Every weekend I ask my husband what he would like for dinner over the course of the next week, and every week my husband says “I dunno,” and every week I pull out a little bit more of my hair. Recently, when I got frustrated at his lack of input, he hopped on google and looked up “Most delicious food in the world.” He came up with a list of the 50 most delicious foods as voted on by people on CNNs website. I fully plan to tackle more of the top rated entrees… However, this was my attempt at the world’s most delicious food; Beef Rendang, from Indonesia.

One of the main ingredients in the rendang sauce is tamarind paste. Tamarind paste is an elusive creature that is very rare in the area of the US we live in, which happens to be a food desert and cultural wasteland. So I turned to my BFF, amazon.com and had it shipped to my house. I have never had or even seen a fresh tamarind. I know that many Asian recipes call for it, and that they flavor candies and drinks with it in Mexico… But I have never tried those either. Basically, I had no idea what to expect, but I was terribly excited. I opened it the second it showed up, to discover that it is, in fact, a richly colored deep brown red, thick goo, which is ferociously tart and slightly bitter.

My optimism is waning, but not gone, as the recipe calls for decent quantities of two of the loves of my life- fresh ginger and garlic. The recipe also called for fresh lemon grass, which I was sadly unable to procure, and also fresh chili peppers… Which our grocery store also does. not. carry. (WTF?) So I substituted some canned chilis and cried a little on the inside.

So, onion, chili, garlic, ginger, tamarind, and coconut milk, turmeric, cumin, and coriander, all go for a whirl in the food processor.

And of course, because I’m curious, I take a taste. And the sauce is still wicked tart. I am feeling less and less positive, but it still has 6 hours of melding with the meat in the slow cooker to mellow out.

I cross my fingers and pour the sauce over the prime rib chunks.

Incidentally, we do have a wonderful local butcher shop where we buy most of our meat.

So I fire up the slow cooker, and wander away. 6 hours later and the beef is tender, and pulls apart and is gorgeous, but the sauce is still tart! And remarkably non-complex for all the different flavors that went into it. I am dissapoint. However. My husband enjoyed it. I quote, “It’s not my favorite ever, but it’s damned good and I can see why it made the top 50.” So, perhaps I’m being closed minded, but I don’t care for sour meat.

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs prime rib, cut into 1-2-inch pieces
• 8 red chilies, stemmed and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 stalk lemongrass, tough outer layers removed, tender insides finely sliced
• 1/3 cup tamarind paste (combined with 1/3 cup warm water)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (ground chiles, not the chili pepper spice blend)
• 1 (15 ounce) can light coconut milk
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• salt

Directions

• Put the beef in the slow cooker.
• In a blender or food processor combine the chilis, onion, ginger, garlic, lemongrass, tamarind paste, 1 cup warm water, and the spices.
• Puree until smooth, then pour over the beef.
• Stir in the coconut milk and cook, covered, on the low setting for 5-6 hours.
• The beef will be tender and the sauce will be dark brown.
• Ladle most of the sauce into a small saucepan and cook over medium high heat to reduce until slightly thickened, about 30 minutes.
• Pour the sauce back in the cooker and cook on high for 30 minutes to 1 hour longer.
• Stir in the sugar and season with salt to taste.
• Serve over steamed rice.

May 27, 2012
Categories: Uncategorized . . Author: elizabethhasblog . Comments: 1 Comment

I like to bake. It’s true, and I’ve developed a bit of a reputation for it. During my husband’s last deployment, every Sunday I would bake an entire large flat rate box worth of different goodies; cookies, cakes, brownies, loaves of bread, and on Monday I would mail them to his unit. But, making sure I had enough to fill a box, often meant that I had some overflow that had to go somewhere. I will admit that some of it did get consumed by your humble narrator in spite of my perpetual struggle to get down to a healthy weight, but much of my baking found its way into the homes of my local friends. One of those friend’s grandmothers, who has never met or spoken to me, mailed her a comprehensive book of just about every bread recipe ever, to give to her “bread making friend.” It’s FABULOUS. Bernard Clayton’s New Complete Book of Breads. 708 pages of delightful doughs.

I am always on the look out for a recipe that sounds delicious. I am always on the look out for a recipe that sounds delicious and beautiful. I am always on the look out for a recipe that sounds delicious, beautiful, and is a bit of a challenge.  I stumbled across this recipe for spinach and tomato marble bread while browsing through Mr. Clayton’s book, I immediately leaped off the couch and went rushing off to the grocery store for the ingredients I didn’t have on hand.

These guys can be baked into three loaves segregated by vegetable (fruit), but I’m partial to rolling the doughs flat, and swirling them together. I used an 8.5×4.5 loaf pan for these them… But they can be braided together, or made into round loaves on a baking sheet.  This is my moderately adapted version of the recipe.

Ingredients for each loaf:

3 1/2 cups bread or all-purpose flour (approx.)

1 package active dry yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

2 TBS butter

1 egg, room temperature

Spinach dough:

18 ounces fresh spinach, stemmed and washed (to make one cup puree)

1/4 cup milk

White douh:

2 TBS milk

2/3 cup hot water (120-130 degrees F)

Tomato dough:

2 TBS milk

1 cup tomato sauce

Directions:

1) In a medium saucepan cook the washed spinach with water still clinging to the leaves, until the leaves are just wilted; about two minutes. Puree the spinach in a blender or food processor. Gradually add the milk until the spinach is pureed; set aside.

