Week 9 - Clam Linguini & I'm blowin it!!!

So week 7 has far passed, I still have yet to type week 6's recipe and I truly should be on week 9 now I think... Thank God for pre-dating and free-will - I can post whenever I want and unless you check daily (stalker!) you'll never notice how much of a slacker I am... I'm fudging here and posting 9 prior to 7 and 8 - sue me!

Week 9 - Clam Linguine - this recipe comes straight from my Dad's new wife, (my 2nd step mom, damn Cancer!!! She's very cool!) I have tasted many seafood pasta recipes in my life, I love seafood and while not a full pescetarian, I'd say it overwhelms my red meat consumption by over 75%. Bottom Line, this recipe was BAR NON the BEST clam linguine I've ever tasted - I'd pay top dollar for it in a upscale coastal restaurant and not even bat an eyelash... It's not creamy, not fatty and doesn't leave that traditional film in your mouth and throat I'd typically experience after a hearty seafood pasta dish like this - the trick here is there are no creams, very little fat and lots of flavor that comes from the clams themselves.

I find posting the recipe on AR (All Recipes) first then posting a link or copying the format here is far easier - so that said, I'll detail the Mediterranean Dish and this one there and re-post here by mid next week - I also have yet another Shrimp dish I might use as a filler to catch up that I've already posted there...

Hope you all enjoy your Halloween and were able to get creative on a few "Spooktacular" dishes!

Happy Cooking!

~Jeff

Week 6: Mediterranean Dinner

So as I look in the stores for something that pops, from time to time I find myself flipping a frozen meal over that looks good only to find it's packed full of stuff that probably didnt even exist when I was born. I hate to say it but I am now begining to realize how much "chemistry" is going into our food to make it last longer, colors brighter or save some flavor that would be lost in the processing - today I took on an entire meal - made fresh with only the ingredients I needed - this is the first week I can honestly say there were no processed foods involved - even the herbs were fresh, my sore wrist can prove how much mincing, dicing and slicing went on today. This is not a quick dinner you can throw together on a week night after work - I created approximately 4 servings and spent about 5 hours doing so, but, boy was it worth it!!!

Tonights dinner was "Mediterranean Inspired" from marinated Lamb and Beef Kabobs to Curried Beef Couscous finished off with a phenominal salad dressing with crumbled feta and kalamata olives, dinner started at about 10:00am this morning...

My inspiration, a vaccum sealed referated package of beef and lamb kabobs that had so many ingredients it was close to two paragraphs - the kicker said "May contain tree nuts" What?!?!? I quickly pulled out the Blackberry and began to review the similar dishes google presented me - not one really sang loud but some if the ingredients sounded good and so I began my 1.5 hour stay in the market. A few spice lables later I found even they are being processed - there should only be "Oregano" in my "Oregano", but there were like 4 ingredients, except for the curry powder, it simply said "Curry powder" so I went over to the produce aisle - there stood before me fresh, single ingredient herbs - I knew it would be a lot more work but I grabbed my oregano, parsley, mint, garlic, green onions and lemons as well as a fresh lettuce box that only had the lettuce I wanted in it, to the butcher and got angus beef cubes ($3.50 for 3/4 lb) and fresh lamb cubes ($4.75 for 3/4 lb) - found an extra virgin olive oil with only olive oil in it and stumbled upon a boxed couscous with only ingredients I recognized in it - even some bamboo skewers that said, Ingredients: Bamboo

So the recipes are coming soon, I am still hashing them and I am really running behind on this project - this for sure could have been served in a fine dining establishment, was much healthier and was a lot of fun to create... I promise to get the recipe up soon!

Happy Eating!

~Jeff

Week 5 - Rasperry/Mustard glazed porkchops over a bed of sauteed spinach

So, my now 7 year old Peanut chef claimed this was the end all be all of our main dishes - I did not serve enough...



It is every chef's desire to take on a recipe and make it their own - but one who can start from scratch, make it 100% fresh and home made, is in a realm not traditionally created by a home cook - today I bring you a recipe that can reside on a plate in a working persons home and yet also on a working gourmet kitchen...



this all starts with picking rasperries 2 weekends past - we picked much more than we could eat raw so I learned how to make jam - Once the Jam was prepared I followed a recipe, yet not really - I have posted my rendition on All Recipes - I pan seared the pork chops until they were golden brown on each side, then simmered them in a Rasperry/mustard sauce that was to die for - served over a bed of tender yet crisp sauteed spinach. this was one of my favorites, thus far!!!

