While in Breckenridge on a couples get away my husband ordered some tamales from a Mexican restaurant we ate at. It was smothered in this sweet corn purée and although I hate tamales I was caught stealing more than a couple bites of this crazy delicious sauce. When we got home all I could think about was this corn sauce and how and when I was going to recreate it. I knew I wouldn't be making tamales with it (masa is not my favorite) so I decided on empanadas. The night before we had grilled corn and the leftovers would prove perfect for my corn sauce. I had rotisserie chicken and some ground beef leftover from various meals a couple nights before. We had picked up a mango peach salsa from the store and although the flavor was good the texture left something to be desired and it needed a bit of heat to bring it up a notch. I roasted 3 jalapeños over my gas stove until charred on the outside. I peeled the skin of two and threw them in a blender with the mango peach salsa. It came out perfect. The sweetness from the mango and the peach still lingered while the jalapeños added just enough heat. I took the left over beef and the rotisserie chicken (it was about 4 cups shredded) and split the salsa between the two, making sure all the meat was covered.

     I usually use my mother in law’s pie dough recipe for empanadas but was all out of Crisco and needed a dough recipe that utilized butter. When it comes to baking I use recipes, I may tweak a couple things here and there but baking is a science and I just don't mess with science. I used the easy empanada dough from laylita.com. Make sure to work in batches and keep the not used portions in your fridge so the butter remains cold. It is important for the butter to melt in the oven and not on your counter, the fat melting and spreading out during the cooking process is what forms the flaky layers we've all grown to love in pies and dough. Roll out the first part of dough until about 1/8” thick. You don't want it to be too thin or it will break. Cut the rolled dough into circles using a biscuit cutter or alarmed glass. Once you have the circles formed fill each circle with approximately 1-2 tablespoons of the filling. At this point you can add a bit of cheese on top of the filling, any good melting cheese like Cheddar or Asadero will work. This is a step that I completely forgot about and the empanadas still turned out delicious. Fold one end of the circle over to meet the other, forming half moons. You can then seal the edges using your hands or using a fork you can crimp the edges. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and brush with egg wash, which is just 1 egg and 1 tablespoon cold water whisked together.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Continue the steps until all dough and filling is done.

     For the sweet corn sauce combine the kernels from 6 grilled cobs with 1/4 cup milk into the bowl of a food processor and purée until smooth.

Set aside in a small bowl. I then took the last jalapeño, peeled the skin, and placed it in the bowl of the food processor. I added a dash of salt, the zest and juice from one lime, and 1 cup of sour cream. Blend until smooth and you've got an amazingly easy jalapeño lime cream to go with the empanadas.

     We dipped our empanadas in the sweet corn sauce and the jalapeño lime cream and the combination of sweet and spicy, tangy and rich yielded a result that was nothing short of vacation worthy. So although we weren't in Breckenridge, I had managed to transport us back with that one component and I didn't even have to steal any bites.

 

 

 

Sweet Corn Sauce

6 ears of corn grilled and kernels removed

¼ cup milk

 

Directions

In the bowl of a food processor combine corn kernels and milk and purée until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.

 

Jalapeño Lime Sour Cream

Juice from 1 lime

Zest from 1 lime

½ cup sour cream

1 roasted jalapeño, skin and seeds to removed

Dash of salt

 

Directions

In the bowl of a food processor combine all ingredients and purée until smooth. Transfer to a serving bowl.

 

Chicken and Beef Empanadas

4 cups sweet salsa not chunky, divided (you can use any sweet salsa that you have on hand).

4 cups ground beef, cooked

4 cups shredded rotisserie chicken

1 recipe empanada dough from laylita.com

 

Directions

In a large bowl place beef and 2 cups of the sweet salsa. Mix until combined. In a second bowl combine the chicken and the remaining 2 cups of salsa. Mix until combined.

 

Empanada Dough

From www.laylita.com

 

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour

¼ to 1/2 teaspoon salt

6 oz unsalted butter (1 ½ sticks)

1 egg

1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of water or milk, adjust as needed to obtain a soft and smooth dough

 

Directions

Mix the flour and salt in a food processor.

