Sriracha Round-Up

Yes, ok, Sriracha has become kind of trendy in the last couple of years. No matter. I love the stuff. Along with Frank's (yes, I basically put that s**t on everything), Tabasco, your Haitian Grandma's homemade hot pepper concoction, I love it all. The point is, food tastes better with a bit of a kick. Or a lot of kick, in the case of my favorite mouth-numbing, euphoria-inducing Nashville Style Hot Chicken Shak Sandwich. To quote the poet Ludacris, "Sweat for the lemonade, sweat for the tea. Sweat from the hot sauce, sweat from the... {CENSORED}". Indeed Ludacris. Indeed.

Here are some interesting recipes I've come across lately.

Sriracha Shrimp Skewers via Handle the Heat
Teriyaki Salmon with Sriracha Cream Sauce via Damn Delicious
Sriracha Fridge Pickles via Bon Appetit
Ultimate Sriracha Burger via Serious Eats
Sriracha Popcorn via Authentic Suburban Gourmet
Sriracha and Honey Cashews via Authentic Suburban Gourmet
Sriracha Devilled Eggs via ME! Four Seasons Kitchen

A Pinterest search for "Sriracha" also gives some yummy looking food porn... ahem... recipes.

Superbowl Food

It's Superbowl Sunday. If I was a good blogger, I would have whipped up these recipes, photographed, and posted a week ago. But I just can't bring myself to make recipes in advance of the actual event. That would mean making all this food and then the three of having to eat it, only to make it all over again for the Big Day. Not happening.

And really, do you really need a special occasion to make Soft Pretzel Bites with Buffalo Cheese Sauce? That is a negative. Any random Sunday will do, thank you.

I have been trying to make great soft pretzels forever and the never turned out the way I wanted. I wish I had stolen the recipe from the movie theatre where I had my first job. I worked at Wetzel's Pretzels kiosk. We made the dough on premises (whereas at Pizza Hut the dough came in frozen) but it never occurred to me to make them at home. I've even looked for a copy-cat recipe online, but to no avail. What made these different is usually pretzels are boiled in a baking powder solution, but Wetzel's just baked them. I'd never tried the boiling method until today because it just sounded like too much work. But it was a success, and honestly not much more difficult that straight baking them. 

One tip though- don't boil the pretzel bites for more than 30 seconds. The first batch I made I boiled them too long, more like a minute and a half probably, and they are kinda ugly. Yummy, but ugly, as you can see below. The one on the right is the one that boiled too long, the one on the left was boiled for just 30 seconds.

You can thank Pinterest for the Cookie Brownies. I didn't even repin this, but they were stuck in my head. Brownie Cookies? Crookies? Brookies? Whatever you choose to call them, they are over the top and delicious. Definitely for sharing though. I wouldn't trust myself make these if I were home by myself one night. It's bad enough that whenever I make chocolate chip cookies I save a container of raw dough in the fridge for snaking on. Cookie dough dipped in brownie batter? Game over.

One Year Ago: Crunchy Sesame Cookies

Two Years Ago: Chocolate Beet Cupcakes

Three Years Ago: nada, Feb 2010 was a slow year at Four Seasons Kitchen

SOFT PRETZEL BITES WITH BUFFALO CHEESE SAUCE

• Ballpark Pretzel recipe from Chuck Hughes
• Buffalo Cheese Sauce recipe from Half Baked Harvest

Pretzel Bites:
Follow the recipe for Chuck's pretzels up to and including step 3. Rather than making large pretzels in step 4, rip a handful of dough and roll it out into a rope. Cut (a pizza roller works well) into 1/2-inch pieces and roll each into a ball. Continue with the rest of the recipe, however I omitted brushing the pretzel bites with egg wash.

When boiling the pretzel bites, work in small batches. I gather up and many as I can hold (gently!) in one hand and drop them quickly in one at a time, timing once the last one goes in.

