My Top Chef Rant

I originally posted this as a comment on www.pleasepackyourknivesandgo.com, but I'm gonna post it here as well.

First of all, last night's episode:

I'll start off by saying Anthony Bourdain is awesome, and he seemed like the only real, down-to-earth, non-pretentious judge on last night's show. He also was honest, and wasn't trying to impress anyone like "My friend, The Ripper." (He also wins bonus points for calling himself a "slut for fish sauce.")

I nearly choked when Kevin said he was going to braise a pork belly in 1 hour. I've never even MADE pork belly, and even *I* know that you can't braise one in an hour. What was he thinking?!

I'm personally a little disappointed that Top Chef doesn't actually make the cheftestants do the full challenge anymore. Their dish was supposed to be able to be freeze-dried for consumption in space. Not only did nobody have to freeze-dry their food for the challenge, which I think they should have, but nobody had to prepare the food in a way that would work in one of the foil pouches. Who can stick a big cube of shortrib or a lamb chop on the bone into a foil pouch and suck it through a hole?

Before you say this is unreasonable, think of some of the challenges of past seasons. What about the Bertolli frozen pasta dinner challenge... where they had to not only create a pasta dish, but IQF (Individually Quick Frozen) it, package it, and then cook it in a pan on a hotplate in the grocery store and serve it/sell it to shoppers? Or even in Masters where they had to create a meal, box it up, and then reheat it in microwaves? I see no reason they shouldn't have had to freeze-dry their food, if not personally, then bring in people to freeze dry it for them to see how well it reconstitutes. I'd like to see Tiffany pull off freeze dried halibut, heh.

Oh, and Tom sassing an astronaut? ("I think if NASA can put a man on the moon, they can figure out how to freeze-dry this." [in response to an astronaut saying it would be difficult to freeze-dry the amount of liquid in one of the dishes]) Why bring on experts like astronauts if you're just going to give them the middle finger when they give their expert opinion? You may be Mr. Sandwich, but you don't work for NASA. Zip it.

I'm thoroughly disgusted at this season of Top Chef, and not just because I really liked Tiffany. She deserved to go last night, her food wasn't her best. But that's what's so frustrating... there's no way to know what anyone's best IS, because nobody's been consistent.

You know... I love Top Chef, but this season so far has been a disappointment. I've not been surprised with any of the people they've sent home so far, and it's entirely because not one single chef on this season is talented enough to be consistent. Look at the 5 in this week's episode... I believe every one of them has been in the bottom on past challenges, and been up for elimination. It's impossible to guess who might win or be sent home each episode when one week a chef pulls off a stunningly perfect dish, and the next week they overcook their protein, make doughy gnocchi, use store-bought frozen puff pastry, or oversalt their dish. Basic mistakes.

Any one of the final 6 cheftestants of Top Chef Season 6 could have crushed any one of season 7's cheftestants without even trying.

Spicy Sesame Sake Shrimp with Asian Inspired Rice Pilaf

Ah the deep freeze... always an adventure to find what's been buried at the bottom! Tonight I unearthed a half-full bag of frozen shrimp. Yes yes, I know... frozen shrimp... but when you live in the Midwest, frozen seafood is sometimes the best you can get! I have a plethora of Asian-inspired marinade ingredients from a recipe I tried out a while back, so I figured what the heck, let's rescue these shrimp in style!

I suppose you could skewer these and grill them and they'd be delicious, but the shrimp I had on hand were pretty puny, and the idea of threading tiny shrimp onto skewers on a work night just didn't appeal. Lazy way out ftw!

A few words on chilies: pick the kind you like, for the heat level you can tolerate. I used a cayenne because I like a little heat and I had some dried ones from my garden, but you can go with a milder variety if you like, or even go with a Thai Bird's Eye or habanero if you're adventurous! (or leave the chili out altogether if you think the chili sauce is enough heat for you)

If you can't find broccoli slaw, or don't like it, use whatever veggies you want... you could toss in a can of drained chopped water chestnuts, some drained bamboo shoots, green onions, fresh or frozen broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, whatever tickles your fancy.

