It's All About The Food!

You Jerk, Me Jerk.

2011-09-12T01:54:00.005-04:00

For those of you who know me or who have read this blog, you may have gathered that I like bold, flavorful food; layers of spice ans herbs. I am also a chili head, meaning I enjoy and have a high tolerance of all things capsicum. (hot peppers) Yes, I have eaten Ghost Peppers, (Bhut Jolokia) and others of a lesser variety; and while I enjoy the heat and a good sweat of a hit of capsicum, I do like a flavorful palate of ingredients. After Southern Indian and Sri Lankan Curries, may next favorite is Caribbean Jerk seasoning. A wonderfully aromatic blend of fresh herbs and spices with a slow burn on the back of the tongue. These rubs are basically Caribbean BBQ and are best when cooked over an open flame but a skillet will do just fine in a pinch.

Below is my recipe for my Jerk Rub, it is awesome on chicken, pork, burgers really just about anything that can be grilled. (Shrimp, fish...) As with most recipes try to use the freshest ingredients you can find but don't stress if you can't, just use what is available and enjoy and remember...

It's all about the food.

Jerk Rub

1/2 cup fresh thyme leaves
1 whole red onion
1/4 cup ginger root, finely diced
3 Scotch bonnet peppers, stemmed and finely chopped
1/4 cup peanut oil
5 garlic cloves, chopped
3 freshly ground bay leaves
2 teaspoons freshly ground allspice
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon freshly ground coriander
1 teaspoon freshly ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons salt
juice of 1 lime

Instructions

Combine all the ingredients into a thick, chunky paste. If you are using a food processor be careful not to over process the ingredients, they will turn to mush.The mixture will keep in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for several months.

Most Jamaicans grind their spices by hand in a mortar and pestle. The whole spices tend to retain more aromatic oils in them and therefore more of a natural pungency. To save time, you can pulverize the spices in a spice grinder or coffee mill, and then add them to the other ingredients.

How Is Your Love Life??

2011-09-12T01:45:00.003-04:00

How is your love life? I know it is kind of a cheap marketing ploy but, I made you look. I guess that is why so many magazines and periodicals will use similar tag lines; the truth is most people will stop and look just to see what is going on. But really, how is your love life?

I’m not talking about your “romantic” life but your passionate affair with food. Is it still burning bright? Or is it the same old same old vanilla flavored food relationship? The usual places, the usual foods it’s Friday therefore it must be fish day or bar food (party!) We all go through these food blahs were nothing seems to excite or ignite that burning desire to satisfy our culinary affair. Like everything else worth being passionate about one must set aside time to play with ones food, to tantalize and tickle the taste buds. To experiment with combinations and textures the might seem taboo or distasteful, to expand your culinary horizons through trial and error. Yes you may have failures. That exotic stuffed bread or brioche may end up nothing more than a glob of gluten, relax, have a glass of wine this is not brain surgery; the only thing you may have killed is the yeast. It’s all good, you are now the owner of three and a half pounds of homemade playdough; go build something.

The only way to improve your culinary palate is to taste and smell all that there is to offer. Reading books about food taste or watching the celebrity chef du jour will never replace putting fork (or finger) in mouth. Each of us has a different catalog of sense memories (the same memory that a good oenophile or chef poses) to distinguish ingredients and determine in our heads, what will taste good. But you must play with your food, eat, love and consume all you can. (Preferably not in one sitting) Like any relationship it takes a commitment and intention to make it work. So what are you going to do today? Go buy one new spice and see what you can discover. They say that “variety is the spice of life,” well, I think a variety of spices is the essence of life and an epicureans delight. So make that commitment now, that commitment to not just settle for the familiar but to spice up your love life now. (Again, we are talking about food) Make you tongue dance (saltimbocca) in anticipation of your next gastronomique liaison but do kiss and tell so that others may be inspired buy your passionate affair.

Until next time…

Howard

2010-01-16T22:02:00.002-05:00

Hey all.

I just wanted to write everyone a quick note apologizing for my absence. I have been dealing with some major health issue's and that has kept me away from updating the site in a while. Although I am not completely better, I am resuming post to this site. Thanks to everyone for stopping by the site and please continue your support.

