Chocolate Mousse Cake @ Au Coquelet Cafe
posted by snekse

This isn't really a review of the Au Coquelet Cafe in Berkeley, CA. It's just me espousing my love for a certain menu item there. The Chocolate Mousse Cake A.K.A. "Chocolate Butter"^TM.

Cutting through this "cake" is very similar to cutting through butter that is chilled, but not cold - firm, yet yielding. In the mouth it has a slight chew, but mostly melts smoothly over your tongue. It's a very dense, yet light mousse that borders on being ganache. This dessert as a whole is just a paradox.

If anyone has this recipe, PLEASE . The closest thing I've found so far is the Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte from The Cake Bible . The torte is good, but isn't as silky as the Chocolate Butter^TM which literally melts in your mouth.

RELATED LINKS:
A Foodie's Week in San Francisco
Chocolate Butter^TM pictures

Labels: Best Of, RECIPES, RESTAURANTS, San Francisco

RECIPE: Homemade Kalua Coffee Liqueur
posted by snekse

What you need to make Kalua

I know there are lots of recipes out there, but this is the one we use. I can't say how it stacks up to the others, I can just tell you it's good. Very good. And it gets oh so much better with age. Like aged balsamic vinegar. Both go well over a bowl of vanilla ice cream.

The ingredients:

3 1/2 Cups of sugar
2/3 Cup of instant coffee (preferably Yuban)
2 Cups of boiling water
2 Cups of brandy
1 vanilla bean - split
Cheese Cloth
2 sterilized bottles - 1 liter each with resealable lids

Instructions:

Mix the sugar with the instant coffee in a large bowl.
Add the boiling water to the sugar and coffee mixture.
Stir until dissolved.
Add brandy to the mixture in the bowl, stir, then wait 5 minutes.
Use cheese cloth to strain the mixture into a second container. Preferably one with a pour spout.
Pour the strained liquid into the sterilized bottles.
Leave room at the top of the bottles to allow you to shake the liquid and reclaim the sediment.
Split your vanilla beans and add half of the bean to each bottle.
Let it age for at least 3 months.

That's it!

RELATED LINKS:
Kahlúa - the real deal
HOW TO: Make Wonton Soup - A photo recipe
HOW TO: Make Joong
HOW TO: Make Clarified Butter v2.0
HOW TO: Make Salt Steak

Tags || KAHLÚA | RECIPE | COFFEE LIQUEUR | KALUA | HOW TO | BOOZE | more... |

Labels: how to, INSTRUCTIONAL, RECIPES

RECIPE: Ultimate Mac-n-Cheese
posted by snekse

Recently Paul Urban and the rest of his crew at Darwin Bistro won the Ultimate Mac & Cheese Challenge at the Comfort Food Classic. Paul was nice enough to share his winning recipe with me and has also agreed to let me share it with our readers.

INGREDIENTS:
8 oz. cooked pasta (shells)
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup Bechamel (see below)
1/4 cup Havarti cheese - grated
1/4 cup white cheddar - grated
5 ea. p&d shrimp (16/20 count)
1/2 oz. langostino meat
2 teaspoons truffle oil (preferably white)
1/5 cup chopped mushrooms
1 oz. caramelized onions
2 tsp. chopped garlic
2 tsp. chopped shallot
1 oz. white wine
1 crab claw for garnish
shaved Grana Padano for garnish
1 green onion sliced razor thin and shocked for garnish
salt & pepper to taste
1 tsp. canola or blended oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

* get a large saute pan hot with blended oil in it, medium heat. add the garlic and shallot and saute until lightly browned, then add the onion and mushroom.
* saute vegetables until 90% cooked, about 2 minutes and deglaze with white wine.
* return the pan to the heat and reduce the wine - 2 minutes. Add your bechamel and cream. Allow the bechamel and cream at least 2 minutes to combine and slightly thicken.
* add your shrimp and langostino meat to the Bechamel, continue to simmer 2 minutes.
* add both Havarti and white cheddar to the pan and toss to combine and melt
* add the noodles, truffle oil and s&p, toss to combine.
* taste and adjust seasoning

** to plate - pour the pasta into a bowl. stab the meat end of the claw into the pasta and garnish with grana and prepared green onions.

For the Béchamel Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk (1%)
1 oz. butter
1 oz. flour
1 tsp. of each of the following:
chopped garlic
chopped shallot
fresh thyme
fresh rosemary
1 oz. white wine
1 tsp. olive or canola oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

*in a small pan, melt the butter and add the flour. whisk to combine until a pale yellow consistency forms. Set this pan aside.
*in a sauce pot, sautee all remaining dry ingredients in oil over medium heat
*when fragrant - about 2 minutes, deglaze with white wine
*after wine has reduced, add cream and milk and bring just to a simmer
*simmer for approximately 10 minutes, stirring occasionally
*vigorously whisk in roux and simmer an additional 5 minutes until thickened
*pass bechamel through a fine mesh strainer while still hot

yield: 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup

Thanks to Paul for sharing this recipe. If you make it, share your pictures with us and we'll post them here.

