P-P-Pancakes (the extra p's are for p-pretzel)

Okay, okay, I know that there were promises of sea bass and melted leeks, but since I bought my ticket to France (Oh, yeah I'm going to France!), funds have been low. That said, I've been forced to try out slightly cheaper recipes. So, this week you'll have to be satisfied with Pretzel Encrusted Pancakes. FIRST, I need to point out that these were NOT my idea. I am neither that imaginative, nor that stoned. I was, however, very intrigued by them when a couple of my friends ordered them at The Bongo Room for brunch last weekend. At the time I went for the Black Bean and Sweet Potato Breakfast Burrito (and I was not disappointed), but I could not shake the idea of salty little nuggets of pretzel in my pancakes. So, instead of waiting for a couple of hours in the sub-zero Chicago weather, I opted to re-create them myself. The pancakes themselves are pretty straight forward, it was the accompanying white chocolate creme anglais and caramel sauce that presented the biggest challenges (It actually turned out not to be that challenging at all, especially since I cheated and bought caramel sauce. Oh, please--I'm so sure Bongo Room makes their own caramel sauce!). Aaaanyway, I made a batch for my parents, and fried up some bacon at my Dad's request--I don't think the pork made the beauty shots, though. Anyway, it was absolutely delicious, but I imagine this dish would be life altering after a night of hard drinking or ...ummm...other things. Anyway, pics and recipe below.

Pretzel Encrusted Pancakes With White Chocolate Creme Anglais and Caramel Sauce

CREME ANGLAIS

3/4 cups whole milk

3/4 cups heavy cream

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup finely chopped white chocolate

3 egg yolks

PANCAKES

2 cups flour

2 tbs baking soda

1 tsp iodized salt

2 eggs

1 1/4 cups milk

2 tbs oil

2 cups crushed pretzel rods

2tbs sea salt

CREME ANGLAIS

1. Mix sugar and egg yolks together in mixing bowl until smooth and pale yellow
2. Heat milk and cream in sauce pan until simmering
3. Slowly whisk warm cream mixture into egg mixture until fully incorporated (don't add the cream too fast and don't let the cream get too hot, or you'll end up with scrambled eggs).
4. Pour egg and cream mixture back into sauce pan and stir with a wooden spoon until it passes the finger-spoon test.
5. Mix in the white chocolate until fully melted.
6. Pour into a clean bowl and refrigerate until needed.

PANCAKES

1. Mix all of the dry ingredients EXCEPT the pretzels and sea salt.
2. Whisk in eggs, milk and oil
3. Mix until smooth--NO LUMPS
4. Heat an oiled cast iron skillet on medium high
5. Using a 1/2 cup ladle, ladle batter into skillet
6. Immediately add pretzel pieces and a pinch of sea salt to the uncooked side of the pancake.
7. Flip after about 90 seconds
8. Repeat until all batter is gone.

Stack pancakes and spoon on a generous amount of creme anglais over the pancakes and crisscross with any store bought caramel sauce (Smucker's Sugar Free worked perfectly for me).

Turkey Test Run

Now that it's nearly Christmas, I figured I'd finally post some pics from my sister's (the chef) Turkey Test Run Dinner. The whole thing came into fruition when my cousins in Michigan volunteered to host Thanksgiving out there. That said, Brittny offered to make sides, but still needed sate her chefly desire to cook a perfect holiday bird. So she cooked twice the sides and appetizers (some for Michigan, some to accompany her turkey) and invited the immediate family over to sample everything early. Some of the main players included, baked homemade ricotta with a lemony, garlicky olive tapanade, mashed potatoes, baked mac and cheese (my Mom actually made this dish), and my personal favorite, creamed spinach with roasted parsnips. Mmmmm... I can't take too much credit for anything that went out, but I can take credit for photographing it, writing about it, but most importantly eating it.

Baked Ricotta

Heaven in Progress

The Bird

Note: We enjoyed the much anticipated butternut squash, thyme and goat cheese in pastry puff canapes on the actual holiday. They were so freaking good and fairly simple.

Brittny's Butternut Squash Canapes with Caramelized Shallots and Goat Cheese

1 medium butternut squash
3 cloves of garlic
4 shallots
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 pkg puff pastry
1 tube goat cheese
1 egg
olive oil
sea salt
white pepper

1. Roast squash until fork tender, but still firm enough to peel and chop. Let cool
2. Sautee garlic over medium heat, add shallots when garlic becomes fragrant cook until sweet and translucent, add chopped thyme just before removing from heat. Set aside
3. After squash is cooled, remove the skin and chop into a small (1/4 inch) dice.
4. Mix squash into shallot mixture. Salt and pepper to taste.
5. Cut puff pastry into 1 inch rounds using a cookie cutter
6. Spoon 1/2 table spoon of the mixture onto the puff pastry and pinch the edges to create a ridge to keep the filling in.
7. Balance a teaspoon of goat cheese on top of the canape.
8. Bake at 375 degrees until pastry is cooked through and cheese is slightly browned.
9. Serve immediately

These are really good with a good crisp white, like a sauv blanc.

Coming Soon...

For the last week I've been obsessing about melted leeks and craving a well-cooked piece of fish, but today it all came together and my mind will not rest until it is complete. You can look forward to a post, picture and recipe for:

Chilean Sea Bass on Melted Leeks with Blackberry Compote.

Daaaaaaamn, I can't wait.

Also keep an eye out for pics and commentary on my sister's (the chef) test run Thanksgiving dinner--there will be canapes of butternut squash, goat cheese and shallots and a dip of homemade ricotta and sundried tomatoes. Oh yeah, she totally went there.

