Homemade Pancakes

Good evening everyone. I hope your weekends have been enjoyable. What's even better - there is another day! (Hooray three day weekend!) Tonight I have a impromptu blog posting - mainly because we did a little impromptu cooking! Maggie and I were relaxing on the couch - watching TV when I thought to myself. "You know what sounds good? Pancakes." Now, we don't have any pancake mix - nor were we going to run to the store to get any. However, I know that pancakes are really only flour, sugar, eggs & milk. So I decided to make up some pancakes from scratch.

The Recipe: Homemade Pancakes
Original Recipe Found In: ...My Head

What You'll Need

1 1/2 Cups Flour
2 Tbsp Sugar
1 Egg
1 1/4 Cups Milk
2 Tbsp Cooking Oil

** Pancakes may be the easiest food to practice flavor combinations with. You can add fruit, vanilla extract, baking powder (if you want fluffier pancakes) essentially anything you want to make your own variety. The ingredients above are just the 'bare necessities' (Any one else begin humming the tune from "The Jungle Book"? Just me? Oh...Ok then) What's even better is you can use any amount you want. The rule of thumb I've picked up on is, however many people you are serving - that's close to the number (quantity) of items you want. For example - since I was cooking for two - we would need 2 cups flour, 2 Tbsp of sugar (Eggs and Milk can work *In the area* so as long as you are within reason you'll be fine).

That being said - I did a little experimenting tonight as well. I found some heavy maple syrup that we've had in our cupboards for a long time. Thinking that these pancakes would taste GREAT with a little extra maple syrup baked in - I added two teaspoons. Well...making a long story short, the syrup reacted BADLY to the batter. It began clumping the flour and causing the eggs and oil to separate. No matter how much mixing I tried, it just separated more and more.

After disposing of that experiment down the garbage disposal, I tried again using only the ingredients listed above. After cooking and topping with a little butter and syrup, we had ourselves an enjoyable, simple pancakes-for-supper Sunday night.

(I'm not going in to how to cook pancakes because they are essentially fool proof. As long as you flip them before they start throwing flames - you will be fine.)

Before...

After! 

I'm interested to see what our readers have for homemade pancake recipes. Everyone seems to have one that is their old standby. Here's what we're asking - after you are done reading this post - click on the "Comments" link directly underneath the post. Add your recipe for your own favorite homemade pancakes. You don't have to sign a name or anything - you can remain perfectly anonymous. What we're looking for is all the interesting ways people make up their own pancakes. If we get enough responses - we will post the our favorite recipes on an upcoming blog. Sound good? Then have at it! :)

We're back on Tuesday (Unless we cook impromptu again) Until then

~Cheers

Cook's Bible, an aptly named kitchen aid

Welcome back everyone! Today we're going to highlight a very useful book we found last weekend 'Cook's Bible: The Definitive Cook's Guide'. We discovered this book at our local discount book store, and after a few minutes perusing its pages, we knew we had to pick it up.

The Book: 'Cook's Bible: The Definitive Cook's Guide'

Ta-da!!

'Cook's Bible' Is broken down into two parts (Introduction & Main Commodities and Recipes) and nine chapters (Eggs & Dairy, Fish & Shellfish, Meat, Poultry & Game, Vegetables & Salads, Herbs & Spices, Rice, Pasta, Beans & Grains, Fruit, Baking).

Part one (Introduction) highlights the many tools that are necessary in the kitchen. What's makes this part even better is the book goes beyond just listing the tools needed - it also includes pictures of almost all of the items it describes, as well as brief descriptions of each item and its intended use. Do you know you need a zester - but couldn't tell one apart from a cheese grater? There's a handy picture showing you what to look for. Or, maybe you know what a Ramekin is...but don't have any idea what you would use it for. There's a description to help you there as well (Small, round dishes for making individual souffles - that also double up nicely as serving dishes for butter, olives and nuts - in case you WERE wondering what a ramekin was).

One of the many, detailed 'kitchen essentials' pages

Another nice addition to part one is the list of cooking terms. Is the recipe telling you to emulsify your fluids and you have absolutely no idea what they are trying to say? 'Cook's Bible' has you covered (Emulsify: adding one liquid to another in a slow, gradual stream while stirring or blending rapidly. This is how mayonnaise is made by adding oil in a slow stream to a beaten egg mixture while whisking or blending vigorously). There is also a section detailing spices and nuts, including what to look for and what to pair them with. All in all, this section is a very useful tool whether you're just starting to equip your dream kitchen or need to figure out what exactly this recipe is telling you to do.

Below are some pictures of the introduction pages:

Part two of 'Cook's Bible' is where the book really begins to shine. In each chapter the full range of products in that category are identified, illustrated and given a brief description. For example, the fish & shellfish chapter highlights every common fish you can dream of - including a brief description of the fish, what foods that fish would pair well with, how to pick out a good cut of said fish, and finally how to store and cook that fish. If all of that wasn't enough, 'Cook's Bible' also has recipes! Not only will it tell you everything you need to know about breading (Introduction: Pantry essentials),broiling (Introduction: Cooking methods), picking a good cut of trout (Chapter 2: Fish & Shellfish) but it will tell you how to bread and broil your trout fillet (Chapter 2: Broiled Trout Fillets). Each recipe is highlighted with detailed descriptions from beginning to end, estimated time to prepare, time to cook, number of people served - along with large, full page pictures giving you a fantastic idea of what you're trying to achieve. There are not just a few recipes in this book either - there are over 100. From everything from homemade Crepes, Almond Biscotti, Tropical Fruit Deserts, Pea & Mint Soup to Peking Duck and Beef Bounguignon.

