Gone Fishin'!

OK, not really... but see you in a month!

Chicken Marsala

I had some leftover chicken breast from the chicken pistachio and some mushrooms so I decided to go back to an old comfort food recipe - Chicken Marsala. Pretty easy to make and just very satisfying!

CHICKEN MARSALA

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast, pounded
flour
paprika
salt
pepper
olive oil
Marsala wine
mushrooms, sliced
butter (or earth balance)

Mix some flour, paprika, salt, and pepper together in a shallow bowl or plate (use your judgement on the amounts, I like to use a bit more paprika). Put olive oil in frying pan over medium-high heat. Coat chicken in flour mixture and place in frying pan. Pour a small amount of Marsala wine over the chicken. Cook through, flipping once. When chicken is done, drain on paper towel. Add a samll amount of butter to pan and add mushrooms. Add about a half cup of marsala wine to the mushrooms and cook mushrooms. When mushrooms are cooked through and marsala reduced by half, pour over chicken.


I usually have this with mashed potatoes because I think the sauce tastes delicious as a gravy. Enjoy!

Aubergine in Tomato Sauce

So I recently was surfing the internet and found this list of top blogs... Quite a few food blogs on it, but one that caught my eye was chez pim. And on chez pim, she had a blog on Aubergine in Tomato Sauce which I decided to give a try.

http://chezpim.typepad.com/blogs/2006/09/renas_aubergine.html

Her pictures look prettier. And I didn't use as much olive oil and it still turned out well. I actually also added a little shiraz I had sitting around as well as some garlic and basil. I must say, I don't think that I let this reduce enough the first night which I used over some pasta (Campanelle). It was good, but it wasn't as tasty as I was expecting. So I also used another suggestion of hers and the next day, decided to use the leftovers to make a Baked Campanelle using the sauce. But I first reduced it further and I must say, I think this dish is improved with a day of sitting, the flavors just blended much better! I used a large eggplant instead of the baby aubergines, and it worked just fine. I just quartered the slices. But I can see that using the baby aubergines would make this much more visually beautiful.


I definitely would keep this for use in the future. A good hearty pasta sauce. I am intrigued to use this as a spread on bread.

Pistachio Chicken and Parathas

I know, it's been a long while since I last seemed to cook. In reality, I was actually cooking some of the same, so no need to let you know about that, right? Well, I was in the mood to cook and had a ton of pistachios which I never got around to just eating. So, I had to try this Pistachio chicken recipe that I had seen on another blog:

http://mycomfortfoodnetwork.blogspot.com/2007/12/pistachio-chicken.html

I pretty much follwed the directions, maybe using a bit more spices. But no major changes to it.

I decided that instead of rice, I would attempt to make Parathas to go with this dish. I followed the following recipe for Onion and Green Chile Parathas:

http://www.indianchild.com/Recipes/breads_rotis_recipe/onion_and_green_chilli_paratha_recipe.htm

I followed the directions. This required MUCH more than the 1/4 c water. And it turned out not very doughy despite my attempts. But it tasted good flavor wise which means I will probably try to make this work better in the future.

But check out the food! I served it with Broccoli and Cauliflower, seasoned with cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, turmeric, garlic.




My friend said this was yummy and even had seconds! :)

Chicken Sausage and Vegetable Soup

I had all these leftover remains of vegetables from this past weekend's dinner party. I didn't want to waste any of it, so, what was I to make? I decided to make a hearty soup, using things I had in my refrigerator and pantry. It turned out quite lovely.

CHICKEN SAUSAGE AND VEGETABLE SOUP

Ingredients:
1/2 sweet potato, diced about 1-2 cm
1/3 sweet onion, chopped
2 (spicy) chicken sausages, sliced
1/3 bag of spinach (the big one, prewashed)
1 box of creamy vegetable bisque (from Trader Joe's)
1 can of cream-style corn
ground ginger
salt
pepper

Basically, I cooked the onion and sweet potato in olive oil first, until the sweet potatoes were cooked through (I could easily cut through them), approximately 5-8 min. I added the sausage then the vegetable bisque and cream-style corn. Cook to simmering and season with ginger, salt and pepper. Add spinach at the end when the soup is just about ready to serve.

