Couple of Cooks in Love

Fresh ingredients = simple deliciousness!  (is that a word? It must be spell check didn't tell me otherwise!) It's August in Minnesota which means the Farmer's Markets are filled with delicious and home grown produce!  It is my favorite time of year to eat!  Although I enjoy fresh corn on the cob I don't necessarily enjoy eating it off the cob so I am always looking for ways to make it with the kernels removed. Once I discovered this recipe I quit looking!  It has everything in it from the Farmer's Market.  If summer had a taste, this would be it! (Thanks to Bobbly Flay for this one ) It is a great accompaniment to any meal. We have had it with fish and steak.  I have a also had the leftovers for lunch the following day! Ingredients: 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves 1 teaspoon sugar Salt Freshly ground black pepper 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil 8 ears corn, grilled in the husk, kernels removed 1 sweet onion ...

Simply delicious! These were pan seared on the stove.  This is a perfect light summer meal!  I have made it using the grill and the stove top and they were both fabulous!  I am not a huge fan of the Orange-Ginger Sauce but I included it here just in case you were interested in trying it.  There is nothing off putting about it, I just don't care for the orange flavor with the fish.  For a side dish I simply have either roasted asparagus or a corn salad.  (See separate post)  Also, the fish monger at Coastal Seafood informed me that yellowtail is synonymous with Hamachi (the one on the right).  I enjoyed the salmon and the tuna more so the second time I made this I only used those two, again your preference.(Another Bobbly Flay fav) Ingredients 1 pound skinless salmon fillet, sliced into 1-inch think strips 1 pound skinless tuna loin, sliced into 1-inch thick strips 1 pound yellowtail fillet, sliced tino 1-inch-thick strips Canola oil...

It tastes even better then it looks! This is a dish I found in our local Mpls.St.Paul magazine years ago and it's from  Andrew Zimmern, our local food celebrity.  He hosts the cable TV show Bizarre Foods, which I actually find disgusting, but I follow him on twitter and have found that he makes "normal" food that is amazing!  I can't find this recipe online anywhere so you are in luck, it is outstanding! We have made it too many times to count, but this time I made it for myself while Daryl was out of town golfing.   He is usually the one that makes it and I wanted to do it for a change.  It is just as good in the winter, but it's extra special when using fresh root vegetables from the Farmer's Market.  It has quite a lot of butter, but occasionally you have to live it up right? Mash 1.5 lbs. Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into eighths 1 lb. carrots, peeled and chopped 1 lb. rutabagas, peeled and diced 2 shallots, diced 2 T. canola oil S...

I had to take a bite!  Delicious! OK full disclosure, it's not Oprah's it's actually Donald Trumps's !  I highly doubt that Donald Trump makes his own food, but his chef sure does for him. Oprah was at Donald's house, aka mansion, in Mara Largo Florida for his latest wedding and this turkey burger was served. I happened to be watching that episode of the Oprah show and I remember trying it almost immediately.  It is delicious! I made it at a family "girl" weekend at the cabin and they were a hit. The most common remark is how juicy they are. I love a good hamburger but they don't always love me, I tend to feel pretty sluggish after  eating one, and if you are a reader of some of my other posts you know that I'm not a big meat eater. Sadly, I find most turkey burgers to be dry and bland. The chutney in this recipe really makes them moist and juicy. I also like to smear a little more chutney on the bread, and I add a dab of mayonnaise too. Yum!...

This was a recipe my mom had in her "rotation" and it was always a highlight.  She would use leftover pork roast as the protein, which really made it tasty.  We don't eat much pork in our house, another one of my "rules" which I don't want to bore you with at this point. You could just as easily use ground chicken, but I think that the pork just adds a better flavor.  Sometimes stores will have a chow mein meat mixture, which is just course ground pork.    What we decided to do was grind a pork roast.   The recipe calls for 3 pounds of it, but I don't like that much meat, the best part of the dish, in my opinion, are the vegetables.  Also, when my mom gave me this recipe it only listed a few of the amounts of things.  Another great example of her saying, "Just use a little of this and little of that..." which now I totally understand!  I have given amounts here just to make it easier, but you can obviously do what you want too!  (This...

