She Bakes

I like checking out other food blogs.  This new one is full of promise and soon to be full of great recipes.  It is H's food blog, which she just started today.  Check it out.  But in case you forget, I will, from time to time, include links to special recipes or  other posts to her blog while at other times, you may see the same recipe on each blog because I'm not above poaching and just want to  have it in the mix here.  So here you go.  It is:

Pefectly Imperfect Bakes a Cake and Other Things

The address is:

http://www.perfectlyimperfectbakesacake.blogspot.com/

Now while she does do more baking than me and also a good deal of excellent cooking, I am, usually against my will, the baker of most cakes around here (just so you know). 

Super Bowl of Chili

We made this for Super Bowl Sunday last year. It was awesome. I didn’t have a dog in that fight, so we didn’t miss not tuning in and the game turned out to be just an excuse to fix some great game-day food. Though we still will be spending our day doing other things to the neglect of SB XLV, this year is a different story. I’ll simply suggest that you should go with some good Wisconsin Cheddar when making your ingredient selection for this Lombardelicious game-day dish. Don’t call me to tell me how much you enjoyed the dish or the game until Monday morning!


Ingredients
½ lb. dry pinto beans
½ lb. dry small red beans
3-4 dried California chiles
8-10 dried small red peppers such as Chile Japones or Chile de Arbol peppers
2 Tbsp. beef base
8 c. water

¾ lb. ground beef or turkey
1 tsp. canola oil (if using turkey)
1 medium yellow onion – finely diced
¼ c. masa de harina (corn flour)
½ c. water

1 8 oz. jar of medium salsa
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
¼ c. barbecue sauce
3 Tbsp. prepared chili powder
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. Kosher salt
½ Tbsp. smoked paprika
½ Tbsp. fresh ground black pepper
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
8 oz. cheddar or pepper-jack cheese
Sour cream

The Method
Place water, beef base, dried beans and chilies in pressure cooker and cook according to your devices instructions for dry beans.

Add onions and ground beef or turkey to frying pan over medium heat and cook until meat is lightly browned. If using ground beef, remove excess fat. Remove from heat and set aside.

Mix masa powder with ½ c. water prior to adding to cooker.

After beans and chiles have finished cooking, add in meat, onions, masa mixture, salsa, tomato paste, barbecue sauce, chili powder, garlic, salt, paprika pepper and cinnamon to cooker. Allow all ingredients to simmer together for an additional ½ hour, stirring occasionally. Serve and top with cheese and sour cream. Try not to eat too much.

Food for Thought
While this chili would not likely win any awards at the state fair or any chili cook-offs in the South due to the presence of the beans, which some chili purists feel don't belong in a serious chili, I was raised in a home where good beans were appreciated as a unique ingredient and not simply looked upon as a filler. And while it took me a while to acquire the taste for them, I definitely appreciate them now. As for the cinnamon, this is one ingredient you must not mistreat, either by omission or by using too liberally. But in the right amount, it adds something truly special to the gustatory landscape.

Recommended Sides: Cornbread or Tortilla Chips.

Pork Loin Chops with Pan Sauce

Pork makes a great blank canvas.  This recipe is a great way to color it tasty.


Ingredients
For the chops
8-10 boneless thin cut top pork loin chops
2-4 Tbsp. canola oil
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire
1/2 Tbsp soy sauce 

For the rub
3 Tbsp. Kosher salt
2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp. dried rosemary or (2 tsp. fresh rosemary finely chopped)
1 tsp. granulated garlic
1/2 tsp. fresh ground mixed peppercorns
1/2 tsp. lemon pepper
1/2 tsp. cayenne
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

For the pan sauce
3/4 c. water
1/2 c. milk
Juice of 1 large orange
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1-2 Tbsp. coarse ground mustard
1 tsp. chicken base
Additional black pepper to taste


The Method
Mix salt, pepper, rosemary, granulated garlic, mixed peppercorns, lemon pepper, cayenne and paprika in a small bowl.  Apply mixture liberally to top of each chop.  In a large stainless steel frying pan, heat 2 Tbsp. canola oil over medium heat.  Place up to 4 chops at a time into pan with rub side down and season other side of each chop.  Add Worcestershire and soy sauce to pan.  Fry for 3 minutes or until nicely browned then flip each chop and fry additional 3 minutes or until browned.  Remove chops from pan and place each chop in a small pan lined with foil.  Add additional canola oil if needed and repeat until remainder of chops are finished.  Close foil over chops and place into 350-degree oven for 5-6 minutes. 


