Three weeks ago, I gave you all some insight into how I trained and prepared for MasterChef… but I left out a BIG part of my preparation.

As I watched all threee seasons, I was on the lookout for more than just information about the show, what the judges were looking for, etc. I was keeping an eye on the contestants, looking for SOMETHING. I am big on gathering information before jumping into anything, and this was going to be the biggest, most insane “thing” I ever attempted. What I really needed was information from someone who had been there.

Due to the contracts we had to sign, this would be a sticky situation. We weren’t allowed to tell anyone that we were on the show, which would make it difficult to obtain that information. I had to figure out how to do it in a way that wouldn’t violate the contract, and I needed to figure out who the perfect person to approach would be. Pick the wrong one, and for all I knew, I’d be messaging the best friend of one of the producers!

After watching all three seasons, the choice was obvious to me. I would anonymously contact Ben Starr, from MasterChef season two.

You see, something about him really grabbed me. He reminded me a lot of myself, and something told me that he would not only be an amazing source of information, but that he would be trustworthy – an important combination, for what I was about to do.

Against the recommendation of my husband and VERY small group of people who knew what I was doing, I set up an anonymous email address that wasn’t connected to ANYTHING – only ever to be used to contact Ben. I called myself “X” (LOL!), and carefully crafted my initial email to not ACTUALLY say that I was one of the 100. I knew he was smart, and I knew that he would know what I was getting at.

Over the few months before I left, we would email back and forth. I would pepper him with questions – mostly about logistical concerns – and he would provide just the information I was looking for.

I’ll never forget how generous he was with his time, answering all these questions from a complete stranger… especially given that he knew nothing about me! I was extremely careful to not reveal my gender, location, or anything that ANYONE could identify me by. I was even careful to make sure that I used region-neutral language and syntax!

Aside from answering questions I had about logistics concerns (“What is the laundry situation?”), Ben was like a personal, private cheerleader. He gave me the pep talks and confidence that could only come from someone who had been there.

He told me to cook my butt off and cook from the heart. To not try to play someone else’s game, just cook the food I know and love. He told me to be the biggest, boldest, but still most genuine version of myself that I could be. He told me to not to censor myself or try to “act,”but to be the person I am after a few drinks with friends – great advice!

He told me listen to the judges’ feedback, but always trust my heart over all. He reminded me that I’d know if I really cooked a bad dish, and sometimes harsh criticism is exaggerated to heighten drama. He told me not to take that personally and not to let it ruin my love of cooking or cause me to doubt myself. Above all else, he told me to embrace my fellow contestants, learn from them, and love them, because years from now, they will still be like family long after the world has forgotten about MasterChef.

Some of that, I didn’t really take to heart (Sorry Ben!). I read it and I processed it, but I wasn’t exactly able to tell him that the likelihood of me embracing anyone, making friends, or coming to see anyone as “family” was very slim, on account of me not being a people person in the SLIGHTEST – no identifying information about me!

Whoops. I guess he actually was right about it. I promise I’ll listen next time, Ben!

Funny thing – I had no idea just how good a job I’d done at concealing my identity, til I finally “introduced” myself to him. It was a confusing exchange, he didn’t immediately pick up on what I was saying… because he thought that “X” was a DUDE! Hahahahaa!! I don’t think he fully believed that I was female until got on Skype together!

Anyway, enough back story from me. Ben is an amazing guy, and I’m so glad that I met him – I chose WISELY. I thought it would be fun to get him to do a blog entry, leading up to my debut on MasterChef. When asked what I specifically wanted him to write about, I left it wide open. He has such a diverse range of interests, and is just a really interesting, entertaining writer, I didn’t want to give him any guidelines. I knew that whatever he would write about – food, travel, home brewing, gardening… or whatever else – would be great.

What he emailed me as a guest blog blew me away. This is amazing, and I really hope that people keep this essay in mind when watching MasterChef both this evening, and going forward.

Thank you, Ben, for everything. You’re amazing.

If you’d like to follow Ben’s adventures, you can do so on his website, Twitter, Facebook, and/or Youtube

All photos courtesy of Ben Starr.

