Vodka

I will admit, we did have frozen pasta. BUT WAIT! It was sweet potato gnocchi from Trader Joe's! Since it was frozen, I thought I could at least make a fresh sauce.

Servings: 6

Active time: 15 minutes

Inactive time: 30 minutes


1/2 cup vodka

1/2 cup light cream

2 beef tomatoes 

1 tablespoon tomato paste

3 cloves garlic

1 shallot

1/2 teaspoon fresh sage

1/2 teaspoon fresh majoram

1 ounce fresh mozzarella 

1. Chop garlic and shallot in processor.

2. Sauté garlic and shallot then add cubed tomatoes. 

3. Once tomatoes have cooked, poor mixture in blender with other ingredients.  

Mandarin Mojito

This is seriously the best skill ever. I looked at a couple of recipes for tonight, but either didn't read the preparation all the way through, so I didn't have the equipment or just didn't have the ingredients. So I improvised.

Servings: 3

Active time: 30 minutes

Inactive time: 1 h 20 mins.

3 tilapia filets

2 cups Smirnoff's Mojito mix
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons rum
1/2 tablespoon orange zest
6 ounces mandarin oranges
1 1/2 tablespoons mint sauce
1 teaspoon ginger

1. Whisk all marinade ingredients in a bowl, poke holes in fish with fork and place all in a gallon size plastic bag.
2. Shake bag and marinade tilapia for at least an hour.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and place each fillet on a separate piece of parchment paper with some sauce.
4. Fold parchment over horizontally on sides match and roll up sides to close.
5. Bake on cookie sheet for 20 minutes.

Shrimp Kebabs

Again: An Italian chef's main ingredients include pasta, white wine, rosemary, oregano, Parmesan and tomatoes. The pastry chef works with almond, cream, blood orange and lemon. Therefore, as the base for the marinade, I used white white, oregano, rosemary and orange juice. I gave it a nice kick with: ginger preserves.
This constituted the marinade for shrimp kebabs

pinch oregano
pinch rosemary
1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 teaspoon ginger preserves
12 raw shrimp

skewers

1 cup pilaf
2 cups chicken broth

1/2 green beans
balsamic

1. Mix marinade ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Poke two holes in each shrimp, place in dish and pour in marinade.
3. Marinade for 30 minutes.
4. While shrimp marinates, cook pilaf and beans.
5. Skewer 4 shrimp each on 3 skewers and grill until shrimp are pink.

Coconut Lamb

Story of my life: We  didn't have some ingredients. So, I added from there, subtracted from there, did a different preparation with that, and came up with something edible. The base recipe for this lamb comes from Matt's mom's Indian cookbook, Madhur Jaffery's Indian Cooking. The original recipe, calls for chicken, but we never liked that idea. So, Matt and I decided on lamb and as stated above, this is what happened a few incarnations later..


4 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick (broken into pieces)
1 whole nutmeg
1 1/2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

2 cups shredded coconut

6 cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon onion relish
1 glove garlic
1-inch chunk fresh ginger
6 sprigs mint
red pepper flakes

2 pounds lamb
1/2 onion
1 can tomato paste
1 1/2 cups water
4 tablespoons vegetable oil

1. Dry-roast spices in a skillet over medium flame until fragrant and grind in coffee grinder until fine. Place aside.
2. Toast coconut in same skillet until edges are brown. The coconut should pick-up some of the flakes from the spices.
3. Process tomatoes, onion relish, garlic, ginger, mint, red pepper flakes and 4 tablespoons water into a paste.
4. In a 12-inch saute pan, on medium-high heat, saute onions.
5. Pour Paste into onions and stir once. Reduce into medium and cook together with lamb, water, tomato paste, coconut and spices.

Quiche

Among the ingredients I had to choose from today included about 5 pie crusts. I was thinking about lunch, and thought those pie crusts shouldn't just go toward fat pills. And I think I'm liking quiche more and more

1 1/2 cups half and half
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 red pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon chives, chopped
6 eggs
1 pie crust
1 cup shredded cheese
1/2 cup ham-steak

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Saute onions and peppers.
3. Wisk half and half into eggs in large bowl.
4. Stir in all other ingredients and pour into pie crust.
5. Place quiche on cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes.

Jumbalaya

DUDE!!!!!!! We sooooooooooo have stuff for dinner, just let me at that kitchen!!!!

2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning
2 tablespoons hot sauce
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups wild rice
1/2 pound shrimp
3 cups spinach
4 scallions
1/4 a red pepper
1/4 a green pepper
1/4 a white onion
1/4 red onion
2 andouille sausages
1 can black beans

1. Start rice first.  Combine broth, seasoning,  hot sauce and rice. Bring mixture to a boil and turn down to simmer immediately after for 50 minutes.
2. Chop pepper and onions and cook in saute pan until onions have browned.
3. Add spinach and cook until wilted.
4.  Boil shrimp for 5 minutes.
5. When rice is ready, combine and serve.

Passion fruit lassi

1 tablespoon monkfruit sugar
1 teaspoon ginger
1 cup passion fruit yogurt
1/2 cup milk

1. Blend and enjoy!

Dutch

This took me a bit...but just a hour or so. We were having burgers for dinner; but how should I dress it up? Which country should I choose? We had gouda and I wanted to use that.  So, dutch. The Netherlands is historically connected to Indonesia, so the burger now had to include Indonesian spices. I also suggest eating them with fries slathered in mayonnaise.

3 pounds ground beef

1 cup Heineken

1/2 onion

1 teaspoon ginger, cardamom, cumin, coriander, nutmeg, gloves, turmeric

1. Marinate separated meat in beer, onion, spice mixture for 1/2 hour.

2. Form patties and cook.

Salsa di vino bianco con arancio dolce

Mom gave me white wine and dad doesn't like fish.

1 cup heavy cream
1/2 fruity white wine
2 tablespoons sweet orange marmalade
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Boil ingredients in saucepan stirring constantly.
2. Simmer.

Super quadruple tropical

1/2 cup olive oil
1/8 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup fresh pinapple juice
1 tablespoon rosemary
1 tablespoon fresh ginger
3 large skinless boneless chicken breast halves
3 ounces plain, 0% yogurt
2 tablespoons guava paste
1 large mango, halved, pitted, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices

1. Whisk first 5 ingredients in large bowl. Add chicken breasts; turn to coat. Cover chicken breasts and chill 3 to 4 hours, turning occasionally.
2. Preheat oven to 350 F.
3. Blend yogurt and guava paste.
4. Bake chicken for an hour.
5. Meanwhile, melt butter in another heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mango slices and sauté until brown, about 2 minutes per side.
6. Drizzle sauce over chicken and surround with mango.

 

Fig

I was searching on what to put on my chicken dinner and came across a fig sauce I knew my mom would adore.  But, I had just run out of fresh figs.

2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 1/2 tablespoons fig butter
1/2 cup coursely chopped dates
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup pomegranate balsalmic

1. Throw everything in a pot and simmer covered. 15 mins.

Healthy Pan- Asian Peanut

3 Chicken breasts

Kasha:
1 cup Kasha
2 cups miso broth
1 egg white

Sauce
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 garlic glove
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon Japanese sesame oil
2 teaspoons peanut oil

1 bunch broccoli

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare cookie sheet.
2. Place chicken on sheet and bake for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile:
3. Mix all sauce ingredients together.Set aside.
4. In separate bowl, coat kasha kernels with egg white.
5. In a medium saucepan, heat broth to boiling. Once boiling, stir in kasha and cook covered for 10 minutes.
6. Steam broccoli.
7. When chicken is done, get a large saucepan and mix all components together for a one bowl dish or just chicken and sauce accompanied by the sides.

BBQ sauce

3 tablespoons ketchup
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon brown sugar
Pinch mustard powder
1/4 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
1 teaspoon scotch whiskey

Chicken Noodle

Matt was sick. So I made him Chicken Noodle from scratch.

Stock:

Bones and skin of one oven-roasted chicken

2 tablespoons poultry seasoning

Half a white onion

2 celery stalks

2 Turkish bay leafs

4 cilantro sprigs

salt and pepper

1. De-bone and skin chicken. Cut veggies. Make a bouquet garni by tying fresh herbs together with kitchen twine.

2. Cover with water just above ingredients. After mixture comes to a boil, turn it to simmer for 4 hours.

Soup:

Half a red onion

chicken

egg noodles

3. Drain stock and put ingredients in soup. pasta can cook in there. Just make sure to do a rustic chop for onion. 

Mesquite Black Beans and Rice

Just easy beans and rice.

1 can Bush's mesquite black grilling beans
1 1/2 cups rice
1/2 bell pepper
1 Tbsp. paprika
1 tsp. cumin powder
1/2 tsp. ground chipotle pepper
1/2 tsp. dried, crushed rosemary leaves
1/2 tsp. Marjoram leaves
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. brown sugar

1. Chop pepper and mix spices.
2. Cook rice. Add beans when done, mixing on low heat.
3. Add spices and peppers.

Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps

I know, I know, I feel horrible. But, this dish potentially uses flavors from all over Asia.  ..... we had turkey at home.

1 pound ground turkey
1/3 cup Ginger Teriyaki cooking sauce
2 chopped scallions
1/2 teaspoon each: peanut butter, fresh ginger, garlic, shrimp paste, chilli
1 teaspoon red chilli flakes
1/4 cup shredded carrot
1/4 bean sprouts

1. Chop veggies
2. Cook turkey in half of the sauce in a skillet.
3. Towards the end, and spices, peanut butter, scallions and rest of sauce.
4. Serve in lettuce leaves.

Apple-pear cider

1 1/2 apples, separated
2 pears
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 cups apple juice
1/4 cup rum

1. Puree chunks of 1 apple and pears in blender with apple juice.
2. Strain froth from juice into large saucepan using a cheesecloth and add sugar, ginger and cinnamon.
3. Set on high to boil.
4. After boiling,  simmer for 20 minutes.
5. While the cider simmers, slice 1/2 apple with mandolin on thinest setting.
6. Transfer cider to punch bowl, add apple slices and rum.

Stuffed Litchi

I come from at least three foreign service officers; both my grandpa's and my dad. My maternal grandfather was posted to my Asian countries including Korea and Japan and My dad developed a taste for South East Asia.
He was studying India at Berkley and thought a year-long course on South East Asia looked interesting. Also when he was offered a choice of position between Delhi and KL, he took Malaysia because he would get to learn a new language and have more influence.
Needless to say, we have a wide selection of artifacts from all over Asia and a pull to the food. So when Matt and I were going to make a Indonesian dish and my mom needed some other supplies,  we went to a Asian supermarket out in Virginia.
It was about lunch time, so we had lunch at the restaurant baring the same name as the market.  We were browsing the menu when a litchi appetizer caught our collective eye. They were stuffed with pork in sweet chili sauce and the combination of flavors was so refreshing,  we thought we'd make our own for Thanksgiving.

Sweet chili pork stuffed litchi:

1. Cook the pork on stove until mostly done and add cilantro,  salt, black pepper and sweet chili sauce.

2. Stuff in drained litchi.

Homemade Rav a la Matt and Babs

So, one night we decided to make fresh pasta. I really think that's the full story. We'll be putting up more soon-Matt made a really good soup, I just have to get the rights.

 Shrimp mix:
5 shrimp
1/2 cup ricotta
1 teaspoon dill

Pork mix:
Pork sausage
ball pepper
1 teaspoon rosemary

1. Prep pasta, shrimp, and pork mixtures.

To prep pasta dough: Divide pasta dough in fourths. Use two fourths at a time, one lump for the bottom sheet and one for the top, roll it out into 1/8 inch of roll it in a professional pasta roller.

To prep shrimp mixture:Cook and chop shrimp, crumble ricotta and crush fresh dill.

To prep pork mixture: Crop peppers and rosemary, mix mix sausage using oil, cook.

2.Scoop shrimp mix in 1/2 teaspoonfuls about 1/2 inch apart on bottom sheet, cover with top sheet.
3. Repeat with Pork mix.
4. place 2-3 rav in boiling water at  a time in order not to crowd. They aren't done until they rise to the top.

Ginger Lemon Kefir

2 cups plain yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon curd
2 tablespoons ginger preserves

1. Your standup mixer, combine all ingredients and whisk until drinkable.
2. Enjoy!