Author: marga (Page 48 of 112)

White Hot Chocolate Recipe

I personally liked this recipe for white hot chocolate, but nobody else was as fond of it as me.

  • 1 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1 cup whipping cream
  • 4 cups whole milk
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • whipped cream for garnish
In a heavy pot, mix the white chocolate chips. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the chocolate chips dissolve.  Mix in the milk and vanilla extract. Continue cooking until the chocolate milk is heated through, stirring occasionally.  Serve and top with whipped cream.
Based on Paula Deen’s recipe at the Food Network.

Roasted Red Rosemary Potatoes

This is a super easy and great way to make roasted potatoes. I particularly like it because I have a lot of rosemary growing by the side of my house.  I cooked the potatoes at 425F, as I was cooking them with another dish that required that temperature, but the original recipe has them cooking at 400F.  I think the added temperature had them dry out on the outside, and steam in the inside – something which my guests liked.  I prepared the potatoes about an our before roasting without them turning brown.

  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary leaves, minced
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • sprinkle black pepper
  • 6 red potatoes, quartered
Directions

Preheat oven to 400 to 425 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the oil, rosemary, salt and black pepper.  Add the quartered potatoes and coat well.  Transfer to a roasting pan or baking sheet.  Roast for 20 to 30 minutes, until tender.

Based on Robin Miller’s recipe at the Food Network.

 

Madeira Sauce Recipe – for roasts

Sometimes the best things are the simplest things, and this super quick and easy Madeira sauce just proves it.  I made it to serve with a ribeye roast, but it could go just as well with roasted lamb, pork or venison.  It has a wonderful nutty buttery flavor that really complemented the beef.  It’s great to soak with bread too.  Make the sauce in advance, and add the pan juices and heat right before serving.

  • 1/2 cup Madeira wine
  • 1/2 cup beef broth
  • 1/4 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary leaves (or a sprinkle of dry)
  • up to 1/4 cup pan juices
Combine the Madeira with the beef broth and the rosemary in a very small pot and bring to a boil.  Remove from the heat and reserve.  After your roast is done, add up to 1/4 cup of the pan juices.  Mix well while reheating and serve.
Based on B. Smith’s recipe at the Food Network.

Perfect Ribeye Roast

I’ve used this method for cooking ribeye roast (aka boneless Prime Rib) before, but as part of a bigger recipe. I figured I’d include it all by itself for easier reference. It can be served by itself or with a sauce.

These instructions are for a 6lb roast.  If yours is larger, add some additional cooking time.  This recipe takes a total of about 6 hours, but only about 5 minutes of actual active time.

  • Ribeye Roast
  • 4-6 garlic cloves, pressed
  • Kosher salt
  • ground black pepper
  • dried thyme

About six hours before your serving time, remove the roast from the fridge, uncover, dry surfaces with a smooth towel, and allow to sit uncovered at room temperature for about 3 hours.  This will dry the surface, giving it a good crust.

About 3 1/2 hours before serving time, preheat oven to 450F

Rub the roast with the pressed garlic.  Rub with kosher salt all over the surfaces. Sprinkle with black pepper and dried thyme. Put on a roasting pan and place in the oven. Cook for 20 minutes.  Turn down the temperature to 300F and cook until it reaches an internal temperature of about 130 F for a bright red medium-rare roast, about 90 minutes. Alternatively, once it reaches 125F, turn oven to 425F and cook for a few more minutes until it gets to 130F.

Remove from the oven. Tent with aluminum foil and let rest for 20 to 30 minutes before serving.  Carve and serve.

Marga’s 2013 Xmas Eve Menu

Marga’s Best Recipes

Xmas Eve Menu 2013: Back to the Past with an International Flavor

Another year, another complex Xmas Eve menu.  This year, my 11-yo daughter Mika said she wanted a 13-course dinner.  She didn’t know why, that number just came to her head, but she wanted it.  I could have argued against it, but I figured with a little bit of creativity I could get there.  And Mika didn’t particularly care what the courses were, as long as she had 13.  And she did – even though I overcooked one of the courses so it ended up almost inedible.

The key to cooking and serving a 13-course menu all by yourself is advanced planning AND advanced cooking, as well as flexibility. To make it easier I decided to revisit some of my favorite recipes, which come from all over the world.  I did decide on a new one as my main dish,  Orecchiette al Ragu di Braciole, basically beef rolls stuffed with cheese and cooked in a tomato ragout, but it didn’t work out.  I made it the day before the meal, and discovered that the sauce was pretty bland and one-dimensional and the meat rolls were not what I would call attractive.  So decided we would just have that for dinner that night, and sent my husband to get a roast.

