Pot Roast Done Vloggy-Style
Watch what happen when Grace gets personal and cooks up a big hunk of beef.

My Geek Peeps at the Brooklyn 2.0 Meetup

I was feeling the New Media/Video Podcasting/Blogger love last night at the Brooklyn 2.0 Meetup. This meetup attracted a great crowd to Mooney's Pub in Park Slope thanks to organizer Eric Rochow of GardenFork. Check out his terrific recipe for blueberry pancakes on his video podcast GardenFork.tv; in this same podcast you’ll learn how to fell a tree with a chainsaw.

Old friends, like Caleb Clark stopped in. Caleb challenged me to a FearlessCooking episode using his lox recipe, definitely a -white glove smacked against the face- moment for me. Charles Hope of Blip.tv talked code with David of social networking site Ning, I left them to it after noticing that the conversation started sounding like, “beep, beep, beep” type robot talk to me. John of Google was another code monkey floating around talking smack about Bangor, Maine small town living and telling me about working on iGoogle- lots more cool features rolling out there soon. Yahoo better watch out. Talked with Stephen Kline of Xanga.com about the challenges of doing live video on the net.

Had a great conversation about the merits of Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi in Star Trek. Consensus was - she's hot. Glad I stopped in for another fun night out with my Geek Peeps.

Grace and Christopher Walken in the Kitchen

Raise your hands if you think I should get in the kitchen with Christopher Walken. Exactly. Chris needs some Fearless Cooking in his life. I can tell.

In this video he makes a really nice roast chicken. I'll have to buy one of those upright roaster contraptions he uses. I'd bet he gets more crispy skin on his bird than I do. I also approve of how generous he is with the salt.

The Cult of the Oyster at Stone Park Cafe

Pleasure. Lately I’ve been finding it every weekend in Park Slope. It’s gotten so bad that I wake up on Monday morning thinking, “Only 5 more days until heaven.” I’ve found myself on the F train daydreaming about having them.

What I’m pining for are the perfectly cooked, enormous fried oysters I’ve been having for brunch every Saturday for the past few weeks - and sometimes if I’m really strung out I go back for seconds on Sundays. They’re at Stone Park Café in Park Slope, Brooklyn at 5^th Ave and 3^rd St.

Tasty well seasoned thin crispy batter outside, perfectly cooked ridiculously large oysters, that are often the size of a plum inside. Good God they are good! They come on top of eggs cooked with a very good quality bacon, green onions and topped with cheddar. The first time in the restaurant the menu said the oysters were on top of a frittata, but I asked for my eggs cooked “soft”. I’m sure that pissed off the chef. I do understand what a pain in the ass it is for orders to be changed up during a busy brunch, but I am so, so sick of overcooked eggs. And, I really wanted something crispy on the plate, the oysters, with something soft, the eggs.

I also hold the potatoes and toast and want greens. (I know pain in the ass, again) They do a really simple delicious sauté with the greens with lots of roasted garlic. I’ve been converting lots of friends including a cookbook author Lyn Stallworth and AnotherFoodBlogger to the Stone Park Oyster Cult and everyone agrees that the food is phenomenal and prepared by guys who really know what they’re doing and care about what they sling on the plate. If you're looking for me some Saturday morning you know where I’ll be, at Stone Park Café, engaging in full on oyster gluttony.

What:
Hangtown Fry – that’s what it’s called on the menu. Crispy perfectly cooked oysters on a bed of eggs, bacon and cheese.

Where:
Stone Park Cafe
5^th Ave and 3^rd Street

Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY

Dishwashing as Meditation

I just finished hand washing a load of dishes and realized my breathing had slowed and I wasn’t obsessing over what I needed to do next. I think I’ve discovered a new form of mediation for myself; the new yoga!

There was something satisfying about it. The sink was a disaster – and now it’s not. Cleanliness and order has been restored. Now how do I apply this to everything else I’ve been putting off in my life?

In honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day, I bring you How to Eat like a Pirate!

After looking at the options it is clear that talking like a pirate is way more fun than eating like one. Have a look at the recipe for Hard Tack. I'm pretty sure I have the same recipe for making inedible Christmas ornaments.

Hard Tack

• Mix one teaspoon of salt with one pound of flour.
• Add enough water to make a very stiff dough.
• Flatten the dough to about 1/2 inch and cut it into about 4 inch circles. Punch holes in each circle with a fork.
• Bake in a flat pan at 250 degrees for two or three hours.

In Food News:
Don't eat the Dole!
Dole is hurting after having to recall 5,000 bags of lettuce yesterday. Go to your fridge now and toss out that bag of lettuce. 11 people were sickened and 2 hospitalized.

5,000 bags of salad mix sought in recall, Dole says. Most packages were sold in U.S.

By Stephen J. Hedges | Washington Bureau
September 19, 2007 WASHINGTON - Dole Food Co. Inc. has recalled nearly 5,000 bags of its Dole Hearts Delight salad mix after a test by a Canadian food safety agency found E. coli bacteria in the product in a Canadian store. The salad mix also was being sold in a number of U.S. states, including Illinois.

My latest show will play first. To watch all my shows click the guide button and choose the show you'd like to watch.



Watch Sunny Gault's show Viral featuring Fearless Cooking here at Veoh.

Click To Play

See Grace cook mussels for the first time. Will she overcook them? Will she be able to cook in a stranger's teeny tiny Parisian kitchen?

Java Jolt Pie

My second Paris episode where I overcome my trepidation of cooking mussels is on the way. In the meantime here is a very short episode where I make a simple retro treat in no time. High octane coffee and dessert all in one. This pie didn't take more than 30 minutes to make.

Grace boldly goes shopping in Paris for the first time with only a limited vocabulary and a fear of humiliation.

Click To Play

Fear of the French

Grace boldly goes shopping in Paris for the first time with only a limited vocabulary and a fear of humiliation.

THE HEATWAVE

It's hotter than hell in Hell's Kitchen, so we're keeping it cool with a watermelon/jalapeno cocktail.

Click here to watch the video in mpeg4 format or here to watch the flash version that will play on any computer.

4 cups semi-frozen seedless watermelon cut into 2-3 inch chunks

1/4 cup mint leaves

juice of 1/2 a lime

1-2 teaspoons minced, fresh jalapeno (NO SEEDS!)

1/4 cup (or more) vodka

4 ice cubes

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Garnish glasses with a slice of lime and a sprig of mint.
Makes 4 drinks.

Girl Vs. Squid


She came, she cooked, she conquered. Squid beaks, tentacles and ink sacs, Oh my. Click here to watch the video in mpeg4 format or here to watch the flash version that will play on any computer.

Don't forget to write in my comments section what dishes terrify you and I'll cook them for you on the show.

As always in Fearless Cooking, I need a stiff drink to feel I have the courage and determination to face my fears in the kitchen. My drink of choice to complement a spicy Vietnamese inspired sauce is the Mojito. The muddled mint with the lime juice makes the kitchen smell wonderful, and did a pretty good job of masking the really unpleasant odor coming from the squid innards.

Mojito
5 fresh mint sprigs, or more
2 tsp sugar, Splenda or other sweetener
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 1/2 oz light rum......or more depending on how frightened you are
Seltzer to top it off
In a tall thin glass, muddle (squish) mint, sweetner and lime juice with the handle-end of a wooden spoon until the sweetener has dissolved. Add rum and mix. Top with ice and seltzer. Garnish with another sprig of mint and slice a slice of lime.

Dissect Your Squid
A well-made mojito makes the job alot less intimidating. I’m not typically squeamish in the kitchen, but I have to say grasping both gooey ends of the creature and tearing it in half made me feel more like a cavewoman than a home cook. I enjoy the messy bits of kitchen prep, ripping spines of chicken, peeling eggs and hacking up a whole fish, but this was more like an alien autopsy. That said, it was much easier than I thought it would be and it was a quick operation. I’m glad that I conquered this fear. Watch the video to see how it turned out. This website has a very good description of the how to dissect your squid.

Spicy Lime Dipping Sauce
This quick, fresh tasting sauce would be perfect for grilled pork or chicken. Before grilling, try marinating the meat for a few hours in coconut milk with a teaspoon of turmeric or curry powder thrown in for color. I found inspiration for the recipe from Nicole Routhier my source for great Vietnamese recipes.

2 squirts of Rooster Asian Hot Sauce
1 tablespoon cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped onion
1 tablespoon fish sauce (Nam Pla)
1-2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon sweetener

Mix together the sauce ingredients in a small serving bowl. Serve with grilled skewered meat, (not necessarily squid, see note above) with the dipping sauce.

Music in the video: (I'll update the full list within a few days)
The great drumming music is courtesy of Tribal Soundz.

Watch a teaser for my latest Fearless Cooking episode Girl vs. Squid.

Click here to VIEW THE VIDEO, or GET FEARLESS COOKING IN iTUNES.

Light and Cripy Tempura

Click To Play

Hot oil burns my flesh(this is set to Japanese pop music) and then I deep fry a roll of paper towels!

I read cookbooks the way some women read romance novels, but I there are certain recipes that make me feel more like I'm reading a Stephen King novel. They fascinate and thrill me, but when I think about cooking them myself, I get scared.

So what am I afraid of? Lobsters attacking!? Sauces curdling!? Anything with live yeast!? Some complicated sounding French recipe, like Gigot d'Agneau à la Bretonne!? Yes! I mean, no! I mean Hell No! I am determined to conquer my culinary fears, and cook the very dishes that scare me most.

I've always steered away from anything requiring a vat of boiling oil. I love, love, love, fried food, but there's the whole mess... the oil splattering up, disfiguring and blinding me... the fact that fried food tastes best hot or it goes limp... grease on the walls, and the house smelling like a fry-o-later... and of course the next day what to do with a cool vat of oil. But I'm set on overcoming my fears, so tonight I made tempura.

Tempura

Tips for Great Tempura

1. Keep the batter ingredients ice cold.

2. Don’t over beat the batter! You don’t want to activate the gluten in the flour, leading to a thick tough coating. We want it light and crispy.

3. Keep the oil hot, around 136 degrees F. Hot oil seals the outside of your coating, keeping it crispy. More tepid oil gives you the limp, greasy texture of bad burger stand fries.

Prepare the Tempura Vegetables and Seafood First

After trying all the vegetables, my favorite was the kabocha, a Japanese pumpkin. It becomes sweet and creamy with the crispy outer layer of batter. The scallions were also amazing-- just like onion rings, but a little fresher or cleaner tasting. I didn’t think the eggplant had much flavor, and the cilantro (which I usually love) was just weird and soapy tasting. I found that if I left the tempura pieces in the oil until very brown that although they were crispier, the vegetable flavor didn’t shine through – it just tasted like batter. It’s best to keep them a very light golden color.

1 zucchini, skin and cut into ¼” slices

1 Kabocha squash, the skin is edible so scrub well

1 bunch of parsley

Small handful of snow peas, leave whole

1 sweet potato or yam

1 red pepper, cut into 1 ½” by 1” pieces

Mushrooms, the best you can afford, wiped clean and if large sliced or halved

1 lb large raw scallops or raw, cleaned, peeled shrimp

The kabocha and sweet potato are so dense that I like to precook them a little in the microwave. Halve the kabocha, scoop out the seeds, and plate the halves along with the whole sweet potato. Poke a few holes in the potato with a knife and cover vegetables with wax paper. Microwave just until the flesh of each gives a little. Let cool until you can handle them and slice into ¼- ½ inch slices.

Prepare other vegetables and put all in a large bowl. All vegetables should be well dried so that the batter sticks. Rinse and pat dry scallops or shrimp.

Simple Batter

This is good, but next time I’ll try a batter with some corn meal to replace some flour for a little crunchy texture to the coating.

1 large egg, chilled

3/4 cup ice water

capful sake (optional)

¾ cup all purpose flour + 2 tablespoons, chilled

¼ cup rice flour, cornstarch, or all flour, chilled (you can grind your own rice flour in a coffee/spice grinder or blender)

1 lemon, quartered

Vegetable oil to come up 2-3 inches in your pot

Pop the flour and rice flour into the freezer an hour or so before cooking to chill it quickly. Beat the egg and mix well into the ice water. Using chopsticks or a fork, gently blend in flours, until just combined, small lumps are ok. Heat oil to 365 degrees with a candy/fry thermometer, and preheat oven to 200 degrees. Put a large sheet pan in the oven to transfer the tempura to as you cook each batch.

Dip the vegetables into the batter. Let excess batter fall off. Carefully slide the battered vegetables into the hot oil. Let them brown on one side then gently flip them, using long metal tongs or a slotted spoon. Fry until they are a very light golden color. Save the scallops or shrimp until all vegetables are done, to keep the vegetables from taking on a fishy flavor. Lightly dredge seafood in the flour, shake off the excess, dip into batter, and slide into the oil.

Serve with lemon slices and my dipping sauce below.

Dipping Sauce

¼ cup rice wine vinegar
soy sauce
hot Asian chili sauce, I use Sriracha brand

Mix soy sauce and hot sauce into dipping bowl of vinegar to taste.

Click this image to see my FoodMuse Fondue Party video (3 min.)

Enjoy!

Below are links to some of my very good recipes and funny things like spatchcocking and sex toys.

Silicone is not just for Boobs! and my Favorite Juicy Easy Roast Chicken recipe.

Cool photos of a shocking spatchcocking.

Dirty, dirty, dirty banana! Sex toys and my Quick Banana Bread with chocolate chips recipe.

Fact: Wooden cutting boards are more sanitary than plastic for raw meat! and a really yummy Jalapeno Popper recipe. Sweet, salty, spicy goodness.

I did not want to give out my dinner party secret weapon, but for you how could I say no. Here is my Nirvana Chicken Curry recipe. So easy, so good.

Simple Scrod recipe, yummy, quick and juicy. Scrod: a fish that isn't a fish.

The only tomato sauce recipe you will ever need.