Guinness for Strength...in Cooking!

In 2009, I traveled to Ireland for an 8-day vacation with my friend Jeanine. While there was a lot to highlight there (though sadly, as you can imagine, the food is just so-so...one can only eat so much fish & chips) there were two standouts.

1) This picture which has come to signify all that is amazing about St. Patrick's Day, each and every year. He's disgruntled. He is fortunately never nude (but look at the sign behind him). I mainly put this here because it makes me happy without fail, every year.

2) The opportunity to visit the Guinness Storehouse and Factory in Dublin. What they say is true-it tastes better over there. I'm sure so much goes in to the transportation to the States and while the differences may seem minor, there's just something to be said for fresh beer. This is not to say I still don't enjoy a good Guinness here, but I really enjoy a good Guinness there.

In celebration of the upcoming holiday, here are two great Guinness food recipes to get you in the holiday spirit.

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes - I will be making these for a St. Patrick's Day house party next weekend.

Maple Stout Bread - If you like maple syrup, this is a great breakfast bread. It's easy to make and remains moist, which isn't the easiest thing to achieve with breakfast breads as they tend to dry out fast.

Beef & Guinness Stew - Can't say I've made this, but I pulled this from the Guinness Storehouse website to I have high hopes for its awesomeness.

Pucker Up: Part 1 of 2 - Lemon Poppyseed Cake

I have always been a fan of cooking classes. In fact, I usually seek them out when I'm traveling abroad because I think they add a nice element to the cultural and culinary immersion experience wherever I go. Thus far, I've taken cooking classes in Peru, Spain, and Thailand.

But you don't need to travel far to find great cooking classes! From "Cooking with Bacon" (I've taken two of those) to "Cajun Cooking," there are a bunch of great places to take cooking classes either by yourself, or with a partner in crime. My typical go-to places in the DC-area have included Sur La Table (which isn't just local, I believe they offer classes throughout the country) and the former Living Social event space (RIP). This time around, I went to Culinaerie, which I'd been to only once before in my 11 years in DC and that was for a sushi rolling class. February's venture to the class focused on a very specific ingredient: lemons.

During the course of the three-hour class, we learned to make three dishes that highlighted lemons. On this snowy Thursday, I'll focus on one that might make for a nice snowy day breakfast. I'll follow up with a second recipe from this class in my next post.

Lemon Poppyseed Cake (2-4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 4 TB butter, soft
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1/2 tsp. lemon extract
• 1/2  tsp. lemon zest
• Lemon juice plus enough buttermilk to equal 1/4 cup
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• pinch baking soda
• 1 TB poppy seeds

Syrup

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice

Glaze

• 3/4 powdered sugar
• Combination of water/milk/cream/lemon juice/limoncello to make a glaze

Directions:

First, let's make a cake!  Cream the butter and sugar until light. Add egg and blend. Then add the lemon zest and lemon extract.

Combine flour with baking powder and baking soda. Add flour mixture to butter, alternating with buttermilk/lemon juice. Start with the flour mixture and end with the flour mixture.

Fold in poppy seeds.

Pour batter into greased pan and bake at 350 degrees until the blade of a knife pulls out cleanly. Time will vary depending on what size of pan you use.

Here's how to make the syrup. Combine 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup lemon juice in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved and mixture is syrupy.

Here's how to make the glaze. Combine 3/4 powdered sugar with the liquid combo I mentioned above. It will need to be a balanced amount to make a heavy yet pourable glaze. Add liquid gradually to the powdered sugar, stirring well, until proper consistency is reached and no lumps remain.

Soak with syrup while still warm (this is optional, but we found the syrup kept the cake very soft for a few days in the refrigerator). Glaze if desired or simply dust with powdered sugar.

Date Night at Home in Four Dishes

 Now that we've passed the weekend of love, I feel enough time has passed to talk about two of my loves. 1) Cooking multi-course sophisticated meals at home as opposed to going out to eat on one of the busier restaurant date days (see: Valentine's Day); and 2) Achieving amazing time management skills in the kitchen.

