Zesty Sunflower Seed Dip/Dressing

 

I'm a person that usually gravitates toward creamy dressings for salads.  While I don't think I'll ever become a full-time vegan, there are days that I just want to avoid meat or dairy products.  I have been playing with this particular recipe for the past couple of weeks, tweaking it here and there until finally nailing down a version I'm happy with.  I initially found the first version I'd made to be too tart (I thought I'd put a little too much lemon juice) so I put it in the fridge and started over with a new batch.  Upon tasting it again later, I found that it wasn't so bad after all.  In fact, the more I tasted it the more I liked it.  It was great for dipping veggies but still a little too thick to pour over a salad (easily fixed with a bit more liquid to produce a creamy, dairy-free dressing).  If you give this recipe a try feel free to tweak it to suit your taste buds.  Ancho chile powder adds some kick; occasionally I will also add a couple of splashes of Tabasco chipotle sauce for a bit more heat.  Recipe follows next...

Weekend Splurge: Crispy Roast Pork Belly (Thịt Heo Quay)

 

When you've been a good girl all week, I think you're entitled to a bit of a weekend 'splurge' don't you?   If you love roasted pork and crispy crackling like I do, you have to try this (trust me)!  Backstory: I happened to find this recipe out of frustration.  Every now and then I'd treat myself to a bit of crispy roast pork on the weekends.  About a year ago I had a (rare) bad experience at a local Chinese BBQ establishment that I won't name.  I ended up throwing the roast pork I'd purchased away-it was that bad.  Feeling completely unsatisfied I decided to try my luck making it at home.  After searching online I finally found what I feel is the perfect recipe.  All credit to the wonderful Helen Le of danangcuisine.com for her version of Vietnamese Crispy Roast Pork Belly (Thịt Heo Quay).  When I find something this good I have to share.  More info on Helen and this great recipe follows after the jump...

Project Lumpia: The Post-Thankgiving Edition

While trying to come up with different ideas for utilizing Turkey Day leftovers, my mind kept going back to lumpia.   Maybe it's because I hadn't had any in a while, but I was thinking it might be another way to use up the remaining turkey and spare veggies not used for the holiday stock or stuffing/dressing.

I had my first taste of the crispy fried spring rolls as a child when my Filipina stepmom made a huge batch for a family get-together.  I've loved them ever since but only recently have I attempted to make my own (I would normally depend on the kindness of a good friend for my local lumpia fix).  As you'll soon see, my lumpia rolling technique needs a lot of work, but I plan to get more practice in over the next few weeks.

As a reference point, I turned to a recipe for Lumpiang Shanghai from one of my favorite food blogs, Burnt Lumpia.   I made a few changes for this Turkey/Shrimp version (I decided not to add ginger and opted for slightly less garlic).  For this recipe, I used roasted turkey thigh meat.  I'm usually more of a "white meat" gal, but for this recipe the higher fat content of the thigh meat makes it more ideal.   I also decided to throw some shrimp into the mix as well-just because.  In retrospect, I think I should have followed Marvin's instructions and made them a bit smaller (he suggests cutting each lumpia wrapper in half-I think I'll do that next time).  The lumpia I'm used to are usually the size of cigars-don't ask me why I decided to make them larger!  This recipe yielded 10 large lumpia and should yield about 20-25 smaller ones.  Recipe follows after the jump...

Sweet Potato & Cranberry Nut Bread

 

Have a few extra sweet potatoes left over from last week's holiday feast?  Here's one way to put them to use!  This quick and tasty sweet potato and cranberry nut bread is great for breakfast, brunch or anytime snacking.  If fresh cranberries are a bit too tart for you, use sweetened dried cranberries instead.

Sweet Potato & Cranberry Nut Bread

(yields one 9x5 inch loaf)

2 cups cake flour (or all purpose flour, sifted)

1 cup light brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp ground cloves

½ tsp ground nutmeg

½ tsp ground cinammon

1 cup chopped pecans

1/3 cup milk

2 eggs, beaten

1 stick of unsalted butter, melted

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup mashed sweet potato (about 1 medium sized tater)

1 cup fresh cranberries or ¾ cup dried sweetened cranberries

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt and spices.  Add the beaten eggs, melted butter and milk and mix with an electric mixer on medium speed (scraping the sides of the bowl) for about 1 minute.  

Fold in mashed sweet potato, chopped pecans and cranberries.

