Hole Almond Lemon Tart & Portobello Mushroom Burgers

How could we have a grunge cooking/baking page without mentioning the illustrious HOLE? This installment is dedicated to my friend Jennie Stratton, who has provided me with the almond lemon tart recipe. She wanted Alice In Chains as her theme but it was already taken, so we agreed on a girly & fancy band-- Hole. You can't get any grungier OR girlier than baby doll dresses & smeared red lipstick

Where do I even begin with Hole? Fronted by the infamous Courtney Love, known for her antics and crackery, this band has its own niche within the grunge genre. It's also one of the only mainstream grunge bands with a female singer. Like most grunge bands, Hole is riddled with controversy-- the most publicized being Love's marriage to Nirvana's Kurt Cobain. He apparently hung out with the band alot, more than his own band, because he thought Nirvana sucked and Hole was really cool. There were rumors of him writing some of Hole's songs, which have been denied. Then there was the conspiracy theory about how Love actually murdered Cobain, instead of him taking his own life. Regardless, none of this matters when thinking about the music that Hole brought to us.

Keep in mind that Hole didn't really find their grunge sound until Live Through This. I found Celebrity Skin too poppy and Pretty On The Inside was a little too... punkish. We won't even get into Nobody's Daughter. Let's just say that having Kurt Cobain around was a great influence on Hole's sound as a grunge band.

Formed: 1989 in Los Angeles by Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson
Original Members: Courtney Love (vocals, songwriter, rhythm guitar), Eric Erlandson (songwriter, lead guitarist)
More Members:  Samantha Maloney (drums, percussion, 1998–2000), Melissa Auf der Maur (bass, backing vocals, 1994–1999), Patty Schemel (drums, percussion, 1993–1997), Kristen Pfaff  (bass, backing vocals, piano, 1993–1994), Leslie Hardy (bass, backing vocals, 1992), Jill Emery (bass, 1991–1992), Caroline Rue (drums, percussion, 1989–1992), Lisa Roberts (bass, 1989–1990), Errol Stewart (guitar, 1989 1990), Mike Geisbrecht (guitar, 1989)
Most noted sounds: Courtney Love's dirty wail, babydoll dresses, chainsmoking on stage and smeared red lipstick; noisy, punk-like sounds with abrasive lyrics.
Albums:
Studio Albums: Pretty On The Inside (1991), Live Through This (1994), Celebrity Skin (1998), Nobody's Daughter (2010)
EPs: Ask For It (1995), The First Session (1997), Awful: Australian Tour EP (1999)
Compilation Albums: My Body, The Hand Grenade (1997), Icon (2011)
Soundtrack Features: Tank Girl (Drown Soda), The Crow: City Of Angels (Gold Dust Woman-- Fleetwood Mac cover), Nowhere (Dicknail), Never Been Kissed (Heaven Tonight), Any Given Sunday (Be A Man), Crow: Salvation (It's All Over Now, Baby Blue), Jennifer's Body (Violet.... which I never undersood why they didn't use Jennifer's Body!!! weird.)

Probably the most popular/known Hole song...

Violet (Live Through This)

Almond Lemon Tart

Courtesy of Jennie Stratton :)



When making this tart, I used a glass tart thing. You can use a bottomless one or a pie tin or whatever really. Also, be sure to use fresh lemons! That lemon juice in a container does NOT taste the same. You will notice an amazingly tangy & fresh taste once you eat it-- that is totally because of the fresh lemons. This recipe has a wonderful contrast between the mellow, sweet but not too sweet almond crust and the tangy lemon. It's perfect for an after dinner dessert or a summer or spring treat!

Be very careful when placing the tart into the oven when you are going to bake the lemon mixture. If the mixture touches the almond crust, the crust will come out dark brown... hence why a couple places on my crust are brown, not beige.