The recipes are detailed and accompanied by large colorful pictures

In short, 'Cook's Bible' is very aptly named. It is the definitive guide to everything you ever wanted to know about cooking. It would be worth the $20 suggested price (we found it for $10) alone with just the definitions, pictures, tips and cook times - but it is also a solid collection of diversified recipes. Sadly, the book is out of major print - meaning you can't just grab it off of Amazon. However, a cook browse of your local bookstore's cooking section may yield positive results. In the end, we highly recommend 'Cook's Bible'. 5 out of 5.

That's all we have for you today. We hope you enjoyed our quick book review. Even more importantly, we hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend! We're taking Memorial Day off as well - so the schedule next week will be as follows: Tuesday - Grocery day, Wednesday - Tyler cooks, Thursday - Maggie Cooks, Friday - Tyler Cooks. Until Tuesday...

~Cheers

Improvising in the kitchen with mixed results

Hello everyone. Thank you once again for making a stop by our blog; and thank you for sharing in our cooking adventures. In about a week, we've already had 250 unique page views. (250 different people looking at this blog on a different day). That averages roughly 25 to 30 unique readers per day. This number has been steadily growing since launch. It's very cool to know your work is being enjoyed by so many people. 

Tonight was my turn to take over cooking and I chose to go with my personal (cooking) hero - Jamie Oliver. Tonight's recipe was Crunchy Garlic Chicken and looked to be fairly easy to make...that is until I had to start improvising due to a lack of kitchen equipment. That's when things got interesting. 

The Recipe: Crunchy Garlic Chicken 

Original Recipe Found In: Jamie's Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals

2 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts 

1 Clove of Garlic 

2 Tablespoons of Butter 

6 Unsalted Crackers 

1 Lemon 

1 Egg

Parsley 

All Purpose Flour 

Begin by zesting your lemon. Now, right off the bat I had to improvise. Not only did I have to cheat and look up what it meant to zest a lemon, I did not have the necessary tool to do so. For those that do not know, zesting a lemon is the process in which you shave off the outside layer of the lemon (the yellow skin) without reaching the white skin underneath. This process is relatively simple if you have a fruit zester...we did not. I ended up using a steak knife and carefully peeling the edges of the skin, until I had 95% of the lemon's skin off. 

Next, add your crackers, 2 tablespoons of butter, the parsley, the lemon zest, the clove of garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper into a food processor and mix until the substance is fine and powdery. Once again, I had to improvise. (Not off to a good start here are we?) We don't have a food processor (yet...it's on the list, but they are expensive little guys). Instead, I used an emersion blender and mixing container to (attempt) to grind everything up into little pieces. Let's just say, there's a reason that the recipe says 'food processor'...and not 'emersion blender'. The blender did break things down a little bit, but it also mixed and blended (go figure) everything together. What I ended up with was not exactly a fine powder, but a thick puree. To remedy this, I crunched up six more crackers and mixed those into the puree with my hands. I did finally end up with a powdery mixture, but it was not nearly as fine as I was hoping for. Pour the finished mixture on to a plate and set aside. 

The ingredients, ready to be mixed

Post mixing. (After adding additional crackers)

Next, add a pinch of all purpose flour to a second plate. Roughly 2 tablespoons worth should be enough. Now you will want to crack your egg into a small bowl and beat it with a fork until it is completely mixed.  Set this aside as well. 

Using a square of plastic wrap (we improvised and used two ziplock baggies) cover the top of the chicken and proceed to beat the pulp out of the little bugger until he's much flatter. The thinner you can make the chicken here, the better your end result will be. Thinner means faster cooking time as well as a more even cook across the surface.

Hit it with a left hook, then follow with a quick right jab

Once both pieces of chicken are squished down a pants size or two, roll them into the plate of flour. You'll want to cover the chicken completely in the flour. Next, give the chicken a quick dunk into the egg (be sure to cover both sides) and finally, press the it onto the plate of crackers you processed earlier. Be sure to press very hard here, the goal is to get all of the crackers really worked into the chicken. The harder you press, the better they stick and the less issues you will have later. 

One 1/2 breaded piece of chicken

Now, you have two options in regards to cooking the chicken. You can choose to bake the chicken - in which case you will place it on a baking sheet and into a 475 degree oven for 15 minutes. Or, you can fry the chicken in a medium sized frying pan. We chose to fry the chicken. 

To do this, pour a decent helping of olive oil (listen for the bottle to make two 'lug' sounds, that should be about right) into a hot frying pan and cook each side for 4 to 5 minutes or until golden brown. Once finished cooking, use the (now skinless) lemon to squeeze some juice over the chicken to add some great natural flavoring. All that's left is to enjoy. 

Frying up the chicken

*** Learning experience of the night. We really NEED a food processor. Unfortunately, the entire recipe went a little off track for me due to the lack of this kitchen gadget. Since I couldn't process the crackers into a fine enough powder, it didn't stick to the chicken as well as it should have. Since it fell off the chicken, it scorched in the frying pan (burnt crackers...eww) and since the breading was uneven on the chicken, I didn't get a consistent cook overall. This caused some quick improvising (I sliced the chicken into strips and cooked those strips on their side to even out the cooking) and ended with a decent dish anyway.***

The Results: 

The finished dish

In the end, I still did come out with a decent dish. It wasn't nearly as good as I had hoped - it wasn't bad by any means, but it wasn't 'blow me away fantastic' as my previous tries with Jamie Oliver's dishes have been. The flavor was really good, although a bit more lemon and less garlic than the title of the dish would suggest. I think it'd be more properly named as 'Crunchy Lemon Chicken' as the delicious lemon flavor really dominates the dish. (Which is great, as I truly do love lemons). I think I'll make a second try at this one once we have a food processor, and see if I yield any better results cooking wise. I may play around with the breading as well. Change out the crackers for panko bread crumbs and add tarragon instead of parsley. (The more I type this, the more I want to try the recipe I'm making up...) All in all, this still is a very satisfying dish that is relatively easy and quick (30 minutes start to finish) to make. Here's hoping you give it a try. 

That's all we have for recipes this week. Tomorrow is a scheduled off night for both of us. We'll be back on Saturday with a book review. We're going to highlight a book that has become like a kitchen bible for us. We hope to see you then. Once again, thank you for reading and until next time... 

~Cheers

 

Redefining tasty: Maggie's night to cook

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Out Of The Culinary. I'll start tonight's blog post off with an interesting observation. Since Maggie and I began this 'fresh food' only lifestyle (about a month or so ago) we've noticed a big change. We can now taste the preservatives and other processed things in food. It's sort of a weird thing to say - (and describe) but when we take a bite into something that has been processed, over preserved or otherwise mutated from its original, natural state, we can actually taste the difference. It just doesn't taste 'right'. It just goes to show that these nasty things are in your everyday diet, but your body is just so used to them - it never really protests. Now that we've pulled this junk from our diet - when we do encounter processed foods, our bodies respond with a 'yuck, what is this gunk?'. It's interesting how quickly the body can adjust and adapt isn't it?

Anyway, tonight was my night off. That means my better half gets to grab hold of the spatula and tackle her own recipe. Tonight's item was Chicken with tarragon and quick-roasted garlic. While not the most eloquently named dish (come on Bon Appetit Magazine, let's TRY to be creative here) it did end up being very tasty. Once again, we learned a few thing about how certain foods react (and subsequently have learned what to try and what NOT to try again). I'll turn the keyboard over to Maggie and allow her to share her cooking adventure with you this evening:

The Recipe: Chicken With Tarragon And Quick-Roasted Garlic
Original Recipe Found In: Bon Appetit May 2010 Issue

What you'll need:

3 Cloves of Garlic
2 Chicken Breasts
2 Tablespoons Butter
1/2 Cup Dry White Wine
1/4 Chicken Broth
1 Tablespoon Tarragon
2 Tablespoons Heavy Whipping Cream

The Second Recipe:  Southwest Rice and Corn Salad with Lemon Dressing
Original Recipe Found In:  Bon Appetit May 2010 Issue

What you'll need:

1 cup long-grain white rice
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (cut from 2 ears,) or frozen corn kernels, thawed
1 cup chopped fresh poblano chiles or green bell pepper
1 cup diced seeded yellow bell pepper
1 cup 1/2 inch cubes yellow zucchini
1 avocado, halved, peeled, diced
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Hi everyone!!  As with every recipe I make, I study it, like a test, to ensure I know how much of all the ingredients I need and how long to cook everything for.  But just like taking a test, my mind goes blank as soon as I'm ready to perform the task.  Nevertheless, I came prepared for this exam:  I typed up a little timeline of when to saute certain items or how long to cook stuff, since I was doing a fairly complicated duo of recipes.  It definitely paid off

Oh boy...this is starting to look complicated

I started by boiling the water for my rice.  Whilst I did this, I cut up and seeded the green and yellow peppers, chopped the green onion, sliced the avocado; and mixed my lemon juice and olive oil in a small bowl with a whisk. Next, I seasoned my chicken with salt and pepper; thawed my corn (as we were using frozen corn) and got out all my ingredients for the recipes.  I also browned my three cloves of garlic over medium high heat until they were brown in spots.  That definitely took less than 10 minutes, as the magazine suggested.  I also started to heat a pan with butter in it for the chicken.

The veggies all chopped and ready to go

Once the water started to boil, my cat-like reflexes came into play, because everything was just a blur from here on out.  I heated my butter pan until the butter was melted, then I put the chicken down in the pan, cooking it for four minutes on each side.  After this time, I pulled the chicken from the pan and added my newly peeled garlic and the wine to the still hot pan my chicken came from.  I know, it's tempting to try to scrap out the pan, but trust me, you won't, or you'll miss some pretty tasty stuff

It doesn't LOOK appetizing, but it has great flavor 

The aroma from the butter and wine in the pan smelled fantastic as I mashed up the garlic with a fork in the pan and let it simmer for about a minute.  After this, I added the chicken broth and the tarragon and let that simmer for about another minute.  I had never had anything seasoned with tarragon before, and it was pretty darn fantastic.  Although the smell of the spice never really caught my attention, it was after it was cooked that it really took ahold of my senses. It gives off a deep 'earthy' aroma which really enhanced the scents of the wine and chicken broth. I added the whipping cream thereafter, and let it come to a good bubbling simmer.  I added the chicken back to the pan and let it simmer for a little bit longer (approximately five minutes on each side).  After it was done cooking, I transferred it to a plate, spooned some of the cooking sauce onto it, and covered it with another plate to keep warm until my salad was done.

Cookin' up the chicken 

At this point in time, the rice was finished cooking - I did the Jamie Oliver technique and drained the rice into a colander. Next, I covered it with aluminum foil and placed the colander on top of a pot of boiling water (with about an inch of water in said pot)  Meanwhile,  I moved on to sauteing my vegetables.  I put my green pepper, yellow pepper, and corn in a small pan to saute for about 7 minutes or so.  