Pour batter into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan and bake at 350°F for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.  Allow to cool for about 15 minutes before serving.

Bánh Xèo (Vietnamese "Sizzling" Crepes with Pork and Shrimp)

My second attempt.  Not perfect but still delicious!

I guess you could say that I've fallen head over heels for Vietnamese cuisine lately.  I'm beginning the process of exploring some of the Vietnamese eateries around town and I've recently dabbled in a bit of Vietnamese cooking at home.  Here's one of the first dishes I attempted:  Bánh Xèo.

These "sizzling" crepes are a popular street food in Vietnam.    The crepes are cooked in a wok or large skillet and then filled with slices of pork, shrimp, fresh bean sprouts, and onion.   Full disclosure:  I have to admit that my first attempt at bánh xeo was a big fat failure.  I didn't use the right pan, didn't use enough oil (and it wasn't quite hot enough) and the resulting crepe stuck to the bottom of the pan.  My second attempt was a little bit better-far from perfect, but still quite tasty.  You can opt to use a packaged bánh xeo mix if you'd like (found at most Asian supermarkets), but I like to make the batter from scratch.   Recipe follows next...

Strawberry Lime & Basil Sorbet

Not long ago, I posted a little recap of The Broke Socialite's Graze tour and raved about a refreshing strawberry cocktail served up at our last stop, Noon Midtown.    I managed to get the "recipe" from Reggie the mixologist, but because I'm old I don't remember everything he put in the cocktail.  What I do remember is strawberry, rum(?), lime, lemon and a basil simple syrup.  This is my attempt to recreate it in (non-alcoholic) sorbet form.   Since I gave my ice cream maker away, I had to use the old "stainless steel pan in the freezer" method which worked pretty well.   I also used agave nectar as a sweetener.   Recipe follows next...

Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta With Amaretto Cherry Compote

One of the things I love about summer is cherry season.    I get downright giddy when the Rainier variety start showing up in supermarkets!  Here's what I made with part of my cherry stash (managed to pick up a couple of pounds on sale).   It had been a while since I'd made panna cotta for dessert, so I decided to try this easy recipe from Food & Wine's website.   I love the creamy consistency, plus you don't have to fuss around with unmolding them.    My grandmother (who'd never even heard of panna cotta, much less tried the dessert) gave them her stamp of approval, so that's good enough for me!   I made a simple amaretto-flavored cherry compote to spoon over the panna cotta.  Recipes to follow next...

My Thursday Night Veggie Meal: Sweet Potato & Plantain Curry

As I've may have mentioned in a previous post, I decided to go "meatless" for most of the month of May.  Even though I'm back to my usual omnivorous ways, I am trying to incorporate more vegetarian and vegan meals into my diet.   Here's a recipe that I plan to keep in my back pocket when I want to whip up a quick meal after a long work day.    I'd originally planned to make a simple sweet potato curry, but I decided to add some nearly ripe plantains as well ('cause I love em).   This is a tasty and satisfying veggie meal that even a "meat and potatoes" gal like me can enjoy!  I tweaked the originial recipe a little because it was a bit too "mild" for my liking.  If you're like me and enjoy curries with more of a kick, you might want to add some chopped chilies or a bit of cayenne pepper.  Recipe follows next...

Game Day (Or Any Day) Munchies: Zesty Ancho Chile Glazed Wings

 

It's Super Bowl Sunday, and by now you probably have all of your game day munchies prepared and ready to go.  I thought I'd share a recipe that you might want to stick in you back pocket for future game day celebrations (March Madness is just around the corner) or just for general everyday snacking.  I came up with this a while back, just messing around and trying to come up with an alternative to generic run-of-the-mill buffalo wings.  These wings are coated liberally with lemon pepper and ancho chile powder (I love this stuff), baked until skin is golden brown and crisp, then brushed with a sweet, spicy glaze.  I think these wings have a bit of a kick to them, but feel free to add a thai chile to the glaze if you require a little more heat.

Saturday Night Moules Frites

A couple of weekends ago, I (finally) made my first visit to Assi Plaza in Duluth to pick up a few items.  Taking advantage of the seafood bargains, I picked up (among other things) two pounds of head-on shrimp and a two pound bag of mussels.  I knew exactly what I would prepare with part of my seafood bounty: moules frites, the quintessential Belgian bistro dish.   Simple, delicious and perfect for a laid-back Saturday evening at home.

