Life: So, yeah...food!

I realize I haven't done a great job of keeping you posted about life or food via my blog. Twitter is my new favorite tool for annoying updates about myself and you can find me @kristamaesmith.

But I do have a few things, I would like to share with you.

First in food.

April 5 is officially Cafe Rio Day in Utah. So thank Governor Gary Herbert for giving you a reason to sit down with chips, salsa, guacomole, relleno and margaritas today. Or is that just me?

Meditirina was kind of a let down last time I was there. The house made sangria was delicious and the patas bravas were as delicious as I remembered. However the Drunken Oreos were soaked, not dipped, in port wine, not a reduction sauce. All in all, Manfriend and I still had a good experience, but I think I'll stick with my own Drunken Oreos in the future.

And I'm on a mission to steal the bruschetta recipe from the Meditirina kitchen as well. Balsamic and tarragon soaked strawberries with chevre cheese on top of crisp, buttery bread. Mmmm....so good!

In the past two months Millies and the Soup Kitchen have been mainly responsible for keeping my grease quota. But I've blogged enough about them for you to know how much I love burgers and onion rings from both of these great Sugar House icons.

Second in life...

I'll be graduating May 29 at 1 p.m.-ish at the E Center in West Valley, UT. If you like me enough to read my blog, you are invited. Of course, leading up to that I'll be in a panic about finishing my senior project, writing a research paper, writing a film theory paper, editing the paper and writing a column. So in advance, I'm thanking you for your patience. (Especially, Manfriend!)

I'm in the middle of my application to teach in Taiwan, but I feel good about getting it done on time. Next weekend, I should be able to get the video done. Once I have my passport, I will be elligible to begin training.

Otherwise things are pretty normal. The St. Patrick's day party was fun. We played "Apples to Apples' for forever. Long enough anyway for me to leave and talk with Harry. The sidecars were awesome! The combination of one part cognac to three parts lemon juice is so good! I love the sour tanginess of it.

I'm looking forward to trying an old school daquiri with rum and lime juice, next.

The potatoe skins were pretty good. I completely forgot to add any butter. Luckily, no one seemed to notice. I think they were distracted by the bacon. Or the booze, whatever.

Finally I tested out the Black Magic Chocolate cake recipe Amber recommended. My version didn't come out quite as good. I think because I did a buttercream frosting instead of cream cheese frosting. So next time, Sis, my chocolate will beat up your chocolate. Or at least, taste as good. The cake was easy to bak and did well divided up into a dozen cupcakes and a 9" square cake pan.

The next shindig I'm putting on will be the Mad Men cocktail party. So get out your cocktail wear and tell me your favorite classic cocktail. We'll be partying Don Draper style following my graduation.

I know, you're excited. I am.

Food: The most diverse cookie. Ever.

I decided to try out an old family recipe. I like to call these cookies "Uncle Richard's cookies." But after some googling, I realized these powdered sugar cookies are also called Ukrainian, Mexican and German wedding cookies. Since these cookies are butter rolled in powdered sugar so I'll just call them delicious.

Powdered Sugar Cookies

1 C. soft butter

3/4 C. powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. lemon liqueur

2 C. flour

1/2 C. chopped pecans

1 lemon, zested

1-2 C. powdered sugar for rolling

Cream the butter and gradually add powdered sugar. I used a whisk because I don't have a mixer, but I think a rubber spatula would work better.

Next add the vanilla and lemon liqueur, cream well.

Now, gradually add in the flour, nuts and zest from one lemon. At this point, I switched to mixing with my hands. I used closer to 1 and 3/4 cups of flour than the 2 cups called for, so add the flour slowly and stop when the dough is smooth and crumbly.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Shape the dough into 1" to 1 and 1/2" balls. I made mine a little bigger--maybe 2" in diameter.

Place the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake the cookies at 300 degrees for 35 minutes. The bottoms will be light brown, but the tops will still be white. My cookies took closer to 30 minutes and because I sprayed some water into the stove to create steam the cookies came out a little darker brown in color.

Take the cookies out of the oven. Put one to two cups powdered sugar in a large shallow dish. (I used a pie pan.)

Now roll the cookies in the powdered sugar and place on a serving platter. Let cool.

Enjoy your sugar and butter love! I know I did.

Food Recipe: Congee, again!

So I tried to be inventive and figure out how to make this dish on my own. Unfortunately, I should really stick with making traditional American/Italian comfort cuisine. Sometimes I can handle a taco, but you know anything else just throws me.

