Vegetarian Boudin Sausages

I previously posted a photo of the vegetarian Boudin sausage we made in class.  I wanted to post a couple of more photos and the recipe as well.  I found this recipe on, yes you guessed it, Pinterest.
The recipe came from this web site:
http://chubbyvegetarian.blogspot.com/2012/03/vegetarian-boudin-sausage.html
The recipe works well.  I agree with the author that it needs to be served on a hot bun of some sort with the sauteed onion, peppers and "Nawlins Sauce".  It is a little sweet without the accompaniments.

So here you go:

Vegetarian Boudin Sausage
(Makes six large sausages.)

2 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon red pepper
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano,
sea salt, and cracked black pepper (to taste)
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 cups (dry-packed) smoked sun dried tomatoes*
1 cups cooked rice
1/2 cup vital wheat gluten

Heat the canola oil in a medium pan over medium heat. Add the onion and celery to the pan. Cook until the onion is translucent and beginning to brown. Add the thyme, red pepper, paprika, garlic powder, oregano, salt and pepper. Add the wine and allow the mixture to reduce until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove pan from the heat and place the cooked vegetables into the work bowl of your food processor. Add the parsley and sun-dried tomatoes. Pulse the mixture eight to ten times or until everything is finely chopped yet still distinct. Place the mixture into a large bowl along with the cooked rice and vital wheat gluten. (The wheat gluten is the binder that will hold the sausages together.) Mix it all vigorously by hand for at least two minutes.


Pull out six pieces of foil in 
four-inch sections. Place a 1/2 cup portion (for smaller sausages, use 1/4 cup) on each foil and form it roughly into a log shape. (No need to be too precise.) Roll the foil into a tube and twist the ends like a Tootsie Roll; each sausage should be between four and five inches long. Repeat the process until all of the mixture has been used. Place foil-wrapped sausages into a steamer basket and steam them for 45 minutes. (My steamer is just a metal colander that fits nicely into my stockpot.) They will plump and take shape when steamed. Remove sausages and allow them to cool completely. 


When ready to serve, brush each sausage with canola oil before grilling. Grill on high for two to three minutes per side or until well-marked. Serve on a warm French roll with sautéed peppers and onions, plenty of N'awlins sauce, and celery leaves for garnish. 

N’awlins Sauce

Yield 1 cup, 16 servings

10 2/3 tablespoons vegan mayo

5 1/3 tablespoons mustard

2 2/3 teaspoons vegetarian Worchestershire

5 1/3 dashes hot sauce

Combine all ingredients well and chill

NOTES:
You can easily alter the heat of this sausage by adding more red pepper or even some form of pepper sauce.  
Alter the smokiness by increasing the amount of smoked paprika.
Alter the heat and smokiness in one step by using some of the tomato sauce from canned chipotle chile in  adobo sauce


Until next time
Happy Cooking and Eating
Chef Bartosh

Leonard Pringle

It is with heavy heart that I pass on that Leonard Pringle of San Jacinto Community College has apparently died from a heart attack.  Leonard, rest in peace my friend.
Leslie Bartosh

Spicy Honey Glazed Chicken

Yesterday I kind of deviated from my path of posting photos and recipes from this years Healthy Cuisine class.  So to get back on track.
Here is a recipe for Spicy Honey Glazed Chicken.  The recipe really works well.  I found the recipe on Pinterest.  It appears the recipe was originally posted on the following blog:
http://www.nutmegnanny.com/2011/07/27/honey-spiced-glazed-chicken/

 
Spicy Honey Glazed Chicken



1 package boneless skinless chicken thighs (you should get about 8 thighs per package)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Mix spices together and set aside.
Mix honey and cider vinegar and set aside.
Un-tuck chicken thighs so they are flat and trim excess fat.
Cover both sides in seasoning, set flat onto sheet pan. When all chicken as been seasoned put under broiler*
Cook for 5-7 minutes on one side and flip.  Cook for a 5-7 minutes on other side.  Flip again and then baste the chicken in honey/cider mixture.  Be sure to really get the chicken covered.  Add to oven again and let it cook under the broiler for a few minutes until the honey starts to thicken up and glaze. It may smoke a little but this is completely normal.
* If you have a gas oven and your broiler is at the bottom you can bake the chicken at 400 degrees for about 15 – 20 mins.
Note:
Trim the chicken well to minimize fat.

