FrriTATA!

Hello fellow food lovers,

It has been so long, I know, and truth be told I've missed my blog and all of you dearly. Which is why I'm back here writing.

With the onset of fall, we all need something to cheer us up when we awake and it is still dark (as you Seattlites have already come to terms with), as well as something to warm us up while we pull that extra sweater a little tighter around our shoulders. Nothing warms my heart and my belly more than a delicious brunch on a Sunday morning.

And the brunch dish I love most is one that combines savory eggs, protein, and leftovers from the previous night.

Thus, I bring you the frittata (you must roll the "r" and give an exaggerated twist of your hand while you say it, of course). I first learned about the frittata while watching Top Chef, in which contenders had to make a simple and delicious breakfast item for surfers on the beach (anyone seen it?--old episode). Bewildered, I watched this chef make some sort of baked egg dish that was sliced like bread. I was amazed. And just hearing him say the word "frittata," images of big Italian families eating around their old patios while they look out on their Tuscan vineyard sprung to mind (like Godfather without the guns? I watch too many movies). Watching it on the show, it seemed like a complicated dish that only the finest chefs at the finest restaurants could make. So I dared not try to make one until about four years later, on this grayish morning in Los Altos, California.

I've heard chefs say that the test of a true chef is how they make their eggs. And I agree with this to a certain extent. The egg is fickle. You must contain it, monitor it, and find that fine line between runny and overcooked. And while most people I know have successfully made a fried egg or an omelette, the two can also easily and royally messed up (pardon my french).

The frittata, however, is one of the easiest egg dishes I've ever made. The Italian word frittata, comes from the word, frito, meaning "to fry" in past participle; you spanish-speaking folk may recognize this. It essentially means an "open-faced omelette." However, the main and obvious differences from an omelette are that,

• It's baked in an oven and not fried in a skillet
• It is served as as a slice instead of folded over
• The raw egg is added to the other ingredients instead of cooking the egg and other ingredients separately and then incorporating the two 

So let's get to it. I was babysitting my 3-week old nephew at my sister's house. What I'm saying then, in clearer terms, is that I had a crying child in my left arm while trying to cook with my right in a kitchen that I wasn't accustomed to, so things had to be quick and easy. I found previously fried bacon, as well as leftover sauteed peppers and swiss chard from the night before. The bell peppers and swiss chard had been chopped and sauteed with onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil (delicious in it's own right, by the way).

There was a beautiful baking pot of my sister's that I used, but for 3-4 people, any baking dish that is about 2 inches deep and 6 inches in diameter will give you about 6 pieces and should work perfectly. I cracked five eggs in and whisked them while adding coconut milk to add depth to the mixture. I used coconut milk specifically because it adds a nice sweetness and is a great option for people who are lactose intolerant. The milk also adds a nice smooth texture and whisking the two together helps add fluff and lightness to the final product.

Next, I crumpled in the bacon and threw in all of the veggies. Distribute and stir. For an added perk I sprinkled manchego cheese on top (and as I've already stipulated a thousand times over, manchego cheese is an essential part of my triology of necessary cheeses in everyday life).  Did I say essential and necessary to describe the same thing? Yes, yes I did.

I baked it (without a cover on top) for 35-45 minutes at 350 degrees. I checked it every five minutes by jiggling it--once the middle stopped jiggling like jello, I knew it was done. 

To serve, let it cool for about 10 minutes. Take a spatula and give the sides a nice scrape to make sure it won't stick. This baking dish was awesome so it wasn't necessary for me to coat the sides. **However, I would advise for most baking dishes that you spray with pan coat, rub with butter or oil so that the frittata comes out clean when you try to flip it.** Right before you serve it, put the serving plate on top of the baking dish, push firmly against it, and flip the whole dish over so that the bottom of the frittata lands firmly standing up. (Ta-da)

Then you just cut like a pie and serve! Garnish with cilantro, parsley, basil, or leftover veggies. Easy as pie-slice-of-frittata.

Some other frittata ideas I've seen/thought/day-dreamed of:

• Pumpkin and potato frittata (especially for this time of year)
• Greek, i.e. spinach, mushroom, feta
• Sundried tomato, chorizo, and cheddar (or even better, fresh Mexican cotija cheese)
• ...the possibilities are endless! Just treat like you would a leftover stew...all leftovers welcome

Now go and enjoy! And please, if there is ever any ambiguity about any part of my explanation or if you have any questions, please feel free to comment below.

Thank you for reading!

Love and Doughnuts as always,

The Mrakulous Kitchen

"Oh shit anotha bbq"

Dear Fellow Food Lovers,

It's about that time when clothes are shed, skins are bronzed, girls become beach babes, guys become hunky lifeguards, and meals turn from a boring let's-sit-around-a-table-while-its-dark-outside to a let's-endlessly-gorge-ourselves with burgers and bratwurst until the sun goes down at 10. Yes I am talking about the gatherings everyone loves--barbecues. Bbq's are popular for a number of reasons: its quick, its easy, you can invite all of your friends, and its a great excuse to get outside.  It is the quintessential summer activity in the United States, in which all the mothers who are tired of making meals day in day out let the men grill, in which men sport their latest bbq-frocks and boast about how they have perfected the sirloin. Bbq season is certainly among us at Colorado College--as I'm sure many of you have noticed, we have been averaging about three bbq per week. I must say, however, that as much as I enjoy the social aspect of bbqs, eating the same frozen patties and pre-cooked hot-dogs can certainly get a bit old. So here's how you can spice up your bbq with something a little more personalized, a little more zesty, and something even the kids can enjoy!

Make-your-own-patty. Making a burger patty is so easy I'm surprised more people don't do it. Ground beef is also incredibly cheap--I bought probably around 6 pounds of ground beef for under $20. Patties are like many of the other things I've written about--crepes, stuffed chicken, rubs--you can really use your creativity to do anything with them.

Now my brother and 10 of his dance friends are touring the country performing and doing workshops. They are called 50collective (comprised of 50 dancers) and they are amazing and wonderful and everyone should check them out. Heading from Chicago to LA, they stopped at Colorado College this tuesday to do a workshop and performance. Being road-worn starving artists, I held a bbq for them at my house. And they devoured everything. I mean ev-er-y-th-i-ng. I'll tell you why.

Rosemary-feta-portabella patties. It being my brother and all, it wouldn't well do to have just your average frozen patties. It needed to be better. So I bought ground beef, chopped in some rosemary, some sheep feta, some portabella mushrooms, some chopped garlic, chives, and finally, sprinkled it with truffle salt. Using my hands, I then proceeded to mesh it all together--like kneading dough. I then took small handfuls of this ground concoction, rolled into balls, and then flattened into a patty, ready to be grilled. Once cooked, they were topped with deliciously sweet grilled onions. Here's what they looked like before they were grilled:

There are many variations you can make to this recipe. For example a few months ago, I made homemade patties and put in gorgonzola crumbles, mushrooms, garlic, crispy bacon bits and a fried egg on top with runny yolk (just like they do in Espana and South America). It was cooked stove-top and was also positively scrumptious.

