Pear Havarti Strudel Poptart  

Posted by Matt in , , , , ,


This was my contribution to the Breakfast Party.
I used this recipe here but made a few adjustments. I used pear instead of apple, and where the recipe calls for rolling the strudel up before baking, I kept it flat and then cut it down to size once it was done cooking.
For the Filling:
¼ cup butter
2 lbs pear, peeled and diced
⅓ cup sugar
⅓ cup raisins
¼ tsp cinnamon
12 oz Havarti cheese with dill or caraway seeds, cut into ½ inch cubes
Dash pepper
2 Tbsp butter
2 leeks, cleaned well and sliced in rounds
2 Tbsp shallots, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3 Tbsp fresh parsley, cleaned well and chopped

For the Pastry:
½ pound phyllo dough
½ cup melted butter (for painting phyllo dough)

Large mixing bowl
Large sauté pan
Pastry brush - medium size
9 x 13” glass pan, greased (a greased baking sheet can be substituted)


Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
Sauté pears in ¼ cup butter, add sugar, raisins, cinnamon and stir until well blended.
Increase heat and stir until juices evaporate then, transfer to bowl.
Sauté leeks, shallots and garlic, add parsley, stir well.
Add mixture to bowl with pear mixture and then, add cubes of cheese.
Combine well.
Wrap in phyllo by layering a piece of phyllo pastry on baking sheet or in a 9 x 13” pan, use a medium size pastry brush to paint melted butter over phyllo sheet and repeat until you have layered 10 or so sheets.
Add filling to center of pastry and wrap as a package, finish by painting butter on top and sides.
Bake at 350°F for 35 to 45 minutes. Let cool to set on baking rack cutting into squares to serve.
I found that using phyllo dough is a bit tricky. It is important that it has at least 24 hours to thaw before working with it otherwise it will stick together and tear to tiny bits.
Also the cooking time is fairly precise. If you pull it out too soon, it will stay soggy from all the butter, but if you let it go too long, the phyllo dough will get brown and be too dry and taste burnt.
So that is what I made. It was good.

Beignets! Break yo self!  

Posted by Jeremy in , , , , ,

From allrecipes.com.

  • 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup evaporated milk
  • 7 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup shortening
  • 1 quart vegetable oil for frying
  • 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
  1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar, salt, eggs, evaporated milk, and blend well. Mix in 4 cups of the flour and beat until smooth. Add the shortening, and then the remaining 3 cups of flour. Cover and chill for up to 24 hours.
  2. Roll out dough 1/8 inch thick. Cut into 2 1/2 inch squares. Fry in 360 degree F (180 degrees C) hot oil. If beignets do not pop up, oil is not hot enough. Drain onto paper towels.
  3. Shake confectioners' sugar on hot beignets. Serve warm.
These fry for no more than a couple of minutes on each side. They puff up very quickly, and are done not long after that. They're light, and crisp, and airy, and deleeshuss. Ring the bell!

BREAKFAST PARTY!!  

Posted by Jeremy in ,







Yay! These are the various items, I'll be sending these pics to the people these recipes belong to, and they can post said recipes, should they desire. Not pictured: A very good coffee cake, and Strawberry Banana Peanut Butter smoothies.

Stuffed Chicken Breast  

Posted by Jeremy in , , , ,


More chicken? Yeah, yeah I guess so. So this one was all off the cuff. Turned out purdy darn good, so I'm posting it. I figure this should make up for using the Tyler Florence recipe.
I can't give you exact measurements for anything but here were the basic ingredients:
-4 chicken breasts
-turkey ham
-basil
-garlic
-parmesan
-1 can tomato sauce
-onion powder
-white cooking wine
-oregano
-salt
-pepper
-olive oil
-milk

I started off by seasoning the chicken breasts and then searing them in a skillet with some olive oil. Took the breasts, sliced them open, stuffed them with pieces of the ham, and a mixture of basil, garlic, parmesan, oregano, and onion powder. I also covered them on the outsides with the same filling. Then I popped them in the oven at 350. Hit the hot pan with the seared chicken bits with some white wine, popped in the tomato sauce, and some milk. Brought it to a boil, reduced it, started to stir in parmesan, basil, garlic, and a little bit of onion powder. I let that simmer basically the whole time the chicken cooked. Amber made some mashed potatoes. I pulled the chicken out when it was about 150 internally, let it rest for 10 minutes and it rose to about 165 when it was done. It ended up being cooked perfectly. Super moist, super tender. It was good, especially for being completely on the fly.

Jerk Chicken Kapow!  

Posted by Jeremy in , , , , , , ,


Alrighty. Jerk chicken people, that's the name of the game. Can't claim authorship of this recipe though, that would go to our good man Tyler Florence, though we did alter the method a bit. Here's the goods:

-Marinade:

  • 2 teaspoons allspice
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 onion
  • 8 cloves garlic or 1 whole head
  • 1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, sliced
  • 3 scallions, sliced
  • 3 limes, juiced
  • Splash low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked
  • 1 Scotch bonnet pepper, halved, plus more to taste
  • 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 whole free-range chicken (about 5 pounds), cut into 10 pieces
  • Limes, for garnish
  • Parsley, for garnish
  • Smoking chips, soaked in water for 15 minutes

Begin by making the jerk marinade. Combine all the marinade ingredients in a blender and process until you have a smooth puree. Add chicken pieces into a large resealable plastic bag and pour in the marinade. Put the bag into a baking dish and let marinate in the refrigerator overnight. Preheat grill to high. Prepare a table-top smoker or take a roasting tray, line it with foil and add some soaked wood chips to the bottom. Place a wire rack over the top, upside down, and lay chicken pieces over the chips on the rack. Cover with foil and grill over high heat. Smoke for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Transfer the chicken pieces to a baking sheet and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil. Bake in the oven "low and slow" until chicken is tender, about 1 hour. Remove the chicken from the baking sheet to a serving platter and garnish with limes and parsley before serving.-

Now, we used a deep pizza pan, and placed our woodchips in that, then we took the circular rack from my grill and put the chicken on that. Wrapped it all up in foil super tight, and then skipped the grilling and went straight for some mean steaming. It turned out super juicy, and tender, and fragrant! Boy did this stuff smell strongly. I think we all agreed that it smelled, and tasted like Chino Bandido's jerk chicken, which, if you've never had the pleasure, is something you should try.

Now, for the kapow (the other stuff pictured), we followed Mr. Florence one more time for these bitchin' plantain dumplings.

  • -3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 ripe plantain, peeled and cut into coins
  • Vegetable oil, for frying

Add the flour, salt and baking powder to a food processor and pulse to combine. Toss in the cold butter cubes and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Add milk, a little bit at a time until it is completely worked into the dough. Once it comes together into a nice consistent ball and pulls away from the sides of the food processor, divide the dough into about 12 little balls. Push a slice of plantain into the middle of each ball and pinch the dough around the plantain so it is completely covered by the dough. Press each ball flat into a little cake, cover with a damp kitchen towel and allow to rest for 20 to 30 minutes before frying. Set a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and add 1/4 cup of vegetable oil. Prick the dumplings all over with a fork. Working in batches, pan-fry dumplings until golden and slightly puffy, about 3 to 5 minutes per side. Season with salt and serve warm.-

Basically, think of a biscuit. Got it? Okay, now think of stuffing a banana in that biscuit. There you have it. That's what these taste like. They're weird, but good. This was all accompanied by some nice coconut rice that Stew whipped up. Basically, as I understand it, it was just 2 cups of rice cooked in coconut milk, cut with a little water to have enough moisture. I bet ya Stew will tell ya it needs more coconut. I'm inclined to agree with him, but it was pretty good nonetheless.

Ring da bell, mon!

Slow Cooked Chicken Tacos  

Posted by Matt in , , , , , , ,


Here are some pretty good slow cooked chicken tacos I made last night.

3 chicken breasts
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1 chopped jalapeno
1 can chopped Serrano peppers
1 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp brown sugar

corn tortillas
chopped lettuce
chopped onions
chopped cilantro
salsa

refried beans
cheese

I put the chicken into a pot that was just big enough for them each to have their own spot. I poured in the canned tomatoes and peppers and the sugar and cumin. It came most of the way up the side of the chicken breasts. I put a lid on this and heated it on low for 3 hours. I had just enough heat for it so be right on the verge of boiling the whole time. You will know they are done when they fall apart really easily. I pulled them out of the sauce they cooked in, ripped it all up, and then put them in a bowl with whatever was still chunky from the sauce. I then poured some of the sauce onto the chicken just to the point where it coated everything and added a little moisture.

I then heated the corn tortillas on a cast iron skillet for about 10 seconds on each side. After the meat, I topped it with lettuce, onions, cilantro and salsa. There was a side of beans with cheese as you can see in the picture.

Scones again.  

Posted by Mike in , , , ,

These were Lemon Blueberry. I think they were definitely the best of the lot so far.