TUSCAN SHRIMP FARFALLE

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. fresh shrimp (peeled and deveined)
1 box farfalle pasta
1 16 oz. jar Alfredo sauce
2 T white wine
3 cloves garlic (minced)
½ cup sundried tomatoes (chopped)
¼ cup fresh basil (chopped)
¼ cup parmesan cheese (freshly grated)

Prepare pasta according to package directions.
In a saucepan, sauté garlic, and then add the shrimps.
Pour Alfredo sauce into the saucepan.
Pour wine into sauce jar, cover tightly, and shake well. (“Waste not”)
Stir wine mixture into saucepan.
Stir in chopped tomatoes, chopped basil and cook for 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated.
Toss with pasta, and top with the parmesan cheese.
Garnish with julienned basil.

ENJOY!!!!!

PAM'S RATATOUILLE W/ TRI-COLOR FARFALLE

*ADJUST THE RECIPE IF THIS IS TOO MUCH FOR YOU.
Serving Size: 12

Ingredients:

1 piece chicken breast cubed (Pam's modification to the recipe)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion – chopped

1 tablespoon garlic – chopped

1 medium sized green bell pepper – diced

1 medium sized red bell pepper – diced

1 medium eggplant – peeled and diced

1 medium sized zucchini – peeled and diced

1 28 oz can tomato crushed or diced

1 oz fresh basil – chiffonade

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Cook chicken in a nonstick pan, add a little of olive oil if needed. Set aside.

2. Using the same pan, sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil.

3. Add the peppers, eggplant and zucchini and sauté until tender, approximately 10 minutes

4. Add the cooked chicken, tomatoes, fresh basil and seasonings. Sauté for 5 minutes. Adjust the seasonings.

5. Serve with French baguette or in this case Pam mixed it with pasta.

POACHED PEARS IN WHITE WINE AND SABAYON SAUCE MY VERSION

Got the recipe inspiration from Julia Child's "Pear Poached in White Wine and Sabayon Sauce". As you know Julia Child is a "Vermouth lady" so obviously this recipe will call for one. Since i don't have vermouth in my "wine cellar" ha!ha! i wish!...i decided to make some substitutions and made use of what wines i already have and then i also tapered the quantity since i will be making this dessert for 3. Anyways, i'll post the original recipe just incase. And will do my version as i go along.

Pear Poached:
8 to 10 firm, ripe, unblemished fresh Bartlett pears
2 quarts water and 4 tablespoons lemon juice in a bowl
1 quart fine strong dry white wine or 3 cups dry white vermouth and
1 cup water
Zest and juice of 2 lemons
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 sticks or 1 teaspoon cinnamon.

Sabayon Sauce:
1 egg
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup fruit poaching liquid or a sweet white wine plus a little vanilla
1/4 cup white vermouth
1/4-1/3 cup sugar, depending on sweetness of liquid added.

Peel, halve and core pears, dropping them into the lemon water as you go, to prevent discoloration.
Meanwhile, simmer wine with lemon zest and juice, sugar and cinnamon for 5 minutes.
Drop in the pears (adding only so many that the cooking liquid covers them, or add more wine plus 6 Tbsp. sugar per cup.)
Maintain liquid at just below the simmer for 8 to 10 min. just until pears are tender when pierced w/ knife.
Let them cool in the syrup.
Serve warm or cold: store in a covered bowl, in the syrup in the ref.

For the Sabayon Sauce:
Whisk all sabayon sauce ingredients together in a stainless or enameled saucepan.
When well blended, whisk over low heat until mixture is thick, foamy and warm to your finger.
Do not bring too near to simmer or the eggs will scramble, but you must have enough heat to do the job. (a wisp of steam rising over the surface usually indicates the sauce is done- after 2 to 4 min. of whisking.

Note: With a longer wait, the sauce will usually separate but can be rehomoginized by beating again over heat. It will not be a foamy sauce, however, if reheated, it will usually be a smooth yellow cream, like a custard sauce.

Peel and core. I used melon baller to core. Some pears i left whole and some i cut in half for presentation.

This the wine i used for poaching in lieu of Vermouth. Love this wine!

