Blake Makes

Hello, Sooper Heroes. Check your e-mail inboxes (and spam folders, just in case). We just sent you a message concerning this week’s free food giveaway.

BTW, I love clues, secrets and surprises….

Hello, Blake Makers, and a very special hello to you, Sooper Heroes. Why so special? There’s a giveaway this week!!! That’s right, they’re baaaack!

So, what are we giving away? More chocolate? Something sweet? Actually, no. In fact, this time, it’s something savory. It’s chutney!

Alison McQuade has been a loyal Blake Maker since the beginning. She makes some amazing chutney, and we’ve actually blogged about it before.

She wanted to share her most popular flavor with all of you, so she sent me a jar of the Fig & Ginger to try.

Like with all the free food we get to consider for the giveaways, I needed to taste it, cook with it and photograph it.

We’re always going to tell you the truth (whether good or bad), so I have a confession to make about chutney. I don’t have a lot of experience with chutney.

I rarely cook with it, and have eaten it less. Actually, I’ve only had it twice (and both times were from McQuade’s). That being said, I’ve enjoyed everything Alison’s sent me!

I made a crostata with it (here’s the recipe), and it turned out nice. It tasted like a big fig newton. I’m curious, however, to see what you guys will be able to do with it.

That brings us to this week’s giveaway.

Instead of a feeding frenzy, we’re going to do things a little differently this time. I’m going to post on Thursday, April 3, and you’ll have all day to sign up. We have 24 jars to give away, so here’s how you get one.

Tell us what you’ll do (make) with it. You don’t have to have a recipe, or any experience with chutney. Just give us what you’ve got; what you’re thinking of; what you’d like to try.

The 24 best ideas (chosen by us) will get a jar.

Keep an eye out for a Sooper Secret E-mail for further details. Comment with questions! Stay tuned!

Good morning, Blake Makers. It’s a beautiful Sunday here in New Orleans. I felt the crisp, Spring air leaving us when I took Chopper out this morning. No more chill, but an ominous hint of oppressive humidity.

Pretty soon, that hint will be replaced by a full out onslaught of heavy, hot, wet air; for now, I’ll let these Chocolate Waffles take me away.

Again, no need for syrup (at least not for us). Eat these lovelies right out of the waffle iron.

Sprinkle on some chocolate morsels while the waffles are still hot. That way, the chocolate will melt into the waffley crags (and, yes, the batter is chocolate and there are chocolate chips in it, too).

Dust on some powdered sugar, and you’re set.

Chopper’s crunching down some kibble. Bridget’s reading Pillars of the Earth. And I’m completely at peace. Chocolate seems to do that.

Here’s the waffle recipe.

Blake and I both love Indian food (coconut naan and lamb tikka masala- yum!); unfortunately, New Orleans is severely lacking in good Indian restaurants. I can only think of two, both of which are really out of the way for us. We usually only get to enjoy good Indian when we travel, so we try to make it at home every once in a while. I like this recipe because the house doesn’t get as pungent with the smell of curry and it’s not overpowering with spice. It’s also relatively easy as there’s not a ton of actual work involved.

Adapted from a recipe in The Naked Chef Takes Off.

Ingredients:

• 1 T Garam Masala
• 2 T butter
• 2 14 oz cans chopped tomatoes
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 3 lbs skinless chicken thighs
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• salt and black pepper
• lime juice to taste
• 2 inches peeled fresh ginger
• 2 small red onions, peeled
• 10 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 2 fresh red chillies, with seeds
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro, plus extra for garnish

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Chop the ginger, red onions, garlic, chillies and cilantro roughly then add to food processor along with Garam Masala. Puree in food processor to make a paste.
• In a large casserole, fry the curry paste mixture in the butter for 10 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the tomatoes and the stock. Bring to boil, cover with aluminum foil and place in oven for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the foil and continue to simmer on the stove until it thickens.
• Sear the chicken in a little olive oil until golden, then add to the curry sauce and simmer for 1 hour until tender.
• Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and stir in the yogurt. Season to taste and add squeeze of lime juice. Serve with steamed basmati rice.

