Tales from the Wandering Cook

[echoes]

Thank you Britwtich the the Amazing graphic.

Hello there, I am E and I will be your host for the evening. Before we get too far in talking about food I do need to pop out a disclaimer or two.

First off: I am not a chef; I am, however, a cook. I could go so far as to say I am not a baker either, not really, but I will occasionally put various things into ovens. I have nothing but the utmost respect for those who go to the various culinary schools around the world but I did not. Yes, I spent the better half of two decades working in various restaurants but I peaked at “manager.”  Most of the posts here will be food and drink recipes, stuff I make or have made, stuff I am trying out and so on. I had been on a big Mediterranean Kick as of late but that has stopped for now and I am just doing some fav's for the family cause everyone is sick. Much like a Big Wheel in a Cul de Sac in the 80's; I've been around. So, wait and see what pops up, Hope you try one or two of what you find here and you like it.

Second: and this can be a pain in the butt for some of you reading this, if anyone reads this at all, I don’t always include all the measurements that I will use. This is not me hiding a secret, it is because I cook by feel, and feeling, more than just following a recipe. I can follow recipes, and I really need to start writing down my own because some of them actually taste good. On top of this, I am an American and if I do use weights it will be with what I know the best. I will do my best to include metric weights, because the rest of the entire world uses them, but if I forget please leave out the pitchforks and torches. Well, at least until we get to talking about BBQ and grilling that is.

So, originally I had a recipe following up after that amazingly short (for my wordy ass) introduction. It was Chicken and Dumplings, which technically is now the fourth post here. Anyway,  I decided Monday would be a great day to test positive for covid and in addition to that, it is raining where I live. So what does this mean I am actually going to be cooking quite a bit and putting a few things up here. My goal is to get one food item a week and then one mixed drink a week.

What be Echoes cooking?

Chicken Marsala / Spring Mix Salad / Homemade Balsamic Vinigarette - Entree/ Salad/ Salad Dressing
Butternut Squash Soup -- Vegetarian - Entree
Chicken and Dumplings / Bourbon Spritz - Entree / Drinks
The Hurricane - Drinks
Simple Syrup / E's Dirty Old Fashioned - Drinks
Chicken Tortellini and Brown Butter Sauce - Entree
Ras El Hanout - Spice Mix
Naan  Bread - Appetizer
Roasted Garlic Hummus - Spread
Roasted Pistachio and Parmesan Pearled Couscous - Base
Moraccan Chicken With Chickpeas - Entree
Paprika Pork with Pierogis - Entree
E's Bourbon Spritz / Baltimore Style Crab Cakes Appetizer/ Drink
Cajun Remoulade - Sauce
Beff Kielbasa and Sour Cream Spaetzle - Entree
Pizza Dough Done Easy - Starter
Beef Bolognese -  Entree
Sausage and Gnocchi - Entree
Creamed Corn -  Side
Deep Fried Risotto with Prosciutto and Parmesan - Appetizer
E's Spiked Apple Cider- Drink
Beef Stroganoff - Entree
Red Wine and Port Sauce for Beef - Sauce
Hot Ham and Cheese Pull Apart Bread - Bread/ Appetizer
Sun Dried Tomato Marscapone Cream sauce - Sauce
Mandarin orange Wine Sauce for Pork Tenderloin - Sauce
Creme Brulee - Dessert

[echoes]

As Promised:

Chicken Marsala

Yesterday was my partner’s birthday and so I decided to make sure she had something for dinner that was one of her favorite meals. This could have been anything that she liked but I then found out that it was also a long day at work so of course I had to go all in. So here was the menu:

Chicken Marsala atop Angel Hair Pasta
Spring Mix Salad with Feta Cheese, Walnuts and a homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette
Baked bread with herb dipping oil

And all this paired with a Reisling wine which would complement the savory flavors of the dish.

Now, I did not make a cake because she had requested one from a local store so no dessert this time,

Chicken Marsala

Approx. 3lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts ( I like leftovers )
7 Tablespoons of Flour
Salt
Pepper
2 Tablespoons Oregano
4 Tablespoons EV (Extra- Virgin) Olive Oil
4 Tablespoons Butter
2 1/2 Cups of Marsala Wine
1 Medium White Onion ( Diced )
3 Cloves of Garlic
4 Ounces Chopped Mushrooms.
2 1/2 - 3 Cups Heavy Cream

Pasta equal to number of Portions of Chicken
   *Note: Traditionally Chicken Marsala and the style of sauce used in its creation tends itself to a thicken pasta like Linguini. Normally I would use Linguini but since the girlfriend had a shitday at work I used her favorite pasta which is Angel Hair. Oddly enough, this thinner pasta works because instead of more sauce on fewer noodles you now have more noodles holding more sauce. While I respect tradition, when something works then I find that to be all good in my book.

Spring Salad and Balsamic Vinaigrette

Spring salad mix, rinsed and stems plucked
2 oz. Walnuts ( crushed )
1 oz. Feta Cheese ( can use seasoned feta if wanted)
(Optional, but she doesn’t like these things: diced Sun dried tomatoes or craisins or both)

Balsamic Vinaigrette
2 Tablespoons EV Olive Oil
3 teaspoons Balsamic Vinegar
½ teaspoons Honey
2-3 teaspoons Dijon or spicy mustard
¼ clove of minced garlic
¼ diced shallot
3 dashes of Lemon juice
Salt to taste

*Note: This is one/two servings of Balsamic Vinaigrette at the most. I don't like this dressing so if you need to bump the amounts up for more guests I would double at the least for a 4 person meal.

Cooking time:

Salad first so it could chill: Spring mix was pulled and rinsed. Stems picked and was split into 2 bowls and left to chill in the fridge. Dressing is easy:

Olive oil and Balsamic Vinegar in a bowl and mixed until incorporated. Honey and Dijon then added and blending in until you have a murky looking liquid. Add in the dashes of lemon along with the garlic and shallot before adding salt. Taste and tweak until just right. Set aside, do not put in the fridge or the oil will separate and congeal and that looks nasty. Its can stay room temp and not kill you.

Kick off an oven to 350 degrees F (176C) and let it heat up. Line two different sheet trays (use half trays) with parchment paper and set aside. Get a large high walled, skillet, or other cooking vessel, atop a burner and turn heat on low. Add about two Tablespoons of the olive oil and let heat slowly.

Get out a gallon Ziplock or other style of baggie (that what we call then here in the states, what are they called elsewhere in the world? Ziplock or plastic bags for storing leftovers, someone PM me and tell me if they have other names.) and drop in your flour and oregano. Add salt and pepper; you know you here. If you want a heavier salt or pepper or both, then add to what you are used to. Do remember this: it's always easier to add more later than to take away. Once you have the flour and spices in the bag, seal and shake for a good 30 seconds or longer to mix. Wait for everything to settle, open the bag and set aside.

Grab a cutting board and your chicken and it’s time to work on your anger management. Chicken Marsala is an Italian-American dish that is based off the traditional Italian “Scaloppina” dishes. These dishes get their name by relying on an “escalope” to be the star of the meal. An escalope is simple: it’s a thinner cut of meat made by using a tool, like a mallet or rolling pin, to flatten a piece of meat. One can also use a knife to cut the meat into thin, flat portions. Given the type of chicken breasts I have, and that I am pretty decent with a knife, I went the later route. I will quickly tell you how to do both methods and you can decide which works best for you:

Pre Game:

Even if you are going to use a mallet or rolling pin to work your frustration out on this poor unsuspecting tasty treat you do need to use the knife first. Boneless, skinless, chicken breast tend to have a little white sliver of tendon that you can eat but I always remove. Usually it is quite pronounced and you do 2 cuts to get the tendon out. Lay the breast flat on your cutting board so that the tender is exposed and do one cut above and another below in a “v” shape to get the tendo without taking a bunch of chicken with you. Now, I said above and below but you can also think of it as left and right.

Hammer Time:
Either put the chicken breast in another baggie, lay flat atop the cutting board and go to town or you can lay the breast flat and then cover with plastic wrap of some kind. Hammer until the chicken is a uniform width of about a quarter of an inch (¼) or about 4-5 mm in thickness. This will fray the edges of the chicken and it might break up some while you are hammering it. Once this starts to happen, avoid hammering those areas. Once the breast is done, toss it into the flour mixture and continue on with the rest of the chicken until done.

Mac the Knife:   
I prefer using the knife here and what I do is trim the tendon and lay the breast flat on the cutting board. Whichever side is the thickest part of the chicken is where I start and I am right handed so the right hand has the knife and the left holds the chicken. Now, you can use a cutting glove if you have one but if you do not what I do is place my palm atop the chicken ( I was going to say palm atop the breast but I didn’t want you pervs getting antsy) and I keep my fingers up and away as I slice in from the thickest portion of the breast. From there I cut to my left and angle the blade up on down in an effort to keep the two pieces even in weight. Once the pieces are rendered then they go into the flour bag just like the hammer example above.


Slow stuff is slow but this is over, time to get cooking and everything speeds up from here.Get all the chicken into the bag and then wash your hands. Turn the heat up from low to a medium high and drop in two Tablespoons of butter on top of the oil. (I use a 4 quart Tramontina Braiser for things like this. They are about forty bucks American and I have used this once every other week since I got the thing. You will see it again in pictures and me talking about food but you can use any large pan with high walls.) Get the oil up to temp and while it is heating up you seal the flour bag and shake it like Outkast told you to do::

“Shake it, shake it, shake it. Shake it like a Polaroid picture. Hey-ya!”

Yes I play music while I cook and I even dance while doing so. “Shake your rump” from the Beastie Boys and Italian cooking go hand in hand if you didn’t already know this.

Back to work:

When the butter melts and just starts to brown is when you get your chicken in. Lay a few pieces in and do not crowd the pan. When it did this, and if I get pictures up here, you will see I had eight pieces of chicken and I cooked them as two sets of 4. Get 4 pieces in, and going, and then do the one thing that inexperienced cooks do not do. LEAVE THEM ALONE. Let them cook, do not lift them and look under them. They need about 4 minutes per side to get this light golden brown like. So fuck off and let the heat do its thing.

While the chicken cooks you can dice/ chop your onion and mushrooms. Mince your garlic or, if you have pre minced garlic and already chopped onion/ mushrooms then you can make your salad dressing. Once you hit about 4 minus then check the chicken. Light brown to a toasted brown and a firmness when you pick the chicken up means flip the bird and do the other side. Once the chicken is done transfer to one of the sheet trays and then cook the remaining birds. You may need to add a tablespoon more of olive oil and then remaining 2 Tablespoons of butter at this time. Get then chicken in and then add the butter in open spaces around the breasts. Cook just like you did before and then transfer these breasts to the SAME sheet tray as the others. Place the sheet tray, uncovered, into the oven.

The Marsala sauce:

The pan on the stove should be hot with old and pieces of the breading still cooking when you add your onions. These take longer to reduce than the mushrooms and the garlic so start with them first. Right in on the still hot oil/butter combination. Then the mushroom and finally the garlic. If everything seems to be browning too fast you can go ahead and get your Marsala in as well and get it reduced. Its going to take 3 -5 minutes, possibly more, for the wine to cook off but you want to get it down to a slightly thin syrup consistency. Do this and then add any remaining butter you have before adding your cream and dropping the down to simmer. Stir and incorporate everything together and if you have to pull it from the heat for a moment then that is ok. .

Remove the chicken from the oven and set beside the pan. Place the chicken directly into the mixture and submerge as best you can. Cover and put atop low heat. You are going to leave it be for about 5 minutes. Now is the time to start your pasta in a separate pot: cook pasta per directions, Linguini usually takes about 8 - 10 minutes to cook.  About 4-5 minutes into the pasta cook cycle you take the top off the Marsala chicken and flip the breast, submerging once again in the sauce. Since I did Angel hair this is when I started my pasta.

Remember that other parchment lined sheet tray. This is a great time to take bread of your choice and drop it atop that sheet tray. Throw it in the oven for 5 minutes to warm up. Get a small bowl and pour the remainder of your olive oil in there, add a bit more if you want, and then add seasoning to taste. When in a hurry I use a story mixed Mediterranean blend or Italian blend with added garlic and salt. Once you pull and drain the pasta you pull the bread and let it sit.

To Plate:

Bowls or plates is a personal choice. I did plates with these and started by creating a nest of noodles on which I set a breast atop and then ladled out sauce. Dash of Parsley and then Parmesan cheese and dinner was done. A glass of white wine, the Riesling I mentioned earlier and from start to finish I had dinner for anywhere from 3- 6 people in about 45 minutes.


Last Note: May add pictures of food in the future. Sadly, there are no pictures of me dancing.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Butternut Squash Soup

While I am most certainly omnivorous I don't have to have a protein in every meal I make. Well, I mean, I don't have to include one but I oftentimes do, even in this one which is vegetarian. Now, this can be tweaked a bit to be vegan but it is going to have some dairy up in this piece so for those of you who want to make it your own; have at it friends. Also, I'm doing this one lazy grocery style. By that, I am not peeling and dicing all the veggies that will go into this soup today so I will write this as if you were going shopping and needed to get this done on the quick. Now, on the quick is kind of an oxymoron considering you want this to cook for at least forty-five minutes up to an hour and a half, but this means the prep time is minimal.

Finally, you may be wondering why in the hell am I doing a soup in July/August when it is hot as balls outside. Well, as I mentioned in the first post, I had a positive Covid Test on Monday and I have been lucky in that it acted like a 4 day Summer cold. Yeah, Thursday blew pretty hard but I will take that over some of the stories I have heard from others. I got Covid from my girlfriend's eldest who had just come back from a week long summer camp (ie: petri dish) which was, as you may have guessed, a spreader event. Well, I had been around him the most and so he gave it to me. Then his younger brother pestered him on Monday and Tuesday and by Wednesday he had it as well. My girlfriend tested positive on Friday and so it is soup today. That and we have a cold spell here which means the outside is nice at the moment with the rain and whatnot. So yeah, rainy day, everyone in various stages of sick other that my Girlfriend's youngest brother ( we are his caretakers) and it is time for a savory soup sweet soup and toasted crusty bread.

Good Times.

So, the fast method :

4- 6 Tablespoons of butter ( or margarine if you want to go Vegan)
* Note, you can do this with olive oil and you can go light with the "fat" portion of this part of the recipe. I go the 6 route to add flavor.
10oz bag of soup starter Veggies ( Onion, Carrot, Celery Peppers) *Frozen
2 10 Oz. bags of Butternut Squash *Frozen
1 20 Bag of Root veggies ( carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips etc. *Frozen Edit: If the bag you get has beets then discard them. It turns the soup an eerie Pepto Bismol Pink and it can look like liquid silly putty.
1/4 cup Parsley
3 Tablespoons Minced Garlic
Salt, pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons of Basil
1 32 oz Container Vegetable Stock/broth


Optional:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
Diced Green Onions
Sour Cream

(And for the meat eater who are afraid of a meal without meat. Diced bacon)

Now , for those who want to do it all yourself:
1Large Onions
3 cloves of Garlic
All the following veggies are peeled and diced to 1/4 inch cubes:
1 large Squash
2 Potatoes ( bakers, russet or Idaho. Not golden or red)
1 Large Onion
4 Celery Stalks, leaves included
4-6 carrots
1 Sweet Potato, 2 if they are small
parsnips if you want them.
3 cups of water

Prep is easy.

If you are doing it with store bought frozen bags
1) Medium to large cooking vessel that can be covered.=, heat on medium high melt "fat" ( butter, marg or heat oil.) Open up all the bags of the veggies and in the root veggie mix discard any beets.
2) Add onion mix and get to cooking. Cook for 2 -3 minutes and add garlic. Cook for additional 2 minutes.
3) In goes the broth/stock  and then it is Mel Brooks from History of the World Part I. Pawn Jumps Queen, Bishop Jump Queen,  Knight Jumps Queen. Gang bang.... in goes the all the veggies, salt and pepper to taste and the parsley and then return to boil.
4) Once boiling, reduce heat to medium, cover and set timer for 30 minutes. You want the veggie to be super soft and the excess liquid to evaporate
5) this can be done as quick as 30 minutes but usually takes about 45.

If you are doing this with fresh veggies then prep begins by skinning and cutting down all the veggies first and then follow the above instructions but the cook time can be anywhere from and hour to and hour fifteen to get the butternut squash chunks to soften. The smaller the cut and the faster it will cook.

Ok, now we are caught up:

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Once everything is reduced a good portion of the liquid as evaporated you can take the soup off the heat. Add in oregano and then stir.  Now you have a couple of options but you are going to need three things. : Blender, sieve/strainer, large bowl.

Depending on your texture preference you can either blend everything as is, adding cream of water to get the viscosity that you want which will have a rougher or grainy texture. If you want something super smooth then what you do is blend the mixture with the cream or water and then pass it through a strainer into the bowl. Pour your mix in and use a wooden spoon to push it through and you will have a ridiculously smooth soup that is sweet and savory.

For serving I usually dice Green Onions as a garnish and place a generous drop of sour cream in the middle of the bowl. You can also make a crema, cutting the sour cream with milk and then you pipe the crema onto of the soup. You can also add, remember I said I would take care of the meat eaters who were worried about there being no meat in this meal, diced bacon.

One last thing regarding this version of my soup. Sometimes I will let it cook longer, burn off more of the broth, or not pour all of the liquid into the blender to make the soup thicker. I didn't and once straining is made a lovely soup that was a little thinner than I normally make. Reason for this, didn't want to agitate my partner's throat while she got the Vid. Her words were, "dis is loverly." (I have steadily destroyed her near PHD having ass and now she speaks my version of Pownerspeak. Powner = ponies=horses. I have developed a language much like the lolspeak of the early 2000's but this is how our horses talk. There are stories elsewhere in this site where I digress into pownerspeak.)

Pick a favorite style of bread, a boule or load of something that can be toasted nicely. What I usually do is just pick up a French or Italian bread, sometimes a baguette and I will take off the ends. I will do cuts and 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick depending on the meal, and slice almost all the way through. Then, a real quick drizzle of olive oil across the top. use what feel best for you, and then a little inside the cuts. Use a brush to spread the oil and then dust with salt, garlic and a shaved Parmesan cheese. Into the oven for  5- 10 ten minutes depending on what kind of crust you want and then its go-time.

Remember Kids, in most Italian and quite a bit of French cooking, Bread is the 4th major utensil.

[echoes]

Chicken and Dumplings

Now, for those outside of the states, and you heathens that live in the far Northeast and Northwest, Chickens and Dumplings is/are a Southern staple that was supposedly developed after the Civil War when some food supplies were hard to come by. It is, at its most basic form: chicken, a broth and dough balls that are meant to fill the belly in the cheapest way possible. I tend to include vegetables in my version but we will get to that in a bit. There is a French Canadian dish similar to this but for the most part this comes to you straight from the Southern United States.

Because of this history, or a time when many staples were sometimes difficult to come by, Chicken and Dumplings can be remarkably simple to prepare. You don’t need much more than the following:

Chicken ( Imagine that)
Flour
Baking Powder
Milk
Butter, margarine or some type of fat
Salt
Pepper
Water

After these basic ingredients everything else is just extra and in my case there will be basil, parsley, corn, green beans, carrots, bacon drippings and chicken stock.

It really can be that simple and then the trick becomes; at what temperature do you cook, and for how long, to get the chicken so tender that it shreds on your tongue? Now, the recipe, if you want to call it that, In all, this is simple and great for anything from a family get together to a potluck with friends. This is NOT carb friendly, rarely is Southern cooking carb friendly, but you are not eating this if you are trying to diet. You are eating this for warmth and comfort and are well within your rights to curl up and nap under a window, either in sunlight or as it rains, with no judgment from me.

Of course something this good would not last without some form of dispute and in this case it is whether to use drop balls of uncooked dough to make the dumplings or, in my case, to flatten the dough and cut into squares. I do the latter because the drop balls have a tendency to be undercooked and raw on the center if not properly handled. The flatten dumpling that I choose to do not only will cook all the way through but it can lend itself to acquiring the taste of the broth much better than its dough ball sibling. Now, that was my take on it and your mileage may vary.

Before we begin I will say that my “broth” is somewhere between a soup and a stew; I like the consistency a little thicker than just a water. I think this lends to the utilization of the dumpling just like different types of pasta get different sauces because of how they hold the sauce. I like the dumpling to have a nice layer of broth atop it and texturally this is pleasing for me. For those of you who like your broths thinner, so really more like an actual broth, I will make sure to tell you how to get your consistency while keeping the flavor of this dish intact.

Ok preamble out of the way. Wordy Echoes is wordy.

The two most important parts of Chicken and Dumplings are the broth and the dumpling. Chicken is chicken and you will either let it be, and it will be perfect, or you will overdo it and muck it up. More than the chicken, to me that is, the broth is the star of this show. The dumpling is the method of conveyance and the chicken is really, at best, the supporting actor/ress. The base of my broth is a Roux and I will use a combination of butter and bacon drippings to make what is called a “Blond” Roux. Normally a Roux is equal parts of a fat : butter, margarine, lard, shortening Etc. and flour that is used to make the base thickener for many sauces. A White roux is this combination but it doesn’t really have much in the way of flavor: its purpose is as a starch used to thicken a liquid. A Blond Roux is cooked longer and starts to slightly change color which is indicative of the flavor of the flour being brought out. This adds a nutty flavor meant to compliment any additional herbs or spices added at this time. Once the roux starts taking shape I will add chicken stock and water, in equal portions

So here we go, and I want you, don’t count calories and eat homestyle Southern cooking. That is a masochist’s hot moment right there. So to begin, I do two things at one time; i get the Roux and the chicken going in separate cooking vessels ( there is a reason I am going to use that phrase for now.) Now depending on your knife skills you can cut your chicken now or you can get it all cubed up beforehand. I cubed it earlier and I did a rough cut so that the cubes were about a half inch, a centimeter and change, cubed.

The chicken:
1.5 lbs (.68 Kg) of Boneless skinless chicken breast
2 Tablespoons of Butter/ Marg/ Fat

Note: you can use light meat, dark meat or even, in a pinch, grab a precooked rotisserie chicken and strip it down. Sometimes the rotisserie even works better because it shreds so much faster if you like a stringy textured chicken to coat the dumplings.

The Roux
6 tablespoons of Butter/ Marg/ Fat
2 tablespoons of Bacon drippings (fat)
6 tablespoons of flour
A pinch or two of salt
A pinch of two of pepper.

Start the butter melting over medium heat in a medium sized pot and this will be for the Roux. Add in the bacon fat and let those two melt, stirring occasionally just to get them to start incorporating. While you do this, get a large sauté pan, the one I have has walls that are about two and half, three inches tall and this will be important later; do not just use a traditional sauté dish. Start 2 tablespoons of butter melting on medium high heat.

32 Ounce container Chicken Stock (or broth)
2 Cups of water

Once the butter is melted in both add the chicken to the saute pan and throw in a pinch of salt and pepper. I also tend to add a bit of garlic and onion powder but you will do you. Get that cracking and then check on your medium sized pot. If the butter/fat combination is bubbling add in the flour and season. Stir the flour in and you will make a thick almost glue-like texture mixture that is your Roux. Now, here is where you go back and forth between the two pots before we add a third to the mix. Don’t worry, the third one is easy. In a third pot you pour in 4 cups of chicken stock. A standard 32 ounce container of chicken stock is 4 cups, so put half into this new pot, add 1 cup of water and turn it up to get it hot.

It will take the chicken, when cubed down to ½ inch cubes, about 4 to six minutes to cook to where you want it. This gives the Roux time to cook and brown just a bit which will bring out a nutty flavor from the flour. Keep stirring and at a medium heat the Roux should not even get close to a burn. After about 6 minutes add the chicken stock/ water combination a half cup to a cup at a time to the Roux. Don’t freak out if suddenly your beautiful butter glue combination suddenly turns into a crazy dough mixture. Just keep stirring and adding, stirring and adding until the liquid is all incorporated. Everything will return to how you think it is supposed to luck with the proper application of a whisk.Once this is done, crank the heat up to medium high and use a slotted spoon to transfer the chicken directly into the base of the soup. Do not take any drippings or remaining fat from the saute pan. Leave it be because you are going to pour 2 cups, the remainder of the chicken stock, and a cup of water into the saute pan and turn the heat down to low.

Once you have the base working in the medium pot, and it is now bubbling rapidly turn the heat back down to medium low and pop a lid on that sucker. You need to stir occasionally but let the heat do its work because now it is dumpling time.

Dumplings done easy:
1 cup Flour ( I used A/P ( All Purpose)
1.5 teaspoons Baking powder
.5 teaspoon sugar
1 Tablespoon butter/Marg/ fat
¼ cup Milk ( I used 2%)
1 teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Dried Basil
1Tablespoon Dried Parsley

Mix all dried ingredients before adding the butter. Now, you want the butter soft, room temperature but in a pinch you can chop it up and add it in and it will soften fast enough. Just mix with a fork and stir everything up really well. Add in the herbs ( mine were dried but you can use fresh.) and finally you add in the milk. This is going to leave a very tacky ball of doughy goodness. If it won’t incorporate everything add in one teaspoon of water at a time until you have a nice dry ball of mess. Then let sit for 5 or 6 minutes. Go stir the base and take a teaspoon, take a sample and taste; adjust seasoning accordingly.

Ok, so the minutes pass and then make your choice . If you want to drop balls then crank up the saute pan with the stock and water and make it boil. Take a teaspoon and scoop balls of dough and drop them in. There is no special way to do this though, if you have them, you can use 1 or 2 ounce scoops that have the trigger on them to get near perfect balls. ( There, I said balls and somewhere the twelve year old inside of you laughed.) Or, you can do what I do and dust a countertop or cutting board with flour so that it looks like Tony Monatan’s coffee table and roll the dough out. What I do is transfer the dough atop the flour and knead it a few  times to get a dusting on the dough before using a rolling pin to flatten this. I try to get it around 1/8th of a inch thick or a bit thinner, 2 - 3 mm in height. Once that is done I use a pizza cutter to make a grid pattern giving me 1 inch  / 2 cm squares. From here, dump them in the now hopefully boiling stock and water. Drop em all in, use a wooden spoon to push them about, get them coated and then turn the temp of the pan down to medium low.

They cook for 10 minutes, so guess what you get to do. That’s right, you get to stir the base some more.

Canned Veg 1 each : Corn, carrots and green beans. Open and drain out, drop into base and stir in. If you are using fresh, and you didn’t read this all the way through before starting, then I suggest not doing carrots unless you cut them really thin. Basically I may have fucked you here, but you can save it, smaller cooks faster, cut small my friends. I had canned veggies and needed to use them because I was in a time crunch. Drain and drop them in and then stir.

Homestretch

Dumplings get finished and you drop everything atop the base, the chicken and the veggies. Stir in and bring back up to a boil for a bit. Give one last taste and add oregano, herbs of your choice and parsley before removing from heat. If you want this thinner add a ½ cup of water at a time until you are satisfied with the viscosity. I like the base to be a bit thick because I think it goes better with the dumplings.

This goes best with some rustic bread, toasted or not and is a great meal come fall. To go with it, to add a little light to the heavy, I also made a Bourbon Spritz so, for those of you of legal drinking age in your appropriate countries, here is one last thing before I call this first post done:

2 Oz Bourbon ( don’t look for a higher proof here, you want this to be “light” So a good 80 proof works here. You can go a little heavier, up to 90 if you must.
1 ½ Oz. Oj
½ Oz. Lemon Juice
2 Oz. Simple Syrup
2 Dashes of bitters ( I use blood orange bitters but you can change that if you wish.)
2 Oz. seltzer water
Orange peel slice 1/4inch thick
1 orange wheel for garnish.

In a shaker add ice and orange peel, muddle the peel a bit or just use the shaker and then add the Bourbon, OJ, Lemon Juice, Simple syrup and bitters. Shaker well and then pour into a glass over ice. Finally add the seltzer water atop the cocktail and give one quick stir. Garnish with the orange wheel and enjoy the summer. ( this is a breakfast drink for me and before you sit there and go, Jebus E, a Breakfast drink!? I will point out that this is like a Bourbon Mimosa.)

Cheers.

[echoes]

Hey everyone, so, not doing a meal tonight, just a cocktail. Once the sun goes down it is time to stop work and enjoy tiki torches and exceptionally loud music. Ok, so, maybe you want a bar or pub, a beach or a pool. Lots of after dark repasts are out there, pick your poison. Now, sometimes the nights where I live are almost as hot as the days and I know there are places on this spinning bowling ball called Earth that are even hotter so I am going to do a play on a popular drink that will hopefully help cool you down.

The Hurricane

So, despite Sazerac (Will do that drink another time when I am doing Cajun food) being the unofficial/official (Depending on who you ask) drink of  New Orleans, more than one bead goer as sucked down a Hurricane out of a plastic glass during the heights of Mardi Gras. The drink did not get its name from the storms that occasionally try to wipe out the big easy, in fact they come from miles away in the ancient and evil city known as New York and eponymously named Hurricane Bar. Now the drink is associated with the Pat O'Brien chain of bars and trust me, you can find one of these on any corner in the quarter once the sun goes down.

The traditional drink comes with 4 ounces of Rum, 2 light and 2 dark before adding in an ounce of OJ and then and ounce of Lemon juices (Fresh or otherwise.) Now, to get the color , that reddish orange that is a Hurricane, you add in a 1/2 ounce to an ounce of Passion Fruit juice or puree and a tablespoon of Grenadine followed by a half ounce to an ounce of Simple Syrup ( depending on taste profile you want for your drink. Garnishes include Orange wheels and cherries.''

I, however, am not a big fan of passionfruit and it was kinda hard to find the day I was making pitchers of these drinks. So, I found an Orange Mango combo that went really well with what I was doing.

The Hurricane
2 oz White Rum
2 oz Dark Rum
1 1/2 oz Orange/mango juice ( they also have an orange, mango and bannana)
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
2 oz Simple Syrup
1 (2) Tablespoons of Grenadine.

Drop everything but the Grenadine in on top of ice and shake it. Pour through a strainer into another glass full of ice ( or just say fuck it and pour the original into an actual glass like the lazy bastards we are) and add grenadine, swirling the Grenadine through the drink with a straw to add color.

Garnish with Oranges and cherries.

This is just a great summer drink but this is a very sweet drink. Sweetness, for the uneducated, turns into headaches and praying to get hit by a bus. Moderation everyone, it means something different to each of us, but be careful when you have so much sugar in one drink. `

[Aislinn]

Chicken and Dumplings

Now, for those outside of the states, and you heathens that live in the far Northeast and Northwest.....

*gasps, lives in the PNW*  ;)

Disclaimer, I am a chef, although not working in the industry currently.

Just wanted to drop in and say 'hello' and compliment the recipes. Keep up the good work! (Love all the detail you put into them!)

[echoes]

*gasps, lives in the PNW* 

Disclaimer, I am a chef, although not working in the industry currently.

Just wanted to drop in and say 'hello' and compliment the recipes. Keep up the good work! (Love all the detail you put into them.

Aislinn, (I typed your name 4 times..mumble mumble auto-correct)

Thanks for the nice words and I hope to soon figure out the best way to add pictures to the posts.

PacNorth is rather pretty but has a much more cosmopolitan scene when it comes to just about everything compared to where I am from. Now, that said, we have grown up quite a bit in the last 20 years so now we are only about 20 years behind.

With this in mind I was debating on doing more comfort food, a regional dish know as a "hot Brown," (open faced ham and turkey under Mornay sauce with bacon, tomatoescand all the cheese) as the next post but I may go international. I have a Moroccan Inspired chicken with chickpeas atop a toasted pistachio, pameasan pearled cous cous that is pretty much to die for.

I thought there was a way to do votes in a post, I will ask someone about that. Until then, next dish is up in the air, if anyone has 2 cents as to which one to do, send me a PM.  Won't be this weekend though, I am a groom at a horse show for the gf.

Cheers all,

E.

[echoes]

So.

I have been good powner boyfriend (as in we have horses and this isn't a weekend of pony play you degenerates) and have unloaded a trailer and got three stalls set for horses and then a tack stall complete with cooler, chairs and most importantly...

FANS

I have a bit of time to add to the blog with non food items. Tonight we talk about old fashioneds and simple syrup.  Now, back in ye olden days of college, or uni depending on where you are from, the mixer was often as exotic as a soda, cola or pop of choice. Pre-made mixes in plastic bottle made Pina Coladas, Margaritas and any number of assorted mix drinks that you then combined with the cheapest alcohol you could find. Despite what some think before, and even some after, they college years regarding brand and quality. It wasn't about quality; it was about quantity and you know this if you drank in college like I did. I am just telling you how it is, it was and how it always wl be. Kinda like the Sisters of Mercy album titled First, Last and Always.

Now, as we age, our tastes change and most of our livers and kidneys cannot process the swill booze we used to shoot with the same gusto as we once did. Yes, now the hangovers hurt and we question our very existence after a night on the town. We learn to slow down, to enjoy a drink in more than one mouthfuls, and we expirement with whatever new trend suits our fancy. In a lot of these mixed concoctions there is an ingredient know as - Simple Syrup- that seems mysterious and strange. It is not in the syrup aisle at the local mart and even several places that peddle booze don't seem to carry it. So, what is it?

Equal parts water and sugar.

That is it 1 to 1. I do 1 cup to 1 cup and here is what you do:
Small.pot on the stove. Water in. Sugar in. Medium heat until everything dissolves.
Effin done.
The easiest drink recipe ever and used in so many cocktails it is stupid not to have in the fridge. Plus, if you don't use it. Feed hummingbirds, they will approve.

E's Dirty Old Fashioned

I will write some quirky shit later. Gotta bang this out and then go wash a horse.
2 oz. Bourbon of choice.
( Note: as. Mixed drink you don't need crazy nuances unless that is your style. A good dependable bourbon works fine)
1 oz simple.syrup
2-3 dashes of bitters (I use blood orange bitters but you can use Angostura if you want)
1 splash cherry juice
1/4 slice of orange peel
1-2 cherries for garnish

In a tumbler add ice. Put in orange peel and shake to agitate the peel (this is some boogie shit right here.) Add bourbon, syrup, bitters and splash cherry juice. Shake again. Use. Strainer and pour over 2 options.

1 fresh ice, pull.out orange peel and add it and cherries to new drink

2 no ice, or "neat" and add the garnish as above.

Sit back, sip and enjoy.

Cheers.

E.

[echoes]

Hey look!

The Wandering Cook Companion Thread

there is a poll there for a new dish later this week. Also, leave comments, or questions there and I can make this a more interactive type thing. I have been out of town this weekend with horses in another part of the state but I am back and will be doing some cooking, and drinking, this week. Hope you all have been enjoying, look forward to adding some more.

Cheers,

E

[echoes]

Hey everybody. So, back from the horse show that was last weekend and hadn't really planned to cook a lot of crazy until I found out if people wanted to hear about more Southern style comfort food or if they were interested in a little Mediterranean fare. Anyways, Monday was a shit show and I was royally irritated when I got home. So, I ended up doing some summer foods in the form of chicken salad, a rotini pasta salad with peas, fresh mozzarella and bacon and then deviled eggs with candied Bourbon bacon. So I will be sharing some of that here in the next day or so. Also, going to include what I did tonight which was not only Tortellini with chicken in a brown butter sauce. Now, the thing about the meal tonight; you could feed 4-6 people on a budget and even with a bottle of wine might be able to come in under thirty bucks America. Not only does this come in as cost effective ( maybe I ought to start pricing my stuff out, but it will also make it look like you know mad food skills even if you don't.

Finally, I and I was thinking about this on Monday, I am also going to start posting about things that I think everyone might consider having in their kitchen. No, I do not have a commercial cooktop and oven in my kitchen, and maybe.... JUST MAYBE, I get a little giddy thinking about having one, but there are a lot of inexpensive tools that really make kitchen life easier. So, going to include posts like that cause if even just one person who has been kind enough to check this thread out gets a use out of something I have written then everything here is a win.

So, yeah, thank you all for reading.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Cooking Big on a smol Budget

Chicken Tortellini with Brown Butter sauce

Ok, so while everything is going up in price you have to find a way to save money and time. So here is something I threw together and it will look hella impressive on short notice.

Ingrediants are simple

1 Rotisserie Chicken ( I prefer Costco's for price and weight ) - <$2.00   - Average price around $5.00
2 sticks of Butter ( salted or unsalted ) <$2.00 ( $4.00 for a pound)
1 box/bag of Tortellini Pasta ( I used Ranna cheese stuffed family sized 18oz ) <$8.00
4 oz. Pancetta, Prosciutto or Ham
Note: I had Ham on hand at the time but if you want it to be bougie AF then you can either get Prosciutto or Pancetta. Honestly, you can use bacon as well if that is what you want. Anyway, 4oz will run you <$2.00 ($4.00 - $8.00 per package depending on what you buy.)
4 oz walnuts, crushed <$2.00 ( $4.00 for an 8 oz bag.)
Salt, Pepper, Garlic and Garlic dried spices
Olive Oil
Parmesan Cheese <$1.00 (A wedge of BelGioioso is $5.00 but you dont use the entire wedge. and Kraft Powdered Parm is about $3.00)

Misc
Bread of some kind $1.00-$3.00
Wine: I went with a simple Chateau Ste Michelle Sauvignon Blanc that I got for <$15.00 but your wine tastes may vary.

So all total for the actual amount needed to make the meal comes out to around $35.00 and this will feed four or 5 people and give each a glass of wine with extra bread to spare. Using the full prices and the average on the meat and cheese prices still has you feeding 4 people for under $50 and obviously you have left over ingredients to make other meals. I am not including the price for the spices or for the olive oil because I imagine someone might already have these items if they cook regularly.

So, how to make this (and this is a quick recipe so watch your time on plating at the end) and look like a boss.

First, the bread then the recipe.
Oven on at 350 degrees (176c)
Take bread and make slices 4/5ths the way through about 1 inch (2cm) apart. You want the form of the bread to stay the same so you can toast it and pull it apart later.
Drizzle olive oil over the tops of the bread and lightly between the slices. Use a brush or spatula to spread.
Dust with Salt, Garlic powder and, if you want, grate some Parmesan Cheese add it as well.
Once oven is ready the bread goes int the oven for 10 mins or longer depending on how you like your bread.

1) all but 1 Tablespoon of butter into a small pot on medium heat. Start l melting
2) second pot started with water and salt on medium high for the pasta
3) dice up whichever meat you have decided to use other than bacon. You want a small dice, almost a mince, mine were about 2mm but you can pull this off up to 4mm and it will look and taste good. The pork is a compliment to everything else, not the star.
4) Sauté pan, large one, on medium heat. In goes the last Tablespoon of butter and then a good healthy splash of olive oil. get that going and check on your butter.

The butter ought to be melted and bubbling a bit. Turn heat down and stir often. This can go from brown to burn in a heartbeat which is only just that much slower than the blink of an eye. So stir and watch often.

5) pork into the butter and grease and let cook.
6) Chicken: when I made this I only used 1/2 of the chicken breast ( so basically one side of the spine.) Pull the skin back and pull the meat off. get it on the cutting board and give it a quick chop to break it up. You are not quartering this. just one pass left to right. If you feel it need more attention then by all means, hit it again; harder, harder. but do not overwork this.

Check butter again and stir. The bubbles and the foam is natural and your butter may seem to be a pale yellow before browning. that is fine.

7) Chicken in with the pork and mix. The pork may sizzle and pop, that is fine, just don't let it burn
8) Take the walnuts and crush them up a bit before adding them to the butter. bring the temp back up to a little past medium and stir.
9) get water to boil and add pasta. You are looking for al dente so if they container has instructions, follow them.

Everything is going to come off fast so here is what you do.

Pull the pasta and drain in a colander before returning to the pot. Then you toss the chicken and pork directly in and stir. Finally, pull the browned butter and get a strainer. Strain directly atop the Pasta and meats using the strainer to catch the walnut pieces. Discard the pieces. Finally shave Parm cheese, or dust with powdered cheese and mix. Add cheese to your preference. Add salt, pepper and garlic to taste. Pull bread out and then plate up. Open wine and garnish the plates with parsley.

Done

If you read this through and plan your steps you can have this done, start to finish, in under 20 minutes and cleanup wont take an additional five. In the greater scheme of cooking you are not using many tools or many vessels and the only reason it will take longer to clean up is if you handwash your pots and pans.

Cheers,

E

[echoes]

Time for a bit of a step away from from cooking and talk about some of the tools that are used to make the meals I talk about here. I am also going to see if I can get some pictures up to aid in what I am talking about. if I am successful in this endeavor then I will go back and add pictures here and there to other posts. So, wish me luck because I suck at this.

First off, I do not have a commercial grade kitchen but I do have a nice set of pots and pans. Unlike all the cooking shows you may watch I do not have just one set where all the items look the same. I have a single serving saute pan that I have had for twenty years as well as a lovely set of anodized cookware that is about two years old. There are things I have picked up here and there, several cast iron skillets and weights, that are a testament to trail and error. So, for those looking to cook out there; find stuff you like and that you get results with. There is always a luck factor in cooking, something that happens that takes a meal up, or down, a notch. Unlike Baking, which is precise and is a science, cooking is about feel as much as flavor.

Outside of what you are cooking with I think the most important tool(s), for me that is, would be a one two combo of a sharp knife and good cutting board. With knives, they do not have to be Damascus steel and important from Japan unless that is what you want to use. For the longest time, just like my pans and pots, I was using a collection of knives that I had picked up over the years and were mostly, but not all, Henckles. These have been a workhorse knife for me and I like how they have felt in my hand. They take some maintenance, invest in a good sharpener, but they owe me nothing. those who do a lot of cooking, or a lot of prep-work will tell you that a dull knife is one of the most dangerous things in a kitchen. I've had one go into the side of my finger down to the bone back in my restaurant days and that sucked. So sharp knife and then something to cut on. Cutting boards are a pick your poison type tool just like the two others mentioned above. They come in a variety of materials but most common are wood and HDPE (High Density PolyEurethane.) I like wooden boards but the HDPE are much lower in maintenance. Stone looks fancy and is easy to clean but can be a pain in the ass to move around. There are also rubber and silicone mats but I have never been a fan of those.

Quick note here and this is a me thing but others may feel the same: Do not use the knife to scrape a cutting board of whatever you have cut. Use a spatula or better yet, a dough scrapper, but do not use the knife. This will dull the blade of the knife and can damage some cutting boards. Invest 3 or 4 bucks and get a pastry scrapper, its worth it and you will be able to use it for a lot of other projects as well.

So yeah, start here. Pots and pans, you don't need a crazy set unless you are going to be doing some crazy cooking. Build small and slow, get a feel for what you are using. Get a good knife, a general utility chef's knife is your most versatile knife and then you can work your way out from there. Finally, get a good cutting board; something that doesn't slip on you and that you can manage.

More later.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

So I kind of went all in and soon there will be posts for the following:

Ras el Hanout (blend of spices)
Naan Bread
Spicy orange marmalade
Garlic hummus
(Yeah, I did a Naan flight)
Pistachio Parmesan pearled Couscous
and finally
Moroccan chicken and chickpeas

I have left overs and lunch is gonna be food tomorrow.

Cheers,
E.

[echoes]

So, something a bit different

Ras El Hanout

Is not a spice but a spice blend popular in predominantly Arabic country on the South side of the Mediterranean. We are looking at Morocco ( go figure given what I used this for) Algeria and Tunisia. Ras el hanout translates roughly as "Head of the Shop" and is meant to represent the best spices to blend for a meal.

Now, in the very first post I mentioned that sometimes I will not include weights and this is going to be one of those posts. I'm not doing this to be a dick, I'm doing this because if you decide to make your own blend don't take what I like and try to make it work for you. Make it yours and make it for you. I don't put a lot of heat in mine but there is some heat there, you may want to bump that up; or maybe you don't want it at all. There are dozens of recipes on line so go hunt them down and you will see there is a consistency in the spices used but everyone has their own blend and their own weights. Here are some of the most common spices for the Ras El hanout and the ones I use:

Cumin
Ginger
Tumeric
Cinnamon ( Note: I actual use a stick of cinnamon and put all the spices in a bean grinder and break the cinnamon down because I think that it makes it more aromatic. I could totally be full of shit here and it does nothing fancy and I am just being bougie but that is actually what I do.)
Black Pepper
Coriander
Allspice
Nutmeg
Cloves
Paprika
Salt ( Salt is last because salt does not dominate the blend, it is an accompanying spice, not a major player.)

Other Spices as options:
Cayenne Pepper
White Pepper
Onions Powder
Cardamon

All spices are ground and dry, get a good mix, experiment and find something that suits you and your tastes. Sadly, while growing up flavor relied on: salt, salt and more salt with the occasional pepper. I have really embraced other spices in the last decade

All measurements that I use are in Tablespoons, 1/2 and 1/4 tablespoons with left over spice being stored in a jar with a lid and a date on which I made it.

[echoes]

I made my own bread and didn't totally suck and I am pretty happy about that. Every culture seems to have a table bread, or a flat bread, that is so simple that all you can do is overthink it and mess it up. Enter:

Naan bread

( My lunch is almost over so I will be back later today to put this up here.  Edit, a day later and I didn't get to posting today. Soon.... soon..
8/17)

Ok, sorry it took me a bit to get back to writing but it has been a busy time. I did go all out on Monday and had a ball cooking. Did the Moroccan Chicken, which will be up here in a bit, garlic hummus and tried my hand at making naan for the first time. Now, the chicken and the hummus are my own but I have never made Naan myself so used a recipie from online. You can find the original here.

So Naan is a bread common throughout parts of Asian. the middle East and Africa. Its a table bread, which almost every culture I know of has a version of. That said, there a lot of cultures I don't know about but I'm learning. It does use a leavening agent ( rising agent) but it is not like European breads in that it is more flat and in the manner in which you cook it.

Ingredients ( and I picked Naan because there are not a lot of ingredients:)
1.5 Cups water ( temp between 105-110f)
2 teaspoons of active dry yeast
1 Tablespoon of Sugar
3 Cups AP Flour
2 teaspoons of salt

I wasn't lying, very few ingredients.

Ok, water in a 4 cup measuring cup and temped with a thermometer before adding yeast and stirring. NoTe: I am going to tell you all when I make mistakes because that is part of cooking. I got the temp right and in their instructions they say leave the mixture to sit for 10 minute or until you get bubbles of foam. I don't think I let it set long enough and this will be brought up later.

Mixing the dry is pretty easy and I used a stand mixer to get everything incorporated. While this was going on I start another project ( my garlic hummus) but when the timer went off it was time to add the wet to the dry. Again, i think I should have let it foam up more but I didn't and in it went.  I used the stand mixer on medium, occasionally stopping the mix to scrape the sides and eventually I had a pretty "tacky" (wet, sticky) doughball.

Here is NoTe number two and possibly mistake number two. The recipe says to knead for 3 minutes and I did. Maybe I should have gone a bit longer. maybe 5? Kneading, I forgot, is to incorporate air into the dough to not only help it rise but to keep  it from being dense. I got the kneading done ( which you have to use a bit more flour to dust your work area here. They said up to 2 tablespoons of flour but being that I did a double batch I went up to four. After the kneading was done I got a metal mixing bowl and coated it in olive oil. Unceremoniously plopped the dough ball in the middle, spread some more oil on top and covered in plastic wrap.

Oddly enough it was a really mild day for August here on Monday and the room I would normally let this rise in wasn't "warm." It was more "meh" so I used this as an excuse to run a washer clean cycle which raised the temperature in our little laundry room and helped the dough rise. The recipe said for 40-60 minutes so I took the average and left it along for 50. I made my hummus ( next recipe) and my Moroccan chicken (the one after that) and experimented with orange marmalade and Cholula with lime. A spicy orange marmalade was born which acts just like a chutney for dipping bread. +1

Ok, fast forward and just imagine a cooking montage with a banging soundtrack. The chicken was cooking, hummus got done and not only that, but I did all my dishes up to this point. The kitchen was smelling pretty damn good right now and when I checked on the bread it had doubled in size. So far so good.

Now here is where Naan really differs from European style breads in that it is grilled, or in my case pan fried, to cook it. You get your doughball out and I made 8 bebe doughballs and here is NoTe number three: I didn't make them big enough. Should have made six and I should have rolled then a bit thinner I guess. But I got them done and it was time to cook

Sauté pan, olive oil and medium high heat. Read the original if You want to grill them but I did not so into the pan they go. The Naan cooks quick but you can't rush them or they will be underdone. You want good brown and almost burn marks on your pieces. This is where the bread was supposed to rise and the heat would fill air pockets and cook the bread from the inside out.

Mine did not rise much, performance issues?

End product was 6 out of my 8 pieces had the texture and the taste and were awesome but not fluffy. 2 pieces had the taste but the texture was a leeetle bit rubbery. (boo) I finished the pieces off in the following ways:

Ghee (Clarified butter) and Paprika
Ghee and Parmeasan cheese
Olive oil and an Italian blend of spices
Plain

The bread, the 4th utensil, was great for dipping and did not take away from the meal at all. So, I give myself a B+ on this and will try it again to see if I can make them fluffy. I really wish I could get my pictures up here btu I have bene lazy on getting them to a platform I can use to upload them and I am not going to blow the wiki up here with a metric fuckton of pics, but the bread flight looked awesome. I had my hummus, the marmalade and then store bought Sweet mango Chutney and a Tamarin date spread that were where bread service is at. 

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

So, next up is Hummus and this last batch I made was perfection. I was really proud of this one. Going to post it here, try to get a post on another thread and then the laptop is going to charge and the yard needs attending to. May be back on later to finish off the day with the Moroccan Chicken recipe so check back later.

Roasted Garlic Hummus

So made Naan and I needed to make stuff to dip the bread in. Unlike Italian cooking, where the bread is a respected utensil and it is expected that you would use it to clean up whatever sauce had been use in the dish, the Naan I made was dedicated to having its own flight of dips. Hummus is a Middle Eastern dish more associated with Pita bread for dipping. It is made of Chickpeas (Garbanzo beans,) olive oil, Tahini (Made from ground sesame seeds,) Lemon juice and spices. It can be topped, garnishes, with whole Chickpeas, Sesame seeds, pine nuts, Paprika and so on.

Fixens

3 Tablespoons Minced Garlic ( or three cloves of fresh Garlic cleaned and minced.)
1 Can (15oz) Garbanzo beans
1/4 Cup Lemon Juice
1/4 Cup Tahini
2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Water (Water if needed)
Cumin
Salt, Pepper to taste
Spices of garnish

Pan on the stove, medium heat and that's where the minced garlic goes. If you are using whole garlic you need to peal, cut and mince before doing this part. stir often and you are waiting for it to just slightly darken and get aromatic before pulling it of.

Grab a colander and open your can of beans ( that just sounds wrong for some reason) before draining the beans in the colander. Give the beans a good rinse, stirring them up and then let drain.

In a food processor goes the olive oil, Tahini and lemon juice. Blend it for a minute and use a spatula to push all the splatter on the walls back into the mix. Add the roasted garlic, a dash or two of Cumin and the first round of your salt and pepper to taste before blending for another minute. Check taste and add salt if needed. Hit one more time for 3o seconds to a minute.

Add in half of your beans and blend it for about a minute to a minute and a half. Scrape sides and add the last bit of the beans. Blend for a minute and then check taste. Add salt if needed and depending on the texture you prefer, add water ( one tablespoon at a time)in between blending until consistency is how you like it. I like it almost like a peanut butter, so a thick consistency.

Plate and flatten Hummus using the back of a spoon. Create ridges and valleys before drizzling top with Olive Oil. Now, you can garnish however you lik. I used an Italian mixed herb seasoning but you could easily do Paprika, parsley, pine nets Etc.

This can be start to finish with clean up in about 20 minutes as is great with flour tortillas , pita, naan and so on.

Cheers,

E.

(Sooon, the much mentioned Moroccan Chicken.)

[echoes]

Wait for it....


Wait for it


Nope, Not Yet


Roasted Pistachio and Parmesan Pearled Couscous

Couscous is actually a wheat pasta and not a rice despite what many people may think when they see it. Normal Couscous is tine and while soft, often has a grainy texture. Sticking with the them of the meal, Couscous originated in Northern Africa, most likely in Algeria, which is a neighbor of Morocco. Now here is the kicker, Pearled Couscous is not from this area despite its name. We have to go further East to Israel where this was created during the early days of the country becoming an independent state. Pearled Couscous, called Ptitim, was created to offset the scarcity of rice as a staple in meals. The process used to produce the product often gave it a nutty flavor which differed from actual Couscous. I used the Pearled Couscous because I wanted a thicker starch for the heaviness of the main dish, something that would compliment and hold the meal and that is exactly what it did.


This is another one of those simple recipes that make a big impact if used properly and you can literally follow the recipe on the back to the Couscous container for the cooking aspect. Here is my take on it:

1 Cup Pistachios ( hulled)
1 1/2 cups of Pearled Couscous ( I used Rice Select)
3/4ths cup of water
1 1/2 cups of chicken stock ( You can use vegetable stock if you want to make this vegetarian.)
2 tsp butter ( or margarine)
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2- 1 cup of grated ( or powdered) Parmesan

Oven on to 350 and get a sheet tray or something bake it ready by lining it with parchment paper. Set the pistachios on the tray and pop them in for 10 minutes.

Get water, stock, butter and salt going in a medium sized pot that has a lid. get it up to boil and drop the Couscous into the liquid. Stir everything about, reduce heat to low and let it cook for 10 minutes  while occasionally stirring( times can vary based on your cooktop.)

Pistachio come out and you carefully ( cause they be hot after all) dump into a food processor and give it a quick run on the "grate" setting. You want them crumbled but not a powder. Little chucks of crunch to go with and the soon to be squishy goodness. Add to the Couscous and fluff before adding the Parm cheese/ Fluff and take off heat, cover and let sit or, if your main is already done, make a layer in the bottom fo a bowl, add the main course on top and get ready to get you monch on.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Sorry to drag ass on this for so long, thanks for bearing with me, it has been a shitshow at work and reals has been busy. Got some stuff done about the farm this week but I am so behind and we are about to get into fall. Fall means getting ready for the winter, it is always one thing getting ready for the next, really.

Moroccan Chicken with Chickpeas

No funky preamble this time, you guys know I am wordy as all get out, but I am just goin to grind this recipe today and then make commentary on the next post or two.

what you need:

3 lbs Boneless skinless chicken cut up into cubes
( you could do 4 bone in skin on breasts should you desire that but I do not want to render a chicken down because I am , at heart, lazy.)
4 Tablespoons Minced garlic ( or 4 or 5 gloves, again, I am lazy)
2-4 tomamtoes ( romas work best here and amount of tomatoes will be to your personal taste.
1 onion ( medium- large OR 1 bag of frozen pre diced onions which would be around 10oz. again, add more to taste.)
2 Cups of warmed Chicken Stock ( or veggie stock)
2 tables spoons of parlesy
1 can of Chickpeas ( Garbanzo beans) 15oz. drained and rinsed
2 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice
4-6 Tablespoons of Ras el Hanout ( see previous recipe )
1 Tablespoon of Cilantro
1 6 0z can of tomato paste
Salt, pepper to taste

Dice chicken up into 1/4 to 1/3 inch chunks and drop into mixing bowl. pour a couple of tablespoons of Olive oil to coat add then enough Ras el Hanout to coat evenly ( option b is to toss the chicken into a large ziplock , add the olive oil and then the spice before you shake that shit till your arms hurt.) Clean up and on a seperate cutting board dice up your onion, your tomatoes and minc your garlic if that is needed ( it is not a bad idea to have dedicated cutting boards for red meat, poultry, veggie and so on if you can. If you can't then wash your shit between uses, don't be that person who just flips the board over and uses the other side. Now, if you ask if I have done just that, I will tell you yes cause I am an idiot. But I don't do it now.

Remember that tramotina braising dish I mentioned a while back. That's what I used here and started it off just over medium high heat. In goes a couple of tables spoons of olive oil ( and you can also add a tablespoon of good butter here if you wanted.) A heavy bottomed deep pan will also work at this point because you are going to drop the chicken in on tope of the oil and cook until you get a good sear going. You can let sit and then stir off and on for at least 5- 8 minutes depending on how fast you pan cooks. let the chicken render but do not burn

as soon as the chicken is done you drop the heat down to a medium-low feel and pull the chicken out to rest for a few minutes. Toss in the onions and then you let them cook until the caramelize. While this is going get your chicken or veggie stock going in a pan of medium-high heat. add olive oil if the onions start to dry or burn. after the onions start to caramelize you add the garlic and then 1 -2 more tables spoons of Ras el Hanout here. stir regularly.

Onions ands Garlic are ready so add in the tomato paste and stir before letting it sit, maybe only a minute, before you add in salt and pepper to taste. Now, in goes your diced tomatoes ( you can, if you are not happy with your knife skills, use 1 can of pre-diced tomatoes. just drain them before using.) go ahead and add the chickpeas, the lemon juice  and the chicken stock, which should be hot, and stir to mix.

I bring the temp up to medium at this point and drop the chicken back into this amazingly aromatic bubbling mess. Stir the chicken about and make sure it is as submerged as possible. once everything is at a pretty consistent low boil drop the temp down to simmer and put a lid on top of whatever you are using to cook with. leave the lid slightly off so that air can vent, but no so much that cold air can make it lose temp. set a timer, 40-50 minutes with the occasional stir while you breath deep and get really hungry.

After the cook time you add the chopped parsley and cilantro and mix it in. check the salt and pepper, add if needed. The chicken ought to be tender and you are ready to serve.  That pearled Coucous recipe above this one was my base in the bottom of a shallow bowl with this ladled ontop. If you want this to ratchet up a level you can add white pepper or more ginger.

I really wish I had the pictures of this and the bread flight. You all would dig this and yes, it tasted amazing.

More later, I need to get some laundry done and dinner going for tonight.

Cheers and thanks for reading,

E

[echoes]

Hey there anyone who stops by. Don't worry, still cooking but have not been very exciting as of late. Also, been outside a lot working when the weather plays nice. Anyway, will be adding something soon, a bit of alliteration even as the next item to be discussed will be

Paprika Pork with Pierogis

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

This is another super easy recipe that I did and I will also give you a couple of variants so you can see how flexible this can be. Cue the music :

Paprika Pork and Pierogis

The alliteration is fun. I don't care what you say, its FUN@!

Ok, so really easy start to finish can be done in 20, 30 minutes tops and will feed a bunch of peebos on the cost effective side. Here thar be ingridents!  (---- THAT IS INTENTIONAL!

2# Pork Tenderloin
Olive oil
Flour
Paprika
Salt
pepper
Garlic
Butter
1 Onion ( medium either white or yellow thought red will do if needed)
2 14 oz containers of Pierogis ( I use Kasia's Cheese and Potato Pierogis from Costco.)
1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
4 Oz. Sour Cream

OPTIONAL and VARIANTS:
Egg Noodles
Mashed Potatoes
2 oz. Milk

Ok This goes fast so everybody go all in:

I start by again using a fork to commits stabby on the tenderloin. This breaks up the muscle fibers and allows it to become tender without a long marinade time. I remove excess fat ( again, a sharp knife is your friend as you want excess fat gone and not actual meat. When slow cooking fat can = flavor but this is not one of those moments.) Cube the tenderloin down to 1/2 inch or 1 1/4 cm. and place in a mixing bowl. Toss a glug ( isnt that a fun word. Say it with me, "Glug.") or two of olive oil on the meat and mix/coat well.

In a baggie put just under a 1/2 cup of flour (all purpose works fine) and then add your spices to your taste. I would suggest 1/8 of a cup of Paprika, about 11/2 tablespoons of garlic and pepper and then a tablespoon of salt. You will be tasting later and that is when you can mod up from there. Close the Ziplock and shake that shit to mix it. Add in the pork and Shake again, shake it until it is well covered and everything has a dull red coating.

In a large sauté or Braising pan (you know which one I used) get oil and a tab or two of butter in and melted. While this is melting peel and dice your onion into medium squares. This is not a mince, its a rough dice of mostly even sizes. Butter and oil melts and onion goes in. Give it a minute or two on medium high heat and then then add in the pork.

Ok, that is cooking, Open two containers of pierogis and let them sit for a moment. get a second pan going with some oil and get it up to e medium high heat. Once it is there add the pierogis and this is the only real "attention" moment. Do NOT overload the pan. lay them flat on their side and make rings. You want to get a nice brown on their exterior by frying them in the oil, but this is not a golden brown like a mozzarella stick. You are just getting a light fry so drop the temp just under medium high and fry them while the pork cooks.

so here is where you stir pork and flip Pierogis. The pork, because it is cubed small, should take about 8 minutes to cook. By then you should have the first round of Pierogis done and start pulling them off the heat. get a plate and put a layer or two of paper towels to drain excess oil off the Pierogis. get another round on the pan, add fresh oil if you need to but don't add alot. light fry remember. Once your Perogies are started then you go back to the pork. Drop the temp down to medium and add in the cream and sour cream. Stir well and the sauce mixture will turn a lovely Martian orange color. This is what is is supposed to do. get the sauce bubbling and then turn down to medium low. Cover and let cook for another 5-8 minutes. The sauce will thicken naturally due to the left of spice mixture coming off the pork and then fixings that have cooked in the oil. if you want to think the sauce when this is done you add more cream ( or milk) about 2 Tablespoons at a time. if you want it thicker cook longer but do not increase temp.

VARRIATIONS! ( Like Promotions without Boobs!)
If you dont want to do Pierogis then you can cook up some egg noodles and go that route. if you do noodles you can skip the Sour Cream from above and add just a bit more heavy cream. if you want to say "ef that" to noodles and dumplings, fine, you can do that. mashed Potatoes work and then you can do the sauce either way. The reason for the Sour cream is because that traditionally goes with Pierogis and it works but you can do what you like here.)

Check on the pork, see that the sauce has thickened and then grab a tase. No you heathen, do not just stick your finger in and burn the absolute shit out of yourself. teaspoon, let cool and taste. Here is where you season up or down to taste.

Once all pierogis are done and the excess oil is off you can plate. 4-6 Pierogis in a bowl with a generous spoon/ladle full of pork goodness right on top. You can add shaved parm cheese or chives as a garnish. You can do dried parsley if you wish. The will provide Six to Seven good sized portions for dinner or some kick ass left overs. Also, its fairly cost effective. I want to say that this worked out to about $6 per portion and you could squeeze out 6 -7 to 8 oz portions. So yeah. Not a bad deal all the way round.

[echoes]

Did a lot of cooking this last week. Will share 2 different dishes and a garnish later this week. Made a play on a crab cake, made em mini's to boot as part of an amuse bouche style breakfast. To be honest they were closer to a bite and a half but they came out great. To go along with crab cakes I made a Cajun style remoulade. +1. Will share.

Don't know if any of those reading this, and some people are so thank you for that, but I don't know if any of the stateside readers ever heard of, or are at, a restaurant chain called Don Pablos. (If you have eaten at one, send me a note in the companion thread and say hi.) Anyway, the chicken for tacos, burritos and chimichangas was called chicken real (pronounced  re: Al.) And I recreated it this weekend for a Mexican inspired lunch spread.

