Caprese with Shrimp Scampi

Quick & Easy for a light dinner

Slice beefsteak or heirloom tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, and in this case cucumber (I forgot to get basil at the store, but that should really be on here too)

Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette

For shrimp scampi:

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 TBSP butter

1 garlic clove minced

parsley to taste

In a medium pan, add butter and melt

add garlic and cook for about 2 minutes, until slightly brown

add white wine, reduce heat to medium-low

reduce for about 5 minutes

add shrimp and cook for about 2 minutes each side

garnish with parsley

The bread is our favorite: Rosemary & Olive Oil

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Apparently, this is the best thing I've ever made for Alyssa...

Blueberry Compote:

1 cup frozen blueberries

1 1/2 TBSP sugar

1 TBSP water

3/4 tsp Corn Starch

1 TBSP Fresh-squeezed lemon juice

In a small bowl, mix lemon juice and corn starch with a fork, set aside

In a small sauce pan bring blueberries, sugar, and water to a boil

Reduce to a simmer and add lemon juice/corn starch mixture

Turn off heat and cover to keep warm

Pancakes:

3/4 Cup AP Flour

1 1/2 TBSP sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

*Whisk all dry ingredients in a large bowl

1 large egg + 1 egg white

1/2 cup low fat ricotta cheese

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp grated lemon zest

1/2 TBSP canola oil

*Whisk all wet ingredients in a medium bowl

*Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients with a spatula, making sure flour has disappeared, but not over-mixed which will create chewy pancakes.  Yuck!

In a large pan over medium heat, spray non-stick spray and drop about 1/3 cup of pancake batter, cooking for about 2 minutes on each side

Top with warm blueberry compote and powdered sugar (optional)

Makes 6 pancakes

Crab Benedict

What a great way to start the weekend!

To prep:

Slice your favorite artisan bread (or for the traditionalist use english muffins)

Slice beefsteak tomatoes and avocado

Prepare a hollandaise sauce (melted butter, egg yolk, vinegar, salt, pepper in a blender, sorry look up a good recipe because I usually wing it)

Keep hollandaise sauce warm by placing in tightly sealed tupperware in a hot water bath

For Eggs:

Bring salted water to a boil in a medium pot

Crack each egg into a ramekin filled halfway with white vinegar

Begin whisking water vigorously in a circular motion to create a vortex in the center of the pot

With the water in motion, pour contents of one ramekin into the center of the vortex and continue whisking.  

This will keep the egg tight and reduce the strands that can occur if you just drop the egg into stagnant water.

Boil for about 2 minutes and remove from water with a slotted spoon.

Repeat with the rest of the eggs

For Tomatoes:

I like to pan-roast mine to bring out the flavors, but you can serve raw if preferred

In a small pan over medium heat, add sliced tomato

Crack pepper and salt and cook for about 2 minutes each side, or until a slight char begins to form

Finished Product:

Lightly toast the bread

Top with avocado, tomato, egg, crab meat & hollandaise

Enjoy!!!

Filet Mignon Oscar Style

One of my favorite dishes of all time!

The traditional preparation also has asparagus but I kept that out this time

I can't exactly recall the bearnaise recipe, but I went extremely simple and did the blender prep rather than the double pot whisking variety.  Lazy me.

The bearnaise has egg yolk, butter, white vinegar, tarragon, S&P

After blending I keep it in a tightly sealed tupperware in a bigger tupperware with very hot (not boiling) water to keep warm while the filet is cooking.

To prep:

Trim filet of excess fat and cook on the grill, or grill pan to your liking

For medium rare, about 5-7 minutes per side over high heat

Top with crab meat and pour bearnaise over the top

This dish is served with steamed broccoli and marsala mushrooms

To make the mushrooms, pour about 1/4 cup marsala wine in a pan over medium heat

Immediately add mushrooms and simmer for about 15 minutes

Crab Cake Stuffed Salmon

Ok the is the last crab dish for a while, I promise!!!

So I cheated a little bit on this by buying pre-made crab cakes...

If you're going to make crab cakes on your own, find a good recipe!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees

1) Prep the crab cakes as you like

2) For the sauce:

*1/2 cup chardonnay

*2 TBSP butter

*1 shallot, diced

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat add chardonnay & butter and reduce, stirring occasionally for approx. 10 minutes.

Add shallots and continue reducing while other items are cooking

3) Salmon

Make a long incision in the salmon, about 2/3 of the depth of the filet

Stuff with the crab cake (or just plain crab)

As you can see from the picture, overflow is fine

Spray a glass baking pan with non-stick spray and place salmon inside

Bake for 15-20 minutes

Pour chardonnay reduction over salmon and enjoy!!

Brown Sugar Spiced Salmon

This was delicious!!

