Dennys Food and Recipes: 03/01/2010

31 March 2010

Funny April Fools Day

From Denny: Check out the latest Cheeky Quote Day over at The Social Poets! Here are a few of the funny quotes:

* April 1. This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three hundred and sixty-four. - Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson, 1894

* Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed. - Mark Twain

* A fellow who is always declaring he's no fool, usually has his suspicions. - Anonymous

* Politicians never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge. - Thomas Reed

* Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. - Chinese Proverb

* Don't approach a goat from the front, a horse from the back, or a fool from any side. - Jewish Proverb

Hike on over to The Social Poets to enjoy a funny video, funny photos, and - I totally guarantee you haven't seen this fashion outfit - it's the weirdest fashion statement yet. Not even Lady Gaga wore this crazy thing! :)

Check it out the full post of laughs: Funny April Fools Day - Cheeky Quote Day 31 Apr 2010

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30 March 2010

Chef Rocco Dispiritos Cheap Yet Healthy Comfort Food

From Denny: The Early Show on CBS runs this segment called "Chef on a Shoestring" where the challenge is to prepare a three course meal for four people that costs under $40.

Celebrity Chef Dispirito has appeared on "Dancing with the Stars" TV show and has a new best-selling cookbook called "Now Eat This: 150 of America's Favorite Comfort Foods, All under 350 Calories." When we think of comfort food we usually don't think of the word "healthy." Well, Chef Dispirito will prove comfort food can be healthy with fewer calories and a lot less expensive! His cookbook is already topping the New York Times sales charts.

Recipes featured from his cookbook:

Wedge of Lettuce with Bacon and Blue Cheese
Charred Beef Burgers with Baba Ghanoush
Sweet Potato Fries
Peach and Blueberry Cobbler With Ginger And Cinnamon

Discounted over at my Amazon book store - Now Eat This: 150 of America's Favorite Comfort Foods, All under 350 Calories by Chef Rocco Dispirito

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Food Facts from Epicurious.com:

Baba Ghanoush: A Middle Eastern puree of eggplant, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic. It's garnished with pomegranate seeds, chopped mint or minced pistachios and used as a spread or dip for or Middle Eastern Flat Bread.

Blue Cheese: This genre of cheese has been treated with molds that form blue or green veins throughout and give the cheese its characteristic flavor. Some of the more popular of the blues include dana-blu , gorgonzola, roquefort and stilton. Blue cheeses tend to be strong in flavor and aroma, both of which intensify with aging.

Heirloom seeds (heirloom tomato): The advent of mega-agriculture in America has seen the gradual depletion of ancient varieties of native non-hybrid plants. Unfortunately for those who appreciate full-flavored fruits and vegetables, produce-seed conglomerates focus only on those strains that have mass-market appeal - which means they're beautiful and hardy, but not necessarily the best-tasting.

Fortunately, about 25 years ago some dedicated individuals began saving what they could of the remaining open-pollinated (without human intervention) seed varieties, which have become known as "heirloom seeds." Among the many heirloom fruits and vegetables grown today are beets, carrots, corn, dried beans, lettuce, potatoes and tomatoes. As the public becomes more aware of these wonderful alternatives, farmers are also becoming more interested. Heirloom produce can be found in some specialty produce markets and farmer's markets.

Wedge of Lettuce With Bacon and Blue Cheese

INGREDIENTS:

1 small head iceberg lettuce
1 small red onion, sliced very thin
1 large heirloom tomato, cut into large dice
3/4 cup of 3-Grams-of-Fat Blue Cheese Dressing or Bolthouse Farms Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing
6 tablespoons crumbled reduced- fat blue cheese, such as Treasure Cove
6 tablespoons real bacon bits, such as Hormel Real Bacon Bits
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Cut the iceberg lettuce into 4 wedges. Place 1 wedge on each of 4 salad plates, and top each wedge with some red onion and tomato. Drizzle each wedge with blue cheese dressing, and top it with crumbled blue cheese and bacon.

Season the salads with salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

Charred Beef Burgers with Baba Ghanoush

INGREDIENTS:

1 medium eggplant
2 tablespoons 5% Greek yogurt
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Whole-Grain Flourless Burger Buns
Nonfat cooking spray
12 ounces 90 percent lean ground beef, formed into 4 patties
1/2 cup "Russian Island" Dressing or store bought reduced-fat Russian dressing
4 slices heirloom tomato
4 slices red onion
4 leaves romaine lettuce, broken in half

DIRECTIONS:

Char the eggplant over an open flame, rotating it often to cook evenly, about 20 minutes. The skin should be completely blackened and the flesh should be cooked through.

Place the eggplant in a bowl, cover it tightly with plastic wrap (to steam off the skin), and set it aside for 5 to 10 minutes. Then remove the charred skin with a paper towel, leaving the flesh behind.

Chop the eggplant with a knife until it is a thick and chunky puree. Mix the eggplant and the yogurt together in a bowl, and season it with salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat a grill or grill pan over high heat.

Split the buns in half, and spray the split surfaces lightly with cooking spray. Season the burger patties with salt and pepper to taste.

Place the buns, cut sides down, and the burgers on the grill. Allow the buns to char slightly, and then transfer them to a platter. Cook the burgers for about 2-1/2 minutes per side for rare.

To assemble the burgers, spread the bottom buns with some of the eggplant mixture. Place the burgers on top, and then top each burger with some of the Russian dressing. Pile the tomato, onion, and lettuce on the burgers, and set the bun tops in place. Serve.

Sweet Potato Fries

INGREDIENTS:

2 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed
Salt
Nonstick cooking spray
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
Freshly ground black pepper
Sweet paprika
Cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Slice the sweet potatoes lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Cut the slices into 1/4-inch-wide sticks. Place the sweet potatoes in a large bowl and sprinkle generously with salt. Let stand for about 20 minutes to release some of their moisture.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450°F. Place a wire rack on a baking sheet, and set it aside.

Spread the potatoes out on paper towels to absorb any excess moisture. Then place them in a large bowl, and spray them with cooking spray. Sprinkle with the thyme and salt, pepper, paprika, and cayenne to taste. Spread the potatoes out on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake the fries until they are golden and tender, 35 to 45 minutes. Serve immediately.

Peach and Blueberry Cobbler With Ginger and Cinnamon

INGREDIENTS:

Nonstick cooking spray
4 ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated Splenda
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon Bisquick Heart Smart baking mix
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup skim milk
2 tablespoons Turbinado sugar, such as Sugar In The Raw

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 425˚F. Spray a 7 X 11-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray, and set it aside.

In a medium bowl, mix together the peaches, blueberries, the 1/4 cup Splenda, and the 1 tablespoon baking mix. Pour the fruit mixture into the prepared baking dish.

In a medium bowl, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons Splenda, the remaining 3/4 cup Bisquick, and the ginger, cinnamon, and milk. Stir until the mixture forms a soft dough. Drop spoonfuls of the dough evenly over the fruit mixture. Sprinkle the sugar over the dough.

Bake the cobbler until the fruit is tender and the biscuit topping is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let it rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Breaking down the cost of the meal:

Steakhouse Salad

iceberg lettuce $1.99
red onion $.80
blue cheese dressing $1.49
blue cheese $2.99
bacon bits $1.99
total $9.26

Beef Burgers & Fries

eggplant $1.69
Greek yogurt $1.33
burger buns $3.19
ground beef $2.49
russian dressing $1.00
heirloom tomato $2.99
red onion $.80
romaine lettuce $1.49
sweet potatoes $1.49
thyme leaves $1.29
total $17.76

Peach & Blueberry Cobbler

peaches $2.24
blueberries $2.50
splenda $3.29
Bisquick baking mix $1.19
ginger $.25
turbinado sugar $2.49
total $11.96

His grand total: $38.98

Discounted over at my Amazon book store - Now Eat This: 150 of America's Favorite Comfort Foods, All under 350 Calories by Chef Rocco Dispirito

*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

Flourless Passover Chocolate Cake

From Denny: This recipe comes from the Sephardic Jews' traditional Passover dishes from the culture of Spain and Portugal and is based on Mediterranean cuisine.

