Cuisine Diva

Moussaka; Eggplant Casserole

Individual serving of moussaka.

Moussaka is a Greek entree, which features layers of tomato seasoned ground meat, eggplant and a cream sauce. There are many variations of this classic, Mediterranean dish. I wrote an article for Suite101 on moussaka a few months ago: Eggplant Moussaka Recipe; Classic Greek Style Lasagna.

Potato Laced Moussaka
Yesterday I came up with a potato laced version of moussaka, which I am sharing on the Cuisine Diva site. The inspiration for this recipe came from a moussaka I tasted at Round Green Pie at the Boynton Beach mall. Their version used ground beef, but since I have mostly eliminated beef from my diet, I made my moussaka with ground turkey. The top layer of potato laced moussaka reminds me of au gratin potatoes. Thinly sliced layers of potatoes, mixed with lots of creamy, cheesy sauce - heaven!

Inexpensive plastic mandoline slicer.

Mandoline Slicer
You will need a mandoline slicer in order to cut the eggplant and potatoes thin enough so they don't require pre-cooking. If you have to slice the eggplant and potatoes by hand, you may have to partially cook them, before adding them to the moussaka. You definitely don't want semi-raw potatoes - invest in a mandoline slicer if you don't already have one.

If you have an inexpensive plastic mandoline, like I do, make sure you DON'T place it on a hot stove. In the picture above, the bottom of the mandoline was starting to melt and stuck to my stove. I guess I forgot I had just used that burner to make the cream sauce, and it hadn't cooled down yet. NICE! Maybe it's time to invest in one of those fancy-pants, restaurant grade, stainless steel mandolines.

Ground turkey and tomato mixture spread on the bottom of baking dish.

I use my mandoline slicer all the time - to slice carrots, zucchini, cheese, cucumber and tons of other stuff. I have a cheap, plastic mandoline slicer which came with all sorts of slicing and grating attachments. High quality stainless steel mandolines can cost $100 or more.

Beginnings of cream sauce on the left. Finished cream sauce on the right, after whisking in the eggs.

Ingredients for Moussaka Recipe

• 1 1/4 pounds ground turkey
• 1 cup tomato sauce - divided in half
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground sage
• 1/2 teaspoon ground oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 large eggplant
• Approximately 1 pound waxy, yellow potatoes - peeled and sliced extremely thin
• 1 cup shredded Italian blend cheese - mixture of mozzarella, asiago and Parmesan

Left - first layer of eggplant, beginning to add tomato sauce. Right - second layer of eggplant added, topped with cream sauce.

Directions for Moussaka Recipe

1. Place the ground turkey in a large frying pan, placed over medium heat.
2. If you are using ground white meat turkey breast, as opposed to dark meat turkey, you may need to add a tablespoon or two of olive oil to the bottom of the pan, to ensure the turkey doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
3. Break up and stir the turkey until it is no longer pink in the center.
4. Stir in 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, sage, oregano and salt.
5. Cook for another minute or two, until the sauce is heated through.
6. Place the ground meat mixture on the bottom of a 13 by 9 inch rectangular, glass baking dish.
7. Peel the eggplant, cut it in half, and slice thin using a mandoline slicer. You need to have enough eggplant slices, to make two layers.
8. Add 1 layer of eggplant slices on top of the ground turkey mixture. 
9. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of tomato sauce on top of the eggplant slices.
10. To make the cream sauce, melt the butter in a medium sauce pan, placed over medium heat.
11. Whisk in the flour and nutmeg and cook for 1 minute.
12. Whisk in the milk, and turn the heat to medium high.
13. Continue whisking until the sauce begins to thicken.
14. Whisk in the Parmesan cheese.
15. Remove the sauce from the stove.
16. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs.
17. Whisk the eggs into the saucepan of cream sauce.
18. Add the 2nd layer of eggplant slices to the baking dish.
19. Top the 2nd layer of eggplant with 1/3 of the cream sauce.
20. Add the first layer of potatoes, and top with 1/3 of the cream sauce.
21. Top with the second layer of potatoes and top with the remaining cream sauce.
22. Sprinkle the top of the moussaka with the grated Italian cheese mixture.
23. Place the baking dish on a large baking sheet and place in 400 degree preheated oven.
24. Bake the moussaka for 45 to 60 minutes, until dark golden brown on top.
25. Let cool slightly before serving, the moussaka will be like molten lava!
26. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week.

