Make sure the cream, the bowl, and the whisk are all as cold as possible. I usually set a metal bowl and the whisk in the freezer for an hour beforehand. I use a stand mixer most of the time, starting out at a slower speed, and turning it up until it is as fast as it can go. Just keep an eye on it or you'll end up with butter. Hope that helps.
No pictures this time, but my brother and I made a pretty interesting dinner last night for my sister-in-law's birthday: shrimp remoulade salad with arugula and avocado, grilled artichokes, and filet mignon with an avocado beurre blanc. My brother made the remoulade sauce at home before we met up, so I don't know exactly how he made it, but it was great. Pretty much, we just sauteed the peeled and seasoned shrimp (salt, pepper, salt-free Tony's, lemon juice, and Tabasco) in some garlic butter. Once cooked, we washed them off in the sink (we didn't want congealed butter on our cold shrimp salad), re-seasoned with salt and pepper, and set in the fridge to cool until dinner. The shrimp were served over the arugula and sliced avocado, and then topped with the remoulade. As for the artichokes, we parboiled them first, then removed the outside layers and sliced them in half. These halves were coated in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and I think maybe melted butter too- I can't remember. They were grilled on low heat and then served with the leftover remoulade for dipping. For the beurre blanc, we cooked down some diced shallots in a mix of chardonnay and white wine vinegar until it reduced, and then strained. In our reduced liquid, we blended in about a stick and a half of butter- a little at a time until is was all melted in. Then, we took a whole avocado that we had beaten into a creamy paste and whisked that in as well to give the sauce a nice, creamy texture. We seasoned with salt, pepper, and Tabasco and served over the steaks. The filets were just hit with salt, pepper, and olive oil, then grilled on a Big Green Egg until rare-medium rare. So yeah, nothing too fancy, but I was really fascinated by the beurre blanc. It went surprisingly well with the steaks, especially after the sauce started to mix with the jus from the steaks.
Food Porn of the Month: Steak and eggs Stanton Social style is mind-blowing. Take a Creekstone Farms hanger steak, put that on top of a corn arepa, add some chimichurri sauce, and top that all with a sunnyside up quail egg, and you got one heavenly bite. Best brunch in NYC.
Quick question for all you grill nuts out there: I'm in the market for a charcoal grill/smoker combo, a la the picture below. I'd rather not spend a shit ton on it, and it doesn't need to be overly huge. Any recommendations on brand and, if applicable, model? And yes, I've been using a gas grill basically since the beginning. They're quicker, and they get the job done. But the better I'm getting at some of this stuff, the more I'm wanting more options with the charcoal grill. Spoiler Here's a trick I picked up from an in-law: when you're grilling with charcoal, put food directly on the coals for seasoning. I.e. throw some onions, garlic, jalapenos, a few slices of bell pepper, whatever directly on there to add a bit more flavor to the chicken/pork/beef/whatever.
Food Porn of the Day: Again brought to you by chef Chris Santos from the fine eating establishment: The Stanton Social, here is one of my favorite plates of food in NYC. Chipotle Grilled Shrimp - tomatillo & feta relish.
Holy shit dude. I am definitely giving that a shot. Quick question... I'll be making a simple vegetable alfredo sauce for some pasta and grilled chicken tonight and I've always had trouble with the alfredo sauce setting up- it's usually kinda runny. What's the solution? The recipe is just a cup of heavy cream, 1/4 cup butter, and 6-8 oz. finely grated parmesan cheese (and garlic and pepper to taste). I usually saute the vegetables in some butter before adding the cream and once that's heated up I slowly add in the butter and then add the parmesan cheese (only a little bit at a time). I don't need it to be super thick like the store-bought stuff, but I'd like to to stick to the pasta and chicken better.
