Boo
[bo͞o]
An exclamation said suddenly to surprise someone
Boozy
[ˈbo͞ozē]
Spiked with alcohol
Intoxicated; addicted to drink (**pointing** yes, that would be me)
As we navigate through the horrid tricks of adult life, we deserve as many treats as we can get…especially this time of year.
October is the unofficial start of the holiday marathon that leads to the new year. Weather is changing, leaves are turning (in parts of the US outside of Los Angeles), holiday vacations are just round the corner. This means that people (parents and singles alike) are busy making/planning Halloween costumes, buying Christmas presents for the family & scheduling the holiday itinerary to the millisecond! **phew** It’s stressful just writing it out!!
Contrary to what we were taught (memories of a group of young bullies taunting a cute, innocent, fluffy rabbit comes to mind), tricks & treats are NOT just for kids. As a matter of fact, WE (adults) deserve it more! Let’s be honest, all the stuff we have to deal with…it should be Halloween every month. Just because we’re older doesn’t mean we can’t have fun. It now just means a different kind of fun. TRANSLATION: Wicked deeds and boozy treats!!
In the spooky spirit of Halloween, I decided to invite some friends over to test out some dishes. One couple have fur babies (just like me), another couple have young children & the third couple with grown children…100% all of us ready for a fun time with no children in sight!
As this is a test kitchen experience, participation is key. I asked each one of our couples to bring something with them. We started the meal with:
Homemade Bloody Mary cocktails with jalapeño pickles & shrimp
Our Mixologist Mad Max & Dana
Oozy Sliders with caramelized onions, baby arugula, apricot jam & melted Roquefort blue cheese on a bun & pretzel bun
Amazing skills by Eric & Tracy
Bang Bang (you dead) Shrimp & Black Death Pasta (with lemon butter garlic sauce)
My first attempt at this dish…oy the horror. Timing was a mess!! Pasta was too well done, shrimp was not as crispy, drink didn’t get served with dry ice. I demanded a re-do from myself to make things right. I get so concentrated on the planning a menu that I sometimes forget that I need to think ahead to what goes in the water first, gets put on the fire and when things all get combined. Gordon Ramsey’s voice comes thundering into my mind, ”What are you??”
“An idiot sandwich, CHEF!!”
For Mayo Chili sauce
Ingredients:
Mayo
Thai Sweet Chili sauce (Mae Ploy brand is what I’ve used)
Sriracha
Red wine vinegar
In a bowl, combine mayo, chili sauce, Sriracha & red wine vinegar. Remember, this can all be to your taste…how thick, how sweet, how spicy. Do little portions at a time and add more of preferred ingredients until it pleases your palate. Mix until fully combined. Set aside into the refrigerator until ready serve.
For shrimp
Ingredients:
2-3 lbs Shrimp (peeled & deveined – which can be done with a toothpick)
Buttermilk
Corn starch
Garlic powder
Tempera powder
A pinch of baking soda
Oil for frying
Green onion (chopped for garnishing)
Place shrimp into a bowl or zip-lock bag and season with salt, pepper & garlic powder. Add buttermilk until fully submerged Massage and cover/seal. Refrigerate for 24 hours.
This process will break down the protein for a tender shrimp and help get rid of the fishy odor
After letting the shrimp marinade in the buttermilk overnight, remove from the milk and coat with cornstarch.
In a separate bowl, mix tempera powder & a pinch of baking soda with water to create a batter. Depending on how much batter you like on your shrimp, you can add more or less water. I like my batter to be thinner so I added more water
In a heavy bottom pan, add 2-3” oil and heat on high
Fry until golden brown & set on a wire rack.
In a large bowl, toss the fried shrimp with the mayo/chili sauce
For pasta
Ingredients:
Black Squid Ink Pasta (got black spaghetti from World Market)
Lemon juice
Butter
EVOO
Garlic (sliced)
In a pot, bring water to a boil. Add pasta and let boil for 8-10 minutes.
