Pecan Wine Cake

Well here is a very delicious and eye catching dessert. My mother-in-law is in town for the holidays and today was her birthday. She is very easy going and is game for anything food wise I am willing to make. So this year we made shrimp fettucini for dinner. And for dessert the Pecan Wine Cake. I am a sucker for good Italian food. I even buy those BHG ultimate cooking magazines. This recipe comes from the latest one.

Recipe:
1 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/3 sugar
1c softened butter
4 eggs
3 2/3c all-purpose flour
1/4t nutmeg
1/8t salt
1 1/3c fruity white wine
1c coarsely chopped pecans
grapes, mint, and powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 300. Grease a bundt pan. Set aside.

In a small bowl mix brown sugar and white sugar. Set aside.

In a large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add half of the sugar mixture. Beat on high for 6 minutes or until smooth.

In another bowl beat eggs with a wire whisk for about 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Gradually whisk
in the remaining sugar mixture. Continue whisking until mixture is smooth and creamy. Add egg mixture to butter mixture, whisking until smooth.

 In a medium bowl, stir together flour, nutmeg, and salt. Add flour mixture and wine alternately to butter/egg mixture. Beat with a wooden spoon after each addition. Stir in pecans. Pour batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly. Place pan on a baking sheet.

Bake for  about 2 hours or until top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Remove cake from pan. Cool completely on rack.

Dust with powdered sugar and garnish with sugared grapes and mint leaves.

Now how pretty does that look? I was even impressed with myself! My prettiest looking dessert? Perhaps.....I shall let you decide.

Thai food

Alex has been going to school for the plane he is working on and is home for a very long lunch on these days. So we decided today we would go out on a lunch date. We do not do this often and thought it would be fun. And I had a craving for Thai food. There are lots and lots of Thai restaurants in the Fort Walton Beach area so we didn't think it would be any problem to just find one we liked and stop in. We started on Hwy 98 but the one we always drive by is a dinner only establishment. So we went down another road and soon found one. This one was in a strip mall with several other restaurants of other ethnicities: Japanese, Mexican, Chinese, and a Turkish/Greek restaurant. So we were excited.

But as soon as we entered the place the excitement stopped. They had a lunch buffet or order from the menu. We went with the buffet. After perusing and placing on our plate some of the 10 items we found our seat and looked at each other. The stuff that has such potential and excitement behind it was.....well.....disappointing!! I mean how hard is it to make a Pad Thai or Chicken Larb or Chicken and Basil or a lemongrass soup. But they screwed it up. The most disappointing was the Chicken Larb. It was ice cold and had some off-putting seasoning that was way too overpowering. I am picky when it comes to food. Everyone knows that. But for everyone who knows I am picky know that Alex is not picky. Well, he could barely stomach the larb! The glass noodles were not good. The Pad Thai was mediocre at best. It was awful.

We left feeling defeated. The worst part of the experience was the number of regulars in the place. The waitress knew most of the people coming in and already had their drink order called out when they walked through the door. I mean really??? Doesn't FWB know there is better Thai food than that out there??? And if this place was packed with that number of regulars I am scared to death to eat at some of the other Thai restaurants in the area! I have purposely not stated the name of the establisment because Alex thinks it best I do not. But I do not know anyone in the FWB area but if you are out there and would like to name of the place to avoid I will send you its name. For now, this is a post of anger and resentment. That was a lunch date with my husband I will never get back and it was ruined thanks to this place! They have even killed Larb for us.......at least for now. I may make it with some time between the incident but for now.......I cry........

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Well I have been away and perhaps some of you were wondering where I went? No where is the correct answer! But my mom and step dad flew in for the Halloween weekend. And my mom stayed a few days later. So while I did cook some stuff while they were here, I did not photograph or blog about it. So I am sorry. And my husband is staying with his mother for a few days which leaves me with the kids at home. And this means I get to try a few food items that my husband is not particularly fond of or wouldnt be thrilled to try them. This happens to be one of those events. He likes regular gnocchi but I am not so sure he would want sweet potato gnocchi.

