brunosdream

Hello everyone and welcome to my new blog! It’s good to be back after being in blogging exile for way too long!!

My new kitchen is now finished (I just need to do some touch-up painting) and I love it!! What an improvement over the old one! Here are a few photos…

To celebrate, I had a few friends over for one of my favorite dinners… PIZZA!! For dessert we had sweet potato gelato w/ candied pecans. After sampling some of the gelato I decided this is one of the best flavors I’ve created. I will definitely make it again!! With the gelato I served some El Dorado 15 Year Special Reserve Rum from Guyana. Awesome stuff… if you like cognac, you will love this rum! It has a beautiful nose of caramel and a long, smooth finish.

Pizza

Ingredients for dough:

4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup olive oil

1 rounded tablespoon yeast

1/4 cup plus 1 1/4 cups warm water

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon honey

Procedure for dough:

1) Mix yeast, 1/4 cup warm water and honey in a large mixing bowl, let stand for 2 minutes or until foamy

2) Then add to bowl: 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 1/4 cups warm water, 2 teaspoons salt

3) Then mix in 3 1/2 cups flour (mix in up to 1/2 cup more flour if dough is too moist)

4) Kneed dough, form it into a ball and return it to the bowl, dust w/ flour, cover and let rise for 1 hour (in a warm spot in your kitchen)

** recipe yields three 14 inch pizza crusts if rolled out thin

Ingredients for pizza:

Crimini mushrooms (sauteed w/ garlic, red pepper flakes,, oregano and salt)

Tomatoes – thinly sliced

Mozzarella cheese – thinly sliced

Oregano

Minced garlic

Olive oil

Parmesan cheese – grated

Salt + pepper

Corn meal for dusting pizza peel

Procedure for pizza:

1) Place pizza stone on middle rack of oven, then preheat to 500 degrees

2) Cut dough into 3 equal pieces

3) Roll out dough to desired thickness

4) Transfer dough to pizza peel (the wooden thing I call a palette) that has been generously dusted w/ corn meal so pizza slides into oven easily

5) Top w/ mozzarella, tomatoes, oregano, salt and pepper, minced garlic, mushrooms, grated parmesan, and drizzle w/ olive oil

6) Bake at 500 degrees on a pizza stone for 8 minutes; check if bottom of crust is nicely browned… it may need to be rotated {back to front} using a metal spatula and baked for another minute or 2 for a perfect pizza

Sweet Potato Gelato w/ Candied Pecans

Ingredients:

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups sweet potato puree (I roasted the potatoes in the oven at 425 degrees for 50 minutes until soft, then let cool before scooping out and pureeing in food processor)

6  large egg yolks

1 quart half and half

1 cup candied pecans – roughly chopped (**see previous pumpkin gelato post for pecan procedure)

Procedure:

1) In medium saucepan heat half + half gently to a simmer, then turn off heat

2) In medium size mixing bowl combine egg yolks and sugar and beat together until pale yellow

3) Beat 2 tablespoons of the warm half + half into the egg mixture (do this slowly to avoid curdling the eggs), then beat in the remaining half + half little by little

4) Place bowl over a pot of simmering water and cook over a gentle heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture coats the back of a spoon (do not let temperature exceed 170 degrees F or mixture will start to curdle)

5) Cool in an ice bath

6) Blend in 1 1/2 cups gelato mixture to sweet potato to thin puree, then stir puree into the remaining gelato mixture, blending well, and chill for at least 4 hours in fridge

7) Churn in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions, adding the chopped pecans halfway through the churning process

8) Transfer gelato to a 2 quart plastic container, cover top w/ parchment paper cut to size (this will reduce air exposure and prevent ice crystals from forming on the surface of gelato), and freeze until firm

Yield: Approx. 1 ½ quarts

It’s my birthday today so I’m treating myself to a long weekend in San Francisco! I leave tomorrow and still have a ton of things to do today. I need to end this post and continue my chores.

Thanks for visiting the new site.

Bon Appetit!!

Bruno

The name brunosdream represents a lifelong dream I held since high school… going to culinary school! My dream was sidetracked by a career as a licensed mental health counselor. However, in September of 2002 my dream took shape again… I sold my house, packed some boxes and moved to San Francisco to attend The California Culinary Academy. I graduated in 2004, and soon after found an interesting job doing the food service on board private jets. I still hold that job, but moved back to my hometown of St. Louis, Missouri in February 2005.

