YumSugar

Southern (Indian) Thanksgiving

Yum Community — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:30:42 -0800

This story was written by member courtneyd and comes from the Kitchen Goddess group in the YumSugar Community.

For a few years now I've wanted to try to marry the traditional Southern Indian food my husband grew up enjoying with Thanksgiving as I know it (Southern girl with a love of spice and heat). So this year I did a trial run of a tandoori-style turkey made in the oven.

By next year I hope to build my own tandoor, or at least grill this guy, because it needs a little more heat to crisp up properly. Even so, the meal turned out great! Tandoori turkey, tamarind gravy, creamed saag, masala mashed potatoes, and Whole Foods' naan, which has a slight dinner roll texture, so it works out perfectly for this blended meal. The tamarind gravy was an original creation (that I cannot believe turned out properly, it was sooooo good), and the other recipes were either inspired by or taken directly from The Food of India from Whitecap Books. I love their "food of" series, and my husband is impressed with the Indian recipes.

For the turkey, I followed the instructions from November's Martha Stewart Living to spatchcock a turkey and cooked according to their instructions after marinating for about 7 hours. Not including the marinade time, this meal came together in about 2 hours on a Friday night. Also, we discovered New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc complements Indian food perfectly.

To get her recipes for this Southern Indian feast, keep reading.

Reader Recipe: Powderhorn Potatoes

Yum Community — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:50:11 -0800

This story was written by member b1uebunn and comes from the Kitchen Goddess group in the YumSugar Community.Check out her family's Thanksgiving recipe when you read more

Reader Recipe: Black Bean Tortilla Soup

Yum Community — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:50:10 -0800

This story was written by member SweetPeasMom and comes from the Kitchen Goddess group in the YumSugar Community. The soup looks like it would make a wonderful cold-weather dinner. It's quick, simple, and perfect for busy weeknights. Check out her recipe when you read more

Reader Recipe: Hamburger Stroganoff

partysugar — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:50:43 -0700

Do you cook wonderfully delicious dishes and then take photographs of them to show your friends and family? Well, why not go one step further and share them with us in the YumSugar Community? That's what reader MénagèreModerne recently did with this scrumptious sounding stroganoff recipe. Classic stroganoff is made with ground beef, but Ménagère used ground pork because that's what she had on hand and she wanted to "cut down on the salt a bit." The final dish, that combines the meat with sour cream, sherry, and mushrooms, is economical and surprisingly fast. More of Ménagère's stunning food photography can be viewed on her blog, mmmm...food!, but to check out the pork stroganoff recipe, read more.

Hamburger Stroganoff
www.simplyrecipes.com

I made this over the weekend and my husband and I both really liked it. I used ground pork instead of beef since that's what I had on hand and cut down on the salt a bit and it tasted great. It was yummy, economical (since it uses ground meat instead of a more expensive cut), and really fast to make. I will be making this dish again for sure.

Ingredients

* Butter
* 1 lb ground chuck
* Salt and pepper
* 1 yellow onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
* 8 ounces sliced cremini mushrooms (can substitute button mushrooms), sliced
* 1/3 cup of dry sherry, dry white wine, or water
* 1/2 cup chopped parsley, loosely packed
* 1 1/4 cups sour cream (room temperature)
* 1 teaspoon lemon juice (I used a bit more than that)
* 1/4 teaspoon paprika or more to taste (I used smoked paprika instead and more than what the recipe called for)
* 8 ounces egg noodles

