Resolution Recap 2012: Appetizers Part 3

The final two appetizer recipes are seafood dips and both rated as "yums".  The first is a hot crawfish dip I found in Southern Living magazine.  I made this back when Brad was working at a local New Orleans style restaurant so access to crawfish was not an issue (hey, cook perks include a meal, doesn't mean it has to be cooked when it leaves the premises).  I only made a half version of the recipe, used fresh and thankfully already peeled crawfish tails, and subbed 1 cup minced shallot instead of using green onions and garlic.

Hot Crawfish Dip**
(30 minutes, Serves: 8-10)

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 bunch green onions, sliced (about 1 cup)
• 1 small green bell pepper, diced
• 1 (1-lb.) package frozen cooked, peeled crawfish tails, thawed and undrained
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (4-oz.) jar diced pimiento, drained
• 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
• 1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
• French bread baguette slices
• Garnishes: sliced green onion, chopped flat-leaf parsley

 

Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat; add green onions and bell pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, 8 minutes or until bell pepper is tender. Stir in crawfish and next 3 ingredients; cook, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Stir in cream cheese until mixture is smooth and bubbly. Serve with toasted French bread slices.

 

Note:  You'll need 6 to 7 pounds of cooked whole crawfish for 1 pound of hard-earned meat. Or sub in frozen, peeled crawfish tails.

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The final appetizer recipe came from a request from Brad.  He had fried up some fish for us and we had two larger pieces of catfish leftover.  Since leftover fried fish is hard to reheat he asked me whether I could make a fish dip like what we used to get on trips to Florida.  We have enjoyed fish dips both in Amelia Island and in Key West.  So I did some Googling and came up with the following recipe from Grill Girl.  I simply removed the fried outside of the fish steaks and mashed up the cooked fish meat for use in this dip instead of getting smoked fish.  And since I was making from what I had on hand and knew the flavor I was trying to replicate I used cream cheese instead of neufchatel, regular mayo, jar jalapeno slices, and I don't like old bay so I mixed up a combination of garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, salt, black pepper, red pepper, and dash of worchestershire sauce instead (that is not a real old bay substitute just the flavors I thought was needed).  The smoked parika really added the smokey flavor I recall when having this dip in Florida.  But since you probably haven't had this in Florida I suggest you follow the recipe below versus trying to follow my modifications. Serve cold with crackers.

South Florida Smoked Fish Dip**

• 6-8 ounces smoked fish, skin remonved, meat chopped in coarsely (so as not to burn out the motor on your food processor!)
• 1/2 block neufchatel cream cheese (neufchatel is lower in fat and you can’t tell the difference in this recipe)
• 2 jalapenos
• juice of one lime
• 1 tablespoon old bay seasoning
• 1/4 cup light mayo (or less, depending on how wet your mixture is and how well it is blending)
• salt, pepper to taste

 

 Puree ingredients in a food processor until well blended.

Resolution Recap 2012: Appetizers Part 2

So the next two appetizer recipes are hummus themed.  Brad is a big fan of hummus but I'm not.  Meaning I can take or leave it but I won't be the one standing over a bowl of it at a party. But I love guacamole so when I ran across a recipe for guacamole hummus in Martha Stewart magazine I decided to give making hummus a try.  Brad hates cilantro so I subbed some fresh flat leaf parsley instead the first time I made it but have omitted even that in repeat servings. 

Guacamole Hummus**
(Serves: 8)

• 1 can (15.5 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 3 cups fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1 ripe avocado, roughly chopped
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• Lemon wedges

 

In a food processor, combine chickpeas, cilantro, garlic, and avocado. Process until finely chopped. With machine running, add olive oil in a slow, steady stream, then add lemon juice, and then add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until mixture is smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve with lemon wedges and tortilla chips.

--

After making the above I ran across a good deal on chickpeas and stocked up.  However, finding good avocado isn't always easy so I decided to try a classic hummus recipe instead.  This one from Ina Garten is not for those who do not like garlic.  Brad rates this as well as the previous recipe as "yums".