To serve on the side of these rosemary patties, I also bought some bratwurst, and served that with grilled onions, sauerkraut and relish. Hot dogs are really nice at bbqs because they are quicker than burgers for the really hungry folks, plus the obvious, they are delicious.

Given that these young dancers had been living on various American fast food joints on the road, they were in dire need of some fresh vegetables and fruit. So as any good bbq would have, I cut up some watermelon. A little trick I learned in Mexico is to sprinkle a little bit of salt and chile powder on the watermelon. This salty-spiciness really brings out the sweetness of the fruit. But of course, a good watermelon is great on its own.

I then made a mixed green salad with cold corn (another summer favorite--god I am excited for some Indiana corn!), peas, tomatoes, chives, and some cucumbers. To counteract the heaviness of all the meat in the bbq, I wanted to make a really light, really refreshing salad dressing. So I took two containers of goat milk yogurt (has the same sort of dry taste and texture as Greek yogurt), threw in about a cup of chopped fresh mint, the left over diced chives, olive oil, salt and pepper, and finally about 1 1/2 tablespoon of cumin. God I love my cumin! And it was fantastic! It gave the salad a sort of middle-eastern meets Mediterranean taste. People ended up putting it on their salad, their burger, their vegetables, and their hot dogs, so it's a great sauce/dressing for anything.

Next, I decided to make roasted vegetables. So I took a baking sheet, threw on raw asparagus, chopped bell peppers, onions, whole jalapeno peppers, and doused all of it in olive oil, sprinkled on garlic, salt, pepper, chives, and rosemary. Once the bbq began, I covered the sheet in tin foil and put the vegetables in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20-25 minutes. When they came out, they had absorbed all of the wonderful salt and rosemary flavor, while remaining crispy.

To finish it all up, I made chocolate chip, butterscotch, pecan cookies. It was my mom's recipe! Great every time. Here's the recipe:

Preheat oven: 375 degrees

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup butter

1 egg

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

6 oz. chocolate chips (1 cup)

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Mix flour and baking soda. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and mix in brown sugar. Add beaten egg and vanilla to butter and sugar. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Add chocolate (and butterscotch) chips and chopped nuts. Spoon into little balls onto cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes and it will be soft and gooey! I know they are good when someone in my house in the middle of the night eats 8 of them and leaves a trail of cookie crumbs...cookie monster?

And there you have it! A bbq feast with all the amenities for 12. A hungry 12. And there are your bbq basics! Roasted veggies, salad, watermelon, burgers, bratwurst, and homemade chocolate chip cookies to top it all off.

Now go off and try it my little brewskies!

Love & Doughnuts,

The Mrakulous Kitchen

I'll have some shrimp with my rum, please

Dear Fellow Food Lovers,

I was asked last minute to make something for a Cinco de Mayo potluck (which was fantastic by the way, thanks to my friends Amelia and Joanie). It was 6:30 and I needed something to be prepared by 7:30 but had no desire to go to the grocery store. So I thought about it and decided to capitalize on the frozen shrimp I've been keeping. Frozen shrimp by the way is in my opinion just as good as fresh shrimp you can buy at the grocery store, and ends up tasting the same once cooked.

My go-to move when cooking shrimp is to make an olive oil, butter, white wine, parsley sauce. But I didn't have white wine or parsley. What I did have however was rum. And when rum or any alcohol gets cooked, the alcohol evaporates and you're left with a more concentrated version of, in this case, sugarcane (or molasses). So then I thought, what contrasts well with the sweetness of sugar? Citrus. So I went with a rum-citrus-garlic sauce. Here's how I did it.

I washed the frozen shrimp in hot water until all of the ice was melted. Because this shrimp is already cooked (you can tell this by if they're translucent--i.e. not cooked, or a light pink color--i.e. cooked). Next, I chopped up some white onion and threw them in a pan at medium-high heat with some olive oil. I then put in about 2 tablespoons of butter.

I usually like to throw cilantro into anything I can, but I've gotten tired of getting a large bundle of fresh cilantro and having it go bad. So awhile ago, I bought some dried cilantro and threw a small handful into the pan with the onions. I have to say that while it added a nice flavor, it certainly was not as strong of a flavor as fresh cilantro--to my dismay.

Now keep stirring. I turned the heat up to high until the sauce started bubbling a bit (I wanted to get those onions cooked). While it bubbled, I threw in 2 cloves of pressed garlic. I could have also used ginger in my sauce--Jamaicans often make a sugar-cane juice with ginger in it, and this combo would have carried over well to this recipe.

Now came the experimental part. I've never cooked with alcohol other than white wine and drinking on the side (yes it is common for cooks to drink while they cook). I wasn't sure how much to put in or at what heat but given that alcohol burns off in high heat very quickly anyway, I figured not too much could go wrong.

I poured in maybe around 1/2 cup of Jamaican rum. This is purely an estimate, and should be judged by each person on the amount of shrimp you have, and the smell and taste of the sauce as you go along. I then poured in about 2/3 cup of orange juice and a squeeze of lime. Fresh oranges would have been nice as well, but again, I was low on supplies and this worked out well. I continued to stir at a high heat until I could no longer smell the alcohol of the rum. Then I put the sauce on medium heat to prepare for the addition of the shrimp.

Once I got the sauce to a taste I liked--it was buttery, a little sweet, and a little spicy--I threw in the shrimp. These only needed about 3-5 minutes to cook so pay attention! To top it off, I threw in some paprika, salt and pepper, and it was ready!

I was incredibly happy with the sauce; the contrast of the sweet rum and onions with the tart citrus and lime, the spicy paprika, the smoothness and richness of butter and olive oil, and the salt created a wonderful tasty blend in every bite! And I loved using the shrimp because shrimp has such a mild taste and tender texture that it carries many varieties of flavor well.

So there you go! While using the rum probably made these shrimp more Caribbean than Mexican, they blended well with the rest of the flavors at the potluck! And its a great dish if you're cooking for many.

Other possible ideas would be using a tequila-lime sauce (Mexican), a coconut-rum sauce (Caribbean), a coconut-curry sauce (Thai), or a white-wine parsley sauce (Italian). Because shrimp exists in so many culinary cultures around the world, you can adapt this recipe easily to fit with whichever culinary theme you are striving to achieve!

Now good luck my little cocineritos! And definitely don't hesitate to experiment cooking with alcohol, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!

Love & Doughnuts,

The Mrakulous Kitchen

They've Got The Devil In 'Em!

Hello Fellow Food Lovers,

I wanted to take a break from all the crazy experiments I've been doing and return to a childhood favorite: deviled eggs. I had made a dozen dyed easter eggs and came back from my week long vacation unsure of what to do with them. At first, I just ate them as hard-boiled eggs on my way to class in the morning. But then I got a craving, an itch that just couldn't be scratched for something more--more flavor, more texture...and what better than deviled eggs!

I am often surprised how many of my friends have either never heard of or never tried deviled eggs. These are a family favorite for me and so I've grown up with them since the beginning of time. It was always an Easter ritual to make and eat deviled eggs. They are so easy and simple that they can become your next family favorite as well!

