Sunday, September 27, 2009

I’m Oxidized Metal These Days…


So I’ve been cooking with my buddy Dopp recently, getting a project of his off the ground. The difference, or one of the differences is that this time I’ll be working in the kitchen as opposed to simply designing the menu. It’s been a while since Dopp and I have been in a kitchen together, equally motivating and giving each other hell. We’re at the recipe testing stage, so there isn’t necessarily the sense of urgency that comes with a busy Saturday night; but that doesn’t mean the food still can’t taste good.
But the other day, Dopp was watching me small dice some jalapeno for some Jalapeno-Sweet Corn Fritters and said, “man, just how rusty are you?” And you know what? I am rusty. I’m out of practice and it pisses me off. For the better part of 90 days, I was researching recipes, testing them and looking into buying kitchen equipment, supervising workers and doing about a dozen other things.
Now, I’m not making excuses. It’s my own damn fault. Cooking, like anything else is a skill and like all skills you need to keep them up and practice them, so you don’t regress. The funny thing is that I think since Dopp and I were last together in the kitchen, my food-knowledge has grown, my palette has improved and System D skills are in top form. But I’ve let myself get complacent and that’s unacceptable.
When I got into this business, I didn’t just want to be good. I wanted to be better, hell I wanted to be the best. I got to where I am through a combination of skill and some lucky breaks. But I was able to capitalize on those lucky breaks because of my skill and when I was designing a menu for a place I forgot that.
Well, that changes today. I’m picking up onions, carrots and potatoes and having myself a little Knife-skills Workshop in my kitchen. The one good thing about me is that the motivation I need is directly related to someone telling me I can’t do something or getting called out for not living up to my potential. So I’m putting Dopp in notice…come tomorrow, I’m going to rock out with my Santoku out!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Peanut Butter Frosting, a Glass of Milk & Jelly Everywhere


I have, shall we say, trouble letting go of things sometimes (it’s still eating at me that I missed going to Picnick, Smoked last week). Usually, when I get an idea in my head, it stays there until I do something about it. Recently, the idea that had been rattling around my head was trying my hand at a peanut butter and jelly cupcake. I wanted people to bite into it and be reminded of their childhood, considering just about everyone I know grew up eating, and liking, peanut butter and jelly. Except for one friend of mine who told me he likes peanut butter and likes jelly, but doesn’t like them together in sandwich form…which is almost as inexplicable as saying, “I like bacon and I like cheeseburgers, but I’d never put bacon on a cheeseburger!”

For most of the week, I tried to figure out the best way to go about implementing my plan. After all, I’m a cook; I’ve never even professed to be a pastry cook…let alone someone who enjoys baking all that much. Cooks and pastry cooks are like right-brain and left-brain people. Cooks like the fast-paced life behind the hotline; the constant tension that comes with having to spring into action and start cooking at a moment’s notice; and the pressure that comes with picking up thirteen dishes on five different tables in the middle of a busy Friday night. Pastry cooks, on the other hand, seem to be a serious sort. They (the one’s I’ve known at least) wake up early, not late; their jobs take time and are about attention to detail, not-so-much about improvisation. Pastry is like a science; your measurements have to be precise because if you throw a tablespoon of baking powder into a cake recipe instead of a teaspoon, you could have a problem. Cooking is more fluid; if I add an extra cup of maple syrup to my turkey brine, it’s not the end of the world. Nonetheless, I thought I’d roll the dice, because I’m not going to admit defeat…even when it comes to baking.


Cupcake Mountains...near the Caucasus

My PB&J cupcakes came out moist; but a bit on the dense side, almost like a tiny pound cake. I’m going to work on perfecting the recipe, but since Dopp & I might be putting the finished product on a menu somewhere down the line, you’ll have to make due with this one. This recipe is also a bit on the messy side, since it involves making a peanut butter frosting and then squirting grape jelly into a baked and cooled cupcake…seriously, it looked like a bomb went off in my kitchen. I have been told however, that the finished product was: “yummy,” “delicious” and apparently, “really tasty.”
Oh, and I am well aware of how funny it is that I got fixated on making cupcakes considering how much I despise the current over-proliferation of cupcake places dotting New York City; and generally don’t really like sweets.
So settle in, make your cupcakes, then pour yourself a tall glass of milk.


Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¾ cup milk
1 cup grape jelly (You can use any kind you want, I went with Welch's)
Peanut butter frosting, recipe follows

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a cupcake pan with paper liners and spray them with nonstick spray and set aside.
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt over a large piece of paper. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a hand mixer on medium speed, until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, the egg yolk, and the vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Pour in the milk and continue to mix until smooth. Pick up the paper with the dry ingredients and gradually pour it into the wet ingredients, continue to mix just until blended.
Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared cupcake tins, about 3/4 full.
Bake until the tops of the cupcakes spring back to the touch and are not too golden; about 20 minutes (took closer to 28 in my oven).
Cool in the pan for 20 minutes, and then allow to cool completely on a wire rack before filling, frosting or decorating (might be a good time to get started on the frosting and filling your squirt bottle, no?).
Fill a squirt bottle (or piping bag with the small nozzle tip) with the grape jelly and screw on the cap. Carefully insert the tip of the squirt bottle as far as it will go into the top of the cupcakes. Gently squeeze about 1 tablespoon worth of jelly inside of each. Ice the tops of the cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting to cover.

Peanut Butter Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup smooth peanut butter (I went with all natural, because that’s what I grew up with)
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
4 cups confectioners' sugar*
1 tablespoon milk

Beat the butter, peanut butter, and cream cheese with a hand or standing mixer on medium speed, until light and fluffy. Slowly add the confectioner's sugar and continue to mix until the frosting is smooth, mix in the milk and continue to mix until it reaches a good spreading consisting.

Yield: 2 cups

* Again, because I’m not really a fan of really sweet things (I’m looking at you Crumbs!!), I used closer to 2 ¾ cups of sugar.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Crackin’ Wise, Eggs & Apparently Crab Shells


I’ve actually got a lot on my plate right now. So this is more like a long update, with a promise to fill you in later…and maybe a recipe if you ask nicely…while I scare up some material.

My uncle got married on Friday (big ups to him!) and among the foodstuffs floating around Galapagos were cupcakes from Crumbs, his favourite; which got me thinking. I also just got back from Jersey, where I was cooking and taking care of my mom. She had an appendectomy a following the wedding (she’s fine, thanks for asking) and like any good son would I went out and cooked for her and tried to make sure she stayed off her feet…which is virtually impossible for her to do. I made some banana bread and some Chardonnay-poached Salmon with a Butter & Herb Sauce for she and her husband, which they both enjoyed. I also decided, I think on the train ride back, that I was going to make Peanut Butter and Jelly cupcakes; mainly because I’m curious as to how they’ll turn out (I had asked for feedback from someone, but apparently she couldn't be bothered so I'm going to mad scientist it).

Before I can get cracking on the cupcakes though, I’ve got to head out to Long Island City to meet my man Dopp, that’s right, he’s back! He and I are going to do some recipe testing, and probably a lot of eating. From there, I’m heading to the New Deal Supper Club for some raw food courtesy of Rabbit Mafia. I’m an unabashedly, unapologetic meat eater and cooked food eater, so an evening of raw food that’s primarily vegetarian should be pretty interesting for me, to say the least.

So in the next 36, or so, hours: I’m dropping by the Picnick, Smoked truck for some tasty pulled pork; recipe testing, possibly some ceviche, possibly some fried chicken; making cupcakes; eating like a commie (I kid) and then telling all of you about it.
Until then, here’s a crab cake recipe to tide you over; because apparently you asked nicely…

Crab Cakes with Roasted Red Pepper Mayo

1 pound – Jumbo Lump Crab Meat
1 Red Bell Pepper, small dice (after roasting)
½ Red Onion, small dice
1 Habanero Pepper, seeded & minced
3 Tbsp – Mayonnaise
1 Tbsp – Dijon Mustard
2 tsp – Smoked Paprika
2 Eggs, beaten
Salt & Pepper, to taste
1 Box – Panko Bread Crumbs