Tags || RECIPE | MAC-N-CHEESE | DARWIN BISTRO | PAUL URBAN | COMFORT FOOD | CONTEST | more... |

Labels: COMPETITION, CONTEST, RECIPES

HOW TO: Make Joong - a photo recipe
posted by snekse

HOW TO: Make Joong

As a supplement to last week's article, "HOW TO: Make Wonton Soup - A photo recipe", I'm posting another tutorial with the help of my mother-in-law.

Joong is basically a form of sticky rice, wrapped in waxy leaves with edible goodies, that's been boiled for several hours. Tastes much better than it sounds.

Or if you want Wikipedia's definition:

Glutinous rice (Oryza sativa var. glutinosa or Oryza glutinosa; also called sticky rice, sweet rice, waxy rice, botan rice, mochi rice, and pearl rice) is a type of short-grained Asian rice that is especially sticky when cooked. It is called glutinous in the sense of being glue-like or sticky and not in the sense of containing gluten; on the other hand, it is called sticky but should not be confused with the other varieties of Asian rice that become sticky to one degree or another when cooked...

Zongzi (pronounced "joong" or "choong" in Cantonese) is a Chinese dumpling consisting of sticky rice and sweet or savoury fillings wrapped in leaves which is then boiled or steamed, commonly eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival.

This recipe isn't quite as in depth as the wonton instructions, but it will get you where you need to go.

HOW TO: Make Joong - A photo recipe

Tags || GFC | FOOD | DOOUNG | JOONG | STICKY RICE | WONTON SOUP | more... |

Labels: how to, INSTRUCTIONAL, RECIPES

HOW TO: Wonton Soup
posted by snekse

HOW TO: Wonton Soup

Taking full advantage of the fact that my mother-in-law is in town, I talked her into making wonton soup and talked my wife into photographing it step-by-step.

Since it's a photo recipe, I've hosted it on Flickr. You can see the photos and instructions in my HOW TO: Wonton Soup set.

Luckily she made it just in time for the "Soup, Glorious Soup!" event hosted by A Veggie Venture

My thanks to The Amateur Gourmet's "70 Steps To Foie Gras Torchon" and Pim's "Pad Thai for beginners" for inspiring this post.

So that covers the soup portion of our slogan. Mischief and Mayhem are slated over the next couple of weeks.

RELATED LINKS:
HOW TO: Make Joong - a photo recipe

Tags || WONTON SOUP | RECIPE | CHINESE | SOUP | WON TON SOUP | FOOD | more... |

Labels: how to, INSTRUCTIONAL, RECIPES

The Celebrity Pasta Lovers' Cookbook
posted by snekse

File this under Carbs For A Cause. Barilla has decided to disguise a marketing campaign as a charitable fund raising cause. Not that I mind, but where's the button on their website encouraging people to donate their own money as well? And a cap of $100k - seems a little low to me for such a large company.

But whatever, a free cookbook with recipes create by two people who actually know a thing or two about quasi-authentic Italian cooking is cool with me. For some lighter reading, also check out Anthony Bourdain's thoughts on Mario Batali, Giada De Laurentiis and the rest of the Food Network's well respected and/or "Ready-Made bobblehead" personalities.

The Celebrity Pasta Lovers' Cookbook is available here, free of charge, through February 2007. For each person who downloads a copy of the cookbook, Barilla will donate $1 to America's Second Harvest - The Nation's Food Bank Network, with a total donation up to $100,000. Barilla has been a supporter of America's Second Harvest since 1997, donating over 5 million pounds of pasta for distribution among more than 200 member food banks serving all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

Download the Free Celebrity Cookbook Recipes by Giada De Laurentiis and Mario Batali.

Tags || GFC | FOOD | GIADA DE LAURENTIIS | MARIO BATALI | FREE | RECIPES | more... |

Labels: FREE, RECIPES

RECIPE: Salt Steak
posted by snekse

Our little experiment making Salt Steak. [Recipe(s) below]

Preparing the dry ingredients

That's a lot of salt

Rock salt*, Peppercorns, Lemon Pepper
*Course Sea Salt actually

Pardon me....

This is an implied provision

The setup - notice the newspaper

Yeah, that's me

And that's just HALF of the mustard!

The slather

The rub

One side down

More mustard

More "rub"

All set

And now to wrap it

A little tape....

A little more....

Okay, a lot of tape...

Hmmm, got my self a little buoy

Not a problem, just grab a plate


         _.(-)._
      .'         '.
     /             \     
     |'-...___...-'|
      \    '='    /
       `'._____.'`
        /   |          
       /.--'|'--.    
    []/'-.__|__.-'\[]
            |
            []

We forgot to take pictures of the wrapped steak cooking on the grill, so this is my rendition of the event

After being unwrapped; ew, looks a little boiled!?

