Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Maple Bacon

Here’s a side dish that sounds good in concept (can’t you just smell the balsamic vinegar and maple bacon already?). But it didn’t quite turn out the way I had envisioned. Sure, it tasted good, but when roasted in the oven, the Brussels sprouts turned out a little dry and kind of chewy.

I like my Brussels sprouts tender and juicy, cooked with a lot of butter. Maybe next time I’ll substitute butter for the olive oil.

Ingredients

1. BRUSSELS SPROUTS, 1½ lb.
2. THICK CUT MAPLE BACON, 6 Slices Chopped
3. ONION, 3 oz. diced
4. GARLIC, 2 large cloves minced
5. BALSAMIC VINEGAR, 2 tablespoons
6. OLIVE OIL, 2 tablespoons
7. SALT AND PEPPER, to taste

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375°
• Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
• Trim the ends off the Brussels sprouts and remove any yellowing leaves.
• Cut Brussels sprouts in half.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine Brussels sprouts, bacon, onion, garlic, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Toss until all sprouts are coated and ingredients are well mixed.
• Pour the mixture onto the baking sheet and spread in a single layer. 
• Bake for 30 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes.

Braised Lemon Chicken Thighs with Garlic

This recipe is pretty good. The lemon rind became very soft, almost melting into the sauce. The flavor is quite lemony and because the chicken braises in its own liquid combined with lemon juice, it becomes quite tender.

I substituted half the Greek olives with Spanish olives (you know, the ones with the pimentos in the center) cut in half. In the picture above, I gave the dish an Asian flavor with kari (red ginger) and nori (crispy seaweed) steamed rice, and rakkyo (pickled scallions).

INGREDIENTS

• CHICKEN THIGHS, 8 bone-in, skin-on
• SALT and PEPPER to taste
• EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL, 3 tablespoons
• GARLIC CLOVES, 12
• YELLOW ONIONS, 2 large, thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
• LEMON, 1 thinly sliced, seeds discarded
• FRESH OREGANO, 2 tablespoons
• GREEK OLIVES, 1 cup mixed
• LEMON JUICE, 1 lemon

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring the chicken to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat.
4. When the oil is hot, lay the chicken thighs in a single layer skin-side down, and sear until golden brown.
5. Add the garlic cloves to the pan and flip the thighs over. Cook until the garlic is fragrant and slightly browned.
6. Remove the chicken and garlic from the pan and set aside.
7. With the pan is still hot, add the onions, lemon slices and oregano. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Cook, stirring often, until the onions have wilted and the brown bits on the bottom of the pan have loosened.
9. Nestle the thighs skin-side up in the onion mixture and add the garlic and the olives. Pour the lemon juice over the chicken and transfer the pan to the oven.
10. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes.
11. Scatter fresh oregano leaves over the top and serve.
12. 
    
13. In the picture above, I gave the dish an Asian flavor with kari (red ginger) steamed rice, and rakkyo (pickled scallions).

Peppadew-Cucumber Relish

One of our local supermarkets has an olive bar that has Peppadew sweet peppers from South Africa as one of its available condiments. They’re roundish orange-red sweet piquanté peppers that come from Limpopo province.

They’re great as a condiment with any meal, but one day, I saw a picture of a sweet-pepper/cucumber relish on a food website. So when I saw Japanese cucumbers from the Big Island’s Ho Farms in the produce section, I grabbed a couple, along with some red onions.

Immediately, I skipped on over to the olive bar and scooped up about a cup of the Peppadews, along with a nice amount of the juice that had accumulated.

When I got home, I diced up the Peppadews, cucumbers and red onions, slipped them into a jar, and saturated the mixture with the Peppadew syrup.

After a couple of days of occasional shaking and turning, I spooned out some of the relish and munched on it like a salad. It was soooo good!

You should try doing this. It is so easy, so delicious, and so refreshing. I recommend it.

Ingredients

• PEPPADEW SWEET PEPPERS, ¼ cup, with as much juice as you can swipe
• ENGLISH OR JAPANESE CUCUMBER, 2 medium
• RED ONION, ½ medium

Directions

1. Chop the ingredients into ½-inch or ¾-inch pieces.
2. Mix with the juices.
3. Store in refrigerator in a jar, shaking often.

