I had a craving for potato skins but instead of ordering out the fried version, I made them myself. This recipe couldn’t be easier.

Potato Skins

Ingredients

Potato

Butter, 1-2 tablespoons

Crumbled Bacon bits, (made with real bacon)

Cheese for melting (cheddar or Munster adds more flavor than Mozzarella)

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

Sour cream, optional

Chives, optional

Bake the potato in a 450 degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until the potato is fully cooked. Slice the potato in half and scoop out each side into a separate bowl.  Put the skins back into the oven to crisp up.

Add the butter and 2 tablespoons of crumbled bacon to the potatoes and mash it all together. Lightly salt and pepper the mixture. You don’t want to add to much salt as the bacon is already salty.

Remove the crispy skins from the oven and fill each of the halves with the bacon and potato mixture. Top with a few slices of cheese and put them back into a 350 degree oven until the cheese melts.

Top each half with some fresh, sliced chives and a dollop of sour cream. Eat immediately. One half should be sufficient for a meal.

(Also if you decide to eat the second half on another day, wrap up the potato in tin foil, before you add the cheese, and put it into the refrigerator. You should be able to heat it up in the oven easily)

But anyway, tempura is one of my favorite things. I know, I know, fried food isn’t good for you, but when done correctly, tempura can be very light and tasty. This recipe was provided by my mother who made it when we were younger. This and fondue were two of my favorite meals. One of the vegetables she used was spinach. It was delicious!!! I’m still not sure how she  worked that one. But, if your kids won’t eat vegetables, try this recipe. It is sure to please.

By the way, tempura should be eaten immediately after it has been cooked so only make as much as you and whomever else you are serving can eat in one sitting. For that reason, I have not included amounts.

Tempura

Ingredients

Fresh prawns or large shrimp

Sliced onions

Sliced pepper (red or green)

Sliced sweet potato

Spinach leaves

Sliced carrots

Sliced eggplant

Any other vegetables

Batter:

1 egg beaten

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup of flour

1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar

7/8 cup water (my mother uses less because she puts ice in the batter. She recommends that a very cold batter works better)

Stir the mix gently and let it sit while you prepare the sauce.

Sauce: Heat everything together

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon white wine

1/2 teaspoon ginger, preferably freshly grated

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon sugar

Now you are ready to prepare the tempura. Dip the seafood and vegetable into the batter. Drain some of the batter off if needed – only a thin coating is needed. Fry in 2-3 inches of hot vegetable oil. It should only take a minute to get cooked to a golden brown. Serve immediately!

It turned out pretty well and it was very easy to make. I highly recommend trying it and making your own modifications.

On another note, thank you for reading my blog. If you have any ideas for recipes that you would like to see, please let me know. I am always up for new ideas.

Thanks.

Pasta Bake/Pasta alla Formiana

Ingredients

• 1 large ripe tomato, heirloom or beefsteak
• 1 (14-ounce) can tomatoes
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 cup of pasta (I used small macaroni)
• 2-3 heaping tablespoons of Oregano
• 2 tablespoons ricotta cheese (you can omit this but I had leftover that I wanted to use)
• 1/8 cup olive oil
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• Cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 450 and spray a small baking dish with cooking oil. Slice your heirloom or beefsteak tomato into medium-thick slices (approximately 1/4 to 1/2 inch think). Line the dish with the tomato slices, including the sides. My dish fit 2 slices on the bottom, 2 half slices on each width side and a half slice each for the last sides. Let sit while you create the filling.

In a food processor, blend the canned tomatoes and the garlic. Depending on the size of your dish, you might only use half of the can of tomatoes. Pour the mixture into a bowl and add the uncooked pasta, 1/8 cup olive oil, oregano, salt, and pepper. Toss until all the ingredients are coated. Add 2 tablespoons of ricotta and mix in (optional).

Pour the mixture into your baking dish with the tomato slices. Arrange the remaining tomato slices in an overlapping layer over the pasta mixture (make sure the mixture is completely covered). Drizzle the pasta and tomatoes with a little bit more olive oil and then put the dish in the oven uncovered. Bake until the pasta is cooked through and the tomatoes are softened and slightly browned. This should take about an hour.

Serve warm!

Caesar Salad

Ingredients

Garlic Clove, mashed

Lemon Juice, 1-2 teaspoons

Mustard, 1/8 teaspoon

Worcestershire Sauce, 2 squirts

Anchovie Paste (optional – just a tiny bit because it’s very salty)

Olive oil, approximately 1 tablespoon

Parmesan Cheese, 1 tablespoon and additional for garnishing

Salt

Pepper

Romaine Lettuce

Croutons (optional)

Dice the garlic clove and then mash it. To turn it into a paste, add salt and then mash it back and forth with the flat side of your knife. Put it in a bowl. Add the next 5 ingredients and pepper and whisk them all together until it becomes emulsified. Taste the salad dressing and make adjustments as you see fit. Once it is ready, add approximately 1 tablespoon of shredded parmesan cheese and mix it together.