May also do a well received drink recipe from this weekend.


More about that later this week. Hope you all had a good weekend.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Hey thar, how has your week been? Mine has been a cavalcade of hot messes, shitshows and dumpster fires so I've got that going for me. Oddly enough, as an aside before we get to talking about food, my coworkers and I figured out the hierarchy of how bad a situation is using those terms and It would appear that Dumpster Fire is the worst case. Shitshow is right int he middle and hot mess is the beginning of the end. How did we decide this you may wonder, or not, because  there really is no sliding scale for calamities; that is, until now. Dumpster Fire suggests potential harm, or suffer due to being a fire and the other two, well, you can always take a shower after being covered in shit or in the middle of a hot mess.

Anywho, now that's over and we we can talk about how to stuff our faces.

Good times.

This last weekend, Sunday to be exact, I was able to cook for something called a "Poker Pace." This is when people get on horses and ride across fields at whatever pace they want to find a series of checkpoints. These checkpoints are staffed with volunteers who provide food and beverage (including alcohol cause horse people like to drink) and, when it is a poker pace, you also get to draw a card from a deck. 5 checkpoints, 5 cards and now you have a poker hand. Once back at the rally point, and when everyone has made it back, the poker hands are then used to pick prizes from an assortment of goodies. One year my girlfriend's son got a ridiculously complex trailer hitch that was close to $200. So yeah, big social event for this group (called a hunt club because it is modeled after the Fox Hunting clubs in England) with prizes and awards for everything from newcomers and first timers to fastest time, best costumes and so on.

And, of course, there is enough alcohol to pickle a whale and food aplenty.

This is where I come in because my ass was not up on a horse at 8 am on a Sunday. Yes, I have a horse and she and I are both lazy when it comes to trail riding. My Belgian staid home and monched grass all day as I went and was good boyfriend and cooked for my girlfriend's hunt club. Why did I do this on my day off" Was it the lure of promised sexual activities later in the day? Nope, she got done with this, came home and passed out for 2 hours before she had to work an overnight (she's a nurse.) Was it to show off and do some crazy cooking, ok, that is not that far from the truth. Was it because she had been tapped to organize the event and I wanted her to look good? Yep, it was mostly the last one with a generous seasoning of the previous reason

So, I was mixing my bourbon spritz at 8:15 AM and people were already lining up to get their food and drink on. This post is going to be a bit long and I am not going to spam post for a count here. You are going to get a drink, an entrée and a sauce as well as an idea of the spread. So here we go

BREAKFAST!

The spread for breakfast was a good range of simple to bougie and I am not going to lie, I did it on purpose. See, the GF had been telling me about past events and how they got boxed lunches, or they got catering etc. Recently one of the other hunt members had done pulled pork on doughnuts (God, how American does that sound? I mean, I guess he could have deep fried them.) but no one had done any real cooking on site for one of these things. Did I ever mention before that I am a pretty damn good short order cook? If not, I am. And so lets set this up because I made some fucking magic on Sunday.

Two long ass wood tables, about 4 inches under good prep height for me, rough hewn and not flat at all. I have a three compartment sink, and that was nice and the only space to cook on was a single electric 4 burner stove w/ oven. So, knowing this, I even brought some things form home like a panini press and a toaster.

Ok, so here is the menu:

Fresh Fruit
Apple Turnovers (purchased)
Plain and Everythang bagels (Purchased) - several different cream cheeses and spreads
Fresh made Panini with that included a mini omelet with Havarti cheese, fried Canadian Bacon and Hollandaise sauce. (Made fresh)
Baltimore Style miniature Crab cakes with a Cajun Remoulade.

My Drink of choice:
Bourbon Sprtiz

The Drink

E's Bourbon Sprtiz

And I am well aware this prolly has a half dozen different and styles from other people but here is how I go

2 oz Bourbon (I was using Jim Bean and below is an aside about mixing bourbon and drinks)
Some people think you must find the most nuanced bourbon when they drink. I'm not one of those people. See, when I was 24 I got a birthday present that included a broken nose, an eyelid that had to be partially sewn back in place, a few other scratches, breaks, dents and dings as well as a reduced sense of smell ala broken nose. I can't smell or taste the minute details that set really fine food and drink apart from regular food and drink. I miss the fine details but I get the message if that makes sense? The reason I say this; to make a good mixed drink you do not have to go all top shelf on the ingredients but you do have to know how to portion them to attain a balance. It's more the ratio than the name brand that makes something good. Just like combining seasoning in a meal, you need to know what works well together and how much to use.
1.5 oz. OJ
.5 oz. lemon juice
1 oz. simple syrup ( as described before)
splash cherry juice
2 oz. soda water

So this is basically a bourbon mimosa. You add ingredients except for the soda water in a shaker over ice. give it a couple or three good shakes to mix. pour through a strainer over fresh ice and then add the soda water. You can garnish with orange peels or cherries if you wish but this is a hellagood breakfast drink.

Now, for perspective, I emptied half of a handle of Jim beam when I made mine so the proportions were much greater than the above single serving.

Baltimore Style Crab Cakes

So the crab cake was coined as a name for this little dish in the later 1930's. I am sure there are similar dishes anywhere crab is found but when the term "crab cake" is used here in the States most people start thinking of the Northeast part of the country specifically starting in Maryland and working their way up from there. There are tons of different ways to make these but the "cake" ( really more like a patty but leave the spongebob reference at home) is made up of lump crab meat, a filler (crushed crackers for a true Baltimore style but bread crumbs and the like can be used) and a binder which is usually an egg. After that, lemon juice, seasonings and so on to add flavor. These things can be as big as a hamburger patty or, in my case, I made then about an inch and half in diameter and about a quarter of an inch thick.

My Recipe:

1 lb lump crab meat ( check for shells and remove.
1 egg ( beaten)
1/2 sleeve of Saltine crackers ( you could also do oyster crackers iffin you wanted to )
6 oz of bread crumbs
1/2 cup Mayo ( do not use light here, go full mayor)
1 Tablespoon of Djon Mustard
1/2 Tablespoon yellow Mustard
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire
1 teaspoon Hot Sauce
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
2 Tablespoons chopped Parsley
Salt, Pepper and A dash of Garlic to taste.

Crackers and breadcrumbs into a bad and beater them till they are mashed coarsely.
In a bowl beat an egg before adding the wet items and mix.
Toss the crab meat in with the bread crumbs and mix in the bag.
Place "dry" ingredients in separate bowl and slowly combine the wet into the dry.
Mix completely and then transfer back to the bag and seal. refrigerate for at least and hour but I did this the day before.

To cook. Pan on the burner with medium to medium high heat. Add oil and coat bottom of the pan.
I placed the crab mix on a cutting board and used a measuring scoop to create "ball" of the crab mixture that I then flattened. This point is a personal choice on how big you want your crab cakes. I wanted them small to cook fast and evenly. so here you can experiment with the size you want.

Add to pan and fry until golden brown and then flip. Depending on how your burner cooks this could be anywhere from 2-3 minutes per side.

Pull off heat and set atop paper towels to absorb any excess oil

I will have to do the Remoulade on another post, I have run out of typing time right now and will get back to this later.

Thanks for reading

Cheer,

E.

[echoes]

Fall has finally shown up in my next of the woods and the mornings have turned crisp. This is lovely since the AC in our house has been on the fritz for the last two weeks and two days ago it hit 90 (32.2 for the rest of the world) and was a bit on the sweating side. But this morning it is a lovely 49 ( 9.4) outside and the air feels good. This also means that if you like reading this little journey about food then be on the lookout for things like: Butternut Squash, Loaded Baked Potato, Beef and Vegetable and other soups that I will be doing because of the season.

So, I need to finish up with the menu from last Sunday which concludes with a Cajun Remoulade. Lunch was a taco/Nacho/Burrito bar where I made Taco beef, Chicken Real (diced chicken in a tomato sauce with peppers and onions,) Refried Beans, Rice and all the fixings down to Guacamole. People had their choice of corn tortilla chips, taco shells, large and small flour tortillas and it was a build your own nightmare type of thing. It went over really well. I made the rice, taco meat, chicken and two sauces ( a red sauce and a sour cream sauce.)

The beans came out of a can cause I wasn't cooking them for 4 hours. Funny story here. My dumb ass forgot to bring a can opener to open the cans of beans. There are no witnesses to what happened next.

Ok, Remoulade. This is a Sauce that is a sibling to Tarter Sauce, thought I do not find it as strong or citrusy? as Tarter Sauce, and can be used on more than just seafood, thought, it really does shine on seafood. Like Tarter Sauce it is Mayonnaise based and is usually made with either finely diced pickles (not me) or Cappers.

Here is my spin on this:

Cajun Remoulade

1 cup Mayonnaise
1/4-1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 Tablespoon Cappers
1 1/2 Tablespoons Djon Mustard
1 Tablespoon Parsley
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon Hot Sauce ( I used Lime Cholula)
1/2 Tablespoon of Worcestershire Sauce
1 teaspoon Paprika
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1 Minced Garlic clove

Ok, so, other than draining and then mincing the capper down the recipe is pretty damned simple.

MIX ALL THE THINGS!

Then I usually let this refrigerate for a while before using. But that is it, pretty simple. This can go on damn near anything that is fried if you like the taste of Mayonnaise based dips. I will admit that I sometimes give people a double take because I prefer mayo on fries over ketchup. (I am told this is a very European thing but I've not been to Europe yet so I wouldn't know. )

So for now, I am off. I owe a couple of posts and then it is another day working outside and getting the farm ready for the winter. Well, sort of, finishing my second axe throwing target is for me and does not help with getting ready for the winter. I am also setting the fire bricks atop my poured concrete slab that will eventually become a pizza oven, so I might be writing about homemade pizza next month.  If I do make it back on today I will possibly post a Beef Kielbasa and Spaetzle dish that I made last night. No, I did not make homemade Spaetzle but the dish didn't suffer because of that. Did a Parmesan Sour Cream sauce that was on point.

Anywhy, Thanks for Reading.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

So, A day earlier than I would normally post as, Thursday's are my day off, but I am working this Thursday because I am running out of town this weekend. I've been a true shit when it comes to taking pictures of food lately, not that it would do any good because I haven't posted a one yet, but I will try and rectify that soon. I will be posting about the Kielbasa and Spaetzle dish I did as well as an amazing Bolognese with Pappardelle noodles that was made this week. The pasta was handmade and I am rather hit or miss with my pasta and this was a hit. I think i figured out what I have always done wrong so we will see in the future if my idea is correct.

On another note Fall be here and that means I will be making several soups in the near future. Will also again remind myself why I am not a baker and try to make homemade breads. Why do I do this to myself. I think it is latent masochism from a misspent youth. That entire, "You can take x out of the Y but you can't that the Y out of the X" thingy.

Be on the look out today for new foods, all of which are great when the weather starts to turn cold. And for those of you who live farther up, where cold is just how it be, these recipes are good all the time.

Gotta charge the puter and then a couple hours from now will rock out some new eats.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

So lets talk Spaetzle.

Some people may be going, What in the actual ef is that? Others have already broke out that sweet Google-Fu and they know that this is a Middle European pasta, or dumpling depending on who you ask, that you see in countries like: Germany, Austria, Hungary and several others. Instead of killing tomatoes, and drowning this dish in marinara and cheese like another pasta loving country I can think of, I went a different route and used a beef Kielbasa as the star of this show and its side act was a sour cream based cream sauce. Now before we go much further, this is going to be one of those times I do not include weights on a lot of items because: 1) I didn't write them down as I was messing about, 2) this really can be left up to your individual taste. Also, this is a great meal on a budget when you want to impress and there isn't anything really complicated about the production of this meal. get yourself some hearty ass bread and a good beer and get ready to dine.

Beef Kielbasa and Sour Cream Spaetzle

So, I used 2 lbs of kielbasa, that much I remember, and one bag of pre-made Spaetzle. I did not make it by hand, but should you decide to do so you can. Oniya shared this little Trick, for those of you who want to make it by hand, And you can find this and other things over in the companion thread.

On a side note, Kielbasa is pretty much the Polish word for Sausage, Wurstchen would be the German word but I didn't have access to Wurstchen and I did have access to Kielbasa, so that is how I got these two ingredients together.

So, In a large sauté pan, or that Brazier that I have talked about before, you get butter melting and then drop in diced onion and get it about half way to translucent before added in minced garlic. I would say about 1 medium sized union and two cloves of garlic is what I used. get the Garlic to just before brown and while all this is cooking I take the Kielbasa and and basically slice the entire damn thing down the middle before slicing it up like a carrot ( so you get half wheels instead of nice round slices. Once the Garlic is about to brown I drop in the sausage and start sweating that. You want to get the residual fat to render and get a nice flavor on the meat. while this is going on cook your spaetzle by following the directions on the package ( or whatever recipe you are using, follow it please.)

I take everything out of the brazier and add a little more butter before adding a bit of flour to make a really thin roux. Add in cream  and then sour cream and let thicken a bit on medium heat before adding the meat, onions and garlic back in. Add Parsley and oregano and take down to low heat and let simmer for a bit before adding a little bit of the water from the Spaetzle to the mix. Here is where you add seasonings like salt, pepper and a pinch of Cayenne pepper to the mix. Get some nice Parmesan cheese and shred it before adding it to thicken the last bit of the sauce. if you get to thick use milk to thin.

Finally, finish the Spaetzle and drain, toss the noodles in with the Kielbasa plate up. Get nice thick rich bread and a beer and you are good to go.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

its been a minute since I got to post and I havent done anything really crazy as of late. Well, I did make Paella and that came out awesome but that wasn't crazy. So here soon I will throw out a Beef Bolognese recipe as well as homemade pasta and then will get to the Paella. made two different batches of my Chicken and Dumplings because the first batch was so damn good a second got requested but I will tell you about that later.

Gotta deal with a nose bleed, talk food soon.

Cheers,

E.

[RedRose]

We had paella 🥘 last night! My husband made it.

[echoes]

Henlo peeps,

So, Fall and Spring are my crazy times. There is work, and then there is farm work throughout the year but Fall and Spring is when it is overdrive. Basically Fall is the pregame for winter and Spring is the recovery and setting up for summer. Summer and Winter are just maintenance; fixing what gets broke and not starting any new projects. In the last two months I have tried to build Rome, and , for the most part, I am pretty damn satisfied with all that I have gotten done. There are a few more things to do, the gutters above our garage for example, but the big things are done.

So why tell you all this? Well, I have been cooking but I have not been posting and I am going to try and fixt hat soon. Recipes are owed from previous posts and I need to add on things like beef Stroganoff, Pizza Dough and a few other things here and there. One of the projects I completed was the homemade brick pizza in my back yard. Saturday, yesterday, that thing was fired for 5 hours and we cranked out a dozen different pizzas to order as people from work came out and socialized. We were doing 12 inch pies but the oven can handle 16. So, I will talk about cooking in it and prepping for that as a post in the future.

Also, I have been mixing and baking along with cooking. Have a few new drinks, somethings here and there.

Anywho.

I will get to posting again soon and hope to see people come back to read.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

HACKS!

Ok, so I don't have full on meals for you right now, those are going to be up later this week, but I am going to share a couple of things I do that other people may or may not do as well. these are ways to step up a meal, something simple or complex, and I am starting with simple. How simple?

Hot Dogs.

One of the most revered and notorious of American Cuisines; this little column of compressed turkey, pork, tofu or beef has a lineage that traces itself back to central Europe. Taken from the Frankfurter) ala Frankfurt, and even the Weenier ( from Vienna ) I will just say that this little staple of summer cookouts and Cincinnati chili has a bit of a backstory. Check out Wikipedia for more regarding that, I am being lazy and not doing all the legwork tonight.

Now, some people boil them. In fact, a very well known bigbox membership warehouse does exactly that and they still sell their dog, and accompanying 20oz pepsi product for a buck fifty. Other places grill their dogs; getting that char on the outside that some people find delectable and that I think tastes like burnt ass. However you like your dog, the next time you broil, bake, grill or otherwise prepare your somewhat penis looking dinner, try this:

Add either Beef Bullion, or beef broth, to water and boil them for 5-10 minutes before you place them in an oven or on a grill. If you are just boiling them, thn do the same and when the dogs expand that is when you get them to a bun and garnish the fuck out of them. If you are a purist and like you dog nude, that is fine as well, no judging.

Trust me on this, especially if you are throwing this doggies down on a grille. The beef broth/boullion mix will make these dogs supid juicy and will enhance their natural flavors.

HACK II:

French dips are a a simple sandwich involving sliced beeg, usually swiss cheese, onions and a Jus ( or dipping sauce.) Usually the Jus is also beef flavors so it is liek Xibit heard you liked a beef sammich and gave you some beef drippings to go with your beef. This, however, is not the hack. The hack is to get some French Onion Dip and have it handy. get the beef going and toast the bread you are using ( hoagie roll, baguette, something that toasts up nicely. ) Once you get the bread toasted and the meat going you take a spatula/knife/ your finger and you layer the bottom of the bread with French Onion dip. Meat op top, then cheese and then the sauteed onions to melt the cheese on the meat and settle everything atop the French Onion Dip.

if you are a sammich person, and I am , this will take it up a level without having to get real creative. It still works great with the Jus dipping sauce but now makes the sammich rock steady on its own.

Ok, missions accomplished. I have posted something and not been a total waste today. Ok, I worked but I have been a busy echoes this last month and even more so the month before that. I built a pizza oven and BTW it is awesome. I built a new axe and archery target for the farm. I instaled several hard points in the barn for various nefarious ( Ok, I like that alliteration: Various Nefarious) activities. Ive been seeding grass and home repairing none stop getting ready for the winter. This is going to be a lazy week but I am still going to post. Keep on the look out and I will see you around.


Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

So,

While there is a backlog of various foods I should write about I'm going to get all sorts of out of order and write about this past weekend. I guess, technically, I am not out of order being that I can write about what I want , and when, but I had a list of entrees that I have had just the most amazing run of luck on and I am skipping all that to talk about an another American staple:

Pizza.

So there has always been a myth that Pizza was a Chinese creation stolen by Marco Polo and then co-opted by the Italians but almost every culture that has made bread has also thrown cheese and toppings on top of that same bread in early editions of the Pizza. The Italians named it and the Americans have loved it even before there was an America. ( What can I say, American love runs hard.) Ok, jokes aside, this is a dish that when you say Pizza everyone has the same general idea: Round dough topped with sauce, cheese and fixings. After that everyone can pick a fight on what pizza is the best and what should never be a topping on a pizza. I won't get into all that, lets get to the weekend

One of my projects this year was to finish the brick Pizza oven in my back yard. As I recently told a friend, I can do basic masonry like build a structure or a wall. Right angles and level surfaces I can do up to a degree { I would not make a high wall or do the foundation to a house but a waist high or retaining wall, sure. What I have never done before is an an arch or round piece and that is what a Pizza oven it. I built the support structure out of cinderblock a year ago and then year I poured a 3 inch thick concrete slab on top of the cinderblock stand. I want to say the slab is 40 inches by 38 inches; it was a big pour done by hand. Atop that I made a base of fire bricks that you would find inside a kiln and made a floor that was 27 inches wide and 27 inches deep. Bricks then make up the oven and the highest point of the arch is 13 1/2  inches off the firebrick floor. There is a metal chimney and it looks like an over so, +1.

After some experimentation I learned that you start the fire directly over where you plan to cook to heat the bricks up. You start and fire and you feed it until the inside of the over turns black and then keep feeding it until the bricks then turn white. push the ashes, embers, and remains of the fuel away from where you plan to cook and then you are ready. You have two options here. 1 ) got without a pizza tray and cook right on the bricks. 2) use a pizza tray and then remember to set the tray atop the embers to finish off the bottom of the pizza. We went with plan B.

I spent Saturday firing the oven for 5 - 6 hours and had friends over to hang out as an end of the fall type party. During this time two things happened: 1 ) The two front bricks and the top of the arch in the front of the over slid down 2 inches of so but remained wedged in the arch so that it did not lose all of its structural integrity. 2) We cooked a dozen pizzas or so in the course of several hours. Everyone who came over got their own personal 12 inch pizza even though the oven could accommodate a much larger pie. Cook time was around 12 minutes per pizza and there was a bit of labor in rotating the pizza to get an even cook. Over all, everything worked and I could not have been happier.

before we get to a recipe I will say this regarding this style of oven and its consumption of fuel. This thing ATE through the wood I had prepared. I designed the structure that supports the oven to be a place where I could store its fuel, IE: wood. The wood that is under there it cut down so that the "meat" is exposed and it has been drying out for a year so It is amazing firewood that fits into the over perfectly. The problem with havin such a big "mouth" on the oven is that it allows heat to escape ( which is different that dome ovens with a smaller mouth but I am not that good that I cam make one of those.) So, if you build your own over make sure you always have enough fuel. Took me about an hour to get to temp and then I was feeding the oven all day to keep it there.

So, backstory done. Lets get on to a recipe that can work in a brick oven or in a conventional one:

Pizza Dough Done easy
6+ cups of Flour ( I used AP but you can experiment with others )
4 Tablespoons Sugar
4 1/2 teaspoons Instant Yeast ( Fast Rising )
1 Teaspoon Salt
4+ Tablespoons of Olive oil
2 Cups water ( warmed between 120 and 130 f)

I did this with a stand mixer

2 cups of flour into the stand mixer and then add yeast, sugar and salt. Start that mixing on a 1 or 2 setting, just get it nicely incorporated
2 cups of water into a measuring cup add the oil directly to water and mix.
Add liquid to mixing flour/sugar/yeast/salt combo and scrape the walls as it mixes.
Add remaining 4 cups of flour 1 at a time to mixer. Resist your to crank mixer on high ( this will make a mess if you crank it up.)
Once all flour is in you can bring mixer up to a 3 or medium setting but not blast it here.
Let mix until ball is made. Ball should be tacky. Add water, 1 teaspoon at a time, if all the four will not incorporate.

In a separate bowl toss in a layer of flour. Move dough ball into separate bowl, add another layer of flour ( Total flour added should be less than a quarter of a cup but could be more as needed.) Kneed dough ball until uniform in texture. ( Usually about 5 minutes ) Cover bowl with plastic wrap and then set in a warm room for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes bring bowl out, dough should have doubled in size. Line sheet tray with parchment paper and lightly dust with flour. Separate into 6 evenly weighed doughballs ( 8 ounce each I found ) atop said sheet tray and then cover again for 15 minutes. Dough will continue to rise.

With a pizza tray ( pan) You have 1 of 2 options here.
1 Lightly coat with olive oil, 2 make a 50/50 mix of flour and corn meal and dust the pan with the mixture. These methods are to keep the dough from sticking to a pan.

And dough ball and slowly stretch, spread, until uniform thickness is attained. It may not be a perfect circle but I dont know how to do the entire tossing the pizza dough while spinning it thing so, sorry bout that. Get even thickness and then coat the edge of the dough with a layer of olive oil. From here you can guess the rest. Sauce, cheese, toppings and more cheese or add it on in any order you seem fit.

get that into the oven and cook. Times will vary based on the oven being used. If you are using a conventional you will have to experiment with temps between 350-400 degrees f. Just keep an eye on your edges so you do not burn the F out of them.

Ok, gotta run,

Cheers.

E.

[echoes]

Going to try and crush this in the remaining few minutes of my lunch at work. I've owed a lot of posts and I have been a little lax of late. Much going on and all that jazz.

Beef  Bolognese

This is a sauce that appears complex because it is built up in layers, but what appears to be complex is actually quite easy if you take your time. So, no random echoes being random, right to the ingredients:

4-8  slices of Bacon or, if you want to be a bit more authentic, 8-12 slices of Pancetta
1 Large Onion ( yellow or white )
2 cloves of garlic
2 Carrots Pealed
2 Celery stalks.
2-4 Diced Roma tomatoes or 1 can of diced tomatoes
2+ Oz Olive Oil ( Extra Virgin is fine, regular also fine.)
1 lb Hamburger meat ( minced beef)
1/2 cup of white wine
1/2 cup of beef stock
1 teaspoon of dried oregano, 2 if fresh
1 tablespoon Parsley
Salt / pepper to taste
6 Ounces of Tomato sauce ( 3-4 if you use puree.

Start by slicing the bacon down to strips and frying. Peel and dice the Onion and add to the bacon as it cooks. Peel and mince the garlic and continue to reduce. this will take 8 -12 minutes.

Remove the bacon/onion/garlic mixture and then add the ground beef atop the remaining bacon drippings. Cook until crumbling ( 5-8 minutes) and then drain.

Keep using the same pan and add 2 oz olive oil before added peeled and diced carrots, celery and parsley cook for 10 minutes before adding the onions and garlic back to the mix.  This is called a Soffritto. Cook together for 5 minutes before adding 1hite wine and beef stock.

Add in the ground beef, tomatoes, Oregano, Parsley along with salt &pepper to taste and the tomato sauce. Mix well before reducing heat and covering. You will let this cook for an hour, stirring occasionally. This is the simmer where the sauce flavor really develops. You can let it cook longer if you wish but that is up to you.

A Note about Pasta:

Everyone has a favorite Pasta whether you know it or not. What you may not know is that pasta has a reason to be different shapes and styles and it is all about how it holds the sauce. With this kind of sauce you want a wide and flat noodle like Tagliatelle or Pappardelle but Fettucine can be used in a pinch. Every pasta has a preferred dish, a preferred sauce. May have to do a post on that later. Also, I will eventually have to do a how to make Pasta as I have been getting better as of late.

Ok, Coming up soon, Paella.

Cheers,
E.

[echoes]

So,

Being that the internet is a multi-national platform that spans the globe, and Elliquiy is a website doing just the same, it means we have peebos from all over who  come here to read, write and generally try and have a good time. I'm playing Mr. Obvious here because there has been more than one instance when I watch a conversation go something like this:

"Well, you know that is how it is here."

"Uhm, no, I don't, what do you mean?"

"It's how 'x' is done, you know."

"Friend, I live in 'y'."

"Oh yeah. my bad."

I bring this up because where I live we have more than four seasons and our mother nature has been diagnosed with a bad case of dissociative identity disorder. We have Winter ( November - February,) Spring Monsoon Season (March and April,) Spring (May-June,) Summer (July-August,) Fall monsoon season (September,) Fall (October.)  And there is som over lap here and there, but, for example, the beginning of October was pretty damned cold and then the end of October and into November it warmed up. Like 70 (21 for the rest of the world.) degrees for 2 weeks after running in the mid to low 50's (10c.)

Why is all of this relevant? Well, last week it went from 70 to 30 (21/-1) in one night and has stayed there ever since. Because of this I have been in comfort food mode and my waist hates me. Well, that's not true, the waist is from beer drinking and playing Back 4 Blood and Left 4 Dead on a nightly basis.

Side Note, yesterday was Left 4 Dead's (both 1 and 2) birthday. A game released in 2008 is still fuckawesome to play with friends. There is a bit of a story behind that but it will show up somewhere else; beck to the food.

So, there has been grilled cheese sammiches with Campbell's Chicken and Star Soup. ( Hack for doing a different Grilled cheese. A lot of people say Mayo on the outside of the bread to get it super crisp. That works but if you want to change the profile up do not fry the bread in butter. Do it in bacon grease. Fry the outside of the bread and then flip it over and toast the other side before adding cheese) and I am about to start beef stew that will cook all day after I post here. Also making homemade bread, Boulles, to carve out and use as sup bowls.

There has been a lot of other comfort foods but last night I did a spin on Italian comfort by making Sausage and Gnocchi in a tomato sauce. And I realized that sometimes I am going to use words that some people may know, others may not and still others may not and are to lazy to use the internet to look them up. So, education time as I reward those with lazy behavior and fulfill the reason I got a degree to teach that I am never going to use:

Gnocchi - Little Italian dumplings made from wheat, egg, salt and potatoes ( What is not love about that.) Can be as hard as a rock so cook before eating. These are not like the dumplings that I make with my chicken soups. These are rounded ovoid shaped lumps of Italian goodness.

Soffrtto - (Sofrito) is basically what is going add to aroma and flavor of a dish. This is a mixture of veggies that have been diced down to just above a mince and then sautéed ( cooked) in oil. In this case mine is an Italian ( imagine that) more than a Spanish mix but the Soffritto is used through Mediterranean cooking. In this case it is Onion, Carrots, Celery and eventually garlic.


That is where I am going with all this, so, enjoy:

Sausage and Gnocchi

1 package of Italian Sausage ( i used Primo which runs about 16 oz)
1 Package of Gnocchi ( can make your own if you wish
2 Carrots ( peeled and chopped)
1 Large Yellow or White Onion ( Chopped )
2 Celery stalks ( chopped down and trimmed but keep the leaves)
2-3 Cloves of Garlic
1 can Diced tomatoes ( you can use 4 Roma tomatoes diced here if you want)
3 oz. Olive Oil
4 oz Sour Cream
1 small can of Tomato Paste
4 oz heavy whipping cream
2 Tablespoons Oregano
2 Tablespoons Parsley
Lemon Juice
Salt and pepper to taste.


Instructions are fairly straight forward

get oil in a large Pan on medium high. I used a Tramontina Braizer which is about 4 quarts and that is not a product drop, its so you can go look them up and see what one look like.

Add in your Sausage and start to cook. You are going to rotate these to get a little bit of a sear on all sides but you are not fulling cooking them through. These things are super fat sausages so there is actually three steps to cooking them. Get a bit of a sear on all sides and then pull them out and set them aside on a plate or something.

Add the Soffritto ( HACK: if you do not have the knife skills or the time to cut up your veggies then you can usually find a bag of pre-diced starters in the freezer section of a local supermarket. These starters are usually celery, onion and diced peppers and they work in a pinch. It wont hurt to have a few of these in the freezer because they come in so handy and onion cost about $1.68 American. This and frozen spinach are time and money savers)

While the soffritto starts to cook take your sausages and, with a sharp ass knife, you will make a lateral cut along the spine of the sausage. Your are going "butterfly" them so that you expose all the inside of the sausage, you are NOT cutting them in half to make two mini sausages. Once cut, back into the pan with the soffritto so that the insides can cook. Do this with all the sausages.

After about 2 minutes you pull the sausages out and you add the garlic in. on a clean cutting board (as the last one would have been exposed to raw pork) you just slice the sausages down to pieces about a quarter inch thick, ( think 4-6 mm) and then toss them back into the mix.

From here it goes both quick and slow. Add the diced tomatoes and give it a stir. Add in tomato paste and repeat with stirring. Then in with the sour cream and heavy whipping cream before turn the heat down to a medium low. Stir up and then add the Gnocchi. get it just above a simmer and add in the Oregano and parsely. Stir one last time before putting the lid on the braizer.

Cook for 5 minutes, open, stir and check the tenderness of the Gnocchi. Once they become soft you are done. Splash a bit of lemon juice and add salt and pepper to taste.

You can go start to finish in about 30 minutes and this will give you 4 dinner portions with left overs for the next day. To serve I would suggest shredded Parm or Asiago cheese over top but a good mozzarella will work as well.

Red wine would go with this if you need a glass of vino.

More Soon

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Hey all, So, its the time of year that, here in the States, is a time of increased cooking. Starting in Novembers and then plowing on through the New Year your have three of the most food heavy holidays you could have. Thanksgiving and Christmas followed by New years; as a side note, last year for New years I cooked over nine pounds of meat for the celebration and it got wiped out, So yeah, its eating time. There is a lot of cooking going on as well as everything else in the world and I will be getting some recipes up here soon. I still owe a Paella recipe and I can add a few other things but what I'm going to post today will seem kind of simple but it has merit. See, one of the side dishes I was supposed to make for Thanksgiving here was Corn Pudding. Simple Enough, Eggs, corn, creamed corn, flour, sugar butter... its pretty straight forward and usually a big hit. Funny story though, I wasn't able to find any creamed corn in the week leading up to the Holiday. So, I made my own creamed corn and now I will let you all know that, well, it worked.

