Fro and a Fork

Fresh Start!

2012-01-08T10:22:00.002-05:00

So, this is the new year. I can't stop hearing that Death Cab for Cutie song when I think about the excitement and new experiences that each new year brings. A blank slate. A new start. Last year was tough, full of unexpected surprises and challenges for me. But this, is the new year.

For my first entry of 2012, I wanted to capture the complexity of the emotions tied into the start of a new year, and the hopes and dreams we often have for it. That brings me to a Caesar salad.

Rich egg yolk, briny anchovies, spicy garlic, grainy mustard, buttery olive oil, tart lemon, salty-sweet Worcestershire, and musky cheese, loving up on crispy, light Romaine.
Separately, some of these things are better than others, but together its magical. Just like the 12 months of each new year that will shape our characters, personalities, and lives.

You'll notice that the recipe below has no exact measurements, just guidelines with a greater focus on the technique of emulsification and making your food yours. Not trying to get all poetic, but its kind of like how life has no blueprint and even if you try to meticulously plan each and every move nothing is predictable and you should just go with it in the hopes of having great stories to tell the grandkids.

The goods:

1 coddled egg yolk
1/2 cup and a touch more olive oil
Some anchovy paste (a few good squeezes of the tube)
Some Worcestershire sauce (1 teaspoon or so)
4 garlic cloves, minced
Some lemon juice OR lemon juice concentrate (1 1/2 teaspoons or so...I used concentrate because I live in a country with no lemons, bummer)
Some super grainy Dijon mustard (1 1/2 teaspoons or so)
Some grated Parmesan cheese

The Deed:

1. Place the garlic, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, and anchovy paste in a medium sized bowl.

2. Coddle the egg by placing it in boiling water for 45 seconds, then let it cool. Add the egg yolk to the bowl, mixing all of the ingredients together.

3. Start whisking the mixture. Whisk like hell, while pouring the olive oil. Don't stop whisking...this is what causes your dressing to do this fancy thing called emulsify.

4. Once it looks like and has the consistency of a dressing. add a little cheese in for good measure, as well as salt and fresh cracked pepper.

5. Taste and tweak as you see fit, adding more anchovy paste, lemon juice, Worcestershire, or pepper. I found that the garlic and salt content were fine, but added more lemon and Worcestershire to finish things off.

6. Put some of the dressing in a seperate bowl and toss some Romaine in. Coat the lettuce well, place it on a plate, finish with some grated cheese and croutons (homemade or storebought...no judgies).

7. Enjoy and Happy New Year!

Baking the Rules.

2011-07-11T13:28:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone, I know this post is loooong overdue, and by long I mean 7 months overdue. A lot has been going and changing in my life. Where to start? First off, now I'm living in Caracas, Venezuela!

I will be here until March 2013 on my first assignment as a diplomat (aka visa issuer/dream crusher, I'm hoping for something more glamorous for my second tour) with the Department of State.

Second big news, Steven (non-foodie fiancee) and I broke up after a 4 year stretch. The pressures of my job (moves, crazy new places, silly new people) are there, and for some just too much, so that signaled the end of what seemed to be a solid relationship. So between those two life changing events, I've had little time to blog--my most sincere apologies guys.

How's Venezuela you ask? I LOVE it here, I've made some great friends already and of course eaten great food. Right now I'm obsessed with pineapple batidos, parchita (passion fruit) juice, and empanadas de pabellon (all things you will read about later), but its so hard to pick a few things because the food is great here.

However, it seems that my love of food got me sick. Yup, somewhere along the line I ate a contaminated something and a lovely parasite made my body home. I just got out of the hospital and am currently on bed rest and the BRAT (Bananas/Bread, Rice, Apples, Toast) diet until further notice thanks to the pesky pest and subsequent intestinal infection. Needless to say I'm going stir crazy and craving real food!

Since I'm a stubborn foodie, I decided to whip up some banana bread. I mean technically I'm not breaking the rules, I'm baking the rules. Bread, check. Bananas, check. I figure the milk and eggs (banned items) don't count since they will be baked and in my mind that makes them harmless...

Using Ratio as a guide I made this yummy, spice filled, aromatic banana bread to break my bed rest blues and give me something interesting to eat...wanna do it? Here's how.

The Stuff:
Note: Since I live in Latin America now, land of the metric system, I've started cooking by weight...far more consistent.

Dry
8 ounces + 1 generous tablespoon of flour
4 ounces sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 tablespoon of cinnamon

Wet
8 ounces of milk
2 large eggs
4 ounces of melted butter
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons of vanilla

Bananas
3 pureed bananas, the more ripe, the better

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 (I have a gas oven and baked at 175ish degrees Celsius)
Whisk dry ingredients together in a bowl, set aside.
Puree the bananas, I used my trusty immersion hand blender to do this. If you don't have one of these, just mash the bananas up with a fork or potato masher.
Mix the wet ingredients in a bowl, be sure that the eggs are well incorporated
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry bowl, stir until the two start coming together. Then, add the bananas. The batter should be kind of runny, don't be afraid.
Pour batter into a well buttered (I used butter flavored PAM) 9 x 5 bread loaf pan or in muffin tins, the choice is yours!
Bake until golden brown and a knife blade or toothpick come out clean.
Enjoy!

Hibernation Pot Roast

2010-12-05T22:11:00.000-05:00

Its cold. It's dark at 5 PM. And did I mention its cold? As much as I like booze and sweets in December, I yearn for the hearty, comforting food that my mommy (yes, I'm 25 years old and just said mommy...and what.) makes even though I'm hundreds of miles away from her. So to break in my new cast iron skillet, I decided to make a pot roast and macaroni and cheese for dinner.

I love my mom's roast. When I was 12 I announced "I am now a vegetarian!" and my mom said "okay"...as she pulled out a beef roast to thaw. While I went on and on about the benefits of vegetarianism, she seasoned, seared, and slow cooked her pot roast. By the time dinner came around, I stared longingly yet stubbornly at that roast, determined to be satisfied with white rice to prove that you don't need meat. But damn did that roast look amazing. I started grabbing a few veggies that laid by its side...you know to add nutrients to my rice, then I spooned some of the gravy over my rice...I mean its just gravy not the meat itself, right?, and before you can say PETA I was chowing down on the tender meat with a look of shame, glee, and satisfaction plastered stupidly on my face. Anyhow, enough with the memories on to the present. With my mom on the phone for moral support, I was able to make this beauty:

It's not exactly like my mom's because my gravy is wine based (okay, so I did hold true to my promise and deliver booze) so my roast is a bit fruity and sweet, yet herby and savory. Thanks to a low and slow cooking method, I didn't even need a knife to get a piece and the vegetables were still firm and very hearty. As for the mac and cheese, I cheated as I was pressed for time, but FYI Kraft's new home-style line is pretty on point. I gave it a little extra love by adding my own spices and some freshly grated cheese.

So if you're feeling cold and hungry, go ahead hibernate...and have pot roast.

Hibernation Pot Roast

1.5 pounds beef roast* (look for one with lots of marbling)
Meat tenderizer
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon thyme
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)
1 packet Lipton Beefy Onion Soup Mix
4 cloves garlic
1 cup red wine, I used a Malbec**
Vegetables of your choice cut into quarters and bite sized pieces. I used:
1/2 medium sized purple onion, cut into chunks
4 red potatoes, quartered
1 cup fresh Brussels sprouts
1 bag petite carrots
1.5 cups whole baby bella mushrooms
*I got a small roast as it's just me and Steven and we don't want to eat roast for eternity. The butcher can cut a larger piece down for you, just ask.
**If you want you can substitute wine for water or do some proportion of wine to water.

1. Whisk together flour and all spices, set aside. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Heat a cast iron (or some other stove top to oven pot) with a bit of vegetable oil over medium to medium-high heat.
2. Sprinkle meat tenderizer on all sides of the roast and use a fork or knife to tenderize the meat by poking holes in it.
3. Cut 4 X's in the roast and insert one garlic clove into each X.
4. Coat meat with flour mixture on all sides and brown all sides of the meat in your preheated cast iron skillet. You are browning, not cooking the meat through so don't get carried away here.
5. Remove meat from skillet and set aside.
6. Pour the wine into the pan and add a few tablespoons of the seasoned flour you made earlier. Whisk the wine and flour together to form a gravy.
7. Once the gravy forms, return the meat to the pan and coat it with the gravy.
8. Turn heat off and add all of the vegetables to the skillet to join the meat.
9. Cover cast iron skillet with foil and place in the oven and cook until meat is cooked thoroughly and vegetables are tender (about 5 hours for my roast) and enjoy!

Super Southern Candied Pecans

2010-12-03T22:55:00.002-05:00

Pecans are quintessentially southern, I may have known how to shell a pecan before I knew how to tie my shoe and if you give a southerner a pecan I promise we'll make you a pie, a cocktail, something breaded, and maybe even a cure for cancer (okay maybe not the last one, but we know and love our pecans!). I decided to take my knowledge of this buttery nut and give a classic Christmas treat, the candied pecan, a unique twist. The end result: a super southern candied pecan.

I'm sure you're wondering what makes my pecans super southern, right? Well, I'll tell you.
Since we already hold a monopoly on candied pecans, I kicked it up a notch and soaked my batch of pecans in Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka before I candied them (hey, I warned you there would be a lot of booze and sweets on the blog this month!). The result is a candied pecan bursting with aromatic clove and cinnamon scents, while vaguely reminding you of a summer day with the twang of the sweet tea flavored vodka.

Of course my super southern pecans make for a great snack on their own, but they also make a nice addition to salads and desserts. Given their ease to make and seasonal ingredient list, my super southern candied pecans are the perfect addition to upcoming holiday parties because it requires just 15 minutes of actual prep time, and you most likely have these items in your kitchen.

Super Southern Candied Pecans
Yield: 3 cups of pecans

3 cups whole pecans
2 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka

1. Pour vodka into a large bowl, add pecans, stir, and allow to pecans to marinate in the vodka for at least 15-20 minutes.

2. Whisk together sugar and all of spices in a large bowl. Strain pecans from vodka and add them to the sugar bowl, stirring until all pecans are generously coated with the sugar mixture.

3. Place pecans onto a parchment lined baking sheet in one layer and bake in a 300 degree oven for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally until of the sugar has caramelized and stopped bubbling. Allow to cool completely before serving and enjoy!

Giving Tradition the Finger: Middle Fingerprint Cookies

2010-12-01T16:58:00.000-05:00

Happy December! With the exception of the cold weather (I think I'm allergic) I love this time of year because to me its all about family and food, and by food I mean booze and sugar as they are the stars of the Christmas season (at least in my circles). This means that I spend this month spending quality time with family and friends, eating a sinful amount of sweets, and drinking a usually embarrassing quantity of alcohol.

So this month on Fro and a Fork, expect a lot of booze and a lot of desserts, and maybe a few giveaways because I like your face. For my first sweet of the season, I decided to take on a Christmas classic: the thumbprint cookie.

Thumbprint cookies are simple shortbread cookies that are topped with a bit of jam and traditionally served at Christmastime. They get their name because most bakers use their thumb to make the indentation for the jam topping. Of course I had to make this classic my own, so I bring you the middle fingerprint cookie.

One could say that I gave the finger to tradition with the flavors of this cookie. You see, my middle fingerprint cookie is rebellious (much like myself), bursting with spring flavors of lavender and lemon while maintaining the buttery richness expected of its traditional counterpart. But sass aside, I used my middle finger because I think it makes a deeper and better defined "well" to fill with jam (or in this case lemon curd) while maintaining a pretty cookie. I did try the traditional thumb method and it just looked weird so I'm glad I found another use for my middle finger. The end product was a slightly sweet, aromatic, zesty, and rich yet light cookie that would pair nicely with a nice cup of tea and a good book.

Do you want one? Well, in the words of Montel Jordan, this is how we do it (I highly suggest playing this song while you read the recipe or bake the cookies, just for fun):

Middle Finger Print Cookies
Yield: 20 fabulous cookies

The Goods:

10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup of Lavender syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest of one lemon
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
Lemon curd

The Deed:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (You don't have to use parchment paper, just do not grease the cookie sheet if you choose not to. I do recommend the parchment paper for easy clean up because sometimes the jam seeps out of the well)

2. Using a hand mixer (or a stand mixer if you're fancy) beat together all of the ingredients except for the flour. The mixture will be kind of awkward and lumpy given the consistency of the lavender syrup, but just go with it, I promise it will be fine.

3. Once the ingredients are mixed as best as possible, continue beating the mixture on low speed and slowly add the flour until it is incorporated and you have a dough.

4. Use a teaspoon (or a melon baller like I did) to scoop out small portions of dough and roll them between your hand to make a ball. Place the balls about an inch apart on your cookie sheet, then use your middle finger to make indentations in the middle of the cookie forming a deep well. Fill the well with about 1/4 teaspoon or so of lemon curd.

5. Bake for about 15 minutes until edges are golden brown and remove and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

The Winner of the Foodie Gift Basket is....

2010-11-26T10:27:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and didn't overdo it too much. If you did, just go easy on the leftovers today or avoid them altogether. I'm stuffed and comfortably doing all of my Christmas shopping online, that's how I roll on Black Friday, why deal with the crowds?

Anyhow, in the spirit of Black Friday and how I like to celebrate it, I would like to announce the winner of my foodie giveaway. Many thanks to everyone who entered and tweeted about it, and I hope that you try some of the products that I decided to feature.
Random.org selected entry number 7 via some crazy algorhythm, so congratulations to Jonathan! You are the proud owner of a wonderful foodie gift basket filled with a wide variety of food products that I enjoyed at the Metropolitian Cooking Show. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did, and consider this a little Christmas gift from me.

As for my other readers, thank you so much for contributing your favorite local restaurants, cafes, and products. I truly enjoyed seeing what you guys like to eat and I hope that others take the time to try these small and local businesses. And to everyone, happy holidays and good luck to those brave enough to attack Black Friday!

Oh, We've Been Ready for a Throwdown.

2010-11-17T16:26:00.001-05:00

So, what do Bobby Flay, food bloggers, and contemporary coffee tables have in common? Well I'll tell you...

Source of Photo

Since the food blogosphere is humming with excitement today as we wait to see the Thanksgiving edition of Throwdown with Bobby Flay featuring fellow blogger Ree Drummond* of The Pioneer Woman Cooks, I just had to ask Sir Flay how he felt food bloggers were changing the food scene when I had the opportunity to do so at the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show. Here is what he had to say*:

I'm sure you're wondering why I had to draw stick figures in the likeness of Bobby and myself and make a ghetto video (although I must say, the peppers in Bobby's hands are a nice touch). Well let me explain: I would have loved to get an actual video of this moment, but Bobby told the venue that he did not want people to videotape his cooking demonstration, so I had to do a reenactment on my coffee table using the audio that I was allowed to record.

Nonetheless, that's what Bobby Flay thinks of our beloved Ree and food bloggers in general. I'm not sure if he really answered the question, if he thinks food bloggers are a joke, or if he was just ready to get the hell out of Washington but I'm surprised he didn't mention the culinary feats that people without a formal culinary education can perform in their home kitchen thanks to the knowledge passed along by food bloggers. I mean think about some of the food blogs that you read. There are people who are baking flawless souffles, experimenting with molecular cooking, making their own yeast, among other gastonomic triumphs and through their blog they make these techniques less scary for the average home cook.

Anyhow, the Thanksgiving Throwdown episode will air tonight on Food Network at 9 PM Eastern time where I know Ree will represent all food bloggers to the best of her abilities. So the real question is Bobby, are you ready for a thowdown?

#TeamRee

*Ree, so sorry for mispronouncing your last name...my nerves inverted the letters in my head!

Eating Through The Recession: Metro Cooking Show Wrap Up and Giveaway

2010-11-15T18:34:00.005-05:00

On Saturday, I went to the DC Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show as part of Foodbuzz's Foodie Correspondent Program. The event was founded by Denise Medved in 2005 and has grown to become the only award winning show of its kind in the country. Every year, the Metro Cooking and Entertaining Show connects over 300 food-related exhibitors directly with consumers for a weekend of food and fun at the Washington Convention Center in downtown Washington, D.C.

Wish you could have attended? Don't worry, I've got you covered:

There was a celebrity cooking theater were people could buy tickets to see Food Network chef do cooking demostrations, but I wasn't there to see Paula, Rachel, or Bobby. I love them, but they already have millions; I was out to support small, local, and new food oriented businesses that are fighting hard to succeed during the recession so I focused my work in the Tasting Pavilion. As I walked around, I started to notice that many of the vendors present last year weren't there this year, and sadly some of them have even gone under. So I was bound and determined to do what I could to ensure the longevity of these small companies.

I spent the day trying as many products as possible (there was a point where I was eating straight olive oil and syrup), having meaningful conversations with vendors about their companies, and hearing their stories. Although all of the companies in attendance sell different products, I found that they all share a passion for quality ingredients and the desire to get their name out there through personal connections with their customers.

Of all the things I ate on Saturday, these products really caught my eye:

Al Dente Pasta Company: Monique is so full of energy and is also a food blogger! She gave me several bags of her homemade pasta, but I'm most excited to try the black squid ink fettuccine! The company started with her making pasta in a restaurant kitchen owned by her friend and has now moved to a commercial kitchen. Currently on a pursuit to market her whole wheat pasta, Monique just wants to see people having fun with their food at home.

Bola: Owner Michele Miller is such a sweet woman and she makes delicious granola. Featured by Rachel Ray Magazine, Bola granola has a unique nutty taste because it's 20% crushed almond, but its also filled with other energetic goodies such as pumpkin seeds and rolled oats.

ClinQs: We've all seen wine charms, but ClinQs has finally made something that can be used by those with stemless wine glasses or for those who prefer a bottle of beer. Sisters Jelia (the creative one) and Jenn (the marketing lady) are on the pursuit to get ClinQs on glasses throughout the country to avoid those awkward "umm, you just took my drink" moments.

Cookies and Corks: I love wine. I love cookies. I love Cookies and Corks. Based in Virginia, this company was started by two friends--Leah Kuo (a formally trained pastry chef) and Laura Englander (the marketing and sales person)--who are changing the idea that wine can only be served with cheese. Leah has developed savory and sweet cookie recipes using ingredients that compliment sparkling, white, and red wines and with the help of Amy Reily (the wine and cookie pairing advisor),Cookies and Corks is changing the way we drink wine.

Emily G's Jam: This Georgia based company started after Emily (Emily) and Gina (G), took their kids strawberry picking near Atlanta. With an abundance of strawberries and creativity, the two created a jam that became popular among friends, family, and neighbors--Emily G's was born. All of the jams are hand poured and unique flavors such as cabernet sauvignon and pear honey will make a piece of toast a gourmet breakfast.

Huerto Azul Jam: You guys know I love Chile, so imagine my delight to run into some Chilean vendors at the show! Thanks to Foster Fine Foods Huerto Azul Jam Company is able to import unique, handcrafted jams to the U.S. Unique flavors include onion jam in merlot wine and myrtleberry (a Chilean fruit) chutney with merken (an indigenous spice mixture).

Miss Lillian's Original Sauce: Talking with these ladies was like being at my Aunt's house. Miss Lillian's sauce is a family recipe that is thankfully being shared with us. Available in spicy or mild, this sauce is creamy, smokey, zesty goodness that takes burgers, chicken nuggets, french fries, and other foods to a new level.

Salt Rox: When I a steak being cooked on a salt slab I knew I had to check this company out. Salt Rox is based in Kentucky and they sell Pink Himalayan pink salt. Not only do they sell salt in course granules for grinding, but they are converting people to the salt lifestyle--cooking on salt slabs and doing shots from salt shot glasses (patent pending). I tried both the steak and the margarita in the shot glass; both were so flavorful you'll wonder why you ever bought iodized salt to begin with, I know I've been converted.

S.A.L.T. Sisters: In 2007 owner Charmane Skillen began selling gourmet sea and mineral salts at farmers markets in Indiana, but as demand grew she partnered with friend Brenda Troyer in 2009 to form S.A.L.T. Sisters. Today, this company is one of the premiere providers of gourmet sea salt and seasonings, but they also have a line of rubs, spice, and herb blends. And if you're curious, S.A.L.T. stands for Sydney, Alexis, Lauren, and Taylor, Charmane's daughters.

Sauce Goddess: Jennifer (the Sauce Goddess) is so energetic, laid back, and passionate about her glazes and spice blends. Jennifer's passion for food caused her to start her company, Sauce Goddess, in 2000 with just 2 grill glazes. Today, Sauce Goddess sells 4 wickedly flavorful glazes and four savory spice blends, talk about growth! Sauce Goddess spice blends are the perfect way to add some sass to dips and her glazes will make it seem like you spent hours in the kitchen perfecting your ribs and chicken.

Sonoma Syrup Company: Sonoma Syrup Company was founded in 2002 by Karin Campion. Her attempt: capture the flavors of Sonoma and infuse them into extracts and simple syrup. The result? Handcrafted syrups and extracts made in small batches that are flavorful and unique.

Wanna Hava Cookie: Based in New York, owners Marisa and her husband Mark might just be the cutest couple ever--she's the baker, he's the eater (and site programmer). Marisa started Wanna Hava Cookie with the support of family and friends in an effort to combat unsatisfying, overpriced baked goods that were overly available around the city. Today, she's baking whoopie pies, cookies, bars, and other treats for hungry New Yorkers, but don't worry--you can also order online.

Wild Mountain Gourmet: I actually met the owner while I was greedily eating a cupcake and she was eating carrot sticks and I promised I'd visit her booth, when I made my way over there I was impressed with her homemade mustards that range from zippy (beer and garlic) to sweet (apple and pumpkin). I ended up buying the dill and garlic mustard and it tastes amazing on baked salmon, FYI.

Zip Sauce: With a brusk northern accent one of the guys working the booth said "Anything for you sweethaurt," but that's not why I like zip sauce. This soy-based sauce began as a steak finishing sauce at Lelli's Restaurant in Detroit, but became available to the masses after much demand. Vegetarians, don't think zip sauce is a "meat thing" they were sampling it at the show mixed with a touch of butter and mashed potatoes! It's also gluten free.

