Appetizers and Small Plates, Cheese Dishes, Easy to Prepare, Seafood Dishes, Side Dishes

Crab Rangoon with Sweet Chili Sauce

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I’ve always thought of this vintage throwback as a weird amalgamation – crabmeat, cheese, water chestnuts and ginger all wrapped in a wonton and fried.  Crazytalk!  But altogether, it’s a delight – one that I first tried at the now closed tiki restaurant, Honolulu, that was right off the highway in Alexandria, Virginia.

Now, I find it hard to track down a good version from Chinese takeout places, and instead, make my own.  If you love crab rangoon, but hate how many places use artificial crab meat, or worse, only cream cheese, then this is the recipe for you. Tender crab is perked up by sesame oil, ground ginger and the crunch of water chestnuts, with just enough cream cheese to bind it all together. Continue reading Crab Rangoon with Sweet Chili Sauce →

Appetizers and Small Plates, Easy to Prepare, Impressive Dishes, Lighten Up, Seafood Dishes

Ahi Tuna Poke

Sashimi lovers, this one is for you.  The combination of meltingly tender ahi tuna with soy and sesame is a dream.  And it couldn’t be simpler to make – the key is tracking down a killer piece of tuna that is so fresh, it still wants to slap you in the face with a fin.  Ok, maybe not that fresh, but you don’t want to go cheap on this one.  The tuna is the absolute star. Continue reading Ahi Tuna Poke →

Impressive Dishes, Main Courses, Sandwiches, Vegan Dishes, Vegetarian Dishes

Mother Stuffin’ Falafel Pita with Spicy Tahini Dressing

For all the folks out there claiming that vegetarian and vegan food has to be boring, falafel is a giant nanny-nanny-boo-boo in their direction.  These delicately spiced fritters made of chickpeas are toothsome and filling, leaving even the most dedicated meat eaters feeling as if they’ve got all that they need in front of them.

The name of this recipe came from my sister who demanded that I make a sandwich called a “Mother Stuffer.”  In that she is a vegetarian (and most of the time a raw vegan at that), I had to make a concoction that proved that, much like her, veggies are non-stop fun.  This pita is no exception – half the fun of falafel is assembling your pita yourself with your favorite toppings, so feel free to use any combination of pickles, peppers and hot sauce that you’d like. Food is ALWAYS more fun when you can make it your own. Continue reading Mother Stuffin’ Falafel Pita with Spicy Tahini Dressing →

Easy to Prepare, Main Courses, Meat Dishes, Sandwiches

Italian BLT Panini with Pesto Mayo

When you can get your hands on a juicy tomato, you need to treat it right.  All of those mealy, hothouse tomatoes that are pushed on us by the grocery store are great for tossing, but that’s about it.  But then there’s that slim window of time where you can get your hands on heirloom tomatoes in a rainbow of colors, bumpy and rough on the outside, brimming with translucent tart juice in the center.  When the planets align and the gods deem you worthy of an incredible tomato, you’d better recognize and step up to the plate. Continue reading Italian BLT Panini with Pesto Mayo →

Impressive Dishes, Main Courses, Sandwiches, Seafood Dishes

Crispy Halibut Po’boy with Caper Aioli

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Nothing says summertime majesty like a tender fish filet in crisp, lacy batter, slathered in luscious tartar sauce.  Correction: nothing says the perfect time of year like the aforementioned fish.  A good piece of halibut, carefully breaded and fried, is a welcome addition year-round assuming that I can get my hands on some.

The secret ingredient that makes this recipe sing is the caper aioli – a homemade mayonnaise enlivened with capers, cocktail onions, tarragon and lemon, this condiment tastes of a majesty so great that one would think that you slaved over the stuff.  But that’s not the case.  Pop the ingredients into the blender and whirr away until the mixture thickens to absolute perfection. Continue reading Crispy Halibut Po’boy with Caper Aioli →

Breakfast and Brunch, Egg Dishes, Impressive Dishes, Main Courses, Meat Dishes, Recipes, Sandwiches

Steak and Egg Sandwich with Jalapeno Hollandaise

It’d be selling them short to claim eggs as my favorite breakfast food, as that leaves out all of the other meals where eggs win my heart.  Sure, I can appreciate a fluffy waffle or sugar-dusted french toast.  But if eggs are one of the options, all other sweet delights are off the table.  It’s eggs for me 100%.