The finished veggie mix

After these were done, the rice was also done steaming, so I put previously mentioned ingredients in a big bowl.  I also added the avocado, green onions, cilantro, and lemon/oil dressing and mixed everything with the rice.  And my cooking double duty was done.

The finished dish

The Results: 


First, the chicken.  For never having tarragon before - it was pretty darn good.  All of the simmering items put together and cooking the chicken in a pan, it was well worth it.  I was pretty impressed with my cooking abilities.


Second, the salad.  The taste was...well...interesting.  I guess I never had those ingredients together before, but it was either the yellow or the green pepper that made the salad too strong.  Tyler and I agreed that if it was just the corn, rice, and avocado, it would taste pretty good.  Too much of one or two items can definitely change the recipe.


And now, back to my better half...


Thanks Maggie. Tonight's dish was very unique. The chicken was extremely moist and full of flavor. As Maggie mentioned, the tarragon really gave off a very 'woody' or 'earthy' flavor. It enhanced the chicken's natural flavor as well as the white wine's flavor. This was the first time either of us had used tarragon, and it's safe to say we will return to it again.

The salad, as Maggie alluded to - was another story. It simply came off too overpowering. The avocado, corn, lemon juice and green pepper all combined to give a smooth flavor (I know, smooth isn't a flavor but that is really the best way to describe it. Maybe 'zesty - yet relaxed, that would work as well.) However, it was the pesky yellow pepper that threw everything off. Yellow peppers are stronger and a little more spicy. I think the original recipe was going for the avocado to neutralize this effect, but it didn't really happen. Instead, the flavors clashed and left us with a bit unsatisfying dish. On another attempt, we plan to omit the peppers (both green and yellow) and see how the salad comes out.

All in all, this was a very good meal. Maggie admitted this was her first time truly multitasking in the kitchen. (She was very nervous. As she mentioned, she treated tonight like it was an exam. She typed notes and studied them for a full day ahead of time! It was cute.) The end result was worth all of the effort.

***Lesson of the night. Tonight's "Won't do that again" lesson came after the meal was done. While I was typing the first part of tonight's post up, Maggie was cleaning up the kitchen. During which time, she poured rice down the garbage disposal. If you just cringed right now, you know what I'm about to say next. If you're clueless - allow me to fill you in. Rice is one of those foods you don't EVER put down a garbage disposal. It's simply to small for the blades to chop up and instead of being knocked into tiny little pieces, it piles up and clogs your pipes.

Well, as Maggie began writing her portion of the blog - I wandered into the kitchen and found BOTH sinks 3/4 full of soapy dishwater. Long story short - our drains (both of them) were clogged full of rice. I then spent the next 20 minutes draining the water from the sink into a large pot (and carrying said pot to the bathroom to drain) and repeating until the whole mess was gone. After one maintenance call (to unclog the garbage disposal - it was too bad for me to tackle) we're back up and running. Needless to say, I wasn't very happy at my better half. We had a big, soapy, flooded mess in the kitchen and 25% of it was on me as I took care of it all.

That being said, I can't stay mad at her. She certainly learned never to put rice down a garbage disposal again (and looking back now, it is kind of funny). But, the fact of the matter is, I love this girl too much to stay mad over a sink full of soapy water (and lots of yucky, backwash rice) ***

That's all for tonight folks. I'm back in the kitchen tomorrow. (Working late again, so the blog will be up later). Until then -

~Cheers

The French Sure Do Know Their Way Around A Potato!!

Hello again everyone. Welcome back to Out Of The Culinary. We're on to week two of our cooking adventures (no kitchen fires or major disasters yet, but this project is still young). Tonight it was my turn to tackle a recipe and I decided on another one of Jamie Oliver's creations. Tonight it was Baked French Potatoes.

Recipe: Baked French Potatoes
Original Recipe Found In: Jamie's Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals

What you'll need:

1 1/3 lbs. Potatoes
1 lb. Onions
3 1/2 Cups Chicken Broth
3 Cloves of Garlic
Parsley
Butter

First, pour 3 1/2 (28 ounces for those who prefer measurements in ounce form) cups of chicken broth or vegetable stock into a large pot and place it on medium heat. At the same time, place a large frying pan on medium heat (no oil yet - this is important). Next, you will want to clean and peel the potatoes and onions. Finely chop the onions (once again, I used the OXO smart chop AKA my vegetable chopping savior - to save time and a lot of effort) and set aside. Peel the garlic - (Quick tip here. Maggie pointed out a fast was to get the skin off of garlic. Simply place one of the cloves on a cutting board, and take the flat edge of a knife and press down hard until you hear a crack. The skin should pull right off.) and finely chop as well. (OXO smart chop saves the day here as well. Seriously everyone - this may be the best $15 you ever spend).

Naked Taters 

Next, slice your potatoes into smaller sections. I cut mine in about 1/4 to 1/3 inch thickness, although it doesn't really seem to make that big of a difference in the long run - just cut them to whatever size you desire.