Hummus**

• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 cups canned chickpeas, drained, liquid reserved
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/3 cup tahini (sesame paste)
• 6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
• 2 tablespoons water or liquid from the chickpeas
• 8 dashes hot sauce

 

Turn on the food processor fitted with the steel blade and drop the garlic down the feed tube; process until it's minced. Add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor and process until the hummus is coarsely pureed. Taste, for seasoning, and serve chilled or at room temperature.
--

Some sort of decent food processor is needed to make both these recipes. I managed to make both on separate occasions in a mini food chopper in batches but nearly burned the motor up doing this. I did finally get a more powerful mini food processor and making these hummus recipes is now easy peasy and the texture is really nice when they are really processed smooth.

Resolution Recap 2012: Appetizers Part 1

Of the seven new appetizer recipes I made in 2012, two were definite "NOs" for us.  This included a Southern Living magazine recipe for Smoky Pimiento Cheese Deviled Eggs. I thought we might really like this considering how much we love deviled eggs and pimiento cheese separately. Instead it was just weird tasting.

The other "NO" was from the Raleigh News & Observer Mini Buffalo Chicken Balls which was part of the same article where we got the Buffalo Chicken Soup recipe that we really liked. The flavor of this recipe was quite nice but we could not get past the texture of a ground chicken meatball.

But while we disliked the chicken meatballs we really liked the N&O's Blue Cheese Dressing that was meant to go with the chicken meatballs.  It gets a "yum" rating and I have made it any time Brad has requested a blue cheese dip for whatever we are having.  It is really good with grilled potato wedges.  Heck, it is good on crackers if nothing else. I adjust the ratio of cheese, sour cream, mayo and milk to make thicker or thinner as needed.  If I am doing a thick dip I start by mashing up the blue cheese then adding in small but equal amounts of mayo and milk and not quite 2x that amount of sour cream.  Once I get the consistency I want I add in the seasonings in amounts that mimic the ratios of the recipe depending on how much of the main ingredients I have used.

Blue Cheese Dressing**
(Serves: 2 cups)

• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Place the sour cream, blue cheese, milk, mayonnaise, salt and vinegar in a medium bowl. Whisk thoroughly until completely combined.  Adjust the seasoning if needed.

In the next two posts I will cover the two different hummus recipes we tried as well as two different seafood dips.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/cgi-bin/nao/lifestyles/food_fitness/recipes/show_recipe.cgi?id=4676&template=template.html#storylink=cpy

Resolution Recap 2012: Soups Part 2

And here are the last two soup recipes we tried in 2012. Both fall into the "Yum will make again" rating.  And we have made both several times in recent months. 

The first soup I was inspired to make after trips to Turkey where I thoroughly enjoyed various lentil soups.  I bought lentils upon my return without having any clue how I would fix them.  After some searching I ran across this posting from Mark Bittman where he shares the How to Cook Everything version of the soup and decided it looked like a wonderful place to start to explore lentil soup options.  I have made the original recipe without any additions multiple times but I encourage you to look at the link since it covers different seasoning options to create seven different lentil soups.  I have also used both chicken and beef broth in the recipe (depending on what I had available) and both work nicely.  Brad loves to have this soup as a side to something hearty like grilled brats. 

Lentil Soup**
(Cooking Time: 45 minutes, Serves 4)

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, cut into 1/2 -inch dice
• 1 celery stalk, cut into 1/2 -inch dice
• 1 cup lentils, washed and picked over
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 cups chicken, beef, or vegetable stock or water
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Salt

Put the oil in a large, deep pot over medium heat. When hot, add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until soft, just a minute or two. Add the carrot and celery and keep cooking and stirring until brightly colored and hot, about 2 minutes.

Add the lentils, bay leaf, and stock; sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are tender, about 30 minutes. (At this point, you may cool and refrigerate the soup, covered, for up to 2 days; reheat gently.) Add more stock if the soup is too thick. Just before serving, taste, sprinkle with salt and more pepper if needed, and serve.
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The final soup recipe I took from the Raleigh News & Observer when they published a trio of buffalo chicken inspired recipes last Super Bowl season.  In a later post you will get to read about our experience with another recipe from that article but this post is just about the soup recipe.  At first glance the concept does seem somewhat off putting but as it turns out this is a really good soup.  And since Brad currently has braces and cannot eat his adored buffalo wings in the classic manner this soup has been a wonderful way for him to get those flavors without risking damage to his braces.  A couple of tips on this one: first the prepackaged shredded mozzarella does not melt well enough in this recipe and tends to create a clump of cheese.  I found that grating a block of mozzarella melted much better.  Also, the longer you simmer this recipe the less intense the heat, it gets mellow over time.  I like heat so I use the higher recommended amount of wing sauce and use Texas Pete original buffalo wing sauce.

