Day 3: Food for a Master

Pimento Cheese, that was the subject of today’s outing. Made famous to me by the Great Papa Watts, this wonderful food has always been a hit and miss for me. Sometimes you get it at the store and it's wonderful, other times it puts you off of the whole thing for months at a time. It took a little bit of research to find out why this was.

Pimento Cheese is a southern United States delicacy, most popular around Georgia, and it must be made fresh to be truly enjoyed. Many people it turns out get upset over the thought of store bought pimento cheese. Many families have recipes going back several generations and closely guard them. Even the Augusta National Golf Club has a recipe that is used for The Masters every year, because Pimento Cheese Sandwiches are the official food of the event. So lets get started with the most basic recipe and then well have some fun.

Pimento Cheese

8oz Shredded Cheddar Cheese
4oz Jarred Pimento Peppers (Drained)
1/4 Cup of Mayonnaise
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Basically you just mix all this together and BOOM, you got it. But wait, that was too easy you say. Well lets talk about each ingredient one at a time for the cheese is only as good as it's parts.

I am ashamed to say that I short cutted out and got preshreeded cheese, but in my defense, I was in a made crazy hurry this day. You really should use a block of cheese and shred it your self on the courses greater you have. Now often people will substitute cheeses and I say more power too them. The most common substitution is a mix of cheddar and Colby jack, but you could use anything. A pepper jack would be the cats meow, and might be my next try. 

Pimentos, do you know what they are? A pimento is a large Cherry Pepper, and unlike other peppers it tends to be sweet instead of hot. Cut up and jarred with a little water these buggers just can't go wrong. Could you buy the whole peppers and dice them yourself, well yes. But the jarred type tend to be sweeter and mix better.

Mayonnaise, use real mayonnaise, that is all.

Salt and pepper is the place to begin. I also put some paprika in mine to brighten it up. Could you put other stuff, I should hope so. I have seen recipes with garlic, ginger, pickles, mustard, cream cheese, fresh herbs, and even BACON. Oh Bacon you make everything better. Run away with me Bacon and we'll start a new life together, far away from.....

Well now we have the cheese, what do you do with it? Put it on a Ritz and enjoy, spread it between pieces of white bread and cut off the crusts, then pretend you are at a fancy party. Or go for the gusto and do what I did. GRILLED CHEESE WITH BACON ON POTATO BREAD!!!!!!!

Would I make this again: Very much plan to.

Music: Just the sizzling sounds of bacon cooking. It's audible wonder lulling me off to a dream land of ….

Day 2: B&B

This was a perfect evening, a wonder to behold. And it came at the end of a very long day. I opened at the restaurant ant 5Am and worked till about noon. Then came home to discover the the power company had shut off all power to our complex till whenever they feel like it. So I'm hot from work, and because my apartment is 80°, and I need to go shopping but the fridge is off so I don't want to open it to add new food or look to see what I have. So what do I do? I bust out my Kindle and look up better and better recipes for that nights dish, Beef and Broccoli. And do you know what I found? I found wonderful, and wonderfully complicated recipes. Then I cam across this gem at cookingpanda.com, a web site devoted to Fun and easy recipes. 

Well the power came back on, I went shopping and low and behold it was a wonderful excuse to go to 99 Ranch. 99 Ranch is a wonderful Asian Grocery Store located on I10 here in Houston, and they have the most wonderful things. Fresh Produce, they got it all, things you have never heard of, and so many fresh herbs. Live seafood? Yes. The butcher has out prefrozen and cut meats, and that’s why I went. You know at the Chinese food restaurants they have this slices of pork or chicken or beef cooked up, and you always wonder how they get it cut so thin, well they freeze it first, and here you can get anything you want pre sliced for you, all wonderful wok wok cooking.

I also got some Pork Steam Buns an some Lo Mein Noodles, and a Melon Soda. This is when Whittney came over with the rest of the groceries.

Beef and Broccoli
*1/2 lb flank steak
* 1 tbsp lite soy sauce
* 1 tsp sugar
* 1 tsp canola oil
* 1 tsp corn starch, activated with 1 tsp water
* 4 cups broccoli florets and stems, chopped and tough parts removed
* 2 tbsp peanut oil
* 1/2 tsp ginger bulb, grated
* 1 garlic clove, minced
* 1 tbsp organic oyster sauce
* 1/4 tsp sea salt
* 1/4 fresh ground black pepper
* 1 tbsp rice wine


Now to cooking, first thing I did was to poach the veggies. This means to add them to boiling water for about 60 seconds then move them to ice water to stop the cooking. This gets them nice and bright colors and cooked, but not mushy. I used broccoli and carrots. Then I used that same water to cook off the noodles. They were packet noodles that only needed about 2 minutes in the water. Those went aside in a colander and I made up some soy based sauce to cover them. Whittney was spending this time making super fine Cream Cheese Wontons.