By now, your frying pan should be good and hot. Add a splash of olive oil as well as your onions, garlic and a healthy pinch of parsley. Keep stirring the pan every 30 seconds or so to avoid burning the onions. Continue doing this until all of the onions are a light golden brown color.  ***Key note: The reason you heat the pan BEFORE putting in the oil is twofold- first, if you put the oil in before the pan is good and hot, you will actually burn your oil. It creates a sticky tar like goo on the bottom of the pan. That's not fun to clean up OR eat. Secondly, a hot pan forces the oil to stick to the food, which, in turn, prevents the food from sticking to the pan.***

Browning the onions

Once your onions are nice and golden, begin covering the bottom of a medium sized baking dish with your sliced potatoes. Simply overlap them enough to cover the bottom. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, and then a thin layer of onions. Repeat this process until you have used up all of your ingredients (try to end with a layer of potatoes on top). Add pinch of parsley and another touch of salt and pepper to top it all off.

The bottom layer 

Layer of potatoes, onions and seasons 

By now, your broth should be good and boiling. Carefully pour the broth over the potatoes, filling the baking dish until the liquid just covers the top layer of potatoes. Depending on the size of your dish, you may or may not use all of the broth. I've found it's better to have some leftover broth - rather than to overfill the dish. Finally, place two pats of butter on top (Location really doesn't matter, after all it's just going to melt anyway! - I chose slightly off-center for my dish).

Adding the broth (caution: hot)

We had no idea how big a 'pat' of butter was. We went with this size 

Next, you will want to rub a light coating of olive oil on the bottom of some aluminum foil. Place the foil (oiled side down) over the dish and press it on tight. Place the dish into a 400 degree oven and set the timer for 45 minutes.

*** Mishap of the night. About 30 minutes into cooking - I heard a sickening gurgling sound. The sound that can mean only one thing...the dish was boiling over. The broth oozing over the sides of the dish and spilling onto the oven floor (making a slight mess - but most of it was burning off right away.) In the future, I may cut down the chicken broth to 2 1/2 cups, just to prevent spillage. ***

After 45 minutes, remove the dish from the oven and take off the aluminum foil. Press down the potatoes with a spoon or spatula (success here depends on the size of dish you used. We had a very small dish, so there wasn't really room to push the potatoes down). Return the dish to the oven (uncovered) and set the timer for 20 minutes. What you're going for here is a great, golden brown finish. It took me a full 45 minutes to get that finish, but depending on your oven, it may take less time. Just keep an eye on it and allow it to brown up.

Once it's golden brown on top, remove the dish from the oven and take a deep sniff of that aroma. This dish smells absolutely amazing coming right out of the oven! All that's left is for you to enjoy!

The finished dish (complete with spill over burn marks) 

Up close and personal. You can almost SEE the flavor!!

When it was all said and done, I think this dish has to be one of my favorite creations...EVER. It was simply amazing. The potatoes are so soft and tender (which is why size didn't really matter when slicing them at the beginning, they fall apart so easily anyway) - and the flavor is nearly indescribable. It is truly a treat for your taste-buds. The best part is, there is very little effort in the entire dish. All it takes is a little patience (in our case 1.5 hours worth) to have a fantastic meal. This is one recipe we will be making again (I'm thinking it would be great for family gatherings). I hope you all will give this one a try - I cannot say enough positive things about just how delicious the end result is.

That's all we have for you tonight. Thank you for spending some time reading our cooking experiences. Here's hoping you will try the recipe for yourselves. Maggie takes over the kitchen tomorrow - so the blog should be up a little earlier. Until then, thank you for reading!

~Cheers

This week's ingredients:

Happy Monday everyone, and welcome back to Out Of The Culinary. We've now been doing this blog for one week (Woo-hoo!). We're glad to have such a swell of support as we have been shown this past week. We're averaging 25 unique page views a day. That's not too bad for the first week of a blog. Thank you to everyone for reading us each and everyday. It means a lot.

 As I mentioned last week, Monday is sort of a rotating feature on the blog. We're looking at a few possibilities and thought we'd demo one for you tonight. We're calling it 'This week's ingredients' and it's pretty much like it sounds (Isn't it great when things work out that way?). We list the items we picked up for the coming week's recipes but don't attach them with said recipe. My favorite part of this feature is it shows just how simple some of these recipes are - I.E. it doesn't take much more than a few fresh veggies and some poultry to make an amazing meal. Be sure to vote in the poll on the side of the blog to choose what feature you'd like to see us do on Mondays. And now, without further ado - the ingredients this week are:

4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
White Wine
Chicken Broth
Heavy Whipping Cream
1 Lemon
Green Bell Pepper
1 Avocado
1 Yellow Bell Pepper
Green Onions
1 lb Medium Onions
3 Large Russet Potatoes
All Purpose Flour

What will they be used for? Well, you'll just have to come back throughout the week to see. I'm doing the first recipe tomorrow night - followed by Maggie on Wednesday and I try my hand again on Thursday. (I'm working late this week, so the blog will be up a little later than usual. Please plan your internet viewing this week accordingly) Until tomorrow -

~Cheers

Site updates!!

Hello again everyone! Just a quick note on the changes I'm sure you've all noticed on the site. Yes, I have updated the layout, changed the color and even created our very own blog header! (It gives us a little more of a 'professional look' no?). On the side, I've opened up a poll regarding what to do with Monday's post. Feel free to cast your vote of what you'd like to see us do on Mondays. I've also added an RSS subscribe button, for those of you who use RSS readers to follow your favorite websites. While I'm not the biggest fan of the dots in the background, this new formatting option does allow us for more room - in addition to adding a nice new header at the top and it fixes the 'pictures off center' problem our old template had. Hope everyone enjoys it as much as I do. (I've spent a lot of time tweaking the site tonight - as you may notice I'm posting this at 1:20 am or so  O_o ...getting a little tired here) I hope everyone has a fantastic Sunday. I'm off to bed - this is one tired cook

~Cheers 

A tale of two kitties

Welcome back one and all! I'll begin today's blog with a little 'site schedule' posting. We've been doing this project for under a week now but we are beginning to get a feel for how we want it to work. Our plans for this blog are as follows:

We will post our recipes / experiences on - Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday

Saturday - We're going to try to do something unique here. Either by featuring a cool kitchen tip, looking at a product that we really like or by showing a neat way to use (or re-use) an item in the kitchen.

