My Drunk Chopped Taste – Cooking Challenge

Cooking and eating are activities meant to bring people together. The modern age of eating on the run, microwavable foods, and even skipping meals makes this difficult, however I still strive to make an event of dinner when I can. And with my good friend Leslie, I’ve even turned it into a mixture of reality cooking shows so it’s an at-home food challenge!

Our dinners together have transformed into a combination of Hannah Hart’s “My Drunk Kitchen,” Food Network’s “Chopped,” and ABC’s “The Taste” with the one and only Anthony Bourdain.

Leslie has taken on the challenge of bringing three new “mystery” challenge ingredients that I must use to cook a three course dinner. All while drinking wine. And it’s always about the taste, although presentation is a bonus. Now if only I could get an appearance from Chef Gordon Ramsey, my life would be complete 🙂

Started the challenge off with a crisp Chardonnay!

This weekend, Leslie brought a bag of original potato chips, a bottle of mild flavor molasses, and a sheet of pre-made pastry dough. Her rules: I could not use them as one would expect, and I could not use the recipes printed on the back of two of these ingredients. I am allowed the use of the internet, but only to double-check measurements. I must come up with the dish by myself, using the ingredient, and whatever my fridge and pantry have to offer. We also had the added challenge of not using any meat, so this became a vegetarian meal! My creativity came up with the following three courses, with the wonderful help of Leslie and my sister, Sonja.

First Course: The Appetizer

Potato Chip & Cornmeal Fritters

• 1 egg
• 3/4 C finely crushed potato chips
• 1/2 C cornmeal
• 3/4 C all-purpose flour
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 C skim milk
• Vegetable oil, for frying

Beat egg in large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the frying oil, into the bowl, mixing well.

Heat oil in a frying pan, it should be about 1/2 inch deep. Prepare a plate, lined with paper towels, to let the fritters cool and the oil to soak out. Once hot enough, test oil with a tiny drop of the batter. Remove with a slotted spoon to the plate.

Drop batter with a teaspoon into the oil (I used a small cookie scoop, and just didn’t completely fill it). I was able to make 5 fritters at a time, but that will depend on the size of your pan. (Actually, Sonja did this part – thanks for the help!)

Let fry on one side for 2-3 minutes, and then flip over with the slotted spoon to finish frying. Once done, remove to the paper towel-lined plate. Continue this process until all batter has been used. Let cool, and enjoy!

This got us A LOT of fritters – about two dozen. So, you could either half the recipe, invite a lot of people over, or plan to share with your neighbors, which is what we did!

Potato chips taken to the extreme in cornmeal fritters.

Second Course: The Main Dish

Roasted Vegetables with Brown Rice & Molasses Sauce

For the sauce:

• 1/4 C molasses
• 1/4 C apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp red wine

For the stir fry:

• Good-quality brown rice
• Water and butter (for rice)
• Chopped vegetables, such as carrots, celery, bell pepper and onion. You’ll want about 1 cup of veggies per person. We had three people, so 3 large carrots, 1 onion, 2 bell peppers, and 4 stalks of celery was just right.
• Olive oil, sea salt, fresh cracked pepper

Begin cooking brown rice, according to package directions. The rice I used took about an hour from start to finish, but it’s worth it, given how much healthier this version is!

Mix together sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Turn on broiler (or set oven to its highest temperature)

Wash, peel and chop vegetables into bite-sized pieces. You could use any combination of veggies you like (mushrooms, snap peas, sprouts, whatever!). Toss with a tablespoon olive oil and some salt and pepper, to taste. Spread onto foil-lined baking sheet. Once there’s about 30 minutes until the rice is done, place vegetable pan into broiler, stirring every 10 minutes. Remove from broiler (and turn it off!!) once vegetables look nice and roasted – cooked, but not mushy.

Transfer veggies into a serving bowl, and dress with the prepared molasses sauce. Serve rice in bowls, top with veggies, and a drizzle of the sauce. Eat and enjoy!

Sweet and tangy molasses sauce adds depth to roasted veggies and classic brown rice.

Third Course: The Dessert

S’more Kahlua Pastry Cups

• 1 tube Pillsbury Seamless Dough Sheet
• Mini marshmallows
• 3 oz Neuchâtel cream cheese, softened
• 2 C powdered sugar (more or less, depending on how sweet you want it)
• 1 tbsp milk
• 2 tbsp Kahlua (or leave out, and add 2 tbsp milk and a splash vanilla)
• 2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with PAM.

Using a glass with a rim slightly larger than the perimeter of the muffin cups, cut out rounds from the dough sheet, and press into muffin tins. We got 9 pastry cups from the sheet. Line bottom of each cup with a single layer of mini marshmallows. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until dough is golden brown. Let cool on wire rack for 10 minutes and then remove to a plate or serving platter.

In the meantime, combine the chopped baking chocolate and milk in a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave until melted, stirring after each minute.

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, the melted chocolate mixture and the Kahlua (or the rest of milk and vanilla). Using a hand mixer, blend until incorporated. Slowly add powdered sugar until desired sweetness and consistency is reached. Store in fridge until pastry cups are baked and cooled.

To assemble, spoon chocolate filling into a piping bag with tip of your choice. Pipe filling into cups – you’ll use all of it, so don’t skimp out! Top each cup with another mini marshmallow. Serve to drooling friends, and devour! Or eat daintily. Your choice 🙂 If there are leftovers, store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Kahlua gives these S’mores pastry cups a hint of mocha taste.

We had a lot of fun cooking, drinking, creating and eating together. Such challenges work the brain, and reward the soul and body! Have you ever gathered up friends and loved ones for a night of creative cooking? Would you attempt doing so?

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

It’s Meatless Monday again! And the star of the show is a vegetarian version of French onion soup – made in the crock pot! Ok, I actually made this for Sunday night, but there are so many leftovers, and the soup is just so delicious, that I’m eating it for lunch again today. Besides, it was sleeting and raining ice yesterday. There was nothing better than a warming soup whose pleasant aroma wafted throughout the house all afternoon. My roommates adored the smell, but it was agonizing to wait for it to finish! Worth it, though, because the end result is delicious.

Traditionally French onion soup is made with beef broth, which is not at all vegetarian. In the spirit of Meatless Monday, and because I don’t keep beef broth in our pantry, I went into kitchen improv mode, and created a vegetarian-friendly beef broth substitute. The soup is also a healthified one! The only source of fat is from the cheese that’s melted on top just before serving. And if you buy good, quality cheese, that still counts as being part of a healthy diet 🙂 At least it does in Wisconsin! You can’t go wrong with cheese here.

I based my concoction off a recipe created by Dashing Dish, but put my own vegetarian flare on it. I replaced the traditional beef stock with a homemade (aka make-shift) flavorful vegetarian stock, and included the traditional use of toasted bread or baguette slices as well.

Vegetarian Crock Pot French Onion Soup

Makes 8 servings – low fat, low sodium, low sugar. High in flavor and protein.

• 3 yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2-3 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed and chopped
• 2 packets Stevia, or other natural non-sugar sweetener
• 1 package dried onion soup mix (if you can get low-sodium, that’s even better!)
• 1/2 C red wine – I happened to have an open bottle of sweet red, but whatever you have should work
• 7.5 C water
• Couple dashes of low-sodium soy sauce – I didn’t measure, but I’d guess it was close to 1/4-1/3 C that I used
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• A few grinds of freshly cracked salt & pepper
• 4 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• Thin slices of Gruyere cheese, or other flavorful white cheese (I used Gouda)
• Optional: toasted French bread

Combine, in a large bowl, the Stevia, onion soup mix, red wine, water and soy sauce. Give it a stir.

In a non-stick pan, add onions, garlic, and one cup of the broth mixture. Saute onions until the broth has completely evaporated, and onions begin to caramelize. This replaces the butter that would otherwise be used in sauteing, without reducing the flavor profile of the soup.

Spray crock pot with PAM (or don’t, but I swear this makes cleaning it MUCH easier), and pour in the rest of the broth mixture, the sauteed onions, and the thyme, vinegar and salt & pepper. Stir it all up and cover with lid. Turn on “high” and let it cook for 4 hours (or, if you want to prepare this in the morning for dinner that night, set it on “low” for 8 hours).

Once ready to serve, preheat oven to your highest setting, or turn on the broiler. Ladle soup into oven/broiler-safe bowls, and top with cheese. If using the toast, place that on soup, and cheese on top of toast. Place in oven for 2-3 minutes, allowing the cheese to melt. It helps to put the bowls on a baking sheet, for ease of transportation. You can also throw this into the microwave to melt the cheese, especially useful if you’re taking it to work as leftovers.

Enjoy hot, and be glad you’re inside curled up on the couch with blankets, rather than out in the freezing temps and icy storms! Have a happy Meatless Monday!

Sorry this is such a bad picture. But it tasted amazing!

Orange-colored Sunday!

Orange you glad I can cook, so I don’t have to do stand-up? 😛

I’ve had quite the domestic and laid-back weekend filled with a double date, cleaning, Doctor Who, a girls night in, chick flicks, cooking and baking. And it was wonderful! Today’s kitchen adventures, as posted below, are Orange & Dark Chocolate Chunk Muffins, and a Pureed Carrot Soup. I just hope I don’t turn orange…you are what you eat, right?

Orange & Dark Chocolate Chunk Muffins – Adapted from Erica’s Sweet Tooth blog.

Still warm, freshly-glazed orange dark chocolate muffins

The glaze is still dripping from the sides!

 

Actually, I followed the recipe almost exactly, except that I used the zest of 2 naval oranges, and then the freshly-pressed juice from the same oranges. That didn’t produce 2/3C juice though, so I supplemented with a little bottled lemon juice, which turned out perfectly. I also used freshly-pressed orange juice for the glaze afterwards. MY GOD are these amazing! They taste like a muffinized version (that’s a highly scientific term, by the way) of Terry’s Chocolate Oranges (which, if you haven’t had one, are delicious).

Pureed Carrot Soup – adapted from Whole Foods Market Cooking

My parents bought me a PINK Cuisinart immersion hand blender for my birthday, which made me ecstatic! I didn’t even know these things come in colors, but wow, is this awesome. So, I had to put it to use. I had recently come across this soup recipe and when a trip to the grocery store put some nice carrots in my cart, I knew now was the time to whip this up! Or blend it, rather.

IT’S PINK!!!!!!

This also turned into the first time I’ve EVER used the broiler. I admit, it was a little scary to peer in and see FLAMES going at it over my carrots, but how neat! My oven’s broiler is at the bottom, so using it kept my feet nice and toasty warm as I was working over the stove – dual purpose!

Sautéing the veggies

The “adaptation” comes in when I didn’t have 6 cups of vegetable broth. I did, however, find that I had about 2 cups of chicken broth leftover in the fridge, so that, plus 4 cups of water, plus some spices made up the broth that I used. Which turned out just fine. Nothing like a little kitchen improv, right? 🙂

Nice little cup of soup 🙂

I followed the rest of the recipe, mostly, and it turned out a little liquidy, but quite delicious. I didn’t make the grilled cheese as suggested (I’m off to Zumba next, so too much food would be a bad choice). But grilled cheese would definitely taste perfect with this.

Anyway, enjoy! Time for me to work off all this orange food!