Add the butter and pulse

Add the egg and the water or milk (in small increments) and continue pulsing until a clumpy dough forms.

To make the empanada dough by hand, follow the same instruction but use your hands to mix the ingredients together.

Split the dough into 2 large balls, flatten slightly into the shape of disks. The dough can be used immediately or refrigerated until ready to use (1-2 days max).

Roll out the dough into a thin sheet and cut out round disc shapes for empanadas (use round molds or a small plate). You can also make small individual balls with the dough and roll out each individual ball to a round shape (doesn't need to be perfectly round) - if you have a tortilla press you can use it to flatten the dough balls.

Use immediately, or store in the refrigerator/freezer to use later.

 

Assembling and baking the empanadas

To assemble the empanadas or turnovers, place a spoonful of the filling on the middle of each empanada disc. The amount of filling will vary based on the size of the empanada, but in general, it’s easier to seal an empanada that isn’t overstuffed. Also, the more you make empanadas, the easier it becomes to stuff them to the max and still seal them properly.

To seal the empanadas, fold the disc and seal the edges by pressing the dough with your fingers. If you’re having a hard time sealing the edges, you can use brush the inside edges with egg white, it will act as a glue for the empanadas. You can also use a fork to help seal the edges, just press the top of the fork against the edges. To do the repulgue or churito, the curl type seal, use your fingers to twist the curl the edges. There are also empanada molds that you can buy and will help seal the empanadas.

For best results, I recommend refrigerating the empanadas for at least 30 minutes before baking – this also helps them seal better and prevents the filling from leaking out.

If you want your empanadas to have a nice golden finish, then you can brush them with egg wash (a whole egg whisked or egg yolk plus a few drops of water whisked).

Bake the empanadas in a pre-heated oven. I usually bake them at 350 the temperature will vary based on the oven and the size of the empanadas.

For the young aspiring chef...

Here is a strong misconception among those going into the culinary world... you have to work in a restaurant the rest of your life. When I decided to go to culinary school, and believe me the choice was not made lightly or quickly, I knew restaurant work was not my end all be all. I had worked in enough food establishments to know that the long hours, mostly at night, working holidays and not having a say in your schedule, and the -lets just say it-hard ass work you put in for little monetary reward, wasn't my dream. I knew when I landed on a culinary degree that I was using that degree as a basis that would hopefully launch into a career of writing about food, which also allows me to eat all the food (I run for a reason people). I knew I wanted to pay a bit of my dues in the restaurant industry, because I knew I wouldn't feel right about describing someone's dish and the work they put in to make that dish from start to finish without having experienced some of that dedication myself. It's not to say that I didn't absolutely love the hustle and bustle of the back of the kitchen, falling into the weeds and rock starring your way out of it like a bad ass. That high though wasn't enough to keep me fighting my way to the top of the ladder dominated by male chefs. I consider myself a pretty tough chic and I usually exceed at making coworkers realize my worth, but the glass ceiling in a kitchen is high and it wasn't where I wanted to spend my days so it wasn't worth the journey for me. I ran into my fair share of male dominated kitchens and arrogant line cooks, some more fun to goad then to actually take seriously. So I put in enough time to ALWAYS commend what restaurant chefs do on a daily basis but also enough to know that my degree would serve a different purpose in my life. There are so many other options for those of us with a culinary degree, that the last place we need to hang our jackets is at a restaurant. We can be anything from food critics, to personal chefs, the possibilities are open and the ability we have as chefs to constantly think outside the box leaves our career path wide open.

So my advice, my young Forkers, aspiring to cook for a living, is to think outside of that plate and let your passion dictate where you land. No matter where you land, rock it, push yourself every day to be better and don't be lazy or complacent about it. Grow and learn from every position you are in, and every chef who is better and more experienced than you. Don't become so arrogant that you forget that you can always grow and the challenges and struggles are what teach us, especially in a kitchen.

1 potato, 2 potato...

