Today, I decided it's time to bring back some recipes that I use to make on a regular basis for my husband. I don't know why I decided to put them on the back burner for awhile, but I did...but tonight, they made a great appearance. My husband wasn't complaining...in fact, he was very pleasantly surprised when he walked through the door.
First on the agenda, was BB Shrimp. Crunchy, light, sweet and slightly spicy-these things were understandably missed in this household. Here is the recipe:
DIPPING SAUCE:
1/2 cup apricot preserves
1/4 cup spicy mustard
1/4 cup honey
Sriracha sauce to taste
Whisk together, heat in saucepan while whisking then chill.

SHRIMP:
About 18 Shrimp
Mix together shrimp tempura batter
OR here is a quick mix:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1 TBSP salt
1/2 TBSP pepper
couple shakes paprika
couple glugs veg. oil
1 1/4 cup water (ICE WATER)
Mix dry ingredients then add wet ingredients. Mix.

Coconut Mix:
1 cup short flake Coconut
2 cups Panko bread crumbs
Mix together.

Take raw shrimp, devein and peel. Dip in batter, then coat in coconut mixture. Coat all shrimp, let sit.

Heat oil in pan, to 350 degrees F. Once to heat, fry shrimp. Drain on paper towels. Place in oven proof dish, and finish off in oven at 300 degrees F for 5 min. Serve with dipping sauce.



Next recipe is Brie's Bay Scallop Salad.

Ingredients:
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 onion
2 garlic cloves minced
1/2 cup butter
1 pound bay scallops
1/2 cup dry white wine
salt and pepper
chopped romaine lettuce
1/4 cup bacon pieces
handful chopped parsley
Fresh grated Parmesan


Melt butter in pan. Add garlic, vegetables and seasonings. Toss until crisp tender. Add scallops, add bacon and half of the parsley. Pour in the wine and reduce down until liquid is halved. Meanwhile, chop and wash the romaine. Divide between plates. Pour scallop mix (with liquid) over the two plates, and top with parsley and fresh Parmesan.

Finished product! YUM!

Landa O's Birthday

Can you believe I haven't been on here since NOVEMBER?!? I have an excuse, I promise! I won't bore you with the yada, yada, yada...let's just say after 7 long months of absolute insanity, my schedule...just got even busier :) Anyway, I have started catering a little bit since my name has been mentioned around the military base here, that I cater. Started off as a favor here, and a favor there...now it's grown into something a bit larger then just a "favor." I love it, it's not as upscale as the stuff I did back stateside, but just enough to keep me busy, and my mind fresh with new recipe ideas. I have gotten to do a baby shower, a cooking class where we did Vietnamese food, salads for 500 people at a Command BBQ, currently doing Programs for Protestant Women of the Chapel (PWOC) which is going to include serving some good food for these women, and recently I got to hold a cooking class birthday party for a lovely 11 year old girl I know. It was a success, and the girls were full and happy. They gobbled up all of the, "finished products" before I had a chance to snap a picture of the crisp & gooey greatness they all grilled to perfection. I did manage some before pictures, and I hope you all have a chance to try them out. Enjoy!

The Menu-this 11 year old had some great taste buds! She chose the menu, it included...

Menu:
-Big Girl Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
-Chips
-Cupcakes

Grilled Cheese Options:
-”Dutch Dip Toastie” Chopped salami and apple, topped with gouda, melted in between slices of grilled bread. Paired with honey mustard dipping sauce on the side.
-”Melty Mozzarella” Fresh mozzarella, tomato slices, red onion, drizzled with sage butter and grilled between 2 slices of herb buttered bread. Option to add proscuitto.





Birthday girl with all the fixings





11 year old girls can EAT! I love it!



"Big Girl Grilled Cheese"



Cupcake decorating for dessert!



Show me your cupcakes!




The girls had so much fun, and so did I. The party ran smoothly, it was quick and simple, yet the girls really enjoyed themselves. I really hope I can do another one soon!

Curry, curry, curry...

Yellow chicken curry is one of those dishes that never ends up having leftovers. No matter how large of a batch I plan on making, our little family of 3 has no problem packing this meal away. Don't ask me how we do it, or where in our bodies we store it away, but we are lucky if maybe a half portion is leftover for Ty's lunch the next day. This recipe is terribly easy, and doesn't even take that long to make...perfect hearty meal idea for that night you don't have anything planned and little time to whip something out.

Here we go:

Peel and dice 3 medium potatoes, boil and chill. Our family favors those potatoes, so our recipe usually consists of more like, 5 potatoes.
I usually always have a few chicken breasts already pre-baked and sitting in my fridge for east access, so I grab a couple of those and dice them up.
In a separate bowl, mix together 2 1/2 TBSP curry powder, a tsp or two of crushed red pepper flakes, 2 TBSP minced ginger, 3+ cloves minced garlic and 2 tsp salt. Make into a paste. I just throw this into my mini-food processor and it works wonders.
In a saucepan, saute a sliced onion and a red bell pepper. Add the chicken cubes and heat through. Reduce heat,m add the curry paste. Stir quickly, you don't want this part to burn! It will taste bitter and ruin the dish. Add 1 can of coconut milk and mix through. Add the diced potatoes, some bamboo shoots and heat through. Serve over a bed of rice, and top with some fresh cilantro leaves.
Now, how easy was that? Quick and delicious. Especially easy if you already have leftover rice, chicken breast and some baked potatoes sitting in your fridge. So simple and satisfying :)

I found LEMONGRASS!!!!!!

