Cuisine: Southwestern
Inspiration: Whenever I’m out eating somewhere, I always take note of things that I love. At a restaurant here in town a few months back, I ordered scallops that were coated in cumin and blackened, and I really enjoyed them. While in Austria, one of my dishes came with a side of tiny cubes of roasted zucchini and peppers, and B and I both thought that the vegetables tasted amazing. One of my favorite new ways to cook is to store up little odds and ends that I enjoy from other places, and then throw them into my own meals at home.
What we Loved: I thought that the flavors and textures of this dish all combined really well. I loved the mixture of the creamy, pepperjack polenta with the crispy roasted flavor of the vegetables and the soft cumin scallops. The vegetables added a surprising amount of flavor to the meal, which I was really happy about. All together, this meal was really great for a healthy summer evening.
Helpful Hints: I always think that the most important thing about cooking scallops is to make sure that you don’t overcook them. If they’re overcooked, they end up getting really stiff and rubbery, and to me, it ruins the meal. When searing the scallops for this dish, they only need about 2 minutes per side. My biggest piece of advice is to take the scallops off of the heat just when you’re starting to question if they’re done yet. They will be!
Other Scallop Recipes: prosciutto-wrapped scallops
Cumin-Crusted Scallops over Pepperjack Polenta with Roasted Vegetables
Source: Original Recipe
For the scallops
8 sea scallops
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
Kosher salt and black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
For the polenta
1 cup polenta
3 cups water
2-3 oz cubed pepperjack cheese
For the Vegetables
1 small zucchini, finely diced
1 red pepper, finely diced
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the zucchini and red pepper on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat, spreading the vegetables in an even layer. Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until browned, flipping the vegetables a few times for even cooking.
2. Meanwhile, add the water to a medium saucepan, and bring it to a boil. Slowly pour in the polenta, stirring to prevent clumping. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for approximately 20-25 minutes, stirring and scraping the sides of the pan often. When the polenta is done, add the pepperjack cheese, stir to combine, and reduce the heat to the lowest setting to keep warm until serving.
3. Mix together the flour, cumin, chili powder, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Dip each side of the scallops into the mixture. Heat a stainless steel saute pan over medium heat. When hot, add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Wait until the oil starts to smoke, then add the scallops. To allow the crust to form, do not move the scallops once you’ve placed them in the pan. Using a pair of kitchen tongs, flip the scallops after approximately 2 minutes. The scallops should release from the pan when they are ready to be flipped. Cook for an additional 2 minutes on the other side.
4. Serve the vegetables and the scallops atop the polenta.
Cuisine: American
Inspiration: One of the best things about summer is that it’s grilling season. And after being back from a long vacation for less than a week, B and I were still really exhausted and needed to spend some time at home. We were both happy and relieved for the long holiday weekend, and we took advantage of it by getting a lot of sleep and by grilling a lot of great meals. I always love a really healthy grilled meal, and this fit the bill perfectly.
What we Loved: While we both love portabella mushrooms, this was actually the first time that we’ve grilled them. I would definitely recommend grilling portabellas if you haven’t before, because the added charred flavor that comes from the grill is amazing! B is the one who takes care of grilling in our house, and he does such a great job. He grilled these up until they were perfectly browned and delicious, and I really don’t think that I’ve tasted a better mushroom. For the filling, I mixed up a combination of roasted yellow peppers, diced zucchini, sauteed onions, and some seasonings, and all of the flavors combined really well for a fresh, healthy taste.
Helpful Hints: I made a bit too much stuffing for the mushrooms, so B just threw the rest on the grill atop some foil until it was cooked through. This worked great, because it added some of that grilled flavor to the extra filling, and we just ate it alongside the rest of our supper.
Other Stuffed Portabella Recipes: portabella mushrooms stuffed with sundried tomatoes and kalamata olives, portabella mushrooms stuffed with spinach and artichoke dip
Grilled Portabella Mushrooms stuffed with Zucchini and Roasted Yellow Peppers
Source: Original Recipe
2 large portabella mushroom caps
Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 vidalia onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 very small zucchini, finely diced
1 yellow pepper, roasted and finely diced (directions follow)
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
Kosher salt and black pepper
1. Place the yellow pepper onto a baking sheet, and place it under the broiler for approximately 15 minutes to thoroughly blacken the skin, flipping halfway through cooking. Remove the pepper from the oven, place it in a bowl, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let sit for 10-15 minutes. Peel the blackened skin from the pepper, and then remove the stem and seeds. Finely dice.
