cooking @ home

Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

©2008 Harry Kenney

Well, I’m back after my “hiatus”. My initial thought was to put up one of the maybe dozen new dishes I’ve made over the past several months. Instead, I’m starting back up with my most very recent meal. I got a bit more adventurous the other night, making something competely new for me and it turned out so well I’m going to share that one first.

But before doing that I want to talk about taste or maybe it would be more accurate to call this the “conveyance of taste”. Now I consider myself as having a pretty good palate. Mind you, I haven’t yet taken any blind food tests — although to sate my own curiosity I have a friend who promises when she gets a chance that we’ll do one. I always watch Hell’s Kitchen and each season it’s amazing to see how trained chefs can’t tell the difference between an apple and a piece of potato when blindfolded. Ok, I’m on a bit of a tangent; let me get back to the heart of the matter here, which is, in this case arugula.

Now, believe it or not, until recently I’d never tasted it. How can that be? I don’t know. There’s too many things in the world. What’s normal for one isn’t for another. For me there’s still what seems like hundreds of cheeses and dozens of greens and other delicious food items still awaiting my taste buds. I see that as a great adventure awaiting me. Anyhow, arugula is one of those favs of television cooks it seems. (By the way, if you have ever heard a British cook talk about a green known as “rocket” … yes, apparently that is their name for arugula.) And I’ve always heard those cooks say it tastes peppery. Just as I keep hearing Mexican orgeano has a minty flavor, Thai basil has a licorice or anise taste, and olive oil is often described as “fruity” and brown butter as “nutty”.

Not sure about you but, while I do know what they’re getting at, I don’t taste olive oil and go “ah, fruit!” Do you? I don’t taste browned butter and yell out “Wow, it’s nuts!” So I was surprised when finally I tasted arugula and thought “ok, where’s the pepper at?” All these years and I start to wonder if the cooks we rely on are a little bit whacky, and a shared whackiness at that. Again, I think — and I’m starting to question slightly — if my palette is as good as I’ve always thought. It must be as I can usually go to a restaurant and divine various ingredients in a new sauce. But I’m not tasting the fruitness, nuttiness or pepperiness in any of these items. Or am I?

So what makes me wonder is, when cookbook authors and television chefs describe something a certain way, maybe they’re just trying to talk about a slight delicate thing? Or maybe someone came up with the idea and they all copy each other. I think if I had never heard those adjectives described about these foods, that I would not necessarily come up with the same descriptions. To put it another way, I would be very hard pressed having never heard of the peppery arugula description or the fruity olive oil description to convey to someone exactly what they actually tasted like. That is an exceptionally difficult task. How do you describe a color to a blind person? Or a musical note to a deaf person? So how does one describe food with it’s delicate nuances to someone who has never had that particular food?

I will tell you this, whatever description one gives to arugula, I definitely like the taste. It’s similiar and yet different from lettuce. It’s definitely not like fresh spinich, although it similiarly can be used in a salad instead of lettuce, which gave me the idea for this meal in the first place. I thought to myself, if arugula has a slight peppery taste what’s a nice offset from that? Lemon vinaigrette came to mind. So did using either capers or olives; I ended up choosing olives, and my favorites, the dark Kamala ones not the green ones. After that everything was just keeping things simple but doing that little balance, red onion for kick, olive for bite, lemon for acidity and freshness plus while it might counterpoint the arugula it would also compliment the chicken.

The grilled portobello caps is something I’ve been dying to do for a long time. To be candid, I have no idea if the balsamic vinegar and grated Parmesan was all my idea or if I had seen it on a television show before. It would not surprise me if I’d seen it on TV as the simpler you make a meal, the more easily it can either be copied or a that a ton of people can have the same idea. In a lot of ways, this is a very simple meal, but I think still rather elegant. Yes, I love bold, complex flavors as you’ve seen from my barbecue dishes; at the same time I like the “other side” too, when something simple and basic and few ingredients can be so tasty. The salad is five ingredients plus the dressing. As said the portobello mushroom is pretty much the star and the very slight cheese and very slight balsamic are barely supporting players. To be candid, while I find the balsamic defintiely adds an interesting dimension and it’s good that way, I found I actually liked the porotbellos caps better without — just the seasoned mushroom and the light dusting of cheese on top.

In my case I used the indoor cast iron two-burner grill. This would have been an excellent one, both the chicken and the bello caps, to put on the outside grill, but since it was a 99 degree day I passed on that. I’m sure the charcoal would have served as an incredible “seasoning” of it’s own and brought something else special to the meal. Btw, I used vegetable oil not olive oil on the caps as, firstly, I wanted to better taste the mushroom and secondly, when it comes to grilling you might recall vegetable oil has a higher smoke point that olive oil does.

Before I forget to mention this, for myself, for the salad, I had it the first night with the olives, arugula and red onions just a tad chilled from the refrigerator and the mushrooms and chicken warm. It made for a wonderful combination having that little chill and that little warmth together as counterparts. It also meant the warm ingredients gave ever the slighest delectable wilting to the arugula too. Since I was cooking for two and it’s one of those meals that serves four or five I naturally had leftovers. If you also end up having leftovers my servng suggestion for the second day is, well, two ways you can have it. chilled from the fridge or you can let it sit out for 30-60 minutes beforehand and serve it at room temperature. I preferred the latter, but either way it’s still going to be delicious.

©2008 Harry Kenney

Warm Grilled Chicken & Arugula Salad

2 medium to large skinless, boneless chicken breasts
5 oz fresh baby arugula, washed and dried
1 medium red onion, sliced very thin
2 oz Kamala olives, halved
10-14 medium button mushrooms, sliced

salt, pepper, garlic powder (optional) to taste
vegetable oil

Lemon Vinaigrette

4-5 tbsps lemon juice
tsp fresh lemon zest
tsp dried oregano
tsp dried basil
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Prepare the salad, in a large bowl place the argula, onion and olives and place in refrigerator to chill slightly. Take sliced mushrooms and into a small pan, brown well, adding vegetable oil as needed, salt and pepper half way through, then set aside.

On a plate oil salt and pepper the chicken then place on oiled grill top (indoor or outdoor.) Flip only once (or as little as possible) Roughly 5-7 minutes per side. Cook until you get a reading of 170-180°F inside. Let site for at least five minutes then cut into bite-sized pieces. Make the dressing by, either in a blender or a small bowl placing lemon zest, lemon juice, orgeano and basil and then slowly whisk in (or in blender, pour in) olive oil until you get an emulsion.

