Spinach Dip

This was a request from a friend for an easy Spinach Dip. I love CI. Nuf said.

Creamy Herbed Spinach Dip

Makes about 1 1/2 cups.
From Cook's Illustrated

Note: Partial thawing of the spinach produces a cold dip that can be served without further chilling. If you don't own a microwave, the frozen spinach can be thawed at room temperature for 1 1/2 hours then squeezed of excess liquid. The garlic must be minced or pressed before going into the food processor; otherwise the dip will contain large chunks of garlic.

Ingredients
10 ounces frozen chopped spinach
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons thin-sliced scallions , white parts only, from 3 medium scallions
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill leaves
1/2 cup packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 small clove garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 teaspoon)
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce , such as Tabasco
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 medium red bell pepper , diced fine (about 1/4 cup)

Instructions
1. Thaw spinach in microwave for 3 minutes at 40 percent power. (Edges should be thawed but not warm; center should be soft enough to be broken apart into icy chunks.) Squeeze partially frozen spinach of excess water.
2. In food processor, process spinach, sour cream, mayonnaise, scallions, dill, parsley, garlic, hot pepper sauce, salt, and pepper until smooth and creamy, about 30 seconds. Transfer mixture to medium bowl and stir in bell pepper; serve. (Dip can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated up to 2 days.)

Salsa Verde

I've been getting veggies from a weekly farm share (via my friend Mona who is sweet enough to pick them up for me) and trying to find new recipes that involve these veggies, some of which I've never seen before and obviously don't recognize. I did recognize tomatillos in this last batch, but I still had no idea what to do with them. So I looked online and found a recipe for Salsa Verde, which apparantly is traditionally made with tomatillos! Score, because I love salsa verde! Simply Recipes is a great cooking blog and she had a recipe that I tried with my batch of tomatillos. Turned out great, had a very fresh and light taste. And you can make it spicier if you leave the ribs and seeds of the serrano chile in (that's for next time ;)). There are two options for prepping the tomatillos; I boiled. Very easy recipe and worth the minimal work!

Tomatillo Salsa Verde Recipe from Simply Recipes

To cook the tomatillos, you can either roast them in the oven, or boil them. Roasting will deliver more flavor; boiling may be faster and use less energy. Either way works, though boiling is a more common way to cook the tomatillos.

Ingredients
1 1/2 lb tomatillos
1/2 cup chopped white onion
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 Jalapeño peppers OR 2 serrano peppers, stemmed, seeded and chopped
Salt to taste

Method
1. Remove papery husks from tomatillos and rinse well.
2a. Roasting method Cut in half and place cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet. Place under a broiler for about 5-7 minutes to lightly blacken the skin.
2b. Boiling method Place tomatillos in a saucepan, cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove tomatillos with a slotted spoon.
2. Place tomatillos, lime juice, onions, cilantro, chili peppers, sugar in a food processor (or blender) and pulse until all ingredients are finely chopped and mixed. Season to taste with salt. Cool in refrigerator.
Serve with chips or as a salsa accompaniment to Mexican dishes.
Makes 3 cups.

Sesame-broiled Chicken Wings

I made these wings a while ago, but I'm just posting the recipe now. A real winner!

Sesame-broiled Chicken Wings, from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything

Time: 30 minutes, plus time to preheat the broiler

Ingredients:
2-3 lbs chicken wings, rinsed and patted dry with paper towels, cut into 3 pieces at the joints. Save the wing tips (the smallest piece) for stock (freeze).
2 tbsp peanut or vegetable oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp minced and peeled fresh ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1 tsp dark sesame oil

To make:
1. Preheat the broiler. The rack should be 4 to 6 inches from the heat source. Put the chicken pieces in a bowl, add 1 tbsp of oil and some salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Place the pieces in a roasting pan and cook, turning after 4-5 minutes or when the first side is beginning to brown.

2. Meanwhile, combine the remaining tbsp of oil with the remaining ingredients. After the second side is beginning to brown, brush the wings with some of the oil mixture. Continue to cook, turning once or twice more until nicely browned all over, about 15-20 minutes total. Give a final brush, and serve.

Crab Hush Puppies

I'm posting a couple of recipes that I want to try this week. This one got good reviews on epicurious and sounds like a very quick finger food or snack. They call it Indian but I'm skeptical till I try them.

Crab Hush Puppies with Curried Honey-Mustard Sauce
(from the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen)
Makes about 30.

Ingredients

1/4 cup Creole (or whole grain) mustard
1/4 cup honey
1 1/4 tsp and 1/2 tsp curry powder
1 cup just-add-water cornbread mix
1/4 cup bottled clam juice
12 oz. fresh lump crabmeat, diced
3/4 cup and 1/4 cup green onions, diced fine
vegetable oil for frying

Instructions

1. Stir mustard, honey, and 1 1/4 tsp curry powder in small bowl for dipping sauce.
2. Stir cornbread mix, clam juice, and 1/2 tsp curry powder in medium bowl. Mix in crabmeat and 3/4 cup green onions.
3. Pour enough oil into medium saucepan to read depth of 1 1/2 inches. Heat oil to 320 to 330 F (use deep-fry thermometer if available). Working in batches, drop batter into oil by heaping teaspoonfuls. Fry until golden and cooked through, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain.
4. Sprinkle hush puppies with remaining green onions and serve with dipping sauce.