That's just a very small sampling of the over 300 vendors present. I left with a number of unique products and I spent way more money than I intended, but hey its good for my belly and small business, so it's a win-win. Hopefully I was able to make you feel like you were hanging out with me in foodie paradise.

At some point during the day, I got an idea to do a giveaway and asked vendors if they would be willing to donate one of their products if I made a purchase. To my surprise, not only were they eager to donate their product, they were really excited about the giveaway and thought it was a great idea! So, thanks to the kindness of the above vendors, I was able to make one lucky reader a gift basket with all of the products I featured. The goal of this giveaway is to spread the foodie love and support small businesses. Want to win? You can potentially enter this giveaway two times, here's what you do:

Tweet about this giveaway. You can use this: Foodies, let's eat our way through the recession! Support small and local businesses and enter @froandafork's giveaway, http://tiny.cc/xfib4 or you can write something more your style, just remember to mention this post and me in the tweet.
Leave a comment in this post naming your favorite small and or local business with a link to their page. I will be compiling a list to share with everyone broken into regions of the country.

PS: Given the fact that I'm paying for shipping and Sallie Mae is currently my best friend, I have to limit this to foodies in the U.S.

The winner will be randomly selected and announced on Black Friday (November 26), so check back to see if you won!

Spread the food, spread the love.

Thank you to the following for supporting my giveaway and donating a product:

Bola
ClinQs
Cookies and Corks
Foster Fine Foods
Miss Lillian's Original Sauce
Salt Rox
S.A.L.T Sisters
Sonoma Syrup Company
Wanna Hava Cookie
Wild Mountain Gourmet
Zip Sauce

The Demystification of Spherification

2010-11-12T21:08:00.003-05:00

While everyone else was restoring sanity a few weeks ago in DC, I was in the calm suburb of Arlington at Sur La Table taking a Molecular Gastronomy cooking class. Why? Aside from my loathing of large crowds, I have a deep interest in molecular gastronomy, in fact Steven calls it an obsession, rightfully so since a Sous Vide machine has made it onto my Christmas list. So when I found out about this class that was going to break molecular gastronomy cooking techniques into simple words and recipes for us mere mortals, I knew I had to go!

Molecular gastronomy is very cool, but it is also equally intimidating. The terms foam, sphere, sous vide, anti-griddles sound very different from cream, mold, crock pot and grill pan, but Chef Bryon Brown (our instructor) assured us that this isn't the case: believe or not we've been doing science in the kitchen more than we think.

He continued and gave a brief history of the term molecular gastronomy (also called the science of cooking) and what it has morphed into today, explaining that technicques that we consider to be basic today were revolutionary 20 years ago.

After our welcome and introduction, he shared with us what we'd be making during the class; on the menu: Kafta Kabobs with a Yogurt Spherificiation, Cucumber Yogurt Espuma (Foam), and Beet Tumbleweeds. As you can see this menu is approachable food that has been infused with a few molecular gastronomy techniques that include spherification and foam creation. But there are also more subtle elements present, such as using eggs as a binder or frying vegetables until crisp.

As a class we made the espuma (foam) first because it needs time in the fridge to set up. All we did was put the ingredients for the foam in a blender, strain it, add it to a cream whipper, and place it in the fridge. Chef Brown explained to us that you can make a foam out of anything as long as you strain the liquid and have a stabilizer to hold it together. A stabalizer, such as gelatin, will prevent your foam from falling flat creating the light, fluffy, bubbles you see on TV.

With the espuma setting up we moved on to the kabobs, which are pretty straight forward so I'm not going to spend to much time on this. Everything was set up for us (mis en place), but the class was broken into teams to assemble each element of the dish, we then put them in the fridge to set up before taking them out to be grilled. The kabobs were made of lamb and beef, seasoned with aromatic spices such as paprika and cloves, and adorned with pieces of chopped onions and garlic. One important thing to remember when making kabobs, meatballs, or any patty: fold the meat don't mash it up, this way it will stay tender and moist:

Now it was time to do the most recognized molecular gastronomy trick: spherification. We used plain old yogurt to make these spheres in an algin water bath:

How you ask? The calcium in the yogurt interacts with the algin in the water causing the yogurt to cook and become a sphere. When you bite into the sphere you get a burst of yogurt, think of it as a fruit gusher except edible.

While one team grilled the kabobs, the other half of the class made the beet tumbleweeds. To make these you do need a special mandoline, but aside from that imagine yourself making french fries.

Place the shreds into hot oil and fry until there are no more bubbles--this means all the water has been cooked out. Remove the beet shards, place them on a surface to drain, and roll them together until they resemble tumble weeds. You have to work quick as the beets will start crisping into final form.

Finally after much work and anticipation, it was time to taste our meal:

Overall everything tasted good, my favorite elements were the yogurt sphere and beet tumbleweed because they both gave unique twists to familiar items, which is important to me. The two biggest things that I took away from this class were:

The precision required in molecular cooking. You must have a scale and micro scale.
The possibilities are endless once you understand basic concepts and ratios

I'm also convinced that cooking sous vide will be common place by the time that Steven and I have babies, and that foams and spheres will become ordinary dinner garnishes in the coming years. Basically, to me, molecular gastronomy and cooking with science in the forefront is just another culinary line to cross that is pushing the creativity and technical skills of many chefs today. Once this form of cooking becomes more mainstream in the restaurant world, it will then transcend into the homes of everyday people. The idea that I could make something as avant-garde as Jose Andres or Ferran Adria is exciting and I can't wait for this style of cuisine to become more accessible and approachable to the masses.

For those lucky ducks who live in the DC area, Chef Brown will be doing an entire molecular gastronomy series at Sur La Table in Pentagon City, so just go to the website for the schedule. If you don't live in this area, I highly recommend you checking out Salty Seattle, a molecular gastronomy food blog, or Will Powder, an online company that sells many of the powders needed to play culinary tricks.

Coma como Chileno: Ensalada de Col y Lubina Chilena

2010-11-10T17:39:00.000-05:00

I guess a translation is in order, this post is entitled: Eat like a Chilean: Cabbage Salad and Chilean Sea Bass...so you guys all know I studied abroad in Chile and as a result of that I think I'm Chilean, right? This means that I often crave Chilean foods and a ride on the crazy micro.

Santiago de Chile, view from my window :)

I was feeling particularly inspired during a walk through Whole Foods and I was led down a road to my querida Chile. The end result: my decision to tweak a cabbage salad that my host mom, Jenny, used to make for me and serve it along side a nice piece of Chilean Sea Bass with a crisp, cool glass of Chilean wine.

The salad is full of things typical of Chile. First off, many salads there start with a base of cabbage not of lettuce like in the U.S. To further upset the gringos, lemons and olive oil are often the only salad dressings available. And lastly, if you didn't like avocados you would after visiting Chile because palta is in everything. Wanna know what makes my salad even more chilena? It has fava beans in it which are quite popular in Chile and are served simply with you guessed it: olive oil, lemons, and salt.

To make my meal complete I paired the salad with a nice piece of Chilean sea bass, a light yet buttery fish that isn't overwhelmingly "fishy." I seasoned it simply with adobo and sazon and broiled it to perfection to render some of the fat and crisp up the skin. Anyhow, if you're salivating or booking a ticket to Chile, check out the recipe below for my "I Miss Chile" meal but first you must endure my photos!

Here are my shenanigans a la 2006 in Chile:

...and again during a recent visit in 2009 to visit my host family and friends:

Okay, now you can have recipes:

Jenny y Kashia's Cabbage Salad

4 heaping cups of Cole Slaw Mix (I buy it from Whole Foods in the pre-prepped veggie section, but bagged mixes will do the job too)
1 handful of chopped cilantro
1 handful of chopped spring onion
4 fava bean pods, beans removed and boiled until tender
1 Roma tomato, diced
Juice of one lemon
drizzle of olive oil
salt to taste
1 avocado, cubed

Combine all ingredients except for avocado in a large boil and allow to sit in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes so that the flavors meld. Just before serving, toss in the cubed avocado. Serve this salad along side fish, chicken, or even lasagna...that's how my host mom did it!

Chilean Sea Bass al estilo Kashia

1, 6-oz portion of Chilean sea bass
sprinkle of sazon and adobo, similar to how I do my chicken but DO NOT use an entire packet of sazon and be easy on the adobo, remember its salt-based.

Sear in pan to get a nice crust and finish under broiler until flesh is firm and starts to flake.

East Meets West: My First Foodbuzz Festival

2010-11-08T19:19:00.004-05:00

Hey all! I'm back in the land of black, grey, and navy after Foodbuzz Festival 2010.

I had a great time meeting other passionate foodies, talented bloggers, and overall cool peeps who I hope to see again...maybe even in my time zone. I went to Foodbuzz Fest with the goal of networking, learning from older bloggers, and of course eating...so I didn't focus as much on taking photos and notes, but more on the experience and reflection. I know many of you are reading because you want to know what happened, so I decided to share with you a video shot by Lynn from The Actor's Diet so that you can get an idea of what we were doing for three days in San Francisco:

As you can see, that's a lot to take in...did I mention the constant flow of food and drink!? On my flight home I began thinking about how I wanted to cover the event. I went in knowing I didn't want to blog about everything I ate or every second of the Festival, but I was still unsure of my angle because I want you guys to see what happened from my perspective. Then it hit me: a top 10 pieces of advice list. So, here is what I learned from the Festival and some tips (in no particular order) for those who are already thinking about and saving for Foodbuzz 2011:

Assuming you have no life threatening allergies, try everything. There is an insane amount of food and drink there. I ate everything, not because I'm greedy, but that's why I came! Some things that I don't normally like such as beer, chocolate, marshmallows, mushroom soup, odd textures, or pork were all fair game and much to my delight I even liked some of them. I would have never discovered that I do like some of these things when prepared a specific way had I not just gone all in, so don't miss out--eat the Festival.
Be humble, be brave. In general, I know that some people are shy, which is cool. Put on your name tag and slap on a grin I guarantee someone will approach you and say "what's up." I want to break this down even more to give some advice for the old heads and fellow newbies. Newbies, I know you have your blog stars (or bloggers you follow regularly) and it may be intimidating to introduce yourself to them, but do it! They're bloggers too. Now don't be a creeper about it, just be polite and your sweet little self. Now for you blog stars, remember humble pie tastes good. We know you're fancy now but don't forget that your readers and groupies are large parts of your success and fabulousity so be nice, even if they're a little intense you can always scurry off after a brief "hello."
Don't go all east coast, west coast and by that I mean respect various blogging angles. There are vegan, vegetarian, grilling, farm-to-table, gluten-free, allergy sensitive, eat the world, restaurant review, recipe focused, and many other types of blogs and its important that we don't get just stick with bloggers who write similar content. I think that we can all learn something from each other be it a recipe or a technical skill.
Be realistic, you're not going to meet everyone-- statistically impossible. If you arrive with the mission of meeting every single blogger there you will eventually look like a cracked out squirrel because you'll be rushing about, not the best first impression. Instead, try to focus on meaningful connections and conversations rather than "meeting" people by passing out business cards to everyone in attendence.
Know your brand, have some swagger. You must have business cards, non-negotiable this is a grand networking opportunity. But in addition to cards, some bloggers had stickers, buttons, food, and other things with their brand on it which brings out your true swaggger as a blogger. Some who caught my eye and got me thinking more about branding in Fro and a Fork's future: Greg and his SippitySup! sweatshirts, Linda with her salt business vials, and Stephanie's brilliant iPad usage to promote her new site, Foodiacs.
Explore Foodie Mecca, yes I mean leave Foodbuzz events or come early/leave later I mean, hello, its San Fran. Go to Little Italy, Chinatown, candy shops, restaurants, and coffee shops outside of the organized events and outside of the direct Foodbuzz radius. This is easier if you come into town earlier, but I was able to get it in and was only in town for a bit.
Bring a checked bag! So many goodies to bring back, all security nightmares! Knives, shears, meat thermometers, food and drink samples...trust me, you do not want to leave your swag bag behind, so its well worth the baggage fee!
Play nice... This may seem obvious but be nice, respectful and courteous to Foodbuzz Staff, vendors, catering staff, and fellow bloggers. Take the time to say thank you to Foodbuzz staff, outside vendors, and wait staff and be nice to fellow bloggers even if you don't "click" or like their style of blogging for whatever reason, to each their own and I promise we'll all have a good time!
Be yourself and be honest. If you don't know someone's blog, don't pretend you do trust me, they will know you're BS-ing which will then make things awkward. Also don't be ashamed of your blog (which can be easy if you're talking with "blogger royalty"), be confident in your site even if its just 2 days old: work it, own it.
Remember to have fun! Its so easy to get caught up in the photo taking, video shooting, post planning, and note taking to forget to actually enjoy the festival! So, take your eye out of your lens and network with fellow foodies and enjoy yourself...this is a festival afterall!

So guys that is what I took away from my first ever Foodbuzz Festival. I hope to be attend and see some of you there next year. It was really a foodie party with quality vendors, delicious food, and snazzy company that shouldn't be missed if at all possible. My only regret: not being able to come into town earlier, leave later, and eat more.

Pan de Muerto...por Una Gringa

2010-10-31T14:17:00.000-04:00

I know its Halloween weekend and everyone is enjoying the last bits of celebration, but I think I really am Latina en mi corazon because I can’t stop thinking about Dia de Los Muertos.

Image Credit

Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a celebration that occurs on November 2^nd in Mexico. On this day, families honor their family members who have passed away by setting up alters to remember them and visiting their grave sites. Mexicans don’t just take flowers to the graves, they also give food and gifts. I know to most gringos this sounds terribly morbid, but according to my Spanish teacher and other Mexicans that I’ve spoken with, the focus is on the good times and the memories, not the death of the person. I dig it.

One of the best things about Dia de Los Muertos is the food and Pan de Muerto (Bread of the Dead) is a keystone. Pan de Muerto is a sweet yeast bread with a hint of orange flavor and a generous dusting of sugar. During the weeks preceding Dia de los Muertos, the smell of this delicious bread wafts through Mexican streets throughout the country and each region makes their pan de muerto just a little different from their neighbor. To add more diversity, every baker shapes the dough into different things (ie: skulls, bones, flowers, animals, or people) and decorates the loaf simply or intricately with sugar so everyone’s pan de muerto is unique.

To make my pan de muerto, I took what I liked from two recipes--one from Fine Cooking Magazine and another from All Recipes.com--and made it my own. I also decided to do one traditional loaf covered in “bones” and dusted in sugar, and one creative loaf with a design and colored sugars. I was nervous not only because of my questionable track record with yeast, but also because my plan included taking the finished product to my Spanish class...which is taught by a Mexican…who ate pan de muerto…in Mexico. No pressure, no pressure at all.

Gracias a Dios, my bread turned out beautifully!

And not only did it look good, it tasted good as well. Everyone in my class enjoyed it and I got the stamp of approval from my teacher which meant a lot. By the time class resumed after lunch, word had traveled throughout the Spanish department about my pan rico, best compliment ever! So whether you're Mexican or not this bread is delicious and goes well with a rich hot chocolate (traditionally, this is how it’s served in Mexico) or coffee making it perfect for the upcoming winter months, so give it a try!

Pan de Muerto por Una Gringa
Yield: 2 loaves

The Goods:

For the Cake:

1/2 cup whole milk
5 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pats
skin of one orange, use a vegetable peeler and avoid the white pith
1 star of anise
2 3/4 teaspoons of orange extract
3 large eggs, lightly beaten (sit them on the counter and let them come up to room temperature)
1 3/4 teaspoons (or one packet) of active dry yeast
3 1/2 cups of bread flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Vegetable oil (as needed, to oil the bowl that will hold the dough)

For the Glaze:

4 tablespoons of butter (I used 2 tablespoons of sweet cream, 2 tablespoons of unsalted)
1/4 cup of granulated sugar
1/4 cup of orange juice
zest of 1/2 an orange
juice from 1/2 an orange

Other:
Colored decorating sugars of your choice

The Deed:

For the Bread:

1. Put the milk, butter, orange peels, and star of anise in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the butter has melted. Then, remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool, until warm. Once cool, discard the orange peels and star of anise, add the orange extract, and whisk in the eggs.

2. Dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup of water that is warm, but not hotter than 110 degrees. This is important, use a thermometer! You don't want to kill the yeast, but you want them to wake up, your bread depends on this! After 10-15 minutes the yeast should bubble...if you have no bubbles...do this step again until you do.

3. Mix the flour, sugar, and salt on a work surface and make a well in the center. Slowly pour the yeast and milk mixtures into the well while mixing with your hand to form a dough.

4. Knead until the dough is uniform and smooth, but slightly sticky. If you think it’s too sticky, add a bit more flour so that you can work with it.

5. Put the dough in a large lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow it to rise in a warm place until it doubles in size, about 1-1 1/2 hours. Trick: I turned on my oven to 350 (this is also the baking temperature that you will bake your bread at) and occasionally opened it for a few minutes to keep my kitchen warm and the yeast happy.

6. Once the bread has risen, cut off a piece of dough about the size of a lemon and set it aside. Divide the remaining dough in half and shape into loaves on a lightly floured surface. Then, place your loaves on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. (If you want to make 2 creative loaves, like my skull pan de muerto, just form two loaves and skip ahead to step 9)

7. From the reserved dough, form a ball about the size of one large marble, set it aside in a bowl, and cover it. Cut the remaining reserved dough into 3 pieces, this will be the dough for your bones.

8. Make the "bones" to decorate your loaf (or loaves) by rolling the 3 small pieces of dough into ropes.

Next, use your fingers to make indentions, then pinch the indentations closed, and drape three ropes over the loaf of bread in the formation of an asterisk (*):

9. Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise again in a warm place, until doubled in size (about 45-50 minutes). While the dough rises (assuming you're not using my oven technique to keep your yeast happy) preheat the oven to 350 degrees and position your baking rack in the middle of the oven.

10. After the dough has doubled, dab a bit of cold water on the top center of the loaf where the ropes meet, then place the reserved ball on top and press down lightly to slightly flatten the top of the ball. (Skip this step if making 2 creative loaves):

11. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the loaves have an even golden brown cover. Cover loosely with aluminum foil and continue to bake for another 10 minutes, or until the bottoms are browned and remove from the oven and allow to cool on a cooling rack.

12. Once the bread has cooled a bit, generously brush with the orange glaze and decorate the loaf with sugar and enjoy!

For the Glaze:

Combine all the ingredients of the glaze in a saucepan on low to medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the liquid has thickened slightly.

For the Decoration:

Traditionally, you just sprinkle sugar evenly on top of the entire loaf. If you want to make a fancy decoration like I did, just cut your design out onto parchment paper. Brush glaze on entire loaf, position the cut out, and brush glaze over the loaf again, being sure to cover the parchment paper well so that it adheres to the loaf. Once design is in place, fill with the colored sugars of your choice. Finally, gently turn the loaf upside down to shake off the excess sugar-- think of this like a glue, glitter, and paper project.

A Food Blogger's Tummy Isn't Invincible, Have A Regroup Smoothie

2010-10-26T18:00:00.000-04:00

I'm a foodie and I'm a blogger. This means I cook, taste, sample, peruse, touch, smell and enjoy a lot of food, sometimes more than I should. This means that as happy as food makes my stomach, it can also cause my stomach a great deal of anger and pain. I think most food bloggers hit this point. A point in which we must must regroup and cleanse the system of sauces, fats, meats, creams and carbs...

Image Credit

Recently, I've been especially gluttonous in the name of food. I've eaten fried deliciousness at the NC State Fair and perhaps a whole pig at Restaurant Three's Week O' Bacon...all in a week in the name of my blog and food, but that has consequences. So this week I've decided to apologize to my stomach and focus on eating as clean as possible.

In addition to eating a great deal of vegetables and fish during this period of recuperation, I've also been drinking a ton of smoothies and given my stomach's recent suffering I created a smoothie with a variety of tummy calming elements to get back to top tasting shape, I call it the "Regroup Smoothie". My Regroup Smoothie is made from: Ginger--aids in digestion and treats stomach unrest, the Chinese have been on to this for centuries, catch up; Mangoes--high in fiber, this tropical fruit helps...um, move things along in your digestive track, same goes for bananas; Yogurt--you've seen the commercials with the downward pointing arrow, so I won't go on...and last but not least Sparkling Water--the carbonation helps settle grumbley guts.

This smoothie is amazing! It's sweet and tropical tasting, but has a nice kick thanks to the ginger and the carbonation isn't overpowering, just a slight fizz. I drank this last night with my dinner of vegetable lo mein and I think my stomach is already happier so it will be making more appearances this week. I feel a lot less heavy than I've felt in a while, so a yummy success! So food bloggers, passionate eaters, and people with angry bellies I ask you to make a Regroup Smoothie before you develop a TUMS addiction or writhe about in pain and regret.

Regroup Smoothie:
recipe yields 1.5 L or 3, 6 oz servings

The Goods:

1.5-2 cups of ice
1/2 cup of vanilla yogurt
1 cup of frozen mangos
1/2 banana
1/2 cup of sparkling water
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoons of ginger, adjust to your personal preference. Remember, more ginger means more kick so be careful!

The Deed:

Toss all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Garnish with additional mango and enjoy, your stomach will thank you!

End Note: When I finished this post I realized that I sound like a total fatty who never eats fruits and vegetables. I do eat vegetation, I adore it in fact, I just have not been very good to myself in the pursuit of oddities (insert Krispy Kreme burger, fried snickers, bacon explosion, and bacon vodka here) these past few weeks. Also, I'm not doing some diet, a scheme, or a frou frou cleanse (all that stuff is lame in my opinion), this is a long overdue apology to my body as I begin to feel the effects of my eating habits of the past few days.

Praise the Pig: Bacon Week at Restaurant Three

2010-10-22T20:24:00.000-04:00

I love bacon. I really do.