It’s been 2 years since I found myself locked in a hotel room in Los Angeles, unable to leave without a babysitter, unable to connect to the outside world (including family, friends, and career.) Awake at 5am every morning and hustled into a cold van, driven to a grimy warehouse where I’d sit outside in a tent for 3 hours. Every 10 minutes, a production assistant would come by and say, “5 minute warning, everyone. On-set in 5 minutes.” That warning would be repeated for many hours to come. Then suddenly a cry, “EVERYONE ON SET NOW!” Hustlebustle. And we’re herded in front of Ramsay, Bastianich, and Elliot to begin the 8-hour process of filming a 1-hour challenge. Then it’s back to being locked in a hotel room for a few hours of desperate sleep before the process repeated. Every day. Without stopping. For 2 months. Making MasterChef. Season 2. On May 22, MasterChef season 4 will commence. And in a scant 3 hours of broadcasting, the lives of 100 contestants will flash before your eyes.Within 3 hours of programming, more than 80% of them will be gone forever,and only a tiny core of contestants will remain for the bulk of the season.

This blog is not about that core. This blog is about the ones you’ll see for fleeting seconds. Or the ones you’ll never see.

These initial 100 contestants were selected from live auditions that took place last fall. When you attend a MasterChef audition, you bring a signature dish of yours (they want it to convey “you on a plate”), and you stand in line for an hour or two (or six) with hundreds, or sometimes thousands of other hopefuls. Looking around, you see nervous, shy people with what appear to be truly spectacular dishes. You also see folks dressed up like pirate strippers or gangsta rappers, hopeful to make enough of a spectacle to warrant a second glance from the casting agents. When you reach the front of the line, you’re herded into a large room with 19 other people, where you have a couple of minutes to plate your dish…which has been silently curdling, wilting, fermenting, and basically dying while you stood in line all those hours. (Little do you know, this is preparing you for an everyday occurrence on the show…food on MasterChef is NEVER judged when it is fresh, only after sitting at room temperature for hours after it came out of the oven.)

Once your dish is plated, a series of people begin walking around the room. Some are casting agents. (That could range from the supreme executive producer of the show, to an unpaid intern at a local casting firm.) Some are “culinary experts.” (That could range from an instructor at the local culinary school, to a TRUE world-class Master Chef like Ferdinand Metz…the kind that FAR outrank formidable judges like Ramsay and Elliot, neither of whom are actually real Master Chefs.) The trick is that you don’t know who is who. You don’t know who to explain how you crafted the dish to, and who to explain that your family died when you were 2, you were raised by a pack of wolves, and you learned to cook by watching Mongolian television which was the only channel you could intercept through the airwaves in the remote mountain valley where your wolf-pack family lived. 2 or 3 people will ask you some basic questions, and after you’ve talked for about 30 seconds, they say, “THANK YOU,” write a few notes on their clipboard, and move on.

After all the casting folk have made their rounds, a few names are called for people who are to remain for further questioning. Among them are probably the pirate stripper and the gangsta rapper. Also, that outgoing, food-geek dude who rigged his homemade immersion circulator to run on battery power so he could keep his curried hollandaise at perfect serving temperature until plating time. Staying along with him is the adorable old grandmother who made her famous church-potluck deviled eggs with Hellmans mayonaise and a package of dry French Onion soup mix, and who does stand-up comedy at the Senior Center on Tuesdays.

Amongst the “rejects” who are cast back out into the real world are probably the most skilled and talented among all those present that day. But they don’t fit the list of characters the casting folks are looking for. Because reality television is most certainly NOT about skill. That is incidental. They are looking for *characters*.

After an invasive and arduous several months of interviews, psychological evaluations, background investigations, and blood tests for everything from STDs to drugs to full DNA sequencing (I’m not joking), 100 contestants are informed that they are cast on MasterChef.

When they arrive in Los Angeles to film the show, they immediately become perplexed. Because, as they get to know each other and chat about food, they discover that there’s a surprisingly wide range of skill and knowledge levels present. There are plenty of contestants who have never heard of “sous vide” cooking, have never tasted arugula, and don’t know what “mise en place” means. Then there are other contestants who may have been to culinary school, or may have worked on the line in a restaurant…who have dined VERY well…who have even more knowledge of sophisticated cooking techniques than many chefs. Most candidates fall somewhere in between. And the core group of finalists, after the majority are sent home without aprons, will be pulled from both extremes and the middle group. But in that first week as the contestants get to know each other, it can be very puzzling for some, and very intimidating for others. Puzzling to the advanced candidates because they are wondering, if this is really a skill-based competition, why are there people here who only know how to make casseroles from cans. Intimidating for those casserole candidates, because there are people here speaking in an advanced culinary language that they can’t understand, and they wonder how they fit in.

