News from the Chef # 3

It has been too long since I last did a recipe, although instead of an explanation, I will simply tell you the truth.

Recently, I have returned to school to learn how to become an accountant. Now don't worry, I am not giving up on the BCP (Brony Chef Project) any time soon. I am simply make my life more sustainable to create more recipes and make everything easier for everyone. I will still be a chef, but not in the most conventional sense.

I am what most people call a "modern Renascence man." I dabble not only in cooking but also in many different arts, politics and sciences from time to time. So in a way, I'm not really giving up on my dream. I am simply revising it. Although, enough about me.

For news, I have deiced to reread, revise, and edit my past works. I have seen a lot of comments from Facebook about spelling errors and grammar issues. All new recipes would have to be in a halt until every post is revised to the highest quality possible. New posts will pop up once, I have got everything straightened out and more characters analized.

In other news, I have recently went to my first ever Brony Meet-up in Chicago for the first time. The group I was with are known as "The Windy City Bronies" and they are the coolest bunch of people I have ever met. We had a blast up in the Willis (or Sears, whichever doesn't get me killed) Tower and had a nice dinner filled with pizza and conversations with ponies. I met a lot of new friends and I like to thank them for letting me into their group with open arms. Thanks you. If you want to learn more about the many events they hold in the City of Chicago, feel free to follow the Windy City Bronies Facebook page.

I know I haven't been communicating as much as I like, but I am more serious about my writing, revising these recipies and meeting new people along the way to make this project the best it could be. I want to thank you for hanging in there and new material will come soon. This is Kyle Hedlund (AKA Chef Kyro) and Bon appetite, everypony.  

Brony Chef Project #16: CMC Series #2: Sweetie Belle

In a group of freinds, weather human or pony, there is always one in the group that is not only talented but willing to share that talent with everyone. Weather she knows it or not, Sweetie Belle is one of the most musically talented out the trio known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Sweetie Belle is a unicorn who is not only talented in singing but always energenic with everything she does. Her debut was from "Call of the Cutie" around the same time that Scootaloo (BCP #10). Although, her full character was revealed durring the "Stare Master" episode when she was related to Rarity.
Sometimes, Sweetie Belle would get outshined by Rarity but once she has the spotlight, her voice becomes the star. Her voice is high and somewhat squeaky but once she sings, it becomes smooth and elegant as a professional singer. Yet its more than just the voice that attracts many fans.
Her personality can be annoying but she is sweet and caring to her friends and family. She always loved her sister and lends a helping hand whenever she can. Its true that shes trying to find her talents in the wrong places, but she always try and supports her friends anyways she can.
For the recipe, it was actually a suggestion from Cloudsdale on the Friendly Pony Fort cloud. They suggested I try to create something with Sweetie Belle as a dessert (somehow, I am doing a lot of desserts lately). So when I went to the Farmers Market to find whats in season, I found some grape jelly (referencing to the Sister Social episode) and some cherries that are in season, it instantly clicked that I should make tartlets with the grape jelly and other fruit flavors to complete it. Plus I wanted to relate to Rarity by makeing them as a handheld dessert. Its not exactly the same size but it does drive the point that she can be sweet with a big voice.

Sweetie Belles "Surprise" Tarts

Makes 1 Dozen

Tart Shells
7 oz. of Butter, softened
1 cup of Powdered Sugar
7 Egg Yolks
1 egg
3 cups of whole wheat pastry flour

Filling
8 oz of Grape Jelly
30-40 dried cherries (~4 oz.)
Juice of 1 Lemon
pinch of salt

Ganash and Garnish
8 oz of semi-sweet chocolate
splash of coconut milk
12 Fresh Michigan Cherries

1. Create the crust by whipping the butter in a stand mixer until the it covers the sides of the bowl. Then add the egg yolks and egg 1 yolk at a time until incorperated. (If the yolks breaks, add a little bit of the liquid at a time.)
2. Combine the dry mixture together in a separate bowl and add a little bit at a time to the mixer until incorporated. Keep repeating this step until you have used up the dry mixture. You keep the dough refridgerated for up to 1 week.
3. Once you are ready to make the tarts, preheat your oven to 350 F. Grab a muffin pan and grease the pan with butter. Line the cups with the dough and with small squares of parchment paper, place a clean stone in each cup to prevent rising of the cups. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
4. While the shells are baking, create the filling by combining all the ingredients in a bowl. Taste to adjusting the seasoning. Set aside in the fridge until ready to use.
5. Create the gnash by melting the chocolate in a double boiler and whisking in a the coconut milk until creamy. Set aside in room temp until tart shells are cooled.
6. Once shells are cooled, assemble the tart by filling them with the jelly filling, then the gnash and adding the cherry on top. Serve.
The tart shells I got from my Luna Recipe (BCP #9) and modify it to incorporate a whole wheat flour to give it a robust earthy flavor. It doesn't really fit in with Sweetie Belle as much but it does show how adventurous Sweetie belle can be.
The artwork for this post was brought to you by Fumei from Cloudsdale. This is actually the first time that we have an artist from outside of Deviant Art create an original work for this post. So give kudos to Fumei for becoming a pioneer artist for the BCP.
Before I go, I do want to tell you that I am now using Instagram for my photo shoots of the recipes. So if you want to have a sneak peek at some new creations or maybe leave a comment on how delicious it looks, follow chefkyro on Instagram for more.
I have also started a new cloud on Cloudsdale known as "Ask the Chef." If you wanted to drop a comment, make suggestions for the next recipe, ask a questions or maybe just say hi and have a discussion about food and ponies; feel free to drop by the cloud https://www.cloudsdale.org/clouds/askthechef.
That is all I wanted to share today. Thank you for reading and enjoy the tartlets. Its Sweetie Belles favorite.

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A Pledge of Sustainability

I have just came back from the Farmers Market in my neighborhood to gather my ingredients for the next post and I had a thought that I should make a pledge to use green, organic, and sustainable product.

I know that it maybe hard for me to go every time and to use ONLY local ingredients, but I do want to use as much local product as I can and discover new ways to use those products. Plus, I want to share my experience and knowledge of using local product to make unbelievable dishes for everyone to enjoy. So without any further a-do, here is the pledge.

 

The Sustainability Brony Pledge

 

I, Kyle Hedlund (AKA The Brony Chef), will promise to use: organic, green, local and sustainable product to use for culinary experimentation for The Brony Chef Project. Every recipe on this website must at least use 1 ingredient that fits the description of local and sustainable product. We also promise to not use any product that is made with chemicals or artificial flavors. We strive to not only give the highest quality product, but The Brony Chef Project is in full support of localization, green living and sustainability.

This is also an exercise for me as a chef. Most of the best restaurants in the world use local, seasonable ingredients to use the most of what is available and create something special. Using cheap product, such as beef tongue and seasonable produce, and transform it into something spectacular can really put his/her on the culinary map.

Although it doesn't mean that you need to spend a small fortune to get the best of the best. There are farmers markets that are affordable. Plus, there are vendors who know how to use every part of their product. In other words, they can give you the best advice on how to use their product and help you save money. Also Moderation is a good thing to remember in terms of buying product. You can still use the supermarket for your ingredients, but buying local is a really good idea.

That is what I wanted to share for today, but I'm not done yet.

I am still looking for artists to help me create some art work for the project. If you or anyone you know have any art work of any character you want to have featured, tweet me @chefkyro and look for me on Facebook to submit your artwork. Make sure you have the name of the artist and source, so I can give credit to them.

With all that out of the way, I can get back to enjoying my day off. See you guys around.

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News from the Chef #2

Since it has been a long time since I last updated (about 20 days ago), I should at least fill you in what I have been doing so far and explain why I couldn't update as ofter as I want to.

General: Lately I have been really busy with balancing with my 2 jobs and non-profit work with the Restaurant Opportunity Center of Chicago (ROC Chicago for short) to create recipes and experiment as often. Although, I have started to go to farmers markets recently to get seasonal and organic produce, cheeses and meats to support local farmers and produce. There will be more posts soon but I do need help in terms of artwork and other essentials to make BCP (Brony Chef Project) the one stop "Culinary Brony" website.

Artwork: Recently, I have been having trouble finding artists to help supply the artwork for my posts. Now I understand why you want to ask, "Why do you need artwork for a recipe website?"

