Quote of the Week

High-tech tomatoes.  Mysterious milk.  Super squash.  Are we supposed to eat this stuff?  Or is it going to eat us?  - Annita Manning

Magazine Monday

Summer is here and what goes better with the heat than a warm, tasty burger.  Well, this edition of Magazine Monday has a wonderful recipe for Cheddar Burgers with Red Onion Jam courtesy of the July 2009 edition of Cooking Light.  The onion jam actually surprised me in its simplicity but delivers such wonderful taste.  So fire up that grill and chow down on these wonderful burgers.

Cheddar Burgers with Red Onion Jam 

Ingredients

Jam:

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 4 cups vertically sliced red onion
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• 4 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 3/4 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

Burgers:

• 3/4 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 pound extra-lean groundbeef
• Cooking spray
• 4 (1/2-ounce) slices white cheddar cheese
• 4 (1 1/2-ounce) hamburger buns, toasted
• 4 teaspoons canola mayonnaise

Preparation

1. Prepare grill to medium-high heat.
2. To prepare jam, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. 
3. Add onion; sauté 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low; stir in sugar, vinegar, and thyme. Cover and cook 10 minutes or until onion is very tender. Remove from heat.
4. To prepare burgers, combine oregano, salt, garlic powder, and beef. Divide mixture into 4 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty.
5. Place on grill rack coated with cooking spray; cook 2 minutes. Turn patties over. Place 1 cheese slice on each patty; cook 2 minutes or until done.
6. Spread cut sides of each bun with 1/2 teaspoon mayonnaise. Place 1 patty on bottom half of each bun; top each with 1/4 cup onion jam and bun top.

Quote of the Week

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.  - Voltaire

Magazine Monday

Today's recipe comes from the June/July 2008 edition of Taste of Home's Healthy Cooking. I have tweaked the sauce a little here and there trying to suit everyone's personal tastes but decided to post the original recipe for Chipotle-Sparked Mustard Salmon. I have had many compliments about this dish and very few complaints so I hope you enjoy it. 

Chipotle-Sparked Mustard Salmon 

Ingredients

• 6 salmon fillets (4 ounces each)
• 1/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup prepared horseradish
• 1/4 cup stone-ground mustard
• 1/4 tsp lemon-pepper seasoning
• 1 tsp minced chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
• 1 tsp snipped fresh dill

Directions

1. Place salmon in a foil-lined 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan.
2. Combine the mayonnaise, horseradish, mustard, lemon-pepper and chipotle pepper; spread over fillets.
3. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Sprinkle with dill.

Quote of the Week

Vegetables are a must on a diet.  I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie. 

~ Jim Davis

Worldly Wednesday - Argentina

Argentina is a our country of focus for this edition of Worldly Wednesday.  Argentina, a Spanish colony from the sixteenth century until independence in 1816, is three times the size of Texas and occupies most of the southern tip of South America.  Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth-largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico, Colombia and Spain are more populous.

Argentine cuisine is distinctive in South America because of its strong resemblance to Spanish, Italian, French and other European cuisines while the cuisine of the Argentine Northwest has more elements of Andean cuisine.

Another determining factor in Argentine cuisine is that the country is one of the world's major food producers. It is a major producer of meat (especially beef), wheat, corn, milk, beans, and since the 1970s, soybeans. Given the country's vast production of beef, red meat is an especially common part of the Argentine diet. Historically, Argentine annual consumption of beef averaged 220 lbs per capita, approaching 396 lbs per capita during the 19th century; consumption averaged 149 lbs in 2007. Similarly, the enormous quantities of domestically harvested wheat have made white bread (made with wheat flour) the most commonly found on the table, the wheat-based Italian dishes popular, and Argentine pizza use more dough than Italian pizza.

Besides some regional disparities, there exist at least two other comparisons which are important in understanding Argentine cuisine: the first distinguishes a cuisine that is essentially urban and cosmopolitan (highly influenced by the "globalization" of food and eating patterns) from a more traditional, idiosyncratic rural cuisine. The second comparison is made on the basis of socioeconomic differences.

