Marga's Foodblog

I just posted the recipes I prepared for Mika's party. Eveyrything was well received. Recipes include a green salad, a potato salad, tofu and chicken satay, and anticuchos, Peruvian beef kebabs. All available at http://www.marga.org/food/party/mika2/

Oftentimes when I ask Mike what he wants for dinner, he tells me "chicken cordon blue". He had no idea what chicken cordon blue was, but it sounded French and complicated and he figured I wouldn't make it. That way, he didn't have to actually think of something I could make for dinner.

Every time he mentions it, I call his bluff, tell him what chicken cordon blue is (for some reason he keeps forgetting) and he backs off from it. Finally, I figured that the best way to finish this routine was to actually make some chicken cordon blue so he could decide for himself whether he wanted it or not. I'm not sure now if that was such a great idea.

Chicken cordon blue (fried chicken breasts stuffed with ham & cheese) has never sounded that appealing to me, it made me think of '50s housewives, but I was determined to find a good recipe. I couldn't find any on epicurious.com, but allrecipes.com had plenty of well-rated cordon blue recipes. I decided on this one not only because it got great reviews, but because it was very simple and it came with a sauce. It was a great choice. The chicken was quite good and the sauce worthy of its many calories.

I diverged from the orginal recipe in a few ways. I used prosciuto instead of ham, Provolone cheese instead of Swiss, and beef bouillon instead of chicken bouillon. I also cooked it for only 20 minutes instead of the required 30 as several reviewers had complained that the chicken was too dry. The chicken was fully cooked after 20 minutes so it didn't require any extra time.

This dish is actually good enough that you could serve to company.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
4 slices Provolone cheese
4 slices Prosciuto
3 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. paprika
6 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup white wine
1 tsp. chicken or beef bouillon granules
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp. cornstarch

Directions

Pound the chicken breasts until they are very thin. Place a slice of cheese and prosciuto on each breast. Fold over and fasten with toothpicks. Mix the flour with the paprika. Dust the breasts with the flour mixture.

In a large skillet melt the butter. Brown the chicken breasts on all sides. Add the wine and bouillon. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until done.

Remove the chicken from the pot and keep warm. Mix the whipping cream with the cornstarch. Whisk gradually into the simmering sauce. Simmer uncovered until the sauce thickens. Serve the chicken with the sauce.

My two latest ice cream experiments have come straight out of the Ben & Jerry Ice Cream & Dessert Book. They've been great!

Saturday I made strawberry ice cream for my birthday party. I made it "chunky" by adding the strawberries in the last five minutes and put some cookie/chocolate crumbs for good measure. Everyone liked it, some people thought it tasted like strawberry short cake. I'll certainly make it again this summer.

Just now I finished a batch of kiwi ice cream. The description in the book "exotic, subtle flavor for the true connoisseur" wasn't too encouraging but I bought a bunch of kiwis at the farmer's market and I wanted to give it a try. It is delicious! I find it very refreshing. I made it with half-sugar/half esplenda. The one minus is that it hurts my tongue when I eat it - but I think I may have a minor allergy to kiwi (I have similar experiences when eating some nuts).

Anyway, here are the recipes as I made them. You will need an ice cream maker with at least a 1.5 qt. bowl.

=Strawberry Ice Cream

1 basket fresh strawberries, hulled & sliced
1/3 cup sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy or whipping cream
1 cup milk.

Mix strawberries with the sugar and lemon juice and let stand in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Whisk the eggs until light and fluffly, about 2 minutes. Gradually add the sugar and whisk in until well combined. Add the cream and milk and mix well. Add the juice from the strawberries and whisk.

Mash the strawberries into a pure and set aside.

Transfer the mixture into the ice-cream make and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. A couple of minutes before it's done, add the mashed strawberries. Make sure they combine well. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and freeze until hard.

