I love to cook

Here are some of the things I've made, or cooked with.  I was wading through some of my ba-zillion photos on my computer and started to realize that I take lots of photos of food, but don't manage to write bog posts about all the food I photograph.  So this post is designed to catch me up.  One day I'll be a foodie, but for now I'll just enjoy eating!  LOL!

Savor the flavors
-Carmen Rose

Such a Sushi Scenerio (A Beautiful Yum)

Tell me, is this not a beautiful yum?!

I've been wanting to try making sushi ever since I saw this amazing work of art by Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto.  To me this looks like an edible quilt and I think it's truly amazing!  I don't even want to show my own work in the same blog post, but hey... I'm a completely unapologetic novice!

My first try:  Oh, they do look a little awkward and embarrassed don't they?!  However, the rice stuck together.  Booooy, did the rice stick together!!  lolz

The second batch tastes the same but looks much better:

I'm always up for a culinary adventure. I grew up with such a limited range of foods, exploring new flavors has been a real treat over the years.  I remember the first time I had sushi.  I was with Charles, my photographer friend.  We were enjoying a concert in the park and some sushi from Martins and I was really taken by the flavors, and the way the food looked.  I got to watch a co-worker make it when I was a cake designer a few years back, it looked simple enough.  Then I saw the episode of "Good Eats" where Alton Brown dedicated a whole show to sushi.  Then I knew I had to try it.

I'm doing makeup and hair for the cast of "Lunch Hour."  It is the first production this season at Oak Grove Theater and we got rained out one evening of the run which left me with a free evening.  I wandered around town for a while, not ready to go home.  I kind of landed at the grocery in the sushi section and ended up with a lovely little collection of sushi paraphernalia.  And I didn't have time to try it until today.

As Alton would say: "Good Eats!"

As Paula Dean would say: "Best Dishes!"

& Happy Creating... 

(no matter what artistic media)
-Carmen Rose

Testing, Testing, is this thing on?

The testing of the new range has begun. This evening I had a dozen chicken thighs cooking (in four different flavors) and 24 cupcakes in my oven... all at the same time. Everything was fine except the smell... which was very confusing. Basically chocolate chicken. Not really my thing. Anyway - here are the cupcakes:
Ta da!
These are chocolate cup cakes with a little bit of the middle removed and filled with chocolate and white chocolate pudding filling. They they are topped with a combination of chocolate fudge and cream cheese frosting... and lest you allow yourself to be unduly impressed, it was icing from a can.
And these are the ones that had the misfortune of being born ugly, further proof that life is unfair. ...but still tasty. Cake from a box, pudding from a packet and icing from a can. It's clearly no culinary masterpiece... but it tasted pretty good anyway.

Actually, my cake from a box mix was a little different. Here's what I did:

One chocolate cake mix
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup apple sauce, unsweetened
1/2 cup white wine
3 large eggs

Combine with whisk, spoon into cupcake pans and bake @ 350 degrees until spring back when touched. 24 cup cakes took about 20 minutes to bake. I tasted them and the wine gave it an interesting flavor. The only way I know to describe it is to say it added a hint of floral to the chocolate. Most folks would add coffee, but I don't like coffee.

And what's not to love about cupcakes?!
-Carmen Rose

Cooking with Ina Garten

Tonight I made one of Ina Garten's recipes... with a few changes of course.  I made Zucchini Gratin, only I'm pretty "free form" about following a recipe like this one.  Ina's recipes are always amazing, but sometimes I don't have her ingredients on hand (like gruyere cheese) and I just like playing around with things.

These are the ingredients:  Full recipe with all the instructions 

• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, plus extra for topping
• 1 pound yellow onions, cut in 1/2 and sliced (3 large)
• 2 pounds zucchini, sliced 1/4-inch thick (4 zucchini)
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup hot milk
• 3/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
• 3/4 cup grated Gruyere
  
  
  I used 2 zucchini and 2 yellow squash and a red onion rather than yellow ones, all sliced up super fine on the mandolin.  I used a pint of whipping cream instead of the milk and put in a block of Monterey Jack and one of Extra Sharp White Cheddar and topped it with Panco instead of bread crumbs.  Then I remembered that I had some nice crispy bacon in the fridge, so I threw that in.  Mercy... it came out of the oven all hot and bubbly... I knew it was going to be good.  Actually, it ran over in the oven and so the kitchen and family room at my house had a bit of a smokey haze for a while but everything that was still in the baking dish was fine.  And I'm going to replace this range, so I'm not even going to bother to clean the burnt stuff on the bottom of my oven.
  
