Top Chef S4E13: Pain in the Plantain

Posted on 8 June 2008 under top chef, tv: commentary | No Comments

see more at overcastmedia.comYour Kitchen Ninja Overcast for TCS4E13 is now up.

I’d say more, but I don’t want to spoil anyone who hasn’t watched it already. This episode made me want to throw things, though.

[?]

Share This

I Scream, You Scream

Posted on 6 June 2008 under dessert, surprise surprise | 1 Comment

We all scream for ice cream, yeah?

How would you feel about bacon and egg ice cream?

A friend of mine sent me this video ages ago, and I thought it seemed like a brilliant idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6CLoRuvGcY

I mean, it makes a ton of sense. It’s basically math: a custard or pudding is largely comprised of eggs and milk/cream, as are nicely scrambled eggs. And what goes better with scrambled eggs than some lovely bacon? And what goes better with lovely bacon than maple syrup?

Taking advantage of this idea, I presented it at this year’s Meatstravaganza, which is an annual event that some friends put together years ago that’s seriously the best time of the year for us. It’s full of good food, friends, fun—and indeed, some nice booze as well. Good times!

I don’t have an ice cream maker, and I haven’t bought one mainly because I wouldn’t use it very often. I’m not terribly keen on using what limited space I have for things that won’t get used, so I pulled out the old Girl Scout trick of size-graduated containers, salt, ice, and a whole lot of shaking to churn by hand. People made ice cream before the advent of the machine, so why not?

It mostly went over well, although some people were a bit alarmed. I suppose that’s to be expected, though. I got a lot of comments from people who were surprised that it was sweet rather than savory, and also surprised that they liked it as much as they did.

I like to turn expectations on their heads as much as possible, which was in truth a large appeal of the execution of this idea.

[?]

Share This

Top Chef S4E11: Restaurant Wars

Posted on 23 May 2008 under top chef, tv: commentary | No Comments

see more at overcastmedia.com

[?]

Share This

Bread for Sale!

Posted on 17 May 2008 under admin, announcements, photos | 2 Comments

Have you ever wanted to buy some of the delicious, freshly-baked bread you’ve seen on this site? Or other delicious, freshly-baked breads you haven’t seen on this site?

Have you ever wished you could buy my bread?

Now you can.

I’m proud to announce that I’m now baking bread at the lovely and amazing Lynfred Winery on weekends. If you buy bread from them on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, chances are excellent it’s something I’ve made.

So come check it out!

Some samples of a typical Saturday’s bounty, as taken by my camera phone (so in no way particularly lovely photos) can be found behind the cut… Read the rest of this entry…

[?]

Share This

Top Chef S04E10 - To Serve and Protect

Posted on 17 May 2008 under announcements, top chef, tv: commentary | No Comments

see more at overcastmedia.comYour Kitchen Ninja Overcast for Top Chef S04E10 is now up! Enjoy.

(The ones for E08 and E09 are up as well; just follow the link to the OvercastMedia website to view those or any other entries in the series in their entirety. )

[?]

Share This

Top Chef S4E7: The One with the Kids with Sharp Pointy Things

Posted on 5 May 2008 under announcements, top chef, tv: commentary | 1 Comment

see more at overcastmedia.com Your Kitchen Ninja Overcast for Top Chef S4E8 is now up! Enjoy!

[?]

Share This

Unbearably cheesy.

Posted on 27 April 2008 under photos, vegetarian | 1 Comment

I’ve shown you my pizza before, I’m pretty sure. It’s something that my friends know me for, something I’ve made for many years. And I think I’ve also mentioned how I have a tendency to go off in about fifty directions trying new things, but Joe often comes up with good ideas on how to refine my ideas and make them better. It works out well, usually.

This was no exception. When I first made my ricotta and parmesan bread, Joe had the brilliant idea to use that recipe as a pizza dough for one of my stuffed pizzas. Earlier this week, I decided to try my hand at making my own ricotta; I’m always on the lookout for ways to make what I do better in any way possible, and this seemed to be a natural progression. ¹

Of course, that meant I had a bunch of fresh ricotta around—which meant I needed to find something to do with it.

Enter the spinach, tomato, and fresh homemade ricotta stuffed pizza made on a ricotta parmesan crust.

I don’t need to tell you how much win this pizza was made of, do I?

There was extra dough, too, so we got a cute little boule out of it as well.

[?]

Share This

Yes, I’ll post the recipe later. [↩]

Top Chef S4E7: Improv Everywhere

Posted on 25 April 2008 under admin, top chef, tv: commentary | No Comments

see more at overcastmedia.com

Your Kitchen Ninja Overcast for S4E7 of Top Chef is now up! Please enjoy it!

I’d also like to take this opportunity to apologize for being a bit absent as of late. I’ve got a few things I’ll be posting in the next few days…for real, this time. No, the bread has not been abandoned, but neither is it completely “daily” anymore. Instead, it’s semi-daily. But it’s still quite tasty, so I hope you’ll enjoy it regardless—and perhaps think me a touch saner than you might otherwise have estimated.

[?]

Share This

Top Chef S4E6: More than One Way to Skin a Pig

Posted on 17 April 2008 under announcements, top chef, tv: commentary | 1 Comment

see more at overcastmedia.com

Your Kitchen Ninja Overcast for Top Chef S4E6 is now up. Enjoy!

[?]

Share This

Day Eighty: Cinnamon Ginger Orange Buns

Posted on 11 April 2008 under daily bread, photos, recipes | No Comments

Winter is great at first, but eventually it starts to wear on you. You find yourself wanting to either hibernate until Spring arrives, or else forcing that first little taste of Spring to cheer yourself up.

If this sounds familiar, have I got a breakfast for you.

They’re relatively fast, simple, and good. Sweet, but not too sweet. Perfect with that first morning cup of tea…or coffee, if you insist. ¹

Cinnamon Ginger Orange Buns

INGREDIENTS

For the buns:

1.5 tsp instant or active dry yeast
1 c. warm water
1 egg
1 tbsp butter, softened; at room temperature
Zest of one orange
2 tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 c. bread flour
1 tsp salt

For the glaze:

1/4 c. orange juice
1 c. confectioner’s sugar, plus possibly a little more.

PREPARATION

Dissolve yeast in water. Mix all dry ingredients together and stir into the water/yeast mixture; when it becomes too difficult to stir, knead by hand. If dough is too wet, add flour in incremental amounts; if too dry, add water in incremental amounts. Knead in butter. Knead dough until it is smooth and elastic. Place in lightly greased bowl and turn dough over so that the outside is lightly coated as well. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from draft, for about 2-3 hours, or until doubled in bulk.

When 2-3 hours have elapsed, preheat oven to 350F. Turn dough out onto lightly-floured work surface and divide into six equally-sized balls. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

When 10 minutes have elapsed, shape balls into buns and place on a sheet of parchment on your baking sheet. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise until your oven has fully preheated. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Mix orange juice and confectioner’s sugar glaze together while you wait for the buns to bake. Consistency should be almost like syrup; you may need to add a little more confectioner’s sugar or orange juice to your mixture to get it to the consistency you want.

Cool buns on a rack; serve warm, drizzled with glaze. Serves 6.