=Kiwi Ice Cream

6 kiwis
2 tbsp. sugar

2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup esplenda
2 cups heavy or whipping cream

Mash the kiwis, mix with 2 tbsp. of sugar and let stand in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Whisk the eggs until light and fluffly, about 2 minutes. Gradually add the sugar and splenda and whisk in until well combined. Add the cream and mix well. Add the mashed kiwis and mix well.

Transfer the mixture into the ice-cream make and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. When done, transfer ice cream to an airtight container and freeze until hard.

I made these for an impromptu Memorial Day BBQ today. They are quite good. As I learned, make sure to not overstuff them. I use ground buffalo as a healthier alternative to ground beef but you can use ground beef just as well. I made them with Stilton cheese, it was the first time I tried it and I was very pleased with it, it's less intense and yet creamier than other blue cheeses. You can substitute with your favorite blue cheese, of course.

-1 lb ground buffalo
-1/2 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
-1/2 tsp. dried mustard
-1/2 tsp. salt
-1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
-a dash of Tabasco
-2 oz Stilton blue cheese

Mix the ground buffalo with the Worcestershire sauce, the dried mustard, the salt, pepper and Tabasco. Hand-form 8 equal size patties. Put 1/2 oz of cheese in the middle of a patty, cover it with another patty, press the sides until the cheese is completely covered and flatten with a spatula. Repeat making 3 more patties. Grill for about 5 minutes on each side. Serve on a burger bun with your favorite fixings.

After the bite of chicken Escabeche I got at Patagonian Gourmet, I was in the mood for more, so I tried making my own. The recipe that follows (from an Argentine site) is quite simple. It's nowhere as tasty as the one at Patagonian, but it's quite good and addictive! I still haven't served myself a dish, I keep going back to the pot and taking pieces of chicken (don't worry, I only made it for Mike, Mika and I - we share our germs in many other ways)! We are going to have a lot of wasted veggies (next time I'll use less). Mika also liked it, despite the vinegary tasty.

A word of caution, I cooked the chicken for 2-3 hours and that was probably too much (or at too high temperature). You may want to check the texture after 1 1/2 hours.

Kathy arrived today for a month-long visit. She always complains that I'm always talking about this great food I'm making and yet never cook for her when she's here. She's right. So I offered to make dinner for the night of her arrival - she was afraid I'd back down but I didn't. I had already eyed this recipe - I had some leftover stilton - and she was OK with giving it a try (after I explained that stilton was another blue cheese, just like the gorgonzola that she likes).

It was great. Easy to make and delicious - the sort of thing you can serve either for a family dinner or for company. It is terribly fattening (with all that butter, cream and meat). I'm pretty sure it would work just as well with another blue cheese (at least with one of the milder types), so just use your favorite. Finally, if you are not a blue cheese fan, you don't need to sprinkle the rest of the blue cheese on the steak. The original recipe called for beef tenderloins (expensive), but there is no reason why it shouldn't work as well with a cheaper cut of meat. I made both a tenderloin for Kathy and New York steaks for us.

The original recipe is for 6 (people/steaks) but that would leave you with too little sauce per person. I think it works best for four. I served them with egg noodles (the first thing that I found on the pantry) and that worked well. Mashed potatoes would also go well with the dish.

Recipe

-4 steaks
-salt & black pepper to taste
-1 tbsp dried tarragon
-5 tbsp butter
-1/2 lb portobello mushrooms, sliced
-1/3 cup red wine
-1/2 cup sour cream
-3 oz silton, crumbled.

Rub steaks with salt, pepper and tarragon. Let rest until they come to room temperature.

Melt 2 tbsp. butter in a large skillet. Grill steaks until done to your taste. Remove and keep warm (put them in a plate and cover them with a heavy napkin).

Melt additional 3 tbsp butter in the skillet where you cooked the steak. Add mushrooms and sautee until soft, 2-3 minutes. Add wine and deglaze the pan. Add sour cream and mix well. Add 1/4 cup crumbled Stilton cheese. Remove from heat.

Spoon mushrooms and sauce over each steak. Sprinkle remaining stilton and serve.

This meat sauce is really easy to make, as it relies on store-bought sauce, but it's absolutely delicious. I always get great raves from everyone when I make it.