For those of you who do not know what gnocchi is, it is an Italian potato dumpling and pronounced "nee-o-key" It is made mostly from mashed potatoes and a little flour. It is rolled out into long cords and then cut off in 1/2in pieces and boiled in water for a few minutes and then coated in some kind of sauce. You can find prepackaged ones in most grocery stores. Some of them are regular and some are made with whole wheat flour. These need to boil a little longer just like dried pasta vs fresh pasta.

I have been wanting to make gnocchi for some time now. I have been a little scared. When I first started learning how to make gnocchi everything talks about how temperamental it is and how time consuming so I put it off. But in the last year it has looked easier and easier and with more knowledge about the product it is easier to find more recipes for gnocchi.

And now that its fall....whats better than a sweet potato? Or a pumpkin? Or butternut squash? I had some sweet potatoes in my pantry so we went with that but any of these three veggies would be great in the recipe.

Recipe:
4 sweet potatoes (mine were small)
2-3c all purpose flour
1/2t nutmeg or cinnamon (I used nutmeg)
1/2t salt

Bake sweet potatoes at 400 degrees for one hour or until cooked. Let cool and remove skins.

Place in a large bowl and mash with a fork or potato masher. Add 1c flour and seasonings and mix well. Add another cup of flour and mix well. If dough is still sticky add 1/4-1/2c flour at a time until dough is no longer sticky. Form into a ball. Cut the ball into 1/4 sections.

Take 1/4 of the dough and cut in half. Make sure everything is floured well and begin to roll the dough either on the counter or between the palms of your hands until the dough resembles a rope. The rope should be about 1/2in thick.

Using a butter knife or other blunt object cut dough into 1/2in pieces.

 Place dumplings on a floured baking sheet until all gnocchi is cut.

Heat a large pot of water to boiling. Add gnocchi and cook for only 2-3 minutes or until they float or dumplings get darker in color and look cooked.

At this point if you have too many gnocchi for the people you are serving place on a baking sheet and freeze them individually. Make sure gnocchi is not touching other gnocchi so they dont stick. Once the gnocchi are frozen transfer them to a freezer bag.

I froze half of mine and ate the other half. So the sauce recipe is geared for half of the gnocchi.

Sauce:
1/2 stick butter
4T olive oil
1/2t black pepper
1-2T chopped fresh sage

Heat oil and butter in a large skillet. Once melted add pepper and sage.

Add cooked gnocchi to the pan and Saute until the gnocchi firm up slightly.

Turn heat off and top with fresh grated parmesan cheese.

This turned out fabulously! I was super excited. And the best part is there is more in the freezer for a later date....without the hassle of making gnocchi!! Do remember that these are dumplings. They should taste airy and like a little cloud in your mouth. They should not be too dense or doughy or tough. They should not be that heavy either. So do not treat them like a pasta dough that should firm up. These should firm up slightly on the outside to hold their shape.....thats enough!  Hope you enjoy!!

Pear Almond Tart

Well today the baking bug got me. I normally do not get this bug so I thought I would burn it out today! I opted for a Pear Almond Tart. The pears were given to me by my Granny and I needed to do something before they turned. But I also didnt want to do something that I always do with them. Like opting out and making jam or adding to a salad. And I have seen several recipes lately for pear tarts, crostatas and pies. So I thought I would jump on the bandwagon. Man did I get in over my head!! lol. This took several hours to make. So like most other things I do, its not for the faint of heart. I also do not expect many people to try this....at least that I know. Mainly because of the time issues surrounding food like this. But I hope the reason you continue to read my blog is to watch me tackle the things that you do not want to tackle in your everyday life. So I am here to oblige!

