Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Stuffed Jalapenos- Ole!

May 5, 2012Carroll 6 Comments

Jalapenos and peanut butter….jalapenos and peanut butter. Something I could not get out of my head since about 2 years ago when a friend requested I bring some to a meeting we would both be attending. The friend claims to be from Mexico, and claims that jalepenos and peanut butter are a delicacy when you hit the roads south of the border. Jalapenos and peanut butter…. 2 years later, in celebration of Cinco de Mayo…I had to try them.

Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Stuffed Jalapenos

Sir Wes has a nice little jalapeno pepper plant growing in the backyard, which I helped myself to. After washing them I carefully split them length wise, not cutting the top part. I swirled my paring knife around a bit and then I gently tapped out the seeds.

Dessert from the backyard!

Ingredients

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup confectioner sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
12 small jalapenos, seed and inner flesh removed
White and dark chocolate coins

Method

Blend the peanut butter, sugar and salt together until smooth. Carefully fill each jalapeno and wipe any excess peanut butter. Melt chocolate in a double boiler as directed by the package instructions. Gently dip the filled jalapeno into the melted chocolate and place on parchment paper until the chocolate coating is set. Refrigerate up to a week.

Sweet and Spicy!

The jury is still out on jalapenos and peanut butter, but all have agreed they are not for the meek!

Who is willing??

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Ole!!

Cocktails and Dinner with #digiNow12 at Disney’s Living Seas

April 29, 2012Carroll 3 Comments

We have been busy at work the last week with 3 different Press Events, a 1000 or so Cheerleaders, and a technical driven event that we look forward to all year. The digitalNow Conference was held at Walt Disney World this week; which gave us a chance to push our creative minds. While the group spent most of their time at the Contemporary Resort, they did venture to the Parks for a night. The Living Seas at Epcot turned into a futuristic, creative, interactive dining room, where Entertainment, Bartenders, and Chefs spent the evening getting the chance to create magic.

This is the type of event that keep us motivated in Catering and always searching for what is next. The Front of the House provided such an innovative setup, from the gorgeous glowing highboys to the serpentine roman tables to the fantastic buffet sets.

The set up was definetly something to tweet about #digiNow12

The Entertainment and Florist jumped right into the theming of the night.

The Bars were amazing- so cool! The specialty drinks were a hit, not just because of the awesome presentation, but the flavors as well. I attached the recipes below, these were all developed by our Front of the House team!

Sangria de Patron

2 oz Patron Silver
2 1/2 oz Monin Hibiscus
3/4 oz Lemonade
1/2 oz Lime Juice

Pour all ingredients into a mixing glass with ice. Shake and strain over ice in a rocks glass.

Black Cherry Cooler

1 1/4 oz Red Stag Black Cherry Bourbon
1/2 oz Triple Sec
2 oz Pineapple Juice
1 oz Orange Juice
1/2 oz Cruzan Black Strap Rum

Pour all ingredients into a mixing glass with ice. Shake and strain over ice in a rocks glass. Top with Black Strap Rum as a floater.

Ginger Snap

1 1/4 oz Skyy Citrus Vodka
1 oz Canton Ginger Liquor
3 oz Lemonade
Splash of Ginger Ale

Pour all ingredients into a mixing glass with ice. Shake and strain over ice in a rocks glass. Top with Ginger Ale.

The food for the event was equally inventive, we had fresh grown organic produce from The Land at Epcot, Chef Damon and his team were distilling with the RotoVap, live herbs were growing from their roots on the salad station, and Chef Matt and his pastry team created artisan gelatos and lollipops in the middle of the World View Plaza before the fireworks started.

The dinner was creative, tasty and fresh with a focus on local, sustainable and taste that hit all notes!

Events like this not only surprise and delight our guests, they keep our cast engaged and driven to deliver the most excellent service possible. These event keep our passion flowing :)!

jgkfg

Chewy Carrot Toffee Blondies

April 22, 2012Carroll 4 Comments

I am a carrot cake snob, put a good piece in front of me and I will savor every bite; unfortunately it isn’t too often that I meet a carrot cake that qualifies. I didn’t even like “that vegetable cake” before I had the mouth-watering bite in Jacksonville about 9 years ago, and since then I’ve looked for its match, only to be disappointed. Carrot cake is tricky to make, many are too dry, too sweet, too much spice, too much icing, the wrong icing…I don’t judge, I am not a pastry chef, I just want that stinking good carrot cake again!