Buffalo Chicken Soup**
(Serves: 6 to 8)

• 1 to 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts and 2 to 3 boneless chicken thighs (or 3 to 4 cups chopped, cooked chicken and just use prepared chicken stock)
• 3 to 4 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3 stalks celery, minced (about 1 cup)
• 1 small onion, peeled and minced
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup half-and-half
• 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup Buffalo wing sauce, or to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese, divided

 

Place the chicken and stock in a large pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cover and simmer about 15 minutes. Turn off heat and let the chicken sit for about 10 minutes, until cooked through. Dice the chicken, discarding any fat or cartilage. Drain the broth. Set both aside.

 

Return the pot to the stove. Melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the celery and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add the flour, stir well and cook about 2 minutes, until just beginning to brown a little. Stir in the half-and-half and 3 cups chicken stock.

 

Stir in the chicken, wing sauce, mozzarella and 1/4 cup blue cheese. Reduce heat to low and cook about 10 minutes, stirring often to keep the cheese from sticking. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more wing sauce if needed.  Serve hot, with a little blue cheese sprinkled on each serving.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/cgi-bin/nao/lifestyles/food_fitness/recipes/show_recipe.cgi?id=4677&template=template.html#storylink=cpy

Resolution Recap 2012: Soups Part 1

I made five new soup recipes in 2012.  One recipe was a disappointment, one we liked but for some reason have not made since and three we liked so much we have made multiple times.  As a reminder below is our rating system.  Also, I always fear that links will change over time so if I liked the recipe I am posting the links as well as copying the recipe here in entirety.  This ends up making for a long post so I am going to split this into two posts.

** = yum, will make again

* = pretty good

OK = not worth effort but not terrible

NO = did not like or recipe failed

Mac and Cheese Soup - No

This one really surprised me since it came from Food Network magazine and I LOVE mac and cheese recipes. The flavor was actually okay but the texture was very unappealing.  I think if I had pureed the veggie mixture after cooking it would have been better but I didn't think it tasted good enough to try again.
--

Another Food Network magazine recipe. This one was a keeper but I have never gotten around to making it a second time.

Senate Bean Soup*
(Cooking time: 2 hours 55 minutes, Serves: 8)

• 1 pound dried navy beans, picked over
• 1 pound ham (preferably with bone)
• 1 large russet potato, peeled and quartered
• Kosher salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• Freshly ground pepper

Put the beans in a large bowl and cover with about 3 times their volume of cold water. Soak overnight in a cool place.

 

Drain the beans and transfer to a large pot or Dutch oven. Add 10 cups water and the ham. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then reduce the heat to low and cook until the beans are tender, about 1 hour, 30 minutes. Transfer the ham to a plate to cool slightly, then remove the bone, if used, and dice the meat. Return the meat to the pot.

 

Meanwhile, cover the potato with water in a saucepan and season with salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat and simmer until the potato is fork-tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Drain the potato; transfer to a bowl with the milk and mash with a potato masher or fork until smooth. Add the mashed potato to the bean soup and stir until combined.

 

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, garlic and parsley and cook until the vegetables are translucent, 7 to 10 minutes. Add the vegetable mixture to the soup, reduce the heat to low and cook 1 hour, adding up to 2 more cups water if the soup is too thick. Season with salt and pepper.
--

The next soup came from Cooking Light magazine and those who follow me on Facebook know I have raved about this one more than once.  This soup is fantastic! It is very light making it a wonderful summer soup option but still substantial enough for winter blahs, it is a chicken soup after all. I usually end up getting a 5 to 6 pound chicken so that I have extra cooked chicken for another recipe in the same week.  And I use enough water to almost cover the chicken which is more than the recommended 6 cups in the recipe. Please note that this is a two day recipe since you need to let the stock from cooking the chicken cool overnight in order to remove more of the fat.  I find this recipe to be a tad too restrictive in seasoning and therefore add in at least a teaspoon of salt when cooking the chicken and use more lemon juice at the finish.  This soup freezes very nicely, the orzo does not get mushy upon thawing and reheating.