The sweet, smokey, salty, and savory flavors of it dance with my eggs, swim in my black bean soup, and flavors my vegetables (hey, I'm a Southern girl). So imagine my joy to find out that a restaurant here in Virginia loves bacon (and pork in general) as much as I do.

Restaurant Three created its Week O' Bacon to celebrate all things bacon according to one of the managers that I spoke with as I was rolling my bacon filled belly out of there. During one week in October diners can enjoy a three course bacon tasting menu that showcases bacon and all of its porky glory in every part of the meal for a mere $30.

I was sold. Three course bacon menu, even including a bacon dessert?! I'm there! I recruited two sidekicks to endorse my shenanigans and we were off to indulge. My friends and I went all out and tried everything on the menu except for the bacon on the stick. We left that one off because we wanted to retain some pride that night and seem like sophisticated diners rather than bacon addicted women.

I started with the Bacon Martini. That's right, bacon infused vodka, vermouth, and an olive and piece of bacon as garnish. Sadly, I was not a fan of the use of bacon vodka in a martini. As the glass got closer to my lips, I was being confronted with the not so appetizing smell of bacon fat, and I don't mean in a Saturday morning breakfast kind of way. Who knew I would ever turn down a martini or a bacon product? Refusing to believe bacon could do any wrong, I decided that maybe the bacon vodka would be better fitting in the Bacon Bloody Mary--another feature of Bacon week-- and I was correct. The spicy Bloody Mary mix and the bacon vodka created a BLT in a glass in terms of flavor and bacon vodka redeemed itself.

When it came time to order, we all ordered something different so that we could try everything offered on the menu. The bacon explosion appetizer was crispy and smokey, and shockingly not heavy despite being deep fried sausage, bacon, and cheese. The BBQ dipping sauce was nice but not necessary, the bacon explosion could stand on its own. Course one consisted of potato soup and the classic wedge salad. The potato soup was surprisingly light and fresh to be cream based (perhaps the beer lightened it up?), and the bacon definitely was the star contrasting with the starchy potato and tangy cheese. The wedge salad was good, but nothing terribly unique. The bacon that was sprinkled atop the wedge was delicious and cured in house.

Next came our main courses: shrimp and grits and bacon wrapped pork. As a girl raised by southerners, I know my grits so I get nervous when I see them on menus up here. Three put my fears to rest with their shrimp and grits because the grits were cooked perfectly and the asiago cheese was not overpowering. I was also impressed by the quality of the ingredients! The shrimp where whole, the tomatoes tasted vine ripened, and the barbecue reduction was sweet and tangy. Lets not forget the bacon! The bacon embraced the flavors of the reduction, added a nice smokey flavor to the cheese grits, and enhanced the flavors of the shrimp-- I was in heaven. The bacon wrapped pork was also good, very moist and well-seasoned, but it didn't speak to me the way that the shrimp and grits did because I feel like the bacon got hidden with all the starch on the plate (stuffing and potatoes). The mashed potatoes that came with the pork lion were fluffy and delicious, they were definitely made from real potatoes (not those creepy flakes), milk, and butter...just as potatoes should be.

Finally, dessert! I'd heard about Restaurant Three's Bacon Waffle with Maple Bacon Ice Cream for some time now, but just hadn't made the 1/2 mile journey down the road to try it. I never thought I could say this: I think there was just a little too much bacon. I think the bacon waffle would have been better served if the ice cream was just maple flavored or if the waffle had been plain and the ice cream was maple bacon flavored. Despite a bit of bacon overload, the dessert was good, the waffle and ice cream were very fresh-- I just think it was more savory rather than a salty-sweet balance.

If you can't tell, I enjoyed my bacon filled dinner. Surprisingly it wasn't heavy due to the innovative ways bacon was added to each dish and Restaurant Three definitely showcased bacon and all of the flavors it can add to a meal. Sadly, Week O' Bacon ends tomorrow, but much to my delight there has been talk of featuring the shrimp and grits even after the end of bacon week. Also, you can indulge in bacon infused vodka drinks and their salty sweet dessert any day of the week. Finally, if you just can't get down here at all, you can eat with your eyes, Restaurant Three will be featured on the Travel Channel's Bacon Paradise on November 24.

Bacon week aside, Restaurant Three offered excellent service, a creative menu, and quality ingredients so I definatly plan on going back for dinner. So, if you happen to live in the DMV or if you'll be visiting the area check them out. You can find them a few blocks from the Clarendon (orange line) metro station.

Restaurant Three
2950 Clarendon Blvd
Arlington, VA 22201
(703) 524-4440

*Sorry for the lack of photos, lighting wasn't good for picture taking so I'd rather put up nothing than put up crap. If you must see what I ate, check out my twitter feed from that night, I was able to snag a photo of the martini, salad, shrimp and grits, and dessert.

Open Your Mind, Open the Bag: Fresh Express Recipe Challenge

2010-10-19T18:29:00.000-04:00

I'm not going to lie, I usually don't buy bagged lettuce or salad kits. Why you ask? Because, I've experienced some less than appetizing surprises upon opening the bag, so I much prefer to buy the seperate components of my salad.

Despite my fear of bagged vegetation, I was excited to be one of the bloggers chosen to receive some coupons to try Fresh Express salad kits as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program. I know that seems contradictory, but I was eager to creatively showcase Fresh Express salad kits as more than a plain bag of lettuce or spinach. Furthermore, I wanted to see if a fresh bagged salad was an oxymoron or something that was actually possible since Fresh Express claims to to take "freshness very seriously."

Before I even touched a leaf, I promised myself that I would keep my recipes as simple possible so that they would be feasible to create after a busy and tiring workday as I'm always striving for quick, easy, yet flavorful meals. After making this vow to myself, I broke into the bags like a kid on Christmas morning to see what I was working with and was surprised to find crunchy, green lettuce and spinach, chicken with grill marks, cheese that wasn't nuclear orange, and nuts that weren't pulverized. That's it Fresh Express, rock my world and prove to me that there are quality bagged salad products.

Strawberry Fields Kit

For dinner last night I decided to try the Strawberry Fields mix. In this bag, you will find tender baby spinach, crunchy toasted almonds, and sweet yet slightly tart dried strawberries. I'd never eaten dried strawberries before so they captivated me and I was motivated to create flavors to highlight them. As I got to thinking, I realized that strawberries always make me think of two things: summertime and balsamic vinegar. As a result of this thought process, I prepared balsamic marinaded shrimp to serve as the protein for my salad. Great decision, if I say so myself. The sweet acidity of my marinade played nicely with the dried strawberries. Since the marinade was an addition to, rather than an overpowering of the shrimp, their fresh and slightly buttery taste still shined through and paired nicely with mild and delicate sweetness of the baby spinach. The almonds provided a nice textural change, often serving as a surprise crunch in each bite and the tangy strawberry vinaigrette included in the kit tied all of the flavors together seamlessly.

With a belly full of salad, I made my lunch for the next day so I wouldn't have to pack it this morning before work. Since I'm growing tired of my lunch routine, I decided to use a bag of Fresh Express Chicken Taco Kit to make myself a nice wrap. I'm sure you're thinking "umm, a wrap isn't interesting." You're right...usually it's not. But! I made a spicy avocado spread using the spicy ranch dressing included in the kit (recipe at the end...just keep reading). See, doesn't that make my wrap just a little sexier?

The rest of the preparation came easy since cheese, crunchy lettuce, crispy tortilla strips, and juicy grilled chicken were already done for me thanks to the kit. But because I can never leave well enough alone, I also added in tomatoes and purple onion for a little something extra.

I enjoyed my wrap at lunch today, I really loved the avocado spread that I made using the dressing included in the kit. It was a cool, smooth, spicy flavor with a burst of freshness from the lime juice and cilantro. I felt like I was eating a wrap from a fancy sandwich shop, and a few people even asked me where I bought it! I was flattered, and in love with my new lunch addition.

The best part about the dishes that I created is that I did them both, simultaneously, in about half an hour (probably less to be honest). I hope that my meals have inspired you to look at a bagged salad mix as more than just a bag of lettuce or a pre-made product that is out of your culinary control. Personally, I will definitely be adding a few Fresh Express blends to my grocery list because they make great meals on their own or they can provide a strong base to reduce the time that you have to spend in the kitchen to make a healthful and flavorful meal.

Balsamic Shrimp and Strawberry Salad:

The Goods:

1 bag Fresh Express Strawberry Fields Salad Kit
1/2 pound of large shrimp, deveined
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves of finely chopped garlic
3 1/2 teaspoons of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of parsley flakes (optional)

The Deed:

Whisk vinegar, olive oil, sugar, and garlic in a bowl until brown sugar is disolved and oil and vinegar become one.
Place shrimp in the bowl and allow to marinde in the refrigerator for at least 10 but no more than 15 minutes
Cook shrimp on a hot buttered grill pan (or a normal pan if you don't have a grill pan)
Pour the contents of the strawberry kit into a bowl, place cooked shrimp on top, and enjoy with as little or as much of the included dressing as you would like.

Southwest Inspired Wrap with Spicy Avocado Cilantro Spread:

The Goods:

1 bag Fresh Express Chicken Taco Salad Kit
1 ripe avocado, cubed
1/2 cup chopped cilantro (more or less to your test, I personally love cilantro)
juice of one lime
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2-3 cloves of garlic
Tortillas (whatever kind you like, I used the big flour ones)

The Deed

Toss ranch dressing from the kit, cilantro, garlic, avocado, salt, and lime juice into a blender or food processor and blend until all veggies are incorporated and the mixture is smooth.
Generously spread the avocado spread on your tortilla and add the remaining ingredients of the kit. Also feel free to add in olives, tomatoes, onions, jalapenos...whatever your little heart desires, those are just some of my recommendations.

Haute Candy Apples: Less Drama, More Flavor.

2010-10-14T18:17:00.000-04:00

As Halloween nears, I'm sure you're all eating tons of treats. You know the drill: candy corn, chocolate, peanut butter cups, and candy apples--if it can get stuck in your teeth, you should be eating it. Of all of the cavity causing things I mentioned, I have a particularly strong love-hate relationship with candy apples.
Why you ask? Because all of the glorious candy or caramel falls prey to waxy, chewy apple skin that you endure just to enjoy the coating and then you're stuck with a tart, damn near inedible apple. Lame.

I decided to fix this problem in two ways. Step One: Loose the unpalatable apple skin, it stands in between me and my sugar. Step Two: Jazz it up. I mean isn't a Vosges chocolate covered apple bite more exciting than an apple covered in that creepy red stuff that has peanuts sprinkled on top? Or how about a Caramel Appletini Pop, that's right...vodka soaked apples, covered in caramel, with a generous graham cracker dusting, instead of a giant tart apple with not enough caramel? Hopefully, I've got you thinking a little more about Halloween and tasty treats, all of these years we've been doing it wrong. Jump on the wagon with me: more apple, even more topping, and maybe even a little booze.

Before I tell you how to make my haute candy apples, you've got prep work to do--did you think this was all play? Take five apples and cut them in half, then use a melon baller to scoop out perfect little apple domes, set them aside.

When you're done prepping the apples, cut your skewers in half (or keep them long, its up to you) so that they'll be ready to go...you'll need them to make the Caramel Appletini Pops. Also, take this time to line two cookie sheets with either parchment paper or a silpat if you have it and clear out space for them in the fridge so that your goodies can chill and set. Okay, now you can have instructions:

Carmel Appletini Pops

The Goods:

4 ounces of vodka
2 ounces of apple schnapps
caramel sauce (make your own or cheat. I cheated and melted a box of caramels [24 pieces, I ate one...] from Whole Foods plus 3 tablespoons of heavy cream over low heat, stirring here and there until melted)
Graham Cracker dust (pulverize some graham crackers in your mini prep or food processor)

The Deed:

Combine vodka and schnapps in a large bowl and add some apple domes, I used about 3/4 of the ones I prepped and cover with saran wrap
Allow apples to become intoxicated in the fridge for at least an hour
After an hour, remove apples from the vodka + schnapps bowl, make yourself a drink with the remnants, and lightly pat the apples dry (not to rough, we worked hard to get the booze in there)
Place 4 drunken apple domes onto each skewer
Spoon caramel over the apple domes, then sprinkle generously with graham cracker dust
Place completed apples on a splatmat and place in the fridge to allow caramel to reset
Eat and enjoy the same day! Otherwise the graham crackers will get soggy...not sexy.

Vosges Chocolate Apple Bites

The Goods:

One bar of Vosgues Chocolate of your choice. I used a Mo's Bacon Bar and an Almafi Bar which covered about 5 apple domes each for a total of 10.

The Deed:

Melt the chocolate
Roll apple domes around in chocolate until covered
Move chocolate covered apples to a parchment paper lined pan
Let chocolate harden in fridge

So go ahead, make these adult treats for your upcoming Halloween celebration! I've proven that you can make a candied apple more sophisticated and in that process make it more appealing for adults jaded by candy stuck in the teeth and unripe fruit. I personally know that I'll be enjoying my Caramel Appletini Pops while watching Rocky Horror Picture Show this Halloween...I mean c'mon they're awesome...its a drink and a drink rolled into one!

Is it Oreos and Milk, or Oreos and Peanut Butter?

2010-10-11T16:29:00.002-04:00

Before I even start I just want to say that this post was largely driven by my desire to rid myself of my fear of baking. But, I also wanted to give a fun twist to a common snack item in our household: Oreo cookies. Most people (my fiancee included) like Oreo cookies with milk, but there are some oddballs like my friend and I who enjoy them with peanut butter...yep, peanut butter. Given the split in our household I did the only sensible thing: Make half a dozen Oreo cupcakes, and half a dozen of Peanut Butter Oreo Cookies.

Since I'm new to this baking from scratch business, I lined up my suspects before I started doing anything, it makes me feel in control of the situation:

Okay, I felt a bit overwhelmed with the amount of stuff on my counter, but hey...no turning back now! Step One: Make the batter and take deep breaths.

For the batter, I used took Hershey's Perfect Chocolate Cake Recipe and cut it directly in half as I wanted 12-15 cupcakes instead of 30. As I've noticed with most baking things, combining the dry and adding the wet is the way to go. Maybe you guys already knew this, but hey I was a box cake mix girl until recently so just smile and nod at my baking epiphanies. Instead of boring you with a boring step by step, enjoy the photo montage (the actual recipe is at the end of the post):

Once the batter was all done, I placed 10 Oreo cookies in my mini prep to make Oreo dust to put in the bottom of each cupcake liner:

I scooped 6 cupcakes worth of batter into the tin. As for the other half, I added peanut butter chips so that I would have peanut butter Oreo cupcake batter. Here's what they looked like before going into the oven:

And this is what they looked like when they came out, not sure why the chocolate oreo ones formed a little dome on top....any insight on this phenomena is welcome:

While the cupcakes cooled, I decided to tackle the Oreo icing. At first I wanted to make an Oreo and peanut butter oreo icing but decided the peanut butter chips in the cupcakes would be enough peanut butter flavor. To make the Oreo icing, I just combined butter, coca powder, confectioners sugar, and milk until smooth. After it was smooth, I added some pulverized Oreo cookies and a bit of vanilla flavoring.

When all was said and done, these were my cupcakes before the cupcake monster got them:

All in all, I was pleased. My cupcakes looked like cupcakes and I did it all from scratch! The only thing that I would do differently next time is cut the peanut butter chips up or melt them entirely before adding them to the batter, they don't really melt the way chocolate does so the chips are a bit intimidating (but delicious):

Aside from that these cupcakes were a hit and if you're so moved you can find the recipe for the batter and icing at the end of this post :) Its perfect for a split household, but even if you choose not to make the peanut butter version, the half-recipe is a lifesaver if you do not want to be stuck with 30+ cupcakes!

Oreo Cupcakes and Oreo Frosting
Yield: 6 oreo Cupcakes, 6 Peanut Butter Oreo Cupcakes

The Goods (pardon the ghetto-ness, I don't have a scale)"

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup + 6 tablespoons flour
6 tablespoons of coca powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup of milk
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/2 cup of boiling water
1 cup (add more or less to your taste) of Reese's Peanut Butter Chips--whole or melted
10 finely crushed Oreo cookies

The Deed:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place cupcake liners in a muffin tin
Whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl
Add eggs, milk, and vanilla and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes
Stir in boiling water, don't fret...the batter is supposed to be thin
Scoop out enough batter to fill 6 cupcake liners.
Stir in peanut butter chips (whole or melted) to remaining batter, then portion the remaining 6 cupcakes
Bake for 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when cake is poked.
Allow cupcakes to cool completely on cooling racks before frosting

Oreo Icing

The Goods:

1 stick of unsalted butter
1/3 cup of coca powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup of milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
10 finely crushed Oreo cookies

The Deed:

Melt butter in a large bowl
Stir in coca
Alternately add powdered sugar and milk while beating on medium speed to consistency (if needed, add a bit more milk)
Stir in vanilla and Oreos

Yeah, I Eat In Parking Lots, Don't Judge...Join.

2010-10-09T20:23:00.000-04:00

So I'm sure you're all well aware of the current food truck craze. From Food Networks "The Great Food Truck Race" to addicts on twitter following their favorite truck in search of their next hit, food trucks are finally getting the respect and attention that they deserve. Although a norm in other countries and on the west coast of the U.S., the east coast...Washington in particular has a been a bit slow on the uptake. Luckily this is changing and the district is home to a number of new, innovative, affordable, and delicious yum mobiles.

Since I live in Arlington I have to work a little harder for my fix since most trucks concentrate their deliciousness in Washington proper. So imagine my glee to find out about DC's Curbside Cookoff, an event that concentrated the areas food trucks in one central location of the city for two days of food, fun, and competition (there was a contest to win the Curby, a prize for the most popular food truck in the city).

I headed there on Thursday evening around 6 after meeting a friend for happy hour at nearby Ceiba. When I saw the parking lot filled with food trucks my eyes started to glisten! I was salivating at the thought of poutine, tacos, empanadas, BBQ brisket and cupcakes and then...defeat. One by one, the trucks ran out of food, I was too late. I left hungry, hurt, and confused but I vowed to return on Friday...and eat.

After work on Friday Steven and I practically ran to the cookoff. Since we knew what trucks would be there, we went straight to Takorean, the Korean taco truck and Eat Wonky, a fast food style truck with a twist. My fiancee and I devised a divide and conquer plan. He stood in the shorter line to order a small poutine from Wonky, and I stood in the longer Tokorean taco line. The logic: He's a picky eater so he'd be able to come back and stand in the Taco line with me and be indecisive, plus we'd have a snack while we wait.

For those who don't know, poutine is probably the leading cause of death among Canadians, its like what chili cheese fries is to people in the U.S. You start with a hefty base of crispy fries, throw on some cheese curds, and top the whole thing with brown gravy--mmmmm. I've been dying to try this Canadian delicacy for a while so I was so excited to see Steven walking up with my little basket of joy. Not going to lie, it looks a little weird at first, but I quickly got over that! If you were following my tweets yesterday, you will know that I practically inhaled these things and I had to stop myself from devouring the entire order poutine in the taco line, but man was it delicious.

The brown gravy was perfectly seasoned and slightly peppery, and the cheese curds (or "squeaky cheese" as Wonky calls it) were in tact but soft from the heat of the fries. Surprisingly, the fries were crisp and perfectly salted, despite being covered in gravy. My only recommendation is that they cut the curds just a bit smaller, its hard to cut cheese curds with a plastic fork in a paper tray while standing up.

Just as my poutine runneth dry, it was my turn to order from Takorean. I wanted to taste a little bit of everything so I ordered a Bulgogi Steak Taco with Kimichi Slaw, a Tangy Chicken Taco with Napa Romaine Slaw, and one Pork Taco, plain...for Steven. I decided to get the first two tacos done with "The Works" which is the addition of Sriracha sauce, lime crema, cilantro, and Sesame Seeds just to experience them the way Takorean intends. After $8 and less than 5 minutes I had three sexy tacos:

The Suspects:Bulgogi, Pork, Chicken

I loved the kimichi style slaw, it was a spicy and flavorful compliment to the sweet soy flavors in the bulgogi. But bulgogi aside, they should just sell their slaw as a side item. I'm not a fan of "real" kimchi, you know, the fermented stuff, but I am a fan of kimichi style slaw. Some how, Takorean captured all of the flavor of kimchi and fused it with the awesome freshness of cabbage and carrots--job well done!

Mmmm, Kimchi Style Slaw...

Steven enjoyed the pork, he said it had a nice ginger flavor and wasn't spicy like he expected. As for the chicken taco, I enjoyed the flavors of the ginger and sweet chili captured in the meat, but I was not a fan of the napa slaw, I felt like I was eating a weird salad but flavorless salad...next time: kimichi slaw across the board.

After eating our fries and tacos, I decided to find something for a sweet finish. I was in between frozen yogurt from Sweetgreen or a cupcake, and of course my cupcake obsession won. I first headed to Curbside Cupcakes because I wanted to see what the hype was about since Curbside was one of the first food trucks in DC tweeting their locations to cupcake addicts. Sadly, by the time I got to the window only carrot cake, German chocolate, and some vegan flavor remained...this means I have yet to try a Curbside Cupcake as I don't like carrot cake, don't like coconut flakes, and have a fear of vegan baked goods. However, this was a blessing in disguise because it forced me to try the lesser known cupcakery, Love Bites.

Love Bites is new to the food truck game, but they've had a stand alone bakery for a while. Its a family owned business that delivers awesome baked goods to the DMV. Their cupcakes are artfully decorated (definitely a step up from the ever popular star tip icing bag trick) and innovative flavors such as Black Forest and Cape Cod Cranberry give Love Bites a little edge in the cupcake war.

After talking with the owner for a bit, I decided to try their signature sweet potato cupcake. Being from the south, sweet potato baked goods are serious stuff, so I had high expectations. Before eating, I smelled and practically worshiped this cupcake:

It smelled just like sweet potatoe pie--sweet, buttery, cinnamon-y, nutmeg-y--and the cream cheese pecan frosting looked amazing! When I finally bit into the cupcake it was everything I imagined, moist, flavorful, and a perfect cake to icing ratio. My only regret--not buying half a dozen to take home because I definitely wanted to try their other flavors after experiencing cupcake nirvana.