If you are like me and hate squeezing lemons with your hands or with one of those little juicer things, get one of these badboys! Made my life so much easier and it is much quicker to get the juice out:

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes for the crust, 35 for the whole thing
Ready In: about an hour

Ingredients

For the Crust:

• 1/3 cup ground almonds
• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 6 tbsp warm butter 
• splash of almond extract 

For the Filling:

• 2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used about 2 and a half lemons to get enough juice)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3tbsp sour cream
• 4 large eggs

Directions

To make the crust:

1. Add ground almonds, flour, sugar and salt and blend, blend, blend until it's blended.
2. Add butter and almond extract and blend until the mix becomes a coarse meal.
3. Place dough into 9-inch tart pan. Press into bottom and fold the overhang in to form happy thick outside crust!
7. Pierce it all over the place-- or it'll bubble up in the oven.. it might decide to do that anyway.
8. Bake til golden at 375 degrees, approx 30 minutes.
9. Remove from oven, let cool for a bit.

Dough before being peirced

Baked crust with unbaked lemon mixture

To make filling:
1. Whisk juice and sugar in a medium sized bowl.
2. Whisk in the cream, and then whisk in eggs one at a time.
3. Pour into crust.
4. Bake for about 35 minutes at 375 degrees. Be careful when putting it in! Don't spill the lemon mixture on the crust!
5. Let it cool, and then refrigerate it for about two hours.

Jennie's advice was: "garnish with lemon slices!! Add berries on top for extra fanciness!!" And she was right. I added the garnish and blueberries and people thought it was way more work than it actually was. 

Here's another beaut to listen to while making this recipe:

Jennifer's Body (Live Through This)

Portobello Mushroom Burgers

Recipe taken from Melissa Newton & http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/portobello-mushroom-burgers/Detail.aspx

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Cook Time: 20 Minutes

Ready In: 35 Minutes

Ingredients

• 4 portobello mushroom caps
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 (1 ounce) slices provolone cheese

 Directions

1. Place the mushroom caps, smooth side up, in a shallow dish.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, oil, basil, oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper. Pour over the mushrooms. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes or so, turning twice.
3. Preheat grill for medium-high heat.
4. Brush grate with oil.
5. Place mushrooms on the grill, reserving marinade for basting. Grill for 5 to 8 minutes on each side, or until tender. Brush with marinade frequently.
6. Top with cheese during the last 2 minutes of grilling.

Top like a burger-- use an aoli, spinach, onions, red pepper, whatever! A perfect substitution for meat.

Credit In The Straight World, Live (Live Through This)

Celebrity Skin (Celebrity Skin)

Alice In Chains Blueberry Pie & Party Salsa

"Friends don't let friends get haircuts"-- Mike Starr

Alice In Chains is probably one of the most influential bands in the grunge scene! They were one of the biggest bands in the 90's, vieing against the likes of other grunge mainstays-- Soundgarden, Pearl Jam & Nirvana. Any grunge fan is fully aware of AIC's legacy and probably owns most of the albums in their discography, if not all of them.


AIC's legacy was also surrounded by tragedy-- the excessive drug use of members, most notably Staley, who succumbed to his drug use sometime around April 5, 2002. The date is unknown... he was found two weeks later surrounded by drug paraphernalia. Earlier this year, Mike Starr was also found dead due to drug use, even after his stint on Celebrity Rehab & Sober House. He had made a guest appearance on Sober House in 2010 to encourage the new rehabbers and had mentioned how hard Staley's death was on him. They were best friends and Starr felt that he should be partially to blame for Staley's demise because he didn't call 911 the day before he died, as he appeared to be very ill.


Formed: 1987 in Seattle, Washington by Layne Staley (original singer) & Jerry Cantrell
Original Members: Layne Staley (vocals), Jerry Cantrell (guitar), Mike Starr (drums-- later replaced by Mike Inez), Sean Kinney (bass).
Most noted sounds: Harmonized & eerily contrasted vocals of Staley & Cantrell; the snarl-to-scream style of Staley
Albums:
Studio Albums: Facelift (1990), Dirt (1992), Alice In Chains (1995), Black Gives Way To Blue (2009-- new vocalist)
EPs: We Die Young (1990), Sap (1992), Jar Of Flies (1994)
Live Albums: MTV Unplugged (1996), Live (2000)
Compilation Albums: Jar Of Flies/Sap (1994), Nothing Safe: Best of the Box (1999), Music Bank (1999), Greatest Hits (2001), The Essential Alice In Chains (2006)
Soundtrack Features: Not only did they make a physical appearance in the movie Singles (1992) but they also were featured on 5 other soundtracks: Last Action Hero, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, Clerks, Riding Giants, & Terminator Salvation.


RIP Layne & Mike-- your music will live on & hopefully now you can rest in peace. But for now... we celebrate your lives & your accomplishments by doing one of the funnest things humans do: COOK & EAT!


Here's my favorite AIC video, song and version to accompany our first recipe:

Alice In Chains- Rooster (MTV Unplugged, 1996)

Alice In Chains Blueberry Pie

It's pretty important that, if you're making both of these recipes at the same time, you make this one first. It will take the longest to bake, and you can prepare the salsa while it's in the oven. This pie is very easy to make and there are not a lot of ingredients. Make sure to use fresh blueberries, they taste the best! Also, sort through them to make sure they're all plump and firm-- you don't want something that is soggy, because once the pie bakes it will turn to mush... so when buying the berries, make sure they're nice and firm!!!

Buy yourself a box of 2 frozen pie crusts. It's so much easier to use them than make your own pastry and it also takes way less time. Keep the pie crusts out of the freezer while you're preparing. You don't want to put them in the oven frozen, but also not thawed because they will be too mushy.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Ready In: 1 hour, 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 cups fresh blueberries
• 2 pie crusts
• 1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. Mix sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl.  In a large bowl, throw that dry mixture into the blueberries.
3. Pull out your pie crust-- this will be the bottom. Pour berry mixture into the crust, and put little pieces of cut up butter all around the top.
4. Cut remaining pastry shell into 1/2 - 3/4 inch wide strips, and make lattice top-- that means weave it like a basket.
5. Dip your fingers into some warm water and put some of this water around the rim of the pie shell. Press down the sides so it forms a crust.
6. Take pieces of tin foil and wrap them only around the edges of the pie.
7. Bake pie on lower shelf of oven for about 50 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. After 30 minutes, take off tin foil from edges. When you place the pie in the oven, be sure to pull the rack out first, then place the pie on the rack. DO NOT TRY TO PLACE THE PIE IN WITHOUT PULLING OUT THE RACK. You will end up with a burn.

Let it cool for at least 30 minutes, serve warm with ice cream!

Here's another one of my faves for the next recipe:

Alice In Chains- Man In The Box (1991)

Tomato Black Bean Salsa

Taken from http://www.rd.com/food/tomato-black-bean-salsa-recipe-2
 

A healthy, zesty and fresh salsa that GUARANTEED your friends will LOVE! I have made this salsa for numerous parties and people literally congregate around the bowl until it's done. You WILL get compliments!!

Be sure to use FIRM MEDIUM SIZED TOMATOES!!! If they are too large they will be mushy. If making this during the winter you may not be able to find cilantro, so opt for a tube of cilantro paste if need be, it works the same!

Prep Time: About 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3/4 cup fresh or frozen corn
• 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
• 1/2 cup diced red pepper
• 1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro or parsley
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• Baked tortilla chips

Directions 

1. In a large bowl, combine the first 13 ingredients.
2. Cover and refrigerate for at least2 hours before serving.
3. Serve with tortilla chips.


That concludes the first installment of Cooking With Grunge... be sure to check out the film Singles-- AIC makes an appearance!!

WELCOME!

Welcome to my blog, COOKING WITH GRUNGE! I will make some recipes while listening to different bands and have different themes each episode. I will also give you tips so you don't mess everything up. I know, that can be really hard sometimes... just try not to burn yourself, ok?
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No, I'm not in that pic. It was just the best representation of the clothing of that era I could find :)