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Naples Orange Cupcakes

I don't know what it is about the summer, but for some reason when this weather hits it boosts my spirits and makes me want to bake almost every single day! If only butter and crème cheese weren't so expensive... I have to say I probably would!

These Orange Zest Cupcakes are a perfect mixture of light and sweet flavors. Not over powering, and with a bittersweet surprise hidden in the center. You’ve had one of those chocolate oranges around Christmas where you slam it on the table and eat the individual slices? That’s what I was going for, but not so rich!

The garnishes are also candied orange peels rolled in sugar; so if you have the extra time, don’t forget to make these! It’s a lot of fun and totally worth it.


Ingredients for Orange Batter

• 1.5 cups of flour
• 1 cup of sugar
• 2 large eggs – room temperature
• 1 stick of butter – room temperature
• .5 cup of fresh squeeze orange juice
• .5 cup of heavy crème
• Zest of one whole Naples orange
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda

Now I learned from my friend Kamran over at The Sophisticated Gourmet, a thing or two about mixing my cupcake batter. For some mystical reason my cupcakes kept turning out like corn bread or muffins rather than light and fluffy deliciousness! I was pissed and quite aggravated.

He gave me some helpful pointers, but it turns out the main reason was because I wasn’t creaming my butter and sugar long enough. Also, I was probably over mixing the batter at the same time too.

So now that I worked that out, what you want to do is take your butter at room temperature and with a hand or stand mixer crème your butter and sugar together anywhere between 5 and 10 minutes. I go for the full 10 because I don’t have a nice stand mixer yet.

After that, put your mixer away and use a spatula to fold the other ingredients into the whipped sugar and butter. I started with another bowl to combine my dry ingredients and whisk quickly to distribute the baking powder and soda evenly.

First I incorporated the eggs and orange juice, [please don’t use store bought… you must be kidding me!] stirring just enough to break the yolks and mix the juice. Then in three additions I folded in the dry ingredients, in between adding a little heavy crème as well. Fold the batter just enough so that it is even; you really don’t need the hand mixer at all. It only takes a minute with the spatula to do all this!

Fill your cupcake liners three quarters of the way and bake at 375F for 20 minutes on the top rack of your oven! Checking after the 15th minute just to be safe. Once you can pull a clean toothpick out of the center, they’re done! Let them cool while you make your frosting.

Ingredients for Orange Butter Crème Frosting

• 1.5 sticks of butter – room temperature
• 1 to 2 cups of confectioners sugar
• Half a squeeze of an orange
• Zest of same half of orange

Mix your butter and orange juice together, and then slowly add the confectioners sugar until desired consistency and sweetness is achieved! Add a little crème cheese if you like, again… At room temperature! I just had a friend at work that doesn’t like crème cheese so I left it out, normally I’d put 4 oz in this recipe otherwise!

If you don’t have a piping bag, fill a Ziploc bag and cut a small hole out of one of the corners, it’s basically the same thing! And I love how it looks, like it’s not trying too hard but it’s definitely got a little pizzazz, haha.

If your consistency is a little runny, either add more sugar or put it in the fridge to set up a bit! Now move on to the bittersweet chocolate ganache!

All you do is heat up a little heavy crème on the stove, and break apart some 85% dark chocolate and mix together… I used very little heavy crème because I wanted that bitterness to it. If you use too much heavy crème, you’ll just end up making milk chocolate so it’s up to you!

Once your heavy crème is boiling pour it over your dark chocolate and let stand for a minute or two. Then stir together. The more you mix the chocolate the thicker and denser the consistency will get; I wanted mine fairly runny so I barely mixed it at all.
Core out the centers of your cakes and spoon in the chocolate once the cupcakes have cooled. Then ice over the top to hide the chocolate!


Ingredients for Candied Orange Peels

• Two or three Naples oranges
• 1.5 cups of sugar
• 2 cups of Water
• Candy Thermometer

Start by peeling the oranges, to make this easier slice off the tops and cut into the peel in 4 segments, not cutting too deep into the fruit. After that, slice your peels into thin strips. Take a deep skillet and place your oranges inside, fill with water just so the oranges are covered.

Heat to boiling and blanch in cold water, do this at least three times! This removes all of the bitterness of the pith of the orange [the white bitter part of the skin].

Take your sugar and 2 cups of water and mix well. Heat on the stove on high for about 7 minutes. Using a candy thermometer make sure it is between 225 and 230 degrees F. This is called the ‘thread’ stage because if you drizzled a little sugar in cold water it would have a similar consistency.

Add your orange peels and once they are submerged do not stir them! If you stir them you could form unwanted crystallization. Reduce heat to low and cook for about 45 minutes to an hour. Test one and see if it’s sweet enough for you, if not… Keep cooking them!

Drain the simple syrup and save it! You can make ice tea or wonderful mixed drinks if you’d like, and the orange flavor will carry through into those beverages! Let the candied peels cool, and roll in extra sugar.

You’re supposed to let them dry for 5 hours or something like that, but I’m hella lazy so I baked them at 375F for about 25 minutes and it dried them right out! Haha.

Dip them in extra ganache you have left over and garnish the hell out of those cupcakes! I baked a little extra orange zest to sprinkle over top too. It’s just how I roll, haha.


Well guys, I have about 5 recipes on standby that I still need to write… But they are on their way! I’m hoping to get through a couple more today since it’s my day off, but I can’t make any promises! ;P

Hope you guys enjoy this one; it’s a ton of work… But totally worth it! Till next time foodies,
Justin Francis Kane
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Salmon & Spinach Stuffed Ravioli

My poor poor blog! I’m so sorry, really. This past month or two has been ridiculously stressful with running out of money, and finding a new job, and then starting that new job! Phewf! I promise, now that I am all settled again and have the money to cook like I love to… You will not be undeserved!

