5 Courses, 5 Recipes Part 3

It's salad time! I know some of you are thinking "Yay. Salad. I'll skip this one and wait for tomorrow's recipe." Don't. Try thinking of salads as more than your basic lettuce and tomato combinations and see how different they can be while adding a special touch to your dinners. This salad really tested my belief in that since I never really liked to eat beets. But what a salad! Perfectly balanced flavor and amazing color that will definitelty impress your guests. This salad is one of Jaimie Oliver's who is as great a cook as he is boyishly handsome (errrrrr...remind me to edit that part out before I publish).

Do not put this salad together too early as the beet coloring will bleed into the other ingredients and it won't look as nice. Have everything cut before hand and assemble minutes before serving.

Beet Salad with Feta and Pear

Ingredients

4 medium sized beets, washed and peeled
3 ripe pears peeled and cored (make sure they are not too ripe...you want crunchy)
7 oz feta cheese
A few leaves of fresh mint
Handful of sunflower seeds (optional)
Salt and Pepper
Lemon Oil Dressing (recipe below)

Cut your beets and pears into thin matchsticks with a good sharp knife or mandolin. Crumble feta cheese into small bits. When ready to assemble salad combine the beet and pear and dress with Lemon Oil dressing:


Dressing

Juice of one fresh lemon
10 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Mix dressing ingredients vigorously and taste for seasoning.

Divide dressed beets and pears onto 4 small plates and top with crumbled feta. Add sunflower seeds if using and sprinkle small mint leaves on top.

Serves 4


Done! Easy huh? I have complete confidence that you can pull this off without match sticking your fingers too. Once you see that salads can be made from just about anything you'll have a massive salad aresenal to wow people with. Enjoy!

Next up.....The Mighty Main Course!

Cheers

PFD

5 courses, 5 recipes Part 2

The Soup Course

Part 2 of our 5 course meal is soup. A co-worker of mine brought me some of this soup a few years ago when I was at home sick. He spends quite a bit of time ach year in Jamaica and he loves to cook recipes with Jamaican origins. It didn't really help me get back on my feet. Rather it made me want to stay home longer in hopes he would bring more soup! This soup is easy to make and ridiculously flavorful. Bump up the jalapeno or scotch bonnets as you see fit.

Jamaican Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients

1 small Hubbard squash or 1/2 small pumpkin, cubed
1 medium yam, cubed
1 onion, chopped
1 scotch bonnet pepper or one jalapeno, sliced
1 pear, peeled and cored
2 medium carrots, chopped
4 cups chicken broth
1 tbsp curry powder
2 tbsp cream of coconut
1 tbsp nutmeg, or to taste
1 tbsp olive oil

Heat oil in large stock pot over medium heat. Add onion, pepper, curry powder and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add squash, carrots, yam and chicken broth. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 30-40 minutes until vegetables are tender. Stir in pear and cream of coconut. Simmer 5 more minutes. Let cool and add nutmeg. Puree soup in blender or food processor until smooth. If soup is too thick add more chicken broth or a little bit of milk. Reheat and serve with a small dollop of herbed sour cream (sour cream mixed with fresh chopped basil)on top.

Serves 6

This soup is a hit. It can actually be served as a cold soup for a luncheon as well.
Make sure to have something cool on hand for people to enjoy with this if you bump up the pepper factor.

Our 5 course dinner is coming together nicely! Come back tomorrow for one of the most interesting salads you will ever try!

Cheers

PFD

5 courses, 5 recipes Part 1

Hey all. I realise that I have been slacking mightily lately and that you have been logging in every 5 minutes for the last 2 weeks checking for a new PFD post. I have let you down. I am sorry. It will never happen again. (Okay, let's face it, it probably will but this is free for you and work for me so deal with it!).

I have decided to reward all your patience with 5 recipes this week. Combine them together and they would spell one kickass 5 course dinner party you could throw and impress your pals with. There will be recipes for an appetizer, soup, salad, main course and dessert. Nice huh? Am I forgiven yet?

First up.....the appetizer!

This is a truly simple and extremely delicious avocado and shrimp salad served on endive spears. It looks fantastic and the colors really pop. Best part of it is how easy it is to tinker with and still keep it very tasty.

