GRILLED VEGGIES

I’m now going to give you all a description of my grilled veggies along with 2 photos.  I used one yellow pepper sliced, one orange pepper, sliced, 3 Mexican zucchinis sliced, asparagus tips (whatever you want), whole mushrooms and chunky red onion.  I used my special Italian dressing (Look at my older post for “Weetie’s Special Italian Dressing”) for the marinade and all I can say is YUM, YUM!   

SHRIMP SCAMPI ON THE GRILL

SHRIMP SCAMPI ON THE GRILL

The other night I had my son and his friend from France over, and it was a beautiful evening so we ate outside on the patio and had a luscious dinner and great wine.  Our main course was Grilled Shrimp  along with grilled veggies, such as yellow pepper, orange pepper, Mexican zucchini, asparagus tips, mushrooms and chunky red onion.  I used my special Italian dressing for the marinade and all I can say is YUM, YUM!    I also made orzo pasta with basil (some dried and some fresh), olive oil, parmesan cheese and a little of the cooking water from the cooked orzo. Of course, my very special friend – the “Barbecue King” did all the grilling and what a “Pro” he is.  For dessert I dipped fresh huge strawberries from the local farm, in melted Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate and placed them on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper and then in the refrigerator to harden the chocolate.  After a big meal, that kind of dessert is perfect.   Soon the warm weather will be upon us and these recipes would be just perfect for a wonderful dinner/evening.

GRILLED SHRIMP A LA SCAMPI

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup dry white wine

Juice of 1 lemon(juicy lemon)

3 to 4 garlic cloves, pressed

2 teasp. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teasp. crushed red pepper (or 1 teasp.)

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

1 to 2 pounds extra large shrimp, shelled, deveined, and rinsed with cold water and patted dry.  (I buy  them by the count instead of the pound).

To make marinade, combine all the ingredients in a nonreactive bowl and mix well.  Add the shrimp and refrigerate for about 60 minutes.  (I let it marinate longer)

Preheat grill for 10 to 15 minutes.

While grill is preheating, pour off the marinade and discard it.  Put the shrimp on foil with holes in it or use a grilling basket.

Grill shrimp for about 4 to 6 minutes total, turning them once.  Do not overcook shrimp; they will be done just as they turn opaque throughout.

Serve immediately because they get cold quickly.

Buy your shrimp at Costco, but after buying them you won’t have money for your mortgage (Ahhh – just kidding, very reasonable for the size and taste).  DO NOT GET THE COLOSSAL SHRIMP AS THEY ARE KIND OF TOUGH.

YUMMY APPLE CLAFOUTI PIE

Wow – it’s been a long time since last wrote in my blog – I apologize.  No excuses for me other than just being lazy.  I’m still cooking all the time and love to search for new yummy recipes and ideas to make and serve to friends and my family.  One of my discoveries of a great dessert that I have made is called Apple Clafouti Pie.  Now, I’m not sure where I found it, other than either Food Network (probably Ina Garten) or Epicurious,  but not sure.  It is easy and fun to make and the presentation is very appetizing.   I made it a few times and now it is time for me to share it with you.  So, here goes:

APPLE CLAFOUTI “PIE”

Makes one 9-inch deep dish pie

FOR THE FILLING

1/2 cup dried cherries

1/2 cup apple liqueur or brandy

4 Jonagold apples, peeled, cored, and sliced (1-3/4 lb.) – I prefer Granny Smith apples

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

3 T unsalted butter

1 T fresh lemon juice

1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

FOR THE BATTER

4 T unsalted butter, melted (plus 1 T, melted, for brushing pie plate)

3 eggs

1 cup half-and-half

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. table salt

Ground cinnamon and sugar

PREHEAT oven to 400 degrees

Combine cherries and liqueur in a small bowl; set aside to plump, 15-30 minutes.  Strain cherries, reserving liquid; set both aside.

