Chimi-what??

Tonight we had grilled top loin steaks with a chimichurri sauce, caramelized onions and mushrooms, corn on the cob, and grilled flatbreads. I tell you what: I love chimichurri sauce and have been dying to make it. I haven't until now because I didn't have an apparatus that would chop and blend the ingredients. Chimichurri is a sauce traditionally made from pureeing fresh parsley, cilantro, and mint with red wine vinegar and oil with raw garlic. It is a South American sauce whose origin is easily found on Wikipedia should you like to know more.

Tonight I'll give you a play-by-play of how to make what we made in a reasonable amount of time.

Want to make your own Chimichurri sauce? It's wicked simple, and this is where the dish starts. For two people start with about 1/2 cup of parsley (I recommend flat leaf, but any fresh parsley leaves will do), 1/2 cup of cilantro and 1/4 cup of mint leaves. Pulse these in a food processor or if you have it, the grinder attachment of a hand-mixer which is what I used. Add in two large cloves of garlic (more if you really like it), and about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of olive oil and 1/4 cup of red-wine vinegar. Pulse until smooth and dressing-like. You can add more of the oil and vinegar if its too thick. Chimichurri should look like a thick sauce, heavier than a vinaigrette but lighter than a pesto would be.

The chimi sauce has a delightfully fresh flavor and the combination of these bright herbs with the robustness of the olive oil and red-wine vinegar really makes for a substantial topping for steak. The spicy bite of the raw garlic blended in just gives it that much more texture. It's really good folks, a treat for sure.

Notes on the process here: Jake doesn't like cilantro so I nixed that and used just the parsley and mint. I recommend keeping the parsley/cilantro to mint ratio 2:1 Otherwise the mint overpowers the dish and you wish you had made a mojito instead...

Set the chimichurri aside and allow it to settle while you start on the onions and mushrooms.

I used a garden-variety large button mushroom that was already steak-cut for me. I rough-chopped these, and set them in foil. I then sliced 1/3 of a white onion (you can use a vidalia onion, Spanish onion or whatever you like) and placed those on the foil. I drizzled these with red-wine vinegar and olive oil -- the same as I used for the Chimi sauce. Feel free to use whatever you like, a nice Italian dressing works too. When I'm cooking peppers,mushrooms, and onions on the grill or any combination thereof, I like to make a foil pouch and add some sort of dressing or marinade. I start these about 10 minutes before whatever meat I'm cooking, as the onions take awhile to caramelize. I find this method works well for me because the moisture essentially steam cooks the veggies but you still get the ambient flavor of the grill as the sugars do their work in reducing the onions to caramelize.

The amount of time you leave these on will depend on your grill, so experiment. I put them off to the side where the heat is less intense so they can sit for longer. Make sure you check them periodically and stir as needed with your grilling utensil of choice. For this meal I like big metal grill tongs.

I think the corn is self- explanatory so I won't go there, but start this early too. I'd recommend starting the water to boil after making the sauce and popping the corn in right away. You know it's done when you lift the lid up and the aroma of corn wafts out at you.

Now the piece-De-resistance -- the steak. For this dish I think people usually use a flank or skirt steak because they are lean but tender and the flavor of that cut pairs well with the chimi. But, I used what we had on hand which was two 4oz top loin steaks. This worked just as well. Usually I marinate my steak for at least two hours, but since we are using the chimi, I just tenderized it with a fork and liberally salted and peppered each side. I set it on the grill, for a medium thickness sirloin, as shown here, I'd recommend about 4 to 5 minutes on each side for medium rare to medium, but this will depend on the strength of your grill. A grill thermometer helps here too...

Notes on the process: Here's a mistake that novice grillers usually make -- they keep flipping the meat over and over and over. Put the meat on the grill and leave it alone! You'll get nice grill marks on it this way, and it will cook more evenly. Flip only once when at all possible to do so. And don't worry if the flames flare up around the meat, that's the flame-broiled goodness you are looking for. You don't need a fast-food burger joint for that, you've got it right here!