Take salad bowl out of refrigerator. Add warm chicken pieces and warm mushrooms. Add to salad salt, pepper, and (optional) garlic powder and toss. Pour half vinagrette, toss, then remainder toss again and serve. Makes 4-5 servings.

Grilled Portobello Caps (optional side)

5 large portobellos caps, cleaned
balsamic vinegar (optional)
grated Parmesan
vegetable oil
salt, pepper to taste

Clean five large portobello caps. Taking out gills is optional. (You would need to take them out if you were filling the caps, but we’re not.) On place oil on top, salt and pepper, then place on grill cap side down. Season and oil the inside of the mushrooms if you haven’t already. Add oil as needed. Roughly 5-6 minutes for the cap side to grill. Then another 4-5 minutes for the underside. Just before serving, (optional) lightly drizzle balsamic vinegar and sprinkle of grated Parmesan. Serve warm.

©2008 Harry Kenney

One thing you know about the way I do things, for those who follow me, is that besides pointing out tips I point out the rough spots, the mistakes that I’ve made on a previous version or how to correct mistakes if they’re made. What you don’t see (though I sometimes talk about) are the once in a while big flops.

Yes, I have them too. We all do. (You might find some comfort in that.) Maybe I made a silly mistake that flopped the whole thing. Once in a while the technique I used was the downfall — as when I tried too tough a cut of beef for shish kabobs. Sometimes I misjudge as with a recent braised Swiss chard recipe where by (having not used it before) I totally miscalculated the amount of shrinkage and so the other ingredients in the dish came out in too much proportions.

Then there’s this dish. Over half a year ago I tried something like this. I was going to call it a California salad. It has pineapple and avocado and other ingredients. I also attempted to make some kind of yogurt dressing, though I forget now what was in it besides the yogurt. It was a miserable flop. The dressing and salad didn’t work individually and they worked worse together. I’m still not sure what I did wrong.

Point is, many months later I made a Greek yogurt dressing and it came out nice. And then I made a tropical salsa and it came out excellent. With more time and experience behind my belt, I once again decided to make this salad. But I didn’t take what I did before in to account on purpose. I didn’t try, that is, to go to the same blueprint and make corrections. I just went at it anew with whatever my gut told me to do. You see my gut, my experience had grown more since then, I just let it guide me.

In short, it worked. (If it hadn’t the recipe wouldn’t be up and it you wouldn’t know about it.) So, if you think I cook a lot now judging be the recipes you see on this site. Well sometimes things go wrong behind the scenes and I end up wasting food and my time and taking photos. (Fortunately my flops are few and far between, but they happen.) I don’t feel bad, that is, we all make mistakes. Look at Top Chef, look at other shows … did the winner of the competition ever have a bad dish or were they perfect from day one? They all, even the best of chefs, have a bad day, a bad dish. In fact, if you experiment — and you should — this will always happen; it’s part of the game. So I don’t let it get to me. Again, we often learn from our mistakes.

One thing I do want to mention briefly is that while I’m not sure what happened to that first attempt of a salad similiar to this, my best guess is it was just the wrong mixture and/or proportion of flavors to each other. I like making complex dishes at times. I like the harmony, the interplay of tastes. You know this from other dishes like BBQ sauce. You’ve heard Bobby Flay talk about this. Ming Tsai has made a career out of these balances. The yin and yang. The sweet to offset the sharp; the sharp to liven it up; the hot to give it bite; the oil to clam it down; the tang against … You get the idea.

You might recall one of my very first articles here, Secret to Great Cooking: A Harmony of Contrasts, where I talked about “combining to create a unity of opposites”. That’s what this particular dish — both the salad and the dressing, and more so the two together — really is about. Last time out, my “grasp” of this was off a bit, and that was just enough that it didn’t work. This time my understanding of combining these disparate elements was better and I was successful. Point is, try things. Fail, get up, learn, try it again. Maybe you can figure it out and get it right the next day, maybe eight months has to pass by. Either way, don’t force it, but don’t give up.

One final thing. Not only is this one delicious salad, but the dressing is one of the best I’ve ever made. You will be very surprised how absolutely fantastic it tastes. I’ve made this with both extra-virgin olive oil and at another time with vegetable oil and both work fine, though the olive oil is preferred as it adds an extra fruity dimension to it. Enjoy!

Avocado Salad
©2008 Harry Kenney

2 avocados, peeled and chunked
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
1 pint (16 oz.) cherry tomatoes, leave whole
1 corn cob (roughly 1-1/2 cups), cooked, kernels seperated
1/2 cup fresh pineapple, chunked
1/2 cup fresh papaya, chunked
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely minced

Simply mix above together well and serve with dressing.

Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette
©2008 Harry Kenney

1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp honey
extra-virgin olive oil (vegetable oil also works)

Place first three ingredients in a blender (can be an old ordinary bar blender, doesn’t have to be a new super powered one). Take off blender top and while mixing, pour in olive oil from top to emulsify. Use approximately 3 parts olive oil to rest of ingredients or until looks right consistency. Taste. Add more if needed until happy with result.

Add by tablespoons over avacado salad (or other salad of your choosing) and mix in well. Serve.

Note: Keep this in refrigerator in a conventional wide-mouthed leftover container; do not bottle. Refrigeration will combine mixture into a thick gelatin-like consistency. To reuse simply mix well with fork for 15 seconds. If needed you could add 1/2 teaspoon of both water and oil.

©2008 Harry Kenney

How I came up with this dish has an odd little road to it. A couple months ago I had friends coming over for a get together and I had my cooking itineary planned, complete with an Italian dessert. No, not one of my own. I do do other people’s recipes at times too. Sometimes I make so many changes that they end up turning into something different and my own, but this was one of those times I was going to pretty much go along with the recipe I had. (At least that had been the initial plan.)

Listen up, this will teach you the value of reading something first, and all the way through and thoroughly. I was going to make this chocolate ricotta dessert (forget what, maybe was a cake, I seem to think it was going to be one of those custard things in ramekins. I had read the recipe throught and even did the two hour prep (again this was a while back, Iwrote down the recipe, but I didn’t write down this story, so bear with my fuzzy memory.)

