Category: Main Course

Main Course

Spicy Shrimp, Avocado, and Mango

by Wendi4 Comments on Spicy Shrimp, Avocado, and Mango

Spicy Shrimp Avocado and Mango

Back in January, The Kitchen Witch launched a month of butt shrinking recipes to kick off the year.  After all the excesses of the holidays, it’s nice to settle back into more sensible eating habits.  As much as I enjoyed the homemade Berger Cookies and the Muddy Buddies, that’s not a winning diet plan.  While January (and February) may have come and gone, this butt shrinking recipe is sticking around because the combination of shrimp, mango, chili, and avocado is sublime.  Kitchen Witch did hers more like a lettuce wrap while The Mistah and I converted ours into entree salads.  Whichever you choose, you really can’t go wrong.

Spicy Shrimp, Avocado, and Mango

Inspired by The Kitchen Witch and Bobby Flay

  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1 red chili
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 red bell pepper – roasted, peeled, and seeded
  • 1/4 cup mango nectar
  • juice of 1 lime
  • 2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • 1 cup rice stick noodles, cooked per package directions
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 avocado, sliced
  • 1 mango, sliced
  • 4 to 6 whole romaine lettuce leaves

Combine olive oil, red chili, red pepper flakes, roasted red pepper, mango nectar, and lime juice in a food processor and pulse to thoroughly combine.  Let the marinade sit at room temperature for at least one hour.  Taste for seasoning and add salt if needed.  Reserve 1/4 cup marinade.  Place remaining marinade in a medium bowl.

Dry the shrimp with a paper towel.  Add the shrimp to the marinade in the medium bowl.  Allow to sit for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the rice noodles according to the directions on the package.  Rinse in cold water, toss with sesame oil, and set aside.

Divide the lettuce leaves between two plates.  Drape the rice noodles over the lettuce.  Arrange mango and avocado slices on top of lettuce and noodles.

Heat a large nonstick pan over medium high heat.  Add the shrimp and cook five to seven minutes, until they turn opaque and are just done.

Place shrimp on top of the mango and avocado.  Drizzle with reserved marinade and enjoy.

{printable recipe}

Chicken, Main Course

Asparagus Chicken With Creamy Dijon Sauce

by Wendi9 Comments on Asparagus Chicken With Creamy Dijon Sauce

Sauced and Plated

I’ve cooked many a boneless chicken breast in my day.  If I’m being honest, I’ve ruined more than I’ve gotten right.  It all started in college, in a tiny campus housing apartment with an electric stovetop.  Neither UMBC nor the Office of Residential Life trusted us enough to put ovens in the apartments.  And for whatever reason, it never occurred to me to cook the chicken in the toaster oven before it eventually went up in flames.  Continue reading “Asparagus Chicken With Creamy Dijon Sauce” →

Chicken, Main Course

Table For One

by Wendi14 Comments on Table For One

silverware
image from istockphoto.com

One weekend a month, The Mistah goes off and does his Army thing.  And as bad as this might sound, I enjoy it.  I enjoy having the house to myself.  I enjoy staying in my pajamas until all hours of the afternoon.  I enjoy hunkering down on the sofa with a book or movie, ignoring all the things that I should be doing.  What I enjoy most is feeling like I don’t have to cook. Continue reading “Table For One” →

Fish, Main Course, South Beach Diet

Mustard Glazed Salmon

by WendiLeave a Comment on Mustard Glazed Salmon

Mustard Glazed Salmon

So my first attempt at a Cook Wise recipe didn’t go so well.  While I haven’t retaken the Raised Waffles exam, I have aced the Salmon Fillet with Mustard quiz.  It’s quite similar to the Honey Mustard Chicken Breast that we like so much here at BAH.  But quicker.  And who doesn’t love a quick recipe?  While I could use that extra time to study up on the Raised Waffles, my assigned reading this week is The Sweet Life In Paris.  And I think there’s going to be a pop quiz coming up so I need to be ready.

Salmon Fillet with Mustard

Cook Wise

  • 2 cups apple juice
  • 1/2 cup coarse grain mustard (I personally adore Inglehoffer’s Original Stone Ground Mustard)
  • 1 tablespoon fresh dill, finely chopped
  • 2 to 4 salmon fillets, with or without skin
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a sheet pan with aluminum foil.

Bring the apple juice to a boil in a small saucepan over medium high heat until reduced to approximately 1/4 cup.  Whisk in the mustard and dill and remove from the heat.

Pat the fish dry with paper towels and place (skin side down if applicable) on the baking sheet and season with salt.  Spoon the apple juice mixture over the fish and bake for 10 to 15 minutes until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

Serve immediately.