When you're cooking multiple courses, time management can be extremely difficult. One key factor is having a partner in the kitchen to help execute multiple dishes at the same time. I'm happy to report that our date night at home effort was very successful in the area of time management. Not only did we execute a starter salad, a main dish with side, and a dessert in under 2 hours (when you count the time it takes to cook the sweet potatoes in the oven) we did so without any major disasters and little time wasted. We even had the dessert ready to go in the oven when we started the meal so once we were done eating 20 minutes later, dessert was ready.

In short, here is what we made and how we got it done. Our menu was as follows:

1) Lacinato Kale and Ricotta Salata Salad (courtesy of Epicurious, see recipe below)

2) Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin - a gem I've made multiple times.

3) Sweet Potato Puree with Smoked Paprika (also courtesy of Epicurious)

4) Maple Bacon Bread Pudding - I learned to make this during a cooking with bacon class last year

In order to execute this four course meal, I suggest starting by cooking the sweet potatoes in the oven as this will taken the most time to execute (1 hour). While those are cooking, I suggest opening a bottle of red wine. Because I said so. 

About halfway through the cooking time, and once you've enjoyed some wine, make the salad dressing and set aside. Then mix the herb topping for the pork tenderloin so that once the potatoes are removed from the oven, the meat is ready to cook. I also suggest cubing the bread for the bread pudding. Once you place the pork tenderloin in the oven,, you can also toast the bread cubes needed to make the bread pudding. I suggest assembling the bread pudding at the same time as when the meat is cooking so once that is done, you can place the ramekins filled with maple bacon bread pudding goodness in the oven so they'll be ready when you're done eating.

I know this sounds a bit complicated, but if you take a few minutes to plan your prep strategy for any multi-course meal, it can be done. Wine also helps.

Here's the kale salad recipe. It's awesome and I'll be making this again. The dressing also works well with arugula.

Lacinato Kale and Ricotta Salata Salad (serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 to 1 lb. lacinato kale (also called Tuscan kale) or tender regular kale, stems and center ribs discarded 
• 2 TB finely chopped shallot 
• 1 1/2 TB fresh lemon juice 
• 1/4 tsp. salt 
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper 
• 4 1/2 TB extra-virgin olive oil 
• 2 oz. coarsely grated ricotta salata (1 cup)

Directions:

Working in batches, cut kale crosswise into very thin slices.

Whisk together shallot, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a small bowl, then add oil in a slow stream, whisking until combined well.

Toss kale and ricotta salata in a large bowl with enough dressing to coat well, then season with salt and pepper.

A Celebration of Good Things - Food Recap

Back in September, I had a "celebration of good things." I wanted to achieve a few things with this rooftop party.

1) To celebrate good news I had recently received. From a good prognosis for my mom, good test results for myself, and just having life look pretty good, I felt it was a good excuse to throw a party.

2) To thank all the great friends I have here in DC who have been so supportive in the past year.

3) To have an excuse to make a ton of food to celebrate and be thankful for the above.

I made a lot of dishes that I promised I would post the links for the recipes. They are all dishes that I have made previously on this blog, many of which have become staples for me when having friends over for food.

And in case you're wondering why I chose to use this photo of me attempting a selfie with a less than happy llama at Machu Picchu? My answer is simply...why not? The picture always makes me smile, and hopefully it will do the same for you.

Here's the recipe rundown. I should give a quick shout out to my friend Nick Evans at www.macheesmo.com, since three of the recipes below are courtesy of his awesome blog.

Sticky Wings - I love this sweet and spicy rub on wings. I'm tempted to use this on bone-in chicken this winter.

Chickpea Orzo Salad - This is a great side dish for a picnic, and I often make it for weekday lunches.

Three Bean Avocado Salad - This works wonderfully as a summertime side dish, especially if you have access to a grill to char the corn, but it could easily be made without smoky, grilly access.

Peach Tomatillo Salsa - Love. This. If you're into canning, this would be a great recipe to try.

Tomato Jam - You should also can this.

Brown Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies - I make these cookies all the damn time and they never disappoint.

So while you shouldn't try to take a selfie with a pissed off llama, you should follow my lead in trying any number of these recipes soon.