To be honest, this is more than a recipe website. It is also a place were people can connect with Bronies, artists and foodies alike to enjoy and learn from each other. The Brony community is not just a collection of fans that isolate others who don't agree of what they do in there spare time. Most of them are artists, musicians and even chefs to share their passions with everyone who is willing to try something new and exciting. Although I am getting a little off topic.

I need artwork because it gives the visual reference of which character I'm talking about and compare it with the actual recipe. Most of my culinary education has been focused on presentation and execution. Most people can cook a steak and serve it on a plate but it takes true dedication and talent to make it look spectacular and mouth watering. Without the artwork, it just looks a little bland and for some readers they wouldn't know what I'm talking about.

In fact, half of my readers are either new to the fandom or never saw the show. I need art work to show them which character I'm referring to and to relate with that character to compare it with the recipe.

It does sound like a tall order and I don't really have a lot of money for commissions, but if you know any artists from deviant art that is willing to let me use their art or if you want to submit some art to be featured, feel free to leave a comment or tweet me @chefkyro.

Social Network: Speaking of Twitter and other social networks, I have decided to open up to expand my social presence over the internet to spread the word of the BCP. Recently I have joined in Myspace, Pinterest, Instagram and Cloudsdale to share my experiences of the culinary world. I have also opened up to using Facebook more often. If you want to see my progress with I'm doing, feel free to look for Kyle Hedlund or chefkyro for more.

For Cloudsdale, I am referred to as "The Brony Chef" and I occasionally jump from cloud to cloud. If you haven't used Cloudsdale before, it is really good for connecting to other Bronies through chat and there are a range of topics for programmers, artists, musicians or for people who just want to chat. It is the perfect iPhone app for anyone to connect with the community. Im also going to work on creating a cloud for the BCP but I still need to figure out how to reach to other people who are interested in joining.

That is all I wanted to share for today. The newest recipe is finished but I still need artwork to complete it. It is coming soon and I assure you that it will be spectacular. For now, I must study my Italian for tonight. Ciao everyone.

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Brony Chef Project #15: Octavia

This the first post I ever did for a background pony. I want to tell you that this would be difficult to really explain what she did for the show and the fan base, since she only apeared in only two episodes. Although, it dosent mean that she is insignificant to the Bronies. In fact this is the perfect opertunity to talk about one medium of Brony culture that hasn't been discussed on here yet. But before we begin, allow me to introduce one of my favorite backgroud characters and a major influence to Brony music, Octavia.

The story of Octavia ussually differers from the various fan-fiction and musical poems but in terms of the show, she first appeared in the first season finale "Grand Galloping Gala." She was the cellist of a small ensemble in Canterlot at the time and appeared once again in Season 2 in "Sweet and Elite". Although the story didnt really end there.

After Octavia's appearance, she became a "fanon character" (See Chrysalis Post) and soon popularity spead of this sophisticated Canterlot earth pony. She was also part of a fanon duo with the electronic Dj unicorn known as Vinyl Scratch and started to develope a certain "classical style" of not only her music but with her temperment with life in general. She was considered as awkward and some what stuffy twords others that are below her social scale, but her passtion still burns like Beethoven's symphony No.5.

Yet there were times where she brake some of the rules that society placed before her. Sometimes she wants to break barrier but not become completely out of control as Vinyl. (future post coming soon) Although, as a fanon character, she does break boundries by becoming something she is not. I say that because before the internet, background characers become forgotten and never been seen again. Yet over the past decade, more and more caracters are getting more recognition not by the role they play in the show but by the inspiration they give to the fans.

A good example of this is through music. Most of the music that Brony musicians and artists create are mostly inspired by characters that have a "movable story" that is not static from the plot. Most of the music that is created tells different stories with very drastic contrast from other artists. Some peices of music might be calm and classical to describe her sophisticated background and passtion through music; while others might have a mixture of electronic and classical genres to show her innovation with Vinyl. Heres an example from the artist Yourenigma.