Cook apples, brown sugar, 3 T butter, lemon juice, vanilla seeds, and reserved liqueur in a skillet over medium heat, until apples soften, 7-10 minutes.

Brush pie plate, with 1 T melted butter; heat in oven while blending batter.

Blend first 7 ingredients for batter in a blender until smooth and frothy; set aside.

Pour half the batter into heated pie plate.  Layer half of the apples, (reserving apple juices) on top of batter followed by half the cherries.  Repeat layering with remaining apples and cherries.  Top with remaining batter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar; bake until golden and set in the center, 25-30 minutes.

Simmer reserved juices in a skillet until reduced by a third.  Serve clafouti drizzled with warm juices.

I bought a pretty white oven-proof dish to help make it look even more appetizing.  Let me know how you like it, if you decide to make it.  Love to hear comments.

Great Dessert

A French Dinner For My Best Friends

The other day my best girlfriend and her husband (my accountant) came over for dinner, as payment for his accounting services.  Now don’t get me wrong, we are very close friends so this was just a little something extra which we decided on. They kind of told me what I should make, if possible.  So as you will see below I made a French dinner.

The main course of the dinner was from a bouillabaisse recipe that I have had for years from a cookbook by Renny Darling, and I decided to make it for them.   It is really very easy to make and you can make the broth a few days ahead.  Of course, the fish goes into the broth right before you eat, but that’s no big deal.  I also made a yummy caesar salad (my own dressing given to me by a friend a long time ago, with my own changes).  This dressing has become another major favorite of ours.  Oh yes, I can’t forget that I also made two artisan herb bread loaves.  Here is  the recipe for you to have, make, or just drool over.

Bouillabaisse Treat

BOUILLABAISSE

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 lb. can stewed tomatoes, chopped

1 7 oz. can minced clams

2 cups tomato juice

3 cups clam juice

1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes

1/4 teaspoon basil

t tsp. thyme flakes

2 tsp sugar

pinch of saffron

pinch of turmeric

juice of 1 lemon (a little more is good too)

pinch of crushed pepper

salt & pepper

TOTAL:  2 lbs. of various fish (less than 4 lbs. when doubling the recipe) – halibut, scallops, shrimp, fresh clams, snapper.  Whatever you choose or can afford.

Combine all ingredients EXCEPT fish – simmer 20 minutes and bring to boil.  Add fish and boil for 5 – 10 minutes.

YUMMY  – crusty french bread and caesar salad.  MAJOR SLURP!!!!

DOUBLE THIS RECIPE FOR 4 PEOPLE.

BUY MOST OF THE FISH AT COSTCO OR ELSE YOU WILL GO BROKE!!!!!

DESSERT – Apple Tarte Tatin

For dessert I made my first apple tarte tatin, a dessert that has actually been haunting my cooking passion for such a long time.  My girlfriend and I always talked about making one but were “chicken.”  I’m so weird because if something isn’t to my satisfaction, the garbage gets it.  Naughty, naughty me.

Apple Tarte Tatin

I searched the internet for days looking for a recipe that seemed to be fairly easy and VOILA! I found one.  It was one created by Anne Burrell of Food Network along with her video of the procedure.  I changed the recipe slightly because I had trouble with the dough, but finally it was a success.  There was no mention of putting the dough in the refrigerator to get cold.  Maybe she can roll it out after taking it out of the food processor, but I sure couldn’t get it right.  After preparing the apples by peeling, coring and cutting in quarters, I let them soak in a little lemon juice so that they would not turn brown.  That became a plus for the recipe.  So, after putting the whole thing together, baking it for 30 minutes and removing it from the pan by placing a plate over the pan it was cooked in and turned it upside down to have the apples on top of the plate, it really looked pretty damn good.

Yummy Sliced Tarte Tatin & Vanilla Ice Cream

It made me feel like I was a Julia Child fantasy chef.  HA!    I will have to keep making the tarte tatin and get professional.  All in all – it was a fun and yummy evening.  Lots of wine too.  HIC!!!!

