Under Pressure (cue Queen)

Part of the culinary program at my school is to work in the school's on campus restaurant Careme's, named after Marie Antoine Careme, one of the very first "celebrity chefs" back in the 1800s.  The end of the baking and pastry major's education for those in the degree program consists of working in the front of the house (server/hosting) and the back of the house (kitchen).  I just started my three week course in back of the house last Friday, and I have to admit I was a bit terrified.  You're basically thrown right into the midst of everything, and you only have your noggin to rely on for getting everything done.

 Marie Antoine Careme himself.  Image from http://www.famoushotels.org/article/984

The head chef, our instructor, wrote up a menu. On our first day, he told us his bosses said it was too difficult and it should be trimmed a bit, so we would not get overwhelmed; but Chef stood his ground and kept the menu the same.  He made a good point, that he was brought on to challenge the students and not let us slide by.  I was glad he believed in us, but a bit more anxious that we had to make this menu happen...the pressure was on!

If you've seen Ratatouille, or any restaurant kitchen themed movie/show, you know there are stations in the kitchen: the cold foods, soups and sauces, vegetables, fish, roast, saute, breads, pastries, etc.  I have to admit, it was pretty cool being like the chefs on Ratatouille. I was eternally grateful that Chef assigned myself and my friend, Melissa, in the pastry station, as we were the only two baking and pastry majors in the class.  We were also joined by our friend Aleisha, who was in our very first class then left us for hot foods classes.  It was like a reunion! 

Speaking of such, the school restaurant is typically run by mainly the culinary hot foods majors since (1) Careme's is only required for the degree majors and (2) the baking and pastry majors are few in number.  Typically, the students are rotated throughout the stations to get a try of everything, and nearly every hot foods major hates the pastry station.  So when Chef found out that he was getting two baking and pastry majors in his kitchen, he said we could stay there the whole block (yay!), and drew up a lovely little menu of some fancy pants desserts...no pressure. :-/

I met Chef at the beginning of this school year back in October 2010, and throughout the year he had always been asking me, "When do you have Careme's?" or "I have you in Careme's for Block 4!" So he was pretty excited that I was coming.  Again...No pressure, right??

So as you can see, I was terrified of screwing up on my first day...(to be continued, come back on Thursday April 14th for the exciting conclusion!)

- Sandwich

Winnie the Pooh's Honey Lemonade

I love Lemonade.  It's probably my favorite drink in the entire world, despite its simplicity.  Water, lemons, sugar, all in different proportions according to your taste.  For years, I'd look up different recipes of those proportions, always trying to find my perfect balance between sweet and tart, with both complementing each other.  I didn't like recipes where the sweet sugar taste overpowered the tartness of the lemon, and I didn't like when it seemed to just be lemon and water mixed together.  There needed to be a perfect balance, a harmony of both extremes.

Then, one fateful morning, it happened.  I found the perfect balance, the right amounts of every ingredient that allowed me to have the most satisfying glass of lemonade ever in my life.  And all it took was a little honey.

My cousin grows lemons in her backyard, and usually in the morning, she'll squeeze a few to make lemonade.  I was telling her about how I kept experimenting with different proportions, but could never find a lemonade recipe that truly appealed to me.  She told me to try substituting honey instead of sugar.  At the time, I had never heard of such a thing.  And it was such a revelation that I was over the moon when I tasted it.  I mean.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  It was that good.  Water, Lemon, and Honey.  So simple, but so earth-shatteringly mind-blowingly amazing.  How has that recipe eluded me for years?

It's a quick recipe.  Simply combine all three ingredients, stir or shake (I prefer stirring, sorry Mr. Bond!), and refrigerate.  The proportions I give at the end are my personal preferences, and sometimes I'll add a pinch of sugar as well.  It's a very versatile recipe, so I suggest experimenting to what works best for you.  But, how do you make it even better?

Auntie Ann's Pretzels offers Lemonade Mixers, which is a fancy way of saying "We'll add some fruit-flavored syrup to your lemonade and charge extra for it!"  Granted, the flavors are worth the extra price, and I love getting a cherry lemonade if I ever stop by an Auntie Ann's.  So I thought, this afternoon, how could I replicate a cherry lemonade without having to go to Auntie Ann's?  

And it dawned on me.  Rita's Water Ice.  Their cherry water ice is to die for, and I figured if it tastes great on its own, it surely would taste even greater when mixed with lemonade.  But I didn't want to just stir in some water ice with the lemonade.  That would be too boring.  Instead, I decided I'd re-freeze the water ice.