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup**
(Serves: 8 or makes nearly 4 qts for freezing)

• 1 (4-pound) whole chicken
• 2 carrots, peeled, cut in 1-inch pieces
• 2 celery stalks, cut in 1-inch pieces
• 1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed 
• 4 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley 
• 2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns 
• 2 bay leaves 
• 6 cups water 
• 1 1/3 cups chopped carrot
• 1 1/4 cups chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 8 ounces uncooked orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• Lemon wedges (optional)
• Coarsely cracked black pepper (optional)

Remove and discard giblets and neck from chicken. Place chicken in a large Dutch oven. Add 2 chopped carrots, 2 chopped celery stalks, and next 5 ingredients (through bay leaves) to pan. Add 6 cups water; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat, and simmer 45 minutes.

Remove chicken from pan; place chicken in a bowl. Chill 15 minutes. Discard skin; remove chicken from bones, discarding bones. Chop chicken into bite-sized pieces; cover and chill. Strain broth mixture through a sieve into a large bowl; discard solids. Cool broth mixture to room temperature. Cover and chill 8 to 24 hours. Skim fat from surface; discard.

Add enough water to broth to equal 9 cups; place broth mixture in a large Dutch oven. Add 1 1/3 cups carrot, 1 1/4 cups onion, 1 cup celery, and salt to pan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add reserved chicken, and simmer 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Keep warm.

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Add pasta to pan with chicken and broth mixture; stir in parsley, rind, and juice. Garnish each serving with lemon wedges and cracked black pepper, if desired

Resolution Recap 2012: Breakfast Recipes

I made four new breakfast recipes in 2012 including: Green Poached Eggs**, Sauteed Potatoes with Chorizo*, Breakfast Skillet**, and Pumpkin Pancakes - NO.

** = yum, will make again

* = pretty good 

OK = not worth effort but not terrible

NO = did not like or recipe failed

Technique note - two of these recipes call for putting raw eggs into indentations in the cooking food.  Most recipes will suggest breaking eggs one at a time into a bowl before transferring them into the indentations to avoid getting shells into the main dish and also to avoid breaking the egg yolk.

The Green Poached Eggs recipe came from More magazine. This was one of their breakfast for dinner ideas but we actually had it for breakfast.  I made a few modifications such as halving and using just two eggs, omitted the chives and held back on the chile flakes (because it was for breakfast).

Green-Poached Eggs**
(Prep time: 38 minutes; Cooking time: 12 minutes; Serves 4)

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 fat scallions, sliced (white and light greens separated from dark greens)
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh chives
• 10 ounces fresh baby spinach
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 4 large eggs
• Chile flakes, coarse sea salt and buttered toast for serving

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the foam subsides. Add the white and light-green scallion slices and the garlic. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the chives. Toss in the spinach, a handful at a time, letting each batch wilt slightly before adding more. Add ¼ teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the cream and lemon zest; let simmer until the spinach is very soft, about 3 minutes.

Using the back of a spoon, make four indentations in the spinach. Crack the eggs into them. Lower the heat to medium low, and sprinkle the eggs with salt and pepper. Cover the pan, and let the eggs cook until almost opaque, about 3 minutes. Turn off the heat, and let the eggs rest, covered, until done to taste. Carefully scoop the eggs and greens into bowls. Sprinkle with chile flakes, sea salt and dark scallion greens. Serve with the toast.

--

The Sauteed Potatoes with Chorizo recipe came from Marcela Valladolid of the Food Network.  I initially made this as a side for dinner one night but found we enjoyed it more reheated with eggs over easy for breakfast. We get our Chorizo delivered from Papa Spuds from Rainbow Meadow Farms in Snow Hill, NC. My only modification was to use olive oil because we don’t normally have regular cooking oil in the pantry.

Sauteed Potatoes with Chorizo*
(Prep time: 10 minutes, Cooking time: 25 minutes, Serves 4-6)

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 10 ounces Mexican pork chorizo, casings removed (can be salty, be careful with seasonings)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 pound red skinned new potatoes, cut into small (1/4-inch) dice, and boiled
• Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chorizo and cook, breaking up the clumps, until dry and crisp, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chorizo to a paper lined plate to absorb any additional oil. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the pan and heat the pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and boiled potatoes and saute until brown, about 12 minutes. Stir in the cooked chorizo and season with just a little salt and pepper, to taste. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve.

