Baked Quinoa Patties and Broccoli Pesto Quinoa Salad
Posted by ShootToCook in Recipes, Sides on May 3, 2012
Since I moved to St. Louis (nearly two years ago – wow) there is one habit that I have picked up: buying in bulk. In New York you have to only buy the exact amount of stuff you need at any given time because you have no place to store anything in your tiny 400 square foot walkup apartment. Now I have an actual storage unit in the hallway outside of my loft … and I also have a Costco card.
As a result I now have a decade’s supply of toilet paper, coffee filters, red plastic cups and all manner of other consumables that I’ve been able to buy in large quantities. I buy from my local stores whenever I can, but sometimes the cost savings of bulk purchases are just too tempting.
On my latest trip to Costco I picked up a metric ton on quinoa, and so for the last couple of days I’ve been making a lot of it. And a little dry quinoa goes a long way, lemme tell you. Both of the dishes I made used just two cups of dried quinoa, which barely made a dent in my giant bag. Suffice it to say I’m all set on quinoa for the foreseeable future.
I put out a query on twitter for some good quinoa recipes and got a lot of responses. Several people pointed out recipes on 101 Cookbooks and I found that Heidi’s got a whole treasure trove of quinoa recipes that look awesome. I also found that two of her recipes called for ingredients that I had leftover in the fridge from a personal project I worked on at the end of last week (more on that project later when it’s done). So not only was I able to start using my quinoa right away but I was able to use a whole lotta stuff from the fridge that might otherwise have gone bad. Win!
Since I cribbed the recipes almost identically from 101 Cookbooks, I won’t bore you with repeating the recipes here. Go check out the originals and see all of the other good stuff she’s got going on over on her blog.
The Baked Quinoa Patties (recipe here) are simply amazing. They are packed full of flavor, and they are great at room temperature. I substituted goat cheese for the feta, and as a result I should have added a little more salt but otherwiseI ended up taking them to a baseball game last night and they were perfect for that. Wanna see some weird reactions from people at a ballgame? Bring out some quinoa. Seriously, everyone was like, dude, what the hell are you eating. It’s quinoa bitches and it’s delicious! I have to say that I was the only person in Busch Stadium eating baked quinoa patties with dill and goat cheese. Trust.
The Broccoli Pesto Quinoa (recipe here) was also delicious and was perfect after it was chilled for the hot and humid weather we’ve been having here in St. Louis over the past few days. A couple of notes though: make sure to include the avocado – it would be kinda bland otherwise. And as with any other pesto, make sure to use fresh garlic. Older garlic can make the pesto bitter.
In addition to the quinoa I also picked up a giant bag of couscous, so you can bet I’ll be makin’ a whole lotta salads this summer.
Jim Lahey Slow Fermentation Pizza Dough
Posted by ShootToCook in Baking, Recipes on March 5, 2012
You know what is even better than pizza? Having cold pizza for breakfast. My friend recently Iron Stef recently tweeted about putting a fried egg on day old pizza for breakfast, which sounded awesome. And putting an egg on a pizza while you bake it is totally an option too. Of course, in order to have any sort of you have to actually either buy or make pizza the night before in order to have pizza for breakfast, so that is the first important step.
This month’s Bon Appetit cover story features Jim Lahey’s recipe for slow fermentation pizza dough. As you may recall, Lahey is the guy who came up with the method for one of my favorite breads: Dutch Oven No-Knead Bread which is insanely delicious, easy to make, and is always an impressive crowd pleaser when it’s your turn to bring bread for a dinner party. The only thing you need to do is remember to get it started the night before. The same goes for his recipe for pizza dough – easy to do, but it just takes a while.
Pizza with Brussel Sprouts, Bacon Lardons and Fontina made with slow fermentation pizza dough.