Keep the pasta fairly al dente (still firm in the middle when bitten into). We will cook further in the next steps.
In a high pan, melt butter & EVOO. Add in garlic slices and cook until light brown.
Directly from the pot, claw or scoop in the al dente pasta and mix.
Squeeze in fresh lemon juice (to your liking) & toss all together.
Place pasta onto serving plate and top with coated shrimp. Add additional sauce if you like and garnish with chopped green onions.
Paired with this dish is a Smoking Green Potion (Spiced Kiwi & Mint Spritzer)
Ingredients:
Fresh green kiwi (peeled & cut into cubes)
Mint leaves
Jalapeño peppers
1 part sugar
1 part water
Rum (chilled)
A simple syrup is needed…but let’s spice it up with some jalepeno peppers!!
In a medium sauce pan, combine water, sugar and jalapeno peppers (whole or cut halves). Bring to a boil, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Boil for approximately 10-15 minutes and remove from heat.
Typically, making simple syrup is very quick but since we’re infusing the peppers, boil for a bit longer. It really gets the spiciness level UP.
Allow to cool & store in a bottle/jar/container.
In a jar or shaker, muddle the cubed kiwi and a few leaves of mint together.
Add 1/2 part jalepeno infused simple syrup and 1 part rum and stir.
Pour the mixture into a glass and add sparkling water/club soda/sprite. Add more simple syrup or rum to your liking.
In the spooky spirit? Add a chunk of food grade dry ice to the drink and watch your potion boil & bubble!! **remember…dry ice gives a cool effect (visually and temperature wise) but DO NOT swallow or have contact with skin. It will burn and harm you!! Beware, BEWARE**
Whipped Peanut Butter Cream Puffs & Jammy Wine (a lovely Joel Gott Grenache 2014 selected by our sommeliers Kathy & Markku)
For PB whipped cream
Ingredients:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3-4 tbsp creamy PB (peanut butter) - not the all-natural kind because it will separate
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I like to add a bit of vanilla bean paste to give it some more depth & I love the look of the black bean flecks)
1 tbsp powdered sugar
In a medium mixing bowl, add chilled whipping cream, PB, powdered sugar & vanilla bean extract/paste.
With a hand mixer, mix on low until fully incorporated. Turn mixer on high & continue until soft peaks form.
Place into piping bag and refrigerate until ready for assembly
**side note: to help with the whipping process, chill the mixing bowl and beaters**
For puffs
Ingredients:
1 stick butter (unsalted)
1 tsp salt
5 eggs (4 for mixing & 1 for wash)
1 cup flour
1 cup water
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper
In a medium pan over medium/high heat, boil water, butter & salt.
Add in the flour and quickly stir with a wooden spoon. Continue stirring until a film forms at the bottom of the pan.
Remove & place into a mixing bowl to cool for about 3 minutes. Add (4) eggs – one at a time – stirring vigorously with each addition until completely incorporated.
**this paste is called “pate a choux” – the base dough for many European & European-derived cuisines. Named “choux” – cabbage in French – due to it resembling a cabbage when cooked.
Transfer the pate a choux into a pastry bag and pipe 1-1/2” to 2” rounds onto the lined pans. Gently smooth peaks with your finger & water (or egg wash).
Brush egg wash to tops
Bake until golden brown (approx. 30 minutes)
Remove and cool on wire racks
Once cooled, pushing the piping tip into the bottom of the puff and fill to your hearts content…or until full.
Topping on the puff…melt some chocolate and dip the tops of the cream puff. Great visual contrast and who doesn’t like PB & chocolate?!?