Although I was unable to taste food from all the trucks, each truck definitely had its legion of fans and swarms of newbies ready to see what all the fuss was about. Overall I was impressed by the quality, quantity, and value offered by each food truck so for that, good job DC food trucks, show the West Coast what we've got to offer!

If you were unable to make it to Curbside Cookoff, don't fret. Instead, find and follow a food truck you want to try using Food Truck Fiesta and of course twitter. I'm definately planning to find and try more of these restaurants on wheels before heading to Caracas! It was an experience that was cheap, amazing, flavorful, and memorable...just as food should be.

Drunken Crème Brûlée--A Consolation Prize to Myself

2010-10-03T14:53:00.000-04:00

You all probably know by now that I didn't advance to the third round of Project Food Blog. Many thanks to everyone who supported me and Fro and a Fork! I hope you enjoyed my take on the challenges and I also hope that you were able to nose around my blog and find something that appealed to you.

So now that my weekends aren't consumed with PFB challenges and since I felt like I deserved a consolation prize, I decided to try to make something that's been on my to-do list for a while: Crème Brûlée. I love crème brûlée, in fact I think its my favorite dessert. It's simple, elegant, timeless, and perfect because its just sweet enough and not terribly heavy, especially when paired with fresh berries.

To set my crème brûlée apart for the rest, I decided to make mine using Bailey's Irish Cream. In the words of my grandmother, this is a "grown folks" dessert! It was stupid easy to make so I want to show you how I did it--this will definitely impress your friends at your next gathering. And to answer the burning question that no one wants to ask: Yes, you can taste the Bailey's.

Kashia's Drunken Crème Brûlée:

2 ounces of Baileys Irish Cream (I used original, but use whichever variety you like)*
6 ounces of heavy cream
8 ounces of milk
8 large egg yolks
4 ounces of sugar
1 vanilla bean, extract the seeds and discard the pod

*You can add more Baileys if you like, just remember that you will need 8 total ounces of cream. For example, if you up the Bailey's to 3 ounces, you now need 5 ounces of heavy cream. Also, if you don't have Bailey's in your house head to the liquor store and buy a mini bottle (that's what I did). One mini bottle is equal to 2 ounces.

First thing first: Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Then, bring cream, milk, Baileys, and vanilla bean to a simmer. Once simmering, remove the liquid from heat to allow vanilla bean to steep for 15 minutes. In the meantime, mix the sugar and egg yolks with a whisk in a large bowl until smooth and sugar is mostly dissolved:

Once 15 minutes has passed, slowly add the liquid to the eggs, whisking continuously:

Pour the crème into ramekins and place them in a water bath. To make the water bath take a larger pan and fill with water until the water line is about 3/4 of the way up the crème brûlée ramekin:

Cover the entire water bath with foil and bake for 30 minutes or until the custard has set (it should be mildly jiggly and not runny):

Once custard has cooled some, sprinkle with sugar and use a torch to brown the top evenly (this will create the classic crust, as well as heat the custard back up):

Serve with fresh berries of your choice and enjoy:

See wasn't that easy? Don't be intimidated by crème brûlée, it looks incredibly fancy, but it's relatively quick and easy to prepare! I hope you'll be able to use this recipe to impress all of your friends or to give yourself a consolation prize after a rough day.

Screw a Recipe, I Know Math!

2010-09-29T23:10:00.000-04:00

Most of you know I have a fear of baking. Why you ask? Because, baking is precise--you actually have to follow directions (not my strong suit), you can't taste it half way through and make adjustments, and it can easily fall flat--figuratively and literally. But, I have a wicked sweet tooth and an inexplicable lust for baked goods, so I am slowly but surely trying to get my baking skills up to snuff.

Source of Photo

So imagine my joy to stumble upon the book Ratio by Michael Ruhlman! Ratio is awesome, in fact I think everyone should own it because it liberates you from recipe dependency because as the title insinuates, Ruhlman places emphasis on learning ratios, not recipes.

I mean, how many times have you wanted to make cookies? Many I'm sure. Whats the first thing you do? If you're like me, you head to Google and find the most appetizing recipe. But what if you knew the ratio? Then you would know that a basic cookie dough is easy as 1-2-3: 1 part sugar, 2 parts fat, 3 parts flour. Once you get the ratio, you are free to be creative! You can make modifications, for example brown sugar instead of white for a chewy cookie or throw in chocolate chips, nuts, candies...whatever your little heart desires.

After reading all of this stuff about ratios, I decided to see if it was as easy as Michael Ruhlman makes it out to be so I baked my own cranberry-orange muffins with an almond streusel topping. I was feeling extra sassy, so I also made a nice orange butter to go along with it. Best part, I'm going to a.) show you how wicked easy ratios made baking and b.) show you how to make a yummy fruit butter and streusel topping. Lucky you!

I started this whole process by making an almond streusel. First off, I want rave about streusel: its a simple way to jazz up muffins and cakes and it adds another flavor dynamic and texture. For my streusel, all you need are some almonds, roughly chopped...

...flour, butter, and brown sugar, see how easy is that? Here's what you do: Use a fork to combine 3 tablespoons of softened butter and 1/4 cup of both brown sugar and flour. Once you have mixed the butter, sugar, and flour well, toss in the chopped almonds and incorporate them. The final product will look something like this:

On to the batter! Remember this is about ratios and creativity. So I used the basic ratio for a muffin: 2 parts flour: 2 parts liquid: 1 part egg: 1 part butter. Okay, I'm sure you want to know exactly what a "part" is. To make my cranberry-orange muffins* you will need:

8 ounces flour
4 ounces sugar
1 teaspoons baking powder
8 ounces of liquid--6 ounces milk, 2 ounces orange juice
2 large eggs (equal to about 4 ounces)
4 ounces (1 stick, its labeled on there) of melted butter

*This will make about one dozen muffins, I got 11 muffins out of this ratio

Notice the ratios? 2:2:1:1 (the ingredients in bold)? Now I'm sure you're thinking "sugar and baking powder aren't in the ratio." You're right, they're not. Sweetness is something you can modify as you like, this is just the amount of sugar I chose to use for my muffins. As far as the baking powder, you need a leavening agent for your muffins to rise. In general for every 4 ounces of flour you use, you should use 1 teaspoon of baking powder. Also, I'm sure you noticed I used a bit of orange juice instead of milk, this was actually what was recommended in the book, but I'm sure you could use as much or little as you would like or you could even switch the type of juice. I obviously used orange juice because it was behind some of the orange flavor present in my cranberry-orange muffins.

All you do is mix all of your wet ingredients in one bowl, dry in another. Then, slowly incorporate the dry into the wet:

To round things out, I stirred in the zest of one orange and 1/2 cup of cranberries after I assembled the batter, be careful not to stir too much our your batter will become tough:

I then used my trusty ice cream scoop to pour the batter into a well greased muffin pan (I even grease the tops to aid in clean up):

Then of course, I sprinkled some of the struesel onto the top of each muffin before placing them into a 350 degree oven for about half an hour (or until a toothpick comes out clean):

While the muffins baked, I worked on the orange butter. All you need is 5 tablespoons of softened sweet cream butter and 7 teaspoons of orange marmalade (or use any fruit preserve or marmalade that you like, I made orange butter to compliment the muffins).

Cut the butter into pats and toss it into a food processor (or mini prep) until the butter and marmalade have become one. Scoop your butter into a container and put it in the fridge to set up.

After about half an hour plus cooling time, this is what my first muffins from scratch looked like, sexy don't you think?:

I took them to work the next day and they were a hit, everyone raved about how fresh the muffins and butter tasted. Plus! When I told everyone I made the muffins from scratch, they were more than impressed which was a nice ego boost, especially since I do not normally bake from scratch.

So I beg you, go out and buy Ratio! This book is amazing as it will show you what professional chefs have known for years: Learn ratios, not recipes. Once you learn these basic proportions you really can cook or bake whatever you like from scratch, and truly make it you own making you a culinary rock star.

PS: If you haven't already, please check out my entry for Challenge #2 of Project Food Blog. If you dig it, be sure to vote for Fro and a Fork to advance! Voting closes TOMORROW, September 30th at 9 PM (Eastern), 6 PM (Pacific).

I Know How To Say Delicious in Swahili!

2010-09-27T21:15:00.005-04:00

I really hope that you guys enjoyed my entry for Challenge #2 of Project Food Blog! Cooking outside your culture can be scary, but I've found that it usually rewards you with a lot of good food and bold new flavors! Also, I know how to say "delicious" in Swahili...

Once again (I really can't say it enough!) thank you so much for helping me advance to Round Two of Project Food Blog, I wouldn't be here (or have a lot of yummy leftovers) without you! So if you think I have what it takes to be the Next Food Blog Star, be sure to vote for Fro and a Fork this week! Voting closes Thursday, September 30th at 9 PM (Eastern), 6 PM (Pacific).

xoxo,
Kashia

PS: If you want to know what the rest of the challenges are in the contest, you can check them out here. I'm sooo excited and I want to show you guys what I got!

PPS: A reader who speaks better Swahili than myself has informed me that Tamu is the right word, but its pronounced TAH-moo, so don't go around pronouncing it the way I did in the post :)

So...How Do You Say Delicious in Swahili?

2010-09-26T17:14:00.005-04:00

When I found out I would be advancing to Round Two of Project Food Blog, I had the following thought process: Holy crap, I made it to round two! Me and my little blog!? AWESOME! This was shortly followed by: Oh crap! The second challenge is due SUNDAY! Shenanigans! I have to make something outside of my culture that I'm unfamiliar with...in two days?! Isn't it funny how joy can turn to panic?

If you can't tell by my blog, I'm a lover of Latin and Asian influenced cuisine, so I knew I wouldn't be able to cook any of that (see, look at that, integrity in the battle for $10,000!). I was practically chain cooking eating (much safer than chain smoking) due to my nerves, when I was suddenly inspired by the last person I spoke with-- a friend in Swahili language training to prepare for his departure to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Hmm, Tanzania...I don't know what their flag looks like, let alone what their food tastes like...so I guess that fulfills the challenge.

So while my friends were in da club, I spent my Friday night at home researching Tanzania and its cuisine. Here's the cliff notes version:

--Tanzania is in East Africa, is the 31st largest country in the world, and English and Swahili are the national languages.
--Tanzania's cuisine has been influenced by a number of cultures. During the first 500 years of the country's history veggies, millet, fruits, and fish were mostly eaten but once the Muslim Arabs established trade routes, citrus, pilau (a spicy rice), and biriani (meat dishes), were introduced. THEN! the Portuguese came and brought cassava and peanuts. They also brought slaves from other parts of Africa which led to the introduction of cloves--a key spice in Tanzanian cuisine. But wait...there's more...the Brits came and brought tea (today, chai tea is the most widely consumed beverage) and boiled vegetables, and then the Germans took over and introduced coffee. Got all that?
--Meat is not widely consumed in comparison to other African nations. For the average Tanzanian, meat (especially cattle) is reserved for special occasions and holidays. The wealthy, however, eat meat on a more regular basis.
--It is considered unclean to pass food with the left hand, and it is taboo for men to enter the kitchen...how convenient...

After learning all of that and researching some recipes, I decided to make the following Tanzanian meal for Challenge #2 of Project Food Blog:

Kuku wa Kapaka (Chicken in Spiced Coconut/Tomato Sauce)
Wali wa Nazi (Rice in Coconut Milk)
Chapatti (Fried Flat Bread)

Before I get into the preparation of my meal, I want to share a few tips with you guys to make cooking something unfamiliar as enjoyable and stress-free as possible:

Read the recipe...a lot. I practically memorize it so that I don't loose control of the situation. It's easy to get lost, perform steps in the wrong order, or misread measurements and directions when you are preparing something new.
Prep everything! I chop, dice, and measure everything and put it in little bowls, plates, and cups. Steven says I'm "playing Iron Chef," but this goes back to keeping control...which can be hard to do when making a new dish. This was my prep for the Kuku wa Kapaka:

Clean as you go. Its easier to do things that are unfamiliar if everything is clean and orderly. Don't let your dishes pile up because you will inevitably get frustrated.
Pray that it is edible at the end, and if it's not-- have cash to tip the delivery guy...and yes, I've had to do it...just ask Steven about the Sloppy Joe's Incident. Its okay, everything is not going to be perfect, that's the joy of trying new recipes.

Okay, time to cook! I started with the Kuku wa Kapaka because it appeared to be the most labor and time intensive portion of the meal. Although time intensive (it has to simmer for a bit for the flavors to meld) this is actually a pretty straightforward dish to prepare AND it's is a one pot entree!

I started out by sauteing green peppers, garlic, and onions in butter. Once the veggies began to soften I added all of the spices and mixed everything well. The moment that the spices hit the vegetables, I felt as if I'd been transported to India, with a twist. The curry powder and clove scents bounced off of one another, while the sweetness of the onions and peppers jumped through. After the veggies softened a bit more, I removed them from the pot. I then added another tablespoon of butter to the pot and browned my chicken, starting with skin-side down.

Once the chicken browned on all sides I removed it from the pot and reintroduced the veggies while adding the water and the potatoes. I returned the chicken to the pot once the potatoes were tender, and let everything simmer. After about 45 minutes, I decided to add the coconut milk, tomatoes, and a bit more salt. Technically the dish is complete with the sauce thickens and the tomatoes are soft, but I think things like this always taste better when they simmer for hours, so that's what I let it do.

On to the coconut rice. First thing, wash your rice! I'm a big believer in cleaning the rice because the final product will be fluffier and more flavorful. To do this, just measure your rice into a bowl, add water, stir it a bit with your hands, and drain the dirty water off. Repeat this process until the water is clear. Here's what my rice looked like at the first rinse, then at the end of the process.

To make wali wa nazi, just bring 1 1/2 cups of coconut milk and 2 1/2 cups of water to a boil with a pinch of salt, add your rice, reduce the heat, cover, and cook it until the liquid has been absorbed, just like you would normally do when cooking rice. I didn't try it, but I'm sure you could also do this in a rice cooker with the same measurements.

While my rice was cooking, I turned my attention to the chapatti, an Indian fried flat bread with onions and/or other savory ingredients that is very common in Tanzania. I'm not going to lie, when I read the recipe, it didn't exactly sound appetizing. All I could think was onion pancake. With that said, I thought the flavor of a yellow or purple onion would be too strong, so I decided substitute with a spring onion.

Start with a bowl of flour, add your onions, and gradually pour in the water until an elastic dough forms. Once you have your dough, coat it with a bit of vegetable oil --this will help you get it out of the bowl-- and transfer the dough onto a clean floured surface so that you can roll it out.

Roll the dough out with a rolling pin until until it is about 1/4 inch thick (give or take), and cut it into 1/2 inch wide strips. Then, roll each strip into a spiral (like a cinnamon bun) and let it rest for a few minutes.

After the dough has had a chance to rest, roll each spiral out until it becomes thin, it should be about as thick as a crepe. Now you're ready to fry!

Place the chapatti dough in a hot, non-stick skillet, frying the first side without any using oil. Once the dough sets, flip the bread and add a bit of vegetable oil to the pan, lifting the bread slightly to allow the oil to seep underneath. Now fry until the second side is a nice golden brown:

Okay...the first few were big womp womps, I was afraid and I did not want to eat them:

Then! I discovered the secret: Wait for the bubble! You know when you're making pancakes and those little bubbles/holes form? Well chapatti does the same thing but it forms a bubble full of gas, once you see this flip that baby over.

Once I got the hang of it, they started looking better! Here were the final products:

Okay, after I finished all the separate parts I was impressed. My apartment was still in tact and everything looked and smelled legitimate, but how does all of this taste together?

Well I'll tell you: It was AMAZING, and I'm not just saying that because I cooked it. I invited a friend over and she also enjoyed the trip to Tanzania...even partaking in seconds! The lemon and cilantro accented the coconut and tomato of the Kuku wa Kapaka, giving the entire meal a note of lightness and freshness, the coconut milk made plain white rice buttery and fragrant, and the chapatti made the perfect flavor sponge, as we used it to soak up the last bits of sauce from our plates.

All in all, this was pretty fun challenge despite my initial panic, and it tasted pretty good! It was a a little difficult but very rewarding to cook an unfamiliar food because now I have something to mix up my dinner and party routines. If you now have a craving for Tanzanian food, but you don't have $1,500 to spend on a plane ticket, you can find the recipes or links to the recipies I used at the end of the post.

Last, but definitely not least, GRACIAS, ASANTE, and THANK YOU! to everyone who voted for me and Fro and a Fork to advance to Round Two of Project Food Blog! I couldn't be here without you and it means so much to be in this competition! Hopefully, there will be a Round Three...

Kashia's Tanzanian Feast:

Kuku wa Kapaka (Chicken in Spiced Coconut/Tomato Sauce)

Based on a Food.com recipe

The Goods:

1 large pot or dutch oven
2 chicken breasts, bone in, skin on, cut into 2 or 3 pieces (a butcher can do this for you)
2 chicken thighs, bone in, skin on
4 tablespoons of butter
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups of chopped green pepper
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups of water
2 medium and 1 small potato
4 ripe tomatoes
2 cups coconut milk
fresh cilantro, to garnish
lemon wedges, to garnish

The Deed:

In a large pot, melt 3 tablespoons of butter. Saute the onions, green peppers, and garlic until they begin to soften, then add the spices and salt. Mix well and remove from pot.
Add 1 tablespoon of butter to the pot and brown chicken, starting skin side down. Once chicken is browned on all sides, remove from pot.
Pour water into the pot, reintroduce the cooked vegetables, add potatoes, and gently boil. Place the browned chicken back into the pot once the potatoes begin to feel tender, and allow to simmer for 45 minutes to one hour before adding coconut milk and tomatoes.
Once coconut milk and tomatoes are added, simmer until sauce thickens, serve over warm coconut rice with chapatti bread, and garnish with lemon wedge and fresh cilantro.

Wali wa Nazi (Rice in Coconut Milk)

Chapatti (Fried Flat Bread)

Eat With Your Eyes! Part 1: Picking A Base

2010-09-25T14:36:00.000-04:00

The author of Cooking Mama recently asked to see more about food photography and staging on Fro and a Fork. Obviously I think that's a great idea since the presentation of food and great photos are components of a good food blog. So...I've decided to write a series, Eat With Your Eyes! that will cover a different aspect of food photography and staging each week, cool huh?

Before I start, I provide you with a disclaimer. I'm not a professional photographer or stager, I'm a social scientist and econ nerd and this blog is for me to have a little fun, eat a lot of food, and share that with my readers. With that said, I'm going to tell you things that work for me and Fro and a Fork.

For my first entry in this series I'm going to talk about the base of any great photos, literally. I'm talking plates, bowls, cups, and cutlery. Think about it, does a piece of chocolate cake look more appetizing on Styrofoam or on a crisp, square, white, porcelain plate? Basically, the same thought put into cooking a dish should go into plating a dish.

Here's what I do, I usually get my plates from two places*. The first is Target (pronounced tarjay), they have a great a great selection of colorful plates and cups under $5. They are great if you want something that will pop! in a photo. Here are some photos taken on my Target stuff:

The second place I go is the thrift store, yes...the thrift store. I like going to the thrift stores because you find all sorts of unique finds from all decades, for super cheap. For example, I scored these two plates for a mere 50 cents each at a thrift store in Raleigh. Don't you think they add to the food and the photo?

Last Saturday, I hit my local Goodwill here in Arlington since most of my blogging supplies are packed away and in a warehouse until I depart for Caracas. I spent about $20.00 and bought all of this:

Of all the unique items I found, my favorite little treasure is this plate:

I can't wait to make a birthday dessert and use it! This brings me to another point--When you pick your "base" (plate, bowl, cup, cutlery) have an idea of how you plan to use it. For example, I envisioned a cool gazpacho in this bowl:

And clearly, these cute little plates were made to hold biscuits, crepes, and scones.

Also, don't just stop plating with plates--be creative! I mean isn't that what food blogging is all about? For example, who says soups have to go in a bowl? Why can't a cutting board become a platter (ie: the photo of my chips and salsa!)? And why not take a few photos in a cooking vessel? And sometimes, why even plate? Sometimes a mouthful is just enough. For example, spoons make ice cream seem more decadent...

...and a fork full of pasta can be more mouth watering than an entire plate.

Okay, that's all I've got regarding base picking--just remember be creative and unafraid to make mistakes...or have an obnoxious amount of flatware and dishes. Remember, the point of plating is to make the food look more appetizing, as well as add to the artistic value of the photo you take for your blog. With that said, hit your thrift store, your attic, and grandmas house--who knows what you will find!

Stay tuned for Eat With Your Eyes! Part 2: Set the Stage, Prop it Up...

*I also like getting plates, bowls, cups, and cutlery from Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, and Williams Sonoma when they are on clearance.

Happy Friday!

2010-09-24T16:27:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to Biz of My Bizzy Kitchen! You are the winner of the $20 gift card from CSN stores! Please email me (froandafork@gmail.com) so that I can get you your prize! Thank you to everyone who participated in the contest, but more importantly thanks for supporting me despite my hiatus, it really means a lot!

Also, I thought you guys might want to know that I advanced to the next round of Project Food Blog! Many thanks to everyone who voted for me and spread the word, and be on the lookout for the entry for Challenge #2.

Unrelated to food, I joked with my fiancee that if I moved on to the next round, I'd post this video so I'm going to hold true to my word:

Hopefully I'll keep on winning, right up to that $10,000 grand prize!

xoxo,

Kashia

Image credit for the above cake

Have you voted?

2010-09-22T15:48:00.001-04:00

Hey loves, not to beat a dead horse, but please vote for Fro and a Fork to advance to the next round of Project Food Blog! To do so, just click the contestant widget to the right after you read my first Project Food Blog entry. Voting closes this THURSDAY at 6 PM (Pacific), 9 PM (East Coast), so the clock is ticking! While you're at it, show other featured publishers a little love and vote for other talented bloggers to advance to the next round.