Friday, Sunday - Friday and Sunday are scheduled off nights. (We do have to eat our leftovers sometimes after all!)

Monday - Monday is our grocery night. We might post our experiences shopping for a certain item (I.E. finding a good cut of salmon) or just a general observation. Monday's blog posting will probably be shorter, just a little snip-it of something or a preview of what's coming this week. **

** I'm tossing the idea around of using Mondays to hint at what's on the menu for the next three days. Maybe feature a certain vegetable that we picked up, or post what we picked up (I.E. Eggs, Salmon, Red Bell Pepper, Chile, Curry Powder) but not mention what recipes they're going into yet, and have a little suspense. Be sure to leave some feedback and let me know what you think of this idea.

(Once again, I have to apologize for off center pictures. On my end, everything looks centered, but when the post is published, it becomes...well, wrong. I'm looking into fixes and hope to have it figured out by Monday)

Now that everything 'formal' is out of the way...back to the fun! Today we have an interesting little project to share with you. Last week, while we were browsing the aisles of our favorite downtown market, we came across a very interesting little bottle:

The kitty bottle

Maggie squealed with delight because she instantly recognized the name on the bottle - something that held great significance to her. (I'll let her tell you why - )

About three years ago, my parents and I ventured over seas for a lovely three week holiday.  Most of our time was spent in the Netherlands and Germany.  While in Germany, we visited our relatives that my parents met over 20 years ago.  They live near the Mosel River, a branch of the Rhine River, and we spent a day or two driving the roads and towns around the Mosel.  

The Mosel River in Germany 

When we would take our day trips, I noticed that there was lots of grape plants along the steep hills along the river.  I asked my father's cousin, Norbert, why there were so many vineyards.  He explained to me that Germany produces a lot of wine, and most of that wine comes from the Mosel region.  During one of our day trips, we visited one of those towns along the river named Bernkastel-Kues: a quant little town on the edge of the Mosel.  This town was surrounded by vineyards and was the picture perfect town of what Germany looks like and one of the more significant places we visited when we were in Europe.  As Tyler mentioned before, when he saw Mosel on the bottle of wine, I exclaimed with joy, knowing that I had been in that region, and probably saw the grapes that went into that wine (okay, maybe an exaggeration, but I was pretty darn happy.)  I looked at the bottle a little more closely and saw it was from Bernkastel-Kues.  I almost did a backflip - one of the most memorable places we visited in Europe has a wine...AND it was in Iowa...I could have passed out right there!!  

Those hills are covered in vineyards

Thanks Maggie - So, we obviously had to pick this wine up and give it a try. It was a bit on the pricey side ($16 for a small bottle - we sucked it down in a night or so) but it was a very good wine. It's a white wine, very light on the palette and with a small fruity flavor. Not too overpowering, but not just sparkling grape juice either. Certainly worth a try if you every spot it on the shelves.

While we were carrying the bottle around the store, one of the employees noticed it and stopped us.
"Do you know why they make their bottles in the shape of a cat?" He asked.
"No, why?" We asked.
"Because the town in Germany (where they bottle the wine) is full of cats - they are everywhere. So they've become their unofficial spokesman."

Very interesting isn't it? This only added another reason to the list of why we love this market. Not only do they have an amazing selection of fresh food, but their employees are knowledgeable and friendly. Find a local market like this in your area (not a mass chain grocery store) the prices might be a little higher, but the experience and expertise of the employees really make it worth while.

Given the significance of the bottle to Maggie (and the fact that it is just a unique bottle) we wanted to find a way to use it after we had finished the wine. Rather than just sitting the bottle on the shelf, we came up with another idea. We decided to use the bottle to store olive oil. With the help of a $3 alcohol spout (Bed Bath & Beyond - they come in packs of two) and a plastic funnel, we converted this unique bottle into a stylish olive oil container.

Alcohol spout - works for olive oil too 

 A small funnel is a great help 

Now the kitty has a new (stylish) hat 

A unique way to store (and use) your olive oil

There you have it. For about $3 (not counting the bottle and the oil, which you would have bought anyway) you can add a very unique piece to your kitchen. Well, that's all we have for you today. We hope you enjoyed today's 'unique post' (even though there wasn't really any cooking involved). I hope everyone has a great weekend, and we hope to see you back here on Monday evening. Until then...

~Cheers

Macaroni & Cauliflower

Welcome back to our little piece of internet real estate. I'm so glad to have people actually reading and enjoying these posts, it's nice to get feedback and input on all of our hard work. Yesterday alone we had close to 40 views. That's not too shabby for two amateurs just taking a whack at things in the kitchen. Anyway, back to the reason you are all here in the first place - the cooking. Tonight was my turn to take back the kitchen, and I chose to tackle another Jamie Oliver recipe for the main dish. (Also apologies in advance for funky formatting. Google's blogging tool is throwing the pictures off to the side, can't seem to fix it.) 

