Italiano

So I went all Italian tonight making Tiramisu and pasta with a homemade sausage sauce.  

I actually managed to make a video of clips showing how to assemble the Tiramisu.  I got the recipe for free from the America's Test Kitchen website.

Tiramisu

Serves 10 to 12

2 1/2	cups strong black coffee , room temperature
1 1/2	tablespoons instant espresso powder
9	tablespoons dark rum
6	large egg yolks
2/3	cup sugar
1/4	teaspoon table salt
1 1/2	pounds mascarpone cheese
3/4	cup heavy cream (cold)
14	ounces ladyfingers (42 to 60, depending on size)
3 1/2	tablespoons cocoa , preferably Dutch-processed
1/4	cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate , grated (optional)

1. Stir coffee, espresso, and 5 tablespoons rum in wide bowl or baking dish until espresso dissolves; set aside.

2. In bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat yolks at low speed until just combined. Add sugar and salt and beat at medium-high speed until pale yellow, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula once or twice. Add remaining 4 tablespoons rum and beat at medium speed until just combined, 20 to 30 seconds; scrape bowl. Add mascarpone and beat at medium speed until no lumps remain, 30 to 45 seconds, scraping down bowl once or twice. Transfer mixture to large bowl and set aside.

3. In now-empty mixer bowl (no need to clean bowl), beat cream at medium speed until frothy, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Increase speed to high and continue to beat until cream holds stiff peaks, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes longer. Using rubber spatula, fold one-third of whipped cream into mascarpone mixture to lighten, then gently fold in remaining whipped cream until no white streaks remain. Set mascarpone mixture aside.

4. Working one at a time, drop half of ladyfingers into coffee mixture, roll, remove, and transfer to 13 by 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish. (Do not submerge ladyfingers in coffee mixture; entire process should take no longer than 2 to 3 seconds for each cookie.) Arrange soaked cookies in single layer in baking dish, breaking or trimming ladyfingers as needed to fit neatly into dish.

5. Spread half of mascarpone mixture over ladyfingers; use rubber spatula to spread mixture to sides and into corners of dish and smooth surface. Place 2 tablespoons cocoa in fine-mesh strainer and dust cocoa over mascarpone.

6. Repeat dipping and arrangement of ladyfingers; spread remaining mascarpone mixture over ladyfingers and dust with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa. Wipe edges of dish with dry paper towel. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 6 to 24 hours. Sprinkle with grated chocolate, if using; cut into pieces and serve chilled.

The sauce is super easy, and I prefer it over any jar.  Here is what you need:

• 1 24oz can whole or diced tomatoes 
• 1 15oz can plain sauce
• 2-3 cloves garlic (or just practice till you find the amount right for you)
• 1 onion finely diced (or do the same as you would with the garlic)
• 1 package fresh basil (fresh is better I promise!)
• 1 lb italian sausage
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 1-2 tbsp sugar (it cuts the acidity of the tomatoes)

Here is a video to show how to put it all together.

Father's Day Weekend '09 pt 2

So if you read part 1, you know that I was spending a weekend with my family who has a wide range of dietary restrictions or choices.  Well during this weekend my father made it clear that the only thing he wanted for father's day was to take my nephew to the Scottsdale train park.  

This left me with a challenge, "Where the hell I'm a going to take everyone to eat that doesn't suck?"

Answer: Cowboy Ciao

It was perfect!! It had good food, lots of vegetarian options, "normal" enough stuff for my dad, gluten-less options for my brother, and it looked like it would get through the picky parent patrol.

I got the Steak Tips Linguine,with arugula, cherry tomatoes, porcini mushrooms, pecorino, sherry and cream.  

Aaron got the Exotic Mushroom Pan Fry, cremini, button, oyster, cepe, lobster, black trumpet, shiitake, morel, and yellow foot mushrooms in ancho cream over double-cooked polenta, topped with grilled portabellini, avocado, tomato and cotija cheese.

Dad got the Smoked Duck & Brie Sandwich, applewood-smoked duck breast on marble rye with arugula, bacon, double crème brie and caramelized chipotle/granny smith apples, served with roasted yam salad.

