Dutch Baby (for Brian’s 35th Birthday Breakfast)

The Dutch Baby: easier than crepes, plus you don’t have to slave over the stove for 20 minutes cursing yourself for inconsistent crepe thickness. It’s the ultimate mix, pour, walk away breakfast recipe that isn’t from a box.

• 1/4 cup butter*
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
• powdered sugar & lemon juice 

*you can either use salted butter, or add a pinch of salt

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Cut up butter (if straight from fridge) and melt in the oven in a 9×9 inch casserole pan or oven-safe skillet.*
3. Beat the eggs with a whisk for 30 seconds.
4. Mix in milk, vanilla, and flour, one at a time, continually whisking the mixture. Add flour slowly to avoid clumps.
5. Pour mixture into the warm casserole dish full of melted butter.
6. Bake for ~12-15 minutes.

To serve, dust with powdered sugar and a squeeze of fresh lemon.

 

*you can use any similarly sized oven-safe dish, it will still taste awesome.

Also, if you only have 2 eggs, just reduce milk and flour to 1/2 cup each.

Chocolate Chip Cookies (with or without oats)

 

If adding oats, make sure that they are somewhat small (like 1-minute oat sized).  If you’ve only got classic rolled oats, blend them in a coffee grinder to chop them up a bit.

If you are using chocolate bars, chop them up so the largest pieces are chocolate chip sized.  If you are using chocolate chips, use 2 cups. The best version is to use 2 Ghiradelli chocolate bars.

1. Mix together flour, salt, baking soda, and oats if using.  (In a separate bowl.)
2. Beat butter and sugars together until lighter in color and fluffy-ish.
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
4. Add vanilla extract.
5. Stir in chocolate.
6. Stir in flour mixture until just combined.
7. At this point I make some cookies, cover the bowl in plastic wrap and keep the dough in the fridge.  Ideally you should chill the dough for 30 minutes before forming the dough into balls, then bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges are just turning brown

I’m going to scoop these onto a cookie sheet, flash freeze them, then put them all in a ziploc freezer bag and keep them in the freezer.

Generic Borek {food notes}

saute onion & greens in olive oil & butter.  Add chopped nuts.  Mix in 1 egg, feta, crushed red pepper.

Filo, melted butter layer, filo, 2 eggs + ~1/4 cup milk, filo…

Roll, seam side down.  375, 30-45 minutes.

Chocolate Covered Eclairs

PASTRY: 1 cup water, 1/2 cup butter, 1 cup flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 4 eggs.

Melt butter, water, salt over heat.  Remove from heat and stir in flour until it forms a ball.  Add eggs one at a time.  Pipe on a foil/parchment lined and oiled baking sheet.  Bake (convect) at 450 for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 325 and bake for 20 minutes.  Cut steam vents in the sides immediately and let cool to room temp on a rack.

CUSTARD: 4oz box vanilla pudding,  2 cups whole milk, 1 cup heavy cream, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1/8 tsp salt

Mix pudding mix and whole milk until smooth.  In a separate bowl, whip the cream, sugar, vanilla, and salt until soft peaks form.  Fold 1/3 of whipped cream into custard to lighten.  Then fold in the rest of the whipped cream.  **You may add 1 tsp of matcha powder to make green tea flavored custard, which is DIVINE**

CHOCOLATE SAUCE: ~1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips,  2 tbsp butter, 1/2 –  2/3 cup powdered sugar, ~3 tbsp hot water, 1 tsp vanilla extract

Microwave chocolate and butter until chocolate is soft, stir until smooth. Stir in sugar. Add hot water 1 tbsp at a time until you get the right consistency (your taste).  Add vanilla.

Notes:

a) pipe choux pastry/cream with plastic ziploc bags

b) to avoid grainy chocolate: after microwaving the chocolate and butter, stir in a few pieces of solid chocolate until it’s all melted, then add sugar etc.  Doing this will ensure that the chocolate doesn’t turn out grainy–it’s science 🙂

 

recipe from hidden ponies

California Burrito Taquitos {food notes}

carne asada, french fries, cheddar jack cheese, 9-inch flour tortillas cut in half. Roll. Pyrex pan. Spray with canola oil.  Cook at 425 for 15-25 minutes, serve with sour cream and fire roasted tomato salsa.

