http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm Food journalism out of Austin, Texas. en-us Wed, 22 May 2013 16:04:01 -0700 Wed, 30 May 2012 23:29:00 -0700 BlogCFC http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss russell@scrumptiouschef.com russell@scrumptiouschef.com russell@scrumptiouschef.com no http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2012/5/30/Austin-Daily-Photo-Consider-The-Rutabaga-A-Recipe-For-A-Nourishing-Root-Vegetable-Mash When we see rutabaga in the local {or far-flung} markets, we pounce on them. They are absolutely delicious and just rare enough to give them added, mystery vegetable appeal. Why is the rutabaga not on every American's plates, each night of the week? We'll never know. Probably just poor marketing, as many people blanch when you reply "rutabaga" when they ask "what's for supper?" Perhaps, one day, rutabaga will have its moment in the sun just like beets. Beets used to be either reviled or ignored til a few years ago when they entered the spotlight. Once they got there we wondered if they would ever leave, as even modestly talented kitchens were all of a sudden, touting them. Recipes Vegetarian Austin Daily Photo Wed, 30 May 2012 23:29:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2012/5/30/Austin-Daily-Photo-Consider-The-Rutabaga-A-Recipe-For-A-Nourishing-Root-Vegetable-Mash http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2012/1/13/Birth-Notice-Attention-Austin-Texas-Area-Vegans-And-Vegetarians-Maoz-From-Amsterdam-Is-Open We've lost count of how many times we've vacationed in Amsterdam. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 trips we reckon. It's a city that is fulfilling to the soul and the Dutch people rank at the top of our list when it comes to world favorites. They're friendly pragmatists, just like the scrumptious crew. Birth Notice Vegetarian Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:12:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2012/1/13/Birth-Notice-Attention-Austin-Texas-Area-Vegans-And-Vegetarians-Maoz-From-Amsterdam-Is-Open http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/11/14/How-To-Make-Spinach-Lasagna-With-Brie-And-Fried-Garlic-Ragu When that first cold spell recently blew into Austin for a few hours we hit the kitchen like a freight train so we could utilize our oven that had lain dormant for lo these many months. We wrestled our giant Dutch oven out from the cabinet and went into a flurry of motion so we could get our ragu started before another heatwave settled in that would render our efforts naught. We have a good history of Italian cooking though it does not stem from genetics. Back when we lived in Alabama we had full access to the kitchen of Agata, a Sicilian granny woman who regularly put out feasts that could make a grown man weep with pleasure. Recipes Vegetarian Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:48:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/11/14/How-To-Make-Spinach-Lasagna-With-Brie-And-Fried-Garlic-Ragu http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/10/28/Birth-Notice-Austin-Texas-Vegans-Unite-Arlos-Food-Truck-Prepares-To-Open The Austin vegan community lost Iggi's Texetarian earlier this year so let's hope the herbivores of our city will unite and come together as one to support Arlo's food truck, Austin's newest entry into our burgeoning vegetarian community. Birth Notice Vegetarian Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:36:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/10/28/Birth-Notice-Austin-Texas-Vegans-Unite-Arlos-Food-Truck-Prepares-To-Open http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/10/5/Is-It-Organic-And-MacrobioticLiving-Light-Culinary-Institute-Teaches-Raw-Vegan-Food-Class-In-Austin Do you like your foods served raw? Are you a vegan? Tired of the "lawn in a bowl" syndrome so many raw food folks suffer from? Vegetarian Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:25:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/10/5/Is-It-Organic-And-MacrobioticLiving-Light-Culinary-Institute-Teaches-Raw-Vegan-Food-Class-In-Austin http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/9/11/Roasted-Hatch-Chiles-And-Sweet-Corn-Soup This time of year in Austin, Texas everything we cook has Hatch chiles in it. Breakfast tacos? Hatch chiles. Pot Roast? Hatch Chiles. Tuna Sandwich? Hatch chiles. Yesterday I was knocking out a batch of banana bread and I damn near put some Hatch chiles in it. The harvest only comes once a year and we have to eat as many peppers as we can for a couple weeks, then roast 15lbs to put up in the freezer to get us through the Winter. Recipes Vegetarian Sun, 11 Sep 2011 18:44:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/9/11/Roasted-Hatch-Chiles-And-Sweet-Corn-Soup http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/8/30/Roasted-Hatch-Chile-Tacos-wGrilled-Portabello-and-Manchego-Cheese As avid omnivores there is very little we won't consider eating. While it is true that we failed spectacularly at our attempt at vegetarianism there are still times when we leave the meat in the fridge and concentrate on other things. Vegetarian Tue, 30 Aug 2011 01:54:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/8/30/Roasted-Hatch-Chile-Tacos-wGrilled-Portabello-and-Manchego-Cheese