Pear Recipe:
time:2hrs plus

3-4 pears, halved, cored, and peeled

1/2 bottle of sweet white wine
1/2c water
1-2 cinnamon sticks
4-10 whole cloves (depending on age and potency)
1 slice lemon
1/2-1c sugar

In a medium pot add all ingredients but pears. Bring to a boil and simmer gently while prepping your pears. You will notice more lemon in my poaching liquid than in the recipe....do not be fooled. Use 1 slice! Too much lemon makes the pears too bitter and nasty tasting. You will end up either throwing them out or compensating with more sugar which will not completely mask the fact you screwed up.

Add the pears and simmer 1-2 hours or until the pears are tender when poked with a fork. Let the pears sit in the poaching liquid until ready to use.

*If you make excess poached pears you can can them. I sliced the the halves into thirds and placed in a sterile jar. Fill with poaching liquid. Fill a large stock pot with water and bring to a boil. Add your filled jars and boil for 10 minutes. I like to slowly let my jars get to a room temperature by leaving in the hot water for at least and hour and then pull them out onto the counter. They should seal and be ready to go any time you want them.

Almond Cream Recipe:
6T unsalted butter at room temperature
2/3c sugar
3/4c ground blanched almonds
2T all purpose flour
1T cornstarch
1 large egg
2t dark rum or 1t pure vanilla.....I used homemade bourbon vanilla extract and used 1 1/2t

In a food processor add butter and sugar and process until smooth. Add the ground almonds and continue to process until smooth. Add the flour and cornstarch and process. Then add egg and mix until the mixture is smooth and homogenous. Add your vanilla or rum and mix well. Transfer to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Pastry Shell Recipe:
1 1/2c all purpose flour
1/2c confectioners sugar
1/4t salt
1 stick plus 1T cold unsalted butter in pieces
1 large egg yolk

In a food processor gently pulse the flour, sugar, and salt. Slowly add in the butter until it resembles a crumbly dough. Add the egg yolk and mix together. Once the dough comes together stop pulsing and remove from food processor. Turn out onto a floured surfact and very gently knead to pull together.

If you want to press into tart pan do so now. Lay in plate and gently press all the sides of the pan. Place in freezer for at least 30 minutes

If you want to save dough wrap in platic wrap and chill for 2 hours to one day.


Putting it Together:
Take your crust and either fit into your tart pan or pull tart pan out of freezer like I did. Spread in your almond cream and smooth out. Take your poached pears and slice them. Arrange on the cream in any design you like. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until the cream puffs up around the pears and starts to brown. Remove from oven and cool before unmolding. Before eating sprinkle with confectioners sugar.

Now if you are anything like me....your baking skills....well....they suck! I will admit it. So my design is really bad looking. I tried my best though!! So do not judge it based on my baking skills. If you would like to see the recipe and pictures I used feel free to click here.

So the verdict? It was good. I was really really nervous. I knew the pears were poached in too much lemon and I overcompensated with the sugar to help out, but would it be enough? Overall the tart was good. The pie shell was nice and flaky. The almond cream was smooth and slightly sweet with all the right notes of almond in it. The pears mellowed out once eaten baked and mixed with the rest of the tart. I do wish I had put more pears on the tart. It could've used about twice as much. Other than that...I have no real issues with it. And I think my baking design skills will improve with time and practice. I will never be a professional or even close. I have too many issues with precision when it comes to baking. But I think I could pass for decent. So hope the baking train and try it for yourself. Or just stare at the screen and envision how much better yours would look than mine!!

