cooking Archives - Page 9 of 10 - Pechluck's Food Adventures

Sides for your Fourth of July Weekend

July 2, 2014 by Pechluck 12 Comments

I thought I would pick out some of my recommendations for Sides for your Fourth of July Weekend from my recipe archives.

Well, not all of them are from the archive. This initial one is merely a suggestion and guideline. First, you could start off with a patriotic Red, white, and blue potatoes dish (ok, purple potatoes but close enough) for breakfast. You can do these in a skillet like here, or you can roast them in the oven or even put them on the grill and make it a bbq side if you’d prefer.
Recipe idea for your Fourth of July, red and white blue (purple but close enough) potatoes that you can make on the skillet or oven or grill. Start your day with a patriotic breakfast or make these as a side dish! Vegetarian and very versatile, season to your liking

Season how you’d like- I don’t know if I ever make them the same way twice as I quite liberally open up my spices and seasonings to pull things out and keep tasting until I like it. You’ll definitely want salt and pepper of course, but sometimes I use cumin, or rosemary, or dill, or chili powder, or onion or garlic powder (or I’ll throw actual diced onion or minced garlic in), the possibilities are endless based on what you have and like.

It’s still strawberry season, and these Strawberry and Cheese Bruschettas – either with mozzarella or with goat cheese – just look so elegant and classy.

More fruit won’t hurt on the table, such as these Prosciutto wrapped Cantaloupe with Red Pepper Lime Oil and Manchego

Besides your fruit, add more vegetables to your Fourth of July weekend with via this recipe for Chilled Vegetable Pizza that can be a rainbow of various colors depending on what veggies you choose and can easily serve a crowd. You can also adapt this version to have fruit instead for a chilled dessert fruit pizza!

Upgrade your pasta salad side dish with a little heat as well as with avocados, corn, and Cotija cheese with this Elote Pasta Salad

This dessert only has strawberry, but no reason you can’t add blueberries or blackberries to complete the red white and blue, and you will be no fool with this Strawberry Fool Recipe of blended strawberries with cut strawberries and the fresh whipped vanilla cream.

If you are making burgers or hot dogs for a group, consider having a variety of cheeses besides Cheddar such as Swiss or Pepperjack (even if you are doing hot dogs!) and also bacon. Not only can you top your burger with bacon, but believe me, I am happy to add it to my hot dog as well.

Besides ketchup and mustard and relish and pickles, for you might consider having little dish where guests can add toppings of sauteed mushrooms, sauteed onions, guacamole, salsa (and your guac and salsa can double to go with chips), bbq sauce and/or blue cheese (MMMM bbq sauce and blue cheese!).

Also, if you haven’t tried this before, if there are potato chips at the party you are having/attending, try taking a handful and adding them on to your burger or hot dog!

For the fourth of July itself, which falls on a Friday this year so I think everyone is enjoying at least a 3 day weekend, I will not be doing any cooking. In fact, instead I’ll be judging cooking- I will be seated as one of the PNWBA judges at the Dallas Oregon Freedomfest BBQ competition. If you are in the area, they will be holding it in Dallas City Park and you will have an opportunity to sample some of the best BBQ in the Northwest ($1 for 2 oz sample) and a fireworks show that evening too! There should be some great teams because at 18 teams, the competition counts as a qualifier for the national competition.

This means that probably during the weekend, there will probably be at least one dish of bbq mac and cheese with some leftovers from the BBQ competition that I take home!

What are you doing for the Fourth of July? Is there a special dish you are making or looking forward to? Are you going to watch the fireworks live or on TV (I personally like the DC ones!)?

Filed Under: Cooking, Festival Event, Food and Drink Tagged With: 4th of July, appetizers, backyard barbecue, bbq sides, breakfast, chilled vegetable pizza, cooking, Elote Pasta Salad, Fourth of July, Independence Day, Prosciutto wrapped Cantaloupe, recipe, recipe ideas, red white and blue potatoes, Strawberry and Cheese Bruschettas, Strawberry Fool, vegetarian

Baked Garlic and Butter Shrimp Recipe

June 9, 2014 by Pechluck Leave a Comment

Of all the seafood, I love lobster the most. There is a lot of sweet meat inside for the effort (unlike say crab) for me to use as a vehicle essentially for butter. Second place then goes to shrimp rather than crab because the ease of getting to shrimp meat, even though I have to eat more of them, makes it easy to enjoy without a lot of work.

