Beef Stir Fry with Shiitake Mushrooms and Snow Peas

Beef Stir Fry with Shiitake Mushrooms
and Snow Peas

I picked this recipe based on it seeming to be quick and easy.  That proved to be right for a change.  It took about 45 minutes to make including prep time.

I halved the amount of mushrooms and it seemed like the perfect amount to have.  Using any more would probably throw off the balance of the whole plate.  I went with a bed of basmati rice to server this meal on.

The outcome was amazing.  The spice level was just enough for me and not too much for my guinea pig.  By the second day all the juices have had time to set in, making the dish a bit spicier but not any less tasty.

Next time I'm going to throw in all the cilantro and green onions into the pan instead of leaving some for garnish.  I will also try using pre-sliced meat that my local store sells as "stir fry beef" to quicken the prep time even further.

A word of warning:  definitely needs a large pan to cook in.

Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut Squash Soup

Add one more item to the list of foods I've never had before...the butternut squash.  Right now is the perfect weather for a nice and creamy soup.  Add the two together and voila!

The Guinea Pig has been wanting to help cook.  This seemed like a harmless enough recipe to let him have a go and let me try something new.  I acted as his sous chef and helped out with chopping and peeling and such.

We chose to skip the chicken broth as the aroma from garlic and caraway seeds in bacon fat was a strong enough for us.  We also skipped the vinegar.  We went with a brown sugar bacon and cooked up 5 slices knowing that we would surely nibble on the extras.  We hoped to have enough bacon left over by the time the soup was ready for consumption.

The butternut squash became tender a lot sooner than I expected it to.  Almost on par with the timing of the apples.  Carrots, on the other hand, took quite a bit longer.  In the end, after 20 minutes of cooking and some pureeing, all was well.

We added a teaspoon and a half of salt and 5/8 of a teaspoon of pepper to season.  Soup came out absolutely delicious!  However, there was some flavor seemed overpowering.  Next time we'll try to use only 3/4 teaspoon of caraway seeds.

We ate all the bacon, that was supposed to be enough for the whole pot of soup, between the two servings and munching.  We are bacon fiends after all.

Carrots and Brussels Sprouts

Carrots and Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts were an unknown for me.  I've never eaten them growing up.  This isn't because I disliked them, it's because I never knew they existed.  I don't think my parents knew what they are either.

Originally I made this dish as a side for my Simple Braised Beef Short Ribs.  I wanted to add a little bit of color to the plate.  I was also curious to find out why brussels sprouts have such a bad reputation.

After tasting a bit of raw sprout I would say they tasted much like cabbage or even a bit like cauliflower to me.  I like both cabbages and cauliflowers, so I had high hopes of liking this highly disliked vegetable.

I grabbed a recipe that would be simple and would showcase the flavor of brussels sprouts without being hidden by multiple ingredients.  Prep was more or less a breeze.  I subbed olive oil for butter.  I also left out the vinegar from the recipe.  I figured if I needed more acidity, I could always put some lemon juice into the mix next time.

While the veggies were sautéing, I thought that might be enough to cook them through and no water would be needed, but they weren't getting tender enough and water had to be used.  The seasoning was nice and they came out to be the "crisp tender" that the recipe called for.

I now know that brussels sprouts taste good.  Maybe I just got lucky with the preparation method.  If so, everyone should cook them this way.

Simple Braised Beef Short Ribs

Simple Braised Beef Short Ribs

First time I ever made braised beef short ribs, which wasn't that long ago, I followed a recipe.  It had me use red wine and braise them in the oven.  They came out delicious and so tender that they fell off the bone while braising.

Today I was going for something completely different.  I was trying to see how I could make it as simple as possible.  I wanted to use only the stove top and wheat beer instead of wine.

For the wheat beer I chose Guinea Pig's father's favorite, Blue Moon.  To keep the flavors mild I went with leeks, celery, and carrots as my veggies.  As for seasonings, I decided to use only salt and pepper.  These choices were all made with the idea of keeping this as simple as possible.

