Thursday, June 27, 2013

Cedar-Planked Grilled Salmon with Apricot-Jalapeno Glaze


The end result

 
Okay, so this right here is kind of a big deal for me.  My gal-pal Michelle invited me to be a contributor on her food blog -- this food blog -- and this is my very first entry, and I am unbelievably excited about it.  So excited that sparks are practically flying off my fingertips as I type this and I fear I may short-circuit the keyboard.  Hi there, my name is Tanya, and I like food!  No, wait… I love food! Capital L-O-V-E.  Looking at it, thinking about it, cooking it, eating it…  Like Michelle, I spend a lot of time on Pinterest.  I just tallied up the number of recipes I’ve pinned to date and I’m currently hovering around 650, and I don’t intend to slow down anytime soon.  There are just too many good things out there that need to be made!

A lot of firsts have coincided with this inaugural entry of mine:  Testing out a new recipe; firing my grill up for the first time in at least three years; the new-to-me technique of grilling with a cedar plank; and using an amazing new ingredient that I just became mildly obsessed with.  More on that new ingredient later… 
 
Almost done...

 
I’ve been hosting regular Monday night get-togethers with my friend Kelly (who happens to be one of Tom Douglas’ pastry chefs and is no slouch in the kitchen herself!) and we decided we would each contribute a new Pinterest-inspired dish to serve for dinner. Kelly is a pescatarian and I had just pinned an amazing-looking spicy and sweet grilled salmon recipe from Kayotic Kitchen that I really wanted to try out so that's just what I did. Ingredients are listed below, but full instructions can be found here.

Ingredients:
cedar plank(s)
1 pound salmon fillet (with skin)
1 or 2 jalapenos -- minced
2 garlic cloves -- grated/minced
1 cup apricot preserves
2 tbsp grainy mustard
juice of 1/2 a lime
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tbsp soy sauce
good pinch dried thyme
salt and pepper
olive oil



It being the first time I made this recipe, I didn’t deviate from the ingredients at all and it turned out wonderfully!  It was sweet, spicy, a little smokey, and it was fun to try out a new cooking technique. That said, it wasn’t perfect according to my personal taste, and if I could go back in time, there are some very minor changes I would make.  Hey, we like what we like, and I, for one, like things a little on the spicy side! Firstly, I would have been bold and diced up both jalapenos instead of just one. Something this sweet needs to be balanced with punchy spiciness on the other end.  No worries – I tossed in a good pinch of red chili flake, which is easily my favorite inhabitant of the spice cupboard. A few other changes I would have made: Using the juice of the whole lime instead of half, and adding a just splash of apple cider vinegar – both for an extra hit of much-needed acid; adding just a little bit more garlic; cooking the fish to 120 degrees instead of 135 – I prefer my salmon a little undercooked, and I’ll take a rare piece of salmon over an overcooked piece any day; and I’d definitely double up on the mustard, which brings me to the new ingredient: Kozlik’s Triple Crunch Canadian Mustard. I was gifted a jar of this amazing mustard by my friend-in-food and co-worker, Mitzi. She described it as the caviar of mustard and she is absolutely correct. This mustard is pretty much just whole mustard seeds and they delightfully pop in your mouth when you bite into them, much like the crunchy orange tobiko that generally tops a California roll.  This will be a must-have condiment in my kitchen from now on!
(image from Kozlik's twitter account)
 
Overall, I was impressed with the flavors in the dish, and the glaze would be amazing with several kinds of proteins: shrimp, chicken, pork, tofu...  As a matter of fact, I’m going to make an extra spicy batch of glaze tonight and see how it turns out on grilled shrimp.  Now that I’ve finally got a full tank of propane for the grill, I predict that I’ll be cooking a lot of meals outdoors this summer...

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Pinterest Review: Grain-free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites


My version of the PB & Chocolate Chip Cookie



I pinned this recipe from Texanerin Baking a couple of months ago and have been meaning to try it. It's been floating around Pinterest for awhile. Recently I saw a couple of posts on Facebook saying that this recipe is a "must save" so I thought I had better try it. I definitely needed to see what the hype was about.

OK. These cute little bites are pretty darn good and REALLY easy to make. If you are scared of making cookies out of chickpeas - get over it. The cookie dough actually taste nearly the same as flour peanut butter cookie dough. And as you can see from my photos of my cookies above, they are gooey! Now, I did not make any serious changes. I used a whole can 15 oz. can of chickpeas, drained and patted dry. It measured out to 1-1/2 cups and I found that I needed 12 minutes to bake them instead of 10. Other than those 2 things, I followed the recipe.

If you are going gluten free and/or dairy free - these cookies are great. I'm not going to pretend that once baked they taste as good as a flour, butter, sugar, regular old peanut butter cookie...but they are surprisingly tasty. But don't take my word for it - try it yourself! The recipe is below or you can go to
www.texanerin.com

Ingredients
  • 1¼ cups canned chickpeas, well-rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (165 grams) natural peanut butter, SunButter Natural or almond butter (I used Trader Joe's Creamy, Salted Natural Peanut Butter)
  • ¼ cup (80 grams) honey (I used Trader Joe's Organic Raw Honey)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • a pinch of salt if your peanut butter doesn't have salt in it
  • ½ cup (90 grams) chocolate chips (use vegan chocolate chips, if needed)
Directions
  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F / 175°C. Combine all the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, in a food processor and process until very smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides and the top to get the little chunks of chickpeas and process again until they're combined.
  2. Put in the chocolate chips and stir it if you can, or pulse it once or twice. The mixture will be very thick and sticky.
  3. With wet hands, form into 1½" balls. Place onto a Silpat or a piece of parchment paper. If you want them to look more like normal cookies, press down slightly on the balls. They don't do much rising. Bake for about 10 minutes.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Chocolate-Triple Hazelnut Truffles - Gluten Free

Chocolate-Hazelnut Truffles
I'm a bit behind on my posting. I have so much stuff stored in my photo files and my little kitchen notebook that I will have content for the next 3 months...I just have to actually post it!

In the above photo are Chocolate Hazelnut Truffles that I made around Christmas. Yes, Christmas. They were part of a trio of gluten free treats that I made for the holidays. And believe me, I do realize that was 6 months ago, but better late than never. Besides, you can make these treats anytime.

I got this recipe from Cooking Light and I when I made it, I did NOT have Frangelico. I had some hazelnut flavoring and Kahlua, so I used mostly Kahlua and a bit of hazelnut flavoring. I, as usual, eyeballed it. As for the chocolate, I used dark chocolate because I prefer it. I also used a melon baller. It makes for uniform sized balls. HA! In any event, they turned out de-lish!

Go forth and try it out!

Ingredients
  • 3 tablespoons hazelnut-chocolate spread (such as Nutella) 
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons Frangelico (hazelnut-flavored liqueur)...I actually have used Kahlua
  • 1 tablespoon light-colored corn syrup
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
  • Dash of salt (if you want it a bit saltier, sprinkle 1 tsp coarse sea salt in after chocolate melts and has cooled a minute and then poor into a shallow dish)
  • 5 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped (I used dark chocolate only because I like it better)
  • 1/3 cup finely chopped salted hazelnuts, toasted
Preparation

Combine the first 6 ingredients in the top of a double boiler. Cook over simmering water until chocolate melts (about 2 minutes), stirring constantly. Spoon mixture into a shallow dish. Let stand at room temperature 6 hours or up to overnight.
Scoop about 1 tablespoon chocolate mixture with a spoon. (Or use a melon baller - that's my favorite way) Dredge in nuts; roll into a ball. Repeat procedure with remaining chocolate mixture and nuts.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

White Chicken Enchiladas with Green Chili Sour Cream Sauce

White Chicken Enchiladas


I have decided Pinterest is just one giant, online, community cookbook. You can find a recipe for nearly everything. If you don't know what you want to make for dinner, chances are you can log on to Pinterest and find a photo so appetizing, so well styled, that you will repin it because it looks so damn good. Then all of a sudden you see another and another, and you have repinned 10 different delicious looking recipes on your food board. And, if you are like me, you already have about 100 different recipes on your food board.
Every once in awhile, I try these recipes that I have pinned. I take a photo of my creation - although it doesn't look quite as appetizing as the well styled, professionally photographed one on Pinterest - and write about it on my blog. Today, I am going to share the White Chicken Enchiladas with Green Chili Sour Cream Sauce.
I have not been eating Gluten much, so I modified this recipe to be a Gluten free version. I used corn tortillas instead of flour in the sauce, I used corn starch or you could use Arrow Root. For the most part, it was fairly easy and pretty tasty and not too spicy. It could even be classified as kid friendly - it certainly is Damon friendly! It's a good one if you are looking for something quick to make and it makes for good left overs too.

Ingredients
8 soft taco size flour tortillas (or corn if you need to be gluten free)
2 cups shredded Monterrey jack cheese, divided
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour (2 tablespoons corn starch if you need to be gluten free)
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup sour cream
1 (4 oz) can diced green chiles
Chopped, fresh cilantro for garnish
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a 9×13 inch baking pan with cooking spray; set aside. Mix the chicken together with 1 cup of the cheese.
2. Distribute the chicken and cheese mixture evenly among the tortillas. Roll up and place seam side down in the prepared pan.
3. In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Add the flour; cook and stir for 1 minute. Add the chicken broth, whisking until smooth. Continue cooking over medium heat until sauce is thick and bubbly.
4. Stir in the sour cream and diced green chiles. Pour the sauce in an even layer over the enchiladas.
5. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Sprinkle with cilantro just before serving.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

That Damn Gwenyth Paltrow is at it again!


If you don't know this already, I am a fan of GP. I like her as an actress - I don't LOVE her, but I like her. I am a much bigger fan of her newsletter/website GOOP and her cookbook, My Father's Daughter. And if you know me, or read this blog(I don't know if a lot of people read this blog), then you know how I loved the cook book. She is the reason that I don't buy salad dressing anymore. She is also the reason for why I use Spelt flour. I'm not going to say that everything in that cook book was a home run, but there were more recipes that I love and make frequently than recipes that are shit. And as a home cook, that's important.

In any event, she has another cook book coming out next week. I was texting with my friend Tanya today and told her that I am going to have to buy it now. She said that it's mandatory and I agreed. I have to buy it on principle and because I NEED to know what the hell is in there that I must make.

Since I subscribe to her online newsletter, today I received the "It's All Good" issue. In that issue, she gives up a few recipes that are included in her new cook book called...duh...It's All Good. The newsletter is just enough to tease you so you say, "Goddammit! Now I have to have this cook book!"

And trust me, if you are like me, that's what will happen. That is exactly how she got me in the first place. Note my prior blog post on the Linguine con le Vongole that was in her first book. I made a few things that she put out online and then I couldn't take it anymore - I needed to find out exactly what was in that book.

Anyway, check out her latest newsletter and decide for yourself if you are going to be a sucker like me.

For your enjoyment...http://www.goop.com/journal/make/218/its-all-good

You're welcome.




Tuesday, February 26, 2013

I Love Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
As I have stated before, I am OK at baking cookies - my sister is far better at it than I am. Hers always turn out chewy and delicious no matter what recipe she uses. Last night, I made some Chocolate Chip cookies for a friend of mine. I didn't want to make her any old kind of cookie, I wanted her to have something delicious like my sister's. So I had to go searching for a recipe and I think I found it.
Let me tell you straight away, this cookie is full fat goodness. It's not a spelt flour, agave syrup substituted for sugar type cookie that I have been making. This cookie is the real deal. I found it on All-Recipes and it is even called "Best Chocolate Chip Cookies".
This recipe makes exactly 48 cookies. I did my own thing by using white chocolate chips and dark chocolate chunks and omitted the walnuts. The dough recipe is what I was really after.  They turned out delicious and the next day still delicious.
If you are looking for a nice chewy cookie recipe, this is the recipe to use.

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used 1 cup white chocolate chips and 1 cup dark chocolate chunks)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, then mix in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with the salt. Mix in the flour 1 cup at a time until fully incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts(if using).

Drop about a 1 tablespoon scoop of dough onto a lightly greased cookie sheet, 12 to a sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

*I found that living at sea level, baking is a bit different. 10 minutes exactly is what I needed.



Monday, February 25, 2013

Going Gluten & Dairy Free: Pumpkin-Cran Muffins


Pumpkin-Cran Muffins
I would like to start by saying that I am not on a crazy-ass diet. I have had a few allergy issues and have  found that eating gluten free relieves some of my symptoms and many of the gluten free recipes are also dairy free. So there.
I've been trying out a few recipes from various sources and this one is adapted from the Practical Paleo cook book. I have made this recipe twice, once with all purpose gluten free flour and once with coconut flour. My second attempt was much better. I have tweaked the recipe from the original. I found that the original was too oily from too much coconut oil, but that could have been due to the fact that I used all purpose GF flour instead of coconut flour. This recipe says that you could use either coconut oil or butter, but I have swapped coconut oil for butter before and the result was the same - too oily. To all of you gluten free naysayers out there, I will say that the following recipe produces a muffin that does not taste like a piece of cardboard. My husband ate them and would have never known that they were gluten and dairy free. So try the recipe, I think you will be surprised!

Pumpkin-Cran Muffins (makes 12 muffins)

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree
1/3 Cup Coconut Oil melted (if you use butter, use 1/2 cup melted)
1/4 Cup Maple Syrup
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar(optional - if your going paleo totally omit this)
1 tablespoon Vanilla
1 tablespoon Pumpkin Pie spice + a couple of dashes of ground clove
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Cup Coconut Flour (if you don't have or can't find - All Purpose GF Flour works, but I would use about 2/3 cup)
1/2 Cup Craisins(if you hate craisins - skip them!)

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees

Mix the first 8 ingredients together until completely combined and smooth. Sift in the baking soda, baking powder, and coconut flour and stir until combined. Last, fold in the Craisins - unless you hate them, then don't.

Coat muffin tins with coconut oil or paper muffin cups. Add batter equally amongst the 12 muffin tins and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean.