Back in February last year, before I was blogging regularly on here, I made a mention of king cake. Well, that time of year has rolled round again, it’s the season for parades and partying, and throwing beads and cups at people, Mardi Gras!

I’ll direct you back to last years post for the history of the king cake, this year  I wanted to go into how to make them a little more.

King cake is generally referred to as a coffee cake style dough, but the more I make it the more I think of it (this version at least) as a brioche, it’s a touch more bread like, but still perfect with a cup of coffee or tea, as dessert or a snack.

So, without any more ado, start by dissolving the yeast in warm water and let it sit for 10 minutes or so until it starts to foam. This serves two purposes, it gets the yeast active and moving after being dried out, and it lets you see that your yeast is alive and well, removing the risk of using old, dead yeast and having your dough not rise.

Meanwhile, put your flour, sugar and salt in the mixer and get it going with the dough hook.

Combine warm milk, sour cream, eggs and lemon zest and whisk together. As the flour is mixing slowly pour in the liquids. This will start to form the dough but it will be a little dry.

Next, like a brioche, add in the softened butter, in chunks. This will moisten up the dough, making it soft and sticky, but it will hold it’s shape. Cover and proof until doubled in size.

Turn out on to a floured surface and knock down, divide into to. Roll out to equal lengths, between 4 and 6″ wide.

Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (or spread with a cream cheese filling or a fruit preserve), leave one edge clean.

Roll up, so the clean edge is on the outside, and pinch to seal (the lack of filling along that edge helps it to seal). Twist the two lengths together, if you can keeping the seal on the bottom.

Twist into a circle, tucking the ends under, I like to arrange the ends so it continues the spirals. Cover with oiled cling wrap and leave to double again. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look perfect we’ll hide it in a bit!

Bake until it’s nice and golden, we leave it on the parchment to cool.

We make up the icing while it’s cooling then when it’s ready we zig-zag it across the cake. We aim for a consistency that flows easily but stays where we want it rather than flowing off the cake!

Sprinkle with your coloured sugars, purple green and gold. We make ours with fine caster sugar and a few drops of airbrush dye. Most store bought king cakes use a coarser sugar, but we found the crunch jarring and not fitting with the cake.

This is where being on the parchment still helps, all the excess icing and sugar builds up around the edge and in the centre. Just lift the cake off and onto a board and suddenly it’s all neat! It’s like magic!

It really is enjoyed best within a day or two of making, though a quick blast in the microwave freshens it up if it lasts longer than that.

Enjoy your Mardi Gras and don’t forget to order your king cake before Fat Tuesday.

Way Out West, Austin, has a list of events happening this weekend in the area, and this Sunday sees a chili cook-off at Becker Vineyards.

The Daily Green gives us the best organic breweries, while the FDA are considering allowing genetically modified salmon that would grow at twice the normal rate.

Want some weird wine pairings? How about something to go with gummi bears, pop tarts or a pb and j, well, Slashfood has done the hard work and figured it all out for you. While Serious Eats tested hot dogs for us.

Chef Susan Spicer, a New Orleans restaurant owner is preparing to sue BP on the behalf of Gulf restaurants and seafood suppliers.

Are you using green, reusable shopping bags. Well you might was to give them a wash after a study showed them carrying large numbers of bacteria, and in some cases, E.Coli. Keep bags separate for raw foods, and wash regularly.

A new film is coming soon, Bitter Feast sees a television chef kidnap an influential food blogger after a review deals the final blow to his career. It looks dark and disturbing.. I’m not sure if I want to see it or not.

Ending this week on an up note, or at least a WTF note. Once again Japan, you have outdone yourself.

A complete mish-mash of cuisines! I love making risotto, it’s so much fun, it tastes delicious. I get all excited about it and enthusiastic.

That lasts right up until about halfway through the stock adding part of the process, I’ve been stirring near constantly for 10 minutes and have at least another 10 to go and I’m wondering why the hell I thought this was a good idea and I’m vowing to never make it ever again.

And then I sit down and eat some of it, and suddenly all the toil and arm ache of the past half hour vanish and risotto is once again wonderful!

Another Italian dish (can you tell I’m a fan?) risotto is remarkably simple to make and amazingly versatile. Start with the basics and you can add any flavourings you like. Approximately two cups (that’s one pint aka 16oz) of stock to every ounce of rice, yes that’s right, 16oz of stock to 1 oz of rice. You may or may not use it all, or even more depending on variables, but it’s a good starting point. Always finish with butter and parmesan and you have a winner! The rest is up to you.

I always use arborio rice, it’s a short grain high starch rice that when cooked is firm, creamy and chewy. It’s great for risotto as it’s really hard to overcook but gives the risotto a good creamyness.

This time, we decided to add a New Orleans twist with some chicken and andouille then some creole tomatoes. The blend of Louisiana and Italy worked wonderfully.

Get your stock on and heating up first, you want it simmering. We used some chicken stock we had already made, from the boiled up carcass of the roast chicken.

Then in a 6qt pan the andouille and then the chicken and mushrooms were seared off. I do the andouille first as it will release a lot of juices that the chicken can then cook in. Remove them from the pan and set to one side.

Next prep everything, yes, everything. Onions and garlic (of course, what sort of meal would it be without them), the tomatoes were concasse, that is to say, skinned, the insides removed leaving just the flesh, and then diced. Have your wine measured out (with a glass for you too), a ladle in your stock and then mince up your herbs. Have your salt and pepper sitting nearby too. Finally have your butter and parmesan ready for when it’s finished too.

Ok, now we’re ready to cook. Take the first amount of butter and melt it in the pan, the same one you seared the meats in. Don’t clean it, just drain off the fat, leave all those burnt crispy bits on the bottom they’ll add good flavour. Saute the onions until translucent then add the garlic and saute until cooked.