 This blog is my recipe box – it allows me to archive my recipes, my mom’s recipes and some other great recipes that I’ve come across. From time to time I will do a post from my global adventures if I see it as being “blog worthy”! Please join me on my culinary and travel escapades.

A votre sante’ (to your health) and bon appetit!!

Bruno

brunosdream is still being built…. please bear w/ me through these growing pains!

My apologies for the scarcity of posts lately. I have been a bit preoccupied since January w/ a major and very important project… remodeling my kitchen!! I didn’t realize how involved this process can be. Meeting w/ the contractor, lining up the financing, picking out fixtures, emptying the cabinets, and dealing w/ the little surprises that inevitably pop up! Getting all these things accomplished during my time off left very little time for blogging.

To say goodbye to my old kitchen I decided to have some friends over for “the last supper”. Lamb stew served over spinach noodles sounded like a good choice for a cold winter evening, so that’s what I prepared.

Lamb Stew w/ Spinach Noodles

Ingredients:

10 cloves garlic  – peeled and crushed (for marinade)

1 ounce dried morel mushrooms

4 tomatoes – 1 inch dice

1 bunch Swiss chard (1/2 pound) – chopped crosswise into 1 inch pieces

10 crimini mushrooms – sliced

3 pounds lamb stew meat (1 inch cubes)

2 mulato chiles – crumbled (for marinade)

1 butternut squash (1 1/2 pounds) – 1/2 inch dice

4 celery stalks (cut into 1/2 inch pieces)

5 carrots (peeled, halved and cut into 1/2 inch pieces)

1 leek (white part only) – 1/2 inch slices

1 bag red pearl onions – peeled (10 ounces)

1 tablespoon cumin (for marinade)

1 bouquet garni (2 sprigs of thyme, 10 black peppercorns, 2 cloves, 2 bay leaves all wrapped in a leek leaf tied w/ twine)

1 cup red wine (I used a nice red from Portugal)

1 tablespoon flour

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

2 pounds spinach noodles

salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1) Place lamb into 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish w/ garlic, chiles and 2 tablespoons olive oil; sprinkle w/ cumin, mix well then cover w/ plastic wrap and place in fridge for 1 to 2 hours

2) For veggie stock: In an 10 quart pot, pour in 1 tablespoon olive oil then over low heat sweat the carrots, celery, butternut squash, pearl onions, leek and crimini mushrooms for 5 to 7 minutes; add 6 quarts water and bouquet garni then simmer for 45 minutes; skim off foam periodically

3) Rehydrate morels in 1 1/2 cups warm water for half an hour

4) When veggie stock is ready, add tomatoes and morels w/ liquid; continue simmering

5) Remove lamb from fridge, heat a large pan, add the marinated lamb; when lamb is browned use a slotted spoon to place the lamb (w/ the garlic and chiles) into simmering stock

6) Deglaze the lamb pan w/ the red wine and cook until reduced to 1/3 cup; make “red roux” by adding flour to the pan, stirring frequently while roux is cooking (be careful not to burn the roux)

7) Add the roux to the stew pot and continue simmering the stew for 1 hour; add the chard during last 1/2 hour of cooking; salt and pepper to taste

8) Let stew cool, cover and place in fridge

9) The next day, remove stew from fridge 1 hour prior to service and reheat over gentle heat

10) For noodles: Fill a very large pot w/ enough water to cook pasta; bring water to a boil; salt the water well then add the noodles and cook until “al dente”

11) Strain noodles in colander, place in a large serving bowl and melt butter into noodles

12) Place a nice portion of noodles in each plate and ladle stew over the noodles

13) Savor your “last supper” w/ a delicious full bodied red wine (we popped open a bottle of 2003 K Vineyards Cabernet/Syrah blend, The Creator, Walla Walla Valley, Washington, as well as several other bottles of nice wines!!)

Farewell old kitchen….

 

To the future… and my new kitchen!!!

Until then,

Bruno

** dinner photos courtesy of Michelle

Myself and several other local food bloggers were invited to attend what I thought was a tasting of different chocolates and wines. Well it turned out to be a lot more than chocolate that was paired w/ the wines as you will see!

This was put together by Holly Cunningham of Hollyberry Baking Co. and Anthony Bommarito of A. Bommarito Wines of St. Louis. Holly prepared a sampling of her specialty desserts that have a local flair to go w/ Anthony’s selection of wines.

