jack is cooking

Jack is Cooking Blueberry Almond Tarte

2011-12-10T15:04:00.001-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

I made a delicious blueberry almond tarte for thanksgiving this year. I felt there needed to be something besides pumpkin and pecan pie. So i made this delicious creation instead.

It is very simple to make. There are basically only two elements that need making, and that is the crust, and the Crème d'Amandes.

you will also need:

Blueberries (1 pint)

Almond Slivers

a 9 inch tarte ring

You can use any crust you like pre made or otherwise, but i like to make a hazelnut crust, which is excellent for any sweet crust.

Here is my recipe for hazelnut crust (this will make about three 9 inch tarts)

125 grams powdered sugar

250 grams butter

3 eggs (room temperature)

300 grams flour + a little extra

150 grams hazelnut meal

75 grams almond meal

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1. Cream the butter and the sugar in a mixer.

2. Add the eggs one at a time until full incorporated into the butter/sugar

3. Mix in the flour, hazelnut meal, and almond meal. it is possible that the dough will still be a little wet, so just add in a little more flour until the dough holds together in a ball.

4. Refrigerate until firm (at least 1 hour). This dough can be frozen, and used at a later date.

While the Crust is Chilling you can make the Crème d'Amande.

For one 9 inch tarte you will need this:

165 grams butter

165 grams sugar

165 grams Almond Meal

2 eggs (room temperate)

30 grams corn starch

1/2 teaspoon vanilla (or 1/2 a vanilla bean scraped out)

30 ml Goslings Rum (or other dark rum)

1. Cream the butter, sugar, and almond flour.

2. Add Eggs one at time.

3. add corn starch

4. add vanilla and rum, and mix until fluffy.

This can also be put in the fridge and or frozen until the time you want to use it.

To make the Tarte:

(preheat oven to 375°)

1. Roll out the crust, and place in tarte ring.

2. Fill evenly until with the crème d'amandes. (you don't want to fill it all the way up. about 80%. There will be displacement!!)

3. Artfully place the blueberries on top of the crème d'amandes, but do not push them down. just let them rest on top for now.

4. take the almond slivers and place them around the edge of the taste, on top of the blueberries. if you desire you may also put them in the middle.

5. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes, or until the top is nicely golden. You will notice that the blueberries have sunken into the crème d'amandes, which is exactly what should happen!

When it cools remove it from the Tarte Ring

And Serve it warm with whipped cream

There is no way this cannot be delicious!

Jack is Cooking Thanksgiving Dinner!

2011-11-24T11:50:00.001-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

I have dug up all the old posts that pertain to ~~Christmas~~ Thanksgiving Dinner, and i made so many things, that they've been pushed off the main page here. so i decided to make one conglomerate posting with everything i made!

Heres what Rosie and I made (if you click on the links you will be taken to the individual post):

Gluten Free Croissants

Gluten Free Chipolata Sausages

Gluten Free Pancetta Chestnut Stuffing

Ginger-Garlic Brussel Sprouts with Leeks

Mashed Carrots and Swedes

Gluten Free Mini Key Lime Meringue Pies

and

the Leftover Sandwich

Enjoy, and Happy ~~Christmas~~ Thanksgiving! to Everybody!

Jack

Jack is Cooking Stuffing!

2011-11-24T11:47:00.001-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

Another Huge part of any C~~hristmas~~ Thanksgiving! meal, or any meal involving turkey for that matter is the Stuffing.

Stuffing also contains a huge amount of Gluten, so my sister and I set out to make a gluten free stuffing.

We started with a recipe we saw on the food network, and then changed just about everything to make it far more delicious and far more Gluten Free.

Heres what you'll need:

3 cloves garlic

6 tablespoons butter

8 oz pancetta diced

2 large onions chopped

2 carrots peeled and chopped

2 tablespoons chopped Fresh Rosemary

1 large jar of roasted whole peeled chestnuts (coarsely chopped)

1 lb of crusty gluten free baguettes chopped up into little cubes(you can often find these in the frozen section of fancy-ish grocery stores. but if you are gluten-free you probably know where to get these kinds of things. Whole foods definitely has it, as do more and more stores these days)

1 cup of chicken/turkey broth

salt and pepper

2 large eggs beaten

First!

take 2 tablepoons of the butter and melt in a pan. fry up the pancetta until its kinda crispy.

drain all the grease out and put into a bowl

Next,

take the rest of the butter and melt into a pan. cook the onions, carrots, rosemary, and garlic together until the onions are tender.

stir in the chestnuts.

put everything in the bowl with the pancetta and stir until mixed.

add in the bread chunksand toss to coat. add the broth until its nice and moist, season with salt and pepper, and then mix in the beaten eggs.

pour into a baking pan

If you are cooking a huge meal (as we were) it is advisable to do this the day before, and refrigerate until the next day when you are ready to cook.

next day!

put some of this stuffing inside the turkey! yum yum

the rest of the stuffing cover with tinfoil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes then remove the tinfoil and bake another 15 minutes

Heres a tip: if you are cooking this stuffing as part of a larger meal, remember this takes only 45 minutes to cook, and the turkey takes like 4 hours or something. so cook this at the end!

in my larger conglomerate post about ~~Christmas~~ Thanksgiving! Dinner i will talk about the timing of everything!

mmmm mmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Turkey!

2011-11-24T11:44:00.001-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

Today is thanksgiving so i am going to repost some of my older posts, that are extremely relevant to today! About now you should definitely have started the turkey already, but in case you are having a last minute panic here are some great recipes! These recipes originally were for christmas, so they may have a christmas theme, but i've tried to modify them a little bit

So the main event of the ~~Christmas~~ Thanksgiving! Dinner : Turkey! ~~well almost the main event, there is ham also.~~

But anyways, the Turkey! this is actually pretty easy and almost impossible to screw up.

you can put whatever herbs and spices you want on it, but we had a heritage breed turkey, and honestly its so darn good that it doesn't need anything except butter and stuffing!

So we took the turkey, and i put some of the delicious pancetta chestnut stuffing and i stuffed it in both ends. then i took a whole lot of butter and rubbed it all over the turkey.

so somebody might notice that my turkey might be upside down. however, i think its right side up. and thats because the skin on the breast is delicious, and if its in the bottom of the pan it gets soggy. this way it gets really nice and crispy. so BREAST UP!

after you've covered it in butter, put maybe an inch of water in the pan. this is important. very very important! its the key to moist turkey! then put tin foil over the whole thing. but try to have it not touch the turkey. imagine almost a tent of tinfoil. this will contain some of the steam from the water, but let some out too.

Then roast it at 350 for about 20 minutes per pound, or until the internal temperature reaches 175°. for our turkey it took 4.5 hours. when there is going to be about 45 minutes to an hour left cooking, REMOVE THE TINFOIL this will allow the skin to get crispy!

take it out and let it sit for another 30 minutes to an hour

it will eventually get to 180°

then get your carving tools out and carve away! Save the pan and the drippings to make Gravy

mmmm mmmm delicious

Jack is Cooking Tofu with Cashew Nuts

2011-09-21T13:14:00.000-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

Today i have a Thai recipe to share. You may recall seeing this at your local Thai establishment as Chicken with Cashew Nuts. Its pretty good with chicken, but i find it much easier to keep Tofu in my fridge, as it has quite a longer shelf life. It's a pretty good substitute if you fry it up first. Feel free to use chicken if you want for the original version.

Here's what you'll need to make it the tofu way:

Half a Block of Tofu (cubed, and fried until golden and crispy)
2 tbspns of Cashew nuts (lightly fried)
1/2 an onion (sliced in moon slivers)
2-3 dried red chillies
2 cloves garlic
cherry tomatoes (optional)

spring onion (optional garnish)

for the sauce:
1 tbspn oyster sauce
1/2 tbspn soy sauce
1/2 tbspn fish sauce
1/2 tbspn ketchup
1/2 tbspn chilli sauce
a couple of drops black soy sauce
1/2 tspn sugar
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1. heat some oil in a pan, and add the garlic and red chillies. When the garlic begins to brown a little add in the tofu. (if you are going to use chicken, this is when to add the raw chicken, cook it until it is cooked 90% through)

2. add the onions, cherry tomatoes, and cashews

Onions, Tofu and Cashew Nuts

3. while the onions are cooking, mix all the sauce ingredients together:

Sauce

4. Add the sauce to the pan, with a little water. Stir and fry to mix together.

Veggies, Sauced

5. Serve with Rice, and garnish with green onions if you have them!

Tofu and Cashew Nuts with Rice

And That's it! a super easy thai dish to make, with very little ingredients.

mmmm mmmm delicious

Jack is Cooking a Documentary!

2011-09-10T15:35:00.000-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

As some of you know, when i am not cooking i am taking photos and making movies! for the last year i have been working on a documentary about the Q'ero people of peru. The time has come to ask for some support so i set up an Indiegogo project. i have put it in the side bar so that if anybody wants to they can watch the trailer for the movie, and make a donation! anybody who does so will get all sorts of cool stuff ranging from DVD of the finished movie, to super awesome hand made Peruvian Textiles!

for the purposes of this post i have put it here also:

Thanks everybody
Jack

Jack is Cooking Hurricane Curry

2011-08-28T15:33:00.000-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

Last night as Hurricane Irene bore down upon new york city, we hunkered down and made some curry! It was the perfect thing to eat while eagerly waiting for the storm.

Otherwise known as a Navratan Korma, this was my own twist on a delicious creamy vegetable curry.
as always with my curry recipes i will divide the spices into groups depending on when they need to be added. This particular curry has lots of separate steps to take in order to prepare your mis-en-place, but otherwise the actual steps taken are quite simple.

Heres what you will need:

Spice Group A:
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds

Spice Group B
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon asafetida
1/2 teaspoon salt

The Rest of the Ingredients:
1 potato cut into 1 cm cubes
2 large carrots sliced
1/2 cup green peas
1 large head of broccoli (with as much stalk as you can get) cubed

1/2 lb paneer (cubed)
2 tomatoes (cubed)
1 onion (grated)
2 cloves of garlic (finely grated)
1.5 inches of ginger (finely grated)
1 can of coconut milk
2 tablespoons ghee
olive oil.

The Preparation:

1. Prepare your spice bowls.
2. Cut all vegetables to equal sized pieces and parboil them. these will be cooked more later, so don't overdo it now. strain and set aside in a colander.
3. Cube the tomatoes, grate the onion, grate the ginger and the garlic.
4. Heat the ghee and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan. fry the paneer until it is golden brown on all sides. pour the paneer with ghee and all over the vegetables in the colander. While its still hot sprinkle some garam masala over them and toss.

Boiled Veggies and Paneer sprinkled with Garam Masala

Now that everything is prepared we can get onto the cooking of the actual curry.

1. In a medium sized pot, heat some olive oil, and add in Spice Group A. fry for about 30 seconds, and then add in the onions. fry these together for about 4-5 minutes. Add the Ginger and the Garlic, and fry for 30 more seconds.

2. throw in Spice Group B and fry together for about a minute. add the chopped tomatoes, and fry for 3-4 more minutes:

Spices and Tomatoes

3. Add the vegetables and paneer, and toss until they are all nice and coated in the spice-tomato mixture.

4. Add the can of coconut milk, bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes are just tender.

simmering curry

Serve with rice, and sprinkle a little cilantro on top for added effect!

and that's about it! you can make this during a hurricane no problem, as long as your gas stays on.... or you can make it any other day and its just as good!

mmmm mmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Endives au Jambon

2011-08-07T17:00:00.001-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

I was in the store the other day (the kind that sells food), and although it is not endive season the endives looked particularly delicious. So i thought i would make Endives Au Jambon, which is a classic french dish (i presume) comprised of Endives wrapped in Ham, bathed in béchamel and topped with cheese baked in an oven. There are two ways to do this - the quickest way to do it is to just blanche the Endives, before wrapping them in ham and baking them. The Second way is to butter braise them which takes a little longer but is extra especially delicious - in a buttery Julia Child kind of way. So i suggest the latter. It's very easy to do, and all you need are endives, ham, cheese, flour, milk, and butter. oh and some lemon juice. and some salt and pepper. and some nutmeg...

