Strawberry Basil Éclairs

 

I don’t know why I decided to make an éclair. To be completely honest, I don’t even like them, at least not the traditional variant. The weirdly-textured ganache topping, the often far-too-bland custard filling and the choux, which is essentially a glorified roux–that’s probably why they rhyme–, are just not on my list of things I love in a sweet treat. That and everyone else seems to love them. Almost everywhere you go, there is an éclair. People giddily jump in your face to offer you what they think is the world’s best gift. “Did you hear? There are éclairs here! Right over there! Don’t believe me? Go take a look! Like seriously delicious éclairs. I’ve had two already. Don’t tell anyone though,” and then they laugh as if their inability to control their appetite is the funniest thing in the world.

I am done with the classic éclair. I am done with people hoarding them in the pink boxes they get from some overly trendy bakery. I am done… wait a second. What is this? I don’t have to go with the weird chocolate top? I can add other stuff to the inside too?

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Grilled Whole Redfish

There she was, so surprisingly beautiful, unassumingly lying with her friends. They were all so similar yet still she stood out as unique, as one of a kind sent to me from the heavens. I couldn’t help but pick her out from the crowd. Her curves so slender and perfect, her eyes so dark and mysterious, every part of her seemed to reel me in. I approached her timidly, this was my first time. We made eye contact. I smiled. She smiled… I think. The moment seemed to last forever. Was I really about to do this? I got closer to smell her. I knew it, she smelled so clean, not like the others. I ran my hand down her side admiring how smooth she was. I wanted a taste, a little nibble right there. I knew I couldn’t though, not with people watching, not like that in the store. I pulled back, trying to keep my smile from showing my cards. My lips pierced ever so slightly as I ran my tantalized tongue along my quivering lip.

I looked up at the fishmonger and nodded.  I didn’t have the heart to tell her I was going to eat her. I let him do the dirty work. He saw me eyeing this beauty from across the counter and knew why I was here. He even patiently waited as I admired my catch with all my titillated senses. Then with little more than a thought he scooped her up, threw her to the table and defiled her pristine body with a slice through the belly and a cut under the chin–do fish have chins?–and with what seemed to be one disgusting swipe he removed her life-giving innards and slid them across the table into a fowl bucket. As blood pooled around my lunch and as organs and scales and gills went flying, my appetite suddenly began to fade.

Fellow patrons to my left and right pleasingly allowed the monger to remove the head and tail of their soon-to-be delicious meal with an impressive whack of the butcher knife. I shook my head though in defiance. I wanted that head and tail in place. I was going to grill this beauty whole, face–smiling or otherwise–and all. I felt like a man, a proud being making a step towards adulthood. I then for some reason heard the voice of Robert De Niro in my head, “You’re not a man until you cook something with a face on it.” I think it was Taxi Driver meets Meet the Parents De Niro–scary stuff.

 

I was nervous though too. I have never cooked something with a face still on it before. A face that for the entire trip home seemed to plea with me. “Please sir, don’t cook me. Release me back into the wild. Let me be free,” she seemed to beg over and over. Of course it was fruitless. Her organs and gills long gone, there was nothing left for me to do aside from grill her beautiful body and eat her delicious, flaky meat. Surely if I could shove a beer can in a chicken, I could cook a little fish whole. It’s not like I am spit-roasting a lamb or piglet.

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Guacamole, Two Ways

I’ve stuffed a chicken with a beer can, I’ve stuffed a burger with jalapeño pesto and now it’s time to stuff my face with the best possible dip out there. No, I am most definitely not talking about snus.  I’m tempted to call queso the best dip out there–if you live up in the north though you may know it as “melted cheese dip”; I assure you what you are eating is far from an acceptable dip– but it’s hard to eat a whole bowl of queso by yourself and then feel good about yourself. For that reason, I am talking about Guacamole! It’s that magical green dip that is so delicious, almost healthy and unfortunately, if you’re making it for a large crowd, quite expensive thanks to its green leading star, the avocado.

On my way home from the grocery store, as I called my electric company to explain how I would be unable to pay the bill this month on account of my avocado splurge, I began to think of what I would do with the palettes of avocado stacked in the back of my truck. Slices for burgers, grilled on their own with honey and olive oil, diced for salads, fried egg and avocado sandwiches, even ice cream. The possibilities are endless. Of course, there is one thing you absolutely have to make when you are loaded up on these alligator-skinned beauties: guacamole, or guac for those of us abbrev inclined. Not only is guac easy but it is super, duper, I-may-be-addicted delicious. You probably already know that part.