So the first time I ever had gnocchi (pronounced no-kee) was in Italy. It wasn't even what I ordered but as the plate came out and was set down in front of my husband there was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to steal a bite. There's something devastatingly bad about trying out a pasta dish for the first time in Italy. You can't go home and get the same mouth watering experience, it's just not possible. The gnocchi we had (yes I said we) was the lightest, most airy gnocchi I have ever had. If you have never had gnocchi before let me explain how this delectable Italian staple is made. It's more of a potato dumpling than a pasta. You use potatoes, eggs, and flour and combine them until the dough comes together. Cook them in simmering salted water and use a sauce of your choice. Simple right? Well sometimes it isn't so simple. There are nuances to making this meal and it all starts with how you cook the potatoes.
Potatoes can be very unforgiving. Boil them instead of simmer and you're left with a gluey mashed potato, cook them too long for a gnocchi and you get the same disastrous result. Do not fear though, you can avoid this and you can make gnocchi from scratch. Do you remember my heirloom tomato adventure? Well the caprese salad I made had me purchasing a very well sprung basil plant who to this day is still basking in the sun of the kitchen window. So my basil plant is flourishing with giant leaves and of course it leads to one thought. Pesto. Pesto is a sauce made of basil, Parmesan, lemon, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and traditionally toasted pine nuts. So just like the mouse and his cookie, if I make pesto I'm going to have to make homemade pasta to go with it and gnocchi with its feather like quality is the perfect pasta to make.
I start by washing my potatoes and emerging them in a large pot of cold salted water. When you cook pasta and potatoes always salt the water, and when you salt it-taste it! The water should taste salty, like the sea. Turn the pot to medium high heat and simmer the potatoes for 40 minutes or until tender. See how I said simmer and not boil. Don't bring your pot to a rolling boil, whether making gnocchi or mashed potatoes you'll just end up with an inferior product and a mess on your stove. As soon as the potatoes are fork tender, turn off the heat, drain the water and let them cool just enough that you can handle them, or like me, enough to where the wincing of pain is minimal. Once they have cooled slightly you will want to peel the skin and use a ricer to rice the potatoes. A ricer is a device that works similar to a garlic press. It pushes the potato through a grate and as the name suggests leaves the bits of potato looking like small rice grains. If you don't have one of these you can push through a strainer or anything that will create small rice like bits of potato. You will want to rice your potatoes onto a cold work surface in a single layer so they can cool completely. While you wait for them to cool bring a large stock pot of cold, salted water to a simmer over medium high heat.
Once cool gather the potatoes into a mound and create a well in the center of the potatoes (just like you would in mashed potatoes for your gravy). Take your eggs, salt and pepper and combine in a bowl and blend. Pour the egg mixture into the center of your potatoes and using a fork begin mixing, pulling more potato from edge of the well, until the egg is incorporated. Begin adding flour gradually until you form a firm but soft dough. You should be able to form the dough in about 10 minutes. The longer the dough is worked the more flour you will need and the heavier your finished gnocchi will be.
Cut the dough into six equal portions and roll each portion into a long rope approximately ½ inch thick. Cut the rope into ½ inch pieces. Make sure your pieces are consistently the same size, this will allow for even cooking time when you boil your gnocchi. Using a floured fork, roll each piece on the back of the fork in an upward motion with your thumb. This will form a ridge on one side and a slight indentation on the other. Repeat this process until all dough is rolled. Begin cooking the gnocchi in the simmering water, as the gnocchi cooks it will float to the top of the water, approximately 2-4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon remove the gnocchi and place In a bowl. Repeat this process until all gnocchi is finished. You can then add your pesto or sauce of your choice, to a large skillet to warm up, add the gnocchi and just cook until warm and combined. Sprinkle with Parmesan to finish and serve immediately.
It's a longer process making gnocchi from scratch but it beats the store bought gnocchi any day, and with a bit of effort and a short ingredient list you'll be eating like you're in Italy.

Potato Gnocchi

Recipe from LidiasItaly.com

4 large, unpeeled russet potatoes, (about 2 ¼ pounds), washed
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
Dash of freshly ground white pepper
3 cups un-bleached all purpose flour, or as needed.