Serve pretzels same day as they are made. If not serving immediately after baking, put them on a plate or in a container but don't cover or else they will get soft on the outside instead of staying crisp.

Cheese Sauce:
Make the buffalo cheese sauce following Half Baked Harvest's recipe. Keep warm in a small Crockpot if serving as a snack at a party. Or just eat it really fast, which shouldn't be too hard to do.

BROWNIE COOKIES

Method from Pin Cookie

You can use my favourite recipes that are linked below, or your go-to brownie and chocolate chip cookie recipes.

• Lentil Brownies
• Chocolate Chip Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix up a batch of cookie batter and brownie batter. Tyler helped me and made the brownie batter for me, but if you are making both yourself I would suggest making the brownie batter first as it doesn't contain any leavener.

Butter a muffin min, either a standard sized tin or a mini muffin tin (I prefer how the cookies made in the standard tin turned out). Drop a tablespoon of brownie batter in each muffin well and spread to cover the bottom. Take about a tablespoon of cookie dough and press it flat in your palm to about the size of the muffin tin and put that on top of the brownie batter. Bake 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

Thai Feast

Last year for Christmas I gave my parents a meal cooked by a personal chef. The chef being... me! It turns out that I get the procrastination trait from my dad. I cooked this dinner last weekend. Yes. December 1st.

I told them to pick a menu or theme. They chose Thai. Not 10 days before that I had announced that I was never again making Pad Thai as it never turns out right. So I had a little panic attack and then got to work on figuring out what I was going to make that wasn't Pad Thai.

It turned out amazing (if I do say so myself)! I will make these recipes again and again. They are fairly easy and all gluten free, as it so happens. I spent an enjoyable hour in the Asian supermarket up the street from my office looking perusing the strange (to me) and wonderful foods. I found all of the authentic ingredients I needed, despite asking for help and the clerk not understanding a word I said. A lot of them were frozen, so I have lots of left over ingredients to use up. Excellent.

Here is the menu. I followed the recipe for all the dishes except the mango salad as I was pretty confident about that dish having eaten it lots of time before. The other recipes, not much. I've never eaten those dishes and didn't have time to do a test run so I went by the (Mac)book. 

Green Papaya and Mango Salad adapted from Canadian Living
I wanted to do just green papaya, and I even found a green papaya at the Asian market. But when chopped it up, I found that it was totally bland. Maybe it needed to ripen, but I thought the point was that it is green? So I used some papaya and some mango. It turned out perfectly. I could go for some right now, actually.

Red Curry Shrimp from Food and Wine
Totally easy and yummy. I didn't make the tartar sauce in the linked recipe- I just did the shrimp. Next time I'd like to find a recipe for homemade red curry paste. As I found out with the next dish, the jarred stuff vs. your own curry paste is like night and day.

Green Curry Chicken from Real Thai Recipes
This was unreal. So delicious. I forgot to take photos of the whole meal the night of, so I made this again on Sunday. The first time I pounded the ingredients for the curry paste in a pestle and mortar, the second time I did it in the food processor. Use a pestle and mortar if you have one. I wouldn't have believed it, but you can taste the difference. It's almost as if the flavors are coaxed (or threatened within an inch of their life) by being pounded and ground by hand. Be careful when adding the coconut milk at the end of the recipe- I added the whole cup the recipe calls for at once and the sauce ended up too thin- add a bit at a time. Also, be careful not to take a huge whiff of the shrimp paste. Gag city. Think fish sauce times five. Oh, and one more thing. I don't usually love eggplant but it really soaks up all the flavours in the sauce. The second time around I used red pepper and carrots as that's all I had and that was ok too though.

Spicy Glass Noodles with Crispy Pork from The Kitchn
This was the sleeper hit of the night. The recipe is easy and sounds unassuming, but the result is fantastic. I like that it is to be served cold or at room temp. That's part of the reason I chose this recipe, actually. I figured I'd make it and let it sit while the green curry finished cooking. It all went according to plan. I wouldn't recommend serving this hot, in fact, as the noodles need some time to absorb the sauce. I poured in all the sauce the recipe called for and it looked soupy and I was really disappointed, but by the time it was served it was perfect.  

