Archive for the ‘Ethnic’ Category

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Lamb pita burgers stuffed with goat cheese and covered with Tzatziki Sauce


2010
03.08

Posted in Greek, Lamb | No Comments »

Don't you wish we invited you to dinner?

I am so ready for the grill. I mean…I just cant wait for summer to be here. If fact…I’ve already started hitting the grill. Dusted off the snow from the top of the rusty old weber and made some amazing porterhouse steaks. But alas they are not here because everyone knows how to cook a porterhouse…including me…with three glasses of wine in me.

So here it is. On the verge of some fabulous greek-ish flattened lamb meatballs, otherwise known as oblong burgers, and then.. the grill.. the gas.. nada. So this will be the broiled rendition which turned out fabulously, although I will give them a go on the grill when the climate is warmer…and the grill is …well..fuller.

Lamb Burgers

Ingredients:

  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1/2 cup diced onion
  • 1 1/4 pounds ground lamb
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup bread crumbs
  • 2 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper

The cheesiness

  • 4 ounces soft goat cheese
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 tsp chopped fresh basil leaves
  • 2 tsp chopped fresh oregano

Directions:

  1. Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir the onions in the oil until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
  2. Gently knead together the softened onions, lamb, egg, bread crumbs, garlic, salt, and pepper. Divide the mixture into 5-6 parts and roll into balls, then cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
  3. Mix together the goat cheese, extra-virgin olive oil, basil, and oregano until well combined; cover and chill for 5 minutes.
  4. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat.
  5. Working with one portion of meat at a time, make an indentation in the center of the ball with your thumb. Fill the indentation with a heaping tablespoon of the goat cheese mixture. Gently pull and form the meat patty around the cheese filling, making a burger-shaped patty. Repeat with each ball of the lamb mixture.
  6. Broil those suckers until burnt to a crisp, or about 5 minutes on each side if your not an ASS..

Tzatziki Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 1 cups plain yogurt
  • 2 cloves crushed garlic
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
  • about 3/4 english seedleess cucumber (because I am a pretentious ass)- semi-peeled, seeded and chopped

Directions:

  1. Use a cheese cloth to strain the yogurt over a bowl for 2 hours, or don’t shop at the seven eleven safeway and buy REAL greek style yogurt. Which has already had the bullshit water removed.
  2. In a medium bowl, stir together the cucumber and strained yogurt. Mix in the garlic, salt, pepper and mint. Chill the mixture for 1 to 2 hours. Or 30 minutes if you’re a hungry bastard.

How did I envelop all this magical goodness? Not a bun…not a roll…not a pita. Yes thats right. A big old slab of Naan. Best dinner in at least.. a couple of days!

Enjoy!

Ripped this off from:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Goat-Cheese-Stuffed-Lamb-Burgers/Detail.aspx

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Tzatziki-Sauce-II/Detail.aspx

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Lazy Chipotle EnchiladAss


2010
02.17

Posted in Mexican | No Comments »

This is a lazy version of creamy enchiladas with a chipotle twist and a wall of cheese.

Ingredients

  • 3 chicken breasts, about 1.5 lbs
  • Water (you have that right?)
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 2 tbsp Adobo Sauce (from the can)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3-4 Chipotle Chiles from a can, seeds removed (your hiney will thank you later), diced
  • 1 cup heavy cream (I know right?)
  • Pack o’corn tortillas (you will need about 18)
  • Wall of cheese. Some might go for a nice 8 oz. I shred off the huge block I got from Costco until I feel the dish is sufficiently…cheesy.
  • Your fav toppings. I like sliced avocado and maybe some Crema.

Directions

  1. Boil the chicken in salted water for about 15 minutes until cooked. Reserve 2 cups of the liquid. Shred the chicken.
  2. Heat the butter and add flour and cook until brown, about a minute, to kill the raw flour taste.
  3. Slowly whisk in the 2 cups of chicken stock until well mixed.
  4. Add the Adobo sauce and let sit on low while you do the next part.
  5. In a pan add the olive oil and saute the onions, garlic and chipotle until soft.
  6. Add the cream and onion “stuff” to the broth mixture and simmer on low for about 15-20 minutes.
  7. Preheat the oven to 375°. OK now I know you are thinking there will be some tortilla frying and rolling etc. Well, that is why these are lazy, so what you are going to do is put a few spoons of the sauce in the bottom of a baking dish, drop in 6 tortillas, flat. Add a nice amount of chicken and cheese and drizzle on some more sauce. Add another layer of tortillas, chicken, cheese and sauce and finally top with 6 more tortillas. Add the remainder of the sauce and cheese to the top.
  8. Bake for about 20-25 minutes with the dish covered in foil to lock in all that moisture. Pop the foil and broil for about 5 more minutes to brown the cheese and crisp any exposed tortilla-age.
  9. Top and serve.
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Italian Sausage Meatloaf With Blue Cheese, Fresh Herbs and Potato Gravy


2010
01.19

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Beef, Italian | No Comments »

Wow that title is quite a mouthful but it is kind of hard to quantify this dish with a short one.

Italian Sausage Metloaf with Potato Gravy, originally uploaded by balyho0o.

