Pages, Pucks and Pantry

The Heat Is On

So. There are many rules to follow when dealing with habanero chilis.

1- Use gloves
2- Never touch your eyes while dealing with them
3- Be sure to wipe down anything habaneros touch before touching them with your bare hands.
4- Habaneros are hot little suckers and should not be used unless you can really stand the heat.

Let's just say I didn't exactly stick to this list. Can you guess which was the only rule I followed?

I picked up a basket of habanero chilis from the local farmers market. I thought I would stuff them with some Italian sausage and cream cheese (the cheese helping cut the heat). When I went to make the dish last night I was multi-tasking. Stuffed Peppers was one of four dishes that consisted of my Sunday night cooking extravaganza. Dinner was made and eaten while I worked on the other three recipes I had planned. While the green beans were stewing, the yams were being processed, I started to cut and gut the habaneros for stuffing. Did I mention I was also watching episodes of Hero's that we had recorded?

I didn't use the gloves (Breaking rule #1). I used one of those plastic veggie bags from the supermarket to hold the chili's while I worked on them. But between the TV and the other stuff cooking on the stove I forgot several times what I was doing and I picked up fresh live  habanero guts with my fingers.  I then proceeded to use these fingers to do many other things in the kitchen (thus breaking rule #3) spreading habanero oil all over the counters, the utensils, the dishes. At some point, I realized that my fingers were burning. Along with my lips because somehow I had transfered the habanero oil onto the spoon that I was taste testing the green beans from. Which got on the plate that I gave to Mr. L to taste test the beans. I knew I was in trouble when Mr. L suggested that I shouldn't put jalapenos into the beans next time. Needless to say there were no peppers in the beans.

Gotta love the iPhone where a quick search online revealed how to deal with the heat of the habanero oil. Also gotta love Mr. L who went downstairs, got some gloves and proceeded to disinfect the entire kitchen...while I sat on the couch in the living room chastised by being beaten by a few small peppers. One lucky part about all this was that I never touched my eyes during this fiasco. Though trying to get my contacts off while wearing gloves (just in case) at the end of the night was pretty comical. (Note to self, next time you work with hot peppers, even if you do wear gloves, take the contacts out first).

In case you are wondering I threw the batch of habaneros away before I even stuffed them. I'll go to the store tonight and get some jalapenos and stuff those instead. For this heat loving girl, I was horrified to find that I was bested by these little suckers. Trust me, I will be more careful next time. And yes, there will be a next time, I know where the big box of gloves lives in the garage now.

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Trixie Bell cooks Potato Crisps with Chive-Sour Cream Dip

Having missed the last couple of Potato Ho events, I knew I had to find something that tickled my fancy for this round. These Potato Crisps definitely worked for me.

I found the recipe for this in the November 2008 issue of Food & Wine magazine. Usually after I peel potatoes, the peelings just end up in the garbage. Yeah, I know I'm supposed to use them for soup, but get real, this is me. I saved peels once about five years ago...I think they still live in the back of the freezer. Starting out using the peels though, was a novel idea, I figured I could give this recipe a try.

Now if I had bothered to really look at the photo of the dish, my reconstruction of it would have turned out a bit different. I was so hungry to get this on the table (this was lunch for us), I just plunged into making the recipe without really giving the end result a thought. The recipe calls for "thick' peelings...so that's what I did. After we fried these up I realized that the photo showed much thinner peels...which, I'm sure, made much crisper crisps. It didn't make much of a difference, these still turned out really good.

This was actually a quick and easy snack to put together. And in these economic times, a good use of something that would usually be thrown away. Don't forget that these are tasty little things too!

What to do with the potatoes after you've skinned them? Make mashed potatoes of course. I made twice the amount of the sour cream and chive dip and added that to my mashed taters with some butter and salt and we had a side dish for dinner.

POTATO CRISPS WITH CHIVE-SOUR CREAM DIP

3 cups canola oil
Thick peelings from 3 pounds of Yukon Gold or russet potatoes
  (roughly 1-by-3-inch strips)
Kosher Salt
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/2 cup low-fat sour cream
2 tablespoons snipped chives
Freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large saucepan over moderately high heat, heat the oil to 360 degrees. Fry the potato skins in batches, stirring occasionally, until browned and crisp, 2 to 3 minutes per batch. Using a slotted spoon, transfer each batch of potato strips to paper towels to drain, then sprinkle with salt immediately.