When the steak is done let it rest for a minimum of five minutes. 10-15 is better if you can get your mouth to stop watering long enough. Why? During the cooking process the heat brings all of the meat juices to the outside of the steak, so you need to let the steak cool, or "rest" a bit to let those juices redistribute throughout the meat. If you don't do this you risk ending up letting all those juices run out when you cut the meat and you end up with a dry, tough steak (trust me, I've done it it makes me sad).

Grilled flatbreads are easy, and you can do this with any kind of substantially-structured bread you want (crostini, pita, etc... wonder bread will be too soft and will stick to your grill). Brush the bread with olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper to taste. If you have a top rack to your grill, throw these there and let them sit on one side for about a minute. Flip 'em and repeat. If you don't have a top rack, place them wherever the heat is the least intense.

Alright kids, dinner is done! Top the steak with the chimichurri and onions/mushrooms to taste and dig in! The flavor of the chimi sauce is a an additional dimension of flavor for the steak by itself but if you want a little heat a good Louisiana-style hot sauce is also a good addition. The vinegar in this hot sauce blends nicely with the vinegar in the chimi sauce.

I recommend: This dish with a gin and tonic or club soda with lime on the back porch.

"O' cupcake, my cupcake"

First of all, I must give kitchen cred where kitchen cred is due: 1. Jess, the BFF, who bought me a kitchen aid stand mixer for my bridal shower. Without this, nothing baked is possible; 2. Eliza, who first turned me on to this recipe, and 3. the woman who writes "smitten kitchen," (recipe and directions for making)who presumably dreamed up this dream of a treat.

I must provide some context here, as I'm not a huge chocolate or a huge cake fan. I am also not much of a baker. That cred, incidentally, goes to my mom who has a true talent for baking. She could, and probably should, open her own pastry place. She'd make a killing and we'd all develop type II diabetes while living in a state of perpetual peanut-butter-blossom-cookie bliss. I digress... I am, however, a HUGE fan of Irish Car Bombs. It's a new years tradition in these parts, and once a year I forgo all sensibility in favour of chugging guiness, whiskey, and baileys until I start saying things that I...well, shan't repeat here.

So. Why the cupcakes? Why now, you ask? Well, Eliza posted these and I've been dying to try them. A year ago I had my first stint with lemon chiffon cupcakes, made for Jake's 30th birthday party and showcased by Alton, and they were pretty good. The downfall is that the 'chiffon,' or egg part is egg whites whipped into stiff peaks and added to the mix to make the cups light and 'chiffony'. This was a downfall because I didn't yet have the stand mixer and spent 45 minutes furiously hand-whipping egg whites while early-arriving guests watched me gasp and whisk and whisk and talk for an inordinate amount of time until I had moderately stuff peaks. Phew.

Truthfully, today is like a perfect storm of cupcakery (a word?). I've got the mixer, the Irish car bomb recipe love, and tomorrow night we head to an engagement party of two people who will marry in Ireland. What could be a better gift than these cupcakes (and a nice bottle of red wine)?!?!

Nerviously, I begin. Within 5 minutes there is flower EVERYWHERE. This is typical of me on the infrequent occasion of me baking. Literally, I do this like four times a year, max. Despite the messiness, it goes well. Shown here: left, the batter, ready to pour. Right, beer, butter and cocoa powder...mmmm...

Notes on the process: I used a porter instead of guiness stout. This is mainly because in PA you have to buy a case of beer from the distributor, so we got a mixed six from our local bar instead. The stout they had was strongly flavored with licorice, so we went with the porter. It had a nice chocolaty flavor, which complimented the batter well. I also added a touch of vanilla, perhaps a tsp or so. Ina Garten, one of my favorites, always tells me that vanilla actually brings out the flavor of the chocolate so I added it in keeping with that vein (kind of like an opposites attract kind of thing I guess?). I thought it improved and mellowed the flavor of the porter nicely.

As an aside, my dog, who is a doll but also crazy didn't like our first stint with the mixer, and she doth protest too much...

The ganache filling was my first attempt at making a ganache, and I found it surprisingly easy; it was smooth, rich, and glossy.














I also found that chopping up 8oz of chocolate was a good stress reliever.

And the buttercream frosting...oh the buttercream, baileys, luscious frosting. OMG.

This recipie is heavenly.