 

maybe use shrimp instead of carne asada next time?

Blackeyed Pea Summer BBQ Salad {food notes}

2 cans Blackeyed peas
Fresh sweet Corn, skillet sautéed in oil
3 Tomato
Green onion
Sweet mini bell peppers
Fresh oregano
Serrano peppers
Cumin
Lemon
Lime
Salt & pepper

Katie’s Quinoa Salad

Our friend Katie brought this salad to a party and we were all blown away.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups Quinoa
• 2 ears of corn, cooked & cut off the cobb
• can of black beans, drained
• 1 jalapeno, diced
• the juice of one lime
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
• ~1 tsp cumin to taste
• salt & pepper
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp white wine vinegar
• 1 small shallot, minced

Method:

1. Cooke the quinoa in water until it looks like cracked bird seed.
2. Mix quinoa, black beans, jalapeno, corn, and cilantro in a large bowl.
3. Mix lime juice, olive oil, shallot, cumin, and white wine vinegar in a bowl.  Toss with cooked quinoa.
4. Season with salt and pepper.

Baked Spinach-Artichoke Dip

Ingredients:

• ~2 cups of Parmesan cheese, shredded
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 10-oz package of frozen chopped spinach
• 14-oz can of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 8-0z package of cream cheese
• 1/3 cup mayo
• 1 – 1.5 tbsp minced garlic

Mix the Parm, Mozz, spinach, and artichoke hearts.  In a separate bowl, Mix the rest of the ingredients until smooth and stir into the spinach mixture.  Pour into a casserole pan and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

Next time I make this I’m going to add a bunch of chopped Italian parsley and maybe a splash of hot sauce.  Yum!

Lamb Shepherd’s Pie

• 2-3 lbs. lamb or beef, chunked into 1 inch pcs. (if you’ve got bones, use em)
• beef broth
• red wine
• garlic
• 1 cups of peas
• 4-5 carrots, diced
• 1-2 leeks, cleaned and chopped
• ~12 oz. frozen petite onions/pearl onions
• fresh thyme
• 2-3 tbsp flour
• butter
• Worcestershire Sauce
• salt & pepper
• grated gruyere cheese

Mashed Potatoes:

• 2-3 lbs potatoes
• 2-3 tbsp cream cheese
• 3-4 tbsp butter
• splash of milk (or more)
• dried parsley
• salt & pepper

Method:

1. Season the meat with salt and pepper and brown on all sides in butter. Add the chopped garlic halfway through the browning (make sure it doesn’t burn).
2. Add the thyme, beef broth, and red wine.  Cover and boil until the meat is tender. We also de-boned the lamb and boiled it (in a separate pot) in some beef broth and a bit of wine to get the marrow out.  We cut up the meat into bite size pieces after it’s cooked as well.
3. To make the gravy: Add a few tbsp flour to a few tbsp melted butter.  Stir vigorously and “cook” for a minute.  Add some Worcestershire sauce and slowly add the broth from the bones.  It should be a relatively thick gravy.
4. Saute the leeks and carrots in butter and season with salt.
5. Add the sauteed vegetables, onions, peas, and gravy to the meat pot.  Boil  off the liquid in the pot until it’s kind of thick.  Adjust seasonings. Pout into a casserole pan.

Make your mashed potatoes however you like best.  We baked ’em, peeled ’em, and mashed ’em with fatty fixin’s.  Add the potatoes to the top and cover completely.

Top the potatoes with grated gruyere cheese and bake in the oven at 400 until the cheese is bubbly.

Food Explosion #1 {Food Notes}

Roasted chicken with coriander-caper-sauce, roasted red bell peppers, egggplant-pine nut couscous.

YUM

Chicken: lemons, butter, caper juice, olive juice, olives.  Sauce gravy with white wine, coriander, capers, rosemary.

Food Explosion #2 {Food Notes}

cherry stuffed and hazelnut crusted pork loin chops with balsamic-red wine braised cabbage and goat cheese potato gratin.