Shrimp and Avocado Salad Boats

Ingredients
2 ripe avocados, mashed
1/3 lb cooked shrimp, de-veined and shelled and roughly chopped
1 lemon
2-3 tbsp mayonnaise
1 bell pepper finely minced
1 clove garlic finely minced
3 green onions, finely diced, green part only
1 teaspoon smoked paprika (must be smoked...regular will not taste nearly as good)
Tabasco sauce to taste
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 endive



In a large bowl mash the avocado and add the chopped shrimp. Roll the lemon on a hard surface to loosen the juices and squeeze (catch those seeds!) over the avocado and shrimp. Add the mayo and stir to combine. Add the garlic and green onion and stir again. Add the paprika and a few dashes of Tabasco sauce. (more if you like it spicy). Stir together and taste. Add salt and pepper as needed and more mayo if you would like it creamier. It should be creamy tasting with a fairly strong smoky flavor from the paprika and a little bite at the end from the Tabasco. Now is the time to play with this recipe spice-wise if you want to.

Remove the couple outer leaves from the endive and discard. Keep peeling leaves off but save any that are nice and firm. These will be the "boats" that your salad will be stuffed in. Using a small spoon fill the endive leaves with the salad until mostly full. If you run out of endive this salad is great on a crusty roll or french bread. Top the boats with the minced red pepper. Chill for an hour, covered and serve. Serves 6 as an appetizer or 4 as a light lunch.


So there is part 1 of your amazing dinner party line-up. Try this out and let me know what you think.

Cheers!

PFD

Food Dude's Big 5

Hey all! This weeks Big 5 helps you to get out of a rut and try something new. Stop being afraid of new ingredients and give something exotic a shot. If it doesn't turn out or doesn't turn your crank then make a bowl of soup and try something else next time. Fortune favors the bold and a bold sense of culinary adventure is rewarded many times over. Here is my Big 5...Foods You Probably Haven't Cooked With....But Should!


#1--Fennel
Sold fresh in your grocery store's produce department this leafy topped bulb is sometimes labelled as "anise". Its crisp licorice taste lends great depth to salads, stuffings and even hot cooked dishes. The bulb section has a small hard core that has to be removed but once done there is a baseball sized piece that is very easy to work with. And the leafy fronds at the end of the stalks can be chopped fine for sauces or garnishes. One of my favorite uses is to dice it fine with apples and roast them in same pan as a whole pork loin.

#2--Shark
Yes shark! I told you this was going to be an exotic list! I first tried shark a few years ago when we were selling it at the Safeway fresh fish department and I really enjoy this meat. It does not have an overly fishy taste to it and once cooked the texture of the meat is almost like a slightly rare pork chop than a flaky fish. So easy to prepare its a very quick meal. Here is my favorite way to do it. Heat pan to med-high heat and add 1 tbsp olive oil. Coat your shark steaks with sesame seeds and add to hot pan. Cook until sesame seeds are golden brown and fish is cooked halfway (you'll be able to see the cooking done on the side of the steak). Turn over and cook other side same way. Watch them carefully because if your sesame seeds burn it can taint the meat. Serve with a lemon herb sauce or even hoisin sauce.

#3--Capers
Capers are the unripened buds of the Capparis plant and are usually sold brined in small jars. They pack a wallop of flavor and add a sharp briney taste to many Mediterranean type dishes. They also enhance many other flavors which is one reason I put it in my somewhat famous cream cheese spread (no I am not posting that recipe just yet...) Try adding a tablespoon worth of chopped capers to a serving of plain linguine, then a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil for a very authentic Mediterranean dish.

#4--Duck
I don't know why more people don't try duck. It's rich and flavorful and its high fat content (OK, maybe that's the reason) gives its skin an amazing crispiness that is hard to beat. Try making a couple of duck breasts for dinner. You will have to scored the skin side of the breast with a sharp knife in a criss-cross pattern to cook off some of the fat. Cook them in a pan on the stove top like you would chicken breasts and then remove when done. Remove all but a tablespoon or two of the fat and add two big spoonfuls of orange or apricot preserves and a half teaspoon of freshly grated ginger. Stir over low heat until you have a well blended and flavorful sauce.

