Pop Punk Kitchen

Cowboys are Square

2010-08-19T15:53:00.003-04:00

I'm really good at updating the Internet about my life.

I have recently come to terms with the fact that I have some thing that I like to call "The Puppy Syndrome". Have you ever seen a puppy go up to a bowl of food and eat a large amount, often quickly, and then instantly whimper or vomit because they're brain doesn't tell them that their stomach is full? That is Puppy Syndrome, and I am one of many who live with problem everyday. Luckily, unlike most puppies, I can some times control my excitement when food is placed in front of my face.

So when last month, July, was started off with a four day potluck/glotten fest I had to figure out how to remain excited about cooking and hanging out with people while trying to be responsible enough bury my face into a plate/bowl/early grave of food. I would say I completed this test with 85/100. While I did eat too much too quickly, I didn't puke or whimper that much.

For the first potluck I brought over two things: rosemary and garlic texas toast and walnut pate.

First Ill talk about the toast.

COWBOYS ARE SQUARE TEXAS TOAST
(this was the first time I ever made bread with yeast.)

4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 package yeast
1 1/2 lukewarm water
1 Tbs sugar
1/2 cup oil (I used just straight veggie)
1/4 cup rosemary
5 cloves of garlic(or more)
a few pinches of ground cayenne, salt and pepper depending on your taste

Start off by activating the yeast in a small bowl with the sugar and lukewarm water. While waiting for the yeast to activate, take this time to mince up the garlic and rosemary. Once finished, add about 2/3 of the garlic and rosemary to the oil and spices and set them aside.

As for the remaining 1/3, mix it with the flour and teaspoon of salt in a bowl or mixer. After giving the dry stuff a quick toss add the yeast mixture and mix the two together until you or your machine can form the dough into a ball. If this doesn't happen because the dough seems too wet, add a little bit more flour. The dough should be moist but not so moist that it sticks to your hand when handled. Speaking of handling, next take the dough out of the bowl and on a well floured cutting board knead the dough for about five minutes or until you feel that your muscles are going to snap. Then place the dough into a well oiled bowl and place a moist paper towel or cheese cloth over it and let sit/rise for an hour.

During this hour may I suggest that you enjoy a beer while reading. Maybe start the pate. Or heck why not go crazy for once and take walk. This is your hour.

Your hour is done. Hope you didn't waste it.

First, preheat your oven to 350. Then take the dough out of the bowl and place on the cutting board. Give it a few punches, elbows, maybe a few bodyslams to work it down. After working the dough for a minute section it off into two or three loaves. I made two loafs but looking back I realize for my purpose three probably would have worked better. Next take the loaves and place them on to a baking sheet a few inches apart. Once on the baking sheet score the top of the loaves and brush or spoon the oil/garlic/rosemary on to the dough. After that let them sit for about 15 minutes so that they can rise a bit. This will give you time to see if the loaves need more space. Then pop the loaves into the oven for 15 minutes.

After the bread is down take it out and set it aside until it is cool or until it can be handled long enough to slice. Slice the bread as thick as you like and then brush the remaining oil on the sides of bread slices. Then place them back into the oven for 5-10 minutes, or until they are golden. Let cool for a bit, then share it up!

stay food paltz: part II

2009-09-22T01:31:00.006-04:00

last christmas i probably got one of cookest gifts ever: a kitchenaid stand mixture. i can hear my punx points drop after writing that. anyways capitalism and nerdism aside, ive wanted one for awhile and though i dont really bake many things beyond bread the thought of one day getting the attachments was enough. pasta maker. fruit and veggie grinder shredder and juicer. sausage maker(for veggie sausage)!

since getting it i actually havent actually had it. every time i came to visit after, and including, christmas day ive taken a bus and didnt really want to carry the mixture on my lap. plus people were staying in my house all the time and i didnt want their dirty little hands touching it. its mine.

so you can only imagine how excited i was when i got back to new paltz and had a reason to use it.

FALL CANT KEEP ME DOWN PUMPKIN BREAD

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
egg replacer = 3 eggs ( i just used more applesauce, i think that comes out to be 1Tbs per egg
16 ounces can pumpkin
3 cups flour (i was lame just used all purpose flour because i founds are tight)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup chocolate chips

the first pre-heat the oven to 350F.

next separately mix the dry ingredients(sugars, flour, spices, baking powder and soda and salt) in one bowl. then mix the wet ingredients(apple sauce, fake eggs and oil) in another bowl.

then add the wet to the dry while mix them together. this is where my beautiful stand mixture comes in. or if you dont have a stand mixture or any other electric kitchen tool of the future, a spoon will do. i guess. once everything is mixed together stir/work in the chocolate chips in the batter.

