hot dog w/ the works

Ever crave a chicago dog? I do, every night. Kidding.
So many variations on the Chicago dog.
This one is created with 'things I have on hand'.
Grilled hot dog filled with baked beans (you can use chili too), coleslaw, red onions, cheddar cheese and a pickle. That's like almost-chicago style? Wish I could take credit for the onions rings, I can't, they are from a bag.
But it's a good brand of frozen onions rings, by Alexia brand. Really good when you're in a hurry and don't want to make from scratch.

falafel rollup w/ hummus, tzatziki and tahini-yogurt sauce

Mmmm. Just looking at these photos again I am just starved right now. I love homemade falafel balls. Either fresh from the deep fryer or cold from the leftover storage bin in the fridge--I don't care how, just love them. I can make a pretty good falafel sammie rollup. But you know what I love best about these gems? The fact that they can pretty much go with anything. I've added corn relish, sweet pepper relish, horsey sauce, etc.... But the best I've had so far is to add hummus and tzatziki AND some really good tahini-yogurt sauce. Oh the love of this combo people.
Please try this, I know you'll love it, and do me a favor? Experiment! Add on, take away, try new, etc...that's the best part.

Can we get a close up of the MONEY SHOT? You bet.

falafel rollups with hummus, tzatziki, and tahini-yogurt sauce
print recipe

falafel balls (are from mark bittman)

1 3/4 cup dried chickpeas
2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
1 small onion, quartered
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
Scant teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
1 cup chopped parsley or cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn, for frying

For the falafel balls:
Put the beans in a large bowl and cover with water by 3 or 4 inches; they will triple in volume. Soak for 24 hours, adding water if needed to keep beans submerged.
Drain beans well (reserve soaking water) and transfer to a food processor. Add remaining ingredients except oil; pulse until minced but not pureed, scraping sides of bowl down; add soaking water if necessary to allow machine to do its work, but no more than 1 or 2 tablespoons. Keep pulsing until mixture comes together. Taste, adding salt, pepper, cayenne or lemon juice to taste.
Put the oil in a large, deep saucepan to a depth of at least 2 inches; more is better. The narrower the saucepan the less oil you need, but the more oil you use the more patties you can cook at a time. Turn heat to medium-high and heat oil to about 350 degrees (a pinch of batter will sizzle immediately).
Scoop heaping tablespoons of batter and shape into balls or small patties. Fry in batches, without crowding, until nicely browned, turning as necessary; total cooking time will be less than 5 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.

hummus
2 cups canned chickpeas, juices drained
Juice of 2 lemons
2 TB or more tahini paste
2 TB or less garlic, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste (It does not need much salt)

For the hummus:
In a food processor, fitted with a metal blade, combine the chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini paste, and garlic. Process until smooth. With the machine running, add the olive oil, a little at a time. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon the humus in the center of a large platter. Arrange the black olives, red onion slices and fresh pita bread slices around the hummus.
Yield: about 2 cups

tzatziki sauce
16 oz. Greek style yogurt
1 cucumber, washed and peeled
3 - 4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 TB extra virgin olive oil
1 TB lemon juice
1 ½ - 2 TB chopped fresh dill
½ ts salt
A pinch or two of cayenne pepper (optional, but wonderful)

Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with a small spoon. Then coarsely grate the cucumber. Gather the grated cucumber in a cheesecloth or paper towel and squeeze out the excess water, otherwise the tzatziki will be too runny. Get out as much water as you can, then mix the grated cucumber with everything else. It’s good to store this in fridge for about an hour to let all the flavors come together.

tahini-yogurt sauce
1-2 large garlic cloves, minced
3 TB tahini
1 cup plain yogurt
3 TB fresh lemon juice
½ ts paprika
Dash of hot sauce, optional but wonderful
Salt to taste
(I also love to add in a couple teaspoons of grated horseradish, this is up to you—it really tastes good though)

In a bowl, combine the garlic and tahini, then mix in the yogurt, lemon juice, hot sauce, and paprika. Taste, see if it needs salt. Then refrigerate for at least an hour for flavors to come together.