Our test cupcake (shown here) proved to be everything we had dreamed of and more. It was rich, silky, sweet but not too-so, and chocolaty. Did I mention rich? Because I should put a disclaimer here that this recipe is moist and delish but richer than Donald Trump. It also took me over two hours from start to finish, so you really must be ready to commit. I recommend a cool, rainy Friday night and a couple of cold beers.

I hope you make this, as it is totally worth every bite. My only regret is that my pops wasn't here to taste this right out of the oven. Not to worry -- he's fine, just six hours away in NH and the biggest chocolate cake fiend I've ever known.

Final recommend: Irish car-bomb cupcakes with an ice cold glass of water followed by an actual Irish car bomb. Cheers.

Prolouge - the chemistry of it all

In high school I loved Chemistry. My senior year I triple-loaded myself with science, even spending time at our State University to develop my own long-term Chem project on C-60 (otherwise known as Bucky Balls ). I was going to be a biochemist. Four other classmates and I were chosen for a double period Chemistry Independent Study since we had already exhausted Pinkerton's AP Chem offerings. We were given our own lab room, keys to it, and almost unlimited access to chemicals.

Now we were responsible, but we were also 17 and 18-year old adolescents. Marginally restricted access to things like Magnesium ribbon = fun. For those of you who don't know why this is fun - check out this you tube vid and imagine the possibilities as though you were a high schooler. Since we were at least a little responsible and we did actually enjoy science, we did not abuse the power too much. We, instead, geeked out by buying ourselves our own lab coats, and spending lunch period eating in "our" classroom (yes we were possessive of it, yes those students who cared enough to notice we had it were I think a little jealous). At any rate, we did enjoy the work we were doing. We each had a year to finish our projects, and my partner and I were trying to merge C-60 and nylon to make a super strong, useable, flexible substance.

What I liked about Chem lab was something that four-year-olds like about finger paints -- the allure of combining two or more ingredients to change the color, composition, etc. of those original substances. I liked producing reactions; the drama of vinegar and baking soda still gets me today (not to mention the tremendous cleaning power). I enjoyed the precision with which I could make things happen.

Now about the cooking: I used to be a terrible cook. I would refuse to measure jell-o, thus putting too much water in and the jell-o never congealing. In college I pan-fried a steak and added frozen broccoli and marinara to the pan. I then tried to serve this watery, yet dried-out concoction to my now fiance (Jake). OH boy. I could not cook. It's not that I was even a mediocre cook, or a novice cook. It was that I was notoriously bad. Why? A number of reasons.

My good friend PW hit on part of my problem when he noticed that I didn't stay in the kitchen when I cooked. Yes, I was one of those people who would put water to boil for pasta and then leave the room. I would only come back when I noticed the scorching smell of the pot cooking itself on the burner, all water long evaporated. "You've got to stay with it, you've got to be present" he'd say. I'd reply "I don't have time for that, that's too annoying". My roomate and best friend woldn't even let me help her. She'd male dinner and I'd ask what I could do to help, and she'd say "just sit and keep me company while I cook". Do you get the picture? It was this way until my 28the birthday.

I had just bought my first place, and Jake was moving in. I had, for the first time, a decent kitchen, a patio and a grill. And not a lot of money left over to eat out constantly (my love for food has always been there...just cooked by others). I remember the feeling of dread as I realized I was going to have to cook regularly.

So, the good student that I am, I started watching the Food Network. Specifically, I started watching the show "Good Eats". And it hit me after a couple of episodes. COOKING IS LIKE CHEMISTRY! It's an experiement, but you eat it afterwards!

For some reason, I never connected cooking with chemistry. When I revealed my revelation to others they looked at me like I was a blathering idiot... "yes, that's why they have programs called food science"... Slowly and quietly I started to cook. At first friends and family were skeptical. They remembered the pan-fried steak, the jello, etc. Oh and my mom remembered my first batch of cookies that I added milk to because I was sure the recipe was wrong...surely there was milk involved in making cookies.

Now I'm a pretty decent cook. Not gourmet, but maybe like a first-year culimary student or something. Cooking has become cathartic for me - a way to release stress after a bad day, and a way to challenge my hands and mind. Thus, this blog.

And no, I'm not a Chemist, far from it, I decided to do something entirely different with my life. But that's another blog for another time...