Individual Banana Chocolate Bread Pudding

II like to fly by the seat of my pants,  and I tend to be a little unpredictable sometimes. The biggest misconception to this is when I eat at a restaurant. There are 3 Things I will order if they are on the menu every single time! Risotto of any flavor, Duck Confit and Bread Pudding. The last being my most favorite dessert ever, so if they mess it up it is curtains on that place. 

I like to make bread pudding when I have extra baguettes laying around, however day old croissants make for a fantastic result too! You can really customize it to whatever you have on hand.

Cooking sometimes is about basics and then just "chefing" it up sometimes. Bread Pudding is no different it's always the same basic custard that you flavor accordingly and add any mix ins you'd like. 

Ingredients for basic custard

4 eggs

2 cups milk

1 cup sugar ( I used light brown)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

6 cups cubed and toasted bread

The following are your mix in's you can put anything in theses:

1/2 cup chocolate chunks

1/4 cup chopped spicy sweet pecans

1 banana diced

Gather all your ingredients so you'll be ready to roll.

Next combine your sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon together. Whisk until combined and then I add a small pinch of salt to balance the sweetness. 

Then add in your toasted and cubed bread pieces. It will look soupy at first but as it sits it will almost all be absorbed.

Add in your mix in's

Let it sit for about 20 mins to a half hour. This will allow enough time for the liquid to soak.

Like magic it's almost dry now. Next butter one large dish or small ramekins and spoon and press in as much filling as you can into them. They will puff up as they cook and then settle as they cool so place them on a sheet tray just in case they decided to flow over. 

Bake at 350 for about 35-40 mins. They will no longer be wet but nice and spongy with a crispy top. If you can wait let them rest for 10 mins. If not remove them and top with caramel sauce and whipped cream and have them for breakfast... Ice cream is also really good on them!

Happy Cooking!

THE steak.

Only a few things can actually make me swoon, a perfect steak is one of my top three! We have all had a good steak at a nice high end steakhouse and thought that was pretty spectacular and all, but you will know if you have had THE steak. The kind of steak that is cooked so perfectly that it leaves you speechless. My perfect kind of steak has to have a good balance,  a crispy well seasoned crust, a soft bright pink center, and in some cases a rich sauce that leaves you wanting more.  This recipe has it all. Learn the steps to make a perfect steak at home, that taste better and is a fraction of the cost of a steakhouse.

Start off with your steak. you want a nicely marbled steak, this means nice and bright pink beef with lines of fat running through it. When I order out I usually go towards a fillet or a rib eye, that's just my personal taste. My hubs goes for a porterhouse and its just as amazing! You can cook any cut with this method just repeat to your self Fat = Flavor and your results will be awesome. I like thicker steaks because I think you can get a good crust to center ratio which makes me happy.

Season the hell out of them! It does not have to be 800 seasonings, just simple coarse salt and freshly cracked pepper are perfect. We want the steak to stand alone and we are simply trying to enhance the natural flavor of the beef, not hide it.

Get a heavy saute pan, I usually go towards a stainless or cast iron pan for steaks, You will get a much better crust than with a non-stick pan. Heat that baby up! You should only be able to hover your hand over the surface for a second because the heat will be radiating off it.

Add a neutral flavored oil. Canola or grapeseed are both good choices and have what is called a high smoke point. This means it will be able to handle a higher heat before it starts smoking. Once you add your oil it needs to heat up, a good visual for this is, as you tilt your pan you will see streaks or ripples in the oil. This lets you know that it is Go time.


Lay your steaks in the pan leaving enough room around them so they can cook with out touching. Once they are in the pan DO NOT MOVE THEM! Most people fall in to two categories the flippers or the trusting ones. I can guarantee you this, if you leave it alone magic will happen. The natural sugars in the meat will caramelize and the seasonings will form this sweet and salty crust, and it will all take place if you just leave it be. Proteins will let you know when they are ready to flip. Have ever cooked fish or chicken and half of it sticks to he pan? It was not ready. If you HAVE to peek, use a pair of tongs and gently lift a corner of the steak just enough to check if it easily is ready to turn, if there is any resistance or sticking, put it back down. This should take about 4 mins per side for nice medium-rare

Flip your steak and give it another 4 mins on the other side. One flip is all you get.

Remove the steaks from the pan, place on a warm plate and immediately tightly cover with foil for 10 mins. The foil will keep it hot and resting will allow time for all those beefy juices to redistribute throughout the meat.

while it is resting lower your pan heat. All that crusty bits in our pan are going to make the beginnings of this Brandy peppercorn sauce.  Those bits are what the french kitchen calls Fond. Fond is flavor. If you think about building a good dish you need different levels of flavor that build like a staircase. The fond is the first step, and we are stepping it on up to heavenly so we have a few more levels to add.

