Pappardelle with duck ragu

On Baubles, Bubbles, and Beautiful things:

Whole-wheat shells with asparagus, feta, and mint

Sugar cookies with almond frosting

While Eric’s in Copenhagen working at Noma (the world’s best restaurant!), I’ll be keeping you entertained with my amateur cooking attempts.  There are no professional chefs in my house, but both my husband (Ed) and I LOVE to cook!

If you’d like to know more about me, Calina, you can check out my personal blog: Baubles, Bubbles, & Beautiful Things.  I also contribute to the Seattle PI’s Inside Belltown blog.

Grilled Baby Octopus with Roasted Peppers and Potatoes

Going back in time a hundred years or so to make something amazing.  I wanted to make a chateaubriand for quite some time now but I didn’t want to make it with a bearnaise sauce as has been suggested by every modern book I have seen.  I decided to look at my Escoffier book and that lead to this Colbert Butter Sauce.

It’s a compound butter with meat glace.  The base compound butter for it is a Buerre Maitre D’Hotel which consists of butter, parsley, and lemon juice. I added a little dijon mustard to the mix  because it was suggested by the book.

The piece of meat was about a pound and I had placed salt and pepper on it a week earlier then placed it in the refrigerator.  I was ready to cook it so I removed it from the refrigerator then let it rest until it was at room temperature.  I placed a cast iron skillet on the stove then set it as high as it can go.  A little clarified butter in the skillet then I seared each side of the meat for about 2 minutes then threw the skillet in the oven 425F to cook to desired doneness.  There are other methods to cooking a steak like this that I will be exploring soon, SOUS VIDE, but first I wanted to make sure the dish worked before I take more time to cook this.

The potatoes were cooked in whole butter with white wine vinegar, salt, fresh tarragon, and black pepper until tender.

The steak was out of the skillet so I started to build my colbert butter sauce. First, I through in some clarified butter with a minced shallot. I toasted the shallot then deglazed with white wine.  I could have done red but I didn’t want to overwhelm the sauce or discolor it. I just need some flavorful liquid to deglaze…..wine is an easy choice.  Once the wine was almost gone I tossed in the Beurre Maitre d’Hotel then added some glace de viande and tarragon to make it a Colbert Butter Sauce.

Parsley is fried in 3 seconds then topped with salt, pepper, and lemon. (For recipe click here).

The meat that was resting is sliced thin then everything is plated as shown.

Eric

Definitely going on the menu one day…….

Ingredients

• Dungeness Crab….two of them……fresh from a seafood market in Longbeach, WA

Mofongo

• Plantains….yellowish brown….there is a reason for this
• Garlic, minced
• Olive oil
• Adobo (my mix)

Saffron Buerre Blanc

• Butter
• White Rum
• Saffron
• Cilantro, minced
• White Wine Vinegar
• Salt, tt

Shallot Jam

• Shallots, minced
• Balsamic Vinegar…reduced
• Black Pepper
• Pectin

Cilantro Oil

• I’ll link this up shortly

Procedure

Mofongo

1. Peel and bake the plantains in an oven at 350F until soft
2. Remove from oven then mash together with garlic, olive oil, and adobo
3. Mold then saute with olive oil until outside is crispy

Saffron Buerre Blanc

1. Heat up a little clarified butter then add rum and reduce by 75%
2. Add the white wine vinegar, saffron and salt
3. Remove from heat then slowly fold in cubes of whole butter to thicken sauce
4. Season with the saffron and cilantro at the end to adjust the taste

Cilantro Oil

1. Mix cilantro with olive oil in a blender then strain

Shallot jam

1. Slowly cook shallots in a saute pan then add balsamic vinegar and pepper
2. Reduce mixture by half until balsamic vinegar is thick
3. Add pectin to mixture, can it, and save until you are ready to use

This is pretty hard to pull off. I’ve been making mofongo for a long time so it takes practice.

I learned how to do cedar planking in class the other day so I figured I would give it a shot at home. I talked to my Chef and asked him all the tips and things I should expect and I was off! This is version 1.0 of this and I will be doing this another time before I make this in Ohio for a catering gig during Thanksgiving (yup, it’s a big one).

I don’t make it out to home improvement stores very often so I headed over to one of the big box style lumber yards or whatever the hell they’re called and bought some pieces of cedar. They looked at me a little funny when I asked them to cut the pieces of wood to about 8 inches because they were untreated fence posts.  The person who was cutting the wood asked me what it was for and I said it was for cooking…..another strange look. Anyway, I get the last laugh!!!!

