oh no-reos, it's homemade oreos

okay, that was pretty shameful. whatever, puns are fun.

what else is fun? oreos. fun and damn delicious. made at home, they are freaking huge! satisfying my childlike craving for an oreo the size of a cd.

best part? they're damn easy to make, and make lots of - perfect for guests, or co-op jobs where the tradition is (apparently) that the students bring in baked goods every friday.

here goes..

for the cookies, you'll need:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt (i used kosher here, got a neat little salty/sweet mix going on)

1 cup sugar

one egg

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp buttah

blend the dry, then the butter and egg. make this into tablespoon-size balls, and chill. then mash those suckers down till they're flat and oreo-cookie like. bake at 375 for five minutes on both sides on some parchment paper. cool it down, and make the good stuff.

the good stuff:

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup shortening

2 cups (yes, that's correct) icing sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

blend the butter and shortening together, then the sugar and vanilla. find someway to introduce between two cookie halves, push down and EAT.

(if you're looking for a methodical way to do it, put it in a ziploc bag and snip off a corner. presto, instant piping bag!)

enjoy! and thanks to the star for the recipe - big hit at christmas.

I think it's time..

Well,

I've been coasting on this blog for too long. Time to get my shit together and bring it back!

Without further ado, I present:

"the engagement risotto" (because I've been propositioned a couple times after making it)

You'll need:

1 cup arborio rice

4 cups any kind of stock (I prefer chicken with this)

1 large red union

A slice of good bread

A jalepeno

Half a cup old cheddar, or some other stinky nonsense

To start, finely slice and caramelize that onion. Get a deep brown on it, which will take forever and smell wonderful.

Then, add your rice. Toast it, somewhat.

Slowly add stock to it, waiting until it absorbs the liquid between passes.

Meanwhile, MULTITASKING

Toast then chop your bread up. Fry it up with a chopped jalepeno. Wusses, don't take the seeds out. They complete the fun. Get it all crispy.

When your stock is all used up, add the cheese. You now have risotto, or some reasonable facsimile. Then toss in the breadcrumbs nonsense (pangratatto, it's called).

Eat, and be prepared to fight off your friends and family for seconds.

Marinated Tofu Goodness

Hey all,

Yet another long-time-no-post, but I just hit upon something that I definitely had to share with you. Particularly since I've been advised at the recent unveg-friendly posts as of late, something to remedy. After all, I don't eat too much meat either, so it's probably good to make some good stuff.

This recipe is for marinated tofu - I've found that marinating and searing gives a whole mess of flavour to tofu, and definitely mitigates the blandness a lot of people associate with it.

Here's how.

You'll need:

• 2-3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp hot sauce (I used my trusty rooster stuff here)
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1-2tbsp lemon juice
• Pinch of chili flakes (just because)
• 1/2 lb tofu, cut into squares about an inch across and half thick.
• Optionally, some cooked rice and more soy sauce

First, mix the soy, hot, lemon, and chili together in a sealable container or plastic bag. Then add in the tofu cubes. Let this sit for a while. I gave it about three hours before the first batch, and the second batch later tonight will probably be even tastier.

Set some rice to cook, read a book, write the great american novel, whatever you want to do. Shake it up once in a while to make sure it's evenly marinating. When the three hours or so is up, heat up sesame oil in a pan on medium to high heat, and cook the tofu, flipping when it's nice and crispy.

This was probably the best tofu I've had in my life. Just had a lot of flavour, and great texture thanks to the marinating. You'll want to use either a firm tofu (with maybe some draining) or an extra firm tofu, so it takes in the flavours.

On the side, I tossed some cooked rice with some of the marinated, and fried it up in the leftover oil, adding a good dose of soy sauce. This also picked up some of the flavours, and crisped up some of the rice.

Enjoy!

Coffee crusted lamb, and other adventures in cooking

Howdy y'all.

Let me start off this post with a quick apology to the veg-heads out there. This one is not for you. I keep meaning to do more vegetarian cooking, but my knowledge is limited. That said, there's a block of tofu in the fridge waiting for me, so hopefully I'll make some use of that. One other note - due to the distraction of cooking, this is a little less picture-riffic that my previous posts, so I'll try and be nice and verbal about the food.

Good? Good.