All you need is:

Mayonnaise
Mustard
Pickle juice (just from your regular jar of pickles) and/or caper juice
Eggs
Paprika (optional but necessary in my view)
Salt and pepper
Capers (optional, but again adds a nice touch)

Now there are many different stories about how deviled eggs got their name, but the story I found the most popular is that an englishman, William Underwood, set up a small condiment business on Boston's Russian Wharf in 1822. At this condiment and spice shop, they had one spice called the "red devil" which was a seasoning process to use on various meats. To be "deviled" then meant that it had to have some sort of spicy kick to it, using something like dijon mustard, hot sauce, or cayenne peppers. This deviling process was than patented and trademarked by Underwood's company in 1870 and is officially the oldest food trademark still in use in the United States!

Deviling has now taken many different forms and variations, and deviled eggs are made with many different recipes. But I've had my fair share of deviled eggs and to this day I like this recipe the best.

First, you want to hard-boil the eggs. My general rule is put the eggs into the pot before it starts boiling, and then let them boil for about 7-8 minutes.

Now comes the tedious part of it. Peel each hard-boiled egg and cut in half length wise. If you're lucky, maybe a friend will do this part for you : )  Scoop the yolk out of each half, either with a spoon or just by bending the egg white back a bit (like getting an ice cube out of a plastic tray).

Once you've gotten all of the yolks out into a bowl, grab your mustard and mayonnaise. The mayonnaise is used for its fat content, which gives the yolks a fluffy texture. This time I used about 8 eggs total, so that ends up being 16 deviled eggs. Thus, for 8 eggs, I used about two large spoonfuls of mayonnaise. Next, I added a little less than one large spoonful of mustard. I used yellow mustard here but for more of a kick you can use dijon mustard. I apologize for these rough estimates but I've never measured out this recipe, and generally do it based on texture and taste.

Now comes my favorite part. I usually like to add about 3-4 large spoonfuls of pickle juice, or about 2 large spoonfuls of caper juice (the caper juice is much more concentrated). This helps add a salty vinegary taste to the deviled eggs, which is my favorite part about them. Then add salt and pepper to the desired taste. Keep mixing all of this together with a spoon or fork until the eggs look fluffy, and have the taste you desire. (I usually go for the most vinegary taste I can get without it making me cough. You also want to make sure you're not adding too much liquid, as that will make the yolks lose their fluffiness). If you add too much liquid, don't worry, you can add some mayonnaise and mustard to help it absorb.

Now take the mixture you've made and scoop the yolk back into the halved egg whites until they form little mounds. Sprinkle some paprika on each and top with a caper or olive. And then you're done! The whole process, including hard-boiling the eggs, takes about 1 hour. And they'll be gone in about 5 minutes. You'd be amazed how many you can eat!

Alright now its your turn to try! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to comment!

Love & Doughnuts,

The Mrakulous Kitchen

Top-That Tilapia

Hello Fellow Food Lovers,

Tonight I tried my hand at fish. Growing up in Seattle, I had my fair share of trout, salmon, and any other seafood you could possibly dream up (except maybe lobster). The one thing I have learned from all the fish fashionistas in Seattle is that there is one major mistake that people and restaurants make: an overcooked fish. While we're not talking sushi here, the best way to cook a fish is by doing the least amount of cooking necessary, with a rosy almost raw center. Like a medium rare steak. And you'll get a tender filet every time.

So here's what I did. I got two filets  of Colorado tilapia from Whole Foods. If budget is an issue, tilapia is definitely on the cheaper side. I've had tilapia in restuarants before but have never tried to cook it. What I have gained from experience, however, is that tilapia makes for a great quick and easy sauteed filet. Its a tender, very mild white fish; you don't have to pick out bones and its a great base for plenty of rubs. It's not too fatty, not too hardy: the perfect, simple, light, refreshing, filet. And incredibly easy to make.

For the filets I decided to try two different rubs for each. I also had just bought Japanese panko that I was eager to use as a crunchy outside crust.

Panko. For those of you unfamiliar to panko, it means "bread crumb" in Japanese and is made up of tiny crispy bread crumbs taken from the center of the bread. It's great to encrust chicken, meat, fish, or veggies like eggplant and zucchini. You can also use it as a thickener in soups, or as a quick crunchy topping for desserts. If anyone has ever ordered deep-fried goat cheese on a salad, that delicious chevre ball is coated in panko.

First, the rubs. As I've discussed before, rubs are an excellent way to quickly season any meat or fish--they add a lot of concentrated flavor in every bite while not overwhelming the taste of the meat or fish. For the first rub, I used the "Caribbean Adobe" seasoning from Penzey's spice shop. It is AWESOME in particular for fish. It's made with onion, salt, pepper, oregano, cumin, and garlic. Basically every possible goodness in one spice mix. I put around two tablespoons of the spice mix in a ziploc bag (you may always had more or less). I took one of the filets, rubbed some lemon juice and olive oil and put in the bag to coat evenly.

For the second rub, I experimented making one from scratch. I put in about a 1/2 tablespoon of dried ginger, teaspoon of paprika, a tablespoon of garlic salt, 1/2 tablespoon of cumin, and last but not least, about 1/2 tablespoon of coriander. It gave the fish a sort of middle eastern flavor. The measurements are purely guesstimates as I didn't use any measuring devices--but just put a little in at a time and taste as you go.

Once I had both filets rubbed, I dipped each one in the panko batter. To make the panko stick, I mixed about 1/2 cup of the panko with one egg. This way, the panko stays on the fish while its cooked and the egg helps to give the crust in also light fluffy texture. Unfortunately, once I threw the filets on the pan, the panko began to fall off. So, next time I would suggest adding a few tablespoons of butter to help it stick. It would also add a nice extra rich flavor. I would also suggest dipping the fish in just the egg batter and then coating with the dried bread crumbs.

I decided to saute the tilapia filets because it is easy and quick. However, with the panko, you can also bake the fish or deep-fry it in oil. For the healthier option, I quickly sauteed the fish in olive oil at medium heat. I'd give each side of filet 3-5 minutes, or until the fish is the tenderness that you desire. I can assure that with any fish, the less you cook it, the more tender. Fish tends to get chewy and rubbery the longer you cook it, and it cooks fast, so make sure to watch it closely!

Take the filets off the pan and voila! Panko-crusted tilapia is served. I have to admit that while I loved both of the rubs, I slightly preferred the coriander, paprika, and ginger rub I had made.

On the side, we made a salad with mixed greens, yellow cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers. And a yogurt-based dressing. I was first introduced to yogurt dressings while in Slovenia, in which my host made a yogurt-sunflower oil dressing that was light, didn't welt the lettuce, and incredibly rich in flavor. It's a great base for any flavor--mix in cumin and you have more of an indian taste, put in honey and mustard for a sweeter honey-mustard like dressing, throw in mint and lemon juice for a more mediterranean taste. Any way, you can't go wrong.

