serves 6 to 8, heartily

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
10 slices white sandwich bread
12 oz cheddar cheese, shredded
8 large eggs
3 cups whole milk
1 small onion, grated
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoon dry mustard
½ teaspoon hot sauce

1. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 baking dish with 1 tablespoon of the butter. Spread the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter over 1 side each of the 10 slices of bread. Cut the bread into 1-inch pieces. Scatter half of the bread evenly in the prepared dish and cover with half of the grated cheddar cheese. Add the remain bread and cover with the remaining cheese

2. Whisk the eggs. Add in the milk, onion, salt, pepper, mustard and hot sauce together in a medium bowl. Pour evenly over the bread and press the bread cubes lightly to submerge. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours to achieve the desired consistency

3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and placed the refrigerated dish on the middle positioned rack. Baked uncovered until puffed and golden brown (60 minutes) and serve immediately

For sauce

• 1 cup crème fraîche
• 1 tablespoon chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

For shrimp crab cakes

• 1/4 teaspoon crumbled saffron threads
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil plus additional for brushing
• 1/2 cup diced (1/8-inch) onion
• 1/4 cup diced (1/8-inch) carrot
• 1/4 cup diced (1/8-inch) celery
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 1/2 lb medium shrimp in shell (31 to 35 per lb), peeled and deveined
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped shallot
• 1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
• 1 teaspoon chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo
• 1 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
• 1/8 lb jumbo lump crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage

• Special equipment: parchment paper

Make sauce:
Pulse all sauce ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl and chill, covered, until ready to use.

Make shrimp crab cakes:
Sprinkle saffron into water in a 1-quart heavy saucepan and boil over moderately high heat until liquid is reduced to 1 tablespoon, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to a small bowl, then cool completely.

Heat oil (1 tablespoon) in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then cook onion, carrot, and celery, stirring occasionally, until pale golden, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate to cool.

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 400°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly brush parchment with oil.

Whisk together 1 egg, cream, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

Pat shrimp dry and transfer half of shrimp to clean food processor, then add saffron reduction, shallot, garlic, chipotle, and 1/2 cup panko. Purée until smooth, then, with motor running, add egg mixture in a slow stream, blending until just incorporated.

Chop remaining shrimp very coarsely (about 1/3-inch pieces) and stir together with remaining 1/2 cup panko, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and carrot mixture. Lightly beat remaining egg and stir into shrimp and vegetable mixture along with shrimp purée, then fold in crabmeat until just combined.

Loosely fill a 1/4-cup measure with crab mixture and drop onto a lined baking sheet. Make about 23 more cakes in same manner, dropping onto baking sheets about 1 inch apart. Flatten tops gently to form 2 1/2-inch-wide cakes (about 1 inch high) and bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until tops are lightly browned, about 15 minutes total. Serve shrimp crab cakes with sauce on the side.

Cooks’ notes: · Shrimp crab cakes can be baked 1 day ahead and cooled completely, then chilled, covered. Reheat in a 350°F oven until hot, about 15 minutes. · Sauce can be made 3 days ahead and chilled, covered. Stir before serving.

Directions

Notes

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup orange zest
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2/3 cup orange juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 cups cranberries
• 2 tablespoons brandy

Directions:

1. In a small pan over medium heat, combine the orange zest and water. Cover and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain, reserving zest and 1/3 cup liquid.
   
2. To the reserved liquid, add the sugar, orange juice and lemon juice. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes uncovered, stirring often.
   
3. Add cranberries; increase heat to medium-high and boil for about 10 minutes or until the cranberries have popped and a small spoonful of sauce sets on a cold plate.
   
4. Remove from heat, stir in brandy. Pour in a covered container and chill in the refrigerator at least overnight.
   

Obviously, I love pumpkin. However, it’s not actually the pumpkin flavor that most of us enjoy, but the delicate blend of spices that come together to bring that flavor out. To that end, I modified a recipe I first used last year for Pumpkin Crème brûlée to include more spices. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 pinches ginger
• 2 pinches allspice
• 4 cracked, whole cloves
• 1 vanilla bean, split cut in 1/2 inch pieces
• 8 egg yolks (note)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup coarse sugar or raw sugar

