UnRecipe: Gimme Some Sugar, Baby

Yes, I'm back! I'm back! Thanks to those who followed and wrote me while I was visiting family in Hawaii. I'm back on the Mainland and ready for action. Well, more like ready to get caught up on the mountain of work that had to sit while I was away, but hey, life moves on. We'll see if I do a post about my latest trip; it's going to depend on how photos turned out, but regardless -- it's good to be back in the bloggosphere.

This aptly-named post title, aside from that being one of my favorite lines by the fantastic Bruce Campbell in Army of Darkness (if you haven't seen this movie, shame on you. It's awesome. As are all the Evil Dead movies), refers to the fact I wanted sugar. Lots of it. And while this isn't representative of all the poor eating habits of a single day, it does contain all the major sweet tooth cravings I've had over the last month or two. Let the sugar rush... commence!

Coffee and ice cream, afo-ghetto - Photo by Wasabi Prime

No, I'm not pregs with fertilized eggs, but I am a lady-girl, who sometimes has lady-girl cravings. Ladies, you know what I'm talking about. And since I don't often crave sugary things, when I do get the hankerin' for something sweet, it's super-specific, and if I don't get it, the universe and everyone within my immediate vicinity are in for a world o' hurt. It's not always chocolate, but chocolate more often than not is a likely culprit. Even though we're cutting back on caffeine, I'll still have a cuppa Joe now and then, which feels like getting struck by lightning, if you must know. I craved both sugar and coffee for a potent dessert, so I made a dark cocoa-coffee ice cream and then put a scoop of it in a dessert cup, pouring hot coffee over it. The traditional way of enjoying affogato is gelato with espresso and sometimes a little dash of a liqueur, consider this afo-ghetto, since I was just working with what I had, and ice cream and coffee is effin' delicious.

The holidays are nearly upon us... start the caramel corn - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I started to think about the holidays. It's not like I just sit in a room and suddenly ponder the meaning of Christmas. But it's been getting to look a lot like Halloween, even back in August when Costco started putting bulk candy out and even now, I see holiday wrapping paper showing up on shelves and decorated trees are showing up in department stores. Retailers are insane. These are like not-so-subtle reminders, much like the Hammer of Thor beating upon your skull, that holiday season is on the horizon, so get crack-a-lackin' on what to make/bake/buy for gifts this year. I do rely on baked goods as inexpensive gifts, especially since at this point, most of the people I know don't need more stuff, but something sweet is appreciated. And I bake in bulk, so whatever I make has to be something that isn't fussy, can be done in large batches, and made a few days in advance of giving/mailing out. This year may be a caramel popcorn year. So, Friends of Wasabi, start practicing your happy/surprised face when you get a big ol' box of caramel corn this year!

I started some early recipe tests, some more successful than others, trying different ingredients to make the caramel more unique. Homemade caramel can't be beat, this is not news to anyone, but when you eat caramel corn you made from scratch and compare it to the store-bought kind, it's no wonder Cracker Jack had to put a prize in their boxes to convince people to eat it. I'm kidding, I still love Cracker Jack. But the homemade stuff really is better. And if you can avoid burning your skin off with the napalm-like hot caramel, that's just icing on the cake.

