Making Your Own Salad Dressings

In this post I want to share a few great but simple recipes from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food cook book. I use these basic vinaigrettes all the time and it really makes a difference in the salads. When you are watching your weight and the food you put in your mouth, making your own dressing really helps. The bottled dressings are loaded with fats you really don’t need to make a salad amazing.

These vinaigrettes also make a big difference when tossed with vegetables, such a steamed green beans or boiled potatoes, as well as main dishes such as broiled chicken or fish.

__________________________________

Martha’s Favorite Vinaigrette

Makes 1 Cup

Prep Time: 5 Minutes

Total Time: 5 Minutes

Ingredients:

¼ cup white-wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

¼ teaspoon coarse salt

1/8 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Pinch of sugar

¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper and sugar.

2. Slowly add the oil, whisking until emulsified. Or shake the ingredients in a jar, or whirl them in a blender. Store in an air tight container or jar, and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. Shake before using.

Variations:

Garlic Vinaigrette: Add 1 teaspoon minced garlic or ½ clove, crushed.

Balsamic Vinaigrette: Substitute balsamic vinegar for the wine vinegar.

Lemon-Parmesan Vinaigrette: Use fresh lemon juice instead of vinegar; add ¼ cup finely grated parmesan.

Scallion Vinaigrette: Add 3 chopped whole scallions (About ¼ cup).

Blue Cheese Vinaigrette: Add ½ cup crumbled blue cheese, such as Roquefort.

Herb Vinaigrette: Add 2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs, such as thyme, parsley, or tarragon.

Keep ‘Em In Da Freezah!

This is one of David’s beloved cookies. His bff (best friend forever), the ultra talented Efrat used to make it for him all the time. The great thing about these cookies is that after you bake them you can put them in a container and keep them in the freezer for a very long time. This way they stay fresh and you can nibble at them for as long as you want. I call these freezer cookies but they are really chocolate chip cookies that you plop on a cookie tray and then ¾ of the way through you slice them thinly like a biscotti and bake them a little more and then you have these amazingly delicious cookies. You can also shape in any way you want. I haven't tried because why mess with David's perfect cookie--but I'm sure they'll be JUST as great!

_________________________________________________

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Bake Time: 1 hour

Yields: About 25-35 pieces

Ingredients:

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of all purpose oil

4 eggs

3 cups of all purpose flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (the liquid, not the powder).

8 oz. crushed walnuts (you can also use pecans or almonds, or a mix)

11 oz. of chocolate chips(you can also use bitter sweet chocolate, or a mix like I like to)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

1. Mix sugar, vanilla extract, oil and eggs in a bowl.

2. Add the flour through a sifter with the baking powder.

3. Mix ingredients together.

4. With a spatula, add the walnuts and chocolate chips. Fold in these ingredients very well. Constantly keep folding the dough in, while rotating the bowl so everything is well incorporated.

*The mixture should be very sticky!

~Hint: Wear disposable gloves, and spray your hands with cooking spray to handle the dough.

On a cookie tray, either line it with parchment paper or spray with nonstick baking spray.

Plop the dough onto the cookie dray and mold the mixture into a loaf (it doesn’t need to be perfectly smooth, in the oven it will smooth out as it melts together.)

Bake for 45 minutes. Take it out and slice into thin slices, like a biscotti. Lay them flat and return to the oven and for another 15 minutes.

Let cool down for 15-20 minutes. You can serve them or put them in an airtight container and keep them in the freezer and serve them with tea or dessert.

South-Asian Inspiration

I recently realized how much Indian food has to offer. They are by far the masters of spices and I always wanted to experiment with the spices and mixtures they work with. I visited this amazing spice store in Manhattan and bought every spice I heard of but never tried. I ran home and read a million recipes online, printed a few and went to my kitchen. I had two recipes: one was Lamb Tandoori and another was Chicken Tikki Masala, which I recently tasted with my biffle Flora at Curry in a Hurry which is next door to this spice market. Of course in my frazzle and tiny kitchen, I mixed up both recipes and had to work with what I had. I decided I wanted to make the Tikki Masala with Lamb. However, I was reading the Lamb Tandoori recipe and made the Tandoori marinade instead of the Tikki Masala marinade. The next day I continued the day after recipe with the Tikki Masala recipe. And so I ended up with some new age Indian dish I named Lamb Tandoori Tikki Masala. Please note that this is probably not appropriately titled but it works for me. The Chicken Tikki Masala calls for a different over night marinating. However this dish came out so amazing that David and I ate the left-over’s the day after. We never eat left-over’s so you can only imagine how happy we really were =). This is a very long recipe because it calls for so many ingredients. However, if you are a fan of spices please feel free to try this out. If you want to try this recipe but do not have the ingredients visit this website, of the spice market I went to (http://www.kalustyans.com/) where you can just order the spices online and have it delivered to your home. Once you have these spices, you can store them in a cool dry place and use them as you feel.

