Watermelon Cheesecake

My friend Jack recently sold his house, and once again, is hosting a dinner party Saturday night. Despite my enjoyment of regular cooking, I seen to be the only one who enjoys and is (I think) good at desserts. With the weather as ridiculously hot as it is, I was going to go with a cool, fruit dessert. I wasn’t in the mood to go shopping, despite the air conditioned grocery store. I looked in my fridge and found watermelon and cream cheese. Looking in my pantry revealed graham cracker crumbs and chocolate. I had an idea, watermelon cheesecake.

Disclaimer: I made up this recipe as I went along, so I have no measurements. I will try my best to estimate.

Start with the standard graham cracker crumb crust. Melt butter and mix it with the crumb, press into the bottom of a greased pie pan.

Cut up a fourth of a large watermelon. Take out the seeds, put into a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Put through sifter, cheese cloth, etc. Put the juice in a pan, add a couple pinches of salt, and ¼ cup sugar, put on high heat and reduce until it becomes a syrup. Don’t worry if the liquid looks like its separating.

In a food processor or a mixer, put in 8oz of cream cheese, 2 eggs, pinch of salt. I added tequila rose (a strawberry cream liquor) and some melted strawberry jam, but some strawberry milk, or an extract would work as well. Add the watermelon syrup, but reserve about ¼ cup. Mix all ingredients and put in the pie crust.

Bake the pie at 350 for 1 hour or until center is solid. I put a bowl of water in the bottom to prevent cracking. After the cake has cooled, coat the top with the remaining syrup for a bright red finish. I added chocolate chips as ‘seeds’ for a fun look.

As of this writing, I have not presented it at the party, but it looks great and the ‘batter’ tasted wonderful. I will let you know how it goes.

Plumpy’s Pierogies @ Quinn’s

Last Saturday, Quinn’s market in Archibald had a weekend long event entitled “Come Sale Away.” This event included free samples from various vendors, performances by local children’s dance studios, local bands, and most pertinent to me, a pierogie eating contest.

            Worried that there would be a limit to the number of entrants, I arrived early on the warm, sunny, Saturday morning. The first one there, I was dismayed when I learned there had been a wing eating competition the night before sponsored by Quaker Steak and Lube. The challenge had consisted of eight wings and two minutes. The wings must be cleaned to the bone, including gristle. The owner a Plumpy’s pierogies was the winner, taking home a $25 Quinn’s gift card and another gift card for Quaker Steak and Lube.

            Saturday’s festivities were attended by 11 competitors. About three times as many spectators gathered around to watch us stuff our faces. For any of you who don’t know, a pierogie is a “boiled, baked or fried dumpling of unleavened dough traditionally stuffed with potato filling, sauerkraut, ground meat, cheese, or fruit. Of central and eastern European provenance, they are usually semicircular, but are rectangular or triangular in some cuisines” (Wikipedia). These happened to be filled with potato, as is most common in the Northeast PA area, and were deep fried. This presented a different challenge than the sautéed with butter and onion variety.

The crispy, deep fried kind requires a different strategy. They are dry, soaking up the saliva in your mouth, making you unable to swallow them. I address this issue two ways. The first was dumping water over them (they were served in a tray) just as I received them. This only partially worked, as I was eating them so fast, the pierogies did not have time to soak up the water. To combat this, I had to mash the dumplings with my hand before stuffing my face. This also reduced the amount I had to chew before I could swallow. As with all speed eating, I had extra water standing by, as my natural liquid was insufficient to choke (literally) down the potato and dough.

We had three minutes to consume as many as we could. Plates of eight were set in front of us, with additional plates of five were standing by. For a grueling three minutes, I soaked, mashed, chewed, choked, and swallowed 20.5 of the potato-filled dumplings, beating out the other 10 gluttons. With my gift card in hand, pictures were taken and are apparently up on the Toyota Scranton Facebook page, though I was unable to locate it.

Weekend in Long Island

A friend of mine, Dan, will be moving to Florida soon. We were watching a movie Thursday night when he, offhandedly, asked if I wanted to go to Long Island with him and his friend, Kim, for the weekend. Having little else planned, and knowing that a weekend away is always a good time, I took him up on the offer. Saturday was spent at the beach, but the feast that we cooked that night was glorious,

Dan and I are carnivores to the core, so the on sale t-bone steaks were our choices. Kim however, elected for the shrimp. However, since the steaks came in a 3 pack, it was surf and turf for us. A bunch of veggies and some drinks meant kabobs for all.

Now I realize that kabobs are by no means a culinary exploration, but the marinade and grilling expertise was what separated this from the usual. The veggies, prior to being skewered were put in a pot along with balsamic vinegar, sugar, olive oil, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic power, red pepper flakes, paprika, and sun dried tomato flakes. Mixing these by hand, Dan and I soon had a tray full of veggie kabobs. The shrimp was done simply being mixed with old bay prior to being impaled.

