Category Archives: chef’s journal

Mold Baking

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Baking cakes has never been my forte. It is essentially my Achilles heel in the culinary world. Add a mold, decorating, and shapes, and well, I should maybe talk to HBO or Food Network for a comedy pilot. This week, however, I was put up to the challenge by one of my employees to create “Lamby Boy,” also known as an Easter Lamb Cake. Most recipes call for a pound cake recipe because of its density and ability to hold the shape, and my beloved favorite, cream cheese frosting.

What’s the worst that could happen, right? More to follow soon…

Feeble attempt at baking. Note the kitchen covered in powdered sugar and flour...

Here goes nothing!

Goat Butter Roux

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I decided to make some Mac and Cheese tonight because once again I had too much cheese in my fridge that I was never going to get around to eating. I also had some goat butter I did not feel I was going to get to using either, so I used it in my roux. Try it. It’s epic. I really have no other words of wisdom.

Slacking

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I have been totally slacking with my posts during lent. I have not been cooking as much at home and without meat my diet has not been super varied and probably less healthy than when I do eat meat. I have been having a lot of cheese( what else is new?), pizza, pasta, and fish, especially shrimp. I have experimented with mock meat, like Morningstar farms chik’n patties. At work I’m at a loss very day because most places don’t have good salads or vegetarian soups. Saint Patrick’s Day does not help matters as one of my favorite meats is corned beef. April 15 is still a ways away…sigh…

Lent Time

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Two years ago I took the traditional Greek Orthodox path and gave up eating meat for Lent. It was actually an enjoyable and obviously spiritual time coming up with nutritious meat-free meals instead of just eating pizza, pasta, and prepackaged Morningstar Farm meals every day. I’m going to attempt it again this year, as Greek Orthodox Lent started yesterday. It’s gonna be sad to give up FOS, but I can always make a vegetable broth based version…

Anne Thornton – Justified Firing?

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Pastry Chef Anne Thornton was fired from Food Network for allegedly plagiarizing recipes from famous food figures like Martha Stewart and Barefoot Contessa Ina Garten.

According to the Huffington Post article, the primary reason she was cut from Food Network was ratings related. I’m more inclined to believe this reason. I feel the plagiarism was more a scandal for press.

Here’s the thing. In these life and times, is any recipe out there TRULY original? Just about any dessert out there is based off a basic pastry technique tweaked with variations to make things interesting. I just don’t feel there are any truly original food thoughts out there. I’m sure many of my own personal recipes are out on the interwebs somewhere.

I remember when I was in culinary school, Food Network was in its infancy and much more focused on technique and culinary basics, it was less flashy at the time. As a result, we were often encouraged to watch as research. I remember watching Emeril Lagasse and feeling like every French recipe I learned in class in a given day was interpreted with bam and spice on his show.

I just get the feeling Ms. Thornton was not as marketable as some of her celeb chef peers and that ultimately led to the axing. Thoughts out there?

Cheese Addiction courtesy of Maywood Marketplace

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ImageOkay, so Maywood Marketplace is not to blame, I have been addicted to and cheese has been my favorite food for years. I usually have at least six different types of cheeses in my fridge at any given time. This is particularly excessive as I live alone and am not home nearly enough to be able to consume all this cheese.

Earlier today I went to one of my favorite local grocery stores, the aforementioned Maywood Marketplace. They have amazing prepared foods, a huge produce selection, super fresh bakery items, and an impressive cheese selection complete with endless samples. It is my crack. I feel guilty from sampling and I cannot leave there without a minimum of three cheeses in my basket (so well done making me the target audience in terms of passive aggressive sampling as a selling technique).