This picture is not what my congee looked like. It was much more gloppy and less overall appealing. I put 13 cups of water with one cup of rice vinegar into the 50s rice maker with two cups of medium grain rice. This was a bad idea. About four-fifths the way into the rice cooking, I realized I should've left the lid half off so the water could actually cook down.

The next bad idea was trying to recreate the century egg from Bay Leaf Cafe. I went ahead and steeped three bags of green tea into a pot of hot water for about 15 minutes. Then I boiled the eggs for about 20 minutes.

I successfully died the egg shells a funky brown color and made the eggs looked disease. This was clearly not enough tea time to actually have any effect on the egg.

In the end, I determined the congee was edible and served it up with some steak strips, onions, boiled egg and sweet red pepper. My thought was this would taste like a hearty breakfast dish perfect for dinner.

Ava was a good sport and ate some. She even said it was good for a first try. My roommates are amazing!

I think I'll try congee again. I just need to do some more research before I boil anything again.

Food Recipe: Tamales

As per Rikki's request, courtesy of Amber.

Slow Cooker Mexican Style Meat

The yummy stuff for inside the tamale.

2-3 lbs. Pork roast (we used a butt roast and 4 lbs.)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion chopped

1 and 1/4 cups diced green chilie pepper

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

hot pepper sauce

Add everything to crock pot and let cook over night -- you could also let it simmer covered on the stove. When the pork is done, use two forks to shred it into small pieces. Later, we'll wrap the shredded pork in the masa and corn husks to make a tamale.

After you shred the pork, this is a good time to crumble Mexican cheese (queso) and slice canned jalapenos. Of course, you should experiment and use what you like for inside your tamale.

Masa

The delicious corn mixture surrounding the shredded pork, cheese and peppers.

2 cups Masa Mix (tan bag)

1 teaspoon chicken stock granules

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon New Mexico Chili Powder

1 tablespoon California or Colorado Chili Powder

3/4 cup lard (blue box)

2 cups warm water

Add dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until well-blended. Add lard and cut into the dry mix--like you do for pie crust.

Add 1 cup warm water and mix by hand; add additional warm water to reach the right consistency as needed--with a double batch I add a little over 3 cups warm water. Do not make more than a double batch of the masa at a time.

Assemble tamales

The most time consuming step.

1 package dry corn husks (about 70 husks)

35-feet kitchen twine, cut into 6-inch pieces

Soak the corn husks in warm water for at least 15 minutes.

Roll a small of masa in your hands until it's the size of a fat thumb. Place the masa roll on a single corn husk (about 12 inches square). Smash out the masa until it is a 3 to 4 inch circle about a half inch thick.

In the middle of the masa circle, place a tablespoon of shredded meat, a pinch of crumbled queso and a canned and sliced jalapeno. You can use different mix-ins if you like.

Now pat out a smaller circle of masa (about the size of a quarter), place it on top of the meat, cheese and jalapeno. Use your fingers to stretch the masa out so the meat, cheese and jalapeno are completely covered.

Next use your burrito wrapping skills to fold in the sides of the corn husk. You want the masa to seal at the edges so none of the meat, cheese or jalapeno is poking out. Lay the sides of the corn husk back down and flat.

Pull the bottom of the corn husk up, over the top of the masa, gently pul the corn husk down until the masa feels tight. Then pull the sides of the corn husk back over the masa, wrapping it like a present.

Now use the kitchen twine to tie the top of the masa like a small purse. (They should look like the ones in the photo.)

Steam

Using a pot of boiling water, a colander and a lid steam the wrapped tamales for 15-20 minutes depending on size.

Remove from the colander using tongs.

Let cool. Enjoy!

Tamales is an all day process and shouldn't be taken lightly. If you are serious about making tamales give yourself plenty of time and space. Good luck!

Food: Savory sweet breakfast

After a late night and an even later morning, I was craving breakfast with some serious punch so I came up with the savory and sweet combination of pancake eggs.

I've seen the "breakfast sandwich" on The Park Cafe menu, but I thought it sounded a little strange. Turns out, it's the perfect fix when you're starving for breakfast at 1 p.m.

First, for the pancake I threw together the Krusteaz mix (1/2 Cup mix with 1/2 Cup water) with a little cinnamon (about 1 teaspoon) and a little nutmeg (just a pinch).

