By nando, on January 11th, 2011%
Most people think of crab cakes as either too expensive to order when eating out or too difficult to make at home (or both!). Truth be told, they’re quite easy to make at home, but they can be a bit messy, so I suggest wearing rubber gloves when forming the patties. Few other dishes make my wife as happy as a good crab cake meal; the only shame is that we don’t get to eat them as often as she’d like. Hopefully, this recipe will prove simple enough that most readers will want to give it a try this weekend. Just make sure you use Ritz crackers, as they are the “secret” ingredient that make a world of difference (compared to regular bread crumbs).
As for which crab meat to buy, I suggest going with a brand that sells local Blue Crab if you’re on the East coast or a nice Dungeness crab if you’re on the West coast. Just read the label and it will tell you where it’s from. As for Phillips (the most well-known brand), most of their crab is from Thailand, so consider yourself warned keep that in mind. Edit: If you can get . . . → Read More: Crab Cakes
By nando, on January 8th, 2011%
As you know, I made a Standing Rib Roast for Christmas dinner. We had quite a bit left over and I was looking for a way to use some of the leftover beef in a different way (variety is the spice of life, after all). I came up with the idea of slicing the beef thinly and using it in a beef stroganoff recipe. It resulted in the most tender version of this dish that I have every had. I wouldn’t recommend making a standing rib roast solely for this purpose, but if you have the leftovers, why not?
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30-35 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: None.
Ingredients:
6 oz cooked beef, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, julienned
6 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
3 tbsp butter, divided
1 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp prepared yellow mustard
1/4 tsp each paprika, salt, and black pepper, plus a bit more salt to taste
1/4 cup sour cream
2/3 cup beef stock
1 tbsp parsely, finely chopped (for garnish)
8 oz cooked egg noodles
Procedure:
Place one tablespoon of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Once the butter melts, add the sliced onions and a pinch of salt, saute until they begin to caramelized (about 15 minutes), stirring as needed. Remove the onions to a plate and . . . → Read More: Beef Stroganoff
By nando, on January 2nd, 2011%
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I love breaking with tradition and doing my own thing, and my eclectic cooking style is as much a testament to that as anything else I’ve ever done in my life. I love to take traditional and established recipes and play around with them a bit and see what I can come up with. In this case, I opted to switch up a few ingredients in a chicken marsala recipe and was very happy with the results.
I’d never attempted to make chicken marsala at home but I figured it had to be better than the bland, often mushy versions that I’ve had in many restaurants. Usually, I’m so disappointed in the flavors and textures of restaurant chicken marsala that I’ve stopped ordering it altogether, leaving me no option but to make it at home if I ever want to have it again. I toyed with the idea of using other cooking wines (such as sherry, or even making an “Asian” version with rice wine vinegar and saki) but settled on going the Italian route and using balsamic vinegar instead. Since balsamic tends to be a much stronger flavor . . . → Read More: Chicken and Mushrooms with Balsamic Reduction
By nando, on December 27th, 2010%
Don’t let the picture fool you, it’s a perfect medium rare standing rib roast. It might look like it’s cooked to medium because of the way I had to photograph it (I had to use the flash because it was way too dark in my kitchen, even with added light), but it’s really not.
For the second year in a row (do I smell the start of a tradition?), my wife and I had rib roast as our Christmas dinner. Most people would call it a Prime Rib, but if the meat isn’t Prime grade (and I bought a Choice Rib Roast), it should be called a standing rib roast. Whatever you call it, a roast by any other name is still delicious. It takes a long time to cook, but that’s part of the experience since you get to smell it for 3-4 hours as it gently roasts in the oven.
The idea came from watching an episode of Alton Brown’s Good Eats more than three years ago. I took the ideas he spoke of in that episode and made them my own since I didn’t have the materials he speaks of in his show. The . . . → Read More: Christmas Dinner: Prime Rib
By nando, on December 16th, 2010%
I was in the mood for take out Chinese food but not really in the mood to drive and pick some up. I had a bottle of Trader Joe’s General Tso’s sauce in the pantry for such an occasion and decided that this was as good a time as any to try it. I also didn’t feel like battering and frying some chicken pieces so I scoured the Internet in search of a “lighter” version where battering and frying wasn’t necessary. I came upon this recipe from Martha Stewart and thought it was as good as any.