Sticky Rice with Sweet and Spicy Dipping Sauce from i eat food
I have made sticky rice many, many times. Tyler's cousin used to work at a Thai restaurant and gave me a steamer contraption for making steamed sticky rice as I love it every time he makes it. It pretty much looks like the one in the link, but bigger because it's the Vietnamese version or something. Same idea though. I cook mine differently than she does. I just dump the soaked rice in the basket and stick a sauce pot lid on top to cover it. It doesn't seem to take as long to cook this way. You do, however, have to pick dried bits of rice of the bamboo after though. You've been warned.

Coconut and Lime Creme Brulee (recipe below)
This is my own recipe. I adapted a no-bake pumpkin creme brulee recipe that I made the other week. This was originally going to be a tropical fruit creme brulee- mango, banana, lime- but that one didn't set and it tasted more like banana pudding. That went down the drain (told you it didn't set). The second version came out much better. Use a kitchen torch or a blow torch (seriously- careful!) to brulee though. I stuck them under the broiler to save some time and the custard got heated through and wasn't as nice. Lesson learned: always go with the blow torch option. Always.

THAI GREEN PAPAYA AND MANGO SALAD
Adapted from Canadian Living

Serves 4

If you can't find green papaya, use some slightly under ripe mango. I used my handy OXO julienne peeler for the papaya and carrot which makes it really easy.

Salad:

• 1/2 small green papaya, julienned
• 1 ripe mango, sliced into thin strips
• 1/2 red pepper, sliced into thin strips
• 1 small carrot, julienned
• 1/4 cup shredded red cabbage
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced into rounds
• 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp julienned mint leaves
• 1/2 cup salted roasted cashews, finely chopped

Dressing:

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• zest of 1 lime (use a Microplane or small grater)
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 1-2 finely chopped thai chilis, depending on how hot you want it

Mix the dressing ingredients in the bottom of a mixing bowl. Add the salad ingredients except 1 tbsp mint and the cashews and toss to combine. Let rest 15 to 20 minutes. Serve topped with reserved mint and cashews.

COCONUT AND LIME CREME BRULEE

Serves 4

• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 large egg yolks
• zest of 1 lime, zested on Microplane or small grater
• 1 1/2 cups lite coconut milk
• 2 sprigs mint leaves
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 8 tsp fine sugar, for bruleeing

Heat coconut milk in a saucepan over medium heat with mint leaves (don't bother stripping from stem- just throw the whole thing in) until bubbles form around the outside and milk is steaming.

Meanwhile, mix cornstarch, sugar, salt, egg yolks, lime zest in a medium bowl. Slowly add heated coconut milk while whisking yolk mixture. Add mixture back to pot. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until very thick. Pour into four ramekins, cover with plastic wrap directly on surface of custard, and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

To serve, sprinkle each custard with 1 tsp sugar. Brulee with a kitchen torch or bring out the big guns and (carefully!) use a full on blow torch. Sprinkle with another tsp of sugar and brulee again. Serve with 5 minutes so that the sugar topping doesn't soften.

Dip Night

Did you ever have "treat dinners" as a kid? Maybe you called them something else, but hopefully everybody gets to experience this growing up. Maybe it was "breakfast for dinner" or ham and cheese waffles like I read about in Bon Appetit. For us, we had two treat dinners- different at my mom's and my dad's. That, and tons o' presents and holiday meals at Christmas time, is the only plus in the broken home column.

So, at my mom's "treat dinner" (yes, we called it that) was cottage cheese and fruit. See, I come by healthy eating honestly. At my dad's, almost every Friday night we would have homemade pizza. I am declaring Dip Night the new treat dinner in my house.

