Summer Cooking #1

I know I know, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!? Well, I've been taking care of my grandmother for the most part lately and also working about 100+ odd hours a week for the past um… 2 or so years, SO I AM BACK!

Quick-ish up dates on random things…. I have 2 dogs now Yuki (2 year old Chiba Inu) and Max (10 year old Corgi Beagle mix). The herb garden I started growing the year before last, has turned into a gigantic jungle of a hellion garden! The chives, rosemary and lavender are up to my hips! ITS AMAZING!

SOOOOOOO ON TO SOME COOKING NEEDS!

DRINKS!

Raspberry Tea (Adult Style) 

4 Cups of Chambord Dark Raspberry Liqueur
1 Pitcher of FRESHLY BREWED Iced Tea (Black tea is fine)
1 Cup of Sugar
1 Cup of Freshly washed Raspberries

Mix and serve with some ice and lime or lemon (personally, I pick the lime) slices in and drink up!

Chambord and Coke:
Ok first of all, if you know me, you know I rarely ever drink soda. HOWEVER In a cocktail, I sometimes will.

Simple:
2oz         Chambord Raspberry Liqueur
2-3oz      Coca-Cola (I think pepsi makes it too sweet) or You can use Sprite either or really.

APPETIZER!

So to go along with the Adult Raspberry Tea: Raspberry and Apricot Glazed Chicken Skewers 

This is perfect to grill or just fire up in an oven, especially on hot summer days when you really do not feel like cooking.

½         Cup Fresh Raspberries
½         Cup Dried Apricots (Soaked over night so they plump up, not required, then minced)
2-3       Boneless skinless chicken thighs (They hold up better, but you can use breasts as well)
1 Tsp   Salt
½ Tsp  Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 Tsp Chives
½ Tsp Rosemary
¼ Cup Finely diced White Onion
4 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

First off cut up the chicken into nice sized 1-1½" chunks. And rub them all over with salt and pepper, lemon juice and herbs and toss with the raspberries (its better if some of them break!) and dried/ rehydrated apricots. Coat them evenly with the Extra Virgin Olive oil for at least 2 hours.

When you are ready to cook them, skewer those babies up and fire up the grill~! OR line a baking pan and cook them up in the oven/ broiler. 20 mins at 350ºF should do the job well. Let them rest about 5 minutes covered with aluminum foil then serve. (They are delicious hot or cold, honestly, I tend to just eat the leftovers from the fridge…. hahaha)

MAIN ENTREE!

This started off as a meditation…. yeah…. right… THIS actually started off as a scramble of me trying to get some kind of light (and lightning fast) dinner out because of some un expected guests… now, if your herb garden or stock of herbs is like mine…. (MASSIVE) here is a really quick way to use some of it up…. especially if your herb garden is spreading like wild fire. 

Herb Infused Curry Chicken with Pineapple Demi-Glaze : you will need

1-2 1' Long Sprig(s) of Tarragon

1    1' Long Sprig of Rosemary

4    1' Long Sprigs of flowering Lavender

1 Cup of Parsley (Flat leaf, chopped or not) 

1 Tsp chopped Parsley (Flat or curly, up to you) 

3 Cups of Pineapple (cubed) 

½ Cup of dried Cranberries

½ Cup of dried apricots

1 Tsp of Curry 

½ Cup Pineapple Juice

1 Tsp Salt and Pepper

½ Cup of Olive oil or Canola Oil

1 Cup of white wine or rum, (go with pineapple rum) 

8 BONE IN Chicken Thighs (Again you an use breasts) 

Before any of you start complaining, you will be roasting this, if you roast it well and correctly, those bones will slide out so fast you will be looking for it as your dogs fight over it. So don't worry, the bone is for flavor and also, to give you some body to hold on to while roasting.

