Category Archives: Recipes

Fall Grill for Summer Eating

20150405_120416 Choose a variety of veggies and grill to your liking, then enhance their flavors.

Roasted Red Peppers peeled by placing them in a covered dish for 10 minutes, remove the skin and discard. There sweetness is tasted through a unique marinde for 2 hours by adding: minced garlic, parsley, raisins, capers Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Green Beans hardiness are enjoyed by gently boiling them for 6 minutes, drain, place into a bowl and toss with: salt, pepper, chopped thyme and wet with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Grilled Portabella Mushrooms are delectable with Boursin Cheese, a quarter minced cl0ve garlic and chopped rosemary.

Steam Fennel for 3 minutes and add to grill. Enjoy when cooled!

Artichokes are made tasty with added lemon zest Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Thinly slice Eggplant and lighltly salt, placing into a colander for 20 minutes. Dab dry with a paper towel and place the slices onto the grill. Once done toss slices in a medium size dish with: oregano, minced garlic clove, red pepper flakes, parsley, and add Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Eggplant with Fenugreek Spice

Fenugreek and Eggplant

Roasted Eggplant with tomatoes and Fenugreek

Roasted Eggplant with tomatoes and Fenugreek

  • 1 Eggplant peeled
  • 1 garlic clove minced
  • 1/4 cup olive oil1 tsp fresh parsley or cilantro
  • 1/2 tsp Fenugreek
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • Salt

Directions
Peel eggplant, cut into cubes, lightly salt the cubed eggplant, place into colander and place colander onto a bowl to collect the water from the eggplant for 30 minutes. With a paper towel dab dry the eggplant. In a skillet over medium heat brown eggplant as the water from the vegetable releases its vapor.  Add olive oil and minced garlic and cubed eggplant. Stir the egg plant in the skillet for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Place eggplant into a bowl, add parsley/clinatro fenugreek, red pepper flakes and combine all ingredients with a wooden spoon. May be served at room temperature.
Health Benefits of Fenugreek

1. Fenugreek is known to reduce risk of heart strokes.
2. Oestrogen like properties to help reduce menstrual cramps and discomfort during menopausal symptoms.
3. Reduce labour pain and helps against iron deficiency post pregnancy. Increases milk production in lactating mothers.
4. Galactomannan is a natural soluble fiber that makes fenugreek beneficial for people with diabetes.

Fenugreek is best known for the benefits obtained from its external use. The paste can help get rid or skin irritation, wounds, muscular pains, scars, etc. It is also used as a beauty product in face packs to remove pimples and blackheads. If consumed like green tea with honey and lemon, fenugreek can help reduce fever.

Friendly Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients

Delicious Chocolate Mousse made in a blender. 5 minutes to make & 1 hour in the refrigerator.

Delicious Chocolate Mousse made in a blender. 5 minutes to make & 1 hour in the refrigerator

  • 1 cup Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips
  • 1 egg, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar
  • 1/2 cup Whipped Cream
  • Whipped Cream, for topping
  • chocolate curls or cocoa, for garnish, optional

Easy Preparation time 5 minutes. Chill time 1 hour.

Place chocolate chips egg and flavoring in blender and chop. Heat cream until very hot and small bubbles appear at edge. Do not boil. With blender running, pour in hot cream. Blend until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Add sugar and Whipped Cream, blend for another minute.
In dessert dishes, place 1 Tablespoon of Whipped Cream and 5 Raspberries. Pour into dessert dishes, cover with plastic wrap, and chill until firm. Top off with whipped cream, 5 raspberries and shaved chocolate garnish, if desired, or sprinkle the whipped cream with a little cocoa.
Serves 4.

Seafood Risotto

Risotto is Italian comfort food which can be served simply by itself, or add in a choice of 1012686_10203306633251620_1396685508_nvegetables, seafood, or meat.

