Category: Savory

Cantaloupe Gazpacho

Cantaloupe Gazpacho

In honor of summer and our new look 🙂 I’m sharing one of my favorite recipes and memories that I’ve held onto for a few years.  I learned to make this soup at my very first internship in a kitchen. When I tasted it, I never forgot the delicious sweet yet complex taste it had. Summer always deserves a delicious cold soup, especially when it’s 100+ degrees out.

Thinking back, I was helping the Chef de Cuisine prepare this soup for his appearance on the Deborah Duncan Show. We went back stage, he got a little make up and hair action and I waited patiently as his assistant. Once he was on, I anxiously waited backstage, watching on the small tv to see the hosts reaction. She loved it! I felt honored to be invited to be his assistant as I was just the novice intern in his tiny kitchen.

Anyone can make it, it’s really simple. This soup is indeed raw so watch out all of you special dieters. This is an extremely healthy soup chalk full of veggies!  If you want to add a protein, shredded chicken is the perfect match. You can see how I made it below!

Print Recipe
 Cantaloupe Gazpacho
Inspired by Chef Jose Vela
Servings
3-4
Ingredients
Servings
3-4
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Cut up all ingredients into small pieces, a rough chop
  2. Pulse all fruit and veggies in a food processor. I suppose a vitamix would work well too.
  3. While blending, slowly pour the olive oil and sherry until blended well.
  4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  5. Once finished, taste to double check the flavor. It may need a bit more sherry vinegar.
  6. Bon Appetit!
Recipe Notes

*Feel free to take out a veggie if you're sensitive to it. I tend to go light on the red pepper.

Polenta Al Forno

 

Polenta 1

Polenta, oh, polenta. I have never been a fan of polenta aka grits or cornmeal. My mother, having been raised in the deep south, absolutely loves grits. She gets sheer enjoyment when grits are on the menu. So, this dish is slightly inspired by her. I came across this recipe in New York Times. It was unlike anything i’ve ever made so I thought i’d give it a shot. It was an experiment with success, though, I will do a few things differently next time.

Polenta 3

Polenta 7

Polenta 6

Polenta 5

Polenta 4

Polenta 2

This is a great vegetarian dish that’s low fat. I used low fat ricotta to reduce the fat but i’m sure the full fat version is wonderful too. The next time I make this, I won’t cook the polenta quite as long and I would make thicker layers. It really makes a difference when holding the middle spinach mix together. It would also be delicious with the acidic taste of marinara sauce spread on top. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.  This is a great side dish for #meatlessmondays.

Print Recipe
 Polenta Al Forno
Gluten Free, Italian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Passive Time 10 minutes
Servings
6-8
Ingredients
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Passive Time 10 minutes
Servings
6-8
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Blanch spinach briefly in large pot of boiling water. 1 to 2 minutes. Drain and cool. Squeeze all excess moisture from spinach and roughly chop.
  2. In a large bowl, combine chopped spinach and ricotta. Season with salt and pepper, then add cayenne, lemon zest, half the Parmesan and all but 2 T of the fontina and stir well.
  3. Butter a 9x12 casserole dish. Ladle in half the warm, soft polenta and spread with a spatula to make a thin layer. Spoon spinach mixture evenly over it. Top with remaining soft polenta and spread to smooth surface. (may be made ahead up to this point, then covered and refrigerated. Bring to room temperate before baking.)
  4. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan and fontina. Bake, uncovered, at 375 for 30-40 minutes, until nicely browned. Remove from over and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Recipe Notes

Adapted from the NY Times recipe

Spicy Mexican Soup

 

Spicy Mexican Soup

The weather has been nuts in Houston. One day it’s cold and then next day it’s hot. It just so happened to be cold for a few days and I was craving soup. Something spicy was perfect to help stop the beginning of my cold. I pulled together all of these ingredient that I already had on hand which is so convenient. Not only did I add flavorful Mexican spices  but I had a small piece of salami which really added meaty richness to the soup.

We had just finished celebrating a weekend of our friends wedding and got these cute heart shaped pasta- they made an appearance  in my soup.