The basic theory is that you use a very small amount of yeast, and then you allow the dough to rise very slowly over a long period of time. Rather than developing the gluten with endless kneading after a fast rise, the character and flavor come from the slow fermentation. The slow fermentation comes as a result of using a tiny amount of yeast. Lahey’s recipe calls for 7.5 cups of flour and 1/2 teaspoon of yeast (enough dough for six small pies). By comparison, my quick pizza dough recipe which has been my go to for the last year or so takes only 1.5 cups of flour and 3/4 teaspoon of yeast (for one pie). Clearly I could save millions of dollars in yeast costs each year by doing the slow fermentation method. All right maybe not, seeing as I’ve only spent about $20 in yeast of the the last two years.
In any case, the results of the slow fermentation pizza dough are pretty impressive. The dough is crispy on the outside, but has the nice chewy inside to it as well. The long fermentation gives is a deep, rich flavor and unlike the quick pizza dough method, it is full of beautiful bubbles that puff up and char during the baking process. The dough is so flavorful that you can go even lighter on the toppings that you normally do on home made pizza. Believe me, you won’t be throwing out the crusts from these pizzas. I made two pizzas for dinner last night. I brushed each with olive oil, then topped one with roasted eggplant and goat cheese, and the other with shaved brussel sprouts, bacon lardons, and fontina. I sprinkled each pizza with sea salt, ground black pepper, and red pepper flakes. The combinations are endless.
One other wrinkle for this recipe is the baking method. Like most other pizza recipes, it calls for heating the oven (with a pizza stone) as hot as you can make it (550F preferred) for about an hour prior to baking (so essentially as long as the dough rest period). However, instead of simply baking the pizza on the stone, right before you put the pizza in you switch on the broiler. Note: this wouldn’t work in one of those ovens with the broiler in a separate drawer at the bottom. The residual heat from the pizza stone cooks the bottom of the pizza while the broiler cooks the top, giving you that lovely charred-in-spots blistered type of pizza you get from restaurants. You have to watch it very carefully so as not to burn the top. You’ll probably also have to rotate your pie about half way through unless you have a perfectly evenly heated oven.
Roasted Eggplant and Goat Cheese Pizza made with slow fermentation pizza dough.
One other note about this particular recipe: as I mentioned, it makes enough dough for six small pies. Obviously Dr. Fiance and I are not going to be eating six pies at one sitting. However, rather than cut the recipe down, I simply portioned out all six pieces, and then froze four of them, individually wrapped. In theory I’ll be able to let them defrost on the counter for a few hours before baking – I’ll let you know how that goes.
You can find the complete recipe for Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Pizza Dough at BonAppetit.com
Thai Yellow Curry with Beef
Posted by ShootToCook in Meat, Recipes on January 27, 2012
For the past year or so, my friends and neighbors at our old loft building get together for a casual dinner on Wednesday nights. Dr. Fiance and I have continued to attend even though we have moved out of the building. Every month or so, we host loft dinner on the road, so to speak, and our friends trek the whole two blocks from the old place to the new place. This week, I was expecting a largish group, so I turned to a cookbook that my sister gave me for Christmas for inspiration.
The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adria
The other thing that is really excellent about the cookbook is that each recipe contains ingredient measures for 2 people, 6 people, 20 people and 75 people. The method is the same, only the quantities are different. The book is broken up into three course meals that with a little planning can be thrown together in a very short time. This made it the perfect choice for finding a recipe for loft dinner, which ranges from 10-15 people weekly. I chose to go with a Thai Yellow Curry with Beef.
Thai Yellow Beef Curry. Photograph by Jonathan Gayman
This was an interesting project, mainly because I needed to source a number of ingredients that I didn’t have including Thai yellow curry paste and something called “blade steak”. My local grocery store doesn’t have either item, so headed to Whole Paycheck and World Market in search of the curry paste. World Market didn’t carry it at all, and Whole Paycheck only carries Thai green curry, in a tiny container for about one million dollars an ounce. Seriously, why is that place so damn expensive?
After asking for help on Twitter, I was referred to Jays International Food Co. on South Grand where I hit the jackpot in curry and, well, pretty much every other Asian ingredient you could possibly want. Cheap. Bingo.
