Tag Archives: homemade

Moules Fromage Bleu

Posted on June 24, 2010 | Leave a comment

You know that show on the food network called The Best Thing I Ever Ate where famous chefs tell you where they had the best whatever the theme happens to be that day? Well, if I were ever asked what the best mussels dish I ever ate was it would hands down be the moules fromage bleu from Granville Moore’s in DC. In fact, these mussels beat Bobby Flay’s in his mussels throw down episode! Yeah, I love the food network 🙂

I have recreated them several times at home, and it’s actually quite simple. The ingredients are the same, but just not of the same quality as GM’s. (Sorry Giant, but you lack gourmet ingredients). But that’s how it goes sometimes and that’s OK! This dish still tastes amazing, particularly if you are a fan of bacon and blue cheese (an unbeatable combo in my book).

The ingredients:

From top left to bottom left: Blue cheese, mussels, lemon juice, shallots, spinach, and bacon. MIA- the white wine and oil.

Once you get cooking here, the process is very quick. However, first, it’s a good idea to put the mussels in a bowl and fill it with water. This allows any sand in the mussels to fall to the bottom of the bowl. Just remember to not drain them by pouring them out as this will just dump all the sand back onto them. I used a plastic strainer/spatula to remove the mussels from the bowl.

Next, it’s bacon cooking time! The recipe calls for cooking the bacon IN oil. I was very hesitant to do this, but I went with it. It forms the basis of the broth, but I find it very understandable if you wish to omit cooking your BACON in OIL.

Once the fat was rendered, I added the sliced shallots.

Doesn’t that look divine? And you can imagine how great it smelled. How can a dish go wrong from here?

[The next sequence of events is done rather quickly. My sous chef/photographer was feeling a little under the weather, so I was on my own. I tried my best to capture each step!]

At this point you want to add the mussels, wine and lemon juice and stir ’em up.

bacon shallots mussels

Once they are about half way open you want to add half of the blue cheese. You want the blue cheese to melt into the broth. I tried to move the mussels to one side of the pan to achieve this.

Just keep stirring and incorporating everything together.

Once they are fully open, you want to add the spinach.

That’s pretty much it. Once you spoon them into the bowls, top with the remaining blue cheese.

SO GOOD!

Recipe for Teddy Folkman’s Moules Fromage Bleu

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Avocado Salad Dressing

Posted on June 9, 2010 | 2 comments

One of our friends from college is doing an internship in Maryland for the summer (yay!). He arrived a couple of weeks ago and to celebrate Ashley invited us over for chicken tacos.  I offered to bring a salad, since all I had at home was some produce. I picked up a few extras, such as avocados, and decided to make a homemade salad dressing to jazz things up a bit (making homemade salad dressings is easy and they taste SO much better than store bought!). I wanted to stick to the taco theme and figured an avocado dressing would be fun and different.

This is about the best looking avocado you will find in Wheaton. It was certainly ripe and about a day away from being bad. At least they were ripe though, if not a little too ripe.

Limes are so pretty! I love them. They go hand in hand with avocados in my book and the citrus helps the avocado from turning brown. They also seem to help in the mashing process, as the acidity must break them down a bit.

So, after a good smashing, I added yogurt, half and half (you could use milk or cream if you prefer), garlic, onion, and salt and pepper. Oh, and  a dash of cayenne. The onion was grated- which created an interesting consistency and also left the house smelling like onion for a few hours, FYI. It was almost like onion pulp and helped distribute the flavor evenly and without adding much texture.

I wanted to make a festive salad full of color. I included romaine lettuce, rainbow chard, grape tomatoes, red and yellow bell peppers, and green onions. Twas delicious.

The salad dressing tasted extremely fresh and the flavor was pretty mellow. It lasted for another 1-2 days, but did start to turn brown by that point. It’s probably best served on the day you make it.


Recipe for Avocado Salad Dressing

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Posted in Salads, Sauces

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Greek Feast!

Posted on May 30, 2010 | Leave a comment

If you are a fan of Greek food I am pretty sure you will really like this meal. It is relatively easy to prepare and the flavors are intense and extremely satisfying. We made gyro burgers, which were composed of ground beef and lamb as well as some traditional Greek spices. We also prepared homemade tzatziki sauce and  a Greek salad of tomato, cucumber, red onion and fete cheese. It all went well together and you could also serve the burgers in a pita or flatbread if you so desired.