Though I’ve yet to meet an egg that I didn’t like, there is something about perfectly scrambled eggs in sandwich form that makes me grin bigger than Christmas morning.  This sandwich gilds the proverbial lily by adding tender steak to the party, and ups the egg quotient with a piquant topping of jalapeno hollandaise (made in the blender for quick and easy eating).  Yes, darlings, this one is trouble.  And the best kind of trouble you can get in to, no less.  Comfort-food noshing, hangover staving off, one-on-one private time with you and your breakfast a la Hall & Oates kind of trouble.  You know exactly what I’m talking about, so don’t even pretend. Continue reading Steak and Egg Sandwich with Jalapeno Hollandaise →

Appetizers and Small Plates, Lighten Up, Main Courses, Poultry Dishes, Recipes, The Daring Kitchen

Black Tea Chicken Lettuce Wraps

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Recipe for The Daring Kitchen
Sarah from Simply Cooked was our November Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to create something truly unique in both taste and technique! We learned how to cook using tea with recipes from Tea Cookbook by Tonia George and The New Tea Book by Sara Perry.
Cooking with tea?  Who woulda thunk it?  When I found out that this month’s Daring Kitchen Challenge was to cook a savory dish using tea, the only reason that I wasn’t surprised was because I’d done it before.  A long while back, in a moment of sheer MacGuyverism, I decided that since I couldn’t tea-smoke chicken in my NYC apartment without bringing in the fire department, I’d try to make a marinade for it using black tea.  The resulting mixture, which I coined “hell broth” for it’s spicy, fragrant scent, was a great success.  The chicken was diced and tucked into crisp leaves of bibb lettuce and dunked into a zippy hoisin sauce.  Tea was apparently meant for so much more than just sipping. Continue reading Black Tea Chicken Lettuce Wraps →

Egg Dishes, Impressive Dishes, Main Courses, Meat Dishes

Moo Shu Pork with Homemade Pancakes

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Recipe for The Daring Kitchen

The October Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Shelley of C Mom Cook and her sister Ruth of The Crafts of Mommyhood. They challenged us to bring a taste of the East into our home kitchens by making our own Moo Shu, including thin pancakes, stir fry and sauce.

I’m totally mad for moo shu and I think that what does it is the inclusion of the awful sounding (but awfully addictively good) tree fungus. Tender pork, spicy ginger and matchsticks of bamboo shoots all solidify the greatness, but it’s the ebony slivers of the tree fungus that make me crazy with delight over this one. I’m known to pitch an actual fit over my chinese takeout if the moo shu order comes with white button mushrooms as a substitute. Blech. Not cool. Continue reading Moo Shu Pork with Homemade Pancakes →

Appetizers and Small Plates, Breakfast and Brunch, Friends Recipes and Hacks, Sauces and Condiments

Peach Bellini Jam

If ever you wanted to know the face of true goodness in this rag tag world (or better yet, why I’m an “Ange” and not an “Angie”), then you need to know my buddy Angie.  Friends from back in the day in high school, every chance I get to catch up with her leaves me grinning ear to ear – she is just that marvelous.  A while back, while living vicariously through her pictures of picking fruit with her adorable kiddies, I found one of her recipes for homemade jam.  I knew at that moment that I had to beg her for a guest post.  No need to twist her arm, though – here is a taste of some majesty courtesy of Angie. -AG

I got into making jams two years ago after picking about 15 gallons of strawberries at a local farm. I don’t know why I picked so many berries at one time. I guess because they were really so flavorful, fresh and quite beautiful that I couldn’t stop picking! Continue reading Peach Bellini Jam →

Menus and Odes, The Daring Kitchen

Stock to Soup to Consommé

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Daring Kitchen Challenge
Peta, of the blog Peta Eats, was our lovely hostess for the Daring Cook’s September 2011 Challenge, “Stock to Soup to Consommé”. We were taught the meaning between the three dishes, how to make a crystal clear consommé if we so chose to do so, and encouraged to share our own delicious soup recipes!
In the short time that I’ve been participating in The Daring Kitchen (3 months now), I’ve been on a global adventure.  From gnocchi to Sri Lankan curry to now, classic culinary techniques (from France?  Consommé couldn’t be more French…), I’ve had the opportunity to flit around the world, picking up new skills and techniques in the process.  This month was a challenge to take humble chicken and veggies to broth glory. Continue reading Stock to Soup to Consommé →

Foodie for Life—Delicious to Death