Julia Child's Sabayon calls for Vermouth but i have always used Marsala for my sabayon sauce.
I opted for Bain Marie (water bath/double steaming) to make my sauce, instead of cooking directly into a pan w/c i think gives you a lot of room for mistake such as over cooking the eggs.

I LOVE THIS DESSERT!

I tried serving the poached pears w/ vanilla icecream it was delish as well.

Don't mind my attempt to make ice cream quenelles, it didn't come out as shapely as i wanted it to be
If you don't want to make the sauce serve it w/ ice cream it's also wonderful.

STEAMED RICE WITH CHICKEN AND CHINESE SAUSAGE

Steamed Rice with Chicken and Chinese Sausage is what I call a meal in one. This is a dim sum dish in most Asian countries, usually served on an individual bowl w/ a lid, when you open it you get the whiff of all the ingredients, oh, I can’t even begin to describe it, all I can say is.... it’s heaven!!! I’m just baffled as to why this is not served in dim sum restaurants here in America. I’ve been to NY, San Francisco and Chicago Chinatown but haven’t seen this dish in the dim sum menu. Pls. let me know if ever you’ve eaten this at a dim sum restaurant and I’d love to go to that place and eat there!!!!

I have almost forgotten that this is one of my favorite until I saw Ming Tsai made this on his show East Meets West few years ago. Since then I have made some tweaking to his recipe and I’ve been making this to fix my craving. What I’m blogging is not the traditional rice that’s used for this dish. I’m using sticky purple/black rice called “Tapol” in the Philippines. This variety of rice could be used both in savory and sweet dishes. The end product was still delicious and the color of the rice definitely made the dish more appetizing, in my opinion.

I highly recommend that you give this a try. But it’s imperative; should you decide to give this a whirl, pls. don’t use instant rice. I don’t have anything against them but it will just not work w/ this dish. Also don’t be intimidated w/ the ingredients you can always substitute them.

Serves: 4

Ingredients:
3 chicken thighs, boned, ½ inch dice, with skin on
1 T soy sauce
½ T sugar
½ T sesame oil
½ C sliced scallions
½ T cornstarch
1 T minced ginger
4 lapchang (Chinese sausage) cut ¼ inch on a bias *I want a lot of these.
3 C white rice, washed until water is clear, drain ( I used “Tapol” )
1 t salt
1 T oil
6 C chicken stock or water

Combine the chicken, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, cornstarch, scallions, ginger and sausage and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.

In a pot, combine the rice, salt and oil. On high heat, sauté briefly then add the stock to at least 1 ½ inches above the rice. (My Moms’ secret to a good ratio of water and rice to achieve perfect steamed rice is to deep the middle finger until it touches the top part of the rice and water should cover half of the finger, does it make sense?)

Bring to a boil then reduce to medium heat and simmer until the stock has evaporated to the level of the rice.

Add the chicken mixture, cover and cook for another 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked.

Stir well, cover, and reduce heat to very low. Add more stock if necessary.

Cook for an additional 10 minutes, then turn heat off.

Let stand for 5 more minutes to allow carry over cooking.

Serve on individual bowl and chopsticks.

TAPOL- A PHILIPPINE BLACK/PURPLE STICKY RICE. THEY CAN BE COOKED BOTH IN SAVORY OR SWEET DISHES. THIS VARIETY IS INDIGENOUS TO ASIA.

The rice turns red/purple when cooked.

Lapchang- Chinese Sausage (I love this fried too)

TANDOORI CHICKEN

Ingredients:

8 chicken drumsticks
2 T lemon juice
1 salt
1 inch fresh ginger, grated
3 cloves garlic
1 t coriander
1 t cumin
1 t chili powder
2 T paprika
Red Coloring (depends on how red you want your chicken)
1 t garam masala
½ t ground black pepper
1 lemon, sliced
1 sm onion, sliced

Instructions :

Cut/Slice chicken on both sides.
Rub chicken with lemon juice and sprinkle with salt.
Blend all spice ingredients until incorporated.
Marinate chicken in ref over night or 4 hours.
Bake or grill chicken until cooked.
Garnish with lemon slices and onion slices or cucumber and tomatoes.

