RECIPES FOR CINCO DE MAYO
Cinco de Mayo will be here in 2 hours or earlier for East Coasters. Here are a few recipes you can use for your Celebrations tomorrow.
We will start with Appetizers including Salsas and conclude with Rice, Empanadas and Lemonade.
Mango Salsa which makes use of fresh Mangoes, Limes, Red Bell Peppers and Jalapenos if you wish.
Tacos w. Mango Salsa and Guacamole
Nachos – start with good quality chips, Cheese Sauce with Jalapenos (if desired) and serve with Salsa and Guacamole.
Nachos – Cheese Sauce on the Bottom – Salsa and Guacamole can go on top
Salsa Cruda
Salsa Cruda – incorporates diced fresh Tomatoes, Jalapenos or Serranos, Cilantro, Lime Juice and a little Salt.
Beef Empanadas are more traditionally an Argentine Dish but they can also be found in Mexican Cooking. The Empanada can be filled with whatever you please – diced Steak or Chicken or Ground Beef along with Tomatoes, Onions, Cheese and maybe some Chilies.
Beef Empanadas…made in one of my classes.
Sparkling Lemonade – we first had this in Acapulco and I have been making Lemonade this way every since. It is delicious, refreshing and a great accompaniment to any meal.
Sparkling Lemonade
Categories: Beverages, Condiments, Cooking for Kids, Dinner Ideas, Family Fun, Food Festivals, Holiday Ideas, Holiday Meals, Holiday Tidbits, Main, Mexican, Tropical, Tropical Food Tags: Appetizers, Avocadoes, Chlies, Cinco de Mayo, family dinner, holiday recipes, kids cooking, Limes, Mexican, National Food Days, Rice, Tomatoes
LEMON JUICE DAY – August 29th – 2012
August 29th is ‘Lemon Juice Day’. How many ways can you think of to use Lemon Juice? Can you live without Lemon Juice? Some people do, but I couldn’t. There are so many ways to use Lemon Juice and it is such a necessity to keep so many foods from oxidizing and turning that ugly dark color that makes food unappetizing to eat.
Lemon Juice is an ‘Anti-oxidant’ – a product that protects the surface of other foods from the oxygen in the atmosphere. Oxygen reacts with foods like Bananas, Apples and Avocadoes and turns them an ugly dark color and makes the food lose their palatability.
Lemon Juice is also an excellent and necessary ingredient in many baked goods, entrees and beverages.
Entrees that require or are enhanced by the addition of Lemon Juice are:
Veal or Chicken Piccata chicken-picatta/
Grilled Shrimp grilled-shrimp/
Beef, Chicken or Lamb Kabobs
Condiments that use Lemon Juice are:
Seafood Cocktail Sauce seafood-cocktail-sauce/
Salsa (Lemon or Lime Juice)
Guacamole (Lemon or Lime Juice)
Baked goods that use Lemon Juice are:
Lemon Meringue Pie lemon-meringue-pie/
Lemon Meringue Cookies
Lemon Sugar Cookies
Lemon Pound Cake
Lemon Cream
Lemon Mousse
Beverages that use Lemon Juice are:
Lemon Ade sparkling-lemonade/
Watermelon Lemonade
Strawberry Lemonade
Iced Tea
Lemon Juice is also a great flavor enhancement for fruit such as Melons, Berries and Tropical Fruit such as Mangoes and Papaya. If you have a lemon tree that provides you with an abundance of lemons, squeeze them and freeze the juice in ice cube trays for easy use whenever you need them.
Categories: Baking, Beverages, Condiments, Dessert Ideas, Dinner Ideas, Main, National Food Days Tags: Beverages, Cookies, Desserts, Entrees, Lemon Juice, Lemons
CURRIED CHICKEN SALAD
MY CULINARY DIARY
CURRIED CHICKEN SALAD
Friday, June 8th, 2012
It is Friday and we have gone through many culinary avenues this week and do not wish to repeat anything, so it is time for Chicken. We both love fried Chicken, but since the weather is warm and I really did not want to start frying anything, we decided on Chicken Salad. Since all we needed for the salad was enough chicken to feed the two of us, I decided on purchasing a chicken breast rather than the whole chicken.
Since it was only a breast that we needed, I decided to splurge and purchase a free range organic chicken breast. The difference in flavor and moistness, between this type of chicken and the normal supermarket ones is astronomical. The organic, free range chicken reminds me of the chickens that we used to get delivered years ago when we lived in Granada Hills. A poultry company called Bob’s Poultry use to deliver Chicken and Eggs directly to our home and there was nothing like those chickens. They were so good! In those days, I had to cook at least 2 Chickens at one time! Later on it was three!
Along with the Chicken Breast I purchased some white corn and an Orange Honey Dew Melon and some Croissants to go with the meal.
