Jessica's Fun Fare

This blog is going to be dedicated to food that I've both been really impressed by and food I've made at home. Sometimes I might take photos, copy recipes or sometimes I might draw my meals.

[jessicasfunfare-blog]

Made an awesome meal tonight by rummaging through my cupboards and fridge.  I was thinking about how I was feeling fancy but am on a really tight budget until payday when low and behold there it was - polenta.  Next a can of black beans came into view followed by a can of green chilies and a meal was born.  I am feeling incredibly good about this as A) I feel like i've lost touch with cooking lately and B) I have no money to buy food right now.  

Ingredients:

Polenta 1 cup or so

Black Beans (1 can)

Pumpkin Puree (1/2 can)

Green Chillies (small can)

1/2 Onion (chopped)

2 Garlic Cloves

1/2 C spinach (chopped)

Salt/Pepper/Amino Acid to taste

1/2 C Cheese (to create cheese crisp)

Lemon

Siracha

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium skillet sauté onions to a translucent state.  Add garlic and remove from heat. In a separate oven safe dish combine drained black beans with pumpkin puree.  Add in diced Green Chillies.  Next chop the spinach and add it to the mix.  Add salt/pepper/amino acid to taste. Put mixture into oven until warm.

On a baking sheet layout all of the cheese and bake in oven until crispy brown. 

Heat up a dish to medium-high on the stovetop. Make polenta according to package.  Create a log out of the polenta and slice into pieces.  Place pieces in the skillet and cook until brown on both sides. Sqeeze a tiny bit of lemon juice on both sides and cook for about 45 seconds more on each side. 

Put all items together on the plate and garnish with siracha if desired. 

[jessicasfunfare-blog]

AMAZING LAMB BURGER

During my formative learning to cook for myself years i was vegetarian, so I rarely go down the fresh meats aisles at the grocery story.  But sometimes a good sale will catch my eye, today that was ground lamb.  I then also found myself with bombay curry flavored kale chips and Hawaiian sweet roll hamburger buns (which i didn't know existed). 

When I got home I remembered that I also had some garlic spread and goat cheese in the fridge. So here it is a recipe for an AMAZING combo. 

Cook the lamb medium-well.  Grill up the buns.  Spread Goat cheese on the bottom bun and a little garlic spread on the top.  Add the lamb onto the bottom bun atop the goat cheese, top with the curry flavored kale chips and be ready for an amazing meal.  

Photos to come soon...but i gobbled this one up.  However there are two more lamb burgers waiting to be cooked as I speak....

[jessicasfunfare-blog]

I don't eat very many burgers, maybe a few a year at most, so I may not be the best judge of a good burger.  A few nights ago however my aunt pulled out BACON JAM and grilled up a few pattys.  I'm an occasional bacon consumer at most, but Bacon Jam...now that sounded interesting.  The spread is also a double threat as it is meant to take the place of ketchup too, it is the perfect culmination of sweet and smokey flavors. I wasn't necessarily blown away by the spread, but I would have it again, and did find it to be delicious on the burger. In addition to spread I also had a friend egg, and avocado on my burger.  Altogether: yum. 

[jessicasfunfare-blog]

Sadly I forgot to take a photograph of the Pupusa I shared the other day, but it was delicious (the picture above is from Wikipedia’s page about Pupusas.) I’ve never had any Salvadoran food and I found myself in LA at the Grand Central Market (a place I won’t be soon to forget, and one I will definitely visit again someday and hope to do so quite often).

Firstly let me tell you about the market - busy, bustling - all the good things an open-air (yet still under a roof) market should be. Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables for sale in bins, food stands of all sorts; Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, Salvadoran and more. What to choose with so many interesting things? My friend and I decided to split two different things from two different places. The first we tried was a Pupusa from Sarita’s Pupeseria. We had Chicharron (fried pork rind), with garlic and cheese. Basically it’s somewhat like a taco but the fillings are cooked into the middle of the light fluffy tortilla and then the whole thing is grilled. It came with a side of Curtido, a cabbage slaw with vinegar that balanced everything out.  This is something I look forward to eating again in the future whenever I have a hankering for a taco. 

Next we ventured to Bento YA Japanese Cuisine and split their spicy seafood Ramen. I’ve never had real Ramen before but I am now a fan. It came in a HUGE cup and eating it was like digging for mini hidden treasures; finding large pieces of seafood or noodles to scoop up - it reminded me of what it's like to eat as a child. Beware of sharing though - if you aren’t careful you might have an almost lady and the tramp moment with the noodles as we almost did ;o)

[jessicasfunfare-blog]

Hands-down the best cookies I've ever made! They were super moist, very decadent (a little goes a long way), and just all over delicious. 

