Bomb.com Warm Bacon Chopped Salad

Bomb.com Warm Bacon Chopped Salad

November 18, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

 

OMGGGGEEEEE

 

I picked up my cap and gown today for graduation. I have 7 more days of class not including finals. Whoa. I guess that means I really am graduating…holy smokes it’s really starting to hit me now. I got a touch sentimental, and decided my 5-mile run could wait, I wanted to hit the kitchen.

Typical.

As a tribute to one of my favorite resturants, Big Sky in San Luis Obispo, I decided to come up with my own version of my favorite salad from their amazing restaurant. You may have seen it on the Food Network I think Rachel Ray did a spot about it or something.

Okay, wait, weird tangent I’m eating some frozen yogurt while I write this and I just had a bite and sublimation just happened in my mouth ahhh crazy! My yogurt mouthful released vapor straight from a frozen solid, uhm so cool! Sublimation is when a frozen substance changes phases from a solid to a vapor as opposed to going through traditional phase change: from a frozen solid, to a liquid, to a vapor. The most common example of this is dry ice, which at room temperature produces sublimation. I know what you’re thinking; wow we have a certified science nerd on our hands.  Tell me you don’t love it!

Back to the salad, it’s certified yumm-o. After all it has bacon (warm) the parenthesis declaring the temperature is quite nesscascary since bacon is so much better warm, chicken, blue cheese, cucumber, romaine, tomatoes, and Dijon mustard vinaigrette. Salivating like Pavlov’s dogs yet? Good.

 

Bomb.com Warm Bacon Chopped Salad

Serves 2

Side note-bomb.com is not a real website, it’s just trendy 20-something slang.

 

|Gather

For the Roasted Chicken Breast

1 Chicken breast

1 tsp. EVOO

Pinch Pepper

Pinch Italian seasoning spice blend

 

For the Salad

4 Slices, maple bacon

1 Medium tomato

½ Medium Cucumber

3 C romaine lettuce chopped

¼ C Blue cheese, crumbled

 

For the Dressing

2 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar

½ tsp. Dijon mustard

Salt and Pepper to taste

 

|Create

Preheat the oven to 350F. Coat the chicken in the EVOO and sprinkle pepper and the Italian spice blend seasoning on each side of the chicken. Roast the chicken; mine was pretty small and thin so it took about 15 minutes. Remove and let cool, then slice into strips. Fry the bacon, after frying pat any excess grease with a paper towel and tear, cut or break bacon into bite sized pieces. Slice the cucumber julienne and then halve, place on the perimeter of the plate. Dice the tomato, and crumble the blue cheese. Assemble the lettuce and sprinkle the tomatoes, blue cheese, chicken, and bacon over the top. To make the vinaigrette in a small bowl add the EVOO, mustard, and vinaigrette, and the salt and pepper to taste, whisk until combined, drizzle over salad.

 

|Enjoy

Serve as soon as possible so that the bacon is still warm. Perfect for an easy lunch or make it a filling dinner.

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Bedazzled Butternut Squash Bars

Bedazzled Butternut Squash Bars

November 17, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Tuesday, I had an amazing and informative conversation with fellow food blogger Adrianna from A Cozy Kitchen. I have followed and loved her blog for a very long time and she shared so much helpful knowledge, it was a great conversation and learning experience. After talking to her it made me want to do two things: 1. Bake, cook, and write for my blog 2. Paint my nails. Well, one of those got accomplished Tuesday and let me tell you these cobalt blue nails are looking mighty fine. Wednesday addressed the first item on the list and so the baking began…

 

I love butternut squash. It’s friendly cousin the pumpkin, always steels the spotlight this time of year and cute little butternut squash takes the backburner and the sale prices at the grocery store. However, it is the most widely grown winter squash. I decided that butternut squash needed a little bedazzeled lovin’ in the form of something sweet! Here, in San Luis Obispo, it was nearly 72F today hardly fall/November weather by any account, which perhaps, contributes to the fact that I’m a touch late on the fall treats, sweets, and dishes featuring the lovely flavors of harvest.