Heres exactly what you will need:

5 or 6 Endives (2 per person)
5 or 6 slices of ham (1 per endive)

4 tablespoons of butter
juice of one half lemon
3 tablespoons of flour
2 cups of milk
salt and pepper
a pinch of ground nutmeg
1/4 cup water

1/2 pound gruyere cheese (grated)

You will also need 1 heavy bottomed pot, 1 small pot, and a casserole dish.

The First thing to do is to butter braise the Endives. To do this we can follow Julia Child's recipe which is this:
(preheat oven to 325°)

Rub 2 tablespoons of butter in the bottom of a heavy pan (like a Creuset). Take the Endives (which have been washed) and place them in the pan. I like to rub them around in the pan to get them coated in the butter. add some salt and pepper, the lemon juice, and the 1/4 cup of water. Cover the pot and on the stove slowly boil for 10 minutes.

Endives Braising in Butter

After 10 minutes, uncover the pot and turn the heat all the way up and boil for another 10 minutes - until there is only 1 - 2 tablespoons of liquid left in the pot. At this point take some waxed paper, and put on top of the endives - this will keep them from burning in the oven. Place them in the oven for 30 minutes.

After about 20 minutes it is time to
make the Bechamel for the next stage. To make the béchamel place 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan on the stove. When the butter melts add in 3
tablespoons of flour. you will have a yellowish paste. with whisk in hand add the milk in slowly - 1/4 cup at a time - continuously whisking. You don't want to have any lumps, so make sure that all the lumps disappear before you add the next 1/4 cup of milk. (NEVER STOP WHISKING!) once all the milk is in, and it has come to a boil you will have a nice thick sauce. at this point add the salt and pepper, and a generous pinch of nutmeg.

By this point the Endives will be Ready so take them out of the oven. Turn the oven up to 450°

After Coming out of the Oven

Get your casserole dish out, and pour some of the béchamel into the bottom of it. (about half).

Next with some tongs, carefully take each Endive and roll it up in a piece of ham

Ready to Roll

After rolling, place each roll into the casserole dish on top of the béchamel sauce. once you have all of the rolled up Endives in the dish, pour the rest of the béchamel over them and top with the gruyere cheese.

After Cheesing

Place back in the oven at 450° for 30 minutes and cook until the cheese has gone all bubbly and brown. If you want you can also place it in the broiler at the very end to give the cheese a nice browning.

Here it is after emerging from the oven:

Nice gooey melted Cheese

Close-up

And that's about it! its good served with a green vegetable of your choice! i used sautéed mustard greens.

Jack is Cooking Mattar Batata... Or something Similar

2011-08-04T15:52:00.000-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

as part of my continuing experimentation in learning to cook indian food, i made a tomato based curry with potatoes and green beans. The Recipe i started with called it Mattar Batata, and was made with potatoes and green peas (Green Peas are called Mattar). However i didn't have any green peas, and instead i had beans. So the name Mattar Batata is not really correct and this should really be called something else, probably with the name Aloo in it (Aloo is potatoes).

Anyhow its very easy to make.

Heres what i used in my made up curry based off of Mattar Batata. As with my other recipes for indian food i will divide the spices into groups, for when they need to be added to the mix.

3 Tbspns Olive Oil

(GROUP A)
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 dried red chillies (broken)
1/2 teaspoon asafetida

1 lb Potatoes (cut into one inch cubes)
2 Carrots (diced)
1/2 an onion (diced)
1 clove garlic (diced)

(GROUP B)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon sugar

A Handful of green beans (put your two hands together and however many beans fit in there. thats how many you need!! )

1 tomato (finely diced)
1 80z can crushed tomatoes

So first!

Organize your Spices into two bowls, and have them ready.

Heat up the oil in a medium sized pot, and add in Spice Group A:

SPICE GROUP A

Cook for about 10 seconds, and then add in the onions, garlic, and carrots. stir and cook until the onions are a little wilted, and then add the potatoes. fry the potatoes until they start going brown. don't worry if they are sticking, let them stick. This will add to the flavor!

Once the Potatoes are browned add in Spice Group B:

SPICE GROUP B

Stir them together and then add half a cup of water (it won't cover it completely). Bring to a boil and boil for about 10 minutes (or until the potatoes are soft). The water will mostly boil off at this point, but some should remain.

At this point you can add in the beans, the tomato, and the crushed tomatoes, and simmer for a further 5-7 minutes - or until the beans are tender, but still a little crunchy (As good beans should be!)

Everything in the Pot

and that's it! Serve it with some Rice.

YUMM!

Jack is Cooking Peach and Berry Pie

2011-07-23T15:55:00.000-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

Since yesterday was the hottest day of the year (i think it got up to 108° - which as a LOST fan obviously holds some special significance...) I decided that i should turn my oven on to 400° and make a pie. An extremely Delicious, gooey, oozing pie filled with very delicious Ingredients.

it all started because i found a Peach in my fridge. Peaches are my absolute favorite fruit, and after eating it for breakfast, i just had to have more. I hadn't baked anything in a while, so i figured i would make a pie. but that's not all i found in the fridge, there were a few blackberries also! This got my mind gears moving and i decided that i would make a Peach and Blackberry Pie.

However, since I had eaten all of the peaches and blackberries in my fridge I would have to go buy more. So I braved the heat, and walked to Union Square market to buy some more Peaches. Upon arriving I encountered more berries than I could walk away from, and so along with the Peaches and Blackberries i had set out for, i returned home with blueberries and gooseberries. (GOOSEBERRIES!)

Delicious Fruit

and Baking Ensued!

Here's what you will need to make this pie - and you should definitely make this pie.

for the Crust (Pâte Brisée)- from Julia Child:
2 cups A/P flour
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Sugar
1 and 1/2 stick (6 oz) chilled butter - cut into small cubes
4 tbspns chilled vegetable shortening
1/2 cup of iced water

For the Filling:
7 or 8 Peaches
8 oz blackberries
8 oz blueberries
8 oz gooseberries (stemmed)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tbspn corn starch
2 tsp vanilla extract
the inside of 1/2 a vanilla bean (optional, but steps it up a notch)
3 tbspns Rum

For the Crumble
1/2 tspn cinnamon
1/4 tspn nutmeg
3/4 cup granola
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Cold Butter

preheat oven to 400°

To make the Crust
Put all the ingredients except the water into a bowl, and cut the butter and shortening into the flour until it resembles a texture similar to oatmeal. don't overmix the butter in, just get it to this crumble state. (later i will do a post purely on Pie Crusts)

Add half of the water in, and mix until it just comes together. if it is still very dry slowly add a little bit more water, but depending on the humidity of the day you will use more or less water. (since it was VERY humid yesterday i used very little water at all)

once the dough has come together in a flaky ball, take walnut sized pieces smear them with the heel of your hand against the counter. this will finish the mixing of the butter and the shortening. gather all the dough together and wrap it up and chill is for an hour.

Next! prepare the fruit!

Peel and slice the peaches (this is a tedious, messy operation), put them in a bowl with the rest of the fruit, and add all the rest of the ingredients, and mix it up gently, as you don't want to destroy the lucious berries.

the fruit!

Now, since that probably took about an hour, take the chilled dough out of the fridge and roll it out on a floured board, and place it into your pie container. Add the filling to it. don't worry if its overflowing a little bit. LET IT OVERFLOW!

put this in the fridge while you make the crumble.

to make the crumble (this ones easy!):
add all ingredients together in a bowl and mix (with your hands!!!!) until crumbly.
put it over the filling

before baking
(as you can see i actually made two.... but the ingredients listed here are only for one!)

place it on a tray and cook it first for 20 minutes uncovered. then cover with tinfoil and bake it for another 25 minutes. finally remove the tinfoil and bake it for a further 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it cool for 30 minutes.

and then:

yummmmm

and then

want to eat

and then

must. wait. 30. minutes

and then yes you can eat it, and just look how delicious and gooey and sticky and scrumptious this is...

and save some for somebody else!

mmmmmm........

Jack is Cooking Saag Paneer

2011-07-22T19:01:00.000-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

Another dish i have been making quite a bit recently is Saag Paneer. This is an Indian dish most commonly made with spinach, but can also be made with a variety of other Greens. I have experimented with many of these greens, but have to say that my favorite is to make it with a mixture of Kale, and Spinach.

Here is what you will need:

1 Bunch of spinach - (at least 250-300 grams) cut up into large pieces

1 bunch of Kale - (250-300 grams) - cut up into medium sized pieces

150 Grams Paneer (Indian Cheese) cut into 1 inch cubes - This will not really work with any other type of cheese, except maybe fresh Queso Blanco

2 tbspns Oil

1 tbspn Ghee

1/4 tspn cumin seeds

1/2 tspn mustard seeds

2 cloves garlic (grated)

1 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 inch Fresh Ginger - Grated

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sugar

1 tsp Garam Masala

100 ml milk (OPTION: when i first started making this i used Heavy Cream. but i don't always have it (and its very rich), so sometimes i will use milk, or Almond Milk)

So this dish is very easy once you get the hang of it, but it requires very good Mis-en-Place. which means have everything ready and organized before you start cooking as it all happens very fast, and there are lots of spices! it helps if you use some ramekins, or some other little bowls.

Here is how to best organize yourself:

1. In one bowl, put the cumin and mustard seeds, along with the grated garlic.

Mustard Seeds (L) & Cumin Seeds (R)

2. In a second bowl, put the coriander powder, the ground ginger, and the nutmeg.

3. In a third bowl, put the sugar, the salt, and the grated FRESH ginger.

ok so that's enough organizing.

now for the cooking. First! heat up the ghee in a pan, and add the paneer to it. fry the paneer until it is nicely browned on all sides. it can burn quickly so don't let that happen. once its finished cooking, strain it and put it aside in a bowl. sprinkle the Garam Masala over the paneer while it is nice and hot.

Garam Masala

Second! with the leftover ghee that should still be in the pan from the paneer, cook the spinach and the kale, until it is just wilted. this will not take very long. put all of this into a colander and let it sit.

Now is time to cook the spices. and where all our organizing comes into play.

put the 2 tbspns of oil into the pan and heat it up. throw the first bowl in (the cumin and mustard seeds, with the garlic) cook it for about 10 seconds, or until the seeds start sputtering. Then! throw the Second bowl in - the ground coriander, ginger and nutmeg. and cook that for about 10 seconds also. you will have a spice goop that is very hot now.

quickly throw the cooked greens back into the spices, and toss around until the spices are even spread around. cook this for about 2 or 3 minutes. Then add the cooked Paneer, along with the Third bowl - with the sugar, the salt, and the FRESH ginger. cook all this for about 2 or 3 minutes, and Finally add in the milk (or Cream, or Almond milk, whichever route you choose to go) cook for a further 2 minutes, and then its done!

Serve it with some rice, and if you want you can serve it with some other curry! (soon i will put up more curries, as i've been on a bit of a Currinary adventure recently..... (get it curry + culinary) ;-)

YUM!

Jack is Cooking Some Kind of Beef Noodles (take II)

2011-07-20T00:01:00.000-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

its been a long time. almost a year since my last post! don't worry i've still been ~~eating~~ cooking a lot! but i've mainly been playing with old recipes and so didn't think i should post the same thing twice. but since i've got this here website i figured i should probably start posting on it again!

So One dish that was really awesome that i made a while ago, (and took a picture of!) was this awesome beef noodle soup dish that i found in a magazine (Saveur). I didn't exactly make what the recipe in the magazine said, i made my own thing out of it.

So here's what you'll need:

1 lb of beef - doesn't matter what cut, but its nice if it has bones in it. i used a T-Bone steak, (which i am sorry to say had been in my freezer for too long, and had gotten a bit of Freezer burn on it. it wouldn't have been good as a plain steak, but was perfect for this soup)

GROUP A
1/4 cup sake
2 teaspoons mixed pepper corns
2 cloves of garlic (smashed)
1/2 can crushed tomatoes
1 pod star anise
1/2 onion
2 dried red chillies
a bunch of ginger (like 2 inches)

GROUP B
1 teaspoon vinegar,
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon sesame oil

GROUP C
fresh spinach
fresh egg noodles - the really thin kind!
a green onion
sesame seeds

So First, cut up the steak into random sized chunks, and throw all the meat and the bones into a pot of water. bring this to a boil, and then drain the water. take the beef and the bones and put it back in the pot with everything from the list in Group A. cover this with water, and bring it back to a boil. let it simmer for about an hour.