The music described mostly about about the "fanized" relationship of Octavia and Vinyl but the begining paints a pretty discriptive picture about where Octavia comes from. When the second part came in, it combined Vinyls innovative and punk like tenacity with Octavias smoothness to create a solid foundation of who they are as caracters. It really makes you think about how music can be made and heard by different people and how others interperate. Although enough about music. Lets get to the recipie.
The idea behind this recipie was mostly driven by the idea of passion. I have been obsessivly watching Kitchen Nighmares UK and trying to learn as much as I can from Gorden Ramsey. At first, I was afraid to even thinking about working with him, but after whatching his show and reading his books: I slowly realized that he truly expresses passtion for bringing good food to everyone. With that idea in mind, I decied to make Octavias dish a canvas were passtion can be expressed by technique and combination of certain flavors with classical flare.

Octavias Spring Chicken Risotto

Serves 4

Risotto

1 1/4 cups of Arborio Rice

2 tsp of olive oil

Herb Infusted Broth

4 cups of Chicken Stock

1 Sprig of Rosemary

1 sprig of Cilantro

Base

1/4 lb. of Shreded Chicken, Cooked

1/4 cup of Cilantro

2 Tsp of Chive

1/2 Red Bell Pepper, Diced

Pinch of salt

1. Combine the broth ingrideints in a bowl and place it in the fridge from 1 hour to overnight for maximum flavor.

2. Take the Broth out and transfer to a sauce pan. Make sure to remove herbs before boiling. Bring it up to a boil and then let it simmer.

3. Comibine all the base ingredients in a bowl and leave it on the side.

4. Take a large sautee pan and coat the bottom of the pan with the olive oil. Heat the olive oil on medium-high heat until warm. Add the rice to the pan and coat the rice in olive oil. (Make sure you read the instructions on the rice to check for proper cooking instructions.)

5. Add one ladle of broth to the pan and stir until the liquid is abosorbed. Keep repeating this step until you used up all the broth (15-18 minutes of continuous stiring).

6. Once the rissoto is al dente (to the tooth), add the base and stir until incorperated. Add salt and pepper to taste.

7. Transfer to bowls and garnish with slices of red pepper on top if desired. Serve.

If your intimidated by Risotto, it is really simple to do. Although, it does take concentration and patience to make it correctly. Just make sure to pay attention and you will be just fine. Its perfect for when you want to impress your family with your new cooking skill or make a hearty meal for your self after a long day. It also tastes good with red wine. (Note: you must be 21 or Older to drink wine.)

I would like to thank http://adlynh.deviantart.com/ for the artwork. Interesting fact: She made this peice during a livestream for the Bronies in France. Pretty amazing work for a livestream. Check out her gallery for more.

I have to admit. It was a long post but thank you reading. I also want to tell you that I am on the Cloudsdale. (a social chat network for bronies to hangs out, chat and have fun.) I will be makeing a "cloud" for the project to take in suggestions and other news. So be on the look out for the Brony Chef Project on Cloudsdale that will be coming out soon.

You can also reach me on twitter @chefkyro and #bronychefproject for more. Thanks again for reading and enjoy the summer guys.

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Brony Chef Project #14: Princess Cadence

As we are on the subject of Royalty durring the last post, I figuire it would be best to create a lighter, brighter breakfast/dessert hybrid for the spring. But first, I would like to introduce you to the ruler of the Crystal Kingdom and Hero of the Royal Canterlot Wedding, the real Princess Cadence.

Princess Cadence came into light in the second half of the Royal Canterlot Wedding. She was found down below the castle after Queen Chryslis (see Brony Chef Project #13), trapped her as Chrysalis took her image. She was reunited with her childhood freind Twilight Sparkle after, Twilight herself, was captured by the same imposter. After an amazing performence of her aria, Candace came to the rescue his fiancé Shining Armor and Banished Chrysalis from Canterlot.
Shortly after, Candance and Shining Armor were sent to the Crystal Kingdom after in the frozen north after a 1000 years of isolation from rest of Equestria. Up there, Princess Cadence became the official ruler of the crystal Kingdom along side with Shining Armor to protect the crystal ponies and keep equestria safe from darkness.
The idea for Cadence came right after I did the Chrysalis Caprese. I knew that someday I would have to do Princess Cadence, since Chrysalis was disguised as her. Plus, it was the right opportunity to try seasonal ingediants for my recipies. For this one in particular, I try to incorperate strawberries since they are in season from Mothers Day to Fathers Day. Not only did the fruit match the season, but the flavor of the strawberry matches the equal amount of sweetness in the character.
I also took suggestions from my twitter (@chefkyro #bronychefproject) and many of them responded that Cadence would be more of the steriotypical dessert of strawberry short cake. For me how ever, I wanted to create something somewhat simular but still different from who princess Candence is normally veiwed.
I decied to create a parfait. Somewhat of a dessert/breakfast health concious hybrid that is so beautiful and so easy to make, that anyone can look like a professtional dessert master.
Not only does it look and taste spectacular but its perfect if you want to start eating healthier for the summer. It has greek yogurt, that has more cultures to help digestion and you can add many different kinds of fruits to add many different nutriants. It also has no surgar but it still naturally sweet, so you can still have desserts without much guilt. Its almost too good to be true.
Ok, enough obsessing over princesses and healthy desserts. Here is the recipie for "Mi Armoire Candenza's Sugar-free Strawberry Shortcake Parfait".