I will begin with the tzatziki sauce, which is a traditional sauce served with gyros that is made with yogurt and cucumber and is awesome.

The key ingredient here is mint. Luckily mint grows like weeds and we have plenty growing outside!

I just combined all the ingredients and let it chill in the refrigerator while we prepared the rest of the meal. Below is a pic of the final product. Not only is this a great sauce to put on whatever you please, really, but can also be served as a dip with pita or veggies. It is so good.

Along with the burgers we also prepared a Greek salad. I love this salad, especially in the summer when the vegetables are nice and fresh. It is a great accompaniment to any meat, really, and goes particularly well with the strongly flavored lamb.

Now, on to the burgers! I’ll let the pictures do the talking here….

The meat had a gyro like consistency as you can see below (sorry, it’s a bit blurry) and of course the flavor was right on.

Give this one a try!

Recipe for Gyro Burgers

Tzatziki

Greek Salad

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Posted in Beef, Lamb, Sides

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Grilled Balsamic Flank Steak

Posted on May 13, 2010 | 2 comments

As I flipped through the May issue of Cooking Light I came across recipes for grilled balsamic skirt steak with accompanying sides of tomato, onion and blue cheese salad and garlic sauteed spinach. In! Love at first sight. I felt pretty confident this meal would be a winner and it really was! It’s a great summer time meal and has that complexity and flavor to it that would make any guest think you spent hours in the kitchen, though you secretly know just how easy it was.

For our version of this recipe, we used flank steak instead of skirt steak, since that was what we had in the freezer. For those keeping tabs, it was a beautiful grass-fed flank steak from Trader Joes, Yum.

The marinade for the steak was a little on the sweet side. The ingredients include balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire, brown sugar and garlic. The flavors of the marinade were probably my least favorite part of this meal, ironically though it was what drew me to the recipe in the first place. Next time I think I will go with a standard teriyaki or soy marinade. I like the salt, what can I say. Still though, steak is steak, and so it was still awesomely delicious. The great flavor was intensified by Greg’s masterful slicing- diagonal, across the grain, and very thin- which created extremely tender, melt in your mouth bites of steak. (A true testament to this was that the steak was even good and tender the next day, cold, on a salad!)

In addition to the mouth watering steak, were the fabulous sides that accompanied it. Simple, yet delicious.

The spinach, which I dubbed ‘garlicky spinach’ (so creative, I know), could not be easier to make but tasted so good. We have spinach pretty frequently and often saute it. But for some reason, this spinach was above and beyond what we typically have. It included thinly sliced garlic that first cooked in butter. mmm.

The other side was incredible and so easy to make! Some halved grape tomatoes….

…some minced vidalia onion…

…some vinaigrette…

…blue cheese…

…all stirred together. I make similar side with feta but the blue cheese was an ingenious addition. I really loved this! Next time I make it, I may add some lemon juice for a little more acidity. I used red wine vinegar, though the recipe called for white wine vinegar, which may be why it was quite as acidic as it should be. The vidalia onion was also a pleasant surprise, as I typically would use red onion in this type of side. It’s a much more mellow onion than the onions I typically use and worked nicely not to overpower the tomato and blue cheese.

Here are some more glamor shots of the meal 🙂

Needless to say I really liked this dinner. All the flavors, textures and temperatures of everything worked so well together. The sweetness of the steak was countered nicely by the sharpness of the blue cheese, the flavorful onions, and garlicky spinach. The soft texture of the steak balanced by the crunch of the salad and warmth of the spinach. I could really go on and on… try it and you’ll see!

Recipe for Grilled Balsamic Flank Steak

Recipe for Garlicky Spinach

Recipe for Tomato, Onion, and Blue Cheese Salad

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Posted in Beef, Sides

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Lamb Shanks Braised in Wine Sauce

Posted on April 30, 2010 | Leave a comment

You know how when you cook something all day and then when it’s finally ready you don’t take the time to get a good picture? Yeah. That’s what happened here. This also happens to be the smallest of the four lamb shanks we had. Bad picture taking, bad.

