Indian Grilled Chicken Marinated in Milk & Yogurt

This was a contest winner! Not by me, of course, but still, a winner!
All pictures courtesy of The Pioneer Woman.

You can take out the salt and pepper and it would be very healthy. You can even eliminate the milk, Nandita says, but it's 2% so that shouldn't be a big deal. Yogurt is so good for you. Also, if you think grilling outside is unhealthy (mom and dad) you can make this in the oven.

Recipe once again from the Pioneer Woman. Go here for more pics!


Indian Grilled Chicken Marinated in Milk/yogurt

Chicken pieces (whatever kind your family eats)- must have the bone and skin still on.
Plain yogurt
2% Milk
Garam Masala spice
Kosher Salt
Black Pepper
Marinate chicken OVERNIGHT in a mixture of all ingredients.

Heat grill to around 300-400 degrees.
Place chicken skin down on grill and bake for until internal temp is 140.
Flip chicken over and continue to bake until chicken has reached 165 F for at least 4 minutes.
Remove from grill and let it “rest” for at least 3 minutes.

Let me know how it turns out! I made it today with jsut some chicken thighs and it was deLIcious!

Summer Tomato Pasta Salad

Here is a salad you can do totally without sodium, just take out the parmesan cheese and olives. You can substitute small cubes of mozzarella cheese, but really, you don't even need it! It is delicious on its own!
Recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Go there for lots and lots of more mouth-watering pictures!
All pictures courtesy of The Pioneer Woman.


Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad
adapted from Ina Garten

Dressing (makes more than enough; spoon leftovers over a block of cream cheese and serve with crackers)
1 7-oz jar sundried tomatoes, drained
4 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper

Salad
16 ounces corkscrew pasta
1 jar Kalamata or assorted olives
1 pint rip cherry tomatoes, halved
Several (10 to 15) basil leaves, chopped or julienne
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Prepare dressing by blending sundried tomatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, and vinegar until tomatoes are chopped. Blend while drizzling in olive oil; continue blending until mixed together.
Cook pasta according to package directions, drain, and rinse with cold water until no longer hot. Pour 2/3 of the dressing over the pasta, add olives, and toss together. Add remaining ingredients, tossing together and adding more dressing until the salad is coated to your liking. Serve on a big platter with an extra sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

Zucchini and Squash Fritteres

These are so good and easy to make. Use a large grater to grate one squash and one zucchini. Coat lightly in flour. Add one egg (or egg white if you want to be healthy) and mix it all up. Add salt and pepper, and any spice you wish to taste. Heat up olive oil and pan fry, about 3-4 minutes each side until golden crispy. Thanks to Nicole for this recipe!

All Season Bean Salad

Julia Child's recipe, with some modifications from yours truly.

Beans take well to salad dressings, herbs, peppers, onions, and garlic, but be sure to warm the beans before dressing them so they will absorb these added flavors.

Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients:

3 cups of warm home-cooked beans, or canned beans such as cannellini (I used edamame beans, white corn (both frozen), and canned navy beans.)

3 Tbs finely minced onions or scallions

1 large clove of garlic, puréed and then mashed with 1/4 teaspoon salt

Half of a large lemon

2 Tbs or so good olive oil or salad oil
Herbs, such as fresh or dried thyme, oregano, and sage (I used sage. It's important to use fresh herbs in this recipe. Makes a world of difference.)
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Additional elements, such as one or a combination of: strips of red or green bell pepper or pimiento; hard-boiled eggs; rounds of red onion; sardines, tuna, and/or salami; spinach leaves or salad greens (I used bits of pancetta to make it a full meal!)

Preparation:
Flavoring the beans. Toss the warm beans in a big bowl with the onions or scallions, garlic, several tablespoons of oil, herbs, lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste. Let stand 30 minutes, tossing several times, and correcting the seasoning.

Serving. Build an elaborate composition with eggs, sardines, and so forth, or use a simple decoration of spinach leaves, strips of red pepper or pimiento, and onion rings. I used pancetta and it was delicious! I served this on the side of zuchinni and squash fritters (recipe to come!)