I bought a quart of the Cherry water ice, partly so that I'd have enough for an ice tray and partly so that I could have leftover to eat on days when I didn't want to go to Rita's.  Since the water ice is already in that slushy stage, it wasn't too hard to scoop it out and put them into the ice tray.  Unfortunately, it meant that they'd look kinda lumpy on top, but I didn't mind.  It's not an aesthetic quality I was aiming for.

I didn't do a whole tray, in case this experiment would be a failure, so I only scooped eight cubes.  As soon as I put them in the freezer, I began making my lemonade.  Four lemons got me one cup of lemon juice, but after straining several times, that one cup turned into 3/4, as 1/4 was pulp.  Normally, I'd leave the pulp in, but since I wanted to be able to include the cherry water ice cubes, it seemed best for the pulp to go.

I then poured the lemon juice into my water pitcher, and then added the half-cup of honey.  Some recipes call for all this to be done with hot water in order for the honey to fully dissolve.  While I do like that effect, I also like still being able to distinguish between honey and lemon when sipping my drink.  I stirred all three together, and the honey helped give the lemonade a very rich color than the normal water-lemon-sugar version.  

I then checked on my cherry water ice cubes.  They still weren't fully frozen, but they were solid enough, and so I attempted to scoop one out.  That ended badly, as it completely fell apart.  I was hoping that they would be solid enough that when it dropped into the lemonade, there would be a more colorful juxtaposition between the lemon and the ice.  Alas, as of this writing, the cubes are not yet solid.

Still, I wanted to see how a cherry lemonade would taste with Rita's, so I simply took a small spoonful and stirred it in a smaller glass of lemonade.  Incidentally, this was what I considered too boring before, and yet it turned out to be the only option I could do!

Not only did it taste amazing, but the vivid redness of the cherry water ice reminded me of Pooh's red shirt.  In addition, the use of honey instead of sugar also helped tie very much to the silly ole bear.  Thus, Winnie the Pooh's Honey Lemonade was born.

Winnie the Pooh's Honey Lemonade

5 1/2 cups water

3/4 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup honey

A spoonful of Cherry Water Ice (I used Rita's)

Directions:

Stir-n-shake-n-refrigerate!  Enjoy!

- Sonic

Don't Lay a Finger on My S'mores

Butterfinger S’mores and Chocolate Peanut Butter

You read that right. Butterfinger S’mores. A good portion of you are probably tempted to skip ahead to feast your eyes on the recipe and the plethora of photos of the indulgent treat. Heck, I’m getting cravings right now just writing about it.

Unintentionally continuing with last week’s theme about comfort foods and childhood favorites, s’mores automatically elicit dozens of lifetime memories. Ironically, only two or three involve the outdoor activities of camping or bonfires. The earliest memories consist of my brothers and me watching the microwave in anticipation, hoping for the heated marshmallow to follow in Mr. Stay Puft’s footsteps in Ghostbusters and blow up. Sadly, despite nearly always bloating to twice its size, the marshmallows never exploded.

Despite the lack of explosions, s’mores was probably the one dessert my parents were not fond of doling out to us. 1) It was the stickiest, messiest thing ever. 2) It was the sweetest thing ever. 3) It brought out the most overactive hyper-ness in all three of us. And all three of those reasons are probably why the delectable S’mores got its name. It leaves you wanting more, no matter how sticky or messy. Seriously, could anything be more fun and sinfully delicious than graham crackers, gooey chocolate and roasted marshmallows?

Well, of course they could. Enter the creamy goodness of peanut butter, my personal addiction. Another classic combination, peanut butter and chocolate have been joined at the hip for decades. The overwhelming popularity of the combination is what propelled the peanut butter cup to become a king in the candy aisle. So why not add the nutty butter to the s’mores family and make it a foursome?

Granted, I knew I wasn’t just going to replace a Hershey bar with a Butterfinger bar in this concoction. That would be too simple. And it would be way too difficult to enjoy, since Butterfingers are usually extra crunchy and almost always annoyingly stick to those back molars. I thought about using a Reese’s peanut butter cup, but its ratio of chocolate to peanut butter didn’t satisfy me. Plus, I wanted a taste of real peanut butter thrown in, none of that processed stuff.

I cheerfully experimented and came up with my own version of chocolate peanut butter. Some Butterfinger bars were crushed, marshmallows were roasted, and everything was sandwiched in between two glorious graham crackers. And boy was I reeling from the sugar high afterwards.