Please note that the recipe for Garam Masala is just one version. Different regions in Indian have their own recipe and so this is one that I found that works best for me. You can also order the ready-made mixture on Kalustyan’s website or in their store and save yourself some time. Garam Masala is very popular and used in many of the south-Asian dishes. Do not get scared of the recipe. If you have all of the ingredients and a really good food processor (Which every cook should invest in one) you will be good and on your way.

Also, if you are interested in beginning to create your own spice mixtures you should invest in a coffee grinder that is designated specifically for spices. Do not use the coffee grinder you already use for coffee for these spices. These spices have very distinct tastes that might not leave the grinder ever. Coffee has a very strong taste as well, so it’s hard to fight against that taste as well, no matter how much you wash and soak it.

I hope you enjoy this recipe!

__________________________________________

Lamb Tandoori Tikki Masala

Prep Time: 20 Minutes the day before and 20 Minutes the next day

Cook Time: 45 Minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Lamb Marinade:

4 palm sized pieces of lamb chunks cut into 4. (You can also use lamb chops, or lamb with bones).

2 cups of yogurt

½ tablespoon of cumin seeds, toasted and cracked

½ tablespoon of coriander seeds, toasted and cracked

½ tablespoon of ground black pepper

½ tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons of honey

2 teaspoon of Garam Masala (recipe follows)

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon of fresh ginger, minced

5-6 flakes of red Chile

1 tablespoons of peanut oil

1 scallion chopped

½ cup of cilantro leaves (stems removed)

Tikkie Masala (day of) ingredients:

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon of vegetable or canola oil

¼ cup blanched whole almonds

1 large onions, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic

1 ½ tablespoons Garam Masala

1 ½ teaspoon pure chilie powder

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

One 35-ounce can peeled tomatoes, finely chopped, juices reserved

Pinch of sugar

1 cup heavy cream

Garam Masala:

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

½ tablespoon whole cloves

1 tablespoon plus ½ teaspoon cardamom seeds

3 tablespoons cumin seeds

3 tablespoons coriander seeds

4 (3 inch) cinnamon sticks

¼ cup dried red chilies

½ tablespoon freshly grated nutmeg

Directions to make Garam Masala:

In a large sauce pan, combine black peppercorns, cloves, cardamom seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cinnamon sticks, and dried red chilies. Over medium heat, cook just until slightly toasted, stirringly constantly. Turn off heat and stir in grated nutmeg. Transfer to a food processor and grind to a fine powder. Pass through a fine strainer. Allow to cool to room temperature. Stir in an airtight jar. Use as needed. If your kitchen is known to be very warm (like mine) it is a good idea to keep your spices in the refrigerator or even the freezer.

Directions for Lamb Marinade:

The night before, In a food processor using a metal blade, combine the yogurt, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, black pepper, salt, honey, garama masala, garlic, ginger, red chilie flakes, peanut oil, and scallions and process until well blended. Add the cilantro leaves and continue to process until pureed and well blended. Arrange the lamb in a non-reactive pan. Pour the marinade over and make sure both sides are well coated. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

Directions for the Next day:

Take out the lamb from the marinade and scrap off with a spoon all the excess sauce on the lamb. Cover the pan with foil. If you have the new non-stick foil it works wonders. If not, spray the foil lightly with cooking spray. Heat a grilling pan really well (for about 4 minutes) on high. Reduce the heat a tad bit and place the lamb on the pan. Do not touch the lamb. Grill for about 5-8 minutes and then peak to see very fine grill marks. Once it has the grill marks, flip over and cook for another 10 minutes or so. Remove to a plat and repeat if you have more pieces.

In a separate deep skillet begin the tikki masala sauce. First, heat 1 teaspoon of oil. Add the almonds and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until golden. Keep an eye on this so it does not burn. It will take about 5 minutes. Transfer the almonds to a plate and let it cool completely. In a food processor, pulse the almonds until finely ground.

In the same deep skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil until simmering. Ad the chopped onions, garlic and ginger and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until tender and golden, about 8 minutes. Add the garam masala, chilie powder and cayenne and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes with their juices and the sugar and season with salt and pepper. Cover partially and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is slightly thickened, about 20 minutes. Add the cream and ground almonds and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 10 minutes longer. Stir in the lamb; simmer gently for 10 minutes. Stir frequently.

