Dear blog,
I'm really sorry all of my pictures look sick lately. A certain someone dropped my camera and it hasn't been the same since.

Yours,
C

V-day

Whether you believe it or not, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. In all the hours I've spent over a cadaver (far too many!), the heart and stomach aren't really that related. Regardless, yummy food can warm the heart and make for a 'romanitical' evening.

Sometimes I consult this silly little cookbook P bought for me but this Valentine's day I just wanted simple, little tidbits. We munched all evening on bits of French cheeses, crusty bread with fruity olive oil, Florida strawberries I dipped in cinnamon-ancho dark chocolate, miniature crab cakes with aioli, small steaks with cocoa, cumin, and cardamom or espresso and ancho, a yummy artichoke dip, and finished the night with tiramisu. Ok, I guess it doesn't sound like a quick and simple little meal of odds and ends. Somehow I didn't spend the whole night in the kitchen which was the best part.

Sometimes we just get really tired of eating out. I think that even if I lived in NYC, with a new place to eat on every corner, I'd still get tired of it. It isn't just the idea of home cooking, but more so the idea of eating something lighter, cleaner, and simpler than typical restaurant fare. I also forget how much cheaper it is to eat at home!

Lately I've really been on the mark in the kitchen which has made us not want to go out. I'm trying some new things and refining some of our favorite standbys. It's all simple "30-minute meal" type food that we'd both take over a restaurant anytime. Blog, be excited.


Spicy Korean Steak Stirfry
adapted from Gourmet

1/4 C soy sauce
2 tblsp rice vinegar (not seasoned)
1 tblsp grated peeled ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tsp sambal oelek (substitute sirachi if not available)
2 tsp sugar
1.5 tsp sesame oil

1 to 1 1/4 lb flank steak
half of a big red onion, chunked
1 pint sliced crimini mushrooms
1 bell pepper (red, yellow, or orange)

Combine all the ingredients in a small dish, stir and set aside. On the stove top, saute the pepper, red onion, and mushrooms in a bit of oil. I like it charred a bit. Meanwhile cook the steak. I use flank steak for just about everything but you can use another cut of beef for this recipe as well. Just don't overcook it! I did the flank steak under the broiler just with salt and pepper. When it was cooked to medium, I took it out spooned some of the sauce over it and let it sit before slicing. The rest of the sauce add to the skillet. Add the sliced beef to the pan to let it all incorporate for a minute then serve over rice. It's spicy!

Baby it's cold outside... not here

While friends and family are back home enjoying temperatures in the teens, I'm in Florida enjoying the early Spring '70's. I really can't complain about the weather but it does make it hard to cook sometimes. It feels like I should be eating roasts, root vegetables, and potatoes in January and February. I'm not quite ready for lighter, summer-y foods. So I offer this potpie recipe by Martha Stewart. I think it is the best potpie EVER! Plus it's low-fat and simple. Hopefully it warms you up.

Chicken Potpie
adapted from Martha Stewart

a scant 2 cups of cooked chicken (use a rotisserie to save time)
2 tblsp butter
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 C frozen peas
1 onion, chopped fine
2.5 C milk of any fat content
1/4 C flour
4 sprigs of fresh thyme (dried works too)
the juice from half a lemon
1 sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed overnight

On the stove top, melt butter and cook onions and carrots until tender. If you're using dried thyme, add that here. If you're using fresh thyme, add it with the milk so it doesn't burn. Add the flour and stir constantly for 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly add the milk and stir well to combine. Make sure you don't have any lumps! Bring to a boil until the mixture thickens. Add the frozen peas and the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Carefully pour the chicken in then add the entire mixture to a large dish such as a 9x9. Set the puff pastry sheet on top and trim the edges. You can even make pretty little flowers or leaves with the pastry scraps like I did. Cook at 400 until golden brown and bubbly, about 20 minutes.

The Sushi Bowl

A week doesn't go by without us having sushi at our favorite place in town. Sometimes we go twice a week because Raku is really just that good. When we're not out having sushi, we're home wishing we could make our own sushi. Home sushi making is something I've always thought I'd try one day but have yet to pick up. Sushi chefs make it look pretty easy. All you need is a bamboo mat and a really sharp knife right?

The argument of what 'sushi-grade' fish really means has turned me off of the idea of home sushi making to some extent. However, there are still a lot of things you can do at home to help your sushi cravings. I like this idea of the sushi bowl sometimes called Chirashi or Girashi in restaurants.

