glowbal’s Brussels Sprouts

Normally, I think it’s safe to say that I hate Brussels Sprouts…with a passion.  Like any other normal person out there.  Nowhere near as much as I hate the Packers or Saints, but pretty close.  About 2 years ago I was at one of the glowbal chain restaurants for dinner and my meal was served with this on the side and I was in heaven.

Even since then, I’ve refused to buy them at home and attempt to make them…that is, until a co-worker pointed out last week that they’ve posted their recipe online. Since I saw it used my deep fryer, I was willing to try it out, and am so happy I did…it was the best part of dinner!  The shocking part is just how easy it was to make this!

Ingredients: 

• Bag of fresh Brussels Sprouts (halved)
• Juice of half a Lemon
• 1.5 tsp Capers
• 0.25 cup Parmesan (I only had a 0.25 cup, so added Mozza as well)
• Pinch of Salt
• Chilli flakes (more for me, but if you don’t like spice just add a dash)

Directions:

1. Bring your deep fryer to 375 F
2. Heat the Sprouts for 60 seconds and drain 
3. Pour in a bowl and toss all other ingredients until well mixed

Aloo Paratha

This was my favorite Sunday brunch when I was a kid…I think it still is.  Nothing like some fresh, hot, Aloo Paratha on a rainy day served with some Sour Cream on the side.  Not quite how Mom makes it, but a close enough second place for me.

Ingredients:

• Roti Dough
• 2 Medium Russet Potatoes
• 1 tsp Chilli Powder
• 0.5 tsp Jeera (Cumin)
• 0.5 tsp Chaat Masala
• 0.5 tsp Salt
• Small handful of Cilantro, diced
• Ghee (or Butter)

Directions:

1. Boil the potatoes until done, roughly 20 minutes 
2. Remove from hot water, and peel (be careful, it will be HOT!)…traditionally, people will normally mash it at this stage, but I used a grater to cut them, although next time I’m hoping to have bought a ricer by then and put it through that
3. Mix all the spices and cilantro and mix well
4. Take your dough and split into 6 golf ball sized balls…do the same with the potato mixture (my pic has 8…I ended up merging some of them so that the dough was bigger than the potato ones)
5. Flour and flatten the dough
6. Place the potato ball over the dough 
7. Fold the excess dough over the potato mixture and crimp so you have a disc 
8. Flour and flatten again as above… 
9. Heat the frying pan over medium heat and put some ghee in to melt
10. Roll out the paratha and put on the frying pan, frying for 2-3 minutes until nicely browned
11. Flip and put some more ghee on the Paratha
12. Once browned on this side, flip again for another couple of seconds and serve…

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

Well, since it’s the Thanksgiving time of year, I randomly had a craving for Pumpkin Pie yesterday while eating lunch…how I got on this train of thought, I have no idea.  We went to Costco last night after work and I saw some Turkey Ravioli, so I thought why not have an early Thanksgiving meal of Turkey and Pumpkin Pie…since it’s not actually a Turkey per-se, why not mix it up and make some Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream?

Ingredients: 

• 3 cups (750 ml) Heavy Cream
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1.5 tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 0.5 tsp Nutmeg
• 0.5 tsp Ginger
• 1 tsp All-Spice
• 1/8 tsp Salt
• 0.5 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup Pumpkin Pie filling (canned section of the baking aisle)

(instead of all the various spices I listed between Sugar and Salt, apparently you can buy something called Pumpkin Pie spice which is all of those ingredients…why bother buying something when you can mix it up just as easy?)

Directions:

1. Warm up half the cream and all of the various spices on medium heat until the Sugar dissolves, roughly 6-7 minutes
2. Mix the warmed mixture with the rest of the cream, Vanilla, and Pumpkin filling and mix thoroughly with a whisk until incorporated 
3. Chill in the fridge for a couple of hours
4. Set up your Ice Cream machine…for me, that’s the KitchenAid (still on my to-do list…give it a name)
5. Turn on your machine and pour the Ice Cream mixture into the machine, and mix for 25 minutes

The sides looked like there was some “crust” built up on the side so it was a little rougher there…but the taste was incredible…definitely adding this to my Thanksgiving dinner rotation for dessert…

Roti Dough

This was on my to-do list for awhile…never got around to making it but on the weekend I had a massive craving for Aloo Paratha so decided this was the weekend…so I put on some Football and had at’er…all-in-all, it was actually pretty damn quick.  The recipe makes from 6-8 roti’s depending on how big you make them…