Butterfinger S’mores

Serves 2

• 4 Tb Chocolate Peanut Butter, recipe follows
• 1 fun sized Butterfinger or 1/3 Butterfinger bar, crushed
• 4 Graham cracker squares
• 4 marshmallows or 2 jumbo sized marshmallows

1. Make the chocolate peanut butter. You can also purchase pre-made chocolate peanut butter in stores such as Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. But I prefer the homemade recipe because of its similar taste to Butterfinger filling.
2. Crush Butterfinger bar into small, crumbled pieces; set aside.
3. Spread a satisfying helping of chocolate peanut butter on two graham cracker squares. Sprinkle and gently press down a layer of the crushed Butterfinger on top of one chocolate-peanut-buttered graham cracker. For extra sweetness, if you don’t mind the mess, go ahead and sprinkle a layer of crushed Butterfinger on your second graham cracker as well.
4. Roast the marshmallows either over a flame or use your oven’s broiler. I broiled them at 400F. Watch them carefully; it only takes a minute or two for the tops of the marshmallows to reach the beautiful golden brown color.
5. Layer two roasted marshmallows on top of the crushed Butterfinger graham cracker. Then press the second chocolate-peanut-buttered graham cracker on top of the marshmallow, chocolate-peanut-butter side down.
6. Enjoy the sticky, messy, peanut buttery sweetness.

Chocolate Peanut Butter

Makes 4 Tablespoons

• 1 heaping Tb semi sweet chocolate chips
• 2 heaping Tb creamy peanut butter
• ½ - 1 Tb softened butter, as needed to soften
• 2 tsp Confectioner’s (powdered) sugar

1. Heat and melt the semi sweet chocolate chips in the microwave. Be careful not to scorch them. The best way to prevent scorching is to heat the chips at 20 second intervals and stir them after each interval. In my microwave, it took about 45 seconds to heat it to the desired soft, melty consistency.
2. Mix in the peanut butter, sugar, and butter into the chocolate. Start w/ ½ Tb softened butter and add a bit more to get the desired chocolate peanut butter to a creamy consistency.

Chocolate Peanut Butter (full recipe)

For people who want a larger quantity to save for sandwiches and other treats =)

Makes about 2 cups

• ¾ cup semi sweet chocolate chips, melted
• 1 ½ cups creamy peanut butter
• ¼ cup confectioner's sugar
• 4 – 5 Tb butter, softened

Follow the same directions as above

- Shortcake

I'm Gonna Write About Meatballs

Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Sonic.  He was only two years old, and there was a whole world known as the First Floor that was his to explore.  Afternoons were the best time to explore this world, and rather than sit down and eat lunch, little Sonic would run around the First Floor, play with occasional toys, run around again.  Afternoon was not a time to sit down.

However, despite Sonic's intent to run around the First Floor, his mother knew he had to have his lunch.  But she could never get him to stay still.  Instead, she would follow him around, with a meatball at the end of a fork.  She'd cry out in Tagalog, "Subo! Subo!" which in English translated into "Mouthful! Mouthful!", but in Mom-speak was the command, "Eat!  Eat!"  

And so, Sonic would stop running, bite the meatball off the fork, then continue running again.  It took a half-hour for him to have a full lunch, but it was always satisfying.  

The End

Actually, this is only the beginning.  You see, last Saturday, I made meatballs from an old family recipe.  Not our family recipe (do we have one?), but a very good family recipe.  It contained all the traditional meatball ingredients , along with a few secret ingredients not pictured, which I'm not at liberty to divulge. ;-)  

Traditional Meatball Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

Eggs & Bread Crumbs (for every egg, 1 ounce of bread crumbs)

Grated Cheese

Spices (pinches and dashes that suit your taste)

Hot dog buns for sandwiches

There are so many family recipes out there, it's hard to pick just one to talk about.  "Throwdown with Bobby Flay" had a pretty good one by Grandma Maronis, and eHow Food's Spicy Beef & Spinach Meatballs sound delicious as well.  And hopefully one day I can make Lamb Meatballs without having Sandwich cry over them.

The best thing about meatballs, in my opinion, is the spices that add flavor.  I'm very generous when it comes to adding the spices; I like when the flavors are overpowering, even if they shouldn't be.  I'm partial to paprika and likely would use it in every dish if I could (paprika chocolate?  Hmm...).  In addition, I've often added crushed garlic versus garlic powder, which not only gives a stronger scent to the meatballs, but also makes the meatball taste much better.

