my new stove

I FINALLY got my new stove. It's a double oven too and really convenient. I love it. Now I can cook 2 things at the same time at different temperatures :))

baby back ribs

So, I finally overcame my worries and made ribs. I've been wanting to make them for a while now, but was kinda intimitated by making them for some reason. Having eaten now, I wish I had made them a long time ago.
Again, thanks to Tyler Florence, here's the recipe. He's the man - according to Mike. Everything I cooked from him was just amazing.

Ingredients:

- 2 slabs baby back ribs (about 3 pounds)
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 bacon slices
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1/2 onion
- 3 smashed garlic cloves
- 2 cups ketchup
- 1 cup peach preserves
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard or 1 tablespoon dry mustard
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 2 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground paprika

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Put the ribs on a baking sheet, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Stick them in the oven, and let the ribs bake, low and slow for 2 1/2 hours.

Meanwhile, make the sauce. Wrap the bacon around the middle of the thyme sprigs and tie with kitchen twine so you have a nice bundle. Heat a 2-count of oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the thyme bundle and cook slowly for 3 to 4 minutes to render the bacon fat and give the sauce a nice smoky taste. Add the onion and garlic and cook slowly, without coloring, for 5 minutes. Add all of the rest of the sauce ingredients, give the sauce a stir, and turn the heat down to low. Cook slowly for 20 minutes to meld the flavors. Put some sauce in a separate bowl for basting, reserving the remaining sauce for serving.






Baste the ribs with the sauce and let them continue cooking, basting twice more, for 30 more minutes. When the ribs are cooked, take them out of the oven. You can let them hang out like this until you're ready to eat.



When ready to eat, preheat the broiler for 5 minutes and broil the ribs, basting with the sauce. They should become crisp and charred, about 5 minutes on each side. Pick the onion and garlic out of the sauce and serve with ribs.





That sauce is just great. I eat it like that with a spoon, it's so good. You just HAVE to try it out yourself. It's so easy and delicious

Fajitas

Ok, let me tell you, I LOVE making fajitas. I could make those every week. But then I think Mike would get sick of it and never wants it again...just like it happened with my chicken curry recipe (recipe will follow) :o(
Anywho, it's quite simple and it is my first recipe I kinda made up myself...well, I just put together the marinade for the steak myself instead of using a recipe.
Liz came over yesterday and we cooked this together and had a nice dinner.




Steak:

- marinade the steak in 1/4 cup - 1/2 cup of Worchester sauce, lime cest, lime juice, garlic, cilantro, finely diced jalepeno, salt and pepper for at least 1 hour
- sautee 1 onion (finely chopped) in dutch oven
- brown the meat in it
- pour in 1 big can of crushed tomatoes and cover lid.
- cook for 1 hour on low heat
- you can use that tomato sauce as salsa on your fajitas. it's really good.



Guacamole:
- in a bowl, combine 1/2 of a red onion (finely chopped), 1 jalepeno, cilantro, juice and cest of 3 lime and 2 avocado
- smash up well and season with salt and pepper

little note: according to Mike the trick to a great qwak is the smashing it up really really well. of course he said that, since he is the one that always smashes it. Ok, I let him take credit for this great qwak :o))
Here's Mike mixing it all up nicely:


Liz and I trying to make a Mojito...let's only say, we would not make good bar tenders ;)


and for desert we made some chocolate mousse a la Jamie Oliver:

grilled Lamb Kebab with a nectarine chutney

I meant to finally grill something outside the other day, but then it started pouring and thundering...so I had to go back inside and use the stove top grill. oh well, better than nothing.
So, I saw this recipe on Bobby Flay. We love lamb and kebab so it was just clear that I would make this. and it was quite good :)

Lobster at the beach

In May, Mike and I got away for a week and we went to a really nice resort in the Dominican Republic (La Romana). It was beautiful! One of the best things we did there, was going on a speed boat to another little paradise island and went snorkeling. We also had a really nice lobster lunch right at the beach there.

