Showing posts with label Tomatoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tomatoes. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Yikes!!! Thought have overcome food...

It has been a long time since I have posted. What a crazy week and some days it has been. I suppose it was not that great an idea to have more than one writing intensive courses at a time. Now I have work that looms ahead like a 50 foot tall tsunami. I love reading, but a thousand pages a week? and not just any old regular novels, but anthropological articles that drives you to sleep in no time. For those who actually read this blog, it may be a blessing to know that half of the books/articles/excerpts/etc.. are food related. Look on the top left corner. I eat, therefore I think, this has now become I think, therefore I eat. Very interesting reading about food from a cultural and scientific standpoint. It made me realize how lucky I am to have such a great interest in food, you know. Especially since I care for nothing in my food except that I would like it to be made fresh if I can help it. I don't worry about carbs, fats, fibers, or any of those scientific sounding things, instead, I focus on the fresh and delicious produces, and the rich and savory meats.

YUM.

My schedule is really messy during the weekdays, so from now on, most post would probably happen during weekends, as I have a 9 to 9 schedule from Monday thru Thursdays. As a reward for coming back after sooo many days without a post, I'm gonna have 3 different recipes. A breakfast dish, a smoothie, and a delicious snack.

We begin with the breakfast. Seemed like I made it an eternity ago. It was Labor day morning. No work. So of course I had to cook something. I got out my homemade pesto, and the rest of the eggs in the fridge. and thought to make some green eggs. (Sounds weird, but delicious). What do I see? a pack of chorizo sausages sitting right there, telling me, "eggs? how boring. ADD ME!" Fifteen minutes and some tomatoes later, breakfast was ready. Recipe as follows:


Green Eggs and Ham (Labor Day celebratory scramble style.. serves 3)

1/2 pound of chorizo sausages
5 eggs
3 tablespoons of pesto (Make your own? recipe coming soon)
2 medium tomatoes, diced
2 green topped onion
Salt and Pepper

In a bowl, mix the eggs and pesto. This process may take a while, especially if you made the pesto a long time ago and kept it in the fridge (like ME, I make a bunch so I can eat it randomly :) ). But make sure that the mixture is properly blended, it ensures that you don't get chunks of pesto randomly. Heat a skillet, and scramble the egg mixture until nearly cooked (three quarters way solid) take out of skillet and set aside. In the pan, cook the chorizo sausage until brown, stir in the eggs, and add tomatoes in. Make sure its evenly mixed, add salt and pepper to taste. Plate and top with diced green onions. Voila!

So that was Labor Day. Later last week, I discovered a carton of walnuts lying around. My brother has this intriguing recipe for flourless, no baking needed dessert recipe that calls for lots of walnuts. But we're not talking about that. The walnuts were left over from that time. I decided then I was gonna toast the walnuts and eat them as a snack. You know it, when did I just let things go plain like that? Instead, I looked for lots of random stuff I had, and next thing you know, these turned up in my fridge (see picture below). Recipe as follows:

Hazelnut-Chocolate Encrusted Walnuts (No servings here, I'm sure you'll eat it all before giving it out)

1 pound of walnuts, shelled
1 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of water
1/4 cup of oil
1/2 cup of chocolate syrup
4 tablespoon of Nutella spread
1/2 cup of honey

In a pot, heat the water, then add the sugar. Wait until sugar has fully dissolved, then add everything left besides the walnuts. Make sure to keep the heat low, so you don't burn the mix. Stir until the mixture becomes smooth, keep warm. In a separate, flat pan, slightly roast the walnuts. When done roasting, mix the walnuts into the semi-liquid mixture, make sure to coat the walnuts completely. Spread out on a  baking sheet, so that the nuts are not on top of one another. Put in fridge for about 4-5 hours, overnight for best effect.