So I was totally craving something  hearty like meatloaf and mashed potatoes so I surfed around the web and took my inspiration from a couple of different recipes which use Italian Sausage to help bring things to life. This one from allrecipes.com had some good ratings and some helpful comments and this one was the catalyst for the blue cheese, which was fantastic.

Sadly the potatoes were meant to be something like this but because I used baby reds, which don’t quite stand up the way a Russet or Gold might, what I ended up with was more of a potato gravy. ..and it was so damn good! I just love it when accidents turn in to amazing discoveries. It was a bit “gluey” but was oh so rich and yummy. Really hit the spot.

Meatloaf Ingredients:

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Chicken Enchiladas


2010
01.13

Posted in Chicken, Ethnic, Mexican | No Comments »

Chicken Enchiladas, originally uploaded by balyho0o.

Is it STILL winter. OK well it’s only the start of January and already I’m longing for spring. What better way to dash those wintery blues than a nice spicey Tex Mex dish and a glass or two of vino? Anybody?…I didn’t think so. So anyway, I started out with a pretty standard recipe and tweaked it a bit to my own liking. notice the absence of sour cream, replaced by the goat’s milk yogurt. I really like the way this tases as opposed to bland ole sour cream. That is unless you have access to some nice mexican sour cream or Crema Agria, which has a nice rich flavor as well.

Ingredients

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Chicken Korma


2010
01.02

Posted in Chicken, Indian | No Comments »

Started out with a popular version of this Indian standard from allrecipes.com and made a few modifications. Using some leftover homemade broth I found that it needed salt at the end but came out quite tasty.

Chicken Korma

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup cashew halves
  • 1 cup chicken broth

    • (more…)

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Pizza Crust


2009
12.14

Posted in Breads, Italian | No Comments »

This recipe is adapted and passed along from the original which comes from George Germain and JoAnn Kileen who own Al Forno, a pizza place favorite in Providence Road Island.

  • 1 tbsp yeast
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 2 tsp salt

    • (more…)

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Curry Lamb


2008
10.25

Posted in Indian, Lamb | 1 Comment »

Curry Lamb

I am loving the lamb lately and this dish is fantastic. The texture of lamb that has been cooked in this spicy curry sauce is to die for. I hate trying to figure out what goes in while I’m cooking so I broke the ingredients up into three stages to try to make it easier to keep track. The recipe is an adaption of the one found on VahRehVah.com called Basic Lamb Curry. Serve this up with some Basmati rice and you are good to go. I’ll try to post an image next time I make this and am not feeling so lazy.

Ingredients

Part 1

  • 2-3 Cinnamon Sticks
  • 3 tbs olive oil
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 10-12 cloves
  • 3-4 whole green Cardimum seeds
  • 1 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds
  • 1 Large Chopped Onion
  • 1 tsp salt

Part 2

  • 1 tsp Tumeric Powder
  • 2 tbs ginger garlic paste
  • 1 1/2 – 2 lbs of lamb (cubed)
  • 1-2 Tbs Chili Powder (depending on desired spicyness)
  • 1 tsp Coriander Powder
  • 1 tbs Cumin Powder
  • 1/2 cup water

Part3

  • 16 oz Coconut Milk
  • 4-6 oz tomato paste
  • 1 tsp pepper powder
  • 1 cup chopped cilantro (coriander) leaves

Directions

  1. Heat your olive oil in a large skillet. Add all the ingredients from part 1 except the salt and the onion. Toast the spices for 2-3 minutes. Add your chopped onion and cook until slightly brown. Add the tablespoon of salt.
  2. Add the Turmeric powder and Ginger Garlic paste and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the remaining ingredients from part 4 and cook for about 15 minutes on medium heat or until the lamb is about 80% cooked.
  3. Add the tomato paste, pepper powder and coconut milk and mix thoroughly.
  4. Continue to cook until lamb is done. If your sauce is too watery remove the lamb and cover and reduce the sauce until it has gravy like consistency. Add 75% of the chopped cilantro keeping the remaining leaves to garnish when served.
1 Comment

Butter Chicken


2007
12.30

Posted in Indian, Poultry | 1 Comment »

I was looking for a good recipe for butter chicken and came across VahRehVah which looks to be a great resource for Indian cooking ideas. Many of the recipes have videos including this one. I think I’ll be looking there often for inspiration since we are so into Indian food lately.  This recipe is a bit modified from what I found on their site but ended up mouth watering delicious!  I loved the texture of the sauce.  Oh. and don’t forget the Naan.  YUMMY :-P

Ingredients

  • 4 tbsp. butter, melted
  • 1/2 c. cashew nuts, chopped
  • 1/3 c. cilantro leaves + a few sprigs for garnish
  • 1 jalapeño, diced
  • 1 tbsp coriander powder
  • 1 tsp. cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp. ginger paste+ 1 tsp. ginger paste for another step
  • 1 tsp. garlic paste + 1 tsp. garlic paste for another step
  • 1/2 pt. fresh cream
  • 4 tbsp oil
  • 2 sm/med. onions, chopped
  • 2 lbs. chicken breast
  • 1/4 c. water
  • 4 tsp. Red chili powder divided into two 2 tsp. piles
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tsp Sugar
  • 1 lb. tomato, chopped
  • a few squirts of tomato ketchup

Directions

  1. In a medium size bowl add 1 tsp. ginger paste, 1 tsp. garlic paste, salt, 2 tsp. red chili powder. Cut chicken into small bite sized pieces and thoroughly coat in the mixture.
  2. In a good skillet, add 4 tbsp. oil and fry the coated chicken in the oil until the pieces are about 3/4 of the way done. Remove from pan and set aside.
  3. To the leftover oil add cumin seeds, cashews, coriander powder, 2 tsp. red chili powder. Roast mixture, stirring constantly for about 2 minutes. Add onion to the mixture and saute to soften (2-3 minutes).
  4. Add 1 tsp. ginger paste, 1 tsp. garlic paste, chopped jalapeño, and chopped tomato, cilantro leaves & 1/4 c. water to the mixture and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes (or until tomatoes have broken down), stirring occasionally.
  5. Now add the mixture to a blender or food processor and add melted butter and cream. Blend until a smooth consistency. Now taste the sauce for the right amount of spice & salt. If it’s not spicy/salty enough add cayenne pepper and/or salt, to taste, and blend some more.
  6. Return the sauce to the pan and add chicken (and any liquid that has settled from the chicken) and a few squirts of tomato ketchup.
  7. Stirring occasionally, cook for another 10 minutes over medium-low heat (or until the sauce is thick to your liking).
  8. Serve over Jasmine rice and garnish with cilantro.
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Baked Rigatoni with Italian Sausage and Fennel


2007
11.20

Posted in Casseroles, Italian, Pasta | No Comments »

I have to say that fresh fennel is one of my favorite things to add to a sauce. It adds such a distinct flavor that is more complex than a typical tomato+basil+etc sauce. This is a great dish to throw together ahead of time and drop in the oven just before you are ready to eat. You will need to increase the cooking time of course if the dish has been refrigerated.  The fresh basil and fennel really makes this sauce delicious. Leftovers are in high demand for this one. Yummy!

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound hot Italian sausage links (hot Italian Turkey sausage can be used for a lighter meal)
  • 1 (12 ounce) package rigatoni pasta
  • 1 (24 ounce) jar marinara sauce or your favorite homemade sauce
  • 1 bulb fennel, trimmed and thinly sliced
  • red bell pepper, roasted and chopped
  • 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until almost tender, about 10 minutes.
  2. Fry the sausages in a large skillet over medium heat, turning frequently until cooked through, about 15 minutes. Remove from the skillet, cool slightly and slice into rounds.
  3. Add the garlic, fennel and onion to the skillet and season with salt and pepper. Cook and stir for about 5 minutes, then add the roasted red bell peppers, basil, sliced sausage and pasta sauce. Heat through over low heat until warmed.
  4. Combine the pasta with the sauce and vegetables in a 9×13 inch baking dish. Spread the mozzarella, Parmesan and Asiago cheeses over the top. Garnish with a few fennel leaves left from the bulb. Cover with aluminum foil.
  5. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, then remove the aluminum foil. Set the oven to broil, and cook for another 5 minutes or until cheese is browned.
1 Comment

Mango-Curry Chicken Masala served over Jasmine Rice


2007
11.10

Posted in Barbeque, Indian, Poultry | 1 Comment »

Still on my Indian food kick it seems. I tried this out which was a mixture of a few different recipe ideas. While we love the salad I don’t know if it was a perfect match with the mango curry. Overall though the fam enjoyed the dish very much. I’ll probably continue to experiment with yogurt marinades (Masalas) as they are quite tasty!

Ingredients:

  • 3 medium mangoes, peeled and sliced, divided
  • 1 (15 ounce) can coconut milk
  • 4 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1 tbsp. + 4 tsp. spicy red curry paste (Indian or Thai curry past works great)
  • 1 1/2 lb. boneless chicken breast halves – cut into cubes
  • 4 medium shallots, chopped
  • 1 large cucumber,seeded and sliced
  • 1 1/4 c. plain yogurt
  • 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • 1/4 c. chopped cilantro, for garnish
  • 2 c. Jasmine Rice, prepared (we do ours in a rice cooker and it turns out perfect)

Directions:

  1. Place slices of two mango’s into the blender with yogurt, garlic, 1 tbsp. of red curry paste and kosher salt. Blend until smooth. Using half of the puree, and place chicken chunks into the marinade for at least an hour (the longer the better). Reserve the remaining puree in a bowl in the refrigerator.
  2. After the chicken has marinaded for at least an hour, skewer the chicken and barbecue until almost done (they can still be pink in the middle).
  3. If you haven’t already, begin preparing your jasmine rice.
  4. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the shallots and cook until tender. Once tender, add in 4 tsp. of curry paste and stir for about 1 minute (until fragrant).
  5. Add the coconut milk, mango puree and chicken pieces; cook for about 20-25 minutes on medium-low heat. Stir in the remaining mango slices, cucumber and then serve over prepared Jasmine Rice. Sprinkle with cilantro.
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