To assemble:
Use large mountain bread wraps other kind, but they should be the large size ones that are good for filling up the wraps with stuff. Spread a layer of the hummus, add in about 4 falafel balls, your choice of veggies (onions, carrots, black olives, lettuce, peppers, whatever you wish), then drizzle on some of the tahini-yogurt sauce. You can add on some tzatziki sauce, but I love to have mine on the side for dipping because I like a lot of on each and every bite.

Cook notes: You can also serve this rollup with fresh tomatoes slices, black olives, yellow onions, peppers, oh the list is endless indeed.
For a change in the flavor of your hummus add more garlic or add in your favorite pepper or onion or scallion (chopped of course and added in during the blending part). You can also add in eggplant or marinated artichokes to the mix for a really tasty mix.

raspberry-cream cheese crumb cake

I know I've been a bit m.i.a lately, but the weather's been so gorgeous around here, and I have a new house that needs all that spring stuff-a-mah-doo done to it. Amazing how having a house just literally sucks up the time, day AND MONEY!
So this recipe, well, I first set out to create a raspberry or strawberry cream cheese muffin. I wanted the middle of the muffins to have a lot of good creamy-fruity stuff in them. It was a fail, not up to my standards. I might give it another go at some point. Instead I came up with another crumb cake recipe (I hope ya'll aren't tried of my crumb cakes by now....I see a cookbook theme here "365 crumb cakes, a crumb cake a day..."
I don't have to tell you that this cake was a huge cake right? I mean it didn't even last a day in this house. Poor crumb cake didn't know what it had coming to his sexy, yummy, buttery, fruity, crumbly self. But you know what else? This cake is actually a danish imposter; a danish posing as a crumbcake. Shhhh....don't tell anyone, they'll all be doing it.

raspberry-cream cheese crumb cake
print recipe

Cake:
¼ cup canola oil, plus more for pan
½ stick unsalted butter, melted
2 TB sour cream
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
½ cup + 2 TB granulated white sugar
1 ts baking powder
½ ts coarse salt
1 large egg
½ cup + 2 TB half & half
2 ts pure vanilla extract

Crumb Topping:
1 cups flour
1 cups packed light brown sugar
¾ ts coarse salt
½ TB ground cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, melted & cooled

Cook notes: the batter is very thin. It rises a bit when baking. This crumb cake bakes very fast! So please make sure to check it at the 25 minute mark. It will be hard to see if it’s done with all the layers on there, so use a cake tester to check cake layer. The coulis can be made a couple days ahead of time and stored in fridge until ready to use. It is optional, but wonderful to add in a couple tablespoons of the coulis into your cream cheese mixture.

raspberry coulis:
1 pint fresh raspberries
2 TB granulated sugar, or to taste
1 TB fresh lemon juice, or to taste

For the coulis:
Put all the ingredients in medium sauce pan and cook over medium (not high!) heat until fruit is mostly dissolved and mixture has reduced a bit as well as thickened up; about 30 minutes or more. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, pushing down on the solids. You might have to let this sit for a while to finish draining—it takes a while. Don’t forget to scrape off the bottom side of the sieve for all the juicy, thickened pulp. Discard the seeds. Taste and add more sugar or lemon juice if needed; it shouldn’t need anything. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

For the crumb topping:
In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients, pour melted butter over mixture, and toss with a rubber spatula until large crumbs form. Set aside

Cream cheese mixture
8 ounces cream cheese, room temp.
1 large egg yolk
3 TB white sugar
1 TB fresh lemon zest
2 TB or more of the coulis (optional, but wonderful)

For the cream cheese mixture:
Mix all in a bowl (really well) until ready to use.
For cake:
Place rack in center of oven, and heat oven to 350°.
Lightly butter a 9 x 13 baking pan and dust with flour, and tap to remove excess. (I’ve also used the Pam with Flour and it worked just fine). Set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together 2 ¼ cups flour, add in the granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a second bowl, whisk together egg, butter, half & half, canola oil, sour cream, and vanilla.

Using a rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into wet mixture.