Maybe I’m still bitter about the time I was eating crab and wondered why the red sauce was so watery on the plate and then realized even in death, a crab had fought back and cut me. And then that’s how I also learned, after wearing a bandage for a couple days, that I’m allergic to latex. It made sense in retrospect why I always hated the smell of Halloween/latex even before I had this knowledge.

My favorite way of having shrimp is via shrimp scampi. The second way is poached in butter, so really it’s still the same way… swimming in butter, the second most natural place for seafood to be besides in its home origin of water.
Baked Garlic and Butter Shrimp Recipe that doesn't use a stick of butter, relying instead on lots of garlic and panko to be a bit healthier

But, there is a way I can make it at home that doesn’t use a whole stick of butter. Instead it relies on just enough butter to add the flavor and help from panko and garlic.

Baked Garlic and Butter Shrimp Recipe

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 shallot, diced
1 pound of fresh raw shrimp deveined and peeled. Your choice on whether to cook with the tails so you have something to hold, or remove them before you cook.
2 tablespoons of melted butter
1/2 a lemon: you will be using the juice from 1/2 a lemon plus 1/2 tablespoon of lemon zest
4 cloves of garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 cup of panko
1/2 cup of grated or shredded Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley

Directions:

On the stovetop, saute the minced shallot until it is a little crispy. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a mixing bowl, combine the shrimp, lemon juice, garlic, , shallot, salt and pepper. Pour into your baking dish (thanks Debbie! I use this gift all the time!) and arrange the shrimp so they are a single layer. I suppose you don’t really have to do this, but I do in order to get all the shrimpies to get the topping next…
In a separate bowl, mix the butter and lemon zest enough to blend and spoon onto each and every shrimp in your baking dish. Sprinkle on top the paprika, and then the panko, Parmesan and parsley.
Bake in the oven until the shrimp are pink, and the Parmesan has browned, about 10-15 minutes.

Baked Garlic and Butter Shrimp Recipe that doesn't use a stick of butter, relying instead on lots of garlic and panko to be a bit healthier
After this, you can eat this over brown rice or quinoa, or plain by itself with maybe a chilled glass of white wine?!

What is your favorite kind of seafood?

Filed Under: Cooking, Food and Drink Tagged With: baked garlic shrimp recipe, butter shrimp, cooking, recipe, shrimp scampi recipe

Making CoCo Ichibanya’s Curry

November 17, 2012 by Pechluck 1 Comment

When I was in Japan for work back in March of this year, CoCo Ichibanya was highly recommended and raved about by my youngest sister J. So on my last night, I wandered lost along the neighborhood of Shibuya Crossing, trying to find CoCo Ichibanya’s Curry House, as mentioned in a previous post. When I finally found it (apparently having passed it at least twice- there are so many bright signs that I missed it), I finally got to enjoy a comforting Japanese curry dinner of level 4 heat curry with chicken katsu and mushroom. While paying for my meal, I also bought two curry mix packages to take back to to the US, one pork and one vegetable, to take home.

My sister informed me there is now a branch of CoCo Ichibanya’s Curry House in LA (the first on the US Mainland), so it looks like when my family gets together this Christmas holiday, we will be able to visit. There’s no reason for me to horde my CoCo curry mix anymore. So, thanks to the internet, I decided to give it a try, including even trying to katsu up some tofu.

