lettuce

First Tomato!

/ jeffreyw / 1 Comment

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More Tacos

/ jeffreyw

Had just enough pork belly left for a few tacos, a reprise of the BLTs from the other day.  These are delicious, I think I like them better in these homemade tortillas than the traditional toasted bread slices.

B.E.L.T. Tacos

/ jeffreyw

B is for bacon but this one is sous vide pork belly, sliced about a quarter inch and crisped a bit.  SVPBLET just doesn’t roll off the tongue quite right.I really like this taco rack.  I bought it thinking to use it to oven crisp store bought tortillas but it’s perfect for holding these home made tortillas for dressing.  My perfect BELT would have the egg yolk still runny, this time I scrambled and chopped a couple of eggs to make them easy to build with.The sauce is half mayo/half sour cream and that seems to work pretty well, it is spread on the tortilla about like you would spread mayo on toast for a traditional BLT sammich.Enjoy!

Gyro Burger

/ jeffreyw

I didn’t feel like going full on Alton Brown on the little bit of ground lamb I had so I just added a ton of garlic, cumin, ginger, and a store bought Greek seasoning powder and fried it up like a basic burger.  I very nearly ruined the tzatziki.  Never use a stick blender if you think the cukes are not diced finely enough.  Just don’t.

Dinner Menu: Chicken Satay

/ TaMara / 2 Comments

Chicken Satay Snapseed2

Fun with chicken and pineapples. This is also a good recipe to experiment with rice varieties.

On the board tonight:

  1. Thai Chicken Satay
  2. Rice
  3. Thai Spring Rolls
  4. Pineapple rings w/vanilla yogurt

Thai Chicken Satay

I usually make my own simple peanut sauce – peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice and a touch of hot sauce.

  • 2 boneless breasts
  • 4 boneless thighs (or 2 breasts)
  • 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp. lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp peanut sauce
  • 1 tsp garlic
  • 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • peanut sauce for dipping

bamboo skewers (soaked in water for at least 10 minutes), broiler

Pound chicken flat and combine with remaining ingredients, except dipping sauce, and mix well. Marinate for 30 minutes or overnight.  Remove chicken from marinade and cut into 1-inch strips. Thread onto skewers, one piece per skewers and broil or grill, about 5 minutes, until cooked through, the thinner they’re pounded, the quicker they will cook. Turn once to ensure they are evenly cooked. Serve with extra peanut sauce and rice.

Thai Spring Rolls

Recipe and photo directions are here.

Shopping List:

  • bamboo skewers
  • 2 boneless breasts
  • 4 boneless thighs (or 2 breasts)
  •  toasted sesame oil
  •  peanut sauce
  • 8 spring roll wrappers
  • 1 head leaf lettuce
  • 1 bunch cilantro
  • 1 cucumber
  • 1 medium carrot

Also: soy sauce, white wine vinegar, sugar, ground ginger, fish sauce, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice

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Friday Recipe Exchange: Spring Whiplash

/ TaMara / 1 Comment

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This was my favorite photo from JeffreyW this week. That’s Homer (remember him?) doing his best Egyptian statue imitation.

We are having a week of weather whiplash, so the recipes this week reflect that. Some for those 75 degree days and some for the upcoming wet and wild weekend.

Two soups make the cut tonight.

Chicken Alfredo Tortellini Soup (recipe here), easy to put together and pair with a nice Antipasto Salad (recipe here) for a quick dinner or great for a lunch treat.

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French Onion Soup popped up on my radar several times over the past few weeks. So now I want some. It’s almost sweet onion time (Vidalia, April-May, followed by Walla Walla Sweets – June) and I think they make the best onion soups. JeffreyW’s mouth-watering photo above is only the beginning – entire slideshow and recipe are here.

Lace Cookies2b

Turkey Cutlets and Lace Cookies were on the dinner menu this week. Full menu, recipes and shopping list are here.

What’s on your menu for the weekend? Cooking for summer, spring or winter in your area?

BLT Salad

Tonight’s featured recipe has been one of my favorite salads lately. Especially when the temps were close to 80 degrees.

Confession. I hate avocados. And guacamole leaves me cold. My friends love going to Mexican restaurants with me, I get my guacamole and sour cream on the side, then pass them on to my table-mates. But the avocado dressing for this salad, I can’t get enough. Go figure.

BLT Salad with Avocado Buttermilk Dressing
This recipe serves 2

Salad

  • 4 strips thick cut bacon (or substitute turkey bacon)
  • 2 hearts of Romaine lettuce, shredded
  • 4 to 6 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 avocado, peeled and cubed*
  • cilantro leaves for garnish (optional)

Dressing

  • 1 avocado
  • buttermilk or ranch dressing**
  • limejuice
  • salt & pepper to taste

skillet, bowl, serving bowls

Dressing: halve avocado, remove pit and scoop flesh into bowl, add an equal amount of buttermilk dressing, limejuice to taste (I used about 1 tsp) and mix until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste. Set aside

Add bacon to skillet and cook on medium heat until crisp. Remove to paper towel to cool and drain. Slice into 1/2 inch pieces.

While the bacon is cooking, prep the salad fixings. Toss with cooled bacon pieces. Add to serving bowls, top with dressing and garnish with cilantro leaves.

*the easiest way to cube an avocado is to halve it, remove the pit and then score it into cubes. Run a sharp knife around the edge of the avocado, then turn the skin inside out and the cubes pop out.

**If you don’t like buttermilk or ranch dressing, you can substitute sour cream and 1 tsp crushed garlic for the dressing.

That’s it for this week. Have a great weekend…I’ll let you know if it’s two feet of snow or just rain for us – TaMara