Then! after one hour, remove the beef from this stock and set it aside on a cutting board. strain the liquid so that you have a nice broth, and discard all the onions and ginger pieces, and whatever else may have been in the stock. Cut the Beef into nice bite sized pieces. you can now get rid of the bones, as their delicious goodness has been transferred into the stock.

Add everything from GROUP B (the soy sauce etc.) into the broth, and add the newly bite sized beef back into the broth.

In a separate pot, cook the noodles for their specified cooking time. if they are fresh that will only be 2 minutes or so. remove the noodles, and place them in the serving bowls. SAVE THE WATER!
then cook (BLANCHE!) the spinach in the water. remove the spinach from the water and put it into the bowls with the noodles.

Then take a Ladle, and ladle the nice broth over the noodles and spinach, making sure to get the good beef stuff into the bowls too. garnish it with some Green Onions, and Sesame Seeds, and you have a Delicious Beef Noodle Soup Dish!

Heres what it looked like, PLUS the original picture from the magazine.

mmm mmm delicious!

P.S. the original recipe which i adapted this from can be found here:
http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Hong-Shao-Niu-Rou-Mian-Taiwanese-Beef-Noodle-Soup

Jack is Cooking Thai curried Mussels

2010-10-05T14:20:00.000-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

The other night i made some mussels. This time instead of steaming them in wine (like i did before) i steamed them in some delicious coconut milk that i infused with all sorts of delicious flavours.

heres what i did!

first you will need these things:

lemongrass (2 6 inch pieces)

ginger (2-3 inches)

garlic (1 whole head)

kaffir lime leaves (8-10)

tamarind (4-5 fresh seeds or paste)

thai chillies (4 or 5 depending on how spicy you want it)

an onion

coconut milk (2 cans)

one lime

(cilantro)

mussels!

So first i cut up the lemongrass into manageable pieces, and also the ginger. they don't have to be super fine, nor do you have to peel the garlic or ginger, as the skin will give extra flavour to the infusion.

take everything (except the onion, lime, cilantro, coconut milk, and mussels) and put it in a food processor. or if you have a mortar and pestle thats good too. grind it all up until you have a pulp of delicious smelling stuff that you can't eat:

next take the onion which has been chopped up (you can even keep the skin on it if you desire) and sauté in some olive oil for a few minutes.

then add in the mixture from the blender, as well as the coconut milk

stew this for about 20-30 minutes, and then strain it so that all the solids come out.

put about 1/3 of the liquid back in the pan (save the rest!), and add the mussels. steam the mussels in the liquid until the mussels open (about 5 minutes) as soon as they open they are done!

serve with bread, and some of the liquid. sprinkle some lime juice over, and garnish with cilantro

the rest of the coconut milk that you didn't use, you can use in other dishes to flavor! like fried rice

mmmm mmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Kale and Tofu with Tahini Sauce

2010-07-11T11:11:00.000-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

on thursday night i made a delicious quick stir fry! a nice relief after eating so many pastries and BBQ!

this ones pretty easy and super delicious to make.

heres what you need:

tofu (cut up into small cubes)

kale

garlic

olive oil

hot sesame oil

soy sauce

brown rice vinegar

sriracha sauce

tahini

sesame seeds

so first! i heated up some 4 tablespoons of olive oil with 1 tablespoon of hot sesame oil added to it. when it was real nice and hot i added in the tofu

The trick here is to get the tofu really nice and krispy. this is attainable but it really takes some patience. also i have found that while yes it will stick a little bit, if you wait long enough it unsticks!

after the tofu becomes nice and brown and krispy- add in the garlic and the kale

once the kale has cooked down just a little bit (you don't want to over cook it! just cook it just enough)

its time to add in the sauces. so i put in 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of tahini, 1 tablespoon of brown rice vinegar, and 1 teaspoon of sriracha and then sprinkled a bunch of sesame seeds on top!

and there you have it!

i ate it plain, but you could cook some rice, or some quinoa, or some millet to go along with it!

mmmm mmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Tarts and BBQ for july 4th

2010-07-06T17:51:00.000-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

what a july 4th! we had our annual BBQ up on the farm. This year i went with an old classic: Pulled Pork. I (and Also Roland!) slow smoked 2 9 pound pork butts to pulling perfection! and it was delicious.

we dry rubbed the pork and then coated it in our secret Raspberry - Chipotle BBQ sauce, and YES! its a SECRET! so i can't tell you how to make it! ;-)

but the pork heres the trick: you need a smoker. you need it to be at around 225°. after that its roughly 1.5 hours per pound.

Pork is generally cooked when it reaches 165° at its internal temperature. however to pull it you want it to be at around 190° at its internal temperature. this took us roughly 15 hours or so to smoke.

after it reaches 190° it needs to rest for an hour or so. and then in the final touch we put it back on the grill to warm it up just a little bit before the pulling. and then a couple of forks and the whole thing should just fall apart into a delicious heap of stringy melty meat. mmmmmmmmmm

to go along with this, Julie made her Delicious Kale Salad recipe, which i hope she will post up here one day. also she made a delicious Thai Peanut Noodle Salad. Cooper made his Excellent Potato Salad, and his Awesome Cole Slaw to put inside of the pulled pork sandwiches.

Heres the plate! (photo courtesy of Rockin Moe...)

but wait.... thats not all! i also made a super abundance of tartes! freshly learned from my recent stint at pastry school! All in the style of a Mandala! This one has a lime curd base, and has raspberries surrounding blueberries and oranges spiraling towards the kiwi center crossed by strawberries

these smaller ones also have lime curd in them and have stawberries, blueberries, kiwi and orange

This tarte i poached some peaches, and put them over an almond cream filling with blackberries in the center

This next one, i made in the style of a Tarte Bourdalou, but didn't have any sliced almonds so i used blackberries instead! a nice fresh summer touch. it has poached pears over almond cream

and a linzer torte. this one has a raspberry filling inside of a hazelnut crust

more fresh fruit! this one has pastry cream in the filling, and has strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, golden raspberries, orange, and a kiwi

This tarte has the same fruits as the before mentioned, and the same filling, but was designed by OTO

a close-up

and then i made two tarte aux pommes- however with a twist of my own. i love the almond cream so much that i put the almond cream inside under the apple compote and then topped them with apples in a nice design

and then! we loaded them all into the car along with some other tartes, and come cakes, and FIREWORKS! for an awesome finale of tartes and fireworks!

i can't believe that i didn't take a picture of the beautiful Old Glory Fruit Tarte that julie made! but you can see it in there in the car on the bottom right!

mmmm mmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Pea Souffle

2010-07-06T17:06:00.000-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

the other day (actually a couple of weeks ago... this post got lost somehow) i made a pea souffle with my newly learned knowledge of making souffle.

apparently souffle's are very easy to make!

all you need is to make a bechamel, and egg whites, with whatever filling you want!

heres what you will need:

flour 1 tablespoon
butter 2 tablespoons
milk 3/4 cup
salt and pepper
a little nutmeg

frozen peas
garlic
an onion (chopped up)
salt and pepper
paprika
olive oil

6 egg whites
a pinch of salt

pepper jack cheese (grated) you could use cheddar, or any other cheese of your own fancy.

preheat the oven to 450°

So First! i sauteed the peas, garlic, and peas, in a little olive oil and flavored them with some salt and pepper and some paprika. when they were all done i put them in my blender and blended it until it was a fine mush. or one might say a purée...

Next! i made my béchamel. that's pretty easy. first you melt the butter. then you add the flour to the butter, and mix it together. then you add the milk stirring constantly. when it comes to a boil it should be a pretty thick mixture. yum yum! this is an important base to lots of different recipes. i like to add a little nutmeg for flavor. after it was done i mixed the pea purée into the béchamel.

then i took my egg whites and whipped them up until they were nice and stiff. after that i took the egg whites and folded the béchamel purée mixture together. really really fold these! no mixing! you must keep the fluffiness of the egg whites or it won't work!

after that i filled some ramequins half way, then put a nice little bit of cheese into each one, and filled them up to the top with more of the mixture. and then a nice coating of cheese on top!

into the oven, and cook them until they have puffed up and gone nice and golden brown on top!

mmmmm mmmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Braised Burdock

2010-05-19T23:17:00.001-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

a bunch of days probably weeks ago now i made some braised burdock, and man was it delicious! a relief from all the pastries!

heres what you'll need:

1 burdock root

2 carrots

garlic

ginger

sesame seeds

what i thought was bok choy - or maybe spinach - but actually was collard greens - hahaha

hot sesame oil

olive oil

soy sauce

brown rice vinegar

rice syrup

so first!

slice everything up!

heres a trick with burdock. it oxidizes super fast! like super super fast. the fastest anything will ever oxidize. so when you are cutting it i find the best way to cut it is to pretend you are sharpening a pencil with a knife - slicing bits off of the root. do this over a bowl of water, so that the slices land in the water. this way it won't oxidize.

then heat the oilive oil and sesame oil in a pan. add the ginger and the garlic. cook for maybe 30 seconds, and then add in the burdock and the carrots. until they are tender. at this point you can add in the mysterious green vegetables! hahaha, the thing was, i had a green leafy vegetable in my fridge, but i actually had no idea what it was! at first i thought it was spinach, but then i thought to myself, no that's not spinach. it must be bok choy. only when julie returned from mexico did she inform me that she had in fact bought collard greens! so that's what it was. either way it was delicious, and all of the above would have been delicious also...

so, yeah cook those green things until they are cooked down a bit and then add in all the sauces, and stir fry a little longer. sprinkle with sesame seeds when done!

mmm mmm delicious

Jack is Cooking Pastry # 6

2010-05-08T19:06:00.000-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

i made a fruit tart pastry school. this is my favorite thing ever ever ever, and now i know how to make one! not that its too complicated! once i knew how to make pastry cream i suppose it would be pretty easy to figure out. after all all it is is cut up fruit!

i can't wait to make lots of these

mmmm mmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Pastry # 5

2010-05-08T19:01:00.000-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

During this class we made a Queen of Sheeba Cake. its a "flourless" cake but not totally gluten free. although it could be modified pretty easy to make it so, because it only had about 30 grams of flour in it. that could easily be replaced with GF flour. the cake part basically has almond flour and lots of meringue. the decoration as lots of fun! I actually haven't eaten it yet because its so pretty looking im scared to cut into it!

Oh yeah, we also made a butt-load of croissants. we made the dough the other day and made them during this class. we made 4 types - plain, almond, chocolate (pain au chocolat), and chocolate almond (pain au chocolat avec amande) that one i made up! but it probably exists somewhere!!!

here they all are!

mmmm mmmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Pastry # 4

2010-04-29T15:35:00.001-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

This past pastry class we made some brioche products (more on that later, i actually made brioche over the weekend, so i will post that separately) and we also made a delicious orange cinnamon bread loaf.

So we made a mango coconut tarte out some of the brioche. this is also really delicious. i got a little fancy with my arrangements of the mango.

And heres the loaf! on the inside is a delicious cinnamon swirl, and the bread is slightly orange flavored.

mmm mmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Tarts

2010-04-25T21:36:00.000-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

On this rainy sunday i decided to see if i could recreate some of the tartes we made in school at home. except with a few of my own twists!

so i made a tarte in same style as a tarte bourdalou, except instead of pears i used peaches.

but i did everything the same, i poached the peaches and made an almond cream. it was a little more difficult with peaches because they are a bit softer. and unfortunately one of my peach halves got destroyed when i was trying to get it off of the stone, so i ended up with only 5 peach spokes instead of 6. oh well, i bet its delicious still!

here it is before baking:

and after:

then i made a tarte aux pommes (apple tart). for this tarte for the apple compote i used a sweeter apple so i wouldn't have to use so much sugar. i cooked it in goslings rum to give it some extra yummy flavor. then since i had some almond cream left from the peach tarte, i put some of that on the bottom.

on top i used granny smith apples since they are nicely acidic. i cut them up really thin, and arranged them in such a way that i was able to have three spinning layers instead of two. it ended up looking pretty cool.