Fresh Homemade Ramen Noodles

So why on Earth would you make fresh ramen noodles when they are 15 cents a package? The same reason people make fresh pasta noodles instead of buying the $1 box. It tastes better! Thats the main reason we all make things from scratch isnt it? Because homemade trumps storebought any day of the week. But for some of us making from scratch is about more than that. Sometimes it is about the challenge presented. Can we rise to the occasion and make something as cheap as ramen noodles from scratch and have them taste better? Can we prove to ourselves that our culinary skills are being coninuously sharpened? Are we becoming stagnant in our cooking?  Or perhaps we want to make ourselves delusional in thinking we are somewhat on par with the high class chefs from 5 star restaurants and big names in the cooking world (not the Food Network people). For me is is a little bit of all of this. I like to delude myself into thinking that I can rub elbows with Jasques Pepin and he would turn to me and marvel at my culinary prowess. (Hey we all have to have dreams right??) Now dont get me wrong, I in no way think I could rub elbows with Pepin. I would faint on the spot or throw up on his shoes or perhaps just stare. But if by some miracle I survived enough to talk to him I KNOW I would be out of my league no matter how nice he was about it. Not saying I wouldnt want to learn from him of course.....but now I digress.

Back to ramen. I have recently subscribed to a new sort of culinary publication. It is called The Lucky Peach. This publication is a magazine for lack of a better word but it is heavy and in depth and more reading than recipes. And I have their very first issue. They only come out once a quarter and #2 set to hit stands in November. They are all themed too. This one was the Ramen issue. I do not think this publication is for everyone. In fact I am not sure of my family and friends who would enjoy it. But you can take this away from The Lucky Peach. And that is the Alkaline Ramen Noodle recipe. I paired it with some smoked pork broth, sliced pork tenderloin and vegetable condiments. If you like ramen noodles, you are sure to like this one! I will warn you that it is time consuming. But if you have made any of my recipes you will know that a lot of mine are time consuming. So just be prepared to work on it all day!

According to the article the baked soda is essential to the structural integrity of the noodles. "...the idea of baking baking soda 'changes the phase' of the stuffm turning it from sodium bicarbonate into sodium carbonate---an alkaline salt". This eleminates finding hard to get ingredients from Chinese markets to make authentic noodles and makes it more accessible to cooks everywhere.

Recipe:
3c all purpose flour
4T baked soda **see recipe below**
1/2c warm tap water
1/2c cold tap water

**For baked soda take 1/2c of baking soda and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Place in a 250 degree oven or toaster oven. Bake for 1 hour. Place unused baked soda in a jar with a lid and keep indefinitely. It will not look any differently from regular baking soda once baked.

In a large bowl place the warm water. Dissolve the baked soda in it. Then add the cold water.

Add the flour, stirring and mixing to form a crumbly ball---not your pleasant dough.

Turn the crumbly dough out on a work surface.

 Knead it together, working the dough for a full 5 minutes. (It will be very tough and unrelenting).

Wrap in plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 20 minutes. Then knead for another full 5 minutes. Again the dough will be super tough and hard to knead but push through the pain! Rewrap and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Divide the dough into 5-6 portions. Roll each portion out slightly and then roll through the settings on a pasta machine. Progress through the settings one-by-one. (For pasta dough I will normally skip one each time going from 7-to-5-to-3 but with this dough make sure you go one by one. The final thickness of the noodle is up to you. But I left mine at 3.

You can either hand cut the noodles or run through a noodle cutter attachement for your pasta machine. I used the spaghetti setting.

Keep the noodles well floured to keep from sticking.

Cook the noodles in a deep pot with plenty of water. Noodles cut on the thinnest setting will only need 2-2 1/2 minutes. Mine took about 3-5 minutes on once they floated. Check them regularly and stir to keep them from clumping.

Once they are done if they are stuck together (most likely they will be) rinse them under cold water and rinse away any excess flour or starch. This is super important because you may end up with extra starchy noodles and broth! Rinse the noodles after cooking!!




Recipe:

2-3c broth

1 pork tenderloin

1/2 red pepper, thin sliced

3-5 green onions, thin sliced

1/2c mushrooms, thin sliced
1-2t large grated ginger

1 clove garlic, thin sliced

soy sauce
black fungus strips **optional**

**Black fungus is a prized delicasy in Chinese cooking. It is only added at the end of cooking. It is more for texture than anything since it has a mild to non-existent taste.  