Bedazzeled Butternut Squash Bars

|Gather

Butternut Squash Puree

1 butternut squash

2 tbsp. Butter

2 tbsp. Brown sugar

 

5 tbsp. Heavy whipping cream

4 tbsp. Brown sugar

2 tsp. Pumpkin pie-spice

½ tsp. Cinnamon

 

Bar Base

2 C Sifted flour

½ C Granulated sugar

½ C Butter

1 Egg

½ tsp. Baking soda

½ tsp. Salt

½ C Pecan pieces, chopped finely

¼ C Honey

2 tsp. Water

 

|Create

Pre-heat the oven to 400F. Cut the butternut squash half wise and add a tablespoon of butter into the center of each half. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of brown sugar over each half. Sprinkle ¼ tablespoon cinnamon over each half. Roast the squash for about 25 minutes or until fork tender, then remove and let cool. Meanwhile make the base for the bars. Mix the flour, pumpkin-pie spice, soda, and salt into a sifter. Cream butter with granulated sugar until fluffy in a large bowl; beat honey and egg in. Sift in dry ingredient, a third at a time, blending well to make a thick batter. Spread into a greased 9x9x2 baking pan. To create the puree take the roasted butternut squash and remove the skin and place into a food processor add the whipping cream, brown sugar, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice.  Bake the bar base in a 350 oven for 25 minutes, or until top is firm; spread butternut squash puree over bar base and cook 10 more minutes and then broil for 5 additional minutes to create a brown crust on the surface. Then remove and cool on a wire rack.

 

 

|Enjoy

Cut and sift powdered sugar over bars. To store bars place in an airtight container in the fridge.

A Sheriff of the Kitchen Orginial

 

 

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Starch Taking the Punch out of Your Sauce? Here’s Why…

Starch Taking the Punch out of Your Sauce? Here’s Why…

November 14, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Molecules with no odor, such as starches( flour, cornstarch, etc), bind to odorant molcules and prevent them from acting on our senses hence; too much flour in a sauce ruins the flavor.

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The Devil Wears Pomegranate

The Devil Wears Pomegranate

November 10, 2011 by · 2 Comments

 

Tomorrow I’m headed to Los Angeles to visit one of my very good friends Cassy. We are going to the USC football game against Washington on Saturday. I’m super excited because I’ve never been to a big football game like this before, should be a good time keep your fingers crossed it doesn’t down pour rain on us. In preparation for my trip, I baked cupcakes to bring down to Cassy because I know how much she loves sweets, plus its an excuse for me to pawn off cupcakes so that I don’t eat every last one of them myself.

 

I haven’t baked anything in a really long time so I was happy that this recipe was rather painless and turned out well.  I tweaked a basic devils food cake recipe out of Good Housekeeping’s Cake Book. I added heavy cream and sour cream in the place of buttermilk and took out the shortening and exchanged it for butter.

 

The post is short today. I’m worn out. Enjoy!

 

The Devil Wears Pomegranate

Makes 12 cupcakes

 

|Gather

 

Cup Cakes

1 C Cake flour, Sifted

½ tsp Baking powder

½ tsp Salt

½ tsp Baking soda

¼ C Cocoa

¾ C Granulated sugar

¼ C soft butter-unsalted

¼ C Water

½ tsp Vanilla extract

¼ C Sour cream

¼ C Heavy cream

1 Egg
1 Egg yolk

 

Frosting

1/3 C Soft butter-unsalted

1/8 tsp Salt

3 C Sifted confectioners sugar

¼ C Heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla extract1 tbsp pomegranate juice
|Create

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, soda, cocoa, and sugar. Add butter, water, vanilla, and 2 tbsp cream. Beat with an electric mixer mix at low to medium speed for 2 minutes. Add remaining cream, sour cream, egg, and yolk beat 1 minute longer. Fill cups half full; bake 25 minutes or till done.


Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting. For the frosting: with an electric mixer at medium speed thoroughly mix with and 1 cup of sugar until light and fluffy. Add remaining sugar and cream alternately, beating till very smooth and add the vanilla.  Pipe the frosting on to cupcakes or spread with a spatula.

 

|Enjoy

Garnish cupcakes with fresh pomegranate seeds.

 

 

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Get Figgy With It Flatbread

Get Figgy With It Flatbread

November 9, 2011 by ·

Today has been a rough day. I’m surprised it’s not Monday because it sure does feel like one. I had one of those computer crash moments where the wheels in your brain start to spin a million miles an hour, as you contemplate the possible severity//how you might have to restructure your day to make it to the apple store. Luckily, I sweet-talked my MacBook Pro back into working correctly, although, it still needs to be checked out as it seems to have dawned the rainbow wheel far too frequently for my liking.