I’ve done cream puffs plenty of times and noticed that while some come out very fluffy and “puffed”, there are some that come out flat or deflate after I take them out of the oven. Don’t get me wrong…even fails taste great! But what am I doing wrong?? So I reached out to my pastry chef brother-in-law to pick his professional brain. There’s a trick of the trade:
Set the oven at a high temperature around 450 degrees F and place the piped pate a choux in. Immediately turn off the oven and let sit for 30 minutes. This shocks the puffs and starts the baking process in making them puffy. After 30 minutes, turn the oven back on to 350 degrees F and bake until golden brown. Crack the oven door open a bit until they are ready.
Thank you to my “phone a friend” bro~ and your tasty pearls of wisdom!!
Final dessert of the night…Bloody* Chocolate Lava Cake (* pomegranate syrup drizzle)
For “bloody” pomegranate syrup
Ingredients:
2 cup Pomegranate juice (fresh from my mom’s garden)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
Options (as always): fresh rosemary sprig
In a sauce pan, combine all ingredients on medium heat and bring to a light boil.
Simmer for 20-25 minutes until thick
Remove from heat, remove rosemary sprig & let cool
Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Set aside for plating
For Chocolate Lava Cake
Ingredients:
1 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1 oz. semisweet chocolate
1 oz. Ghirardelli chocolate
1-1/4 sticks butter (unsalted & room temp)
1/2 cup flour
1-1/2 cup confectioners sugar (aka powdered sugar)
3 large eggs (room temp)
3 egg yolks (room temp)
Vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
2 tbsp orange liqueur (Cointreau)
Pre-heat oven to 425 degree F
Melt chocolate & butter (either in the microwave or double boiled…I just used the microwave. It’s quick and easy. Just make sure you do it 10-15 seconds at a time. I did two sessions of 10 seconds. By the time the butter is melted, the chocolate is too, so mix, mix, mix as you use the microwave)
Add flour & sugar and mix until fully incorporated.
Mix in eggs & yolk until smooth
Add vanilla extract/paste & orange liqueur and mix
Spray the ramekins with oil (graciously) and sprinkle flour – this will help later when you take the cake out
Divide batter into ramekins. Fill up 3/4 to the top.
Bake for 8-12 minutes. Sides and top should be set & middle is still jiggly.
O.K…let me stop here for a minute. My first attempt was with my taste testers. Being the horribly miserable baker that I am, I thought “Yeah, I just need to follow the directions right??” Oh no…I didn’t take into account that different sizes and style/material of ramekin have different cook times. So fail after fail after FAIL…I FINALLY got the right timing to get the nice flow of molten chocolate!! 9 minutes in the mini dutch oven ramekin.
Drizzle the pomegranate syrup on top and serve
Pairs very nicely with whiskey…a wide variety of whiskeys, in fact. We started with Laphroaig PX Cask which was way too heavily peated for my taste. I thought all the flavors of the dessert paired very well with one of my favorite Japanese whiskeys – Hibiki Master Select.
In true Halloween horror fashion, there were ups and downs to this meal. BUT it’s always so great to make time with friends who appreciate fun times and yummy food!
What a great way to end another year for theCULINARYIST. November & December are reserved for time with the family but don’t worry, I’ll be posting family & food pictures on IG so you won’t feel left out!! Stay tuned for a new & better 2020 year filled with more culinary(ist) adventures.
Thank you to my best test tasters: Teri, Max & Dana, Kathy & Markku, Eric & Tracy. I appreciate your enthusiasm, participation, patience & honest critique of my cooking. I not only learn with each meal but I gain a bigger sense of appreciation for the fr-amily I’ve made in my life. You enrich my life so much and hope you taste a bit of it in my cooking. RJ, my visionary friend, you were missed at this meal but know you were there in spirit! Cheers!
Thank you to everyone who’s supported me in this adventure. I hope you continue to watch me grow in skills and waist line as I go on this journey of eat, learn & eat some more.
And a special shout out to myCREW:
RJ @eatthebus for your skills, your eye and your ability to capture the yumminess
Teri my biggest supporter, editor-in-chief and ever amazing sous chef
Onward, fellow foodies, to our next culinary(-ist) adventure,
theCULINARY·IST