Monday, January 05, 2004

Makes eight 6 oz. servings

3/4 cup parsley leaves
3 tbs. butter or margarine
1 small onion, cut into 1” pieces
3/4 lb. asparagus, trimmed, cut into 1” pieces
3 c. chicken stock or broth
1 c. half and half
3 tsp. cornstarch
1.5 c. cold water*
Salt and white pepper, to taste

Place parsley in food processor, pulse until coarsely chopped.
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion, and cook until soft but not brown, about 3 minutes.  Add asparagus, stock, and all but one tablespoon of parsley.  Cover; bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat to low and cook, partially covered, until asparagus is tender, about 10-12 minutes.
Drain vegetables, being sure to reserve the cooking liquid.  Allow cooking liquid to cool 5 minutes.  Add 1 cup of the cooking liquid and half the solids to your blender jar.  (Yes, the blender.) Blend until smooth, about 30 seconds.  Return the pureed vegetable mixture to the saucepan.  Repeat with 1 cup liquid and remaining vegetables.  Add remaining cooking liquid and half and half to pureed vegetables in the saucepan, stir to combine.  Stir cornstarch into water, and add to soup.  Cook, stirring often, over medium heat until soup thickens, about 6-8 minutes.  Do not boil.  Adjust seasonings to taste, garnish with remaining parsley.

*If I had it to do over again, I’d reduce the 1.5 cups cold water to a half cup, then add an additional half cup of half and half.  I like a thicker, creamier soup.

Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Fry up two slices of bacon, set them aside to drain. Dump a bunch of mushrooms and garlic in the grease, cook. Dump shrimp in, sautee until pink. (If the shrimp have a lot of water in them and it cooks out, drain the pan.) Crumble bacon and add it back to the pan, add about 1/2 cup white wine, 1/4 cup heavy or whipped cream.  Optional:  add 1-2 tbs. of capers.  Simmer (stirring frequently) until thick. Serve over pasta.

Tuesday, December 30, 2003

(These are really good and you can control the spiciness)
1 c. taco salsa
� c. French dressing
� c. barbeque sauce
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
� stick butter, melted
1-4 tsp. cayenne powder (to taste)
1 lb. Chicken wings (I�m just assuming 1 lb. here, mom uses a large bag of frozen ones)

Fry the wings in shallow oil for about 10 minutes on each side.  Drain well and set aside.  Mix together all the sauce ingredients.  Dip the wings in the sauce and place in a shallow baking dish.  Pour the leftover sauce over the wings.  Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes.

{via Kathy}

(This is one of my favorite things to snack on, and its really easy.  It depends on having the right kind of flour and cornmeal)

1 c. self rising flour (I like Martha White or Hudson Cream, but those are hard to find outside of the south)
1 c. self rising cornmeal mix (again, the best kind is hard to find here, but try to use the same as the flour)
1 egg
� c. buttermilk
1 c. milk

Preheat the oven to 450 and melt 1 spoonful of shortening in a 9 inch round pan.  Cast iron is best, but use whatever you have.  Mix the flour and cornmeal.  Stir together the liquids and add to the dry.  Stir well and add a bit more milk if it is dry.  Add the melted shortening and mix well.  Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 25 minutes, until the top is golden brown.  Turn out onto a plate and serve with butter.

{via Kathy}

(I got this one off some Sri Lankan website, but it is really good.  You can probably find most of the spices and such in an Indian grocery)

1 lb. shrimp, peeled and de-veined
2 onions, finely chopped
� c. chopped tomato
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 in. piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
5-6 curry leaves
juice from 1 lime
2 tsp. cayenne powder (or some other hot chili)
� tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. black mustard seeds
� tsp. cumin seeds
salt to taste

Crush the ginger and garlic with the cumin and mustard seeds.  Set aside.
Fry the onion and curry leaves in a bit of oil until the onion is golden.  Add the tomato, cayenne, and turmeric with about � c. water and cook until the tomatoes are soft.  Add the crushed spices and fry about 5 minutes.  Add the shrimp and salt and mix well.  Add enough water to just barely cover and simmer 10 minutes.  Add the lime juice and cook until the sauce is slightly thickened.  Serve with rice.

{via Kathy}

From Steven Raichlen’s “How to Grill” book.

4 Lg. portobello mushrooms
2 large cloves garlic, cut into slivers
1 oz. Romano, Parmigiano-Reggiano or other firm cheese, cut into slivers
1 sprig fresh rosemary leaves or 2 tsp. dried rosemary
2 tbs. pine nuts
1/2 cup plus 2 tbs. balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 1/3 cups extra-virgin olive oil
12 fresh basil leaves, thinly slivered

1. Trim the stems off the portobellos. Using a sharp object, make a series of holes in the portobellos in the gill side of the mushroom caps, 1/2 inch apart.  Insert garlic and cheese slivers, rosemary leaves and pine nuts in these holes.

2. Combine 1/2 cup vinegar and the salt and pepper into a nonreactive (glass, I assume) mixing bowl and whisk until the salt is dissolved. Whisk in the oil and basil. Pour some of the mixture in the bottom of a nonreactive baking dish and arrange the portobellos in it, gill side up. Swish the mushrooms around to coat the bottoms with marinade. Spoon the remaining marinade over the portobellos.  Let marinate in the fridge, covered, for as little as 30 minutes or as long as 3 hours.

3. Preheat grill to high (this always means medium on my grill).

4. When ready to cook, remove the mushroom caps from the marinade. Strain the marinade if the basil looks wilted. Whisk the remaining 2 tbs. vinegar into the marinade. Arrange the portobellos on the hot grate, gill side down. Grill for 3 minutes, then invert the portobellos and spoon on some of the reserved marinade. Continue grilling until the caps are browned and very tender, 4 to 6
minutes, rotating the caps 45 degrees after 2 minutes to create an attractive cross-hatch of grill marks. Transfer to a platter and serve at once.

The recipe also says you can try different things to insert into the shrooms like prosciutto, chorizo, lemon zest, olives, almonds, etc.

{via Casey}