manberry sauce

a few nights ago, we made cranberry sauce and steak. the sauce was so delish, perfect over the steak...would go great with sausage, turkey (obv), and chicken too. maybe on a salad as a dressing. we just served it with some cubed butternut squash -- so choice. so very easy.

Cranberry sauce:

• 2 cups cranberries , fresh or defrosted
• 1 cup diced white onion (about 1 large onion)
• 2 cloves garlic , sliced
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 cups dark ale or lager beer
• 1 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1/3 cup soy sauce

Steak:

• 6 (12 ounces each) boneless choice rib eye steaks
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil

To make sauce: Combine all ingredients in a stainless steel saucepan and simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until sauce has thickened and reduced slightly, about 1 hour.

Working in batches, place sauce in a blender and process until smooth. Be careful to start blender at a low speed and allow steam to escape. Strain sauce through a fine mesh strainer and set aside. It will keep, covered, in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks.

To make steak: Remove from refrigerator 1 hour before cooking. Warm a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season steak with salt and pepper to taste. Working in batches, add 1 tablespoon oil to pan and sear 2 steaks until deep golden, about 5 minutes. When steak releases easily from pan, flip and continue cooking about 4 minutes more for medium rare. For first two batches, remove slightly early and finish cooking in a 350° oven for 10 to 20 minutes; meanwhile, repeat cooking process with remaining oil and steaks.

To serve: Place steaks on plates, and spoon sauce on the side.

I didn't get rib eyes (who do i look like, bob barker?) -- we got strip steaks. I don't like rib eyes anyways, too fatty. I also didn't blend and strain the sauce because I was lazy and didn't have enough time. I stirred it and also pressed it throughout the hour when it was simmering on the stove. when it was reduced enough, I hit it with my lil potato masher. there were still whole pieces of cranberry (sort of like grape pie filling). it would have been awesome strained though, because it would have been a really shiny glazey looking sauce -- but it was still soooo tasty just smashed up.

I'd also recommend not using so much worcestershire. a whole f-ing cup is so much. maybe 1/2 - 3/4 a cup.

happy saucing!

When Fall Gives You Apples...

make Curried Apple Chutney

Peel and chop 9 cups of apples.
In a large pot, combine apples with
4 cups of apple cider vinegar
5 1/2 cups of golden raisins
4 cups brown sugar
1 cup minced onion
1 cup red pepper
2 hot peppers
1 clove of garlic
3 T mustard seed
2 T ginger
2 T allspice
2 T curry powder

Bring to a bowl. Simmer for about half an hour or until thick.
Pack in hot jars with 1/4 inch headspace.
Process in water canner.

Serve this delicious treat on crackers with cream cheese as a tasty hors d'oeveres or on meat for supper!

Warning: This recipe is large and makes many jars, but never fear they make delightful Christmas presents, hostess gifts, or quick snackaroos in a pinch!

Quickies: The Answer to Many a Problem

I was asked to participate in the preparation of a breakfast buffet (no relation to Jimmy) and decided what could be better than quiche. For those you who don't understand the wonders of a quiche, well you should make one or two or many until you do. The quiche is perfect for so many occasions. As the darling Julia Child writes, "It is practically foolproof, and you can invent your own combination. Serve it with a salad, hot French bread, and a cold white wine; follow it with fruit, and you have a perfect lunch or supper menu. Or let it be the first courser of your dinner. You can also make tiny quiches for hot hors d'oeuvres." With so many possibles, I had to ponder what type of quiche to make so I peered into the fridge and what did I spy but mushrooms, onions, and of course the ever popular: bacon. Voila! Quiche Lorraine aux Champignons. With ingredients in hand, I combined Julia's recipe, the recipe of my guru, Monica and my own personal flair to create a dish that turned out to be a smashing success at Skills Lab Counselor Breakfast.


Quiche a la juliamonicacolleen

Cook up 4-6 strips of bacon until crispy.
Line a pie dish with pie crust (Cheater's note: Pillsbury croissant roll work like a dream when in a hurry).
Brush crust with dijon mustard. Add 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese and 1/2 cup of shredded swiss.
Remove bacon from pan. In grease, saute 1/2 small onion and 1 cup of sliced mushrooms.
In a bowl, combine 3 eggs, 1 1/2 cup cream, milk or combo of both, 1/2 cup of cottage or ricotta cheese (optional), sprinkle of pepper, sprinkle of nutmeg.
Add onion, mushroom, and chopped bacon. Pour into pie crust. Top with more shredded cheese.
Bake in a 375 oven for 30 minutes or until puffed and browned.


Side Notes:
Please read the following article found by Kim and let's put this on the event calender for next year...
BACONPALOOZA

and

When cooking in a sleeveless flannel, please watch this video.
BOSSTIME

it's tshirt tiiiiiiiime.

when I was little our neighbor (sue schwingel) used to make these for us in the fall and for christmas. she deliver a little plate full of desserts and these were, pardon my french, da shiiiiit. I remembered them out of the blue the other day and found them online. I made a batch tonight -- they taste so f-ing a-maz-ing but I have some edits that I'll make for next time (I'll tell you when you're older**).

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Marshmallow Crunch Brownie Bars

Yield: 24 bars

For the Brownie Base:
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2/3 cup unsalted butter
1¼ cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Toppings:
1 bag (10½ ounces) miniature marshmallows
1½ cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup smooth peanut butter (don’t use natural peanut butter)
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
1½ cups Rice Krispies cereal

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13-inch pan.

2. For the brownies: In a medium saucepan, melt the unsweetened chocolate, butter and ¾ cup of the semisweet chocolate chips over medium heat. Stir occasionally while melting. Set aside and cool for 5 minutes.

3. In a medium bowl sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl , whisk the eggs thoroughly. Add the sugar and vanilla and whisk until well blended. Stir the melted ingredients into the egg mixture, mixing well. Stir in the dry sifted ingredients and mix well. Fold in the remaining ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the surface with a spatula. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the corner of of the pan comes out with moist crumbs.

5. Remove the brownies from the oven and immediately sprinkle the marshmallows over them. Return the pan to the oven for 3 more minutes.

6. Meanwhile, place the milk chocolate chips, peanut butter, and tablespoon of butter in a medium saucepan. Melt over low heat, stirring constantly, until completely melted. Remove from heat, add the Rice Krispies and mix well. Allow to cool for 3 minutes.

7. Spread the mixture evenly over the marshmallow layer. Refrigerate until chilled before cutting.

**you definitely need to remember to get MINI marshmallows and not the biggies. I got a bag of bigs and they didn't spread out well and they were glopping all over the place when I was trying to layer the delicious rice krispie treat part on top of them. I'm not sure if the mini marshballs will help with the glopping but it couldn't hurt. the marshmallow WILL mixed in with the rice krispie part if you get the big ones though (not that it's really a bad thing. it all goes to the same place, ha! HA! ha!).

also -- make more of the rice krispie topping (step #6). I'm going to try to increase this amount by about a third next time. there was a lot of it but not enough to spread it evenly to the edges, and therefore there's more marshmallow popping up when the rice krispie part is the best part. next time I'll try 2 cups of choc. chips, 1.5 cups of p.b., 2 tbsp. of butter, and 2 cups of rice krispies. if you have leftover krispies then YOU'RE WELCOME!

http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2009/10/05/marshmallow-crunch-brownie-bars/

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so either way, this recipe is ballerrrrrrrrrrrr. I'll make it for friendsgiving. that's how much I love you. I suggest you make it anyways.

also, if you don't go to the gym, you don't look good. if you don't tan, you're pale. and if you don't do laundry...you ain't got no clothes.

Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble

Pumpkin ale fermenting for your drinking pleasure!!

A pair of long separated sisters are reunited

So this afternoon i got the surprise of my young life when i opened the door of my apartment expecting to find my parents laden with bookshelves canned goods and miscellaneous items and was faced instead with my little sister Zella bearing miscellaneous gifts as well. We all went for a little jaunt down to the south street seaport before realizing that it is essentially a glorified mall, getting a seasonal beer tour and nachos and turning back to astoria to make the most glorious meal i've had in some time.

The main dish- Bacon-Wrapped Pork Loin with Apples and Sausage
a recipe found in Food & Drink the Autumn 2010 issue featuring Ontario wines and chefs

2 large pork tenderloins totaling about 2 lbs
10 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
2 or 3 large garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
9-10 slices of thick cut bacon
kitchen twine
3-4 large apples such as cortland or spy
1 large cooking onion
2 tbs all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chicken broth or stock

1. If any silver skin on loins is present, cut away and discard. Sprinkle sage, garlic, salt and pepper all over loins (insert lots of giggles as this recipe is being dictated by Zella as I type). Place loins closely together length wise with thick ends meeting thin ends to even out roast thickness (again with the giggles).
2. Lay out slices of bacon snuggly together on a cutting board forming a rectangle. Place loins across bacon so bacon ends emerge from each side. (essentially i will never stop giggling). Beginning at one end lift a bacon end over loins at a 45 degree angle, then alternating sides, continue lifting bacon ends down the length of the roast forming a chevron pattern of bacon on top.
3. Cut five 12 in lengths of twine and one 30 in length. Place five shorter lengths of wine under loin width wise. Working out from roast center, firmly, but not causing deep indents to form, tie up each piece of twine, spacing evenly apart. Then tie up roast length wise with longer piece of twine (cuz its been quite naughty). Trim twine ends; discard.
4. When ready to roast, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat, lightly brown roast on all sides, about 15 min. Transfer to a baking pan lined with a rack. Place in oven; set time for 30 min. Check and continue roasting until a meat thermometer reads 145 degrees. Remove from oven; transfer to cutting board. Cover roast with foil; let rest 15-20 min.
5. Meanwhile, peal core and slice apples. Thinly slice onion.
6. Drain most of fat from frying pan; place over medium heat. Add onion, cook 10 min or until lightly brown. Stir in flour; cook 1 min. Stir in chicken broth; add apple slices. Bring to a boil; simmer; cover 5-10 min or until apples are tender and sauce is lightly thickened. Add more broth if too thick, keep covered and hot (personally i like it very hot and thick).
7. To slice a pork roast, snip off length wise string. Then slice about 3/4 in thick, removing cross wise strings as they are encountered. Place a few saucy apples (i'll give you a saucy apple) on each warm serving plate, top with a couple slices of roast and drizzle with more sauce.

-so there you have it folks. We served this recipe with smashed potatoes and green beans sauteed with garlic and almonds but when you are eating pigs wrapped in more pigs it really doesn't matter what else you eat with it. anyway we also paired this meal with a couple bottles of cab sauv-genius.

This meal combined with all the family love gave me the warmest fuzziest feeling i've had in a while-love you all!!!

Bacon, bacon everywhere and not a drop to eat....

please check this link from Dan W out.. It's amazing..

Bacon Haikus

Girls that eat bacon

Are hotter than girls that don’t

Scientific fact!

a little softshoe gentle sway.

I roasted my first pumpkin the other day. It was a milestone. Really it was practice for the pumpkin beer that Colleen and I will be brewing on Thursday (All the ingredients are finally in place. The fact that they arrived in an old Pampers box is a fact that I'm just going to ignore). Originally, I was going to make these pumpkin bars from the Moosewood Dessert Cookbook. They're always a hit with the kids & gentlemen in your life. Unfortunately, Colleen got the aforementioned cookbook in the divorce settlement. So I had to improvise. All the recipes for pumpkin bars online only have cinnamon for the spice. Big mistake. Huge.

I finally settled on a pumpkin cookie recipe from a cookbook in my cupboard that is so ancient I don't even know the name of it.

1 c. sugar

1 c. pumpkin

1/2 c. shortening

1 Tbsp. grated orange peel (i used OJ)

2 c. flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon (like the other recipes, this one only listed cinnamon. I was going to add ginger & nutmeg, but I decided to be a pampered chef and used this little spice combo called cinnamon plus. I'm not really sure what the plus entailed but it was along the lines of other pumpkin spices and maybe a few little other extras...if you know what i mean)

1/4 tsp salt

*the recipe also calls for raisins & nuts. I prefer chocolate chips. Totally your call though.

Heat oven to 375.

Mix sugar, shortening, pumpkin and orange juice. Stir in dry ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips or any other misc addition of your choosing. If you're like me, you'll bake the first tray before remembering to add the chocolate chips. Oh well...all aspiring chefs are absentminded. That's why the contessa is barefoot right?

Bake 10ish minutes. There's a glaze for them which i didn't use because i had to go to work and ran out of time. Honestly, they're plenty sweet without the glaze.

For the sake of posterity:

Lt. Brown Glaze

1/4 c. butter

2 c. powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1-2 Tbsp of milk.

Heat butter. Stir in sugar and vanilla. Add milk til smooooooth.

Also, I made an apple salsa which was devine (literally, it had white wine in it). I'll tell you all about it when you're older.

Annnnd, the vampire weekend cover of that bruce springsteen song. i just can't get enough. I've probably mentioned it but i'm going to keep rementioning it until i can listen to it without involuntarily playing air piano.

I made The First Pot of Chili of the Year

I used to hate chili when I was little but that was obviously because one key ingredient was missing -- bacon. I found a chili recipe that not only required bacon but also required the use of the rendered bacon fat. I mean, come on. so now, since the weather has regularly been around 60, my stock pot was calling me from the depths of my cupboard. last week when it was rainy the entire day (in Irondequoit too, that usually doesn't happen. it rains a lot for the whole day in the southern-tier. the lake sort of buffers off entire days of rain. I don't know 'bout snow though), I made The First Pot of Chili of the Year. I found a recipe -- from who else but RACHEL RAY -- and added a few things. this recipe halved makes enough for one to eat it for several days. grandma, Mr. F, Mr. R, and I had it about 3 times each and finished the pot, if that makes sense.

Nick Mangold's Super Bowl C.B.C. (Chorizo Bacon Chili)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 strips of thick-cut bacon, diced
1 large onion, chopped
1 pound Mexican chorizo sausage, removed from casings**
2 pounds ground sirloin
Salt and ground black pepper
6 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 orange bell pepper, chopped
2 serrano peppers, finely chopped
4 ribs of celery, chopped
1 cup frozen corn
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
2 teaspoons coriander
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cups beef stock
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
Your favorite chili toppings

** to prep the chorizo -- this might seem obvious but I'll say it anyways -- cut it in half length wise and scoop it out with a spoon. chop up a bit with a knife so that it matches the size that the ground beef would be if cooked.

NOW - you may notice beans are missing. beans are a key component to chili, in my opinion. nick mangold obviously hates beans or has some beano problems that normal people don't have -- I added a full can of chili beans to this recipe. I used normal ground beef too and got some chipotle chorizo, compliments of danny wegman. because the chorizo was spicier, I didn't add serrano peppers. I subbed crushed tomatoes for diced tomatoes (canned but seriously. cut 'em yerself if you're feeling especially julia child-esque that day). make sure everything you prep is the same size (onions, peppers, tomatoes, celery) so that they cook evenly. don't scrimp on the garlic.

to start --
chop up the bacon and sizzle it in a big stock pot with the olive oil until it's done. skim it out and set it aside. add the onion until it's almost transparent. add the chorizo and the beef and cook until browned. throw in the pepper, garlic, and salt. in a bowl, mix the celery, corn, and peppers and then throw them all in together until they start sweating like olivia newton john in "let's get physical." add all the spices and throw some extra coriander spice in there because it's your favorite spice in the entire universe and you can't imagine how extra coriander could ever be a bad thing. let this sheeeit sit and stir it and love it and smell it. once everything is all coated in delicious spices, add the stock, tomatoes and tomato sauce (even though I halved the recipe, I still used a whole can of tomato sauce). re-add your bacon and bring everything up to a boil. taste and adjust according to how you're feeling that day. reduce to a simmer and cover. cook it for an hour at least.

serve cook mccready style, with grated pepper jack cheese and sour cream (drink with a really dry red wine or a nice octoberfest).

happy chili season!

(original recipe here: http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/nick-mangolds-super-bowl-cbc-chorizo-bacon-chili/).

p.s. FJ and I found the most amazoid website in the entire world. you can listen to samples used in hip hop songs (and other songs but hip hop songs are the best) and listen to the original song as well as the "cover" song. best ever: "gone" by kanye west, sampling "it's too late" by otis redding.

http://www.whosampled.com/sample/view/328/Kanye%20West%20feat.%20Cam'ron%20and%20Consequence-Gone_Otis%20Redding-It's%20Too%20Late/