Howard

Buffalo Chicken Soup

2010-01-16T15:02:00.007-05:00

Buffalo Chicken Soup

Soup, soup, soup. Let’s see… the weather is cold, we’re near the Super Bowl, the weather is cold, and we’re near the Super Bowl Hmmm…

Super Bowl food is generally things like; Pizza, Chicken Wings, chip and dip, beer, soda etc. When the weather is cold we usually go for comfort foods, such as Chili (see previous post) rich soups and stews, things that remind us of warmth. What would happen if we merged some of the best of these, the creamy goodness of a silky smooth, warm soup and the zesty personality of hot wings and salsa? Hello! We have Buffalo Chicken Soup.

The main recipe is ridiculously easy, just 6 ingredients and almost 0 prep time. I have included at the bottom of the recipe a “show off” modification for those of you (and you know who you are) who don’t mind a little cooking. You might find other recipes that are similar but, this one has been tweaked and modified over time; some might call it trial and error, but tweaked and modified sounds so much more intentional. So we’ll stick with that.

The recipe:

1 to 1 and a half pounds of canned Chicken meat (drained) **
6 Cups Milk
3 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 cup Sour Cream
½ can Rotel
½ 12oz bottle of Franks Red Hot
Blue Cheese Crumbles

Combine all of the ingredients into a large pot. Bring the ingredients, slowly, to a simmer stirring frequently so the soup does not scald.

Garnish with crumbled Blue Cheese (another garnish option would be some crumbled bacon, yum.)

Eat.

Now that’s easy.

For those of you who want a little something extra (work) here it is:

*** In lieu of the canned chicken meat purchase raw chicken already cut up into sections.

Lay out your chicken pieces on a baking pan.

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees.

Make the hot wing mixture with equal parts hot sauce and melted butter. (This is above and beyond what you will need for the soup body)

Brush the hot wing mixture liberally on to the chicken, place the chicken in the oven and bake for approx 35 min or until the chicken reaches an internal temp of 170 degrees. Baste the Chicken often with the hot sauce mixture to saturate the meat.

Let the chicken cool and pull from the bone.

Now prepare the recipe substituting the freshly baked chicken for the canned.

Enjoy!

2009-01-04T14:11:00.003-05:00

Blender Hollindaise Sauce

Here is the recipe for the Hollindaise sauce. I hope you enjoy it!

Have ready in your blender...

3 Egg yolks

2 Tbs. Lemon juice

Pinch of Cayenne Pepper

1/4 tsp. Salt

Heat to bubbling stage, but do not brown:

2/3 to 1 cup Butter

Cover blender container and turn motor on high. After about 3 seconds remove lid and pour butter over the eggs in a steady stream. By the time the butter is poured in, about 30 seconds, the sauce should be finished.

Eat well!

Eggs Benedict- A Christmas tradition.

2008-12-28T23:37:00.007-05:00

It's the most wonderful time of the year... It's Christmas time and that means family gatherings, well meaning gifts that you're not entirely sure what your going to do with and food. Food glorious food. Now our family like many of you out there have numerous Christmas traditions; when and where to open your presents, taking a bet on which relative will get blitzen the quickest and the Christmas cuisine. Our family has always done Christmas brunch and for us it has always been Eggs Benedict. Why? Why not. As if the holidays are not stressful enough lets cram 4 or 5 people in a small area and try to coordinate the preparation of Eggs Benedict. For anyone who has worked in a restaurant this is mildly challenging for people who do it for a living, but for people who do it once a year it is truly a holiday sense of humor test. " Is anybody watching the English muffins so they don't burn?" comes the cry from somewhere else while that person fixes another mimosa. "make sure the yolk in my eggs are hard." There is always one in every crowd. But no matter what, we always pull it off; maybe it is all the hot buttered rum and mimosas that make it possible.

For those of you who are not sure what Eggs Benedict is, it is really nothing more than, toasted English muffins, Canadian bacon, poached eggs and Hollindaise Sauce. The key to eggs Benedict are the poached eggs and the Hollindaise sauce.