Fantastic.

Cabbage: red cabbage, granny smith apples, onions, butter, balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, red wine, brown sugar, salt

Potatoes: goat cheese, potatoes, milk, cream, onion, parsley, salt, butter, white pepper

Pork: dried cherries, pork, hazelnuts, salt, white pepper

Kristen’s Guacamole

This is totally yummy, with relatively no spice, except for the onion and cumin– it’s divine!

Ingredients:

• 2-4 green onions, finely chopped (green & white parts)
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 4-5 avocados, chopped
• lime juice, 1-2 limes
• 2-4 tomatoes, finely chopped
• ground cumin (to taste)
• salt

Method:

1. In a large bowl, mix the cilantro, green onions, and tomatoes.
2. Add the avocado and mash/mix it all up.
3. Add lime juice, salt, and cumin to taste.

Katie’s Park Avenue Punch

This is my friend Katie’s recipe. She served it this weekend for her Apartment Warming Party and it was definitely gone in a flash.  I’m not certain of the exact amounts, but I’m sure you can taste your way along 🙂

• ~2 bottles of champagne
• triple sec
• white cranberry juice
• ~ 1 can of ginger ale
• 1 package of frozen raspberries
• 1 lime,  juice (my meek, and optional, contribution to this recipe)

mix everything in a punch bowl. drink.

Beach Sliders

Labor Day at the beach was the perfect setting for sliders.  I made the buns the night before using the Master Bread Dough recipe ( I brushed them with egg wash before baking, it gave them the perfect outer color and texture for hamburger buns).  I made the hamburger patties very thin, so they would cook quickly and thoroughly at the beach.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp bacon fat
• 1/2 diced onion
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 shake of Worcestershire sauce
• ground black pepper
• sharp cheddar cheese, sliced
• red onion, sliced
• dill pickles, sliced

Method:

1. Saute the diced onion in bacon fat.  Add a little salt while sauteeing. Let cool. Food process, or chop very fine.
2. In a large bowl, mix hamburger, sauteed onion, black pepper, and Worcestershire sauce until smooth.  *
3. Shape into patties and cook until your desired shade of pink.
4. Put each burger in a bun, top with a cheddar cheese slice, a red onion slice, and pickles.  Serve  with basic burger condiments.

* I didn’t chop the onions fine enough, so I had to add 1/3 cup of bread crumbs and half of a beaten egg to bind it all together.

In all honesty, these were good, but were kind of dry– most likely a function of cooking at the beach.  Still, I wanted to add a bacon flavor that I don’t think was present, or that we didn’t sense with our well alcohol-lubricated pallets.

Another Variation is to food process a small white onion and mix it with hamburger meat.  My grand-ma calls these “lamb burgers” but really it’s just hamburger meat with onion.  If I make sliders again, I’m going to either mix pork sausage with the hamburger and forgo everything else, or make grand-ma’s lamb burgers and top them with crispy bacon strips (Bacon-cheese-lamb burger sliders).

Yet another variation is my cousin Rex’s burger claim to fame: mix hamburger, seasoned salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce together and make patties.  Top with provolone cheese instead of cheddar and serve on toasted sourdough bread with lettuce.  YUM!

Onion-Tomato Dijon Tartlets

When we were in Thailand I saw this recipe on TV.  It was a special on Rustic Foods of Burgundy and I tried to memorize it  so that one day, I too could make it.  But since my mom got me mini tart dishes for Xmas, I am going to make tartlets!

Ingredients:

• Dijon mustard
• egg white
• 1 thinly sliced Onion
• 1 sliced Tomato
• Herbs: thyme/oregano
• 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese or any other hard cheese
• 2 tbsp breadcrumbs (if your filling is very juicy, if not, omit)
• Pie Crust
• butter
• salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.
2. Line tartlets with pie crust and freeze for 20 minutes.
3. Sauté onions and tomato in butter, add salt and thyme.
4. Beat egg white with a dash of salt until frothy.  Beat in 2 tsp dijon mustard.
5. Brush the pie crusts with egg-dijon mix and bake for 6 minutes.
6. In a bowl, mix cheese, bread crumbs, oregano, and fresh ground black pepper.
7. Remove the tartlets from the oven and spoon in the warm onion-tomato sauté.  Top with the cheese mix.
8. Return to oven, turn the heat down to 350, and bake for about 20-25 minutes.  Until the tart is bubbling and the crust is brown. I took one out to test it: I moved aside the filling and tasted the bottom crust.  If it tastes done, it’s done.
9. Cool for 5 minutes.  Serve hot.

Notes:  I didn’t use enough dijon.  In the future I’ll spread a layer of dijon mustard  on the bottom when the tarlet shells come out of the oven, before adding the filling. I also used the wrong grind of parmesan cheese on top–which made the tart taste like pasta sauce.  In the future I will use shredded parmesan cheese and also use less of it.

You can serve this with roasted Chicken and Potato Gratin, and of course, Burgundy red wine 🙂

In the end, this was a huge effort.  It would have been easier to make one large savory tart or galette.

Mini-Calzones stuffed w/ Eggplant Bharta

I have 3 extra Japanese eggplants, half a red onion, some cherry tomatoes, tomato paste, some prepared bread dough, and a lot of spices.  How could I go with anything else but Eggplant Bharta Mini Calzones?

Ingredients:

• 3-4 Japanese eggplant (1 regular large eggplant)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic chopped
• 1/2 tbsp tomato paste *
• handful of cherry tomatoes
• sliced onion
• a pinch of ground ginger
• ~ 3/4 tbsp ground coriander
• ~1 tbsp cumin seeds
• a pinch of mustard seeds
• 1/2 tbsp red chili flakes
• ~1 tbsp curry powder
• salt & pepper
• oil

*side note:  I diced the onion and used 3/4 tbsp of crushed garlic in a jar from Trader Joe’s. I  fried the tomato paste in a bit of oil, added salt, pepper, and a few tbsp of water to make tomato sauce.

Method:

1. Slice the eggplants lengthwise, brush the cut side with olive oil and bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until the eggplant is tender. Chop when cooled.
2. Heat oil in a skillet.  Saute onion until translucent.  Add garlic, spices, & tomatoes and saute for a minute.
3. Add the chopped eggplant.   Add the tomato sauce (see side note)and adjust the spices to taste.

Normally you’d eat this over rice or w/naan and some raita & pickle.  But I’m going to use it as a filling for mini-calzones since I have bread dough that needs to get baked.

Calzone method:  Prepare half of master bread dough through the first rise (in the fridge) and roll it into 1″ balls, flatten each ball into a circle, spoon a 1-ish tbsp of cooled eggplant bharta in the center, fold it in half, and seal the edges with the tines of a fork.  Cover and let rise until they double in bulk, poke a hole in the top of each calzone, and bake at 400 degree for 15-20 minutes. Brush with butter.

Make sure you get a good seal, or they’ll puff open like this :

I’m serving these for dinner alongside red lentil soup.

Ham & Cheese Stuffed Bread

Make Bread Dough through the first rise.  Roll it out into a rectangle ~1/4 inch thick.

Cut ribbons 1 inch thick into both sides of the long ends.

Layer the center with cheese, then ham, then cheese.

Braid the ribbons over the center.

Put on an oiled cookie sheet.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in volume.  Brush with egg wash. (You can sprinkle black caraway seeds or black sesame seeds on top). Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Eat and smile.

Beer & Chocolate Pairs

It all started at Mt. Tam Watershed:  Sam Adams Coastal Wheat and Dark Chocolate.  “Taste the beer with the chocolate” turned into  “OMG! we need to have a beer & chocolate pairing party!”  After researching beer and chocolate pairings, I discovered that amber ale goes with raspberry dark chocolate  and that any porter/stout goes well with dark chocolate.  After a real-life attempt, I’m less convinced of this.  There are oh-so-many ways to go wrong in the beer aisle!  Please learn from the wisdom of the practiced:

We had a beer & chocolate pairing party and discovered two AMAZING pairs  of pearls among swine. (I know)

The first: La Fin Du Monde  & Eclipse Chocolat Sea-salt Nib (vegan-friendly chocolate)

The chocolate:  Lavender sea-salt

The beer: I don’t know

The pair: Mickey Mouse orange creamsicle

The Second: Diabhal Belgian Style Golden Strong Ale Fermented with Honey & Jade Chocolates MaHaL indonesian cinnamon ylang ylang coconut

The chocolate: I don’t know

The beer: Honey Goodness

The pair: pineapple!

