Cassava.. Yuca.. Manoic.. orr mandioca, aipim, or macaxeira (Brazil), yuca (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Panama, Peru

Girl TALK- March 4/5-CONGRESS ChiIL
May 28 ----sUMertime Fest ChiIL


Ever tire of the same ol' same ol' starches and carbs? The potato, rice, pasta, or bread? Check this out-- Cassava. It's amazing, not just taste wise, but with the nutrients that it offers the body. Now I realize that at first glance this tuberous monster of an edible is frightening, and not forgetting to mention that if improperly cooked or even eaten raw you might/could/possibly/most likely will get really, really sick. More specifically having your body fall into a completely paralytic state, called Konzo, given that you are cooking absurdly huge amounts of this stuff and like an idiot, do it wrong every time. If people living in tents in Africa can do it.. so can you! I have faith. ha. The Cassava root is a staple in most South American, Caribbean, and African diets. A very tuberous, starchy, and slightly sweet root, the Cassava (Yucca) REQUIRES a temperature of at LEAST 80 degrees to even sprout. This explains why we in the U.S. don't hear about or use this root often, it's near impossible to grow north of the equator. It is classified as sweet or bitter depending on the level of toxic cyanogenic glucoside ( branch of the CYANIDE! family.) Don't be afraid though! When cooked properly this is delicious, gluten-free, and exciting!! Ever had one of those Asian smoothies with the weird balls in the bottom? Those weird chewy balls are called Boba and they come from Cassava! If you don't have a clue what i'm talking about, you are missing out! Tapioca pudding. MMM. Delicious but tooo familiar! The leaves can be sauteed-though they are near impossible to find in the U.S. you could get lucky though in an EXTREMELY authentic South American (BRAZILAN) market. Dumplings, mash, soups/stews, gravies, booze, biofuel, and even deep fried. So versatile! Soo useful! Give it a try, it'll be fun!!
When using just the root, you have a couple hundred ways to prepare it. But if you visited Jamaica you would most likely have it pancake style. And can I please say.. woah. These are Delicious! They are sweet, filling, and different. I have served these little sweeties with a jerked arctic cod and a spicy pineapple chutney. They are sweet, crispy, and very filling.

SWEET Cassava Pancakes
2 c. grated and boiled( in lightly salted water) Cassava root
1 c. Coconut milk ( slightly whipped)
1 egg
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 teaspoon each salt/cinnamon
1/4 c. AP flour OR Tapica Flour
Honey to taste
Unsalted Butter ( for frying)

--Combine all ingredients, the batter should be very similar to pancake batter, if it is looking a little thin add some more flour, if it's looking a little heavy add a little more coconut milk or soy milk. Prepare just as you would a pancake! You can serve as a sidedish, or make the star of a great brunch. Try whipping some of the coconut milk up into a whip cream state and plop a small amount ontop of your cakes with some fresh fruit or nuts.

--Still feeling uneasy about using cassava? You can absolutely make this recipe just substituting rice ( the best is aborbio, normally used for preparing Risotto's, but brown rice works beautifully and it contains more nutrients!) prepare exactly as you would above.

Ceviched Jerk Arctic Cod
1 #lb. Arctic cod (line caught!) in1/2 in slices. Halibut, catfish, any firm white fish you desire
Zest of 3 Grapefruits, 1 lime, 1 lemon and juice of each
couple scotch bonnets ( depending on the amount of heat you want)
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. Orange juice
1 T. Vinegar
2 T. ground allspice
1 t. cumin
1 t. thyme
1/2 t. fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves
salt and pepper to taste
--Combine the zest and juices of citrus into resealable bag with sliced fish. Put into a lidded container and allow to marinate for 4-8 hours. Make sure to check on it every so often flip to evenly distibute marinade. When the fish is completely cooked, combine the jerk spice mix and put into bag with fish and allow to marinate for 30 minutes ( if you want ultra spicy, then you can add the jerk spice to the bag). Serve!

-Times the jerk spice recipe a couple times and make a reserve for later use!

-Feel free to substitute the peppers for others, scotch bonnetts are SPICY, so if you desire something more mild I suggest going wtih another maybe the lesser birds eye chili, cayenne, or even jalapeno.

..Hum-Drum Daily Coffee routine..

coffee.
COOOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
Coffee.
On any given day I can go to my trusty facebook, and know that at least three of my friends have posted that they either need, want, or are getting a coffee. You have an endless amount of options of just cafe's to choose from. Starbucks, Peets, Caribou, Kaladis (if your in Alaska), and countless smaller shops. As well as endless amount of ways to have your coffee prepared. Coffee is endlessly versatile, ever tried a facial scrub? The caffeine not only stimulates blood flow, BUT the granules actually act as an exfoliant. Beautiful. Have dark hair?? Run some ( slightly cooled!) very strong coffee through your hair, it will give your hair some vibrancy, and shine. I have decided that the subject of coffee is a more than appropriate start to my blog, considering 79% of the American public begin their day consuming it. According to our friends over at the trusty wikipedia coffee can lower your chances of Alzheimer's, dementia, and even decreases a man's chance of having gout in his lifetime. But it goes without saying it is faux pas for a pregnant woman to consume coffee and I am sure that we all have evil eyed a pregnant woman drinking coffee, but how many of us know why?? Coffee can cause an iron deficiency in unborn and very young infants (assuming the infants mother is eating an awful array of foods which are not whatsoever nutritious), and cholesterol levels can be heightened. BUT we must recognize that this can be avoided by drinking coffee responsibly. Like alcohol, we have to watch our intake, on your fourth cup of the day?? Ditch your mug and grab a water bottle, not only will this make you appreciate your daily coffee, but it will help you stay hydrated, alert, and helps avoid that oh so awful caffeine crash. ..Becoming bored with your daily java? Try a French Press? Done it? Try Turkish Coffee

