Foodie Friday - Roasted Beet Carpaccio Salad

Roasted Beet Carpaccio Salad 

by Resident Chef James Wood

What is your favorite way to make beets?  What salad would you like to see next?

Linking Up:

Foodie Friday - Cinco de Mayo edition - Margarita

Happy Cinco de Mayo, the 5th of May!
 {FOODIE FRIDAY}

Greetings everyone and happy Friday! 

As you may know, tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo. As you may not know, this is one of my favorite holidays of the year because it involves one of my favorite cuisines. So this week we are posting some past recipes AND fantastic Margarita recipe that I spent the afternoon creating. It took a few times before I got it right. My wife says this is a pretty tasty rendition of one of her favorite drinks.  

There are 3 parts to mixing this drink.

1. Rim Salt
2. Piloncillo Syrup
3. This tasty margarita

Let's start!  The rim salt is extremely easy.

RIM SALT

1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup table sugar
1 teaspoon of chili powder
~mix all ingredients in a bowl until evenly incorporated.

Next we will prepare the piloncillo syrup.

4 piloncillo cones or 1# turbanado sugar (see note at the end)
2 cups of water
~Place all ingredients in medium sauce pot and boil until sugar is disintegrated, this takes about 10 minutes.

Remember to cool off before using, this has about a 2 week shelf life in the refrigerator.

Now let's make that margarita.

This will make about four 8-ounce margaritas or two 16-ouncer's if you are a lush!

Here is what you need:

MARGARITA

4 ounces white or silver tequila
2 ounces of gran gala or triple sec
2 ounces lime juice concentrate
1 ounce orange juice concentrate
2 ounces piloncillo syrup/turbanado simple syrup
1/2 teaspoon rim salt
ice

~In a blender combine the following ingredients and blend on high until smooth.
Before pouring...

Dip glass in frozen mixture

Dip glass into rim salt

Pour frozen mix into glass, garnish and serve. (I garnished with key lime slices and a little pinch of rim salt.) 

Note:  Piloncillo is sold in most grocery stores in the Mexican herb/spice section where all the dried chilis are located. It is a very raw unrefined form of cane sugar and it is what gives Mexican coca cola that awesome flavor.  It has a distinct caramel flavor and sweet aroma. 

When you mix the essence of the chili powder from the rim salt with the aroma of the piloncillo syrup it makes a truly unique and one of a kind margarita that your friends will keep coming back for.   Please enjoy this and my other recipes and have a safe and festive Cinco de Mayo.   ~James

MAKE IT A MEAL!

Here are some delicious recipes from James that would go great with this margarita and is perfect for Cinco de Mayo or any other festive night!

CARNE ASADA TACOS

POSOLE



What is your favorite thing about Cinco de Mayo?  Do you have a favorite margarita you would like to share?  We would love to see it! 

As always we would love to hear what you want James to cook next.  Suggestions are needed!

(Be sure to check out other great recipes by James.  You can find them on the Foodie Friday tab at the top of the page or look for the label "foodie friday" in the blog posts.)

Linking up to:

Foodie Friday - Baked Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

 

Meatballs and Tomato Sauce

(super fast and easy!)

by Resident Chef James Wood 

Happy Friday everybody!

This week I have designed a recipe of meatballs in tomato sauce for 15 minutes of prep, shove it in the oven and forget about kinda dish that should please all your friends and family. You don't even need a knife!!!

Baked Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Prep time 15 minutes

Cook time 45 minutes

Meatball recipe:

1.5 lbs ground pork

1.5 lbs ground beef

1 cup panko breadcrumbs

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon granulated garlic

1 tablespoon onion flakes

2 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon sage powder

1 teaspoon chili flakes

3 eggs

Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Put all ingredients into large mixing bowl and fold together until incorporated.

2. Form a ball with your hands to size of your liking and place into a greased 9x14 baking dish.

 

Tomato Sauce recipe:

1-28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes

3 oz tomato paste

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon granulated garlic

1 teaspoon onion flakes

Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Put all ingredients in blender and mix until smooth.

2. Pour over the meatballs

3. Cover dish with foil and bake at 350F until meatballs are cooked thoroughly about 35-45 minutes .

 

With meatballs, the possibilities are endless... From classic spaghetti and meatballs to a meatball sub with fresh mozzarella and that pesto we made a few weeks ago. I put

mine over some pasta!

Well have a great weekend and please, try these recipes and feel free to ask questions.

James

Foodie Friday - Grilled Shrimp Caesar Salad with homemade dressing- PART2

Shrimp Caesar Salad with homemade dressing

by Resident Chef James Wood

Caesar dressing
2 cups Blended oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
Juice of one lemon
One egg yolk
1 teaspoon worse to shire sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon
Two cloves of fresh garlic
Two anchovy fillets
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Reggiano
Tabasco to taste
Salt-and-pepper to taste

Add all ingredients except oil into food processing type device. I am using a beaker and a stick blender.