Ingredients:

• Untreated cedar planks…..soaked in water for a while (don’t ask how long, I’m still working on that)……then rubbed with a little oil before cooking
• Sockeye salmon
• Rub for salmon….smoked paprika, oregano, salt, pepper, cumin
• Mini-Dutch potatoes
• Parsley Salt
• White Wine
• Water
• Black Pepper
• Persimmon
• Mushrooms, minced
• Parsley, minced
• White wine vinegar
• Shallots, minced
• Clarified butter

Procedure:

Salmon

1. Rub salmon with spices…..rub it…..yeah
2. Heat oven to 300F
3. Place salmon on planks after you have rubbed planks with olive oil
4. Cook until done
5. Baste with a little clarified butter for that nice shiny appearance

Potatoes

1. Place potatoes in a shallow roasting pan with 50% water and 50% wine…….This is where most of you will tell me I’m out of mine mind…..this is where I’ll tell you, “try it”.
2. Place potatoes in oven at 300F
3. Cook potatoes until they are tender….this one takes a while….so use the smaller potatoes as shown
4. Finish with parsley salt

Persimmon

1. Slice tops of persimmon and scoop out seeds
2. In a small pan place shallots, clarified butter, and white wine vinegar on medium heat
3. Deglaze with white wine
4. Add minced parsley, salt, and pepper
5. Remove from heat once liquid is almost gone and place in a small bowl lined with paper towels
6. Stuff persimmon with mushroom mixture
7. Place on baking sheet and cook until done……..you can blanch and remove the skin (it’s what I will do next time)

Enjoy,

Eric

Here is a different way to do your turkey this Thanksgiving. Slice the breasts off the raw turkey, take the carcasses and make a stock then make a nice gravy to cover…..its’ good

Once you stuff it roll it and truss it, like so:

Then cook it, slice, and serve.

Equipment:

• Twine
• Roasting Pan

Ingredients:

• Turkey with breast removed
• Celery, small diced
• Onions, small diced
• Parsley, minced
• Pine nuts, toasted and crushed
• Unsalted peanuts, toasted and crushed
• White wine vinegar
• Mirepoix, medium diced

Procedure:

1. Butterfly turkey breast
2. Mix together rest of ingredients then stuff into turkey and truss, as shown above.
3. Place in roasting pan and cook at 325F
4. 45 minutes before it’s done place mirepoix in roasting pan
5. Cook until desired temperature……….I don’t feel like getting in a debate on how you long to cook a turkey. You make it every year, cook it your way.

Enjoy,

Eric

I need to buy a presentation pan for fish…..yikes!

Anyway, cooked some dinner up last night while I’m on my little break between quarters. I just need to keep up the practice so it doesn’t really matter who is there to eat it or not. The good thing is that there were people there to eat the food I made so that’s a plus!  They left full and happy…..actually, they didn’t leave because it was for my wife and roommates…haha.

Menu:

Carrot Soup (click)

Ciabatta Garlic Bread with a Blood Orange Compound Butter (Click)

Portobello and White Asparagus Pasta with a White Wine Cream Sauce (Click)

Poached Sockeye Salmon Buerre Blanc, I poached the salmon with a blood orange court bouillon (click)

Chocolates from Chocolopolis (click)

Posted in Becoming A Chef: Blogging about Culinary School, Dinner, Random Rants Tagged: Chocolate, Dinner, Pasta, Salmon, Soup ]]> http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/09/29/monday-night-dinner/feed/ 3 ericriveracooks IMG_2534 http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/09/23/beef-wellington-with-a-prosciutto-reduction-sauce/ http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/09/23/beef-wellington-with-a-prosciutto-reduction-sauce/#comments Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:44:52 +0000 ericriveracooks http://ericriveracooks.com/?p=3844 Continue reading →]]>

I’ve been visited a few deli’s lately so I wanted to take little bits and pieces from each store and put together a meal. I think a Beef Wellington is a meal in itself so there is no need for other unneccessary starches or vegetables…..it was stuffed with mushrooms and it has a nice puff pastry so there you go. The sauce for this is a monster and I actually licked my plate when I was done. This is restaurant quality stuff right here. Super indulgent, great quality, and sure to put someone in a food coma.

Equipment:

• Sauce pan
• Baking sheet

Ingredients:

• Beef Wellington (A&J Meats)
• Glace de Viande (The Swinery)
• Prosciutto Ends (De Laurenti’s)
• Mirepoix……….50% onion, 25% celery, 25% carrot……small dice for this
• Red Wine
• Fresh Rosemary
• Black pepper, to taste
• Clarified Butter
• Whole Soft butter

Procedure:

1. Place a little clarified butter in sauce pan then sear each side the prosciutto then remove each piece from pan
2. Place onions in pan and caramelize then add carrots and celery
3. Deglaze pan with red wine
4. Add rosemary, pepper, and Glace de Viande (a very small amount)
5. Simmer, DO NOT BOIL, for about an hour or two.

• Skim the fat off the sauce as you are cooking.
• When you have reached desired consistency of the sauce then strain it and place back in pan
• Pre-heat oven to 400F then cook Beef Wellington to desired doneness.
• About 5 minutes before it’s done baste the outside of the Wellington with clarified butter
• Remove Wellington when you are done then let rest
• Take pan with sauce and fold in whole butter into sauce then pour directly over Wellington and serve.

Enjoy,

Eric

Posted in Beef, Dinner Tagged: Beef Wellington, Cooking Blog, Dinner, Food, Food Blog, Prosciutto, recipe, Red Wine, Sauce ]]> http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/09/23/beef-wellington-with-a-prosciutto-reduction-sauce/feed/ 0 ericriveracooks IMG_2365 IMG_2360 http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/08/26/tuesday-night-dinner-for-friends/ http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/08/26/tuesday-night-dinner-for-friends/#comments Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:00:57 +0000 ericriveracooks http://ericriveracooks.com/?p=3447 Continue reading →]]>

Chateau Rosti (Click for recipe)

Aioli on Artisan Olive Bread (Click for recipe)

Grilled Corn with Butter and Basil

Shawna’s Salad

Fried Pork Chop (Click for recipe)

Mindy and I fell in love with this soup after going to a few Chinese restaurants in Seattle. This recipe isn’t traditional so don’t punch me in the face or yell at me if it’s not. This is an interpretation! I go for taste with everything that I do so if I can achieve something close to the same taste but with a little twist then that’s all I’m worried about. I’m not the type of person that freaks out when OMG I FORGOT THE SO AND SO INGREDIENT IN THAT ONE THING THAT I WAS FIXING….not me. When that happens it leads me to create something a little different. No worries!

Anyway, this is a great soup for those cool days, hot days, or whenever you want a great soup day……every day!

Hot and Sour Soup

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes (includes time to make consomme)

Equipment Needed:

Stock Pot
Strainer
Cheesecloth  (optional, don’t tell my Chef)
Coffee Filter   (optional, seriously don’t tell her)

Ingredients:

• 3 quarts chicken consomme (Click here for recipe) You will make a few substitutions for the consomme. Instead of regular pepper add Toasted Sichuan Pepper and Coriander. Use a chicken stock
• Oyster Mushrooms
• Bamboo Shoots
• Firm Tofu, medium diced
• Green onions, sliced thin
• 1 Chicken Thigh with skin removed and sliced thin
• 1 Jalapeno, minced
• 1/2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
• 4 drops sesame oil
• 3 tbsp. cornstarch or 1 tbsp. gelatin
• 3 tbsp. rice vinegar or white wine vinegar

Procedure:

1. Place consomme in stock pot and heat up to 180-200F
2. Stir in mushrooms, bamboo shoots, tofu, chicken thigh, jalapeno, and cayenne pepper. Cook for 7 minutes
3. Stir in cornstarch or gelatin
4. Stir in sesame oil and rice vinegar
5. Strain the soup through strainer and coffee filter
6. Place a few mushrooms, bamboo shoots, tofu, and chicken thigh strips into bowl
7. Pour soup in bowl then garnish with green onions then serve

Enjoy,

Eric

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About two months ago I made some halibut with extremely large halibut steaks (click for recipe). These things weighed about 2 pounds each and were extremely fresh. I did two recipes, one with a three pepper rub served with a mango pineapple dressing and this one, the insanely spicy halibut with a mango pineapple dressing. I didn’t post it because I don’t know too many people that like extremely spicy food. Well, here it is…..go with caution my friend.

Ingredients:

1 large halibut steak

Fish Rub

Italian Sea Salt
Cayenne Pepper
Aji Mirasol Pepper, ground
Chipotle Pepper, ground
Urfa Biber

Mango pineapple dressing (click for recipe)

Rub the halibut steaks with the salt and pepper rub. Heat up some grape seed oil then cook the halibut about 4 minutes on each side. Serve with mango pineapple dressing over the top. Serve.

Enjoy,

Eric

(Click each picture to make it larger…….This is with my new fancy camera…….funny note:  I found my camera that I lost…..ta-da)

North Carolina-Style Pig

My friends, Fuzzy and Richard, told me they were going to be cooking a whole pig for a friend’s 50th wedding anniversary. I think before Richard finished saying, “we’re going to cook a whole pig”, I jumped in and asked if I could help. I was anxiously waiting for 3 weeks for this to happen and finally we cooked that sucker up yesterday (Friday).

Richard told me to be at his house at 7:30AM because we had to run a few errands and pick up the pig from another friend’s bar. Richard and Fuzzy ordered a 75lb. pig and 5 18-20lb pork shoulders from Kapowsin Meats in Graham, WA.  From the bar we drove over to Vic’s Tavern where they had the area staged for us.  Now, Richard told me a little bit about his grill but I had no idea how awesome it would be in person. Fuzzy designed it on the back of a bar napkin about 10 years ago and it’s the only one of its kind IN THE WORLD!!!

After staring at the almighty grill and taking a few pictures Richard and Fuzzy got to work. They butterflied the pig and chopped it in half. At 9:30AM we raised the pig and shoulders on the grill that was heated up to 295-305F. We let it cook for 8 hours. All the meat was cooked skin side up then it was flipped with about 2 hours before serving. The pig was ready around 6 and Richard and I spent about an hour chopping down approximately 165lbs. of meat into smaller bite size pieces while Fuzzy soaked it in his spicy apple cider vinegar sauce.

7PM came around and everyone was ready to eat. We served over 100 people and had enough leftovers for another party that happened today. If you ever want Fuzzy to cater for you his price is $10,000 in the State of Washington……..he only does this for family and friends and you better be a good friend otherwise he isn’t cheap.

Thanks Richard and Fuzzy!

Fuzzy’s N.C. Apple Cider Vinegar Pork Sauce

5 gallons of Apple Cider Vinegar
4 cups crushed red pepper
1 cup salt

Fuzzy’s Hot Mustard Sauce

6 cups dried yellow mustard
10 ounces honey
1 cup apple cider vinegar

Go make a pig now!!!

