Pan-Seared Tuna with Ginger-Shiitake Cream SauceBon

From Epicurious.com/ Bon Appetit February 1999



Ingredients:
6-ounce tuna steaks, each about 1 inch thick
2 tablespoons peanut oil
3 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves, chopped
8 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, caps sliced
6 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Lime wedges (optional)
Fresh cilantro sprigs (optional)

Preparation/Directions:

Preheat oven to 200°F. Sprinkle 1 side of tuna steaks with pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large skillet over high heat. Place tuna steaks, pepper side down, in hot oil and sear 2 minutes. Turn tuna over and continue cooking to desired doneness, about 2 minutes for rare. Transfer tuna to rimmed baking sheet; keep warm in oven.

Add butter, sliced green onions, cilantro, ginger and chopped garlic to same skillet and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Mix in mushrooms and soy sauce and simmer 30 seconds. Add whipping cream and simmer until sauce lightly coats back of spoon, about 3 minutes. Stir in lime juice. Spoon sauce onto plates; arrange tuna atop sauce. Garnish with lime wedges and cilantro sprigs, if desired.

Pecan Pie

Crust
1 Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust, softened as directed on box
Filling
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups light corn syrup
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups pecan halves or broken pecans
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted




DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Place pie crust in 9-inch glass pie pan as directed on box for One-Crust Filled Pie.
2. In large bowl, mix brown sugar, cinnamon, flour, corn syrup, vanilla and eggs until well blended. Stir in pecans and butter. Pour into crust-lined pan.
3. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until filling is puffed and pie is golden brown. Cool completely, about 2 hours. Store in refrigerator.

broiled tuna steak

from cooks.com

4 tuna steaks, about 1 inch thick (2 lbs. total weight)
Salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
4 sprigs fresh thyme, chopped or 1 tsp. dried
1 tsp. fresh grated or dried powdered ginger
1 sliced clove garlic
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp. olive oil

In a mixing bowl blend the salt, pepper, ginger, garlic, thyme, soy sauce, lemon juice and olive oil. Brush the mixture all over the tuna steaks. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand 1/2 to 1 hour until ready to broil.
Broil on rack under broiler about 4 inches from heat source, about 3 minutes per side, or grill on high (cover closed) 3 minutes per side. Leftover marinade can be heated and served over steaks.

Fruit Wine Spritzer

I had a really good drink at Tryst (grapefruit-ginger wine spritzer, so this is an adaptation of it. I tried a bunch of fruit (like blueberries and raspberries), but according to friends, the strawberry and grapefruit taste the best.

Ingredients:
1. 3 cups Reisling
2. 1/2 pint of chopped strawberries OR 1/2 pink grapefruit (freshly squeezed)
3. 3 cups ginger ale

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in blender with ice. Serve chilled.

Spiked Hummus

Adapted from Tommy's (Cleveland, Ohio):

Ingredients:
1. 1 container regular hummus
2. 1/4 onion chopped
3. 1/4 green pepper chopped
4. 1/4 tomato chopped
5. a handful of black olives
6. bbq sauce (to taste)
7. 2 tbsp sour cream
8. 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese


Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a small baking dish, combine hummus with peppers, olives, onions, and tomato. Spoon on BBQ sauce and cheese. Bake until warm & cheese melted (make sure it doesn't get hard. Top with sour cream and serve with wheat pita bread.

Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup superfine sugar
1 1/2 cups self rising flour (I've used all purpose and it's been fine)
1 tbs baking power
4 tbsp Ghiradelli sweetened cocoa (you can get this in hot chocolate aisle or baking isle)
4 egs
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
- pre heat oven to 350
- prepare cupcake trays with liners (makes about 18)
- cream sugar and butter.
- add eggs, and vanilla
- mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder) in separate bowl and gradually add them into the creamed mixtures
- spoon batter in cupcake trays and bake for 18 minutes

chocolate buttercream frosting

ingredients:
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1 1/3 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa power
1 tbsp milk
a handful of semi sweet chocolate chips (to taste)
1 splash of imitation vanilla flavor

directions:
in medium bowl, beat butter until softened
stir in sugar and cocoa and beat until well combined
melt in chocolate chips
add milk and vanilla and beat until soft and fluffy

variations (do one of the following:

1. store in a few tablspoons of nutella for chocolate-hazelnut
2. instead of milk, add prepapre espresso for chocolate-mocha
3. to make it taste more fudgey, add melt 1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
4. use 1/8-1/4 cup andes mint chocolate baking chips (available seasonly) for mint chocolate chip frosting

vegetarian chilli

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, seeded, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded, shopped
3 large jalapeño chilies, seeded, minced (about 4 1/2 tablespoons)
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes with added puree
3 cups water
2 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed, drained
2 15-ounce cans kidney beans, rinsed, drained
1 package frozen boca ground beef
5 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
optional:
cheese, sour cream, and hot sauce

Preparation:
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrots, red bell pepper, and jalapeños and sauté until onion and carrots are almost tender, about 8 minutes. Add tomatoes, 3 cups water, beans, Boca ground beef, , garlic, and spices. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook, uncovered, untilmixture thickens, stirring often, about 20 minutes. Ladle chili into bowls and serve with cheese, sour cream, and hot sauce (I prefer chalula)

vegetarian broccoli cheese soup

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup butter
1 onion, cut into medium dice
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 (16 ounce) package frozen chopped broccoli
1 quart vegetable broth
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole or 2% milk
salt to taste
8 ounces shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS
Melt butter over medium heat in a stockpot. Cook onion in butter until softened. Add garlic and pepper; cook for 1 minute then stir in broccoli, and stir in broth. Bring to a boil and simmer until broccoli is tender, 10 to 15 minutes.
Meanwhile whisk flour into milk until dissolved. Stir into soup stirring frequently until thickened. Reduce heat, and stir in cheese until melted and heated through.
Season with salt to taste.

Pumpkin Pancakes

I consider pancakes and waffles to be dessert :)
INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons vinegar


DIRECTIONS
In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt, stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot

Pumpkin Pancakes

INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1-2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons vinegar
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)


DIRECTIONS
In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt, stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine. Stir in chopped pecans.

Heat a lightly oiled frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Apple Cobbler

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
4-5 cups sliced apples (1 Granny Smith, 1 Golden Delicious, 1 Gala - used variety so there would be a mix of sweet and sour)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup all-purpose flour



DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8x8 inch baking dish.
Place apples in prepared dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Pour water over all. In a bowl, cream together sugar and butter. Blend in flour. Sprinkle mixture evenly over apples.
Bake in preheated oven 30 to 40 minutes, until apples are tender and crust is golden.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

This is a few recipes I found online mixed together: (cooks.com and verybestbaking.com)

Ingredients:
1.5 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons softened butter (I use mix the salted and unsalted)
2 cups powdered sugar
3 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 package (12 oz) Semi-Sweet Chocolate chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Have ready 9x13 inch greasted baking pan.
2. Mix confectioners' sugar, graham crackers, peanut butter and butter in medium bowl until well blended.
3. Scrape into baking pan and press into even layer.
4. Melt chocolate (I put chocolate in a bowl, and place it over a pot of boiling water. It's really easy to burn chocolate if you do it in the microwave).
5. Spread melted chocolate over top.
6. Refrigerate at least 2 hours until chocolate is firm.
7. Let stand 10-20 minutes at room temperature before cutting into bars.

ALTERNATE (if you want it to be more like a pie):
Use 2 cups of graham cracker crumbs, and place into a graham cracker pie crust.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I found this recipe online a few years ago (I forgot where), and have modified it a bit. I increased the chocolate chips from 1 cup to 1 1/4 cup, and added 1/2 cup of chopped nuts.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter (if you use chunky, don't use the nuts)
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups rolled oats
1 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips/chocolate chunks (more or less to taste)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar.
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the peanut butter, water and vanilla.
4. Combine the flour and baking soda, stir into the creamed mixture.
5. Finally, stir in the rolled oats, chocolate chips, and nuts.
6. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an unprepared cookie sheet.
7. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cookies are lightly toasted on the edges.
8. If you want the cookies to stay softer/chewier, remove from the baking sheet immediately to cool on wire racks.

Boxed Cake Mix - Tricks

A lot of times, I want to bake, but don't have the time to make cupcakes from scratch. To make it taste more "homemade", I sometimes do the following:

1. Use coconut water instead of water in boxed yellow cake mix. This gives it a hint of coconut. You can also do this with chocolate cake mix. If you add some graham cracker crumbs and coconut flakes to the icing, it can taste like Samoas.

2. Add fresh strawberries to strawberry cake mix.

3. Add Andes Baking Mint pieces (this is only available around Christmas, so I stock up!) to chocolate cake mik. This goes well with brownie mix, and even coookie dough. People tend to have a love/hate relationship with mint chocolate, but I know our family loves it.

4. You can use orange juice instead of water to white cake mix.

5. Add fresh lemon rind to white cake mix so it's a bit lemon flavored.

This is really easy to do, and pretty self explanatory. You can use almsot anything! I think boxed cake mix is great, but this is just small things you can do so people don't necessarily realize you are using boxed mix, and it makes it a little bit more unique.

Favorite Chocolate Pie Recipe

This is ridiculously easy to make, and everyone seems to love this. I found some recipes online over the years, and modified this to the following:

Ingredients:

1. 12 oz bag of semi sweet chocolate chips (you can use more/less depending on taste)
2. about 20 large marshmallows
3. 1/2 cup milk
4. 1 tub of cool whip (you can get reduced fat, and use more/less depending on taste)
5. graham cracker crust

Directions:

In a large heavy saucepan, combine the chocolate chips, marshmallows and milk. Cook and stir over low heat until smooth. Remove from the heat; cool. Fold in about 2 cups of the cool whip (or more if you want the chocolate to taste lighter); pour into crust. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. Garnish with additional whipped topping and chocolate shavings if desired.

Note:
A lot of online recipes usually tell you to use candy bars, so you can use plain chocolate, or snickers or something. i like the richer taste of chocolate chips, especially ghiradhelli. if you are making this for people are not as into chocolate, nestle will do :).

Also, many times people use chocolate pudding instead of the chocolate chips and marshmallows. this is really good too, but I prefer the chocolate chips and marshmallow becuase it gives it the texture of chocolate mousse pie. Again, this is a personal preference.

I found this picture online. It looks similiar to this.

Wedding Cake

So, Praful and I are getting married on April 4th, 2009, and I want to get a lot of the work out of the way before I start school (I'm starting my LLM in taxation at Georgetown this fall). I'm a little nervous about juggling school, work, wedding planning, and of course friends and family! Everyone was making fun of me for sending out save the dates in June, but hey, whatever... :)

Anyways, because I love to bake, and I love dessert (especially cupcakes!) the wedding cake was very important to me. I wanted cupcakes, and with the help of my sister in law, Jamie, I found the perfect vendor.

http://mainstreetcupcakes.com/

So far, they have been really easy to work with. We can choose as many flavors as we want, and they'll dye the icing to match the colors we use for the reception.

So far, we (me, Praful, Deeds, and Pranav) tried mint chocolate chip, wedding cake white, chocolate ganache, red velvet, yellow with chocolate chip, and strawberry champagne. Deeds and I liked the wedding cake white and mint chocolate chip. Praful liked mint chocolate chip and chocolate ganache (you need milk with his, so we all agreed classic chocolate will be better), and Pranav liked the mint chocolate chip and strawberry. The wedding cake white had hint of almond in it, which Deeds and I liked, but Pranav and Praful found it to be gross. We are all disappointed in red velvet.

The mint chocolate chip was fabulous, so we are definitely going to use that! They have tons of other flavors, so we'll sample more the next time we're in Cleveland.