Transfer the potato strips to a baking sheet and sprinkle them with the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Bake for 3 to 4 minutes, just until the cheese is melted. Let the crisps cool, then transfer to a bowl.

In a blender or processor, puree the sour cream with the chives and a pinch of salt and pepper until the chives are finely chopped. Transfer the dip to a bowl and serve alongside the potato crisps. Makes 4 servings.

The chive sour-cream dip can be refrigerated overnight.

Note: I used russet potatoes. I used our little deep fat fryer instead of a pan.

Note: I used much more of the cheese than required. I didn't bother to get out the blender or food processor for the dip, I just minced the chives fine and blended as best I could. I also didn't let the crisps cool, we ate them right out of the oven.

The Potato Ho Down is being hosted by Baking Delights this time around. Be sure to check her blog for all the delicious potato recipes I'm sure will get posted!

Grilled T-Bone Steaks with Garlic-Chili Oil

I realize that grilling for some at this point might be a little strange...considering it's the middle of November. Please note that today's temperature was a nice 82 degrees where I live, I spent the day in shorts and we had the air conditioner on.  Needless to say it was an absolutely gorgeous day here.

There were many different steak recipes from the Bobby Flay Grilling for Life cookbook that I wanted to try. We chose this recipe for two reasons: we hadn't had a t-bone steak in ages and they were on sale at the grocery store. A combo that worked for me.

I was afraid at first that this would taste too garlicky for me but it didn't. The sauce did add some flavor to the steak but I kept thinking "is there more"? This is a Bobby Flay recipe so I expect the flavor to be quite bold. Maybe it was all a bit subtle for me? Of course one does get tired of just plain old steaks (okay, maybe most people, but honestly, not me) so this wasn't a bad way to make the steak a bit different. We didn't cut the steak into strips which the recipe called for...we just put the whole t-bone on our plates and poured the sauce over. Maybe if we had sliced the meat like it said it would have made a difference? But then again, how the heck do you slice a t-bone steak with a big bone in it? It still tasted great but I'm not sure how much of that was the sauce or how much was just that we had an awesome t-bone.

Not sure if the sauce was supposed to be strained? I would have liked the garlic to be smaller. It was oil with garlic pieces in it and I kept wondering if it should be more mixed than it was. Again, it wasn't that it was bad, I just thought it should have been more.

The instructions say to "not play with your food"...let it sit and form a crust while grilling and only turn it once. Also be sure to let the steak rest for at least five minutes before cutting (both of which we did).

GRILLED T-BONE STEAKS WITH GARLIC-CHILI OIL

1/4 cup olive oil
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 T-bone steaks, 1 pound each
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Whisk together the oil, garlic, thyme, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl; set aside.

Heat grill to high.

Season both sides of the steaks with the salt and pepper. Place the steaks on the grill and grill until golden brown and slightly charred, 4 to 5 minutes. Turn the steaks over, lower the heat to medium, close the lid, and continue cooking for 6 to 7 minutes for medium-rare.

Remove the steaks from the grill and transfer to a cutting board. Let rest for 5 minutes, then cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Transfer to platter and drizzle with the chile oil. Serves 6

Note: Our T-bones were probably a bit less than a pound each.

Note: This probably served 4 for us, just cuz we like our red meat.

Note: Calories listed for each serving were 395

Current Cookbook - Bobby Flay's Grilling For Life

BOBBY FLAY'S GRILLING FOR LIFE - 75 Healthier Ideas for Big Flavor From the Fire - Bobby Flay

This cookbook has a copyright of 2005. I bought this book at Barnes and Noble on sale for $9.98. I have never cooked from this book before.

Though this says "healthier" I don't consider it a diet book. It is very "protein" based, includes "good" carbs (like multi-grains), but doesn't resort to fake ingredients to keep calories down. This book also has fat in some recipes so those looking for "fat free" need to really check the recipe first. Each recipe has a nutritional analysis, which lists calories, protein, carbs, sugar, fat, etc. Most of the recipes would probably work for South Beach or Somersize diets.