The chicken was very crispy when it first came out (I cooked it in batches) but it was just barely crispy by the time I had coated it in the sauce and heated it for 2 minutes. It wasn’t bad, just not as crunchy as you would expect from a battered piece of chicken.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: I used store-bought sauce but you can make your own by following the recipe I linked above. Feel free to use either white or dark meat chicken (3 breasts or 4-5 thighs should be enough).
Ingredients:
1 lb chicken meat, cut . . . → Read More: General Tso’s Chicken
By nando, on December 10th, 2010%
. . . → Read More: Cuban Black Beans
By nando, on December 6th, 2010%
Pasta is a comfort food in my house. It’s a quick way to make a satisfying meal that my wife and I can enjoy while not making much of a mess. I prefer to use fresh pasta (the kind you find in your grocer’s refrigerated section) since it cooks quicker and has a more appetizing texture than dry pasta. It’s a bit more expensive but well worth it.
I normally just settle on a quick red sauce, usually out of a jar, but sometimes I like to make something a bit more labor intensive. In this case, I took my marinara sauce and added vodka and cream to create a wonderfully delicious and comforting sauce. The marinara recipe I just linked to is enough for one pound of pasta but if you don’t want to make it, you can purchase a pre-made marinara from your grocery store and just add the vodka and cream.
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 4-5 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: You are going to want to have the sauce prepared before you drop the pasta in the water. If you’re using dry pasta, cook it for 7-9 minutes and then add it to the vodka . . . → Read More: Pasta alla Vodka
By nando, on December 3rd, 2010%
While it’s true that you can purchase a jar of marinara sauce just about anywhere, you will be hard pressed to find one that tastes as good or better than a home-made version. A classic marinara sauce only needs five ingredients (not counting salt and pepper): tomatoes, onions, garlic, olive oil, and herbs (typically basil and/or oregano). I, however, cannot just make a plain-Jane version so I add quite a bit of ingredients.
I’ve had a problem in the past with my sauces turning out more orange than red and I think I’ve figured out why: air. I use diced tomatoes and cook them with the vegetables and then puree it all together right before it’s done. It’s the air incorporated in the mixture while I puree/blend it that makes it turn from red to orange. If you want to avoid this, and keep a deep red color, try starting with crushed/pureed tomatoes instead of whole/diced and allow the sauce to simmer long enough to melt or disintegrate the vegetables into the sauce (typically 2-2.5 hours of simmering). Alternatively, you can puree the vegetables and then use a potato masher on the tomatoes. I don’t . . . → Read More: Marinara Sauce
By nando, on December 1st, 2010%
Even a casual reader of my blog knows that I love food that you can eat with your hands. Since I’m such a huge meat guy, I decided to try to make a simple, yet different burger than what I was used to. I racked my brain and tried to think of toppings that would enhance the burger and help break up the routine of eating my burgers with bacon and cheese (not that there is anything wrong with bacon and cheese). I figured a destination burger (based on a cuisine or country) was my best bet and Spain was the first to come to mind.
My wife and I went to Spain a few years ago and one of the things we remember most was that we were always served a bowl or plate of mixed olives whenever we sat down at a restaurant or bar. That inspired me to use an olive tapenade (black olives, capers, anchovies, garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice). The other two things that came to mind were Manchego cheese (a sheep’s milk cheese from the La Mancha region in Spain) and Jamón Iberico, (Iberico ham – a very expensive prosciutto-like . . . → Read More: Hamburguesa (Spanish Hamburger)
By nando, on November 19th, 2010%
I’m not a huge fan of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I’m more of a thigh guy) because I find them too bland and dry. Most places overcook their chicken, especially chicken breasts, to the point to where it becomes unpalatable to me, so I rarely order it when we eat out. That’s why I usually slice my breasts thinly and cook them quickly (think stir fry) or bread them and either pan fry them or cook them in the oven (the breading helps the meat remain moist).
That being said, one of my favorite preparations is to stuff the breast with goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes and then sauté it in butter. The goat cheese and butter are incredible at helping the breast meat stay moist, plus they add quite a bit of flavor. Once you try this recipe you will not want to eat a plain chicken breast again!
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: Use your favorite goat cheese. I normally get the herbed or peppered goat cheese, but plain will do just fine.
Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 oz goat cheese
1 oz sun-dried tomatoes, julienned
salt and pepper to taste (I find that 1/2 tsp . . . → Read More: Goat Cheese and Sun-dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breasts
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