For an even more delicious dish, sprinkle shredded cheese (mozarella, jack, provolone or a mixture of cheeses) over the hot pasta before serving the meat sauce.

-1 tbsp. olive oil
-1 onion, chopped
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-1 lb ground buffalo or ground beef
-salt & pepper to taste
-2 tsp. garlic powder
-2 tsp. oregano
-2 tsp. paprika
-1/2 tsp. curry powder
-1/2 tsp. coriander
-1/2 tsp. cumin
-1/2 tsp. chili powder
-1/4 tsp. allspice
-1 jar pasta sauce
-1/2 cup red wine

Sautee the chopped onion in the olive oil over medium-high heat in a deep skillet. When soft, add the garlic and sautee for a couple of minutes. Add the ground meat and brown. Add the spices and stir. Add the pasta sauce and the red wine, stir and cook until the meat is well cooked. Serve over any type of pasta.

Pastel de Carne, or Meat Pie, has been one of my favorite dishes since I was a little girl. It's rich and hearty, perfect for a cold winter day - and to satisfy those pregnancy cravings.

A pastel de carne is very simple and quite reminiscent of an Irish Sheperd's pie. It's consists of a layer of mashed potatoes, a layer of cooked ground beef and another layer of mashed potatoes baked in an oven-safe pan. I use the same filling I use for the empanadas (a modify version of which I also use for spaghetti sauce). It contains many more spices than my mom's simple Argentinian basis, but I like it more.

To make it you need

-6 cups mashed potatoes (I often use boxed ones, but if you want to make them yourself this recipe is great

-1 tbsp. olive oil
-1 onion, chopped
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-1 lb ground beef
-salt & pepper to taste
-2 tsp. garlic powder
-2 tsp. oregano
-2 tsp. paprika
-1/2 tsp. curry powder
-1/2 tsp. coriander
-1/2 tsp. cumin
-1/2 tsp. chili powder
-1/4 tsp. allspice
-1/2 cup pasta sauce (optional)
-1/8 cup red wine
-1/2 cup raisins

-Shredded and/or parmessan cheese to taste

Sautee the chopped onion in the olive oil over medium-high heat in a deep skillet. When soft, add the garlic and sautee for a couple of minutes. Add the ground meat and brown. Add the spices and stir. Add the pasta sauce and the red wine, stir and cook until the meat is well cooked. Remove from heat and stir in the raisins.

In a oven-safe deep pot, layer half the mashed potatoes, cover with the ground beef and top with another layer of mashed potatoes. Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake until the cheese on top melts or browns.

I wanted to make chicken & dumplings the other day but I didn't specify in my shopping list that I wanted regular chicken and Mike got me skinless, boneless chicken breasts instead. Not ideal for chicken & dumpling purposes, to say the least. So I want to use them for something else. Just grilling them seemed boring, but given the very limitted ingredients I had at home the possibilities were limited. So I decided to make chicken salad.

Now, I've eaten chicken salad before but I had no idea how to make it. Unfortunately, for this one task, the internet was kind of useless. I found tons of recipes for gourmet or strange chicken salads, but not one well-rated recipe for a simple, supermarket variety chicken salad. Still by looking at the other recipes I learned enough to improvise.

So I grilled two chicken half-breasts, sprinkled with cajun seasoning, in my George Foreman. When done I put them in the food processor with 3 stalks of celery and chopped it all. To that I added some chopped walnuts I found in the cabinet (I don't want to imagine how old they were) and enough mayo to hold it together. I added some salt (probably a bit too much) and some lemon juice and ta-da. It was pretty good, though I still like the chicken salad at Albertson's better. Mike really liked it, though and even Mika had some. So yeah, I'll probably make it again.

