salt and pepper.

Dredge the fish one at a time in the flour then dip into the butter milk and then press both sides into the bread crumbs or panko. Then place them in the oil and fry to a light to deep brown. Remove to a paper towel lined plate or platter.

Unbattered crisp fried fish

ingredients
fish fillets as above
flour
water
salt and pepper
oil to fry it in

utensils
large saute pan
two bowls
paper towels
plate or platter
tongs

mise en place
Fill one bowl halfway with flour and the other halfway with water.

Heat two inches of oil in your saute pan.

lightly season the fillets with salt and pepper.

Dredge the fillets one at a time through the flour then quickly dip into the water and then press back into the flour. Cook them until golden in the oil and remove to the paper towel lined plate or platter.

Ok, so why three recipes for the same thing?
Well, I wanted to give you options. The first recipe is a pretty traditional fish fry, and can stand in for fish and chips any day. The second recipe is one I learned at a pub I worked at and has the advantage of being less oily in it's finished form. I was also fond of it's crunchiness. The last recipe will be the least oily of the three, but also the most spartan, granted, you can spruce it up by adding different seasonings before you place it through the flour-water-flour routine.

All three of these recipes work for chicken strips as well. In fact recipe three is my favorite way to do chicken strips, with the slight addition of rubbing them down with tabasco sauce beforehand.

Bonus recipe: tartar sauce

ingredients
a cup of mayonnaise
a large spoonful of sweet pickle relish
a half spoonful of dried or fresh dill weed
a large spoonful of minced green onion
a splash of lemon juice

utensils
bowl
spoon

Mix together well.

Things you can add to tartar sauce
garlic
lemon zest
capers
cucumbers
marjoram
rosemary
horseradish
black pepper

Other things you can fry with recipe one
mushrooms
chicken
zucchini
eggplant
shellfish (make the batter a little thicker)
eel (make the batter thicker still)
brocolli
onion rings (you need to batter them, then let them rest in the fridge on wax paper for an hour)

Other things you can fry with recipe two
chicken
pork cutlets
calamari (rings or cuts)
steak fingers (You'll want to let these rest in the fridge too)
shrimp

Other things you can fry with recipe three
chicken
mushrooms
pork cutlets (season with salt pepper and paprika)
eggplant
clamstrips (goeduck)

This is a simple thing to do that with a little variation can make you look like a friggin' genius.

2007-02-08T05:05:33Z

Roast chicken

ingredients
one whole chicken
salt and pepper

utensils
sharp knife
baking dish

mise en place
Remove the giblets package from inside the chicken.
Cut away the excess skin from around the cavity opening.
Rinse the bird thoroughly under cold water.
Preheat the oven to 450o.

Place the bird breast down in the baking dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Flip the bird over and sprinkle with salt and pepper again.

Place the bird in the oven at 450o for ten minutes and then reduce heat to 375o.

Cook until done. Cooking time depends on the size of the bird. About 15-20 minutes per pound of bird plus the initial ten minutes at 450o is a good place to start. I usually just leave my birds in for an hour unless it's frickin' huge.

Notes
Roasting a chicken is totally easy, and this bare bones recipe will provide a lovely cooked bird with a slightly crispy skin.

Variations and techniques that will make you look cool.
Rub the skin with a thin coating of soft butter to make the skin crispier and give the bird a rich brown sheen.
Rub chopped garlic over the bird and toss a few cloves inside the cavity.
Place forty unpeeled cloves of garlic around the bird to roast alongside. Chicken and forty pieces of garlic is a simple damn recipe with acute name that you can toss off to look cool.
Chop garlic, onions, thyme and marjoram, and mushrooms coarsely and stuff inside the cavity with some pats of butter and then splash some wine down in there too. Sprinkle some of the herbs over the top over the bird too. This goes well with a butter rub. The stuffing will infuse the meat with flavor and can be a great base to a sauce or gravy, though I sometimes, just pull out the mush and eat it on toast.
Surround the bird with root vegetables and splash them down with white wine.
Dressing! I'll put down some dressing and stuffing recipes later, but you can buy stuffing mix and follow the directions if you can't wait.

Fungal fun.

2007-02-04T23:09:04Z

Stuffed Mushrooms

ingredients
large white of crimini mushrooms
bread crumbs
parmesan cheese
green onions
vegetable broth
olive oil
salt and pepper
egg

utensils
chef's knife and cutting board
mixing bowl
spoon
baking sheet or baking dish
pastry brush or paper towel

mise en place
Pull the stems out of the mushrooms and set aside.
Top and tail the green onions.
Preheat the oven to 375o

Lay out the mushroom stems on the cutting board and chop into tiny pieces.

Mince the green onions into tiny pieces too. If you want to leave a few shoots of the green ends for garnish, go ahead. I don't believe in garnish.

Put the bread crumbs into the mixing bowl and moisten with the vegetable broth. You should use just enough to make a damp paste.

Add the egg, mushroom bits, green onion bits, a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper, and stir into a smooth even paste.

