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Category: Main Dish
Are you ready for another pasta dish? This dish is similar to other tortellini dishes I have posted earlier – Tortellini with Prosciutto and Asparagus and Tortellini with Pancetta and Brussel Sprouts with a change up on the light sauce and vegetables used. Also like the other dishes, this one is quick and easier to prepare, perfect for a weeknight dinner. For an intense flavor to compliment the salty and smoky prosciutto and sweet red peppers, I use butter, lemon juice, and prosecco in the making of the sauce for this dish. Kissed with red pepper flakes and lemon zest, you will enjoy the nuanced interplay of flavors in this dish. Well, at least I hope you do! Let’s get busy – all this writing has…
I just had to try using the sous vide cooking technique with scallops. Delicate and delicious, scallops usually come out under or over cooked. Under cooked, they are cool and gelatinous. Over cooked, they are dry and rubbery. The challenge is always when to know when the scallop is done. The touch test is most popular, but let’s face it that takes a bit of experience – i.e. expensive trial and error experience. Well, I can say using sous vide took all the guess work out of knowing when the scallops were done. Yet there are a few tricks to successfully sous vide cooking scallops. First, I started with frozen scallops – they can stand up to the vacuum sealing being frozen hard. Thawed or…
Previously I posted a recipe for a Mexican restaurant style Arroz con Pollo, but today I want to share a different type of Arroz con Pollo. This recipe is for a rice and chicken dish with Caribbean flair. Simply seasoned yet bountiful with flavorful ingredients, this hearty meal satisfies a healthy hunger. With a little preparation and initial cooking effort, the remainder of this dish cooks without fuss, making it a good recipe for busy lives. I find this dish a great way to enjoy the taste of the Caribbean any time… without the hassle of an airport! Save Print Arroz con Pollo, Caribbean Style Prep time: 25 mins Cook time: 35 mins Total time: 1 hour Serves: 2 Ingredients 10 – 12…
Remember the sous vide Char Siu pork shoulder I recently made? Remember how I said it makes more then enough for several meals? Remember when I mentioned Singapore Noodles was one of the tasty dishes you can make with leftover Char Siu? Well, here is my take on Singapore Noodles! With a little bit of prep and a little bit of staged stir frying, you will be savoring this dish in no time at all. By performing the preparation for all elements first, the rest of this dish is simply stir frying different ingredients and setting them aside until the final step. Check out the recipe below for how I made this unique meal – Singapore Noodles! Save Print Singapore Noodles Prep time: 20 mins Cook time…
Tonight’s dinner is my take on that ever popular Chinese restaurant appetizer and staple in different dishes – char siu pork. I decided to make it with a pork shoulder using sous vide. After marinating the pork shoulder overnight, using sous vide will create a moist and tender result after 8 hours in the water bath. To finish, I hot smoked the meat over apple wood to create the delicious, smoky crust that makes this dish special. This recipe yields more than 1 meal so be sure to check out the serving options – traditional appetizer of sliced char siu with mustard, ketchup, and sesame seeds; pulled as a different take on pulled pork sandwiches; or diced/julienned for use in fried rice or noodle dishes…
Here’s a favorite Chinese restaurant dish that can be either fabulous or frightful. I researched numerous recipes and crafted this one from many recipes. When I think of Mongolian Beef, I think of balanced flavors of sweet, salty, and spicy complimented by tender beef with crispy edges in the previously described sauce. I think this recipe succeeds for the most part since cutting down a recipe like this one has definite challenges. The biggest challenge I encountered is in creating the sauce. Typically, small amounts of sauce are difficult and small amounts of a light glaze are even more difficult. This recipe produces a bit more sauce than I prefer, but it is comparable to the style and amount of sauce you find on this dish…
“What?” you say? Well, last night I tested something I have wanted to try for a while. Based on the ever popular London Broil, I slathered a top sirloin in Korean gochujang and cooked it sous vide style before grilling it as a finish. The results – amazing! My pairings with this dish are a bit of a hack based on what I had available. I had Brussel sprouts, so I made some as balsamic glazed and the rest shredded with rice vinegar and sriracha as a fake kimchi. Rest assured, I will create a post for this recipe (and more appropriate side dishes) in the future, but I could not resist sharing the photos of my ‘experiment’ with all of you! Enjoy! Save…
What can I say… I like chicken fried steak. There is something very comforting about this dish and I had it on my list of dishes to make for you. But this morning, I had a stroke of genius – change up the standard delicious chicken fried steak by seasoning it with dukkah. This flavorful Egyptian blend consists of sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, cumin, coriander, salt and sumac among other spices. I figured these flavors would really enhance the chicken fried steak, especially if paired with a unique starch and a robust gravy. For the starch, I chose lightly fried orzo and farro while the gravy would be a mushroom and sweet pepper concoction. Adding a simple sauteed fresh green beans rounds out…
Tonight’s dinner is based on Suzy’s recipe for Farro and Mushrooms with Peas from her blog, The Mediterranean Dish. Her recipe is delicious as a vegetarian side dish, but I decided to make it into a full meal for one by pairing the farro with a pork loin chop. Farro is one of the ancient grains that is chock full of nutrients and has a wonderfully nutty taste. Like Suzy, I kept the seasoning simple to allow the farro to be the star of this show and cooked it all using one pan. The results are a tasty, chewy risotto-like platform for the juicy pork loin chop. Fairly simple yet slightly elegant… yep, that is how I would describe this meal. Give…
Tonight’s recipe is a combination of several Thai Basil Chicken Fried Rice recipes I found during my research and of course, my own little tweaks. The primary tweak is adding more vegetables (a the great recipe extender!) providing different textures and flavors to the standard fried rice. Naturally, the key to this dish is the Thai basil. I have read that Italian or regular basil can be substituted, but I cannot imagine that being possible. Thai basil has a very unique flavor and fragrance – which is what this dish is all about! So do yourself a favor and find Thai basil for this dish. I find it at my local supermarket, but also at just about every Asian market in the area. (Psst, while you…