For Wynn, the upside down sunset....

Hey Again All,

This recipe is one I promised quite some time ago to a cute lil' bear of a man I met via Burning Man.  I don't know a ton about him, but occasionally we get a chance to interact and he was keen on learning about my Upside Down Sunset drink.....its really freaking easy, and is lots of fun, and if you mix it right will get you fall-down drunk :)

First make a good strong syrup, my basic recipe is 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, 1/4 tsp flavoring, bring it all to a boil, then let it cool. 

I've been getting my flavors from Gygi's.  They are a glycol rather than ethanol base and tend to carry way more flavor and evaporate less than extracts from the store, making them perfect for this.  Most of the Lorann oils are colored, so that takes even more guess work out of it.  In this example, I'm using grape.

So first, pour ~1/2 oz. of flavor into a clear glass.  Tee hee, this one is an omage to good ol' Wyoming.

 

Next add the ice.

 

Next add your vodka and orange juice.  Considering the nearly lethal amounts of vodka I put in mine, I did do a broken out example.

Gently stir, so just a bit of the flavor mixes in.  The syrup will sit on the bottom, adding additional flavor as you drink down, but will also be there for the next round, so you just need to top with ice and vodka and orange.  The syrup is usually good for about 3 drinks.

Other fun flavors, cherry makes for a more traditional sunset appearance, and lime/green makes for a "Packer Backer" if you happen to like them.

Got crazy drink recipes you like?  I'd love to try them, especially if they have lots of booze in them :)

The Uova....no need for sauce

Hey All,

Got out and did some local shopping.  Made one merchant in particular's day.  She's a sweetheart and I love her shop, its a custom scenting bath and body boutique and she was rolling out a new line today.  Now, more than ever she's less expensive than the big box bath 'n body places, does custom scenting, and her products are a million time better than anything you'll ever get at those "other" places.  If you are in the foothill village area and in need of bath 'n body type stuff check out, Scentsations.  My recommendations, the White Tea and Shea moisturizing shower creme for scalp, and the Every Day Essentials lotion.  Also, if you don't mind synthetic fragances, try the Mahogany.....its reminiscent of Aspen cologne and I love it.

So after that, it was time to cook the Uova da Raviolo, so here's how it went down.

Mix together 1 lb ricotta, 3 oz. finely shredded parmesan, a few leaves of chard cut finely, plenty of fresh oregano and thyme, 1/2 of a dried shitake ground and reconstituted.  I'm thinking a bit less shitake next time, I know some folks love that flavor, but I think it was just a hair too powerful.

Next lay out a wonton skin, put a couple of heaping tablespoons of the cheese mixture in the middle and make a well.  Crack a small egg into the well....coat the edges with an egg wash and seal up.

 Bring a pot of well salted water to a boil and reduce to simmering, gently slip the ravioli in for 8 minutes.  I used a large slotted spoon to get it out and slip it onto the plate.  We also had some beans almandine going in the microwave to go with it.  After the first test run, we decided no sauce, this was perfectly rich and delicious on its own.

Now for the guiltiest pleasure of all, poking that perfectly poached egg so it runs its delicious rich goey goodness all over the plate.

It was rich, and fantastic!  And because I can, and its the winter months and I need something bright in the kitchen, some lilies :)

Oh and later we're having cheesecake to wash it all down :)

Uova...the hens are laying

Hey All,

So I went on a crazy hiatus there.  Crazy from the standpoint of "JCF"....its sounded so much more adorable coming out of an old alcoholics mouth.  I've been working hard, and barely keeping my head up, so the Thanksgiving break has been welcomed.  I'm extremely excited to be enjoying time off.  Usually, I get just enough sleep to have a productive Monday and Tuesday, and then struggle through the rest of the week.

OK, let's put that aside for a minute and talk about fun new food ideas.  This past summer we got chickens.  Turns out we got the perfect mix of one horny rooster who keeps our girls satisfied, and five beautiful hens, who just started laying a couple of weeks ago.  Its not going to be too long until we are up to our eyebrows in eggs.

I was watching Chopped, or maybe The Next Iron Chef, it gets blurry sometimes, and they made a Uova da Raviolo.  Something about eggs on meals fascinates the daylights out of me, especially when a perfectly cooked egg oozes all over a dish and crystalizes just perfectly and makes it all sorts of tasty.  A while back I did a fried egg on a burger with Asian flair and it was amazing....drippy, rich....on  and on.