Yesterday, I prepared a delicious hand crafted Salmon Ravioli with the help from one of my best friends! Sous-Chef Drew! [Which translates to Under-Chef… Which I like better ;]

Under-Chef Drew’s parents went to Paris for the week, so his girlfriend Erin and our mutual friends Gwenn and Kaitlin all got together to watch Jurassic Park and play Monopoly! The women sat in the living room, as the men slaved away in the kitchen…

Now this recipe is all by hand, and if Under-Chef Drew didn’t have a fancy hand crank pasta maker… This would have never came to be. So unless you can use a rolling pin better than [insert famous french pastry chef here], I would suggest not trying this at home ;}

Ingredients for Dough

• 4 eggs
• 3 cups of flour
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 to 3 minced garlic cloves
• .25 cup of chopped chives
• dash of salt
• dash of pepper
• squeeze of a full lemon
• zest of half a lemon
• 2 egg yolks to set aside, for binding the ravioli together

Combine all the ingredients with your hands in a large bowl, you’re gonna get sticky and gross… So have fun with that! I left my Under-Chef to do all the hard grunt work… But he wasn’t allowed to add the flavorful ingredients, just cracking eggs and leveling cups of flour. I suggest you put your significant other to work, or a friend who claims they can’t cook! Makes the lowly peons feel accomplished you know? Haha!

Set aside for half an hour, and cover it with a warm wet paper towel. Not drenched, but rung out almost completely.

Ingredients for Salmon Filling

• 1 pound of smoked salmon, or regular salmon if too expensive!
• 1 cup of heavy creme
• 2 garlic cloves
• quarter of a small onion
• squeeze and zest of a full lemon
• dash of basil
• dash of lemon pepper
• a large handful of shredded gruyere cheese
• a small handful of parmesan cheese
• 1 cup of ricotta cheese
• handful of chives
• dash of fleur du sal! [flower of the sea… SEA SALT… haha]
• handful of fresh spinach

Now one of the most important things about fleur du sal is that you must promounce it like a snooty french aristocrat while using it in your dishes! We had much fun doing this, or at least… I did.

If you can’t afford smoked salmon, which I couldn’t… Cause it’s packaged by like, 6 ounces and is 8 dollars a package or something? Crazy! I just got my local Price Chopper to get a nice pink meaty chunk from the pretty display freezer. The lady was super nice, and though she said she would skin it and rub it with lemon pepper before she wrapped it up… She forgot to skin it. And skinning salmon is not something I like doing, cause it feels gross and nasty and the sound makes your head shake.

You can tell fresh salmon by how pink it is, most of it is dyed before it gets to the store to make it appear fresher. But once you see that the pink has gone muddled and less vibrant, make sure you don’t get that one! The bad ones stand out like a dead rat next to a live rat when you see them next to each other. You can’t mistake it!

Puree the salmon meat and heavy creme first for about 2 minutes or until light and fluffy, then add all the ingredients except for the spinach and chives. Puree until smooth and blended, then add the spinach and pulse a couple of times. Make sure you don’t over puree, the greens should look a little chunky. You could even just break the spinach up by hand if you like.

Set that aside and it’s time to roll out your dough! Set up your machine and pre-flatten the dough as much as you can. Pre-Flour all your work surfaces first, the machine too! Put the machine to the largest pasta setting and feed it through in four equal separate batches. Drew’s pasta machine had 6 settings, so from high to low - big to small, I pulled through each batch at the largest -6- to a medium thickness -4- and then again to a -2-



For two of the batches I went to the thinnest setting, which was 1 or 0 I believe? and for two batches I went to a 2. The latter are a little thicker, so I used those as the base or bottom of the ravioli. The thinnest roll outs I used for the top.



Place a thicker roll out on a floured surface, and spoon in filling equally spaced apart. You don’t want to overstuff them, but you don’t want to understuff them either! Once you have a bunch of little mountains of salmon and cheese puree, your going to trace the outsides with a brush of yolk. Once every little hill has their specific outline, you take a thinner rollout of dough and drape it overtop. Press firmly from center to outer reaches, trying to get as much air out of the ravioli as possible.

Cut around the edges and trim them if you like, but I didn’t trim them… Didn’t see a need to. Each one is so different and unique, it’s precious. Some were big and some were small, some had a ton of extra foreskin and some didn’t, hahaha. It takes all sorts and shapes right? ;P

Let them sit for a good 5 or 10 minutes so they have time to bind to themselves. Boil some water with fleur du sal! And boil for about 6 minutes. Be very gentle when putting them in the water and taking them out! Use a mesh scooper if you have one, or a large ladle with slots in it. Place them in a colander and rinse with cool water, then use a little olive oil so they don’t stick together.



Line a tray with aluminum foil, turn your broiler on to low, and pour on some heavy creme, extra gruyere chunks, parmesan, extra chives, pepper, salt, and chunks of butter. Put the tray in the oven so everything melts, then put the ravioli on top of that and add more cheeses. Wait till they’re perfectly brown and voila! About 6 to 8 minutes, depending on the intensity of your broiler! WATCH THEM CAREFULLY. Once they start to brown they brown quick!



It took us forever, but that was partially because I was drinking my summer ale and making Under-Chef Drew do all the work… Haha. Hope you guys enjoy it, this makes a hefty meal… Each person had maybe 4 or 5? There were extra so we put some in the freezer before we even boiled them so they’ll stay nice and fresh.



Crispy, crunchy, smooth and creamy! I wish I had some friggin’ more… Damn…

Till next time food lovers,
I’ve got a bunch of recipes waiting for yah ;}
Justin Francis Kane
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Mushroom, Bacon, & Spinach Crêpes with Chicken & Asparagus Risotto

I am so sorry for being absent the past week or two! I’ve been job hunting and also trying to get into shape, and with my cooking… You can’t really get fit with all the heavy crème, butter, and carbs I use ;}

It was recently my housemothers 57th birthday this past weekend! So my best friend Norah, who I live with, cooked her favorite meal. She only requested crêpes, but she also loves the risotto I make and I’ve been promising you guys that recipe for a while… So I thought why not kill two birds with one stone and give you two amazing recipes! Especially since I’ve been so inactive ;P We’ll start with the risotto, then lead into the crêpes.