The recipe: Macaroni & Cauliflower

Original recipe found in: Jamie's Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals

What you'll need:

1 lb elbow macaroni

1/2 head of cauliflower

8 oz. cheddar cheese

4 oz. parmesan cheese

1 cup creme fraiche or sour cream

First, you'll want to bring two pots of water to a boil - one large cooking pot and a smaller sauce pan. You will only want to fill the sauce pan with about an inch or so of water. While these pots are warming up, turn your attention to the cauliflower. Now, I've learned two big things about myself of the last few weeks. First, I'm not a big fan of large, chunky pieces of cauliflower in my food. I find its flavor tends to overpower a dish if the pieces are left too large. Secondly, I've learned that I really am not all that fond of chopping vegetables. It's time consuming, tiresome and sort of a chore.

So, you can see my dilemma. My recipe calls for large pieces of cauliflower (something that I do not like) but in order to remedy that, I would have to chop up the stinky little plant into smaller pieces. So, I thought tonight would be the best night to try out our latest kitchen purchase. The OXO Smart Chop. We picked up this little guy at Bed Bath & Beyond for a little over $15. Now, it was as simple as dropping pieces of the cauliflower into the chopper, slapping the handle a few times and - ta da - perfectly minced cauliflower. When you're done, simply run the chopper under water and dry it off. It's simple to use, it saves a lot of time (and best of all, it breaks down cauliflower into much more manageable pieces). Long story short, it's great and certainly worth the money.

My vegetable chopping savior 

After you have sliced the cauliflower down to your preferred size (any size is fine, it's all a matter of preference), turn your attention to the cheeses. For this recipe we purchased a 36 month old aged cheddar cheese (from Vermont) and some freshly grated parmagiano reggian from Italy. Grate the cheddar cheese if needed (parmagiano is already broken into small pieces) and combine the two cheeses into a medium sized mixing bowl.

Once the water begins to boil, add your macaroni and cauliflower (in the large pot). Meanwhile, add the creme fraiche  (Which, as an aside, I still have not been able to find. We've searched speciality markets as well as large grocery stores and have never been able to turn up anything. So, whatever creme fraiche is - it's hard to find. Thus, we went with sour cream as a substitute) to the mixing bowl with the cheese. Place this bowl on top of the sauce pan (Like pictured below).

Mixing bowl atop a pot of boiling water 

When you first mix the cheese and the sour cream, it's going to be a big sticky mess. Resist the urge to stir or otherwise pat down the mixture, as it will only result in a big ugly glob on the end of your spoon. (Speaking from experience here...) Instead, let the bowl rest over the boiling pot for about 30 to 45 seconds. At this time, you should begin to see some of the cheese melting. Stir everything together for two to three seconds and wait another 30 seconds before stirring again. After about 3 minutes you should have a very silky smooth liquid in the bowl. When there are no more visible lumps in the mixture, and everything has blended together, remove the mixing bowl from the pan (WITH OVEN MITS, the bowl is VERY hot...again, speaking from experience here) and set aside.

The cheese should be smooth and silky 

In addition to the main recipe I wanted to add a good side dish. I picked up some fresh baked Italian bread at the market last week with the intention of using it with this dish. While the macaroni and cauliflower were cooking, I sliced the loaf into smaller (inch thick) pieces. Buttered every slice (same side of each slice, so no two buttered sides faced) and then stacked the loaf back together. After wrapping the entire loaf in a tin foil blanket, I placed it in a preheated 350 degree oven and let bake for 25 minutes.

Fresh Italian bread 

After about twenty to thirty minutes, the macaroni should be done. Drain the water from the pot (using the same large pot) mix in the cheese sauce that you set aside earlier. Stir the whole lot up really well and season with a light dash of salt and pepper. I took this opportunity to great a little creative and also added some oregano, just to spice up the flavor a little. This is entirely optional, however, (and not in the recipe). Other spices (such as parsley) would be good as well.

If you'd like, the dish is complete here. However, if you're fond of a nice golden baked finish - (like I am) you'll want to do a couple of more things. First, spoon the macaroni into a medium sized baking dish. Sprinkle some more parmesan cheese, salt & pepper and parsley (or oregano) on top, and place the dish in an oven set to 'broil'. (Medium heat is ideal here). Allow that to bake until the cheese is nice and golden brown and the dish begins to pop and sizzle. (It takes roughly 10 to 15 more minutes). Once that's complete, all that is left is to enjoy!

The completed dish 

Freshly baked bread, just out of the oven 

Tonight's recipe was a lot of fun to make. It was a very straight forward and easy dish (I only looked at the actual recipe once before I began, after that I just 'went with it' - and everything came out great) and it was not at all time consuming (45 minutes from start to finish). What's even better is the final result was fantastic! The cheeses and sour cream blend very nicely with the cauliflower to give the entire dish a very rich and creamy flavor - I would really recommend this to any pasta lover out there.

I did learn a few things from cooking tonight. First, macaroni multiplies in the pot. (That really is the only logical explanation, I put in enough to cover the bottom of pot, and by the time I was done, the pot was overflowing with noodles.) We now have a VERY large surplus of cooked macaroni. Lesson learned, next time - less (much less) macaroni. Secondly, it doesn't matter if a metal mixing bowl is not directly on the heat; If it is over a pot of boiling water, the entire bowl will be very hot and it will not take you very long to realize this. (Ouch)

All in all, it was a very enjoyable cooking experience with a satisfying end result. We're taking the night off tomorrow (Friday night) but plan to be back on Saturday with a creative use for a wine bottle in the kitchen. Once again, I cannot thank all of you enough from stopping by and reading our experiences. It really means a lot to have people enjoy something you work hard on. Thanks again, and until next time,

~Cheers

INJURY IN THE KITCHEN (Maggie's night to cook)

Tonight was Maggie's turn to take control of the kitchen and try her hand at a new recipe. Tonight's menu item was 'Orecchiette with cauliflower, anchovies and fried croutons' (Sans the anchovies because we're not really fans of small smelly fish in our pasta.) Without further ado, I'll turn the keyboard over to Maggie who will take you through tonight's culinary adventure.


