I know most of you are probably preparing this giant multi-course feast for Thanksgiving and I’m over here like LOOK AT ME I MADE BISCUITS*.   I’m just really in no position to even think about preparing an entire turkey dinner so I’m still thinking small.

Plus I really like these biscuits AND I was able to snag a few pictures of the baking process.  I’m discovering that baking involves a whole separate set of skills from typical cooking. I’ve talked before about weighing vs. measuring dry ingredients and the art of careful mixing. As you’ll see, I tried to be quite precise by kneading enough-but-not-too-much only to forget to add the cheddar and jalapenos until the last minute and eventually over-kneading the dough after all. Ah, the struggles of a newbie cook.

I love this recipe because it’s simple, even for not-yet-bakers like myself, and involves ingredients that I usually have on hand. We’ve been eating them on their own as a snack but they’d be great with, say, a bowl of chili or another spicy dish.

Clockwise from top left, an illustration of adding the ingredients, forming a well and then gently kneading together.  Imagine jalapenos and cheddar included from the beginning.

This recipe is adapted from Simply Recipes, but I’m looking forward to trying other varieties too.  My friend over at Live Love and Sustain has a version using butter and buttermilk that looks fantastic.

Jalapeno Cheddar Scones 

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup  corn meal
3 tablespoons  sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided (1 1/4 cup and 1/4 cup)
2 tablespoons diced fresh jalapeños (I used two jalapenos, seeded and diced)
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons heavy cream plus extra for brushing

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Use a large bowl, mix together flour, corn meal, salt, sugar, cayenne and baking powder.

2. Stir in the 1 1/4 cups cheddar and diced jalapenos. I forgot to do that in the picture above and I did it afterwards. Oops.

3. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. (You do this so the dry ingredients can be added a little at a time). Pour cream into the center of the well and, using your hands, mix the ingredients together. Gently! Add more cream a tiny bit at a time if necessary. The bottom photo is what mine looked like after the 3/4 cup cream, so I added a bit more.

4.  Place the dough on a surface lightly dusted with flour.  Knead a couple of times until the dough just comes together.  Just a few pushes will do; over-kneading will yield a more dense biscuit.

5. Form a large disc with the dough, about 3/4 inch thick.  Using a biscuit cutter (if you have one) cut shapes out from the dough.  Combine leftover dough and repeat until all the dough is used.  I’ve gone for the rustic look before by just eyeballing the biscuit shape; I’ve also cut the large dough disc like a pie into six sections to form scones. Anything goes, really.

Look at my new biscuit cutter!

6.  Place biscuits on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving about an inch or so between each biscuit.  Brush the tops of the biscuit with the remaining cream and top with remaining cheese.

7. Bake at 425°F (220°C) for 11-12 minutes or until the biscuit appears golden and the cheese has melted.

Placemats! A new background for Chef Juje creations.

*Yes, of course I stole that from a popular election e-card…

Blogging brunch is this weekend! I’m very excited and making my mom’s Sherried Egg Bake.

You should know, by the way,  that my mom is a very talented cook.  I’m not just saying this. Come over for thanksgiving dinner (call her first) and you will see.

You should also know that I tend to be a big picture person. So although I distinctly remember my mom being a great cook growing up, I have zero idea of how she actually cooked anything. Great meals magically appeared on the counter. You can see how I’m in a bit of a predicament as a grown-up.

Anyways, this is all to say that I positively remember having chili growing up but have no recollection of how it was created. In fact, somewhere post-college I got the idea that chili was only made using ground beef and those little flavor packets.

I mean, it’s good enough. But then I started hearing about these chili cook-offs and realized that there must be more to it than just those packages. Plus, as you’ve likely learned by now, if there’s an easy way or a difficult way to do something I will choose the tougher route 99% of the time.  So I tried something new using cubes of chuck and different blend of spices.  Now that I’ve built a substantial spice rack (fine, drawer) and have learned to keep staple pantry items on hand, this wasn’t as difficult as I had imagined.

And oh how the effort was worth it! Next time I will let it simmer a little more to reduce further. I also learned that people sometimes put chocolate in chili. Chocolate?!?! Done.