After all, how can you deny this face?

Thank you again for all the support and keep reading :)

Feast on Seafood...in DC...for $20?!

2010-09-21T22:58:00.000-04:00

As you know, I recently joined the Foreign Service. This means that I work with an awesome bunch of people that are foodies, something to be expected from individuals who plan to make a career out of gallivanting around the world. This means that after work and on weekends, you can find us eating our way through the District looking for the next best thing.

This past weekend a group of us headed to the Maine Avenue Fish Market to celebrate September birthdays. Vi (one of the birthday people) recommended this and sure enough, it was a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

The Maine Avenue Fish Market is often referred to as "The Wharf" and sells some of the freshest seafood that the DMV (that's DC, Maryland, and Virgina for those who don't know) has to offer.

The seafood hails from waters near the area and are transported by truck to the market. The family-owned floating barges that float in the market today pay homage to the fishers who sailed their "buy boats" between the Wharf and Colonial Beach, Virginia. Now that you've had your history lesson, on to the food.

I got to the market around noon and had no problem finding parking and to sweeten the pot it was free! For those who don't know this is a rarity in DC. Vi recommended that we all meet at Captain White's Seafood stand to start the adventure. Because I'm a worrywart, I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to find the stand but it proved to be a mecca of sorts, drawing those from various parts of the area to fresh seafood.

Since I arrived a bit before everyone, I decided to explore a bit to check out the scene and take some photos. I was absolutely in awe, I felt like I was in the seafood area of Mercado Central in Santiago, Chile. There were various types of whole fresh fish--tilapia, grouper, catfish, sole...just to name a few. There were also fillets of salmon and tuna that were ready to be cooked. In addition to the fish there were sassy live Maryland blue crabs, Alaskan and snow crab legs, and a variety of shellfish and shrimp. I knew that the smell of Old Bay in the air coupled with the freshness of the seafood would guarantee me a good lunch.

There are three ways to purchase food at the market. If you want to eat at the market itself, there are food stands that serve seafood and even soul food platters. The drawback to this method is that most of the offerings, both sea and land, are fried. The major benefit however is that your food is ready and you don't have to wait for service at the seller booths nor the steam line (more on this later). My friend Liz went this route and got a fried scallop platter that came with french fries and cole slaw. The scallops were delicious, the batter was light, well-spiced, and a compliment to the meaty, sweet scallops. I plan to do this next time because she was eating while I was still steaming sea critters.

The second option is to pick your food in fresh, raw form from the vendors and take it to one of the many cooking areas. If you choose this option, workers will steam and season (with Old Bay...duh!) your seafood and call you when its done using a ticket system akin to a deli counter. The best part is that its technically free, minus the cost of food, but remember to tip your steamer.

The third option is of course to buy your seafood and take it home, but what fun is that? But, if you do go down this road one perk is that if you want a whole fish, they can filet and debone it for you and oysters and clams can be shucked.

Since this was my first time at the market and I wanted the whole experience. I decided to pick my food and have it cooked at a steam station. Here is what I ended up buying:

1 small cup of Maryland Crab Soup: $3.95
3 pieces of Steamed Conch Meat: 2.85 (Liz and I were channeling our inner Andrew Zimmern)
1 bunch of snow crab legs: 6.97
3 clams, 6 oysters, raw and shucked: $10 (I shared these with Raphael)
1 lb tiger shrimp: 10.97 (Also shared with Raphael)

Obviously the prices are pretty awesome for fresh, out of the water, local, seafood!

Anyhow, after I gathered all of my food, I took the shrimp and crab legs to the steaming station to be cooked. During this time, I ate my soup in line...you know, an informal appetizer. To be Maryland crab soup, I must say that this was a disappointment. I mean isn't Maryland known for all things crab? Don't get me wrong, the soup broth had a great flavor thanks to a tomato based seafood stock which gave the Old Bay a sweet background to interact with. There were also potatoes, carrots, and peas in the soup which were tender and had the flavor of the broth that they were swimming in. My biggest complaint is that there was just an embarrassing amount of crab meat in this "crab soup." Aside from that, the soup...or broth rather...was okay.

After about 15 minutes in the steam line, my number was called and I took my bounty to the eating area to rejoin the rest of my group. I found a strawberry lemonade waiting for me thanks to Vi. This was a very nice touch. Not only because I forgot to purchase a drink, but also because the lemonade had bits of fresh strawberry in it. For my personal taste it was just a wee bit too sweet, I think I would have preferred the traditional lemonade, but Liz had two of them and raved so I'm guessing I'm just not used to sugary drinks.

Finally, time to eat! I started with the crab legs which were perfectly steamed and the crab meat had a nice sweet flavor. Upon cracking the legs, none of the meat stuck to the shell which is one of the key signs of proper preparation and freshness, so I was pleased. In the future, I think I will just buy my crab legs from the market (obviously due to price reasons!) and cook them at home because I think that mine are more flavorful (I steam them with beer and serve them with drawn lemon Cajun butter), but I'm not going to lie, these were yummy.

I also tried Maryland blue crab for the first time! Oh Boy. Before I even start, I have to thank Raphael for the patience and the crab eating lesson. I got a male crab which supposedly has more meat that the female, but I couldn't tell--this thing was pitiful. I cracked open a leg, then a claw, and almost threw the thing away because I was convinced I was given an a malnutritioned crab that didn't properly develop. Raphael informed me that that the meat was in the body of the crab. Ah-Ha! By some miracle, I got to the coveted meat! Blue crab is very sweet with a delicate saltiness that can only come from a lifetime in the ocean. What I don't like about blue crab is that sour and bitter tastes of the crab's innards taint the sweet (and limited) meat. Let's just say, I'll stick to snow crab. I felt guilty for eating little Earl, there just wasn't any meat. With that said, I also understand why crab cakes are so expensive--it's a lot of work to get to this meat!

Onward to the shrimp. Just like the crab legs, these babies were cooked to perfection. Not underdone, not chewy. Not under seasoned, but just enough Old Bay to compliment the natural flavors of the shrimp. I think of all of the things I ate that day, this was my favorite.

Just when I thought I was wrapping my meal up, my friend Liz reminded me that I still had to try the conch meat that I bought. I picked it out because I'd only ever had it in fritters so I wanted to try the meat before it got incorporated in anything else. The conch themselves are already steamed (that's how they get them out of the shell) so they had no seasoning, thus no flavor and were cold and the texuture was really thick and chewy. Long story short: I will contine to eat them in fritter form.

To end the meal, Raphael and I did a few oyster and clam shots. I bought the clams because I never had raw clams and wanted to try, it wasn't my favorite not because of taste, but because of texture. The raw oysters were okay, but I have personally had better oysters at McCormick and Schmicks and in Puerto Rico. However, I'll just be thankful I can still have oysters given the situation in the Gulf.

If you can't tell this was an awesome outing! I clearly ate anything that once moved in the sea, and enjoyed doing so, especially with such great company on a mild, almost-fall day in DC.

If you want to check out the market for yourself, head over to 1100 Maine Avenue SW. It's a quick drive from Arlington, and the closest metro stop is Smithsonian (blue/orange lines).

Voting is Open! Make ME the Next Food Blog Star!

2010-09-20T21:38:00.000-04:00

Hey guys! Hopefully you read my first project food blog entry. If not, check it out and let me know what you think! Be sure to show a little love in the comment field or on twitter, it makes me feel like people actually read what I write and that it doesn't just disappear on the internet. And duh...please vote for me (Just click the widget) so that Fro and a Fork has the opportunity to advance to the next round of Project Food Blog Challenges! Voting closes this Thursday, so vote vote vote :)

Also! If you haven't done it already, enter to win a $20 gift card from CSN stores! I will announce the winner this Friday by 5 PM. Good luck and thanks for all of the support!

xoxo,

Kashia

Will I Be the Next Food Blog Star?

2010-09-19T15:58:00.001-04:00

So I'm not sure if you guys know, but I'm trying my hand at Project Food Blog, a competition where over 1,000 Foodbuzz Featured Publishers are competing in a series of culinary blogging challenges for the chance at the ultimate prize: $10,000 and title of Food Blog Star.

The first challenge entry (and first elimination round...eep!) asks contestants to explain what defines them as a blogger, what makes their blog unique, and why they think that they have what it takes to be the next food blog star. Loaded question, much?

Given the importance of this blog entry, I sat down and actually started brainstorming. I mean really, there are a gazillion food blogs out there that give tips, tricks, recipes, and reviews, but I started Fro and a Fork because I believe that I have a unique perspective to offer, given my relationship with food.

Instead of answering the question of why my food blog is makes me worthy of being the Next Food Blog Star, I decided to uncover why food is so important to me because I think that will better explain what makes me worthy of the honor. Makes sense right? If I didn't have a passion for food why would I even have this blog?

I've always noticed a strong link between food, family, friends, travel, and life lessons, all things that I briefly mentioned in my CNN iReport.   I want to expand a bit so that you know what inspires me when I interact with food, be it shopping, cooking, experimenting, or dining out. This will give you an idea of what motivates me to blog and share these things with you. Also, I hope you enjoy watching my hair change through the years...

When I was little, I always wanted something new and different to eat and my parents tried, with various levels of success to make that happen. My grandma was essentially my short order cook and my dad was my supplier of things my mom wouldn't let me eat. My mom always called me in the kitchen to help her, not because she needed it but because she wanted us to bond and grow closer as I grew up. Basically, cooking and mealtimes in my household were about more than food, it was a time to receive advice, life lessons, praise, and occasionally scolding from my parents and grandmother. (In the photo, my dad and I were talking about my first semester of graduate school, while slicing the Thanksgiving ham.) Advice was best dealt over cake and juice (remember, I'm lactose intolerant), and scoldings were usually saved for the end of meals, trapping me at the table with nothing to be distracted by...including food. But I love and cherish the moments in our kitchen and dining room.

When I went off to college, food maintained its importance in my life. Trips to the cafeteria at midnight signaled study exhaustion and new friendships, grocery shopping on my own gave me opportunities to try foods that my parents wouldn't buy, and even an internship with Student Action with Farmworkers changed the way I viewed food and how it makes it to my plate. This was a time of great experimentation and the discovery of the term "foodie."

Student Action With Farmworkers Internship: Sumter, South Carolina.

From Left: Me driving a tractor, chicken farm, farmworkers in a cucumber field.

While in college, I studied abroad in Chile in 2006. I was super excited to go to South America and try a new culture...and of course the food! I could not eat enough in Chile, and essentially I became a bottomless pit.

My first moments in Chile.

From Left: My study abroad group at Quien Sabe,

Empanadas and Vaina, Dinner the first night,

and Cafe Cortado with a dulce

During this time, I also spent my first Thanksgiving away from home. My mom asked how I felt about missing Thanksgiving before I departed for Santiago, and I said "Oh Mom, its just Thanksgiving." However, when Thursday, November 23, 2006 rolled around I was an emotional mess. I was so confused to see Chileans moving about their everyday (and yes, I had to go to class), I wanted to scream "Don't you know it's Thanksgiving?!," but it would be to no avail, since its a North American holiday. My amazing host mom, Jenny, tried to comfort me, but it just wasn't enough--I wanted Thanksgiving.

Apparently other gringos in my group felt the same way, so we ended up getting together and having our own little potluck Thanksgiving! It was incredibly hard finding a turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce (not to mention incredibly expensive), but our group of 20 came together for a common cause and had a great time in the process. We even invited our Chilean friends to our dinner to see what they thought about it...cranberry sauce was not a big hit, but they loved the idea of Thanksgiving and what it meant to us.

Dia de la Accion de Gracias (Turkey Day the Chilean Way)

While in Chile, I decided to hop over to Peru for a few weeks. Before departing, Jenny made me the most amazing lunch and walked me to the buses that were taking my group to the airport. She told me I would love Peru, and that the food was amazing...she was correct. Upon arriving I began drinking coca tea to help me with the altitude, but quickly moved to warm red wine with honey and Inca cola. I had amazing pizza, ceviche, and Asian-fused foods while there, all while being in awe of Inca ruins. The things that I remember most about Peru, aside from the friendly people, was the delicious food and how I felt apart of their history--which they eagerly shared with me in cafes and on street corners.

Peru! from left: ceviche, me in Cusco bartending, my host mom-Jenny,

me playing in a corn field, wood- fired pizza

The last week that I was in Santiago, I decided that I was going to make my host parents dinner to thank them for sharing their culture, by sharing my own. I'm from the south, so soul food is love. I made my host family a traditional Sunday dinner of fried chicken, collard greens, macaroni and cheese. I even got a bottle of hot sauce from the U.S. (thanks to Steven) to round things out. They loved it! This also spurred an amazing conversation about slavery, race in the United States, and the sentiments behind soul food.

Bringing Soul to Chile: fried chicken, mac and cheese, collards, hot sauce, tomatoes.

My host mom even has the itis!

I got back from Chile at Christmas time and I had so many Christmas dinners because everyone wanted to see me! This brings me to celebrations which always involve good food, but the food is more flavorful because of good company. One of my favorites was with my two dear friends, Aimee and Sloan, at Sloan's mom's house in the middle of nowhere, South Carolina. Something about that old, creaky house made the dinner just that much more special.

Welcome Home, Christmas Dinner Party 2006

Birthdays are also one of my favorite occasions. Its always great celebrating with friends and reflecting on a year and anticipating what this year of your life will bring. A few years ago, I tried my hand at baking and I made Steven a pretty awesome birthday cake. As you know, he's a gamer (I'm not, at least not like him) and so are his friends so they were pretty impressed that I made awesome game themed cakes for the party, not only were they delicious, but everyone was impressed with the thoughtfulness of it.

Cookie Cupcakes based on the video game Portal; Mega Man Birthday Cake

This year, Steven took me to Charleston so that I could eat at some of my favorite restaurants which have also become some of his favorite restaurants. We had a great time at the beach, ate lots of cupcakes, and had dinner at my favorite restaurant in Charleston--Basil. This means a lot to me because Steven is by no means a foodie, but my love of food and sharing it with him has made him more open to trying new things, something that he always thanks me for.

My 25th Birthday Cupcake, Red Velvet...of course, I'm a southern girl!

I'll just stop here so I don't bore you to death because I can talk forever, but the point of all of the above photos and stories was to express that in my opinion, food isn't just something to cook or something that tastes good, its a total package of taste, company, memories, experiences, and stories to tell later. So if you don't remember anything else about this post, I just want you to remember that to me food is involved in the creation of bonds and strong friendships, cultural understanding and awareness, as well as traditions and memories.

I think that Fro and a Fork delivers all of the above to my readers which hopefully inspires them (even the non-foodies) to try a new recipe, cuisine, or food...or at the very least think about doing so. How you ask? Well, because when I travel, you travel. When my mom teaches me a new trick, I blog about it and teach you. When I honor my grandmother's memory through food, you get a recipe. When I experience success, you guys cheer me on. And when I mess up, I fess up and steer you in the right direction.

I don't claim to be perfect or the best cook, I don't know everything about food, and I haven't eaten the world. But what I do have is a passion for food and all of its intricacies. It is my hope that Fro and a Fork transfers more than culinary knowledge; I want my blog to help readers create their own memories and experiences through something that they read or learn about here, and this is why I think I have what it takes to be the next Food Blog Star.*

*Plus, I have an ungodly amount of student loan debt and a wedding to plan so I'm not going to lie, $10K would be sweeeeet!

Feeling Lucky?

2010-09-15T13:20:00.004-04:00

So, I still feel guilty for not blogging for so long. I've been eating all of these yummy things and writing about them in my food journal which has come to rest on my coffee table and not by my computer, which is a bad sign. This means I've been eating and writing, and regrettably holding out.

Luckily, thats all changing and I'm super excited to be writing again! However, I feel like I owe you guys....you know like that kid that makes their mom breakfast in bed after they broke something. So I want to give away a $20 CSN stores gift card to one of you!
For those who don't know, CSN stores is awesome! They have a number of websites that sell high quality, brand name cookware, furniture, housewares, appliances, and all other types of goodies at a discounted price. I personally have made a few purchases from them and haven't been let down!

Here are the ways you can enter to win, with each counting as one entry! Yes, that means you can enter up to 3 times!

Follow me on twitter @froandafork (and let me know by posting in the comment field)
Subscribe to my blog (just click the link to the right)
Post a comment below telling me what you'd like to read about or see on Fro and a Fork

I will select a reader, at random on next Friday, September 24th by the close of business and will announce it here and on twitter.

Good luck and thanks for reading!

I know, its been a while

2010-09-13T17:05:00.000-04:00

I'm ashamed. Absolutely ashamed.

I know, I haven't blogged. I haven't blogged in ages. I feel guilty. I feel like I did when my mom caught me feeding the dog pot roast. Just like I owed her an explanation, I owe you one. Here we go.

I just started a new job, and not just any job. I am now a member of the U.S. Foreign Service, basically in Layman's terms: I'm a diplomat. As a result of this new career, I moved to DC and was in diplo-boot camp for 5 weeks. These 5 weeks exhausted me. I was reduced to eating sandwiches and making salads after work and going to sleep. Thus, Fro and a Fork suffered. No time means no cooking means no blogging. Its sad, I know.

I found out I will be heading out to Caracas, Venezuela in February and I'm currently in training for that. I'm super excited to head to Venezuela and eat arepas all day long, but thats in the future. Now that I've got a better grasp on life in the foreign service and my work-life balance, I'm excited to start blogging anew. My goal is 3-4 posts a week and I hope to cover some amazing restaurants and use some interesting ingredients now that I'm no longer a student and can afford to do so!

So please, please...come back. I missed blogging, I missed photography, and most of all I missed you guys and your feedback!

xoxo,
Kashia

*Source: Gummi Bear Photo

Let Them Eat Cake!

2010-07-13T20:17:00.000-04:00

So Steven and I don't have a date for the wedding and reception yet, but we have been enjoying the perks of being engaged! One of these perks is tasting wedding cake! On Sunday, we headed to Sugarland Bakery for their scheduled wedding cake tasting. I guess they do one every month or so, and it provides couples with a great opportunity to eat lots of fancy cake for free!...er, I mean try various cakes for their guests to enjoy at the wedding reception.

Before continuing, let me say this: I've had some really bad, epic fails called wedding cake. They are usually dry like cardboard with sugary sweet icing to give you diabetic shock so that you can't recall how bad the actual cake was.

Moving forward, six flavors of cake were featured for the tasting. Being in the south, of course the classic red velvet with cream cheese icing was on the chopping block. Tuxedo was a simple and safe marble cake. I thought the pumpkin was an odd placement since its summertime, but it also had a spot on the tasting menu. Creme brulee seemed to be the most innovative, raspberry chocolate mousse screamed "standard, traditional, wedding" to me, and key lime likely appeals to those with an infinity for Florida.

Of the flavors presented the joint favorite was tuxedo. My personal favorite was the creme brulee. As a southern girl, I was extremely let down by the red velvet cake: the cake itself was a tad bit dry, and the icing needed to be more cream cheesy. I will give them a pass on the the dryness of the red velvet because the other cakes were moist, so maybe we got a corner piece or something. The icing however is inexcusable: more cream cheese please! After tasting a bunch of cake, we decided to order a small 8 inch round from them for our upcoming engagement party. We picked the tuxedo cake with vanilla buttercream and a cream cheese filling. I know I just hated on the cream cheese icing, but Steven hates cream cheese and likes this frosting, so I figured it was a way to jazz up this marble cake and get my fix.

I was a huge fan of the buttercream icing at Sugarland, it was light and fluffy and sweet without being too sweet. Nick, one of the owners, explained that they actually use butter and not shortening (like most places) to make their icing. First off, I was disturbed that people and bakeries find it okay to substitute Crisco for butter in buttercream icing. Secondly, I was relieved (only slightly) to know that I was eating butter (place fat in arteries) and not Crisco (place fat in arteries and on butt).

While we were there, we also thought it would be a good idea to try the fondant because we both know we want a pretty and bright wedding cake, which will without a doubt require a fondant covering.

For those who have not actually tried fondant, its sweet like frosting with an awkward gummy texture like an Airhead. It wasn't bad, but I don't want to eat it with cake. The catering manager at Sugarland assured us that most people know to peel the fondant away. While he explained the workings of fondant, Steven and I played with it like 8 year olds. See our work above.

Anyhow, my first cake tasting was a blast and I look forward to eating more cake. As I see these giant and pretty wedding cakes at bakeries, I'm starting to be swayed by the Wedding Industrial Complex to ditch my dream of cupcakes and a smaller cake for photo purposes. In fact a number of planners and bakers have said that I'd regret not having a "real cake" at my wedding. But no matter how delicious or pretty a cake is, I just prefer a cupcake. There, I said it.

Those Aren't Bad Bananas

2010-07-09T12:13:00.003-04:00

As some of you may know, my fiance is Puerto Rican so I'm constantly talking with his mother to make the traditional foods that he loves. Last night I surprised him and made maduros, sweet, fried, plantains to go along with dinner since I was torturing him with chicken breast and brown rice. He was really pleased with them so I decided to show you guys how to make maduros for a nice sweet side dish that's outside the box.

First think you need to do is pick a plantain, for maduros you want a super black plantain. You should go eewww when you see it...yes that black. I'm sure you've walked by them in the grocery store and wondered who in their right mind would pay for something that looked so bad. Well, I do... and you will because maduros are delicious.

Bare in mind that although you want a super ripe, black plantain (this is what makes them sweet) you don't one that looks like death either. There should still be bits of yellow coming through the blackened skin, and the fruit should still be firm when you squeeze lightly.

Peel your plantain by cutting off the two ends, then scoring the middle of it, careful to not penetrate, mush, or otherwise damage the flesh.

Now cut your plantain into slices, diagonally. They should be about half and inch to an inch thick. Don't cut them too thick because the center won't cook through, or too thin because then they will burn. It really is a Goldilocks game, these slices have to be just right!