Anyways, for this, you will need:

• 1 tbsp coffee grounds
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 rack of lamb ribs, frenched, crown or not (I prefer not, really)
• Good salt
• Canola oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• 4 sprigs thyme, taken off the stems
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed

Start by oiling up your lamb, and preheating your oven to 400 degrees. Proceed to salt it, then rub it (really dig the spices in there) with the four spices/ingredients. It helps to just blend these up beforehand so you don't get messy lambey hands all over your spice jars

If you're not made of dolla dolla bill y'alls, you can do this with a beef roast or pork tenderloin, but adjust cooking times appropriately.

Heat a cast-iron pan with canola oil up, and sear the lamb on both sides. Toss it in the oven, and cook on both sides for 10 minutes each.

Give it a ten minute rest, and cut into it. Depending on done-ness (if you like rarer, serve it), carve into lamb lollipops and sear for about 1 minute on either side in the pan again afterwards. Let these rest for a few minutes, and in the meanwhile, stir in the butter, thyme and garlic into the pan and make a sauce. Dose your chops with this, and serve with a giant bottle of beer.

The pictured beer is Mill Race Mild, from Grand River Brewing in Cambridge. Absolutely delicious, especially from a growler. Need to refill it soon.

What's that on the side? Well, it's some veg-friendly food after all.

You'll need:

• 1 head (not just a clove) of garlic, with a layer of the top sliced off to expose the cloves
• Olive oil
• time.
• 2 russet potatoes, chopped coarsely

Add about a tablespoon of oil to the top of the garlic, and wrap in aluminum foil and roast at 400 for 30-35 minutes (or 375 for 45 minutes, or 350 for 1hr)

Meanwhile, boil the potatoes in salted water, and when tender, mash with copious amounts of butter and possibly some milk or heavy cream. Only do this when the garlic is ready, because you're going to add all of the delicious browned roasted garlic in, and you'll have all of the omnoms you'll ever need. Makes a good side dish to roasted lamb, obviously.

See what I mean?

Enjoy!

back on topic: mac and cheese!

Hey folks,

So after reviewing some six year old insight below, I decided it was high time for some comfort food.

Also, I had bechamel sauce lying around. Who does that?

I guess for starters in this post I should teach you how to make Bechamel.

As follows:

- Melt two tbsp of butter in a wide saucepan, and when fully down (or even browned slightly, yum), add in an equal amount of flour. Whisk this together to make a roux, which is sort of a looser paste. This can be browned, but for this purpose, leave it till it gets golden.

- Add in 2/3 of a cup of milk (I used 1% like a heretic, but you can use any kind really), a little bit at a time, whisking as you go. Heat this over medium heat until it thickens up. Season with salt and pepper.

That wasn't so hard now, was it? Here's the fun part.

You'll need:

• some kind of pasta (about a little less than you'd normally eat)
• the sauce from before
• bacon, salami, and/or vegetables (wuss)
• about 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• a crushed up stale bun for breadcrumbs

Really, it's just an excuse to use up fridge stuff. anyways.

Cook the bacon or whatever till nice and crispy (or done) in a cast iron or oven safe pan, and in the meanwhile, cook the pasta till a little before al dente.

When all is said and done, drain your pasta and leave a bit of the water in (very important.) Add the bechamel to the bacon, and stir around. Soon after (like, a minute), add the pasta and water. You'll notice I added a bit much - this will cook down quickly on the higher heat.

Then, you have two options. Both begin with topping the whole mess with breadcrumbs and the cheddar cheese. You can either: broil it to brown the topping, or bake it (around 325 for 20 minutes) to encase it in a shell of brownage (that sounds so gross). I was hungry, so I did the broil.

Voila. Probably best to be prudent and remove this to a bowl or plate, and mix around all the crispy and soft parts to have good textural contrast. Also make sure to have your copy of Romance Bloody Romance standing by for the dance party you'll have shortly after.

Enjoy!

PS: welcome additions include hot sauce, chicken, or other goodies for a flavour mixup. This is good, but can be a bit bland on its own.

And now for something completely different.

Hey folks,

if you haven't noticed, I've been in a real bit of a cooking lull lately. Having a tough time coming up with stuff. So if you have any good recipes, send them my way, and I'll be glad to try them.

That said, to cure this lull, I've been trying different cuisines and flavours, and I think I might be getting.. somewhere. That brings us to this week's post: thai (sort of?) noodle bowls!

Now, this can be as complex or easy as you want it to be. I'll make sure to note what can be changed for you slackers out there. Keeners, you guys get gold stars.