Before the years of the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th century, many Jews were affluent, well educated and held high positions in the Spanish royal court. Once the Spanish Inquisition got geared up they forced two choices upon the Jews: leave the Iberian Peninsula or convert to Catholicism. Those that did not convert settled in the Caribbean Islands, eventually these Sephardic Jews migrated to the American South centuries later.

Most Jews in America are considered Ashkenazic, tracing their roots back to France, Eastern Europe and the Germanic countries.

Passover Chocolate Cake

From: Chef Ann Amernick in “The Jewish Holiday Baker” by Joan Nathan (Schocken Books 1997)

Serves: 10 to 12

Chef Ann Amernick: She created the recipe because people were always asking for a good chocolate Passover dessert. Most Passover chocolate cake recipes call for cocoa and potato starch. Chef Amernick uses real chocolate, giving the cake a denser texture. Strictly observant Jews during Passover would substitute pareve margarine for the butter if the cake is to be served with meat dishes. Chef Amernick prefers real butter to margarine for this cake.

INGREDIENTS:

10 ozs. good imported bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces
1/2 cup unsalted butter (or pareve margarine)
1/2 cup sugar, divided
5 large eggs, separated
1/3 cup finely ground almonds (done in a food processor)
2 tbls. brandy
Confectioners’ sugar
Whipped cream, optional
Fresh raspberries, optional

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and grease well a 9-inch springform pan. Line the bottom with baking parchment.

2. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over barely simmering water. When the chocolate has melted, turn off the heat and leave it over the hot water to cool slowly.

3. Meanwhile in a large mixing bowl of the electric mixer, beat the butter or margarine with 1/4 cup of the sugar until the mixture is fluffy and almost white. Add the egg yolks and beat for 1 minute. Add the almonds and brandy and beat for 2 minutes more.

4. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until light and foamy while gradually adding the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. Continue beating the whites until they are stiff and shiny.

5. Add cooled melted chocolate to the egg-yolk mixture and mix with a rubber spatula until well combined. Fold one-quarter of the chocolate mixture into the egg whites, then gently fold the egg-white mixture back into the rest of the chocolate mixture, taking care not to deflate the batter.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake on the bottom rack of the oven for 25-30 minutes or until a tester comes out covered with a thick, moist (not wet) and crumbly coating.

7. Allow cake to cool for 30 minutes in pan. Loosen edges with a knife, remove the sides and carefully turn the cake upside down onto a plate. Remove the baking parchment.

8. Dust with confectioners’ sugar. Serve warm, at room temperature or chilled with whipped cream and raspberries on the side, if desired.

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29 March 2010

Awesome Story of Giving That Healed a Town: A Circle of Hands

From Denny: Pull out the tissues because you are going to need them! If you are not crying your eyes out, wondering if you emptied out the tears reservoir, then you need to watch the hour long special of this story. Yes, it's that good. If you are in need of having your faith restored in the goodness of strangers, then this story is for you. These ordinary people will astound, amaze and delight your heart.

The entire town of Grafton, Wisconsin came to the aid of a single mother battling breast cancer who has 13 year old triplets. Two of those triplets are seriously ill with a life long degenerative disease and are already now in wheelchairs. They needed so much. A whole town of neighbors, many who lost their homes and their jobs, came together to help the Longoria family remodel their home so the kids could get around in wider halls and larger spaces.

It's quite an amazing story of what spiritual development is really all about: helping someone else when you have lost so much. There is a man in the process of losing his home because he's been out of work for two months. Yet he came and volunteered every day to renovate the house. There is a hotel owner who gave the family free rooms for the entire time it took to renovate the house.

There is an AIDS charity CEO, living on 40% less income now and facing an uncertain personal financial future, who showed up to organize and raise funding - cheerfully. Another story is of a mother who lost her son 19 years ago and today came to be the interior designer for this family's renovated home. She said this is the first time she has not felt emotional pain since the death of her child.

This first video is a clip that was featured on the news. The other video clips tell the story. The full story and more links are at Dateline and it's an hour show worth watching. It reminds me of a real life story to match the famous Christmas movie, "It's a Wonderful Life." What's so much fun about this story of giving is how the giving rolled into something bigger than the project itself. People got into the spirit of giving and the joy was contagious, drawing thousands of people to volunteer during construction or to help fund the project.