--

The Breakfast Skillet recipe came from a Penzey’s Spice catalog sometime over the last two years. I did not note the original submitter of the recipe and cannot find it online. I do not recall the prep or cooking time and there is a very good chance I condensed the instructions versus keeping the original verbiage. I did not make any modifications that I recall and used raw potatoes not hash browns. I did cut the recipe down for two eggs.

Breakfast Skillet**

(Serves 4-6)

• 1 pound bacon – cut into small pieces
• 1 cup onion – chopped
• 2 pounds potatoes – diced or thawed frozen hash browns
• 1 teaspoon salt (eliminate if use frozen hash browns)
• 2 teaspoons pepper
• 8 eggs
• 2 cups Colby cheese – shredded
• 2 tablespoons parsley flakes

If using raw potatoes, boil till almost fully cooked, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain well. In large oven safe skillet cook the bacon till halfway done over medium heat (about 10 minutes), drain off excess fat. Add onion and cook till translucent about 8-10 minutes. Add potatoes, salt and pepper and cook, stirring and turning every few minutes until toasty brown. With back of spoon make 8 indentations for the eggs, crack eggs into indentations, lower heat, add lid and cook 5 minutes until the eggs start to set. Top with cheese and parsley. Transfer to oven under low heat broiler and cook until cheese is melted and eggs are desired doneness (3 minutes). Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

The Pumpkin Pancake was also a Penzey Catalog find. I had real problems working with the batter versus the recommend cooking temperature. The pancakes were getting way too brown before they were any where near done. Since I am not normally a pancake person I saw no reason to try and figure this one out and am not going to bother to post it.

Recipe Resolution Recap 2012

I ended up making 60 new recipes in 2012. That is a bit too many to list here so instead I am going to revisit them in a different format this year. Looking back I think covering them by meal category makes the most sense. So for a breakdown here are the types of recipes I made in 2012:

• 7 appetizer recipes such as avocado hummus, buffalo chicken meatballs
• 5 soups such as lemon chicken orzo, senate bean
• 3 salads such as ham salad, baked potato salad
• 10 side dishes such as braised lettuce, herb roasted fingerling potatoes
• 10 pasta dishes such as penne with leek, cabbage, and cheese, and pesto for gnocchi
• 10 entree dishes such as pork scaloppini, halibut in béchamel
• 7 desserts such as soft pumpkin cookies, banana brioche bread pudding
• 4 drinks such as sangria, basil lemonade
• 4 breakfast dishes such as pumpkin pancakes, green poached eggs

Looking back, the sources of these recipes were predominately Food Network related, either from searching the website or from the magazine and sometimes from seeing a show and then going to the website for that specific recipe. But I also pulled recipes from other magazines such as Food & Wine, Cooking Light, Martha Stewart Living, etc. whatever magazines passed along to me from others.  And on occasion when we decided we just wanted to do something new and had whatever ingredients available I would simply Google for recipes.  Over time I have come to learn what food celebrities provide recipes that in general either really work for me or just aren't that exciting or are maybe too convoluted.  As such if I am trolling through a site such as Food Network and find 20 some recipes for a particular dish I tend to focus in on my favorite chefs, especially ones where I have had success with their recipes already.  I think maybe I should do a blog at some point covering the highs and lows of cooking like your favorite celebrity cook/chef.

Of all the recipes tried in 2012 only three were “eeww no, what were they thinking” and maybe eight or nine were the “so-so" or "not worth the effort” type. There were many more “yums” of which quite a few have already made it into a somewhat regular rotation for weekly meals. Over the coming weeks I will blog by category going into further details about what actual recipes were made and what we thought of them.

 

My resolutions for 2013 are a bit different this year.  I still plan to continue trying new recipes but may or may not strive for one new one a week like I have the past couple of years.  This year my food themed resolution is to buy one new or different food item each month.  I always read in magazines about the best this or that so this year we will be doing our own evaluations as well as trying some new experiments in cooking.