Salmon is one of my favs- it’s filling, delicious and incredibly healthy. It’s always such a treat for me to prepare salmon because we have to drive across the city to get it (at the crack of dawn Saturday morning for the best choice, I might add), so I usually stick to tried-and-true recipes. This is a great recipe because it’s so easy– it literally takes, like, 15 minutes. Blake isn’t a huge salmon fan (he’s weird sometimes; he also doesn’t like avocados- no guacamole for us…sigh…), but he really likes this dish.

Recipe courtesy of The Gourmet Cookbook.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 T plus 1 tsp packed light brown sugar
• 4 (6 oz) center-cut pieces salmon fillet w/skin
• Salt and black pepper
• 2 tsp vegetable oil

Directions:

• Stir together vinegar, water, lemon juice, and brown sugar in a small bowl.
• Pat salmon dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Increase heat to high, add salmon skin side up, and sear until well browned, about 4 minutes. Turn fish over and sear until just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes more.
• Transfer salmon to plates and carefully add vinegar mixture to skillet (liquid will bubble vigorously and steam). Simmer, stirring, until thickened and reduced to about 1/3 cup, about 2 minutes. Spoon glaze over salmon.

I love my Blake Makers. Y’all really rallied to help a Sooper Hero in need last week when I posted, and within hours the Sooper Hero’s problem had been resolved. Now, I’ve received another request, and it’s from a Typepad blogger.

Does anyone know how to add the social bookmarking chicklets to the bottom of posts - chicklets like add to del.icio.us, stumble upon, technorati, facebook, etc.?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I’m sure one Chicken Fried Sooper Hero will thank you, too.

Hello Sooper Heroes. We just sent out a Sooper Secret Email. Check your inboxes (and spam folders) for the message. It’s important. It’s about the good stuff. You know what I’m talking about.

If you’re not Sooper, do something about it. Stay tuned!

I’m out of breath. I literally just got finished running around my house (like outside in my boxers)! WE JUST GOT PICKED UP IN SPRINGWISE!!!!

…And do you see the date? March 19!!! My BIRTHDAY!!!!

What is Springwise?

During the busy work week, I want meals that are delicious but incredibly easy to make. There’s nothing worse than having a long, stressful day and knowing you have to come home and start cooking (and then the dreaded clean-up afterward).

This salad is so simple and is a good way to use up any barbecued or grilled chicken you might have leftover from the weekend. I usually just buy a barbeque rotisserie chicken to make this meal even easier. You can also vary the salad ingredients to use up any veggie leftovers you might have on hand because what makes this salad great is the poblano dressing– it’s creamy and smooth with just enough spice.

Recipe courtesy of Susan Spicer’s Crescent City Cooking.

Ingredients (Salad):

• 1 1/2 to 2 cups diced bbq chicken meat, from leftovers or a store-bought roasted chicken
• 1 ripe avocado, diced
• 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels,, thawed, or 2 ears corn, grilled in the husk then shucked and cut from the cob
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced celery or celery hearts
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 head Bibb lettuce, broken into leaves, washed and dried
• Creamy Poblano Dressing

Directions (Salad):

Toss all ingredients except dressing in a salad bowl, then toss in the dressing or serve it on the side.

Ingredients (Dressing):

• 1 poblano, roasted and peeled
• 2 T fresh lime juice
• 2 T chopped scallion greens
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 cup Mayonnaise (I used light mayo)
• 2 T sour cream or buttermilk (I used light sour cream)

Directions (Dressing):

Place all the ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Adjust seasonings as necessary.

UPDATE: Thanks everyone! We got Nikki all squared away. See what a little love (and community) can do? 

Hello everyone! We’ve got a Sooper Hero in need of a little help. She’s trying to add a Blake Makes Badge to her Blogger blog. I use Wordpress, so I’m not as familiar with the Blogger blogging platform.

Can someone comment on this post with instructions for how to add the badge to a Blogger blog?

Thanks!