Cilantro Cream

I love cilantro.

I just do. 

I don't feel like I need to justify my love to you or anyone else!  We're meant to be together.  I don't care if many of you don't care for Cilantro.  I don't care what you say! Cilantro does not taste like soap!  It does not taste bitter!

It's perfect.  Fresh and clean tasting with a tiny hint of citrus.

Nothing, NOTHING will make me change my feelings for this lovely green herb. 

I realize that cilantro is a love/hate kind of herb, but I always make sure to incorporate it into any Mexican dish I'm making.  The other day was no exception.  When I decided to make turkey tacos the other night I immediately envisioned a cool and creamy cilantro-based sauce as a finishing touch.

Just a doctored up sour cream, I thought. 

What I ended up with was so much more than "jazzy" sour cream.  Fresh, green and fragrant with the slight tang from a mixture of Greek yogurt and sour cream and a tart finish from fresh lime juice.

Cilantro stole the show. 

Famewhore.



Cilantro Cream

Makes about 1 Cup

Ingredients

1/2 cup cilantro washed, dried and chopped
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
2 Tbsp lime juice (more to taste)
salt and pepper to taste.

Directions

Add all ingredients into a food process and pulse until smooth.

I used my hand blender because I was too lazy to get my food processor out.  It worked perfectly fine, with a few splatters. but that is just because I forgot to take my finger off the button before I readjust.

I never said I was smart.

Cara Cara Orange Margaritas

Cara Cara oranges are a revelation to me.  I bought them by mistake.  From the outside they resemble a typical navel orange, but the first time I sliced one open I stopped dumbfounded.  The inside resembled  a pink grapefruit.  I turned it around in my hand, examining the skin, but it was still an orange.  I touched a drop of juice to my tongue:  sweet! 

With out much more time to ponder as I was predictable running late, I sliced the pink fruit into half moons and was on my way.  At lunch I learned the they were very similar to a navel orange if not a bit sweeter, but the color was exceptional.



Daum squeezed them all before I could get a shot.  Oddly enough the juice was more orange than pink.  Sad. 

Enter the margarita.  I'm not a huge fan of margaritas.  I tend to stick to the sangria at Mexican restaurants.  The sour mix used in most places is too sweet and weirdly enough, makes my tongue hurt. 

Little did I know the best margaritas are made with freshly squeezed juice.  Who knew!!? 

Apparently, Daum. 

He makes them with fresh lime juice all the time.  Since I had three beautiful Cara Cara's on the counter we mixed their juice with some fresh lime juice and added some icy tequila and orange liqueur.  What we had was a margarita I could get behind!  It was tart, bright, and refreshing and went well with the spicy bite that the tacos we were also preparing that night had.

Cara Cara Orange Margaritas

                 (Inspired by this)

Make to Order  (they were big)

Ingredients

4 ounces fresh Cara Cara orange juice
2 ounces fresh lime juice
2 ounces Tequila (I used Sauza Blanco)
1 ounce of orange liqueur

Directions

Mix all ingredients in a shaker with ice.  Shake vigorously and strain into a glass over ice.

Variation:  (pictured above) Daum appreciates his spice so he muddles a few jalapenos with some cilantro leaves in the bottom of the shaker before adding everything else and was quite pleased with the results.

I added a little leftover lemon simple syrup for a bit more sweetness.

Brooklyn Slate Company's Fancy Cheese Slate

I have limited space in my apartment.  Having moved five times in the last eight years has taught me how to compact a whole life into one room if necessary.  It's difficult at times.  I can't begin to tell you how many gadgets and gizmo's I would love to give a place to in my kitchen, but alas it is usually not meant to be.

Wistfully, I think.... Someday....

I could use this whole space to blather on about what I want, RIGHT! NOW!  But I won't.  Most of the stuff I see trolling the damn world-wide-web, I forget mere seconds later.  I'm like a goldfish that way.  If I start to document them, then I'll constantly be reminded about things I want, but cannot have. 

Pinterest? I'm looking at you.  I'm sure we would not be friends.