Chicken Tachin

Whenever my mom and I would go out for Persian food, she’d always order “Chicken Tachin” (chicken-rice pie) because it’s one of those dishes that’s “too complicated to make at home”—or so we thought!  I’ve set out to prove to her, and the $17 bucks we spend on the special dish, that I can make it too! I busted out the Persian Cookbook and set to work.   And remember, if it makes it here, it has passed the Nassy Test:  a first bite taste-gasm!

Ingredients:

• a whole chicken, cut into pieces
• two onions, sliced
• two cups yogurt
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/8 – 1/4 tsp saffron
• 2 egg yolks
• 4 cups basmati rice
• 1/2 cup butter

Method:

1. Mix the yogurt, onions, saffron, soy sauce, lemon juice, and salt to create the marinade.   Marinate the chicken overnight (in the fridge).
2. Save the extra marinade! Bake the chicken in the oven at 350 degrees for ~1 hour.  De-bone the chicken and chop into chunks.
3. Bring a large pot of water to boil with about 3 tbsp salt. Boil the rice for 10 minutes.  Drain the rice in a colander and rinse with cold water.  Drain.
4. Mix 3 cups of rice with the marinade and 2 egg yolks.
5. On low heat, melt 4 tbsp butter in a large pot.  Top with the marinade-rice mixture.  Top with chicken, and finally top with the last cup of un-marinated rice.
6. Cover the top of the pot with a paper towel or dish towel and the lid.  Cook on MEDIUM-LOW heat for ~45 minutes.  Make sure there is sufficient heat to create steam to cook the rice at the top.
7. Ideally, the bottom layer will be thick and crunchy—and DELICIOUS!
8. Melt the last 4 tbsp of butter and pour it over the “plain” top-layer of rice.

What Goes with Chicken Tachin, you ask?

This dish screams for SALAD! Simple salad: romaine, tomato, Persian cucumber, mint, lemon, olive oil, salt. check!  It’s a one-two-PUNCH!

To be stereotypically ethnic, follow this with some black tea and baklava.  I’m going with bread pudding, but that’s my thing 🙂

https://nassyfoodblog.wordpress.com/2010/03/26/yogurt-sauce/

Swedish Breakfast Sandwiches

This is what a good Swedish friend would eat (usually) in the morning.  Don’t be deceived by it’s simple nature, the sweetness of the bell pepper goes so well with the cheese and meat.  I know that I shouldn’t be using Trans-Fatty margarine, but I’m so used to the margarine flavor in this sandwich I can’t go to butter.  I know that there’s healthy, non trans-fat margarine out there, but I’m sticking to the bad stuff here–to reminisce days of aulde lang syne.

Ingredients:

• Margarine, or softened butter
• Turkey breast deli meat
• Monterey Jack cheese
• Dark bread, Pumpernickel or dark wheat bread
• Red bell pepper, thinly sliced

Method:

For breakfast, set out each ingredient so you can graze.  Usually eaten open faced, I’ve also made these sandwiches ahead of time (as closed sandwiches) and taken them on a fishing trip, they were cheap, easy, and a great success.  Don’t skip the margarine, it’s essential!

This is the conventional, open-faced sandwich:

1. Spread the margarine on a piece of bread.
2. Top with turkey, cheese, and bell pepper slices.

You can mix-n-match what goes on your bread slice: turkey, cheese, bell pepper.  If you want to make a larger breakfast, boil a few eggs, put out jam, slice up an apple, and put on the coffee.

What else?

These are very versatile– they’re sandwiches after all!  You can make them yourself at breakfast, make mini versions for party apps, and make closed versions for picnics and treks.