Summer and I are not cooking at home nearly as much as we should and would like to. We are stuck in our routine of heading out of the house when we get hungry in search of some food and drink. There really is no excuse for such consumerism, we both love being in our new home, we love spending time together but we are a little bored of our staple ‘prepared meals’.
With that said, I thought it would be a great idea to have a recipe contest. I don’t know why I am calling this a contest, because we don’t have any prizes to give away (aside from the gift of other peoples recipe submission). We will choose a new recipe weekly (a courageous endeavor) to cook at home. All of the recipes we post will be live for everyone to see, so you can play along at home too! The only rule I am going to create for this (rules discourage participation) is that the recipe can not involve deep frying. There is plenty of that around here already!
To submit your recipe for this contest, simply use the comment form at the bottom of this page. If we get enough recipes, we’ll make a page dedicated to the submitted recipes.
I have decided to give out a secret family recipe in hopes of you guys sharing one of your with us.
MALFATTI | GREEN GNOCCHI
½ LB COOKED CHOPPED SPINACH 1 CUP PARMESAN CHEESE, GRATED 2 TBSP BUTTER FLOUR FOR DUSTING ½ LB RICOTTA CHEESE ¾ CUP OF FLOUR 2 EGGS STEAM SPINACH IN MICRO WAVE TIL DONE. DRAIN AND SAUTE IN BUTTER FOR A FEW MIN. BLEND SPINACH, RICOTTA CHEESE, EGGS AND FLOUR AND PARM CHEESE.. USE FOOD PROCESSOR OR BLENDER TIL WELL MIXED. THE DOUGH WILL BE STICKY. USE FLOUR TO ROLL INTO BALLS. AFTER THIS YOU MAY FREEZE ( PUT ON COOKIE TRAY TIL FROZEN) DROP INTO PLASTIC BAG TIL YOU ARE READY TO USE. IF YOU ARE COOKING IMMEDIATELY, DROP INTO BOILING SALTED WATER. WHEN THEY RISE TO THE TOP, THEY ARE DONE. PUT INTO BUTTERED FRY PAN TIL READY. SERVE WITH TOMATO SAUCE OF YOUR CHOICE OR:
GORGANZOLA SAUCE
3 OZ MILD GOGANZOLA OR 3 OZ DANISH CREAMY BLUE ½ CUP PLUS 2 TBSP LIGHT CREAM 2 OZ MARSCAPONE OR CREAM CHEESE SOFT IN A BOWL CREAM GORGANZOLA WITH 2 TBSP LIGHT CREAM. HEAT BUTTER IN SAUCEPAN ADD ½ CUP OF LIGHT CREAM AND THE CREAM CHEESE GOGANZOLA MIXT. INCORPORATE THE CHEESE MIXTURES BY MASHING TOGETHER. THIS IS VERY RICH. YOU MAY NEED TO ADD A LITTLE MILK TO THIN OUT. SEASON AS YOU WISH.
I know u guys are into health food, so I dont know about this, but it is one of my faves.
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STUFFED GREEN PEPPERS(makes 4):
4 large green bell peppers
1 lb ground beef
1 cup white rice
Tomato sauce(goya salsa de tomate can or anything plain)
Salt & Pepper
Garlic powder or Adobo
Onion (optional)
Start by cutting a circle around the stem of the peppers & pull off the top piece & stem. Use a spoon to dig out the inside of the peppers. Wash out the peppers. Then put them in a pot of water & place on stove to boil.
In another small pot, put 1 cup of white rice & 2 cups of water. Let boil, stirring occasionally.
Then cook the ground beef. You can season how you like. Typically I use Salt, Pepper, Garlic powder & a dash of sugar. You can also add chopped onions if you want. Drain excess oil from the beef & add 2-3 tablespoons of plain tomato sauce. Now add the cooked rice into the beef. Mix & continue cooking until done.
Turn the oven to 350 degrees. Drain the Peppers & place in a cake pan. Add water to the bottom so they dont burn. Put 1 tablespoon of tomato sauce in the bottom of each pepper. Stuff the pepper with the beef filling. & put 1 more Tbsp od tomato sauce to top to cover the beef. Cook for 10-15 minutes.