Chowdah...

Today was a cold, windy, indoorsy day in Chicago and I got the urge to bust out the pots and pans and cook something from scratch. Unfortunately, I had no access to a car and, therefore, no access to a grocery store (This is the South Side people, I'm not walking anywhere!). With only the items left over in the refrigerator from dinners and uninspired grocery trips passed, I attempted to think of a dish that would allow me to use all of the perishable ingredients that were teetering on their last legs. I had an inordinate amount of dairy in the fridge--butter, cream, whole milk; so, duh, creamy. I also had some pretty substantial chicken breasts, some potatoes that could have been firmer and a crap load of frozen corn (not sure why). Then, it hit me...CHOWDER! Not to be ignored, my inner fat kid, suggested I throw in some bacon for good measure. Did I mention that I love my inner fat kid? With all the necessary ingredients present and a concept in mind, I invited my friend Sarah over for dinner. Now, either I like to cook under pressure or I'm some kind sadist; because I'm pretty sure that cooking something I've never made without a recipe then blindly subjecting loved ones to my first attempt would put me in one of those two categories. Happily, the finished product did not kill Sarah and it was actually quite enjoyable, albeit a little salty (no need to add salt to the cream base until after you add the bacon). Here's a photo and a recipe if you're interested in trying it out! Note: All non-meat measurements are approximations of pinches and handfuls.

Ashly's Chicken Bacon Corn Chowder
2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 bunch fresh thyme
2 cups dry white wine
1 medium red onion
4 stalks of celery
6 small yellow potatoes
1 small bag frozen corn
1 pound bacon
1 stick of butter
1 pint whole milk
3/4 pint heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon Sriracha
salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste

1. Season chicken and poach with fresh thyme in white wine for 10 min.


2. Add quartered golden potatoes to chicken, add water if needed.


3. In a separate pan, sautee onions and celery, add frozen corn before onions are translucent.


4. Remove chicken and potatoes and celery, onions and corn from heat. Shred chicken. Reserve poaching juice for soup base.


5. Cut bacon into 1/2 inch strips and cook until slightly crispy. Remove and press with paper towel.


6. In a soup pot, melt stick of butter and begin whisking in flour. Stir until it takes on a thick gluey texture (Congratulations! You made a roux!).


7. When the roux is done, start slowly whisking in the reserved poaching juice, cream and milk followed by the celery, onion and corn mixture. Let the ingredients get to know each other for a few minutes.


8. Once everything in the pot is well acquainted, add the chicken and bacon to the soup.


9. Season soup to taste (I highly recommend using the Sriracha for some extra kick). I made the mistake of salting the base before adding the bacon, hence the saltiness.


10. Cover and let simmer on medium-low until the soup passes the wooden spoon-finger test (Not as weird as it sounds...just dip a wooden spoon in the soup and wipe a finger along the back of it, if your finger mark stays, it's thick enough. If the soup starts to bleed into your finger mark, let it thicken up some more.)


11. You're done! Garnish with green onion and a cold beer.

I know it looks like a lot of steps, but it's pretty easy once you get set up. The only downside to following a recipe for chowder is that you see how devastatingly fattening (you're welcome inner fat kid) it is. So, you should probably plan on going for a walk, riding a bike, or fasting for 24 hours after you eat it. Either way, I promise it will not only be good--it'll be: Spot. On.

I like to think that I'm a little bit sassy and a lotta bit classy.

I spend an unnatural portion of my day thinking about food. Seriously, I do. Entirely too much time. I don't procrastinate on Facebook (okay, I do) but I spend much MORE time trolling the internet for food blogs, Top Chef recaps, and good pictures on flickr's infamous 'food porn' thread. In the last year I've read everything written by and about Anthony Bourdain and have developed a nasty little hetero crush on him. Intellectually, I am something of a foodie. The thing is, I'm usually too broke to dine out or even cook the foods I love. What is a poor, poor foodie to do? Well folks, I, luckily, know my way around the gourmet market well enough to find those key ingredients can elevate a common dish to something more acceptable to my bourgeois palette. So, for now, I must be content to continue reading, dreaming, drooling, and (as you will see) modifying cheap food into something a little bit classy.

Case in point:

I've been trying to detox for the last 3 days. Day 1, I gave up and dug into the free Italian Beef sandwich I was given at work. FAIL. Day 2, I drank a gallon of water and three cups of green tea and ate nothing but cottage cheese, an apple and Kashi cereal (without milk) until dinner--where I proceeded to make a turkey sandwich w/ brown sugar bacon, spinach, mayo and a raspberry vinaigrette drizzle. FAIL. Day 3, that's today, was going to be an automatic fail because I knew I'd be drinking alcohol at a work event AND getting a free dinner, so I decided the hell with it and treated myself to a lunch I could chew. Ever since I watch the 'grilled cheese' episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay, I have been CRAVING a grilled cheese sandwich with turkey, tomato and goat cheese. Today, I decided to finally sate that craving. Unforch, none of the restaurants near my office actually serve that sandwich, so I had to get creative. First, I went to Baci Cafe and got a turkey, mozzarella and tomato panini. Then, I high tailed it over to Presidential Market and bought some goat cheese. In no time at all I was back at my desk slathering goat cheese all over the crusty ciabatta bread. I popped the refurb. into the toaster oven to melt everything together, and let me tell you what--it worked just fine! Classy and delicious. Spot. On.


I enjoyed this sandwich so much that I:

1) was inspired to write a food blog after eating it.

And

2) felt moved to at least take a picture of the carnage.
(Note the telltale goat cheese stained knife)