Mini Pavlovas

INGREDIENTS

6 egg whites, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp white vinegar

1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

1 1/3 cups baker's sugar

3 pints strawberries

1 cup heavy whipping cream

DIRECTIONS

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a half sheet pan with aluminum foil and spray lightly with vegetable oil cooking spray.

Combine egg whites, vanilla, vinegar, and cornstarch in a large bowl or the bowl of a standing mixer.
Whip, using either a standing mixer or a handheld mixer, until soft peaks form. 

Slowly incorporate the sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, whipping all the time. 
Continue beating the mixture until stiff peaks form.

Spoon the mixture into six evenly-sized mounds on the prepared pan. Smooth the tops decoratively.

Put the pan in the oven and immediately lower the temperature to 250 degrees. 

Bake until the pavlovas are crisp on the outside but still tender on the inside, about 45 minutes. Check on them periodically (through the glass, if possible), to be sure that they are not browning or cracking. If they are doing either, lower the heat by 25 degrees. You may have to add some cooking time if you lower the temperature. 
Now, when the pavlovas seem crisp but still tender on the outside, turn off the oven, leaving the pan in the oven with the door closed. Leave the pavlovas to cool in the cooling oven with the door closed for 30 minutes. Then open the oven door partially and leave for 10 additional minutes. Now remove the pan from the oven and carefully transfer the pavlovas to a rack to cool completely. If you allow them to cool completely on the pan, they are liable to stick. The cooking spray is a bit of insurance against this.

TOPPINGS

Trim the stems and leaves from the strawberries and cut the berries in halves or quarters, depending on their size. Put the cut strawberries in a bowl. Stir to coat and leave to macerate at room temperature for at least one and up to six hours, stopping by to stir them every once in a while.

Just before you're ready to serve the pavlovas, whip the cream. Place each pavlova on a plate and top each with a sixth of the whipped cream and then a sixth of the berries. 
Serve immediately.

Tomato Soup

 4 lbs. tomatoes (or at least 2; you can supplement with good, canned diced tomatoes)
 1 large onion, chopped
 1 medium carrot, thinly chopped (for a change I will use 2 red bell peppers instead of the carrot)
 1 stalk celery, chopped
 1 clove garlic, chopped
 4 T. butter, room temperature
 1 1/2 T. flour
 2 sprigs fresh thyme
 water
 1 c. milk
 salt
 pepper

 Turn the broiler on in the oven and set the rack six inches below it.
 Spray a sheet pan with non-stick spray. Core the fresh tomatoes (not as essential with Romas) and spread them out on the pan. Broil on both sides until the skins are blackened. Remove from oven and set aside to cool for a few minutes.
 In a large saucepan (larger is better so it doesn't spit at you), sauté the onion and a couple of pinches of salt in 2 T. butter for about 5 minutes over medium high heat. (Adding the salt immediately with the onion helps to bring out the sugars in the onion, which will help it to carmelize faster.) Add the carrot and celery and continue to cook until the onions are starting to brown, then reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 5 more minutes, until they're more thoroughly browned but not burning. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for another minute. Remove the pan from the heat.
(I have found that I perfer to slow roast the tomatoes, rather than broil - cook onions and tomatoes in the oven at 250 for 4-5 hours until fully cooked and browned around the edges.)
 Place all of the contents of the saucepan in the blender. If you're supplementing with canned tomatoes, add a 15-oz. can, juice and all, along with the onion mixture to the blender, purée the tomatoes, in two batches, in the blender. Strain the seeds and skins and add to the saucepan. Stir everything together and return to heat. Add 1 cup of water and leaves from the thyme sprigs. Bring to a simmer and let it cook for about 5 minutes.

(Beurre manié (French "kneaded butter") is a dough, consisting of equal parts of soft butter and flour, used to thicken soups and sauces. By kneading the flour and butter together, the flour particles are coated in butter. When the beurre manié is whisked into a hot or warm liquid, the butter melts, releasing the flour particles without creating lumps)

Stir together the remaining 2 T. room temperature butter and flour to make a beurre manié.
Stir the beurre manié into the soup and continue stirring as the soup thickens slightly. Stir the milk into the soup and remove the pan from the heat. If you prefer a thinner soup, you can add more milk. I like to use whole milk for a richer soup.


 Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as desired.
 You can, of course, strain the soup if you don't like the tomato seeds in there. It wasn't a big deal to me, and straining would take a while. Plus I really liked the consistency of the soup, which would smooth out more upon straining. Removing the skins before puréeing the soup takes away the biggest reason to strain, but use your own judgment.
 Also, one or two tablespoons of chipotle purée would be a great addition if you're not serving it to spicy-sensitive kids.

EASY Chicken Noodle Soup

This recipe is my go to when I've got sick kids or we need a comforting and filling supper. I usually use rotisserie chicken when I make this, or any other leftover chicken I have on hand.  I sometimes even use canned chicken.  When I want to make it extra chunky I add the vegtables. Chicken soup really is a cure-all, especially when it can be made from start to finish in just over half an hour. Serve with biscuits or crispy crackers to sop up all the flavorful broth.

Ingredients

• 1 cup carrots, peeled and sliced (optional)
• 3 stalks celery, sliced (optional)
• 2 tablespoons chicken bouillon & 4 cups of water or use Chicken broth
• 1 package linguine noodles
• 3 cups chicken meat, cooked and chopped into bite size bits
• 1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
• 1 package chicken gravy mix (optional)
• pinch salt and pepper

Directions

1. (IF ADDING VEGTABLES) In a large stockpot, melt butter with olive oil over medium low heat. Add carrots, celery, onion, mushrooms and a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook until veggies are tender, about 10 minutes.
2. Add Broth, cream of chicken soup  and chicken, turn heat to high and bring to a boil.
3. Add egg noodles and cook for approximately 9 minutes, or until noodles are tender.
   Then add chicken gravy mix to thicken if needed.
   Serve.

Beef Stew

Beef Stew

Ingredients

2 lb stew meat (cubed beef) 1 tbsp vegetable oil 1 onion (thinly sliced) 1 cup carrots (chopped) 6 potatoes (cubed)

I bunch of celery (chopped) 1 bay leaf 1 package brown gravy mix 1 package beefy onion soup mix (optional) 2 tbsp flour

Directions

Place beef and flour in a plastic baggie, Shake.

Pour oil into a large stock pot or dutch oven, high heat.

Add beef cook until brown, stirring occasionally.

Add water, vegetables, bay leaves, soup & gravy mix

Bring to a boil.

Cover.

Reduce heat and simmer 2 hours or until beef is tender.

Discard bay leaves.

Serve

Sweet Asian Flank Steak

Sweet Asian Flank Steak

Ingredients

            Ingredients

            1/2 cup Soy Sauce

            1/2 cup Worcester Sauce

            1/4 cup Honey or Brown Sugar

            2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil (I use olive oil if I am out of Sesame Oil)

            2 Tablespoons (heaping) Minced Ginger (I buy the tube of it from the produce dept)

            2 Tablespoons (3-5 cloves) Minced Garlic (again I buy the bottled minced Garlic)

            teaspoons Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

            2 Flat Iron Flank Steaks

            Garnish: 2 Tablespoons Roasted Sesame Seeds and 2 Green Onions, slivered. OPTIONAL

Directions 

1. Gather all ingredients together – soy sauce, worcester sauce, honey/sugar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, and flat iron steak.
2. Whisk the ingredients in a bowl. Place the steaks and marinade in a ziplock bag and chill in the refrigerator for 3-6 hours.
3. Grill steaks on high heat for 4 minutes on each side for medium rare steaks. DO NOT OVER COOK steak,  it will be too tough.  I prefer Charcoal for this recipe instead of propane,  you get a more smoky candy crust.
4. Allow steaks to rest for 5 minutes before slicing and serving. Sprinkle roasted sesame seeds and green onion slivers on top to garnish.

Kebobs

This recipe is from my amazing friend at KITCHEN ADDICTION

I use Beef  or Chicken usually because everyone seems to prefer it in my family.  I always get requests for this recipe when I serve it

Ingredients

1 beef tip roast, pack of Chicken breasts  or leg of lamb

            2 or 3 large white onions, chopped

            6 to 8 cloves garlic (or more), chopped

            olive oil (preferably extra virgin)

            Kosher salt

            freshly ground black pepper

            skewers (metal are best, otherwise soak your wooden skewers for 30 minutes before using them)

            charcoal grill

Directions

First, prepare the meat. Cut into cubes about 1 1/4" across, carefully cutting away any connective tissue and fat (you won't need the fat for the meat to be tender). You should create three piles while cutting the lamb: one for kebab, one for gristle you'll throw away, and one for larger pieces of fat and scraps of meat. This will take a good amount of time, so make sure you set aside an hour or so for this.