Ingredients for risotto:

• 1.5 bushels of fresh asparagus
• 3 tenderized chicken breasts cut into cubes
• 4 to 5 garlic cloves, minced
• half a small onion
• half a stick of butter
• 2 cups of Arborio rice (very important that it’s Arborio!)
• dash of salt
• dash of pepper
• 2 lemon squeezes
• dash of balsamic vinegar
• 32 oz of organic chicken broth, or stock
• dash of heavy crème
• 1 to 2 cups of shredded Parmesan cheese (The good stuff! Not that imitation white powder crap, haha)

Now this recipe has the perfect balance of asparagus, chicken, and rice. It will also feed your whole family of 4 to 6 on it’s own! But this was a special occasion so we went a little overboard on the food front.

Cut your asparagus into 1-inch spears on the diagonal and set aside. Cube your chicken and cook with the garlic, onion, a squeeze of lemon, a dash of balsamic, salt, pepper, and a quarter stick of butter. Make sure the juices run clear, but also don’t overcook the chicken! It’s going to be thrown into the risotto the last ten minutes so any soft pinkness still in the chicken will surely cook out, don’t worry! Set that pan aside as well and make sure to not strain the juices, those are important!

Melt the rest of your butter in a very very big skillet or shallow pot. The one we use is easily 2 feet in diameter… So if you don’t have big enough kitchenware, maybe halve the recipe? Throw your two cups of rice into the simmering butter and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes, or until the grains start to turn translucent. You may need to add a little extra butter.

Throw in your asparagus and a cup or two of the chicken stock. You’re going to end up using all of it, but don’t add it all at once. As the rice absorbs it, slowly add more and pay attention. You have to constantly keep stirring this otherwise your rice will burn. It’s a little tedious but worth it I promise.

Once the asparagus is in with the rice, turn on your timer for 25 minutes. I’ve timed this out exactly, so you shouldn’t have any problems. Once the 25 minutes is up, you should be out of chicken stock; this is when you dump the rest of your precooked chicken and all its succulent juices into the mix! Stir, and then add a dash of heavy crème, 1 to 2 cups of grated Parmesan cheese and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Voila!



Ingredients for crêpes:

• 2 eggs + 1 egg yolk at room temperature
• .75 cup of milk
• .5 cup of water
• 1 cup of flour
• 3 tblsp melted butter
• dash of salt
• dash of pepper
• dash of oregano
• squeeze of lemon

Be very careful with this! We remade this better at least 3 times because of stupidity. Mix all your liquid ingredients together slowly, SLOWLY. You want to make as little air bubbles as possible. Do not whisk, I repeat… Do not whisk! This batter is very delicate and very liquid, so if you have a very low setting on your mixer use with caution. We stirred and folded by hand and strained the batter to get the lumps out which worked perfectly the third time around… Add the flour slowly, and afterwards cover it and let it stand for at least an hour for any bubbles you did form to release.

We had a trusty crepe maker that you just dip into the batter and it forms the perfect crepe, good luck to those of you with a skillet. All I can suggest is don’t use too much oil or butter to grease the pan and be careful!

Ingredients for filling:

• 1 box of frozen spinach, squeezed and patted dry
• half a small onion
• quarter stick of butter
• 2 large portabello mushroom heads, sliced thin
• 6 strips of cooked bacon, crumpled
• 1 cup of heavy crème
• dash of milk
• dash of chives
• dash of dill
• dash of salt
• dash of pepper
• squeeze of lemon
• 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• dash of Parmesan cheese, grated
• dash of flour

Start caramelizing your onions and then browning your mushrooms extra butter and remember not to overcrowd them! If there’s one thing that movie about Julia Child taught me, it was that! Throw in everything except for the milk and Parmesan and stir. Slowly add just a little bit of milk and then add the Parmesan. Cook for about 15 minutes more on low heat. If it’s not thickening up, add a little bit of flour slowly but surely and that should do the trick.

Spoon the filling into the crêpes, fold and set on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Sprinkle extra Parmesan or provolone on top and broil for about 3 to 5 minutes on low, watching very carefully so they don’t burn! As you can see from my photos, I was almost a second too late with those edges haha.
Phewf, what a long post! Sorry about all that rambling guys, but I hope you enjoy it! And I’ll try to be more active.

Later Food Lovers,
Justin Francis Kane
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A little lost...

I have an overwhelming feeling of being lost at the moment... I haven't been cooking, or baking. But mostly this is because I have something like seven dollars in my bank account. I'm unemployed, and my shoe-in of a job that I applied for last week says they'll call me for my second interview tomorrow... But I'm scared.

It's a very busy place, and I feel as if I should call to keep in touch with them because my message could be lost in the shuffle. But I've already called once, and they said they would call me back. So do I wait in misery all day tomorrow and call back on Tuesday if they forget? Or do I keep pestering? It's a catch-22, but I guess I'm making this into something it's not. I'm sure they'll call tomorrow. I'm sure of it.

I need to do something constructive with all this free time I have. But I'm down in the dumps. I was supposed to go see my Dad tonight for dinner, that would have been nice. But my ride got sick... Oh, did I tell you I also don't have any mobility if it isn't my friends carting me around?

I look back at leaving new york city as a blessing and a curse... It was so easy to have a life without a car payment and insurance to deal with. But I was losing it, I needed fresh air and grass. I wish the spring would just get here already and if I never saw winter again I think I would be happy.

Trying to stay positive, maybe I'll post an old recipe later. Sorry for the rant. Sometimes you just have to get it out though, ya know?

Pasta Carbonara

This recipe is great if you want something really delicious in a short period of time, well… Shorter than most of my recipes, haha. My friends once again, say they will never let me leave because they demand I cook for them every evening.

Ingredients:

• 1 box of bowtie pasta
• 2 cups of thawed frozen peas
• .5 a package of bacon, or one of the mini packages
• .5 of a yellow onion
• 4 cups of heavy crème
• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cleaned and cut into cubes
• .5 stick of butter
• a few cloves of garlic
• dash of salt
• dash of pepper
• dash of oregano
• squeeze of lemon

Start off boiling the pasta, cause that always seems to take forever. Look right at the directions on the back of the box, they’re always right. So just set a timer and there you have it. Always make sure to rinse with cold water; otherwise the pasta will continue to cook even if it’s not in the boiling water anymore! Duh, and throw a tablespoon of olive oil on them and swish them around so they don’t stick together.