The resulted ribs were even better than the ones I made the first time.  The bones fell off this time as well.  The meat was extremely tender.  I served the ribs with sides of mashed potatoes and sautéed carrots and brussels sprouts.  With the gravy reduction spooned over the meat and potatoes.

Biscotti, Take 2

Biscotti, Take 2

With the last of the first batch of biscotti being gone for a few days now, I decided it was time for another batch. This time the recipe does have butter.  It even has brandy! It also didn't require/ask for a blender and was supposed to make 42 cookies (2 logs rather than 1 from the first recipe).

The dough came out super sticky from the fridge.  I used the plastic wrap technique this time again.  I was barely able to get the dough off this time.  Moist hands weren't much help either.  Next time I'm refrigerating it for a lot longer than the 30 minutes in the recipe.

The recipe yielded 34 cookies for me.  Only explanation I can make to account for the missing 8 cookies is lack of uniformity to my logs.  I browned this batch a bit more than the first ones.

The biscotti came out good.  They are more moist than the low fat ones I made first, but I guess that butter would do that.  One more biscotti recipe to try out after this one.  Maybe then my guinea pig will pick the ones he likes best.

Chipotle Braised Chicken

Chipotle Braised Chicken

A short while back I had my first experience with braising meat when I made some beef short ribs.  It made me want to try braising other meat like chicken.  Then I came across a recipe to do so and the rest is now history.

The local supermarket had chicken thighs on sale, so I went with those rather than a mix of chicken parts.  These thighs were humongous, so I decided to err on side of caution and double the cooking time.  The worst it would do is make the meat fall off the bones.

Skimming the fat proved to be somewhat difficult and was the toughest part of the whole recipe.  Other than that, it was pretty straight forward and simple enough to make.

The chicken turned out juicy and tender.  Although, it was not as spicy as I would expect something with chipotle in its title to be.

Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Cream of Cauliflower Soup

I had about half of a large head of cauliflower left over from a recipe I made last week and decided to try a cream soup with it.  I halved the rest of the ingredients as well so that they wouldn't overpower the cauliflower.

I decided to skip the butter and use sunflower seed oil to sauté the veggies.  As I began to season the soup, I realized that I didn't have curry powder.  The Guinea Pig isn't a fan of that spice just like I'm not a fan of ginger.  A little bit of variation would have to be done and that I decided to go with cumin and paprika.

I used half veggie broth and half water to boil/cook the soup.  It took longer than 15 minutes to get the cauliflower tender.  Maybe next time I will break up the cauliflower into smaller florets.  No half-and-half meant that I got to use heavy cream and milk.

When the soup fit into the blender in one shot, I was happy.  I seasoned the soup with a half a teaspoon of salt and a quarter teaspoon of pepper.  I decided to garnish the soup with a crumbled blue corn chip.

The soup turned out very smooth and tasty.  It had a light and fluffy consistency.  It's definitely different type of soup than what I'm used to, which is nice to have some change.

Corn Tea

Both Guinea Pig and I are huge fans of tea.  Lately we've started a sort of collection after getting the idea from a cousin who has an extensive one.  We try to keep it rational and only pick up a box of tea bags at a time while picking up a substantial amount of groceries.

So far we've been fortunate enough to discover a bunch of interesting teas.  The latest such find came from our local Asian grocery store and is made from corn.  This tea tastes like liquid toasted popcorn.  One bag good for 2 steepings.  On the first try we brewed it 3 times, but the last tea was a bit too weak.

I have got to say that this is the most unusual tea I've ever tasted.  I'm having a hard time calling it tea, that's how different it tastes.  I think everyone should try it, if ever given the chance.

Pasta Bolognese

Pasta Bolognese

Finding a recipe that uses four kinds of meat, one of them being bacon, is enough reason to try making it.  A classic Italian name like bolognese, made me even more interested in it.  Good thing I didn't realize it wasn't a traditional bolognese before I made it.  Otherwise I may have decided to look for another one.