 

Thinly sliced potatoes added to the baking dish.

The moussaka, topped with shredded cheese, waiting to go in the oven.

Complete Meal
Serve the moussaka with other Greek inspired recipes.

• Tzatziki Yogurt Sauce Recipe
• Taboule Salad Recipe
• Greek Vegetable Salad Recipe
• Lemon Herb Pasta Toss

• 

  The completed moussaka, after baking.
  

Take care, Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva

Roasted Corn with Green Chile Cheese Tamales

Platter of homemade tamales

For the past couple of weeks I've been blogging about my Mexican inspired cuisine journey. Here are the links to those posts.

Food & Culinary Equipment From Mex Grocer

Pozole; Pork and Hominy Stew

Quesadillas; Homemade Corn Turnovers

More Mexican Ingredients From Mex Grocer

Some of the ingredients used to make tamales

Tamale Time
I've been wanting to try making tamales, and yesterday I finally got around to making them. I made a small batch of vegetarian, roasted corn with green chile cheese tamales. They were a bit time consuming to make, but quite tasty. The nice thing about tamales, is that you can make a big batch of them, then keep the leftovers in the refrigerator for a few days. They can even be stored in the freezer for a month or two.

Soaking corn husks in hot water

Roasted Corn Tamales with Green Chile Salsa

This is a multi-step recipe. You will need to prepare the corn husks, make the tamale dough, make the tamale filing, then assemble the tamales before placing them in the steamer and cooking them.

• Prepared corn husks
• 1 recipe tamale dough
• 1 recipe tamale filing
• Shredded cheese

This recipe makes approximately 1 dozen tamales. You will need to prepare approximately 2 dozen corn husks for this recipe, 1 dozen husks for the tamales, another 3-4 husks to tear into ribbons to tie the ends of the tamales together, and around 6-8 husks to line the bottom of the tamale steamer. To prepare the dried corn husks, soak them in a large bowl of hot water, until they are pliable. This can take up to 3 hours, so start this step in advance!

Stand mixer on left, masa harina blended with margarine and seasonings on right

Ingredients for the Tamale Dough

• 1 1/2 cups masa harina
• 6 tablespoons margarine - room temperature
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1 to 1 1/4 cups vegetable broth

Tomatillos, left, and green chiles, right

Roasted corn with green chile filling

Directions for the Tamale Dough

I highly recommend using a stand mixer to make the tamale dough. You could use a regular electric mixer, but I think my hands would get tired holding onto it for so long. Kitchen gadgets are your friend!

• Place the softened margarine inside the bowl of a stand mixer.
• Whip the margarine until light and fluffy.
• Beat in the salt, baking powder, sugar and cumin.
• Add the masa harina and beat until it resembles fine crumbs.
• Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the mixer bowl as needed.
• Slowly add the vegetable broth and beat until the dough is light and fluffy.
• Cover the bowl of dough with a clean cloth, or piece of plastic wrap, and set aside while you make the filling.

Line the bottom of the tamale steamer with corn husks

Ingredients for the Tamale Filling

• 1 can corn - drained
• 4 canned tomatillos - diced
• 3 canned mild green chiles - diced
• 2 teaspoons toasted Mexican oregano
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon achiote paste
• 1 tablespoon hot water

Directions for the Tamale Filling

1. Place the corn in a large frying pan over medium heat.
2. Cook until the corn begins to turn golden brown, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir in the tomatillos, green chiles, oregano and cumin.
4. Place the achiote paste in a small bowl, and stir in the hot water until a smooth liquid is formed.
5. Stir the achiote liquid into the pan, and cook the filling for another minute or two.
6. Turn the heat off, and set the filling aside until you are ready to fill the tamales.

Building the Tamales

I thought it would be easiest to take a lot of pictures of the tamales, as they are being put together, rather than typing out a long list of instructions.

Spread 2 tablespoons of tamale dough, on the smoothest side of a corn husk. You can either use a spatula, your hands or a tamale spreader for this step.

Place a heaping tablespoon of filling on top of the tamale dough.