2. Heat a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil in a saute pan. Add the onion, and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook for an additional minute. Pour the onion mixture into a bowl, and set aside.
3. Rinse the mushroom caps to remove any dirt. Cut out the stems, and then finely chop. Add the chopped stem pieces to the onion mixture. Add the diced zucchini, diced yellow pepper, and bread crumbs. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and mix to combine.
4. Drizzle both sides of the mushroom caps with olive oil, and grill them until the moisture has evaporated and the mushrooms are browned, approximately 10 minutes. When the mushrooms are nearly done, top them with the stuffing, and grill for an additional 3-5 minutes.
Cuisine: Mexican
Inspiration: Home from Europe with a completely bare pantry, I sat down to make a grocery list and B immediately requested this soup. I absolutely love when he requests anything specific for dinner, so I added it to the menu for our first meal back in the States :)
What we Loved: I’ve made chicken tortilla soup many times over the years. I got my original recipe from allrecipes.com, and it’s been one of those recipes that I’ve made a little bit differently every time because I’ve never been completely satisfied with it. This time, I think that I finally found the recipe that I’m going to keep. This soup is very easy to make, and it has a nice, slightly spicy tomato flavor. It’s very hearty, especially with the addition of avocado cubes, pepperjack cheese cubes, and tortilla chips. My favorite thing about this soup is the creamy contrast of the avocado cubes with the spicy flavor of the soup and the chicken. I photographed this soup before adding the tortilla chips because I didn’t want them to get soggy as I took pictures, but the tortilla chips are of course an essential part of the soup. B particularly loves eating a bunch of chips with his soup, and I really love the added crunch, too.
Helpful Hints: You can certainly cook your chicken any way that you want to for this soup, but I think it adds a great flavor to season the chicken, grill it, and then slice it up before adding it to the pot. In the past, I’ve poached the chicken and shredded it, which is a bit easier, but I’ve really moved away from that method of cooking because I feel like it completely takes away all of the flavor and moisture of the chicken. This time, I seasoned my chicken with just salt and liberal amounts of cracked black pepper before grilling, but next time I’m also going to rub it with cumin and chili powder for a nice crust.
Other Soup Recipes: rosemary tomato soup
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Source: Adapted from Allrecipes
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, seasoned to preference, grilled, and cut into small pieces
1 vidalia onion, diced
2 large cloves garlic, minced
Extra virgin olive oil
2 14.5 oz cans fire roasted diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 4 oz can chopped green chiles
1 14.5 oz can tomato sauce
3 cups chicken broth
1 heaping teaspoon cumin
1 heaping teaspoon chili powder
Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
Avocado, pepperjack cheese, cilantro, and tortilla chips, for garnish
1. In a dutch oven or pot, add a drizzle of olive oil, and heat over medium heat. Add the diced onions, and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until translucent. Add the garlic, and cook for an additional minute.
2. Add the chicken, diced tomatoes, green chiles, tomato sauce, and chicken broth to the pot. Season with the cumin, chili powder, and salt and pepper. Simmer over low heat for 30+ minutes.
3. Ladle the soup into bowls, and top with cubed avocado, cubed pepperjack cheese, chopped cilantro, and a sprinkle of black pepper. Serve with tortilla chips.
We’re home from Europe, and we had such an amazing time! Aside from all of the fantastic sites that we saw and memories that we made, we ate some seriously amazing food!
In Munich, we found a serious love for hefe-weiss beer (I’m pretty certain that it will always, always be our favorite), and we tried so many incredible foods. We enjoyed this gigantic, bigger-than-a-dinner-plate pretzel at the beer garden in the Englischer Garten one night, and throughout the whole stay we certainly had our share of pretzels, all different kinds of sausages, all different kinds of sauerkraut (which was so delicious and tasted nothing, nothing like the sauerkraut that I’ve had here), and of course beer. There was an amazing and unusual beer there called a radler, which was beer mixed with lemonade. It was so suprisingly great and refreshing! Some of our other meal highlights included leg of lamb, weiner schnitzel, and some seriously amazing spaetzle dishes (one that was cheese and crispy onions, and one that was spinach, cream sauce, and mushroom). We also had the most amazing dark chocolate gelato that was actually rich enough and chocolatey enough to please even me :)
In Innsbruck, Austria, the food was just as great. We had a wild game stew there that had the most amazing, cinnamony sauce that I’ve ever tasted (and I’ll remember it as one of the best foods I’ve had). Another night, B ordered a steak in a bacon-crispy onion sauce that was absolutely to die for. We tried spinach dumplings, Tyrolean-style fritters and ravioli, sauerkraut, potato pancakes, and a few bowls of absolutely incredible, super comforting goulash soup that was great for the rainy days that we had. Our stay in Austria was short, but everything that we ate there was unbelievable.