Keeping My Mother's Christmas Tradition Alive

I love baking.  Pies, breads, tarts, cakes-you name it, I'll bake it.  Well, everything except cookies.  I know this will probably sound silly, but I have never had the patience to bake cookies.  I won't even bother with that pre-packaged cookie dough that you just break into squares and plop onto a cookie sheet.  My mother, on the other hand, was the chief cookie baker in our family.  Every Christmas, she'd make dozens of cookies for family and friends.  One particular cookie was a huge hit with our family and was requested every holiday season.  My mother affectionately called them Pecan Dusties: buttery pecan shortbread rolled in confectioners' sugar.

It has been three years since I've tasted my mom's beloved pecan dusties, two years since I lost her one week after Thanksgiving in 2007.  This holiday season, I decided that I would carry on my mom's tradition and prepare batches of her pecan dusties to share with the family.  I'm so glad that I asked her how to make these before she passed, and I am happy to share the recipe here.  Warning:  these cookies are very addictive (seriously).  Be prepared to make a few batches because these cookies will be gobbled up in no time.

Holiday Recipe: Eggnog Cheesecake

Here's a very quick and simple holiday dessert, courtesy of my good Twitter friend Kelly P.   She was kind enough to share this recipe for eggnog cheesecake.  Even if you don't particularly care for eggnog, I think you'll enjoy this recipe-it's delicious!  Thank you Kelly!

Kelly's Eggnog Cheesecake

1 prepared shortbread pie crust*

12 ounces or 1 ½ (8 oz) pkgs cream cheese, softened

½ cup granulated sugar

1 tbsp plus 1 ½ tsp flour

¼ cup plus 2 tbsp eggnog

1 egg

1 tbsp rum extract (if you don't care for rum flavoring, you can use pure vanilla extract as a substitute)

A pinch of nutmeg

Preheat oven to 425°F

In a large bowl (using an electric or hand mixer) combine cream cheese, sugar, flour and eggnog.  Add egg, rum extract and nutmeg and beat until mixture is creamy and smooth.  Pour into prepared shortbread pie crust and bake in a 425° oven for 10 minutes.  Reduce oven temperature to 250° and bake for an additional 50 minutes.  Refrigerate for at least four hours before serving.  Kelly advises that this cheesecake tastes best after 24 hours or overnight refrigeration.

*To prepare this cheesecake in a 9-inch springform pan, use the following recipe for shortbread crust and double the cheesecake filling recipe above.

Shortbread Crust

1¼ cups shortbread crumbs (about 6 oz  of shortbread cookies, crushed)

2 tbsp granulated sugar

3 tbsp melted unsalted butter

In large bowl, combine shortbread crumbs, sugar and melted butter.  Press crumb mixture into a 9-inch springform pan.  Bake at 350° for 10 minutes.  Allow crust to cool before filling.

Time To Make The Sufganiyot...

The holiday season is upon us!  With Hanukkah beginning this Friday evening, here's a post devoted to sufganiyot, a traditional holiday treat.  These filled doughnuts are a staple of Israeli Hanukkah celebrations.  Since this was my first attempt at making sufganiyot, I did a bit of research in order to find a recipe I could work with.  After some trial and error, I finally settled on a recipe and method that produced some pretty good results.  It is based on a recipe I found on bhg.com (which I tweaked just a bit). 

Satisfying My Umami Craving...

After a long, stressful week of working and moving into a new apartment, I decided to give myself a bit of a treat last weekend.  I had been craving a big, thick Porterhouse (my favorite) but ended up settling on a nicely marbled NY strip instead.  Nothing fancy with the prep:  a little extra virgin olive oil, seasoned salt, black pepper.  I believe in keeping it simple.  Got the new cast iron skillet blazing hot and cooked the strip for about two minutes on both sides to create a nice char.  Topped the strip with a pat of butter and finished it off under the broiler for about three to four minutes for medium-rare.

The result was pretty good, even with an electric stovetop (delicious too). Apologies for the crappy pic!

Umami craving satisfied!

My Great-Aunt's Cream Cheese Pound Cake (well, sort of)

In my family, my great-aunt Margaret is the queen of cakes.  Whenever we travel to Florida to visit, we are always begging her to bake us a cake (or two).  I don't know how she does it, but she just has a knack for baking the most delicious cakes you'll ever eat.

