Hazelnut and Chocolate Chip Biscotti

Today I made two kinds of Biscotti. I wanted to make one that wasn't too sweet-the prevous recipe. And then I wanted something sweeter. Originally I wanted to make these guys totally chocolate, but I didn't have any cocoa powder, so keep in mind that adding 1/3 cup of Cocoa powder into the the dry mix should do it!


Preheat oven to 350 F

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 cup packed Brown Sugar
• 3 Large Eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 3 Tbsp Grape seed oil
• 1 cup semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1 cup whole roasted Hazelnuts

Here's what to do if you need to roast your hazelnuts:
Place them onto a baking sheet and into the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and place them into a bowl lined with a peper towel. place another paper towel on top and roll about to get most of the skins off.
Now you're set!



Get Started:

• In a large mixing bowl, add the Flour and Baking Powder and mix to evenly distribute the Baking Powder. Set aside.
• In medium mixing bowl, add the Brown Sugar, Vanilla Extract and oil. Mix contents with a fork until well blended.  Then add the Eggs, and mix well.
• Make a well in the large bowl. (like in the previous recipe). Add the liquid mixture to the well you made. Using your fork, stir from the center of the bowl, slightly touching the dry mixture to slowly incorporate them together. The mixture will become difficult to mix once most of the dry mixture is incorporated. Feel free to begin using your hands to finish mixing.
• Once you have the dough sticking together, try not to over work it. I like to leave the dough in the bowl, and flatten it out a bit. I found this dough turn out to be quite sticky due to the amount of sugar it has.
• Add the Hazelnuts and Chocolate Chips. This dough is on the sticky side it's easier to incorporate into the dough. Fold over the dough, and try to gently get them to stick inside the dough. I find that squeezing the ends a bit help to stick everything together. The Goal is to have your dough shape out to be like a log.
• Have your baking sheet ready lined with parchment paper. You may substitute for a greased baking sheet.
• Place the log on the baking sheet. You may flatten slightly, as it will rise a bit, and we do not want them to be round. We want it look slightly rounded, not flat.
• Place baking sheet in the oven for 40 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and place log onto a cooling rack. Let cool. Leave the oven turned on.
• Once cooled off, place log onto a cutting board. Using a Chef's knife, slice the log width-wise into 1cm to 1.5cm strips
• Place the biscotti pieces onto the baking sheet and place into the oven for 10 minutes.
• Remove from oven, turn biscotti over, and place back in the oven for another 10 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and place biscotti onto cooling rack. Let cool.

Here they are:

Enjoy!



Dried Cherry and Almond Biscotti

This is my fave kind of cookie. Likely because I'm not a fan of those greasy chewy kinds, they are great, but just not for me. I always play around with this sort of recipe until I get it just right. And the great thing about this, is if you have a good base for the dough, you can change it up about any way you like.


Preheat oven to 350 F

Ingredients:

• 2 cups All Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 3 Large Eggs
• 3 Tbsp Grape seed oil (use your preference)
• 3 Tbsp Honey
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 cup Dried Cherries
• 1 cup Whole Almonds

Get Started:

• In a large mixing bowl, add the Flour and Baking Powder and mix to evenly distribute the Baking Powder. Set aside.
• In medium mixing bowl, add the Eggs, Vanilla Extract, oil, and then the honey. Mix contents with a fork until well blended. TIP: when you use the oil before the honey with the same spoon the honey will easily slip off the spoon into the bowl!
• Make a well in the large bowl. (what I mean is to spread the mixture away from the center of the bowl to make like a hole). Add the liquid mixture to the well you made. Using your fork, stir from the center of the bowl, slightly touching the dry mixture to slowly incorporate them together. The mixture will become difficult to mix once most of the dry mixture is incorporated. Feel free to begin using your hands to finish mixing.
• Once you have the dough sticking together, try not to over work it. I like to leave the dough in the bowl, and flatten it out a bit.
• Add the Cherries and almonds, and try your best to be patient, as those almonds don't really want to stay in there. Fold over the dough, and try to gently get them to stick inside the dough. You can fold it around a few times.Try not to break the dough. I find that squeezing the ends a bit help to stick everything together. The Goal is to have your dough shape out to be like a log.
• Have your baking sheet ready lined with parchment paper. You may substitute for a greased baking sheet.
• Place the log on the baking sheet. You may flatten slightly, as it will rise a bit, and we do not want them to be round. We want it look slightly rounded, not flat.
• Place baking sheet in the oven for 30 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and place log onto a cooling rack. Let cool. Leave the oven turned on.
• Once cooled off, place log onto a cutting board. Using a Chef's knife, slice the log width-wise into 1cm to 1.5cm strips
• Place the biscotti pieces onto the baking sheet and place into the oven for 10 minutes.
• Remove from oven, turn biscotti over, and place back in the oven for another 10 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and place biscotti onto cooling rack. Let cool.