Campfire goodness, baked into a cookie - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I was feeling a little nostalgic towards s'mores. Mostly because I didn't get a chance to really enjoy the great outdoors this summer and making a sticky mess of a delightful fireside dessert. I had a bag of mini marshmallows. They're cute. They're full of mysterious preservatives. But they're still cute. I think they were 99 cents at the store, and the spirit of the impulse buy possessed me to get them. I spent one afternoon putting them on toothpics and toasting them over a lit candle. That was kind of fun. But you don't go through a whole bag of mini marshmallows like that and would feel Epic Shame if you did. So I looked for a recipe that used them, chocolate chips and buttermilk. Why buttermilk? I had half a carton leftover from making blueberry muffins, and it needed to be used up. Lo and behold, I found a recipe for whole wheat s'more cookies on Epicurious. It was like the junk food gods said, ask, and ye shall receive, you sugar-addled junkie. They were pretty tasty. Not the prettiest things in the world, but they were like big, sticky-sweet bombs of chunkasaurus rex goodness. They bake up and set nicely, but they got really sticky after a couple of days. It could have been the moisture in the air, and the fact that marshmallows are just stabilized forms of sugar-goo. The marshmallows are added whole and during the baking they melt down into gooey little craters, but in a few days they get almost syrupy, so it turns into a bit of a messy cookie, FYI. I sent some to Mr. Wasabi's parents, gave little bags of a few cookies to friends, and the rest were promptly eaten by us. I'm still deciding on whether or not to include this in the holiday baking roster, as I know friends would enjoy it, but may have to avoid sending these to family in Hawaii, as the humidity may turn the cookies into The Blob. And that's not very holiday-like.

What about you? Are you already planning your army of baked goods to send out to friends, family and the like?

UnRecipe: Yippie-Kai-Yay Holiday

The holidays are all about tradtion, so for as much holly-jolly spirit as one feels when Charlie Brown gets the pathetic twig of a tree for the Christmas pageant, or hearing Jimmy Stewart scream "Merry Christmas, everybody!!" as he runs through winter streets like a lunatic, or even the many warnings of "You'll shoot your eye out," traditions don't necessarily replace one another, they simply build and become like a collection of memories to call upon when the holidays come calling. This year was a first for the Prime -- after last year's icy-hell travel experience, I skipped traveling to spend Christmas with the parental-sans for the first in my thirty-odd years (I love my family, I know it's weird), and decided to start building some new traditions in my Pacific Northwest home.

Holiday dinner for eight... even though we only had six chairs - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I wasn't the only one staying home for the holidays -- several friends had no definite plans for the evening of the 25th and we opened our doors for another 'Fugee Holiday. Mr. Wasabi and I had a dinner for eight on our hands, so under the watchful eye of Miss Indy, the kitchen went into mad prep mode a few days in advance.

From the First Thanksgiving experience, along with previous large meal preparations, I've come to the same conclusion that many other home cooks probably discovered: it sucks to be sweating over the stove when guests are about. Plus it's no fun when everyone else has a cocktail in hand and you're stuck sweating over a skillet sizzling with hot oil. So despite preparation taking over previous days, it was worth doing as much of the work ahead of time, so all that needed to be done the day-of was warming things in the oven, a quick pan-sear and oven bake, and throwing items together at the last minute.

The dinner prep of Gibraltar, but it's worth doing in advance! - Photos by Mr. and Ms. Wasabi

Despite the UnRecipe header, I relied on two recipe books for the menu, based on their manageable ingredient list, what could be made ahead of time, and then some UnRecipe alterations along the way. The amazing local talent of Chef Jerry Traunfeld's The Herbal Kitchen provided a recipe for a salad of greens with wine-poached cherries, as well as an eye-poppingly rich chocolate pot de creme dessert. The main course was a roasted pork tenderloin with green lentils and root vegetables, by Szmania's Chef Ludger Szmania, from a book and program supporting nonprofit groups called Celebrated Chefs, which includes a collection of Seattle area restaurant recipes. I signed up and got the book months ago, but have only just begun to start cooking through some of the dishes -- for providing email and personal information, it's not a bad tradeoff, as the book is a nicely-bound hardback featuring recipes from good restaurants in the Seattle area. And I haven't been inundated with emails saying I have an inheritence from a long-lost relative in Nigeria, so I figure they can't be totally selling my information off.

Festive swine! Photo by Wasabi Prime

I couldn't help myself from modifying the tenderloin recipe by brining the pork first, using Thomas Keller's poultry brine recipe from Ad Hoc, which perfumes the meat with a nice citrus and parsley flavor. I doubled both the brine and the seasoning rub because I had two pork tenderloins, plus a small chicken. The lentil and root vegetables were cooked a day in advance, so all they needed was a reheat in the stove.

