Sushi on Fire

Pink Panther Roll
(tuna, salmon, avocado and cucumber
topped with salmon and tuna and served on fire)

We love sushi so much and have tried lots of restaurants around town.  One of our favorites is Hibashi near the Galleria across the Tollway.  The restaurant is very large so we never have a problem getting a seat, though it's always pretty busy (which is a good sign);  prices are reasonable;  they have a nice drink list; and their rolls are very fresh and flavorful.  Service was a little off last night, but we think the server was brand new.

We tried the Pink Panther Roll pictured above which was presented in a fun, non-kitschy way.  I'd never had a roll served on fire before.

A few other things about the restaurant -- they offer hibachi (they have 14 tables), they're in a very large and what they call 'Texas-style space' so it feels a little Vegas-y, and their lunch menu is completely different, having reasonably priced bento boxes and power lunch bowls. 

I've been to the restaurant about 8 times and haven't been disappointed, so I highly recommend it.

http://www.hibashi.com/
13465 Inwood Rd #100
Dallas, TX 75244

Recipe: Ice Cream Cake

I made an ice cream "cake" for Father's Day ~ didn't really use a recipe except for the crust.

The crust recipe is from epicurious.com:

Crust Ingredients

21 chocolate sandwich cookies (I used mint Oreos)

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature

Crust Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides. Finely grind cookies in processor. Add butter and process until mixture is evenly moistened. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and up sides of prepared pan to form thin crust. Bake crust 5 minutes. Transfer crust to rack and cool completely.

After the crust cooled completely, I took Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream that had softened, swirled in some Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream and then topped it with more vanilla ice cream.  After freezing the ice cream again, I topped it with mint chocolate ganache, quickly sprinkled it with chocolate chips and then froze it again.  The ganache was made by melting a bag of milk chocolate chips over a double broiler, adding half and half and a splash of creme de menthe. 

 

I think next time, I'm going to add a cake component so that it's not just solid ice cream.

 

Note to Food Fiend:  Perhaps you should make this for Steve -- I think he liked the dessert a lot!

 

 

Recipe: Spinach Salad with Pear and Avocado

Spinach Salad with Pear and Avocado

5 stars

Start the week off right with this DELICIOUS salad!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 6-ounce package ready-to-use baby spinach, stems removed
• 1 ripe Anjou pear, peeled, cubed
• 1 avocado, pitted, peeled, cubed
• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (about 2 ounces)

Preparation

Whisk first 6 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before using.)

Mix spinach, pear, avocado and onion in large bowl. Toss with enough dressing to coat. Sprinkle with Gorgonzola cheese. Serve, passing any remaining dressing separately.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spinach-Salad-with-Pear-and-Avocado-985

Rare BLUE Lobster

A blue lobster was caught in Canada last month.  According to the University of Maine Lobster Institute, blue lobsters are a one-in-2-million phenomenon. A genetic variation causes the lobster to produce an excessive amount of a particular protein that gives it that azure aspect.  Interesting!

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/11/a-catch-straight-out-of-the-deep-blue-sea/?hpt=hp_c2

Recipe: Easy Cheese & Steak Enchiladas

This evening, we made enchiladas based on a recipe from a friend, Tracy G.  Here is my take on the recipe which is super simple.

Ingredients

• flour and/or corn tortillas
• 1 medium white or yellow onion
• 2 serrano peppers (I like heat)
• mozzarella and monterey jack (and/or pepper jack) shredded cheese
• can of black beans (optional)
• jar of Rick Bayless' Frontera salsa -- tomatillo or roasted tomato works great
• cotija cheese
• 1 small white onion
• cilantro
• avocado
• 1 1/2 lb of skirt steak

Preparation

• Marinate the skirt steak using this recipe from epicurious.com (Note: I'd add more salt) and grill the steak 10 minutes before the enchiladas are done  http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Beef-Fajitas-13589
• Saute a medium white or yellow onion in olive oil
• Mince 2 serrano peppers
• Mix the shredded cheeses, sauteed onion and serrano peppers in a bowl
• Take fresh flour and/or corn tortillas and fill with the cheese/onion/pepper mix and roll and place in a baking dish that has been lightly greased with olive oil
• Top it with the salsa and black beans
• Bake at 400, covered with foil about 20-25 minutes until the cheese inside the enchiladas has melted and is bubbling
• Garnish with crumbled cotija cheese, cilantro and avocado and sliced skirt steak

I 'liked' KFC on Facebook . . . to get the free downloadable autobiography of Colonel Sanders

If you saw that I liked KFC on Facebook, I debated for over a week whether to like the page or not (I try to keep my brand fan pages I like to a minimum), but I was just too curious about the Colonel Sanders autobiography & recipe book that launched exclusively on Facebook  . . . I just downloaded the entire book for free.

The book is called "Colonel Harland Sanders: The Autobiography of the Original Celebrity Chef” and was written by the Colonel himself in 1966.  The original manuscript was found recently by accident. 

The book is centered around the Colonel's passion for food, his work ethic, and his thoughts on the importance of home-style country cooking and includes 33 never-before-published recipes.

I do like autobiographies, so I'll eventually read it -- it's on my list, and I'll write a review at a later date.  (But quite honestly, I think the fact that the book is FREE and isn't available in bookstores or even via online booksellers was a little intriguing and made me want to download it just to have it.)

I'll probably end up cooking something from the book before I actually read his story.  The French Fried Parsnips and Cauliflower looks interesting, and the Upside Down Peach Cobbler sounds delicious.  Maybe I'll make a Colonel Sanders dinner sometime soon.

Recipe: Three-Cheese Mushroom and Spinach Calzone

Massive calzone

Again, I was looking for a quick recipe for dinner this evening that used ingredients we already had in the house.  I found this recipe (4 forks on epicurious.com) for a Three-Cheese Mushroom and Spinach Calzone.  It was good, but not 4 forks-worthy with the recipe written as-is.

Here are my tips:

• Strain the mushroom and spinach mix.  I'm shocked the recipe didn't say to do this.  There was so much water from the spinach, the calzone would've have been soggy had I not strained it.  I think I strained out a half cup of water!
• Instead of just pressing the garlic, mince the garlic so someone doesn't bite into one of the 2 garlic cloves and to add a stronger garlic flavor.
• Spread some cornmeal on the parchment paper under the calzone.
• I added some cooked spicy Italian sausage.
• I was afraid to overfill the calzone so I had some leftover filling.  Overfilling it was not a problem, so next time I'm going to fill it to the max.
• The recipe calls for making one massive calzone, but next time, I'm going to make 4 smaller ones.
• Prepare a marinara sauce on the side.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Three-Cheese-Mushroom-and-Spinach-Calzone-359251

Cupcake Camp 2012

Here are photos from Cupcake Camp today which was so fun and benefitted a great cause! 
http://cupcakecampdallas.com/

Become a fan of their Facebook page to get updates on Cupcake Camp 2013 and to sign up to bake next year:  http://www.facebook.com/cupcakecampdallas

Our table - I think ours was one of the best
amateur baker tables if I say so myself

A close-up of our table

The cupcakes I made: Hot Cocoa Marshmallow

Meyer Lemon with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Champagne Cupcakes
with White Chocolate Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

Food Fiend's Peach Bellini Cupcakes

Cupcakes we got to taste

Fancy cupcakes from a professional baker

Cupcakes from another professional baker

Cake pops seem to be the 'new thing'

Recipe: Asian Salmon Bowl with Lime Drizzle

We wanted fish for dinner this evening, so yesterday I searched epicurious.com, and under their Quick & Easy recipe section, this recipe for Asian Salmon Bowl with Lime Drizzle came up that was rated 4 forks by 2 reviewers.  I was a little wary of the recipe because 1) there were only 2 reviews and 2) it's attributed to SELF magazine. (While I believe in cooking and eating healthy foods, I don't usually cook recipes from 'health' type magazines because their recipes seem to always cut out significant flavor or texture -- and they tend to use low fat/fat-free and artificial sweeteners which I refuse to use.) 

This recipe turned out quite nicely and was definitely FAST and healthy.

Tips:

• Because we love spice, I added double the amount of red pepper flakes. 
• Instead of 4 salmon fillets, I bought one large fillet, so it took longer than 12 minutes to cook.
• I used butter to cook the spinach instead of canola oil.  Butter makes everything better!
• We had white sesame seeds on hand, so I used those instead of buying black sesame seeds.

Enjoy!

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Asian-Salmon-Bowl-with-Lime-Drizzle-51101210