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
2. In a medium saucepan, heat the cream, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and vanilla over medium heat, stirring occasionally, just until it comes to a boil. Immediately turn off the heat and set aside to infuse at least 15 minutes. Strain the infused liquid to remove the clove, vanilla, and large spice bits.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the granulated sugar. Whisking constantly, gradually pour in the hot cream mixture. Whisk in the pumpkin puree.
4. Pour the mixture into 8 ovenproof ramekins and arrange in a hot water bath where the water comes up near the level of the mixture. Bake in the center of the oven until almost set but still a bit soft in the center, 30 to 40 minutes. It should “shimmy” a bit when you shake the pan; it will firm up more as it cools. Remove from the water bath and let cool 15 minutes.
5. Tightly cover each ramekin with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic does not touch the surface of the custard. Refrigerate at least 3 hours, and up to 24 hours.
6. When ready to serve, fire up your kitchen torch to a low flame (not the piercing flame of high). Uncover the chilled custards. Pour as much coarse sugar as will fit onto the top of 1 of the custards. Pour off the remaining sugar onto the next custard. Repeat until all the custards are coated. Discard any remaining sugar. In a circular motion, carefully brown the sugar. Let cool 1 minute before serving.

Note: There exist a number of different techniques and even products for separating eggs. I think the most common is to crack the egg shell in two halves and carefully dump the egg back and forth to let the white drip down and yolk remain in the shell. This method works, but it’s very easy to pierce the yolk and mix it with the white, thereby ruining that egg. I prefer to crack around the egg near the top of the narrow half and pour the egg white out. Once it’s started to pour, gravity will pull the entire egg white out of the shell without much effort. The better separated your eggs, the better your meringues, custards, and soufflés.

Ingredients

• Salsa
• 2 ripe mangoes, peeled and diced
• 1 ripe avocado, peeled and diced
• 1/2 large papaya, peeled and diced.
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice

• Tacos
• 1 lb. salmon
• 1 lb. mahi mahi
• 12-16 white corn tortillas
• 1/2 head red cabbage, shredded

Directions:

1. Combine all the ingredients for the salsa in a large bowl. Depending on your taste preferences and those of your guests, you may want to add some garlic and/or chopped jalapenos to the mix.
2. Cook fish 10 minutes per inch @ 400 degrees on the grill. If you’re skilled enough, you can cut the skin off the filets before you place them on the grill. Once they’re cooked, cut them into 1/4 in. thick slices.
3. Heat tortillas and serve! Use the cabbage for texture and crunch. This recipe serves about 8 and there will be leftover mango salsa that will keep for a day or so.

While my salsa was definitely probably the star of the day, Ernesto’s Nintendo Wii and 60″ DLP flat-screen television also wowed the crowd. In fact, I want one. Now.

Sometimes you want a quick meal that doesn’t come out of the freezer or isn’t placed between two slices of bread. Such was the case last night when I wanted to cook myself something to eat, but was already very hungry and didn’t want it to take a half-hour. Rummaging through my cupboard, I came across some Japanese soba noodles and proceeded to piece together a meal from there.

A chicken breast coupled with a handful of frozen green beans and jalapenos for kick quickly led to a rather tasty and satisfying meal. The best part is that it only took about 10 minutes to prepare.

Ingredients:

• Japanese soba (buckwheat) noodles (two servings worth, about 4 oz.)
• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed.
• 1 cup (handful) frozen green beans
• 1/2 oz. sliced jalapenos (about 4-5 slices)
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger (or some ginger-based marinade)
• olive oil
• soy sauce

Directions:

1. Bring a small pot of water to boil. Place the soba noodles and cook for 4-5 minutes until just tender, careful not to overcook. These noodles do not take long to reach desired texture. Once cooked, drain and run under cold water to stop them from cooking.
2. While the noodles are cooking, pour a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a small skillet. Add the fresh ginger or coat the chicken cubes in ginger marinade. Toss the chicken in the skillet with soy sauce and stir-fry for 3-5 minutes.
3. During the last couple of minutes cooking the chicken, combine the green beans and jalapenos in the skillet and cover. Be sure to stir everything so the jalapeno juice lightly covers everything.
4. Serve with the noodles. Zap it in the microwave for 30 seconds to get the noodles warm again.

It’s kind of an asian-mexican fusion, but the spice works out really well because it slightly coats each bite without growing on itself. It’s not one of those meals that starts out spicy but tasty and ends with you sweating. It’s level of spice remains fairly constant. I hope you enjoy it and add whatever other ingredients you happen to have on hand.

I LOVE oysters, as does Jade.

Luckily a number of our friends do as well because Jade and I bought over 100 of them on Saturday. I know, I know… you’re probably thinking, “Jesus, that’s a lot of oysters!” Well, they were on sale! What was an oyster lover supposed to do?

Throw a party, that’s what!

Mostly we ate them raw, but we also prepared a good many by lightly battering them in a breadcrumb/flour mixture seasoned with spices (cayenne, paprika, turmeric, tony chachere’s, and garlic salt) and then lightly frying them until the breading turned light brown. We also had a few oyster shooters which are just a raw oyster, vodka, and cocktail sauce in a shot glass.