Shrimp Balls in Mushroom Soup

6 oz. raw, shelled shrimp
1 oz. pork fat or pork shoulder (ground)

Group A:
1/2 t rice wine
1/2 t salt
1/2 t MSG (or hondashi)
1/4 t black pepper
1/2 t sesame oil
1 egg white
1 T cornstarch

1 C straw mushrooms (can sub with any mushroom mixture. We used sliced portobellos and short straw mushrooms and they were delicious! Can also try oyster mushrooms.)

Group B:
1/2 T rice wine
6 C chicken or pork broth
2 t MSG (or hondashi)

6 1-inch sections of green onions

Throw pork, shrimp, and group A into the food processor. Cook straw mushrooms in boiling water for 1 minute. Remove and drain.

Shape shrimp paste into balls and place in group B. Heat mixture over medium heat and cook for 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and turan heat to high. When liquid boils, add green onions.

Nandita's (Oatmeal) Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thanks to Nandita for this delicious recipe!

(Oatmeal) Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cups flour (substitute 2 cups flour with 1 cup oats for oatmeal choc chip cookies)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt [I didn't add any salt (because I forgot, hahaha) and it turned out just fine!]
1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar (or skip altogether bc the chocolate chips are already really sweet)

1 cup butter (2 sticks) at room temperature (I put a bit less)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

2 (i did 2 cups and it was A LOT. try 1.5 cups maybe) cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300F. Mix flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Cream together the brown sugar and butter. Add the eggs and vanilla extract, blend until smooth. Add the flour mixture to the sugar/butter mixture. Add chocolate chips. Scoop the dough into 2 inch mounds an inch apart onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 22-25 minutes. Remove promptly and let cool on a rack.

Broccolini with pine nuts -- and a super easy salad

So what else did Lori and I make when we deemed ourselves gourmet divas for a night? These side dishes are really easy but I will post them so I'll remember to make them again! I think Dijon mustard and honey would work well as an addition to the avocado and grapefruit salad next time...



Avocado and Grapefruit salad

1 ripe avocado
1 large grape fruit
2 to 3 tablespoons of very fruity olive oil
salt and pepper

Cut and segment the grapefruit. With the leftover grapefuit, squeeze about 1-2 tablespoons of juice in a small bowl, set aside.

Scoop out the avocado and cut into large chunks and mix lightly with the grapefruit segments.

In the small bowl with the grapefruit juice, whisk in the olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Drizzle dressing over grapefruit and avocado. Serve immediately.

Broccolini with pine nuts

1 bunch broccolini, washed and trimmed of tough parts
1/2 cup of diced pancetta (we used pancetta in this dish because we were also making pasta carbonara for dinner. But this dish would work if you just use one to two tablespoons of olive oil mixed with a tablespoon of butter).
2 tablespoons of pine nuts

Cook the pancetta over medium heat until crisp. Add the washed broccolini, cook until the broccolini is to your liking (I like it just crisp and wilted). Add some freshly ground pepper and the pine nuts. If you're not using the pancetta I would sprinkle this with some lemon juice.

Curry Vegetable Dip

I had this really unique vegetable dip at a coworker's housewarming party a few weeks ago. With curry powder and mustard, this dip makes an alternative to the usual ranch. She served it with vegetables like jicama, red bell peppers, carrots, and celery -- I love it with jicama because the creamy curry is such a good contrast with the sweet, crunchy vegetable.

Here is the recipe.

Creamy Curry Dip
1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
1/4 cup mayo
3-5 Tablespoons plain yellow mustard
1 tsp curry powder
2-3 shakes of worcestershire suace
dill - optional
Combine all and serve with vegetables.

