"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