Make Me Cook

Dammit… I’ve said it once if I’ve said it a million times that Mangoes are sexy! I mean come on… they blush for you. Okay well some of them do at any rate. Those large green variety have no shame at all and stay green, feigning being unripe tempting you to turn away from their sexy sweet and succlent orange fleshy interior. Meanwhile other mangoes blush a rainbow of green to yellow to crimson just begging to be devoured. And do I need to mention (okay, YES I DO) that when you turn two of them so the stem end is facing you and you have a pair of voluptuous… well you get the idea. Better than melons, because mangoes are SEXY!

So on my counter I have had for the past week or so these two ginormous green mangoes. These guys are so big that you would need three adult hands to properly hold one, they were just a wee bit smaller than an American Football, if that gives you any idea on size. So Ras and I were sitting here thinking of things to make. The obvious things like Sticky Rice and Mango, Mango Chutney all came to mind. Then Ras said “Why are there no Mango Preserves, I bet preserves would taste delicious.” The light bulb above my head came on and lit up the room. I immediately ran to the kitchen and started peeling and hacking them in to little cubes.

Fueled by Rasmus’ ponderings, I have devised a preserve like no other. I’ve infused these preserved mango-licious cubes with lime juice and zest and ground red chili flake… just enough to make it interesting, think of how you would use cinnamon in like Apple Butter, that’s how we are going to use the chili flake today. Since Rasmus is my Man-Muse™, I’ve decided to name it after him. Awww.

So without rambling on too much longer here is the recipe (I’ve done a half measurement for those who don’t want to make a huge batch- you will find that number on the left side of the bar that looks like this: | in italics):

Rasmus’ Mango Preserves
3 | 6 cups Ripe Mango, peeled, pitted and diced
3/4 | 1 1/2 cups White Sugar
1 | 2 Limes, zested and juiced
Pinch to taste | scant 1/8 teaspoon Ground Red Chili Flake
1/8 | 1/4 cup water

In a large saucepan combine all of the above ingredients. Zesting the lime BEFORE juicing it is always best, it’s damn near impossible to zest an already squeezed and mangled lime. ***Hint: You may wish to hold back half of the chili flake and adjust it accordingly to your taste, remember that the chili flavor will intensify as the mixture cooks down.
Cook it over Medium-High heat for about 30-45 minutes stirring constantly. The mixture will look something like thick applesauce, that will be when it is done. As it cools it will gel up some more. Enjoy!!!

Serving suggestions:
–Serve it with pork chops instead of applesauce.
–Stir-fry shrimp with green peppers and add it in.
–Toast an english muffin. Top with preserves and top that with ham and an egg.
–Take wild greens, put on some thinly sliced duck breast, top the duck with it!
–Put it on Ice Cream!
–Put it in your yogurt with some crushed pistachio or macadamia nuts
–Eat it straight out of the freakin’ pan with a spoon because it’s that damn good!

Enjoy!!!!

Oh yeah baby… that’s what I’m talking about. Comfort food. First of all, let me send out an apology to my vegan friends for the graphic image I’ll make it up to you later (I’ve got something special in the works because I like vegan food too!)

So this will be a quicky recipe for the meat eaters. It’s a no brainer, throw it in a pot, stick it in the oven and walk away for a couple hours. Dinner.

What is it? Oh my, oh my. Your looking at the picture and thinking it’s your old run of the mill potato and carrots Yankee Pot Roast aren’t you. Oh no! This is special, calling forth the rich and aromatic flavors of the fall season. Get ready to have you socks blown off and to have your nose have multiple orgasms. Yes, you heard me right… it’s that damn good!

Savory Drunken Fall Pot Roast
1 Chuck or Roast cut of Beef (you can use Pork if you prefer)
1 large Celery root, peeled and cut into sticks
5 plump Whole Carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
1 Sweet Onion, crudely chopped in large pieces
10 whole Cloves of Garlic, peeled
1/4 cup Garlic Oil (see recipe below)
3 cups Merlot (stuff good enough you can drink it)
5-6 whole fresh Bay Leaves (or 8 dried)
Few pinches of Coarse Ground Seat Salt and whole White Peppercorns

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees C.
Unlike a medium rare roast beef, we are not going to sear this slab of flesh. We want it to ooze its juices out into the vegetables and into the wine. Take a dutch oven or a ceramic crock, pour half of the garlic oil into the bottom. Scatter half of the onions on to the bottom of that and then place the meat in the middle of the pot. Scatter the celery root, carrots, garlic and remaining onion alongside the meat. Carefully pour the wine around the vegetables and take the remaining garlic oil and pour it over the meat and vegetables. Season the meat with a few pinches of corse sea salt and whole peppercorns. Finish it off with a scattering of bay leaves.
Cover it tightly with a lid or with foil and put it in your preheated oven for about 3-4 hours. Check it to make sure that there is liquid in there, you want it to “stew” in its juices. The longer you leave it the most tender the meat will become. The consistency you are after here is falling apart at the touch.

So simple, chop, scatter, cook and enjoy!
Once it is finished you can dish it up onto a platter, meat in the center with vegetables surrounding it. Take that left over juice that it was stewing in and make it into a gravy. You can do this by thickening it with a little cornstarch/water mixture and bringing it up to a boil. Very quick and easy.

Garlic Oil
3 heads of garlic, cloves seperated
2 whole shallots roughly chopped
3 cups Canola or Olive Oil

Take a glass or corning ware oven-safe pan. Pour the oil into it and randomly place the garlic and shallots throughout the oil. Slow roast at 200 degrees until carmel colored ooze starts to come out of the garlic and shallots. Take it out of the oven and let it cool. Once it is cooled off, discard the deep fried garlic and shallots and strain the oil into a glass bottle. Cap it and use it whenever you want a savory punch in salad dressings or for cooking.

Enjoy!!!
And tell me that your entire house didn’t just smell like roasty heaven! I’m dying over here, I wish you could all smell it!!!

Well, I just had to blog about this, because Lara is one of those people I’ve been dying to meet. She’s a local and she is a Food Geek like myself. So imagine my utter delight and glee when she contacted me to interview me!

My sit down coffee chat with Lara went on for about 2 hours, I’m sure it would have went on even longer if it were not for parking meters expiring and running out of quarters to feed them. Lara is probably one of the sweetest and most bubbly fun Food Geeks I have met so far. I love absolutely every minute of our time over coffee and left with a taste of wanting some more time to hang out. Lara “gets it” when it comes to food. She’s a geek like the rest of us and it is refreshing and wonderful to sit down and talk to people who are on the same page… people who just get it.

She’s also an amazing at home coffee roaster. She has served me as a source of invaluable information on the articles she has written on coffee roasting and bean tasting. Her writing has inspired me to roast at home, which is a fun exploration. When I showed up for the interview she had a cute little box sitting on the table waiting for me… inside it was her “Kickass Blend”. Hand roasted that morning…. what an honor

So L… thank you for a wonderful visit, Sitka & Spruce is calling our names
Coffee with Kelly Cline a Lara Ferroni Interview

Okay… you guys and gals are going to have to wait for the picture on this one… it was too delicious that it never made it to the table for a shoot. Which you know means I will have to make it again…. oh darn!

Well now, since we had a little run with hummus and falafel, it just would not be right to not include a Tabouli (or Tabbouleh) recipe. I don’t want to send you packing with some boring old crappy recipe for the same old Tabouli, it’s not that kind of party. So I have twisted it a little this way and a little that way and folks… it’s a good one. Again, my Vegan and Raw Food friends you guys are gonna love me for this because it is vegan and raw food friendly. My Canivorous friends you will love this too as it explodes with flavor and texture, it’s a party in your mouth… yeah it’s that kind of party now baby!

It’s sweet, it’s savory… it’s downright dead Sexy. Touch it.

Sweet, Savory, Sexy Tabouli

3 cups Bulgur Wheat, soaked and made ahead(see preparation below)
3 Tomatoes, diced with seeds removed
1 cup Fresh Pineapple, diced (canned in a pinch will work)
1 cup Flat Leaf Parsley, chopped
1/2 cup Green Onions (Scallions), chopped
1/4 cup Fresh Mint, chopped
1/8 cup Red Bell Pepper, finely minced
3 tablespoons Olive Oil
2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
Pinch of Red Pepper Flaked, finely crushed
Pinch of Sea Salt

Place all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl and start tossing. Really… that’s all there is to it. Now you can get busy on gettin’ busy… hubba hubba!

Serve this with falafel, hummus and pita wedges ala meze for a satisfying snack, or go bold and serve it with some spicey chicken, fried curried tofu or potatoes. It’s also just as sexy all by itself, try a little monogamous plate and see for yourself.

How to Prepare Bulgur Wheat

Some people say bulgar, but that refers to a Bulgarian and not cracked wheat, which is corrrectly called “Bulgur”
1 1/2 cups Bulgur Wheat (not a Bulgarian)

3 cups Very Warm Water, not quite boiling
pinch of sea salt

Put the wheat and salt into a glass bowl, pour the Warm Water over the wheat, cover and let it sit until cool, about an hour. Don’t stir it or mess with it, you will make it go all mushy and sticky… we don’t want any premature gloopy messes now do we? So go watch some TV or throw some rose petals around and light some candles to get ready for the sexy party that you are about to create.

Enjoy!!

Hey! Long time no write, I know I know….

Well lemme catch you up really fast. Things have been insanely busy (as you probably might have guessed) between work, family and travel I’ve been somewhat scarce on the ole interweb.

But the good guys Bill and Ed over at Studio Lighting.net nailed me down long enough to pick my brain on some of my lighting techniques I use for food photography. You can check that out here:
Kelly Cline’s Studio Lighting.net Interview

It was less of an interview and more like a big goof off session with a couple of buddies. I had so much fun talking with Ed and Bill… I’m still waiting for kids in the mail too hehehe.

So go have yourself a listen, and look for things to pick back up around these parts now that the weather is cooling down and is going to keep me inside for a while!