Shannon's Musings - Cooking

Ready for India

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 0:00:00 CST

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Here's To a New Year!

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 0:00:00 CST

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Spanish Paella

Sat, 07 May 2011 0:00:00 CDT

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Simplicity

Sun, 01 May 2011 0:00:00 CDT

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Cooking with Chiles

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 0:00:00 CDT

I've always loved spicy foods, but was too intimidated to cook them. After many classes in Santa Fe, NM, and some research on chiles, and how to cook with them, I am finally confident using dried and fresh chiles in recipes. One of my favorite books on the subject is The Great Chile Book by Mark Miller. It is full of photos and descriptions of many of the hundreds of chiles available. I don't buy chile powder in the grocery store anymore. Instead, I buy dried chiles, which are available in nearly every grocery store now, or fresh chiles from the produce section or farmers' markets. To make your own chile powder, just take dried chiles and toast them in a dry skillet, and grind them in a spice grinder. I use a cheap coffee grinder used only for spices. You can also soak dried chiles in hot water to re-hydrate. Remove the stems and seeds, then puree them with some of the soaking liquid. You'll get a wonderful paste for many sauces. I particularly like the Ancho chile, which is a dried Poblano. It is the mildest of the chiles, but has an amazing aroma of coffee, plum, and raisins. I use the powder and puree in many recipes. I've included the recipe for Ancho Pork with Lime Drizzle. I serve it with a cucumber salsa, which balances the spiciness, and spring onion risotto. It's a beautiful dish and easy to prepare. Experiment with different chiles to make the dry rub on the pork, and decide which chiles you like best.

Italy

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 0:00:00 CST

Autumn 2009, Phil and I traveled to Italy for our third visit. After touring Cinque Terre and Rome, we traveled to Bologna where I had arranged to meet a family who would teach me cooking from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Who knew it would be an experience that would stay with me forever! Rafaella Tori and her daughter, Francesca met me in the market area in Bologna for several hours of shopping and explanations of the fantastic foods, wines, cheeses, pastas, and balsamic vinegar in the shops. I took pages of notes and photographs as I attempted to retain all I had learned. Later, we went to their beautiful apartment and cooked for eight hours with the foods we had purchased at the market. The main attraction was making the traditional tortellini with pork filling, served in a meat broth.

Cooking Class!

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 0:00:00 CST

Last week I hosted a fabulous cooking class in my new teaching kitchen. Twelve friends came for a night of "healthy cooking". The menu was:

wild mushroom crostini

Thai chicken lettuce wraps

wild rice and Jasmine rice with lime vinaigrette

halibut with tahini and red pepper sauce

Sesame green beans

Chocolate angel food cake with stewed blueberries and cream

The kitchen proved to be perfect for teaching and entertaining, not to mention cooking some darn good food!

The First Entry

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 0:00:00 CST

Please enjoy my adventures in cooking, travel, and jewelry-making, among other amusements I attempt on occasions. Every few days I plan to post recipes, techniques, travel ideas, photos, and whatever else I feel like sharing.

Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort. Franklin D. Roosevelt