Add all the rice, stir in. Now recipes vary here as to whether to stir it in and continue on, or whether to cook it until the rice becomes translucent around the edges. I tend to go for somewhere in the middle.. just because I’m impatient and give up before the rice actually becomes translucent, it’s never done me any harm.

When your rice is cooked, or not, to your desire, turn off the heat stand back and add the wine. It’ll sizzle and hiss and lift all those yummy bits of cooked on meat off the bottom. Give it a stir and turn the heat back on.

Now comes the slow bit, one ladle full at a time add the stock, stir it until the rice has absorbed it all before you add the next ladle full. Continue this until the rice has cooked, generally about twenty minutes or so, around that time start tasting little bits of the rice, it should be cooked through, but a little al dente. If you use all your stock  and the rice isn’t cooked you can add some water, but extra stock would be best. Or you may not use all the stock and it’ll be cooked. It’s strange and finicky like that.

Stir in the meats and tomatoes and anything else you want to add. Maybe a few minutes before it’s fully cooked to give them a chance to cook through.

Right before serving stir in the butter and parmesan, I add the fresh herbs here too and any salt and pepper the dish needs.

Serve immediately, though we have found that it freezes and reheats well.

What are you going to put in your risotto?

—

RECIPE
Yields 6-8 portions depending on how hearty your portion size is.

1lb Andouille
2 Chicken Breasts
1/2lb Mushrooms
4oz Butter
1 Large Onion
Garlic as desired
20oz Arborio Rice
8oz Wine
5pts Chicken Stock
5 Creole Tomatoes
6oz Parmesan
2oz Butter
Fresh Herbs
Salt and Pepper

Serious Eats appeared twice on our list this week, firstly for a quick guide to grilling (this is part 3, there are links to 1 and 2, and parts 3 and 4 will be coming soon), and second for their ingenious use of a beer cooler for sous vide cooking, I definitely want to give that a try.

A group of Austin food bloggers have been working on a project, cooking only from food they could get if they were receiving parcels from the Capital Food Bank of Texas. They went out and bought the items so they wouldn’t be taking them from someone who needed them. The results have been mixed, and a definite eye opener.

The New York Times had an interesting article on the comeback of food in New Orleans.

And finally, we end with the 7 Best Food Moments in Muppet History!

Have a good weekend folks!

While the washing and other chores around the house were being done, some quick prep in the morning was all that was needed, then the beans could simmer all day long, with the leftover pork bones, to be ready at the end of the day, just needing to be stirred occasionally, maybe a touch of water added.

It also held the bonus that both beans and rice are cheap. That’s right people, this is good ol’ poverty food!

There is no definitive recipe for red beans, though I’m sure many people will tell you theirs is the best. For us, we use another of Michael’s family recipes.

First things first, you need to soak the beans, overnight usually, or whatever the pack tells you to do.

Then, in a heavy 6(ish)qt pot sauté off the onion in olive oil until it becomes soft. Add the garlic (and green onions if you’re using them) and cook for 5 minutes.

Chop your ham and sausage, for this meal specifically we used andouille and tasso with some chicken to bulk it out, and add to the pan, fry for 5 minutes or so.

Add the washed beans, seasonings and parsley then add enough water to fill the pot around an inch or two above the beans.

Bring to a boil, then simmer for 2 to 4 hours until the beans are tender. Add water if necessary, or if you want it a little thicker mash some of the cooked beans against the side of the pan. You will need to keep an eye on the pan and stir occasionally to prevent sticking, more frequently near the end as the dish thickens up.

Now, don’t forget to cook your rice in time! We cheat and use a rice cooker, a beautiful little Zojirushi that’s cleverer than we are and gets it perfect every time.

Sit back and enjoy. And unless you invited an army around for dinner you’ll have plenty of leftovers so you can keep on enjoying it.

RECIPE
1 Large Onion, diced finely
8 Cloves Garlic, minced
1/2cup Green Onions, optional
2lb Ham, cubed
1lb Sausage
3tbsp Parsley
1lb Red (Kidney) Beans, soaked
Salt and Pepper to taste

Eventually I will remember to take photos of all the stages! I’m still getting into that habit.

Come celebrate this time of year with a New Orleans favourite, the King Cake.

An enriched coffee cake style dough rolled up with cinnamon sugar and braided into a round. Topped with icing and coloured sugar, coloured of course in the Mardi Gras colours; purple, green and gold (for justice, faith and power respectively).

Mardi Gras runs from Epiphany until Fat Tuesday (the day before Lent), so it is no surprise that the history of the King Cake has roots in Christian tradition (and Pagan before that, but that’s a whole other story involving harvest and blood sacrifices). Traditionally baked on Twelfth night as a celebration of the Kings finding the baby Jesus, a bean would be placed inside bringing luck to whoever found it.

While the Twelfth Night customs that spread throughout Europe were subject to numerous variations, one element transcended virtually every culture that observed the holiday: the choice of a mock king for the occasion. In the case of the King Cake the person who found a bean, or a coin, in his piece was the lucky King (or Queen) for the night. Sometimes they picked their own partner, sometimes Fate picked for them, and a pea secreted in the cake conferred the honour on its finder. The temporary change in status was sustained with ceremony; the King was given a crown, the authority to call the toasts and lead the drinking and, sometimes, the more dubious privilege of paying the bill on the morning after. It is believed the cake is round to resemble a crown.

In time the bean was replaced by a porcelain doll, which in turn gave way to a plastic “baby” the Queen was obligated to have the party the following week. The young man she designated to be her King was responsible for supplying the king cake.

That is one tradition that has made it through the years, the finder of the baby gets to host the next party or provide the next King Cake, or maybe even both.

So let your hair down, join the celebration and come have some cake with us, and above all Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez