Spicy Roasted Brussel Sprouts

This was really good! I had never tried Kimchi and it worked great. I had mild and would definitely use the medium kimchi. I want to figure out how to make my own kimchi now.

Ingredients
Serves 4.

2 containers (10 ounces each) brussels sprouts, ends trimmed, halved lengthwise through core
2 tablespoons olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 cup medium-spicy kimchi with juice
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. On a rimmed baking sheet toss the Brussels sprouts with oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast, tossing once, until Brussels sprouts are brown and tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
Add the kimchi to the Brussels sprouts and combine, then cook until the kimchi is heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve warm.

Broccoli and Cheese Soup with Croutons

We had this tonight with a salad.

3 Tablespoons butter, plus 2 Tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces
1 cup yellow onion, choppedj
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (it said pinch so I'm guessing here)
3 cloves minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon thyme
3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken stock or broth
2 cups fresh broccoli chopped or 1 (16 oz) package frozen thawed and separated
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Croutons for garnish, recipe follows

In a medium pot, melt the 3 Tbsp. butter over med-high heat. Add the onions, salt, pepper, and nutmeg and cook, stirring until soft, 3 minutes. Add the garlic and and thyme cook, stirring, until fragrant, for 20 seconds. Add the flour and cook, stirring until the mixture is well blended and smells fragrant, 2 minutes. Slowly add the chicken stock, whisking constantly, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes. Add the broccoli and cook, stirring, until tender, for 10 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat and puree with a hand-held immersion blender or use a blender. Return mixture to pot.

Add the cream and bring to a bare simmer to heat through. Add the cheese and cook over low heat, stirring until melted. Add the remaining 2 Tbsp. cold butter, stirring to blend. Leave on low simmer.

Croutons:
1-2 cup of 1/2 to 3/4 inch cubed French bread
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp Essence or Creole seasoning (recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the bread in a medium bowl and toss with oil and Essence. Spread evenly on a small baking sheet and bake, stirring twice, until light golden brown on top, about 6-9 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.

Essence of Emeril:

2 1/2 Tbsp paprika
2 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp black pepper
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 Tbsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp. dried oregano
1 Tbsp. dried thyme

Combine all ingredients and store in airtight container, enough for several dishes/recipes!


Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with croutons.

Easy Tortilla Soup

It's been a loooooong time since I've added recipes and I really must get back on track. I was holding out for pictures but I'll just put the reci's up now and put pics in later. This was totally delish and we had it with corn on the cob.

3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 teaspoons chopped garlic (I used fresh)
1 green bell pepper seeded and chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, optional (I didn't use this as I didn't want it hot)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin (I ground my own)
1/2 teaspoons ground coriander (I ground my own)
2 tomatoes, chopped
6 cups chicken stock or canned, low sodium chicken broth (see what I did below)
1 pound chicken breast, boneless, skinless, cooked then shredded
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
6 corn or flour tortillas cut into 1/4-inch thick strips
2 cups vegetable oil, for frying

*For chicken stock; put the 6 cups water in a large sauce pan or dutch oven and the chicken cut in medium size pieces, boil until done, remove chicken. Pour water into a bowl or pan and add a cube of chicken broth.

In a large sauce pan or dutch oven, heat the olive oil on medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, peppers, salt, cumin, and coriander for 5 minutes. Add the tomato and cooks until the tomato is mushy. Add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer (if you don't want thin soup add less than the 6 cups of water). Simmer for 20 minutes. Add the chicken and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the cilantro and stir well. Remove from the heat and cover to keep warm.

Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy pot or electric fry pan to 350 degrees F. Add the tortilla strips in batches and fry until golden and crisp, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with tortilla strips. Yum!

Valentines Red Velvet Cake

This was kind of a slacker dessert. I had a box of Duncan Hines Red Velvet Cake mix, some Betty Crocker Whipped Cream frosting and little heart candies. I baked the cakes in two 9" heart shaped pans. I took a couple tablespoons of the frosting into a small bowl and added two drops red food coloring to make pink. I frosted the cakes with the rest of the frosting. Using my flavor injector syringe I piped on the pink lines. I then placed the candies wherever the lines intersected. This was to take in to work but my husband and daughter were drooling so decided to keep it home and share it here. I do have a great recipe for Red Velvet Cake made from scratch and will try to post that at a later date.

Update: Here's the recipe for the cake.

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp cocoa
2 oz red food coloring
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/2 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp baking soda

Place racks in oven on the second and fourth levels. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 (9inch) cake pans. Cream butter, sugar, and eggs in a heavy duty mixer. Combine cocoa and food coloring, and add to the creamed mixture. Mix the salt and vanilla with the buttermilk in a 2 cup liquid measuring cup, and add to the batter alternating with the flour. Mix the vinegar and baking soda in a small bowl (it will fizz). Carefully and gently fold this into the batter--DO NOT BEAT! Divide the batter between the cake pans, and bake for 30 minutes or until the cakes spring back when lightly touched. Remove from the oven and cool on racks for 15 minutes. Invert onto rackes and cool to room temp. Frost with frosting---I like the one I used above and also Duncan Hines whipped vanilla frosting.

Chicken Jalfrezi

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast cut in chunks
1 large onion chopped
2 tsp. minced garlic
3 plum tomatoes, chopped
2 tsp. coriander seed, ground
½ tsp tumeric
1 tsp cumin seed, ground
½ tsp. red chili powder
1 Tbsp. ginger paste
Fresh cilantro
Salt

In oil brown onion and garlic, add tomato. Cover pan and cook until tomato is mushy. Add coriander seed, tumeric, cumin seed, and chili powder. Add chicken then ginger. Cover pan and cook about 15 min. Add chopped cilantro and cook for about another 10 minutes. Serve with rice or bread.

We really like this recipe so thought I would start the year off with this dish. I probably won’t put pics of the Pakistani dishes just because it’s hard to get an appetizing, decent pic of the food, it all sort of looks like stew, haha.

Ras Malai

Part 1

1 cup powdered milk
1 egg
1 tsp. oil
1/4 tsp. baking powder

Part 2

1 liter (32 oz) whole milk
6 Tbsp. sugar
4 green cardamom seeds or 1 tsp. ground cardamom
1 Tbsp. chopped pistachios
Rose Water

Mix together ingredients for part 1 into dough and form small balls.

Boil milk with sugar and cardamom. Add balls when they start to swell lower heat for 10 minutes. Add rose water and pistachios, chill.