The last recipe was made for my brother's girlfriend, one of the nicest person I had the privilege to meet. She had some problems with her gums, and was unable to chew anything without excruciating pain. So I made a super healthy smoothie loaded with fruit and all the goodies one would need to recover from such things. Recipe as follows:

Citrus Super Smoothie (Lame name, but true)

2 Navel Oranges
2 Key Limes
1/2 pound of Strawberries
2 cups of Greek plain yogurt
Honey (for sweetness, way better than sugar)
1 cup of Orange juice

No instructions..... you kinda just blend them together... yeah, in a blender.



Its great for when you are super stressed from writing 4 5 page papers for 5 different topics all in a span of 8 days, like me. Great for that little energy boost. Now, for those who know me personally, this blog was written while listening to Phantom of the Opera. And now off to make a midnight snack with honey and yogurt, then on to more reading!!!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Dinner Meeting....


Right out of the oven



A dish created from my mixed experience of eating, a combination of many ingredients that created something I never imagined. Good thing it turned out well. Actually, better than I expected, as my roommate told me. It was a spur of the moment idea that came to me, may be because I watched so many episodes of Hell's Kitchen, and having seen wellingtons made so many times on the show, decided to try for myself. Of course, its no fun to just copy everything you see on TV. Just as my brother does with his music all the time, I decided do something similar, yet quite different.






Nice cut down the middle. Hope the juices don't dry up.
Recipe is as follows:

Stuffed Tomato Wellington (Serves 5.... maybe? I made enough for 4, but have some left over materials)

  • 5 medium sized tomatoes
  • 1 can of Pillsbury Crescents dough (Found in your local supermarket.)
  • Stuffing:
    • 1 pound of Italian Salsicca sausages (Buy the ones that are not in actual sausage casings)
      • Can use other pork sausages if you wish
    • 1 pound of ground beef
    • Fistful of fresh spinach (Define fistful by how healthy you eat.... :D)
    • 1/2 cup of Breadcrumbs (Make it fresh, buy it canned, your choice)
    • 2/3 cup of Balsamic vinegar
    • 2/3 cup of Soy sauce (I know, weird, right?)
    • Dried oregano
    • Dried basil (If you have fresh, even better. My basil plants died before I was making this)
    • Salt and pepper
  • Provolone cheese (Optional)
In a bowl, mix the sausages and beef together. Add balsamic, soy sauce, and breadcrumbs. Add dried spices, salt and pepper to taste. (Don't actually taste it... its kinda raw at this point. Kinda sniff, you should get a scent of oregano and basil, and a light vinegary smell) Mix the stuffing nice and evenly, the acidity in the vinegar would make the proteins very smooth in your hand.
Cut the top of the tomatoes. Using a spoon, carefully scoop out the 'meat' of the tomatoes. In other words, leave only the flesh that is directly attached to the skin. Don't worry, you'll have plenty of tomatoes left in there. Stuff tomatoes with stuffing. (Duh.)  Take the Crescent dough, and wrap the tomatoes with it. Make sure to seal it nice and tight so that it covers it completely. It helps keep the juices and the goodness inside when you cook it.
Set oven to 350 degrees. When oven is ready, put the wrapped tomatoes into the oven, bake for 18-25 minutes, until top is slightly golden. Lay a piece of provolone on top of the wellington, continue to bake for 5-7 minutes until cheese melts and becomes bubbly. Serve while hot.

As you can see, I'm not what you call an 'precision' cook. I go mostly by instinct, and most of the time it works out great, while other times, I make what you call 'edible' food. Also, the left over stuffing that you might have from making the above mentioned can be made into an awesome snack. Just take any extra Crescents dough you might have, wrap the extra stuffing(I am assuming you have no tomatoes left to stuff at this point), plus one piece of provolone cheese with it. Make it small, kinda like a mini pastry (2"by 2" squares is great) and bake it until its golden brown. Voila! mini hot pockets, put it in at the same time as the tomatoes, and you'll have something to munch on while the delicious goodness bakes to perfection. Hmmm... the thought of it makes me hungry.... time to make food. Before I go, this was made for my mini exec board meeting with my student group, hence the title.

Live long and eat well.
Aphrael