Steak and Kidney Pudding (Daring Bakers Challenge Apr, 2010)
The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.
For this challenge I drew inspiration from Esther, Audax and from this video. I went whole hog in and found suet from a butcher shop in Los Gatos, Ca. I had to render the fat down and turn it into a lard type substance, I did not post any of those photos because I don’t think people really want to see that part. If I make this again I will just use vegetable shorting or butter. I am glad I had a chance to cook with suet; however, it is just not healthy, or a practical ingredient for me to use again. I also chose to do a savory pudding instead of a sweet pudding.
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Potato Leek Soup (Soupe de Poireaux et Pommes de Terre)
After our wonderful trip to Napa I came home and was inspired to make Thomas Keller’s Potato Leek Soup. This soup recipe caught my eye because it required leeks, shallots, yellow onions, and chives. I love onions, Aaron says I tend to onionize my food. Yes I am the onionizer!! Watch out!
This soup has very simple ingredients, for me what makes this soup special is the stock. I’m sure it tastes fine with store purchased stock, but making your own stock will take this from soup to a symphony in your mouth. I keep my chicken stock in the freezer, I make large batches so that when I want to make soup or need to make a sauce I am good to go.
Full RecipeChile Verde
I was not going to post this recipe mostly because I plan to make it differently next time. This was a learning experience for me, and the end result was very tasty. So, I decided to post along with my notes and some of the corrections I plan to make next time I whip up some Chile Verde. I was inspired by Bobby Flay’s Green Chile recipe and followed it loosely.
Learning how to make your own Chile Verde is a great recipe to have under your belt. Mostly because it is so cheap to make and it’s not bad for you. You could make this with a lean pork tenderloin and yield beautiful results. This is another recipe where having homemade chicken stock in the freezer comes in really handy. It lowers the cost and ups the flavor.
Full RecipeSurprise Birthday Trip! (Napa, Ca)
My birthday was such a treat this year. It started Saturday morning, April 3rd. I knew my boyfriend Aaron had something planned but I had no idea where we were going. He told me to pack clothes for the night and mentioned that I would not be back home till Sunday evening. We hopped in the car and started to head out. We got on 680 going towards Sacramento. I was really thrown for a loop.. I figured we would head to Monterey or Carmel. So I sat and eagerly anticipated my arrival location.
We crossed the Benicia bridge and I was still confused and then I wondered if we were going to the Sonoma race track? I asked and he laughed and said no we are not going to the race track. Any way a few miles went by and then I saw the big sign for Napa. I was like hrmm could this be happening. Is he really taking me to Napa? Finally he spoke, something like, did you figure it out yet? I was like yes, I think it’s, it’s Napa. He was like well all these signs did not help me keep my secret.
The rest of a trip was still top secret. My mind was racing with thoughts of wine, food, cheese, olives.. oh my where would we eat? So many good places.
Full RecipeBrunswick Stew (Daring Cooks Challenge Apr, 2010)
The 2010 April Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den. She chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make Brunswick Stew. Wolf chose recipes for her challenge from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt Lee and Ted Lee, and from the Callaway, Virginia Ruritan Club.
This months Daring Cooks Challenge was super fun for me. Mostly because I got to break in my newly acquired WagnerWare Dutch Oven. We purchased this Dutch Oven off E-Bay and it works like a dream. It heats evenly and retains temperature like no other pot I have.
I created my stew using a Game Hen and Chicken Carcass Vegetable base stock. I pulled the game hen out of the stock pot after the stock had been simmering for about an hour. I let it cook off then I skinned it and removed all the meat and set it aside to add to my stew later. The other meat I chose for my stew was the economical choice of country style pork ribs.
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