Sausage Fried Rice

I woke up yesterday morning and just wanted food. I wanted Caribbean Food, then I want breakfast foods, then I wanted Sausages. I did some research and came upon this recipe at AllRecipes.com .

How it's supposed to look:

 

Ingredients- servings 8 ppl

• 1 pound ground pork sausage
• 5 eggs, beaten
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 head cabbage, cored and shredded
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 6 cups cooked white rice, cold
• 1/4 cup soy sauce, or to taste
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can bean sprouts, drained
• 1 (6 ounce) package frozen green peas, thawed
• ground black pepper to taste
• 3 green onions, chopped

Directions:

1. In a skillet over medium-high heat, cook the sausage until evenly browned. Drain, and remove sausage from the pan. In the same pan, using the remaining coating of grease from the sausage, scramble the eggs, stirring frequently until cooked through. Set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a very large skillet or electric skillet over medium-high heat. Stir fry the cabbage and carrots just until the cabbage has wilted. Add the cold rice, and fry, stirring so that there are no clumps. Mix in the sausage and pour in some soy sauce. Stir in bean sprouts, peas, and eggs, mixing well so there are no big chunks of egg. Season with pepper, and stir in green onions just before removing from the heat. Adjust soy sauce to taste, and serve. 

 How mine looks:

Conclusion:

I got to the supermarket and realized that I'm not a huge fan of bean sprouts, peas or cabbage, so I did some substituting. I bought Asparagus, red & green jalapenos,  green pepper, and broccoli.  I cooked the eggs and sausages, turkey, as specified in the recipe. From there I improvised, I sauteed the broccolli and asapargus in the pan with some black pepper sprinkled liberally through out. Then I added the pepper, jalapenos, onion and garlic to the pan. 

I cooked that until good then lowered the fire. Added in the rice and the sausages.  I sprinkled in some of the soy sauce. Then I added in the eggs. From my prior foray in cooking fried rice, I knew that i liked a teaspoon of sugar and a teaspoon of cumin. It just makes the meal a little bit more delicious. 

After my failure with the Indian food, I was really pleased with how well this meal went. I can actually cook, good to know.  

Indian-Inspired Shrimp

Ok, I stumbled across this recipe and became obsessed.  I just had to make it, I looked at other recipes, but the whole time I knew I was going to make this one.

How it's supposed to look:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup ghee or vegetable oil
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 1/2 cups finely chopped red onion
4 to 6 green chiles, seeded and finely chopped
3 tablespoons minced ginger
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (13.5-ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk
1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Steamed basmati rice, for serving

Directions:

Set a 14-inch saute pan over medium heat. Add the ghee and toast the mustard seeds and cumin until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the onions, chiles, ginger and garlic and saute, stirring occasionally, until the onions are slightly caramelized, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add the tomato paste to the pan and cook for 2 minutes more. Pour the diced tomatoes into the pan and cook until reduced by about half, 3 to 4 minutes. Raise the heat to high, and add the coconut milk. Cook the coconut milk until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Season the shrimp with 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt. Add the shrimp to the pan, stirring often, and cook until curled and pink, about 5 minutes. Add the chopped cilantro and season with the remaining salt. Serve the shrimp over steamed basmati rice.

How mine looks:

Conclusion:

This was a bit of a mistake. I tried my best to lower the ingredients to match a meal for one person as opposed to a meal for 4-6, like the recipe calls for.

The biggest mistake was the can of dice tomato. I'm in LA, newly moved out here and trying my best to not spend a lot of money. Which means that I purchased the cheapest brand of diced tomato. I usually use Del Mante diced tomato, but I used Safeway Brand for this and the chicken cacciatore. Both recipes tasted a bit salty and a bit off. The shrimp somehow tasted worst, because there's a lot of tomato products called to be in it.

Tomato weird aftertaste aside, I knew that the meal would have been delicious. The flavors were fine and the apartment smelled like an Indian resturant. Unfortunatlely the damn tomatos ruined everything.

This is a recipe I will try again, this time with a better can of diced tomatoes or perhaps I'll dice my own tomatoes.

Chicken Cacciatore

Chicken Cacciatore was a huge hit when I made it for Mother's Day a few weeks ago, so I figured I'd make it again for myself.