Tyler's ultimate chicken parmigiana

I think the person I get most recipes from is Tyler Florence. Thinking about it, I make a lot of his "ultimate" dishes. And I have never been disappointed. Yesterday, we had a pork tenderloin with a great habanero/honey glaze at matt and angie's. It was real good. Also a Tyler Florence recipe btw. sorry, no pics though.

But anyway, today, I made Tyler's ultimate Chicken Parmigiana.

tomato sauce:
- sautee onion and garlic and season with salt and pepper
- add some chilli flakes
- 1 bayleaf
- handful of olives
- 2 cans of San Mazano tomatos (crushed)
- stir and let simmer



breading for chicken:
- 1 bowl with seasoned flour
- 1 bowl with seasoned eggs and milk
- 1 bowl with parmesan, bread crums, and garlic powder
- brown chicken in a pan




- add tomato sauce to the chicken and sprinkle with mozarella and parmesan cheese and cook in oven at 350F for about 10 min

garlic bread:
- in a bowl put in 1 stick of room temperature butter
- grate some garlic
- add some basil and parsley and mix
- spread herb/garlic butter on bread
- drizzle with EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
- put in oven at 350F for about 10 min







as a side dish, I also made Cesar Salad - with home made Cesar Salad dressing.

just put together in blender:
- 1 glove of garlic
- 1/4 cup of vegtable oil or olive oil
- 2 tbsp Worchester sauce
- juice of 2 lemons
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground mustard
- 8 anchovies

ready :))

Greek Fiesta

We just love making Greek food. Especially Gyros with a homemade tsasiki sauce. I got this recipe from a collegue of mine who's from Greece. I make it all the time. It's actually one of Mike's favorites. - Thanks Pana ;)

Ingredients

- pork loin (cut in bite size cubes)
- 1 onion
- 2 tbsp of olive oil
- paprika
- thyme
- oregano
- salt and pepper

Best thing is to prepare the meat the night before. The longer the marinade the better.
Cut up the pork loin in bite size pieces and put into a big bowl.
Cut the onion lengthwise and put in the bowl
drizzle olive oil, paprika, oregano, thyme over it. Add some garlic and season with salt and pepper. Mix it well up and cover and put in fridge





Tsasiki sauce:

- 2-3 gloves of garlic
- 1/2 english cucumber
- Greek yogurt (total)
- 1/2 tbsp of vinegar
- 2 tbsp of olive oil
- salt and pepper

Peel the cucumber and grate in a bowl. You can also cut it up in little pieces if you want a more chunky tsasiki sauce. Get rid of some of the water that's in the bowl with the cucumber
Add the yogurt in the bowl and mix. Depending on taste (or what you have planned for after the dinner ;) - add as many garlic gloves as you like (i put in 3 big ones usually to make it real garlicy). Cut up the garlic very finely or put in a garlic press and add to the yogurt.
Now, drizzle with olive oil, vinegar (I use red wine vinegar), and season with salt and pepper. Mix well until it gets creamy.



I serve this dish with rice. Als, I usually grill up some pita bread and cut in chip size pieces. I spread Hummus on them. If you want you can snak some olives with it. It's so easy to make and really good.

Steak Guinness and Cheese Pie

Most people that know me, know that I have a weakness for England/Ireland. There's just something about those countries, their people and their accent that you just can't resist ;) at least I can't.
Anyway, one of my favorite chefs on tv is obviously Jamie Oliver. I've watched him for years even before I started cooking. So, from him I got this great Irish recipe that's real hardy and just delicious. And, it's made with Guiness. Now what can be better than that?