Now add the romaine lettuce directly into the bowl, on top of the dressing – the romaine should be in bite sized pieces. I added approximately 3-4 full sized leaves. Stir the salad making sure that the lettuce gets fully coated. Add a few croutons and more shredded cheese. Serve immediately!

So as I said, I don’t really like celery alone – it’s not that I don’t like the taste, it just seems boring. As for salads, it doesn’t seem to fit with the salads that I make. So I decided to try cooking the celery. It turned out pretty well – now I have a dish that I can make quickly so that I don’t waste the bunch. This recipe is very easy.

Sauteed Celery

Ingredients

2-3 stalks of celery

olive oil

butter

Ginger

Garlic, mashed and diced

Juice from 1/2 of a lemon

Add 2 teaspoons of olive oil to a pan and heat it over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook it for a few minutes until it is fragrant. Then add the celery. I sliced it in thin slices on the diagonal to make it look pretty but you can cut it however you want – I suggest small bite sized pieces though. Add the ginger and saute it for 5-10 minutes until the celery gets softer but is still crunchy on the inside. For this recipe, I used approximately 1/2 teaspoon of ginger powder but you could also use fresh ginger – just make sure that you dice it finely enough. Salt and dish the pepper and add 1 teaspoon of butter. Once the foam of the heated butter add the lemon. Mix it up once last time and serve it immediately.

Enjoy!

I made chicken enchiladas but you could use any type of meat or even make vegetarian ones.  Good luck!

Enchiladas

Ingredients

2 Chicken Breast

1/4 medium onion

1/2 Can of diced tomatoes (from 14 ounce can)

2 Garlic Cloves

1/8 teaspoon Chili Powder

1/8 teaspoon Cumin

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

———-

8 dried chilies (I used 4 ancho chilis and 4 cascabel chilis)

1/4 Onion Sliced

2 garlic Cloves

1/2 can of diced tomatoes

Unsweetened chocolate

Pinch of Cinnamon

Water

Corn tortillas

Grated cheddar cheese

Pam

To Make the Chicken Filling

Put the first eight ingredients into a slow cooker and let it cook together until the chicken is soft enough to shred. If there isn’t enough liquid for the slow cooker, add an 1/8 of a cup of chicken stock or water.  Finally, shred the chicken and mix all of the ingredients together. Set the chicken aside. (You can probably cook this on the stove, I just felt the slow cooker was easier)

To make the enchilada sauce

Add the chilis, onion and garlic to 1 1/2 cups of water. Bring it to a boil and let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes to ensure that everything is very soft. Add the tomatoes, a pinch of unsweetened chocolate and a pinch of the cinnamon. Not too much on either or your red sauce will start tasting more like a mole. Cook for another 5 minutes. Remove the vegetables and put them into a blender. Or you can use an immersion blender which is what I did. Blend everything adding the same chili, garlic water slowly until you get the right consistency. Also make sure there are no lumps – biting into a chili pepper would not be fun.  That’s it. It’s surprisingly easy and you can adjust the chili types for more or less heat and the tomatoes for more or less tomato flavor. The chocolate and cinnamon are optional.

Making the enchiladas

Spray a baking dish with Pam so the enchiladas don’t stick. Spoon two to three spoon fulls of the red sauce into the dish and spread it around so the bottom is covered.  Now take one of the corn tortillas (I used the small ones), fill it with 1-2 spoonfuls of the chicken mixture, wrap it up and put it seem down in the dish. (Technically you are supposed to fry the enchiladas to make them more malleable. You could also stick them in the microwave for 5-10 seconds. Honestly, I didn’t do anything. I just started rolling them) Repeat until your baking dish is full – mine took about 6 enchiladas. Spoon more red sauce over the enchiladas and then cover with cheese. Bake at 350-375 for about 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the insides warm.

I ate mine with a bit of extra sauce and leftover guacamole the first day and with plain avocado the next day. They were great both times! I would love to know how yours turns out.

Walking home and growing hungrier by the minute, I stopped by the local gourmet market. Hmm, what to eat…I wandered up and down the vegetable aisle before settling on stuffed poblano peppers. Here is my recipe. It is quite easy.

Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Ingredients

4 medium sized Poblano Peppers
Cooked Rice
Frozen or Canned Corn
Black Beans
I Onion
Cilantro
I can (14.5 ounces) Diced Tomatoes
1 Jalapeno Pepper
Cheddar Cheese
Garlic cloves
Cumin
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Olive Oil

First I wanted to make the sauce or salsa. I diced one medium onion and put it into a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil and 2 crushed, diced garlic cloves. Saute the onions until they get soft. Don’t worry if they are not cooked all of the way, because they will get cooked more later. Add a bit of salt and pepper to the mixture for taste.

Remove the onion mixture and split it between two bowls.

To make the Sauce/Salsa

Add one can of chopped tomatoes and juice to the onions. Add in one diced jalapeno pepper (or more if you want more kick to the dish). Roughly chop a small fistful of cilantro (you can omit this if you dislike cilantro which some people do) and mix the salsa. Add salt and pepper to taste and set it aside.