Roasts are great main dishes because not only because they are simple to put together, but because they look impressive on the table.  Sure, they are expensive, but it’s Xmas.  On the minus side, a roast requires the use of the oven, which means displacing other dishes.  My second and third courses needed to be broiled,  but my oven can’t bake at 300 and broil at the same time.  I baked them at 300, which wasn’t ideal for either – but I overbaked the shrimp, making them barely edible.

In any case, this is what I came up with.  At the end of the night I asked each guest what their favorite part was. There wasn’t a consensus (the soup, the bastilla and the roast were all mentioned), but at least not one said “the cheese”.

  1. Beignets au Fromage èt a la Menthe
    These Corsican goat cheese & mint fritters are delicious, but I did discover that they’re best if fried right before they are served.
  2. Camarao Grelhado com Molho Cru
    Unable to either grill or broil these Angolan marinated shrimp, I baked them and almost dessicated them. However, my guests did like the cumin sauce.
  3. Bacon Wrapped Bananas
    This recipe from Antigua doesn’t actually need a recipe. Take a thick slice of banana, wrap it with half a slice of bacon, secure it with a toothpick and broil it for 3-5′. Baking it at 300F wasn’t a good alternative, as it dried out the outside of the banana without making the bacon crispy enough. But it still tasted good
  4. Blood Orange Sorbet
    Sorbets are great as palate cleansers, and this store-bought one from Ciao Bella is just delicious.
  5. Mixed Green Salad with Gorgonzola Vinaigrette
    This salad is an old favorite, it never disappoints.
  6. Mushroom Soup
    Another old favorite that tastes better if cooked the day before. But make or add the dried mushrooms in advanced. Doing it made them so tough and chewy as to be inedible.
  7. Bastilla
    This Moroccan Chicken Pie was a favorite of several guests, including my daughter. I will admit it came out perfectly. Because it only requires 15 minutes cooking, I was able to put it in the oven after I took out the roast to let it rest.
  8. Lemon Sorbet
    A 13-course dinner deserves two palate cleanser. My second one was also store-bought, Häagen-Dazs
  9. Ribeye Roast with Madeira Sauce and Roasted Rosemary Red Potatoes
    Perfection! The roast was perfectly cooked, the Madeira sauce was delicious and gave it an unexpected nutty taste and the potatoes were easy and loved by everyone.
  10. Cheese Course
    Featuring Spanish and Italian cheeses.
  11. Chocolate Peppermint Cake
    My Grandmother’s recipe. It was great! I made it earlier that day, which allowed the mint cream to settle. It looked beautiful and was very tasty.
  12. White Hot Chocolate
    I thought it was delicious, but nobody else was as fond of it as I 🙁
  13. A Lemon Square
    Bought frozen at Trader Joe’s and defrosted. Delicious.

I served dinner with a Chateau Souverain Estate Bottled 2003 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Marga’s Holiday Menus

Marga’s Best Recipes

Rougette Grill Meister Grilling Cheese – Product Review

GRILLMEISTER-PACKAGE I found this packaged cheese at Grocery Outlet yesterday, and I went back today to pick up four more packages. My haste was due to the fact that at 50-cents a package (regular retails is $5!), they will disappear soon, plus they expired on Dec. 16th – two days ago.  I don’t know for how much longer it’ll stay good, but surely a few more days.

This soft cheese is made in Germany, and is specifically made to be heated before serving.  It doesn’t have a crust, per se, though the outer layer becomes harder, while protecting a semi-melted middle.  It’s very good.  While officially a camembert, it reminded me more of a brie, though it’s milder and less bitter than most of those. It had a slightly nutty flavor, which I liked.

It was also very easy to prepare. You can either put it on the grill or on a lightly oiled pan on the stove. Cook for six minutes, flipping from time to time.  That’s it.  The 3.2 oz portion is definitely dainty, and I wouldn’t buy it at its regular $25-lb price, but for $5-lb, it’s well worth it, even if I have to hurry and eat it all this week 🙂

Rolled Butter Cookies – Best Recipe so Far

Camila wanted to make Christmas cookie, and while I have a pretty good recipe, it called for some ingredients that I didn’t have at home. That was fortunate, because while searching for another recipe I came upon this one, from butter company Land 0’Lakes.  I like it more than my regular recipe, specially with the frosting.