  
  My neighbor brings me trout, fresh from the stream in West Virginia.  He is quite a fisherman and neither he nor his wife will cook them so he brings them to me.  Six this time, I haven't even finished all of the last 12 he brought, eight of them are dressed and in my freezer.  Tonight I cooked two of them "Trout in Cartoccio" style sort of like this recipe but without the additional veggies.  It's pretty simple, the fish bakes inside a parchment bag with some fresh lemon, a spring onion, thyme, salt and pepper, white wine and olive oil.  I used foil instead, so there wasn't quite the "OOOh AAAAh" kind of presentation that the parchment is... but when poaching/steaming/baking two whole fish with the bones in... well... it's going to need a little attention before serving anyway.  And who do I need to impress?  (nobody.)   
  

  
  When the fish comes out, lift the top skin and gently lift off the top meat.  Then lift out the entire rib cage, believe it or not most of the pin bones will lift right out with the ribs.  Then just lift the rest of the meat from the skin and top it off with some pan juices.  This takes only a few minutes and can be done quickly while the fish is still hot.  I've done it before the creature was cooked and it takes FOREVER to get the critter out of it's skeleton, believe me!  Especially getting those pin bones out!  And it takes a fraction of the time doing it this way. 
  
  I made green beans almondine and baked a few biscuits and hubs stirred together an impromptu version of tarter sauce.  He used good mayo, pickles chopped fine and some garlic and a little Worcestershire.  It was quite good.
  
  We were both too stuffed to even consider dessert.  And I'm not hungry anymore.  I suspect that was the point.  (Though perhaps overdoing it like I did wasn't exactly the point.)
  
  

  

  
   I've made some small quilts today, photos coming.  And I also got word back from the Doc that I am no longer anemic, so that's really good news.  I need to try to take it easy but I'm not doing a very good job at that.  There is much to be done before I take my work to the gallery on Monday for my one woman show May/June.  Time is tick-tocking right on by, but that's OK.  I've got enough glass and dyed scarves for the exhibit, and I'll be finishing up the rest of the textiles this weekend.  I have a ton of details to finish up... it will all come together.  Somehow it always does.
  
  

  Happy Creating

  (and happy cookin!)

  -Carmen Rose

Cooking with Ina Garten

I was hungry today for curried chicken salad and I looked up Ina Garten's recipe and tried it again. The recipe can be found here and it's very simple (and VERY good!)

 Roast the chicken with salt and pepper.  That's easy, I roasted it at 350 and left it in until my meat thermometer comes out at 150 degrees.  I saw that Emeril Lagasse cooks chicken until 140 and most places say 165 (just a liability issue) but Emeril said he liked his chicken moist.  I can't stand underdone chicken but 150 was perfect for this and the meat really did retain it's moisture.  No more over-cooked chicken for me! 

Then let it cool and chunk it up.  It crumbles some as it gets stirred up so there is no point in going overboard on this step. 

Then ya throw in the good stuff:  Mayo, Major Grey Chutney, curry powder, and celery for crunch.  Oh, and don't forget the salt and freshly ground black pepper.  I had red wine but no white wine, so instead I just included the rest of the broth from the pan I baked the chicken in.  A good vinegar would work here also.  Ina puts this all in the food processor and makes it all smooth before adding it to the chicken.  And that is ideal.... however...  Life is short, and I just threw it all right in and gave it a gedge.  (That's a Rachel Ray term for stirring, can you tell I had Food Network on in the house yesterday?) 