A Circle of Hands is a poem written by one of the volunteers to remember the "Hometown Heroes" project that healed the town.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

*** For more stories like this please visit:

The Healing Waters
The Social Poets
Beautiful Illustrated Quotations

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Awesome Sauces 4 Louisiana Seafood

Boiled crawfish photo by adie reed @ flickr

From Denny: Spring is here in Louisiana and summer will be on its heels. The crawfish are in season and the shrimp, well, Gulf Shrimp are awesome any time from Louisiana to Mississippi to Florida. We prefer to eat local and are proud of our seafood. We are especially proud of our oysters for which we developed the pasteurization process to kill off potential dangerous bacteria. Because of this relatively new pasteurization process you can dine on raw oysters year round - if they are certified Louisiana oysters.

Compiled here are a number of simple seafood sauce recipes to enjoy on your seafood this spring and summer, whether you like raw oysters, boiled, fried, baked or broiled shrimp and crawfish. Remoulade, Creole and Cocktail sauces are very popular here. We will even take the last recipe of Beurre Creole sauce and layer it over a perfectly grilled steak. Lump crabmeat sauces are often combined with steak in our restaurants.

Recipes Featured:

Red Remoulade Sauce
Cajun Style Remoulade Sauce
Cajun Hot Sauce
Louisiana Traditional Creole Sauce
Louisiana Spicy Creole Sauce
Oysters Rockefeller Sauce
Shrimp Cocktail Sauce
Cocktail Sauce for large group
Cocktail Sauce
Beurre Creole

RED RÉMOULADE SAUCE

From: wafb.com (TV station)

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Yields: 2 Cups

This Creole-style rémoulade is thought to be the original Louisiana version. This sauce can be served over shrimp, lump crabmeat or salad.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
¾ cup Creole mustard
½ cup sliced green onions
¼ cup chopped parsley
¼ cup minced celery
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp paprika
salt to taste
Louisiana hot sauce to taste

DIRECTIONS:

In a large ceramic mixing bowl, combine olive oil, vinegar and Creole mustard. Whisk until well blended. Mix in green onions, parsley, celery and garlic. Add paprika for color. Continue mixing until well blended. Season with salt and hot sauce. Cover with plastic wrap, place in refrigerator and allow to sit overnight.

Shrimp Remoulade at Tujaques, photo by gary j wood @ flickr

CAJUN STYLE REMOULADE SAUCE

From: Wayne Allen @ Cooks.com

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 of a large red pepper
1/2 stalk of celery
1 green onion (including all the green)
1/4 cup of fresh parsley leaves
3/4 cup of mayonnaise
2 tbs of Dijon mustard
2 tbs of ketchup
2 tbs of horseradish
a couple shakes of worcestershire sauce (Lea and Perrins brand is best)
a couple shakes of Tobasco bramd hot sauce
2 tsp of paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Puree in food processor or blender until smooth.

CAJUN HOT SAUCE

From: Cooks.com

INGREDIENTS:

FOR 2 1/2 CUPS SAUCE:

2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 1/2 c. onion, chopped
1 c. celery, chopped
1/2 c. bell pepper, chopped
1 green raw jalapeno pepper with seeds, minced
1 clove garlic, minced

SEASONING MIX:

1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. red (cayenne) pepper
1 c. fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 c. tomato sauce
1 bay leaf
1 1/4 c. seafood stock or shrimp stock
3/4 c. brown sugar, packed

DIRECTIONS:

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium high heat. Add onion, celery, bell pepper, jalapeno and garlic and cook about 3 minutes. Add the seasoning mix and stir well. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and bay leaf, cover, and bring to a boil. Add the stock and brown sugar and return to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook about 15 to 20 minutes.

Use this sauce for a shrimp and rice dish: Add the 1 lb. raw medium shrimp, peeled and deveined shrimp and bring the mixture back to a boil. Cover, cook about 5 minutes, and remove from heat. Serve the shrimp on top of a mound of rice surrounded with sauce. Serve with lots of cold beer.

