-
What’s Cooking?
Recent Comments
-
Categories
- Advice (6)
- Books (2)
- Cuisine (46)
- Culinary School (16)
- Food Products (5)
- Fruit (5)
- Dates (1)
- Figs (1)
- Oranges (1)
- Pumpkin (1)
- Strawberries (1)
- Fun (1)
- Gigs (1)
- Healthy (32)
- Introduction (1)
- Meat (30)
- Misc. (14)
- Pillsbury Bake-off (1)
- Quick & Easy (11)
- Recipe (63)
- Restaurant (1)
- Starch (13)
- Tools & Equipment (1)
- Travels (9)
- Vegetables (23)
- Brussel Sprouts (1)
- Cabbage (5)
- Carrots (9)
- Cauliflower (2)
- Corn (2)
- Eggplant (1)
- Green Beans (2)
- Kale (2)
- Leeks (2)
- Lettuce (1)
- Peas (1)
- Peppers (3)
- Potatoes (3)
- Spinach (1)
- Squash (2)
- Sweet Potato (4)
- Turnips (1)
- Vegetarian (25)
Category Archives: Appetizer
Chim Chiminey Chimichurri
What can I say about chimichurri? It’s delicious. Versatile. Easy to make. Check. Check. Check.
Chimichurri is like pesto’s zestier, lighter, Latin cousin. It’s an Argentinian sauce that is traditionally served with grilled meat. I think you can use it on anything. Eggs. Pasta. Fish. Bruschetta topping. Use it as a salad dressing base. It would make a good dip mixed with some sour cream and mayonnaise — heck, skip the dairy and just scoop it up on its own with a chip.
It was even my secret weapon served as a condiment in this year’s chili contest — while I think my chili was great, I’m pretty sure the chimichurri sauce put a seal on my first-place finish.
While this is hardly *my* creation, I’ve never actually followed any sort of recipe while making it. This is how I throw it together.
Chimichurri
1 small bunch cilantro
1 small bunch flat leaf parsley
1/4 small red onion
2-3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp. white wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
optional, pinch red pepper flakes
Toss the cilantro, parsley, onion, garlic, and vinegar into a food processor. Pulse a few times to chop everything up. Add the olive oil and whiz until everything is finely chopped and it’s a relatively smooth sauce (it will look pesto-ish.) Season with salt and pepper until it tastes good to you. Add the red pepper flakes if you’re feeling spicy.
Chimichurri served over eggs and potato cakes.
Posted in Appetizer, Main Dish, Recipe, Side Dish, Vegetarian
Leave a comment
Crispy, Oven-fried Eggplant
Recently, I had an eggplant hanging around and I had some leftover spaghetti sauce, so it made sense to make eggplant parmesan. I didn’t really want to take the time to fry it — plus, I really hate the mess that frying makes. And, while I do LOVE fried foods, I’m also trying to be more conscious of what I’m shoving into my face.
So, I decided to oven-fry my eggplant — and it came out DELICIOUS! It made for fantastic eggplant parm. And tonight, I decided to oven-fry another eggplant and stuff it into pitas with hummus and call it dinner.
Ok, ok, I know you’re wondering, “What the hell is oven-frying!?!” Basically, by oven-frying, I’m referring to breading a product and then cooking it in the oven at a super high heat so that it gets a nice, crispy texture that’s somewhat close to the texture you’d get when frying. I do this a lot with poultry, fish, and veggies — this is the first time I’ve tried it with eggplant.
I think it might actually be the best version of oven-frying I’ve tried. It was super crispy on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside. Aside from eggplant parm, and pita stuffing, I this eggplant would also be great on homemade pizza or just munching on as a snack.
Crispy, Oven-fried Eggplant
1 eggplant, cut into 1/4” rounds
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup egg beaters (or a few eggs, beaten)
1/2 – 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Spread the eggplant out over a cookie sheet. Sprinkle liberally with salt and wait 15-20 minutes. The salt will draw out water from the eggplant and you will see water start pooling up on top of the eggplant. After 15-20 minutes, use a paper towel to dry off the water — this will also remove some of the excess salt.