Here it is before baking:

and after:

and both together!:

mmm mmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Pastry #3

2010-04-22T23:31:00.000-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

Tonight in class we made a Linzer Tort. its pretty delicious looking, but man was it tough. not because of any particular reason but mostly because the dough is so soft it breaks so easily! anyways its filled the crust is made from hazelnuts, and its filled with almond cream and raspberries.

we also made a tarte flambée, but i forgot to take a picture of it. its basically just a pizza with tons of caramalized onions covered with a custard made from creme fraiche, fromage blanc, and an egg, topped with bacon and cheese. yup pretty much a pizza heart attack... delicious but yeah... not exactly something i'd make all the time.

but here is the linzer tort!

p.s. i just tasted this tort, and while its pretty good, we used some kind of premade raspberry filling. which while is ok i absolutely know that if i ever made this again i would go through the trouble of making the raspberry fillings myself, because i absolutely love raspberries, and this just needs to be more raspberry-y!

Jack is Cooking Quiche

2010-04-21T22:27:00.000-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

Over the weekend to practice for my quiche endeavors i made one at home. in fact tonight i have made another quiche! this one is better than both the ones i made before! the first one i made was lacking a certain technique we learned in the class. the one we made in the class was ok, but was a little plain, and the quality of the cheese was not superb. but the one tonight combined the best of both! im on a quiche roll!

anyways quiches are pretty easy to make, and they sure are delicious!

you can make them with pretty much anything but the basics for a quiche lorraine are

eggs
milk
salt
pepper
a pinch of nutmeg
cream
bacon
and gruyere cheese

and of course a crust

i have been making my own pastry crust, but that's a whole other post. so to keep things simple i reccoment just buying a frozen pastry crust. and make sure its not a desert pastry crust because those tend to be sweeter. if it is not cooked yet bake the crust first. until it is a little golden. (a clever trick here is to line the crust with parchment paper and fill the crust with rice, or beans. this stops the bottom of the crust from bubbling up and breaking!!)

for this quiche that i made i went a little fancier, and i used this:

2 eggs
100 ml of heavy cream
100 ml of milk
salt
pepper
paprika
50 grams of pancetta
leeks
spinach
30 grams of goat cheese
60 grams of gruyere cheese

so first! blind b
cook the bacon and the leeks and the spinach. after they are cooked set them aside. grate the gruyere cheese finely. and slice up the goat cheese. hold all this on the side

in a bowl, whisk the eggs. add in the milk and the cream, and whisk them all together. add the salt and pepper, and paprika, and if you have a little nutmeg put a sprinkling of nutmeg in. don't put all that much salt in because the pancetta and the gruyere are naturally salty. this is the custard

then take your pastry crust, and crumble the goat cheese evenly in it. then sprinkle the gruyere cheese over this. on top of this spread out the cooked bacon spinach and leeks.

next! take the custard and using a strainer (if you have one, its not totally essential) slowly pour the custard over the all the other ingredients, careful not to let it spill over the sides of the crust.

then bake it for 25 minutes at 275° or 350° or until the custard is set. you can tell its set because a knife will come out cleanly, yet it will still be slightly jiggly if you shake it. like jello!

personally i like it a little brown on the top so i stuck it under the broiler for 1 minute after just to give it a nice browning on top.

and ta-da! quiche!:

Jack is Cooking the Best Damn Pasta Sauce You Ever Ate

2010-04-21T12:00:00.002-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

over the weekend i made this super delicious pasta sauce. i have to say it is probably the best damn pasta sauce i ever ate. and i say that because i really don't like plain tomato sauce all that much. i don't know why but i find that people spice it wrong and over cook it. i don't know why they do this, because tomatoes are awesome! why all the spices and all the cooking for hours and hours and hours until there is nothing left but tomato paste?!

first off, i have to say that this is most definitely not my recipe. i saw this made on Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations the other day in his episode about techniques. i did some tweaking here and there but the recipe is essentially from Chef Scott Conant from Scarpetta restaurant.

Heres what you'll need:

5 ripe plum tomatoes

4 cloves of garlic

an onion

a bunch of fresh basil

1 cup of olive oil

pasta

butter

cheese

First i blanched the tomatoes in hot water for like 15 seconds, and removed them immediately. (i saved the water so i didn't have to boil more, to cook the pasta in)

after the tomatoes where blanched i skinned them, cut them open and squeezed out the insides into a bowl (save this bowl for if the sauce gets too dry. then you can add this juicy pulp into the sauce). i put the remaining part of the tomatoes into a pot with 1 quarter of the olive oil (1/4 cup) and i mashed them with a potato masher until they were pulpy. i let this simmer for like 30 minutes until it became pretty saucy (mashing from time to time)

in another pot, i put the rest of the olive oil, all the garlic (whole cloves) the onion (chopped up) and maybe 10 fresh leaves of basil, and i let this simmer in the oil for the entire time that the tomato sauce cooked.

when both of these things were done i took a strainer and i strained the oil into the tomato sauce (giving it all the flavor but none of the bits! genius! this is the most genius part, and what makes it the best damn sauce you ever ate!) then stir it up real good.

( but wait! don't throw out all that delicious onion and garlic and basil! its good for other stuff! like a quiche! which should be in a post very soon!

then in a frying pan i sauteed up some pancetta (this is where i moved on from the scarpetta recipe)

i spooned some of the sauce into the pan to reduce it in a small amount (instead of letting the sauce sit for like 2 hours:

I then tossed in the pasta and put a pat of butter in it. this is the final step in the deliciousness! it made it all nice and super creamy! yum!!

I then served it with a grating of gruyere cheese (which is a nice alternative to parmesan), and some more fresh basil on top for colour!

mmmmm mmmmm delicious!!!

Jack is Cooking Pastry #2

2010-04-21T00:10:00.000-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

Just a quick post tonight, before some more substantial posts in the next couple of days. i've got a whole lot of things that i've made sitting, and waiting for me to put them up i just have to type up the recipes.

anyhow tonight i had more pastry school and we made a quiche! here is the quiche that we made. it is a classic quiche lorraine.

over the weekend i made another quiche, and that will be posted in full, so check that out soon.

We also made pate a choux - which is the basic dough for eclairs. we didn't finish making the eclairs, but we did get to make some super awesome looking lovers swans! and we had to fully plate them!! anyhow this ones for Julie! :-)

in case you can't see how super awesome those are from just that photo heres a close up

hopefully the eclairs will be done on thursday and i can post em, but these swans are pretty darned impressive!!! (if i do say so myself)

mmmm mmm delicious

Jack is Cooking Pastries #1

2010-04-16T11:05:00.002-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

so i have started at pastry school (at the French Culinary Institute in NY) to learn how to professionally make all sorts delicious pastries! after i learn how to make them awesomely i am going to attempt to make these all gluten free. which so far, should be fairly east to do!

anyways here are the first two things we made!

since this is the first time i am making these, and the recipes are most definitely not mine or altered in any way i won't be posting the recipes until i play with them a bit, but i will be posting my progress throughout the course!!

The First is a Tarte Aux Pommes

this is a delicious tart with a pâte sucrée, apple compote, and sliced apples on top finished with an apricot glaze. super delicious!

The Second is a Tarte Bourdaloue

this tarte also has a pâte sucrée, filled with almond cream (super delicious) and topped with poached pears and sliced almonds, and finished with an apricot glaze.

This might be the most delicious thing i have ever made.

oh man. it makes me drool just looking at this picture. stay tuned for more pastries! i have class twice a week so i will be posing delicious pastries at least once a week for the next three months!

mmmm mmmmm delicious!!!

Jack is Cooking Dandelion Salad

2010-04-12T20:24:00.000-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

Last night as part of my dinner i made a dandelion salad. Dandelions you say?? YES!!! indeed dandelions. what everybody thinks is normally just a weed is actually pretty delicious as long as its the spring time and they haven't grown to gargantuan proportions. (when they get very big they get very bitter)

This delicious recipe was introduced to me by Nicole - Julie's Mom. i am ever so grateful she introduced me to this, i wish i could eat it all the time, as it is super super delicious!

now then, dandelions grow everywhere. but you should be careful that they are not in a cow field or something as the cows will probably have pooped on them, if there are any left... cows know all about how delicious dandelions are and so eat them all up!! also, since they are technically a weed, you need to get them from a place that hasn't put poison all over them... cuz that's just gross...

Heres what you will need:

Dandelions!
boiled eggs
bacon
an onion
balsamic vinegar
an oil (a not very strong olive oil, or grapeseed oil, or other light oil)

so the first thing to do is to pick yourself a whole lot of dandelions. the next thing is to not pick the flowers, you just want the leaves. about 4-5 inches in length. bigger than that and they are too big. i have seen dandelion in the supermarket, but they are normally really really big, and when they are that big they really are way too bitter.

so after you pick yourself a nice basket of dandelions, take them home and start washing them. wash them good, and pick out all the grass and flower buds and anything else that may have found its way into your basket:

After you have cleaned everything very well, take a knife and chop everything up real well:

Then take your hard boiled eggs and slice them nicely and put them in the salad:

add a splash of balsamic vinegar, and some of your choice of oil. give it a toss!

take the bacon and chop it up all nice and small, and also take an onion and chop it all up nice and small. if you want you can serve this on the side, or you can mix it in. this adds a nice bit of extra flavor!

and serve away!!

mmm mmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Huevos Rancheros Breakfast Tacos for Dinner

2010-04-11T16:40:00.001-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

Here is a great easy recipe for some breakfast Taco's that I made one day. i made this out of leftovers in my fridge.

here's what you will need:

corn tortillas (i got mine from Tortilleria Mexicano Tres Hermanos - they sell tortillas for $1 at their restaurant in Brooklyn. also it is probably the best tacos and tortas i've ever had. i am completely obsessed with this place and wish that it wasn't so far away from where i live in the city. you can stuff yourself with real authentic mexican food for under $10, and then buy some tortillas to make more of your own!!!)

eggs

for the salsa:

1 or half an onion

1 or half a tomato

half a red pepper

clove of garlic

a small can of sweet corn

some cumin

salt and pepper

some paprika.

first, i made the salsa. i cooked this salsa so that all the flavours were really nice and melty. (that's the best way i can describe it!)

i sauteed the onions and garlic, until they were translucent. mean while in the oven i turned on my broiler, and i roasted the tomato, the red pepper, and the corn until they got a nice charring on the skin. then i chopped them all up finely and added them to the onions, and cooked for 5-10 minutes. i added some salt and pepper, some cumin and some paprika for flavoring. voila! corn salsa!

Next, i scrambled some eggs. i hope that everybody knows at least how to scramble an egg. its hard to screw that up. but if you don't here are the instructions:

crack 2-3 eggs in a bowl. and salt and pepper. stir well with a fork.

heat pan on med - low heat. melt butter in a pan. pour eggs in. stir them while they cook, until they are almost done. turn off the stove. they will keep cooking, so turn off the stove right before they look done. serve immediately! now you know!!

so anyways, heat up the tortillas. if you put them in a paper towel and microwave for 20 seconds they will be nice and warm. or else you can warm them in a pan.

put some eggs on each tortilla:

next! put some of that delicious Salsa on top of the eggs, and top with your favorite cheese. at the time the only cheese i had was feta. not exactly mexican but it was still delicious!