http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/7/1/A-Guide-To-Vegetarian-And-Vegan-Restaurants-In-Austin-Texas After a brief, disastrous bout with vegetarianism over ten years ago [ I gained 15 pounds in a few long weeks ] I stepped back into the clearlight and embraced being the omnivore I'd been my entire life. As a vegetarian I could not stop eating. I was never satisfied no matter how big the plate or bold the flavors. I remember sitting on my sofa at night with a giant, steel bowl of cut up mangoes, bananas, apples, papaya....anything I could buy at the grocery store that I thought might fill me up. After methodically consuming 3-5 pounds of chopped fruit each night I could finally get the level of fullness that I'd come to associate with the pleasures of a pork chop, a burger or a BLT. Austin Food Scene Vegetarian Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:56:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/7/1/A-Guide-To-Vegetarian-And-Vegan-Restaurants-In-Austin-Texas http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/4/25/Handmade-Soda-Pop-A-Stevia-Recipe-For-A-Cooling-Summer-Elixir A few years ago I realized I had to make a change. If I was going to be able to keep on eating all the cake, pie and donuts I wanted, I was going to have to figure out how to get a chunk of sugar out of my diet or I'd be dead from the diabetes by the time I was 40. Since I drink upwards of ten cups of coffee or tea per day-every day I reckoned the 30 or so teaspoons of sugar I was consuming via beverage.could be dialed down a notch or two with an alternate sweetener. Recipes Vegetarian Mon, 25 Apr 2011 13:39:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/4/25/Handmade-Soda-Pop-A-Stevia-Recipe-For-A-Cooling-Summer-Elixir http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/4/18/Grow-Local-Eat-Fresh-Austin-Texas-Spring-2011 Any home gardeners reading? If so hit the link below to find out what you should be planting right now in Austin Texas in Mid April. This will allow you to reap a nice harvest in the coming months . Thanks to Lewisvillehounder over on the Chowhound board for providing the link. Since I travel during the month of August I haven't been able to put out a garden in recent years. I'd love to hear from a home gardener who's had good luck withstanding Austin's beastly summers. http://www.co.travis.tx.us/agext/garden/veggies/planting/aprjun.asp Spring Planting schedule For Austin Texas Vegetarian Mon, 18 Apr 2011 14:44:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/4/18/Grow-Local-Eat-Fresh-Austin-Texas-Spring-2011 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/1/27/A-Guide-To-Making-The-Best-Popcorn-You-Will-Ever-Put-In-Your-Mouth There is an arc of popcorn in my life that began when I was a just a farm kid growing up near Redbrush Kentucky. My parents gave my sister and I some popcorn seeds and we grew a few popcorn plants to test our green thumbs. Being sequestered on a farm in the Appalachians meant this activity was pretty exciting [there wasn't anything else going on]plus we got to eat what we grew, setting in motion a lifelong addiction to the stuff. I loved sitting in my bedroom when I was a kid eating popcorn hot out of a Joe Namath popcorn machine and listening to the Kentucky Wildcats on my Sharp am/fm radio set. Recipes Kentucky Recipes Vegetarian Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:32:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/1/27/A-Guide-To-Making-The-Best-Popcorn-You-Will-Ever-Put-In-Your-Mouth http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2010/9/2/How-to-Make-The-Best-French-Toast-You-Will-Ever-Put-in-Your-Mouth When my buddy Cowboy Dave rolled back into Texas from a recent sojourn in Wisconsin he had a major score for me: A jug of maple syrup from a small concern in his home state, the dairy and maple capitol of America. I immediately set about perfecting a French Toast recipe so I could do this woodsy nectar justice. The result follows Recipes Vegetarian Thu, 02 Sep 2010 01:06:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2010/9/2/How-to-Make-The-Best-French-Toast-You-Will-Ever-Put-in-Your-Mouth http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2010/7/17/A-Guide-to-Making-the-Best-Scrambled-Eggs-You-Will-Ever-Put-in-Your-Mouth It seems so simple. Crack a couple eggs, throw them in a pan, scramble 'em around for a few minutes and a meal is at the ready. But like most things in life; attention to the small details often gains one big rewards. Scrambled eggs are a prime example. They can be transcendent when treated properly by a skilled cook. In my life as a chef I've cooked thousands of eggs.I've worked for two very busy breakfast houses where it was not uncommon to go through several hundred per shift. Yet I still love cooking eggs. Here's my recipe for the best scrambled eggs you will ever put in your mouth. Recipes Vegetarian Sat, 17 Jul 2010 16:59:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2010/7/17/A-Guide-to-Making-the-Best-Scrambled-Eggs-You-Will-Ever-Put-in-Your-Mouth http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2010/7/13/The-Reluctant-Vegetarian-Part-I-Linguine-Tomato-Green-Onion-Dill