I know, I know. Sounds silly to get excited over, right? Well, not in this house! With Asian cuisine being the main hit in the Kearsley household diet, we need this staple ingredient used in a lot of our favorite Thai recipes. During one of our nearly every weekend trip to downtown Naples (is not as easy said than done, mind you!) I found our beloved ingredient for sale at the Asian market! After asking, "quanta costa?" and finding out it was only 50 cent Euro per KILO (WOW) I cleaned them out and bought all they had! My husband nearly jumped out of his seat when I showed him what I found and we were both so excited to enjoy our lemongrass chicken, tom yum soup and one of my most favorites of all time...LARB! Which brings me to the following recipe...my beloved Larb (thai salad). It doesn't sound that appealing, but it is SO DELICIOUS! Not only is it extremely healthy and light, but full of rich flavor and spice. First of all, pick your meat of choice. Usually I do pork or chicken, but it's delicious with turkey or beef as well.

First off, assemble your dressing. Whisk together the following and chill.

Juice of 5 limes (about 1/4-1/3 cup)
Juice of 1 lemon (about a 1/4 cup)
2 1/2 TBSP honey
2 1/2 TBSP fish sauce

Larb:

Saute' the white parts of 2 stalks of lemongrass, 1 chopped red onion, 3 thinly sliced shallots, 2 cloves minced garlic, 4 inch piece of grated ginger, 2 finely chopped green chilies and salt and pepper to taste. Add your minced meat of choice (so if using chicken, I bake the breast, then finely mince up), add some sambal oolek (I use a nice rounded TBSP), the dressing and heat through. Salt and pepper to taste one last time. Arrange a bed of whole lettuce leaves on a serving plate.
In a separate saucepan, quickly fry a 1/4 cup of minced garlic. Spoon meat mixture onto lettuce bed, and top with a handful of cilantro leaves, chopped peanuts, diced cucumbers, the crisp fried garlic, red onion and mint. Enjoy! I know this is pretty much a weekly meal in our house, and what a wonderful guilt-free meal to sit down and devour :)

MMMMMMM...PHO!!!!!!

When we lived back in the states, my favorite place to go and eat was this little Vietnamese restaurant called, "Green Papaya." My sister and I have been meeting here for lunch/dinner dates for almost a decade. We would sit and order fresh salad rolls, and a big steamy bowl of soup, nearly 2-3 times a week at the very least. I crave that beef noodle soup on a daily basis. My husband knows I could eat it everyday, anytime of day, it ran through my veins I ate it so much back home. Moving to Italy, I was bummed to find out that if I ever wanted to eat it here, I would have to make that beloved broth here at home. Now, if I plan for it right, it's a process that starts around 8 in the morning, and it's ready by dinner time. It IS a long process, but it's totally worth every bite in the end. Through many batches, I have perfected that golden taste I love, and here is my recipe as close as I can remember to the measurements.

Ingredients:

For the stock:

5-6lbs Oxtail Beef Bones
1-2lbs beef (I will do anything bone-in and meaty like chuck shoulder, etc)
1 onion
4 inch piece of ginger
8+ star anise
3+ cardamom pods
1 1/2 TBSP coriander seeds
6-7 whole peeled garlic cloves
1 TBSP fennel seeds
1 1/2 TBSP whole black peppercorns
1 TBSP salt
Sugar to taste
Fish sauce to taste

For the soup:

Pho Rice noodles
Steak sliced extremely thin (ask the butcher to do this for you)
Thin sliced onion
Chopped Green Onions
Mint, Thai Basil and Cilantro
Lime Wedges
Bean sprouts
Hoisin and Sriracha


Bring some water to a boil, place oxtail in and boil about 15-20 minutes. Dump out, place bones back in the pot and fill with 8 quarts of clean water. Bring it to a boil and skim the scum that rises to the surface. In the meantime, slice your onion in half, and place that and your ginger (both unpeeled) in your oven on broil and roast/char. Once done, peel both, and place in the broth. Turn the stove down to med heat and simmer the broth, continuing to skim the surface of the gunk. Take mesh spice bag and place the star anise, cardamom, peppercorns, garlic, coriander and fennel. Also add the beef chuck. Simmer for 2 hours, continue skimming. After 2 hours, add about 1-2 tsp sugar and some fish sauce. I usually start out addin about 1/4 cup first, then add it gradually after that to my preferred taste. At this point, also remove the beef chuck and set aside. You can eat this later in your soup if you prefer, I usually don't but I slice it up and my husband adds it to his. Continue simmering for 2 hours, and taste it here and there-adding sugar and fish sauce to your preference. Once ready to eat, I remove the onion, spice bag, ginger and run the broth through a cheesecloth.
A few things to do while your broth is simmering all day:
Slice an onion really thin and place in a vinegar bath. For my vinegar bath, I just mix 2 cups water, 1/4 cup white vinegar. Just soak for like an hour or so. This makes the onion really strong, a perfect garnish for this soup.
Soak your noodles in water. Once ready to eat your soup, bring some water to a boil and quickly boil your noodles-it only takes but maybe a minute so watch closely.
Slice up your green onions and limes, and get your mint, basil, cilantro and bean sprouts washed and rinsed.
Once ready to assemble the soup, place your cooked noodles in your bowl. Top with the RAW thin sliced steak. Ladle the HOT broth (I make mine scalding hot, because the broth is what cooks the raw steak) into the bowl and garnish with the mint, onion slices, green onions, mint, cilantro, thai basil, bean sprouts and some hoisin and sriracha hot sauce. I spoon an extra bit of the 2 sauces into a little ramekin and dip my steak slices into that as well. SO DELICIOUS! Enjoy your meal, it will even smell like a Vietnamese restaurant in your house after cooking the broth all day :)

Tantalize your Tastebuds!

A friend of mine told me today, that she felt she officially transitioned into the Fall season this past weekend. I have to say, I totally agree! The air changed, the leaves are officially falling to the ground in crunchy, orange and brown heaps, and I now am awake before it's light outside every morning. This afternoon my family came home, and it was one of those, change-into-snuggle-clothes, type of days. I figured why not concoct a nice big pot of soup that matched our moods? So, following is my version of...well, honestly I have no idea. I kind of just threw some stuff into a pot and went off my cravings/taste. Didn't turn out so bad, and my husband said he definitely wants me to make it again...and I will-probably for a luncheon with my church ladies!!! Tee-hee :) If you try this, have fun with it-don't be afraid to play around with the ingredients! All of mine are just approximates on measurements. I eyeballed everything so go by your taste buds.

Saute' some chopped carrots, some minced/chopped garlic and a large chopped onion, in some extra virgin olive oil. After a few minutes, when they are crisp tender, throw in some chopped potato (or use some canned beans of your choice if you prefer or don't have potato on hand), a bay leaf, hefty couple tablespoons of oregano, black pepper, paprika, garlic powder, basil, onion powder, crushed red pepper (we use a handsome bit of this, just because we love the spice-leave it out if you don't want a zing) stir it up real nice. Add your beef stock so it's at a somewhat thin consistency, because you are adding about 4 cups of shredded cabbage towards the end. I didn't have beef stock on hand, so I used water and au jus mix...that way I don't have to use salt in my recipe as well, since there is plenty in that alone. If you use beef stock, I add beef bouillon as well, I really love a rich soup stock. I sliced up a rope of beef (or use turkey) kielbasa, and added that, along with about a 3 TBSP of cider vinegar and a heaping TBSP of brown sugar. Use more or less to taste, add little by little and be careful about adding too much vinegar! Throw in a can of stewed or diced tomatoes (16oz can WITH juice) a few glugs of red wine, and let it simmer and cook through about 10 min or so. Just keep an eye on it. You want to wine to reduce down and meld into that rich flavor of the broth. Stir in the shredded cabbage and give it a few stirs-let simmer a few minutes and serve with some yummy crusty bread! For color, use half white cabbage and half red-it will make it so pretty in color and give it a twist to the regular. I hope it warms your bellies as it did ours...my husband is returning to the kitchen for his second bowl :)

Fall is a delicious time of year!

Fall is BY FAR, my favorite season of the year! There is something magical about the way the air turns crisp and chilly, the leaves turn a golden color, and it sets the mood perfectly for the next 4 wonderful months. Along with the change of season, so does the wonderful dishes that come with it! Comfort foods start to come into cravings, and my husband drops, "subtle," hints for those rich flavors of fall! Last night, we entertained a family new to the Naples area. We introduced them to some wonderful Italian dishes, but I couldn't help but also throw in some of that country girl flavor I was raised with! Following is a recipe that I initially came up with to forever remember the flavor of the apples my family grew on the farm back home. My family has always had the best desserts floating around, and I hope one day this one will be one that makes it's way around the family recipes as well! This is my apple pie recipe, I am not a baker by any means, but this one is a blue ribbon winner and paired with some vanilla ice cream-it's the perfect ending to a meal.

Make a flaky crust recipe, I always lattice top my pies, use your preference. Set aside.

On the stove, melt a stick of unsalted butter, add a few tablespoons flour and make a soupy roux. Stir in a teaspoon of vanilla, teaspoon cinnamon, half cup brown sugar and white, 1/4 c water, couple shakes of nutmeg, bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and mix with about 6 apples, sliced and peeled.
Brush egg whites to the bottom pie crust, this prevents it from getting soggy! Place apple mix inside, top with crust, and brush egg whites to the top crust. Sprinkle with sugar, bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 30-45 minutes.
Enjoy! This is all that is left of ours :)