Turkish Coffee

You will need:
-Small pot
-Turkish ground coffee ( as fine as you can get it, you can request at any coffee shop)
-Sugar (Traditional, however- optional)

*Take your Turkish ground coffee and measure out 2 Tablespoons for each 8 oz. of water
--Remember that this type of preparation is EXTREMELY strong, think about how much you are going to consume--
*Combine grounds and cold water in small pot and bring to boil over stove. Cut the heat, add sugar if desired. Bring back to heat and boil once more.
*Immediately portion Turkish coffee, let rest for a minute.
--Keep in mind that the grounds are circulating in your cup, drink your coffee SLOWLY and enjoy with others, try to distinguish flavors, and where it is hitting you on your palate.

Want to try something a little more solid?? I developed this recipe off a play of caramel candies with an espresso ganache. It's extremely easy and you feel like a confectionery genius when serving. Oh--it's a perfect accompaniment to Turkish coffee, or any coffee for that matter! Read the WHOLE recipe before beginning! Always read every recipe before attempting, so you know what your in for!

Caramel Espresso Tart
-Tart Pan ( 13 x 5 )
- 375 DEGREE OVEN

Pastry dough-

1 1/4 c. All purpose flour
1/3 c. Confectionery Sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 c. COLD COLD COLD COLD ( BASICALLY FROZEN) cubed butter (COLD COLD COLD)
1 Tablespoon Ice water
--Combine Flour, Sugar, salt and COLD cubed butter in bowl. If you are so fortunate and have a kitchen aid mixer use your paddle and 'sand' ingredients until dough resembles peas. If you are an unfortunate soul such as myself, a hand blender, or even a pastry blender will get the job done, it will just take longer. Once you reach the pea stage add ice water until the dough comes together, you may need to add more or less depending, so don't be alarmed if you have used your tablespoon and your dough is dry, just grab a little more. Ball up your dough and pop it in the freezer for 20 minutes- half an hour. After your dough has rested, grab it out of the freezer and roll it to about 1/8 inch thick and cover your tart pan, puncture the bottom and sides with a fork, and back it for about 30 minutes. It should be golden brown and smell amazing. While it is cooling, work on the filling and ganache-

Caramel filling-

3/4 c. Granulated sugar
1/4 c. Water
1/3 C. Heavy whipping cream
2 Tablespoon Butter
1 teaspoon Apple cider vinegar or champagne vinegar
pinch of salt
2/3 c. chopped nuts (hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts) OPTIONAL

--Combine sugar and water in saucepan over low/medium heat. Warm butter and milk on the side and add vinegar and salt. When sugar has reduced down and begins to turn a beautiful golden amber and milk mixture and whisk constantly, take off heat and add nuts if you want. Pour into tart shell right away!!! Let this cool COMPLETELY before you add ganache, or it will be a hot mess... I'm talking at least half an hour in a cool window, or an hour in a warm kitchen. Then make ganache:

Ganache-

1/3 c. heavy cream
1 1/2 t. espresso powder
4 oz. High quality chocolate ( valhorna, Callebaut, cocoa barry, etc..)
1 Tablespoon Butter
1 Tablespoon Cocoa nibs

--Combine Heavy cream and espresso on stove, bring to simmer and let steep with lid on for 5 minutes. Strain out coffee grounds, and heat cream once more. Pour over chocolate in mixing bowl and whisk together slowly. Add butter and whisk until combined. Pour onto caramel in tart, and garnish with Cocoa nibs. Let cool. Can be served immediately, or frozen! This is a dessert that is perfect to make ahead of time, portion, and freeze.

This is Definetly not the end of the versatility of this great product, check back occasionally to see what else I have in store!!!

What 'Thirsty Thursday' has taught me.

As I am sitting at Peet's Coffee on a rainy/snowy/slushy mess of a Thursday enjoying a rebellious (calorie counters beware!) Venti quad WHOLE MILK mocha WITH whip cream watching and rolling my eyes at 'The real housewives of Beverly Hills' on Hulu, I decide to share my love of food and life with the rest of the internet. Hoping that at least ONE person out there will read this. I am a trained pastry cook, who LOVES to cook what most call " normal food", I really love to cook savory. Truth is.. I have the attention span of a goldfish, and really dislike the whole conatation of school. The fact that you are forced to sit in a room, and listen to one persons direction/opinion on a particular subject makes me want to vomit, this is why I chose to get into culinary. I do not feel like I am an overly intellectual being, and that I am much too brilliant for school, but that culinary was MUCH MUCH MUCH shorter than traditional college, and you hear many opinions on the same subject, I mean hello--go online type in a recipe and I can gurantee a hundred pages on any given subject. But that has nothing to do with what this blog is about. I am an advocate of local, organic, and farm raised products but I do understand that it isn't always practical, so i'm not going to sit here and make you feel guilty if the apples you buy aren't organic. BEING PRACTICAL is more logical, more effiecent, and helps but also trying things such as... biking or walking to the grocery store help to lessen your negative impact on the enviroment. PLUS-- it's an effing blast. I have found that many people rely on this 'Fountain of youth' in super foods, and even more in their plastic surgeon. Unlike the "Real Housewives" of whereever I just do not feel that my face literally being butchered off my skull, stretched, and stapled back on is youthful, it's just gross. Treating yourself right by eating what makes sense (and tastes incredible), doing what is fun, and just overall being happy makes your life. I hope this blog can help with every aspect of happiness. If there is anything that you want to see, read, or anything that you think would contribute to this blog PLEASE email your ideas to kwright7@live.com .