A Cooking with Bacon Class...Featuring Maple Bacon Bread Pudding

 

Nothing says "Happy New Year" and "Happy Healthy Eating" and "This Is Going To Be The Year I Get Serious About Eating Healthy" like going to a Cooking with Bacon Class a few days after the New Years holiday. This is not the first such class I've taken. I first explored formal training in cooking with bacon (as opposed to being simply an enjoyer of this delicious piece of the pork) back when I started this blog two years ago. So I've had a long-standing appreciation of the swine.

This time around, I was joined by my foodie partner in crime and co-worker, Kaya, as we embarked on making four different dishes, with bacon highlighted as an essential ingredient. We took this class at Living Social and I imagine the two of us will venture back again soon before winter is over. This is Kaya on the right. She brings a certain Filipino Fantastic-ness to any experience.

As the instructor mentioned in class, sometimes it's best to start with dessert first. People fret over dessert (me being one of them) so why not get it out of the way early? And often it's one of those dishes that once it's prepared, you can just easily warm it up in the oven while you enjoy your main course.

I'll post another bacon-featured recipe later this week, but I imagine the other dishes will be made again at some point, and will appear back once my heart has been given a proper break from bacon-y goodness. Perhaps in a week or two. ;)

Maple Bacon Bread Pudding (serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 2 TB raisins
• 1 TB rum
• 3 TB warm water
• 3-4 strips maple-cured bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 6 cups stale French bread cubes
• 1 whole egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 TB vanilla extract 
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 2/3 cup milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Soak raisins in rum and water until softened. Drain and reserve raisins.

Cook the bacon in a small sauté pan until crispy. Set bacon aside and reserve bacon fat in a jar.

Toast the bread crumbs in an oven and once completed, place them into two ramekins, filling to just below the top of each.

Beat the egg and egg yolk together in a bowl. Then add maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg and 1 TB of reserved bacon fat. Stir to combine. Then stir in milk.

Sprinkle raisins and bacon pieces over bread cubes, mixing them lightly into the ramekins.

Ladle the egg/milk mixture over each of breaded ramekins. Ensure that the liquid is evenly distributed, stirly lightly. Do not overfill, but ensure bread is lightly covered.

Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned and puffed. Let cool and they will settle.

Top with ice cream. Just because. :)

Cajun Cooking: Bananas Foster

In Part Two of my Cajun Cooking segment, here is the recipe for Bananas Foster. I'm not normally a fan of bananas in dessert, but I did find this to be pretty good. We might have left the bananas on the heat a bit too long which made them caramelize, but it turned out ok. Or maybe it was the Abita beer talking...

Bananas Fosters (serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 1 TB unsalted butter 
• 1/8 cup dark brown sugar 
• 1/8 tsp ground allspice 
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg 
• 1/2 TB banana liqueur 
• 1 under ripe banana, sliced in half lengthwise 
• 1/8 cup dark rum 
• 1/4 tsp finely grated orange zest
• 1 scoop vanilla ice cream (optional)

Directions:

Melt butter in a 10-inch heavy skillet over low heat. 

Add brown sugar, allspice and nutmeg and stir until sugar dissolves. 

Add banana liqueur and bring sauce to simmer. 

Add bananas and cook for 1 minute on each side, carefully spooning sauce over bananas 

as they are cooking. Remove bananas from pan to a serving dish. 

Bring sauce to a simmer and carefully add the rum. If the sauce is very hot, the alcohol will 

flame on its own. If not, using stick flame, carefully ignite and continue cooking until flame 

dies out, approximately 1 to 2 minutes. If sauce is too thin, cook for 1 to 2 minutes until it is 

syrupy in consistency. 

Add orange zest and stir to combine. Immediately spoon the sauce over bananas and serve with waffles, crepes, or ice cream

Mocha Brownies

Brownies as bribes. That's what this recipe boiled down to. I wanted to make something sweet to help cushion the blow of projects upon projects at work, and help celebrate some birthdays. I'm not much of a baker...I much prefer to make something salty as opposed to sweet. However, one thing that is pretty easy to make is a good batch of brownies. I decided to forego the box mix (because who are we kidding, I couldn't put that up here as something I made this week!) and make one from scratch. I decided to try this recipe that I originally found on my friend Nick's blog (www.macheesmo.com) that he made from the Pioneer Woman Cookbook a few years back. Nick's version called for twice as much icing as I used, but considering a half batch of icing contained 2 cups of powdered sugar and a stick of butter, I figured I would be doing my diet a great disservice by loading these with iciing. So call this a "lighter" version if you will.