For this dressing, we mixed in around a teaspoon of ground mustard, a teaspoon of cumin, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and a bit of honey. We used about a half cup of goat milk yogurt (because we both can't eat cow milk). This goat milk yogurt is excellent by the way, can be found at Whole Foods, and has the taste and texture of the dry Greek yogurt that is oh so popular now. Mix all together and the dressing is complete! The sweet taste of honey contrasted really nicely with the salt and spicy cumin.

And for dessert, we enjoyed a bowl of coconut-milk based, chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream (great for glutards, lactards, and anyone who likes the taste of coconut milk). Throw some fresh cut strawberries and some whip cream and you've got a delicious sundae.

So there you go! The whole meal only took about 10 minutes to prepare and 5-7 minutes to cook--a great meal to whip up when you're starving! I would give an upper estimate to cook this for two of around 20 minutes for the whole process.

Now go off and encrust something and enjoy the delicious contrast of a crunchy outside and tender inside. You can honestly try it with anything!

Love & Doughnuts,

The Mrakulous Kitchen

My My Apple Pie

Hello Fellow Food Lovers,

I think we can all agree that pie has become a staple part of the "American Dream" culture. Apple pie in particular, while not originally from the United States, has still become a culinary icon of the U.S. For many families, it symbolizes important holidays such as Thanksgiving and July 4th.

Apple...Mac...get it?!

Anyways, in my family, pie isn't just a delectable treat, it represents the very essence of what my family considers important: food and spending time together. It is a ritual and a symbol. What do I mean by this? Since I can remember, we've baked pies together--blackberry pies in late august, pecan and yam pies for Thanksgiving, apple pies when the apple tree bloomed in the fall, and strawberry rhubarb pies for my mom's birthday. We even served blackberry pie at my sister's wedding a few years ago. Like many families out there, pie represents the ritual of the family coming together for holidays and special occasions, as something everyone can participate in for its creation, and eventually for everyone to enjoy.

Actually, since I'd like to dedicate this blog entry to my family, here's a little family photo back in the Croatian homeland. Here's to you, Blumraks!

So then, like my mother did for me, I want to pass on this very easy pie recipe. I think making a pie from scratch (including the crust) can be very daunting for people, and pie crusts often turn out not how we had hoped. In the tradition of passing on recipes and tricks of the trade to the next generation, I pass on to you my family's awesome apple pie recipe and secrets you can use to make any pie delicious.

This pie most closely resembles the original Dutch apple pie style, which includes cinnamon and sugar in the filling, and a lattice crust. Other styles include Swedish (which has no crust), English (which is more a pudding including raisins and figs and other scrumptables--new word I made up), and French (which is more of a tart). I warn you--this entry is a bit longer than the rest, but it's because I go into great detail about the preparation to make sure you know every step and every trick. The length doesn't mean it's difficult or that it takes awhile!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

First, start with the insides. This way, you can let whatever you mixed in marinate and blend together (the berries with the sugar, or in this case, the apples with the cinnamon and nutmeg).

Here's what ya need:

• 6 cups apples, peeled and sliced--Granny smith apples have proven to be good for this
• 2 Tbs tapioca
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• A dash of nutmeg for good measure... Sometimes I even like to sprinkle some in my hair when I've had a rough week. What do you think holds it up?

Now mix these ingredients together. You know what my favorite thing about this recipe is? Almost all baking recipes require you to be so exact. Mix the dry ingredients. Then mix the wet ingredients. But oops! don't put in the butter before the egg or it will mix with the gluten in the flour too early..blah blah blah. It's too precise for my liking. But apple pie is different. Here are the ingredients. Mix 'em. Done. Or should I say afgelopen in Dutch?

Let these insides marinate and the tapioca to absorb all the juices. P.S. tapioca is great for all fruit pies--especially berry pies--because it soaks up the extra juices so your pie crust doesn't get soggy.

Now turn to your pie dough. For apple pie, I double this pie recipe so that I have the bottom shell and extra dough to lay over the top, either to make a lattice design or a sheet with cut out little apples.

Here's the recipe you can use for all pies (the bolded numbers are the doubled amounts for the apple pie):

• 1 1/2 cup flour --> Doubled= 3 cups
• 1/2 cup cold butter (or Crisco if you want to get really unhealthy but really delicious) --> 1 cup
• 1/4 tsp salt --> 1/2 tsp
• 1 tsp sugar --> 2 tsp
• 4 Tbs cold water (with ice cubes) --> 1/2 cup
• At least one cup shredded cheddar cheese (this is just for apple pie)

Now caution! This unfortunately, but highly necessary, is one of those recipes that you MUST mix the dry and wet ingredients separately first. And it is very important to keep the butter and the water cold, as these will determine how flaky your crust is (and believe me flaky is good).

So, mix flour, salt, and sugar.

If you have a pastry blender, great! You're life will be easier. If not, take the cold butter, take two sharp small cutting knives, and cut the butter into the flour, salt, and sugar. You know you're done when the butter has been evenly distributed throughout the dry mixture into very small little round balls (like smaller than the fingerprint of your pointer finger). The best chopping technique I found is to hold a knife in each hand, put the knives into the mixture with the points down, and sharp edges pointing away from each other. Then cross the knives and pull part. You can get going really fast at this and you will protect yourself from harm. You might find this ridiculous, but being a poor college student as I was all summer, this is what I did instead of buying a pastry cutter. And believe me, there is no way of getting around this step--cold butter is the most important thing!

For this apple pie,  I decided to put some cheddar cheese in the dough so that when it baked, the cheddar cheese was already baked in with it. Cheddar cheese and apple go together like...well you would be surprised, I promise! Use how ever much or little cheese as you like to your taste, but again, I would start with at least 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese mixed in. You're gonna find yourself wanting more.

Now add the cold water and continue to cut butter into dry mixture. Add cold water as needed (but try not adding too much as it will mess with the consistency. At a certain point, you're gonna say the hell with it, throw down the knives, and just get in there with your hands like grandma used to. Knead and grab the dough until it starts sticking to itself. Then, divide the dough into two even round balls.

Roll the first ball out onto a floured surface (either with a pastry roller or an empty/full-unopened wine bottle--I swear you can find cheap alternatives for anything in the kitchen). Roll the dough out until it covers your approximately 9 inch pie plate. You're gonna want it so that the dough falls into the plate with excess falling over the sides. Now take a sharp knife, and cut around the plate, cutting off the excess dough hanging off. If there are any holes or tears (which is expected) use this extra pie dough to cover them up, attaching with a dab of cold water. (No one will notice once its baked).

Now put in your filling.

Taking the other ball of dough, roll that out as well until it's big enough to cover the top of your pie. Once you have that, lay it over, cut off the excess all around, and fold the sides of the bottom shell over the top shell around the whole circle. Next, I like to take a fork and press in around the sides of the whole circle to make a nice design. Lastly, I cut an apple design in the top--this both looks nice, and allows hot steam to escape during the cooking process.  You can add whatever design you like, but make sure to poke some holes in the top to allow for this extra heat to escape.

Now your preparation is complete! All-in-all, this part only took me one hour. It's one of the easier, faster pies to make. Unless you're picking the apples yourself...

Put in the oven and bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.


Then bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.


These times aren't exact, so just check often and you'll know it's done when the crust turns a light golden brown!