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Jalapeño-Pesto Stuffed Burgers

There are few foods that can sum up my time in college better than the burger. What I’m sure was a detriment to numerous organs, I typically had at least one burger a day. My go-to burger, no matter the restaurant, shop, burger shack, fast-food chain or grill-out, was the double cheese burger plain and dry. For me the perfect burger is an unadorned burger, a burger that lets the delicious, juicy flavors of the meat come through, all while drowning under a delicious blanket of golden yellow cheese. Yes, sometimes I will pile a few onion rings on top of my burger and sometimes I even indulge in a night of themed sliders loaded with numerous fixings. No, I rarely find those burgers any better than my simple classic of bun, meat, cheese, meat, bun.

So, when a friend from college recently contacted me regarding Chasing Delicious and whether or not I accepted challenges, I was excited to hear he wanted to charge me with making a stuffed burger. I have made the classic time and time again, I have made various fancy burgers but I have yet to make a stuffed burger. Ok I did make a Jucy Lucy once but I would argue filling a burger patty with just cheese is a little different than a stuffed burger.

As soon as David, a fellow food lover, gave me the challenge my giddy foodie persona took over. Hours were spent pondering this special, stuffed burger. I felt like I was back in college, excited about this heart-clogging, colon-ruining, liver-killing delicacy once again. It didn’t take me long to decide on something spicy and it wasn’t long after that I decided on jalapeños. I love the sweetness and spiciness that a fresh jalapeño adds. I initially figured I could do something with jalapeños, bacon and cheese but I thought that might be too easy. I don’t know where, when or how I finally came to decide on a pesto but I did.  And I am glad I did. Of course this isn’t your typical pesto genovese. This one is all about the jalapeño and uses cilantro instead of basil. I really don’t think there is anything out there that pesto doesn’t work well with though. Here it helps keep the burgers incredibly juicy and it adds loads and loads of delicious flavor. I of course threw in some cheese for good measure too.

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Beer-Can Chicken, Texas Style

I’m going to be honest. I intended for this entire post to be one big joke. What it turned into is anything but a joke. In fact, I am ashamed to admit that by sodomizing a chicken with a beer can my life has changed, my views altered, a cherry popped forever. What was meant as a joke turned into one of the absolutely most delicious meals I have had in a long time. My facetious foray into a southern delicacy yielded a chicken so moist, full of flavor and all around deceivingly delicious that I am nearly speechless about this experience. And I promise I’m not just saying this because I was a tiny bit drunk off of bad Texas beer.

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Rainbow Cookies – Making Pride Weekend a Little Longer

For those of you out of the know, this weekend was Pride weekend, a time us non-heterosexuals celebrate our identity. For those of you in the know, Happy Pride! Across the nation cities hosted festivals, parades, parties and more. One state, New York, even decided to take the awesome legislative step and allow gay marriage–yay. I spent yesterday celebrating my own gayness–both the homosexual part of the definition and the carefree happiness part of the definition–at Houston’s Pride Festival. It was festive and entertaining to say the least. By my side the whole day was my great friend, and ally to the lgbtq world–and contributor here–Alicia Sandoval.

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The Summer-is-Here Berry-Citrus Tart

 

I adore simple cookies. I love a good homemade pie. I lust after decadently smooth ice cream. I would probably kill a person to get my hands on the last ever creme brulee. I hate tarts though.

Yes, they’re cute. They combine many of my favorite things (a cookie-like dough, custard and then some delicious fruit or nut topping). They can be a show stopper even. But for some reason I just have little respect for this seemingly antiquated dessert. At least that’s how I use to feel. It all started last year. Cue the cliche flashback harp music and wavy lines. Imagine me looking off into the distance stroking my chin as if in deep thought as we travel back in time through my memories.