Spicy Sesame Sake Shrimp with Asian Inspired Rice Pilaf:

Marinade Ingredients:

1/4c. soy sauce (use low sodium if you prefer)
1/4c. sake
1/4c. mirin (can find in the asian food isle at your local grocery)
1 Tbsp. chili sauce (use whatever kind you prefer, I used a spicy ketchup-like one)
1 Tbsp. sesame oil (taste the marinade, if you want more sesame flavor, add 2 Tbsp. instead)
1 dried cayenne pepper, or other dried or fresh chile, broken or sliced into pieces)

Rice Pilaf Ingredients:

1c. uncooked parboiled rice (I used Uncle Ben's)
1-2 handfulls of broccoli-slaw (comes in a plastic bag by the bagged salad)
2c. seafood stock (or just use chicken stock if you don't like/can't find seafood stock)
1/4c. sake
1Tbsp. Asian seasoning blend (I used Emeril's, but there are several out there)
1Tbsp. oil
salt and pepper to taste

1/2 bag of frozen shrimp, thawed, deveined and peeled, tails left on or off is your choice.
dribble of oil for the pan

Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl, and place into a shallow dish with the shrimp. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours... for a lot more flavor you can marinate overnight, but I left the shells on when I did this and took them off before cooking.

Place all the rice pilaf ingredients in either a pan or a microwave rice cooker, and cook according to the package directions for 4 servings of parboiled rice.

Remove the shrimp from the marinade and pat dry with paper towels. Heat a dribble of oil in a pan on medium-high heat, and saute the shrimp until just opaque and pink.

Serve shrimp over the rice pilaf, perhaps with a nice side of steamed asparagus or broccoli.

Bing Cherry Ginger and Cinnamon Ice Cream

Remember making homemade ice cream as a kid? That old contraption with the wooden bucket... the rock salt on the ice... sitting on the sidewalk and turning the crank for 30 minutes... opening the lid to scoop out the ice cream, and dripping the rock-salty water into it accidentally... it still tasted so good!

Nowadays there are several new, easier types of ice cream makers. At our house, we recently acquired the ice cream maker attachment for our Kitchenaid mixer, and it's inspired me to try out some new flavors! If we could eat the ice cream quicker I'd come up with a new recipe every week, but so far it's about once every two weeks lol. The first ice cream recipe I tried was the cinnamon ice cream recipe on www.simplyrecipes.com. Toss some halved and pitted fresh plums and peaches in a big foil packet, dot them with a tiny bit of butter, sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon and ginger, wrap them up and grill them for 15 minutes and you've got an amazing dessert, made even better by the addition of this delicious cinnamon ice cream!

This inspired me to make my own ice cream concoction... hopefully the first of many! I hope you like it, tell me what you think!

Bing Cherry Ginger and Cinnamon Ice Cream

Ingredients

1 lb. fresh bing cherries, stemmed, pitted and halved
1 Tbsp. peeled fresh ginger, grated
1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

1 cup of whole milk
1/2 cup of sugar + 3/4c. sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 cups of heavy cream
6 egg yolks

Directions

Place the cherries, cinnamon, ginger, and 1/2 cup of the sugar into a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium high heat, and continue to cook for 8-10 minutes. (You may want to add a tiny bit of water at the beginning of the cooking process so the sugar doesn't burn). Cool slightly, transfer to a bowl, and refrigerate until cold.

Meanwhile, heat the milk, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and 1 cup of the cream in another medium saucepan over medium heat. While the mixture is warming, set a metal bowl into a larger bowl half full of ice and water. Pour the remaining cup of cream into the chilling bowl and place a strainer on top.

In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks and then slowly add the warmed milk mixture to the egg yolks one ladlefull at a time, all the while whisking the egg yolks, until about half the heated milk mixture is incorporated. Pour the rest of the heated mixture out of the pan into the eggs, then transfer everything back into the pan. Heat the yolk and milk mixture in the saucepan stirring constantly and scraping the sides and bottom of the pan, until it thickens to a custard consistency. You will know you have reached this stage when the mixture coats the back of a spoon and you can run your finger through it and the liquid stays in place, and the mixture reaches 170-175 degrees F.

Pour the heated custard through the strainer into the chilling bowl of cream to strain out any eggy bits that might remain, remove the strainer and whisk the mixture to combine. Stir occasionally until the mixture chills somewhat, then refrigerate until completely cold, at least an hour. When both the cherry mixture and the custard mixture are chilled, strain the juice from the cherries into the custard mix and stir to combine, reserving the cherries in a separate bowl. Freeze the custard/cherry juice mixture according to your ice cream maker's manufacturer's instructions. Once frozen, stir in the cherries. Transfer ice cream to a sealed container, freeze and enjoy!