That's it!

Leftovers!

So, considering the massive amounts of food I made for the dinner, it's no wonder why I was a little concerned about what I would be eating for the next week. However, a friend had a Oscars party giving me the perfect opportunity to make a new dish using the old and seeing how my Halwa fared with others!

I actually had lots of peanut sauce leftover from the chicken dish the other night which I thought would be yummy with some noodles. I just cooked a box of spaghetti noodles and added the peanut sauce (veggies and leftover chicken all). I had lots of compliments so I think that it goes over well as a pasta sauce too! No picture, sorry, but you get the idea. And the Halwa went over exremely well too! Thank goodness my friend had cardamom in her spice rack, because it was the one thing I forgot to pack. I think adding the extra cardamom really picked up the flavors even more.

So, remember how I said I had made the pumpkin risotto specifically for the pork dish? Well, today, I had the opportunity to make it! Here it is:

Fig and Blood Orange Glazed Pork Loin with Pumpkin Risotto


Yum!

Dinner for Three

I had a little dinner party tonight! I was originally going to make the pork loin recipe I posted this past week, but one person is on the Atkins diet and very picky about what he can eat, so I decided to make a different menu - which he definitely won't be able to eat one item. I won't even pretend that this dinner menu follows a theme. Ha! So, just a few things that I really wanted to make.

Dinner Menu:
Pumpkin Risotto
Chicken and Vegtables braised in Peanut Sauce
Carrot Halwa

I will post the recipes in the order that I made them. I had all day to cook, so I decided to do it one by one and make it a relaxing day of cooking. (Note: Hmmm, I just realized that my meal started orange and ended orange. How funny!)

CHICKEN AND VEGETABLES BRAISED IN PEANUT SAUCE

I admit - this is from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/106049

So, I won't write it out, but I will say that I added more peanut butter (about 1/4 c more) as well as added grated ginger (about 1-2 tsps, added before the garlic) and was very liberal with my cayenne pepper. There was still something missing from this recipe, and like other reviewers for the recipe, couldn't quite figure it out. Grrr.

A:
B:


CARROT HALWA

I had been wanting to make this for a while and found this recipe online:
http://www.indianfoodforever.com/desserts/gajjar-ka-halwa.html

I used it as a guide, really. I halved the recipe - 2.2 pounds of carrots? That is a lot of carrots. And not to mention the pain of grating all those carrots. About grating the carrots - I actually did one third as the fine grate and the rest as the large grate. It really doesn't matter. I used 3/4 of the amount of the sugar... and the dessert turned out as sweet as I have had it in restaurants - I will definitely be cutting down on this too in the future. I also added 1/2 a stick of cinnamon while the carrots were cooking in the milk and sugar mixture. All in all, I let it sit and cook on low heat for an hour and not much reduction had occurred. So then I put the heat on medium and just was vigilant about watching the reduction/cooking. 15 min later, the milk had absorbed. I found out that Ghee is essentially like lard, so, needless to say, this did not get put in the recipe. But I did add a tablespoon of earth balance margarine to the dessert - it needed something buttery in consistency added. Then I used ground cardamom - to taste. This was yummy but too sweet!



PUMPKIN RISOTTO

So I admit, I really wanted to make this to have with my pork dish. But then I got so enamored of the idea of pumpkin risotto that even after I lost the pork from the menu, I decided to keep this in the mix.

10 oz canned pumpkin
2 cups chicken stock
1.5 cups water
0.5 cup white wine
3 shallots, finely chopped
1 chopped garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 and 1/2 cup Arborio rice
1 oz grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1/3 cup)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
salt
pepper
1 T butter (earth balance)

Bring stock and water to a simmer in a small saucepan and keep at a bare simmer. Cook shallots in oil in a heavy saucepan over moderate heat until softened, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and stir. Add wine and stir/cook for 1-2 min. Add rice and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add 1 cup simmering stock and cook at a strong simmer, stirring constantly, until stock is absorbed. Continue simmering, adding stock 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and letting each addition be absorbed before adding the next, until rice is tender and creamy-looking but still al dente, about 18 minutes total. (There may be broth left over.) Stir in canned pumpkin. Remove from heat and add cheese and butter, stirring until butter is melted. Season with salt and pepper. -- I came so close to adding some nutmeg to see how this tasted. I thought that while the risotto was well-cooked, the pumpkin flavor never came through. Hmm...