The important thing was, I never apparently read to the bottom of the recipe. (There’s a lesson in there for both me and you!) It said now chill for six hours in the fridge. I could scream. I knew the cooking was to take an hour, the prep two hours, but now if I went ahead the stupid dessert wouldn’t be ready for six hours? Damn I was annoyed at myself. And a tad frantic. The plan was dinner was to be served in an hour and a half, and dessert needed to be ready in two. No time to run the market or the bakery. So I rushed up to my computer and started searching for “chocolate” and “ricotta” everywhere, and looking for something that would be servable in two hours. In short I found an Emeril recipe for Italian Easter Pie that met my criteria and looked delicious and set on that.

When I printed it out and took it downstairs though, I did what I hadn’t expected at the time doing … changing things around. I didn’t like this. I liked that. He had a flour pie from scratch. This I could have done as I had two premade pie crusts in the refrigerator. I didn’t like that it was a normal crust. I also didn’t like that it was two, one on bottom, then a second one making it a covered pie. I knew I also had in the cupboard a premade shortbread and another chocolate crust. Hey, nothing like chocolate in the filling and as the crust I thought.

It was after Thanksgiving and I had sweetened dried cranberries lefover. I knew from past experience this would not only go very well with the other ingredients but would give it a totally new dimension. Long story short, by the time I was done, the look and the taste were so very different from the original that this very much became my own version. As said, that was two or three months ago. I didn’t take photos of what I was doing as it wasn’t originally going to be my recipe but someone elses. I did write down my new recipe afterwards, but no photos. Ah well, it was a great pie, and I knew I would do it again and take the pics at that time. Which I just did.

Ok, so this came from a mistake I made misreading the initial recipe. And then changing around Emeril’s. Thing is, when doing my research for this recipe here, the background, it seems another mistake was made by Emeril. I wanted to see what was the deal with this Easter Pie concept. So I looked around the web and the first thing I came across was how this was supposed to be a savory, not a sweet pie, in Italy. Huh? Seems after the old conservative Catholic fasting of meat during Lent, the idea was to make a cheese and meat pie. Ok, that made sense. But still could the big E get this wrong or what? There must be sweet variations too.

More digging around and nope, couldn’t find any. So I went to see if the three most famous Italian chefs in America had versions of this and were they sweet or savory; all three, Mario Batali, Giada De Laurentiis amd Lidia Bastianich, had only savory versions of Easter Pies. Yep, other than Emeril’s there wasn’t a single sweet one to be found anywhere. Hmm. So, no idea where he got the idea from, but, that said, it doesn’t matter. I’m not calling this any kind of holiday pie, I’m just calling this what it is, which is delicious!

Whatever the case then, a big tip of the hat to Chef Lagasse for the inspiration and for “version 1.0″ of this dish. And to you folks, I think you will love this “version 2.0″ emmensly. For now, I’m leaving it with the store bought crust in the recipe but I’ll make a version 2.1 at some point and tell you how to make the pie crust from scratch at some point, til then enjoy. I am 100% once you’ve made this pie, you will make it over and over again as one of your favorites.

Harry’s Chocolate Ricotta Cheese Pie
©2008 Harry Kenney

1 premade 9-inch chocolate pie crust

1-1/2 lbs ricotta cheese, drained well
3/4 cup sugar
5 large eggs
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup shaved almonds
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1 tsp finely grated orange zest
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt

eggwash (one egg and two tbsps water)

Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly brush eggwash over premade pie shell and place in oven for five minutes. Remove and let cool.

In the bowl of an electric mixer (note I used my handheld for this, but you can use your big stand mixer if you wish), beat the ricotta cheese with the sugar until combined; this should take 3-4 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, approximately another 2 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix in for anoterh 2 minutes. Pour into pie shell.

Place pie on baking sheet (optional). Bake until golden brown, roughly 50 minutes. Let cool on counter for 10 minutes, then place in refrigerator (suggest atop a diviot) and allow to get firm for at minumum 60 minutes, and preferrably 90-120 minutes. Serve. Makes 6-8 slices.

©2008 Harry Kenney

Funny how there are some dishes I’ve created and made for a long time, yet, seven months into this cooking site, realize there are still one’s I haven’t included here. This is one of them (til now). I stumbled into this one of those times when I had salsa left over from a party. You see, I do enjoy tortilla chips and salsa as a nice alternate to the usual potato chip and dip. Thing is, in the days after the party I just don’t feel like eating salsa and chips solo. So I need to come up with something to do with that jar. Several years ago after one party I also found I had forgotten to serve the second half of the shrimp I’d bought. (There was still plenty of food and no one at the party knew or missed it though.) … In short. Boom. Came this recipe.

I know the name seems a tad corny coming from me. No, I swear I’m not turning “Rachel” on you. I promise never to call things in between soup and stew “stoop”. And no, I don’t think any male, no matter how brimming with nor how deficient of testosterone should ever have the word “Yum-o!” come from his lips either. So that’s not happening. So the choice was, call this was I call it around the house as my shorthand “Sorta Jambalaya” or name it something more long-winded like “Chicken and Shrimp in Spicy Tomato Spanich Rice”. The latter is accurate but doesn’t roll off the tounge as well. The first is reluctantly a tad cutsy, but it does convey the concept quickly.

Ok, now you’re asking, where am I going. I’m gourmet one minute, regular the next and now straight out of home ec class. Nope, they’re all me. Have you forgotten my Steak Quesadilla or my Pizza Burger Mac recipes? Shame on you! Remember this is “cooking at home”. And I’ve said it before, you can cook gourmet or home ec and/or anything in between at home. You can use all expensive and fresh ingredients and some exotic ones, or you can take a few boxes of off the shelf stuff and make a meal too. Obviously you (and I) don’t always want to make a many ingredient meal. And there’s always something about doing it fast. Provided (big if here) the taste goes with it. And here it does.

What? You want to try me on one more item? You say I’m big on trying to do things authentic and this isn’t very authentic a recipe, that is in the traditional sense of being true to a region and it’s history. That’s correct it is not. And it is also correct that I am big into history and traditional things. But again, I’m not limited to them nor bound by them. Look at my tropical fruit salsa I made just the other day; it’s somewhat fusion even though there is a true Mexican dish that’s equivalent. But, here’s the thing — I always point that out to you. How about my Pancetta-Wrapped Margarita Shrimp? The bacon is from Italy, the liquor from Mexico. Definie fusion. Notice I never once called it an Italian nor a Mexican dish because it isn’t either one.

Matter of fact, the aforementioned steak quesadilla recipe I have here. It’s 100% American. And it’s 50% Mexican. Ok, what do I mean by that? In the US that is a quesadilla. And in many parts of Mexico that is also a quesadilla. But in the southern parts of Mexico they actually make quesadillas the same way Italians make calzones, they fold over the tortilla with the filling inside, crimp it and overlap the dough on the one side to close it, and then deep fry it. So my way is not wrong, but there is another way too.

Finally about tradition. What gets my goat, annoys me to no end is when a recipe passes something off as traditional and it isn’t. When you read my artilces and these “forwards” to each recipe, I say to you, this is how it’s done, or this is one way how it’s done in such-and-such land. Or I will say, they would put this in to be authentic, but I’m leaving it out. I tell you, this recipe or that recipe is or is not traditional. As I’ve said before I’m neither traditionalist nor fusionist, I am what I am at the moment. Most importantly I tell you what that dish is. And here I tell you this is not real jambalaya, it’s “sorta”. And now you know another reason why I called this dish by that name.

Wait? Aren’t I going to give you a history lesson on jambalaya? Naw. I’ll wait until I do the traditional recipe for that. It will be more germane then. Meanwhile, enjoy this simple, and compartively quick dish which will remind you a lot of jambalaya. Oh, there is one Rachel Ray thing about this dish besides the nomenclature — You can make this in 30 minutes or less!

Sorta Jambalaya
©2008 Harry Kenney

1 box Spanish Rice (I like Goya’s) that makes 2.5 cups rice at final
15.5 oz jar spicy tomato salsa with jalapenos (pick your heat level, I used to do “mild”, now I do “medium”)
1 pound of chicken (I use boneless chicken breast)
1/2 pound 31-40 count shrimp, uncooked, devaned, shell totally off, ends included

You can start with precooked chicken, which I already had on hand. Alternately you can also use a rotisserie chicken from the market. Or you can easily cook the chicken right now.

Begin rice preparation as on box, boiling water in a large stock pot or dutch oven.

If cooking chicken with the meal, cut into chunks, toss into largest frying pan you have (12-13″ preferred) with cooking oil on medium-high heat. Brown slightly on all sides, don’t overcook. Take out of pan.

Into same pan, add more oil and cook shrimp, roughly two minutes or less per side. Reserve and let cool. Cut each shrimp into thirds. Add back to pan with chicken, warm up and stir. Add in jar of salsa to frying pan on medium heat, let cook together about 5-10 minutes with lid on. At this point rice should be done.

Add rice to frying pan (if frying pan is too small, then, instead add contents of pan to stock pot or dutch oven, whichever works best). Mix together on low heat for about three or four minutes with lid on. Serve. Makes roughly 8 servings.

©2008 Harry Kenney

Simple recipe? Yes. Simple ingredients? Yes. Great taste? Hey! That goes without saying. What does need talking about is, simple as these are, what is a sauce? A glaze? A mop? What exactly is Jack Daniel’s? And while we’re at it, where exactly on the steer does a strip steak come from?

According to About.com “Mops are sauces you might (better) know as sop, bastes or mops.” I would have to add “glazes” to that list. (For instance the Asian glaze I use on salmon is like this; whereas the glaze I put on meatloaf stays there the first time, that is, one application and leave it.) First, let’s take a left turn. A marinade is a sauce made of either all wet ingredients or wet ingredients and some dry (spices and herbs), but it’s still basically a wet sauce. And into this marinade, your proteins, your meat, poultry or seafood is placed prior to cooking to add flavor. So all these other things — glazes, mops, bastes — are what you put on immediately before and/or during your cooking — as with this recipe.

Moving on, what the heck is Jack Daniel’s anyways? Why it’s Tennessee whiskey. Which is not to say it’s actually whiskey. Ok, it is, but it’s more like bourbon. To confuse you more it’s a “sour mash”. Here’s the deal. taken from Wikipedia: “Whisky or whiskey refers to a broad category of alcoholic beverages that are distilled from fermented grain mash and aged in wooden casks (generally oak). Different grains are used for different varieties, including: barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat, and maize (corn).”

Got that? Ok, let’s then look at American whiskeys and Jack Daniel’s in particular. “American whiskeys include both straights and blends. To be called ’straight’ the whiskey must be one of the “named types” listed in the federal regulations”. The most common of which are: “Bourbon, which must be at least 51% corn (maize); Rye, which must be at least 51% rye; Corn, which is made from a mash made up of at least 80% corn (maize).” All straight American whiskeys are defined by law to meet certain criteria (which we’ll skip over here). But not Jack Daniel’s which “is identical to bourbon in almost every important respect. The most recognizable difference is that Tennessee whiskey is filtered through sugar maple charcoal, giving it a unique flavour and aroma.”

Ok, that covers sauces and “Jack”. (Btw, if anyone ever says to you “You don’t know jack”, now you can say you do!) So what is strip steak? It is cut from the short loin (sometimes also called a strip loin), It’s a muscle that does little work, and so it’s extremely tender. Unlike the nearby filet mignon, the strip loin is a sizable muscle, which allows it to be cut into the larger portions to the delight of steak eaters. (See the public domain image here.)

One funny thing about this steak, it has more aliases than most criminals! It is known simply as the strip steak, natch. It’s also known as (big breath): top loin steak, New York steak, New York strip steak, Kansas City steak, Kansas City strip steak, hotel steak, ambassador steak, club sirloin steak, strip sirlon steak, shell steak and even the Delmonico. Yep, a whole lot of names for one single cut. Furthermore, in the UK and British Commonwealth countries this is known as “porterhouse”. But no, this is not the same as American’s are used to, Amercian porterhouse is a different cut, which to avoid any more confusion, I’m not going to get into. What matters about the strip steak is it’s expensive and it’s tender and delicious.

Note: This is a smoke alert dish! As you see in the photo, this baby will smoke. How do they do it in the restaurants? Obviously they have those big hooded exhaust fans directly over their grills and stoves. Whereas cooking at home, some of us do, many of us do not. If you can do this on an outdoor grill, all the better, in fact, that would be best. For me, as it was 16 degrees here in Philly when I did this the other day, I pretty much had no choice. Hey, you know the saying where there’s smoke there’s fire? Well here, where there’s smoke, there’s taste! … And a bit of a clean up. So, you’ve been forewarned.

