Double Chocolate Bourbon Cake

An overcast Tuesday in Madison Wisconsin; each person has their own way of dealing with the weather. Given up to my own particular vices, it would be easy to spend the day with a bottle of cheap bourbon and a fat pot of coffee. However, in the spirit of living up to my parents' expectations, I whipped out this old family recipe.

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE BOURBON CAKE

It goes like this, friends:
1 3/4 cups strong coffee
1/4 cup bourbon
5 squares (5oz.) unsweetened chocolate
2 sticks (1/2 lb.) butter, cut up
2 cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

preheat to 275. butter two 9 inch cake pans. Lay a 12 by 4 in. strip of waxed paper down in the center of each pan and up the sides, butter the waxed paper. Dust pans with unsweetened cocoa of flour, shake out excess. place coffee, bourbon, chocolate, and butter in a 2 1/2 quart saucepan. stir or whisk occasionally over med. heat until chocolate and butter are melted. add sugar. turn off heat and let cool for 10-15 min. stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar. sift flour, baking soda, and salt. add flour gradually to the chocolate mixture, beating with whisk or electric hand mixer on medium speed. beat in eggs, then vanilla. pour batter into prepared pans and rap the pans gently on the counter to break air bubbles. bake for 45-50 min. let cool completely before removing. easiest to frost when chilled. pull wax paper to loosen the cake and refrigerate until firm. transfer to a cake form or dish and fill and frost with cream cheese frosting.

I used a simple cream cheese frosting:
4oz cream cheese (softened)
4oz butter (not salted, softened)
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer, add the sugar slowly, beat until smooth, add vanilla.
I threw in another tsp. of bourbon just for flavor.

It will brighten your day, really.

Cooks Gone Wild

Aaah the canadian wilderness...

After a week in Quetico Provincial Park I managed to whip out a few great meals on the campfire in an attempt to tame the rugged terrain. Here are three easy and delicious meals. 

1) Fajitas:                                    

Easy: Onions, green peppers, jalepeños simmered in  diced tomatoes and cumin. Black beans, hobo cooked. Rice, with 

dried cilantro. And we managed to get some dehydrated chicken, seasoned with fajita seasoning. Don't ask how. 

2) Trail Falafel: 

Falafel mix, onions, with a dill/refried bean sauce spiced however you wish. 

3) Pizza!

Dough: 3 cups of flour, 1 pkg of yeast, garlic, olive oil, sun and time to rise. Follow basic  dough recipe. Knead and let rise. 

Topping: Tomato sauce and spices. Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, onions, summer sausage, and sun-dried tomatoes. 

SATAN. . . err SEITAN

I decided to make seitan for the following reasons, in no particular order:

1. It's my favorite meat substitute

2. I hadn't a clue what it was made of

3. It sounds like Satan; Hail Satan!

Seitan, sometimes referred to only as gluten, has it's roots in Japanese and Chinese culture, where it was first developed. Western cultures adapted seitan as a meat substitute mid-twentieth century, so it is relatively new to American culture.

I decided to go with a rather simple recipe; no spices added in. I'd like to try that eventually, but it's pretty easy to season after it's made so I decided to keep it simple, and it will be more versatile this way.

It turns out that it is much easier to make than it is to procure the necessary ingredients. Poor planning on my part led me to both the Willie Street Co-Op and Whole Foods in one day - a yuppie grocery shoppers dream!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten flour

1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes

1 cup very cold water or vegetable broth

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 cloves garlic, pressed or grated on a micro-plane grater

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Simmering Broth

10 cups water or vegetable broth

1/2 cup soy sauce

You'll likely need to buy extra soy sauce; it ends up being quite a bit. Also, make sure you actually have vital wheat gluten flour; it's not the same as whole-wheat flour. Vital wheat gluten flour is essentially just the gluten part of wheat flour. It can be made with only whole-wheat flour, washing the flour dough until all of the starch dissolves. Vegan Internet blogs made this sound risky, so I decided to just buy the vital wheat gluten flour. Whole Foods had it, Bob's Red Mill brand. Nutritional Yeast Flakes were found at Willy Street Co-Op in bulk, which was nice and cheap. I used water, not vegetable broth. If you decided to use it let me know how it turns out! I decided all the soy sauce would be salty enough.

Directions:

To start, make sure you have the 1-cup water/10 cup water chilling. I mixed all two dry ingredients in one large bowl, and the moist to wet ones in another medium sized one. Mix the wet and dry ingredients and knead with a spatula. It's something like dough, but unlike any one I've dealt with in the past, very moist and rubbery.

Knead dough for three minutes, and then let it sit while you prepare the broth in a large pot (preparation involves mixing soy sauce and water). I hadn't let the 10 cup water chill long enough so I just but a bunch of ice cubes in. The cold water is important because it keeps the moist dough from falling apart.

Next, take your dough and roll it into a log, about 8 in long. Cut it into three pieces and set them in the pot. Bring water to a boil, and then let simmer for an hour. Cover the pot throughout the process, leaving it a crack open for steam. While simmering, turn the peaces with every 15 min or so.

Let the seitan cool for 30-45 min, or completely.

Finished! To store, keep in sealed container covered in simmering broth. Cut and fry, bake, or broil as you would normally.