There are a few pages in the front that deal with grilling equipment, dealing with temperatures of grilled food, herbs and spices, flavorings, and how to's. Chapters deal with vegetables, fish and shellfish, poultry, pork, beef, lamb, drinks and desserts. The content page for each chapter lists the names of the recipes. The index is pretty detailed. There are only eight color photos of dishes. There are some black and white photos interspersed throughout the book but most are of Bobby, not the food. There are several recipes that are not grilled (drinks, cole slaw etc).

The recipes seem pretty straight forward. Depending on where you live, some of the ingredients might not be easy to find (fresh lima beans, fresh buffalo mozzarella, pasilla chiles, chile de arbol powder). Since it's a Flay book, expect lots of bold flavors.

Tons of interesting things to try in this book. Grilled German Sweet Potato Salad, Twice-Grilled Peppers with Buffalo Mozzarella and Caper-Basil Vinaigrette, Grilled Tuna Salad Sandwiches with Lemon-Habanero Mayonnaise, Balsamic-Thyme Glazed Duck Breasts, Green Chili Burgers, White Nectarine Bellini...I definitely want to continue to cook from this book.

Small Plates - November 14, 2008

PICKLE LOVE - My love of dill pickles is well known among my family. They don't even bother to ask anymore if I'll take their unwanted pickles, the pickles just tend to show up on my plate (and if my family is stupid and forgets, get out of the way because I will stab them with my fork in my haste to rescue those unwanted gems). The other night, at about 10:30 PM, I decided I was hungry. Mr. L was aghast when, Instead of a snack of a piece of cheese or maybe some late dessert, I came back from the kitchen with a dill pickle. Perfect bedtime snack in my opinion.

When we were at Disneyland earlier this fall, I saw individually wrapped large dills being sold at a stand. Of course I had to have one...pickle juice dripping down my chin as I headed to the Indiana Jones ride was perfectly normal to me.

PORTLY PICKLE - I came across this "Big Papa" dill at Safeway the other day and it called to me. Normally I just buy dills in the standard size jars that fit in your fridge.  But the flavor of the "big dills", the ones that you can still find in huge barrel size jars at some supermarkets, to me have the best flavor. The ones in the individual plastic wrappers aren't quite as good as those barrel pickles, but when you have a craving, a "portly pickle" will do. Van Holten is a Wisconsin company that has been selling pickles in a pouch since 1939. Their line of pickles includes Big Papa (Hearty dill flavor), Hot Mama (Spicy Hot), Little Pepe (Pepino Picante), Garlic Gus (Zesty Garlic) and Sour Sis (Tart and Tangy). I'm currently on the lookout for the Sour Sis version. For more info go here.

PICKLE POPS - I know this went around the blogashere a while ago, but I'm still waiting to try one. These "pickle pops" are basically just frozen pickle juice. Yes, pickle juice. Yes, I have been known to take a sip of pickle juice after eating all the pickles from a jar. Yes, I have been known to take more than just a small sip of that pickle juice. No I am not crazy, because if other people weren't doing it, this guy wouldn't be selling pickle pops! (He even sells pickle juice in bottles just like soda). For more info on these pop's go here. And if you find them, I want to try them!

PICKLES COMIC - I've always enjoyed this comic strip. To check it out go here.

And if you haven't figure it out yet, today is National Pickle Day. So go have a pickle. Even if it's one of those gross sweet pickles...cuz pickles rule!

Small Plates - November 12, 2008

EVERYTHING BUT - Today was National Pizza With Everything Day (Except Anchovies). Now for some of you that might mean a pizza full of vegetables: onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, olives, mushrooms. Maybe since it's "everything" you throw on artichoke hearts, zucchini and garlic. For Mr. L and I, an "everything" pizza usually means a King Arthur's Supreme from Round Table: pepperoni, Italian sausage, Italian dry salami, linguica, white mushrooms, green peppers, yellow onions, and black olives. And absolutely no anchovies.