next butter a bread pan and pour the batter on in. i believe the pan i used was 9x5x5 and had fit perfectly. so depending on the size of the pan or pans divide evenly.

finally just pop the bread in the oven for an hour or until baked all the way through. cool and remove from pan. then share.

stay food paltz: part I

2009-09-22T01:31:00.001-04:00

on sept 12th marked the third stay true paltz fest.

for those that dont know stay true paltz is one of the many on going events organized in new paltz to promote the DIY and posi attitude in the in new paltz community that most people probably havent heard or seen about, whether they live in new paltz or not.

i moved to albany shortly after the second stay true paltz and through pure stupid luck i came back just in time to experience the this years. so before anything else i would just like to say:

THANK YOU. to the mulberries spefically and to the students and people who were and werent around five years ago who have energy to make things and are willing to share it.

ANYWAY....on with the foodz:

KALE POTATO LEEK SOUP.

there is a warning to this soup. before playing thier set tom from slingshot dakota warned those gathered at the park that they, "...should not eat the soup, because it is too delicious". really i couldnt ask for a bigger plug! oh wait, say that and then go into a cover of fugazis waiting room. yeah, im set. step aside rachel ray, theres a fresher kid in the kitchen. i may be out of date with my food network hosts...

1 pound fresh kale
4 pounds potatoes (i used russet because it was cheaper but any tater will do in fact the idea of using sweet potatoes sounds great.)
1 large leek
5 cloves of garlic (or more)
1/4 cup of veggie butter
3/4 cup of plain soy milk
4 cups veggie broth

start by stripping the greens of the kale. if you havent done this before take your thumb and index finger to form a firm ring around the stalk of each kale leaf. and then just run your hand down the stalk removing the flesh of the leaf. some stalk is okay. the stalk just takes more time to cook and has a tougher texture. once youve cleared all of the stalks chop up the flesh of the leafs and set them aside in a bowl. then add the stalks to your compost.

next the leek. cut away the end with the root. discard that shit to the compost. now slice the soft white parts of the leeks so that each slice is about one fourth of an inch. each time you get to the rough green parts discard them to the compost too! and continue slicing. just keep slicing and composting. slicing and comporting until your heart is feeled with endless, joy?

as for the potatoes wash them and cut them to be one inch.

start heat the veggie butter in a large pot. add the garlic and leeks and begin to saute them for about four minutes or until the leeks are tender. when the leeks are ready add the kale and potatoes. stir the veggies together and place a lid on the pot for about ten minutes, making sure to stir the contents every so often. next add the broth and allow that to reach a boil and cook for for thirty minutes or until the potatoes are soft. then remove from the heat and stir in the soy milk. then add the soup to a blender or food processor and blend everything together. i blended the soup to be fairly smooth, so it was more creamy. another way to present it is to only blend have the soup so there are full chunks of each veggie. after blending season to taste with salt and pepper. then share.

be sure to let the soup cool for a few minutes if you are worried about burning yourself at all.

and so ends my first post in over a year.

I'm just a fool.

2008-07-13T16:33:00.003-04:00

The best pressure is peer pressure. Even if friends use their powers of peer pressure to get you to update your blog. I'm not completely sure which is worse though, alcohol, drugs or the internet. They all can keep you up strange hours and leave you feeling disgusted with yourself. Though alcohol and drugs don't have cute animal videos involving cats and treadmills.

One thing that I've noticed that I've been doing in the kitchen lately is trying to find music to inspire/motivate me to cook dinner with Keri after a day of working in a kitchen for six hours. I feel a bit embarrassed about admitting this but I got this idea from the TeaNY cookbook by Moby and Kelly Tisdale. Their idea was about what music they enjoy playing in the store and suggest the readers to listen to when they make or enjoy the recipes. So like them I came up a list (as in I looked at my stack of cds in the kitchen and figured that I share them). But unlike them I don't want anyone to enjoy anything. So here is my list of music that can be heard when I'm in the kitchen:

Slingshot Dakota - The Golden Ghost
Propagandhi - Less Talk, More Rock
Jawbreaker - Etc.
Armalite - S/T
Dead Unicorn - Yellowstone Supervolcano
Bomb the Music Industry/ O Pioneers!!! - Split
SuperBobby - Without Bug Spray, Bugs Stay (though after awhile I have found that with this album on I dont really cook as much as I dance.)
Delay - Don't Laugh
Fake Problems - How Far Our Bodies Go
Thee Headcoats - Elementary

A band that should a honorable mention is Tin Armor. I made this list three days ago and since then Ive only listened to A Better Place Than I Have Been. Yesterday alone I listened to it twice just while making an on the spot pasta dinner. It reminded me of the night that they and boys from Annabel spent the night here and were spread out from one side of the living room all the way to the counter top in the kitchen. Another mention should go out to my friend Rachel. She made me a mix cd last winter that is also always playing when I'm in the kitchen or if I'm just bumming around. Two tracks that get a lot of play on that are songs Paul Baribeau - Ten things and Sour Grapes - I want to set you on fire. Dope Jams.