So because I have been a bad little cook lately I will share with you one of my prized, albeit small, possessions.

My Cheese Slate.


~source~

My mother gifted me this beautiful piece of slate from the Brooklyn Slate Company, this past Christmas, and I'm sad to say I've only used it three times since, but I'm making cheese a priority.  If someones got to do it it might as well be me.

My favorite feature is the little piece of soapstone pencil that comes with it so you don't have to fuss with cheese tags, flags or worrying about forgetting which is which.  It has also prompted me to work on my chalk writing skills.  It's not as easy as one thinks, especially since my previous chalk writing experience has been limited to driveways and pieces of chalk as big as my forearm.

It also comes packaged in a burlap bag and tied with twine to give it that rustic, simple feel.


~source~

I'm also in trouble now because as I was researching on the website I came across these. 

Someday.....Wistfully thought.

But till then, I will make do.  And I will eat a lot of this.  The presentation? 

I love.  It makes me giddy. 

Now if this doesn't make you want to tear of a hunk of crusty bread and slather it with a soft triple creme brie and drizzle it with fresh honey comb, then I cannot help you.

A Home For My Booze

It started off with this:

It came through my email on a slow day at work.  Even though the subject of the email was "Wine?"  My immediate reaction was "Swing set?"  A ringer at Pictionary I am not.

Above the picture was two words:  "Like this?"

I tilted my head to the side in confusion and then it all hit me at once.  Ohhhhhhh a wine rack!

My roommate had recently moved out taking with her the glass and steel wine rack/bar where we housed all our drinking paraphernalia.  Ironically enough she was moving it out as I was moving in a brand new case of wine.  So eleven bottles of wine were homeless.  (I magnanimously donated one bottle to my mother) 

I didn't think about it for a while with the new roommate moving in and not being around much, but the corner looked sad. 

I started flooding Daum with links to wine rack from all over the web until he frustratingly stated.  "Can't you wait a week!?"

I'm usually pretty patient, but when I have an idea in my head I'm antsy until I find a solution.  I agreed to wait and wondered what he had up his sleeve.  That's when the "blueprint" hit my inbox.  (Yes, even after all that I still didn't know what it was right away.)

Four days later, with minimal input from me.  "sure 12 bottles will be plenty"  "dark walnut" and "I'm sure it's not REALLY lopsided."  The bar was delivered!

And I love it!  My very own Daum Original.

Don't be jeal!

Blueberry Whiskey Smash

Let's have a drink, yes?

Let's celebrate me surviving the winter.  Let's celebrate me starting to make a commitment to something! 

Let's forget the fact that I made months and months of delicious, warming comforting food and yet did not document it. 

We shall forget! Yes? 

And celebrate the future with a sweet, minty, bright, potent drink!

Blueberry Whiskey Smash

          (Loosely adapted from Serious Eats from Kelly Carambula)

Recipe makes One Drink.  I found it best to make them to order.

Ingredients

6 blueberries

3-4 fresh mint leaves

1.5 ounces of bourbon (I (Daum) chose Jim Beam as the bourbon of choice, but there are plenty to choose from and any will work.)

1 ounce lemon simple syrup (recipe to follow)

seltzer

lemon

Directions

Fill a highball glass with crushed ice.  Set aside.

Add blueberries and mint to the bottom of a cocktail shaker.  Muddle together until the berries release their juice and the mint leaves are bruised and fragrant.  I didn't have a fancy cocktail muddler (not quite sure that's a word) so I used the handle of a wooden spoon, which is now stained purple.

Add a hand full of ice and top with the bourbon and simple syrup.  Cover the shaker and shake vigorously to combine the flavor.  According to Daum this should be about thirteen times.  Why, you ask?  Not a clue.

Pour over the crushed ice and top with a splash of seltzer and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Lemon Simple Syrup

Bring 1 1/2 cups of water and 1 1/2 cups of sugar to a boil in a sauce pan.  Add in the zest of one lemon and the juice of half.  Let the sugar dissolve.

When the sugar dissolves take the pot of the heat, cover and let the lemon steep in the syrup until ready to assemble the drink.

