Smoked Salmon "Cigars" with Yucca Fries and Dark Chocolate Mole

...that's "moh-lay," not mole like the critter outside that your dog is digging after in the back yard. Just wanted to make that clear.


Ingredients:
"Cigars"
   1 sheet puff pastry
   1 package (4.5 oz) smoked salmon
   Juice from 1 lemon
   Zest from 1 lemon
   Salt and pepper, to taste
   8 ounces cream cheese
Yucca Fries
   1 yucca root
   Oil for frying
   Seasoning salt
Dark Chocolate Mole
   Sesame oil
   1 onion, diced
   6 cloves garlic
   3.5 ounces dark chocolate
   28 ounces crushed tomatoes
   6 diced Guajillo peppers
   10 black peppercorns
   Oregano
   Cinnamon
   Cloves
   Allspice
   Thyme
   Fennel seeds
   1 tortilla, shredded


Directions:
"Cigars"
   Combine cream cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest, reserving a little bit of the zest for later.  Add salt and pepper to taste; mix thoroughly.  Cut puff pastry in approximately 2" x 4" rectangles.  Put a strip of salmon on the pastry.  Spread a spoonful of the cream cheese mixture on top of the salmon.  Roll up.  Bake at 350°F for about 10 minutes or until the pastry starts to brown a little bit.

Dark Chocolate Mole
   In a medium-sized sauce pot, sauté the onion in sesame oil.  When the onions are clear in color, add all the other ingredients, adding the spices to taste.  Simmer for at least 45 minutes.

Yucca Fries
In a large pot, heat the oil to medium-high heat.  Peel the yucca root and slice with a mandoline into fry shapes (this can be done with a knife, but it's a bit more work).  When the oil is hot, add the fries and stir occasionally until fries start to brown a little bit.  Scoop them out with a slotted spoon and onto a plate with a paper towel.  Sprinkle with seasoning salt.


Serve the cigar in a pool of mole.  Place a few fries on top of the cigar.  Garnish with the remaining lemon zest and shaved dark chocolate if desired.

More NOMS coming soon!

I know, I KNOW, school hasn't even started yet and I'm already neglecting my blog (in my fairness, I am helping with orientation this week).  Instead of having crafty adventures in the kitchen last weekend, I was outside hiking Dragon's Tooth in the DARK to watch meteors from the top of a mountain.  In short, I kicked my own butt to watch something pretty and then spent the next few days feeling like an 80-year-old with a rolled ankle and a sore-everything.  That and I think the whole neurology issue is making me exercise intolerant.  Meh, I'm still going to be stubborn and play outside... tomorrow, in fact, as I go to camp to help with vet school orientation...

Anywho, to make up for the absence, I decided to post--in its entirety--an awesome winning entree recipe from Battle Chocolate (Iron Chef VMRCVM).  It's in the next post so when looking through just recipes, you don't have to read what I did in August 2010 again.  You're welcome.

*EDIT: I did have a short adventure making an air freshener jar.  I think it is a success.  If you want one, let me know.  I have lots of NOM scents.  This one is cinnamon cookie dough, and it is NOM-licious.

It wouldn't be an adventure if there wasn't a risk for failure...

HOLY BLUEBERRY MUFFINS, BATMAN!!

This afternoon I stalked the UPS guy for my package of soap/lotion makings.  Having no patience at all, I decided to make a bottle of blueberry muffin shower gel immediately.  I was SUPER excited about the blueberry muffin scent that I put the maximum amount (5% by volume) in 8 ounces of gel.  Um... yeah.. don't start at the MAX concentration... work your way up as you find the desirable result.  This is what happens when I let my artsy side take over my science nerd side; I'm pretty sure this other side to me is directly related to my hair color, and has nothing to do with cerebral activity. DOH! I really should have known better..
But I couldn't just accept failure from just the open bottle sniff test.. Oh, no, I was going to test this bad boy.. on myself.  As far as texture goes, it was kinda runny for my liking (watered down with the fragrance), and I could have poured that mess on a dry loofa and still gotten a lather.  So I lathered up the loofa and OH MY FREAKING BLUEBERRIES my olfactory system was ATTACKED! It's a blueberry muffin AMBUSH!  Needless to repeat, it was uber-concentrated. I knew that. Why did I do this, again?  But like a dumb blonde champion, I lathered up and finished my experiment.
Bright side: it's not a complete fail.  After drying off, I smell like a non-concentrated muffin, so the after-smell is good. I still need to dilute that bad boy, which now having used part of my experimental bottle, I can add more unscented soap (although, I'm thinking of adding unscented lotion to it to see if I can get a more moisturizing product).  I'll keep diluting it until I get a pleasant muffin scent that doesn't take over my poor nose, so it's not a complete waste.  Also a good note: the entire upstairs (the level with the shower) smells like blueberry muffins, in a pleasant way.  Kinda like I put muffin-scented air fresheners everywhere.  Speaking of which, I probably should have started small with, well, air fresheners...
The experiment continues!