Ingredients

1/2 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/3 cup of white wine
Select seafood of choice: mussels, shrimp, clams, calamari, or octopus.
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 teaspoon butter
1 Small onion or shallots
Arborio Rice 1 cup
1/2 cup wine
2 cups broth (water and 2 buollion cube)

Directions

Place seafood into a bowl with garlic clove,  salt,  red pepper flakes, white wine. Set aside.

Heat 2 T of olive oil and butter in a well-seasoned, cast iron skillet (or the heaviest, non-stick skillet you have.) Add 1 pat of butter and chopped shallots or onions to the oil and sauté for 2-3 minutes over medium heat.
Add your Arborio rice. For this example, we’ll use 1 cup. This is enough to feed four to six as either a first course (the Italian tradition), or as a main course. Stir the rice well with the onions, butter and oil, because the purpose is to thoroughly “coat” the rice. This helps regulate absorption of the liquid. Add 1/2 cup of dry flavorful white wine.  When the wine is about 3/4’s absorbed, reduce the heat to the lowest setting if you are cooking in an iron skillet, (low medium if in anything else), and ladle in enough stock to cover the smoothed out risotto. When the added liquid level drops about 1/3, re-cover the risotto with more stock. (Continue this process for about 20 minutes.) At about 15 minutes of stirring rice add your add all ingredients from seafood bowl into risotto.

The end of the cooking is critical for the final texture of the dish, so when the rice is mostly tender, but with just a hint of texture to it, and the liquid you have added to this point is mostly absorbed, add the Parmesan.  At this point, stir the risotto to blend in the cheese and remove your finished risotto from the heat.

Boost Immune System with Pork Roast

20131230_133630  The Integrity of the Immune System is critical to ones overall health. Zinc is a key mineral to assisting the function of the immune system. Found in a variety of protein based foods (meats and oysters), mushrooms, onions, garlic, orange vegetables, and orange fruits are rich in vitamin A and Zinc. Mushrooms cause the immune system to work more aggressively and should be included in a weekly dietary intake.  The following recipe can be served with beef, pork, or poultry. The meats may be filleted and layered with the puree, or roasted with the vegetables and herbs on the side.

Ingredients

Make a cut length wise on pork at about 1/2 in from top. Continue to unroll meat with each length wise cut.

Make a cut length wise on pork at about 1/2 in from top. Continue to unroll meat with each length wise cut.

3 pound pork carefully filleted to extend the span of 18 inches.
3/4 cup sausage browned in skillet and drained
2 portabella mushrooms
1 garlic clove peeled
1/4 cup parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried Thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
String for tying meat
2 Tablespoons butter
1 cup fluid (water, or marsala or red wine.)

Directions:
Heat oven to 400 F

In a blender puree: sausage, mushrooms, garlic, parsley, thyme, salt, olive oil and soy sauce for about 20 seconds.
(IF CHOOSING NOT to fillet the meat, sear meat, place all ingredients into roasting pan.)
While lacing the meat to secure the meat is typically done, consider cutting 5 cutting strings at about 9 inches in length to utilize for encircling the meat and tying in knots.

Place puree into center of meat and roll the fillet. Encircle string around pork every 1-2 inches and tie a knot or lace the string.

With a spoon layer the puree mixture onto the center of the pork. Carefully begin to roll meat and pull inward as to tighten the meat roll. Either lace the meat or slide a string under the meat, encircle it and tie a knot, each knot will be about 1-2 inches apart.

Sear meat on stove top, turn on heat to high, place pan on burner. Wait for 1 minute. Add butter, once melted add meat roll and place meat in pan. Allow to brown on all 4 sides, about 2-3 minutes per side. Turn off heat and remove skillet from burner.

Place meat into a roasting pan add fluid. Cover with aluminum foil and allow to bake for 20 minutes per pound. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 10 minutes, place on a grooved cutting board and thinly slice the meat. May be served with roasted potatoes and saute asparagus.

By: Kim Crocker-Scardicchio