Place a couple of teaspoons of shredded cheese on top of the filling. I used cheddar, but you can use Jack cheese, pepper Jack, Mexican blend, etc...

Fold the left side over the filling, then fold the right side over the filling.

Use two strips of corn husks to tie off the ends of the tamale.

The tamale ready to go in the tamale steamer.

Fill the steamer basket with a couple of inches of water, place the steamer insert on the bottom. Cover the insert with corn husks, then place the tamales on top. Place the lid on the pan, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Let the tamales steam for approximately 1 hour. Check occasionally to see if you need to add additional water to the steamer pot.

Carefully remove the tamales from the steamer basket. They will be hot! Unwrap the tamales and eat ASAP. You can either eat the tamales as is, or add a bit of mild red chile sauce, or a bit of hot sauce if you prefer.

My Tamale Future
This was my first attempt at making tamales. They came out better than I thought, but this is another recipe where it would be a big help to have another set of hands. I was going to make 3 varieties of tamales, but once I realized how much time that would take, I decided to only make 1 variety for my first attempt. In the future I would like to try a meat filled tamale and a dessert tamale. YUM!

Take care,
Cuisine Diva AKA Lynn Smythe

Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Salad

Caprese salad plate

Tomato, mozzarella and basil salad is also known as Caprese Salad, or Insalata Caprese. I wrote an article on how-to make a caprese salad, for the Herbs & Spices section of Suite101 on September 14: Insalata Caprese; How-to Make a Classic Italian Salad Platter.

Lunch Salad
I had a caprese salad for lunch yesterday, which is shown in the photo at the top of this blog post. I used perfectly ripe, campari greenhouse tomatoes, layered with marinated mozzarella cheese and fresh basil leaves. The mozzarella had been lightly coated in olive oil, then rolled in a finely chopped mixture of garlic, parsley and red peppers. That must have been red pepper flakes, because the cheese was a bit hot and spicy. I sprinkled the salad with a fruity extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, freshly cracked black pepper and a bit of sea salt.

Platter of caprese salad kabobs

Balsamic Vinegar VS Lemon Juice
I found the balsamic vinegar to be a bit too sweet for my taste. So for today's salad, I used a bit of freshly squeezed lemon juice instead. That was the secret, the tangy lemon blended perfectly with the fruity olive oil. Lots of yummy dressing to sop up with my big chunk of crusty Italian bread.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva

More Mexican Ingredients From Mex Grocer

On August 27, I blogged about placing a large order with Mex Grocer. I've been having fun using all the ingredients in a variety of Mexican and Latin American inspired recipes.

 

Above: individual serving of picadillo

Latin American Inspired Recipes
Here's links to my latest Mexican/Cuban recipes, which incorporate some of the ingredients I purchased from Mex Grocer.

Authentic Mexican Hot Chocolate; recipe for a hot chocolate drink.

Mexican Green Chile Cornbread Casserole; recipe for a lightly spicy corn side dish.

Picadillo Recipe; how-to make a classic Latin American meat sauce.

Pozole; pork and hominy stew

Quesadillas; homemade corn turnovers.

 

Above: Mexican green chile cornbread casserole

Last week I placed a second order with Mex Grocer, which arrived this afternoon.

Here's what I've received:

1. Can of mild, whole green chiles. Will use a few in the meat tamale filling and/or to make a green chile sauce to go along with the meat tamales. I'm thinking pork or turkey, but you never know.

2. Can of zucchini flowers - I plan on using them for either a zucchini flower soup, or as part of a corn turnover filling.

3. Bag of tortilla wheat flour, AKA harina para tortillas. I've made corn tortillas before, using masa harina, AKA corn flour, now I want to try making regular tortillas using wheat flour. The wheat flour contains shortening and baking powder, just add water to make into tortilla dough.

4. Another bag of masa harina. I've made homemade quesadilla's, AKA corn turnovers, twice since getting my first order from Mex Grocer. They are super delicious and fun to make. I still want to try making tamales, and will need quite a bit of masa for the tamale dough.

5. Another package of Mexican chocolate tablets. Great cinnamon laced chocolate. I've been using it to make Mexican hot chocolate and hot mocha - delicious!