LOUISIANA TRADITIONAL CREOLE SAUCE

Yield: 2 cups

INGREDIENTS:

2 tbsp. chopped green onion
2 tbsp. chopped green pepper
1/4 c. sliced fresh mushrooms
1 tbsp. oil
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. dried sweet basil
16 oz. can low sodium tomatoes, undrained

DIRECTIONS:

Saute onion, green pepper and mushrooms in oil over low heat 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer 20 minutes. Serve with fish, chicken or beef.

LOUISIANA SPICY CREOLE SAUCE

For: Fish or roasted meat

From: Cooks.com

INGREDIENTS:

3 tsp. melted butter
2 bell peppers, chopped fine
1 finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove
1 (#2 1/2) can tomatoes with puree
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
4 diced chili peppers

DIRECTIONS:

Boil 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring with wooden spoon. Sauce is placed over meat in a flat dish in refrigerator overnight. Then, when ready, cook meat as desired.

COCKTAIL SAUCE for boiled shrimp

YIELD: 4 1/2 cups - for serving a large group.

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. ketchup
2 c. chili sauce
1/4-1/2 c. prepared horseradish (we like the cream variety at our house)
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 c. cider vinegar (we prefer fresh lemon juice)
6 drops Tabasco sauce (we like Louisiana Hot Sauce brand, less vinegary, and we use more since it is not as hot as Tobasco - about 2 Tablespoons)
1/4 c. finely minced celery
1/4 c. finely minced onion

DIRECTIONS:

Mix together and refrigerate. Use for all seafood cocktails.

SMALLER VERSION COCKTAIL SAUCE - or used as a BLOODY MARY DRINK MIX

SHRIMP COCKTAIL SAUCE

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 c ketchup
1/4 c. lemon juice (or less)
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. horseradish
6 tbsp. minced celery
3 tbsp. grated onion (or less)
1/4 tsp. salt

DIRECTIONS:

Chill. Yields 1 1/2 cups sauce. 1 cup sauce will serve 4 to 6 cocktails.

SHRIMP COCKTAIL SAUCE - tomato sauce version

INGREDIENTS:

1 small can tomato sauce
Dab of Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. brown sugar
Dab of Garlic salt
1/2 bottle cocktail sauce
Picante sauce to taste
Creamy horseradish to taste

DIRECTIONS: Mix all together.

Oysters Rockefeller Sauce

PREP TIME: 1 hour

SERVES: 6

This, the most famous of all oyster dishes in Cajun country, was first developed at Antoine’s Restaurant, by Jules Alciatore in 1899. Named Rockefeller because of its incredible rich flavor, the original recipe included no spinach.

INGREDIENTS:

1 dozen shucked oysters with liquid
1/4 pound butter
1/4 cup diced onions
1/4 cup diced celery
½ cup chopped green onions
2 tbsps diced garlic
1 cup cooked frozen spinach (thawed)
1 tbsp flour
1 pint heavy whipping cream
½ ounce Pernod or Herbsaint
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Louisiana Gold Pepper Sauce
salt and cracked black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

In a two quart sauce pan, melt butter over medium high heat. Sauté onions, celery, green onions and garlic, approximately three to five minutes or until seasonings are wilted. Add cooked spinach, and using a metal spoon, chop well into the vegetable mixture. Cook until spinach is hot and well incorporated into seasonings. Add flour and blend well into mixture, being sure to remove all lumps. Add whipping cream and oyster liquid, stirring constantly until sauce is thick and bubbly. Add Pernod, sugar, Worcestershire and Louisiana Gold. Continue stirring until all is well blended. Season to taste using salt and pepper. To ensure a sauce-like consistency, additional cream or water may be added. Continue to cook approximately 10 minutes, add oysters and cook 5 minutes. Pour the contents of the sauce pan into a blender and puree on high speed. Serve 2-ounces of the Oysters Rockefeller Sauce with your favorite trout, chicken or veal dish.

Beurre Creole

PREP TIME: 15 Minutes

YIELDS: 1 Cup

This sauce is excellent over broiled or sautéed fish or grilled shrimp.