Place potatoes in a large stock pot with cold salted water. Over medium high heat, simmer potatoes for 40 minutes or until fork tender. Drain potatoes and let stand until they are cool enough to handle. Scrape the peels off the potatoes and rice them. Spread the rices potatoes into a thin layer.
While the potatoes are cooling bring 6 quarts of water to a boil. On a cool, preferably marble work surface, gather the cold rices potatoes into a mound with a well in the center. Beat the eggs, 1 teaspoon salt, and the white pepper together in a small bowl until blended and pour into the well. Work the potatoes and egg together with a fork until blended. Switch to using your hands and begin gradually adding more and more flour until you have a firm yet moist dough. Cut the dough into six equal portions. Roll each piece into a rope ½ inch thick. Cut the rope crosswise into ½ pieces. Flour each piece lightly and on a floured fork roll each piece on the back of the fork lightly along the tines. Set the gnocchi on a baking sheet lines lightly with flour. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Gently drop gnocchi into the simmering water cooking for approximately 2-4 minutes. Remove gnocchi and serve immediately with sauce of choice.



Basil Pesto

25 basil leaves
2 small or large garlic cloves, peeled
1 lemon, juiced
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
½ cup Parmesan cheese
¾ cup olive oil
In a small skillet over medium high heat toast pine nuts. Do not walk away from this process, when nuts are toasted they can burn very quickly. Peel garlic and juice the lemon. Add basil,garlic, lemon juice, pine nuts, and Parmesan cheese to the bowl of a food processor. Blend until puréed. With the food processor on , slowly add the ¾ cup olive oil, adding more if you like the pesto a bit more creamy. Serve warm on your favorite pasta.

 

Leftovers? Fork that!

In my house there is an unspoken stigma about leftovers. Unless it's Chinese food or pizza my family just won't eat them. They sit in the fridge in a sad state of denial from everyone and they eventually pass the point of no return. There's been a lot of new coverage about the amount of waste we as Americans contribute to the culinary world. Approximately 40% of the food in America goes to waste. I'm not going to smother you with statistics but this number alone should raise a flag. It certainly does with me and so I do everything I can to make sure that I don't add to this number, but they hate Leftovers! So I am left with one choice, a leftover makeover and not to toot my own horn but I've gotten pretty good at deceiving them, my family not the leftovers. So a typical week I make something with chicken, something meatless, and something with steak or beef. The rest of the nights I repurpose the leftovers. I do this for two reasons, one is obviously to reduce the amount of waste, and the second is just to see if I can. I'll take steak and potatoes and turn it into beef stew or breakfast burritos, barbecue chicken thighs are turned into chicken tacos or chicken tortilla soup and pulled pork sandwiches are made into pork nachos or one of my favorites-Cubanos. Of course these are examples and what my leftovers are repurposed into are always based on what I have in my fridge as well as my creativity and energy level. I won't lie I usually have some sort of spicy glaze, or green chile in my fridge because it's my favorite and my family’s. So this week I had some smoked chicken leftover from Father's Day that was actually made by my best friends dad, so I decided it needed a little repurposing. I had some leftover honey chipotle glaze from a week ago (the chipotles in this glaze allow for me to keep this item for quite some time and I use it on breakfast quesadillas as well as hot ham and cheese sandwiches.) So I spent 10 minutes removing the chicken from the smoked chicken thighs, wings, and drum sticks, as well as shredding it. You can always put any meat in your mixer with the paddle attachment for easy shredding but I like hand shredding as it still leaves larger chunks of meat and it's therapeutic for me. It was definitely well worth the 10 minutes. I combined the chicken and about ½ cup chipotle glaze (feel free to use more if you like it spicier), grilled up some corn tortillas, added some crumbled queso fresco, avocados, mangoes, some sautéed onion, and made the most delicious chicken taco, all from some leftover smoked chicken. The best part is my family is none the wiser that their chicken tacos were yesterday's smoked chicken thighs.