While pan is still hot, remove from heat and add water to deglaze the pan.  After allowing pan to cool briefly, add milk, orange juice, lemon juice, minced garlic, mustard and chicken base.  Whisk over medium heat.  then reduce to low heat.    


After 5-6 minutes, remove chops from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.  Remove chops from foil and plate.  Add additional juices from foil to pan sauce and stir briefly.  Additional black pepper may be added if desired.    


Serve chops with your choice of rice and drizzle pan sauce over chops and rice.  


Recommended sides:
Sauteed asparagus or steamed broccoli 


Food For Thought
A pan sauce like this is less viscous, less opaque and more concentrated than your garden variety gravy, which you could make from here by combining your sauce elements with additonal fats and starches.  Gravy certainly has a place on the table but sometimes you just want something that feels like it's not so bad for you.  This type of pan sauce may not pair as well with potatoes but is excellent over any type of rice or vegetable.


When frying or grilling meat, the real magic occurs when the meat begins to brown.  When amino acids undergo certain reactions, in the presence of reducing sugars, we get a range of golden brown chemical products which give cooked meats their delicious flavor.  These non-enzymatic reactions are called the Maillard reactions for the early 20th century French scientist Louis Camille Maillard, who first described these reactions while studying protein synthesis.  After your meat is finished, all of the bits of this and bits of that, along with the residual fat you started with, as well as those generated by the cooking process, and anything else you've added, are culinary magic waiting to happen.  Add some liquid to deglaze the pan, whisk it to loosen everything on the bottom of your pan, season to taste and you've got your self a very savory, sophisticated and delicious pan sauce.     


   

Let Them Eat Cupcakes

One of my favorite Far Side comic strips shows Marie Antoinette being led to the guillotine while trying to explain her treatment of her subjects; "I said let them eat cake and ice cream." Truly hilarious! I’ve always thought that cake and ice cream were a bit much. A good ice cream is a thing of joy - at certain times of the year. Likewise, cake can be a wonderful treat (though my wife will roll her eyes and bemoan my preference of pie over cake - blame it on my German ancestry lady – no secret – check the surname). But a good cupcake is something we both agree on, so if someone suggested that I be allowed to eat cake, I would be perfectly happy, if that cake were in the form of a Cocoa Bean Cupcake Cafe cupcake (say that five times really fast).

Cupcakes are great right? I've written about another great purveyor of fine cupcakeage in our area before so you know I dig them. Although I wonder that we do not say 'cup of cake' or 'cup-o-cake' or 'cake in a cup'. I guess it is simply because it sounds weird, though it seems like this argument is just another variation on the chicken or egg conundrum. I have tried to find a corollary in other cuisines where an otherwise pedestrian dish is named partly by the vessel it was prepared in or served on but whoever heard of a 'glassbevaerage' or a 'platepotato'? The only thing that comes to mind is chicken pot pie or green been (or whatever type) of casserole. When it's done with more sophisticated dishes it sounds OK; pheasant under glass, Moroccan beef tagine. These sound normal enough (maybe it's in the order - OK thinking about it way too much about it). Anyway, naming aside, cupcakes are great. And we were super excited to discover a new designer cupcake bakery in our city, which, after the discovery of this bakery, seems a little more hip than it was before.

There are two locations in Idaho and one in Utah. If you get a chance, check them out. We've only tried two varieties (so far) but will definitely return to check out the rest. Their menu varies by the day of the week, which I think is an awesome approach. To see their blog, go to http://thecocoabeancupcakecafe.blogspot.com/.

Yulelicious - My New Favorite!

My new favorite Oreo.  My new favorite anything.  Could anything be better than this heavenly treat?  You must try the new, limited edition, here for the holidays, Candy Cane Oreos;  chocolatey, pepperminty, crunchy, creamy, double stuffy, candy-canetastic bliss.  And as my wife said, "The only thing better than a Candy Cane Oreo is a Candy Cane Oreo dipped in hot chocolate."  They are similar to the Mint Oreos we all love only better.  It's what the Mint Oreo wants to be when it grows up.  Merry Christmas.     

