food fight!

I need to come up with a really classy/creative/descriptive/fun/funny name for a food blog/business name/etc. I'd appreciate any suggestions. Ideally, I would like to use food fight, as it was the plan for a make up line I will (eventually, sometime down the road) be creating. It’s very fun, playful, and descriptive for a majority of the things I want to do.

So, I've been in school for 7 days now. Not too long at all! We've been doing a lot of technical things - "serve safe" classes, knife skills, broths, and today - sauces. I'm not going to be sharing many recipes yet (as I'm not creating a ton of things that you can't figure out yourself), but I am going to share some photos - because who doesn't love looking at photos of gorgeous food?!?

After creating homemade stocks in class -  we were allowed to take home mirepoix from our knife skills class. I decided to make a homemade broth that night, and utilize it in my first EVER risotto. It was a scallion, lime, and basil risotto - rich, creamy, and sweet! It was a Monday, the night Hell's Kitchen is on, so it was only fitting.  (By the way, Chef Gordon Ramsay is coming to Austin THIS WEEK to film an episode of Kitchen Nightmares. I emailed for reservations over 2 weeks ago, unfortunately, I was never contacted. I would have been so beyond stoked to get a chance to say hi to him or try something he had a hand in making.)

Today, we made sauces. Pesto is considered a "contemporary" sauce, and that's what I made this evening. I sauteed eggplant in a pan every so slightly coated with oil and bits of garlic, then garnished with a pesto made of purple basil, arugula, olive oil, salt, pepper, and CASHEWS. It turned out very nicely - not what you would expect of a common pesto, that's for sure. I served it with an arugula salad with olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and agave nectar dressing. It was still very yummy though.

 

Tomorrow, we start talking about dry & wet cooking methods. I'll have to work after school, so I won't get to experiment 'til the weekend. Bummer city! I'll be holding dinner parties soon with the very FEW friends I have in Austin, so expect more photos & foodie updates. (Funny enough, most of the friends we're making here are from Indiana. It's just easier.)

valentine's day dinner

Our Valentine's Day-a-day-early plans were foiled by Cheesecake Factory when they told us they don't take reservations. I'll gladly take the meal I made over Cheesecake Factory any day. This meal was made from ingredients we already had, and with no particular plan in mind until it started putting itself together.

Potato, Pear & Onion Gratin and Sauteed Polenta served over Mixed Greens with Tomato-Ginger Sauce. Serious Business.

Don't worry. I'll share my recipes. This was probably the best meal I've made this year - and only solidifies the fact that culinary school & I are a match made in heaven.  (ps. this was all made in a toaster oven & with a hot plate)

Pear, Potato, and Onion Gratin (adapted from this recipe)

6 tbsp Earth Balance Buttery Spread (seperated)
3/4 yellow onion, sliced
2 tsp dried thyme
2 - 3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tsp sea salt
1/3 c water
1/3 c balsamic vinegar
2 tsp cane sugar
3 medium to large red potatoes, sliced
2 pears, sliced

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Melt 3 tbsp buttery spread in pan over medium heat. Add onions and thyme, and saute until onions are tender, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add garlic and saute for a couple minutes more.
3. Turn heat off, add remaining 3 tbsp buttery spread. Melt. Add salt, water, balsamic vinegar, and cane sugar and stir well. Let cool.
4. Place potatoes and pears in glass baking dish. Add cooled onion mixture and mix well. Cover with parchment paper, then cover with foil (shiny side down).
5. Bake for 40 minutes - or until potatoes are tender. Remove cover, and baked 15 to 20 more minutes, until things are bubbly.

Tomato and Ginger Sauce

Olive Oil
1/4 yellow onion, diced
3 - 4 garlic cloves, chopped well
1 vine-ripened tomato, chopped
1/2 cup ketchup (I had 1/4 cup ketchup + 1/4 cup spicy agave ketchup)
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp Ginger People Ginger Spread

1. Heat olive oil in medium sized pan over medium heat. Add onions and saute until soft.
2. Add garlic and saute for a couple minutes more, until garlic is fragrant.
3. Add tomato and saute for a couple more minutes.
4. Add ketchup, water, and Ginger Spread.  Mix well, then turn head up to medium-high. Bring to boil & let cook for about 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Remove from heat, cool, and serve.