To make our dinner I roasted a pork tenderloin on 350 degrees for 1 hour. I seasoned only with salt, pepper, and garlic. I wanted to star to be the noodles and broth. I had some leftover smoked pork broth in the freezer that I used for the base. To make my smoked pork broth click this link for hogg and greens soup or find in the Recipes section of my blog. If you do not want to make your own broth then buy some chicken stock or vegetable stock. Place your stock on the stove and once meat is cooked through bring to a low boil. Let the meat rest for 10 minutes and then slice it thinly and set aside.

For your condiments the possibilities are endless. I stuck with what was in my fridge. Here is how I layered my bowl. I wanted ginger and garlic flavor but did not want mounds of it nor did I want to compromise the integrity of my broth. So I put 1/2-1t of grated ginger and 2 slices of garlic on the bottom of the bowl.

Then top with your cooked ramen noodles. Ladle in your broth until it comes up almost to the top of the noodles. Place in your veggies making sure they get into the broth to get the rawness out without making them mushy. Then top with your sliced pork. And if you have or want to get black fungus top with the fungus. Then dig in!!

Roast Chicken with Cumin Rainbow Carrots

Rainbow carrots....that is what this post is mostly about. Have you heard of rainbow carrots? I first learned about them a year ago in a magazine. They are about baby carrot sized and in various colors: orange, yellow, white, and purple. When I first saw them in the magazine I looked all over Vegas to find some. Granted I did not go to Whole Foods or other far away pricey places.....but I did look! So I put that thought out of my head once I couldn't find them. But I was shopping at Publix the other day and there they were.....staring me in the face from beside the bagged salad aisle! RAINBOW CARROTS! Oh man I think I squealed a little bit in the store! But that's okay. It was only the produce lady who is used to that from me now. So I bought 2 bags (there were only about 10 baby carrots in the bag) and skipped home to figure out what I wanted to do with them.

So I remembered a French lady making Cumin-Coriander roasted baby carrots and I thought that sounded pretty good. So I went with a light Middle Eastern theme. Light in that I used a few ingredients but it was not really middle eastern. I made an Orange-Cardamon rubbed roasted chicken. The cardamon is really what I consider middle eastern but not overt here. And then a side salad and some bread. Originally I was going to make this for Sunday lunch, but neither of us really wanted it then. So I opted for last night instead.

Recipe:
1 whole chicken
1c plain yogurt
1 orange, zested
1t cardamon powder
1/2t ground ginger
salt and pepper

In a small bowl mix together yogurt, orange zest, cardamon, and ginger. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Running your hand underneath the skin of the chicken gentle pull it away from the meat leaving a small pocket. Reaching your hands around the chicken breast down to the leg gently tear the skin connecting the two and run your fingers underneath the skin on the thighs and legs. Go slowly and gently so you do not tear your chicken skin. Once all the skin is loosened place 2/3 of the yogurt mixture under the chicken skin on the breasts, legs, and thighs. Rub remaining yogurt mixture over the outside of the chicken.

Place in a 425 degree oven for 30 minutes or until the skin starts to crisp up. Lower heat to 325 degrees and continue to cook until chicken is cooked through (another 30-45 minutes). Let the chicken cool down and then slice up however you prefer.

Carrot Recipe:
2 bags rainbow baby carrots
salt and pepper
1/2t cumin*
1/2t ground coriander*
olive oil

I used cumin seed and coriander seeds. I tried to grind them but did not have a mortar and pestle. That didnt work so well. I did not want fine powder so I places in a pepper grinder. Neither of these worked too well. So I am suggesting you use a powder to get maximum flavor out of your carrots.

If you found carrots like I did, they should already be peeled and cleaned up. Give them a quick rinse and pat dry. Place on a large baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil, enough to glisten the carrots. Roll the carrots around to make sure the oil is all over the carrot. Season with salt and pepper. I went a little fancy here and used Sel Gris salt and white ground pepper. Sprinkle cumin and coriander on the carrots. Gently shake the pan to roll the carrots around and get some seasonings on all sides. I like to use my hands though. I feel it works a little better if not messier. 

I roasted at 325 for 30 minutes. At least once flip your carrots over or shake your pan to let them move around. This helps them 1)not stick to your pan and 2) evenly cook and not burn on one side.

We opted for a light salad to go with our meal. And I pulled out one of the vinaigrettes given to us by my Aunt for our anniversary....Tuscan vinaigrette. Okay, okay....so Tuscan doesnt sound like it goes with light Middle Eastern, but the dressing is mostly balsamic vinegar and olive oil, so it went just fine. In fact it was our preferred bread dipping sauce. We did try the chili dipping out but preferred the Tuscan with this meal. 

 

 

So the verdict of our meal? All that hype over the rainbow carrots and the chicken was the suprise! Don't get me wrong....there was nothing wrong with the carrots. In fact they were nice tasting carrots. There just wasn't anything special tasting about the carrots other than their look. They are good for a visually entertaining statement on your plate, but no taste difference. But the chicken.....it was moist and tender and very nice tasting. The slight orange with the musky cardamon was delightful. Alex enjoyed that more than anything else on his plate. So I was happy. Not the dish I was envisioning, but a pleasant suprise none the less. So unless you are just looking to liven your dull colored plate with something different and unique.....dont buy the rainbow carrots. They taste the same. Although tasty. So buy with all of that in mind and perhaps you will not be let down when you eat them!

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with a Cranberry Chipotle Dressing

Okay so todays recipe is a long winded name.....but totally worth it! I know it probably sounds a little weird right now, but youve got to trust me! And I know it's hard. But hopefully seeing some pictures of the dish will persuade you to my side! I love sweet potatoes. I traditionally prefer the yellow to the orange potatoes and when I can find the purple sweet potatoes I prefer those the most. And its probably something to do with eye appeal, but whatever. But there are only a few ways I know how to make sweet potatoes. And normally its wrapping in foil and roasted for an hour. Then slathering in butter. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact it is preferred most of the time. But sometimes you want different and unique. And tonight was that night. So I found this recipe and made some minor adjustements. Hopefully you will find it as delightful as I did!

Recipe:
2 1/2lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
3T olive oil
3/4t salt
1/2t black pepper
3/4c dried cranberries (original recipe called for fresh but I always have dried on hand so why not)
1/2c water
4t agave nectar or honey*
1/4t chipotle powder or 1 chipotle in adobo sauce finely chopped
3/4c pecans, roughly chopped
1/2c green onions, sliced

*Agave nectar is a natural sweetener found in Mexico in the same plant used to make Tequila. It is more expensive but worth it...especially on sale!

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Toss your sweet potatoes with 2T olive oil and sprinkle with some salt and pepper. Place on a large baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes or until tender. Flip or stir the potatoes halfway through baking.

Place 1T olive oil, cranberries, water, agave and chipotle in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Cook for 5-10 minutes. If using dried cranberries make sure they are plump and tender and if using fresh cranberries make sure all berries have popped.

Remove from heat and pulse through a food processor until chunky.

Place pecans in a small skillet over medium heat and toast for about 3 minutes or until slightly brown. Make sure you constantly stir the nuts so they do not burn in the pan.

In a large bowl combine potatoes, pecans and cranberry mixture. Gently stir together. Top with green onions.

I grilled some chicken tenders and was going to have a salad with it but since Alex was at work I skipped the salad! And it was a little different the first bite I took. But not unpleasant. The more bites I took the more I liked it. And by the end I was really enjoying it. I wish I had put a few more nuts in it, but oh well. Live and learn. I hope there are some adventurous people out there who are willing to try this and let me know what you think!

