The Food in my Beard

On Burgers...

2010-03-17T04:23:45Z

Before I start my burger rant, Happy St Patrick's day to everyone! Hopefully you have some tasty green beer and corned beef and cabbage today. And how about that Daylight Savings you guys? So awesome. The image quality on the website improves vastly when it is light out during dinner. What else does daylight savings mean? I think that it is officially the start of burger season! MMM burgers. I miss thee. I wanted to take a minute to talk about burgers before the season starts so I don't have to mini-rant every time I make one, I can just link this post.

There is a rift forming among burger cooks across the country. To stuff, or not to stuff? The ~~snobbier~~ classier group, led by burger master Bobby Flay, says to never stuff a burger. Don't even mix in salt! Form the patty with minimal disturbance to the beef, make a salt and pepper crust, and cook to a perfect medium. Super tasty!

The Build a Better Burger group, led by Rachael Ray, says burgers are better with ingredients IN the patty. They crank out burgers filled with onions, garlic, cumin, spices, cheeses, and anything else under the sun. Mmmmm!

So why is there a rift? I guess people just like to fight. I like burgers both ways. Any way really! Generally my rule is if I buy normal beef at the grocery store, and I am in the mood to play with my burgers, I will add some ingredients into the patty. I try and cut it off at a few things to keep it from getting too meatloaf-y. If I get some perticularly nice meat, make a blend, or grind my own, be sure that there will be nothing but beef in that burger patty.

I have been coming up with a burger recipe in my head all day. I have all the ingredients in mind, but I haven't decided if I am going to put some in the patty or not. By the time you are reading this, I will probably be enjoying the burger with a mixed drink in the 60 degree sunny weather. Come back tomorrow to find out if I stuffed the burger!

I leave you with some of my past burger recipes.
Stuffed:
Huge Burger
Taco Burger
Red Curry Burger
Buffalo Turkey Burger
Tuna Burger

Unstuffed:
Cuban Burger
Caprese Burger
Sliders

Do you guys have a stance on stuffing burgers?

Duck Ragu

2010-03-16T05:56:06Z

My good friend Rich had a snowboarding "incident" about a week ago. His Dr. told him to stay on the couch for awhile. I headed over during the week to hang out, play video games, and watch episodes of The Wire with him. I also cooked a meal for him with his favorite protien; duck! This simple duck ragu was somehow light and rich at the same time. Complex flavors with not that many ingredients, just quality food with attention paid to it. The kind of comfort food that will make you forget about your back pain!

Don't let your eyes deceive you, this is NOT boiled goose! They actually had fresh duck at the normal grocery store! This is a half duck with one leg and one breast.

Making a duck stock and cooking the duck until it is tender and shreddy, but not sogging up the skin. I added about 2 cups of water to this and left it uncovered in the oven at 300 for 2 hours.

Not having a pasta roller is NOT an excuse to not make fresh pasta!!! (triple negative? but how else can I say this?)

After the duck came out of the oven, I fried the skin peices to make it nice and crisp.

Carrots, celery, and shallots in the pan. Garlic goes in after.

Then the duck stock and shredded duck peices.

So tasty.

This really was excellent.

Were the leftovers just as good rich?

A couple carrots, heart of celery, 2 onions, and a head of garlic. Chunk these up, peel the garlic, and put in an oven safe pot. Add some thyme. Add about 2 cups of water(It shouldn't cover the veggies, but come up about half way). Lay a fresh half duck on the veggies, skin side up. Bake uncovered at 300 for 2 hours. Set the duck aside, then strain the stock. Remove the fat from the stock (there will be alot!) and save it in your freezer for something delicious in the future. Shred the duck into large chunks. Set the skin aside.

Are you following me? You now have some shredded duck, some tasty duck stock, and some dry, but not yet crispy, duck skin.

You should also have some fresh pasta. Make it like this. You can roll it by hand, but a pasta roller is better. If you have one, keep it at one of the thickest settings, then make short thick square spaghetti. Like in the pictures above.

Bring water to a boil. In a thick bottom large frying pan or dutch oven, saute some small diced carrots celery and shallot for 5 minutes. Add garlic. 2 minutes. Add duck stock and shredded duck. Simer low for 10 minutes.

In a small frying pan, heat some oil and add the duck skin in peices until it is crispy and set aside. It is similar to cooking bacon.