Mom's Sea Bass Recipe

Ingredient:

Codfish or sea bass

1 medium tomato, diced

Ginger

Green onion

1 clove garlic , minced

Rice Wine ( 米酒)

Lemon

Black pepper

Salt

How to:

1. Heat a little bit of vegetable oil or olive oil

2. Pan fry ¾ of tomato, ginger, green onion until tomato is soft but not mushy

3. Put codfish or sea bass into this sauce and add minced garlic, wine, lemon juice, black pepper.

Add more water if the sauce looks dry. Spread some sauce on the top of codfish when cooking so the fish will absorb the flavor.

4. Cook until codfish is just done. Don't overcook.

5. Put the fish on plate and leave the sauce in cooking pan.

6. Add salt (and/or more black pepper, lemon juice) to the sauce and continue to reduce until the sauce become more concentrated.

7. Before turning off the stove, stir the fresh ¼ diced tomato to the sauce. Spoon the sauce on the top of fish.

8. Garnish with shredded ( 切絲) green onion and wedge of lemon.

Southern Comfort - Buttermilk Pie

The trouble with buttermilk is that you can only buy it in quarts, so you always have some leftovers. After making some buttermilk oatmeal pancakes over Christmas, I found this buttermilk pie recipe courtesy of the fantastic Makeup Alley Food Board. This recipe is perfect for using up leftover buttermilk and doesn't require too many other fancy ingredients.

Buttermilk pie is a custard-like pie that's a Southern specialty. It also lends easily to variations by adding lemon and berries, cooked apple slices, or even chocolate.

Many of the recipes I had seen on other websites called for a lot more butter and egg yolks in the custard but Debby at Makeup Alley gave me her very refreshing and healthier recipe below.

Debby's Buttermilk Pie

A 9 inch pie dish

Crust:
One package of gingersnaps, enough to make 1 1/2 cups of crumbs
About 1/3 to 1/2 cup melted butter

Pulse the gingersnaps in a food processor until they become very fine crumbs. Moisten the crumbs with the melted butter until it resembles the texture of wet sand. Press tightly into the pie dish.

For filling:
2/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp butter, melted
1 1/2 cups lowfat buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour (Debby used 4 but I think 3 is enough)
freshly grated lemon zest from one lemon
about 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (my own addition)
freshly grated nutmeg (a sprinkling)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a bowl, whisk together sugar, buttermilk, eggs, flour, vanilla, lemon zest, salt and nutmeg. Make sure that there are no lumps (I had some trouble with this so I poured the custard over a sieve first).

Pour the filling into the shell. Bake the pie for about 45 minutes until puffed, golden brown, and set.

Let the pie cool on a rack and serve it at room temp or chilled with berries and whip cream.

==================
To make apple buttermilk pie, slice two tart apples (granny smith works well), cook with a little sugar and cinnamon until juices have evaporated and apples are soft. Put apple slices on the bottom of the pie dish before pouring the buttermilk custard mixture.

Two-sided noodle （家常 兩面黃）

Ingredients:
1/3 lb Precooked pan fried noodles (available at Chinese grocery stores. You can substitute fresh Asian noodles or even fresh angel hair pasta if you really can't find Asian noodles)
About 12 large prawns, shelled and deveined
1/2 lb pork tenderloin, thinly sliced across the grain
1 cup Chinese broccoli, washed
2 stalks green onion , roughly chopped

Salt
Soy source
Cornstarch
Cooking Oil

Serves: 2 to 3 persons

Marinate the meat with soy sauce and white pepper for about 15 minutes.

Then:

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook the noodles for about 3 minutes. Remove and drain. Set aside.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons cooking oil in a small frying pan (about 3 inch diameter for easy shaping of the noodle cake, similar to making pan cake) over medium high heat. Add the noodles to the heated pan.
Make sure the noodles stay flat and shape into a noodle cake. Cook over medium heat until the surface of noodle turns crunchy. Turn off the heat.
3. In a larger sautee pan, heat 3 tablespoons of cooking oil over medium high heat. Stir fry the green onion with vegetable briefly until cooked. Remove and keep covered on a plate.
Stir fry the shrimp in the pan until pink and cooked through. Remove and keep on the plate with the vegetables.
Stir fry the pork slices in the pan until cooked through.
Return the vegetables and shrimp to the pan with the pork.
Add salt and/or soy source to taste.
Mix two to three teaspoons of cornstarch with about half a cup of water. Add the corn starch mixture to the pan with the vegetables, meat, and shrimp. Stir fry for a short moment until the sauce comes together.
4. Turn the noodle cake over in the small pan and return to medium high heat to cook the other side of the noodles until the other side turns crispy.
5. Put the noodle cake on a plate and pour the vegetable mixture over it.
6. Dinner time. Ooh, Yes!

Chef's secret:
Add a little more cooking oil when making noodle if you like the noodles more crunchy.

Reference cooking recipe : 1. 三鮮兩面黃 2. 四味三鮮兩面黃
If you like to try another variety of the Two sided noodle, the above links provide more complicated style. However, taste is not guaranteed.

Christmas dinner part two - from "Authentic Taiwanese Cuisine"

True to our diverse geographical residences, we made two Taiwanese dishes to accompany the Texas-style smoked ribs. These recipes are from the book, "Authentic Taiwanese Cuisine" by the head chef of Xin-Yeh restaurant in Taipei. The sauce for the asparagus was sweet, rich, and clean-tasting, thanks to the excellent pork stock that Mom made before we came home for Christmas.

Prawns with Pea Shoots


1 lb prawns, shelled and cleaned
1 egg white
pinch of salt
pinch of corn starch
3 cups peashoots, rinsed clean and trimmed
1/4 cup scallions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup ginger, finely minced
1 tablespoon rice wine
2 tablespoons water

Marinate the prawns with egg white, cornstarch, and pinch of salt for 10 minutes.
Over medium high heat, sautee peashoots with vegetable oil until cooked through. Arrange on serving plate.
Over medium high heat, heat 2 tablespoons of cooking oil until hot. Add the scallions and ginger and stir until fragrant.
Add prawns to the pan and sautee until pink and cooked through.
When prawns are cooked through, add the water and rice wine. Cook until evaporated. Plate the prawns over the pea shoots. Serve immediately.

Asparagus with Dried Scallop Sauce

1 lb asparagus, washed and trimmed
About 5 dried scallops
1 cup pork stock
2 tablespoons ginger, finely minced
salt to taste
cornstarch to thicken

Soak the dried scallops in about half of cup hot water until softened (mom did this the night before). Tear the scallops into thin shreds.

Cut the asparagus into 5-6 cm pieces. Bring a pot of hot water, lightly salted, to boil. Blanche the asparagus pieces until it turns bright green. Arrange the asparagus onto a serving plate.

In a small pan, add the dried scallops with its juices, stock, and ginger. Bring to boil. Thicken the sauce with cornstarch. Pour the sauce over the asparagus. Serve immediately.

The star of our Christmas meal: smoked ribs

Dad and Mom saw an episode of America's Test Kitchen called Rainy Day Barbeque. The result of dad's special smoked ribs, modified from the show's recipe, is stellar!

If you live in a house with a sensitive smoke detector like ours, plan on having a couple of helpers when the smoke alarms goes off, to either fan the smoke away, or climb up on a chair to unscrew the offending alarm.

Oven-Barbecued Spareribs

Serves 4

Rub
6 tablespoons mustard (we used Dijon)
2 tablespoons ketchup (we used sodium-free ketchup)
3 medium cloves garlic , minced (about 1 tablespoon)
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
3 tablespoons brown sugar (we substituted this with 3 tablespoons of honey)

Ribs
2 racks spareribs , 2 1/2 to 3 pounds each, trimmed of surface fat, membrane removed each rack cut in half
1/4 cup Lapsang Souchong tea leaves (finely ground)—from about 10 tea bags, or 1/2 cup loose tea leaves ground to a powder in a spice grinder)
(Dad used a mixture of jasmin, hojicha, black tea, and other assortments from our ever-growing tea cabinet)
1 cup apple juice


1. For the Rub: Combine mustard, ketchup, and garlic in small bowl; combine pepper, paprika, chili powder, cayenne, salt, and sugar in separate small bowl. Spread mustard mixture in thin, even layer over both sides of ribs; coat both sides with spice mixture, then wrap ribs in plastic and refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours.

[For a deeper flavor, we just mixed everything together -- the mustard, ketchup, honey, garlic, and all the spices, and coated the ribs with the mixture]

2. Transfer ribs from refrigerator to freezer for 45 minutes. Adjust one oven rack to lowest position and second rack to upper-middle position (at least 5 inches below broiler).

Place baking stone on lower rack; heat oven to 500 degrees. Sprinkle ground tea evenly over bottom of rimmed baking sheet; set wire rack on sheet.

Place ribs meat side up on rack and cover with heavy-duty foil, crimping edges tightly to seal.

Roast ribs directly on stone for 30 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees, leaving oven door open for 1 minute to cool.

While oven is open, carefully open one corner of foil and pour apple juice into bottom of baking sheet; reseal foil. Continue to roast until meat is very tender and begins to pull away from bones, about 1 1/2 hours. (Begin to check ribs after 1 hour; leave loosely covered with foil for remaining cooking time.)

3. Remove foil and carefully flip racks bone side up; place baking sheet on upper-middle oven rack.

[We then coated the ribs with a mixture of sugar and soy sauce]

Turn on broiler; cook ribs until well browned and crispy in spots, 5 to 10 minutes. Flip ribs meat side up and cook until well browned and crispy, 5 to 7 minutes more. Cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into individual ribs. Serve with barbecue sauce, if desired.

Family-style Roast Chicken Dinner at Lala's House

My friend Lilah hosted a perfect winter's family meal a couple of weeks ago: a traditional, comforting meal that we made while gossiping and drinking wine.

The menu:
Lemon rosemary roasted chicken with gravy
Squash Gratin
Steamed broccolini with lemon, olive oil, sea salt and pepper
To drink: I think it was a pinot gris.
Dessert: easy apple tart!

Lemon Rosemary Roasted Chicken

1 organic chicken, 3-4 lbs
1 lemon, cut in halves
2 stalks celery, diced
1 cup baby carrots
1 small onion, quartered
4 cloves garlic
1 bunch fresh rosemary
3 tablespoons butter
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Clean and pat dry the chicken.
Rub salt and pepper generously all over the chicken, including the cavity.
Stuff the garlic, lemon, and a couple of stalks of rosemary inside the cavity.
Chop the rest of the rosemary leaves finely, mix with one tablespoon of butter.
With your fingers, loosen the chicken skin and work the rosemary butter between the skin and the meat of the chicken.
Rub the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter all over the chicken.
(We didn't tie the chicken but if you want, truss the chicken with kitchen string)
Place the chicken in a large baking pan. Scatter the onions, carrots, and celery around the chicken.
Bake for about an hour and 15 to 20 minutes.
Let the chicken rest for at least 15 minutes before carving.

Optional: we made gravy!
Pour all the drippings in the pan into a bowl. Ladle out the fat from the drippings -- you will have left only a little bit of brown chicken jus. Press the roasted vegetables in a sieve and add the juices to the pan. Return the chicken jus to the roasting pan, scraping up any of the brown bits. Heat the gravy until hot, thicken with some cornstarch (make a slurry with corn starch and water first) and return to boil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Squash Gratin

1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs (we made ours with a whole grain bread, which adds really great flavor)
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 cups cubed peeled acorn squash (about 1 pound)
2 cups cubed peeled butternut squash (about 1/2 pound)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Olive oil-flavored vegetable cooking spray (optional. You can just coat the pan with some olive oil)
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl, and stir well.
Add squashes, parsnip, and oil, tossing to coat.
Spoon squash mixture into a 2-quart casserole coated with cooking spray.
Cover and bake at 325° for 1 1/2 hours or until the squash is soft.
Sprinkle with cheese, and bake, uncovered, an additional 15 minutes.
Garnish with oregano, if desired.

Note: the recipe says to bake it at 325F but since we were also roasting the chicken, we just baked the gratin with the chicken at 425F. Still turned out fine! I think it was even better since the squash was caramelized a bit.

Easy upside down apple tart

2 Tablespoon butter
10-12 apples, cored and sliced
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 pinch each of ground ginger, allspice, and nutmeg.
1 sheet of puff pastry

Sautee the first four ingredients in a cast iron pan over medium high heat until apples are cooked and the liquid evaporated.

Rolled out the sheet of puff pastry and tuck it over the top of the cast iron skillet.
Bake at 400 F for approx 20 mins until the puff pastry is golden and cooked through. Invert it onto a plate.
Cut into slices and serve with plain whipped cream.

Panera's summer strawberry poppyseed salad

I have been somewhat addicted to this salad this summer at Panera cafe. Though I usually don't like sweet-ish salads, I really love this one! I think it is easily reproduced with store bought dressing (use Brianna's dressing. Link below).


Strawberry and Poppyseed Salad

4 cups Romain lettuce, wash, dried, cut and chilled
1 cup blueberries, washed and picked over
1/2 cup sliced pineapples (optional)
1 cup sliced strawberries
1 cup canned mandarin orange segments (substitute fresh mandarin orange if you want)
1 cup poached or grilled chicken breast
Brianna's home-style poppyseed dressing
Handful of roasted walnuts, optional

I have no more instructions than toss everything to combine, serve immediately!

A good complement to this meal is some bread and iced apricot black tea.

Enjoy what's left of your summer this year!

Old Fashioned Chocolate cake

I made this yesterday and it was super easy and yummy! I don't remember the last time I baked not from a cake-mix, so it was quite a feat for me. If I can do it, you can too!

Cake:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup superfine sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup best-quality cocoa
1 1/2 sticks soft unsalted butter
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons good-quality vanilla extract
2/3 cup sour cream

Special equipment: 2 (each 8-inch diameter) layer tins with removable bases, buttered

Frosting:
6 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolate, broken into small pieces
3/4 stick unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon good-quality vanilla extract
Sugar flowers, to decorate, optional

Take everything out of the refrigerator so that all ingredients can come room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Put all the cake ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, cocoa, butter, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream into a food processor and process until you have a smooth, thick batter. If you want to go the long way around, just mix the flour, sugar and leavening agents in a large bowl and beat in the soft butter until you have a combined and creamy mixture. Now whisk together the cocoa, sour cream, vanilla, and eggs and beat this into your bowl of mixture.

Divide this batter, using a rubber spatula to help you scrape and spread, into the prepared tins and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, which should be about 35 minutes, but it is wise to start checking at 25 minutes. Also, it might make sense to switch the 2 cakes around in the oven halfway through cooking time. Remove the cakes, in their tins, to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes before turning out of their tins. Don't worry about any cracks as they will easily be covered by the frosting later.

To make this icing, melt the chocolate and butter in a good-sized bowl either in the microwave or suspended over a pan of simmering water. Go slowly either way: you don't want any burning or seizing.

While the chocolate and butter is cooling a little, sieve the confectioners' sugar into another bowl. Or, easier still, put the icing sugar into the food processor and blitz to remove lumps.

Add the corn syrup to the cooled chocolate mixture, followed by the sour cream and vanilla and then when all this is combined whisk in the sieved confectioners' sugar. Or just pour this mixture down the funnel of the food processor onto the powdered sugar, with the motor running.

You may need to add a little boiling water, say a teaspoon or so, or indeed some more confectioners' sugar, depending on whether you need the frosting to be thiner or thicker. It should be liquid enough to coat easily, but thick enough not to drip off.

Choose your cake stand or plate and cut 4 strips of baking parchment to form a square and sit 1 of the cakes, uppermost (i.e. slightly domed) side down.