Serve up these soft tacos with a napkin! they are a little messy!!

mmm mmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Thai Fried Rice with Princess Know it All

2010-04-04T11:40:00.003-04:00

Well Hello Internet

Here is the 2nd installment of videos i made with Princess Know it All. for this dish you will need:

Green and red peppers
Carrot
Onion
Garlic
Tomatoes
Ham
Egg
Rice
Soy sauce
Fish sauce
Lime juice
Sugar

Jack is Cooking Jamie Oliver's Ted Wish

2010-03-29T15:19:00.002-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

here is a very important video that everybody should watch. Jamie Oliver is one of my primary inspirations when it comes to cooking, and this is good stuff! Also, go to this website and sign this petition to help out the cause!

http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution/petition

Jack is Cooking Gluten Free Rhubarb Cake

2010-03-25T14:20:00.001-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

The other day i made a rhubarb cake. this is a cake my grandmother makes all the time for my dad. its his favorite cake! i have modified the recipe to make it gluten free!

its a fairly easy recipe. its just a basic yellow cake (not that uranium stuff....) recipe, except using gluten free baking mix instead of cake flour.

heres what you'll need:

for the cake:

2 cups gluten free baking mix (i like to use arrowhead mills gluten free all purpose baking mix)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla

3/4 cup milk

First! Preheat the oven to 350° and grease up 2 round baking pans

then in one bowl mix the flour, baking powder, and salt with a wire whisk.

in another bowl (i use my mixing machine to do this) Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. (sugar and butter is delicious. don't eat it!) then Beat in the eggs. Add the vanilla and mix until it is totally combined . Slowly add flour and milk. do this alternately. a little bit of flour, a little bit of milk.

when its done it should be nice and smooth. i found that with the gluten free flour it was even a little airy!

divide the batter evenly between the two pans, and bake at 350° for about 30 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out smooth. while this is cooking you can make the rhubarb filling.

heres what you'll need

4-5 long pieces of rhubarb

lemon juice

water

1/4 cup or less of sugar

First chop of the rhubarb, and put in a large pan. put just enough water to cover. stew this for about 30-45 minutes, until the rubarb falls apart and most of the water has evaporated. it will look a little bit like jam. then add in some lemon juice, and add sugar to taste.

After the cake has cooled down, and the rhubarb has cooled down take a good amount of the rhubarb and put it on one side of the cake. take the other cake and put it on top. dust it with some powdered sugar! and that's all there is to it!

this cake is excellent with tea!

mmmm mmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Coconut Fish with Kale and Coconut Rice

2010-03-17T10:52:00.000-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

Last night i made the most delicious fish covered with coconut, and rice cooked with coconut, and some kale! it was a coconut inspired meal. anyways its really easy to do.

heres what you'll need:

some kind of fish (i used sole)

coconut milk

coconut flakes

salt and pepper

kale

garlic

ginger

coconut rice (follow rice directions, but use substitute half of the water with coconut milk. also add in some coconut flakes)

First i let the fish sit in some coconut milk with salt and pepper for like 30 minutes.

while this was sitting i prepared the kale. i just cut it roughly, chopped up some garlic, and chopped up some ginger. i'll be back to that in a little bit.

After it soaked in the milk for 30 minutes, i took the fish, and i coated it in a mixture of flour salt and pepper. (at about this time you should start cooking the rice also) then i put it back in the coconut milk, just to get a coating on both sides, and then i covered both sides with coconut flakes (the unsweetened kind!)

i heated up 2 pans. one to cook the kale, and the other to cook the fish. in the kale pan i put a tablespoon of olive oil, and started to saute the garlic and ginger. in the fish pan i put about 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil. and let that heat up til it was pretty hot. Add the kale to the ginger and garlic, and stir around. cover to let it steam. this can cook for about 5 minutes and then its done. (a little lemon juice is really good in this also!)

while the kale was cooking, i added the fish to the other hot pan, and let it cook until it was nice and golden brown, then i flipped it and cooked until it was nice and golden brown on the other side! (fish cooks pretty quick, so this all happens in like 5 minutes. you got to stay on top of this and the kale!)

if you time it right, the kale, the fish, and the rice should all be done at the same time!

yum!

mmm mmm delicious!!

Jack is Cooking Beef Jerky

2010-03-14T17:14:00.000-04:00

Well Hello Internet!

i decided to take on a new project of making delicious homemade Beef Jerky!

this was the first time, and i think it turned out pretty good, although a little salty.

here's what i did:

the beef:

i used an organic grass-fed sirloin tip steak from Herondale Farm

i cut this into strips that were fairly thin.

for the marinade:

ginger

garlic

soy sauce

hot sesame oil

olive oil

tahini

sriracha

ginger ale

i marinated the steak for 24 hours in this.

after 24 hours, i took the steak out of the marinade, and i put some dry spices on for a dry rub (this is where i used too much salt, so if you do this, be careful with the salt.

the dry rub:

paprika

salt

pepper

herbs de provence

after i put the beef strips in this to give a little coating i put them on racks in the oven at 150°. i let it stay in there for about 3 hours. or basically until it became jerky. some of the pieces were finished a little before, because they were smaller, and some took a little longer, so you have to keep your eye on it.

all in all its pretty good! but this is something i'm definitely going to keep working on. different marinades etc!

mm mm delicious!

Jack is Cooking French Toast

2010-03-10T21:39:00.000-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

The other morning i made French Toast for breakfast. it is super easy to make! here's what you'll need:

Eggs (2 for 4 or 5 pieces)

milk

vanilla

cinammon

bread (preferably a little stale)

now then there are probably precise measurements that you are supposed to use, but i kind of do it by eyeball. the way i like to do this, is to crack the eggs onto a plate. but don't mix them yet. then i pour some milk onto the plate until the milk makes a full circle around the eggs. then i put what i imagine to be a teaspoon of vanilla. the cinnamon, i put enough to put a dusting over the yellow of each egg. then i take a fork and whisk it all together.

after that take the bread and let it soak in the egg mixture. if the bread is less stale it will absorb it all pretty quick, so you don't have to do it for so long. the more stale the bread, the longer you should soak.

in a frying pan melt some butter. once its nice and melted put the bread in and start to fry it!

When the bread gets nice and golden on the bottom its time to flip!

when its golden on the other side its done!

i like to put a little butter on top and lots of maple syrup. i LOVE maple syrup. with pancakes and french toast and waffles i like them to be swimming in maple syrup.

mmm mmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Sancocho

2010-02-24T19:54:00.000-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

a few weeks ago, i made a delicious South American/Caribbean dish called Sancocho. There are many different ways to make this dish, each one unique to the particular country that makes it.

The recipe that i made was a Colombian version i believe. its pretty easy to make, it just takes a couple of hours. heres what you'll need:

1 head of garlic
3 medium carrots, chopped
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 small Spanish onion, chopped
1 habenero chile, chopped
2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 gallon water
1.5 tablespoons glace de poulet
1 tablespoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper
1 (3 to 4-pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces (with bones!!!)
1 small yucca, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 green plantain, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
10-12 small purple potatoes, halved
2 ripe plantains, peeled and cut into 3-inch pieces
3 ears corn, cut in 3 pieces

First! saute the garlic, carrots, peppers, onion, chile and 1 cup of cilantro with some olive oil until everything is tender.

next take all these soft veggies, and a little of the water and puree them in a blender:

Then, in a really big pot, mix the puree with the water, glace de poulet, cumin, and season with salt and pepper. Bring this to a boil and then simmer for about 30 minutes.

Add the chicken and simmer for another 20 minutesish

add in the yucca and the green plantain (chop this into bite size pieces) and simmer for 20 minutes more. then add the potatoes, the ripe plantain, and the corn and simmer for another 30 minutes.

In a blender, combine the remaining 1 cup cilantro and a little of the stew broth and puree. mix into the stew, and season with some salt and pepper.

serve in a bowl, making sure that everybody gets a little of everything! this makes quite a bit of soup, and can be frozen in the freezer to enjoy at a later date!

mmmm mmmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Mostly Macro Banh Mi

2010-02-19T15:46:00.000-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

its been a couple of weeks, and i have a few posts lingering that i have to put up! but heres a quick one in the mean time. Last night for dinner i made some Mostly Macrobiotic (almost but not quite) Vietnamese Sandwiches (otherwise known as Banh Mi)

i made them with tempeh instead of the roast pork that is normally in these delicious sandwiches, but i tailored this tempeh to be just as delicious.

heres what you'll need:

for the carrots:

2 carrots julienned

1 daikon julienned

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup white vinegar

2 tablespoons rice syrup

some salt

for the tempeh:

1 package of tempeh

2 tablespoons of ketchup

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 inches of ginger

2-3 cloves of garlic

half a lemon

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 tablespoon hot sesame oil

for the sandwiches:

baguettes

spicy mayonaise (mayonaise + sriracha)

cilantro

cucumbers

onion

So First make the carrot slaw

to do this put the water, vinegar and rice syrup in pan and bring to a boil. transfer to a bowl and let it cool down. put in the carrots, and the daikon with some salt. i put in some dried cranberries for some extra goodness too. let this sit for 30 minutes to an hour, turning every now and then.

While these are festering we can cook the tempeh. first its good to steam it. Tempeh is always better steamed first. so while its steaming, prepare the sauce. put the ketchup, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil, olive oil, lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar together in pan and stir and cook until it boils.

yay! this is an awesome BBQ sauce, good to put on any kind of meat, or tempeh to make it taste more like BBQ.

when the tempeh has steamed for 20 minutes or so, pour this sauce all over it, and then cook it in a skillet for about 15 minutes at a medium heat. now the tempeh is all done!

now all to do is to make the sandwich! so toast the baguette, slather on some spicy mayonnaise (you can make it more or less spicy by the amount of sriracha sauce you put on) put some tempeh on the roll, then the onions, the cucumbers, some of the carrots and daikon, and top it off with a bunch of cilantro!

the word is that this is as good or better than any of the sandwich places! (except Nicky's of course. that place is the bomb. but they should make a tempeh sandwich for a veggie option instead of a portabello...)

mmm mmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Vietnamese Style Lemongrass Tempeh Stir Fry

2010-01-29T12:45:00.003-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

For dinner tonight Julie and I made some stir fried Tempeh with Lemongrass, Peppers, and Snow Peas

to make this you will need:

2 inches of lemongrass very finely diced

1 inch ginger diced 1 tablespoon olive oil
4 ounces tempeh, cut into cubes
1 yellow pepper sliced
a handfull of snow peas 1.5 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar

1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar 1/2 tablespoon rice syrup
1 teaspoon chili garlic sriracha
2 cups rice or Coconut rice (to make coconut rice, if you are making 1 cup of rice, use 1 cup of water and 1/2 cup coconut milk. follow recipe in link)
cilantro

lime juice

So first, we sautéed the tempeh in the olive oil until it got brown.

then we added in the lemongrass, the ginger, the pepper, and the snow peas and stir fried for about 4 minutes, or until the pepper started to get a little soft.

Then we added the soy sauce, the rice vinegar, the apple cider vinegar, the chili garlic sriracha sauce, and the rice syrup. stir fried it for another minute, and then took it out and put it over the rice! sprinkled a little cilantro on top and a squeeze of lime juice! and that's it!

mmm mmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Tacos

2010-01-27T22:45:00.000-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

Tonight for Dinner i made Tacos. and i don't mean i went out and bought some taco kit and mixed in some ground beef. i made REAL tacos. Taco's like how you would get them in mexico. or how i would imagine you would get them there, i've never actually been!

anyways, these tacos were delicious, cheap, and really easy to make.

Here's what you'll need:

1 tomato

6 tomatillos

1 green pepper

1 hot pepper (you can really use whatever type you want, and put more if you want it more spicy)

1 can of corn

1 onion

the breast of 1 chicken

cilantro

paprika

corn tortillas

sour cream

guacamole

cheese

so first, i roasted all of my vegetables (except the onion) in my broiler. even the canned corn. i just strained it and dumped it out on the pan with the other vegetables. i roasted them until they started getting a nice browning on them. then i turned them until i got the same on the other side

Next, i took the tomato, the tomatillos, and some cilantro, and i pureed them in a blender.

in a large pot i took my chicken breast and i browned it quickly on both sides. then i poured in the tomatillo sauce to begin to simmer the chicken.

after the chicken had simmered for about 10 minutes i cut it up a little bit. i let it simmer a little while longer, until i could pull it apart with a fork. at this point i added the rest of the roasted vegetables, an onion i had cut up, and some paprika

i let all this good stuff simmer together for a while. finally in the end i through in some more cilantro, and a little lime juice for good measure. (lime juice is pretty awesome on everything)

now! for the tacos! i took my tortillas which i heated up in the microwave, and in each one i put a little bit of this delicious chicken mixture, some guacamole, some sour cream, and some grated cheese.

oh man was it good.