Ina Garten's recipe called for scallion, raisins and cashews... I garnish it with grapes (instead of raisins) and spring onions (close enough.)  I sprinkle those on top mostly because they look lovely, but also because these ingredients don't hold up so well if there is some left for the next day so I prefer to have them separate.  I ate all the cashews in the house, so sadly I could not pile those on top yet.  They really are wonderful in this recipe.  If you want to know how much of something to throw in, consult Ina Garten's recipe.  I tend to dump till it looks right and then make adjustments as needed.  Which reminds me, I should add curry powder and cashews to the grocery list.

This would make a lovely main dish for a picnic, then add veggies, crisps and other fun picnic foods.  This time I just served it as a one dish wonder.  (With iced tea made from garden mint and lily of the valley from the poison ivy patch on the table.)  The only comment from the peanut gallery was that it "needs bread or something."  (G, think he's spoiled?!)  It would be good in a wrap or as a chicken salad sandwich, no doubt about that.  I love the combination of the sweet Major Grey Chutney against the curry flavors... YUM!  And yeah, I meant to make fresh biscuits to go with it and just didn't get it done.  But I have leftovers, so there is still time for that.

Best Dishes, (with a nod to Paula Dean)
-Carmen Rose

Dinner Time

A friend of mine mentioned Chicken Chipotle Bacon Chimichangas this morning... and suddenly I was hungry.  So I found and printed out a recipe and stopped by the store on my way home and picked up some chicken.  I popped six large chicken breasts in the slow cooker and turned it up on high.  By afternoon the house was starting to smell good and I sauteed up some onion, garlic and some beautiful long skinny red peppers I found at Martins on Sunday.  I threw in some seasonings and shredded the chicken and threw that in.  I rehydrated two ancho chilies and chopped them up and threw them in.  

I stuffed eight big tortillas with the chicken mixture and some monterey jack cheese, brushed them with canola oil and popped them in the oven.  While that was baking I made some Spanish Rice, some guacamole and some pepper gravy from the leftover chicken broth.  The house really smelled good at that point.  I broke my garlic press, so I'll be keeping my eye out for one that isn't so difficult to clean. 
I'm not a big fan of food in general, just good food.  Simple, honest ingredients and simple techniques, sometimes it takes longer to make but it's always worth it.  It seems that good food that is hot and fresh and full of great flavors is far more satisfying.  And then one doesn't need as much, isn't that interesting? 

The Chimichangas were ready, the rice was nice and hot and the gravy and turned out nicely.  The guacamole was fresh and I pulled the sour cream out of the fridge and popped some of that on top. 

And it was gooood.  I couldn't even eat the whole thing though I gave it my best shot.  I like cooking these days.  Far more than I did when I was young, I cooked for my family and later on I cooked professionally and never liked it much.  But these days I really enjoy it.  It's like I've discovered food all over again.

As Paula Deen would say: "From my kitchen to yours, Best Dishes!"
-Carmen Rose

And it was YUM!

Spiced Shrimp White Pizza
Dough, olive oil, basil, sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, garlic, onions, yellow peppers, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, fresh spinach and good quality motz. I sauteed the shrimp in olive oil and (spiced with fajita seasoning) and put them on the pizza in the last few moments of baking the pizza. I topped it with cut green onions the second it came out of the oven.
Delicious, and pretty good for ya also! Yummm... You would not believe how good it smelled when it came out of the oven! Tasted good also.

Bon Appetit,
-Carmen Rose

Curry and Cabinet Knobs

I struggled today to get anything done. I have a food allergy that sometimes takes me down a notch. I didn’t know I was consuming the one thing that always kicks my bum, and I really didn’t think it would be a big deal. The next morning the first round of reactions hit and then I felt ok for a while. In the evening the second round hit and I was still feeling it this morning. Now I’m just really worn out. I feel like I was in a car accident.

I didn’t feel like doing much of anything today, but I was hungry for curry chicken salad. I love everything curry, all the different kinds and colors that I’ve ever tried have turned out to be soul mates to my taste buds. So I picked up some chickens at the store and then went home to make stuff. I roasted the two chickens in the oven, and made some chicken stock. When the chicken cooled, I put some of it aside for meals later this week and cut up the rest for chicken salad. I made curry chicken salad using this recipe from Ina Garten. I had to find “Major Grey’s Chutney” at the store. That was easier than I expected it to be. It’s there with the other dressings, sauces, etc. I saw Ina make this on her Barefoot Contessa show this week and I’ve been craving it ever since. It turned out to be as delicious as I expected it to be. I subbed in seedless grapes instead of raisins and it was wonderful. I may add some heat to the leftovers, this kind of thing is always better with a little kick! I think it would be really wonderful in the summer.

I combined the chicken stock with a pureed butternut squash, loaded in some veggies and chicken and made a soup that turned out to be pretty good. I pushed it too much though, I’m pretty much toast at this point.

Oh, and I covered a few other cabinet knobs with polymers. They’re so fun to do that I end up making more not because I need them in the kitchen, but because I enjoy making them.  And it seems that the more I make, the more they evolve and the designs get more interesting.  I'm not out of old knobs to cover, so I suppose that's it for a while unless I find something else to cover.  

I picked up more paint at the store this morning, thinking that I may need to rattle can my old hinges just to get my kitchen put back together. I sent another email to the company that has screwed up my order of hinges and knobs. Still no reply from them. So far I’m not impressed. I’m still hoping that they’ll make it right. I guess we’ll see. I’ll keep ya posted.

I'm planning to curl up and take it easy for the evening and hope I can get some of the toxins out of my system and get back to normal. 

Health and Wholeness to each of you,

(cause nobody likes feeling bad!)

-Carmen Rose

Chocolate Cake

Last evening I tried an experiment. I’d heard a friend mention 5 minute microwave cake, they raved over how good it was. I was curious, I researched it a bit and found that this kind of thing gets a very mixed reviews. So I had to try it.

Here's the recipe if you'd like to try it: (serves two)
(But before you scamper off to get out your mug and reach for an egg... please FIRST read the rest of the post!)   =)

* * * * * * * * * *
5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
a small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug
Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
* * * * * * * * *

As an aside, my first business was one I started in college making wedding cakes for my friends. I am familiar with chocolate cake, and I may be a *tad* bit biased about what constitutes good cake. But I followed the recipe, and popped that thang in the mic. I used two mugs instead of one because I wasn’t going to eat the whole thing anyway. I watched it turning, and I started to catch the aroma of cooking cake. Hmmm… maybe this won’t be so bad, it smells good. I pulled it out, I wasn’t sure what to think of the appearance, so I popped it out on a plate and cut it open. It was done, no question about that. So how did it taste? It tasted exactly like you’d expect chocolate cake to taste that had been made in the microwave… it was… uh… rubbery. I figured I could get past the texture if the flavor was good, was it? Nope. Never again. Dang, how cool would it have been if it HAD been good?! Who doesn’t like the idea of a nice warm chocolate cake in 5 minutes and only dirtying a spoon and a mug?

I had a good friend over to Studio B today. We finished up a lovely lunch and I assessed the situation. Was that complete? Or did we need something yet? I looked at her and asked if she’d be interested in having molten chocolate cake?  We could make it together. She thought for a moment, I could see the wheels turning. And then she answered with a resounding “Yes!” I laughed with delight, some people are so afraid of good food that they won’t even try something if they think it’s loaded with calories. (Sometimes things that taste rich and decadent don't actually aren't all that loaded, it's just that everything is in balance - that's a mark of a great recipe in my opinion!)

And so we made chocolate molten cake. It didn’t take long to make, it took twelve minutes to bake. We added a little bit of peppermint ice cream…. and it was good! Well… I should say… it was excellent. There could not be more difference between the two chocolate cake experiences. It’s very different kind of cake than I would make for a wedding or special occasion cake, but it’s really really good.

So I ask you, why would anyone ever eat a cake that took five minutes to bake, when you could have this chocolate molten cake that took only seven additional minutes to bake? Because I’ll tell ya, they aren’t even in the same ballpark when it comes to flavor! Believe me, it is worth the wait!  (Can seven minutes reasonably be considered "a wait"?!)