Last night I made chicken and dumplings. This was a favorite recipe of mine when I was a kid, probably because it was a specialty of my grandmother and my father, whom I loved very much. It also tasted completely different from everything else we ate in Argentina. I based the recipe below on my father's recipe, which didn't have precise measures. I also looked at this recipe at Allrecipes.com to give me some guidance. The dish came out great, I loved it and I will certainly make it again. Note that with these measures, the dumplings are not very sturdy, they broke up very easily. I liked this, as they helped make the sauce much denser, though if you prefer firmer dumplings you may want to use another dumpling recipe (like this one). You can vary the spices in the broth and add whatever you like, you can also use fresh parsley, I used dried 'cause that's what I had at hand.

It took me about 2 hours from beginning to end, including at least an hour of simmering time. Michaela, my little girl, liked the chicken very much, both last night for dinner and today for lunch. Reheat it by adding some water.

Chicken and Dumplings

For the chicken

-1 tbsp oil
-1 large onion, chopped
-1 large chicken, cut up into pieces
-3 stalks celery, chopped
-4 cups water (about)
-1 1/2 tsp coarse salt
-1 tbsp. oregano
-1 tbsp. dried parsley
-1 tsp. garlic powder
-1/2 tsp. paprika
-1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper

For the dumplings

-1 1/2 cups flour
-1 tsp salt
-2 tsp baking powder
-3 tbsp butter
-3/4 cup milk

Instructions

In a large pot, heat the oil. Add the chopped onion and fry until golden. Add the chicken parts and brown on all sides. Add the celery. Add enough water to cover the chicken. Add the herbs and spices, mix, turn down the heat and simmer uncovered until the chicken starts falling apart from the bones, about an hour.

Meanwhile prepare the dumplings. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together. Add the butter and blend together using a fork. Put the mixture into the fridge until the chicken is almost ready. Remove and slowly add the milk, blending with a fork.

Add the dumplings to the simmering liquid by spoonfull. Let them cook for about 5 minutes and then flip. Let them cook for at least two more minutes. When you put them in the water and/or flip them parts of the dumplings will fall off and mix in with the broth making a gravy. Stir to make sure this happens. If it doesn't, add some extra flour and stir until the gravy is the consistency you like.

When we went to the Halloween store, Michaela picked up a bag of Halloween petit four paper cups and I went ahead and bought them. I didn't want the purchase to be useless, so I decided to make these easy candies that have been a favorite of mine since I was a little kid. They are rolled on shredded coconut so we decided to call them Maggot Balls.

They weren't as big a hit with others at the party as I'd had expected. Well, it just meant there were more for me! :)

All the proportions are approximate, as I didn't measure when I made them.


Maggot Balls

• 3 tbsp butter
  
• 1/2 cup 1-minute oats
  
• 2/3 cup dulce de leche
  
• 1/4 cup cocoa
  
• a dash of cognac, rum or another liqueur
  
• shredded sweetened coconut
  

Mix all the ingredients save for the coconut together in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat until they all melt and can be easily combined, stir well. Take off the heat and let the mixture cool down. Take a teaspoon of mixture in your hands and roll into a ball. Roll on the shredded coconut, put in a paper cup or directly a serving sheet.

When they are all done refrigerate before serving.

I'll be brining a turkey this year, and this useful website tells you (and me) how.

THANKSGIVING SPECIAL / The Chronicle's Classic Turkey

Last night I made Pomegranate & Spice Braised Pork, a recipe I'd seen in the Wine section of the Chronicle a couple of weeks before. I had actually meant to make it Monday night, but I miscalculated when I had to start on the recipe so I left it for dinner last night.

I followed the original recipe quite faithfully, though I used regular anise seeds instead of the star anise, I chopped rather than pounded the garlic (misread it) and used a good quality cab instead of the fruity wine (I wasn't serving it with wine any way, and wanted to use what I had open).

The results were quite good, the sauce was sweet but not overwhelmingly so and complimented the pork quite well. Mike liked it, but he found the pork a little dry. I don't know if somehow I failed in cooking it, or this is related to how lean pork nowdays is (and I may have messed up by cutting off the lawyer of fat on the outside of the pork shoulder). I thought the pork was fine - though the fattier parts were definitely tastier - but I found the sauce to be too one-dimensional. It was just there, tasting good but with no complexity to it. It bore me. I served the dish with couscous (always a good choice for any sweet sauce) and I do have to admit that it went wonderfully with it - the couscous much better than the pork set off the different flavors within the sauce.

