MOTD: Cooking with cabernet

I'm pretty sure you can literally never go wrong with onions, garlic, butter, and olive oil. The holy quadfecta(?).

Image 1. Buttery, garlicky, onion-y goodness

Carrot cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting

I've never liked cake much, other than chocolate cake (I know, I'm weird). But for some reason, I've always liked carrot cake, even as a kid. I realize now that my love affair with carrot cake can be attributed to the cream cheese frosting (further emphasizing my undying obsession with cheese and cheese-based desserts).

Image 1. Dat sprinkle of cinnamon

Let me guess what you're thinking. Carrot cake? Really? Carrot cake has been around for eons and there are countless tried and true recipes all over the internet. But mine is a little bit different. Being the problem solver that I am, I have identified three major issues with carrot cake as we know it today.

Seafood paella

I must be on a major seafood kick, because right after I returned from GT Fish & Oyster, I decided to make this seafood paella.

Image 1. Seafood paella...in a cast-iron pan...with Italian rice.

Paella is named after the pan in which it is prepared, which is a wide, shallow metal pan that gets wider at the top, like this. I wasn't going to buy a something that I rarely use to fill up my already inadequate kitchen cabinet space, though, so I used my cast iron pan instead. It is also prepared with bomba (or Valencia) rice, but Trader Joe's did not carry it, so I opted for Arborio rice (otherwise known as Italian risotto rice). Any short-grain rice will do; just don't use basmati or anything crazy like that, because it won't taste right.

GT Fish & Oyster: Chef Week

Those of you residing in the East/West coast may scoff at the idea of having seafood in the Midwest, but really, what other choice do we have? I sure as hell am not flying all the way to San Francisco every time I get a craving for calamari.

Chicago Chef Week is March 17-21, which is essentially no different from Restaurant Week other than the fact that it's shorter and doesn't include the weekend. My friends and I decided to go to GT Fish & Oyster in the Near North Side for a luxurious lunch.

Image 1. House-made hot sauces

Mojito cupcakes & matcha rice cupcakes

I've never been a huge fan of food coloring, since they serve no other purpose other than to dye a food a specific color (with the exception of red velvet, because they're rather hideous without the red hue). I've always been all about function over form, and when St. Patrick's day rolled around I found myself brainstorming ideas to concoct naturally green desserts.

The first idea I had was a mojito cupcake, which combines two green things (lime and mint). I decided to go for a traditional white cake infused with mint, with a lime curd center and a tart lime buttercream. The second idea I had was a matcha cupcake with white chocolate ganache, inspired by the green tea Kit Kat. To keep with the Asian theme of the recipe, I opted for rice flour instead of all-purpose.

Image 1. Mojito cupcakes & matcha rice cupcakes

The results were great, and I'm here to share my recipe with you.