Next was this blade steak business. For that I headed out of my favorite butcher, LeGrands. After some discussion and phone calls with a vacationing father about what kind of cut would be similar to blade steak, we determined that shoulder steak would work pretty well. I think in the final analysis chuck steak would have worked just as well, but the shoulder steak sure is pretty.
Raw Shoulder Steak. Photograph by Jonathan Gayman
I bought seven pounds of beef, which ended up feeding about fifteen of us and we ate all of it. It is made in a pressure cooker and I had to make it in two batches since it was too large to fit into my 8 quart pot. The recipe called for 50 minutes under pressure, but I feel like a half hour would have been just fine. The beef was very tender, almost too tender. It’s possible that an even tougher cut of meat would work better with this recipe; the shoulder steak may have been too tender. I am a meat idiot when it comes to cuts beyond, you know, ribeye, filet and chuck.
But in the end, it made for a very tasty curry dish, more like a stew than I was thinking it would, but it was delicious. I’m going to share the recipe for the large amount that I made, but you should really check out the book for the overall techniques and the other great recipes. Enjoy!
Thai Yellow Curry with Beef
Adapted from The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adria
Ingredients (for 15 people)
6-7 pounds of beef cubed (blade, shank, or cheek, I used shoulder)
1/3 cup olive oil
2.5 oz of fresh ginger, skin on, finely chopped
1/3 cup Thai yellow curry paste
Cilantro, 12oz stems removed, divided
3 quarts of water
5.5 cups of coconut milk
Season the beef with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large pressure cooker (lid off) over medium high heat. When oil is hot, add the ginger and saute for several minutes until fragrant. Add the curry paste and stir until evenly mixed with the ginger. Cook one minute. Add half of the cilantro, stir, then immediately add the water, 3/4 of the coconut milk, and the beef. Place lid on the pot and bring the pressure up over high heat. Once the cooker is pressurized, cook for 30-50 minutes depending on how tough the your meat is. Carefully release the pressure, then simmer the curry until is starts to thicken. Add the remaining coconut milk and cilantro, and serve with rice.
Tip: This recipe was too large for my pressure cooker, so I made it in two batches, which I then combined in a regular 6 quart dutch oven to simmer and serve. Worked out great. Use less water if you want something a little less like a soup.
About the photographs
Most of the photography on this site is made using natural light in my home studio. Occasionally though, I do use some artificial light. From time to time I’m going to be posting some information about the lighting setups for my photographs over at my professional photography blog and at Google+, which I think is a better forum for lighting discussions. You can read about today’s strobist-style lighting technique here.
Ciabatta? You Calling Me Ciabatta?
Posted by ShootToCook in Baking, Recipes on January 19, 2012
Ciabatta! For some reason it seems to me that the word “ciabatta” should be some sort of Italian insult. Here, I’ll use it in a sentence: “Hey Whole Foods, you ciabatta, why the ciabatta should a few bags of grains cost me almost fifty ciabatta dollars?” Has a certain ring to it doesn’t it?
“That’s right sucka, I called you ciabatta…whatcha gonna do about it?”
Seriously, I was in Whole Paycheck the other day and dropped close to $50 shopping for stuff I can’t get at my grocery store downtown. Stuff like quinoa, pearl barley, French lentils, etc. Which I had to scoop out of those bins and into bags … myself. And write the number on the little twisty-tie … myself. For the kind of money they charge for those bulk bin consumables I should get a neck massage while five employees bag up my jasmine rice for me. Sigh. I appear to be suffering from a serious case of FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS.
Anyways, while I was there I also picked up a loaf of ciabatta bread to have for lunch, and despite my somewhat mixed reactions to Whole Foods bread, this one was pretty good. And it got me thinking about how I haven’t tried any new bread recipes lately. I pretty much mastered my baguette recipe and have been making it pretty regularly. But I figured it was time to try something a little more challenging. I recently uncovered my copy of Peter Reinhart’s Artisan Breads Every Day
Ciabatta Bread, Photography by Jonathan Gayman
I’ve made several of Reinhart’s recipes (both bread and soft pretzels) in the past and this recipe was pretty similar to the others I’ve tried. Reinhart’s recipes are defined by the slow and cold method for the rise, and (in the case of ciabatta) a long, slow and multi-staged proofing before baking. The biggest difference from my earlier attempts was the fact that I used the fancy-schmancy new mixer. In theory this made for a more even mixing and yeast distribution. It definitely made it easier to get the dough ready, although I’m not sure if it saved me any time when you account for the extra cleanup involved.
