Corn/avocado salad with shrimp and wild rice

Flavor and color explosion!

Now that I am looking at the original recipe in the NYTimes, I'm questioning if this is even the right one. You can compare their photo to mine and play "spot the differences." Or read my explanation below!

My mom and I both thought this recipe sounded good, particularly with the inclusion of avocado, leftover corn on the cob, feta cheese, and a lime dressing. Great flavor combination! The cherry tomatoes from the original recipe stayed, too.

What we added: Chickpeas, artichoke hearts, radishes, and carrots.

How I ate the leftovers: served with wild rice and marinated shrimp.

This is probably not one I would attempt in Russia due to the grocery offerings, but I'd have it again during an American summer for sure!

http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018245-corn-avocado-and-cucumber-salad

Two Glazes for Chicken Wings

I've been on a wings kick recently and have concluded that we like them enough to have them on a weekly basis.

A few advantages to wings:

1) Versatile
2) Hard to mess up
3) The bones make good chicken stock!

In general I parboil them first, then brush on a glaze and stick them in the oven to finish up while making the side dishes. We have done some more traditional crispy ones as well as a sticky teriyaki-like variation.

Going back in for seconds...

Above are the two most recent flavors I tried making (from Better Homes and Gardens "New Cookbook"):

On the left: Chili-barbecue glaze (indexed as "Oven-Barbecued Chicken")

How to Make Lemon Mushroom Chicken

I was looking for a dish with this exact combination of flavors, and it hit the spot! The ingredient list is not long and the technique is not very complicated. Pounding and flouring the chicken makes it retain the juices, and the little bit of lemon in the sauce makes it very flavorful. We don't always have the best quality meat here, so I'm always impressed when chicken breast turns out well.

Definitely could be a "fancy" dish if you are serving to mushroom/chicken lovers. It's also a stovetop dish if you are looking for something to cook in warmer weather.

Tender and juicy with a pop of flavor!

Unfortunately, I still couldn't convert my husband, as he would rather his mushrooms be more fried/crunchy as opposed to thick and juicy. You can still make the chicken in the lemon sauce, but it won't have that same flavor kick. Adding garlic gives it a boost.

Another tiny note: I used homemade chicken broth, so I had to add a little more salt...but I'd sauteed the mushrooms in salt, too. So adjust flavorings based on your specific ingredients. And I used regular (unsalted) butter, too.

You can find the recipe here. 

How to Make SHAVERMA! (Shaurma): Basic and Loaded

I guess it's about time I posted a "Russian" (it's actually more middle Eastern) recipe on here!

Shaverma is a favorite street food in St. Petersburg, not sure about other parts of Russia. It's the local version of various ingredients wrapped in a bread product and topped with a sauce! Gyro.... tortilla... kabob... nope, SHAVERMA! It's common to deny liking this popular dish, as the ingredients may be of unknown origins...but come on, it's delicious! All the more reason to make it at home without that stigma.

ALSO (see photo), Andrei and I discovered another version which is called "Shaverma on a plate." I'll call it "loaded" Shaverma here. We (he) recreated it at home, and it's awesome!

What's so yummy about shaverma? First of all, the meat is flavored nicely. And then, the sauce really ties it all together. It's sort of a homemade ranch dressing. Details below!

"Loaded" Shaverma (sans pita)...I can't get enough of that sauce!

Recipe after the jump...

How to Make Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Bacon Chicken stuffed w/ Spinach

This is a pretty easy recipe, and also fairly versatile, in my opinion. The original recipe I used as a guideline didn't have the bacon, but it did have breading. The filling can also be made with different combinations of spinach or fresh herbs and cheeses and seasonings.

The dish is simple in a way, though the assembly takes a bit of coordinating. But if I could handle it, anyone can!

