Recipes

Houston Restaurants 2008 I

The latest dining venture was to the Outback Steak House on FM 1960 where I have been dining for 15 years although the last few years we put a little lower on our choice list.  That changed last week as we experienced our second visit since the management change and found much better food and outstanding service.  My wife, Carla, always orders the sirloin but unlike many steak lovers, she likes the well done no pink.  She likes the Outback for she believes very few restaurant can cook a well done steak and still have a juicy tender steak.  The last two visits her steak was outstanding, very moist and cooked right the first time, well done.  Focusing on 2008 wines, trying to find a wine that will go good with a beef and seafood mix is difficult at best.  I tried the sirloin, shrimp and scallops mixed grill and asked our waitress, Jessica, to suggest a wine.  She suggested the Sonoma Cutrer, from the Russian River Ranches.  Although a Chardonnay, the wine was not white, per say, it had a little body and color to it but most important, was the taste of the wine in correlation with the dish.  The wine and the dish were a perfect match but the glory all came with the Chocolate Thunder from Down Under.  This cake was to die for, better than death by chocolate cake.  The new manager, Carrie Baker Stafford has made this Outback Steakhouse to be top on our list again. 

Curry

The title of this is simply "Curry" for it is such a broad subject.  Although I have been cooking curry dishes for 15 years I thought it would be good to list sources of information on curry.  When I started looking I discovered I really do not know as much about curry as I thought I did.  Considering there is so much to know about curry it will be one of our ongoing articles.  This article will touch the basics of Eastern style curries as well as curries of the Orient.

First, lets look at the history of curry and then go on from there.  A great website to read about curry is from LionsGrip, which is not a food website but one of their associated websites has a good bulk of information on curry including the history of curry.  At their home page, scroll down to the bottom and click on the tab "Associated Websites".  Then click on "Curry Powder" at the top.  You will find the source an article on the history of curry powder.  No matter the origin of a curry dish you will find Turmeric as the main ingredient.  According to the article Turmeric has been around since 3000 B.C. so it has some experience we could say.  Read that article to learn about the history for I do not want to reiterate what they have already written. 

The best way to learn about an ethnic food is to learn from someone from that culture.  I worked with a Pakistani engineer years ago who cooked curry dishes on a regular basis and he always started out with onions.  It has been my understanding for years that onion is the basis of curry but from all the research I did today onions were sure not mentioned much.  Now, if you click on a history link on the history article mentioned above they have a recipe that starts out with onion but done differently than my friend taught me.  Their recipe says to brown the onion and when I hear the term "brown the onion" I think of caramelizing onion.  I was taught to cook the onion until in dissipates.  That takes a special skill, at least I thought, but I learned the secret  At the same job I met this Pakistani friend I also worked with a Vietnamese engineer that also cooked a curry dish for me.  It appears that the Eastern countries put their curry dishes over rice as a norm and the Oriental countries often use potatoes.

Next, lets talk about using onion if you wish to make a curry sauce from scratch.  The secret to making the onion dissipate (not brown) is two fold (do in a sauce pan); first slice the onion as thin as possible then sauté the onion until soft.  Once the onion as well sautéed then turn the heat to low and cover the pot.  It make take more than an hour but stir the onion mixture once every 20-30 minutes making sure you are not browning the onion.  As stated above, Turmeric is the basis of most curries so next you would add turmeric.  The basis of this theme of cooking curry can be found on a chicken curry recipe we have listed below in our recipe section.  The idea is behind this article but The Green Onion will post future articles where you make the curry sauce first.  With this recipe everything is added before the onion is dissipated but you will find in this recipe that the onion is not visible when the dish is complete.

Last until the next article lets look at how to make a curry dish taste like an ethnic person would make a curry dish.  Making a curry dishes from curry powder will not make a curry dish taste like a curry dish that you would eat at a restaurant.  You need to use a paste and with the paste you must use coconut cream or I have also seen yogurt used.  What ever the case, you make a cream sauce from it.  I have been cooking with curry for years and last night was the first time I used curry paste and what a difference it made.  You will find the recipe we made up below.

To elaborate a little on making a curry dish with spices I already stated that Turmeric is the basis of most curries.  There seems to be no set rule between Eastern curries and Oriental curries but what seems common is that in the east they use Cumin and in the Orient they use Coriander but I have seen both used in both Eastern and Oriental dishes.  Garlic is a common spice and in Eastern dishes Cayenne Pepper is commonly used to spice it up.  Hot Peppers common to the Orient are in most of the Oriental curry recipes.  You will also find a curry recipe below made from spices rather than the paste.