 

Moving away from computer headache to taste bud paradise. A few weeks ago when I was home I tested out a recipe on momma, it turned out all right, but I wasn’t happy with it, and therefore decided to continue recipe development on it. I created Get Figgy With It Flatbread. Made with homegrown figs from momma’s tree which Dakota the dog has had to guard faithfully at night so, as my mom says, “Dakota sleeps outside so I can get the figs before the critters do”. Thanks Dakota.

Get Figgy with It Flatbread, is quite literally, a party in your mouth. My roommate Laura came home yesterday from class ravenous so she had some of the flatbread and would not stop talking about how great it was for ten minutes. Mind you, I hadn’t eaten any of it yet, so I shrugged it off. I was saving it for dinner and as many food bloggers know, I had to make it at 2pm when the light was good for photographing. Dinnertime rolls around and whoa! She was not kidding that was some bomb diggity flatbread.

Get Figgy with It Flatbread

Serves 4

 

|Gather

1 Dough ball, Rolled out (I got mine from a local pizza place that sells fresh dough balls but a Trader Joe’s one or something comparable will do just fine)

1 Yellow or White onion, halved then sliced, NOT diced

3-4 Slices of prosciutto

3-4 Fresh Figs

2 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

¼ C Chicken broth

Blue Cheese crumbled about 6 ounces

¼ C Parmesan cheese

 

|Create

Preheat oven to 500 °F. Roll out your dough ball if you have not already done so. Place the rolled out pizza on a baking sheet and brush lightly with EVOO and bake at 500 until slightly browned then remove from oven. While the flatbread is in the oven “pre” baking sauté the onion in 2 tbsp EVOO over medium to medium high heat, once the onions start to soften add the chicken broth and cover stirring occasionally to soften the onions and cook them down further. Once the onions are softened and sweet (taste test to make sure) remove from heat and set aside. Cut the steam off the figs and thinly slice them, toss the outer most slices as they are mostly skin. Top the flatbread with the sautéed onions, next place the sliced figs evenly, rip up the prosciutto into smaller pieces and distribute, place the flatbread back in the oven to cook for 5 more minutes at which point the prosciutto should begin to crisp. Remove and sprinkle with blue cheese crumbles and parmesan continue baking until cheese has just begun to melt (5-7minutes) then remove the flatbread and let stand before serving.

 

|Enjoy

The Get Figgy with it Flatbread is best served warm. It is the perfect combination of sweet and salty which allows its versatility and would be a great meal for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

 


 

 

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Do You Chia?

Do You Chia?

November 7, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Chia seeds that is. A friend of mine, Scott who almost always texts or calls me with cooking/food related questions, calls me last week with a few. I’m always happy to answer food questions. First he wants to know about dehydrated pineapple for his trail mix, then he brings up chia seeds and asks me what I know about them. To be honest, NOTHING. Apparently those little chia pets remember those? I grew one as a kid, one of the many useless toys I just had to have. Turns out the starters for the green pets were chia seeds, an incredibly nutritionally dense seed. Anyways, during my shopping at New Frontiers I happened upon a chia seed kombucha. I’m a huge fan of kombucha and therefor limit my shopping at this particular store and now Target as my wallet takes a little dip every time I spot the tasty fermented tea. I’m like a moth to light I just can’t say no!

 

I reached for my favorite Gingerberry flavor by the Synergy brand when I spotted kombucha laced with these said, chia seeds. There are all sorts of flavors: grape, raspberry, strawberry, I choose raspberry. I decided I should try out the chia. The bottle makes claims along the lines of “runners food, twice as much antioxidants as blueberries, and double the omega-3 of flax” hmmmmm that’s quite a few claims there. The science nerd in me had to find out more…here’s a bit of what my preliminary research dug up…

 

Background Info:

 

