Showing posts with label fresh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fresh. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Tostados Served on Fresh Fried Corn Tortillas with Pico de Gallo
I have been watching the reality show "Survivor" since it premiered in 2000 and have never missed an episode. I do not know, at this point, whether I continue to watch because I love to observe the interaction between the contestants, particularly when it is confrontational, or if it has simply become a habit. Whichever the case, it has become part of my Thursday night ritual to have Mexican food, or a derivative thereof. The actual new season of Survivor does not start until next Thursday, however, there was a special "look back at Survivors past" episode which aired last night. Ive come this far, why break with tradition now?
I admit that I usually use the packaged Ortega tostado shells which are heated in the oven just before eating, when I make tostados. While obviously not resembling anything authentically Mexican, they always worked perfectly fine for my purposes. However, I recently purchased some fresh corn tortillas, which are similar in appearance to the more common flour tortilla, but made of corn, and thought I would try fry a fresh corn tortilla for tostados. Wow, what a difference! I can not believe that I have subjected myself to the comparatively chewy, stale like taste and texture of the boxed hard tostados for all these years. The freshly fried tostados made from fresh corn tortillas were light and airy but incredibly sturdy and perfectly crunchy with an authentic corn flavor. It was not at all hard to do or (sometimes more importantly) not even messy!
I heated 1/2 inch of canola oil in a large skillet until the oil was hot but not smoking. I place the tip of the handle of a wooden spoon in the oil and you will know the oil is hot enough when it bubbles up around the tip of the spoon handle. Place 1 corn tortilla at a time in the hot oil and fry for about 1 minute per side or until it just starts to turn golden brown. Place on a paper towel, drain the excess oil and sprinkle with salt. Place the fried tortilla directly on the rack in a preheat 375 degree oven for about 5 minutes. Return to paper towels until ready to eat. This technique will create the most perfectly crispy, crunchy tortilla without a hint of greasiness or sogginess.
I had some very lovely plump tomatoes and hot chili peppers fresh from the grocery, so I decided to make a mid Winter pico de gallo. Finely chop a beautiful red ripe juicy tomato and combine in a bowl with finely chopped red onion, 1 finely chopped serrano chili pepper (or other pepper depending on your love of heat), a handful of chopped cilantro, the juice of half of a lime and plenty of salt. Stir to combine and serve freshly prepared.
Top the tostado shells with warmed refried beans, seasoned and browned ground beef, home made pico de gallo, freshly shredded crispy lettuce, queso fresco (Mexican crumbling cheese), hot sauce and sour cream.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Fresh Cherry Tomato Relish – A Reduction Production
Photo Note: All the decent photos of this recipe were lost in a tragic beer-related editing mishap. The thumbnail you see to the left is the only survivor, and not the best quality. I considered “borrowing” a photo from some unsuspecting online source, but then realized that would not be ethical (and coincidentally didn’t see any I liked) and so I decided to use the one I had. OK, on to the recipe.Here’s the idea; we take the liquid that’s produced by marinating fresh cherry tomatoes in salt, pepper and vinegar, and strain it into a pan. We then take this already delicious juice, and make it even more so by reducing it over heat thereby evaporating most of the water. This intensified liquid is poured back into the tomatoes and we have a great fresh tomato relish, or tomato vinaigrette (if you want to be all fancy) that we can top some grilled meat, chicken, or fish.
This is an extremely common culinary technique that Chefs have used since the beginning of time to improve the flavor of all kinds of things. A “Reduction” is one of those Chef secrets that most home cooks don’t bother with, or maybe don’t even know about. Most of you have made a basic tomato salad or relish and simply eaten it as is, or topped whatever. That’s fine, and it tasted great, I’m sure. But, by reducing the water content from sauces and dressings, you can produce even more impressive results.
By the way, I suggest ALWAYS using cherry tomatoes for this recipe. Large ripe tomatoes are just too hard to find, even in the summer (unless you have some in your garden of course), and most markets have an almost year-long supply of decent cherry tomatoes available. Look for “Sweet 100’s,” “Red Grape,” and “Sun Gold” varieties, which all are pretty consistently sweet.
handful of cherry tomatoes
clove of garlic
splash of olive oil
splash of red wine vinegar
salt and pepper
Monday, February 24, 2014
SANDRAS FABULOUS FRESH PEACH CRUMBLE
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| The absolute delightful dessert where youll savor every bite, seriously... |
Prep: 15 mins. |
Bake: 1 hr. 15 mins.
Posted by Sandra
INGREDIENTS
***Filling
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon fine-grain kosher salt
5 cups fresh peaches, blanched to peel, and sliced
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
***Crumble
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup rolled oats (not quick cooking)
1/4 cup glazed pecans, chopped
1/2 cup dried blueberries
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of fine-grain kosher salt
1 stick unsalted butter, chilled, and cut into cubes
METHOD
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a 13”x9” baking dish with butter flavored oil, and set aside.
To make the peach filling, in a large bowl stir together brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon and kosher salt. Add peaches and gently toss to coat. Mix together cornstarch and lemon juice, and vanilla, and then stir into peaches to incorporate. Add the filling mixture into the prepared 9”x13” baking dish, and evenly spread mixture out. Dot with 1 teaspoon of butter by breaking into pieces beforehand.
To make the crumble, in a medium bowl combine dry ingredients, add in 1 stick of butter chilled cubes and combine with pastry cutter or fork, until the dry mixture is the size of small peas.
Top peaches with half of the crumble topping. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake Peach Crumble, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Add the remaining crumble topping, and reduce heat to 325 degrees and finish by baking, uncovered, for another 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand for 15 minutes to set Peach Crumble before serving. - Enjoy!
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Tip: I serve this Peach Crumble warm with french vanilla ice cream and/or fresh whipped cream.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Black eyed peas curry with fresh ground masala
Do you follow the Tambrahmrage Blog? If not, check it out now so you are not deprived of the laughs we have been having over the last few months. I am happy to announce that Saffrontrail along with the Tambrahmrage blogger have started another blog called Tambrahmrage Cooks. It is traditional tamil brahmin cooking served with dollops of sambar humour and real audio files means that you literally hear the recipes from the Maamis mouths.
This post is hot off my kitchen counter. I made this for lunch today and one taste of it finally made me shake off my blogging lethargy. My generous self felt that this recipe MUST be shared with the world at large. And here it is for you...
You can use any beans for this curry. Some of them I can think of are dried peas (white / green), green moong, whole masoor, moth beans, rajma beans, fresh lablab (mocchai) or anything else. Simple rule to remember is, if the beans are dried, soak them overnight.
Fresh beans like mocchai can be pressure cooked without soaking. 4 hours should do for the smaller varieties like moong, masoor, moth, black eyed peas (white/red), while the bigger beans like rajma or dried peas do well with an overnight soak.
Black Eyed Peas Curry with fresh ground masala
Time taken - Under 30 minutes with a pressure cooker
Serves 3-4
Ingredients
3/4 cup black eyed peas (I used the red Chauli)
3 medium tomatoes
To be ground into a paste:
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped roughly
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup fresh coconut
2 tsp coriander seeds
3 dried red chillies
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 medium cinnamon stick
3-4 cloves
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
asafoetida
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garam masala powder or 1 tsp rasam/sambar powder
Lots of finely chopped fresh coriander
Directions
Use a pressure cooker with separators. In one compartment, place the rehydrated peas with just enough water to cover.
Halve the tomatoes and place in another compartment. No water required in this.
You can cook rice in the third compartment if you want to serve this curry with rice. Pressure cook for 2 whistles and keep on sim for 5-7 minutes and remove from flame. Open when cool enough.
The peas should be cooked to very soft but maintain their shape. Tug off the tomato skins, mash with fingers and keep aside.
In a large kadai, heat 1 tbsp oil, add 1 tsp cumin seeds, fat pinch of asafoetida. Once the cumin splutters, add the ground paste to the oil and fry on medium flame for around 5 minutes, until oil separates and the onion and garlic is cooked off.
To the cooked paste, add the cooked black eyed peas and the mashed tomatoes. Add turmeric, salt and garam masala powder. Bring to a simmer. Add some water if it is too dry. Let this simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from flame and add fresh coriander.
If you dont have / use / like a pressure cooker-
Boil the soaked beans in plenty of water for around 45 minutes (until really soft) and blanche the tomatoes in boiling water, peel and mash them with fingers-proceed with recipe.
Serve with steamed rice or rotis.
The fresh mocchai beans are still in season. You must give this recipe a try with them. No soaking required, directly pressure cook as directed above.
Read More..
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This post is hot off my kitchen counter. I made this for lunch today and one taste of it finally made me shake off my blogging lethargy. My generous self felt that this recipe MUST be shared with the world at large. And here it is for you...
You can use any beans for this curry. Some of them I can think of are dried peas (white / green), green moong, whole masoor, moth beans, rajma beans, fresh lablab (mocchai) or anything else. Simple rule to remember is, if the beans are dried, soak them overnight.
 |
| Red Chauli - Dry (click for a larger picture) |
Black Eyed Peas Curry with fresh ground masala
Time taken - Under 30 minutes with a pressure cooker
Serves 3-4
Ingredients
3/4 cup black eyed peas (I used the red Chauli)
3 medium tomatoes
To be ground into a paste:
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped roughly
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup fresh coconut
2 tsp coriander seeds
3 dried red chillies
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 medium cinnamon stick
3-4 cloves
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
asafoetida
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garam masala powder or 1 tsp rasam/sambar powder
Lots of finely chopped fresh coriander
Directions
Use a pressure cooker with separators. In one compartment, place the rehydrated peas with just enough water to cover.
Halve the tomatoes and place in another compartment. No water required in this.
You can cook rice in the third compartment if you want to serve this curry with rice. Pressure cook for 2 whistles and keep on sim for 5-7 minutes and remove from flame. Open when cool enough.
The peas should be cooked to very soft but maintain their shape. Tug off the tomato skins, mash with fingers and keep aside.
In a large kadai, heat 1 tbsp oil, add 1 tsp cumin seeds, fat pinch of asafoetida. Once the cumin splutters, add the ground paste to the oil and fry on medium flame for around 5 minutes, until oil separates and the onion and garlic is cooked off.
To the cooked paste, add the cooked black eyed peas and the mashed tomatoes. Add turmeric, salt and garam masala powder. Bring to a simmer. Add some water if it is too dry. Let this simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from flame and add fresh coriander.
If you dont have / use / like a pressure cooker-
Boil the soaked beans in plenty of water for around 45 minutes (until really soft) and blanche the tomatoes in boiling water, peel and mash them with fingers-proceed with recipe.
Serve with steamed rice or rotis.
The fresh mocchai beans are still in season. You must give this recipe a try with them. No soaking required, directly pressure cook as directed above.
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