Chili base

I use this base for chili, enchiladas, all kinds of stuff

Get some dried chilies.  Whatever floats your boat


I like to pull the stems off and get as many of the seeds out as possible before proceeding


Bring a pot of water to a simmer and throw the chilis in.  I use the pasta strainer to keep them all under water.  Let it simmer until it's all soft and pliable.  Around 10 minutes.


While that simmers, I toast up some garlic.  You can also toast up some nuts (pepitos, walnuts, whatever) to add a nutty flavor.



Then throw them into a food processor or blender with; the garlic/nuts, enough stock (chicken, veg, etc) to get it wet, and maybe some of the water it was simmering in.  Let it go until it's all mashed up.



Strain it



Now get a skillet, add some oil and spices.  I like cumin and cinnamon.  Toast up the spices then add the sauce.  Let it simmer while stirring for ~10 minutes.  Hit it with salt to taste and maybe a little sugar.




A few notes, this will stain plastics and cloth.  And remember not to touch any mucous membranes after you make this.  Don't put in your contacts.  And definitely do not rub one out.  Unless that's your thing, then more power to you.

Annnd we're back

After a bit of a hiatus, I caught a lot of flack for not posting anything. So to remedy that. I whipped up some biscotti. This recipe is new to me and frankly, needs to be tweaked some. but here it is as I made it.

eggs 10 oz

sugar 18 oz

salt .5 oz

vanilla extract 2 tsp

pastry flour 28 oz

baking powder .75 oz

almonds 10 oz

combine the eggs, sugar and salt. whisk over hot water until the sugar is incorporated into the mixture. stick a finger and and see if it feels gritty. if so, keep whisking.

pull it off the heat and whisk until it's light and thick. i thought about putting it in the kitchen aid, but then I thought about all those Italian grandmas who must have made this through the years. I figure if they can do it, i can too. after whisking it, i said "screw this. i'll just throw it in the mixer next time".

add vanilla

fold in flour mixture

add almonds

shape into about 3 logs.

bake on a silpat or on parchment at 325 for about 40 minutes. turn them half way through.

reduce oven temp to 275.

pull logs out and let cool for a few min.

slice them and lay them out to further toast up. about 35-40 min.

i like to rotate pans and flip the pieces half way through

i dip some in chocolate. but elaine is not a fan of chocolate on her biscotti, so i only do half of them. she's crazy but we love her.

next time, i think i will add some citrus flavor. lemon, grapefruit, etc.

Stinky pee

As you can probably tell, I've been in a cooking funk lately. So I thought I would document something easy (which seems to be all I can make lately)

So my favourite* way to make asparagus is to just broil it with some olive oil and seasoning.

First thing, oven to high broil. Let it get warm for a few minutes.

Take the woody ends off. Throw on a sheet pan with a little olive oil and salt.



Into the oven for 4-5 minutes.

When you next look at them, there should be a fair amount of sizzle going on. Shake the pan a bit to get them moved around and let go for another minute or two.

Pull them out and hit with a little pepper. Done



And of course
Ice


*spelled that way to make our readers who are subjects of the HRH Queen Elizabeth II feel at home

You might already be a winner!

Announcing the first ever

SUPER ULTRA MEGA HAKAMABLOG CONTEST

You can win this AWESOME set of three nesting bowls. These bowls were actually owned by yours truly.


YES, IT'S TRUE. You can actually touch the same bowls I use to cook with!

The rules are simple

You are to pick one of my recipes and make it. Then you send me pictures of said delightful foodstuffs.

I will judge the pictures based on; difficulty of the recipe, how well it turned out, quality of the pictures, and/or phase of the moon.

You have until December 19th.

So start baking.

I look forward to seeing your entries.

Hold on to your hats. I am about to blow your mind

There is a pizza place here in town that is...get ready... better than mine.

Your mind = boggled.
Your foundation = shaken

How can this be true you ask?

Well, it is. Dove Vivi has simply the best pizza I have ever had.

You can blame Bart and Lynn for this. They are the ones who told us about it. Every time I eat there, I shake my fist in the air and curse their names.

Like the starter, this is a super easy recipe.

oven to 475

ingredients for today are;
flour 40 oz
water 30 oz
1 oz salt
.3 oz yeast
various herbs

proof the yeast in the water and sift the flour if it needs it. throw the salt in the flour.


put the poolish we made yesterday in the kitchenaid
add the water/yeast and mix
gradually add the flour/salt mix

let that mix on low for a bit. make sure you get all the flour incorporated.

while that is going, oil up a sheet pan


you want just a sheen of oil. just enough to keep the from sticking. any more that that and the final product will end up being too oily.

by now the dough is ready to go. this is going to be a sticky, soft dough. I usually pour it out into the same container I used to make the poolish to rise.

let it go for a while. once it's ready, pour it into the sheet pan. it will help to add a little oil to your hands so that you don't end up with your fingers cemented together.


now just smooth the dough out to all the corners. I like to spray some plastic wrap with Pam and cover the dough for a second, quicker rise. just really to let it rest for ~5-10 minutes.


once that's done it time to add the toppings. i like to go with rosemary, thyme, crushed red peppers, oregano, and salt


i usually season it pretty heavily. so knock yourself out. just not too much salt.

now off to the oven. this took about 20 minutes. with one turn halfway.


cutting into it, the crumb is kind of tight without a lot of large holes. so it's not quite what i wanted.

