Thin and crispy

Growing up in the Boston area in an Italian family, I had my fair share of pizza. I love the style of pizza featured there, as wonderfully articulated by Pizzeria Regina and Maggio's. The crust is doughy, but crisp and charred. The sauce has the taste of an uncooked sauce.

When my family moved to Little Rock, Ark., in the 1970s, my sister worked at a Pizza Inn. It was there I discovered a thin, cracker-like crust, similar to what you can get at Pizza Hut.

While I enjoy the crust, it is not very filling, so I rarely order it. I recently saw an episode of Cook's Country that showed how to make St. Louis-style pizza, which boasts the cracker-like crust.

This was my second attempt. The dough was a little too heavy for my looking, but it is a start.

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The Daily Grind

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Anyone who has read this blog knows of my affinity for Certified Angus Beef. I worked in a restaurant that used USDA Prime beef, and CAB is better by far. The other night, I was at Buehler's checking out what CAB products were on sale. 

I had read somewhere about short ribs being used a beef blend for homemade burgers. So, as I was seeing what good deals were available, I noticed a great price for short ribs. Once I saw the price, I knew it was going to make a homemade grind for burgers.

My wife, Wendi, loves burgers, and I wanted to make her some good hamburgers. We are big fans of Five Guys Burgers & Fries. For years, we had wanted to check out Louis' Lunch in New Haven, Conn., where the hamburger sandwich is said to have orginiated. Check out the link and read about the history of the place. We had the chance to enjoy lunch there when we visited New England in late July 2011. What impressed me with the burger from Louis' Lunch was when I bit into the juicy burger, it tasted like I was biting into a steak sandwich.

I have no idea what cuts are used in the grind at Louis' Lunch, but the website said five cuts of beef are used. I would love to know the varieties and the proportions. While the proprietary blend is a mystery to me, I actually got close (without trying) when I made my grind.

I picked up the short ribs, and I was looking for another cut or two to accompany it. I looked at chuck and sirloin. However, I opted on something else: I purchased about an equal amount of Certified Angus Beef beef stir-fry mix. I figured the beef was already sliced and it likely included a variety of cuts instead of just a single one.

I prefer to grind my hamburger blend in a food processor instead of a meat grinder, which is why I gave my grinder away about a year or two ago. I cut up the short ribs and mixed it with the stir-fry beef. I processed the beef in two batches, placing a half of the mixture in each time. I pulsed the beef for about 10 one-second blasts.

Because it was late, I cooked the burgers in a hot, cast-iron skillet. I probably cooked the burgers too much, but when I bit into one, it tasted like I was biting into a steak burger.

With the success I had, I will be keeping an eye out for when short ribs are on sale. I might even try the boneless short ribs, though they do not look exactly like the ones attached to the bones.

What burgers do you like, and do you make your own blend?

Italian tradition lived out in Lodi

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A guest blog by Wendi Warren

I have been blessed to be married to a wonderful Italian man for the past 16 years. During that time I have learned many things from him regarding his Italian heritage. One that is lived out every holiday, is the assurance that I will be making some Italian dish to go along with the rest of the holiday feast. See, growing up in an Italian family, Bobby would have all the “traditional” fixings as any family in the great United States of America would enjoy, but then they would also have gravy (spaghetti sauce), ravioli, eggplant parmesan and the like. So we have continued this tradition in our home since we have been married.

 

 

 

I have tried many different recipes. Sometimes easy and sometimes more complicated. One of our favorites is stuffed manicotti. We have used the America’s Test Kitchen recipe and it turns out great every time. (Incidentally, I don’t think I have ever had a recipe turn out badly that I have followed from America’s Test Kitchen. Which I guess is their point—they make a dish dozens of times to find the best way to do it so that cooks at home don’t have to find it by trial and error.)

 

 

 

 

Anyhow, this year for Easter I wanted to try my hand at chicken parmigiana. So I turned to our trusty America’s Test Kitchen cookbook and found their recipe. It was a little involved, but totally worth it. I bet it would have been even better if I had remembered to mix the parmesan cheese with the bread crumbs. (I had them measured out, but forgot to add them. I had to sprinkle the parmesan on top of the already breaded chicken, but it worked out O.K. anyhow.)

 

 

 

 

Bobby was pleased as was the rest of the family and I felt good that it was so well received. Another holiday, another Italian dish, another chance to share Bobby’s heritage with family in Lodi; what more can a girl ask for? I know, enjoying another Italian tradition—“the sweetness of doing nothing.” I think I’ll go and put that into practice right now!

 

 

 

 

Flat iron steak: Flat out tender

During one of my lunches with Bryan Schaaf, who handles publication relations and communications duties for Wooster-based Certified Angus Beef, I told him how I recently bought some CAB flat iron steaks, and they were better than I thought.