Cheese Tasting: Session 7

It has been forever since I posted about cheese. Here are notes from one of the last cheese tastings we did in 2012. I do not recall from where we obtained these cheeses but it is likely we bought from different stores: Fresh Market, Whole Foods, Harris Teeter.

Fontal: (Italy) is a cow’s milk cheese described as having a full, sweet and fresh taste with a semi-soft texture. It is similar to Fontina but is softer and is less aggressive tasting. This is a very meltable cheese, ideal for cooking as it will form a dense layer of melted gooeyness. As such it is listed as a great alternative for mozzarella or provolone. Very creamy, slight nutty tang, somewhat sweet.

Calvander Chapel Hill: (USA) is a cow’s milk Asiago-style cheese. It is described as having mild nut flavors, somewhat herbal, and buttery. It is a semi-hard cheese but the older it gets the more like parmesan it becomes in texture. Salty, with a crumble texture, reminded me of a soft parmesan, dry cheese.

Vintage Gouda 3 Year: (USA) is a cow’s milk cheese, described as having rich flavor, subtle sweetness and crumbly texture. The flavor is a combination of butterscotch and nutty flavors. Loved the pleasantly salty and nutty flavors, had a texture like parmesan with a nice grainy or crystalline character, became one of our favorite cheeses to buy from Harris Teeter for several months.

Recollections of Amelia Island, FL

We first visited Amelia Island with family in 1992 to attend the Gator Bowl. This event became known as the fog bowl after fog rolled into the stadium just before half time obscuring the view of most of the field and NCSU lost to Florida. This was also the game where we foolishly had not divvied up the mini bottles and I got stopped by a female cop going into the stadium and had to throw it all away.  Regardless of those unfortunate events we absolutely fell in love with Amelia Island and as a result selected it for our honeymoon in 1993.  We returned again on our first and second anniversaries and then one final time with family in 2003 once again for the Gator Bowl where this time NCSU played Norte Dame without any fog issues and won.

We stayed at the Ritz Carlton during every visit.  Our stays there overall peaked with our honeymoon and first anniversary and then dwindled in impressiveness with each subsequent stay. Of course it is hard to be pleased with normal rooms when you have experienced the key only access club level with private lounge, open bar and "continuous culinary offerings throughout the day".  Still, at the time of our visits, this hotel was very nice and in particular had a fantastic pool area with excellent service (we both loved the banana daiquiris).  Our primary issue that last trip was the hotel was extremely crowded due to the bowl game and the hotel staff were greatly overwhelmed at times.

During our numerous visits, one of our favorite outings was to go to Fernandina Beach, a quaint little town with big Victorian houses and a nifty downtown area with shops and restaurants.  Things to do include walking tours, museum, and horse carriage rides.  We also visited Fort Clinch and along the beach in this area I found two nearly perfect conch shells on our honeymoon (which I still have).

I made sure to Google the restaurants we visited over the years to see if they were still in operation before posting here.  What follows is an overview of restaurants we enjoyed in Fernandina Beach.

Brett's Waterway Cafe was always a favorite with a wonderful view overlooking the water.  This is a fantastic place to watch the sunset.  Of course there was the time I thought I saw a dead body floating in the water and had Brad looking and me second guessing what I saw for the rest of the meal.  The burgers, sandwiches, soups, and peel and eat shrimp were always tasty. 

Marina Seafood was the best restaurant on this part of the island and you could expect to wait a long time even at lunch.  We enjoyed their crab and shrimp dip, stuffed flounder, broiled stuffed shrimp, and seafood platter on our numerous visits.  The food was always excellent.

1878 Steakhouse was also pretty good with perfectly cooked steaks, strong bar drinks, but a relatively poor wine selection at the time.

Palace Saloon was an interesting bar that serves a potent pirate's punch drink.  On our honeymoon we met an older couple in this bar named Mary and Joseph (seriously) who tried to teach us to two step to Achy Breaky Heart.

Baxter's and Crab Trap fall into the okay spots category.  The food was normally okay but nothing stellar.

And we ate at other restaurants in other areas on the island that are no longer in business.  Of note I was sad to find that Beech Street Grill apparently closed just this year.  This was a fantastic place to eat with what were at the time novel food items, such as boar sausage, long before restaurants started being creative.  I also assume that The Southern Tip no longer exists since I could not easily find anything on it.  This was our favorite fancy night out spot.  And finally the Down Under Restaurant (located under the intercoastal waterway bridge as you enter the island) appears to have been closed for several years now.  This was a very causal place that was so good there was always a wait.  I had the best grouper I have ever eaten at this restaurant.  It was a baby flake grouper lightly covered in a fine breading of crushed saltines that was so tender and delicious. 

I think we eventually got burned out of seeing and doing the same things which is why we stopped visiting Amelia Island and then on that last trip in 2003 our experiences did not live up to our expectations from so many good old memories.  Maybe enough time has passed that we would enjoy going back again.  I certainly wouldn't mind spending the day lying by that pool drinking a banana daiquiri with plans to go eat stuffed flounder at the Marina Seafood Restaurant later.

Farewell My Stove, My Nemesis

For nine years I have lived with a dysfunctional Kenmore stove circa 1989.

I was a late bloomer in learning to really cook but in grad school I finally began transitioning my lab skills into cooking skills. Being newly married certainly sparked my interest in becoming a better cook. And like most first timers I had some rough starts. As a child of microwave technology I burnt the tar out of the first batch of bacon I tried to cook on a stove top. Was always so easy in the microwave but I turned that lovely pork product into charcoal on the stove top. That one event earned me the title "Bristow’s Burnt Bacon" for a very long time. Then there was the time I gave Brad food poisoning from a hasselback potatoes dish. I thought it tasted bad and refused to eat it but he liked it...up until he was regurgitating it at 3 AM.

After ten years of marriage in an apartment with decent kitchen equipment I was fairly confident in my basic cooking skills. Then we bought our first (and current house). The house had awesome potential and over the last nine years I have worked hard to update and make it mine. I have expensive tastes but a cautious (frugal) husband. That means that no appliance was replaced unless it was absolutely necessary or the deal was too good to pass up and things like HVAC, siding, and water heater took precedence. But when that time arrived for something to be replaced I got whatever I deemed to be top of the line. Sadly, the kitchen stove to me was the most problematic but in the end the very last appliance replaced.

Overall the burners work well although the primary high heat one is best described as wonky. Meaning the actual burner pops out of alignment with the drip pan slots usually when you have a lighter weight pan cranked up to a higher temperature. The resulting unlevel pan has been dangerously awkward at times but most annoying when cooking an egg over easy or crepe.

The burners I could deal with; it was the actual oven that created the most anxiety. I used to bake and had several previously reliable cake recipes that failed horribly in this oven. So I stopped baking. My group at work celebrates birthdays with homemade treats. I have resorted to providing an ice cream sundae bar as my treat because the last cake I baked looked like a torte and had a pudding-like texture. Not good.

And forget doing a dense baked dish like potatoes dauphinoise. What should take 45 minutes would take 2 hours to actually cook with the rest of the meal getting cold. It is of comfort to me personally to see contestants on shows like Top Chef serve raw potato dishes from limited cooking time. I can commiserate their failure having experienced it more than once myself. Between my efforts and seeing this repeatedly on TV Brad has ranked “scalloped potatoes” or similar items as one of the top dishes resulting in elimination.

What I finally learned about that darn oven is that the temperature was severely off in the sweet range 350 to 450 F. I researched the issue and not willing to put money into it I messed around with the element, which did help some, and I learned to preheat the oven for at least 30 minutes at a temperature 10 to 20 degrees higher than the desired set point depending on the actual temperature needed. I also learned that when baking anything like dense potato dishes we make sure it is 95% done before starting the rest of the meal. Of course it is still taking 1.5 times the normal cooking time. And I still don't dare bake cakes.

So after nine years I am finally replacing my dysfunctional, ugly, almond colored, electric stove with a nice new, massive, stainless, gas stove with five burners, three levels of split cooking racks, true convection, and a warming drawer. I know I will burn things at first and I may miss the comfort of knowing the quirks of the old appliance but I so look forward to learning the quirks of the new one and finally...baking again.