Spread batter evenly into prepared pan, and set aside. (to keep batter from sticking to your hand or spoon, just wet or oil your fingers or a spoon and spread evenly throughout pan).

The batter should be about half an inch high. It will cook/rise to an inch thick. (Don’t worry if the batter is very thin and hard to get into the corners, it does spread out as it’s cooking). Use wet fingers to push batter into corners.
Next put on the cream cheese mixture either in one single layer, clumps or vertical lines. You can make swirls if you want too, I did not.
Next add on the crumbs. Then drizzle on the coulis (if it helps put the coulis in a pastry bag and draw lines).
Then transfer pan to oven, and bake for 14 minutes, rotate pan. Then cook another 10 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Check cake at 25 minute mark for sure. Let cake cool and set up before slicing.
Using a serrated knife or bench scraper, cut into 3-inch squares. Store in an airtight container for up to 2-4 days.

strawberry shortcake w/ chocolate

There was a time when I was little I remember having a memorable strawberry shortcake at a local summer fair. Everyone around me was eating it, when I walked through the entrance gates of the fair almost every other person I saw was eating strawberry shortcake. I simply couldn't wait to get to the strawberry shortcake stand and devour one--no, I was having two orders (I reasoned with myself because I knew there'd be a line). Patiently I waited in line like everyone else, staring at every single order of strawberry shortcake that went by. Once I finally got to the front line, I was able to see inside the truck: a massive bucket filled with bright red strawberries in a red syrupy sauce, a large tray had slices of cake ready to assemble, and cans of whipped cream all lined up assembly style. Taking my first bite I couldn't wait--but it was awful. The cake was angel food (or as I like to call it angel-air cake), the berries were limp and partially frozen, and the whipped cream was nothing but chemicals. Such a dissapointment. But what kept my mind stirring about for the rest of the day was why did all the people love it so much and not me? What was wrong with me? As I got older and became more of a foodie I realized that real strawberry shortcake is made with real strawberries, real whipped cream and strawberry shortcake made with REAL biscuits, not angel-AIR cake.
So every time I make strawberry shortcake I'm always brought back to that moment and wonder how many people, right now, are truly missing out and eating those horrid versions seen at some local fairs.

strawberry shortcake w/ chocolate topping
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for the strawberries:
½ pound strawberries, washed, hulled & chopped
2 TB white sugar
1 TB fresh lemon juice

It’s best to get the strawberries done first as you want them to sit for a while at room temp before serving. I like to let mine sit for at least ½ hour to 45 minutes before serving (room temp).

buttermilk biscuits
adapted from cook's illustrated

2 cups flour
1 TB baking powder
1 TB sugar
1 ts salt
½ ts baking soda
4 TB unsalted butter, grated (I used 5 TB)
1 ½ cup buttermilk
add'l flour
2 TB melted butter
Course chunky sugar for dusting tops of biscuits before baking

Grate your 5 TB of butter with a cheese grater or food processor, place back in freezer till ready to use. Preheat oven to 500ºF. Spray a 9 inch springform or cake pan with some nonstick spray. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt to a bowl and mix the ingredients together evenly.
Using a fork or pastry blender, mix the butter. Stop once you have the dough in small crumbles. Fold in the buttermilk until everything is just blended, and there are no streaks of flour remain. Do not overmix, the mixture should still be lumpy.
Line a plate or tray with some flour and using a 1/4 C measuring cup or 1/4 C ice cream/cookie scoop, scoop out balls of the dough onto the tray of flour.
Flour your hands and roll each ball around in the flour to evenly coat them in a layer of flour.
The dough is very wet and very sticky.
Place the dough balls into the prepared pan. Place 9 balls around in a ring and 3 balls in the center of the pan. Brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter, then dust them with coarse sugar chunks.
Bake for 5 minutes at 500ºF (middle rack) and then lower the temperature to 450ºF and bake for another 15 minutes. Should make 12 (you can halve this recipe to make only 6 biscuits).

whipped cream:
Place your whipping bowl and the beaters in the freezer at least ½ hour before using. This is good for keeping the whipped cream nice and cold.
I use about ½ cup of whipping cream, beat till almost whipped, then add in a couple splashes of pure vanilla extract, then resume whipping till done.