Served with 2006 Argyle Nuthouse Pinot Noir

I'll try to write this out as a true recipe this time (Serves 2)

(Optional)

Cherry Chardonnay Reduction

1. 1 to 1 1/2 cup chardonnay
2.  4-8 pitted cherries
3. 1 TBSP brown sugar

• Pour chardonnay into a small sauce pot set to medium heat
• Add 4-8 pitted cherries, depending on sweetness desired
• Simmer for 5 minutes, then extract cherries with slotted spoon
• Continue to reduce for 1 to 1 1/2 hrs, monitoring the pot to make sure it doesn't boil
• When reduced to about 1/4 of the original volume, whisk in 1 TBSP brown sugar
• If reduction boils, remove from heat for a few seconds, and reduce to medium low
• If reduction becomes over-reduced add water by the TBSP to rehydrate

Crispy Sweet Potato Fries

1. 3 medium sweet potatoes
2. 1 egg yolk
3. seasoning of choice (salt, pepper, garlic, cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne)

• After putting chardonnay reduction on the stove (initially). wash and slice potatoes to whatever width you prefer, mine were 1/4 inch approx.
• Submerge sliced potatoes in a bowl of water and let soak for 30 minutes 
• After potatoes are in the soak, preheat oven to 425
• Whip egg white to soft peaks and add whatever seasoning you have chosen
• Take potatoes out and pat very dry
• Toss potatoes in egg white seasoning
• Place on a baking sheet (I put mine on a cooling rack over a parchment paper-lined baking sheet)
• Bake for 15 minutes then turn over and bake for another 15 minutes
• Reduce heat to 200 and leave in oven for 15-20 minutes

Garlic-sauteed Broccoli

1. 2 TBSP minced garlic
2. 1 cup broccoli
3. 1 tbsp olive oil

• During second baking of sweet potato fries:  Place large pan on stove over medium-high heat     add oil
• Add garlic after approx. 1 minute
• Add broccoli after another 1 minute 
• Sautee for approx. 8 minutes, or until tender

Brown Sugar Spiced Salmon

1. (2) 4-6 oz. Salmon Filets, skinned if necessary
2. For Rub: 3 parts brown sugar, 1 part each: cayenne powder, garlic powder, black pepper, paprika, chili powder

• Mix all dry ingredients together 
• Dredge the salmon filets in the rub
• Place on baking sheet and add to the oven when there are 10 minutes left during the second portion of baking of the sweet potatoes fries and leave in during the 200 degree cool down
• Drizzle Cherry Chardonnay Reduction over Salmon

My First Ham

Alton Brown's "Good Eats" Recipe

Get a "City Ham" which is just the bone-in, fully cooked, water-added.

This one weighed in @ 9 lbs. (Still some in the fridge)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees

Make a tin foil tent by rolling out about 5 ft. of foil

cut in half and line up side by side, overlapping by a few inches, then fold over the flap a few times to create a seal.  Place ham on a dry kitchen towel in a roasting rack and put tent over ham, making sure that it is not touching the ham, but creating a seal with the roasting rack.

Bake for 3-4 hours, until center of ham is about 160 degrees

(While ham is in the oven, put ginger snap cookies in a food processor and chop fine)

Change oven temperature to 350.

While ham is still warm, rub or brush dijon mustard over whole ham

Then, cover mustard layer with dark brown sugar

(This next part requires some hardware, a spray bottle of bourbon.  This step could probably be skipped if you don't want to buy a bottle of bourbon and a spray bottle just for this one ham, but it does add flavor and adhesiveness for the final layer)

Generously spray ham with bourbon

Finally, coat with chopped ginger snaps

Put tin foil tent back over ham and cook for 1-2 hours, or until center is 165 degrees

To slice, get a pair of locking pliers to grab hold of the bone

Use carving knife if you've got one, or a good serrated knife otherwise

So delicious!!

Lobster & Avocado Wontons

A variation on a family favorite...

Bring Vegetable, Canola, or Peanut oil to 350 degrees

Stuff wontons with cooked lobster and diced avocado (I kind of made a guacamole really)

take egg white and wipe edge of wonton

crimp wonton with wonton crimper or fork

Fry until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes

The sauces I made were a wasabi mayonnaise and a spicy sour cream, both just involve mixing wasabi with mayonnaise to taste, and your choice of hot sauce with sour cream

I would recommend after trying to get a soy-sauce based dipping sauce as well, like the one mom and dad make!

First Thanksgiving Meal

Thank you so much to Alyssa's mom who went and bought this rubbermaid storage box for this 22 lb turkey to brine in! The brine is loosely based on a recipe from a food magazine and is available upon request.

Basting this beautiful bird.  Looks burnt right?  Not the case, 

that's just the sugars caramelizing on the skin!!

Phil carving the finished product

The menu... You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

The spread!!!

My plate: Turkey Leg, sweet potato/caramelized pecan, cheesy potatoes!!, stuffing, green bean casserole

Sorry no picture of the finished product, but here's the inner workings of Alyssa's apple pie

Not Exactly Cooking...

Just another cool picture I like

Also, in fairness, it does include wine...

Heirloom Tomatoes!

Pardon me while I indulge in the 

artistic beauty of these heirloom tomatoes...

Alyssa sees lungs, I see an eyeball.

What do you see??

Oh yeah, and they were also sweet and delicious!

Oh how I miss these...