Eventually, they all spend a week inside a dusty warehouse filming the “signature dish” challenge. This is where each of the 100 contestants has an hour to prepare their “signature dish” for the judges, and find out whether or not they get the coveted apron. Some contestants are truly lucky enough to actually cook their own recipe. Contractually unable to reveal any more, I’ll just say that other contestants don’t have that luxury and have to cook something else…sometimes it’s something they’ve never even cooked before. This week of signature dish filming is incredibly tense. Up to 10 contestants are cooking at any given time. Once their hour is complete, they put their food on a cart and wait for their turn before the judges. That wait can be up to several hours long, depending on how smoothly the production is running.

And this solid week of 12 hour days gets condensed into 2 or 3 episodes of MasterChef. The premiers. Out of 100 contestants, you’ll be lucky to see half them on the final edit. Those that are displayed will be a carefully selected sampling of some (but not all) of the top core of finalists, along with candidates who have inspiring stories, candidates with crazy mad skills but who are deliberately eliminated without an apron to prove to the rest of the contestants and the audience that this is a “tough and very serious” competition, candidates with bizarre aspects (ie a guy who plates his sushi on a naked woman, a guy who rides in on a horse, a guy with a pet monkey who sits on his shoulder as he cooks, a girl who cooks with her own breast milk, etc.) and contestants who were deliberately cast to be ridiculed by the judges for having amateur skills. Yes…that happens too.

Do I know this because I have “inside knowledge?” Of course not. You know it, too. MasterChef auditions gather thousands of VERY serious, knowledgeable cooks. If the casting agents had truly sought out the 100 best home cooks in America, there wouldn’t be a single amateur in the house. No one would be sent home for having offended the judges with sub-par cuisine. But this is entertainment, folks. You wouldn’t watch MasterChef if they had TRULY recruited the 100 best home cooks in the country. Because it would be pretty darn boring.

So as you watch the first 3 hours of MasterChef, let yourself be entertained. This isn’t reality. It’s television. But the lives *behind*the show are reality. And if you connect with a contestant who really strikes something inside you, reach out and find them on the internet. Because MasterChef changes lives for the worse, perhaps more often than it changes lives for the better. People discover that they were just cast to be made fun of. Others who truly believed they had a chance at winning, and who produced a truly fabulous signature dish, will be eliminated because they just didn’t have the right chemistry to be in the core group…and are judged based not on their cooking, but on their “package” as a character. And that is really traumatic for a lot of folks. Contestants will make it to the top group who know *very* little about cooking. Contestants will be eliminated who are breathtakingly talented. That’s just the way reality TV goes.

What can help heal them, and inspire them to continue following their food dreams, is to be contacted by fans who felt a connection to them. Because one of the truly remarkable things that MasterChef does is cause people to take a long, hard, objective look at their lives. They made the choice to potentially lose their job, their house, their spouse, because they have a dream of making a difference in the culinary world. And that’s powerful stuff. And those that get tossed out like yesterday’s salad can find themselves in a very trying place. But you can help push them to continue their dreams by showing that you were moved by their performance and you want to see more…*that their sacrifice and performance made a difference to someone*.

After the first 3 episodes are over and the core group of finalists is chosen, reflect on the fact that you only saw a handful of the total number of people who risked almost everything in their lives to be on the show. There are people who will never even make it to the final edit. You’ll never even know they were on the show in the first place. But their entire life was turned upside down for half a year. They had to leave their job with no more information than, “I’m going away for at least a week, maybe up to 2 months, and I can’t contact you until I get back.” They left their families the same way, too.

So while you laugh and cry as you meet the lucky (and sometimes very unlucky) folks who are featured during the first few episodes, think of the ones you *didn’t* meet. And realize that, even for the people the judges laugh out of the studio who seem to have no cooking skill at all, they took a very frightening risk to be there. Deep inside, they truly dream of being the next MasterChef, of leaving their mark on the culinary world. And, as every true Master Chef knows, *all* skills can be taught…but passion can’t be.