Let's Talk Cookbooks...

Cookbooks... probably one of my favorite types of literature. I've been known to buy a new cookbook and read it from cover to cover like any other book. I've got enough cookbooks to take up at least 1.5 bookshelves on a book case, and I'm slowly adding to my collection. Here's a condensed list of some of my favorites

Cookbooks I consider "required" for any kitchen, good for basic references:

Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook
















If you're not lucky enough to own the original 1968 ring-bound edition, the newest edition is still worth getting!

Betty Crocker's Cookbook

















Again, get the old one if you can, otherwise I'm sure the new one is good too... lots of basic recipes and helpful hints.

Cookbooks I use all the time:

300 Comfort Food Recipes

















Recommended to me by a co-worker, and I've found some very nice recpies in here. Apparently she's releasing a new edition in August, 500 Comfort Food Recipes. I've already ordered a copy!

Mexican Everyday

















Outstanding authentic Mexican food, and none of the recipes have tons of ingredients or are very complex. Lots of things that are easy to shop for and make on a weeknight (a big plus for me!)

Cookbooks that I think are beautiful and entertaining to read (and occasionally cook out of):

Mexico One Plate at a Time

















Great recipes, a tad more involved than I'd choose to cook on a weeknight, primarily weekend cooking.

Fiesta at Rick's: Fabulous Food for Great Times with Friends
















Again great recipes, but more involved... probably more appropriate for special occasions or weekends.

Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life

















An absolutely beautiful read, gorgeous pictures, great inventive recipes, and the book is broken up into sections by what ingredients are in season... and each section also has a blurb with tips about growing the ingredients in question in your own garden/pots.

The New Moosewood Cookbook

















A great vegetarian cookbook with superb recipes that make you not miss the meat... hand-illustrated and hand-lettered, beautiful to look at as well.

The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest

















The companion to The Moosewood Cookbook, also hand-illustrated and hand-lettered.


I admit I'm also a bit of a Top Chef fangirl, so I own Top Chef the Cookbook, Top Chef: The Quickfire Cookbook, and How to Cook Like a Top Chef. The photos are gorgeous, the recipes make me drool, and they also contain helpful hints and behind-the-scenes info on the show. :)

I also have found that a lot of my favorite go-to cookbooks are rather unconventional... a free Jello cookbook pamphlet, a small paperback cookbook of nothing but curries... and don't ever overlook fundraiser cookbooks! I have one that my high school marching band sold as a fundraiser and one that my grandmother's church sold as a fundraiser, and I use them all the time... They're sure to be filled with tried and true family recipes!























Also keep an eye out for vendors at farmer's markets, county fairs, and local farms who sell their own cookbooks. These people know what they're doing! I have an asparagus and rhubarb cookbook from Pendleton's Country Market that's awesome!





What are some of your favorite cookbooks?

A Few Changes

New look, new post, and soon to be new pictures, more frequent posts, and more followers! Gogo ambition!

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Latin Bistro, Gladstone Missouri

Ever get the feeling that the more of a "foodie" you become, the harder it is not to critique your food as you eat it?

Jon and I went to the Latin Bistro in Gladstone for dinner tonight. The first course was great... the raspberry vinaigrette on Jon's salad was divine, and my roasted poblano chowder was really very tasty, although I could have done without the poblano seeds (not super hard to remove them before putting the peppers in the soup, not sure why he didn't, perhaps just an oversight).

Main course... Jon loved his, although the recipe description didn't state it was served in a bowl of broth so it was a bit of a surprise. My entree was a disappointment though... The cod, while cooked well enough (perhaps just a tiny bit overdone), was the WRONG cut to serve in a restaurant. It was a steak, completely chock full of bones, not only pin bones but also rib bones and spine, instead of a nice boneless fillet. I can appreciate the fact that it looks prettier on the plate, but it really isn't pleasant to pull bones out of your mouth the entire meal, getting your fingers greasy in the process. Not to mention the skin was rubbery and not crispy, so I ended up leaving that on my plate as well. The sauce it swam in was very flavorful... but it was broken. I would expect any chef worth his salt (especially one who teaches) to know better than to serve a broken sauce instead of either fixing it or remaking it. There's not much that's more unappetizing than a broken sauce. It rather looked like curdled infant spit-up swimming in a pool of vegetable oil. Because of the broken sauce, the sauteed zucchini and corn on my plate were absolutely swimming in oil, and I couldn't finish them. I still feel a film of oil on my lips.