6. Another couple of packages of corn husks. When I finally get around to making tamales, I'm going to be making a HUGE batch. I want to make three kinds: a dessert tamale, a meat tamale and a veggie tamale for my vegetarian daughter. YUM, I can't wait!

7. Mexican oregano. I have a huge Mexican oregano bush growing out front, but with all the cooking I've been doing lately, I've been using it faster than I can harvest/grow it. Not a bad idea to have some dried Mexican oregano on hand, just in case.

8. Bay leaves. I have an old container of musty looking bay leaves. Time to throw those out and replace them with some fresher ones.

9. Package of short cinnamon sticks, AKA canella. I have ground cinnamon, but there's nothing like grinding your own herbs and spices in a mortar and pestle right before you need them for a recipe.

10. Package of whole cloves. Again, I have ground cloves in the pantry, just not the same as grinding your own.

11. Package of whole cumin, AKA comino. Looks a little bit like caraway seeds. I'll use these both ground and in whole form.

12. Mild, red enchilada sauce. I'll probably use this as the sauce for either the meat tamales, or the veggie tamales when I make them.

13. Chipolte pepper paste. I received a can of whole chipolte peppers in adobo sauce in my last order with Mex Grocer. Since all the recipes I've been following have you finely mince/grind the chipoltes into a paste, I thought it might be more convenient to have a jar of the pre-made paste on hand. Chipoltes are smoked jalapeno peppers, totally different flavor profile than the fresh, green jalapenos.

14. Pickled prickly pear cactus, AKA nopalitos. The pickled cactus pads are packed in a glass jar with  water, onions, cilantro, serrano peppers, salt and vinegar. I'll use these to make a salad, or as part of a corn turnover filling.

I've actually seen prickly pear cactus in a few of my neighbors yards. I suppose I could knock on their door and ask for one. But in this neighborhood, they might shoot first and ask questions later. And I don't think I'd really like dealing with the spines on the fresh cactus pads. 

 

Above: making Mexican hot chocolate

Toast Your Herbs & Spices
Most of the Mexican recipes I've been following, call for dry toasting one or more of the ingredients. It's much easier to toast herbs and spices in their whole form. Use a dry frying pan, set over medium heat, and toast each ingredient until it just begins to turn fragrant. If the items are smoking, either your pan is too hot, or you've left them in the pan for too long. Remove the toasted ingredients from the pan, let cool, then grind to a powder in a coffee grinder or mortar & pestle.

You can also toast dry chile peppers using this method. Once the peppers have cooled, break them open and remove the seeds and membrane, unless you are looking to make a really hot and spicy dish. The peppers can then be torn into rough pieces and added to your recipe, or soaked in a liquid and then added to your recipe.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva

How-to Make Caesar Salad Dressing

Individual serving of Caesar salad

Caesar salad can be ordered at most any restaurant. Fancier eating establishments will make the salad table side, which makes waiting for the rest of your meal to arrive not quite so boring. Authentic Caesar salad dressing should be light in texture, yet rich and tangy in taste, and not a gloppy, mayonnaise clogged mess.

 

Making homemade breadcrumbs for Caesar salad

To make an authentic Caesar salad, first you will need to make homemade breadcrumbs. While the breadcrumbs are toasting in the oven, begin to make the dressing. Once the breadcrumbs and dressing have been made, you can assemble the salad.

This recipe calls for a raw egg, which has been coddled in hot water. If you have an aversion to using raw eggs, look for pasteurized eggs in the grocery store. Or you can substitute a tablespoon of mayonnaise for the raw egg if absolutely necessary.

 

Ingredients for making a classic Caesar salad

To make a vegetarian version of the Caesar salad dressing, omit the anchovy fillets. I used to be afraid of anchovies, thinking they were nasty little fishy beasty things, but after making pasta with homemade puttanesca sauce for the first time, I am no longer afraid of this classic, gourmet ingredient.

 

Anchovy fillets packed in olive oil

Making Breadcrumbs

Use leftover Italian or French bread to make the breadcrumbs. I used leftover sesame coated Italian bread that I had purchased a few days earlier at a local Italian market. The bread was pretty much dried out when I went to make breadcrumbs with the leftovers. Fresher bread will require less oil, and a longer toasting time, while staler bread will require more oil and a shorter cooking time.