Ingredients:

- buy puff pastry
- pre-heat 2 tbsp of butter in Dutch oven and sauté 3 onions
- add a sprink of rosmary and 3 gloves of garlic
- add 2 sticks celery and 2 carrotts
- add the brisquitte of beef (cubed)
- season with salt and pepper
- add 1 can of Guinness
- add 1 tbsp of flour
- top up with beefstock and put lid on
- cook in oven at 350 F for 2 hours
- after that, stir in 100g Cheddar cheese


- roll puff pastry approx. 3mm thick and put in pie dish
- pour in the filling
- add another handful of cheddar cheese
- put puff pastry lid on top
- put eggwash on the sides before putting on the lid
- score lid slightly with knofe and eggwash it
- put back in the oven at 350 F for about 40 minutes
- serve with peas

Chicken Curry in a Hurry

Chicken Curry in a Hurry...it's one of my alltime favorites. and I got it from Rachel Ray. I used to make this once a week at least. sometimes even more. I don't think I could ever get enough of that stuff :)

ingredients:
- 4 pieces of boneless skinless chicken breats, cut into pieces (you can put them in a bit of flower if you want to)
- 1 medium onion (that would be 2 german onions - everything's bigger in the states)
- 1 piece of fresh gingerroot grated (i use dry ginger powder...easier)
- 3 gloves of garlic, minced
- 1 can chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons curry paste
- 1 handfull of raisins (optional)
- 2-3 tablespoons of mango chutney

- in large skillet (medium heat), brown chicken in peanut or sesame oil. remove chicken from pan and set aside
- add onion, ginger and garlic. saute for 3 min tunil onion becomes tender
- add broth and lift off all the good junks stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- add curry paste and raisins.
- put chicken back in the pan
- stir in chutney to thicken and sweeten
- simmer for 5-10 minutes

for toppins you can use either:
spanish peanuts, cilantro, mango chutney, chopped green onions, orange segments, coconut flakes or pineapple chunks.

Short Ribs (Danny Boome)

If you have a slow, sleepy, rainy day, this is the perfect dish to make. It's so comforting, takes little effort to make. Then curl up on the couch and watch a good movie while enjoying the great meal.





Ingredients:
- 4 short ribs (bone-in)
- Flour
- Carrots,
- Celery
- Shallot
- Onion
- Bachon
- Red wine
- Beef stock
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp paprika

Recipe:
- season four with a bit of paprika and salt. Put ribs in it.
- In a dutch oven, heat 2 tbsp of butter and oil up and brown the meat
- In the meantime, cut carrots, celery, shallots, onion and bachon
- Take the meat out and brown the bachon. Then add all the veggies in.
- Deglaze with red wine – pour in ½ or 1 bottle of red wine
- Put the ribs back in it.
- Cover and let it cook @ 350 F for 2-3 hours
- When done, put in a little bit of bitter chocolate and let it melt (non-sweet chocolate!!)

Jamaican Jerk Chicken Kebab

Alright, so let me start by saying that July 15th was mike's birthday and he's not feeling well at all. Poor guy. So when I got home from work I gave him a choice of 2 dishes that I would cook for him. Either my faijtas or try a new recipe, which I just saw on TV (Guy's Big Bite) - Jamaican Jerk Chicken Kebab. We both never had jerk chicken and were curious and so decided to try something new. and I must say, I'll make that plenty of more times in the future!

INGREDIENTS

for the chicken marinade, put the following in a food processor:
- 1 medium red onion
- 1/4 cup of oilve oil
- 1/4 cup of soy sauce
- 2-3 green onions
- 1 habenero pepper (I took out the seeds and membrane)
- 3/4 cup of orange juice
- ginger
- 1 tbsp nutmeg
- some cinemon
- some allspice
- 3-4 springs of fresh thyme
- 2 gloves of garlic
- salt and pepper

blend all of this together and let the chicken marinade. I put the cut up chicken with the marinade in a plastic bag and let it marinade for about 1 hour

Then take some wooden skewers that have been soaked in water for at least 30 min and put the chicken on them.

Grill the chicken. After it's browned on the outside, put it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 10-15 min until chicken is cooked all the way through.

As a side dish, I made a Mango Salsa. This is so easy to make too.

In a medium bowl mix together:
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- some hotsauce (depending on your taste)
- juice of 2 limes
- finely chopped ginger
- finely cut up english cucumber
- cut up mango
- 2 scallions

cover with plastic wrap and let all this marinade for 1-2 hours in the fridge

Serve dish with rice mixed with some cilantro and parsley.