And of course, I’ll always remember the food in Paris, too. We had pastries for breakfast every morning (real, amazing croissants, and the most fantastic chocolate eclair…), and the lunch/dinner food was so rich and fantastic. We tried four different croque sandwiches (croque madame, a croque with tomato and goat cheese, a croque with tomato, and a croque with chicken and tomato), and they were easily the best sandwiches that I’ve ever had. B and I were so amazed that the cheese that they used on everything in Paris was just SO.GOOD. We also tried duck confit, which was the most tender and incredible meat that I’ve ever had, grilled steak and salmon with bearnaise sauce, and we went to a fromagerie one night and picked up some fresh goat cheeses and a baguette for supper with a couple bottles of wine.
It really was the most amazing time, and we made sure to sample as many different foods as we could while we were there. I’m know that I’m forgetting to mention many, but I have a list that’s a mile long of foods that I want to try to replicate at home. I’m definitely more than excited to get back to cooking again :)
B and I are fortunate enough to be travelling to Europe tonight until the end of June. My super-smart B is giving a presentation at a biophysics conference in Munich, so we’re making a vacation of it. I’m so proud of him! And we’re so excited for the trip! We’ll be staying in Munich, Germany; Innsbruck, Austria; and Paris, France. I can’t wait to eat all of that fantastic food! I plan to try one of everything. And I’ve got to say, there’s not much better than a fabulous beer city and a fabulous wine city in the same trip :)
I’ll be back and posting at the beginning of July.
Cuisine: Mexican
Inspiration: I baked up a huge amount of our favorite enchiladas earlier this week to last us through a busy week preparing for vacation, and I needed a side dish. I love our standards of Mexican rice, guacamole, and refried beans, but this time, I was hoping for something a little bit different. I was happy when B said that this green rice from Bobby Flay stood out to him as what we should make.
What we Loved: This rice definitely has a kick to it, which for some reason I found unexpected. But we love spicy foods, so we really enjoyed the spiciness of this dish. The rice is made using roasted poblanos and jalapenos, so there’s really quite a bit of heat there. It’s not a subtle rice by any means, but it has character and spice, and we thought that it complimented the enchiladas well.
Helpful Hints: I would consider adding more cilantro to the rice next time, and maybe another ingredient just to kick up the flavor a little bit. As it is, this rice is spicy, but aside from the spiciness, it seems like there’s something missing in terms of flavor. I’m thinking that some tomatillos added to the roasted pepper/cilantro puree would work great, maybe along with a big sprinkle of cumin. If you make the recipe as stated, be sure to use a liberal amount of salt for flavor.
Other Rice Recipes: Mexican rice, cilantro rice
Green Rice
Source: Bobby Flay
1 3/4 cup chicken broth or water
2 poblano peppers, roasted and with the stems, seeds, and skin removed
1 jalpeno pepper, roasted and with the stem, seeds, and skin removed
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Kosher salt
1 Vidalia onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/4 cup rice
1. Combine the broth and the peppers in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then partially cover the pan and simmer over medium-low heat for approximately 10 minutes.
2. Pour the pepper mixture into a food processor. Add 1/4 cup of the cilantro, and process to a smooth puree. Season liberally with salt.
3. Add a drizzle of olive oil to the saucepan, and heat over medium high heat. Saute the onions until soft. Add the garlic, and cook for an additional minute. Stir in the rice, and cook for another minute. Add the broth mixture, stir, and season with salt. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce to a simmer. Cook for approximately 15-20 minutes, or until the rice is tender.
4. Remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the remaining cilantro.
Cuisine: Mexican
Inspiration: I’ve mentioned before that B and I are leaving for Europe on Friday. At this point, I’ve pretty much cleaned out all of our food to prepare for being gone for a few weeks. I decided to go to the store yesterday to buy just enough ingredients for a big meal that could last us the rest of the week. We’ve got all kinds of things to do before we leave, so it will be great to have leftovers until then.