INGREDIENTS:

8 ounces unsalted butter, chipped
½ cup dry white wine
2 tbsps lemon juice
2 thin lemon slices
¼ cup jumbo lump crabmeat
¼ cup diced tomatoes
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp sliced green onions
8–10 whole peppercorns
1 whole bay leaf
3 whole basil leaves
1 tsp tomato sauce
dash of Louisiana hot sauce
salt and cayenne pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

In a sauté pan, combine wine, lemon juice, lemon slices, crabmeat, tomatoes, garlic, green onions, peppercorns, bay leaf and basil over medium-high heat. Sauté approximately 3 minutes or until juices are rendered into the pan. Add tomato sauce, blend well into mixture and continue to cook until juices have been reduced to approximately 2 tablespoons. Swirling pan constantly, add a few chips of butter at a time until all is incorporated. Do not use a metal spoon or wire whisk as hot spots may develop and butter will separate. Season to taste using hot sauce, salt and pepper. Serve as is, or strain if desired.

*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

Forget the Birds: Awesome Recipes 4 Stale Bread

From Denny: Chef Jose Andres of a restaurant in Washington, D.C., shares with us some great ideas of what to do with leftover stale bread. Many times my husband has come home with his latest "grocery prize" of day or two old artisan bread for a great price - only to discover it's so tough it can't be sliced easily. Grating it into fresh bread crumbs is an easy solution. If you are patient you can close it up into a plastic storage bag and place it in the fridge, take it out the next day and see if the crust has softened enough to slice. Usually, it does and all is well at our house once again. :)

Chef Jose Andres offers up some favorite recipes for stale day old bread from his native Spain like Castilian Garlic Soup, a mushroom and ham saute and a dessert by the name of Apple Charlotte. Yum! Since my great-grandmother came from "southern" Spain and was a wonderful cook I just had to see what she might have cooked in her day when she lived in Spain. Check it out what you can do with stale bread for delicious, easy and inexpensive recipes:

Castilian Garlic Soup
Bread with oyster mushrooms and Spanish ham
Jaleo's Apple Charlotte

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Sopa de ajo (Castilian garlic soup)

From: Chef Jose Andres

4 servings

Chef Andres: Wherever I go in my travels, I find Spanish people who are proud they know how to make this traditional Castilian dish, no matter which region they come from. My good friend Magin Revillo, the Washington correspondent for Radio Nacional de España (Spanish national radio), makes one of the finest garlic soups I ever tasted — even though he grew up in Barcelona.

INGREDIENTS

• 6 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
• 3 tablespoons Spanish extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white wine
• 1/2 tablespoon pimentón (Spanish sweet paprika)
• 6 ounces rustic white bread, crust removed, torn into small pieces
• 1 quart chicken stock (see page 000)
• 2 large eggs
• Salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon chopped flat parsley

DIRECTIONS

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, sauté the garlic in the olive oil until golden brown, about 1 minute. Add the white wine and continue cooking until the alcohol evaporates, about 30 seconds. Add the pimentón and sauté for 1 minute.

Add the bread and pour in the stock. Stir together and bring to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the eggs and stir with a spatula to fold them into the soup. The eggs will form long strands, almost like noodles. Simmer for 2 more minutes and add salt to taste. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
TIPS

You can make this soup with water if you like. It's the traditional way but I find that chicken stock makes for a richer and tastier soup. Instead of adding the whisked eggs, you can poach a whole egg per person: just break the eggs into a barely simmering soup and leave them for 2 or 3 minutes without disturbing.

Bread with oyster mushrooms and Spanish ham

From: Chef Jose Andres

4 servings

Chef Andres: There are many different versions of migas, a dish that has sustained many a Spanish family when food was scarce. I often talk about recipes made of humble ingredients that can feed an entire family, and this is a perfect example. It shows what can be done when leftovers are the only option. Over the years many of these survival dishes have become beloved delicacies. I love this one for its simplicity and intense flavor.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium banana pepper
• 4 tablespoons Spanish extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon minced shallots
• 2 cups oyster mushrooms or saffron milk cap mushrooms (available in autumn)
• 2 fresh thyme sprigs
• 1 ounce thinly sliced jamón serrano
• 1/4 cup seedless red grapes, halved
• 1 12-inch day-old baguette, thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
• Sea salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the broiler. Roast the pepper under the broiler, turning it as it browns. Transfer the pepper to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and steam for 10 minutes. When cool enough to handle, peel the pepper, discard the skin and remove the seeds. Slice the pepper into ½-inch strips and set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and cook until translucent, about 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and the thyme and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Add the jamón and peppers and cook for 1 minute. Lay the bread slices on top of the mixture and drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Stir the bread into the mixture and fry in the pan until it gets brown and slightly crunchy. Toss in the grapes and cook until heated through. Season to taste with salt.