How it's supposed to look

Ingredients

• 4 chicken thighs
• 2 chicken breasts with skin and backbone, halved crosswise
• 2 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour, for dredging
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 ( 28-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
• 3/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons drained capers
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves

Directions

Sprinkle the chicken pieces with 1 teaspoon of each salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour to coat lightly.

In a large heavy saute pan, heat the oil over a medium-high flame. Add the chicken pieces to the pan and saute just until brown, about 5 minutes per side. If all the chicken does not fit in the pan, saute it in 2 batches. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside. Add the bell pepper, onion and garlic to the same pan and saute over medium heat until the onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the wine and simmer until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes with their juice, broth, capers and oregano. Return the chicken pieces to the pan and turn them to coat in the sauce. Bring the sauce to a simmer. Continue simmering over medium-low heat until the chicken is just cooked through, about 30 minutes for the breast pieces, and 20 minutes for the thighs.

Using tongs, transfer the chicken to a platter. If necessary, boil the sauce until it thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Spoon off any excess fat from atop the sauce. Spoon the sauce over the chicken, then sprinkle with the basil and serve.

How Mine looks:

With Pasta

 

With Rice

Conclusion:

Ok, so I made a lot less meat this time, only made it with 2 chicken breasts and did my best to even out the recipe. I accidentally spilled some of the liquid from the capers jar into the pot, so the chicken was a lot saltier then it was the last time I made it. In addition, I decided to have it with white rice instead of pasta, but it's still pretty delicious. It only took about 25 mins to make, with the less meat, and I enjoyed it lots. Win for me. 

A Pasta dish of my own creation.

A few months ago, I was back home in New York, STARVING. I had cheese filled pasta, spinach and a bunch of spices. I decided to experiment. I am sure that I was not the first person to come up with the below combination, but since I did this all my own, I don't care, it's mine, mine, MINE!

How it's supposed to look:

Ingredients:
Cheese filled pasta
2 teaspoons of olive oil
Frozen spinach (how ever much you want)
Crushed Red Chili pepper flakes
2 garlic gloves
1 small onion
black pepper
salt
Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Set water to boil, for the pasta. While water boils, cut up garlic, and onion. Sauté garlic, onion and spinach on a skillet with olive oil. Sprinkle Red Pepper flakes, black pepper and a pinch of salt. When the pasta is cooked, mix it in with the spinach mix and toss.

Add Red Chilli pepper flakes to taste.
Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Conclusion:
I love this. The first time I made it, I was pleasantly surprised and felt victorious. I cooked with out a recipe, just my own instinct as a cook and it was delicious.

Caribbean Style Curry Shrimp

I have not posted in over a year, literally. Which is really sad, because I have been cooking up a storm in that time. But, now I am back and will be updating once again with awesome recipes. Success and failures.


CURRY SHRIMP RECIPE

How it's supposed to look:

INGREDIENTS:
Serves: 4
2 lbs fresh shrimps
1.25 fl oz oil
2 onions, chopped
1/4 shin of a scotch bonnet pepper finely chopped up
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 sweet pepper chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
black pepper
1 1/2 cups water


Peel and devein shrimp if necessary. Heat oil. Add the curry powder and continue to fry for two minutes. Then add the tomatoes, sweet peppers, salt, pepper and other seasonings. Add water. Bring to a boil then reduce. Add shrimp. Heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until shrimp is cooked.
Best served with white rice.



How Mine looks:

Conclusion:
Delicious, delicious, delicious. I've moved to LA, which is basically the land of no Caribbean food and most importantly no Caribbean family to cook for me. So I  was missing the comforts of home and decided to cook.

This recipe is awesome. It's favorable, and spicy, but not enough to burn your tongue. I am a huge fan of scotch bonnet peppers, in just about everything. Add to that my love of green peppers and curry and you have a match made in heaven. It was a taste of Jamaica.

My mexican fiesta!

So I'm pretty obsessed with Tomato rice.This place I love named "La Palapa" has the best red rice I've ever had and I never stop trying to find that recipe somewhere. Here's another attempt.