I had no idea from what part of the cow flat iron steaks come, but in my cooking days, I never broiled a flat iron steak. At Valle's Steak House, I broiled filet mignons, New York strips, top sirloins and ribeyes. I basically believed this was about the only cuts you wanted to broil or grill.

So, I was surprised when Bryan told me the flat iron steak, in terms of tenderness, trailed only the filet mignon. It further intrigued me the steak came from the chuck region. So, when Buehler's, a Wooster-based grocery chain, had flat iron steaks on sale, I picked up a couple of them.

I decided I would marinade the steaks. I did not measure anything, but for the marinade, I used: Soy sauce, dark rice wine, sugar, granulated garlic, salt, pepper, celery salt, Old Bay Seasoning and parsley. After allowing the steaks to marinade for about eight hours (while I was at work), I grilled them, sliced them and served it with macaroni and cheese and steamed broccoli.

Do you cook flat iron steak? Why not share your recipe in the comments below.

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Unorthodox coffee brewing

Ice coffee to the residents of Revere, Mass., is like iced tea to Southerners, just a staple of life.

I grew up in the coastal town, and I remember in the 1970s my mother buying coffee syrup to add to milk. It wasn't a fresh-brewed iced coffee, but it was close enough more me as a kid.

About two decades ago, my sister got me hooked on Dunkin Donuts ice coffee. I have been a big fan of ice coffee, but I was living in Florida, and now Ohio, which was not a haven for ice coffee beverages.

When McDonald's came out with an ice coffee, the vanilla one, I was hooked. I would drink one to two large ice coffees a day. As big a fan as I am of Dunkin Donuts' ice coffee, especially the toasted almond variety, to me, McDonald's vanilla ice coffee is the best. It is sweet and creamy, the way I like it, with just enough coffee flavor poking through.

I am not a coffee connoisseur. I do not like a dark, bold coffee. I like it milky and sweet, and that is what McDonald's delivers.

However, at nearly $2 a pop, ice coffee was quickly eating into my discretionary cash. I had to do something.

So, I purchased a Mr. Coffee espresso machine. Keep in mind I do not drink hot coffee, and I do not drink coffee all day long. So, I was looking for something to deliver coffee in small doses. I spent about $25-$30 for the coffeemaker and got just that. I could not make a good cup of iced coffee with it. Coffee was way too strong and bitter. I scrapped it.

Next, I picked up some type of drip coffeemaker from a Goodwill. It was OK, but I eventually got rid of it. I tried using instant coffee to make my ice coffee drinks, and it was passable, but not great.

I don't know how I came up with the idea, perhaps it was my memory of a coffee episode on Good Eats, but I decided to come up with another method for making ice coffee, which is what I now do nearly every day.

My mother-in-law bought me an electric kettle as a gift. I got to thinking, I could put a coffee filter in a funnel, pour the hot water over it and make one cup of coffee at a time. This is what I do nearly every morning.

Here is the process: I heat the water in the electric kettle. I get out my reusable plastic coffee cup and set on it a wide-mouth funnel for stability and height and a regular funnel. Into the regular funnel I place a coffee filter. Into the coffee filter I place 1 1/2 heaping tablespoons of Eight O'Clock Coffee (I switched from Folger's). When the water comes to a boil, I pour enough water over the ground coffee beans to make eight ounces of coffee. I then add 3 1/2 ounces of vanilla caramel coffee creamer and 1 tablespoon of sugar. If I have time, I leave this in the fridge to cool down while I get ready for work. Else, when I am ready to drink it, I fill my reusable ice coffee cup with ice and pour over the coffee mixture. Sip and enjoy.

If you try this, be careful when pouring the water. It is easy to get scalded by the boiling water. Some friends say this is way too much work. Perhaps it is, but I only make one cup of coffee a day. Sometimes I might make two on a Saturday. You might be thinking why wouldn't I go out and purchase a single-cup coffeemaker like a Keurig. It comes down to cost. I cannot justify spending $90-$120 on a coffeemaker that will get used once a day and only by me.

It ain't pretty, but it works for me ... for now.

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Johnny's Garlic Spread - The multi-purpose seasoning

The last time Wendi and I were in Boston, my sister sent us home with a jar of Johnny's Garlic Spread & Seasoning. My sister told us she and her husband used it for everything.

Even before we flew back home to Ohio, we made some garlic bread using Johnny's. I have to tell you, the first introduction to Johnny's was not the best, however, that was then, this is now.

The way we made the garlic bread was to melt the butter and add the recommended amount of Johnny's Garlic Spread & Seasoning. It was just too much for my liking. My sister suggested spreading the butter on the bread, then sprinkling some of Johnny's on it. Much better idea because you can control the amount.