*EDIT:  I made lotion with waaay less blueberry muffin fragrance, and it is a success! I actually quite like it! ...except for the part where I have to fight off the urge to bite myself because I start craving blueberry muffins...

Cedar Smoked Salmon

Justin and I just finished dinner, and it was so good I had to share.  It was really simple to make and so delicious!  We bought a cedar plank, asparagus, and a couple salmon filets from Kroger, and the rest is stuff we usually have around the kitchen!  Here's a picture of the end result, followed by how we made it so you can impress your friends while it's still grilling season:

Supplies:
1 cedar plank
1 grill with lid (to smoke)
charcoal (if the grill works that way, like ours)

Ingredients:
2 6-ounce salmon filets (unless you have more people, but you'll also need another plank if you have more than 4-ish)
salt
ground black pepper
dill
half a bunch of asparagus (again, we're only cooking for 2)
extra virgin olive oil
salt
ground black pepper
1 lemon, cut into 8 pieces (or however you like it)

Directions:
Soak the cedar plank in water for a few hours (we had ours sitting in water all afternoon, about 5 hours or so).
Cut (or snap) off the woody stem ends (like an inch or two, or snap it where it naturally wants to snap) off of the asparagus.  Take note: don't cut off the wrong end; one end is flavorful, the other is woody and hard and gross and we don't want to eat it.  For serious asparagus noobs (and please take no offense here, we didn't know either until Alton Brown did an asparagus Good Eats once), here's a picture of which end to cut:

Put the trimmed asparagus on a plate and drizzle on some extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Let it marinate while you make the salmon.

Season both sides of the salmon filets with salt, pepper, and dill, and place them on the cedar plank.  Once your coals/grill are ready to go, place the plank on the grill and close the lid.  Let it smoke for about 30 minutes.  Once 30 minutes have passed, move the cedar plank to the side (still on the grill) and put the asparagus on.  Grill the asparagus for 1 minute on each side (not smoking here, just grilling.. we don't want to burn the asparagus) for a total of about 2 minutes (or until you think it's done).  Take food off the grill and put it on a place with as many lemon wedges as you want (I end up soaking everything in fresh lemon juice and eating the leftover wedges like they are oranges because I am addicted to lemons.. don't tell your dentists about that one..).

Dig in!

Orange & Chocolate Cheesecake Bites

Since FN made me so happy, here's one of my all-time favorite recipes found on their website.  Mini orange cheesecakes with a chocolate crust made by Giada:

Ingredients

1/3 cup finely crushed chocolate wafers (Kelly's note: I use chocolate grahams like chocolate teddy grahams and crush those for a mix between a chocolate flavor and a traditional graham crust)

2 tablespoons butter, melted (as always, I use Smart Balance here)

1/4 cup ricotta cheese

2 ounces cream cheese

1/4 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons

1 orange, zested

1 egg

Butter for greasing (or Smart Balance)

Mini muffin tin (though, I guess you could try a cupcake tin but I don't know how much longer you'll need to bake for.. if anyone discovers this, let me know!)

Baking dish that the muffin tin fits into

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the crushed chocolate wafers (grahams, cookies, whatever you used) and melted butter.  Place a tightly packed teaspoon of the mixture into each mini-muffin cup and press down firmly.

In a food processor combine the ricotta cheese, cream cheese, 1/4 cup of the sugar, half of the orange zest, and the egg.  Blend until smooth.  Lightly grease the sides of the mini muffin tin with butter (I went ahead and did that before even adding the crust, actually..).  Fill the cups with about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the cheesecake mixture.  Place the mini muffin tin in a baking dish and pour enough hot water in the baking dish to come halfway up the sides of the mini muffin tin.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Transfer the mini muffin tin to a wire rack and let cool for 30 minutes.  Refrigerate for 15 minutes.  Use a small knife to gently pop the cheesecakes out of the cups.

Just before serving, combine the remaining orange zest with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar.  Top each individual cheesecake with about 1/4 teaspoon of the orange zest mixture and serve.

Recipe & Photo courtesy Giada De Laurentiis and Food Network

Food Network makes my weekend complete

I've been addicted to Food Network's "The Next Food Network Star" this season.  I haven't been this invested in a certain contestant since Kelsey Nixon was kicked off (whyyyyy?!?!) late in season 4 (2 summers ago).  But this season, I think FN will make that up to me.  Why the warm fuzzy feelings for the show this summer? "Aarti Party" made the finale.  YAYYYY!!! I've been rooting for her all season because she seems to actually make good food consistently and with an Indian flair (and a lot of money that went to India Garden restaurant here in Blacksburg is my proof that I love Indian food).  Plus she has a really awesome accent that is nice to listen to, so her cooking show may be my new fave (I'm assuming she will win... but even if she doesn't end up with the grand prize, she's still in the lead of the
NFNS fan vote here.) So here's to my hopes and dreams of learning how to cook with Indian flavors in the near future.