Spoon about 1/3 of the frosting onto the center of the cake-half and spread with a knife or spatula until you cover the top of it evenly. Sit the other cake on top, normal way up, pressing gently to sandwich the 2 together.

Spoon another 1/3 of the frosting onto the top of the cake and spread it in a swirly, textured way (though you can go for a smooth finish if you prefer, and have the patience). Spread the sides of the cake with icing and leave a few minutes until set, then carefully pull away the paper strips.

Orecchiette with Arugula and Cherry Tomatos

An excellent recipe from Lidia's Italian Kitchen!

Ingredients: (for 2 servings)

1 bag of cherry tomatos
1 box of baby arugula
1/2 lb of Orecchiette ("ear lobe" pasta, or substitute any small pastas)
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
4-5 medium sized garlic cloves
1-2 teaspoon crushed chili pepper (the kind you get with your pizza)
salt


Boil water for the pasta. Slice cherry tomatos in half.

Peel and crush garlic cloves. Warm olive oil in pan on medium high heat, add garlic. Slice cherry tomatos in half. Add to pan. Turn heat down to medium. Add tomatos, salt, and crushed chili pepper. Stir.

Add pasta in boiling water. Cook for 9-10 minutes. Add arugula into the pot with the water and pasta. Let it cook for 2 minutes.

Take pasta and arugula out of the water. Add to garlic tomato mixture. Tomatos should be soft with the skin wrinkled.

The sauce shouldn't be too thick, and the pasta and arugula should just float in the mixture.

Can be served with parmesan cheese. For meat portion, you can choose to make parmesan chicken! And for dessert, may I suggest some store bought chocolate cake?

Chicken Salad

Ingredients:
Home made mayo: Refer to earlier post
Chicken breast
Lemon pepper (seasoning mix)
celery
Granny smith apple (green)
Gala apple (red)



Season chicken with lemon pepper and salt (or AlsoSalt). Grill chicken breast on a frying pan with no oil on a nonstick pan. Cut chicken into .5 inch squares, and put aside to cool. Chop celery into small pieces, and cut apples into thin slices, halved. Make homemade mayo. Mix everything together and stick it in the fridge to cool.

Use egg bread or whatever bread you desire. Toast and butter. Let it cool.
Take salad out after it has been chilled and spread over bread to make sandwich. Lunch is ready!

Chicken Meatball Soup

a 5-minute recipe; easy to make; easy to eat





Ingredients: make about 20 meatballs
ground chicken - 1 lb
fine chopped onions - about 2 cups
green onion - optional
egg - 1 large
corn starch - 2 to 3 tbsp
seasoning - soy sauce, white pepper, salt,...
depend on your taste buds


How to:
1. boil 6~7 cups of water
2. mix all ingredients well but not over mix.
Suggestion: use fork to mix.
3. spoon the mix to boiling water one by one. Cook until done.

Scallops on a hot summer day -- adapted from Gourmet

It was nice and warm for a change here so I decided to make a scallop dish I saw in this month's Gourmet magazine. The magazine calls for a kind of scallop "ceviche" -- grilled scallops, cucumbers, lime, and orange segments all marinated together and chilled. But after making the dish I discovered that chilled, cooked scallops aren't as exciting as scallops coming hot from the grill (or hot pan). So here is my adaptation of the Gourmet recipe.

Scallops with cucumber salad

3/4 of an English cucumber, halved, seeded, and thinly sliced
1 navel orange, cut into segments
1/2 carrot, thinly sliced (optional)
2 tablespoons of shallots, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt
freshly grind pepper
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 lb large scallops

In a bowl, combine cucumber, oranges, shallots, lime juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Chill thoroughly.
Combine the scallops with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. IN a hot pan or grill, sear the scallops on both sides until cooked.
On a plate, set the cucumber salad and put scallops over them. Serve immediately.

*I am also thinking that a balsalmic vinegar glaze might be nice over the scallops..more experimentation for this weekend!