Chinese Sausage (Lap Cheong) Fried Rice

      

    Ingredients: 

• 3 Chinese Sausages, sliced diagonally
• 1 Medium Onion, diced
• 1 Carrot, diced small
• 2 Scallions, sliced diagonally
• 2 cloves, garlic, finely minced
• 5 cups, White Rice, cooked
• ¾ teaspoon, Salt
• ¼ teaspoon, Sugar
• 2 teaspoons, Hot Water
• ½ teaspoon, Sesame Oil
• 2 teaspoons, Soy Sauce
• ½ teaspoon, Dark Soy Sauce
• pinch, White Pepper
• 1 teaspoon, Shaoxing Wine (optional)
• 4 tablespoons, Vegetable Oil (divided)
• 3 large Eggs, beaten
• ⅔ cup, Green Peas, cooked
• 1 teaspoon, Shaoxing Wine (optional)

    Directions:

• Prepare a sauce in a small bowl, by adding salt, sugar, hot water, sesame oil, regular soy sauce, dark soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, and ground white pepper. Stir thoroughly and set aside.
• Heat your wok over medium high heat and spread 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil around in the wok.
• Add the beaten eggs to the oil, scrambling them and breaking them up into smaller pieces with your wok spatula just until done. Transfer them to a large bowl and set aside.
• Add 1 tablespoon oil around your wok. Add the sausage, and stir-fry for 20 seconds. Add the onion, scallions, carrots and garlic to wok and stir fry 1-2 minutes until onion is translucent. Remove and add to large bowl. Set aside.
• Add 1 tablespoon oil around wok. Add the rice and using spatula flatten out and break up any clumps. Stir fry the rice to heat it through.
• Once the rice is warmed, pour the sauce you prepared, evenly over the rice. Mix using a scooping motion with your spatula for 1-2 minutes, until the rice is evenly coated with sauce.
• Add all the ingredients you set aside in large bowl to wok. Add green peas, and fold everything into the rice. Stir fry the for another minute.

Arroz Griego

Tip:  Read directions completely before preparing.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup bacon

2 cups rice

1 cup beef broth

1 cup onion soup

1 cup onion, chopped

1/2 cup green bell pepper, julienned

1 cup cabbage, chopped

1 garlic glove, finely minced

1/2 stick butter

1 1/2 cups water

Directions:

In a deep heavy bottomed skillet, fry the bacon, then drain the rendered fat, remove bacon and set aside.

 

To the same skillet, over medium high heat, add butter, garlic, bell pepper and onion and sauté for 4 minutes, until onion is lightly browned. 

Add water, beef broth, onion soup, rice, bacon, and cabbage.

Bring to boil, cover, lower heat to low and cook for 25 minutes.

After the first 10 minutes, uncover, turn rice, recover and finish cooking the other 15 minutes.  Enjoy!

Mexican Picadillo

Tip: Read directions carefully before preparing.

Ingredients:

1lb lean ground beef

2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2inch cubes

1/2 cup yellow onion, diced fine (1/4 inchor less)

1/4 cup red bell pepper, diced fine (1/4 inch or less)

1 tablespoon fresh garlic, minced fine

2 tablespoon canola oil

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground coarse ground black pepper

1 teaspoon fresh ground comino (cumin)

1 cup beef stock

1/2 cup cilantro

2 large tomatoes, cored, peeled, and cut into 1/2inch pieces

Directions:

Heat a large skillet and, when hot, add the canola oil. Add the ground beef, crumbling as you put it in the skillet.

When lightly browned, add the onions, red bell pepper, tomatoes, garlic, and all the spices. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring often, and then add the diced potatoes, and then the cilantro.

Add beef stock, bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat to medium low and cook for 25 minutes or until the potatoes are tender, stirring every 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, put into a bowl and serve over Spanish rice or with hot flour tortillas.

Tip: If you would like to spice it up, add a chopped jalapeno. Picadillo, Mexican style ground beef, is a popular lunch meal particularly in Northern Mexico.  Picadillo is an easy dish to prepare that’s in every home cook’s repertoire.

Bacon and Green Onion Cheese Ball

Tip: Read directions completely before preparing.

Ingredients:

(For Cheese Ball)

1/4 cup brown sugar ham, finely chopped

1/4 cup green onion, finely chopped

1 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 teaspoon Hidden Valley, Garden Green Onion Mix

(For Rolling Cheese Ball)

1/8 cup real bacon Bits, (I use Oscar Mayer)

1/8 cup green onion, finely chopped

1/4 cup Colby Jack or Mild Cheddar cheese, finely shredded/cut

Directions:

(For Preparing Cheese Ball)

In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine green onion, brown sugar Ham, cream cheese and Garden Green Onion Mix. When mixed well, form ball out of the mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 3 to 4 hours, or overnight.

(For Rolling Cheese Ball)

Before serving, in a medium-size mixing bowl, combine the real bacon bits, green onion, and cheddar cheese, and roll the cheese balls in the mixture.  Enjoy!

 Tip: This cheese ball is great with buttery crackers!