Cilantro Lime Quinoa

This tasty dish was served as part of a cod entree from our Battle Citrus, and was prepared by Iron Chef VMRCVM competitor Steve Rekant.  Actually, many of the dishes he made are some of my favorites from the battles we did (I was a judge, so I've eaten all of the recipes).  I'm posting just the Quinoa part of it here because you should buy the book to benefit the Class of 2013 (whenever I can get that done).  I'm in that kind of mood where I want to feature lesser-known but really healthy foods, and Quinoa is a high-protein grain alternative to rice.  Plus it's tasty, and I love anything with a citrus flavor, which this recipe gives.  So here it is, as given to me by the chef:

Cilantro Lime Quinoa

Ingredients

¼ cup butter (Kelly's note: personally, I favor Smart Balance)

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 bay leaf

1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

2 cups water

2 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons cilantro, minced

Directions

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add the onion and sauté for 8 to 10 minutes.  Add the garlic and bay leaf, stir, and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.  Add the quinoa and stir until fully cooked.  Add the stock and water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the quinoa is tender.  Drain and discard the bay leaf.  Stir in the lime juice and cilantro.  Serve.

Preview of the Iron Chef VMRCVM 2009-2010 Cookbook

There it is! The cover!  Now all I need to do is collect the remaining missing recipes and print that bad boy out and we have a possible fundraiser for our class (of course, participating chefs will get their copies at-cost wherever they are printed/bound).  Perhaps I'll post a few recipes from the book in a bit. Ah, lazy Sundays and food.  Don't worry, the pack and I will go on a nightly stroll (I'm even avoiding using the "w" word here and Scout can't read... how weird am I?) after dinner.  I like to keep my corgi-hoover-food devourer in shape.  It's the 25% veterinarian in me.

Intro/Blacksburg's Steppin' Out

     Hi, blog world!  My name is Kelly, and my best friend is a corgi named Scout.  We're both kinda foodies (of course she is, she's a dog and will eat everything if given the chance), so having nom-inspired adventures is only natural for us (although the corgi usually just watches, unless I'm making dog cookies, then she participates by eating all the apple bits that I drop).  I'm also a veterinary student, taking 20+ credit hours per semester, so this blog will most likely get pretty neglected (sorry, but at least I'm honest).  However, I want to delve into something not vet-school oriented because, well, when you're a complete academic masochist, it's probably a smart thing to have different activities to take a break once in a while (not that I don't love what I do and study, because I'm wicked excited to be a vet student).  Last school-year, a bunch of us had Iron Chef battles, including secret ingredients of pomegranate, tuna, cucumber, citrus, and chocolate.  I'm still trying to collect all of the recipes to put in a cookbook to share/sell as a class fundraiser.  That will come out eventually.  Maybe I'll post some of my favorites.  Coming soon are plans for a cupcake war.  Hopefully there will be an update on that, too.
     I'm also thinking of getting a little artsy-fartsy.  This past weekend was Blacksburg's annual Steppin' Out festival where a bunch of local (and less-than-local) craft-makers sell their awesome crafts--along with food and music, of course.  I go every year (since I've been at Virginia Tech, including undergrad) and always get more stuff than I really need, but it's just so friggin' cool.  I have developed a serious candle problem, and the scents have inspired me to want to make some of my own stuff.  I don't think I'm candle-ready, but I've ordered some ingredients to make natural soy-based lotion and bath/shower gel that will ultimately smell like food (my favorite smells, including the blueberry muffin candle I got at Steppin' Out yesterday, are usually food-inspired).  I know, I already have to restrain myself from eating the candle, but now I'm going to make me want to nom myself.  Maybe I'll find some cool recipes to satiate that problem.  But seriously, you should go to Steppin' Out and try out all the cool stuff.  My favorite things that I've discovered there are Anne Vaughan Designs (she makes really awesome jewelry, I'll try to post pics of the necklaces I have from her eventually), and this soy-wax (better for the environment than your standard store-bought candle) blueberry muffin candle that I'm burning as I type made by Blue Butterfly Candles by Danielle Jaszewski.  You should look them up and get them.  Seriously.  Amazing stuff.  And it's good for the community.  Local stuff is awesome.  I also have a stained glass portrait of Scout, but for the life of me I can't remember the name of the artist; there are many talented artists at Steppin' Out though, and many of them do glass work, so that's even more of a reason to go next year.
     Two more weeks of free time, then the blog will get slow and my time will be mostly devoted to studying.  I probably should have decided to be creative in June...