Dani, Steven, and I were discussing how much all three of us absolutely love to cook the other day after I posted some food porn up on twitter - some chicken livers sauteed in butter with a brandy and maple syrup reduction, in case you're wondering.  Apparently cooking and hockey go hand in hand - the catharsis of whipping up and beating the hell out of some bread dough is kind of like watching Evander Kane lay out Matt Cooke like a nice loaf of Challah bread in the making.  This blog's kind of our random NHL fun-spot anyway.  We all need a break from The Hockey Bay Blog/Benched Whale, Silver Seven Sens, and Thrashing the Blues sometimes, and this blog's about as random as you can get.

I figure, well heck, a lot of us are at home watching the playoffs, regardless of if our team's in it or not.  Some of us might have Stanley Cup Finals parties floating around in our heads.  I'm debating on having one in my tiny apartment or not, but if I do, I'll probably do all the food myself.  If I can cater an engagement party for 40 people, I can entertain 15 friends and a cat.

I can't help but get the munchies when watching hockey.  So, why not share the munchie love?  Some of these recipes can do with a shortcut or two (frozen fries instead of fresh homemade, etc), but they're just as good homemade as they are all Sandra Lee'd.  

Gentle Jesus.

I don't know how much longer the Habs'll be in the playoffs, but sitting here watching them right now gave me the weirdest craving for poutine.  The amalgamation of french fries, gravy, and cheese curds is just a plate full of heart attack waiting to happen.  Which is why it's one of the greatest things ever.  This isn't the foie gras poutine that Anthony Bourdain had when he went to Le Pied Cochon in Montreal, but it works.  I kinda whipped it up myself out of boredom one day - like I said, you can shortcut it, but it's easy to make from scratch.

For the fries, which is probably the most difficult part because getting them crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside is a bear:

The recipe has been mooched from Cooks Illustrated which, in fact, has a lot of illustrations, and if you're a newbie cook or someone who wants to learn new techniques I highly reccommend it.

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds russet potatoes (about 4 large)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 quarts peanut oil
Kosher salt

Instructions

Scrub potatoes, then square off the sides and cut the potatoes into 1/4-inch by 1/4-inch fries.

Rinse cut potatoes in a large bowl under cold running water until water runs clear. Cover with ice water and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 12 hours.

Pour off water, spread potatoes onto kitchen towels, and thoroughly dry. Transfer potatoes to large bowl and toss with cornstarch until evenly coated. Transfer potatoes to wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet and let rest until a fine white coating forms, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large, heavy-bottomed Dutch oven fitted with a clip-on candy thermometer, heat oil to 325°F.

Add half of potatoes, a handful at a time, to hot oil. Increase heat to high. (This step is easy to forget, but very important!) Fry, stirring with mesh spider or large-hole slotted spoon, until potatoes start to turn from white to blond, 4 to 5 minutes. (Oil temperature will drop about 75°F during this frying. It stabilizes right around 250°F. If it drops lower than this, double-check and make sure you remembered to turn the heat on high after adding the fries.)

Transfer fries to thick paper bag or paper towels to absorb any excess grease. Return oil to 325°F and repeat with remaining potatoes.

Increase heat under Dutch oven to high, and heat oil to 375°F. Add half of fries, and handful at a time, and fry until golden brown and puffed, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to thick paper bag or paper towels. Lightly season with salt while fries are still hot. (I like using a paper bag for this step because you can simply toss the fries in the bag, add salt, and shake to absorb the grease and evenly season the fries all at once.) Return oil to 375°F and repeat with remaining fries. Serve immediately.

(Remember, you can half this or quarter this as needed - please, do NOT eat 16 servings or something insane like that).

For the gravy (and yes, you can buy a jar of it, but ewwwwww, really?):

Melt 1 cube of bullion of your choice in hot water per instructions of the box (use whatever kind you want.  I prefer beef because the flavor's stronger, but it's a matter of personal preference).  Brown about two tablespoons of flour in a skillet for a minute or two, stirring so it doesn't burn.  Add some melted butter (or just melt the butter in the pan) - about a tablespoon or so, but adjust as you go - to make a paste.  Add the broth, taste, and add whatever seasonings you feel that it needs.  It probably won't need salt, but some pepper's always helpful.

I could be a smartass and tell you how to make homemade cheese curds here, but I don't want to be too pretentious.

Cheese curds are a bear to find sometimes.  Trader Joe's has them, but they're the yellow curds.  If that's fine for you, by all means, go for it.  Honestly, I've found that strong cheese chopped up works just as well as long as the fries and gravy are hot enough to melt cheese.  Layer gravy over fries, put cheese on top, and ta da.  You can add whatever you like - chives, sour cream, and some bacon are always good, but go gonzo.  I have seen some weird and scary stuff slathered on top of poutine.

Like I said, Cycle Like the Sedins does not claim responsibility for any blood pressure/cholesterol meds you have to go on because of this.

Wings/'Yotes game seven tonight, obviously.  I had to mentally go through everything southwestern that I have ever cooked other than nachos to dig something up.