My Nemesis 1989 Stove

Singapore Part 2 - A Tour of Chinatown

One of the perks of a week long conference at a travel destination is that often they sponsor tours as part of the package. On that first trip to Singapore I opted to take a tour of Chinatown. And as it turned out only one other person, someone I now work with on occasion, was interested in that tour so two American girls got a very nice private tour for the day. The first stop we made was Thian Hock Keng, the oldest Chinese temple in Singapore built in 1821. This site was built by seaman from China grateful for their safe passage to the island. It is wooden and built without the use of nails. They are constantly painting and doing repair to preserve the buildings because the tropical climate is very harsh on it.

Thian Hock Keng

The next stop was Eu Yan Sang Birds Nest Gallery. It is the largest traditional Chinese Medicine establishment in Chinatown and there we learned about the Chinese secrets to keeping healthy, mainly the use of bird’s nest as a delicacy and health supplement. They believe that the spit from three certain species of swiftlets (that’s a bird that builds special nests) has medicinal powers. The harvesting process is amazing as the birds build nests way up in the crevices of caves and the harvesting is accomplished by workers climbing up, using candles to light the way, and then collecting the nests with long bamboo poles. The bamboo poles have a claw type basket on the end so they do not drop the bird nest. Once the swiftlet babies hatch the birds never use the same nest again but if they harvest the nest too soon the babies don’t survive so there are strict rules about when harvesting can occur (the nests come from Indonesia, Taiwan, and other places but not Singapore). Then there is a long process of soaking the birds nest and picking out the feathers and dirt by hand, reshaping it and drying it. It is very expensive if you get very pure bird’s nest because it is so labor intensive. Downstairs from the museum was the Chinese equivalent of a GNC store with tons of herbs and powders with descriptions like “dries out cough”, “removes fevers” and “good for circulation”. The whole place smelt rather pungent, not bad but not exactly pleasant either. My tour buddy and I were too timid to buy anything. I guess I have seen too many reports/shows where that strange disease turns out to be from some herb they bought overseas. 

Finally we went to a specially arranged session at the Tea Art Centre where we had a lecture about tea. This was wonderful as the speaker spoke well and was very informative. Did you know that drinking a lot of strong tea on an empty stomach can make you high? He told us this and then I certainly had a buzz after my light lunch and drinking hot tea one little cup after another in a short time.  All tea types come from one plant (in other words there aren’t a bunch of different varieties of plants) and tea drinking is a tradition that is over 4000 years old.  Black tea uses all the leaves, is machine harvested and they char the leaves. All other tea types are hand harvested. Green tea takes the top three leaves and is dried by hand in low temperature woks. White tea is very rare and is only the single very top leaf of the plant which has a sliver look to it (hence the name white tea) and it is not heated at all. Oolong is sort of between green tea and black tea as it is partially smoked. For those wanting the healthy benefits of tea, white tea has the most anti-oxidants followed by green then oolong and then black tea has virtually none. It is the same principle as cooking vegetables; the more it is cooked during processing the less good stuff in it. Most black teas have oil added to it for fragrance (for example earl grey has bergamot oil). Jasmine tea is a blend of jasmine blossoms with green or black tea. Unless it says green tea somewhere on the package then the jasmine tea is black tea. All teas fall into one of the four main categories and you can tell what it is by the color and shape of the leaves. We are of course talking about the good teas where you have leaves to look at not the ground up leaves and stems we are used to in our Lipton ice tea bags. If you buy green tea and it isn’t a green color then it is old as it turns blackish over time and has lost the best flavors. 

Lessons in Tea at Tea Art Centre

And for those wondering, the Chinese do not do a ceremony like the Japanese. The Chinese “ceremony” if you will, is the process of bringing out the best flavors of a tea. It is very similar to a wine tasting as you should show the leaves to your guest and you pour the tea into a sniff cup first and then transfer it to the drink cup and then sniff the residue in the sniff cup where you can smell the aroma much better than just trying to sniff a cup of tea. You take three quick sips and then drink it down. The cups are slightly smaller than a shot glass. Also note that since good tea are hand processed that you should pour your hot water over the leaves (fill the pot or cup) and immediately dump it out. This is a cleansing process and also causes the tea leaves to unfurl to get the best flavor. If you have ever reused tea leaves or a tea bag this is why the second cup tastes better. This was absolutely one of my favorite parts of this whole trip. I treated myself to some really good tea and now every time I am in Asia I try to find good Chinese teas to bring home.