Carrots straight out of the dirt

As an amateur baker, with huge expectation regarding carrot cake, I have decided I am just not to up to carrot cake making, so when I got these carrots from my neighbor’s garden I had to think outside the box, which led me to blondies. Vegetable in desserts…

Chewy Carrot Toffee Blondies

Ingredients

8 oz butter, melted
2 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon fresh ground ginger
4 eggs
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cup finely grated carrots, about 3 large carrots
1/2 cup toffee pieces

Method

Preheat the oven to 350F. Combine melted butter, sugars, vanilla, cinnamon and ginger in large mixing bowl and blend. Add eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Slowly add flour and salt, until incorporated. Mix in carrots and toffee pieces. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the batter evenly. Bake on for 45-50 minutes, until golden in color. Allow blondies to cool before cutting into squares.

Makes about 32-40 squares.

Vegetables in Dessert- Think of it as an efficiency!

Carrot and toffee are a complementary combination, add a pinch of salt in and there is the icing on the cake!

Chewy, Salty and Sweet- Perfection

Happy Eats!!!

Dried Lemon and Curried Chicken with Almond and Raisin Popcorn Rice

April 7, 2012Carroll 3 Comments

Inspiration from Dubai!

A couple of friends dropped a gift bag on my desk a few weeks ago filled with curries, spices and dried lemons from Dubai. How lucky, and for no reason- just because they’re nice guysJ. I have never seen dried lemons before, much less cooked with them so I was really excited, absolutely LOVE new ingredients! Traditionally dried lemons are used in Middle Eastern and Persian cooking. The lemons are picked when they are ripe, then boiled and salt water and dried in the sun. They have a strong sour flavor so they should be “cooked with” not eaten as you can other dried fruits. I took my friends recommendation and decided to try the lemons out with a roast chicken.

Dried Lemons and Curry, what a great gift!

The flavor was light and delicate, but the aroma of the lemons was strong, a great combination. The lemons are traditionally used in stews, which will be next!

Dried Lemon and Curry Chicken with Almond and Raisin Popcorn Rice

Chicken Marinate

1 roasting chicken
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 ½ tablespoon medium curry
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 dried lemons, split in half
1 inch ginger root, sliced

To prepare the chicken, start by rinsing the bird with water and patting it dry with paper towels. Place the chicken in a roasting pan and pour the olive oil over it, spreading it evenly over the chicken. Sprinkle the curry, salt and pepper all over the chicken, including the inside cavity. Place the sliced ginger and dried lemon halves into the cavity and truss the chicken.

Ginger and Lemons to stuff the bird with!

Spool of Twine

Trussing the chicken is a great way to keep the bird cooking evenly. There are many methods to truss a chicken, but the as long as the legs and wings are kept close to the body and the cavity is closed you will have an evenly roasted chicken!

I like to roast chicken at 475°F for 25 minutes and then turn the oven down to 400°F for another 45 minutes or until the thickest part of the thigh hits 165°F on a meat thermometer. Great color, Great flavor and plenty of juice!

To go with this chicken I made a flavorful rice, using one of my favorite types of rice- popcorn rice. Sir Wes and I discovered it on a trip to New Orleans a few years ago and have been hoarding the bags for special meals only. It has a rich, nutty flavor and is very aromatic. The flavor is great all by itself but for this meal I added a few twists.

Popcorn Rice is Gourmtastic!

Almond and Raisin Popcorn Rice

¼ cup diced yellow onion
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup of popcorn rice, rinsed in water and pat dry
1 cup chicken stock
1 ¼ cup water
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
3 tablespoons toasted almond sliver
4 tablespoons raisins
Fresh ground black pepper

Heat olive oil in saucepan over medium high; add in onions and sauté for a minute. Add rice and sauté for a few more minutes. Toasting the rice like this will refresh it, who knows how long it has sat on the shelf; it will also enhance the natural flavors of the rice. Add the chicken stock and the water and bring to a boil, turn the heat down to low and cover the saucepan with a lid. Allow the rice to cook for about 40 minutes. The water should be absorbed and the rice tender. Fluff with a fork and add in the cilantro, almonds and raisins. The raisins will rehydrate naturally as they sit with the hot rice. Sprinkle with ground black pepper before serving.

Inspiration from Dubai!

Serves 3-5 really good friends depending how hungry they are!

Krispy Kreme Donut Hole Cake

April 2, 2012Carroll 5 Comments

While on a trip to Sir Wes’ hometown, Fairhope, Alabama this summer an event shock the small community- a long time landmark closed its doors, the Midtown Mobile Krispy Kreme was no longer taking orders. I never could have imagined how much of our conversations would have been consumed by this over our stay. It was at this point that I really understood my husband’s love of Krispy Kreme.

This is a clip from the Press Register:

“The Midtown Krispy Kreme, which opened in 1972, closed permanently at 11 a.m. Tuesday, halting conveyer belts that company officials boasted once made 1,000 dozen doughnuts an hour.

By noon Wednesday, workers had taken down the sign out front and boarded up the windows.

