Phoenix (errr Scottsdale) Eats

Not sure anyone cares but I did have some good meals today in Scottsdale.


That there would be short rib BLT with some tasty fries. Short ribs? Bacon? Yes!


And this here would be scallops with pear, fried green tomatoes, endive wrapped in prosciutto and something tasty called cavalo nero (waiter described it as collard greens made from kale).

It was all very good, I forgot to get a photo of dessert, that was amazing.... strawberry cheesecake shot. Maybe I'll grab another one before I go... you know just so I can share.

Salmon with Pear and Cherry Chutney

One time at this amazing restaurant I had salmon with a pear and cranberry chutney. It was incredible. I have always wanted to recreate it, but haven't ever found a recipe for it and didn't feel like guessing, today I did. Well not totally, I looked into some other chutney recipes and worked from there. There was also a last minute panic at the grocery store when they had no frozen cranberries (thinking back, that's really not that awkward). So here's how I did it:
-2 1/2 bartlett pears, peeled, cored and sliced
-1 bag (12 oz or so) of frozen cranberries cherries
-1 cup of sugar
-1 cup of water
-1/2 cup of cider vinegar
Simmer everything in a pot for about 30-35 minutes. Drain and press. Refrigerate until needed.
Now my one fault was not doing much with the salmon. I used some olive oil, salt and pepper and threw it in the oven. This made for a flavorful chutney and a bland piece of fish. So in the future, figure out a better way to prepare the fish, keep the chutney as is. And here you have it:

The side dish are green beans made from this recipe, and they were phenomenal.

I also decided to make a banana bread for breakfast tomorrow using this recipe. I have yet to taste it but it smells great and was fun and easy to make. Looks pretty good too, don't you agree?


Sorry, no cheesecake this week. I'll be in Arizona next week (perhaps I'll share anything good I have there), so you'll have to wait on the caramel apple cheesecake for a couple more weeks.

Cake Cakes!

Today was my first cooking adventure with my 2 1/2 year old, Lily. She requested some cup cakes (or as she calls them cake cakes), and being the motivating father I am, I told her if she wanted them she could make them herself. No special recipe here, just some boxed cake mix, eggs, oil, water and frosting.... oh and sprinkles! As the photos and video shall prove, she really did make them.

Here she is assisting with measurements and mixing:


Here she is scooping the batter into the cups:


Time to strategically apply the sprinkles:


And here's the finished product:

Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake

It's been way to long, I apologize. However, I do come bearing one of my finest creations, chocolate strawberry cheesecake (oooohhhh ahhhhhhh oooooooooh). Minus my prior culinary experience preparing buffalo stew, lemon chicken and walleye in the Black Hills (another story for another time) I enjoy cooking... well mainly eating... cheesecake more then anything else. I took a pretty basic, and easy, strawberry cheesecake recipe and added some chocolate to it. The main recipe can be found here. This recipe is great because it is very simple and produces a great result. To "chocolatetize" it I use chocolate graham crackers for the crust and put a layer of chocolate chips on top of the crust before pouring the cheesecake in. Aside from that it's business (or recipe) as usual. Everytime I make this I end up using more of the strawberry sauce then they tell you to add and have yet to over do it. I did face one minor challenge this time around in the lack of sweetened condensed milk. Initially I thought I could just put some sugar in whole milk and I'm good to go, this makes sense right? Apparently not. I found a very good substitute here though. Taste wise this was indistinguishable from the real deal, however with all that brown sugar it tinted the cake brown a bit, as you can see. And here you have it:

Next up.... caramel apple cheesecake.