P.S. There is usually extra dough, so I like to roll out whatever is left, sprinkle some cinnamon sugar and roll into a log. Then I chop this into 1/2 inch thick cinnamon-sugar rolls and throw 'em in the oven with the pie for 8-10 minutes. You can munch on them while you wait for the pie!

P.P.S. For this pie, I had a LOT of extra dough so I decided to make a small apple-nut roll. I rolled out the excess dough, threw some left over chopped apples, some cinnamon, a handful of chopped pecans, and rolled it up like a log. I threw the log in and then chopped it up after taking it out of the oven.

Voila! Take out of the oven and enjoy. Hog it for yourself to enjoy or share it with friends and family.

Love & Doughnuts,

The Mrakulous Kitchen

{fah-HEE-tah}. Or {fah-JAI-tah} if you're trying to mess with the waitress at your local Mexican restaurant

Dear Fellow Food Lovers,

I'm sorry for my 2-week hiatus. It was due to a combination of spring break and allergy season in the 'Springs. But alas, I start my return back to the blogging world with your good 'ol traditional fajitas.

Fajita. The fajita originally comes from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, where during roundups, cowboys would butcher the cows to feed all the workers. The throw-away meat (e.g. hide, stomach, entrails, and skirt steak) was given to the vaqueros or "Mexican cowboys", who unfortunately, given the sentiments of the time, were not seen as equals to the white cowboys. But alas, they managed to make something delicious out of it, including the popular menudo you see in many street tacos, tripe, fajitas, and other such popular Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine.

So if it's just leftover meat, why do we pay $18 for fajitas at Jose Muldoon's when we can make better one's at home! They are  simple and easy to put together on the spot, and great for big crowds. Not to mention that they are delicious!

To start, I made guacamole. Now this is not a necessary item to make for fajitas, but homemade guacamole is always a treat. For the guac I used these ingredients:

• 4 avocados (this made enough guacamole for two people's dinners, and 6 friends to "taste", i.e. inhale, and there was still some leftover)
• 1 small white onion (by small I mean touch your pointer finger to your thumb and its the size of the circle that makes)
• 1 lime
• A small heap of cilantro (I would say about 2 cups in total, but I edge on the larger portion of cilantro)
• 3 roma tomatoes
• Salt (to taste)
• Pepper
• 1 large spoonful of Cumin (remember our friend cumin from my first blog entry?)
• Paprika (mainly for a nice decoration on top)

Now blend the avocados, 2 of the tomatoes, some of the cilantro and cumin in a blender. This will give your guacamole a creamy, milky texture. Now this step is not necessary, but I found that smashing the avocado took a lot of time and left the guacamole chunkier than I like.

Here is a visual comparison: the one on top was not made with a blender, and the one on the bottom was. They are both delicious, it's just a matter of preference--but they will definitely taste different!

 

After blending, mix in the last tomato diced into small pieces, the rest of the cilantro, the diced onion, a squeeze of lime, salt, pepper, and paprika on top. Mixing in these last ingredients as diced rather than blended will give your guacamole a nice appearance of red, white, and green colors (yay Mexican flag). They also add some firmer texture to the smooth creamy blend you have just prepared. Alright now guacamole done! Either snack on it with Tostitos while you make the fajitas, or put in the fridge for later consumption.

Now to the fajitas. I had two more of the small white onions so I chopped those up, along with one red bell pepper. I threw them in a pan along with about 3-4 tablespoons of butter. I start with these first because they take the longest to cook. Make sure to keep stirring, as the onions and bell peppers will burn easily and need to be moved around every minute or so. These cooked for about 15-20 minutes on medium heat. You'll know its ready when the onions turn a tan color and have a sweet taste to them (and they'll smell fantastic).

In between stirring the onions and bell pepper, I took the tortillas and placed them on a plate in the oven, set at 250 degrees F. Next, I began cooking the meat in a separate pan.

I first started cooking already chopped up beef I bought at the grocery store. The beef was labeled for stirfry, so I figured that would work for fajitas as well. WRONG. This beef was rubbery and tasteless. It tasted like day-old cheap Chinese beef, the kind that has a grayish color and takes forever to chew. No matter what spices I put in this beef, the texture and taste were awful. So, for the future, do NOT buy stirfry beef at the grocery store! Try to find skirt steak, beef labeled for fajitas, or just get thinly sliced cuts of beef, cook, and dice 'em yourself.

But! Do not fret about my fajitas. I had a package of already diced grilled chicken that I threw in the pan once discarding the beef. This chicken was already cooked and thus only took 4 minutes to heat up. I threw in a few tablespoons of butter, some pieces of cilantro, and some Mexican chile seasoning that included oregano, cumin, salt, chile pepper, and onion, and lastly a squeeze of lime. Stir, and it's ready!

Now each person takes out a warm tortilla from the oven, throws on some of that fabulous guacamole you made, a dollop of sour cream, the bell peppers and onions, a couple pieces of chicken, and Buen provecho (meaning to enjoy your meal)!

In total, the onions, bell peppers, and chicken made four well-stuffed fajitas. You also have the option of adding in shredded cheese, salsa, and rice and beans. I also considered making a corn-mango-cilantro-lime salsa that would have added an interesting sweet taste to the mix, but my mangos were frozen and would have taken too long to unfreeze. But, it's an idea for the future!

All-in-all, the guacamole took about 30-40 minutes to make (the chopping and the picking of the cilantro took the most time). Making the bell peppers and onions took about 20 minutes. And the meat, if already cooked, only takes 5 minutes, and if uncooked only takes about 10. If you're trying to use uncooked skirt steak (which I would suggest in honor of the original vaqueros who ate them) it will cook faster than if you were cooking a T-bone or rib-eye. In total, that gives us an upper estimate of 1 hour 15 minutes in total to prepare and cook guacamole and fajitas. Not too bad, right?

No go and try fajitas my little vaqueritos/as. You'll be surprised how easy and delicious they'll be!

As always,
Love & Churros

Wacko Jaco Tacos

Hola Amigas Comidas (food friends)!

I am in beautiful Jaco, Costa Rica on spring break with six of my best friends, enjoying surf, the turf, and the many activities this country has to offer. Of course, this country is abundant with wonderful tuna, mahi-mahi, steak, mangos, avocados, and any other fresh produce you could imagine.

When cooking for a group of seven, you want to keep things simple and easy and not have too many things going on at once. So I went with tacos, where I prepare the separate ingredients and people make their own. It's easy and fast and works with everyone's taste buds.

The taco. Tacos can be found in many different variations all over the world--particularly in central and south american cuisine. You can use fish, chicken, beef, pork, beans and rice, or whatever else you have in your kitchen. And best of all, the tortilla (hard or soft) is great for holding it all together. Originally from indigenous peoples of central Mexico, taco just means a tortilla wrapped around a filling, much like the English "sandwich".

I went with shrimp tacos because my friends that hated fish still like shrimp and my friends that are vegetarians still eat seafood. This dish was great for a tropical vacation in particular, as seafood tacos are a very popular dish for beachy, hot weather places. The closest grocery store was a big super-mercado, much like Safeway, where I bought frozen shrimp (doesn't really taste different in flavor or texture than fresh shrimp, in my opinion).

