Mystery Box Challenge # 1

Hilary and I have been enjoying season 2 of Master Chef.  One of my favorite things that they do is the Mystery Box Challenge.  The contestants have 60 minutes to make one stunning dish from only the ingredients in the box.

So to help me along my journey of cooking (and photography) Hilary has set up a mystery challenge for me!  I do get more than 60 minutes AND I get to Google ideas AND she will help me if I need her!

Here is my first challenge:

Ingredients:

• Pork Tenderloin
• Shiitake mushrooms
• Figs
• Sweet Onion
• Orzo
• Beet Greens
• Tomatoes
• Anchovies (not pictured, they were added as an after thought)

And to give me some extra help, Hilary is also giving me ideas on the final dishes:

• Stuffed pork tenderloin with Fig jam and carmalized onions
• Sour Orzo with beet greens

So wish me luck and watch for an update tomorrow on how it all turns out!

Dinner for Friends

While away on vacation, I had some friends over to my Mom's house for dinner. They always have me over to their house for a wonderful feasts, so I wanted to return the favour:

Menu 

Grilled Bocconcini

Mango Shrimp and Quinoa salad

Grilled/Broiled Okra

Eton Mess

Recipes

Starter - Grilled Bocconcini

• 4 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tbsp chopped capers
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 3 chopped anchovy filets
• ¼ Baguette
• 1 container Bocconcini (8)

Combine olive oil, parsley, capers, Dijon, lemon juice and anchovies.
Slice baguette into 20 thin slices and Bocconcini into 16 halves.
Lightly toast baguette and top each piece with a Bocconcini half.
Run under broiler until cheese begins to melt – 4 to 5 minutes depending on broiler or heat on grill
Drizzle with anchovy sauce.

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Main - Quinoa and shrimp salad

• 1/2 cup Mango Chipotle dressing divided
• 2lbs shrimp peeled and deveined
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups quinoa rinsed
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 1 orange pepper, finely chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, finely chopped
• 1 bunch green onion, finely sliced
• ½ cup chopped fresh coriander

Bring broth to boil, add in rinsed quinoa.
Return to boil; cover.
Simmer med-low 10-15 minutes until quinoa is tender and liquid is absorbed.
Fluff and cool.

Marinate shrimp in ¼ cup Mango dressing.

Chop vegetables and mix remaining dressing with lime juice.
Add vegetables and dressing to cooled quinoa and toss, gently.
Flash fry shrimp and arrange, prettily, around salad.

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Side - Grilled/broiled Okra

• 2 or more lbs Okra
• Olive oil
• Pepper
• Salt
• Lime juice

Skewer Okra on two parallel skewers.
Brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Broil for 5 to 7 minutes until tender.
Remove skewers.
Sprinkle with Lime juice and serve.

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Dessert – Eton Mess

• Whipping cream
• A little sugar/booze/Splenda
• Meringues
• Fresh chopped fruit (Strawberries are traditional but anything that strikes your fancy)

Whip cream to soft peaks.
Crumble meringues.
Stir all together with fruit and serve at once

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Dinner was a great hit with everyone!!

Butterscotch Squares

What's better than a brownie?  A Butterscotch square!  If you love butterscotch more then chocolate, than these are for you.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

• Pre-heat oven to 350
• Melt butter and add sugar while still warm.
• Lightly beat eggs  and mix into butter/sugar mixture.
• Mix all dry ingredients in large bowl.
• Stir in eggs/butter/sugar.  
• Add vanilla, mix well.
• Pour into 9x9 baking dish
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the middle is set.

PB & J

Everyone should be able to make the perfect peanut butter and jam sandwich.  Most people don't think about it and just slap a sandwich together.  And while that might work out if you are just stumbling in at 2:00 AM, there is an art form to it when you want to actually enjoy your sandwich.

1. The bread must be fresh. Squishy, rips when you try to spread on it, fresh.  Did you buy that loaf of bread yesterday?  It's probably too stale now to make a premium PB & J sandwich.
2. The bread must be white, store bought bread. Anything else is too heavy or too dense and you just end up with a chewy mess.
3. The peanut butter must be smooth.  Crunchy things have no place in a good PB & J sandwich.
4. The jam must be of good quality.  Homemade if you can get your hands on it, otherwise find something with a high fruit concentration.

Now that you have the key ingredients, construction is the next step.

1. The peanut butter must be spread to every edge of the bread.  Leave no spot uncovered.
2. The peanut butter to jam ratio must be maintained evenly across the sandwich.  A 2:1 ratio works best.
3. Never spread anything on the top piece of bread. This can throw the 2:1 ratio off and also allows for the bread to slide around and not maintain it's proper position when cutting the sandwich.

I prefer my PB & J sandwiches left whole, but if it must be cut, diagonal cuts that create 4 triangles are traditional.  

Enjoy with a tall glass of cold milk!

Gnocchi

As part of my challenge to myself, I decided to cook a surprise dinner for Hilary tonight.  Never in a million years did I ever think I would make gnocchi from scratch!  I came across a great and easy recipe from The Cooking Photographer that sounded like even I could make it.  So I did!

 

In hindsight, I made them a bit too big and I couldn't conquer rolling them with a fork to get the traditional gnocchi shape.  But they tasted great!

Sweet Potato Salad

Dressing:

Vegetable Oil

Rice Vinegar or Cider Vinegar

Salt

Pepper

Cayenne

Use 1 portion vinegar for 2 portions of oil.

Mix oil and vinegar 

Add salt, pepper and cayenne to taste

Add cranberries, sunflower seeds and raisins

let sit overnight

Salad|
Sweet Potatoes
Green Onions
Sunflower Seeds
Dried Cranberries
Green Raisins
Flat Leaf Parsley

Steps:

Roast sweet potatoes
cool and peel
chop into large chunks
mix with green onions and parsley
Toss salad with dressing, serve and enjoy.

Greek Potato Salad

Tzaziki -
Ingredients:
Yogurt Cheese
1 Cucumber
4 tbsp Red Wine Vinegar (may need more to thin out if yogurt is too thick)
2 cloves Garlic
1 tsp Salt
Pepper to taste
Steps:
Strain yogurt through cheese cloth to remove as much liquid as possible, leaving behind yogurt cheese
Removed seeds from cucumber and grate the rest into a bowl. Add salt and let sit for approx. 1 hour. Roll cucumber up in clean dish cloth and squeeze out excess water.
Mix with yogurt cheese cucumber, vinegar, garlic and pepper.
Let sit.

Ingredients
cherry tomatoes
red onion
black olives
fingerling potatoes

Steps:
Boil potatoes
chop into large chunks
chop tomatoes, cucumber, red onions and olives
Mix all ingredients with tzaziki
Serve and enjoy!