Carne Guisada

Tip: Read directions completely before preparing.

Ingredients:

2 pounds beef top sirloin steak, cut into 1-inch chunks
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 large white onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 teaspoons comino (cumin)
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1 serrano pepper, slightly toasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 1/2 cups beef broth

1/2 teaspoon Mexican oregano (regular is fine)

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup water

Directions:

Dredge the cubed meat in flour, coating well.

In a heavy, deep-sided skillet or Dutch oven, add the oil and heat over medium heat. Add the cubed meat and brown thoroughly, stirring often.

 While the meat is browning, in a small saute pan, toast the comino seeds and then add them to the molcajete (mortar and pestal). Use the same pan to toast the serrano pepper.

In a molcajete which already has the comino, add the garlic, and black peppercorns. Grind into a paste. Add 1/2 cup of water and stir, this is to make sure you remove all the paste from the molcajete and set aside.

Once the meat is browned, add the garlic, comino and peppercorn paste and liquid from molcajete to the pot. Add the salt, paprika, oregano, chili powder, onion, tomatoes, cilantro, and serrano to the pot and saute for 3 to 4 minutes.

 

Add beef broth, bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 1 1/2 hours, or until the beef is tender and the mixture has cooked down to a thick sauce. Stir every 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Tip:  You can serve this with rice, or beans or make some great tacos! I love breakfast tacos made with some carne guisada, scrambled egg and cheese! Carne Guisada is a Mexican inspired take on beef stew.

Yesterday I had to pick up some things from Dillard's at Barton Creek Mall and found that in their kitchenware department they now sell Molcajetes! They were made of granite and beautiful. Of course they are not made from the original basalt/lava stone. But they are really nice and will surely do the job! 

You can buy Mexican molcajetes online nowadays, but beware! The quality can vary enormously. There is a world of difference between the best quality molcajetes, made usually from dark ‘river rock’ basalt with low sand content, and cheap and cheerful ones made from grey, very porous lava-rock. The problem with the latter, to quote the gourmetsleuth.com website, is that ‘They are softer and easier to carve and thus less expensive. Unfortunately they are terribly sandy and no matter how you may try to cure them they will always be sandy. They are also typically very shallow so they don’t have a very usable capacity. These pieces are fine for decoration or serving only but we don’t recommend using them as a preparation or grinding tool.’ 

Taken from "http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/index.php?one=azt&two=wus&tab=aus&id=21""

Authentic Homemade Flour Tortillas

Authentic Homemade Flour Tortillas

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup lard
1 cup hot water

Directions:
Whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the lard with your fingers until the flour resembles cornmeal. Add the hot water a little at a time, about 1/4 cup each time, and mix, until the dough comes together; place on a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until smooth, soft and supple. It may be sticky at first but after kneading continuously it will not be sticky.

Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces, about the size of a golf ball, roll each piece into a ball and then into a shape of a sausage patty. Cover and let dough balls rest for about 10 minutes. See image below. 

Tip: keep a bit of flour on your surface and lightly flour your rolling pin and keep your surface very lightly floured. Also keep your hands lightly floured.

Preheat a comal or heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Use a well-floured rolling pin to roll a dough into a thin, round tortilla. Place into the hot comal or skillet, and cook until bubbly and cooked through. Flip and continue cooking until golden on the other side. Place the cooked tortilla in a tortilla warmer; or place in a kitchen towel. Continue rolling and cooking the remaining dough. Tip: Do NOT worry if the tortillas don't come out perfectly round, practice makes perfect. In time your tortillas will come out round and perfect. My first tortillas looked like the map of Italy!

Tip: A comal is a griddle that has been traditionally used in Mexican cooking. The term comal is believed to come from the Aztec word comalli, which was also used to describe the cooking tool. It is a very versatile cooking tool that can be used to prepare a number of dishes. It can be used to sear meat, cook tortillas, and even cure spices. It can also be used to toast raw coffee and cacao beans so that they are ready for culinary use. It is a great tool in the kitchen!

Irish Shepherd's Beef Pie

Tip:  Read directions completely before preparing.

3 cups mashed potatoes

1 pound lean ground beef (93/7)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons Kerrygold Softer Butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons ketchup

2 cups beef broth

2 tablespoons browning and seasoning sauce

1 teaspoon fresh minced thyme

1/4 cup peas

1/4 cup carrots, finely diced

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Crumble the ground beef into a large skillet over medium heat, cook meat until no longer pink.

Add onion, garlic, thyme, peas and carrots and cook another 3 minutes, then set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. 

Over medium heat, melt the Kerrygold butter in a skillet.  Stir in the flour and cook and until light brown in color, about 5 minutes.

Let cool off a bit then gradually stir in the broth, ketchup and browning sauce until smooth.  Set over medium heat and simmer until thick.

Stir the sauce into the ground beef and transfer to a casserole dish.

Top with mashed potatoes.

Sprinkle the cheese over the potatoes.

Place dish in oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until potatoes are toasted and cheese is melted.  Enjoy!

Tip:  Truly traditional Irish Sheppard's Pie uses ground lamb instead of ground beef.