There are a couple of ways to poach an egg, some people use an egg poaching tray which fits over your skillet filled with water, but I prefer to "float" my eggs. This is simply a matter of filling your skillet ( I use and electric skillet for this) with water and vinegar. The vinegar helps to keep the egg from sticking to the bottom of the skillet. I heat my skillet until it is just about to simmer. I want all of the bubbles to be forming in the bottom of the pan, but not releasing. If you let the water come to a simmer or boil, it will tear up the eggs. Once the water is just the way that I like it, I simply crack the eggs and drop them in. As far as how long to cook the eggs, well... I cook them until the whites of the egg are set and no longer translucent. Traditionally one would want the egg yokes to be runny; this along with the Hollindaise sauce helps to soften the English muffin and creates a wonderfully velvety mouth feel. Once the eggs are where you like them, remove them with a perforated spoon or strainer and place them on top of you English muffin and Canadian bacon.

For the Hollindaise sauce, we are making a blender Hollindaise sauce. Traditional Hollindaise sauce is made in a large metal bowl over simmering water and whisked until the eggs start to thicken. At this point the chef will start to slowly stream the melted butter into the eggs while continually whisking so the eggs don't cook. Then the sauce is flavored with lemon juice or wine. Now this is a nutshell description of how to make traditional Hollindase sauce, there is a fair amount of skill that comes only with practice and wasting lots of eggs. Hollindaise sauce is one of the mother sauces in traditional French cooking, from this sauce there are other sauces that can be made, Bearnaise is the most common after Hollindaise. If you would like detailed instructions on how to make traditional Hollindaise sauce, feel free to e-mail me and I will be happy to send them to you. For our purposes though we will be making a blender Hollindaise sauce, I would not go as far as to call this "No fail" Hollindaise sauce but it is pretty darn close.

Other than the fragile nature of the eggs, the second thing that generally makes Hollindaise difficult is emulsification... that's right, say it with me, e-mul-si-fi-ca-tion. Emulsification is when we get to unlike and usually viscose ingredients to do something that by nature they don't want to do. Oil and vinegar is a common emulsification, where we take the slippery oil and the acidic vinegar and by constant intimidation, beat them into submission and create a vinaigrette. All kidding aside, other than your proportions the most important thing to consider when trying to create any emulsification is-once you start whisking your emulsification you have to continue in the same direction that you have started. If you keep changing directions while you are whisking you will constantly breakdown the bond between the ingredients you are trying to emulsify and basically start over each time you change directions. So, once you start whisking, keep on whisking that same direction. This is what makes the blender Hollindasie work so well. The blender never gets tired or bored with going the same direction, or if it does, it never complains.

I hope you enjoy this episode of Howard's Stock Pot and you will notice that the background noise is a little louder than usual, well- that's the controlled chaos of everyone cooking at the same time. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and may your New Year blessings come true.

Homemade Spicy Chili

2008-12-10T13:06:00.006-05:00

This chili is a family recipe that has been used with great success. We served this chili at our restaurant for lunch on alternating Fridays. People would call ahead wanting to know if this coming Friday was chili Friday and a few of our customers had standing orders whenever we served this chili. Chili is great for feeding a crowd and is always a welcome treat, especially in the colder months of the year. Chili, like spaghetti, is a dish where everyone has a recipe and it is never as good as the one momma makes. Well, this one is mommas and I hope it will find a place in your repertoire of recipes that you will prepare for your friends.

Eat Well!
Howard

Old Fashioned Spicy Chili

2 Lbs Ground Beef
1 Medium Onion, chopped
4 Cloves of garlic, chopped
2 Tbs Ground Cumin
2 tsp Salt
6 Tbs Chili Powder (dark)
2 Tbs All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 Tbs Sugar
2 cans (Bush's) Spicy Chili Beans, un-drained
1 can Whole Tomatoes, un-drained and chopped
1 can (6oz) Tomato Paste
1 tomato paste can of water
1 can Dark Kidney Beans
1 can Pinto Beans

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large pot or dutch oven, cook over medium heat, stirring until meat is brown and the onion is tender.
Drain off pan drippings.
Stir in chili powder, flour and sugar.
Add remaining ingredients and stir well. The chili will be thick at this point, but don't worry, it will thin out a little bit.
Cover and simmer for 30 minutes over low heat. (Note: chili will burn if the heat is to high.)
Serve with shredded "sharp" cheddar cheese, diced onion and homemade cornbread.