FISHIES - Since I was a kid, I've always known to say a pizza with everything "except anchovies". Though these days you have to be careful, since many places now offer toppings like barbecued chicken and shrimp. An "everything" pizza can have quite an assortment of toppings, but I rarely hear anyone say "everything but shrimp"...it's always "no anchovies please". I honestly can't remember in recent history anyone actually asking for a pizza with anchovies when I've been at a pizza parlor. Have you? I used to work at a pizza place (two years at Pizza Hut back in the day) and maybe once someone asked for the fishies. Did you know there was actually a pizza place named "No Anchovies"? Great name. I do need to be honest here...I've never actually tried an anchovy. Maybe someday, but not on a pizza, just in case I didn't like the fish I wouldn't want to ruin the pizza. But seriously, does anyone order anchoviess anymore?

SOME LIKE IT HOT - What I do put on all my pizzas, be they pizza with everything, or just say, a pepperoni and olive pizza, is jalapenos. To me a pizza isn't a pizza without those little green rounds. I've also been known to sprinkle a bit of the jalapeno juice from the jar onto my pizza slices. Okay, lets be real...I've also been known to have a straight jalapeno pizza. Yep, just jalapenos and cheese. I can remember sitting in the back at Pizza Hut, eating my small jalapeno pizza, with many cartons of milk ready and waiting to cut the heat. Fellow employees used to think I was crazy. But I didn't care then and I don't care now. Give me those jalapenos!

We were not able to have pizza tonight since we already had other dinner plans...but that didn't stop us from getting a King Arthur's for dinner last night. Nothing wrong with celebrating the day a bit early. So don't be worried if you missed out on National Pizza with Everything Day (Except Anchovies) as it's perfectly acceptable to celebrate The Day a bit late. Just remember to hold the fishies.

Buffalo Wings

I actually bought The Hooters Cookbook about a month before I ever stepped foot into a Hooters. Though the recipes in the book sounded great, it was finding out that Hooters served Deep Fried Pickles that sent me to the newly opened Hooters in my area.

When the Hooters opened this summer locally, I joked with Mr. L that we should check it out (he had never been to a Hooters either) but it wasn't on the top of my list of 'need to try' restaurants. It was when the woman I was training mentioned that she thought they served Deep Fried Pickles that I decided to make a trip there. I've only had deep fried dills once (and that was about ten years ago at a Cajun restaurant in Denver) but I've been craving them and looking for them on menus ever since. Since it turned out that my trainee and I were both dill pickle freaks we decided a trip after work to sample Hooters version would be in order. Of course when our husbands found out that we were making this foray into uncharted territory, they both volunteered to go with us to Hooters to help us try out those fried dills. Should I mention that neither husband ate more than one fried dill pickle chip? Actually, the dill pickle chips were not that good. The pickles were sliced so thin that when you ate one of the pickle chips all you tasted was batter...very little dill pickle flavor. Both my trainee and I were disappointed.

Now Hooters itself was very interesting. We went right after work which put us in Happy Hour. Where we were greeted by Hooter Girls in tight tops and short shorts, attempting to hula hoop.  Where for $3 you could get ten wings in your choice of flavors. Not to mention cheap beer. With sports related events on the big screen tv's. And Hooters Girls. Now, don't get me wrong, it's not that they weren't nice or pretty, it's just...they definitely were not women. Most looked to be barely over 18. The husbands commented on how each one had such nice long hair (while my trainee and I laughed because we could see most had extensions). Lets just say I was not impressed that several had, er, muffin tops. Those tight outfits show a bit of all the wrong things if you know what I mean. Yes, they all wore nice push up bras so that the melons were all perky for everyone to see. Our waitresses were quite nice and friendly and I honestly had no problem with them. There were groups there with young children, there were older couples (and I mean my Grandparents age older) and there were groups of men. Yes, the Hooter Girls did treat the tables of "just men" different (watch how they lean against the tables when it's just a table of guys).  But it wasn't an x-rated type joint at all and I'd have no problem taking kids or my parents there to eat. Pubescent young hormonal boys though, might be a different matter.

Would I go back to visit? Actually yes, the not so great Deep Fried Pickles aside, the wings were really good and you couldn't beat the Happy Hour prices.