One of my first restaurant jobs was as a pastry chef at a bakery in Birmingham. I worked the graveyard creating cakes, pies, tarts, tortes and what have you for the morning service. My favorite co-worker, Stephanie, was a talented chef who loved to show up for work carrying her latest creation. My favorite dish of hers' was an incredible linguine dish with ripe tomatoes, good cheese, lots of olive oil and plentiful shrimp. I've modified the recipe a little in case a vegetarian may occasionally look about this site in search of sustenance. I've appended the shrimp part at the end for the gourmands. Recipes Vegetarian Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:39:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2010/7/13/The-Reluctant-Vegetarian-Part-I-Linguine-Tomato-Green-Onion-Dill http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2010/5/11/Eat-More-Salt-How-to-Make-Your-Food-More-Delicious-Through-A-Strategic-Increase-in-Sodium-Use When my friends, the brave ones, prepare food for me, they're always quizzical as to my opinion of their output. They queue up as I slowly, bull-like, chew their offering often staring off into the distance while I carefully weigh the deliciousness. My response is always the same "that's tasty..." then I explain what needs to be done to maximize the flavors of the dish. It's almost always undersalted. Yeah, there's generally salt on the table but if I have to reach for salt and pepper to season my freshly prepared food then the battle's already over. I like my food hot from the pot and I really don't want to have to balance the seasoning myself after so much effort has been put into the cookdown. A good restaurant can be measurably better than even the most ardent homecook's abilities for a variety of reasons [professionally trained cooks, access to homemade stock [s], stoves that can generate enormous amounts of heat] but perhaps the biggest factor is that a skilled cook is unafraid of salt. A common thread in the professional kitchens in which I've worked is that we salt early in the cooking, during the cooking and sometimes right after the cooking [while the food is sputtering hot with fat]. The effect can be gratifying when you send a couple hundred patrons out the front door with tales of culinary excellence being tweeted into the nether as they load the kids into the Taurus. A few suggestions: Vegetarian Tue, 11 May 2010 23:40:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2010/5/11/Eat-More-Salt-How-to-Make-Your-Food-More-Delicious-Through-A-Strategic-Increase-in-Sodium-Use http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2010/4/3/Coax-Your-Fussy-Toddler-Into-Becoming-a-Ravenous-Eater Now that 90 or so percent of my friends have bred I've found myself tasked with taking a childs' needs into account when I make my weekly food delivery rounds. As a former picky eater myself I've discovered some potent weapons in the kitchen that children find irresistible. Namely fat and salt. I routinely resisted my families' cooking as a child but my parents made me follow one simple rule: You have to taste what's on the table. You don't have to eat it but you must taste it. If you don't like it you're allowed to make yourself some food [ahh, time for a delicious fried baloney sandwich]. My friend Stephanie's child Isabelle is as picky as they come. Over conversation recently Steph confessed that the little one gobbles up everything I bring over but resists her mom's cooking mightily. "What's your secret?" she inquires. "A million or so years ago when I was in culinary school as we worked our way through French technique and methodology a few things became clear: French food is delicious and their use of butter, cream and good salt are a few of the building blocks of their cuisine". I always have a pound of good butter, a quart of heavy cream and a dozen or so varieties of the good salts of the world on hand when I go to cooking. I employ all of these weapons as a matter of course when I'm on the range. Here's a delicious sauce recipe you can drizzle over any steamed vegetable that your toddler will power down with the aplomb of a young Joey Chestnut Recipes Vegetarian Sat, 03 Apr 2010 21:25:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2010/4/3/Coax-Your-Fussy-Toddler-Into-Becoming-a-Ravenous-Eater http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2010/3/10/How-To-Make-Bleu-Cheese-Dressing The simple pleasures are often the best. A hunk of Iceberg lettuce, a few sliced tomatoes, a handful of crispy, smoky, chopped bacon and a drizzle of homemade bleu cheese dressing is on my mind right now because that's my most recent creation. I make all my salad dressings from scratch and my favorite [narrowly beating Ranch-which is the official dressing of the great state of Texas] is Bleu cheese. It's not a laborious recipe but you can't hold that against it. Every now and again a simple, quick formula can be used to great effect in the kitchen. This is one of those instances. Here's how to make a delicious, from scratch Bleu cheese dressing Recipes Vegetarian Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:24:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2010/3/10/How-To-Make-Bleu-Cheese-Dressing