Fiesta Soup

Need a reason to celebrate or do something special?  Make this soup - it is worth celebrating.  We call it something different at our house and you'll just have to trust me when I say that you just wouldn't get it.  To call it taco soup gives you some idea of what it is but is altogether too pedestrian and just doesn't do it justice.  If, however, I said the best +*^&^%$#@!."/_=@#$%^?!! taco soup you've every had, then you'd start to get it. 


The list of ingredients looks long (like an Emeril recipe) but wait!  Before you switch off, look at the method; super easy! And besides, it is so delicious.  You really won't believe that something so easy could be so good.   


Ingredients
2 Tbsp. canola oil
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
2 c. frozen corn
1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef or ground turkey
1 15 oz. can chili con carne
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 16 oz. jar salsa (your preference but we like La Victoria)
1 10 oz. can tomato juice
1 c. water
1 Tbsp. minced garlic2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. lime juice
1 1/2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cayenne
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika


For Garnish
6 oz. cheddar or pepperjack cheese, shredded
1-2 small-medium limes
1 bunch fresh cilantro
1 small container sour cream
1 bag yellow corn tortilla chips


The Method
Add oil to large stock pot over medium heat and add onion, corn and a pinch of salt.  Saute for 4-6 minutes.  Add ground beef or turkey, scramble and cook until evenly browned.  Add chili, black beans, salsa, soup, water, garlic, lemon juice, lime juice and seasonings and stir to combine.  Reduce heat to medium-low and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, then remove from heat and dish into bowls. 


Garnish with cheese, sour cream, cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime juice.  You may also want to break up a few chips as an additonal garnish but we recommend using the chips as an edible utensil for scooping up the stuff.   

 Food for Thought
If you want to jazz up your chips a bit, don't forget this easy idea.  Also, you may have noticed that in this and in other recipes, I recommend ground beef or ground turkey.  Ground turkey may sound weird to some and that's OK.  Ground beef is still our friend and, in many cases, cannot be substituted.  However, in dishes like this, I find that the ground turkey works great.  The texture is usually better than ground beef, which can sometimes be a bit rubbery.  I will be the first to admit that, on it's own, it is not the most delicious product around.  In fact, it is a bit flat and boring.  The great thing though is, because it doesn't have a great deal of inherent flavor, it responds well to whatever you season it with.  It tastes like you want it to taste based on how you treat it, thus it is a great culinary canvas on which you can create something wonderful - like the best taco - I mean fiesta soup you've ever had.  Serves 8-10.   

Grilled Potatoes

It has been said that the simple things in life are the best.  If that is true, then it explains why these potatoes are so amazing. 

Ingredients
Desired number of Idaho Russet baking potatoes
2-3 Tbsp. canola oil
2 generous Tbsp. Kosher salt

The Method
Preheat grill to medium-high heat (350-400 degrees).  Select potatoes suitable for baking, scrub and cut off any exterior defects.  Slice each potato in half.  Place halved potatoes in a gallon storage bag and pour in canola oil and salt.  Close top of bag and toss potatoes inside until evenly coated with oil and salt.  Place potatoes on upper grill rack (indirect heat).  If your grill has no upper rack, you can still do indirect heat by turning off the burner on one side and placing potatoes on the grill grate over the inactive burner.  If you used all burners to achieve your target temperature, you will need to turn up your other burner(s) after turning off the one you are cooking over.  Flip potatoes and rotate around cooking area of grill depending on the progress of your potatoes and the presence of hot spots - about every 8-9 minutes until nicely browned (about 34-40 minutes).

Remove from grill and serve while hot.

Food for Thought
These potatoes need no accoutrements but if you like, go for it.  Just keep it simple; barbecue sauce, ketchup (if you must) or even a little tangy dill mayo, or malt vinegar.  I have made these scores, nay hundreds of times and so believe me when I tell you, they require a bit of patience but they are worth it.  In the summer, they go great with your grilled steak, chicken or whatever.  They're best, however, when you feel the need to grill in the winter and have to sample a small morsel to see if they're done.  Ice cold weather, steaming hot potato.  The simple pleasures really are the best!