I also argued that they could count as a breakfast food since they contained coffee. Don't judge.

Mocha Brownies

Ingredients:

• 4 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
• 1/2 lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Mocha Icing:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temp
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/8 cup cocoa powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup brewed dark coffee, cooled to room temp

Directions:

Add butter and sugar to a bowl and beat it on medium speed with a mixer. After a few minutes the mixture should be light and fluffy.

Carefully and slowly melt chocolate in the microwave on low in 30 second increments. It took me about 2 minutes to melt it.

Add eggs one at a time to the creamed butter and mix together. Then mix in chocolate and vanilla.

Mix in your flour in a few batches. Just mix enough so the flour is incorporated.

Bake the brownies in a 9x13 inch baking pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Let brownies cool completely to room temperature before frosting them.

For frosting, mix butter, salt, vanilla, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl until well combined. Then stir in brewed coffee and mix until it's light and fluffy.

Frost the brownies. Chilling them in the refrigerator will help firm up the brownies and make them cut more easily. Enjoy for breakfast. Or whenever you need a coffee/sugar kick.

Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies

I've never had that much of a sweet tooth, but one thing I do have a soft spot for is the combination of sweet and salty. These cookies, which I've made once before, fulfill that craving. I'd love to say they are good for you, because they have fruit in them, and oatmeal lowers your blood pressure...but I'm thinking the large amount of butter counteracts all of that. But they are so worth it.

Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies (makes 3 dozen)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, browned
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup oat flour
• 3 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup dried cherries
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:

Add butter to a small saucepan over medium heat. Melt butter, stirring slowly. After butter melts, continue to cook for a few minutes until the butter solids start to brown. You'll know it's ready when you see it turn a caramel color and starts to smell nutty.

Pour off browned butter carefully and let it cool.

Mix together sugars with brown butter until they are smooth using a hand mixer. Beat in eggs one at a time and vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients except chocolate chips and cherries.

Slowly mix in dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Mix until just combined.

Stir in chocolate chips and cherries.

Spoon large tablespoons of cookie dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes until they are lightly browned around the edges.

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes-Oscars style

I am a big fan of cooking with beer. I think it adds a bit of bite to a lot of dishes, and it's something I always have in my fridge. Tonight I am hosting an Oscars party with a few friends and while there will be booze at the party, there will also be booze in one of the dishes. I'll post the rest of the recipes later this week, but to whet your appetite I'm also making buffalo cheesey bread and chorizo and smoked gouda stuffed jalapenos. Yep, I'm going all out. The Oscars is the only awards show I ever watch so I'll need the fuel!

I took this recipe for chocolate stout cupcakes and add my own Oscars-themed spin on it with concession candy. I picked up a few boxes of Reese's Pieces, Junior Mints and Whoppers and voila! Movie theme cupcakes. I'm pulling for The Artist to win for Best Picture tonight so many of these are black and white...in honor of a beautiful film.

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes (makes 24 cupcakes)

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa, plus more for dusting finished cupcakes
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups all-purposeflour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch fine salt
• 1 bottle stout beer (recommended: Guinness)
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 1 TB vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened at room temperature
• 3/4 to 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 (1-pound) box confectioners' sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt.

In another large mixing bowl, combine the stout, melted butter, and vanilla. Beat in eggs, 1 at time. Mix in sour cream until thoroughly combined and smooth. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.


Lightly grease 24 muffin tins. Divide the batter equally between muffin tins, filling each 3/4 full. Bake for about 12 minutes and then rotate the pans. Bake another 12 to 13 minutes until risen, nicely domed, and set in the middle but still soft and tender. Cool before turning out.

To make the icing:

In a medium bowl with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the heavy cream. On low speed, slowly mix in the confectioners' sugar until incorporated and smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. Icing can be made several hours ahead and kept covered and chilled. Top each cupcake with a heap of frosting and your favorite concession candy!