I have never actually looked at the ingredients in Johnny's; it must be garlic, salt, pepper, oregano and perhaps some parmesan cheese. It has a very strong garlic, but it can be controlled by how much you sprinkle on or in.

Despite that initial negative reaction to the product, I find myself becoming a big fan of it because it is so versatile.

Readers of this blog know when I make pizza, I prefer an uncooked sauce. The last time I made pizza, rather than sprinkling salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, parsley, basil and sugar on the crushed tomatoes, I just sprinkled some Johnny's.

When I make garlic bread, I butter the bread, sprinkle the Johnny's and bake.

I had a jar of tomato sauce I wanted to use. I added Johnny's to the sauce, heated it up and had instant spaghetti sauce.

We had some mini-French bread loaves we had to use or lose. I cut one up into cubes, sprinkled on some butter, sprinkled some Johnny's and added some extra grated parmesan cheese (the plastic jar type) and made some good croutons. Because I eat so much garlic bread with Johnny's, I wanted to make sure the croutons were not just toasted garlic bread cubes, which is why I added the extra cheese to alter the taste slightly. They turned out very good.

BBQ wings in a snap

I enjoy Buffalo wings, but it seems as if they are getting just a bit too expensive for me to order them while out at a restaurant. In Cincinnati, Wendi and I would enjoy them on 25-cent wing night at an area restaurant that focused on the famed chicken wings.

Because Wendi does not like Buffalo-style wings, she always orders BBQ wings, so that is why I decided to make some. I have the ability to deep fry the wings, but it can be a risky proposition in a home. A fire could happen in the blink of an eye. Also, frying chicken wings is further complicated because of the high moisture content, which can cause a lot of splatter.

When Wendi and I have made wings in the past, we baked them in the oven at 400-450 degrees for an hour. Our attempts at baking the wings never really produced a crisp wing. So, when I decided to make this batch of BBQ wings, I intended to grill them. I covered the wings with a generous amount of salt and pepper and set them aside in a stainless steel bowl covered on a counter for about two hours. (I am not sure about the health ramifications of this and what this means in terms of food safety, so you will be better off with the wings covered and placed in the refrigerator.)

When it came time to cook the wings, instead of grilling, I placed them on a very small, but durable, sheet pan from Pampered Chef and cooked them at 450 degrees for 45 minutes in a toaster oven. After 45 minutes, I switched the cooking option from back to broil, and I broiled the wings for another 15 minutes. This helped to produce a nice, crisp final product.

For the BBQ sauce, just used some Sweet Baby Ray's original barbecue sauce. As for the side dish, I made none, so we ended up with some Snyder's of Berlin honey barbecue potato chips.

-- Bobby

Jalapeno dogs reengineered

Back in the days when I would occasionally get lunch from a gas station, that would be when Bryan Schaaf was still working at The Daily Record in Wooster, Ohio, I liked the jalapeno hot dogs at Speedway. I think at the time they cost about $2. I enjoyed them.

One day, when my wife and I were picking up some things at East Union Bulk Food Store, I noticed a selection of Woeber's mustards and sandwich spreads. I saw there was a jalapeno mustard, so I thought I would give it a try.

I tried it on hot dogs, of all things, and wouldn't you know, they tasted just like the jalapeno dogs I was buying for about two bucks apiece. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

-- Bobby

The time when the round came out on top

I was shopping at Buehler's Towne Market the other day and saw some good looking steaks. At first glance, I thought I was picking up a couple of packages of Certified Angus Beef top sirloin steaks. I really enjoy top sirloin. I think when you consider the taste, tenderness and price, it is a cut that is a very good value. However, when I got home, I discovered I picked up a couple of package of good looking top round steaks. Not knowing what to do, I sent a tweet to the good folks at Certified Angus Beef. You can see the exchange in the above photograph.

I checked out the recipe, but it contained bourbon. I don't drink, so I did not have it on hand, and I generally do not like alcohol in my food. I have occasionally bought some white wine for cooking, but I don't even like carrying it in the store, let alone purchasing it.

However, I did like the idea of a marinade, so I tweaked their recipe. I turned the marinade into a sauce, using cornstarch and water as a thickener. We had some white rice leftover, so we placed slices of pan-seared round steak on a bed of rice, and served it with a side of steamed vegetables and drizzled the thickened sauce over the vegetables and poured it over the meat.

Wendi is going to have the leftovers for lunch, but we put the sliced steak, vegetables and sauce over some leftover spaghetti noodles, making a faux lo mein.

-- Bobby

Sunday sundae surprise

This past Sunday, April 3, apparently was the anniversary of the creation of the ice cream sundae in Ithaca, N.Y. (Or was it? Seems like there is a split over the sundae, see here). To mark the occasion, my wife brought me a turtle sundae to The Daily Record office on Sunday afternoon. I was working, and it was a nice treat to see my sweet wife and to enjoy the frozen concoction. Whether the sundae was created in New York in 1882 or Wisconsin in 1881, I am not sure. But I do know this, I like sundaes.