It was an easy dish to make, though as with any braise dish it takes quite a while to cook. Pork shoulder is relatively cheap, but beware that a bottle of pomegranate juice cost me $6, the hoisin sauce was another $3 - so this dish can get expensive. Another caveat is that it smells just like cinamon rolls while it's cooking, it may give you a craving :)

Recipe

• 3 1/2 to 4 lbs bone-in pork shoulder roast
  
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
  
• 2 tsps.. vegetable oil
  
• 1 large onion, chopped
  
• 5 large garlic cloves, chopped
  
• 6 slices fresh ginger
  
• 1/4 tsp. anise seed
  
• 1 stick cinnamon
  
• 2 tsp. whole black peppercorns
  
• 2 cups dry red wine
  
• 2 cups unsweetened pomegranate juice
  
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
  
• 2 tsps. fish sauce
  
• 2 tsps. hoisin sauce
  
• 2 tbsp. dark brown sugar, or to taste
  

Heat the oil in a large pot or dutch oven. Season all sides of the pork with salt and pepper. Brown all sides of the pork in the oil. Remove and set aside.

Fry the onions until transluscent. Add the garlic and cook until aromatic. Add the ginger, anise seed, cinnamon andn peppercorns and stir. Add the pork, wine, pomegranate juice, soy sauce, fish sauce and hoisin sauce.

Stir, bring to a boil, turn down the heat to low and simmer covered for 30 minutes. Check the level of tartness and if needed add the brown sugar.

Continue to simmer for 1 hour, turn the roast, and simmer for another 1 1/2 hours, until the meat is tender.

Remove the meat and set aside. Bring the sauce to a hard boil, uncovered, and boil until it's reduced by 1/2 to 1/4th. Meanwhile, slice the meat. When the sauce has reduced, strain it, discard the solids and return the liquid to the pot. Add the pork to the liquid and simmer it for a few more minutes until it gets warm. Serve.

When I saw "All About Braising", the new cookbook by Molly Stevens, at the library I had to check it out. I LOVE braised meats, but I haven't had that much experience making them. I figure this would be an opportunity to learn.

There were so many wonderful choices in the book that I couldn't make up my mind as to what to make so I had to let Mike decide. He decided on this recipe here and a leg of lamb recipe I'm currently cooking and that I'll post soon.

I made the recipe pretty much according to the instructions, though I didn't use bay leaves as I had misplaced them (ok, ok, they'd fallen behind the stove - sheesh!). I also wasn't very dilligent about spooning off the fat, making the braising liquid fatter than it should have been. In any case, the results were very good and worth all the work. Mike loved it and would definitely like it again. I liked it too, but I think I like short ribs braised in wine better. Still, its certainly a dish you can serve to family and friends and make them happy. I would use about 1 lb of short ribs per person.

As usual, the recipe below is what I made.

The wheather has once again turned cold and rainy, which put me in a mood for braising. A good thing as last week I got a copy of All About Braising. I decided to invite my friends Regina and Boris for dinner and as the only meat Regina eats is chicken, then it was a chicken that I had to braise. This recipe sounded good and seemed relatively simple.

I served it with a rice pilaf (rice cooked in chicken broth with onion, saffron, cinnamon, paprika and thyme) - which was OK but not great - and started the meal with a mixed green salad with Gorgonzola Vinaigrette I'd previously made. Everybody loved it.

I followed the recipe pretty much as in the book, though I used beef stock instead of chicken as I had some leftover and I didn't have rosemary around, so I used dry thyme instead. I also used cider vinegar instead of white wine vinegar as I didn't have any of the latter around. The recipe below reflects my modifications. I used Bosc pears, as they are in season right now, though you can also use Forelles.

Everybody loved the recipe and Mike would like me to make it again. I found the flavor a little too mild for my taste, though I'll add it to my repertoire.