Season the water and add the pasta. Cook about 5 minutes. Place into pan with duck sauce and stir around for 2 minutes allowing the pasta to become one with the sauce. The sauce should just coat the pasta, so if there is excess sauce, leave it in the pan when serving.

This only served about 3 people. Use a whole duck and double the pasta if you want more servings.

Spinach Artichoke Bites

2010-03-15T04:34:04Z

In Friday's recipe, my sister and I turned meatballs into a dip. What would you serve with a ball that was turned into a dip? A dip turned into a ball of course! I made soup with spinach and artichokes a few weeks back, but this was sorta like the opposite. I had to keep it dry so that I could form balls that wouldn't fall apart while frying. I sort of succeeded. These bites tasted amazing, but were a bit finicky to work with. With a few adjustments this would be an amazing appetizer.

I used jarred artichokes this time. Strain all the oil, and also squeeze the moisture from the frozen spinach. We want it dry remember? You don't want to fully puree this, keep a little bit of texture.

For breading, I used parmesan cheese and tortilla chips. The flavors were perfect because parm is often broiled on top of this dip, and it is usually served with tortilla chips.

The pureed mixture with some jack cheese.

As I said, these were a bit tough to work with. They were slightly too moist. I kept them small and probably should have crunched the chips a little more.

So tasty!

I had a few failures along the way as you can see by the chunks floating in the oil.

Food process strained and dried artichokes, dried frozen spinach, a spoon of mayo, a clove of garlic, and some jack cheese. Don't puree, keep it slightly chunky. Roll into balls and coat in parm and crushed tortilla chips. Deep fry for 2 minutes. Honestly if you make sure to strain and dry the spinach and artichokes really well, this recipe might work. I added a bit of the oil from the artichokes and didn't strain the spinach that well and that could have been my main failure. They just needed to be slightly drier!

Meatball Sub Dip

2010-03-12T05:00:51Z

My first "Sandwich as a dip" was at my sisters engagement party. Since then, she has been a huge fan of the sandwich-dip series, and all of her friends have since made the italian hoagie dip. Heading to her place this week for a pre-housewarming party, I knew she was expecting a new sandwich to be turned into a dip. We threw a couple ideas around, and landed on meatball sub dip. What we ended up with really stretched the confines what defines a dip, but was still a dip nonetheless. You COULD pick it up with a piece of bread, but it was easier to spoon it on.

First I made the meatball mixture and let it sort of marinade for a half hour. I think this step was important.

Then it was pretty much like making the meatiest sauce ever. I started with some onions and garlic in the pan, then added the beef. I strained a bit of the juice, then added the tomato paste as seen in the above image.

This is after adding the paste and a large can of crushed tomatoes.

The mixture poured out into a shallow pan.

Cheese on top and broiled.

You could dip it, but it was best to spoon it on.

Yum! It tasted jsut like a meatball sub! It was better than serving small meatballs and little rolls because it had the broiled cheese. Also because it was ground beef instead of chunks of meatball it was slightly less messy.

Make meatball mixture like I did here. Then basically start to make the meatiest meat sauce ever. Add onions and salt to some olive oil and cook for about 7 or 8 minutes. Add a a few cloves of diced garlic. A minute later add the meatball mix. Cook until the meat is fully cooked. Spoon out some of the juice/fat if it is really juicy/fatty. Add tomato paste and cook 5 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes until it coats the beef. See the third image from the top. Pour this out into a cassarole pan and top with mozzarella. Broil intil browned. Serve with bread.

Knife Review

2010-03-11T05:54:36Z

I was recently asked to review these "Knuckle Sandwich" knives for Guy Fieri. It was a tough decision for me, because on the one hand, I am not the biggest Guy Fieri fan, and my blog isn't usually filled with product placement and equipment reviews. As my friend George Costanza once said, "This is the Blog, and we're NOT going to change it!" ...or something like that. But on the other hand, I make almost no money off this website, buy a lot of expensive ingredients, and spend a ton of time writing up my posts. My Mom desperately needed new knives, and I have been abusing her kitchen a lot lately, so I figured why not? One last question I asked of the people sending the knives, "Can I trash them in the review? Does the review have to be favorable?" I had seen the commercial for the knives and they looked atrocious. Who is the target market on these things? (If there is one thing I want in a knife, it is goofy flame cartoons.) Nope, she said. You can write whatever you want!

