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Posts Tagged ‘garlic’

In the Kitchen with…Liya

02 May

I know it’s been a little while since I showed any signs of life. I know there are no excuses, but A and I embarked on another remodel and are currently in the finishing stages. But enough about that, let’s move on to what I have to share with you today.

I am very happy to present the second installment of my series today. I received positive responses to my “In the Kitchen with…” series and am looking forward to sharing more of the installments with you.

Today, I would like to introduce you to Liya. Liya is a fabulous cook. So of course when I came up with this series, she was one of the first people I thought of to contact. I was happy to learn that she was excited about my suggestion, and I was excited to find out what dish she’ll offer to share.

Liya took a stuffed mushrooms recipe from Kraft foods and transformed it into the Spinach and Mushroom stuffed cakes. Here’s a list of ingredients needed:

1 pkg of chicken stuffing (10oz)
2 3/4 cups of hot water
8 oz mushrooms
5 cloves of garlic
4 tablespoons of melted butter
16 oz of chopped spinach (Liya uses frozen spinach that needs to be defrosted)
1 1/2 cups of grated Mozzarella cheese (Liya use low moisture)
1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup of grated Asiago cheese
salt to taste

Ingredients

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Add all the water and the chicken stuffing to a mixing bowl, and let the mixture sit.

Chop the mushrooms, and add the chopped mushrooms to the stuffing mixture.

Mince all of the garlic, and add the minced garlic to the stuffing mixture.
Garlic

Melt the butter in a frying pan, and add the melted butter to the chicken stuffing mixture.
butter

Mix all of the ingredients that were added to the stuffing mixture.
Mix Garlic and Stuffing

Add defrosted spinach to the mixture, and mix well.
Add spinach and mix

Add Asiago, Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses to the mixture, and mix well.
Add Cheese, asiago, mozzarella, parmesan

Spoon the mixture into a Muffin Pan.
Add mixture to muffin tin

Bake the cakes at about 400 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 40 minutes, or until the cakes get slightly brown on top and the cheese starts bubbling.
Bake

Here is the proud Chef with the final dish. The Spinach and Mushrooms stuffed cakes were delicious!
Final spinach and mushrooms stuffed cakes

Thank you Liya for sharing this awesome recipe!

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In the Kitchen With…Vicky

10 Apr

It’s finally here, the first installment of my new series “In the Kitchen With…” And the first participant is Vicky. Who is very passionate about cooking and let’s face it, is IN LOVE with shrimp, many many shrimp.
Of course it came as no surprise when Vicky told me that she’ll be preparing Bruschetta with Shrimp, Tarragon and Arugula.
I came prepared, empty stomach and all. I got the camera out and Vicky went to work.
First, she cut up a ciabatta loaf, placed the slices on a baking sheet and drizzled then with olive oil. She baked the bread slices in the oven at 400 degrees.
Chiabatta Bread
Once the bread slices were baked, she rubbed each slice with a clove of garlic, and set them aside.
Chiabata Bread and Garlic
Then she went to work on the bruschetta topping. She chopped up a clove of garlic and sliced a medium sized shallot.
Garlic

She cooked the shallots and garlic in a skillet with some olive oil, until both were soft.
Shallots Garlic Saute
Once the shallots and garlic softened, she added about a pound of raw, peeled shrimp (without tails). She cooked the shrimp until they were pink. Once the shrimp were cooked she removed them from the skillet, leaving the shallots and garlic in the skillet. She chopped up the shrimp and set them aside.
Cooked Shrimp
Vicky then chopped up three tablespoons of tarragon leaves and one packed cup of arugula.
Taragon arugula
Vicky then proceeded to chop up six Roma tomatoes.

She measured out one quarter of a cup of white wine, one quarter of a cup of low-sodium chicken stock, and one half of a cup of mascarpone cheese.

Once all the ingredients were chopped and measured, they were all added to the skillet. She also added the chopped shrimp back to the skillet, and mixed everything together. She continued to cook all the ingredients together, stirring until the mixture was creamy. She seasoned the mixture with salt and pepper to taste.
Mix

Once the mixture was cooked, she topped a slice of the ciabatta loaf with the mixture. Finally, meet the proud chef with her completed dish.
Final Dish
I would consider the first installment of my series a complete success. Of course I had to taste the final product to vouch for it. Let me tell you, I give it two thumbs up, it was delicious.
Vicky, thanks for your support and participation, we’ll definitely do this again!

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Soba Noodles with Shrimp and Cilantro

11 Mar

It’s Thursday night, one more work day and the weekend will be upon us once again. To celebrate this last night before the weekend, I decided to cook up a dinner. I’ve wanted to make a soba noodle dish for a while. Finally, I got my hands on a great recipe, thanks to my Food and Wine magazine subscription.