Curry II

Adding to our first article on curry is a side dish of curried rice.  Following a similar style of traditional Indian cooking we used a Syrian Spice as a garla masala.  The recipe is posted below.  This rice recipe is unusual in that we used curry paste but that is what New Age Cuisine is all about.  I am not certain of the mixture of spices in "Syrian Spice" but you can order this mixture from http://www.aqspice.com/.  Click on "Product List" then click on "Seasoning Blends".  This is the tastiest Indian Rice recipe I have ever done and I highly recommend it.

Cinco De Mayo

Last year we were writing for Travelinnow.com and paid a visit to the Houston International Festival.  There was lots of great food there but now, being The Green Onion we know good food.  We decided to take a little tour around to see what recipes we could find to spice up the holiday.   I always like starting out with the deserts first and then go to the meal planning.  There is one desert that really caught my eye, especially since I am a cheese cake fan.  It is a recipe from Jif Peanut Butter, Decadent Peanut Butter Pie and you can view more of their desert recipes at www.jif.com.   The pie has a chocolate graham cracker ipe cruist, peanut butter, cream cheese, wihipped topping and SMUCKER'S® Hot Fudge Ice Cream Topping and dry roasted peanuts.  It really sounds good.  We cannot post the recipe but we can forward the email where there is a link to the recipe.  Click here to request a copy of the recipe.  Put Decadent Peanut butter Pie in the subject line.

We want to do some of the less traditional tacos, burritos for this Cinco De Mayo.  First, lets do some Empanadas and what looks like a great recipe, and like with tamales, you can go two ways, a sweet filling or a meat filling.  Empanadas are basically meat pies made with pie dough .  The recipe I found is at www.allrecipes.com and the title of the recipe is Empanadas I.  The sweet filling has apples, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  The meat filling is made with lean steak and onions and bell pepper.    Either way it sounds worth trying.

Trying to stay a little off beat with this meal lets head to the tropical side of Mexico and I found a interesting recipe for stuffed Jalapenos on AllRecipes.  The Jalapenos are stuffed with cream cheese and then hard salami is wrapped around the jalapeno and secured with tooth picks.  They are then grilled instead of battered and fried.  The Jalapenos blister and the tooth picks turn black making them look like a Cuacarcha.   If you would like a little traditional but off beat then try one of their quesadilla recipes made with mangos, poblano peppers and cream cheese.  Too top off this holiday celebration try Chef Miguel's grilled shrimp.  The are a master piece and the recipe is right at the bottom of this page.

Quac Guac

I have been making Guacamole for years.  Some of us have our own family recipe or have used a specific recipe for years.  Sure, I have been lucky a few times and hit it on the money but could not repeat.  It seems that many of the of the pre-made Guacamole mixes are the way to go.  Now hold on a minute, I know what you are thinking.  Chef Miguel using a pre-mixed spice packet but that alone won't do.  Let us analyze this for a moment.  Concord Foods Guacamole Mix is one I have used off and on for the past few years.  If you look at the front of the packet it shows a huge bowl of Guacamole.  The instructions on the back say to mix to avocados with the spice mix.  Where this large bowl of Guacamole comes from using two avocados is beyond me.  I add 3/4 of a cup extra of mayo and sour cream plus I use three avocados.  This yields enough for six to really enjoy the guacamole.  This recipe I have been using for years puts a punch into the Guacamole that I guarantee will put a smile on your guests face.  The recipe uses fresh garlic and onion and three additional spices that makes a dream guacamole.  Jump down to our recipe list below to view the recipe.

Couscous

What is couscous?  Some of you know and many of you are asking.  It has been said that it is an African dish.  Yes, to some extent but is more associated with Northern Africa.  So, do we call it an Arabic dish or a Mediterranean dish?  Since Northern Africa borders the Mediterranean I would call it a Mediterranean dish.  First, if you are not familiar with Couscous and you are curious then visit http://www.cliffordawright.com/ where you will find a historical article on couscous.  Once at the website scroll to the bottom and click on "Do you know your food history".  There is a list of article links to the left titled "Past Entries".  Scroll to the bottom of that list and click on "Click Here for the complete list of Food History articles...".  You will find an article on that page covering the history of couscous.
Couscous became part of my family's cuisine when coming to the U.S. from Sicily they lived in Morocco (Northern Africa) for three years.  I watched my grandmother several times make couscous from scratch for it was not something that you could buy at the supermarket.  Slowly, couscous started to appear, first in the box dinners like Rice a Roni.  No, do not run to the store and buy one of these box dinners.  You will find two recipes down below you can use when making couscous.  Now, you can buy couscous like you buy rice.  As with our past Ethnic articles such as our Risotto article, we will steer you to www.ethnicgrocer.com.
Couscous is can also be a great vegetarian dish.  Today I searched Google under the key word "Couscous" and the first listing was for a vegetarian couscous recipe.  Take the recipe below, "Cacciatore with Couscous" and be creative.  Take the meat out and maybe ad some bean and other vegetable.  The sauce will go well as a vegetarian dish.