To make the Chicken Salad I poached the Chicken Breast in some Madera Wine with fresh Pineapple Sage Leaves, fresh Greek Basil and freshly cut Chives. All the herbs were direct from our garden. I placed the Chicken Breast in the poaching liquid, brought it up to a simmer and cooked them for about 10 minutes and then shut the heat off. You can cut the breasts in half to make sure they are done or you can use a poultry thermometer. One hundred seventy degrees is more than done!
Once the Chicken Breasts cooled off, I sliced them against the grain and then cut the slices into bite-sized pieces. (The pieces were a healthy size, as I didn’t want pate.) I washed and dried some celery ribs and cut them into bite-sized pieces. I cut the celery considerably smaller than the Chicken pieces as celery has a tendency to get stuck in between teeth.
Along with the Celery were some more snipped Chives, Gherkin Pickles which I diced and a Pink Lady Apple, which I quartered, cored and cut up into bite-sized pieces. I leave on the skin, because the color adds a nice contrast to the white Chicken Breast.
Diced Pickles
Even off the bunch of Chives before starting to snip them
To season the Chicken Salad, I added ½ tsp. Salt, ¼ tsp. White Pepper, 1 tsp. Curry Powder and approximately ½ cup of Mayonnaise.
The Ingredients before mixing with Mayo and Chives
The Finished Chicken Salad
For the complete recipe please see curried-chicken-salad/
Ev husked the Corn and I washed it and made sure all the silks were off. To cook the Corn, I placed it in my steamer with water in the lower portion and steamed the Corn for 1 minute. Young fresh Corn does not need to be cooked for more than 1 minute – all you want to do is to get it hot – young fresh corn even tastes good raw. In fact, I always taste it before cooking it to make sure it is sweet. If it is not sweet you can add 1 Tbsp. Sugar and the Juice of half a Lemon to the Water and then just cook it directly in the water which should not be more than 1 inch deep. Again, do not cook it more than 1-2 minutes unless it is old and tough and in which case you should not even be eating it off the cob.
Corn in Steamer
For our Beverage we had Ginger/Peach Sun Tea brewed in the sun with orange slices and fresh ginger.
Ginger Peach Ice Tea
Dinner tonight was the Chicken Salad, steamed Corn and warmed Croissants. We decided to keep the Honey Dew for Sunday night when we would again eat the Chicken Salad, since I can never make just enough food for only 2 people.
This was just one variation on Chicken Salad. There are hundreds of ways that you can prepare it. Chicken Salad can be an Hawaiian Variation, Chinese Chicken Salad, Thai Chicken Salad, and on and on. Just use whatever you have on hand and what you think will go well with Chicken. Don’t forget that Chicken Breast has somewhat of a neutral flavor that can be enhanced with most anything! Even nuts and noodles will work in a Chicken Salad!
Categories: Asian, Beverages, Condiments, Cooking for Everyone, Dinner Ideas, Fruit, Lunch Ideas, Main, Tropical Food Tags: Apples, Celery, Chicken Salad, Chives, Ginger/Peach, Pickles, Salad
PARENT/CHILD PIZZA CLASS AT LGC
Saturday, June 2nd was the day of our Parent/Chlid Pizza Class at Let’s Get Cookin’. Four Teams of 2 parents each made Piizza Dough, their own indivual pizzas and pizzas to share. Everyone was very involved and had a good time. The class ended with everyone enjoying a lunch of Pizza, Salad, Italian Sodas and Dessert.
The items that were made were:
PIZZA DOUGH: Basic, Gurmet and Thin Crust
Chinese BBQ Chicken Pizza with Bell Peppers, Shitake Mushrooms, etc.
Baked BBQ Chicken Pizza Slice
Hawaiian Pizza with Portuguese Sausage & Pineapple, etc.
Derek & Sabrina with their Hawaiian Pizza
Hawaiian Pizza
Argentine Pizza with Smoked Spanish Chorizo, Red & Green Bell Peppers, etc.
Artisan Greens Salad with Zest Lemon Dressing
Chocolate Chip Cookie Pizza & Italian Sodas
Chocolate Chip Cookie Pizza
Making Pizza
Amy & Daughter
Holly & Ryder
Celene with her Pizza
Upside Down Pizza
The Upside Down Pizza shown below was made with a new pan, made especially for making a ‘Deep Dish Pizza’ which is made ‘upside down’. It was fun to do. The pan can be purchased at Let’s Get Cookin’ in Westlake Village, CA.
Enjoying Pizza for Lunch Enjoying Lunch
Enjoying Lunch
Everyone enjoyed making and eating their pizza and also had items to take home as there was just too much to eat all at one time. Our next Parent/Child Class is July 14th and will include various items from Europe such as Arrabbiata Pasta from Italy, Roman Salad, Monte Carlo Tea Cookies and Circus Snow Cones.
Categories: Baking, Beverages, Cooking for Everyone, Cooking for Kids, Dessert Ideas, Dinner Ideas, Italian, Lunch Ideas, Main, Parent Child Classes, Pizza, Salads Tags: baking, Cheese, Chicken, cooking with children, kids cooking, kids recipes, Pizza, Tomatoes