The flavor of this bread is very rich and the flavor is much more developed than any of the others that I’ve made to this point. The crumb was custardy, moist and soft, while the crust is crunchy and slightly chewy. If anything I’d want the crust to be more chewy and less crisp, but I’m pretty happy with how this turned out.
The recipe for this ciabatta bread is easy, it is fairly long-winded and has a lot of steps. Since I didn’t make any significant changes to the original or the method, I would urge you to pick up a copy of Peter Reinhart’s Artisan Breads Every Day
- I used active-dry yeast instead of instant yeast that the recipe calls for. I buy active-dry because apparently it will last longer in the freezer than the instant stuff. I go through about two-pounds of yeast per year (give or take) and it is helpful to buy in bulk. When replacing instant yeast with active dry yeast, you need to add about 25% more than the recipe calls for.
- Active-dry yeast needs to be activated before adding it to the flour. The recipe calls for two cups of chilled water (as part of the slow fermentation process) so to get around that, I used 1.5 cups of cold water and 1/2 cup of warm water with the yeast dissolved in it. This method seemed to work out pretty well.
- I used parchment paper under the dough instead of putting the dough directly on the peel, which was a huge improvement. The dough for this recipe is very wet, soft and pliable (like many of Reinhart’s doughs) and is a bitch to get off of the peel. The parchment makes it easy to slide onto your baking stone, with the added advantage that you can easily rotate the loaves halfway-through to ensure even baking.
And as a final note, check out the kick-ass bread cutting board my dad made for me in the photo above. It has a slotted top to allow the crumbs to fall down into the box, which has a sliding back panel to easily empty out. My days of breadcrumbs all over the studio are through! The cutting board also doubles as a lid for the bread box he made for me as well. Super cool. Thanks dad!
Super Bowl Recipe: Baked Hot Wings
Posted by ShootToCook in Baking, Recipes, Sides on January 16, 2012
Last year in our first January in St. Louis Dr. Fiance and I tried to organize a Super Bowl party. After mentioning it several times our friends finally told us that unfortunately our television was just too small to accomodate a true Super Bowl party. Our television, which was enormous in our NYC apartment has since been universally mocked here in the land of 50+ inch sets here in the midwest where people have homes large enough to accomodate such things. This year, however, we were determined and have arranged to borrow several projectors which will (in theory) put the big game on several different walls in our loft. Take that you small television haters.
Hosting a Super Bowl party means figuring out how to feed everyone. Dr Fiance and I like to serve food themed to the teams playing, so we are in the process of working out menus based on the teams that make it in. After last night I can cross most cheese-related dishes off the menu. In fact, based on last night’s game we may be looking at frankfurters, bagels and New England clam chowder – but anything can happen between now and February 5th. Lets hope the Ravens lose next week. Based on the fact that 100% of my Baltimore knowledge comes from The Wire, we’d have to serve “lake” trout and heroin. Which could get pricey.
One thing that I want to serve at our party no matter which teams get into the Super Bowl are hot wings. You can’t have football without hot wings. Unfortunately, the best hot wings tend to be the ones that are deep fried. I hate to deep fry anything, particularly after seeing that Mythbusters episode about grease fires which terrified me. So I’m definitely going to be be baking my hot wings for the party.
Baked Hot Wings - Photograph by Jonathan Gayman
There are basically two schools of thought on how to bake hot wings: The first leans towards hot and fast, the second leans towards slow and low. My future brother and law swears by the slow and low method, so for my first trial run this weekend decided to go that way. And I also decided to take a page out of my Skillet Chicken method as well and see how that worked out.
