Spicy Chorizo Dip

So here is an embarrassing admission.  We have lived in Southern California since September of 2008 and we have only tried chorizo for the first time like a month ago.  That’s four years without tasting one of our region’s most delicious local delicacies.  It is pretty ridiculous.  So I finally got around to picking some up a few weeks ago, but for some reason, I pictured it being like a sausage in a casing, and that I would slice it then brown it with some garlic and red bell pepper and maybe serve with a fried egg and toast for breakfast.  Well, it wasn’t actually sliceable.  The mixture turned out to have a sort of runny consistency.  I basically just had to squeeze the mixture out of the packaging like it was toothpaste.  I was surprised by that, but I figured I would put that runny quality to good use and make it into…wait for it…a dip! How surprised are you? The crazy thing is that this dip is intensely delicious, like a spicy, meaty bruschetta.  Perfect with some sliced, toasted baguette or tortilla chips.

Ingredients
1 10 ounce package pork chorizo
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ leek, chopped
1 scallion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced jalapeno
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1 sprig fresh thyme, leaves removed
1 sprig fresh oregano, leaves chopped
1 ounce cream cheese
1 tablespoon Mexican crema, optional

Instructions
Melt butter in skillet over medium heat.  Add the leek, scallion, jalapeno, garlic, and bell pepper.  Toss in the fresh herbs.  Let the vegetables and aromatics soften for about 3 minutes.  Add the chorizo and mix together.  Let everything cook together, about ten minutes.  Stir in cream cheese and the crema and keep over low heat until the cream cheese has melted into the mixture.  Serve with baguette, chips or whatever floats your boat.

Mango Blackberry Salad

If Seth had his way, we would be posting a picture of a bowl filled with blackberries.  And only blackberries.  And actually, it wouldn’t be a whole bowl filled with them.  Probably just a small handful.  Seth is very picky about fruit...  The list of fruits he will eat consists of Granny Smith apples and sometimes a tiny bit of blackberries.  Extensive, isn’t it?  (Editor’s comment: This is completely false by the way.) Vegetables are a different story.  He eats them happily.  But since it is mother’s day, I am getting my way and mixing some blackberries with mango (the horror!) and then drizzling with some lime juice, zest, and fresh mint.  A refreshing, simple salad.

Ingredients 
6 ounces blackberries
1 large mango, diced
½ teaspoon lime zest
1 ½ teaspoons lime juice
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint

Instructions 
Mix all the ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl then serve.

Grilled Mega-Spice Mushrooms

One of the best things in the world is grilling at night.  Something about the mix of the cool air, dark sky, and brightly lit, red hot charcoal is almost magical.  That scent of smoldering briquettes of wood wafting through the sweet air of the night – intoxicating! All those juxtapositions and contrasts makes the act of night grilling simply awesome.  These grilled mushrooms share the same sort of contrasts – sweet touches of cinnamon and sugar play off spicy cayenne and chile powders to make for a truly addicting appetizer.

Ingredients
Mega Spice Mix:
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
1 ½ teaspoons onion powder
1 ½  teaspoons oregano
1 ½ teaspoons basil
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons ancho chile powder
2 teaspoons cayenne
2 teaspoons New Mexico chile powder

Grilled Mushrooms:
8 ounces cremini mushrooms, halved
4 tablespoons canola oil
1 ½ tablespoons mega spice mix
1 bag charcoal of choice

Instructions
For the spice mix: Place all the seasonings in a bowl and mix together.  You will have leftover mix so keep in airtight container.

For the grilled mushrooms: Place the mushrooms in a medium-sized bowl.  Drizzle the canola oil and toss the oil with the mushrooms using tongs.  Sprinkle 1 ½ tablespoons mega spice mix, coating all the mushrooms evenly.  Set aside and prepare grill.

If using charcoal (highly recommended!), light charcoal according to package directions or using your favorite method.  We like to use a chimney starter, because no lighter fluid is required, and the coals will consistently light and burn down in around 30 minutes, regardless of wind conditions.  We get a lot of wind here, so it is very helpful!  Once 80-90 percent of the charcoal is ashed-over, spread them into a single layer, put cooking grates on, cover, and let the grates heat up for five minutes.  Adjust height of charcoal and air vents, if applicable to get a nice hot temperature (around 350-400 degrees).