Jane got a salad, which she enjoyed, but I didn't think was exciting enough to photograph. And my nephew, he just got a plain cheese quesadilla.

It was all very good, I know because I tasted  everything.  If you are in the downtown Scottsdale area check out them out, especially if you have vegetarians in your party.

Father's Day Weekend '09 pt 1

Warning: Apparently I am very verbose and will need to put this into two parts, with one being very, very, very long.  My apologies.

My public has informed me (thanks Eric) that I have been slacking in my blogging duties, especially since they (or he) know(s) that I had plenty of food related activities that did not make it into blog format yet.  Soooooo, here I am with the food news covering this past weekend (including the Thursday).

It all started with the impending visit from my dad and stepmother from Arkansas.  This might not seem all that complicated until you start asking them what it is they like to eat, will eat, or can eat.  My stepmom is pretty simple in her restrictions in only being a vegetarian (meaning no meat, but allowing animal products such as dairy and eggs) and otherwise open minded to food.  My dad, conversely, is a very picky eater with his only constraint being a dairy allergy.  Now, being the good and patient child I am, I also had to think about my brother and nephew as well.  My brother is gluten intolerant while my nephew suffers from  a "over protective and finicky parent" eating disorder.  This left me with some serious meal planning to do!  

My hero for this culinary adventure turned out to be a cook book by Mollie Katzen, The Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live Without.  This is a great book! Even if you are not vegetarian it has lots of great ideas for those vegetabley challenged to include more veggies into your diet in a variety of yummy ways. 

 I digress, like I said this book saved the day.  I found two great ideas: Asparagus Crepes with Mushroom Sauce and Green Bean, Eggplant, and Pumpkin in Tomato Coconut Curry.  I also picked out a dessert, Molasses Cake with Plum Raspberry Compote,  from one of my new cook books (a gift from Linds!), Four-Star Desserts, by Emily Luchetti*.  

Now of course I planned to do all my shopping on the greatest day of the week, Wednesday, double ad day at Sprouts.  And of course, I got a little carried away, again.  Apparently when I cook it has to be highly excessive. I was all set for Thursday and Friday.  

Thursday:  Spicy Garlic Shrimp Skewers, Grilled Salmon, Yogurt Marinated Grilled Chicken, Potato Blue Cheese Casserole, Balsamic Marinated Asparagus, and the Vegetable Curry.

Friday: Molasses Cake with Compote, Asparagus Crepes with Mushroom Sauce.

I decided it would be best to try to get most of this done on Thursday since I would be entertaining the parentals most of Friday.  I was soooooo very smart**.  Anyway, after finishing some last minute shopping I sat down and made a list so I could keep track of all the stuff I had to do.

Note the optimism in thinking I'd get the crepes and cake done too!  Needless to say, cake and crepes waited till Friday.

This time I didn't do as good a job photographically documenting my food but....I got a short video clip of the curry simmering, to bad you can only hear it and not smell it, sigh.

Clockwise: Ginger, Thai Basil, Green Beans, Indian Eggplant waiting to be curry.

This is the curry completed.

Blanching Asparagus, for all the novices out there blanching means to boil the veggies till just tender (2-3 min) and after that you shock the asparagus by putting it in an ice bath.  This stops the residual heat from over cooking your veggies.

The mushrooms being sauteed in preparation for sauce.

It all turned out really well!  Below are some recipes (per request) of things I made.

Yogurt Marinade for Chicken

2 tbsp Thai (sweet) Basil

2 tbsp Lemon Juice

1 tsp Lime juice

3 tbsp Olive Oil

1 tsp Curry powder

1/4 c Greek Yogurt

1 tbsp Minced Garlic

salt & pepper

Mix everything together and marinate for at least 3 hrs. 

Spicy Garlic Shrimp Skewers

First brine shrimp for 30 min, this means put the shrimp in a ziploc bag that has 1 quart of cold water with 2 tbsp dissolved salt in it.

1 Garlic clove minced

             - mash the garlic with 1 tsp salt using the edge of the knife, it makes a paste

1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper

1 tsp Sweet Paprika

2 tbsp Olive Oil

2 tsp Lemon juice 

Mix together in a bowl.  Toss in the shrimp and coat before placing them on the skewer.