(btw this mixture made enough sauce to make like 12 tacos)

mmm mmmm delicious

Jack is Cooking Banana Flambé

2010-01-24T19:53:00.000-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

this morning i decided to make banana flambé for breakfast. its pretty fun setting things on fire, and bananas are delicious, so these two things naturally go together!

this might be one of those don't try at home things, but i dunno whatever. if you think u can do it go for it. hahaha

what you need:
bananas
butter
powdered sugar
rum
vanilla extract
lemon juice

Jack is Cooking Root Vegetable and Leek Soup

2010-01-19T16:38:00.000-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

This past sunday, julie and i decided to make a Root Vegetable and Leek Soup!

its very easy to make.

heres what you need

1 leek

1 potato

1 rutabaga

3 carrots

3 parsnips

1 onion

2 inches of ginger

parsley

chicken stock (3-4 cups)

salt and pepper (1/2 tablespoon each- more pepper if you want)

cinnamon

half and half (1/2 cup)

first chop everything up into 2 inch cubes (except the ginger. chop that up pretty finely)

then with a little butter sauté the carrots, onions, ginger, and parsley for about 5 minutes, or until the onions start getting a little clear

put the rest of the vegetables in the pot with the chicken stock (enough that all the vegetables are covered)

cook for about 45 minutes. at this point all the veggies should be nice and soft. take a potato masher

and mash them all together. i prefer the masher to an immersion blender, because i like it still a little chunky. then add in the half and half, the salt and pepper, and the cinnamon (just a dash)

cook it for 15 more minutes, then serve. i served it with a spoon of greek yogurt, some chives, and a dash more cinnamon

mmmm mmmm delicious

Jack is Cooking Gluten Free Carrot Cake

2010-01-15T14:00:00.000-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

Last night i made a Gluten Free Carrot Cake.

its pretty easy to make! heres what you'll need:

2.5 cups gluten free flour (i used arrowhead mills all purpose gluten free flour. it is a fantastic GF mix)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup corn oil
4 eggs slightly beaten
1 tablespoon REAL mayonaise
2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
9 oz or so canened crushed pineapple with juice
1/2 cup dried cranberries

What you'll need for the frosting:
Cream cheese frosting:
1/2 cup melted
8 ounces cream cheese softened
1.25 cups of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions
preheat the oven to 350°
i did this in my kitchen Aid, but you can do it by hand if you want. mix flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and cinnamon. Mix in the corn oil, eggs, and mayonaise. Stir well. Stir in the carrots, the nuts, the cranberries, and pineapple.
i used 2 circular 9" cake pans. this mixture makes the perfect amount for these two pans. grease the pans and fill them with the batter. bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Fosting
whip all ingredients together till fluffy.

when the cake cools down, put one layer down, and spread frosting on the first layer. put the second cake on top, and spread the frosting all over the top and the sides! then you can put nuts all around the side, and a little more on top.

(yes this is actually the cake that i made! did i mention i am a photographer? i took the cake to work with me, so i could take a picture outside of my kitchen)

mmm mmm delicious

Jack is Cooking a Peanut Butter Rice Casserole Thing

2010-01-12T20:10:00.000-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

tonight for dinner, i have made a delicious Rice Casserole thing. im not really sure what you would call it. but its got rice, and vegetables, and peanut butter in it, and its really really good! the other really awesome thing about this is that it all happens in one pot, or pan, so the cleanup is very minimal.

Heres what i used:
2 tablespoons oil
2 green onions
1 cup of rice
1/2 cup of stock
1 slice of ham (totally optional)
1/2 to 1 whole red pepper
2/3 cup of milk (you can also use coconut milk, which makes this even more delicious)
2-4 cloves garlic
2 inches of ginger
1/2 teaspoon sriracha sauce
salt
3 tablespoons of peanut butter
1 small can of chopped tomato
1 large sweet potato, or a few small ones
1 carrot
baby bok choy

heres everything all chopped up and ready to go:

so the first step, is to mix the peanut butter, the milk, the garlic, and the sriracha sauce together in a bowl.

then in the casserole pan (or dutch oven)

put the oil. then the onions. then the rice:

then add the stock:

lay the slice of ham on top of this. ( i recommend slicing some holes in the ham so that the milk mixture while incorporate with the rice mixture below) on top of the ham put the peppers and the ginger:

Pour the milk and PB mixture over this. then put the carrot, the tomato, and then sweet potato over that:

Finally, put the Bok Choy over everything, and drizzle some spicy sesame oil on it:

Cover with tinfoil and bake in the oven at 450° for 45 minutes

take out and enjoy!

keep the leftovers in the fridge. its even better the next day!

mmm mmm delicious.

Jack is (not) Cooking a Mango Lassi

2010-01-09T23:30:00.000-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

Tonight i just have a quick post. the other day i got some free mangos, so out of one of the mangos i decided to make a mango lassi!
they are real easy to make. heres what you need

a mango
1 cup of yogurt
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons sugar
a blender

so take your mango, and peel it and cut it up. put it in the blender with 1 cup of yogurt, and 1/2 cup of milk, and 2 tablespoons of sugar (if you want it sweeter you can put more sugar). blend it up good until its nice and frothy! enjoy!

mmmm mmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Cold Sesame Noodles

2010-01-04T20:07:00.000-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

phew the holidays are over! i feel like i cooked a ridiculous amount of food, some of which has made it up here, some of which will make it up here eventually, and some of it that just slipped through the cracks!

anyways, as a result of all the cooking i did, be it cookies, turkey, beef wellington, pot pies, and whatever else i made, Butter has now become my number one used ingredient! yum! if you want to know how i can tell, if you look over in the right hand column of this blog you will see a list of ingredients. every time i do a post i put the ingredients as labels, and it tallies them and puts them in descending order from most used to least used.

if you were to click on these ingredients you can then see all the recipes used involving that ingredient.

all that aside

Cold Sesame Noodles! these are delicious, and they have no butter in them! i need a break from butter!

they are super easy.

heres what you'll need

1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 tablespoon soy sauce (shoyu)
1 tablespoon hot toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon olive oil
sesame seeds (optional)
1 carrot - julienned or i like to just use the peeler, and peel it all the way to the core (optional)
1 green onion (optional)
some kind of noodles, udon, soba, rice, or just plain old spaghetti (enough for 1 person but not enough for 2)

ok so take all the sauces, and whisk them together in a bowl

then, cook the noodles as per the instructions on your noodle packet

if you are using carrots, when there is 1 minute or less left for the noodles, throw the carrots in with them. this will soften them slightly, but they will still be nice and crunchy.

strain the carrots and the noodles, and run cold water over them to stop the cooking and turn them cold.

then put them in the bowl with the sauce mixture

toss everything until the sauce is coating the noodles nicely, throw on the green onions

and you have a delicious meal or snack!

mmmm mmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Christmas Dinner

2009-12-26T21:19:00.000-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

So the last 10 posts have all been about Christmas Dinner, and i made so many things, that they've been pushed off the main page here. so i decided to make one conglomerate posting with everything i made!

Heres what Rosie and I made (if you click on the links you will be taken to the individual post):

Gluten Free Croissants
Gluten Free Chipolata Sausages
Gluten Free Pancetta Chestnut Stuffing
Ginger-Garlic Brussel Sprouts with Leeks
Mashed Carrots and Swedes
Roast Potatoes
Roast Turkey
Glazed Ham
Turkey Gravy
Gluten Free Mini Key Lime Meringue Pies
and
the Leftover Sandwich

Enjoy, and Happy Christmas to Everybody!

Jack

Jack is Cooking Christmas Leftovers Sandwiches! (on GF Bread!)

2009-12-26T21:00:00.000-05:00

Well Hello internet!

So obviously we made a whole load of food, and so there was many many leftovers!

almost better than the meal, is the sandwiches you can make afterwards!

Heres how i make mine:

first the bread (gluten free here):

then i put some gravy on one side (if you put it in the fridge overnight, it will turn into a kind of gravy jelly! its perfect for spreading on sandwiches, and if you want it to turn back to gravy just heat it up)

Then some stuffing

Then on the other side i put some of the Carrots, and also some of the Brussel Sprouts

Then some Turkey, and some Ham

And then a little more Gravy!

Then put the two halves together for one hell of a sandwich!

mmm mmm delicious!

Rosie is Baking Mini (Gluten Free) Key Lime Meringue Pies

2009-12-26T20:27:00.001-05:00

Hi Internet.
This is Rosie, Jack's (gluten free) sister. I don't do a lot of cooking. I prefer to bake. So we can call today's blog "Rosie is baking".
When we lived in Bermuda we would always have a lemon meringue pie for dessert on Christmas day. This year we decided to reinstate the tradition but twist it around a little. I've always liked key lime pie better than lemon because it is slightly tarter and less sweet. But you can throw meringue on anything. So I started with a graham cracker crust. I managed to find gluten free graham crackers but I have only seen these at one store. (If you can't find these you can make a delicious tart crust out of brown rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, butter and a little sugar.)
Here are all the ingredients you'll need:
1 package gluten free graham crackers
3 tbsp butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup key lime juice
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
1/4 cup powdered sugar

For the crust:
Smash all the graham crackers into a fine crumble.
Add three tablespoons of softened butter and a quarter cup of sugar and mix it all up into a crumbly sticky mixture. It won't be solid at all, you have to press it into the bottom of the pie pan (or muffin and mini-muffin pans if you're making minis).
Refrigerate crust for at least an hour. (If you make the crust without graham crackers you will need to bake them off for about 5-7 minutes or until they are slightly golden).

For the delicious key lime filling:
You need half a cup of key lime juice. I've used fresh key limes and juice from a bottle and honestly it doesn't make that much of a difference. And fresh key limes are tiny and take a long time to squeeze half a cup out of. But, make sure it's key lime juice and not plain lime, they taste really different.
Mix the key lime juice with the can of sweetened condensed milk and the yolks of the three eggs. Save the whites for the meringue.
Mix it all together until it's smooth and creamy. I usually taste a tiny bit to make there's enough lime.
Pour this mixture into the mini crusts.

For the meringues:
Whip the egg whites you have left over until they are starting to get firm, then begin to slowly add in the powdered sugar. Beat until stiff. I didn't really beat mine long enough and I used granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar so they weren't really stiff enough. Oh well, next time. They still tasted delicious.

I scooped the meringue into a zip-loc bag and snipped one corner off. Then it sort of acts as a piping bag and you can squeeze little dollops onto the minis and sort of a circular swirl on the bigger ones.

Put them in the oven for about ten minutes until the meringues get golden on the top and the filling is slightly firmer. The meringue is the most important part because the filling does most of it's hardening in the fridge so take it out as soon as the meringues have the right look.

I also made a few in regular muffin tins with red and green foil muffin cups for a little extra Christmas spirit.

Jack is Cooking Gravy

2009-12-26T20:27:00.000-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

So GRAVY! that's pretty important in the whole meal...

what you'll need:
turkey stock (you can make this from the giblets of the turkey while the turkey is roasting)
drippings from pan
kuzu root (2 tablespoons)
water (4-5 tablespoons
s+P
a little lemon juice
a little champagne

after you take the Turkey out of the oven, save the drippings and the pan.
in a bowl mix the kuzu root and the water together, until you have a paste. it will be kind of like when you put corn starch and water together.

then over low heat, put the turkey pan with the drippings, and mix in the kuzu paste to make a kind of roux. cook for about 4 minutes

then slowly pour in the stock, a cup at a time mixing constantly to prevent any lumping from happening.
season with salt and pepper and cook for a further 10-15 minutes over low heat.

i decided that a little lemon juice was necessary and also a little champagne!

mmmm mmmm delicious.

p.s. somehow no pictures were ever taken of the gravy. sorry!

Jack is Cooking Glazed Ham

2009-12-26T20:15:00.000-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

Ok so the Other main event of Christmas Dinner is a Ham. this year i decided to make a Glazed Ham, and of course since we're on the Farm it came from Herondale Farm. It is the BEST ham ever, end of story.

So this is almost easier than the Turkey
Heres what you'll need:
1 Ham (with the Bone in)
a whole bunch of cloves
1/2 cup Maple Flavored Rice Syrup
1 Tablespoon Mustard
1/2 cup orange juice

Take the Ham and with a sharp knife, cut a grid pattern into the fat on top. the grid should leave a whole bunch of 1 inch squares through the fat. Then take a whole bunch of cloves, and poke one clove into each of these squares.

Put in an oven at 325° for 18 minutes per pound.

Meanwhile to make the glaze:
put the rice syrup, the mustard, and the orange juice, in a small pot and mix together. then bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes, stirring, and careful not to let it boil over.

when the ham is 30 minutes away from being done, pour half of the glaze over the ham. at this time you will have noticed that a fair amount of fat has pooled up around the ham. take this and spoon it all over the ham too. this will give it some extra deliciousness in the final moments of cooking.
when there is 15 minutes, pour the remaining glaze over the ham and baste again

Remove from the oven and let rest for 30 minutes, under tin foil.

mmmm mmmm delicious (more than delicious)

Jack is Cooking Roast Turkey!

2009-12-26T19:46:00.003-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

So the main event of the Christmas Dinner : Turkey! well almost the main event, there is ham also.

But anyways, the Turkey! this is actually pretty easy and almost impossible to screw up.
you can put whatever herbs and spices you want on it, but we had a heritage breed turkey, and honestly its so darn good that it doesn't need anything except butter and stuffing!

So we took the turkey, and i put some of the delicious pancetta chestnut stuffing and i stuffed it in both ends. then i took a whole lot of butter and rubbed it all over the turkey.

take it out and let it sit for another 30 minutes to an hour

it will eventually get to 180°

then get your carving tools out and carve away! Save the pan and the drippings to make Gravy

mmmm mmmm delicious

Jack is Cooking Mashed Carrots and Swede (Rutabaga)

2009-12-26T19:32:00.000-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

The other vegetable side dish in the Christmas Dinner that we made is mashed carrots and swedes. this is something that my grandmother used to make, and is especially delicious. In england the vegetable is called Swede, but here in america they call it a Rutabaga.

whatever you call it its pretty darn good.

This is the easiest thing we made!

heres what you'll need:
carrots
swedes
butter
salt and pepper
nutmeg

so first peel and cut all the vegetables and put them in a pot covered with water. boil until they are tender, but not mushy

remove and strain, and put them back into the pot. and mash up with a potato masher

add some butter, salt, pepper, and a little bit of nutmeg, and mash again! keep it a little lumpy though, you don't want this to be creamy.

so that's the carrots!

mmmm mmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Roast Potatoes

2009-12-26T14:03:00.001-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

Heres how to make Roast Potatoes!

unfortunately i forgot to take pictures! i was so busy making everything, that somehow it slipped my mind...

anyway parboil the potatoes. this means boil them until the surface is soft, but not the center.
strain. in the colander swirl them around. the idea here is to get the outside of the edges (which is now soft) all rough.

then take them and put them back in the pot, and add in a sprinkling of Gluten Free All Purpose Flour (or regular flour) swirl them around until they are coated.

take a roasting pan and put some oil. put this pan in the oven and heat up the oil.
when the oil is hot, take the potatoes and put them in the pan coating them in the oil. put the pan back in the oven and roast until they are golden brown. it should take an hour or so.(you'll have to turn them every now and then)

mmm mmm delicious

Jack is Cooking Ginger Garlic Brussel Sprouts with Leeks

2009-12-26T14:02:00.000-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

Another side dish to the huge meal that is christmas is Brussel Sprouts. Now I love Brussel Sprouts, so i can eat them just plain old boiled. My dad however does not like them, and never has.
he has always been made to eat at least 2 of them however - first by his mom, and then by my mom!

The key in the last few years however is to make some kind of Brussel Sprouts that he will actually like,
and this year i succeeded

Julie gave me the beginnings of this recipe, and i added some stuff as i was cooking it just because i thought it would be good.

Here's what you'll need:

2 of those soup container thingys that brussel sprouts come in these days
2 or 3 leeks (cleaned and cut into small pieces)
1 head of garlic
2-3 inches of ginger
salt and pepper
sugar
lemon juice
olive oil
butter
champagne

so the trick here is that instead of chopping the brussel sprouts up you actually peel each individual leaf off keeping it intact. it takes like an hour. i took the sprouts and watched "Its Always Sunny in Philedelphia: a Very Sunny Christmas" while i did the task.

melt the butter in a pan and add some olive oil. add the sprout leaves and saute until beginning to get tender:

add in the garlic and the ginger, and the leeks

cook until the leeks are tender. add salt and pepper and sugar, and saute for a couple of more minutes

then pour a little champagne into the mix! we were having some very very nice champagne, which made these sprouts extra nice (and dramatically increased the value!! ;-) )

so anyways add the champagne, and steam for 4 minutes,

squeeze a little lemon juice in and stir around!

the leeks are all yummy and caramalized now!

mmmm mmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Gluten Free Pancetta Chestnut Stuffing

2009-12-26T12:53:00.002-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

Another Huge part of any christmas meal, or any meal involving turkey for that matter is the Stuffing.
Stuffing also contains a huge amount of Gluten, so my sister and I set out to make a gluten free stuffing.

We started with a recipe we saw on the food network, and then changed just about everything to make it far more delicious and far more Gluten Free.

Heres what you'll need:

3 cloves garlic
6 tablespoons butter
8 oz pancetta diced
2 large onions chopped
2 carrots peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons chopped Fresh Rosemary
1 large jar of roasted whole peeled chestnuts (coarsely chopped)
1 lb of crusty gluten free baguettes chopped up into little cubes(you can often find these in the frozen section of fancy-ish grocery stores. but if you are gluten-free you probably know where to get these kinds of things. Whole foods definitely has it, as do more and more stores these days)
1 cup of chicken/turkey broth
salt and pepper
2 large eggs beaten

First!
take 2 tablepoons of the butter and melt in a pan. fry up the pancetta until its kinda crispy.

drain all the grease out and put into a bowl

Next,

take the rest of the butter and melt into a pan. cook the onions, carrots, rosemary, and garlic together until the onions are tender.

stir in the chestnuts.

put everything in the bowl with the pancetta and stir until mixed.

add in the bread chunksand toss to coat. add the broth until its nice and moist, season with salt and pepper, and then mix in the beaten eggs.

pour into a baking pan

If you are cooking a huge meal (as we were) it is advisable to do this the day before, and refrigerate until the next day when you are ready to cook.

next day!

put some of this stuffing inside the turkey! yum yum

the rest of the stuffing cover with tinfoil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes then remove the tinfoil and bake another 15 minutes

Heres a tip: if you are cooking this stuffing as part of a larger meal, remember this takes only 45 minutes to cook, and the turkey takes like 4 hours or something. so cook this at the end!

in my larger conglomerate post about Christmas Dinner i will talk about the timing of everything!

mmmm mmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Gluten Free Chipolata Sausages

2009-12-26T12:20:00.000-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

In England, a traditional part of any Christmas Lunch/Dinner is Chipolata sausages. these sausages are extremely delicious, and go along very well with all the other deliciousness that is the traditional English Christmas Dinner. Sometimes they are wrapped in bacon and served as an appetizer, and sometimes they are just served right along with the turkey.

Two problems have arisen with chipolatas however!

the first problem is that, they are impossible to find in the good old U.S.A except for in a few specialty shops in NYC. (after all, New York City is not really part of America, but really just a buffer between America and the rest of the world. I have come to realize this more and more, every time i venture inland and visit the landlocked states. woah! this is a blog about cooking! enough of this topic!)

Anyways, the Second problem with Chipolata sausages is they are inherently filled with Gluten!
so we can't go to the fancy specialty shops in the city to buy them. our only option is to make them from scratch!

so heres what you'll need to make these delicious Gluten Free Chipolata Sausages:

(i used half this because i didn't want to make 8 or more lbs of sausages!!)

7.5 lbs pork butt
1 lb pork fatback
(if you don't have a meat grinder, just use ground pork, but make sure its kind of on the fatty side. like 85% lean, or maybe even less. these sausages need fat in them. when they cook it all melts out, but its very necessary for the authenticity)

1 tablespoon sage
1 teaspoon dried onion flakes
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon mace (mace is the outer shell of a nutmeg... nut. if you cant find any you can grate some fresh nutmeg instead)
1.5 tablespoon salt
6 oz GLUTEN FREE bread crumbs
1 tablespoon pepper
1 pint water
Sausage casings!

so grind up the meat if you are grinding it yourself. then put it in the fridge. if you have preground pork, skip this step just put it in the fridge...

next in a bowl put the water, and all the herbs and spices and breadcrumbs. mix together into a kind of mush.

then take the ground meat out of the fridge and in a food processor, blend the meat and the spice mixture together. until its totally mixed!:

The next part is getting this mixture inside of the sausage casings!

i recommend a sausage stuffing machine...

i did not have one.

after many different failed attempts of this my dad figured out a solution.

what you'll need is a large soda bottle. and a small soda bottle.

the large one we used was plastic. cut the large bottle in half to make a funnel

the small one was glass.

heres the machine at work:

Pull the sausage casing all the way up the spout of the big bottle. fill the big bottle with meat, and use the small bottle to push it down forcing it out into the casings. it takes a little while, and a lot of patience!

but in the end, you have sausages! yay!!

mmm mmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking (Baking) Gluten Free Croissants - That taste like REAL Croissants

2009-12-26T11:46:00.001-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

Normally on Christmas morning we all wake up early and open our stockings (YES Santa still comes and visits our house even though we are all grown up! :-) ) and then eat some kind of delicious pastry before moving on to the more serious presents that have piled up under our enormous Christmas Tree.

However, in the last few years we have been at a loss as what kind of pastry to eat because both my mom and my sister can no longer eat gluten.

so i took it upon myself to figure out how to make Gluten Free Croissants.

i've never even made regular croissants before, but how hard could it be i figured...

haha! apparently croissants are complicated! but i did it anyway.
and i did it gluten free.

and guess what! they were perfect. they were more than perfect. they are so perfect that im not even going to put the recipe here, because i feel like i've discovered some kind of Gold!

Gluten Free Croissants people! all the gluten free people out there are gonna be breaking down my door to eat these things.

and since it was the first time, i know that i can make them even better, and even more perfect than they were before!

Anyhow,
here are some pictures of the process - minus the ingredients...

Here i am preparing the dough: it takes lots of pounding and punching!

Then there is a rising period... followed by more punching, and then more rising.

Then the dough is rolled out, and butter is added. LOTS of butter!!! mmmm mmmm can't have croissants without butter!

The butter is encased in the dough, and then all the folding and rolling begins

Roll and fold and chill and roll and fold and chill and roll and fold and chill

(this whole process takes about 11-12 hours at minimum btw)

finally they are ready for cutting and rolling!

yum yum

then these little rolled croissants are frozen before baking

and tah-dah! croissants!

that one in the middle got a sausage in it! how did that happen? mmmmm check out the sausage post too. we made those from scratch also!

mmmm mmmm delicious.

p.s. one day in the near future perhaps a bakery will open that i will bake in where people can buy gluten free croissants....

Jack is Cooking Gluten Free Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies with Walnuts

2009-12-22T00:00:00.001-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

Tonight i made a whole load more cookies! this time i made chocolate cookies, and i have to say they are dangerously delicious. woah man!

anyways they are real easy to make

here's what you'll need:

1 1/2 cupmilk chocolate chips

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of butter

1 egg

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 2/3 cup pamelas gluten free pancake and baking mix (flour)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup walnuts

So First:

in a double boiler (i used a bowl in a pot of water) melt the butter and chocolate together over a low heat

meanwhile, in a bowl mix together the egg, sugar and vanilla

in another bowl, mix the flour, the baking powder and the salt together

by now the chocolate and butter have melted into a delicious mixture of chocolate and butter.... mmmmmmmmm

before you eat it all (and its cooled down a little bit), slowly pour and mix it into the sugar and egg

then slowly mix in the flour mixture, alternating with milk. so a little flour, a little milk, a little flour, a little milk, etc. until you have a nice batter. this dough is going to be slightly more runny than normal.

put the dough in the fridge for like an hour.

preheat the oven to 350° (my oven takes about an hour...)

take a teaspoon, and spoon the dough onto a cookie sheet. i sprinkled some christmas sugar on the cookies

bake them for 11 minutes, and out the come! let them cool for 5-10 minutes on the pan, before putting them on a rack. they will be so soft when they come out of the oven still, that they will melt through the rack at first!!

mmmmm mmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking more Cookies!