Following Alton Brown's rules of pancake mixing, I whisked it four times clockwise and three time counter-clockwise. He says this keeps the dough soft and I concur since following this rule the texture of my pancakes has improved tremendously.

Next I poured the batter on my hot, buttery skillet.

Then I heated up a baby skillet for some egg frying. I used a little bit of spay-on grease and cracked the egg directly into the pan. I tossed in a pinch of Kosher salt and a dash of fresh ground pepper.

Back to the pancake side of the stove. When the dough on top started to bubble, I flipped the pancake to reveal a nice even golden brown crisp. My dad says the dough should bubble, burst and leave a hole in the dough. It's the best way I know to check a pancake is cooked without a lot of messy flipping.

I added just a drop of water to the frying egg and covered the pan. This is the key to properly frying eggs in my kitchen.

Then I removed the perfectly cooked pancake just like my dad taught me and slathered it with butter and syrup just like my mom would love.

Next I turned the flame off the egg and let it hiss for a couple minutes before sliding the egg on to the syrup drenched pancake.

Then into my tummy in about five minutes. This was such a delicious combination. I loved the salty sweet combination of syrup and salt. Plus the egg yolk mixed with the cinnamon, nutmeg pancake really well.

Now I'm off to enjoy a huge mug of coffee with loads of cream and sugar. Happy afternoon morning!

Summer memories

I've been eating a lot of Otter Pops lately. And when I say a lot, what I mean to say is enough to have a blue covered tongue with drips of green down my shirt.

I still manage to eat the frozen treat like I'm six so it's inevitable my mouth and hands will be sticky and my shirt will be covered in goo. It's tough being coordinated some days. Besides, everyone knows blue and green are the best flavors of frozen water. Otter Pops are a sure-fire way to spark memories of the good ol' days: playing outside, eating mac and cheese and sucking on a Popsicle passing the slow, hot days of summer.

For a more grown up version of Otter Pops, try Erin's version of Strawberry Lemonade Slushies. It's super simple and very yummy.

In a blender add ice, frozen strawberries and lemonade. Blend until frozen and delicious. Pour into a glass. Enjoy.

For the happy sinners, add some vodka. We tried Ketel One in this mix and it was a great choice. Ketel is a fruitier vodka than most and mixes great with the strawberry lemon concoction.

Phew! Potato Skins

This weekend was a little crazy so I put off blogging for some sleep. First things first, potato skins.

Hardware:
Cutting board
Knife
Skillet
Wooden spoon
Cookie sheet
Fork

Software:
4 T. vegetable oil
4 T. Kosher salt
4 russet potatoes
6 strips of bacon, diced
1/2 C. Cheddar cheese, grated
3 green onions, sliced
1/2 C. sour cream

Instructions:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly was the potatoes in cold water. Next, coat the potatoes in vegetable oil and Kosher salt. Place in the oven an let cook for approximately 30 minutes. Turn the oven temperature up to 425 degrees until the potatoes are done cooking about 20 minutes. The skins should peel away from the potato.

While the potatoes are cooking, dice the bacon. Place the bacon in a cold skillet over medium heat. Let the bacon cook until brown, using the wooden spoon to spread the bacon evenly. When the bacon is cooked, place on a paper towel covered plate and let the grease drain.

Remove the potatoes from the oven. Cut the potatoes in half. Using your fork, fluff the inside of the potato. To fluff the potato, stab the fork in straight down and turn. Top the potato with the bacon bits and cheddar cheese. Return to oven, until the cheese melts about 5 minutes.

Remove the potato skins from the oven., top with sour cream and scallions. Serve hot and enjoy!

Lambiness

This recipe took more work than I thought it would, but after some experimentation and Internet research here's a recipe for roast lamb. This makes a nice tender roast that really shows off lamb's flavor and richness.

Hardware:
knife
roast pan
aluminum foil
cutting board
meat thermometer

Software:
3 lb. Lamb leg roast, bone out
4 garlic cloves, sliced
2 Tbs. fresh rosemary, minced
1 Tbs. dried thyme
1 Tbs. kosher salt

Instructions:
Heat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Cover the bottom of your roast pan with aluminum foil use a generous piece so the sides of the pan are covered as well. The roast should be tied together with butcher's twine.