In any event, I still wanted to share the recipe, despite the less than desirable way that this photo depicts this meal, because the taste was great and that’s what really counts.

I bought the lamb shanks from the farmer’s market and promptly contacted my dad for a proper recipe. He sent me one from Emeril and it did not disappoint. Greg also made carrots braised in beer and carrot juice, a recipe he tweaked from this one. He added some of his own touches and threw in some broccoli at the end for added veggie power.

To the shanks!

Here they are. There are actually four of them pictured here and they have been sprinkled with cajun seasoning. Emeril calls for “creole seasoning” but I don’t have that in my spice drawer. What I did have though was “cajun” and so we went with that.

I got the dutch oven nice and hot and added some olive oil. When the olive oil was sufficiently hot, I added the shanks to get a nice brown sear on all sides.

Next, I added chopped carrots, onions, and celery to the mix.

Hmmm… what’s missing from this picture? Yeah, the shanks! Guess I didn’t read the recipe well (I looked at a few recipes that day and must have gotten them mixed up) as it says to leave the shanks in when you add the carrots, onions, and celery. Woops.

Next, I added a diced tomato, garlic, wine, stock, thyme and some bay leaves.

Gave it a good stir and look who’s back…. the shanks!

After a frenzied few minutes, it was then time to put the lid on and turn the burner down to low for a long slow simmer.

The shanks braised for nearly two hours.

This is pretty much what they looked like after that time.

The broth or braising liquid was so flavorful. it never did reach a “syrup” like consistency, but it was so good that I considered saving it for something, though I don’t know what. It was amazing though….

To continue with the braising theme, Greg prepped the veggies.

It just would not be a Greg-made dish if onions, garlic and jalapenos were not part of the mix!

The carrots braised in beer and carrot juice and he added a little butter near the end of cooking to make the sauce thicker. The broccoli was a last minute addition.

Despite the fact that the shank looks like a lamb lollipop it was super good! I served it with a small side cup of the braising liquid to dip so each bite had the full effect. The meat was fall off the bone tender and it tasted so fresh and not gamey at all. I am dying to make that mint orzo that Emeril suggests to accompany this with one day. Not only would the flavor and texture be a great match, but it could soak up some of that broth, mmm.

Overall, this recipe was pretty easy to make and once you get it going you can walk away and do other things… so not too labor intensive.

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Posted in Lamb, Uncategorized

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How to make the perfect omelet

Posted on April 29, 2010 | 2 comments

(I’d like to point out that omelet can be spelled two ways- omelet or omelette. WordPress does not like omelette so I am going with the former)

I rarely consider myself to be an expert on any thing culinary, but I am proud to say that I have learned how to make a great omelet! I don’t know if it warrants a “how to” post per se, but why not? So, here goes…

For years and years we have eaten egg dishes on the weekends. Scrambled, over easy, “dippy”, poached, the list goes on and on. Sometimes, we added other ingredients to our eggs, but they just got scrambled along with the eggs. This was good and all, but it never came out looking very pretty and each bite was drastically different from the next, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but ya know.

When we were in Jamaica we went to the breakfast buffet every morning (yeah, I think I mentioned how indulgent the trip was!). At the buffet I visited the omelet making station a few times and studied the omelet maker very closely. I was very eager to learn what the secret was and I was able to pick up a few ideas to utilize at home from her.

1. She used a nice, rather large, flat top grill (not something I have access to, unfortunately) with a large metal spatula.

2. She used the spatula to grease up the grill before every omelet (oh yeah).

3. She mixed the eggs with the filler ingredients in a small bowl and then poured the mixture onto the grill.

4. She let the egg mixture cook for about 2-3 minutes or so and then added the cheese.

5. After adding the cheese, she closed up each side of the omelette and served it almost immediately.

Like I mentioned, I do not have a flat top grill so I use a frying pan. This works fine, as long as it is greased well with butter (hence that nice brown crust on the omelet above), but can present some challenges when it comes to maneuvering the spatula under the sides of the omelet to close it up.  Overall though, it works well. I use a plastic spatula since the pans are (or were at one point) non-stick and I make sure to use the largest one we have and sometimes even use two spatulas to carefully maneuver it to the plate.

