Garlic Parmesan Savory Waffles

Savory waffles are great, and the these are so easy. You use refrigerated crescent rolls. 

Unwrap them, roll them out into rectangles (2 crescents per rectangle). 

Then you make a garlic butter: 2T butter, 2 tsp oregano, 2T Parmesan, and two minced garlic cloves. Spread it on the inside of the rolls, then roll backup (2 crescents makes one waffle). Spray Pam on your waffle maker and you put two of the rectangles on the waffle iron at a time. It takes about 3 to 5 minutes. Serve as a side to pasta.

Grilled Tilapia in Foil Packets

Ingredients:

4 pieces of tilapia
1/2 of a small onion sliced
1 cup of matchstick carrots
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced thin
1/2 green bell pepper, sliced thin
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 green onions, sliced
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 seasoned panko breadcrumbs

Preheat grill to about 350 °F

Cut 4 18×18 pieces of heavy-duty tin foil.

Divide the onions, pepper, and carrots evenly and place them in a small pile in the center of the foil pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Lay one piece of fish over each veggie pile. Sprinkle with salt and pepper then divide the remainder of the ingredients over the top of the fish. Seal each package by bringing the two opposite edges of the foil together and crimping it, but don’t press it flat. Leave some room in the top of the foil package so it can steam. Fold the other edge in and up slightly toward the center, so the liquid doesn’t leak out and the package is sealed but not flat.

Place foil packages on BBQ for about 12 minutes depending on the size of the filets. You can open one slightly to see if it is cooked.

*NOTE: I'd leave out the carrots next time. They were too sweet in the citrus sauce. I'll substitute mushrooms maybe. Fish, however, was delicious and perfectly cooked.

"Shrimp on the Barbie"

Dan is still laughing at me in his Australian accent. Silly or not, this is a delicious grilled shrimp recipe, & it's easy and tasty.

I paired it with Uncle Ben's brown & wild rice medley (these little 90 second packs are great!).

Pane e Vino

We just tried Pane e vino in the old Sugar Bowl location. Service was good. Food was good. Prices average, but I will say that $12 was a lot for the portion of pasta we got. We shared a Formaggio Recco flatbread pizza and an order of Campanelle with cheese & breadcrumbs. The waitress said there was bacon in it, but I neither saw nor tasted any bacon or pancetta.

For dessert there was Panecotta with VERY tart apricot sauce on top. However, my mini canolis were very good.

No wine for a month until they get their liquor license!

The menu is limited; not sure Covina has the clientele for this type of osteria... we'll see if they last. The artisan pizza shop opening down the street may fair better.

Mon Dieu!! Dites que ce n'est pas vrai!!

While updating my blog this morning, I was saddened to learn of the closing of Le Bec Fin. Clicking on their link, it simply said:

"Fin. - thank you for your 43 years of patronage".


 


Sacre blue!  This cannot be!!  I am turning 43 next month, and the thought that those seared ahi tuna steaks, and that 3-tier dessert cart shall no longer exist saddens me greatly, as does the fact that I live on and that ganache chocolat does not.







Au revoir, George Perrier!  Merci beaucoup pour les recipes est les cuisine magnifique!  Vous-etres un chef de cuisine est un boulangere extraordinaire!! 

Bon retraite!

Cooking with Aidan: Homemade Peanut Butter

One of the things I want to make sure I do as a parent is teach my son how to cook. My husband can "cook", but it's pretty much limited to heating up pizza in the microwave, and stirring Kraft macaroni & cheese on the stove. {There is a long-held myth that Dan can make Lasagna, but it has never been proven, so it remains part of the oral tradition} For Aidan, I want him to have a entire repertoire of basic recipes at the least; so far, so good.  He's quite capable of making himself eggs and/or an omelette.  He still calls over-easy "poppin' eggs", which I love to hear as it is reminscent of the little boy in there somewhere.  He has to be watched, though, because his ability to cook eggs (scrambled, o/e, omellette, etc) means he will eat them often and I fear he will face cholesterol problems in the future.  He also likes making pizza dough and topping the pie.  Cookies? Yep. Cakes & brownies from a box?  Yes. Boiling pasta?  Uh-huh. Today's experiment was homemade peanut butter.  

Ingredients are simple:

 

(note: I used lightly salted so I didn't add any salt to the recipe)

Equipment:
1 Cup and 1 Tablespoon measures, and a food processor.

Literally the easiest thing.
2 C peanuts, 1-2 T peanut oil. (Start with one, add as needed- the peanuts release their own oil)
Blend until smooth.

 

Voila!  Homemade peanut butter.  And a bonus, 'how to make PB & J's'.  

Ricotta!

Bon Appétit Magazine asked:

 

And my answer was, "I don't know."  

So I thought, let's give this a try:

 

Lined strainer with cheesecloth (double layer).

 

 Ingredients.

 

Bringing the milk, cream, and salt to just a boil.

 

Remove from heat, add an acid (lemon juice or white vinegar).

Stir gently until curds form; set for 5 minutes.

 

Pour whey and curds into cheesecloth.

