Roasted purple finger potatoes with coriander, basil, grapefruit topping

Background: I'm now inspired to try new combinations of flavors after this past weekend's food aventure...  I finally stopped teaching which meant that I could catch up on other work...and experiment with cooking again!  LOVE having (relatively) more time...  I've been looking forward for days to try the teeny purple potatoes that came in my organic box...and tonight was definitely the night.

Method:
Materials:
tiny purple skinned potatoes that came in my organic box!
olive oil
garlic
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
red pepper flakes
coriander chutney
fresh basil (from the basil plant in my organic box!)

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 400 F

Cut potatoes in half and lay it in a 13x9 pyrex.
Sprinkle with olive oil, sea salt, red pepper flakes, and freshly ground black pepper.
Put unpeeled garlic cloves in pyrex.
Bake until potatoes are roasted.
In mini food processor, blend olive oil, coriander chutney, sea salt.
When roasted potatoes are done, lightly smash with fork or potato masher.
Drizzle coriander sauce over potatoes.
Sprinkle with grapefruit juice and fresh basil.
Return to oven for five minutes.
Combine.

Results:
Super ridiculously yummy!

Discussion:
Results are likely to be replicated with success.  Future studies may wish to try blending grapefruit juice w/ the coriander chutney sauce instead

Ode to Jean Georges Vongerichten's recipes

I am in love with Jean Georges Vongerichten...I first tasted his items when I went to Vong's Kitchen in Chicago (see blog from my younger days...)...  Then my friend Kelly had her wedding at the ShangriLa in Vancouver... I feel guilty admitting it, but what can I say...I finally gave in and went to his restaurant in Boston.  It was perhaps the best meal I've ever had in my life.  And that's saying a lot.  I love the layers and layers of flavors ...

I am still stalking his pea soup recipe...I have found a few promising leads...

http://www.starchefs.com/features/aphrodisiacs/volume_07/html/recipe_03.shtml

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/07/dining/sauce-to-soup-white-with-foam.html

This looks promising for the base:

http://www.food52.com/recipes/4100_spring_pea_soup_garlic_croutons_lemongrass_cream

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/parkers-split-pea-soup-recipe/index.html

I also found some of his recipes online...In case they ever get taken down, I am posting some of the recipes:

http://www.starchefs.com/JGVong/html/cookbooks.shtml

Yield: 4 servings

• One 3- to 4-pound chicken, cut up for sautéing
• 2 Tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup onions, minced
• 2 teaspoons ginger, minced
• 2-inch piece cinnamon
• A few strands of saffron or 1/2 teaspoon dried turmeric
• 2 cups chicken stock or other stock
• 2 Tablespoons peanut or neutral-flavored oil, such as canola
• 2 Tablespoons green olives, minced
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 Tablespoon cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 500°F. Place 2 tablespoons olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, ginger, cinnamon, saffron or turmeric and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add the stock and increase the heat to high; cook, stirring occasionally, while you prepare the chicken. When the liquid has reduced by about three-quarters and becomes syrupy, turn off the heat.

Heat the peanut or other oil in a large, preferably nonstick, ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat for a minute or two. Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Place the chicken in the skillet, skin side down, and cook undisturbed until lightly browned, 5 to 8 minutes. Turn over and cook on the other side for about 2 minutes. Turn the chicken skin side down again, and place the skillet in the oven. Check it after 15 minutes, and remove the pieces as they are cooked through (the breasts will be cooked before the legs; keep them warm).

When the chicken is just about done, finish the sauce. Stir in the remaining 1 teaspoon of olive oil, the olives and some salt (not too much as the olives are salty) and pepper. Cook for about 2 minutes over medium-high heat stirring once or twice. Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice and cilantro. Remove the cinnamon stick.

To serve, arrange the chicken on 4 plates. Spoon the sauce around it, not over it, so the chicken stays crunchy.

The lemon could be omitted from this recipe, but it's a nice technique that does more than warm and sweeten the fruit.

Yield: 4 servings

• 2 lemons
• 4 heaping Tablespoons sugar
• 24 large shrimp
• 4 Tablespoons dill or fennel fronds, freshly snipped
• 1 Tablespoon garlic, minced
• 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Preheat the grill. Alternatively, you can bake the lemons, then broil the shrimp in the same oven.