I started the process by chopping and sautéing onions in butter because they take the longest to cook. Caramelized onions also taste good on everything and add a mixture of salty-sweet flavor to any dish. Next, I sliced red bell peppers and threw those into the pan with the onions, as they also take awhile to cook. I added about 4 tablespoons of butter (a hefty amount) and some salt, but you can go as light or as heavy with the amount of butter and salt you add to each dish.

While my wonderful sous chef and friend, MC, continuously stirred the onions and bell peppers, I began making the sauce for the shrimp. Given that we're renting a house and didn't have much in the way of grocery stores, I didn't have any spices to work with. But the sauce I created is very simple and can be made with ingredients you find in almost every kitchen.

First, I started by placing the frozen shrimp in a pan and turned the heat on to its highest in order to dissolve all the frozen ice still stuck (this process is not necessary for fresh refrigerated shrimp). Once all the ice is gone, drain the shrimp so that this "shrimp juice" doesn't affect the flavor (believe me, it is not very good). Next, take the shrimp and put in at least 2-3 tablespoons of butter. Now, pour a hefty amount of white wine in (any white wine will do) and top with lime juice (I squeezed in about half of a lime's worth, but it can use more, depending on the taste you're looking for).  Last but not least, I sprinkled with salt and pepper. Shrimp cook very quickly, so stir the shrimp in this sauce for maybe 5 minutes, checking for taste only, as the shrimp will have already cooked in the first round (before I dumped the excess shrimp juice).

In the mean time, I put the tortillas on a plate and put them in the oven at around 350 degrees to warm them. In separate bowls, I placed chopped lettuce, shredded cheese, chopped tomatoes, and extra lime wedges. While everything finished cooking (the onions and bell peppers finished last) I put these bowls out in the middle of the table.

Now, just take a tortilla, put some shrimp on, a little of the white wine-butter-lime sauce, a spoonful of the now caramelized onions and bell peppers, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, a squeeze of lime, and buenisimo! Everyone can just help themselves. Had I had the ripe ingredients at the time, I would have also added mango slices and avocado. And enjoy!

Still keeping it delicious in Costa Rica,

Love & Doughnuts,

The Mrakulous Kitchen

Ay Dios Mio! Papas Bravas!

Hello my Fellow Food Lovers,

I was in finals for the past four days. And as many of you know or remember, finals is hectic, stressful, you don't get enough sleep, and you start feeling a little cold coming on...

But just because you're in a rush, this doesn't mean your food has to go down in quality! Here's a reaalllly simple recipe that only takes about 35 minutes to make.

Papas bravas. I first had this on my abroad trip to Spain. Following the tapas tradition, papas bravas is just fried chorizo and potatoes that are usually eaten with some bread on the side.

Chorizo. For those of you who don't know what chorizo is, it is a spicy pork sausage, originating from Iberia, Spain. Chorizo tends to be a slightly different color from other sausages as an orangish-red color from the dried smoked red peppers it is blended with.

So. First, I boiled the potatoes until they were soft enough to take a bite. Then, I cut up some chorizo in small sections and threw them on the frying pan. Wait to do this when the potatoes are done boiling, as you're going to want to fry the potatoes and chorizo together (that is if the chorizo is already cooked. If not, read the label, cook the chorizo while the potatoes are boiling, and the timing should be good). Then, I mixed in olive oil, a fairly large slice of butter (a little over 2 tablespoons), and crushed red pepper flakes (like the kind you put on your pizza). Throw some salt and pepper in as well. Mix this all together in your pan at a medium to high heat. Lastly, following in my bacon obsession, I fried some bacon until it was very crispy and then cut it into small pieces and threw that in as well. Stir and serve. Voila! Easy as that.

*While the red pepper flakes are common for papas bravas, the bacon is not, but it added a wonderful flavor as well as a crispy texture in contrast to the soft potatoes and chorizo. Remember, a little bacon never hurt anyone!

I served my papas bravas with toasted english muffins, but if you have a really nice baguette or loaf of bread that would be wonderful as well. These are also great for potlucks and parties as something that fills people up quickly, so a little goes a long way!

Alright now go out and try, my little spaniards, you won't be disappointed!

As always,
Love & Doughnuts,

The Mrakulous Kitchen

Eggs Benedict...Making you smile on Sundays since 1893!

Dear Fellow Food Lovers,

I don't know about you folks in the working world, but sundays suck for college students...a lot. It marks the end of your amazingly fun weekend that you wish would never end and brutally reminds you of all the homework you haven't yet started. And mondays always proceed it.

BUT! Now there is something to look forward to every sunday. Eggs benedict! First brought to you by  Mrs. LeGrand Benedict at Delmonico's in New York City. Now, there is some debate over this origin myth--some argue that Mrs. Benedict created it first in 1893, and then there are those that say Mr. Benedict ordered toast, bacon, a poached egg, and a small pitcher of hollandaise sauce to treat his hangover at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in the year 1894. Either way, Mr. Benedict understood one thing: its medicinal values to the ever-so-present weekend hangover (or week day for some of you really ambitious college students). So ladies and gentlemen if you're trying to cure your saturday night hangover (as most of you college students are) AND you want something that will brighten your otherwise library-confined day, eggs benedict is the answer.

Now eggs benedict is my ultimate favorite breakfast/brunch food. I order it at almost every restaurant when I go out for breakfast. It always seemed to me like one of those foods that was way too impossible to make and only the elite chefs could do it. But then I learned a really easy way to poach eggs. And then tried to make benedicts. And it worked. And it's so simple you'll be amazed!

First I started by putting together all the parts except for the poached eggs. This I'll leave to your creativity but these are some things I've done that have worked really well. This morning, I had a bell pepper, avocado, sliced ham, and various left over goat gouda cheese (from all the other meals I've been writing about). I toasted the muffins and buttered them. In the mean time, I sliced the bell pepper and sauteed it in truffle oil and salt until they were soft and slightly charred. Then i put a sliced ham on each open-faced muffin, slices of the avocado, the sauteed bell pepper slices, slices of the goat gouda and a slice of a red heirloom tomato (basically a crazy looking mishapen tomato that doesn't taste any different than your roma or your garden variety tomato, but is really really pretty and comes in orange, green, yellow, and red variations--sometimes a mix of all 4 colors!)

Ok so everything is ready except for your eggs. So I have the easiest way in the world to poach an egg so that it's runny when you cut into it but soft and fluffy at the same time. First take a frying pan, one with high straight sides around it. Now put water in and boil the water in the fry pan. Once the water is boiling (at a very high temperature) crack the egg open into the water. Having the fry pan is important so that the egg is close to the heat. At first, the yolk will appear to separate from the egg white. But don't freak out! You'll see that eventually the egg white will become that opaque white color just like if you fried it (although you will probably have lost a portion of the egg white to the water). Now, preferably using a largish slotted spoon (i.e. a spoon with draining holes in it) flip the egg over so the other side cooks for a bit. Then, once the white part seems firm enough to pick up without breaking, take it out and put on your already prepared benedict!

