Monday, February 20, 2006

Lemon Muffins

A new twist to muffins, and they are really a tangy treat.

Ingredients:

2 cups self-rising flour
¼ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
1/3 cup Grated rind ½ lemon
1/3 cup presoaked golden raisins (optional)
1 cup orange juice
lemon-infused avocado oil
1 egg

Procedure:

Mix flour, sugar and salt in large mixing bowl. Into another bowl, whisk: Lemon rind, orange juice, egg and oil. Add the liquid, mix into the dry ingredients, folding gently until flour is damp. Be careful not to over-mix.

Oil a 12-muffin tray and spoon in the mixture. You can also use Texas Muffin Tins (6) Bake at 425 F. for 10-to-12 minutes.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Coconut Shrimp with Plum Sauce

Shrimp are always good. This recipe can serve as an appetizer or a main meal.






Ingredients:

1 pound large shrimp
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup of flour or tempura batter mix
4 cups of shredded coconut

Preparation:

Peel and devein the shrimp leaving the tails. Combine milk and egg in a bowl and whip until well blended. Place the flour on a small plate. Place the shredded coconut on a larger plate.

Dip the shrimp into the egg/milk. Next flour the shrimp. Dip in the egg/milk. Place in the shredded coconut and press the coconut onto the shrimp on both sides. Method 1: Heat a deep pan with enough oil to completely submerse the shrimp. Fry until golden brown.

Method 2:

Heat the oven to 350 and place shrimp on a well oiled pan and bake until golden brown usually about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and drizzle with Plum sauce. You can find Plum Sauce in the Oriental or Ethnic food section of your grocery store

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Coconut Shrimp

This can be served as either an appetizer or a full meal.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. jumbo shrimp or prawns deveined, boiled and cooled
1 cup evaporated milk
2 eggs
1 loaf unseasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup sweetened, shredded coconut
1 tsp seasoning salt
1 1/2 tsp Shrimp/seafood seasoning
Peanut Oil to cover shrimp half way up in pan

Directions:

Add seasoning salt to bread crumbs and set aside for a few hours. Beat eggs well in a small bowl. Combine bread crumbs and coconut in a mixing bowl. Place shrimp in evaporated milk, then beaten eggs, then crumb, egg mixture a second time, then coconut mixture.

Fry until golden brown. Cooking time: about 20 minutes. Serve immediately over your favorite rice.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Baked Stuffed Clams for a Party



Having been born and raised in New England on the coast of Connecticut, baked stuffed clams were nearly an every weekend part of a party meal.



Ingredients:

50 Large clams (Quahogs or cherrystones are best)
3 Lbs butter
2 ½ Loaves of stale bread broken into cubes or crumbs
4-6 finely diced onions
½ cup diced pimentos
1 1/2 tsp paprika
¼ cup parsley flakesor freshly chopped Italian parsley
1 TBS McCormick Seafood Seasoning
1/3 Cup Dry Vermouth
4 eggs

Steam clams for 30-minutes; clean and dice. Simmer butter, onion, parsley, and seasoning for 15-minutes. Pour over bread and chopped clams in a separate large bowl. Add eggs, paprika, vermouth and pimento. Blend thoroughly and stuff into half-shells leveling to the top of each shell. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until butter starts to ooze out and the crust is a light brown. Be SURE to use a pan with sides so the butter won’t get all over the oven.

These can be frozen and reheated.

For a smaller quantity to feed 6, (four halves each) use the following:

12 Large Clams
3 Sticks butter
2/3 Loaf of stale bread
1 ½ diced onion
1 Egg
2 TBS parsley flakes
1 tsp seafood seasoning
1/8 cup diced pimento
½ tsp paprika

Follow the same baking instructions

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Saturday, February 11, 2006

Raspberry-Toasted Coconut Muffins©




Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon Malibu White Rum with Coconut•
2 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 tsp Instant Yeast (dissolved in water)
1 TBS water for yeast
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 Cup Toasted Coconut flakes
3/4 Cup Dried Raspberries Coarsely Chopped
Corn Starch
Cinnamon/Sugar MixtureButter for Muffin Tin

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Grease or line muffin tins.

In a medium bowl cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, making sure the eggs are fully incorporated. Stir in the rum.

Sift dry ingredients together into a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk in several additions, stirring just until combined. Add the toasted coconut. Add dissolved yeast.

Coat the raspberries with corn starch before adding so they won't sink to the bottom of the muffin tin. Scoop the batter into prepared tins. Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar if desired and place in oven. Immediately turn oven temperature up to 400 degrees and bake for 25 minutes for standard muffins, 15 - 20 minutes for mini muffins; 25-minutes for Texas sized muffins. Cool for at least 5 minutes before removing from pan. Yield: 12 standard muffins, 24 mini muffins, or 6 Texas sized

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Friday, February 10, 2006

Sourdough English Muffins



I don't know of anyone who doesn't like a nice English muffin slathered with butter and jam. These are not difficult to make, and the pleasure derived is long lasting.







Ingredients:

½ cup sourdough starter, fed
¼ cup WW flour
2 1/2 cups AP flour
1 cup bottled water
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
cornmeal

Procedure:

Once the starter is fed, mix up the dough and let it sit covered overnight. You don’t have to worry about overdeveloping the sourdough flavor because the baking soda will neutralize some of it, leaving just the right amount of sourness in your muffins.