Well, the MasterChef premiere airs tomorrow… probably a good time for a truly epic popcorn recipe! In our household, I never, ever make the popcorn. I CAN make popcorn, but my husband is so much better at it – he’s a proper popcorn making ninja. Even when just basic buttered/salted popcorn, he’s just gifted at getting the right temperatures, the perfect amount of butter, the right amount of salt. Plus, really… popcorn always tastes better when someone else goes to the effort, right? Anyway, today’s blog entry is his own creation: Epic Popcorn. This is loaded with bacon, bacon drippings, cheese, AND some jalapeno kick – it’s not high cuisine, and it’s not diet food by any stretch of the imagination. It is, however, the best popcorn I’ve ever had! As Porter likes to say, “It’s a fun and simple way to take something normal and make it truly awesome.” Oh, it is that! I married a GENIUS. Hope you enjoy this as much as we do.

Porter’s Epic Popcorn

1 lb bacon, chopped.
Popcorn kernels
Butter, optional
Jalapeno powder*
Salt
Cheddar cheese, finely shredded

Fry up the bacon as crispy as you would like. Strain off the bacon, reserving the drippings.

Use some of the bacon drippings – about as much as you’d normally use butter or oil – to pop the popcorn. If you’re using an air-only popper, skip this step.

Toss the popped popcorn with bacon drippings, alone or combined with a bit of melted butter. Be sure that the drippings (and butter, if using) are NOT super hot, or it will ruin the popcorn.

Season the popcorn with jalapeno powder and salt, to taste. Toss well to combine.

Sprinkle popcorn liberally with shredded cheddar cheese, top with bacon.

Enjoy!

* Jalapeno powder is just dried, pulverized jalapeno peppers. We buy ours from Midwest Supplies. It adds a ton of flavor to popcorn, without all of the crap found in store bought popcorn seasonings!

When I about 11 or 12, I spent a summer at the CalAlta Figure Skating Club in Calgary. Loved the rink, had a really nice coach…

… but the rink and the coach aren’t what inspired this blog entry. It was the giant muffins that they sold there. I’m pretty sure they were from Costco.. each was way too big to be eaten in one serving. My favorite was the pina colada muffin, which I’d never seen before then. Upon my return to Winnipeg, searches of Costco failed to turn up these muffins, much to my dismay at the time. Anyway, last weekend I woke up from a dream about those skating days, and with the muffins included. I decided to design a recipe around the idea of them. I wouldn’t be going for authentic, as their muffins were actually pretty dry. So, here we are. Moist, tender pina colada flavored muffins! One of the tweaks I made to the source content was to top the muffins with coconut flakes prior to baking, which would allow them to toast up in the process. Pretty AND tasty!

Pina Colada Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups coconut flakes (sweetened or not), divided
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup coconut cream (NOT creamed coconut – and shake the can well first!)
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 cup pineapple puree*
1 tsp. rum extract

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line 12 muffin cups with liners, or spray with baking spray.

In a large bowl, combine flour, 1 cup of the coconut, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture; set aside.

In another bowl, combine eggs, coconut cream, melted butter, pineapple puree, and rum extract. Add egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture.

Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy.) Divide batter between 12 prepared muffin cups, filling each to almost full. Sprinkle remaining coconut over muffin batter in cups.

Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups; serve warm. Makes 12 muffins.

* For pineapple puree, I drained a 20 oz can of pineapple chunks, then pureed the chunks. You can use crushed pineapple if you would like, just drain it really well first!

Today’s guest blog entry is from one of the closest friends I made from the whole MasterChef ordeal ADVENTURE – Carrie Landry Peterson.

In LA, she and Carrie Stevens shared the room next to mine. During our downtime, Carrie and I would hang out – Boozy disposable coffee cups in hand – and swap conspiracy theories and observations about the general nonsense that surrounded us.

Since getting home… well, things are more or less the same. Swap out a hot, humid hotel hallway for our respective homes, add a couple phones, and change out the paper cups for real glasses. You know, except when we’re feeling nostalgic!

Love this girl!