What an exciting time it must be for Guy. A few years ago he was just a dude with a couple restaurants out in California, now he hosts like 6 shows, has a line of knives and sunglasses(what?), an endorsement deal with TGI Fridays, and come next week, he will be the host of NBC's new show "Minute to Win It." NBC! I give Guy crap from time to time on the site, as do most other Internet food people, but you have to admit he has done well for himself. My dirty secret that I didn't even want to admit here is that I sometimes watch Triple D. Guy acts like a normal person on that show (unlike how he acts on his other shows), and he pretty much has the best job ever.

So what about the knives? Well, I wanted to bash them, I really did, but other than the look (and the name), these knives are great. Let me reiterate, I really HATE the way they look. But yea, other than that, they work perfectly. I will tell you about some features as I show the pictures.

Above is my Henckels knife, which I love. Below is the "Knuckle Sandwich Guy Fieri knife." Note the unappealing graphics. But more importantly, note the curvature differences of these knives.

Guy's knives are nice and heavy and feel nice in your hand. I grip most knives the way I am gripping the above knife, with the "pinch" method. The curvature and angles of the handle of Guy's knife allow you to hold it in a better way but still have control.

A sharp point allows cuts like this.

This is my favorite feature. I thought it was a gimmick at first, but I found myself using it a bunch! I smashed some garlic and ginger into a paste with it.

But more importantly, I Ripped through these cardamom pods with the greatest of ease.

I also got this knife which I have nothing to say about. I don't think I would ever use a knife shaped like this for any reason whatsoever. What would you guys use this knife for?

So what's the verdict? I don't know really. I DO know I will be sticking with the knives I have had for awhile, and my mom will be keeping these "knuckle sandwich" knives. I really did enjoy cutting with them, but like mine slightly better, and don't like these graphics at all. But the graphics are a subjective thing, and GET THIS: my mom actually LIKES the way they look! She says: "All knives look the same and are so boring, these have some style."

Squid Noodles

2010-03-09T07:42:26Z

As I mentioned yesterday, I am visiting New York for the weekend. It is so convenient here being able to get any ingredient you want at any time. After the weekend of latenight pizza, wings, and lots of beer, Nick and his roommate wanted something a bit lighter and healthier for Monday night dinner. All I needed to do was walk down the street to pick everything up!

You guys have seen me use lemongrass many times. Check out my tutorial here. This mix got some soy sauce and sesame oil and was allowed to steep for about an hour and a half.

This is a paste from the above ingredients to saute with the squid.

These peppers don't follow the smaller=spicier rule. They are hot!

Making noodles out of the veggies.

Making noodles out of the squid.

The carrots go into the boiling water just before the udon noodles.

The squid only cooks for about 2 minutes. Cook it more and it will get chewy! After this it goes in with the noodles and everything else.

This was a really tasty meal.

2 stalks lemongrass
Split like listed here. Use the tender bits in the paste below. Use the stringy parts in the preparation after.
4 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger
2 jalapenos
Dice the above ingredients and mix. Continue to chop with knife and integrate salt. Chop down until you reach a chunkey paste consistancy.

Lemongrass stalks from above
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sesame sauce
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons hoisin
1 tablespoon honey
Mix above ingredients in a pan. Heat lot till simmer. Shut off heat. Let sit for 20 minutes. Repeat. Strain.

3 large carrots
2 large cucumbers
3 hot finger peppers
2 handfuls of bean sprouts
3/4 lb squid
udon noodles
cilantro
green onions
Shred the carrots and peppers into one bowl. Shred the cucumbers into another and add the bean sprouts. Make them noodle like in size. See pictures above. Use a julienne peeler if you can, they are only 5 bucks. Boil water and add salt. Add carrots and peppers. Boil 3 minutes. Add udon noodles. Boil 3 minutes. Strain. Mix with sauce and cucumbers. Put some sesame oil in a pan. Cut the squid into little noodle shapes. See image. Fry squid and ginger-garlic-lemongrass-jalapeno paste from above for 2 minutes only! Mix it all with the noodles. Serve and garnish with limes, cilantro and green onions.

Beef Jerky

2010-03-08T06:03:14Z

A friend in New York convinced me to come visit for the weekend to go to an all day party with some of his friends. I knew we would be needing some sustenance since we were planning on drinking all day. I have wanted to make beef jerky for awhile since I saw it on good eats, but felt that in Bermuda it wouldn't work because of the humidity. I thought jerky would be perfect for this past weekend as a snack throughout the day.