 

To aggrivate people, there are no ingredient amounts.  HA.  All you need to do this is grab a few things, and you have some excellent black bean tacos that will blow your mind.

You'll need some veggie oil for frying, some corn tortillas, feta cheese (or other crumbly cheese, like a queso blanco - but feta has more flavor), a bag of cole slaw mixed greens, a lime or two, some fresh cilantro, ground cumin, and a can of black beans.

Open and rinse the beans under cold water in a fine wire mesh strainer.  Season with ground cumin and stir so all of it's not on one bean (ed. note - it's gross when you get a cumin bean).  Get some oil really, about a quarter inch deep and really hot in a skillet large enough to hold a couple folded tortillas, and when the oil is hot, fill a corn tortilla with black beans.  Fry in the oil until the tortilla is crisp, and drain on a paper towel.  Fill with feta while still hot.

In a bowl, mix cole slaw greens, chopped cilantro, and lime juice together to taste.  Stuff that in the tacos, and ta da.  I would not serve these with a heavy salsa at all... maybe a light peach or cactus salsa along with some blue corn tortilla chips.  It's a really light dinner, but it's filling.  You'll be able to get up off of the couch after munching on a couple of these.

Adapted from Bon Appetit February, 2009

Well, it seems that the Habs have hung around for another round - the series against the Pittsburgh Penguins begins tonight.  I tried to wrack my brain for something that was Pittsburghean/Penguins related, and all I could think of were these little guys:

Sid, Geno, and Stallsie commsierate as to how to fix the powerplay. The answer? Low-Fat Nuefchatel cheese.

Anywho... if you care to learn how to make these little buggers (or if you're blind, because honestly - you can look at the picture and figure it out), here you go.

Recipies post-jumpius.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to focus on some FrancoFood again.  Sorry.  Actually, the proper term for these are amuse bouches.  There.  Got my pretentious comment for the evening out.  Anywho, I'm going to look at two of them, from the website Easy French Food.

Eggplant caviar is easy, quick, and goes really well with pita chips.  Instead of tahini, which baba ganoush calls for, this one is more olive oil based.

• 2 eggplants
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 small tomato, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Slice the eggplants in two lengthwise, and place cut side down on a no stick baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes or until very tender.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool enough so you can handle them.

Remove the skin (it should slip right off) and place the flesh in a food processor. Add the garlic, tomato, parsley, and lemon juice and blend until very smooth. With the machine running, add the olive oil in a thin stream. Season to taste with salt and pepper (about 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper).

Serve warm or cold.

Makes about 2 cups.

Easy, no?  Anyway, treat number two.  I'm an absolute sucker for salmon, especially smoked salmon.  Bagels and lox are one of my favorite weekend brunch treats.  Since bagels are carbo-bombs, and not particularly French, I'll just pass on this one for salmon mousse served on small crackers or toast:

• 12 ounces smoked salmon
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh sorrel or dill

Blend all ingredients to form a smooth puree in a blender or food processor. Arrange on a serving dish, forming mousse into an attractive shape.

Refrigerate at least 30 minutes and remove from refrigerator just before serving.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

You can substitute any smoked fishies in this that you'd like, but I'd probably just stick with salmon.  if you have folks who do like caviar, a little inexpensive jar can be found near the canned fish in your grocery store or farmer's market - a teeny spoonful on this is perfect.  If you really want to go all out, you can make some tiny mini-blinis instead of using crackers, which I recommend.

Next Puck Pies won't be quite as fancy pants as this one, but admit it - once in a while it's kind of fun to have something outside of the norm, like a tall forward.

I know I've gotten gonzo with the recipes recently, but when I'm bored, I cook, and I've been bored a lot recently.  Wait for the summer... I go into full nesting mode and bake bread.  It's not pretty.

Anywho, Vancouver's known for their awesome Asian fusion food, since it's so close to Japan and other Asian nations.  Vancouver is also known for pretty damn good seafood, so I figured I'd combine the two.  This is another "no measurement" thing, but really, it's all about taste.

For some really good Asian/Thai/Whatever mussels, it takes about 10 minutes.  Seriously.

Woo!  I can grow a playoff beard too!

Grab a bottle of clam juice, 2lbs mussels, a fresh lemon, some lemongrass, mirin (a Chinese cooking wine), and fish sauce at the store.  Also invest in a bottle of white wine, partially to cook with and partially to drink.  While you're there, get one red or green chili pepper and some green onions to dice up and toss in.

Combine the whole bottle of clam juice, a diced chili pepper, some lemongrass (1 tsp. dried or a half-bunch of fresh) about 3-4 chopped up green onions, 1 cup of white wine, and a half cup of mirin in a mussel pan, or a large thick skillet with a lid.  Bring to a boil, and then turn down to medium high heat and let cook for a while, stirring occasionally to let the flavors mix.  If you'd like, squirt a squirt or two of fish sauce in.  It's common in Thai food, and it's actually really good on rice and such.  It's significantly lighter than soy sauce and adds a good kick.