Blanch not Blanche  

Whittney making wontons. 

Then take the beef and the next four ingredients and marinade the beef, about 20 min. then add oil to your wok, it says peanut but I used veggie. Toss the garlic and ginger in and just get them cooing before adding the beef. When the beef is almost done add the oyster sauce and then the rice wine. Now we had no rice wine, and all it dose is help thicken the sauce so I used a slurry instead, just a splash. Slurry is a mix of water and corn starch or flour. Then I tossed in the veggies and it was done.

Beef, it's whats for Dinner 

 Tools of the trade

We cooked Jasmine Rice and the steam buns in the rice cooker, and fried up the Wontons in the wok and before you knew it we had a meal.

 You Noodle Head!

 Best Picture EVER!

Also a good picture 

Melon Soda, we took shots of it.  

That is when Scotty Boy showed up. Scotty is a friend in medical school, and Whittney felt he needed a little home cooking. SO with that the eating began and let me tell you it was mighty fine. The evening was topped off by ice cream sandwiches and youtube. I cooked, I eat, I laughed so hard, and it was a wonderful end to a long day.

Would I Make it Again? You bet your sweet buns I would.

The Evenings Music: This night was underscored by my Linger Pandora radio station. Linger of course being the Cranberries song, the whole station is a wonderful mix of sixpence none the richer and Dido. Nothing too strenuous.

Day 1: Dude, That's Deep.

OK this was yesterday, because I never got around to typing this up but I started cooking. 30 days is going to go so fast I can already tell. Last night I was invited over to the wonderful house of the Waite's, so good friends, to cook for them. And what did we cook you ask? Well Chicago style Deep Dish Pizza of course.

Deep Dish Pizza was first made in Chicago and it's exact origins are a bit of a point of contention, it's deliciousness is not. One of the only major differences between the deep dish dough and the regular dough is the addition of corn meal to the mix. Also people have been know to add yellow food coloring to get the dough a golden color. Deep dish is cooked in a pan closer to a cake pan then a pizza one, and tonight we made ours in spring form pans. This made it very easy to remove and cut as well as ensured extra deepness.

Now to make Deep Dish you start with the dough, and I looked around for a bit before deciding that most deep dish recipes are the same, just like most regular pizza dough recipes. This one claims to be the Gino’s East recipe from Chicago. I can not verify, but it worked for us.


Deep Dish Pizza Dough

1 cup of warm water
1 package yeast
1/2 cup cornmeal or corn flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 T corn oil
2 ½ to 3 cups of cheap generic flour
Yellow food coloring – the real secret to why its yellow.

Take the water and put it in your mixer. add yeast and a touch of sugar. Let the yeast foam up to be sure that it is active. Then add the rest of the ingredients including 2 1/2 cups flour. I usually end up adding between 1/4 and 1/2 teaspoons of yellow food coloring. Using a dough hook, kneed the dough until it is well combined. If the dough is sticky add a little more flour.


Now at this point the recipe says to let the mixer knead the dough for 10 minutes, but that is just way too long. I took it out and worked it by hand for about 2 and then put it in a greased bowl to rise for an hour. Now instead of letting it rise you can put it in the fridge, witch is called retarding the rise, over night. This lowers the temperature and slows down the yeast, giving it more time to work without it eating all you sugars. This gives you more flavor development and a more malty flavor. I'm told it tastes more like beer.


Preheat your oven to 350 and melt some butter. Then take your pan and brush all that melty buttery goodness all over the inside. Roll out you dough and press in on in there. Now some people will have you think that just pushing the dough into the pan and then up the sides is going to be OK. But I can tell you that it IS NOT! Whenever you are placing, emphasis on PLACING, a rolled dough into a pan, you have to fold in the corners. This means make sure the bottom is flat and then fold back the sides and the n fold them back up so that the crease is right in the corner. This prevents the dough from slopping as it cooks, and sliding down to the middle.

Cheese Barrier and the Impenetrable Pepperoni. 

Look at those 'shrooms in the grease. MMMMMMMMM. 

That's right, that is cilantro in that Pizza.

Now place your Cheese in the dough. This is important because your cheese will be a barrier to the dough, keep it from getting soggy. Now you toppings and then you sauce. That’s right a revers order. As you pizza cooks some of the cheese may make a might journey up through the toppings and into the sauce. It is to be applauded for the effort and eaten with much joy.

We made to pies last night, one peperoni and bacon, and the other mushroom and sausage. I cooked the mushrooms in the leftover bacon grease, very good. I topped both pies with cheese and backed for about 30-45 minutes. When they looked done I turned on the broiler and cooked the tops, just for kicks. Let the pies sit for 10 minutes or so before cutting into. We used can sauce, witch tasted great but was a little runny, there was a bit of water runoff when we cut into the pies. I would suggest reducing the sauce or using a thicker sauce for this endeavor. But we live and we learn and we eat, and boy did we eat.

No complaints, high praises all around, and a wonderful night for everyone.

Would I make it again? Yes, in a heart beat.

The evenings music. The evening was serenaded by Gary Jones and the Waite Family Band. Rock Band 3 on the Wii was a big hit during the night, mostly 80's hits, but lots of fun.

Calling an Audible

Well we had a great night making Deep Dish Pizza witch you will hear all about in the morning, because it's late and I have to open the Restaurant in a few hours. then tomorrow I will not be making risotto. I am changing it to Beef and Broccoli. Why, Because I want to eat Chinese.

I'm With the Band

There has been some Interest in Being my DJ or providing the Tunes during the times that I cook. Let me just say that this would be the Bomb, quite possible the Bomb Diggidy. There is one catch however, I will not always be cooking around dinner time. sometimes I will be cooking in the morning, or the afternoon, or at night. So if you are totally interested in providing the Jams for a certain night, or day, and you can submit a modest proposal (AKA, tell me in advance) I do not see a problem, with this.

Also if you would want to host one of the days, as in I cook in you kitchen this works too. I would be all too happy to come over and do my cooking for you. But you must be able to host any DJs, Band Members or Designated Eaters who also want in on said day. Other then that I think it's a great idea.

Keep the questions and encouragement coming along with suggestions of things I need to try and cook. And remember to be Excellent to Each Other.  

Designated Eater Program (DEP)

For the course of this blog we will be using the Designated Eater Program. If you would like to come over and eat stuff that I make let me know in advance, fill out a form, submit it in triplicate, and I will get back to you. Remember to keep an eye on the Side bar for a list of upcoming recipes and days. 

DEP

The Designated Eater Program or the DEP as we refer to it around here is a great way to participate in Local Food Activities (LFA). The program provides eater to local cooks who like to cook for other people. It benefits both parties, as the eater gets to enjoy wonderful food and the Cook gets to sit back and listen to everyone tell them how good their food is. Like most artist Cooks are notoriously distrustful of the validity of anything they do. They need your validation and Praise to continue producing Wonderful Culinary Treats (WCT). 

To apply simply fill out the form below and submit it to your local Cook. 

Name:

Date:

Favorite Food:

Food Allergies:

Eating History:

Special Skills:

Eating Habits:

What will you Bring to the Table:

Complete the Following Sentences.

1.That was the best meal ever. I eat like a _____________.

2. OH my gosh, are you putting __________ in that? I love __________!

3.  (Write your own Sentence)

Essay

In your own words Describe what makes you qualified to eat food. 

Why Am I So OLD!!!!!!!?

Well the end is upon us. The last days of an Era. Let the men drink toasts in the halls, and the women weep in the streets. Soon people will ask each other where they were when it happened, you should make sure to know where you were. You heard rumors that it was coming, but you were sure the Mayans were right and were hoping that the world had ended before this time came.

I'm Turning 30!

breath....breath....and ok.

Contrary to popular belief I am OK with this..... mostly. In fact I have decided to celebrate it even. so in the tradition of many great people, some of whom I even know, I have decided to do a Thirty for Thirty blog. You know the ones, where you do 30 cool things the 30 days before you turn 30. And in the tradition of most things Jon, this blog is about Food. 

Thirty Dishes that I have NEVER EVER Cooked Before. 

That's Right, you heard it hear first, I'm Cooking 30 days in a row. Sounds great right, sounds like you want to be there to try every single dish. well you can't, because I'm selfish and you are so far away. But wait, you say you live near by, well in that case maybe you should come over for dinner some night, or lunch, or whatever. That's right I'm inviting you to come join in. I am willing to share some of the spoils with you, but I need something from you in return, I need to think of 30 things I have never Cooked before. So give me a call, send me a text, drop me an email, I even accept telegrams. 

That's not the best part even, the best part is that I will be sharing the recipes and the experience with you here on my blog. That's right, even those of you who made the poor decision not to live your life within driving distance of me can still enjoy the experience of cooking with me. We will have photos, food histories, and even links to the music i listen too while cooking. The cooking Music is the most important part of cooking. 

So pull up a Plate and grab a Chair, it's time to eat.