We followed the meal with Blondies topped with Jeni's Ice Cream Reisling Poached Pear Sorbet (it's vegan!). The sorbet tasted as if a frozen pear was just melting in my mouth. If you have yet to try Jeni's, I'd highly suggest hunting some down. This artisanal ice cream is made with fresh ingredients from the Ohio countryside. This was my first taste, and it blew my mind.

Well, I know Valentine's Day is actually tomorrow. Do you have any plans?

twenty-fourth

I made THE BEST curried vegetables last night.

I've always had bad experience when I've ordered dishes with the word "curry" in them out at restaurants. I've been hesitant to make my own. But, I'm glad I finally did.

I found a vegetable curry recipe on allrecipes.com to serve as a guide. It sounded okay, but I figured I could make it better. And I did.



Sweet & Spicy Vegetable Curry

2 tbsp butter (can easily be omitted to make a vegan dish!)
2 tbsp vegetable oil (increase this a bit if you skip the butter)
1 medium onion, finely diced
4 carrots, chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp fresh ginger
3 tbsp curry powder
salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp agave nectar
5 red potatoes, chopped
1/2 cup water
jasmine rice

1. Heat the butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and carrots, cook for about 5 minutes. Add garlic and fresh ginger, continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until onion and carrots are tender.
2. Add curry powder, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and agave nectar.
3. Add the potatoes to the pan, and stir to coat with spices. Reduce heat to medium-low, add water, cover, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Stir occasionally.
4. Serve over jasmine rice.

Please adjust agave & curry to taste...mine was just the right amount of spice for me!

twenty-second

On December 27th, we finally made our Christmas Dinner!

It was too bad we didn't have any gifts left-over to unwrap after such a wonderful meal.

I couldn't find a field roast to cook, so I opted for a quorn turk'y roast. I've always had good experience with other quorn products, so I figured it was a pretty safe bet.

& I figured right. James said something to the effect that the quorn roast was the closest to the "real thing" that he has ever had.



Unfortunately, I didn't read the directions very well, and failed to notice I should get a roast bag so I could get all the delicious flavors in there. So, instead I just mixed up herbs & olive oil and poured it over top, after poking lots and lots of holes in the outer wrapping. It didn't turn out half bad!



We baked sweet potatoes!




& the best part: apple-cranberry-"sausage" stuffing & vegetarian gravy! The gravy even started getting that little film over top of it like the real stuff!




Easy 4-Ingredient Vegetarian Gravy (from vegweb.com)

Ingredients:

2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp flour
1 cup homemade (if possible) vegetable stock
whole herbs- sprigs of thyme, bay leaves, rosemary

Directions:

1. Heat oil over medium high heat. Sift in your flour evenly and stir. Cook the flour until a light tan color.
2. When your roux is a nice tan color, add your broth and spices. Cook, stirring constantly for 5-10 minutes or until thickened.
3. Remove your spices and season with salt and pepper.






Apple, Cranberry, Sausage Stuffing


Ingredients

3 cups cubed sourdough bread
10 ounces ground fake sausage (or, you can use real sausage?)
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp chopped onion
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp chopped celery
Fresh sage, rosemary, and thyme (enough for your liking)
1 Golden Delicious apple, cored and chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup vegetable stock
3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F (175 degree C). Spread the bread cubes in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes in the preheated oven, or until evenly toasted. Transfer toasted bread cubes to a large bowl.
2. In a large skillet, cook the sausage and onions over medium heat, stirring until evenly browned. Add the celery, sage, rosemary, and thyme; cook, stirring, for 2 minutes to blend flavors.
3. Pour sausage mixture over bread in bowl. Mix in chopped apples & dried cranberries.
4. Pack dressing loosely in buttered baking dish. Drizzle with stock & melted butter. Bake for 40 minutes.
5. Take stuffing out and drizzle with a little more butter. Cook about 20 minutes more, until top is is crisp & golden.


