French Bread

This is a recipe that I obtained from Le Creuset.  I recently got their 9 quart French Oven and it's definitely something I would recommend to anyone.  It's a great piece of cookware and very versatile.  I love the fact that you can take it from the stove to the oven.  It makes it ideal for braising.  The good thing about this recipe is it will actually work on any oven safe pot.  The recipe recommends at least a 5.5 quart pot.  I have heard of people doing this in All Clad pots as well.  I have made a few loaves of bread and it comes out perfect every time.

This is actually the most foolproof bread recipe that I have ever made.  It's almost as easy as using a bread machine.

This recipe is straight from the Le Creuset website.  I didn't need to lower the heat and brown the bread, it was already done after 30 minutes.  But, that may depend on your oven.

When making bread, I always use bread flour

My 9 Quart Le Creuset French Oven

Mix the yeast and water

 Make sure you use the dough hook

The mixed dough

The dough has risen and is ready

Reshape dough and score

The Final Plating

Ingredients:

• 4 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• Kosher salt or coarse sea salt
• Vegetable oil or vegetable oil spray
• Olive oil

Directions:

Combine the flour, water, yeast and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Mix on medium speed until the dough is smooth and elastic, 5 to 10 minutes. Depending on the size of the bowl, you may need to stop the mixer and remove the dough from the dough hook if the dough is not developing thoroughly. When the dough looks smooth, cut off a piece and stretch it. If it stretches to the point of transparency, it’s mixed enough. If not, continue mixing.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and cover it with a pot lid or plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise until it has doubled in size and does not spring back when you push your finger into it, 2 to 4 hours.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead it to release the gas and redistribute the yeast. Shape it roughly into a ball, cover it with a towel, and let stand for 10 minutes to allow the gluten to relax.

Shape the dough into a tight ball – the tighter the better – by rolling it on the work surface between your palms.

Spray or coat the bottom and sides of a large French oven or other heavy ovenproof pot (5 1/2 quarts or larger) with vegetable oil. Put the dough in the center of the pot and place the lid on. Allow the dough to rise again, 30 to 60 minutes (less if it’s very hot and humid, more if it’s cold).

Preheat the oven to 450 F.

Rub 1 tablespoon olive oil, or more if you like, gently over the surface of the dough. Score the bread with a sharp knife or razor, making an X or a hash mark; this will allow the dough to expand freely. Sprinkle the dough with salt. Cover the pot and place it in the oven.

After 30 minutes, remove the lid, reduce the oven temperature to 375 F, and continue baking until the bread is nicely browned and cooked through. It should have an internal temperature of 200 F or so when done.

Allow the bread to rest on a rack for at least 30 minutes so that the interior finishes cooking.

Lobster Bisque

One of the last places on earth that I expected to have great food is Disney Land.  I didn't think the food would be bad, but I didn't expect it to be world class.  It absolutely was.  Every restaurant, especially in Epcot, had amazing food.  If you are into culinary vacations, don't sleep on Disney.  I'm telling you, you will definitely be surprised.  I've eaten at some of the best restaurants in America and I put the food at Disney right up there with them.

The other great thing about Disney Land is that if you find a meal you like.  You can actually call them, most times you can find it online, and they will actually send you the recipe.  Amazing customer service.

One of the best things that I tasted was the lobster bisque.  This was a dish that I had at Epcot in Disney Land.  It was a restaurant called Le Chefs de France.  The entire meal was great, but this dish really stood out.  I found this recipe online and made a couple of tweaks to it.  The recipe is really not that complicated, but there are some steps to it.  Be patient, it's well worth it.

Saute shallots, onions, and garlic

Lobster Removed from Shell (cooked in stock)

Chopped Lobster for Garnish

Return the Shells back to Stock

Stock Simmering with Shells

 Puree the Lobster with some of the Stock 

aka Lobster Milkshake

Stock Strained and Lobster Puree Added

Tarragon and Chervil Added

Final Plating

INGREDIENTS

• 14 oz. raw lobster in the shell **
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 1/4 clove of garlic, crushed
• 4 cups shrimp stock *
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 3/4 cups tomato puree
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp each: chervil & tarragon

* - You can substitute chicken stock.