Honey-Chipotle Chicken Tacos
rotisserie chicken (or any leftover chicken, about 4 cups) shredded
1 cup crumbled queso fresco
8-10 corn tortillas, grilled or warmed
1 onion, sliced
4 tablespoons avocado oil or olive oil divided
2 ripe avocados
1 mango diced
½ cup honey chipotle glaze

Remove chicken from the bone (if on the bone) and shred by hand into smaller pieces. Put in a bowl with the ½ cup honey chipotle glaze. Mix until all chicken is covered in sauce. Cut avocado in half, remove the seed from the avocado and spoon out avocado from its outer layer. Lay avocado down and slice lengthwise. Cut mango on both sides of the core. You will have two large pieces of mango with skin still on. Slice mango length wise and width wise, in a checker board pattern. Using a knife remove the dices from the skin of the mango. Cut onion in half, remove outer layer and slice onion length wise into long strips. Heat sauté pan to medium high heat, add 2 tablespoons oil into pan. Place sliced onions in pan and sauté until translucent. Heat grill or grill pan. Use 2 tablespoons oil and pastry brush to lightly brush oil on both sides of tortillas. Grill tortillas each side for 1-2 minutes. Crumble queso fresco into small crumbles. To assemble. Place tortilla on plate, layer with chicken, onion slices, avocado, and mango. Sprinkle with crumbled queso fresco.

Honey Chipotle Glaze
1 can chipotle peppers with adobo sauce
1 cup cilantro leaves
¼- ½ honey ( the more honey you have the less spice)

Combine all ingredients in a blender or the bowl of a food processor. Blend until combined and not chunky. You will still have some texture to the final product.

Great Balls of... Cheese!

This whole thing started with a trip to the farmers market where admittedly I paid well over what I should have for some heirloom tomatoes. It may have been the weather, or the smell of kettle corn, but there I was purchasing 4 giant beauties for $6 a pound. I'm fully aware that my local grocery store charges $4, and fully aware that the money I spent on these was without a doubt more than I should have. So needless to say having spent a fair amount of money on these I wasn't about to just throw them on a BLT (which don't get me wrong would be perfectly acceptable because, well, bacon.) I needed something that would show off the flavors of the tomatoes, not hide them. It was an easy choice to make, a Caprese salad. Now I was faced with the dilemma. I  could go find a very soft, great quality mozzarella from one of the many great cheese purveyors, or I could make my own. Here is something to know about me: unless I am exhausted or it's just way more cost effective to purchase, I will choose to make my own over buying. From scratch cooking is always better if you can. I found a recipe and decided it would make a pretty great Saturday project that I could share with all my awesome Forkers! ;)  I figured the local health food store might carry the two things that were the most obscure, Rennet and Citric Acid.

     Let's talk about these two key ingredients real quick. Rennet first. It can come as a tablet or in a liquid and can be animal based or vegetable based. Animal based rennet comes from the inner mucus of the fourth stomach of the calf. Vegetable rennet is often taken from plants such as thistle or nettles.
     Citric Acid is a chemical that occurs naturally in citrus fruit. Be advised when making cheese, lemon juice often doesn't work, you need to find the powder form of citric acid. This has to do with some complicated chemistry that is a fun read if you have the time.

     So that started a journey because of course my local health food store didn't have either, something I discovered after I drove there. I looked up a cheese shop in Denver, said a small prayer to the culinary gods, and headed in that direction. Thankfully The Truffle Cheese Shop had Rennet. I grabbed the vegetable Rennet, got some pointers from one of the nicest ladies I've met, and inquired about citric acid. They didn't have it but I was told the Apothecary two doors down carried it. I was smiling ear to ear because who doesn't love it when a plan works out.  So after the quick trip I headed home to what I so desperately wanted to be my first successful attempt at mozzarella cheese. Unfortunately the first go wasn't as successful as I had hoped it would be. I even watched two different videos on the process and read a couple different recipes.

