Crab Mac n' Cheese with Black Truffle Cheese Sauce

Ah comfort food. It's been cold and windy here in Las Vegas (yes, it does get cold) so I wanted to make something to comfort the soul. What better thing to warm the soul than a consoling bowl of macaroni and cheese ! This isn't your everyday Mac n' Cheese I know, but the King Crab and Truffle butter was screaming out to do something with them. I did... here it is.

Ingredients :

2 cups dried large elbow pasta

2 TB sea salt, for boiling water

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

1 cup milk, (don't use skim or lowfat.we want fat!)

1 cup cream, half n half

1 1/2 cup Gruyere cheese, shredded ( I used Emmi Swiss Imported)

1 cup aged cheddar, ( I used Kerrigold Ireland Imported)

1-2 cups King Crab, cut into chunks.

2 Tb Black Truffle Butter ( Whole Foods has a great one)

Breadcrumb Topping :

1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs

1 TB of bacon, cooked and crumbled fine (1-2 slices of bacon)

1 TB Butter

1 Tsp Truffle oil (a treat brought back from Provence - France, find in most gourmet stores)

How To :

Bring a pot of water to a boil, add a generous amount of sea salt to water...this will flavor the pasta.

Make roux , melt butter in pot until butter clarifies... see through it and milk solids have disolved. Add flour to melted butter. Allow to cook for about 3 mins then there will not be a pasty flour taste to the sauce.

Add milk and cream and stir until the sauce thickens. If too thick..add a little more cream.

Add the two cheeses. Incorporated until creamy and smooth.

Add Crab

To the sauce, add the Black Truffle butter.

Add the cook pasta.

Put pasta in a casserole dish.

Prepare Breadcrumb topping and sprinkle over mac n' cheese.

This has a short cooking time, long enough to brown the breadcrumb topping and heat pasta throughout.

350 convection oven for 15-20 minutes.

Serve and Enjoy Every Bite.

Thai Me Up !! Shrimp and Rice with Peanut Sauce

Ingredients:

2 TB garlic, chopped ( I use Christopher Ranch)

1/2 cup peanut butter, smooth

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 TB brown sugar

2 tsp ginger, minced ( I use ginger in tube in produce section)

2 TB rice vinegar

2 TB Lime juice

1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp chili oil - more if you like heat

2 tsp sambal oelek (chili paste)- more if you like heat

1/2 cup coconut milk ( and more to thin out if too think)

1 lb shrimp, cooked, deveined, peeled

2 cups cooked short grain sushi rice, it's what I had in the pantry (and I like it)

1 carrot, shredded

bunch of cilantro leaves

1 cup bean sprouts

1/4 cup of peanuts, crushed

How To:

In a pan over medium heat, add first eleven ingredients, mix all together until well combined and smooth. I had to use a whisk to incorporate ingredients quicker because peanut butter will scorch quickly. That's it for the sauce. If you find the sauce too thick, thin out with some coconut milk.

Plate it :

Put rice in a small bowl and invert onto a plate. Pour some of the peanut sauce over the rice, top with some shrimp, bean sprouts, carrots and cilantro. Sprinkle some peanuts over top and drizzle with more peanut sauce.

Enjoy Every Bite !

Serves 2 persons

Lemon Raspberry Trifle

This is really great dessert...simple to put together and the flavors are awesome. I always have the ingredients in my pantry to whip this up for when company comes. A crowd pleaser everytime.

Ingredients :

One angel food cake loaf

1 container of mascarpone cheese

2- 473ml of heavy whipping cream

1 Tb vanilla

3 TB sugar

1 can lemon pie filling

1 lemon flavor pudding

Lemoncello liquer

1 small container of fresh raspberries

-In one large bowl, whip up heavy cream, fold in the mascarpone cheese, chill.

- In another bowl,whip up the other heavy cream, add sugar and vanilla

- In another bowl, mix up the lemon pudding according the directions on the box

- Cut up angel food cake into cube, spread out on a plate and drizzle the cake liberally with lemoncello.

The ingredients will be layered in the bowls.

In a large trifle bowl, large clear glass bowl or individual trifle dishes.

Place some of the lemon pudding on the bottom of the dishes, place a few pieces of the angel food cake, dot with a few raspberries, then mascarpone cream, lemon pie filling and whipped cream.

Repeat in layers until you reach the top of the bowls.

Finish the top layer with the whipping cream. top with raspberries.

Chill and Enjoy Every Bite !

Classic French Onion Soup

This is the first time I have made French Onion Soup. I really haven't been a big fan of this soup or maybe I just took it for granted that it would be a soup I would try to make someday, kind of like Chicken Noodle Soup.

Again, I read over several different recipes of Onion soup and choose things I liked about a couple of them. The taste was amazing and I was now impressed with this classic soup. Will definitely make it again.

Ingredients :

1 sweet onion, cut in half, slice thinly

1 red onion, cut in half, slice thinly

4 TB Butter

3 Tb Olive Oil

1 TB brown sugar

1 TB flour

2 cup beef broth, (I used Wolfgang Puck Beef broth)

1/2 cup White Wine

1/4 tsp Thyme

1 Tsp Garlic

1 tsp Kosher salt, season according to taste

1tsp cracked black pepper

1 cup Gruyere Cheese

4 slices of baguette

In a pan, melt butter and add olive oil. Add the onion and cook over medium heat until onions become translucent.

Spinkle with Brown sugar and tsp of salt and pepper, cook until onions become golden.

Sprinkle with flour and combine well, cook over medium-low heat until flour becomes brown.

Pour in Beef broth and wine, raise the heat and bring to a boil.

Add Thyme and garlic

Cover with a lid and reduce heat to low let the liquid reduce and become slightly thicken.

** I haven't had many onions soups but the ones I have had were really watery. I let the liquid boil off some until it thickened.

While that is cooking, cut four slices of baguette and brush both sides with olive oil, bake in over until the bread is golden and crisp.

Pour the soup into two ramekins or onion soup bowls.

Place two slices of bread on top of the soup and top with shredded Gruyere.

Broil in over until the cheese has melted.

Serve and Enjoy Every Bite !

Italian Dinner...for one !

When the Hubby is away, the wife will play..... in the kitchen! One of my favorite things to do when I have the house to myself is to cook. In the past when I am alone for several days, I have cooked 3-5 course meals for myself, I know, it seems like a lot of work for one person but I love it! I don't have to rush to get food on the table at any particular time and I can cook over several hours... enjoy each course, drink some wine...sit a bit and then cook the next course. For this sojourn in the kitchen I have chosen to do a simple Italian dinner. I find most Italian food tastes best when it's simply prepared.
These are some of my favorite Italian dishes. A starter bruschetta of Oven Roasted Tomatoes and Capers, a thick, hearty Pesto Potato Pasta Soup, a classic Veal Marsala with Rosemary Fingerling potatoes.

Oven Roasted Tomatoes with Capers

5 plum tomatoes, cut in half, seeded

1 TB chopped garlic, jarred Christopher Ranch is best

3 Tb olive oil, plus 1 Tb for later

1 Tb balsamic vinegar

2 TB capers

kosher salt & cracked pepper

One French Baguette loaf

How To :

Slice plum tomatoes in half, take out seeds.

In a bowl, combine half slice of tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Toss to coat.

Spread out the tomatoes on a cookie sheet. Bake at 325 for approximately 30-40 minutes. Time will vary depending on your oven. Mine is a convection oven and I'm still not use to it ! You don't want them dried out completely but still a little plump and juicy.

When done, slice the tomatoes into strips and toss in a bowl with olive oil and capers. Let that sit while you prepare the baguette bread or other nice crusty small bread. Cut into 1/2 inch slices.

Heat a pan and brush both sides of bread with olive oil. Fry in pan on both sides until the bread it golden and crisp.

Top each piece of baguette with the tomato mixture and enjoy ! This is a tasty snack.. enjoy with some nice Italian red wine.

Pesto Potato Pasta Soup

Ingredients:

2 - 1/4" pieces of pancetta, or two strips of bacon fine dice.

2 can chicken broth

2 large potatoes, peel and dice

1/2 cup dried orecchiette or small shell pasta

1/3 cup prepared store bought pesto

1/3 cup Romano cheese

1/2 cup heavy cream

kosher salt and cracked black pepper

How To :

-In a pot, saute pancetta/bacon until crisp and done. Drain off fat.

-To the pot, add the two cans of chicken broth.

Add the diced potatoes and the pasta.- When the potatoes are done, take a potato mashes and roughly mask the potatoes in the pot. This is thichen the soup.

-Add the cream, the pesto and the cheese.

- Add kosher salt to taste and cracked black pepper.

-Thin out some pesto sauce with some olive oil. Pour some soup into bowl and drizzle with pesto sauce.

Veal Marsala

Ingredients

2 Veal cutlets

2 Tb flour2 Tb Butter

2 Tb Olive Oil1 large shallot, fine dice

1 TB garlic, chopped

1 package of mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup Marsala wine

3/4 cup chicken broth

1/2 tsp Thyme

sprinkle of flour to thicken, I like a thicker sauce

Fingerling Potatoes :

3 Tb Olive Oil

1/2 beef broth

Two Sprigs of fresh rosemary

Kosher salt and Fresh cracked pepper

In a heavy sauce pan, place fingerling potatoes, beef broth, olive oil abd rosemary. Cover and let simmer approximately 30 minutes or until potaoes are tender. * Adding a little more broth if evaproate and pan scorches. It didn't happen for me but you can do this.

Veal Marsala How To :

-Lightly coat the veal in flour.

-In a pan, add butter and olive oil. saute veal on both sides until cooked and brown. About 3 minutes on each side. The veal cutlets are thin, they won't take long to cook. Remove from heat and set aside on plate.

-In the same pan, add the butter. Add the shallots and saute until translucent, add sliced mushrooms, add more olive oil if you need to. Cook over medium high heat and saute until mushrooms are golden. Don't let overcook.

-Add the chicken broth, the Marsala, garlic and Thyme. Stir. -Sprinkle about a tablespoon of flour to the pan of liquid, incorporate until the flour is disolved into the liquid and there are no lumps.

-Return the veal cutlets to the pan and simmer until the sauce thickens a bit. About 10 minutes.

Season with Salt and pepper. I added a little more Marsala, I thought it needed a couple of splashes more.

Buon Appetito & Enjoy Every Bite !

Wine Choice : La Velona , Brunello Di Montalcino

Confession : I didn't eat of all this :)

Baklava - A Taste of Heaven

I love desserts and sweets ! I have three favorite desserts - Creme Brulee, Tiramisu and Baklava ! This evening I was craving for Baklava but the place I usally buy it from closes at 6pm. What's a girl to do ? why make it of course. I haven't tried to make Baklava before because it always seemed simplier to buy it. Since it's one of my favorite sweets, I thought I better learn in case I am ever somewhere it wouldn't be available. There are so many different recipes out there for this aromatic piece of Heaven. Which type of nut should I use... Walnuts? Pistachios? Almonds? After reading many different versions of the recipe.... I combined all the ingredients that I know I would like best. Here it is ! Oh, one note... if you haven't tried Bakalava before, you don't know what you've been missing. Join the Bak-love-a club!

THE INGREDIENTS:

1 Package of Phyllo Dough

1/2 cup butter

2 cups pistachio, crushed fine

1 tsp cinnamon

Combine crushed pistachio nuts and cinnamon.

**This makes enough to fit a 6x9 pan.

Brush the bottom of a 6x9 brownie sheet with butter, lay two sheets of phyllo down , brush them with butter, repeat the process until you have six sheets down brushing each layer with melted butter. Sprinkle a layer of pistachio over the six layers of phyllo dough. Lay two sheets of phyllo and brush with butter, add another layer of pistachio nuts, repeat the process until no pistachio nuts remain. The last layer of phyllo should be about 6 layers of phyllo dough. Sprinkle the top layer with water so the edges don't curl up while baking. Brush with butter and sprinkle with some of the remaining crushed pistachios. Cut into squares and then diagonally cut to form triangles. Bake in a 350 oven for appromimately 30-40 minutes..depends on your oven. The pastry will be golden when ready.

While the pastry is baking, prepare the syrup.

The Syrup :

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup honey

1 tsp lemon juice

1 TB rosewater - add this after you take the syrup off the heat Plese Don't omit !

Put all ingredients in a pot and cook over medium heat until the sugar disolves.

When the pastry is done baking, remove from oven and drizzle the syrup over the pastry dough. There is about 1 1/4 cup of syrup... I didn't use all it. Just enough to absorb into the pastry. It may look like you have poured too much but it absorbs. Let cool

Enjoy Every Bite - I did !

Lebanese Stuffed Peppers

I loved things stuffed ! Who doesn't right. I have made stuffed peppers a few times over the years but I wanted something a little different from the the good old stand by of ground beef, onions and tomatoes. Stuffed peppers are known over the world ...in Mexico it's a chile relleno, in Tunisia they are Felfel Mehchi, in Turkey they are Biber Dolmasi, in India - Bharwan Mirch. I like Middle Eastern flavors and thought I would try some peppers from that region.

Ingredients :

4 Red Bell Peppers

1 lb ground lamb

2 cups cooked couscous
4 TB Olive Oil

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp allspice

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp crack black pepper

3 TB pine nuts

1/4 cup chopped golden raisins

3 TB fresh mint leaves, chopped

2 TB fresh parsley, chopped

2 Tb garlic, chopped (I used jarred Christoper Ranch chooped garlic - best)

3 TB Lemon juice

HOW TO :

-Cut off the tops of the bell peppers, remove seeds.

-In a large bowl combine the remaining ingredients and incorporate well.

- Evenly distribute the lamb mixture into the four peppers.

- Drizzle some olive oil over top of the peppers and place the peppers in a shallow baking dish.

-Bake in a 350 oven for approximately 35-45

minutes... as usual, time will vary depending on

the oven.

-For the first 25 minutes, I covered the peppers in

foil and also added some vegetable broth in the bottom of the baking dish. Took the foil off in the last 10 minutes to have a golden crust on top.

Not being able to decide which sauce I would like to accompany the peppers, I decided to make two different ones.

The first one is a tomato sauce and the second one a yogurt sauce. Both were really good but I liked the yogurt one best.

Tomato Sauce :

1 - 15oz can tomato sauce

2 Tb Lemon juice

1 TB Cinnamon

1 tsp Nutmeg

1 TB fresh parsley, chooped

3-4 Tb olive oil

1 tsp Kosher salt

1 tsp crack black pepper

In a pot, place all ingredients and simmer over med-low heat for about 20 minutes.

Yogurt Mint Sauce :

1/2 cup Greek Style plain yogurt

1/4 cup feta cheese, crumled

1 TB fresh mint leaves chopped

2 TB lemon juice

In a bowl, mix all ingredients together.