Tag Archives: food

Smoky Poblano Mussels

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I have wanted to make a dish with mussels for the longest time. One of my future culinary goals is to perfect my own recipe for muscles marinara but I’m still working on developing a sauce that has the right mix of flavor and heat. In the meantime I wanted to make something just to get some practice with cooking mussels. I found a very simple recipe for muscles in a pablano pepper broth in Cooking light magazine and adapted to suit my tastes.

On important step in this recipe is to combine the ingredients for the broth and simmer then for 8-10 minutes before adding the muscles.

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This allows for the flavor of the sauce to develop and become more complex. After cooking the muscles you remove them from the pot and again reduce the broth until there is about 1 cup left then you pour it over the muscles. This recipe is very simple and is a great dish to try if you want to experiment with mussels.

Smokey Pablano Mussels

Stout Macaroni and Cheese

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For Some reason I have been experimenting with cooking with beer a lot recently. I wanted to make mac and cheese and saw a recipe that used hot turkey sausage and Guinness in mac and cheese and adapted some of what they did for this dish. A warning in advance, while this recipe is delicious it does not taste like your traditional mac and cheese. Depending on how hot the sausage is that you use it could have some heat to it. Also the stout gives this dish a very distinctive finish. I will walk you through the recipe in this post, you can find the full recipe by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page.

Heat a large saucepan over high heat, add oil and swirl to coat pan then reduce heat to medium. Remove casings sausages and add sausage and onion to pan. Cook for 6 min, stirring to crumble up sausage.

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Add flour, salt, and pepper. Stir and cook for an additional minute.

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Add beer and bring to a boil. Cook mixture for 3 min until thick and bubbly, stirring continuously.

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Remove from heat and add cheddar, Velveeta, and milk; stir until smooth. Then add pasta and mix in.

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Divide mixture evenly among 4 ceramic gratin dishes sprinkle with panko bread crumbs and bake at 450 for 10 min. You could also put mac and cheese in a casserole dish and serve family style, timing will remain the same. Enjoy and find the full recipe below.

Stout Macaroni and Cheese

Asian Beef Rolls

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I found a recipe similar to this in Cooking Light Magazine, I tweaked it a little but it still stays true to the original. This recipe is a bit tedious to prep but very simple to cook.

To put rolls together place 1 steak slice on a cutting board and place 3 pieces of green onion and 3 pieces of red pepper on steak then roll. Place completed beef rolls on baking sheet.

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Then coat grill pan with cooking spray then heat pan over medium-high heat. Place beef rolls in pan, seem side down and cook for 3 min. Then turn and cook for an additional 3 minutes. While beef rolls are cooking bring reserved marinade and remaining rice wine vinegar to a boil and reduce by about half. pour sauce over rolls then serve.

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This recipe is great to make for game day. They are bite size and offer an alternative to wings and a six foot hoagie. For full recipe see the link below, Enjoy!

Asian Beef Rolls

 

Poached Shrimp in Old Bay Butter

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This shrimp recipe is very simple and very quick to prepare and makes for a great appetizer. You can also use the Old Bay Butter to toss steamed crabs in before you serve them.

To Poach the shrimp you combine water, wine, pickling spice, garlic, and parsley in a pot then bring mixture to a boil. The measurements for each ingredient is going to depend on the size of the pot you are using. I just eyeballed everything until it looked right. Let the mixture boil for 4-5 mins to allow the flavors to develop. (see picture below)

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After mixture has boiled remove pot from heat and add shrimp. Poach the shrimp for ~ 5 min until the shrimp are pink and firm. Then remove the shrimp from the poaching liquid and set aside (See pictures below)

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Next melt butter in a small sauce pan. After butter melts add sherry and Old Bay. Simmer for 30 seconds to cook off alcohol in sherry. Add shrimp and coat with butter sauce then serve and enjoy. The shrimp should be lightly coated with the Old Bay Butter, not soaked in it. This dish is very quick and simple and a fun alternative to traditional steamed shrimp. To see a full list of ingredients and approximate measurement follow the link to the recipe page. Enjoy!

Poached Shrimp in Old Bay Butter

Chicken with Spicy Ginger Soy Reduction

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Asian chicken

I recently experimented with creating an Asian inspired sauce for chicken. I was surprised at how this sauce turned out, reducing the soy sauce brings develops a very savory flavor in this sauce and the addition of the garlic chili sauce lends a nice heat. The only downside to this sauce is that it is a bit thin, to fix this you need to add some flour to bring it to your desired consistency. You can serve this dish with Spicy Ginger Noodles and snow or snap peas.

Chicken with Spicy Ginger Soy Reduction

Spicy Ginger Noodles

Canada Trip Recap Part 2: The Keg Steakhouse and Bar

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Our first night in Toronto we stopped for a late dinner at the York Street location of The Keg Steakhouse and Bar. The Keg was your typical higher end steak house and the food was on the same level as a Ruth’s Chris or KC Prime. I ordered the baseball ribeye, my choice was highly influenced by the World Baseball Classic being on one of the televisions. The steak was cooked to perfection and tasted great. What really set The Keg apart for me was the service. We told our server Lisa that this was our first time in Toronto and had just arrived in the city earlier that evening. We asked her to recommend a few places for us to visit and at the end of our dinner she brought out a list of bars, clubs, and other restaurants that she felt we should visit. We made use of this list throughout our stay in Toronto. If you ever find yourself in Toronto and are looking for a good dinner with great service I would highly recommend going to any of The Keg’s locations.

The Keg Steakhouse and Bar

Canada Trip Recap Part 1: Anchor Bar

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Last weekend my friends and I took a road trip to Toronto Canada. On the drive up we stopped at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, birthplace of Buffalo wings. The atmosphere of the bar is incredible. The bar is decorated with old license plates and other Americana that gives the bar a home town feel. The waitstaff was very friendly and the service was great. Because buffalo wings were invented here we ordered a bucket of their classic hot wings. The wings were delicious. They were cooked perfectly and the sauce had great flavor and just the right amount of heat. I have wanted to go to this place for a while now and was glad we went out of our way to stop at the Anchor Bar, the birthplace of Buffalo Wings

Anchor Bar

Cooking Class Week 5: Shell Fish

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oysters

Tonight’s class focused on shellfish. I finally learned how to properly shuck an oyster. It took a few attempts but by the end I was able to pick up the technique. To shuck an oyster you hold it in a towel in your hand, cup of the oyster facing down. You then take the oyster knife and push it through the heel of the oyster. Once the knife gets through the heel you twist the knife to pop the shell. You then move the knife across the top shell to separate it from the oyster. Then after taking the top shell off you cut the oyster free from the bottom shell. I chose to cook Oysters Florentine tonight in order to practice the shucking technique.

The chef also taught us a few simple recipes for shrimp, clams, and crab that I will highlight in future posts

Off to Toronto for the Weekend

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I’m headed up to Toronto, Canada for the weekend so there will be no posts over the next few days. However Toronto is an incredible food city so I will be doing a recap of all the bars and restaurants I go to once I get back. I am also looking to find some inspiration for some new dishes too. Enjoy your weekend and have a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Guinness Reduction Part 2

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steak and shrimp

Inspired by St. Patrick’s Day I worked on perfecting the Guinness pan sauce that I made a few weeks ago. Before cooking the steaks I took 4 cups of beef stock, carrots, celery, garlic, and onions and placed them in a saucepan; I then reduced the broth by half to build more flavor in the stock. After fortifying the stock I cooked the steaks in the pan. I sauteed half a shallot then deglazed the pan with 1/2 cup of Guinness. I reduced the Guinness by 2/3 then added the fortified beef broth. I simmered the sauce for ~2 min then added 1tsp dijon mustard, 1 tbs soy sauce, salt, and chopped fresh parsley. I let the sauce simmer for another 2 min then added 1 tbs unsalted butter and 1/2 tsp truffle butter. I then did a final taste to get the salt level right. I then served the sauce over the steak.

To cook the shrimp I took a cast iron skillet and cooked 4 pieces of bacon. I then added the shrimp, which I seasoned with Old Bay and cooked them in the bacon grease.

Guinness