Vegetable Garbage Soup

VEGETABLE GARBAGE SOUP

I had quite a few different kind of vegetables that were ready to be thrown in the garbage, so I got economical and decided to made a garbage soup which I just created and it absolutely came out great, at least I think.  I have a cold so my taste buds aren’t working too well, but for some reason, I got through it and YUM, I was able to taste it and can’t wait until I have more veggies that are ready for the garbage so that I can have fun just dumping the veggies into a great big stockpot and simmer away the best tasting soup ever.   No kidding, I first sauteed a few onions and crushed garlic in a little olive oil in a big stockpot and then just chopped up whatever veggies needed to be chopped and just put it in the stockpot.  I also added a bag of fresh baby spinach leaves that I also had.  For liquid, I added 6 cups of Swanson’s chicken broth (low-sodium) and one can of beef broth.  For seasoning other than the veggies, I added some chili powder, crushed red pepper, ground pepper, a little salt and chopped cilantro that was in my veggie collection.  I also dumped in around 1 cup of uncooked macaroni.  You can use any kind of pasta, rice, or whatever you enjoy into the soup too.  Simmer the soup until the veggies are tender and all of the flavors are incorporated nicely.  Remember, you can choose whatever seasonings that you like.  This is just what I did and it was so good, that it makes me want to buy lots of veggies and then forget about them and that would be my excuse to make more Garbage Soup.  Trust me, it is delicious and so healthy.  

Roasted Eggplant Soup (Soup of the Gods)

ROASTED EGGPLANT SOUP

Soup of the Gods

Since it has been raining for days, I decided to make my favorite soup – because there is nothing like a hot cup of wonderful soup on a rainy day or days.  I also like to make bread to go along with it or along with anything that I cook.  Yum!  My favorite soup is Roasted Eggplant Soup.  My whole family loves it so much that we named it “Soup of the Gods.”  Crazy, huh?  Even if you don’t like eggplant (which I don’t), you would never know that it is an ingredient in the soup.  It is a bit time consuming to make , but it’s totally worth it.  The flavors blend so beautifully, that all you can do is keep eating it and never stop.  Guess what, it isn’t even fattening – just healthy and very vegan.  A friend of mine told me about this soup and she had found it  in a vegetarian cookbook, but it was such a long time ago and she just gave me the recipe so therefore I really don’t know what cookbook it came from.  I cherish this recipe and would love to share it with you.

ROASTED EGGPLANT SOUP

1 to 2 firm, shiny eggplants, weighing in all 1-1/2 pounds

about 4 Tbsp. Virgin olive oil

1 large red or torpedo onion, halved but not peeled

1 large or 2 medium red peppers, halved and seeded

2 medium ripe tomatoes

4 to 5 thyme branches or 1/2 teasp. Dried thyme

1 bay leaf

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teasp. Dried basil

1 teasp. Salt

2 Tbsp. Basil leaves, chopped (optional)

7 cups Swanson’s chicken broth

Juice of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Wipe outside of eggplants, halve them lengthwise, and brush entire surface with olive oil.  Salt & pepper the cut surfaces, set the halves on a baking sheet or large earthenware dish, and start baking.  Brush olive oil on cut sides of the onion, both sides of the peppers, and the tomatoes, and add them to the pan with the eggplant after it has baked 20 minutes.  Continue baking another 20 minutes or so, until the eggplant is soft and is beginning to collapse, and the skins of all the vegetables are loose and wrinkled.  Remove the vegetables from the oven and cool briefly.  Take off what you can of the pepper skins and peel the onions; then roughly chop all the vegetables into large pieces.

Slowly warm 2 Tbsp. Of olive oil with the thyme, bay leaf, garlic, and dried basil.  After several minutes add baked vegetables, salt and chopped basil, if using.  Pour in the stock, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer slowly for 25 minutes.