I decided to go with bacon over pancetta.  One reason being that I didn't feel like trying to find pancetta in my local markets.  Another, that I love bacon!  For the dry wine, I went with a Yellowtail Cabernet-Merlot mix.  Mini fusili was my choice for pasta.  I went with an aged parmesan rather than the called for parmisiano-reggiano.

I didn't feel the need to cook the bacon in oil as bacon releases enough of its own fat.  I found that the secret to finely chopping bacon is a sharp knife.  I've tried freezing in the past but it didn't work.  The sauce took longer than 30 minutes specified to get done.  It was a lot closer to an hour an a half or even a bit longer.

Recipe turned out pretty good and has encouraged me to one day search out a recipe for  "true" pasta bolognese.  My guinea pig is now complaining of being "stuffed with overly delicious foods," so I guess he approves of this one.

Carrot Cake Cookies

Carrot Cake Cookies

While browsing through recipes, I came upon an Inside-Out Carrot Cake Cookies one that intrigued me.  Once that happens I have to make it!

The one or two times in my life that I've eaten carrot cake I've enjoyed it.  All the ingredients seemed like something that I like or even love on their own.  Even more reason to try it out.

I started with getting the walnuts out of their shells, which is something I haven't done in over a decade.  Luckily I had the perfect tool for that job, one that every kitchen needs...a hammer!  Figured out the best way, for me anyway, for opening the shells was to hit the pointy end.

The only thing I did different from the recipe this time was to fold all the ingredients into the egg mixture after beating it with a blender.  I was afraid to get all the stuff get shredded, because I wanted to keep them as much intact as possible.  The method worked out pretty well.

I ended up with 24 individual cookies, 12 per sheet.  While looking over the recipe, I figured that the cream cheese filling was unnecessary for me, so I decided to skip it and eat just the cookies, thinking that they would be tasty enough on their own and would make the cookies a bit "healthier."

The cookies turned out light, fluffy, and cake-like.  After eating a few just the way they were, I became curious to taste them with the filling.  This is not to say that they weren't delicious without the filling, but I had extra cream cheese from the weekend and wanted to taste the cookies both ways.  I mixed up a bit of the filling, without bothering to measure the honey or the cream cheese, which made enough for half the cookies.

The filling definitely added another dimension to the cookies, a very tasty dimension, but I'm still torn of which way I prefer to eat them.  I guess I'll just have to keep eating them both ways to find out.

Mushroom Barley Soup

My grandmother is the best cook I know.  Watch out Iron Chefs, this lady is it!  She cooks from the heart and taught me to do the same.  It's no surprise that there are no set recipes for her food, instead it's a pinch of this and a dollop of that.

Only recently have I started writing down what I put into my dishes and part of the reason for doing so is my grandma.  I would like to be able to share my creations with her.  While I would love to share my recipes with her in person the way she shared hers with me, it's a lot more difficult with us living a couple of states apart.  Next best thing I can do is try to write down what I make as exact as I can and walk her through it over the phone.

One day as we were talking, my grandma honored me by asking me for ideas for a soup that would be new to her routine.  Every once in a while I've been making a mushroom and barley soup and suggested that she try that.  Since I've only made the soup at the spur of the moment, I didn't have a recipe to pass on, just general idea of stuff that I put in it.  She asked me to write one down next time I make it, so here I am.

I started with the basics (mushrooms, barley, and soup mix beans) of what I've put into the soup every other time I've made it.  The rest was tougher since I haven't made this soup in a while and forgot what exactly I put in it.  I added some shallots into the mix, but still kept thinking that it needed more.

The only other ingredients that I could think of to put in the soup were celery and carrots.  I tossed those in, but as soon as everything started cooking and I was able to smell the soup coming together, I realized that I've never put those into the soup before now.  So the whole time it's cooking I was sitting on pins and needles and hoping that it would still turn out good.

