One of the things that Ms Cocktail and I like to do is to watch Top Chef. Having just recently joined the 21st century in acquiring a DVR, we were able to catch up on missed episodes while we were out of town. Now for those of you that don’t know, Top Chef is a television show on the Bravo Network where chefs compete each wee until only one is left. They are presented with different cooking challenges that they need to overcome in order to prove who is the top chef.

This year the setting for the program is in Washington, D.C. and the episodes are set in and amongst some of the more famous landmarks here in the area. One of the more recent episodes had the contestants cooking for the head of the CIA, Leon Panetta. Their challenge was to take a well known classic dish and give it a a disguise. This challenge is also known in the culinary world as deconstructing a dish.

More...

Finally, it came to the day that I get to pick the menu. Of course, I still have to do the majority of the cooking, but I will say that Ms Cocktail pitched right in to help me out. It was definitely a seafood driven day with grouper Veracruz style and grilled scallops with a tomatillo salsa. However, my favorite piece of this puzzle was the tropical ceviche.

Ceviche is a technique for “cooking” fish and other seafood by soaking it in citrus juice. The acids in the citrus penetrate into the fish giving it the texture of cooked fish. It also imparts a wonderfully unique flavor. This ceviche also has a nice little kick from the serrano and jalapeno peppers. Enjoy!

More...

Last evening was Ms Cocktail’s evening so we allowed her to make the choices for the dinner. We ended up with mussels in a wine and garlic broth, butter lettuce with three types of tomatoes, shrimp two ways (poached with a remoulade and jerk shrimp) Cajun shrimp baked rice, grilled asparagus and grilled figs with goat cheese and honey for dessert. Even though it was a lot of work, Ms Cocktail has pretty good taste.

The poached shrimp is actually quite easy to make once the shrimp has been cleaned and if you let the shrimp cool after poaching, this makes a really nice alternative to the standard shrimp cocktail. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I like big, bold flavors and this remoulade is no exception. It goes together very quickly and was the hit of the evening.

More...

Last night was my sister-in-law’s evening so I made a barbecue for her. Pulled Chicken and Pulled Pork, Baked Macaroni and Cheese, Tangy Pit Beans and Collard Greens. I’ve posted some of these recipes previously (follow the links) so today I’m bringing you the recipe for the Tangy Pit Beans. Enjoy!

More...

Every year Ms Cocktail’s family gets together to celebrate several of the birthdays that occur in a relatively short timeframe. This year, the kind folks of her family have decided that since I like to cook, I should be chef during these gatherings. So for the next several days I’ll be posting up some of the recipes that I have prepared for the family.

Yesterday was my brother-in-law Rob’s day and since he is a fan of steaks, I thought I’d do something a bit different for him. The full menu was a coffee crust filet mignon with a jalapeno coffee reduction, grilled Yukon Gold potato slices and maque choux. I first introduced coffee crusted steaks to the family last year and they were a huge hit. I’ve since refined this recipe and added the reduction. Enjoy!

More...

A friend of mine was asking about quiche recipes the other day and I had mentioned that I had a perfect one for her. She has the same affliction as Ms Cocktail in that there are many items that just aren’t available in their cooking pantry. They aren’t hardcore vegetarians but I would say that half of the culinary world has been closed off to them.

That being said, there are a whole bunch of things that can be made without resorting to meat as a protein. One of them is a quiche. Now whoever that fool was that said, “real men don’t eat quiche” is a friggen idiot. A well done quiche is an excellent light lunch, side during diner and it works just great as a breakfast. Even though I haven’t paired the two, I’d be willing to bet that a certain rose’ from a certain winery would make a delightful way to start the day.

More...

OK, I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a great baker. You’ll notice that most of the things i cook revolve around grilling and otherwise applying fire to stuff. I can and will work with an oven when I have to and I’m more than serviceable on the stove top.  However, when it comes to baking, especially desserts, I tend to shy away from it.

However, since my next post is going to be about making a quiche, I figured that I might as well make a post first about a pie crust. This recipe is a 50/50 mix of white and wheat flour and it works well for both quiche and desserts such as apple pie. If your pie calls for a tops crust, this recipe can be doubled.

More...

Just a quick note to let every one know that this blog will now be syndicated through DCGuide.com. Thanks everyone for your support!

We've just uploaded a version of Friend of the Devil for your enjoyment. As with all of our songs, this was a live take not done in a studio. Ben and I sat down and played through it from start to finish and this is that we came up with. We're finally starting to get a bit of polish on things and I hope you're as excited as we are about this.

http://www.reverbnation.com/artist/song_details/4788808?play_now=true

Our second course arrived after a nice break for pleasant conversation. Now, I have been known to make a pretty mean macaroni and cheese. In fact, I’ve put the recipe up here for everyone to enjoy. I actually dress it up a bit and make it presentable for polite company. Patrick O’Connell takes it one step further and puts a bowtie and cummerbund on it, teaches it to dance the tango and allows it to mingle with the most refined people on the planet.

More...