Hello Everyone! My name is Carrie Peterson and I’m an Airline Pilot who loves to cook! By now, you all know that Marie appeared on the FOX show MasterChef! This is how she had, I mean..I had the pleasure of meeting her! Marie has asked me to share with you, my “wicked good” Whoopie Pie recipe. Whoopie Pies you ask?!? Yup, this would be the dessert that I have made since the ripe age of 8! I can make these scrumptious desserts in my sleep. So what better dish for me to make on my MasterChef TV audition, right?!?! Right… So here is a little history on my beloved dessert…The Whoopie Pie was created in 1925 by Labadie’s Bakery in Lewiston, Maine. It’s the official state treat, does your state have an official treat? No? Well, what are you waiting for? Get on it!! I’m not sure what Marie has shared with all of you fabulous people about her experience on MasterChef. Lets just say…it was interesting! We have all made 99 new friends for life! We have also learned that boxed wine served in to go coffee cups is like a glass of heaven after a long day of filming! I wish we could share more with you… Like who won, but you will have to watch yourselves!! Sorry!

Ok, enough of my rambling on….may I present to you, my “wicked good” Whoopie Pie recipe.

WHOOPIE PIES

Cakes: 3 c sugar 1 c butter (room temp) 4 eggs 1/2 c vegetable oil 1 tbsp vanilla 6 c flour 2 c unsweetened cocoa powder 1 tsp baking powder 1 1/2 tbsp baking soda 1 tsp salt 3 c milk Filling: 1 1/2 c shortening 3 c confectioners’ sugar 1 1/3 c marshmallow topping Dash of salt 1 tsp vanilla 1/3 to 1/2 c milk Preheat oven to 350′ or convection oven to 315′. In a large bowl using a mixer, beat sugar, butter, and eggs. Add the oil and vanilla and beat again.

In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Add half of the dry ingredients to the egg mixture, stir or beat to blend. Add 1 1/2 c milk and beat again. Add the remaining dry mixture, blend until incorporated. Add the remaining 1 1/2 c milk and blend.

Depending on what size cake you would like (I make several sizes, depending on what it is for) you can use a large spoon or a measuring cup. Scoop your desired size cake batter on a cookie sheet (I line mine with parchment paper). Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool on wire rack.

In a bowl using an electric mixer, combine all of the ingredients except the milk and beat well. Add just enough milk to achieve a creamy frosting. Spread the filling on one cake half and top it with another cake half.

This recipe makes either 16 LARGE Whoopie Pies or 50 or so small Whoopie Pies.

Let me know what you all think!

Carrie xx

Recently, my friend Susi made a VERY quick trip to Minnesota. She moved away almost two years ago – on the DAY of our tornado, no less. Great timing on her part, but we’ve missed her ever since. As has become tradition, we met up at Psycho Suzi’s for drinks, nibbles, and great conversation.

Breaking from “tradition”… this was the first time I’d been back to that restaurant since I regained my ability to tolerate gluten. Though the menu had now VASTLY opened up to me, I ended up ordering the same thing I usually ordered – the “Backfire” dip. While the dip itself is listed as gluten free, the normal accompaniment – baguette – is decidedly NOT… and I always had to order mine with corn chips. This time, I was looking forward to trying my old favorite in the way it was intended, and it did not disappoint! That night, I decided that the time had come to start making it at home. The dip is just far too good to reserve for the times when we’re willing to brave the loud, sensory-overload environment at the restaurant. I bought the ingredients the next morning, banged out a recipe, and … Wow. I had decided to make my version creamier and cheesier than the source material, and added white wine and provolone. The end result is nothing short of spectacular. Definitely the best artichoke dip I’ve ever had!

This makes a fair amount of dip, so it’s great for parties. If you – like us – only have a couple of people to feed, never fear – it reheats well, and it’s just way too addictive to go to waste. You will plow through a batch in no time!

Jalepeno Artichoke Dip
Inspired by Psycho Suzi‘s “Backfire” Dip

2 cans artichoke hearts (Artichoke size doesn’t matter), drained and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
3 jalapeno peppers, finely chopped*
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves, pressed or finely minced
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 bricks (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
8 oz provolone cheese, shredded
1 tsp fresh lemon zest
1/2 tsp pepper
salt to taste

Heat broiler to high.

In a large saucepan over medium high heat, cook artichoke hearts, peppers, olive oil, and garlic together for a few minutes, until peppers soften a little. Add white wine, cook for another minute.

Carefully mix in softened cream cheese, stirring gently until smooth and well incorporated. Continue heating, stirring frequently, until cheese starts to bubble.

Add in 1 cup of the Parmesan, all of the provolone, as well as the lemon zest and pepper. Stir constantly, until all cheese is melted and smooth. Season with salt, to taste.

