Tag: dinner

Making Fresh Pasta

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Fresh Pasta
Fresh Pasta

Making fresh noodles takes some work, especially because you have to make twice the amount since everyone will want to eat much more than if they were dried noodles, but the result is always worth it. I often make them and yes they disappear quickly.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups of all purpose flour
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp olive oil

Directions

On a large cutting board, pour flour into a pile and use your fingers to poke down in the center and form a crater, so it looks like a volcano. Break eggs one at a time in the crater you formed and use a fork to start mixing the flour with the egg until the flour absorbs the egg and don’t break the side of the flour pile or the egg will run out. After you mixed in the first egg put in the second until all 3 eggs are incorporated. then knead the dough for about 5 minutes until well mixed. Wrap in saran wrap and put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to rest. If you have a pasta roller (like HomeStart HST5018 Pasta Maker) you can use this to roll the dough.

With Pasta roller: Start at the thickest setting. Cut the dough into thirds and roll one piece through fold and roll through again 4 times. Go down one setting and fold and roll through the pasta maker. Do this 3 more times. Now go down 1 setting at a time folding over before rolling dough but only go through 1 time now till you are down to the thickness you want. Now flour both sides of the pasta sheet and run through the cutter onto a dish and toss in flour.

Without Pasta roller: Separate the dough into thirds. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a sheet on a floured cutting board. Fold over and repeat 7 times. Now roll to thickness you want. Add a lot of flour to the pasta sheet and roll up. Now with a sharp knife cut the end of the roll into the width noodle you want and repeat until the roll is cut. Unroll and toss in flour.

Then cook for 3 – 5 minutes in boiling water. Serve as spaghetti, or in soups, etc.

From Scratch Spaghetti Sauce

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Rich From Scratch Spaghetti Sauce
Rich From Scratch Spaghetti Sauce

If you have the time to make this, you will really be in for a treat, and triple the batch size below, because you will want to have some for later. You can put the extra in a ziploc bag and freeze it or put it in the bottle and store it in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Ingredients:

  • 10 roma (plum) tomatoes – peeled, seeded and crushed
  • 1/2 small onion finely chopped
  • 2 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 teaspoon pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 pinch cinnamon
  • 1 good pinch of sugar

Directions:

Put tomatoes, onion, garlic, and olive oil, oregano, basil, pepper flakes, salt, black pepper, sugar, and cinnamon into a slow cooker. Cover, and cook 10 to 15 hours on low. For great taste cook it for 10 hours and it will improve up to 15 hours. You don’t want to go much over 15 hours since the flavor will begin to dull.

Cookout Jalapeno Citrus Chicken

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Campfire

I always cook this when we go camping, usually on the campfire but I have started cooking this at home too since it is such a big hit. Very simple, but really good. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

  • 3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts or 4 thighs cut into about 1/2 inch cubes
  • 4 small to medium size potatoes cut into 1/2 inch cubes
  • juice from 1 medium size lemon or 2 limes
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • 2 large jalapenos sliced
  • 5 tblsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp course ground pepper
  • 1 tsp salt (Can add more later if needed)
  • 1 medium size onion chopped into 1/2 squares

Directions

Pour olive oil in 9×13 pan. Then add all ingredients and toss in oil to cover. Cover with aluminum foil and cook at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove foil cook for another 20-30 minutes till chicken is done and the top is browned. Serve and enjoy.

 

Green Chili Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada

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20160304_125507

This is a very popular dish. I tend to make it a little spicy since I am from the Southwest, however you can tone it down by adding less of the green chilis. It does depend on the tub of chilis though, some are hotter than others.

Ingredients

  • 1 whole chicken boiled for 2-3 hours meat removed/shreded
  • 2 cans cream of chicken soup
  • 1 tub of Frozen Baca green Chili. (If you want it hotter add 1 4 oz can of diced jalapenos additionally)
  • 2 cups of onion chopped
  • 1 cup of sour cream
  • 1 tbsp chili powder
  • 16 oz of shredded chedar cheese
  • 50 corn totillas

Directions

Add cream of chicken soup, sour cream, thawed green Chili, chili powder, onion into a bowl and mix to make the sauce. Taste the sauce to see if you want to add the can of jalapenos. Take about 1/3 of this and add it to the meat. Spray each tortilla with a little bit of cooking oil and lightly fry till it just starts to brown. Coat the bottom of the baking pan with a little of the sauce mixture.  Take 1 large tablespoon of the meat and roll inside of the tortilla and add to the baking pan. Repeat until all the meat is gone and the pans are full. Then take the remaining sauce mixture and pour over the rolled tortillas. Top with cheese. You can make a layered enchilada to save time. Just take a little of the meat about 1/4 and spread on the bottom across all the pans. Spread some sauce over this. Sprinkle some of the cheese over it and add a layer of tortilla. Repeat this one or two times more. Then spread some sauce over the top and sprinkle some cheese. Bake at 350 degrees covered with foil for the first 15 minutes and then remove foil and finish baking till the cheese is melted in the center. If you want to garnish chop some green onions and sprinkle over the top.  Serve and enjoy.

 

East Hot Fluffy Dinner Rolls w/Cinnamon Butter

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Hot Fluffy Dinner Roll
Hot Fluffy Dinner Roll

I love the fluffy, soft dinner rolls they serve at Texas Roadhouse restaurant but didn’t want to spend a lot of time making them. I searched around for a recipe that was easy and tasted a lot like the ones at Texas Roadhouse. I tried this one which uses a bread maker for the dough which allows you to load up the bread maker and  come back in a couple of hours, remove the dough and bake it. When served with the cinnamon butter, they taste a lot like the ones they have at the restaurant. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

Rolls

  • ¼ cup lukewarm water
  • 1 cup lukewarm milk (Vegan option, use plain soy milk)
  • 1 large egg, room temperature
  • 3 tablespoons melted butter, room temperature (Vegan option, use margarine)
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon garlic salt
  • 1 envelope (.25 oz) active dry yeast
  • ¼ cup melted butter for basting rolls

Cinnamon Butter

  • 4 tblsp of Butter (Vegan option, use margarine)
  • 1 tblsp Sugar
  • 1/2 tsp of cinnamon

Directions

Pour all liquid dinner roll ingredients into the bread maker. Add the dry ingredients (except the yeast) to a bowl and mix then add to the bread maker. Now add the yeast on top of the dry ingredients so it is not in the liquid. Start your bread maker on the dough setting (you can also put on delay setting if you are want it to be ready later). When the dough cycle is complete, remove and roll out on a floured cutting board into a sheet and using a pizza cutter cut into 16 even squares. Put these on a baking sheet. You can use parchment paper on it if you’d like. Then put the baking sheets into a oven with a bowl of hot steaming water to rise until doubled or tripled. Then bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes until slightly browned. To make sure the outside stays soft when putting them into the oven throw 1/4 cup of water in the bottom of the hot oven to add moisture. Coat with butter when removed from the oven and serve.

Melty Toasted Sandwiches

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MeltyLunchmeatSandwich

These are very easy and quick to make and taste great. The cheese is melted, the bun is slightly crunchy on the outside, the onion gives a punch, and the tomato gives freshness. I have made two types one with Ham and one with Roast Beef and both were great. You can experiment with adding a little mustard with the ham or other add ins. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

  • Ham or Roast Beef sliced lunch meat 1 to 4 slices per slices per sandwich depending on thickness.
  • Sliced Cheddar Cheese, I used sharp.
  • Thinly sliced onion
  • Sliced Tomato
  • Mayonnaise
  • Hamburger buns (1 per sandwich)

Directions

Spread a layer of mayonnaise on the inside of the top bun, then put the thinly sliced onion then the cheese, followed by the lunch meat and then the tomato and the bottom half of the bun. Now wrap the sandwich in foil and put into a 350 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melted in the middle of the sandwich. Serve wrapped in foil to be unwrapped hot and and enjoyed.

Chinese Beef Noodle Soup

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ChineseBeefNoodleSoup
Chinese Beef Noodle Soup

This is really a great tasting soup. I first tasted a soup similar to this at China Town in LA. I fell in love with the rich complex flavor so with help, I was able to figure out the recipe and to put my own spin on it. It really shines when you make your own fresh noodles, cooked in a separate pot of water and add in right when serving.

Ingedients

  • 1.5 quarts of beef stock
  • 1.5 – 3 lbs sirloin steak sliced or chopped into 1/2 – 1″ cubes
  • 3 tbsp of black bean and garlic sauce Lee Kum Kee Black bean garlic sauce – 8 oz
  • 4 to 5 tbsp of dark soy sauce Amoy Dark Soy Sauce 150g
  • 5 cloves garlic sliced
  • 1 inch piece of ginger peeled and sliced thinly against the grain.
  • Peel from 1 orange (Use a vegetable peeler and avoid getting white part of the peel only the zest)
  • 6 pieces of star anise
  • 5 – 7 dried hot red peppers (depending on how hot)
  • 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
  • 10 to 15 Chengdu peppers Ajika Dried Prickly Ash or Sichuan Pepper or Chinese Pepper, Japanese Sansho, 2-Ounce
  • 1/8 cup sugar
  • Noodles (Can be Chinese egg noodles or make your own fresh)
  • Add ins: baby bok choy, spinach, green leaf lettuce, fried tofu
  • Toppings: green onion, cilantro

Directions

Brown the sirloin steak on all sides. Now add all the other ingredients and bring almost to a boil then simmer on med low for 1 -3 hours (depending on how tender the meat is and if the flavors have melded). Remove the orange peal after 20 minutes if it starts to taste a little bitter (if bitter you will need to add some sugar to compensate). If you don’t have any of the white part of the orange peel this won’t happen. Remove from heat and strain broth. Add some of the meat, vegetables, some broth and cooked noodles (fresh are best) along with toppings to each bowl and serve.

Add ins: pieces of Bok Choy or Spinich. Top with chopped green onions and chopped cilantro.

Note: Bok Choy and Spinach need to cook in broth till soft.

Recipe from: gastronomy.ddns.net

 

Fall Apart Juicy Smokey Brisket

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Juicy Smoked Brisket

I made this brisket and it came out AWSOME (see picture). It was so rich and moist. I did this on a grill so there was no special equipment needed.

Dry Rub Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp course ground black pepper
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp paprika
  • 1 tsp ground coffee
  • 1 tsp salt

Directions

Add dry rub ingredients into a bowl, mix together and then sprinkle on the brisket (mine was about 3 lbs) and press to get it to stick. Take the brisket and put it on a grate (Baker’s Secret 1061483 Nonstick Cooling Rack, Set of 2) and set this over a baking pan  (AmazonBasics 3-Piece Baking Sheet Set ). I have three burners on my grill, so I put the brisket on the side with the burner off. Then I took a cast iron pan and set it on the grill grate and put a few pieces of coal on it and put some applewood chips that were soaked in water on top of the coals adding more coals and wood chips every 1.5 hours. I turned one burner (not under the brisket) on low and set a pan of water on the grill (to keep the meat moist) and lowered the cover then kept the temperature at about 250-270 degrees. Overall I cooked it for 8 hours. I let the brisket set for 30 mins to rest. When I sliced it, oh man the meat had juice all over inside and the resting allowed it to keep the juice and not all run out when sliced. This was better that I have had at quite a few BBQ restaurants, I didn’t even want to put sauce on it. Cook this and Enjoy!

 

Firey Siracha Citrus Chicken

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20160207_130422

I have liked and used Siracha sauce for many years, but recently it’s popularity has exploded. I experimented around and came up with this chicken recipe. It is a firey citrus flavor that tastes great. Let me know what you think.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup orange juice
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 3 tblsp siracha (More for extra spicy)
  • 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
  • 4 Chicken Breasts

Directions

Add first 6 ingredients together in a bowl and mix.  Inject it into the chicken breast with a food syringe to get the flavor in the center and brush the skin with some marinade. Set the rest aside for a sauce to serve with the chicken to spoon on. You can grill the chicken breast on the Grill or bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30-45 minues.

Recipe From: http://gastronomy.ddns.net

 

Flavorful Chicken Kebobs

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ChickenKebob1
Chicken Kebob from Gastronomy

These chicken kabobs are great. They have good flavor and the yogurt helps tenderize the chicken. Cook them on a very hot grill so they get a nice char but don’t get too dried out. You have to try these. They taste great and are really easy to make.

Ingredients:

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix. Let marinade for at least 3 hours. Put chicken onto skewers and grill till chicken done through. Good sides are rice and/or humus w/toasted pita bread and raita on the side.

Recipe from: http://gastronomy.ddns.net