Though the last doughnut had been fried and glazed more than 24 hours earlier, a sweet smell still lingered there by early afternoon. A glassed-in shelf marked “original glazed,” “chocolate iced custard filled,” “powdered blueberry filled” and other flavors was bare.

Employees didn’t know the restaurant was closing until that morning. Six of them were transferred to the company’s west Mobile location, while the remaining 11 were given a one-week’s severance check.

The Government Street store once made enough doughnuts to fill two tractor trailer trucks and a dozen delivery vans daily, but was down to filling just one van. The company, which once thrived on delivering doughnuts from Hattiesburg to Gulf Shores, is turning its focus to in-store, retail sales.

“I would rather make them hot and give them to you fresh than give them to you in a box when they’re two days old,” McAleer said. “That’s what we do best.”

So when Sir Wes requested a Donut Cake, I knew I could not wiggle out of it….

I wasn’t sure how to keep it together, but then thought about trying marshmallow, like you would when making rice krispie treats.

Sir Wes' Birthday Cake

4 tablespoons butter
7 ounces mini marshmallows
40 glazed donut holes
1 ½ cup chocolate buttercream
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon butter
½ cup heavy cream

Melt the butter and add in the marshmallows stirring until smooth. In a large mixing bowl place the donut holes and pour the marshmallow over, tossing gently. Immediately put into two plastic lined 8 inch cake pans. Allow to set for about 20 minutes.

Flip the first layer onto a plate and gently remove the plastic wrap. Spread ¾ cup of the chocolate buttercream over the donuts. Flip second layer on top of the buttercream layer. Use remaining ¾ cup of buttercream to spread over top.

Melt chocolate chips and butter in a double boiler, when smooth and melted, add in heavy cream and stir well. The glaze can be poured over the cake. Allow an hour to set.

Donut Hole Cake

Happy Birthday Sir Wes, I hope you enjoy my tribute to your hometown and a piece of your history! XOXOX

A Donut Cake was a must for Sir Wes' Birthday this year!

Preserved Lemons and Curried Grains

March 10, 2012March 10, 2012Carroll 3 Comments

The lemons are ready! I have been preserving lemons for the last few months and they are perfect! I used them for the first time last week in a warm grain salad. The best way to keep your preserved lemons is in the same container they started in. When you are ready to use some, take out what you need, rinse the lemons off with water and remove the flesh, the skin is what you want to keep.

Preserved Lemons are ready!

Preserved lemons are very versatile- from vinaigrette to a cocktail!

Remove the flesh and pulp. The skin is all you need.

The first dish for the lemons was inspired by not having much in the refrigerator- another busy week at work. Perfect timing to as it was Monday! Have you heard about Meatless Mondays- I’m pretty impressed about how this initiative has gained steam. Meatless Mondays, is a nonprofit initiative of The Monday Campaigns, in association with the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health. Families across the country are joining in- whether their reasons are health based or financial based, 1/3 of the country has reduced their meat consumption in 2011. Grains, tofu, soy are offering replacement proteins and a healthy alternatives. This brings us to the popularity of grains- which can be seen all over the food magazines and in most restaurants. Chefs are now wondering …what else can we do with grains??

Preserved Lemons Debut!

Here is the recipe that my preserved lemons made their first appearance-

All of this was in the kitchen- waiting to get used up!

Preserved Lemon and Curried Grains

1 ½ cup uncooked spelt
1 ½ cup uncooked kasha
1 ½ cup uncooked lentils
3 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup diced onions
2 tablespoon chopped garlic
24 oz. coconut curry broth
6 tablespoon chopped preserved lemons
2 tablespoons curry powder
6 tablespoons chopped cilantro
3 oz. roasted red pepper
1 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 ½ cup green beans, cut into bite size pieces
½ pint grape tomatoes
Preserved Lemon and Curried Grains Mise en Place

It’s pretty easy to cook grains- start by washing them off with water. Put a pot on the stove and add the washed grains, add water or stock to about two inches above the grains. Bring to a slow boil and cook until tender. When the grains are a la dente, drain them from the pot with a colander. You can cool them down and reheat them when you are ready to serve. This is a great way to prepare meals for a busy week.

I had a few pots working 🙂

Cook the grains to a la dente.
Place a large stock pot on the stove over medium high heat; add olive oil, followed by the onions and garlic. Sauté until translucent.
Add the cooked grains to the pot and stir in broth.
Mix in the lemons, curry, cilantro, roasted peppers and ground red pepper. Allow to gently simmer, giving the flavors a chance to meld.
Put the green beans and tomatoes into the pot about 15 minutes before serving- this will keep their beautiful, bright color.

Add the bright veggies at the end so they keep there color and don't turn to mush!

