I really wanted to do a from-scratch apple pie video, complete with my Aunt Angela's famous homemade crust, but with my chicken wing video blowing up all over the web, and the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival this weekend demanding my time and attention, I took the easy way out (I'm looking at you Sandra Lee), and used a pre-made pie dough.
Besides, if you're not an experienced pie baker (and let's face it, you're not), there's nothing wrong with a little ready-to-use dough, as long as it's filled with this fantastic apple pie filling.
What will strike you about this filling is just how few ingredients go in it. Sliced apples baked with sugar taste really, really good, and we don't want to mess with that too much. For me, a little pinch of nutmeg and some cinnamon is all this timeless combination needs.
The other key here, compliments of my mother Pauline, is to use multiple types of apples. There are subtle differences in flavor and texture with the wide variety of baking apples (basically defined as anything except Red Delicious). This is a classic case of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.
You can see the apple blend I used in the ingredient list below, but there are an endless number of combinations (not literally! I know how you math people are – you were so going to send me an email, weren't you?)
Anyway, I hope you give this delicious apple pie filling a try, and if you were going to shock the world and bake a homemade pie for dessert for one of the upcoming holiday meals, this would be a great choice. Enjoy!
Ingredients: 6-8 baking apples (depending on size) I used 2 Granny Smith, 2 Braeburn, 2 Fuji 1/2 lemon, juiced 1 cup white sugar 3 tbsp cornstarch 1/8 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp cinnamon very tiny pinch of salt 2 tbsp butter 1 egg, beaten ready to use pie dough (I used Pillsbury)
It's with much joy, pride, and humility (well, two out of three ain't bad) that I officially make the announcement this blog has won the "Best Video Blog" at the First Annual Foodbuzz Blog Awards! I think Homer Simpson put it best when he said, "Woo Hoo!"
I can't express how much all your support over the last year has meant to me, not because I can't find the words, but because I'm way too hung over. I also have to run off to the last event of the weekend, a farewell brunch at Restaurant LuLu, featuring a make-you-own Bloody Mary(s) bar, which should really help with this headache.
Speaking of which, I haven't had the time or brain waves to find any real photos of the event, so I grabbed this picture of some guy named Rick Best posing with a borrowed Oscar statue at 1989 Academy Awards to simulate the scene. A million thanks to Foodbuzz and everyone involved. Stay tuned for a recap and links to the other winners!
Here is the actual iPhone video footage I took of the announcement:
The Foodbuzz Blogger Festival begins in San Francisco tonight, and it's looking to be an amazing weekend of food, fun, and furious networking with fellow food bloggers from all over the country. I will be busy at events throughout the weekend, including the big awards dinner on Saturday night where Food Wishes has been nominated for "Best Video Blog."
Needless to say I'm very excited and just found out that nominees even get to wear a special gold laminated pass. That's very cool, but I was really hoping they would have used my suggestion that instead of the regular wine glasses, nominees would get to carry around and drink from jewel-encrusted pimp cups.
I'll be tweeting live from the event, in case you want to follow along, as well as taking lots of photos, and maybe even a little video. Stay tuned for updates, and have a fantastic weekend.
Have you ever been enjoying a nice pastrami sandwich and thought to yourself, "This is good, but I really wish it had some bones in it." Well, this recipe was an attempt to solve that age-old desire.
I've taken a spice rub traditionally used on a beef brisket to make pastrami, and applied it to America's favorite appetizer, chicken wings. This resulted in a pretty nice chicken wing recipe, which tasted nothing like pastrami.
I guess I'm asking for trouble calling it "Pastrami Wings." If your palette is set for some rich, fatty, smoky pastrami, you will be disappointed. As I joke in the video, a chicken ain't a cow, and no chicken wing will ever taste like real pastrami.
Having said that, so what? They're just chicken wings. Perfect for this time of year, since for sports fans this is the ultimate sweet spot on the calendar. You can watch baseball, football, basketball (I wish the Bay Area had a team), hockey (Go Sharks!), golf, and several other minor sports (like college football).
What better way to veg on the couch for 14 hours, than with a plate of chicken wings that don't taste like pastrami? Honey, can you grab me another beer? My fingers are all greasy. Enjoy!
Ingredients: 1 tbsp vegetable oil 2 1/2 pounds chicken wing sections 1/4 tsp white pepper 1 tbsp fresh ground black pepper 1 1/2 tbsp ground coriander 1 tbsp smoked paprika pinch of cayenne, optional 2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste 2 tsp flour *serve with Russian dressing as a dip
Note: I thought these were fairly mild, and would actually increase the spice amounts next time. If you experiment, please let me know the results!
I'm teaming up with The Salvation Army this holiday season to help spread the word about all the amazing work they do, as well as how you can help. I was able to spend a day in their main San Francisco kitchen with Executive Chef Anthony Pardi, and it was an eye-opening experience.
The quantity and quality of the food Chef Pardi and his team put out with the limited resources they have to work with is impressive to say the least. In my small, sheltered world of star chefs and celebrity foodies, I sometimes forget that chefs like Anthony exist.
These are the chefs that forgo fame and fortune, and use their skills to make a difference for so many. This video was shot on location, and is intended to give a very brief glimpse into The Salvation Army's kitchen operation, as well as give me the opportunity to tell you how you can help out.
The Drive Thru Turkey Drop
Like most of you, when I hear "drive thru," I think of someone handing me a bag of fast food (of course I want fries with that!), but on Saturday, November 7th, from 9AM to 3PM, you can flip the script by dropping off much needed turkeys at 850 Harrison Street @4th here in San Francisco, at the annual Drive Thru Turkey Drop.
While they will be perfectly happy with you just dropping off one turkey, multiple birds would be even better. In fact, I haven’t even told them this yet, but whichever car drops off the most turkeys (my team of engineers has crunched some numbers and have determined you can easily fit 18 frozen turkeys in a mid-size car), will have a thanksgiving side dish recipe named after them! Just imagine… "Glazed Carrots ala [insert your name here]."
How You Can Help
I realize most of you don't live in San Francisco, and it's a lot to expect you to move here, buy a car, buy some turkeys, and come to the drive thru – so we have other ways you can help.
You can click on iconic red kettle graphic in this post and donate directly. Or, you can grab the logo yourself (just drag it on to your desktop), and post it on your food blog with a link to The Salvation Army's donation page. Either way, they can really use the help, especially considering this year's increase in demand.
A very special thanks to The Salvation Army, and Chef Anthony Pardi for all the great work he does year-round. Also, a huge thanks to Antonio White at Vedaquest.com and Dennis Minnick, who did all the video production on this project.
This is the extended 27 minute "Director Cut"
Note to Foodies
I will be posting all kinds of holiday recipes including complete demos of the stock, gravy, stuffing, and turkey prep you saw glimpses of in this video. So stay tuned!
Thanks to everyone who had a part in spreading the word! By the way, the pastrami-rubbed chicken wings recipe from which this sensation was born is ready to post tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Hey Ladies, Show Me Your Wings!
I just received this video from my good friends Jude (left) and Juliana from Brand New Entertainment, showing off their new-found chicken wing skills. Hey, if a couple television producers from L.A. can do it, so can you! ;-)
The recent post which featured Denise from ChezUs' beautiful dark chocolate macarons with bittersweet ancho chili ganache reminded my wife Michele that it'd been a while since she'd whipped up a batch of her famous chili chocolate cookies.
These dense, dark, and dangerously addictive cookies feature a dose of black pepper and cayenne, which to some may seem like an odd addition. But one taste and you'll understand the method to this madness.
Just like adding a pinch of salt to dessert recipes makes them even sweeter and more delicious, the addition of pepper in this cookie really makes the chocolate even more chocolaty. The cookies aren't really "spicy," but you can definitely tell something strange and wonderful is happening.
I'm terrible with keeping my secret ingredients, secret. As soon as someone says, "Hey, what's in these?" I spill the beans. However, if you're one of those sadistic cooks that loves tormenting your foodie friends by not telling them what that certain something is, then this recipe is for you, since the spices are very hard to identify.
A couple notes about the recipe ingredients below. I use kosher salt for just about everything, but I always have to remind myself that it has a much flakier, larger grain, so 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt is really like 1/4 teaspoon of fine table salt. The measurement below is for fine salt, so double it if you also use flake-style kosher salt.
Also, Michele decided to reverse the chocolate blend in the original recipe by using 2 parts unsweetened chocolate to 1 part bittersweet. If you like really sweet cookies use 2 parts bittersweet to 1 part unsweetened.
If you're not sure, make 4 or 5 batches and experiment with different combinations. You really can’t practice too much when it comes to these strange, but spectacular cookies. Enjoy!
Ingredients: 1/2 cup dried currants 2 tablespoons Kahlua 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate 3 tablespoons unsalted butter 1/2 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper 2 room temperature eggs 3/4 cup sugar 2 tsp vanilla 1 cup chocolate chips
Note: Special thanks to Sigve Hoel who gifted me a sweet new set of OXO mixing bowls! He saw them on my Amazon Wish List (in the sidebar in case you're wondering). Thanks Sigve! We LOVE them.
I really wanted to do a from-scratch apple pie video, complete with my Aunt Angela's famous homemade crust, but with my chicken wing video blowing up all over the web, and the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival this weekend demanding my time and attention, I took the easy way out (I'm looking at you Sandra Lee), and used a pre-made pie dough.
The other key here, compliments of my mother Pauline, is to use multiple types of apples. There are subtle differences in flavor and texture with the wide variety of baking apples (basically defined as anything except Red Delicious). This is a classic case of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.