To make mozzarella you mix citric acid with 1 cup of cool water, combine that in a large pot with 1 gallon of whole milk ( non ultra pasteurized, non homogenized milk is best but I'll go into that a bit later) and heat until 90 degrees Fahrenheit. While this is heating you will mix your rennet with ¼ cup cool water. Once at 90 degrees, turn the heat off and mix in the rennet mixture stirring for 30 seconds. Cover and wait for 10-25 minutes. Here is where I started to have some trouble. From all the videos and all the pictures I looked at, my cheese mixture was supposed to congeal into one big round that I could take a knife and slice through into a checkered pattern. My milk after 10 minutes did not do this. I could feel that it had come together but the top still resembled a more curd like structure than a solid mass. I cut into it all the same and turned the heat back up where I heated it to 105 degrees and removed the solids from the whey (that's the liquid). I then heated the whey to 150 degrees and poured it into the bowl that held the curds. I let it sit for a minute, mainly because I was gathering the courage to stick my hands into the scorching hot water. Everything I read says to use gloves during this process, feel free to follow that advice. So I grab the curds into a ball and test if they're at the correct consistency. It should stretch not rip. So I stretch and fold, remembering what the woman at the Truffle Cheese shop said about not over stretching it. Of course I can't get my hands and my brain to figure out how to get this into a ball and I wind up working my cheese too much. I also, because of the advice of the recipe I'm using, wrap my poorly shaped ball in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. If I could say there was one thing I did that ruined my cheese it was this. Although the taste was of a mozzarella, the consistency was of a cheap store bought mozzarella, which is fine for shredding and using on pizza, but not what I wanted for a fresh Caprese salad. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. I spent almost the rest of the night moping about, looking at troubleshooting tips and forums, searching for an answer that could fix my mozzarella dilemma. So many of them talked about the milk. If the milk has been pasteurized, meaning heated past 161 degrees Fahrenheit, it won't work. So when milk is pasteurized, for our own protection the milk is heated to kill off any germs or bacteria. When this happens it heats the proteins, thus affecting the quality of the curds themselves. This reason is why when I attempted the first cheese and honestly the second, I never got the solid mass I had seen in all the cheese making tutorials. So after reading all I could, I decided it must be the milk that caused my cheese to come out undesirable. I decided my beautiful tomatoes would have to wait another day and I would attempt it again, changing the milk.

The next day I headed out to my local health food store once again surveying the milk section in search for raw milk, aka unpasteurized milk. I found one that was pasteurized but not homogenized,​(so it at least isn't broken down by that mechanical process, again another fun read.) and since I had spent the last 10 minutes staring at the milks, I decided this would have to do.

Fast forward to the next attempt and I've followed the same steps but I used the new milk and let my milk/rennet mixture sit for 25 minutes. When I added the hot water to my curds I also let it sit for about two minutes allowing the curds to come up in temperature. I again stretched and folded the cheese only 3 times. There were a few things that seemed to go better during the second attempt. The curds solidified better, it had a much better stretch to it, and they actually looked like a ball of mozzarella, mostly due to me actually reading the instructions all the way through. However, if I had to credit the success to one change it would certainly be storage. Instead of just throwing my painstakingly homemade cheese in plastic wrap and calling it good I took the time to research the best way to store it and every thing I read said moisture.  So I made a water and salt brine that my little balls of love could sit in. That night, I took my homemade mozzarella, my heirloom tomatoes, and my basil and made one gorgeous Caprese salad that I drizzled with balsamic glaze and a sprinkle of salt.

​

​     Homemade Mozzarella

​       1¼ cup water, divided

       1½ teaspoons citric acid

       ¼ teaspoon liquid rennet

       1 gallon whole milk, do not use ultra pasteurized*
       kosher salt for sprinkling.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix the citric acid into 1 cup of cool water until dissolved.

Pour the milk into a 5 quart pot. Stir in the citric acid solution and set the pot over medium-high heat. Warm to 90 degrees F, stirring gently and frequently. While your milk heats, in another small bowl mix the rennet into a ¼ cup of cool water.

Turn off the heat and gently stir in the rennet solution. Count to 30 and then stop stirring. Cover the pot and allow it to sit undisturbed for 25 minutes.

After 25 minutes, check the curd which should look and feel like silken tofu, with a clear separation between the curd and the whey around the edges of the pot. (My milk never reached this stage but did solidify enough that I could move on to the next step.)