Now I've tried making hollandaise sauce. But after I spent a solid 40 minutes whipping the eggs by hand so that it would be a creamy texture and then have it still turn out too runny I said the hell with hollandaise sauce until someone gets me a real egg beater (dear family, please click on link for grad present ideas). For now, I have some delicious and easy variations that you can pour over your eggs benedicts and will still make your benedict-os delicious.

Pesto sauce. Yep easy as pie-or pesto! (Ok that was definitely a joke my dad would say). Either use pre-made pesto or make your own.
Quick make-it-yourself-pesto recipe:
- A chunk of basil
- Olive oil
- Cheese (I like manchego or goat gouda or chevre, of course)
- Lemon juice
- Salt and pepper

**Sun-dried tomatoes (*optional for a slightly different taste)

**Artichokes (*also optional for an also differently-delictable taste)

Put in the blender until its smooth and creamy and your done! You can play with the portions of each of the ingredients to get the kind of pesto flavor you like.

Salsa. I had forgotten that I used all my pesto sauce last night and in a hurried frenzy I looked in my fridge and found salsa! So I used that instead of my usual pesto and it was very good. It gave it more of a southwest taste.

Feel free to try whatever else! To top it all off, I put a fresh basil leaf on each one to give it a nice color against the red salsa and a little added flavor.

The finished product! Bon appetit!

Here are some other great combinations I've used in the past for my eggs benedict:

California Benedicts
- Smoked ham / Turkey
- Bacon (optional but always delicious--probably better paired with the turkey)
- Gouda cheese
- Avocado
- Bell Peppers
- Pesto sauce
- Sun-dried tomato on top


Pacific Northwest
- Salmon (smoked or in lox form) / Crab could also be good
- Asparagus
- Chevre
- Homemade hollandaise (but could also be great with pesto)
- Sprig of rosemary (or thyme)








Sky is the limit! Try whatever combinations you like--I promise it can't taste bad!


Changing how you see sundays,

Love & Doughnuts,

The Mrakulous Kitchen

The Bee's Knees of Chicken

Dear Fellow Food Lovers,

I had a revelation. I finally found the most amazingly delicious simple way to cook chicken so that it bursts with flavor in every bite and its so tender you could cut it with a fork.

First, set your oven to 410 degrees...or somewhere around that.

Stuffed chicken. I have to give credit to my friend Claire Preston for this one, as she put the idea in my head. Now I am tired of making the same pan-fried chicken where you try and add enough oil or lemon juice to make it moist and toss as many ingredients as you'd like just to bite in and find it's still too dry. But not this one. No, ladies and gentlemen, stuffed chicken has changed my life.

So here's what went down. I had two pieces of raw (organic) chicken breasts. I cut them open like you would cut a fish to make filets. Then I took a pie pan and coated the bottom with olive oil and some truffle oil (my favorite ingredient to put on everything). And by the way, I found a really good bottle of white truffle oil for $9 at Whole Foods, so it CAN be affordable.

Next, I fried 6 pieces of bacon--just a quick toast on each side, and put aside for later. Now your pan is gloriously covered in excess bacon grease. Mmmm. I took each filet of chicken and cooked each side in the bacon greased pan until it was white on each side, but still very raw in the middle.

Now for the yummy part. I opened up each filet of chicken. Here comes the "stuffed" part. And here's where you can get really creative. Like crepes, you can put ANYTHING in stuffed chicken. I had some raw spinach that was about to go bad so I threw in a handful of spinach, some raw onions that I cut up and then three kinds of cheeses.

My trifecta of cheese. If you've been reading my blog all along, then you'll recognize these three cheeses which are my go-to cheeses for everything I cook: the manchego, goat gouda, and chevre. 


Ok so I sliced up the manchego and gouda and crumbled the chevre on top of the spinach and onions. Then I "closed" the chicken by putting one filet on top of the other. Now comes the really good part. I took the bacon that I had quickly toasted and wrapped three pieces around each of the stuffed chickens. Sprinkle some pepper and salt and voila! Now stick the chicken in the oiled pan in the oven and wait 10 minutes.

While the whole chicken process happened, I steamed some brussel sprouts on the side. I know everyone says "ewww brussel sprouts," but brussel sprouts are really just a crunchy medium to put whatever flavors you want on it, sort of like zucchini.

So first I steamed the brussel sprouts for 7-10 minutes with a little bit of olive oil and truffle salt sprinkled on top.

A quick note about veggies. Given that I'm working on an anthropology research paper about the origins of food and cooking with fire, I thought I'd add a quick little interesting tid bit I recently read about our relationship with vegetables.

Raw vegetables contain toxins. Maybe you knew this? Anyway, our foraging ancestors lived off raw veggies, berries, fruit, insects, and whatever else they could find. However, we were consuming so many raw vegetables that the toxins were building up in our system, leading to malnutrition and death. Then we discovered the wonders of fire. And fire changed everything. We started eating meat, which gave us the protein and energy to grow physically and mentally. We cooked our vegetables as well, which took out many of the toxins that was leading to our malnutrition, and allowed us to absorb more of the nutrients in veggies. Basically, our diet had more protein and complex carbs which  allowed us to develop our brains and bodies. And now look at where we are!

Now I'm not saying stop eating salads and raw vegetables. Just make sure its in moderation and that you're still getting your protein and carbohydrates.

Ok back to the sprouts. While the chicken was in the oven, I took the brussel sprouts out of the steamer and put them in the greased pan (because bacon grease is great for cooking everything). While I tossed the sprouts around, I threw in some sliced almonds and this seasoning called "Carribbean Adobo" from a spice shop downtown. It had garlic, onion, pepper, cumin, salt, and Mexican oregano.

Quick note on spices. These kind of pre-made spices are AWESOME for these type of dishes where you don't wanna chop everything up by hand, AND it packs a lot of flavor in just a little morsel. Go to Penzey's or whatever spice shop is around and just smell everything until you find one you like. They're quick, simple, and incredibly flavorful.

So I toss the brussel sprouts in the Adobo seasoning and almonds for just a quick second and by that time the chicken was ready. I puledl it out of the oven and my lord it smelled good! All three cheeses were melted, the spinach soft, and the bacon crispy. Not to mention how tender the chicken became. I sprinkled some lemon juice and it was ready to serve.

All in all, the whole process only took an hour!
















Other stuffed chicken ideas:

-stuff the chicken with other meats like ham or turkey and then add whatever else
-bacon and blue cheese (like a black 'n blue burger but a bit healthier)
-lemon wedges, capers, white wine, and olive oil.
-ground mustard, beer, and onions (I think this one will be the next one I try)

Ok there you have it! Good luck! And let your creativity run wild!

Love & Doughnuts,

The Mrakulous Kitchen

Crepes...Where ANYTHING is possible!

Hello my fellow food lovers,

I have yet to meet any person on this entire earth who doesn't love crepes. Whether you're stuffing your crepes with salty savory yumness or getting your sweet tooth fix, crepes allow for endless possibilities. Which is why I love them.