Cut the pointed tips from the lemons, just enough so they'll sit flat. Cut the lemons in half, then place them, flesh sides up, in a baking pan; sprinkle with sugar. Bake for about 10 minutes, until the sugar melts and the pulp is soft.

Meanwhile, peel the shrimp: slice each one almost in half through their fronts to make a hinged shrimp that looks like this: )(. Mince the dill and sprinkle it over the insides of the shrimp. Close the shrimp.

Mix the garlic and oil. Brush on the shrimp, then sprinkle with salt and a pinch of cayenne.

Grill or broil the shrimp until done, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Serve with the baked lemons, squeezing some of the lemon juice over the shrimp.

Sauce:

• 1 carrot, julienned
• 1 apple, julienned
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 Tablespoon of mixed curry (red, yellow, green)
• 1/2 cup white port
• 1 stalk lemongrass
• 1 lime leaf
• 1 Tablespoon turmeric powder
• 1 cup whipped cream
• Coriander, chopped
• Salt

Cut blanched lobster in two. Cut bok choy in slices, reserve.
In a shallow pan, add butter, carrot and apple, curries, lemongrass. Sweat for 2 minutes. Deglaze with white port. Reduce by 3/4. Add turmeric powder. Finish sauce with whipped cream. Season with salt. Sauté lobster and bok choy. Arrange and serve with sauce and coriander.

Yield: 4 servings

Broth Base

• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 chile, chopped
• 2 slices galangal or ginger
• 1 lemongrass stalk, cut into 2-inch sticks and smashed
• 1 teaspoon red thai curry paste
• 2 Tablespoons peanut oil
• 4 cups chicken broth

Garnish 

• 2 cups coconut milk
• Fish sauce (nampla) to taste (available at Asian specialty markets)
• 2 Tablespoons lime juice
• 2 pieces scallion, sliced
• 4 sprigs coriander
• 2 raw chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 12 shiitake caps, cut into strips

Sweat the onions, garlic, chile, galangal, lemongrass and curry paste in peanut oil for 5 minutes. Add chicken broth and simmer for 1/2 hour

At the last minute, add coconut milk, chicken breast, shiitakes. Season with nampla and lime juice. Cook 2 minutes. Divide into 4 bowls. Garnish with scallions and coriander springs. Serve with steamed jasmine rice.

Kitchen gadgets

Just in case anyone was ever wondering...  there truly is a difference between items baked in a pyrex versus items baked in ceramic bakeware...  I had a delightful red ceramic baking dish from Crate and Barrel many moons ago that sadly broke one day in my Miami apartment...I still can't remember if it broke with or without food.  In either case, it was tragic.

Tonight, I was having a sweet hankering and so tried to bake cobbler.  The results were just nowhere near the same in a pyrex... So to add to my list of items to buy some day, is more bakeware...

We now have then an electric handmixer, juicer, raspberry ice kitchenaid mixer (www.williams-sonoma.com/products/kitchenaid-artisan-susan-g-komen-stand-mixer-raspberry-ice/?pkey=cmothers-day-gifts&cm_src=hplink), and baking dish... I wonder if I can marry myself and have a registry for the wedding...maybe develop multiple personalities beforehand and then have a celebration for their integration...

The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie and Double Chocolate Chip Cookie

Another chocolate chip cookie recipe...From Jacques Tores' A Year In Chocolate... His recipe doesn't call for overnight-ting the cookies dough, but by all chef accounts, it's best to make dough 24h before baking them so it gives time for vanilla and other flavors to seep in. The cookbook says to bake cookies at 325F for 15 minutes...in my oven, it was closer to 25-30 minutes...

These make giant chocolate chip cookies--the type you get at Starbucks etc...  I slightly tweaked the recipe and my oven seems to have different cooking times...

Here's what I did in simplified format...  check out the cookbook if you want more text and prose

Obviously, preheat your oven before baking so if you make the cookies the day of, you could start preheating before making the dough...I've just stopped baking cookies the day I make the dough

Bowl 1 or in a ziploc bag, mix the following:
4 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp salt
1.5 tsp baking powder
1.5 baking soda

Bowl 2:
Step 1:
Beat butter and sugar together (book says 5 minutes assuming it's an electric mixer....I don't know own an electric mixer and make do...no one seems to complain)
3 sticks unsalted room-temperature butter
1.25 cups + 2.5 tablespoons sugar
2 cups brown sugar (FYI recipe said 2.25)

Step 2:
Add 3 large eggs (FYI recipe said they should be at room temperature, and already slightly beaten, which is consistent with most professional chefs' advice about needing eggs to be already beaten before adding it in, or else the sugar "cooks" the eggs...that said, I didn't have the motivation to do this step and use up another container so I tend to push the sugar butter to one side of the bowl, put in the eggs to the other half of the bowl, slightly beat them on the side, and then mix them into the sugar butter mix...all about the one bowl)

Step 3:
Beat in 2 teaspoons vanilla to the sugar butter egg mix

Step 4
Add in flour mixture a bit at a time...