First, I like to prepare all of my omelet ingredients. For this particular omelet I am showcasing here I used some ingredients that I purchased at the local farmer’s market.

I cooked some local, farm-fresh chorizo, made from naturally raised (and fed) pigs. YUM! This chorizo rocked!

I also added some local ramps. Ramps are a big deal in the foodie world and I was lucky enough to find them at the farmer’s market as well. They have an oniony-gralicky flavor and I couldn’t resist them, even if they were overpriced.

Once the chorizo was cooked and the ramps chopped up, I added a serving of each to 3 beaten eggs (I also added some previously cooked spinach to my omelet) and prepared my cheese for when the time would be right to add it (I used goat cheese for mine, shredded cheddar for Greg’s). Preparation is essential because once the omelet goes into the pan, everything happens really quick!  OK, time to cook!

Butter is really the key here. If the omelet sticks to the pan at all, it’s ruined! OK, that’s a bit drastic it won’t be ruined but it won’t look pretty or cook the way you want it to. So butter people, don’t be afraid! Use just enough to coat the pan well and make sure it spreads ALL over the pan. Also, make sure the butter is bubbling slightly (you probably want to set your burner to medium heat) so it’s hot enough to cook the eggs but not too hot where the bottom will burn.

Add your egg mixture.

(I think this one is Greg’s omelet: tons of chorizo, some ramps, no spinach)

Like I mentioned, moving quickly is essential and I was not able to snap a picture of when I put the cheese in (sorry!). I know to put the cheese in when the edges turn white (about 2-3 minutes in) and the top is considerably less runny. There will still be some runniness to it when you add the cheese, but considerably less and the bottom will have started to firm up. If you are unsure you can take a peek by using the spatula to pick up one of the edges. If the bottom has started to brown you are good to go.

After adding the cheese, just flip each side’s edge in towards the center. Or, flip one edge into the center and the flip the entire half-moon over onto itself.

Remove from the pan and put on a plate. It will finish cooking on the plate and the cheese will melt within seconds.

Check out the “layered” center.

This one below is the chorizo, spinach, and goat cheese omelet with fresh ramps.

Hopefully, with these basic steps you can make a great omelet too. I think it takes a little practice and patience, especially for the folding over part, but it’s worth it!

Good luck!

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Posted in Breakfast

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Homemade Marinara w/Meatballs and Alfredo sauce

Posted on April 27, 2010 | Leave a comment

For two people who really enjoy eating tomato sauce, I knew it was only a matter of time before we began to make our own. Coupled with a new-found desire to eat natural foods and stay away from unknown ingredients/chemicals and the fact that homemade things just tastes better than store bought, we ventured down the path of creating our own marinara. We created a very basic marinara, which leaves a lot of room for creativity going forward. For now though, it was a few simple ingredients simmering in low heat for all of a Sunday afternoon that stole the show.

I started the sauce off with some chopped onions and carrots (which, in retrospect I probably should have grated the carrots) and of course, a good amount of garlic. I sauteed all of these ingredients (carrots and onions first, then garlic) in extra virgin olive oil in the dutch oven.

While the onion/carrot/garlic mixture sauteed I also added some spices: salt, pepper, Italian seasoning blend, and red pepper flakes.

I then added some canned tomatoes.  3 big cans (32-oz.) to be exact, 2 cans of crushed tomatoes and 1 can of chopped to be even more exact 🙂

I put the lid on and put the pot into a 300 degree oven for about two hours.

During that time, I also made my spaghetti squash and the meatballs.  Two things I love very dearly at this point!

After the two hours had passed (stirring about every 1/2 hour or so) I turned the heat down to 200 degrees and let the sauce continue to simmer.

When it was nearly done and I was ready to add my mostly cooked meatballs, I added some freshly torn basil.

In went the meatballs and the sauce returned to the oven for another 1/2 hour.

You can see how the addition of the meatballs dilutes the sauce a bit, but in a good way!

Greg also wanted to make an alfredo sauce for this meal. He used our previous recipe for this sauce, but added some fresh parsley and used only one type of cheese, parmesan, I believe.

This sauce is so amazing, but can be very heavy. I opted out of having the alfredo this time around (after several spoonfuls to make sure it was ok during the cooking process though 😉 )

With or without the alfredo this meal was awesome and it was nice to make my own Sunday gravy.

