"Unadulterated Food Geek" pretty much sums it up. Since coming out of the womb, I have been enamored and obsessed with all things food related and now am passing that obsession on to you, my innocent readers...
// April 14th, 2009 // No Comments » // Food Geek
This is off-the-charts funny… Nothing like a song about Taco Bell (toxic hell). I think I may try this sometime soon… What about a Chic-fil-A pop tune?
// April 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // Food Geek, Random Ramble
Just in case you have not read all of my columns (My mom, I think, is the only one I know of who has. Thanks mommy!) and have a couple of hours to get into the mind of one Joel H. Brown… here is a link to all columns by me, or the ones that mention my name on the DA site. It’s a little weird to think that they let me (of all people) write a column. Ha Ha Ha…. More goodies tonight, including a dinner recipe and snacky treats.
Happy Monday!
// April 1st, 2009 // No Comments » // Food Geek, Recipes
I am blessed (and cursed) to be born on April Fools day, a VERY fitting birthday for me. Being a baker and what some would call a “cake snob”, I opted to make my own birthday cake cake… again… Nothing against my friends and co-workers, I just enjoy being in my kitchen and coming up with a cake that represents me and my current tastes and obsessions at the moment. As I was driving home from work yesterday, I was a ball of childlike wonderment coming up with what I wanted to make for birthday 2009 (God, I am getting too close to 30 for comfort, ha ha ha ). I knew it was going to be a banana cake base, but beyond that I was open for suggestion. I needed eggs for the banana cupcake, so I went to the grocery store looking for inspiration and decided I would make a traditional banana cupcake (ala’ joel with homemade vanilla bourbon extract and baby ice cream bananas) and pair it with a Nutella Cream Cheese buttermilk frosting. As you can see they turned out to be pretty damn cute, and I guess we will see what they end up tasting like… Here is the recipe if you want to celebrate my birthday with me today 
Preheat oven to 350. Cream Butter and sugar on high speed until fluffy (about 3 minutes) add eggs one at a time, followed by vanilla, and banana goo. Mix together dry ingredients, add half of dry to the wet mixture, add 1/4 cup buttermilk, and the second half of dry mix and mix to incorporate. Add up to another 1/4 cup of buttermilk if mix looks too dry (you want it about the consistency of a thick pancake batter). Scoop into lined cupcake pans and bake for about 20 minutes or until the edges are slightly brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into cupcake.
Mix Cream cheese, Nutella, vanilla, and milk on high with the paddle attachment in your mixer. Add sugar slowly and beat again until light and fluffy like a magical bunny.
(cooks note: i just licked some of the frosting off the paddle… all i have to say is HAPPY BIRTHDAY ME, and here is to 27+ more years of baking!)
// March 31st, 2009 // No Comments » // Recipes: Breakfast, State of the Plate
adapted from food network kitchens
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 pounds red-skinned potatoes, diced (russets work as well )
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 large cloves garlic, minced (in the summer i use double the amount of green garlic from the farmers market)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
8 large eggs (farm fresh if possible)
1 cup extra-sharp farmhouse cheddar, shredded (about 4 ounces)
Hot Thai Chili Paste to taste
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a large, well-seasoned cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally until tender and brown, about 15 minutes. Stir in the parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper, and remove from the heat.
Push the potatoes aside to make 4 evenly spaced shallow nests and break 2 eggs into each. Bake until the egg whites are cooked and the yolks are still runny, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle the cheese over the eggs and continue baking until it just melts, about 1 minute more. Serve immediately.
// March 31st, 2009 // No Comments » // Recipes, Recipes: Breakfast, State of the Plate
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook
- makes three 9-inch square waffles -
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
1 3/4 cups lowfat buttermilk (cold)
1/2 cup canola oil
2 egg whites
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1. In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Make a well in the center.
2. In another bowl beat egg yolks slightly. Stir in buttermilk, oil and vanilla extract.
3. Add egg yolk mixture all at once to the dry mixture. Stir just till moistened (should be lumpy).
4. In a small bowl beat egg whites until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight up).
5. Gently fold egg whites into flour and egg yolk mixture, leaving a few fluffs of egg white, Do not overmix.
6. Spoon waffle batter into your waffle iron, making sure not to overfill it.
7. Serve with real maple syrup and unsalted butter.
// March 31st, 2009 // No Comments » // State of the Plate
Nothing Says lovin' Like Frittat From the Oven...
