Rainbow Trout

Every evening I get the same phone call as I am walking out of work. I call it the potato chip call.
"Mom." (She never states what she wants right away, I always have to say "yes?" Drives me nuts.)
"Yes?"
"Can I have some candy or chips as a snack?"
"No, have some grapes."
"Ok, what are we having for supper?"
"I'm not sure."
" The boys in class were bad again today. And you should stop at Morey's and get something there for supper."

I did stop at Morey's once again tonight to pick up some salmon and got tempted instead by the display of rainbow trout in the cooler. It was an easy choice since both Kevin and Miss Chocoholic love fish and they especially love trout. Kevin likes to pretend that in all his fishing and hunting trips he is actually the "hunter and gatherer" and providing for his family. Since bringing a piece of trout home would probably involve another mandatory fishing trip to Lake of the Woods, it is always cheaper to buy a couple of fillets from Morey's, regardless of what Kevin may try to tell you.
The trout was happy to come home with me because it knew it was going to get a nice mustard sauce and warm cedar plank bed. I soaked a cedar plank for about fifteen minutes. I know... it should have been longer but I was in a hurry. I turned the grill on and put the plank with the trout on the grill.

One time I cooked salmon the same way and the oils from the salmon ran down into the grill. The oil and the plank caught fire and wouldn't stop burning no matter how I tried beating it with the spatula. Luckily, the salmon was only singed on the edges and I managed to scoop the salmon onto a plate and then carried the flaming plank down to the fire pit balanced on my spatula. Thank God Kevin didn't see that happen! This time nothing caught fire. I sprinkled the trout with some Old Bay seasoning, lemon pepper and dill. It didn't take it long to cook, maybe fifteen minutes at the most.I made a mustard glaze by starting a saucepan with garlic and some Barefoot Chardonnay. I let that boil, then added some brown mustard, horseradish and dill. A little mayo helped dilute the salty taste.

I cooked a box of couscous in chicken broth to go with the trout. If you have never tried couscous before, it is a Middle Eastern grain that can be eaten like rice. It is nice to have a different starch once in awhile and we eat couscous frequently at our house. Both Kevin and Miss Chocoholic like it.

I served dinner with the rest of the bottle of Barefoot Chardonnay. This chardonnay is the best bang for your buck. It is only about seven dollars a bottle and has a smooth, lemony taste that goes well with fish. Kevin and Miss Chocoholic ate everything while making little moany sounds. Miss Chocoholic even asked for seconds.

Grilling on a cedar plank gives fish a smoky, silky taste that you don't get from seasoning. This was actually a healthy and delicious meal. Now my tummy is full, Kevin went out to the fish house on the ice to pretend to hunt and gather, Miss Chocoholic is doing homework and I will finish my wine and see who makes a fool of themselves on American Idol tonight. Happy cooking!

Chef and Company Chef Challenge

Last week I went to the chef challenge at Chef and Company. Chef and Company is a store over by Grizzlies in Brainerd that has any pot or pan you could possibly wish for. They also have a gorgeous kitchen in which they do cooking classes. Check out their website. It is http://www.chefcompany.com/

Once every two months they have a chef challenge. You can be one of the audience members who gets to drool over the creations for the single price of a non-perishable food item. I have been to several of their cooking classes and I had a can of unused pineapple slices in my cupboard to use as the fee so I decided to check out the competition.

I got there about five minutes before they started. If you are going, get there super early so you can get a seat at the table. They had folding chairs but you can't see and I wound up standing the whole time.

The two chefs were Tom Kavanaugh and Shelly Shields from the Quarterdeck. The competition was based off the "Iron Chef" competitions on Food Network. Right before the show starts, the "secret" ingredient is revealed. The chefs have an hour and a half to create three dishes. This time the secret ingrident was shrimp. Think of the wonderful things you can do with shrimp!

Tom made a shrimp risotto, trout stuffed with a shrimp mousse and mushroom ragout, and homemade pasta with shrimp wrapped in phyllo dough. Shelly made a shrimp bisque, cerviche with a fennel salad and an appetizer that consisted of cornbreaded shrimp layered with wanton wrappers that she had fried like chips.

One of the judges was Matty, a local restaurant owner and as I watched him shovel bites of the trout into his mouth, my eyes literally watered. That is the only bad thing about this competition...if you go, you may get a little taste with a tiny plastic fork, but you probably won't get a big bite so eat a large supper before you get there! For a foodie such as myself, it was hard to watch and not want to rip the plate out of the judge's hand.