I started with 6 fresh chicken wings (tips removed, then separated at the joint to give me 12 pieces). The day before baking, I liberally covered each wing segment with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper, then put them in the refrigerator overnight, loosely covered with plastic wrap. The idea with this method is that the salt and peppers act like a marinade, while the exterior of the chicken dries out a little to make it more crispy.
Then yesterday while the Ravens where stepping on the Texans I put the wings on a baking sheet and baked them at 325 for nearly two hours, flipping them every half hour or so. After two hours, I dipped each wing in a basic hot wing sauce (Franks Hot Sauce plus butter) then broiled them until the sauce crisped up. Then I did a second dip in the hot sauce before serving.
The results? The meat was excellent – moist and falling off the bone. I hate it when you really have to chew on hot wings – makes me think a bit too much about what I’m chewing on, you know?. My baked wings were exactly what I like from a wing, and even with the basic hot sauce were very tasty. My only complaint is that the skins were a bit chewy and tough, rather than crispy. I’m thinking that the way to fix that would be to broil a bit longer or perhaps try the hotter, faster baking method.
As the countdown to the party goes on, I’ll be trying a few more recipes (and of course I’ll be experimenting with home made sauces). What are your favorite hot wing recipes?
Three Hot Toddy Recipes
Posted by ShootToCook in Libations, Recipes on January 8, 2012
I spent the holidays on the road this year with a whirlwind trip to Florida for my first warm weather Christmas, then in Pennsylvania to see my parents before rushing off to New York City for a balmy rooftop New Year’s Eve. Apparently winter became aware that I was avoiding the cold weather and decided to punish me by bringing the cold on in full force my last couple of days in NYC. Seriously, I think it was the fact that I’d been swimming and drinking margaritas several days earlier that made it completely impossible for me to cope with the 12 degree weather with sub-zero windchill. It got me thinking about cold weather drinks to warm up frozen hands and sooth scratchy throats. And then I realized that January 8th is National Hot Toddy Day! Sweet! Just in time!
When you’re fighting a cold, or even just when you are chilly, nothing beats wrapping yourself in a blanket in front of the tube sipping a hot toddy. Hot toddies have long been used as cold and sore throat remedy because they accomplish two things: the warmth and sweetness makes you feel good and the booze makes you feel even better. And they both will possibly put you to sleep. Sure, downing a bottle of ‘tusson will probably put you to sleep too, but a hot toddy actually tastes good.
When I realized that National Hot Toddy Day was coming up, I did a little research to try to find some interesting recipes. There are many complicated versions involving homemade apple bourbon and herbal-tea infused liquors, but I wanted to focus on a more simple approach. My theory is that if you’re sick and miserable you aren’t going to want to be messing around with soaking apples in bourbon for three days before you make it. So the three hot toddy recipes that I found are relatively simple and likely contain stuff you have around the house already.
Traditional Bourbon Hot Toddy
Most hot toddy recipes are basically four elements: booze, citrus, sweetener and hot water. As I mention above, some people add a variety of other flavors, but those are the basics. And the most common liquor used in hot toddies is bourbon. For my bourbon hot toddy I used Bulliet, a personal favorite. If you want to get really decadent you could use something like Michter’s Rye which would give you a more complex flavor.
Bourbon Hot Toddy Recipe: 2oz bourbon, 1 tablespoon honey, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, dash of Angostura Bitters (optional) mixed in a mug. Top off with 1/4 cup or so of boiling water. Garnish with a thin lemon slice. If you want to get fancy you can stud the lemon slice with whole cloves.
Gin Hot Toddy
Back when I was living in my first apartment in Pennsylvania, my roommate and I had what we called the “summer of gin.” We had a back porch, we had day jobs that didn’t preclude us from having hangovers every day, and someone introduced us to Bombay Sapphire. Suffice it to say that we drank a lot of gin that summer. So much so that I pretty much stopped drinking gin for a decade or so. Now that cocktail culture has risen in popularity, I’ve been tentatively trying out some gin drinks. I was a little skeptical about a gin hot toddy, but wanted to give it a try. I’ll say this for it: it will probably cures what ails you. It is the most medicinal tasting of the three, but not entirely unpleasant. It wouldn’t be my go-to toddy, but if you’re looking for a change of pace and you love gin, this is it. I will say that there is a certain tactile comfort of holding a warm brandy glass in your hands.