Serves this with white jasmine rice, naan bread and even a cilantro mint chutney. You can also just add some freshly chopped cilantro and mint on top of the dish.

Cilantro Mint Chutney Recipe:

Ingredients:

6 ounces coconut milk

3 cloves garlic

4 ounces yogurt

1 ounce honey

1 tablespoon garam masala

2 cups cilantro leaves

1 ½ cups mint leaves

Salt

Black pepper

Sugar

Directions:

In a blender, combiner the coconut milk, garlic, yogurt, honey, and garam masala. Process until well blended. Add the cilantro and mint leaves and process until the herbs are pureed (mixture will turn to a green color). Season with salt, pepper and sugar to taste. Keep refrigerated until needed. (Yields about 1 2/3 cups)

Potatoes are the Devil!

Hello Dear Readers. This recipe was taken from my friend Keren who spoiled us this past Chanukah at her house get-together. This recipe is so super easy it’s disturbing. It’s delicious and addictive and people will keep going back for more so if you are having a lot of guests over make two trays =). To some, the Osem soup mix might not be known but it is one of those Israeli ingredients everyone has in their kitchen and uses religiously. These soup mixes have a very nice mix of spices, as well as dried herbs and vegetables. It already has the salt and pepper too so you don’t need to add much of anything when using it. My mother was known to use this in much of everything when cooking. Even in the Israeli MasterChef you saw cooks using this as their base for their winning dishes. However if you cannot find this in your supermarket because you don’t have Jews over taking your neighborhood go ahead and buy any type of dry soup mix that is onion or mushroom based. You can make this either onion flavored or mushroom flavored. Or when you are making two trays, like I did last night for my friends holiday party, I made one of each.

So anyways, thanks Keren for sharing this recipe with me! Now everyone has it and can make it!

_________________________________________________

Potatoes in Cream

Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Cook Time: 1 Hour (about)

Serves: 8-10 People

Ingredients:

4.5 pounds of potatoes (I used plain Idaho potatoes)

1 ½ pints of heavy cream

1 package of Osem Onion Soup or Mushroom Soup Dry Mix

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Take a large bowl, and fill it half way with cold water. Peel all the potatoes and place them in the water to keep them from browning. Slice the potatoes in either direction semi-thin (a little less than a quarter inch). In a half size aluminum tray (or ½ size oven safe tray), lay one layer of potatoes. They do not need to be over lapping, but just closely together. Once you finished one layer, sprinkle the soup mix all over the layer. Don’t be too generous with this mix. This soup mix has a ton of salt in it. So sprinkle a light layer all over the potatoes. Then repeat the process. Layer potatoes, sprinkle soup mix, etc. When you get to about a inch from the top of the pan stop. You might get 3 layers; you might get 4 or 5. It really depends how think you cut your potatoes and what type of tray you are using. You want to aim for at least 3 layers. On the top layer you want to also sprinkle soup mix on top. Then you pour the heavy cream on top. You do not need to cover the tray, just pop it in the center rack of your oven and let it cook. It will come to a bubble and begin to brown on top. You want to check the potatoes after 1 hour to make sure they are fork tender. If they are not, give it another 10-15 minutes. If the top is getting brown too quickly, either reduce the heat by 10-15 degrees or cover the tray with foil wrap.

*If you cannot find the Osem mix (Which is typically available in jewish/israeli neighborhoods you can feel free to use any American dry onion soup or mushroom soup mix.)

*You can also add some zing to it by adding in between the layers thinly sliced mushrooms or onions. This recipe it just super easy but sometimes adding a little more to it makes it extra special!

Creamy Garlic Loveliness!

I was watching the cooking channel late one night and “The best thing I ever ate” was on and the topic was garlic. I saw this cream of garlic soup and was like… I love garlic and I love cream soups that soup has to be amazing. This soup is really a mix between garlic and onion but the taste is AMAZING. It goes exceptionally well with some toasted French bread. It’s pretty simple to make but you do need to give it time. Cooking it as slow as possible is what makes it so amazing. If you have a hand blender it will really make life easy here.

I got this recipe from this website: http://gumbopages.com/food/soups/garlic.html, but I made some changes.