I hope my list lives up to Mobys'. I mean his had Nina Simone, Bjork and I think even one of his own albums. I feel like the only thing to could help me beat Moby would be listening to nothing just DragonForce or Anton Maiden. And I don't know if I'm willing to take that step yet. Notice that I said yet. But maybe with time I'll come up with a list that will get people all razzle dazzled.

"the ride was so rough i almost threw down"

2008-06-04T23:37:00.003-04:00

Im back! Since the last time I wrote Ive suffered a busted finger and computer crashes but I think that i have enough time write now to knock out a few things.

First:

About two months ago I picked up an awesome marble mortar and pestle for $10. Since then Ive enjoyed wonderful self-pride of grinding cumin, pepper and countless other spices. Its the kind of pride I imagine a parent has seeing their children achieve greatness. Except without the horrors of giving birth and raising a child. Maybe it more like the process of making a child, without having the child. You know what Im saying...

Anyway with the mortar and pestle Ive started to combine different spices together including:

Glazed Tempeh Sammichs

1T cumin seed
4 T sugar
2 t rosemary
2 t basil
1/2 t oregano
1 block of tempeh ( I think that it equals to about 1/4 if you get it in bulk)
Standard sandwich supplies. Keri and I used kaiser rolls, alfalfa sprouts, red lettuce, cucumbers, garlic hummus and most important thing in a vegan sandwich...veganaise.

The first step combine all the spices. If you are lucky enough to be able to grind your spices with mortar and pestel do it. Or if you have to use some sort of electronic grinder, do it. Do it like a chump I guess. Grind so that everything is as fine as the sugar.

Then slice the tempeh into three smaller blocks and then slice those threw the middle so that there are now six thin pieces of tempeh.

Next dump the spice mix onto a plate and heat some vegetable or canola oil. Then moisten the tempeh with a little water (or if you want to add a little more flavor try a vegan egg replacer) before placing the tempeh pieces into the the spice mix so that they are covered and popping them into the oil. Each side should take about three minute depending on the oil and when done should be set aside to cool and drip off any extra oil. After cooling the piece should have a light glazed look to them, this will let you know if they cooked right. If they arent glazed try adding more sugar or turning down the heat on the stove the next time.

But once all the pieces are done you can reheat them or just eat them how they are on your sandwich!

The spice mix also works great on fries/potatoes.

Thats all for now because my computer has already crashed twice. But the future does hold updates now that I have two hands to type with updates like:

lemon poppy dressing
raw (hard) cider and a bicycle powered apple crusher!
more spices
my special sauce

we're so hawt

2008-03-31T23:43:00.001-04:00

ok its taken me awhile to get this together.... BUT

Hawt and Sour Stir Fry with noodles.

being the chump that I am I dont have a picture of this dish for two reason:

1)I got drunk tonight
2)months ago I got drunk and fucked up the screen of my camera.

So now that you knpw how I win everyday at life(google sarcasm), here is the recipe....

the Sauce:
1/4 cup vinegar. Apple cider or brown rice preferably. But any light vinegar will do. (If you think balsalmic vinegar would be ok, chance are you have no idea about the different types of vinegars and the process and history of them. I envy you.)
2 Tbl. Tomato paste
1Tbl. Lime or Lemon juice
4 Tbl. any hot sauce ( you know what tastes good to you. Though if you use minor threat hot sauce I give you the credit that my once straightedge heart could give)
2 Tbl. Bragg's or soy sauce
6Tbl. sugar
a few dashes of crushed red pepper

the stir-fry:
whatever tastes good to you. I suggest tofu, broc., red pepper, carrots and buttload of onions, garlic and ginger. + tofu

noodle:
rice or wheat noodles

First Step, boil water and cook noodles. I trust you. YOU CAN DO IT!

This is probably the simplest recipe I'll ever post because beyond what I just wrote everything is up to you. Well in the end everything is up to you because I totally support the idea of modifying any recipe I post to fit your taste and eating habits. But for this recipe just add all of the ingredient of the sauce together stir together until the sugar dissolves. Cook your stir-fry like normal. Cooking the veggie for the right time(if anyone needs to know when the right time is for a veggie let me know and ill help you.) And when you are getting that golden point add the mixture and let the sauce and veggies+ cook together for just about five minutes.