Cool the soup briefly.  REMOVE THE BAY LEAF (might be tough to find, so you may have to look for it when you ladle the soup into the blender.)   Then puree it in a blender at a low speed, preserving some texture and small flecks of the pepper and eggplant skins.   Return it to the pot and season to taste with salt and lemon juice.  ENJOY!!!!!!  

Apricot Chicken Treat

One day I had a mad desire to create a recipe for apricot chicken so I became a wild home chef and started putting different ingredients into a sauté pan with a few chicken breasts that were sautéed.   Well, I thought the end results were really tasty so I wrote up a recipe so that I wouldn’t forget what I did.

I especially created this apricot chicken recipe for a very dear friend of mine who couldn’t eat garlic in any kind of recipe so I certainly left out that one ingredient.  Unfortunately she passed away a few years ago, and every time I make this chicken I call it “Charlotte’s Chicken.”  So, now I would like to share it with you and hope that you try it because it is one of my favorites.  I like to serve it over steamed rice.  YUM!!!!

APRICOT CHICKEN CREATION

A CHARLOTTE DINNER

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 T extra virgin olive oil

flour for shaking the chicken

1 onion chopped fine

12 dried apricots

3/4 cup apricot preserves (Trader Joe’s)

1/2 cup orange marmalade

approx. 1 cup chicken broth

1 T chili powder or whatever you want

1 scant teaspoon red pepper flakes

Heat oil, sauté the onions for a bit and then remove; shake the chicken in flour and brown in the oil on both sides. Put onions back in saute pan.

Add about 12 dried apricot halves, lots of apricot preserves & marmalade until you think you might have enough sauce.  Add chicken broth to make it saucy but not too watery.  Then add seasonings to your likeness and simmer until chicken is done, covered (about 25 minutes).

I put the amount of ingredients that really are approximate, because I didn’t measure.  So, hopefully it works for you.  

Filet Mignon with Merlot Sauce

FILET MIGNON WITH MERLOT SAUCE

Today I would like to share with all of you the most wonderful dinner ever.  I found this recipe on epicurious.com and I made this dinner over the holidays and yum yum!!  I went to Costco and got the best looking filet mignon steaks and was really excited to make this meal.  This is the second time I have made it – the first time my son was over and we ate it and couldn’t get over the taste and it made me want to open a restaurant – ha! which of course, I never would do.  I just have fun cooking and entertaining.  This time when I made the same dish,  I didn’t tell my son, but for some reason he must have had some kind of ESP, because VOILA, there he was at my doorstep.  So, here we go again – now for the name of this creation!!  Filet Mignon with Merlot Sauce.  I accompanied this dish with garlic roasted potatoes and spinach patties  that I had made previously and just heated them up in the oven and they were perfect.  Truly a magnificent dinner!!

FILET MIGNON W/MERLOT REDUCTION SAUCE

1 – 750-bottle Merlot

2   14-1/2 ounce cans low-salt chicken broth (Swanson’s)

1    14-1/2 ounce can beef broth

2 tablespoons (1/4) stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1 tablespoon all purpose flour

1 tablespoon olive oil

4  6-ounce filet mignon steaks (each about 1 inch thick)

freshly cracked pepper

1/4 cup chopped shallots

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

Boil wine, chicken broth and beef broth in heavy large saucepan over high heat until mixture is reduced to 2 cups, about 1 hour.  (CAN BE PREPARED 1 DAY AHEAD.  COVER AND REFRIGERATE).

Mix butter and flour in small bowl.  Heat one tablespoon olive oil in heavy large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.  Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper.  Sauté steaks until medium-rare, about 4 minutes per side.  Transfer to plate.

Saute shallots, garlic and thyme in a skillet; stir 30 seconds.  Add 1-1/2 cups reduced wine mixture to skillet (reserve remainder for another use).  Bring mixture to boil, scraping up any browned bits.  Add butter mixture and whisk until smooth.  Boil sauce until thick enough to coat spoon, about 2 minutes.  Serve steaks with sauce.

If you want Madera sauce, use a bottle of Madera wine and also you can add crimini mushrooms along with shallots, garlic and thyme.

YOU CAN MAKE SAUCE A LITTLE AHEAD AND JUST HEAT IT UP, AND SPOON OVER STEAKS AND SERVE.  SLURP!

Porcini Mushroom Chicken

Hi Everybody,

Well, it’s almost Christmas and I’ll bet you all are thinking of what to serve/make for the holidays.  Well, I would love to share with all of you one of my favorite chicken recipes that gets raves every time I make it.  I find it quite easy and so gourmet tasting.  So, here goes for you.  Hope you like it and feel free to leave me any comments that you have.

CHICKEN WITH PORCINI MUSHROOMS

1 Tbsp. Olive oil

1/2 stick butter

4 chicken breasts, boned and skinned and floured for browning

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1 chicken bouillon cube (I use chicken base in the jar or powdered chicken base)

1/3 lb. of sliced prosciutto, diced

1 oz. Porcini mushrooms, soaked in approx. 1 cup white wine

juice of 1 lemon

Warm olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add chicken breasts and brown on both sides.  Remove from pan.  Add parsley, bouillon cube (or chicken base or powder) and prosciutto.  Cook until bouillon dissolves.  Add mushrooms (that have been soaked for at least 1 hour) with the juice of the wine from mushrooms and lemon juice.  Return chicken breasts to skillet and simmer for 15 minutes or until chicken is tender.  When serving pour sauce over chicken and serve.

Absolutely DELICIOUS and your guests will think that you worked forever making such a slurpy gourmet dish.

I DOUBLE THE SAUCE PART OF THE RECIPE.  MORE SAUCE IS THE BEST.  

Grilled Pork Tenderloin Delight

BARBECUED PORK TENDERLOIN FEAST

One of our favorite meals that I would like to share with all of you who read my blog is Slow Grilled Pork Tenderloin.  The recipe is so easy and always a complete success – let’s call it a no-fail delight!!  Since I live in So. California where the word rain is very strange to most of us, we love to barbecue as much as possible.  It’s yummy and  no pots and pans to scrub, of course, except for the side dishes that are served along with the main attraction.  My son absolutely loves pork, but just for jokes, he calls it “pig” so in our family, that name stuck – so hopefully I won’t make any typos and call the pork tenderloin “pig” instead.  I buy the tenderloins at Costco, but make sure they don’t already have any seasoning on them.  When I open the package I rinse them off and then dry them and then make the marinade.  I like to marinate the “pigs” (whoops) early in the morning.  Now for the recipe for the marinade which I found and treasure from “Weber’s Big Book of Grilling.” It’s the best grilling book because all of the recipes are easy and extremely tasty and quite “gourmet.”

SWEET SOY MARINADE

For 2 or 3 tenderloins –

3/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

1/2 cup mirin (sweet rice wine)

1/4 cup ketchup

2 Tablespoons rice vinegar

2 teaspoons rice vinegar

1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil

In small bowl, whisk together the above ingredients.  Place pork tenderloins into a large ziplock bag and pour in the marinade.  Make sure the bag doesn’t leak.  That has happened to me so I also double bag it before I refrigerate it.  When ready to barbecue after at least 5 hours of marinading, remove the pork from the marinade and discard the marinade.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Then comes the yummy cooking part.  The pork is placed on a wire rack on top of a foil cookie sheet which is on the barbecue.  You can see this in the photo that I have for all of you to drool over.  The cooking time is about 40 minutes on indirect heat and the internal temperature should reach 140 degrees.  After taking off the grill, let the meat rest a bit, that’s if you can stand the torture.

I like to serve it with steamed rice cooked in chicken broth and grilled asparagus as you can see on the finished product.  It truly is such a wonderful meal and the pork is so tender that a knife isn’t needed.  Hope you try the above recipe, you won’t regret it.  Yum and a major slurp!!!!

Plated Results of Grilled Pork Tenderloin