Tandoori Marinade

Tandoori Chicken with Aloo Saag

ALOO SAAG (POTATO AND SPINACH CURRY)

Ingredients:

1 bunch of fresh baby spinach
1 clove garlic, chopped fine
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 fresh green chilli, chopped fine
2 thin slices of fresh ginger
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks (I used yukon gold)
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 T garam masala
1 tablespoon canola oil (for saute)
Salt to taste

Saute garlic, onions, ginger and pepper. Add the chopped potatoes, cook until brown. Add little water if needed.

In the meantime, wash and rinse the fresh spinach repeat process until very clean. Chop spinach into small pieces.

Add the spinach into the potatoes. Stir in all the rest of the ingredients. And simmer for few more minutes.

Add salt and pepper to your taste.

Aloo Saag served with Dosas, Basmati Rice.

DARING COOKS CHALLENGE PART 2 - INDIAN DOSAS

As i have mentioned in my DARING COOKS CHALLENGE PART 1-INDIAN DOSAS I made dosas for the second time and challenged myself further to make a different kind of batter. I used the same filling and chutney so pls. check my Part 1 for the recipes. Yes, i made it again because we liked it.

I used AP flour with my first challenge and i was satisfied, this time i challenged myself to make my own batter from scratch, using the lentil/brown rice combination. It's definitely a make ahead thing. It took me 2 days to make the batter, from soaking both the lentil and brown rice to grinding them,to the fermentation.

The lentil/brown rice is way better. It had a nutty flavor and was crispy inspite of the coarse grind. I will grind my lentil and rice finer next time, maybe i can make the paper dosa! Nothing wrong w/ challenging myself again ha!ha!. It was worth doing this dish the second time around. Also i made aloo saag as a side dish.

I know there are a lot of versions to this kind of dosa batter, some calls for more than 2 kinds of grains and other ingredients. I decided to work on what i already have, brown rice and lentil.

Wash and rinse the grains. Fill each bowls w/ enough water to cover the grains. Cover the bowls and soak overnight.

Use a food process or use a blender to grind the grain mixture. Add little water. (I will be grinding this batter a little bit further to make the grains fine the next time i'll make this).

Cover and keep the batter in a warm place for fermentation about 5 hours. I kept mine beside the refrigerator. It should at least be foamy on the top. The batter should be ready for cooking or keep the rest in the ref for further use. Speaking of which, i still have extra batter in the ref waiting..i wonder how else could i use the batter aside from dosas. Suggestions will be appreciated.

Heat a nonstick pan or griddle with little canola oil until hot but not smoking. Pour a ladleful of batter and spread immediately into a circular motion just like you would a pancake or a crepe.
Flip the dosa over when the edges starts to curl up and turn golden.
Cook the other side for few more minutes.
The dosa should be crisp and golden in color.

These Dosas were crispy and has the nutty flavor. I prefer this than the AP flour batter.

I served my Part 2 Indian Dosa with Aloo Saag and Tandoori Chicken.

MUTTON ROGAN JOSH (MUTTON CURRY)

This is the side dish to my Daring Cooks Challenge-Indian Dosas Part 1. We finished the Indian dinner w/ Kheer.

Ingredients:

3 lbs mutton
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 inch piece of fresh root ginger, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp each paprika, turmeric and chili powder
4 cardamom pods, crushed
salt To taste
1 cup plain yogurt ( I used Greek)
2 cups canned chopped tomatoes
fresh cilantro to garnish. (I forgot to garnish when i took the pics=:)

*Heat the oil in a large heavy based frying pan and add the onion, ginger, garlic, spices and a good pinch of salt. Fry over a low heat for 5 minutes, or until the onions have softened.

*Add the meat and 2 tablespoons of the yogurt. Increase the heat to medium and cook for 4 minutes or until the yogurt is absorbed. Repeat with the rest of the yogurt.

* Increase the heat to high, stir in the tomatoes and 1 cup of water and bring to a boil Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 40 minutes or until the meat is tender, stirring occasionally and adding more water if the sauce becomes too dry.