Now I have not consumed all the cheese that is already in my fridge, and between a trip to Trader Joe’s yesterday and the marketplace today, I am overstocked. I really need to stop food shopping after the gym…

In any case, I just took an inventory of what is in my fridge. I need to either have a party or do some serious cooking this weekend. Here’s what I found:

  1. American
  2. Swiss
  3. Gouda
  4. Old Amsterdam
  5. Sharp Havarti
  6. Extra Sharp Provolone
  7. Cream Cheese
  8. Parmigiano Reggiano
  9. Grated Parmesan
  10. Ricotta
  11. Italian 4-cheese blend
  12. Manchego
  13. Ricotta Salata
  14. Herbed Goat Cheese
  15. Goat Cheese crumbles

I am probably missing something in there…so now I’m thinking of what to make. Cheese straws, mac and cheese, fondue, cheese crisps, nachos, grilled cheese all come to mind….what are some of your favorite cheese recipes?

Old Pics from My Catering Days

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I came across these pics this morning, and I’m glad I found them. I used to have them all up on an MSN spaces site, but I lost the content when they migrated over here to Word Press (I had so rarely used the site at that point, I don’t even know if I knew how to log in anymore).

In any case, here’s some fun stuff I used to do. Pardon the photo quality, many of these 2003/2004 cell phone pics.

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Ice Cream Cakes

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I have been longing for an occasion to create an ice cream cake lately, particularly one with Carvel-style crunchies. In doing some research here on the interwebs, sources say Carvel crunchies can be made with their flying saucer cookies (like chocolate wafer cookies) and magic shell.

Now, I being psycho, did my research and a side-by-side comparison of ingredients in the Flying Saucer cookies, the cookie crumb topping from Blue Bunny Chocolate Lovers Ice Cream Sundae Cone (another favorite of mine in terms of crunch), and Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers. All of them had similar ingredients such as enriched flour, cocoa, sugar, and everyone’s favorite heart stopper (literally), partially hydrogenated oil.

Having done my research, I feel pretty good about putting one of these bad boys together, along with some other ice cream novelties I’ve been wanting to create at home but haven’t had a reason beyond this blog to do so. Continue reading →

Aldi

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I must be living under a rock, because I just discovered Aldi’s supermarkets about a month ago. I was running some errands in East Rutherford and stumbled upon it.

I enjoy hitting up new food stores I have never been to. Some have the power to scare me, like Hackensack Market on Passaic Street here in Hackensack, while others, like the International Foods Warehouse at National Wholesale Liquidators in Lodi, is a pleasant surprise. I also love a good bargain that doesn’t require me to spend hours poring over circulars and/or clipping coupons. Aldi fell into the pleasant surprise category.

When I walked in the first time, I was taken by how no-frills the layout is. There is little to no advertising and most items are just on palettes and sold straight out of cases. Then I looked at the items and felt like this was the place that 80’s sitcoms used to shop for generic anti product placement goods.

The quality is surprisingly good, though. It is an excellent store for stocking up your pantry with pastas, rices, spices, cereals, crackers, etc. There are some fresh items, too, but they make me a bit more wary.

If you decide to check these stores out, a few things to be wary of. To keep overhead low, they charge for shopping bags and there is a system in place to bag your groceries, so it’s best to bring your own bags. Bring cash if you do not have a debit card, as credit cards are not accepted. You’ll also need a quarter to secure a deposit and unlock a shopping cart.

The German based company is also the parent company to Trader Joe’s, another favorite of mine. They have been operating stores in the United States since 1976. Who knew? Overall, I’m a fan, and look forward to going back.

Frosting on the Fly

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I am headed to my friend’s house this evening for dinner and I offered to bring dessert. As has been the case lately, I raided my pantry for what I can make from scratch without going to the store, and I was able to make chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

Everything was working according to plan. For the cake, I halved this recipe from All Recipes, and used my mini muffin pan. Now I don’t own a fancy stand mixer, never have. I’m not against them, they are just an expensive purchase that I’m saving for marriage or lottery winnings if that day ever comes (it will look fab with my Vera Wang china, yes, I have a china pattern picked out…I’m 32, I’ve had time to think about this stuff, back off). I’ve also found for most recipes, I simple electric hand mixer works just fine. I went to plug mine in and finish mixing up the cake and found out the hard way in the middle of a dirty kitchen and a time crunch that it was broken. I managed to finish the cake batter by hand, but the frosting was going to be a different story. Continue reading →