Recipes for Cook

Showing posts with label cook. Show all posts

Friday, March 21, 2014

A Cupcake Cook Off at the Office

Like Lady Gaga, Im a trendsetter.

I know I take credit for lots of trends that cant necessarily be traced back to me (anyone else remember me rockin white nail polish in winter 07??), but one things for sure: I have paved the way for cupcakes obsessions at my office.

When I got back from lunch today, my pal Erica called to notify me that a group of ladies on the 19th floor were holding their own Cupcake Cook-off, which was loosely, if not entirely, inspired by "The Daily Cupcake" e-mails I send...daily. Needless to say I:

1.) wasnt surprised by my ability to spark such enthusiasm in people and;

2.) got myself up there immediately!

Apparently this was a relatively last-minute cook-off in honor of a visiting coworker from our San Francisco office. (Hi, Alberto!!!) He was also selected as judge. Why I didnt get the memo remains unclear.

Nevertheless, there was a fine turnout of cupcakes, including Chocolate with mint icing and chocolate sprinkles:

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese icing:

Chocolate with white icing and sprinkles:

What I dubbed "Do-it-yourself-Funfetti":

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate icing topped with a raspberry:

And the ultimate winner, Red Velvet!

The winning cupcakes were made by Huong, so I made her pose with her cupcake:

Of course, I had try just a dainty, tiny bite of the winning selection:

This is Katie and Peter. We used to work together. We still enjoy cupcakes together:

I was really pleased with the event in general and mostly that it happened all, but I was thinking about the way I might have judged this cook-off. And since youre on my blog, I figured Id give out my awards. That, and Ive been watching a lot of Toddlers & Tiaras lately, so Im in a judging mood, what can I say?

To be fair, I only tried the red velvet and mint chocolate chip, but Ive been around a few cupcakes in my day, so I got this.

Best Presentation of a Cupcake: Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting, topped with a raspberry
Best Short-on-Time-So-Ill-Come-Up-With-A-Cute-Gimmick-to-Throw-People-Off Cupcake: Do-it-yourself Funfetti
Best Appearance by a Vegetable in a Cupcake Cupcake: Carrot Cake Cupcake
Best Store Bought Cupcake: Chocolate Cupcake with white icing and sprinkles
Tastiest Cupcake: (its a tie) Mint Chocolate and Red Velvet...but you saw that coming, didnt you?

Friday, February 14, 2014

Anglo Indian Cuisine A legacy of Flavours from the Past GOURMAND WORLD COOK BOOK AWARDS 2012

And now sharing with all of you the Certificate I received from GOURMAND INTERNATIONAL SPAIN declaring my Cookery Book ANGLO-INDIAN CUISINE - A LEGACY OF FLAVOURS FROM THE PAST as BEST CULINARY HISTORY BOOK FROM INDIA at the GOURMAND WORLD COOK BOOK AWARDS 2012.
This Certificate is for all of you

Monday, January 27, 2014

A Simple Beef Pot Roast with Prep Cook Ragout

This delicious Beef Pot Roast video recipe is dedicated to all you hungry prep cooks out there. In a restaurant kitchen, real diner breaks are more theory than practice.

There is often not enough time to get everything done, and you cant really tell the chef that you didnt get around to dicing the mushrooms because you were enjoying a nice leisurely supper.

Its not that you starve; someone is usually assigned to cook a "family meal," as its referred to. Leftovers are pulled together and laid out buffet-style to grab when you have a chance. This thankless job is normally done by the youngest cooks, who gain valuable experience, as well as learn profanity in several languages as the results of their labors are critiqued by the older line cooks.

Prep cook ragout or ragu, is what I call the stewed vegetables that are leftover from the making of stocks, sauces, or from roasting meats. This soft, cooked-to-death "mirepoix" (onions, celery, carrots) is the last resort "family meal" side dish of the "in the weeds" apprentice.

Here, however, these same vegetables make for a really nice topping to our simple, but comforting beef pot roast. Beef, mirepoix, butter, rosemary, salt and pepper…now, thats a recipe any busy prep cook would love. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
Beef Chuck Pot Roast (about 3 1/2 pounds)
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced onion
1 tsp dried rosemary
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 stick butter