In a bowl, place the cubed meat with the onions, garlic, about 1/3 c. of olive oil, plenty of salt, and a generous amount of pepper. With very clean hands, mix all the ingredients together, being sure to spread the onions, garlic, and olive throughout and kneading as necessary to coat the meat completely. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least four hours, but probably not more than six. I'm sure it seems crazy, but this will tenderize the meat, as all of the acid in the onions go right to work. Note: if you're making chicken kebab, you'll only want to marinate for 30 to 60 minutes.)

As for the two remaining piles: throw away the gristle. Grind up the extra pieces of meat with some of the fat. (This can be done in a meat grinder or by whizzing it in your food processor.) Mix the ground meat with some diced bell peppers, diced onion, and diced flat-leaf parsley (known as keema). Season with salt and pepper and fry in patties.

Prepare your grill. While the charcoal is getting hot, skewer the marinated meat, leaving the onions and garlic aside.

Then, in a skillet, sauté the onions and garlic with a bit more salt over medium heat for 20-30 minutes, until caramelized. Serve alongside the kebab.

Once the grill is ready, set the skewers over the heat and grill, turning a couple of times to brown each side. Check a couple of pieces and cook to desired doneness, medium in my case.

Let the meat rest for just a couple of minutes, then remove from the skewers and serve. It should be tender, flavorful, caramelized and smoky from the grill, and addicting

Pei Wei Spicy Chicken Salad

Pei Wei Spicy Chicken Salad

I just found this recipe for Pei Wei Spicy Chicken Salad. It is the best make at home version I have tried.

Chicken Stock :

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

Sauce:

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup white vinegar

Salad

1 1/2 pounds mixed greens

3 Roma tomatoes, diced

1/2 pound snap peas, cut into 1/2-inch slices

3 carrots, julienned

1/4 cup sliced green onions

1/2 cup thinly sliced cucumbers

Asian vinaigrette, to taste

1 cup rice noodles, for garnish

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish

Pan Fried Chicken:

2 pounds boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes

2 cups all-purpose flour, seasoned with 1/2 teaspoon white pepper and 1 teaspoon salt

1 quart soybean oil

2 tablespoons Chinese Chicken Stock

1/2 cup Pei Wei Sauce

1 tablespoon chili paste

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1. In a saucepan, simmer Chicken Stock ingredients over medium-high heat a few minutes until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and cool. In another saucepan, repeat step with Sauce ingredients.

2. In a bowl, add salad ingredients (except rice noodles and cilantro) and toss to coat evenly with dressing.

3. Dust chicken cubes with seasoned flour and shake off excess. Heat soybean oil in a saucepan to 350 degrees, and fry chicken 2 1/2 minutes. When cooked through, arrange chicken on an oven-safe plate lined with paper towels and place in a warm oven.

4. In a wok or sauté pan placed over high heat, whisk together Chicken Stock, Sauce and chili paste. To thicken sauce, mix in cornstarch. Add chicken and toss until evenly coated with sauce.

5. Spoon hot chicken over salad, garnish with rice noodles and cilantro, and serve immediately.

Olive Garden Breadsticks

Olive Garden Style Breadsticks

Ingredients

1 tablespoon yeast

1 cup warm water

1tsp sugar

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

butter and garlic salt to taste

Totally Excellent Breadsticks (Just Like Olive Garden)

1.    First put one tablespoon of yeast in the bowl of your mixer.

If you haven’t got a mixer, you can do this by hand, but if you do have a mixer, you might as well use it. I used to be afraid of making yeast breads, but now I’m not – I practiced and realized it’s not that hard after all. I also found out that bulk yeast at Costco is an AMAZING deal – you can get two pounds of it for $3. If you don’t have a membership, ask a friend to get some for you and pay her back, then keep the yeast in a Ziploc bag in your freezer, and only take out enough at a time to put in the little jar you used to buy yeast in, before you knew what a great deal the Costco yeast is. Still keep the little jar in the refrigerator.

2.    Next run the hot water in your sink until it’s pretty warm.

Like as warm as a really nice hot bath, but not so hot that you’d blister in there. I used to sit around with a candy thermometer testing water temperature to add it to yeast, but then I realized that was really not necessary.

3.    Anyway, get 1 cup (8 oz) of the really warm water and add it to the yeast. You can stir it a little if you want to, but don’t go nuts. The bubbles tell you the yeast is working its magic.

4.    Next, add one teaspoon of sugar to the yeast water.

That feeds the yeast. Then add one teaspoon of salt. I’m not sure why.

5.    Add two tablespoons of olive oil next.

You can use any type of oil, but I think olive oil gives the best flavor in this instance.

6.    Finally, add in two and a half cups of all purpose flour.

7.    Fit the dough hook attachment onto your mixer.

Or just mix it by hand if you have no mixer. But put a mixer on your Christmas list because mixers are very handy.

8.    Turn the mixer on low and mix it all up.

If the dough seems super sticky, and leaves a residue in the bottom of the bowl like you see above, add a little more flour (and by “little” I mean “a few spoons full” because you don’t want it too be too floury).

9.    Now you have a nice ball of dough.

10. Get out a baking sheet and put your silpat liner on it.

If you don’t have a silpat liner, add that to your Christmas list because they are very handy, and this time just grease your cookie sheet or spray it with cooking spray or something so the breadsticks don’t stick to the pan.

At this point, if you press the dough into a greased pizza pan, you could make pizza. Just bake it for 7 minutes at 450, take it out, add sauce and cheese and toppings, and bake it for an additional 8 minutes. Voila. Pizza.

But we’re not making pizza, we’re making breadsticks. Onward.

Separate the dough into eight balls. At this point you could make dinner rolls out of these little balls of dough, and they would be really good.

But we’re not making dinner rolls, we’re making breadsticks. Onward.

11. Roll each ball into a breadstick.

It’s just like playdough worms. They should really add this to those ridiculous posters claiming that all you need to know in life you learned in kindergarten. Kindergarten may not have prepared you for all of life’s complexities, but it did teach you to roll playdough worms and that is the operative skill to this part of the breadstick making.

12. Now turn your oven on to 450 degrees.

It takes a while to heat up to that point, but it gives your breadsticks time to rise a little. Just leave them on the counter and do something else, like making the rest of your dinner or washing the mixing bowl or something.

13. In the time it took to preheat your oven, your breadsticks have now risen a bit. Maybe not a lot of a bit, but enough. Put them in the oven for about 12 minutes until they are golden, but not too browned because you don’t want them to get too hard.

14. Take the golden breadsticks out of the oven, and grab a stick of butter with the wrapper still on. Unwrap part of it and rub it over the tops of the breadsticks (that keeps your hands out of the butter, and makes it easier to apply). Then shake the garlic salt over the buttered breadsticks.

15. Put the breadsticks into your serving receptacle and you’re done!

Breadsticks!

Just as good (if not better) than Olive Garden, and they barely cost anything! The instructions in this post probably make it sound pretty time consuming, but really it isn’t. It’s fast and easy and you’ll get great results.

Thai Coconut Curry Noodle Soup - Khao Soi

Khao Soi - Thai Curry Soup with Chicken

Alos known as: 

Khao Soi 

Chiang Mai

Kao Soy

Ingredients

• 1 T canola oil

·         1 T garlic, finely chopped

·         2 T Thai brand red curry paste

·         2 T Thai brand green curry paste

·         3/4 lb chicken breast, cut in bite-sized chunks

·         1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

·         2 cups coconut milk (it was REALLY RICH, next time I will use light coconut milk)

·         2 cups chicken broth

·         1 T soy sauce

·         1 T fish sauce (may also substitute more with more soy sauce)

·         2 T lime juice

·         1 T Siracha Rooster sauce (optional)

·         1/2 lb dried rice noodles or soba noodles

Condiments for Garnish:

·         Fresh cilantro

·         Lime wedges

·         Bean Sprouts

·         Crispy Asian noodles (like La Choy brand)

Prepare the Curry Paste:  

This recipe calls for pre-made curry paste. You can use fresh made curry paste.

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. 

Add the garlic and cook just until fragrant. Add the red & green curry paste, mashing and stirring to soften it in the oil, about 1 minute. 


Cook the Chicken and Soup:

Add the cubed chicken

cook 2 - 5 minutes, browning it evenly and combining it with the curry paste.

Add sliced mushrooms lightly brown with the chicken

Add the coconut milk, 1/4 cup at a time until well blended.

Add chicken broth,  soy sauce and  fish sauce. (I didn't use fish sauce)

Bring to a gentle boil and adjust heat to simmer. 

Simmer about 10 minutes, to thoroughly cook the chicken.

Stir in lime juice and Siracha (optional), 



Reduce heat while you prepare noodles


Prepare Noodles & Serve

 I prefer the rice noodles

Meanwhile, prepare noodles according to package directions.

Drain and divide the noodles into individual serving bowls. 

Ladle on the hot curry. 

(I just added the noodles to curry soup, so everyone could easily dish up for themselves) 



Serve soup garnished with desired condiments.