Day of Cooking III -Article 1

Today we will go over a general but large list of cooking.  Since this is the first "Day of Cooking" article written since February we have much to go over.  The items we will cover are; an update on our Panini sandwiches, wild rice, Bolognese sauce, cheese cakes, truffles and seafood dishes.

As The Green Onion's Chef Services gears up to offer Panini sandwiches we tried out the Panini grills we purchase from Cooking.com.  Just a quick short note on Cooking.com, NEW! Visit the Starbucks Store at Cooking.com for Starbucks' Coffees and their Tazo Teas!.   The simplest way to find the Panini grills is to enter "Panini" in the search box in the upper right hand corner at Cooking.com.  The grills are less than $40.00 each, which is a great deal for that size of grill.  Back to the Panini sandwiches,  there were two changes we made; we were able to make a much larger sandwich and second we added some Italian Salami to the sandwich.  You can try different salamis but we chose to use Crespone.  This really added to the pesto in our Panini recipe and made the sandwich.  The bread turned out much toastier compared to the pan frying Panini we presented last year.

The Bolognese sauce we wrote about last year in our "Day of Cooking II", was altered to Chef Miguel's New Age style and perfected.  The recipe will be presented sometime in June.  Using the theme of his new age cuisine, Miguel used the concept of how marinara sauce is made and incorporated that into the Bolognese sauce.  That is, sautéing the herbs first then adding the tomato products.  This made for a richer, tastier sauce and less indigestion from eating herbs that were not cooked down.  We do not shoot down other peoples recipes at all but at times we will add or change a recipe a little to make it better according to our palette.  The recipe Steve submitted to AllRecipes.com was a worthy recipe and was the recipe chosen from many Bolognese recipes we studied to develop what is now Chef Miguel's New Age Bolognese sauce.  You can view last year's article by clicking on the archives in the article index above.

All though we have marked our wild rice recipe as tested we used it the other night with a grilled chicken dish.  It was so good we wanted to write about it one more time.  It was one of those quick throw together meals and Chef Miguel did not have any walnuts.  The rice mix is so nutty and wild tasting that even without the walnuts it was just awesome.  This is a no miss recipe and your dinner guests will eat every bit you make, guaranteed.  If you want a little more wild taste add some portabella mushrooms instead of the regular mushroom listed in the recipe.

After the mild disaster with our triple chocolate cheese cake we took it off the recipe list and went back to work on our cheese cakes.  First, we worked on cheese cakes in general and in time we will get back to the chocolate cheesecake.  We will post these recipes soon but to try and get the bananas fosters cheese cake right we did the traditional New York style cheese cake with the vanilla ice cream on the side and the bananas foster on top of both.   I must admit you need to serve a small piece of cheese cake, small scoop if ice cream for this is a high sugar, high fat desert but it sure did taste right on the money.  Two other cheese cakes are being worked on now and that is a key lime cheese cake and a blue berry cheese cake.  The Key Lime cheese cake called for Key Lime curd and the recipe we found for the curd was just two tangy, using more than 30 key limes to make enough curd for the cheese cake.  First we need to develop a good curd then we will try out on the cheese cake.  The blue berry cheese cake is there we just want to make one more run at it before we post the recipe.  All three of these cheese cakes will be added to the chef services menus this summer.

Chef Miguel has been at the books studying seafood.  Two of the recipes has been posted with one not marked as tested.  The two recipes, shown below, are Corn Seafood Chowder and Lobster Savannah in the New Age.  The Corn Seafood Chowder is marked as tested although it has only been made twice.  Both times we did this recipe it came out practically perfect and felt it was at the final stage.

