Update on experiments

I ran a few experiments these past few weeks, some had ended better than others. Following are my results:

Homemade powder sugar:
This happened because I was mid-stride of a recipe and realized I was out. UGH! A little research online and I found that 1 cup sugar mixed with 1 Tablespoon corn starch can yield powder sugar. I say 'can' because I tried it first in my large food processor - and it remained fairly course. And I pulverized that sugar for a solid five minutes !! Once I moved it to my Magic Bullet (I LOVE that thing!!!!) I only had to pulverize it for two minutes. It was still a little grainy, but not bad for some made stuff. I could have had a go of it with my mortar and pestle - but let's be real, that wasn't going to happen.

Frozen Guacamole:
A few posts back I made Salsa y Guacamole and tried freezing the guac to see what would happen. The taste was okay, but the texture was weird and it looked awful!

Any suggestions? Has anyone had success on freezing avocados or guacamole? Please comment below if you have any thoughts!

Spicy Chicken Lime Soup

This one is fantastically easy and amazing. One day I was craving something savory, with a bit of kick and tang to it. So after rummaging around, working some magic, and doing all sorts of complicated procedures (just kidding, it was easy), this soup came into existence.

The savory broth is given some zing from the lime, and the Sriracha adds just enough kick to make things interesting. Plus, the classic combination of these flavors is very oriental to me. I don't know if it really is an authentic flavor combo as I've never been some place I would deem authentically oriental. But it works for me and I love this. Every time I've taken it into work for lunch, people always catch a whiff of it say something along the lines of "That smells great!" So yes, this really is good :)

I'm posting the recipe that will feed 6-8 people, but it can be paired down really easy as this is not an exact science type of soup. It's the 'throw everything in, taste, and add stuff till it tastes better' type of soup. So if you're flying solo, or feeding just two, only use part of the chicken, and save the rest for later.

Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients: 

8 cups chicken broth (homemade is best, fyi)

1 Rotisserie chicken

4-6 limes, juiced

1 Tablespoon Sriracha Sauce

Cilantro or Parsley (optional for garnish)

Directions:

Remove the skin from the chicken, and remove as much breast and thigh meat as you can. Enjoy the legs and wings on your own time, but don't include them in this soup. Save the carcass for homemade chicken broth if you'd like. Cut the remaining chicken into chunks.

Heat chicken broth, add chicken, lime juice, and Sriracha sauce. Stir, serve, and garnish with Cilantro or parsley if desired.

Pomegranate Lime Virgin Cocktails

Easy, distinct, and bold. This drink is something that kills three birds with one stone - it's bright, bold, and beautiful. It's like liquid elegance and beauty. Not only is it simple and fun to make, but it can be served with appetizers for a great conversation starter.

To get all the flavors, try briefly swirling it around in your mouth after taking a sip. This will allow the tart pomegranate flavor to give way to the sweet grenadine and the tangy lime.

Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 oz water or ginger ale (depending on what you're in the mood for)
2 oz pomegranate juice (POM Wonderful is the only way to go for this)
1 oz Rose's Sweetened Lime Juice
1 oz Rose's Grenadine

Mix together, strain over ice if desired.

Seared Tuna

Seared ahi tuna with Pomegranate Lime Virgin Cocktail

Tonight was a huge win! While the win wasn't quite the 'fish and loaves' scale Biblical miracle, it was a success at our house. I was able to get a staunch non-fish eater to try tuna steaks! Woot woot!!

Since starting to work with a group of people to love fish, I realized how infrequently I had eaten it since getting married last year. The Mr. doesn't like it, and I don't like cooking two meals, so I called it even and didn't really cook it unless I was flying solo for a night. Anyway, after talking about it for days, I realized he never had fish without huge amounts of over powering sauce or breading. That gave me a perfect segway into explaining how I would cook it perfectly, use moderate seasoning, and blow his mind with it. Well ladies and gents - mission accomplished! Not only did he love it, but said he'd be up for it again.

Traditionally, tuna steaks are seared and sliced for presentation, which is beautiful. However, that was a stretch too far for tonight, so you'll see his cooked through, and mine seared. I tried his, and it wasn't bad  - just different. I served it with Pomegranate Lime Virgin Cocktails which carried a very distinct taste to compliment the subtle tuna flavor. 

  

Ingredients:

2 tuna steaks (sashimi grade if you can find it), thawed
1 garlic clove, halved
Montreal Seasoning

Lemon for serving

Directions:

Heat cast iron skillet or nonstick pan on medium high. Meanwhile, pat tuna steaks dry, rub gently with the cut side of the garlic, and dust with Montreal Seasoning.

Spray pan with nonstick cooking spray just before placing the steaks in. To cook all the way through, cook 2-3 minutes on eat side, flipping once. To sear, cook 30-40 seconds on each side (yup - it's fast!).

Serve with your favorite side, and top with avocado slices if you're feeling adventurous! Serve with lemon slices for those who want to spritz theirs just before eating.