Step 5:
Once flour is incorporated, fold in chocolate:

A note about chocolate: Torres recipe says to use 1 2/3 pounds bittersweet chocolate chopped into bite sized pieces...  I didn't have it on hand so instead, chopped up 7 Bakers chocolate semisweet squares and 1/2 a bag of Ghiradelli chocolate chips (chopped both)...  No one complained about the lack of chocolate...

Step 6:
Place 3 inch cookie dough spheres 1 in from each other...
Another side note: I used a ruler.  Three inches looks abnormally huge...  They actually do spread and turn into those giant chocolate chip cookies at bakeries...crispy on the outside edges and soft in the middle



Last side note:
Interesting substitutions he suggests:
For more cakelike texture: replace 1 egg with 2 egg yolks
For chocolate chocolate chip cookies: replace 1c flour with dutch-processed cocoa pwder
For very moist cookies, replace 5.5 T of browns ugar and .5 granulated sugar with equal amount of light corn syrup

Blood Orange and Thyme Chocolate Chip Cookies

This looks amaaaazing
Blood Orange and Thyme Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons blood orange zest
1 tbsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
This delicious recipe makes about 36 cookies... Heat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. With the mixer running, add the eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. Beat in the orange zest, thyme and vanilla. Slowly beat the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Continue mixing until evenly combined to form a dough. Gently fold the chocolate chips into the dough using a wooden spoon or spatula. Using a tablespoon, drop the dough onto a greased baking sheet, spacing the cookies approximately 2 inches apart. Bake until the cookies are set and the edges are golden-brown, about 12 to 15 minutes.

Rosemary lager mac and cheese

Life is good.

melt butter...whisk in flour...whisk in soy milk...whisk in TJ's shredded mozarella cheese...whisk in TJ's rosemary asiago cheese...whisk in lager...

Mix with cooked oricchiette, broccoli and carrots already parboiled in thyme...  place in greased pyrex container, top with crumbled cornmeal (see Thanksgiving recipe for jalapeno cornbread), bake in 350 degree oven...

Red Velvet Cake Recipe with Beets

Red Velvet Cake Recipe with Beets

Background:
Ok, I'm incapable of sticking to one singular recipe...  before I forget, here's what I did... combo of all the other recipes...

Methods:

Red Velvet Cake Recipe (with beets)

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 c pureed cooked beets
2 1/4 cups flour 2c +4T flour
1/3 cup cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda 1tsp baking soda based on Johnny Iuzzini's recipe (http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/10/johnny-iuzzinis-chocolate-beet-cupcakes-recipe.html)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar 3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 tsp. cider vinegar  2 tsp red wine vinegar  (based on http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=75605)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees .

Butter and flour two 9 inch cake pans.

Melt chocolate in double boiler and set aside .  Melt chocolate in microwave, 15 s at a time

Sift togetherMix flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

In a bowl beat butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in chocolate.I accidentally added in the beets at this point... in four steps, alternately beat in flour mixture and buttermilk mixed with vinegar , beginning and ending with flour. I'd forgotten the chocolate and mixed it in midway.  Beat until incorporated. Add pureed beets and mix until well blended. 

Divide the batter between the pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean and top of cake springs back when lightly pressed.

Cool cakes in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes and invert onto racks to cool completely.


Results:
Half the audience liked the balance of lack of sweetness with the sweet frosting; another half thought it could use a little more sugar.  I'd repeat the recipe, but next time, perhaps add 3/4c of the brown sugar portion.

--------------------------------

Frosting:

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 cups sweetened flaked coconut (about 6 ounces), divided

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Red-Velvet-Cupcakes-with-Coconut-and-Cream-Cheese-Frosting-235169#ixzz1F8evpuao