Make Your Own Stuffed Crust Pizza

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This morning, I wanted to cook breakfast for my wife. I figured I would cook up a few strips of bacon in the microwave. We have one of those dishes that does a good job of cooking bacon in the microwave oven.

So, I removed the package of Chuck Wagon bacon and was ready to pull apart some of the slices. When I opened the package, there was not one discernable slice of bacon. When Wendi asked what I was complaining about, I said, "This looks like someone asked a baby to put some bacon in a package." I tried to delicately separate just a few slices so I could make Wendi's breakfast.

No, sir. Chuck Wagon was having none of it.

Well, if that was the way Chuck wanted to play, it was fine with me. I removed a slicing knife from the block and proceeded to cut the congealed mass of seasoned and cured pork into little pieces. I was going to make bacon bits.

I cooked up the bacon bits and made Wendi an egg, cheese and bacon bits sandwich for breakfast. But, as I looked at those bacon bits I had a plan for them: Pizza. My favorite pizza is a cheese pizza; my next favorite is pepperoni and bacon. My wife had plenty of string cheese in the fridge, so I decided I would make a stuffed crust pizza.

I didn't feel like messing up our KitchenAid stand mixer, so I decided I would make the dough in a stainless steel bowl (I think it must have been like 1 1/2 quarts).

Dough:

3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

1-1 1/2 cups warm water

1 Tbsp instant yeast

1 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp Kosher salt

1 Tbps olive oil

I put everything in the bowl except the water, and then I added 1 cup of water. It needed a little more, so I added some. I actually stirred everything with a wooden spoon until the dough formed, and I next kneaded it for a couple of minutes. I did not work the dough a lot. I formed it into a ball and placed it back into the bowl and covered it with a tea towel. After about an hour I punched it down and reformed it into a ball. Covered and waited until I was ready to cook dinner.

Sauce:

For this particular pizza, I used an uncooked sauce on my half and Mid's Pizza Sauce on Wendi's.

The stuffed crust:

When I was ready to make the pizza, which was probably 1 1/2 hours after I made the dough, I floured the counter and placed the dough on the counter. Using my hands, I started to form the crust, making sure it was round and the air was pushed out of the dough. I used a rolling pin to stretch it out, but it kept wanting to shrink back in. So, I started stretching the dough in my hands. I am not the best at this, so I only do it if it is completely necessary.

Once the dough was big enough to overlap the perforated pizza pan I was using, I placed it on the pan, but not before applying some nonstick spray. I took out four pieces of string cheese, cut them each in half and placed them around the outer edge of the crust. Then, I did my best to fold the dough over the cheese sticks, tuck it under and seal it.

The pizza:

I placed the sauce on the crust, covered it with cheese by alternating slices of mozzarella and provolone (I prefer to use sliced cheese). I covered my half with bacon and pepperoni and Wendi's with bacon, pepperoni and mushrooms. I placed it in on the bottom rack of a 450-degree oven that had been heating up for around 45 minutes. (I want my oven hot when I make pizza. If I am using a pan, I cook at 450 degrees. If I am cooking on a stone or a pizza screen, then I up it to 550 degrees and have the oven preheating for an hour.)

It took about 10-15 minutes for the pizza to cook, and it was better than anything you will get from one of those chain restaurants.

Good Eats? Not this time

Slow Cooker Lasagna

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2011

Show: Good EatsEpisode: Use Your Noodle IV: Lasagna

Rated: 5 stars out of 5Rate itRead users' reviews (1)

• Filed under: Meat, Pork, Pasta, Noodles, Vegetables,
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via foodnetwork.com

I am a big fan of Alton Brown and his Food Network show, "Good Eats" I was eagerly awaiting his latest episode: "Use Your Noodle IV: Lasagna."

Alton has a way of making good food great, so, with my Italian heritage and a love of lasagna, I really wanted to see this episode. Unfortunately, I now regret it.

I will never prepare the recipe Alton, or his team, created. It is not lasagna. It is a dish that features lasagna noodles. So, my problem is with his terminology. His recipe might be a good one, but to me it is just another pasta dish one could have made with the pasta shape or style of one's choosing.

If any of you try this recipe, I would love to hear your thoughts. I would also like to know what you think of this dish if you get around to reading the recipe on the Food Network site.

Salsa for the ages, or at least for today

I once worked as a line cook at Casa Gallardo's, a former national restaurant chain that is now a regional one serving Mexican food. I loved their salsa, which they called Red Hot. Before I worked at the restaurant, I was a diner there. It was while eating at Casa Gallardo's in Daytona Beach, Fla., that I tasted for the first time fresh salsa.