Blood Orange Martini

When blood oranges are in season, I buy a full reusable grocery bag full (12 lbs or so)

a truly perfect beverage for a hot summer day

to make:

get whatever device you have to extract juice

I have a primitive juicer, hoping someday to get the jamba juice style hand-press juicer

prepare to put in some elbow grease squeezing out the beautiful purple, red, and orange juices

in a shaker over ice add:

2 shots vodka (preferably blood-orange infused, obviously)

1 shot triple sec

2 shots fresh-squeezed blood orange juice

shake vigorously and strain into chilled martini glass

garnish with fresh blood orange slices and fresh-frozen raspberries

(fresh frozen means buy them fresh and freeze them, possibly vodka soaked if you want a kick with your post-martini chewables)

Healthy can be tasty

Garlic, black peppercorn, sage-infused olive oil marinated, grilled chicken breast

.... breath...

grilled onions

grilled asparagus

baked sweet potato fries

Wish i had a picture of the infused olive oil, but nevertheless...

 place chicken breast (trimmed) in ziploc bag with olive oil

marinate for 2-24 hours

preheat oven to 425 degrees

slice sweet potatoes (peeled optional) into 1/2-1" pieces

place on non-stick baking sheet or parchment paper-lined baking sheet

sprinkle with salt and pepper

bake for 30-40 minutes depending on crispness desired

while fries are in the oven, preheat bbq grill on medium-high heat

spray grates with pam, place chicken breast on bottom rack

place onions and asparagus on top rack

close lid

turn chicken, onions, and asparagus at approx. 7 minutes

cook for another 7 minutes

Espresso-infused vodka: The prequel

I know I already did a post on this, but it seems to be a pretty big hit with the twenty-something crowd, maybe further, who knows?

So a little DIY in case you'd like to try an infusion of your own

Stage 1

Pour approx. 2 cups vodka out of a 1.5L bottle

Fill with espresso beans

Stage 2

Nothing but waiting, but just wanted to show the progression

This photo is at about 3 hours

Stage 3

In this case, 18 hours, it's a fluid situation

I found the easiest way to get the coffee beans strained out is with...

you guessed it! a strainer!

Pour over strainer into another bottle or into a different container if you don't have two large bottles

If pouring into another large bottle, a funnel is definitely recommended

Asian/Pacific Island Dinner

We've got a sweet and salty dinner here!

Pistachio-crusted Halibut topped with a familiar pineapple salsa

Soy-sauce sauteed orange and green bell pepper, bok choy, and sprouts

Coconut white rice

To prepare fish:

Crush approx 1/2 cup pistachios (or put in coffee grinder/blender on pulse for a few seconds, but not so long the pistachios become powdery.. I like bigger chunks)

mix pistachio with flour, salt, pepper, garlic salt, onion powder, cayenne pepper and put on plate

using tongs, cover fish with dusting

sautee in olive oil until crisp on each side, then bake @450 degrees for 6-8 minutes

To prepare rice:

place 2 cups rice, 1 can coconut milk (14.5 oz i think) and salt in pot, cooking covered untiil milk is absorbed (35-40 minutes)

turn off burner, allow to rest for 5 minutes

fluff with fork

optional: top with shaved coconut (if you don't mind the texture it adds a little more flavor)

Summertime and the grillin's easy

i love colorful food!

NY spiedie chicken cubes on the tin foil

fresh pineapple

zucchini, mushroom, red bell pepper & red onion skewers

not included in this picture is the final preparation of the chicken:

hot dog bun (preferably from the bakery, not just a preservative-laden store brand)

melted provolone cheese

spicy dijon mustard

the very best part about bbq is the ease of cleanup!!!

Sweet & Spicy Pizza

if you know anything about me, you know i love pizza!

this was one of our favorites:

Trader Joe's pizza crust (this was the whole wheat type)

Stone Levitation BBQ sauce (I hadn't dabbled in homemade yet)

pineapple

white onion

jalapeno

mozzarella cheese

parsley

if you know anything about my cooking preferences, you know that if i can make it from scratch, i will

however, i make an exception to this rule with my pizza crust for three reasons:

the crust only costs $1.29

it saves me a full day of prep

i've made dough a few times and the TJ brand just tastes better...

when i have better baking skills and an oven that cooks at an even temperature

i'm sure i'll make my own dough

A healthy-ish Italian feast

baked chicken parmesan with melted mozzarella 

served beside whole wheat pasta & tomato basil sauce

and rosemary & olive oil bread

Ono!

i love this picture because oftentimes the hard work

of prepping goes unnoticed

sous chef dicing prep skills:

 orange peppers

pineapple

yellow peppers

jalapeno & white onion

button mushrooms

sweet onion

all that dicing turned into this:

pan seared fijian ono 

topped with a mango jalapeno & white onion salsa 

over a bed of california brown rice

alongside a goat cheese, orange & yellow pepper, sweet onion & tomato

stuffed portabella mushroom

drizzled with a balsamic vinegar reduction

Chargertinis: cocktails for Chargers football

lemondrop martinis

 blue curacao martinis