ANYWAY, Rub the chicken with salt, pepper, curry powder and soak in the pineapple juice with the olive oil for about 1 hour. The pineapple juice will penetrate and tenderize the chicken and infuse the chicken with all of the other flavors. When you are ready to cook, in a large and deep roasting pan lay down your  bed of herbs. and then lay the chicken on op of them. ADD IN THE REST OF THE MARINADE! and also a cup of pineapple rum. If you are feeling adventurous add in a ½ a cup of Chambord to that pineapple rum. Roast away (basting at least twice throughout the cooking process to make sure that a demi-glaze is set on the skin of the chicken) 40 minutes at 325ºF will make this an excellent meal.  

This is great with a nice summer salad or just some heirloom tomatoes coated in balsamic vinaigrette and olive oil with slices of mozzarella cheese. 

Either way, I'm sure you will enjoy this delicious dinner… especially with this summer heat going on (at least… its here in Virginia.) 

More summer recipes to come. And back to once a week posts! EVEN IF IT KILLS ME!

Mango Mousse Tart~

3 Ripe Mango's (Alphonso Mango's work the best for this recipe) diced/ cubed
½ C. Heavy Whipping Cream
2 Tbsp. Vanilla Sugar

You can use a pie crust/ or pie dough doesn't really matter for this recipe.

Whip up the heavy cream with the vanilla sugar until it forms stiff peaks and FOLD in ⅔ of the diced mangos.

Once that is done, place the mango mousse mix onto your precooked pie crust/ tart crust (even a graham cracker crust would work for this). And place it into a freezer for 30-40 mins until its set, or until you are ready to serve. Either way, before you serve just place the remaining ⅓ of the diced mango's on top of the mousse. Cut it up and serve away!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year to everyone. So a quick update because I am typing this on my phone.... My computer has died and I am waiting on it to be fixed. So i can't really do much work while i am in the waiting process. But what can we do right, so a slight delay with the video and food but no rush.
 
Cook book number 2 is on standstill because the computer is dead as well.
 
Any digital work is also at a standstill due to... you guessed it, dead computer.
 
(At this point i am considering buying an Apple Desktop for most of my work)
 
And i was also sick with a plague of some form for the past week and i am just feeling better now. Anyway, thats all for now. I will be back as soon as my computer is FIXED.
 
Happy New Year and Happy Eating!
 
- Sorian/Hansheng Lee- Menickelly

HELLO UPDATE AND PIE!

Wow, a month off and it feels good to be back. School is back in session and the married life is going pretty well. If life wasn't so hectic I would have been on here more often but with helping
people move and getting married and preparing for classes, who has the time anymore?


So  ON TO THE  PIE!


Here is a pie that held me through a lot of the summer. BLUE BERRY! Originally I had made this because my father brought home a huge container of blue berries and no one wanted to eat them cause
there was just this ungodly amount of them and I didn't want to throw them out of they spoiled.


2 lb. of Blueberries, washed and drained.

2 Tbsp. Flour

¾ cup sugar (this is really up to you)

1 egg yolk

Juice of one lemon

Zest of one Lemon

1 pinch of cinnamon or cloves or both,its up to you.


And one or two pie crust, either home made or store bought. I rarely have time to make pie crusts so I just get the standard pie crusts in the refrigerated section of your local grocery
store.


Basically just unroll your pie crust and line the bottom of your pie pan and in a separate bowl mix all your ingredients together to form a blueberry mixture, then put it all into your pie crust
and lay the other piece of pie crust on top. Don't worry if it looks like it is mounding over, the blueberries will melt down and break down into a thick yummy syruppy jam of yummy
goodness.


Glad to be back guys!


-Happy Eating.

Grilling Goods #1

So here is a quick and simple Vietnamese style BBQ sauce that you can use to marinade pretty much anything in, whether its shrimp, beef, pork or chicken.