#5--Fresh Chilies
Even if you are not a fan of really spicy food your cooking can benefit from the addition of one of many different chili peppers out there. From jalapeno to birds eye to habanero there are a multitude of them ranging from mild to scalp scorching. Find one that best suits your tastes and start with a little and work your way to the limit of your comfort. Add chilies to pasta sauces, soups, salad dressing...anything really! Have you ever flipped through a Jaimie Oliver cookbook? That bloke tosses a chili in more than 50% of his recipes and it seems to me that he knows a thing or two about cooking!


Another Big 5 in the books! I have fixed the setting on the blog so you can leave a comment without registering. Leave me some feedback and definitely let me know if you try any of these for the first time!

Cheers

PFD

POOF! No Eyebrows! (But yummy dessert!)

One thing I don't do a lot of is making desserts. I tend to really focus on appetizers, mains and side dishes and then do something fairly simple or (gasp) store bought for dessert. But after watching a show about using alcohol when cooking I was intrigued at the idea of pouring some booze into a pan and setting it on fire! I knew of two recipes that called for such a technique...cherries jubilee and bananas foster. Cherries I don't really care for so bananas foster it is! And what a simple recipe! Butter and brown sugar combine quickly to make a great caramel sauce. Throw in your bananas, add your rum and touch with a flame! POOF! NO EYEBROWS! After putting yourself out the flame dies off and you are left with a sauce infused with all the richness of rum flavors minus the harsh burn of the alcohol. I served this over a slice of awesome pound cake my wife made (thank you sweetie) and topped it with vanilla bean ice cream. A little extra caramel on the ice cream and it was ready to go. I put a plate of it in front of my mother in-law who I have never known to eat too much dessert. Her eyes bulged and she asked if this was just for her! A few minutes later I looked over and she was scraping the caramel from her empty plate. She almost sounded guilty when she said "I just couldn't stop!"

Use the best quality rum you can get for this as the premium ingredients will make a difference in flavoring your sauce. I used Brugal, a fantastic rum from the Dominican Republic but something like Appleton's Extra would do nicely.

For safety's sake have your kitchen fire extinguisher handy.

Bananas Foster

Ingredients
1/2 unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 bananas peeled, halved, and cut lengthwise
1/4 cup dark rum

Directions
In a large skillet, melt butter. Using a wooden spoon, add brown sugar and stir together until caramel is formed. Add the bananas and cook until caramelized on both sides, over medium-high heat. Move pan off heat, add the rum and return to the stove. Light rum with long lighter. Stand back when ignited and flambe the bananas. Be careful a flame will shoot up above the pan. Let flame die down and the alcohol cook out. Serve bananas over vanilla ice cream and/or a slice of pound cake.


How easy is that? Not only will people love this recipe but they will also be ridiculously impressed as you touch off a small fireball in your kitchen! And don't worry, eyebrows are really only for decoration anyway! :)~

Cheers

PFD

Food Dude's Big 5

OK, this week's Big 5 is going to be light and fluffy and not really all that helpful to you. Yeah? What are you going to do about it? It's my blog so I get to decide what I put on it. So there.

As someone who likes to try new things and keep an open mind as far as foods and flavors go I still have a few things that I just won't eat. And I have good reasons for them too. So here it is folks, this week's Big 5....Foods I Hate.


1--Raisins
You know where raisins belong? IN BAKING...that's where. Cinnamon buns, cookies, muffins and maybe even an evil fruit cake is where a raisin should be. I don't like raisins dropped into salads, stuffed in a pork roast or braised along with my lamb.

2--Cottage Cheese
I have eaten cottage cheese once in my life and never, ever again with it cross my lips. The taste, the texture and the smell. All reasons why I can't stand this "food". It's something that should be left for babies to choke down while they wait for teeth to arrive and save them eating horrible mush such as this.