What we Loved: These enchiladas are just awesome. This recipe is from B’s mom, and I’ve got to say that it’s my favorite recipe of hers. For the past 8ish years that I’ve been with B, I’ve eaten this meal with his family on many occasions, complete with B’s mom’s Mexican rice and guacamole with tortilla chips. There just aren’t many meals that are better than that. The enchiladas are filled with a mixture of ground beef and refried beans, then they’re coated in red sauce and cheese. All of the flavors combine for a cheesy, tomatoey, meaty combination that is just delicious. I’ve made a lot of different enchilada recipes over the past few years, but these are the ones that I always come back to because they’ll always be our favorite. None of the others can really compare, at least in our book.
Helpful Hints: Depending on how you like your enchiladas, you can bake these in the oven uncovered for a longer time so that the sauce bakes into the tortilla, or you can throw them into the oven covered and for a shorter time, which will keep the enchiladas much saucier. You can also use as much or as little cheese as you’d like. I didn’t buy enough this time and didn’t use as much as I normally do, but these are just as good with just a little cheese as they are with a lot.
Other Enchilada Recipes: shrimp and goat cheese enchiladas, avocado enchiladas
Beef and Bean Enchiladas
Source: B’s Mom
You can use either store-bought or homemade enchilada sauce, refried beans, and taco seasoning in this recipe. I do both, depending on my mood. Here’s the recipe as I made it this time.
14 corn tortillas
Extra virgin olive oil
1 lb ground beef
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch of oregano
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 can pinto beans
1/2 onion, diced
1 large clove garlic, minced
5 oz cheddar cheese, freshly shredded (use more for cheesier enchiladas)
16 oz red enchilada sauce (I used Frontera Class Red Chile Enchilada Sauce)
Chopped lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, etc. for toppings
1. Brown the ground beef in a saute ban. Season with the chili powder, paprika, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper (or use a taco seasoning packet).
2. Place the pinto beans in a food processor, and puree until smooth. Add a drizzle of olive oil to a small sauce pan, and saute the onions for 2-3 minutes until transparent. Add the garlic, and cook for an additional 30 seconds. Add the pureed beans to the pan, season with salt and pepper, and mix to combine. Alternatively, use a can of refried beans.
3. Add the bean mixture to the ground beef, mix well, and set aside.
4. In another saute pan, heat enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Dip each tortilla into the oil, sauteeing for just a few seconds per side. Place the fried tortillas on a plate as they are finished, and refill the oil in the pan as necessary.
5. Pour some of the enchilada sauce onto a second plate. Dip a tortilla into the sauce, flipping to coat each side. Fill the tortilla with a spoonful of the beef mixture and a pinch of cheese. Roll the tortilla, and place it seam-side down into a baking dish. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.
6. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the enchiladas, cover with foil, and bake at 350 for approximately 15 minutes. Remove the foil, sprinkle the remaining cheddar cheese over the enchiladas, and bake for approximately 5 minutes more, until the cheese is just melted.
7. Serve garnished with lettuce, tomatoes, cilantro, onions, or any other desired toppings.
Cuisine: American
Inspiration: I first had these little snacks a few years ago when my Mom brought some home from a friend at work who had made them. Then, I ran across them again a few weeks back on The Cooking Photographer and was reminded of how good these little treats are. I had a family cookout coming up and decided to make these as a quick and easy snack to bring along.
What we Loved: These are just a really fun little variation on chocolate covered pretzels. I have always loved snacks like trail mixes or Chex mixes that are both salty and sweet, and that’s the reason that I love these so much. They’re not so much a dessert as a salty, chocolatey snack. Plus, they’re incredibly easy to make, and they travel well. I always love finding snacks that are easy to take along to a party.
Helpful Hints: With all of the different kinds of Hershey Kisses and M&Ms that there are now, you can use any number of different flavor combinations with these. You can also use Rolo candies instead of Hershey Kisses, like The Cooking Photographer did, and there are plenty of other little chocolates/toppings that could be used in place of the kisses or M&Ms. And of course, with M&Ms, you can always coordinate the colors for a holiday or season.
Pretzel, Hershey Kiss, and M&M Bites
Source: From my Mom’s work friend and The Cooking Photographer
Pretzel snaps
Hershey Kisses
M&Ms
1. Place the pretzel squares on a baking sheet, and top each one with a Hershey Kiss.
2. Cook for 3 minutes in a 200 degree oven.
3. Press an M&M into the center of each Hershey Kiss. Refrigerate for approximately 15-20 minutes or until cool.
Cuisine: Spanish
Inspiration: At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’ve been trying really hard the last few weeks to clean out all of the food from my freezer and my pantry. B and I are travelling to Europe next Friday for two weeks (!) and I really don’t want any excess food hanging out around our house. I picked out this recipe to use a few links of extra chorizo that I had stashed in the freezer and the last of a box of arborio rice. Though I love picking out my menu based on whatever I stumble across at a given time, making meals out of leftover odds and ends can be really fun, too.
