Dinner tangent

Mmmm, dinner. Last night we had steak, baked potatoes and asparagus with hollandaise sauce. Interestingly, the spell check built into my browser does not recognize "hollandaise" as a word. This insult must be addressed...

Anyway, back on track. I wanted to share my family's recipe for hollandaise. In my opinion it is one of the best recipes I've ever had the opportunity to consume...and trust me, I've eaten it all over the world. The closest I've come to ranking near my dad's recipe came from a small eatery in Little Rock, Arkansas called the Olive Branch. It used to be located in the River Market downtown in the city. I'm not sure if it's still there, but they made an incredible breakfast sandwich.

Onward, ever onward. My recipe for hollandaise uses a blender. In some traditions the only good hollandaise is prepared over a double boiler as you whisk until your arm falls off. Save a microwave, I strongly advocate the use of electronic devices in your kitchen. I say with the exception of a microwave due in no small part to the fact that mine sits on the floor of my kitchen in a corner...because last time I tried to use it I think that it tried to light itself on fire. Bad microwave, no biscuit.

My dad is quite possible the world's greatest unpaid chef. This is a man that was accepted at Le Cordon Bleu and chose not to attend for a number of very good reasons, life being the primary one. I'm not saying that everything that comes out of his kitchen is perfect, but he's definitely had a few years over me to perfect some incredible food. I owe him my love of food, my interest in new things, and my adoration for hollandaise sauce.

Hollandaise Sauce, Ray style:

Ingredients

• 3 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (add more to taste)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (add more to taste)
• pinch of sugar

Directions

1. Place egg yolks, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, salt and pinch (very small) of sugar in blender.
2. Pulse blender for a couple of seconds, just enough to mix the ingredients.
3. In a saucepan melt the butter, being careful that it does not burn.
4. When butter "speaks" pour it into the blender while simultaneously holding down the blend button.
5. As soon as butter is fully poured stop blending.
   

Ideally the sauce should be slightly thick, rich and creamy. If your sauce is too runny simply blend it a bit more. If it's too thick...well, you can add more lemon juice or just serve it thick...that's what I do. If for some reason the sauce didn't come together...well, I'm not sure why it does that sometimes. The sugar is used to keep the eggs from separating, so I rarely have a sauce now that doesn't come together as long as I remember to put in that pinch of sugar.

This hollandaise is excellent for eggs Benedict, as a dipping sauce for artichokes, topping broccoli or asparagus, or even over steak. I think that hollandaise could possible go with almost everything...or so my stomach tells me.

Whole Wheat Beer Bread

I had a craving for bread today while I was cleaning the kitchen, and since that happened around 2PM, I didn't really have the time or energy to make a yeast bread from scratch. Instead, I planned to use some of the lovely Canadian cream ale I picked up on my trip north with a bit of maple syrup instead of sugar to craft a beer bread. Mmm...Canadian beer bread. This recipe calls for pouring butter over the batter before you bake it, which gives the crust a delicious buttery flavor as it cooks.

What follows is my experiment with said bread:



Ingredients

• 2 cups white whole wheat flour plus 1 cup organic unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  
• 1 1/4 cup beer
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Sift together dry ingredients, set aside
3. Lightly grease and flour loaf pans (I used two 5x3 bread loaf pans)
4. Combine dry ingredients with beer and maple syrup, mix thoroughly
   
5. Pour batter into pans, pour melted butter over mixture
6. Bake for 1 hour
   
7. Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack for at least 15 minutes
   

Notes
Instead of using sugar (which the recipe originally called for) I used maple syrup. It turned out awesome!

Also, here's a picture of it sliced open, full of nummy goodness. Please pardon the flash on the camera, it was being cranky.

Chicken Italian Sausage and Cheddar Cheese Muffins

These came up as a lark while I was flipping through my favorite cookbook in the world, the Way I Cook by Lee Bailey. His recipe is for ham and cheese muffins with options for sausage and bacon muffins. I chose to go with what I had sitting in the fridge - Italian chicken sausage from the Fresh Market - and some cheddar cheese from the Walgreen's a block away. I also used white whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour so I had to increase the amount of liquid I used from the base recipe.

