Meet the Sous Chef and his Assistant

Asian Salad

This is a big favorite with several of my friends. This is adapted from Greg at the Raven's salad recipe. Make a big bowl since it is made with cabbage, it doesn't wilt as fast. As with most stuff, you can add or subtract just about anything you like. This also goes great with some grilled teriyaki chicken breasts too. You can come up with the amounts, I'll tell you what's in it.

Napa Cabbage, shredded
Shredded carrots
Celery
Cherry tomatoes, halved
Cucumbers, sliced
Red bell peppers, diced
Yellow bell peppers, diced
Orange bell peppers, diced
Red onion, diced
small can of Mandarin Oranges
Peanuts for garnish
Cilantro

Cut up all of your vegetables and place in a bowl. Drain the oranges, and reserve the juice. Add them to to it. Cut up the cilantro and also toss into the salad.

To make dressing:

juice of 1-2 limes
juice from mandarin oranges
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
sesame oil--a little bit
2 tbsp Soy Sauce
salt/pepper
2 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 tsp garlic if you want
vegetable oil

Mix the lime juice, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger and garlic together. You need to do the liquids in increments, and taste along the way to your liking. Add the sesame oil, a little goes a long way. Then add the mandarin orange juice, in increments, it adds a little sweetness. When it tastes the way you want it after adding more or less, then add a little vegetable oil, I hardly use any to make this a really healthy salad.

Toss the dressing with the salad and garnish with peanuts.

Potato Soup

3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cup milk
2 potatoes peeled and diced
1 medium onion, diced
few slices of pancetta diced.
1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese grated
1 bottle favorite beer
salt/pepper to taste
Sour cream and green onions for garnish.

Put your potatoes in salted boiling water and boil until they are tender, about 10 minutes or so. Saute the pancetta in a small fry pan until crisp. Remove from heat, drain on paper towel. Saute onion in the drippings until they are slightly carmelized. When potatoes are cooked, drain them, reserving a little of the cooking water, that you can use to thin the soup out if need be.

Make a white sauce by melting the butter, and then adding the flour and cook stirring constantly for about a minute or so. In increments, whisk in the milk. Be sure to incorporate all the flour/butter totally. Keep on medium or so heat, stirring occasionally until it starts to bubble. At this point, take off the heat, and stir in the cheddar cheese until it melts. Then slowly stir in the beer to taste. Add the potatoes and onions and stir well to incorporate. If it's too thick, add a little of the cooking water or more beer. Salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with the pancetta, sour cream and green onions.

Chili Encrusted Pork Tenderloin

Pork:

2# Pork Roast, Brined.

For the rub:

1T Mild Chili Powder.
1T Medium Hot to hot chili Powder.
1T Chipotle chili Powder.
1t Cinnamon.
1t  Garlic Powder.
1T Salt.

For the sauce:

1T Olive Oil.
1 Lg Clove Garlic.
1T  Leftover Rub.
2T Orange Juice.
3/4C Chix Stock.
1t Honey.
1T Butter.
S&P.

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Soup

1/4C Oil.
2# Yellow Onion, Diced.
1 # Carrot, Diced.
1# Celerey, Diced.
3 LG Garlic Cloves.
1 Sprig Fresh Thyme, Sachet.
1Qt  Chix Broth.
4C Roasted Red Bell Peppers.
1#  Red Pot, Peeled, Lg Dice.
1/2C Dry White Wine.
1T Sugar.
S&P.

Puree.

Garnish.
Baguette, Toasted 1/2 to 3/4-inch cubes
1T Marscapone Cheese.
Green Onion.

Naan with Mango Salsa and Raita

Feel like taking a trip to India? I made this for our Indian Themed dinner party and was a little nervous, since I have never had Naan before, and didn't know what to expect. It was actually quite easy and some of the party goers who have had Indian food said it tasted pretty authentic. This recipe came from allrecipes.com


1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (between 105-115 degrees)
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tbsp milk
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp salt
4 1/2 cups bread flour
2 tsp minced garlic (optional, I did half with garlic, half without)
1/4 cup butter, melted

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.

2. Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

3. During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat. I used a grill pan on the stove top.

4. At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

I found that the longer it sat on the grill, the puffier it got, and I may have screwed up my yeast too. As a side note, I used rapid rise yeast since I was in a time crunch. Perhaps regular yeast would work better.

This recipe made about 20 or so 2-3 inch sized naan.

Mango Salsa, would be great with chicken!
adapted from Bon Appetit

2 cups chopped pitted peeled mango (I used the fresh mango already in the jar in the produce section)
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
2/3 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 habanero pepper diced finely
4 tsp olive oil

Mix all ingredients in small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 6 hours ahead. Cover and chill.)

Makes about 2 3/4 cups.

Raita
recipe from Bon Appetit

1 large unpeeled English hothouse cucumber, halved, seeded, coarsely grated
2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt
1/4 cup (packed) chopped fresh mint
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp plus pinch of cayenne pepper

Wrap grated cucumber in kitchen towel and squeeze dry. Whisk yogurt, mint, cumin, and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper in medium bowl to blend. Add cucumbers and toss to coat. Season raita to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated.) Sprinkle raita with pinch of cayenne pepper and serve.

As a side note, I strained the yogurt for about 1 hour or so, to get rid of the excess water. It could have been strained a little longer. The comments mentioned using Greek yogurt, and straining was not needed then.

Makes 8 servings.