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups Whole Wheat Flour
• 0.5 cups Water
• 1 tsp Oil (I used Olive)
• 0.5 tsp Salt

Directions:

1. Mix the flour and salt in your stand mixer (with the dough hook attachment)and turn onto the Stir setting for 30 seconds just to mix the ingredients 
2. Pour in the water a tablespoon or two at a time into the flour to moisten it 
3. Once you’ve put all the water in, add the oil now and continue mixing until the dough has come together 

From here – you would roll into 6-8 golf ball size pieces of dough, flour, and use a rolling pin to flatten out.  Heat over medium heat on a tawa (or non-stick frying pan) and top with some butter (preferably Ghee) when you’re done.  I don’t have any more pics or detailed instructions from here, since the rest of this post goes with my Aloo Paara

Calzone

So this is my first time making this dish.  With my latest obsession of making my own dough (I still need a separate post about that) I thought this would be something good to try…this is another one of those dishes you don’t really need to plan ahead – just grab whatever you have in your fridge and get started!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound dough
• Pizza Sauce
• Assorted Meats (I used some Spicy Salami and Pepperoni)
• Cheese (any kind you have on hand – I used Cheddar)
• Mixed Veggies
• Meat Sauce for dipping (I saved some of my lasagna sauce from the other night for this)

Directions:

1. Dice your veggies you want to put in your Calzone – I used Red Onions, Mushrooms, Green Pepper, Jalapeno Pepper, and Tomato
2. Pre-heat your oven to 450 F with a baking stone in it, and a broiler pan underneath
3. Measure out 1 lb of dough, and flour your counter top 
4. Split the dough into two balls, and roll out like you’re making pizza
5. On half of the Calzone, put on some pizza sauce, and cover with your meat, veggies, and cheese 
6. Using a Pastry Brush, moisten the outer edge of the dough with water
7. Fold over the Calzone, and use your fingers to seal.  Slice a couple of holes thru the top with a serrated knife
8. Liberally throw on some cornmeal on your baking stone, place the Calzone on the baking stone, and put a cup of water in the broiler pan and quickly close the door.  Cook for 25 minutes
9. Warm your marinara sauce, and enjoy!

Beer Can Chicken

My Roast Chicken obsession continues…this time, it’s my all-time favorite…Beer Can Chicken..  Mixing Beer + BBQ…what could be better?

This recipe doesn’t need any special equipment, although I use some below…see changes you could do here:

• Instead of a smoker box, wrap the wood chips in aluminum foil
• Instead of my beer can contraption, just put the chicken directly on the can!

  

  The extended base is for veggies – but you can use any BBQ safe stir fry pan

Ingredients:

• 1 Whole Frying Chicken (4 – 5 lbs)
• Vegetable Oil
• Spices for Chicken (Salt + Pepper, Chicken Dry Rub)
• Wood Chips
• Vegetables for Grilling (whatever you have on hand)
• 4 Potatoes
• 1 can Beer (a darker beer works better)

Directions:

1. Soak your wood chips for about 30 minutes in cold water 
2. Turn the BBQ on and warm to about 400 F
3. Wash your chicken, and remove the giblets
4. Pat the Chicken down with a little vegetable oil, and rub your dry rub spices all over the chicken liberally (put some on the inside too!) 
5. Pour about 200 ml of that beer into an ice cold mug…ignore the temptation to drink it immediately (I put 150 ml of my beer into my contraption instead)
6. Place the beer can into the butt of the Chicken 
7. Place your chips into a smoker box, and place directly over the fire
8. Place on the bbq over an indirect heat for roughly an hour,  until the temperature of the meat hits 180 F.  Place the potatoes on at the same time.  Half-way thru cooking the chicken, add the veggies
9. Rest for 10 minutes before carving, and enjoy!

I have to admit…it smelled so good I forgot to take a picture when it came out, so here’s some of the left-overs on a clean plate…sorry 😦 

Mom’s Lasagna

2-for-1 night

Believe it or not, this is the first recipe I ever wrote down.  I think I was 10 years old at the time.  Why I wrote it, I have no idea…where we got it from, I also have no idea.  I just know my Mom borrowed a recipe from someone, and I loved it so much I wrote it down so we’d have a copy.  Even today, that original copy is still in my recipe book…I just can’t bring myself to throw it out.  The only change I’ve made from the original recipe is that I added some Spinach into the middle layer of the Lasagna.

