Ace of Cakes

On Friday evening I went to meet a buddy for happy hour at a bar in Times Square.  It just so happened they were hosting a party for the Anime festival in town.  It definitely provided an excellent opportunity for people watching.  At one point I saw a bunch of folks taking pictures so I walked over to see what the hoopla was about.  I came back joking with my buddy that they were taking pictures of books and figurines on a table and that people will take pictures of anything.

Well we come to find out that what they were taking pictures of was a cake made by Charm City Cakes.  Charm City Cakes is home to the Food Network television show, Ace of Cakes.  Ace of Cakes is a pretty cool program where they make very intricate and specialized cakes for events.  If interested their web site is - Charm City Cakes.  I honestly did not think it was a cake and was very impressed to learn it was.  Good job Duff and crew.

ar

Improving aesthetics one dish at a time

So the molé received mixed reviews from readers due to it having the aesthetic qualities resembling the aftermath of a high fiber diet.  I went with quality with that one, and achieved that. Frankly, molé doesn't look pretty but it tastes good.

Last night I made a ceviche with shrimp and tilapia.  The shrimp was pre-cooked, the fish was not.  The recipe called for 4 lemons juiced, tomatoes, jalapeño, cucumber, red onion, garlic, cilantro, and parsely.

I put out some plain melba toast crackers and avocado slices.  We then decided the green tabasco would be a great topper.  It came together as a very fulfilling and refreshing dish.  Only critique of this one is that next time I will use limes instead of lemons and perhaps a heartier fish.

ar

Molé

The past few weeks I've really been wanting to take a stab at making chicken molé. I researched some recipes and then began the search for the right mole sauce. I had been reading about a Dona Maria molé sauce sold at Mexican groceries stores and was pretty sold on it. This was confirmed when Driscoll and I went for tacos at the Tehuitzingo bodega (amazing tacos which I'll elaborate on in a later post) and he mentioned Amy had used it, and they loved it. I picked up a jar for the dish.

The recipe is pretty simple consisting of:

(2) chicken breasts

(3) tablespoons of vegetable oil

half a yellow onion

(3) large garlic cloves

(3) cups of reduced sodium chicken broth

8 oz jar of Dona Maria molé sauce

(1) 16 oz bag of rice

1 teaspoon of salt

I chopped the onion, diced the garlic, and put (3) tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large saucepan to sauté. I then cubed the chicken breasts (~1") and added it to the saucepan. I raised the heat to sear the chicken on all sides and then lowered, covered, and simmered. While that was cooking I brought 2 cups of water, 1 cup of chicken broth, and salt to a boil and then added the rice, covered and simmered.

While the chicken and rice were cooking I combined the 8 oz jar of molé and 2 cups of chicken broth and blended. Once the chicken was done I drained the juice from the chicken and then added the molé mixture. I brought that to a simmer for ~5 minutes. During this time the rice was cooked.

I plated the rice and added the chicken molé atop. I must say it was pretty great for a first attempt at a dish that can be testy.

ar

notes: next time I will only use about 5 oz of molé mixture to 2 cups of chicken broth to balance the chocolate. I will also look into adding poblano peppers to add a hit of spice to the dish.

cooking in hell's kitchen

Last week I decided it was my turn to cook for a night. For the record Paige does enjoy cooking (and does so extremely well), but I recognize I should do it more often so she can relax. I was in the mood to slow cook a pork tenderloin in a crock pot so that is what I did. The recipe I chose instructed me to simmer the pork with a 12 ounce root beer for 6 to 7 hours. Then drain and simmer for another hour in "your favorite barbecue sauce". I tweaked it by adding garlic salt, onion powder, cayenne pepper, and a few tablespoons of barbecue sauce to the initial 6 hour slow cook. Our slow cooker cooks a little faster so I did that for 4 hours, drained the sauce and added 12 ounces of barbecue sauce, more garlic salt, onion powder, and cayenne pepper to simmer for 2 hours. The barbecue sauce I used was from Rudy's in Texas. It is phenomenal bbq sauce and the last time paige was home she brought us back two 48 ounce bottles.

I also borrowed a recipe that I've always liked from Kristi (borrowed from Alton Brown) for an asian slaw. After she answered many of my questions I went for it. I'm not a mayonnaise fan so this called for rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, lime, sesame oil, chiles, etc.

I must say it turned out pretty well. The barbecue sauce turned out excellent. I think the cayenne pepper added a great kick to it and I will definitely do it again. You couldn't really taste any root beer which was confirmed by Paige. So I may alter that, but otherwise it was excellent. The slaw also turned out really well. I thought I may have put a little too much vinegar, but Paige said she liked it. Hopefully she wasn't humoring me and enjoyed her much deserved night off.

ar