My dinner companions told me that they thought everything was good - I think they were being nice after getting a free meal. :) We had a Riesling with the meal, a good choice I think, although a Gewurtztraminer would have also been good or even a light red.

Please check out the survey/poll and answer! This is a competition as to which photo is the best and the winner will be the final entry into the blog as the picture that goes along with the recipe. :) Thanks!

Noodles on the mind

The question of the week is: what type of noodles for the Dan Dan Mein? The answer in picture below. Hope this helps out! Either is ok, but I prefer using the fresher type of noodle, seen on the left. I usually buy a bundle and repackage them into manageable portions.

Fig and Blood Orange Glazed Pork Loin

Yum! Okay, so I have to say that this recipe is a sure keeper for me. And honestly, pretty easy to make!

FIG AND BLOOD ORANGE GLAZED PORK LOIN

Ingredients:
1 blood orange
1.5 T fig jam
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 pork loin
1/2 sweet onion, sliced
cooking oil
salt and pepper

Pound the pork loin to soften it up and make it thinner so it will cook faster. In a frying pan, add cooking oil, about 2 T, but you can add more later if needed. Heat at medium heat. Add salted and peppered (add liberally!) pork loin as well as onions. Juice the blood orange. Get a small cooking pot, add the orange juice, fig jam, and dijon mustard. Heat over low-medium heat and reduce to a glaze-like consistency. Turn pork loin as necessary so it does not burn, but cooks evenly on both sides. Every so often, add some of the glaze to the pork loin (maybe 1-2 tsps at a time). When the pork loin is cooked through, add remaining glaze to the pork and onions. Plate.

Servings: 1
Time to prep and cook: 15 min.


This recipe was very yummy and I will be keeping this one in the repertoire. Hope you enjoy it too!

Oatmeal Almond Crisp-Crusted Mahi Mahi

So, back to my foray into cooking... I had some leftover green curry sauce from my favorite Thai place in Pittsburgh. On top of that, I had some Mahi Mahi. So... let's see what happened!

Oatmeal Almond Crisp-Crusted Mahi Mahi

Ingredients:
5-8 oz fillet of Mahi Mahi
1 T green curry sauce or coconut milk
1/4 c crushed Oatmeal Crisp with Almond cereal (or else, your fave cereal - within reason)
salt
pepper
Pam spray or 1 t cooking oil

Pre-heat oven to 425F. On baking pan (or aluminum foil), spray with Pam (or use cooking oil). Place mahi mahi down and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake 5 min, then remove tray from oven. Brush mahi mahi with green curry/coconut milk then top with the cereal. Bake another 10 min, remove from oven and let stand another 3-5 min. Plate.

Servings: 1
Time to prep: 1-2 min



I had some leftover brown rice that I served with it (and the remainders of my mock duck with green curry) as well as asparagus. The cereal I used was a little too sweet for this dish, but overall, pretty good!

Brie, Pear, Fig Sandwich

Ok, so no picture today (this was a packed lunch!), but it was delicious and very easy to make, so I needed to tell you about it.

Ingredients:
Brie
Fig Jam
Pear
2 pieces of Ham
2 pieces bread (I prefer seven grain)

This simple. Toast bread. Let it cool a little. Smear on Brie, then fig jam. Then places some slices of pear (I used Bosc, crispier and generally tastier to me) and on top of that, the ham. Top with second piece of toast.

Yum! Try it.

Eating out...

I know, I promised new recipes last week, but who knew my ED shifts would be so time consuming? Plus, I was really craving Indian food and since I don't cook that, I had to order out. It was yummy. Which got me thinking about Indian desserts, and in particular, the carrot halwa. Yum! I think I will be making that in the near future.

But the real point of this post? I have more ED shifts this week. So, probably less chance for recipes this week too. Sorry! I am aiming to get back on track next week though, so come on back next week!

Phyllo-Wrapped Salmon with Leek, Mushroom, Goat Cheese Cream Sauce

Phew, that was a long name for a recipe. And I guess I lied when I said that I wouldn't be posting until next week. But after this one, next week for sure. I got a request for a salmon recipe, which intrigued me as I hadn't cooked salmon in a while. I finally decided to combine a couple of interesting ideas (wrapping in Phyllo) and a Leek Cream Sauce. Let me know what you think!

PHYLLO-WRAPPED SALMON WITH LEEK CREAM SAUCE

Ingredients:
3 Phyllo sheets
5 oz skinless Salmon (<1 inch thickness)
1 leek, halved and thinly sliced, discard the tough (upper) part of the leek
1 spring onion, thinly sliced
olive oil
1/2 c. whipping or heavy cream
1 mushroom, chopped
1-2 T goat cheese
herbes de provence
about 2 tsp lemon juice
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 400 F. To a pan, add olive oil and heat over medium heat. Add leeks and spring onion.

Cook until tender. Add some salt and pepper. Add heavy cream and reduce by a quarter to a half. Remove sauce to a bowl, add in the mushrooms, goat cheese, herbes de provence, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Taste and reason as needed. Have a sheet of the phyllo, brush with butter or spray with Pam, repeat x2. Add salmon, and salt and pepper the fish. Over this, add 2/3 of the leek mixture, keep 1/3 for the plating. Fold over the phyllo dough to create a packet. Spray a baking sheet with pam, place the salmon packet on it and bake for 25 min.

Alternatively, if you don't want the hassle of the phyllo, broil salmon for 10-15 min or until done. Spoon mixture over salmon and serve.

Time for prep: 10 min
Total Time: 35 min
Serves: 1 (sauce can serve 2)



This recipe is pretty delicious, if I do say so myself. And easy to make! Really! Sorry the plating is not the best, I will have to work on the presentation aspect of this recipe, but the flavors of this were wonderful and the salmon was tender.

Short Hiatus

Sorry, I know I haven't posted in a couple days and probably won't post again until next week. Too much going on! But come back next week and look for some new yummy posts (including a salmon recipe :)).

White Wine Sauce

I had one more piece of fish to eat, this time a Hake. I was excited, haven't actually used Hake in my own cooking. I decided to change up how I normally cook my fish (broil) and instead simmer it in a pan and then use the yummy leftover sauce/oil to make a white wine sauce.

WHITE WINE SAUCE

Ingredients:
1 shallot, chopped
a little butter, or in my case, earth balance butter!
1/4 c white wine (I used my pouilly fuisse)
1 T sour cream
salt
pepper
tarragon (I could see sage being good too) - normally fresh, but in my case, dried!
1/2 - 3/4 tsp Honey

After cooking the fish (salted and pepperized) with olive oil, white wine, rosemary, and a dash of peach chardonnay vinegar, I removed the fish. To the pan, keep what is there, add butter (very little) shallots and cook until soft. Then add white wine and sour cream, stir. Add seasonings and honey. Reduce until thickened to desired consistency. Taste and reseason as needed.

Time to prep (not including the fish): under 5 min
Servings: 2


And, of course, you guessed it! Cauliflower puree for a side vegetable. I perhaps shouldn't have been quite as ambitious and should have considered halving my recipe the first time around. Good thing it tastes good reheated in a microwave! :) I almost also thought about pureeing some broccoli and adding that to the cauliflower to give a different color (and taste) that would compliment the fish and white wine sauce. But nah, too much work. I have work to do tonight!

The meal itself was... well, let me try to explain. I added a bit too much peach chardonnay vinegar with the fish which in of itself, for the fish, just made it yummier. However, that did affect the sauce. When I initially wrote the recipe, it didn't have the honey portion. But after tasting the sauce, it was a bit too tangy and needed something else. Honey! I added just a bit, but boy did it make the difference. Don't get me wrong, the sauce was still a little tangy at the end, but on top of the fish? And with the cauliflower? It was actually kinda nice! Next time, a little less peach chardonnay vinegar and/or using cream instead o the sour cream and it will all be perfect!

Dan Dan Mein revisited

Just a quick note to let you know my thoughts on my Dan Dan Mein recipe, which I changed at the end. I liked it better today, less peanut buttery and I think that the addition of even that little bit of honey made a world of difference. More ginger was also a good thing.

Banana French Toast

I had a banana that was slowly dying and I wanted to eat it, but not just eat it plain and outright. And this morning, I was in the mood for an actual breakfast, so I decided to make something new. After making it, I definitely saw where I could improve in the actual cooking method, so this is the improved recipe!

BANANA FRENCH TOAST
(no special utensils)

Ingredients:
1 banana, sliced
2 slices bread (I used Pepperidge Farm 7 grain Light Style - Healthy and low cal!)
1/4 c egg beaters
2 T skim milk
dash or two of ground cinnamon
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp flour
salt, a dash or two
pepper, a dash
cooking oil

Mix the egg beaters, milk, cinnamon, sugar, salt, pepper, and flour together in a flat bowl. Don't be worried about the flour lumping, but big lumps should be mixed in and small lumps are all ok. Heat pan (should be able to fit 2 pieces of bread) with 2 T cooking oil, coat bottom of pan. Use medium heat. When cooking oil has heated some, dip one piece of bread into mixture (all of it!) and place in pan. Let one side brown/cook and flip. Once you have flipped the bread, dip your other piece of bread and add to pan. On the first slice of bread, start stacking your banana slices. I used 2 layers. When the second slice of bread has cooked, place cooked side onto the bananas. Then, carefully flip the entire "sandwich" over so the last side of bread can be cooked. When this is done, plate, sprinkle some confectioner's sugar on top, add some banana slices.

Time from start to finish: about 7 minutes
Serving size: 1 person


This was pretty delicious and considering I used bread that between the 2 pieces were only 90 calories, egg beaters, and skim milk, this was pretty healthy!

Guacamole

Some people like their guac with onion, cilantro, tomatoes - the whole shebang. Me personally, I am not a raw onion fan, rarely keep cilantro in the fridge just to have it, and definitely like my tomatoes - they are a must. Others really keep it simple by just adding bottled salsa to avocado. I personally say ewww - especially if you have at least fresh tomatoes on hand. So, I decided to spice up my fish dinner tonight with some guac - gives the dish color, is healthy, and tastes oh so yummy!

GUACAMOLE
(No special utensils required)

Ingredients:
2 avocados
1-2 T sour cream
tomatoes, chopped (i used grape tomatoes)
salt
cayenne or chili powder
lime juice (1-3 tsp, depends on your preference)
garlic powder

It's easy - cut your avocados in half lengthwise and scoop out the avocado into bowl and mash. Chop up your tomatoes. Add the sour cream, lime juice, salt, chili powder, and garlic powder (all to taste). Mix. Re-season as needed.

Time to prep: Under 5 min
Servings: 4-6, depending on how hungry you are!

Now, what I did, after eating some for an appetizer :), is broil my arctic char as I did yesterday. For plating, I used some leftover cauliflower puree as the base, put the artic char on top of that, and topped the fish with guacamole. Healthy and with good flavors. Oh, and a glass of Pouilly Fuisse to top it all off.


You know, I just thought of a yummy small plate I may just have to try. Cook some shrimp and then chill. For plating, on a tortilla chip, place the chilled shrimp, and top with a dollop of guac. Alternatively, chop the shrimp. Then, on the tortilla, spread some guac and top with a few pieces of the shrimp. To make it REALLY pretty, adding some fresh cilantro on top would be delish!

BTW, discovered the foodie nyc blog (blog.foodienyc.com) the other night and spent hours perusing it. Pretty fun place to get some ideas and think about being creative food-wise!

Dan Dan Mein (Noodle)

So... My sister and I recently talked about the Dan Dan Mein that our mom made when we were young. Back in the day, I wasn't so keen on the dish, but for some reason, I have been craving/wondering about it. So, I decided to give it a shot today. It was semi-successful, but... I have never been a huge fan of peanut butter, just never developed a taste for it! So, I have to wonder, is my lack of enthusiasm for the end result because I didn't get it quite right or because I just found it too peanut buttery? In any case, here's how I made it and then how I've decided to modify it.

