Sticky Buns

Ingredients 

Dough

1/3 Cup Milk

Tb Butter

Pinch Salt

2 Heaping Tb of Sugar

3 Cups Flour

Egg

2/3 Pack of Yeast + 1 Tb Sugar + ¼ Cup Warm Water

Filling

1.5 Tb Melted Butter

3 Tb Sugar

1.5 Ts Cinnamon

Topping

2 Tb Melted Butter

1.5 Tb Sugar

1 Cup Soaked Raisins

1.5 Tb Brown Sugar

Directions

Make sure that you have your yeast prepped and ready to go with this recipe.  So, firstly, add the yeast sugar and warm water together.  It will take about 5 to 10 minutes to bloom.

In a small frying pan heat the milk to a simmer.  Add the tb butter, pinch of salt and 2 (heaping) tb of sugar to the milk.  Stir on medium heat until the butter melts and the sugar has dissolved.  After the butter melt and the sugar dissolves, turn off the heat and allow the liquid to cool.  When the milk/butter/sugar mixture has reached room temperature, combine it with the yeast in a Cuisinart.  Also at this time, add an egg to the other two liquids in the Cuisinart.

Note: for the Cuisinart, you want to use the plastic dough blade.

Turn the Cuisinart on low and add the flour a few tablespoons at a time making sure that it is blended before adding more. 

After all of the flour has been added, allow the dough to "knead" in the Cuisinart for another minute or two.  When you remove the dough from the cuisinart it should be slightly sticky and have a good elasticity. 

Now, place the dough in a large bowl, covered by a towel.  The dough is going to rise in the bowl and thus the bowl should be put in a warm, dry place.  The rising process will probably take a few hours as the dough will rise to a size that is approximately 3 times its original size. 

After the dough has risen, roll it out onto a floured surface and create a reactance of dough that is 18 inches in length and 12 inches in height.  Then, evenly spread the melted butter, sugar and cinnamon.  On the on the long side closest to you, I would recommend leaving about a 1 inch lip, which does not receive butter, sugar or cinnamon.  After applying the filling, roll your dough.  You are rolling along the shorter side so that you are left, after rolling, with a 18 inch roll. 

Now, slice your rolls.  Slices should be made about 2 inches apart so that you get 9 or 10 rolls.  Now, place the rolls off to the side for just a moment.

In a 10 inch baking dish, place the topping ingredients evenly at the bottom (sugar, butter, brown sugar and raisins).  Then, evenly distribute your cinnamon rolls onto the baking dish.

You now need to let the baking dish sit for about an hour as the rolls' dough will rise a second time. 

After an hour, cook the rolls in the oven at 180 degrees C for approximately 25 minutes. 

After the sticky buns have cooked through, invert the pan on a clean surface.  You will now have the "sticky" part on the top.

Allow the buns to cool to room temperature and you are now ready to eat!

Spanish Omelet

Makes one omelet, which can serve approximately 5 people

Ingredients:
6 Eggs
2 Large Potatoes (Washed)
Large Onion
Fresh Cilantro
White Wine Vinegar
Honey
Water
Salt
Pepper

Directions:
First you need to prepare the onions and the potatoes.
For the potatoes, you can leave the skin on. Slice the potatoes into
¼ inch slices. Next, season them liberally with salt and pepper.
Then, place them in a skillet over medium heat with about 2-3 Tb of
olive oil. Allow the potatoes to fry until they are soft. I would
suggest that you keep the temperature on a low enough level that the
potatoes cook through and soften, but do not brown. Once all of the
potatoes are cooked, retain the oil and place the potatoes off to the
side.

For the onions, cut them into thin, inch-long, strings. Fry them in a
skillet with about a Tb of olive oil. As the onions get to be
translucent, add about a ¼ cup of water, with 2 Tb of vinegar, 2 Ts of
Honey, and a pinch of salt. Constantly stir the onions, and allow the
liquid to cook off. The vinegar and honey will infuse a little bit of
sweet and sour flavor which will compliment the rich nature of the
omelet. Once the liquid is cooked off, place the onions off to the
side.

Now you are ready to assemble your omelet.

You need a 10 inch frying pan, lightly greased.

In the pan, assemble the potatoes, onions and cilantro in a "lasagna"
fashion. Cover the bottom of the pan with potato slices, then some
onions (appx 1/3 of your total onions) evenly spread and lastly, some
cilantro. Continue this process until you have used up all of your
potato and onion. You should be able to create 3 solid layers of
potato, onion and cilantro.

