Brony Chef Project #21: Cheerilee's Spring Jubilee Salad

With Winter Wrap-up finnally commenced yesterday, Spring has finally sprung. With a brand new season and warm weather on the horizon, there should be something new and fresh on the BCP. Maybe something that is crisp, happy and celebrates the bright and fresh outlook of Spring itself. Maybe it is time to introduce, one of the very few teachers of Ponyville that fits in with all these descriptions. Allow me to introduce you class to Mrs. Cheerilee.

From "Call of the Cuite" episode 12, Season 1: Mrs.Cheerilee teaching her class about "cutimarks".

 

Mrs. Cheerilee is the school teacher of Ponyville Elementary Schoolhouse and one of the very few characters that became a side character from being in the background early on in the series. Her first "official" appearence started in out in Call of the Cutie as the school teacher of Appleblooms school. She was a bit down played from the speaking role after her second appearence in Show Stoppers, but she did recieve her own episode in season 2 with "Hearts and Hooves Day" with Big Mac. Although since then, she kind of pops in and out though out the whole series with some speaking roles that kind-of involves the plot but not directly referencing to the current situation. Yet, she is still a lovable character despite her lack of screen time, and her character is the perfect fit for the "voice of reason" without sounding cynical.

From "Hearts and Hooves Day" episode 17, Season 2: Cheerilee's and Big Mac's awkward date.

 

To celebrate Cheerilee's Cheerful attitude and positive out look of education, I decied to create a salad that transitions from winter into spring with some small hints of summer. It starts out with some crunchy Kale to provide a seasonality between the Winter months of Febuary to the early crisp and green weather of March. Then some spring vegitables come in to symbolize her blooming disposition with some bright colors. Then I add some sliced chicken glazed with dark cherry jam, red wine vinigir, and some ginger to give it balance in flavor and substance. Finally, the red wine dill vinigerette brings every thing together with its smooth consistancy and verity of color that Sping and Summer could bring together in harmony.

 

 

 

 

 

Cheerilee's Spring Jubilee Salad

 

Serves 2

 

Glaze

 

2 Tsp of Black Cherry Jam

 

1 1/2 tsp of Red Wine Vinegar

 

1/4 tsp of freshly ground ginger

 

Pinch of salt

 

Chicken

 

1 lb. of Boneless Chicken Breats

 

2 Tsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

 

A pinch of salt and pepper

 

Salad

 

3-4 Kale leaves chopped

 

1/2 of a red onion, cut into thin rings

 

1 Roma Tomato cut into 6 wedges

 

6 thin slices of Granny Smith apple

 

Dressing

 

1 tsp of Dijon Mustard

 

1/4 cup of Red Wine vinegar

 

1/4 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

 

1 tsp of Dill Weed

 

 

1. Preheat the oven at 350 F and create the Glaze in a very small bowl by combining all of the Glaze ingredients. Set them aside for later.

2. Take the raw chicken and rub the oil, salt and pepper until completly covered. (Remember to also wash your hands immediately after handling raw poultry.)

3. Take out a medium size sauté pan on medium high heat and drizzle a very light coat of extra olive oil (to prevent sticking) in the pan. Place the chicken in the pan and cook until the chicken is golden brown on both sides. Once done, set them to the side and let it rest for five minutes.

4. Take out a sheet pan wrapped in foil and spray some non-stick spay on the pan. Place the two browned chicken breasts on the sheet pan and brush on the glaze that was made earlier with a basting brush or spoon. Then bake the chicken for 13-15 minutes.

5. While the chicken bakes, create the dressing by adding the mustard and vinegar first to the small bowl. Then add the oil in a slow steam to the vinegar/mustard mixture while whipping with a whisk until fully incorperated. Add the dill at the end and stir.

6. Once the chicken is done, let the chicken cool for 5-10 minutes. Then cut the chicken breasts into strips and set aside. (If the chicken is still pink in the middle, broil the chicken on high in your oven for 1-2 minutes or until fully cooked.)

7. Assemble your salad by tossing the chopped vegetables in a bowl with some of the vinaigrette and placing the sliced chicken on top or you can set the kale on the plate and decorate the kale with the other ingredients to create your own Cheerilee Salad. Serve it Family Style or on Individual plates.

This salad is perfect for any occation for a lunch or dinner setting. Weather you want to have a nice, fresh salad to celebrate the Spring or have a nice school lunch if you want something besides tuna fish sandwich and cheez its for the millionth time. (Disclaimer: I absolutly love Tuna Fish sandwich with Cheez-its. I'm just using this as an example of repetitiveness.)

I wanted to create something that could be a lunch that is perfect for any teacher or student to enjoy durring the school day that wants something different. I would go on how this dish is represented and how This represents Cheerilee, but I think I would save that for a "behind-the-scenes" post or make a video of the experimentation process. Although for now, I think I summed up Cheerilee quite nicely.

That's all for this post of the Brony Chef Project. Stay tuned for more recipies, ponies and many other culinary adventures with yours truly, Kyle Hedlund. Although for now, I bid you all a-do.

Posted with Blogsy

Brony Chef Project #20: Derpy's Baked Bad's (Derpy Day Special)

Hello everyone and Happy Derpy Day to all! Today is a very special day because today, after much delay and pondering; I have finnally developed a recipie for the one and only Derpy (A.K.A Ditzy Doo). Before I begin, I do want to say that I wouldn't cover every single little detail of Derpy's history but I will cover some of the most distinctive features of Derpy that is the most signifigent to the fandom. So without further a-do, here is a chefs perspectives of the internet icon known as "Derpy Hooves".