Ingredients for the Homemade Breadcrumbs

• 4 cups cubed, day old/stale Italian or French bread
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic - minced, or 1 tablespoon garlic paste
• 1 tablespoon fresh, or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions for the Homemade Breadcrumbs

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Cut the bread into 1 to 2 inch cubes.
3. Place the cubed bread into a large mixing bowl.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, garlic, oregano and salt.
5. Toss the bread cubes with the olive oil mixture, until all the bread is well coated.
6. Place the seasoned bread cubes onto a baking sheet.
7. Bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden brown, and crisp.
8. Remove to a wire rack to cool until ready to use in the Caesar salad.

Coddle egg in hot water

Caesar Salad Ingredients

1. 3-4 teaspoons minced garlic or 1 tablespoon garlic paste
2. 4 anchovy fillets - finely chopped
3. 1 teaspoon capers - drained
4. 1 teaspoon grainy, Dijon mustard
5. 2 tablespoons lemon juice
6. 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
7. 1 egg - room temperature
8. 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
9. Freshly cracked black pepper
10. Grated Parmesan cheese
11. 2-3 heads Romaine lettuce - chopped

Caesar Salad Dressing Directions

1. Place the garlic and anchovies into a mortar, and grind into a fine paste with a pestle.
2. Add the capers, and mustard and continue grinding until a smooth paste is formed.
3. Use a spatula to scrape the paste out of the mortar, and place it in a mixing bowl.
4. Whisk in the lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce.
5. Place the egg in a large coffee mug, or other heat proof container.
6. Pour boiling water over the egg, and let sit for 3 minutes.
7. Drain the hot water off the egg, and cover with cold water.
8. Whisk the coddled egg yolk into the mixing bowl with the other Caesar dressing ingredients (discard the egg white).
9. Slowly whisk in the olive oil, until well blended. The dressing should have a consistency which is just a bit thicker than heavy cream.
10. Add the Romaine lettuce to a large salad bowl.
11. Toss with a bit of the Caesar salad dressing, then garnish with Parmesan cheese, freshly cracked black pepper and a few of the homemade breadcrumbs.
12. The salad should be well coated, but not drowning, with dressing.
13. Because of the raw egg that is used, any leftover dressing should be discarded.

 

Garlic, anchovies, capers and mustard processed with mortar and pestle

 

The complete Caesar salad dressing

Cardini's Original Caesar Salad Dressing
Read the story about the origin of Caesar salad: Cardini's Caesar Dressing. The salad was invented circa 1924 when Italian born Mexican Caesar Cardini started making the salad in his Tijuana restaurant.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva

Pozole; Pork and Hominy Stew

 

Bowl of pozole garnished with queso cotija, cilantro and lime juice

Pozole is a traditional Mexican dish, which features lots of pork, chile peppers and hominy. Hominy is corn that has been treated with the mineral lime, to remove the outer hull, AKA the pericap. It sounds a bit weird, but think of hominy being like tiny little dumplings. They add a bit of texture to this classic comfort food. Hominy is also called pozole.

I saw pozole soup featured on an episode of Dinner's, Drive-in's and Dive's and thought it looked pretty tasty. Now that I'm on a Mexican cooking streak, at least for this month, I thought I'd try making homemade pozole.

 

A plethora of Mexican ingredients from Mex Grocer

Pozole Soup or Stew
Depending on how much liquid is added to the recipe, the pozole can be a soup or stew. I was worried about all the chile peppers that were added to the recipe, so I added a bit more liquid to make mine like a soup. Any kind of pork can be used in this recipe; stew meat or pork shoulder or even thick cut pork chops. My husband had some thick cut pork chops in the refrigerator, which he donated for the pozole. As long as he was being fed, I don't think he really cared what the pork chops were being used for.

 

Pozole AKA hominy

Interesting Ingredients
Most of the ingredients for the pozole should be available at local grocery stores. You may have to hunt around a bit, my local stores all have an ethnic food section, where they lump together all the Asian and Latin American ingredients. You can also purchase the ingredients from an online retailer such as Mex Grocer. I got the hominy, chile peppers, chipolte and queso cotija from Mex Grocer.

Pork cubed and waiting to be added to pozole

Ingredients for Pozole

• 29 ounce can hominy
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 1/2 pounds pork - cut into 1 to 2 inch cubes 
• 1 medium onion - diced
• 4 cloves garlic - minced
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1 cup crushed tomatoes - any kind of chunky tomato sauce can be used too
• 4-6 cups chicken, beef or vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon toasted Mexican oregano
• 2 toasted bay leaves
• 2 toasted, dried chile peppers - I used one chile negro and one chile pasilla in my pozole
• 1-2 chipolte peppers in adobo sauce - chopped fine

Chile pasilla, on the left, and chile negro on the right

Directions for Pozole

1. Drain the water from the can of hominy, and place the hominy in a medium sauce pan.
2. Fill the sauce pan with fresh water and bring to a boil.
3. Turn the heat down to low, and let the hominy simmer for 30-45 minutes.
4. Add the oil to a large stock pot, or dutch oven placed over medium heat.
5. Add the pork, and cook until lightly browned on all sides.
6. Remove the cooked pork to a bowl.
7. Add the onions to the pan, and let cook in the pork fat/vegetable oil mixture until they begin to turn translucent.
8. Stir the garlic into the onions and cook for another minute.
9. Add the pork back into the pan.
10. Stir in the cumin and allspice.
11. Stir in the crushed tomatoes and chicken broth.
12. Lightly dry toast the Mexican oregano and bay leaves in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the toasted herbs to the pozole.
13. Lightly dry toast the dried chile peppers in a frying pan over medium heat. Remove the toasted peppers to a plate, and let cool. When cool enough to handle, remove the seeds and inner membrane. Roughly tear the toasted chile peppers into small pieces, and stir into the pozole.
14. Stir the chopped chipolte into the pozole.
15. Bring the pozole to a boil, reduce the heat to low and let simmer for 1/2 hour.
16. Strain the hominy, once it has finished simmering, and stir it into the pozole.
17. Let the pozole simmer for another 1/2 hour.
18. Remove the bay leaves, and serve the pozole with the garnishes of your choice.

Chipolte peppers in adobo sauce

Pozole Embellishments
Pozole should be served with a tray full of ingredients, so that each person can add the garnishes of their choice to their individual serving. My favorite combination is a bit of crumbled queso cotija, chopped cilantro leaves and a squeeze of fresh lime juice.

 

Pork browning, hominy simmering, herbs toasting

• Crumbled queso cotija - a semi-hard, salty Mexican cheese, which is a bit like feta.
• Shredded cabbage
• Chopped onions
• Fresh cilantro leaves
• Lime wedges
• Sliced radishes
• Chili powder and/or hot sauce - only if you like REALLY spicy pozole. I thought the pozole had a little bit more heat than I'm used to, but I am trying to get a bit more adventurous.

Lime wedges, fresh cilantro leaves, queso cotija

 

Pot full of pozole, simmering on the stove

Have you made pozole before? I'd like to hear about your method for making this classic Mexican dish.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva

Asian Style Vegetable Wraps

 

Veggie wrap in flour tortilla with ponzu dipping sauce.

On Friday I blogged about rice and bean thread noodles. I used rice noodles as part of the filling for Asian style vegetable wraps I made for my daughter, who has recently become a vegetarian. She was looking through one of my vegetarian cookbooks, The Best Ever Vegetarian Cookbook by Nicola Graimes (Barnes & Noble Books, 1999), where she saw a recipe for a vegetable wrap.

 

Ingredients for Asian style vegetable wraps. The alfalfa sprouts never made it into the wraps, thought we had enough veggies without them. I kept the veggies a bit on the crisp side, but you could cook your veggies a bit more then add sliced water chestnuts for a bit of crispness.

No Chickens Allowed
The recipe was for cilantro omelet packages with oriental vegetables. She liked the idea of mixed vegetables being stir-fried and wrapped up somehow, but she isn't a big fan of eggs. We decided to use flour tortilla's as our wrap, and we even used whole wheat pita pockets for some of the leftovers the next day.

 

Broccoli, carrots and snow peas prepared for veggie wraps.