Slice the garlic cloves. Now, cut slits into the roast spacing the slits evenly. Gently put a slice of garlic in each slit in the roast. Now, mince the rosemary. In a small bowl, mix together the rosemary, thyme and kosher salt. Using your hands, rub the herb mixture all over the lamb leg. Place the lamb leg fatty side down in the pan.

Insert the meat thermometer into the thickest part of the lamb. Roast the lamb uncovered until the internal temperature reaches 130 degrees for medium rare. (Carry over heat will allow the lamb to reach 135 degrees.) It will take about an hour or approximately 20 minutes for every pound.

When the thermometer reaches 130 degrees, remove the roast from the oven. Allow the roast to cool for ten minutes. Slice thinly and enjoy.

This roast also makes great leftover sandwiches the next day.

Easy on the tini, please

Oh no, you didn't.
*snaps fingers in a Z-formation*

J.D. from Scrubs has a love of appletini's "easy on the tini." When Erin, Tony, Tyler and I had Scrubs night we decided to honor J.D. by drinking his favorite alcoholic beverage. Of course, it helped that early in the night we realized plum brandy and gin are not very good.

To make our appletinis we mixed vodka, sour apple mix and soda water. I tried for a two to three ratio since according to a Google search on Tyler's iPhone that's what a martini is supposed to be. It came out very yummy. A nice bright green that tastes an awful lot like Jolly Ranchers.

The appletinis were prefaced by a couple of tacos from the taco stand on State Street in the Sears parking lot. Two tacos are $1.50 with a nice filling of lengua and salsa it's more than worth the low price. The lengua was tender and delicious. The taco shells were nice and fresh made than fried in grease. Yum!

Do you have a food or drink you associate with a TV show?

Lobster Tail

Ava's sister moved and in doing so donated all her food to us. Yay! It was very generous, plus it gave me some cool new ingredients to work with. I believe it's a universal law that college kids cannot afford lobster tail. So this is the recipe I tried out it also involves making your own broiler so if you have one just ignore that part of the instructions.

Soft Ware:
(makes two servings)
Two thawed or fresh lobster tail (3-4 oz. each)
1 C. White Cooking Wine
1 tsp. Dried Parsley
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
salt
pepper

Hard Ware:
A cooking rack
A shallow pan
A spatula

Heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Fill the shallow pan with the wine, parsley and butter. Place the rack over the pan. Put the lobster, shell up, on the rack. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes.

The sauce came out way too thin. I think next time I will try making a soup out of the lobster tail. This is the first time I ever had lobster and it was a little fishy, but my ingenious wine at the bottom of the pan prevented the lobster from drying out.

Any suggestions you have for lobster soup, or better lobster sauce would be lovely.

Happy Cooking!

Home Cooked Mac and Cheese

I promised mac and cheese, and I delivered mac and cheese.
So here's the story: my whole life I never liked mac and cheese. I was a weird little kid who would rather eat ramen raw than a bowl of out-of-the-box mac.

When Ava and I became roommates, she worked at Noodles and Company. One day, she insisted I try their Wisconsin Cheddar with broccoli and cavatapi noodles. I was shocked! I liked macaroni and cheese.

The discovery led me to search out different recipes for mac and cheese. The recipe below is a combination of many recipes, a lot of test trials and some personal preferences.

MAC & CHEESE

Software:

• 2 Tbs. Flour
• 2 Tbs. Unsalted butter
• 1 C. Heavy Whipping Cream
• 1/2 C. Mozzarella, shredded
• 1/2 C. Colby Jack, shredded
• 1 C. Cheddar, shredded (divided into two 1/2 cups)
• 3 C. Water
• 1/2 Lb. Penne pasta
• Kosher salt
• Fresh ground black pepper

Hardware:

• Sauce pan or skillet
• 4-quart pot
• Fork
• Wooden spoon

Directions:
I like to start by boiling my three cups of water with a pinch of Kosher salt in a pot on the stove top over medium high heat. Next, I warm up my skillet over a medium flame. Just as the pan begins to smoke, add two tablespoons butter. Let the butter melt slowly. Now, slowly add two tablespoons flour to the melted butter. Using your fork, blend together the flour and butter creating a roux.

When the roux is smooth and just beginning to thicken, add one cup heavy whipping cream. Continue whisking the mixture with the fork so the flour remains smooth.

Add the 1/2 pound of Penne pasta to the boiling water. Let boil for seven minutes. Stir occasionally with the wooden spoon.