Pecan Cranberry Bread

2008-12-08T16:39:00.009-05:00

This slightly sweetened bread is a fantastic addition to any holiday get together, with the smell of toasted nuts and cranberries filling the air, everyone will be eagerly waiting for the signal to dive in to this holiday treat.

Some notes before you begin:

This bread is a slow rise bread, so don't be a slave to the clock on this one. We are going for a double rise, this will take 3 to 5 hours or possibly longer, again don't be in a hurry. The rise is important to allow the gases to push the dough and create those wonderful holes in the flesh. After shaping, the second rise is till the dough is one and a half times it's original size.

Since this bread is a sweetened bread, we will cook it at 325-350 degrees. This is so the out side will not burn before the inside is set.

Feel free to substitute any dried fruit and nuts to create your own unique signature on this bread. After all, this site is about helping you find your own cooking voice.

Enjoy!
Howard

Pecan-Cranberry Bread

3 cups unbleached flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar (I used natural for this recipe)
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons cultured buttermilk (powdered) or 1/2 cup liquid buttermilk.
NOTE: I like to use the cultured buttermilk, since it is a powder it keeps in the fridge for a long time. Just scoop what you need and add water.
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup water. (This is adjusted for the cultured buttermilk. If you are using regular buttermilk, use only 1/2 cup water.)
1 1/2 cups Craisins
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Stir together the flour, sugar, salt, yeast and cultured buttermilk in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs and melted butter. Stir (or mix on low speed if using an electric mixer), slowly add just enough water to make a soft and loose dough ball.
Sprinkle flour onto cutting board and move dough from mixing bowl to counter. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth and slightly sticky. (Add more flour gradually to the dough as needed to achieve this state.) If the dough become to stiff, knead in a small amount of water until dough is soft. Next, add the pecans and crasins to the dough, kneading until pecans and crasins are thoroughly distributed in dough. Lightly oil a large bowl, place dough in bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic.
Let the dough rise at room temperature until the dough doubles in size.
Move the dough from the mixing bowl to counter and shape the dough as desired and place on baking pan.
Let the dough (proof) or second rise until it is about 1 1/2 times in size.
Preheat oven to 325-350 degrees with rack on the middle shelf.
Mist oven with spray bottle of water and mist dough as well. Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees to ensure even browning. Bake for another 25 minutes or until the dough is a dark golden color and sound hollow when thumped. The internal temperature of the dough should be about 180 to 185 degrees.
Remove loaf from the baking pan and transfer to a cooling rack, let the loaf cool completely before slicing. (About 1 hour) Enjoy!

Why do we mist the oven?

Good question, I'm glad you asked.
We mist the oven for 3 reasons. One is the most obvious, we mist to increase the humidity inside the oven. When we mist the oven as we place the dough inside, we create steam which gives the dough a little extra "umph" to help it rise and keep the inside from drying out. The last reason we mist, is that it helps to create that flaky crust we love on the outside of our artisan bread.

Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake

2008-12-05T09:12:00.003-05:00

This recipe is for a cake that we originally served at our restaurant. We had spent a great deal of time trying to come up with a great chocolate cake recipe that did not require refrigeration or any special handling. Since this recipe does not require any eggs and just a small amount of milk, it fit the bill perfectly. What you have is a cake that is easy to prepare, a cake that is very moist and like most good cakes, it taste better a couple of days later; not that it ever stayed around that long. Every time we fix this cake it always generates a lot of request for the recipe and we are happy to oblige.
HINT: If you want to deepen the chocolate flavor and add another layer to the taste pallet, add about 2TSP instant coffee to the cake batter and about 1TSP instant coffee to the icing. This is just enough to add a little something extra without changing the overall flavor profile.

