potato-carrot cakes

potato-carrot cakes


3 small carrots
2 small potatoes
1/2 onion
1 egg
seasoned bread-crumbs



shred the vegetables and mix with a beaten egg. add breadcrumbs to thicken the mixture. shape into patties and fry in a mixture of olive oil and butter. season.

pork loin with pesto mashed potatoes

i like meat, especially pork. pork loin is lean and easy to prepare. i really should eat it more often. as for the potatoes, i had a bunch of basil left over from something, and i wanted to get rid of it before it spoiled. so, here's what i did.

pork loin

pork loin

coarse grain mustard

salt and pepper the pork loin. in a hot pan, sear the loin on both sides for a minute or two - trapping in the juices. place in an oven-safe dish and coat with coarse grain mustard. bake for about 30 minutes at 350-degrees. the cooking time will vary depending on the size of your pork-loin.

red-wine shallot compote

1 shallot

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup of red wine

in the same pan that you used to sear the pork loin, add butter and a diced shallot - cook briefly. add the 1/2 cup of wine and allow to boil. allow the liquid to reduce by about half, then set aside.

pesto mashed potatoes

3 medium sized potatoes - diced

2 garlic cloves

1/2 cup chopped basil

1 cup whole milk

1-2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

cook the potatoes in boiling water (peel if you don't want skins in your mashed potatoes). in a blender, combine garlic, put the garlic, milk, basil, and parmesan into a blender (and blend). mash the potatoes with butter, then add the basil-milk mixture and stir. salt and pepper to taste.

garlic infused green beans

fresh green beans

2-3 garlic cloves (cut into thirds)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon lemon juice

boil the green beans, then strain. in the hot pot, place olive oil and garlic into the pan and allow to soften. return the green beans to the pan, add the lemon juice, and toss. salt and pepper to taste.

chicken of the sea mushroom soup

i wanted to make soup. so, i surveyed my refrigerator and found shrimp and mushrooms. in my cupboards, i found chicken stock. i know i should be using some sort of seafood based stock if i'm going to be using shrimp, but i decided to see how it would taste.

chicken of the sea mushroom soup

1/2 pound of raw shrimp
1-2 cans of chicken stock
4 green onions
1 jalapeno pepper
cellophane/rice noodles
small package of whole mushrooms

peel the shrimp. place the shrimp shells into the chicken stock and bring to a boil for a few minutes, then strain out the shells (my though was that this would make it shrimpier). in the empty pot, add diced jalapenos and shrimp - cook this for a minute or two. separate the mushrooms caps from the stems. julienne the stems, and then place both the caps and stems into the pot. return the stock to the pot. slice a few of the green onions lengthwise and and dice the remaining before adding to the pot. allow everything to simmer for about 10 minutes. in a separate pot, pour boiling water over the cellophane noodles and allow to soften for 5 minutes. strain the noodles and add to the soup.

pizza margarita

i'm not going to tell you what to do or not to do with pizza. that's the fun of pizza and i don't want to spoil things for you. every time i make a pizza i do things slightly differently: different ingredients in sauce, different cheese, toppings etc. i'm using shallots in my sauce this time which isn't traditional for a margarita pizza, but i had them on hand, so why not. however, the dough recipe stays pretty much the same.


pizza margarita

dough:

about 2.5 cups of a high-protein flour (bread flour or better)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 package active yeast
1 tablespoon honey
1 cup luke-warm water

put the warm water, yeast, salt, honey, and 1 cup of flower into a bowl and mix. it should be a batter-like consistency. let this sit for 15-30 minutes. then add additional flour, mixing, then kneading until the dough no longer sticks to your fingers. it's probably ready but the only way you'll know is to make it 30 times and develop a feel for it. i've heard the texture described as feeling "like a baby's bottom" but i don't really care for that analogy.


sauce:

1 can whole san marzano tomatoes
1 shallot (diced)
fresh basil (maybe 10 leaves - chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste.

throw the raw ingredients into a blender. blend. done.


cheese:

fresh mozzarella (salt and pepper this - it's not as salty as packaged mozzarella and needs help)

rigatoni with spicy clam sauce

i was going to make something with artichokes, but i realized my artichokes were rotten. so i scratched that plan. earlier that night i had purchased a can of sardines. why? because i realized i had never consciously tasted a sardine, and wanted to see what they were like. i don't want to dumb things down too much, but it really just tasted like canned tuna fish. i decided to mix the rest of the can with some clams and turn it into a pasta sauce.

rigatoni with spicy clam sauce

1 can of diced clams
3 green chile peppers (diced)
1 can of sardines
1 shallot (diced)
1 small onion (diced)
3 ripe tomatoes (diced)
2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon capers
rigatoni

put some olive oil in a pan, and saute the diced peppers, onions, shallot, and tomatoes. season, then place the cooked mixture into a blender and pulse. return to the pan and add the capers, garlic, clams and and chopped sardines. cook the pasta, mix and serve.