Mi Armore Cadenza's Sugar-free Stawberry Shortcake Parfit

Serves 1 Big dessert or Dessert for two

Parfait

• 1 Strawberry, cut into 4 equal pieces
• 4 oz of Vanilla Greek Yogurt
• 1 surgar-free shortbread cookie (or more if you wish), cut in half
• 6 oz of Strawberry Greek yougurt

Topping

• 1/4 pint of heavy cream
• 1 mint leaf

1. Make the topping by putting the heavy cream in a chilled bowl and wisk until peaks start to form. (You can use a automatic hand mixer to get the job done faster.) Once the cream is whipped, place the cream inside of the fridge until plating.
2. Take a water glass or wine glass and place the strawberry slices evenly on the bottom of the glass.
3. Then add the vanilla yogurt to cover some of the stawberries.
4. Take the halfs of the cookie and slide them into the glass, flat on top of the yogurt.
5. Add the starwberry yogurt on top of the cookie.
6. Take the whipped topping out of the fridge and dollop on top until the glass is about full.
7. Add the mint leaf as garnish and serve.

Presentation Tips

If you want to add different kinds of presentation for this recipies, the best advice I could give you is to use clear glasses. Not only would it looks luxourious, but it can show case the other fruites and other ingredients you can put into it. You can also change the patern to add some creativity to your plating design or add other ingridents to create a colorful, heathy treat.

I would like to thank http://ric-m.deviantart.com/ for the amazing portrait of Candance. Take a look at her gallery for more artwark and lots of other cool stuff.

I hope you enjoy the greate warm weather and cool off with this awsome new dessert. Feel free to tweet me questions, suggestions, or show off your creations @chefkyro #bronychefproject. Thanks for reading and bon apitite.

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News from the Chef #1

I have some news for all my readers, old and new.

First off, the awesome team of Equestria Daily had featured my website on one of their evening round-ups. If your not familiar with Equestria Daily, they are one of the top "Brony Culture" websites in the world. I will provide a link if you wish to take a look. http://www.equestriadaily.com/2013/05/nightly-roundup-653.html

To all of the new readers who came from Equestria Daily, allow me to welcome you to the Brony Chef Project. If you wish to start at the beginning, feel free to go straight to the introduction to learn more. The link is in one of the tabs in the Archives. Feel free to comment about how to improve the site or the recipes in general. Again, I would like to welcome you to the site and enjoy reading the many recipes to try out.

If you were wondering about why Chrysalis is #13 instead of #12, that is because #12 is going to be the first ever "secret" character of the site. For secret characters, they are already completed but I wanted to reveal it a little later to fully come out in its shell. Besides, I would like to make this interesting by giving clues and hints to what might be the next unique recipe. I would drop hints on Twitter on the #bronychefproject and let you the readers guess which character it is.

In unrelated news, Im going to graduate from culinary school soon. I thought I might tell you that, I will be legit chef soon and I will have some more time to work on more recipes and writing. Maybe you might see me some day on Food Network cooking all sorts of culinary goodies. (A chef can dream.) I will post more about it on my other website, "Journey of a Chef" if you wish to follow my adventures through the culinary world. The link is on the tab above.

That is all the news I wish to share. I would like to thank Equestria Daily for advertising on their website and introducing the new readers to the project. Enjoy the beautiful may weather guys. I will see you next time.

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