Chef J. Looney

Thanks to everyone that joined us, we had a great time of food, wine and fun! As promised here are the recipes from class:

Grilled steak fries

Ingredients
6 russett potatoes
olive oil
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 350. coat each potato in a few drops of olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and wrap firmly in aluminum foil. Bake potatoes for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and unwrap. While the potatoes are still hot, carefully cut them into wedges, drizzle with a bit more olive oil, and then place directly on grill over high heat. Cook until crispy and golden, about 5-10 more minutes, rotating as necessary. Serve immediately.

Roasted vegetable salad

Ingredients
6-8 ears of corn, shucked and cleaned
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 large tomato, cut into thick slices
1 small  red onion, cut into 2-3 thick slices
1 tablespoon butter, softened
olive oil
salt
pepper

coat the corn and peppers with olive oil, and place directly on the grill over medium-high heat. Roast the peppers until blackened, then remove. Roast the corn until golden and slightly charred on all sides, rotating as necessary. Place the onion and tomato slices directly on the grill, cook just until they have deep grill marks, turning once to char both sides.

Cut the corn from the ear into a large bowl. Dice the peppers, discarding the seeds and stem. Dice the tomato and onion. Toss with the corn, adding a pinch of salt and pepper to taste, and the softened butter. Serve warm.

Salmon with garlic and lime butter sauce

Ingredients
4 salmon filets
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
2-3 cloves garlic
1 stick butter, melted
salt and pepper to taste

Sprinkle the filets with salt and pepper, and place skin-side down on a medium to hot grill. While the salmon is grilling, place garlic and lime juice into a blender. Blend on high, while slowly drizzling in the butter. Blend just until emulsified, add salt and pepper to taste.

Turn the salmon when cooked about 2/3 the way through. Once salmon flesh is firm but tender to the touch, remove from grill, top with sauce and serve immediately.

Grilled roasted chicken leg

Ingredients
4 chicken legs, bone in, skin on
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon coriander
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

preheat oven to 400. Mix all spices together, and sprinkle generously on both sides of chicken leg. Let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes or up to 1 hour. Place on grill over high heat, cooking 5 minutes each side. Remove from grill and place in an oven-safe pan. Place in the oven for another 10 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 160. Let rest for 5 minutes, then serve.

Seared flat iron steaks

4 flat iron steaks
salt and pepper to taste

remove steaks from refrigerator 1 hour prior to cooking. Salt and pepper both sides of meat and leave at room temperature for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour.

Place steaks on grill over high heat, cooking 2-3 minutes each side, and turning once.

Remove the steaks from the grill and let rest for 10 minutes. Cut the steak into thin strips across the grain and serve immediately.
Grilled d’Anjou pear with bourbon whipped cream

Ingredients
2 d’Anjou pears (red or yellow) sliced in half lengthwise
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup bourbon
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon lime juice
salt

Sprinkle pear halves with salt and lime juice, and set aside.

Place bourbon in a shallow pan over medium heat and reduce by 1/2. Remove from heat and let cool.

Whip cream until stiff peaks form. Do not over-whip! Gently fold in sugar and reduced bourbon.

Place pear halves, cut-side down, onto grill over high heat. Grill until well-caramelized, then turn over. grill skin side for 1-2 minutes and remove from heat. top with a generous portion of whipped cream and serve hot.

There are a great many food-oriented apps out in the marketplace today – recipe apps, cooking apps, restaurant apps… the list goes on. So how does one make sense of everything that’s out there? How do you know which ones will work for you? I don’t really have a solid answer, other than to share what works for me and why. Here’s my list, and if there are apps you use and love, I’m interested in hearing about them! Post a comment, or just email me!

Food Network

Sure, this app will give you show times, bios, photos, behind-the-scenes, and a whole bunch of other entertaining stuff. Me? I use it for the recipes. I mean, I figure if I can search a database of recipes from some of the finest celebrity chefs on the planet, I’ll end up with something good, right?

FREE
DL: iPhone

Omaha Steaks

Have you always wanted steakhouse-quality steaks off your own backyard grill? Here’s the way to get that done. Omaha Steaks has been a purveyor of fine meats for several decades, and believe me, it’s good meat. Also a little pricey. But this free app would be worthwhile even if it wasn’t free. I use it for timing my steaks, especially when I’ve got guests over that like their steaks at different temps. If you’ve got a probe thermometer, you can cook to a specific temperature, or if you’re like me, you cook to a particular degree of doneness. You can but steaks directly through the app, or just learn a lot about steak, and maybe try out some of their recipes.

FREE
DL: iPhone | Android

Ratio

This app is ridiculously useful for even the amateur kitchen warrior. Sauces, doughs, stocks, batters – it’s all based on ratios and science. Free yourself from recipes. When you know a ratio, you don’t know a recipe, you know 1,000. And this application does all the calculating for you.

“Cooking, like so many other creative endeavors is defined by relationships. For instance, knowing exactly how much flour to put into a loaf of bread isn’t nearly as useful as understanding the relationship between the flour and the water, or fat, or salt. That relationship is defined by a ‘ratio’ and having a ratio in hand is like having a secret decoder ring that frees you from the tyranny of recipes. ….Michael Ruhlman, in handing us mortals a power better suited to the gods, has changed the balance of kitchen power forever.” —Good Eats host Alton Brown

$4.99
DL: iPhone | Android

Matchbook

Ever have a friend tell you about an amazing restaurant, but you couldn’t remember iut the next time you wanted to go out? Or how about just plain forgetting about all the amazing places you’ve been to eat when you’re hungry and just need food now? Matchbook is the app for you!

If you’re at a great restaurant, Matchbook it. If your friend tells you about a fantastic meal they enjoyed, Matchbook it. Matchbook stores all the restaurants (as well as plenty of information about each one, including cuisine, price, etc.) in a handy searchable list. The next time you want a fantastic meal, open Matchbook and get busy!

FREE
DL: iPhone

Grocery I.Q.

This is one of the best free apps out there and the one from this list that I use the most. I’ve got a shopping list synced with my wife and son, so anytime one of us goes to the store, they know everything that’s needed. I can scan the barcode from anything I’m running out of and Grocery I.Q. automatically adds it to my shopping list. It’s a great app that saves me time and effort at the grocery store.

FREE
DL: iPhone | Android

The Jamaican patty is an iconic street food that can be commonly found on the dinner table as well. They’re filled with chicken, beef, vegetables, lobster, seafood, and pretty much anything else you can imagine. The bright yellow color comes from the curry or turmeric used to season the dough, and when done correctly, the dough is light and flaky.

For the dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 dash salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/3 cup water

combine all dry ingredients. Incorporate the shortening until the mixture has the consistency and appearance of soft bread crumbs. Add the water slowly and mix thoroughly. Let the dough rest while you prepare the filling.

Beef filling:
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, finely diced
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch allspice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 400. Add the butter or oil to a pan over medium-high heat. add the onion, and cook until translucent. Add the beef and spices, and cook until completely browned. Add the stock and breadcrumbs, and continue to cook over medium heat until all liquid is absorbed. Add the egg, and stir just until incorporated. Remove from heat.

To assemble:
Roll out the dough into 6″ circles roughly 1/8″ thick. Place filling in center of disc, wet the edges of the circle with water, then fold over and seal with a fork. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 20-30 min, or until golden brown.

Irish stew is a wonderful and delicious thing. In fact, if you can make a decent Irish stew, you can make pretty much any stew, as the concepts are fairly universal – sear and brown the protein, add the liquid, finish with the vegetables, etc. and let it all simmer for awhile.

The recipe below is for the most authentic (and certainly very basic) Irish stew.  Feel free to add different vegetables, herbs, seasonings, etc. Me? I’d add a pint of Guinness and some thyme. Make it your own, or enjoy it as the simple palate-pleasing creation that it is.

Ingredients
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb mutton or lamb cutlets (bone removed) cut into 2″ chunks
2lb potatoes, peeled and cut into large dice
1 cup leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced
1 cup carrots, roughly chopped
3 cups dark beef stock
Salt and Pepper

Method
In a large (6-8 qt) sauce pan heat half oil to almost smoking. Add the lamb pieces and brown all over. Add the stock, and simmer over medium low for 1-1½ hours.  Add the potatoes, leeks and carrots, and simmer for another hour, stirring occasionally. Check from time to time to make sure the stock isn’t reducing too much, if it is add a little hot water. The meat and vegetables should always be covered by liquid.  Season with salt and pepper.

So Ethiopia, like Morroco, is pretty much a cross-roads of the world-wide spice trade, and has been for centuries. Consequently, they use a TON of different spices to flavor their dishes. Doro Wot is no exception. In fact, it’s really not much more than onions, chicken and spices served atop the traditional Ethiopian flat bread, injera, which is just as simple – teff flour and water, fermented for a day or so and pan grilled. Oh, and just a note, Ethiopians like their food spicy. I don’t mean spicy, as in, it has a lot of different spices (although it does). No, I mean SPICY, as in, it packs a whole lot of heat.

Doro Wot

Ingredients
5-8 pounds of chicken drumsticks and thighs skinned and cleaned
8 large onions fine chopped
2 tablepsoons of olive oil
5 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons fine minced ginger
1/2 cup of Ethiopian Berbere (recipe follows)
1/4 cup of Paprika
2 teaspoon ground cardamom
2 teaspoon Wot Kimem (recipe follows)
2 teaspoon salt
1-3 cup of water

Berbere
2 teaspoons ground cumin
¾ teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground fenugreek
½ teaspoon ground coriander
8 -10 small dried red chilies
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
2 ½ tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika
1?8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1?8 teaspoon ground cloves

Wot Kimem
3 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tbsp ground cardamom

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions, and reduce heat to medium. Cook for an hour or so, stirring frequently and adding liquid as necessary until onions are caramelized and brown. Add the garlic, ginger and spices and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add the chicken, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for another hour or so, or until chicken is very tender. Serve without utensils on injera (recipe below).

Injera

1 cup Teff Flour
1 cup All-Purpose flour
3 cups water

Mix all ingredients well, cover with a damp towel and let stand at room temperature overnight or up to three days, until surface begins to foam and bubble.

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1/4 cup of the batter, which should resemble a very thin pancake batter. Cook until bubbles form and the top is dry. Do not flip, injera is cooked on only one side. Serve with doro wot.