Kohlrabi fries, healthy too ~

Guilt free french fries?  Yes, and so tasty too. 



If you are unfamiliar with kohlrabi, please give it a try.  It's a delicious, yet not too well known (at least with my friends and family), vegetable.  Too me, it reminds me of broccoli stems.  It's hard exterior needs to be peeled off to yield a very tender and lovely vegetable.

Here is what wiki says about kohlrabi:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohlrabi

Get smallish ones from your farmers market, as they are more tender and cook faster.

This recipe can't be more simple and yet, so, so delicious. 

2 small to medium kohlrabi, peeled and julienned
1/2 half medium onion, sliced thinly
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground, black pepper

Place a large skillet on stovetop, turn on medium high.  Melt butter, waiting until foaming stops.  Add sliced onions, toss and saute.  Cook about 5 minutes until onion is soft and begnning to brown.  Add julienned kohlrabi and turn to medium low.  Add salt and pepper. Continue cooking for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently.  Put burner on low if your pan is too hot, slow cooking allows this vegetable to cook through. Check for doneness, piercing with fork.   If fork goes through easily, then it's ready. If at this time, your fork doesn't go through the kohlrabi, turn to low and cover the skillet.  Let sit on the lowest stovetop setting for another five minutes until your vegetables are soft and golden brown.

Here's what I say about kohlrabi...... YUM!



Serves two. 

Oh Summer, how I love thee ~

This dish needs no introduction, no recipe, no secret tidbit!  It is, what it is.  Summer on a plate, delicious in every way.

All I would add is that you must use the best ingredients you can find, fresh basil (my first crop from the garden this year), mozzarella cheese and very ripe tomatoes. 

Salt, pepper, and last but not least, a big glug of very good olive oil and voila, Caprese Salad.

Amazingly easy, scrumptious to eat!  Enjoy ~

Southwestern Black Bean Rice Salad ~

This salad is a great combination of textures and flavors and is a favorite during the summer. It’s light, crunchy and full of flavor and the cumin/ lime vinaigrette gives it a nice zing. I love that it’s easy to make but tastes so delicious. It goes well with any Mexican food as well as chicken, beef or seafood.

I made it for a friend's cookout and everyone loved it.  Just chop everything in the morning, cook the rice and toss.  Just one thing, rice can get soggy, so just remember that it's best if you allow it to cool and add the dressing about 1/2 hour before you are going to serve it.  And less is better, when you are going to dress it, try it with half the salad dressing first.  I save the other half of the dressing to use on my garden salad.  Oh and dice everything small, it goes better with the rice.

2 cups of cooked, white rice.  (I use basmati.)
1 large cucumber, seeded and diced
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
2 small roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
3 celery stalks, small diced
1/2 cup blueberries, washed (optional)
1/2 jalapeno pepper, diced very small
2 ears of corn, shucked
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 large or 1 medium red onion, diced

Dressing:
2 limes, juiced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teasoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground, black pepper
Mix ingredients togther

Add all of the vegetables, beans and fruit into a large bowl, add rice and toss.  Cover with saran wrap and place in refrigerator, undressed.

Right before serving, add 1/2 of the dressing and toss. 

Enjoy ~

Potato Gnocchi Cooking Class - Artepicure ~

My youngest son gave me a lovely gift last Christmas.  A pasta making class at this wonderful and charming little school, Artepicure in Boston.  He has given me these kinds of gifts before, but never one that included him as my cooking partner.

It was a special treat, hanging out and making pasta all day with my son.  I loved that day and hope we can repeat it again soon.

We made three handmade pasta dishes and doesn't the gnocchi look amazing? It was fabulous. It took us a good hour to hand roll each piece, but it was so worth it.  The gnocchi are so light and airy, nothing like the store bought at all ~

I cannot share the specific pasta recipe with you, I don't have permission.  I do have a recipe to share, but mine is not far from the school's recipe.  So, I'll share this one.  By the way, hand made pasta is simple to make, but does take time and practice ...

Potato Gnocchi ~


Ingredients
800gr Up-to-date potatoes - about 5 potatoes
200gr flour + more flour for rolling of gnocchi
salt
1 extra large egg

Serves 4 people.

Method:Bake the potatoes in a  425 F. oven until fork tender. As the potatoes come out the oven, halve them and scoop out the flesh and push through a food ricer. Allow to cool a little and then add 1 cup of the flour and salt, work it through, add the egg and then if it needs more flour, add the rest of the flour. Take care not to over-process the dough as your gnocchi will be tough and dense rather than pillow-like.

Divide the dough into "ropes", about 2,5 cm thick. With a floured knife, cut the "ropes" into small gnocchi (1,5cm)and roll over the back of a fork to make the grooves. The grooves are just so that the sauce will cling better to the gnocchi.

Heat a big pot of water on the stove, add some salt and cook the gnocchi in batches, making sure the water always stays at boiling temperature.

Serve with a basic pesto or tomato sauce.

A link to Artepicure School, if you want to check it out. 

http://www.artepicure.com/

Pretty in Pink Lemonade Cookies ~

Aren't these just so pretty?  I fell for them, hook, line and sinker ~

I usually don't use a boxed cake mix, but I threw caution to the wind on these beauties.  Because they looked so pretty and it's May after all, who wouldn't want to try these.  The only change I made was not to roll them in sugar before they baked.  I rolled them in powered sugar after they came out of the oven. 


These look so good sitting in my kitchen window, the light brings out the pink in them. And they are just so easy to make.  You will have to try these for yourself, but to me they were yummy. 
 

The cream cheese in these cookies make them nice and chewy too.  I love chewy cookies, don't understand people who like crisp cookies either.  But that's just me....  the chewier, the better.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 8 ounces, weight Cream Cheese, softened
• 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 1 whole Large Egg
• 1 teaspoon Lemon Extract
• 1 whole Large Lemon, Zest Grated
• 1 package (18.25 Oz. Size) Pink Lemonade Flavor Cake Mix
• Granulated Sugar, For Rolling (*I did not use)
• Confectioners' Sugar For Rolling

Preparation Instructions

Put the butter into a large mixing bowl. Cream the butter until soft and creamy. Add the cream cheese and beat until mixture is smooth. Beat in the egg, lemon extract and lemon zest until combined. Add the cake mix and beat just until well mixed.
If the dough is too soft to roll into balls, cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for 1-2 hours or until it’s easy to handle.
 
Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Place some granulated sugar and confectioners’ sugar into separate bowls.
Roll the dough into 1-inch to 1 1/4-inch balls.
Drop each dough ball into the bowl of granulated sugar and roll it in the sugar to coat completely.

I skipped the next part:
 
*Immediately drop the sugared dough ball into the confectioners’ sugar and roll it to coat heavily with the sugar. Rolling the dough balls in the granulated sugar first helps the confectioners’ sugar coating not sink into the baked cookies.

Place the dough balls 2″ apart on ungreased cookie sheets; flatten slightly. Bake at 350 F for 10-12 minutes. DO NOT overbake. Take the cookies out of the oven when they look a little underdone.
Let the cookies cool on the pan for 1-2 minutes, then remove them from the pans to wire racks and cool completely.

*I rolled them in powdered sugar and set them on a rack to cool for about 10 minutes.

Store the cookies in an airtight container. Makes about 2 1/2-3 dozen.

Adapted from Ceegee's recipe on PW.

Enjoy ~

I am linked to Foodie Friday:


http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/2014/05/foodie-friday-may-2nd.html

Flourless Chocolate Cake ~

I took a pasta class last weekend with my youngest son.  We both enjoyed it immensely.  However, I loved this dessert perhaps more than the pasta, even though we didn't make this cake.  No, I am joking.  But, it was right up there with how much I loved everything we ate that day. And it was a delicious ending to a very special meal. If you like dense, chocolate desserts that are not too sweet, but absolutely delicious, give this one a try.  The carmel sauce on top is deletable too.  When I make it, I'll add a smidge of whipped cream too.  Why not, right?  Oh, and I'll post about the pasta class another time though, it was fabulous.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

1 lb. bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
1 stick unsalted butter
9 large eggs, separated
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspooon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375 F and butter and flour a 10 inch springform pan.  Line the pan with parchment and butter and flour that too.

Put the chocolate and butter into a stainless steel mixing bowl and heat over (but not touching), about 1 inch of smmering water until melted.  Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl until light yellow in color.  Whisk a litle of the chocolate mixture into the egg yolk mixture to temper the eggs - this will keep the eggs from scrambling.  Then whisk in the rest of the chocolate mixture.

Beat the egg whites in a mixing bowl until stiff peaks form and fold into the chocolate mixture.  Pour into the cake pan and bake until the cake is set and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean with moist crumbs clinging to it, about 20 minutes.  Let stand for 10 minutes, then remove sides of pan.

Carmel Sauce

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Combine sugar and water in heavy skillet and cook, stirring occasionally over low heat until sugar melts.  Raise heat and cook until sugar carmelizes and turns a deep mahogany brown.  Stand back (in case mixture splatters), and slowly pour in cream.  Stir over low heat until smooth, then mix in vanilla and salt.

Enjoy ~

Penang Curry ~

I took a Thai cooking class a few months ago and one of the dishes we made was this Curry dish.  I love this dish and it's right up my alley, easy and delicious.  And there aren't a long list of ingredients that I would have to search all over tarnation for.    I could drink the sauce from it, but let us not digress....

This recipe packs quite a kick in it, so if you are looking for a mild curry, this might not be a dish for you.  Although you could adjust the amount of Penang Curry Paste you add to it.

This is the entire dish in my old wok, so parden the "age" of my pan.  It's old and not very pretty any more, but it still does a great job.... you know those kinds of pots and pans, don't you?

And the simple ingredients for this dish are:

2 halves of boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced thinly
4 ounces of Penang Curry Paste (I use Maesri)
2 teaspoonful Fish Sauce (I use 3 Crab)
1 red bell pepper, sliced thinly
1 can of Coconut Milk (13.5oz)
1 tespoon sugar
1 handful Thai Basil (you can use regular), roughly chopped

Heat a large wok or saute pan on medium high and empty half
of the coconut milk in it.  Stir until milk starts to bubble and then add the Penang Curry and stir until blended.  Next add your chicken slices and turn heat to medium low, stir and let cook for 5 minutes.

Add sliced pepper, let cook another 2 minutes, and give it a gentle stir here and there.  Pour in the second half of coconut milk, fish sauce, sugar and basil.  Stir and turn down heat to low.  Let simmer for another minute, shut the stove off.  Cover and let sit for another minute or two.

Doesn't it look yummy?   Well it is, so enjoy ~