 

From "Applebuck Season" episode 5, Season 1: When Derpy (on top center) said "Muffins!"

 

Derpy first appeared in the very first episode of the series as a background pony. At first she was not really recognized until the Fandom started to notice that one of the background pony's had 2 eyes were going in opposite directions. The reason why she was crossed eyed is quite somewhat unknown. Some say that it was an animation error or just one of the many Easter eggs that was hidden through out the series. After the first episode was aired a 4chan user named Dr. Foreigner, noticed the strange looking mare and named her Derpy Hooves.

From "Rainbow Falls" Episode 10, Season 4: (From left to right) Fluttershy, Bulk Bicepts amd Derpy Hooves gasping at the shocking truth.

 

From that very day, Derpy had became a symbol for the fandoms creativity and the fannon side of the fandom. (If your not sure what "fannon" is, check out the Octavia post down below for more.) She has seen controversy and censorship from veiwers, love and devotion from fans, and recognition from the internet as a symbol for enthusiasm and self-identity. For the actual character herself, she is bubbly, exciteable and always ready to go for any challange for the day that's ahead of her. She is the official Mail Mare of Ponyville (according to the fannon influence from 4chan). She also have a passtion for muffins. She is different from the many other characters, but she is ok being different. This would later on being the philosophy of Derpy Hooves that it is ok to be different. According to Chirstopher Bell from the University of Colorado, Derpy was considered as a symbol for the Brony fandom for being different fromt he other fandoms.The physical character was created by the animators but the personality was collaborated by the fandom itself.

From "Sonic Rainboom", episode 16, Season 1: Derpy just flying by.

 

The culinary inspiration behind Derpy was more of a direct reference to the episode "Applebucking Day" with the accidental creation of "Baked Bads", muffins that everyone got sick from except for Derpy herself. I originally wanted to recreate the recipie word by word but I didn't really wanted to create soda bread in a muffin form. So then instead, I decided to focus more on the different flavors that create a somewhat "Harmonious Scateredness" compisition to represent her carefree nature. Even though some of the ingredients are unussual for a traditional muffin recipie, it still has the same elements and formula for creating any basic quick bread recipie. This would inspire many different variations and customized your very own Baked Bads to create and share.

Derpy's Baked Bads

 

Makes 12 medium muffins or 4 giant muffins

 

 

Candied Bacon

 

4 Strips of Thick Cut Bacon

 

1/3 cup of light brown

 

Black Pepper to taste

 

A can of cooking spray

Dry

 

1 and1/2 cups of all purpose flour

 

1/2 a cup of Whole Wheat flour

 

1 Tsp of Baking powder

 

1/2 cup of Sugar

 

Wet

 

2 eggs

 

1 cup of Milk

 

Flavorings

 

1 Tsp of Fig preservatives or fig spread

 

~1/3-1/2 cup of Crushed Potato Chips

 

1. Preheat your oven to 375 F. While the oven is preheating, wrap 2 sheet pans with tin foil and add a light coat of cooking spray to the top of one pan and the bottom of another.

2. Coat the bacon in brown surgar in a small bowl season with some pepper. Then add the strips of bacon flat on the sheet pan with the coating on top. Add additional brown surgar on top of the bacon if there is any left over. Once your oven is preheated, put the sheet pan with bacon in first, then put the sheet pan with the non-stick coating on the bottom on top of the first sheet. Bake for about 30-40 minutes.

 

3. While the Bacon is cooking combine the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients In another. Wrap the bowl of wet ingredients with plastic wrap and place inside the fridge until the bacon is done cooking. Wrap the dry ingredients in plastic wrap as well and set aside at room tempreture.

4. Once the bacon is done cooking, carefully take the bacon out of the pan and onto a cutting board. When you remove the bacon from the oven, bring the heat of the oven to 500 F. Wait for the bacon to cool (~2-3 minutes) before cutting. Chop the bacon into bite size peices and place them in a seperate bowl.

5. Remove the plastic wrap from the both the wet and dry bowl and combine into one big bowl. Stir until dough starts to form. Then add the bacon and other Flavorings to the dough and gentle fold them into the batter until incorperated.

6. On a muffin tin or ramikin, spray a light coat in the cups to prevent sticking. Then add the batter to the muffin cups 2/3 the way full, until the batter is completely used.

7. When adding the muffin try to the oven, turn down the ovens heat to 400 F while baking. If you are making the medium sized muffins, bake the muffins for about 16-18 minutes. If you are baking in the ramikins, bake for about 25-28 minutes.

8. Once done, remove the muffins from the oven and let them cool for 15-20 minutes before removing them from the vessels and serve.

To create the kosher vertion of this recipie: Take 6 slices of turkey bacon with 1 Tsp of honey and bake for about 12 minutes at 375 F.

 

 

This was a very special recipie that was in months of developing. It took quite a lot of time but I think I made Derpy proud. It's the perfect recipie for any type of meetup or just for something different for breakfast.

 

I'm sorry if this post was late. This post was made through out the day and I wanted to be perfect. Better late then never. I hope you enjoy National Derpy Day and hoping there are many more in the near future. For now I bid you all a-do.

 

Posted with Blogsy