Creamed Corn

2 Tablespoons of Butter
2-3 Tablespoons of Flour
3 14 oz Cans of Corn ( yellow ) ( 45oz )
1/4cup sugar
2 cups half and half ( or 1 of milk and 1 of heavy cream)
Salt and pepper to taste

Optional ( Cayenne pepper a/o Nutmeg)

Melt the butter on medium and then add in flour, salt and pepper and make a roux.
Slowly add in the Half and half and raise temp to medium high
Open canned corn, drain and add to the mix. Bring to a boil and then down to a simmer to cook.
NOTE : STIR OFTEN OR YOU WILL BURN THIS STUFF
As it cooks the mix should thicken. If you need it to thicken more make a slurry of water and additional flour or courn starch and add a little at a time.

Cook time should be 15-20 minutes. Finish with additional salt and pepper ( garlic is also optional.) If you want to add either cayenne or nutmeg now is your chance.

Now, let cool and use in other dishes. one of of which I will tell you about next time.


AN Aside: hey, so there is a companion thread : here. Tell me about your regional holidays from here in the States and abroad. Tell me about some of the traditions and meals that are associated with the holiday and who knows, I may try to cook one and report back to everyone. Make this a bit more interactive. ( That and I like trying new things.)

The experiment this week is going to be a bit Bougie. I am cooking for my partner's hunt club ( horse peebos be crazy) and I am doing a soup bar. Doing a beef stew, A vegetarian lentil soup and a loaded baked potato soup that starts with 2 pounds of bacon. That isn't the bougie part, the bougie elements are the deviled eggs with candied bacon, the mini Cordon Blue bites with parma ham and Fried Risotto with Caviar in the center and creme friache as a dip. will report on my success of failure.

Cheers.

E.

[echoes]

Hey everyone,

So, for those of you who have been reading this; first, thank you. Much apprecitate. ( Apprecitate is how horses say appreciate. More on that later.) speaking of horses, remember my partner's crazy horse friends who chase foxes and drink like pirates. I got to cook for them again and, again, made something that was the star of the show. It was a rainy, windy chilly day and I had decided to do a soup bar for everyone. The menu was the right fit and we had a beef and veggie stew along with a vegetarian lentil soup. I diced up all sorts of cheese and had a variety of breads for everyone. There were deviled eggs and charcutier meats. So, the meal fit the day but what stood out is I made Risotto the night before with Prosciutto and Parmesan. I put this on sheet trays and cooled it overnight and then rolled this mix into balls, lightly floured them and coated them with an egg wash before rolling them in breadcrumbs. They fried up in about 2 minutes into a beautiful golden brown piece of awesome.

So, here we go:

Deep friend Risotto with Prosciutto and Parmesan.

First the Risotto:

2Tablespoons of Butter
2 Table spoons of Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic
1 1/2 cup of Arborio Rice
5 cups Chicken Broth/stock
1/2 Cup White Wine
1/2 ( about 1-11/2 inch rind) Parmesan Cheese rind
3 slices of Prosciutto
Salt and pepper to Taste

The key here is to not rush, medium heat and longer time will make a better product:

Place chicken stock in a pot and warm up, do not bring to boil but it needs to simmer. this is important.
.
Butter and Oil into a pan, melt and add garlic and Cheese rind. Shred parm cheese with a grater and set aside. Roast garlic for 2 minutes or until aromatic. before it starts to brown add in rice and mix well.
Add white wine, stir and reduce, this can take between 2-5 minutes. While this is reducing shred Prosciutto.
Add prosciutto and stir well then add 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups of warm chicken stock. ( The reason you warmed the chicken stock is so that the drop in temp from cold stock would not slow the cooking process.
For the next 15-20 minutes you will continue to add chicken stock as needed. This takes some patience. Stir regularly, add stock, stir and wait. keep at medium temperature. Do not try and rush by raising the heat.
You will use up all the stock and by the end your rice will have doubled in size and will have released a lot of starch which will almost look like a sauce. Mix in the shredded parm cheese and cook for another minute before pulling off the heat. The risotto will almost be creamy and tender to the touch.

If you do not get super hungry and eat this now line a sheet tray with parchement paper and spread the risotto out in a fairly even layer and then let cool over night.

Part II: Deep Fried Risotto

Flour ( as needed )
Six eggs , scrambled
1/2 container- 3/4 of bread crumbs ( I used Italian nor panko style crumbs)

Take cooled Risotto and shape into golf ball sized portions. You can make smaller, or larger, but that will affect fry time. Leave on sheet tray and you roll all of the risotto up.
Lightly flour the risotto balls on the tray and the spread extra flour on the try before you take each golf ball portion and cover with flour. Just roll them over the flour, you don't need a heavy coating.
In a fresh bowl scramble six eggs, In another bowl pour in breadcrumbs. I used deeper bowls for this to keep a mess to a minimum.

Ok, now, I am not ambidextrous, so this will kinda suck, but you use your left hand to move the risotto from the tray to the egg wash and gently roll. then pull the risotto up, shake off the excess egg and drop it, still with the left hand, into the bread crumbs. Use the right hand to scoop breadcrumbs up and over the ball before rolling it around to cover completely. this is not a thick coat, just a complete one.

Why do this? because if you don't both your hands will be coated in egg and breadcrumbs and you will be tempted to deep fry your fingers.

DO NOT DO THIS!

Set the breaded risotto to the side and repeat with remaining orders. I got 16 or 20, I forget which, out of this recipe.

Part III: to fry

Oil at 350. Use a handled strainer to set risotto into the oil. They will be golden brown in just a few minutes, watch them and then pull from oil. Set atop paper towel to drain excess oil. 

I made an sauce to go with them but they were awesome as is. the Parm and Prosciutto were perfect and the creaminess of the risotto was a lovely play against the crush of the breading.

Hope you enjoy,

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

It'll get you drunk.

I may have said those words before, on more than one occasion. But, should you know me, or if you are going to know one thing about me; I am a speaker of truth. Yes, if I do say, "it'll get you drunk," I am not lying. How you get drunk, what type of drunk you are, and the inevitable tax you must pay for getting drunk; that's all on you my friends.

This said, here is a quick and easy Spiked Apple Cider that is great on crisp fall mornings:


E's Spiked Apple Cider

1/2 Gallon (1.9L) of Apple Cider
4 12 oz bottles of hard draft cider of choice (I used Angry Orchard)
4-6 Apples ( of Choice)
4 Cinnamon sticks
a couple dashes of Nutmeg
12-16(+) Ounces of Bourbon

Whipped cream

To Make:

Put large pot on stove, fire it up to medium heat and add in all the liquid parts of the recipe. I know you are thinking to yourself, "E, Beer in the US comes in 6 packs, why did you only use four beers?" 

The Answer to that is not a mystery; I drank the other two while I was cooking.

Another thing you might be wondering is the little "+" sign beside the bourbon numbers. You can ratchet the amount fo bourbon up if you want, just make it taste good.

Ok, all liquids in, drop in the cinnamon and dash the nutmeg. give it a stir and then what you are going to do with the apples, and what apples you use, is dealers choice. Yes, they are going into the liquid, but how they go in is up to you. I did thick slices so they could simmer slowly. You can dice them up, you can slice you can make them as thin or thick as you want. You can ladle them into the cups with your drink or leave them be. Also, what type of apple you use, that is up to you and what you want from the apple. Crisp, sweet, tart; its up to your choice so live it up.

So, back to cooking. You do not want this to boil but you want to get hot before reducing the temp down to a simmer. If you are not worried about the apples adding to the flavor you can serve this right away or you can let it slow build for a bit to enhance the flavor. your call.

When you are ready, get this into a cup and spray a layer of whipped cream on top. If you need to garnish you can add an orange wheel, apple slice and maybe even dust a little more nutmeg or cinnamon on the whipped cream ( dont be extra on the nutmeg.)

This will, indeed, get you drunk.

[echoes]

Comfort Food

Doesn't that just sound nice, and doesn't it invoke memories of something that you really enjoy? Whether it is a grilled cheese sammich with chicken noodle soup, and I am talking the Campbell's Industrial condensed, no water added, shelf life of Uranium basic ass red and white labeled soup here; or it is something else from your childhood the truth remains the same. Comfort food has its name for a reason.

So, while I am not Russian, or of any Eastern European nation in ancestry, I do love me warm noodles and meat in a savory sauce so when I tell you that Beef Stroganoff is comfort food I am not lying.

Traditionally, Beef Stroganoff is Russian dish consisting of beef in a sauce that is flavors with mustard and sour cream. Note, the dish, in its truest form exists without pasta, rice, or any other carb. A Stroganoff, or Stroganov, is the meat and the sauce, not the medium it rests on. Also, many versions include mushrooms and there are variants that use potatoes and so on. Finally, a traditional dish uses cubed pieces of beef where as version can use ground chuck (hamburger/minced beef) or strips of beef. What I am about to get you is one of my takes on this dish.

Flank Steak
Butter
Olive oil
Onion
Garlic
Mushroom
Beef Stock
Cream
Sour Cream
Flour
Salt, pepper, Parsley
Egg Noodles ( medium or wide)

Use a large pan, I use my trusty Brazier I've talked about before, and get some butter melting on low. Trim excess fat or silver off of flank steak. Murderate ( stab repeatedly with a fork) one side and then flip the piece and do it again. Work out some daily frustration here before you cube the meat down into 1/4 in, 5 mm, cubes. Place the cubes into a ziploc bag (or into a mixing bowl) before you cover with flour. You are looking at dusting the meat here, don't over do it, but if you do, you will be fine. 

Once meat is in the bag turn heat up on the butter to medium high and then Shake/Mix/ coat the meat with the flour. Once coated the meat goes into the pan. Start a second pot with a cup or so of beef broth on medium and get it warm.

Dice up your onion, mince garlic and slice mushrooms here OR... and I say this without shame, Cheat the fuck out of prep and use 1/2 a bag of pre-chopped frozen onions, a full bag of sliced frozen mushrooms and 2 generous teaspoons of garlic.  Do not add these yet.

You are browning the beef, not cooking it all the way through. set a mixing bowl aside and place a colander or a strainer basket over the bowl. Using a slotted spoon, transfer beef to the colander int he bowl. let drain and whatever is draining goes back in the brazier. While the meat drains throw in another tab or two of butter and give a generous pass or two with oil. Then, in goes the onions. Cook for about 2 minutes and add mushrooms. cook for another 4 and add garlic and then go 2 more minutes on medium high. In-between adding and stirring veggies, start a pot with water and salt for the pasta. get it up to boil so hit it with high heat,

Same slotted spoon as before, strain all the onion/mushroom/garlic mix out of the brazier ( or your pan of choice ) and into the basket with the meat. let drain for just a minute and then pour all liquid back into the pan. Add flour and make a roux. its going to be a couple of tablespoon but I would stop short of a 1/4 cup. Stir and let thicken before adding beef broth a little at a time. You want the consistency to look just shy of thin past and it should have a grey/brownish color. That doesn't sound appetizing but it is a ruse. Start adding your cream and stir while still on medium heat. you want the cream and the roux to combine and smooth out. Here you start adding pepper and salt to get the base taste you want. Add the sour cream in and work the mix to the consistency you want.

Add the meat and veggie mixture back in and turn the heat up just long enough to make it bubble before turning the mixture down. Add in parsley and then lower temp to simmer. Cover and let cook for about 10 minutes. Occasionally remove lid and stir, keep the heat low so there is no burning.

pasta goes in the water and cooks for 6-7 minutes. you will drain the pasta using the same strainer/colander as before before adding it to the Stroganoff. Here you mix everything together, stir and taste. Add salt, pepper or parsley as needed. if you think it is to thick add either cream, sour cream or any remaining beef broth, a little at a time, to get the consistency you want. if you feel it is too thin, let cook longer and the starch from the pasta will help thicken the sauce.

Serve with parm cheese or nothing at all but let me tell you, toasty cheesy garlic bread goes hand in hand with this dish.

Thats all for now

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

And tonight is New Years eve and for some of you on E it is already the New Year. For everyone out there who reads this: have a safe and happy New Years eve full of food, alcohol or whatever debauchery you so desire. ( This totally includes just eating popcorn and watching Netflix all night if that is what floats your boat.) My partner and I joined two other couple in a BnB a state away from home and we are going to quietly ring in the New Year away from the world and "quietly" together. For those who know of some of my other pursuits than food, well, you know that quiet is relative; but I digress.

Lets start with dinner last night. I decided I wanted to go all in and be both Bougie and Extra, and I am going to tell you the up's and downs on this, so here was the menu:

Spring mix salad with :
Feta, Walnuts, Sun Dried Tomatoes and a homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette
Stuffed Mushroom Caps:
Brie mixed with Mushroom pieces, Cayenne, cream, Beef Stock and then smoothed in Havarti
Deep Fried Risotto:
with Prosciutto and Parmesan
Beef Wellington:
With a Red Wine Ruby Port sauce
Scalloped Potatoes with Cheese
Chocolate Lava Cakes:
With Cream Anglaise

Now, do you feel slightly dirty after reading that? Can you feel the weight gain just thinking about that list? I hope so because I did when I came up with the meal. I will admit to two things here: 1) I did not make the Lava Cakes or the Potatoes tonight, they were store bought. 2) I did not make bread and we got a bag of The Cheesecake Factory rolls that I adore. Everything else, yep, that was me.

So, lets talk about the world conspiring against you shall we? I have done a Wellington before. The last time I did was Christmas about 4 or 5 years ago, and while it was not perfect, it was ok. So this time, yeah, I wanted to be perfect. Doing a Wellington, if you take your time, is not so much hard as it is exacting. For those who have watched "hell's Kitchen" you know that Gordon Ramsey loves to chew on people's asses for screwing this up. The reason it is so difficult for them is that they are working in a Kitchen environment which does not give you time to breathe. I was able to start my Wellington on Thursday and then finish it on Friday when we had dinner. So far, no problem right? Here is where fate decided to kick me in the balls. I have stated before I am not a baker, I like to cook, so I had absolutely no intention of making my own Puff Pastry. I've watched enough British Baking to go "F that."

There is absolutely no Puff Pastry to be found in 120 Miles of road, None in my home town, none on the way here. We stopped at 5 different places, different chains, and everyone was out. Did everyone else decided to do Wellingtons? As Ramsey would say, 'Aww fuck me." But, I wasn't giving up. I bought Philo dough and soldiered on. The result was not the same but I still pulled off and amazing cook on it. The Duxelles, the Prosciutto and the actual tenderloin were cooked to perfection. So, while it didn't come of perfectly it did not fail.

Other than this hiccup I was pretty happy with the meal because I pulled off the courses, while getting to eat myself with my friends, and everything came out perfectly times. We started with the salad and then went to appetizers. The mushrooms and the Risotto were on point and I have left over Risotto for tonight's shenanigans. The Wellington was perfectly medium Rare and I did have to cook two pieces up to medium (Saute pan) for my partner and one other friend. The potatoes did not explode in the microwave or the oven and the lava cakes were rich AF but the Cream Anglaise was even better. (My girlfriend would sit in a chair with a bowl of Anglaise and a straw if I let her.)

All this said, here is what I am sharing from the meal:

Red Wine and Port Sauce for Beef
Now, I am someone who likes their savory and Sweet separate ( heh, Alliteration) but I know a lot of people like to mix the two. This a sauce that really compliments beef, and not just a Wellington, and it pretty easy to pull off.

Part 1
2 Cups Red Wine ( I used Apothic Inferno for this batch)
1 Cup Ruby Port
1/3 Cup Sugar
1 Cup beef Stock or Broth
1/4 Cup Shallots or Chives
1/4 Mushrooms ( sliced)

Part 2
2 Tablespoons water
1 Tablespoon of Corn Starch
2 Tablespoons of Butter

Simply add all of part 1 into a pot and get it up to a boil. let it boil and reduce for about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally and keep an eye on it, do not let it boil over so use a good sized pot for this. it ought to reduce down to about a third of its original volume as it cooks.

What I do here , once it has reduced, it strain it through mess to remove the pieces of mushroom/chives/shallots and get a smooth liquid.

After it reduces and you strain out the pieces get it back on low heat. Make a slurry with the water and corn starch, Drop in the butter and melt the pieces then slowly add the corn starch slurry, a little at a time, until you get the consistency you are looking for.

This goes with beef in general whether you are doing flank or filets. It is rich, savory and sweet all at the same time. it looks impressive but it is simple to make. You make it in advance but if you reheat this I would do so in a double boiler ( a pan with sauce atop another pan with water that is over a heat source) I would not reheat using direct heat because you can burn this.

Next post will be the Cream Anglaise and that stuff will make any sweets aficionado happy. 

Happy new years everyone.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

its been a hot minute and as you can see I did not cook at all Last month. Ok, that is a lie; my partner of 11 years ( After 11 years are we still girlfriend and boyfriend or have we moved on to being a couple? FM IDK?)
would starve to death, or disown me, if I were to stop cooking. Did I have some crazy cool new recipes; Yes, yes I did.  Did I write any of them down; No, because I am a tool.

Actually, Jan was a really busy ass month for me and, as I said in another thread, it was mostly good with partly Meh along the way. Tonight I am being lazy and using a Costco Meatloaf and spuds but I am making homemade Cheddar bay Biscuits to go with. So, like I said in that other thread I just mentioned, I am going to try to have a better presence on site this month, which, compared to lasyt month, ought to be a piece of cake.

or in this case, bread:

Hot Ham and Cheese pull Apart bread

This is a simple appetizer/ side dish that makes everything in the world seem good.

1 Loaf of Soft Italian or other bread ( you can use a French loaf if you want
12-16 Ounces of Gruyere Cheese ( Shredded )
12 Ounces of thinly slices ham ( Or 12 pieces of Prosciutto)
6 Ounces of Butter
Olive Oil
Salt and garlic to taste

(Options )

So, get the loaf and slice the ends off so you can nibble on them while you do the prep
You are going to make it so that there are 12 Total pieces of bread by slicing almost all the way through the loaf. DO NOT cut all the way through, leave the pieces attached.
Next, slice the butter so that you have 12 .5ounce pieces and place them between the slices of bread.
Repeat this with the ham of the prosciutto
Drizzle Olive oil over the top of the bread and spread with a brush.
Dust with Salt and then garlic
Finally, take the shredded Cheese and stuff the slices of bread atop the ham and butter with the excess laying on top of the load

OPTIONS:

You can add dices onions, tomatoes, mushrooms here but they need to be a fine dice and you can layer them on tope or you can try to stuff them in between the slices of bread

Oven, 350 for 7-10 minute until everything is a melty goodness
then turn on Broil for 4-6 minutes to get that browned cheese on top that makes everything in the world seem like it will be oK.

Be bougie, you just made pull apart cheesy bread. Get that Basic wine lovers Cupcake Chardonnay or Eco Domani Pinot Grigio and go at it ( I actually like Eco Domani. )

Ok, I need to go make biscuits, the American Kind not the British kind and then, New season of British bake Off Professionals just dropped on netflix.


Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

So I created tonight and like A dumbass I wasn't planning of keeping notes or anything because, well, I'm lazy. Was making dinner for the s/o because she was working the overnight ( 7-7) at her job. When she is not teaching Psych she is a nurse on the unit so good on her, bad on her eating habits. If there are any nurses on site, and I bet there are, I am sure many of you can confirm that eating is an art when you work at a hospital. First, you forget about real food while you pound coffee and devour whatever sugary snack is near by till the point you are not hungry. Then, secondly, when you are hungry someone utters the dreaded "q" or "s" word ( One means not loud and the other means not fast) which is like asking Karma to, "Hold my beer."

Anyway, I thawed out some pork chops ( boneless and about 4 or 5 ounces each) that I had cut and was planning to do cast iron seared rosemary and garlic chops along with pasta for her. I got a pasta tree for drying noodles and a new food processor for valentines and I put them to use. Got a nice looking pasta all hanging ( which I under cooked unintentionally by about a minute) and once it was done it tasted nice and fresh. The cops I did in the skillet with a combination of bacon rendering and butter and then finished them off in the oven. All was good but the real star was the sauce.

A while back she had picked up these refrigerated tubes of various seasoning and I had one that was a paste of sun- dried tomatoes. Now, I do not like tomatoes as a general rule; I am not a marinara fan. Oddly enough, I can eat my weight in salsa but don't expect me to explain my insanity to you here. Just know that I have been tested and I am the good kind of crazy. Sun-dried tomatoes, however, add a unique flavor and I wanted to use that to compliment the Pork chops. What I ended up with was everything I wanted and more because I took the sauce up a notch with Marscapone cheese.

For those who are not familiar with Marscapone, this is an Italian cream cheese of sorts. It has a slightly different flavor than American cream cheese and it lends itself to other flavors really well. I have used it before to make a roasted red bell pepper sauce and I had a feeling that it would go really well with the sun-dried tomato paste and I was right. So, here are the ingredients for the sauce:

Butter
Flour
Heavy cream
Vegetable Broth
Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Paprika
Sun Dried Tomato Paste
Marscapone Cheese
Parmesan Cheese
Lemon juice
Frozen spinach
Pasta water ( this is actually about a quarter cup of the water used to cook the pasta.)

About pasta water and Italian sauces. Recipes will sometimes call for you to add the water to various sauces and there are reasons for this: 1) it helps the sauce stick to whatever pasta you are using and 2) because the water now has some of the starch in it from the cooking of pasta it will naturally thicken a sauce. Alfredo Sauce is a classic example of the use of pasta water to thicken a sauce.

So, what I did was melt the butter and make a thin Roux using flour. I added in the salt, pepper, garlic, paprika and sun-sun dried tomato paste and let it cook a bit. The moment you add cream, Marscapone and Parmesan the roux will get really thick. You use the vegetable broth to cut it to a desire consistency. Do this on low- medium heat and add more stock as the sauce thickens. I splashed some lemon juice in to bring the other flavors out and this is when you need to start tasting and testing the sauce to get the flavor profile you want. Get the consistency just a little under the thickness you want and then toss in the frozen spinach. let that cook for a minute or two, the spinach will cook fast and absorb the flavor easily. Finally add a little of the pasta water.

Now, I drained the pasta and then tossed it into the sauce and got a nice coating before I pulled the cops out of the oven. I didn't talk about cooking the chops because, as good as they came out, the sauce was the star. I plated the pasta into bowls and then thin sliced the meat at about a 45 degree angle and 1/8th of an inch thick.

This sauce when great with the pork but for the vegetarians I got a version for you. This would go great with grilled squash and Zucchini. I would suggest quartering the veggies and maybe add in a green bell pepper and some onions. Got your veggies in melted butter and lightly season with Lowry's or another seasoning salt ( celery or garlic salt would work.) Pan sear or grill to get a little char and then layer them atop the pasta in place of the meats.

Start to finish, without making the pasta, and you could have this done in 30 minutes. If you don't make your own pasta I wouldn't use a noodle smaller than Linguini and would suggest Fettuccine. You could also try Penne.

Sorry I didn't record anything, I was just working on the fly and decided this one was worth sharing.

Cheers,

E.

P.S. : for all those in health care, for all of you who do the 12 hr shifts and have been doing so during these last few years. Thank you for all you have done, all you have put up with, and the willingness to stay at the bedside. This also includes the administrators, the aides, techs and everyone else who make hospitals run.

P.S.S. I have joked with my girlfriend that I am going to start a series of food trucks called the OR ( Operating Restaurant) and the ER ( Emergency Restaurant.) That would start service at 10Pm (22:00) and go until 3:00 ( 03:00) just for you all to have fresh cooked meals. That way you could have quality hot food at a better price and freshness than doordash. ( for those outside of the US, Doordash, if you don't have this service, picks up food from wherever you order and delivers it to you. There and plusses and minuses to the service but sometimes it is the only way to get non-hospital food on shift.)

[echoes]

So,

I work in one of those places that has multiple departments and recently, like in the last month, I changed out of a department that I had worked in for the last 8.5 years. I did this willingly, laterally, because I needed to get out. I didn't realize how much I hated coming to work until I left my former department and now, despite the new job being hundreds of times more physical and labor intensive, I have pretty much had a smile on my face every day. There are a few more things at play, but that is the overall gist of my work life and that is part of the reason I have not been posting as much about food. I mean, I still cook but I have been a bit more tired and haven't typed about it. If this wasn't enough we are coming into Spring which is a busy ass time for me because, if you have read stuff here and elsewhere, I have a small farm. We have horses and chickens and 12ish acres to maintain.  This said, I am going to try and get better about getting out one food, or drink, item each week.

In another post, about two or three back, I told you about New Years and a sauce I made to go with a Beef Wellington. I did another read wine sauce tonight for a pork tenderloin and it is a little different but I am going to share it:

2 Cups of Red Wine. I did a Sweet Roja Wine
1 Large can of Mandarin oranges ( get the ones in juice and not syrup)
3 tablespoons of butter
pinch salt
Splash of lemon juice ( about a tablespoon)
2 Tablespoons of sugar

( Possible corn starch/ slurry mix to thicken )

Pork really works well with fruit flavors and sweetness and I have done things like use applesauce before to make a glaze/ drizzle/ sauce etc. I wanted to do Mandarin oranges because I do a similar marinade with siracha for beef ( may have to get that up here at some point. Anywho, this is a simple recipe:

get the wine into a pot/ pan and get heat to medium high. Add in the mandarin oranges, juice and all. Add lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of butter.
get this to a boil and then be patient. You want this to cook for anywhere from 20-30 minutes or until the liquid has reduced down to about a third of the original size.
Taste, add sugar and a pinch of salt, possibly more lemon juice to get the sweetness you want.
if the liquid is to think make a small slurry ( 4 tablespoons of water to 2 tablespoons corn starch) and add slowly while stirring and get the consistency you want. making a slurry will almost guarantee that you have no lumps, but if you have some lumps, dont worry., do not worry.
Now, if you have an immersion blender, cool, destroy the oranges in the pot. Or just use a whisk to mash them up. Just break these down the best ypou can.

Then, strain this mixture through a mesh strainer and into a bowl. Check for taste, you want the note of the oranges to be more prevalent than just pure sweetness. What is did next is optional. You can either rest the pork tenderloin atop the glaze you you can drizzle this atop the tenderloin. I also added feta cheese to go along with this. Given the seasoning of the tenderloin the combination worked great.

So that is it for now, more to come in the future. I made a pizza oven last year and it survived the winter. I need to do a little work on it and then add some cosmetic rocks around it's cinderblock base. I may be making a tandor style oven this year in which case I will be writing about more kebabs and skewers of meats and veggies.

Cheers,

E.

[persephone325]

*posts to get notifications* :-)

[echoes]

Hey all, and Hey persephone, long time yo.

So, Have been doing some cookings here and there but as of Sunday I am off on a little four day holiday and going to one of my favorite cities. I will be heading to NOLA, Nawlins, the Big Easy or New Orleans depending on where you are from. So Laissez les bons temps roulere, let the good times roll; on a side note, this is the first time I have been back since Katrina hit in 05. I am not a Mardi Gras person, Nawlins is not all about beads, boobs and binge drinking when I head down there. I usually go for the food and the atmosphere. Despite this being a blog about food ( and I will get to the food part in a bit ) here is a quick story about my times down in the Crescent City.

I actually was in town with my dad and several of his friends for a Football road game against the LSU Tigers in near by Baton Rouge. If there are any Tigers fans here, Geaux Tigers, much respect. For the rest fo the world outside of the states. The Football ( American style) in the SEC (Southeastern Conference) is particularly competitive. And the top SEC teams tend to always be in contention for a National Title. LSU tends to be a top tier program where as the one I follow, back then, wasn't. So, when we beat LSU in Death Valley ( the name of their stadium) there was hell to pay. Then two years later we were back again and they made us pay for it ( this is the late 90's/early 2000's.) Because I am a survivor, and I am not a fanatic for sports, I packed mostly neutral colored clothing so that I could blend into a crowd when the drunks fans started to get belligerent. The mention of clothing is important here because we stayed in New Orleans before heading to baton Rouge for the game.

It was an a Amazing Friday and I had my first drink at 8:30 am with Absolute Mandarin and OJ as part of breakfast. I hung out in the Quarter ( French Quarter/ heart of New Orleans) all day long. bar hopping, meeting up with my dad and his friends, sight seeing and so on. They turned in around eleven but I was still looking to keep going and, being that this was the time before the interwebs, used an archaic device known as a phone book, and an accompanying directory to track down a club to go dancing at. I wasn't drunk, hadn't gotten drunk all day, and I am a club kid so these would be my people. After doing some research, and checking with the concierge where we were staying, I was absolutely tickled to find a Goth Club not three blocks away.

I got there just before midnight and when I made it past coat check I will sum up the reaction of the already assembled Goths to my arrival by paraphrasing Bill Hicks when he said, "They looked at me like Boy George just showed up at a KKK rally. Remember when I mentioned dressing to blend in to a crowd, that would be a crowd of frat boys and alumni at a football game and not a Goth club. The only that I was wearing that black were combat boots. I was in khaki colored cargo pants, a grey t-shirt and a dark grey pullover/hoodie and I was in the middle of the floor throwing down to Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy and so on. I had a blast and knew every song they played, singing along and dancing for a good hour before heading to the bar to grab a drink. The conversation there when like this:

"Evening, could I get -X- to drink please."

"Sure thing hun, hold on."

Bartender gets me drink of choice, I pay and transaction is done when the young woman behind the bar goes:

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Go for it." ( Said between a drink the lighting of a cigarette ( yes I used to smoke just like everyone else back then.)

"Are you sure you are in the right place, hun?"

"You tell me," and there was a big smile as I said something that I still feel pretty good about. "In a room full of so called alternative people, Who stands out?"

She smiled and bought my next round and we talked. She was a student at Tulane and the bartender gig was just part of life while in school. I explained that I used to DJ and I am an old school goth ( I was prolly 5-10 years older than most of the crowd then and only a few were dancing. Instead the majority were playing that " I am so dead inside my soul dances without me" and " Anne Rice was so cool until she sold out" schtick that some goths tend to love.

I staid out until about 2:30 before heading home after a lovely night dancing, chatting and having a ball. The next day, my football team got their asses handed to them in revenge fashion but the trip to the club made the entire trip worth it.


Now On to food.

Most people say they can cook the "perfect" something or other. I won't claim this is perfect but I will tell you how I get a quality steak using cast iron almost look look like clockwork.

First, preperation:

Nothing fancy, use a fork and get the meat you want to work with and then do your best serial killer/ anger management on it. Stab the fuck out of one side, flip and repeat.

You want the steak to be close to room temp but slightly chilled will work as well.

Second, seasoning:
Salt, pepper, Garlic, Onion Powder, Paprika and crushed rosemary.

Dust one side with each in and I go in the order above. Flip the meat and repeat. How much you add will depend on how you like your seasoning done but I tend to favor the garlic and rosemary when I do the seasoning.

Let sit for a few minutes and while it does just that do 2 things. turn on an oven to 350f ( 176-177c.) and get your skillet on medium high heat.

Three, the skillet:

I have several cast Iron skillets that are seasoned ( more on that in another post) and great for doing 1 - 3 steaks without crowding the pan. When doing, lets say fillets, I do three in a pan. The fillets I use are from Costco so, if you are familiar with them, you know the cuts of meat are thick. Once the pan is on I add 1 -2 Tablespoons of butter and the same in bacon drippings. Let the skillet heat up and get the butter/drippings melted.