I suggest making this soup when you have a spicy craving, it’s fulfilling and heart warming 🙂

 
Print Recipe
 Spicy Mexican Soup
Dairy Free
Servings
4
Ingredients
Servings
4
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Pour 2 Tbs grapeseed oil into soup pot.
  2. Once heated, add shallots, garlic, and onion.
  3. Cook until translucent and season with salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Add carrots , tomato, and salami.
  5. After a few minutes, add the chili in adobo sauce, tomato paste, chili powder, cayenne, cumin, and chipotle powder.
  6. Once everything is mixed well together, add the chicken stock and simmer covered for about 30 minutes.
  7. In a separate pot, cook pasta until al dente. Once drained, add the pasta to each serving bowl then cover with soup.
Recipe Notes

You will have extra chilies in adobo and tomato paste. Spoon a teaspoon of each onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment leaving space between. Freeze for 1 hr then put them in a plastic bag and place back in the freezer. Whenever your recipe calls for each of these ingredients, you can pull the exact amount right out of the freezer.

Lemon Garlic Chicken

The other day I did a little cooking lesson with Julie from the blog, From Prosecco to Plaid. I absolutely loved teaching her some basics in the kitchen. We started out with which knife to use and how to use it. Then we moved onto her oven setting and how I love to use the convection setting and why. This was my first experience teaching someone in the kitchen and I really had so much fun doing it with Julie.

Julie and Morgan

 I chose to teach one of my favorite recipes, lemon garlic chicken, because anyone can make it, really, anyone!

Cleaning Chicken

If I can give any advice in the kitchen it’s to be clean and organized. If you aren’t, it’s a recipe for disaster.

Chopping garlic

Always be careful when cutting, you never want to chop a nail or finger off.

chopping

Keep all of your ingredients organized and separated. Julie did a particularly great job at this 🙂

Pour

Pour the wine, shallot and garlic mix over the chicken.

bake

Bake for 30 minutes on convection and voile! Dinner is served!

chicken

 
Print Recipe
 Lemon Garlic Chicken
Dairy Free, Gluten Free Adapted by Ina Garten's recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Passive Time 10 minutes
Servings
4
Ingredients
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Passive Time 10 minutes
Servings
4
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. Warm the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, add the garlic, and cook for just 1 minute but don't allow the garlic to turn brown. Off the heat, add the white wine, lemon zest, lemon juice, oregano, thyme, and 1 teaspoon salt and pour into a 9 by 12-inch baking dish.
  3. Pat the chicken breasts dry and place them skin side up over the sauce. Brush the chicken breasts with olive oil and sprinkle them liberally with salt and pepper. Cut the lemon in 8 wedges and tuck it among the pieces of chicken.
  4. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken breasts, until the chicken is done and the skin is lightly browned. If the chicken isn't browned enough, put it under the broiler for 2 minutes. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and serve hot with the pan juices.
Recipe Notes

You can check out Julie's  must see blog, From Prosecco to Plaid. I've gotten some pretty helpful tips and tricks from fashion to hair suggestions.

Chicken Dumpling Soup

 

Chicken Dumpling Soup 1
I have never actually tried making chicken and dumplings — ever. I guess it’s because I grew up on matzo ball soup and it was good enough.  There was no need to learn how to make other dumpling soups.

  The other day I was watching my favorite channel, The Cooking Channel; It’s pretty much where I get a lot of my inspiration from. It was my second time watching the show Little Paris Kitchen and this one recipe caught my eye. It stars an adorable girl, Rachel Khoo who makes really easy delicious French style food.  She made a take on chicken dumplings without the “and.” It’s practically a rich chicken broth with veggies and dumplings made with chicken. I never knew a concoction like this would be so delicate and tasty.

The last time I made quenelles was in pastry school so it was fun practicing again!

Chicken Dumpling Soup 2

I’m not going to type out the entire recipe because this blog, Eat Little Bird does it oh too well. Her pictures are really wonderful too. My only changes were that I sautéed a minced shallot, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 leeks, diced carrots, and celery. I cooked all of these ingredients until wilted and soft to touch. Other than that, follow her recipe.  Oh and this is a “meat and potatoes” boyfriend approved recipe.

Moroccan Cooking with Grandma Lalouf

I had such a pleasure learning the Moroccan way of rustic cooking with my best friend Lindsey and her grandmother.  After a year of asking Lindsey to invite me over to her grandmothers, I was finally granted my wish!  I was invited over to her grandparents lovely home for a very filling lunch with the family and then a cooking lesson.
It was really interesting to hear stories of life in Algeria and Morocco when times were rough.  The style of cooking directly mirrored this. The way grandma cut the eggplant without a cutting board was very minimalistic and interesting to me.  All of the dishes had bold strong flavors from garlic to turmeric. They were all delicious and unique in their own way.  She taught me how to make the eggplant dip which is very similar to babaganoush. The recipe is to follow…

Needless to say, I had a wonderful time and hope to get an invitation back for yet another lesson 🙂










 

Print Recipe
 Grandma Lalouf's Eggplant Dip Recipe
Servings
Ingredients
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Cook eggplant in oil for 10 minutes then remove. Cook tomato for about 10 minutes. Add eggplant, garlic, chili oil and salt to cooked tomato. Simmer for 1 hour uncovered.
  2. This dip not only can be served with pita chips, vegetable cridite, but even spread on bread for a different sandwich!
  3. Cooking option 2: leave out the tomato and add lemon juice (to taste) and cumin (1 tsp)
  4. Enjoy!

Pork and Prawn Dumplings


I felt inspired to make these delicious purses of yummyiness from eating dim sum. I’ve had the greatest opportunity to share a few dim sum meals with my Chinese friend Kevin and his family. It’s honestly the best way to try dim sum. They order, you eat. After making these lumps of love, it has made me have much respect for dim sum makers. You need lots of patience to give some love to each dumpling. They were oh so good; especially dipped in a mixture of sweet chili sauce and soy sauce.

Print Recipe
 Pork and Prawn Dumplings
adapted from Ching-He Huang
Servings
Ingredients
Pork and Prawn Filling
Dumplings
Servings
Ingredients
Pork and Prawn Filling
Dumplings
Instructions
  1. Mix the pork, prawns, onion, ginger, soy sauce rice wine, cornstarch, sesame oil, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Stir to combine the ingredients.
  2. Take 1 wonton wrapper and place 2 teaspoons of the filling in the center. Brush the wonton wrapper with egg wash to prevent wrappers from opening up and separating from the filling once cooked. Then, gather up the sides of the wrapper and mold it around the filling into a ball-like shape, leaving the center exposed. You can top each dumpling with a Goji berry for some added color and flavor. *Note* Cover unused wonton wrappers with a damp towel to keep them moist.
  3. Oil the bottom of a bamboo steamer and line it with parchment paper. Arrange the dumplings in the steamer, cover with a lid and place it over a pan of boiling water, making sure the water does not touch the base of the steamer. Steam the dumplings for 6 to 8 minutes, or until cooked.
  4. Meanwhile, combine the chile, and soy sauce into a bowl. Serve alongside the dumplings.
  5. You can switch up the meat if you don't enjoy either pork or prawn. Beef would be a great substitute!

Ratatouille

I felt inspired to make this classic dish after watching the pixar film, Ratatouille. I’ve never eaten the dish before but I wanted to try it out since it has such a pretty presentation.  I’m not the biggest fan of eggplant or red bell peppers but I wanted to make it the traditional way. The oh so talented people  at Cut To Create  put together yet another awesome video of me making the dish. Check it out below.

Print Recipe
 Ratatouille
Servings
Ingredients
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Start off by making the tomato sauce before prepping the vegetables. I usually make my own sauce but you can always buy a jar of prepared tomato sauce. Also, if you want to be fancy, you can make tomato concasse which are blanched, shocked, skins removed, and seeded. You can skip the work by buying a can of tomatoes that already have the skins removed. The next step is to just squeeze the seeds out, like I do in the video. I also do not use the juice in the can, it tends to have a metallic taste.
  2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil then season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Once the onions become translucent, add the tomatoes that have been seeded and drained. Cook for a few minutes until the flavors combine. Add 2 tsp of Thyme, bay leaf, tomato paste, sugar, and the wine. Cover and let simmer for up to an hour. I let it simmer while preparing the vegetables.
  3. *Hint on tomato paste: I found that when buying a small can of tomato paste, I never use the whole can. You can save it by spooning out a tablespoon onto parchment paper then freeze it. Once frozen, you can place them in a zip-top bag and use them as you please!
  4. While the tomato sauce is simmering, cut the eggplant, zucchini, squash, and red bell pepper in 1/8th inch pieces. This is best achieved with a mandoline but a sharp knife with consistent cuts works well too. Once this is done, add the cream to the tomato sauce and season with salt if needed.
  5. Add the tomato sauce to the bottom of the baking dish (remove the bay leaf) and spread evenly. Start by laying the vegetables in this order: eggplant, squash, zucchini, red bell pepper and repeat. Once it's layered, you can press down to make sure that it is tightly packed. To finish, season the vegetables with salt, pepper, thyme (1 tbsp), and drizzle with olive oil. Cover with foil or parchment and bake for 40-55 minutes. You will know it's ready when the tomato sauce is bubbly and the vegetables have given off their liquid. Serve hot, Bon Appetite!