Garlicy, peppery chicken & potatoes

This is an old standby of mine - the kinda recipe I give to my husband over the phone so he can make if I'm running late :)

Ingredients:
4 Chicken breasts
1 -2 tbs red pepper flakes
salt & pepper to taste
Garlic cloves - a whole head, peeled, whole
olive oil
potatoes - how ever many you need
aluminum foil
2 oven safe dishes

Main Course

• In an oven safe dish I place my cleaned (trimmed fat) chicken breasts
  
• Cover the chicken with olive oil
  
• add about a tablespoon of red pepper flakes to the olive oil (add up to two if you like things hot)
• place 1/2 of the cloves in the dish in the olive oil
• Cover with foil
  
• Bake at 400 degrees until cooked - which should be about 30minutes

To make the side of potatoes with it -

• mix some olive oil; red pepper flakes; salt & black pepper and toss cubed potatoes in it
• place in oven safe dish and bake with the olive oil you coated it in....sometimes I add a little extra than just a coating so they don't stick to the dish.
• The Potatoes will take longer than 30 minutes so they should be placed in the oven first so that the chicken doesn't dry out while waiting for the potatoes
• 
  
• TIP: I've tried cooking the chicken & potatoes together in one dish and it just hasn't worked for me b/c the potatoes don't get that crispiness that I love so much - they get too mushy bc they are nearly drowned in olive oil when cooked w/the chicken.
• I also like to serve this with a veggie so I recommend steamed broccoli...you can always add some of the left over olive oil from the chicken to the broccoli for extra flavor...also I sometimes remove olive oil and use it for bread dipping - especially since its got those HUGE cloves of garlic that are in it and ALL tasty!
  

Hope you enjoy!!! :)

My homemade Fried Rice...

Adam wanted fried rice ( he hates rice almost any rice) so I , like a good wife, decided to make this with the salmon I have been lusting over in my head. So with all that I had in the house and a recipe from www.ehow.com I improvised!

Need:
2 eggs
matchstick carrots
peas
2 cups of long grain rice cooked and chilled (the longer the better!!!)
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 cloves of minced garlic
1tsp red pepper flakes
cooking oil
cooked cut up meat if you like (pork, shrimp, chicken)
WOK :)

How to do it!

• Cook your rice

FYI - the 2 cup measurement is POST cooking.
I cooked mine in chicken bullion so it picked up that flavor.
Cook the rice either the night before so it is COMPLETELY cooled prior to frying OR
Cook your rice and then cool it in the freezer for some time...CANNOT be warm!!!
ALSO long grain is the best bc it will not become STICKY like short grain rice will...if you like sticky then disregard this but true fried rice isn't.

• Saute your onions with minced garlic, red pepper flakes and ginger.
  
• We didn't add any veggies/meat bc we dint have it at home- but at this point:

• Add your veggies and meat and cook for 5 minutes.

• When rice is "ready" add it to the wok and mix it in
• Create a circle with your rice mixture and crack open two eggs into the pan...you will want to scramble these in the center and when it looks cooked...integrate in into your rice mixture.
• Once you have done this you can add the soy sauce and mix...cook rice for a few more minutes and it should be done.
• During cooking I added some leftover sesame seeds from my salmon (recipe in blog) and that gave it a nice flavor too...

Enjoy!

Sesame Seed Encrusted Wasabi Salmon... Quick and somewhat impressive

Adam and I loved this last night! It looked great, and tasted great! - I will post a pic soon - it is great if you are having company and want something you can make REALLY quick plus its unique.

What you need:

• Salmon - I bought a 1lb bag of salmon and it was cut in four small pieces which were great for cooking with.
• wasabi powder
• 2 tablespoons half and half
• water
• sesame seeds
• cooking oil
• soy sauce
  

Cook it!

Prepare wasabi sauce:

• Ok for every 1 tsp of wasabi powder you need to add 1 tsp of water...this is just a drizzle over the top of your salmon so you can make as little or as much as you want but remember its HOT I used about 6...could have used less bc Adam yelped a couple times...oh well LOL. Blend it with spoon/fork
  
• Set it aside for 10 minutes to thicken
  
• After 10 min -add the 2 tablespoons of half and half and stir
  

• Thaw salmon if it is frozen and pat dry with a paper towel
• Coat each side in sesame seeds...be generous some fall off while transferring and cooking.
• Coat frying pan with oil and place salmon in pan...cook until it is flaky
• After Salmon is cooked - put it on the plate and drizzle with wasabi sauce.
• Have some soy sauce available for dipping on the side.
  