Strangely, even though people traditionally use tomato sauce in their meatball sandwiches, I always like just the meatballs with the bread.  It allows me to fully taste the meatball, and it's a lot cleaner too.  And when you add some Veggie Straws to your plate, it can almost pass for French Fries!

The title of this WhipsOfDole stemmed from a text message I sent to Shortcake a few days ago.  She wanted to know if I had picked an idea to write about for the blog, and simply texted back to her, "I'm gonna write about meatballs."  Taken out of context, the line seems really odd, but still funny.  And rather than just say "Meatballs Recipe," this seemed like a more fun way to title this article.

-Sonic

French Grilled Cheese Toast

It’s the first day of one of the tastiest months of the year, and I couldn’t be more ecstatic. Even though I’ve decided to forego the pranking this year, which is borderline shocking if you know my past history, this first day of April still kicked *bum* for one reason. Cheese, gooey, salty, sharp, nutty, buttery, cheese. Get your cheese hats on because it’s National Grilled Cheese Month, peeps!

As it just so happens, grilled cheese is #2 on my “Favorite Comfort Foods Ever” list, with the almighty Elvis sandwich barely edging out the competition at #1. One of my favorite attributes of grilled cheese is its versatility, offering myriad meal possibilities. In its simplest form, the sandwich is a wondrous compliment to a wide array of soups and salads, or it is the shining star of a child’s after school meal. In its most complicated form, vegetables, meats, herbs, spices, and even French fries can all lend an enthusiastic hand in forming some of the tastiest, cheesy sandwiches imaginable.

Because it’s a Lenten Friday, I left the fanfare of meat out in today’s sandwich. But, I still wanted to give the classic a lively twist. That’s when it occurred to me, brunch. I love weekend brunch. I love the array of meal possibilities that combines the sweet and the savory, the familiar and the unique, and syrup with anything. Most of all, I love that it grants me the opportunity to order French toast at 12:30 in the afternoon when everyone else is ordering a steak. So, I’m kicking off this month by further brunch-ifying the simple grilled cheese sandwich. I say further because on its own, grilled cheese can be brunch.

Fresh baked French baguette from La Brea bakery

What resulted was a simple, miniature, open faced sandwich which could be served as a snack, appetizer, or even a mini meal. I went for classic and basic, refrigerator staples and it’s fairly quick to whip up. Now I know I’m not the first to think up this concept, but it’s definitely the first time I’m trying it out.

I love the cinnamon scent that rises during the French toasting process.

The fresh, French baguette was a light and airy alternative to dense, Texas sliced white bread. French toasting the baguette melded extra flavors into an otherwise commonplace sandwich. The tart, Granny apple lent crunchy texture and was a compliment to the cinnamon and nutmeg. Pure, whole American cheese provided the salty gooeyness I had been craving the past couple days.

Just starting to melt

After a few bites, I realized that French toasting the bread provided a definite oomph to the meal, lifting the sandwich to a higher level. In the future I may add more depth by using different cheeses, like Fontina or Gruyere, or even different bread, like Challah. And maybe next time I’ll remember to drizzle a little syrup or honey on top before I devour the entire thing.

Shadows from the sunset.

Gear up your tummies kids, because your grilled cheese is going to get French-ed today.

French Grilled Cheese Toast

Serves 4

• 1 regular or 2 small French baguettes
• 2 slices American cheese
• 1 Granny smith apple
• 1 large egg
• ¼ cup buttermilk, or regular milk
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• ½ tsp Nutmeg
• ½ - 1 Tb butter, for frying
• Syrup or honey, optional

1. Slice the apple into at least 16 thin slices. Set aside.
2. Beat the egg and milk together. Add the cinnamon and nutmeg. I used more cinnamon and nutmeg than what I wrote in the recipe because I love a strong cinna-meg taste.  
3. Slice the baguette on a bias into 4 thick slices, at least 1 inch. Soak the slices in the egg mixture on both sides.
4. Heat and butter frying pan. Fry the soaked baguette slices on both sides.
5. Add ½ slice of cheese on top of each baguette slice. Cover and let the steam melt the cheese slightly. This step is easier and faster if the cheese is set out early and reaches near room temperature.
6. Top each slice of cheesed French toast with 4 thin slices of apple.
7. Plate and enjoy! If you have a sweet tooth, use syrup or honey as a dip.

- Shortcake