I thought Shelly should have won the competition, she was very focused and her presentation was amazing. I had a little taste of her bisque and I can't even describe it, it was so good. As the judges critiqued each dish, I was disappointed that not one of the three judges knew what cerviche was and each one asked how it was pronounced. (Cerviche is shrimp that is cooked by marinading it in citrus. No heat is involved in the cooking, the citrus will cook the shrimp by itself.) I have to give them a little break though, it would have been tough to be a judge and criticize all that wonderful food. Both Shelly and Tom made some pretty mouthwatering dishes.

In the end, Tom won the competition. I tasted his leftover mushroom ragout and it was very good. Then I went over to Grizzlies and ordered the mushroom ravioli because I was starving. I will admit that his homemade pasta did inspired me to make my own pasta the next weekend. You can read about that in the article below this one. The competition is definitely worth your time if you like to get inspiration from different sources. I will go again in a heartbeat but I will make sure I eat first!

There was some dip and cake for everyone to eat while you browsed the store. The dip was very tasty and the recipe was on the table for everyone to take. From the recipe you wouldn't think this is a very sophisticated dip but the blend of the flavors was perfect. Here is Julie's dip recipe. I hope she won't mind that I shared it with you. Make sure you check out Chef and Companies website and see if any classes fit your schedule. You will be glad you did! Also, make sure you get over to the Boathouse at the Quarterdeck to check out Shelly's cooking for yourself!

Julie's Olive Dip

8 ounces softened cream cheese
1 cup diced green olives
1 cup diced black olives
1/2 cup chopped onion
dash of tabasco sauce

Pulse olives and onions in a food processor, then add cream cheese and tabasco. Serve with crackers or vegatables. All your friends will ask you for the recipe!

Homemade Pasta

My mom came to visit me this weekend and Saturday we spent a pleasant afternoon cooking and baking. We decided to make homemade shrimp alfredo pasta for supper, a dish my daughter affectionately calls "greasy noodles." It is her favorite meal in the whole world.

A little road trip was in order so we stopped at the grocery store and at Moreys for some seafood. If you have never been to Moreys in Brainerd, you need to drop what you are doing right this minute and take a little drive over there. They used to have a restaurant and a retail section but they have since moved over to the little strip mall by Famous Dave's and now they only do retail. They don't just sell seafood, there is something in there for everyone from fabulous dips to some of the harder things to find in this area, such as panko. (Japanese bread crumbs) If you are planning to buy some shrimp, go to Moreys and get a pound of the EZ peel shrimp. You will have to cook and peel them but as they are currently at $7.99 a pound, it is cheaper than the grocery stores and tastes better, too! In our little Saturday trip we bought a loaf of French bread, a pound of scallops, a pound and a half of shrimp, a pound of their "Ole" crab dip. All of it was absolutely wonderful. We got back home and started the pasta out with about a pound of flour on the counter. We made a well in the flour and broke three eggs into it. I added a drizzle of olive oil, fresh thyme and basil and started kneading it until it formed a ball. I had to add a little water during the process. We rolled the dough out and used a wooden spatula to cut it into strips. But the question was what do we to hang it on to let it dry? I found a sweater rack in my closet. I washed it off and put it between two chairs. It worked perfect.

I don't have pictures of the alfredo sauce but we created that by starting some chardonnay boiling in a saucepan and then adding garlic, chives, chicken broth, cream and cornstarch. Time to cook up the scallops and shrimp! I have found that if I start a pan out with garlic and olive oil, let it cook awhile, then add scallops, the scallops develop this delicious, garlicky glaze. After that, we added the shrimp. We let the pasta dry for about an hour, then I started a boiling pot of water for it and dropped the noodles in.
Once the pasta was cooked (about 5 minutes) we added it to the seafood and mixed it with mozerella cheese and sea salt. Each plate got a healthy splash of the alfredo sauce. We served it with a bottle of 2005 Piesporter Michelsberg Riesling Auslese (my mom recommended it and it is a great, fruity, zesty wine) and was it ever good! Kevin commented that it reminded him of the dumplings in chicken and dumpling soup only better and that this dish can't be extremely healthy!

Bayfield Winery

One of my favorite places in the world is Bayfield, WI. Not only do they have the most unique restaurants, campgrounds, bars and scenery, they also have some of the best wine at an apple orchard called Hauser's Superior View Farm. The winery is called Bayfield Winery. Check out their website: http://www.bayfieldwinery.com/. Isn't that view of Lake Superior amazing?