One other thing I do whenever I make it now…I always make double and put the second one in the freezer.  The recipe listed below is for a single lasagna though.

Ingredients:

• 2.75 cups shredded Mozzarella
• 2 cups Ricotta Cheese
• 1 Egg
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 jar Marinara Sauce
• 1/2 tsp Oregano
• 8-10 Lasagna Noodles (I always buy the no boil ones – saves time)
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 lb Ground Beef or Italian Sausage
• Handful of chopped Mushrooms
• 1 handful chopped Spinach
• 1 clove Garlic (chopped)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 F
2. Combine the Ricotta Cheese, 2 cups of Mozza Cheese, Egg, and Salt in a bowl.  Save the 0.75 cup of Mozza for the top of the Lasagna
3. Saute the Garlic for a minute, and then add the mushrooms for 3-5 minutes until nicely browned.  At that point, add the meat and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until no longer pink.
4. Pour a bit of the sauce over the bottom of the lasagna pan, and then pour the rest of the bottle into the meat mixture with the oregano and let it simmer on low heat
5. Put 4 or 5 noodles in the lasagna pan (depends how big your pan is).  Add half of the cheese mixture and spread throughout the pan, and then add half of the meat mixture and spread as well.  Add all of the Spinach.
6. Repeat step 5, except instead of topping with Spinach, top with the rest of the Mozza
7. Pour the water along the edges of the lasagna and cover with foil
8. Bake for 60 minutes, uncovering for the last 10 minutes.  Let the lasagna sit for 20 minutes to set before cutting

 

Banana Bread

This has to be my all-time favorite sweet when I’m having my morning coffee…it only takes about 15 minutes to prepare the loaf to put in the oven, and an hour later you have the perfect morning snack…

Ingredients:

• 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• Pinch of Salt
• 1/2 cup softened Butter
• 3/4 cup Brown Suger
• 2 large Eggs
• 3 ripe Bananas (mashed)
• Handful of Chocolate Chips
• Handful of Walnut pieces

Directions:

1. Turn the oven to 350 F and grease a bread pan
2. In a small bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar
3. In a medium bowl, mix the eggs, bananas, chocolate chips, and walnut pieces
4. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt
5. Pour the contents of the small bowl into the medium bowl and mix well
6. Pour the contents of the medium bowl into the large bowl, and mix well
7. Pour the contents of the large bowl into your pan and bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick thru the middle of the bread comes out dry

Pizza for 2

2 different flavors, 1 pie.

Jerk Chicken

The finished product

Went to the Grocery store the other day and picked up another whole frying chicken…considering I haven’t bought one in a couple of years prior to starting this blog, it’s kind of funny that the majority of my recipes are frying chicken related…guess it gives me an opportunity to try something new…since i cut up this chicken and put it on the grill, you could just as easily buy a pre-cut package of chicken and use this marinade/recipe…

Ingredients:

• 1 Roast Chicken
• 2 Jalapeno Peppers (sliced)
• 2 bunches of Green Onion (cut in half or thirds only…just to fit into your food processor)
• 2 tbsp Allspice
• 4 Limes, zested and juiced
• 1/2 cup Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup Molasses

Directions:

1. Cut up your chicken into pieces (or buy a pre-cut pack of chicken) and place in a large Tupperware container
2. Place all the ingredients other than the chicken into a food processor and process until a nice thick paste forms.  When I filled mine up it was completely full and once pasted it went down to about a quarter of the container size
3. Marinate the chicken and put in the fridge for an hour or so, and pull it out when you’re about to turn the grill on
4. Put your grill on high (I waited until it was about 475 F before putting the chicken on)
5. Put the chicken on the grill with the skin side first (be careful when cooking with the skin, as your food can flare up quickly and become blackened chicken!)  I also put the remainder of the marinade in a steel bowl and put on the grill.  Once it’s boiling it’s safe to use as a marinade as the raw chicken bacteria will be killed at this point…DO NOT use the marinade without boiling first)
6. Leave it for approximately 10 minutes until a nice black char is on the bottom of the chicken (not burned!)…marinade the top sides then flip over and marinade the cooked side
7. Turn the temperature down to medium (325 – 350 F) and cook another 10-15 minutes until the chicken is cooked (165 F for the breast, 180 F for the legs).  The wings will cook a lot faster so make sure you move them to the top rack so they don’t dry out

Serve with whatever you have on the side…I was too rushed to make anything else last night so just made some mac and cheese on the side.  Some mashed potatoes would’ve hit the spot with this, maybe next time…