Roast the red pepper over an open flame (or in a 350 degree oven) until the skin blisters and begins to turn black. Place in a metal bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let steam for approximately 20 minutes, then remove the skin using a paper towel, being sure to reserve as much oil as possible. While the red pepper is steaming, combine: crab meat, red onion, habanero, mayonnaise, mustard and smoked paprika, mixing lightly.
Once the red pepper is diced (reserve the other half for the Red Pepper Mayonnaise), mix it, the reserved oil, the beaten egg and approximately 4 tablespoons of the Panko into the crab mixture, mixing again to incorporate everything (The mixture should be wet, but not so lose that a small patty will fall apart in your hands).
Pour a good amount of the Panko on a large plate, then form crab mixture into small or large patties and dip each side in the Panko; placing the formed patties on a sheet tray or cookie sheet. Place the tray with the formed patties in the refrigerator for approximately 30 minutes to let the patties firm up and pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Place a small amount of canola oil in one or two sauté pans and remove the patties from the refrigerator. Heat the oil on medium-high heat and brown the crab cakes for approximately 3 minutes on each side. Then place pans in the oven and allow crab cakes to finish cooking, approximately 8-to-10 minutes.
Remove pans from oven and using a fish spatula remove crab cakes, placing them on a paper towel.
Serve with Roasted Red Pepper Mayonnaise.

Yield: Approximately 16 1.5 Oz. cakes



Roasted Red Pepper Mayonnaise

1 Large Red Bell Pepper
½ Small Red Bell Pepper, minced (optional)
½ Habanero Pepper, seeded
3 Egg Yolks
24 Oz Canola Oil
2 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
Salt, to taste


Roast the red pepper over an open flame (or in a 350 degree oven) until the skin blisters and begins to turn black. Place in a metal bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let steam for approximately 20 minutes, then remove the skin using a paper towel, being sure to reserve as much oil as possible. Cut and seed the pepper. Combine the red pepper, reserved oil, habanero and egg yolks in a Vitaprep Mixer or blender and blend until smooth. Season with salt and while the unit is running, add the canola oil in a slow, steady stream. Start the unit on a medium setting, turning it up higher when the egg yolks begin to emulsify the oil.
Taste for deliciousness.
Fold in minced red pepper, if using.

Yield: 1 Qt

Monday, September 7, 2009

One Nut, Two Names & a Day Off


"Thinking I need to stop making chocolate-hazelnut semi-freddo just because I can."

That was my Facebook status update on Thursday night. I wasn't home, I wasn't thinking about being home and then all of a sudden, the image of a frost-coated spring form pan lined with plastic wrap and filled with a mysterious milky-white substance popped into my head.

In the wake of my cornmeal, and subsequent muffin, experiments I had some left over hazelnuts, as well as some eggs & heavy cream I'd picked up when I got the nuts.
I could say it was a surprise, "oh me oh my, look what I'm doing with these filberts! Lawdy, lawdy!" (not sure why I'd sound like Gina Neeley, but whatever) But in truth, I knew exactly what I was doing. I'd planned on having extra nuts and I'd planned on making a semifreddo...the homemade "Nutella," however, was a welcome surprise.

Here, I feel I should mention that I, like George Costanza, “love how there are two nuts that are named after people…Hazel and Filbert.” Technically speaking, George was wrong; as the nut itself appears to be the filbert (Corylus maxima) that comes from the hazel tree. Why it is that the names are virtually interchangeable is beyond me.

Anyway, what I’m throwing at you…when I should be in bed, considering I’ve got to be up early and on a train to New Jersey for a Labor Day Grill-Fest…are recipes for semifreddo and a homemade hazelnut spread. The semifreddo recipe is a good one because it’s versatile; takes about four hours to make; and I’m guessing if you’re like most people who doesn’t own one, it beats buying an ice cream maker for frozen desserts.

The hazelnut spread (slash Nutella) is my own twist, mainly because I went a little nuts with the hazelnuts in the semifreddo and had to beef up the spread with some chocolate-mint sauce from Robert Rothschild Farm I got, who knows, somewhere.

One more thing. There’s an easy way and a hard way to make the semifreddo…you can either toss the cocoa powder into the mix or you can heat the cocoa powder in the heavy cream, then let the cream cool down. And I mean, seriously cool down because you’re going to be whipping that cream later. I’m giving you the easy version and trusting you can figure out how to let cream cool on your own.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Semifreddo

¾ Cup Hazelnuts, blanched, toasted & cooled
1 Cup Sugar
2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
2 cups Heavy Cream
¾ cup Egg Whites (decent brown eggs should yield about ¼ cup of whites, per egg)
¼ tsp vanilla extract

Grease a 10-inch spring form pan and line with plastic wrap or parchment paper.

In a food processor grind the hazelnuts, 3/4 cup sugar and cocoa powder together, pulsing to avoid over blending so it does not become a paste (but you’re going to have to work really hard to accidentally make hazelnut butter).
Whip the cream using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment or a hand mixer, until it holds fluffy, soft peaks. Transfer to the refrigerator.
In a clean dry (preferably copper) bowl, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the vanilla extract and 1/4 cup sugar and continue whipping until glossy and stiff, about 30 seconds more.
Fold into the whipped cream, then fold in the ground nut mixture. Spoon the mixture into the spring form pan. Smooth the top.
Freeze at least 4 hours or overnight*.

* I suggest overnight, because everyone’s freezer is different. My freezer might as well be a blast chiller, but yours might suck, so plan ahead if you’re making it for a party.



Homemade Nutella Hazelnut-Mint Spread

1 Cup chopped hazelnuts
¾ Cup Powdered Sugar
¼ Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
2 Tbsp Chocolate-Mint Sauce (conversely, you can infuse your oil with the mint)
1/8 Cup Canola Oil

Place hazelnuts in the work bowl of a food processor and process until nuts start to clump together in a ball, approximately five minutes.
Add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder and chocolate-mint sauce (if using), and process again for 2 to 3 minutes, until the mixture turns dark and the ingredients are well combined.
Slowly drizzle in enough oil to make a spread.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4 to 6 weeks.

Next Time: Labor Day and whole bunch of shout-outs...La Rabbitnostra, Smoke on Wall Street & some Brooklyn Juice Guys.

By the way...Happy Labor Day!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

When Life Gives You Bad Corn, Make Cornmeal


When I was growing up, my parents always used to tell me, “never look a gift horse in the mouth.” Well, a couple days ago I did. Someone, I won’t say who; but someone gave me the worst…absolute worst corn I’ve ever had in my life. I had grand plans to make a corn consommé; extracting the flavours from the cob, cooking the kernels and even attempting to clarify it with egg whites; but once I started to shuck the ears I knew it wasn’t to be. The ears reminded me of the dried multicolour maize my father has adorning his mantle.

So there I was in my kitchen, casting about for what to do. I tried making a corn stock and then a soup, both of which worked about as well as the plot of an episode of It’s Always Unfunny in Philadelphia. Once I strained the corn pulp out of the soup and tossed it in the freezer, I decided that what the hell, I’d try to make cornmeal. I spread the pulp on some tinfoil and threw it in the oven at 225° F for about four hours, then let it rest in the oven overnight. When I woke up, I put my roasted “corn flakes” in the food processor and ground away, until I had a coarse yellow powder that J. Peterman probably would’ve mistaken for Yam-yam.

It took me still another day to figure out what the hell to do with my newfound cornmeal, but yesterday morning I got myself some hazelnuts and a banana and decided that banana-hazelnut muffins was the way to go. I even tossed some raisins in for good measure; and so far, I’ve gotten good reviews. Here’s the recipe if you’re really interested I’ll give you step-by-step directions on making your own cornmeal. Hell, you never know, the Mayans might be right!

Either way, I suggest serving these bad boys with butter and jelly, fresh and steaming out of the oven.

Banana-Hazelnut Corn Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup hazelnuts
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 ripe bananas
1 egg, beaten
¼ cup butter, melted
1 cup milk
1 handful of raisins (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400° degrees F. Grease muffin pan or line with paper muffin liners.
In a food processor grind the hazelnuts and sugar together, pulsing to avoid over blending so it does not become a paste.
In a large bowl, mix together corn meal, flour, sugar-nut mixture, baking powder, salt and raisins (if using).
Then blend eggs, bananas, milk and butter together in a blender and fold into dry ingredients, stirring to combine (more flour may be needed, if the dough appears wet).
Spoon into muffin tins and bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Yield: 12 muffins


Next Time: Bunnies, Italian (Sort-of) Ice Cream & possibly Homemade Nut Butters…oh yeah, and Labor Day.