Try making the sauce separately then adding it to the veggies. Heat the cream, the add the butter in small amounts taking the pot off the heat and back on so the cream is just warm enough to melt the butter. Once the butter is incorporated, whisk in the cheese in the same manner until it is one consistent smooth sauce. Take it off the heat, then add in another 1/4 cup of cold cream and whisk. Then add it to your veggies. Good Luck.
Or if you don't mind a totally different recipe, try this: Ingredients * 1/2 cup butter * 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese * 2 teaspoons garlic powder * 2 cups milk * 6 ounces grated Parmesan cheese * 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper Directions 1. Melt butter in a medium, non-stick saucepan over medium heat. Add cream cheese and garlic powder, stirring with wire whisk until smooth. Add milk, a little at a time, whisking to smooth out lumps. Stir in Parmesan and pepper. Remove from heat when sauce reaches desired consistency. Sauce will thicken rapidly, thin with milk if cooked too long. Toss with hot pasta to serve. I usually make it in half batches. Three adults can't kill that much sauce - I know, we've tried. It is as delicious as it is fattening. Very.
What would you guys suggest as a thickener for a jerk chicken marinade? Really I make enough to marinade and then some to brush on while grilling. I would probably only use it with the brush on portion. I don't really want to add a bunch of sugar though. Thanks
Dad is celebrating his big five'o next month. Everyone's pitching in to get him a nice gas grill. Any recommendations? More importantly, what brands/types to stay away from?
They are just plain awesome... They last forever, no rusting, heavy duty, even heat like cast iron, and are well insulated so on a windy or cold day they hold their heat steady. The one thing you need to watch though is that they do break if they are dropped or knocked over with enough force. They're made of ceramic so, treat them with care.
This Friday we have a large alumni event where we spend the day at a park. There will be about 100 of us, and I'm looking to go beyond just burgers and dogs, but $$ is a huge factor. We are looking at pulled pork, but not decided yet. Any ideas on decent, cheap alternatives? I was thinking maybe something with chicken breasts? Easy to prepare and cost are the largest factors. Thanks for any suggestions.
Pound for pound, a pork shoulder should be cheaper than chicken breasts. Smoke it for 10 hours, or if you're a pussy, use a crock pot.
They are great but I highly recommend you look into the Bubba Keg. You can order one at Ace Hardware. They blow the big green egg out of the water and it looks like a keg.
Hands down one of my favorite pulled pork recipes simply involves dumping a couple cans of beer over the meat, liberally applying Cavendar's Greek seasoning to it, covering, and roasting in the oven under low heat until the meat is falling apart. Simple and delicious. The one problem would be finding time to roast that much pork in time for Friday, so it might not be the best recipe for you.
We have a smoker, as well as the oven option. Plus a couple of my buddies are already graduated, and with taking the weekend off they have all the time in the world to keep an eye on the pork if we go that route. Thanks guys.
Anyone try to make their own marinara from scratch? My problem is that the sauce always turns out very light red and not nearly as acidic as jar versions. I've tried this a few times with different tomatoes, any suggestions?
Here's how I make marinara: Heat olive oil in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, or something similar (a dutch oven works too). Then I throw in some chopped up garlic and onion and let that cook a bit, making sure not to burn the garlic. Add canned tomatoes (generally diced and whole, it doesn't really matter IMO, but make sure you drain the can before you add the tomatoes), some tomato paste, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and a bay leaf if I have one. Let it all simmer for a decent amount of time, pull the bay leaf out, and you're set. I never measure anything. Just do it to taste and adjust as needed. If you want to use fresh tomatoes I am sure you can just use them instead of the canned ones. If your sauce is really runny try cutting out all the seeds and shit from the center of the tomatoes before you use them.
I do pretty much the same as toejam, but I use tomato puree and also add 1 cup of dry red wine. Also, I use fresh herbs (basil, oregano and parsley finely chopped) and add them about 45 minutes before serving. I'll also add the rind from a hunk of parmesan cheese and discard it before serving. Imparts a wonderful flavor to the sauce.