So I'm going to make this egg ravioli, but with a lot of shortcuts and adaptations....so here's the plan.  We'll know tomorrow how it turns out.

So for the ravioli, I'm cheating and using wonton skins.  Its a weird 9+9=27 kind of thing that I remembered wonton skins are basically pasta....so that part is easy.

I'm going to mix chiffonade chard, a powdered and reconstituted dried shitake (sorry kids, I don't have the cash for a truffle, but I hope this will give the meaty/earthy/oniony flavor that is needed), garden fresh oregano (usually I'd use dried because it has a stronger flavor, but I want these to be a subtle meld of awesome), garden fresh thyme, ricotta, and parmesan cheese.  I'm going to go ahead and use the powdered parmesan in a can, as the only alternative would be freshly cut, and well, again, see my bank statement......  This will make a well in the middle of the ravioli to hold the egg.  Seal up with egg wash and drop into boiling water for no more than 8 minutes :)

Over the top, will go a bacon cream sauce.  I plan to render up 4 slices of bacon, top up the drippings to make 2 Tblsp fat, then add 4 tblsp flour to make a roux, diluting up with about a cup of creme to make a sauce, and salt to taste.  Drizzle over the top and garnish with a blend of 50/50 oregano and parsley, just enough to add color.

I'll try and post pictures tomorrow.....it should make for an amazing meal.

Chard Scampi.....welcome Fall

Hey All,

A huge shout out to my readers in France, Germany, and Spain.  THANK YOU!  I'm touched that my recipes can inspire on the European continent too :)

So, let's talk chard scampi.....a brilliant moment and yum!

So what I did,

I harvested a good handful of chard.  Trimmed the leaves from the stems, cut the stems to fit in the bowl.  Top with part of a diced tomato, a generous helping of butter/margarine, garlic, plenty of salt, and a sprinkle of oregano.  Put in the microwave, push the "Vegetable" button and off we go.  The stems were just a hair undercooked, but had a nice crunch, the rest turned out great.....served with dry toast for sauce mopping, it was perfect!

Here's a picture of the dish before it went into the microwave:

It wilted down and tasted amazing.  I hope you all enjoy.

Speaking of chard, do you have a favorite recipe?  I'd love to hear it, several of my friends are also inundated with a great harvest and I'd love to share your ideas.

Lotsa Love,

3day

Ghetto Ceasar - a goodbye to summer

Hey All,

Its the end of summer in good ol' Salt Lake City.  We've had our first freezes, which prompted me to harvest what I could of the tomatoes.  With the exception of a few ripening on the counter, the rest have been cut up and frozen (hint, so much easier than canning and you can use them pretty much the same).

In our meal plan for last week, we had a ghetto ceasar on the menu.  It never did get made, until tonight.  Since I'm going on a television and facebook strike tonight, I figured I'd blog the recipe.  Granted its a bit of this, a tiche of that kind of recipe, but hopefully it inspires some creativity.

So first up were the croutons.  Making your own croutons is relatively easy.  I'll save you details and let you find your own recipe.  The biggest trick, of course is having your pan plenty hot.  I don't mind if they have a bit of a toast to them, so you may have to play with it a bit to perfect it.  I've also taken a shine to using infused oils.  I'll have to do a write up with a how-to the chemists' way.  Its fun and its easy, and with the help of our good friend nitrous oxide, its quick!

OK, now for the fun:

1 head lettuce (traditionally one would use Romaine, but I use whatever is on sale or I have on hand....hint, swiss chard makes an amazing ceasar, but I'm letting mine grow some more, to see if its true it is a year round green here)
1 tomato cut into 1/8 wedges (oh, I'm gonna miss my garden fresh 'maters this winter)
3 prepared chicken patties, cooked and diced
1 small bag baby carrots
Croutons

Ghetto Ceasar Dressing:  Mayo, dill pickle juice to thin, some dried oregano, minced garlic, and a good dose of parmesan cheese.  Put it in a jar or other container so you can shake it up.

Clean and cut or tear the lettuce into a bowl with a tight fitting lid.  Pour the Ghetto Ceasar Dressing over.  Put the lid on and shake the daylights out of it, coating all the lettuce.  Top with the tomato, chicken, carrots, and croutons.