Transfer mixture to an oven safe glass baking dish, such as Pyrex – we used a large Pyrex loaf pan. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese.

Broil for a few minutes, until the top of the dip is as browned as you’d like it. Serve hot, with sliced crusty baguette or veggies. Serving corn chips with it is a great option to keep it gluten free, if needed!

* You can remove the seeds and ribs if you’d like a more mild dip – we left it all in.

So, we’re having a bonus FRIDAY post today, by popular demand. You see, I made muffins last Sunday… first time in a few years! Between having to go off gluten for a couple years, not having a kitchen (tornado!) for much of that time, etc? Muffins weren’t on my priority list.

We had a handful of pears about to go bad this week, though. Seemed like the perfect excuse to whip out an old favorite – Cardamom Pear Streusel muffins! I created this recipe a few years ago, when I went on a crazy muffin making binge. SO many awesome recipes came from that week – I’ll be sure to post them in the near-ish future. Cardamom and Pear is one of my favorite flavor combinations for baking with, so of course I had to incorporate them into a muffin recipe. This recipe makes 12 big, moist, and delicious muffins with a delicate crumb and warm, exotic flavor. It’s the perfect way to start a day! Anyway. I posted a photo and description of these online that morning, and was inundated with excited comments and requests for the recipe. As I have most of May already scheduled, I figured this would merit an extra blog entry.. and here we are, just in time for the weekend!

Cardamom Pear Streusel Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp. vanilla
1.5 cups grated pear (~2 large)

Cardamom-Streusel Topping (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line 12 muffin cups with liners, or spray with baking spray.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and cardamom. Make a well in center of flour mixture; set aside.

In another bowl, combine eggs, milk, melted butter, vanilla pears. Add egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy.) Divide batter between 12 prepared muffin cups, filling each to almost full. Sprinkle streusel topping over muffin batter in cups.

Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups; serve warm. Makes 12 muffins.

Cardamom-Streusel Topping:

1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
2 Tbsp butter, chopped

In small bowl, mix together flour, sugar, and cardamom. Use a pastry cutter or two forks to cut in 2 tablespoons butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

A while back, one of my prison buddies MasterChef friends – Duckie – posted a photo of her dinner on Facebook. While that in itself isn’t anything special – my FB news feed has been FLOODED with dinner pics, since coming home from this MC adventure – man, that photo was the stuff that dreams are made of. Well, most of her photos are – they always have everyone drooling – but this really stood out to me.

It was a burger that featured not a meat patty, but a big chunk of paneer that had been breaded with corn flakes! As she described it on her blog, Duckie’s Dine-asty:

“Paneer Burger! Fried paneer on a garlic roll with cabbage, carrot, and a sweet and spicy tamarind chutney…accompanied by sweet potato fries and curried ketchup!”

… I knew I’d have to do my own version, and SOON. The idea of just frying a big patty of paneer as a burger just seemed so hedonistic, it kind of made me giddy to think about it. I don’t usually get like that over something… vegetarian. LOL! So, I thought about which direction I’d want to go with it. I decided that, rather than a cornflake breading, I’d go for a giant version of a paneer pakora. Rather than using my cilantro-mint chutney with it, I’d make a mayo based on that idea, for a creamier texture. Then, to top it off, a mess of quick pickled veggies for some color, brightness, and acidity! YES. It was every bit as awesome as it looks. My husband claims “I could eat that again and again!”, and that it ranks right up there with my Apple Chicken Burgers with Basil and Gouda. Given how completely buts he is about THOSE.. that’s saying something! So freaking good. Yum!

You can also see Duckie’s work on her brand new Facebook page, Duckie’s Dine-asty”.

Duckie is ALL kinds of awesome, even beyond her cooking. She was one of the first people I met in LA, very friendly, outgoing, hilarious, and .. inclusive. On a personal note – she even publicly ripped a bully a new one on my behalf! I mean… in a spectacular fashion. I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone do that for me. This whole thing has been filled with unique experiences for me, but I digress – Duckie is awesome. That is all.

Paneer Burgers with Quick Pickle and Cilantro-Mint Mayo
(Makes two big burgers)

1/3 cup mayo
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
2 Tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped

1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1/2 – 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 green onion, thinly sliced on a long diagonal
1 small carrot, peeled
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Oil, for deep frying
1/2 cups garbanzo (chickpea) flour
2 Tbsp cup rice flour
1 1/2 tsp hot curry powder
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp salt
pinch tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro
1/2 cup water
12 oz brick of paneer, room temperature
1/4 cup additional garbanzo flour

2 burger buns of choice

Mix together mayo, cilantro, and mint. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed.