How did this come about? I was looking through my hundreds of recipes saved on my computer thinking that I should make an effort to start cooking the older ones (i.e. the recipes that have now been transferred to three computers). I have a whole lot of dips saved- great for parties and potlucks, but how many dips can you really eat at once? Three, as it turns out. This post could have been called "An Orgy of Dairy", but lets keep it clean folks. With the dips we had pita chips and tortilla chips.

One Year Ago: nada

Two Years Ago: Gogeres, Pizza, and Best Ever Chocolate Cake

+ 

Stuffed Shells

Buffalo Chicken Dip is as amazing as it sounds. The author on Ezra Pound Cake calls it "pure man-bait" (are you reading this single ladies?). Get the recipe by clicking HERE.

Mediterranean 7-Layer Dip: I threw this one in to be at least a little healthy, and it turned out to be the sleeper hit of the night. Recipe below.

Goat Cheese Spinach and Artichoke Dip: I think I over-cooked this one so it was dry and we didn't eat a lot of it, but I mixed it into filling for chicken manicotti the next day and that was amazing. Get the recipe by clicking HERE

MEDITERRANEAN 7-LAYER DIP

Adapted from Cooking With My Kid

• 1 cup hummus, store bought or homemade (recipe below)
• 3/4 cup arugula pesto (recipe below), or store bought basil pesto (reduce to 1/2 cup)
• 1 cup tzatziki
• 1/2 cup black olives, sliced (optional)
• 2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 2 green onions, chopped finely
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta
• 2 large pitas, cut into wedges

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Place pita wedges on a large baking sheet. Bake 5 minutes or until golden on one side. Flip them over and bake until golden a crisp on the other side, about 2 more minutes.

Make hummus if using homemade and transfer to a bowl. Then make pesto- no need to wash food processor if you've scraped the hummus out pretty well. 

Spread hummus in bottom of your serving dish (mine was 11x7). Spread pesto over top, then tzatziki. Sprinkle over olives, if using, then tomatoes, green onions, and feta. Refrigerate if not eating immediately.

PANTRY HUMMUS

Traditional hummus has tahini, a sesame seed paste like peanut butter, but I don't keep that around just to make hummus. It's just as good without. 

• 1 14-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp salt (or more to taste if using no-sodium chickpeas)
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• water

Place all ingredients but water in a food processor. Process until mostly smooth. Scrape down bowl, add 2 tbsp water, process again until a totally smooth, adding a little more water if necessary.

ARUGULA PESTO

This can also be made with baby spinach, or a combination of both. Great as a pasta sauce, on fish or chicken. 

2 cups arugula or baby spinach, washed and dried
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh basil (stems and leaves together are ok- they'll be pureed)
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
water, if needed

Place all ingredients but water in a food processor. Process until smooth, scraping down bowl periodically, adding water a tbsp at a time if needed.

Top Posts

I thought I'd jump on the new year blogging trend of sharing the top posts from last year... only in Four Seasons Kitchen's case, it will be of all time since I've never done this type of round up before.

It's also interesting to see how, and from where, people get to my blog. Google Blogger provides these stats, and it looks like I'm kind of a big deal in Russia.

I can also see search keywords that have lead people to my blog. "Cheese whiz nacho dip", "cheese dip", "nachos dip cheese" and "cheez whiz nacho dip" are at the top of that list. I'm not sure if I should be disappointed or thankful that at least I'm getting the reader traffic.

1. Vanilla Iced Coffee

2. Spicy Cheese Dip

3. Caldo Verde- my very first post

4. Lentils with Choizo, Brussels Sprouts, and Balsamic Vinegar

5. Tex Mex Lasagna (even despite the awful photo)

Wing Mash Up

Drumsticks with Caesar Salad and Grilled Corn

You heard it here first folks: chicken drumsticks are the new chicken wings. We were going to make the barbequed chicken wings from Eating Forward by Sandi Richard (which I borrowed from the library but am going to buy as it is excellent) but they didn't have any wings at the grocery store. I got drumsticks instead, which are cheaper anyways, and now I am of the opinion that they are better. That doesn't mean I won't eat wings at the pub; that is ludicrous! But I will make them more often at home. These are inspired by Wild Wing restaurant where they do all these crazy mixed up flavors that turn out to be amazing (our favorite flavour is Farmer's Daughter).