We first sampled “Lemon Heaven”, “Lemon Poppy Seed” and “Oatmeal Crannie” paired w/ Saracco Moscato d’Asti 2005 Sparkling Wine. This bubbly was a great match for these lighter, citrusy desserts.

Secondly we had “Cocoa Bliss” and “Marble Fudge Brownies” paired w/ O”Brien Seduction 2004 Cabernet-Merlot Blend Napa Valley, California. This was an enjoyable twist on a classic pairing. The wine was fruit forward w/ velvety tannins. It matched up very well w/ these chocolaty treats.

The last pairing consisted of  “Hollyberry Gooey Butter Cake” and “Holly Dolly Dessert Bars” w/ Chateau Doisy-Vedrines 2003 Sauternes, France. This gooey butter cake is super sweet and rich. I was amazed at how well the Sauternes blended w/ the flavors of this St. Louis favorite!

Hollyberry Baking has packaged these combinations in beautiful gift boxes. If you’re interested go to their website for more information.

Ciao…

Bruno

Paula was one of my mom’s best friends and since my mom died 3 years ago Paula has become a good friend of mine too. She loves to open up her house for great dinner parties, and it shows. She always has her table set so elegantly and on this occasion her house was festively decorated to celebrate Christmas! Lets take a look…

Menu:

Cheese appetizer (Pamela)

Herbed crown roast of pork w/ mustard seed sauce (Paula)

Potatoes Gratinee (Steve)

Shredded brussel sprouts w/ chestnuts, shallots and applewood smoked bacon (me)

Corn (Paula)

Chocolate mousse (Pamela)

Chocolate truffles – mint/tarragon; chai pistachio; earl grey (from my friend Beth who has started her own small chocolate enterprise, “Little Dipper Chocolate“)

Calvados/Coffee

Appetizer

Let the eating continue…

                                    

Where’s the mousse?!      

                                 

                                  

                              

   

                                    

Once the calvados kicked in, the wackiness began…

Still life w/ papillote

I learned something new… according to the salesperson at the cooking store where Paula bought the papillote, these are also called panties… so as the zaniness continued, one of the guests tried on the papillote/panties but they were too small!

                                    

Then I started spanking the monkey and we proceeded to corrupt our new friends the Worthingtons!

Me thinks it’s time to go home…

Paula, thanks for the hospitality and friendship (and fun)!!

Happy New Year everyone!

Bruno

                                    

                                    

This is a hectic time of year and the last thing someone needs is to be stressing over cooking, which I typically find therapeutic rather than stressful. Here’s a quick and easy appetizer recipe so you don’t have to go somewhere empty-handed if you promised to make something but ran out of time to do a more complex recipe (as I did). I got this idea from Barbara at Winos and Foodies. I just added some green (i.e., chives) to make the peppadews more Christmasy. Despite their simplicity, these little guys make a good impression and nice presentation!

Peppadew Peppers Stuffed w/ Feta, Cream Cheese and Chives

Ingredients:

6 ounces feta cheese (crumbled)

8 ounces whipped cream cheese

1/3 cup chopped fresh chives

42 peppadew peppers (I found mine at the grocery store’s olive bar)

Procedure:

Combine first 3 ingredients then stuff peppers

** I used the tip of a butter knife to stuff the peppers, however a friend who liked this recipe said they are going to use a pastry bag to insert the filling. A great idea which I will use next time because filling the peppers was the most time consuming part of this recipe.

***You will have some leftover filling which you can use as a spread on crostini or crackers, a dip for veggies, a sandwich spread, or you can buy more peppadews to fill.

Happy Holidays to all and to all a good night!!

Bruno

Hi everyone… I’m finally getting around to doing my Thanksgiving post! It’s been a very hectic couple of weeks w/ all the additional holiday activities (parties, shopping, etc…) so I’m taking advantage of this window of opportunity to get this posted before I get swamped.

My friends, Michelle and Byron, graciously invited me to their home for Thanksgiving dinner this year. Michelle did a beautiful job w/ all the food as well as taking the photos of this sumptuous feast. My only contribution to the bounty was the pumpkin gelato w/ candied pecans. Hats off to Byron and Michelle for being such wonderful hosts for my Thanksgiving 2006!! (Thanks to Kristin and Bob too for inviting me over for Thanksgiving lunch – no photos of this delicious spread because I was too busy feeding my face!)

