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Showing posts from 2016

Parmesan-Crusted Asparagus

This came from Cook's Country Best-Ever Recipes. It isn't the simplest recipe but it isn't that difficult and wow did we all love it. We made a half recipe since there were just three of us, set the finished baking sheet on the table and, in time-honored asparagus eating style, plucked stalks to eat with our fingers during the meal. The only adjustment we made was to ignore the note that thicker asparagus is better. We like thin and thin worked just fine in this recipe. In an effort to not retype the entire thing, I picked up the rendition below from The Girl Who Ate Everything where you may see her photos of the different steps. Parmesan-Crusted Asparagus Serves 4-6 as a side dish 2 pounds (1/2-inch-thick) asparagus, trimmed Salt and pepper 1-1/2 cups Parmesan cheese, grated 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled pinch cayenne 2 large egg whites 1 teaspoon honey Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 4

Beef Meatballs with Orecchiette, Kale and Pine Nuts

This is from Gordon Ramsay's Home Cooking, one of Rose's favorite cookbooks. She made it for dinner last night and it was simply fabulous. The only flaw was that the meatballs were unexpectedly delicate and fell apart some when she tossed them with the pasta. However, that was a small thing overall. Also, anyone who says that a pound of pasta serves 4 people is feeding giants. This feeds 8 people or 4 who want a second meal or leftovers. I picked up the recipe transcription from Savoury Image where you can see a photo of this delicious meal. Beef Meatballs with Orecchiette, Kale and Pine Nuts Makes 4 servings Ingredients: 1 lb. dried orecchiette pasta 2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced 8 oz. kale, shredded sea salt and freshly ground black pepper ¼ cup pine nuts, toasted Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to taste For the meatballs: 1 small onion, peeled and finely diced 2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced sea salt and freshly ground black pepper Oli

Oaxacan Black Bean Soup

This is another easy, delicious recipe from Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen. Even my husband liked this, and he's not a bean soup lover. I didn't add the shrimp because I couldn't wrap my mental taste palate around them in black bean soup. Also I was just throwing this together and didn't have any. We didn't miss them but I might try them next time. Oaxacan Black Bean Soup Makes 7 cups, serving 6 12 ounces (about 2 cups) black beans, picked over 4 avocado leaves or 1 stalk fennel, roughly chopped (I used a bit of ground fennel seed) 1/2 cup (4 ounces) chorizo sausage, casing removed, crumbled 1 small white onion, diced Salt, about 1 teaspoon (I needed much more ... about a tablespoon) 1/3 cup vegetable oil, for frying 4 to 6 corn tortillas (preferably stale sort-bought ones), sliced into 1/8-inch wide strips, for garnish (Bayless says you can use broken, good quality chips instead of frying up the tortilla strips ... and I did. Delicious!) 8 ounce

Tacos of Tomatillo Chicken with Wilted Greens and Fresh Cheese

This is from Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen which has some of the easiest authentic Mexican recipes ever. And the most delicious. We found this made a good one dish supper. This looks much more difficult than it is. Just forge ahead and don't worry. Tacos of Tomatillo Chicken with Wilted Greens and Fresh Cheese For 1-1/4 cups Essential Simmered Tomatillo-Serrano Sauce 8 ounces (5 to 6 medium) tomatillos, husked and rinsed. Fresh serrano chiles to taste. (roughly 2), stemmed 1-1/2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil 1/2 medium white onion, roughly chopped 1 garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped  1 cup chicken broth 3 tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro Salt, 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon, depending on the saltiness of the broth -------------- Other Ingredients 12 corn tortillas (plus a few extra, in case some break) 2 cups firmly packed sliced chard leaves, lamb's quarters (quelites), sliced amaranth greens (quintoniles), purslane (verdolagas) or spinach (all p