I loved Casa Gallardo's Red Hot, and I discovered I liked fresh salsa. While I do not know the recipe for their version of salsa (because I worked on the line and not in food preparation), I know it included fresh diced tomatoes and onions and cilantro. The cilantro really made the salsa stand out for me. Up until I ate Casa Gallardo's Red Hot, I thought salsa came from a jar. I was not really fond of it.

I tried my hand at making fresh salsa. Rather than dicing the tomatoes, I usually put everything in a blender and pulsed it to break down the tomatoes, not quite diced, but not quite pureed either.

When I moved to Wooster, Ohio, I began eating at a local Mexican restaurant, El Campesino's. I enjoy their food, and their salsa. El Campesino's salsa differs from Casa Gallardo's. It is more of a crushed/pureed salsa, where Casa Gallardo's is diced and chunky.

So, each time I would visit El Campesino's, I would try to determine how they made their salsa. It dawned on me they might be using canned tomatoes instead of fresh, though I have no idea. So, one day I purchased some canned diced tomatoes (I usually pick up petite diced tomatoes) and used them instead of fresh tomatoes. The result was a pretty good salsa. That was a few years ago, and I have never looked back.

As for my salsa recipe, I don't really have a recipe for fresh salsa, or, in my instance, I should call it an uncooked salsa. I am more like a jazz cook, improvising and revisiting and tweaking earlier motifs. My mother, like typical Italians, throws a little bit of this, a dash of that and just kind of puts in whatever she thinks is appropriate. So, to my OCD readers, my apologies.

While I don't have a standard recipe, my salsa basically includes a 28 ounce can of petite diced tomatoes, a half bunch of cilantro, about a tablespoon of minced garlic (I used the stuff in jars from the grocery store, I do not use fresh), a teaspoon or so of kosher salt, half teaspoon of cracked black pepper and about a tablespoon of lime juice (you can use fresh if you want, I don't). It goes in the blender and I blend until mostly smooth.

Where the variations come in: Sometimes I will throw in a chipotle or two in adobo sauce; half to full teaspoon of ground cumin, sometimes chicken bullion instead of salt, sometimes sliced jalapenos from a jar (if I have them) or some dehydrated jalapenos I have had since I first moved to Ohio, and sometimes crushed red pepper flakes.

In the salsa pictured above, I used a small jar of diced tomatoes and green chiles instead of my standard petite diced tomatoes.

What kind of salsa did you prepare? Do you have any Casa Gallardo recipes, especially their beef and pork mix for burritos and chimichangas? Would love for you to share.

-- Bobby

 

 

Battle of the Burgers

Bryan Schaaf, a marketing manager with Wooster, Ohio-based Certified Angus Beef, loves Holten's quarter-pound CAB chuck beef patties. He kept asking me if I had tried them.

The answer, up until a week ago, had been no.

The answer is now yes.

Wendi and I cooked the burgers on our gas grill, and they were good. However, I did not think they were as great as Bryan said.

Wendi and I enjoy burgers, and we prefer to use fresh ground Certified Angus Beef that we purchase at Buehler's Milltown Market. When Natural Prime is on sale, we splurge, else we go with an 80 percent lean grind.

We primarily follow America's Test Kitchen's method of making burgers, however, not fully. When there is a product like Certified Angus Beef Natural Prime, there really is no need to grind your own, as ATK recommends. But, we do try to handle the ground beef as little as possible -- gathering enough beef for a patty and shaping it very quickly.

The burgers are seasoned with kosher salt and black pepper, a coarse grind. Then, apply the heat. We either use a cast iron skillet or a gas grill. Either way is fine, though grill is slightly better.

The Holten product was fine, but it just was not as good as making the burgers from freshly ground beef. Also, I am concerned about cooking frozen burgers. I always think I have to cook them more than they probably need to be. So for Wendi, who likes rare to medium rare burgers, her chance of getting anything other than a medium well-well done burger is slim to none.

Sonnenberg Station revisited

Sonnenberg_Station_-_Heart_of_Gold.mp3 Listen on Posterous

My wife, Wendi, and I went to P. Graham Dunn's annual Spring Celebration at Central Christian High School in Kidron, Ohio, on Tuesday. Wendi wanted to go hear Alistair Begg preach and listen to Sonnenberg Station, a talented group of men who sing of God's love and redemption in a variety of languages. I do not have any photos, video or audio to post from this year's celebration, however, last year I captured some audio of Sonnenberg Station with my Sony HandyCam. That is the audio you hear. It is Tim Shue's rendition of Neil Young's Heart of Gold. Enjoy.

-- Bobby

Sofrito Green Beans a la Momocho Mod Mex

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When our friend Ron Maxwell had a birthday last year, his wife, Jan, decided to surprise him by having a bunch of us from church share in a dinner with him at his favorite restaurant, Momocho Mod Mex, which is in the Cleveland area.

