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I had one of those "too lazy to make dinner" moods the other night; so I poured myself a glass of cabernet sauvignon/merlot wine and had it with sliced cheese and granny smith apple for dinner. I have these nights once in a while but I am posting about this particular one because I really enjoy a bottle of Frontera's Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot from the Concha y Toro vineyard in Chile.
I used a jalapeño pepper cheese (monterey jack or habañero would also work). The spicyness in the cheese compliments this smooth, medium bodied wine. The wine has a slight dark fruit flavor with a hint of spice in the background. Next time, I will have grapes or plums with it to excite my taste buds, even more.
This was a quick and easy dinner after a long time. And just perfect!
When I have any kind of leftovers, I either reach for the tupperware or freeze the food. Nothing EVER goes to waste in my household (with an exception to forgotten and lost vegetables in the fridge). I am so particular about this even the hubby takes only the amount he plans to eat.
Few days prior, I made Mussels with Cilantro Cream sauce at my parent's house and we had sauce leftover that did not make it into our bellies. Sadly, we didn't have bread that night to mop up. Before everything was thrown to waste, I bought whole-grain French baguette and made Garlic bread with a Cilantro sauce.
The garlic and olive oil make it really scrumptious. Use your favorite extra virgin olive oil, this is the time to bring out the best of the best.
Garlic Bread with Cilantro Cream sauce
One whole grain French
1/4 cup of cilantro cream sauce
1 garlic clove, halved
Extra Virgin Olive oil
Parmesan cheese, optional
Cut French bread into slices, broil for 5 minutes. Rub half of garlic on the bread and drizzle extra virgin olive oil, generously. Broil for 2 more minutes; this will heighten the flavors of olive oil and garlic. Remove from oven, drizzle Cilantro Cream sauce evenly on all slices. Add parmesan cheese, if using. Serve immediately.
I used to make scalloped potatoes often but lost interest after I discovered my love for mashed potatoes. Nothing personal to either dishes; the whipped buttery taste won me over sliced baked taste. If given a potato slicer (or something like it) for a present, I'd go back to loving scalloped potatoes. But for now, my heart belongs to..... ok ok enough already, you say.
When I saw Elise's version of the potatoes, I was inspired to make them before it was too warm to turn on the oven. She's a great cook and I used her recipe as a guide to my perfect scalloped potatoes.
Scalloped Potatoes
3 medium russet potatoes; peeled, par-boiled and thinly sliced
1 cup Swiss cheese, grated
3/4 cup milk
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon all purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter, cubed and divided
Red pepper flakes, to taste
Salt & Pepper, to taste
Preheat oven to 375F degrees.
Par-boil potatoes in a medium pot of salted water. While potatoes come to a boil, thinly slice onion, grate cheese and stir milk with onions, flour, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Prepare baking dish by buttering the dish with 1 tablespoon of cubed butter. Remove potatoes from the hot water and allow to cool. When cool, thinly slice potatoes.
Spread one layer of sliced potatoes on the bottom of the dish, add 1/2 tablespoon of cubed butter, 1/2 cup of Swiss cheese and 1/4 cup of the milk mixture. Spread second layer of sliced potatoes, add rest (1/2 cup) of the cheese and 1/4 cup of milk mixture. Spread last layer of sliced potatoes, finish with 1/4 cup of milk mixture and 1/2 tablespoon of butter.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for 35 minutes. Uncover foil and bake for additional 20-25 minutes until bubbling on top.
Yields 4 side dish servings
Eating healthy is important, right? Yes it is! In the past few months I've been eating healthy (or have tried to), walking around the office building to get my daily exercise (or think about it, doesn't that count?) and pushing myself to increase my daily fiber, omega and protein intake. While browsing for healthy foods and healthier lifestyle one day, I came across a site that really promotes all of this. The host holds weekly ARF (Antioxidant Rich Foods) events, so she’s not messing around. It's a good way to remind us health foodie wanna be's on how to maintain a balanced and healthy diet. Not so bad right? We’ll see…. This is my first entry to the event and I hope to continue submitting in future.
We're visiting my parents for the first time this year. When I was younger, I grew up on the east coast near the water, fresh seafood, beach, delicious sushi (this has nothing to do with east coast, I just like to throw it in the mix) and other wonderful east coast things. It's really hard to come by fresh seafood in the Midwest so when I visit my parents or visit DC/Va, I eat as much seafood as one can cram in a weekend trip. It's plenty to last me a while. My seafood fascination mostly includes salmon, tuna, mahi mahi, shrimp and crab cakes. However two weekends ago when I visited DC, I went out to a delicious French restaurant with a friend's family. It was her birthday dinner, a treat from her dad. Her family had just returned from a trip to Paris and was craving good French food. There, we ordered mussels for appetizer. Now mind you, prior to that evening I had never tried mussels. The mussels were prepared in a butter/parsley sauce. And they were delish, a new fascination to add to my seafood list! So when the hubby and I planned this trip to visit my parents, I knew I would buy mussels to make as an appetizer. It was my first time preparing them and I was nervous. Though mussels aren't hard to cook, it was the cleaning and preparing the sauce I was worried about. I knew my parents wouldn't try them because they don't like seafood. (Don't ask) If they didn't taste great, the hubby wouldn't try them either, that’s a lot of pressure! I thought to myself, I must come up with an appetizing recipe that'll keep him coming back for more. From much research I saw recipes with wine, garlic and butter sauce and/or a Thai version with coconut, ginger and lime sauce. But I wanted a cilantro and lemon juice based sauce so I combined multiple recipes to make my own version of mussels with cilantro cream sauce. I love cilantro. I can't get enough of its flavor, aroma and fresh color when cooked in a dish. A lot of people believe cilantro is strong but I think it's a good form of strong. Because it's the main ingredient for this recipe, this is my entry to Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Cooking with Rinku. Kalyn at Kalyn's Kitchen started weekend herb blogging many weeks ago and it's been a huge success. She as well as some guest hosts have been hosting this weekly event for 81 weeks. Long time right? Mussels with Cilantro Chutney Cream sauce
2 lbs mussels
olive oil
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 cilantro chutney (recipe follows)
1/3 cup heavy cream
Salt & Pepper
Lemon juice
Mussels should be closed, and shells should be unbroken or uncracked. If mussels are open tap them to close; if they don't close they are dead, discard.
