Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Strawberry-Rose Wine Cooler

Okay...so I've got a crap few weeks coming up and I'm posting a quick recipe really quick.  It´s a wine cooler that I made the other day when I was eating Italian food and didn't want straight up red wine. So this I decided to  make a wine cooler with strawberries and rose water.


Strawberry Rose Wine Cooler

¼ cup red wine
½ cup white wine
¼ cup sugar 
½ Tbsp lemon juice
10 drops of rose water
1/3 cup water
5 strawberries pureed

Basically puree the strawberries with water and sugar.  Add in the wine and shake well.  Serve in a glass with ice or in a wine glass.  Make sure it's cold!


That's all folks! :D
~Kyle~

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Chocolate Soufflé

Okay...so I've had the most stressful awful week so far including vomiting, dealing with internet repair, and other crap...boo.  So I'm literally sitting in class right now writing a blog post because tomorrow I'm going to get to squeeze in as much studying as possible and then sleep...sweet baby jesus the sleep!

Anywho...here ya go...Chocolate Souffle...it's still in the process of being made perfect but hopefully this will work well enough.


Chocolate Soufflé


Whites
3 whites
¼ tsp tartar
½ cup powdered sugar

Yolks
3 yolks
5 Tbsp Butter
½ cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
2-3 Tbsp soy flour
3 Tbsp cake flour
¼ cup milk or cream

Preheat the oven to 275-290 Fahrenheit

First you have to separate the egg whites from the egg yolks.  You can do this using the cradle method where you break the egg into two halves and move the yolk from side to side gently to remove all the whites. I prefer just using my hand though.  It's so much easier...although you have to wash your hands after.

 Now you have to beat the egg whites to firm peaks and then once there slowly beat in the powdered sugar and after it's mixed, beat it well until it's stiff peaks like meringue.


Now you need to whip together your yolks, sugar, and butter until it is a nice light yellow color to help incorporate air.  


Now you just have to slowly beat int he rest of the ingredients in this order: Milk and water soluble ingredients, cocoa powder, flours. That should be the last of the ingredients.


Now you have to move the yolks mixture to the whites so you can begin folding in the ingredients.


Okay so to fold you have to move the spatula by moving it in circles down one side of the bowl, scrape the bottom, bring it up the other side and fold it over.  That's where the name comes from.



Continue mixing it up and turning the bowl mixing until the mixture is uniform.


Now move it to a ramekin (Ramekin Wiki) and you can oil and flour it if you want....I never do.





Now place the ramekins into a metal pan that is deep enough and fill the pan half-way up the ramekins with hot water. This is the hot-water bath and keeps the souffle from burning and cooks well all the way through.  This technique is common with eggs such as ring poaching, souffles, custards, etc.


Now just cook it in the oven until it rises and has cooked about an hour or until it is cooked through.  You can check with a toothpick...but don´t expect it to come out completely clean.


When you remove it from the oven VERY carefully so that it does not fall. Let it cool about 15 minutes and then you can eat it. It should be somewhere between the consistency of custard and chocolate cake.  I like to think of it as being the same texture of chocolate lava cake.


Done!!!
Kyle! ~

Friday, September 24, 2010

Tortillas Hechas a Mano

Oh man...it's been forever since I've posted a blog post it seems. I've been dealing with all sorts of random crap. I have fallen into the habit of not taking down my recipes like before, but have pulled my mental resources to get back into the habit of documenting recipes.

The other night I wanted Mexican (A rare occasion for me), so I decided on the easiest thing, tortillas.  When I went to Guatemala I learned a thing or two about making Mesoamericano food because these people were in the middle of nowhere in Guatemala.  They also had very lightly flavored star anise bread...but that's another blog post.

Aaaaaaaaaanywho...on to the blogpost.

Hand-made tortillas
Tortillas Hechas a Mano


2 Cups flour
2 Tbsp Lard (preferably fresh pork lard skimmed from the top of stock [tastes better])
½ tsp salt
8 Tbsp water

Basically it's a simple flat bread.  So first like any flour fat combo bread stuff, cut the lard into the flour and salt.  I tend to use lard I skim off the top of pork stock that I make from pork ribs that I've cooked for like 5 hours in a boiling pot. After the lard is cut in slowly add in the water and mix the solution until it is a dough ball.


Now knead the dough for about 5 minutes of until it is a very smooth dough ball and then cut it into 4-8 pieces.


Now all you need to do is roll the dough pieces out into perfect circles using a rolling pin, or if you want to be traditional you can use your hands to shape them like they do traditionally in America. If you do use your hands they will be a lot thicker than if you use a rolling pin.


Now you need to heat up a large flat non-stick pan on the oven and grease it.  I usually start at medium high heat and them reduce it to medium.


Now all you need to do once it is flat enough you can move it over to the pan and start cooking it.


Now all you have to do is cook the tortilla until it barely browns in spots on one side and is almost cooked all the way through.


Now flip it over and cook it on the other side to about the same.


Now all you take it off and lightly brush each side with water and cover it with a moist paper towel.


That's about it! That's how you make tortillas yo!

Cya!
KYLE!! :D

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Italian Macaroni and Cheese

Mmm...So guess what?! The internet is down at the house.  This is like the six-hundreth thing to go wrong.  I'm convinced my roommate is actually cursed.  Seriously....ever since he moved in everything is breaking.... T^T

Anyway. My school life is taking up a lot of blog time and I have to have internet to blog.  So the only time I can blog is at someone's house or at the GCSC.  But nonetheless I decided to do a blog post for this one.

Italian Macaroni and Cheese


2 cups of dried pasta preferably macaroni
¼ cup Colby cheese
1 - 1½ cups of cheddar cheese
 ½ cup mozzarella
1/8 cup parmesan
3 cups milk
1 Italian Sausage cooked and sliced
1/8 sautéed onion
1 Tbsp spaghetti sauce

First you have to cook the sausage through so you can place it in the macaroni.  Once it's cooked, chop it into small pieces and place it and some macaroni noodles within a  bread pan and mix it with the cheeses.  Now put in the other things and pour milk over it.


Bake the macaroni in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour or until golden brown and almost all the water is absorbed by the pasta. 


Cover it and let it sit about 15 - 20 minutes.


Now you can eat it! YAY!


Okay...now I suppose I should go home and start working on my next blog post thing!

Lovesies!
Kyle!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Mediterranean Pork Burger


Okay...I've been slacking on recipes recently because I'm still a bit off and stuff. IDK....I spent 4 1/2 hours cleaning house Saturday and felt like crap. the end....time for the bloody recipe.

Mediterranean Pork Burger

½ Tbsp Butter
2 tsp Greek Yogurt
1/4 tsp of Mint
1/4 tsp of Dill
1/4 tsp of Oregano
Small pinch of Cumin
¼ tsp Garlic
Dash of Black pepper
Average pinch of Sage
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp chopped Golden Raisins
1 English muffin
1/3 lb of pork
Blue cheese or Cæsar dressing for the top

It's a burger...mix it all together... except the dressing and the english muffin.  Grill it. Toast the english muffin. Put it on the english muffin.  Put on the dressing.... the end...


Enjoy! It was pretty good and sorry about the short post...I'm just freaking out.

Best wishes from your friend,
Kyle S. <3