This week TasteOdyssey.com is going to put up at least one new macrobiotic recipe per day, recipes so simple and so fresh that your body will tingle with new energy and your tastebuds will marvel at how such simple ingredients an taste so new and exciting.

If it sounds like I am overstating it, believe me I am not. These recipes won’t be full meal replacements, just simple and quick examples of what Macro can be and taste like. Creating a full macro diet is something that requires a little more study, but this will be a sampling to get you going.

If it sounds like I am trying to convert you to some strange cult, I am not. What I have found interesting about eating Macro recipes like the ones I will feature this week, however, is that once you feel the effects it has on you, it is hard to mix and match with heavy foods like bacon cheeseburgers and Colas. Don’t get me wrong – I love cheeseburgers, but Macro sort of pulls you away from that desire and launches you into a whole other direction of deliciousness and sparkling feelings of lightness and rejuvenation.

But don’t take my word for it; heck I sound a little zany with all these glowing adjectives. Try it out for yourself, and you will see what I mean.

One last thing – even though the recipes this week are more of a taste sampling tour, and remarkably simple, some of the ingredients can sometimes be a little harder to find. Not impossible, not weird; you just may need to pick up a few new things to get your kitchen ready to rock.

Enjoy Magical Macrobiotic Mystery Tour Week!

Tags: adjectives, bacon, cheeseburgers, colas, desire, feelings, macrobiotic recipe, meal replacements, mystery tour, new energy, Recipes, sampling, strange cult, tastebuds, zany

Author: Tracey Grace

This is a very fast and simple recipe for ice-cream, which I invented when I misread an old Mary Berry recipe – I accidentally missed out the egg yolks, but the end result still tasted good. The reason why it’s so easy is that it doesn’t involve making a custard, as most ice-creams do. The secret to making good ice-cream is basically a matter of getting a decent emulsion of fat and water.

I think that this recipe achieves that partly by having a higher fat content than other ice-cream recipes I’ve come across – so beware, large quantities will cause your waistline to expand!

This recipe also has the advantage that it’s safer than other “no-cook” ice-cream recipes I’ve come across, because there are no raw eggs in the recipe (dried egg white is pasteurized), so it can be safely served to children, pregnant women, the elderly and immuno-suppressed, who must avoid raw eggs.

However, like properly made ice-creams it is rich with no detectable ice crystals in mouth feel. The trick is speed – you really can’t afford to pause or loose focus when mixing the ingredients together, or the ingredients will separate, and the egg whites lose their aeration.

It’s also important to have your ingredients at the right temperature. Bring the cream almost up to room temperature by taking it out of the fridge about an hour before starting to make this recipe, or the contrast in temperatures between that and the chocolate can cause the chocolate to re-solidify in lots of little flakes in your recipe (If the container holding the cream still feels cool to the touch, then it’s too soon to start making the ice-cream).

It is possible to make this recipe without an ice-cream maker, but it is a lot more work – you will need to take the carton of ice-cream out of the freezer every ten minutes and give it a vigorous stir with a fork, over a period of about an hour or two, until it is completely set through.

I have used dark chocolate, but the finished product has a milk chocolate flavor, because of all the cream in the recipe. You can use milk chocolate, but I feel that the chocolate flavor then tends to be overly subtle in the finished product.

INGREDIENTS

160g (5.5oz) Dark Chocolate
2 dried egg whites, reconstituted according to packet instructions
175g (6oz) caster sugar
500ml (17 fl oz) single cream (18% fat cream)
250ml (8.5 fl oz) double cream (48% fat cream)

METHOD

Take the double & single cream out of the fridge to warm up. Make sure your ice-cream maker is ready to use, and have all your equipment handy (you don’t want to have to break off in the middle of making this to rummage in a drawer)

Melt chocolate by the usual method in a pyrex bowl over simmering water, or in a double boiler. When it has melted, add the double cream to the chocolate in the warm bowl, and stir well. Then add the single cream, continuously gently stirring the mixture until it is perfectly even.

Then whisk the egg whites until stiff (and about double the volume) using an electric beater. This will take about 2 minutes. Then add the sugar, little by little, continuing to whisk while doing so.

Then whisk in the chocolate and cream mixture, again, a little at a time, whisking continuously. Put the mixture straight into the ice-cream maker, and follow the manufacturer’s instructions to freeze the ice-cream.

Once frozen, if you are not eating the ice-cream straight away, then put immediately into a container, and put it in the freezer. The recipe makes about 1.5 litres of ice-cream. The ice-cream will tend to become more solid in the freezer as time goes on, so if it remains in the freezer for more than 4 hours, you will need to remove the container from the freezer and put the container in the fridge for about 20 minutes to let it soften very slightly before serving.