 

 Let sit 20 minutes.

 

This is what it looks like; mine was a creamier curd;  

chill & keep in fridge up to 3 days.

So what do you do then?  You make lasagna rolls, of course! 

 

The longer you chill and drain the curds, the drier it gets.

I used it fresh, so it was still creamy.  I am saving these for dinner, so 

I'll bake them for about 15 minutes or so to heat. 

I also found what I suspect may be a better ricotta recipe from Mario Batali.  

Click HERE for that one.

It's really not hard to make this; and it tastes better than the gloppy stuff we get in the grocery store in those vacuum sealed plastic containers.  I don't use it often, but when I know I need it for a recipe, this is a pretty simple process to follow.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

It’s too hot to start the oven on this summer day, so we’re making Chicken Tortilla Soup in the slow cooker.  We started with corn, black beans, 1# chicken, onions, 2 cans cream of chicken soup (condensed), a bottle of picante sauce, cumin, salt.  Cut the chicken into 1/2 inch cubes.

 

In the crockpot--- dang it!  I forgot to get liners again!--  Stir together the chicken and picante sauce.

 

Add the 2 cans of soup, and 2 cups of corn ( used 1 cup corn, 1 cup mixed veggies).

 

Add the can of beans (drained and rinsed) plus 1 can water.

 

Now chop up 4 green onions OR 1 small yellow onion and add.

 

Stir together and turn the crock pot on low for 4-5 hours.

And...yummo!!

Moo Goo Gai Pan

Today Aidan and I tried out a different Chinese restaurant in town for the lunch special: The Mandarin Chinese on San Bernardino in Covina.  Most items were $4.95-$6.95, and included salad, soup, an egg roll, a fried wonton, choice of rice, and choice of entrée.   I ordered Moo Goo Gai Pan, which I haven’t had in years, and it was great! It was a good bargain for lunch too.  We were able to bring extra home for a second meal.

Quinceañera!

It’s July.  And it’s hot.  So no one really wants to turn on the oven.

I’ve been slow-cooking, or barbecuing instead to keep the house cool.

On some days, it’s best just to go out!

This last Saturday, we went to a Quinceañera, which is a Mexican tradition.  At the age of 15, girls in the Mexican household are celebrated as they have their coming-out party and proceed into womanhood. This tradition is like the American “sweet 16”, but I think has a lot more pomp and circumstance to it.  I’ve been to some that were full-on like weddings.  And some are backyard affairs. 

This weekend, celebrating Sara’s quiceañera , we had a backyard event with mariachis, a Mexican-western band, and a Latino DJ.  The tacos and cake were awesome.  Though, I made the mistake of thinking the guacamole would be the least hot sauce on the table.  I incorrectly judged that, as the jalapenos or chilis in the guac nearly burned my throat. 

Here’s a look at the fare:

Marinara a la Deluise

A cookbook can be labeled as "good" when it looks like this:

Dom Deluise's cookbook is one of my favorites.  I use it for easy lasagna, as well as pizza dough, etc.  It's an easy-to-follow Italian cookbook.









My friend gave me a bunch of home-grown tomatoes, so I made homemade marinara.

 

This looks weird, but it's because of the flesh of the fresh tomatoes.  

It became a more solid red color as I sauteed them longer.

 

Then I was hungry for dinner, so I used my grilled chicken breasts and made chicken parmesan,

or maybe chicken provolone is more accurate since I had no parm!

Macaroni Salad

This is an adaptation of a friend's recipe and Pioneer Woman's recipe that I concocted. It's quite good and not too tangy, not too gloppy.

1# large elbows or shells, cooked & cooled under cold water
1 can sliced black olives, 1/2 can of juice reserved
3-4 sliced radishes
3 chopped stake celery
3 sliced green onions
1/4 c dill relish
1/2 c mayo
Splash of milk
2 T white or red wine vinegar
1 pkt Splenda
Salt & pepper

Cook & cool macaroni. Add chopped vegetables to pasta. For dressing, mix mayo, vinegar, milk, dill relish, reserved olive juice. Add splash of milk to make dressing slightly runnier. Stir into posts and veggies. Salt & pepper to taste. Stir. Then chill in fridge, covered until serving time.

Brined Crockpot Pork Loin Roast

Brine for a 3 # Loin Roast:
3 quarts cold water, divided
3/4 cups sugar
3/8 cup fine sea salt
4 large fresh thyme sprigs
3 Turkish bay leaves, crumbled
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

Brine for up to 24 hours in refrigerator

 Remove roast from brine and brown on all sides in a pan with some EVOO.
Add carrots, shallots, potatoes (as desired) to crockpot. 
Pour in 1/2 C. beef broth and 1 can condensed mushroom soup.
Place browned roast on top of vegetables. 
Roast on low for 10 hours. 

Remove vegetables from liquid.  Then reserve liquid for gravy.
Pour off into saucepan, add a T. of corn starch if necessary.  Stir vigorously
and heat to a boil for 1 minute to thicken (as desired).

Serve over large noodles with gravy and side of vegetables.