If you grill your chicken, it will lighten it up substantially in the calorie department.

Asian Noodles....perfect after a night out

Hey All,

So, last night we went out and did it up right.  I can't believe how amazing the past few weeks have been.  Decompressions in San Francisco and Seattle, and Bearacuda last night.  Dancing, drinking, too much fun, we needed salty, brothy, morning after food today, so I put together noodles.  A flour stick noodle with Vien gia vi vit tiem (canard mijote-stewed duck seasoning) prepared 1 bullion cube to 2 cups water, tomago-yaki, char beef and chicken, purple ruffles basil from the garden (last of the season, I fear), green onions, dried seaweed, cilantro, and some celery that was on its last legs.  I realized when I got home from the market that I didn't have enoki mushrooms and bean sprouts, but the effect was still awesome.  In scouring the internet for tomago and char meat, I found a couple of new recipes I want to get down before I lose them.  To assemble the soup, place the cooked noodles in the bottom of a bowl, garnish with the meat and herb condiments, top up with boiling (I can't stress this enough, otherwise the flavors don't meld) broth, let stand 5 minutes, and enjoy.  This is the basis for all kinds of awesome asian soups, so please experiment to your heart's content.

First up, the tomago (taken from Momofukufor2)

Tamago Recipe

3 eggs
1 tablespoon mirin
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon light soy sauce

Put it all in a bowl and whip the shit out of it.  It won't foam, it should be crazy thin, in reality.  Pour a bit in a pan, roll it over like a crepe, pour another layer down, roll it around...  Eh, just go read the Momofuku, its hard to explain how to do it.  This is by far the best tomago recipe I've found.  Mine was a tad brown but still very tasty.

Next up, the char siu that uses maltose (taken from Rasa Malaysia).  Maltose is a must here, I've tried recipes without it, and quite frankly, they suck!  I do mine a bit differently using a large flat steak and boneless skinless chicken thigh to plus up the balance, rolling the chicken in the steak skewering it before roasting.  Oh and a substitute for the rose wine, super dry Chardonnay and a drop of rose essential oil, if your rose EO is diluted, make sure its in a consumable base oil and use a few drops.

BBQ Pork Recipe (Char Siu/Char Siew/蜜汁叉烧)
Ingredients:
1 lb pork butt (cut into 4 pieces)
3 clove garlic (finely chopped)
1 1/2 tablespoons cooking oil
Char Siu (Char Siew) Sauce:
1 1/2 tablespoons maltose
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese rose wine (玫瑰露酒)
3 dashes white pepper powder
3 drops red coloring (optional)
1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
Method:
Add all ingredients in the char siu sauce in a sauce pan, heat it up and stir-well until all blended and become slightly thickened and sticky.  (It will yield 1/2 cup char siu sauce.) Transfer out and let cool.
Marinate the pork butt pieces with 2/3 of the char siu sauce and the chopped garlic overnight. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons cooking oil into the remaining char siu sauce. Keep in the fridge.
The next day, heat the oven to 375 degree F and roast the char siu for 15 minutes (shake off the excess char siu sauce before roasting). Transfer them out of the oven and thread the char siu pieces on metal skewers and grill them over fire (I used my stove top). Brush the remaining char siu sauce while grilling until the char siu are perfectly charred. Slice the char siu into bite-size pieces, drizzle the remaining char siu sauce over and serve immediately with steamed white rice.

The leftover herbs are in the back window of my car drying now.  Its a weird trick to dry herbs, but if you put them in a paper bag or box and leave them in your car while its warm, you'll have perfectly dried herbs in a few days.  I think I'll mix in some dried bean curd and have it handy as a quick soup ala instant miso.

I hope you all are well and thanks for reading.  I haven't written as much, I got really badly depressed and pretty much quit doing everything.  I'm much better now after a couple months of pretty intense therapy and hope to write about my culinary conquests more in the future.