Chili con Carne

Look at the dramatic placement of the bowl! Also, I got new placemats (possibly, ahem, just for this blog) that will debut in a future post. Get excited.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp red chili powder
1 teaspoon Tabasco chipotle sauce or 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder (which I could not find…)
1 Tbsp ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground oregano
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
3-4 Tbsp water
One 2 1/2 pound chuck roast, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Salt
1 medium white onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapeño chili peppers,  minced
1 14-oz can whole tomatoes
2 1/2 cups water
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 teaspoon sugar
1 14-oz can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved in 2 Tbsp of water
Salt

Directions

1.Mix the chili powder, Tabasco chipotle/chipotle powder, ground cumin, oregano, thyme, and ground coriander seeds in a small bowl. Mix in water so that chili forms a light paste.

2. Heat a pan over medium high heat and add 1 Tbsp olive oil.  Brown the beef cubes on all sides and lightly salt as the beef cooks.  You may need to work in batches so you don’t overcrowd the pan. Overcrowding the pan (that is, having the beef cubes on top of each other or squished together) will reduce the heat of the pan,  leading the beef to steam and making it difficult for the beef to sear. Remove the beef cubes.

3.  Add another tablespoon of olive oil and sautee the onions until soft and translucent – around 5 minutes. Add the garlic and jalapeño for about 1 minute, until fragrant.  Then add the chili paste mixture and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes.

4.  Put onion chili mixture, beef, bacon, tomatoes (breaking up the tomatoes with your hands as you place in the pot), water, lime juice and sugar into a thick-bottomed dutch oven, uncovered,  over medium high heat.  Wait for the chili to come to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low.   Cover and cook for 1 1/2 hours. Then uncover and cook for another 30 minutes, raising the heat if necessary to keep the temperature high enough to maintain a gentle simmer.

5.   Add the cornstarch dissolved in water to the chili to thicken it. Dissolving the cornstarch first keeps it from getting lumpy in your chili.  Mix in the kidney beans.  Add salt to taste. Adjust seasonings – add sugar if too acidic, add chili powder for more heat.

6. Garnish with shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, crumbled tortilla chips or your other favorite chili toppings.

Serves 4-6.

Adapted from Simply Recipes.

“I like rice. Rice is great when you’re hungry and you want 2,000 of something.”
-Mitch Hedberg.

I understand that rice is not always the most exciting side dish in the world. Even in our house, rice is usually an afterthought.  It’s often my answer when I present a dinner idea and Mr. Chef Juje replies  ”Sounds good, with what?” only for me to realize I hadn’t thought that far ahead.

Note to self: build my arsenal of side dishes.

Naturally, the fact that this herbed pilaf ended up being the highlight of our dinner was a huge surprise. I served with a new shrimp scampi recipe and although the scampi was categorized  ”make-again,” the rice was deemed “Chef Juje-worthy.”

So here we are.   The recipe relies on the pilaf method of cooking rice, which is similar to steaming except that you sautee  {insert accent aigu over the first e} the rice first with aromatics like onions. You then add liquid and either bake in the oven or keep over low heat on the burner until all liquid is absorbed.  As always, I recommend chopping and measuring before beginning.

Also, a question for my readers: What are some go-to side dishes in your repertoire? How do you find sides to accompany your main dish?

I need to work on my photography skills. And my cleaning-off-the-kitchen-table skills.  Like how I added the fork to make it fancy looking?

Herbed Rice Pilaf

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1 cup long-grain white rice
3 tablespoons thinly sliced scallions
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
2 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, if you want to bake in the oven. You can also keep on stovetop over low heat.
2. Melt butter over medium heat
3. Add onion and sautee for 3-4 minutes or until soft a nice golden to brown color.
4. Add rice and sautee for 2-3 minutes. The mixture will become cloudy and will smell a bit nutty. At this point others in your household will exclaim “something smells good!” and ONLY YOU need to know that it’s just onions, butter and rice.
5. Add the remaining ingredients and stir.
6. Bring to boil, then either reduce to low or place in a 350 degree oven.
7. Allow rice to cook until all liquid is absorbed. Fluff before serving

Source for rice: Herbed Rice Pilaf

Source for shrimp scampi: Baked Shrimp Scampi

There’s really nothing like a simple, delicious recipe.

A dish that only requires a few ingredients, a couple of steps and basic techniques will always have a special place in my kitchen.

These mustard-roasted potatoes from Ina Garten are perfect. Normally cooking requires TOTAL FOCUS on my part, with zero distractions and complete concentration. However, I was able to prepare these AND watch football at the same time. In fact, this might be the best way to watch football yet, with “on fast-forward” coming in a close second.