  • They are native to Mexico and Guatemala although they are cultivated in numerous countries, cooler climates may yield a slightly higher antioxidant content
  • The seeds are typically 1mm in diameter and have an oval appearance with a gray, black, white, or brown color. A friend described them as mini dinosaur eggs.
  • A great source of omega-3 in the form of ALA (alpha linoleic acid) the plant form of omega-3 which can be converted in the body to reflect the omega-3 benefits from sources of the marine type
  • They contain 20% protein by weight, this protein is a complete protein- an important point for vegetarians and vegans who need complete protein sources from plants
  • Almost 27% fiber of that 12% is soluble fiber and 88% is insoluble
  • Chia seeds are high in antioxidants and have an advantage over flax as they can be ground without the risk of rancidity because of the naturally high antioxidant content
  • The most notable health claims about the seed are connected to reducing cardiovascular disease due to the high and concentrated amounts of both omega-3 and antioxidants.

 

In the next article I will begin to outline some of the primarily culinary applications for this super seed.

 

Part 1 of a 2 part article.

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Breakfast Cereal Includes More Than a Toy These Days

Breakfast Cereal Includes More Than a Toy These Days

November 4, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

 

Ready to Eat (RTE) breakfast cereal is a common place item for many American pantry’s. Although the packaging, variety, and flavors have changed over the years one major improvement has surfaced, literally. Most cereal’s contain two packaging items: a plastic bag which is known as the intimate layer, because it actually touches the food, in this case the cereal. Next is the secondary layer of packaging, for cereal, it’s the paperboard box which the plastic bag fits into.

The plastic bag is sprayed with synthetic antioxidants namely butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA). These antioxidants work to prevent deterioration due to oxidation within the product. These synthetic antioxidants are approved by the USDA for use on packaging material. Although, research is ongoing about the safety of these synthetic antioxidants.

 

 

 

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Ultra Thin Water Bottles and Liquid Nitrogen

Ultra Thin Water Bottles and Liquid Nitrogen

November 3, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

 

The trend as of late in the packaging world is less is more. That being said many companies are trying to package there products in less material then ever before. These progressions are not without implications as less material creates other dilemmas. For example, the plastic water bottle has moved away from a bulkier bottle to a ultra thin bottle. This bottle is so thin that it can easily be crushed when it contains no water, but how do manufacturers keep water bottle from collapsing when many pallets of bottles are stacked on top of each other during shipping and storage?

 

Manufacturers of water bottled in ultra thin plastic water bottles add a drop of liquid nitrogen to each bottle before capping to prevent bottles collapsing when they are stacked in pallets. The nitrogen pushes against the walls of the bottle creating the strength and rigidity needed for stacking.

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A Day in The Life of A Harvest Lab Technician

A Day in The Life of A Harvest Lab Technician

November 2, 2011 by · 1 Comment

 

 

For the fall 2011 grape harvest I worked at Tolosa Winery. This winery is located in San Luis Obispo, CA in the wine region known as Edna Valley. A wine region known for producing cooler climate varietal’s such as: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Viogner to name a few. Tolosa is owned by Courtside Cellars and is a crush facility, meaning that they produce wine for other wineries as well as the Tolosa Winery brand.

Pictured below: Barrel Room on the left and tank room on the right.

 

My work entailed quality assurance and quality control checks in their cellar lab. I preformed many job functions, although for this post I’ll only go into detail on a few of my favorite job responsibilities. My primary role, when I arrived in the morning, was to preform fermentation checks on barrel samples and tanks. A fermentation check consists of measuring the temperature and the brix (the amount of sugar) of samples. The picture below shows how the barrel samples are collected using a syphon to extract the juice or wine for testing. This information goes to the winemaker so that she can evaluate when the wine or juice is ready for further processing.

Sexy safety vest, I know.

 

Fermentation Checks

 

Volatile Acidity (VA) checks are used to evaluate volatile acidity in wine and juice. Steam is used to distill out primarily acetic acid, but can include a number of different acids such as: lactic and formic acid among others. Acetic acid is generally considered a spoilage product in wine, but some winemakers seek a low undetectable level to add complexity to the wine. Pictured below is the process of a VA test. The first picture shows the initial set up with a red wine sample in the still and a clean empty Erlenmeyer flask to catch the distilled product. The following photo is of the sample as it begins to boil. Next is the condensation tube as the volatile acids enter the chamber and begin to condense into liquid. Finally the VA in progress as a little over 100ml is collected of the distilled acids, after which is head to the titration station to measure how much volatile acid is in the product.