Here's the cream cheese pound cake recipe that my grandmother managed to grab from Aunt Margaret on a recent visit.   It's not her personal creation, but it's a recipe that she swears by and has used for years.  I present it here, just as it was submitted by a Mrs. Ralph A. Patrick many years ago.   It's a little different from my own cream cheese pound cake recipe (this one calls for margarine, I normally use butter), but it's very good.  I was munching on some today-I only wish I'd had strawberries to go with it!

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

3 sticks margarine
1 8 ounce pkg cream cheese
3 cups sugar
dash salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
6 large eggs
3 cups sifted cake flour

Cream margarine, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add dash of salt and vanilla and beat well.  Add eggs-one at a time-and beat well after each addition.  Stir in the sifted cake flour.  Spoon mixture into a ten-inch tube pan.  Bake at 325° for 1 1/2 hours.  Allow cake to cool in pan for 10 minutes before inverting on a wire rack.

Like My Biscuits?

Here's the recipe for the infamous biscuits that you see in my profile picture.  Well, they're really not all that infamous (or famous, for that matter).  Anyway, here it goes:

One delicious tweet...

When I saw it, I had to try it...

Bacon Ice Cream (with candied bacon garnish).  Want the recipe?  Visit My Last Bite.com for easy step-by-step instructions (plus her dish of ice cream is much prettier than mine). You won't even need to bust out the ice cream maker for this one!  While you're at it, follow @mylastbite for more delicious tweets.

Celebrating Bacon!

A couple of recipes to celebrate International Bacon Day.  Here's one I found while searching for hors d'oeuvre recipes for a New Year's Eve party I threw with friends.  These Bacon Cheese Puffs were a big hit with our guests and ridiculously easy to make-you'll find the recipe here.

Note: I would toast the pumpernickel slices a little bit before topping with the bacon/cheese mixture.  I also used Dijon mustard with this recipe.

Here's one of my "go to" brunch recipes.   This is pretty rich, but I find that using the heavy cream works best for me.  You can substitute half & half for the heavy cream but I wouldn't use milk.

 Bacon & Sweet Onion Quiche

1 pie crust for 9 inch pie or quiche pan
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream
1 cup Gruyere cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Havarti cheese, shredded
6 slices of thick-sliced bacon, diced
1/3 cup of Vidalia (or other sweet variety) onion, finely chopped
1/4 tsp salt

Unfold pie crust and press into a 9 inch pie or quiche pan.  Blind bake the crust and set aside.

In a skillet, cook the diced bacon until crisp.  Remove bacon from pan, drain on a paper towel and set aside.  Reserve some of the bacon drippings in the skillet to use for sauteeing the onion.  Saute the onion in the bacon drippings until soft/translucent.  Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs until frothy.  Stir in cream & salt.  Line the bottom of the prebaked pie shell with the sauteed onion/shredded cheeses/bacon, then pour the custard mixture over this.  Bake in a 350°F oven for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of quiche comes out clean.  Serve warm and enjoy!

The Sticky Pig Candy Project

With this Saturday being International Bacon Day, I thought it would be fitting to devote my very first blog post to this wonderful pork product. Not long ago, the fantastic food blogger my last bite (who I follow on Twitter) posted a link to a recipe for "Sticky Pig Candy Stripes" found here. As a lover of bacon and the "sweet & salty" combo, I knew I had to give this a try. Last Sunday, I carved out a little time to do just that!

I used 1/2 cup of turbinado sugar along with 1/4 tsp each of cayenne pepper and ground ginger to make the spiced sugar mixture.  You really don't need to add any more than 1/4 tsp of each spice.  This amount gives it just enough of a "kick".

The oven is preheated to 400°F, and I lined a cookie sheet with parchment paper per recipe instructions.  I decided to go with thick sliced bacon this time.  I carefully applied about a teaspoon of the spiced sugar mixture onto each bacon slice, trying to avoid spilling excess sugar onto the parchment paper.

Into the oven for about 20 minutes (or until sugar has melted and bacon is crisp).  I ended transferring the bacon to another clean sheet of parchment paper (to get rid of any excess grease) before returning it to the oven to finish cooking.

There you have it!  The finished product was sticky, salty, sweet and delicious.  The cayenne and ginger add just the right amount of bite to offset the sweetness.  I might give this a go with regular sliced bacon next time-I think it will make for a crispier finished product.  I'll just have to be extra careful watching it so that it doesn't burn.

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