Happy Cooking!

~Jeff

Here is the recipe:

Week Day Porkchops (Modified)


Ingredients 4 bone-in pork loin chops
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup Rasperry Jam (preferably home made!)
4 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons Colemans Mustard Powder
2 tablespoons Cold Water


Step-by-step:
1.In a large skillet, brown pork chops in oil over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes on each side.
2.Meanwhile, In a med microwave-safe bowl, combine the jam, vinegar and mustard. Cover and microwave on high for 25-35 seconds or until heated through, this will render a thinner sauce and will tame the mustard a bit. (Taste it before and after, it's a pretty big difference)
3.Reserve some of the sauce (about 1/4 to 1/3).
4.Reduce heat of the pan to medium; baste on sauce and flip chop, baste other side and cook, uncovered, for 5-7 minutes flip chop again and continue for another 5-7 min or until juices run clear.
5.Drizzle some of the reserved sauce over the chops, serve and enjoy!

Week 4: Beets and Apples??? Oh My....

So after the labor day holiday I realized I ate wayyyy more than normal, I'm pretty sure I'm still full from Monday's dinner so I wanted to go a little lighter on my trial dish today... I went over to my local market and right in front of me were bunch atop of bunch of raw, fresh Beets... I knew I could consume all of the beet and figured I'd give it a go, $2 later i was on my way home...

the bunch I chose had 3 good sized bulbs and some crisp greens... I trimmed some off to let Shawn and Chef Bailey try some, Brycen was having no part of it... There went one bulb as the 3 of us loved the flavor of the raw beet... Now, I said I was gonna make each dish, "my own" - but just like "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" has help, I should get some too, so I "Polled the Audience" - in this case the Internet, as you are my audience...

I found what sounded like a fun recipe for Beets with Green Apples so I made a go at it...

First off, my beets were fresh, not in a can with a liquid so there was no sauce to reserve... I realized I had 2 Apples and 2 Beet bulbs left, coincidence?!? So I pull out the juicer and toss in the spare green apple and the beet bulb - I love to taste everything but probably could have passed on the Beet/Green Apple juice - I peeled and cored the remaining apple and sliced it into triangles, I did the same with the remaining beet, yet made the slices a little thinner as I figured they'd take longer to soften...

In my pan I mixed the ingredients the recipe called for (Brown Sugar, Corn Starch, Salt and Lemon juice) with my beet and apple juice blend (1/2 a cup)I knew the sauce would thicken up quickly so I added my apples and beets just when it started to simmer, I kept it on med heat and realized quickly the sauce was going to be too thick so I lowered the heat and covered my pan with a clear lid - while that was very gently simmering I took the Beet Greens and tossed them in a pan that had 1 TBSP olive oil, 1/2 tsp minced garlic and 1tsp lemon juice, I sauteed the greens until they wilted and were tender and quickly removed them from the heat, seasoned to taste w/ salt and pepper and laid them out as a base for the apple/beet mixture.

At this point I tasted the beet/apple sauce and found it a little bitter still so I stirred in a tsp of confectioner sugar - the next taste made me smile...

So, I tried this plate 3 different ways, warm, room temp and cold, in my opinion,
warm is the absolute way to go!!!

I could see this being served as an appetizer, not as a desert, though the sauce might lend itself to a protein well, I may experiment further, but for now, this was a fun dish to make...

Happy Eating,

~Jeff

Week 3: Up from the lowest, Crab Louis (AKA Louie)... A Tearful Tale...

While I would love to say every recipe I make tastes awesome, this week has been one of angst and defeat...

The first run were Chicken and Fish enchiladas, they looked beautiful, however the taste?!? Yeah… My advice, beware of the cilantro, it can help and it can kill a dish, quickly… The sauce I made and use inside killed it - My buddy Dave suggested the enchiladas, good call, the web recommended the cilantro - should have stuck to Dave's idea alone - boo on me!

The close looser, I mean winner – Crab Louis… While I have never made my own thousand island dressing , I was quickly disappointed that this was what I was making – it was on sale for $1.50 at Ralphs and we spent $1.99 alone for the scallions – I’d figure epicurious would monitor the posts when a dish is rated 4 forks, and called “gourmet” guess not… Anyhow, almost 7 year old chef bailey opted for the remaining boiled eggs and apple slices, while Shawn and I powered through the 3 servings – it was good, just not “gourmet” – If some chef placed that in front of me and tried to charge me even $15 as an entrée, I’d laugh all the way to the complaint box….

The recipe can be found here - http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/reviews/Crab-Louis-106264?pg=2 – It has quite a few pricey ingredients to make a very inexpensive to buy pre-made dressing – just grab a bottle and toss in some chili powder/ crushed red pepper and you’ll have the same sauce – I wasn’t disgusted, I actually liked it, it just wasn’t what I had hoped it would be, but shame on me for not knowing what 1000 Island dressing is made of – now I know…

Hopefully next week will yield some more positive comments, but with all good, there is always some bad…

~Jeff

Week 2: What to do when you have a vegetarian MIL?

Aug. 21, 2010 10:32 pm
You do Portobello Mushrooms!!!

Have you ever eaten at "Islands"? They have a veggie Hawaiian Burger that is to die for! Tonight I attempted to create my own - It worked out well - photos of it are forthcoming!....

First off, I don't usually cook vegetarian, I made 1 mistake, my aioli sauce had eggs in it... DOH!!!! Fortunately for me, my MIL will eat eggs, I got lucky!!!

The problem you'll find with me and my recipes, I don't measure anything, usually....

Back an hour or so, I soaked the shrooms in a Teriyaki/Pineapple sauce , these things need to take on a flavor regardless of who you are serving them to, 1 hr + will yield the results you seek....

Meanwhile deep fry some yams/sweet potatoes - cut them to fry size and drop them in - they take a Looooooooong while to cook, I was surprised, be patient.... use some salt and the Aioli sauce you created to make a dipping sensation - while I prefer a whole wheat bun, w/ provolone some tomato and a slice of romaine, lets get get creative, you have time - the fries take about 15-20 min per batch... Once you have a batch of fries and a shroom per person, you are ready to go....

I need to make these again to detail the recipe as I did indulge in a few libations before, during and after and my notes were about as clear as mud, however here is the gist for 1 serving and some extra sauce:

The Burger:
Whole Wheat bun
1 Burger sized portobello mushroom cap
1 deli slice of provolone cheese
1 hot house tomato slice
1 slice pineapple
1 leaf romaine lettuce

The Fries:
1 julienned Yam ( McD's Fry size, you can do steak fry size but I imagine those will take forever!)

The Sauce - This is the one I need to re-make but the components are:
Make a mayo/aioli or just use mayo from the store
mix in some teriyaki, some pineapple juice, some garlic powder (i did fresh finely minced garlic, but powder would work too) - my teriyaki wasn't too salty and the sauce was too sweet so I added some Lawry’s seasoning to bring it back down a bit, just keep tasting it every 10-15 min to let the flavors meld and go to your taste - mine got a bit runny but since it was cold I used some corn starch to thicken it up, it was used on both the burgers as a dressing and as a dip for the fries...

Both my MIL and myself tried the burger w/ the wasabi honey sauce (from week 1) on the extra one and that was awesome too!!!

Happy Vegetarian cooking!!! I actually liked it!

~Jeff

Week 1, Part 3, The Final Dish- Shrimp. The winner..

The Shrimp Finalist of week 1 - Chris Avitia's recipe!!!
BBQ Bacon wrapped shrimp, Pineapple and Jalapeno on a skewer - the spice, sweetness and hardwood smoke mixed with the excreted salt taste phenomenal!!!



The recipe - it's a long one, get a pencil, ready???

For every shrimp your use 1 cube of pineapple and 1 fresh jalapeno slice - for every skewer you can use 1-2 strips of bacon - my skewers fit about 6 shrimp per skewer, the Jalapenos I purchased netted about 12 slices each and I got a whole container of Pineapple cubes, I could probably feed 20...

OK, Ok, I'll spell it out...

5 servings

30 Large Peeled and De veined Shrimp, uncooked...
1 Large can/bottle of Pineapple Chunks, In Pineapple juice (Not water, don't be cheap, water based sucks!!!!) - (you need about 30 pieces)
3 good sized Jalapeno Peppers
5 THICK slices of bacon (or 10 if you want to double wrap)
BBQ Sauce - enough to line, coat, garnish etc. I prefer "Sweet Baby Ray's" "Original"
5-6 Bamboo Skewers (Or metal ones, whatever you have)

If using wood based skewers soak for 1 hour - submerge them with something that is safe food compliant, a clean fork works well

Heat up/clean grill - coat w/ oil, PAM etc... non-stick is good!!!

place 5-6 shrimp running skewer tail to head alternating pineapple, shrimp, jalapeno, till the skewer is almost full, pierce the bacon on the meatiest point (red, not white) and wrap back to the tail of skewer (as shown in photo, good luck if you are wrapping on a metal one, start with the bacon then and F^(# off for not realizing you cant end the skewer w/ Bacon that way!!!)...