Once again, slowly drizzle blend oil while device is running and if it gets too thick for your liking, add a little water.

Woohoo some tasty caesar dressing. (Did you know that caesar dressing was invented in Tijuana?? You should google it to get the whole scoop!!)



Now for the delicious Grilled Shrimp Caesar Salad


First I started by taking the italian dressing we made earlier (in Part 1) and marinated, skewered, peeled and deveined the shrimp.

Then I cut a baguette on a bias and brushed it with blend oil (from Part 1), seasoned with salt and pepper and baked at 350F for 5 minutes until toasty!

I threw the shrimp on the barbi, my bbq was about 600F so i just put them on and immediately turned off the barbi.  It took about 2 minutes on each side to complete the cooking process.

I let them rest on a plate while I tossed the salad.

I cut up some romaine lettuce into 2x2 squares and seasoned it with salt and pepper.

Drizzled some dressing on it:

Tossed it:

Used my potato peeler to shave some parmesan:

Then I made it look all purdy like this!!!

So that was a little lesson on what you can do with oil and vinegar. I hope everyone has a super weekend. Take care and brush your hair!

James Wood

Be sure to check out Part 1 for homemade salad dressings - Italian as menitioned above and Balsamic Vinagrette.  James also describes what blend oil (a great way to stretch your budget!)

Foodie Friday -Homemade Italian and Balsamic Vinagrette Dressings - PART 1

Homemade Italian and Balsamic Vinagrette Salad Dressings



by Resident Chef James Wood

Happy Friday everyone and I hope you all are getting some sun that is much needed up here in the Northwest. It is still 50, grey and raining :-/.  Let's get cooking!
Today I will be sharing a few salad dressings that I have invented.  Next post I will incorporate a few of them into a Grilled Shrimp Caesar Salad.

Some of you may already know, oil and vinegar are two very essentials ingredient when it comes to cooking; kind of like a yin and yang. Balancing these two things is crucial to most cuisines and learning this "balance" is one of the first things a cullinarian would learn when working in a kitchen. 

I would first like to teach you a money saving trick when it comes to extra virgin olive oil by turning it into a "blend oil" . By mixing extra virgin olive oil with say canola, corn or vegetable oil you can stretch out an expensive bottle of the good stuff with some of the basic stuff. You can always buy it in the pre-marked blend oil bottles but you never know the quality of the cut. Not only does this stretch out the value, it also makes it easier to cook with at high temperatures. We call this term a "smoke point". Since olive oil is a much denser oil than your common clear bottle that you get at the grocery store it tends to "smoke" much faster than its clear bottle counter part when put under the stresses of high heat, sometimes even catching on fire. One way I was taught to prevent this was to create a blend oil. Here is the recipe…

Blend Oil
2 cups canola, corn or vegetable oil
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

This mixture allows the fruity, herbaceous flavors of the extra virgin press to penetrate the other oil while saving you money and quite possibly a kitchen fire. (When buying olive oil or extra virgin olive oil be a snob and hold it up to the light, the harder it is to see through the bottle, the more pure the initial press.   Also… olive oil expires so keep it in a place where there is little to no change in temperature but not in the refrigerator. Probably around 60-75F is best and try to use it within 2-3 months of purchase.)

So let us get to some salad dressings…

Italian dressing
1 vessel for storage
1 1/2 cups Blend oil + 1/4 cup
1/4 cup of white wine vinegar
Half teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flake
1 teaspoon chopped dried onions
2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste

Step by Step
Place 1/4 cup blend oil and the dried spices into a sautés pan and place on low heat until you smell the garlic, stirring occasionally to incorporate ingredients.

Once you smell the garlic turn off the heat and add 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard whisk to incorporate and let cool to room temperature and add 1/4 cup of cheap Parmesan cheese. (Just the one with the Green Lid will do) and 1/4 cup of white wine vinegar to the sauté can and whisk to incorporate.

Using a funnel pour into storage vessel then add the 1 1/2 cups of blend oil.

Screw lid on and shake, shake, shake.  And there you have it! Italian dressing. This will last in the refrigerator for two to three weeks.

Balsamic vinaigrette
4 cups Blend oil
1 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon
1 teaspoon garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
One vessel for storage

Start by adding all ingredients except oil into blender or a vessel that can be used with a stick blender (I love my beakers.)

Slowly drizzle oil while device is running until you have the consistency of chocolate syrup. If it gets too thick it is totally ok to drizzle water, orange juice, apple cider or anything you think might go well with balsamic to thin it out until proper amount of oil has been incorporated.

The proper consistency should hold onto a spoon like this (I really need to descale my dishwasher!!)

Transfer to a storage vessel, label and date. This will last in the fridge for at least 3 weeks.

Do you have a favorite that you like to make?

James Wood

Be sure to check out Part 2 for homemade Caesar dressing and a great way to use this Italian dressing as a marinade for Grilled Shrimp Caesar salad!  See the recipe here!