CREAM OF GARLIC SOUP

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Cook Time: 45 Minutes

Serves: 8

Ingredients:
4 cups onions, peeled and roughly chopped
2 cups garlic, peeled and chopped roughly (I just cut each piece in half)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1.5 quarts of chick stock
1 bouquet garni (parsley stems, thyme sprigs, rosemary, and bay leaf, tied together)
2 cups stale French bread, torn into 1/2" pieces (I used whole wheat French bread so it gave it a nuttier texture).
1 cup half and half (or 1/2 cup whole milk with 1/2 cup heavy cream)

Directions:
In a large soup pot, sauté the onions and garlic in the butter and oil. Stir frequently over low to medium heat until the onions are a deep golden brown, about 30 minutes. Add the chicken broth and bouquet garni and bring to a boil. Stir in the bread cubes and simmer for 10 minutes, until the bread is soft. Remove the bouquet garni and purée the soup in a blender, carefully! Remember that hot liquids can splash up in a blender; you can use one of those hand-held blenders and purée it right in the pot if you like. Strain the soup through a medium strainer. Add the half and half, then season to taste with salt and pepper.
To Garnish (Garlic Chips): I took a few garlic cloves and sliced them thinly. I took a small frying pan and heated it up really well. I added about ¼ cup of olive oil and let it get very hot. I then fried the garlic chips giving them lots of room (do not over crowd, they will stick together). I flipped them over once, till they got a nice golden color. I topped each soup with a few pieces. Place them gently on top so they do not sink into the soup. Gives it a nice kick!

Yummy Yummy Fish In My Tummy!

Okay that was corny but anyways, ha ha...

We ate this fish at David’s birthday and really loved it. It is a meaty but yet delicate fish that is delicious. It is not over powering in taste (doesn’t taste like the ocean) and a small piece goes a long way. At first, I bought two ½ pound pieces for each of us for dinner. I quickly realized, as we started to eat it, that we could only eat a quarter of it, with the side dish of couscous. This is a pricey fish (I bought it at $13.99 a lb) but it’s nice to know 1 lb. can serve 8 people easily. So if you decide to do this for dinner you can easily get ½ a pound for 4 people and make 2 small sides with it. I made baked corn kernels with sun dried tomatoes (just take a can of corn, drain the water throw it in a oven safe dish with a handful of sun dried tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake it for about 20 minutes on 400 degrees). I also made Israeli couscous. Just buy any type of couscous you like. I use whole wheat couscous. You just follow the packaging instructions, its very easy. Anyhow, this is a great meal even for someone who isn’t crazy about fish. (You’d never hear David ask for fish, but he ate this meal happily!)

Chilean Sea Bass

with Almond Herb Sauce

Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Cook Time: 6 Minutes Each Round of Fish Searing

Serves: 4-8 People (4 large servings or 8 small servings, great with side dishes)

Ingredients

Fish:
1 Pound of Chilean Sea Bass
½ coup of all purpose flour
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of butter

Almond Herb Sauce:
1 piece of green onion, ends trimmed
¼ cup cilantro, packed
¼ cup mint, packed
¼ cup of parsley, packed
¼ cup of basil, packed
2 tablespoons of dill, packed
2 tablespoons of chopped almonds
1 small shallot
4 cloves of garlic
¼ cup of red wine vinegar
½ cup of extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

First make the sauce:
In a food processor, combine all the greens (green onion, cilantro, mint, parsley, basil, dill) and process till it is full minced. Add the shallot, garlic and almonds and process to fully incorporated. Add the red wine vinegar through the top cover, slowly-processing the whole time. Then as the machine is still working slowly add the olive oil. You can add less oil if you feel that sauce is fluid enough. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, and taste. If you want more salt and pepper feel free to add.

For the fish:
Heat the skillet on high heat for about 3-4 minutes till it’s nice and hot. Add the olive oil and butter and let it melt. As soon as the butter melts, you want to place the fish inside. You don’t want to begin burning the butter/oil.

Wash the fish well and then pat dry with a paper towel. In a plate mix flour with a little salt and pepper. Dredge the fish on both sides with the flour, making sure to also get the sides. Do not over crowd the fish in the skillet. If you need to do one piece at a time that is fine. It only takes about 5-6 minutes to cook the piece through. Place the fish in the center of the skillet. Do not fuss or flip the fish over too much as it is delicate and can break apart. Just slightly shake the pan to insure the fish doesn’t stick to the bottom. Give it about 3 minutes, peak to see that the bottom has browned well, and then flip over. Give it another 3 minutes—you should see that they side of the fish has shrunk. If you have skin on the fish sides, it’s even easier of an indicator as you will see the skin cooked and crispy.
Remove the fish onto a paper towel plate.

On a plate, put a nice amount of sauce on the center and then place the fish on top. You don’t want to soak the fish in the sauce because the fish is amazingly tasty on its own but you want to give the almond herb sauce its moment to shine as well.