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Kitchen Sink Brownies: The Next Best Thing to Special Brownies

If you’ve been paying attention here at Chasing Delicious you may have noticed a trend developing, especially in the last  few weeks.  This blossoming trend may even have you asking, “what’s with all the dessert?!” Do I really love dessert? Yes. Do I enjoy posting about dessert more than anything else? Maybe. Do I only eat dessert foods? Kinda. Well, for the sake of continuity here is another dessert post. And for the sake of verbosity here is an anecdote.

The year was 1995 and I was nine years old. The Houston Rockets just won their second NBA Championship. Mississippi has just ratified the thirteenth amendment–a mere 130 years after the rest of the country. The DVD is announced for the first time and eBay is founded. A group of some-what crazy people even claim they have set up a provisional government in The Republic of Texas in what is considered to be the biggest game of “House” ever played by grownups. Life is good. Everything is on the up and up for this great country of ours. Things are about to change though.

After years of enjoying, salivating over and essentially dedicating my life to brownies I renounce my love and affection for the dense, delicious dessert delicacy. I am burnt out. I have had enough and I never want to see another brownie again. I quickly move on to the cookie, the scrumptious variable cookie. It becomes an addiction I have not shaken to this day. My departure from the brownie though is a period of my life spanning nearly sixteen years. In the pages of our history it becomes known as the sans-brownie years. Quick tangent. Why do the words brownie and cookie end in “ie” and “y”? Ok. Back to the story.

Sixteen years later the year is 2011. Houston hasn’t had a national championship title since I gave up brownies–it’s sad really. The nation is consumed with countless concerns and I said something I never thought I’d never say, “this brownie is delicious!” Somewhere in the sixteen years I was avoiding brownies I somehow thought that my brownie-exhaustion meant I hated them and would forever. This bias has led me awry for far too long. I have been missing out. No, not on the boxed kind you buy at the grocery store but I’ve been missing out on good, homemade, filled with everything you can think of brownies. What’s the point of this story? To be completely honest I’m not sure there is one other than to say I like brownies again.

These Kitchen Sink Brownies are chocked full of some delicious yummies and as a few people noted, contain everything except the kitchen sink–Voila! Kitchen Sink Brownies. Because I didn’t want plain old brownies, and because I was enjoying my Chocolate Chip cookies with an Orange Twist–with pecans and walnuts–so I added pecans, walnuts, big chocolate chunks and even… chunks of cookies. This brownie is also a tad bit more cakey than some brownies–and I like it this way. It is still plenty dense though. I also made up some caramel sauce to serve with the brownies. I basically used Ina Garten’s recipe. Feel free to use whatever recipe you prefer if you even want to use caramel. I definitely suggest trying it that way.

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Chocolate Chip Cookies with an Orange Twist

“Me want cookie!”, “Me eat cookie!” is the first thought that pops into my head when I think about delicious, scrumptious, always-in-season, I’m-going-to-eat-a-dozen-aren’t-I cookies. I love cookies. Some of my earliest memories are of baking cookies. Some of my most recent memories are of baking cookies. Ok, I’m going to be honest. About ninety percent of my memories involve a cookie in some shape or form.

My favorite and the cookie represented most in these memories has always been–and will most likely always be–the modern chocolate chip cookie. Growing up I preferred my chocolate chip cookies with sweet milk chocolate chunks and without the classic addition of walnuts. Today I like things a little different. I am a man now obsessed with so many flavors I once shunned as a kid–olives, oysters, eel, marrow, martinis and dark chocolate. Today I like my chocolate chip cookies loaded with good dark chocolate, pecans and walnuts–sometimes almonds, pistachios or other nuts–and layers of subtle additions that keep this classic new and interesting.

I typically bake a few dozen cookies every week–practicing to be the perfect househusband I suppose–and while sometimes I deviate greatly from my classic favorite I most often have a jar in my kitchen filled with some variation of a chocolate chip cookie. This week to change it up I first threw in some nuts–walnuts and pecans. I knew I couldn’t stop there though. I wanted a cookie with a unique twist but rooted in familiar delicious flavors.  I sometimes throw in cinnamon to add that “what’s in this?” and so I decided to do that again. But it still needed something more. What plays well with cinnamon and chocolate? Orange! Orange, chocolate and cinnamon is a pairing made in seductive heaven. If a cookie can be called sophisticated, this combination would be the reason.  One bite and you’ll know this isn’t the classic chocolate chip cookie of yesteryear. One bite and you may just become addicted like I have.

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