Wednesday, March 28, 2012

April to July Booklist

Here are the books for the next few months:

April: Maman's Homesick Pie by Donia Bijan (currently awaiting purchase at GBC)
May: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan 
June: Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn
July: Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl

Remember that we are meeting tonight at 6:30PM. Hope to see you there! 


Thursday, March 22, 2012

Crock Pot Pork Chops

I'm in love with my crock pot. It's mostly because I love anything where I can just dump a bunch of stuff into a pot and walk away from it, but it also provides me with the most succulent, tender meat I've ever had.

I used this recipe the other night (mostly courtesy of Alton Brown (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/slow-cooker-pepper-pork-chops-recipe/index.html), but I also added my own ingredients as well). It requires prep, but only about a half hour's worth, so it's pretty easy.

The night before, create a briny marinade. I used thinly sliced pork chops since they cook faster, but I think any would work.

1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup molasses
2 quarts of water
2 cloves of sliced garlic
1 bay leaf

Fill a 3 quart sauce pan 2/3 of the way full. Add the sugar, salt and molasses to the pan and cook just until the mixture boils. Allow the brine to cool completely, and then transfer the brine to a gallon ziploc bag. Add the garlic and bay leaf.

Rinse 6 thinly slice pork chops (4 if you're using pork chops between 1 and 1 1/2 inches) and add to the bag. Make sure the pork chops are submerged in the brine and let sit in the fridge overnight.

The next day, prepare the following ingredients:

3 ounces (about a half of a Martinelli's bag) of dried apples
2 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 garlic cloves ( I like most of my food super garlicky)
1 large onion
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon coaresly ground black pepper
1 tsp dried thyme

1. Line the bottom of the crock pot with the dried apples.
2. Heat a 12 inch saute pan with olive oil. Saute the pork chops until both sides are golden brown. Put the pork chops in the crock pot on top of the apples.
3. Put about 1/2 tbsp of olive oil in the pan, and then add the garlic. Cook for a couple minutes and then add the onions, cooking for an additional 3 minutes or until the onions begin to brown. Add the chicken broth to deglaze, and then the pepper and thyme. Stir to combine.  Add the mixture to the crock pot.

Set the crock pot to high for an hour if using thin-cut pork chops, or an hour and a half if using regular pork chops. After the hour and a half, set to low for 4 hours. (Mine only took about an 3 hours). The meat should fall away from the bone.


I served these with potato and portabello au gratin, and a green salad. It was the perfect sunday meal.

Next Week

Hello everyone,

This month's meeting will not have a demo. Doug is at his competition in San Diego until the day of our meeting, so while he might feel up to joining us to talk abuot the book, he will not have time to plan or make us food. We will still be meeting to talk about Four Fish, though.

I'll see you all next Wednesday, the 25th at 6:30PM.

Enjoy the sunshine!

Brianne

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Mexican Chocolate Pot de Creme topped with Dulce de Leche and Almond Whipped Topping

I pity everyone who wasn't able to make our meeting last night, as Doug's pot de Creme was amazing! With my pity, comes my belief that I must share the recipe on our blog so that you can all attempt to make it on your own.
Definitely begin with the Dulce de Leche, as it takes by far the most time (about 3 hours).

Dulce de Leche (courtesy of Alton Brown)

Ingredients

1 quart whole milk
12 ounces sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

Combine the milk, sugar, vanilla bean and seeds in a large, 4-quart saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved. once the sugar has dissolved, add the baking soada and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to low and cook uncovered at a bare simmer. Stir occasionally, but do not re-incorporate the foam that appears on the top of the mixture. Continue to cook for 1 hour. Remove the vanilla bean after 1 hour and continue to cook until the mixture is a dark caramel color and has reduced to about 1 cup, approximately 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Store in the refrigerator in a sealed container for up to a month.


Mexican Chocolate Pot de Creme

For the custard:

2 1/4 cup half and half
1 cinnamon stick, busted (Doug suggested a meat mallet)
1 Morita Chili (ancho will also work)
4 oz Bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
6 egg yolks
1 Tbsp White Sugar
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1 dash Salt

For the whipped topping:

1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp white sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp Almond extract
2 oz Sliced almonds, toasted

Directions:

For the custard:

1.  Preheat an oven to 320 degrees'
2. Combine the chili pepper, cinnamon stick, and  half and half in a medium-sized pot and bring to a simmer for 2 minutes
3. Combine the two chocolates in a medium-sized mixing bowl and melt over a double boiler.
4. Turn off the hat for the half and half mixture
5. Combine the egg yolks with both sugars and the salt, and whisk until well combined and fairly smooth.
6. Temper the egg yolk mixture into the half and half mixture.
7. Pour the custard base through a mesh strainer over the chocolate and mix until completely combined
8 Pour the chocolate custard base into ramekins, and place these on top of clean kitchen towels in a casserole pan.
9. Fill the casserole pan with hot water so that it reaches 1/2 way up the sides of the ramekins.
10. Bake the prepared custards for 25-35 minutes (or until almost completely set).
11. Allow custards to cool on the counter for 10 minutes, then refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

To Finish:

1. Top the cooled pot de cremes with warm dulce de leche (if using).
2. Whisk together all of the ingredients listed under the whipped topping heading until the cream forms stiff peaks.
3. Top the pot de cremes with the whipped topping, and then garnish with the toasted sliced almonds.

Then commence with the eating, pronto!

Book Selections!

Thank you to everyone who made it out last night. Below are your choices for the next 4 months.

Please note that the order of when we read these may move around a bit if necessary.

#1: Maman's Homesick Pie by Donia Bijan (10 votes)

#2: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (7 votes)

#3: The Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn (6 votes)

#4: Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl (6 votes)

These are the books that were on the list, but that we won't be reading (at least in the next few months):

The Chef's Apprentice by Elle Newmark (5 votes)

Twain's Feast by Andrew Beahrs (3 votes)

The Spice Necklace by Ann Vanderhoof (3 votes)

Life, On the Line by Grant Achatz (2 votes)

Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain (2 votes)

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (1 vote)

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (0 votes)

The Face on Your Plate by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (0 votes)

Remember that next month we will be reading Four Fish by Paul Greenberg.