Poached Chicken

From Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen. This turned out some of the tenderest, juiciest chicken I've ever had. It's a great technique for a lightly flavored broth as well as chicken to use in various recipes. Poached Chicken Makes about 1-1/2 pounds poached chicken, about 3 cups shredded.  1 medium white onion, sliced 2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped 1 teaspoon salt 1 good size (3 pound) chicken, cut into quarters (I used a 5 pound chicken, came out great with same timing) 2 bay leaves 1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram (didn't have it, didn't miss it) In a large (6-quart) pot, bring 8 cups of water to a boil. (I used 10 cups because of the larger chicken.) Add onion, garlic, carrot, salt and chicken back (if you're lucky enough to have a separated one - I did because I cut up a whole chicken myself ), neck, heart and giblets. Skim off any foam that rises after a minute or two, partially cover and simmer over medium-low for 20 minutes. Add dark

Pecan-Crusted Chicken with Mustard Sauce

Basically all of the articles I save on Facebook now are recipe posts from Food and Wine, which is where I found this amazing recipe. It's fast, delicious, and pretty cheap. 1 cup pecans 2 tbsp cornstarch 1 tsp dried thyme 1 tsp dried paprika 1 1/2 tsp salt Cayenne 1 egg 2 tbsp water 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1.3 lbs) 3 tbsp cooking oil 1 cup mayonnaise 2 tbsp grainy or dijon mustard 1/2 tsp white wine vinegar 1/2 tsp sugar 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley In a food processor, pulse the pecans with the cornstarch, thyme, paprika, 1 1/4 tsp of the salt, 1/8 tsp cayenne until the nuts are chopped fine. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl. Whisk together the egg and water in a small bowl. Dip each chicken breast into the egg mixture and then into the nut mixture. In a large nonstick frying pan, heat the oil over moderate heat. Add the chicken to the pan and cook for 5 minutes. Turn and continue cooking until the chicken is go

All Under Heaven by Carolyn Phillips

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I was 12% into this book when I knew I wanted a copy for myself. I was 20% into it when I realized I needed to preorder multiple copies for everyone I know who cooks Chinese food. I've got several Chinese cookbooks and had sworn off ever buying any more. My favorite, The Key to Chinese Cooking by Irene Kuo, never lets me down and has a lot of variety packed into it. However, All Under Heaven was written with the same sort of clear instructions and approachable style. Additionally, it looked at the usual Chinese regional cuisine divisions (Sichuan, Hunan, Cantonese, etc.) more closely than I'd ever seen. This means than you don't just read about Cantonese or Southern Chinese cooking, but also get to try typical Hakka dishes or try that of Taiwan's military families who came from different provinces and then gave everything a big stir to create their own distinctive cuisine. Some of the dishes sound like a familiar twist on our favorites like Silk Road Fajitas,

Green Onion Pancakes

These are one of my favorite things to make, because they can be appetizers or a main course, they take very few ingredients, and they're very easy to make. It can be a little tedious to roll them out, but even that doesn't take very long. And as a bonus, people are usually very impressed both with the execution and the result. The first time I made green onion pancakes was with a different recipe than the one I'm giving here. It didn't specify that the water for the dough should be boiling, and it didn't have the multiple roll-outs of the dough. These things make a huuuge difference! As did an old gas range and a powerful, newer one, but that was just a benefit of moving. Now, this recipe is from Serious Eats by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt Pancakes: 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup boiling water Up to 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil (I actually like regular sesame oil better) 2 cups thinly sliced scallion greens Dipping sauce: 2 tbsp soy sauce 2 tbsp Chinkiang or ri

Crab Mac and Cheese

One of the most consistently good cookbooks I've ever gotten was from Julie when I got married. It's Nigel Slater's Eat . All of the recipes are simple, not too many ingredients, and written in paragraph form, which I found off-putting at first but quickly learned to love. So here is one of the first things I ever made out of it: crab mac and cheese. Crab Mac and Cheese 8 oz medium-sized pasta (penne, serpentelli, macaroni) 10 oz lump crab meat 1+2/3 cup milk 1 cup heavy cream 1 tbsp Dijon mustard 2 tbsp whole-grain mustard 1/2 cup fresh white bread crumbs 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Boil pasta in a large pot of well-salted boiling water for about 9 minutes, til tender. Drain and return to the saucepan, then add milk, heavy cream, Dijon mustard, and whole-grain mustard and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, stir in crab meat, and simmer gently, stirring often, for about 5 minutes. Check the seasoning, then transfer to a dee