Here are my Biscotti



Here they are with melted White Chocolate on top!

(If you have white chocolate to use-USE IT. it makes it that much better!)



Enjoy!

Sweet and Sour and Spicy Tilapia

I was inspired to try cooking with Tamarind again, since I saw it being used on T.V today with baby back ribs. I tried cooking fish with it before, and I wasn't too crazy about it. But since that Tamarind Concentrate jar was still in the fridge, and seeing someone else using it differently, I thought I'd give it another go.

This time: Great success! This dish is Sweet and Sour and Spicy!

Here we go!

Ingredients:

• 6 Tilapia Filets
• 1 1/2 cup Tamarind Concentrate
• 1/4 cup Orange juice
• 1 Lime, squeezed for it's juice
• 1 Tbsp Chili Flakes
• Cracked Black Pepper, to taste

Get Started

• Prep the Marinade: Place all the ingredients into a large ziplock bag and set in the fridge, and let marinate for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375F
• In a large Pyrex dish, or baking sheet, place the fish filets side by side and pour the marinade on top of the fish to make sure they all have liquid on top. Top with cracked black pepper.
• Place dish in oven and cook for 30 minutes.

Yup, it's that easy!

Here's how it turned out:

About this dish:

• After having tasted it, I wondered how it would be if I had added some SOCO to the recipe.. That's right, good ol' Southern Comfort! What am I talking about? Here's a link to another recipe I posted on my other Blog:  ahacookingspot.blogspot.com using SOCO and it was soooo good!
• You can have just about any veggies you have handy to eat with this fish, I chose some asparagus.
• This is a unusual flavour for those who never tried Tamarind before, or never had it with fish. You can find the tamarind concentrate in most asian stores, or the asian section of your grocery store. It's what gives the sour/tarty flavour, and brown color to your sauce.

Crazy Red Spicy Nachos

Alright, now here's an amzing new way to make nachos. Why is it called 'Red'? Is it because it's spicy? Is it red? For this recipe you'll be using a spice that I use on so many things now.. Tandoori.  Oh yes.

Lovely Tandoori

Ingredients:

• 1 jalapeno pepper, deveined, seeded, sliced
• 15 black olives, sliced ( this is approx. what a handful gives)
• Plain Nacho Chips ( enough to fill your dish to cook in)
• 1 1/2 cups Mozzarella cheese, grated
• 1 cup of Salsa
• 1-2 tsp Tandoori spice
• 1 Tbsp Sour cream (optional)

Start:

• Set oven to BROIL.
• Prep: the jalapeno peppers, grate the cheese and slice the olives, set aside
• Take out a Pyrex glass dish, or a baking sheet, fill up with layer of Nacho chips
• Layer the cheese over the nachos, followed by the olives and peppers
• Sprinkle on the Tandoori spice evenly.
• Place in the oven, and watch it carefully for it not to burn, about 5 mins
• Remove dish from oven,  using tongs, move the nachos to a large plate, slide them out if you can.
• Pour on the salsa, add some dollops of sour cream, and you're good to dig in.

Here's how mine came out straight from the oven:

I bought my nachos and salsa from Costco. Kirkland Brand Salsa is the BEST!
Once you add the salsa, your plate tends to look very RED. Very nice!

Enjoy!

UFC Night BBQ Drumsticks

So, tonight we're having people over for the UFC fight tonight. Decided to cook up some yummy chicken drumsticks. Although everything tastes better on an actual BBQ, here's a recipe for those who don't have one, or cannot use one at home (like me). This is really simple and really delish! (Honestly use however many drumsticks you need. I ended up making another batch of 15!)

Ingredients:

• 15 Chicken Drumsticks, skin removed
• 1 bottle of your fave BBQ sauce (you won't use all of it...I just didn't measure)
• Cracked Black pepper

Before you start, preheat your over to 375 F.