Stay tuned for a recipe to use the seitan, I'm excited to use it!

asparagus omelet

foodstuff:

- 4 asparagus spears chopped into 1" pieces

- small chunk of dill chedar

- about 2 eggs worth of eggwhites (6 Tbsps)

- 1 Tbsp. olive oil + 1 minced clove of garlic + assorted Indian spices   

- cous cous + 1/2 tomato, diced 

how:

- heat olive oil and asparugus at medium/medium-low heat until the asparagus is slightly tender (maybe 3-6 minutes?)

- add Indian spices (or whatever seasoning you can come up with), simmer for a minute or two

- add garlic, simmer for about another minute

- push asparagus (with garlic and spices) to one side of the pan

- add beaten eggs/eggwhites to the pan

- allow eggs percolate in between the asparagus (still on one side of the pan)

- add sliced or grated cheese on top of asparagus side

- fold omelet in 1/2

- flip when firm enough

- continue to cook until eggs are no longer runny and cheese is melted

- add salt to taste

- garnish with cous cous (cold or hot) and diced tomato 

Let's face it. Avocados are pretty damn queer.

They are constantly assumed to be something they are not - many people think the fruit is a vegetable or a nut (for its near 100% protein content).

Like a queer-identifying individual, an avocado must retain a firm exterior until it is ready to soften up to people. And avocados (like queers) are mostly found in California.

While an avocado can express its identity in endless ways and with a variety of partners, there is one way to cut an avocado that makes for a most fabulous presentation.

Step 1) Hold the avocado firmly in your palm, and with a knife, cut into it lengthwise from the top. When your knife reaches the pit in the center, cut around the pit in a circular motion until you are left with two avocado halves.

Step Two) Hold the avocado half with the pit it in in your palm, and with your knife hit the center of the pit firmly so that the knife is wedged into it. Turn the knife counter-clockwise, and if the blade is wedged deep enough, the pit will turn as well. Pull it out.

Step 3) Bring the pitted avocado half back into your palm. With your knife, cut into the avocado lengthwise from right to left, with the blade just grazing the inside of the skin. Be careful not to press to hard so that the knife does not go through the skin and injure you. The slices should look like the strings of a mandolin, about 1/2 inch from each other.With a spoon, scoop out the avocado slices from the back, bringing them out of the skin.

Place the slices on top or on the side of any dish, and enjoy! The fruit will know that you, an avocado-ally, have provided a safe space for it express itself.

*Technique courtesy of Susan Lawrence, my friend Kyle's mom.

Natty in the left, Za in the Right.

Ok, so not the most elegant dish, but it was damn good. In Madison, we all love Ian's Pizza. [Fade out to freshman year] Its 2:30am, the shop is packed with a line out the door and to the end of the block. For some reason my shirt is soaked and all we're looking for is some carbs to absorb the excessive amounts of keystone we've just induced at that kegger with those people dressed in animal costumes, that guy shouting FRESHMAN! DO SOMETHING CRAZY! KEG STAND! Man, I wished taped it... I'm going to stop myself there. 

Ian's speciality is its Mac & Cheese Pizza. So, when Sarah and I found ourselves unbearablty hungry and unwilling to shop, we looked in our pantry and found the following:

Pesto (or make it your own: Basil, Pinenuts, Garlic, Parmesian, Olive Oil)

Tomato Sauce (or make it your own: Tomatoe paste and spices)

Pizza Crusts (or make it your own: flour, yeast, water, corn meal, sugar...) 

Tomatoes

Mushrooms

Macaroni Pasta

Garlic

Olive Oil

Cheese (we used shredded mozzerella and chedder).

Other possibilities include: Red Onions, Goat Cheese, Basil, Hot Sauce, anything else you want on your za.

We made two pizzas: One with pesto sauce, the other with tomato sauce. 

PESTO PIZZA: Spread the pesto thinly on the crust, layer with tomatoes (season with salt and pepper) and mushrooms. Cover with cooked pasta and sprinkle cheese on top

TOMATO SAUCE PIZZA: Spread olive oil and garlic on crust, spread tomato sauce thinly on next, layer with tomatoes (season with salt and pepper) and mushrooms. Cover in cooked pasta and sprinkle cheese on top. 

Bake in oven at 450º until cheese is melted and just about to turn golden brown. 

Grab a cold natty ice from the fridge and enjoy. Maybe watch the 4 hour extended addition of Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. 

Thukpa

Thukpa (Tibetan Noodle Soup)

Let's be honest, I'll eat almost anything that's spicy, uses garam masala, and can be garnished with cilantro. I finally made this soup after months of daydreaming about it and oh, how it was delicious.

The first thing to do is to pick some vegetables. I used red cabbage (it gives the broth a really beautiful color), broccoli, mushrooms, yellow onion, and green onion.

other things to include: potatoes, tomato, carrot, chilies-- whatever you can get your hands on.

Using my ingredients:

1. cut all the vegetables however you want
2. sauté the green onion, yellow onion, and two cloves of garlic in either butter or oil for about a minute.
3. at the same time, dissolve two cubes of vegetable bouillon in about 4 cups of water
4. throw all your vegetables into the stock with some wide egg noodles and simmer for 8-10 minutes
5. while everything is simmering, add some spices! turmeric, garam masala, curry powder, chili powder, salt, pepper, or anything else you can think of. Add some lemon juice.
6. garnish with cilantro and a lemon wedge. eat.

It's just about the easiest soup ever. and who needs measuring cups and spoons? eyeball that shit.

Also, check out Himal Chuli's (on State Street) Thukpa. You'll get a similar soup, a choice of roti or rice, and dumplings for around 9 dollars.