It might not look like it, but it is very moist and very flavorful.  We had it with mashed potatoes, of course! When we were kids, my mom would make us whatever meal we wanted on our birthday and whatever we chose the whole family ate also.  A story often repeated is when I was somewhere between 3 and 6.  My mom asked the question of me, and my brothers and sister started chanting, "Say steak Mary, say steak Mary..."   I wasn't deterred, my response without hesitation was, "Meatwoaf!"  As you may have inferred, steak was only served on special occasions.  We were never a lobster kind of family! While I love my mom's recipe, the kind with bread in it and tomato soup and a slice of bacon on top, it's fun to find new, and improved recipes today.  Over the 20 years we have been married we have tried many, but the one I keep returning to is this one, courtesy of Bobby Flay.  Every time we have it I wonder why we ever have steak!  (I have...

A new kind of sloppy joe, and a good one! Our local paper, Star Tribune , has a Taste section each week where they feature different recipes and restaurants.   I have found quite a few recipes that we have really liked in that section.  A couple of weeks ago they highlighted different types of Sloppy Joe's.  I love a good sloppy Joe - who doesn't?  Tonight we tried the Asian recipe and we really liked it.  We especially liked the  suggestion of adding spicy pickles and shredded lettuce.  The pickles added just the right "oomph" in both flavor and crunch. This recipe has already been added to our permanent recipe file. The mixture can be refrigerated for up to three days, just reheat gently before serving. Ingredients: 2 T. canola oil 2 medium red onions, finely chopped 1 c. finely chopped celery 3 T. Asian Chile sauce, such as sambal olek 2  1/2 T. garlic 1 T. peeled minced fresh ginger Salt and pepper 1 lb ground chicken thi...

We love curry!  Usually we use the curry paste out of a jar or can, but for today's meal we decided to make our own.  The jarred version, from our local chain grocery store is fine in a pinch.  We also use the canned version from our local Asian Market it tastes better then the chain store variety, but when you can do homemade that's always the best.  They both have more sodium that I'm comfortable with so I have been on the lookout for a homemade version.  I found one from a Cook's Illustrated Magazine called, "All Time Best Soups and Stews".  Daryl has been a long time fan of the TV show "America's Test Kitchen", and the magazine is the written form of the show.    What they do that is different then most cooking shows is that they pick a dish to make and then they experiment with many different ingredients and cooking methods until they feel like they have come up with the best combination of them.  They get to do the trial and erro...

Is there anything better than a hamburger?  Certainly not many things.  Especially when the beef is locally sourced and ground, and the burger is made at home.   Usually we eat hamburgers only during the summer months when we can cook them on the grill, but here in Minnesota that is a LONG time to wait, so tonight we are frying them on the stove.  Daryl picked up the beef at the Heartland 's deli, which I have mentioned before here.  When you are having a hamburger, in my mind, there is no other side to have other than french fries, which I have also given that recipe previously here. Ingredients: 1 lb of high quality ground beef 2 fire roasted jalapenos 2 T. Cheese, we used Wisconsin Sartori Montamore cheese 2 Hamburger buns 3 or 4  Pomodori al Forno   Tomatoes 1 T. mayo/ sriracha mix 2 eggs, fried 1 sweet onion, sliced and caramelized Salt and pepper Daryl prepared the beef patty earlier today by first fire roasting 2 jalapenos...

I'm not sure what it is about this salad that I'm addicted to.  It could be the combination of the salty bacon with the tart cranberries, or the creamy dressing with the Gorgonzola cheese.  I don't know, and I don't care.  I'll I know is that I LOVE it!  I first had a version of this salad a local restaurant years ago. That happens a lot, where I will have some dish out that I really like, so what I do when I get home is check out the restaurant's website for the dish and see what ingredients they have listed, what I remember ,and then I try to re-create it at home.  Sometimes it works, like in this case, sometimes not so much!  The only problem with doing that is experimenting with sauces, or in this case dressings. Restaurants don't list ingredients in the sauces the make so you have to be creative. If you wanted to make this salad more hearty you could certainly add a chicken breast.  In fact, at the restaurant that is what they did. Dar...

It really was as good, or even better then it looks! Tonight's meal is all Daryl!  He asked me what I wanted and my response was something like, "Meat sounds good, clean, not a lot of cheese, cream etc..." and what he came up with was  Coffee Rubbed Filet Mignon with Ancho Mushroom Sauce, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts.   Did I marry a good man or what?!  I also thought another Cesar Salad sounded good so, you guessed it - we're having one!   We are huge fans of Bobby Flay and we chose his recipes a lot.  I have said before that his recipes can be pretty time consuming, but there are days when that can be fun, and this was one of those days.  Daryl enjoys the steps that he has in his recipes, it makes it interesting for him, and a it is a challenge.  I am grateful to Bobby because of him I get to eat awesome food! SMOKED RED PEPPER SAUCE Yields: 2 ½ cups 4 roasted red bell peppers, chopped ½ small red onion, coarsely ...

39°. The current temperature here in Eagan MN!  Less than a week ago we were on the cusp of a Polar Vortex, where our high temperature was -23.  This is nuts! It's too dark outside to get a good picture of Daryl at the grill, but it's great to see him grill with snow in the background! Last week I was writing about making chili and soup because the weather dictated it. Well, today we are making chicken wings ON THE GRILL! We have used this glaze before to make chicken kabobs and loved it so we decided to put them on wings tonight.  Use the glaze on whatever type of chicken you are in the mood for.  It has an Asian feel, spicy and sticky. Check these out!  BBQ in January! Chicken Wing Glaze 1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar 1/2 cup unseasoned rice vinegar 1/3 cup hot chili paste (such as sambal oelek) 1/4 cup fish sauce (such as nam pla or nuoc nam) 1/4 cup Sriracha 2 t. finely grated peeled ginger 12 full  chicken wings with tips We make f...

A fresh and tasty weeknight meal in the middle of a Minnesota winter! I have already told you that I feel like I'm a bit of an expert where Bloody Mary's are concerned. Well, my area of expertise where food is concerned is, salads.  I can whip up an amazing salad in the blink of an eye.  I enjoy salads like most people enjoy chocolate.  I understand that a lot of people think of salads as a diet food, just boring, or not a meal.  I completely disagree.  I think, if made correctly as a main course meal, they are delicious, healthy and satisfying.  The salads I enjoy have homemade dressing that starts with a base of oil and vinegar and grows from there depending on the time and energy I feel like putting into it. This is not what you would call a healthy salad, but how can you say no to a combination of blue cheese and bacon? Ingredients: Time: 10 minutes Yield: 2 8 slices bacon 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese 10 cherry tomatoes, sliced 1 avoc...

I wish the camera had captured the steam coming from it!  It was delicious! Today is Day 2 of the Polar Vortex so I decided to make another batch of soup.  I bought a head of cabbage for the Vegetable Soup,  not knowing the Daryl had one in the fridge, so since I had an extra one I decided to make, of course, another type of veggie soup.  This one, however, is an old family recipe.  My mom has made it for as long as I can remember.  I loved it as a kid, and I still do!  It is pure and simple, using only vegetables and water.  I feel that there is a story behind every meal. Especially those that are passed down from generation to generation, or are based on your ethnicity.  That is really big reason why I wanted to start this blog.  My nieces and nephew have always loved my mom's, their grandma's, cooking.  As a wedding present for my oldest niece I gave her a recipe book of all of my mom's best recipes and new ones that Da...