Lotsa Love,

3day

Hibearnation - a love letter of sorts

Hey All,

So its been like eons and I'm sure ya'll are wondering what I've been cooking. Well, I went into hibeanation around october, only to arise in May with all sorts of fun and delicious things. Hibearnation was its usual, nothing especially noteworthy, except maybe a new plaything. Out of respect for his life ambitions, I'll spare details and simply say, finally Husbear and I agree on something :)

The love letter part of this is for my friend Tao. She's amazing! I love my lesbians but this one is quite simply one of the best when it comes to finding that right moment to say, "Hey, I'm really glad you exist". Recently, we had a rather deep conversation that pushed me to figure some stuff out.....it was a gentle nudge :) We also talked about our efforts to quit smoking, we've both suffered some pretty harsh setbacks and she is daunted by finding a good nicotine free solution, in the form of vaping aka the ecig. I do owe her a phone call, but wanted to get it down on electrons while my brain was thinking about it. So here goes, my attempt at quitting smoking:

 Rule #1: Quitting smoking is hard! Among the myriad of chemicals included in that tasty cigarette are MAOIs and other potentiating chemicals that make a nicotine replacement just not quite the same. That being said, I've had good success by not getting pissed off at myself if I do smoke. I finish the pack and don't buy another. The worst part was the day I found myself without a pack of smokes and had to really work through some of the most intense nic fits of my life. Also, realize your body is going to do crazy things. I've had neuropathy (to the point of dropping me to my knees), mood swings, general aggressiveness, body aches, and a downright shitty mood. The good news, after I've conquered these I've been semi-manic.

Now onto the nicotine replacement end of things: This time around I decided to use a combined therapy. Patches work, kind of....welbutrin really wasn't for me, Chantix made me nuttier than shit to the point of a relationship failure, and cold turkey was simply out of the question. Thankfully, technology has figured out a nifty way to allow one to "smoke" in the form of a nicotine mist, aka the ecig! That being said, the ecig is a daunting creature with many varieties and variations. Word of caution: vaping (that's what ecig users call it), can become habit forming in its own right due to the myriad of devices, flavors, nicotine strengths, etc. Here are some general highlights of what I've learned so far.

I started with the Green Smart Living (GSL) ecig. It was readily available at my local head shop and started me into this foray. It comes with pre-filled cartomizers which quite frankly suck and comparatively cost a buttload of $$$. It'll due to get you started on your pathway to cutting down, but poor vapor output and nasty assed flavors will leave you wanting a real cig after about 6 hours. The battery isn't all that bad, but it is a "shortie".

Up next, I discovered 888 cigs (888). The battery is an impressive long one. The carts still sucked donkey, but I was eternally grateful to have a second battery compatible with my existing cartomizers that when combined with the other one would get me through the day. I found myself with one on the charger that would be ready just in time when the other one died.

It is worth noting at this point, the GSL and 888 are higher voltage batteries (5V) and the chargers are not compatible with many others. Joyetech, I'll talk about them in a bit are a 4.2 V battery and will readily fry and be useless if attached to a 5V charger.

Now that I had made it this far.....I'd been dramatically reduced in my smoking for a good 2 months by now, a pack a week and a pack on the weekends, but I wanted to take it further. I'd heard of this mystic thing called eliquid that one could use to reload their cartomizers and get extra mileage out of them. The folks over at Vapor Kings have a great tutorial about how to do this with existing cartomizers and "blanks". The best deal I've found on blanks so far is over at Vapor Beast. If you are using the GSL or the 888, get Boge standard 3.0ohm cartomizers, anything less will make the battery freak out and dramatically reduce your vaping experience. So I ordered a bunch of 18mg eliquids from Word Up Ecig. Little did I know I discovered a gold mine. Laurin over there mixes the most amazing eliquids I've tried so far. They cost a bit more, but are totally worth it, no harshness, no "off" flavors....she nails every blend she puts up for sale!

Once I got acquainted with vaping, I discovered there is a whole community in the Salt Lake area that enjoys it. It has actually prompted Electronic Stix in Ogden. They specialise in the Joyetech series. This is a much cooler smoke, flavor will be true, but if you are a hotboxer like me, you'll have to adjust your vaping style dramatically. Unfortunately, the GSL and 888 are still my favs when it comes to a satisfying vape in the evening. So far, I've been kinda disappoint with their e liquid, but the "Otter Pop Grape" is tasty, tasty! These guys also have the most amazing 510 passthrough I've tried yet. It runs at 5V, producing tons of warm vapor, truly satisfying from my experience. I'm not knocking on them, I think they've got some great ideas, the Joyetech series, so far has failed to satisfy :(

There is so much to this I could write a novel, but it is 1am in the city of salt and I'm beat. Let me know if I should write more....I certainly will.

Lotsa Love,

Jacob/3 Day Chef