What we Loved: This is going to be a permanent recipe in our house. I’ve mentioned before that these one-pot, super flavorful and spicy rice dishes are some of my favorite meals, and this one is no exception. I absolutely adored this, and B deemed it to be the best of the rice-style dishes that I’ve tried so far. The flavors were just amazing. The chorizo slices add a great, spicy-sausage flavor to the dish, and the layer of tomatoes cooked on top of the rice get nice and soft, with all of the rich tomato juices running down into the rice. With the additional flavors of tomato paste, paprika, saffron, and cilantro, this recipe really is fantastic.
Helpful Hints: I’m not sure what I did wrong, but I ended up having to cook this dish for much longer than stated in the original recipe. The original cooking time is stated as 15 minutes, but I ended up having to keep mine in the oven for somewhere between 45 minutes to an hour before the rice was cooked through. I’d make sure to allow for extra cooking time just in case. The extra time wasn’t a problem, because the meal still turned out perfectly, but it was definitely necessary for my rice to cook all of the way through.
Similar Recipes: sausage and shrimp jambalaya, shrimp creole, fisherman’s rice
Tomato Paella with Chorizo
Source: Pinch my Salt, originally from Mark Bittman’s recipe in the New York Times
I made a few changes to the ingredients and the cooking time, as noted above. Here’s the recipe as I made it.
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 lbs tomatoes, cut into thick wedges
Kosher salt and black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
1 Vidalia onion, diced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
A large pinch of saffron threads
2 teaspoons paprika
2 cups arborio rice
6 oz. Spanish chorizo, sliced
A handful of cilantro, for garnish
1. Heat the chicken broth in a saucepan.
2. Put the tomatoes in a bowl, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat.
3. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large saute pan or paella pan. Add the onion, and saute for 2-3 minutes, or until softened. Add the garlic, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook for an additional minute. Stir in the tomato paste, saffron, and paprika, and cook for a minute more. Add the rice, and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Add the chorizo and the chicken broth, and stir to combine.
4. Put the tomato wedges on top of the rice, and drizzle with the juices from the bowl. Put the pan in the oven and roast at 450, undisturbed, for 15 minutes. Check to see if the liquid is evaporated and if the rice is cooked through, and if it’s not, continue cooking. I ended up cooking mine for somewhere close to an hour.
5. Remove the pan from the oven. Sprinkle with fresh cilantro and serve.
Cuisine: American
Inspiration: There really just aren’t a lot of things better than homemade pizza on a Friday night. When B and I were on our honeymoon a few years back, we ate at an Italian restaurant in San Francisco and ordered their “California” pizza, which had avocados and cilantro as a couple of the toppings. It was the first time that we’d ever had those flavors on a pizza, and we really loved it. With a spare avocado to be used, I decided to make my own avocado pizza.
What we Loved: I think that this is the best pizza that I’ve ever made (aside from our margherita pizza, which is our all-time favorite). This was a good pizza. It’s heavy with toppings (literally heavy), and the toppings all taste really great together. I used Vidalia onion slices, bacon, chopped cilantro, and sliced avocado, and along with pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese, the flavor combination was just amazing. I really can’t rave enough about how good I thought this tasted. I particularly loved the salt from the bacon and the creamy richness from the avocado, which, by the way, I used plenty of.
Helpful Hints: There’s nothing too difficult about making this pizza. Just prepare and enjoy.
Other Pizza Recipes: pizza margherita, chicken pizzas
Bacon Avocado Pizza
Source: Original Recipe
1/2 recipe pizza dough (I used the dough in this recipe)
1/2 recipe pizza sauce (I used this recipe)
1 small Vidadlia onion, cut into slices
8 slices bacon, cut into strips and sauteed until browned
1/2-2 cups freshly shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 large avocado, sliced
1. Grease a pizza pan. Spread out the pizza dough on the pan, using flour if necessary to help spread the dough. Top the dough with the pizza sauce, the cheese, the onion slices, and the bacon.
2. Cook the pizza in a preheated 400 degree oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the bottom of the pizza crust is browned and the cheese is browned.
3. Top the pizza with the cilantro and the avocado. Slice and serve.