Banana-Cashew Crusted Fish

Well after going through my boxes and bags of goodies I came up with the first dish. I guess I should say me and Alex came up with a dish because he came up with some good ideas in there, I just put it to work. We decided to take the dried bananas and cashews and grind them up and crust the fish and then saute. So then what to eat with it......hmm...thats the part that made us think. Nothing really sounded tropical. So I thought back to a recipe I make with sausage into meatballs and serve over rice with a pineapple chipotle chutney. So Alex remembered I had some pineapple chili sauce in the fridge so we could make that our sauce and eat over rice. So the dish was born!! Muuahahahaha!!........ok so its no Frankenstein.....but we were still excited.

Recipe:
4-8 fish filets
1/4c dried bananas
1/4c cashews
1t agave nectar or honey*
vegetable oil
1c cooked rice
1/2c pineapple chili sauce**

*Agave nectar is a natural sweetener from a Mexican plant that is also used to make tequila. It is more expensive but if you can find it on sale....I absolutely recommend it!

** I found this bottle at Big Lots. I make a regular sweet chili sauce used as a condiment to Asian cuisine. This sauce replaces some of the sugar with pineapple to give it a fruity sweetness. It was very delicious. I might try to make it one day in the future.

So first things first is you need to grind up your bananas and cahsews. And there is no need to buy seperate things of them if you have a tropical trail mix. I pulled out all the banana chips and about 1/4c of the cashews. If you have more fish you will need more of each item. 

 The first thing I did was put them in a ziploc bag and pound them with a meat mallet. This makes it easier on your food processor. Once you get your pieces broken down into large crumbs transfer the mixture to a small food processor. Whirl until the crumbs break down into smaller crumbs. It wont be like a powder when you are finished. But as long as they are small it will be okay

So we had originally thought of dredging the fish in the crumbs and then sauting. But what happened next was tragic. I heated my oil in my pan on medium high heat. The fish was thin and I wanted a quick cook on high heat to get good color. But the crumbs started to fall off and then burn in the hot oil. This permeated into the fish and the crumbs on those fish. So I scrapped that idea. Then I realized if I just did a quick cook on the fish lightly salted and made a hot crumb mixture it would work out better.

Directions:
In a large skillet heat vegetable oil in pan over medium heat. Salt fish and cook until done on both sides. Mine only took about 1 minute per side. Remove from pan.

In a smaller skillet over medium heat add cashew and banana crumbs and constantly stir so as not to burn. Add 1t of agave nectar to bring out the sweetness in the bananas. If you do not have agave nectar use honey. Once mixture is slightly sticky and warmed through remove from pan.

In a small pot heat up the chili sauce. You could also place in a bowl and microwave to get warm.

To plate: Put your rice in the middle of your plate. Top with sauted fish. Sprinkle some nut mixture over the fish and then dollop the chili sauce over everything.

This was a really good dish. I wasnt sure if it would be great or just okay. But inspiration was there and the whole dish came together in a matter of minutes. I think the best part was that I had cooked rice in the fridge so I didnt have to cook any! So I hope I did justice to this dish with my ingredients given. Hope to see what yall think about it!

Anniversary

Well yesterday me and Alex celebrated 7 years together. Hard to believe some days. Other days I totally buy it! We didnt really do anything big, we never really do. Alex made me a beautiful herb box about a month ago so I could start using it. And he got another membership to Ducks Unlimited. I did spend the previous couple of days making Ragu al Forno. You see it was my grandmothers birthday and we were all going up there to be with her. So my Ragu was more for them, but since I had some leftover why not make some for us? I mean its Ragu al Forno!! Anyways, I digress.

