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Category: Recipes
Tonight’s dish is one I have never made before but found (quite by accident) while researching a different dish. I like egg rolls and in the past had many people over to the house for my prawn or chicken egg rolls. They were big and bold, vegetable filled and flavorful. Then I just stopped making them and began to experiment with different cuisines. But egg rolls were always there – only I enjoyed them when I would go out. Well it is time to rectify my oversight of homemade egg rolls and this dish provides all the flavors of an egg roll in a bowl – how nice it that? Save Print Egg Roll Noodle Bowl Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 15 mins…
Here is a treat for Fall – pumpkin donuts. This recipe makes approximately eighteen regular size cake donuts; the perfect amount for sharing. It is simple to prepare and delivers a delicious reward when you are done. Also it gives you another reason to use that donut pan you bought after reading the Devil’s Food Donuts posting in May! These pumpkin spiced donuts are slightly sweet, slightly spiced, moist and tender and everything you want in a cake donut. As for topping, I went with half in a cinnamon sugar coating and the other half glazed. Naturally, I opted to make a bourbon glaze which added an interesting and enjoyable flavor. Bring these to share with work colleagues, friends watching football (or baseball), or just to…
Have you ever had a hankering for some food item and just had to make it? That is what happened to me this weekend. I suddenly had a desire for a fruity coffee cake. So I searched the internet for a recipe that would satisfy my hankering and this recipe is what I found. This delicious coffee cake is based on the Noble Pig’s recipe for Raspberry Almond Coffee Cake. The easy recipe and delectable pictures told me this was the one, so here is my take on it. Of course I tweaked it a little and I liked the results. Naturally, I will leave the final judging to you when you make it! Save Print Blueberry Almond Coffee Cake Prep time: 30 mins Cook…
Tonight’s cocktail showcases a new ingredient, amaro, and a few old favorites. I found this recipe on the Washington Post courtesy of the now closed Poste Moderne Brasserie and I have to admit I was extremely intrigued by the combination of ingredients. This recipe is my take on the original. The original recipe included brewed coffee that I substituted for Galliano Ristretto while playing with the proportions. I think I have a solid drink here – slightly bitter yet slightly sweet with a wonderful slight syrupy mouth feel. Maybe it should have been named ‘Unrequited Love’ with a description like that! Anyway, here is to your first Friday of October and let’s slide into the beginning of the holiday season with a…
Here is the recipe for last night’s dinner which used up the leftovers from the Smoked Turkey Breast I recently made. This dish is a perfect example of how to enjoy one delicious meal that is nearly impossible to scale into a single serving and use the feast’s leftovers for a second, equally delicious meal. The concept is as old as the traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner that uses the leftovers for dishes like turkey pot pie and/or turkey tetrazzini and/or turkey noodle soup and others. This dish is also a fabulous comfort food experience that need not wait until Thanksgiving to enjoy. And surprisingly enough, it is not incredibly time-consuming and is quite flexible. So if you are looking to enjoy…
Here is the recipe for last night’s smoked turkey breast. I really enjoy the simplicity of this dish as a main course. I purchased a Foster Farms Turkey Breast Roast and brined it for a few hours with a simple mixture of salt and Spice Islands Smoky Mesquite Seasoning, before smoking it in my hot smoker over cherry wood chips until the internal temperature reached 165 degrees. Here is where my Loki Meat Thermometer comes in handy – it takes all the guess work out of cooking/smoking this turkey breast. And once rested and sliced, the turkey is tender and moist with a wonderfully light smoke flavor. All that is left is to enjoy this dish with whatever sides you desire. In my case, it…
Here we are on the last Friday of September, closing out the third quarter with the Sun, Moon and Earth nearly aligned at perigee and perihelion (producing king tides). What other cocktail embodies all these disparate elements than another of the classic cocktails – the Sazerac. Originally made with cognac but now typically made with rye whiskey, this absinthe laced classic is perfect for either quiet, personal reflection or raucous celebrating with a group or anything in between. In case you are worried about being poisoned by absinthe, allay your fears. Absinthe is no longer outlawed in the United States and is actually a wonderful drink in itself when prepared via la louche. You can bet I will write about drinking absinthe (and dancing with the green fairy…
Tonight’s dinner is an Italian classic – spaghetti alla carbonara. This dish of few ingredients produces a wonderfully robust meal. Like Pasta all’Amatriciana and Pasta Putannesca, this recipe is about quality ingredients and timing. I used David Leite’s recipe from his blog Leite’s Culinaria. He has an engaging post about the origins of this dish – rumored to have been created by coal miners – so I’ll defer to his research and expertise on that subject. But I will dive into this dish with enthusiasm. Getting the timing right on this recipe is not as hard as you may think if we use a little trick when cooking the noodles. I used a large skillet instead of a…
I think it is high time I posted a few appetizer recipes, so let me start with fried oysters. Of course, this dish could be made into a main course by combining with other appetizers to have a small plate or tapas styled meal. During my research I found many different recipes and I decided to go with what I see is the simplest (and the one I am most familiar with). If you have seen my Schnitzel recipe, this method is basically the same – dredge in flour, shake off excess, dredge in egg, coat in crumbs, and fry in clarified butter. The process sounds difficult, but it really isn’t… just a bit messy. Best of all, the small oysters take hardly any time…
Let’s celebrate the first day of autumn with a bright cocktail reminiscent of summer but warming for the coolness of fall. This cocktail is a kind of a variant to a Moscow Mule just based on Old Tom gin, lime and ginger beer. The ginger forward aspect of this cocktail brings the warmth while the lime reminds me of summer citrus drinks. I have read that you can use London Dry gin since the ginger takes the stage flavor-wise, but my tasting tests were not so promising. And since I picked up some Old Tom gin for the recent Ampersand cocktail, this is a perfect second cocktail based on this beautifully unique spirit. So let’s enjoy these waning days of warm weather and…