*Uncover the pan, increase the heat to high and cook stirring constantly, for 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Garnish with cilantro. And a dollop of sour cream.

VERMICELLI KHEER -AN INDIAN DESSERT

This is one of the most common desserts in India. It is very quick and easy to prepare. This pudding, called "Kheer", is made with either toasted vermicelli or rice and is my favorite Indian dessert. There are a lot of versions to this dessert. Aside from rice or vermicelli, some add rose water, vanilla, almond or other kind of nuts. Sometimes saffron is added not only for taste but for color of course. Jaggery can also be a substitute for sugar. Others calls for condensed milk, I’ve used both but it does not make any difference, it still taste sweet and creamy.

Ingredients:

1 cup roasted vermicelli
6 cups milk
1 cup sugar
raisins
pinch of cardamom powder or 2 cardamom pods
cashew nuts or other nuts like pistachios

Boil the milk. Add roasted vermicelli and cook for 10-12 minutes.

Add sugar and, raisins cashew nuts and cardamom.

Mix well, boil for 2 -3 minutes and serve.

Could be served hot or cold. I like mine hot.


YOU CAN ROAST YOUR OWN BUT IF YOU CAN BUY THIS W/ THE PRICE...PLS..BUY THEM. THIS PACKAGE GOES A LONG WAY.

DARING COOKS CHALLENGE (SEPTEMBER 2009) PART I- INDIAN DOSAS

This months challenge was hosted by DEBYI
This challenge is nothing new to me in the sense that Indian Cuisine is one of our favorite. We have probably dined at almost all the Indian restaurant/buffet near our area. Dosa is a staple, a must order food, but i have never made them at home. I always thought that they are too complicated to make and just thought of leaving the dosas to the experts.

That being said, if not because of this challenge i wouldn't have known that homemade dosas are well worth the process. I was too enthused with this challenge, i made them twice w/ different batter. So, thanks Debyi! Although i must admit, i was kind of iffy when you mentioned about the "restrictions"no meat products, strictly vegan. I had to compromise since i know my family will look for meat. I followed your vegan recipe and made a meat dish as a side dish. Take note...the meat was my side dish.

I will blog my two versions separately, just because it'll be too long to blog them all at ones. Plus i want to "showcase" each process. I used Debyis' filling and Chutney for both versions. The thing i did differently was the batter and my side dishes.


On my Dosa Challenge Part I, i made Mutton Rogan Josh as my side dish and finished it with Vermicelli Kheer. Pls. check the blogs for both.


Dosa Pancakes
1 cup (120gm/8oz) spelt flour (or all-purpose, gluten free flour)-I USED AP FLOUR
½ tsp (2½ gm) salt
½ tsp (2½ gm) baking powder
½ tsp (2½ gm) curry powder
½ cup (125ml/4oz) almond milk (or soy, or rice, etc.)
¾ cup (175ml/6oz) water
cooking spray, if needed

Dosa Filling
1 batch Curried Garbanzo Filling (see below), heated

Dosa Toppings
1 batch Coconut Curry Sauce (see below), heated
¼ cup (125gm) grated coconut (I GRATED MY OWN, I WANTED TO USE FRESH COCONUT)
¼ cucumber, sliced

Dosa Pancakes
1.Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, slowly adding the almond milk and water, whisking until smooth.
2.Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Spray your pan with a thin layer of cooking spray, if needed.
3.Ladle 2 tablespoons of batter into the center of your pan in a circular motion until it is a thin, round pancake. When bubbles appear on the surface and it no longer looks wet, flip it over and cook for a few seconds. Remove from heat and repeat with remaining batter. Makes 8 pancakes.

Curried Garbanzo Filling
This filling works great as a rice bowl topping or as a wrap too, so don't be afraid to make a full batch. (I ADDED A LITTLE BROTH COZ IT WAS DRY)
5 cloves garlic
1 onion, peeled and finely diced
1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
1 green pepper, finely diced (red, yellow or orange are fine too)
2 medium hot banana chilies, minced
2 TBSP (16gm) cumin, ground
1 TBSP (8gm) oregano
1 TBSP (8gm) sea salt (coarse)
1 TBSP (8gm) turmeric
4 cups (850gm/30oz) cooked or canned chick peas (about 2 cans) (ONE CAN WOULD SUFFICE)
½ cup (125gm/4oz) tomato paste

1.Heat a large saucepan over medium to low heat. Add the garlic, veggies, and spices, cooking until soft, stirring occasionally.
2.Mash the chickpeas by hand, or in a food processor. Add the chickpeas and tomato paste to the saucepan, stirring until heated through.