2009-12-19T19:50:00.002-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

so today i made an experimental batch of cookies, to test out for christmas! i used 5 different types of fillings, to see how successful they may or may not be. either way they will definitely be delicious! but some fillings may or may not work.

so from from left to right:

nutella, strawberryjam, four fruit jam, blueberry jam, peach preserve (jam?)

then finally after searching high and low, i found some coloured sugar:

and i baked them for 10 minutes:

the blueberry jam appears to be a lot more liquidy and therefor does not contain within the cookes as well. also these are gluten free cookies, so the dough spread out quite a bit more.

they are extremely delicious!

for the recipe check out the previous cookie post.

to make them gluten free, i used pamelas gluten free pancake and baking mix, instead of flour. although i had to use a little bit more than normal flour, to get the right consistency with the dough.

i will continue in my gluten free experiments, as more and more people seem to be gluten free

mmmm mmm delicious

Jack is Cooking Nutella Bomb Snickerdoodles

2009-12-16T20:59:00.001-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

so since i had so much dough left over from last night, i decided to make more cookies today! except this time, i made them even more f***ing delicious than they were!

heres what i did:

first i took the balls of dough, and i made hollowed them out

then i filled this pocket with nutella

i then reformed the ball around the nutella concealing it within!

then i rolled the dough in cinnamon sugar

put them on the cookie tray

and baked them at 350° for 12 minutes

here it is!

when you bite into it the nutella bomb explodes!

mmmm mmmm super delicious!

Jack is Cooking Really F***ing Delicious Sugar Cookies

2009-12-16T09:31:00.000-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

So yesterday i went on a tour of the French culinary institute to investigate the possibilities of taking a pastry course. and oh man was it awesome! i got a contact sugar high!

i was so excited that i ran home and i decided to make cookies! and then while they were cooking i was still so excited that i wrote a song about making the cookies! the song is called "really f***ing delicious sugar cookies" and yes i say the "F" word a lot in the song, so if your sensitive or something don't watch it. but your gonna miss out on its supreme awesomeness!

so check out that video at the end of this post!!!

but heres how you make these really f***ing delicious sugar cookies! (aka the lyrics to the song!)

preheat oven to 350°

heres what you'll need:

2/3 cup shortening

2/3 cup butter

1.5 cups white sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3.5 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

So you take the butter, and the shortening, and the sugar and you mix it all together

until you get a nice creamy substance that looks really f***ing good

and then you take the eggs, and the vanilla extract, and you mix that into the creamy substance

until it looks really f***ing delicious

Then in another bowl, you take the flour and the baking powder and the salt, and you mix it together until it looks like flour again! then you take this flour mixture, and you slowly mix it into the creamy delicious mixture, until you get a nice big ball of dough that looks really f***ing delicious!

Then you take this big ball of dough, and break of smaller balls, and roll them around in your hand until you have little balls of dough. then you take these balls of dough, and you roll them around in sugar, (i also rolled some around in cinnamon sugar to make snickerdoodles)

place these sugar coated balls of dough on a cookie sheet, and bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven

and out they come! and oh man are they really f***ing delicious!

the snickerdoodles are excellent with nutella on them. i still have half of that really big ball of dough left, so i am going to make more cookies tomorrow night. but im gonna do something really super special that is even better than this, so i will make another post about it!!!

mmmm mmmm delicious!

oh yah! heres the song!

Jack is Cooking Rice without a Rice Cooker

2009-12-10T14:23:00.000-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

Last night i decided to make one of the simplest things ever to make. Rice!

Rice the staple of oh so many countries in the world. It is so plain, yet so many delicious things can be made out of it. In the past i have posts involving rice, and plan to have many more posts centering around rice, but for everything, you probably (definitely) need to cook the rice first!

I find that many people have no idea how to cook this incredibly simple food item, without a rice cooker that is!

I used to swear by my rice cooker. but one day i found myself rice cookerless, and i had to figure out how to do it myself!

what i found was the rice i made came out quicker, and was far better!

For this particular post i used Thai Jasmine Rice. This is my preferred white rice. However there are like a million types of rice!

Heres what to do for white rice:

for every 1 cup of rice use 1.5 cups of water
i like to put a little butter in with the rice. 1 tablespoon per 2 cups of rice

1st: rinse the rice until the water runs clear, and is no longer milky

2nd: put the rice water and butter in an uncovered pan

3rd: Bring the water to a boil

4th: turn the heat down to medium and cover the pot partially. (3/4s)

5th: keep an eye on the rice! when craters appear (3-5 minutes) in the rice its ready for the next stage

6th: Turn the heat all the way down and cover completely

7th: Cook covered on the lowest heat possible for 10 minutes. (DONT OPEN THE LID!)
let it sit for a further 5 minutes (STILL DONT OPEN THE LID!)

and then its done! Fluff with a fork and serve!

or save for other uses like Fried Rice!

see how simple that is?

mmm mmm delicious

Jack is Cooking Pork Chops

2009-12-07T19:51:00.001-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

So last night i somehow had the motivation to get up and make some dinner. nothing fancy, but boy was it good! i made breaded pork chops

heres what i used

2 pork chops ( from Herondale Farm of course!)

bread crumbs

paprika

parsley

one egg

also

some french cut beans

cheddar cheese

milk

a little bit of flour

garlic

So First i took the bread crumbs and mixed them with a little paprika and some parsley.

then i took the pork chops and dipped them in the egg, and then in the bread crumbs, and then because i like them extra breaded, i put them back in the egg, and then back in the bread crumbs. that's easy right?

heres what they looked like

Then i took the chops, and i heated some olive oil in a pan. i cooked them for like 1-2 minutes on each side. then i put them in the oven at 350 for another 20 minutes.

In the meantime, i put a little butter in that pan (some of the oil had been soaked up by the chops)

i sauteed some garlic. then i added the french cut beans. i let those cook for a couple minutes over low/medium heat. once they were cooked i put a little bit of flour in the pan to start a roux. i added maybe half a cup of milk, and some grated cheddar cheese.

This made a nice side dish to the pork chops and added a little bit of green.

heres both together! sorry for a lack of pictures this time.

mmm mmm delicious

Jack is (not) Cooking Tuna Toro

2009-12-01T22:00:00.000-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

Heres another post that's been sitting for far too long inside of my computer! A couple of weeks ago, on a sunday morning we were awoken with claims that we were going to New Jersey to eat a bunch of tuna!

The claims turned out to be true! We were very kindly escorted out to New Jersey by Stephen, who also treated us to all this delicious Tuna. It was an unforgettable event!

Heres the deal:

Apparently at this crazy Japanese mall/supermarket place in Edgewater New Jersey, once a year they have a tuna cutting performance!

what this means, is they take a whole tuna, and dudes with samurai swords (ok not samurai swords, but enormous knives!!!!) cut up a whole Tuna in a matter of minutes.

This Tuna was 680 lbs, dressed!!!

Dressed means without the head!

well anyways, after a very impressive performance by these skilled tuna cutters, Stephen the man with the plan - had the inside hookup to Mike - who led the performance, and managed to procure the best bits of the tuna for us! and i mean the BEST bits. We got the sushi tuna, we got the TORO tuna, (MAD amounts of TORO), the meat that was between the ribs, i don't even know what its called!

So we took all this fresh tuna and we found a table in the food court and we set up a sushi kitchen. Were we allowed to do this? probably not! but who cares! we looked like we knew what we were doing!!

So we had a feast, we ate more tuna than is probably recommended by the state of california (since they seem to be the authorities on everything), probably all got mercury poisoning, and just plain old had a great time.

Now Somehow, i know how to roll sushi... i think i just happen to be a master at rolling... just about anything... wink wink... its all the same right?

ok so here i am spreading some sushi rice onto some nori

here i am cutting the fresh tuna into strips (with a very very sharp knife!)

here i am making some fresh Wasabi. this stuff is way better than the wasabi you normally get in the restaurant!

and here are my spicy tuna rolls! the spicy mayonnaise (is that really how you spell that? spell check says it is so....) was provided by Mike, who provided the Tuna!

so i probably ate about 15 of these rolls, plus at least 6 or 7 pieces of Toro Sashimi, and also some delicious Fluke that Mike raised himself.

we were deliriously full!

mmm mmmm delicious

p.s.! thanks to the lovely Julie, who took me out to this tuna heaven, and who also took all these pictures while i was busy rolling!

Jack is Cooking Thanksgiving Leftover Empanadillas

2009-11-28T11:31:00.000-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

As always, there is leftovers from thanksgiving, and normally i take all these different things and i make a big turkey pot pie out of them. However this year we had LOTS of leftovers, and after picking for 2 days, and countless sandwiches, i decided that the pie i was going to make needed to not taste like thanksgiving anymore, because everybody was pretty bored of it by now!

So i decided to make Empanadillas (which are a kind of Tapas) out of the leftovers, and the greatest part is, that pretty much all the ingredients are from the leftovers, with only 2 added ingredients!

Heres what i used:

Leftover Roasted Peppers, and Asparagus

Leftover Turkey, and Ham (we had a ham also for thanksgiving this year)

This isn't a leftover: one small chopped onion

You will also need:

some garlic

2 tomatoes (or canned diced tomatoes- i used some leftover homemade tomato sauce)

paprika

saffron

chipotle powder

lemon

salt and pepper

puff pastry

1 egg plus some water

olive oil

So i sauteed the onion in the olive oil until the onion was soft

Then i added the paprika (about 1-2 teaspoons), and a couple of strands of saffron.

Then i added the tomatoes. i covered the pan and cooked over low heat for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, i mixed in the turkey, ham, and roasted peppers into the mix. this i left uncovered and cooked for another 10 minutes or so, to let all the tomato-ey goodness soak into the turkey.

i decided it needed a little kick so i put in a tiny bit of chipotle powder, and squeezed some lemon juice in.

Then i cut circles out of the puff pastry dough (i used the frozen stuff. puff pastry takes forever to make!) i put 1 or 2 tablespoons of filling on the circles.

Folded them over and crimped them with a fork. Then i brushed them with my egg wash. The egg wash is just one egg, with a little water mixed in. This makes the pastry nice and golden when it cooks.

baked them for 20 minutes at 350°

heres how they turned out!

These things are ridiculously delicious, easy to make, and much more interesting than the classic leftover pot pie!

mmmm mmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Pecan Pie

2009-11-25T21:08:00.004-05:00

Well Hello Internet!

Since tomorrow is thanksgiving, tonight i am making pecan pie! A whole lot of pecan pies!

these ingredients are enough for 3 pies

9 eggs

2 1/4 cup of sugar

2 cups of agave nectar

3 teaspoons of vanilla

3 pinches of salt

4 cups of chopped pecans

1 cup of whole pecans

3 pie crusts (i used gluten free pie crusts)

ok so i mixed everything except the pecans together in a big bowl:

this is what it looked like when everything was mixed. make sure all the sugar and eggs are mixed in!

then i added the chopped pecans, and really mixed those in too.

you gotta keep mixing! it will separate!

anyways,

while i was mixing i put the pie crusts in the oven for 5 minutes to precook them.

when i took them out i poured the filling in and then made some patterns with the whole pecans:

i baked it for 45 minutes at 350°

it may take a little longer, or a little less based on your oven, but if you poke it with a fork, it should be pillowy, but firm. imagine an omelette filled with sugar and pecans! :-D

But wait! Didn't I say that I was making three pies?

I decided to get a little creative and I made two more pies with the remaining pie mixture, combining it with pumpkin pie!

I used just a canned pumpkin pie mix and folledthe directions on the can. Luckily both pies cook the same amount of time!

The first pie, I made a ying yang. I used parchment paper to create the division while pouring.

I baked this one first for 15 minutes at 425. Then I remove the parchment paper. The pie was now firm enough p remove it but not too firm: then I turned the oven to 350 and baked for another 25 minutes

The second pie was kind of a swirl. I poured the pecan mixture into the pumpkin mixture, and then swirled! here's how it came out:

I call it the milky way pumpkin-pecan pie!

Here's both:

And here's all the pies!!

Oh man 4 pies! I think well have to eat one tonight... They are irresistable!

happy thanksgiving!

mmm mmmm delicious!