I wanted to make something Mexican for Cinco de Mayo and Carnitas came to mind. I found this incredible recipe at Epicurious.com. It's super easy and delicious and will likely become part of my repertoire.

As it turned out, we went to Pee Wee's instead (that's where our friend Percy wanted to go) so I made the carnitas the following day.

I made the recipe according to the instructions, though I used bone-in short ribs. The bones they had were very small in any case, I just cut them out, added them to the meat and removed them before serving. I found the recipe too salty, next time I'll start with 1 tsp of salt and add more later if needed. I did use regular salt rather than the "sea salt" it asked for. You can also use chicken broth instead of water, if so you may want to use even less salt. You can also substitute good quality tequila or possibly another liquor for the brandy, and you can use pork shoulder or another (somewhat fatty) cut instead of the short ribs.

Carnitas

Yesterday I wanted to make something French to celebrate Bastille day and as it's summer we are grilling. I looked into my dear Barbecue Bible for something French and came up with this extremely simple recipe which, according to Steven Raichlen at least, can be found all over Provence. It was very good, so much so that my 3 yo asked me to make them again tonight.

Basically, mix 1/4 cup of olive oil with a tablespoon or two of lemon juice (I didn't bother measuring anything). Baste the lamb chops with the mixture, season with salt and pepper and herbs de provence. Let rest for 10 minutes at room temperature and then grill on a high until done, 4 minutes per side for medium-rare. You can baste the lamb while grilling but we didn't bother to.

A couple of nights ago I made this very easy recipe for pork roll, an Uruguayan classic I took from the Barbecue Bible cookbook. The recipe below serves 4, I halved it for the two of us. Note that pre-packaged pork tenderloins usually come two to a package. I served this with a salad and leftover grilled corn.

I had a pork tenderloin left over after I made the pamplona a couple of days before and I wanted a quick and easy way to make it. I got this suggestion from a user of the craigslist food forum who uses the moniker "Voltaire".

Marinade the pork tenderloin in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, with some chopped garlic and rosemary. I didn't have rosemary so I ommitted it but I did add a tablespoon or so of hoisin sauce to the marinade. Then we grilled it over medium-low heat until done. It was very good, in particular the outside part that had caramelized with the marinade. Next time I'll butterfly the tenderloin so as to maximize the caramelized area.

I made this chicken salad for the sandwiches I served at the tea party I threw last weekend. It was wonderful and I'm planning to make it again. All of the quantities are approximate, so modify them to your taste. I cooked the chicken breasts on my George Foreman, but you can cook it anywhere you want.

-4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
-2 large celery ribs, chopped
-2 green apples, peeled, cored & chopped
-3/4 cup walnuts, chopped
-1 cup mayonnaise
-1 tbsp. lime juice
-1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
-salt & pepper

Combine the chicken, celery, apples and walnuts. Add mayo, a little bit at a time, just enough to join all the ingredients. Add the lime juice and vinegar, salt and pepper, tasting to make sure the proportions are to your liking.

This recipe for ginger scones is from Rose Levy Beranbaum's "The Bread Bible" and was posted on the Craigslist food forum by "claymonkey". It got well-deserved raves. It's easier to make than it appears at first and simply delicious. The original recipe called for unsalted butter, I used lightly-salted European style butter and that worked well enough. I made this recipe for the tea I hosted at my house and served it with a variety of butters & jams.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• a dash of salt
• 1 tsp. grated lemon zest
• 12 tbsp. butter, cold
• 3/4 cup whipping cream, whipped
• 2/3 cup crytallized ginger, chopped ground ginger - 1 tsp
• 2 tsp. whipping cream
• 1 tbsp. sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Oil and flour a large baking sheet.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, ground ginger, salt and lemon zest. Cut the butter into pats, add them and mix by hand until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Mix in the crystallized ginger.

Make a hole in the center and add the cream. Mix with a rubber spaturla until the flour is moistened. Knead the dough inside the bowl until it holds together and then turn it onto a lightly floured working surface. Knead it into a smooth ball and chill it.