I went there with my mom a couple of years ago during Bayfields annual Apple Festival. The orchard was having a winetasting and I tasted all the wines. Their raspberry is my favorite and the sweet apple is my second favorite. I had to buy a case of wine when we were there. When my mom and I ate out that night, the restaurant we were at carried the Bayfield Winery wine. My mom and I split a bottle of the raspberry while we forked huge amounts of flaky, buttery whitefish in our mouths. It was heaven.

Of course, a case of wine doesn't last long in this house! My sister-in-law was in Bayfield over the summer and gave me a bottle of wine for my birthday in October. I finally had to break into the bottle the other day. I made Kevin sip his glass slowly.

It is definitely a sweet wine but the sweetness isn't overpowering. I would still classify it as a dessert wine. The color is such a beautiful gold and the wine is fruity and not dry.

How sweet would it be to own your own orchard and winery?? My dream job!

Perfect Popovers

I love Gordan Ramsey and his "Kitchen Nightmares" show. Recently I saw one of the episodes where he turned around a failing restaurant with "real" gravy and Yorkshire pudding. Since then, I have been obsessed with popovers. The fact that steam is what makes them rise amazes me every time I make them, or shall I say...attempt to make them!

The only difference that I can see between Yorkshire pudding and popovers are that popovers are individual and Yorkshire pudding is cooked in the pan with the roast beef drippings (or roast beast, as I like to call it) in one big pudding. Someone correct me if I am wrong but I think that is pretty much the only difference.

This is about my fifth time making popovers. They are a little tricky but I finally think I have it figured out. Here are the secrets that you always wanted to know about popovers!

1. Make sure the flour and milk are exactly a cup. Don't "eyeball" it on this one! You cannot think that because the liquid creates steam, then more liquid will make them rise even higher!(like I did, hee hee!)
2. Don't overgrease the pan! This was my mistake the first four and a half times. As you can see in the picture, on the right hand side I was more liberal (I poured it) with the oil than I should have been. Brush the cups with oil and don't overdo it.
3. The milk and eggs need to be room temperature before you add it to the flour mixture.
4. Don't overbeat! I mixed it lightly and there were flour clumps in the mixture. That's ok.
5. The eggs should be 1/4 of a cup. If they are a little less, add some milk until you get to 1/4 of a cup per egg.

So without further ado, here is the recipe for popovers. Don't worry, if they don't turn out, they are still yummy! We have never had a popover go to waste in our house!

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Brush your popover pan with oil. Put the pan in the oven while it is preheating. You want your pan to be hot! Mix flour and salt together in one bowl. Beat the eggs and milk together in another bowl. If the milk and eggs came right out of the frig, stick them in the microwave for about 10 seconds to make them room temperature. Mix the milk mixture with the flour mixture. Don't overbeat. There can be some lumps. Pull the hot pan out of the oven and fill the cups halfway. Put the popovers in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Don't peek! If you need to see what is happening, turn your oven light on. After 15 minutes, turn your oven back down to 375 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Glogg

I have been on an ethnic kick lately and did a complete Finnish Christmas this year because Kevin is Finnish. So in keeping with this Scandanavian tradition, I have to tell you about a wonderful, warm, winter alchoholic drink: glogg. I was first introduced to this from a friend that worked at Moreys in Brainerd. They had a package of the dried fruit and you added port to it. Then I found this recipe and made it for Christmas this year. I changed a few things to make it my own. When you first put the cup up to your nose, the alchohol hits you with some pretty potent fumes. Then you take a sip and you think...awww! That was warming and good, all the way to my toes! This is great to put in a thermos and take out to the fishhouse in the winter. Nothing better than pulling a walleye through the ice with a cup of hot glogg in your other hand. So here is my recipe for glogg. Enjoy!

1 bottle of dry red wine
1 bottle of port
1 bottle of brandy
10 inches of stick cinnamon (about 4 sticks)
2 dozen whole cloves
peel of one orange
1/2 cup of raisins
1 package of dried apricots
2 cups sugar

Pour the red wine and port into a stainless steel or porcelain kettle. Add cinnamon, cloves, orange peel, raisins and apricots. Warm gently, but do not boil. Boiling will burn off the alcohol and that's not what we want!

Put the sugar in a separate pan and soak it with 1/2 the bottle of brandy. Warm the sugar and brandy over a low flame. The sugar will melt and bubble until it becomes a clear golden syrup of carmelized sugar.