If using gas grill, set temperature to high (350-400 degrees) and cover for 5 minutes to heat cooking grates.

Using a paper towel or dish rag, coat cooking grates with a thin layer of canola oil.  Try to not let it drip down onto the coals to prevent flare ups.  Place halved mushrooms on grill, cut side down.  Cover, and come back in about 2-3 minutes to check on them.  Once they’ve started to soften up just a bit, and the bottoms have a nice char, remove from grill and serve hot.

Very Vanilla Egg-Free Ice Cream

Sometimes you just want to sit down with a bowl of homemade vanilla ice cream.  Okay, maybe oftentimes.  And by you, I mean us.  After all, this takes like five minutes to throw together before being churned, so can you blame us?  And the only thing that is better than vanilla ice cream at times like this, is very vanilla ice cream.  We find that the taste of the vanilla really comes through clearly by using vanilla extract in a non custard-based ice cream.  In other words, no eggs.  Of course, it helps to have some good quality vanilla extract on hand.  You may find it helps to have an awesome aunt and uncle (hi uncle Steve, hi aunt Paula) who bring you big bottles of vanilla from Mexico when they come to visit!  (By the way, we are running a bit low, so maybe you want to bring us some more next time you come? Just kidding! Kind of.).  This particular mixture also does a great job of staying soft and scoopable in the freezer for many days after it’s made.  I couldn’t tell you the chemistry behind it, but I can say that after trying many different combinations, this is the one that really gets the job done nicely. 

 Ingredients
2 cups whipping cream
1 cup whole milk
½ cup sugar
1 ½ tablespoons vanilla extract
Required equipment: Ice cream maker

Instructions
Place all ingredients in a bowl.  I like to whisk until a layer of bubbles forms on the surface and the sugar is dissolved.  Pour the mixture into the canister of the ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s directions.

Spiced Turkey Lettuce Wraps with Green Apple and Butter Lettuce

Lettuce wraps are an event.  They are what I like to think of as an “active food.”  And if you know anything about me, you’ll know that I love active foods.  Dipping, wrapping, assembling, breaking open, I’m a big fan of these things.  Your food isn’t just heaped on a plate and placed in front of you with some utensils, ready to be shoveled in.  Active foods, in this case lettuce wraps, make the eating process a ritual, and something I can look forward to for days, or even weeks.  Lettuce wraps are perfect example of this.  First, you pick your perfect lettuce leaf.  Then you spread just the right amount of hoisin over the leaf.  Then you pile in the filling – but not too much.  Then, in this case, comes a sprinkling of diced apple and chopped scallions, before finally cupping up the wrap.  Only then can you start thinking about taking a bite – a glorious bite filled with a symphony of flavors and textures – meaty mushrooms, spiced pieces of turkey, crunchy, sweet apple, and bitter scallions.  And once you are done, you start the process all over again.  After wiping all the juices off your arm …

Ingredients 
4 tablespoons peanut oil, divided
8 ounces cremini mushrooms, diced
2/3 cup shiitake mushrooms, diced
20 ounces ground turkey
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon toasted and ground coriander
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
1 ½ teaspoons rice wine
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and diced
3 scallions, chopped
1 head butter lettuce
hoisin sauce, for serving

Instructions 
Heat 3 tablespoons peanut oil over high heat in a large skillet.  Add the cremini and shiitake mushrooms.  Get those mushrooms nice and brown, stirring often, about 5 minutes.  Remove from pan and set aside.  In a small bowl, mix the black pepper, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and coriander.  Place the ground turkey and spices in a large bowl and mix together with a fork.  Add another tablespoon of peanut oil to the skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Add the spiced turkey meat.  Sauté until browned and cooked through.  Add the garlic and saute until fragrant.  Add the mushrooms back into the skillet.  In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, rice wine, and oyster sauce.  Pour over the meat and mushroom mixture.  Reduce the heat and let everything cook together for a minute or two.  Take off heat.  To assemble the wraps, brush hoisin sauce on a leaf, pile on the meat mixture, then add the scallions and apple.

Homemade Cheez-Its

After seeing these on Dara’s blog, Gen Y Foodie, I was smitten.  We needed to make them.  But instead of being all responsible and healthy with the olive oil and flax seeds, I went with good old butter.  We love butter.  We love Julia Child’s "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" for that reason.  So back to the cheez-its – It is exciting for some reason to make a homemade version of packaged food item.  Especially in this case, the buttery, cheesy crackers emerging fresh from the oven makes for such a lovely snack.  Now Seth likes to destroy this delicate harmony of the home-baked cheddar cracker by actually dipping them in this ridiculous store bought cheese dip.  If you notice, it isn’t even packaged in a jar.  It is a tin can that you open like a can of cat food.  Super classy.  He swears by it.  He claims that because the cheez-its taste so strongly like cheese, it helps to dip them into something that doesn’t taste anything like cheese… like pre-packaged cheese dip… While this is the dip he grew up with, and sometimes you just can’t fight nostalgia, I think we’d both agree that these crackers taste great with almost any dip.

Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
8 ounces extra sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling on top
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon powdered mustard
¼ teaspoon onion powder
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into tiny pieces
6 – 8 tablespoons ice water

Instructions
In a small bowl, mix together ½ teaspoon kosher salt, pepper, paprika, powdered mustard, and onion powder.  In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cheddar, and the seasoning mix.  Add the pieces of butter and using your fingers work the butter with the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumble.  Add 6 tablespoons ice water, adding more if needed for the dough to come together.  You might want to use your hands to work the dough into a large ball.  Refrigerate for 1 hour.  Heat oven to 350.  I like to roll the dough out on a Silpat or parchment paper cut to fit a baking sheet to get the right size thickness (about 1/8 inch), and then transfer the Silpat or parchment to a baking sheet. If you aren’t using these, the dough should be rolled out to roughly fit a baking sheet.  Use a pizza cutter or fluted pastry wheel (gives that nice deckled edge) to cut the dough into squares.  It helps to use a ruler to evenly space out the cuts.  Use a chopstick to make the classic hole in the center that store-bought cheez-its have.  Sprinkle more kosher salt on top then bake for about 20 minutes.  You want the crackers to be crisp, but not burnt; you may wish to remove the outer couple rows, then put the pan back in and finish the inner rows.  Once they are done, use the same pizza cutter or fluted pastry wheel (lined up with your previous cuts) to separate the crackers fully.

Glazed Chocolate Chip Scones with Rosemary and Cara Cara Orange

Scones make me happy.  I’m not sure why.  Or maybe I do know why, but it actually doesn’t make sense.  Maybe it is because they are associated with tea; which, again, is kind of strange because I drink more coffee.  I drink tea when I’m sick or on random chilly nights.  But tea also makes me think of growing up.  In both my mom’s house and my gram’s house, tea facilitated talking.  There was nothing that couldn’t be made all better with a talk, a kitchen table, and a pot of tea (usually accompanied by some sweet treat).  So, despite the associations of tea with being sick, tea makes me happy.  And therefore, scones make me happy.  Scones are also just these super fun biscuits that you can stuff with all sorts of flavors.  Here, we went with rosemary, fresh Cara Cara orange, and semisweet chocolate chips.  So go ahead and bake up a few of these, pour yourself a warm cup of tea, pull up a seat at the kitchen table, and be happy.

Ingredients
For the scones:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
pinch of kosher salt
½ teaspoon orange zest from a Cara Cara orange
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
5 tablespoons butter, cut into tiny pieces
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons fresh juice from a Cara Cara orange
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon milk

Instructions
Heat oven to 375.  In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, orange zest, and rosemary together.  Using your fingers or a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture.  Work the butter into it until the mixture looks like coarse crumble.  Stir in cream and orange juice until dough forms.  Fold in the chocolate chips.  Divide dough into equal size pieces (I got 8 large scones), and drop onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat.  Or you can be fancier and roll the dough into a 1-inch thick circle and cut the dough like a pizza.  Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.  In a small bowl, mix together powdered sugar, orange juice, and milk.  Let the scones cool for just a bit, then brush on orange glaze.