The last thing to do was to season the soup.  Normally I would keep tossing different spices into the pot and tasting it until I had it just the way I wanted it to taste.  This time I had to be a lot more methodical and keep track of how much of what I would add.  In the end I ended up using 6 different spices.

The soup came out pretty good, but not perfect.  I ended up adding a little too much barley (fixed that in the written recipe).  Still not sure about the celery and carrots, but they definitely did not ruin the soup at all.  I hope my grandma will like this version enough to make it her own.

Coq au Vin

Coq au Vin

The guinea pig's parents came to visit us this weekend.  Dad set aside his love of crab cakes for one night and let me cook dinner.  It helped that they were here for more than a night this time and we could go out one night and I could cook the next.

As we looked through a few recipes I had picked out to make this week, mom and I settled on the Coq au Vin.  It was extra appealing that the recipe was touting its quickness to prepare.  For the most part, it was quick and easy.  It took a little longer, however, than the 45 minutes promised.

As with most recipes, I changed a few things a bit.  I sliced the mushrooms into quarters and the shallots into sixths.  I cooked them separately to ensure shallots would cook through and get nicely caramelized before I added the mushrooms into the mix.  I used all wine (Yellowtail Cabernet Sauvignon) instead of half wine and half chicken broth.

My preparation method varied as well from the recipe.  I didn't cook the chicken until the sauce was almost done and I reduced the sauce quite a bit.  I had a lot of bacon fat in the pan and I reserved half of it for cooking the chicken later in a separate pan.  My chicken breasts must have on the larger side, because it took a lot longer than the suggested 6 minutes per side to cook them through.

I served the chicken with a side of simple mashed potatoes and spooned the sauce on top of both.  Using extra thick bacon was great.  It carried the taste through rather than getting lost in the wine flavor.  The sauce came out nice and thick and didn't run or turn the potatoes pink.

Even though I'm not a fan of huge chunks of meat, I enjoyed the dish.  I might consider multiple smaller portions of chicken, possibly pounded or tenderized in some other way, next time I make it.  Parents were happy with the meal, on the whole.  My guinea pig should be devouring left overs any moment now.

Biscotti

Biscotti

My "guinea pig" has been hankering for some biscotti lately.  After looking in all the local supermarkets and not finding any, I suggested we make our own one day.  We found 3 promising recipes to play with.

The other day I decided to bake the first batch of biscotti as a surprise.  I chose the low fat recipe to try first.  I didn't expect it to come out anywhere near as good as it did.  Let's face it, low fat usually equates to something along the lines of not good.

Based on user comments, I was a bit worried about the dough being too sticky for me to handle.  I was surprised when it wasn't a big problem for me. (Just make sure that there's plenty of flour on your hands and the dough won't stick!)  I wrapped up the dough in plastic wrap to make it easier to form the log and then simply unrolled it unto the baking sheet.

I decided to not cut the biscotti on the diagonal in the hopes of keeping them more uniform.  I also made them about twice as thick as what was called for in the recipe.  It took me the time specified to cook them through. The recipe yielded 26 cookies as made instead of the 36 stated.

Overall, my first attempt at biscotti came out tasting pretty good, even though it was low-fat.  The "guinea pig" was very happy with the outcome. Next time I make this recipe I'm going to add a bit more of the extracts, use splenda instead of sugar to make it even more diet friendly, and make the log longer and flatter for a more bite-size experience.

Hello World!

I hope to use this blog to ramble on about the food I cook.  

My blog's title ("del mar y mas") means "of the sea and more"...or so says the google translate tool since I don't speak Spanish.  Although I love seafood, I'll be writing  about all types of food.


Altima is a reference to a car model and not a play on the word ultimate.  I do not pretend to be an all knowing cooking guru or anything of the sort.  I'm just someone with a bit of free time on my hands and a willing guinea pig anxious to eat anything I make.