Now, take your 6 eggs and beat them in a mixing bowl. Then, pour the
eggs over the layers in the frying pan.

The omelet is now ready to be cooked. Place it on the stove over
medium heat and allow the eggs to cook through. This will take a long
time as there is a lot of egg to cook.

When the omelet has mostly cooked through, you need to flip the omelet
to allow the omelet to cook through. This is not an easy process.
The best way to do this is to place a large plate on the top of the
frying pan and flip the pan over, thus flipping the omelet over onto
the plate. Then, gently, slide the omelet back on to the skillet.

Allow the omelet to cook for a few minutes and then you are ready to eat.
This dish can be served hot or cold.

French Fries

French Fries are, of course, a rather simple dish, but there are some tricks to perfecting them at home.

Recipe Serves 2 People

Ingredients
4 Potatoes, peeled
Large pan
Olive Oil
Large pot of Boiling Water
Salt (and any other seasonings you like on your fries)

Directions
Cut each of your potatoes into 4 medallions.  Then, cut each of your medallions lengthwise into 4 slivers (Fries).  This should give you 16 fries per potato where the height and width of each fry is approximately 2/3 cm by 2/3 cm.  Try your best to make the fries as even in size as possible.  This will help them cook evenly.

Next, place all of your uncooked fries into the pot of boiling water and let them cook for approximately 7 minutes.  Depending of the type of potato you are using the cooking time can vary.  Every few minutes check the consistency of your potato.  The fries are ready when they are pliable, but still can snap when bent (Andante).

Next, place the now boiled fries into a large frying pan, on medium high.  In the frying pan make sure that there is enough olive oil to coat the entire bottom.  Also, be very careful with temperature.  If the heat is too high the olive oil can burn.

Because you are not using a deep fat fryer you will need to constantly flip your fries to make sure each side browns.

Your fries are ready to be removed when the sides are consistently a golden brown.

Take your fries out of the pan, drain and blot them.  While they are still hot dust them with a dash of salt.  I also like to cover my fries with a little bit of red pepper, black pepper and garlic powder.

Cacio e Pepe

Ingredients

Pasta

A little less than a pack of dried spaghetti; cooked to andante
1.5 Tbsp Butter (salted)
1.5 Tbsp Olive Oil
¼ cup of Shredded parmesan
1 tbsp pepper

Parmesan cup
¼ cup parmesan

Directions

Pasta
In a medium saucepan on medium head add the butter and melt it. Next, add the olive oil. Then toss the pasta with the butter/ olive oil mixture. Lasty toss in the pepper and Parmesan. The result is a rich, slightly spicy, slightly tangy pasta which originates from Rome.

Parmesan Cup
This pasta is often served in a bowl made out of parmesan. To make the the cup use a small frying pan on high heat. Place ¼ cup of parmesan in the bottom pan and let it melt and bubble. When the parmesan has melted together turn the heat off. Let the cheese congeal and cool into a disk. Then place the disk of parmesan on the bottom of a coffee mug and allow the cheese to form around the mug into a bowl shape.

Serve the pasta inside of the bowl.

Cauliflower Mash

This is a great alternative to mashed potatoes with more flavor and less carbohydrates

Serves 4

Ingredients
1 Cauliflower head
Salt to Taste
1/4 Cup of milk
2 Heaping tbs of cream cheese
Dash Pepper
1 Tb Butter

Directions
Wash Cauliflower, remove stem and leaves and cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces.

Place cauliflower in a steamer and steam until soft.  This will probably take 10 to 15 minutes, but keep and eye on the cauliflower because it could be more and it could be less time.

Drain the cauliflower and place it into a large bowl.  Then, puree the cauliflower with an immersion blender.

Next, add all of the other ingredients and repeat blending and pureeing with the immersion blender.

Moussaka

Serves 4 People.  

Ingredients
One half pound ground beef
1 Onion, Chopped
1 Potato, sliced into very thin (1/8 inch thick) rounds
3 Eggplant, Peeled and sliced into rounds

1 Tb tomato paste
1 ts Balsamic vinegar
1/2 ts garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Roux Mix
2 Tb butter
Flour
75 g Cheddar Cheese
Salt to taste

Tomato sauce

Directions
Coat the potatoes with salt, pepper and olive oil.  Cook the potatoes in the oven until they are soft.
Cook the onion and eggplant in some olive oil in separate skillets. Make sure that the onions are translucent and the eggplant is completely soft.

After they are all cooked, place the onion, potato and eggplant off to the side.