Fry these slices in a frying pan that has a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil. Not olive oil, not PAM, not elbow grease, but vegetable oil. This is one time where I do not endorse a substituion because it will change the flavor of the final product. Of course, make sure your oil is super hot before you put them in, otherwise you'll end up with a greasy mess.

Its time to flip once the edges start to brown and things start smelling sweet. Be careful to not burn them, which will be easy as all the sugars begin to caramelize. If your oil was hot, it should take roughly 1-3 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of your cut.

In Puerto Rico and in Puerto Rican households, maduros are usually served with arroz con gandules and chicken or pernil (roasted pork shoulder), and sometimes even with eggs at breakfast! I think they're something that can make a nice, light, and sweet side dish in a sea of savory so I plan to incorporate them into our regular dinner menus. Plus, these yummy disks can double as a dessert (maduros and vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce anyone?).

Go ahead, try it, its okay. I promise what you walk past aren't bad bananas, they are flavorful, sweet, packages of goodness. Plus, you can wow you friends family with a new ethnic food without buying a million ingredients!

Flag Image, Credit

No More Ring Pops

2010-07-07T16:02:00.000-04:00

Non-foodie boyfriend is now non-foodie fiancé...yes, we're engaged! He caught me completely off guard a couple of nights ago...

We went to the Red Room (one of my favorite restaurants in Raleigh) for dinner and were having a pretty good time. I was finished eating and he was still eating. I don't remember what were were talking about, but I do remember him saying I'd be "busy for a while." The next thing I know there's a little black box on the table and he proposed! I started crying like an idiot, then saying shiny shiny, and then said yes!

Anyhow, just wanted to share the cliff notes version of the story, along with a few fun photos of the ring.

I promise to not drown in bridal magazines, and still cook yummy things for you :)

Berry Patriotic Ribs

2010-07-06T08:46:00.001-04:00

Hope everyone enjoyed the 4th of July, and I'm sure many of you enjoyed eating leftovers and the day off yesterday! For our fourth, we had a traditional celebration meal composed of ribs, green beans, and mac and cheese. I made the ribs in the oven (we live in an apartment, so hiking to the grilling area is a bit of a pain) after marinating them overnight using McCormick's Grill Mates mesquite seasoning.

Although my meal was pretty simple, I decided to up the antty and make my own BBQ sauce for the ribs. I didn't want to just recreate a sauce, I created my own using one of my favorite aspects of the summer: fresh berries. I used raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries to add some natural sweetness and tang to my tomato based barbecue sauce. While I was in the kitchen, Steven came in and said "you have mischief face, you have no clue what you're doing...do you?" I just grinned. "I'm sure it'll be fine..."

It was more than fine, it was amazing. The tart and tangy flavors from the berries came through and the apple juice and honey added a nice, natural sweetness. Everyone seemed really happy with it, and it was way better than store bought! If you're interested, the recipe is at the end of the post.

Feeling festive, I also made red, white, and blue cupcakes (red velvet cake, cream cheese icing, and blue sugar crystals).

We of course ate them at the park, so that we could see the fireworks with our dessert :)

So I hope your Fourth was full of food, family, and fun...I know mine was!

Berry Patriotic BBQ Sauce

The Goods:

5 medium to large cloves of garlic
6 ounces of rasberries
10 strawberries (quartered)
2 cups of blueberries
1, 6 ounce can of tomato paste
2 cups of ketchup
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup apple juice
1/4 cup of minced onion
1/4 cup of honey (or more for sweetness)
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
6 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons of Worcestershire Sauce

The Act:

Cook all of the berries in a saucepan with the lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar. Once the berries start to break down, take berries off of the heat and allow them to cool. Once berry mixture is cool, pour the contents of the pot into a blender along with all of the garlic cloves and blend until the garlic is minced. Return the blended meixture to the original sauce pan and add all of the remaining ingredients. Allow mixture to come to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer on low for at least 3 hours. The longer the better! Use how you would use any other BBQ sauce!

Bacon-Chocolate or Chocolate with Bacon?

2010-07-03T14:35:00.000-04:00

I've always been a sucker for salty sweet, a discovery first made in kindergarten when my sausage, bacon, and syrup from my pancakes met, and I noticed how well they all got along in my mouth. As I grew older, my salty sweet obsession made itself known: chicken nuggets dipped in McFlurries, Frosty covered french fries, Apple and Sharp Cheddar sandwiches, and...well you get the point.

Aside from my salty sweet demands, there is one other thing that I can't get enough of...bacon. Don't get me wrong I love the healthy stuff like organic vegetables, seasonal fruit, fresh salads, lean meat, and all other things life extending, but I must admit that I am a member of the "bacon makes everything better" camp.

Given my contradictory food lusts, imagine how giddy I was when I discovered bacon studded chocolate during my weekly Whole Foods trip. I know, a bunch of you are saying things like eww yuck, or that's a heart attack waiting to happen. Guess what? I don't care. Because I know someone else is salivating and wanting to know more.

I'm sure you are all familiar with Vosges Chocolate. If not, its an awesome chocolate company that seeks to allow people to "travel the world through chocolate" in an effort to make chocolate a sustainable and cultural experience. Vosges makes a number innovative and exotic luxury chocolate bars using flowers, spices, fruits, herbs, and roots. I personally am a fan of their Oaxaca Chocolate Bar, which is bittersweet with a kick, thanks to Guandillo chiles. Bacon is the newest frontier for the company as a number of bacon-chocolate products have been introduced including bacon caramel toffee, bacon and chocolate chip pancake mix, and a number of bacon + chocolate bars.

The Taste Test:

Before I put anything in my mouth, I ate with my eyes. And get a load of all of the visible bacon in this bar! I was so excited to find out how bacon and chocolate complimented one another.

On to actually eating it. Okay let me clarify how I eat chocolate. Because I'm neurotic I don't like to chew chocolate because you don't get to taste that much of it that way. Instead, I bite of a portion and just let it sit and melt on my tongue. Once all the chocolate is gone, I chew up any goodies that may be incorporated, like nuts...or in this case bacon. Weird, I know, but that's what I do.

The first thing that I tasted was the alderwood smoked salt. Once you let the chocolate melt a little more the deep flavor (it is after all 45% cacao) of the milk chocolate starts to come into play. Just when you think the chocolate is gone you get hit with another taste of salt and then...bacon! The bacon has a nice smokey, hickory flavor. Each bite has bacon in it with pieces ranging from the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen to that of a small sequin or rhinestone. The flavor profile and combination is natural and effortless.

Not satisfied with just tasting the chocolate, I wanted to do something with it to elevate it to a new level. Chocolate chip pancakes, cookies, mousse? Oh my! Due to the fact that I wanted instant gratification, I decided to make myself a salty sweet s'more :) This was also a great excuse to use my new creme brulee torch!

The s'more was great! If you look at the photo you can even see some of the bacon poking out! Once again, salty sweet paradise. What made it really yummy was as the chocolate melted, bacon bits began to get absorbed by the marshmallow. Amazing and highly recommended!

The bar on its own is a truly is a nice treat and I recommend it for anyone who has a salty-sweet fascination like myself. This is however not cheap-99 cents with your VIP card-chocolate. I bought it at Whole Foods and it set me back about $8! You can also order directly from the company online. It is however well worth it as its something that you will enjoy slowly because of the intense flavors.

A New Kitchen Toy...

2010-07-01T18:37:00.001-04:00

I love dinner parties. No really, I like them a lot and my boyfriend claims that it is a mild obsession. There is a sick joy that I get from setting dining room tables, planning creative menus, pairing beer, wine, and cocktails with the various courses, and most importantly having my friends over to enjoy my cooking and a good time.

Thanks to the kind people at CSN stores I will be receiving and reviewing a new kitchen toy that is about to make my dinner parties that much more awesome. Want a hint on the snappy item? You use this to serve something after the main course has concluded.

Stay tuned to see what it actually is! I of course will not only review the mystery item, but provide you with a few recipes as well!

Hell Yes!

2010-06-28T19:08:00.000-04:00

I'm pretty accustomed to rejection with respect to Food Gawker, but imagine my surprise to see that one of my images was accepted! My era of defeat has come to an end...26 images later. Needless to say, I'm doing a little happy dance.

I guess persistence pays off, and hopefully this is the start of a positive trend :)

Forget the Henny, Pass me a Blenny

2010-06-28T11:05:00.001-04:00

Yeah, that's right a Blenny, that's what ardent drinkers and connoisseurs of Blenheim's ginger ale call the bubbly, spicy beverage. I discovered Blenheim's at a stand selling nostalgic glass bottle sodas and paper wrapped candy during a trip to the Farmer's Market a few weeks ago and grabbed a couple of bottles to give it a try.

Given the sellers reaction and desire to tell me all about the ginger ale: where its produced, how he buys it, how he drank it as a child, I had to do a little research to find out about the drink and its history.
Apparently Bleinheim's has a small cult following in the south. It's produced in Hamer, South Carolina and has been around since 1903 when Dr. C.R. May encouraged patients with stomach troubles to drink water from the Blenheim natural springs. Many patients complained that the spring water wasn't very palatable, so he added Jamaican ginger* to help them drink it down. This was the start. In 1920 a bottling facility close to the springs transformed this drink from word of mouth concoction to a polished product for sale. Today, this bottling facility is a museum and a larger, nearby plant meets the commercial demands for Blenheim's Ginger Ale.

Now that you've had your history lesson, on to taste! I bought two varieties of Blenheim's: hot and not as hot. There is also a diet version (ick! somethings need not be diet) and a ginger beer (saving this one for another day). Seeing that I already now what ginger ale tastes like, I tried the hot first. When it hits your tongue, it tastes like normal ginger ale, but by the time it hits the back of your throat you get a kick of what I hypothesize to be more ginger and a touch of cayenne red pepper, then you cough out of shock and heat. After you cough, you take another swig because it so freaking good.

I then tried the not as hot ginger ale, which was still more flavorful, spicy, and refreshing (a lot more bubbles!) than any other ginger ale I've had. You'll be ashamed that you ever drank Canada Dry. For both varieties, I think that the use of fresh Jamaican ginger sets Blenheim's apart from other brands. There is more ginger flavor and less high fructose corn syrup-y fakeness. So for everyone who asks "Where's the ginger in the the ginger ale?" its all bottled in a Blenny.

If you don't have access to the Raleigh Farmer's Market, guess what? You can buy Blenheim's online! So give it a try, and find out what ginger ale can taste like when made in small batches, locally. To encourage your trial of Blenheim's check out the cocktail recipe below. You could substitute normal ginger ale, but the drink will taste different given Blenheim's unique, ginger-y taste.

A Super Southern, Jack and Ginger

8 ounces of Bleinheims, the hot variety if you like kick, not as hot variety if you're chicken
2 ounces of Jack
Splash of Sour Mix
Lime Garnish

Mix and serve over ice in a short glass. Great way to make it through those summer days!

*Jamaican ginger was been identified as a "patent medicine" in the early 1900s, meaning it claimed medical benefits, but was more likely a fun way to bypass early prohibition laws. I love my south. But, in all seriousness, Jamaican ginger was also used legitimately used for a host of gastro intestinal problems as well as to disguise the horrid taste of medicine back in the day.

Food Trip!

2010-06-25T12:49:00.000-04:00

First off many apologies for not posting. My three little, well teenage, sisters are here so I've been trying to entertain them leaving limited time for goodies, tips, tricks, and all things yummy. Anyhow, I've finally scored a bit of quiet time (aka, I wore them out at the beach yesterday) and I want to tell you all about one of my recent food trips.

You know how in school we went on field trips to connect the classroom to the real world? Well I decided to go on a food trip to connect my kitchen and desire to learn about authentic prepartations of ethnic foods with local, ethnic markets in my area. After hearing so much about Grand Asia Market in Cary on Yelp and various food blogs, I figured this was a good first food trip.

I went at around 3 PM on a weekday, and it was still buzzing with people, a definite positive sign. When I walked in, I immediately knew that this place is a foodies paradise. There are spices, food, and products from countries all over Asia: Thailand, Korea, China, Japan, Malaysia, and India to name a few. Also, due to Raleigh's growing Latino population, a few herbs and spices prevalent in Mexican and Central American cooking were also available. Plus there is a large produce, seafood, and meat section with the ordinary suspects as well as foods more extraordinary to the Western shopper. Given the size of the store, I decided to walk through before starting my shopping to get a feel of the place.

I started in the produce area, which is my favorite part of any store. Grand Asia carries "average" products as well as foods that I consider "Iron Chef" secret ingredients because that was likely the first time I'd heard of them. Among vegetables, potatoes, yam, onions, and cabbage were neselted alongside lotus root, water chestnuts, and daikon. And lychee, persimmons, and durian looked at home next to donut peaches, apples, and bananas. While on the subject of fruits, I loved how the pears at Grand Asia had fluffy pear protectors around them so they wouldn't bruise! Whole Foods, take a note. Of course there was kimchee, tofu, miso paste, and red bean paste in the refrigerated area of the produce section.

There were a number of herbs prevalent in both Asian and Latino cooking such as cilantro and parsley, but herbs and roots special to Asian cooking such as mint leaves, ginger root, and lemongrass were also available at an incredibly low cost. There were also various types of peppers and chiles used in Thai, Malaysian, and Latino cooking.

On to the back: the meat and seafood sections. The seafood section was quite impressive, boasting tanks filled with live tilapia, cat fish, lobster (both North American and Spiny), soft shell crab, and even soft shell turtle (this broke my heart because I have a little turtle...her name is Turbo). In addition to the tanks of seafood, there was also a large case filled with a variety of fresh fish (including my personal favorites: red snapper and salmon), squid, shellfish, and octopus.

I was shocked by how inexpensive the seafood was given its quality. Lobster was only $9.99/pound while I was there and the most expensive item were large shrimp, also priced at $9.99. Another perk is that you could buy the whole or parts of sea critters since there were shrimp and fish with heads on and heads off. Last point: Don't be intimidated by the whole fresh and live fish, they can either keep it whole or cut it however you'd like. Options include just scaling the fish to cutting it into various fillets, or into sashimi sized slices.

The meat section was much smaller and the bulk of the meat in the case seemed to be pork, so I didn't really spend much time back there because I don't really eat pork and most of the people seemed to focus their energy on the seafood, reinforcing my assumption that the seafood area is the star of the market. I did notice the usual, lamb, beef, and chicken. But if you ever need chicken feet, pig snouts and other parts, or cow uterus...this is your one stop shop.

The frozen and refrigerated food sections were interesting and filled with a number of prepared food products and cold treats from Asian countries. Being a lactose intolerant ice cream fanatic I was practically drooling over red bean and purple yam ice creams. The frozen food section is another place to find cooking herbs and roots such as Kaffir leaves and galangal. In both sections you can buy frozen, precooked dim sum, fresh noodles, and steamed buns that are prepared on the premises. The refrigerated section also had a variety of seaweed that could be purchased which was the first time that I'd ever seen such a thing, in addition to fresh noodles, dried fish,

Finally, the grocery section which seemed small when compared to the other parts of the store, but there was a lot of good stuff compacted on the shelves. Grand Asia's grocery section is filled with sauces, marinades, and spices from all over Asia as well as dried meats, noodles, and mushrooms. Canned and dried fish and meat were on display and a wide variety of tea, honey, milks, pastes, and jams had me wanting tea and dessert by the end of the aisle.

Of all the things in the grocery section, I found the giant bags of rice and bulk dried beans something to marvel. Personally, I lack the patience to cook dried beans, but if you don't this is a great deal.

With a good grip on the layout and contents of the store, I decided to start my shopping. For the most part, I had a mission as I plan to make Tom Kha Gai (Thai coconut soup). When all was said and done, I ended up with:

4-tier bamboo steamer (hey, I also want to try my hand at making dim sum one of these days)
20 lbs bag of rice (we eat A LOT of rice)
3 stalks of lemongrass
2 large bunches of cilantro
1/2 pound of large fresh shrimp
large bag of star of anise (I can never find this in the store)
Kaffir Leaves (also, never to be found at the store)
Galangal (ginger is just not the same)

Get this, I only spent a bit over 40 bucks, and to be fair the rice and steamer made up most of that total coming to about $19 and $12 respectively!

After I finished my grocery shopping I decided to check out the prepared food section which can be considered three separate sections. First there is the bakery with a number of fresh baked goods, bubble tea, and espresso-based caffeinated drinks. Then there is what I call the "steam area" where dim sum, steamed buns, and Taiwanese sticky rice wraps are sold. Then is the "full plate" area where you can order off of a menu and have your food made fresh to order. This area is also home to a case that sells roasted duck and racks of ribs, both sold in half and whole portions.

I got two steamed buns, one barbecue pork and one pork and quail egg, and a Taiwanese sticky rice wrap. The buns were pretty good and incredibly cheap. My only complaint that the bun to filling ratio was far too uneven with more bun than filling. The pork and quail egg one was my favorite as it was more flavorful due to the salty/sweet combo from the pork and creaminess and saltiness from the quail egg. As for the sticky rice wrap, I was not a big fan of the one I had. It had beans, pork, and onions in it...normally I got ones with chicken teriyaki or sweet pork inside, so I was a bit surprised by the contents. Either way, seeing that I spent less than $3.00 on these goodies, I was more than pleased. In the future I hope to try the fresh noodles from the "full plate area" because it looked amazing and everything is made fresh in front of you. If you can't tell, there is essentially a full service restaurant in Grand Asia, with tables and everything.

So I learned a lot on my food trip. I found out where to have dim sum in the Triangle, buy fresh noodles, and have a good authentic, cheap eat. So if you live in the area and have been trying to find out where to get your daikon or the freshest seafood, check out Grand Asia Market. Its located at 1253 Buck Jones Road in Raleigh.

Around The World, Around My Kitchen

2010-06-22T10:40:00.001-04:00

I love ethnic food, yes, all of it. There's something about exotic flavors and trying different foods that make me feel more cultured, aware, and well-traveled. However, given the economy and the fact that I just graduated, I can't go out to eat very much (let alone travel!) so I've started recreating my favorite foreign flavors at home. Thai cuisine is one of my most adored due its diversity that is the result of varying regional cooking techniques. Plus, I enjoy the heavy use of citrus, fresh herbs and vegetables, and chilies so I decided to recreate a classic: chicken satay with peanut sauce.

This was incredibly quick and easy to make so its good to prepare after a long day, tapas if you're having people over, or simply if you enjoy Thai food and chicken satay. I served this with a spinach salad, but obviously steamed white rice would be a great accompaniment. So give this a try and koh hai cha-roen ar-harn! that means, hope you enjoy in Thai.

Ingredients:

Chicken Skewers:
4 chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch to 1 inch strips
wooden skewers

Marinade:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon of brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon of cumin
juice of one lime
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
2 teaspoons of chopped garlic
2 teaspoons melted smooth peanut butter (you can melt the peanut butter in the microwave)

Peanut Sauce:
3/4 cup of chicken broth
1/2 cup of coconut milk
1/2 cup of melted peanut butter (smooth or chunky depending on preference, I used smooth)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
3 teaspoons
juice of one lime
chopped cilantro (optional, to stir in at the end)
pinch of red pepper (optional, to stir in for a bit of heat)
toasted peanuts* (optional, to incorporate at the end)

*To toast peanuts, just evenly spread them on a cookie sheet in a 350-375 degree oven for a few minutes. The peanuts are done when they are brown and the smell of peanuts strengthens.

Directions:

Marinade and Chicken:
Whisk ingredients for the marinade together in a bowl until sugar and salt are dissolved, and peanut butter is incorporated. Place chicken strips into a large ziploc bag, pour in marinade, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Place two chicken strips on each skewer. I put them on to look like an "S" instead of just poking the skewer straight through. Place in a 375 degree on a cookie sheet or broiler pan until chicken is cooked. Once chicken is thoroughly cooked, broil the chicken skewers on low to develop a nice crust and char on the meat.

Peanut Sauce:
While the chicken bakes, prepare the peanut sauce by melting the peanut butter over low heat in a saucepan. Once the peanut butter begins to melt add the coconut milk and chicken broth. Stir until smooth. Once the first thee components are well mixed, add the remaining ingredients and allow to simmer on low to medium heat as the sauce thins and develops its texture. Sauce should be thick, but able to be drizzled or easily poured.

My Father's Day Feast

2010-06-21T00:18:00.002-04:00

Happy (now belated) Father's Day to all the Dad's out there. Yesterday, I decided to make my Dad grilled lamb chops, roasted asparagus and tomatoes, and garlic roasted mashed potatoes to celebrate the occasion. Yum!

My non-foodie family enjoyed the meal a lot despite apprehension about lamb (they'd never eaten it before) and uncertainty over roasted tomatoes.

I hope that you will try my recipes for lamb marinade and garlic mashed potatoes so that you can recreate this meal for you and yours. No need to wait for Father's Day, this meal looks elegant with minimal effort making it ideal for dinner parties and special occasions.

Lamb Chop Marinade (pictured right):
12 basil leaves
4 springs of rosemary
8 sprigs of thyme
11 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of kosher salt
juice of two lemons
1 cup of olive oil

Put all of the above into a blender and blend until smooth, but bits of herbs are still visible. Allow lamb to marinate in a ziploc bag in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, preferably longer (I let my chops hang out with the marinade for 5 hours). Grill chops until medium or medium well, and enjoy!

PS: I think this marinade would also be pretty yummy with chicken breasts.

Garlic Roasted Smashed Potatoes
10 small red potatoes, boiled until soft
8 ounces of heavy cream
4 tablespoons of butter
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 entire head of roasted garlic*

Use a masher to combine all ingredients until smooth to your preference. I prefer my potatoes a bit more chunky than creamy.