Here's the basic recipe:

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts
4 strips of raw bacon*
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small onion
Olive oil or butter or vegetable oil for sauteeing
16 oz frozen or fresh spinach
1 cup (combined) cheeses**

*If you omit the bacon, you could coat the chicken in bread crumbs or flour and some seasoning. With the bacon, do not salt the chicken. I made this mistake and it was a bit salty for my taste.
**Cheese possibilities: Feta, cream cheese, parmesan, cheddar, etc./any combination that you think would work well

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350, grease baking pan.
2) Saute spinach with garlic and onion and whatever other seasonings you'd like (be careful how much salt you add if you're planning on using bacon).
3) While spinach mix is sauteing, thinly slice/pound chicken. Spread pieces out in baking pan.
4) Add cheese to the spinach mixture.
5) Put a dollop of spinach in the middle of each chicken piece. Roll up and secure using toothpicks and/or bacon strip. Try to seal it so that the mixture doesn't run out during cooking and start burning.
6) Bake for approximately 30 minutes (start checking after 20 or so).

These look pretty sliced into pinwheels, too.

Summer wrap-up

I just couldn't move on without closure, even if it means I'm finishing up this post well into autumn. Here are the final (no baking allowed) ideas from my summer repertoire. This installment courtesy our family reunion in mid-August.

Chocolate Mousse

Our favorite chocolate mousse recipe-divine!

Ingredients

1 C Heavy cream

20 oz Chocolate chips

3 C Heavy cream

½ C Confectioners sugar

2 tsp Vanilla

Directions

1. Heat 1 C heavy cream until simmering

2. Remove from heat and add chocolate chips. Move into bowl

3. In separate bowl whip together 3 C heavy cream, conf sugar, and vanilla

4. Add 1/3 of whipped mixture to chocolate mixture, then fold in the rest and cool 4-6 hours

5. Serve with whipped cream

Source(s): Anne Hulley, Mrs. Fields

2 more recipes after the jump...

How to Make Tomato Zucchini Ragout

I was going to do a summer wrap-up, but a zucchini showed up in my refrigerator, so I decided to do one last stove-top meal!

My dish was loosely based on this recipe. However, I didn't have all the ingredients and I didn't follow the instructions too well. And I still had good results. So what I'm trying to say is that if you have zucchini on hand and some kind of tomato product, you can make a tasty dinner!

Parmesan cheese on top would be a nice addition!

The instructions said to saute the bell pepper for a few minutes and simmer in the tomatoes/zucchini/etc. for 15 min. Ummm, try more like 30! I don't know if it was me or what but I am trying to brush up on my cooking chemistry skills to better understand how to time things. Anyway, I had the cover on the sauce while heating the pasta water, so that the veggies would get all nice and tender. And then for the last few minutes I had the cover off to let it cook down into more of a ragout as opposed to a liquidy sauce. We like it that way around here.

Summer Dishes

It looks like I just don't have time for typing up recipes these days. :( However, I AM sticking with the summer challenge and aiming for dishes that don't use the oven.

Here are a few things Andrei and I have added to our rotation...

Savory Dishes:

-Chicken Spaghetti Alfredo

-Tex-Mex (most recent was pork fajitas in enchilada sauce, rolled up and crisped in a saucepan)

-Stove-top Potatoes au Gratin (potatoes are boiled ahead of time, then browned in a saucepan and simmered in a creamy cheese sauce, with or without meat added)

Andrei's panna cotta with mint leaves and fresh strawberries

Desserts:

-Panna Cotta (Andrei made it; main ingredients are heavy cream, non-flavored gelatin, sugar, and vanilla)

-Fresh Fruit Trifle (A good way to use fruit in season, layered with cake and custard cream)

Salads:

-Fresh Broccoli Salad (with cheese, bacon, onion, and a mayonnaise sauce, doesn't sound too healthy-I think this was the Paula Deen version!)

Summer No-Bake Challenge

My favorite cooking methods by far involve the oven. I find it to be more forgiving, and I also like popping a dish in the oven and doing clean-up while it cooks. Then I get a ready meal and a clean kitchen (almost) at the same time.

But now that it's hot, I'm trying to avoid the oven, and that leaves me strapped for dinner ideas. I have to say goodbye to lasagna, pizza, and other favorite dishes until fall comes around. I might make an exception for desserts.

Here are the conditions:

-no soups or stews* (my husband likes soup for lunch only and doesn't like stew)
-must be doable without the help of the oven
-limited to chicken/pork dishes
-sandwiches don't count either, must be hot meals

I guess that leaves me with dishes like:

-spaghetti bolognese/spaghetti and meatballs
-pan-fried pork or chicken pieces
-stir-fries
-taco-type dishes
-....?

*stewed meat can be used later in other dishes, though

Help me out here! 

Meals we had, May 13-19

Getting behind on blogging. Looks like it's time to start keeping my camera in the kitchen again!

Meals from the week BEFORE last (when we had pork almost every night, yikes!):

Monday: Cheesy pork cubes, sauteed eggplant with garlic, angel hair pasta
Tuesday: Sausage and veggie skillet, pasta
Wednesday: Leftover stewed pork, boiled buckwheat
Thursday: Hot dogs, buckwheat, fresh salad
Friday: Cold sliced pork sandwiches (we had a chicken lunch)
Saturday: Roasted chicken, sauteed squash, boiled buckwheat*
Sunday: Pork/Veggie/Buckwheat skillet (Southwestern style with sour cream, cheese, and green onion

One question I explored was whether or not buckwheat could be substituted in "Mexican" dishes. It has a stronger flavor than rice but it can serve the same purpose. And the Tex-Mex condiments help dress up the buckwheat a little bit.

*This was the weekend that my mother-in-law boiled us a HUGE post of buckwheat and we were eating it for the next 3-4 days. :)

Meals we had, May 6-12

Not the most successful week culinarily (apparently that's not a word but I'm using it anyway). There were some interesting ideas with so-so results. I've had texture issues with chicken breasts lately. Sometimes I think it's my cooking skills that are the problem, but then again I've made decent chicken dinners before. So I'm thinking it might just be the "quality" (freshness?) of the meat itself, and I'm not sure I want to actually speculate as to why, but one thing is that a lot of water comes out of them when they start cooking. Does that mean I should cook them more? Less? Use a different technique?

Meanwhile, I had a big chunk of pork in the freezer but I didn't really know what cut or the best way of cooking. So I cut it into chunks and tried to have it turn into a sort of goulash. It never really got tender, though. When meat is tough I'm never sure if it's over or under-cooked. I think I probably should have given it some more time.

Monday: Chicken breasts stuffed with bacon and feta, potatoes, brussels sprouts

Tuesday: Pizza from scratch

Wednesday: Chicken-veggie-rice mix tossed with cheese and "southwestern" spices

Thursday: Same thing but with buckwheat this time!

Friday: Didn't write anything down for some reason

Saturday: Pizza (made by friends)

Sunday: Pork stewed in the oven, buckwheat

Meals we had, April 29-May 5

Once again we had mainly chicken and pork dishes. I've been noticing a lack of vegetables, so I'll work on adding some in this week. Andrei doesn't like cooked vegetables that much, so sometimes it's just a matter of steaming or sauteeing some frozen vegetables and having them on the side. We also had pelmeni twice, but at least we had substantial lunches those days.

The details on what we ate last week:

-Monday dinner: Pork roast, rice with mushrooms
-Tuesday dinner: Chicken in mushroom cream sauce with angel hair pasta
-Wednesday dinner: Boiled buckwheat stir-fried with pork, bell peppers, and fresh herbs
-Thursday dinner: Pelmeni (we had a chicken lunch with my in-laws and were at a meeting in the evening)
-Friday dinner: Pork roast under a shredded potato/cheese crust
-Saturday dinner: Pork Roast Mexico City (family recipe)
-Sunday dinner: Boiled pelmeni, with Brussels sprouts on the side (again we had a chicken lunch)

Baked desserts/snacks: Pumpkin muffins, Cheesecake brownies, Cheddar drop biscuits, Cheesecake jam tarts

Meals we had, April 22-28

New series! I don’t always have time to edit and post recipes, but I’m going to do a little retroactive menu “planning” and just type up what we ate all week, to use for meal ideas in the future.

Note: My in-laws generally deliver groceries and some cooked meals to us regularly. I organize the week’s meals around those ingredients, along with using up leftovers. If we are having a repeat combination then I try to change the presentation. If I want to use a particular recipe then I start with something we already have and buy the rest of the needed ingredients. But I try not to buy a lot of additional groceries if we already have something in the refrigerator that needs to be used.

Breakfasts: Eggs
Lunches: Homemade soups with sour cream and fresh herbs; bread with cheese or a slice of meat

-Monday dinner: Fried potatoes (Russian-style) with sliced pork and steamed broccoli
-Tuesday dinner: Scalloped potatoes with cubes of pork
-Wednesday dinner: Boiled pelmeni with sauteed green beans
-Thursday dinner: Eggless meatballs (we ran out of eggs) and boiled potatoes
-Friday dinner: Homemade popcorn chicken with angel hair pasta (we just make plain and garnish with cheese/butter)
-Saturday dinner: Pizza made with this crust and using leftover meatballs/popcorn chicken as toppings
-Sunday dinner: Chicken-bacon-cheese bake with boiled buckwheat and sauteed bell pepper

Looks like we need to add more veggies to the menu. Got any recipes to recommend?

How to Make Roasted Pork Shoulder

When I used to cook meat, I found that it was usually hit or miss as to whether it came out well or not. It would come out well and I would think I had the hang of it, only to have it turn out tough and flavorless the next time. It turns out, intuition isn't enough. I would like to learn more about food chemistry, either by taking a course or reading some books. For now, I'm glad there are lots of recipes available for the culinary challenged.

One thing that made a huge difference was actually trying to follow the recipe. A lot of times I would do a different cooking temperature or use a different cut of meat than recommended, and not get the desired results.

Now I go to the store FIRST, see what cuts of meat are available, and then find recipes based on that.

One day a few years ago, I bought a chunk of pork and translated the name of the cut from Russian to English: "shoulder." That led me to a recipe which is now my favorite fool-proof way of roasting pork shoulder. It's not a slow cooking, pulled pork kind of recipe. It's a roast that will be done in a few hours depending on its size and how long you want to brine it (easily put together the night before or the morning/afternoon before cooking).

Of course checking the doneness is still a little tricky. Learning how to use a meat thermometer is on my list of cooking goals! I still have great success with this recipe, though.

Here's the recipe, and my photo is below. Roasted Pork Shoulder from Foodnetwork.com

How to Make Tender Chicken Morsels

I really want to keep up with this blog, but it's SO hard to find the time! We'll see how it goes. Here is a chicken success I had recently.

Somehow I got the idea of looking for recipes for "popcorn" chicken. I think it was after I experimented with wings (I'll get around to posting that, too).

It can be hard to keep chicken breast moist, but this method works. Note that the chicken bites are baked, not fried.

The technique is a combination of these two recipes here and here: the "shake and bake" flavoring idea mixed with a baking technique.

Kid-friendly, but could be jazzed up?

How to Make Quick Beef (or Chicken) Curry

There is no claim to Indian authenticity here! Just a quick weekday skillet meal in a curry sauce.

How to Make Spaghetti Pie

"Spaghetti Pie"-type dishes scared me when I was little. Maybe it's the whole "foods touching" problem. But nowadays I'm a fan of one-dish meals. It makes it a lot easier to serve, reheat, etc.

I also like to bring new life to leftovers instead of eating the same thing a few days in a row, and this recipe makes good use of whatever pasta and sauce you have hanging around.

Oh, and one more plus...it's like a lazy lasagna dish, as the components are similar but you don't have to take the time to get all the layers perfect. :)

How to Make Chicken Curry Burgers

Obviously, I like chicken. :)

I even buy ground chicken instead of beef. I won't go into details, but it seems like the safer choice.

This recipe comes out nice and moist, and the curry is just one flavor option.

How to Make Spinach Quiche

This was a labor of love that my mom took on for my sister's baby shower. And by that I mean that it was much too hot to have the oven on, but she did the baking anyway, ahead of time, and we got the sweating over with.

I am looking forward to making quiche here in Russia once the weather cools down a bit.

The traditional filling here is a spinach mixture (far right), which is DELICIOUS, but as you can see from the photo, many combinations are possible, and may be necessary for me as I don't come across spinach very regularly. The broccoli one, for instance, was also tasty.

Recipe below...

How to Make Ranch Chicken (Guest Post)

Here's another tantalizing recipe from my sister...

*See update at bottom of post for my modifications, with photo!

Now, I'm not sure how readily available Ranch Dressing is here in Russia. So I did a quick search and found a dressing recipe at allrecipes.com: Ranch Dressing. The ingredients look similar to my Russian Peasant Dip, which has a tasty flavor.

In fact, the recipe might even be tastier with the homemade dressing.

Check it out after the jump.