ANNOUNCEMENT!

Dear reader,

I am thinking about merging my cooking blog into my baking blog temporarily. If you subscribe to this site, please change it into elra's baking so you will not miss any of my delicious cooking.

Cheers,

Elra

Grilled Fish Taco

Where was I all of these year? I do make mexican food, but never made any type of taco. Until, I saw so many posting about taco at Pam's and Miranda's blog. So, I made taco for dinner and whole family loved it! Here is my version, it's pretty simple and easy to make.

Serve 6 to 8

1¾ pounds red snapper fillet

12-16 corn tortillas

For marinate:

1½ tbs ancho chile powder

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tbs paprika

1½ tbs cumin

1 tbs Mexican oregano

1 tbs minced garlic

3 tbs or more olive oil

lime juice from 1 lime

salt and pepper

• Mix all ingredients for the marinate in a large container, rub the fish with marinate, and marinate at least an hour in the refrigerator.
• Grill the fish over medium heat about 2 minutes on each side. Transfer to serving plate.
• Reheat each the tortilla in a microwave about 10 seconds, or grill for about 15 seconds.
• To serve: lay tortilla on a plate, place a piece of fish and add garnishes, pico de galo, Caramelized red onions, then top with sour cream.

Garnishes:

shredded iceberg lettuce

caramelized red onion, recipe follows

sliced avocados

pickle jalapeno, optional

roughly chopped cilantro

pico de galo, recipe follows

sour cream

Caramelized Red Onion:

2 red onion, sliced

2 tbs olive oil

pinch of salt

• Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat, add red onion, and salt. Fry until caramelized.

Pico de galo:

1½ cup diced tomatoes

1 tbs finely chopped red onion

lime juice of 1 lime

¼ cup roughly chopped cilantro

2 jalapenos, finely chopped

salt

• Mix everything in a bowl, taste, and adjust seasoning as needed.

Caramelized Chicken (GA KHO)

I just made this tonight for our supper, served with steam Jasmine rice and simple saute Asian veggies. It was superb, otherwise I wouldn't post it and share it with you. Recipe can be found here. The taste of this chicken is kind of similar to my chicken nutmeg sans nutmeg. Will definitely make it over and over again. A simple and easy recipe definitely worth trying!!!

Spicy Shortribs With Ginger and Pineapple

Stress free, and easy to prepare recipe since you are basically just throw all ingredients in a slow cooker, and let the cooker to do work. This easy recipe is perfect for a family gathering, so you will spend less time in the kitchen, and more time with your family. Best serve with plain Jasmine rice, and simple saute vegetable. Cook the dish the day before, store in the fridge so that all the fat become solid and easily remove before reheating it.

Serve 6 to 8 people

5½ pounds beef shortribs
1 cup light sodium tamari

3 tbs fish sauce (use this brand if you can, it's less fishy)
2 tsp sesame oil
½ cup fresh pineapple chunk
4 large carrots, peeled and cut into big chuck (more or less 2 inches long)
15 dried chilles (use more or less if you wish)

5 -15 fresh red jalapenno, leave whole (use more or less if you wish)
3 slices (about an inch and ¹⁄₈ thick) peeled ginger
2 cloves garlic, crushed
15 dried shitake mushrooms, soak in hot water to soften, then drain (discard the water)
1 bunch scallion, cut into 2 inches long

• Put all ingredients in a slow cooker, but the scallions, cook on low for 12 hours (refer to manufacture how to use it). About an hour before the cooking process is finish, add the scallion to the pot, and continue to cook until it is done. Alternately,
• Put all ingredients in a heavy dutch oven except the scallion, put the lid on. Cook on a medium heat until its start to boil, turn the heat to low and cook for another 3 to 4 hours, until the meat is almost falling off the bone. About an hour before the meat is cooked, add the scallion to the pot, and continue to cook until it is done.

Note:
If you are planning to cook this dish a day before, the scallion can be added when you reheat it.

Tomato and Onion Galette

Seems like Stacey and I have the same affection for tomato, tomato tart, tomato pie, tomato salad, you name it. The different is that, she is good at posting them, and I am not. Not that I don't make them, it just that I make them when I have guess coming over, or my family is already waiting impatiently. Of course I never took photo when people are around me. So, here it is... she posted this interesting tomato tarte using mayonnaise. Hmmm, not really that fond of store bought mayo, but I like homemade mayo very very much. Anyway, I used to make onion tart and tomato tart separately, so I thought I'd combine the two tart ingredients together, and somehow I feel that this will be a delicious tart. You can go wrong with gruyere, and bacon right?! Everything will taste delicious with this two ingredients. Mayonaise? Well, I used crème frâiche instead.