Gin Hot Toddy Recipe: 2oz gin, 2 sugar cubes, 1 big squeeze of lemon juice, hot water, cinnamon stick. Dissolve the sugar cubes in the gin, add the lemon juice and mix together with the cinnamon stick. Add boiling water, again, about a 1/4 cup or so depending on how strong you want your toddy to be.
Tequila Hot Toddy
Tequila? in the winter? Sure, why not. This toddy is very reminiscent of a margarita which makes sense because the toddy contains the same ingredients, except that you exchange the ice for hot water. Despite the fact that the tequila toddy was hot instead of cold, it still made me think of the beach, which was a welcome surprise. A drink that warms you up on a cold day and makes you think of the beach? Perfect cure for the winter blues.
Tequila Hot Toddy Recipe: 2oz anejo tequila, 3/4 ounce Grand Marnier, 1/2 ounce agave nectar, 1 teaspoon lemon, 1 teaspoon clementine orange juice. Mix all of the ingredients together and add hot water. Delicious.
A Few Last Words on the Toddy
The nice thing about a hot toddy is that pretty much anything goes as far as ingredients and proportions. For all of my experimentation with toddies I used roughly 2oz of booze for each. If you prefer a less boozey drink, cut that if half, add a little more citrus and add a little more water. As I mentioned above, you can replace the hot water with tea (Earl Gray seems to be a popular choice). I also used middle/top-shelf booze, but then again I’m not actually sick. I’m betting that in one of those sneezy sore throat days, rail liquor will work just fine. If you’re forced to use some really terrible booze, add some more honey or sugar and that’ll cut any bitterness.
Happy National Hot Toddy Day!
Food Gift Idea: Caramel and Almond Popcorn
Posted by ShootToCook in Recipes, Sweet on January 6, 2012
This post is the fifth in a series of five about easy food gift ideas. Why did I wait until after the holidays to post them? ‘Cause I was giving them as gifts and didn’t want to ruin the surprise. Of course, they make great gifts year-round. Each post contains a downloadable pdf of the recipe card with a fictional product logo I designed along with some beautiful food photography.
Over the past four days I have been posting about some of the food gift ideas that I made in 2011. This last food gift idea is probably the most addictive treat of the week. Once you start chowing down on this sweet and salty popcorn you are unlikely to stop until the whole batch is finished. I suggest making several batches at once, while you have all of your pots and pans sticky, so that you have some to actually give away because I guarantee that this easy caramel and almond popcorn recipe is the bomb.
Sweet, salty, and addictive. There isn’t much more to say about this one. I packaged it in plastic bags tucked into inexpensive metal tins.
One thing to keep in mind with this one though, is that molten sugar will burn you. Even though it resembles caramel syrup, at 250 degrees it will stick to your skin and burn you even after you have dumped it onto the popcorn. Do yourself a favor and don’t try to spread this stuff around with your hands. But don’t let that scare you. This is an easy recipe and if you’re careful you’ll be in good shape.
Download the Caramel and Almond Popcorn Recipe Card (.pdf)
Previous Food Gift Ideas
Food Gift Idea: Spicy Hot Cocoa
Posted by ShootToCook in Libations, Recipes, Sweet on January 5, 2012
This post is the fourth in a series of five about easy food gift ideas. Why did I wait until after the holidays to post them? ‘Cause I was giving them as gifts and didn’t want to ruin the surprise. Of course, they make great gifts year-round. Each post contains a downloadable pdf of the recipe card with a fictional product logo I designed along with some beautiful food photography.