** - Reserve a little chopped lobster for garnish.

DIRECTIONS

• 1
  Melt half the butter in a pan, add the onions and cook until softened, when done add the garlic and shallots, cook briefly. Add the lobster, fish stock, peppercorns and the water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the lobster from the stock, cool & take the meat from the shells & set aside. Crush the shells and return to the pan and continue to simmer for 40 minutes. Strain the stock through a sieve.
• 2
  In a blender, puree the lobster with some of the stock. This will look like a lobster milkshake.  Mix the flour and remaining butter to make a paste. Add paste, tomato puree, cream, and mix well, salt & pepper to taste. Add the tarragon and chervil cook, stirring continuously over high heat until the soup thickens. Reduce and simmer gently for 5 minutes.  Garnish with chopped lobster.

  
  

Tempeh Sandwich

What on earth is tempeh??  Tempeh is a fermented soybean cake that is typically used as a meat substitute in the vegan world.  I know it doesn't sound that appetizing, but give it a chance.  It's a lot like tofu in the sense that it absorbs flavors.  In this recipe I just marinated the tempeh in some teriyaki sauce overnight.  The best thing about tempeh is this will be one of those things that you can suit to your liking.  You can use BBQ sauce, soy sauce, etc.  Tempeh really has a good meat texture.  Here is the sandwich that I made using tempeh.

 This is the brand of Tempeh I used

Frying Tempeh

Assembling the Sandwich

Final Plating

Ingredients:

2 Slices of Whole Wheat Bread (toasted)

4 Avocado Slices

Vegan Mayo

1 Half Piece of Tempeh

1-2 Slices of Tomato

Marinade:

Teriyaki Sauce


Directions:

Cut the tempeh in half and place it in a ziplock bag.  Cover tempeh with marinade.  It's best to marinade overnight.

Remove tempeh from marinade and add a teaspoon of oil to a frying pan on medium heat.

Fry tempeh for about 3-5 minutes on each side.  Both sides should be browned.

Assembly:

Put tempeh on toast and then a couple of slices of tomato.  Place the avocado slices on top of tomato. Spread some mayo on the toast and then place toast on avocado.

Paella

I always thought paella was a complicated dish.  It turns out it's actually fairly easy, but there are a lot of ingredients.  The great thing about paella is that you can make it with a lot or minimal ingredients. It can be vegetarian or full of meat and seafood.  The one I chose to do is full of meat and seafood.  I've seen paella with lobster, fish, etc.  The ingredients are endless so use your imagination and really get creative with this.  There are a lot of static recipes for paella out there, but honestly, just use them (and this one) as a base.  Put your own spin on it and make it your own.  The only real staples to paella are short grain rice or arborio rice, saffron, and a tomato base.  A tomato base can be sofrito or, in my case, diced tomatoes.  After that, the sky is the limit.  Add anything you want and play around with the recipe.  If you decide to add mussels to the dish and are unsure of how to clean them - check this article out - it's awesome!!

Sauté the Chicken and Garlic

Add the Vegetables

Spices, Tomatoes, and Keilbasa

Add the Rice

Add the Chicken Stock and Seafood

Cooking the Rice and Seafood

Final Plating

INGREDIENTS

• 4 Cloves Garlic (minced)
• 2 Large Onions (diced)
• 2 Red Bell Peppers
• 2 Chicken Breasts (cubed)
• 1 Bag Frozen Peas
• 2 Rings of Kielbasa (chopped)
• 1 Can Diced Tomatoes (12oz)
• 2 Tbs. Thyme
• 2 Tbs. Parsley
• 1.5 Tbs. Paprika
• Season Salt to taste
• 12 oz Bay Scallops
• 14-21 Shrimp
• 1 Bag of Mussels
• 4 Cups Arborio Rice
• 6 Cups Chicken Stock
• 3 Tbs. Olive Oil

DIRECTIONS

• 1
  Add oil to pan and sauté garlic.
• 2
  Add chicken and kielbasa. Sauté until chicken is about half done.
• 3
  Add thyme
• 4
  Add onions, peas, and peppers and sauté.
• 5
  Add parsley, paprika, season salt, and tomatoes.
• 6
  Add rice and mix well. Sauté the rice for a few minutes and then add stock.
• 7
  Add scallops, shrimp, and mussels to the dish and simmer for 25 minutes or until most of the liquid is dissolved and rice is tender.

  
  

Chinese Short Ribs

If you like short ribs, you're going to love this recipe.  I got the original recipe from Hung Huynh, Top Chef winner.  I made a few tweaks to the recipe, but not too many.  This is a great one pot meal.  It really can be done in a crockpot or in an oven safe pot.  I prefer to make this dish in the oven, it's faster and wouldn't make any difference in the crockpot.  Don't get me wrong, when I say faster, it still takes 3 hours of cook time.  But, it's something that is definitely worth the wait.  The ribs are very tender and have a great flavor.  Sorry, but there is definitely no way to make this one vegan.

One other thing I wanted to mention about this dish is that it calls for wine.  A lot of people think that you have to have a real expensive bottle, but that's just not true.  The wine I used cost around $6 and it worked great.  The more expensive wine you use, maybe it will alter the taste, but I think a nice inexpensive bottle will work just fine.  If you're going to splurge on wine, drink it during dinner, don't cook with it.

Browning the Short Ribs

This is the wine that I used for this recipe

Ready for the oven

 Straining the sauce

 The Final Plating

INGREDIENTS

• 5 bone in Short Ribs
• 2 large onions
• 4 medium carrots
• 1 bottle Cabernet red wine
• 1 cup Tomato Paste
• 6 thyme branches
• 6 bay leaves
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 4 cups beef stock
• 2 tbs. black pepper
• 2 tbs. ground anise
• 1/2 ts. cinnamon
• 8-10 garlic cloves (minced)
• 1 bunch of scallions
• 1 tbs. ginger
• vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS

• 1
  Preheat oven to 325
• 2
  Heat the oil and brown the short ribs in a pan. This is a very important step.
• 3
  Remove the ribs and add carrots and onions. Sauté for a few minutes.
• 4
  Add pepper, anise, cinnamon, garlic and tomato paste. Combine in the pan.
• 5
  Transfer vegetables to oven safe pot.
• 6
  Add stock, wine, thyme, bay leaves, brown sugar, scallions, ginger, and soy sauce to the pot and mix well.
• 7
  Add the ribs to the pot and cover. Place in the oven for 3 hours.
• 8
  Remove the ribs from the pot and strain the sauce.
• 9
  Add the ribs back into the sauce to coat the ribs and you are ready to plate.

  
  

Sweet Potato Macaroni

Vegan recipes are really interesting to me, however I do have one major pet peeve with them.  I keep seeing recipes for macaroni and cheese or cheesy nachos.  The problem with a majority of these recipes is that they don't contain any cheese at all - not even vegan based cheese.  So, when you go to taste them and you're expecting a cheesy taste - you will be disappointed beyond belief.  I'm not saying the recipes aren't good, but if you're expecting to taste one thing and get another, you're usually disappointed.  

I found a lot of vegan macaroni and cheese recipes out there.  This is one we use with sweet potatoes, which is why I call it sweet potato macaroni.  The best thing is the kids love it (as long as you don't call it macaroni and cheese)!!

Mashed Sweet Potato

Mixing all of the Ingredients

Making the Roux

The Sauce is Ready!

The Final Plating

Ingredients

1lb Macaroni Shells

2 Tbs. Dijon Mustard

1 Medium Sweet Potato (cubed)

4 Cups Almond Milk (unsweetened)

2 Garlic Cloves (minced)

1/2 Ts. Paprika

Season Salt to Taste

1/3 Cup Flour

3 Tbs. Olive Oil

Directions

1.  Boil sweet potato and then mash.

2.  Combine sweet potato, mustard, paprika, garlic, salt, and almond milk and mix until smooth.

3.  Prepare the macaroni or whatever pasta you want to use.

4.  While the macaroni is cooking, in a separate pan heat oil and add the flour to make a roux.

5.  Once the roux is ready, add the potato mixture and keep mixing until it thickens.  

6.  Add the macaroni to the potato mixture and mix until the macaroni is coated.