Bourbon Brownies

At the beginning of the summer I vowed to try new bourbon recipes from my Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook. Admittedly, this resolution has gotten off to a slow start.  To date, I have only made two recipes - Chicken Kentuckiana and Pan-Seared Salmon with Chipotle Lime Bourbon Glaze. Fortunately last weekend I got back on track with Bourbon Brownies.  The recipe required some ingenuity - like devising my own double boiler...

Not as attractive as a Dutch oven, but it does the trick.

I couldn't find the exact recipe from my cookbook and don't want to run into any copyright issues, but here is a quick overview of what's required. First, you soak pecans in bourbon until they absorb half of the bourbon (roughly a half an hour). Then you toast the bourbon-soaked pecans and put aside the bourbon for later in the baking process. Next, you use the double boiler (or a contraption similar to the pic above) to melt unsweetened chocolate, butter and margarine. Once you've cooled the chocolate mixture, you stir in flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cocoa and the left over bourbon. Then you bake (in my oven, this took 15 minutes longer than the prescribed 25 minutes)...

YUM!

The end result is fantastic, fudgy, and deliciously bourbon-y.

Philly: A wonderful foodie break from the GMATs

I have been a bad food blogger in 2011. I mistakenly thought I would have to rededicate to this blog time after my crazy work project ended, but did not account for how much studying for the GMATs would start to dominate my life. Instead of baking or trying new restaurants in the past few months, I've been trying new equations and GMAT tutoring. I have another month left, but desperately needed a break from the food desert and studying, so last weekend I went to Philadelphia with my sister and cousin. We had a wonderful time and discovered some great restaurants along the way!

We started out our Philly adventure at my favorite bar, the Continental Mid-Town. I discovered this lounge with my friend Liz on my first trip to the city and have gone back every time I visit. It serves delicious classic cocktails and has fun, mod decor. I love it.

Our next stop was the Dandelion Pub, a delightful and delicious restaurant. The menu has a range of intriguing and inventive dishes. We ordered gemelli pasta with spring squash, pattypans, and zuchhini blossoms - it was one of the best pasta dishes I've had this year. The pickled beetroot jar with olive tapenade, goats cheese, and sourdough toast was also a hit, and the devilled eggs were amazing. The decour was inviting and whimsical.

For dessert, we went across the street to Serafina, a New York import with an impressive menu. We shared a rich chocolate hazelnut cake and a light berry tart.  It was the perfect way to end our meal.

The next day, I took over fork: etc. at breakfast to study for the GMATs while my sister and cousin went to the Liberty Bell and Constitution Hall. While there, I had a flaky cinnamon roll, a blue cheese pear scone, and fresh fruit (and yes, it was difficult to chose only those three). As well as their tempting pastry selection, fork: etc, had friendly service and a laid-back atmosphere perfect for a local cafe.

I met my sister and cousin at Franklin Fountain, where they were having ice cream. An old fashioned soda shop to its core, Franklin Fountain is great fun, but backs up its decor with great ice cream. This may be a regular stop on my future Philly trips.

We stopped by Pat's King of Steaks and Geno's Steaks on our way out of town. We agreed that Pat's had better bread, but overall we liked Geno's more. Before starting the long drive back, we stopped the Italian Market to pick up some provisions from DiBruno Brothers. Walking in was like heaven. The whole store smelled like cheese, olive oil, and cured meats. The staff is friendly and let us try lots of samples. We walked away with half a pound of prosciutto and two amazing cheeses. Unfortunately the prosciutto didn't survive the car ride home...thanks to me.

Cooking with Bourbon: Pan-Seared Salmon with Chipotle Honey-Lime Bourbon Glaze

This recipe is as good as it sounds. It may be the best thing I've ever cooked (which obviously means it's an easy recipe). The glaze is a great spicy and sweet combination that complements the flavor of the salmon. It's perfect over white rice.

YUM!

My new favorite bar...

My two favorite places to get drinks in Old Town are Restaurant Eve and The Majestic, so I was thrilled when I found out that Cathal and Meshelle Armstrong were opening Virtue Feed and Grain, an Irish pub/lounge.  My two favorite bartenders (Ken and Mike) moved to Virtue, so I knew the drinks would live up to their reputation.  I wasn't disappointed, my all time favorite cocktail, Eve's Temptation is back on the menu at Virtue after being out of rotation at Restaurant Eve for over a year.  Not to mention, the prices are more moderate.  I like the casual feel and atmosphere at Virtue, but it can get quite loud on Friday and Saturday nights.  Overall, it's a great addition to the waterfront and definitely my favorite place to hang out this summer!

