Chef J. Looney

I’m not really a fan of baked fruit pies, as I don’t rteally dig on mushy fruit. Besides, when you bake a fruit pie, you inherently lose the natural fresh fruitiness, which is what I like about the fruit in the first place. Especially when it comes to peaches. I mean, think about it, would you rather have an overly sweet, sticky, mushy, peach-flavored mess on your plate, or a fresh, cool, crisp pile of peaches just overflowing with sweet-tart peachy goodness?

I thought so. So here’s my recipe for the latter. Enjoy.

Fresh Peach Pie

Crust
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 350°.
In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water until mixture forms a ball. Divide dough in half, and shape into balls. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
Roll out dough on a floured counter. Don’t over work it. place it in the pie dish, and then cover with baking parchment. Fill the parchment with rice, beans, or baking weights. Bake for 20 minutes, then let the crust cool completely.

 Filling (the good stuff)
8 lg. peaches
1 c. sugar
1 c. water
3 tbsp. cornstarch
Salt
Pinch of nutmeg
1 tsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla

Peel all the peaches and slice them thinly.

Blend 1 cup of peaches into a puree, reserve the rest.

Mix the sugar and the cornstarch thoroughly together. Cook water, sugar and cornstarch mixture and salt until thickens. Add nutmeg, butter and vanilla. Cool the mixture, then add the peach puree.

Carefully layer the remaining peaches in the pie shell, using a few spoonfuls of the liquid to create a thin glaze between each layer of peaches. once the shell is full, eat the rest of the peaches, and drizzle the remaining liquid over the filled pie crust. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. Serve with whipped cream if you’re into that sort of thing.

Spain is pretty much surrounded by water on four sides, so consequently, seafood is a pretty big part of their diet. Paella is traditionally made with several different kinds of shellfish and other seafood, and it’s really pretty much open to interpretation, so feel free to add or edit ingredients as you like.

Paella

Ingredients
1 pound tomatoes
9 cups low-sodium chicken broth
3 cups converted rice
20 threads saffron
2 sprigs rosemary, leaves stripped from sprigs
3 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
1 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 pounds bone-in, skin-on, chicken thighs and legs
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 pound crab meat
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 large spanish onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced

Method
Quarter the tomatoes and run them across a cheese grater over a mixing bowl to scrape off all the flesh. Discard the skins. Set the juice and grated tomato aside.

Heat the stock in a saucepan over medium heat.

In a very large skillet, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil until rippling. Add the chicken and sear both sides, about 5 minutes each side. Move the chicken to the outside edges of the pan and add the onion and garlic. Sautee just until the onions begin to clarify. Add the peppers and sautee a few minutes more. Add the tomatoes and simmer until the tomatoes begin to darken, about 10 minutes. add the rice, saffron, paprika and rosemary, along with 4 cups of the broth and simmer. DO NOT stir the paella again. Add the shrimp and crab, along with another cup of broth, and continue simmering. Add the remaining broth a cup at a time as needed.

Remove from heat, and serve immediately.

I was recently asked what my favorite dessert was. I’m not really sure I have a single favorite, but Crème brûlée is right up near the top of the list – the smooth, rich, creamy custard, the crispy, caramelized sugar shell on top – it just doesn’t get much better.

The truth is, it’s not all that difficult to make, either. I know I’ve always said to adjust recipes to your liking, experiment, don’t be afraid to play a little, etc. DO NOT deviate from this recipe. I promise if you do you won’t be as happy with the recipe.

Crème brûlée

Ingredients
1 quart heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1 cup sugar, divided
6 large egg yolks

Method

You’ll need four 5-6 inch ramekins and a 9×12 pan.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Put the cream in a sauce pan over medium heat. While the cream is heating, slice the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds out using the back of the knife. As soon as the cream starts to bubble around the edges, add the vanilla bean and the seeds, and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the cream from the heat, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let steep for 15-20 minutes.

While the cream is steeping, mix the egg yolks and the sugar in a metal or glass bowl. Whisk them together vigorously until the yolks are a very light yellow. Strain the vanilla bean from the cream, then slowly whisk the cream into the yolks. Place the bowl over a saucepan of gently boiling water, forming a double boiler. Whisk the custard mixture slowly until it thickens, then remove from the heat and pour it through a strainer into the ramekins.

Place the ramekins inside the 9×12 pan and fill it with enough water to come half way up the side of the ramekin, and place it in the oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the custard is set. You can tell it’s set when it doesn’t jiggle when gently shaken.

Put the ramekins in the refrigerator for at least two hours, and preferably overnight.

Just before serving, put about a tablespoon full of sugar in each ramekin. Using a torch, melt the sugar. This is the easiest part odf the process to screw up, so here’s a few tips:
Spread the sugar in the ramekin as evenly as possible before you start to melt it.
Don’t use one of those tiny “culinary” torches you find at Target and Costco. Go to Home Depot and get a decent propane-fueled torch to use. It’ll caramelize the sugar faster and more evenly.
Make sure you get the sugar good and dark, don’t be afraid to get plenty of color on it.

Once the sugar is caramelized, put the ramekin back in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes to set the sugar.

Serve with fresh berries, or whatever else you like.

Cuban cuisine? Does Cuba even HAVE cuisine?