Chef Miguel has a request for Lobster and although we offered the Lobster Pie from Lobster anywhere they wanted homemade right from the kitchen.  Although not experienced Miguel did not want to say know.  Through a little studying it appeared that Locke-Ober was one of the oldest seafood restaurants on the East coast but their famous lobster recipe just did not sit well with the chef.  So, Chef Miguel gave it the New Age super charge and came out with Lobster Savannah in the New Age.  The recipe is listed below and is well worth trying.

Last but not least is the truffles.  We just put the check mark in the tested column and this is a win win recipe.  You just cannot do this wrong for it is so simple and it comes out like the best truffles you have ever eaten.  The last run that put the perfect mark on these truffles is that we doubled the recipe and then used a small egg carton to form the truffles (some day we will get the trays) but considering not everyone has truffle trays sitting in their cabinet we felt this was a good route.  Then we used a sterilized, clean good old American quarter  to make the tops flat and give the truffle the quarter mark.  It is necessary to really let the chocolate sit before trying to form the truffles for it will stiffen up if you give it time.
We hope you enjoyed our most in depth article as of yet.  This is the new The Green Onion as we are now going into our second month after our grand opening.  If you enjoy these articles visit our news page to sign up for our one or all of our newsletters.

Day of Cooking III - Article 2

To those of you familiar with, Day of Cooking from The Green Onion, you already know that we cover a wide variety of topics in each article.  This week's article will cover how to make onion rings crispy, making Risotto just right and all about chocolate.  We have a beginners truffle recipe that you can expand on and a couple of Risotto recipes for you to try out.

Staring with the onion rings, it is amazing the vast resources available to learn how to cook and find recipes.  That is what The Green Onion is all about is we spend massive time researching for our visitors.  This week we found a recipe, in a Christian cook book (Trinity Lutheran Church Cookbook, Klein, Texas)  that will guarantee to make your soggy fried onion rings come out crispy.  The secret is soaking the onion rings in milk for about two hours before dipping and frying.  The recipe also calls for ice water and so it appears that the onion rings soaking in the cold milk (left in the refrigerator and the ice water really makes the batter stick.  We already tried the recipe out and it is a winner.  Drop down below to our recipe section and you will find it posted at the bottom.

Next is our works with Risotto; the never can do right dish.  Many of us have given up on making Risotto for it is either under cooked and crunchy or so gumby and thick that you could use it as glue.  After five years of experience with Risotto, Chef Miguel is believing it is all about temperature.  Considering that you have to get all the water absorbed in exactly 20 minutes ( it appears you can go one more minute max but not a minute less) the temperature must be such that the risotto will absorb all the water.  If the temperature is too hot the water will dissipate too quick and if too low, even if you cook for 30 minutes, the risotto will not be cooked and will be a little crunchy.  The secret is coming to know your stove, use the same pot each time so you get to know the combo stove, pot you use or just use a thermometer.  If you can master the risotto absorbing the water in exactly 20 minutes I guarantee perfect Risotto.

Last but not least, by any definition, is one of life's greatest pleasures, CHOCOLATE!!  Two of chocolate's key ingredients are cocoa solids and cocoa butter.  Cocoa solids are what give chocolate it's distinct mouth watering taste.  It is the cocoa butter that gives the chocolate it's physical characteristics such as; it shine and creaminess.  Many chocolate you buy to cook with, candy bars you eat or deserts you eat use a substitute to Cocoa butter.  Commonly you will find chocolate made with a vegetable fat such as; cottonseed oil, soybean oil or maybe palm kernel oil.  Cocoa butter is:

"is the edible vegetable fat from cocoa beans, extracted from the cocoa beans during the process of making chocolate and cocoa powder.  Cocoa butter has only a mild chocolate flavor and aroma.

Cocoa butter is one of the ingredients used to make real chocolate, it is gives chocolate the ability to remain solid at room temperature, yet melt easily in the mouth.

Cocoa butter is one of the most stable fats known, containing natural antioxidants that prevent rancidity and give it a storage life of 2 to 5 years.  It is used for its smooth texture in foods (including chocolate) and in cosmetics and soaps."  From FoodReference.com

The higher cost chocolates such as your Belgium chocolates and decedent  truffles use the cocoa butter.  The best chocolate to use if called Couverture.  As with most cooking chocolates, corverture comes in a block.  This chocolate needs to be cut into very small pieces to melt well.  If you are going to substitute for cocoa butter I use real pure butter.  You will find some chocolates such as bonbons that run as high as $40.00/pound.  If you are looking for a dipping chocolate then Couverture is definitely the way to go.  The melting point of Courverture though is just below our body temperature and can be difficult to work with.  There are a few key categories of chocolates.  The are:

There are four types of chocolates and all have different chemistries, and therefore, different uses.

