Yakisoba

This is one of my favorite noodle dishes and it's so easy to make.

Purchase Yakisoba noodles from an Asian grocery store. I got this from Ranch 99. It comes with 3 packages of noodles and sauce mix.

Stir fry sliced onions, bean sprouts, chopped celery. Add sliced fish cake. Remove from heat. In a separate pan, add 1/4 cup water with 1 Tbs water. Heat and add 1 package of noodles. Stir to break up noodles. I do this 3 times because I make a lot of vegetables all at once. Once the water is absorbed, add the noodles back to the pan with vegetables and fish cake. Add cilantro before serving.

2016 08 17

Alton Brown's Buffalo Wings

Someone else in the group made Buffalo wings.

Alton Brown Buffalo Wings

12 whole chicken wings

3 ounces unsalted butter

1 small clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup hot sauce

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Place a 6-quart saucepan with a steamer basket and 1-inch of water in the bottom, over high heat, cover and bring to a boil.

Remove the tips of the wings and discard or save for making stock. Using kitchen shears, or a knife, separate the wings at the joint. Place the wings into the steamer basket, cover, reduce the heat to medium and steam for 10 minutes. Remove the wings from the basket and carefully pat dry. Lay the wings out on a cooling rack set in a half sheet pan lined with paper towels and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Replace the paper towels with parchment paper. Roast on the middle rack of the oven for 20 minutes. Turn the wings over and cook another 20 minutes or until meat is cooked through and the skin is golden brown.

While the chicken is roasting, melt the butter in a small bowl along with the garlic. Pour this along with hot sauce and salt into a bowl large enough to hold all of the chicken and stir to combine.

Remove the wings from the oven and transfer to the bowl and toss with the sauce. Serve warm.

My Notes: I liked these wings. The combination of steaming and baking rendered the fat and made the wings very crispy.

2016 08 13

Alton Brown's Gazpacho

My husband made Alton Brown's gazpacho.

Alton Brown Gazpacho

1 1/2 pounds vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

Tomato juice

1 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped

1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1 small jalapeno, seeded and minced

1 medium garlic clove, minced

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 lime, juiced

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon toasted, ground cumin

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, chiffonade

Fill a 6-quart pot halfway full of water, set over high heat and bring to a boil.

Make an X with a paring knife on the bottom of the tomatoes. Drop the tomatoes into the boiling water for 15 seconds, remove and transfer to an ice bath and allow to cool until able to handle, approximately 1 minute. Remove and pat dry. Peel, core and seed the tomatoes. When seeding the tomatoes, place the seeds and pulp into a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl in order to catch the juice. Press as much of the juice through as possible and then add enough bottled tomato juice to bring the total to 1 cup.

Place the tomatoes and juice into a large mixing bowl. Add the cucumber, bell pepper, red onion, jalapeno, garlic clove, olive oil, lime juice, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire, cumin, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Transfer 1 1/2 cups of the mixture to a blender and puree for 15 to 20 seconds on high speed. Return the pureed mixture to the bowl and stir to combine. Cover and chill for 2 hours and up to overnight. Serve with chiffonade of basil.

My Notes: This was good but I still like the recipe I got from the cookbook I purchased in Spain. My recipe calls for white vinegar but no balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce nor lime.

2016 08 13

Alton Brown's Meatball Sandwich

I belong to a Supper Club and we meet every other month. We met in August and our theme was Alton Brown.

I chose to make Alton Brown's Meatball Sandwich.

Making the meatballs in muffin tins.  I placed the tin over a baking sheet just in case the oil spilled from the sides of the tin.

Parmesan Parsley Biscuits

The finished product

Alton Brown Meatball Sandwich

1 lb ground beef

1 lb ground pork

1 lb ground veal

1 egg

1/2 small onion, chopped

1 tsp dried parsley

1 tsp granulated garlic

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the beef, pork, veal, egg, onion, parsley, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper and mix until well combined. Scoop the mixture into mini muffin tins. Bake until browned, about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve on split biscuits with sauce and cheese.

Parmesan Parsley Biscuits

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup grated Parmesan

1/4 cup sugar

2 Tbs baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 stick chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or chives

1 cup whole milk, chilled

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup Parmesan, sugar, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Whisk until well blended. Add butter and combine with fingertips until a coarse meal forms. Mix in parsley. Gradually add milk, tossing with a fork until moist clumps form. Add extra milk if mixture is dry. Put dough on a floured work surface, folding 8 to 10 times until it becomes firm. Let rest for 10 minutes under a damp towel. Roll out on lightly floured work surface. Using a 2-inch-diameter biscuit ring, cut out biscuits and put on a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese and bake until biscuits are puffed and golden, about 15 minutes.

Spaghetti Sauce

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbs olive oil

2 (14-ounce) cans diced tomatoes

20 fresh basil leaves, chopped

In a medium pan over high heat, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until softened, about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and allow to simmer until slightly reduced and thickened, about 25 minutes. Stir in fresh basil just before serving.

My Notes: In the end, I did not like this recipe. The meatballs were like hamburgers. I think to call them meatballs, you would need to add breadcrumbs. 

The meatballs were supposed to be formed in mini muffin tins. Mini tins would have made the meatballs too small so I opted to make them in regular muffin tins. After shrinking from the cooking, the meatballs were just the right size for the biscuits.

The recipe for the biscuits did not specify how thick to roll the dough. I rolled them to 1/2 inch thick and barely made 16 biscuits. There were 18 meatballs so there were not enough biscuits.  

The sauce was quite bland and I'm glad there was basil added at the end. It made the dish more palatable.





2016 08 13

Praline Bacon

I saw a recipe for praline bacon brownies and had to make it. I had to make the praline bacon first. They're ridiculously easy to make and taste so good.

I started with the Costco bacon that are partially cooked. Lay them side by side on a wire rack over a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Add brown sugar generously to the top of the bacon. Bake at 350 degrees until the brown sugar has melted and looks caramelized.

2016 06 14

Parish Cafe

Whenever my family visits, we go to Parish Cafe. It's located at 60 Mill Street in Healdsburg.

Beignets--$5. 

Houma Hash--$14. Cheese Grits, Spinach, Bell Peppers, Andouille Sausage, Potatoes, Shallots, Egg Sunny Side Up. This was the first time I tried this and I really liked it. The cheese grits were so good with the andouille sausage.

Eggs Nouvelle Orleans--$18. Poached Eggs, Lump Blue Crabmeat, Shallots, Housemade Hollandaise. You can't go wrong with this dish. It's always amazing.

2016 08 28

Paella by Per le Stelle

I went to an event catered by Fabiano Ramaci of Per le Stelle. He made the largest paella I have seen. It fed about 50 people.

The paella was spicy, had huge pieces of chicken thigh, loads of shrimp and mussel. It was flavorful.

2016 08 27