Directions
1) Put a large pot of salted water (1 teaspoon salt for every quart of water) on to heat, for the pasta.
2) Heat a large sauté pan on medium high heat. Melt 1 teaspoon butter in the pan and swirl it around. Sprinkle the bottom of the pan generously with salt. Working in batches as not to crowd the meat, break up the ground beef and add it to the pan. Sprinkle the meat with salt. Do not stir the meat, as stirring will prevent browning. Once the meat is well browned on one side (a couple minutes, depending on how hot the pan), use tongs or a fork or a metal spatula to flip to the other side. Once that side is browned as well, use a slotted spoon to remove from the pan and set aside. Continue to brown the meat in batches, adding a teaspoon of butter to the pan with each batch if needed, and salting the pan and the meat, until it is all browned. Remove meat from pan. Drain excess fat from pan.
3) Lower the heat to medium. Add the onions to the pan. If you are working with very lean meat, you may not have any residual fat in the pan. If this is the case, you'll want to add in a tablespoon of olive oil or butter to the pan. Cook the onions, scraping up the meat drippings, until soft, about 5 minutes. Remove onions from the pan (add to the meat).
4) Depending on the cooking times of your particular brand of pasta, this is likely a good time to add the pasta to the (should be now) boiling, salted water.
5) While the pasta is cooking, add a tablespoon of butter to the pan, increase the heat to medium high. Add the sliced mushrooms. Sauté until nicely browned (about 4 minutes). Add the sherry (or dry white wine or water) to the pan to deglaze the pan, scraping up any browned bits. Let the sherry reduce by at least a half, then lower the heat to low.
6) Remove the pan from the heat. Mix in the sour cream and paprika until smooth. Return the pan to very low heat, and not let the sour cream boil (or it may curdle). You may add a few tablespoons of water to the mixture to thin it out a bit at any time. Stir in the lemon juice, and about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of salt (taste). Stir in the meat and onions. Stir in the chopped parsley. Add more salt, pepper, and/or paprika to taste.
7) Keep the stroganoff on warm heat until the noodles are done cooking. When the noodles are ready (al dente) drain.

Serve the stroganoff on top of egg noodles. Serves 4.

Print recipe with images | without images

Even Bean Haters Will Love This Bean Salad

partysugar — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:00:38 -0700

Over the Summer we took advantage of the season's wide variety of produce and shared our best salad recipes. However, one salad, the bean salad, was overlooked. Luckily reader Lengel has shared her rendition of bean salad in the Kitchen Goddess group on the YumSugar Community. Want your recipes and photos to be shared here on YumSugar? Start participating in the community!
Lengel, who has her own food blog, Working Girls Kitchen, is not a fan of bean salads. Although she finds them to be totally unappealing, she describes this salad recipe - which comes from another popular food blogger, Heidi Swanson - to be simple, yummy, and surprising. Pan-roasted carrots and fresh dill take ordinary canned beans to a whole new level. I agree with Lengel when she says, "this is a great dish for any picnic and will work great for work lunches." To check out the recipe, read more.

Easy Canned Bean Salad
http://workinggirlskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/08/recession-canned-bean-salad.html

Nothing against bean salads, but I really don't find them appealing. So I certainly surprised myself with this one! The recipe is very simple yet very yummy! The pan roasted carrots and fresh dill take all the attention away from the canned beans, to my surprise. This is a great dish for any picnic and will work great for work lunches.

Ingredients

3 cups chopped carrots
1 clove of garlic
1 can of white beans
1 can of black beans
1/4 cup chopped dill
salt & pepper to taste

for the vinaigrette
1/4 cup good olive oil
juice of half a lemon
2 shallots diced
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
Over medium heat, in a large fry pan, heat up some cooking oil ( I prefer Spectrum Canola Oil). Add the diced garlic and carrots. Saute carrots and garlic until the carrots turn brown and begin to caramelize. It should smell delicious!

In a medium bowl throw in the beans and dill. Lightly toss. When carrots are done roasting add to the beans, add the dill. Lightly toss once more.

In a small bowl whisk together all of the vinaigrette ingredients. Take a taste to test seasoning. You may need to add more salt/pepper. Lightly toss into the bean salad.

Print recipe with images | without images

Reader Recipe: Berry Lemon Meringue Cake

YumSugar — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:30:22 -0700

We are currently fixated on red, white, and blue foods, and this berry lemon meringue cake is absolutely no exception. If you're short on ideas for an Independence Day dessert, this cake would be perfect. After all, what could be more festive (and all American) than super-seasonal berries, moist white cake, and a fluffy meringue topping? When I make this for my friends and family, I'll throw in fresh blueberries for added holiday measure. Get into the Fourth of July spirit when you read more

Reader Recipe: Chicken Parmesan

YumSugar — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:00:28 -0700

Whenever I'm in the mood for bold, robust flavors, my go-to meal is chicken Parmesan. Not only do I get to enjoy the savory richness of marinara sauce with Italian herbs, but I dream of warm, melted cheese and tender, succulent cutlets. My newest obsession is a version of the dish that TeamSugar member My Opinion came up with. While chicken Parmesan's already affordable to make, her version, which incorporates a quick homemade marinara sauce, is even more budget-friendly. By omitting the breadcrumbs, she also makes it healthier! Enjoy this protein-rich meal on a dime when you read more.

Submitted by TeamSugar member My Opinion

Tomato Sauce recipe For the Chicken Parmesan
Mine with helpful hints from Food Network.

This sauce turned out so perfect!!! I didn't crush roma tomatoes or anything... You can, but why? I just used a couple of 32 oz cans of crushed tomatoes, but they have to be the "Italian flavored" or the whole thing will be screwed up.

Ingredients

1. 2 32-ounce cans of Italian flavored crushed tomatoes.
2. 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil.
3. 1 small to medium onion chopped well.
4. 2 cloves of garlic chopped well.
5. 1 stalk of celery, chopped really well.
6. 1 normal sized carrot (or 3 or 4 of those cute little baby carrots in a bag) either shredded or chopped well.
7. 4 to 6 basil leaves. Roll them up and finely chop them.
8. Sea salt and pepper
9. 2 dry bay leaves.
10. 4 TBSP of UNsalted butter.

Directions
Pic of the ingredients:
I mostly use a good name brand of food but some things, to me and my cooking experience, taste better as the store brand like the Winn Dixie Italian flavored crushed tomatoes are the best, and the bay leaves.

1. Heat the olive oil over med/high heat (mostly medium) and toss in the chopped onions for 1 minute then add the garlic to it for additional 2 minutes until the onions are translucent.

2. Now add the celery, carrots, salt and pepper. Saute them until they are all soft. (about 5 minutes)

3. Add the 2 cans of crushed tomatoes, basil and bay leaves and simmer for an hour.
One of my bay leaves is pushed down into the sauce...
4. After an hour, don't forget to remove the bay leaves! Taste the sauce and use your own judgment as to how many TBSP of the unsalted butter you will use. It depends on the acidity of the sauce so only put in 1 TBSP at a time tasting after each has dissolved. I used 3 and it was perfect!

Print recipe with images | without images

Chicken Parmesan
Mine and helpful tips from the Food Network.

I made this without using bread crumbs and it was so much better IMO! I also did not use the traditional "spaghetti" because these noodles are so delicious!

Ingredients

1. 8 chicken breast cutlets
2. 3 TBSP of Olive Oil (I used extra virgin)
3. 1 teaspoon of Rosemary
4. 1 teaspoon of Italian Parsley (it's got to be chopped really well or the flavor is too strong on this bite or that bite....you can use regular parsley)
5. 1 teaspoon of Thyme (chopped really well!!)
6. salt and pepper
7. Shredded mozzarella
8. Fresh Parmesan. Kraft makes it easy. You can purchase the huge chunk of Parmesan with the built in shredder at the grocery store for like 5 or $6.
9. 8 pieces of cut up unsalted butter. (like 8 TBSP)
10. 2 cups of Tomato sauce (I'll post up that recipe as well) or just use marinara.

Directions
Here's a pic of the ingredients since I didn't have that option in the 'ingredients section.'
I know we all know what these ingredients are but everyone loves pics....

Preheat the oven to 450'

1.Stir the olive oil and all of the herbs including a dash of salt (remember you will be salting the breasts) and pepper in a bowl together and set aside.

2. Sprinkle a little bit of salt directly onto the chicken breasts, but don't go crazy! Let them set for 15 minutes.
3. Brush both sides of all chicken breasts with the oil and herbs mixture.

4. Heat a large skillet on med/high heat.
5. Add chicken. 2 minutes per side. No longer than that.
Seriously just 2 minutes no matter how tempting it is to fully cook them!
Seriously just 2 minutes no matter how tempting it is to fully cook them!
6. Remove from heat.
7. Spread some sauce in a large baking dish, (about 1/2 cup)
8. Place chicken breast in the dish and put more sauce around and on them.
9. Add 1 piece of unsalted butter on each breast.
10. Add 1 TBSP of mozzarella on each breast.
11. Grate your fresh Parmesan on top of each breast.

Bake for about 3 or 4 minutes. The cutlets are usually kind of thin so use your own judgment there but normally it only takes about 3 to 4 minutes in baking due to the few minutes of searing beforehand.

This will serve 8 people, or 4 really hungry people.

I seriously recommend using my Tomato Sauce recipe. I'll post it as well.

Here are the noodles I use. They're perfect for this dish!!

Print recipe with images | without images

Reader Recipe: Fried Chicken

YumSugar — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:00:03 -0700

Call me crazy - or attribute it to some bizarre form of reverse psychology - but all that hoopla over KFC's grilled chicken left me craving crispy, spicy, hot-out-of-the-oil fried chicken. TeamSugar member GinaGaladriel must have read my mind: using Cajun spices and Goya seasoning, she modified a fried chicken recipe she saw on YouTube to her family's liking. Now that I've witnessed the power of Gina's fried chicken, it may be time to put aside childish thoughts of grilled chicken and whip up a batch of my own chicken-fried goodness. Check out step-by-step photos when you read more.

Submitted by TeamSugar member GinaGaladriel

Gina's Fried Chicken
Took the idea from "CCC (Chennai Chukka Chicken)" recipe I saw on YouTube, just changed the ingredients, making it my own.

My hubby and daughter love this recipe and they consider it better than KFC!

Ingredients

* Oil
* 3 pounds chicken (pieces of your choice)
* Water
* 10 tsp. chicken seasoning, divided
* 10 tsp. garlic powder, divided
* 8-15 tsp. Cajun seasoning, divided
* Salt
* 1 egg
* 2 envelopes Goya seasoning, divided
* 1 cup flour
* 5 Tsp. Italian seasoning, divided

Directions
Start heating the oil in the deep fry (350°F) enough oil to cover 2/3 of the deep-fryer. Put the chicken in water mixed with 3 tsp. (each) of chicken seasoning, garlic powder, Cajun seasoning and about 8 tsp. salt (make sure the water level covers the chicken) for about 30 minutes to no more than 1 hour.

In a small bowl whisk the egg with 1 tsp. water and 3 tsp. (each) of chicken seasoning, garlic powder, and Cajun seasoning, 1 envelope of Goya seasoning, and 2 tsp. Italian seasoning. Separately, mix together flour and the rest of the seasonings. Discard the water from the brine bath. One by one put the chicken pieces in the egg mixture, and then cover with the flour mixture.

Fry the chicken in the deep fryer about 12 minutes per piece if the chicken has bones, and about 8-9 minutes if it doesn't (wings will take about 7 minutes). Move constantly so it doesn't stick and all the sides cook evenly. Lay the fried chicken in paper towel to absorb the majority of the fat. Enjoy!
Notes
* Preparation method taken from CCC - Chennai Chukka Chicken, which contains other ingredients such as garlic ginger paste and does not contain other ingredients I used.

** The amount of time will depend on the number and size of chicken pieces, and piece selection.

Print recipe with images | without images

View 7 Photos ›

Savory Sight: Finnish Delights

YumSugar — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:00:32 -0700

Be it Eritrean cooking or Colombian cuisine, I'm obsessed with trying new foods from around the world. I'm sad to say I haven't made it to any Scandinavian countries yet - but thanks to FinnLover, I'm dying to go now. During a recent trip to visit her husband's family in Finland, she ate her way through a number of Finnish specialties, like Ruisleipä, or black rye bread, shown above. To get a glimpse of her palatable pictures, read more.

Karjalanpiirakka, also known as Karelian pies, are filled with a rice mixture and are commonly served with egg butter. Her favorite is topped with egg salad.

Finland's version of fast food: a deep-fried pie filled with meat and rice is served with sausages, onions, relish, ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise.

Finn's favorite: potato and salmon casserole with onions, dill, and cream.

In Finland, Mämmi - made of water, rye flour, and powdered rye malt - is a traditional Easter dessert. Apparently, it's a bit of an acquired taste.

Mämmi is traditionally served with vanilla cream and sugar.

Ruisleipä, or black rye bread, is topped here with a spread and rhubarb compote.

Have you tried any of these droolworthy Finnish specialties?

Savory Sight: Quiche With Potato Crust

YumSugar — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:00:16 -0700

Suffice it to say we've been obsessed with everything eggs, as evidenced by everything from breakfast tarts to our search for stylish Easter egg cups. The eggcellent endeavor has yet to end: I flipped for this eggy, cheesy vegetable quiche that staff member Garrick made over the weekend. I love quiche to begin with - but it's the baked-til-crisp potato hash crust that I've completely fallen for. To see how the quiche got its unique crust, read more.

For the filling, Garrick included mild-flavored enoki mushrooms.

The quiche also included a mixture of parmesan, Emeril's Essence seasoning, leeks, and mushrooms.

Made-from-scratch potato crust was molded into a deep pie dish and baked. A potato ricer helped to extract unnecessary moisture from russet potatoes.

The crisp and golden leek and mushroom quiche.