Since I liked the wings so much, I figured that would be the first thing I'd make out of the Hooters Cookbook. But after watching those girls do their hula hoop show I was concerned about cooking from the book...less Mr. L expect a show of his own (not that I couldn't put on a show, I was just concerned about doing it in the kitchen while messing with hot oil). Since I've never made wings before, I decided to start out with the simple, easy, standard wing recipe from the book.

These turned out to be incredibly simple to make, hot in flavor and very delicious. We used our little deep fryer and there was very little grease to the wings. Having never fried chicken wings before, I was a bit surprised at how much shrinkage to the wings there were. Even though our wings weren't greasy they were pretty messy to eat. Not sure how they make the sauce "stick" to the wings as the photo in the book shows a much dryer looking wing, but we didn't mind. I kept rubbing my chicken wings in any sauce that accumulated on the plate. Though I did dip a few of the wings in ranch dressing, I ate most, like Mr. L, with just the sauce. Simple, basic, easy. This goes in the "we make often" category.

BUFFALO WINGS

18 chicken wings
6 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/4 cup hot red pepper sauce
Vegetable oil, for frying
Bleu cheese dressing, for dipping
Paper Towels

Cut the chicken wings into three sections and discard the wing tips.

Melt the butter in a small pan. Add the hot sauce and remove from heat. Set aside.

Heat 1 inch of oil in a large frying pan or deep-fat fryer to 360 degrees F. Fry the wings in batches, without crowding them, for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Brush the wings with the spicy butter mixture and serve warm with the bleu cheese dressing for dipping. Makes 3 servings (served two for us).

Note: I used butter. I used Tabasco Sauce. We substituted ranch dressing for bleu cheese.

Note: We fried these in our little deep fryer. It took about ten minutes for each batch.

Note: I'm sure different hot sauces will result in different flavors. We plan on trying a few of the different hot sauces we have in the cupboard on subsequent batches. Mr. L took the wing tips and fried those up and ate them with leftover sauce for a "snack".

These really were tasty and a great recipe to start with when it comes to wings. I plan on trying Hooters Beer-Battered version, along with their Waikiki Wings next.

Note: No hula hoops were harmed in the making of this recipe.

Current Cookbook - The Hooters Cookbook

THE HOOTERS COOKBOOK - By Rodney Foster, Editor (Compiled by Corporate Chef Scott Kinsey)

This cookbook has a copyright  of 2007. I bought this book at Barnes and Noble. I have never cooked from this book before.

This book is supposedly geared toward men. Lots of ideas to get food out for the big game, to tailgate or to just celebrate your favorite NFL football team. But don't let that stop you, it's actually a pretty good cookbook.

Since I don't eat at Hooters (just once and that's in an upcoming post) I have no idea if the book follows dishes they serve at the restaurant. I can tell you that most of the recipes here look very tasty.

The book starts with a forward and introduction to the cookbook along with a few pages on the history of Hooters (which not only includes a photo and story on the very first Hooters girl, but a photo of that Hooters Guy). There is no index but the table of contents does list each recipe under the chapter head. Chapters are divided into Wings, Sandwiches and Burgers, Game Day, Tailgating and Grilling and Recipes to Impress. There are about 70 recipes with very nice photos of each dish. Chapters are interspersed with trivia and tips (like knowing your beer or fishing laws). No strange ingredients. Recipes seem pretty straightforward and easy to understand. None of the recipes seem very complicated either.

There are a ton of recipes I want to try from this book. Though I won't call if comfort food, it's still good, stick to your ribs type of stuff. I want to try all six versions of their Wings, along with More Than A Mouthful Burgers, Spicy Beer Battered Onion Rings, Fire-in-the-Hole Kabobs, Grilled Chicken Satay, Cajun-Blackened Halibut, Dungeness Crab Fried Rice, Dirt Pie, Toffee Apple Dip...seriously, I could pretty much list every recipe. I definitely will continue to cook out of this book. Though I rarely watch a football game anymore, any of these dishes would work with my many hockey games.