As for the steaks, it would have been a sin had we stripped away the meat from the flavorful bone prior to grilling. Both sides of the steak were seasoned with salt, pepper, onion and garlic powders, and sat, waiting for the grill.

First thing was first, veggies have to go on. Here is a little tip with any kabob making endeavor: mix and match any veggies on a skewer, and keep all the meet skewers separate. Chicken takes far longer to cook than steak or shrimp. Don’t turn your veggies into charcoal with just done chicken, or have pink-in-the-center chicken with perfect veggies.

With the veggie kabobs complete, chicken and shrimp went on. With nice and crispy ends, just slightly charred, they were removed and the lid went back down, re-heating for the steak. Another tip with grilling steak: Get your grill as hot as it will go BEFORE putting the steak on. We are talking 500 degrees here. Sufficiently hot, the steak went on. Five minutes for one side. Resist temptation to peak, flip, move, or touch the steaks. Keep the lid on and let them be. Fail to do this, and the steak will not develop those signature grill marks. Flipped once, and another four minutes on the grill. Steaks come off, and I let them rest for 5 min underneath tin foil. Why? When steaks come right off the grill, the protein molecules are still to jumbled and moving. Cutting into a steak now would make all of the juices run out, and the steak’s flavor with it. Let it rest for five minutes under foil, and you will be rewarded with juicy steak.

The next day, we headed to a party at Dan’s sister’s house. Wouldn’t you know it, they had kabobs! This time, we had no steak but instead had chicken and swordfish. Me being the foodie I am, I couldn’t wait to get into the kitchen and help. Showing my deftness, I soon was delegated head chef. As before, veggies went on medium heat first. After two whole grills full of vegetation, I turned to the chicken, again giving it a nice char on the end. This required flipping both top to bottom and side to side. The beauty though, was in the swordfish. As with any steak (or steak fish), cooking any further than medium is an insult to the ingredient. After removing all other items, I again let the grill re-heat. The cubes of skewered swordfish sat on one side for four minutes before their single flip. Another three minutes and seared medium swordfish were on the table.

I wonderful meal was enjoyed by all and for the three hour car ride home (most of which I slept through) I am sure I stand up the car with my masculine scent of the grill.

Happy Fourth of July Everyone!

Office Cupcake Wars

One of the managers at work was unfortunately in a car accident. To assist with the family’s financials, we hosted cupcake wars in the office. The cupcakes were baked and donated and sold at $.50 a piece. There were prizes for the Best Decoration, Most Creative, and Best Tasting cupcakes, as voted by someone in another portion of the business who knew no one participating.

I know that there are a few people in the office who decorate cakes as a hobby/side job. For this reason, I did not think it wise to take them on in the best decoration category. Aside from that, I know that taste is completely subjective, and I didn’t care about adding more butter to a recipe to win. Further, I’m all about creating innovating recipes and I already won most original recipe for my red wine cupcake with chocolate balsamic frosting last year.

After some deliberation and kitchen experimentation, I determined to go with a French Toast cupcake with a Maple Glaze and a candied bacon topping. Breakfast in a cupcake. The recipe is as follows.

Cake

Take a standard box of yellow cake mix cake mix

Make as directed except:

The total liquid portion should be half oil and half water (ex. if the recipe calls for 1 cup water and 1/2 cup oil, instead use 3/4 water and 3/4 oil)

Add an egg, spiced rum, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla

Taste and add more of the above as needed.

Glaze

Maple syrup, butter, and powder sugar, melt all over small flame until desired consistency

Bacon

Cook bacon in pan until about 75% finished (should still be flimsy, but most of the fat is off)

Mix in bowl with brown sugar, bake in lined baking sheet at 350 until crispy

And the winners are…..

Most Creative – Chrissy (whose cupcakes were topped with fondant in the shape of an ice cream cone)

Best Decoration – Chrissy (who submitted two kinds of cupcakes. These were topped with fondant in the shape of flowers)

Best Tasting – Mine

Go figure! I had a ton of fun doing it and have still solidified my baking dominance within the office. Woo Hoo.

AWS Electric City Summer Picnic

Foodies and winoes are often one in the same kind of person. For those who were in attendance at the American Wine Society Picnic on Saturday afternoon, this was no exception. The park next to the cemetery, across from Dunkin Donuts just off the

Davis street

exit from 81 was the local for the 25ish person party that started at 2:00 and ran late into the afternoon.

The $10 attendance charge covered everything. Most people brought additional food and wine, so there were plenty of summer BBQ and picnic items available. Standard fare of burgers and hot dogs, chips and cookies (these were shaped and frosted to look like wine glasses) were of course present. However, the best foods were brought by individual members.