Like with many other soups and stews, this dish gets better with time. Give it an hour or a day the flavor will deepen. Another similarity to soups and stews is ingredients can be of the “clean the fridge” mentality- no beans? Use cauliflower- any vegetable or none will work! The grains can also be switched up.

Flavorful and healthy- take that meatheads!

My favorite meals are alway the ones when I have “nothing’ to cook for dinner!

Preserved Lemon and Curried Grains

Cheers to Meatless Monday!

Pimento Cheese and Strawberry Filled Cookies

February 27, 2012Carroll 3 Comments

I saw the cookies first, and knew I had to make pimiento cheese so I could make the cookies. I’m a sucker for crackers, crisps, biscuits, ect- especially when Sweet meets Savory! These cookies are delicious- if you prefer substitute the strawberry preserve for another- raspberry or lingonberry would be great! You could even use your basic grape jelly- who doesn’t love cheese and grapes!

Southern Treats

Pimento Cheese and Strawberry Jam Cookies Mise En Place

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup refrigerated pimento cheese
1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
1/4 cup butter, softened
4 tablespoons strawberry preserves

Preparation

1. Beat together flour and pimento cheese at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer 1 minute. Add pecans and butter; beat until blended. Wrap dough in plastic wrap; chill 2 hours.

"Off the Hook" Dough Ball

Roll the dough thin for a crisper cookie

2. Preheat oven to 400°. Place dough on a well-floured surface, and roll to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into 48 rounds with a 2-inch round cutter, rerolling scraps once. Arrange half of rounds 2 inches apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets; spoon 1/2 tsp. strawberry preserves onto center of each round, and top with remaining rounds, pressing edges to seal.

Just a Dollop of Jam

3. Bake at 400° for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets 10 minutes; transfer to wire racks, and cool completely (about 30 minutes).

Cheese, Spice and Jam- Great Combination!

This recipe is from Pawley’s Island Specialty Foods, Palmetto Cheese, Pawley’s Island, SC. Found in Southern Living.

: Whenever a rolling pin is involved, good things follow!

Sweet Southern Beauties………………….

Pimento Cheese- “Southern Pate”

February 19, 2012Carroll 2 Comments

Pimento cheese in the south is a staple. Every southern cook has “the best” recipe, kind of like chili, meatloaf, and BBQ sauce!

Pimento Cheese, Pate of The South!

Southern Living recently ran a compilation of Pimento Cheese recipes from acclaimed Southern Chefs- I adapted Louis Osteen’s recipe. I somehow feel I have an attachment to him as I had a college roommate that worked at one of his restaurants, and I walked by the namesake restaurant daily. As a college student, I only had the opportunity to walk by Louis’s, never dine!

Pimento Cheese is a Southern Treasure!

Ingredients

3 cups freshly grated sharp Cheddar cheese ( 1/2 lb.)
2-oz cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon grated yellow onion
1 teaspoon ground red pepper
3 oz whole peeled pimento, drained and rinsed
One bite is not enough!

Preparation

In a food processor combine all ingredients and pulse until desired texture. You can also use a electric mixer to blend.

Serve with fresh breads or crackers

Yield is about 1 ½ cups

A Southern Delicacy!

: Best with fresh baked breads or artisan crackers

Happy Eats Y’all!

Blue Cheese Truffles

February 12, 2012Carroll 7 Comments

I am a curious chef- I often wonder …Can this work? …Will this taste good? What if…? Streeeeeetch the imagination…..! That’s how good, better, and finally best comes around. I saw Blue Cheese Truffles on a chocolatier’s website a few weeks ago and have not been able to let go. Hmmm…sounds good… sounds gross…maybe…eh..

Blue Cheese Truffles

One bite and I was convinced. Blue Cheese Truffles are undoubtedly delicious. Forget Vosges.

Blue Cheese- Most people love it or hate it!

Ingredients

Blue Cheese Truffle Mise en Place

Filling

2 ounces blue cheese, softened
1 tablespoon sugar
2 ounces dark chocolate
1 teaspoon almonds, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon dried cherries, finely chopped

Coating

4 ounces dark chocolate

I added dried cherries and almonds, but you can skip them if you want, or you can substitute with bacon.

Method

Bring cheese to room temperature; it should be soft enough to blend with a fork. You can microwave it for a few seconds if necessary. Add in the sugar and blend well. Add chopped almonds and cherries. Melt 2 ounces of chocolate in a double boiler and blend into the cheese mixture. Refrigerate until mixture is firm. Scoop into teaspoon size balls and place in refrigerator until ready to dip.

Blue Cheese Truffle Filling

Melt remaining chocolate in double boiler. Dip balls in chocolate and allow excess chocolate to drip off. Place truffles on parchment paper and let the chocolate set.