Tag: food

Luscious Green Corn Tamales

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tamale

Living in the Southwest I have tasted some of the best green corn tamales but I want to have a supply on hand when I get a craving for one, so I make these and devour as many as possible and freeze the rest for the next time I get an urge for these.

Masa

  • 2 cups instant masa harina flour
  • 2 cups corn, fresh roasted and cut off the ear
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2/3 cup Vegetable Shortening & butter(softened butter or vegan substitute)
  • 1/4 cup evap milk
  • 1 3/4 cup of water
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable broth powder

Filling

  • 2 tablespoons of butter
  • 2 roasted/peeled/seeded jalapenos
  • 2 roasted/peeled/seeded publano chili
  • 1.5 – 2 cups of Mixed Chedar & Pepper Jack (Or Vegan cheese substitute)
  • 1 – 1.5 cups of corn
  • 1 teaspoons cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoons black pepper

Directions

Mix Masa ingredients together and make Masa. Roasting corn and Jalapeno and Publano chilles. Seed and peal chili peppers and chop. Mix all filling ingredients together. Coat inside of a corn husk with masa and add a good tablespoon of filling. Roll this up so masa surrounds filling and steam for 30 minutes.

 

3 Pepper Hot Sauce

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habernaroPepper

I like to experiment with different hot sauce recipes. I have a few favorite recipes and this one has good balanced flavor and not just heat. You can experiment with the balance of flavor and heat by adding more or less Habanero peppers.

  •  Ingredients
    • 1/2 Red Bell Pepper Seeded
    • 4 whole Habenaro peppers
    • 1 whole Fresno pepper
    • 1/2 Med size onion
    • 1 Carrot pealed, cut into about 6-8 pieces
    • 4 cloves garlic
    • 1 small bunch of celantro (about equiv 1 tablespoon chopped)
    • 1 tablespoon salt
    • 2 tablespoons white vinegar
    • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
    • 1/4 teaspoon oregano
  • Directions

Boil onion, peppers, celantro, carrot, garlic for 20 minutes in enough water to cover in a small pan. Remove the ingredients from the boiling water and add to food processor along with salt, vinegar, cumin, and oregano. Grind into a paste. Then add in enough of the boiling water to make to the desired consistency. Bottle and use.

 

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

 

Easy Awesome Pizza Sauce

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20160229_180648
Pizza Sauce

This pizza sauce tastes better than the bottled or canned sauces at the supermarket and it takes only about 5 minutes to make. If you have fresh herbs use them instead.

Ingredients

  • 1 28 oz can manzeneo tomatoes
  • 5 cloves of garlic chopped
  • 2 tblsp olive oil
  • 1/2 onion chopped
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp dried Oregano
  • 1 tsp basil
  • 1 tblsp tomato paste

Directions

Saute onions and garlic in olive oil for about 3-4 minutes till translucent, add red pepper flakes for the last 2 minutes of frying. Add 1/2 can of tomatoes,  garlic, onion, red pepper and all other ingredients to a food processor and grind until garlic and onion are chopped finely. Add rest of tomatoes and pulse a few times to leave tomatoes a little chunky. It is ready to use on a pizza or whatever you want to use it in. It can be stored in the fridge for up to a week.

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

Fall Apart Juicy Smokey Brisket

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20160229_181138
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

 

Raita

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I love to eat this with kebobs or spicy Indian dishes, it goes great as a side sauce.

Ingredients

Directions

Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix with a spoon until well mixed. Put in refrigerator an let set for about 30 minutes or more to let flavors meld. Serve on the side with Mediterranean or Indian food.

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

Make your own Butter in 5 minutes

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It is really easy to make you own fresh butter. It has a fresher taste than store bought butter and it really doesn’t cost too much more. What I did was buy 1 quart of heavy cream at Sam’s Club, which cost about $3.99. I poured about 1/3 of the heavy cream into a small food processor with the chopping blade in. I turned on the food processor for about 3-4 minutes and the butter formed a clump. I poured off the liquid (which is butter milk). You can use it as you would regular milk. I drank some and it tastes like whole milk to me. Then I used a rubber spatula to press the butter to squeeze the butter milk from any pockets in the butter.  You can add salt to the butter to draw out more of the butter flavor if you’d like. You just sprinkle a pinch of salt on the butter and knead it in with the spatula. It made about 2/3 stick of butter for me with the amount of heavy cream I used. You can use it on toast or on a muffin or anywhere butter is one of the main flavors and you will notice the freshness.

Deviled Eggs the Perfect Hors D’oeuvres

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CI-0103 Classic Deviled Eggs
Classic Deviled Eggs

Deviled eggs are simple to make, taste great, come in the perfect size for Hors D’oeuvres and can have many variations. At your next party or gathering these can be one of your go to dishes. You can start out by cooking the perfect eggs (See my article on “The Art of Making a Hard Boiled Egg” from 2/24/16) or you can choose to go with a short cut, like buying the hard boiled eggs pre-cooked and removed from their shells (Costco sells them: Costco Hard Boiled Eggs).  After you cook the eggs you can follow one of the recipes below:

Classic Deviled Eggs:

Cook and remove eggs from the shell. Next cut the eggs in half and remove the yolks and put in a bowl. Add 1/2 tsp mayo to 1/8 tsp of mustard for each egg yoke. Mix with a fork or blender for larger batches. Spoon the mixture back into each half of the egg or use a piping bag for a fancier look, then sprinkle with paprika or smoked paprika and serve. If you like it a little more tangy, you can add 1/8 tsp white vinegar per egg.

Or you can go with the many variations:

  1. Bacon/Cheddar: Use the above recipe, but add shredded cheddar to the yoke when mixing and top with bacon. Or cut bacon into bits and mix in with the yoke.
  2. Spicy: Add minced jalapeno and cheddar to the yoke when mixing.
  3. Topped: Top the classic recipe with pepperoni, ham, chives, bacon, etc.
  4. Buffalo: Add Frank’s Hot Sauce (Frank’s RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce, 5 oz) in place of mustard and drizzle with ranch dressing.
  5. Or come up with your own topping or variation.

However you make them it is hard to go wrong with this delicious snack.