To make the Peppers

Add 1/4 cup of cooked rice and black beans to the onions and 1/8 cup of corn. Don’t worry if it is frozen because it will all heat up. Then add 1-2 tablespoons of the salsa and juice and 1/2 teaspoon of cumin. Stir the mixture with a smooth. As always, don’t forget to salt and pepper the dish. At this point, I added 2-3 heaping tablespoons of shredded cheddar cheese – my hope was that the cheese would hold everything together when it cooked.

Cut the tops off of the poblanos and clean out the seeds. Stuff them with the rice mixture – make sure you pack it in so it doesn’t all fall out when it cooks. If you would like you can put the tops back on and lay them in a greased pan. Spread the salsa mixture over the peppers. I added a few ounces of water to the salsa so that the peppers would have some liquid to cook in.

Cover the dish with tinfoil and put it in a pre-heated 375 degree oven. I guess that I cooked in for anywhere from 30-45 minutes until the peppers were soft. Remove the tinfoil and add more grated cheese over the peppers. Cook them again until the cheese melts, approximately 5 minutes. Serve immediately!

I have to admit, they were quite tasty and I bet they will be even better tomorrow.

Enjoy!

Lavender infused Risotto style Potatoes

Ingredients

1 Garlic clove, mashed and diced

1 cup of Potatoes diced

1/2 can of Corn

2 Shallots, diced

2 cans of Chicken broth (16 ounces each(

1/4 cup of dry White Wine

4-5 pinches of Lavender

Parmigiana reggiano cheese

Butter

Add 1-2 tablespoons of butter to a saucepan and turn on the heat to medium. Saute the garlic for 1-2 minutes and then add the shallots. Sweat the shallots until they are slightly clear. Add in the potatoes and cook them for about 3 minutes until they start getting soft. Now add in the corn and saute it for another 2 minutes. Salt and pepper the potato mixture at this time. Add 1/4 cup of dry white wine and cook the potato mixture until the liquid is almost gone. When the liquid is gone, add 3-5 pinches of lavender. I added approximately 1-2 teaspoons of lavender and I crushed it when I added it. Stir the mixture and then add 1/2 can of chicken broth. Cook and stir until the liquid is almost gone.  Repeat until you have gone through 2 cans of chicken broth – by this time the potatoes should be soft.

Add 1/4 shredded parmigiana reggiano cheese. Stir the potatoes to mix. Add 1 tablespoon of butter, stir until the butter is melted and serve immediately.

I hope that you like it as much as I did.

Asparagus Salad

Ingredients

One 1/2 bunch of raw, thin asparagus

1/4 small red onion, diced

Parmigiana-reggiano cheese

Olive oil

Vinegar

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Put the asparagus and onion into a bowl. Grate approximately 1/8 – 1/4 cup of cheese onto the vegetables. (Yes this seems like a lot but it really contributes to the taste. Liberally drizzle the salad with olive oil and mix the vegetables until everything is coated. Add 1/4 of a cup of vinegar and salt and pepper the salad. Mix and let it sit in the refrigerator for approximately 20-30 minutes so the flavors can blend and the asparagus can soak up the vinegar.

The great thing about this salad is that it stays crunchy the next day. Enjoy!!

Less than 2 weeks ago I went down to DC for Dave’s and my annual BBQ. It’s really Dave’s BBQ, but somehow I get the credit since I was the one to come up with the original idea.

This annual extravaganza started about 6 years ago when I was living at Kristen’s house. It was summer and being a New Englander, I started craving lobster, my favorite food. Since Kristen doesn’t eat seafood (I am still trying to convert her) we decided to do a Surf and Turf with lobsters and filet mignon for the non-seafood eaters. It was a huge success and everyone came.

I moved to New York and somewhere along the way the party moved to Dave’s house. Some people have moved away, some have moved back, some have wed, and kids have been born but the one thing that stays the same is that it is always good food and good friends. Since the original Surf and Turf BBQ, we have adjusted the menu. Over the years the main courses have been lobsters, Frogmore Stew (a South Carolina low country boil for those who have never heard this name before), Crabs, Ribs and the most recent was the Seafood Extravaganza featuring such delicious treats as shrimp, scallops, crabcakes, crab, salads, cakes, sangria, paella and a lot more. Friends bring lots of delicious foods and we sit around drinking brews, chatting and maybe if we are lucky, playing a few games of Beer Pong.

Here is an excellent corn salad that Sujeeta made. It’s sweet and crunchy and the perfect summer salad, especially for the Fall when corn is at it’s best.

Corn Salad

Ingredients

Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

It doesn’t get any easier than this. Drain the corn (if you chose the canned corn) and put it in a bowl. Add the rest of the vegetables and mix the salad together. Now add the olive oil and coat the vegetables. Top off with the lime juice and the salt and pepper and give the salad one final toss. I would cover it and let it sit in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes for the flavors to mix and then serve it immediately.

I made this for a lobster dinner recently and there was none left by the end of the night!