Add 1/2 cup mozzarella, 1/2 cup Colby Jack and 1/2 cup cheddar cheese to the sauce in the skillet. Continue stirring as cheese melts. Let the sauce cook for approximately five minutes until it is thick and creamy.

Drain the pasta and put back in pot. When the sauce is thick enough it sticks to the back of a spoon, add to the pasta. Stir pasta and cheese sauce together. Top with remaining cheddar and serve.

Now doesn't that sound mmm, mmm, good?

Cooking Basics--Roux

A roux is a base of flour and fat used in sauces and soups as a thickening agent. It has taken me forever to figure out how to make a decent roux. So my first bit of advice is patience. The second is preserverance. The third is to try it out, because being able to throw together a sauce is a life saver when you have no canned sauces on hand.

To make a roux you need:
2 Tbs. Flour
2 Tbs. Unsalted butter
A fork
A sauce pan

First heat the pan over medium heat until it is hot or just begins to smoke. Add two tablespoons flour to the pan and let melt. Be careful to melt the butter and not burn it. Next, add the two tablespoons flour to the melted butter. Using your fork gently mash the two together until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Now, you are ready to add what you would like for a sauce or soup.

It is important to note you need equal parts flour to fat. The recipe may call for the roux to cook a bit longer until it is caramel in color.

Please keep in mind as you are creating your sauce or soup to continually stir the roux to keep the mixture smooth. You also don't want to overcook the roux, which will give the flour a grainy mouth-feel.

For my next recipe, I will post home-made mac and cheese which requires a roux.

Football Chili

Check out wisdenfam.blogspot.com for this amazing chili recipe. I mentioned this chili in an earlier pre-Christmas post. It's delicious and easy to make.

Football Chili

2 pounds ground beef

1 pound Hot Italian sausage

4 (15 ounce) cans chili beans, drained

2 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with juice

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

1 large yellow onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

2 green chili peppers, seeded and chopped

1 tablespoon bacon bits

4 cubes beef bouillon

1/2 cup beer

1/4 cup chili powder

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons hot sauce (Tapatio)

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon white sugar

In a large skillet, brown the ground beef and hot Italian sausage. As the meat browns add ALL other ingredients to a Crock Pot. Drain the excess fat from beef and hot sausage and add to Crock Pot. Stir everything together. Simmer on low for 8 to 10 hours (the best) or on high for 3 to 5 hours. Serve with Frito's and shredded Cheddar cheese. This recipe makes great leftovers and I also like a little sour cream with my chili.

Shrimp Tacos

These tacos are the perfect dish for summer. I created this recipe in an effort to highlight the natural flavors of the ocean in shrimp. Remember the fresher your shrimp the better the tacos will taste. I used frozen store bought shrimp and it worked out surprisingly well.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. 51-60 shrimp, thawed
2 Tbs. no salt, butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
1/4 C. onion, diced
2 Tbs. fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 fresh lime
1 Tbs. kosher salt
1 Tbs. fresh, ground black pepper
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
6 fresh corn tortillas
1 C. Canola oil

Hardware:
2 skillets
1 wooden spoon
Tongs
1 serrated knife
1 Chef's knife
1 cutting board
1 bowl
Cup measure
Tablespoon measure
Teaspoon measure
1 spoon or fork

First, de-vein and un-tail all the shrimp. The shells should come right off if you pull from the tail upwards. Next, melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. While the butter is melting, mince the garlic. And begin heating the canola oil in a separate skillet over medium-high heat.

Add 2 cloves of the garlic to the butter and let saute for a few minutes until golden brown. Now, add the shrimp. Let the shrimp cook, stirring occasionally, until pink and white for about 15 minutes.

When the canola oil is hot enough to fry the tortillas begin frying them. Place a tortilla in the oil for about 30 seconds then flip over using tongs. Let cook for another 30 seconds and drain on a paper towel lined plate.

As the shrimp cook, dice your tomatoes and onion. Place the tomato and onion in a small mixing bowl. Add the remaining garlic. Chop the cilantro, add to the salsa. Squeeze in the juice from 1/2 a fresh lime. Add the salt, pepper, cumin, cayenne and paprika. Stir with fork or spoon until thoroughly mixed.

Place a five or six cooked shrimp in the taco shell. Top with salsa and garnish with fresh mozzarella. Happy summer!

*This is a great recipe to make with a couple of friends. My sous chef for the night, Mrs. Wesley Wyndham-Price, deserves a giant thank you for all her awesome help and patience. I love you!