Browned Butter Gnocchi

 

I've been toying around with Gnocchi and have decided that I really like it, and I like it with a lot of different stuff. I'm still working on a Gorgonzola Cream sauce and it's coming along quite nicely. As for now this is my favorite - simple, easy, good. Works for me.

For a while, I didn't know what gnocchi was - it always just looked weird in the pasta isle. However, as I started delving into cooking, I started hearing about it more and more. Soon, it seemed that I needed to try it simple for the sake of trying it. To my surprise, I actually really liked it. I like it a lot more then I like most other pastas in fact. As I mentioned above, I've done a lot of test recipes with it. I have yet to have it at a restaurent, so I'm excited to see how my version of it will compare.

I bought gnocchi made with sweet potato and whole wheat flour for these simply because I was craving sweet potato flavor. I'm sure you could use regular wheat or potato gnocchi.




Ingredients:
1 package gnocchi
1 medium onion, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
4-5 cloves diced garlic.
Salt/pepper

2 Tablespoons cold butter, cubed

Parsley for garnish

Directions:
**Note - this works best if everything is ready to go before because you deal with a high heat pan. Prep your ingredients (chopped, diced, measured as needed) before - trust me! Also - these pictures show a quartered recipe, just FYI, not the full one listed above.



Cook gnocchi according to package directions, let drain well!!! those suckers should be pretty dry in order for them to brown well.


In a large pan on HIGH heat (yes high), heat oil and swirl to coat pan. Add onions and some salt, saute for 2-3 mins, stirring regularly. Once onions become translucent on the edges, add gnocchi and garlic, toss until coated. Toss about once a minute until gnocchi is lightly browned.


Remove from heat, add cold butter and toss until just melted. Serve and eat immediately :)

Tossed Salad with Blush Wine Vinaigrette, Cherry Tomatoes, and Avocado

I don't know if I talk much on here about how lazy I am - but in a moment of full self disclosure  I told my then boyfriend (now husband) that I can be remarkably lazy. We were sitting on the couch watching a movie, and he rolled his head over to look at me and with a totally straight face said "Oh honey, I can out lazy you any day." 

While I can be remarkably lazy in many ways, cooking is something I think people should enjoy. And sometimes, that means enjoying it because it was easy. Let me tell you, salads are easy. Well, they can be. I've encountered some pretty complex, finicky salads and thought "Wow, it just exhausts me looking at this!" However, this particular salad is packed with yummy goodness and full flavor with little fuss. It's pretty light but not so much so that you feel like you're eating air. I had this and Browned Butter Gnocchi for lunch today so I could clear out leftovers from some other food experiments. 

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 Head lettuce, chopped (I use Boston or Butter lettuce) 

Blush Wine Vinaigrette Dressing (make your own if you'd like, but I used Briannas and loved it) 

1 avocado, diced

~ 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved lengthwise

Blue Cheese crumbles or Shredded parmesan, for garnish 

Directions: (Watch out - this is the tough part!!!)

Toss Lettuce and dressing in large bowl, top with everything else. Serve. 

Teriyaki Beef and Broccolini

The longer I cook, the more I realize that good food is not the result of fancy ingredients - although they can help. Rather, good food is the result of someone who has a full command of the basics, and uses them wisely.
Don't get me wrong - I'm still on a steep learning curve when it comes to food, cooking, and domestic life in general. However, the more knowledgeable I become about food, the less pressured I feel to buy the newest, neatest gadget or gismo, and the more compelled I feel to learn how to use my paring knife in ten different ways.

Today I found out late in the day that Forrest would be home for dinner and my first thought was "Uh... I didn't grocery shop for you this week. Crap!" Since he's been working overtime the last few months, his company has provided the guys dinner - leaving me to try whatever the heck I wanted in my cooking lab without fear of someone else being hungry and therefor cranky.
So, when I realized he'd be home, I took a quick stock of what I had and compared it to what he will eat. Some broccolini (similar to broccoli), frozen stewing beef, and leftover teriyaki sauce from sushi night. BAM!!! That was my answer! Knowing how to use my basics allowed me to whip up a dinner to rival any restaurants version of this dish. The pictures aren't great because I snapped them 2 seconds before I ate it, so I wasn't in the mood to fuss with details.

Hope you enjoy!!


Ingredients:

1 lb beef, cut into 1/2 inch strips
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup teriyaki sauce, divided
1/2 onion, diced
1 head broccoli, cut into florets
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 Tablespoon corn starch

Directions:

Marinate beef slices in 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce - max of overnight, minimum of 30 mins.

Heat oil in large pan on medium high. Add beef/marinade and cook about 5 mins, or until meat is browned. Add onions, remaining 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce, stir, cook about 5 mins. While meat is cooking, mix soy sauce and corn starch.

After the initial 10 mins or so (may be less, depending on how thin your meat is), add broccoli florets, and corn/soy mix. Be sure to stir your mix right before adding it, as the corn starch will sink a bit.

Stir well, and cover to steam broccoli for about 2 mins.

Remove from heat, stir, and allow to stand for a few minutes until broccoli reaches desired tenderness.

Serve with rice, steamed veggies, or your favorite asian noodles.

Serves about 4-6 (depending on how hungry they are)