Spoon the mixture into the mushroom caps. You want it to mound up nicely because it will reduce in volume as it cooks.

Cover each stuffed mushroom with a generous helping of parmesan cheese.

Pour a little olive oil into your pan or dish and spread around with your pastry brush or paper towel.

Put the stuffed mushrooms into the dish. They can be touching each other, but you don't want to crowd them too much or they'll cook unevenly.

Place in the oven for about fifteen minutes. Check them at ten minutes, and every five minutes afterward. What you're looking for is that the white rawness of the mushroom caps is cooked off, and that the filling is bubbling slightly. The cheese should be nicely crusted too. If you're seriously in doubt, pull one out and cut it in half. Eat it when no one's looking.

Some notes and variations.
You'll note that I don't give any measurements here. It all depends on how many mushrooms you're doing. Is it a whole lot? Add another egg. Is it just a few? beat the egg up and only use enough to make it shiny. You'll figure out how much filling will fit into how many mushroom caps pretty easy. A good rule of thumb is to double the volume of your chopped stems.

Mainly you want the egg to cook through, nothing else will be a problem, though they aren't really great if the filling is cool and doughy.

You can add all manner of things to the filling, crispy bacon, hard boiled egg, cooked shrimp, white tuna, shredded chicken, cheeses, finely chopped spinach or kale, I've even seen some high end shit like smoked octopus and squid's ink. The point is, that this is a versatile recipe. Play with it. You can look like a genius without a lot of fine tuning.

Pan-Glazing

2007-02-04T01:45:53Z

Glazed carrots

ingredients
about six large carrots
sugar
butter
salt
white wine
water

utensils
saute pan with lid
sharp knife and cutting board
wooden spoon

mise en place
Top and tail the carrots and peel them if you like (I don't), then slice them in half and cut them into half inch slices.

Put about a half ounce of butter into the hot saute pan and toss in the carrots. Toss them around until they start to brown around the edges. Sprinkle a little salt over the top. Add a hefty splash of wine, stir briskly, and then enough water to cover the bottom of the pan. Reduce heat to medium and put the lid on. Cook until the carrots are tender. This should be about eight minutes, but check by, well, eating one. Add little splashes of water to keep the carrots from burning

By now the pan should have steamed dry. If it hasn't, strain the rest of the liquid out.

Turn the pan back up to high.

Add about two or three more ounces of butter and and a small handful of sugar. Stir slowly as the heat makes the butter and sugar caramelize. It should take just a couple minutes.

A little cracked pepper over the top is nice.

some notes
You've just learned the very basics of pan-glazing. Oil or butter plus sugar plus heat equals glaze.

A good simple well reviewed chef's knife for a solid low price.

2007-02-02T03:19:38Z

http://www.amazon.com/Chefs-Black-Fibrox-40520/dp/B000B5AQ1C/sr=1-14/qid=1170386207/ref=sr_1_14/104-4482705-7258347?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden

Buy a baking dish.

2007-02-02T03:16:11Z

Baked Sausages and Sauerkraut

ingredients
ten bratwursts
one package of good deli style sauerkraut
several large mushrooms
one or two large shallots
three bay leaves
Black pepper
one bottle of good pilsner or lager

utensils
large stoneware baking dish 9x13
Sharp knife and cutting board
wire strainer or colander with small holes
skewer, fork, or toothpick

mise en place
Open the package of sauerkraut and pour through the strainer to drain. Leave it sitting over a bowl or the small side of your sink to continue draining.
Slice the mushrooms into quarters.
Peel the shallots and slice them thick.
Preheat oven to 350o.

Place the bay leaves in the bottom of the dish. Add a few splashes of beer.

Place the sausages in the dish and perforate with your skewer, fork, or toothpick really well. The idea is to let the grease and fat drain out so your sausages will have a firm texture and meaty flavor instead of a sickly greasy cast to them. Turn them over and perforate the other side too.

Shove the mushrooms and shallots down amongst the sausages and sprinkle with a few more splashes of beer.

Cover the entire thing with your sauerkraut, give several grinds of coarse black pepper and place in the oven.

The whole thing should take about an hour to an hour and a half to cook, depending on your oven's idea of 350o and also on how densely the whole thing is packed.

I usually use about three bottles of lager for this, one quarter of a bottle goes in the dish and the other two and three quarters go in me.

Serve this with thick crusty bread, solid german cheese, stone ground mustard, and good dill pickles. Oh, and more beer.

A few notes about hot dish meals
A good rule of thumb is that most hot dishes and casseroles cook at 350o. Some need a hotter temperature at the start, or a little broiler time at the end, but for the most part, these kinds of meals are 1. put foods into dish 2. put dish in oven at 350o 3. cook until it bubbles around the sides.

This particular dish goes a little past number three, as you are effectively braising the sausages.

When I was a kid I didn't care much for sausages and kraut. It was too salty and too greasy. By draining the sauerkraut and putting it over the top to mellow, and by piercing the sausages to let the grease out, I've turned this into one of mine, and my household's favorite meals. Even my wife who doesn't like sauerkraut loves this meal.