3--Shake N Bake
This is where my food "snobbery" comes in. C'mon people really? Bread crumbs and seasoning salt mixed together for $3? I once heard two ladies in a grocery aisle talking about all the fabulous dishes they made with Shake N Bake and I wanted to run them over with a cart. Buy some bread crumbs and experiment with adding spices and seasonings to it if you really want to dredge your chicken in something. End mini-rant.

4--Vegetable Juice
This one is simple. It tastes yucky. You want vegetables? Eat them. And who ever came up with the idea of putting clam juice into tomato juice should be locked up forever. Are you one of those people that pour part of a beer into this stuff? Shame on you if you are!

5--Cloves
The one spice you will not find in my spice pantry. I do not like the taste and I especially do not like it when one gets missed by the strainer and you end up crunching it between your teeth. Makes me gag. Quite often you can substitute allspice where you would use cloves anyway so I am able to get by without them.


So that's it for this week's Big 5. I am sure that anyone reading this has foods they don't like as well. List em! Post them so we can all see your culinary avoidance's. Or hammer away at me for picking on Shake N Bake. Leave me a comment.

Cheers

PFD

The 3 Fastest Entrees You Will Ever Make

I have a letter from a friend of mine that I would like to share.

Sarah Jane from Edmonton writes:
"Hey Food Dude I really need your help! Lately my husband has been acting strangely. All he seems to want to do is watch the Home and Garden channel and yesterday I caught him wearing eyeliner. Oh, and I am pretty sure he is stealing my underwear. What should I do?"

Well SJ, I can only tell you that men crave excitement and new things. So I am fairly confident that trying these super fast and delicious entrees will cure that wacko hubby of your of his sick predilections in a jiffy!

The concept of these three dishes is simple. Season and sear your chosen protein then add flavorful liquid and spices to make a tasty sauce. Whether you are wanting chicken, fish or pork they can all be quick and easy.

Maple Balsamic Salmon

Ingredients

4 6oz skin on salmon fillets
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried thyme)
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil

Combine vinegar, syrup, thyme and 1 1/2 tbsp water in a small bowl and set aside. Heat 1tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Season salmon fillets on both sides with salt and pepper. When oil is heated place salmon flesh side down and sear for 4-5 minutes. Turn salmon over and cook until skin is crisp, about another 4-5 minutes. Remove salmon from skillet and add vinegar mixture. Simmer in skillet for 1-2 minutes until sauce is slightly thickened, stirring once or twice. Pour sauce over salmon while still warm.


Lemon-Honey Tarragon Chicken

Ingredients

8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 lemons
3-4 tbsp honey
1 tbsp fresh chopped tarragon or 1/2 tbsp dried tarragon
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil

Roll lemons on hard surface to loosen juices. Slice in half and over a small bowl squeeze juice through your fingers to catch any seeds. Add honey and tarragon to lemon juice. Taste and add more honey to taste. Set aside. Heat 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil in large skillet over med-high heat. Liberally season chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan and sear for about 7-8 minutes each side. Remove chicken from pan and cover loosely with foil. Add lemon/honey mixture to pan and simmer for 3 minutes. Turn heat to low and add chicken back to pan. Toss to coat with sauce and leave until chicken is thoroughly coated and sauce has been a little sticky. Remove chicken from pan and serve immediately.


Pork Chops with Mustard Cream Sauce

Ingredients

4 pork loin chops, bone in preferred, 3/4 inch thick
1/2 cup cream
2 tbsp whole grain mustard
1 tsp fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried thyme
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil

Let pork chops come to room temperature. This will keep them from curling up on the edges when added to heat. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil in large skillet over med-high heat. Add pork chops to pan and cook each side 7-8 minutes until golden brown. Check for desired doneness and remove chops to large plate and cover with foil. Reduce heat to low. Add mustard, cream and thyme to pan and combine, stirring to make a smooth sauce. Sauce will begin to thicken immediately. Cook for about 2 minutes stirring frequently. Add juices from plate of chops to sauce for more flavor. Pour warm sauce over chops and serve.



Man was that fast! Not a difficult recipe in that trio and all of them made in one pan in under twenty minutes. These have become so popular at my house that at least one of those dishes gets cooked once a week.

So there ya go Sarah Jane. Hopefully these fast and exciting dishes will get your hubby back on the right track and your underwear back in the right drawer!

