Blake Makes

…let me refresh your memory. My great friend (that I’ve never actually met in person), Michael, was recently featured on Foodie NYC for what he did with my peanut butter dulce de leche and pork belly.

Way to go Mike!

Show Michael some love, will you? Comment on the Foodie NYC post to show them what we Blake Makers are made of!

Hello Blake Makers and Sooper Heroes (and all my daily new readers)!

A lot of you have been taking advantage of my Say It On Blake Makes feature. See this post for the first people who ’said it’ last time.

Before I let you all say it this week, I wanted to take a moment to publicly thank everyone who’s donated to support the PBDDL Campaign. Even though it’s been a few weeks, I’m still getting donations! Thanks! We’re at 95%, so I’m just beaming! If you participated in the PBDDL Giveaway and would like to donate, show us some love!

Also, we’re taking a week off this week. The Tuesday giveaways take a lot of work, but I don’t want to wear you guys out, wear ourselves out, and just plain get too much of a good thing. We’ll be back next week with something yummy! And I just got confirmation last week on a totally ‘tubular’ giveaway. (More clues to come [and sprinkled throughout].)

YOU Say It On Blake Makes:

Nikki says “So most of my readers should now know about BlakeMakes. If you have not yet checked out his site, you might want to SOON and get in on the fun! Become a Sooper Hero and you won’t miss a beat!”

“I received my free jars of Peanut Butter Dulce de Leche last week and took some time deciding what to make with them. Finally, I used one jar yesterday when making dinner for me and Ben. I had some ham to bake and thought a nice sweet glaze would be perfect to balance out the ham’s saltiness. Boy, was I right! (A first for me!)”

Natalie says it with a picture:

C B says “Dulce De-Stressor Cupcakes: Just wanted to share my PBDDL cupcakes via my blog link! Thanks so much for hosting this giveway! I had a great time! Hope I win the next one. I promise to “bake” something amazing! ::wink::”

Erica says “You Scream, Ice Scream, We All Scream for PBDDL Ice Cream!”

Natalie says “Mmmmmm…..”

Carrie says “Sucre Reviewed: I just put up my post about the Sucre chocolates. Please go check it out!”

Becca says “TCHO- The latest from Blake Makes: I received a package in the mail today. I knew what it was immediately. The latest free food giveaway from Blake Makes. I was thrilled when I was one of the fifty people to receive this particular giveaway. Chocolate.”

Good morning, Blake Makers. I just finished the most delicious breakfast of Mascarpone stuffed French toast. It made this Sunday special if for no other reason than to sit at the table and swoon. Before I get to the flourish of describing this yummy breakfast, feast on the picture below.

Remember, we eat with our eyes as much as with our bellies.

For The French Toast:

• 8 slices (1/2 inch thick) of good bread (we used a small Country French round from Whole Foods)
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 tsp. salt

For The Mascarpone Filling:

• 1 8oz. tub Mascarpone cheese
• 3 to 4 tblsp. dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp. (good, Bourbon) vanilla
• dash of cinnamon

For The Berry Sauce:

• 1 1/2 cups fresh berries (we used blackberries and strawberries)
• 1 tblsp. lemon juice
• Sugar (optional)

Read the rest of this entry »

New Orleans’ Central Grocery created the muffuletta in 1906, and today lines still stretch out the door for one of these sandwiches. When I was a kid, my mom created her own version of the legendary sandwich, and I still prefer her olive salad mix to the original. Her salad mix is lighter and not as greasy as the mixes usually found on traditional N’awlins muffulettas. Sometimes, I just get a craving for muffuletta, and it’s so easy to make, that it’s hard to resist.

Ingredients (Sandwich):

• 1/4 lb Genoa salami
• 1/4 lb ham
• 1/4 lb mortadella (optional for me)
• 1/2 lb sliced provolone cheese
• olive salad
• Rolls (Kaiser, or other seeded; I also like onion rolls)

Directions (Sandwich):

• Slice rolls in half (Mine is a family of culinary sinners and we like mayo or mustard on our muffs, so if you want to sin too, feel free to add condiments here.)
• Place salami and cheese on bottom half of roll; spread small amount of olive salad onto roll using a slotted spood to drain excess liquid.
• Place ham and mortadella on top of olive salad; put top half of roll on
• Warm through until cheese is melted.

Ingredients (Olive Salad):

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 6oz can black olives, drained and chopped
• 7oz can green olives, drained and chopped
• 3 dill pickles, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 16 oz bottle Italian dressing

Directions (Salad):

• Mix together and let sit for at least 20 minutes.

I love cheese enchiladas- they are my most favorite food ever, ever. Well, actually, cheese is my most favorite food. But, when you stuff it inside corn tortillas and bake it to bubbly perfection, it doesn’t get much better.

I stumbled across this recipe for veggie and cheese enchiladas when I was skimming through Susan Spicer’s Crescent City Cooking, and the photograph looked so mouth-watering, I had to try to make them myself.

I will warn you that the enchiladas do take a while to make, but you can make the sauce a day ahead and save yourself some time later. Having made these before, you would think that I would do that, but, alas, I am a procrastinator. (Blake, don’t you and my mom always say the Johnson motto is “Why do today what you can do tomorrow?”; Guess it’s in my blood.)

