Just Try A Little!

So, last night I invited my Japanese teacher over for dinner, since I'd been talking about how much I liked to cook for people since he was my teacher almost a year ago. I wanted to make it awesome, so I really laid on the effort.

The Menu
For starters/appetisers:
- A light antipasto (some olives and mushrooms and things) to snack on
- Insalata Caprese

For the main:
- Spaghetti Carbonera
- Steamed zucchini & broccoli with lemon zest
- Garlic toast on the side

For Dessert:
- Home-made lemon ice
- Banana Creme pie (purchased- it was on sale, and I have a weakness for pie.)
- A medley of fresh fruit (papaya, blueberries, nectarines, apricots)
- Creme-filled choux pasteries (also not made by me.)

Now comes the part where I share recipes with you! I thought I'd take one from each part of the meal, so you can have a complete "italian" meal, too. :D This three-course menu would be very nice for a long summer day.


( THE STARTER: Insalata Caprese )


( THE MAIN: Spaghetti Carbonera )


( THE DESSERT: Lemon Ice )

Thaaaat's it for today! Hope this inspires you to get out there and cook!

Allez Cuisine~!

Yes, I know we're getting out of the winter season, but I thought I'd share some comfort foods anyways. :D

One of THE most single useful things I have found is to keep in the kitchen a standard notebook- and write down concoctions you've created, or recipes that you've looked up, and liked- for easy access later on. I thought I'd share a couple of relatively easy recipes to make that are prettymuch COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY DELICIOUS.

( First up: Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage! )
--
( Next: Tuna Patties! )
--
( Finally: ...Cous Cous?! )

Hypothetically, you could make a complete meal out of this post! Hope you enjoyed my recipe blabbing!

Allez Cuisine~!

The other night, miishal craved pizza. However, I've always been very reluctant to order in- frankly, who knows what goes into the dough, sauce, etc... and it always seems to be so damn oily. XD

So, I turned to the kitchen, and made a pizza instead. XD

( first, the pictures )
( And now, the recipes! )

Allez Cuisine~

Ages ago, when me and miish first moved into the new apartment, I bought a whole side of steelhead trout to celebrate setting up our very own pad. With it, I made a dinner that I have to say, I'm particularly proud of- what with it being my first "real" cooking in the apartment, and finding out the baking trays I bought had a penchant to BEND ON A DIAGONAL! XD;

Nevertheless, I was very proud- so I took some pictures, which might be sorta heavy loading if you're on the dialup

( HAIDEFFU! HAIDEFFU! )

The recipe for the trout itself is actually from a cookbook mii has, called something like "just four ingredients", which basically means- you guessed it- there was only 4 ingredients to cooking this trout!

They were:
- Trout fillet
- Parsley
- Butter
- Sliced almonds

Nothing else! Just toast the almonds beforehand, mix them in with the melted butter and the parsley, pour everything over the trout, baked for 25 minutes at 350 degrees Farenheit, and it's done!

Easy, simple, and delicious. Woo hoo. :D

Incidentally, this post reminded me of another thing I sort of want to talk more about in the future- fun with rice. Also, eggs! In specific, omlettes! I've been messing with them a bunch, I should get some pictures! XD

But for now...

Allez Cuisine~!

Tonight was salmon night, and I made salmon with dill yogurt sauce, steamed broccoli with mushrooms, and jasmine rice. The salmon turned out SUPER good, so I thought I'd share a way to cook salmon- fresh OR frozen- that I really enjoy. :D

SALMON WITH DILL SAUCE

What you'll need:
Salmon
Rosemary (fresh or dried)
S&P
Olive Oil (Extra Virgin is best)
Yogurt (greek is best, or something with acidophilus bacteria cultures!)
Fresh Dill (or dry, if you're scrounging!)
Lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350F (for fresh/thawed salmon), or 450F (for frozen salmon).

SALMON-
Take some fillets of salmon- it doesn't matter how much, it doesn't matter if it's thawed or frozen, just get some salmon- and place them on a regular shallow-bottom baking sheet. If it's a fresh fillet, make sure to place it skin-down on the sheet! Season the fillets with salt and pepper, then rub carefully all over with the olive oil. Finally, sprinkle the rosemary on top of the fish fillets, and place in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes, and serve with the dill sauce!

DILL SAUCE-
Scoop some yogurt out of the container (as much as you think you'll need for the crowd you're feeding!) and put it in a bowl. Chop the fresh dill up finely (once again- it's really up to you! if you like a lot of dill, rip off a handful! If you only want a little, just add a few pinches! Same applies to dry dill, really. :D) and add to the yogurt in the bowl. Mix, and gradually add a few dashes of lemonjuice- enough to taste! Give it a final stir, and you're finished!

Allez Cuisine~