Yes indeed, and it’s ridiculously tasty stuff.

Cuban food is influenced largely by Caribbean, African and Spanish flavors, techniques and spices – paprika, cumin, allspice, etc.

One key ingredient in much of Cuba’s cuisine is sofrito. It starts with a base of onions, tomatoes and garlic, but the variations are endless – add peppers, tomatillos, spices…whatever.  The purpose of sofrito is to add several layers of flavor all at once.

And sofrito is great for lots of different dishes. throw some in soups to kick up the flavor, marinate meats in it, it always add flavors to roasts, and is great in chili. This recipe makes about a gallon, and I usually freeze it in 1/2 cup ziploc snack bags for future use.

Sofrito
2 medium Spanish onions, cut into large chunks
3 to 4 Italian frying peppers or cubanelle peppers
8-10 tomatillos
16 to 20 cloves garlic, peeled
1 large bunch cilantro, washed
3 to 4 ripe plum tomatoes, cored and cut into chunks
1 large red bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into large chunks
1 anaheim chile

Chop the onion and cubanelle or Italian peppers in the work bowl of a food processor until coarsely chopped. With the motor running, add the remaining ingredients one at a time and process until smooth. The sofrito will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. It also freezes beautifully. Freeze sofrito in ½ cup batches in sealable plastic bags. Now, sofrito purists will tell you that is has to be simmered or braised before it’s a true sofrito. I disagree with this entirely. At least the way I use it, it always gets cooked anyway, and why would I braise it just to leave all that flavor in the braising pot? I say throw it together raw, and let it cook and meld flavors in whatever dish you’re making as it cooks.

Now on to the good stuff, the meat!

Ropa Vieja (old clothes)
One 2 ¼ to 2 ½ pound chuck roast or two 1 ¼ pound flank steaks
kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
Onion powder
3 tablespoons canola oil
½ cup Sofrito
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
Two 8-ounce cans Spanish-style tomato sauce
1 ½ cups water
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped pimiento-stuffed green olives
2 bay leaves
4 celery stalks, with leaves, cut into ¼-inch dice
3 medium carrots, trimmed and cut into ¼-inch dice

Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Season both sides of the beef generously with salt, pepper and onion powder.

Heat the oil in a large, oven-proof, heavy skillet over high heat until rippling. Add the beef and cook it until well browned on both sides, about 10 minutes.

Drain or spoon off most of the fat from the pan. Stir in the sofrito, 2 teaspoons salt, cumin, tomato sauce, water,  olives, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, cover the dish and bake until the meat pulls apart easily with a fork, about 3 hours. Let stand in the sauce until cool enough to handle.

Shred the meat coarsely by hand or using two forks. Return it to the sauce and add the celery and carrots. Bring to a simmer over low heat and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.  Watch the liquid as it cooks, and add more broth or water as needed.

Tada. Enjoy.

Oh, and if I promised to post a recipe and you don’t see it here, just email me and let me know, I’m, happy to post whatever you like.

Now, truth be told, the Italians didn’t invent pizza. In fact, it’s kinda hard to say who really did. There’s evidence of flat bread loaded with different toppings found in just about every culture and corner of the world, and some of the findings date back as far as 3,000 years.

But as far as we’re concerned, the Italian incarnation is the one that matters today.

According to Wikipedia, Pizza Margherita was invented in 1889, when  ”during a visit to Naples, Queen Margherita of Italy was served a pizza resembling the colors of the Italian flag, red (tomato), white (mozzarella) and green (basil).”

So, sounds easy enough, right? It really is. Here goes:

Pizza dough recipe
4 cups flour
2 cups milk
1 packet active dry yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

Place a pizza or baking stone on the center rack of your oven and preheat to 500.
Combine all dry ingredients in a stand mixer and mix on low until incorporated. Slowly add the milk. Once the milk is fully incorporated, turn mixer on high for 2 minutes. Cover the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes or so. After the dough has rested, roll it out to the desired thickness. place it on the heated stone for 1-3 minutes, or until the bottom layer is slightly crispy. remove the par baked pizza crust from the oven and add the sauce and toppings before returning it to the oven to finish baking.

Marinara sauce recipe
12-14 roma tomatoes
fresh oregano
fresh basil
garlic

peel and seed the tomatoes, and place in a large skillet. If you’re using canned tomatoes, simply empty the cans into the pan. Place over medium heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce reaches the desired consistency and the tomatoes have broken down into a lumpy sauce. Add fresh chopped oregano, basil and garlic to taste, and simmer for 20-30 minutes over low heat. I recommend at least 2 tablespoons of the herbs and 2-3 cloves of garlic as a standard. If the sauce is too acidic, add a little sugar, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, until the desired flavor is achieved.

Pizza Margherita
Top the par baked crust with the sauce, fresh mozzarella and torn fresh basil leaves. Bake for 4-5 minutes at 500, or until cheese is bubbly and melted and crust is golden brown.

It’s that easy. You want a barbecue chicken pizza? Cool, top your crust with Sweet baby Ray’s BBQ sauce and some grilled chicken chunks and cheddar cheese. Hawaiian? Fresh cut pineapple and brown sugar ham with shredded mozzarella. Pepperoni? Hey, you get the idea…

Now go make yourself some pizza.

Go on, I mean it.

For real.