New and Improved Recipe
I drastically changed the original recipe, and came up with an all new recipe for Asian style vegetable wraps. My daughter and I both thought this recipe was super delicious. She took a bit of the leftovers with her for her school lunch the next day. She placed the vegetable wrap filling, in a small plastic container, and wrapped up a couple of tortilla's in foil. I think she added a small container of mandarin oranges, and a carton of chocolate soy milk for a complete and delicious vegetarian meal.

 

Shredded cabbage.

Easy on the Seasonings
Ponzu sauce is a thin, soy sauce which is flavored with citrus. My daughter doesn't like overly flavored or spicy foods, so I kept the seasonings a bit on the light side. If I were making this just for myself, I would probably increase the amount of hoisin sauce and chili oil a bit, or even add a fresh Thai chili or two. My husband and son would even like this dish, if I added a bit of shrimp or chicken to it.

Ingredients for Asian Style Vegetable Wraps

• *1 bunch softened rice thread noodles
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/8 teaspoon chili oil
• 1 inch piece fresh ginger root - peeled and grated
• 2 cloves garlic - minced
• 4 green onions - sliced thin
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 1 cup grated carrot
• 1 cup pea pods - cut into thirds
• 3 cups Napa cabbage or Chinese cabbage - shredded
• 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves - chopped
• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon Ponzu sauce

Ginger and garlic in the sizzling wok.

*To Soften Rice Thread Noodles

1. Remove one bundle of rice noodles from the package.
2. Place the bundle in a large bowl.
3. Cover the noodles with hot water.
4. Let the rice noodles soak for 10 minutes.
5. Drain off the water.
6. Cut the softened noodles into 2-3 inch long lengths.
7. Continue following the Asian style vegetable wrap recipe.

Variety of vegetables stir frying in the wok.

Directions for Asian Style Vegetable Wraps

The vegetables should still be a bit crispy, and not mushy, after cooking. The cooking times given in this recipe are just guidelines. I have one of those induction top stoves, but a gas stove would be much hotter, thus a shorter cooking time will be necessary.

 

Completed veggie wrap filling, with rice noodles and sauce added.

1. Heat the vegetable oil and chili oil in a wok, or a large frying pan.
2. Stir the ginger into the wok, and cook for 1 minute.
3. Stir the garlic and green onions into the wok, and cook for an additional minute.
4. Add the broccoli and cook for 2-3 minutes.
5. Stir in the carrot and cook for 1-2 minutes.
6. Stir in the snow peas and cook for 1-2 minutes.
7. Stir in the Chinese cabbage and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
8. Stir in the cilantro leaves.
9. In a small bowl, whisk together the hoisin sauce, water and ponzu sauce.
10. Stir the sauce mixture into the pan full of stir fried vegetables.
11. Cook for another minute or two, until the cabbage has wilted, and all the vegetables are well coated with the sauce.
12. Remove the wok from the heat.
13. Serve immediately. Use rice paper wrappers (i.e. spring roll wrappers), flour tortillas or pita pockets to make vegetable wraps. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days.

Flour tortilla, on the left, and whole wheat pita, on the right, used for Asian style vegetable wraps.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva

Turkey Taco Salad with Blue Corn Chips

 

Turkey taco salad with blue corn chips

I have a problem with high cholesterol, despite all the exercising I do. A few years ago, I decided to stop eating red meat. While I do cave-in and have a beef burger a few times a year, I no longer purchase red meat products for the house. My daughter has recently turned vegetarian, so she doesn't miss not having red meat at the house. But my husband and son are true carnivores, so I had to figure out a way to keep the cavemen happy.

 

Ground white meat turkey

Ground Turkey VS Ground Beef
I discovered that ground white meat turkey can be used in a variety of dishes that I used to use ground beef in. And most people don't notice the difference until I tell them they are eating ground turkey. I've made lasagna, hamburgers, meatballs, meatloaf and more using ground turkey in place of ground beef.

I occasionally use ground dark meat turkey, which is moister than ground white meat turkey, due to its higher fat content. But that's kind of defeating the whole lower-fat eating program I'm trying to follow, so I try to stick to using white meat turkey.

 

Store bought taco seasoning mix

Spiced Taco Meat
I started making my own taco seasoning mix a few years ago. Prepackaged taco seasoning can be found in the ethnic food section of most grocery stores. Commercially made taco seasonings contain a bit too much salt for my taste, so making your own taco spice blend lets you reduce, or completely eliminate the salt.