Peruvian recipe: Cousa de tuna (pronounced ‘cow-sa’)
Picure: http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7681/550/1600/causa_conatun.jpg
This is a cold dish
8 potatoes, big round ones are fine, preferably
yellow but brown will do also
2 can of water-packed tuna (drained)
1/2 red onion finely chopped
Mayonnaise ( to taste) but I usually use 5 spooonfuls
green lemons (2)
1 whole celery
3 teaspoons yellow aji (found in spanish groceries)
Sazon Goya seasoning (con culantro y achiote) gives
taste & the coloring
Salt & Pepper
Boil the potatoes (w/salt)until soft. Peel & Mash until relatively smooth.
In a medium bowl-put a little bit of water, the sazon seasoning, the lemon juice, aji-amarillo, salt,and pepper-mix all
In separate bowl, mix the (drained)tuna & mayonnaise, with chopped celery & onions (salt & pepper)–refrigerate
Thoroughly combine mash potatoes with the seasoning/lime mix. Make sure all the mash are complete mixed and covered in the yellow seasoning. Divide in 2 parts & chill.
In a serving dish place 1/2 the divided mash (as a bottom base) and top it with the tuna mixture. Layer it with the other 1/2 of the mash. (So the tuna is sandwhiched between 2 potatoe layers)– Chill for 1/2 hr.
Cut the cousa into squares in the dish. 3X3 usually.
To serve, place a serving on green lettuce bed and garnish it with parsley, hard boiled egg (with drops of key lime juice to prevent discoloring).
Tell me how you like it. Nina
Another picture:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://eecue.com/img/images_pic-medium-26401-Causa_Rellena.jpg&imgrefurl=http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-images-26401-Causa_Rellena.html&h=375&w=500&sz=68&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=GOIsYgTsWf5okM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dperuvian%2Bcausa%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1B3GGGL_enUS271US272%26sa%3DN
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/Peru_CausaLimena.jpg/800px-Peru_CausaLimena.jpg&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Peru_CausaLimena.jpg&h=600&w=800&sz=75&hl=en&start=5&um=1&tbnid=ScItHosg-coXNM:&tbnh=107&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dperuvian%2Bcausa%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1B3GGGL_enUS271US272%26sa%3DN
I’m pretty sick of eating too and wish I could get chlorophyll implants and photosynthesize skipping the whole get-food, prepare-food, get-cranky if I don’t eat on time thing…
Eggplant Cannelloni (lasagne without noodles essentially)
1 big eggplant(1 1/2 lbs)
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
3 tbsp oil
1/4 cup flour
Slice eggplant 1/4 thin or as thin as you can. Mix egg, milk, 1 tbsp oil and flour into a batter. Dip eggplant and saute until soft (roll up able).
1 1/4 cup jack or pepper jack cheese
1/2 cup ricotta
3/4 cup parmesan
mushrooms if you want them or other diced veggies- sauteed
2 eggs
Mix up the stuff and then roll up spoonfuls in the eggplant. Place seam side down in a 13 x 9 pan on some tomato sauce. Dump more tomato sauce on top. Bake 375 for 20 minutes or so.
For the tomato sauce use the Emeril’s “Kicked Up” sauce or I like to use my home grown tomatoes.
Homemade stuff - use 13×9 pan and dump 1/4 cup or more olive in the bottom. Coarsely chop a couple onions and throw them in. Press a head of garlic into the pan. Fill up the pan with either whole cherry tomatoes or quartered regular tomatoes. Bake at 350 or so (maybe less) for over an hour until it all carmelizes into a nice spreadable consistency. It’s also good on bread, to make habichuelas or to poach chicken in.
ps if you feel lazy or don’t care about how things look just make it lasagne-style - no rolling required!
The BRAVO network is airing part 2 of its season finale of Top Chef TONIGHT. It is being held in Puerto Rico, and the chefs are using local ingredients, creating what appears to be PR nouvelle cuisine. I just heard, so I’ll watch tonight. Here’s the Top Chef website with some of those recipes: http://recipes.mt.bravotv.com/
Fran
Stefan just got back from Costa Rica, so we are going to start cooking up these yummy recipes and we’ll let you know what we think. This is going to be fun!
Fran and Steve - We love top chef! That is so cool that the finals were in PR. I will definately find that episode online and check it out. Thanks for the heads up!