How Mine looks:

Tomato Rice:

INGREDIENTS – Serves 2
• 1 cup long grain rice, soaked in water for 10 minutes (I use Basmati Rice)
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 Jalapeno chile (remove ribs and seeds if you can’t handle the heat)
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced (or as per taste)
• 1 tbsp Tomato paste
• 1 to 1-1/2 cups vegetable stock (or water)
• salt to taste
• few sprigs of cilantro to serve
• juice of 1 small lime (optional)

Method

• Process the tomatoes and onion in a processor until pureed.
• It should give you about 1 cup worth of puree. Set aside.
• Meanwhile in a skillet, heat 1 tsp oil (you can use upto 1 tbsp). Add the drained rice to the oil and saute until rice is golden and translucent.
• Add garlic and jalapeno and cook for another 1 minute.
• Add the pureed tomatoes, 1 cup of vegetable stock along with tomato paste and salt. Depending on the rice quality you might need 1/2 or 1 cup more of water. I use totally 2 cups of 1 cup of Basmati rice to get that perfect cooked yet separate rice texture instead of mushy.
• Close with a tight fitting lid and cook for 10-15 minutes (stirring halfway), or until the rice is tender and cooked completely.
• Garnish with cilantro and squeeze lime juice (if using) You can otherwise serve lime wedges to be squeezed on individual plates as per taste.

Re-fried Pinto Beans:


Ingredients:

• 2 cups pinto beans
• 2/3 to 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 bulb of roasted garlic, approximately 6 or 7 cloves
• 2 - 3 tsp seasalt, depending on how much salt you like
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 finely chopped tomato, vine ripened or home grown
• 4 quart pot

Method:

• First pour your beans out on a table or cutting board. Sort through them and discard any rocks or shriveled beans. This shouldn't take but a couple of minutes to do.
• Put the beans in a colander and rinse them under cold water. Pour the beans into a pot.
• Add 8 cups of cold water and the bay leaf.
• Put the stove burner on high and cover partially with a lid. As soon as the beans start to boil, lower the heat a little but still continue to boil.
  
• Cook for 2 hours and keep adding water as it cooks away. Stir occasionally. Keep the water level at 2 inches above the beans.
• After two hours of cooking, the beans should be soft and darker brown in color. If not cook
  them another 20 to 30 minutes. Then add the oil, salt, tomato, and roasted garlic.
• You can slide the roasted garlic out of it's sleeve in the bulb, right into the beans.

• To get the best flavor, simmer your beans 1- 1 1/2 hour or as long as you can with all the spices and oil. The longer these pinto bean recipes simmer, the better they will taste.

• After 1 to 1 1/2 hours, it seems like all the beans want to do is stick to the pot. This is the point where you turn off the heat, remove the bay leaf, and mash them with a potato masher.

Ingredients

• 12 chicken thighs
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place flour in a shallow plate or bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Put the bread crumbs in another shallow plate or bowl and beat the eggs in another bowl.
3. Dredge the chicken piece by piece in the flour, then the egg, then the bread crumbs, until all pieces are coated. Pour the oil into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Add the chicken to the dish and sprinkle with paprika to taste. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, then turn pieces over and bake for another 30 minutes. Remove from oven and drain on paper towels. Enjoy!

I MAKE SALMON!

Ok, so my fave fish is Salmon, but I'd never made it before, and I was all "Naoms, why don't you make salmon?" That was an excellent question and so Salmon was made, by me.

How it's supposed to look:


How mine looks:

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 jalapenos, cut into rings
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 3 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
• 1 cup apricot preserves

Directions

4 (4 by 4-inch) pieces parchment paper

• 4 cedar plank pieces, food service quality
• 4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets, skinned and boned
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 (3-inch) fresh rosemary sprigs
• 1 lemon, zested

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a small saute pan over medium heat, heat oil. When hot, add jalapenos and saute until caramelized. Add garlic, and before it begins to brown, deglaze with white wine. Next add mustard and apricot preserves and bring to a simmer. Simmer over low heat for 20 minutes and let completely cool.

Place parchment paper on planks, add salmon, lightly salt and pepper, place a rosemary sprig on each fillet, and liberally apply cooled apricot mixture.

Place cedar plank on gas burner. When plank has begun to smoke, place into preheated oven.

Cook salmon until medium-rare; remove from oven and let sit for 2 to 3 minutes until serving. Garnish with lemon zest.

Conclusion;

Did not use cedar plank, cuz I don't have that. I also did not lemon zest it, because, quite frankly I don't see the point of "garnishing" anything. It was delicious. The first night, i was like hmm, fishy, so I left it in the oven a little longer and the second night I was like an animal, consuming it all uncivilized. Make this!