Balsamic Syrup

1 bottle balsamic vinegar

1/4-1/2 c sugar

Mix together and boil it until it has a syrupy consistency.  This is great on veggies or even on cheese and crackers.  Be careful though, it smells very strongly!

Use this to make ----------->

Marinated Asparagus

1 large clove garlic minced

1-2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp balsamic syrup

salt to taste 

Toss this together with 1 bunch of trimmed asparagus in a ziploc and grill.

Part 2 on its way.

*This is the book that had all the recipes from "maximum consumption"

**Sarcasm

Yogurt in the hiz-ouse

I honestly have no idea how to spell hiz-ouse, but yogurt is totally deserving of my embarrassment of misspelling.

This is my official shout out to yogurt.  To all my peeps up at Yoplait, wuz up and your yogurt is the shizzle!

As Linds has kindly informed me, yogurt has been coming back into the public eye as of late (graphically quoting things about "probiotics" and "I can't poo right till I eat yogurt", which she begs upon my kindness to clarify that she can poo right with or without yogurt and she is just making social commentary on the commercials) but I still feel that it is a highly undervalued food.  Not only is it wonderful in all its spectacular delectable flavored varieties, but it can also be used as a substitution for the less healthy mayonnaise in numerous savory recipes.  Not to mention its significant contributions in tandoori marinades and Greek tzatziki sauce.

Yogurt, I praise thee!

Maximum Consumption

So last weekend I got this crazy itch to indulge my inner foodie.  After some careful consideration I planned my attack for Wednesday, double ad day at Sprout's.  In preparation I went through my newest cook book and picked out a variety of recipes from the summer berries/fruits section.  I went through and wrote down the names of recipes and created lists of non-pantry grocery items I would need in order for desert completion.  I was ready!

Wednesday came and I checked the new ad online.  One quick call to D for some dinner collaboration and the plan was all set and put into motion.  I was going to go for it, making this massive menu:

• Blackberry Buttermilk pie
• Cherry Dumplings
• Honey Blueberry cake
• Bison Burgers
• Grilled shrimp skewers
• Sauteed Spinach

The greatest challenge in all of this was my pie.  For those of you who aren't aware, pie crust and I are mortal enemies.  In each of our past engagements pie crust has taken the decided victory over me.  For a year I planned my rematch and it was all going to come down to Wednesday.  I took a staggering lead in the early preparation of the crust, beautifully creating pea sized clusters of butter for ultimate flakiness and avoiding the major pitfalls of over hydration and mixing.  Unfortunately pie crust jumped back up during the rolling process by creating a minor sticking problem with the rolling pin and mat.  In the end, I nudged out a victory by successfully getting the crust in the pan, baked, and turned into a rather delicious pie.  I was disappointed because I was looking for more of a landslide win, but I will take what I can get.

I started this adventure at about 1:00; five hours later, and with the help of my roommates, the menu was complete and definitely yummy. 

Also, I tried to take video of the pie crust battle royale to post but, due to technical difficulties, was unable to provide that.  As a consolation, I have a video of photo stills (sweet and savory) that is not to shabby, if I say so myself.   

Grand Opening!

Hello, welcome to my new blog. This all came about because of a series of random events that culminated  with a casual comment from my friend, "why don't you start a food blog?"

Hey! What a great idea!

So, here I am, delusional enough to think that people will want to read a food blog written by me.

The first thing you might be thinking though is, "culinarium isn't a word."  You are right, it is not.  I got it in my head that if I was going to do a blog I had to come up with this witty clever catchy title, and this made up word was it!  Here's the logic:

1. culinary: anything connected to, or related with, cooking or kitchens.
2. -arium: a place associated with a specified thing

 Tah Dah! Get it! 

The idea is to chronicle my adventures in food.  My mission: to explore strange new flavors; to seek out new recipes and restaurants; to boldly eat where this (wo)man has never eaten before.

 I plan to have descriptions of new places I have eaten, ideas of places to shop, recordings of my experimentation  with recipes, and details of kick a$$ equipment I've tried.  Essentially, if it has to do with food and I do it, try it, or use it, this is where I will tell you about it.  There are also hopes of having pictures and even video! 

We will see.