The iframe below is cutting a portion of my slideshow off, so visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/atxryan/tags/oysterparty/ to see all the pics.

That dish happened to be Wild Mushroom Bánh Xèo with Red Wine Reduction. Mmmm.

Bánh Xèo (bun see-oh) are crêpes á la Vietnam. While French crêpes usually bring to mind thin pancakes stuffed with ham & cheese or some sweet dessert drizzled in strawberry sauce, bánh xèo are actually eggless and predate the French Colonial period in Vietnam.

HEB didn’t exactly have the mushrooms for which the original recipe called. In fact, HEB didn’t have even one. So, I decided that this would no longer be CHOW.com’s recipe, but my own.

Ingredients:

For the wild mushroom filling:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 shallot or small red onion, finely diced
• 1/4 pound cremini mushrooms, cleaned and cut into 1/4-in. pieces
• 1/4 pound oyster mushrooms, cleaned and cut into 1/4-in. pieces
• 1/4 pound shitake mushrooms, cleaned and cut into 1/4-in. pieces
• 1 large portobella mushroom cap, cleaned and cut into 1/4-in. slices
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar
• kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste

For the Pinot Noir reduction:

• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 cup Pinot Noir
• 10 tablespoons butter, diced and kept cold
• Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste

For the crêpes:

• 1 cup white rice flour
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• Three smidgens of turmeric
• Two smidgens each of paprika and cayenne
• One smidgen of ginger and cumin
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 green onions, thinly sliced (white and green parts)
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/4 pound radish sprouts

Instructions:

For the mushrooms:

1. In a large sauté pan over medium heat, add the oil. Add the shallot and season with salt and pepper. Sauté until tender but not colored, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the cremini, oyster, and shitake mushrooms. Sauté until golden brown and tender, about 10 to 12 minutes. Add the soy sauce and sugar and continue cooking until the soy sauce is almost completely reduced. Taste and adjust seasoning. Set aside.
2. Using the same or a different pan, saute the portobello strips.

For the Pinot Noir reduction:

1. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the shallot and the wine. Cook until the liquid is reduced to a syrup. Reduce the heat to low. Add the butter, a few pieces at a time, whisking to incorporate each addition before adding more. Work the pan on and off the heat to regulate the temperature so that it does not become too hot. Keep warm.

For the crêpes:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the rice flour, all-purpose flour, kosher salt, granulated sugar, curry powder, green onions, coconut milk and water.
2. Heat a 8-inch, non-stick pan over medium heat. For each crêpe, spray it with non-stick cooking spray. Add 1/4 of the cooked mushroom filling. Without removing the mushrooms, pour in between 1/2 and 3/4 cup of the crêpe batter. Quickly tilt the pan in all directions to allow the batter to completely cover the bottom of the pan. Cover and cook for 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Uncover and check for doneness. The crêpe should pull away from the sides of the pan, be well-browned and lacy on the bottom, and look a bit dry on the top.
4. Place 1/4 of the radish sprouts and 2 slices of portobello on top. Fold the crêpe over and serve drizzled with the wine sauce immediately.

This dish was one of the most satisfying meals I’ve cooked in a while, simply because it satisfied all the right criteria. It’s presentation was nice. I would have been pleased to order this in a restaurant. It is hot and cold, crispy and chewy, raw and cooked, and wonderfully earthy and fragrant with green onions and turmeric. It had great texture with the soft, yielding mushrooms coupled with the satisfying bread-y wrap and fresh crunch of the radish sprouts. This sexy dish is definitely a keeper.

Scoot Inn
1308 East 4th St.
Apparently this bar (formerly Red’s Scoot Inn) was set to disappear from the libations landscape when the owners of Longbranch Inn saved the day and made it even better. This venerable East Austin bar was built in 1871. It’s very comfortable feeling with its inviting smells — in that earthy, old way — and old-fashioned wicker lamps. Oh, and it now features a large bier garten.

Longbranch Inn
1133 East 11th St.

I’d been to the Longbranch a few times before, but for Jade & Bryan it was a new experience. It had the largest crowd of our cold, Monday night sojourn and boasted the same friendly atmosphere that seems to perpetually hang around that place. I think the fact that they had a fire going helped.

Firehouse Lounge
605 Brazos St.

The Firehouse Lounge’s website lists it as “one of Austin’s best kept secrets” and after visiting I can attest to that. There’s nothing spectacular about the place, but if you’ve spent enough time on Sixth you’ll appreciate the comfortable atmosphere, music at a reasonable enough level to be able to hold a conversation, and LOTS of sitting areas throughout. This place seems pretty swanky. I look forward to visiting it again next time I seek a reprieve from the Sixth Street doldrums.