(Make sure whatever meat you use is sliced thin, except for fish)

¼ C Oyster Sauce
1 ½ Tbsp Sugar
½ Tsp Pepper
¼ Tsp Salt
½ Tbsp Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp Lemon Grass

Just place your meat of choice whatever it is in this mixture and marinade over night. When you are ready to cook whether it be a pan or a grill make sure its on high and cook away. The meat should be about ¼ of an inch thick to ½ inch thick at max. This is excellent with rice or cold rice noodles and some vegetables! Give it a  Try ^_^.

Homemade Popsicles to Beat the Summer Heat

With the heat index at 110ºF its no wonder why people are staying inside this summer.. AND ITS STILL HOT! So what can you do? Make some popsicles. I'm sure everyone out there has had at least one popsicle in their life. So why not try making your own? Here are some recipes to help you make it though this horrid heat and help you spend some more time with people you care about. (or a date, its quite fun and delicious!)

Strawberry Mango Banana Popsicles: (Makes about 6 - 8 depending on the mold you use)

½ Cup Strawberries (if you use frozen thaw them out!)
1 Banana (Peeled of course)
½ Cup Mango (Again, if you use frozen, then thaw them out)
6 Tbsp Sugar (I know it sounds like a lot but trust me)
2 Tbsp Honey
1 Pinch Salt
¼ cup water
⅓ cup Heavy Cream (optional)

Place all the ingredients together and BLEND IT INTO A YUMMY LIQUID. Fill your mold up and chill for about a 2-4 hours. (If you decide to use the heavy cream you can always mix one fruit with water and another with heavy cream and then swirl them together! It looks really pretty too just divide the sugar and honey evenly)

Blueberry Pomegranate Popsicles: (Makes 6-8 Depending on your choice of molds)
¾ Cup Blue Berries
1 Cup Pomegranate Juice (not sweetened!)
4 Tbsp Sugar
2 Tbsp Honey

Again place, mix, chill, serve! If you want to use cream in this one, you will have to put the blue berries into the heavy cream and mix them together with ½ the sugar and honey. Then mix it with the pomegranate mix and freeze.

Lemon Lime Crush: (Makes 6-8 Depending on your mold)
½ C Lemon Juice(FRESHLY SQUEEZED NOT BOTTLED!)
½ C Lime Juice (FRESHLY SQUEEZED NOT BOTTLED!)
½ C Water
1 Lime or Lemon cut thinly into semi-circles
6 Tbsp Sugar

Blend the ingredients together leaving out the cut fruit, and freeze with a piece of fruit on the side for decoration. DO NOT USE CREAM IN THIS! IT WILL SEPARATE AND GO SOUR ON YOU!

Now for those of you who want a more adult popsicles try these recipes out...

Chocolate Babbling Popsicle: Makes 7-8

1 C Cream
6 Tbsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
2 Tbsp Bailey's Irish Cream or Kalua

Mix the cream, cocoa powder and sugar together and set aside. then add in the Irish cream or kalua and put them into the molds first so that it creates a small layer and then add in the chocolate mixture.

Lavender Honey Popsicles: Makes 7-8

Just a forewarning, this one takes a bit more work because this is more of an ice cream base than just a popsicle base.

2 C Cream
½ C Sugar
2 Egg Yolks
¼ Tbsp Lavender
4 Tbsp Honey

Heat the cream and honey together until simmering, DO NOT BOIL! Mean while, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar to make it lighter. Then slowly temper the egg yolks with the now hot cream and make sure you do not curdle the egg yolks! Allow it to cool and you can either put this into a mold or put it in an ice cream machine.

_____________________________________________________________

Side note: The wedding went of without too big a hitch. And this week has been hectic! Haha well, thats life for you. And a reminder that my art exhibition is still up at the Glen Allen Cultural Arts Center in Virginia, so stop on by and take a look if you have a chance. 

This week and next...

Hello Everyone,

Sorry for the lack of posts these past few weeks and for next week as well. I am getting married on Tuesday July 20th! So please give me a little more time. But I do have some posts ready to be posted after these hectic weeks calm down. ^_^ Until then.

Happy Eating!

-Sorian