The recipe: Orecchiette with cauliflower, anchovies and fried croutons 
Original recipe found in: Bon Appetit  (May 2010 Issue) 


What you'll need: 
1 large head of cauliflower 
8 tbs of extra virgin olive oil 
1 lb Orecchiette pasta 
1 1/2 cups croutons 
3 medium zucchini 
3 large garlic cloves 
7 anchovy fillets (chopped) 
1/2 cup parsley 
1/3 cup fresh parmesan cheese 
2 tablespoons Pecorino cheese 


Okay, first: Hi!  How are you??  Glad you can join us!


Typically, when I am going to make a recipe, I like to "study" it, look over the recipe several dozen times, just to make sure what I'm making, how much I need of all the ingredients, etc, etc.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to study my recipe during work lunch, so, I felt this recipe was a little rushed...and I'm a bit injured because of that, but more on that later.


The night before, I roasted a half a head of cauliflower - cut the head down to inch florets, tossed in a drizzle or two of olive oil with freshly ground black pepper and salt.  While I spread the cauliflower bits over a tin foil covered baking sheet, I preheated the oven to 425 degrees, and once preheated, I put the baking sheet in the oven for about 15 minutes.  The recipe called for 25, but once the lovely smell (and yes, I do mean that sarcastically,) of roasted cauliflower filled the air, I felt they were ready to be taken out of the oven.  I let the florets cool and stored them in the refrigerator.

Roasted (and slightly smelly) cauliflower 

I began the recipe by boiling a large pot of water - once that was boiling, I added the orecchiette pasta.  These little noodles were about a half inch diameter; small little guys...regardless it took the full 13 minutes, as directed per labelled instructions to cook.

orecchiette noodles 

Meanwhile, as the orecchiette cooked, I made my own croutons.  I took two slices of the white bread we had in the kitchen and cut them into half inch cubes.  I also preheated a pan with two tablespoons of olive oil and put the bread in.  Every 30 seconds to minute, I flipped the bread over to get a full golden brown color on both sides.  When the utensil I was using was not working the way I wanted to, I started to use my fingers to lightly flip the bread...which, apparently, was a bad idea...and thus, the lovely burn blister I sustained on my innocent finger.  I hope to make a full recovery.

Homemade croutons...pre crouton-ing 

Originally, this recipe called for anchovies, zucchini, parsley, and garlic.  We opted out of the anchovies and zucchini, because, well, we didn't like them.  We ran out of parsley and I forgot the garlic...oops...  Live and learn as an emerging chef, right??


The pasta was done cooking by the time the croutons were done.  I first ladled 1 1/3 cups of pasta water to be put in the dish later, then drained the rest of the pasta.  I quickly moved to remove the croutons from the heat to be put in a small bowl to be used later.  I rejoined heat and pan and another 2 tablespoons of olive oil to saute the cauliflower for five minutes.

Once the cauliflower was nice and toasty, I used the original pot that I cooked the pasta in to bring the cauliflower and orecchiette together.  With these, I added three tablespoons of olive oil, 1/3 cup of parmesan cheese, and two tablespoons of pecorino romano cheese.  I also seasoned it with freshly ground black pepper and freshly ground salt.  I then mixed the whole pot together and topped the whole dish with the croutons.

We now rejoin these ingredients, already in process 

And that was my version of Orecchiette with Cauliflower, Anchovies, and Fried Croutons.  I've never made a pasta without sauce before, but the cheeses blended quite perfectly to form a "sauce" of their own...and it was quite good.  Even though, it didn't turn out quite like I thought, it was still pretty tasty.

The completed dish

Thanks Maggie - We learned a lot tonight. As Maggie alluded to, the dish didn't really turn out like we had hoped. In fact, it was rather bland. In retrospect, we simply took out too many of the key ingredients to make this dish work. When we make another attempt at this recipe, we plan on making a few changes. First, substitute the anchovies for chicken. The dish really needs some form of meat, and chicken would be a nice addition to the orecchiette. Secondly, we would add the garlic and parsley, these are little additions that really would enhance the overall flavor of the dish. 


So, the dish didn't turn out and Maggie burnt her finger. Disaster night right? Well, not exactly. Nights like these are why cooking is really fun. We learned so much more tonight than we would have if the dish was a success. We learned that orecchiette is a very (VERY) bland pasta, it takes on the flavor of whatever it is being cooked with.  You simply cannot omit meat and spices and expect the noodles to be flavorful. They don't work that way. Secondly, pecorino romano cheese is a very soft cheese. You hardly notice its flavor at all in a dish. So, relying on it to be the sauce or to enhance the flavor simply doesn't work. It should still be there as it does give a nice balance to everything, but it needs to act as a assist - rather than the star of the dish. 


Tonight was a great learning experience, and we still ended up with an enjoyable dish. I take over cooking again tomorrow - so be sure to check back around the same time tomorrow night to see how everything worked out. Until then, thank you very much for reading and... 


~Cheers