No-Bean Chili!!!!!

The inspiration for this came from all the corn that I have laying around my house. Being that it is corn season this is the best time to cook with corn. This chili, is a simple beef, roasted corn, onion and garlic. The spices used were cumin, cayenne pepper, salt and a mole rub spice. The corn was roasted before I added it to the chili which added to the smokiness that paired really well with both the cumin and mole rub. The flavor of this chili is really amazing, a great sweet smoky flavor that when given time opens up on your tongue so nicely. The beef also if let simmering long enough is so nicely soft on the teeth and soaks up the tomato juice flavoring.

Summer Food

Summer brings some of the best and simplest foods to cook. Most of them need very little help because on their own they are just so good. Corn is one of them, 6 for $1, what a good price. The only down side was that I had to battle about 7 other small old ladies, because they just post on the outside of the big crate peeling corn looking for the best ones.

Anyway, this is three separate components. The sweet white corn was grilled with a cilantro butter sprinkled with some smoked paprika. Grilling corn is one of the best ways to eat it I think, the smoky BBQ flavor that comes out in the corn is amazing. With the addition of the cilantro in the butter the combination of sweet and well... cilantro flavor paired very well. The chicken was marinated for a couple hours in a combination of BBQ sauce, Lemon juice, smoked Paprika, salt and Dijon Mustard. Usually there are a few other spices I use but this time I substituted them out for the Dijon Mustard. The green beans are also now in season, and have the best flavor when simply boiled for just a couple minutes. The cheese sauce was a basic Bechamel with some mild cheddar cheese added, and added some great flavors to the entire meal. This was my first time making this sauce, I have seen it done a few times and realized that it really isn't to hard. All the elements in this dish played together perfectly.

Stuffed Squash with an Oregano Caper Tomato Sauce

The stuffing was kept very simple, carrots, Yellow & Green Squash, Green Bell Peppers, Red Onion, Yellow Peppers, Chicken, Cilantro, cheese, Olive oil and Balsamic Vinegar. Soo good, especially inside a Squash, I usually do peppers but once I found this squash I thought... it was made to be stuffed! The sauce is a simple tomato sauce with oregano, thyme, onion & garlic, salt & pepper and capers. Let that simmer for some time and it brings out some great flavors of the capers that blend really well with the tomatoes. I tried some different things with the presentation, but am not 100% about it, though I'm not quite sure why. The food the was great and each individual flavor blended very nicely together, there were no extreme flavors that took over.

Tagliatelle pasta with a mushroom truffel sauce

Very easy and has a lot of flavor. The sauce had great earthy tones from both the mushrooms and truffel oil. At the some green onions and paprika to garnish are great additions to the flavor, especially the smoked paprika. It stands out on its own and at the same time compliments the entire dish.

Building bridges between countries

The color of this sandwich is really what stands out the most to me, besides the flavor. There is a toasted sourdough bread with Asiago cheese, Fried egg, sauteed mushrooms, and green onions. The mushrooms were sauteed with garlic and Turmeric and hot oriental mustard powder. The combination of the two powders is what gives it the beautiful orange, neon yellow colors. I used the same pan after the mushrooms to fry the eggs and that is where the color on the eggs is coming from as well. The heat from the mustard powder was not very big, indicating that I need to use more next time, but there was a different kind of heat in the flavor of the mushrooms which I am giving credit to the mustard powder for.

Doing things like this I have found will increase the flavor so much, like the eggs in this case. The juice and flavors from the mushroom stay in the pan once they have been removed and transfer over to the eggs. Such a good combination!

Turmeric is most commonly used in areas of the south and south west of Asia. It is primarily used in a lot of Indian and Middle Eastern dishes.

Cilantro Breakfast Sandwich

Sourdough French bread with melted Asiago cheese, Sauteed onions, Fried egg and Cilantro. Nice and simple, easy to make and the perfect way to start the day.

Mid East meets Italy on a Quesadilla

So I had some extra cheese and cilantro and other things in my fridge from some previous dish I was making and had a left over bottle of white wine. I thought what would be better then Quesadillas. Usually when I make them I don't necessarily have a set plan and try to make the best combination of what I have at home. This time it worked out so well, my friend that was with me said specifically, "It tastes so fresh and is a really good combination of flavors. I started by making a simple version of a bobaganoosh. Fried eggplant with turmeric, mint, garlic, onion and salt & pepper. Once the eggplant is fried smash it and spread as a topping on the tortilla. For a cheese I used Mozzarella and Gorgonzola cheese, then finally put some frech cilantro on top and melted everything together in a pan. The end result was soo good, very tasty and flavorful. The cilantro gives it a nice fresh taste, breaking through the oil of the cheese, while the gorgonzola gives the whole combination that extra bite.