So you know how most people talk bad about their family? They always have some branch of their family tree they are ashamed of or embarassed by. Well mine's not like that. I think they must be the most caring and loving people around. And what happened next was a complete shock. So we are all finished eating lunch, the kids are all playing and everyone is giving my Granny her presents. And then after shes done they pull me and Alex and sit us at the head of the table together. Right then it hit me they are doing something sneaky. They said they knew it was our anniversary and they wanted to do something for us. So everyone had a bag of some kind of food and they were giving us the Top Chef challenge! They wanted to see me make dishes with the ingredients I was giving. And giving they were. We got a half a table full of goodies.

In the box you see Hoovers corn meal (best in the world!!), dry milk, protein bars, 2 beautiful pumpkins, tropical trail mix, Jim Dandy grits, and pickled hot sausage. To the left of the box is a can of guinea onions and a huge bag full of peppers......wonderful looking peppers. In front of the box you see pickled green jalepenos, part peanuts, chili dipping oil, raspberry vinaigrette, tuscan vinaigrette, Parmesan Garlic vinaigrette, basil pesto, sundried tomato pesto, red pepper spread, honey roasted peanuts, tilapia, and another large bag of peppers. Then to the right of the box you see a basket of hickory nuts, a bag of pears, flat leaf parsely plant, rosemary plant, and 2 bottles of listerine. Whew.......thats a lot of stuff! And thats not including the bag of turnips and roots and the dried chili strands that were also given to us.

I was overwhelmed and truly grateful for my wonderful family. So thank you everyone.....I promise I will make some really good and tasty dishes with the ingredients that were given to us. And you can believe that I will be blogging all of them! I already have some really good ideas for some of the ingredients and I will start working out some more recipes with them. But Alex has already dipped into the pickled hot sausage.....dont know how he eats it! But thats okay....after all they were given to both of us. So enjoy those sausage babe!! And thanks to my wonderful family!!

Green Curry Pork and Eggplant

I don't know about you, but we love a good curry in our house. Green curry, yellow curry, red curry, middle eastern curry....doesn't matter. It's all good. So when I stumbled across this recipe using ground pork.....I couldn't resist! I mean it's curry and pork! I love pork. It has got to me my most favorite meat in the whole world. There is nothing quite like a succulent piece of pig!! Mmmmmm............(as writer zones out in a pig-related coma).................

Sorry about that! So back to the recipe.

Recipe:
1T vegetable oil
1/3c green curry paste*
1 1/2lbs ground pork
1 large eggplant cut into 1inch pieces
1 1/2c chicken broth
3/4c coconut milk*
1T fish sauce
1 1/2T soy sauce
1/2-1 lime juiced
cooked jasmine rice
1 scallion, sliced thinly

Using a wok or large skillet, heat oil over medium high. Add curry paste and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add pork and cook, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, 5 minutes. Add eggplant and cook until beginning to soften, 4 minutes.

 Add broth, coconut milk, soy sauce, fish sauce, and lime juice and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook at a rapid simmer until eggplant is tender

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Serve over rice and top with sliced scallions.

I was not paying too much attention to the recipe and kinda did my own thing. I added the full can of coconut milk but reduced my chicken broth to about 1/2-1c. I also thought the recipe said 1-2T of curry paste so I added probably 3-4T....we like our curry like I said. Because of these things I had too much liquid in my pot and had to cook longer to get some of the liquid out. This resulted in a mushy eggplant. It didn't really bother me, but Alex didn't like the texture of the eggplant. And while the dish was fine, I tasted a lot of coconut milk and not enough curry. When I looked back at the recipe....I realized. So I do not recommend using a full can of coconut milk unless you are using at least twice the amount of pork. The coconut taste is not off putting, its just sweet instead of spicy. That is why I added the fish sauce and the soy sauce. I saw it garnished with lime wedges and in traditional green curry chicken you put the lime juice into the liquid. So I added it in the liquid instead of on the side to try and help counter balance the sweetness.

I would absolutely make this again. It was quick, easy, cheap, and good for you. So why not. I will just do it slightly different next time. I hope yall try this and if you have any feedback, as always feel free to pass on the love!!