Creme brulee- molecular gastronomy style

hiya peeps-

I'm sure alot of you have heard the term molecular gastronomy,some chefs hate that term. Well, i don't care what you call it, but I love the many possibilities it has opened. I have ordered some chemicals and havebeen toying around with tapioca maltodexrin, what that does is it turns fat based stuff to powder. So, it looks completely different, but when you put it in your mouth it melts and tastes like the stuff you put in, so it invokes the memory of that taste without the visual cues.

I decided to make some creme brulee powder. It took some trial and error. I worked out the kinks. I will post a video soon on how i did it. For now, here are some pics of the end product.

I decided to keep what is classic of creme brulee, which is the sugar crust. I made it real thin.
anyways, ill post the vid soon,just need to edit it.lol





I know i havent shared much of my personal life yet, but lately life has been catching up with me... between medical school, the house, my hubby, my work(im self employed) and my food ive had little time to breath. But the truth is i look back and i'm not sure i have done much. i'm always stressed, behind, tired. ready to quit. I feel like im letting my family down and, worse myself... my life needs to change. i need to change. Our lives are what we make them, its my fault, i know that. i just feel defeated at times. i think i need an attitude adjustment. I just want to be happy and healthy....gah...nvm my rant.lol.peace out.

Salt baked Fish + GIVEAWAY

I have never made this before. I've seen it once and funnily enough bobby flay made it this week on iron chef, though in a slightly different way

So, what i used was lemons, red snapper (1 lb each), salt,lots of salt,lol, and bay leaf and seasoning.

i cant live without lemons, i looooove them...yum


i ended up using 3 salt boxes/cans, i think u can get away with 2

i filled the bottom of a pan with it, NOTE, wet the salt and make it stick to each other



red snapper is one of my favorite fish, its sooo delicious and easy to eat

I actually like my fish whole, i just get it gutted and de-scaled, however NOTE that i read that its better to leave the scales on the fish, so the skin peels off easier with the salt. If i had read tehis before i wouldve tried each fish one way



in tony montana voice: say hello to my little friend...



stuff with lemon, seasoning and bay leaf



wet the salt with water



so its this consistancy, dont mind the writing on my hand, thats my to do list.lol. if i write it on paper i lose the to do list so i forget what i have to do.lol


mound the salt around the fish. NOTE bobby flay and martha stewart both add a couple egg whites to the salt instead of water and bobby also put some parchment paper over the fish before covering with salt. I would reccomend this because if you are not careful preparing this parts of the fish exposed to the salt can be too salty


i baked at 350 for 30 min, its really 15 min per pound according to martha.

I struggled a bit with "uncracking" this and revealing it, and salt flew everywhere! haha..so be careful.



Ta dahhhhh!

also, u need to peel the skin right off




So here it is! sorry for the plating but my camera was running outa battery so i had to hurry lol

It was really cooked perfect inside, just make sure you get all the salt off before plating it(because i made the mistake of not wetting all the salt)...hehe..so enjoy..if u make this let me know of any tips!


also, this is a great book: Martha Stewart's Cooking School and they have this recipe in it so i'm giving a new copy away!


To enter you must be a US resident, You can either tweet an entry @booheadswife, RT to your followers, or comment here, or do all and it counts as 3 entries!


====> to enter just tell me what your favorite cook book is!


this giveaway will end on friday by 5 pm ET and i'll announce on saturday. good luck!

UPDATED TO ADD: the winner is KATE from thisamericanwife.net! yay!!

Meatloaf Cupcakes

hey peeps! i was brainstorming the other day and i thought meatloaf cupcakes, how awesome would that be? Now, i have never had or made meatloaf in my life, and neither has my hubby so i thought what the hell, why not? so i googled "meatloaf recipe" and got one off of http://www.momswhothink.com/ . I modified it a little, but the basics are there, and let me tell u we loved it!

here is their recipe:

1/2 cup bread crumbs (i added a lil more)
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 cup milk
1 large egg
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard (i substituted with celery seed)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground sage (i also added 1/4 teaspoon thyme)
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder (didn't have this)
1/2 cup barbecue sauce ( I had run out so i used Ketchup, hot sauce, honey and A1 for the sauce)
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce ( didnt have so i used A1 steak sauce instead)




added the A1


onions


herbs n seasonings


i added this pik cuz i LOVE how u can see each salt particle ...im silly i know


breadcrumbs which i made by toasting toast in the oven for 10 min


1 egg


milk


So, i added a big spoonful for each cupcake whole, but what i would do differently is add probably at least 1/2 more, because they shrank a little when cooked.
You can also add cupcake liners, which i shouldve tried but my brain wasnt working.







make sure to make a cupcake "dome" to look like a cupcake since meatloaf doesnt rise
i used the bottom of the spoon to shape them


and voila! I only had a 1lb ground beef so i was short.