As usual, let me know what you think and if you have any problems with the recipe. Until next time...

Eat well!
Howard

Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake With Cocoa Frosting

For cake
3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups cold water
1 cup corn oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

For frosting
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
5 cups powdered sugar
8 tablespoons (about) whole milk
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Make cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour three 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Sift first 5 ingredients into medium bowl. Mix water, oil and vanilla in large bowl. Whisk in dry ingredients. Divide batter among pans. Sprinkle 1/2 cup chocolate chips over batter in each pan.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks 15 minutes. Cut around pan sides to loosen cakes. Turn cakes out; cool completely.

Make frosting:
Beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually beat in 3 cups sugar. Beat in 6 tablespoons milk and vanilla. Add cocoa and remaining 2 cups sugar; beat until blended, thinning with more milk if necessary.

Place 1 cake layer, chocolate-chips side up, on platter. Spread 2/3 cup frosting over. Top with second cake layer, chocolate-chips side up. Spread 2/3 cup frosting over. Top with remaining cake layer, chocolate-chips side down. Spread frosting over sides and top of cake. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome; let stand at room temperature.)

Serves 8 to 10.

Episode 01

2008-12-02T21:06:00.008-05:00

Thanks so much for checking out "Howard's Stock Pot," I hope you feel comfortable checking out this site, we're trying to keep it relaxed and informal. As you can tell we are self produced but that is intentional, this type of production lends itself to the casual, non intimidating approach we are trying to achieve with "Howard's Stock Pot." I hope to kick start your imagination and help you realize that you can do this too. I look forward to hearing from you and watching this grow.
Eat Well, Howard

Episode 01 Pasta Lite

This is one of my favorite in a hurry dishes, it uses a minimal amount of ingredients and requires very little technical proficiency. This dish is great for this busy time of year when it seems like there is a non-stop demand on your time and appetite. One can only eat so many cheese balls, yule logs, reception after reception, event after event. Your stomach just needs a break as well as your time schedule. Oh yeah... I almost forgot, your wallet gets a break too. This dish which will serve 4 people, cost less than $10. at the grocery store.
To prepare Pasta Lite you only need to know how to boil water and chop some onion and tomatoes, other than that you're only limited by your imagination.

The video is in two parts due to the length allowable on the server.

Enjoy!

Pasta Lite
ingredients

8 oz. Angel Hair Pasta ( Capellini)
3 Cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 Medium Onion, chopped
5 Roma Tomatoes, chopped
2 Grilled Chicken Breast
Olive oil
Coarse Salt (For the boiling water)
Pepper (Taste)
Dried Basil. (I used a little over 2 TBL.)
A good crusty bread

Play with this recipe and try other food combination's i.e. Bell Peppers, Shrimp, Pork Tenderloin, Steak, Blue Cheese and so on. The main thing to remember is to not over cook any of the items, it is very easy to go from ahh! just right! to argh! it's all mushy.
As I mentioned in the video don't use oregano on this recipe, the flavor of the oregano is to overpowering for these delicate ingredients. If you want to use another herb, try thyme or just a touch of tarragon both of these are not nearly as acidic as oregano.

If you are interested in becoming a better more competent cook, don't be afraid to fail. This is a learning experience and it is supposed to be enjoyable, if you are uptight or nervous about this dish or any dish being right the first time, RELAX! have a glass of wine or something without caffeine and chill. Give yourself permission to fail, it's okay. You might even find it liberating, the motto I use frequently whenever my employee's start to get wound up is, "This is not brain surgery." So have a good time, if you just can't seem to get it right, try again. Like everything else, consistency of effort will equal results.

I hope you enjoyed this episode and I hope you will keep coming back to "Howard's Stock Pot," and tell your friends. If you have enjoyed this and you would like to make a donation to help with the cost of production, that would be appreciated. We are completely self produced and not sponsored by any corporations and we appreciate readers like you.

Until next time remember."It's all about the food."
Eat well!

Howard

Intro ( A little bit about me)

2008-12-02T19:14:00.004-05:00