Next, cook the meat in a skillet until brown.  When the meat is cooked, add the tomato paste, balsamic, garlic, salt and pepper.  This will give the meat a little more flavor.

Place the meat off to the side.

Lastly, you need to make a roux.  This will go on the top of your moussaka.  Melt 2 tb of butter in a skillet on medium heat.  Add enough flour to form a thin paste.  Next add 1/2 cup of milk and stir until the liquid thickens.  Lastly, add the salt and cheddar cheese.  If you think that your mixture is too thick, you can add some more milk.  The consistency should be similar to yogurt.

The ingredients will now be assembled in a square baking dish.  You probably should use a 10" or 8" pan.  First, place the meat on the bottom.  Then add rotating layers of eggplant, onion and potato.  You can also add a little bit of tomato sauce with the layers if you prefer.

On the top spread your roux mixture.

Cook the Moussaka in the oven at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes and then broil it at the end to brown the top.

Samosas

Makes 7 Samosas


Filling
3 Potatoes Skinned
2 Onions Chopped
1/4 Cup Peas (frozen)

4 Tb Yogurt
4 Tb Masala Seasoning
Pinch Salt

7 Won ton Skins

Directions
Boiled the potatoes until soft and caramelize the onions
Mix all of the filling ingredients together

Make the filling smooth with just a few lumps of potato in the mix.

Add 1 tablespoon of the filling into your won ton skin and fold it into a triangle.

Fry each samosa until brown in a frying pan filled with cooking oil.

Lemon Garlic Chili Asparagus Tips

Serves 3

Ingredients
20 Asparagus stalks
Garlic powder
Salt
1 dried chili crushed
1 tsp lemon juice

Directions
Remove the bottom half of each asparagus stalk.  You want each asparagus to be about 3 inches long.  This is because the bottom can be stringy and touch.

Place the asparagus in a pan with a few tea spoons of water and the lemon.  Cook for 4 to 5 minutes until the asparagus turns bright green and softens.

 Drain the water and add one tbsp of olive oil to finish the asparagus.  Also add a dash of garlic, salt and the crushed chili.

Allow the Asparagus to saute until the asparagus browns on each side.

Eggplant Parmesan

Serves 4

Ingredients
3 Medium sized eggplants
3 Eggs
Breadcrumbs seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder
Flour (1 to 2 cups)

Sauce
Same sauce as lasagna.  I used 4 times each ingredient for this recipe.

Cheese
2 to 3 cups of Mozzarella
1/2 cup of Parmesan 

Directions
Skin and slice your eggplant into 1/3 inch thick coins.

Then set up a station as shown below.  In the first bowl is the flour, then egg and lastly the bread crumb.  Each piece of eggplant should be submerged in each of these bowls.  First, flour.  Then, egg,  Lastly, breadcrumb.

Then, place the pieces of eggplant in a skillet on medium high with enough oil to keep the eggplant from touching the bottom of the pan.  Cook each piece until golden brown. 

Once all of the eggplant is cooked, stack the eggplant in a casserole dish lasagna style: Layer eggplant, layer sauce, layer eggplant, layer cheese (both cheeses)

Lastly, place in an over until the cheese is all melted and the top is brown.

Fresh Lasagna

Ingredients

Sauce

7 Tomatoes (De-stemmed and skinned)
2 Tbs Olive Oil
6 Cloves Garlic (Minced)
.5 ts Black Pepper
Salt to taste
1 to 2 ts of Sugar
1 ts lemon juice
1 Fresh Chili Chopped
1 Dried Chili Chopped

Pasta
3 Eggs
3 Cups Flour
Pinch Salt
1 Glug Olive Oil
Water if the dough is dry

Cheese
1 Cup Mozzarella Shredded
300 grams Ricotta

Directions
Preparing the sauce

Add the tomatoes to a large sauce pot on medium with the olive oil. Mash the tomatoes with a potato masher. Add the other ingredients and allow the sauce to simmer for about a half hour, or until the sauce gains the right consistency.  If you prefer, you can  blend the sauce with an immersion blender. 

Preparing the Pasta
Mix the ingredients.  You are trying to get a pasta dough with just a slight stickiness.   Separate the dough into 6 balls and roll each ball out into a 7 by 7 inch square.  Make sure that the dough is about 1/8 inch thick.  Next, quickly boil each pasta sheet.  Because the the sheets are rather big, you probably want to do with one at a time.