Grilled Strip Steak with Jack Daniel’s Glaze
©2008 Harry Kenney

Two one-pound strip steaks

1/2 cup Jack Daniel’s
1/2 cup pineapple juice
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp worchestershire
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground ginger

Combine (whisk) ingredients well. Place into small saucepan on medium-high heat. Reduce volume of liquid down to 1/4. Either get your outdoor grill ready or preheat your indoor grill. Let sauce cool enough that you can pour onto a plate and coat both sides of each steak portion in the sauce then onto the grill. Cook as you normally would. Each time you turn your steak, baste on with brush (or tablespoon if no brush) more of the glaze. Do not add sauce after you take it off, only before and during. Cook to your taste (preferabbly medium or medium-rare). Serve.

Sauce is enough for repeated bastings of both sides of two one pound steaks. Warning if done indoors this will create a good deal of smoke. Therefore outdoors is preferred, but you can certainly do this indoors. Your choice.

©2008 Harry Kenney

Several different types of fish have gotten somewhat popular in the last few years and can now easily be found at your local fish monger or at the fresh seafood section of your local supermarket. Among these is one with the very cool sounding name of mahi-mahi. So what is mahi mahi? (The name by the way can be two words or a single hyphenated one from what I’ve found.)

Obviously the name conjures up the tropical Pacific, specifically Hawaii. And indeed the name is Hawaiian, meaning “strong-strong” as this fish can really put up a fight when on the end of a fishing line. Despite the name however, this fish can be found and caught in many places besides the deep South Pacific, also in the Caribbean, the west coast of South America and Southeast Asia; and it is in these areas the commercial fisherman go for. That said, in less abundance more recreational fisherman have caught them in the Arabian Sea and even in the Atlantic from New Jersey down to Florida.

So where did this fish come from so all of a sudden? It didn’t actually. You recall the dolphin fish of the 90s? This is the same puppy, er, uh, fish. I always thought calling a fish a dolphin (which we know is a mammal) was very stupid and needlessly confusing. Evidently so did everyone else. Especially when this fish when alive or freshly caught is a spectacular bright green and yellow. The color fades, so you won’t see green on the skin of the fish you’ve purchased at the store, more silver and black, though if you look closely at the one photo here, you will see the specks of yellow. You’ll notice on the fleshy side the pink with little specks of red. That’s a good indicator you have mahi-mahi.

Why is it so popular? Taste it and you’ll find out. It is one very delicious fish. Very firm, large flakes, a nice subtle sweet taste. Because of this I suspect it could take a nice marinade or glaze. That said though, my favorite way to cook fish is the most simple way, grilled and with few spices or flavorings. So, this is a very super simple recipe. In keeping with it’s most famous of origins I paired it with a nice tropical fruit salsa and laid it on a bed of yellow rice with a side of grilled fresh asparagus. Ah, the simple things in life.

Let me be a tad erudite and a tad hokey then and wish you the Hawaiian form of “bon appetit” — it actaully means literally (in plural form) “Let’s eat!” — E ‘ai ka-kou!

Grilled Mahi-Mahi with Lime
©2008 Harry Kenney

2 fillets mahi-mahi, about one pound
juice of half a lime
salt
pepper
vegetable oil

Get your outside grill or inside cast-iron grill hot and ready.

Score the skin side with a sharp knife in a diamond pattern to make crispy. Liberally apply and rub both sides with cooking oil. Season both sides, though predominantly the flesh side, with salt, pepper and lime juice.

Place on hot grill skin side down first for about three minutes. Turn, grill fleshy side for two to three minutes. One more turn and one more minute of grilling the skin side again.

Done. Serve with or without skin. Note this works great with the skin, but there are two long thick membranes about a quarter inch thick and roughly as long as the fish that will need removing.

Makes two to three servings.

©2008 Harry Kenney

Cooks are generally pretty imaginative. That said, when something gets popular, everyone jumps on the bandwagon. In the last few years we’ve seen the big bulsamic vinegar craze, and then there was the Parmesano Reggiano fad, and of course romaine has long replaced the boring iceberg lettuce as the salad staple. The first one is still going, though I see some chefs lately such as Bobby Flay starting to use sherry vinegar instead; and as for grated cheese, it seems of late Pecorino Romano is the food world’s “new black”.

What brings this up? Especially in terms of this particular dish? Well while there’s not too much wrong with everyone jumping on a bandwagon (well, there is to some degree), the thing is few people seem to know when to jump off that wagon, not even when it’s been run into the ground. And that brings me to the mango. Like most people I enjoy it, and yes, I’m sure I will use mango in future recipes just as I have in the past. But, please folks, there is a world beyond. In short, the wide-spread massive over-use of the mango to the exclusion of everything else stops here.

Now I am in no way insisting on an embargo of any kind. I just have to say, hey, there are other fruits in this world. There’s other delicious tropical fruits. You actually can make a salsa — believe it or not — without having to use mango in it every single time! (Ok, are you getting the idea that I’ve been “mango-ed out”? I’m even getting sick of using the word.) Amazingly, the, um … “M” craze has been going on for way far longer than the Parmesan Reggiano or bulsamic crazes. Unlike them there seems to be no stopping it. Again, except for right here, right now.

I say venture forth and discover the other delicious delicacies out there: guava, passion fruit, kiwi, papaya …. Even something more exotic like the pomegranate, or more commonplace such as the lately-unappreciated pineapple. And so, I present to you a dish I’m actually tempted to label “NOT Another Mango Salsa”. This is pretty much a “nouveau” salsa (not that traditional). Though having said that it is somewhat reminiscent of pico de gallo, and I’m referring to the Mexican version not the Spanish version. Note this salsa is also refreshingly devoid of tomato too. No mango and no tomato in a salsa? Stop me, I’m a madman! LOL!

I made this with the fish I had a few nights ago (that recipe will be up shortly), and what I had left over a couple days later I had along side my steak (another recipe you’ll see very soon) and it went great with both. Note, neither of these dishes were Mexican, so to say salsa must accompany only a Mexican or Southwestern dish is, well, like saying you have to use mango all time. It’s a rut that needs to be overcome.