I'm not a bourbon fan and I downed three of these bad boys.  They were light and refreshing.  The citrus kick to the simple syrup made the drink and the blueberries just made it pretty!  Seriously, Daum forgot to muddle his berries one round and the drink came out a weird taupe color. 

Cheers!

Don't forget to muddle!

Rice and Sausage Stuffed Peppers

So I'm currently taking "multi-tasker" off my resume.  This week totally got away from me. 

After a weekend of bad, but delicious food (bacon double cheese burger anyone?  Maaaaaaaybe with some gravy fries, I blame Oktoberfest.)  I wanted to make something on the lighter side.  In a bid to make Daum stop chastising me every time I dropped a magazine on the check out belt, I chose a recipe from September's Everyday Food Magazine: one of my favorites, Martha never ceases to amaze me!

My mom makes stuffed peppers and every time she would make them there would be a sneer from me and a refusal to eat them.  I'm not sure why?  I don't remember.  There's nothing wrong with them.  Even now I don't really eat them when she makes them.  Old habits die hard I guess.  What could be wrong with rice, tomatoes, ground beef and cheese stuffed into a green pepper?  Beats me.

This recipe was a bit different from my mom's.  It pairs salty pork sausage (I searched for turkey sausage in vain that night) with rice and a combination of zucchini, garlic and onion finished with a generous grating of Parmesan cheese and topped with my favorite:  homemade bread crumbs!  Yay!  I stuffed this mixture into red bell peppers that were halved the long way and trimmed with a pairing knife.  It made for a very pretty presentation.  When baked the peppers became soft and took on an almost roasted taste with a few charred bits on the bottom.  All in all I was pleased, as were my tasters and I can knock this magazine off my list of magazines to make a recipe out of!  PHEW! 

One down, 486,565 to go!

Rice and Sausage Stuffed Peppers
    (Adapted from Everyday Food Magazine, unfortunately I couldn't find the recipe on the site)

Recipe serves 6-with extra stuffing

Ingredients

6 red bell peppers
3 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 pound bulk sausage, casings removed
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small zucchini, diced small
1 clove garlic minced
1/4 cup Parmesan, grated
4 cups cooked white rice
2 cups homemade breadcrumbs
salt and pepper to taste

Directions


Click here to view instructions without pictures.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cover a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.  (This makes for an easy clean up.) 

Cut each pepper in half lengthwise and remove the ribs and seeds.  Place cut side up on baking sheet.  Set aside.

In a medium saute pan, heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil and add the sausage. 

Brown the sausage breaking it up as it cooks.  Remove from the pan and add to a large mixing bowl.

Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil in the same pan and add zucchini, onion and garlic. 

Cook until softened, about 8 minutes.  When finished add vegetable mixture to the sausage along with the rice and Parmesan cheese.  The recipe called for 1/4 cup of cheese but I didn't even measure.  It's really hard to over do it on cheese!  Drizzle with remaining olive oil and mix well to combine.

Stuff the sausage and rice mixture into each pepper half.  Be generous!  Mine were heaped with the stuffing, forming small mountains. 

Top with the breadcrumbs.  I found that I had to press the breadcrumbs into the stuffing to make them stay on top.

Bake for 30 minutes until the breadcrumbs are brown and crunchy.  I had extra stuffing so I just put it in a small baking dish and cooked it along side the peppers.

I was  happy with the recipe the way it came out.  If I were to make this again; however, I would probably put a more Mediterranean spin on it by using feta cheese in place of the Parmesan and adding a bit of lemon juice to the stuffing.  If the recipe was lacking anything, it was a bit of acid.

Directions only 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Cover a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.  (This make for easy clean up.)  Cut each pepper in half lengthwise and remove ribs and seeds.  Place cut side up on baking sheet.  Set aside.

In a medium saute pan, heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil and add sausage.  Brown the sausage breaking it up as it cooks.  Remove from the pan and add to a large mixing bowl.  Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil in the same pan and add zucchini, onion and garlic.  Cook until softened, about 8 minutes.  When finished add vegetable mixture to the sausage along with the rice and Parmesan cheese.  The recipe called for 1/4 cup of cheese but i didn't even mention.  It's really hard to over do it on cheese!  Drizzle with remaining olive oil and mix well to combine.