Start:

• De-Skin the legs
• Place in a Pyrex glass dish or a baking sheet
• Cover the legs in BBQ sauce- use your hands or a brush
• Cover the legs with cracked balck pepper
• Place the dish in the oven for 50mins
• Remove from the oven and brush on a thick layer of BBQ sauce
• Set your oven to BROIL, and place dish back in the oven. Keep a close eye on it to avoid burning.
• Remove from over when nice and crispy, to your liking, about 5mins.

Here's what mine look like right after they've come out of the oven:

Variations:

• Ofcourse these taste much better on a BBQ!
• I used Jack Daniel's Spicy Original BBQ sauce (my fave), you may use whichever sauce you prefer.
• If you have any suggestions, I'd be open to hear them!

Enjoy!

Crazy Red spicy Nachos to come up later tonight!

Winter Chili

For cold winter weather, I like to have a hot bowl of chili. This is a recipe I made up with items left in the fridge. In this season also made use of root vegetables as well.

Here's something new to me that I'd like to share with you. I was offered to sample it a few months ago in a small Indian shop on Jean-Talon street. Curry Leaves! I've cooked with it a few times, and for those who live close by to the south shore, I have also found it at Kim Phat in Brossard, amongst the other many un-labeled herbs..lol. So I'll show you a what it looks like. As for the smell, I can detect it, but you might only notice it once u stick it in a hot pan.. it really just has a light curry smell to it, and adds a subtle flavour to your cooking.

Ingredients:

1 Jalapeno Pepper, sliced
1 medium Onion, chopped
1 inch piece of Ginger, chopped
1 Bell Pepper, chopped
4 Cardamon pods
1 can (540mL) Mixed Beans, rinsed
1 can (794g) Crushed Tomatoes- with roasted garlic and olive oil
1/2 Sweet Potato, cubed
3 small Parsnips, cubed
1-2 sprigs of Curry Leaves, pull off the leaves and slice, discard stems
340g ground beef or vegetarian "ground beef"
1 tsp Tumeric
1/2 tsp Cumin
1 Tbsp BBQ sauce


Instructions:

- Prep: proceed to cut all the vegetables separately and rinse the beans, and set aside.
*If you're choosing to use ground beef, in the prep, season your beef with salt+pepper, you may also use extra tumeric. Fry up the beef in advance in a pan and set aside.

-Place the parsnips into a Pyrex glass bowl with a cover, and place into the microwave for 3 minutes on HIGH heat. Once ready, set aside and remove the lid.

- Heat a non-stick frying pan on MED_HIGH heat with a Tbsp of oil of your choice.
(I used sesame oil)

-Add jalapeno,onion, bell pepper, ginger and curry leaves into the pan, and stir fry until onions are golden. Then add the tumeric and cumin to the mix.

-In a tall sauce pot, pour in the can of crushed tomatos, (also use that same can, and fill halfway with water and add to the pot), BBQ sauce, cardamon pods, the ground beef, beans, the contents of the stir fry,  parsnips and sweet potato.
*If you're using vegetarian "ground beef", its usually advised to keep frozen until ready to cook. This is the time to add it in.

Mix the contents, Set the heat to MED-LOW and cover with lid for 30 mins. Stir the pot regularly to prevent sticking at the bottom of the pot.


-Reduce heat to LOW, and remove the lid. Continue to cook until sweet potatoes are tender, about another 15-20 minutes. Stir regularly to prevent sticking.

Here's how my dish turned out this earlier this evening! I chose to garnish with curry leaves.

Keep in mind that this dish was not spicy to me at all..  So based on this recipe you'll be able to determine what level of spicy suits you. So feel free to make any variations you like. Also, I used the vegetarian "ground beef" tonight and I recommend it, since no one can tell the difference. It tastes great, and a healthy alternative for those looking to reduce cholesterol intake.

If you're looking to spice it up: Add some cayenne pepper.

If you're not sure which BBQ sauce is a good idea, I chose a smokey/peppery sauce, and it did lean the flavour a bit to the sweet side, so I don't recommend using any sweet BBQ sauces.

I actually thought of adding green lentils to the pot but then forgot about them once I started cooking.. But then realized you can add as a side; lentils, basmati rice, quinoa, black rice... anything you want with it.

Enjoy!