Kaala Chana

Kaala Chana is a black chana that we eat at home for iftar in Ramadan. It's really a great snack for anytime, but I'm used to eating it in Ramadan before dinner. I got some from the indian store this time that was called 'Black Chana', but I'm not entirely sure it's the same as the ones we get in Bangladesh, since it wasn't as dark and when cooked it didn't expand as much. It still tasted good though, and I'm glad I know how to make it now!

Kaala chana

Makes 3-4 servings.

Ingredients:

1 cup Kaala Chana, washed and soaked overnight in water (careful to put in a roomy container, since they will expand)

1 tsp garlic paste

1 tsp ginger paste

1 tbsp onion paste, or 2 tbsp onion chopped fine

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp chopped coriander

1 small tomato, chopped small

1 green chili, chopped

water

Directions:

1. Put the chana in a saucepan with its water from soaking. Add more water to cover the chana by at least 1-2 inches.

2. Add all ingredients except coriander, tomato and chili, and boil on high.

3. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until chana is soft. This should take about an hour, but could take longer depending on how soft you prefer your chana. If the water dries before chana is soft, add more. Check on the chana often to make sure it does not dry out completely.

4. When softened, turn off heat and mix in remaining ingredients. Add more salt to taste. Can be served warm or cold.

French Onion Soup

This is the recipe for the soup Sameera made for our French cook-a-thon. It was amazingly simple, and tasted really good with the bread and cheese topping. Mmmmmm. I didn't have any oven safe bowls, so we broiled the bread with cheese separately and then placed it on the soup before serving.

French Onion Soup

Serves 4


2 Tbs. butter OR margarine
4 med. white onions - sliced
3 cups beef or chicken broth
1 1/2 cups water
½ Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 dash dried thyme
½ loaf Sourdough or French bread
1/2 cup sliced provolone, mozzarella cheese, munster or Monterey jack
---

1. Melt butter in saucepan over low heat
2. Add onions and cook 20 minutes, stirring occasionally
3. Add beef broth, water, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, and thyme to pot
4. Increase heat and bring to boil, then reduce heat
5. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes
6. Divide into 4 oven safe bowls
7. Cut the bread slices into the size of the bowl and toast
8. Top the soup bowl with bread, then cheese
9. Broil until cheese is melted, in the oven or toaster oven

Eggplant (Or any veggie) Pakoras

Najiba mentioned making these the other day, and it sounded delicious. Eggplant is also my husband's favorite veggie, so he was the perfect guinea pig. I used the large variety of eggplant, but picked the smallest one I could find. The seeds are the best part of the eggplant, and I feel like seed-to-flesh ratio is too low in the really big eggplants.

I sliced the eggplant relatively thin, but the slightly thicker slices actually turned out tasting better, because the eggplant was juicier inside after frying. I think about 1/2 inch thick works. I cut in to half-moons at Najiba's recommendation, because big round slices aren't really bite-sized.

This recipe is actually based on instructions from the back of the bag of besan (gram flour) from the Indian store. I added a bit more besan than recommended, just to make it thick enough to coat the eggplant and stay on. I didn't have ajwan seeds, so I substituted cumin seeds, because wikipedia said they were similarly flavored. I think using seeds as opposed to powder is key though.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups besan (gram flour)
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ajwan seeds
2 tsp salt
1 cup water
1/2 tsp tumeric powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder

To make:

1. Mix the flour and a little water in a bowl to make a stiff dough, then add more water and whip the mixture to make a thick batter. Let sit for 30 minutes.
2. Heat oil for frying on medium heat in a skillet deep enough to let pakoras float. The oil should be nearly smoking when ready.
3. Add all other ingredients to batter and mix again to keep batter thick.
4. Cut eggplant into 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick half moon slices.
5. Dip each slice of eggplant into the batter and coat both sides.
6. Drop into the hot oil, frying a few slices at a time, few enough that the slices don't stick together while swimming in the oil.
7. Turn frequently and remove when golden brown on both sides.
8. Drain well and place on plate lined with paper towels to soak up excess oil.
9. Eat immediately!

The First One - Mango and Ginger Shrimp Skewers

Just because this is my first recipe posting, doesn't mean this is my favorite recipe. I just thought I would get things started. I found this recipe on the NPR website, and it sounds just like something my husband loves to eat at a restaurant we frequent. I'm going to try it on my new George Foreman grill (any other Foreman-owners?) this weekend... Let me know if you try it!

Shrimp on Skewers with Ginger & Mango Glaze

ingredients:
1 large ripe, mango, peeled and seed removed
3 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
¼ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup orange juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Several sprigs fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon Tabasco hot sauce
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined, about 25- 30 to a pound
Wooden skewers soaked in hot water

to make:
1. place mango, ginger, sugar, orange juice, soy sauce, cilantro and hot sauce into a blender and puree till smooth
2. put shrimp into a bowl, pour marinade over them and allow to marinate, refrigerated, for 1 hour
3. thread shrimp onto skewers, season with salt and pepper
4. using a grill pan, or outdoor grill, grill shrimp over high heat, turning to cook both sides, until the glaze turns a burnished mahogany color
5. serve shrimp immediately

Recipe © 2007 Michael Lomonaco

Update: I tried the grilled shrimp in the foreman, and though it was easy, I'm not so impressed with the output. The shrimp didn't caramelize like I expected them too, even though the mango should have provided enough sugar. Maybe adding some honey would help? It still tasted good, and I put together a nice garden salad to go with it, but this one may be better for gas or charcoal grills.