I wanted this to be spicy, so I used 7 habeneros. It didn't end up as spicy as I wanted because I took out all the seeds.

These slices were actually way too thick.

Marinading overnight.

This is the makeshift drying rig I made. Alton uses air conditioning filters, but some people on the reviews mentioned using adjustable screens from Lowes.

Because of the thickness of raw meat and the homeadeness of the dehydrator, it took a long time for me to dry the beef. I kept cutting it in half to make it dry quicker.it ended up taking about 52 hours. The back porch was about 35 degrees so i wasn't worried about the meat spoiling.

Finally it dried out perfectly.

In a bag ready for the trip.

This is how a gangster eats jerky.

Such a fun day guys!

I made this recipe, but for my marinade it was worcester, smoked paprika, soy, shallots, garlic, habeneros, and honey.

Artichoke Spinach Soup

2010-03-05T06:47:53Z

To me, fresh artichokes in the store are the first sign of spring. They look bad all winter, but come March, they are the first thing to perk up. I have actually been waiting for them for awhile, because I had the idea for this soup. My sister always orders spinach and artichoke dip when we go out to eat. I made it into a soup for her.

Prepping the artichokes was the hardest part of the recipe. Good stuff on the right, bad stuff on the left. If I was super thrifty, I would make the stock for this soup out of the artichoke discards. That water with the artichoke hearts has lemon juice and salt in it.

After cooking some bacon, then onions, carrots, celery, and garlic in the bacon fat, I added the whole bowl of artichokes, water and all.

I blended this, but don't go too crazy, keep some stringy bits and choke leaves.

After adding cream and jack cheese, put in the spinach.

Really tasty

Top with the bacon set aside from earlier.

The bread is pita baked in the oven at 400 for 10 minutes with some olive oil and salt.

7 artichokes, trimmed, peeled, chokes removed, etc. You can use frozen too if you want.
2 cups water
2 lemons

In a large bowl, add 2 cups of water, 2 teaspoons of salt, and the juice from 2 lemons. As you clean the artichokes, put them into the water so they don't brown too much. When you are done, the water should essentially be filled with pieces of artichoke. Don't throw any of the good stuff away. I use the yellow/pale leaves, but not the green ones. You can use the stalk too if you peel it. Just don't eat the choke!

1 small onion diced
3 ribs of celery diced
2 carrots diced
2 cloves garlic minced
6 peices of bacon, cut into small squares
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup cream
4 cups chopped fresh spinach
8oz jack cheese shredded

Cook the bacon, remove from pan when it is crispy, set aside. Add onion, carrot, and celery to the bacon fat. salt. Saute 5 minutes. Add garlic, saute 1 minute. pour in artichokes and all the water they are soaking in, also add the chicken stock. Bring to simmer and turn the heat down. Simmer for half hour. Blend with an immersian blender. It should be kinda smooth with some stringy bits and some leaf chunks. Add the cream. Bring to simmer. Whisk in the cheese slowly. add the spinach and remove from heat. Serve with some pita bread crisped in the oven with olive oil. Garnish with the reserved bacon.

Stuffed Pizza

2010-03-02T05:29:08Z

What makes this "Stuffed Pizza" and not a calzone? I am not really sure, but my Great Aunt and Grandmother sure had a very specific definition. Let me start at the beginning. I was out to lunch with my Great Aunt Nancy, and I was having pizza. She asked if I ever had stuffed pizza. "Like a calzone?" I asked. "No, it's thin and flat like a pizza, and has caramelized onions, your great grandmother used to make them for me and your grandmother when we were younger." I told her I liked to mix caramelized onions with ricotta and pepperoni. "But then that would be a calzone." she replied. I was confused, so I invited her and my grandmother over to make some stuffed pizzas to hopefully clear things up.

Carmalizing the onions. The filling seemed like the most important part in these stuffed pizzas. Very simple fillings.

Thin stretched dough, folded over the toppings.

Brush on olive oil before and after cooking.

Still looks like a calzone to me. Very tasty though!

As I made the spinach and tomato variety, my grandmother and aunt watched very closely to be sure that I put a lot of spinach and a very small amount of diced tomatoes. For some reason, it seemed to be very important that the spinach was dry.

Again, very simple, very tasty. I would have put feta in this, but I think that would have been too calzone-y for them. I was trying to make these stuffed pizzas the way they remembered!

This was a fun lunch for me, learning about some family food history (but NOT learning the difference between stuffed pizzas and calzones). To make these I used a peel and stone in the oven at 550 degrees. I made my own dough, but made it a bit drier than I used to when I was rocking the pizza oven. If you want more info on dough, sauce, or other pizza stuff, check out pizza week. I had a ton of leftover dough, so I had some guys over for a mini pizza party that saturday and it was awesome!

Two Brownie Recipes

2010-03-01T05:10:09Z

On Friday I mentioned my gluten free friend and the Dosas we made last week. I also brought some gluten free brownies with me that night. This black bean brownie recipe has made the rounds on the web, including an appearance in a foodie fight battle! (P.S. foodie fight fans, we are working hard on 2.0, and hope to have a battle in march at some point.) It basically uses the beans to bind the brownies instead of flour. I thought they came out dense, fudgy and delicious, but my mom and sister were not fans. The goat cheese brownies idea came from an episode of throwdown. Two women from Vermont made them, they looked amazing and have been stuck in my head ever since! The recipe was not on the food network site, so I used Bobbys brownie recipe from that episode and made my own filling.

The cheese filling was way thinner than I expected, so I was really careful when adding the top brownie layer.

You need to chill these down before cutting them or they will fall apart. The key to these brownies is under-cooking them so they are moist and fudgey.

Chocolate for the black bean brownies.

So weird. But good!

This had a nice consistency.

This is just some eggs and sugar. It is in the recipe on 101 cookbooks, but not in her picture.

I really liked these brownies, and so did Sarah and Steph, but my mom and sister hated them!

Sarah taking her brownies home.

Everyone in the food network recipe review says to double the cooking time on the brownie recipe. He says 23 to 25 and specifically says not to overcook them. I did about 30 minutes and I was fine, just refrigerate them before cutting if you want clean slices. Again, I used this recipe for the brownie. For the filling I just mixed 16 oz chevre with 2 eggs and 1/4 cup sugar.

The black bean brownies are from 101 cookbooks.

Dosa

2010-02-26T05:37:07Z

A new friend of mine has a gluten allergy, and I offered to cook for her the other night. It isn't really my style to go easy and just make some meat and veggies for her. I wanted to make bread! I didn't want to fake bread and try to re create pizza or anything like that. I had to find a bread that is already gluten free. I had some lamb leftover in the freezer, and luckily everyone was cool with Indian food. I found a traditional south Indian flatbread called dosa that is made with rice, lentils and fenugreek.

Many dosa recipes involve soaking the rice and lentils overnight. I had some issues making horchata, so I didnt want to be dealing with raw rice. I also didn't have a whole night to let it sit. I added the rice to boiling water and let it cook for 5 minutes. I added the lentils next.

Just a few minutes later, I poured the rice, lentils and hot water into this bowl that was holding cooler water and fenugreek.

I let it sit for 3 hours. Everything was mostly cooked but still had a bite to it.

This was actually a bit too thick, I should have thinned it out but I didn't until we were about to cook it.

Normally this dough slightly ferments. It isn't that important, but I thought I would keep it in a warm place in case it felt like fermenting a bit. Most recipes I read didn't even mention the fermentation, but when you say "let it sit overnight" and you live in southern India, the mix is gonna be pretty warm. I don't think mine fermented at all, but it didn't matter. Is my choice of books nerdy enough?

Now on to making the curry paste. Whats with that weird knife? Guy Fieri sent me a few of his knives to review, more on that later. For now, I will say that the masher on the end of the handle is super convenient for opening cardamom!

Onions, garlic, and ginger.

Searing the lamb and potatoes before building the curry.

Save all that good stuff at the bottom of the pan!

Next add some oil and toss in the curry paste. Keep scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon to bring up as much of the crust from the bottom of the pan as you can. Don't go too crazy, cause after 3 minutes you will add water and the rest will easily come off.

After the water is added and the potatoes and lamb are returned to the pot, turn to low and simmer for about an hour and a half.

Here we are making the dosas. I actually failed about 3 times before being successful with this finicky batter, but once we got a rhythm down, it became much easier..

These are easiest to flip "diner style", otherwise you will break it with the spatula.

John Szpiech: Master flipper

I wasn't so bad myself.

Yum

This was a super tasty meal, we all had seconds! The dosa was a bit annoying at first to get the hang of, but if I made them again it would be a lot easier. And they tasted awesome! I think that night I said that it was good but not worth the effort, but I think I am officially reneging that statement.

Like a vindaloo taco?

I have made lamb vindaloo before on this post. The recipe is here. The second one on the page, NOT the "everyday vindaloo". Some of the stuff listed in the picture above are not listed in her paste. Go ahead and add a dash here and there as you wish :)

For the dosa, I added 2 cups of brown basmati to boiling water. cook 5 minutes. Add 1 cup lentils. cook 5 more minutes. Add the hot water, lentils, and rice to a large bowl with more room temperature water and 2 tablespoons of fenugreek seeds. Let it sit 3 hours. Make sure there is plenty of water so that the rice cant absorb it all. The rice and lentils will be mostly cooked. drain the water (not fully) and food process in batches. it should be like a pancake batter consistency. If it is too thick, just add some water. Let it sit overnight in a warm area.

When you are ready to cook, lightly grease a nonstick and turn the heat on medium. Pour in some dosa batter and coat the bottom of the pan. COVER and leave alone for 3 minutes. Use a spatula to loosen the edges of the dosa and shake the pan until it slides. Flip it carefully and brown the other side. When it is done, put it onto a plate and wrap with a towel to keep moist and warm. serve it with a curry.

Shout out to these two sites that helped me formulate a dosa recipe.

Mofongo

2010-02-25T06:11:51Z

Mofongo is a Puerto Rican dish of fried mashed plantains that I have always wanted to try. Any new way I can eat plantains is welcome to me! There is a large Puerto Rican population here in Springfield, but I have been unable to make it to a restaurant. The beef I made with the mofongo was in the pack I recently received from U.S. Wellness Meats. Normally I would braise a beef bottom round, but the quality was so nice that it came out perfectly as a roast. I just wish I had a bit more time to marinade it.

The marinade was kinda like a mojo. Some onions, garlic, chiles, and orange juice.

Yum, fresh veggies.

This roasted for about 2 hours to medium rare. Use a thermometer!

Soak the cut plantains in cold water until ready to fry.

The veggies that roasted under the beef. Covered in delicious beef juice.

More beef juice added to the sauce.

Meanwhile, I fried the plantains for the mofongo. Here they are in the mixer bowl with the garlic and frying oil.

I had to use my hands to block the plantain chunks from flying around the kitchen.

A chunky starchy mix.

Traditionally mofongo is served either as balls or formed into a bowl to dump a sauce into.

Guacamole and a quick radish salsa.

This came out awesome!

I loved mofongo and cant wait to try it again, perhaps at a Puerto Rican restaurant in the area.

Marinade:
an onion, 5 cloves garlic, some cilantro stems I had laying around, a few dried chiles, cumin, oil, and orange juice. Marinade overnight.

Roast the beef at 325 on a rack over some cut carrots, peppers, garlic, and onions. It will take almost 2 hours. When the roast is done, take the veggies out and blend them with the juice from the beef that has been dripping into them. Then add the puree into some black beans. Use this as a sauce. Slice the beef really thin.

Mofongo:
People normally use bacon or pork skin, but I kept it simple. Fry about 6 plantains in oil in batches until golden. Add to a mixer bowl. Throw about 10 diced garlic cloves into the same oil, then add the oil and garlic to the mixer bowl. Mix with the paddle attachment until chunky and starchy. It shouldn't be smooth like mashed potatoes. Chunky.

Serve with guacamole and some radish salsa. My radish salsa was literally only tomatoes, radish, cilantro, and lime.

Last Restaurant Standing: Finale

2010-02-24T05:05:56Z

Before we start, I want to mention that there was a lot of internet outrage over the wining couple. Click through, and we can talk about it. Also, did you guys see my interview with Judge Sarah Willingham yesterday?

I have to say that personally I agree with the winners. If you asked me after the first episode, I would have said no way, but JJ and James slowly won me over over the course of the season. It might have been that they "blagerd" me, just like they did to everyone else, but for some reason I found myself rooting for them in this episode. When their souffle didn't work out, and JJ pulled out his cocktail shaker, I felt like "The Final Countdown" should have started playing as we watched them shake their way to victory. I also agree with JJ and James when they were talking just before the final judging. They would have felt defeated if it was a competition to find the best chef, but it is not, Raymond and co are looking for restaurateurs and that is why they still deserved the title.

So you guys can probably tell, I really liked this episode! It had it all, anal front of house instruction from David, a cooking segment with Raymond, biting insults from Sarah, snooty/strict dinner party clients, success, failure, suspense, and comedy! We start with the couples being split up, the cooks going with Raymond, the hosts going with David.

David tells the hosts that they are creating theater. He gives them scripts and teaches how to set the stage. He is VERY specific about the table settings, ironing the tablecloth and measuring every distance between plates, bowls, and silverware on the table.

At service, he teaches them how to write down where each person is sitting so the plates go to the right place. This way you don't have to ask people what they ordered. Then this happens:

David is upset beyond words. He sends Nathan upstairs to his room to think about what he has done. I agree with David on this one because asking what people ordered is my number one annoyance at restaurants!

With Raymond, the cooks learn a fish dish that looks really good:

Scallop mousse stuffed into that zucchini blossom! YUM. Look out for a scallop mousse recipe on TFIMB soon. Anyway, As he is teaching this, JJ surprisingly is answering a lot of Raymond's questions better than Chris. In the end, Chris's sauce is burned, but the fish is amazing. JJ's sauce is good, but fish is overcooked.

Diner time. The couples are catering a dinner party. They sit around for story time to hear the clients requests.

They also learn about the buzzer. When the client rings the buzzer, you better move your ass!

JJ and James start out with some smoked salmon bilinis. As the narrator says, bilinis are supposed to be small so they can be "politely placed in the mouth" Right after this quote we see this montage:

Before I forget, why did they keep showing this dog on the screen? I feel like they showed him like 6 or 7 times.

Anyway, Chris's soup was ok, and scallops were awesome. JJ's risotto was terrible (cooked for 50 minutes and Sarah called it wallpaper paste) but that lucky bastards beef was cooked perfectly. Chris's souffle looked good, and JJ's didn't work. What can we do? asked the host of the party. James asked JJ what the plan was and JJ sprung into action! He pulled out a secret in case of emergency cocktail suitcase and made an egg white blackberry champagne sour. Everyone loved it and retroactively deemed Chris's souffles as "boring"

JJ and James know they didn't cook well, but also know it isn't a competition for cooks. Chris and Nathan think they have it in the bag. In the end JJ and James win for their proof of concept.

What did you guys think? Agree with the internet outrage, or were you slowly charmed by JJ and James the way I was. Let me know! Also next week they are going to talk about last years winners restaurant. I am excited to see that! I asked Sarah how it was doing, but I guess I didn't need to. I will be watching and enjoying the show, but NOT reviewing it, so you guys need to come up with your own clever remarks!

Sarah Willingham Interview

2010-02-23T04:52:42Z

Sarah Willingham is one of the judges on the TV show "Last Restaurant Standing" I have been recapping and reviewing the show on the website weekly, and the season finale airs tonight at 9pm on BBC America. I was lucky enough to come across Sarah's Email address, and she was kind enough to grant me an interview. I had a lot of fun talking to her this week, and I hope you guys like the interview as much as I did!

Me:
When you first started the show, did you expect it to be as successful as it is and make it for 3 seasons?

Sarah:
I really didn't think much about it when I filmed the first series. It just seemed like SO much fun to experience the world of TV, to meet the wonderful Raymond and to laugh with my kids seeing mummy on TV. But the BBC really hit onto a great format. SO many people have this dream to leave the rat race and start a restaurant. The public has really been able to identify with the couples in each series.

Me:
This season you and David will also have a stake in the winners restaurant. Was this a decision you made? Does it cause you to inspect the teams more thoroughly?

Sarah:
David and I are great friends now and we talked alot about getting involved this time and decided that it would be fun to go into business with the winners. It definitely focussed our mind! We're all so different in our approach so it led to some great, heated discussions.

Me:
How have the past seasons winners' restaurants been doing? Do you hear from them at all? Do they have their own restaurant or is it more run by Raymond's team?

Sarah:
Russell and Michelle are still doing great. it's very much their place. They do get help from Raymond's team but they do a great job running it themselves. I see the runners up a lot more... James and Ali - such great guys. James has been over and cooked the most wonderful food for parties at the house.

Me:
Most articles I have read seem to call you the bad guy, but I don't think you are that harsh. I think you are hilarious on the show! One of the things I enjoy to see most are the faces you make on the show. Do you realize you are making them when filming, or do you watch the episodes later and laugh?