Cook your bacon how you normally would, let it dry and cool on a paper towel to remove the access oil. Once it’s cool enough to touch, chop your bacon into bacon bits! NO, you may not substitute bacon with bacon bits. We do not live in a double wide… Well, you might. In which case I empathize. My mom downgraded once I left for college, not a pretty site.

Next you’re going to take your onion and garlic and caramelize them in the butter. Your chicken should already be cleaned, tenderized, and cut by now. So you’ll throw all of that into the pot with the onions and garlic and simmer, stirring occasionally. Once you see that all the juices have really left the chicken, [I always just scoop out an extra piece to be sure it’s not pink in the middle] you can add the crème , peas, and crispy bacon to your chicken.

Add the spices slowly but surely, tasting occasionally to see if it needs more of one thing over another. You shouldn’t need too much salt because the bacon is really salty already.

The thing that’s great about heavy crème is that it doesn’t curdle when it touches heat, and it’s way easier than making a béchamel sauce from scratch. I’ve made quite a few mistakes where I thought just throwing in flour and milk would make this beautiful fancy white sauce, WRONG. It curdles and ruins everything, it’s very frustrating and takes a lot more consideration. So just stick to the heavy crème okay simpletons? Hahaha ;}

I had one too many glasses of champagne last night… Ugh. How is everyone elses day going? Anyone want to ask me to make something specific? I’d love a challenge tonight!

Yours forever Food Lovers,
Justin Francis Kane
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Seared Chicken with an Onion & Peach Glaze

So the other night my friend Norah and I went to visit my father and his girlfriend Kim up in Queensbury NY. I wanted to try something a little different, so I came up with this Onion and Peach Seared Chicken Glaze. I hope you guys like it, it was a huge hit!

Ingredients:

• 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 stick of butter
• 4 very ripe peaches
• 1 small yellow onion
• 4 cloves of garlic
• splash of dry white wine
• dash of rosemary
• dash of salt
• dash of pepper
• dash of sugar

• jasmine Rice, 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water.

First take half the stick of butter, dice the onion and garlic, and caramelize. Cut your peaches in half, and core out the center. We’re not trying to gnaw on those killer pits. Place the peaches cut side down, and cook on low for about 30 minutes. Remember to cover them with a lid so the moisture doesn’t escape. If it looks like they’re drying out, add a little water.

While that’s going, you’re gonna clean and tenderize your chicken, and I cut them into nice meaty chunks. Sprinkle on the rosemary, salt, and pepper and wait for the peaches to be done.

Throw the chicken in with peaches and let them cook till most of the juices run out, but not completely! Then remove the chicken onto a plate and wait.

Take 3 or 4 of the peach halves and set them aside to use as garnish later, they should be nice and mushy and the skins should be just about able to fall off. Pour the rest of the peaches and onion mixture into a pot on the back burner, add a good full cup of wine and let them simmer and bubble till it starts to thicken. Should take a good 15 minutes or so. Add a dash of sugar if it’s not sweet enough!

Use the skillet from before and use the rest of the butter, then throw the chicken back in. Leave it on high heat and let the sides of the chicken get nice and roasted toasted. Golden brown is what you want! Once they’re done, you can start plating the chicken.

You’re gonna strain the sauce from the back burner through a sifter or a colander if you have one, otherwise… Good luck, I hate chunky glaze. The sauce should be pink, and be very fragrant of onion and peach! Duh…

For the main staple I made some Jasmine rice, and also a nice bitter vegetable like asparagus with lemon pepper and white vinegar [Basically just my caramelized asparagus recipe, which as you can tell i'm very fond of!]. Brustlesprouts wouldn’t be a bad choice either! But it was nice to counterbalance the sweetness of the peaches. And for a starch filler, I pumped out some jasmine rice... Hope I don't need to explain how to cook that since you just need to follow the instructions ;P

Drip the sauce over the rice and chicken and voila! This was a great experiment, and I look forward to using other fruits like apples and pears. Have a good one guys! I've gotta run to the DMV today and see why the hell my license is suspended, oh the woes of me! Haha.

Later Food Lovers,
Justin Francis Kane
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Lemon Breaded Chicken with Caramelized String Beans

I haven't cooked anything in about a week! It's been driving me stir crazy. But this is a really simple recipe that's super inexpensive at the same time. And your family will just eat it up lickety-split!

Ingredients:

• 5 chicken breasts
• 4 or 5 cloves of garlic, pressed and minced
• squeeze of two full lemons
• dash of salt
• dash of pepper
• dash of rosemary
• 3 to 4 eggs
• splash of milk
• bread crumbs
• fresh oats
• drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

I started off cooking my beans because they really take the longest. Snap off the ends, throw them in a pot, and cook away! I'm just gonna link you to the recipe since I already did it with asparagus last week or so. >>> Here. I got that recipe from my mom, she used to always make string beans like this almost every meal. I just saw her this past Sunday for her birthday party and I've really missed her since I haven't seen her since Thanksgiving.

Next you're gonna prepare the chicken, tenderize the hell out of it and cut it to your liking. I did about 1 inch strips, kind of like chicken tender size. If you want to make them bigger by all means! You're going to be frying these in oil on the stove, and 5 chicken breasts cut up super small can take 3 to 4 big batches. And that's a lot of handiwork.

Put the chicken in a large bowl and squeeze in your lemon, pepper, salt, rosemary, and garlic. Remember, a little rosemary goes a long way! Squish it all around with your hands to make sure everything is spread evenly.

Mix up your eggs and dash of milk in a bowl big enough for you to dip the chicken in. On a plate next to that, pour your bread crumbs and a large handful of oats. So from your left to right, you should have the bowl of chicken, the egg mixture, the crumbs and oats, and then a separate clean plate to place your breaded chicken! Like a little assembly line.