After that serve the stir-fry over the noodles and enjoy.

NOTE: depending on how you enjoy oriental food you can add a bit of corn starch to thicken the sauce. I personly like my sauce to be watery when served over noodles so its more soup like. Like all my recipes, you should modify things based off of your taste because in the end that the only thing that matters in a kitchen.

/end drunk post

What the future holds; things I hate when cooking, things I love, stories of working in the restaurant world and how I can be pumped but finallt getting a rolling pin.

Alan!Face

Art Shmart.

2008-03-12T21:11:00.003-04:00

Last week was the 1st Friday art opening for the two of the bestest people on the planet: Knitty Digital and liber(A)tion pleas(E). He's too cool for blogs. But for the opening I decided to bust out some num-nums.

first up: Roti.

Roti is an amazing flat bread that can be prepared and cooked in just about fifteen minutes. Working in an Indian restaurant and being an all around nerdball when it comes to Indian food in general I've come to realize that there are countless recipes for roti and other Indian breads. But this one seems to be the easiest, cheapest and tastiest.

Ingredients:

1 Cup Flour
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Oil
3 Tbl. Soymilk
(optional spices depending on your taste. In this batch I used used garam masala, tumeric, fennel seeds and freshly minced garlic that I added right before cooking.)

Start off by adding and mixing together all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Next slowly add the soymilk and mixing every together by hand until the ball of dough if moist but dry enough to work with. A good test for this is when all of the flour is saturated by the soymilk you can grab the the dough and it doesn't stick to your hand you are good. After getting it together in the bowl, work the dough a bit just to get any extra air out of the bread on a cutting board. Next tear of a piece of the dough and roll it into a ball somewhere between the size of a golf ball and a large jawbreaker. Like the kind used by Rose McGowan to kill her high school friend in that movie, the name escapes me right now. Or maybe the size of a Blake Schwarzenbach's heart. Once you get the ball rolled smush it down on to a flat surface with a bit of flour on it and roll it out until it's about as thick as a nickle. Then on either a nonstick skillet or frying pan begin to cook the roti on a middle heat, flipping it over often so it wont burn. Cook the roti until it begins to become a nice golden brown color and starts to bubble. The bubbling just means that the roti will be light and to a degree fluffy which is prefect.

If you wish you can rub some earthbalance on it to give a buttered flavor. Then cut it and serve with your favorite curry dish or sauces.

Now just repeat everything until the dough is gone. This recipe should make about three rotis.

and the dessert to end all desserts:

MINI GREEN AND BLACK PIES!

Green and Black Pies are probably the only reason why people have stayed my friend for as long as they have. I'm okay with that. First conceived in the kitchen of the Knitter and Butcher, has taken over most of the eastern half of this counry.

Ingredients:

the crust
a pack of Graham Cracker(or nine whole crackers.)
6 Tbl. canola oil or melted earth balance

the filling
3 avocados
2 cups semi-sweet vegan chocolate chips
1/8 cup of brown sugar
1/8 cup soymilk
1 Tbl. orange juice

a fruit topping of your choice.
cupcake wrappers.

First off to make the crust is simple just toss the crackers into a food processor and grind them up on their own. Then add the oil and blend it with the crackers until they have become a good mush. Depending on the type of crackers used you may need to add or reduce the amount of oil. Once they are blended together, spoon bit of the crust mush into the cupcake wrappers. Just enough to cover bottom of the wrapper when pressed down to flatten the oily mush. Hungry yet? Now you have two options: bake or dont bake. Baking makes the crust crispy. Not baking means that the crust will stay moist and wont crumble apart when you eat it.

Now the filling. Start by smashing up the avocados so that they are real smooth. Next melt the chocolate. You can be fancy and melt it with a double boiler OR you can be a lazy good for nothing like me you can microwave melt the chocolate! I hate microwaving things and reheating in general but its the fastest way to get the chocolate melted. So if you want to be lazy just toss the chocolate into a microwave safe bowl with just about a cup of water for three minutes and then stir it up, and nuke it again if needed, until its nice and smooth. Then add the chocolate to the avocados and then add the rest of the ingredients to the mixture while stirring well. Then spoon the filling onto the crust and add the fruit topping before putting the mini cakes in the frig or freezer so that the filling will set.

This should make about 30 mini pies. If you aren't into the whole mini thing you can use this recipe to make one whole normal pie. But normal is way lame compared to mini.

Next update: Hot and Sour Stir fry with noodles!

alan!face