September 2010 Archives

I have always been intimidated by cooking a whole fish. There is a lot of stuff most people are intimidated cooking that I have no problem with, but the whole fish just seemed scary to me! I walked into whole foods unsure of what I was cooking that night. This is rare; normally when I go there I wish I could buy everything I see but I have a strict plan. This particular day I just wandered and bought whatever I felt like. The olives I am always wishing I could get, but more importantly a whole branzini (european seabass) that was fresh as can be. This location cracks me up because someone always ends up talking to me there. When I asked for the fish, the woman standing next to me said "you know how to cook that?" "Ehh, I normally buy first, ask questions later" was my reply. I have to say that the fish was super easy and came out flakey, juicy, tender, and delicious. Branzini is a great beginner whole fish and I cant wait to move on to the intermediate level!

I wasn't going to post this dish. This is actually a perfect example of what I cook when I'm not "working." Sort of the definition of comfort food for me. Make some pasta, toss some awesomeness into it, and the whole day changes. I put some marinade on the skirt steak and thought to myself, maybe I should take a picture just in case. By the time I was grilling, I was taking pictures of everything. Grilled food in mac and cheese? How could I not post this?

Before I start today, I want to say a quick congrats to my rival Macheesmo for getting his new design implemented over the weekend! Looks great man! If you head over to his site today you will notice something weird. WHOOPS! It's like we both wore the same tongue to the prom! (what?) Anyway, don't hold your tongue (I'm here all night folks), let him know what you think of the new site!

Now back to MY tongue. I was walking through the farmers market last week, and noticed beef tongue at the Chestnut Farms stand. I didn't have any specific plans for dinner, so I asked about the tongue. The nice girl seemed reluctant to give me the last tongue of the season, but I told her it was going to a good home and not to worry. Convinced, she finally slipped me the tongue. (hehe) So now what? Tacos are the only tongue dish I know of, so I decided to go for it. Now if I could just find that green fruit to make some salsa with... what's it called again? It's on the tip of my tongue... oh yea, tomatillos! My roommate is going to give me a tongue lashing when he realizes what's for dinner! Ok, I'll stop.

This bbq sauce is amazing. Like, to the point where I almost didn't want to post it it was so good. It made me want to open an Indian-southern US-southwestern fusion restaurant it's so good. So let's keep this a secret you guys ok? Don't tell anyone about this recipe! I served this with another awesome Indian-southwestern dish that I will post tomorrow.

The party I have been talking about the past few days was a great success, despite a few people bagging at the last minute. You know who you are! The party was a bit of a housewarming for me, but also to celebrate the changing seasons, and to inaugurate our brand new Beer Pong table! My friend rich (who did a lot of the art on this website) was commissioned to paint us a table for the new place, and it came out awesome. I made a few dips for the begining of the party, and these mini calzones for halfway through. I have come to realize that grilling is the best cooking method for a party. It doesn't heat up the house or smell up the house, can add a nice break and some fresh air to the party, and can be done fairly easily if you have prepped well. I made these calzones early in the day and just threw them on the grill when people were getting hungry. Along with the apple jalapeno gruyere option, there were some BBQ chicken and cheddar broccoli varieties.

For my next dip (sounds like a magician), someone suggested cole slaw type flavors. Again, I wanted to "fall it up" a little, so I thought brussel sprouts would be a good sub for cabbage. A quick sear in a hot pan with some bacon, and a little bit of mayo was all it needed to become an awesome dip!

So I had a party this past weekend, and it was a lot of fun! It feels awesome to finally have an apartment again and be hosting parties. I made a few apps for the party, and that is going to be what I post about this week. Here we have a dip that I describe as "fall's answer to spinach artichoke dip". For the hearty artichoke part, I instead used celery root, or celeriac. For the leafy green part I used Broccoli rabe. The dip was great and got eaten up faster than I expected!

"Hey Dan, wasn't it just yesterday when you were saying that it's too early for fall flavors and you are trying to hold off?" Why yes, it was. Thanks for remembering. But the other day I was wandering through the grocery store when I saw some awesome looking decorative gourds and I thought to myself, you're either ready to reap this freaky-assed harvest, or you're not! And guess what, I AM. I scooped some up and decided to stuff them with a sausage-ricotta-orzo mix because I had been craving ricotta all day. Guess what season it is?

I sort of feel like it's slightly too early to do full-on fall flavors, but when the chill is in the air, and your friends are asking, you have to give in to certain demands. I mashed this squash with potatoes to give it the starchy mash potato texture with a subtle squashy taste. I mixed in a whole bunch of stuff we had around, and it was a big hit! It was served with some marinaded steak tips.

Korean-Mexican fusion is a pretty popular combo these days. The idea for this meal came after I made the spicy Korean pork a few weeks ago, when someone on my facebook page said that I should use the marinade to make a pulled pork. I loved the idea, and thought I would just make a sandwich out of it with kimchi instead of the normal coleslaw topping. A few days before I planned to make it, the burrito idea came about. The flavors worked really well together, and I think that this was one of the best things I have made in a while!

I don't like tomato soup. Never have! But when I make a nice pasta sauce, I usually grab a mug, fill it up, and eat it with a spoon. The tomatoes are unreal right now at the farmers markets. I would argue that they are better in September than they are in August! I wanted to make a dish that really highlights them, but I've had way to many tomato salads in the past few months. The chill in the air this week solidified my decision to make a soup with these awesome tomatoes. I didn't want to mess with the fresh tomato flavor, so this soup has only a few ingredients.

This was one of those things that I saw on a menu somewhere and just had to make it right away. It was awesome and all, BUT I made this cheesesteak dip about a year back that was cramazing, and it would have been better to just serve that smothered all over the fries. After all, when I think cheesesteak fries, I kind of think gooey cheese fries with steak on them. I'm posting these pics anyways because this way is easier than making the cheesesteak dip, and was still really tasty, in fact my friends finished it in about 3 and a half minutes.

Some food ideas just get stuck in my mind and dont go away until I make them. It's like that song that is stuck in your head until you finally listen to it. This was kind of a silly meal that I didn't make for awhile because it seemed dumb. Why would you ever make a chicken patty? If you want a breaded chicken sandwich, why not just make a breaded chicken breast for the sandwich. Also, I needed to serve it to the right crowd. Still this idea would not go away. This Saturday I had just the right crowd over, and my friend was telling a story about how he craves the spicy chicken patties he used to eat in high school. I made these things a few hours later!

Last week, I posted a snide remark on a post on Macheesmo's site claiming that I could make a curry any color of the rainbow. I mean, I have made red, green, and yellow, massaman is sort of orange and panang has a pinkish hue. What's left? I got this email from Nick 3 minutes later: "Can you make a purple curry?! Because I think you should." He called my bluff! I replied back with:"hmmm, should I use cabbage or blueberries" "I'd go blueberries" was his reply. At first I shrugged this off as a casual joke amongst friends, but it's like Leo says, once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's almost impossible to eradicate. It was all I could think about all week! Tuesday I hit the farmers market on my way back from work, because it was the only place I knew that I could find purple basil...