The restaurant is known for its exotic guacamole offerings, which include one with smoked trout another with blue crab. I do not eat guacamole, so I cannot offer a comment on it, but those in the party who do loved it. I had the Machaca, a beef brisket rubbed with ancho and espresso coffee, and Wendi had the Bistec, a hangar steak with honey-chipotle mojo. We did enjoy our meals.

However, as we were wrapping up our meal, Jan had me taste the Sofrito Green Beans. I am not much of a green bean eater. I do eat them, but they are not my favorite. However, Momocho's green beans were the best I ever had. They were incredible.

Well, Wendi has been wanting us to incorporate more vegetables into our meals, so I told her we had to try to make green beans like Momocho does. We did, and the result was pretty good. Not nearly as good as Momocho, but very good, nonetheless.

As you will see in the recipe below, there are a lot of flavors that come popping out. The photos show the different stages of making the sofrito, a pesto-like conconction that provides a lot of flavor to green beans, black beans, grilled chicken and rice. The first is getting all of the ingredients into the food processor. The second show what the sofrito looks like once it has been pureed. The third is one of the beans, corn and sofrito in the pan (the recipe says to take the green beans off of the heat before adding the sofrito). The final one is the Sofrito Green Beans plated. They were good.

Now, here is the recipe: 

Sofrito Green Beans (recipe)

---

This Latin style sauce is similar in consistency to a pesto or recado. It can be used to flavor black beans, braised pork, grilled chicken, seafood or vegetables. The recipe comes from the executive chef of Cleveland's Momocho restaurant.

Sofrito with Green Beans

Sofrito
Makes 2 cups
3 bunches cilantro
1 bunch scallions
1 Tsp. fresh oregano
10 cloves garlic
2 shallots
1 medium to large poblano green chile
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup water
1 Tsp. kosher salt
1 Tsp. ground cumin
1 Tsp. ground black pepper

Wash and clean all fresh herbs. Trim tops of scallions. Peel skin from garlic and shallots. Remove stem and seeds from chile. Place all ingredients into a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Sofrito can be frozen or refrigerated up to seven days in an airtight container.

Green Beans
2 cups green beans
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 shallot, sliced thin
1 cup roasted corn kernels
Salt

Blanch fresh beans in heavily salted boiling water for 5 minutes. Remove and shock beans in ice water. Drain and cool. Heat oil in pan. Add beans, shallots and corn and saute on high until beans blister. Remove from heat, add 1 to 2 Tbsp. Sofrito, toss and serve.

via http://www.circvsmaximvs.com/showthread.php?t=54198#

-- Bobby

Nightstand 45 coming to Wooster

via youtube.com

Bryan Schaaf (in the Montreal Expos cap) and Vaughn Pokrzywa, who performed as Nightstand 45 in 2010, are bringing their brand of acoustic rock to Muddy Waters Cafe & Grille from 9 p.m.-midnight on Saturday, April 16, 2010. And ... I will be performing some mindreading during the breaks. Owners Dennis and Paula Tafoya will be collecting a small cover charge but it will include some free food. Hope to see you there. For more, check this link: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=204078602936723&ref=ts

-- Bobby

Enjoy some music while you're waiting

Little_Like_Zep.mp3 Listen on Posterous

I have decided to migrate my blog to posterous.com, which has some interesting features, making it easy to inform Facebook friends, Twitter followers and others to see the latest post.

However, today I noticed blog entries from my Blogspot home, which I had duplicated on Posterous, are not displaying properly. Has anyone else encountered this problem? If so, I would appreciate hearing from you.

Until then, enjoy some music while you're waiting for the blog to display properly. Sorry for the inconvenience.

-- Bobby

Make Cake in a Mug - Wired How-To Wiki

Make Cake in a Mug

From Wired How-To Wiki

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Make this cake in 5 minutes!

You could be eating this right now...

En francais: Faire du gâteau dans une grande tasse

You’re working at home and your mind starts to wander to snack possibilities. There are probably some prepackaged, good-until-the-next-millennium baked items in your cabinet, but you’re in the mood for something warm from the oven. Something chocolate. However, your compulsion to work is just strong enough to keep you from leaving the computer long enough to make something from scratch. Guess it’ll have to be another stale Twinkie after all.

But wait! With Cake in a Mug, you can have a hot, delicious, fresh-baked chocolate cake in minutes! And all it takes is a microwave, some hot chocolate mix, and a couple of ingredients you’ve probably got in your kitchen.

Ready to make your own Cake in a Mug? Everything you need to know is below.

And remember, this article is a wiki, so if you come up with any modifications feel free to log in and add them.