A note about ingredients. The original recipe calls for red potatoes; I used Yukon Gold potatoes here because I had them.  Also,  I used the whole-grain mustard that is recommended. Whole grain mustard consists of mustard seeds that are mixed with seasonings like honey, turmeric, garlic, and brown sugar. Oh look, you over-achievers can even make it yourself!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 pounds small red potatoes (or small Yukon Gold potatoes)
2 yellow onions
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425. (If someone you love accidentally recently left a pizza in the oven for about four hours too long and you haven’t been able to clean the oven yet, put a chair by the smoke detector. This saves time and panic later.)

Cut the potatoes into small, relatively equal pieces. Cutting vegetables into equal pieces helps ensure even cooking.

Cut onions in half, cut ends off, peel, then cut into 1/4 inch slices.

Place onions, potatoes, olive oil, mustard, salt and pepper in a securely covered bowl or a Ziplock bag. Toss together. You can also do this on the sheet pan you’ll use to roast the veggies.

Place mixture on sheet pan and bake for about 50 minutes or until the potatoes are slightly brown on the outside and tender on the inside. I use a knife to determine done-ness.

Next time I’ll toss the potatoes during cooking to make sure all sides get evenly browned. I didn’t this time, which resulted in some sides more brown than others.

Sprinkle with parsley and serve!

Source:  Mustard Roasted Potatoes

I’m back!!!

The husband and I spent the last few weeks of summer traveling, squeezing in a few final outdoor activities and spending a lot of time out of the kitchen.   And I had a bit of a bumpy start getting back into the groove of cooking and recovering from a few minor setbacks like periwinkle purple potatoes and enchiladas turned into pizzas:

*tried* to make enchiladas last night. corn tortillas fell apart even after warming in microwave. i am *this* close to giving up on cooking.

— Juliana Hardymon (@JulianaHardymon) September 5, 2012

{by the way, a secret I learned was to wrap tortillas in damp paper towels and microwave for a minute}

Anyways, I’ve decided to give cooking another go and I’m SO excited to share a new recipe with you.

This Maque Choux recipe is from a North Market cooking class I attended featuring Kathleen from Katalina’s Cafe Corner.  Every single thing she presented was fantastic, but I decided to start with Maque Choux because it was a.) relatively fool-proof, b.) sufficiently spicy for my “I-put-hot-sauce-on-everything” husband and c.) my favorite dish prepared that evening.

A few notes:  I have a flat ceramic stovetop so I broiled the poblano chiles on high in the broiler with the door open just slightly.   I turned them over every couple of minutes until they were a little charred.  I then scraped off the charred bits and chopped.  It worked!!! I’m always so surprised when a chef’s tip actually works FOR ME.

Giant Life Lesson that I Still Have Not Learned:   So as we were making one of the dishes, Kathleen ended up putting too much of something in.  I forget what it was, I think flour for the roux for her “croque senior” (insert swizzle accent on the “n”; also amazing, maybe coming soon.).  Anyways, you know what happened? She did NOT panic.  She did NOT cry.  She did NOT toss in her apron and swear off cooking forever.  She just shrugged and said she cooks by feeling and adjusted.  Oh how such equanimity is lacking from the Chef Juje kitchen!  If only it were an ingredient like baking soda or milk!

Someday, I will learn.

And with that, I present to you Katalina’s Maque Choux. It is absolutely delicious with a bit of a kick due to the red pepper flakes.  Remember that you can always add heat but you can’t take it back as easily.

Ingredients:

3 ears corn, shucked
3 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup yellow onion, finely diced
1/2 cup celery, finely diced
1/4 red pepper, finely diced
1/2 roasted poblano pepper, findely diced
1 cup ripe tomato, finely diced
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp red pepper flakes (I used 1 tsp crushed red pepper instead)
2 green onions, finely sliced – use green tops
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped
salt and pepper

Directions:

Prepare corn – cut corn 3/4 way through into a bowl.  There should be a little bit of the corn kernel left on the cob.  Then use the back of your knife, scrape the remaining corn from the cobs into the same bowl. Scrape over and over to get that “juice” from the cobs.  This isn’t a make-or-break action, in my opinion, but it definitely adds to the flavor of the dish.

Melt butter in pan over medium heat. Add onion, celery, and red pepper; saute until just al dente — you still want some crunch.  Add corn, tomatoes, cream and red pepper flakes, then simmer until reduced (about 10 minutes).  Add green onions, poblano, salt and pepper, then stir.

Finally, remove from heat.  Serve however you want – it’s delicious hot, at room temperature or even cold.  Use cilantro as a garnish.

In class we ate with a fork, but at home we eat it with tortilla chips.