Sushi Bowl
for two

1.5-2 C uncooked short grain rice (I like Botan but you can buy expensive sushi rice and add rice wine vinegar and get fancy if you want)
sesame seeds
assorted ingredients:

• smoked salmon
• scallions
• shitake mushrooms
• sliced avocado
  
• julienned cucumbers
• julienned carrots
• blanched asparagus
• seared tuna
• shrimp
• Imitation "Krab" meat
  
• sliced mango
• pan-fried tofu
• kiwi
• sweetened egg
• seaweed
  
• radish, etc.
  

Cook the rice per the instructions (hopefully in a rice cooker) and let it cool to room temperature. Assemble whatever hodge-podge of things you want to add over the rice and then make it look pretty like a real sushi chef. Serve it with miso soup and/or a simple salad and some store bought ginger dressing and you've got the full experience. Don't forget the sake!

My new favorite dessert

Is panna cotta easier to make than no-bake cheesecake? I've never made a no-bake cheesecake but if you weighed the factors I think panna cotta just might win. If you think about nutrition, versatility, time, dishes required, taste, and number of ingredients, panna cotta wins. Forget about no-bake cheesecake. Panna cotta just tastes better, looks better, and you can get really creative with it. I've never made an easier dessert.

Basic Panna Cotta
from Gourmet | August 1997

1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
2 tablespoons cold water
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup half and half
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Combine the water and gelatin and microwave for a couple seconds to soften the gelatin. Bring the cream, half and half, and sugar to a slow boil until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add gelatin and vanilla. Pour into ramekins and chill until set. Serve with berries or a reduction (balsamic, a jam, or I used Chambord)


Green Tea Panna Cotta
from Bon Appétit | September 2006

1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup half and half
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon matcha (green tea powder)

Soften the gelatin in 1 tablespoon of cold water. In a saucepan, heat the half and half and sugar until the sugar dissolves. Whisk in the gelatin and then add the vanilla. Take a couple spoonfuls of the hot liquid and mix it in a small bowl with the matcha until it dissolves. Add this back to the pot. Strain the contents (which I didn't do but I kinda liked the settled powder on the top) and pour into ramekins and chill until set -- a couple hours.

Cooking Class

Last Thursday P and I had the opportunity to partake in a cooking class with his coworkers and some clients. Truffles and Trifles in Orlando offers cooking classes daily for companies, schools, families, private parties, and everybody in between. They offer classes on cooking a wide array of things such as cookies, side dishes, finger foods, and various other foods.

We selected our own menu for Thursday's event which consisted of coconut shrimp, crab cakes, roasted pear and gorganzola salad, garlic mashed potatoes, flank steak with mushroom sauce, peasant bread, French vanilla paste ice cream, and pear galette. Over the course of several hours we all sliced and diced, helping each other out all the way. P and I were in charge of the crab cakes and galette. The crab cakes were so good, and I just so happen to have a lot of crab meat on hand at the moment, so I decided to make some at home this weekend.

Crab Cakes with Red Pepper Aioli
recipe by Marci Arthur

1 egg
1 lb fresh crab meat
4 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tblsp lemon juice
1 cup pumpernickel breadcrumbs
2 tblsp parsley
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tblsp mayo
1 tsp lemon zest
1/4 C chopped scallions
1/2 tsp salt

From 9-10 slices of pumpernickel bread cut rounds with a biscuit cutter. Pulse the scraps in a food processor to make the breadcrumbs. Toast the rounds under the broiler right before serving so the crab cakes can sit on top.
Good fresh crab meat is always the secret to an excellent crab cake. Make sure to squeeze all the moisture out of the meat before adding it to the mixture. Combine all ingredients into a large bowl and mix well. Make patties the size of the biscuit cutter you're using and set on a tray and chill while you make the aioli.

In a skillet, mix a bit of olive oil and some butter and add the chilled crab cakes about 4 at a time. Cook until deeply browned and golden on each side then set them atop the pumpernickel rounds and top with some of the aioli.

Red Pepper Ailoi

2 cloves garlic
1 roasted red pepper
1 C mayo
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp parsley
1 tsp hot sauce, or to taste
salt and pepper to taste

You can use a bottle of roasted red peppers but it is just as easy to roast it yourself. Get one red pepper and char it either over a gas flame or under the broiler. Rotate it so every side is thoroughly burnt. Once it has cooled a bit, peel the skin off and remove the seeds and stem. Throw the pepper and all the other ingredients in a food processor and give it a whirl.