chocolate topping:
I just melted some 60% cocoa dark chocolate chips in the microwave.

to assemble:
I only used 6 of the biscuits and froze the rest. Cut the biscuits in half, spoon on the strawberry mixture, put a little bit of the melted chocolate, put on the other half of the biscuit, then top with whipped cream and maybe a bit more melted chocolate.

crazy chicken fajitas

Not really your average chicken fajitas; kicked up a few notches with the addition of horsey sauce and onion straws. I love chicken fajitas and need to make them with a sauce or two. First a good base sauce/marinade should be the coating on the chicken or beef, then a sauce to go over the fillings of the fajitas, and finally a relish or salsa on the side for extra dipping pleasure. I need the extra dipping pleasure....I love my sauces.
But first I want to say congrats to Joanne over at eats well with others. She was the lucky winner of the $50.00 gift card to Williams Sonoma. Congrats Joanne. Let us know what you got at Williams Sonoma. I know I can easily drop about $2000.00 in that store in the blink of an eye. What kind of giveaway should we have next? I love to hear all ideas....

I also want to say thank you to the la times for featuring my giant quarter pound double chocolate cookies on their blog. That was wonderful--many thanks Renee.

crazy chicken fajitas
by dawn finicane
print recipe

marinade
2 boneless chicken breasts, sliced into strips thinly
3 TB fresh lemon juice
salt & pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed

veggies for fajitas
1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 orange bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeds removed, and thinly sliced/or diced

sauce for chicken
1 TB olive oil
2 TB Worcestershire sauce
2 TB dark brown sugar
1 TB crushed garlic
1-2 limes (juice of)

combine all marinade ingredients in a plastic bag, seal and let marinade for a couple hours or more.
when ready to use, heat skillet or grill, lightly oil with olive oil. discard the marinade and cook thoroughly. set aside. in same pan grill up all the veggies until they have a nice color to them and a bit of char. you might need a bit more olive oil. remove veggies from pan. in same pan to make the sauce add in the garlic, let it cook a couple minutes, add in the lime juice, add in the dark brown sugar, get up the little bits from pan, then add in the worcestershire sauce. add the chicken and veggies back in the pan and coat well. serve on warm tortillas. add the horsey sauce or whatever you wish. I served this with some sweet pepper relish from stonewall kitchen or you could use corn relish--that works very well too. I made some onion straws to put on top of these and to devour half by myself as well. or you could use crispy shallots.

horsey sauce
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup grated horseradish
1 ts of white wine or vinegar

In a small bowl stir together the sour cream, heavy cream, wine, and horseradish.
Makes about 1 ½ cups sauce; you can halve this or even quarter this recipe.

onion straws
by guy fieri

2 cups canola oil
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 sweet onion (Maui or Vidalia)

For the onion straws: In a medium sauce pot, heat the oil to 350 degrees. Whisk the egg and milk in a medium bowl. Mix the flour, cayenne pepper, paprika, garlic powder, 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper in another medium bowl. Cut the onion in half, then slice into 1-inch-thick half rings; separate into short straw-like pieces. Add to the milk mixture to soak. Once the oil is hot enough, remove the onions from the milk mixture, shake off excess and dredge in the flour mixture, 4 or 5 pieces at a time. Add to the pot and fry until golden brown; transfer to paper towels to drain.

crispy shallots
semi-adapted from barefoot contessa

1 cup light olive oil
3 tb unsalted butter
5 to 6 shallots, sliced into medium-thin rings

Heat the oil and unsalted butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat until it reaches about 250 degrees F. Reduce the heat a bit then add the shallots. I did this in two batches. You really do not want to crowd the pan at all. The shallots will brown perfectly if they have plenty of room in the hot oil to swim and get happy. Cook until nice and brown. Make sure to stir the shallots once in a while to get all sides brown. Once down remove them from the oil with a slotted spoon, and drain, then place on paper towels. They should stay at room temp., don't put them in the fridge as they will go soft and lose all that nice crispiness.
Should make less than ½ cup.