Cans are okay

Tonights dinner is pretty much assemblage cooking.  The only thing I did was boil water, grill chicken, open a can and run my timer.  For all of that, however, I have a colorful and tasty plate that was economical, easy to prepare, and low heat.  I like low heat in a summer kitchen.

Yesterday I put some chicken breasts in a zip top bag with Stubb's Marinade for chicken.  I have tried the pork and beef versions but they are not as good as the chicken kind.  The chicken marinade is heavy on the vinegar giving the meat a tang and zip that offset a grilled crust nicely.  I have found that marinading overnight leads to a juicier and more flavorful breast than just basting or dry rub alone.

Tonight I pulled out three breasts and as they were coming up to room temperature I prepared the Quinoa.  I discovered Quinoa a few years ago while looking for an alternative to rice, brown rice, and potatoes.  Since I have been cooking with it it has become far more available and because of that it has become a more regular grain on my table.  One of the reasons that Quinoa is a regular during the summer is because of the "low heat" preparation.  I put one part Quinoa and two parts water in a pan, bring to a boil, boil for five minutes, remove from the heat, cover, and let sit for 15 more minutes.  After the 15 minutes are up I dress the grain with olive oil and an acid of some sort, today it was red wine vinegar.

I put the chicken on the pre-heated grill and cooked to my preferred crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside doneness.  (This usually takes a good 10-15 minutes with multiple flipping and moving the breasts into, and out of, the hot spots on my grill)

While the chicken was cooking I put together the last part of the meal, and the title of the post.  I opened a can of sliced beets from Stop and Shop.  I have made my own beets, I have opened cans of beets.  I cannot reliably tell the difference except when I open a can of beets I don't look like I have been skinning large animals.  I will continue to use canned beets, the convenience and lack of pink cuticles make it worth the lack of effort; plus my summer kitchen is kept that much cooler.  Over the beets-from-a-can-that-kept-my-summer-kitchen-cool-and-taste-as-good-as-the-ones-that-make-my-hands-look-like-a-skinner I crumbled some feta cheese.  After mixing and grinding on a bit of black pepper my meal was complete.

In all, my stove was on about 8 minutes, one burner only; the cool summer kitchen was preserved for the most part.  My grill was on for about 30 minutes total between the warm up and the cooking.

And there you have it: Dinner is served!

Traffic and Cupcakes

A few months ago I was caught in traffic on my way to work.  There was a truck that had gotten stuck under an underpass on the Hutchinson River Parkway.  I spent the better part of two hours getting to work and when I got there I was relaxed, chipper, and in a great mood.

This may seem counter intuitive, as up until that point in my life traffic was a blood pressure raising, rage inducing, affront to my right to drive a car.  But remembering a line from Dan Telfer's comedy routine about the best dinosaur (well worth the time to find on YouTube) I started to think about cupcakes.

Now in my mind cupcakes are over rated and over done.  The Mrs. Petunia has brought me cupcakes from "The City"and Brooklyn and some were good and some were just too big, to overdone and in my mind too gimmicky.  So as I sat in traffic, drinking my coffee my mind turned to one of my favorite cakes: the Boston Cream Pie.

From fresh Boston Cream Pie made for a casual dinner with a co-worker and his wife

My brother had made one when The Mrs. Petunia and I visited him out in Pittsburgh.  I was inspired and went on to make my own, a lot, at any occasion.  I thought that I might be able to turn this favorite into a cupcake.  

The idea turned over and over in my head through traffic and through the next few weeks.  Eventually I was called away from my duties of teaching to score State Tests.  I became friendly (and honestly a bit competitive) with my table mates.  We all agreed to bring something to eat on the last day and I volunteered them to be my Boston Cream Pie Cup Cake taste testers.  

I used my standard BCP recipe.  For the record it is NOT my recipe but one I found online.

I filled the cups of my cupcake pan half way with the cake batter and baked at 350 (rotating positions in the oven twice) for about 20 minutes.  

While the cupcakes were cooking I filled a piping bag with my custard (made before and cooled) and put on a star tip.  (Technically I put the tip on, then filled the bag.  It is easier that way) and filled the cakes with custard.  The trick is to push the tip about half way into the cupcake and squeeze until the cupcake "plumps"

Cupcakes piped full of custard

My mistake was in the frosting.  I did not add enough cream to make the Jaques Torres dark chocolate (The Mrs. Petunia knows how to shop for chocolate) glossy like the topping of the inspiration cake above.  The flavor profile was excellent but I need to work on my gloss.  The cupcakes were well received by table mates and co-workers alike.  

The final product.  Notice the lack of sheen on the frosting.

So there you have it gentle readers, from traffic to table; the BCPCC (BCPCC? sounds like a Boston area community college).

 Desert is served.

For my fans

I used to "live blog" my food on Facebook.  I was always pleased with the responses people had with the pictures of my food.  Now that I am rarely on Facebook it seems that my friends miss my food pictures.

Awwww

Because I have no interest in Pinterest, Twitter, the picture thing through Facebook who's name is eluding me, or any other time sink, I decided to start updating this blog (again).


I have some food I want to share with my friends and because not all of you live close enough to come over for a taste this is the way I will do it, through the Interwebs!

As soon as I figure out how to get pics up seamlessly I think you can expect Baked Falafel, Baltimore Pit Beef, German Potato Salad, Hummus, and my version of Tiger Sauce.

I have a gathering at the house tomorrow and decided to do Pit Beef (gathering of guys, we are trying to be manly Urgh!) which has come up as an option a few times for Baltimore's dish on the SuperBowl Supper.  

For now a picture of the Cherry Pie I baked for my birthday.  (Pie Dough from fresh, cherries from a can, but not cherry filling)