Notice I used "we" in the above paragraph? I don't know if that has ever happened in reference to cooking on Four Seasons Kitchen. I use "we" today because Tyler was actually responsible for cooking the chicken. I don't barbeque. I don't like smelling like meat (although I have found that eau de brisket attracts the opposite sex) and Tyler does it best anyway. So really, this is his recipe. Also a Four Seasons Kitchen first.

JERK HONEY GARLIC HOT WINGS

• 10 chicken drumsticks
• 2 tbsp jerk seasoning
• 1/4 cup honey garlic sauce
• 1/4 cup Franks Red Hot sauce

Toss chicken and jerk seasoning together in a Ziploc bag and put in fridge overnight. When ready to cook, grill on high direct heat 2 minutes per side. Move drumsticks to indirect heat and cook 40 minutes, turning once. Mix honey garlic and hot sauce in a large bowl. Toss cooked drumsticks in sauce.

Home made gifts

As promised, here are the food gifts I made to give to my family along with their "real" gift. These are pretty easy to make, and giving anything you have made yourself definitely makes a big impact.

The labels for the gifts I made using Microsoft Word and Clipart, then I cut them to size and affixed them to the jars or gift bags using packing tape- I taped over the whole piece of paper with some over hang all around so that it would stick. This worked really well as it's really thin so you can hardly tell it's there.


Hot Chocolate Sticks from Givers Log

If you make these, note that once you add the cocoa and sugar the mixture is VERY stiff and may look lumpy, but when you put it in the molds (I used ice cube trays as suggested), pat it down and it will be smooth once it firms up. I stuck some marshmallows on the top of them as well.


Burning Ass Hot Sauce- the name is my doing (get it? the donkey is on fire! I'm too funny for my own good), the recipe is from Mark Bitten in The New York Times. I used a combination of jalapenos, habenaros, and two cloves of garlic.

Egyptian Dukkah Spice Mix from The Kitchn. I don't have a photo of this, it didn't look all that exciting to be honest, but on the label I included the nuts and spices I put in it (hazelnuts, sesame seeds, cumin, coriander, mint, salt, pepper if I remember correctly) and some recipe suggestions.

I also wanted to make some flavored vodka but I didn't get around to it, and I couldn't eat enough bacon to save enough bacon fat for the Baconnaise (that's right- bacon flavored mayonnaise) that I was going to make for my cousin. Maybe next year I'll combine the two ideas to make the most disturbing recipe I have come across in a while, Bacon Flavored Vodka.

Spicy Cheese Dip

I made this dip on Sunday for tortilla chips instead of buying that jarred Cheez-Whiz-like nacho dip at the grocery store. My dip was 10 times better, cheaper, and not fake orange (fake orange is always a bad idea). I feel like this dip is akin to the Southern classic Pimento Cheese except that I've never had pimento cheese, therefore I can't say for sure.

This is also the filling for my antijitos that I always bring to pot lucks at work. I tried to bring something else once and I was almost lynched. To make antijitos don't warm up the dip, but spread it into tortillas, roll them up, and slice across into bite-sized pieces. You could also put the dip into an oven safe dish, top it with shredded cheese, and put it in the oven (say, at about 400 degrees F) until bubbly. I wonder if you could add chopped cooked spinach and chopped artichokes and call it Spinach and Artichoke dip... I'll have to try it next time.

I never measure this, so the amounts in this recipe are approximate- a little of one thing or less of another won't affect the overall result.

SPICY CHEESE DIP

• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup sliced pickled hot peppers
• 1 250 g tub cream cheese
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder

Chop peppers in a food processor. Add cheese and cream cheese, whiz until blended. Put in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 to 2 minutes on high, stirring every 30 seconds, until dip is warm and cheese is melted.