This was a last minute decision, so after work I stopped by an Asian market to pick up the missing ingredients. I spent at least 30 minutes looking for tamari and agave syrup (as listed in the recipe) and still came up empty handed. So in the interest of time I decided to wing it and got honey and garlic sauce instead. Besides the sauce substitution, I also opted for a frying pan to cook the shrimp (in the interest of time, as well as due to lack of a grill). Other then the above mentioned substitutions, I pretty much followed the recipe (conveniently provided in the link above).

Now that I’ve gone on and on about how tonight’s dinner came about, here is the actual dinner itself.

Soba-Noodles-with-Shrimp

To report, dinner was delicious, even with all the substitutions.

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Simple Appetizer

10 Dec

Picture this…You find out last minute that you’re going to host a small get together. What’s the first thing that goes through your mind? I don’t know about you, but for me the first thought is “What will I put on the table?”. Well, today I present you with an easy solution. Granted this dish might have to grow on some. But with my Russian background this appetizer is just mouth watering to me.

I won’t hold you in suspense any longer. I present to you sprats crostini!
Sprats-Crostini

For those of you that might not be familiar with sprats, they are smoked sardines in oil. I generally purchase my sprats in Russian grocery stores. However, as I just found out, you could purchase the exact same Smoked Riga Sprats on Amazon.

These little poppies are the perfect appetizer sandwiches. Here is what you will need to prepare a plate full:

Ingredients:
Baguette
1 can of sprats
Lemon slices (cut into halves)
Garlic cloves

Cut baguette into slices, place on a baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 5 minutes, or until golden. Cut the edge off a clove of garlic. Once the baguette slices are toasty, rub each slice with the cut part of the garlic clove. Place one sprat and one half circle of lemon on each garlic rubbed baguette slice.

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A New Family Tradition

01 Dec

Traditions come in different shapes and forms. Since this is a food blog, the new family tradition I am referring to is the Chicken Broccoli Braid I’ve been making for the last couple of years. This dish has slowly transformed into somewhat of a staple at the big family dinners and gatherings.

I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com a few years ago, and our family and friends have enjoyed it so much that I started getting requests to make it for different functions. First it was for my father-in-law’s birthday and then it was a huge success again at the Thanksgiving dinner.

So without further a due, here is our new family tradition!
Broccoli-Chicken-Braid

The recipe for this delicious dish is simple. The most important point is that you can make about two to three braids in about an hour and a half. Here is what you will need:

Ingredients:
Cooked Chicken breast (1 per braid)
Broccoli (half a bunch per braid)
Red Bell Pepper (half of a pepper per braid)
Crushed garlic (1 cloves per braid)
Shredded cheese (Cheddar is suggested, but I use mozzarella)
Mayonnaise (I use about a one and a half table spoons per braid)
Dried dill weed (2 teaspoons)
Slivered almonds (2 table spoons)
Diced onion (less than half an onion per braid)
Refrigerated package of crescent roll (1 per braid)
Egg white, beaten (for brushing)

Dice chicken, broccoli, red bell pepper, and onion. In a large bowl mix the diced chicken, broccoli, bell pepper, onion, cheese, garlic, mayonnaise, dill weed and almonds. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. Roll out the crescent roll dough on the lined cookie sheet. Pinch the perforated lines of the dough together to create a single sheet of dough. With scissors cut strips all along the long sides of the dough toward the center. Spread the mixture along the center of the dough. Fold the strips over the mixture, alternating (as if creating a braid). Pinch the strips together and brush with beaten egg white to seal.

Bake at 375F degrees for about 25-28 minutes, or until golden brown.

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Delicious Garden Fresh Eggplant

10 Sep

Hopefully you remember my coworker U, who so graciously brought me home grown tomatoes. Well, a few days ago she brought me an eggplant from her garden.
Garden Fresh Eggplant
I’ve never actually made anything with eggplant, so I decided to make my Mom’s recipe, which I love. The recipe calls for the following ingredients:

1. Eggplant
2. Vegetable oil (for frying)
3. Mayonnaise
4. Garlic (mashed)
5. Tomato slices
6. 1 hard boiled egg
7. Shredded cheese (I used low moisture mozzarella)

Slice the eggplant, fry in vegetable oil until the slices soften. Remove onto a paper towel lined plate. Cover the fried eggplant slices with another paper towel to soak up the excess oil. In the meantime mash two cloves of garlic with a garlic masher and mix with a table spoon of mayonnaise. Brush each eggplant slice with the mayonnaise mixture, cover with a tomato slice. Brush each slice of tomato with the remaining mayonnaise mixture. Top with grated egg and shredded cheese. Chill slightly and serve. Yum!