Brandy Peppercorn Sauce

1T. crushed peppercorns

2. T brandy (Bourbon would also be good)

3 T heavy cream

1 Cup beef stock

1 T unsalted butter

1/2 of a large shallot minced

if needed add a tablespoon more oil, only if your pan is dry. Now add in your minced shallots, we want to cook these until they are nice and soft. ( adding sweetness and a little bite from shallots, another level of flavor)

De-glaze. This means to scrape and incorporate the  flavors of the fond. We are using our Brandy for this. If your using a gas stove turn your heat off while you add it in, to avoid removing your eyebrows :) We are now going to cook this Brandy until it is almost evaporated, a matter of seconds really.

Now to add depth of flavor we are going to add a little beef stock, this will add volume and complement the beefy flavor of our steaks.

Now for our peppercorns. Crush them up just enough so you still have big pieces of peppercorns for your sauce.  Toss them in and again let it reduce by about half.

Now this is good as is, but we want to make it a little more luxurious. Add in the heavy cream. Stir to combine and them the butter. This technique of ending a sauce with butter is what will add that silky richness that will coat your mouth as you eat your steak. It creates the Wow! factor for your sauce. Taste for seasoning, which should be damn near perfect by now, but if you feel it needs more salt and pepper, feel free to make it to your taste. Let it cook and thicken until it coats the back of a spoon.

Remove foil and plate your steak. Drizzle your peppercorn sauce right over the the tops and enjoy. That my friends is what I'm sure heaven will be like.



Happy Cooking!

French onion soup and the secret to perfect caramelized onions

This always seems to be a popular item to order when it's on a menu. French onion soup is both decadent as well as a comfort food. It also happens to be one of my parents favorite soups! It's not the quickest recipe but totally worth the wait. Simple and few ingredients make mine a great freezer meal as well.

The secret is perfectly caramelized onions. Some chefs short cut this process by adding sugar or honey to their onions, it gets results but not as good as this. Slow and steady wins the race and makes for natural sweetness that pairs perfectly with rich beef stock and wine.

Ingredients

6 Cups thinly sliced onions 

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 Tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped

1/2 Cup white wine or sherry

4 Cups Beef Stock

French bread

Gruyere cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

It all starts with onions..LOTS of onions. 

In a large pot melt butter and olive oil on low heat until butter begins to foam. By adding olive oil to the butter it will increase the smoke point (temperature at which fat begins smokes) Butter is normally very low and quick to brown but we want to maintain the richness of the butter and avoid browning it. By using the added olive oil it works like an insurance policy. 

Add all your onions to the pot and coat in fat. It will be almost to the top it they will shrink down as the first steam and then like magic they will begins brown. This whole process can take about an hour on low heat.

About 5 mins later you will see them start to steam and soften.

Once onions are reduced by about half the volume. Sprinkle in thyme and a little salt and pepper. Toss to coat.

The onions will start to be really soft an stringy like, and will start getting almost sticky.

Once you start to get sticky you will stir and see a little caramel colored film on the bottom of the pan. This is called the fond, and its like a powerhouse of flavor, so we want to use it as a building block to add depth to our soup. Just keep stirring an scraping every couple minutes.

They will start to get light brown bits through out the onions.

Then it will start getting an even layer of caramelizing on the bottom so keep stirring an scraping the bottom of your pot until deep golden brown. Be careful not to burn it.

Just like this! You can put these on anything from omelets to pizza, even over a block of Brie! 

Add white wine or brandy to the pan and deglaze. 

Make sure to get all that great fond off the bottom of the pan.

Pour in beef stock and put a lid on top and let simmer for at least a half an hour. The longer it cooks the better it gets.

Once it has simmered it will look like this. You could totally eat it just like this... But we're going to make it even better.

Slice some thick rounds of french baguette. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides. Broil and flip till both sides are crispy and golden.

Ladle soup into a oven safe ramekin. Float a toasted baguette piece in soup and lay as much Gruyere on top as you like.

Place under broiler until cheese is melted into soup and golden brown.

Remove from broiler and let cool just a bit and then dig in! Its creamy, sweet, and like a savory bread pudding almost. Serve this with a crisp cool simple green salad and dinner is ready.

Happy Cooking!