Once you've got that all set, get a large skillet on medium heat and pour in a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Let it heat up for a second and start throwing on your chicken. The chicken should only need 2 minutes on each side... Depending on how thick you cut it. You can tell when one side is ready because the chicken will start to puff up and turn white around the edges. Flip it over and it should be nice and golden brown on one side. Use tongs, it makes it easiest. Test a little piece of each batch you do, you don't want to overcook the chicken... But you don't want to undercook it either. It should be super moist and delicious, not dried out and sandy.

Each batch you do you'll want to scrape off the extra bread crumbs that fell off from the previous batch into the garbage, and use a fresh drizzle of oil! Otherwise you're gonna start burning your chicken and that's no fun is it? So I hope you guys like it! This makes a ton of chicken, there were four of us and we had a lot of leftovers. But we didn't have a starch besides the bread crumbs, so we made up for it in extra chicken. And we didn't have a lot of beans! They cook down pretty good, so make sure you get a hefty bag of them. Oh, and don't forget to squeeze a little fresh lemon juice over the top when you're done!

I'm off to stretch and work out... Ugh, I love doing it... But just getting the motivation really sucks doesn't it? Haha,

Later Food Lovers!
Justin Francis Kane
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Chicken Tacos with Apricot Salsa and Fresh Guacamole

So I hope all my new followers love this recipe! I put a lot of though and hard work into these tacos, and they turned out so beautiful I almost cried at how delicious they were, not because they were super spicy… Thank God I didn’t put the Habaneros in! :X This recipe definitely has a lot going on, so I’ll break it down into sections. I made the guacamole, salsa, peppers, and chicken all separately so it’s a bit of busy work and a lot of prep! Easier if you’ve got two people cooking for sure!

Ingredients:

• 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts
• tortillas, or anything else you prefer to roll them up in!
• 3 apricots, halved and cored
• 1 large yellow onion
• .5 stick of butter
• 2 avocados, nice and ripe!
• 4 to 6 cloves of garlic
• 3 to 4 tomatoes
• 3 limes
• 2 to 3 jalapenos
• 2 to 3 red chiles
• 2 large green chiles
• 1 bag of blue corn chips
• dash of salt
• dash of pepper

First you want to prepare your salsa, that has to cool in the fridge for an hour and marinate nicely beforehand. What I did was take 2 cloves of garlic, 2 jalapenos, and 2 chiles [make sure you remove the seeds!] and dice them up nice and small. Set that aside and wash your hands quickly cause the red chiles tend to burn if you get the juice on you. DO NOT TASTE THIS, unless you wanna burn your mouth off or trick your friend haha.

I was in a huge rush, so I used a food processor to do all of my dicing. Just makes it easy, though I do like hand chopped better because the salsa comes out chunkier. Throw in your apricots, a little less than half the onion, and 2 tomatoes. Pulse and stop before they turn to mush! Pour in a bowl and sprinkle in a little salt and pepper, also a squeeze of lime. This is where it gets tricky, depending on how spicy you like your salsa; I like it spicy, so I threw in 2 tablespoons of the spicy stuff I told you to set aside. You might wanna try half or a quarter, start slow and work your way up. Or just make two batches, one mild and one hot! It makes a lot of salsa, you’ll be eating it for a few days, unless you’re throwing a party.

Put it into the fridge and then start with the guacamole! Guacamole is super easy, two avocados, half an onion, one or two tomatoes depending on how you like it, dash of salt, dash of pepper, and a whole squeeze of a lime. Mash it up or put it in the food processor like i did! If you wanna throw some spicy into you, add a little of the spicy stuff! Normally you could put cilantro, but I think it tastes like dish soap, gross. A good trick to keep it from browning is to save the pits and put them in your guacamole! I don’t know why but I think the mashed up avocado still thinks it’s a fruit and not about to be eaten… It works, so just do itttttttt.

Next I diced the large green chiles, which are basically just weird shaped peppers that aren’t spicy at all. I sauteed these covered in a skillet with just butter, and a super tiny pinch of salt and pepper. Once they’re basically soft, I removed the lid and turned it up to high heat to give em a nice charred edge look. I love the taste of burnt vegetables. Not completely burnt, but just around the edges! Set aside.

For the last part of actual cooking I just tenderized the chicken, cubed it, sauteed it in a little butter, onion and garlic and there ya go. Squeeze some fresh lime over it and tadah! Once the juices run clear, you know the chickens done.

Now you take all your ingredients, grab the sour creme and jack cheese at this point! And stuff your tortillas. A little letchuga, as the spanish say and you’ve got yourself some damn good tacos. The left over guac and salsa can be put on the table and munched on for hours! Or in my case, the whole entire time you’re actually cooking the food… To the point where you get full even before you eat the tacos and then stuff two of them down your throat and go into a food coma, haha.

What’s next? I dunno, I was watching Top Chef all day today and I heard about a lot of shit I need to do research on because I have NO IDEA what it is! Learning is fun, and I’m sure my next thing is gonna be Squab or some other crazy french thing ;} And what the hell is Molecular Gastronomy? What is the world coming too, just another food fad I guess. Anyways, it’s nap time!

Peace out girl scouts,
Justin Francis Kane
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Caramelized Asparagus

This is a quick little side that only takes 20 minutes! Hello to all my new followers p.s.!!! I’m literally blown away with how many new foodies I get to entertain! Before you know it, I’ll be on the cooking channel with my own show hahaha… First things first though, I need me a nice video camera to start puttin’ myself out on the youtube! Who wants to pay for it? ;D

Ingredients:

• a bushel of asparagus spears, fresh
• a cup or two of water
• half a small onion
• a clove of garlic
• a little butter
• dash of salt
• dash of pepper
• dash of balsamic vinegar
• squeeze of a tangerine

First I caramelize the onions and garlic, cut the hard ends off the asparagus, and throw em in the skillet! I add the balsamic vinegar, or you could use white vinegar, or any other kind you prefer! Even a nice salad dressing would go great as long as it’s oil and water based, not ranch or anything ;D I also cut the tangerine in half, squeeze em and put them cut side open on the skillet.