While you're getting the flavors all mingled, check the mussels for any dead-uns.  If you tap them hard, and they don't close, discard them.  Also, find any beards on them and get rid of them.  It's unappetizing to have to clean them as you eat.  I know it's the playoffs, but not everything needs a beard.

Anywho, once you have them cleaned, toss them in with everything else and cover to steam.  At the longest, you should have to steam them about five minutes, but just double check and make sure they're all open and then they're done - they're like their very own turkey pop-up timers.  Serve with some crusty garlic bread and white wine - or maybe some fizzy sake.

Cycle Like the Sedins has been a bit, um, dead since I made fun of Charles Wang's grandkid at the draft.  After the season ended, I also couldn't think of any special occasions to do Puck Pies for.  Well, with the return of the sport that drives us all to drink (more on that in a sec), you get the return of Puck Pies.

Weeeee - food!

Last night's 5-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets led to some major drinking, mostly at Taco Mac beforehand and afterwards.  For those of you unfamiliar with Taco Mac, it's Atlanta's local bar chain with the most hugerist beer list in the free world.  There's one attached to Philips Arena that has to do a killer business after Thrashers' games - it did a good one after last night's.

There's an appetizer dish that my good friend Courtney (overlord of Chicks Who Give a Puck) tried when she was down here in April and fell in love with - poblano queso.  It's good.  It's damn good... and it's so damn good that she got three photos of it sent to her phone by various folks at once.  Witness:

Yep. It's awesome, and after the jump I'll tell you how to make it at home.

Here's all you need:

1 package of queso blanco (NOT queso fresco - it doesn't melt at all)

1lb of lean ground beef - you don't want the grease in the dip

1 poblano pepper

1 small roma tomato

Green Onions

Taco Seasoning

Chop the onions and poblano pepper. The pepper should be cut in half - one half should be diced and mixed into the dip, and the other half should be sliced into rings. The diced pepper needs to be cored and seeded first, but the sliced pepper can retain the seeds for a little kick if you wish.  The tomato should be sliced in half and cored as well, and then diced.

Prep the ground beef and taco seasoning according to the instructions on the packet, but only use half of the packet of seasoning - you don't want the taste to overwhelm the dip.  Cheese is wonderful - especially when you can taste it.  Set aside the ground beef.

In the microwave melt the cheese in a serving dish, or if you have a mini-crock pot, use that.  Actually, I suggest the crock pot to cut back on the chance that the dip'll asplode all over the microwave.  It also heats the cheese more evenly.  Combine the cheese, diced poblano peppers, and the well drained (WELL DRAINED) beef.  Place in serving dish, and top with diced tomato, green onions and poblano pepper.  Serve with soft flour tortillas, or chips if you prefer.

The Los Angeles Kings seem to really enjoy celebrating Zach Bogosian when he comes to town. Los Angeles has a massive Armenian population (unlike Atlanta, where it's Zach, me, and some other dude) and digs reaching out to Armenians to recognize the fact that we do other things aside from have a big ass.

Note: this isn't all of us.

So, in honor of the Kings being extra special awesome, have some Armenian food. It's not all lamb and baklava. Mmm... baklava...

I lied. Here's some lamb.

Dabgvadz Keufteh (fried meat patties):

• 1lb lean lamb or beef, ground twice
• 1 medium onion, grated
• 2 thick slices white bread, trimmed of crusts, soaked in water, squeezed dry, and crumbled
• 1 egg or egg yolk
• 1/4 c. finely chopped parsley
• 2 tbs finely chopped mint leaves or 2 tsp crumbled dried mint
• 1 lg clove garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/4c flour
• 1tsp olive oil
• 1 tbs butter

Combine all but the last three ingredients in a deep bowl and knead well until blended and smooth. With hands moistened in water, shape the mixture into flat round patties about 2 inches in diameter. Roll lightly in the flour.

In a heavy skillet, heat the olive oil and butter over moderate heat. Add the meat patties and fry until evenly browned on both sides, adding more butter if needed. Serve with a garlic yogurt sauce (mix 1 1/2 c unflavored yogurt that's been drained for 2 hours and 1 clove of garlic that's been pounded to a paste with salt and mint to taste).

For those of you unfamiliar with the series, it was something I conjured up for Cycle Like The Sedins to combine my love of cooking (nom) with my love of hockey. Sadly, CLTS went the way of the dodo seeing as how we all have our own projects to work on, but I really liked my idea for the cooking series.

If you click on the link at the top of the page on the toolbar that says "Puck Pies," it'll take you to the whole category of recipes. I'll try to remember to update it every Monday or so. Of course, not all of these recipes are mine, and I'll give credit where credit is due, but you have to admit... nothing says hockey like snacky, high fat food. Heck, if I can think of something, I'll even toss up some beer pairings to go here.

I'll start things off with re-pubishing some of the greatest hits (ok, the only hits) from CLTS. Once the pre-season starts, I'll get some new things up.

Here's a preview of things to come - crustless pizza w/salami and Vermont cheddar. Go on and drool.