One of my all time favorites, and Shawn’s too…I guess it’s the New England in us both! This was a great treat on Thanksgiving-eve and we’re thinking it’s a new holiday tradition for us. This would be excellent with fresh clams, however canned whole baby clams or steamers are perfectly great as well. Definitely a favorite and makes tons of leftovers!
This was a recipe from Cooking Light that I first tried a few years ago and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was…somehow I’ve forgotten about it until recently. This is fast, easy, and very tasty, and makes a very nice fall/winter dish. You could substitute chicken breast instead of thighs, but I prefer dark meat. Recipe is as printed…though maybe with some extra olives. 😉 Great with any green vegetable side.
Kefta is a ground, seasoned meat mixture from the Middle East and is usually made from ground beef or lamb. This is a somewhat healthier take on the dish using turkey in place of the red meat. I’ve made this dish a few times, and really like it every time. The only tweak I ever make from the original is to double the Ras El Hanout spice mixture (which you can get from a store such as Penzey’s or make yourself). The original came from Cooking Light a few years ago. I served this over couscous with roasted root vegetables on the side.
Shawn learned how to make this when he was stationed in Japan for two years. In the restaurants there, the okonomiyaki pancake is cooked on the table right in front of where each person sits, and it comes in a variety of types and flavors. It is topped with okonomi sauce and mayo. I’d never had (or heard of) this before, but he made it for me a while back and I absolutely love it. Very versatile and makes for a fun and easy dinner that we both like.
Hello November! Time for stews. 🙂 I love Ethiopian food, so this take on beef stew was fun to make and very tasty. My one complaint…way too much cayenne. I can handle heat, but I felt like this overshadowed the fantastic spice mix that helped to make up the sauce. That said, I made this with double the liquid and a smidgen of the cayenne compared to the original recipe, so maybe I am becoming a pepper wuss? Either way, we’ll definitely make this again, but I may use a different method to get a little heat. This came from Sunset magazine originally, and I served it with steamed rice and Moroccan carrots.
Dumplings are possibly my favorite food. I don’t think I ever get tired of them, and I recently decided I wanted to learn how to make them myself. I got a bamboo steamer, some wrappers and wonton skins, and away we’ve gone! And we have not been disappointed. I got this recipe from my Asian Dumpling cookbook, by Andrea Nguyen, which has been awesome so far.
This was my first attempt at making dumplings from scratch, and they were a hit. I did use store-bought dumpling wrappers, but after subsequent trips to H-Mart, I think I have enough ingredients to start trying to make my own. In theory, they taste better and are more forgiving when wrapping (a good thing, I must have destroyed a lot of wrappers while learning to do this!). This is a great starter recipe for learning dumplings! From my Asian Dumplings cookbook, by Andrea Nguyen.
This is a recipe I got from Cooking Light a year or so ago, and I’ve made it a couple of times now – it’s a great weeknight meal by itself or you can dress it up with some sides. The recipe below is as printed, though I do not like anchovies very much and I substitute a handful of chopped black olives in their place with much success. I served this with sides of Spinach and Tomatoes and Herbed Brown Rice Pilaf.
An extra chicken from El Pollo Rico last night (yes, we got two, don’t judge) led us to contemplate what we wanted to do with leftover chicken. My immediate answer was chicken curry, and I love this Thai chicken curry…super simple and always delicious. No Thai basil on hand today, but it was still good with regular basil.
Great spring and summer dish for any white fish filets; halibut just happens to be my favorite. I got this recipe from Bon Appetit and was really happy with it. I also added some sauteed grape tomatoes to the mix for color and just a little different flavor, and served it with a side of lemon-olive cous cous.
Om nom nom! 