Scrape off the mustard and salt


         _.(-)._
      .'         '.
     /             \     
     |'-...___...-'|
      \    '='    /
       `'._____.'`
        /   |          
       /.--'|'--.    
    []/'-.__|__.-'\[]
            |
            []
Put'er back on the grill

Mmmmmmmm, S-T-E-A-K

We used the recipe below, but this recipe (found after the fact) is a little more complete.

Salt Steak (Serves 4)
1 T-Bone 1 1/2-2 inches thick
2 jars lemon pepper seasoning
2 jars peppercorn
2 jars grey poupon
A roll of masking take 1/2 inch thick
5 sheets (whole) newspaper (black & white)
Bag of Rock Salt (8.82 oz. Tidman Natural)

Mix dry ingredients together. Take steak and lay on paper. Rub entire jar of Grey Poupon on one side of steak. Take handful of dry ingred. and place on Grey Poupon side. Take steak and flip to other side (so Mustard side on paper). Repeat on other side with mustard and dry ingred. Fold like a present. Tape entirely with tape and soak (submerge) in lukewarm water for 10-15 minutes. Place directly on med. hot coals until paper catches fire - flip over so other side catches fire. Take off coals. Remove paper and all salt and mustard off steak. Place steak on grill rack until done. Approx. 8-10 minutes. It sounds bizarre but this steak is great!

NOTES: Taping the entire steak in tape is unnecessary. The second recipe I found stated to use the tape more like "ribbon on a Xmas present". I think wrapping the entire thing is more for effect then anything else. Next time I try this I may just use chicken wire and/or butcher's twine. I'm sure you could just use aluminum foil too, but where's the fun in that? Hmmm, maybe cardboard....

As for the taste, it was delicious. One of the better steaks I've had. Very succulent and tender. Personally I thought the mustard was understated and the salt was a tad overpowering, but overall, very good. A slight mustard crust would have been tasty. I might have been too zealous on scraping the toppings off before the final grilling, but I think scraping everything off and actually basting a little mustard back on is the way to go.

Some garlic (fresh, dehydrated, or garlic salt) would have been a nice addition, though I'd probably omit it if I added Worcestershire sauce as the second recipe did. And I'd put rosemary on anything.

When it comes to procuring the ingredients, give yourself some lead time. Food grade rock salt is not easy to come by. We actually used granular sea salt which is a much smaller grain the rock salt. As for the steak, a T-Bone is too small, even at 2" think. A porterhouse, maybe - the point being that a larger diameter is certainly needed such as a sirloin or ribeye. Anything that is 0.5 lb per person (or more) should sufice.

Happy Grilling :-D

Tags || RECIPE | STEAK | OMAHA | STEAK RECIPES | FOOD | GFC | more... |

Labels: how to, INSTRUCTIONAL, RECIPES

Fun with Frushi
posted by snekse

Fun with Fushi

Okay, it wasn't really all that fun. In fact it was kind of a pain. Worth it? Not from a taste perspective. I mean come on, it's just fruit and rice, how good can it get? Not good enough for the work to out do the reward, unless you're a sushi making fool, or just a fool in general. It certainly has that "Wow!" factor though.

For those of you who don't live in my little world, Frushi is simply fruit and rice made to look like sushi. The idea was popularized by a small restaurant called Orange in Chicago. They're also known for their pancake flights which feature four stacks of silver dollar pancakes dressed completely different with one common weekly-changing theme.

Anyway, my office department decided to have a food day with a little competition for the best breakfast dish. Since they had multiple categories, I figured Frushi was a shoe-in for the "most original" prize. Since it won the prize, I figure that makes it GFC worthy (ignoring the fact that I was the only one to enter that category :-] ).

So what did I learn?

Well first off, you might need to experiment. I attempted the rice on Monday and Thursday night and still made modifications on Friday morning (the actual day of the competition). The recipe I found was a good starting point, but it had *way* to much liquid in it. The rice just didn't want to stay together. Also, a sushi mat is pretty much a necessity. We didn't have one, so I had to rig up a box like device out of cardboard and parchment paper. Very tough.

Nigiri is very hard to make. It was surprisingly difficult to get the rice to stay together for something that looks so simple.

Cantaloupe looks like pickled ginger when sliced paper thin and Blackberries look like fish roe when cored and quartered. You can filet a strawberry (kinda) to look like fish (kinda). A 2-to-1 ratio of a flavored honey and apple cider vinegar makes a nice "glaze" that you can put on stuff to sweeten it up with a little something extra. Ginger Ale works to keep rice from sticking to your hands and knife. Asian Apple Pears are yummy.

*** UPDATE ***
So what does the real deal taste like? Take a peek - Frushi at Orange!

RELATED LINKS:
Frushi Pictures