Add the carmelized sugar to the spiced wine mix. Cover and let mull for an hour. Be careful not to let it boil. Add the other half of the bottle of brandy and strain the mixture into a bottle. You can serve it immediately or let it age for a month or two. If you age it, make sure the bottle is filled as high as possible and sealed tight.

To serve, warm it gently over a low flame or microwave for 1 minute in a mug. Remember, do not boil. Drink while seated and give your car keys to a friend.

Grandview Crabapple Wine

It all started last fall when I grabbed two five-gallon buckets and my daughter and picked enough crabapples to fill one and half buckets. It was a beautiful evening for picking and would have been even more beautiful if my daughter wouldn't have been whining the whole time about "Are we done yet?" Our friend's family owns Grandview Resort in Nisswa. He has been so kind as to let me pick the crabapples for the last couple of years because they would most likely go to waste. The first year I made jelly out of them. This year it was five gallons of wine.

This was my favorite batch of wine so far. Kevin loved it. For Christmas he asked for his very own bottle to do whatever he wanted with it. It was a huge hit at his office Christmas party this year. But because of all the drinking before it was ready to bottle, I only got a solid eight bottles out of five gallons and the rest went down the stomachs.

I started this wine on 8/30/07. I boiled all the crabapples down and squeezed them through a cheesecloth like you would for jelly. I poured everything in a five-gallon carboy (bottle) and added about four cups of sugar, one of brown sugar, four packets of wine yeast, a tablespoon of yeast nutrient and four tablespoons of tannin. Someone told me at a wine class once to just brew some very strong black tea and use that as tannin which I did in this case.

When I tasted the wine after a couple of weeks, it was very puckery from the crabapples. I bought an oak stick online through http://www.midwestsupplies.com/ (I love them, they have everything and they are so great to work with!!) I added the oak stick to the mixture and left it. Eventually the wine started to mellow. The more sugar I added to keep the yeast going, the more the taste mellowed. I didn't want to make a super sweet wine so I kept the sugar to a minimum. I racked it three times. Racking is when you syphon the wine into another jug so that the pulp, also called the lee, will sink to the bottom. I put a packet of clearing gel into it before I racked it the last time because it wasn't as clear as I wanted it. That made a huge difference and the final product was beautiful!

The taste of this wine is not real fruity. You can taste the oak and you can taste the crabapples but neither flavor is prominant. The finished product is mellow with a hint of sweetness and a slight smoky flavor.

I was so excited to get these bottles and some really pretty labels. I also bought some corks and a cheap corker. With the cheap corker, you definitely need two people to cork the bottles. Kevin and I got the hang of it after two bottles. I would recommend a corker that stands on the floor for any more than ten bottles. I would like to get one next year. I handwrote the labels as I was too lazy to set up a template in Microsoft Word. That will be my next project.

I feel very rich with twelve of my own bottles of wine. Along with my crabapple, I have two bottles of strawberry wine and two bottles of peach wine. I can't wait for the spring and summer next year, I will be a winemaking machine! I want to try dandilion, plum, strawberry, and blackberry wine. And you can bet next fall I will make about fifteen gallons of the crabapple!

My First Post

Hi! I created this blog to talk about all the fun things I attempt (notice I said attempt) to create. I am not a professional chef, I am just very creative and one of my creative mediums is food. I love food and I love wine and I love to create both of them. Fortunately, my husband, Kevin, is not a picky eater and he thinks it is just wonderful that I can cook because about the only thing he says he cooks better than me is ramen noodles. When we first moved in together, he made some comment about how much more garbage we have now and I told him that the cardboard bottoms of frozen pizzas don't take up much room in the garbage can!

I heard this quote once, "Cooking is as much of a sense of self-expression as any of the fine arts" and I agree. There is nothing I love better than spending a Saturday afternoon in my kitchen chopping veggies and creating a big pot of chicken wild rice soup. Sometimes it turns out, sometimes it doesn't. Kevin still eats it regardless and will compliment me even when I am hard on myself. Now my daughter...that is a different story! If the world was made of nothing but chocolate, that girl would be a happy kid!

Living in Minnesota has influenced my tastes. I love a great piece of walleye, I cold-smoke salmon, I grill in subzero tempatures and I make wine from whatever fruit is available during the summer.

I hope you will follow me in my amateur pursuit of these hobbies and hopefully you will be inspired and you will inspire me!