Sarah:
I laugh!!! I had no idea that I had such an expressive face - no wonder I'm such a terrible liar!!! I'm from the north of England and we're really straight talking which sometimes had led me to really criticise people, mostly out of shock of the level of incompetence and preparation. It drives me crazy when the contributors appear not to care.. it's such an amazing opportunity, one that so many people would value and yet some of them just turn up without a clue.

Me:
I've read that you have no say in choosing contestants. Do you think the contestants have gotten better each season? Might this be because of more applicants?

Sarah:
On paper this year's contestants read better than ever but I honestly think that the reality was different. Some of the ones that went out early were embarrassing.... to think they thought that they could run a restaurant

Me:
Enough about the show, and more about you!

In an interview I recently read, you said that you had a bad onion soup at a restaurant. That surprises me, because I would think if you walked in the door of any restaurant in the UK, people would recognize you and treat you better than the average customer. Is this the case most of the time?

Sarah:
I must admit I do tend to get great service in a restaurant - a wonderful side effect of having done the show :) But it's also made me more particular and I complain more than I ever used to...

Me:
I read that you moved to the country to be sure your kids knew better where their food comes from and to grow a garden. How is your garden doing? Any winter veggies? What are your favorite crops in the summer?

Sarah:
I grew up with lots of home grown fruit and veg, my dad is a BIG gardener! But Raymond totally inspired me. Last summer I took my daughter to le manoir with a basket, a little trowel and a pair of scissors... Raymond said I could take what I wanted from the garden to grow at home. I have 4 huge raised beds, lots of fruit trees and a wonderful herb garden now. I just wish the sun shone more than it does here.

Me:
Are your kids cooking with you yet? or are they still too young? If so, what do you make with them?

Sarah:
It's our favourite afternoon together. My eldest daughter is 3 so she recognises lots of smells and really helps me with everything. My son is 2 and he just makes a wonderful mess and pretends to smell it all... then copies what my daughter says. We make everything but their favourite is cakes cakes and more cakes. I'm at my happiest in my kitchen and when my family can share the pleasures of it. I often stand back and wonder how I got this lucky :)

Me:
I am sure you talk a lot about food, but what are some other interests or hobbies of yours?

Sarah:
Is there more to life than food??? Ha ha. My spare time is really taken up with my family, whether we're painting, climbing, walking or cooking it's usually with them. But I exercise, drink wine, eat and read.... sadly not always in that order..

Me:
Do you have a favorite food website or blog? Cookbook or TV show?

Sarah:
The Hummingbird cafe cookbook is a GREAT book for cakes and cookies. I like Nigella Lawson for basics, Robert Carrier for rich, more complicated dishes and of course Monsieur Blanc! He has a great TV show at the moment... Kitchen Secrets - I'm loving it.

Me:
What is your favorite color to eat?

Sarah:
WoW! There's a question i've never considered the answer to. You know what.. I love lots of colour - varied colour. I like my plate to look like a picture before i start to eat. Failing that then brown... chocolate!!!

Me:
What is your favorite 5 ingredient recipe?

Sarah:
Can I have only 3? Raymond's chocolate moose. 90% chocolate, sugar, egg whites. It's SUCH a winner everytime I make it. It's on the BBC website at the moment. Just add good company and champagne for the perfect 5 ingredient recipe :)

Sarah was nice enough to send me this picture of her and Raymond having fun at her recent wedding.

Thanks again Sarah!

Soba Noodles with Grilled Shrimp and Broccoli

2010-02-22T05:06:43Z

Today's post is from the cover of Food and Wine this month. I have looked for soba a few times in the past few months and been unable to find it. I recently saw it at a random store in the mountains, driving home from a snowboarding trip. The next day I got this issue of F&W in the mail and knew I had to make it. It tasted fantastic and was totally worthy of the cover. I actually followed the recipe closer than I have followed a recipe in awhile. I added broccoli to mine, but I treated it the same as the shrimp.

Broccoli and shallots. I blanched the broccoli for 5 minutes, then dried it out.

The shallots slowly cooked until crispy. Same with the garlic.

Broccoli and shrimp tossed in the lime and oil, then skewered. I added chili flakes to the broccoli.

Soba noodles.

Freezing!

I added all the garnishes to the noodles, then mixed it all together.

As said, I followed this recipe exactly. For the broccoli, blanch it in boiling water for 5 minutes. Shock it in ice water. Dry it, then treat it the same as the shrimp in the recipe, with a little added chile flake.