Ranch, by any other name...

Okay, I admit it.  I love ranch dressing.  I  a ranch aficionado.  It really goes great on anything, and being from Texas, we put it on mostly everything.  The problem I face is, there is just too much BAD ranch out there.  Not all ranch is created equal.  For me, it it comes in a bottle, it's crap.  I just can't get excited about a squeeze bottle of Ranch Dressing.  It's so full of stabilizers, emulsifiers, and preservatives, that its no longer ranch.  It's more like a science experiment then a  salad dressing. I decided that I needed to make my own ranch dressing, and I didn't want to use a packet to do so!  This is a simple great recipe, that has all the great flavor of ranch, and none if the crap that you don't want.  

Food Doofus Ranch

1 cup Helman's Mayonnaise 

1 cup milk

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tbs granulated garlic

2 tbs kosher salt

1.5 tbs onion powder

1 tspn white pepper

4 tbs fine rough chopped parsley

Mix all ingredients, adjust seasonings to personal taste preference. Keeps for two weeks in the fridge, if it makes it that long.

BBQ Steak Vinaigrette

You know that ounce or two of jus at the bottom of the platter that's left after barbecuing steaks? That rich delicious liquid that you just don't want to throw away, but you don't really know what to do with? I had this same problem last night. There are a few things that can be done with it. You could make a French dip, and use I as the jus. You could thicken it and make a tiny amount of gravy, or you could do what I did. Make a vinaigrette. What better thing can you do to a salad the to top it with a dressing made of meat?

BBQ Steak Vinaigrette
2 oz Steak jus
6 oz salad oil
1/2 T Dijon mustard
1T fresh cracked black pepper
1/2T fresh garlic
Splash of balsamic or sherry vinegar
Pinch of salt as needed

-Combine all ingredients, except oil, in a mixing bowl. Whisk to incorporate.
-Whisking vigorously, slowly add the oil. It should not float on top, rather it should mix with the liquid forming an emulsion
-Taste to adjust seasoning. It should have a slightly acidic flavor that complements the beefiness. 

Serve over greens with red onion, croutons, blue cheese, and of course sliced steak. Yummy.

Blackberry and Basil Cobbler

So today, in honor of Labor Day, I decided it was best to have a BBQ as kind of a "Hey come and meet The Pritchard's" party. Being new to our neighborhood, and since we don't know a lot of people I thought it would be a good idea. Also the neighbor lady gave is a bunch of great produce out of her garden, and that, coupled with the stuff from our garden and an insane drive to have people tell me how good a cook I am, it just kinda made since to throw a party.

I think the hit of the night was the blackberry and basil cobbler that I made for dessert. If you know anything about the old Food Doofus, you'll know that I'm no baker. In fact I really don't enjoy it. I am however, fairly good at it, so it's not to hard for me to make something tasty for a meal finisher. I started to look for a good recipe for the cobbler top. I didn't want to have just a crisp top, but I don't like a pie top either. This was going to get tricky. Enter my good friend and pastry chef extraordinaire, Joe Baker. Joe has a blog aptly named Joe the Baker (google it. It's great). Joe also has a really great recipe for classic peach cobbler. I had purchased some peaches and nectarines the other day at the farmer's market in Provo, and had planned on using them, but my daughters' propensity to eat any and all tasty fresh fruit in the house, left me with to few fuzzy fruits to make a proper cobbler. I chose instead to use frozen blackberries from my sisters farm, Miller Farms. 
A funny thing about frozen blackberries, they leak a lot of juice. A lot of juice. About a pint from roughly 1.5 pounds. I had some much juice, that I was able to do all kinds of things with it, but that is another post all together. Back to the cobbler. The filling was sweet and syrupy, and the pastry was GBD, and tender. I paired it with some blackberry whipped cream, which complemented it nicely. It turned out delicious. It was so good, it all got eaten before I remembered to take a picture of it, so you'll have to take my word on it. Here's the recipe, thanks to Joe Baker for the pastry dough formula.

Filling
1.5-2 lbs black berries
1/2 c chiffonade fresh basil
2 t fresh ground black pepper (trust me, it makes the dish)
Honey (enough to sweeten berries)
Cornstarch (enough to coat berries)
Pinch of salt

Pasty (courtesy Joe Baker)
4 oz AP flour
2 oz sugar
1 oz brown sugar
1t baking powder
1t salt
3 oz COLD butter
3 oz heavy cream

Mix the ingredients for the filling together, and fold with a rubber spatula, making sure not to crush the berries. Pour filling into a buttered 8x12 glass baking dish. 

In your food processor, combine all the dry ingredient and the butter. Pulse on high until the consistency of sand. Add cream and pulse until a soft dough forms. In high elevation add more flour, or oats. Break odd small amounts and dot the top of the filling.

Bake in a conventional oven at 370 for about 25 minutes. High elevation, add five minutes.
Convection oven, start in 370 oven with fan on, and drop to 355 when you put the cobbler in. Bake at 355 for 15 minutes, then raise the temp back up to 370 for the remainder of time