So, you want something nice and a bit different as a side? It’s cool respite from the rest of warm and hot food on the plate. It’s fresh, it’s tangy, and it’s got a little touch of heat counterbalanced with that touch of sweetness. You’ll definitely enjoy this tropical fruit salsa with a variety of different dishes. Which ones? Well, I gave you a few pointers already, but — as with trying out different tropical fruit flavors — I leave whatever other dishes this goes with up to your own exploration. Enjoy the ride. That’s the fun part of eating and cooking.

Chunky Tropical Fruit Salsa
©2008 Harry Kenney

1/4 cup fresh papaya, chunked (or use canned)
1/4 cup fresh pineapple, chunked (or use canned)
1/2 large jalapeño, devaned, deseeded, chopped
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chooped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped fine (cannot use dried!)
2 tbsps grated fresh ginger (or ginger powder)
2 tbsps fresh lime juice
olive oil

Mix everything together. Put enough olive oil in have a nice coat, but this is not a dressing, not a vinaigrette, so err on the conservative side. Put in refrigerator at least half hour before serving so all the ingredients blend together well. Stir mix before poritioning out on plates. This side dish can be served cold, chilled or even (see note at end) at room temperature. Makes four portions.

Note: for health issues, don’t let at room temperature for an extended amount of time. This doesn’t just pertain to this dish. The assumption that food in an acidic (lime juice in this case) solution means it’s impervious to bacteria is not correct. Short period of time, again, as with any food, is fine. This isn’t to scare you, just educate. Use your head and you’ll be fine.

©2008 Harry Kenney

What can I say about mushrooms? Ok, first off, they’re obviously delicious! Eating-wise they can add another dimension to a steak. Or to chicken as well. They give that extra “something” when added to soups, a rice mixture or pasta. They can serve as a tasty vessel for stuffing.

In many ways they are “meaty” for both the vegetarian and the carnivore in us alike. I recall the oft-quoted here Frugal Gourmet, Jeff Smith, saying something to the effect of mushrooms being a sign of a generous God that from horse manure could such amazing things as mushrooms spring. Or something to that effect. He said it partly in jest and partly serious. Anyway, we get the idea of what he meant.

In other regards, by now you probably already know it’s a fungus or fungi. That there are edible and poisonious varieties; fortunately the poisonous ones don’t make it to the market. The term toadstools has often referred to them somewhate interchanably, especially in and since the European middle ages. However today that term seems old fashion and when it’s used — more often in fairy tales than in reality — they refer to the poisonous kind of mushroom. They can be used in medicines and lately cosmetics as well as some varieties used by shamans and others for psydelic trips. These also don’t make it to the grocers.

By the way, if you’re absolutely wild about mushrooms (edible and not) then head over to MykoWeb for what’s perhaps the greatest resource of knowledge pertaining to “mushrooms, funghi and mycology” on the Web. Just the Funghi of California section alone contains over 500 species and ia approaching 3,500 photographs.

While once considered to be without nutritional value, in modern times we know better. They are excellent sources of selenium and ergothioneine, two antioxidants, as well as copper and potassium/ Additionally, they are one of the few natural sources of vitamin D. Mushrooms are also good sources of three essential B-vitamins: riboflavin, niacin and pantothenic acid. Mushrooms are low in calories, fat-free, cholesterol-free and very low in sodium.

Flavor, hmm. Overall I think mushrooms are delicous, but describing the differences in types difficult to convey, but I’ll try. Crimini taste just like white button mushrooms taste like, well, I’d have to say they are what we normally think of with a mushroom, sort of the baseline. Portobellos taste meatier somehow, and shitake a bit more spicy and a bit more aromatic. Together though, wow, what a supeb and sublime combination.

As with other recipes, substitute the chicken stock for vegetable stock and you have a 100% vegetarian version of this incredible soup. And again, if I had found vegetable stock at the store (or had the presense of mind to have made some myself homemade) I would have easily gone that way. Oh, and timewise this is fairly fast for a soup. I’ve seen a few recipes where something like this is given to take up to two hours; really, I have no idea what they’re thinking in doing that. After prep work, this takes about 40 minutes from start to finish.

Hearty Three-Mushroom Soup
©2008 Harry Kenney

4 oz shitake mushrooms, cleaned, stems removed, rough chopped
6 oz baby portabellos (or mature portabellos) mushrooms, cleaned, rough chopped
6 oz crimini (or white button) mushrooms, cleaned, rough chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 leek, well-cleaned, chunks
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
2/3 cup dry white wine (I used Pinot Grigio, if you’re wondering)
4 cups chicken broth (substitute vegetable broth for vegetarian version)
1 pint heavy cream
chives (topping, optional)

Add butter and oil to stock pot on medium heat. Add onions, celery and garlic and sweat for about 8-10 minutes. Add all the mushrooms and more oil, cook down, stir often. Again, not trying to brown or cook completely, but partially, about 10 minutes, adding more oil if needed. Then add wine, stir and add chicken stock. Cook for 20 minutes.

Now either transfer stock in sections to food processor and return to pot or use emersion blender to puree. Mushrooms will still be there in a very fine mince. Add cream to pureed mixture and cook for 10 minutes. Top with chives. Suggest serving with crostini, fresh bread or maybe polenta rounds. Makes about six servings.

©2008 Harry Kenney

Crostini. A sort of cousin to bruschetta, they mean in Italian “little toasts”. Funny though, the pronunciation sounds much to the English speaking person’s ear as “crust teeny” which would describe them equally well. Now I know I said I was getting away from the Italian food a bit, and I am, but, fact of the matter Italian food is such an integral part of the American food tapestry, I will always end up doing an Italian recipe now and then.

That said, the rest of this is certainly not in any way Italian. I topped it with Muenster cheese, an American cheese with an orange rind, and light texture and taste that is a great melting cheese. And to that I added a sliver of red apple. Supposedly one doesn’t don’t add herbs or spices on it. Hah, silly rabbit! I add a touch of garlic powder — not so much as to make it in any way a garlic bread however. And some dried oregano and basil. Where as for bruschetta I use the thicker wider Italian bread, for this I use the long and skinnier one. A French baguette would have worked just as well. Besides an obviously wonderful appetizer, I find, as I do with many appetizers, they also make great little “sides” accompanying a salad or soup.

  

Crostini with Melted Cheese and Apple
©2008 Harry Kenney

Half loaf of thin-wdith Italian bread or French baguette
olive oil
garlic powder
dried basil
dried oregano
5 oz. muenster cheese (or bree or another soft, mild cheese)
1 apple

Preheat oven to 375°F. Slice the bread very thin. On a parchment lined baking sheet place the 12 or more slices. Drizzle olive oil on one side of the bread than the other. Sprinkle the spices and herbs and place in oven for about 10 minutes until golden brown. Then take out and add a sliver of cheese and one small bit of apple. Two more minutes in the oven and done. Let cool slightly for a few mintues and serve.

©2008 Harry Kenney

What we have here essentially is a Spanish Oxtail Stew featuring Root Vegetables. Not only is it a dish eaten in the south of Spain, but this is a dish that transcends not only geography, but also social classes and time itself. With a few variations this dish could have been eaten in close to this form not only a few hundred years ago, but also two thousand years ago, and even nine millennia ago. Talk about getting in touch with the earth and roots huh? So how did I decide to do this exact dish?

Having done so many Italian and Italian-American recipes lately I’ve felt a great need for change. And a desire to let my taste buds, if not my actual personage, travel to some different distant lands. It was an episode of Dinner: Impossible that got me interested in trying out oxtails. I find it in some ways humorous and in many ways delightful when poor people’s food or “peasant food” becomes trendy cuisine.

To quote About.com: “Cooks around the world have long made use of oxtails with variations on a theme. Today, upscale chefs are rediscovering oxtails to the nostalgic delight of older patrons and the wonder of the younger crowd who consider it an exotic meat.” Indeed, my mother who at 92 still recalls that her father enjoyed oxtails; apparently it was a part of his father and his father’s father’s English roots.

At first then I thought, ah, I’ll make an English version of this dish, partly due to Robert Irvine having brought it to my attention via his television program as well as because of my grandfather. And then I started looking around. And all I can say is “wow”. I mean think about it: oxtail, oxen, animal husbandry, early cultivation … In short, if you want to find a protein, a meat, a dish that goes back to the beginning of man’s civilized history, oxtails have been eaten since before recorded history.

So when researching I found there’s pretty much no ancient culture that doesn’t have an oxtail recipe. There are Chinese recipes, Indian recipes, Greek and Basque recipes. When later countries came into being, they continued eating oxtails, so there are recipes from the UK to South Africa to Burma and beyond. And if we go just a few centuries old, there are many Caribbean recipes too. In short oxtails are a global dish.

So while I initially wanted to make an English dish, I thought I would keep my mind open and see what most appealed to me with so many variations from so many countries available. When I found this one, I knew I just had to do it. Rabo de Toro, literally “Tail of the Bull”, a dish from Spain specifically the Andalusian region, and more specifically having come from the bull fights in Cordoba.

Speaking of history lessons, just as the dish coq au vin is rarely ever made with roosters any more and is today almost always made with chickens so is the case here. Rabo de Toro — unless you happen to be an actual matador — is almost always made today with oxtails. And, just to confuse you even more, oxtails, which did historically come from the ox, pretty much today come from the tails of beef cattle of both genders.

What makes this dish so especially Spanish? And what gives it that twist I was searching for? The answer to both are the ingredients of red bell pepper, paprika and chocolate. Yes chocolate. And what makes this classic recipe in any way mine? Two things. Oddly all the recipes I saw containing root vegetables seemed to neglect one particular one which I can’t imagine would have been originally left out, and so one contribution is my addition of the white turnip along with the traditional carrots and parsnips.

Also the recipes call for a deep, full-bodied red wine. Now as much as my bottle of Portuguese Porto Reserve would have been a fit pairing with this neighboring country dish I found that too expensive a proposition, so I ended up with a combination of both Merlot and American (yes, Taylor’s) Port; the Merlot provided a nice dry backbone while the Port gave it some deeper body and a touch of sweetness which was needed. And at less than half the price of using the Porto Reserve.

I will say one thing if you haven’t figured it out yet: This is a long and I mean long cooking dish. Some might think that great as for the most part you pretty much leave it do it’s thing. Part of my impatience though comes out with four full hours of just the beef cooking, not to mention the prep work or the 45 minutes after for the vegetable cooking was just a long time. But to my delight it was worth it. Delicious.

Btw, as slow cooking and crock pots have made a resurgence in popular recently, yes, this probably would be an excellent choice for cooking in that manner. However, just as I didn’t toss the bulk of the vegetables in until last so they would have body and not get soggy, I would probably suggest doing the same and not adding them to the slow cooker until the last hour.

For those of you particularly squeamish just think of this as beef stew with some interestingly different tastes thrown in — because really that’s what it basically is. And for those of you yearning for something out of the ordinary: here’s a taste of Spain, a dish with an interesting story and history behind it from ancient man to modern bull fights, and a stew containing chocolate — all rolled into one. What more could you want? ¡Olé!

Rabo de Toro – Spanish Oxtail Stew
©2008 Harry Kenney

2 lbs oxtails
1 medium-large yellow onion, diced
1-1/2 medium-sized parsnips, peeled, large dice
1 medium-sized white turnip, peeled, large dice
2 medium carrots, unpeeled (if fresh), large dice
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 celery stalk, finely diced
15 oz of canned diced tomatoes (use fresh only at peak season)
2 tbsps minced garlic (or same amount from fresh cloves)
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp thyme
2 tsps oregano
1/2 tsp cumen (optional)
1-2 medium bay leaves
1 oz unsweetened (bakers) chocolate, sliced down into slivers
* 3 cups beef stock / broth
* 3 cups dry red wine (I used Merlot)
* 1-1/2 cups American (Taylor’s) Port wine
* 8 cups water
salt
pepper

3 baking potatoes to make mashed potatoes

* liquid ingredients marked with asterisk (and to lesser degree the spices not marked with asterisks) the amounts listed all depend on how much evaporation, time cooking, seasoning to your taste, etc. Constantly adding more and more as needed over the long cook. The amounts listed are approximations of the total amounts used over the entire course of the cooking. When starting out, start out with less and add more over time as needed and/or desired, as mentioned in the instructions here.

In a large stewing pot or dutch oven — I used a four quart pot — with heat medium-high begin by browning your oxtails on all sides using plenty of olive oil. I found using long tong work well. This takes about 15 minutes roughly.

