Gray Culinary Adventures

Many people ask famous chef's what their last meal would be expecting something along the lines of Quail stuffed with Foie Gras with black truffle sauce or some other elaborate dish only to be met with the response "A crusty baguette with the best butter". The truth is, no matter how high culinary arts are taken, it's the simple things that really satisfy us. With that in mind, I would like to share with you one of the more simple things you can do to improve your quality of life: bake your own bread. Its really quite easy and probably one of the most satisfying things you can do at home. There is something satisfying about making bread and if you have never tried it its worth doing once just to experience that fresh baked smell in your home. You may just find that it's something worth doing often. There are many recipes and methods for simple white loaves but I recently stumbled upon a recipe that makes an otherwise expensive artisan bakery loaf in a few sim...

French cooking is quickly becoming my favorite cuisine to cook  and recently I have tried my hand at a lot of new things. I must share with you my recent favorite, a French bistro classic, Steak Frites (pronounced "freets"). To be accurate its historically a Belgian creation, but nevertheless there's nothing quite so satisfying as a good steak accompanied by a pile of thin and perfectly crisp and fries, or pomme frites. I fear that too many expensive steakhouses have ruined this simple treat with huge platters of beef and dry, thick cut potato wedges adorned with parsley. The key is simplicity here...small, juicy cut of meat and thin cut fries accompanied with Dijon mustard and ketchup for dipping. Recipes for this dish are plentiful, however I adapted mine from Thomas Keller's Bouchon . Here is a link for a good starting point, I encourage you to adapt it to your liking: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Steak-Frites-40035 I also encourage you to use...

In my last post about refried beans I mentioned the flexibility of dried beans and the heavenly heights they can be brought to. Baked beans were given as an example along with a promise to suggest a recipe in the future. I was recently reminded of writing this by a friend along with a (strong) request to follow up on my promise, so here it is! Baked beans are one of those perfect outdoor, summer side dishes that enhance any grilled food. If your like me and think potato salad is the work of satan or are simply out of ideas about what side dish to serve to a BBQ, these are a wonderful treat. Plus you'll always get lots of ooohh's and ahhh's as your guests envy your mad cooking abilities, creating something that they forgot can be found outside of a can. Here is the recipe. Its takes a while but very simple and very much worth it. Baked Beans Ingredients * 2 cups dried navy beans (using canned defeats the whole purpose) * 1/3 pound bacon * 1 onion, fi...

I've always had a weakness for Mexican food and no meal would be complete without those creamy refried beans. You could give me a pot of the stuff with some fresh tortilla chips for dipping and I could pass on the rest of the meal! If your familiar with bean cookery, refried beans just require one easy step after they are cooked soft: mash and add some butter and salt. If you've never tried your hand at dry beans the whole process is very simple and can be a base for a million other dishes (homemade BBQ baked beans for instance, but that's another day). Despite making these a few times and enjoying them far more than anything out of a can I never could make them right. Something was missing that the restaurants were hiding from me. I still yearned for that savory, creamy taste that I couldn't put a finger on. After trying to add more liquid, more butter, more salt, nothing tasted quite the same. The answer? Your not going to like it.....it's bacon drippings (or lard...

Its been a year a a half since we have posted anything despite occasional urgings from you all about what we have been cooking up. Its about time so I'll briefly start with our most recent adventure! After being inspired by a local Italian restaurant in St. Paul last month I (Richard) decided to recreate a wonderful dish we tried: Andouille Sausage Risotto with Parsnips topped with a beautifully seared piece of Sea Bass. For our version I omitted the parsnips (feeling lazy) and had some good quality chorizo on hand instead but it turned out to be pretty close. You simply fry up some kidney bean size pieces of the sausage and add it to some homemade risotto and we quickly seared some Chilean Sea Bass to place on top. Paired with a good Sauvignon Blanc and it was a Tuesday night to remember. If you haven't tried your hand at Risotto before I urge you to give it a shot. Its very simple as long as you carefully follow the procedure until you get a hang of it. We normally just add P...

Hello everyone again! I have to quickly share this recipe with you if your in the mood for a little Mediterranean goodness. I came up with this a few months ago and I think you should try it, its just a simple pita with grilled chicken in it. All you do is marinate a chicken breast with some olive oil (say, quarter cup), salt, pepper and maybe a tablespoon of dried oregano. Grill this up (the BBQ makes a difference) and cut it into pieces. Throw it in the warmed pita with whatever you want! I like onions, hummus and some feta cheese. Wendy likes to add grilled bell peppers as well. Give it a shot and let me know what you think!