Chai Tea Latte

This post could almost be entitled, "Treasure Island is a very dangerous place." For those of you not in the know, Treasure Island is a Chicago grocery store called "The most European supermarket in America" by Julia Child. It's amazing, and I really need to learn self-control when I go in there. So far I've come out with wasabi mayo, liquid smoke, 6-packs of Aranciata and Limonata Sanpellegrino, and a loaf of Lithuanian bread that I bought only because I was unfamiliar with the bakery. I almost bought wasabi cheese and korean bbq sauce, but I stopped myself. I'm trying to conserve room in my car when I move.

Anyway, on my last trip to Treasure Island, I grabbed the last thing on my list (organic chipotle salsa, which is what makes me want to try the liquid smoke in normal salsa), turned around, and saw this:



People are very passionate about the chai tea lattes. I first found this out when I was in Caribou and a woman who had just gotten her drink stormed back in--livid--marched up to the barista and said, "This is NOT a chai tea latte. I get one every day, and I know what it is, and this is NOT a chai tea latte." While I'm not as crazy as that miss, I still don't really blink at dropping $5.00 on a small drink. (That's really not an exaggeration since soy milk is 40 cents extra and Chicago has a 10.25% sales tax). So I was especially excited when I found this lucky package.

This is a really long post for something so simple. Really, you just mix 1 part milk (since it's a "Vegan" chai tea mix they say to use soy milk, but really, who cares) to 1 part mix and heat it up.



ZOMGZ. It's good. Really good.

Crustless Quiche

First of all, I want to address something that I was initially concerned about: why is this a crustless quiche and not a frittata? Well, friends, it's not a frittata because it's not in a skillet, and I didn't broil it. Now onto bigger and better things.

I had a pretty lazy day today. I didn't work out because my muscles were killing me. I had Coldstone ice cream around 5:00 because tomorrow is the last day to use the free coupon from my birthday. And as I was lighting the flame to boil my water for my Friday night macaroni and cheese, I told myself, "no." I deserve something that requires effort. Luckily, Joy the Baker's blog has two different quiche recipes I wanted to try: Crustless Quiche with blue cheese, spinach, and mushrooms, and Creme Fraiche Quiche with (obviously) creme fraiche, gruyere, and bacon.

I didn't feel like waiting for a pie crust to thaw, so I went with the crustless quiche, but decided to add bacon (I know..ME! Cooking meat!), mushrooms, gruyere, and I had some red bell peppers, so I added that as well.

Proof of the bacon:


Here's the recipe I followed:

Slice bacon (I used 7 strips because it was hard to cut through the fat and I got frustrated) and fry it. Slice some mushrooms and red bell peppers, and sautee those in the bacon grease. Toss those into a buttered pie plate. Meanwhile, whisk 3 eggs, and then whisk in 1 cup of half and half (I want to point out that I actually almost got fat free half and half, but then I thought about the rest of the ingredient I was using, and decided that would just be stupid). I sprinkled the bacon crisps over the mushrooms and red pepper, topped that with shredded gruyere, and then poured the egg mixture on top.



Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 35 minutes, or until it's browning on top.



I really don't like cooking in my apartment kitchen for some reason, so I was proud of myself for actually making something. Hurray!



It was nice having the gruyere crust on top, but I still think I'd prefer to have it incorporated throughout. Next time I also would add shallots and spinach.

Kuma's Corner

Kuma's Corner
2900 W. Belmont
Chicago, IL 60618


This past weekend was full of really a lot of good eats: Minnie's for lunch on Friday followed by a four course meal at Phil Stefani's 437 Rush for dinner; brunch at Orange on Saturday and then dinner at Fonda del Mar. Now, I'm not saying Kuma's Corner necessarily ruined that trend. It really was good.

I had the Yob burger: Smoked gouda, roasted red peppers, bacon, and roasted garlic mayo.

Here are pictures of my leftovers since I forgot my camera when we went:





Drew had the May special: The Swine flu burger. It had chorizo hash, tortilla strips, roasted green chile, pico de gallo, cilantro, and cream sauce (although we both agreed it tasted like Indian food).

I should point out that I also swayed Drew away from the Slayer: a pile of fries with a 1/2 lb. burger on top, chili, cherry peppers, andouille, jack cheese, onions, and anger.

Yes, the burgers were good. Pretzel bread buns were a nice touch. The appetizer was also good: waffle fries with pulled pork and jack cheese (well, ga-duh these were good. The bbq sauce was just Sweet Baby Ray's though, I'm pretty sure). They had homemade chips, which I always appreciate. But was all that worth waiting (both to get a table and subsequently at the table) 3 hours? Nyyeeeehprobably not.

Looks like DC is 2-0 in the Great Burger-Off with Chicago.

Arepas

Arepas are like a south american corn cake that you fill with whatever crazy stuff you want. In Orlando this place Q'Kenan made amazing Arepas and that's where i was turned on to their badassness. For the Arepa i followed this recipe i found online

http://www.whats4eats.com/breads/arepas-recipe

For the filling i slow cooked some pork overnight in various spices. Also i put some black beans in there with some shredded cheese. On top i put some homemade Crema which is like a south american sour cream. I was trying to emulate Q'Kenan awesome sauce but i dont know how they did it so i just did my own thing. Crema is basically this:

2 cups heavy cream and 1/4 cultured buttermilk. put that in a bowl and cover it and let it sit out on the counter over night. This turns it thick and tangy. Then add some salt and pepper, diced shallots, garlic, cilantro, and fresh papaya. Its very smooth and refreshing like sour cream, and easy to make so i recommend trying it if you're into sour cream.

Blood Orange

Dear Blood Orange,

(Le Sigh).

I really wanted to like you. I was so excited when I saw you at Whole Foods! "I'm not supposed to be able to find you here in the Midwest!" I said to myself. Or, at least, that's what Padma said when she was on The View a few months ago critiquing Stephen the Sommelier from Season One's salad featuring you as its star.

But today I finally cut you open and I saw this:



Holy goats, Blood Orange! I'm sorry, but I just never expected to find your coloring occurring anywhere in nature. It's a bit disconcerting to me, to be quite honest. I'm not sure what to make of it.

But I persevered and tried a few slices. Now, Blood Orange, you look cool--although blood is not necessarily appetizing--but the least you could do is be delicious. Alas, you taste like a bland grapefruit. (Now, someone with the experience of eating a few blood oranges needs to tell me if this is normal, or if it's just a side effect of sitting in Drew's fridge for about a month. Before you judge me for eating an old orange though, you need to see this fridge for yourself. I swear, it has magical abilities when it comes to retaining fruit ripeness).

However, I can't bypass your merits:



You peel with the grace of a clementine.

Good show.

Sincerely,

Katrina

Salmon Potato Chowder

This is a recipe we got out of the daily soup cookbook. it was good. Katrina also did her famous rosemary biscuits. She can post the recipe for that some other time cause i'm not sure where it is.

- Sweat 1 onion, 2 celery stalks, 1 fennel bulb in a large stockpot with butter
- Add 2 tsp thyme, 1tsp fennel seeds, 2 bay leaves, 2 tsp salt and stir
- Add 6 red bliss potatoes 1-inch cubed, 4 cups veg stock, 1 cup tomato juice and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 min.
- Add 2 large salmon fillets 1-inch cubed. Simmer 2 minutes
- Remove from heat and add 1.5 cups heavy cream and 2 tb chopped tarragon

We halved this recipe and it worked out good although we didn't have heavy cream so we used a dash of milk and i think it was a bad idea. It was still good though. I wonder if it's frowned upon to put recipes online from a book you have to actually buy. Luckily no one reads this.

Southwestern Eggrolls

So the filling for these consisted of the following:
-cooked chopped spinach
-frozen baby corn
-chopped red bell peppers
-black beans
-diced jalapeno
-chopped grilled chicken
-cumin
-chili powder
-cayenne pepper
-chopped green onion
-shredded Monterrey jack cheese
-salt/pepper

i don't remember the amounts, that's why the picture is there. memorize the way it looks.

so after simmering all this in the saucepan til its all cooked together, put a heaping spoonful onto an eggroll wrapper. i can't really explain the way you need to angle the wrapper and fold it in words, but it's really important so don't fuck it up. use a little eggwash to seal it up and give it a nice coat on top to crisp it up. we baked these at 450 for 10 min, but deep frying would be taste superior.

i hope you enjoy this final picture because i doubt you'll ever make them yourself.

also we dipped these in a ranch/hot sauce concoction. i suggest you come up with a delicious sauce yourself, dear reader, because experimentation is half the fun. and eating is 80% of the fun. and cooking is 43%. math.