Spicy Little Devils - Singapore Rice Noodles

Singapore Rice Noodles

            2/3 cup chicken broth

            1 tbsp (càs) oyster sauce

            1 1/2 tbsp (càs) soy sauce

            1 1/2 tsp (càc) white sugar

            3 tbsp (càs) peanut oil

            1 1/2 tsp (càc) curry powder

            1 clove garlic

            1 tsp (càc) minced fresh ginger root

            1 red bell pepper

            1 small red onion

            4 green onions

            1 (12 ounce) package frozen cooked cocktail shrimp

            1 1/2 cups frozen baby peas

            8 ounce (200 g) package rice noodles, broken into 3 inch pieces and soaked

Directions

Combine chicken broth, oyster sauce, soy sauce and sugar in a small bowl, and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add curry powder, crushed garlic, and crushed ginger; stir-fry for 10 seconds. 

Add chopped peppers, onions, and scallions; stir-fry for 3 to 5 minutes. 

Stir in chicken stock mixture, and bring to a boil over high heat. Add shrimp and peas, and cook until hot. Add noodles, and cook until dish is heated thoroughly. Serve immediately.

Feta, Pepper & Sun-Dried Tomato Quiche

One flaky ready-made pie crust

4 oz (100 g) Feta cheese
1 red bell pepper
10 sun-dried tomatoes

QUICHE MIXTURE
9 eggs
3/4 cup (20 cl) heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup (10 cl) milk
2 shavings of fresh nut of nutmeg

Preheat your oven to 365°F (200°C)

Layer parchment paper in a flat bottomed quiche or tart pan (you can substitue a 9 inch round cake pan, but you won't get the best results with a pie pan). Lay out the ready-made pie crust on top of the parchment paper.

Whisk your eggs, cream, and milk. Rub the nutmeg with the edge of a sharp knife to create nutmeg powder over the mixing bowl. Whisk, Whisk, Whisk.

Toss the veggies; cheese, pepper and tomates, in the unbaked crust. Then whisk your quiche mixture and pour it over the solid ingredients and pop it into the oven on the middle rack. Remove it from the oven when it's golden on top and solid in the middle.

Pizza Soup

Pizza Soup

1 onion
1 green bell pepper
1 cup (12 oz) sliced fresh mushrooms
2 (8 in / 20 cm) zucchini / courgette
14.5 oz beef broth
14.5 oz tomatoes
16 oz can pizza sauce
1 lb (4 oz) fully cooked smoked sausage links
1/2 tsp herbs de provence (pizza seasoning)

GARNISH
shredded cheese
sour cream

In a medium saucepan, combine onion, sweet pepper, mushrooms, zucchini, and 1/4 cup of broth. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, simmer covered for 5 minutes.

Thinly slice the sausage.

Stir in the remaining broth, the undrained tomatoes, pizza sauce, sausage, and seasoning. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes more or until the vegetables are tender.

Dollop sour cream on each serving and top with cheese.
Makes 6 servings.

Tradition Meets Inovation - Quinoa Chili

What happens when all the best stuff of life converge together in a bowl of chili?

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp ground cumin
3 tomatoes (or one 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes)
2 (19 ounce) cans black beans
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 zucchini
1 jalapeno pepper
1 tbsp chipotle pepper
1 tsp oregano
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
salt and ground black pepper

Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, and the water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside.

Meanwhile, soften the onion in a tablespoon of water over medium heat. When the onion is transparent add the spices : garlic, chili powder, and cumin. Cook and stir 1 minute to release the flavors. Add 2 cups water. Stir in the diced vegetables : tomatoes, black beans, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, zucchini, jalapeno pepper, chipotle pepper, and oregano. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer 20 minutes.

Stir in the cooked quinoa. Remove from the heat, add the cilantro to serve.

Only You Can Be You - Mediterranean Fish

Want to feel special? Fix this simple gourmet dish and flatter yourself. Want to make someone else feel special? Serve this dish to them and savor life together.

There are way too many providential circumstances in this cosmic universe for life to just happen by chance. You are a treasure. No one else sees the world the way you do, you are really that unique. You are intentional. You are caring. You are loved. And caring for your soul enriches all your relationships.

This is one of my all-time favorite dishes. As you can see, it's just gorgeous to serve to guests! It will make any first time chef feel like a Cordon Bleu. It's colorful. It's flavorful. And it's ohh, soo, healthy!

Mediterranean Fish
(serves four)
Two whole white fish
One red bell pepper
One green bell pepper
One-half onion
Grape tomatoes cut in half
One jar of whole greek black olives

Clean (gut) the fish. The fish monger or supermarket clerk will gladly do this for you. ;)
Lay the whole fish in a shallow baking dish.
Slice the peppers and onion super thin, cut the tomatoes in half.
Layer green peppers, red peppers, onion, tomatoes, and black olives. Drizzle with olive oil.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for a half hour or until the onions and olives are blackened, and the fish flakes off the bone loosely.
Serve with red quinoa tossed with fresh Italian parsley.

Real Mediterranean black olives are the key to this meal. The non pitted ones have the best flavor. Here you can see that baking caramelizes the onions and olives. The olives get a bit wrinkly and the flavor changes completely. They are absolutely incredible! 

Cook With Abandon - Enchiladas Verdes

"Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all." ~Harriet van Horne

Apparently I'm getting wimpy. I thought it would be wise to put in half of the peppers and then taste the salsa to see if it needed more spicy hot. So I made it up with three little green chili peppers and tasted it and it kicked back. So I had my guest try it, warning him it's spicy hot. He took a taste and stared off into space. Thinking it must have taken his breath away, I go, "So, what do you think? Is it too spicy?" He goes, "I'm still waiting for it to kick in." I'm like, hum, that's odd.

Then I serve the meal and warned another friend it was spicy. She goes, "Maybe just a small piece, I don't like spicy." Then she LOVED it and ate the the WHOLE thing! Meanwhile, I could barely get mine down it was so hot. Finally, I just picked out all of the little green pepper pieces and left them on my plate. My hubby says I'm a wimp and next time I need to put all five peppers in. I'll let you judge for yourself...

Enchiladas Verdes

One Fresh Chicken
2 cups frozen chicken broth or 2 vegetable bouillon cubes
1/4 onion
1 clove garlic
2 tsp (càc) salt
1 pound fresh tomatillos - about a dozen
5 fresh green serrano peppers - I use three
1/4 onion
1 clove garlic
1 pinch salt
12 corn tortillas
1/4 cup (6cl) vegetable oil
1 cup (100g) crumbled queso fresco
1/2 onion
1 bunch fresh cilantro

In a large pot, combine chicken breast with chicken broth, one quarter onion, a crushed garlic clove, and salt. Cover the pot over medium-low heat, and boil the stuffing out of that chicken! (about 20 minutes) Pull the chicken out of the liquid, and let it cool in a strainer over the pot in front of a big drafty window.

When it's cool enough to handle shred the chicken with your hands.

Place the tomatillos in a pot of water, enough to cover them. Bring them to a boil, and continue boiling just until the tomatillos turn a different shade of green (bright green to dull army green). Strain tomatillos and place in a blender with the reserved chicken broth, and another quarter piece of onion, another crushed garlic clove, a pinch of salt, and serrano peppers chopped up with scissors. Blend. Ta-da! Green Salsa!

Fry your corn tortillas in vegetable oil and layer with paper towels between them. Dip the crunchy tortillas in salsa to soften them, stuff them with shredded chicken and a scoop of salsa. Roll the wrap, top with a scoop of salsa, queso fresco, chopped cilantro, and the rest of the onion, chopped.

***VARIATION - Flour tortillas stray a bit from the authentic tradition, but sometimes I need recipes that I can make ahead and pop in the oven at the last moment. So I shredded the chicken and purée the salsa then right before my guests arrive I stuff big floppy burrito tortillas with chicken, salsa and sour cream. Then I wrap them and snuggle them together for a nap in a shallow baking dish. I cover them with green salsa while they bake fifteen minutes. Then I serve them with extra green salsa, onions and sour cream. Yum!

What Families Are Made Of - Sweet Pepper Salad

2lb (1k) red and orange capsicum bell peppers
1 clove garlic
large pinch of coarse salt
1 tb (càs) raspberry vinegar
1/4C (6cl) olive oil
1 sweet white onion
fresh basil sprigs, leaves and flower buds

Prepare a fire in a charcoal grill or preheat a broiler oven or griller. If using a broiler or electric griller arrange the peppers on a baking sheet and line the baking sheet with aluminum foil to make clean-up easy. Place the peppers on the grill rack or under the broiler, turning several times until the skins are blistered and irregularly charred on all sides. 20-30minutes.

Place the grilled peppers on a plate and enclose the plate in a plastic bag with the open end folded beneath the plate. Let stand for 30 minutes; the steam will loosen the skins. Working over a seive over a bowl to catch the juices, pinch the skins to loosen them from the flesh and pull them off. Discard the skins and the core and the seeds. Tear each pepper into 3 or 4 sections. Set aside the bowl of juices.

Arrange the pepper sections, peeled sides up and side by side touching on a platter. In a mortar pound together the garlic, salt and pepper to form a paste. Stir in the vinegar, the reserved pepper juices and finally the olive oil.

Slice the onion in thin rings. Spoon the sauce evenly over the peppers and scatter the onion rings over the surface. Tear the basil leaves into fragments and crumble the flower buds. Scatter over the top.

I've Got Sunshine On My Cheeks - Melon Gazpacho

Like a true masterpiece this dish looks like a work of art as it comes out of the kitchen. It's power-packed with vitamins to give you that energy boost you crave and that natural bursting with sunshine glow!

You'll need fresh quality produce. Start with tomatoes that explode with sunshine and sweetness in every bite.

Melon Gazpacho

2 Tomatoes
1/2 Canteloupe Melon
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Orange Bell Pepper
1 Cucumbers
1 Red Onion
3 tbsp (càs) white wine vinegar
2 tbsp (càs) olive oil
1 tsp (càc) Worcestershire Sauce
Salt & Pepper

Drop the tomatoes in boiling water for only two minutes to loosen and remove their skins. Dice the tomatoes, keeping only the flesh and not the seeds.

Wash all ingredients before peeling and seeding. Dice all of the vegetables very fine.

Mix half of each veggie in a blender with the vinegar, olive oil, Worcestershire, salt & pepper.

Save the rest of the diced veggies to use as a garniture. Store the soup and diced veggies separately in the fridge for up to three hours. Serve cold, with a generous heap of diced veggies in the most artistic fashion you can imagine!

Melon Gazpacho

Trompez 2 tomates dans l’eau bouillant 2 min. pour libérer et puis enlever la peau. Coupez-les en petit dés.

Prennez également 1 concombre épluché, 1/2 melon, 1 oignon rouge, 1 poivron rouge, 1 poivron orange. Coupez-les en dés finement.

Dans un mixer mélanger la moitié des legumes avec 3 càs vinégre de vin blanc, 2 càs huile d’olive, 1 càc de Worcestershire sauce, 1 pincée de sel et de poivre.

Gardez le reste des petit morceaux en garniture. Réservez la soupe et la garniture séparément 3 h au réfrigérateur. Servez froid. Versez la soupe dans une soupière accompagné d'un bon dose de petit dés et l'art est née.