With my return to food blogging, I will spare you of my apologies and just get right to it. Cooking is like riding a bike, right? You never forget? But truth be told I haven't cooked in a while... More accurately, I haven't cooked anything new in a while. The good news is: I have had GREAT food while out and about. So, in my return, I will be telling you all about where I've been and what I've eaten this summer. Please feel free to comment and share your own summer stories.
1st STOP: SF Outside Lands Festival--where there's not only music, but also a sampling of food from some great San Francisco restaurants, AND this place they call the Winehaven!
I have a secret love for Southern comfort foods--such as fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, and occasionally some fried catfish. The Chef recommended Farmer Brown's to me. It appears a little more upscale than your usual greasy spoon--course I'm only going by the photos I saw on the website. I have yet to experience the restaurant, but I got a taste at the festival.
To explain the photo I was trying to create (top photo): It's supposed to be symbolic of my choice between two things that I long for... New Orleans cuisine (because I'm always searching for ways to improve my gumbo and I *heart* spicy foods) versus Southern food.
Like most people that are travelling in pairs... In the end, M and I decided to go half-sies on the two dishes: I went to get the Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya and M got the Fried Chicken and Mac and Cheese from Farmer Brown's. That's really the only way to go... if you want to taste everything!
My critique: Yat's Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya was good... spicy but that's how I like my jambalaya. It wasn't the sausage so I'm curious to what kinds of spices I can use to achieve that taste.
The fried chicken and macaroni and cheese from Farmer Brown's was good--it had a really clean and almost organic taste to it... Know what I mean?
Last but not least, I NEED to tell you about the organic S'mores I had (see picture above). If you don't know what an organic s'more is... well, lemme tell ya. Start with an organic graham cracker, then stack bittersweet chocolate and homemade marshmallow. It's from this company called Charles Chocolates, and I'm not sure if you'll be able to get this particular product from a store, but you can order it from their online store on their website: http://www.charleschocolates.com
So... I'm taking yet another page out of my childhood in making this dish. My mom used to buy this curry mix... It's very specific--House brand Vermont Curry Sauce mix. They make a variety of spiciness--I chose "Medium Hot" for this dish. Also note, this curry does not have coconut milk in it.
Basically, I just used the recipe off the box, and added a couple more veggies. I used beef chuck for the cut of meat--it came out a lil chewy for the type of curry stew I wanted. Maybe I'll try brisket next time... mmm... sounds yummy.
Beef Curry
1 (4.4 oz.) box of House Vermont Curry Sauce mix
1 1/4 lb. beef chuck, cubed
1/2 onion, cubed
1 large potato, cubed
3 stalks of celery, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
Brown onions, celery, and carrots with a little bit of butter. Add meat and potatoes to the saucepan until lightly browned. Add 3 1/2 cups water and bring to full boil. REmove from heat. Break curry sauce mix into pieces and add to saucepan. Cook over low heat about 20 minutes or until curry thickens. Serve over cooked rice (or pasta).
The weather was getting warmer so I had to make something lighter. You don't feel like eating pasta with cream sauces when it's 90 to 100 degrees outside. With that in mind, I knew I wanted pasta and shrimp. I took a shrimp recipe and experimented with this glaze idea, when I decided to make shrimp with a glaze and put it over linguine pasta. Yay for new ingredients! Today's secret ingredient was: Adobo sauce... I also used some dry chipotles in this recipe. Adding some spice in my life!
Pan Seared Shrimp w/Chipotle-Lime Glaze
2 lbs shrimp, peeled and deveined
salt and pepper
1/8 tsp sugar
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Chipotle-Lime Glaze (Combine before Step 3)
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 minced chipotle chile in adobo sauce
4 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp adobo sauce
1. Pat shrimp dry with paper towels, then season with 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper and the sugar (regular). Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat until smoking. Add half of the shrimp to the pan in a single layer. Cook until the shrimp are curled an pink on both sides, about 2 minutes.
2. Transfer the shrimp to a bowl and cover with foil. Repeat with the remaining 1 tbsp oil and shrimp.
3. Off the heat, return all of the shrimp to the warm skillet, add the chipotle mixture and toss to combine. Serve over pasta or rice.
Notes: I'm going to have to think of some way of making that sauce thicker--that w0uld make it taste better when pouring over the pasta. It may have been the Adobo Sauce I chose to use--It was adobo paste and I should have worked on that sauce a little more before adding it to the other glaze ingredients. Next time! Live and learn!
I can NOT for the life of me remember where I found this recipe. But whenever I'm home and I got a cravin for Apple-cinnamon pancakes... I tend to look for a new recipe to try. I've tried it with oatmeal... I've tried it with Bisquick ("instant" pancake mix)... and then... I came across this recipe, which of course, had a picture of the pancakes. Now, how cool is it that this has HUGE slices of apple in it. Check it out!