Sesame beef lettuce wraps

Life just gets busy the past week and a half has just been just that. We had a rash of colds blow through our house, Christmas shopping, working, and just getting ready for all of this busy time all the celebrations! Our best friend truly can be a slow cooker at this point in the year. I utilize a crock pot pretty much every night that I'm at work year round. This way my family still has a good hot meal. It's something easy they just have to put the finishing touches on and still get baths and homework done while under daddy supervision. This recipe is great it's fast, delicious, and healthy.

Ingredients 

2 pounds top sirloin, large cubes

1/4 cup fat free low sodium beef stock

2 Tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

1 Tablespoon sesame oil

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1 Tablespoon rice vinegar

1 Tablespoon ketchup or tomato paste

2 Tablespoons grated ginger 

1/2 a small onion grated

3 cloves garlic grated

2 Tablespoons sesame seeds

romaine hearts or steamed brown rice to serve with it.

Place beef in your crock pot

Assemble all the rest of the ingredients for your sauce. I love the frozen ginger in 1teaspoon cubes. It's a huge shortcut and since we don't use ginger that often I always have some on hand in the freezer.

I grate my garlic so it melts into the sauce

I also do this with my onion too!

Stir together your stock, soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, garlic, onion, sesame oil, ginger and ketchup. The sprinkle in sesame seeds.

Pour the sauce over the new and stir to coat.

Set your crock pot to low and a timer for 6 hours. (mine is so over worked the display is not even working anymore..hint hint Santa!) By the time it is done you should be able to shred it apart with a fork. You can put it over rice and stir in some steamed vegetables or I like to low carb it and make them into lettuce wraps. Either way in 6 hours your house will smell amazing and easy Asian inspired dinner will be ready to eat! I'd have a finished product to show you but I'm sure it will be gone by the time I get home from work. 

A Happy full family = mission accomplished

Happy Cooking! 

Christmas Cookie Countdown: White Chocolate Peppermint Biscotti

Sometimes cooking is about more than just the end result. Sometimes it's about the journey getting there. When I cook in the kitchen it is a chance for me to relax, to do something I truly enjoy. The saying goes if you love what you're doing it never feels like work and being a chef truly is one of my most gratifying loves. One of the main reasons behind that is I never feel like I'm alone. I have all these bits and pieces of my history that surround me, and today I felt that more so than ever. 

I come from a family of amazing cooks and food has always been a huge part of my memories of each and everyone of them. I lost my grandpa Ramage when I was 11, and it was heartbreaking. However I'm honored to reach for his sifter that is decades old and his tried and true stainless mixing bowls. They make me feel like he is cooking with me and that we share this connection. 

I still use the measuring spoons from my very first cookbook my parents ever got me when I was a little girl. I feel all these things around me and so many wonderful memories come rushing back. I think that's truly what makes this time year so joyous. We are open to those memories and when we are really missing those that are no longer with us, they don't feel like they are so far away. Just some food for thought and something that made me smile this morning.

Today's recipe hits close to home with that. Sometimes it's not lifetimes but just pure miles that separate us from our loved ones. This is one that makes me think dearly of my favorite Italian family that I met when I was in high school. They had the most wonderful biscotti at Christmas time, lets be honest they had amazing food all the time at their house. Even though this recipe is not there's nor is it traditional, it still makes me feel like California is just a little closer. 

Ingredients 

1 stick unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

3 cups all-purpose flour 

1 tablespoon baking powder 

1 pinch of salt

1 cup white chocolate chips

Start off by creaming your butter and sugar in a mixer until fully incorporated.

Add in your eggs one at a time with your mixer on low making sure each additional egg is fully incorporated before you add the next one. (Our elf "Lunchbox" was watching closely from his marshmallow hot tub today!)

Add in your vanilla and peppermint extract and mix to combine. It should be like a thick liquid at this point.

In a separate bowl sift together your flour baking powder and a pinch of salt.

Add flour mixture too wet mixture in three increments with mixer Running on low. Fold in white chocolate chips. 

With floured hand separate the sticky dough into thirds and shape into rounds on un-greased or parchment lined baking sheets. Flatten down to about an inch thickness with your hands.

Bake in a 350 oven for 20 to 25 minutes until just golden brown around the edges.

Let cool five minutes and then with a sharp serrated knife slice into inch thick piece and place cut side down on sheet tray. Bake for an additional 15 minutes Until golden brown.

Let cool. You can spread on some white chocolate and sprinkles if you'd like, or leave them as is. Both are deliciously great and hot coco ready! I could not resist using those candy can shaped peppermint flavored sprinkles, aren't they cute!

You can also freeze in batches and giveaway as git to your neighbors. I'm saving one for the first snow day!

Happy Cooking!