Hope you enjoy.
Until next time.
Happy Cooking and Eating
Chef Leslie Bartosh

gluten free fried chicken

Since posting the gluten free pizza recipe yesterday, I received a couple of positive emails about teaching gluten free dishes as a part of our class.  One of the emails in particular talked about how nice it will  be to be able to make gluten free pizza at home on occasion.  In the spirit of making some of life's pleasures available to all, here is a recipe for gluten free fried chicken.  For a variety of reasons we did not make this recipe this year.  But I well remember how good it was last year.

This recipe is by Ina Pinkney, chef/owner of Ina's in Chicago.
When we did the recipe in class we used boneless chicken.  If you do so adjust your cooking time appropriately.  And you can always check for internal temperature (165 degrees F) to insure your chicken is done.

GLUTEN-FREE FRIED CHICKEN  

Yield: 4 - 8 servings

White rice flour 2.5 Lb

Brown rice flour 2.5 Lb

Tapioca flour (or tapioca starch) 2.5 Oz

Potato starch 1.75 Oz

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper as needed

Garlic powder as needed

Buttermilk 1 qtl

Chickens, 3- to 3 1/2-lbs, cut into 8 pieces, 2 each

Egg whites, lightly beaten 6 each

Canola oil, transfat-free, high oleic as needed

Instructions:

1. To make coating mixture, combine white and brown rice flours, tapioca flour and potato starch. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder and reserve.

2. Combine buttermilk with 3 tablespoons salt and 1 tablespoon pepper. Marinate chicken from 4 to 12 hours, refrigerated, then remove from marinade and drain thoroughly.

3. Dredge chicken pieces in coating mixture, then dip into egg whites. Return pieces to flour mixture, packing it on, then gently shake off excess.

4. Fry chicken, skin-side down, in 275-degree F oil. Fry pieces untouched for 10 to 12 minutes to allow crust to set up.

5. Continue cooking chicken pieces to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 15 to 18 minutes total for wings, 20 minutes total for legs and thighs and 20 to 25 minutes total for breasts. Drain on a rack and serve.

As always, I hope you enjoy.

Until next time.

Happy Cooking and Eating

Chef Leslie Bartosh

Chef Franchesca Bland

Welcome back Chef Bland.  The class has really been looking forward to their garde manger class with you.

Chef Leslie Bartosh

Crispy Thin Crust Gluten Free Pizza Recipe

WE do a fair amount of gluten free cooking as a part of Principles of Healthy Cuisine. 
This GF pizza recipe is one of the items we used as inspiration. 
The recipe came off of Pinterest.com.  Unfortunately, I did not pin it and can not find it right now.  I wish I could, so I could give credit where credit is due.
So....I hope you enjoy.  We made ours with pepperoni, fresh mushrooms and fresh mozzarella cheese and our house made sauce.

Crispy thin crust GF pizza

Dough:
* vegetable or olive oil for greasing baking sheet
* 3/4 cup superfine rice flour
* 1/3 cup potato starch
* 1 teaspoon sugar
* 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
* 1-1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3/4 cup warm water
* 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
* 1 Tablespoon olive oil
* sweet rice flour

* 1/2 cup prepared tomato sauce
* 1-1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
* your choice of toppings (optional)
* 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
* 1/8 teaspoon dried basil leaves
* salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and generously grease a 12-inch or larger round baking sheet with your choice of oil.
In a medium bowl, combine the rice flour, potato starch, sugar, xanthan gum, yeast, and salt.  Mix well and set aside.
In a large bowl (or in the bowl of your electric mixer), combine the water, vinegar and oil and mix on the lowest speed of your electric mixer.  Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix for one minute.
Use a wet spoon to transfer dough to a baking sheet.  Sprinkle generously with sweet rice flour and use your hands to press out into a 12-inch circle, adding more sweet rice flour as needed.   Set aside in a warm area and let rise for 20 minutes. 
Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes.  Remove from oven and increase oven temperature to 450 degrees. 
Top pizza with tomato sauce and cheese.  Sprinkle with the crushed red pepper, basil and salt.  Place in the oven and bake an additional 12-15 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the cheese has browned.

