This installment of AB and Me has me preparing Alton Brown’s rice pilaf. I love rice and will try just about any preparation I can find. Naturally, I couldn’t say no to AB and his rice.

The Program

1 tablespoon Unsalted butter
½ ea Onion, Medium – Finely Chopped
½ ea Red Bell Pepper, Finely Chopped
1 ½ teaspoons Kosher Salt, plus 2 pinches
2 cups Long Grain White Rice
1 pinch Saffron, Steeped in 1/4 cup hot water
2 ½ cups Chicken Broth
1 ea Orange Zest, 1 x 2 inch strip
2 ea Bay Leaf
½ cup Frozen Peas
¼ cup Golden Raisins
¼ cup Pistachios, Chopped

The Prep

By far the most interesting part for this recipe, at least for me, is the saffron. Maybe I’ve been missing out, but I’ve never cooked with saffron before. Maybe because, by weight, it is the most expensive spice on the planet. A gram of saffron can easily cost $10 – $15 or even more. For those that might need help with the quick math that’s around $300 an ounce. Other than procuring the saffron, the rest of the prep is pretty straight forward.

The Process

This dish offers up another twist in the process. After sweating the onion and pepper in the butter, you add the rice and get it almost toasted, just until it starts to smell nutty. It will take awhile, you’ll think you’re going to burn it, but just keep stirring. “Your patience will be rewarded,” as Alton Brown would say. Once you get that nutty smell, add everything but the peas and crank up the heat.

While the mixture comes up to a boil, take a clean tea towel and soak it in water. Once the mixture is boiling, kill the heat, lay your wet towel over the top of the pot and put the lid over the towel. Fold the towel ends up over the lid and slide it into the oven.* Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, then remove and let rest covered for 15 minutes.

*I don’t have lawyers like Alton, but here’s my disclaimer about putting your pot in the oven. Please be sure the manufacturer of your cookware has confirmed that it’s o.k. for both the pot and lid to go from stovetop to oven for temps up to at least 350. If you melt a plastic handle, shatter a glass lid or get poisoned from some non-stick coating that melts onto the rice that you eat, don’t come crying to me. I warned you.

The Payoff

I will admit, this is not exactly what I was expecting. That’s not to say it wasn’t good, but I’ve had many different takes on rice pilaf and this one was totally different than any of the other ones. I’m sure it was the orange zest. I may have gone a little overboard on it. I’m going to do this one again to see if I can get a little closer to Alton’s intent.

For this installment of Ab and Me, we whip up a batch of Alton Brown’s pancakes. We have an “old faithful” recipe for pancakes so I thought I would put this one to the test.

The Program

2 cups AP Flour
½ teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
2 teaspoons Sugar
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
2 ea Egg, Separated
2 cups Buttermilk
4 tablespoons Unsalted butter, Melted

The Prep

This one is a piece of cake – bad pun intended. With the exception of buttermilk, you should have all of the ingredients at your disposal. If you are used to a “1 bowl” pancake mix prep, make yourself a little more room on the counter because this one requires three… Yes, requires; and yes, worth it.

The Process

Bowl #1 – Combine all the dry ingredients. Bowl #2 – Whisk together the egg whites and the buttermilk. Why you ask? Texture. Nuff said. Bowl #3 – Whisk together the egg yolks and melted butter. Please be sure the butter has cooled. And when you end up with scrambled eggs because you skipped cooling off period due to the fact you forgot to melt the butter at the beginning of this process, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Add the egg yolks and butter to the buttermilk mixture and whisk. Then add the wet to the dry and bring together. Don’t waste a bunch of time getting every last lump out of the batter. Just get the wet and the dry together to form the batter and start cooking.

Speaking of cooking, I’ll assume you already warmed your griddle to 350 and have an ultra thin layer of butter on it to keep those first ones from sticking. Also have your oven on 200 or so to keep the first batches warm while you finish up the rest.

The Payoff

So, were the 3 bowls and separate whisking processes worth it? Yes! We have replaced our “old standby” recipe with the Alton Brown version. These cakes are GB&D (golden brown and delicious) on the outside and light and fluffy in the middle (see it was worth it to whisk the egg whites and buttermilk separately). I have eaten a lot of pancakes in my life and these were among the best.

Sticking with a theme, I stay in Mexico for my next installment of AB and Me. This time, we make Guacamole. This is a quick and easy recipe that I prepared to have something to munch on during the NFL Conference Championship Games today.

The Program

3 ea Avocados, Haas, seeded, peeled
1 ea Lime, Juiced
½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
½ teaspoon Cumin, Ground
½ teaspoon Cayenne Pepper, Powder
½ ea Onion, Medium, Diced
2 ea Roma Tomatoes
1 tablespoon Cilantro, Chopped
1 Clove Garlic, minced

The Prep

The prep for Guacamole is simple, but if you have never worked with fresh avocado, take a minute to learn how to properly peel and seed it. About.com has a pretty good tutorial here. Other than that, be sure to have a good sharp knife handy for the tomatoes.

The Process

You will want to start by scooping out the avocado guts and putting them in a bowl. Add the juice of the lime immediately. The lime juice helps keep the avocado from oxidizing. It will turn brown and get ugly quickly. After that add the salt, cumin and cayenne. Traditionally you would use a mortar and pestle to mash up the avocado, but a potato masher works quite well.

After getting mashed potato consistency, add the tomatoes, onion and garlic and just fold them in. Let it rest for an hour (if you can) so the flavors have time to meld then enjoy!

The Payoff

I thought this guacamole was pretty good. I wouldn’t mind having a little more heat, but that’s just me. Perhaps next time, I’ll find a jalapeño to dice up and add to the mix. That being said, this level of heat would be great for spreading on your toast in the morning or adding to a burger that you’re going to add a slice of pepperjack to.

Until next time…

Alton Brown does Mexican – Italian fusion?? Well, the enchilada lasagna is mexican through and through. It is only assembled in the spirit of Italian lasagna. This dish made it to the top ten on Food Network’s Alton Brown recipe page. I had not noticed it on the website previously so I was excited to give this one a try. I was also excited to get a recipe for the “red sauce” that you see so frequently when you visit a mexican restaurant.

The Program

For sauce:
2 dried chipotle chiles, stems and seeds removed, diced
3 large garlic cloves, minced
2 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons toasted cumin seeds, freshly ground
2 cups chicken broth
3 cups tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For filling:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cubed
1 1/2 cups diced onion
Pinch kosher salt
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
3 cups shredded queso fresco or Monterey Jack
Nonstick cooking spray

The Prep

This one requires little prep. One thing I did a little different was to make a garlic paste instead of mincing it. I love garlic flavor, but in a sauce I would rather not bite into a hunk of garlic. That’s just me, though. I also did not make the effort to find cumin seeds. I just used powdered cumin – it’s still pretty potent. When prepping this one, be sure to keep your ingredients for the sauce and filling separate since they share ingredients, but in different quantities.

The Process

I recommend starting with the sauce. Alton recommends simmering it for 15 minutes, but if you want it a little thicker and more concentrated, you can certainly let it simmer a little longer. Its production is simple. Throw all the sauce ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. I did a little whisking at the beginning to help separate the garlic paste and the chipotle chunks. Other than that, turn on a timer and pull it off the heat when it goes off.

For the filling start by sauteing the chicken in your favorite stainless pan. When the chicken has cooked, remove it and then put the onion into the pan to get them cooking. When they start to soften add the spices and cook them down for another minute or two. In my preparation, I cooked the chicken a little too long on one side so I had some fond on the pan, so I when I added the spices, I put in just a little white wine to deglaze.

When everything is ready it’s time to assemble the lasagna. start with a little bit of sauce in the bottom of the dish. Add a layer of tortillas (which have been dipped in the sauce) then a layer of filling, then a layer of cheese. Repeat with another layer of tortillas and filling. Pour the rest of the sauce over everything and finish with another layer of cheese. Bake and enjoy!

The Payoff

Like many of Alton’s dishes, this one is easy to prepare and turns out to be fantastic. Lori and I both really enjoyed this one. It is a little spicy, but it isn’t overly spicy. I think I’m most excited about having the red sauce recipe as it will work for many Mexican dishes.

Enjoy!!