Ingredients:

1/2 stick of butter
1 lb. Andouille  Sausage, cut into 1 inch slices           (Proctor Farmers Market from Cheryl the Pig Lady)
5 aji dulce pods, diced              (from my secret source)
5 fresh garlic cloves, minced                    (Wallingford Farmers Market)
1 ear of corn with corn removed from husk
1/2 sweet onion, diced
20 ounces chicken broth
1 pinch of Italian Sea Salt
1 pinch of Urfa Biber
10 ounces stewed tomatoes
Fresh cilantro and oregano                 (I have a new tip on how to use this in recipes, stay tuned)

In a large stockpot place the stick of butter in on medium heat. Place the andouille in and the cook for about 4-5 minutes then add the aji dulce, corn, and sweet onion then cook for another 3-4 minutes.  Add the garlic, chicken broth, sea salt, urfa biber, stewed tomatoes, cilantro, and oregano then cover and let the ingredients stew together for 20 minutes.   Remove from heat then serve over rice!

Enjoy,

Eric

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I’ve been looking for ways to stack food and I’ve gone a few different places that I won’t mention because their metal food stacking rings were about $12 each. I needed a few different sizes and I certainly wasn’t going to spend $60-70 on rings to make my food touch the sky so I went to Home Depot instead.  PVC pipe is my friend and for $3.85 I purchased all the rings I need for now, 7 total!

Oh yeah, I made some food! There it is in the pictures above. Look nice? Try it for yourself.

Ingredients:

Curry

2 tbsp. Red Thai Curry Paste
2 tbsp. Yellow Thai Curry Paste
2 10 ounce cans coconut milk
4 tbsp. molasses

Cook 5 ounces of coconut milk and curry in two separate pots on medium heat and reduce mixture by half then it is ready to serve.

Fried Stuff

Sugar Snap Peas                                              (Capitol Hill Farmers Market)
Chanterelle Mushrooms                                              (Capitol Hill Farmers Market)
White Flour
1 egg
White Flour Mixture with parsley, oregano, salt, and pepper

Place the peas and mushrooms in the white flour then move them over to the egg then finally into the white flour mixture then deep fry those fantastic ingredients in grape seed oil (Oh yeah, grape seed oil from Apres Vin) for about 3-4 minutes.

Curry pasta from Pappardelle Pasta               (Pike Place Market)

Serve with a little cooked spinach (from the Capitol Hill Market) sauteed with a little butter, salt, and pepper.

I chopped up a bit of Pineapple Mint and some Curry Leaf as a garnish over the sauce  (Nomad Garden!)

Mix it all together, serve it!

Enjoy,

Eric

p.s. Audrey and Dan, you missed out

Posted in Dinner, Pasta, Vegetarian Tagged: Capitol Hill Farmers Market, Cooking, Cooking Blog, Curry, Dinner, Food, Pasta, Pike Place Market, recipe, Red Curry, Thai Curry, Yellow Curry ]]> http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/06/08/red-and-yellow-coconut-curry-served-with-curry-infused-angel-hair-pasta/feed/ 9 ericriveracooks P6080075 P6080079 P6080080 P6080084 http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/05/27/sweet-sour-and-spicy-stew/ http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/05/27/sweet-sour-and-spicy-stew/#comments Thu, 28 May 2009 04:45:58 +0000 ericriveracooks http://ericriveracooks.com/?p=1978 Continue reading →]]>

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Take your tastebuds on a trip with this stew. Ugh, that sounds so damn cheesy it’s ridiculous. Rainbows, butterflies, and unicorns!!!! Please try this stew, I know it’s summertime but it’s worth it.

Ingredients:

2 mini-cattle chuck steaks.   Yes, mini-cattle (click)
salt and pepper
4 tbsp. butter

Sear each side of the steaks for about 2 minutes on each side by placing salt and pepper on the steak then placing then heating the butter in the pan. Place steak in crock pot……..go to next step!

Stew

4 carrots, peeled
3 celery stalks
1/2 sweet onion
6 ounces tomato sauce
2 roma tomatoes
4 yukon gold potatoes
1 cup valencia orange juice
3 tbsp. molasses
1 tbsp. crushed red pepper
1 tbsp. salt
1 1/2 tbsp. dried tarragon

Combine all ingredients together in crockpot. Cook in crock pot for 4-5 hours. Serve with white rice.

Enjoy,

Eric

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I made this on the last day I was in Puerto Rico along with a few other things. My mom told me she liked eggplant so I thought I would show her how I do that whole eggplant thing. I’ve seared it before (click for recipe) but I changed the ingredients around to make it work for a nice tropical meal.

Ingredients:

2 small eggplants peeled and sliced an inch thick
1/2 cup mango pineapple sauce   (click for recipe)

Marinade the eggplant with the mango pineapple sauce for 20 or so minutes.  Sear each side on high heat for 2-3 minutes then remove from heat and let rest on plate

Shrimp

1 lb. raw shrimp, peeled and de-veined
2 tbsp. grape seed oil
1 tsp. salt
fresh oregano
fresh rosemary
1 aji dulce pod or a small sweet pepper pod

In a mortar and pestle pound the grape seed oil, salt, oregano, rosemary, and aji dulce pod then add the shrimp and let marinade for 20 minutes.  Cook the shrimp for 5 minutes on high heat then remove and place over egg plant.  With the remaining juice in the pan pour a little cornstarch in then whisk and serve over eggplant and shrimp. Serve.