Cook over med heat, if you bought Large shrimp like I suggested they should pink up about the same time as the bacon becomes edible, if you're cheap (I am) cook the bacon a little first in a saute pan, then wrap it...

At this point where things are coming together baste the shrimp w/ the BBQ sauce...

You're done when the bacon is crispy and the shrimp is reddish/pink...

Shrimp can/will be overcooked easily, this isn't an easy grilled meal, watch it closely, I can do it in 5 min and I can do it in 30 min, depends on the need/timeline - get to know your grille - heat all food to 170*+F and you can kiss Salmonella goodbye - Pork and Fish will cook differently, figure it out, don't put all your shrimp on your first skewer - I've wasted about 15 shrimp perfecting this, be patient and watch it closely...

My Best to Chris and his lovely wife Karah and kids... - we miss our BBQ's w/ you!!!

Happy Cooking,

Jeff

Week 1 - Part 2... Shrimp Cont...

Second Place goes to my own creation - Portobello Mushroom stuffed w/ a White wine, garlic shrimp reduction sauce in Van D'Kamp hot dog bun/ Garlic Sauteed Shrimp stuffing covered in a Wasabi, Crushed Red Pepper, Mayo and a squeez of lemon sauce - lemon wedge and cilantro as garnish - the sauce kicked A$$, made everything taste perfect...

Week 1 - Shrimp... Last Place...

I may try to only do 52 new recepies, however each visit to the market, be it a farmers, meat or deli I can get overloaded - in two days I got two different style shrimp from the same local market and I got 3 different recipes - I had to try them all - first up an internet based Orange, garlic, cilantro and cyanne pepper based marinade - Not so good - plated beautifuly but tasted much too tangy...

In The Begining there was my Mom, Cecilia...

Hello all and welcome to my new Foodie blog...

For those of you who know me, know I LOVE to cook, while recently I focused on grilling anything and everything, I've decided to expand my culinary skills.

While I DVR shows like Hells Kitchen, Master Chef and the F-Word, it is my desire one day to surpass Gordon Ramsay and be able to tell him to F^(# off... 12 Michelin Stars is gonna be hard to beat...

My cooking adventure began when I was pretty young, My Mom (Cecilia) was a great instructor, while my father was a pretty standard menu man, she taught me the basics as well as some of the fun stuff that would never make his plate... She could cook anything and everything simultaneously - I hope that her graces and skills rain down on me while I take on this challenge...

I'm not only trained by my Mom, unfortunately, I worked for Marriott Food Services as well, starting as a short order chef on the grill to being a show "Wok" artist creating meals off of a stir fry cart with my colleague and fraternity brother CJ Curtis "MEAT" - we were good and we were requested every night we weren't on shift...

Since then I went through bachelorhood, yet, I could cook - I was fortunate enough to have the best looking woman accept my proposal of marriage, 10 years later I have an 8 year old son who has been diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome (A mild form of very high functioning autism) - he is routine, hot dogs, "Daddy's Steak" and Mac 'n Cheese... My Daughter on the other hand, will try and like anything! She'll be like me, her Papa, My Father always said I was the only "market priced" child he had - what goes around comes around, my 6, soon to be 7, year old peanut of a daughter will either work for Epicurious, be a Model or become a Chef...

Anyway, long story short, I love to cook and I'm going Gourmet for 1 day per week for an entire year... I forgot to mention above where I detailed my family, my wife is a pro photographer, she's new too food shoots but she has already made a few of my dishes look better than they tasted - all photos will be from her - she can be found by clicking on Photography by Shawnanne.

I plan to accompany each dish with a recipe, it's origin and some photos - I'll include notes as well, as Chef Ramsay said "Smokin' Hot" and I ended up with charcoal topped raw scallops the first time (I'm sure this was a mis-credit, he knows smoke is no good in a pan)... I make each dish in 3 separate servings, so each time it becomes better and better, I get the first, my wife takes the second and my daughter gets the third, my son loves the Mac n' Cheese I make, LOL...

Anyway, my quest is starting soon - be prepared - please, if you re-create anything and find a better taste, comment, I'm not perfect, many of my recipes lack something, if you come up with something let us know, we'll either praise or say get the F^(# out of my kitchen :-)~

Happy Cooking!

Jeff