Dessert... it looked beautiful, a little fruit tart drizzled with chocolate. After the first bite, I immediately had that feeling in the back of my throat as though I'd just taken a shot of brandy. It actually made me cough. It overwhelmed the flavor of the blueberries and raspberries, rivaled only by the chocolate syrup. Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against booze in my desserts... but whoa. It's a good thing I wasn't driving.

The margarita... tasted like it came from a margarita mix. It's not that hard to throw together some tequila, lime, and agave syrup... and probably cheaper than using a mix... nuff said.

All in all, I guess it was a mixed experience... made a little more disappointing considering the $61 price-tag (it was a $55 dinner-for-two Friday night special, but I don't think the margarita was included in that price). We probably will give the place another shot, maybe the Chef was just having an off-night... but I find it disappointing when I see chefs make mistakes that even *I* know not to make, and I'm not even a real chef. :(

Wil Jenny's

Today we went to Wil Jenny's.

This was technically the third time we went there. The first time was a month or so ago, for a Boulevard Beer Dinner pairing with Wil Jenny's chef, and the food was outstanding. Bacon wrapped bbq scallop, sea bass, a divine dessert of filo pastry filled with chocolate ganache and cherries...I forget what else, but it was fantastic.

Last weekend we went back, and again the service and menu didn't disappoint. We started out with the duck quesadilla for an appetizer, and it was really tasty... not too small, not too big, the only drawback was the duck was a little overdone and hard to bite through, and tended to pull out of the tortilla with your teeth.

For the main course, Jon ordered a full rack of their Dr. Pepper BBQ ribs, and it was so much food he brought half of it home, and it only cost $19. I ordered the 3 meat combo and chose ribs, smoked turkey and pulled pork, $15, +$1 if you add ribs. The plates came and the portion sizes were enormous... 4 ribs, 4 slices smoked turkey, a huge pile of pulled pork, and 2 side dishes. It was enough food that I took half the ribs, half the turkey and almost all the pulled pork home, and made a second meal out of it, even after giving Jon 1 of my ribs and half the pulled pork.

The side dishes were also nice. Their cornbread stuffing was tasty albeit a little dense, but the green chile mac-n-cheese was a bit disappointing. It tasted like your average boxed mac-n-cheese, and the green chiles were non-existent in flavor, and visually present only evidenced by the few tiny flecks of green on the bottom side of the noodles. I was hoping for a lot more green chile to be honest. The chardonnay potato dumplings were another story all together: they were FABULOUS. Big, light, gnocchi-like potato dumplings, char-grilled a tiny bit on the outside and swimming in a pool of chardonnay butter sauce. I've not tasted a side dish as delicious before or since, and I crave going back to have them!

I have to say, as good as their food is, their dessert selection could use some work; it seems a bit pedestrian. Chocolate cake, pecan pie, brownies, peach cobbler... nothing nearly as delicious or tempting as that chocolate ganache and cherry filled filo pastry they served us at the beer dinner a month earlier. We ordered the peach cobbler for dessert, and I did enjoy the fact that instead of pie dough the top "crust" appeared to be fried flour tortilla strips rolled in cinnamon sugar. The cobbler was also very large, big enough to share.

We went back to Wil Jenny's today, and unfortunately it was a bit disappointing. It was Father's Day, and so the only "menu" available was their $20 buffet. The biggest disappointment was the lack of chardonnay potato dumplings on the buffet! They were the main reason I wanted to go there! The ribs again were amazing, the smoked turkey and brisket were moist and tender, their rattlesnake pasta was tasty, and so were the enchiladas. The burnt ends of course, were also really tasty. I was however surprised that I didn't really enjoy their chardonnay chicken, I guess maybe I expected it to be like the chardonnay dumplings I love so much, and it wasn't. Dessert was a fruit tray, lemon bars/other bar-cookies, chocolate cake, pecan pie, brownies etc. Not bad, not unique. For $20 per person, I'd rather have ordered off the regular menu.

Summing up in 30 seconds or less:

GET the chardonnay potato dumplings!
Avoid the green chile mac-n-cheese, sounds better than it is.
Might try the chardonnay chicken again sometime when it hasn't been sitting in a chafing dish on a buffet line.
Avoid the buffet dinners on holidays, stick to the menu.
Portion sizes are huge, prices are low, quality is great!