Assembling the lasagna
This lasagna will be 7 layers.  I prefer to alternate sauce, ricotta and mozzarella in between layers of pasta.  The top layer should be sauce and mozzarella.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Serves 3

Ingredients
250 g Button Mushrooms
100 g Cheddar Cheese (sliced or finely chopped)
1 Tb Cream Cheese
5 Large Crackers (roughly crushed)
1 Lemon
1 Tb Olive Oil

Directions
Pre heat the oven to 375 degrees F

Wash and de-stem the mushrooms.

Mix in a separate bowl the cheddar, cream cheese and cracker meal to make the filling. Make sure that the mixture is entirely consistent.

After the filling is made, use a spoon and fill each mushroom cavity with the filling. The filling does not need to be overflowing.

Place the mushrooms in a 10 inch baking dish and drizzle with lemon juice and the olive oil.

Place the making dish in the oven and cook until the filling becomes brown on top.

The Veggie Burger for the person who doesn't like veggie burgers

Ingredients (9 burgers)
Package with appx 20 button mushrooms
2 tbs flour
1/4 cup of rolled oats
1/2 ts paprika
1 ts garlic powder
1 ts cumin
1 1/2 ts salt
1 ts pepper
150 g cream cheese
70 g white cheddar cheese (shredded)
2 Eggs

Oil for pan frying

Directions
Wash the mushrooms and then separate them into two halves. With one half pulverize in a blender or (if you need to take out some aggression) with a hammer. If you use the hammer method make sure to put the mushrooms in a freezer bag first. With the second half use a kitchen knife and cut the mushrooms into 3 mm diameter pieces. So, the second half should still be small pieces, but not pulverized. These larger pieces will offer some texture to the burger. Remember the mushrooms are the "meat" of this burger.

Once the mushrooms are prepared you can add the rest of the ingredients to form a batter.

It will honestly not be the prettiest batter:













This is OK. Remember real hamburgers can be messy before they are cooked.

Once the batter is mixed place a heaping tablespoon onto a liberally greased frying pan. Once the batter has been placed into the pan, pat it down a little to form a "patty".

Wait for the bottom to before golden brown and then flip to cook the other side.

I normally cook 2 at a time.

This was one of my burgers which had just been added and patted down:











.



Here it is again after being flipped:














Once both sides are golden/ dark brown, you are ready to eat.

Here is my finished product. I used a fresh baked flat bread (cut into rounds) for my buns, but you can use a traditional burger bun if you prefer.

Fresh Cheese Ravioli

Makes 20 Raviolis

Ingredients
Pasta
3 Cups flour
3 Eggs
2 glugs of Olive Oil
1 ts Salt
3 tbs Water

Filling
200 g Ricotta Cheese
1/2 Egg
2 Roasted Red Peppers
20 Spinach leaves

Directions

Creating the Pasta
Mix ingredients in a bowl. Once the mixture begins to form a dough, knead the mixture on a flower surface. You want a thicker dough that is only slightly sticky.

Here is my ball of pasta dough:













Making the filling:

Coat the spinach with a little olive oil and broil it on a baking sheet in the oven. Once it cooks down by half, cut the spinach into small bits (a few millimeters squared)

Here is my spinach for the filling:













Cut the red pepper into similar sized pieces:














Lastly, mix the pepper and spinach with ricotta and 1/2 egg. Your filling is now ready.

Forming the Ravioli
Take your pasta dough and roll it out on a flat, floured surface. Roll the dough out until it is 2 to 3 mm thick. It is important the the dough is thin and it its important that the dough has an even thickness throughout. If you have a small workspace you may need to separate your dough into a few pieces and carry out the forming process a few separate times.

Here is my dough rolled out. I separated my dough into 4 pieces.













Place some dollops (3/4 tbs) of filling onto the dough. These dollops should be placed about 4 inches in from the top edge and 3 inches apart. I could fit 3 onto my dough.














Next, fold the dough over itself leaving dough on top and bottom of the filling. Lastly, use a cup with an appx 2 inch diameter to cut out your ravioli.














Your ravioli should now be cut out and ready to boil.

Here are mine:















Tomato sauce

Ingredients
9 Tomatoes
2 Tsp Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp Apple vinegar
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp Garlic Powder
dash Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tsp tomato paste

Directions: First, cut tomatoes into small pieces (1/2 cm by 1/2 cm) and seed them. Next, place olive oil in a frying pan and let it heat up. Once the pan is hot, add the tomatoes and let them sautee. Add the spices, lemon juice, vinegar and water and allow the tomatoes to become tender. The consistancy should be almost that of a tomato sauce, but that tomatoes should still retain some of their form.