So then, I present Chicken Italian Sausage and Cheddar Cheese Muffins:


Ingredients

• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
• 1 1/2 cup buttermilk at room temperature
• 1 egg at room temperature
  
• 2/3 cup canola oil
• 8 oz chicken Italian sausage (about two links)
• 1 1/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
   
2. Lightly grease a silicone muffin pan or lightly grease and flour a metal one.
   
3. Sift together flour, salt and baking powder, set aside.
   
4. Remove sausage from casing and cook in a deep saucepan. Heat until thoroughly cooked and then set aside on a plate to drain and cool.
   
5. In another bowl whisk together buttermilk, egg and oil.
6. Mix dry ingredients into egg mixture then fold in sausage and cheese.
7. Fill muffin tins and slightly round off tops of muffins.
8. Place pan in oven and reduce heat to 400 degrees. Cook for 20 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

Makes 12 muffins

These muffins are made of awesome and win. I think that they would be marvelous with some sautéed onions or even some onion or garlic powder mixed into the batter. I will be experimenting further and will post the results gleefully.

Best Pizza EVAR...

While in Canada I decided to try pizza. As background, I have a deep loathing of red sauce. Mainly, I hate tomatoes, having tried them multiple times in various incarnations and other than buried as an ingredient in a meal I don't like them. So when the idea of pizza was pitched my first response was "I don't like pizza". But then it was pointed out to me that there was a Chicken Tikka Masala pizza. My ears immediately perked, for Masala is my favorite Indian food.

The pizza, from what I recall, had the following statistics:
Crust: Wheat, very fluffy and thick with a balanced flavor of not "I taste like wheat flour".
Sauce: Tikka Masala sauce...made of yummy and win.
Toppings: Cheese (Mozzarella I think), grilled strips of chicken (mesquite grilled), red onions, green chilies, roma tomatoes.

It is worth noting that we ordered the pizza without the last three toppings, but I include them for the sake of seeing how awesome this pizza was. I plan on working on pizza dough ASAP, so that I can try to recreate this delectable dinner.

Vacation

The Kitchen Kitteh and TechBear are going to Canada for a few days. This means, sadly for you, that there will be no delicious treats made for a few more days. But when we return you can look forward to more cookies, some cakes (mmm...cheesecake) and maybe my recipe for berry cobbler. So stay tuned.

Chocolate Three Chocolate Chip Cookies

First, let me begin by saying that butter is very important. Now, if you grew up in the South like I did, you know that it's not "butt-er" it's pronounced "buttah". Buttah and sugah are two of the most important food groups on the Southern Food Pyramid, you see. That's why many of my recipes use both, even though I try to eat healthful foods most of the time. But everyone deserves a treat every once in a while, especially a Kitteh that loves chocolate. But for this recipe be sure to use all the butter it calls for, unless you substitute with apple sauce. A version doing so is slated for experimentation shortly.

I made these with CookWolf's help. CookWolf helps the Kitteh when he's not gorging on the tasty treats, like this one.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose white whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
  
• 2/3 cups milk chocolate chips or chunks
  
• 2/3 cups white chocolate chips or chunks
  
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup butter, softened
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In stand mixer cream the butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Anywhere from three to seven minutes, depending on your own taste. The lighter the better in my not at all humble opinion.
   
3. While mixing combine the dry ingredients and sift together thoroughly*. Stir mixture into butter concotion then fold in the various chocolates.
4. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes .
5. Let sit for about five minutes on the sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Be sure to enjoy one while they're hot and gooey. It's the best way.
   

Notes

• If you don't have a fancy flour sifter or a mesh colander or strainer, use a whisk to combine the ingredients. It works just as well, and sometimes it's faster.
• If you reduce the amount of butter from two sticks to thirteen tablespoons (one stick plus five tablespons), the dough can come out very dense. After being frozen and then thawed this dough makes wonderful cookie dough milkshakes. That is a matter for another post, however.
  

Introduction to the Intarwebs

First post, new blog. The purpose behind this is to chronicle my culinary experiments. After I perfect the recipe I'll post it here and hopefully even include some pictures.

About Me:
I am complete nutjob that manages to find some semblance of peace in cooking. The order of it appeals to my Obsessive-Compulsive side. This is my record, shared with you so that you can enjoy the trials I go through to craft glorious foods. Oh yes, there will be glory.