The major change in this recipe, aside from using some whole wheat flour (1/4 cup) was to replace the milk the original recipe called for with water so as to ensure you get the rather coarse, open texture for English muffins.

If you have only a small biscuit cutter – say 2” rather than a 3-inch round, you may need to cook for an extra minute or two per side and you will probably get fewer than the 20 or so that this recipe calls for with the 2” cutter. They taste fantastic.

They will be a bit doughy when hot off the grill, but like most yeast breads, their texture stabilizes once allowed to cool for a few minutes (they cool quickly).

Combine starter with 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of water. Stir thoroughly, cover with plastic wrap and let sit out overnight (about 7-10 hours). In the morning, add the baking soda, salt, sugar to the dough and gradually add the remaining flour, 2 tablespoons at a time, until the dough looses its stickiness.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll until about ½- 3/4 inch thick. Use a lightly floured biscuit cutter and cut the dough into as many rounds as possible. Place rounds on an ungreased baking sheet, covered with cornmeal. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with cornmeal and leave them to rise, covered with a clean tea towel, for about 45 minutes. Here, you can use English muffin rings if you want. (Available through the King Arthur Flour catalog.)

Heat a lightly oiled or nonstick skillet over high heat until very hot, then reduce the temperature to medium/medium high.Cook the muffins for about 5 minutes on each side, turning only once. The muffins will reach a light or medium brown (turn down the temperature slightly if they cook too quickly) on both the top and the bottom when they are cooked through.

Before the first flip, the sides of the muffin will start to look dry, like the edges of a pancake, when they are ready to be turned. You can peek at the underside, too. Cool completely before storing.

Rum Pudding Cake

This delicious dessert is quick and easy to make, and will satisfy the lustiest of sweets lovers.

Ingredients:

9” Spring form Pan

2 7-ounce packages of anise-flavored sponge biscuits
¼ cup rum
4 cups whole milk
½ cup sour cream
1 package instant vanilla pudding (*)
1 package instant chocolate pudding(*)
1 cup heavy cream

Instructions:

Sprinkle one side of the biscuits with rum. Arrange one package of the biscuits flat side down in the pan, packed as tightly as possible. Crumble the remaining biscuits from the first package to fill spaces between the biscuits in the pan.

Mix 2 cups milk and the sour cream until well-blended. Stir in the vanilla pudding until very smooth. Allow to partially set, then pour and smooth over the biscuit layer.

Arrange the remaining package of the biscuits – flat side down – over the pudding. Crumble remaining biscuits to fill spaces.

Mix chocolate pudding with remaining milk in a medium size bowl following manufacturer’s directions. Allow to partially set, then pour and smooth over biscuits. Cover pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Loosen cake around edges with knife, and carefully remove side of pan, leaving cake on the pan bottom.

Whip heavy cream until stiff. Spoon into pastry bag; pipe whipped cream around the cake bottom and top edge of the cake.

Serve with a demitasse of espresso.

(*) You can always make homemade pudding here, but the boxed instant pudding is quicker.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Stir Fried Curried Chicken©

This is a fairly quick recipe to make and it is very rewarding. It does require a little pre-planning, as you will need to toast the coconut flakes in the oven.

1 WOK

Ingredients

2 Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts Partially Frozen and Cubed
3 TBS peanut Oil

1 Cup Rice
1 TBS Dried Onion Flakes
1 Package Onion Soup

½ Cup Raisins
½ Cup REAL Bacon Bits (Fry bacon to crisp and drain on paper towels then break up)
½ Cup Crushed Spanish Peanuts
½ Cup Shredded, Toasted Coconut Flakes
½ Cup Dried Bananas
½ Cup Dried Apples
¾ Cup Indian (Bengali) Chutney (Mangoes-Papaya)
4 Hard Boiled and Chopped Eggs

White Sauce

2 TBS Peanut Oil
2 TBS Butter
1 TBS Curry Powder
1 Cup Milk

Instructions

In a medium pan, add 3 TBS peanut oil, and sauté cubed chicken. In the WOK, add rice, dried onions, and the onion soup mix; cover the rice with water and cover the WOK. Turn to high and bring to a boil. Stir when it first comes to a boil. Reduce heat to the lowest possible setting and let steam for 15-minutes.

When rice is almost done cooking, make the white sauce. Melt the butter, remove from heat and whisk in the flour and the curry powder. When well blended and pasty, add milk. Return to heat and whisk until thickened. Add more milk if necessary.

Add remaining ingredients to the rice along with the white sauce. Stir well and serve immediately.

If you prefer, you can always make a clear sauce by using one can of chicken broth and enough corn starch and water to thicken it.

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Friday, February 03, 2006

Blistering Hot, Nuclear Chicken Wings

2-3 Lbs Chicken wings (Drumettes are best)
1 12-Ounce Bottle Louisiana Hot Sauce
1 Stick butter

4 - 6 Habanero Peppers liquified in blender(*)





Melt butter on low. Add the Louisiana hot sauce and mix well. Stir in liquified habanero.

Deep fat fry wings. and drain on paper towels. When wings are fully cooked, place in pan and cover with foil. Place in 200 degree oven to keep warm.

Pour sauce over wings.

(*) You can use jalapeno peppers if you don't like the heat from the habaneros.

HAVE ICE CREAM ON HAND FOR THE NEXT DAY!!

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