2) In a large mixing bowl, or bowl of stand mixer, combine yeast, salt and sugar. Briefly microwave your spinach puree so it is warm to the touch, but does not quite burn. Add puree to your yeast and let sit 5 minutes.

3)Add the butter and the egg, and mix briefly.

4) Add two cups of flour and beat with flat beater until well combined; about two minutes, or mix with a wooden spoon for about 100 strokes. Add remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour 1/4 cup at a time.  Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for ten minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.

5) Mold dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled; about one hour.

6) In clean mixing bowl, combine sugar, salt, and yeast. Microwave your tomato sauce and milk until very warm to the touch, but not quite burning. Pour tomato sauce over the yeast mixture and let sit for 5 minutes.

7) Add the butter and the egg, and mix briefly.

8) Add two cups of flour and beat with flat beater until well combined; about two minutes, or mix with a wooden spoon for about 100 strokes. Add remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour 1/4 cup at a time.  Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for ten minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.

9) Mold dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled; about one hour.

10) Combine yeast, sugar, and salt in clean mixing bowl. Pour warm water and milk over your yeast mixture and let sit 5 minutes.

11) Add the butter and the egg, and mix briefly.

12) Add two cups of flour and beat with flat beater until well combined; about two minutes, or mix with a wooden spoon for about 100 strokes. Add remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour 1/4 cup at a time.  Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for ten minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.

13) Mold dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled; about one hour.

14) Once your dough has risen, dump each dough out onto an oiled work surface. With a knife, divide each ball of dough into three approximately even pieces.

15) One at a time, using a rolling pin, roll your dough segments out  so they are approximately 15″x8″.

16) Place your flattened dough segments on top of one another, making three stacks of dough, each including one layer of red, one layer of green, and one layer of white dough. Roll them up tightly, lengthwise, so you end up with a small loaf shape that fits in your pan.  Cover each of your three loaves with plastic wrap, and set aside to rise for 40 minutes.

17) 20 minutes before baking, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

18) Bake 40 minutes, until golden brown.

19) Remove from oven and allow to cool briefly before turning out of loaf pans onto a metal rack to cool completely.

I can’t rave about this bread enough. It’s gorgeous when you slice into it. It is soft and has a delicate vegetable flavor. It makes fabulous sandwiches that should impress everyone, especially when you tell them you made it yourself!

May 23, 2012
Categories: Uncategorized . . Author: elizabethhasblog . Comments: 2 Comments

Hello! My name is Elizabeth; I am a painter, an army wife, a nerd, a book worm, an animal lover, a cynical, sarcastic creature, and about a thousand other things. I have come to the decision to start food blogging because I enjoy cooking beautiful, delicious food, and then bragging about it. Seriously though, this is an easy way to share my recipes with family and friends.

Why did I make a scary pizza? I made a pizza to look like the Necrinomicon; the book of the dead because I chose to title my blog “the Gastronomicon, the Blog of the Fed” as an omage to HP Lovecraft, and the Evil Dead movie trilogy. I thought it was clever. Also, I make delicious pizza, and with part of a bachelors of fine art under my belt, I had a lot of fun making it into a frightening face.

I did eat it. Although I must confess it was not my tastiest pizza- It was rather a lot of garlic, and only black olives otherwise, I will share my basic pizza recipe and you can go ahead and choose your own toppings.

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 TBS Active dry yeast

1 TBS Sugar

1 Cup warm water (105-110 degrees F) {You can replace your water with a cup of warm beer and your sugar with honey for a bit of a change of flavor.}

1 tsp salt

2 Cups flour (I do one cup unbleached all purpose and one cup whole wheat)

(If you want to make a thin crust pizza, just halve this recipe.)

Directions:

1) Combine yeast, sugar, and warm water in a large bowl. Allow to sit until the yeast forms a layer of foam on top of the water-about ten minutes.

2) Mix in salt, and flour- stir with a spoon, or mix with dough hook if using a mixer, until it forms a uniform ball. Add flour if needed to keep if from being too sticky, and then knead by hand on a smooth surface, or knead with dough hook until well mixed.

3) Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Let rise for an hour.

4) Punch your dough down and briefly knead on a smooth surface. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

5) Roll out your dough to fit your pizza pan, or baking sheet- should be about a quarter of an inch thick.

6) Add your sauce, cheese, and toppings and bake for 12 minutes. Slice and serve.

My suggestions for sauce:

I usually use a can of UNSALTED tomato puree, 16 oz… And simmer that with a couple cloves of minced garlic, dried basil, 1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano. I let that simmer over low heat until the volume is reduced by about half… 30-40 minutes depending on how low you have your heat set.  This makes a fair amount of sauce, so depending on how much sauce you want on your pizza, you may want to save some. I also occasionally make a green sauce of garlic, and steamed spinach I have put through the blender.

My cheese preferences lean towards fresh mozzarella, but I’m not above using the stuff that comes pre-shredded in a bag because it makes for a lot less work.  Provolone and parmesan also work quite nicely.

I don’t reccomend only topping your pizza  with garlic and black olives… My favorite toppings are banana pepper, spinach, fresh basil, onion, mushroom, sun dried tomato, artichoke hearts, broccoli… I could go on forever. I would have toppings 6 inches thick if I thought I could do it. But the toppings depend on what kind of sauce you are using, and the other toppings you are putting on.

If you’d like to check out my other art, take a look at my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/Elizabethpaints! Follow me on Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/LizzerTweets.

May 21, 2012
Categories: Uncategorized . . Author: elizabethhasblog . Comments: 30 Comments