Set up a breading station — flour, eggs, and bread crumbs. Dip the eggplant into the flour and shake off the excess. You only need a thin layer of flour. Then dip into the egg and then the bread crumbs. Evenly coat the eggplant with breadcrumbs.
Place the breaded eggplant slices on a cookie sheet that you thinly coated with oil (or sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes. Flip the eggplant and bake for another 10 minutes. Eggplant should be brown and crispy.
Posted in Appetizer, Eggplant, Healthy, Main Dish, Quick & Easy, Recipe, Side Dish, Vegetables, Vegetarian
12 Comments
Corn and Poblano Chowder
Poblano peppers are my favorite type of peppers. They add heat, but that heat doesn’t get into the way of their great slightly-smokey flavor. I thought that they would work well in a vegetarian corn chowder since I was losing the smokey flavor from bacon that I’d normally use. A touch of cumin also helps create a smoky flavor. The sweetness of the corn plays well with the heat from the poblano.
The secret, I found, is steeping the corn cobs in the milk. I was really amazed at the intense corn flavor the cobs brought to the chowder! I also didn’t use a ton of butter or cream in this chowder. The creaminess came from reducing the liquid by simmering the soup and by blending the peppers with some of the corn kernels to give the chowder a thick, creamy texture without cream or a roux.
It would be awesome with some chopped avocados for garnish — but I didn’t think of that until it was too late this time!
Corn and Poblano Chowder
Serves 4
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. butter
1 cup leeks, cleaned thoroughly and chopped
2 poblano peppers, sliced into ½ strips
4 ears of corn
1 quart whole milk
½ tsp. cumin
salt, to taste
Heat olive oil and butter in a large soup pot over medium high heat. Once the butter is melted, add the leeks, and poblano peppers. Cook over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes or until the leeks and peppers are soft.
Meanwhile, take the husk and silk off the corn cobs. Cut the corn kernels off the cobs and reserve. Cut the cobs each into three pieces. Add to pot once the leeks and peppers are soft.
Add milk. Bring to a simmer and cover. Simmer for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the corn cobs and discard. Add 3/4 of the corn kernels and simmer for about 10 minutes uncovered.
Then, use a stick blender to blend the corn, peppers, and leeks until smooth.
Add the remaining corn kernels, cumin, and salt. Simmer for another 10 minutes uncovered. Serve and garnish with chopped avocado.
Posted in Appetizer, Corn, Cuisine, Healthy, Leeks, Main Dish, Mexican, Peppers, Recipe, Soup, Vegetables, Vegetarian
2 Comments
Sundried Tomato and Olive Tappenade
My friend Christine makes this amazing tappenade that I always make her bring to parties. Unfortunately, I can’t have her make it for me every time I want it, so I came up with this proximity — though, I still think hers is better!
This is a simple recipe that you can easily whiz up in a food processor (or one of my favorite appliances, mini food processor
Sundried Tomato and Olive Tappenade
¾ pint mixed olives and roasted red peppers from olive bar*
3-4 sundried tomatoes packed in oil
½ tsp. dried thyme
¼ tsp. dried rosemary
¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
½ shallot
Toss all of the ingredients into a food processor or blender. Whiz until the ingredients make a smooth paste. Serve with pita bread, pita chips, or crostini.
* I used a combination of kalamata olives, green olives, and a whole roasted red pepper. No pits in the olives, of course!
Posted in Appetizer, Cuisine, French, Recipe, Vegetarian
3 Comments
Red Bean and Rice Cakes
It’s been awhile. I know. I get so behind with blog posts. There have been lots of dishes cooked and places visited since my last post. But for now, here’s a recipe that I created for a dinner that I cooked for our friends Josh and Melissa. They watched our dog when we went to New Orleans in March and asked us only to repay them in food. Great deal for us!
Since we were in the Big Easy, I was inspired to create these red bean and rice cakes. They combine everything good about red beans and rice in a compact little package. Because Melissa is vegetarian, I used a soy sausage, but meat eaters can certainly substitute a good andouille sausage.
Red Bean and Rice Cakes
Serves 4
3 tbsp. olive oil
½ large onion, chopped small
1 large green pepper, chopped small
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. tomato paste
2 tbsp. Cajun seasoning*
6 oz. soy smoked sausage (andouille preferable, but I could only find soy chorizo), crumbled
1 can, red beans, drained
2 cups cooked brown rice
1/4 cup bread crumbes
1 cup flour
2 eggs
1 cup bread crumbs
Vegetable oil, for frying
Heat the olive oil in a saute pan on medium heat. Add onion, green pepper, and garlic. Cook on medium to medium-low heat until soft, but don’t let the mixture get brown, about 10 minutes. Add tomato paste, Cajun seasoning, and sausage. Cook for 2-3 minutes longer. Add red beans to the pan and stir to combine.
Put half of this mixture into a food processor and process until it’s a smooth paste. Return to pan and stir to combine with the remained, unprocessed mixture.
Stir in brown rice and bread crumbs.
Let this mixture cool in the refrigerator for about an hour. Portion into 8 servings and create round cakes out of each portion
Set up a breading station with flour, eggs, and bread crumbs. Cover each cake in a thin layer of flour then egg then bread crumbs.
Add about 1/2 inch of vegetable oil to a deep sided pan. Heat to about 350 degrees. Shallow fry each cake by cooking to golden brown on each side. Drain on a rack with paper towels below. Serve with remoulade sauce.
* I like Joe’s Stuff cajun seasoning mix, but there are tons of different mixes out there. Just use your favorite. Joe’s Stuff has less salt than other cajun seasoning mixes, so if you have a salty one, use half of the seasoning listed in the recipe and add more to taste if needed.
Remoulade Sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. Cajun seasoning
1 tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar
1/8 cup flat leaf parsley
salt and pepper, to taste
Whiz all of this up in a food processor or whisk together in a bowl (make sure you chop the parsley fine if you use this method.)
Posted in Appetizer, Cajun, Comfort Food, Cuisine, Healthy, Main Dish, Recipe, Rice, Starch, Vegetarian
Leave a comment
Date and Manchego Wontons
Sean and I had the chance to join some friends for a Spanish Tapas dinner party a couple of months ago. I decided to reprise an old recipe I’d made a couple of times before. Originally, the recipe I put together had a combination of apricot jam and brie stuffed into a wonton and fried.
For this party, I wanted to make the recipe a little more appropriate to ingredients you’d find in Spain, hence the dates and manchego cheese. These were successful because they really combine the sweet and savory well — plus they’re fried and you could fry a old shoe and it would be tasty.
Next time I might try adding some toasted almonds to add some extra crunch.
Date and Manchego Wontons
Serves: a bunch
1 package dried dates, roughly chopped
1 cup water
zest of one lemon
Juice of one-half lemon
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 lb. Manchego cheese, medium dice
1 package wonton wrappers
Oil, for frying
Combine dates, water, lemon zest, lemon juice, and sugar in a small pot. Mix and bring to a simmer. Let the mixture simmer until it’s a thick, jam-like paste. Remove from heat and let cool.
To assemble, put a teaspoon of the fig jam and a couple of piece of Manchego cheese in the center of a wonton wrapper. Fold in any creative way you’d like. Seal the edges together by brushing a little bit of water on each edge with a pastry brush or your finger. You can assemble these a day before you want to cook these. Store in the refrigerator on a cookie sheet in a single layer.
Heat oil to frying temperature — 350 -375 degrees. Once ready, drop the wontons into the hot oil a few at a time. Use a spider strainer to flip over to fry on all sides. Once golden brown all over, remove from the oil and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt to taste. It’s best to wait a few minutes before eating even though it’s really hard to wait — they’re like molten lava right out of the oil.
Posted in Appetizer, Cuisine, Dates, Fancy Pants, Fruit, Recipe, Spanish, Vegetarian
Leave a comment
Meyer Lemon Salmon Tartar
Once in awhile I like to make really fancy stuff for my friends. I won’t lie — sometimes I just cook for the ooohs and aaahs. The shocker about this dish is that it’s incredibly easy. The hardest part is finding sushi grade salmon (and, well, paying for it!) I was able to get mine at Whole Foods, but any good fish monger should have it. One thing is for sure, now that I know how simple it is to make a tasty tartar, I won’t be ordering it in any restaurants!
Meyer Lemon Salmon Tartar
Serves 4
8 oz. sushi grade salmon
Juice of one Meyer lemon*
Zest of one Meyer lemon
1 tbsp. parsley, finely chopped
2 tbsp. shallot, finely chopped
1 tbsp. honey
1 tsp. Dijon Mustard
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Mixed greens, avocado, tomatoes for garnish
Dice the salmon into about 1/4 inch cubes.
To make the dressing, whisk together the lemon juice, lemon zest, parsley, shallot, honey, mustard, and olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Put the diced salmon in a bowl. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and mix together. Add about 3-4 tablespoons of the dressing and stir to combine. Let this mixture sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes (or up to 12 hours.)
To plate, use a round mold or cookie cutter (a tomato paste can would work well for this, too.) Put the mold on the plate you will serve on and fill the mold with 1/4 (about 2 oz.) of the tartar mixture. Pack in tightly and then lift the mold.
Garnish the plate with avocado, tomatoes, and mixed greens. Use the remaining dressing to spoon over the greens when serving.
* If you can’t find Meyer lemons, use a regular lemon but you might need to add more honey as Meyer lemons are more sweet (and less tart) than normal lemons. Just add extra honey until the dressing tastes balanced.
Posted in Appetizer, Cuisine, Fancy Pants, Fish, Healthy, Meat, Recipe
2 Comments
Asian-y Noodles with Grilled Chicken
I thought of this recipe on the way home today. Sean and I didn’t have very much in the fridge, but I knew we had some cabbage and some chicken that we needed to use up. I always have tons of flavorful pantry items (spices, vinegars, sauces, etc.) so it was easy to throw together. It turned out great. The noodles themselves were great served at room temperature — perfect for a warm evening like tonight.
You can serve this as a main dish with chicken (as written here) or shrimp; you might also serve as a delicious vegetarian dish by forgoing the meat all together.
Asian-y Noodles with Grilled Chicken
For Dressing:
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 tsp. toasted sesame oil
4 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
Juice of a lime
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. siracha sauce
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
For Salad:
1/2 lb. fettucini
1/2 small head green cabbage, thinly shredded
1/2 small head red cabbage, thinly shredded
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
2 green onions, sliced
2 tbsp. chives, chopped
1 medium carrot, julienned
1 large chicken breast
Toasted almonds
Put ingredients for the dressing into a small bowl; whisk to combine.
Boil the fettucini noodles for about 10 minutes until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water until the noodles are cool to the touch. Drain well. Toss together with the cabbage, onions, chives, and carrots until all ingredients are mixed together well. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.
Season the chicken breast with salt and pepper (or, you could also marinate in teriyaki, hoisin, or any other asian-type sauce.) Grill until temperature reaches 165 degrees and slice.
To serve, place some salad in a large bowl. Top with sliced grilled chicken. Garnish with sliced almonds and sesame seeds.
Posted in Appetizer, Asian, Cabbage, Carrots, Chicken, Comfort Food, Cuisine, Fish, Healthy, Main Dish, Meat, Recipe, Side Dish, Vegetables, Vegetarian
4 Comments