2 reason for this:
1) i got in a rush and didn't let it it rise enough
2) i used low gluten flour. it was all i had around. i usually use high gluten or bread flour.

but, this will work well for sandwiches. so the hyper-critical voices in my head can suck it


but olivia does not care one bit. she has ice


if you are by the house, swing by and pick some up.

Ferkakdeh!

Umm I mean focaccia

super simple. You don't even need to turn the oven on today.

But you do need to make a poolish

Start with the following

10 oz water
10 oz flour
pinch yeast

mix it all together and put in an airtight container


It will be pretty soft. Just a bit thicker than pancake batter



Let it sit overnight. It will add flavor and awesomeness for the finished product

OK, what should I make this weekend?

what do you want to see? I promise nothing.

Because I have an ego the size of a small city

I thought I'd post/share/brag about this email I got about the strawberry cake from one of Elaine's coworkers.

"Ok, Robert, we have not met yet, but Elaine shared your masterpiece with me today and I need tell you that this was the best tasting cake I have ever had. It was amazing for texture and the light strawberry flavor-- elusive but undeniable. I don't think there is a better word than "Fresh". I shared this cake with my office colleagues--the response was an enthusiastic one---unbelievable cake!"

Now I will struggle to get around with this (even more) inflated ego

Rachel's cake

so for little rachel's b-day, i was going to do a mocha cake. but after talking to jon i decide to make her a strawberry cake.

i talked to rachel a little about it and how it was assembled. and well, if you've known me for more than 10 minutes, you know my mind tends to wander. So I sort of winged it. and if i say so myself, this cake turned out really good. i am not a huge fan of strawberries. but it had a great flavor

I used the usual buttercream recipe except I omitted the chocolate and replaced it with strawberry goodness.

I threw a half pint of berries into a pot with ~.25 cup of sugar

added a pinch of salt and turned the heat to medium.
cook that stirring occasionally. it will break down the berries and add awesomeness.


it's important to taste it at this stage. this batch of berries were not super sweet. so i had to add sugar to get the taste right.
then, i hit it with the stick blender to smooth it out.
now cook it on low for a bit until it is reduced and thickened. make sure to stir it so it does not burn.

set that aside to let cool. once the butter has been added to the buttercream, throw about a half cup of the strawberry mixture in to flavor. i added a few drops of red food color as well. so the end result is nice and pink. cooked berries can get a muddy color after a while. as well, this makes a good strawberry sauce. just strain it to remove any of the those evil little seeds. seeds are agents of the devil.

throw the buttercream in the fridge to get it set up. you can make this a few days ahead to save time.


The Cake

this is the yellow butter cake from the cake bible
super easy and really quick

oven to 350

6 yolks
1 c milk
2.25 tsp vanilla (or 1 bean)
10.5 oz cake flour (sifted)
10.5 oz sugar
4 tsp baking powder
.25 tsp table salt
6 oz butter


combine the yolks and about .25 cup of the milk.
combine dry ingredients and mix for a minute or so
add the butter and remaining milk, mix on low to combine
then mix on medium for a few minutes
scrape sides of the bowl
add egg mixture in 3 steps, scraping after each addition

when you put the batter in a pan, remember that these will rise more than you expect. so make sure not to fill the pans to more than halfway.

The Filling

rachel gave me a general description of the filling in this cake. so i took a swing at it.

i put 2 8 oz pachages of room temp cream cheese in the mixer. started it on low to get it broken up and added about a half cup of sugar and a pinch of salt. let it go on med low for a minute or so to get mixed well. just make sure there are no lumps. you can add vanilla if that floats your boat. (it floated mine)

then i diced up 4-5 strawberries



and folded them into the mixture


i then whipped about a cup of cream with some powdered sugar. i didn't really measure the sugar. just add enough to make it taste good. start with .25 cup and go from there.

once it was at medium peaks, i folded that into the rest and it all goes into the fridge.


i cut each cake into two layers and filled it with a layer of the cream cheese mixture along with halved berries



keep doing that until it's time for the buttercream. as always, i did a crumb coat first.



the final result.


and since hakamadog has been given a clean bill of health by the doggie oncologist, she gets more ice

Teaser for the next recipe

Strawberry buttercream frosting is good

Italian creme cake

This cake is similar to carrot cake. Just without the carrots.