Place sliced peppers and green onions into a bowl. Using a vegetable peeler, peel long strips of carrot into the same bowl, until you have as much carrot as you would like (I used about as much carrot as I did red pepper). Whisk together vinegar, sugar, and salt. Pour over the vegetables, tossing to coat well. Cover and set aside.

Start heating your oil to 375F – you’ll want at least 2-3″ of oil in your pot or deep fryer.

In a large bowl, combine flours, spices, salt, baking powder, and cilantro. Add water, stir well to form a thick batter. All batter to sit for 5 minutes or so, to soften the bean flour.

Slice your paneer into two “patties”. Sizing will depend on what shape your paneer loaf is in – we got two square patties, and a couple of extra sticks as a “side”. Toss patties with additional garbanzo flour, then dredge in the batter.

Carefully transfer paneer patties to the preheated oil. Fry for a few minutes on each side, until golden brown. Use a slotted metal spoon to transfer fried paneer to paper towels.

To construct the burgers:

Split the buns, toasting if desired. Spread cilantro-mint mayo on bottom half of each bun. Top with burger, and a generous helping of quick pickled veggies. Crown with top bun, enjoy!

So, as I mentioned in an earlier entry, I ended up creating a cocktail while out in LA, “competing” on MasterChef. Well, more accurately, I created it while being holed up in my hotel room!

Anyway, a few days after arriving, we were allowed to go to a nearby mall… it was like getting sprung from jail! We were allowed to roam free for a couple hours, no babysitters, no need to ask permission to go to the washroom. It was kind of awesome, even if I hate malls. FREEDOM!

You know what else is awesome? The fact that you can buy booze at Target in LA.

Now, I’ve seen booze for sale in grocery stores before – in Chicago. Wish it could be that way here in MN, but apparently buying booze on a Sunday means you’re going to hell, soo… yeah. Anyway, seeing booze on a random endcap in a Target was just so novel, I had to giggle. Then, I HAD to buy something, just to say I did.

I settled on a bottle of Malibu. It seemed appropriate, between all the palm trees everywhere, and the general atmosphere of the whole experience. I imagine that this is what college feels like (I wouldn’t know!), and to me, Malibu = young drinking, haha! I’d already had some UV Pink Lemonade Vodka in the hotel room from an earlier grocery store run, along with various mixers and everyday drinks. Sure, there was a hotel bar, but I am cheap.. AND a poor tornado victim, so was not going to be paying hotel cocktail prices. Best to plan ahead! Let’s be clear – there was a LOT of drinking happening out there. I’ll never look at a hotel room disposable coffee mug – or boxes of wine – the same way again. As you already know, I like my drinks to basically be “diabetes in a glass”. Sweet, fruity, and fairly girly… and the Drinking in LA certainly fits the bill. It’ll also sneak up on you, so be careful. Very easy to get thoroughly trashed on this, without even realizing it. Just the other day, my LA roomie asked me if I had slipped MDMA into our drinks, LOL!

Anyway, in honor of my MasterChef experience, I am eschewing our typical professionally styled drink photography setup – and proper glasses – to show the cocktail in its original form. Sure, there were the small rocks glasses available in our hotel rooms… but the disposable coffee mugs afforded us portability. Not only were we able to bring our paper cups out to the pool area (no glass allowed, naturally)… but we could put the plastic lids on and proceed to drink our asses off in the main hotel lobby – even in the bar area – undetected!

A neat trick, and something to keep in mind for conventions, haha! I have no idea why this never occurred to me before. Drinking in LA 2 oz Malibu Rum liqueur 1 oz Pink Lemonade vodka 2 oz Limeade 2 oz Sierra Mist Measure ingredients into a shaker*. Add a handful of ice, shake a few times, strain into disposable coffee cup. *Or, if you’re away on a reality show and sequestered without proper bar equipment: skip the shaker, skip the ice. Pour everything into your coffee cup without TOO much regard for measurements, swirl it a little and you should be good!