I got the original recipe from the blog: bakingbites.com but made a few (very small) tweaks.  The original recipe comes from "The Frog Commissary Cookbook."

Ingredients:

1 cup butter room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 tbsp milk (I used lite vanilla soymilk)

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cupts all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt (I used a sea salt grinder- which gave the cookies these awesome sea salt crystals every so once in a while)

2 1/2 cups quick oats (NOT instant)

2 cups chocolate chips (semi-sweet)

1 bag of Sea Salt Caramel Dark Chocolate Silky Smooth Promises (my addition)

Preheat the over to 350F

I used silpats on the baking sheets, but you could use parchment paper too.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until the mixture is light in color.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the milk and vanilla. 

In a medium bowl, stire together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Either by hand or with the mixer on low speed, gradually beat the flour in to the sugar mixture until just incorporated. Stire in the oats and chocolate chips by hand. 

*If you chill the dough for about 30 minutes at this point you will have slightly puffier cookies.  I chilled them for about 20-30 minutes when I made them. 

Create 1- 1/2 inch balls of dough.  Push the dove chocolate into the middle of the dough.  Shape dough to cover the chocolate.  Roll the dough in your palms to create a ball shape again and place on the baking sheet at least 1 1/2 inches apart. 

Bake at 350F for 10-13 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the middle is a light golden color. Cool on baking sheets for 1-2 minutes and the transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Makes roughly about 3 dozen cookies. 

Note: On a few cookies the caramel may leak through the bottom a little.  Once they cool this shouldn't be a problem them - and it's super easy to clean up so no worries if a few drip a little on the wire rack. 

[jessicasfunfare-blog]

Lunch and Learn - Tomato and avocado salad - Sanctuary Resort - Scottsdale, AZ - Chef Chuck Hughes

This salad was one of the best I've ever had and look forward to duplicating at some point.  The large cuts of tomatoes were crisp yet slightly tangy and included vine ripened red and yellow tomatoes. Avocado is probably one of my favorite things on earth so no disappointment there.   The dressing was composed simply of white balsamic vinegar and olive oil with freshly cut herbs in it. There was also fresh cucumber, croutons, and oh yeah did I mention the deep fried blocks of cheddar cheese??? 

[jessicasfunfare-blog]

POSH - Scottsdale, AZ - 4th Improvisational Course - Baby Octopus w/ cabbage salad and Daikon - Chef Josh Hebert

[jessicasfunfare-blog]

Lunch and Learn - Sanctuary Resort - Scottsdale Arizona - Chef Chuck Hughes 

Lobster Poutine

This was delicious, but then again thats what happens when lobster is poached in butter.  The lobster gravy was the best gravy I've ever had - lighter than most with just a little bit of that lobster flavor.  I do wish the fries had been a bit bigger and crispier so they could've held up better to the gravy on top.  Overall all though the dish was very impressive but not one I would rush back to have again.  

[jessicasfunfare-blog]

Posh - Scottsdale, AZ - 4th Improvisational Course - Lavender cream with honey pearls and a raspberry sauce - Chef Josh Hebert

Hands down the best best dessert I've ever had...interesting in both the flavors and textures, not to mention the beautiful presentation. I hope to have the pleasure of crossing paths with honey pearls again.  

My cousin found this awesome link about how to make honey pearls:

http://www.dailycamera.com/food/ci_20089458/honey-pearls-molecular-gastronomy-at-home?refresh=no

[jessicasfunfare-blog]

POSH - Scottsdale, AZ - 3rd Improvisational Course - Duck Egg on Pea Risotto - Chef Josh Hebert

[jessicasfunfare-blog]

Homemade! Vegetable lasagna, this was really good and would be very easy to substitute other vegetables into or add a protein to if one wished

  Ingredients: 1 1-lb eggplant cut into 1/2" slices 1 zucchini sliced thin  1 yellow squash sliced thin 2 cups fresh spinach 1 tsp ext vir olive oil 1 large yellow onion chopped 8 cloves garlic chopped 1 1/2 cup non fat cottage cheese (strained) Fresh oregano Fresh basil 6 oz mozzarella  Cooking spray 1- preheat oven to 375. Line baking sheets w parchment paper. Spread eggplant, zucchini and squash in a single layer on baking sheets. Bake for 30 min. 2 - While that is cooking heat oil in a large non-stick skillet on medium fir one minute. Add onion and cook until translucent stirring often. Add garlic and cook for a few more minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cottage cheese and 2 tsp of chopped oregano Fresh grated parmesan (sprinkle at the end) 3 - lightly coat an 11x17 baking dish w cooking spray. Line the bottom of he dish with the zucchini and squash, using all rounds and I overlapping so the dish is completely covered. Top with cottage cheese mixture. Next put down a layer of spinach. Arrange eggplant over cottage cheese in overlapping rows, then top w mozzarella. Bake at 375 for 30 min or until cheese is golden and bubbling. Serve immediately garnishing wiu basil, oregano and shaved parmesan.  We modified the orig recipe some (added a few things) but it also suggests swapping out the cottage cheese for goat cheese or neufchâtel so that might be good too.