Stuff sausage and rice mixture into each pepper half.  Be generous!  Mine were heaped with the stuffing, forming small mountains.  Top with the breadcrumbs.  I found that I had to press the breadcrumbs into the stuffing to make them stay on top. 

Bake for 30 minutes until the breadcrumbs are brown and crunchy.  I had extra stuffing so I just put it in a small baking dish and cooked it along side the peppers.

A quick appology for my lack of Mac and Cheese Wednesday this week.  I hope to return with it next week!  I'll have to make it extra fancy.

Grilled Pizzas

This emo post is brought to you by my obsession with Instagram.  I'm trying to bring a more edgy post to the blog.  Next thing you know I'm going to be sporting asymmetrical bangs.

But really, the lighting in Daum's kitchen was "interesting" and I'm doing what I can. 

I've been wanted to make grilled pizzas all summer, so naturally we wait until a chilly fall night with the promise of rain to do so.  There isn't really much of recipe to share with in this post.  We cobble together a respectable, if not extremely garlicky, almond pesto for one of our pizzas.  I'm keeping a safe distance from most of my co-workers today.  After our third trip to our second grocery store and one Walgreens we realized we forgot pizza sauce and decided to make one out of tomato paste and water with few dried Italian seasoning and fresh basil.  I was skeptical, but it works and now I will never hear the end of it.

Daum made the dough, I'm going to try and replicate the instructions; however, truth be told I was eating popcorn and drinking a gin and tonic.  I'm deviating from my usual format. 

Cause I'm emo.  And I Just. Don't. Care.

For one crust: (Adapted from a basic pizza crust recipe)

Combine 1 1/2 cups of warm water with one packet of dry active yeast and 2 teaspoons of white sugar.  Let sit for at least 10 minutes.  The mixture should be foamy.  In a separate bowl combine 2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder (optional) and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Yeast doing it's thing, flour mixture patiently waiting.

When the yeast is active, combine with the flour mixture.  

Married!

Mix to combine fully, then turn out the dough onto a floured surface and kneed until smooth and elastic.

NOT my hands!!

Smooth elastic dough

Cover and place in a warm, dry spot for at least an hour or until dough doubles in size.  We put ours in Daum's oven.  Why?  Because he told me to and I didn't feel like questioning him.  I was very excited by how much the dough grew.  I'm not much of (or at all) a baker, aside from cookies here and there and the expansion of the dough just fascinated me.  Maybe a little too much.  I didn't get any pictures of my fingerprint indents.

Ready to roll!    Out that is.

Daum was the first to roll the dough out.  Unfortunately I did not get a picture of mine for comparison.  I'm assured the "abstract" shape was intentional.

It was literally 3 feet long

We prepped all the toppings a head of time, because once we got the dough on the grill it was a bit of a race to get all the topping on in time so the cheese would melt and the crust would not burn.

Of course

the fresh Roma tomatoes really made the pesto pizza

So basically:  Dough, pizza sauce, pesto, cheese and toppings. We brushed olive oil on one side of the dough, and placed it oil side down on a hot, preheated grill (medium-high) and let it cook for about 3-5 minutes until it bubbled slightly.  We brushed the other side with oil before be flipped it over.  The toppings went on the previously charred side.

i kind of wish we had left it longer

Two pizzas with crispy dough, (the way I prefer it) slightly charred from the grill and, if I must say so myself, (and I will) perfect topping combinations:

Daum's

A tomato sauce based one that contained sliced pepperoni, sauteed mushroom and a cheese blend of mozzarella and cheddar.  Oh and a few jalapenos, but we don't talk about them, darn their beautiful green color!

MINE!

A combination of almond pesto as a sauce, with fresh Roma tomatoes, prosciutto and fresh mozzarella.

What our pizzas lacked in presentation, the certainly made up for in taste! I cannot wait to make this dough again and try out mini flat breads in my grill pan.