Off we go
Oven to 375

For the icing, you can use the same icing that we made for carrot cake (see, I told you they were similar)

Ingredients are as follows

butter 12 oz
sugar 17 oz
corn syrup 2 oz
eggs 4
cake flour 12 oz
baking powder 1 tsp
salt .25 oz
buttermilk 10 oz
vanilla .5 oz extract or 1 bean
pecans 4 oz
coconut 4 oz
egg whites 7 oz



cucumber and tomatoes are optional

throw the butter in the mixer and beat until fluffy.
add sugar, vanilla, and salt then corn syrup
sift the cake flour and baking soda together and add one third
add one third of the buttermilk
take turns adding milk and flour
once all combined, add the nuts and coconut
set that aside for a minute
whip the egg whites to soft peaks
fold the whites in to the cake mix



I made a small cake and some cupcakes.


Ice with the cream cheese and enjoy

ugh, what a crap day

The much adored hakamaDOG had a tumor removed from her lip today. she is coming out of anesthesia and whining quite a bit. we'll see how tomorrow is.

one a lighter note, here are some pictures of stuff we ate in Europe



This is a raspberry tort we had at the hotel grand pupp. That place was very nice



some of the best panna cotta i have ever had. it was at the coda restaurant in the hotel aria . the other pictures are from coda too. i am too worn out to look them up. yeah, i got the executive chef to sign a copy of the degustation menu.

Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen

whoo! I'm back!

ok, it's been a while. been traveling and stuff so no time for the blog. i will post up some pictures of the stuff we ate but will have to get them from little rachel.

one thing that the trip reinforced for me was that I just don't like beer.

We were in Germany, nothing made me say "now I see what people go on about". Even in the Czech Rep, where pilsner was created. nothing did it for me. the only beer i came close to liking was Budvar.

Anyway, here's a picture for you beer afficianados. taken in prague. or as the hipsters like me say "praha".


ok, down to what i came here for.

Let's talk about some profiteroles. the basis of which is choux paste. or pate a choux. i think choux is french for cabbage. so cabbage paste. yeah, those crazy frogs.

let's make the filling first so it can chill.

milk 24 oz
heavy cream 8 oz
sugar 2 oz
egg yolks 12
sugar 5 oz
cornstarch 2 oz
butter (room temp) 2 oz
one of two vanilla beans (or 1.5 tblsp extract)

bring the milk, cream and first sugar to a boil
while that boils, whisk together the yolks and second sugar. then add the cornstarch. make sure it's all mixed in and no lumps remain.


once the milk mixture boils, add about a quarter of it to the yolks. now the trick is to do this while whisking the yolks. if you don't, you will end up with some awesomely sweet scrambled eggs.

start whisking the yolks and then add a little bit of the hot liquid. this is just to warm up the yolks so they don't curdle.

add the now warm yolks back to the hot liquid while whisking and back onto low heat. keep stirring until the mixture gets thick.

pull it off the heat and into a bowl to cool. once it reaches ~120, add the butter and stir it in. cover that and throw it in to the fridge.

now make the ganache. we have covered this before.

Cream 1 pint
Corn syrup 3 oz
Chocolate (chips or chopped up) 1.5#
Butter 1.5 oz

Bring cream and corn syrup to a boil. Meanwhile, place chocolate and butter in a bowl.


Pour cream over chocolate in 4 or 5 steps, stirring in between. If you stir in too much air it won't look as nice and glossy. So go slow and do not use a whisk.

it will look all kinds of nasty before it pulls together. stay the course.


Choux paste

this recipe makes a fair amount. so try doing half.

oven at 400

milk 17 oz
water 17 oz
sugar 1 oz
salt .5 oz
butter, cubed 17 oz
flour (bread) 10 oz
cake flour 9 oz
eggs 18-20

wooo doggy, that is a lot of eggs. like i said, try half.

bring the water, milk, sugar, salt, and butter to a boil in a large pan.


once it boils, remove from the heat and add all the flour

the eagle eyed among you will notice those are two different pans. when i went to add the flour, i realized that the first pan was not going to be big enough (durrrr).

back to the recipe.
put the pan back on the heat and stir like a mofo.
you will know it's done when you see the dough (dough/paste, whatever) start to try and form a ball. if you look close in the picture you will see the edges are just starting to round out.

throw all this into a mixer bowl and start adding the eggs.



it's best to have them cracked already. i reserve the lest few. you never know how many you will really need.


so add the eggs with the paddle attachement on a medium-ish setting

they will incorporate fairly quickly at first. as you near the end, it will take a little more effort to get them mixed in. at this stage, stop the mixer and grab a spatula. put the spat in the dough and pull up a big chunk. if it takes more than a 5 count for it to slide off the spat, add the other eggs. you'll get the hang of it after you do it a few times.

so now you are done with the choux. for profiteroles, i pipe them out onto a silpat


notice there are little peaks. those will burn. so use a wet spoon or fingertip to smoothe them down


now take a good look at the next picture. they are a tad under done. my issue is that i failed to rotate the top and bottom pans. so the bottoms got a bit too dark...on the bottom. i pulled them a little early. ideally, they will be a bit darker than this.



let them cool. add the pastry cream to a piping bag, cut a slit or two into the bottom of each profiterole and pipe the cream into the bottom. go slow so you don't have a blow out. mmmmm sweet, sweet blowout.

once they are all filled, dip them in ganache.

and the final product.