Monthly Archives: March 2012

Greek hot pepper and cheese dip


Called tyrokafteri, this is a greek hot pepper and cheese dip.

3/4 lb hot cherry peppers
2/3 lb feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 lb Halloumi cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat broiler. Place cherry peppers on a rimmed baking sheet and roast in broiler until skins are charred and peppers are softened, turning peppers as necessary to roast evenly. Transfer peppers to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Peel, stem, and de-seed peppers.

Place peppers in the workbowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add in feta and halloumi, yogurt, olive oil, and lemon juice. Puree until peppers and feta are as smooth as possible and sauce is completely combined. Transfer to a bowl and serve with veggies, chips or pita chips. I sometimes do add salsa to it to make it more fiesta style.

Chocolate bundt Easter eggs


In the spirit of Easter, I tend to bake stuff. This year I’m going to try to bake cakes into my eggs. So here we go.

Here’s some technical stuff. Volume of an egg

 

I’m using large eggs which is 3 tablespoons and I wanna prevent filling them more then 2/3 rd’s full. So 2 tablespoons of batter per egg. 12 cups worth of batter is 192 tablespoons divided by 2 divided by 12 is 8 cartons of eggs. Yes that’s a lot of eggs. The egg whites and yolks of these eggs will not go to waste. I myself scramble then up regularly, so 8 cartons will last me about a week.

 

First we need to prep the eggs. I do this with a needle poking a hole in both ends, and blowing the egg white and yolk out of the shell into a bowl. I then soak the egg shells in a solution of 1 part vinegar 2 parts water. Leave these over night. The next day let them drain and dry for a day. Once dry the fun begins. You want to remove carefully from one end of the egg some more of the shell. You want it to be big enough to insert your #1 standard decorating tip for a pastry bag. To seal the other end of the egg, I add in 1/2 teaspoon of powdered sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon of olive oil. This mixes in the egg and seals the end, Sometimes it doesn’t seal that’s ok. Now we make the batter.

 

2 cups chocolate porter or stout beer
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
3/4 cup natural cocoa powder (non-dutched)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups plain whole yogurt
3/4 cup pure maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350F, with a rack in the center.

In a saucepan simmer the beer down to 1 cup. Remove from heat, add the butter and stir until melted. Stir in the cocoa powder, mixing until smooth, then set aside to cool, stirring occasionally to let off heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, yogurt, and maple syrup. Whisk well, until nicely blended and uniform in appearance. Gradually add the (cooled) stout mixture, stirring all the while. Stir until well blended. Add the flour mixture, folding until just blended, using as few strokes as possible.

Transfer the batter to the eggs by injecting through the pastry bag do not fill more then 2/3rds otherwise the egg will break and bake for 30 minutes-40 minutes at the most. Remove eggs from the oven and let cool. I often bring them in the egg cartons to dinner.

There is no salmonella risk as the temprature gets hot enough to kill off the salmonella bacterium. It is also possible to dye the egg shells before filling them after blowing the egg white and yolk out. It’s fun to peel the eggs only to find that it’s got cake in it! What fun for kids and adults alike? You can do this with any dough you can squeeze through your pastry bag. Could possibly do it with a cookie dough if you can get it to a batter like consistancy.

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Amish style potato salad


Well I’m sorry I haven’t been posting much. Life has been getting into the way. I’ve also been sleeping really odd hours. So going to try to bang out a few recipes a week now rather then every day till things become normal.

 

2 beaten egg
1 cup honey
2 tbsp. corn flour
1 cup water
1 cup apple vinegar
4 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
Combine in the order given, stirring after each addition. Boil until thick. Cool before adding to the potatoes to make Amish potato salad.

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Would be very delicious right now.

Fresh Force

Today was an exceptionally great day at the gym – it was empty, like became completely empty and I was the only person there so I stayed for two and a half hours. There are these really really irritating people who frequent the gym, including this woman who uses the place to train people and takes up half the place and is loud. But mostly takes up half the place and all the mat area and it is really annoying. This may seem like an odd complaint, but this is not a public gym, it is for the people who live in the co-op and there is a small additional fee to use. It bugs me that someone wants to use it as her personal office for her business.

Anyhoo, this tillapia can be used a multitude of ways – fish tacos, plain, maybe with some scallion -pea and lemon…

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Looks delicious

Seattle Foodshed

Every time we make a recipe from Ottolenghi’s cookbook ‘Plenty’, we are thrilled with how it turns out. The rich smokiness of the eggplant and tofu, the spicy sweet tang of the dressing, and the hearty noodles, all combine to make this a satisfying meal. We made this recipe and packed it up for a week of lunches (it seems to get better as it sits). This is also going to be our go-to recipe for potlucks and brunches.

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Loving it.

Balanced Modern Mom

Try this for your meatless Monday. I truly enjoy salads, and I like exploring in the vegetable world and seeing what I can use in a salad so that we never get bored or feel that it’s too monotonous. Salads don’t just have to be made of leaves, it can be of anything you like. I am determined to believe that the more you explore and diversify your meals the more you look forward to experimenting and eating healthy foods. i.e. if you make the same salad everyday, then you start feeling as if you are deprived but if you spice it up and add different things you start forgetting all the other bad foods and start craving and looking forward to the foods that you are eating.

I am a firm believer that you crave what you eat, if you eat too many sweets you are going to be…

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Grilled salmon with lemon mint butter


I love lemon, I love mint, and I love butter on my grilled salmon. It’s just lovely.

 

  • 6 (6-oz) pieces center-cut salmon fillet (about 1 inch thick) with skin
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lime zest
  • 6 tablespoons lemon mint butter (recipe below)

Lemon mint butter

  • 1 1/2 teaspons lemon juice
  • 1/2 tablespoon mint diced
  • 6 tablespoons butter

To make lemon mint butter, slowly melt butter add mint and lemon juice and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Shut off heat and keep warm.

