Blake Makes

This is the Avery. Chocolate-caramel ganache enrobed in dark chocolate, and topped with a little sprinkling of salt. I actually made this piece of chocolate at Sucre (if you look closely, you can see my thumbprint on the left of the one in front). Enjoy it while you’re waiting for the Sucre show to come out of post-production.

Hello, Blake Makers. It’s been a while since my last post, and I’m sorry about that. Rest assured, however, that I’m not sitting on my duff. I told you I had some ideas, and I meant it. We’re just about there, but the suspense is killing me.

Here’s a little appetizer:

Sucre Teaser from Blake Killian on Vimeo.

Anyone interested in blogging about beverages (i.e. soda, tea, beer, wine), comment on this post. Blake Sips is coming.

I love qunioa, yes I do. I love quinoa, how ’bout you? I’m a happy camper! Tonight’s dinner was delicious, and it wasn’t even that fancy. We had pork chops (seared in safflower oil), and I served them with sauteed spinach and quinoa (keen-wah).

Potatoes, rice and couscous should be afraid. There’s a new (grainy, starchy) side in town.

I sliced a yellow onion to cook in the pan with the chops which I weighted down with a heavy cast-iron skillet to get a nice crust on them. But enough about that, let’s talk quinoa!

I think I first heard of quinoa on an episode of Top Chef, but immediately dismissed it because of its resemblance to couscous (I know, being a good foodie I should never judge food that way). Now, I don’t like couscous. It’s too grainy, sometimes gummy, and overall just not for me.

Quinoa is a different story. We cooked it in our rice cooker (the same volume proportions as rice), and while it was cooking, Bridget commented on the aroma filling our house. It smelled like grass, or maybe a little like hay. It wasn’t a bad smell, but I admit it did make us a little apprehensive. The rice cooker dinged, and I took off the lid.

I gave the grainy little specs a stir, and tasted them. They were delicately sweet, soft and, well, grainy like couscous. This stuff is super healthy for us, and I’m stoked I found it. Each serving’s got tons of protein, and it’s wheat/gluten free.

Make sure to read the Wikipedia entry which says that the Incas referred to quinoa as the “mother of all grains.” Oh heck, let me just paste it here:

Quinoa was of great nutritional importance in pre-Columbian Andean civilizations, being secondary only to the potato, and followed in third place by maize. In contemporary times this crop has come to be highly appreciated for its nutritional value, as its protein content is very high (12%–18%), making it a healthy choice for vegetarians and vegans. Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete protein source. It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten free and considered easy to digest. Because of all these characteristics, quinoa is being considered as a possible crop in NASA’s Controlled Ecological Life Support System for long-duration manned spaceflights.

In its natural state quinoa has a coating of bitter-tasting saponins, making it unpalatable. Most quinoa sold commercially in North America has been processed to remove this coating. Some have speculated this bitter coating may have caused the Europeans who first encountered quinoa to reject it as a food source, since they adopted other indigenous food plants of the Americas like maize and potatoes. However, this bitterness has beneficial effects during cultivation, as the plant is unpopular with birds and thus requires minimal protection.

I’m a dork.

Happy Fourth Of July, Blake Makers! We’re at Bridget’s parents’ house (in Alexandria, LA), and we’ve been in the pool all day. I’ve been talking for weeks about this break as I’ve been in desperate need of one.

Ask any of my co-workers, and they’ll tell you I planned to spend today floating in the pool, eating salty pistachios and lifting frigid bottles of beer from a bucket bobbing right along side me.

Well, the bucket of beer didn’t happen, but the pool did. The pistachios did, too.

Curry happened. Actually, curry happened to burgers, and a precedent was made.

Weeks ago, Bridget came across this recipe for Curried Lamb Burgers in the July 2008 issue of Bon Appetit. We decided to give them a go.

Now, you need to know that Bridget and I rarely fight over food. For starters, there’s usually plenty to go around, but when there’s not, we settle it like grown-ups (After you. No, after you. After you. No, after you.).

These burgers were a different story. They were good, and the leftovers were even better. So much better, in fact, that I left work early for lunch one day just to make it home before Bridget. I knew there was only one serving left, and it was going to be mine. It was.

We decided to make these again for today’s festive meal, and they were a hit! I may never eat barbecued burgers again. There’s a curry and ginger base to these burgers. There’s also cilantro, and a minted-yogurt raita (the milky-white sauce in the pic above). In place of a bun, naan (Indian flatbread), and instead of pickles, green grilled tender-crisp vegetables.

I’ve never been to India, but curry always takes me there (trite, I know). It’s so exotic and deep and unique. Bollywood Burgers can change the world, or at least the way you eat burgers.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! Play with fire and think of me!

This is an easy one. EVERYBODY WINS! If you commented on the YouBar Giveaway post, you win! They’ll be in the mail soon. Thanks and stay tuned! We’ve got a lot going on behind the scenes. bk

Hello, Blake Makers. An idea (and a business) has been brewing in my mind for a few months now. It’s called the “Blakery,” an online, on-demand micro-bakery. ‘Online’ because it’s, um, online, and ‘on-demand’ because we won’t bake it until you order it. Oh, and ‘micro’ because we’ll start out small.