Without the frosting the cookies are too dry.  That’s because of all the extra flour you use on them while you roll them.  Making them thicker helps – mine were too thin.  The icing, however, helps tremendously.  The best part was that the kids didn’t like them that much – Mika found them too dry and while Camila likes to make baked goods, she doesn’t really like to eat them.  The flavor was very good and, yes, you need all that vanilla extract.  All the recipes for rolled cookies I’ve found call for orange juice or lemon juice, so I suspect the citric acid element is needed for chemical reasons.

The key to making rolled cookies is getting the dough at the right temperature to make them rollable. It takes 2-3 hours in the fridge, but I’ve noticed that 45 minutes in the freezer also do the trick.  Work with dough in small batches.  As soon as one gets too soft, put it back in the fridge and get another one.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup salted butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 Tbsp. orange juice
  • 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 cups flour + more for dusting
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 4 1″ squares of plastic wrap

Icing

  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/3 cup salted butter, softened
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1-2 Tbsp. milk
  • Food coloring, as desired

Instructions

For the cookies

With an electric mixer at medium speed, cream the butter with the sugar and the egg.  Add the orange juice and vanilla extract and continue mixing until combined.  Add the flour and baking soda and mix at low speed until combined.

Wrap 1/4th of the dough. with each plastic wrap square. Flatten slightly.  Refrigerate until firm, 2 to 3 hours.

Heat oven to 400°F.

Lightly flour a working surface and a rolling pin.  Roll out one package of batter to a 1/4″ thickness.  Cut with cookie cutters.  Place 1″ apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 6 to 8 minutes.  It’s ready when the edges of the cookie start to turn brown.  Remove from oven and let stand for one minute before transferring to cooling racks.

Repeat with the rest of the dough.

For the Icing

Using an electric mixer at low speed, beat together the powdered sugar, butter and vanilla.  Scrape the sides of the bowl often.  Add enough milk for your desired consistency.
Divide into small bowl and color each one with food coloring.  Spread over cookies and allow to dry.
Marga’s Best Recipes

Ciao Bella Blood Orange Sorbet

CB_bloodorg_lgI have a pretty nasty cold, so I only want to eat things which are smooth going down my throat and so flavorful that I can taste them despite my stuffed nose.  Ciao Bella blood orange sorbet fit the bill perfectly.

Of course, I can’t tell you how someone that has their 5 senses would experience it, but to me it was delicious.  The sorbet had a strong orange flavor, with some welcome bitter undertones.  It was very creamy and smooth.

They have these at Grocery Outlet here in San Leandro for $2 now, and I think I’ll stock up.

Li Do Vietnamese Sandwiches – San Leandro – Review

UPDATE: THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED

You get what you pay for.  At Li Do, that’s a lot of bread and very little meat in your Vietnamese sandwiches.

It’s been a while since we got there, so I don’t quite recall what we got.  I think one of us had the grilled pork and the other the BBQ pork sandwiches ($3.50). Whatever filling was there was good, but I rather pay twice as much and have a sandwich with a filling I can taste.

They also have noodle or rice plates for about $5

We haven’t return and won’t bother to.

Li Do Vietnamese Sandwiches
1338 Fairmont Dr
San Leandro, CA
M-Sa 8 am – 6:30 pm

San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

Looney’s Southern BBQ – San Leandro – Restaurant Review

UPDATE May 2014: Looney’s has been sold.  The new owner will open a Mexican/American restaurant.

We had returned to Looney’s back in February and had a pretty good dinner. I liked my tri-tip quite a bit, Mike was enthused about his ribs, but they were good enough, and Camila was happy with her French bread pizza. We all loved being able to try all the sauces.

 

We love BBQ.  More to the point, we love Everett & Jones BBQ.  We want our ribs slowly smoked for hours and presented with a complex and exciting BBQ sauce.  We don’t want uniformity and we want a good value.

Looney’s can’t offer any of it.  To be fair, I think new environmental regulations do not allow for the type of commercial smokers that make E&J’s BBQ as amazing as it is.  But, well, that just means we have to drive a bit further.  We got the spare ribs at Looney’s and were pretty disappointed.  They were tough, uniform in texture – which suggests they had been boiled – and pretty tasteless.  The BBQ sauce was pretty generic, somewhat vinegary but also just blah.  For $20 for a half-rack we expected more.

In addition to BBQ and BBQ sandwiches, Looney’s offers burgers (~$10), stuffed potatoes ($6 + $2-$3.50 for toppings), steaks ($18-24), jambalaya ($15), catfish ($20)  soups and salads and pizzas.

Looney’s Southern BBQ
14680 Washington Ave
San Leandro CA
510-969-8889
http://www.looneysbbq.com/
M-Th 11am-10pm
F-Sa 11am-1am
Su 8am-10pm

San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

Closed restaurants

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