Introducing Magazine Mondays

Because of my love for food, whenever I go to the store, I always seem to come back with a magazine related to cooking.  Since this collection of magazines seems to grow exponentially (at least it seems that way), I decided that I would post some of my favorite recipes from these periodicals that are everywhere in my house.  Now, some of these recipes I have tried but the majority of them will be ones that are on my list of recipes to try.  In the event that I have tried a recipe and altered it in anyway to suit my tastes, I will post my version here. 

Now that I have that out of the way, let's get to our first recipe for Magazine Mondays.  We are starting with Margarita Chicken Skewers from the August/September 2009 issue of Food Network Magazine.

Margarita Chicken Skewers

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 12 strips
• 1 10-ounce can frozen margarita mix, thawed
• 2/3 cup tequila
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons chicken seasoning
• Vegetable oil, for the grill
• Baby arugula and lime halves, for serving

Directions

1. Place the chicken, margarita mix, tequila, cilantro and chicken seasoning in a large resealable plastic bag; squeeze out the air and seal. Massage the bag to combine the ingredients. 
2. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Meanwhile, soak 12 wooden skewers in water.
3. Preheat a grill to medium. 
4. Remove the chicken from the marinade; thread each piece onto a skewer. 
5. Oil the grill grate; grill the chicken skewers for 1 to 2 minutes per side, or until the meat is cooked through.
6. Serve on a platter with arugula and lime.

Quote of the Week

Cooking Rule... If at first you don't succeed, order pizza. - Anonymous

Worldly Wednesday - Afghanistan

Welcome to my first installment of my new on-going feature, Worldly Wednesdays.  In this inaugural post, we are looking at the country of Afghanistan.  

Afghan foods and cooking have been influenced by Islam; various ethnic groups in the country and neighboring countries in Central Asia as well as in the Far East.  The preferred meat is lamb, however, goat, beef, water buffalo, camel, poultry, and game are also eaten, but not pork. As far as seafood, only freshwater fish, such as trout, carp, and catfish, are consumed.  When it comes to fruits and vegetables, Afghans are partial to pumpkin, squash, loofah gourd, giant radish, eggplant, cauliflower, cucumber, chickpea, kidney bean, peas, apricot, cherry, grape, mulberry (also dried), quince, plum, melon, watermelon, pomegranate, almond, pistachio and pine nut.  Typical seasonings found in Afghan cooking are fresh cilantro, mint, dill, saffron, turmeric, anise, asafetida, four-spice mix (char masala) — cassia (a milder form of cinnamon), cloves, cumin, and black cardamom.

Typical dishes in Afghanistan include rice dishes such as pilau and chalau. Yellow rice with lamb, carrots, and raisins (qabili pilau) is regarded as the national dish. Kebabs of skewered lamb, mutton or beef cubes (or ground meat rolls), as well as, noodles and filled pasta are regular staples in the Afghan diet. 

Our first recipe for Worldly Wednesdays and our representative recipe for Afghanistan is Boulanee.  These fried pastries are quite similar to wontons. There are two types: the most popular one is stuffed with local chives called gandana; the other with mashed potato. In the recipe below, meat used in the filling can be left out and the amount of mashed potato increased to a total of three cups. It is best eaten as soon as made, though it is also good cold.

Boulanee (Potato and Meat Packets)

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 tsp salt
• 1⁄2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
• 2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
• 4 green onions (green leaves only), chopped
• 1 cup mashed potatoes
• vegetable oil
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1⁄2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1⁄2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 package square wonton wrappers

Directions

1. Add 1⁄2 tsp salt, cayenne pepper (if using), cilantro, and green onions to mashed potatoes and mix well.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Brown beef with pepper, 1 teaspoon salt, and ground coriander.
3. Mix ground beef with mashed potatoes. Let cool.
4. Take a wonton wrapper and place a spoonful of filling in the middle.  Wet edges of the wrapper with a little water. Fold over into a triangle. Cross over points of triangle and press to seal.  Flatten with your hand.
5. Heat 1⁄2 inch oil in a skillet and fry boulanee in batches until brown on both sides, for about 4–5 minutes. Fry only a few at a time. Do not let them touch one another.
6. Serve with hot mint tea.

So there you have our first recipe for Worldly Wednesdays.  I do hope you will try it and that you enjoy it.  Make sure to check back next Wednesday when our feature country will be Albania. Until then:  Cook! Eat! Love! Enjoy!