Ok, hubby won’t let me get away with NOT posting a proper drink photo…

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The Minneapolis Farmers Market opened this past weekend, and we’d been looking forward to it for a very long time.

This was definitely the winter that wouldn’t end, stubbornly “gifting” us with another 3″ of snow just a week ago, before jumping up to highs in the mid 70s days later. WTF, mother nature?

Anyway, it was great to wander the aisles that we hadn’t seen since last summer, and get some fresh air. While there wasn’t much in the way of fresh produce yet, we did end up buying – among other things – a tray of fresh Brussels sprouts. I was happy – it’s been a while.

Growing up, I LOVED Brussels sprouts. Fresh or frozen, usually mushy and included in stew.. whatever. Loved em! As I grew a bit older, it kinda shocked me to learn that Brussels sprouts had kind of a bad reputation, and was a commonly DISliked food. As it turns out, my husband is in a weird middleground. He doesn’t love them, doesn’t hate them… but is OK with them in small doses. He says they are “too much… something”. Yeah, I don’t know. So, I decided to try to make a Brussels Sprouts Believer out of him. Forget the stew, I’d do my second favourite presentation – roasted. I knew it would be hard to turn up his nose at bacon roasted Brussels sprouts, even if left plain… but these are also tossed in a tweaked version of my go-to favourite vinaigrette. SO good… he loved em! I hope you will, too!

Bacon Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Dijon Vinaigrette

1 lb thick cut bacon, chopped
1 1/2- 2 lbs fresh Brussels sprouts
1 Tbsp brown sugar
Salt
Pepper
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 clove garlic, peeled and finely minced

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Cook bacon to desired doneness – I like to stop just short of crispy, for this recipe.

As bacon is cooking, remove any yellowed or otherwise ugly outer leaves from the Brussels sprouts. Cut off the very end (brown) of each stem end, before cutting each sprout in half. Place on a baking sheet.

Use a slotted spoon to transfer bacon from pan, setting aside. Measure 1/4 cup of bacon drippings into a bowl or measuring glass, set aside for now.

Pour remaining bacon drippings over the Brussels sprouts, tossing to coat well. Sprinkle sprouts with brown sugar, season with salt and pepper, gentle toss to coat. Roast for about 25 minutes, stirring the sprouts every 8-10 minutes or so.

Whisk cider vinegar, mustard, garlic, 1/2 tsp pepper, and 1/4 tsp salt into the the (slightly cooled!) reserved 1/4 cup of bacon drippings until mixture becomes thick, well combined, and smooth.

Once sprouts are as roasted as you would like them, remove from the oven and transfer to a serving bowl. Toss with vinaigrette and bacon, season with more salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot!

Wow, it’s been the better part of a year since I posted my recipe for Mango Daiquiri Panna Cotta, the other dessert pictured here. The plan had been to post them back to back, but hey – I’m nothing, if not a master procrastinator!

Yes, the quotation marks on “Panna cotta” were intentional. I like to mess with recipes, and I think this may be one of those instances where I bastardized it SO much, it probably can’t technically be considered in the family of food that it started. “Panna Cotta” specifically meaning “cooked cream”… and this recipe having none of that? Yeah. Anyway. The cool thing about this dessert is that specific gravity of the ingredients – combined with a reluctance to actually form a stable solution – means that you end up with a funky layered dessert by the time it actually sets up! You have a lychee flavored jelly on the bottom, and a creamy, “panna cotta”-like lychee dessert on top. Enjoy!

Lychee Panna Cotta

1 1/2 tsp Unflavored gelatin powder
3 Tbsp Cold water*
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup lychee puree**
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Sour cream

Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a small bowl and let absorb for five minutes.

Combine coconut milk, puree, and sugar in a saucepan. Heat to just to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Do not let it come to boil! Meanwhile, microwave the gelatin for about 15 seconds, or until it’s melted.

Once the milk mixture has come to a simmer, remove it from the heat. Whisk in the gelatin until fully incorporated, and the mixture is smooth. Add sour cream, whisking once again till fully incorporated and smooth. Pour into four lightly greased ramekins or custard cups. Chill for at least 2 hours until set.

* You can also use syrup from a can of lychees, if so desired.

** While it’s possible to purchase lychee puree, we pureed lychees from a can. To do so, strain the lychees from two cans, reserving the syrup (You can make lychee liqueur from it!). Blitz in a blender until very smooth, then press through a wire sieve.