Food pr0n party

So as I was watching the latest episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, episode labeled "Food Porn," all I could think was, damn, it's been a while since I've tried a totally new and crazy food item. I am in need of a bit of a taste palette tease.
As such, I think it may be an opportunity to get some of my more near and dear foodies to get together and have a little tasting party.

Of most interesting note from the No Reservations episode that I would really like to try to make, super soft boiled egg covered with a nice stinky, melty, soft cheese, and shaved truffles. Yum.

Heck, why not just call it a Food Pr0n party. Anyone in blogger world in?

Mint Chocolate Chip Icecream Cookies!

So I spent the night working on those mint chocolate chip icecream cookie idea and ya know, it didn't go too badly!


I messed up the oven temperature a bit on this first batch, which is why the cookies are flat and they stuck together, but the next batch came out well (pictures to be added tomorrow)!!

I had some leftover oatmeal cranberry cookie dough left, so that's what that is in the background. ;)

In any case, although I didn't add the green food coloring this time, they taste amazingly similar to the icecream - just like I wanted! Crazy I got this close the first time around!

Cranberry Orange Muffins

Cranberry Orange Muffins for breakfast potluck in the morn! These came out very well! I used a recipe from Cooking Light magazine, BUT replaced a few things like using 1 1/2 cups of flour and 1 1/2 cups of whole wheet flour and 1/2 cup of butter instead of canola oil ;)

Good stuff for sure,

New ideas, mint chocolate chip cookie and notes for lasagna

So I've been thinking about this one for a long time. I would have to say that it was all inspired by my friend Sophia and her sis, Melissa's almost fanatical love of mint chocolate chip icecream.

So anyways, I wanted to put these ideas down before I totally lost them through time.

Mint chocolate chip icecream cookies
Mint flavor provided by either peppermint or mint extract OR a homemade mint leaf infused vodka. I don't think the infused vodka would be able to provide the punch necessary, but it's an exotic way to do it. Eventually, that would become cost prohibitive I think especially in the bang for buck equation...
Shaved dark chocolate of course, I'm thinking at least 50% cacao content.
Using a chewy sugar cookie base, probably incorporate heavy cream into it to really get the texture right...
Green food coloring of course to get the right color...
Maybe a hint of citrus, like a bit of orange oil or something to give it that extra flavor layer...



Now as for the lasagna, I was just watching Tyler's ultimate, and he brings up a great point in his bolognese sauce. He purees carrots, celery, garlic, basil, parsley, and onions and adds it to the sauce with heavy cream and a TOUCH of CINNAMON! Ok, so I definitely like the cinnamon addition.

I'm thinking instead of pork and ground beef, we add a third layer of veal, so ground pork, beef, and veal. I've done some chilis with that combo and it works VERY well.
Heavy cream for sure. I like his trinity, but I'm thinking that plus a bit of spice, jalepenos, and instead of canned crushed tomatoes, a base of my roasted herb tomatoes would work very well.

Definitely use whole milk ricotta cheese and plenty of mozarella or I'm thinking maybe alternating layers of mozarella and a great farm fresh goat cheese. That little bit of sour from the goat cheese would really be nice!


Ok, that's all the ideas I've got for now, more to come later (and hopefully some trial pics)