With a knife that is long enough to reach the bottom of the pot, cut                    

the curd into a checkerboard pattern.

Place the pot back over medium heat and warm the curds to 105 degrees F. Stir slowly and constantly. Try not to break the curds up too much, though they will eventually clump together.

Turn off the heat and continue stirring constantly for 5 more minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, ladle the curds into a bowl. Reheat the whey (the liquid) to 150 degrees F - the cheese will not stretch until it reaches 135 degrees F.

At this point you can put on culinary gloves or not depending on your tolerance for heat. Using a slotted spoon, lower the curds into the hot whey for a few minutes. To test if it's ready, pull a little piece - it should be very stretchy. Once ready, remove the curd sprinkle with salt and working quickly, pull, fold, and pull, repeating only one or two times. Then form into a ball or two by making a circle with your thumb and forefinger and pressing the mozzarella through. Place on a plate and continue to form the remaining curds in the same manner.

You can serve immediately or store. If storing combine enough water to cover your cheese and 1-2 tablespoons of salt in a plastic or glass container and cover the container.

     Heirloom Caprese Salad

   1-2 balls fresh Mozzarella cheese, sliced

   2 large heirloom tomatoes, sliced

   6-7 large basil leaves, torn in half

   Balsamic glaze

   Salt and pepper

On a serving dish, layer tomatoes, then basil, then Mozzarella. Continue this pattern until all tomato slices, Mozzarella and basil have been used. Drizzle with balsamic glaze and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

    Balsamic glaze

     2 cups balsamic vinegar

    1 teaspoon brown sugar

Mix brown sugar and balsamic vinegar in a small sauce pan on the stove. Over medium heat let simmer until vinegar is reduced to half, stirring frequently. It should thicken and have the consistency of syrup. *Watch carefully as the vinegar and brown sugar can burn very quickly.

 

Cut to the Confidence

Here's the thing about being a chef; we’re supposed to be arrogant right? With all these movies out there glamorizing chefs to be these passionately arrogant a-holes it's now expected that if you aren't arrogant than you're not a good chef. I am a good chef, a great one in fact, but arrogant I am not. The funny thing is, that without that arrogance comes a certain insecurity that plays a huge part in your instincts. You second guess everything, and as a chef one of your best tools, other than your knives, is your gut. I can usually tell when something in my oven is done by instinct alone. A small voice says go get it, it's gonna burn. It's that small voice that gets muffled when you're an insecure chef. There is this need for validation, and of course that’s always there because we're human beings. We want to be accepted and liked and when you're a chef it's your food that you want to get appraisal for. So the question is, how do you remain humble yet passionate without being arrogant? It's a fine line and one tip too far in the humble direction and you’re spiraling down a rabbit hole of insecurity. While you're at the bottom you're plagued with doubt, everything you cook seems to have its myriad of flaws. You boil over oil, your cakes fall, your eggs burn and you're left feeling like you're in the wrong profession. Here's the truth about all this though; even the greatest chefs are going to burn their eggs and their cakes are going to fall. They just don't always talk about it because who wants to talk about their failures? The truth is though, our failures make us better. Every time I fail in the kitchen I learn from it, and boy do I learn. Sometimes, especially if it's my own recipe, it will take me a couple tries to get it right and there will still be criticism. There is always going to be criticism, because people have different tastes. It’s how we take that criticism that effects the way we continue on. Do we let it get to us or do we take it for what it's worth. Which is just an opinion, one persons opinion. We, as chefs, or even as the novice home cook, have to learn to take the opinions of others with a grain of salt. Take what they say, say thank you and either use the advice or discard it. The ability to sort through the opinions of others especially in the culinary world is just as important to our confidence as the food we prepare. We have to learn to be confident, not arrogant, but confident. The way our minds work, combining flavors most others wouldn't think of, it's a gift. Being insecure about that gift isn't using it wisely. It's wasting it and we don't waste anything in the kitchen.

Churro Size Matters

1st attempt at churros with small star tip - crunch topping!