You can make this recipe with any type of chocolate that takes your fancy, but you may want to reduce the sugar content down to about 140g for milk chocolate or 120g for white chocolate to avoid the sweetness overwhelming the flavour of the chocolate. Of course, you can also add other ingredients such as small pieces of fruit, flavourings like mint or citrus oils, spices, caramel sauce, or confectionery pieces to ring the changes. However, if you are adding large quantities of fruit, you will need to use a higher fat cream to avoid getting lots of large ice crystals – I suggest that in this case you use entirely double cream, rather than a mixture of single and double cream. However, be careful with double cream and ice-cream makers – on occasions when my attention slipped, the cream whipped itself into butter, which had a most peculiar texture when eaten!

For an 80g serving (about 2 scoops), fat content is 21g; calorie content 270kcal.

About the Author:

Joe is a keen amateur confectioner, and runs an online Chocolate Delivery service, Chocolate Now! with her husband Nigel. You can find more of her chocolate recipes at chocolate-now.co.uk/recipes.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com

Tags: chocolate ice cream, cool to the touch, crystals, custard, egg white, egg whites, egg yolks, emulsion, end result, fat content, fridge, google, ice cream recipes, pregnant women, raw eggs, recipe, room temperature, script type, waistline

Sure some people live in Las Vegas, but to outsiders, the idea of spending more than a weekend in Sin City is usually too much to swallow. Last week, I had the opportunity to spend eight days on the strip as a result of attending a media convention and so try out some new culinary corners that I may have overlooked during past visits.

Planet Hollywood is not a casino I normally frequent, but because we stayed at a time share across the street, it was quick and easy to just pop in a grab whatever sustenance we needed before heading off for another eight hour day pacing up and down the massive convention center.

The first day we stopped in at Dailies – a cover-all-bases cafeteria type affair that I must recommend; from the tangy and spicy Buffalo wings to the very authentic Asian noddle soup (the broth indeed smacked of both duck and pork as opposed to salty Ramen noodle MSG powder) everything we tried there worked out quite well.

After a few days of this, Starbucks and buffets, we needed something close but different. On a lark we slipped into Yolös – the Mexican Restaurant tucked away in a neon pink corner by the restrooms. Normally I wouldn’t go for (yet another) Mexican meal as I live in Los Angeles and there is just far too much of it going around to pique any further curiosity on my part.

What we experienced, however, was so tasty that it merited me sitting down to write this glowing review. Having only eaten there once, I can’t vouch for everything on the menu, but between the Prickly Pear Mojito, the fresh guacamole made table-side by our waitress (consisting of nothing more than chopped shallots, jalapenos, lime, cilantro and a whole avocado) blue corn coconut shrimp with an incredible, very spicy papaya and habanero salsa and the key lime creme brulee that framed my entree, it all seemed consistently excellent.

My entree was the Pollo Rostizado, (“Roast Chicken” in English) which turned out to be a succulent and perfectly moist quarter chicken that maintained the slightly gamey flavor of a natural bird as opposed to the bland and thready variety found in average grocery stores. The star of the dish was the light pink tequila chipotle cream sauce – not too heavy but just rich enough to bring out the subtler flavors of the chicken without smothering it. Served with wild mushrooms (which is what likely led me to order it in the first place as I am a sucker for non-cultivatable, edible fungi) over a bed of Mexican rice (meaning + Annato) I was perfectly satisfied.

One of my guests ordered the more cliche Steak Fajita dish and got just that – a sizzling iron plate with onions and green peppers accompanied by some grilled flank steak and three corn tortillas. When he requested an extra pair of tortillas he was charged a dollar, which I found a little miserly considering we were in the heart of a Vegas casino on the strip and the fact that there were, in fact, two less tortillas than there were strips of steak to begin with. I hope they work this out because their chef is otherwise making beautiful things happen in the kitchen.

Tags: avocado, blue corn, brulee, buffalo wings, buffets, cilantro, coconut shrimp, dailies, guacamole, habanero salsa, key lime, las vegas, papaya, planet hollywood, prickly pear, ramen, restaurant review, restrooms, yolos

I couldn’t resist trying out this “Guinness Bread with Molasses” by Hank Shaw of Hunter Angler Gardener Cook:

Here is the recipe (you can find the original post and recipe at Simply Recipes)

Ingredients

• 3 cups self-rising flour*
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup molasses
• A pinch of salt (roughly 1/8 teaspoon)
• 12 ounces of Guinness beer
• Butter for greasing the pan and painting the top, about 3 tablespoons

* If you don’t have self-rising flour, you can substitute using a ratio of 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, plus 1/8 teaspoon of salt, for every cup of self-rising flour. Have made both ways though and got better results from the self-rising flour.
Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a loaf pan well with butter.