There was a salsa that was composed of cilantro, red, orange, yellow, peppers, onions, and tomatoes. It was crunchy and fresh and I ate it like a salad. A sweet, dill flavored pickle and red onion salad sat next to an Thai/Asian flavored, peanut topped slaw. As expected with any wine engagement, cheese, crackers, and olives were aplenty. My favorite was a pungent horseradish cheese that went well with the spicy sausage.

Of course, the main attraction of the afternoon was the wine. Every variety from sweet to dry, white to red, served in chilled bottles and recycled paint buckets. Yes, you read that right. Two of the wines, rather than being in the standard Franzia box, were being decanted in plastic paint buckets, which was a gimmick that was enjoyed by all.

 As with all potlucks, picnics, and parties, the afternoon was a slew of eating, drinking, talking, drinking, repeat. The festivities left me both full and socially satiated (a rare combination) I can’t wait for the regional picnic in a month!

Arts On Fire First Friday

First Friday is always a great time. You will always find me in attendance for this food, wine, and art walk. Fortunately, with the warm weather, attendance has gone up, and with it, the number of venues who host.

I always start my First Friday jaunts at Backyard Alehouse, a Scranton staple. In the summer, on Friday nights, they break out the grill and offer free burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, and sausage and peppers. Needless to say, this brings in the crowd and even though I may start there on my own, I always meet up with people I know. A great spot to start any weekend.

From there, with the First Friday map torn from the newspaper in my back pocket, I started the gauntlet of downtown locales. As usual, most venues featured hors d’ourves, small snacks, fruits, cheeses, crackers, and crudités platters. However, the cigar shop offers more succulent foods like hoagies, fried chicken, meatballs, and mack and cheese.

Art works and Afa gallery closed early due to the Arts of Fire festival at the historic iron furnaces. NEPA Power was painting white clothing outside the galleries while DJs were spinning beats, jugglers tossed fire-filled batons, and teenage girls twirled batons.

At the furnaces, $15 gave you entrance to another array of cheeses and fruit, along with catered food from Chicanos. They brought all of their meats, a shredded chicken that was heavily spiced, the carnitas was in larger chunks rather than shredded like you might find in Pancheros or other burrito restaurants. The steak, to my personal distaste, was more like steak’ums rather than strips or chunks. The salsas that accompanied the meats were all spicy speaking to the authenticity of the cooks. In all honesty, this is most authentic, though Americanized, Hispanic food that one can find in the area.

The wine and beer was all lowest shelf, and after all of the drinks I had had prior, I stuck with soda. To end the evening, the first 150 customers got free ice cream from Ms. Moo’s ice cream truck that was on site. The scoops were generous and the flavors plentiful, a wonderful and cool ending to the evening.

A dinner party and strawberry cake

A friend of mine, Jack, hosted a wonderful dinner party Saturday night. With summer here, my birthday last Thursday, and Jack being newly hired, there were plenty of reasons to celebrate.

The evening began with three different cocktails and cheese. A mango mojito, blueberry vodka lemonade, and a dark violet, a drink made from a violet liquor, vodka, bitters, and has mint and lime. It was wonderful. One of the cheeses, a blue, was creamy, heavy, and luxurious. While most spread it on crackers, I favored a carrot, whose natural sweetness lended well to the salty unctuousness.

This was followed by more drinks (wine, beer, etc) and a variety of dips. Our other host, Tom, is “fond of dippy things. It lets people dip, eat, drink, talk, dip, talk, eat, drink……in that order.” He had an artichoke, black bean, split pea and sun dried tomato, eggplant, and hummus. An impressive spread, each of which leading to the other.

Dinner was kebabs. In my experience, kabobs should usually consist of one ingredient, say onions, or chicken. Putting the vegetables and meat on one kabob leads to either undercooked meat, or burned veggies. However, this was not the case. The steak was still juicy and delicious, while the shrimp was crispy, and the chicken still moist. An excellent job done by the grillman Jack.

Dessert was my department. I made my mother’s strawberry cake, a wonderful summer favorite. It starts with a box of yellow cake mix. Step 1, throw away the instructions from the box.

Combine the cake mix with 4 eggs, 1 cup vegetable oil, some vanilla extract.

Get a 12 oz container of frozen strawberries (can get with or without sugar, but if without sweeten them slightly) Defrost, mash, and divide in half. Put half into the cake mix.

Take a .3 oz package of jello (the small one, regular or sugar-free) and dissolve in ½ cup water boiling water. Let set for about 3 min to come off the boil, and add to cake mix.

Place batter in a well oiled 9x13 baking pan and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Take the other half of the strawberries and add ½ stick of butter, 1 cup powdered sugar, and a little vanilla. Simmer.

When cake is finished but still warm, poke holes in the top with a fork and add topping. Immediately cover with aluminum foil. Let set overnight. When serving, warm in 300 oven for 10 min. Result is a moist and delicious cake that will be sure to impress. It sure did Saturday night!