ERIC BEGOUN: FIREMASTER

Our housemate and beloved photographer Eric couldn't be home for Mardi Gras this year, so he brought a little bit of NOLA back to the District in the form of Bananas Foster. Here is his guest blog, and if you have one of your own you would like to contribute, email us!

"In keeping with all things New Orleans, I brought back some beads from Mardi Gras and an itching to have some real New Orleans desserts. Case-in-point: Bananas Foster!  This dessert was invented at Brennan's Restaurant in New Orleans, and it is most often prepared tableside for a show of fire and deliciousness.  It's also pretty easy to make!

4 servings:
¼ cup (½ stick) butter
1 cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup banana liqueur (we used Creme de Banane)
4 bananas, cut in half lengthwise
¼ cup rum (we used dark but light is okay)
4 scoops vanilla ice cream

Start off with by melting your butter and brown sugar in a large and deep saucepan over low eat.  While that's melting into the most delicious syrup ever, prep your bananas by cutting them in half lengthwise.  When your mixture is good and melted, add your banana liquor and rum alcohols to the pan and let heat for a bit.  When it's good and bubbly, add the bananas and top with cinnamon.

Mmmm rummmmm

THEN HERE COMES THE COOL PART.  Once everything is cooking together, CAREFULLY light the rum in the pan with a long lighter.  Be careful of shooting blue flames and your body parts [in fancy cooking terms, this is called flambé].  While the alcohol is burning off, scoop vanilla ice cream into individual bowl servings.  When the alcohol has completely burned off the flames, quickly scoop the the bananas (2 halves per person) and some extra sauce over the ice cream.

Then sit back, relax, pretend you are watching a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, and ENJOY."

VALENTINES BOURBON BALLS

I don’t mean to brag, but I’m pretty damn adorable. And so are these Valentine’s Day cake balls. Also, let’s be real, these get back to the heart and soul of the crackden: alcoholic dessert.

This was my first time making cake balls, so there was some ghetto cooking that went on. Also a pretty steep learning curve... If you haven’t done this before, just plan on cringing at the sight of the first few and passing them off on a non-judgmental roommate. Skip over to Safeway/Waggie’s and procure the following:

Red Velvet cake mix plus necessary ingredients

Cream cheese icing

Chocolate chips

liiiiiiitle bit of butter

Bourbon 

Girly pink sprinkles

First thing mix and bake your cake, you’re going to have to let it completely cool before you can move on. When it’s entirely cool, crumble the cake into a very large bowl. The recipe I had consulted for this recommended 1/4 cup of bourbon... but you should about triple that. If it’s supposed to taste like bourbon, it should actually taste like bourbon. Next, mix in your icing. Because you added more bourbon, take it a little easy on the icing, and don’t quite add all of the container. Mix thoroughly, and put in the freezer until it gets firm.

Use this as an opportunity to rearrange your freezer, because you will need a LOT of room, and cover two cookie sheets in wax paper. When the cake/icing mix is firm-ish, use your hands to roll spoonfuls into 1 inch balls and put the trays back into the freezer for another hour. If they look kinda fuzzy or spikey when you take them out, that’s fine, just re-roll to smooth them out and re-freeze for a bit.

In the meantime, melt your chocolate with a few tablespoons of butter in a double-boiler. In case you haven’t melted chocolate like this before, you need a pot filled with simmering water on the stove, and you place a metal bowl filled with the chocolate chips on top of that. 

**Note: I consulted with Alissa, who is an expert in cake balls, and she says that chocolate chips are actually pretty hard to work with (after this, I would agree). You’re better off with candy melts or almond bark. However, chocolate chips are definitely easier to find, so there’s trade offs.**

Toss a frozen cake ball in, and use a fork to roll it around to get it coated and to scoop it out onto your wax papered cookie sheet. Because of all the booze, they’re not quite as firm as normal cake balls, so be gentle. Immediately sprinkle with girly pink sprinkles, because chocolate chips set pretty quickly. You might need to re-freeze the cake balls if they’re getting too soft to work with,  I had to do that a couple of times and it makes them much easier to work with.

Messy, but delicious.