As follows:

You can EITHER make a broth for this, or use a canned/dried mix. If so, it changes the flavour immensely, but is much easier and takes much shorter. Kudos to this book for the recipe, with some changes made by me for my tastes (mushrooms? we don't need no stinkin' mushrooms!)

For those of you ambitious types, you'll need:

• 2 red chilis, chopped
• 6 tbsp rice vinegar
• 5 cups of veggie stock
• 2 lemongrass stalks, peeled and chopped
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp brown sugar (or palm if you have it)
• 1/2 a lime
• 2 green onions, chopped

All of this can be easily procured on the cheap at your local Asian market/bulk store. Mix the chilis and vinegar together in a glass or ceramic bowl and let sit for an hour. In the meantime, bring the stock to a boil, add in the lemongrass, soy sauce, sugar, and juice of the lime and simmer for half an hour.

When your chilis and vinegar are done.. doing whatever they're doing, add them in, along with the green onions. Let this simmer for about 10 minutes.

And, while I hate wasting food, strain the mix and throw out/compost the vegetables. The book also adds mushrooms and tofu and makes it a soup, but it was just. not. doing it for me. So I strained it and let it sit in my fridge for a few days for me to figure out what to do with it.

Here's what happened:

I went BACK to the Asian market and got some pho noodles (rice sticks) and cooked them to package directions (basically let them sit in hot water). These were summarily added to the broth on medium heat.

In the meanwhile, I heated the bejeesus out of my wok. Then diced 2 sprigs of asparagus, a quarter onion, a clove of garlic, and a carrot, and cooked on ridiculous heat with canola oil (more neutral, higher heat tolerance than olive) till just coloured, then moved to a bowl.

Then I grabbed a pork chop, sliced thinly, and cooked THAT on the same high heated wok to brown each side. I could very well have used tofu, chicken, or nothing at all.

When all was said and done, I mixed all of the broth, noodles, veg, and meat together, deglazed the wok with some of the broth to get some of the nice brown bits and added that in, and...

Hot damn. This was really, really tasty. Really interesting mix of flavours (the broth is for tom yum, or hot and sour, soup). Different hot and sour than most people are used to though (not the kind with egg and shrimp).

Try your various combination of veg and proteins, and let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

LOST Finale party! (and delicious food, of course)

As some of you may know, I have been pretty ridiculously addicted to the show LOST for a good solid five years now - and it has reached its conclusion. I was pretty satisfied with it, but definitely wouldn't have enjoyed it as much had I not had the pleasure of some good company and the joy of some good eats.

What did we eat? Oh boy.

Well, we made a trek about an hour north of here to Big Tusks to buy the only meat really suitable to eat at a LOST party - Wild boar!

So much meat. Damn, it was good. Bacon, sausages, burgers, all the good stuff.


First up: John Locke's 'Special' Sausages (with a surprise addition - Sawyer's Southern Biscuits and Gravy). Basically, cook the sausages in a pan as described before (sear, then 300deg oven for 20 minutes. Then the fun (kind of gross) part. Take out the sausages, and leave the fat. Add in an approximately equal amount of flour to fat. Whisk together till it browns, then add in about a cup of milk, and salt and pepper to taste as it thickens.



Hot damn. hoooot damn. Serve over country-style biscuits, and enjoy life. I sure did. Was the answer to Natasha's question "What are you going to do with all of that grease?"


Next up? Tropical fruit salad. Weird how major stores like Metro or Zehrs doesn't stock them, but No Frills and Food Basics have all the crazy tropical fruit you could eat. We just diced up some papaya (about half of one), a few mangoes, some pineapple and a couple bananas. Squeeze over some lime juice, and mix in some orange or pineapple juice. Tasty goodness.

Marc-approved, apparently.


Second-to-lastly, we had a bunch of ground boar meat as well. To use it up, we made tacos! I cheated like a schmuck and used store bought taco seasoning - if you have a good recipe, please share. On top was cilantro sour cream (just finely chopped cilantro mixed in) and a mango salsa. That consisted of mangos (durr), cilantro, red onion, and lime juice. Add in a jalepeno for spice, but we didn't because it magically disappeared.





Finally, wash it all down with some tasty DHARMA-brand beer or wine. If you watch the show, it makes sense. If you don't, you should.

yum. (and good job on the labels, Dave)

Thanks to all the people who joined in on the fun, and for making this little finale shebang all the better.

Enjoy!