Dark chocolate: contains sugar, cocoa liquor or mass, cocoa butter and flavourings. It's sometimes referred to couverture chocolate, which is rich in cocoa butter.

Milk chocolate: contains the same ingredients as dark chocolate, with the addition of milk solids.

White chocolate: contains a mixture of sugar, full-cream milk, cocoa butter and flavourings.

Compound chocolate: contains all of the ingredients of chocolate with added vegetable fats. The fats allow it to set relatively quickly at room temperature. Chocolate 'melts' are a type of compound chocolate. Generally compound chocolate can be substituted for couverture chocolate and vice versa.

'Cooking' chocolate does not vary much from eating chocolate, although it may contain slightly less sugar.

From  Better Homes and Gardens

If you want to use chocolate either for; dipping, molding or piping using other than compound chocolates then you must temper the chocolate.  This involves melting the chocolate at the correct temperature such that the characteristics of the chocolate remain shiny and creamy.  This should be done in a double boiler (making sure the water does not touch the bottom of the upper pan) where you bring the chocolate up to a temperature of 118 degrees F.  Once you reach this temperature continue to add the chocolate until you bring the temperature down to 80 degrees F.  Using a digital thermometer is suggested and and from there follow the recipe.  For dipping the chocolate should be at 91 degrees F.  To test if you tempered the chocolate correctly, once cooled to 80 degrees F, drizzle a little on to some wax paper and let it set for 5 minutes.  If it is glossy and hard then you tempered the chocolate correctly.
Do not be too hasty in melting your chocolate.  Once the chocolate separates from getting it too hot you cannot recover it.  The chocolate will glob together and separate from the oil into a big mess.  Heat slowly and stir constantly.  Separation is one problem and another is called seizing, caused by moisture.  Even one drop of water and turn the chocolate grainy.  If using a double boiler make sure that the water is just steaming, not boiling.  Boiling water and shoot water into the chocolate.

Try out Hickory Farms chocolates and other desserts.

Day of Cooking III - Article 3

This article is unfortunately short due to an anticipated demo of our food to one of the five largest accounting firms in the world.  As we prepare a few recipes have been added during a day of cooking.  This article covers not only the new recipes but we are working on producing good quality frozen meals.  If this demo goes well and we are fortunate to receive a contract, The Green Onion will be opening a local store front.
The culinary topics and recipes covered in Article 3 are; a little change up in our truffle recipe, a new cheesecake recipe, and two chicken recipes that are just out of this world but still being tested.  We will also go over our research on freezing food and which dishes we attempted to freeze.
One of the new dishes, and an old recipe that Chef Miguel has not worked with in a few years, is Etouffee.  We have not posted the recipe yet but anticipate posting a tested shrimp Etouffee recipe within the next two weeks.  Two attempts have been made in the past week to this recipe to finalize a consistent recipe.  The best recipe that came out was a little change we made to the truffle recipe.  Instead of using rum we used brandy, and a tablespoon instead of teaspoon of both the brandy and the Amaretto.  They are far the best truffles Chef Miguel has ever made.  A whole almond was stuffed into the center of the truffle.  We never thought Chef Miguel was top his triple chocolate truffle cheesecake (which will be reposted this summer) but the Rocky Road cheesecake is the bomb, a must see recipe.  Two other recipes have been added, a little kicking up chicken strips using ground pork rinds and ground peanuts, another great addition to the NewAge cuisine.  Although still under test, the recipe is posted below.  Two of the recipes added are part of the newAge cuisine and the other is and addition to Chef Miguel's cream cheese pate.  They are curried chicken balls, shaped into a ball and stuffed with the cream cheese pate.  A recipe that is already developed but under test.
We hope you enjoy this weeks recipes.
The Green Onion's staff researched for several days the ability to freeze certain foods in anticipation of the food demo.  It took a while to understand how to successfully freeze cooked rice but it appears that white rice and certainly be frozen after cooked but it must be converted rice.  That is, parboiled, or partially cooked.  We steamed the rice for nine minutes, drained and immediately cooled to stop it from cooking.  From past experiences we felt that freezing dishes with cream could not be done but evidently not so.  It seems from the research we did that using 1/2 milk instead of pure cream in dishes you are going to freeze will enhance the cream sauce not to separate.  We will defrost several of the dishes next week and post the results in the next article.  The only warnings in freezing food is no dishes with egg or mayonnaise can be frozen.