Roasted Brussels Sprouts

I've always loved brussel sprouts!!! I used to have them roasted at a deli in Brentwood and always wondered how they made them so tasty.  I found this recipe below from Ina Garten on the Food Network.  I tried it and it was great but then I felt like something was missing so I looked up other recipes and noticed that a touch of balsamic vinegar gives it that final touch.  I add a little touch of the balsamic in the beginning and then half way through roasting, I drizzle more on the sprouts and shake up the pan.  This gives it that dark carmelized color and a rich taste.  Sooooooo goooood.  It's time consuming cutting up all the brussel sprouts but it's so worth it.

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts
• 3 tablespoons good olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• BALSAMIC VINEGAR *** my revision

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut off the brown ends of the Brussels sprouts and pull off any yellow outer leaves. Mix them in a bowl with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour them on a sheet pan and roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. Shake the pan from time to time to brown the sprouts evenly. Sprinkle with more kosher salt ( I like these salty like French fries), and serve immediately.
* Add a little balsamic vinegar before roasting and drizzle more half way through the roasting.

Kotlet- Persian Cutlet

Persian cutlets are the best....you can make it with beef or turkey.  I chose turkey for my first time.  Frying these without burning is a challenge since pieces of the breading fall off and burn in the pan.  Try to wipe away after each session with a paper towel but be careful not to burn yourself.  These are very good served with pita or lavash with some mayo, tomato, persian pickles, cilantro, basil, and some persian sabzi.  The recipe I used is from the site I mentioned before, Mypersiankitchen.com.  I love the detailed pictures the chef provides for each step.  I didn't have a food mill or mixer so I just mashed with a hand masher.  It was hard so I think next time I will have to purchase a food mill or maybe blend it a bit. 




Ingredients
1 lb ground beef or ground turkey
1 lb potatoes
2 eggs
1 onion
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 tbsp advieh
bread crumbs
salt & pepper
vegetable oil

Place potatoes in a pot, cover with cold water, add some salt, and cook until a fork easily goes through.

Grate onion. You may possibly wonder what the heck in the candle in the background is all about. I have very sensitive eyes. Onion cutting = tears for me. I think I saw this Alton Brown’s show where he suggested having some type of flame close by when cutting onions.  It works for me, for the most part.

Once your potatoes are done they need to be peeled and mashed. You see this little nifty kitchen tool? I so love it! This Food Mill was given to me by Goli, one of my 10-20 times removed cousins,  as a birthday present a few years back.  I also love it because it remind me of my Grandma’s kitchen as she owned one of these and used it frequently.

This is by far my favorite way to make mashed potatoes. No lumps and the texture is nice and silky.

Ya see this other awesome kitchen tool? I so love it too.  You may have noticed that I use my KitchenAid mixer pretty frequently as it makes mixing so much easier. Place turmeric, advieh, salt, and pepper in the mixer.

Add eggs and give it a nice mix.

Then add the potatoes and and onion. Give them a nice mix. Then throw in the ground beef. Add enough salt to season well

Mix well until all the ingredients are nicely incorporated.

Now here comes the fun part! Take a small amount of the mixture and make a small ball out of it.

Then pat it flat and try your best to form it in a tear shape.  The patty should be not too thick or too thin. As a side note, I often wonder how the shape of Kotlet came about….I wonder if it was meant to be similar to the shape of a Paisley…

Place breadcrumbs in a dish.

Then coat each Kotlet with bread crumbs.

In theory all Kotlets should be the same size and thickness.  Can’t say that I am very good at making everything look the same size and shape…but I sure try hard! Anyway, I got 18 pieces out of this recipe. The 18th one is in the dish for inquiring minds!

Warm up some vegetable oil in a non-stick pan.  Fry a few Kotlets at a time making sure that you don’t crowd them.

Once you see that the bottom has turned into a nice golden color flip them over. Add more oil as necessary.

Place a dish with a papertowel in it next to your frying pan.  When removing the Kotlets from the pan try to drain as much as the oil as possible.  Then place onto the plate.

Continue frying the Kotlets until they are all a nice golden color and crisp on the outside.  Ya see how one Kotlet is missing one the left? There used to be three there…until I ate one ’cause I could not resist waiting until the others were all done! To keep the ones that you have made warm, place the plate in your oven.  As a tip to keeping these wonderful persian treats nice and crispy remember to not cover them while they are on the plate, as this will only trap the steam coming off of them and make them soggy.  Doing this may be a bit of a trick as each plate paper towel can only comfortable hold 3-4 Kotlet each, but if you are planning on eating them shortly after cooking it is well worth the extra room taken up in the oven as they will stay nice and crispy on the outside and soft and warm on the inside.

Cajun Tilapia with Dill Sauce

Tilapia always seems to taste bland to me so I've always been on the hunt to find a recipe that would spice it up and add a kick.  This one is so easy and really good.  Make sure to use fresh dill! After reading some reviews about the recipe I chose to pan fry the fish as opposed to baking it.  I will post both ways below. 

Ingredients

• 4 (4 ounce) fillets tilapia
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning, or to taste
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced
•  
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. 
2. If you choose to pan fry the Tilapia filets just fry in a little butter and olive oil. I used medium high heat to get crispy edges. I sprinkled lemon juice over the top - fabulous!
3. Season the tilapia fillets with salt, pepper and Cajun seasoning on both sides. Arrange the seasoned fillets in a single layer in the baking dish. Place a layer of lemon slices over the fish fillets. I usually use about 2 slices on each piece so that it covers most of the surface of the fish.
4. Bake uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until fish flakes easily with a fork.
5. While the fish is baking, mix together the mayonnaise, sour cream, garlic powder, lemon juice and dill in a small bowl. Serve with tilapia.

 

Tahcheen

 

This is my all time favorite Persian dish, tahcheen.  It's basically a rice dish mixed with saffron, yogurt and chicken.  The outer layer browns to form a delicious crispy rice layer.  My grandma makes the best Tahcheen but I haven't had the chance to learn it from her yet! I will soon.  The recipe I found is from mypersiankitchen.com, it's an awesome blog site for persian food.  I posted the recipe and the chef's step by step pictures below.

Tahcheen is a delicious rice that can be either baked on made on the stove.  I am sure you will agree with me that Tacheen is such a pretty sight to look at because of it’s brightness in color, all thanks to amount of saffron that is used in it.
This is a simple dish to make, for best results I highly recommend you marinade the cooked chicken in yogurt over night.

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
2 cups yogurt
2 egg yolks
4 tbsp brewed saffron
3 cups rice
2 tbsp butter
canola oil
salt & pepper

Cut onion in large pieces and crush garlic cloves.  Place onion and garlic in a pan. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper and place on top of onion and garlic. Add 1 cup of water, cover and cook for 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

In the mean time mix yogurt, egg yolks and saffron together. Season with salt and pepper.

Shred chicken in chunks with two forks. The pieces should not be too big or too small.

Add chicken to yogurt mix. Cover and refrigerate over night.
Parboil rice according to directions in Cooking Rice For Polow post.

Remove chicken from marinade.

Add rice to the remainder of the yogurt and mix well.  Season with more salt if needed.

Pour 2-3 tablespoons of oil in the bottom of a pirex dish.  Spread the oil all over including the walls of the dish.

Place half of the rice in the dish and make sure that it is all even.

Arrange the chicken on top in a single layer.

Add remainder of the rice on top and flatten the top slightly pressing down with a spatula.

Melt the butter and pour over the rice.

Cover the dish with foil and bake  at 350° for 2 1/2 hours.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

This is a great combination of my favorites, cheesecake and pumpkin pie!! I made this for Christmas dinner this year and it was a hit.  I think it was a little too rich for some but just a sliver won't hurt anyone.  It's hard to make the pie without any cracks on top so I decided to cover mine up.  The cracks tend to get worse when you put the pie in the fridge to set.  I added cool whip as well as some fresh raspberries on top which actually added a refreshing taste to it.

Ingredients

Crust:

• 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 stick melted salted butter

Filling:

• 3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 (15-ounce) can pureed pumpkin
• 3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For crust:

In medium bowl, combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter. Press down flat into a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.

For filling:

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and the spices. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined.

Pour into crust. Spread out evenly and place oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Shrimp Tacos with Citrus Cabbage Slaw

Another simple and tasty recipe, I found this one in Real Simple magazine. Enjoy!

• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1/4 small cabbage (8 ounces), shredded
• 1 cup corn kernels (from 1 to 2 ears, or frozen and thawed)
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp
• 8 small flour tortillas, warmed

Directions

1. In a large bowl, whisk the orange and lime juices, sour cream, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper.
2. Add the cabbage, corn, and jalapeño and toss to combine. Let sit, tossing occasionally, for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
4. Season the shrimp with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Cook until opaque throughout, 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Serve the shrimp with the tortillas and the slaw.

Rosemary-Baked Chicken with Potatoes

 

This is one of my favorite recipes, it's so easy yet very tasty!  I found it on the Food Channel and have made it many times.  It's hard to find bone-in chicken thighs without the skin so I always ask the butcher to cut it off for me.  Sometimes it works and it never hurts to ask.  I personally hate cutting of the skin, it kinda grosses me out haha.

Makes 6 servings.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
 

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon McCormick® Paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons McCormick® Rosemary Leaves, finely crushed
1 teaspoon Sea Salt from McCormick® Sea Salt
1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Black Pepper, Coarse Ground
1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Garlic Powder
6 bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed (about 2 pounds)
1 1/2 pounds small red potatoes, halved

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Mix oil, paprika, rosemary, sea salt, pepper and garlic powder in large bowl. Add chicken and potatoes; toss to coat well. Arrange potatoes in single layer on foil-lined 15x10x1-inch baking pan sprayed with no stick cooking spray.

2. Bake 15 minutes. Push potatoes to one side of pan. Place chicken on pan.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes longer or until chicken is cooked through and potatoes are tender and chicken is cooked through, turning potatoes occasionally.