Several years ago when I was stil living in New York City, I a friend and I stopped by the then newly opened Jacques Torres shop on Hudson Street on a cold and windy Saturday afternoon. We were frozen to the core after a long walk through the winter streets and were looking for a pick me up. I suggest hitting a bar for some good old-fashioned cure for all that ails you better known as Irish whiskey, but my friend convinced me that hot cocoa was in order. Specifically, spicy hot cocoa. Thereafter those sad little packets of instant cocoa lost their lustre. The only cocoa I want is the spicy stuff!
For some reason, chocolate and hot peppers just go together, and in cocoa they are almost magical. The taste starts out sweet, then a long slow burn starts in the back of your mouth. By the time you finish your mug your whole body has a warm glow, and you can easily forget the cold weather outside.
Download the Spicy Hot Cocoa Recipe Card (.pdf)
Coming up tomorrow, the fifth and final installment: Food Gift Idea: Caramel and Almond Popcorn
Previous Food Gift Ideas
Food Gift Idea: Absolutely Sterling Chocolate Chip Cookies
Posted by ShootToCook in Baking, Recipes, Sweet on January 4, 2012
This post is the third in a series of five about easy food gift ideas. Why did I wait until after the holidays to post them? ‘Cause I was giving them as gifts and didn’t want to ruin the surprise. Of course, they make great gifts year-round. Each post contains a downloadable pdf of the recipe card with a fictional product logo I designed along with some beautiful food photography.
Over the years my family has made many different types of cookies over the holidays, but only one recipe has been a constant, year over year has been the family recipe of Absolutely Sterling Chocolate Chip Cookies.
I’m pretty sure the name comes from the person we originally got the recipe from, and we haven’t changed it much over the years. On occasion I have added orange zest and Grand Marnier (which was lovely) and played around with a cayenne pepper version which was less successful. This year I changed out the traditional semi-sweet chocolate chips with 60% cacao chocolate, which made them less sweet and a bit more austere. Feel free to experiment. If you recall, I made this chocolate chip cookie recipe with almonds last year, and posted some great advice from my dad about the best way to be efficient when making cookies, so make sure to give that a read as well.
Download the Absolutely Sterling Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe Card(.pdf)
Coming up tomorrow, the fourth installment: Food Gift Idea: Spicy Hot Cocoa.
Previous Food Gift Ideas
Food Gift Idea: Spice Rub
Posted by ShootToCook in Recipes on January 3, 2012
This post is the second in a series of five about easy food gift ideas. Why did I wait until after the holidays to post them? ‘Cause I was giving them as gifts and didn’t want to ruin the surprise. Of course, they make great gifts year-round. Each post contains a downloadable pdf of the recipe card with a fictional product logo I designed along with some beautiful food photography.
When I started this blog last year, one of the things that I wanted was to gain a better understanding of how to cook meat. As in meat other than hamburgers and hotdogs. And for the most part I have failed in that quest mainly because I realize that my natural tendency is to eat steak at a restaurant and chicken at home. But on the few occasions that I have made a big ‘ole roast, one thing that I have learned is that a good spice rub is the key to a delicious roast.
Spice rubs are awesome, and they are super easy to use. If you’re doing a large piece of meat like a pork or beef roast, liberally apply the spice rub to the meat the day before you plan to cook. That way all of the seasoning works its way into the meat. For more fragile dishes like fish, you’ll want to apply the spice rub maybe a half hour before you grill or bake. In any case, this spice rub is a fantastic mixture to have on hand – you can use it for everything.
One additional note about spices and spice rubs: find yourself a good spice store. The spices that you find in your local grocery store tend to be extremely over-priced, and since they have likely been sitting on the shelves for a while, they lack the potency of fresher spices. Here in St. Louis, I hit up our local Penzey’s Spices for my spice needs (and they have locations all around the country). In my experience, the spices are fresh and considerably more affordable than your average grocery store, particularly if you need large quantities for things like a spice rub.
Download the Spice Rub Recipe Card (.pdf)
Coming up tomorrow, the third installment: Food Gift Idea: Absolutely Sterling Chocolate Chip Cookies.