Zuppa Toscana

This recipe came from a Facebook friend, who got it from Budget Bytes (www.budgetbytes.com). It sounded like a winner to me – easy to make, subtle in flavor, and very inexpensive. Budget Bytes estimated that eight servings will cost $1.04 each.

In Hawaii that probably works out to $1.50 to $2.00 a serving, due to the higher cost of ingredients, but who’s counting?

As usual, I had to do a substitution: I couldn’t find any Kale in the market, so I used baby spinach; I added about a teaspoon of garlic salt. Everything else was the same.

Ingredients

• ITALIAN SAUSAGE, ½ pound
• OLIVE OIL, few drops (I used a teaspoon of butter)
• ONION, 1 medium, diced
• GARLIC, 2 cloves, minced
• GREAT NORTHERN BEANS, 1 15-ounce can, drained and rinsed
• SMOKED PAPRIKA, ½ teaspoon
• CHICKEN BROTH, 3 cups
• WATER, 1 cup
• HALF-AND-HALF, 2 cups (1 pint)
• RED POTATOES, 3 medium
• KALE (I used baby spinach), 1 bunch, about a half-pound
• RED PEPPER FLAKES (Optional, I left it out), pinch
• BLACK PEPPER, freshly cracked, to taste
• GARLIC SALT (My option), 1 teaspoon

Directions

1. Remove the sausage from its casing and sauté over medium heat in a large pot, breaking it into small pieces while cooking. Use a few drops of olive oil if needed to prevent sticking.
2. Add in the onions and garlic and sauté until the onions are softened.
3. Add in the beans, paprika, chicken broth, water and half-and-half. Cover and bring to simmer over medium heat.
4. Peel (optional) and cut each potato in lengthwise quarters, then slice across to make thin slices.
5. Add the potatoes, kale and garlic salt to the pot, stirring to help the kale wilt.
6. Simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender.
7. Season with the red pepper flakes and cracked black pepper.
8. Serve with buttered rolls or bread.

Red Wine Braised Short Ribs

Okay, I’ll admit it, I found this recipe on the Bon Appétit magazine’s website. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, if they didn’t mean for anyone to copy it, they wouldn’t have put it on the Internet in the first place. Right?

Be that as it may, I did make a few adjustments to the ingredients: I didn’t have fresh herbs, so I used dried. I didn’t have a head of garlic, so I used crushed garlic from a jar. I didn’t have flat-leaf parsley, so I left it out.

Still, the short ribs were nothing short of phenomenal. The presentation is a little cumbersome, however, because all the spent veggies have to be strained out and the gravy has to be skimmed of its floating fat.

They recommended serving the ribs with mashed potatoes. Luckily, I had the stuff for that.

Ingredients

• BONE-IN BEEF SHORT RIBS, 5 pounds, cut into 2-inch pieces
• KOSHER SALT AND GRESHLY GROUND BLACK PEPPER
• VEGETABLE OIL (I used Canola Oil), 3 tablespoons
• ONIONS, 3 medium, chopped
• CARROTS, 3 medium, peeled and chopped
• CELERY, 2 stalks, chopped
• ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR, 1 tablespoon
• TOMATO PASTE, 1 tablespoon
• DRY RED WINE (I used Cabernet Sauvignon), 1 750-milliliter bottle
• FLAT LEAF PARSLEY, 10 sprigs
• THYME, 8 sprigs
• OREGANO, 4 sprigs
• ROSEMARY, 2 sprigs
• BAY LEAVES, 2 fresh or dried
• GARLIC, 1 head, halved crosswise
• BEEF STOCK, 4 cups

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Season the short ribs with salt and pepper.
3. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat, then, working in batches, brown the short ribs on all sides.
4. Remove the short ribs, discarding all but 2 tablespoons of drippings, retain the fond (those little bits of meat stuck to the bottom of the pot).
5. Add the onions, carrots and celery to the pot and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the onions brown.
6. Add the flour and tomato paste, stirring constantly, and cook until well-combined.
7. Stir in the wine and the short ribs with any accumulated juices.
8. Bring to a boil, lower to medium and simmer, reducing the wine by half. This will take about 20-25 minutes or so.
9. Add the herbs, garlic and stock to the Dutch oven, bring back to a boil and cover.
10. Transfer the pot to the preheated oven and cook about 2 to 2½ hours, until the meat is tender.
11. Take the ribs out, strain the sauce into a bowl and toss the spent veggies.
12. Spoon the floating fat and discard, season to taste with salt and pepper if needed.
13. Serve the sauce alongside the ribs, and don’t forget the mashed potatoes.