Ingredients (enough for 2 people):

2 tablespoons of olive oil
Diced onions
Mixed diced vegetables of your choice
Coco Ichiban’s Curry Mix (I happened to use Vegetable)
Tofu (you can also use meat of course such as pork or chicken cutlet)
Flour
1-2 egg (start with one and add another if you run low)
Seasoned breadcrumbs and/or panko
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Steamed Rice (I used my standby jasmine rice)

Directions:

Heat a sauce pan, pour in the olive oil, and saute the onions until caramelized. Add in the mixed vegetables and lightly saute for a few minutes.
Drop the heat to medium-low. Squeeze in the curry mix. Let thicken, stirring occasionally while preparing your katsu tofu/meat. The one from Coco is liquid and already included some veggies, but I’m glad I added more as mine were fresher and crunchier versus the mush in the bag… though maybe I went a little overboard in quantity of veggies.

But, often times the Japanese curry mix you find is actually hard and in blocks, similar to chocolate. So if you have that kind break it into pieces so it will melt. As it melts, for this curry block kind because the flavor is more condensed, start adding water, starting with one
cup, to taste. You will want to do this in steps as the flavors opens up and develop. When it is all melted, depending on how it tastes to you, you can add more water, or some brown sugar to sweeten it, or add more heat with cayenne, or even sprinkle in some cheese for richness. Let the curry simmer on low, and remember that the Japanese curry should become thick almost like gravy, not like soup.
Meanwhile, with the tofu, since I was not using meat there was no need to pound it into tenderness. If your tofu is not fresh and comes in a liquid, you will want to put it on paper towels and put something heavy (I use pans) to press it to squeeze the moisture out. Otherwise, if you are using meat, pound it out so it is about 1/2 inch in thickness.
In a shallow bowl, combine breadcrumbs with salt, pepper and other desired seasonings, and or panko. I only had a little bit of panko left, and so I mixed the panko and some seasoned breadcrumbs together to get enough for two people’s worth. Dredge the tofu or meat in flour, then the whisked egg, then in the mix of seasoned breadcrumbs/panko and until evenly coated. I like doing this dredging using chopsticks, but need the fork to help turn over the tofu in the egg bowl.
Cook your tofu or meat a skillet with 1/4 cup vegetable oil, shallow pan frying them about 5 minutes each side if you are using meat but shorter for tofu since you are just browning it no fully cooking it. To start you probably want to start with a smaller piece just to check the heat of the oil first. Drain your fried goodies on paper towels.
The prettiest presentation for serving the curry is by first plating the white rice on half a plate, putting the curry on the other half, and place your crunchy tofu/meat on top of the curry so it will stay crispy. Or, I went the practical way which is using a bowl and putting in the rice, curry, and then topping with the tofu.

This was ok – definitely not as good as actually going to CoCo house and having the real deal. I wish I had mushrooms in the pantry for this, but had used them up earlier making a mushroom creme sauce on pasta. And, somehow I haven’t been able to recreate the kind of taste of katsu that I experienced in Japan- the texture was right with this panko breadcrumb mix, but not the taste. It must be something with the panko they are using- even katsu in the US I get doesn’t taste the same way, yet at least 3 places in Tokyo were blowing me away with their versions. Now that I’m out of panko, I am going to specifically get my next batch from an Asian grocery store.

Well, I have something to look forward to next month in LA!

Filed Under: Cooking Tagged With: Coco Ichibanya, cooking, japanese curry, recipe, tofu katsu

Transylvanian Eggplant Casserole: from Moosewood

May 16, 2012 by Pechluck 3 Comments

F has a Moosewood cookbook… he swears he used to have two, but one got lost somewhere in his moves from Portland to Chicago back to Portland. It doesn’t matter, because he never really cooks. However, for a get together on a warm Monday evening, I had called for a potluck. While I prepared the watercress orange soup of last post, I picked out this Transylvanian Eggplant Casserole from Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant for his contribution. I had always been curious about it.

He didn’t quite follow it as he adapted it based on what we had. For instance the recipe calls for all the spices except for the parsley to be dried… but he went the opposite, where everything but the parsley was fresh. We also switched out the pine nuts (which he thought were too expensive) for slivers of almonds instead because i still thought the nuts should be present to add some crunch texture. And he did not do the original topping of sauteed bread crumbs and pine nuts in butter on top, instead using some Italian seasoned breadcrumbs I already had in the pantry.

