You guessed it, or maybe not. But it’s Wednesday and that’s when I add random-themed shots to Shutterboo’s Flickr Challenge.
I’m miffed with Flickr today. I don’t know what’s happening in their universe, but the site is not working properly.
All in all, I got some shots that were pretty good straight out of the box. Go see’em here.
But first, a tease. Cuz I’m a teaser supreme.
So, Top Chef It Yourself Challenge Round 2 is on. The entries are in and the voting has commenced.
There were some flops and vacations and injuries, so only 4 entries were submitted in time for voting. That isn’t to say these aren’t creme de l’creme type entries. So take a moment to cast your vote for your favorite. Voting will be open from today until February 24th, so do it now!
Do your voting here.
[polldaddy poll=2739853]
You’d think this wasn’t a cooking blog, like I somehow schemed you into believing it was then just stopped cooking. My cooking has been placed o hold by a vicious allergy attack. Injections, inhalers and super harsh antibiotics and I’m back. Sorta.
It’s almost time for the next round of entries to be submitted for the Top Chef It Yourself challenge. For a few days there I thought maybe *I* wasn’t going to submit anything. But I’m here, I cooked, I’m posting.
I selected the ingredients. I should’ve picked something easy, familiar, but nooooo. I had to push myself. Go where no Anamaris had gone before. Glad I did.
But first, let me tell you what I found out about couscous. It’s tricky. I had never cooked it before. It was easy enough to prepare, but someone should warn you that it grows and multiplies like, like… I dunno. Like in the cartoons when they drop a droplet of fertilizer and suddenly a whole backyard is full of grass. Like that. I had beucoup couscous! I used the instant-ish kind, no real cooking required (not that I knew there was a different kind).
See? I started out with 4 cps of water and 2 cps of couscous. NOBODY needs that much couscous!
Then there were dates. My only experience with those was from my mom’s fruit cakes, those are usually rum-soaked and generally not my favorite. I found these Medjool dates at my local Middle Eastern grocer. I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out, but it worked out quite nicely.
Here’s my entry:
Couscous Fritters with Date & Ginger Sauce
For the fritters:
2 cps water
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 cps couscous
1 egg
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tbsp Italian parsley, finely chopped
1-2 tbsp olive oil for frying
In a microwaveable bowl, heat water, garlic and salt for about 2 minutes, then stir in the couscous and cook for about 1 more minute. Remove the bowl from the microwave and cover with a plate or plastic wrap and let it sit for 15-20 minutes or so.
Uncover the bowl and fluff the couscous with a fork. Check the seasoning. Allow it to cool before mixing in the egg, parsley, salt & pepper if necessary. It will be a bit sticky, while still seeming dry at this point. Don’t worry, it works out.
Pat the dough into patties, this is easier if your hands are slightly moist. Make them into patties that are 3-4 inches wide and 1/2-in thick. Put them on a tray or plate and cool them in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Heat a medium-sized skillet and add 1-2 tbsps of oil. Brown the patties on each side, about 2-3 minutes per side if your skillet is over medium high heat.
Date & Ginger Sauce
1 cp dates, peeled and seeded
1/2 cp ginger, coarsely chopped
2 cps water
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
Add the dates, ginger, water and salt in a small saucepan bring it to a boil over medium high heat. Once it boils, lower temperature to medium, cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once the dates cook down, it will become thick, like a paste. Turn off the heat and pass the paste through a strainer. I added a bit more water to help the paste strain, about 1/2 cup.
Rinse the saucepan, return the strained paste to it and add the vinegar, oil and pepper. Cook it over medium low heat until it thickens, about 10-15 minutes. I have to say I think I needed to cook my sauce a bit longer to keep the liquids from separating (see photos). All in all, it still tasted awesome!
Serve the sauce alongside the fritters and enjoy. I made this for dinner, it was the side for some pan seared salmon. Can you say Yum!?
