Recipe: Smoked Almond S'mores with Whiskey Marshmallows

Smoked Almond S'mores with Whiskey Marshmallows
Saveur, May 2015, p. 22
4 stars

S'mores from scratch.  It takes a lot of work, and I'm not sure if it's all completely worth it.

The graham shortbreads were good, not amazing.  They were soft and were a little crumbly -- perhaps, I didn't bake them long enough?

The chocolate squares were good.

The marshmallow recipe was good as well.

It just took a LONG time to make everything since there are 3 components.

I'll make these again and will report back on what to do differently and how to make these better.  (And I'll remember to take a photo next time!)

Recipe: Key Lime Pie

I forgot to take a photo of the pie by itself;
here it is cropped out of another photo.

Key Lime Pie (Andrew Zimmern's recipe)
People Magazine
5 stars

I saw this recipe in People Magazine recently and thought I'd give it a try -- I'd never made key lime pie before.  It was super easy!!!!  If you like key lime pie, make this;  you'll never need to order it from a restaurant again.

Ingredients:  graham cracker crumbs, light brown sugar, butter, egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, key lime juice, Kosher salt, whipping cream, key lime or lime slices for garnish

Tips:

• I'd make more graham cracker crust than what is called for.  I didn't have enough crust, and as you can see the filling filled up the pie plate to the top.

Recipe: Pan-Fried Shrimp with Lemony Pea Pesto

Pan-Fried Shrimp with Lemony Pea Pesto
Food and Wine Magazine, Apr 2015, p. 122
4 stars

A pesto made with peas!  This was surprisingly delicious (I was a bit skeptical on how this would turn out).  We used the small frozen peas from Trader Joe's which made for a pesto that had a bit of sweetness to it.  This is an easy weeknight meal that you can whip up in 30 min.

Pesto ingredients:  pine nuts, peas, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, Kosher salt, pepper

Other ingredients:  shrimp, baby arugula, olive oil, lemon juice, salt pepper

Tips:

• Added red pepper when cooking the shrimp
• Topped the arugula with cheese

Recipe: Spiced Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust

  

Spiced Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust  (Marcus Samuelsson recipe)
Food and Wine Magazine, Nov 2014, p. 84
4 stars

This is a pie that I need to make again in the fall.  It was good; however, I think it needs more cheddar in the crust for the cheese flavor to come through.  Also, I don't think it takes 50 min + 15 to 20 min to bake.  I pulled the pie out of the oven early, and the crust still seemed to be overbaked.

I'll update this post once I make this recipe again.

Crust ingredients:  all-purpose flour, sharp cheddar cheese, butter, kosher salt, ice water

Filling ingredients:  tart apples, light brown sugar, all-purpose flour, cornstarch, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cardamom, salt, ground cloves, lemon zest, lemon juice, butter

Recipe: Ensalada de Calabacin

Ensalada de Calabacin (Frida Kahlo's Zucchini Salad)
Saveur, Oct 2014
5 stars

This is a great side dish -- very flavorful and oh so easy.  It's only 8 ingredients!  Apparently, this was a favorite of artist Frida Kahlo's.

Ingredients:  zucchini, avocado, queso anejo, cilantro, sugar, olive oil, red wine vinegar, Kosher salt

Tips:

• Don't cut the zucchini too thin because when you saute them, they'll get too soft/mushy
• Instead of queso anejo, we used cotija

Recipe: Fregola with Green Peas, Mint and Ricotta

Fregola with Green Peas, Mint and Ricotta
Bon Appetit, April 2015
5 stars

We had this for dinner last night, and it was absolutely delicious.  The recipe sounded simple yet interesting, and it did not disappoint.

Just 11 ingredients:  fregola, bacon, onion, peas, ricotta, mint, chicken broth, dry white wine, olive oil, Kosher salt, black pepper

Fregola is a type of pasta from Sardinia.

We added:

• A clove of garlic
• Red pepper for a little heat
• Lentils to make it even healthier (cut the fregola to 80%)

Recipe: Soba Salad with Marinated Cucumber and Ponzu

Soba Salad with Marinated Cucumber and Ponzu

Saveur, May 2015, p.70

4 stars

This recipe comes from Chris Shepherd of Underbelly in Houston.  It's a great Asian vegetarian noodle dish that has lots of great flavor and texture.

Ingredients:  buckwheat soba noodles, English cucumber, red bell pepper, red Thai chile, red onion cilantro, mirin, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, granulated sugar, sesame oil, lemon juice, Kosher salt, black pepper, bonito flakes, mint, Thai basil leaves

Tips:

• Instead of bonito flakes, we used togarashi 
• This would go great with either the Grilled Flank Steak with Coca-Cola Pickled Onions or the Char Siu Chicken recipes that are on the same page in the magazine (that we have yet to make!)

Recipe: Tofu Yum-Yum Rice Bowl

Tofu Yum-Yum Rice Bowl
Bon Appetit Magazine, Apr 2015, p.16
5 stars

My mouth is watering just thinking about this dish.  Talk about great flavor and texture: it consists of rice, various herbs, amazingly seasoned tofu, egg, kimchi, peanuts and sesame seeds.  A hearty and tasty vegetarian dish from World Street Kitchen in Minneapolis.

I'm thinking that the tofu marinade can definitely be used for chicken.  We saved the extra marinade and freezed it for another time.

Tofu marinade ingredients:  tofu (of course), garlic, soy sauce, hot chili paste like sambal oelek, cilantro, ginger

Ingredients:  rice, eggs, kimchi, cilantro, basil, scallions, peanuts, sesame seeds, cornstarch, vegetable oil, salt

Tips/changes we made:

• Not necessary to marinate the tofu for as long as required
• Didn't fry the tofu and so didn't use cornstarch -- sauteed the tofu instead
• Soft-boiled the eggs instead of poaching them
• Went light on the garlic and soy sauce

Recipe: Fruit Salad with Fennel, Watercress and Smoked Salt

Fruit Salad with Fennel, Watercress and Smoked Salt
Bon Appetit, June 2015, p. 87
4 stars

A lovely, refreshing summer salad.  (And I like that this salad isn't predominantly lettuce leaves.)  We'll definitely make this again before the end of summer.

Vinaigrette ingredients:  olive oil, lemon juice, smoked or flaky sea salt

Salad ingredients:  honeydew melon, plum, cherries, grapefruit, fennel bulb, frisee, watercress, unseasoned rice vinegar, smoked or flaky sea salt, black pepper

Tips

• Used mixed greens instead of frisee
• Left out the cherries