Recipe: Wing It Spicy Pasta

Like many cooks, I have a tendency to wing it and not really measure the ingredients when I'm cooking. I just let my instincts take over and I create dishes according to my taste buds. I've thought about sharing my recipes like this before, but I hesitated because I wasn't able to give precise measurements. However, I realized that it's okay if I don't have precise measurements because part of cooking is creativity and what's more creative than making up a dish as you go along  ;-)

So here's my recipe:

Ingredients (to your own taste):

• roughly a tablespoon of Cajun seasoning
• roughly a tablespoon of oregano
• 2 vegetable stock cubes
• roughly a half teaspoon of flat leaf parsley
• roughly a teaspoon of smoked paprika
• a splash of Worcestershire sauce
• a splash of balsamic vinegar
• 1 large onion (chopped)
• about 8 medium sized mushrooms (chopped)
• roughly 4 ounces of water
• teaspoon of olive oil
• half teaspoon of butter
• spaghetti (amount depending upon how many you're serving)

Cooking time: about 25 minutes

Prep time: Just enough time to chop your mushrooms and onions

 

Add your olive oil and butter to your frying pan, letting the butter melt down. Next add your chopped onions and let them cook down until they're close to being translucent and then add your chopped mushrooms. Let the onions and mushrooms mingle together for a bit.

Recipe: Mushroom and Bread Soup with Parsley

Today I'd like to share a recipe for a soup that I made recently. You know how it is when you've run out of things to make...you start searching for inspiration. Well it was a day such as this when I remembered that I had a cook book with nothing but soup recipes in it. Since we're in the depths of winter, a bowl of hot soup is always welcome. So I thumbed through and found one soup recipe in particular that didn't take too many ingredients. It looked simple enough so I gave it a go.

It's called mushroom and bread soup with parsley. It's thickened with bread and it's a rich mushroom soup that's very satisfying. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

75g /3oz /6 tablespoons of unsalted butter
900g/ 2 pounds of portobello mushrooms, sliced
2 onions, roughly chopped
600ml/ 1 pint/ 2 and a half cups milk
8 slices of white bread
60ml/ 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
300ml/ half pint/ 1 and a quarter cups double (heavy) cream
salt and black pepper

Food: Black-eyed Peas and Greens

Today is our food post day...we'll either share a recipe or some thoughts about a dish we like or what's known these days as food porn. Well today I'd like to share a dish that I like. Actually it's two things that I have together at least once a year.

I'm originally from Georgia, in the southeastern United States, and I come from a tradition where people have black-eyed peas and collard greens to eat on New Year's Day. The tradition is that eating the peas brings luck and the greens bring money in the fresh new year. It's just a tradition and I don't think that anyone thinks that these foods hold magic, but it's kind of one of those things where you say...it couldn't hurt to give it a go. And it's a nice tradition.

I was able to find black-eyed peas but I'm not able to find collard greens where I live here, so I usually get kale or spring greens which are cousins to collard greens anyway so it all works fine.

Here is a picture of the spring greens before I cooked them. It's a good idea to give a them a good rinse before you cook them.

And here's a picture of them after they're cooked. I seasoned them with salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and a splash each of balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. Then I just let them cook down.

The black-eyed peas were very quick. I took the quick route and just microwaved them and added salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and onions. Usually I would cook them up on the stove top, but I was short on time, so I took the microwave short cut. Here's a picture of the finished dish.

I served these with a medallion steak and it was delicious. It was a delicious way to start off the brand new year!

I wish everyone lots of good fortune in 2014!