Coconut Curry Sauce
This makes a great sauce to just pour over rice as well. This does freeze well, but the texture will be a little different. The flavor is still the same though. My picture of this sauce is one that I had made, had to freeze, then thaw to use. It tastes great, but the texture is a little runnier, not quite as thick as it was before freezing.
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic
½ (2½ gm) tsp cumin, ground
¾ (3¾ gm) tsp sea salt (coarse)
3 TBSP (30gm) curry powder (I USED 2 T SINCE I I HAD HOT CURRY POWDER- BUT IT WASN'T THAT HOT SO I WILL HAVE TO ADJUST NEXT TIME)
3 TBSP (30gm) spelt flour (or all-purpose GF flour)
3 cups (750ml/24oz) vegetable broth
2 cups (500ml/24oz) coconut milk
3 large tomatoes, diced

1.Heat a saucepan over medium heat, add the onion and garlic, cooking for 5 minutes, or until soft.
2.Add the spices, cooking for 1 minutes more. Add the flour and cook for 1 additional minute.
3.Gradually stir in the vegetable broth to prevent lumps. Once the flour has been incorporated, add the coconut milk and tomatoes, stirring occasionally.
4.Let it simmer for half an hour.
Happy eating!

Some of the ingredients. I love, love the Tomato tube paste...brilliant idea!

Cooking Basmati Rice is different than cooking a normal rice e.g. Jasmine rice.

Dosa Crepe/Pancake

I did a good job..didn't waste anything. First crepe was perfect.

Coconut Curry Sauce

This was not that hot/spicy, it's obvious based on the color. I had Hot Curry Powder, thought it will be too hot so tappered the measurement..boy was i wrong..it wasn't hot/spicy at all.

Curried Garbanzo Filling

This filling would be great for samosas as well.



Dosas with Basmati Rice

ENJOY!!!

BROWN TOMATO, GREEN MANGO AND CUKE SALAD

Ingredients:

Tomatoes (i used the Kumato brown tomatoes)
Green Mango*
English Cukes
Thai Basil (julienned)
White Vinegar
Sugar
S&P

Cut tomatoes, mangoes and cukes into cubes.
Mix white vinegar, sugar, s&P (test to suit your taste)
Incorporate everything, toss and chill.

*Unripe mango would work well for this salad because of the crunch and the sourness.


GREEN MANGOES *THE SHRIMP PASTE IS NOT INCLUDED IN THIS SALAD*

KUMATO (BROWN TOMATOES) TASTE LIKE ROMA TOMATOES

ENJOY!!!!!

PAM'S OATMEAL CHOCO CHIP COOKIES

Based on the title it's a given that this recipe is not mine, but Pam gave me the blessings to blog it!

The recipe is perfect to begin with, chewy and moist.. out of curiousity, she played w/ it and in the process, she has made "scones" because she added extra flour. One time, it became "lace cookies" because she added extra milk. Then she decided to stop w/ the experimentation and leave the wonderful cookie alone . She's definitely the baker!


Y: 20 cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 C butter (room temperature)
1 egg (large- room temperature)
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 C white sugar
2 t milk
1 t vanilla
1/2 C 2T flour
1/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 C oatmeal (quick cooking)
1/2 C semi sweet chocolate chips



1.Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

2.In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in egg then stir in milk and vanilla.

3.Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats and chocolate chips. Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.

4.Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

HOW TO SLICE CHERRY OR GRAPE TOMATOES

Wish i could take credit to this brilliant idea but i can't . I saw Rachel Ray demo this but it wasn't here idea either...it was from a friend of hers.

What you need:

2 Lid tops
Very sharp knife

STEP 1

STEP 2

STEP 3