Ingredients:

1 recipe galette pastry dough, keep cold

4 small size firm Roma tomatoes, sliced into ¼ inch thickness

1 onion, chopped

5 strips bacon, cut into small pieces (optional, but taste better with it)

32 oz homemade unsalted or store bought reduced salt chicken broth

½ cup crème frâiche

¾ cup grated gruyere

2 tbs chopped fresh tarragon, a few extra for sprinkle on top

freshly ground black pepper

a pinch of salt, optional

1 tbs olive oil

• Place chopped onion, bacon and chicken broth into a large soup pot. Bring to a gentle boil. Cook until the onion is translucent and just a little soft (but still somewhat firm when squeeze between your thumb and index finger). Drain on a colander, discard the liquid, let the onion and bacon to cool a little.
• Place them on a skillet, and fry with 1 tablespoon olive oil until a little brown (this will get rid of that oniony smell that I find too strong for my taste). Cool completely. When the onion and bacon have cooled, place them on a medium size bowl.
• In a small bowl, mix crème frâiche, fresh tarragon, ground black pepper, and pinch of salt. Transfer this mixture into onion-bacon mixture. Mix well, set aside while you preparing the dough.
• When you are ready to bake the galette, preheat oven to 400⁰F
• Prepare the galette: on a lightly floured counter top, roll out the dough into 11 to 12 inches circle with ¹⁄₈ inch in thickness. Transfer this dough onto a baking sheet. Spread the onion-bacon mixture all the way almost to the edge of the pastry, but leave about 2 to 3 inches from the edge (you will use this to pleat the dough).
• Arrange the tomato slices in concentric circle slightly overlapping them. Now fold the edge of the dough up covering some of the tomatoes. It will pleat naturally as you go around the galette.
• Bake for about 35 to 45 minutes until the pastry is golden browned.

Note: don't be alarmed if the galette seem too watery while baking in the oven. At the end of the cooking, I found out that all liquid (I assume it was from the tomatoes) was gone or evaporated.

KEBAB Wrapped In Eggplant Baked in Tomato Sauce

I saw this delicious eggplant recipe at Nihal's blog, and love it right away. If you like Turkey's food, this is the place to borrow the recipes. This eggplant parcels are pretty easy to make, they are delicious and full of flavor. Is not a quick recipe, but it really worth the effort. This recipe particularly good when you are going to have friends coming over for dinner. Everything can be made ahead, then assemble just before you are going to serve it.

For the KEBAB:

1 lb ground lamb

¼ cup chopped parsley

¼ cup chopped cilantro

¼ cup chopped mint

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped

¼ cup finely chopped onion

1 tbs ground cumin

1 tbs ground coriander

½ tbs ground ginger

½ tsp limu omani powder, optional (scroll all the way down on the link)

salt and pepper

• Mix everything together until well combine in a bowl. Cover the bowl with cling wrap, refrigerate while you preparing the eggplant.

For the Eggplant Wrap:

Depending how large your eggplant is, you will need about 3 or 4 large eggplants

Enough salt to purge the eggplant slices

2 green bell pepper, slice about an inch wide

2 red bell pepper, slice about an inch wide

olive oil for frying

• Slice the eggplant lengthwise, about a ¼ inch to a ³⁄₈ inch in thickness. Sprinkle with salt, place them on a colander, soak for an hour to let the water drain from the eggplant, and this minimize the bitter.
• After soaked for an hour, rinse the eggplant under cold running water, to get rid of the salt. Pat dry with paper towel, make sure to pat them well.
• In a large skillet, fry the eggplant lightly just enough to soften them. Drain on a paper towel to get rid the excess oil.

For Tomato Sauce:

1 (28 oz) can fire roasted whole tomatoes, roughly chopped, reserve the juice

¼ cup finely chopped onion

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

½ cup chicken stock, or chicken broth, or water

1 tbs olive oil

salt and pepper

• Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat, add onion, and fry until soft, add garlic and fry for another minute. Add the tomatoes including the juice, stir, pour the chicken broth or the chicken stock, season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Turn of the heat.

To Assemble:

• Preheat oven to 375⁰F.
• Transfer the sauce on a deep baking dish. Set aside.
• Follow this step by step on how to make the eggplant parcels.
• Arrange the eggplant parcels on top of the tomato sauce neatly. Place the green and red bell pepper slices in between the parcels. Sprinkle with parsley if you wish.
• Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until the bell pepper are soft and the lamb are cooked.
• Serve with plain rice, or plain couscous.