Apple-Cinnamon Pancakes (version 3)
2 Granny Smith apples (I used Golden Delicious--which worked just as well)
2 tbsp. ground cinnamon
2 eggs
2 cups of flour
2 1/2 cups of milk
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
Peel and core the apples. Slice thinly (They can be moon shaped, but what I did was I cored the apple and sliced it horizontally.) Toss with the cinnamon. In a (separate) mixing bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients. Ladle the batter into a pan with oil, then place the sliced cinnamon-apple in the center of the pancake batter. Carefully turn over and cook until both sides are golden brown.
What are the other two versions of apple-cinnamon pancakes that I like? (you ask?) Well, I don't like to share ALL my secrets... but here's a couple other recipes you can try on the same day or another day.
Apple-Cinnamon Pancakes (version 2)
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
2 eggs
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
dash of salt (optional)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cups veggie oil
2 tbsp honey
1/2 cup unpeeled apple, chopped fine
Pour milk over oats and let stand for about 10 minutes. Stir in eggs. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon and add to the oats, mild and egg mixture. Stir in oil, honey and apples.
Quick note on the apples--I don't remember if I left them unpeeled... Sometimes what I like to do is "roughly peel the apple"--meaning leave some peel on there but peel off some of the peel. (Just because the thought of leaving those apples unpeeled totally doesn't sound that appealing to me.) OH! And I almost forgot! I cheated jus a lil maybe... I used INSTANT (Quaker) Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal--yum-O! I think it jus adds to it... If you're worried about the extra sugar, I guess you could always cut back on the... honey? (haha... I also jus noticed that this recipe doesn't add sugar--very healthy, don't you think?)
Apple-Cinnamon Pancakes (version 1)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups milk
1 whole egg
1 egg white
3 tbsp oil
1 apple, finely chopped
Combine milk, egg, egg white, and oil. Mix dry ingredients. Add combined liquids. Stir in apple. Cook on griddle.
Hahahaha... I copied this recipe verbatim... I think. It's a basic apple-cinnamon recipe... for those of you too afraid of the above recipes--here's something a bit simpler.
Let's jus call it what it is... Pigs in a Blanket... Pillsbury would like to call them Mini Crescent Dogs but I think my name for them sounds more fun. So I forget what was the occasion... but in high school, we were having a get-together to make signs for my friend's graduation from law school. And my friend, Carissa, taught me this neat trick with Pillsbury Crescent rolls and mini hot dogs. In this case, I used Hillshire Farms Lil' Smokies.
It's really good as appetizers and a nice lil snack to bring over. For all you cheese-lovers out there, I took some sliced Sharp cheddar cheese and rolled it in there with the hot dog. Extra yummy!
Here's the basic recipe:
http://www.pillsbury.com/Recipes/showrecipe.aspx?rid=9898&WT.ac=crescents_holidayApps_getRecipe_MiniCrescentDogs
I'm excited!! I was in Safeway today, trying to figure out dinner and instead of walking straight by the fish section--that (usually) scary looking display case of foreign raw foods to me--I stopped to take a look and see what I can do... :o) After taking a moment, I decided to get some sole. As I fumble over my order with the butcher (same as the guy who handles the meat???), I finally decide on two fair sized fillets and place them carefully in to my basket... and then I walk briskly to the fruits and vegetables section of the market where I feel most comfortable. (haha)
So when I get home, I open up my America's Test Kitchen Cookbook and I find this recipe for Sole Meuniere with Browned Butter and Lemon. Instead of typing out the recipe for you this time... I've provided a link of a very close to the same recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_16763,00.html
Good luck! No notes on this one, just follow the recipe and you should be fine! I added a bit more seasoning when marinating before breading... it was perfecto! :o)
Do you like shrimp?? Shrimp, I have to say, is the least scariest seafood to cook with for me... I guess that's why I finally decided that it was time for me to buy a 2 lb. bag of shrimp from Costco to make my life easier:o)
My cousin and her family were coming over, so I thought why not try something new. Whenever I break out the stockpot, it always means leftovers anyways... but not this time. I think it easily fed the whole house and some. And who doesn't like a little sausage and shrimp with some rice! sounds great to me!!
Shrimp Jambalaya
1 tbsp vegetable oil
8 oz. andouille sausage, sliced 1/4 inch thick (We were being kosher, so I found some beef sausage--it was perfect)
1 onion, chopped fine
1 rib celery, chopped fine
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped fine
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp minced fresh thyme or 1/8 tsp dried
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained with 1/4 cup juice reserved
1 (8 oz) bottle clam juice
1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 lb. extra-large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tbsp minced fresh parsley
1. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over med-high heat until shimmering. Add the andouille and cook until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Transfer the sausage to a paper-towel lined plate, leaving the fat in the pot.
2. Add the onion, celery, and bell pepper to the fat in the pot and return it to medium heat. Cook, scraping up any browned bits, until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds.
3. Stir in the rice, salt, and thyme and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes, 1/4 cup reserved tomato juice, clam juice, broth and browned sausage. Bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Scatter the shrimp over the rice and continue to cook, covered, until the rice is tender and the shrimp have cooked through, about 5 minutes longer. Stir in the parsley before serving.
It was fun and delicious! The surprise was... that I threw in crab too!
Sidenote: Does anyone else think that I'm getting better at my food photography??? :oP