Zesty Chipotle Cream Cheese Dip

This is one of those dips that you just whip together without much thought.

I had a small can of chipotle peppers in their sauce, as well as a block of Philadelphia cream cheese that had been hiding in the refrigerator for a week or so, trying its hardest to disappear from sight.

So … I made some dip for my leftover bag of tortilla chips. If you look at the picture above, you’ll notice that the once-scoop-shaped chips are now just plain ol’ chips. That’s because I ate up all the scoops, along with most of the cheese dip.

It’s not that easy to distinguish between the chips and dips in the picture, but the chips are on the left, and the dip is on the right. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture when I had all the elements available.

Easy to make? Heck yes. Just take two of the chipotle peppers out of the juice, remove the seeds and ribs if you like your dip on the mild side, or leave them in if you like it really hot. Mince up the peppers really fine and then blend it in with the softened cream cheese. Add in some of the chipotle juice to make the dip smoother.

No need to measure accurately. Just do it to your taste. No other season is required, but if you want, you could add some chopped green onions.

The dip has a little warmth that actually is soothing when you have a cold and a raw throat. It’ll do wonders for your sinuses.

Crab Cakes with Remoulade Sauce

There are not a lot of dishes as yummy as crab cakes, especially when you can get quality large-lump crab meat. I've found it at Costco, and most recently, at a large Safeway supermarket. If you can find fresh crab meat where you live, great! We can’t, because we don’t have yummy crabs in Hawaii.

The secret to good crab cakes is not to use a lot of breadcrumbs. Unlike crab dip, where you want the crab to spread out, with crab cakes you want them to hold together. And what’s a good crab cake without a good remoulade sauce?

My recommendations: (1) Make the remoulade first, at least an hour, preferable two to three hours, ahead of time so you can let the flavors blend in the refrigerator. (2) Mix and form the crab cakes at least a half-hour, preferably a full hour, before cooking, so they won’t fall apart in the pan.

Here’s how I make the cakes and accompanying sauce.

Crab Cakes: Ingredients 

• LUMP CRAB MEAT, 1 pound, as fresh as you can get it
• PANKO BREAD CRUMBS, 3 heaping tablespoons
• ITALIAN PARSLEY, 3 teaspoons, fresh,  chopped into a course mince
• KOSHER SALT and FRESHLY-GROUND PEPPER to taste
• EGG, 1 beaten
• MAYONNAISE, ¼ cup
• GROUND DRY MUSTARD (I use Coleman’s), 1 teaspoon
• (Optional) HOT SAUCE, 1-2 dashes (use your favorite; I use Tabasco)
• CANOLA OIL, 2 tablespoons 

Crab Cakes: Directions 

1. Mix together the crab meat, bread crumbs and parsley, then season with the salt and pepper.
2. Whip the egg in a bowl (act as though you’re making scrambled eggs).
3. Add in the mayonnaise, mustard and (optional) hot pepper sauce and blend well.
4. Pour the mayonnaise mixture into the crab mixture and mix well.
5. Form into patties and let them set in the refrigerator for a half-hour or so.
6. Preheat the oil in a heavy frying pan, and then fry one side of the refrigerated patties on medium-high heat for about three minutes per side or until golden brown and crisp.
7. Fry the other side and then broil for a few minutes until heated through. 

Remoulade: Ingredients 

• MAYONNAISE, 1 cup
• MUSTARD, yellow, ¼ cup
• SWEET PAPRIKA, 1 tablespoon
• PICKLE RELISH, 2 tablespoons
• CAPERS, 1 tablespoon, finely minced
• (Optional) HOT SAUCE, 5-6 dashes (use your favorite; I use Tabasco)
• (Optional) GARLIC, 1 clove, crushed and finely minced 

Remoulade: Directions 

1. Mix the ingredients in a bowl and store in the refrigerator for at least an hour so the flavors will marry.
2. Serve as a dressing for the hot crab cakes.

The remoulade is a great sauce for vegetables, and with seafood as a substitute for tartar sauce.