Prepare grill for cooking over medium-hot charcoal (moderate heat for gas).

Season salmon all over with salt and pepper, then grill, flesh sides down, on lightly oiled grill rack (covered only if using gas grill) 4 minutes. Check for grill marks, then turn fillets over and grill indirect heat (covered only if using gas grill) until just cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes more. Once done remove from grill leaving skin behind, sprinkle with lemon mint butter and your ready to enjoy.

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Sounds like they’d make a nice ham sandwich.

The Pantry Newmarket

Here at the Pantry we make our scones fresh daily, we do three flavours; plain, fruit, and cheddar & Dijon mustard. There is constant high demand for them so they are made several times a day. With the approach of Mothers Day we have thought up of several variations to our recipes.  Anybody can make these so why not treat your mother to a homemade scone this mothers day.

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Cheddar and Dijon mustard scones

Makes 10 scones

Ingredients

 

  • 450g self-raising flour
  • 110g butter
  • Pinch of salt and pepper
  • 100g cheddar cheese, grated
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 300ml milk
  • Dash of Worcestershire sauce

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190c
2. Rub the butter into the flour and add the salt and pepper
3. Add the grated cheese, Dijon, mustard and mix
4. Make a well in the centre to the mix and slowly add the milk bit by bit…

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13 Pro tips for grilling perfect fish


Summer is around the corner. Many people will be firing up their grills this summer and cooking some nice fish fillets. Well here’s my Pro tips for grilling awesome fish. You’ll never order grilled fish ever again from any resturaunt ever again! Remember any firm fish fillet will do, salmon, pike, pickerel, rainbow trout, Tilapia, Trout, walley, white fish, zander, grayling, striped bass/rock fish, flying fish, john dory, mahi mahi, shark, monkfish, mullet, pink snapper,  sardines, red snappers, swordfish, and Tile fish are all good fish for grilling. Whole fish 10-20 minutes, steaks 1 inch thick 9-10 minutes! These TIPS ARE FOR FILLETS!

Tip 1, if their an inch thick or thicker, cook them using indirect heat…(coals pushed to one side of the grill opposite of the fish)

Tip 2…the tough leather hide like skin…is your friend. If you wanna char the face of the fillet, put it face down for a minute or 2 over coals. Then flip and cook indirect heat. Why is the skin your friend…it holds the fish together. Any good firm fish is wonderful, but the skin holds it all together.

Tip 3….Olive oil…it helps the fish get a nice color to it.

Tip 4….marinate before grilling….it helps keep the fish moist in my opinion.

Tip 5….Keep the fish dry, if it’s dry it’ll get a nice color to it. If it’s wet…you’ll have an uneven color.

Tip 6….when removing from the grill, slide the spatula under the fillet and the skin to remove the fish from the grill. The charred skin will remain on the grill, and you’ll get a nicely cooked fish without the skin as some people prefere.

Tip 7….time it….4-5 minutes for every 1/2 inch in thickness….8-10 minutes for every inch of thickness.

Tip 8….White-fleshed fish fillets are usually done, but still juicy, when their centers just turn opaque.

Tip 9….SEASON AFTER THE GRILL…this is a big one…cobia with a nice lime butter and pineapple salsa for dinner….never add lime butter or other liquid type stuff to cooking fish…this will ruin the color, it’s better to drizzle warm butter or light fat based sauces over the fish after it’s been cooked.

Tip 10….Do not be afraid to use alternatives to the skin. I’ve used lime, cilantro and mint butter to my fillets tonight with a pineapple salsa…I also “sticked” some fish and wrapped it in thin sliced ham.

Tip 11…..Sticked fish….sticking fish is a term I use for taking and slicing a fillet into small rolls for wrapping. It’s much harder to wrap a whole fish fillet than it is to roll fish sticks.

Tip 12…Play with your food. Don’t be scared to enjoy the food and play with it’s designs. Cook some fish up and try making different patterned sushi from it!
Tip 13…..Have fun, thats the best thing about cooking, have fun while doing it. As my nana used to say, it’s love my little bambino, love is what makes food good. It’s dolce vita, the good life the sweet life….drinking good drinks that you love, with people that you love, cooking food that you love, for people that you love, with ingredients that you love, the food will never be bad.

Porcellum Assum Tractomelinum


Roast Suckling Pig with a Pastry and Honey Stuffing Or Porcellum Assum Tractomelinum in latin.

1 whole suckling pig
3 tbsp freshly-ground black pepper
1 cup honey
2 1/2 cups red wine
2 bayleaves
1.5 lb dried pastry, flaked (They used some stale danishs)

Clean and gut the suckling pig through the neck then set aside. Combine the black pepper, honey, wine and bayleaves in a pan. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, then take off the heat and remove the bayleaf. Work in the crumbled pastry, stirring until the mixture is thick and the blend is smooth. Pour the mixture through the neck of the suckling pig then bind closed with skewers and cover with foil. Sit on a rack in a roasting tin then transfer to an oven pre-heated to 430°F and roast for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 320°F and continue roasting for 50 minutes per kg, or until the skin is crisp and the meat is thoroughly cooked (check that the meat juices run clear by piercing in the thickest part of the roast). Remove the pig from the oven, cover with foil and allow to rest for 20 minutes. Transfer to a serving dish, carve and serve.

It was very delicious. It was served to me by a greek couple in the neighborhood who invited my babes and I to dinner to thank me for turning a few of their hogs into sausage for them. It was very very good. So good I had to share. It was moist, tender, the stuffing was flavorful and also decently moist.

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