Like anything great, it takes time to build - plus, creating something out of nothing is HARD. First, let me tell you where we are. We’re in the process of finding/developing some killer-delicious products. The first (to be named/branded later) is a fudge tartlett. What you see below are tartletts in preparation for the shipping test (how will they ship? what will they look/taste like when they get there?) we’re giving these this week.

You’ll notice I said “finding/developing” because the Blakery is going to feature products I find that are amazing, and need to be thrust into the spotlight.

This fudge tartlett is too good not to share with the world, and we’ve even created a version with my peanutbutter dulce de leche.

When the Blakery launches, we’ll tell our story in full - including the story of the baker behind the product. But, for now, we’ve still got a lot of work to do. For instance, this week we hope to finalize a component of the product packaging.

While you’re waiting for the Blakery to launch, check out the two sites that inspired this idea: Tank Goodness and Foodie Boxes.

UPDATE: This giveaway is now closed. We will announce the winners soon! bk

I’m a foodie, and as such you can probably assume that I’m not as trim as I could be. I don’t go to the gym, pump iron or really even move all that much (which is about to change with a new project [Healthy Blake]).

I do own a really nice treadmill, and every once in a while I replace a daily meal with a protein shake. Sometimes I even replace a meal with a nutrition bar, which brings us to YouBar.

Let me start by saying that I probably wouldn’t have been interested in YouBar if it was just another protein bar, but they’ve put a very innovative spin on the concept by letting people like you and me build our own bars.

They sent me a sample pack that included Honey Cashew, Breakfast Bar and Great Date With Chocolate. The Breakfast Bar had a strong coffee flavor, and not much chocolate. It was dense, spongy and a little sticky which made it my least favorite of the three.

I didn’t expect to like Great Date With Chocolate, but it was really good. It tasted a little like chewy chocolate fudge with maybe a little dark cherry. There was a little Fig Newton action going on as well (this was my co-workers’ favorite).

Honey Cashew (pictured left) was my hands down favorite. It tasted like this honey fudge I got from the Farmer’s Market a while back, but with a lot of cashewiness…like a whole lot. It was firm, but crumbled and melted the moment I bit-in.

Now, I happen to love cashews. When I was in college, I always talked about starting a company that made cashew peanut butter, and (of course) I called it, Cashutter.

Anyways, I’m actually nibbling on a Honey Cashew bar as I write this post. I’m glad I am because I forgot about the little bits of crispy rice that add a surprising, mousy little crunch.

Each of these bars is around 150 calories, and contain 8 grams of fiber. Sound good? Heard enough? Want some? OK!

Here’s another Blake Makes Giveaway! We’ve got 50 sample packs (each containing 6 bars) to give away! Comment on this post for your chance to win! Power to the people!

We don’t ask much, but we do ask a little:

1. Make sure you’re registered with our SOOPZ Network. Register Now!
2. Sorry, but U.S. and Canadian residents only this time.
3. We’d like you to be interested in blogging about YouBar, and not just want free food.
4. We’d also like you to link to us and to YouBar if you do decide to post.

Good luck! We’ll announce the winners soon!

Hello, Sooper Heroes. We’re baa-aack! Check your e-mail (and spam folders) for information about the next giveaway. It’s happening this week. Stay tuned!

I just finished tonight’s dinner (literally like five minutes ago), and boy am I happy! It was a very special meal, especially considering it’s just some random Tuesday night. Why so special? Well, my friend and fellow food blogger, Michael (he’s the Chicken Fried Gourmet), came to New Orleans with his wife last weekend. We all had lunch on Saturday, and afterward he surprised me with a nice, chilly slab of marinated pork belly for the road.

The belly was vacuum-sealed. He’d already cooked it, but not before marinating it in some of my peanut butter dulce de leche.

Sound strange? I’ll admit it’s a little unorthodox (peanut butter and pork), but that’s just Mike. He keeps you guessing, and will surprise you over and over again.

It’s never surprising, however, how good the food turns out. He’s actually made this on his blog before (his pic is better than mine).

Mike gave me very simple instructions, “Crisp it up a little in a nice hot pan. Then, drizzle on a little of this.” He handed me a small bottle of his homemade BBQ sauce.

I felt so special, like I had a secret to keep. Honestly, I had to fight the impulse to tuck the foodstuff under my shirt and speed away.It sat in my fridge for a few days, but it was always on my mind. I knew tonight was the night.

I’d never cooked pork belly before, so I was a little intimidated. Plus, I knew Mike could cook this stuff in his sleep, and (of course) he’d be reading this post. It had to be good. It had to do Mike proud.

I melted a little butter into a little olive oil in a pan. When it was nice and hot (just under the smoking point), I added the belly. It seared for about five minutes on one side, and another five on the other side.

I sliced the belly into two inch cubes, and plated it on top of a silky, smooth sweet potato puree. A swirling drizzle of BBQ sauce later, and this dish was ready to ascend into heaven.

It took five minutes for me to finish off the plate. It was so good, in fact, that I ate it all.

Now that I review this entry, I don’t think I did the preparation (all of Mike’s hard work) justice. I may get him to guest post with the details. If you’re feeling jealous, good! This was amazing.