Food is awesome!

fourth

so, i've been terrible about posting. absolutely terrible.
but, that's because i've been so busy!

just a quick list of things i've been up to:

- organizing flickr
- gathering odds 'n ends for odds 'n ends projects
- finding a bicycle, making plans for said bicycle, bugging james about stripping bicycle (tonight, it's being sanded and primed. this thing is going to end up beautiful.)
- knitting spring berets like mad, and making some changes to make them more to my liking
- cooking cooking cooking. yum! cupcakes, sweet potatoes, and mushrooms are the most popular things.
- watching Eureka! - great show.
- setting up my sewing machine (yes! finally set up) and working on odds 'n ends i've needed that for.
- resin casting - knitting needles (first attempt last night!)
- being broke - seriously broke. and having $1000 in car repairs come out of nowhere! trying to save money for the big swap bonanza next weekend in chicago! that will be great!
- working on a knit clutch pattern with lil' birdies.

if you want 'better' updates...follow me on twitter: twitter.com/shhhkate. i tweet about food...alot.

i'll have some photos to post soon. i have them now, but i need to get back to knitting...i've got some things to finish up before next weekend!

second

i guess saturday was the day for me to cook this weekend.
i cooked and cooked and cooked. okay, really, i only ended up cooking for 2 hours, but i made three fabulous dishes.

for dinner, we had sweet potato soup with a side of garlic brussels sprouts. i know what you're thinking "brussels sprouts? seriously? gross," and that's exactly what i would have thought a year ago. i promise, those little miniature heads of lettuce are quite delicious though! they smell a little funny, but they taste damn good.



so, you say you want to make these yourself? well, here's the recipes:

snappy sweet potato soup (adapted from creamy sweet potato soup recipe from simply recipes)

1 tbsp butter, salted
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 small chopped celery stalk
1 small chopped leek (be sure to get nice a clean!)
2 medium chopped garlic cloves
3 cups peeled and cut sweet potatoes
3 cups vegetable broth
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 pinch ground cumin
1/4 to 1/2 cup half and half
1 tbsp maple syrum
salt and pepper to taste (optional)

1. melt your butter in a large, heavy bottomed pan over medium high-heat. add onion and saute for about 5 minutes (or until lightly browned, be sure to stir often!). add celery and leeks, saute about 5 minutes more. add garlic, sature for 2 minutes.
2. add your onion/celery mixture to a soup pot. add sweet potatoes, vegetable stock, cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne pepper, and ground cumin. bring to boil. reduce heat, and simmer about 20 minutes, until tender (when you can easily moosh sweet potatoes with a fork).
3. remove cinnamon stick and discard. puree mixture in blender in batches (about 3 or so).
4. add half and half and maple syrup. stir over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes. season with salt and pepper (if you would like).
5. place in serving bowl, bring spoon to mouth, say "mmmm!"

the tastiest brussels sprouts in the world

1 lb brussels sprouts
5 medium chopped garlic cloves
1 tsp butter
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 to 1/2 cup vegetable broth (enough to have brussels sprouts stand in)
salt + pepper, to taste

1. wash brussels sprouts. trim ends, and cut in half.
2. in large pan, saute garlic in 1 tsp of butter plus olive oil for about 3 minutes ( or until golden brown).
3. add brussels sprouts and toss to coat. turn heat to low and turn all brussels sprouts so flat sides are down in pan. add broth, salt, and pepper. cover and cook for 12 to 14 minutes, or until tender.
4. remove cover and turn heat up to medium-high. allow to cook for a couple minutes more, until bottoms of sprouts are slightly browned.

and for desert, yummy yummy delicious berry tapioca pudding!



yummy berry tapioca pudding

2 cups juice (part from canned pineapple, i used orange juice too)
1/2 cup tapioca
1/4 cup honey (use local, if you can!)
1 can drained and crushed/chopped pineapple
2 cups frozen berries (your favorite kind!)

1. put juice, tapioca, and honey in a 2 quart saucepan (a larger pan is okay, but smaller will be a problem). let stand for at least 5 minutes (longer is okay) then bring to a boil over low heat and cool until tapioca is clear, stirring VERY frequently.
2. meanwhile, blend crushed/chopped pineapple and frozen berries. chop, mix, smash, whatever you want to get those berries good and blended.
3. mix the two parts together and refrigerate for about 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving.

yum!