Jamieott's Blog

Not venturing into desserts often, i was surprised by my inspiration to create a fairly interesting dessert for a summer bbq. There were four components:

1. Angel food cake – i just bought this

2. Banana puree – blended bananas with honey

3. Vanilla whipped cream – whipped heavy cream with vanilla bean and confectioners sugar

4. Spiked cherry ice – pureed fresh cherries and blueberries with cherry wine, sugar, mint, lemon juice, lemon zest and vodka. Set the mix in the freezer overnight and had a choppy italian ice consistency in the morning.

Very very yummy!!

Fancy.

With my boyfriend acting as a Hindi-English translator, his mom taught me how to make aloo paratha, or spicy potato flatbread. The process does take some time but the steps are simple.

Filling
-boil 5 small yellow potatoes
-dice 1/2 onion
-dice two green serrano chilis (seeds left in)
-mash potatoes and mix everything with garam masala, chili powder and salt.

bread dough
-wheat flour
-water
The dough was already made when I arrived so I do not have an estimate of flour to water ratio. Best I can offer is combine the two until you have an elastic, sticky dough.

Process: pinch off a 2″ diameter ball of dough and pat with wheat flour. Roll the dough into a ball in your hand and then pat down a little on a floured board. Roll into a circle about 4″ diameter and fill with potato stuffing (approx. 2T). Pinch the edges of the dough together from opposites sides, and rotate 60degrees to pinch two more times, closing the dough around the filling. Pat the ball with flour and place folds-side down onto board. Roll into 1/4″ thickness and cook on a hot, flat skillet for a minute or so on each side. We used olive oil in the skillet instead of ghee since it’s healthier. Paratha bread is different from roti because there is oil drizzled on it during cooking, whereas roti is dry.

The warm aloo paratha was served with raita, a refreshing yogurt side, and tamarind chutney. I loved the spice of the chilis, the chewy bread and the flavorful chutney. Worth the work!

Just before skillet time!

Auntie demonstrating skillet skills.

In my quest to empty the freezer, i braised a pork belly for the korean leftovers dish, bibimbap.

Pork belly
Marinated overnight in soy sauce and worchestire sauce and sriracha chili sauce. I seared the edges before braising in chicken broth and red wine for 3hrs at 200F. I left the cast iron skillet glass lid on and found it didn’t allow the fat to render as it should. The meat was moist and flakey, though.

Bibimbap
Put together some white rice, raw sliced carrots, cilantro, and kimchi with the pork belly. I added asian inspired bbq sauce and chili sauce on top.

Bbq sauce
Reduced braising liquid, tomato paste, soy sauce, chili sauce, brown sugar, cinnamon stick and star anise.

Since I’m moving soon, it’s time for me to use up whatever’s in the freezer and fridge. I had a leftover Trader Joe’s pie crust which I could either turn into a quiche or a pie. Since I have been on egg overload, I decided on throwing together an apple pie. I’ll warn you that my recipe will not help you much but that there are hundred’s of thousands of recipes online. This post is only for inspiration.

I peeled and sliced 6 granny smith apples and mixed them with: 1/2 C flour, 1 C white sugar, .5 C brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, tsp of salt and juice of two limes. I lined my pie plate with the pie crust and poured the apple mixture into the plate, 9″ diameter. I cut little butter wedges and stuck them between the apples wherever I saw a hole. For the oatmeal topping, I melted 1/4 C. butter and mixed it with some flour, sugar and instant steel cut oats. Once the crumble top was sprinkled on, I popped it in the oven for 1.25 hrs at 350F. Love the sour bite of the apples with the chewy oats and buttery, sugary goodness.

All for me. Just kidding, I’ll share one piece.

Mixing pie with oatmeal made ‘dessert for breakfast’ a less guilty experience.

Traditional egg salad lovers, do not continue to read. Dirty because the dressing has olive juice and garbage because I put whatever was in my fridge in this salad. I do not keep mayo around the house because I think it’s gross, so I use extra virgin olive oil and mash the yolks into the olive oil with a little mustard. This time I also added some olive juice. For the egg white part, I also added smoked salmon, sugar snap peas, goat feta, jalapeno and kalamata olives. It was super tasty but I wish wish wish I had a thick slice of cherokee purple tomato to put between the bread and salad.

Crispy, spicy, creamy, salty.

Once a year I purchase a filet mignon steak from Whole Foods and devour it like a bear just up from hibernation. For a casual lunch at home, I rendered two slices of thick cut bacon in a cast iron skillet. I then seared my room temp filet mignon which had already been covered in salt, seasoning and olive oil. After a couple minutes of searing, I took out the meat and bacon to wrap the steak, as well as sprinkled Moody Blue Roth Kase on top, before finishing in the oven at 375F. I waited until the internal temp of the meat rose to 115F and then let it cool for 10 minutes before eating. Out of kindness to animals, I try not to kill the cow twice, 115F is medium rare. I had a little balsamic vinegar on the side for dipping to cut the fat.

Thankfully no video was taken of me eating this.