The salmon is delicious and OOH so easy. Check out the recipe here.
Cookingly yours,
Anamaris
on Thursday. I know. I’m late with this one and I missed it last week. I’ve been under the weather and last week was crazy busy. But I’m back, baby!
I know I can’t compare Houston’s cool temps with what some of you have to deal with, but I find myself in love with winter and its antics.
See, I grew up in a Tropical wonderland, all full of green lushness and heat. Vegetation, full trees, mountains, these are things that become commonplace when you see them on a daily basis.
You forget that you’re looking at several shades of green:
Or that a backdrop like this one isn’t unusual.
I guess it makes sense I would be impressed by the exact opposite. Thus, I found myself falling in love with fall and its beautiful colors.
or with winter and its inherent lack thereof
When I moved stateside, the thing I wished for the most was to experience the seasons I had long fantasized about. At the time I didn’t realize Houston would turn out to be a pretty close extension to Panama’s weather. Except there are no lush green mountains, not much lush greeness at all.
So, when we do get hit by Old Man Winter and the temperatures dip into the 30s and there’s frost on the cars when the sun comes up. Or when I have to wear a jacket to go to the mailbox and when the trees are naked and gray, I smile. I giggle. I do a little happy cold dance.
Stay warm.
There I was, mid-Saturday morning and I was watching Ina Garten on the Food Network. She was making desserts. She was making me hungry. As luck would have it, I was scheduled to attend a little get-together that evening and I don’t like showing up empty-handed. The perfect excuse to make that yummy looking lime tart. Yeah, because I needed an excuse.
I think I was drawn to it because it reminded me of a lemon pie my sis would make when we were growing up. Much like Ina’s, my sister’s pie was topped with meringue. I still don’t love meringue. I don’t enjoy the consistency of it. Or the fact that the sugar starts sweating syrupy beads after you put it in the fridge.
The other similarity was a pie crust, except Ina used a sweet pastry. I saw her mix and knead and refrigerate and roll the dough. It wasn’t happening. More work than I wanted to do on a lazy Saturday mid-morning. So, I tweaked and it was a hit. Instead of Ina’s involved pastry, I used the recipe for my favorite sweet crust. I suggest making the filling first, that will allow it to cool before filling the tart shell.
Lime Tart
Crust:
1 stick butter
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 cup flour
If your butter is soft enough, you can mix this by hand, I ended up putting all of it in the mixer. Combine the butter with confectioners’ sugar, then add flour; mix well. Pat out on tart pan, it may be kind of thin, but don’t worry, it will work out.
Once you’ve spread the dough all the way up the sides of the pan, cut out a piece of foil paper and rub with butter or a bit of oil. Press the greased foil onto the crust, then fill it with baking beads or beans. This is called blind baking; it will prevent the crust from bubbling up because there isn’t filling in it. Bake at 350° for about 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove the foil, prick with a fork a few times and return to the oven for another 5-8 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool.
Lime filling:
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 extra-large eggs
3 extra-large egg yolks
2 tbsp finely grated lime zest (4-6 limes)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 tsp almond extract
2 tbsp cornstarch
In your mixer, cream the butter and sugar until it binds together–about 3-4 minutes (I used the egg beater of my Kitchen Aid). Slowly add the eggs and yolks, 1 at a time, and then add the lime zest, lime juice, salt, almond extract and cornstarch. Don’t worry, if it looks curdled, but make sure you’re using a spatula to release any bits that are not picked up by the mixer’s beater.
Pour the mixture into a small saucepan and cook over medium-low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until thick, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. When it begins to thicken, switch to a wire whisk and cook over low heat for a minute or two, whisking constantly. Don’t allow it to boil! Pour into a bowl, place plastic wrap directly over the filling and cool to room temperature.
Yield: 3 cups
Once the shell and filling have cooled, pour the filling into the tart shell. Top with whipped cream and strawberry coulis, if desired.
For whipped cream: Add 3/4 cp of chilled heavy whipping cream, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract to your mixer’s bowl. Whip at medium high speed and slowly add 3 tbsp white sugar. Beat until soft peaks form. Spread this whipped cream over the top of the filling.
After I covered it with cream, poured about 3/4 cp of strawberry coulis into a baggie, snipped the tip and piped it over the cream in a circular pattern.
Then I used a toothpick to drag the coulis through the cream. I realized I should’ve stayed closer to the surface, I seem to have pushed the toothpick a bit too deep.
It was still pretty. See?
As a kid I was fascinated by Rice-a-Roni. Don’t ask me why, I just was. I think some of it has to do with the allure of the foreign. It was an American product, it had to be good. Bottom line is I liked it, but we couldn’t always find it in Panama so a young, hungry, obssessed Anamaris had to find a way to have it regularly. Yes, regularly. My mom used to fret about the way I would get hooked on food items and would eat little else until I was satiated with it and reached the point where I was physically disgusted by the mere sight of it. Yep, OCD came early on in my life.
So, Rice-A-Roni. I had to make me some and I did and still do and now you can too.
Rice-your-Roni
1/4 cp angel hair pasta, broken & uncooked
2 cps long grain rice
2 tbsp oil
about 1 tbsp chicken bouillion (or your preferred flavor)
3-1/2 cps water
If you have looked around my blog, you probably came across my instructions for plain rice, this one will go pretty much the same way. Make sure you use a medium-sized saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. Ready? Let’s do it.
In the saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. In the meantime, put the rice in a colander and run it under cool tap water to rinse, set aside to drain. Break the pasta noodles into pieces that are about 1/2-inch long and add them to the oil. Keep an eye on them because they will brown VERY quickly, once they do, add the rice. Stir it several times to coat all the grains evenly.
If you’re using bouillion that is a loose powder, add it now. If you’re using a cube, put it a small cup and add a couple tablespoons of hot tap water and dissolve it before adding it to the rice. Now add the water, stir and allow it to cook undisturbed until the liquid dissolves.
Once the water dissolves, reduce the temperature to low and cover with the lid. Allow the rice to steam for about 15 minutes. After that time, fluff it with a fork and serve.
*Note: If you don’t have buillion, you can substitute the water for broth.
Enjoy Your-Roni!
Cookingly yours,
Anamaris
I’ve made some really nice friends out here in the blogosphere. I think it is really interesting how much bigger AND smaller the world has become because of the Internet. Aren’t you amazed to think that this whole thing got started a mere 20 years ago? HOW DID WE EVER SURVIVE?!! I find technological advances baffling.
I digress. A couple of my blogger friends gave me goodies. Goodies with little strings attached to them, but goodies nonetheless. My first goody award came from RedKathy over at The Essence of Womanhood. She gave me the Happy 101 Award. See?
Cool, eh? Good friends give on to others. They share the love and wealth and cupcakes. And so, the rules for this privilege are to
a) copy and display the award on one’s blog.
b) List who gave me the award and link to their blog (you can find Kathy through the linky above or by clicking the award, if you MUST touch it)
c) List 10 things that make me happy, and
d) Pass the award on to other bloggers and visit their blog to let them know.
OK, a & b are done. Now for C = Happy Time
I think I’ll pass this one on to some of the many blogs that make me happy. I’m mixing it up a bit for you: Kitchen Masochist, JB at Purplume, Brooke at Shutterboo, Jen at Sweet Water, and to Jan at Braise, Boil, Bake.
Now the next goody award came from Thas. She gave me the Honest Scrap award… Darn it! I like pretending to be interesting so much more, but I s’pose I’ll oblige her and you.
This one requires I share 10 things, honest-reality-based things I guess, about myself. Then I can pass it on to other foodie bloggers. Doesn’t this remind you of a slam book? Anyway, here goes…
Whew! That was fun in a weird-high pressure kinda way. Now…, who will I bestow the bloggers version of a chain letter to????
I’ll send to a few people I’m dying to know more about.
How ’bout that? I finished!
Have you ever tried those chocolate lava desserts? The ones served hot with chocolate oozing from the center? They are delicious and not terribly difficult to make. But in the spirit of an easy Valentine’s menu, I will help you cheat to achieve a similar result.
I used a Duncan Hines mix as the base, added chocolate chips and baked it in large muffins tins for individual servings. And, OOH! Was it good (for effect, you could imitate the Christopher Walken doing Lady Gaga voice). I served it with the Strawberry Coulis, but vanilla ice cream or whipped cream would be fantastic too.
It goes a little something like this:
Easy Molten Chocolate Cakes
1 Duncan Hines Super Moist Chocolate Fudge cake mix
3 eggs
2/3 cp whole milk
2/3 cp water
1/2 cp butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 cp semisweet chocolate chips, approximately
Mix all the ingredients (except for chips) using a mixer, set aside. Preheat oven to 325° and prepare muffin pan.
To prepare muffin pan: Rub butter into each muffin section, then dust with cocoa powder instead of flour. This will ensure you don’t have any white spots on the muffins.
Drop about 2 tbsp of batter on the bottom of each muffin, then pile about 20-30 chocolate chips as close to the center of the muffin as possible.
Next create a damn around the chips by carefully dropping more of the batter. You want to make sure the chips stay in the center and don’t spread around the muffin. Then add more batter on top to cover the chips. Allow it to stand undisturbed while the oven comes to temperature, this will give the batter time to settle and even out without having to shake it.
Bake for 18-20 minutes (for large muffins). Remove from the oven and invert them right away, this will make them more compact if there was any overflow. Allow them to cool for about 5 minutes before serving.
To serve, trim any edges from batter overflow and serve while pretty warm with ice cream or this yummy strawberry coulis.
You will enjoy!
Cookingly yours,
Anamaris
I picked up a Cooking Light magazine a few days ago and, as I usually do, had about 8 recipes I wanted to try out after browsing it for about 10 minutes. This one caught my eye right away, I mean, garlic, avocado and seafood. Duh! I will try it as listed, but I didn’t have all the ingredients, specifically the shrimp. Improv time.
Spicy Garlic Avocado Soup
1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
1-2 serrano peppers, halved
3 tbsp garlic, crushed (about 10-12 cloves)
1 cp white wine
6 cps chicken stock
1-1/2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
3/4 cp heavy cream
Sea salt
1/8 tsp saffron strands, crushed
1 avocado
In a medium stockpot, heat up the oil and add the onions and peppers. Cook until the onions begin to turn translucent, then add the garlic and stir it in very well.
Add the wine and allow it to cook down until it has almost evaporated, then add the chicken stock. Bring it to a boil and lower the temperature enough to keep it simmering, this part will take about 30-40 minutes. The liquid will reduce by about 1 or 2 cps. Once it reduces a bit, turn off the heat and strain it reserving the broth.
Rinse the same pot and you will make a roux. Add the butter, once it has melted whisk in the flour and continue to cook it over medium heat. It should remain light in color, do not allow it to brown. Cook it for about 3-4 minutes before slowly adding about 1 cp of the reserved broth. Make sure you’re whisking constantly to avoid lumps. Once you’ve incorporated the some liquid into the roux you can add the rest of the broth, cream, saffron, and check the seasoning. Allow it to simmer for about 3-5 minutes, allow it to thicken a bit.
Peel and seed the avocado and chop it into cubes. Pour a bit of soup into a bowl and top it avocado cubes.
Note: The original recipe included the use of shrimp and fish and stock made from the shrimp shells. I really liked this with the chicken stock, and I pan seared pieces of fish fillet and added them just before serving.
Cookingly yours,
Anamaris