{printable recipe}

Main Course, Soup

Food Memories – Creamy Vegetable Soup

by Wendi13 Comments on Food Memories – Creamy Vegetable Soup

Serve

This Food Memory is from Joanne of Inspired Taste.  She sent me the recipe right before Thanksgiving, which was inspired because I needed a serious infusion of vegetables into my diet after pigging out on turkey day.  This soup was easy to fix which was exactly what I needed on what turned out to be a busy day in the kitchen.  Thanks Joanne for helping to lighten my load. Continue reading “Food Memories – Creamy Vegetable Soup” →

Chicken, Main Course

Sweet and Sour

by Wendi20 Comments on Sweet and Sour

Sweet and Sour

My journeys around these Interwebs leads me some interesting places.  Some I come back to time after time for inspiration and ideas.  And thanks to those sites, I discover new destinations on a daily basis.  I’m telling you, it really IS a world wide web y’all.  Today I’d like you to journey with me to the world of the Brown Eyed Baker for some Sweet and Sour Chicken.

In her post, Michelle said, “This recipe, although it takes awhile to get from the stove to your plate, is well worth the effort. The flavor of the sauce is perfect, the texture of the chicken is wonderful and all together, you’d think you ordered this from the neighborhood Chinese restaurant.”  Yeah, what she said.  For two reasons:

1 – This dish will take you a long ass time to get on the table.  So don’t come home, casually glance over the recipe and seeing that nothing needs to be marinated, decide to settle into watching that episode of The Gilmore Girls that’s sitting on your dvr before you start dinner.  You will be very sorry when you come back into the kitchen at 6:30 only to realize that you’re not going to eat until about 8pm.

2  – Assuming that you choose to ignore #1 above, it will still be worth the effort to start making this even if you don’t get to eat until 8pm.  Because this Sweet and Sour Chicken is that good.

Somewhere between coating and battering and browning the chicken, I had my doubts.  There was also some pesky basting every 15 minutes for the hour of oven time.  And then there was the whole it’s late and I’m really hungry whining going on in my head.  I was determined that under no circumstances would I like this dish.  But if the happy dance I did as soon as I took one bite of a sticky, glazed, tangy, sweet morsel is any indication, my determination is no match for Sweet and Sour Chicken.

Sorry Luke, Lorelai, Rory, and Logan, but you’re no match for Sweet and Sour Chicken either.  The next time this comes up on the week’s menu, y’all are just going to have to chill out in dvr land until I get SSC in the oven.  If you tasted even one bite, you’d understand completely.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Brown Eyed Baker’s Adaptation of Amber’s Take Out Fake Out

BAH Note:  Unless you scale this recipe down and only make half (which isn’t a bad idea if you cook for one), I suggest working in batches from the point where the chicken goes into the cornstarch.  I also suggest being prepared to get your hands pretty dirty because I found that my hands were the best tool for getting the chicken from the cornstarch to the egg and then the frying pan. Just remember to wash them thoroughly after handing the chicken.

  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 cup cornstarch
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 4 tablespoons ketchup
  • 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Combine the sugar, ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce and garlic powder in a small bowl and whisk to combine.  Set sauce aside.

Cut the chicken breasts into bite sized chunks.  Place the cornstarch in a resealable plastic bag, add the chicken pieces, and shake to coat.

Crack the eggs into a medium sized bowl and whisk.  Shake excess cornstarch from chicken and coat chicken with egg.

Heat half the oil over medium high heat in a large frying pan, add half of the chicken, and brown on all sides.  Remove cooked chicken to a 9×13 baking dish and repeat with the remaining chicken.

Pour the sauce over the chicken and give it a stir once or twice so the pieces are well coated.  Bake for 1 hour, basting and turning the chicken in the sauce every 15 minutes.

{printable recipe}

Main Course

Stuffed Peppers

by Wendi10 Comments on Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed Peppers

My Grandmother made stuffed peppers at least one a month when I was growing up.  But for some reason, it took me many years to realize that I had no idea how she made them.  What I have discovered in my personal quest to document some of her recipes is that getting her to write these things down is like pulling teeth.  Seriously, I’ve had to badger her, which is not at all how I was raised to treat my elders.  But I do what I have to. Continue reading “Stuffed Peppers” →

Appetizers, Main Course

Jaden’s Coconut Shrimp

by Wendi11 Comments on Jaden’s Coconut Shrimp

Jaden's Coconut Shrimp

These truths I  hold to be self evident:

  1. There are lots of food blogs out there.
  2. It’s impossible to follow every one.
  3. Clearly, I’m missing out on some good stuff.
  4. That’s not a good thing.

Thankfully, the blogs I read help me to find some of that good stuff that’s on other sites.  So I’m giving Alice @ Savory Sweet Life a big BAH thanks for her post of Jaden’s Coconut Shrimp.  Otherwise, this gem would have gone unnoticed by me.  And as #4 states, that is not a good thing.

I am entering this recipe in the Get Grillin’ Event run by Family Fresh Cooking and Cookin’ Canuck, sponsored by Ile de France Cheese, Rösle, Emile Henry, Rouxbe and ManPans. This week’s theme is appetizers.  Check out all the entries and submit one of your own!

Jaden’s Coconut Shrimp

The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook

  • 1/4 cup shredded coconut
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 1 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 4 scallions, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
  • 3 tablespoons cognac
  • kosher salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon sugar (if using sweetened coconut, omit)

BAH Tip: If using smaller shrimp, work in batches so that they do not steam.  You want them to cook quickly in the pan so it’s important that you only have a single layer of shrimp in the pan at a time.

Pat shrimp dry with paper towels and set aside.

Place a large frying pan over medium heat and add the coconut.  Stir occasionally and toast until golden brown.  Transfer coconut to a plate.

Return empty frying pan to stove and set over high heat.  The pan is ready when a bead of water sizzles on contact and evaporates.  Add oil and shrimp to the pan.  Cook for one minute then turn and cook for one minute on the other side.  Remove shrimp from the pan, leaving as much oil in it as possible.

Reduce heat to medium and add butter to the pan.  Once it has melted and starts foaming, add the green onion and garlic.  Cook until fragrant, approximately 30 seconds.  Remove frying pan from the stove and add the cognac, a pinch of salt, and sugar (if using).  Return pan to the stove and stir to combine.  Return shrimp to the pan and let the sauce thicken slightly and coat the shrimp.

Remove from heat, add the toasted coconut, and gently toss to combine.

Serve as an appetizer or add rice for an entree.

{Printable Recipe}

Main Course, Pasta

Splurge

by Wendi12 Comments on Splurge

Tagliarelle
The crappy economy makes it hard to feel like even an occasional splurge is ok.  But my wise friend Jeannie rightly pointed out that living in fear is not really living.  So from time to time I remind myself of that and try to work a special treat into the kitchen or pantry.  Maybe it’s a bottle of finishing oil to give dishes a lovely punctuation, a bar of extra dark chocolate to savor, or a small order of sushi for The Mistah to enjoy.  Most recently it was a container of white truffle butter and fancy pasta. Continue reading “Splurge” →

Main Course

Food Memories – Peasant Style Pork Chops

by Wendi2 Comments on Food Memories – Peasant Style Pork Chops

Peasant Style Pork Chops
Today’s Food Memory is courtesy of my pal Jim.  I think it is a perfect example of how food can help us keep alive the memory of those that we loved and lost.  I love you Jim and I like to believe that every time you make this dish, your dad is there sitting at the table with you.

Peasant Style Pork Chops

OK – here’s the story.  When my mom was sick back in the late 80’s, my dad HAD to learn how to cook, so he found all sorts of recipes that he experimented with ALL of the time.  Some sucked…and others would be INCREDIBLE!  This was my favorite.

EVERY time I would come home for dinner from college or even after I moved out and came home, this was the dinner he made.  My mom found the recipe about a year after he died.  I now make it with such FOND memories of the greatest man I ever knew.

John Hoyas’ Peasant Style Pork Chops

BAH Note: Jim didn’t specify bone in or boneless chops so I used thick cut, boneless loin chops.  I had to ask him about Irish potatoes and he said, “I think they are smaller than Idaho but larger than red. I’ve just used Idaho myself and then you only need two big ones.”  I used golden mushroom soup instead of plain cream of mushroom.  But that’s just me, I’m a golden girl.  And yes, you should expect that anything that has a can of cream soup and 1 1/2 cups of sour cream is going to be rich.

  • 4 loin or shoulder pork chops
  • flour
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • salt and pepper
  • vegetable oil
  • 4 Irish potatoes, sliced (we like to leave on the peel)
  • 2 large onions, sliced
  • 1 1/2 cups sour cream
  • 1 can of cream of mushroom (or for me he would always use cream of celery!!) soup
  • 1/2 tsp of dry mustard
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt

Trim excess fat from chops and roll in flour.  Brown chops and garlic in small amount of oil over medium heat.  Season with salt and pepper.

Place potatoes in a 13×9 inch casserole dish.  Top with chops.  Separate onion slice into rings and arrange over chops.

Blend sour cream, soup, salt and mustard.  Pour over potatoes, chops, and onions.  Cover with foil and bake 1 1/2 hours @ 350.  Add 1/2 hour @ higher altitudes!!

{printable recipe}