So the other day was Cinco De Mayo. I am huge on cooking for theme days! If I find out its National donut day we will literally eat donuts for dinner. So needless to say, Cinco de Mayo rolled around and of course I made burritos, but I knew dessert should be something a little out of the ordinary. This year, I opted for… CHURROS! This is largely in part to seeing churros all over Instagram lately. Churros, believe it or not, are fairly easy to make. It is an extremely easy dough to make; it requires flour, sugar, water, and salt, and oil. If you have the right tools (deep fryer and piping bags with a large star tip) it can be a simple process. It takes only about 20 minutes from start to finish including frying time. So I was excited as I got my cake decorating supplies out until I realized I had misplaced my large star tip. DILEMA: I can take my lazy, still in my PJs-self to my local craft store and purchase a large star tip or decide to make do with the small star tip and make me some churros. Well of course I chose the lazy route, which I justified by being a super frugal, make do with what you have kind of gal. So I made the dough and began the process with my small star tip. I realized after the first one hit the hot oil that I should always remember the good old adage, “Use the right tools for the job”. Although the small star tip worked for pushing the dough through with getting the right shape, it was too small for the baby churro to be properly fried. I was left with a tasty, but too crunchy, product. It had the crunchy golden brown outside but lacked the airy middle that defines this tasty snack. So instead of wallowing in failure, I made some vanilla pudding and used them as a topping that night with some homemade caramel (which was a hit with my husband btw). I could have left it at that, moved on and tried again another time, but the churros plagued me, mainly because I knew exactly what was wrong and exactly how to fix it. This is important to realize especially if you are new to cooking or even if you've been doing it forever. We all fail, I have days where stuff just doesn't go right. Usually I can figure out a tweak and I'll attempt it again and again...and again if necessary. This is an important part of growing in this craft, not just accepting failures, but learning from them. Point in case with these churros! I knew I didn't have the right tool for the job so 4 days later I found myself, with the large star tip in hand and determination to make these churros work. I made the dough and started them again, using a Wilton 8b star tip. They came out beautiful, almost perfect! Making just one adjustment, I went from “Oh, man” to “Oh my gosh!” So based on this experience, here are a couple things to note:#1. Most of us are not frying in a commercial fryer, so those super long giant churros you see at carnivals will not happen in your home. Let the dream go and embrace the average sized churro. Who doesn't like bite size things anyway?#2. I used a Wilton 8b star tip and although this was a good size to not have the churros fry all the way through, it was a bit too large to have the dough cook all the way in the middle. My advice is to go one size smaller. If you look online there are literally hundreds of varying opinions on which star tip to use, but there seems to be a large amount choosing Wilton 1m.

#3. When filling your piping bag, take the top of the piping bag and fold it over to the outside about 5 inches. Fill the piping bag and then unfold your overlay. Squeeze piping bag so all dough goes to the bottom and twist the end so you have a good hold on the bag and no filling is able to escape. This will help you not make a complete mess!

2nd attempt with larger star tip - Success!

Churro Recipe

For the cinnamon and sugar coating

½ cup sugar

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon (you can add more cinnamon based on personal taste)

For the Dough

1 cup of water

3 tablespoons of sugar

½ teaspoon salt
1 cup of all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons canola oil (vegetable oil also works fine)

2 quarts of oil for frying

Pastry bag fitted with a large star tip (Wilton 1m or equivalent)

Directions

Place the sugar and cinnamon coating ingredients into a large shallow dish

Whisk to combine. Set aside

On a plate place a few layers of paper towels for draining the fried churro.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water, the 3 tablespoons of sugar, salt, and the 2 tablespoons of oil. Bring just to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in flour until mixture forms a ball.

Heat oil for frying in deep fryer or deep skillet to 375º Fahrenheit.

Transfer the thick batter into the pastry bag.

Squeeze dough through tip of pastry bag and using a clean, sharp pair of scissors, carefully cut out strips of piped dough (about 3 inches long) into the hot oil. Fry until golden brown and transfer to paper towels to drain. Roll the drained churro in the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Will make approximate 15 churros.