Crab Cakes

Yields 8-10.
Saute.
2T Oil.
1C Yellow Onion, Small Dice.
1C Carrot, Small Dice.
1/2C Green Bell Pepper, Small Dice.
2T Red Bell Pepper, Small Dice.
2T Yellow Bell Pepper, Small Dice.
1T Garlic.

1.5# Lump Crab Meat.
1/4C Green Onion, sliced.
1/4C Parmesan Reggiano, Grated.
2T Parsley, finely chopped.
3T Dijon Mustard.
1/4C Fresh lemon juice.
1 Lg Egg.
1T White Pepper.
1t Worcestershire sauce.
1t Tabasco sauce.
3/4 cup Bread Crumbs.

3 tsp Creole Seasoning.
1-1/2C Panko.
S&P.



Creole Seasoning:
3T Paprika.
2T Salt.
2T Garlic Powder.
1T Black pepper.
1T Onion Powder.
1T Cayenne pepper.
1T Dried Oregano.
1T Dried thyme.

Very Easy Brownie Dessert

So when you are in a pinch to come up with dessert for a dinner party, this one is really easy and quite good. It's not really a recipe, per say, but it can help out. Basically take your boxed brownie mix that you like (I usually buy the bulk stuff at Costco so I have this all time in the pantry. And, I also prefer the Hershey's Triple Chocolate) Make the mix according to directions, but instead of the 2 tbsp of water, use 2 tablespoons of port (or you could use grand marnier, or any other kind of liqueur you like.) This idea comes from Latcham Winery, where they do this. You can also add any kind of candy or nuts to this as well. Bake as directed and then to make them look a little fancy, I cut them out of the pan with bisquit cutters and served with berries and small scoop of ice cream.

Fettucine Carbonara

So since I have joined egullet, a foodie site that beats all foodie sites, I regularly read the "Dinner" thread where people post pictures of their dinners. I've seen tons of people talk about Carbonara, but the thought of using pretty much raw eggs in a pasta sauce, kind of grossed me out. So one day, I saw this recipe and decided to give it a try. The funny thing, is that this recipe actually comes off the back of the the Safeway brand Pancetta that they have in the deli, and it's pretty damn good. From what I have seen, Carbonara really is only limited by your imagination, I've seen people add many different things, so this can be your launching pad recipe and go from there! Word of caution, not a diet recipe at all!

2 packages Safeway Select Primo Taglio Pancetta (I am quite sure you can use just about any pancetta, in fact, I would probably recommend going to Corti Brothers, for the locals, and getting about 6 oz of semi-thick sliced pancetta, since this Safeway stuff is pretty thin.)
1 medium onion, cut in half and thinly sliced
8 oz fresh sliced mushrooms
4 large eggs at room temperature
3/4 cups shredded Parmigiano Reggiano
1/4 tsp dried pepper flakes
1/4 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup heavy or whipping cream
1 pound fresh fettucine

In a large skillet, over medium heat, cook pancetta, stirring often, until fairly crisp. Drain on paper towels. Cook onion in drippings, stirring frequently over medium high heat until beginning to soften, 7 minutes. Add mushrooms and wine; cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.

Bring large pot of salted water to boil. In a bowl, whisk the eggs and cream together. Stir in the cheese, pepper flakes and salt and pepper to taste. Cook pasta in boiling water until tender. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Return pasta to cooking pot. Immediately add the egg mixture, onion mixture, pancetta and the 1/2 cup pasta water. Toss well. Serve immediately. Makes 6-8 servings.

Beef Fajitas

These are some great fajitas. The marinade can either go with beef or chicken. Be sure to garnish with some fresh ripe avocado, sour cream and cheese if you want. The recipe was adapted from Cooks Illustrated.

1/3 cup juice from 2 to 3 limes
6 tbsp vegetable oil
3 medium garlic cloves minced or pressed (about one tablespoon)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp brown sugar
1 jalapeno chili, seeded and ribs removed, minced. (we didn't have this, so we used 3 dried hot chili's. If you want it to be spicy, use the seeds and rib of the pepper)
1 1/2 tbsp minced cilantro leaves
table salt and black pepper
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, or about a pound of skirt steak
1 large red onion (we used a white onion) peeled and cut into 1/2 inch thick rounds, do not separate rings)
1 large red bell pepper sliced
1 large green bell pepper sliced
flour tortillas


In a medium bowl, whisk together lime juice, 4 tbsp oil, garlic, Worcestershire, brown sugar, jalapeno, cilantro, 1 tsp salt and 3/4 tsp pepper. Reserve 1/4 cup of the marinade in a small bowl. set aside. Add another tsp salt to remaining marinade. Place meat in marinade and cover with plastic wrap (or use a ziplock) and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Brush both sides of onion rounds and peppers with remaining 2 tbsp oil and season with salt and pepper (we actually just put the veggies in with the meat to marinate.)

At this point, you can either just start up a grill and do them on that, or you can use a grill pan or cast iron pan in the kitchen, if you are like us and out of gas for your grill, and didn't feel like being out in the cold.

Take out the meat and set aside. We started by cooking the onions first until they well browned and then removed, and then cooked the meat and peppers together, to where the meat was cooked and the peppers still had some crunch to them. Cooks Illustrated, (who never screws around) says that when you want to cook this on the grill, to remove the meat from the marinade and place it on the hotter part of the grill. Then they tell you to place the veggies on the cooler side and cook until the meat is done and the veggies are still crisp and slightly charred. Do what you feel is best. Our way, still provided great fajitas, and not the trouble of using the grill.

Garnish with your favorite stuff and enjoy.