Enjoy,

Eric

Tonight I was invited to dinner at my girlfriend Dana’s house, she mentioned she was making her “famous” Stuffed Green Peppers, I was all over it. I explained to her about Guest bloggin for Eric and asked her if she would mine if I could blog about it and of course help out. She was excited to oblige.  I haven’t had a good stuffed green pepper in I don’t know how long, and let me tell you. This made up for it, and simple too, why didn’t I think of this??? Oh I remember, I cook the same things 5 days a week. haha. not anymore!! so help me, haha.

I know! I can read cooking blogs all day everyday, so what’s the deal? Rarely do I utilize them, I’m horrible that way.

Dana’s Stuffed Bell Peppers (serves 8)

2 Jimmy Dean reg. sausage, 1 Uncle Ben’s Long Grain Wild Rice, 2 cans Italian Style Tomatoes- drained, 8 cored green bell peppers, 2 lbs medium or mild cheese shredded and separated 11/2, and 1/2, a big mixing bowl

Preheat oven 425, cook sausage as directed , cook rice as directed on package, drain sausage, combine in big mixing bowl sausage, rice, and 11/2lb shredded cheese. Once mixed stuff peppers full of mixture, and place on cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and stuff lightly and carefully the rest of the shredded cheese evenly among the 8 peppers .  Broil  for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Split pepper in half and eat up!

Optional add ins: olives, mushroom, onions, jalapenos

Also was told by Dana, that they make excellent leftovers, and lucky for her she was able to keep 2 to herself and family. Thank you Dana for a wonderful dinner/recipe, and great company!

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Looking for a pasta sauce that goes great with seafood? Look no further!!

Ingredients:

Saute ingredients with roasted garlic chardonnay grape seed oil for 15 minutes in this order then add spices.

4 cloves garlic
1/2 sweet onion
3 carrots
5 celery stalks
2 Heirloom tomatoes
4 grape tomatoes
5 black olives
1 cup shiraz wine

Spices-

1 tsp. grains of paradise
1 tsp. rosemary
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. thyme
1 tbsp. tarragon
1 tsp. basil
1 tbsp. poivron rouge
1/2 tsp white peppercorn
1/2 tsp. pink peppercorn

I purchase all my spices from Worldspice.com, blend all the spices together in a spice grinder a.k.a. a coffee grinder

Remove ingredients from pan and place in blender. Take juice from blender and place sauce in a crock pot and cook on low heat for 4-5 hours. Serve over pappardelle pasta with some red red wine clams (click) and grated manchego cheese.

Enjoy,

Eric

Posted in Dinner, Pasta, Seafood, Spice Blends Tagged: Clams, Cooking, Cooking Blog, Dinner, Pappardelle, Pasta, recipe, Sauce, wine ]]> http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/05/13/will-it-blend-pasta-sauce-served-with-red-red-wine-clams/feed/ 2 ericriveracooks P5120101 P5120104 http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/04/28/buitoni-wild-mushroom-agnolotti-with-a-pressed-sauce/ http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/04/28/buitoni-wild-mushroom-agnolotti-with-a-pressed-sauce/#comments Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:39:04 +0000 ericriveracooks http://ericriveracooks.wordpress.com/?p=1500 Continue reading →]]>

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Foodbuzz sent me some Buitoni Wild Mushroom Agnolotti and I’ll be honest, I have no idea what  Agnolotti means. It looks like a half moon shaped ravioli to me. Does that change my excitement level??? NOPE! The Agnolotti is amazing and this sauce works so well with this. It’s a match made in heaven without having to pay for a monthly membership fee.

Ingredients:

Sauce

2 tbsp. roasted chardonnay grape seed oil
2 tbsp. diced onions
12 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 carrot, shredded
1/2 aji mirasol pepper, ground
1 1/2 tsp. dried tarragon, ground
1 tsp. Italian Sea Salt
1/2 teaspoon Turkish Oregano
2 Turkish Bay Leaves
1 tomato, diced
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
4 fresh basil leaves

Heat up the oil then saute the onions, garlic, and carrot. Once the onion is clear add the rest of the ingredients. Then simmer, covered for 45 minutes. Remove from heat then strain. Pour juice over Agnolotti

Pasta:

1 package Buitoni Wild Mushroom Agnolotti

Cook with 2 quarts of water and add 1 tbsp. grape seed oil then add a pinch of salt and use a soft boil to cook for 4-5 minutes. Serve

The meat in the middle of the plate is thinly sliced Iberico Ham.

Enjoy,

eric (mr. pasta, thanks for the name Greg)

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Two sauces are better than one.