The yield of this is enough for 8 people, and takes about 1.5 hours of bot prep and cook time. It’s a great way to get a lot of vegetables in, and is a pretty healthy recipe.

Ingredients:

2 medium eggplants, cut crosswise into 1/2 inch round slices
2 cups chopped onions
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 cups, about 1 lb of sliced mushrooms
4 fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons marjoram
3/4 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
salt and ground black pepper to taste
4 cups cooked brown rice
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (or to taste)
1/4 cup parsley
2 tablespoons pine nuts (although we used slivers of almonds instead, and increased the amount to 2/3 cup)
4 eggs (though we used egg whites)
1/2 cup bread crumbs (the recipe calls for whole wheat, but we used Italian seasoned bread crumbs)
Optional: additional topping made with 2-3 tbsp of oil or butter, 2/3 cup pine nuts, more parsley, and sliced pepper. He didn’t do this step.

Directions:

Place the eggplant slices on an olive oiled baking sheet, salt them lightly, and cover them with aluminum foil. Bake at 400 degrees until tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, saute the onions in the oil until translucent.
Add the mushrooms and continue to cook, covered on medium heat until the mushrooms have released their juices and become soft.
Stir in the tomatoes, marjoram, thyme, paprika, salt, and black pepper. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
Combine the rice, lemon juice, parsley, and pine nuts. Instead, we substituted almond slivers instead of pine nuts, and we increased the amount of 2 tablespoons to 2/3 cup.
To assemble the casserole, oil a 9x13x2 1/2 inch baking dish. Spread half of the rice mixture on the bottom and cover with half of the eggplant slices. Spoon half of the sauteed vegetables on top of the eggplant layer. Repeat this process using the remaining rice, eggplant and vegetables.
Pour the beaten eggs (though we just used egg whites) evenly over the top of the casserole so that they drizzle down into it.
Optional: Combine the bread crumbs and nuts and saute them on low heat in the oil or butter for about 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Top the casserole with the nut mixture. What you see below is that he decided against the additional oil or butter and just topped the casserole with Italian seasoned breadcrumbs.
Bake the casserole, covered, at 350 degrees for about 350 minutes. Then uncover and bake for 10 minutes until the top is crisp and the casserole still moist.
Optional: Garnish with parsley and peppers.

And… I forgot to take the photo of the finished product. OOOPS!

Filed Under: Cooking, Food and Drink Tagged With: cooking, Moosewood, recipe, Transylvanian Eggplant Casserole

Watercress and Orange Soup

May 14, 2012 by Pechluck 1 Comment

I realized I haven't done a cooking post for a while, so I thought I would honor the quite warm weather we are having in Portland (in the mid 80s) this Mother's Day weekend with a soup that can be served either hot or well chilled.

Overall the recipe only takes about 20-30 minutes and serves 4 as a main dish (total recipe yield is a little more than 5 cups).

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped (I used sweet onion)
2 bunches of watercress that have been chopped
2 1/2 cups of vegetable stock or chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 orange – you will want to grate all of the rind, and also then squeeze all the juice
2/3 cup of cream
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Salt and Pepper

Directions:

Saute the onion in olive oil in a large saucepan on medium heat until it is soft and transparant.
Now add the watercress and cover the pan. Wait about 5 minutes for the watercress to soften.
Remove the pan from heat and add 2 1/2 cups of vegetable stock that have been pre-mixed with 3 tablespoons flour and 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, as well as the juice and grated rind of one orange.
Simmer the pan for about 10 minutes. Then remove and and let cool enough to pour the entire mixture into a blender or food processor and puree.
Return the puree into the pan, and add the 2/3 cup of cream that has been premixed with the cornstarch. Bring the mixture to a boil on low heat. You can salt and pepper to taste.
Now you can serve hot… or place in a container and chill in the fridge.
When serving, you can add a swirl of cream or yogurt (about a tablespoon), and add an orange wedge, or croutons. Or, what I did… which is add a tablespoon of some crispy crumbled bacon.