(A note to parents: This is a great recipe for kids to make on their own, too! Once they know how, get them to make you one when they're making some for themselves and you won't even have to leave your desk.)

via howto.wired.com

This looked interesting. You will need to jump to the website -- http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Make_Cake_in_a_Mug -- for the recipe and videos. (h/t @andynyman)

Newcastle, new blog

If Bryan can have a Newcastle, then I can have a new blog

At The Daily Record, where I work as a journalist, Thursdays are affectionately known as Hop Hing Thursdays, thanks to Aunt E., aka Elizabeth Fleming. She takes orders for Hop Hing's Chinese dishes, calls them in, picks them up, delivers them to us and then we enjoy.

So, this past Thursday was like many others: L31 - General Tzu's chicken, luncheon special style. I place my order with Aunt E., pay my money and go on about my business.

Well, I get a text from Bryan Schaaf, right about the time Aunt E. is heading out to Hop Hing. Schaafy, who defected from The Daily Record for a marketing manager's position with Wooster-based Certified Angus Beef, was heading downtown to Muddy Waters and wanted to know if I was interested in having lunch.

I immediately said yes. I am a Certified Angus Beef snob. About the only time I am not eating Certified Angus Beef products is when I am at a restaurant that does not serve CAB. I like talking to the folks at CAB and learning more about different cuts of beef and how to cook them.

Bryan and I had a nice visit. Talked about CAB, his job, my job, CAB, his family, my family, CAB, Newcastle United, music, magic, mindreading, cooking, CAB and then we said our goodbyes.

As I was driving to an assignment, Bryan shoots me a text and says I should write a food blog.

Great idea. Here it is.

via bobbywarren.blogspot.com

This is the last of the posts that needed to be moved over.

Pizza my way

Growing up in an Italian family in an Italian neighborhood in Revere, Mass., I have been exposed to a lot of good Italian food and pizza. I love pizza, but not just any pizza. It's the style that is often referred to as New York-style pizza, though I might argue it's Boston's style, too.

The four-ingredient dough

It involves a dough that is made one day and allowed to slowly rise and ferment in order to have it ready for use the next day. The dough I now use is the one from the book, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. It is made from four ingredients: Flour, yeast, salt and water. My wife, Wendi, borrowed the book from the Wayne County Public Library, and we fell in love with it. At first, we just made bread with it. However, the first time Wendi made pizza with it, I absolutely loved it.
The texture, the crisp, chewy crust and the flavor brought me back home to Revere (we now live in Wooster, Ohio). The pizza was incredible; one of the best I had in a long time. Wendi, on the other hand, did not like it as much. She grew up with a different style of pizza. Guess that's her loss.

The 'uncooked' sauce

When making a pizza for me, I prefer an uncooked sauce. To me, it provides a more engaging, robust flavor than tomatoes that have been mellowed by a long simmer. I used crushed tomatoes from a can. I have tried diced and petite diced, but I prefer the crushed tomatoes. Seems like the only way I find crushed tomatoes anymore is in puree, not my first choice, but not bad. To make my "sauce," I spread the crushed tomatoes over the hand-stretched dough (which I put on a wooden pizza peel that has on it a liberal dose of corn meal). I sprinkle on the tomatoes: Salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, basil, parsley (all dried herbs) and sugar. Don't ask me for measurements, just sprinkle the ingredients on, but not too much. The sauce will cook in the oven.

Sliced mozzarella and provolone

I am a big fan of cheese pizza. I don't need any toppings (though pepperoni and bacon is a great combination, but don't put the bacon on raw ... leaves too much grease, don't ask me how I know, but I do. Trust me). I stay away from fresh mozzarella and mozzarella balls because they have more moisture than I want for my pizza. I do not use shredded cheese, either. I do not buy already shredded cheese (way too dry), and I do not shred it myself. I like using sliced cheese, a combination of mozzarella and provolone. I buy mine at East Union Bulk Food Store outside of Wooster, and I pay around $2.99 per pound for each.

Why cook pizza on a pan?

That's about it, except for the heat. The New York- and Boston-style pizzas are generally cooked in brick ovens at an extremely high heat (think perhaps 800-900 degrees, however, I heard of a pizzeria in New York that uses coal and gets up to 2,000 degrees). The high heat allows for the pizza to cook quickly, and it gives the dough a nice char, which adds flavor. I cannot achieve such temperatures at home. My oven maxes out at 550 degrees. But, I do preheat the oven for about an hour before I am ready to make the pizza; it gets the oven nice and toasty, and it brings the pizza stones in the oven up to temperature. When cooking pizza for me (as opposed to for Wendi and me or family and friends), it goes on the stone. Sometimes I start it on a pizza screen and then move it to a stone, but I do not like cooking it on a pan.

I should have let the dough rest.