Makes one 12-inch pizza.

Until next time

Happy Cooking and Eating

Chef Leslie Bartosh

Bad Weather and Garde Manger Class

Everyone drive careful in the stormy weather.
Take your time, slow down and arrive alive.
Garde manger class will start today at 5:00 PM.
Looking forward to having Chef Bland back for the class.
Chef Bartosh

Viva la Cake Balls Bakery and Catering 2nd location

Chef Mary Bass, one of our instructors, is opening a 2nd location for one of her companies: 
Viva la Cake Balls Bakery and Catering.

The new location is in Santa Fe, Texas at 12494 Highway 6.

I hope you will support her business.
She is a former student, an instructor in our program and an inspiration to our students as an entrepreneur and chef.

 

Please share this on Facebook and with your friends and family!

 

https://www.facebook.com/events/367967933241449/#!/events/367967933241449/ 

Mary, I know you will do well.


Until next time.
Happy Cooking and Eating
Chef Bartosh

An alternative breakfast sausage patty

We always make a couple of different types of sausages in our Healthy Cuisine class.  This is one is based on skinless, boneless, chicken meat..  It really isn't hard to bone a chicken.  You just need a boning knife or even a sharp paring knife.  It makes a nice alternative to pork breakfast sausage.  It uses apple for moistness.  This year we baked the sausage patties though they can also be pan fried.

Chicken Apple Sausage

Yield:  150 ounces approximately

4ea                   Chickens, boned, meat only.

1 ea                  Onion, yellow, large, small dice

3 ea                  Granny smith apple, large

8 ea                  Garlic clove, minced

Salt, to taste

Pepper, black or white to taste

Process chicken in food processor.  Don’t over process it.  Just chop it up, pulsing the processor as needed to ensure a uniform consistency and no big pieces.  Scrape down sides as needed.  Process chicken in batches as needed.

Sauté onion and garlic until transparent. 

Cool and mix into chicken.

Grate Apple and mix into chicken.

Season.

Notes:

The onion and garlic can also be combined with the the chicken meat prior to processing the meat if desired.

You can add a little rubbed sage to this sausage if you want something a little closer to a traditional breakfast sausage.

Cook a small sample to determine the seasoning.

So, there we go.  More than one way to enjoy sausage for breakfast or any other meal.  Hope you enjoy.  Feel free to contact me with questions or comments about this or any other recipe.

Until next time,

Happy Cooking and Eating

Chef Leslie Bartosh

 

Light Latte Flan (aka Skinny Latte Flan)

As a part of our healthy cuisine class we often take recipes and convert them to make healthier.  This recipe from Cooking Light was found on MyRecipes.com.  It was already fairly "skinny."  but in the spirit of things we modified to make it a little healthier.  The recipe follows the photo.  I will give you the original recipe and then tell you how we modified it.

 

Latte Flan
Yield: six servings

3/4 cup sugar, divided
1/4 cup water
Cooking spray
3 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
2 tablespoons instant espresso or 1/4 cup instant coffee granules
3 tablespoons Kahlua (coffee-flavored liqueur)
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine 1/2 cup sugar and water in a small, heavy saucepan, and cook over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves, stirring frequently. Continue cooking 10 minutes or until golden, stirring constantly. Immediately pour into 6 (6-ounce) custard cups coated with cooking spray, tipping quickly until caramelized sugar coats bottom of cups.
Combine milk and espresso in a medium saucepan over medium heat; cook 5 minutes or until espresso dissolves (do not boil). Remove from heat; stir in 1/4 cup sugar and Kahlua.
Combine eggs and egg whites in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Gradually add hot milk mixture to egg mixture, stirring constantly. Divide mixture evenly among prepared custard cups. Place cups in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan; add hot water to pan to a depth of 1 inch. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Remove cups from pan; cool completely on a wire rack. Cover and chill at least 8 hours.
Loosen edges of custards with a knife or rubber spatula. Place a dessert plate, upside down, on top of each cup, and invert custards onto plates. Drizzle any remaining caramelized syrup over custards.