I cook them covered for about 15 minutes [when you see the juices evaporate, it’s time to add the water!], till they get pretty soft but not completely. And for the last five minutes I take the cover off, turn the heat on high, and char the edges for that super delicious burnt flavor.

Quick, easy, and you can do it with almost any harder vegetable; peppers, zucchini, green beans, ect.

Later food lovers!
Justin Francis Kane
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Double Chocolate Cherry Cake

So this is the first time I've ever made a cake from scratch before, and I decided to challenge myself to the full extent. This monster has fruit filling, buttercreme frosting, chocolate ganache, and chocolate choco chocolate! It was for my friend Melissa's birthday and though we're all trying to go on diets, it just made sense to have one last hurrah.

Ingredients for cake:

• 2.5 cups of cake flour
• .5 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 cups of sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1.25 cups of chocolate milk/heavy creme [half and half]
• 2 tsps baking soda
• dash of white vinegar
• 1.5 cups of canola oil
• dash of salt

I basically just threw it all together and turned the beater on, but I noticed the cocoa powder was flying everywhere and making little dust clouds. So I would put all the wet ingredients with just the flour first, and then pour in the rest slowly and surely.

Grease the bottoms of two cake tins with butter, pour evenly and preheat the oven to 350F. These are gonna cook for a good 40-45 minutes. But keep your eye on them, nobody likes dried out cake. Once you can pierce it with a fork and the fork comes out clean, you know it's ready. Let them cool on a wire rack until you're ready to put the cake together.

While these are baking you can start with the Fruit filling!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of fresh cherries, pitted and halved
• 1 carton of blueberries
• .25 cup of sugar
• squeeze of a whole lemon
• dash of flour to thicken
• .5 stick of butter

This is gonna take awhile, it's just like making a reduction. Start by melting your butter and throwing in your cherries. These need to cook a good half hour before you throw in the blueberries, sugar, and lemon. All in all it should take anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour. You'll start to see it kind of break down and look almost like jelly... But not quite.

At the end add some flour to thicken it up, you should only need a tiny bit. This is just so it doesn't leak out all over the cake. Place in the freezer to cool, because you can't put it warm on the ganache otherwise it will melt! Every 5 minutes or so, check on the cherries and stir them to make sure they cool evenly.

Ingredients for chocolate ganache:

• 1.5 cups of heavy creme
• 1.5 cups of semi sweet chocolate, chopped or chipped
• 1 cup of bitter chocolate, chopped or chipped

In the house I'm living in now, the family has a never ending supply of every single gourmet chocolate 60% or better so it was orgasmic to get to choose! Remember, you only want to use good chocolate, milk chocolate is crap compared to the real stuff.

Boil your heavy creme on the stove and watch carefully, cause once it goes it goes! It'll start to bubble up like crazy and will overflow if you're not careful. Combine your chocolate in a heat resistant bowl and pour the boiling creme over top. Let it sit for a good minute or two, then slowly whisk together. Being careful not to burn yourself!

This is the first time I've made ganache, it is delectable. I can't wait to make it again! Not only is it delicious, but there are so many consistencies you can work with! If you let it sit and cool, it will be like liquid chocolate. Put it in the fridge to cool, and it'll have an almost fudge like thickness with just a little give. Chill it and then whip it for 5 to 10 minutes, and you've got what tastes exactly like chocolate mouse.

I decided to go with the latter, what I did notice though is that when you whip it and then set it aside... It will get harder and harder. So maybe you don't need to whip it for 10 minutes like I did ;D

Ingredients for butter creme frosting:

• 1 cup of butter
• 3.5 cups of confectioners sugar
• 1 cup of unsweetened cocoa
• dash of vanilla
• dash of chocolate milk [little less then a quarter cup]

Slowly beat together your butter and sugar, adding a little sugar at a time! Once all that is mixed, then you can add the rest and whip it up! Set aside and taste to see if you want it sweeter or not.

Now you can put the cake together! :D Place a plate over top of the cake tins, flip it over, and give it a nice smack on the bottom like you were hitting a red headed step child! The cake should just slide right out.

Place the first layer on a cake plate, and slather the top with the chocolate ganache! Don't be afraid to just pile it on there! Next, you'll take the chilled fruit and pile that on top of the ganache, again... Don't be afraid! I've always noticed that cake, no matter how moist and perfect... You still need a glass of milk to wash it down. So I always pile on the icing cause that's how I prefer it. If you're not an icing lover like me though, cut back a little.

Add the top layer and then use a spatula and ice the cake with the chocolate buttercreme frosting. I garnished with a little lemon peel and some of the fruit filling to let people know what's inside of it ;D


Oh look, it's me!

And there you have it! My first cake, delicious and beautiful and death by chocolate. It was so much fun, and I can't wait to try a nice light vanilla one next time!







Later food lovers,
I'm gonna go eat some eggs!
Justin Francis Kane
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Chicken Pot Pockets

Hey there food lovers, this is a great little recipe I cooked up last night for a nice birthday dinner party we were having for my friend Melissa! I asked her what she wanted for birthday dinner, and her response was 'chicken?' Haha, so she didn't give me much to go with. But I searched and thought about it, realizing that this would be the perfect opportunity to try something new and challenging!

Basically it's a chicken pot pie, but you can hold it like a hot pocket! The dough is crispy and crunchy and the insides were just mouthwatering! To finish off, I also made a Double Chocolate Cherry Cake from scratch, and that was the bomb! I'll submit that a little later or tomorrow morning ;D



You're gonna start out making a sauce reduction! There are a lot of steps in this recipe, I know. But if you have two little helpers like I did you'll be done in no time. I'd say from start to finish [making a cake at the same time!], it only took an hour and a half. And we were cooking for 6 people too! It's all about time management and realizing what's gonna take the longest and what's gonna be done lickety-split.

Ingredients for sauce reduction:

• 2 cans of chicken brother
• dash of soy sauce
• dash of balsamic vinegar
• dash of salt
• dash of pepper
• 2 to 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 to 2 cups of heavy creme
• squeeze of half a lemon
• pinch of flour, or many pinches!