The Feast

                Crumb Patrol

The Veggies

               Dessert Action

Immediate Gratification

                         Dessert

Recipes:

Michelle’s Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

Pastry dough (use your favorite recipe)

2 cups fresh pumpkin meat (see gelato recipe for procedure)

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup whole milk

2 large eggs

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

Pinch of ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

Special equipment: pie weights or raw rice

Procedure:

1) Make pastry dough as directed.

2) Roll out dough into a 14-inch round on a lightly floured surface and fit into a 9-inch glass pie plate (4-cup capacity). Crimp edge decoratively and prick bottom all over. Chill 30 minutes.

3) Preheat oven to 375°°F.

4) Line shell with foil and fill with pie weights. Bake in middle of oven 20 minutes. Remove weights and foil and bake shell until pale golden, 6 to 10 minutes more. Cool in pan on a rack.

5) Whisk together pumpkin, cream, milk, eggs, brown sugar, spices, and salt, then pour into shell.

6) Bake pie in middle of oven 45 to 50 minutes, or until filling is set but center still trembles slightly. (Filling will continue to set as pie cools.) Transfer to rack and cool completely.

Pumpkin Gelato w/ Candied Pecans

Ingredients:

1 cup candied pecan halves

2 cups pumpkin meat (from 1 small pie pumpkin  – 8 to 10 inches in diameter)

1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel

6 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 quart half + half

1 teaspoon Penzys cake spice

Procedure:

For  pumpkin:

1) Wash pumpkin, remove stems, cut in half and scrape out seeds

2) Place pumpkin halves on baking sheet, cut side down, add 1/4 cup water to the pan and bake in 350 degree F oven for 1 hour (the pumpkin should be very soft and slightly browned when done)

3) Remove from oven, turn halves over and set aside to cool

4) When cool enough to handle, scrape out meat and puree in a food processor (leave in processor in order to complete gelato mixture – see gelato procedure)

For candied pecans:

1) Roast pecans in 300 degree F oven for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring frequently, then let cool

2) Combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1/8 cup water in saucepan and cook, stirring, over medium heat until sugar is dissolved

3) Boil to 333-335 degrees F, occasionally brushing sides of pan w/ water to prevent crystals from forming, remove from heat immediately then add pecans and stir until they are well coated

4) Pour onto baking sheet lined w/ parchment paper and quickly separate pecan halves w/ 2 forks (I began using my fingers because using the forks was too slow to separate the pecans before the sugar hardened)

For gelato:

1) In medium saucepan heat half + half and cake spice gently to a simmer, then turn off heat

 2) In medium size mixing bowl combine egg yolks and sugar and beat together until pale yellow

3) Beat 2 tablespoons of the warm half + half into the egg mixture (do this slowly to avoid curdling the eggs), then beat in the remaining half + half little by little

4) Place bowl over a pot of simmering water and cook over a gentle heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture coats the back of a spoon (do not let temperature exceed 170 degrees F or mixture will start to curdle)  

5) Cool in an ice bath

6) Add grated orange peel to pureed pumpkin, blend in 1 1/2 cups gelato mixture to pumpkin to thin puree, then stir puree into the remaining gelato mixture, blending well, and chill for at least 4 hours in fridge

7) Roughly chop the candied pecans (set aside a few whole pieces for garnishing and munching on while your plating dessert because they’re addictive and damn good!)

8) Churn in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions, adding the chopped pecans halfway through the churning process

9) Transfer gelato to a 2 quart plastic container, cover top w/ parchment paper cut to size (this will reduce air exposure and prevent ice crystals from forming on the surface of gelato), and freeze until firm

Yield: Approx. 1 ½ quarts

Bonus recipe…

Cranberry Chutney

Ingredients:

1 bag fresh cranberries

2 mangoes – peeled and cubed

1 cup orange juice

1 tablespoon maple syrup

Procedure:

Simmer in a pot to a sauce consistency

That’s all folks! Until next time…

Bruno

Menu for Hope is a holiday fundraising campaign involving food bloggers which is now in its third year.  The campaign was started by Pim of Chez Pim, who recently announced that this year’s campaign will be benefitting the U.N. World Food Program. See Kalyn’s Kitchen and Cream Puffs in Venice for more details.

Happy Holidays,

Bruno

Here are a few photos from my latest trip for work. A very awe inspiring place, unfortunately we rarely get to stay very long!

The post w/ photos and recipes from the Thanksgiving feast at my friends’ house will have to wait until I return. Sorry for the delay. I hope these photos will tide you over until then…

Bruno