Ingredients:

White Sauce

1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp. cream cheese
1 tbsp. yellow mustard seed, finely ground into a dust
1 ounce vodka
3 cups fresh spinach
1 bone-less skin-less chicken breast, baked without seasonings and diced
4 shitake mushrooms with stems removed, sliced thin
1 1/2 tsp. ground green peppercorn
Pinch of Italian Sea Salt

In a large skillet on low heat stir in the heavy cream, cream cheese, and yellow mustard seed.  Cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.  Raise heat to medium and stir in the vodka, spinach, mushrooms. Once the spinach is wilted add the chicken, green peppercorn, and sea salt.  Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Red Sauce

1/2 sweet onion, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 cups stewed tomatoes
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp. sun-dried tomato pesto                       (Use my recipe)
1 tsp. fresh rosemary
1 tsp. fresh thyme
1 tsp. fresh basil
Pinch of ground tarragon
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper

In a medium sauce pan pour in 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil. Saute the onion, celery, and carrots. Once the onion is clear add the stewed tomatoes, garlic, sun-dried tomato pesto, rosemary, thyme, basil, tarragon, and red pepper. Cover and simmer for 40 minutes

Cheese

1 lb. mozzarella and parmesan mix

Pasta

Fresh lasagna pasta, it is important to get this fresh or make it yourself, otherwise this will ruin this recipe. RUIN!!!!

Topping

1 cup panko bread crust
1 tsp. dried rosemary, thyme, basil, and salt blend
1 tbsp. butter

Melt the butter and stir in the panko and seasonings.

Bring it all together

Pre-heat oven to 375F. Take the fresh lasagna and brush each sheet with olive oil.  Alternate each sauce as you build the lasagna and make sure you place cheese on top of each layer.  Use all of the cheese and sauce!!! Once you get to the top layer spread the panko breading on top. Cover the lasagna with aluminum foil and cook for 35 minutes.  Remove from oven, let rest for 7 minutes then serve.

Enjoy,

Eric

Posted in Chicken, Dinner, Pasta, Sauce Tagged: Dinner, Lasagna, Panko, recipe, Red Sauce, Soffritto, White Cream Sauce, White Sauce ]]> http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/04/12/two-sauce-lasagna/feed/ 8 ericriveracooks p4110112 p4110113 p4110115 p4110118 http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/04/03/4-pepper-spiced-new-york-steak-with-sound-bites-chimichurri/ http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/04/03/4-pepper-spiced-new-york-steak-with-sound-bites-chimichurri/#comments Sat, 04 Apr 2009 03:38:30 +0000 ericriveracooks http://ericriveracooks.wordpress.com/?p=963 Continue reading →]]>

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This is all sorts of indulgent. It’s a great capper for a long week. It’s a great start to the weekend!!!!

Ingredients:

12 ounce New York Steak, rubbed with salt and pepper and left in the refrigerator, covered for 2 days
Butter
Sound Bites Chimichurri         (Sound Bites) You can’t buy it online yet…..I’ll let you know when you can!

I used banana leaf baked vegetables underneath the steak.   Click for recipe

Cooking the Steak:

Let the steak sit out and get to room temperature.   Set oven to broil and place a broil pan inside the oven on the top rack.  After 5 minutes of heating up place the steak on the broil pan.  Cook for 3 minutes.  Flip.  Cook for 2 minutes then add a little butter on top of the steak then cook for another 2 minutes.  Remove from the oven then let rest for 5-7 minutes. The last step is the most important. Serve.

Enjoy,

Eric

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A little love for the vegetarians that visit this blog.

Ingredients:

Red Spice Blend:

1 stick o’ butter, melted
2 tbsp. annatto seeds, ground
1 tbsp. coriander seeds, ground
1 tsp. cumin, ground
1/2 tbsp. kosher salt.

Mix together and pour over vegetables

Vegetables used:

Yuca Root, peeled and cut into medallions then soaked in water for an hour
Green Bell Pepper
2 jalapenos
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro
1 cup Shitake mushrooms, stems removed and quartered
1 sweet onion, cut into large slices

Cover a 9×9 baking dish with banana leaves, add all your vegetables, wrap with banana leaves, wrap with aluminum foil, cook for an hour at 350F.  Serve.

Enjoy,

Eric

Posted in Dinner, Vegetarian Tagged: Baked, Banana Leaves, Dinner, Mushrooms, recipe, Vegetarian, Yuca ]]> http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/04/03/banana-leaf-baked-vegetables/feed/ 2 ericriveracooks p4030176 p4030178 p4030183 http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/03/30/sauteed-sofrito-on-a-bed-of-baked-plantains/ http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/03/30/sauteed-sofrito-on-a-bed-of-baked-plantains/#comments Tue, 31 Mar 2009 01:55:39 +0000 ericriveracooks http://ericriveracooks.wordpress.com/?p=860 Continue reading →]]>

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Great colors, aromas, and tastes.

Ingredients:

Annatto infused oil

3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. annatto seed

Plantain

1 plantain sliced in half horizontally then sliced about a quarter of an inch thick, as shown in pictures
Olive oil
Salt

Sofrito

1/2 white onion, diced
1 garlic clove, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
4 ounces sliced salted cured pork
1 tomato, diced
1 tsp. fresh oregano, broken apart with your hands
1/2 bunch cilantro, minced
1 tsp. cumin

6 ounces beer

In a small bowl stir together the annatto seed and olive oil, cover then place in a cupboard for two days. In a large skillet on medium heat pour in the annatto infused oil. Stir for 3-4 minutes then remove seeds from pan. Turn the heat up to high heat then add the onion, garlic, and bell pepper.  Saute for 2-3 minutes then add pork and cover, reduce heat to medium then cook for 7 minutes.  Add tomato, oregano, cilantro, and cumin. Remove pork from pan and place in another large skillet on high heat. Brown the pork then remove and place back in the sofrito mix, turn the heat down for the sofrito mix to low.  Pre-heat oven to 400F. De-glaze the pan you cooked the pork in with beer then place the plantains in. Cook one side for 3 minutes then flip plantain, and place entire pan in the oven for 5 minutes.  Remove pan from oven then place plantains on a plate and pour sofrito mix over. Serve

Enjoy,

Eric

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I’m lactose intolerant. I ate half of this by myself. It’s good, I’m willing to take the risks!

Ingredients:

-1 lb. sharp cheddar, grated               I used Tillamook cheese
-3 cups milk
-2 tbsp. butter
-1 tbsp. dried tarragon
-2 tbsp. arrowroot
-1 tbsp. paprika
-1 tbsp. dijon mustard
-1/2 cup cured pork, cooked in a small sauce pan on high heat then chopped into smaller pieces.
-1 tbsp. green peppercorn, ground
-1 tsp. salt

2 cups cooked penne pasta

Topping

-1 cup panko bread crumbs
-1/2 tsp. rosemary
-1/2 tsp. basil
-1/2 tsp. thyme
-2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Take one sauce pan and melt butter on medium heat. Stir in the milk and cheese. Once the cheese is completely melted add the tarragon, arrowroot, paprika, and dijon.  Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 15 minutes stirring frequently. Stir in the pork, peppercorn, and salt.  Fold in the penne pasta then place mixture in a 9×9 baking dish. Pre-heat oven to 350F. In a small sauce pan on medium heat pour in the olive oil then add the bread crumbs, rosemary, basil, and thyme. Stir very quickly and make sure all ingredients are evenly distributed in the topping. Remove from heat then place over penne and cheese that is in the 9×9 baking dish. Cover 9×9, then place in oven and cook for 25 minutes. Remove from heat, let rest for 5 minutes then serve.

Enjoy,

Eric

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An evening with three peppercorns.  Red (cream sauce), Green (mashed potatoes), and Black Peppercorns  with Pomegranate, Chicken, and Pasta equals crazy delicious.

Ingredients:

-Crispy Chicken   CLICK FOR MY RECIPE
-Pomegranate Cream Sauce  CLICK FOR MY RECIPE
-cooked spaghetti

Pour the pomegranate cream sauce over the chicken and pasta.  Enjoy.

Eric

Thanks again to Diana at Pom Wonderful for the case of Pomegranate Juice.  I have one more recipe using pomegranate juice so stay tuned!

Posted in Chicken, Dinner, Sauce ]]> http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/03/21/crispy-chicken-thigh-with-promegranate-cream-sauce/feed/ 9 ericriveracooks p3200290 p3200292 p3200295 http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/03/15/merengue-puerto-rican-pastry/ http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/03/15/merengue-puerto-rican-pastry/#comments Mon, 16 Mar 2009 05:35:57 +0000 ericriveracooks http://ericriveracooks.wordpress.com/?p=626 Continue reading →]]>

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I haven’t been to Puerto Rico since I was 12 years old. I’m 27 now so it’s been a while.  I remember exactly how these taste and feel to the touch. I’m ramping up for my visit to Puerto Rico soon so I decided I would give it a shot to try to make these diabetic coma inducing pastries. I’ve never made these before and I couldn’t find a recipe to help me out so it took me about 3 hours, 2 batches, and a little patience to figure it out. I’m still not completely happy with it but Mindy (my wife) gave it a thumbs up.

Ingredients:

-4 egg whites
-1 1/2 cup sugar               If you have finely cut sugar then use it
-1/2 tbsp. cream of tartar
-1 tsp. vanilla extract           Next time I’ll use actual vanilla bean
-dark chocolate cocoa powder            In Puerto Rico this is not used.

Mix the egg whites until they are fluffy.  Slowly mix in cream of tartar, vanilla extract, and sugar.  Mix until it is fluffy like a marshmallow.  Take a baking sheet and cover with parchment paper.  Pre-heat oven to 250F.  Spoon about 1/4 cup of mixture onto the parchment paper leaving about 2 inches between each merengue, they will expand.  Cook for 30 minutes then turn pan and cook  for an additional 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and lest rest. Sift a little bit of the cocoa powder over the merengue. You will notice the outside will be hard and the inside will be a little creamy. Serve it!

Enjoy,

Eric

Yes, I know it’s spelled meringue in English.   I’ll be doing a few variations of this in the future (fruit fillings, different shapes, and other stuff).

Posted in Dinner, Puerto Rican Style Tagged: Dessert, Merengue, Meringue, Pastry, recipe ]]> http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/03/15/merengue-puerto-rican-pastry/feed/ 6 ericriveracooks p3150156 p3150158 http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/03/15/sloppy-joes-with-ancho-pepper-chips/ http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/03/15/sloppy-joes-with-ancho-pepper-chips/#comments Mon, 16 Mar 2009 01:19:40 +0000 ericriveracooks http://ericriveracooks.wordpress.com/?p=619 Continue reading →]]>

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Let’s keep things simple before things get too crazy.

Ingredients:

Sloppy Joe

-2 strips bacon
-1 pound very lean ground beef
-1 Italian sausage, casing removed
-1  10 ounce can tomato sauce
-1/2  8 ounce can tomato paste
-1 tbsp. molasses
-1 tbsp. chopped dried onion
-1 tsp. garlic powder
-3 chipotle pepper pods, ground                    (world spice)
-1 tsp. basil
-1 tsp. rosemary
-Hamburger buns

Ancho Blend for chips

-1 large dried  Ancho chili pod                    (world spice)
-1 tsp. dried tarragon                                     (world spice)
-1 tsp. salt
-1 tsp. dried oregano
Grind all these ingredients together in a spice grinder

In a medium sauce pan on medium heat place the bacon, ground meat, and sausage in the pan, cook for 7 minutes. Stir in the tomato sauce, paste, molasses, onion, garlic, chipotle, basil and rosemary. Reduce heat to low, cover and let simmer for 25 minutes stirring every 5 minutes.  Serve in a hamburger bun and prepare to use a few napkins.

I used yukon gold potatoes that were cut thin and deep fried for the chips.

Enjoy,
Eric

Posted in Beef, Dinner, Pork Tagged: Ancho Chili, Chipotle, Potato Chips, recipe, Sloppy Joes ]]> http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/03/15/sloppy-joes-with-ancho-pepper-chips/feed/ 3 ericriveracooks p3150150 p3150152 http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/03/11/carne-asada-with-spicy-sour-cream-sauce/ http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/03/11/carne-asada-with-spicy-sour-cream-sauce/#comments Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:05:39 +0000 ericriveracooks http://ericriveracooks.wordpress.com/?p=553 Continue reading →]]>

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Needs to be sliced thinner and placed on a BBQ.  It was too cold outside for all that.

Ingredients:

-2 lbs. flank steak, sliced very thin.  Ask your butcher to slice it very thin or this will lead to frustration

Marinade

-2 limes juiced
-3 jalapenos, diced
-3 green onion stalks, chopped thin
-2 garlic cloves, minced
-1/2 Corona
-1 tbsp. sugar

Sour Cream Sauce

-2 tbsp. sour cream
-2 tsp. Tapatio          http://www.tapatiohotsauce.com/
-2 tbsp. fresh cilantro chopped
-1/2 tsp ground chipotle pepper

Corn tortillas cut into squares and deep fried
Grated sharp cheddar cheese

In a large mixing bowl work the marinade into the meat with your hands. Cover container then place in refrigerator for an hour.   Remove meat from refrigerator and let rest for 20 minutes then place on BBQ or a really hot pan. Cook for about 7-10 minutes or until you get a nice char on the edges (this is what I was looking for but the meat was too thick).   Serve the meat over tortilla squares then spoon on the sour cream sauce and grated cheese. Serve.

Enjoy,

Eric

I will be revisiting this during the summer time……damn you cold spring!

Posted in Beef, Dinner Tagged: Carne Asada, Flank Steak, recipe ]]> http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/03/11/carne-asada-with-spicy-sour-cream-sauce/feed/ 4 ericriveracooks p3100108 p3100118 http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/02/17/mango-tangelo-chutney-and-bacon-topped-polenta/ http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/02/17/mango-tangelo-chutney-and-bacon-topped-polenta/#comments Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:33:05 +0000 ericriveracooks http://ericriveracooks.wordpress.com/?p=373 Continue reading →]]>

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Two different toppings that compliment each other.

Ingredients:

MANGO CHUTNEY TOPPED

-1 large mango, diced
-2 Minneola tangelo’s, peeled with skin off  (what is a Minneola tangelo?)
-1 cup sugar
-1 tbsp. white vinegar
-1/2 tsp. all spice
-1/2 tsp. chili powder
-1/2 tsp. ground red pepper flake
-1/2 tsp. curry powder
-1/2 tsp. salt

BACON TOPPED

-2 strips bacon chopped and cooked
-bacon grease                        (all you do with this one is pour it over the polenta)

In a medium sauce pan on medium heat pour in the vinegar and salt and stir frequently as the sugar caramelizes, careful not to burn it just get a nice light brown color.  In a separate sauce pan on medium heat dump in the mango and tangelo and cook until the fruit starts to get softer. Mix in the caramelized sugar, all spice, chili powder, red pepper flake, curry powder, and salt. Cook on low heat for about 5 minutes then pour over some polenta.

I used my polenta recipe (click) and molded the polenta in a muffin baking sheet that was buttered to allow the polenta to fall out easily.

Here is a basic recipe for polenta. I like cooking with this because you can eat it plain or top it with whatever you like.

Ingredients:

-3 cups corn meal
-6 cups chicken broth
-1 1/2 tsp. salt
-1 tsp. black pepper
-1 clove garlic minced and sauteed
-3 tbsp. butter

In a medium stock pot on high heat pour in the chicken broth and slowly stir in the corn meal a little bit at a time. Once the mixture comes to a boil reduce the heat to a simmer and stir in the salt, pepper, and garlic. Cover and cook for about 35-40 minutes, stir every 5 minutes or so so you don’t get lumps.  Once the polenta starts to jiggle it is ready for the butter to be stirred in.   At this point you can serve it or you can place the mixture in a buttered cake pan or buttered muffin trays then place in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to let it stiffen.