Combine everything, bring to a boil, reduce to medium-low and cook until creamy. About an hour or so, simmering away. At the end I slowly add a pinch or so of flour just to thicken it up a bit, it's going to be spooned into the pockets individually before you wrap them up, so it has to be pretty thick otherwise you'll make a mess!

Ingredients for pastry dough:

• 4 cups of flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 sticks of butter, chilled.
• dash of cold milk, [maybe, if too dry]
• big dash of salt
• dash of rosemary
• dash of pepper

First put all your dry ingredients together and make a little well in the middle. Cut up your sticks of butter into .5 inch slices and slowly with your fingers crumble the butter and flour together. The dough and butter should be well combine, but not completely. It should have a very chunky feel to it. Crack in your eggs and continue to mix, you should see your dough start to come together now. At this point, you may or may not needs the dash of cold milk. I usually use at least a little cause your dough should still be pretty dry.

Place it on a floured surface and start to knead the dough with the palms of your hand, grinding the butter against the hard surface. Repeating until the dough is more uniform, but still should be chunky! The point is that the butter is cold so it leaves a nice flakiness to the dough once you start to bake it in the oven. Set in the fridge covered while you continue cooking.

Ingredients for filling:

• 3 pounds of chicken breast
• .5 stick of butter
• 3 to 4 cups of fresh garden peas, or frozen
• 5 to 6 fresh carrots, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• .5 of an onion, thinly chopped
• dash of salt
• dash of pepper
• dash of white vinegar
• squeeze of lemon
• drizzle of heavy creme

Start with a 1/4 stick of butter, your carrots, garlic, onions, vinegar, and spices and saute them covered for about 15 minutes. Stirring periodically so they don't burn. Once they're almost cooked through, add the peas for the last 5 minutes or so.

Beat the shit out of your chicken breasts, i'm telling you! Go to down, they should look like a nice flattened piece of roadkill by the time you're done with them, just barely being able to hold themselves together. I can't remember what this process is called, but it starts with a 'P!' Ten points who can tell me, haha. Also, squeeze the lemon over the chicken and salt and pepper lightly.

Take the other 1/4 stick of butter, and put it on high heat. Once it's sizzlin', throw your chicken onto the skillet and brown on each side. Cook them almost all the way through, but not entirely! Set aside, let cool, and shred the dickens out of them.

In the meantime, you're gonna make a sauce reduction as well! These are a lot of steps, I know. But if you have two little helpers like I did you'll be done in no time. I'd say from start to finish making a cake at the same time, it only took an hour and a half. And we were cooking for 6 people too! It's all about time management and realizing what's gonna take the longest and what's gonna be done lickety-split.

Time to take the dough out of the fridge, preheat your oven to 375F, and roll it out! You should have enough dough for 6 good sized pockets, maybe even 8 if you roll it out thin enough. I used a rolling pin, lightly dusted with flour, and a pizza cutter to trim the outside edges.

You want the pockets to be about 5 by 6 inches, fill them up with the warm veggies from the stove, and the shredded chicken you should have on stand-by. Put a good dollop of the sauce reduction in as well, and close it quickly! Take a drop of the sauce on your finger, line the outer edge quick-style, fold, pinch, and roll! Place it on a baking pan lined with parchment paper, and repeat 5 more times!

Take some room temperature butter and slather the tops of these babies before you bake em, pinch a little extra salt and pepper too. Maybe if you had some shredded cheese? Put that on the last 5 minutes or so of baking, or right before the broiler part! Go crazy!

You'll get the hang of it. I promise, make sure they're sealed up nice and tight! And feel free to use a fork to press down the edges to give it a little decoration. Bake at 375F for about 20 to 25 minutes, and for the last 3 to 5 minutes we turned on the broiler to make the tops nice and golden brown.

We served it with a side of rice pilaf that came out of a box... At that point, I was sweating, drinking a glass of wine, and down for the count! But it was all worth it to see the reactions of everyone eating. Oh and God that cake was beautiful! It's almost 2am here, so I'll post that recipe tomorrow kiddos. I'll leave you with some extra photos of us enjoying the food, and Melissa getting her present from Roxanne! My best friend Norahs mother.





This has been your host,
Justin Francis Kane
Over and out!
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Pan Seared Salmon with Avocado Remoulade

So with the leftovers from the Cucumbers and Lox, I made a little Pan Seared Salmon with some Avocado Remoulade! It’s literally only 3 ounces of salmon, enough for 2 bites… But I was bored and didn’t want to just throw it out, right?

I’ve only ever baked salmon, so I learned a lot from using oil in a skillet. It’s easy, and takes about 5 minutes instead of a ton of extra time it would take to bake it or broil. You learn something new every day, I’m glad I finally know the right way how to cook it now ;D

Ingredients:

• 1 salmon fillet or steak
• dash of salt
• dash of lemon pepper
• squeeze of lemon
• drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

So basically rub your salmon with the spices and lemon, then drizzle the oil into a skillet and put on medium-high heat. Once you see the oil start to smoke, throw in the salmon skin side first. It should only take about 2 to 3 minutes, 4 max on each side, depending on the thickness of your fillet or steak.

Nobody likes over cooked salmon, it’s supposed to be a little soft and juicy. Be careful not to burn yourself, this oil tends to fly!

Ingredients for the Remoulade:

• 1 avocado
• a squeeze of lime
• 1 tablespoon of spicy brown mustard or more, depending on your taste.
• spoonful of sour creme
• dash of salt
• 1 small shallot finely diced
• 1 clove of garlic
• drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

Throw it all into a food processor and puree! Slowly but surely drizzle in some olive oil, not too much! maybe a tablespoon at max. This just really creamifies it and gives it a more saucy texture. I did some research and you can also put capers or hard boiled egg yolks into it too… But I was lazy and didn’t want to boil eggs.

Basically a remoulade is just a salad or seafood dressing. Tasty as hell though! It also doesn’t traditionally have sour creme in it, but I had some left over from the cukes so I thought ‘What the hell!’ Haha.

So there you go! I’ve had a taste for the ocean since I came to Cali and smelled the beautiful ocean air. I just had to get all this fish and seafood out before I exploded ;}

Hope you guys are having as much fun as I am! I took these photos, but I don’t have my usual layout from my other recipes where it gives the cost and has my watermark and fancy border and things, sorry! I’ll fix it if I ever go home though ;} Key stress on the sentence, if I ever go back home…

Later Food Lovers,
Justin Francis Kane
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Stuffed Cucumbers with Creme Cheese Lox

Stuffed Cucumbers with Creme Cheese Lox! This was super easy, super quick, and will make your friends wanna roll over and die with refreshment. They're deliciously bite sized little orgasmic semen-splosions in your mouth.

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces of room temperature creme cheese
• 6 ounces of sour creme
• 3 ounces of fresh smoked salmon, raw and diced very small!
• a handful of chopped fresh chives, diced and small. or a shallot!
• dash of dill
• dash of salt
• squeeze of a lemon
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed and minced.
• 3 or 4 large cucumbers

So you're gonna start by mixing together everything except for the cucumbers, don't forget to taste it! You might want more dill or more lemon, who knows? Cover it and pop it in the fridge to set a little so you can pipe it into your cucumber hollows later.

Next you're going to skin your cukes! If you don't like the skin, you can take it all off. But I prefer it with a little skin on, so I did alternating strips of skin and skinless.

After that, cut your cukes into 1 inch sections removing the ends first. Once that's done, take a small grapefruit spoon or a melon baller and scoop out some but not all of the innards and seeds. You want to go down about 2/3's of the way into the flesh. Sprinkle a little extra salt on the cucumbers and set aside for a minute.

If you don't have a fancy piping bag, use a ziplock or sandwich bag! Fill it up with the creme cheese lox and cut a little small hole in one corner. Pipe it into the cukes cavities and maybe garnish with a little mini fresh sprig of dill for decoration? I only had dried, but no big deal!

Keep em in the fridge covered or serve immediately. You're friends gonna think you some fancy british tea party shit or something'!

Later Foodies,
Justin Francis Kane
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Shrimp Scampi with Fettucini Alfredo and a side of Asparagus and Shallots

In the spirit of cabin fever and getting another foot and a half of snow... My friends and I travelled up an hour north of Albany to the little quaint town of Queensbury, where my father lives. He's currently in Florida on vacation, so it was the perfect excuse to use his beautiful kitchen to entertain a few of my closest friends.

The only thing I don't recommend, is drinking too much before you have a chance to finish cooking it all! Haha... I definitely made some very stupid mistakes because of the champagne giggles I had.

So what I attempted to make was Shrimp Scampi with Fettucini and an Alfredo Sauce! It was good, the shrimps were superb but I forgot a main ingredient in the sauce. And I accompanied it with Asparagus and Shallots, which were a nice pair to the dish.


Ingredients:

• 2 bushels of asparagus with the hard ends removed
• 8 to 10 shallots, peeled
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• dash of salt
• dash of lemon pepper
• squeeze of lemon
• dash of white vinegar or wine

Cook the asparagus and shallots first in a large skillet with a cover for about 20 to 25 minutes. Squeeze in a lemon, add some garlic, lemon pepper and a dash of white vinegar or wine! These take the longest compared to the shrimp which take only 8 minutes max.

Uncover for the last 5 to 10 minutes and add a little water if the juices completely evaporate. This is just like my caramelized asparagus recipe except I added 8 or so shallots, which I love!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of raw shrimp, shelled and deveined.
• .5 stick of butter
• squeeze of lemon
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed and minced
• a handfull of freshly chopped scallions
• dash of sea salt
• dash of pepper
• dash of red pepper
• Large bag of spinach fettucini
• 8 ounces of freshly grated parmesan
• 8 ounces of heavy creme

Start boiling your fettucini now and follow their instructions, remember to rinse with cool water so the noodles stop cooking and splash on a little extra virgin olive oil so they don't stick.

After you've peeled and deveined your shrimp, or you've boughten the kind that already are! Only 2 dollars extra a pound, but so worth it cause it can take forever! You're ready to fry em up!

Make sure you pat them dry with a paper towel, cover in all the spices, and throw on your garlic and chives! Roll em around a little bit. Put your butter in the skillet on high and once it's melted throw in your shrimp without overcrowding them! After 2 to 3 minutes flip each shrimp individually with tongs. It's the only way you'll be able to do it fast enough! Wait another two minutes, they should be nice and golden on each side. Depending on the size of your skillet it could take you two batches or so.

Set aside and squeeze a fresh lemon over top when they're done.

Now this is where I made my mistake! I was already 3 to 4 glasses of champagne deep at this point and feeling mighty silly talking with my friends and remembering the old days of high school and the like...

Take a small container of heavy creme and pour it slowly into your skillet that you fried the shrimp in. Put it to low heat so it doesn't bubble over! Now take your parmesan cheese and start sprinkling it in slowly till it melts and add a splash of chardonnay! If it's not thick enough, add a little sprinkling of flour slowly but surely. Make sure you scrape the bottom of your skillet with the wooden spoon your using to get all that delicious fried shrimp stuff out!

I forgot to add the cheese all together, I was wondering why my sauce was so runny and I had to keep adding so much flour haha... Don't drink and drive kids! ;P

Well I've got a really big day ahead of me tomorrow work wise, so hope you guys enjoy the recipe! Thanks again to Norah, Alyssa, and Tucker for making last night so much fun :D

Peace out girl scouts,
Justin Francis Kane
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New Blog, yey!

So I didn't quite know what to do as far as transferring my posts... Should I do it all at once? Or should I do it slowly and surely and eventually get all of my recipes here? I guess we'll see, but I'll start off with just doing this post and then another for my own peace of mind.

I'm loving the freedom over here at Blogger though, it seems much more sophisticated and professional as far as platforms go. Lets hope this is a good start to a long lasting relationship.

Later Food Lovers!

Justin Francis Kane

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