I enjoyed my short harvest at Tolosa Winery, it was very fascinating to see the production side of wine making.

 

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Call the Fire Department. The Cats Stuck–Juicy Roasted Chicken.

Call the Fire Department. The Cats Stuck–Juicy Roasted Chicken.

October 27, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

 

Peculiar name for a recipe, I know. But there’s a great story to accompany it that must be told. While I attended culinary school, and interned at a local restaurant I lived in an apartment in Florence, Italy. It was located about a block away from the beautiful Piazza Santa Crocce. Seeing as most of my time was spent in and or around food, I spent very little time actually cooking, preparing, or eating food at my own apartment.

 

In Florence, and perhaps other parts of Italy as well, their roasted chicken is so amazingly juicy it’s out of this world.  A plan was set forth, I would create my version of this chicken in my apartment, taste it, compare it, and then go eat my favorite again and perfect it until I was satisfied with “my copy”.  On the first mission juicy roasted chicken, I was home in the late afternoon my roommate asleep in the other room for her afternoon siesta; I was happily prepping in the kitchen. Let me set the details up quickly:

 

  • Our apartment was on the 5th floor (that means 68 stairs to climb)
  • It faced into a courtyard of 4 other buildings
  • The apartment building directly across from us and two floors down had this cat, which periodically liked to nap on the windowsill.

 

The windows of these buildings are such that both windows open outward; in this case they happened to be open. As soon as I set my chicken into the oven I hear this terrible cat meowing/screaming coming from the courtyard. I look out to investigate, the owners of the cat are cooing down at their cat, which has now fallen into the courtyard.

 

To make a long story short the cat continued at the maddening cry…mind you we are approaching 60 minutes of this racket. After many a try at the neighbors below to gain access to the private courtyard, the fire department was called. They arrived and positioned a ladder down into the courtyard and a brave firefighter dawned a cat carrier as he went at a now, snarling cat.

Ding!

My chicken was finished, I removed it to let it rest for a few minutes, but in reality, I was engrossed in this drama unfolding in my courtyard I could not have been torn away but for ten seconds to take the chicken out and turn off the oven. Finally, the cat was returned to its owners. The windows were never opened again where the cat slept. Oh and how could I forget! The Italian Grandmas loved to shout at anyone who was too noisy for their liking, so naturally, someone was spouting off this entire time while they tried to retrieve the cat.

 

The photos were a bit rushed for 3 reasons:

  1. Laura and I were hungry
  2. Laura and I were hungry
  3. It was getting dark

 

Granted, you may say, two of those reasons are the same. Nonetheless they’re the most important driving factor as to why the photos were a bit rushed.

Call the Fire Department! The cats stuck–Juicy Roasted Chicken.

Serving Size depends on the size of the chicken. This exact recipe feeds approximately two.

 

|Gather

1 whole chicken for roasting (I used one large enough to serve two people with a little left over, but we are chicks, the same reasoning cannot be applied to feed dudes)

½ white onion, sliced

4 OZ white mushrooms, sliced

5 good sized yellow potatoes

3 Lemons (mine were a little larger then a golf ball)

Dried rosemary

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

Salt & Pepper

 

|Create

Pre-heat the oven to 325°F. Remove the innards of the chicken. Wash and slice lemons and lightly sprinkle rosemary over the lemon slices and stuff inside the chicken. Take ½ a lemon and squeeze juice over them chicken. Wash and slice the yellow potatoes scallop style.  Distribute the potatoes, onions, and mushrooms in the bottom of a large class pan. Place the chicken on top of the veggies and drizzle olive oil over the whole dish follow with salt and pepper. Cover the chicken with a tin foil tent and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the tent and check on the chicken. Bake the chicken for an additional 15 minutes until the skin is crispy. Remove the chicken and let rest 5 minutes.

 

Note: depending on the size and power of your oven it may take more or less time to fully cook the chicken than mentioned above. Also you may have to add a bit more olive oil if your chicken or veggies begin to appear a bit dried out.

 

|Enjoy

After the chicken has rested slice and serve with the veggies from the roast. We also paired some unsweetened apple sauce and a piece of baguette with our meal; great fall flavors.

 

 

A Sheriff of the Kitchen Original

 

 

 

Filed Under: Cooking, Recipes
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