*To roast garlic, place an oil drizzled head of garlic in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes or until soft when poked. Remove the garlic from the peels before mashing into the potatoes, but you knew that :)

Restaurant Review: Gervais and Vine

2010-06-20T17:03:00.001-04:00

My friend Sloan is home for a visit, the first in three years, since he now lives in Germany so my best friend and I decided the three of us should get together for dinner to catch up. After an international flight, jetlag, and adjusting to humid, southern weather, his one request was nothing "heavy." Given the guidelines and his questionable stomach, we decided upon Gervais and Vine, a Mediterranean tapas bar nestled at the end of the Vista in Columbia SC..

Image Credit

Before continuing, I love tapas. Tapas bars are among my favorite eats because encourages adventurousness in eating decisions, fosters a more social dining environment, and allows you to try everything on the menu! I first discovered the concept of tapas at Meritage in Charleston, South Carolina and never turned back. I loved eating while living in Chile and Argentina because every meal was essentially tapas, thanks to their smaller portions! My addiction continued to grow once I moved to DC as I frequented Ceiba and Jaleo, despite my graduate student budget.

Okay, back to the review. We arrived and the waitress promptly approached us for our drink orders. Being in a tapas bar I was hopeful that a malbec would be available, and although I could not find it on their wine list, I asked our server and sure enough they had a bottle. After living in Argentina, I fell in love with malbecs, a varietal red unique to the country thanks to a great climate and tannin filled malbec grapes. I got my glass eager to taste the warmth and sweetness of the malbec and relive my nights cooking in Buenos Aires. When the wine finally hit my lips, it was cold. Umm...why is my red wine cold?! Is the malbec ordered with such low frequency that Gervais and Vine uses at home methods of wine preservation* to stretch the bottle? Furthermore, even if this is the case why is the wine not brought out to get up to temperature for the dinner service? This was off putting for me, but I let it go and decided to keep an open mind about the food.

We ordered two rounds of tapas after still feeling a bit of a hunger pang after round one. We started the meal with she crab spread, herb grilled lamb chops, a roasted duck quarter, and spicy gambas. The second round of tapas consisted of Moroccan spiced pork, tomato pesto shrimp, and marinated artichoke hearts. In the tradition of tapas, we of course shared with one another.

The first dish to come out were the gambas, spicy shrimp cooked with roma tomatoes, bacon, sherry, and garlic. This is the first time in my life that I saw that bacon cannot make everything better. The shrimp were overcooked and overpowered by smokey chilies and paprika. Typically, gambas are one of my favorite tapas, because its usually gambas al ajillo a spicy, garlicky shrimp dish that has a light flavor and subtle heat. I felt that Gervais and Vine was attempting to put their own spin on this classic, but sadly fell short. Also, I was not a fan of the dirty buttered bread. The bread was buttered and obviously placed on the grill, but it was in no way toasted so it was just chewy and dirty looking. I also thought the in the pan presentation was not creative, but instead a bit lazy. Between the three of us, over half of this tapas remained untouched.

The herb grilled lamb chops was one of the specials on Friday night so we decided to give it a try. Slathered in fresh herbs such as rosemary and thyme and a bit of salt and pepper, the lamb was tender, well seasoned, crisp, and smokey from the grill. The Chanterelle mushroom demiglaze was flavorful and complex with notes of the mushrooms, lamb, and ouzo complementing one another and the glaze paired with the lamb nicely. I wished the that glaze was more of a "bed" for the meat to rest in, because placing the sauce over the lamb chops slightly undid the work of the grill regarding texture. Nonetheless, the three of us were all practically gnawing on the bone and almost forgot about the small salad. The salad was not memorable, just greens and a bit of dressing, so we went back to scrounging for lamb meat. Obviously, this was one of our favorites.

Our third little plate was roasted duck with rice timbale. I'd never tasted duck before and I was pleasantly surprised! The skin was crispy and had a nice salty-sweet flavor thanks to the honey, salt, and other seasonings and the meat was fatty and tender, a nice contrast to the crunch skin. The rice timbale was flavorful and reminded me of Indian and Mediterranean flavor combinations as the salad had rice, olives, raisins, and chickpeas. I was not a big fan of it because I do not like cold rice salads, by my friends really enjoyed it and how it complimented the duck. By the time the three of us this plate was clean and only bones remained, even the microarugla got eaten.

Consisting of crab, crab roe, garlic, sherry, cream cheese, and Parmesan cheese, the she crab spread tasted like she crab soup, so to me it was a success. The top was perfectly crusty from the cheese baking in the oven, while the inside was creamy. My only gripe with the dip are with respect to presentation. Only 4 pieces of crusty bread accompanied the dish, but we also had a mound of crackers and cornichons. The dip tasted much better spread on the bread than the crackers, so I was unsure as to why the crackers were even present. I was also confused by the oranges on the plate...lemon I could understand, heck even lime, but oranges? And the cornichons did not compliment the flavor of the dip, so why were they invited to the party? If you can't tell I'd prefer no garnish to one that is not thoughtful with respect to the flavor profile of the dish.

The Moroccan spiced pork in the words of my friend "tasted like Christmas" because of all of the traditional spices used in Moroccan cuisine, the cinnamon was the most apparent in this dish. The pork had a nice crust, but was a bit chewy and pushing on overcooked. The pork was served with a Gorgonzola fondue that did not compliment the flavor of the pork, and I felt that it was largely out of place. My friends agreed, adding that they felt the dip was watery, herb-y, and "bizarre." Concerning presentation, large toothpicks were placed in the dip to encourage skewering and dipping, but enough toothpicks did not come to the table so my friend Aimee ended up using a fork, while Sloan and I stabbed with the skewers. To me, the waitress should have ensured that enough toothpicks were available for everyone at the table, but maybe I'm asking for too much. Anyhow, less than half of this dish was eaten, but we all kept discussing it after its abandonment to try to figure out why it "tasted funny."

I would love to tell you about the Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Shrimp, because they sounded incredibly promising on the menu: garlic and herb grilled shrimp served on a fresh tomato and basil pesto, yum! Sadly, the shrimp were so overcooked that we sent them back and I referred to them as rubber bands for the rest of the night. I will say that they were plated beautifully.

The marinated artichoke hearts are nothing much to report on, I'm pretty sure they aren't done in house and hail from a can or jar of some kind. Nonetheless, they tasted good and the portion was generous.

As for the service, I was not very impressed. Perhaps I'm used to dining in D.C. and other food centers, but I do not like being rushed, nor do I want to feel as if you are trying to get me drunk so that bill will climb and I will tip you more, relax, I tip well; I've been a waitress, I know what its like. We had to repeatedly ask for silverware and when it finally arrived, so did her attitude. Also, when we ordered additional tapas she did not bring clean plates, and perhaps I have a touch of OCD, but I found that pretty gross. Furthermore we never got a refill of water, despite several requests. And like I've said in previous posts, I can deal with bad food, but I cannot handle bad service.

All in all dinner was pretty mediocre. Of the tapas ordered, only the duck and lamb were finished by us; the others remained half (or less) eaten or sent back. Although the duck and lamb chops were amazing, that is not enough to make me return, because I feel like many of the flavor profiles of the dishes have not been thought out well. If I do return, I think I'll stick to the cold tapas and spreads because they appear to be a bit more consistent than the hot tapas. Honestly, I don't feel like Gervais and Vine is a "must eat" in Columbia, but if you do choose to give it a go, I highly recommend the lamb chops, duck quarter, and crab dip.

Gervais and Vine

620-A Gervais Street

Columbia, SC 29201

(803) 799-8463
Price point: $10 and less per tapas, 2-3 tapas per person to feel satisfied.

*I learned from the Wine Coach, that if you remove the air from a bottle of wine, and place it in the fridge, you can give it a longer life.

Eatocracy is Ripe!

2010-06-18T13:42:00.003-04:00

CNN's new food blog, Eatocracy, officially launched today! But if you've been stalking the site like I have, you probably noticed the site was, for the most part, up last night. I decided to get in the spirit of things and do a quick iReport explaining my obsession with food for the launch of the freshest source for all things food.

You can check out my complete report here, hope you enjoy it!

As for the site, I'm soo excited! It seems to be what Huffington Post Food sought out to be (love you HuffPo, but your food section is a bit dry). I love the fresh, colorful look of Eatocracy, it looks delicious and its inanimate! These are a few cool tidbits that caught my eye:

I like how the site is divided into news, bite, sip, make, think..clever, huh? News obviously delivers food news, but one thing that I think sets Eatocracy above the bar is that it delivers local and international food news. As for the other sections you can find recipes, dining tips, reviews, recommendations, and other food blogs.
The Featured Blogger and Eat Like A Local sections which are designed to showcase the awesome food bloggers and regional cuisine.
For those who enjoy food porn, but need something aside from foodgawker or Tastespotting, check out Eatocracy's Lick the Screen section. You can submit your own photos by adding them to Eatocracy's Flickr pool.
The Eatcyclopedia on the left sidebar, displaying food and culinary terms for you to build your food knowledge.

These are just a few of the things that I feel sets Eatocracy apart from other food blogs hosted by a parent news organization. I think Eatocracy is well designed, organized, and best of all it offers amazing content and will only get better with time. So if you haven't yet, check it out!

I'm Not One to Brag, But....

2010-06-18T12:08:00.002-04:00

So, I woke up this morning to some pretty awesome news: I made the Foodbuzz Top 9! The Foodbuzz Top 9 is a photo-driven collection of top-buzzed posts within the Foodbuzz community and the editors deemed my scratch-made pound cake photogenic enough for the honor. Needless to say, I'm really proud of this.

The fact that Foodbuzz, a major food site, found my image awesome enough to make the top 9 among all users, brings me to the subject of the food photography and the food porn gods, you know...foodgawker and Tastespotting. I have yet to get a single photo of my food on either site. My normal feedback explaining rejection is "Lighting/Underexposed" or "Food Composition," both of which I consider to be unhelpful, generic, and in many cases flat out untrue. I guess I should be thankful, because Tastespotting offers no feedback at all, womp womp.

I used to be hard on myself and re-examine submitted photos looking for technical errors and room for improvement, but given the fact that others enjoy my food photography and that I've made noted technical improvement in my photography (lighting, exposure, focus, composition), I (along with Steven, non-foodie boyfriend) have concluded that I do not take photos for the style of these sites. I don't shoot in a light box or a totally sterile environment; I refuse to make food look fake, er...I mean appetizing, in photoshop or picnik; and I don't position 18 spotlights on food to make everything overexposed and too white as if it descended from heaven, or...well you get the point, before I enter a full blown rant. Basically, I feel like these sites accept images that are stylistically similar, not necessarily a good, clear, or well composed shot of a dish.

My food photography style is simple: shoot the food and tell the story. I want to create emotion, I think food starts looking creepy when its too heavily edited, and I don't want an empty or sterile background because food is not just a pretty plate to me; its love, culture, family, friends, and good times. This is not to say I will not continue to submit to the mentioned sites, it just means I'm not going to be depressed when I get declines. Instead, I'll just chalk it up to my image not being overly edited or conforming to/fitting in with the layout of the site.

So hooray for my Foodbuzz accomplishment! And pardon my brief rant, I just had to get it out and I'm sure many others share my frustration.

It's Still Good to Eat!

2010-06-17T15:44:00.001-04:00

Image Credit

I'm well aware (and very sorry) that my site looks a hot mess! I'm in the process of rearranging some things and rewriting code so that I can bring you the best recipes, reviews, and other food news. So still, please, poke around...just pardon my mess.

xoxo,

Kashia

We Share Everything in the South, Including Fried Chicken

2010-06-17T11:53:00.004-04:00

So, I'm not sure if you've checked out the June issue of Bon Appetit, but there is an article that lists restaurants serving the best fried chicken in America. To my surprise, dismay, and shame none of the places hail from the south. Pardon me? Fried chicken is quintessentially southern. Fueled by this article and inexplicable burst of southern pride, I set out on a mission to disprove Bon Appetit and make some awesome fried chicken.

Before I get into recipes, prep, tips and tricks, let me explain what exactly makes amazing, lick your fingers, pass the hot sauce, fried chicken. Great fried chicken has moist and flavorful meat, crispy and crunchy skin, and should not under any circumstance be greasy. In order to meet these demands, thoughtful seasoning, hot oil, and proper draining is key. Why? Seasoning is obvious, but often people season the skin and not the skin and the meat, so make sure you give it a little love. To add, if you attempt to fry in oil that isn't quite hot enough you will end up with a soggy, greasy mess and the batter will disintegrate. And if your oil was hot enough, but you drain the chicken improperly, it will also lead to soggy fowl.

Okay, with that cleared up let me explain the steps necessary for perfect fried chicken. Soak the chicken in a salt water bath for about 20 minutes, this helps draw some of the blood out of the chicken so that when you cook it, its not oozy and gross. After the salt water soak, marinate the chicken in a buttermilk brine for 8 hours. The brine helps impart flavor on the chicken Imeat and skin) as well as add to its moisture, this will come in handy when you start frying.

After the chicken has soaked in the brine, its almost time to fry, but you still need seasoned flour and an egg dredge. Pour 4-6 cups of flour in a large bowl and season it as you like. After whisking the seasonings together, take about half of your flour mixture and put it in a large ziploc bag, keep the other half in the mixing bowl. In another large bowl, beat half a dozen eggs (more or less depending on the quantity of chicken) to make your egg dredge. See where I'm going with this? This is also a good time to start heating up your oil (vegetable or peanut). I like frying chicken in an electric skillet set at 350 degrees, but really any pan deep enough to hold an inch or two of oil will do.

Okay, now that all of the prep is done remove the chicken from the brine and pat it dry. Take a piece of chicken, dip it into the flour in the bowl, then the egg mix, and finally in the ziploc bag and shake. Now place the battered chicken into hot oil and fry until golden brown on both sides, and done all the way through. I usually poke the chicken when I think its done and check for clear juices. Once cooked thorougly, remove the chicken from the oil and place it on paper towels for draining. I drain my chicken on a cookie sheet, lined with paper towels so that the chicken on the bottom does not get soggy from chicken draining on it from the top.

Although fried chicken is tasty, its not a meal on its own. So I whipped up some bacon cheddar biscuits and a cucumber salad. As far as the biscuits are concerned, use any biscuit recipe that you'd like, and add an additional tablespoon of baking powder, 2/3 cups of shredded cheddar cheese, and 5 strips of cooked bacon to the dough. The salad is even more simple. Just cut up the cucumbers, tomatoes, purple and green onions and add 1 cup of white distiled vinegar, half a cup of olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Voila, you have an awesome summer meal:

Hopefully, I've gotten everyone (including those above the Mason Dixon line) excited about delicious fried chicken and all recipes used for this meal are at the bottom of this post. Although it seems like a heavy dish, you can lighten it up by pairing the fried chicken with a salad, like I did. Or, for the full experience have some mac and cheese...and a pair of elastic pants. Anyhow, I feel like I've vindicated the region, take that Bon Appetit!

Summer Fried Chicken Dinner

Fried Chicken:

Brine:
1 32 ounce container of buttermilk
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon paprika, pepper
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
3/4 teaspoon meat tenderizer
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
1/4 teaspoon, ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and wisk until honey and salt are dissolved

Flour:
5 cups of flour
4 tablespoons seasoned salt
2 tablespoons granulated garlic

Whisk ingredients together to ensure they are all combined

Egg Dip:
6 eggs
1/4 teaspoons of salt and peper
1/4 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Whisk all ingredients together, as if making scrambled eggs

Bacon Cheddar Biscuits:

2 cups self-rising flour
3 tsp. baking powder
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
5 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled

Whisk (or sift) flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Cut in shortening or butter, I use my hands for this. Add milk gradually, stirring with hands until a soft dough is formed. Mix in bacon and cheese. Turn out on slightly floured board and lightly "knead" for 30 seconds, enough to shape. Roll dough to be 1/2 inch thick and cut with 2 inch floured biscuit cutter (or use a lid, coffee mug, or other round object). Bake on lightly greased sheet in a 400 degree oven for 12-15 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Brush with melted butter while biscuits cool.

Cucumber Salad:

6 sprigs of spring onion, sliced
5 small tomatoes, quartered then sliced
4 cucumbers, halved, seeds scooped, and sliced

3/4 of a purple onion, chopped
1 cup distilled vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and chill before serving.

My first cake...from scratch!

2010-06-16T02:03:00.002-04:00

So, I'm at my parents' house for a visit and they have tons of food demands given my blog. I decided to wow them and make a pound cake with a summer fruit compote. Pound cake because its something familiar to them, the summer compote because the strawberries, blueberries, and mangoes look great this time of year!

Before I go any farther, let me explain: I run from baking from scratch, it frightens me...in fact, I've never baked from scratch. I've always viewed it as time consuming, delicate, finicky, and daunting so I'd much rather pull out my saute pan over a cake pan.

Oh, another reason I run from baking is my lack of a snappy stand mixer, so this was a test: can a hand mixer and a lot of hope do the job? Despite all of my fears, I'm on a mission to build my "from scratch" baking skills, and I figured a pound cake was a great, simple starting point that could either boost my confidence or damn me to cake mix for the rest of my life. I ended up choosing Paula Deen's Southwest Georgia pound cake recipe because it seemed to be straight forward, yet traditional.

Before doing anything, I pre-measured and prepped all of the ingredients, its a little tip I learned from Jen, my roommate's friend and the author of How To: Simplify. I also put the eggs and butter on the counter to heat up to room temperature, a tip that I saw on another blog. After I got the cast of characters ready, I sifted my flour then measured it and whisked in the salt and the baking powder. Now, it was really time to get started.

I poured the sugar into a large bowl and added the butter. I cut the butter into little pats so that it would be easier to cream. Using my hand mixer, I blended the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Then I started adding the flour and heavy cream in, alternating between the two, starting and ending with flour. I'm not going to lie, this got annoying with a hand mixer because I had to stop to pour the wet and dry ingredients. I think this was the only time in the process that I wished I had a stand mixer...Nonetheless, it got done and this is what my cake batter looked like once all in the pan, I'd also like to note that this is my grandmother's bake pan circa the 1950s!:

I have to admit, I was pretty impressed. My batter actually looked legitmate, and into the oven it went for over an hour! In the meantime, I got started on my summer fruit compote.

Compotes are wicked easy to prepare and can make you look like a fancy pants cook in a heartbeat. I used strawberries, blueberries, and a mango but you can use any fruit you like. The point of a compote is to combine water, juice, liquer, or all of the above with a bit of sugar and fruit (or more) until it cooks down and thickens. Compotes taste great alone, over ice cream, or in this case...over pound cake. The recipe for my summer fruit compote is at the end of this post and is tempting you in the photo below.

A few things to keep in mind if you end up making my compote:

I quartered my strawberries and added the mangoes in the last 10 minutes of cooking because I didn't want them to become unrecognizable mush

I peeled the mango over the bowl of fruit so that the mango juice would drip in and mingle with the berries. I also used the back of my knife to scrape the mango after I diced it, which gets even more juice out of it.

While the compote simmered, the cake finished baking so I took it out to cool. Just look at it:

I was pleasantly surprised. My cake rose and everything! I thought to myself, this is how they make cakes from flour. I finally decided to flip the cake and then disaster struck...my cake stuck. When I attempted to pry, it began to break. After it broke, it finally emancipated itself from the pan...this is a bakers nightmare.

Despite being a broken little cake, it still needed a glaze! I made a really simple one like the one my grandma used to make composed of confectioner's (powdered) sugar, unsalted butter, and milk.

See, look how sexy my cake looks with glaze, it kind of makes you forget it fell apart?

My first baking from scratch experience wasn't all bad, but I definitely made some mental notes of things to do next time:

I will preheat my oven next time, regardless of the directions. I thought the top of my cake was a bit too brown...
Apparently its key to invert the cake after 15 minutes, according to my best friend (whose mother bakes a ton) thats probably why my cake disintergrated because I did grease the pan!
I felt that the pound cake recipe was way too sweet! Next time I will reduce the sugar.
My glaze needs a bit more butter. My grandma did it by using a splash of this and a bit of that. My measured version is good, but its not quite hers :) Perhaps its because I used unsalted butter?
Baking isn't that scary! Of all the things that could have gone wrong, I think I emerged relatively unscathed with just the cake breaking.

After all the simmering, whisking, stirring, and baking, this was my final product:

All and all, I'm happy with my first baking experience! It definitely made baking less intimidating and it proves that a $300 stand mixer makes you no more, or no less of a baker. Hopefully you've gotten a good laugh over my trial, and if you're interested, the recipes for the summer fruit compote and cake glaze are below. Happy baking!

Summer Fruit Compote:
Yield: 1.5-2 cups

Ingredients:

1 ripe mango, diced
1 pint of fresh blueberries
1 package of fresh strawberries, stems removed and flesh quartered
Juice and zest of one lime and one lemon.
2 1/4 cups of water
1/2 cup sugar (or more/less to taste)
1 tablespoon of flour, for thickening

Directions:

Bring the water and sugar to a boil and stir until all sugar is dissolved. Add the juice and zest from the lemon and the lime. Introduce the fruit to the simple syrup except for the mango. Turn heat down to a simmer/low boil for 40 minutes. Depending on the thickness of the compote add up to 1 tablespoon of flour to the liquid for thickening. Add the mango and let simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Serve warm over cake or ice cream.

Simple Glaze
Yield: enough to ice a standard bundt cake

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups of powdered sugar
3 tablespoons of milk
4 tablespoons of butter
splash of vanilla

Directions:

Melt butter in a saucepan and once melted, remove from heat. Add powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Return to low heat, continue to whisk, and add a splash of vanilla. Stir mixture to incorporate vanilla and pour over warm cake.

Grown Folks Lemonade

2010-06-13T15:16:00.001-04:00

As a little girl in the south, I often heard that some things are for "grown folks" aka adults and this logic even extended to food and drink. This means that tiny Kashia and her tiny fro were banned from eating such "grown folks" food such as oysters and mountain fries and I would not even dare to ask for a sip of mint juleps or homemade beer as they were "grown folks" drinks. But often, my grandmother would sneak them all to me under the condition that I wouldn't tell, perhaps she's the one that made me a foodie?

Anyhow, in honor of my grandmother and her ability to undermine my parents, comfort me with her southern drawl, and teach me the joy of sweet tea and lemonade on hot summer days, I decided to make a pitcher of "grown folks" lemonade for this Carolina heat. This is the perfect drink for a summer picnic and its incredibly easy to make.

Ingredients:

Lemonade* (either store bought or homemade)
Firefly sweet tea vodka**
Lots of ice, preferably crushed

For each glass 6 ounce glass of lemonade, I added 2 ounces of vodka, but you can add more or less if you'd like. Sweet tea vodka is dangerous because it tastes just like sweet tea, so please drink responsibly.

So go ahead, assuming your grown, and have a cup of this lemonade to get you through the summer heat. You can add the vodka to the pitcher, but I prefer doing it on a glass by glass basis because it makes for a pretty presentation.

*I enjoy making homemade-ish lemonade, its the Southern in me. I use Real Lemon concentrate and water. Its about a 1:3 or 1:4 ratio of lemon juice to water depending on how tart you like the lemonade. Then I sweeten to taste. Although its lemonade, I often toss in other cut citrus fruits like oranges and limes and sometimes I even add strawberries and mangoes to spice up the party.

**I discovered Firefly while attending the College of Charleston and I just love supporting them and other local businesses despite not living there anymore. Luckily, I'm pretty sure their vodkas are available nationwide now so go grab a bottle!

Breakfast in a Cup

2010-06-12T16:20:00.003-04:00

No, I'm not talking about a smoothie. I'm sure you've all seen these adorable little bacon and egg cups around on food blogs. The concept is simple: take a slice of bacon, line the sides of a muffin tin with it, fill with an egg, bake, and ta-da! breakfast! It's what I like to call a real muffin, and the minute I saw them I thought: I have to try these! Although easy and cute, I wasn't satisfied with the recipe and had to up the antty during my trial. I made two brunch cups, one more aligned with the original concept and one made up by me.

With respect to the original, I decided to make a base composed of honey wheat toast. To do this, I grabbed a slice of bread and cut two rounds from it using a cookie cutter. I stacked the rounds on top of one another and placed them in the pan. I then took the bacon and lined the tin with it and delicately placed one egg in the middle.

For my second breakfast cup, I decided to make my own creation which I call the Farmer's Breakfast. I used shredded hashbrowns for the base (you can find these in the refrigerated section near the butter or make your own by shredding a fresh potato), placed a bit of shredded sharp white cheddar cheese on top of that, lined the tin with bacon, and topped the whole thing with a beaten egg.

Now that you know what I put in them, let me tell you how to prep and bake them. First cook the bacon of your choice (I use Wrights Applewood Smoked) until its about half done. Then, take a muffin tin and brush the insides with butter or a bit of the bacon drippings. Now, take your bacon and line the ring with it, don't worry if its not a perfect circle because your base and the egg will help things along. Next, place your base (be it hashbrowns, bread, or something else) in the center of the tin and use a toothpick to "seal" the bacon and make it a bit more round. Finally, place your egg on top. Warning: If using a beaten egg, pour slowly to give it time to fill the cracks between the food in the tin. I learned this the hard way, note the bits of spillage...

Pop your cups in the oven at 400 for about 20 minutes, or until eggs and bacon are done to your desired doneness. Oh, don't forget to remove those toothpicks! Here was my end product, the Farmer's Breakfast is the one up front.

As far as taste was concerned, I enjoyed mine much more than the original because:

I do not like sunny side up or runny eggs, in fact I only eat the yolk if its scrambled
The sharp cheddar cheese added a nice bite and complemented the hashbrowns
The hasbrown base was yummy and crunchy and was a nice contrast to the soft scrambled eggs mixed throughout
The scrambled eggs made it look more like a muffin, so visually, I found it more appealing

Basically, the Farmer's Breakfast is like a full breakfast, in a cup! This is not to say that the original version tastes bad, I just preferred my creation for the above reasons. So from now on when making this, I will be making the Farmer's Breakfast.

All in all, the whole egg in a cup thing was a success! I recommend making these for brunch, breakfasts in bed, or potlucks because they're pretty quick and easy to put together, plus you most likely have the ingredients on hand. Furthermore, there is plenty of room to be creative by adding in veggies, cheese, bread, or swapping bacon for something like ham. So regardless of whether you make mine, the original, or your own special remix I think that everyone needs to have their breakfast in cup at least once!

Pomme Frites, Papas Fritas, Fried Potato Awesomeness...

2010-06-11T12:14:00.001-04:00

No matter what you call them, french fries rock. And guess what, they're even better when you make them yourself. Its super easy, and I'm going to show you how to make the perfect potato at home.
Last night, we had steak sandwiches for dinner (I'll discuss them in another post, promise) and I decided to make homemade french fries to round out the meal. I opted for homemade over store bought for two reasons. First, Steven and I live in a teensy apartment that has a tiny freezer, so real estate in there is expensive and we buy only items that will be consumed quickly; in other words, we don't have space to give to a bag of fries that will be eaten slowly by the two of us. Secondly, I embrace any opportunity to cook with fresh over processed ingredients!

With two potatoes, a peeler, large sharp knife, cutting board, and a dream I got started. I peeled my potatoes, but you can leave the skin on if you like...just be sure to scrub, not rinse, the potatoes, remember they grow in the ground so they are dirty. Also, cut out any green parts of the potato because they can make you sick, even after frying. After peeling, I sliced the taters into ovals using a sharp knife, but this is a great job for a mandoline slicer to ensure even slices (in fact, I'm sure most of them have a french fry attachment!).

Once sliced into ovals, I cut them into the classic french fry shape that we all love. Here's how I do it. I cut one of the ovals in half, and then stack the two halves and cut it into thirds. This gets a pretty nice sized fry that is thin enough to cook quickly, but not wimpy either.

In the meantime your oil should be preheating. I used vegetable oil last night, but in the future I plan to try peanut oil for a Five Guys feel. If using a fryer, set it to 375 and wait for the ready light to cue you to fry. If you don't have a fryer, just grab a pot and fill it about half way with oil. Using a pot is a bit more tricky unless you have a thermometer to tell you the temperature of the oil. One trick my grandma taught me was to take a wooden spoon and dip the handle into the pot. If bubbles start forming around the wood, the oil is ready; if not stay patient. Whether you're using a fryer or an old school pot, give your oil a chance to be hot otherwise you'll have greasy, raw fries on your hands.

After cutting the potatoes into french fries, I patted them dry before putting them into the fry basket. Why? Because dry things crisp, wet things sog (yes, I just derived a verb from the adjective "soggy," don't judge). I also was sure to fry in small batches. You'll notice that as they start to brown, they float to the top; this means they are almost done. When they have a nice brown color, take them out and let them drain. I use a cookie sheet with paper towels for this so that I can spread the fries out and salt them.

Okay, you think you're done, right? All of your batches of fries are cooked, drained, and salted? Guess what, gather them all up and dump them in the fryer one more time, yes re-fry them. This makes them super crisp! Then, add a sprinkle of kosher salt on them while they are still hot. Now, they are ready to be eaten.

Here was the end product:

Being a southern girl, I enjoyed these with a bit of malt vinegar; Steven prefers ketchup. Regardless of what you dip them in, these fries are super yummy and free of any weird preservatives that are usually in frozen fries. So see, french fries are easy to make! Plus, think of all the space you can save in your freezer by keeping a few potatoes on hand!

Just Another Pretty Plate

2010-06-10T00:38:00.003-04:00

Sadly, my dinner from a few nights ago was nothing but a pretty plate.* The ingredients make your mouth water and the plate makes you want to dig in, but once your fork hits your mouth you are filled with emptiness, disappointment, and an unsatisfied hunger for more flavor.

This all began when I noticed a recipe in an issue of Martha Stewart Living written by Barilla (you know, the pasta people) for bowtie (farfalle) pasta, and I wanted to give it a shot because it has a pretty short, basic ingredient list and boasts a simple preparation.

Ingredients:

1 box Barilla Farfalle
2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 small white onion
6 ounces Prosciutto
1 1/2 cups green peas
1/2 cup dry white wine, heavy cream, and Parmesan cheese
2 cups Half and Half
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation:

Cook Farfalle according to instructions on box. In the meantime, saute onion in olive oil for 5 minutes on medium heat; Add prosciutto and peas to onion, saute for 3 minutes; Add white wine, simmer until mixture has reduced by half; Stir in half and half, heavy cream, season with salt and pepper for 1-2 minutes; Drain pasta, then toss in the sauce; Sir in Parmesan cheese prior to serving.

Sounds simple enough right? In addition to sounding simple it also sounds delicious too, huh? Yes, that was my logic as well so I was eager to start cooking, of course with a few modifications:

I halved the entire recipe as I was only cooking for my boyfriend and myself
I used 2 cloves of elephant ear garlic in lieu of a white onion because I realized (at dinner prep time) that I didn't have one and I refused to go the store
I added fresh cut asparagus and tomatoes for color and nutrition

With all of that said, I started cooking and everything was looking good... until I added the dairy products. Despite cooking on a low heat (to avoid milk curdling) the dairy was attracted to the prosciutto and formed these weird little milk balls on it. This irritated me, but I kept stirring and it got better, although it was not the creamy wine sauce that I envisioned.

I figured this was also a good time to taste the sauce, and I was hoping it tasted better than it looked. Sadly, I was wrong. This was the most bland cream sauce I'd ever tasted! I made numerous resuscitation attempts through the addition of butter, cream, kosher salt, cracked pepper, parsley, and an a bit of nutmeg and finally reached a point where it was at least okay. To top off this culinary crisis I was concerned that this was not enough sauce to coat the pasta, a fear confirmed when I tossed the drained pasta into the pan. Despite all of this I held out hope that the Parmasean cheese would be the glue to bring all of this together. Sadly it wasn't, so I added a bit more cream to thicken the sauce, and braced myself for a subpar dinner.

With little bowties staring back at us, Steven (non-foodie boyfriend) and I sat down for dinner. He began sniffing the bowl, and tasting each component; I bravely took my first bite. I tasted more cheese than anything as the cream sauce hid the complex notes of the prosciutto and freshness of the vegetables. We were both disappointed and hungry, but refusing to eat anymore of this pasta, so I made cookies to fill the void. With all of that said, this recipe was a big womp, womp.

Perhaps this is all my fault because I halved the recipe, maybe Barilla let me down, or was this a combination of errors committed by both parties? Regardless of who is at fault, I know that I will not be making this again. I plan on using the remaining portion of pasta for a nice salad or pesto pasta.

*I know you're thinking "why the heck is she writing a review about a bad recipe?" To answer that query, I think its important that bloggers also mention what goes wrong in the kitchen as that's how we learn from our culinary mistakes and show that we are human. Plus, despite being published all recipes are not yummy so the bad ones need to be discussed too.

Make Mall Cookies, At Home

2010-06-09T12:46:00.001-04:00

Every time I go to the mall I end up buying an overpriced, delicious cookie from the Toll House* or Mrs. Fields kiosk. But why? Why do I pay a bit over two dollars for a cookie? I'll tell you why: First, I have a super sweet tooth, its out of control, I put small children to shame. Secondly, and most importantly, cookies from these establishments are perfectly cooked, not too chewy and not to crisp, plus they are an even round shape. Well guys, its a recession so I'm going to give you a few tips to recreate mall cookies at home. These are tips that you can use whether you are baking with premade cookie dough (I'm not judging) or homemade batter.

Step 1: Preheat the oven. No, really, preheat the oven. Don't just toss them in a cold oven or think that because the oven has been on for 5 minutes that its preheated. If you're fortunate enough to have a "oven preheated" or "preheat cycle" light on your oven obey it, if not let the oven get going for at least 10 to 15 minutes. A cold oven can lead to lopsided, dry, burnt, or all of the above cookies. Not a good look...or snack.

Step 2: Before dolloping your dough, spray the sheet, even if it says not to. I do this because it gives me the guarantee that it will not stick to the cookie sheet.

Step 3: Use an ice cream scoop to make nice uniform balls. This ensures an even cook time, as well as more visually appealing cookies.

Step 4: Bake for the minimum amount of time because they continue to cook after you take them out because of the residual heat of the cookie sheet, this a tip I learned while working at a bakery in Charleston. For example, if the directions say to bake for 9 to 11 minutes, I check at 9 and take them out if the center is set. If it is, I take my cookies out, if not I check them again at 10 minutes, and so forth.

Step 5: Do the cookie drop! This is the secret to perfectly round and sexy cookies. Here's what you do. Once you take out your sheet pan of cookies, literally drop it on the stove top or counter (assuming your countertop is something that won't melt, like granite)

You'll notice that the bubble that formed during baking has now leveled out with the rest of the cookie, see this is already shaping up to be a mall cookie.

Step 6: Let cookies set for a bit, then transfer onto a cooling rack to stop the cooking process. If you leave them on the pan the bottoms will burn because of residual heat.

Step 7: Serve with milk (or in my case juice because I'm lactose intolerant) and enjoy!

Now you can have a mall cookie, anytime. These made for a great midnight snack yesturday!

*Tollhouse Cookie Store Photo, Image Credit

Winner, Winner, Brand New Blender!

2010-06-08T18:23:00.000-04:00

Check out this video to see if you won the Hamilton Personal Blender! I used random.org to select the winner.

Hamilton Blender Giveaway from kashiad on Vimeo.

Want to know when I'll have another giveaway? Subscribe to Fro and a Fork and follow me on twitter (@Froandfork) for the latest news. Got an idea? Let me know via twitter or at froandafork [at] gmail [dot] com. Thanks for reading, and keep on eating!

This is also my first vlog entry, so be kind to the choppy editing and awkward moments. xoxo

Salsa for Salsa!

2010-06-08T00:38:00.001-04:00

The Whole foods Market in Cary, NC is hosting a wonderful Salsa, for ¡Salsa! Contest. Here's how it works, people submit their salsa recipes via twitter and the winner will win two tickets to see a North Carolina Symphony Orchestra performance featuring Grammy nominated, Cuban Jazz Ensemble Tiempo Libre. Given my poverty, desire to go to this concert, and abundance of food and creativity, I decided to give this a go.

I brainstormed all weekend and created two salsas, one savory and one sweet. I figure even if I don't win I'm going to the beach this weekend and they will make a nice fresh snack.

Here are my creations, a mango-jicama salsa and a salsa con queso, you can find the recipes at the end of this post.

To top things off, I made flour tortilla chips for both since I'm allergic to processed corn...so no corn chips for me.

To make these, all you do is cut flour tortillas into eighths, then fry them until they are golden brown on both sides. You can use a pan filled with hot oil to do this, but luckily I'm fortunate enough to have a fryer thanks to my boyfriend's mom. If you, like me have a fryer, heat your oil to 350 and fry in small batches so that they don't stick together. No matter what hot oil is key, don't get impatient...that will lead to a greasy, hot, soggy mess. When the chips are puffy and brown, remove them from the oil and drain your chips on paper towels, let them cool, and enjoy. Feel free to salt or sugar them, depending on your salsa and personal taste.

Don't get me wrong, I hope I win, but this was a lot of fun to do! Plus, I'm happy to have flour tortilla chips since I can never find them in the store. Hope you enjoy my recipes!

Summertime Salsas by Fro and a Fork

Salsa con Queso:
makes about 3 cups of salsa
3 medium vine ripened tomatoes
3 small heirloom tomatoes (2 orange, 1 red)
1 small tomatillo
3/4 of one medium purple onion
2 cloves of elephant ear garlic (or use 4 cloves of normal garlic)
1 jalepeno and 1 serrano pepper, membranes removed (membranes in tact if you like more heat)
1 tablespoon of kosher salt (or to taste)
3/4 cup of crumbled queso fresco
The juice of 2-3 limes

Mango-Jicama Salsa
makes about 1.5-2 cups of salsa

4 Ripe Mangoes
1/4 cup of diced Jicama
8 large (roughly 1 quart) strawberries
3 minced Mint Leaves
The juice of one lemon or a couple of teaspoons of lemon Juice
1 teaspoon of sugar (or to taste)

Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Chips
Place a cinnamon sugar mixture in a quart sized bag. I used a 10:1 ratio of sugar to cinnamon. Toss in the fried flour tortillas, shake, enjoy!

My first meal from a cookbook!

2010-06-07T13:35:00.002-04:00

About a year ago, I purchased my first cookbook: Kitchen: The Best of the Best by Michele Cranston. I fell in love with this book because it covers all things food, A-Z. I also like this book because it divides foods and recipes into seasons, as well as meals so you can find that perfect stew for the winter and refreshing gazpacho in the summer in a matter of seconds without even using the index. Another thing that I like about this book is that it makes "scary" culinary things such as baking and highly technical cooking less intimidating. I encourage all home cooks to purchase this book!

Although I fawned over this book in the store and purchased it, it has collected dust for almost a year. I blame part of this on my disdain for following recipes, I blame the other part on a full-time graduate load. Given my new found blog and excess free time, I've decided to pull it out and start cooking from it! Last night, I decided to try out the Spiced Pork recipe.

For those who don't own the book, the ingredient list and recipe is as follows:

2 tablespoons soy sauce and mirin
1 tablespoon sesame oil, freshly grated ginger, and brown sugar
2 cloves of chopped garlic
1 teaspoon of Chinese five-spice
4 star anise
2 small pork fillets

Mix all of the above ingredients to make the marinade, make sure everything has dissolved. Once your marinade is done add the chops and let it marinate in a ziploc bag for at least an hour in the fridge. For cooking, all you do is sear the pork in a pan on both sides (add a bit of olive oil to prevent sticking), transfer the meat to a baking dish, and put it in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes, or until thoroughly cooked. While the chops cook in the oven, pour the marinade into the same pan you used to sear the chops and bring it to a boil for 3 minutes. After the boil, turn it down and let it simmer. Here was my final product:

As usual, I did have a few modifications to the recipe, they are as follows:

I doubled the recipe for each ingredient since I made 4 chops
Instead of five spice I used all spice and I omitted the star anise altogether because I couldn't find these items at the store

For sides, we had steamed white rice and a bok choy and broccoli mix. I'll cover the veggies first. I cooked the marinade as instructed in the recipe but instead of using it as a sauce for the meat, I tossed the cooked vegetables in it. I used one chopped baby bok choy and about a cup of broccoli which made two servings.

The rice is pretty straight forward, but here is an important tip and trick that I learned from my non-foodie boyfriend, with respect to rice as he is a Puerto Rican that was primarily raised in Hawaii...which means the man knows his rice. You must wash your rice! Yes, wash your rice because it will be fluffier and taste better. Take a bowl of cool water, measure the rice in it, stir it around with your hands. The water will turn a funky grey color, this is dirt and debris that you would have eaten. Gross. Repeat this process until the water is clear, then cook as normal. Also, one thing that I like to do when making Asian themed food, is drizzle a bit of sesame oil on the rice when its done cooking, then I fluff. This adds a bit of complexity to plain old rice.

I enjoyed the pork, it was juicy and tender and had a great flavor. For me the most pronounced flavors were the garlic and the all spice, so if you follow the original recipe it seems the Chinese five spice will shine. As far as using the sauce on veggies instead of meat, I think that depends on your palate. I was not a big fan of this because the spices added a weird texture to the veggies. My boyfriend, the veggie hater, however loved the sauce on the veggies. I think this may have been the first time that my plate still had vegetables, and his was clean.

All in all, this was a simple and quick recipe which motivates and encourages me to keep cooking from this book!

Win a Chance to Be Cool, All Summer Long!

2010-06-06T00:21:00.001-04:00

It's hot outside, what better way to cool down and maintain the figure than whipping up a nice smoothie? For those who have not jumped on board, I'm giving away a Hamilton personal blender.

Image Credit, and a Recipe!

This blender is awesome because it solves the "Oh Crap, I made way too much smoothie" problem. All you have to do to enter is respond in the comment field of the original post with your favorite smoothie recipe.

Already entered but you want additional entries? Or entering for the first time and you want to stock up on luck? Well, you've got two options:

Follow me on twitter! Once you start following me, just let me know your twitter ID in the comment field, and you will be entered again.
Subscribe to the RSS feed of Fro and a Fork, and I'll throw you in twice.

Winners will be chosen via random.org and notified via Fro and a Fork on Tuesday, June 6th by 12 noon EST. Remember, the contest ends tomorrow, Monday June 5th at 11:59 EST! So please enter for your chance to win this awesome product!

Rubbed the Wrong Way

2010-06-04T15:34:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago I strolled into Williams Sonoma and they were demo-ing a Chili-Lime rub. In the store, the rub was placed on a chicken breast, cooked in a grill pan, and served on a panini. It tasted fresh, herb-y, zesty, and had a touch of heat and I had a vision of using this on shrimp or salmon, because I love seafood. I grabbed a can of the mixture and put it away, waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it this summer.

Last night I finally broke out my can o' spice and decided to use it on shrimp kabobs. I skewered shrimp, tomatoes, cucumbers, and purple onions onto my wooden sticks and rubbed the spice mixture on the kabob. I then brushed the kabobs with melted butter for additional flavor and to prevent sticking. Just as in the store, I broke out the grill pan for cooking.

I started growing concerned because the rub was burning despite medium heat, butter on the shrimp, and a PAM sprayed pan. I turned the heat down a bit and brushed more butter on the shrimp; this helped but did not eliminate the problem. It also smelled spicy, I was officially panicked about dinner.

I served the kabobs with asparagus and corn on the cob which made for a pretty plate. I was happy with my veggies, I mean you can't really mess those up, but upon tasting the kabobs, the rub as way spicier than I remember it tasting in the store! Adding insult to injury, there was little evidence of other spices...only to salt and chili pepper. All was not lost, to my credit, the overspiced shrimp were at least cooked perfectly...

I just don't think this rub is meant for seafood despite its label recommending such, it overpowered the shrimp. I think I will try it again, but stick to steak, pork, or chicken. Also, I might use less next time and try to tone it down with other spices from my arsenal.

Final Verdict: Buy it if you like spicy or if you plan to use it on thicker cuts of meat. Skip it if you hate spicy or plan to use it on seafood.