Best Mapo Tofu

Hi! I'm Hannah, Julie's daughter, who now has access to this blog to post all my favorite recipes! So to start off, here is a recipe for Mapo tofu from Serve the People: A Stir-fried Journey Through China by Jen Lin-Liu. Now, I will say that one ingredient we used is probably not what the recipe actually intends. The recipe calls for broadbean paste (doubanjiang), which exists in plain and spicy versions. The way the author calls for chili sauce in equal part to broadbean paste in other recipes in the book makes me think it's meant to be the plain version. I couldn't find a kind that didn't have chili in it at the Vietnamese or Thai grocery stores I go to, so I just used Lee Kum Kee's chili bean sauce, which has broadbean paste in it but also a hefty dose of chili. So my husband was a big fan, partly because he takes very spicy food as a challenge, but I like it with a little bit less chili bean sauce. I could have tried a Chinese market, but I'm no

Texas Hash

Anyone who didn't grow up in Texas is going to think of something like Corned Beef Hash and say, "What? Hash has chopped potatoes." But in Texas, it has rice instead. And ground beef. And a Mexican flair, if you are lucky. After being introduced to the Davis family Texas Hash, I tried began adapting it for our family's preferences. Delicious! Texas Hash 1 pound good store bought Chorizo 1 medium onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, minced (or use 1 cup pico de gallo instead of garlic and the tomatoes below) 2 small tomatoes, preferably Roma, chopped (or canned, diced tomatoes) 1-3/4 cup uncooked rice 1/2 tablespoon chili powder 1/4 teaspoon cumin 2 cups chicken stock 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro In a large oven-proof skillet, preferably cast iron, brown chorizo over medium heat, breaking it into small pieces. Pour off the accumulated fat as necessary to leave no more than about 1 tablespoon. Add the onion, garlic, and tomatoes to the chorizo and contin

Favorite Meat Loaf

I've never been a meat loaf fan but for some obscure reason I tried recipe after recipe looking for one I could love. When I came across this in James Beard's American Cookery, I knew I'd found my meat loaf at last. For one thing, it is covered in bacon. For another, it has strong seasoning anchored by sausage. For the third thing ... did I mention the bacon? Another advantage is that you shape the loaf without putting it in a loaf pan. That means it isn't soggy because the fat has somewhere else to go than soaking into the loaf. That makes the texture nice and firm. It is the meat loaf I cooked for my family winter after winter and I really love it. Favorite Meat Loaf 2 pounds ground beef 1 pound ground pork (sausage meat will do) 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1 fairly large onion, finely chopped 1-1/2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper 1 teaspoon thyme 1 teaspoon summer savory (I never have this on hand and it works fine without it) 1/

Supremes

This recipe is from Maida Heatter's Cookies. She says: These are rich walnut-oatmeal bars with a baked-in sweet chocolate filling. The recipe gives a large yield and the cookies are generally best stored in the refrigerator and served cold. They're all that and more. Everyone just loves these, they make a ton, and they freeze well. What's kind of funny is that I've never cared for them that much. But I'm the only one, believe me. Supremes Makes 32 to 48 large or 64 small bars 2-1/2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 8 ounces (2 sticks) butter 1 teaspoon instant coffee 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed 2 eggs 3 cups old-fashioned or quick-cooking oatmeal 7 ounces (2 cups) walnuts, cut or broken into medium pieces Chocolate Filling: 1 15-oz can sweetened condensed milk 12 ounces semisweet chocolate, cut into small pieces 2 tablespoons butter Pinch of salt 1 teaspoon vanilla Adjust a rack one-