Four, Cooking part one:
In goes the steak. listen to the nice sizzle and start to really get hungry. This is a good time to do other prep, sides and such. You will leave the steak on the first side until you get a nice crust/sear and the meat starts to cook up the sides. before it reaches half way up the side, flip the steak to start the other side. Notice I am not saying an exact time. The reason for that is burners/cooktops and so on tend to cook at different speeds and what may work for one will not work for others. What you are doing hear is trapping everything inside. The oven you turned on will finish the steaks off.

Five, Cooking Part two:

Sear done take the skillet off the burn and slide it into the oven. Here times do come into play but it will then vary based on the thickness of the steak. With those Costco Fillets I usually go a minimum of 5 minutes before I flip them and do another 5 and you are at a near guaranteed rare - medium rare. You can go up to 8/10 minutes a side and you will be on the higher side of medium rare.  Steak thickness is the biggest factor here. Thinner steaks will finish faster.

What you end up with a seared steak that is balanced and seasoned and ready to rest before serving. its not burnt because there is not enough time to do so with indirect heat.

Cheers,

E.

[persephone325]

Hey!

New Orleans, huh? I've always wanted to go! My dad says that a lot of their food is spicy, though. I'm not a big fan of spicy foods, so that made me a bit disheartened.

But reading about you cooking steak is making me hungry for it! lol I guess I'll have to settle for my ribs from when we went out for dinner tonight. lol I definitely want to try this. It sounds really good!

[echoes]

Not a food post, but observations and thoughts along with a bit of Anthropology:

I'm in NoLa for a couple of days and so far it has been a combination of Nostalgia and adventure as I see the city for the first time in Twenty years. Last time I was here was before Hurricane Katrina had its way with the city and since then it has survived a few more storms, Covid and who knows what else. So, to see that the Quarter is the still the Quarter, that the Business district seems to be booming and that the people here are as diverse and eclectic as ever has really warmed my heart. My partner has never been here and so we decided that New Orleans would be a nice little escape. Now, ready for some humor, I hope you are because here it goes. My partner is a Navy brat born in Hawaii and she hates seafood. Not just some, but ALL seafood; and we are in New Orleans. I have already had Gulf Caught shrimp and fresh Crawdads and she has stuck with chicken and rice. I am going to get her to try gator ( cause it eats like chicken, no lie) but even that is an arm twister, So yeah, that is going on.

Now, to the observation

I know this, and those who cook a lot prolly know this, but to those who have only ever had premade: "cajun/creole/New Orleans" style food it isn't about the heat. The heat is a by product of the cultures that have lived in Louisiana but that is not what makes these ethnic foods taste the way they do. The heat comes from a combination of French, Spanish and West African styles that were then further experimented on by the Acadians and Creole descendants that would eventually become known as colloquially known as Cajun. Now, real quick, Acadian refers to those who left a province in the North Eastern part of Canada ( Arcadia ) and Creole refers to the French/Spanish/ West African/ Native American people of Louisiana before its purchase by America. Now the terms get intermixed all the time but I still think of them as two or more separate groups.

Enough anthropology, back to food.

The Trinity

This is the rough dice of green bell peppers, Onions and celery that is not unlike the French mirepox which is Onion, Celery, Green onion and carrots. After this base comes the building of flavor usually based on aromatics like: Parsley, thyme, scallions, cayenne pepper, bat leaf and back/white pepper. The addition of other red/yellow bell peppers brings base heat and some sweet but the goal here is to develop a flavor before you feel the heat. Despite the craze of hot sauces that surfaced in the 1990's this punch in the face heat is not what the food here is about. In fact, other seasonings that make appearance in order to develop that "cajun" taste profile are anything but hot: Basil, cloves, mint, Majoram, oregano, sage sugar cane and so on give the appearance of anything but heat. That is where the: Garlic, white pepper, chili powder and Cayenne come in to play. The art here is the balance, the flavors that entice you to come back for another bite even as the heat settles in to warn you off. The perfectly balanced bit has the heat fading just in time for your mouth to water for another taste. I haven't travelled outside of the US so I can't say this doesn't happen anywhere else, in fact, I am sure it does in the cuisines of various people around the world. Or at least i hope it does, but I don't think that any one style of cuisine here in the states has this art down like a science like the food here in New Orleans. You can replicate it elsewhere, but here is the home and if you call it "Cajun" or "Creole" then you had better bring game.

Now, other than this, there is one other thing that New Orleans is known for and I am not talking about a holiday where you show your chest to get free beads.

COFFEE

This may shock you; I don't drink coffee . Never developed a taste for it, never enjoyed it and, Hell, I quit caffeine for ten years because I have sleep issues. Anywho, I don't drink coffee but if you are in New Orleans and you are a coffee drinking, this is a Mecca for you. More than Seattle, this is the first stop of fresh ( ie: Still hot from roasting coffee beans) from South America. You can have the best eatery int he world, the finest cuisine and the best cooks and if you have shit coffee you will close. Here the coffee of an establishment can make you a contender or shutter your doors. So, if you come down to the Delta make sure you take time to have a cup or two.

One last thing and then imma fuck off for a bit.

If you come to NoLa do realize their blue laws ( alcohol laws) are a bit different than everywhere else in the States. You can open carry alcohol in the Quarter and in other parts of the city without worry. In some places you get an automatic P.I. (Public Intoxication) for just having a beer in your hand. here you gotta be drunk to get that P.I., but once you do, well, world of shit for you. Why am I tell you about this, well, its simple. THE DRINKS HERE COST MORE THAN THE DO AT DISNEY! Alcohol in the bars tend to be ridiculously marked up. You will get drunk at the cost of the thrid mortgage on your house. I'm all for supporting local and there are so many places to try, but if all you are going to do is walk the quarter then bring your insulated glass and a flask and save yourself a bit of money that would be better spent on food and tipping.

Example of what I mean. there is a place where you can get a "Scorpion" shot for $25 bucks. Yes, $25 bucks for a shot and a t-shirt to goo along with it. What is this concoction? Is it made with ambrosia or at least some insultingly high priced alcohol? nope. Tequila of your choice, a scorpion dipped in fuel, set on fire and tossed into your shot. You drink the drink, swallow the bug and you just spent $25 that you may immediately puke back up.

This is the place of $25 frozen daiquiris and 4 dollar bottles of Diet coke. This is a tourist destination and you will pay for it. ( I will give a shout out to the Creole House for a very reasonably priced wine list with bottles averaging around $40 but everywhere else so far has been crazy. Look, hit Costco, get the premade Margarita bottle for less than $12 bucks and sippie cup that like a boss.

Im back home on Thursday and will try and cook something inspired by the trip. Either that, or Im doing burgers cause I am lame.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

So,
Back from the Big Easy and there is both good and bad associated with that. I went from 60-70 (18's in C.) degrees a day into 30 (0,-1c) somethings and that kinda sucked. I got back to work, ,meh, not that bad but physical, and I am back on my small farm. Spring, theoretically is around the corner and in this part of the world we are about to have a fifth season known as "wet." Wet seasons make yard work a right pain in the ass because you can't get a lot of stuff done but you have to find a way to do it anyways. Also, we have 2 horses foaling soon so I will update those who are interested on that later.

Now, on to food.

Got back and was missing some of the flavor of the holiday so I did a chicken and Andouille sausage pasta with peppers and onions. Got a nice subtle heat after a lot of flavor in a tomato cream sauce and so that was on point.  Made homemade ( re: non mix) cornbread and then made a dessert. Now, I've said before I am not a baker, I suck at it really, but I can make a few desserts and that is what I am going to type out today.

Easy Creme Brulee:

4 Egg Yolks
1/3 Cup of Sugar
* - Vanilla
6 tablespoons caster/turbinado sugar
2 cups heavy whipping cream.

6 medium sized Ramekins.

Start your oven at 325 degrees (163c)

Start cream in a pot or saucepan that has a lip for pouring. this will be important later. Start on medium heat and bring to a soft boil. resist the urge to go high heat so you do not scald the cream on the bottom of the pan. Slow and steady is better here. 

While this is starting also start a second pot with water and get it up to just under boiling, Or, if you have a steam kettle, fill it and set it on its way.

In a bowl, or a 4 cup measuring cup. Separate 4 yolks from the rest of the eggs and stir in 1/3 cup of regular sugar.

Notice I did an * for the vanilla, here is why:
Imitation or vanilla extract - 1 1/2 teaspoon into the egg/sugar mix
Vanilla Bean paste - 1 Teaspoon into the Egg/sugar mix
Vanilla bean, spilt and scrapped ( 2- 3 inches) - Into the heating cream split bean and all. ( remove split bean before adding cream to eggs)

So, eggs/sugar/ vanilla all mixed and cream just about to bubbling. Start to add cream to eggs( remember when I said to get a pain or pot that is good at pouring, this is why. You will spill this shit everywhere if you are not careful.) SLOWLY!!!!!!. Do not pour everything in all at once , you will make scrambled sugar eggs. Add slowly and mix continuously.

get 6 ramekins or small bowls and set them in a high-walled oven safe pan. That water you heated up earlier, pour that into the pan so that it comes about halfway up the outsides of the Ramekins. Then divvy up your Brulee mix into the 6 containers. Why are you doing this? It makes for consistent and even cooking in the Brulee while also providing moisture in the oven so that the top doesn't dry out and become a filmy mess.

Once done go into the oven for 25-35 minutes ( depending on how your oven cooks.) Pull just before the top of the mix starts to turn brown. let sit if you want for up to 20 minutes or refrigerate and serve cold in an hour.

Last step. place 1 tablespoon of caster or turbinado sugar on top of the finished Brulee and if you have a blowtorch you carnalize the sugar on top by heating it with the torch. if you do not have a torch turn your oven to broil and slide the ramekin's atop a sheet tray under the broiler. Be careful because it is easy to burn the Brulee, and yourself, doing it this way.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

"It's been a minutes, Huh Mav?"

It has, it has and I have been cooking but have also been busy. Let me distract you bebe powners:  here.

More on food soon. Been up to much good in the kitchen and will try and get a post or three up soon.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

No,

Really,

Imma post something soon.:

Homemade whipped cream ( I promise that its consensual)

30 Minute Marscapone Mousse

Baked chicken with White wine tomato cream sauce

These will be coming soon.

Maybe also :

A breakdown on Italian meats for Charcuterie
Good Cheese's for antipasta's
A quick and easy Pasta salad with peas, mozzarella and salami
We got one more bebe powner and this one will be smol ( dont worry, its supposed to be smol)

Cheers

E.

[echoes]

 "Soon" is totally relative, Right? like, a month is soon for some people.

Fuck me I got lost but hey, I'm back again and with more culinary things to share. Let's get into a subject today instead of a recipe and see if this gives anyone any ideas. So, in the last five years, maybe as much as a decade, the new hotness for everyone has been the Charcuterie board. I'm pretty sure everyone who reads this has seen at least one picture of one of these meat monstrosities that bordered on Carnivore food porn. You know the type of picture I am talking about, and you also know that it had to be an American thing to take it up to eleven. If you don't well, there is Google and if you are lazy then the picture I am talking about does not have the artful, almost delicate display of thinly sliced cured meats arranged in patterns and displaying vibrant colors. Instead we have the eight foot , 2 .5 meter, table covered in grilled T-bones and Porterhouse steaks jockeying for position amongst overstuffed sausages and bratwursts. Straight up food porn for the carnivore's soul but, before we get there I got to go retro for a moment and while I plan to talk about the Charcuterie board I want us to jump back about twenty years to the prior hotness that was the Antipasto.

Antipasto.

First, I am willing to be non Italian speaking, and non foodie people, will think this means, " without Pasta." Also, people often think it is correct to make word "feminine" by saying "Antipasta." I hate to break it to you but the use of the "o" and the "a" at the end of the word doesn't work in making this male/female because "Pasto" is actually the Italian word for "meal" and "Pasta" is actually the word for "Pasta." "Anti" is not so much "against" as it mean, "before." So you have Antipasto meaning "before meal," or appetizer; but this is not your wings and potato skins kind of appetizer. The design of a proper Antipasto is to accentuate the hunger for the following meal and not to drown our hunger with processed fried goodness.

There is nothing wrong with proper fried goodness Btw.

Therefor the antipasto really flourishes with a combination of meats, fruits, vegetables, breads and spread to give a variety of finger foods.

Common foods include :
Green Olives
Black Olives
Squash
Zucchini
Onions
Pepperoncini
Roma Tomatoes
Sun Dried Tomatoes
Humus
Crackers
Bread
Tapenade
Pepperoni
Prosciutto Crudo ( cured ham)
Capicola
Sopressatta
Mozzarella
Mascarpone
Feta

You can add and take away as you wish but the idea is not to get gorged on the finger foods; instead you are wetting your appetite for the main course.  Side note: oddly enough, I live in a family that has the most complex and odd system of dietary yes's and no's that you might ever meet. My partner is a Navy Brat, born in Hawaii and raised in Coastal cities during her formative years. She hates seafood, all seafood, and anything else that comes from the water. (Do you know how hard this made our trip to New Orleans? Anywho) She also doesn't like fruits and half of the veggies I am willing to cook she will skip as well. Her younger brother, who we take care of for reasons, has an eating disorder or two under his belt and pretty much doesn't like anything that could be considered healthy. Both of her children, as mine has grown up and moved off, have different culinary tastes than each other and everyone else. (My son got raised in a Mexican Restaurant and, much like me, will try almost anything once.) So... all this said, our antipastos tend to be meat , cheese, bread and dip heavy which makes them much more similar to ...

Charcuterie.

The main difference on the Charcuterie and the Antipasto is that meat is the main focus of a Charcuterie where an Antipasto is base on a combination of things. Charcuterie comes the French words meaning "cooked flesh" and I don't think you can real confuse that with "before meal." A properly done Charcuterie can be an entire meal in and of itself, thought it can also serve as a form of Antipasto done before a main course. Like the Antipasto, the Charcuterie has a supporting cast of foods that accompany the meat focus. Many of the foods used for one can be used for the other so I am not going to create a separate list for the Charcuterie.  The key thing to remember is that cured meats are the focus on this board where, on an antipasto, they share the stage.

Americans, as I mentioned before, have done what we tend to do and take something pretty cool and try turn it up to the next level. Much like the ability to fry anything in the Southeast part of the States, we have gone from cured meats to ALL THE MEATS for a Charcuterie. My thought on this is that it is a form of mastication mixed with masturbation. This said, as long as every piece of food gets eaten, and there is no waste, well, "you do you." I'm not a fan but its your right to have your meat orgy if that is what gets you through the day. If you can afford it, and it is a good time, then go for it. Now, if you are over cooking hundreds of dollars of meat for the Insta, TikTok, Snapchat or whatever media you use to get your adulation and online praise, and your either waste it, or worse, try to return it so someone else has to throw it away after you get your money back, then, yeah. Only one thing can be said.

You are an absolute piece of shit. 

Back on Track

I usually do the following for an Antipasto board:

Meats:
Salami ( usually a Genoa)
Prosciutto Crudo ( cured ham)
Capicola
Sopressatta

Cheese:
Mozzarella ( dash of garlic and salt added )
And then a combination of flavored cheeses that I get either at Costco or Liquor barn. Ive done a bacon Gouda, Dill havarti, Butterkase and a couple of others as well.

Bread/ crackers:
Naan or pita bread
Various crackers.

Spreads:
Humus ( Roasted red pepper or garlic )
Sriracha orange marmalade
Mango Chutney
herb butter ( Rosemary or dill )

And when we have guest I add:
Sun dried tomatoes
Pepperoncini
occasionally Olives.

That's the post, sorry I have been outside, still working on getting pictures to start accompanying what I post here.

Cheers.

E.

(P.s: We did have our last bebe powner and I wasn't joking, she is sooooo smol. (powner pictures to be found here. When she was born she was 5 hands high. That means nothing to non horse people so let me put it this way. A hand is 4 inches. 5 hands, 20 inches, she was less than two feet tall at the shoulder. ( .66 meters I think.) Don't worry, she is supposed to be smol. She is what is called a section A Welsh Pony. Her mama is full grown and is just at 10 hands at the shoulder. Now, for perspective, the absolute unit that was our first baby this year, Duncan, well, when he was born he came out at 10 hands and is already over 11 hands in about eight weeks. He is a Belgian Drought and Welsh Cobb cross and he is meant to be big. His mama is a Belgian Arabian mix who is 15.3 at the shoulder. So Duncan came out right at 48 inches ( 4 feet, 1 .33 meters) and new bebe is half that . Speaking of bebe, currently she is called "nugget," which is a name my G/F has tried to fight but even she calls her nugget. Her registered name is Cob Creek's something that begins with a "c"."

Meybe I will have pictures to share soon if I get a good one.)


Cheers,
E.

Edited to make this more readble.

[echoes]

I am going to try and be crazy and will add some more to this tomorrow. There is also a companion thread found here. You are welcome to come and post there if you have comments, thoughts or want to chat. One thing I want to stress, and this is just a thing about me. I encourage people to add and take away from the things I put up here if you want to try them out for yourself. If you try anything you see here, tell me about your experience. Success or failure, was it good or did you think it sucked. One thing I don't like about a lot of recipes I see on line is that do not encourage you to be you when you cook. I want you to be able to see something here and go, "that sounds good but what if I did this?"

Cooking is art, Baking is science and I really believe this. Baking is based on measurements and formulas where cooking, the way I do it, is dash of this and a pinch of that. This all said, I encourage everyone to find one thing you can make, one thing that is your signature dish even if it is a grilled cheese. ( I make them with a combination of butter and bacon drippings with American cut with a creamy white cheese ( Havarti or Mozzarella most often though I have done Gouda and ButterKase before. I sometimes, more often than not for this crew, add two slices of bacon as well.) Funny thing, I don't like grilled cheese sammiches, to much cheese for me. ( I can already hear someone out there going, "The fuck you say to much cheese!" Share it over in the companion thread and who knows, I may try your recipe and then throw it up here while giving you props. Let's do this together.

Also, in the near future, I will talk about my small herb garden and the bonus of having fresh eggs from the nine overachieving chickens that live here on the farm. I am not joking, and those who have chickens will more than likely agree, having eggs that are truly "farm fresh" are totally different than even the free range and organic eggs you get at a market.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Being that we are in the Spring verging on Summer months here in the states I'm going to toss up a picnic staple that has a history that started before the modern day picnics were a thing.

Pasta Salad

Pretty innocuous and simple in its name, this can be found at cook outs, pot lucks and family gatherings all over the States but possibly has roots as far back as the Phoenicians. If you look at the Wikipedia page regarding this dish it is suggested that this was used during by, "Italian Jews in the Roman Empire" because it reused cold pasta as cooking on the Sabbath was prohibited.  The same article also suggests the modern day incarnation can be traced back to 1914 and the inclusion of macaroni noodles as the main base for the salad. I happen to use multi-colored Rotini (spiral) noodles instead of Macaroni because I think this style of pasta holds the "sauce" better than other noddles.

So here is a quick and easy pasta salad which is easy to modify for your needs.

1/2 box of Rotini Pasta
1 Bag frozen peas and carrots
1 8oz BelGioioso Mozzarella ball
4-8oz of Salami ( pepperoni or ham works as well)
Mayonaise
Buttermilk
Lemon Juice
Herbs or 1 hidden Valley Ranch seasoning packet.

Cook the Rotini as instructed and set a colander in a sink. Now, if the peas/carrots combination is still frozen open the bag and empty it in the colander. When you pour the pasta water out it will flash thaw the veggies and will keep them crisp. I think put a cup or two of ice atop the pasta and turn the sprayer setting on the faucet to chill the pasta quickly if I do not have a lot of time to let it cool in a fridge.

Dice the Mozzarella down to about 1/8th cubes, or a rough cut will do but you want the pieces to be about the size of a medium Feta crumble. ( look at the tip of your pinkie finger and that is the size you want.) I dice the Salami about the same size. Set the cheese and meat aside an once the ice is melted let all water strain out before mixing all the above in a mixing bowl.

Now I didn't get amounts of mayo, buttermilk, lemon juice of herbs/seasoning for a reason. I like a relatively "dry" pasta without an excess of "sauce." For a 1.2 box I start with 1/3 cup of mayo. a couple of table spoons of buttermilk and then a splash of lemon juice. Mixing 1/3rd of the ranch seasoning package and taste. get your seasoning profile down first and then add to the other ingredients. Mix well and then add more as needed. Start low build high because you can always add more when you can't always take more away.

This is where personal preference kicks in. If you want the salad to be more wet, well, you know what to add. Stronger seasoning, same story. You can also add salt, pepper and other spice to the Ranch seasoning if you want.

if you have time, chill for at least and hour or even overnight and this will keep.

There, something simple, something fast and it will get demolished at any outdoor gathering. You can also add to this, I would suggest diced sun dried tomatoes as a good start.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Summer drinks.

You must 21, or add you applicable age relative to where you live, to ride this train.

So most people know the White Russian cocktail, maybe you have had one or you have a friend who has had one. Its a simple cocktail, one of those classic cocktails that everyone tries at some point and time or another. Its a vodka based drink that combines coffee liqueur with cream to create a rather exotic mix of flavors. The vodka can be any of choice but I tend to use Absolute of Kettle One. The coffee Liqueur is usually Kahlua and the cream is usually a light cream though some people do heavy cream.

Now I am not a coffee person, which I have mentioned before, but I have had more than one carafe of these drinks while out with friends during my college years. Mind you, I first attended Uni in the early nineties, so this was before the drink was popularized by the movie, "The Big Lebowski," as I am told that this was the preferred drink of "the Dude" of Lebowski fame.

Its a summer drink, meant to be on ice and it was the predecessor to the drink I wanted to share with you today.

The Colorado Bulldog

.

^Good God This is an obnoxious color.... Im leaving it

Take the white Russian and Add cola ( and by cola we all know I mean coke.) That's it, you basically make an alcoholic root beer float without the root beer Don't ask me why it tastes like this, something about the coffee liqueur and the cola that changes the taste profile and it comes out like a boozy float. Serve over ice and work towards that well deserved buzz.

1.5 Ounces Vodka
1 Coffee Liqueur ( Kahlua)
1 Ounce light cream/milk
1-2 ounces of cola

Add in that order over ice and giv it a swirl. See what you think.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Going to do another drink and then will get back to doing food on Friday. Im planning to make lamb kabobs, couscous, grilled veggies. homemade hummus and table bread along with a fresh spring salad with homemade vinaigrette. So, see you Friday if you are interested.

Now, despite all that sounding very Mediterranean, the drink I am going to throw your way if not based in Ouzo and Sambuca.  First, much like the previous post, we have to start with the original and then get the variant so, without anymore stalling, let's talk about the Rattlesnake shot.

First, I have no idea why this combo is called the Rattlesnake because, unlike a Rattlesnake, this one doesn't warn you. What do I mean by that? Well, here are the ingredients:

Coffee Liqueur
Creme de Cacao ( chocolate ) Liqueur
Irish Cream.

Notice, none of the heavy hitters are making an appearance. No Vodka, Bourbon, Rum, Scotch etc. In fact, mixed together and the average proof is in the low 40% and that isn't even pregame. in fact, this is a lovely and smooth, "sweet," shot that goes great with dessert.

I like an alcohol that tells you what will happen if you imbibe to much. Bourbon, for example, warns you from the first burn that it will push you shit in should you decide to drink to much. Same with Scotch, Tequila and son. Schnapps, liqueurs and so one fucking lie to you, "We taste sweet, we are fun, drink a lot of us." You do so at your own peril. I will not go into the night I played the drinking game, "Three Man" while doing rattlesnakes. That is not something we talk about outside of Fight Club, but, I will tell you. When I was asked if I was a God, I said YES!

Back to the shot. This is a fun shot, no bite and the mix of coffee, chocolate and creme is pretty much what some of you get at Starbucks every day. If you do it right you can layer the liquids so they stay separated but I always forget the order in which they go so I just mix them up. You can chill this shot, shake it over ice to thin it out or go at room temperature. Its flexible, fun and tastes good.

The Slippery Snake

This is easy and it changes the profile by pulling the Creme de Cacao and replaces it with Buttershots ( Butterscotch) Same portions either 1/2 oz of each liqueur or 1oz of each. I tend to the 1 oz each. I prefer this at room temp but you can shake it and strain it over ice if you will.

So there, 2 more drinks and then on Friday there will be kebabs.

Cheers.

E.

[echoes]

30 Minute Italian Sausage in Linguini

So I have switched departments at work a few months back and now have moved to closing my department Mon-Wed each week. This works out pretty well considering the GF works overnights as a nurse so she is gone 7-7 in a normal 12 hour shift. What this does is give us the mornings together before she passes out and then I start getting ready for work around 11 or 11:15 local time. I have a 30 minute drive, that I try to give myself the minimum 45 minutes to an hour to get to work, because we live in a town 20 or so miles from the city we work in. Now, to major metropolitan areas, that is nothing as it takes 20 minutes just to get to a store, but what I am setting up here is that when I get home around 930 (2130) usually everyone else has eaten and some have even gone to bed in the house. I don't have a lot of time to make food because I want to get some sleep, or spend time with the GF before she passes out. Cooking on the quick with minimum fuss and mess is a must.

Ingredients"

2 Primo Italian Sausage links
Linguini Pasta
Butter
flour
Manchego
Heavy Cream
Vegetable broth/Stock
Minced Garlic
Diced Onions ( fresh, frozen, dried )
Salt/pepper and herbs to taste.

get water going in a pot with a dash or three of salt. Get enough water  to cover roughly 3 servings of linguini. This will make either 2 large portions or 3 medium portions so set yourself up for leftovers.

In a large sauté skillet get an ounce of butter going on medium high and then get the sausages in. You want to brown all sides of the sausage but dont let them burn. Once you've got them browned you take one sausage out at a time, slice it down then middle and then slice the two halves into 1/4 inch ( 4 mm) thick chunks. Put this back in the pan and then do the other one. Once the sausage is almost all the way cooked pull all pieces out and onto a plate with a paper towel on it to get rid of excess oil.

By now water should be boiling get pasta in and set timer to 10-11 minutes depending on how you like your pasta to feel firmness wise.

2 -3 more tablespoons of butter into the skillet and drop the temp to medium. melt and add onion's, sauté for 2 minutes and add garlic. ( I used frozen onions and pre minced garlic so if you only have a fresh onion and whole cloves of garlic do not add the butter until you prep those items as the butter will burn while it waits for you.) You want the onions to be translucent and the garlic to just start to brown when you add just under 1/3 cup of flour. Mix in and make a roux.


While the roux continues to cook, and in between stirring, shredder about 1/2 a cup of Manchego cheese. Once the roux, which should have just the slightest of brown color due to the sausage drippings and then cooking, has warmed add the cheese and stir. this will make an unholy looking glob of sauce base goodness. Add in the cream and stir until the gooey blob starts to settle into a sauce. from here you start adding in the veggie broth/stock to get the consistency you want.

NOW... do not make it to think because when you strain the pasta you will keep some of the water in reserve to add to the sauce. At first this water will think the sauce our, but the starch that has separated from the pasta while cooking will then thicken the sauce up when it cools.

Add cream, or veggie broth until you get the profile you want and then season with salt, pepper or whatever you want to add. Cayenne works well here if you want heat. Add the sausage back in, turn the heat up and just under a boil. I also encourage a spalsh of lemon juice to bring out additional flavor profiles.

When the pasta is finished pour into a colander but save several tablespoons of water to add to the sauce. Pour pasta into the skillet and mix well. Garnish with shredded Parm cheese or parsley flakes.

Start to finish this can be done in about 22 minutes with time to clean up the counter and dishes bringing you right to 30.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

"Oh My Stars and Garter"s - Paul Beattany as Geoffrey Chaucer

So I went all in and let myself have some fun while cooking. Here was the menu for tonight:

Lamb Kebabs ( Mediterranean Style)
Carrot and Pea Parmesan Couscous
Grilled Veggies ( Squash, Zucchini, onion and Cherry Tomatoes
Everything Bagel Hummus
Naan Bread
Pistachio Cheesecake with Caramel Drizzle and homemade Whipped Cream

I already did a Hummus earlier so I am not going into that again. Just change out roasted Garlic with the everything Bagel seasoning. ( I cheated and used a pre-made but you can make your own.)

Also, already did Naan bread but, this time, it was perfect. I proofed it differently and got a better result. I have a small room with a washer and dryer in it. I could call it a laundry room but it really and oversized closet. I had been doing laundry so the room was the perfect temp to be a proofing room. I also bought a new grill this year and one half of the grille is a flat top. these two things gave my fluffy light Naan with a perfect outer shell. So not doing that recipe.

Lastly, have done Couscous and my game on that is pretty strong and the veggies were just cut up, olive oil and seasoning salt so they are super easy and I am going to skip.

I will do an entry for the Lamb kebabs here and then another one for the Pistachio Cheese Cake later.

Lamb Kebabs

Why Lamb, they are cute and fluffy and they taste really good! I used a boneless lamb shoulder and spent a bit of time trimming off a majority of the marbling ( fat) before cutting the remaining meat down into 1/2" (1/25 cm) cubes. I started off with about 4.5 pounds (2 kilos) of lamb and ended up with about 3 lbs (1.35) rendered.

The Marinade
1 large onion
5 tablespoons minced garlic
1 cup olive oil
1 Tablespoon sugar in the raw ( coarse brown sugar)
2 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice
Cumin
Allspice
Salt
pepper
Coriander

Notice the last five have no measurements. do this to your taste.

Make your marinade in a food processor and you are looking for a pesto like consistency. I then added the lamb to a mixing bowl and poured the marinade on top. Mix well, coating as evenly as possible before transferring to a zip-lock bag. Seal and place in fridge for at least 2 hours but the longer the better as this will continue to tenderize the meat and add flavor.

Now I did kebabs with wooden skewers but if you have metal ones you can obviously skip this part. 30 minutes before cooking count out 10 or so skewers and get them soaking in hot water.

When skewering you do not want to jam the meat as tightly together as possible let the pieces hold their natural shape as best you can. this will make for more even cooking. While I did pure meat skewers you can intermix meat with veggies here should you desire. the combo I did on the flat top was listed above but you can do chucks of these same veggies on the skewer. You should not, not all the marinade will stay on the meat. that is fine, what stays in the bag is not to be worried about and just throw it away. The veggies can be seasoned lightly with salts and brushed with olive oil once they are skewered

After this, on to a preheated grill and let them cook at their own pace. You are looking at a couple of minuted before a rotation so about 8-10 minutes is a standard cook type to get mostly medium rare and medium pieces./ Some grilles cook faster/slower than others, so the set time doesn't help you here. If you do this, and you have your own grille, you know your grille and I don;t. Trust your instincts.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Wow,

Haven't done much here in the last month but that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking. Fired up the pizza oven this last weekend. The S/o spent a girl's week away in Illinois trail riding with her friend and so I made fresh dough and fixings for personal pizzas and welcomed her back Sunday with Salad, handmade Pizzas and a Caramel Pie with chocolate topping. Flat out failed to get the filling to set to it was like a caramel s'more trapped between a tempered chocolate topping and Grahmn cracker crust. This was a fail successfully as the taste was amazing but the execution was sloppy.

So, if you didn't see earlier posts where I mentioned this, I build a pizza oven off my back porch a while back and I have decided to add to it a bit. I pouring a concrete shell atop the bricks to help keep heat in and I am going to make a mold and pour a front to the oven to keep heat in. The front will be removable so that I can clean the oven out easily but this will help speed up the cooking process which takes a good 12 minute per pizza. Something I have learned about the style of oven I made; It CONSUMES fuel at a voracious rate. Luckily I always have limbs down around the edges of the yard so I am not depopulating a forest or anything.

Also this week I was able to harvest the first of my fresh herbs and this was good times. My herb garden was planted a while ago but and enterprising raccoon decided to dig up almost all my seedlings do to his anger at my garbage cans being closed. ( he was using the planters as a spring board to get to the cans.) The cans were moved and the herbs were replanted. I harvested Basil, Dill, Cilantro, Parsley and catgrass for my cats. I will be cutting the opal basil this week and a few others in the days to come. I am really looking forward to using the Opal Basil because not only is it fragrant, its purple and I plan to do an Opal basil Risotto with bacon and Gouda as a compliment to either steaks or chicken here soon.

Speaking of Gouda, the GF got two new "barn cats," from the shelter and they are never going to be barn cats. They are orange and white and their names are Nacho and Gouda and I refer to them as the "cheese itz." This name has been adopted by everyone in the house.

So, not much about food tonight, that will come in a later post. Soon, more food and some other stuff about cooking like :

What does E listen to while he cooks
Does E dance while he cooks
What is a go to meal
Cheap eats on a budget
and more

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

So, what does E listen to while he cooks?

Good question that no one asked but I am putting it out there because I want to talk about music. The name is Echoes for a reason; sound is important to me. A little background to give perspective. My parents signed me up for band in elementary school and I decided I did not want to learn all the important stuff that is involved with music that I had no idea about. For those of you who are musically inclined; you know where this going. Instead of an instrument that could, later in life and not as an 8 year old, make wonderful music, I decided to pick up a pair of sticks and beat things. Oddly enough, in these later years, that has paid off in non musical ways and those stories can only be read by approved members on this site.

I digress. Imagine that.

Yes, I became a percussionist which, at that young age meant you hit a snare drum, a bass drum or a cymbal to whatever terrible rendition of a song we were performing. I stuck with it, through middle and high school all the way to college and eventually learned scales and several of the nuances of music that you don't know about as a kid. But let's back track a bit and get perspective to what I was listening to before college. The parents liked country but I never fell into that genre, it didn't reach out to me but, for those who like country, I do respect that art because it is still music even if I don't like it. I was drawn to pop and, I didn't realize this at the time, an alternative sound. I also, or so I think, was there for the true emergence of Rap as a sound. Run DMC, Beastie Boys, Whoodini, LL Cool J, Afrika Bambata, NWA, Ice-T, 2 Live Crew; am I dating myself yet? I heard this sound and listened and yet Rap, like country, didn't reach out to me. As a drummer, ahem, percussionist, in High School I found Rush but I had to do this on my own as I had no older siblings. So, while U2 dominated the stations REM, Echo and the Bunnymen and The Cure were hitting the college radio stations and I found something that got my attention. Then, in the span of a few years, my future self found part of what I call home. 1989 and NIN releases Pretty Hate Machine, 1990 sees Sisters of Mercy release Vision Thing and Depeche Mode release Violator. Then 1992 see the releases of Rage Against the Machine by Rage Against the Machine and Opiate by Tool; my sound just got a foundation. I had to find a lot of this on the college station and MTV because, back then, MTV actually played music.

Anywho, once in college my music selection grew by leaps and bounds and I left the comfort of Pink Floyd and 80's pop to embrace something louder, darker and driving. It was also at this time that I made it to my first club and found another new sound; Techno. I embraced club life in the middle sized city I lived in at the time and this where, for better or worse, I got hooked into something that stays with me to this day. How did I get there, ok, grab and drink and get ready for this ride.

I am a geek, not the hard core card carrying know every role-playing game system ever made geek, but I am a geek. Old school table top from the early 80's D&D ( love me some WOD before the God Machine) geek but, outside of being a murder hobo ready to loot the next cave the party found, I had a game I found and liked called "Battletech." People operating giant robots and blowing the shit out of other robots. How does this fit into music you may ask. Well, when I first made it to college I was on campus and I saw a group of guys playing this game and it turns out there was a gaming group on campus; I had just found my people and I was already hooked before I knew it. I ended up joining this non Greek group, appropriately named the MSU ( Miskatonic Student union for those of you who know Lovecraft) and this is where I stayed during my first stint at higher learning. (I might tell some stories of the dumb shit we did in the MSU including robbing a Frat house of Composite picture they had stolen from a neighboring university's sorority one summer but that will be somewhere else of this site.)

Anyway, after a couple of years with the group a watershed moment occurred. It just so happened that a former member of this group had gotten back from a stint in the military, and other places I will never go to, and he had a bit of money to spend. This guy had clubbed on the West Coast of the US, and other places, and had decided to open a club here in town. So, after a normal night of gaming, several of the people I was with decided to go to said club and finish the night. They asked if I wanted to come and I tagged along. Normally I wouldn't have been able to get into a club, I was 20 by now and the club/ drinking age is 21 here, but this club was all ages and didn't serve alcohol. So I figured why not, try something new and hang with friends. This wasn't in my wheelhouse, I had no idea what i was getting into but it was something new and I decided to go.

This place was a hole in the wall and everything from the walls up was painted black. The music was rattling the windows and was a garble of sound out on the street when we got there. We payed cover, went in, and that, friends, was me falling down a rabbit hole. I ran into a dozen people I knew in high school, and had met in college, before I even made it to the dance floor. The music struck the chest, hit the spine and pushed the body to move. A quick side note: I can keep time and I can dance; the parents saw to that, and I never thought it would pay off. I ended up dancing with two ladies, one who I graduated with and her friend, grinding to LaTour's "Blue" ( from Basic Instinct) like it was something I was meant to do. Don't worry, there is no "hook up" story here, I didn't, but I was hooked. I was there every Friday and Saturday until eventually I got a job there.

First i was on the door, boring as fuck, and as a bouncer and behind the "bar" but eventually I became a DJ there doing retro 80's and then techno before the club was sold and we moved to another place. I expanded and embraced the sounds I wanted to play. I did industrial along with 80's and techno. I played what I wanted to play but one talent I had then, and I keep to this day, I can read a crowd. if we had a headliner back then, someone who was brought in who had a name in the scene, I was the one they always put before them to get the floor full. I have my tricks, my sound, but my goal was to get people to move their asses. One of the secrets to this is knowing what I want to move my ass to.

So, that is a bit of background and way to many words before we talk about cooking, which is what this is supposed to be about. When I cook I have the bluetooth on and have it on loud. As of late it has been psuedo pop and not so much alt. I want happy music, something that make the body meet the soul as I cook. Go on Spotify and look for a playlist called "Chatckee," here are some of the songs:

Sucker- Jonas Brothers
Cake by the Ocean - DNCE
South Side - Moby
Dance, Dance - Fall out Boy
Feel it Still - Portugal, the Man
Hey Look Ma, I made it - Panic! At The Disco
Nancy Boy - Placebo

I want something that make makes me move while I cook. I want to step and swerve as I get the food groove on. I want something upbeat and, for the most part happy. Back when I worked in a restaurant I wanted loud and driving. I wanted NIN, Ministry, White Zombie and Sister of Mercy. I wanted something to drive me and the others around me to get a tempo. Now I want the feels, the vibe or whatever else kids call it today. If I want a groove I go to a playlist called "Sunday:"

Remedy - The Black Crows
Always on the Run - Lenny Kravitz
How you Like me Now - The Heavy
Your Loves Whore - Wolf Alice
Lighten Up, Francis - Puscifer


And yeah, I step, I swerve and I get into the moment as I boil pasta and burn meats. Breakfast, lunch and dinner I groove. I don't drop to the ground, fuck me Im old and I have never been able to do that, but I could work at a gay bar and make bank as a CIS tease. I like the feeling of letting go and singing along as I make food. Maybe it makes it better, maybe it doesn't but that is all immaterial as feeling good while you do something is what it is all about.

So, there, that is out there. As always you are welcome to send me a PM regarding my posts. I hope that the next time you cook you put music on, something you want to hear, something you want to feel, and you let go a bit. Dance like no one is watching. Sing along and make a meal you want to get into. Hell, get the NIN going and make hate food you will regret later but need ... RIGHT... NOW!

Anyone who is reading this, and there are a few of you, hit the companion thread and tell me what you like to listen to. I don't care if it is something from " Two Steps from Hell," or "She thinks my Tractor's Sexy." you are welcome to share here.

Night all.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

I have more food pron coming for you soon. I made herb infused butter this week along with an amazing Fettuccine with Garlic and Gruyere. I have a play on a chicken scallopini that s both simple and a giant pain in the ass but it takes it up a level.

More soon. beer now.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

so, more food pron....


I decided that I wanted to try something different and I would make butter. let's just say that we take this very simple food for granted. I mean, who doesn't like butter? ( I can already hear Paula Dean saying " No One" but she is kinda sketch and I am not in her boat.) It is the basis of a lot of different styles and ways of cooking. From the beginnings of  a simple Roux to the coating of a really good baked potato, butter is important to so many aspects of cooking. We easily shell out several dollars for one pound, four sticks, in grocery markets around America and, while I do not know the conversion rates around the rest of the world I bet that it is similar. Now, yes, you cook with oils, and Ghee, and other "fat" products but butter is a staple in American Households.

So, what is "butter?"

It's manipulated heavy cream with additives. When I say Additives I mean salt and herbs and occasionally another oil. The salt and herbs add flavor and the oil can make it spreadable and less dense. When I say "manipulated" I mean it is beaten or agitated until it separates is liquid ( buttermilk) to become a solid from a liquid. Now, I am not a fan of buttermilk itself but I can use it to cook, this, however, is not about buttermilk.

So, let's get into making butter. What do you need? simple. Heavy cream, the higher the fat count the better. a little salt and herbs for flavoring if that suits your fancy. How hard is it to make? It is not hard but you need a few things:

A mixer or butterchurn
Cheesecloth or something porous but not a colander
time

So to make butter I used a stand mixer and threw in about a quart of heavy cream. set it on medium speed and let it do its work. Note to self: do not use a high speed or that shit is going to go everywhere. let is run, and run, and run. First you will make whipped cream and resist the urge to add sugar and enjoy homemade whipped cream. that is the bomb when you make it fresh. Let it keep going and going until the mixer starts to separate the liquid from the solid. it will happen in an instant, especially if you are not watching it but in my case it took about ten minutes.

important note here.... USE A PADDLE AND NOT A WHISK!!!!!!! trust me, do not use the whisk attachment on a stand mixer or you will spend more time trying to beat the solid out of the whisk than you do making the actual butter.

So, the liquid start to separate and at this point you have butter curds. when you see this happening you need to get an ice bath ready. Ice and water in a big bowl and have it ready. Stop the mixer and use a spatula, or your hands, and gather the butter up and away from the remaining liquid. What I did then was drop the solid mass on the cheesecloth and wrap it up before immediately soaking it in the ice bath. Squeeze and work the butter in the cloth in the ice bath. What you are doing here is squeezing out the last of the liquid that could be hiding in the butter. You want the liquid out because if you done the butter could go rancid. From here you then get the butter out of the ice bath and you add salt. do it to taste. add herbs or whatever you want.

This is my new heterosexual man crush, no really, I love this guy. Just look how happy he is making butter. Anyway, watch this ( I did) here. I wanted to make my own and youtube came to my rescue. Try it , trust me, the fresh butter will beat anything you can buy in the store and you can season it to however you want. Also, this will show you that even professionals make mistakes. I'm an amateur and I fuck up all the time. I still suck at making bread but when I made my last try at butter I made a rosemary garlic bread to  go with it. British bake off would have said the flavor was there but it was "stodgey" / dense, the taste was amazeballs though so points for that. Also, fresh bread and homemade butter is the bomb.

Ok. so that is it, I'm a little buzzed and about to rock some Back4blood with a friend but I wanted to drop this in here.

As always
Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

I didn't realize that I have been adding posts to this thread, I still don't see it as a "traditional" blog, for over a year now. For those who have checked in and checked out what I have been doing.

Well.

Thank you.

I try to live a boring life overall. I just turned 50 this month and I am sooooo not trying to keep up with all the dumb stuff my 20 something self did. I am very glad that my youth happened before the age of instant gratification and instant crucifixion because the internet rarely forgives and it never forgets. That said, I do not find food or drink boring so I am always happy when cooking and having cocktails. Now, when I say cocktails I am not talking about the era when you had bourbon neat for lunch and dessert was a cigarette style cocktails. Overall, I am a beer person at heart but I enjoy the occasional mixed drink. Being that it is fall I plan to experiment with a play of three different drinks and once I get some results I will share them here. So, keep an eye out for the following:

Salted Caramel Appletini

Sazerac

and maybe something pumpkin spice but I will have to get a review from the S/O as I do not like pumpkin anything.

Again, thanks for following along. I really appreciate that and I hope you have found something here that made you want to try cooking on your own. I have some more recipes coming up and, Yeah I know, I need to learn how to do pictures and all that jazz. I hate to say I am a bit lazy in that regard, well, that and I forget to take pictures while I am cooking.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

So have not forgotten the thread, trust me, I think about cooking a lot. I've just been crazy busy as of right now. I have people coming over on Saturday this week and then next week I am cooking for a Hunt group. What the actual F is a "hunt group?"

Well you all prolly have figured out from reading this that my GF is a horse person and she is part of a group based in Ohio that is a "Fox" hunt group. They ride horses, dress up in formal hunt attire and ride over the country side while occasionally jumping over things on their horses. They also eat like a Roman Bacchanal and drink like Van Halen on tour in the 80's.

This week I am doing a homemade pizza buffet and next week is a Kebab buffet. If you all are interested what I will do is try to write down all the marinades I use for the Kebabs. There will, as always, be vegetarian options to go along with the variety of grilled meats.

More Later,

Cheers.
E.

[echoes]

Sazerac

The name sounds exotic, just as one might imagine a drink originating in Antebellum New Orleans might sound. Along with its geographical pedigree comes the taboo nature of one of its ingredients. This cocktail is made using Absinthe; whose over inflated psychoactive properties gave the dink some mystery that still hold until this day. Then, finally, there is the preparation, a combination of showmanship and pomposity that this newest generation of cocktail artists eats up.

First, the ingredients:

Cognac or a Rye Whiskey/Bourbon
(I use Basil Hayden's Rye Bourbon)
Absinthe ( Herbsaint can be substituted here)
A Sugar Cube
Bitters ( Most use Peychaud's)
Ice

The mix.

This is where is gets kinda hoity in here. First you need two Old fashioned glasses, also called lowball glasses. They are the glass version of your 8 oz plastic cups for you heathens out there. In the first glass you add about a half ounce or so of Absinthe and you swirl it in the glass to coated the sides. Then add crushed ice and let it sit.

In the other glass you place the sugar cube and bitters. Muddle the two and then add the bourbon or cognac. Finally, add more crushed ice to this combination and mix

Finally, with the first glass you give it one more swirl and then pour everything out. Strain the mix without the ice from the second glass into the first and then add an orange peel for garnish should you wish.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

The Absinthe has a strong Anise flavor that pairs with the rye or cognac giving the cocktail a distinctive aroma and taste. I have found that if you do not like Anise ( which I normally don') you can change this out with a strong orange liqueur like Grand Marnier or Contrieau.

More drinks soon.

Cheers.

E.

[echoes]

I'm just going to get right to it and give you a terrible idea. Caramel infused vodka. Now, I do not know which camp you are in, the Care-ah-mel or the Car-mhel, but this is something that absolutely sounds like an enabler of bad decisions later in the night. This is the basis of my salted caramel Appletini, it is easy to make, andI am going to tell you the cheat mode on how to do it.

First, the normal way:

1 oz Salted caramel candies
8 oz of evil potato liquor. ( or wheat liquor)

Place both in a seal-able container, shake or agitate and then let sit and dissolve however long it takes.

DONE!

Second, the fast way:

2 oz of liquid salter caramel topping ( I used Godiva's that can sometime be found in the coffee aisle )
8 oz of the same evil clear liquor.

Mix and let sit for 12-24 hours.


The Salted Caramel Appletini

2 Oz of the above vodka
1 oz Hard apple cider
2 oz of normal apple cider
splash of lemon juice
garnish with a salt rim and apple wedge

Mix the liquids and shake over ice. Pour through strainer into glass and garnish..

Again

DONE!

I had an off night cooking tonight, I felt the dinner was a bit substandard and didn't feel as if anything came out perfect. also cut myself right on the tip of my index finger. Was it a knife? No. that would have been respectable.... if was on a jagged piece of foil from a wine bottle. MF! This has been the first night I have been "off" in a while and it was a bit frustrating. Sunday I am cooking for about 50 people so it is probably good that I got it out of the way tonight. I am doing a breakfast and a dinner on Sunday so I need to get my cooking game on point.

I will try for a better looking post later, maybe not till next week, but I need to get back in the saddle of writing and I have been real slow getting back on that horse.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

A little about me cause right now I am running a pretty decent food "high." I cut my teeth in an Applebees back in 1993. I was the expo, the food expediter; this is the mook who gets the plates from the cook line and gets them associated with various tickets. We add garnishes, sometimes make salads depending on the brand, and we yell for servers from the time we get to work until we leave. I guess the position is now made famous by Gordon Ramsey's "hell's kitchen" as the "pass" but to me it will always be expo. I was a good expo, a corporate trainer, and could roll a friday or a saturday solo if needs be ( and they did more than once.) How good was I, well, I was good enough to get into a shouting match with a GM when he fucked the kitchen so hard that we bled ( had a cook cut himself.) Old boy saw dollar signs one night and filled the entire store up in a stupid short amount of time. He  wouldn't put us on a wait, he wanted us to turn and burn tables and I went out and asked the hostess to start a wait cause she was killing us. Said GM was back in the kitchen 5 minute after me talking to the hostess, yelling at me that I should never raise my voice at a hostess. Now, 1 ) I didn't I went out begging, 2) and I hate to sound sexist but she was a mid teen, blonde and with amazing breasts; She cried and he came for blood. I looked at him and pointed to the "rail" that held the checks and told him he was going to buy everything past "x" check because we were slammed and in the weeds. I told him I will do my best, he could fire me, he could take over for me and I would leave no questions asked, and he could comp everything or he could put us on a wait and throw and apron on and help us get out of this shitshow. That night, luckily for me, I did not get fired, he put on an apron and helped us climb tooth and nail out of the weeds.

Later that night I signed my write up for talking inappropriately to a manager. I also wrote down why I did so, how the hostess exaggerated what I did and finished my peace with, "But I was right."

I never got fired from there, I left on good terms a year later to go full time at a club in town as an assistant manager and DJ. I never fulling left kitchens and the food bizz until 2005 when they closed a store down, with another concept, that I had been at for 8 or 9 years. the company closing that store down broke my heart. I had an employee who I hired as a hostess while she was still in high school who was about to graduate college. I had a kitchen where I had ZERO, that is NO turnover, for 2 years. Those of you in the industry know that is crazy, its nearly impossible, but I did it. I had everyone in the "heart of the house" ( the kitchen) cross trained on at least 3 positions and no one let ego get in the way of getting shit done. Yeah, we were dysfunctional in ways but we were on fire most of the time. These were my people, my second family and we spoke English and Spanish at all times. When they closed us my store had run for a year with no GM ( General Manager) and ran with 3 Assistant managers. We figured out a way to rarely work more than 50 hours a week, 2 days off, and if you didn't get 2 in a row you got a weekend day off. We all took our vacations and we didn't kill ourselves. Again, those in the industry, read that and realize what we did. When they finally gave us a new GM it was basically to set us up for the end. They were to get us to a point where they could close us down,

The reason for this was, despite being paid off as a store, we did not generate enough sales to keep us alive. We were and older location and we couldn't support the needs of a company that had screwed up its financials by making bad business choices. I still remember going to the final meeting with my then GM, the Area manager and HR  and them trying to sell me a story of how the company would bounce back. I was already on my Area Manager's shitlist cause I had called him out a few times for things he did and I knew he didn't really want me to stay. As the meeting began I cut off his spiel and looked right at the HR rep and asked her what the severance would be. Finding out I would get 9 weeks pay, vacation pay and 1 extra week I said I was out and where do I need to sign. I think he was relieved but what he didn't know was that as soon as the ink was dry I went and told the other two assistants who I worked with what I did what I got and that I would be at a nearby bar having a drink. A half an hour later they were both there with me, both of them having said "deuces" and a Big FU to the GM and the area who was counting on both of them to stay.

My work was done.

This is all a intro into my point, and that was, I was a beast at prep even more than expo. I can cook, I can throw down plates but I have always been good at getting everything ready for a service. Tomorrow I am cooking for 40 - 50 people and at home tonight I ripped off a F-ton of food. Mandarin orange and sriracha beef, Rosemary Ranch Chicken, Tequila lime chicken, Balsamic and honey pork, veggie kabobs, Tuscan style potatoes, pasta salad, mac and cheese, Hot brown biscuits, homemade garlic butter and herb butter and a few more foods in under 4 hours. I also packed up all the resources I need to prep and finish cooking at the event tomorrow. packed 2 cars and loaded a grille. I only have one sink side with dirty dishes, a dishwasher running and the other side with drying dishes.

back in the day I pissed one of my cooks off because he came to work and I was doing something that was really dumb; and I am sure is a violation of health code. I was at work, in the kitchen, in cut off BDU's ( so now cargo shorts) in socks and sandals ( don't cringe) and I prepped 5 or 6 sauces, rice, beans and I can't remember what else that day. Then I cooked on line until I left. When I left the white socks were still white, I had no food on my legs or shorts and he was covered from boots to waist in the remains of the service.

So yeah, at 50 I still got it. I can still prep food on short order while dancing and bopping to music. Was doing techno remixes and then a retro rock set with everything from "Kashmir" to "Fame."

You know what.


I feel good.

Tell you about service tomorrow after the fact. let see if I pull this shit off. I am up at 5:45... its 11:18 right now for local time and I am am about to pretend I am in my 20's again.

Cheers all, thanks for reading . I really appreciate it.

E.

[echoes]

I'm trying to get in the habit of writing every Monday night and this is going to be my first concentrated effort to do just that. While I don't always post here I am going to at least try and post somewhere on the site. Tonight, instead of talking about cooking I am going to mention some stuff I find that I am always using and list it here. Nothing will be crazy obscure or esoteric, that would be pointless for most of us trying to figure out what we want to make for dinner on any given night. So here are somethings I always try to have on hand:

I will skip the staples; sugar, flour and the like but I will say I usually have several sticks of both salted and unsalted butter. Now, funny truth about me; I have lost part of my sense of taste and smell as they are linked together. Back when I was 24, actually on my birthday, some person I didn't know gifted me a broken nose along with several other nasty gifts. I will tell this story another time but I will say, and you won't believe me, I wasn't drunk. No really. There were reasons for that but again, another time. One of the byproducts of this, or at least that I attribute to this night, is that I cannot taste or smell certain things. Now, in some ways, this has been a boon ( I was unable to smell what my once teenaged son's room smelled like is a good example) but it also means I miss the nuances that can separate a good cook from a great chef. I'm from the land of Bourbon and those who can pick out all the subtle flavors and aromas can get quite hoity in regards to their tastes in Bourbon. Everything tastes like varying degrees of burn to me... luckily I like the burn and so I still like Bourbon. So the salted unsalted is less about taste but more about what a recipe might call for.

Outside of the staples I usually have a carton each of Chicken, Beef and Vegetable broth/stock on hand. I don't have time to make my own, though I have in the past, but these three can elevate food. Mac and cheese noodles cooked in half water/ half broth takes it up a notch. For those of you who like hot dogs, same thing with beef broth and water. Boil the dogs in this until the swell and then put them on the grill and one) you will never have a dry dog again, two) the flavor really comes out or so I am told.

I usually have a pint or quart of heavy cream in the fridge because homemade whipped cream can be made to the sugar content you want and the freshness beats store bought every time. Also, as I posted earlier in this thread, fresh butter is so good.

Lemon Juice - this ends up in so many things to bring out other flavors and enrich a dish. Just a splash here or there can make something pop. Now, fresh lemons are best but in a pinch the juice works almost as well.

Spice wise I have grown to really like Paprika along with my Quad of: salt, pepper, powdered onion and garlic. I keep Paprika in my fridge because I think it keeps it fresher. Think of Lawry's seasoning salt and Paprika along with Tumeric give the salt the red color. Also, the above 4 are the basis of Lawry's so if you don't have Lawry's try adding a dash of garlic and powdered onion to your next batch of fries and enjoy.

I always have Olive Oil or Extra Virgin Olive Oil around. Butter I use for cooking but oil is for when I saute.

Those are some simple things I always keep about, cooking without them seems weird now.

More Later.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

So my trying to get in a habit of typing every Monday failed so hard my teeth hurt because of it. To be honest, fuck me; what a shitshow the last 20 days has been for me. I won't bore you with details but lets just say my emotional tampon has been full since the week before the last American holiday and it shows no signs of letting up. Almost every aspect of my life has taking a body blow but I'm a sucker for punishment and to quote Ducky from the TV show NCIS, "When going through Hell, don't stop."

So I haven't but I also haven't been doing anything new and crazy cooking wise. Been making lots of soups and the weather here is staying between the high 30's to low 50's (0-10-ish Celsius) and has been really damp and grey. Shirley Manson may be only happy when it rains, and she is not wrong, but right now the only thing I'm growing on the farm is mud. And let me take a moment here to tell you this, nothing, and I mean nothing outside of fresh alfalfa hay or a full bukkit, is more enticing to a horse than a big ass patch of mud. One of our horses is a paint and she is most white most of the time. Now she is mud. Her name is Daisy and she is a 1200 pound Labrador Retriever with no concept of personal space. So. if you go check on her you will come back wearing mud because she loves you.

Anyways, back to soups. Have done the Butternut Squash soup, the Chicken and Dumplings soup and a few others but what I am going to talk about tonight is one of my favorite dishes to make:

Gumbo

So, I mentioned earlier in the year that a lot of people associate food form New Orleans with heat and I made the assertion that heat is secondary to flavor. I continue with that line of thought and, while the dish had a back end heat that was lovely, the flavor of the dish was one step past amazeballs. So, lets get to it:

Ingredients:
Bacon Drippings ( about 4 ounces)
4 Oz butter
1.5 cups of flour
1.5 lbs Andouille Sausage
1 lb Rotisserie Chicken ( I used only the breast because the g/f doesn't like the thighs or legs)
1 lb 31-33 Shrimp
1 White or yellow onion
4 cloves or garlic or 2 heaping tablespoons of minced garlic
1 carrot ( small dice)
2 stalks of celery ( small dice leaves and all)
1 green bell pepper ( medium dice )
1 red bell pepper ( medium dice)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3-4 cups of veggie or chicken broth/stock
2-3 tablespoons of tomato Sauce ( optional )
Seasoning
salt
pepper
white pepper
parsley
Cayenne pepper
paprika
oregano


*About the shrimp, and a funny story as well.  31-33 means how many shrimp per pound so a higher number means smaller shrimpies and a lower number bigger shrimpies. I used the 31-33 because they are easily noticeable which was require because my g/f, despite being a Navy brat, does not eat seafood. I  have mentioned that before but I told her she had to deal with it, I am not cooking gumbo without shrimp and she can pick the shrimp out. She did just that.

Instructions:

1st.
Find good music and turn up to medium loud. You gotta cook Cajun from the heart and so get your mood in the right direction. I was in an American Grind kind of mood and had Clutch, The Black Crows, The Heavy, The Black keys, Lenny Kravitz, Mother Love Bone and more helping on through the day.

I didn't have access to fresh  Andouille  so I used Johnsonville's Cajun brats and cut them down the middle before making buts about every 4 mm/ 1/4 inch. Heat up the bacon drippings on medium high heat and get the sausage browning in the drippings. Once the sausage starts to caramelize add in the diced onions, carrots, celery, garlic, the green and the red bell peppers. let this cook down together for about 5-7 minutes.

I then strained this hot mess into a bowl and returned the liquid to the pan before I added in the butter. Once the butter melted I dropped the heat to medium and added in the flour. Now, this is something that is key to developing flaor, lower heat means the roux that you are making will take longer to finish but that is ok. I made the roux and lowered the heat down to medium on the low side and let it cook, stirring it every time it seemed to thicken a bit more. You want the roux to darker in colour which will release a nutty flavor from the flour. The longer you cook the more intense the flavor. Instead of a pale roux I wanted this to be almost caramel in colour.

Once it reached that spot I started adding in the  stock which, at first will make the Gumbo seem to get super thin. Resist the urge to make a slurry and add more flour, trust me, heat will do the work here in a minute. Once the stock was added I turned the heat up to medium high again and returned the Sausage and veggie mix to the gumbo. Then I added in the chicken and the shrimp. The chicken was precooked but the shrimp was raw so let it cook the shrimp before you start adding spices and taste testing.

Once the shrimp are cooked you start with the spices, this is where your taste preferences come in. Resist the urge to start with salt and cayenne, those should be last. Start with pasley and oregano and then black and white pepper. finally at the end get you salt profile to your taste and finally add the Cayenne. Toss in the lemon lemon juice and reduce heat to simmer.

The gumbo will thicken over time and this is where you can add the tomato sauce if you wish. I did this strictly for color. Tomato is not the dominant flavor so do not over do it. The result should be a lovely sandy blonde color that ought to smell like heaven.

Now, I cooked 2 cups of white long grain rice and some corn bread to go with this. To serve, scoop rice into a bowl and ladle generous amounts of Gumbo atop it. Cornbread can go right in or on the side as you like it.

Its easier than it seems it just takes time, I think it was about an hour and a half from start to finish but totally worth it. If you need a good meal, a soup that eats like an entree, then this is a good one to do.

More later,

Cheers.

E.

[echoes]

Did anyone guess, by my last post, that i suck at formatting these posts? No? Oh well, cool.

So, not doing a recipe tonight, going to talk about a science project I did this year which involved growing most of my own herbs. Now, before I get much farther in talking about my little garden, I need to post one of may favorite comedy lines from Eddie Izzard:


Herbs

I built two horizontal planters this year and set out to grow my own little herb garden here on the farm. I got a spot, right against the sidewall of the garage that had good light, exposure to rain and was easy to observe because it was on my way to and from where I normally park when at home. Now, you might be asking, "If you have a garage why are you parking outside of the garage when it rains? The reason, is that half the garage is taken over by my g/f's horse stuff and I park a tractor and a zero turn inside the garage because neither of those machines has an enclosed crew cabin. Simply put, maintenance due to exposure to the elements is not something I can afford on the regular where a car or truck is self contained. I may baby the tractor a bit but that is because I can't afford to just go out and buy a new one should something happen to it.

The planters have a planting area that is about 8 inches deep by 8 inches wide and then 3 feet long ( 20cm x20cmx 1 meterish.) The inside of the planters has a layer of landscaping fabric and then a "bed" of gravel about an inch ( 2-3 cm) deep. There is a gap along the back wall of the planter of about 1 inch for drainage. A year ago I had only made one of these, I made the second one this year, and while there was a promising start last year I did not have the planter in the best location. What happened was the spot I picked ended up getting hyper-saturated by a gutter overflowing atop it and washing it out. So gutters also got cleaned this year and I picked a different spot atop that. I stacked up 4 "legs" made out of 3 cinderblocks each, leveled them and set the planters on top; so far, so good.

I used a mix of top soil, potting soil, sand and dirt from the yard and basically "boxed off" 6inch sections using door shims. I wrote the name of the herbs on the shims and did the following herbs:

Basil, Cilantro, Cress, Dill, Lemon grass, Marjoram, Opal basil, Parsley, Oregano, Peppermint, Sage and Thyme.

Everything was planted and then I made my first mistake. For those of you outside of the states you may have different mode of garbage/waste pick up so I will explain part of how our system works. In my state we have a series of bins with cute names like: Herbi, Lenny and Rosie that are waste specific for: Garbage, Yard Waste and Recycling. These are just hard plastic containers with a set of wheels that you can roll down to the curb the night before your waste pick up is to occur. We don't have a Lenny because I repurpose almost all of our yard waste into compost and our service does not have an efficient recycling program so we don't have a Rosie. We do, however, have 2 Herbi's and they are filled on the regular. My mistake was parking the two Herbi's right beside the planters. While you are thinking that something gross happened with garbage and the herbs you will be disappointed. You will, however, get a laugh knowing that an enterprising trash panda ( raccoon ) used the planters as his highway to the Herbis and he began to raid out garbage on the regular.

It took me a day or three to figure out why I kept coming outside to find trash strewn everywhere. I, at first, blamed the boys in the house, then the doggos, only to catch a racoon leaving a Herbi one day. I put additional cinderblocks atop the Herbis to keep the lids closed an hoped that would be enough to dissuade the Raccoon from his continued pillaging. The next day I went out and that little furry fucker had uprooted every planted seed in both planters. There was dirt and sprouts everywhere and I was seeing red. I don't condone casual animal death but let me tell you I was considering a Game of Thrones moment of violence. Instead I remained calm and moved the Herbis elsewhere before starting over.

In all, I had a really good first season with the Herbs and here is what I learned:

Basil: Lovely pepperish smell about it, full bodied leaves grew early in the season and then slowed down

Cilantro: got two really good cuts but after the second did not want to grow any more.

Cress: Never really recovered after the Raccoon event

Dill: Grew and grew until the summer heat set in and it burned easily without shade. Lovely taste and smell, super fresh and pungent.

Lemon grass: Didn't really produce as much as I had hoped, got one cut and that was it.

Marjoram: Under performed but did come up. Did not get to use it as much as a few others. 

Opal basil: This was a star and what I was most happy about. Large leaves with amazing texture, smell and flavor. Used this a lot during cooking this summer.

Parsley: Easily the heartiest herb I got several cutting off of the parsley and it kept producing more.

Oregano: Solid producer, got two cuttings and was nice to have as a fresh element on various flatbreads

Peppermint: Never recovered from the Raccoon

Sage: Not as strong as I expected and I am not sure it liked the regular watering like the other Herbs did

Thyme: Got one good cut and then a smaller second cut. I did not like it when it got to much sun

In all I was happy that I grew something and I was able to use the various herbs on the regular. They really rocked in Olive oil as a coating for the breads I was playing with this summer. I was able to use them in a lot of dishes and I look forward to growing them again next year. I need to look into better storage, possibly freezing them instead of just refrigeration them for longer shelf life.

That's what I have for you tonight, will see you all around.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Wow,

So my life has been caught somewhere between a hot-mess and shitshow. Don't worry, I'm still here and in all, things are working out fine. Now, to share with you some stuff you never wanted to know. For those of you who did not know, the hierarchy of how messed up your life is and it goes like this :

Hot-mess: the most tame because, well, alone or with friends you can sometimes get the mess cleaned up.

Shitshow: This is a more intense hot-mess and, even after cleaning up, you still have to deal with shit so, yeah, it is worse than a hot-mess.

Dumpster fire: Implies potential injury and, or, peril. A fire can hurt, it can kill, and so it ranks the highest of the trials of life.

(I really hope someone spit their drink out while reading that and, If you enjoyed that, wait until I explain the hierarchy of the Buttload to fuckton. That, however, is for another day.)

So despite the disgusting nature of the above break down lets talk about the kitchen for a bit and then I will let you get back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Caprese

The italians do love themselves some tomatoes and cheese and this is something that can look really impressive while also being exceptionally simple to make. For the vegetarians out there, I do always hit you guys up but this one is good for you as well as the rest of the omnivores out here.

Usually this is called a Caprese Salad though really it is more like an anti-pasto and it is super simple. Roma or Cherry Tomatoes, Mozzarella cheese and fresh Basil is the most basic form of the dish. It is then topped with either a dressing ( Italian dressing or a Balsamic Vinaigrette) or possibly a pesto and it can have other additions in the form of olives or Arugula. In all, this is great as a starter or as a side to compliment a larger meal.   

Now, if you are entertaining, or you are going to a pot luck for the holiday season and you need something on the fly ( Note: "on the fly" for you non-kitchen people means exactly what you think it means; in a hurry. Everyone prolly knew that but I am doing my due diligence here ) and on a budget then this is for you.

1 container of Bel Gioioso Mozarella Perals ( 8oz) runs you about 5 bucks. get two of these
2 Containers of Fresh Basil leaves @ $2 each
1 container cherry tomatoes, or for more color a grape tomato medley will run you $5.
1 bottle Bertolli Balsamic Glaze is $4 ( this is found in the section that has vinegar and oil.)
Skewers

Preparation :

Rinse the tomatoes and the basil. pull the stems off the basil so on the leaves remain.
Take a skewer and go like this :
Tomato- Mozzarella pearl - Leave of basil - Mozzarella Pearl - Tomato
Do 2 sets of the above combo per skewer with space in between the two sets.
Break or cut the skewers to get to servings.
Arrange the skewers however you are going to serve them and then drizzle the Balsamic glaze atop the skewer. You can also place extra glaze in a cup for this who want to dip and dash.

Now, you are done here and the prep for this takes make 10-15 minutes and you are done. You have options here and this comes down to personal taste. You can take a pinch of salt and lightly ghost it atop the cheese to really bring out the Mozzarella flavor. You can dash Parsley atop everything if you want to. Presentation is all about what you feel like.

Music wise I suggest "Figaro's aria," From The Barber of Seville. Good Times and don't be afraid to pull your best "FIGARO" when you are done.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

My partner, because saying girlfriend after being together for eleven or twelve years sounds a bit inaccurate, is a behavioral health specialist (nurse) with the local University. Now, I don't know about other states, or countries, but here they tend to work 12 hour shifts that range from 7 to 7. Sometimes they can work shorter shifts but that is the norm for nurses here. In our time together she has been labor/delivery ( ie: baby-catcher) and adult psych but now she mainly works with children and adolescents with behavioral health issues. She works the overnights because the shift differentials add up and monies are good. I am telling you all this because the most common meal I cook for the family is breakfast and that is what I am going to talk about tonight. Makes sense, right? local time is 7pm and nothing seems more natural than to get people Jonesing for waffles and pancakes. Don't worry, I'm not going into all that. Anyway, I tend to cheat on the waffle and pancake side and I use a pre-made dry mix (Bisquick for those of you in the States) thought I do make hella good french toast.
What I am going to talk about are one of the most simple foods that tend to show up everywhere. A versatile ingredient that is in all the major elements of a meal such as: desserts, entrees, appetizers and sides. Of course I am talking about:

Eggs

We have several chickens here on the farm and they are all egg laying but one and he is the sole rooster. At one point we had almost 20 chickens but due to the family letting the, free range that population got reduced to 9. It used to be that we had to give away eggs because the chickies were over achievers. After a rash of raccoon, dog and hawk decimation we now have enough that provide just for us. I imagine that most people get their eggs from a grocery or a market but if you ever get a chance to have farm fresh eggs I strongly suggest you try them. They will come in a variety of shell colors but I truly believe that they are far richer and with a much silkier texture than store bought. Because these eggs have not been processed they still have a membrane that covers the shell which protects the egg itself. These eggs can be stored in a carton on a countertop without issue though I would avoid extreme temperatures. I tend to store the eggs in a fridge out of habit but that is not necessary.

Oddly enough I hated eggs as a kid and I think its due to the texture back then. While I like them now I am still an absolute heathen because I like my eggs scrambled well and dry. Some egg purist out there is prolly cringing because that is like ordering a Filet well done; you just don't do that. So, what I am about to talk about will seem odd, considering that I don't eat the eggs in the manner I am about to describe but, hey, I've become quite good at what I do.

Fried Eggs and the toad in the Hole.

First things first regarding eggs. Much like finishing meat off in an oven low and slow is the way to go. I never cook eggs on more than medium heat and more often not the dial is set at a tick or two under medium. Second thing is that I have a dedicated egg pan that I use for eggs. This one happens to be an anodized non-stick pan with shallow edges. Finally do not skimp on whatever "fat" you use when frying your egg. I tend to use unsalted butter but I will also use a spreadable butter if I want a fluffier egg.

Cooking the egg is relatively straight forward though I will add in a few tips for those of you out there that don't always cook breakfast. get two bowls out before you do anything else. The purpose for the bowls is straightforward in that one is a staging area for the egg before going into the pan and the other is for shells. The reason for the staging area is twofold: 1) If any shell falls in with the egg you can get the shell out without dealing with a hot pan and 2) if there is something off about the egg you can discard it and start again.

What I am about to say may seem dramatic but how you crack the egg is actually important when doing fried eggs. I'm sure you have either seen someone crack an egg at an angle against the side of a pan or a bowl. When doing fried eggs this is a no,no. There are a couple of reasons why this is to be avoided and the primary reason is that you can puncture the yolk which will cause it to mix with the white. This defeats the purpose of having a a fire white with a gooey center and pretty much shoots the fried egg in the foot. Another reason is that cracking an egg like this has a tendency to create little shards of shell that will inevitably sneak into your egg. Crunchy shell is a no bueno when added to your meal. Crack the egg against something flat and then separate above one bowl and then discard the shell into the second bowl. If you do end up with a piece of shell in you egg do not try to get it out with your fingers; this is an exercise in futility. Instead you will use a solid piece of the remaining shell to scoop the offending piece out. For some reason the remaining yolk will trap the shard to your makeshift scoop and this will work far more efficiently in removing the offending piece.

If you have seen breakfast cooks, or watched waaaaaay to many street food videos on YouTube, you have seen prep cooks do this one handed and it looks pretty impressive. they can have an egg in both hand and they just crack eggs like a machine. I cannot do this, I have tried and failed for thirty some years and I still suck at this now as bad as I did when i started cooking eggs.

Anywho, once your egg is in the bowl, and the pan has heated add in your fat. Again, my go to is butter but occasionally I want a different texture, and added flavor, and I will use bacon drippings. Get this melted and then add the egg. keep the bowl close to the pan and just let it slide out and onto the heated surface. Set up a second egg and repeat if you are doing two but I don't do more than two at a time in the pan I use. If you pour the egg out of the bowl from any type of height you risk making a mess and breaking the yolk. From here resist the urge to mess with egg and just let it cook.

The break down of fried eggs is like this:

Sunny side up: The egg is not flipped and only cooked on one side. Residual heat make the yolk safe to eat but it is going to be very wet and runny. Cook this way if you are going to use bread, biscuits, scones or something else to soak up the yolk. Liquid consistency is like soda.

Over easy: Cook one side and then flip the egg and cook the other. The yolk's viscosity will change and become thicker but still be runny. Liquid consistency is like a good syrup.

Over medium: This is where the Girlfriend wants her fried egg and , while some will protest, I do four flips at a couple of minutes on each side. you might get a little browning on the yolk, which i think is ok, and the center will still be running but not like before. Liquid consistency is like karo syrup or molasses.

Over well: six flips to as not to overly brown the whites and the yolk is now pretty much a solid so it is an unscrambled egg with yolks and white separate. Liquid consistency - dry.

Get a good spatula for the flipping, something really thin and wide and, if you are using a nonstick pan, coated so you don't scratch the pan. I actually use a Teflon coated fish spatula that works great. Seasoning comes down to preference but a light dash of salt and pepper usually does the trick.

So that is my take on fried eggs and, as always, your mileage may vary. don't be afraid to experiment and see if one style works better for you than another one. If you are the kind of person who wants to use a bread product as the fifth utensil (the fourth being your fingers after the triumvirate of: a fork, a knife and a spoon) then this is the egg style for you.

The Toad in the Hole

So you may have wondered, "what the Actual fuck is a Toad in a Hole?" I know I did when the Girlfriend first asked for this. I am sure this has a dozen or so different names depending on where you are from but it goes like this:

Take a piece of bread, I suggest a medium sliced Brioche but a slice of white bread or wheat will work, and cut a "hole" in the center. I have a child's cup that is the perfect diameter to cut a hole without breaking any edges of a normal piece of bread. Press the cup down or free cut a circle out of the center of the bread. After adding butter to the skillet center the bread in the pan and pour your prepared egg into the hole made in the center of the bread. The hole should be big enough that the egg fits without spilling on the bread itself. Note here: do not use Texas toast ( a thick slice of bread) because the egg should be level with the bread or it will not cook evenly. After the egg is in you will cook the bread and egg together until you can see the white of the egg start to solidify and grow solid white and not clear. Toss the extra "round" of bread into the pan and toast it up on the side. Flip the bread and the egg with your spatula in one motion. The whites should hold onto the bread when you so this. What you are doing is creating a vehicle for the yolk to spread into once you cut it. I suggest the over easy or over medium for this meal as you want the egg to spread. Season as you would normally and then, when you are done, take a little dab of butter and drop it on the center of the egg. it will melt and add a richness to the egg.

So that's it for tonight. Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

I usually don't do this but I'm going to warn anyone reading this that there is talk about violence and addiction in this post.

When I started this little project of mine I put a disclaimer right there on the front page that says I am not a chef and, well, that's the truth. I never went to a culinary school, I do not have a degree that says I am allowed to do anything greater than boil water, and I am an amateur even after cooking for years. I doubt you will ever see me on a cooking show and I am never going to be InstaTiKFaceSocialMediaPlatformofChoice famous. When my food comes out I am not thinking about a picture, I'm thinking about where to stab it with a fork. I can cook, yes, and I have opinions, yes, and that is about it. So, here is a bit about me and my opinions.

Why didn't I ever considering going to a culinary school? This might be a question you have wondered, or maybe not, being that I write about food. Well, like many people throughout life, I initially worked in restaurants to pay my bills and to hang out with a group of potential alcoholics. That was it, food service paid the bills. I never was much of a cook during my teen years and I learned how to cook the most rudimentary of things in early adulthood. The family I grew up in was the most white bread, Salt is the only spice, everything comes out of a box, middle of the road family you could find in terms of food. Every ethnic food tried: tacos, fried rice an so on was Americanized and I didn't know any better. Remember, this is pre Food Network or the cooking channel. Everything recipe-wize came from Southern Living, Good Housekeeping or a grandmother's cookbook/ recipe stash. Even after I moved out I tended to survive on left overs from work. I only really started to cook regularly once I got married and I had a purpose to cook for someone other than myself. I was cooking for a wife and also a newborn son. That is when I realized I actually liked cooking, I liked creating with food. Now, oddly enough, I was not so old that I couldn't have gone to some community college to get a degree revolving around food while still working. I could have done this, I think, but one event stopped me and I didn't even realize it at the time.

So, back when I was opening restaurants I happened to open one where a corporate trainer from another store and I started to sorta hook up. This was not against the rules as we technically worked in different locations. We kept it quiet but she decided to take me out on my birthday while we were opening up said store. It was me, her and two of our female friends. If any of you are queuing up a porn soundtrack I will admit I may have had at least one thought, maybe two, about something similar. I will now disappoint everyone here and tell you that scenario did not happen. Instead, and I will add the caveat that I was sober all night, I would end up getting one of my eyelids almost torn off, a broken nose, a split lip, a couple of lacerations and a hairline fracture right below my nose and above my gums. See, a young gentleman, who was drinking, took offense that I was out with three women when he was out with none and blind sided me as I was leaning up against a car. He got in two shots and, when I did not go down, he potentially had a moment of clarity and decided to run after committing an assault.

Three outcomes of this event:

1) The young woman I was seeing took off after this guy and chased him for several blocks in 4 inch heels. Once I heard about that our relationship went up a notch and I eventually ending up marrying said woman. I mean, that's kind of impressive when your partner is willing to throw hands for you defense. Especially so if they are in 4 inch heels

2) I did not get that potential fantasy lived out and spent the next day in an ER once I realized the severity of the damage done.

3) I would come to find out that I lost part of my sense of taste and smell.

That number three right there is a big reason I never seriously considered going to a culinary school. There are some things that I cannot smell or taste. I used to indulge in the rare bourbon or scotch or even tequila and now I stick with simpler brands. Not rot gut stuff, that just tastes like paint remover, but I don't worry about finding the rare and limited edition bottles when I won't get the experience they supposedly provide. This is about 40% of the reason I did not go on to become a chef. The other 40%, get ready to laugh a bit but I think this makes sense while also being insane.

The other 40% is because there are some foods I just cannot stand. I am straight up biased against them. Not only that, but I'm completely illogical in my dislike for said foods. Here is an example: I can't stand tomatoes. Even when I cook with them I am not a fan. I am not a huge fan or marinara and I tolerate the puree on pizzas and in soups. This said, I can eat my weight in salsa. As you well know, tomatoes aren't a big part of salsa other than being the main ingredient. I don't know why but I can lie to myself and eat salsa non stop at any time. I love cucumbers and hate pickles BUT, if I get canned Tuna I will add pickle relish to the mayo to make a Tuna fish sandwich.

I hope you are having a moment of WTF? dude. Some of you prolly should get up, stretch and take a moment to consider what I just said but it won't change. Loss of taste and smell plus food bias means I would not a great chef make. Hell, I may not have even graduated classes based on those two traits of mine.

Now, for those keeping score I said 40 and 40, or 80% and while I suck at math I already know that we are working towards 100%.

I respect people who have the title of Chef, you all earned it, and I know like any other industry you have your good and bad examples. But, in all my dealings with food service people, I have only met one or two more addiction prone groups of people in my life. I would say that at least 60%, maybe more if I take time to sit down and actually try to remember all the stories, but at least 60% of the chefs I have known battled an addiction, or two, at one point in time or another. I don't know about every professional field out there but I do know I have an addictive personality and that was just too high of a number for me. So that last 20% may have been self preservation.

I always joke that the professionals who like to play god, or think they are gods, have a top five pantheon of : Doctors, Pilots, Chefs, actors/actresses and DJs. Doctors and Pilots literally have people's lives in their hands and Chefs tend to think they do as well. Theater people and DJs have what I call the "Tupac Syndrome" in that "All eyes on me." I've mentioned before that i was a DJ, also played in a band and have done some theater stuff behind the scenes. I was also an art student, and was debating that as a minor when I first went to college, as well as a club kid in the 90's. To say that i could have spiraled into a addiction is like saying a greasy spoon hamburger is an amazing idea at 3 am after an all night bender. The writing on the wall was done in fluorescent colors and the black light was on. Cue the base and break open a glow stick, time to dance.

So, that's a little bit about me if you were interested. And, if not, then I just stole five minute from life and I am willing to sell it back to you for a modest fee. There might be a couple more posts between now and the New Year but if you don't make it back here between now and then I hope everyone has a safe new Years.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

While I will be doing some cooking next week ( imagine new york strips cooked like prime rib and you will be close to what I am going to do) I am not doing any tonight. I am ending out the holiday season getting a more than decent buzz and killing zambehs ( zombies ala Back4Blood and maybe Left4Dead) because this is a holiday tradition for me. before you ask " How does your partner tolerate this tradition?" I will tell you that she has picked up holiday differential pay by going in to work. Add that to weekend and overnight differentials and yay paying off bills. I lie, she will spend it on her powners ( horses.)

As to why it will be L4D and B4B, see, I went through a divorce back in 2008-2009 and I won custody. Doing this I did sacrifice some things because I was trying to be amicable with my Ex. I would have him live with me, even after moving back home 6 hours and a state away, but she would get him all summer and on Christmas. So, from 2009 until 2017 my son was always at his mom's and I spent the holiday with friends online. L4D was released back on November 17th, 2008 and L4D2 was release one year to the day later. My friend got me into the game to hang out with them on line and they saw me through my divorce. These people were my extended online family and we still play when we can to this day. I even got my son playing with them once he was old enough which I really feel, because we were older and represented all genders and none, that he was bit more mature and not /as/ toxic as teens can be when he was online.

Tonight I will be playing with one of that group along with my former work "sister." So it will be a night of "Pew pew Motherfuckers!" ) Holly B4B.

Now that the excessive preamble is done this is the real reason for the post. No matter what religion (or holiday) you ascribe to, or no religion (or holiday at all) at all, I hope you and yours are safe and happy tonight. I want to thank each and every person who has stopped by this thread in the last year and I hope to see you come back next year. I hope everyone has their drink of choice, alcoholic or non, and is able to spend at least one moment with: friends and/or family, tribe, coven, partner, booty-call and so on. Be careful out there cause it is right on the verge of a dumpster fire in a lot of places around the world. Eat food, try something new, and I will see you next week. Here is to the communal hangover that will be tomorrow.

Slàinte Mhath.

E.

[echoes]

I'm on a roll I guess cause I thought about this at work today and figured I would share. This is a super easy appetizer and will more often than not get demolished at any get together. 5 ingredients and can be throw together in  about 25 minutes. You can do this for about $15 bucks American. I just went through previous posts and didn't see it there so here we go.

E's easy cheesy pull apart meat bread!

Ingredients:
1 loaf ( or two, you do you) rustic bread. You want something with a bit of a firm trust so this retains its shape when you cook it. I use a load of Bread you can get at Costco which is their rustic loaf. You get 2 for about $5 bucks
1 block or Gruyere ( though other cheese's can work so adapt to your taste as needed) which is about 8 ounces and is about $4 bucks.
8 Ounces of Black forest ham. Get deli style thin sliced either pre-sliced or sliced fresh for you. This runs about $5.
A Half stick of butter ( $1)
Garlic powder
Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350 (177c)

Get a cutting board and you are going to make slices down through the bread but not al the way through. Use a serrated knife here and make you slices leaving about an inch ( 2.5cm) attached at the bottom of the loaf.

Melt the butter and then mix in the garlic until you get the taste profile you want. Note, butter will be hot, do not burn yourself. Then  use a brush to coat between the slices of bread untill all slices are coated and the butter is all gone. if you do not have a brush you can drizzle the butter and use the back of a spoon or a spatula to spread the butter out.

grate your cheese into a mixing bow and set aside.

You now want to shred your ham, or you can dice it up but pulling it apart and leaving it rough actually looks pretty good in presentation, and mix it in with the cheese.

Take the cheese and ham mix and try to evenly stuff/layer/ fill in between the slices of buttered bread. Do not push the cheese all the way down to the bottom of the bread, it will get there when it melts.

take a pinch or two of salt and lightly sprinkle atop the bread.


You have two options at this point. wrap in foil and place on a sheet tray and bake for 10 minutes, check at this point and see if the cheese mixture has melted to where you want it. Or, line a sheet tray with parchment paper  and set the bread atop the paper and back just like mentioned above. Add more time as needed to get the melt you want but watch the bread so that it doesn't burn.

This is an easy app that even with cook time can be done on the quick if you need a last minute monchy.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Hey everyone,

So I have wandered South from home to spend the new Years with friends in a place called Big South Fork Tennessee. Its is right across the boarder of Kentucky in a Oneida and this is the same place my girlfriend and I spent last New Years. The difference is that the fluke weather of last year, which was waaaay warmer than it should have been, have been replaced with the normal cold and grey of December/January. New snow but sleet and near freezing rain appears to be on the horizon.

So we will spend three days, starting yesterday and ending Sunday,  with two other couples to ring in the New Year. There will various distractions along with a lot of food and drink that takes up our time until we have to leave on Monday morning. Some of the meals will be extravagant, while others will be pure comfort, and the drinks will be everything from single barrel bourbons to margaritas. On a quick aside, and collectors you may hate me for doing this, but I made the choice this year to open a bottle of Scotch that i had been saving. For you Game of Thrones fans who read this you may, or may not, have known that before the end of the series there was a limited edition run of Scotches from several different Distilleries throughout Scotland. I happened to land 2 bottles that represented House Stark and House Targaeyan and this year I decided to open house Stark. The Scotch representing the Starks is a Dalwhinnie and the reason it was chosen to represent House Stark is because it is supposed to be the coldest distillery in Scotland.  For those of you wondering which distillery represented House Targaryen I will let you know is was Cardhu. The reason for was Cardhu has a history of being run by women and is the only distillery at that time to be headed by a woman. The Dalwhinnie is absolutely lovely and surprisingly did not have the peat overtones that Scotch is known for. It is sweet, smooth and with a combination of that I cannot really make out.  Paired with a cigar, and I might have had one of those last night, and it was a wonderful end to the day.

So, on to food because it is about to be the end of 2023 and, to be honest, I am so ready for this shitshow of a year to be done. I say that and I get to go back home on Sunday so I can start out 2023 by spending $300 getting new tire rods installed on a vehicle.  Anywho, I am responsible for dinner tonight and everything that I had planned got changed at the last minute because of supply chain issues. ( ie: my brother in law forgot to get a piece of meat I had asked for from one of his customers. I will say right here, the man works harder than anyone I know so I am not even mad. He is a great partner to my sister and the nicest person once you know him. The family business is a food service that he is buying from his dad just like his dad bought from his grandfather. He works crazy hours and so if this slips under the radar its all good. I'm flexible.) So I am doing a White wine and mushroom chicken with prosciutto risotto and some type of veggies. I am going to make flatbread to surprise the G/F and we bought a cheesecake from Costco so I am off the hook for dessert. I will do a spring mix salad with various fixings so that people can create their own but it will be the line up that you have read about previously on this blog: Walnuts, Feta, Sun dried tomatoes and Craisins as toppings with a Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing.

Now, all the above said, that is not what I am going to talk about today when it comes to recipes. We are going to talk about, and get a simple recipe for a dish that was first recorded in the late 1600's and would wait three hundred and sixty years to make a big splash in the United States. I am talking about the melted cheese goodness of Fondue.  this, of course, is a Swiss communal dish that involves a pot with a mixture of cheese, wine and spices light heated to keep it in a creamy liquid state. You then take skewers, or little pitchfork style forks, and load up with bread or veggies to dip into the cheese. Unless you hate cheese, or are severely lactose intolerant, this is an awesome appetizer. it appeals to the goodness that is cheese while also assuaging any violence fetish you might have as your skewer helpless veggies before scalding them alive in a semi molten liquid.

I think I just made Fondue metal.

Cool. 

Fondue, like so many other foods, has a lot of variants based on what is added, or taken away, from the basic combination of cheese, white wine and spices. Usually the cheese is a combination of Gruyere and Swiss or Gruyere and Emmenthaler and the white wine is just a simple dry white. Nutmeg and salt, flour and sometimes shallots finish out the rudimentary recipe. From here you can change cheeses, add mushrooms, truffles, onions or change wines. There is a version with eggs, and another with peppers, but the end result is the same: Creamy cheesy goodness. Then, the second part of this interactive meal, is what goes into the Fondue. A selection breads and vegetables is limited by only what you like. Sourdough and Pumpernickel, carrots and celery: it's time to get your dip on.

Recipe time:


Shallots
Garlic
White Wine (theoretically dry)
Gruyere Cheese
Emmenthaler Cheese
Nutmeg
Lemon Juice
Salt
Corn Starch

Start by grating at least 8 ox each of your two cheeses, or a 1 lb. to 8 oz ration of Gruyere to Emmenthaler. once grated add 1-2 Tablespoons (Just enough to coat the cheese) of corn starch  to the cheese and shake well in a bag. Set aside.

Create a double boiler using a pot with water on medium high and bowl set atop the pot. Add 1 cup of wine and let it heat up.

While this is heating you need to peel and mince the shallots. You want a fine dice of about a quarter cup. Then you can either peel and mince 1 clove of garlic, or portion out 1 tablespoon of already minced garlic, and have it at the ready.

As the wine begins to steam you add the shallots and the garlic and let then soak for a moment before adding about a half cup of cheese. Stir and let the cheese melt, take your time and do not try to add the cheese all at once. this will be when you first consider the salt and nutmeg. Just a little so as to build taste.

After this continue you add cheese, a half cup at a time, and you stir and incorporate completely before adding more. Once all cheese is in, and melted, you splash the mixture with lemon juice and season with nutmeg until you have the profile you are looking for. less is more here, don't heap the seasoning on. Pinches will do when it comes to salt and nutmeg.

Once you get the flavor where you want it, and the consistency is good, you take the bowl off the pot and check the water level, add more if you need to before placing the bowl back on the pot. Turn the heat down to medium and let everyone grab something stabby.

This is also fun with melted chocolate and things like pound cake, rice crispy treats, brownies and so on but that is not Fondue. Fondue be cheese.

All of this takes about 20-25 minutes from start to finish and can look really bougie. Its fun, a communal dish, and its cheese; hard to go wrong with cheese.

Before I sign off, I just hit 20,000 views which is about 19,000 and some more than I thought I would get. Takes to everyone who has been by. I hope everyone has a good last few days of 2023, safe days, and that you ring in the New Year with friends, Family, food and drink. Wherever you are ring in the New Year and don't look back.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope everyone had a solid New Year and that you all made it out not in jail; or worse. I spent the weekend with my partner and two other couples in a cabin in Tennessee. This is kind of our thing, its our anniversary ( or what we call our anniversary) and we choose to spend it with a few friends and escape. I know that this is a public forum so I won't add details on what all went on but we had good times; fuck me they are very good times. No, we are not swingers, so those of you hoping for that, well, sorry to disappoint.

I will say that there was a lot of food, a lot of booze and a lot of naked people.

There was rack of lamb, finger foods, fondue and all sorts of other good eats. There were Bourbon Old Fashions, Scotch and a lot of tequila involved in the drinks. I'm going to talk about what part of what I cooked on Saturday even though I have mentioned it before.

Risotto

Risotto is a rice dish but it really cooks like a super dense pasta. It was, I think, made popular by Gordon Ramsey's television show, "Hell's Kitchen," but that is not it's history. This staple existed well before Gordon, and his show, but what he highlighted, in said show, was how difficult this can be to cook. He was always pissing on someone about how this dish was cooked and there is a reason why. This specific food is a right awful bitch to do right. You have to have patience and you have to take your time which, in a speed driven show, this not a good thing. This is why I am going to share what I know about the dish.

I have finally unlocked, at least in my world, the secret to Risotto but first left talk about what it is. Arborio rice is originally from the area known as Lombardy, Italy. It has a stupid high starch content and because of this is really dense. When you are cooking this you need to keep in mind something more than just the end product. You have to think about what you are doing with the ingredient before you actually use it.

So, how to actually get this shit done without wanting to kill someone.

Rices need a liquid to cook. That is a fact. When you read any number of instructions on the back of a box, or bag, you see how much rice to how much water and then you go. Risotto cooks differently in that you continually have to add liquid and cook slowly instead of adding all the liquid at the beginning. Here, now, is what I learned as the secret:

Have the liquid hotter than what you are cooking.

So, I usually use chicken stock but you can use beef or vegetable stock as long as you have it hot. Don't boil it but keep it right below the boil. The reason you do this is simple. If you just pour stock, or water, or anything else into your Aborio, then you lower the temperature of what is cooking. This will delay the cooking of the risotto and make it more dicey as well as taking longer. The true secret is keeping the liquid you are adding hot.

My common fallback is a Prosciutto and spinach rice that ends up super creamy and amazing as a side. I take Prosciutto and slice it as thin as I can. before I start anything in the Risotto pan I start a pot, on medium high heat with Chicken stock. I want this to be steaming and just under boiling before I need to use it. Now, butter in a pan and on high heat before I throw the meat in. I add diced shallots, or onions, as well as minced garlic. I keep the temp high until the meat starts to brown just a bit and then I add white wine. I add about a cup and then I cook on high and let it reduce.  When there is only about a half cup not evaporated I add the Aborio. I stir and mix everything in and let it sit ofr a minute or two. Like rice pilaf I want it almost get brow before I add the first round of chicken stock. I add enough to cover and stir while dropping the heat to medium. From here on out it is about adding more stock every time the level of the liquid gets below the top of the Aborio.

you are going to do this anywhere from 15-20 minutes, adding more liquid every time it gets under the level of the rice. You may have noticed that I have not suggested adding any seasoning; You save this till the end. and after about 15 minutes you need to start tasting and testing the texture. You want al dente, a slight firmness but not crispy. Once you get close to this you can add salt, pepper or any other seasoning you want. You can add, as I do, spinach or something like Parmesan cheese. Risotto, by itself will be creamy do to the release of starch ( unlike most rices) so you do not have to add anything to make it thicken.

So, after all that is said, this is a dish you have to pay attention to, you have to manipulate and work, but it will pay off if you do this. It will be something that can compliment almost any kind of meat or vegetable. It can stand on its own or support something else. It can be as bougie as you want or just a side.

that's what I got tonight, I'm getting my buzz on and now I need to kill a zombie.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

I'm going to try and be more active this year; here in this blog and elsewhere on the site. I've already got a little piece up in the ST Cafe and I warn you if you go look for it; NSFW. It's the first real thing I have put out in a really long time and it is still very unedited so I need to go back an visit it at some point. I hope to be more prolific there, and off site as well, as long as keeping this little project moving forward.

The weather has been absolute shit here with our version of a winter storm being consistent, cold and wet "meh" rain. Now, for those of you who have never been to Seattle, or who imagine that all of England has never seen the sun, I define "meh" rain as the following: not hard enough to soak you and not weak enough to leave you alone. Its just enough that you don't want to wear a jacket and yet it beads on the skin and chills anything it touches. Me, I love a good thunderstorm, and this doesn't even rate as foreplay to a good storm. Wear I am, and I think most people have figured it out, we have thunderstorms when it snows and come summer our storms can shake windows. I love them, I never get better sleep than when it storms. But this is just me digressing because I have been running in and out of this wanna be drizzle for about three hours while working on mucking horse stalls and dealing with electrical issues with my house. Pro Tip: Water and electricity don't mix and so this added to more annoyance, and an overabundance of caution, on my part. Its been hovering between 37 and 40 degrees (2.6-4.4C.) which is enough to tease freezing while not doing it. Because of this I wanted comfort food, I wanted to heat and so I decided to tackle something that I always seem to get close to and just miss.

Chicken Etouffee

I am told that Etoufee comes from the French verb, "etouffer," which means to choke or smother. In this case, with this dish, you are smothering a protein with a classic blond roux. Traditionally this is a shellfish and rice dish most commonly associated with New Orleans, Southern Louisiana and other coastal states such as : Texas, Mississippi and Alabama. I didn't have access to fresh Crayfish, or shrimp, tonight so I did a play on the traditional by using chicken. This is also because I was cooking the girlfriend and she doesn't do seafood. The key to this dish is the roux, the right consistency and its ability to coat the protein, and the accompanying veggies, is the key to the dish. In the past I never let the roux develop correctly and I always thought it was lacking something; tonight I struck paydirt with the meal.

Ingredients:

2lbs of chicken ( cause I made left overs on purpose )

bacon drippings

Butter

Flour

1-2 yellow or white onions ( 1 large, or 2 medium)

Celery

Red bell peppers

green bell peppers

flour

Salt

pepper

Garlic powder

onion powder

cayenne pepper

paprika

Italian seasoning ( pre made mix)

veggie stock

water

bay leaves

flour

lemon juice

Now, other than the chicken, I didn't weight anything out cause I am a slacker but that is the heart of the meal. This is served with rice and, like an idiot, I didn't have any long or short grain on hand so I did Basmati rice. I will talk about rice another time because every rice cooks a bit differently, as well as cooks similarly, but that was the vehicle to help carry the entree and not the entree itself.

Prep:

I trimmed the chicken down to 1/4 inch chunks and removed any excess fat along with the little solid white tendon that is always in pre-cut boneless/ skinless chicken breasts. I set these pieces in a colander to drain extra and set to making my dredging mix. I want to say it was about a cup, maybe a cup and change of flour with all the seasonings added in dashes and shakes. Salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne, parsley and Italian seasoning added to the flour and then mixed generously. All the dry was then dumped on the chicken and mixed so that everything was coated. There should be excess flour mix after coating the chicken and that is important for later.

In a medium large pan I melted bacon drippings along with 2-3 tablespoons of butter on medium high heat. Once everything was melted I sifted the chicken to remove excess flour and added it to the heat. I cooked this until the flour on the chicken started turning a light brown ( about 8 minutes) on the medium high heat. While this was going on Rinsed and cleaned the earlier used colander and then lined it with paper towels. before the chicken was cooked all the way through I pulled it out of the pan and added a bit more butter along with another round of bacon drippings. Once melted I added the remains of the dredging flour into the mix and this started my roux. I dropped the heat to low and mixed until I got a "slurry" that was not yet a past. I dded a bit more regular flour, and then a bit more butter (Pretty sure Paula Dean is getting turned on somewhere as I talk about the butter) until I got a nice "thick" but not solid consistency.

While this is cooking on low ( it's going to do this for about 10 minute with constant stirring) I peeled and cut my onion, cut and de-seeded the peppers and cut the celery. You want a smaller dice, not a mince, but below a 1/4 inch for the veggies. Once the roux had changed colors to a darker brown, but not yet a caramel color, I added the veggies and this almost instantly turned the roux from a slurry into a paste. This is fine, its what you want to happen, and I continued to cook for another 8-10 minutes to soften up the veggies. at this point you have almost a caramel color and that is right where you want it.

Add the chicken back in and then add liquid enough to cover the chicken. Now, I did veggie stock and water to add more flavor but not over do it. You want the liquid to just barely coat and cover everything and, as soon as you add it, the paste will break down and make a thick sauce. If you want to go all water, you can, or you can go all stock. bring the heat up to medium high and toss in a couple or three bay leaves. leave it on the heat you a boil starts and then drop the heat back down to low. Cover and let cook for another ten or so minutes.

Here is where you get creative. I splashed in some lemon juice and they it is time to taste test. I have mentioned it before and I mention it again: Cajun/Creole/Arcadian food is not just about heat. it is about taste, seasonings working together to tempt you to take another bite. Going salt forward is just as bad as going pure unadulterated heat. Balance and complementary flavors is what you are looking for with a nice warmth at the end. Add judiciously, pinches instead of spoons, and get that flavor where you want it. Add a bit more butter if you want, or not, but what you should have is a stew like consistency that coats the chicken and the veggies. 

To plate you can mound the rice in the middle and spread the Etouffee around the island or you can pour it directly on top. I made cast iron cornbread to go with this and the sweetness of the cornbread helps cut some of the heat.

I think that is everything but I have a light buzz and I need to work on that some more. Hope everyone is doing well.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Oh for the love of Dog and all that is Holy; can we please have some more rain!

So, the tags on my profile should give away to where I live in the States. For those stateside: rabid basketball fans, bourbon and and horses can be found here and there but there is really only one place that is famous for it. That said, our normal bluegrass is currently Mud. Green grass: Mudd. Yellow, brown and any other hue you want to find.... Mud. For those of you outside of the States; my farm currently grows one thing and that is, of course; mud.

The horses are covered from nose to tail and some of them, I am talking about you Daisy, seem to revel in making sure their normal coats only display the height of Winter fashion in the for of... Mud. Daisy is a "white paint," which means she is normal white with grey hues and some black patches. She is adorkable and thinks she is a puppy... except for she is about 1100 pounds. So imagine a horse so happy to see you that she comes running only to remember she has to stop before turning into all ankles and you have my Daizurs.

Back to the weather, and then to food.

Rain... more rain, and then some rain to go on top of other rain. Its like a perverse version of the "Shrimp" scenes from Forest Gump: We got warm rain, cold rain, sleet rain, heavy rain.... and so on. For days, weeks now, and with more in the forecast. England called my state and said, in that lovely proper sounding accent, "You must slow down, pace yourself, light rain, a mist even, you youngsters are always trying to hard." And, in typical American fashion my state went. "Oh yeah, hold my Bourbon."

So, why the set up? I have been in a comfort food kind of mood for a bit now and oh does my girlfriend hates when I get in that mood. (Did you roll to detect sarcasm? ! Good you are beginning to know me and that should terrify you.) So yeah, last night was Fondue, Charcuterie and various breads. Most of Eastern Europe was going, "Cheese, meat and bread; we so no problem with this." I've done breakfast for dinner, various pastas and anything that will fill you up and make you wonder if a food coma is a bad thing. Today I broke with the trend and made something, via proxy, that was a little different. I have been at work since 12:15 and just got home around 10:00 PM ( 22:00.) What was cooking was in the over for 6.5 hours and was prepared by my girlfriend's brother who live with us. 

Now, a note about her brother: we are his caregivers as he is Autistic, has anxiety and a list of other conditions that are all doctor certified. I say this because I have made the mistake of reading Reddit and every other person who posts on there is on the spectrum. I dislike when people do self diagnosis because I think that takes away from those who truly had conditions. Anyways, this person fixates and does not do well with changing plans. he is terrified of trying recipes because he is scared to make mistakes and yet, tonight, he was responsible for the entree.

He did great.

Blade End Slow Cooked Pork Loin

I trimmed a pork loin and froze it not to long and ago and spent the last two days thawing it out. Today, over the phone, I gave instructions on prep and it turned out lovely. You can use this recipe
on any part of the loin: Center Rib, Center Loin and Sirloin End.

Prep:

Take a fork and work out you anger issues by repeatedly stabbing the meat all over. This is to break up fibers in the meat . Once done you get a bowl and drop the now pin-cushioned meat and let it sit for minute.

Ingredients:

2-3 lb piece of pork

Olive Oil
1.5 Tablespoons Sea Salt
.5 Tablespoon coarse black pepper
1 Tablespoon Granulated Garlic
2 Tablespoons Paprika
1 Tablespoon Oregano
( You can other spices like dried mustard, Basil, Parsley but I kept it easy for him)

Ok, the olive oil is what I called 2 "gluggs" or a 2 count pour. Pour directly onto the meat and coat all surfaces. Mix the spices in a bowl until well combined and then massage all spices onto the pork until it is evenly covered. Set aside and cover.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Fahrenheit.  (82.2 Cel.)

Once the oven is up to temp take the pork and wrap tightly in foil. Place said nugget on a sheet tray and stick in the over. Forget about it for about 6ish hours. At about 5 hours temp the meat and you are looking for a core temp at 145/63 degrees. You know your oven better than me and ovens do cook differently.

Once finished you pull it out of the over and let sit for 3 -5 minutes and then you have options. You can slice slabs and place of Brioche, add cheese and you have a sammich. You can shred and then mix this with any number of sauces ( Hawaiian, BBq, Fajita and so on) and place of rolls for little sliders. You can cut the piece into chops and have with mashed spuds.

if you want to make an accompanying sauce, you do you.

He did a great job and now, 4 hours after it was done, it is still tender and has great flavor. Easy to do and versatile, this is something you can do when you need to bring something to a pot luck and you want to be a little fancy.

More food in the future.

Cheers,

E.

�

[echoes]

Was going to try and make Sunday/Monday my regular writing days but I have my son down for his Birthday and I don't plan on being on much. When I get back next week I will be sharing a shrimp recipe and a review of Basil Hayden's Dark Rye Bourbon. The Bourbon will the more exciting of the two.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

So,

Been a week since I last  posted and here I am, on time, and posting tonight. Said I was going to talk about a Bourbon and I intend to do just that tonight.

Basil Hayden's part of the Jim Beam Small Batch Bourbon family and we will get to the Bourbon after we do a little history and splaining of what Bourbon is. As any good story goes, the origination of the name and where it was first used is a point of contention. One myth says it started in Bourbon County Kentucky, another on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. It has been made since the late 18th century and is most often associated with the State of Kentucky. Alcohols, if you didn't know, wax and wan at various times throughout their lives. Not to long ago there was a Tequila craze and before that it was Vodka; now it is currently Bourbon's heyday.

For an alcohol, specifically whiskey, to be called a Bourbon it must have a "mash" (Mash is a composition of  "cereal grains such as rye, barley, wheat or corn that is fermented) made up of no less that 51% Corn along with other grains. Most mashes take some of their components from from a previous batch's mash for consistency of flavor. In Addition to the mash requirements the liquor must be aged in new charred oak containers ( barrels.) The aging process is what gives Bourbon its distinctive coloring as it draws from the carmelized charred wood. There are several steps that go in the aging process, along with some science and some stories but I am not going into all that now. What I will say is that the Bourbon in the barrels gets, opened, diluted down to 80 Proof ( 40% alcohol by volume) and the gets bottled. When I said that Basil Hayden's is a Small Batch Bourbon that only means that fewer barrels were opened and mixed to produce this batch.

Basil Hayden's as mentioned before is from the Jim Beam/Suntory family of spirits. Jim Beam has a variety of lines including:

Booker's
Baker's
Basil Hayden
Knob Creek

Where Jim Beam is, like Basil Hayden, a 80 Proof/ 40% ABV beverage Booker's clocks in at 120-130/60-65%, Baker's at 107/53.5% and Knob Creek at 100/50% or 120/60%. Also owned by Beam Suntory is Beam's Sister brand, Maker's Mark, which comes in at 90/45%.

So, Basil Hayden's Dark Rye and what to expect. Do not expect that punch in the mouth burn that a lot of Bourbon's, especially the higher proofed drinks, give. You the first thing you will notice is that it is sweet, sweeter that you were really ready for. It is a smooth drink that doesn't linger until it is unwanted. There are nuances that I cannot explain because I lost some of my sense of smell and tastes yeeeeeears ago as part of a birthday present. A review by "Breaking Bourbon uses words like Strawberry Jam, Cherries, cherries, currants, and more cherries while saying it is very wine/port forward.  It's not "yeasty/bready" like some bourbons can get, there is something more simple but it is not peaty or earthy like scotch. In fact, that same review mentioned that it is complex enough that the sweet turns to savory and does not linger into dryness.

This is a bourbon you can sip at room temperature or you can fully enjoy it on a cube or two of ice. Don't go ham on the ice, to diluted wastes the enjoyment of the next sip. This is outstanding for making something like an old fashioned but it would be lost in a bourbon spritz. The Dark Rye is supposed to be aged for around 8 years and it has that mid level maturity that a well purposed bourbon should have. It won't break your budget if you have to get one for a party. It also isn't some rot gut no one would dare try. This is a good bourbon to wet the appetite before a main course.

Imma take one more pull of this and then go finish some laundry.

Cheers all,

E.

[echoes]

This will be short because I am a bit distracted. But first, a moment of clarity.

There was a Tom Hanks produced series that gained some fame a few year back called, "Band of Brothers." For those who do not know, this was the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment , 101st Airborne Division; yes, its a war series. The original book, and subsequent series, starts with Easy company training at Camp Taccoa and it introduces the reader/viewer to the primary characters of the story. During a scene where Easy company is performing a night march the following conversation takes place:

Setting Night march, full company with all men carrying full gear at Camp Taccoa which is located in the state of Georgia.

Private Randleman : "Lieutenant Winters?"

Lieutenant Winters: "What is it?"

Pvt. Randleman : "Permission to speak, Sir?"

Lt. Winters : "Permission granted."

Pvt. Randleman : "Sir, we got nine Companies, Sir.

Lt. Winters: "We do."

Pvt Randleman : "Why come we're the only Company marching Every Friday night, twelve miles with full pack in the pitch dark?"

Lt. Winters : "Why do you think Private Randleman?"

Pvt. Randleman : "Lieutenant Sobel hates us sir."  (For clarification, Lt. Sobel was the senior Lt and the commander of Easy Company during training.)

Lt Winters: *After a pause* "Lieutenant Sobel does not hate easy company" * Another pause* "He just hates you"

The nearby soldiers all start lightly laughing.

Pvt. Randelman : 'Sir, yes Sir."

This is me right now, the world doesn't hate everyone else, just me. I think I have an infection around a tooth that needs a root canal. This just started over the weekend and the pain radiating from my jaw has given me a headache while at work.  With that, I am going to medicate and try to get better. I can't get seen by a dentist until next Thursday but luckily the GF had some left over antibiotics that I am going to start on. She is going to try and persuade our dentist, who she is seeing tomorrow, to send me an official script in so I can get the swelling down. Before you worry, she is a nurse and I am not going to do them all at once. When I feel better I will try and be more creative with a post.

Cheers.

E.

[echoes]

Sorry about the earlier lack of solid post regarding food. I'm going to try and make up for that right now with something for the parents here on Elliquiy, though anyone can rock this simple recipe

Open Faced Pepperoni Grinders

First, a Grinder is typically defined as a "hot" sandwich usually with: meatballs, pepperoni, sausage or several of what you might call "Italian" meats. This is something you can rock from start to finish in 20 minutes with minimal prep and clean up and it is also great on a budget.

Ingredients ( with Prices in American Dollars)

1 - 6 pack Torta Buns $4.00
1 - Deli Sliced pepperoni ( prepackages usually has enough slices but you need a total of 24 slices and if they slice the pepperoni on a 1-1.5 that is about 1/2 a pound) $5.00
1 - 24oz jar marinara or Meat sauce - $2.00
1 - 1# Shredded Mozzarella $2.50 ( thought you can add more if you like a lot of Cheese )
Granulated Garlic ( Should already have this in the spice drawer but if not a small bottle for $2.00

Optional
Parmesan Cheese

Ok, so the above is right around $15.00 and you can easily feed 6 people, or less than $2.50 a person.

Prep:

Oven on bake at 350 degrees.

Get a half sheet tray out and line with parchment paper.

Wash hands.

Open the Torta rolls and split each one in hald so you have a top and bottom portion. Most are pre-cut and you can split them with your fingers. If you have to cut them use a serrated bread knife and lay them flat. Cut sideways left to right and please do not add parts of your finger to the meal.

Lay the Torta rolls with the cut side face up on the half sheet tray. 6 rolls should completely, and perfectly, fit on a half sheet tray.

Dust the exposed side of the Torta rolls with granulated ( dry) garlic. One pass, light dusting, will do.

Open the Marinara  and pour empty the entire jar atop the bread. Spread with a spatula, or a brush, and coat evenly.

Add two pieces of Pepperoni to each piece of bread.

Open and layer Mozzarella trying to spread evenly across all the pieces.

Optional - Dust with Parm Cheese if you want.

Into the oven for 10-12 minutes depending on how you oven cooks.

Here is the only hard part:

Turn the oven from bake to Broil at 500 degrees. Leave in for 3 minutes, longer if you like more browning on you cheese. Watch the oven at this point, and you may have to spin the tray to cook evenly. If you go a ef-off you will burn these suckers the moment you do not pay attention.

There you have it. 12  pieces, 2 per person is pretty filling, but this is easy and quick. great for a game night ( tv or tabletop) or for feeding ravenous spawn.  Clean up is one tool ( Spatula or brush) and the sheet tray along with any plates or utensils used to eat.

Of course you can make this more fancy, you can add ham, sausage, salami or whatever you want to the meats and you can change the cheese to be a bit more exotic. You could make these vegetarian with mushrooms , fresh mozz and sprigs of Basil if you wanted to.

Cheers.

E.

[echoes]

Product review and easy meals made quick and dirty. That is what we are working on today.


Sorry I didn't get a post up yesterday, I kinda came home from work and crashed due to having to be up at 4:30 this morning. Luckily they were cutting hours at work yesterday and I was able to bag out and spend a little time with the GF  before grabbing what little sleep I could last night. So everyone knows; I suck at sleeping. My sleep patterns now are hella better than when I was younger but I still don't sleep well. 

Anywho, lets continue a trend from the last post and talk about quick and easy meals on the cheap while also talking about a product and the cost/quality of said product. Before I go any farther I will put out a rare disclaimer in that : I am not paid by, or a representative of, the company or product I am about to talk about.

Amylu Teriyaki and Pineapple Chicken Meatballs

Price wise a pound and a half should run you right under $10 at Costco, or something like $.40 an ounce on average at various groceries. The Costco portion, so far, has seemed the best deal that I have seen. They will keep up to 6 months in the freezer and around 4 days after being opened if they are not used. They are fully cooked and can be eaten right out of the package if you are so hungrs. 

Taste wise- You do not need a sauce to go with these, the combination of teriyaki and pineapple makes them both sweet and savory at the same time. If you just have to add something sauce-wise to the meal I would err on the side of sweet over savory and I am much more of a savory person. 

Cooking- Follow the instructions for the air fryer that are on the package though I would add 2 minutes to the cooking time as well as pausing the cooking midway through to flip the meatballs. The air fryer method gives an even, light, caramelization and cooks the meatball all the way through. To date this has been the most successful way to cook the meatballs. The meatballs you get from Costco come with 2 packages and I want to say there are 24 meatballs to a package. 1 package will fill a single basket in a dual basket air fryer.

Combinations - I do these with the instant mashed potatoes from Costco, or you could make homemade mashed spuds should you like. 6 meatballs per person + mashed spuds is a hearty meal and you will get 4 servings out of this method with each person getting about 3/4 a pound of food. Realistically you could get away with 4 -5 meatballs, corresponding mashed spuds and then a veggie like carrots, corn or green beans and then you are getting 5 - 6 servings. If you just have to have bread then doing an Italian loaf or baguette will suffice.

in all you can feed 4-6 people for a total of about $25 American depending on what sides, and how many sides, you choose. That is not a bad cost for making a filling meal with a potential for left overs or the ability to serve multiple people.  In all, this is a solid product, good taste and value with some flexible options for serving. I know I kept it really simple, I normally don't have the brain to do product reviews so I may check out how other people do them so that I can get better at it.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

Hey all,

For those of you who have been reading this, thank you. I do appreciate the time you take to stop by and see what I post. This is as close to social media as I get. No facebook, instagram or anything else that most people use to get their words out. I find most social media to be abhorrent, toxic and a pox on us all. The ability to post and hope that it influences others is odd to me, but I like food ( and cooking) so I wanted an outlet to throw some words up and see if anyone was interested in reading. I'm not good at this, I don't write to get likes or to sell a product/idea, which is why I do this here. I do for my own reasons and, to be honest, its also because I have not been as creative with other words and stories but I still felt the need to write something.

I'm a bit slow this week in the creative aspect of cooking. The S/O, Gf, or what you wish to think of her as, had surgery last Tuesday. She had all the lady plumbing removed for reasons and, for those female readers here, I am sure you can guess what I mean. Because of this I have been making only comfort food that she wants. I took 9 days off to be her nurse and personal cook and, so far, I think I have done a pretty good job. Breakfasts have been french toast, regular toast and biscuits. Omelets with cheese, eggs over medium and scrambled eggs. Bacon, sausage and other meats. nothing crazy. There has been jello and pudding aplenty ( pistachio and butterscotch if you wanted to know.) Lunches have been deviled ham and cream cheese sandwiches, cold cuts and cheese and anything that piqued her fancy. I did do a fancy pork cutlet with panko along with mashed spuds as one fancy dinner but tonight was hamburgers and fries with a with a chocolate milkshake (made with cookies and cream ice cream.) In other words, I have been lame for the creativity but awesome on the comfort side.

I've not been outside as much, thought I have gotten the barn cleaned up a bit. I plane to start buying herb seeds soon but I want to weather here to stop being bi-polar ( like 70 degrees one day and the next 30 with sleet like rain.) I'm planning to do a few planters this year with various flowers as well. I have a metric fuck ton of honey-dos and chores that I have been procrastinating on and I have also been drinking like Van Halen on tour in the 80's. ( you old people like me will get that reference.)

Anywho, wanted to stop in, drops some words and wish everyone a good day, night and or week. Hope you all are doing well and taking care of your business as best you can. I will try and write some new and cool shit soon.

Cheers,

E.

[echoes]

I am completely clueless at times and earlier today I described myself as the living embodiment of a dumpster fire, so, there's that.

Is life all that bad, nah, not really; I'm not dumb enough to say,"It couldn't get worse," because then Karma is gonna go, "Hold my beer." it could always be worse, but I took a half day at work as sort of a mental health thing and, well, we will see how that takes. Until then there is food to be talked about and I will get on with it now that I have made you wade through some minor ramblings.

Way back, ie: earlier in these posts, I talked about making pizza dough. I won't go over that again so go find it if you want. I will tell you that I think I have finally figured out that 10-12 ounces is the perfect sized dough ball for a 12" pizza. That said, I experimented last Thursday and made a play on an Everything Bagel Pizza. Before I get to the pizza let me tell you about some absolute fail.

First, I build up the wood inside the pizza oven, set it on fire, and thought that, I don't know, since my partner and a friend of ours were standing out right in front of the pizza oven they would keep an eye on it. Now, I did not explicitly say, "Hey watch this for me and let me know if it goes out." My bad. I should have. They came in about 10 minutes later, saying nothing and hanging out around the kitchen. I had the oven on to pre-bake the pizza dough and with everything humming along nicely I got and check on the pizza oven outside.

Complete dead. No Fire. Nada. Oooops.

So, in the oven inside it will be and that is fine. We fire off several traditional meats and veggies on dough with marinara and everyone is digging the made to order person pan pizza buffet that we are throwing out. The last pizza I do something different and some of you may have already done something like this, for others, this may be, as the poet philosopher Marylin Manson was said, "this is the new shit."

Everything bagel Pizza by Moi!

Regular pizza dough, pre-baked for 5 minutes at 400.
Olive Oil - Enough to gently coat the dough
Everything Bagel seasoning ( you can get this pre-made at a grocery or you can do the following: Sesame seeds, Minced dried garlic, Minced dired onion, sea salt, poppy seeds and black sesame seeds.)
My toppings:
Ricotta Cheese
Soppressata salami
Dice red onions
fresh basil

You can really add anything you would add to a bagel here.

Cooked for about 12 minutes and everything came out pretty solid. Rotated the pie once while it was cooking, got a nice even browning around the edges.

I iwll try and post about the Coconut Cream pie I made, I am told it was all that was good by my girlfriend but I didn't have any because I don't like coconut. Before I leave I will impart two things with you all:

1) Mashed potatoes are just Irish Gucamole

2) Go to YouTube and type, "Play that Funky Music Rammstein"   (---- this will not disappoint if you like Wild Cherry, Rammstein or Metallica.

Cheers.

E.

[echoes]

Yesterday was kind of low key and chill for me and my fam despite it being a holiday. The G/F had pulled a 12 hour overnight shift and had tied one on after doing eight hours on Saturday as well as work around the farm. The only plans we had for Sunday were to head to my parents, about 45 mins away, and cook brunch for them. Now, here in the Southern part of the US, as I can't speak for the rest of the country much less the rest of the world, Gravy holds a certain state of reverence in a breakfast meal. Well, that's not completely right, it holds reverence in /EVERY/ meal depending on how you use it. From turkey gravy on Thanksgiving to a brown grave with meat, Gravy is it's own food group and yet most people don't know how to make it. They know canned and jarred gravies, or those that come powdered and you add water, but they don't realize how simple it really is to make homemade gravy.

Guess what we are about to talk about? Yep, it involves gravy.

First off, the word has roots tracing back to the 1400 or so and may have been a play of the French word: "Gave'." I'm not sure how the word translated into "Severe" works here but the concept and the basis of Gravy is pretty basic and straight forward: drippings from something cooked ( usually meats but you could do a roasted vegetable gravy) combined with a "binder," such as corn starch or flour, and then mixed with a liquid, usually milk, to the desired consistency. This is it, add seasoning to taste: Salt, pepper, garlic and so on.

Common Gravy types:

Brown - From red meats or birds.

Red Eye - From Ham specifically

White - Like a thickened Bechemel sauce with a meat base.

Or, the one I am going to tell you about : Sausage Gravy.

Sausage gravy, in this case, came from 1 pound of Tennessee Pride mild sausage, Wondra flour and 2% milk and one secret at the very end. 

here are a few notes on the ingredients:

Sausage- When you cook this do so on medium high and grumble it really well. You can get a little sear/caramelization on the meat but do not overcook.You can use mild, spicy, Italian, go wild.

Flour - I use wondra or cake flour because it is much more fine. You can use All purpose or bread flour but go slow as to avoid clumping. You could use corn starch if you really wanted to.

Milk/buttermilk/Cream - Your call here but I like 2 % because of it's consistency .

Season to taste.

Ok, so how to go about making the liquid artery clogger known and lowed by my peebos:

Medium - large skillet. Heat on 6 or 7 . get the sausage in and break it down to crumbles. You want it good and cooked before step two.

Add flour directly to the skillet: I used about 1/3rd of a cup but you could use as little as 1/4. I would not go much over that unless you are making a LOT of Gravy. Just spread the flour over the sausage and drop the heat down to around 5 or just medium. 

Add the milk a little at a time, and you might be adding up to 2 cups depending on the thickness and consistency you want to have in the sauce. You can go over 2 cups but if you get to three this is going to be really runny. I would start by adding a half cup and then splashing in more from there.

SECRET INGREDIENT:

once you get your desired thickness in the liquid drop in 1 pat, 1 ounce, of salted butter.

From here, season to taste. Have biscuits at the ready and get your grub on

Cheers,

E.


 

[echoes]

A restaurant in town used to have a drink called a , "Pain killer." Here is my take on the drink so, if you like rum and coconut, sit back and get ready:

2.5 oz Rum ( I have used a 15 yr KS aged dark rum but you can use bacardi light or dark.)
2 oz Simple Syrup
3 oz Pineapple mango banana OJ ( Dole makes this or you can do 2 oz pineapple and 1 oz OJ)
2 oz Pina Colada Mix
splash cherry juice

Shake on ice and then pour into an appropriate glass. to be very fancy you could toast coconut and rim the glass with the toasted shards.

More later.

Cheers.

[echoes]

I am not a big fan of flavored hard liquor. I like the honesty behind spirits, I like the brutal reality of the morning after announced every time my throat burns as bourbon finds its way home. Hard liquor, spirits, Uisge Beatha ( water of life in Scottish Gaelic) or any other name for the various happy fun time liquids does not mince words. Bourbon will straight up tell you that it plans to smack you in the face tomorrow morning if you drink to much. Scotch, Tequila, Gin and so on all do so in various accents while NEVER lying to you that you will be alright. When you make mixed drinks, well, the message gets muddled with names like : The old Fashioned, The Gimlet, the Martini, a Moscow Mule and others there is still a sense of decorum
Liqueurs, on the other hand, will straight lie to your face. They are brightly colored, more sweet than burn and have cutesy names like "A Fuzzy Navel," or scandalous sobriquets such as a "Red Headed Slut." The fact is that liqueurs will lie and tell you that you can have another one, and another one until you suddenly turn into the Tasmanian Devil as everything you drink gets ejected all at once. * get that vision and sound effect out of your head. I dare you. Those of you who have done this know exactly what I am talking about.*
 
What I am about to suggest is a delicious and yet terrifying drink so be warned.

The Peanut Butter Cup.

Just the name evokes the America candy of chocolate and peanut buttery goodness and here is how to make the shot:

1 oz. Screwball peanut butter Bourbon ( that alone should terrify you)
1 oz Bailey's Irish Cream
1 oz Creme de Cacao

you can layer the shot ( chill the alcohol first if you want to do this) and you can substitute Kahlua for the cream de Cacao if you want a coffee finish. You can do flavors cream liqueurs in place of baileys. you can do this on ice instead of doing it as a shot.

You can garnish this with mini peanut butter cups if you want.

Be warned. This will get you drunk. it will also make you pay. But damn if it doesn't taste good.

Cheers,

E.