[jessicasfunfare-blog]

Homemade!

Tilapia w/ dill sauce, mashed cauliflower, and sucking carpaccio

On the track to find somewhat healthy things to make at home I stumbled upon a recipe for zucchini carpaccio.  I've never eaten raw zucchini before but I will be sure to do so from now on.  

Unfortunately I don't have the measurements for these items as I'm not much for measuring unless I'm baking

Zucchini Carpaccio:Drizzle a beaten mixture of olive oil and lemon onto thin slices of zucchini.  Add salt and pepper for taste and top with toasted pine nuts and freshly shredded parmesan 

Dill Dip: low fat/non-fat sour cream, fresh dill, oven roasted garlic, salt, pepper, lemon juice

Mashed Cauliflower: Soften cauliflower by cutting it up and bringing to a boil in a pan (roughly about 15 minute or until soft) Put this in a food processor with oven roasted garlic cloves, a splash of milk, a tablespoon or so of sour cream, salt and pepper. If it is too thin add blanched spinach. Blend well. 

[jessicasfunfare-blog]

Matt's Big Breakfast

I was told about this gem in downtown Phoenix by my aunt.  I picked the best time to go here though as I didn't have to wait (it was a Tuesday around 11:30 or so.  From what i hear this tiny place usually has a huge line waiting outside.  One thing I wish I had known was the signing in process though.  There is a notepad outside the door that you are supposed to write your name on.  Luckily due to it not being very busy I easily spotted the notepad, I'm not sure I would've been so observational had there been a line however.  

Let me start with the coffee. It was WONDERFUL.  Definitely a great brew (I'm no coffee expert and even I could tell it was made from good beans).  I decided to go with one of the days specials - a scramble with chicken sausage, spinach and cheese.  It was delicious and hit the spot.  The portion was also huge, I wasn't able to finish it all as it also came with home fries and sourdough toast with homemade strawberry preserves.  It reminded of the Fly Trap in Ferndale, MI (where I've been living the past few years) and made me a little home sick but in a good way.  

[jessicasfunfare-blog]

Carne avodado - marias - Santa fe

After a wonderful day in the Jemez Mountains at a natural hot spring I found myself in Santa Fe in search of Mexican food.  Yelp led me to Maria's and I'm glad it did.  Firstly the Margarita was spectacular and the meal ended with Sopapillas that were like little pillows. For my main dish I had Carne Avodado which is a way to prepare pork in the Santa Fe area.  It was deliciously marinated and very tender.  

[jessicasfunfare-blog]

Samosa - Watercourse - Denver

This was a very interesting take on a Samosa.  It definitely had the regular delicious spices and fillings of a samosa but the Chutneys that accompanied were completely unique. My favorite was the carrot chutney that topped it adding just enough sweetness and balancing out this cornucopia of bold wonderful flavors. 

[jessicasfunfare-blog]

Date Night Burger - Vine Street Pub - Denver Burger w goat cheese, date preserves, and bacon. With a beer flavored w Ginger

My trip to the Vine Street Pub in Denver was absolutely amazing!  I was with friends who suggested the Date Night Burger.  I'm not a big burger fan (probably only have a few a year) but this burger had it all - interesting flavors and textures that commingled in my mouth creating a smile on my face.  This is definitely a place I would like to visit if I happen to be in Denver again. 

[jessicasfunfare-blog]

Okalahoma joe's - Kansas City - Beef Brisket w/ dirty rice on the side

I was searching for BBQ in Kansas city when I found this gem in a gas station.  After finding out that this in Anthony Bourdain's "13 places to eat before you die" list I knew I had to go.  Now Anthony had the Z-man sandwich, but as I was getting over being sick from the previous day I opted for a slightly (and yes only slightly) less intense option and landed on the Beef Brisket sandwich.  I've never had beef brisket before and thought this was an excellent opportunity for me to try it.  Unfortunately my stomach wasn't up for the challenge at the time but I will say the few bites I was able to have were diving.  What impressed me even more however was the dirty rice I had on the side.  Just the right amount of spice created bliss in my mouth.