• ENJOY!

I served this with homemade fried rice...recipe on this blog!

FUN! Stoli Vanilla Java Jolt

This recipe is taken from the Cheesecake Factory drink list! ~Obrigado! (thank you)~
pic from istock photo






Stoli Vanilla
Bailey's Irish Cream
Godiva Chocolate Liqueur
Godiva Espresso Liqueur
Half and Half
ICE!

Equal Parts of each into a martini glass...A-Mazing!!!!
YUMMY!!!

Shrimp Scampi Pasta

Recipe from Gourmet /April 2006

Pic from istock photo
4 servings




What you need:

• 1/4 c olive oil
• 1 lb cooked peeled shrimp
• 4 large garlic cloves chopped
• 1/2 tsp dried hot red pepper flakes (more if u like it HOT)
• 1/2 c dry white wine
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 5 tbsp unsalted butter ( I typically use a little more than this for better coverage)
  
• 3/4 lb capellini (angelhair)
• 1/2 c chopped parsley

DO IT!

• heat oil in skillet and saute garlic
• ADD red pepper, wine, salt and pepper cook over high heat & stir
• Add butter to skillet stir until melted
• ADD shrimp
• Cook your pasta per its directions
  
• Serve shrimp and sauce over pasta and ENJOY!
  

Portuguese Octopus - yeah that's right!!!

What you need:
1 octopus - we get them at specialty stores frozen w/ ink removed already
1 large onion chopped
Olive oil
1 can large tomato sauce
2 tablespoons of Portuguese allspice ( if you need it I can always send you what the ingredients are...I believe its tumeric, paprika & ground orange peel)
1/2 tbs paprika
1 tbs black pepper
1 tbs red crushed pepper
1/2 can of Guiness
3/4 c red wine (traditionally Portuguese wine which is pretty sweet so use your equivalent)
1 packet of Sazon Goya
1/2 dozen small potatoes cubed

DO it!

• Skin the octopus hood and webbing and cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks
• Sautee onion in olive oil and then add octopus once onion has softened
• Octopus will excrete ALOT of water during this time - do not discard it...and it will be pinkish...this is ok...the octopus decreases alot in size at this point as well...
• Once it starts to look "cooked" - looks harder/tough comparitively you will want to add it to a large soup pot w/ onions
• Add potatoes to this pot - RAW - they will cook in octopus' juices
• Add beer, wine, tomato sauce and stir
• Bring to Boil
• Add remaining dry ingredients (sometimes i also add hot sauce for extra kick)
• Stir frequently and bring to boil
• Cover and simmer for 45-75 minutes (time varies depending on the toughness of the octopus)
  
• You want to stir this pretty regularly or else it will begin to stick to the bottom
• You will know it is cooked bc the potatoes will be VERY soft and you should taste the octopus...it will NOT be chewy if it is completely done...
• This cook time usually takes the full hour and ten/fifteen for me to cook...and prep time is laborious to say the least...it takes both Adam and I doing the skinning and cutting for this to be 1/2 process...BUT SO WORTH IT!!!

Please feel free to email me with any questions if you truly want help making this.
The spices can be a little off bc I usually dont measure anything out and make this "to taste" as it is a family recipe. BOM APETITE!!!!

(botom pic is what they look like frozen...like a small basketball)

My Oh My Mahi Mahi Almondine

What you need:
Mahi Mahi
1/2 c olive oil
1/3 cup lemon juice
3tsp minced garlic
salt and pepper
1/3 c slivered almonds
2tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp minced parsley (or flakes)

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
  

• Thaw and then dry fillets with paper towel
• Saute almonds and butter for a few minutes until things look toasty
  
• Then add parsley and slowly add the lemon juice
• Place thawed mahi mahi in an oven safe dish (i use my square pyrex dish)
  
• Place lemon and almond mixture over the Mahi Mahi and add salt and pepper (to your taste)
• Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake in oven until fish is flaky
  

This is so quick and easy...Mahi Mahi doesnt take very long to cook either so just watch your fish!