Spicy Spaghetti

Spaghetti is one of my favorite foods. A meal that frequently ended in fierce competition between my father and I, spaghetti has been in my family since childhood. I made spaghetti tonight, extra hot. However, I was in a rush, and only spent about an hour cooking time total. (Normal competition spaghetti in the Burr household would start around 3pm and be eaten around 6pm. THREE hour process, no thank you tonight.) The process usually takes so long because the Italian sausages are cooked from raw completely in the sauce. I precooked the hot Italian sausages in a pan to speed up the process a little bit.

Note: Unfortunately, I dropped the ball and did not take any pictures of this meal. But, use your imagination to create the most delicious spicy spaghetti imagery imaginable.

First I grabbed the largest pot I owned and poured in two starter spaghetti sauces. I used Classico, because they sell 3 packs at Costco, but you can use whichever you prefer. Then I put in one can of stewed basil and oregano tomatoes and one can of diced tomatoes. (Had I the resources for tomato paste, sauce or red wine…I would have added those ingredients as well.) I threw in two whole fresh jalapeños as “floaters”, which not only serve as a heat booster, but also adds esthetic appeal. I kept the heat on very low and let them simmer under a lid.

Meanwhile, I cleaned and minced (very tiny) a third jalapeño to add to the sauce. Then I added a healthy portion (you can’t really measure spices…) of oregano, some minced garlic, cumin, black and red pepper (cayenne). Cayenne is a very slow burning heat, hits the back of your tongue after you’ve swallowed. Jalapeño hits you more quickly, in the front of your pallet. The jalapeño / cayenne combo qualified one hell of a kick! I kept the heat on low, stirring frequently to prevent the tomatoes from burning to the bottom of the pan, and continued to simmer.

I used a five pack of hot Italian sausages from Fred Meyers, which were still slightly frozen when I began cooking. Obviously, I would recommend thawing your meat if time allows you to do so. I put the sausages in a large frying pan with about ¼ cup water (to create steam) and a lid. I babysat the sausages and flipped them frequently to prevent burning. They cooked for several minutes until almost completely cooked. They finished cooking in the tomato sauce for about another 40 minutes.

I boiled a large pot of water with salt and oil. I was out of spaghetti noodles, so I used my next favorite, bowties. I let the noodles cook for about 15 minutes until soft, drained the water in a strainer, and put the noodles back in the warm pot with a big chunk of butter.

Voila! Butter bowties, spicy spaghetti sauce, and hot Italian sausage….Parmesan cheese of course. It was excellent!

Beware: Tomatoes are very acidic, and tomato sauces do not stay good in the refrigerator for more than about three or four days I would say. Do not eat questionable spaghetti leftovers. You have been warned.  

Dark Chocolate Cherry Dr. Pepper Rum Cake

It’s Alex's birthday, and I wanted to make him a specialty birthday cake. I decided to make a *takes deep breath for long sentence*…dark chocolate cherry dr. pepper rum cake.  Mmmm!

I have made this cake once before, but this time I pretty much winged it. I got a box (yes, I don’t make eeeeeverything from scratch) of dark chocolate cake, and a box of INSTANT chocolate pudding. In my kitchen aid, I mixed both boxes, four eggs, about a cup of Bacardi torched cherry rum, a half a cup of dr. pepper, a quarter cup of oil, and a table spoon of cocoa powder. I mixed this until it was batter, but it still looked pretty thick. I took a jar of maraschino cherries, and poured about half of the cherry juice into the cake batter. I mixed until the batter looked about the right consistency, and then I added some whole cherries.

I greased the bundt pan and placed some extra cherries at the bottom (so they would be on top when I flip it out). I poured the cake mix over the cherries and into the bundt pan. I baked it in the oven at 350F for about an hour.

While it was baking, I tried to make a simple syrup reduction, but it never got very syrupy (probably because I used cherry rum instead of water). The “syrup” consisted of about a half cup of cherry rum, the rest of the cherry juice, and a few table spoons of sugar. Like I said, this never really thickened up, which is totally fine.

I let the bundt cake cook for ten minutes before I even attempted to remove it from the pan. Once cooled, I took a rubber spatula to loosen the sides (but careful to keep its shape intact). I lined a cookie sheet with foil, and placed it ON TOP of the bundt pan. Then, very carefully, I flipped the bundt pan over onto the cookie sheet, releasing the cake from the mold. It was beautiful!

Lastly, I used a plastic knife to poke a few slits in the top of the cake, and I poured the simple syrup all over the cake. The cake soaked it all up like a sponge! The bottom cherries are now on top and bright beautiful red! The cake is dark , chocolaty and moist! All in all, I would say the dark chocolate cherry dr. pepper rum cake was a great success!!

Halibut Tacos with Chipotle-Lime Dressing

The other night, I went over to have friends with my old roomies at their new place. My beautiful cousin Laura gets all the credit for this meal, but it was just so delicious, I had to blog about it.

I knew her family had just caught some fresh fish in the English Bay, but I was ecstatic to find out the menu: halibut tacos with pico de gallo and a chipotle-lime dressing!

(this is a modified recipe from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/grilled-fish-tacos-with-chipotle-lime-dressing/detail.aspx)

First, she made a marinade for the halibut to add some extra flavor: olive oil, white vinegar, lime juice, lime zest, honey, garlic, cumin, chili powder and black pepper. She cut the halibut into chunks, placed in a bowl with the marinade, covered with plastic and kept refrigerated. (Quick Tip: I would also suggest gallon zip loc bags for marinades)

Next, (she actually had the salsa and dressing made before I even got there) is the chipotle lime dressing. This was so effing amazing, and simple! Just one 8oz container of sour cream, lime juice and zest, cumin, chili powder and chipotle. She also made a homemade pico de gallo salsa with tomatoes, onions, cilantro, lime juice ect…

After, she grilled the fish on the stove top, we warmed up some corn tortillas and assembled the tacos. Halibut, chipotle lime dressing, salsa and fresh jalapeños. So good.

Side note: I really like mango salsa with white fish. Just like a tomato salsa with onions, cilantro and lime, but chunks of jar or canned mangos in place of tomatoes. Carrs Safeway didn’t have any mangos, so I was going to improvise with a citrus salsa. Unfortunately, I spaced on making the salsa when I got there (because everything already looked so good), so we will never know the fate of the citrus salad.

Red Velvet Waffle Fiasco

Some ideas start out as genius, and quickly turn to the worse decision ever. This is one of those stories:

I was baking red velvet cupcakes with my cousin Leah for our friend Jillian’s birthday this evening. I only had one cupcake tray that could hold a dozen cupcakes. We used only half of the cake batter for the cupcakes, and still had a decent amount remaining. Well, I wanted to use the rest of the batter so that I could clean that bowl and make the cream cheese frosting in the kitchen aid mixer too. So, I got the most tragically brilliant idea to make red velvet waffles!

I had a brand new waffle iron from target, white. I was ready to break this bad boy in. Leah was all game for red velvet waffles too. Well, I have never made waffles before, hence why my waffle iron was brand new. I poured entirely too much BRIGHT RED cake batter into the waffle iron and closed the lid. Within minutes, thick blood like batter is oozing from every waffle iron surface. The sloppy mess seems to touch every surrounding appliance. I only have white kitchen towels, and was not ready for my laundry basket to look like I just gave birth in the bathroom.

 I went through over a HALF a roll of paper towels just trying to soak up batter. The white waffle iron has red velvet batter caked in impossible corners. My hands are freckled from my fingers to my forearm with bright red patches. The wart on my index finger is stained red too. It is a giant mess to say the least.

The red velvet waffles came out pretty good, but they tasted just like a freaking cupcake, and they were not worth the half an hour clean up mission.

But, in the end, we did produce some pretty damn good red velvet cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting. I just used a cake mix and a simple butter cream recipe of one cup cream cheese, two cups powdered sugar, half a stick of melted butter, and a splash of vanilla. The only frosting pipe I could find was for a mini cupcake set, so the frost job was not so hot. But, I never claimed to be a cupcake pro.

In the end, I would highly advise against red velvet waffles. It may sound like a good idea, but it most definitely is not. As much as I love to write about and share my success with food, it's not always butterflies and roses people!

Super Tots

If you have known me for more than five minutes, you probably know how much I love bacon. I have a passion for flavor and bacon gives me a giant boner. I could, and probably will, write an entire blog completely about bacon. But tonight, I made super tots.

