Egg Nog Pancakes

It is our tradition to make a big breakfast for the Christmas morning activities. While Mom and Dad are being revived with strong coffee the kids can have these pancakes in between ripping open their presents. I made this recipe this morning  for my girlfriend for our Christmas breakfast.

All Purpose Flour                                          1 1/2 Cups
Baking Powder                                             3 1/2 tsp.
Sugar                                                                   1 Tbl.
Egg Nog                                                              1 Cup
Milk                                                                 1/2 Cup
Whole Egg                                                           1 ea.
Melted Butter                                                      3 Tbl.
Salt                                                                       1 tsp.
Pecans Chopped                                                  2 oz.

     Sift all of the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Whisk together the liquid ingredients and add the liquids to the dry ingredients. Whisk the mixture together to make a batter. Ladle 2 oz of the batter into a buttered skillet or griddle to form pancakes and cover with a half teaspoon of the pecans on each  cooking until you see bubbles.  Flip the pancakes and continue to cook until finished on both sides.  

Croutons

Sourdough Bread Cubed                                      1 Loaf
Old Bay Seasoning                                               1 Tbl.
Granulated Garlic                                                 1 Tbl.
White Pepper                                                      1/2 tsp.
Parsley Chopped                                                   2 Tbl.
Melted Butter                                                        7 oz.

Freeze the bread cubes over night. Combine all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Stir in the bread cubes and mix well to coat the bread cubes. Spread the seasoned cubes evenly over a sheet pan. Bake at 350 until golden brown. Store in an airtight container.  Makes 2 quarts.          

Pecan Diamonds

I thought that I would offer something up for Christmas. These cookies are like miniature pecan pies.  Have a wonderful and blessed Christmas.


Butter                                                          8 oz.
Honey                                                         4 oz.
Brown Sugar                                              8 oz.
Pecans Chopped                                         2 Cups
Heavy Cream                                             2 oz.
All Purpose Flour ( Sifted)                         9 oz.
Butter Room Temperature                        6 oz.
Sugar                                                          3 oz.
Whole Egg                                                  1 ea.

For the pecan mixture:
In a saucepan mix the butter, honey, and brown sugar over low heat. Stir until the sugar dissolved. Add the cream and pecans blending well.

For the dough:
Combine the flour, sugar, egg,and room temperature butter and form a dough. Roll out the dough and spread onto a 9x13 baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spread the pecan mixture over the dough. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Cool at room temperature; refrigerate overnight. Cut into diamonds. Makes 2 dozens.

Mexican Shrimp Cocktail

While I was writing the recipe for the first Shrimp Cocktail I remembered this variation of the classic Appetizer. This is one of those Addictive dishes that are great on a hot day or just whenever you want a light meal.

Clamato Tomato Clam Juice                                             12 oz.

Small Cooked Shrimp (Peeled and Deveined)                2 ½ Lbs.

Prepared Horse Radish                                                       2 oz.

Ketchup                                                                              2 oz.

Tobasco Sauce                                                                    1 oz.

Lime Juice                                                                          2 oz.

Cilantro Chopped                                                               1 Bunch

Green Bell Pepper    Small Diced                                      1 ea.

Cucumber  Small Dice (Peeled and Seeded)                     1 ea.               

 Medium  Red Onion Fine Diced                                       1 ea.

Avocado   Diced                                                                  1 ea. 

      

*Lime Salt                                                                        As Needed

Lime Wheel                                                                    4 ea.

     Combine all of the ingredients except for the Avocado, Salt and Lime Wheels in a mixing bowl.

Cover the mixture and refrigerate for at least two hours to allow the flavors to develop.  Prepare four Sunday / Milkshake glasses by moistening the rims of the glasses with water and salting the rims like a Margarita.  Carefully add the avocado to the shrimp mixture and spoon equal parts into the glasses.  Cut a slit half way through each Lime wheel and place on the rim of each glass. Serve chilled.  Makes 4 Servings. Serve with Crackers or Tortilla Chips.

* Lime salt is the kind of salt used for Margaritas; you can find it at most Grocery stores and Liquor stores.  Lime wheels are made by slicing a lime into 1/8 inch slices slicing from tip to tip.

The Cold kitchen

     Usually the first place that an apprentice works in a kitchen is the Pantry. In the Brigade system the pantry is call Garde Manger or the cold kitchen. I suspect that they put us there so that we can do little to harm business there. There are few ways that you can mess up a salad unless you let a waiter prepare it. For the next few entries I will be concentrating on Pantry. Today I want to start with a staple to most restaurants.

Tiger Shrimp Cocktail with Orange Dressed Field Greens

Tiger Shrimp                                             12 ea. Peeled and Deveined

Field Greens                                               8 oz.  By Measure 

Lemon Wedge                                            8 ea.
Shaved Red Onion                                      8       Slices 
Crustini                                                      8 ea.

Orange Vinaigrette                                              Recipe Follows

Cocktail Sauce                                                     Recipe Follows

Poaching Liquid for the Shrimp

White Wine                                                1 cup

Old Bay Seasoning                                     1 Tbl. 

Black Peppercorns                                     12 ea.

Bay Leaf                                                     1 ea. 

Water                                                          2 quarts

Combine the water, wine, Old bay, Bay leaf and peppercorns in a sauce pan. Bring the liquid to a simmer. Peel the shells off of the shrimp leaving the last joint and tail sections. Run the tip of a paring knife along the back of each shrimp to expose the vein. Remove the vein from the shrimp.Add the shrimp to the poaching liquid and cook until the shrimp are opaque and pink in color, about five minutes. Submerge the shrimp into ice water to stop the cooking process. Set aside for plating. Chill the shrimp for service.

Orange Vinaigrette 

Orange Juice                                             4 oz.

Lime Juice                                                 2 Tbl.
Honey                                                        1 Tbl.
Vegetable Oil                                             2 oz. 
Salt and Pepper                                            As Needed

     In a mixing bowl combine the orange juice, lime juice, and the honey. Slowly whisk the oil
 into the orange mixture. Adjust the seasoning.

Cocktail Sauce

Chili Sauce                                                  1/2 cup

Ketchup                                                       1/2 cup

Prepared Horseradish                                  1 oz.

Lemon Juice                                                2 tsp.

Tobasco Sauce                                                 Dash

Salt                                                                   As Needed   

Cracked Pepper                                                As Needed

Combine all of the ingredient in a mixing bowl. Mix until well blended. Store in an airtight container and refrigerate until you use the sauce.         

For Plating

On a chilled nine inch salad plate Place two of the crustini overlapped on the center of the plate. Dress the field greens and shaved onions with the orange vinaigrette and place a small amount of the greens on the edge of the crustini. Arrange four of the shrimp around the front of the greens. Take a small pinch of cracked pepper and garnish the plate. Serve with cocktail sauce and lemon wedges.

Makes 4 Servings

Mise En Place

     No matter what kitchen that you work in, if it is a professional kitchen or your home kitchen, the very first thing that you should do is to get your Mise en place together. Mise en place literally means to get everything to the point of readiness. Mise en place is simply getting everything that you need for or menu or recipe together and ready to cook.
     What most people do is to wait until they are cooking and then remember that they have forgotten something. They wind up running around the kitchen grabbing the things they need as they need them. Everything needs to be right at hand so that you can lay hands on it when you need them. All of the prep needed for a recipe needs to be ready to put into the skillet or pot.
     If you have everything ready ahead of time your experience in the kitchen will be better. Your cooking will come together and your results will improve. A little advanced preparation goes a long way. 
  

Fine Dining?

     I do not know when it happened. Somewhere down the line we lost the reason that we went to Restaurants. Going out, going to a Restaurant was a celebration. We would go to celebrate anniversaries, we would go to celebrate birthdays,celebrate a new relationship or a new job. We would go out to experience something new, something that we could not get at home.
     We have turned the extraordinary into the mundane. Every Restaurant now is more like a QSR ( Quick Serve Restaurant) than something special. Food, good food, has to be something special, a celebration in itself. Food is more than fuel for our bodies it is platform for the sublime and a vehicle for fond memories.
     If  they are going to reduce the event of eating to just another burger we are going to have to bring Fine Dining home.  We have to bring excitement to our dinner table. Dust off Nana's old recipes and invent for ourselves the New Guard of culinary arts. Bring back the celebration to the plate.

Why This Why Now?

     I have been cooking for most of my life. At the interview that I took when I entered into cooking school they asked why we wanted to cook for a living. I assume that my answer was good enough.What it comes down to is that there is something about cooking that speaks to my soul. Hopefully, you feel the same way.
     As an apprentice each of us was expected to keep a notebook of our recipes. We took these recipes to each kitchen that we worked in. These are the recipes that I will share with you, the recipes that i still rely on today.