"My Best" Chili

"My Best" Chili - made January 14, 2018 from Bakerita

I have really bland taste buds so I normally don't go for spicy food. I'm one of those people whose mouth goes on fire, my eyes water, my sinuses clear up, my tongue burns and I turn red if the food is too spicy. Okay, I'm exaggerating slightly. Very slightly. But I'm still not into spicy food.

So whenever I make chili, I use the normal chili powder (read: mild) from Penzey's. I made this chili and while the ingredient list might look a little long, it's actually pretty quick to put together. Mix up all the spices in a small bowl first then just dump it all in when it's time.

This turned out as chili should and was easy to make. But I have to admit, I'm used to chili being a little spicy which this was not. Next time I might branch out and go for a little more heat from the chili powder.

2 pounds lean ground beef
1 pound bulk Italian sausage, mild, casings removed
1/2 pound bacon
2 15-ounce cans kidney beans, drained
1 15-ounce pinto beans, drained
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained
2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes with juice
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 cups beef stock
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika

1. Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Crumble the ground chuck and sausage into the hot pan and cook until evenly browned. Drain off excess grease.
2. In a different pan, cook the bacon until crispy. Crumble and add to stock pot. Cook the chopped onion and pepper in the bacon drippings for about 5 minutes, or until onions are translucent. Add to the stock pot.
3. To the stock pot, add in the drained beans, diced tomatoes, tomato paste and beef stock. Season with chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, oregano, cumin, basil, salt, pepper and paprika. Stir to blend, then cover and simmer over low heat for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
4. Add 2 hours, taste and adjust salt, pepper and chili powder if powder if necessary. The longer the chili simmers, the better it will taste.
5. Remove from heat and serve, or refrigerate and serve the next day.

Bakery Review: La Patisserie

La Patisserie - visited January 14, 2018

I've been giving myself a break from baking since the holidays. It's my once-a-year hiatus. Leading up to Christmas, I use up all the baking ingredients I'd been stockpiling and see the bottom of my pantry shelves. So January's larder is rather sparse since I don't replenish my supplies.

It's also a chance for me to eat a little healthier since I'm not taste testing new recipes on a weekly basis. But, it doesn't quite mean I give up sugar entirely. Similar to my perusal of Manresa Bread, I also decided to check out La Patisserie, again before church so I can pick up some baked goods to share later with my parents.

La Patisserie is the kind of bakery that has a lot of fancy-looking desserts in its display cases rather than racks of freshly baked loaves of bread. Which should probably be obvious from its name.

I like the feast for my eyes as I kept snapping pictures on my phone. Not sure how it all tasted though because to keep that kind of well-stocked look, you never know how long the goods have been in the display cases. I like to think they're fairly fresh but I've had bad experiences before where a scrumptious-looking cake turned out to be dry because it's been in the refrigerated cases for too long.

Fortunately, I didn't have that experience here, at least not with what I tried. I decided to try the bear claw, similar to my earlier quest for my coworker to find good bear claws.

I wanted to try a little of the round loaves of pastries, especially some delicious-looking strudel and danishes but alas, the lady behind the counter said they only sold them whole and not by the slice. Bummer.

Instead, in addition to the bear claw, I bought the Hazelnut Bliss. Based on the description, I wondered if the "chocolate praline wafer" would be that light, crunchy, airy texture I'd once had in my friend's wedding cake, which, many years and dozens of wedding cakes consumed at my friends' weddings later, I still remember to this day.

I had the bear claw as that day's breakfast. Sad to say, I was disappointed. I suspect, given the random few pastries in that basket, it was a day-old bear claw. It was dry, not flaky or buttery and not very tasty. The filling was sparse as well. I wouldn't get it again.

Fortunately, the Hazelnut Bliss more than made up for it. It was delicious. Not dry at all and the praline wafer layer was exactly the texture of my friend's well-remembered wedding cake. It was also similar to the layer in the plaisir sucre I enjoyed so much from Laduree. That was worth the trip.

With its praline wafer layer, chocolate cake, white cake and mousse layers, this cake was beautifully made and artfully presented. The whole thing was covered in hazelnut ganache but it was more like a firm fondant. It also wasn't too sweet, which meant, of course, that my parents liked it as well. Although La Patisserie has a lot of offerings, it's hard for me to imagine I'd like anything else better than this cake.

Bakery Review: Manresa Bread

Manresa Bread - visited January 7, 2018

One of the things I love to do - and don't do enough of - is travel. And only another foodie would understand that part of my travel plans are governed by what food my destination is known for, what famous bakeries or restaurants I can go visit while I'm there and, to be perfectly candid, sometimes I decide to go somewhere simply because of a well-renowned bakery or restaurant (usually a bakery, because, hello, it's me) at that location. Yes, my travel plans are governed by my taste buds, stomach and gluttony. What? That's also why I workout 6 days a week.

I even do some serious research. Meaning me and Google spend some time together while I plug in search terms like "top bakeries in the US" or "best cupcakes in (insert geographic area I've thought about visiting)". I go on a virtual gastronomic tour for extended periods of time. I compiled a list of places I wanted to try. Fortunately, it also occurred to me to research what's in my own backyard.

Which led me to stumble on Manresa Bread. You might have heard of David Kinch's Michelin 3-star Manresa restaurant. Yes, Manresa Bread is of that Manresa. I've never been to the restaurant (on my culinary bucket list) but I didn't see why I couldn't just pop on over to Manresa Bread as soon as I discovered its existence.

And pop on over I did, on an early Sunday morning on my way to church. I figured I couldn't finish off a load of bread during its peak freshness period but Manresa Bread offered a host of other choices to drool over.

I ended up getting the individual-sized Monkey Bread, kouign amann (my new favorite ever since I had one from Dominique Ansel Bakery in Soho), a pain au chocolat and a whole wheat cookie. Before your eyebrows raise at that plethora of riches, I did share with my parents after church. If I couldn't eat a whole load of bread, I certainly couldn't eat all that but I could try a little of each, right?

Although, true confessions, I did eat the pain au chocolat myself as my breakfast that morning. A pain au chocolat, if you're never had one, is made of croissant dough so it has the same flakiness, shaped as a rectangle and filled with a stick of chocolate. That would be the good chocolate, mind you.

Pain au Chocolat

Manresa's pain au chocolat was delicious. The main drawback was it was almost too flaky. As in totally messy to eat. I think I was half-covered in pastry flakes before I had made my way halfway through it. While the earmark of a good croissant/pain au chocolat is that flakiness, I think I prefer something just slightly less flaky, not just for less mess but I don't like pastry that's too airy. But that's me.

Monkey Bread

The triangle of monkey bread that I sampled was good as well, just a little heavier. I think it tastes better warm.

Kouign Amann

Inside the monkey bread

The kouign amann was, not surprisingly, my favorite. There's something about that caramelized crunchy outer crust that's just spectacular. Next time I'd probably skip the monkey bread, more because I'd already tried it, not that it wasn't good, but I'd double down on the kouign amann.

Inside the kouign amann

The whole wheat cookie was the surprise in that I ended up liking it more than I expected. I'm very, very spoiled when it comes to cookies since I have the luxury of usually eating them while they're still warm from the oven. Manresa's whole wheat cookie not only tasted good but I liked the texture. Not too heavy or dense but satisfyingly chewy.

Whole Wheat Cookies

Overall, Manresa Bread is a highly recommend and I'd go back again. As soon as I work out a lot more.