Joel Brown
Growing up, when I was told that breakfast was the most important meal of the day, I can remember thinking that my mom was out of her mind and full of Honey Nut Cheerios. How could cereal and toast be the most important part of the day? Needless to say I still think that the whole “most important meal of the day” stuff is bull, but I have grown to calling breakfast one of my FAVORITE meals of the day. Hence, I bring up the subject of breakfast for dinner.
Breakfast for dinner is my favorite meal made at the PERFECT time of the day- the time when you can truly sit down and enjoy it slowly and in the company of the ones you love to hate and hate to love. All kidding aside, I think that dinnertime is the perfect time for breakfast. We used to once in a while get breakfast for dinner as a kid, but it was typically a non-verbal communication from my mom that something was wrong. Someone had either had a REALLY bad day at the office, someone might have died, or one of the parents was just pissed at the world for some reason, and pancakes were easier than meatloaf and to this day I have never had hamburger helper, so that was not EVEN an option. My mother would probably disagree with me (sorry mommy) and she might be right, but I just remember it that way. I also hold a grudge against you mom for not letting us eat dinner leftover for breakfast (pizza is a perfectly good morning meal, thank you very much). Sorry, I did not mean to go off on a Jerry Springer-esque tangent on my mother. I am not really angry with her; I just think it’s funny.
I have, however, taken a completely different opinion about breakfast food consumption times and tend to make it more after 6:00 p.m. than not. Imagine dragging your ass home from school/work at 8:30 p.m. and being able to make a banana nut waffle (and not those damn Eggo cardboard waffles) with sweet and savory bacon in less than 10 minutes. Not to sound like an infomercial, but it’s possible! I love to make homemade waffles (base recipe on my blog www.joelhblog.com) and package them in a Ziploc bag in pairs and then microwave them for about 45 seconds or so. For the bacon I lay out about 6 strips (2 portions) of the porky goodness on a small cookie sheet, sprinkle it with a mix of ½ tablespoon of kosher salt, 1 tablespoon of sugar and ½ tablespoons of freshly cracked black pepper and chuck it into the oven until crisp. Voila, Dinner! Er… I mean, Breakfast DONE! Breakfast foods are just naturally a very versatile genre of cuisine and the perfect canvas of improvisation for the newbie cook.
Frittatas are another easy and kick-ass fast dish. For ease of preparation you may want to pick up a small cast iron skillet, but this is not a must have. When you come home, preheat your oven to 350 degrees, pop the skillet on the stove under a medium-high flame, add a dash of oil or fat (olive oil, peanut oil, butter, duck fat, etc.) to the vessel crank, it to High, and wait about two minutes. While that is heating break 3 eggs into a bowl and whisk them with about ½ teaspoon of salt until fluffy. Rummage through your cheese drawer and leftovers for something that you would like to throw in (my all time favorite is left over Indian Onion Chutney and Chicken Tikka skewers). Add the eggs to the skillet and scramble them a little. While the eggs are still wet, pop in your additives and whatnot, and throw that into your preheated oven for about 15 minutes (or until the egg is set). Dinner’s Done! For more recipes and break-dinner ideas visit my blog (www.joelhblog.com). Happy eating kids!
// March 27th, 2009 // No Comments » // Food Geek, Random Ramble
Hi. I’m Joel. life long foodie and most recently Food Columnist. I have started Joelhblog.com as an outlet to express my opinions as well as share some of my love of the food, food world, and foodie culture. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. i hope you enjoy this as much as i enjoy doing it. Every Tuesday and Thursday i will be posting my newspaper columns (State of the Plate) for your reading pleasure, and hope to blog daily with recipes, photos, and just general Joelhblog goodness. if you enjoy what you see, please feel free to whore me around to your friends, if you dont like what you see, well… Screw you!
Thanks and Welcome to my World!
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