It’s nice to have options too and a little of the alfredo sauce can go a long way. Greg likened the combo to a rose sauce.

The cool thing about making our own sauce was that there was a good amount leftover. I threw it in a tupperware and into the freezer for another meal at a later time. If you have the time, this is the way to go!

Recipe for Basic Marinara Sauce

Recipe for Alfredo Sauce

Recipe for Meatballs

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Posted in Beef, Recipes

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Stuffed Peppers

Posted on April 15, 2010 | 1 comment

The other night we made stuffed peppers for dinner and again, this is really one of those meals that you can make unique to your tastes. We used green peppers, but if you prefer sweeter red peppers or even yellow, orange or purple peppers, by all means. We also used ground veal in our peppers, but most people would probably opt for beef (bison, chicken or turkey meat would be even lower in fat) for example. I’m not sure what inspired the use of veal, but sometimes you just want something different.

I have to give Greg all the credit here on this dish- he created it and made it while I was still at work. I love coming home to a dinner cooking in the oven 🙂

Like I said, he used ground veal. He browned it and set it aside. Later, adding some freshly grated parmesan.

To add some sustenance he also added some freshly sauteed onions and spinach and a little tomato sauce. Many recipes call for other fillers, such as rice or breadcrumbs, but he omitted that and honestly, it was not missed!

Then it was time to stuff the peppers, which he cored out nicely.

He baked them for about 40 minutes.

Though the skins were nice and wrinkly, the peppers were still quite firm. I would recommend a little longer in the oven, maybe 50-60 minutes if you prefer them more tender.

All in all, it was a good wholesome dinner!

Recipe for Stuffed Peppers

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Posted in Beef

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Grilled Red Snapper & Swordfish with Fresh Guacamole and Cilantro

Posted on April 13, 2010 | Leave a comment

Well it’s official. Grilling season is upon us. Yay! We took full advantage of that and the seasonable weather and made a fabulous grilled fish dinner.

Harris Teater’s seafood selection is awesome. Greg got some really nice looking seafood while there and the prices were also very reasonable. This meal was entirely his inspiration and I am so glad it was!

On the left is the red snapper, on the right the swordfish.

He made some fresh guacamole for the topping. His recipe for guac is the same as mine (avocado, red onion, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper) though he also added a chopped jalapeno.

He (expertly) grilled the fish and topped each fillet with a hefty spoonful of guacamole, fresh chopped cilantro, and some chopped tomato. He placed the fish on a bed of wilted spinach.

Though this dish may seem a but underwhelming, I assure you that the simplicity and freshness of the ingredients makes this dish so amazing.  It was a light, but very filling meal at the same time. If you like guacamole, the possibilites seem endless in terms of what to serve it on or with. This is just another great way to use it. I preferred the swordfish over the snapper because it was stronger in fishy flavor. If you are open to eating fish, but don’t want a fish intense in flavor snapper is a great option. Both held up well on the grill so it’s really up to you.I can’t wait for more!

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Posted in Seafood

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Breakfast for Dinner: No-crust quiche

Posted on April 11, 2010 | Leave a comment

What to do with a surplus of ham? Make quiche!  Shake things up a bit and serve breakfast for dinner some time! It worked out really well for us one night and I actually had this savory meal for leftovers the next night too. We opted for a crust-less version of quiche to cut the carbs, but if this is not something you care to do, it can easily be made the same way by preparing it in a ready or home-made pie crust. This dish is easy to prepare and you can throw in just about anything you have laying around.

This particular quiche was made with broccoli, ham, red onion and cheddar cheese. Greg began by putting the broccoli, ham, and red onion into a pie dish, which he first sprayed with some non-stick spray. He topped this with a few pats of butter.

Next he whipped up some eggs, cream and cheese.

Which he then poured over the veggies and ham.

This baked in the oven for a total of 40 minutes or so, until it was a little brown on the top and cooked through.

It was great! I really enjoyed this dish and it was relatively simple and easy to make. It tasted great with hot sauce too. For leftovers, I ate it over a salad and that worked nicely too. Nothing fancy schmancy here- just some good ‘ole basic ingredients. Simple, but good.

Recipe for no-crust quiche

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