2. Pour the flour, salt and sugar into a large bowl and whisk to combine.

3. Slowly pour the Guinness into the flour mixture. (The “pub cans” are larger than 12 ounces, but they have better carbonation, so I pour most of it out and leave a swig to drink. This has never failed me, but if you are a stickler, use a 12-ounce bottle of Guinness instead.) Start stirring the beer into the dry ingredients, and when you are about halfway done, add the molasses. Mix well, just to combine. Don’t work the heck out of the batter – because that’s what it’ll look like – but you don’t want lumps, either.

4. Pour into the loaf pan to no more than 2/3 full. Pop into the oven immediately and bake for 50 minutes. Since ovens can vary, check the bread after 40 minutes and see if a toothpick inserted into the deepest part of the loaf comes out clean. If it does, you’re done.

5. Let the loaf cool a bit, maybe 5 minutes, and then turn it out onto a rack. Paint it with lots of soft butter, which will melt as you go.

~~~End original recipe~~~

My take on it:

This was my St. Patrick’s Day cooking Odyssey. I decided to do a double batch. (Why heat up the oven for just one loaf of bread?)

I ended up using Guinness Extra Stout (who knew there WAS such a thing as stronger than Guinness?) — and blackstrap molasses, which is extra dark – so mine turned out quite dark compared to the original blogger’s version.  It’s a simple recipe, producing a slightly sweet bread, and not like anything I’ve baked before.  You can definitely taste the beer. (Shall we say- a glass in every slice?)  Unable to even attempt to finish the bread at home, I gave half-loaves to a few friends, all of whom liked it, and it was a hit with the office crowd as well.  I’d love to try again soon, with regular Guinness and a lighter molasses.  If you like beer, you should give it a try.

The question: if you make bread with the beer that claims to have a sandwich in every glass, does the universe implode?

SarahB

Tags: baking, beer, bread, molasses, odyssey, recipe, St. Patrick's Day

Using a Smoker Box on Your Grill

Author: Ray Shank

Using a Smoker Box on your grill is an excellent way to give your smaller meals a great full, smoky flavor. You can find them in all sizes and prices.  They’re perfect for smoking fish, steak, ribs, chicken and more!  I recently got one and found it easier to get that great smoky taste on small meals than using my big smoker.  Of course, if I had a big cooking job, I’d elect to use the smoker, but for small cooking chores, you might find that using a smoker box is a great way to go.

To use your smoker box, get a bag of wood chips like hickory or mesquite chips (Don’t use chunks)

• Soak wood chips for approximately 20 minutes. (or a full day.)
• With the lid open or off and fill box with wood chips.
• Place smoker box on top of rocks or briquettes on one side of the grill.
• Light your grill, as you would normally.
• When smoke appears start the cooking process.
• Smoke will last approximately 15-20 minutes and will enhance the flavor of your favorite dish.
• Before reusing the Smoker Box, dispose of ALL the residue in the box, refill with FRESH and reuse.

TIP: What I do with my smoker box is that I go ahead and start cooking my meat as normal, making sure I sear the meat before the box starts smoking. Once the box starts smoking, I turn down or shut off the side of the grill opposite the smoker box and transfer all the meat to that side. (opposite the smoker box) The meat should be already seared and just about cooked by now, and now we are mostly just flavoring the meat with the smoke from the smoker box.

Different wood chips used for smoking:

Hickory is a great all-purpose wood, especially recommended for all cuts of pork and chicken.

Apple is exceptionally good for fish and fowl; the greener the wood, the sweeter the smoke flavor that will be imparted.

Other fruit woods, such as cherry, mulberry, pear and peach are good for fish and poultry, including any wild foul.

Grapevine is also good for fish and poultry, including any wild foul.

Pecan is another good all-purpose wood, recommended for all cuts of pork.

Use persimmon with beef or pork. It is also good for wild game.

The bark, roots and wood chips of sassafras are good for smoke flavor in fish and poultry.

About the Author:
Get Information, resources, recipes, tips and techniques for enjoying the great American grilling experience, on your grill. Sign up for “The Sizzle” Newsletter: www.OnYourGrill.com

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/cooking-tips-articles/using-a-smoker-box-on-your-grill-836787.html

Tags: aroma, cherry wood, cooking tips, dishes, flavors, fruit wood, grill, meats, oven smoker, recipe, sizzle, smoker box, steak