Remove the oxtails onto a plate. Into the pot add more oil, most of the onions, most of the celery. Start to sweat. Several minutes in add the minced garlic. Continue to sweat, not to brown. When softened enough, put the oxtails back in adding also 1 cup of dry wine and 1/2 cup of port and one cup of beef stock. Turn heat to high. Scrape bottom to get bits up. Add salt and pepper and oregano. Add as much water as needed to just cover the top of the oxtails. Cover, when it comes to a boil, put flame back down to simmer.

This concept of checking on the stew, giving it a stir, adding more water or wine or stock as required. Bringing it to high heat when you’ve done so, then lowering back to a simmer if basically what you will do for the next four hours. How much of which and what I leave to you. Too much and it’s too rich, too much water and you’ll get watery stew. I would add no more than two cups of water at a time, a cup preferably. Wine the next time, some more stock the next. The amounts listed at the top of the recipe give you an idea of how much should be used during the entire course of the cooking.

After the three hour mark, start testing the softness of the beef. The best way I’ve found is to lift part of it out with a large serving spoon, and test with the end of a steak knife or fork gently. At roughly the four hour mark or the point you most feel the beef is tender, that it is just holding on to the bone barely, take it out, place on a plate and let it cool for about 15 minutes. During this time I leave the lid off the stew and let it continue on simmer, this will reduce the liquid somewhat.

Take the meat completely off the bone. Shread with your fingers or fork and place back into stew. At this point, add all the root vegetables, including the small remainder of onion and celery left over from the start. Add the remaining half of your oregano plus all of your spices including the chocolate. Add more broth, wines and water as needed. Cover, bring to full boil, reduce back to simmer.

You should find the carrots are done first, then the turnips and finally the parsnips in that order, and it should take roughly 45 more minutes of stewing.

Meanwhile, take three baking potatoes, punch three deep rows of holes in them with a fork, two on one side, one on the other and place in microwave for roughly 12 minutes. When done, let cool enough to touch, scoop out, use butter, milk, salt, pepper and make a medium to thick consistency mashed potatoes.

When stew is done, place some mash on the side of your deep bowl and fill the rest with the stew. Because of the richness of the stew including the deep notes of the dark wines used, go the other way and use a sweet blush or white wine as accompaniment. I suggest a White Zinfandel or a Riesling. I know, it’s not exactly Spanish, but it tastes good. Want to keep it Spanish and still sweet? The no-brainer would be go with Sangria; matter of fact that would probably be best.

©2008 Harry Kenney

This recipe is so cut and dry that for once I’m not sure what even to write about. Of course, that’s not usually the case and this blog is set up to show the first two paragraphs and then “divide” so I have to write something here. I guess I’ll just say how nice it is to wander the earth from my desktop computer and from my kitchen and to see — and to taste — how different people’s do the same thing — like a salad — but do it their own way.

Californians, parts of Mexico and Spain all have salads that contain avacado, for instance. In Greece, it’s olives and feta that helps make it uniquely theirs, their “stamp” on things, or their contribution. You’ll notice two ingredients I say are option, I myself didn’t put into this salad, anchovies and hard-boiled eggs. Again two ingredients that make it more distinctly Mediterranean in nature. So, try it with one of the two Greek salad dressings I posted here yesterday if you want to keep it authentically Greek — or feel free to use your own favorite salad dressing. Your choice. Enjoy.

  

Greek Salad
©2008 Harry Kenney

1 medium green pepper, devaned, deseeded, small dice
Two dozen Kamala olives, halved
2 cucumbers, peeled and deseeded, diced
1 large red onion, diced
12-16 Roma (plum) tomatoes diced
10 oz romaine lettuce
2 oz radicchio
2 oz endive
anchovies, sliced (optional)

to taste:
organo
parsley
salt
pepper
garlic powder

toppings:

crumbled feta cheese
hard-boiled egg, sliced or diced (optional)

Greek salad dressing of your choice

Mix the above ingredients together in a bowl. Toss the seasonings thoroughly. I then like to put the salad bowl into refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes, both to give it all a chill and to let all the ingredients and seasonings marry together. Remember to never put feta or egg into the actual salad in terms of storage. Store them seperately. Only add toppings and dressing to a salad immediately before serving. Salad makes 6-8 servings.

©2008 Harry Kenney

Seems lately I’ve been doing some pairings. First the pesto then the pasta. Another day, a side and then a soup to go with it. Today, something similiar. I’ve made two Greek salad dressings and tomorrow or the next day I’ll put up the Greek salad that goes with it.

I told you I got into a bit of a “rut” doing a lot of Italian and Italian-American food. Well, rut is a negative word and I’m not pinning that in any way on the food, just the lack of variety. So you’ll also notice that I’m taking a more global walk on the wild side. Why? Pretty simple. I love all kinds of food. And fortunately seemingly every country, and often smaller regions of countries, have contributed major food items or at least nuances to the overall food tapestry of what we eat.

In this case, take the simple salad dressing. From my previous article on vinaigrettes we already know that a basic salad dressing consists of oil and then something acidic, either vinegar, alcohol or citrus acid and seasonings. In the case of the first dressing here it’s the lemon and honey where the Greeks have given us a twist.

When it comes to the second recipe, Greek cuisine has given us a complete flip from the norm with the introduction of yogurt as well as the infusion of mint to give a very different and intrinsically Greek flavor to the ordinary salad. As to the salad, well, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

One more thing. This is odd. Now four of us had both dressings, two of each. I fully expected to like the creamy one better. To my surprise I liked the vinaigrette better. The creamier one tasted better prior to putting it on the salad, more body. And yet the other one tasted better to me on the salad. That said, one other person agreed and the other two liked the creamy. So, what it comes down to is you might like one of these or both; either way there’s at the very least one here you’ll enjoy, and hopefully two.

Lemon-Honey Vinaigrette
©2008 Harry Kenney

1/3 cup red wine vinager
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
juice from 1/2 a lemon (roughly 2 tbsps)
1/2 tsp parsley flakes
2 tsps dried oregano
4 tbsps honey

Place all the ingredients in a bowl except for the olive oil. Pour in the olive oil while whisking the bowl. You could do this in a blender also. Done. Makes enough for about 4-6 salads.

Mint Yogurt Salad Dressing
©2008 Harry Kenney

1 cup drained plain yogurt
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tsp mint flakes
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp lemon juice
salt
pepper

Mix everything together. Vary seasonings or proportions to taste. Ta-da. Enough for 8-10 salads.