SO, i didnt put the sauce on them right away. Pop them in the oven at 350 for 30 min
this is what they look like, before saucing them and popping them back in


So, the sauce i made is 2/3 ketchup, 1/3 A1 steak sauce, 1 tablespoon honey, and 1/4 teaspoon hotsauce


spoon it on then pop back into the oven for the last 20-30 min


yummmmy


For the frosting, i wanted to use a boxed mashed potatoe. I usually hate potatoes from a box, but these are not too bad, and i wanted it to be really smooth, and i was being lazy and didnt want to bother with peeling potatoes:)



After it cooled a bit, i popped the mash into a ziplock and went to town


And here u go!


imaginging i was in a 5 star restaurant i dotted the plate with hot sauce.hehe.


I would really recommend trying this. It's really fun, and i would imagine it would be a hit with kids. Also, use more meat per cupcake then i did, and try it with a cupcake liner (*hit myself in the ass for not doing this)

updated to add: i googled "meatloaf cupcake" and apparently this has been done before. My bubble just kinda burst...but...eh...great minds think alike i guess:) hahha...i still loved this.oh well.

Potatoe pie madness

Have you ever had leftover baked, mashed or other potatoe. Well, this is a reason to make sure you do have leftovers. Some yummy easy potatoe pie for the next day!

The beauty of this is you can add whatever you want into this, even top it off with marinara sauce at the end. Here is what you need.

ingredients
===========
leftover mashed potatoes, potatoes...
1 lb ground beef
italian herbs
1 carrot finely chopped
1 onion chopped
2 tablespoon vinegar
salt pepper to taste
crushed croutons/ bread crumbs
optional: marinara sauce

1) whatever leftover you have, it needs to be mashed and made thick and creamy.
Spread half the potatoe mix at least 1/2 inch thick along the bottom of the pan and smooth it out


season it VERY well
flavor the potatoes with aLOT of seasoning and herbs or it will come out bland. I dont do bland:)



2) sautee the onion, add the carrot and ground beef. Add the vinegar and salt n pepper to the meat.you can add tomatoes too if you like, or any other veggie

3)the ground beef should be spread on top



4) spread the rest of the potatoes on top of the beef this can be tricky. Put a huge dollop of potatoes then slowly spread with a spoon without picking up meat



5) after its all ready, pop in the oven for 20-25 min at 350



6) top with the crushed croutons about 10 min before taking it out of the oven.



7) take a slice out and enjoy with a vinegerette salad (this is a must!). The sour of the salad pairs great with this



my hubby had never had this, and he loved it. My mum used to make it for me on those cold school days. And it always just makes me feel at home. What did your mum make for you that made u feel cozy and warm and puurrrfect?

Retro purple circles mini cake

i don't know if any of u know about cake girls, but they made a retro inspired cake for a wedding in green, and i loved it so much i decided to make a mini version with my favorite color PURPLE!
I was just playing around with some different backgrounds.



I made the circles with candy melts, ziplocks and i just piped them on parchment paper



THEN i thought there are not enough circles (which also happen to look like boobs) on this thing, so i decided to pimp it out more!






IN case u didnt get enough of the dizzifying effect, this is a picture to surely give u an instant headache! enjoy:)



hope you are having a great day! and thanks for sharing all ur fave sites with me b4.loved em all!
++MIRA++

tulips and GIVEAWAY!!

this is one of my fav color combos and who doesnt love tulips?








in Honor of my giveaway, i made a quick mini man office cake (try saying that 10 times) with some fondant colored pen writers







My little mini office man would like to give away some "Americolor Gourmet writer food decorator pens" in 10 different colors! Ever since i saw them being used by bakerella i had to have them, so i want to share the love.i used them above to draw out my office man.

to enter, just comment below with what your favorite food/dessert website/blog is. For a second entry u can comment on my twitter>>>>go there via the twitter link on the left so u can find out first about my giveaways to come! Contest ends on friday dec/11 at 5 pm ET . will announce the winner on saturday. Goodluck!

entries limited to US residents only

=======================================================

UPDATED TO ADD: the giveaway is over! drum rolll.llllll..............winner is Jenniffer from cupadeecakes.blogspot.com ....enjoy ur new decorator pens!

for the rest of my lovely readers i promise alot more giveaways!==========================================

++MIRA++