Soak mussels in cold water for 20- 30 minutes. This will allow excess dirt and grit to fall to the bottom of the bowl. Take the mussels out of cold water and leave in a strainer to drain. Do not dump the dirty water over the mussels. Scrub mussels with a clean toothbrush on both sides (multiple times). Debeard the mussels with your fingers or kitchen tweezers by pulling the fibers toward the hinged point of the shell.
In a large sauté pan (big enough so mussels can be cooked in one layer), heat olive oil on medium heat. Add chopped garlic and sauté for 3 minutes. Add cilantro chutney to the pan and cook for 4 minutes. Stir the mixture so garlic and chutney combines with the oil. Add cream, stir, and cook until the mixture bubbles. Add salt and pepper. Lower heat to medium low and add mussels. Cover and cook for 5- 7 minutes. With a slotted spoon, take out mussels onto a serving platter. Any unopened mussels must be thrown out. Continue to cook the cilantro cream sauce until it thickens, 2-3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and drizzle over mussels. Squeeze lemon over the mussels and sauce and serve.
First time but really worth it. If I can find fresh mussels around here, I’ll certainly make it again. I may even try it one of the other ways, with a lemon/butter sauce or with a thai twist.
Yields 2 servings for appetizer or 1 serving for main dish
Cilantro Chutney, this is from an Indian recipe. We use this as a dipping sauce for fried vegetable fritters, samosas and chaat papdi. It’s a versatile chutney so I always have it on hand. With an addition of olive oil, I recently started using chutney to make my own salad dressing.
1 bunch cilantro
3 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
1 teaspoon finely chopped jalapeno pepper
1/4 cup small fine sev, yellow dried noodles found at any Indian grocer. (sev comes in small, medium and large size) If you can’t find sev, boiled potatoes or peanuts are a great replacement. It is used as a binding agent for the chutney.
1 teaspoon lemon juice
salt to taste
Blend all the ingredients until smooth. Serve as is with a favorite dish or use to make an exceptional sauce for mussels.
It's such an amazing feeling to know that summer is here, almost. Though here in the midwest we didn't get a spring season this year; summer is certainly something to look forward to. Their are farmer's markets, picnics in the parks, short walks in the evening, fresh fruits and vegetables and most importantly fresh tomatoes and basil sauce for my gnocchi.
Speaking of gnocchi, I had left over gnocchi from my first attempt that I had to use before I forgot. The first thing that came to mind was tomato basil sauce. Though the hubby wanted a bechamel sauce with the gnocchi I wasn't convinced on the idea. And if I am cooking, what I say goes. Ha! Not really but I'd been craving a tomato and basil sauce for some time. Because he isn't a fan of tomato sauce, tomato curry, tomato anything for that matter; we don't cook it as often. This time, it would be nothing but.... Unfortuantely my local market didn't have fresh basil that day so I used dried. (I know, not good but I made an exception)
Gnocchi: use this previously posted recipe.
Sauce:
Olive oil
1 small onion or shallot
2 garlic cloves
1 tomato, diced
1/4 teaspoon sugar, optional
1/4 cup red wine
1 teaspoon dried basil or 3-4 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
Salt, divided
Red pepper flakes
1 cup stock or water (cooking liquid)
Drizzle saute pan with olive oil and turn on the heat to medium-low. Add chopped onions and garlic to saute for few minutes. Then add salt to the mixture and cook until onions are translucent. Add diced tomatoes, increase heat to medium and cook until the mixture starts bubbling. Add sugar and wine and allow to cook until alcohol evaporates. (the sugar breaks down the tomatoes' strong acidity.) Lower heat to low, add basil, salt, red pepper flakes and cooking liquid. Cook for 20-25 minutes until sauce is thickened.
Add gnocchi to the sauce, cook for few minutes and serve. We had this with a salad and it was the best way to have gnocchi and tomato basil sauced combined. Even the hubby agreed.
note: this recipe yields 1/2 cup of sauce, perfect amount for the amount of our gnocchi.
Since gnocchi is a form of pasta, this post is my submission to Ruth's exceptional pasta cooking event, Presto Pasta Night. Go check it out and join the pasta cooking fun. The weekly event is fun to read and offers great pasta recipes. It's a great resource for me, as I hope it is for you.