Modification:
To make this just a little healthier, we replaced all of the egg with no cholesterol egg substitute.  It worked like a charm.

Until next time.
Happy Cooking and Eating
Chef Leslie Bartosh

ciabatta bread revisited

It dawned on the me the other day that it had been while since I posted the recipe for one of my favorite breads.  So at the risk of redundancy:  here is the recipe for the ciabatta bread we make in the program and at my home.  It is based on the recipe by Daniel Leader.  All I have done is increase the flour by 2 ounces.

Ciabatta

Yield: 2 (19.6 oz) loaves

Biga

2.3 oz              Water, room temp

0.1 oz              Instant yeast

3.5 oz              Bread flour

Dough

5.9 oz              Biga

15 oz               water, room temperature

0.4 oz              instant yeast

17.6 oz                        bread flour

0.4 oz              kosher salt

For the Biga:

9 – 17 hours before you want to bake, prepare the biga.

Add the dry ingredients to the water in a small bowl and stir to combine into a rough dough.

Scrape out the dough and knead on a lightly dusted surface for 1 – 2 minutes to get it somewhat smooth.

Oil mixing bowl lightly and put dough back in, turning to coat.

Cover with plastic wrap and set at room temp for 1 hour.

Refrigerate until ready to make dough.

For the dough:

Use an electric mixer with paddle or hook.

Take the biga and mix with water to soften and break into clumps.

Add the yeast, and salt.

Mix to dissolve.

Change to dough hook.

Add the bread flour and mix on medium speed for 13 – 15 minutes.  (Medium high with a kitchen aid, speed# 8, do not let it walk off the counter)

Dough will climb up hook and not clear sides.  Periodically stop the machine and scrape the dough down.

Turn machine to high (kitchen aid to 10) and knead until the dough starts to clean the side of the bowl and collect around the hook.  It will be glistening, creamy and extremely elastic.

Ferment in oiled container for 3 – 4 hours until triple in size.

Prepare ½  sheet pans by covering with parchment and making a pleat down the middle of the paper.  Dust the paper well with flour.

Turn out dough and divide in to two equal pieces.

Pick up one piece of dough holding one end in each hand and in one fluid motion transfer to the parchment lined pan.

Repeat with the second piece with the pleat dividing the two loaves.

Dimple the tops of the loaves with your fingers.

Dust with flour and cover with plastic wrap.

Proof for 30 – 40 minutes until you see bubbles under the surface of the bread.

Preheat oven to 475° one hour before baking, placing a pan for ice on the bottom of the oven.

When ready to bake, pull parchment so it lays flat.

Bake bread on the middle rack.

Add ½ cup – 1 cup of ice cubes to the hot pan on the bottom of the oven.

Bake 25 – 35 minutes.

NOTES:

You can make this without a mixer but it is really hard to work the dough enough.

You can make the biga in the morning and the bread in the evening.  The flavor is not quite as nice but it does work.

This bread freezes real well.  Reheat for five minutes in a 400 degree oven.

I hope you enjoy.

Until next time

Happy Cooking and Eating

Chef Leslie Bartosh

Vegetarian Boudin Sausage

If you follow my twitter (@Acc_Chef) or Facebook (Alvin College Culinary Arts)  posts you know that I am currently teaching Principles of Healthy Cuisine.  So far the food has been, for the most part, simply outstanding.
I tweeted the other day that we were going to do Vegetarian Boudin as a part of the class.  Well last night we ate the sausage and it was good!
The recipe came from the following blog:
http://chubbyvegetarian.blogspot.com/2012/03/vegetarian-boudin-sausage.html

Follow the service advice of author.  I think you will be pleasantly surprised.  This is coming from someone who grew up eating some great German/Texas country sausages.

Until next time
Happy Cooking and Eating
Chef Leslie Bartosh