So, I recently used some of Wendi's dough to make a pizza. Everything went well, except for one thing. I did not have the patience to allow the dough time to come to room temperature and raise a little bit. Wendi makes the dough ahead of time and keeps it in the fridge. We pull off what we need for a loaf or a pizza and put the rest back in the refrigerator. So, as you can see from the adjoining picture, I got nice char, the cheese melted nicely, but there was just too much lift in the dough. Because the crust rose a lot in the oven, the crushed tomatoes pooled to the middle, creating a relatively dry outer ring on the pizza and a tasty, saucy middle. The middle had incredible flavor, but the outer edge was just too dry.

The good news is Wendi has made another batch of dough, so I will go at it again.

This post serves two purposes: Test mobile blogging and let lovers of cheesesteak subs I will be posting a twist on the sandwich.

So, why a food blog?

Other than Bryan Schaaf suggested it, right?

My mother is Italian, and my father was a chef. The two are great cooks.

Whenever I have been out to eat at Italian restaurants and my friends raved about the food, I would say something like this, "It's OK. I grew up eating this stuff." The question du jour became, "Is it better than my mother's?"

My mother, Carmen Mercuri, is incredible at cooking Italian food, her specialty. My father, Bob Warren, was great at all sorts of American cuisine. I learned a lot about cooking and proper food prep and storage from him.

I ended up working for my father at Valle's Steak House in Daytona Beach and later at Girves' Brown Derby (after the company purchased Valle's building). Other restaurants included Lovece's Pizza Palace, the restaurant at Pelican Bay Country Club and Casa Gallardo's Mexican Restaurant. I had the opportunity to learn about cooking ethnic foods, American cuisine, seafood (even though I do not eat it), broiling steaks, deep frying foods, butchering, baking and more. I discovered I love to cook.

A former manager, Jere Main, told me that if I knew how to cook, then I would always have a job. Glad to say I have not had to cook in a restaurant for quite some time; it is hard work -- hot, sweaty, greasy, long time standing on your feet. I wouldn't mind cooking in a test kitchen or something, but I don't think I am up to restaurant work anymore.

So, let's have some fun. I'll share some recipes (but I warn you, I cook like my mother ... don't really measure stuff, pinch of this, some of that, check the consistency, if too thick, add milk, etc.

Tonight, I made some Certified Angus Beef rib-eye steaks. (Ordered them from Buehler's online). Now, they label them rib-eye steaks, however, I always thought if the cap was still on, it was a Delmonico; cap off, rib-eye. Sprinkled seasoned salt and cracked black pepper, and I cooked them in a moderately hot cast-iron skillet. Cooked them between rare and medium rare. They were incredible.

For a side dish, I threw together an al fredo dish using radiatore pasta; I like the way the curled pasta captures and holds the sauce. For the al fredo sauce, I heated a tablespoon of butter in a pan, and when it melted added about a teaspoon of minced garlic (I don't use fresh). Next, I tossed in about one-and-a-half tablespoons of flour to make a roux, and added one-and-a-half cups of half-and-half. As the sauce thickened, I seasoned it with about a teaspoon, maybe a little more, of salt and sprinkled in some cracked black pepper. I melted in about two teaspoons of butter and tossed in about 2 ounces of shredded parmesan cheese and about 2 ounces of grated parmesan cheese (yeah, the stuff that comes in a plastic container).

That was it. I should have taken some photos, but forgot. I'm new at this food stuff. I'll get in gear. The al fredo was OK; wished I would have had more shredded parmesan. Also, I generally add granulated garlic, too, but I did not this time. All in all, not bad. Steaks were great.

If Bryan can have a Newcastle, then I can have a new blog

At The Daily Record, where I work as a journalist, Thursdays are affectionately known as Hop Hing Thursdays, thanks to Aunt E., aka Elizabeth Fleming. She takes orders for Hop Hing's Chinese dishes, calls them in, picks them up, delivers them to us and then we enjoy.

So, this past Thursday was like many others: L31 - General Tzu's chicken, luncheon special style. I place my order with Aunt E., pay my money and go on about my business.

Well, I get a text from Bryan Schaaf, right about the time Aunt E. is heading out to Hop Hing. Schaafy, who defected from The Daily Record for a marketing manager's position with Wooster-based Certified Angus Beef, was heading downtown to Muddy Waters and wanted to know if I was interested in having lunch.

I immediately said yes. I am a Certified Angus Beef snob. About the only time I am not eating Certified Angus Beef products is when I am at a restaurant that does not serve CAB. I like talking to the folks at CAB and learning more about different cuts of beef and how to cook them.

Bryan and I had a nice visit. Talked about CAB, his job, my job, CAB, his family, my family, CAB, Newcastle United, music, magic, mindreading, cooking, CAB and then we said our goodbyes.

As I was driving to an assignment, Bryan shoots me a text and says I should write a food blog.

Great idea. Here it is.