Among the other make-aheads included the decadent pot de creme chocolate custards, which I substituted Earl Grey tea for jasmine (more UnRecipe meddling!). Dried cherries with a bit of red wine and a sprig of thyme were poached a day in advance and kept in the fridge before being sprinkled over the salad. A bit of the holiday mulled cranberry spiced drink was made ahead of time as well. By making and preparing as much as possible, it left the seasoning and searing of the meats for Christmas Day, with a finish-off in the oven, which also reheated the lentils and vegetable side dish.

Getting our snack on with cheese, crackers and booze - Photos by Wasabi Prime

For appetizers, a large wheel of Brie was wrapped in store-bought puff pastry and baked until crisp the day-of. There was a bit of flourish added: I had had steeped balsamic vinegar with dried figs and a vanilla bean for a Christmas gift for Mr. Wasabi. Not wanting to waste anything, I kept the figs and chopped them small, sprinkling over the finished baked Brie with a drizzle of honey. The cheese was served with sliced apples and crackers brought by friend Sassy J. A mix of olives tossed with lemon zest and warmed in the oven were served as a savory snack, and an array of bubbly cocktails, wine from Miss Alice's collection, the mulled cranberry spiced wine, and homebrew beer from Mr. K were served. Let it never be said that the House of Wasabi doesn't like to get their drank on.

Winter salad where even the cherries were drunk on wine - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Once everyone had some snacks and a frosty beverage or three, salad, meats, and lentils were laid out. I will say having the oven keep everything warm and just setting everything out, already done, is a nice thing. When I watch cooking shows and the celebrity cooks and chefs flipping food in skillets to the amazement of their guests, I'm always kind of baffled. My friends like to sit, eat, drink, and relax -- and dammit, so do I, especially at my own home. So with some minor salad construction and plating the main courses on serving platters, it was time to get our grub on.

Pan-seared and baked pork tenderloin and chicken - roast beast was not available. Photos by Wasabi Prime

This was probably the largest sit-down dinner the Wasabi Household had hosted. We'll either do small dinners with friends or a big twenty-something gathering where it's more of a stand and wander while you snack. I much prefer smaller gatherings these days, but seating can be tricky when you only have six chairs. Mr. Wasabi solved this by creating the new tradition of casually gathering around the warmth of a large television to watch what we would like to consider a new Christmas classic. Nothing says "holiday" like watching Bruce Willis, circa 1988, with a lot more hair, running from Severus Snape and his band of Euro-terrorists in Die Hard.

Semi s'more dessert, way better than Twinkies - Photos by Wasabi Prime

With the power of  John McClane's action hero wit, we Mystery Science Theater-ed the hell out of this movie, calling out its holiday movie relevance at every turn: "Ho-ho-ho, now I have a machine gun," written on a recently deceased terrorist -- totally a Christmas movie. We balanced the wine and food with a wicked sugar high brought on by baked treats provided by good pal Miss SJBe and the chocolate pot de cremes. I had also made a batch of homemade marshmallows, not wanting the Epic Fail of a previous attempt to haunt my holiday steps forever. These mallows from Alton Brown's recipe were nowhere near perfect, but plopped atop each custard and hand-torched with the force of an explosive Nakatomi Tower, who the hell cares, as fire truly made it better. There was so much sugar being eaten, I think we could see into another dimension -- yippie-kai-yay, indeed.

Bruno wants to roast marshmallows - screencap from Die Hard/photos by Wasabi Prime

Sometimes traditions are just as much about breaking with the old and starting anew, even if they're a little off-kilter... and violent. While the holiday was tinged with a bit of sadness over missing Christmas with Wasabi Mom and Dad, creating new traditions with much beloved friends made for a very special holiday the Prime will not soon forget. Many, many thanks to the fabulous friends who made it out to the homestead to join us for a holiday dinner -- you made this Christmas at home so very special and happily memorable.