And so... (Drum rollllllllllll)

I'm very pleased to present

The Emeril Lagasse Molten Chocolate Cake Recipe

(serves four)

And I made it with this baking chocolate... the stuff is HIGH TEST.

 

Seriously, there is a reason why dark chocolate is a super food

I try not to knock it.

And please allow me to point out that cake for cake... 

the molten chocolate recipe will have less calories.  

~ Think of it as health food. ~ 

Wishing you warm chocolaty goodness,

-Carmen Rose

PS WHY DIDN'T I TAKE PHOTOS?!

(Because for just a second there, living was more important than documenting.)

Julie and Julia!

I’m a blogger, I watch Food Network almost religiously and I have a fantasy of some day finishing my book(books) and having it(them) published. And when I was a kid I would pretend I was cooking for an audience, no kidding! Sometimes I think I still do cook as if people are watching. (When I cooked professionally, people were watching.) And I LOVED the movie Julie and Julia! It touched nerve after nerve after nerve in my life and I laughed and cried. I got this copy of the movie from blockbuster but I’ll get my own copy, promise. And I’ll watch again and again because I need a reminder that it’s important to do what you love even when there isn’t much support. That’s ok, I still adore creating something delicious, I still love to create anything artistic and I still love to write. And right now, that’s all the important stuff. Oh, and making some music along the way. And Julia loved well, and was so beautifully loved, and what an amazing miracle that is when it happens. That about covers it. Bon Appétit!

While I’m writing, let me tell you about a little dessert I created this week. I fought this one the whole way because I could NOT make up my mind what I wanted the finished product to be and I’d been to the grocery once and had decided that I was NOT going back. I wanted strawberries, the ones at the store were mauve, not red. (I hate mauve) I wanted to do the strawberry, herb and spice combination that I saw a French guy do that was DIVINE, but there was no yum to be found in those berries, so I kept on going.

Meryl Streep as Julia!

I’ve been wanting to try this divine looking chocolate shortbread. (By Alex Guarnaschelli) The original idea was a chocolate version of gingerbread, since I have a low tolerance for gingerbread and I’ve already had my fill for the year. I baked a double batch and don’t even ask how much butter is in there, they have the most WONDERFUL texture. Crunchy but not hard at all, it’s melt in your mouth shortbread, not biscotti. I cut them into rounds with a cookie cutter after the pan came out of the oven. However, I did not have the sour cream or white chocolate for the dipping sauce, and I didn’t have cream of tarter to do something with egg whites, or the time to let a mousse set up, so that wasn’t going to happen. And I thought back to the old days, one of my favorite creamy fillings was whoopie pie filling, so I pulled out an old Mennonite cookbook and made this light and barely sweet cream, added some peppermint and voila! A light fluffy mint cream for the shortbread. The whole thing required a chocolate sauce so I whipped up ganache to drizzle and crumbled some shortbread cookie over the top. Someone had mentioned peppermint ice cream a while back and so I picked that up while I was out. Now the interesting thing about the ice cream is that it is sweet. The shortbread wasn’t very sweet, kind of like eating crunchy buttery dark chocolate, the whipped filling was just barely sweet… the cold sweet ice cream pretty much brought the whole thing together. Or was it the rich velvety ganache? That might have done it. Whatever it was, in my mouth it was wonderful. And guests seemed to enjoy it, and so that was fun. PLUS: LEFTOVERS at my house! (YUM PERK!)

(Plating in someone else's kitchen on their plates)

Sometimes I think cooking is just another art media, one that I really enjoy. And it’s all about the process! And it’s a nice perk if the food turns out to be delicious in the end. Maybe I’ll treat myself to a copy of Julia Child’s cookbook this Christmas and try something loaded with butter with a French name. That sounds lovely! Bon Appétit, and if you haven’t seen the move… do so at once!

Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes today and was really happy with how they turned out. They smell wonderful! People really have interesting reactions when they discover that it is soap and not real cake! Chocolate/Caramel, Chocolate/Mocha, Chocolate/ Butter cream, White Cake/cherry, White/wild berry, White/butter cream. They look good enough to eat!