But I feel like a lot of people are scared to make them. Is it 'cause people believe you need french blood running through your veins in order to make a decent crepe? Or that only a french restaurant can make it right? Who knows what it is, but I'm here to get you to get over your fear of making crepes! They are so so simple.

First, the batter. I went online and found a really easy crepe batter recipe from allrecipes.com

All it takes is:

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Sort-of-maybe-kind-of important: when looking at these recipes make sure to look at the "Yield"! Because this recipe yields four crepes, and I was cooking for two hungry people, I doubled the recipe.

I really liked how this recipe turned out: the crepes were thick, a bit sweet, and a little spongy. My mom makes her crepes much thinner and less sweet, but you really can't go wrong as long as you use the basic ingredients above.

Now to the stove. I started with a medium heat, but realized that a high heat was much more successful in keeping the crepe in one piece when I flipped.  For some crazy chemical reason that I can't even begin to explain, the higher heat coagulated the crepe better...basically the liquid stops being a messy goo and turns into an edible mass to hold and cherish in your hand. So! Turn stove to high heat and spray pam, butter, or whatever you like to use on the pan (preferably a non-stick pan).

Now, using a cup (in my case a 1/4 measuring cup which I found to be the perfect amount for my needs), dip in batter and pour over your hot pan.

Important! Move the pan in a circle slow enough so that the batter covers the entire bottom of the pan (and thins out evenly) but not too fast as to leave the batter dripping around the pan...unless you want really cute mini crepes the size of your thumbnail. And don't freak out if it's not perfectly circular! It will still be delicious (remember, presentation only counts for 1/3 in the judging of Top Chef).

Now comes the creative part. You literally can put ANYTHING in this crepe. Anything at all. Sweet or savory. I decided to do both. Now, flip your crepe over to cook the other side (the timing of this should be determined based on how well the crepe is staying together and how brown it's getting, also how toasty you like your crepe.) For my savory crepe, I went with my left over asparagus, which I steamed for 7 minutes (with lemon and truffle oil to flavor a bit) over boiling water  and then chopped into one-inch pieces. 

I want to interject really quickly here to say that timing for cooking is not absolute. It's probably my biggest frustration with following recipes. If you're constantly checking the exact time for everything you'll drive yourself into an OCD frenzy and forget all about taste. So my advice is this: get a sense for time, how long things cook in general--5, 15, 30, 45 minutes? General increments. But more importantly get to know the timing that works best for your palette. Get to know what YOU like. Yes the professionals and the Food Network have been around the block, but only YOU are the professional of your own taste buds. So check your dishes constantly and consistently until you get it to where you like it.

Now, back to crepes! Ok so easiest recipe ever. I had my asparagus ready to go. I then shredded two kinds of cheese: a goat chevre (which I've already exclaimed my love for) and manchego.

Manchego. An AWESOME sheep cheese. It's a Spanish cheese that is fairly hard in texture, very dry, but incredibly flavorful. And apparently it's such an ancient cheese that Cervantes wrote about it in Don Quijote. So yeah, it's been around. It's great for shredding as the hard texture makes it easy. Again, you can find it at stores like King Soopers (but not Safeway last time I checked, unfortunately).

So I've flipped my crepe. Now all I do is sprinkle some asparagus, both cheeses and then fold it like an envelope. Flip the little package and throw it on a plate in the oven to keep warm until you're done cooking all the crepes (the oven is set to "warm" or a low 200-level heat). 

And Bon appetite!

Other savory crepe ideas:

-Breakfast!! -- Eggs, hash browns, salsa, cheese

-Ham and cheese

-Chicken, spinach, cheese

-Mix all the cheeses in your fridge

...Can you really go wrong?

For sweet crepes, I love using jam. Or awesome melted dark chocolate from Ghiradelli...but only when you're at home and you have an awesome mom who picks up things like that.

For now, jam will do. I used a strawberry rhubarb jam that was great--not too sweet for my taste buds. (The jam happened to be homemade from Lucille's--an incredibly delicious cajun restaurant in Denver that also has great po' boys, beignets, and bloody mary's...if you're ever around the southern, Denver University, part of Denver you HAVE to stop by before 2 pm when they close).

Other great sweet crepe ideas:

-Berries and whip cream (blackberries, boysenberries, huckleberries?)

-Banana and nutella

-Raspberry jam and chocolate

-Strawberries, bananas and whip cream

...And I could go on...

And there you have it! The French definitely knew what they were doing...and somehow stay thin after eating all of them...but that's for an exercise specialist to discuss. Remember, butter never hurt anyone...in moderate amounts.

Love & Doughnuts,

The Mrakulous Kitchen

Bruschetta, It's Not Just A Snack Anymore

Greetings fellow food lovers,

First I want to give a warm thank you to all those of you who have started reading and follow my blog. The support is much appreciated!

Now enough of the gooey stuff, on to the cookin'.

Bruschetta is a wonderful little Italian snack commonly made of toasted bread, tomatoes, basil, onions, garlic and mozzarella. It's simple and easy. But it's commonly thought of as a snack or appetizer. So how can you make it more?

Here's what I did. I had left over chicken I had cooked and seasoned two nights before. I also had a few pieces of bread left over and I wanted to finish off the bag. In an effort to get rid of food before I went on vacation, I decided to take all the perishable leftovers in my refridgerator and mesh them all together, similar to jumbalaya in New Orleans, or paella in Spain.

First, preheat the oven between 350 and 400 degrees (depending on your impatience level).

I had half an onion just sitting in my fridge. So I chopped it up into long thin slices and threw them on the frying pan. Add a little bit of olive oil and just saute them until they sweeten, otherwise known as caramelized onions. While sauteing the onions, I threw in raw garlic cloves to toast the outsides. Boom. The difficult part is over!

I took the chicken, conveniently sitting in its tupperware and threw it in the oven for 30 seconds to warm it up. Now, take your pieces of bread, melt some butter in the microwave for 15 seconds, and using a brush, brush the butter evenly over both sides of the bread. Melting the butter isn't a taste issue so much as an ease of time and energy...

Take whatever cheese you have in your fridge. In this case, I had left over goat gouda cheese (delicious by the way, you can pick it up at King Soopers and is a great mild tasting melting cheese) and chevre (a dry soft goat cheese also good in literally everything). I sliced the gouda and crumbled the chevre onto the toast. Next, I took the chicken and chopped it into little pieces, laying it over the cheese. I had some tomatoes so I chopped those up in pieces and threw them on. I also had some dried rosemary in my spice cabinet so I sprinkled some on. Lastly, I took the hot caramelized onions and roasted garlic from the stove and put those on as well. Voila! Actual cooking complete.

Now just throw the complete product in the oven (make sure they're sitting on cookie sheet or some sort of oven-safe carrying device) and wait about 7 minutes. Just keep checking until the bread is at the desirable toasted level, and the cheese is melted. If your toast is ready, but the cheese is not, I would just throw it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds, and the cheese will melt immediately.

I ate 2 pieces of this bruschetta and was full, so it definitely can be a meal!

Love & Doughnuts,

The Mrakulous Kitchen