Saying goodbye to strawberry season

Strawberries have always been my favorite fruit, so I'm sad that strawberry season is coming to a close. To make the most of the fresh strawberries at my local farmer's market, my friend Emily and I made Martha Stewart's Strawberry Icebox Pie:

Not quite as picturesque as Martha's pie, but still delicious!

Say what you will about Martha, she has some good pie recipes. The strawberry filling augmented the strawberry taste instead of overwhelming the strawberry flavor with sugar. But we did modify other parts of the recipe.  I had several pre-made pie crusts at hand, so we baked one of those instead of making the graham cracker crust. We also substituted the whipped cream with mascarpone cheese, which was a nice twist. In all, it was the perfect way to get the most out of strawberry season.

Kentucky Cooking in Oklahoma

 Determined to keep my summer resolution to cook with bourbon once a week, I decided my mom and I should try a recipe together. Forced mother-daughter bonding activities can get tense, but fortunately we had fun making the recipe and neither of us walked away traumatized. 

We picked out Chicken Kentuckiana, a fried chicken dish with a spinach and mushroom bourbon cream sauce. I would love to post the recipe, but unfortunately think there might be some copyright issues, so the best I can do is refer you to The Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook's Amazon page. 

We modified the recipe slightly as we had skinless, boneless chicken breasts and used vegetable oil. My mom is a big advocate of always washing your chicken in warm water, so that helped the flour stick to the chicken, and the vegetable oil worked just fine for frying. The end result was great, and our approach was a bit healthier than the original recipe.  

Our healthier take on "fried" chicken.

While finishing cooking the fried chicken in cream sauce, we were concerned because the sauce was not thickening. Fortunately, my mom knew just what to do! She put a tablespoon of cornstarch into 1/4 cup of hot water and stirred so the starch dissolved. Once we added that to the sauce, it thickened nicely...

The bourbon cream sauce in mid-thicken

Chicken Kentuckiana was delicious and is dish I will be making again.  We ate it over rice, but the recipe also suggested mashed potatoes.  

Not wanting to miss out on the fun, my dad decided to make his fried green tomatoes!  They turned out great, and fortunately, I can share this recipe:

1) Mix Louisiana Fish Fry (in the cornmeal section of the grocery store) with a dash of Old Bay seasoning. 

2)Thinly slice green tomatoes. 

3) Combine 2-3 egg whites in a bowl and set to the side. (You can also whisk 2 full eggs together if you'd prefer.) 

4) In a large skillet, pour vegetable oil (enough so that there is 1/2 inch of oil in the pan) and heat over a medium heat. 

5) While the oil is heating, dip your tomatoes in the egg whites and cover both sides with the fish fry/seasoning mix. 

6) Place the tomatoes in the pan (they shouldn't touch each other and should leave room for you to maneuver), and when the tomatoes are browned, flip and fry them on the other side. 

7) Drain fried tomatoes on paper towels.

8) Serve and enjoy!

Oklahoma City Highlights

I visited my parents in Oklahoma City last week and took the opportunity to check out the local fare.

I was disconcerted when the waiter at Bricktown Brewery, told me the restaurant was taking fruits and veggies off their menu, but fortunately not all the restaurants were as committed to spreading obesity.  Zorba's Mediterranean Cuisine had tons of delicious dishes with fresh veggies, fruits, and herbs - not to mention the very un-DC prices!  I also loved Picasso's in the artsy Paseo neighborhood, they had an amazing fresh beet, goat cheese, and arugula salad, but my favorite thing was their homemade cheesecake drizzled with strawberry kiwi champagne sauce.

Zorba's and Picasso's were the highlights, but I also enjoyed Cajun King (what's not to love about endless fried catfish and beignets), Cattlemen's (great burgers), and Mi Pueblo (unpretentious, classic Tex Mex).

As much fun as I had exploring the local fare, my favorite food experiences were trying out some new recipes on my parents and learning some of their cooking tricks...more on that soon!