Remove the dough from the fridge, divide in two and shape each half into a ball. Press each ball into a disk, about 3/4" high and 6" across. Wrap with plastic wrap and freeze for 15 minutes.

With a sharp knife, cut each disk into 8 wedges. Brush with the cream and sprinkle with sugar. Place the wedges onto the baking sheet. Place the pan in the center of the oven and bake until the edges start to brown, about 15 minutes.

I'm not a huge fan of Macaroni and Cheese (Ok, Ok, I don't like it) but Mike loves it and, predictably, Mika does as well. I hate the idea of her eating that stuff that comes from a box (what is it, anyway?) so I've finally decided to make my own. Someone in craigslist recommended this Macaroni and Cheese recipe by Alton Brown, and as it got quite a lot of good reviews I tried it. I wasn't sure if Mika would like the sharp cheddar, and I found that 10 oz of cheese was just not enough taste, so I ended up using 14 oz of combined medium cheddar, white cheddar and jack cheese. Next time I'll try the sharp cheddar instead. The original recipe also called for 1/2 teaspoon of hot sauce, but I didn't have any so I ommitted it. In any case, Mika is so weary of anything slightly spicy that I wouldn't have wanted to tempt fate. I'm sure it makes a difference, though, so if you don't have picky kids around, by all means add it.

The results were good. Mika didn't like it at first (but she may have been put off it 'cause it was hot - I have to remember to wait until the food is tepid before serving it), but later she had a bowl with her dad and asked that we send some for lunch at school today. My friend Desiree loved it and Mike said that it was very good, it tasted better than the boxed stuff, but he still prefers it out of a box. *sigh*

My version of the recipe:

I like celebrating holidays. All sorts of holidays, whatever their cultural or religious significance. I'm all for partying, whatever the cause. So when St. Patrick's day snack on me, I wanted to do something to mark it. Corned beef and cabbage is just not my style, but I had a great Irish stew at the Wilkenny Irish pub & restaurant in my home city of La Plata and I figured it'd be enjoyable to make it myself. And, as we were going to spend St. Patrick's evening with a bunch of friends at a cabin in Truckee, I'd get to share it as well.

I found this highly rated
IRISH BEEF STEW Recipe at Epicurious.com and made some of the recommended modifications, such as using more beef, reducing the amount of beef broth, adding salt and a guiness. The stew was certainly better the next day, but I was all in all disappointed with it. It's not that different from the stew I usually make (except that rather than broth and beer I use tomato sauce and wine, and add a bunch of different herbs and spices) but more work (in that you have to cook the veggies separately) and the results are definitely less tasty.

Oh well, at least we had a little of the Irish on St. Patrick's day.

It's summer so it's grilling time, and that means burgers. Or at least it does when ground beef is on sale at the local supermarket. Yesterday I made burgers staffed with goat cheese - they were delicious. All you have to do is season the ground beef with salt and pepper, make a thin patty (about 1/8 lb), put a slice of goat cheese in the middle and cover it with another thin patty. You then bring the edges together and flattent he whole thing as much a you can. Remember, burgers shrink when you cook them.

I used ground beef with 7% fat (the goat cheese will add moisture, so you don't need a higher fat meat) and herbed goat cheese. I served them with the usual accrutements and condiments, I particularly liked ripe avocado on mine, it softened the flavor of the goat cheese.

Give them a try!

This is an incredibly easy recipe for ribs with BBQ sauce, it makes delicious, succulent ribs with little work. I got it from All Recipes.com. I've used both country style ribs and spare ribs for it, and I'm sure it'd work just as well with every kind of ribs. I've always made it with two bottles of BBQ sauce (my favorite is Jack Daniels) though I think next time I'll try using just 1, adding more water and boiling it down afterwards. As it is, there is too much BBQ sauce left over which seems like a waste. The original recipe is for 2 1/2 lbs of ribs, but I use it for whichever size package of ribs I buy.

• a slab of ribs
  
• 1 tsp. salt
  
• black pepper to taste.
  
• 1 onion, qurtered
  
• 2 bottles BBQ sauce
  
• water

Salt & pepper the ribs. Place them in a large pot along with the onion. Cover them with the BBQ sauce and enough water so that they are submerged. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Remove the ribs and boil off excess water from the sauce.

Oil the grill and preheat it for high heat. Grill the ribs, basting and turning frequently, for about 20 minutes.

When I make burgers I like going beyond the traditional and trying different variations. Oftentimes this means stuffing them. Stuffing them with blue cheese and goat cheese have worked, but my latest attempt at stuffing them with mozzarella cheese and green garlic was less successful. I based my recipe on an epicurious recipe for Veal burgers stuffed with mozzarella cheese. Alas, I used ground beef instead of veal, green garlic instead of green onions and thyme instead of sage. The result were burgers that were good, but not special. The devil may indeed be in the details, but somehow I don't think so - so I don't think I'll try them again. Plus Safeway's sale on 7% ground beef is over so I won't be buying ground beef for a while.

I made this recipe for red-wine pot roast with porcini a few nights ago and I have to say I wasn't impressed. Granted, I used portobello mushrooms instead of porcini, as they didn't have any of the latter at the supermarket, but I think the problem was actually with the celery. Perhaps I used too much celery, perhaps the problem was that the celery had wilted (in a very strange way) after an afternoon left out of the fridge, or perhaps it was the type of celery (I'd bought organic celery at the farmer's market). In any case, the sauce tasted too much like broth. Mike liked it, I didn't.

I have managed to offend many nationalities through my international food project. Some day I'll post all the comments from Appalachians I've gotten for comparing Appalachia to the third world - but a more recent comment was from an Albanian who was sure I'd never been to Albania (true) and had never eaten Albanian food (true as well). She says that the only authentic Albanian food comes from women who have kept the traditions for generations, which I can believe. She's been very gratious to send me some recipes, which I'm posting here. I may cook them someday.

I was looking for something different to make for my Thanksgiving 2006 dinner, and of course I had to consult my "All About Braising" cookbook. I love to braise and that cookbook is wonderful. So I came up with this recipe, which seemed perfect for Thanksgiving. It turned out quite good, with the big exception that my brain cells were obviously not functioning as I cooked the chicken upside down!!!! Not only that, but I didn't realize it until I was trying to carve the chicken and couldn't figure out why I was having such difficulty. Yes, I'm an idiot. The big problem with cooking it that way is that the bacon drippings only affected the skin on the back (which was delicious). Oh well, next time.

As the bread stuffing and the chicken cook separately you can also make without the other. The stuffing is very good in itself. Note that if you want to stuff the chicken, you must prepare the stuffing first.

I don't know if I have any /regular/ readers of my Food Blog, as opposed to people who just drop by from time to time, but if you are a regular and you've missed me, I'm back. I haven't been blogging much 'cause, frankly, I don't have time to do everything in my to-do list, so from time to time I drop some activities for a while. But I like to blog about food, and I feel guilty about all the restaurant reviews I haven't posted, so in the next few days I hope to get back on track.

I'll start by blogging about the recipe I made last night: Orange Soy Braised Pork Ribs. Country style ribs were on sale at Safeway, and I wanted to braise them in some way. That recipe for Epicurious got good reviews so I tried it.

It was a very easy dish to make, juicing the oranges was what took the longest, and the ribs were very tender - just as you'd expect them to be after two hours braising in any liquid. BUT I wasn't thrilled with the flavor or the glace. By themselves, the ribs just had a mild soy-sauce flavor, nice but not very strong. On the plus side, the kids ate it without complaining. People had complained that it was hard to get the liquid to become syrupy. It did, when I boiled it long enough, but it then became very intense in flavor, I would say too intense.

Still, after rubbing some of the glace off, the ribs were pretty good and Mike enjoyed them.

I'd probably look for a different recipe for next time, though.

Sorry, no pictures. Hopefully I'll remember next time.