 

Ingredients for homemade taco seasoning mixture

Here's a quick recipe for creating spiced, ground turkey meat, that can be used in tacos, enchiladas, taco salads and other Tex-Mex style dishes. Use ground chile pepper, such as ancho or chipolte, not chili powder spice mix in this recipe. Chili powder spice mix is usually a mixture of ground chile, garlic powder, cumin, salt and oregano.Ground chili pepper is 100% ground chili pepper.

Taco Spice Seasoning Mix

• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 1/4 to 1 teaspoon salt, if desired
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground chile pepper
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon thyme leaves, or Mexican oregano

Cook meat until no longer pink in center

Using Taco Spice Mix

1. Add 1 pound of ground meat to a large frying pan, placed over medium heat.
2. Cook the meat until no longer pink in the center.
3. Sprinkle 1 recipe of taco spice mix over the cooked meat.
4. Pour in 2/3 cup water and still until well blended.
5. Cook over medium high heat, until most of the water has been evaporated.
6. Use the spiced taco meat as desired.

Taco spice mix added to cooked ground meat

Turkey Taco Salad with Blue Corn Chips

1. Add 1 cup shredded lettuce to the bottom of a medium bowl.
2. Add 1/2 cup of turkey taco meat on top of the lettuce.
3. Sprinkle with 1-2 tablespoons grated cheese, such as cheddar or Monterey Jack.
4. Add additional toppings as desired, such as sliced black olives, diced onion, chopped tomato, sour cream or hot sauce.
5. Serve with your favorite type of corn chip. I have a preference for blue corn chips.

Seasoned turkey taco meat, ready to eat

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva

Quick and Easy Cajun Shrimp

 

Spicy creole-style shrimp

My husband cooked up some shrimp the other day to add to some pasta he was making. He didn't use all the shrimp he cooked, so I came up with this quick and easy recipe to use up the leftovers. I'm calling my concoction quick and easy Cajun shrimp.

 

Leftover shrimp waiting to be made into Cajun shrimp

A less spicy version of the Cajun shrimp can be made by reducing, or even eliminating the red pepper flakes. Serve this easy to prepare shrimp dish with a bit of leftover rice, or reheated baked potato. This seafood recipe could be doubled, or even quadrupled, to serve as a main course.

 

Shrimp, mixed with spices, reheating in pan

Cajun Shrimp Ingredients

• 1 cup cooked shrimp - chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons tomato sauce
• 1-2 teaspoons chopped chives

Tomato sauce added to shrimp

Cajun Shrimp Directions

1. Mix together the salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, paprika and red pepper flakes.
2. Toss the leftover shrimp with the spice mixture.
3. Add the olive oil to a frying pan placed over medium heat.
4. Stir in the garlic, and cook until fragrant, approximately 1 minute.
5. Stir in the spice coated shrimp and cook a few minutes, until heated through.
6. Stir in the tomato sauce and cook for 1 more minute.
7. Remove the pan from the stove, and pour the shrimp into a bowl.
8. Right before serving, sprinkle the shrimp with the chives

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva

Lots of Muffin and Biscuit Recipes

 

ABOVE: tray of rolled biscuits waiting to go in oven

I love a good muffin, or freshly baked biscuit, with all my meals. My waistline could do without so many bakery products, but a homemade muffin is a weakness of mine.

Here are links to some of my muffin and biscuit recipes on the Suite101 website.

Zucchini Nut Muffins

 

ABOVE: zucchini nut muffins

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

 

ABOVE: pumpkin spice muffins

Savory Corn Muffins

Lemon Poppy Seed Teacakes

Banana Bread & Banana Bread French Toast

Blueberry Muffins with Crumb Topping

Quick Bread Recipes. Includes recipes for chili cheese cornbread, garlic bread and Parmesan chive biscuits.

Recipe for Four Varieties of Rolled Biscuits. One basic biscuit recipe can be turned into plain biscuits, poppy seed biscuits, sesame seed biscuits or cinnamon sugar biscuits.

 

ABOVE: sesame, poppy and cinnamon rolled biscuits

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva