Fire Roasted Pepers

This is one of my staple recipes I cook all the time. Luckily I live next to an Oriental supermarket and bell peppers  there usually very inexpensive. I pick up a dozen and roast them over the the open flame right on the stove. Garlic and olive oil with addition salt make perfect dressing. The peppers keep great in the fridge for about one week. It is not recommended however to keep garlic in oil for longer then 10 days, to prevent botulism. In any case, the peppers usually do not survive that long. They make an excellent appetiser, side dish or become an excellent addition to a sandwich.

I have put the peppers in sandwiches out of lavash bead for one of the birthday parties for my kids. I like lavash roller sandwiches since they are easy to make  and make great finger food at the party.

I made several different varieties.
One was with turkey, another with pastrami and last one with roasted vegetables. 

Lavash is usually much lower in calories then a regular bun, not to mention that one piece of lavash once rolled up gets cut into much smaller pieces. Having given the link above, I want to note that Trader Joe's lavash is smaller then the kind I buy at my Middle Eastern store. Some things I want to note is that lavash is really thin and must be fresh out of sealed bag for the rolled up sandwich to be a success. Once the bag is open the bread dries out really easy and starts to crumble when you try to use it. Lay your lavash out and place the driest ingredients out, covering about half to 1/3 of the bread. Once you start to roll you will want and additional layer of bread to hold the sandwich together. If you are using a mayo or your favorite spread it should go on the top of meat and not on the bread itself.  The bread gets torn easily so ingredients should not really be very moist. In the past I have sprinkled some milled flax seed directly on the lavash to act as an absorbent . Vegetarian rollers go great with hummus, but once again, lavash does not like to much moisture and once soggy, it falls apart. I hope I do not completely discourage anyone, as this is great idea for the party.

Grilled Vegetables

Since I do a lot of grilling in the summer and eat a lot of red meat, I do not forget about cooking veggies on the grill. I have an easy recipe that I came up with and have being using to several years now. It always comes our great. I start out with fresh herbs. I have lots of oregano in my garden and in the summer, I always have fresh parsley in my fridge and I usually buy grown plant of basil at Trader Joe's. These are the main ingredient for a vegetable marinade. Garlic and extra virgin olive oil  other ingredients together with salt and pepper for seasoning.



Many vegetables can be used here. This particular time I had zucchinis, onions and celery, but in the past I also used green beans, asparagus, carrots and green onions. In a small handheld blender 
4-5 garlic cloves,
12-15 sprigs of parsley (stems and all),
5-6 basil leafs, oregano leaves from 3-4 stems,
3/4-1 c of oil, 1
 tsp of salt and
1/2 tsp pepper.
 Parsley leafs ground up well in the blender but basil if too tough and oregano is to woody.

Everything gets pureed into soup like mix and added to a large plastic Ziploc bag with the vegetables. Since there is salt in the mix, it helps to draw the water out the veggies and marinate them, almost cooking them half way. The bag is placed in the refrigerator for a few hours and can even stay there overnight.

The veggies are sliced and cut in a manner that will be easiest to handle them when cooking. Long strips, that will not fall through in between the cooking grates is best. However, that is not always possible and in that case vegetable grilling tray or a pan is your best fiend. Cooking times vary between the vegetables so use your discretion on how long your veggies stay on the grill.

The left over juice - marinade is excellent for bread garnish. Dip one side of the bread in the marinade and add to the grill and cook until golden brown and crunchy. It is like garlic bread but even better.
 Do not use the left over marinade without cooking it.!!!

Corn Salad

Summer is the season of the corn and it is everywhere on sale. There are some great deals out here and you can get 6 ears for a buck in the summer. I love corn. It brings so many childhood memories. My grandma used to boil it for a long time and it was never as sweet as it is today. I used to add a little sugar to the water when I cooked my corn but these days it is not necessary. It's not the Soviet corn of my childhood and today's corn has been engineered and is sweet even raw. In fact, I often chose my corn by picking one kernel of the corn and tasting it to see if it is sweet. In the summer I am doing a lot of grilling. Often to optimize my time and to avoid running between the stove and the grill I try to just grill. The other  day I baked potatoes right on the upper shelf. If I am grilling something already, I put corn in it's husk on the upper shelf of the grill or over small flame. It does not exactly grill it, but rather steams it in its husk. Lately all of the corn has been super sweet. I can eat a lot of it if I do not stop myself. There are a lot of things that can be done with corn. I find myself most often making a salad rather then soup or a corn chowder, although I like those, too. This salad is really simple and can be served warm or cold.

approx 2 tbsp oil for sauteing
1 small onion or a 1/2 large preferably sweet, diced
8 oz of mushrooms chopped
1 red pepper, diced
3 ears of corn (kernels only)
3 green onions chopped
2-3 tbsp of fresh dill
1/4 c -1/3 balsamic vinegar
salt pepper to taste.
optional 1 garlic clove pressed
It is fun to get one of the ears of corn in different color. One white the rest is yellow, of the other way around but not necessary. I start by sauteing an onion and add to it mushrooms then pepper.Corn kernels is added last and it does not need too much cooking. There is a tricky part to cooking corn. There is so much sugar in it that its going to inevitably get caramelized to the bottom of the pan. You can stir and stir but it is unavoidable. The only thing you can to is not to scrape the burnt on sugar off the bottom with your spatula. It does not matter if you have a non stick pan or in constant motion stirring, it is going to happen. just do not scrape that burnt on sugar into the salad. In few minutes, when the corn is cooked, transfer it to the bowl and add the vinegar, dill and green onion.and mix the salad while it is still hot. You can substitute fresh dill for parsley, basil of other fresh herbs, it's your choice. It is a nice side dish or a cold salad the next day.

Beef and Zucchinis Skewers

I will admit that it was not my idea, to arrange it like that but the spices and ground meat preparation is all mine. For this odd looking but delicious dish I used fresh and dry Italian seasoning. I used fresh Italian parsley, oregano, basil and a lot of it.

1 large onion

4-5 garlic cloves

half of bunch of parsley

1/2 c of oregano leaves loosely packed

1/2 c of basil leafs loosely packed

1 tbsp of dry Italian seasonings

Salt and pepper

3 lbs ground beef

4-5 zucchinis similar in size and thickness

In a food processor puree all of the seasonings together until they make uniform soup like mix. Add to the beef and blend well by hands in a large bowl. Clean and peal zucchinis so that they look striped. Slice them in about 1/2 inch slices. Skewer the zucchinis on the soaked bamboo skewers and leave gaps in between the slices. Add enough ground meet to skewers to create uniform thickness on each skewer. Wrap each skewer in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for about 1-2 hours before grilling. This does not need to be grilled, however and can also be baked. Instead of wrapping in plastic, each skewer can be wrapped in foil and baked. It does not need to be frozen then, the foil will keep the shape and juices of the skewer if they are baked in the foil wrap. If you will grill, then keep in mind that the skewer is placed parallel to the grill bars and not across it. That way, the grill marks will look like those on the picture. Grill few minuted on each side as you turn slightly each skewer. All together it should take about 25-30 min. Here there is a bit more meat then one person can handle, so I recommend to add less meat if you are planning 1 skewer per person.

Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti

When I made simple almond biscotti, I realized that once my kids see the cookies 2 dozen will turn into 1 dozen really quick and I will not have enough for a gift. So I decided to see what other biscotti I can make. I only had almonds and hazelnuts. Then my gaze fell on the Nutella that is always in my pantry. Of course, Nutella is a perfect marriage of hazelnuts and chocolate. I will use that!

3 eggs
1 c sugar
1 stick 1/2 c melted butter
1/2 c Nutella
1 tsp of vanilla extract
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of baking soda
3 1/2 c flour
1 c whole hazelnuts
Beat together eggs and sugar, then add all liquid ingredients including Nutella. Sift together the dry ingredients and add them to the egg mixture. The whole hazelnuts are added and mixed in well. Dough will look a bit like cookie dough. Line your baking sheet with silicon mat and dump dough on it to shape a log.  I use silicon mat for baking and shaping the dough. My hands never end up dirty, and the dough does not stick to the mat either. I simply roll the dough by rolling the mat in to a cylinder around it and smoothing out thicker parts to get a log even in thickness and height. my log take the entire length of the baking sheet and is about 1 inch tall.  Bake at 350F for about 30 min. The log will spread out and will get slightly taller. Cool the log off and slice on the bias into about 1/2 inch thick slices with  serrated knife. Arrange them on the baking sheet and bake another 20-30 min at 275F. Makes about 2 dozen. Cool on wire rack and enjoy with cup of coffee or tea.

Almond Biscotti

I love biscotti and I admit I do not make them often. This batch was made as a thank you gift. The story goes like this. My husband is a fire breathing,  no eating, dragon. He loves Indian food, mainly for the amount of heat it can generate and the flavor is great, too. One of his colleague's many years ago introduced him to his mom's creation of home made green pickled mango, brought in directly from India. My husband was savouring every bite and eating it in a manner that it would last. He enjoyed several batches of this delicacy mainly by himself, since even I would not stand that much heat, but more so, I know how much he likes it, so I wasn't going to take it away from him. The current batch my husband was enjoying was delivered to his colleague by his mom herself, who was here visiting from India. My husband insisted that we pay back in kind and insisted we make something for the lady, that she will appreciate. After some negotiation he found out that she loves biscotti and I was only happy to oblige. I thought that something classic will be a good start.

3 eggs
1 c sugar
1 stick 1/2 c melted butter
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of cinnamon
3 c flour
1 c whole almonds
2 tbsp of sliced almonds
Beat together eggs and sugar, then add all liquid ingredients. Sift together the dry ingredients and add them to the egg mixture. The whole almonds are added and mixed in well. Dough will look a bit like cookie dough. Line your baking sheet with silicon mat and dump dough on it to shape a log. I use silicon mat for baking and shaping the dough. My hands never end up dirty, and the dough does not stick to the mat either. I simply roll the dough by rolling the mat in to a cylinder around it and smoothing out thicker parts to get a log even in thickness and height. my log take the entire length of the baking sheet and is about 1 inch tall. Top the log with sliced almonds evenly, making sure that they will stick to the log. Bake at 350F for about 30 min. The log will spread out and will get slightly taller. Cool the log off and slice on the bias into about 1/2 inch thick slices with  serrated knife. Arrange them on the baking sheet and bake another 20-30 min at 275F. Makes about 2 dozen. Cool on wire rack and enjoy with cup of coffee or tea.

Grilled shrimp skewer

I was feeling adventurous and came up with this simple marinade for shrimp. What inspired me to do it, I don't know, probably the fact, that when I opened my fridge to put the shrimps in it, my eye fell on the bottle of pomegranate molasses that I rarely use. I said that is what I'm going to use and it was an interesting taste.

To a galon size Ziploc bag I added
1/4 c of oil
3 tbsp Pomegranate molasses
1 tsp honey
1 large garlic pressed
Once the ingredients were in the bag, I locked it and  agitated it to emulsify the marinade. The shrimp were added and mixed well in the marinade, then returned to the refrigerator for about 2 hours.
I always forget to soak my skewers and that is why they look like that on the photo, but the good thing about the shrimp is that they cook in about 5-7 min or faster depending on the size. When the shrimp has changed color - it is done. To make things look fun I added chunks of apricot, yellow pepper, green onion and celery in between the shrimps. I used 2 skewers because I notice that if there is only one then it is not always easy to turn on the grill and items start spinning on the skewer and one side does not cook, as the other is burnt. Getting 2 skewers through the shrimp and vegetables may not be easy as you pierce but much easier to grill. Medium heat is best and the smaller the shrimp the faster it will cook.