DAN DAN MEIN
(No special tools required)

Ingredients:

Peanut butter, approximately 1/4-1/3c (I used reduced fat)
Water
Ginger, grated
Garlic Powder
1-2T Cooking or Olive Oil
Salt
Fried shallots (optional)
approx. 1 tsp red chili flakes in oil
1-2 T soy sauce
Pepper
Sesame Oil
chopped spring onion

Noodles!

Start cooking your noodles ahead of time, as the sauce doesn't take very long to cool. Take your peanut butter some water and make a smoother peanut butter paste. I didn't add much in the beginning, probably a little less than a 1:1 ratio. In a small pot, add oil, grated ginger (I don't believe that you can really have too much ginger, but maybe a 1/4-1/2 tsp?), garlic powder, fried shallots, and the red chili pepper flakes with oil and heat over very low heat. Be ready to add your peanut butter mixture quickly as the oil will heat quickly. Once you have added the peanut butter, stir. You may need to add more water at this point, depending on how thin you like the sauce. I didn't need to add too much, maybe a couple of tablespoons. I then added the soy sauce, a little green onion, and salt as needed. When your sauce is done, add a little sesame oil for flavor and texture. For serving, add some sauce to the bottom of a bowl, the noodles on top, mix, put a little spring onion on top for aesthetics and viola - done!

Cooking Time: 4 min for sauce. With noodles, 10 min.
Serves: 4 people



So, after eating my meal, I thought it was okay. (Again, was it the dish or the peanut butter? Not sure.) So, I decided to make a few changes. First, I thought to add more water to try and cut some of the peanut buttery-ness. Not sure it will help, but ended up adding another 1/4 c. or so. Then, thinking about Honey Roasted Peanuts, I decided to add some honey to the mixture. Not too much, about 1-2 tsp. Also, after adding all that extra water, I decided that it needed more salt, ginger (another 1/4 tsp), red chili pepper oil (1/2 tsp), and garlic powder. We'll see how it fares tomorrow as I can't eat any more right now!

Cauliflower Puree

I had this wonderful cauliflower puree side dish at A Mano in Chicago the other day and it inspired me. I like cauliflower, but I must admit, I just don't cook it much! So, I decided to try and recreate, or at least model after, the recipe. I like to make things easy to cook and, since I am cooking for one, try to not make too much or else I'm turned off the food for a long long time thereafter. Oh, and I am asian, so don't be mad if measurements are approximate or to taste. :)

Let me know what you think if you try this!

CAULIFLOWER PUREE
What else you'll need: food processor.

Ingredients:
1 16 oz bag of frozen cauliflower
2-3 shallots ("clove")
chicken stock - not too much, maybe 1/4 cup?
1-2T sour cream
olive oil
salt to taste
garlic powder to taste
ground ginger to taste (optional, i only tried a dash or two 'cause I have it!)

Start a pot of water to boil. While the water is boiling, clean and cut your shallots - thick slices are fine as this will be cooked and pureed later! When you add the cauliflower to the boiling water, saute your shallots in olive oil. When this is done and the shallots are soft to browned, put this in the food processor. You can also start adding some salt, garlic powder, and chicken stock to the processor. When the cauliflower is done, add half the batch (try to drain as much of the water as possible) and start the processor! When it is coarsely pureed, stop, add some sour cream, chicken broth as needed, and the remainder of the cauliflower. Puree again and the consistency should start to come together as a thicker white puree. Open periodically to taste and add more of the spices, sour cream, and chicken stock (be careful about this one!) as needed. I waited until the end to add a little olive oil (maybe 1-2 T) as well as that dash of ground ginger.

Time to Cook: 10 min max.
Serves about 4-6 people


I gotta say, pretty good! I ate this with broiled Artic Char (lightly salted and peppered, broiled approximately 6-8 min, but just take a look, and use a fork to see if the inside is done!) and with a little Sweet Ginger Chili sauce (The Ginger People, available at Whole Paycheck) on top. Oh, and an Arugula salad with pecans, torta with Cranberries, and tomatoes.