As an added little bonus, in the back of the book there is a Hooters Culinary Academy diploma that, should you choose, can be taken out, framed, and hung on your wall.

And remember what the founder of Hooters had to say...."Hooters make you happy!"

Small Plates - November 6, 2008

MEN IN THE KITCHEN - I am extremely lucky that I have a husband who cooks. Though I do blame the fact that I've dated men all my life who cooked as to why I never learned to cook myself. But that's another story.

Does your man cook? Do you let him in the kitchen? Well, today you just may have to. See today is National Men Make Dinner Day, so have your man (be it husband, brother, partner, roommate, boyfriend) put that meal on the table tonight. You can tell your man that one of the top ten reasons to participate in today's day is reason number 9: Several recipes include beer as a legitimate ingredient. To find out more about this day and to read the rest of the top ten reasons for a man to cook go here.

GASTROSEXUAL - Is your man a 'Gastrosexual'? Someone who is cooking for you in order to seduce you? I admit, a big charm of my current husband is that he cooked for me while courting me. While a Gastrosexual can be either a man or woman, the average Gastrosexual is "a male between the ages of 25-44 who is upwardly mobile, well traveled and cooks for their own pleasure and the praise of others". The report about this showed up in a British newspaper and you can read about it here.

Alas, Mr. L will not be cooking tonight. He brought home a ton of food from an event he had last night (think big silver take-out containers). But I guess if he at least heats up the food that will count as cooking today.

IMAGE SOURCE

Small Plates - November 5, 2008

NO KRISPY KREME - So, I was mentioning to some friends last night that I missed out on picking up free donuts at Krispy Kreme for voting. And they let me know that most of the local Krispy Kremes have closed! Wow. I remember when Krispy Kreme first came to the area and everyone was so excited, but the two closest to me are now gone. Nearest KK store is 14 miles away...if you add bay area traffic on weekday mornings it would take almost an hour to get there! What happened? Bad management? The low-carb movement? Figures now that I want one there aren't any!

NO DUNKIN EITHER - And of course there aren't any Dunkin Donuts around me either. At least you can get a free sample of their coffee by going here. And for about another week, if you are near a DD between 2 and 5 PM you can get small hot and iced lattes for only 99 cents. But alas, no DD anytime soon for me.

AND NO WINCHELL'S! - When I worked at Bob's Big Boy many years ago (oh the stories I could tell), there was a Winchell's Donut Shop at the other end of the parking lot. At that time if was THE big name donut shop to go to. And if the folks working behind the counter weren't stoned or high (ahem, this was the early 80's people), one could get some pretty decent donuts. And since this was before the "Starbucks on every corner" phase of history, Winchell's was where you also got your morning coffee to go (it was either there or the nearest 7-11). Since they were open 24 hours it was a great place to grab a quick donut on your way home from the late shift. I have memories of my Grandpa getting his coffee and donuts at Winchell's in the mornings. But a quick look at the Winchell's store locater says the nearest one to me now is in Salinas.

STANS THE MAN - Of course there are plenty of mom and pop donut shops around these days where you can grab a quick donut for breakfast (heck even Starbucks sells donuts). But my favorite for years has been Stan's Donuts in Santa Clara off Homestead. Their glazed donuts fresh out of the fryer are the best I've ever had (and I did some taste tests with co-workers between Stans and Krispy Kreme and Stans always won). No fancy building, no sparkling tables, no special coffee...once they run out, they close until the next day. I used to live right down the street and would stop on a regular basis to wait, in sometimes quite long lines, to get those hot, fresh, glazed donuts. Sigh. Yes, if I crave donuts, it's Stans I'm usually drooling over...well, that and Tim Bits, but again, that's another story....If you are local, what's your favorite corner donut shop?

DONUTS - And why all this talk about donuts? Well, it's National Donut Appreciation Day! Of course if you want something a bit more filling than a donut you could try a Glazed Donut Bacon Egg Cheeseburger or a Bacon Krispy Kreme Burger. I actually made donuts (thanks to a nudge by Peabody and her donut challenge here and here) this past year that were very tasty and super easy to make. You can check them out here (Orange Drop Doughnuts). You have no excuse, either buy a donut today or make some yourself!