Monday, March 10, 2008

The new "facility"

I had to post a shot of the new kitchen since it will boost my creativity, productivity and higher quality images of the product!!!
(I had to do the PS job just cause I could!!!)


Sweet Potato Cream Sauce

Here's another last minute idea concocted while wandering through the supermarket unimpressed!
Gemelli in a sweet potato + almond white sauce....

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Beef + Coffee, Who knew?
































On thursday I went to the store with the Fam for a regular restocking visit and decided to add a sirloin tip roast to the cart seeing as they were on sale,make a good roast and leftover sandwich meat that's 1000% better than what you can get at the deli. Since rest of the fam isn't home until later on Fridays I thought it would be a nice way to have dinner ready and have lunch food for the next few days as well.


As I took my Fri. lunch break I started to ponder what would make a tasty rub for the roast, without going with the traditional rosemary/garlic combo, but also keeping it simple. For some reason I started drooling over the thought of a mole/chocolate/hispanic style rub when I finished off my last bit of coffee and realized that was it- what else would compliment a nice rich beef dish more than coffee!


I pondered the thought of what would work with fresh ground coffee, and came up with this rub....




1/4 cup or so coffee beans, medium grind
10 cloves garlic
2TBS whole fennel seed
1 teaspoon Dried HOT cayenne, crushed (scotch bonnets/habs would be good also, depending on how spicy you like it!)
3 TBS of olive oil




Toss all the ingredients in a food processor/blender until you have a nice paste, adjust as necessary


Tie the roast so it holds it's shape, season well with salt + fresh ground black pepper,
coat with the rub, wrap in foil/plastic and stick it in the fridge for a couple hours.


about 45min prior to cooking remove the roast so it warms up a bit


Depending on the size of the roast 20-30 min per lb is what is recommended, although I find it's closer to 20 min most of the time


preheat your oven to 450 and let is sit for at least 15 min so it's good and hot.
put the roast on a roasting rack pop it in the oven and let it go for 10-15 minutes to builds a good crust, then drop the heat to 250 and cook until rare-med rare (any more and you might as well eat a leather shoe)


make a jus with the pan dripping and let the roast rest for 15 min before carving!