You’re done when you run out of chocolate or balls, whichever comes first. Freeze overnight to make sure everything sets, and offer up to all of your loved ones to celebrate :)

"You need one with the bourbon!" -Kate, our lovely and talented photographer

JUICE CUSE ORANGE-GINGER CHICKEN

Crackden is making a concerted effort to include real-life recipes, not just our typical alcohol-laced-chocolate-filled-emotional-eating sort of recipes. THAT SAID, what is a girl to do when her roommates all have plans but you don’t just want... soup.... for dinner? 

Well, naturally, I started by burning the Rice-a-roni. Because I can make Ratatouille from scratch (I should do this for you guys, it’s yummy), but fuck if I can ever get the boxed pasta to work. But, while that was smoking on the stove, I invented some really good Asian-ish chicken to accompany my solo Grey’s Anatomy marathon. Improvise, but try to get the following, and obviously adjust amounts if you actually have friends.

1 chicken breast

about 3/4 cup flour

half a spoonful ginger powder

1 or 2 cloves of garlic (personal preference)

sprinkle red pepper flakes

a few tablespoons sesame seed oil (totes worth getting if you do Asian food at all, otherwise whatever oil you’ve got)

a few tablespoons soy sauce

about 1/2 cup orange juice

...and I had pineapple juice, so I threw that in there, too

oil for frying

peppers or broccoli or whatever veggies you enjoy

Look at the size of this mofo. A lonely girl could be fed for a week!

For the sake of our cooking philosophy, I’m going to reiterate that measuring is way less important than taste testing. Loosen up, people.

Dice the chicken and throw it in a bowl with the flour, using your hands to coat each piece evenly, and let it sit for a minute before you throw it in the pan to start frying. Waiting helps the breading “set” and not fall off during cooking. I can’t remember if I read that somewhere, or if I made it up, but it can’t hurt.

While it’s frying, grab another bowl and add your ginger, garlic, and red pepper. Do NOT accidently dump the entire pepper thing in, because this, believe me, will make it waaaaay spicier than you originally intended. Mix in your oil, followed by the rest of the ingredients (except veggies). Taste test, and adjust to your liking.

When your chicken is cooked, remove it from the pan and throw your sauce in there on high heat. It will bubble a lot, and should get thicker pretty fast. If, after a few minutes, it’s still too runny, beat in a cornstarch/water or flour/butter mixture.

When it thickens up, reduce heat and add your chicken and veggies, mixing well to coat. When vegetables are suitably cooked, transfer to a plate and marvel at your own genius. Enjoy Grey’s, and don’t worry, your roommates will be home soon.

I remembered to take picturessssssss

KPAK LIQUID HAPPINESS

Every once in awhile, the Kpak gets really mysterious and starts asking weird questions. "Do we have triple sec? Do you like kiwis?" I follow Kpak blindly in all respects, so I never question.

Anyway, apparently kiwis not in season in February, who woulda guessed? Instead, get the following:

Jose
triple sec
pineapple juice
simple syrup (sugar and water)
blackberries/raspberries

Magic bullet about half a cup of berries, and dump the puree into a pitcher along with a healthy splash of simple syrup. Fill about half full with pineapple juice, then the rest of it with mostly tequila and some triple sec. Throw in some ice cubes, stir that up, and serve. I mean... adjust the tequila to suit your needs.

Kpak commented later that she shoulda strained out all the berry-bits, this is a recurring theme with her, but we love her dearly. And Bufe likes pulp, so things are good.

blackberry+raspberry+tequila=!!!

QUICK TACO FUN

This one's gonna be really short, just a little somethin to show off this Parents' Weekend and convince the 'rents that you cook like a grown-up now.

Well, and by "cook like a grown-up," I mean start with a trip to Leo O'Donovan Dining Hall and swipe a couple cereal bowls, which are wonderfully ceramic and oven-proof, not to mention the perfect size. Pick up a package of flour tortillas (not the super huge ones, the fajita size). Preheat the oven to 375 and Pam your bowl, then put the tortilla inside and poke at it until it looks pretty and presentable. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until the top just barely starts to brown.

The Leos bowl is hot because it was in an oven, so don't do anything stupid when you remove your tortilla bowl and let it sit to fully harden. While this is going on, do whatever taco-things you want. I made margarita chicken, but you can go with some sort of salad or just ground beef stuff.

SHOW OFF. The $200,000 education has definitely paid off.

I swear to God that's a thumbs-up back there. And that's a margarita down in the corner.