A local restaurant here in Anchorage called the Spenard Roadhouse is not only infamous for their bourbon bar, but their bacon creations. They usually feature some special, bacon of the month, that is ridiculously tiny and expensive…but super delicious. They have an appetizer called super tots that consists of a bed of tater tots, covered in bacon, smothered in cheese, topped with chives, and garnished with sour cream.

This evening, I happened to have all of those ingredients (minus the chives, unfortunately), and I made homemade super tots. They were absolutely spectacular for a lazy Sunday afternoon watching crazy documentaries.

It only took about 25 minutes total. I put piece of foil on a cookie sheet and poured the frozen tater tots pretty close together. I baked them at 450F for about 15 minutes before I took them out and added a healthy portion of bacon bits. I put them back in the oven for about another five minutes. I took them out one last time and smothered them with shredded cheddar and sliced cheddar jack cheese. (Note: make sure every tot is a cheesy tot. No one likes to get a bare tot. And furthermore, no one likes the one who steals the cheese nucleus either.) I put them back in the oven for a few more minutes until the cheese melted. We garnished with sour cream and devoured instantly.

Great success!

Pork Green Chili

This is my first cooking blog. As I was preparing this dish, the process just had to be written down and shared with the world. I have a passion for cooking and feeding my family and friends, and it’s about damn time I started blogging about it.

On tonight’s menu: Pork Green Chili!

My family has been cooking chili for as long as I can remember. At the annual Alaska State Fair Chili Cook-off, there are usually about fifteen contestants, and like eight of them are related to me. Generally, my family cooks red chili, but in the last few years we have begun to venture down the green valley.

Competition chili is a very big deal. No beans. Period. You use high quality meats sliced into very tiny cubes, very tiny. It has a strong swift kick, the judges like that, but not too strong that you burn off valuable taste buds. You use secret ingredients, and never, ever share your recipe.

Well, tonight is no competition, and I’m going to share the green chili process because I enjoyed it so much. From hand picking fresh peppers at the grocery store, to roasting them in the oven, then slow cooking the chili all evening in the crock pot.

I started at Carrs Safeway and purchased an assortment of peppers including jalapenos, serranos, yellow chilis, green peppers, and poblanos. First, I washed them and sliced off the stems and removed the pulpy center and seeds. (note: the seeds are hard to separate from the flesh after roasted) I split open the peppers and laid them on a cookie sheet covered in foil. I took a paper towel and dabbed olive oil on the pepper skins. I guess you’re supposed to broil them, but I just put them in the oven at 450F for about 15 minutes. Once the skins were nice and charred, they were easy to separate from the pepper. I diced the slimy pepper into small pieces and mixed them all in a zip lock bag. Ideally, you should roast the peppers right before you make the chili. I didn’t have the time, so I did it in advance. I took the bag of mixed roasted peppers and added some brown sugar, salt, and garlic juice. (yes, the liquid from the minced garlic container) I have never done this before, but I thought it would bring out the flavors in the peppers.

The next day, I realized I didn’t thaw the pork chops. Cool. So, I had to wait another whole day for chili, and they still weren’t completely thaw, but I used them anyways. For anyone else attempting to recreate this recipe, I would not recommend using pork chops haha. I do not know what I was thinking. I should have got a different cut of pork like a loin or something easier to cut. It was a real bitch cutting the meat off of like eight pork chops, into very, very tiny pieces.

After the meat was cubed, I lightly coated it in flour and cooked it in butter. I was only planning on crocking the chili for 4-6 hours, so I wanted to make sure the pork was fully cooked. In the crock pot, I opened two cans of chicken broth (which now I wish I would have only used one because it is having trouble thickening), two large cans of green enchilada sauce, and two medium cans of diced green chilis and jalapenos. Then I through in my roasted pepper marinade, along with the cooked pork, and covered for 4-6 hours.

For spices, I bought two pre-portioned mccormick packages, one for fajitas and one for quesadilla casserole. They had little containers with one table spoon of six different spices. I added some minced garlic, onion, cilantro, red chili pepper, black pepper and cumin. I also added some extra cayenne, which gave her a nice kick!

This brings my first cooking blog to an end. I really enjoyed this whole process, and writing about it makes it even more fun. I hope that you enjoy it too. If you like the photos in my “delicious food” album on Facebook, then hopefully this blog will become a big hit too!