Feelin' Cheffy

Ok, ok, so enough about triathlons and the world’s greatest dog. Here’s a post about food.


Last weekend, I realized I still had most of a bottle of some fat-free "Cinnamon Hazelnut" non-dairy creamer that I’d bought just out of curiosity to try in my coffee. Yuck. I had to get rid of it, and not in my coffee, nor am I capable of wasting food. So I tried making crepes with it (I was out of milk).


The crepes themselves were more pancake-like than crepey, but the taste was ok, if a little dry. Wiley liked them.




The only reason I’m posting the lame photo I took of them here is because the filling and sauce I made for them were crazytasty. I peeled and chopped two Gala apples and sauteed them in a 1/2 oz. or so of butter, just so they wouldn’t stick. Then I added in, about a tablespoon at a time, Applejack and dark rum, alternating between the two and letting them reduce before adding more. Scrumptious. For the sauce I just mixed a little candied ginger spread with, yeah, Applejack and dark rum and cooked it down.


The result: not too sweet, very appley and with just a little ginger kick, plus the rummy goodness one must expect from a pirate.


Also last weekend, I made a couple Gordon Ramsay recipes. One was his "Show-off Ribeye for 8," though I scaled it down and only made it for "1+1," as in one me plus one very eager dog.


It. Kicked. Ass.


It was possibly the best piece of meat I’ve ever eaten (I used grass-fed beef that I’d bought, frozen, a couple weeks earlier at Trader Joe’s). It was ridiculously easy, too. I didn’t take a picture, and I’m not posting the recipe because it’s copyrighted and all, but if you can get your hands on the April issue of the British food magazine Olive, check it out.


I’m also not posting the recipe because I consider it my new secret "show-off" entree weapon. If you come to dinner and I want to impress you, that’s what you’re getting...


With seared scallops for a starter.


Ramsay did seared scallops for a starter on one of The F Word episodes, and it looked so tasty and easy that I had to try it. I found out at the last minute that I didn’t have curry powder, so I substituted my own special spice blend, as well as changed the garnish, so I consider the recipe "mine" enough to post it here, including photo with haphazard plating (hey, it was for me and Wiley... I'll do a fantastic plating when I'm getting paid for it, you know?).




I blanched some haricots verts (again, frozen from Trader Joe’s, but damn if they aren’t tasty... and cheap!) and made a dressing of sweet mustard, fromage blanc and vodka. In retrospect, I should have added something like capers to the dressing, as it wasn’t quite "finished," but I held back as I wasn’t sure what the scallops would taste like and had to make the dressing before I cooked them.


The scallops themselves I patted dry and dipped in a blend of one part kosher salt to one part dulce pimenton and one part hot pimenton (both pimentons being a fancy cheffy spice that my friend Shorewoodian sent me... no, it is not pimento spelled wrong. And get your hands on some if you can. Very tasty). I dusted off the excess and then put them in a hot pan with olive oil (the oil itself was almost at smoking point... because we all know never to put food in a pan without heating the oil first, right? I only ask because I’ve seen it done, by classmates, no less.). They were about a minute on each side and didn’t burn, despite what you may be thinking from the photo. The pimenton got a little darker and crusty, that’s all.


The pimenton added a really nice, slightly smoky earthiness to the scallops, which were perfectly cooked, if I don’t say so myself. I give all the credit to Ramsay, anyway. Well, most of the credit.


Okay, a modest amount.