Use day-old bread for this dish. You will get a better crunch.

Jaleo's Apple Charlotte

From: Chef Jose Andres

Makes 12

INGREDIENTS

• 7 apples (Fuji or another good baking apple), peeled, cored and sliced thin
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 tablespoons of butter
• 2 tablespoons of Rhum
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 2 beaten egg yolks
• For the crust
• Butter
• Half a loaf of brioche bread, cut half into 1/4" cubes and the rest into slices as 1/4" thick

DIRECTIONS

In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook the apples with sugar until soft. Lower the heat and cover. Simmer until apples are soft saucy consistency. Add butter, rum and vanilla. Continue to cook for another 30 minutes. Remove mixture from heat and cool. Once cool, mix in the beaten egg yolks. Reserve

Clarify the butter. Toast the bread cubes in the clarified until golden and crisp. Reserve.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In each ramekin, place crisped squares on the bottom. Dip the brioche slices in the clarified butter and line the sides of the ramekins. Fill with the apple mixture. Place the ramekins in a baking pan. Fill the pan with hot water until it reaches halfway up the side of the ramekins. Bake for 35 minutes turning the pan once during baking to ensure even browning.

28 March 2010

Weekly Posts Roundup at Dennys Blogs - 28 Mar 2010

From Denny: This funny polar bear says it all: Whew! Time to take it easy after a long harsh winter!

If you are a blogger like me with the Blogger platform at blogspot.com, and you haven't already heard about it since it came out a couple of weeks ago, you might want to check out this new feature from Blogger: Blogger in Draft. I spent the entire weekend playing around with the possibilities and decided to change over to this new dashboard and template offerings.

Blogger has come out with some outstanding new templates and the ability to widen margins of all your columns to imitate the old stretch template or create your own ideas of what appeals to you. Be as creative as you like! Read that as embedding videos and cartoons will now work better. Before, if you had a background from somewhere else - like I was doing - you had to reduce the width of your template down to the Minima template offered by Blogger. Then you could not run the cartoons at all as they were chopped off on the right side.

You now have many choices of how to arrange your columns just like a newspaper. There is a good variety of stunning backgrounds from which to choose - and believe me I've been choosing all this weekend for 12 blogs! :) I would like to see them expand their background choices in various colors and genre but what they have offered so far is plenty for most bloggers.

What am I still looking for from Blogger? To the folks at Blogger: I'm looking for more seasonal choices that have a sophisticated look, peaceful or spiritual, as opposed to just fun or downright cheesy. Backgrounds tailored to writing, poetry, art and literature other than the standard stack of books would be great - like beautiful calligraphy pens and parchment papers, stylized handwriting or fonts offered on the background and for the blog. You might want to consider backgrounds of America's cities like New Orleans and others for those of us with regional food blogs.

I'd also like to see the ability to post headlines and 200 word summary excerpts of up to 10 posts per page so people could easily choose what they want to read much like Wordpress already offers. Scrolling at the top of the page or at the header of the most recent posts would be cool like you see at newspaper sites online. Dreamer, that's me! So far, Blogger is on a roll so keep up the good work, guys! Oh, and if you could ever get that Google Connect or Followers Gadget to work with Google AdSense ads on the same page it would be much appreciated too.

On to the posts of the week and a few extra recipe posts from the past two weeks in case you missed anything good! :) Finally got caught up over at my science blog this weekend with some interesting stories so be sure to check out their offerings. Please bookmark this post to catch up on all the interesting news, great recipes and beautiful photography in our world! :) Enjoy...