How to Properly Christen a Dutch Oven

For a while now I’ve been pondering the idea of a dutch oven. What I’ve been trying to un-ponder is the high price tags associated with them. As a college student, I can’t even begin to fathom spending the $150 base price most brands ask for, and I wont even begin to touch the idea of a Le Creuset. $300 is not going towards a pot. I splurged on a Kitchen-aid a few years ago, but that has a few more functions. Most of the lower budget dutch ovens also have ugly handle designs or blah colors, and if I were to spend the money I would want a nice green one. So of course I was crazy excited when I was perusing the depths of Amazon and found this little number. Say What!? A green 6 qt Dutch oven for $65? It was definitely in my price range and there’s a plain simple black handle, and the Lodge brand has been around forever and they’re know for their quality. I’m a cheap-wad when it comes to a lot of things, and for some reason I still couldn’t part with $65. Well the next day I for some reason slowly made my way back to the product info page before school and there was some sort of Friday Sale going on so it was only $55 with free shipping. I think I may have had time to blink once and like that I had bought it. It came last week, but I’ve been so busy with school and I wanted to make a classic dutch oven meal so I settled with one of my all time favorites; pot roast. I took ideas from all over, mostly Tyler Florence, but I ended up with a killer pot roast. Tender meat with vegetables that have been cooking in the meats juices. So So good. I don’t think there is any other way to christen a dutch oven. 


By the way, I purchased the “Emerald” color dutch oven, but they have a few choices. The red says it’s $95, but that is a lie, just do another search and according to the current prices you can get one for $35.

Pot Roast
3-4 lb chuck roast
s and p
olive oil
more s and p
1 onion, sliced in half, skin off, root still intact
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ lb mushrooms, quartered
14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 c water
1 bay leaf
2 t minced fresh rosemary
2 lbs potatoes, I used Yukon gold quartered
4 carrots cut to about the size of your thumb
Warm a few tablespoons of olive oil in a dutch oven.
Liberally season the meat with s and p, and get your sear on.
Once all the sides have a nice color add everything but the carrots and potatoes.
Bring up to a simmer and let it roll for an hour, turning the meat after 30 min.
Once the hour has passed, turn the meat once again; add the potatoes and carrots, and cook for 2 more hours, turning the meat every 30 min. (This is done so all the meat has a chance to cook in the juices, and it’s evenly tender).
After 2 hours and the few turns, you could easily make gravy with a little roux and the fantastic beef stock you’ve made and serve it with the juicy roast and vegetables.

Awesome Rice Pudding

About a year ago I went on the recipe trek for rice pudding. I refuse to buy anything pre-made, and almost all the recipes I saw called for cream or egg yolks or way too much sugar and the ones that didn’t came out tasteless and dry. Then came Ellie Krieger. I have to admit, not all of her food looks crazy appetizing, but every once in a while, I’m intrigued by one of her healthy variations on a classic dish. Where most of the recipes called for heavy cream or whole milk, this one called for vanilla soy and a fraction of the sugar. The first time I tried it, I used less soy than called for fear of it being too runny, and it turned out gummy. So I stuck to the original amount the second time around, and added a little more sugar. The result? Awesome Rice Pudding. It’s rich and creamy with a hint of cinnamon and vanilla. Serve it warm with fresh whipped cream and you’ve got yourself an inexpensive, guiltless, and comforting dessert.

Rice Pudding
Adapted from Ellie Krieger
1 c Arborio rice
3 c vanilla soymilk
1/3 c sugar
pinch of salt
4” stick of cinnamon
1/2 t vanilla
Bring 2 c water to a boil and add rice, reduce to simmer and cook for 20 min or until rice is tender.
While rice is cooking, preheat oven to 375 degrees
Grease a 2 qt baking dish and add soymilk sugar and cinnamon. Once rice is cooked, add it to the dish, cover, and bake in preheated oven for 45 min. For a little extra insurance, place foil lined baking sheet underneath in case the pudding decides to go wild and boil over.
After 45 min, remove from oven and add vanilla, let sit and thicken on counter, about 20 min, and serve warm with fresh whipped cream.

mmm mmm great

Today in Humboldt it’s foggy and overcast. nice. As much as I enjoy the summer this cool weather is one of the main reasons I moved to the area. It’s perfect for soup and I love soup. A lot. I saw Tyler Florence make his ultimate roasted tomato soup and thought to myself, I need to make that. So I did. I tweaked it a bit , added some carrots and crushed red pepper, really nice flavor and consistency. It hit the soup spot. I topped it with some parmesan and homemade croutons that I make all the time for salads. It’s just a couple slices of some seed bread a tablespoon or so of olive oil, and some salt and pepper, baked at 350 for about 10 min.

Best. Croutons. Ever.

Take some time and make this for lunch or dinner when it’s cold outside.

mmm mmm great


Today in Humboldt it’s foggy and overcast. nice. As much as I enjoy the summer this cool weather is one of the ma in reasons I moved to the area. It’s perfect for soup and I love soup. A lot. I saw Tyler Florence make his ultimate roasted tomato soup and thought to myself, I need to make that. So I did. I tweaked it a bit , added some carrots and crushed red pepper, really nice flavor and consistency. It hit the soup spot. I topped it with some parmesan and homemade croutons that I make all the time for salads. It’s just a couple slices of some 5 seed bread a tablespoon or so of olive oil, and some salt and pepper, baked at 350 for about 10 min.

Best. Croutons. Ever.

Take some time and make this for lunch or dinner when it’s cold outside.

Also, as a little side note: I just received a new dutch oven in the mail, so I plan to test it out and post about it. I need some ideas.

Roasted Tomato & Carrot Soup

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
1 lb of another type of tomato, I used vine ripened, quartered and cored
1 small red onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic
3 carrots, chopped
2 ½ c chicken stock
1 bay leaf
pinch of crushed red pepper
2 T or so fresh basil
2 T cream
1 T butter

Preheat oven to 450°
Place all the vegetables on a foil-lined sheet and toss with salt and pepper and about 3 T of olive oil, roast for 20-25 min.
Add vegetables to a decent sized pot with chicken stock, bay leaf, and crushed red pepper, bring to a boil and reduce to simmer, cook for 10 min.
Put it in a blender, or leave it in the pot and use an immersion blender, and blend until it turns into a rich smooth consistency.
Return to pot for serving, add basil, cream, and butter, wait for the butter to melt and serve with croutons and parmesan cheese.


hey hey hey


Billy here. I’m an art major at Humboldt State and decided a while ago I needed to start a blog to fill some time and share some food. I finally got around to it. tadaa. I decided to kick things off with one of my favorites; brownies. There is no need to use a box mix. These taste like bits of awesome and are just as easy and have none of the junk the boxes do. They also have a fraction of the fat most brownie recipes do, so, I guess they won’t shoot to your thighs as quickly.

Brownies


1/4 c canola oil
1 1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla


2 c ap flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa
1/4 c coffee


optional add-ins: 1/3 c chocolate chips, 1/3 c walnuts, almonds, etc


Preheat the oven to 375


Combine all the dry ingredients together in one bowl


In another bowl mix together the oil and sugar until it resembles snow. Add in the egg and vanilla and mix until well combined.


Add in half the dry combo and stir just until combined, add the coffee, mix, then add the rest of the dry ingredients.


Pour into a greased foil lined 9×13 pan and bake for 25-30 min.