Friday Night Challenge: D-E-L-M-S-T=Dilled Edamame/Lentil/Tomato Dish with Sauteed Shallots and Mushrooms

The Letters for tonight's Friday Night Challenge--

D-E-L-M-S-T

resulted in a side dish that is pretty tasty. To prepare:
Cook 1/2 cup brown lentils in 1 cup lightly salted water. While the lentils are cooking, prepare the edamame in the microwave as written on the package. Once the other items are started, then, using 1T. olive oil seasoned with dill weed, saute sliced shallot and chopped mushrooms. Slice a tomato. 
Drain the lentils, combine in a bowl with the warmed edamame; add the sauteed vegetables to the lentil/edamame mix. Place the sliced tomato on top. Enjoy!

Friday Night Challenge: (a-d-p-s-y) Arugula Salad with Roasted Sesame Yams

This is a very quick fix and pretty tasty:  Preheat the oven at 425 degrees. Peel and cube a yam (or sweet potato). Sprinkle some sesame seed oil on the yam and roast in the oven for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned on the outside and tender on the inside. Remove and cool. Pull the leaves from the stems of arugula and arrange on a plate. Make a dressing of dill, dill pickle juice, smoked paprika, and sesame oil. I know it sounds odd, but the flavors work well together!

Friday Night Challenge: Savory Quinoa Pudding

The alphabet game for the Friday Night Challenge: Letters given were E-L-N-P-Q. The result?
A savory quinoa pudding. This would accompany a good roast chicken or roast beef.


To make: Cook the Quinoa (around 1/8 c. per person) by cooking at a low heat--instead of cooking in water, use a bit of Evaporated milk (1/4 c. per 1 c. quinoa--perhaps less, based on consistency. You don't want the quinoa to be watery, but it shouldn't be dry, either). Once cooked to a completely softened stage, put the quinoa into a blender along with enough nutmeg, paprika, and lemon juice to taste, based on the amount of servings desired. The average amount to use say, for 1 c. quinoa would be 1/4 t. nutmeg, 1/4 t. paprika, 1/2 t. lemon juice. If you taste it and decide you want more heat, add paprika; more intensity, add nutmeg; more zest, add lemon juice. You can serve this along side your main course much like a Yorkshire pudding, but it will be a much healthier substitution. 
Enjoy!

Friday Night Challenge: Nutty Arugula Salad

First of all, a series of mea culpas for 2 gaps in this week's Friday Night Challenge--namely asparagus and seitan...unfortunately, fresh out of both. I figured I could go out scouting for asparagus, but I'm sort of like it as I am with morels--I enjoy them immensely when in season and when we freeze what comes from our yard and woods. Once they're gone, the patience kicks in and we wait until next spring with great anticipation. I checked the freezer and yep, the last of the asparagus was gone. However...I took liberties and replaced it with another vegetable that I picked from the garden fresh and it does begin with an "a". I used arugula or rocket, as some know it. I love this stuff...a green that tastes just like fresh pepper...fantastic! As I said in the beginning of the blog, no seitan to be found for many a mile; however, I am intrigued with it after figuring out its qualities. Next trip to Btown will probably yield some.
So, whatever was left of the ragged Challenge? Plenty! I had quinoa, lentils, and nuts. So, first things first--prepare the quinoa and lentils. Easy-breezy...pretty much a 2 to 1 ratio of water to grain/legume--a touch of salt in the water. Bring to a boil and then once the grain or legume is added, scale back to a simmer. Time is the big difference here. Quinoa needs about 20 minutes; lentils about 10...much longer and you'll have mush. So, cook both the items. In the meantime, take 3 or four small leaves of arugula and dice into ribbons. Next, take the walnuts (around 2 T.), place in a baggie and pound with a rolling pin. Keep one in tact for the finished product. Spoon the quinoa on a plate, add some lentils on top of the quinoa, scatter the arugula ribbons around, and then sprinkle on the walnuts. Add 1/2 walnut to the stack. That's it. Incredibly easy and tasty. No dressings, oils, or anything else needed. The combination of nutty/pepper tastes are great.

Enjoy!

Friday Night Challenge: Raspberry Thai Shrimp Pasta

Tonight's challenge just seemed to frame itself as the items appeared in the comments section:

fish (cook's choice)=shrimp    pasta     fruit (cook's choice)=red raspberries   peas    Greek yogurt

The fish, fruit, and other ingredients, just seemed to point to a Thai dish. Quite easy to do as follows:

Thaw shrimp (if needed)--be sure to use raw. Heat just a bit of vegetable oil in a skillet. Add the shrimp and cook. Add a bit of Thai chili sauce and cook for a bit.

While the shrimp is cooking, prepare some miniature pasta in boiling salted water. For the peas, I microwaved a bag of sugar snap pea pods and had them at the ready. Finally, I crushed some red raspberries into some Greek yogurt and cooked over low heat. I added a bit more Thai chili sauce to the yogurt  and let it warm.

Then, to assemble, pour off the oil and liquid from the shrimp, pour the water off the pasta--mix the two together. Add the raspberry -yogurt sauce and then the pea pods.

Enjoy!

Friday Night Challenge: Fava Beans and Pork

Beans. Versatile, sustaining, filling, economical...and the centerpiece of this Friday Night Challenge. Here are the ingredients:

beans (my choice)     cilantro    sour cream   bacon   goat cheese

All the makings for a good, solid meal.

Fava beans were the choice. These dandies are some of the oldest beans in civilization...and also technically not beans. They're really peas, but they definitely qualify as beans, so we're going to run with that.... Fava beans have a nice, creamy texture and a bit of a nutty flavor. I used a canned version of them I found at an international market in Bloomington. (They may not be easily found in many more rural areas, so be on the lookout when you're out and about. They also grow well in the garden, so fresh would be even better!) I rinsed the beans, added a bit of water, and then put them on low heat. I added a bit of bacon grease to the beans. (The original plan was bacon, but when I priced it earlier in the week, it was $5 a pound; I bought a great pork roast for $2.19 lb...it won out.)

You can put the pork roast in the crock pot earlier in the day; it will cook into sublime tenderness with great flavor. It needs little else.

Back to the fava beans. Once they are warmed, add a mixture of finely diced cilantro to sour cream and fold that into the beans. As a final touch, add a couple of tablespoons of goat cheese crumbled to the mix and let it all get nicely and creamy.

A simple meal, and a sustaining one...and tasty!

Enjoy!

Friday Night Challenge: Shrimp Bisque with Capers

We're soup lovers here; anytime, any season. So when I saw the list of ingredients for the Friday Night Challenge
shrimp     onions      capers      squash     carrots
I started thinking a good shrimp bisque might be in order.


First get the squash started cooking. I used a butternut squash and cut it lengthwise. In a 425 degree oven, place the 2 pieces of the squash cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes until tender when pricked with a fork. Let cool until manageable and then peel the pulp away from the skins. Set aside.


When making the bisque, be sure to use raw shrimp. If you use the pre-cooked, the shrimp will get very tough very quickly. Raw shrimp is not always the easiest to find in this area, but you can usually find it frozen, which is perfectly fine. Run the package of frozen shrimp under lukewarm water until they start thawing; you can then remove the shell, tail, and mud vein (that little thread-like dark streak). 


While the shrimp is thawing, peel and dice 3 or 4 carrots and one medium onion and put into a pan  to cook with just a bit of butter and olive oil. Once it starts sweating, turn the heat down and cook until soft. Add the diced shrimp, the squash pulp, and 2 cups of chicken broth along with 1/2 t. ginger.Salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer until the shrimp is pink. Once it is cooled down a bit, add it in portions to a blender and puree. Place back in a pan. Once all is done, then put into soup bowls and add 1 t. capers to the center of each bowl. This is a good second-day soup; the shrimp flavor is enriched after it chills in the refrigerator overnight. Warm it back up, and you have a meal.


Enjoy!

Friday Night Challenge: Pizza Rolls for Grown-Ups

I like most things; however, some freezer items in grocery stores taste to me like so much cardboard and bad seasonings.
Take a pizza roll, for instance. I know there are probably legions of fans out there, but really? Dough with no body, seasonings that taste either over-processed or overly-garlicky. Ick.
When given the Friday Night Challenge of:
pizza crust    red peppers     basil    a choice of meat     fresh tomatoes
pizza rolls for grown-ups seemed a good choice.
I consulted the best for the crust: Dorie Greenspan's Baking with Julia book. In it is a great recipe for pizza dough--complete with sponge. I had never taken the time to make pizza dough from a sponge, but I certainly will from now on. The sponge acts as an intensifier. It allows the yeast to mix with just enough flour to really  get going. Later, you add the remainder of the flour. As a result, the dough does taste better. 
The recipe for the sponge and the dough is quite easy and follows:
Take 1 1/2 t. active yeast and add to 1 1/2 c.of tepid water. Stir lightly and let is set for around 5 minutes. Then add 2T. olive oil and stir in 2 1/4 c. flour a bit at a time until all is incorporated. Let rest for around 1 1/2 hours.Stir in 2 more cups of all-purpose flour along with 2 t. salt. Knead for around 6 minutes. Put into an oiled bowl and let rise again for around 1 1/2 hours. 
For the filling, crumble up some ham sausage (seems to cost less and tastes really good). Separately, chop up a green bell pepper (the plan was to buy a red bell pepper, but when I checked they were up to $1.75 a pepper! Green bells are plentiful in the garden, so they won out. I decided to not cook the tomatoes ahead of time, so I used LaRoma (what a great meaty tomato). For the basil, I took a little liberty and used pesto to get a little more intensity of taste.
So, once the dough was ready, I rolled it out, cut it with a pastry round into circles, slathered each piece with pesto, added the pepper and sausage, and then a raw tomato slice. Take two of the rounds and seal them together.  Bake them on a stone in a 450 degree oven for around 15 minutes.
Pizza rolls for grown ups. Enjoy!

      

Soup's On! Zucchini Chicken with Blue Cheese

It is the season of zucchini...tons of it. Lucky us! What more versatile vegetable? Good in cake, good in bread, good in soup. Here's a recipe that we sampled tonight...good and filling. 


Take 1 medium onion and chop into rough dice. Melt 2T butter in a pan and add the onion with 1t. olive oil. Cook until soft. Cut one large zucchini lengthwise, remove seeds, and roughly dice. Add 2t. of dried oregano and the zucchini to the onion and cook. After about 2 minutes, add 6 c. chicken broth. Let simmer until the zucchini is very soft. Add salt and pepper to taste. 


Carefully put the soup, a bit at a time, into a blender to make it smooth. Put the soup back into a pan and add 3 chicken breasts (already cooked) roughly diced, to the soup. Heat the soup to the desired temperature for serving.


After putting into a soup bowl, add a couple of teaspoons of blue cheese crumbles. The cheese will melt into the hot soup and make the flavor even richer.


Enjoy!

Buttered Bluegill in Parchment with Summer Squash

What a fantastic time of year--fresh vegetables arriving in the kitchen daily, fresh fish being caught. The Friday Night Challenge ingredients:

fish--bacon--asparagus--butter--lemon--summer squash

started me thinking about a process I recently saw in a Julia Child cookbook that uses parchment paper and high heat to assure that the fish cooks through without drying--a major downfall of fish, especially more delicate whitefish-types.

What follows is a relatively simple process for the meal:

Cook about 3 ounces of bacon cut into small pieces. Once it is about half finished, add fresh asparagus and a pat of butter. Add some small diced pieces of summer squash and let everything cook slowly. Add just a bit of lemon juice (about 1/4 t.).

Set the oven to 425 degrees. Prepare a piece of parchment paper with butter and lay the fish on  it along with some of the summer squash that is peeled with a vegetable peeler. Give it a pinch of salt and a squirt of lemon juice. Wrap tightly in the parchment and put on a shallow baking pan. Cook for around 15 minutes and check. The squash won't be overly tender; it will have texture.

While everything else is cooking and baking, peel and cut a cucumber into small bite-sized pieces. Give it a bit of salt and about 1/4t. dried dill. Let it set for a bit. Once the asparagus has cooked to doneness, remove it and the squash as well as about 1/2 of the bacon. Put the remainder of the bacon with the cucumber. Take the remaining bacon fat, add a touch of olive oil, a shake of salt, and a squirt of lemon juice and heat through. Pour over the cucumbers and coat.

Enjoy!

Olive-Egg Wraps Mediterranean Style

On one of my sojourns to my beloved gourmet Amish grocery in the area, I happened upon some Mediterranean grilling oil. Its combination of garlic, paprika, rosemary, lemon oil, and capsicun makes it a light oil with full-bodied flavors. So, as I was looking at the ingredients for the Friday Night Challenge

fried eggs---spinach---sun-dried tomatoes---olives---bacon

the salt aspect struck me as something that would work very well with the oil. And it did.

Cut the bacon slices into quarters so it can be crumbled it into big crumbles. Once it is fried crisp, put it in a strainer to dry it out. Pour off most of the bacon fat, give it a good blend of the Mediterranean grilling oil, and then add 6 lightly beaten eggs. Before the eggs set, add thinly sliced stuffed olives and let the egg set up to a texture that it can be used it as a wrap. Once finished, cut it in half and remove each half to a separate plate, having flipped it olive-side down. Add a bit of the bacon fat/grill oil back to the pan and saute 1/2 bag of baby spinach, allowing it to wilt to a rich green color.

While all this is going on, "sun dry" paper-thin slices of fresh tomatoes under a high-heat broiler with a touch of the grilling oil and a very generous amount of pepper. 

Once everything is finished, put a layer of bacon crumbled, a layer of spinach, and a layer of sun-dried tomatoes in each wrap and then turn it seam side under. Add the remaining sun-dried tomatoes to the top with the remaining bacon crumbles.

This will work for any meal, be it brunch, lunch, or supper. It has a great combination of flavors.

Enjoy!

Oriental Grilled Chicken Pasta with Fresh Vegetables

Two elements played strong roles in this Friday Night's Challenge: hot weather and fresh vegetables. Both tended to serve the Challenge well. 


The hot weather sent me out the kitchen and onto the deck to the grill. This meant some pre-seasoning of the good things for tonight's menu. I decided to go oriental since a sesame taste was beckoning me.


I mixed up a marinade of canola oil, chili sesame oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, and a generous portion of ginger sesame spice.


Using some heavy-duty foil, I made a pocket and coated it with canola oil. Then I added in a layer of the first ingredient, chicken, that was coarsely chopped. I poured a bit of the marinade over this. For the next layer, I broke into 3 inch pieces whole wheat pasta, and poured a bit more of the marinade. I then added coarsely chopped zucchini, red bell pepper, tomatoes, and off the cob corn. 


Everything was put together on the grill. I wasn't too sure about grilling pasta, but with the natural juices from the veggies and the moisture of the chicken, it did just fine. It also nicely soaked up the mild sesame flavor.


Easy to do; easy to fix. Gotta love this time of year with all the freshness of our food...be sure to enjoy!

Friday Night Challenge: Tuscan Style Tuna on a Hot, Hot Day

When the heat index is in the 100s, all thoughts of heavy-laden foods go out the window. So with the ingredients offered in the Friday Night Challenge:

tuna, asparagus, sauerkraut, cheese, and tomatoes

I decided to steer clear of the Reuben-style solution in favor of a lighter, Tuscan-style meal that allows all the freshest flavors of the season do their thing.

The meal is very easy to make and, happily, very inexpensive. And--it's pretty!

I drained two cans of tuna until all traces of water were completely gone. Set aside. Roughly dice two Roma tomatoes and set them aside. I used frozen asparagus from this spring's garden that I brought to a boil for around 5 minutes and then rinsed in cold water in a colander until cool. Open a can of sauerkraut, drain, and then, in a colander, run cold water over and continuously wring out until much of the "bite" is gone. Mix together olive oil, a generous amount of dried basil (or if you have fresh chopped-great!), and some garlic powder. Pour this first over the kraut and let it sit for awhile while you're working with the other ingredients. 

Assemble the salad with the base of the kraut, then layer on the tuna and tomatoes. Next comes the asparagus. Finish with some freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Pour a bit more of the olive oil/basil/garlic mix over the combination. That's it!

Hot and humid days shouldn't keep us from enjoying great food; neither should a questionable economy.

Enjoy!

Tuscan tuna and a limmoncello martini--refreshing!

Spam Time! for the Friday Night Challenge

It seems the lines are clearly drawn when it comes to Spam--people either really like it or detest it. There's just not much area in between. I happened to be married to a nice guy that really likes Spam. Plain Spam, Spicy Spam, you name it--it's all good. So when it was time for a Friday Night Challenge, he asked if he could play along and name Spam for one of the ingredients. Well, of course! And so he did. The other four ingredients were:

Velveeta cheese, pineapple, water chestnuts, and avocado

It was way too hot to heat much up in the kitchen and what's nicer to have than a grill in the summer? So, with little hesitation, I coarsely chopped the avocado, the water chestnuts, and the Spam into bite-sized pieces. I kept the pineapple in slices--pineapple and a grill just really get along well, so why mess with what works? Once the avocado was tender and the rest of everything else warmed through and a bit caramelized, it was time to remove it from the grill and add some thin slices of pepper jack Velveeta and let it do some serious melting. 

My Spam man agreed it was pretty darned good!

The Friday Night Challenge--Welcome Summer!

Tonight's challenge put me in a tropical/summertime frame of mind with a super-easy main dish. Here are the ingredients:

salmon---cucumber---mango--broccoli--kiwi

On my way to the grocery, it occurred to me that I had some left-over Major Grey's Chutney in the fridge. That was the link that would bring everything together.

Here's the recipe:  Take the salmon and divide into serving sizes (I used frozen and it worked great). I sprayed a heavy piece of aluminum foil with olive oil cooking spray and let the salmon cook on this on the grill for around 10 minutes or just light pink. Don't cook too long or it will dry out quickly...ick.

While the salmon was cooking, I diced up a cucumber (be sure to remove the seeds); cut a mango into tiny slices (yep, used canned and it worked fine--be sure to save the juice from the can); cut the fresh broccoli into tiny bite-sized pieces (this will need to be fresh to hold its texture), and peeled and cut the kiwi into a rough dice.

I took a bit of the Major Grey's chutney and mixed it with the mango syrup (find mangoes in light syrup--it works better) to make a dressing for the dish.

Take the salmon from the grill, assemble all the ingredients on a plate, put some chutney directly on the salmon and let it glaze, and then pour the dressing lightly over everything. 

I added a glass of sav blanc and it was fantastic.

Happy summer with a very light, pretty, and enjoyable Friday Night Challenge.

Enjoy!

Friday Night Challenge: Smoky Hunan Chicken

I finally got the chance to go to the store and pick up the needed supplies for last week's Challenge. As a review, the ingredients were:
chicken---pecans---water chestnuts---sweet potatoes---bourbon

I decided to give the ingredients a spicy Hunan taste since we like that flavor (and I had a jar of smoky hunan sauce I was interested in trying). To make the dish (easy to do!):
--cut up two sweet potatoes into very small cubes
--cook on fairly high heat in some canola oil until they start to get soft and carmelize
Turn down the heat and add the following:
--hunan sauce (I used Hunan Smokehut Spicy Grill Sauce)
--can of sliced water chestnuts
--2 oz. pecan pieces
--chicken pieces (can use a couple of chicken breasts if you'd like--I had left-over fried chicken that I pulled apart and used)

Let these ingredients cook on low heat until everything is heated through; then after turning off the heat, pour in 2T. of American Honey bourbon. Stir for even coverage.

This is incredibly easy, quick, and is quite economical. It makes a pretty dish and tastes great!

Friday Night Challenge: Balsamic-Seared Tuna Steaks

After a cool-down period of over a week, I was ready to get the Friday Night Challenge up and running once again. It is summertime, after all and that means grill weather! (The calendar doesn't show it yet, but the temperatures in the 90's do!) 
Here are the ingredients that came my way for this week:
tuna, artichoke, lettuce, strawberries, feta cheese, mushrooms


Here is the finished product:

And here's the recipe:


Take one jar of artichoke hearts, one jar of shiitake mushrooms, 1/2 dozen sliced button mushrooms. Toss all these together and place in a foil packet with some salt, a sprinkle of olive oil, and a dash of balsamic vinegar. Place on the grill on low heat and let cook for around 15 minutes.


Take tuna steaks and slice to about 1/2-3/4" thickness. Add a bit of salt, a sprinkle of olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Drop on the grill--that's it. Watch them until they just start to lose their pinkness. Don't cook any longer or they'll dry out.


For the salad (another very easy to fix item): take lettuce (any kind you prefer). Slice some strawberries thinly.   (Earlier I fixed some strawberries the regular way, i.e. sliced and sugared a bit--needed the syrup for the dressing, and besides--dessert, anyone?) Pull the lettuce into bite-sized pieces, place the strawberry slices on the lettuce bed, sprinkle some crumbled Feta cheese over the salad, and then add the simple dressing of the strawberry syrup, a bit of balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. Yep, that's it!


If you need something quick yet substantial for a meal, this is an easy fix and it tastes great with the addition of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a bit of salt. 


Enjoy!

Summer Squash-Stuffed Chipolte Turkey Cutlets

I had a three-week hiatus from the All About the Food blog; our recent trip to New Orleans and other side trips kept me from the kitchen for any length of time. So, it's time to get things started again; I threw out the challenge and boy did I not get let down challenge-wise. Here are the ingredients I received:
turkey--summer squash--beets--garbanzo beans--pickles 
Okay...
After some thought and imaginary tasting, I came up with the following:
Marinade turkey cutlets or chops (or a chicken breast if you prefer) in a chipolte-based sauce. You can find these most anywhere. Let this marinade in the fridge overnight. 
Take a summer squash, cut and clean out the seeds, slice into about 1" slices and place on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Bake these slices at about 375 degrees for around 35 minutes. Turn them once and pierce the fleshy part with a fork to test for tenderness. Once they are very tender, remove from the oven and turn it down to325 degrees.
Put the turkey cutlet on a baking sheet. Bake for around 20 minutes and check for doneness. If the chop or cutlet is thin, make sure it doesn't dry out. An internal temperature of 170 degrees is suitable.
While the cutlet/breast is baking, cut all the fleshy parts of the squash from the peel. Mash the squash; season as desired, but remember that you have some strong flavors with the other items. 

For the garbanzo bean side dish, simply heat a can of the garbanzos, and then drench with cold water to cool down. To these add some finely chopped kosher dill pickle and sweet dill pickle. Mince up a couple of beet slices and add just before serving since the beet will stain everything it touches.
This has probably been on of the most "interesting" Friday Night Challenges, ingredient-wise, but that's what makes it fun. And, I was quite amazed that the flavors ended up complimenting each other. If I did something like this again, I believe I would use a smoked turkey breast instead of regular chops to get even more lasting flavor.

Friday Night Challenge 9: Savory Basil Calzone

With mushroom and asparagus season underway, this was a great challenge. Joining those ingredients were a strong cast of feta cheese, diced tomatoes (I used Red Gold with basil/oregano), thin crust pizza crust, and artichoke hearts. I decided on a simple calzone.


I split the asparagus lengthwise and sauted them in olive oil along with the tomatoes, mushrooms, and artichoke hearts. Once these were slightly tender, I simply put them with a layer of feta cheese into the crust, folded and pleated it closed and baked in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes.


The savory taste combined with the subtle sweetness of the crust and the tanginess of the feta cheese made for a nice all-around flavor. Good job challengers!

Friday Night Challenge 9: Dessert Night

Last Friday night I was given a challenge that turned from the initial idea of a dessert of simplicity to one of decadence. Without further ado, here's a quick yet elegant dessert for you to try sometime.


Ingredients: an angel food cake, strawberries, whipped cream, dark chocolate chips, and light rum.


Split the angel food cake horizontally and allow it to soak in light rum for a number of hours. Melt the chocolate chips in order to drizzle over the dessert. Slice a strawberry into thin pieces.


Assembly: one layer of angel food cake, a bit of whipped cream, a layer of strawberries, the top layer of of angel food cake, more whipped cream, a drizzle of chocolate and a strawberry on top. Drizzle a bit more chocolate on the plate and around the piece of cake. Drop a few chocolate chips around with a couple more slices of strawberry. Extremely easy and quick.

Friday Night Challenge 7: Asian Goodness

When the ingredients came rolling in this weekend, I could see a pattern emerging with some great Asian features. Shrimp, coconut, green pepper, ginger...yep, Asian. And then the curve came--potatoes. Let the thinking begin. 


After a bit of pondering, I came up with Asian gingered shrimp with green pepper with a side dish of shredded ginger-coconut potato patties.


Chop one large green bell pepper into bite-sized pieces and stir-fry in a bit of vegetable oil. Add 2t. Chinese ginger. While the pepper is cooking, shell and remove the mud vein from raw shrimp. Once the pepper starts to soften, add the shrimp, another teaspoon of ginger, and 1t. salt. Let this simmer for around 10 minutes.


For the side dish: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Peel and finely shred potatoes; cook until soft, add a pinch of salt. Drain and add in 2t. of ground ginger and 1/2 c. shredded coconut. Combine the ingredients. Spray a baking sheet with Pam and add 1T. of the mixture in flattened dollops to the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes until the coconut just starts to lightly brown.


This is a fairly economical dish, not difficult to make, and has a nice, light flavor. Give it a try.

Friday Night Challenge 8: Brunch Time!

Decided to change some things up for the Friday Night Challenge and asked for ingredients for a brunch. Here's the list:

• sausage
• prosciutto
• eggs
• asparagus
• mushrooms
• mimosa (to drink along with the brunch)

Since brunch is such a great "anything goes" meal, I decided to make it a combination. First I made a creamy asparagus/porcini mushroom soup with shredded crisped prosciutto. Reconstitute 1 ounce of dried mushrooms--this takes about 30 minutes. Then take 2 cans of asparagus (NOW you know what to use the slimy stuff for!) and 2 cans of chicken broth. Bring these to a boil--turn down to a simmer. Once the mushrooms are reconstituted, pour them and the broth into the asparagus/broth mix. While the soup is simmering, shred up a couple of slices of prosciutto and fry carefully until crisp.

The other part of the brunch--a sausage frittata. This is just a basic recipe. I fried 1/2 lb. of loose sausage. I then added 5 beaten eggs and let them do their magic. I finished it in the broiler. Quick and easy.

A Salute to Pi Day (3/14)

Happy Pi Day! 2/14 may have it's special place on the calendar, but 3/14 is pretty much more fun. We have a valid excuse to make pie! For this special day I chose a variety of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. I named it a "googleberry" pie in honor of my daily use and enjoyment of Chrome, Picasa, and numerous other programs created and offered by Google.


The "construction" of the pie was simple. I tossed some frozen blueberries, frozen raspberries, and frozen blackberries into a saucepan and set them to cook a bit. I added 1/2 cup sugar and let them cook around 20 minutes (don't let them become mushy). I removed the pan from the heat and added about 1 T. corn starch for thickening. While the berries were cooling, I used a roll-out pie crust and put into the pie pan. I cut a Pi sign on the spare piece of crust and added it as a finishing touch. Bake the pie around 55 minutes at 325 degrees.


Enjoy and Happy Pi Day!

Friday Night Challenge 7: Sausage Rolls with Pecan Leek Fritters

The interesting combination of sausage, leeks, cabbage, pecans, and vinegar allowed me to start off in a different direction. As a result, the Friday Night Challenge yielded Sausage rolls with Pecan Leek Fritters.
To make: Pull full-sized cabbage leaves and drop into boiling water until tender. Remove and drain. Fry the sausage (I used ground turkey sausage). 
Dice the leeks finely and put in a small amount of water; boil for several minutes until they are very soft. Drain.
Chop the pecan halves (around 1/4 c.) to a fine consistency. Form the leeks into small fritters and coat with the pecan crumbs. Fry in the turkey grease until just warmed and lightly browned. 
Put 1/2 c. balsamic vinegar in a sauce pan and reduce to a syrup state. Pour on the finished fritters and across the sausage rolls.
Enjoy!

Friday Night Challenge 6: Minted Madeira Pork Chops

This week's challenge gave me pause: mint. Yes, that ubiquitous little herb brought my thought processes to a temporary halt. Frankly, I just don't care for mint flavors in food. So, I knew my own tastes were going to have to take a back seat on this challenge. 
The ingredients for this week's list were: pork, rice, wine, apples, and--mint. Yikes.
I started thinking about mulling and thought this might be a way to work mint into the recipe. I went looking for some fresh leaves outside, but, after coming to my senses and realizing it was still February--albeit the last day of February--all my perky mint plants were browned and wilted still in hibernation. So back to the herb drawer I went. I did find that I had mint flakes. Apparently at one time I had decided that I would try to get over the mint-meh hump.
I put a cup of Madeira wine into a small sauce pan and mixed with it a teaspoon of mint flakes and a tablespoon of rosemary. I let this combination simmer while I sliced two apples and cored them, leaving the peel to hold their shape. I dropped 1/2 of one of the apples into the simmering mix. Let this simmer for 20 minutes. Put 3 or 4 pork chops and the remainder of the apple slices into a small roaster and pour the mixture over it. Cover and bake in a 325 degree oven for 40 minutes (don't let the pork chops dry out). While the pork chops are baking, prepare some rice (your choice of type). When the rice was just about done, I added it to the roaster and let everything finish together. The blend of the flavors made for a nice well-rounded taste. 
I don't have the same distaste of mint I did before the experiment; the beauty of cooking is just that---constant delightful discovery.

Friday Night Challenge 5: Cowboy Pork Chops and Stuffed Red Potatoes

When I received tonight's list, the word "cowboy" popped into my head. Pork chops, tomato sauce, red potatoes, broccoli, and mozzarella cheese were the five ingredients given me. Here's the result:


Keeping with the "cowboy" idea in mind, I created a dry rub of garlic powder, salt, pepper, cumin, chili pepper, and paprika and put it on the chops. I then put them in a slow broiling oven and let them cook.


I cooked the frozen broccoli, and put the red potatoes in the microwave. Once the broccoli was cooked and the potatoes done, I whipped the broccoli, the insides of the potatoes, and the mozzarella cheese and put these into the shells of the red potatoes. I garnished with thin slices of the mozzarella.


Yee-haw! Cowboy pork chops and potatoes!

Friday Night Challenge 4: Bourbon-Infused Walnut Chocolate w/ Whipped Cream

Tonight in honor of the upcoming Valentine's Day, I decided we needed a good dessert challenge. So...out went the call. The ingredients suggested were:
                   chocolate, cool whip, pecans, bourbon, and brown sugar.
I had to make two substitutions: no cool whip, so I used whipped cream; no pecans, so I used walnuts.


I warmed the walnuts tossed in with brown sugar in a 375 oven. While these were heating, I shaved a piece of 70% dark chocolate into crumbs and set aside. I then melted some white chocolate and additional dark chocolate in the oven that was now cooling from the walnuts' previous visit there.


Once everything was melted, I did the following:
--mix the walnuts with the melted white chocolate; infuse with some good bourbon (I used Evan Williams). Put this into the freezer just long enough to set up
--pull from the freezer, form the whipped cream into a heart shape on top of the walnut/chocolate/bourbon layer
--sprinkle the chocolate crumbs to accentuate the heart shape
--take a fork and "sling" some of the melted chocolate around the walnut mixture


                                        Happy Valentine's Day dessert!

Friday Night Challenge 3: Savory Napoleon with Creme Fraiche

Tonight's challenge was just that...a challenge. The ingredients were interesting and, at first thought, daunting. However, as I started pulling items out of the fridge, the idea of a savory Napoleon came to mind. And creme? Creme fraiche, of course! Great ingredient suggestion!

 I started frying the first ingredient, bacon. As the bacon cooled enough to handle, I started slicing it into 1/2 sized pieces and then sliced them into three vertical slices. I reserved an extra couple pieces and cut them into narrow slices.
I did have to make one substitution with the second ingredient suggested--baby bok choy. I really like cooking with bok choy, but the fridge had none. However, I did have red cabbage. That would have to do. I sliced the cabbage into bite-sized pieces and sauted in bacon drippings. I let the cabbage cook slowly, covered with a lid, to maintain color and flavor while softening.
 The third ingredient, gelatin, was prepared in the usual manner. I let it set and cool a bit before putting it to work.
The fourth ingredient, mushrooms, were sliced and sauted in the drippings from the bacon. I added the gelatin in order to thicken the moisture coming from the mushrooms, making them more flavorful.
The fifth ingredient, cream, came in the form of whipping cream from the fridge. I whipped it into stiff peaks and then sprinkled with some herbs de provence.
The finished product is below. I stacked the bacon, then the red cabbage, then the mushrooms, then the creme fraiche...a savory Napoleon to enjoy.

the gelatin

Friday Night Challenge 2: Madeira Chicken w/ Sweet Potato Posey

My Friday night Facebook challenge brought some more great ideas for supper. Tonight's five ingredients were: chicken--garlic--shallots--wine--potatoes (regular or sweet). Here's what I came up with as a result:

I took two chicken breasts and pounded them soundly to tenderize them. I then salted and peppered them and put them into olive oil to cook. While the chicken breasts were cooking, I peeled and sliced a medium-sized sweet potato and cubed a small regular potato and put them on to boil. I then diced up a large shallot.

Once the chicken breasts were about 1/2 done, I drained the olive oil from the pan and replaced it with Madeira wine (ahhh the aroma!).  I turned down the heat, covered it, and let it steam and simmer slowly.

Once the potatoes were done, I drained them and let them cool just a bit. I took the regular potato, whipped it, added some garlic powder, salt to taste.  Once done, I formed a flower on the plate and then added the garlic whipped potato as its center.

I added a bit of olive oil to a saute pan and added the shallot along with a bit of garlic powder and let it cook until just lightly browned.

Below is the final product in the "studio" getting its picture taken.

Enjoy!

Black Bean Stuffed Green Peppers

Today, courtesy of Facebook, I decided to post a challenge to myself. I asked for friends to give me five random ingredients to put together and create a supper. I was given a total of six ingredients. As a result of the good suggestions, we had a supper that was healthy, low calorie, low fat, high fiber, and economical.

The ingredients were green bell peppers, eggs, onions, cheese, black beans, and ancho chili pepper. I decided upon vegetarian stuffed peppers. Here's the process.
(serves 2)
Cut the tops from 2 green bell peppers and clean out the seeds and membrane. Reserve the tops that were removed.
Open a can of black beans. (To lighten the sodium, you can rinse the beans before cooking.) Add some chopped red onion and chop the tops of the bell pepper and cook these in with the beans. Add 1 t. ancho chili powder. Put the bell peppers into hot water and cook until tender, but not to the point of collapsing.
Once the beans start cooking steadily, take an egg and whisk it into the beans. Once it is blended, taste for adjustment of the chili powder.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the bean mixture into the peppers and put the peppers into the oven so the flavors can blend. This takes about 10 minutes. While they are in the oven, grate approximately 1 T.  Parmesan reggiano cheese for each green pepper. When the peppers have been removed from the oven for a couple of minutes, add the grated cheese to the top. Enjoy!

Savory Lobster Filo Stacks

Tonight was "create a recipe" night. I had some filo dough in the fridge along with a packet of lobster. What to do? Perhaps a savory version of the beloved baklava. So, out came the handy chopper. I chopped up some onion, green and red bell pepper. I chopped the lobster meat into small bits. Now to melt the butter (Smart Balance works great and is a great source of vitamin D--so sought after in these winter months) and then start layering the filo. I didn't want the stack to be incredibly high, so I ended up with one level of the chopped onion/pepper mix, one level of lobster, and one of the two items mixed. I also chopped up some spinach and made two layers of it. To this, I sprinkled on some garlic powder, some ancho chile pepper, and some cumin. The final layer consisted of finely shredded cheese (any type will do...pick your favorite). Then a couple of layers of filo dough to finish. I baked this for around 35 minutes on 350. Once it was finished, cut, and plated, I added some homemade guacamole to the top. (A simple processed avocado, onion, and cilantro w/ a dash of salt.)

Butternut Squash Soup

On a cold, rainy January evening, butternut squash soup seemed to make perfect sense. The extra warming quality of a little bit of cumin made it downright cozy.

The recipe is very easy to make. Take one butternut squash, cut it into slices about 1 inch wide. Coat a baking sheet with a spray of olive oil and place into a 350 degree oven. It takes a good 1/2 hour or more for the squash to become very tender. While it's baking, go ahead and chop one onion and two shallots up finely and place into a pan with 1 T. oil or butter (I use Smart Balance--it has a good taste and 1T. gives you 50% of your vitamin D for the day). Once the onions are sweated, add 2 potatoes that are cubed and 6 c. chicken broth. Once the potatoes are tender, add the baked squash that had been cut away from the rind. Once everything is cooked down a bit, turn off the heat and let it sit for a bit. Put the soup into the blender and puree until smooth. Return to the heat and add a dash of nutmeg and 1/2 t. cumin. Season to taste with a bit of salt and pepper.

Good, easy, and healthy!

Orange Zest Dessert

Looking for a fairly easy yet pretty dessert that uses just three ingredients (including water)? Try orange zest dessert.
First zest an orange into strips (use a vegetable peeler to make this easier). Then, taking a pair of kitchen shears, cut the zest into narrow strips. Put a pan of water onto boil with the strips added in and then turn the heat down and cook until they're pretty tender (around 10 minutes). While this is happening, you can section the orange (use one orange per serving--navel oranges are best--no seeds!) Once you take the peels off the burner, pour them into a bowl and then, using the same pan, mix 1/3 c. sugar and 2 or 3 T. water and put onto boil, stirring occasionally until this turns to syrup. Once it is "syrupy", add the peels in, turn down to medium, and let them cook for at least 10 minutes. They'll reach a shiny and chewy stage; remove them from the syrup and add the orange sections to coat and cook about 5 minutes. It might take two rounds to get all the slices done. Put the slices into a pretty bowl, add the candied peels on top, and put into the fridge to cool. Enjoy!

Smoky, Spicy Split Pea Soup

I've been on the search of late for good, warming soups that contain anti-inflammatory ingredients. After perusing several recipes, I concocted the following recipe:
Cook up 1 cup of split peas (they don't need to be soaked ahead of time, but they will remain undercooked if they don't get a head start). Once the peas are partially cooked, add a couple of cans of vegetable broth, 1-3 t. of the adobo sauce that comes with chilies (if you really like spicy, you can cook the soup with a couple of the chilies, too--just remove when the soup is about finished. Also add one sweet potato, a can of diced tomatoes, and garlic powder to taste. To get a bit of richness to the soup, I added a tablespoon of "better than bouillon" chicken seasoning. Once all this is combined, add in one large onion chopped and one stalk of celery chopped that has been sauteed  in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Let everything cook down and then adjust the seasonings to taste. If you want a more "smoky" flavor, add a little smoked paprika.  Enjoy!