Cheers

Park Food Dude

Food Dude's Big 5

This week's Big 5 is a wake up call for cooks out there. Things could be so much easier and running smoothly in your kitchen if you only had the right tools. Sure your kitchen has all the very basics and true enough you can get by with the basics. BUT....why not make things easier on yourself? A few simple and usually inexpensive tools will make your cooking easier and dare I say...better? Here are my Big 5 of Things Your Kitchen Doesn't Have But Definitely Needs!


1--One Good Sharp Knife
If you don't have at least one quality knife in your kitchen then log off and go and buy one RIGHT FREAKIN' NOW! Not only will a quality knife make a difference in your cooking I can tell you from experience that a good knife makes you feel like a better cook. Your confidence will rise when you hold a well made cutting tool in your hand and prep ingredients like a pro. This is the only Big 5 item here that will cost you a bit. This is definitely a case of getting what you pay for. Most kitchens have themselves a block of knives that are knock off of good knife companies. Blocks that contain 20 knives and cost sixty bucks. Fine, keep those around for the bread slicing and steak cutting. I recommend getting a 6-8 inch chef's knife. Get something from Henckels or Wustof. (I have the Henckels Twin 4 Star II knives and think they are great) You are looking at a cost of 70 dollars or more. Make sure you get to hold and feel the knife before you buy it.

2--Mortar and Pestle
Here's a very useful little gadget for grinding up whole spices, turning garlic and herbs into a paste or making a delicious compound butter. This stoneware bowl (mortar) and handheld grinding device (pestle) come in a wide range of sizes, stone types and designs. They are as cheap or expensive as you like depending on your tastes. I have a very simple one from Stokes that cost around 10 bucks. I like this tool better than an electric spice grinder simply for its wider range of use. Try putting any wet ingredients into your electric grinder and see what happens.* I use mine frequently to pound rosemary into tiny pieces then add some whole garlic cloves and finally some butter. Whole mixture goes into mashes potatoes or onto french bread.(*Food Dude assumes no liability for any fool that puts wet ingredients into an electric grinder)

3--Meat Thermometer
This one should be a no brainer but I am always surprised by how many people do not have one of these in their kitchens. Have you ever eaten dry turkey? Or under cooked turkey? Not good is it? So many people cook a turkey and wreck for this simple reason: They read the label and see how much it weighs. They consult their cook book and roast the bird for the appropriate minutes per pound and it comes out terrible. The reason? The cooking times in cook books are approximates and can vary depending on your oven, size of bird and how well you may have thawed the darn thing. Or you bought one of those "pops when its done!" birds. (DON'T!) The ONLY way to accurately determine whether your bird is cooked is to have a meat thermometer inserted into the bird, thickest part of the thigh not touching bones. You insert before cooking and take out only after your meat has rested. This goes for all cuts of meat, not just turkey. Make sure you know the difference between oven safe thermometers and instant read thermometers. Instant read cannot stand the constant heat of an oven. Get one of these or I am never coming over for Thanksgiving.

4--Microplane
Yes I know you have one of those big metal box graters in your cupboard but go and get yourself a microplane too. It is perfect for grating small things like whole nutmeg or garlic cloves. Its great for shaving Parmesan, ginger and chocolate and works far better than those zester/peeler combos for zesting citrus. The best part of it is your finger tips take far less of a beating on this thing that your box grater.

5--Tongs
Last but not least, tongs. Mine are probably used daily and rightly so. Excellent for turning meats without the piercing tines of a fork (You never do this do you?). Great for transferring food from skillets to roasting pans as well. I especially use mine to avoid food contamination. When working with raw chicken my hands never touch it. I do all my prep work with one set of tongs and then toss in the sink. You can deal with raw meat all day and never have to wash your hands if you have enough tongs around. Get ones that suit you best, maybe a variety. Some heavy metal ones, some with plastic tips and some with silicon ends. Use them! And don't ever let me see you turn meat with a fork!

There you go kids. Another Big 5 in the books. Got your own Big 5 kitchen gadgets you can't live without? Leave me a comment below.

Cheers

Park Food Dude