The time it takes to make these, however, is totally worth it. They are so yummy and satisfy all my Tex-Mex cravings. Plus, the veggies actually add nutrition to my favorite meal! Yay!

Read the rest of this entry »

Remember, I said 40ish. I may have a “few” extras. Keep commenting on the post below even if you see 40 comments. bk

UPDATE: All the TCHO has been claimed. If you didn’t get any, don’t worry. We’ve got plenty more free food on the way, and hopefully we’ll get some more free TCHO.  The first 50 commenters (with food blogs & who are registered Sooper Heroes) should receive free chocolate.

GO! GO! GO! GO! Thundercats are TCHO!

The first 40 people* to comment on this post get FREE TCHO CHOCOLATE!

…again, GO!

*Qualifications:

1. You have to like (love) dark chocolate.
2. You have to have a blog, preferably a food blog.
3. You have to be interested in showing TCHO some love by blogging about your free sample.

Update: Remember, it’s 8:30PM CST tonight, not 8:00PM CST…stay tuned…I’m publishing soon!

Another Sooper Secret E-mail Alert went out this morning (at 6:55AM CST). Check your inboxes and spam folders for the message. It’s about tonight, and it’s about FREE TCHO CHOCOLATE! Stay tuned…

I am so ready for the arrival of spring- I want to plant our tomato garden, go swimming and get tan. To hasten the season’s arrival and reward myself for getting up so early during Daylight Savings, I decided to make a Blueberry Tart. I love blueberries, and the only thing that could make them any better is to turn them into tart (or a pie- yum!). This recipe was snagged from my favorite wedding present- our Ruth Reichl autographed Gourmet cookbook. (Thanks Patrick! Totally had to brag on your gift for the millionth time, I love it that much!).

I did probably commit a cardinal Gourmet sin by substituting all frozen blueberries for fresh ones. Blake just wasn’t willing to let me make a $50.00 tart, and I can’t really blame him. However, despite my worry, the tart came out great! And here’s another picture to prove it! Plus, only 10 more days ’till spring is officially here!

Ingredients for Crust:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 stick (8 TB) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
• 1 large egg yolk

Ingredients for Filling:

• 1 TB fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 8 cups blueberries
• 2 1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin
• 3 TB water
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions- Crust:

• Pulse together flour, sugar, salt, and butter in a food processor until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add yolk and pulse until dough begins to come together but is still crumbly.
• Press dough evenly onto bottom and up sides of an 11-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Prick bottom of crust all over with a fork and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Bake crust until golden, 15-20 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Directions- Filling:

• Combine lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and 3 cups berries in a 2-quart heavy saucepan, bring to a simmer, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin over water in a small bowl and let soften.
• Remove pan from heat and stir in gelatin mixture and vanilla. Transfer blueberry mixture to a metal bowl let in a bowl of ice and cold water and stir occasionally until thickened to the consistency of raw egg white but not set, about 10 minutes.
• Fold in remaining 5 cups berries. Pour filling into crust and spread evenly. Refrigerate tart, loosely covered, until set, at least 4 hours.
• Let tart stand at room temperature for 1 hour before removing rim of pan. Serve tart with whipped cream.

The tart can be refrigerated for up to 1 day.

I loathe the Fox television show Hell’s Kitchen, a summertime “reality” show in which British chef Gordon Ramsay berates hapless idiot cooks for hour long segments. Seriously, where do they find these contestants? I’ll never forget the guy who dripped copious amounts of flop-sweat into the dish he was preparing for unsuspecting “customers”. Hell’s Kitchen makes it hard to believe that Ramsay is not actually a Fox-created reality tool, but a talented and widely-respected chef.

Ramsay shows off his talents and affinity for simply prepared food when he’s on his home turf on the BBC shows Kitchen Nightmares and The F-Word. He’s gritty, mean and cool with a definite soft spot for hopeful chefs who use their brain and are willing to work hard. We watched Ramsay prepare this Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb during a marathon of The F-Word a few months ago. It looked so delicious and easy to prepare that we knew we had to try it for ourselves.

This recipe was very simple, and the finished product was incredibly tasty. I have to admit that it was even better as leftovers, and I can’t wait to have it again.

Ingredients:

• 2 large Racks of Lamb (Cut in Half; 3-4 bones in each)
• Olive Oil
• Sea Salt
• Ground Black Pepper
• 2 TB English Mustard
• 4 Slices Day-Old Bread (Crusts removed)
• Large Handful Parsley
• Small Bunch Thyme
• Few Springs Rosemary
• A little less than 1/4 cup of Freshly Grated Parmesan

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Score the lamb fat in a criss-cross pattern and season well.
• Sear the racks in a hot ovenproof pan with a little olive oil until golden brown, about 4 minutes on each side.
• Transfer the pan to the oven for 10-15 minutes to finish cooking the lamb.
• It should feel springy when pressed, and leave to rest while you prepare the crust.
• Tear the bread into pieces and put in food processor.
• Roughly chop the herb leaves and add to processor with the Parmesan and a little seasoning.
• Whiz to fine crumbs, which will take on a bright green color.
• Brush the lamb with mustard and coat with the herb crust, patting it on firmly.
• Return the lamb to the pan and warm through in the oven for 5 minutes.
• Slice the lamb into individual chops and serve 3 per person.