Chinese Sausage (Lap Cheong) and Fried Egg Over Rice

Chinese sausage otherwise known as lap cheong can be found in many Chinese dishes.  I remember the only ones that I would eat was the ones that my grandmother made herself. I remember she would ground the meat and spices together then stuffed it into the natural casing. Her sausages were the best compared to others. The quality of the sausages vary and I do not like most of them but I finally found the one I like.

This is such an easy dish, the only thing you really need to do is watch for the rice.  Cook rice as you normally do and place the sausages onto the rice 10 minutes before it is completely cooked.  You can not place the sausages into the rice in the beginning because the sausages would sink to the bottom of the pan and burn. I like to serve this with a fried egg and soy sauce.

Baked Giant Scallops with Home Fries

Scallops are so expensive in restaurants and it is not always cooked correctly.  So I like to buy my own and experiment with different recipes.  I remember the first time I cooked them, it was a disaster.  If the pan is not hot enough, you will end up with steamed scallops.  So make sure the oven or pan is pre-heated before cooking scallops.


Ingredients for Scallops

• 8 giant scallops
• 1/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs 
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Hungarian sharp paprika
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
• 3 tablespoons melted butter

Directions 

1. Preheat over to 400 degrees F.
2. Pour 3/4 of the melted butter into a baking dish. Coat the scallops with melted butter in the dish.
3. Combine bread crumbs, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, garlic, parsley, parmesan cheese and the rest of the melted butter together.
4. Sprinkle the mixture onto the scallops and bake for about 20 minutes or until the scallops are firm.

Ingredients for Home Fries

• 3 small red potatoes, cubed
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 3 tablespoon vegetable oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Boil the potatoes until they are fork tender, about 20 minutes. Drain completely.
2. Heat 1/2 the oil in a cast iron pan and saute onion until it is translucent.
3. Evenly spread the potatoes onto the pan and move it around so the onion is incorporated into the potatoes.  (If you don't, they will burn on the bottom of the pan)
4. Cook until the potatoes have a crust on the bottom.
5. Drizzle the rest of the oil on top of the potatoes and flip them so the other side can form a crust.

I used the cast iron pan for the potatoes because it heats up higher than the other pans and will fry up the potatoes faster.

Baked Tilapia with Roland Bruschetta Spread

Lightly season the tilapia.

Roland Bruschetta consist of red peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic and eggplants.  It is sweet and tangy. It goes very well with crab cakes and apparently with my tilapia dish.

Tilapia is one of my favored fish, the taste is mild and it is not overly fishy.  This is an extremely fast and tasty dish.  It is also healthy!


Ingredients

• 2 filet of tilapia
• 1/8 teaspoon Hungarian smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• Roland Bruschetta for topping

Directions

1. Season the tilapia with paprika, salt and pepper.
2. Rub oil over fish.
3. Broil for about 6 minutes or until the fish is done.  You know it is done when it flakes off.
4. Top it with as much Roland bruschetta as you like.

Banana Waffles

Smashed half a banana...

Add it into waffle batter that is enough for one waffle...

Ooopppssss...I put too much batter again and it over flowed.

Serve with sliced banana, butter and warm maple syrup on top. Yes that is bacon on the side!

Sweet Sausage and Smoked Mozzarella Pasta

Smoked mozzarella is very different from fresh ones.  The taste is intense and very meaty, whereas the fresh ones are sweet and very clean tasting to the palette.

The combination of dried tomatoes packed in olive oil and sweet sausages is amazing.

I like my smoked mozzarella to be cubed because this way some will still be in chunks.  The taste of this cheese is unlike all the other cheeses I have tasted.  This is now one of my favorite pasta dish because of the flavors.  These are all strong flavored ingredients but they somehow all work well together in this dish.


Ingredients

• 1/2 pound Penne
• 1/2 cup smoked mozzarella, cubed
• 6 dried tomatoes in olive oil, chopped
• 4 cooked sweet sausages, sliced
• 1 bunch broccoli 
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup pasta water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Cook pasta as instructed, add the broccoli the last 2 minutes before the pasta is cooked.
2. Melt butter then add flour and cook for about 1 minute to get the raw flour taste out.
3. Slowly stir in milk and pasta water. Keep whisking until the flour is dissolved.
4. Add smoked mozzarella and simmer for about 6 minutes until half the cheese are melted.
5. Add dried tomatoes, sausages, parsley and broccoli. Cook for 2 minutes to combine the flavors
6. Add pasta and combine everything. Serve right away.

Ziti With Fresh Tomatoes

When tomatoes goes on sale and the color is that bright vibrant red, I tend to buy more of it.

Yummy lunch!

I work in midtown Manhattan in NYC.  There are many places for quick and tasty lunch.  However they are not exactly cheap and healthy.  Even the salad is loaded with dressing and cost more than $5.00.  So I bring lunch on most days.  One can eat so many slices of pizzas or other fast food before you get sick of it.  Beside a girl got to watch her waist line ; ).

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound ziti
• 3 plum tomatoes, diced
• 1 cooked chicken breast, cut into strips
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/3 cup pasta water
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
• Parmesan cheese 

Directions

1. Cook ziti as instructed and set aside.
2. Melt butter in oil, add dried parsley and oregano and cooked for 1 minute.
3. Add diced tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
4. Add pasta water then chicken strips to combine the flavors.
5. Add cooked pasta and toss to combine.
6. Add parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Channa Masala

The spices that makes this dish...

Chickpeas are very tasty!

Sauteing the spices wakes up the flavors and transform the dish.

I love chickpeas so when I keep seeing this dish on all the food network channels, I had to try to make them myself.  I found many recipes, so I took what I like from each recipes to make it my own.  Some of the recipes has way too many spices, which I don't have in my pantry.  I am sure the authentic ones are much more different than mine.  Nonetheless, this is a very tasty dish.  So easy and fast to make.


Ingredients

• 1 15 ounce can chickpeas, rinse and drained
• 1 plum tomato, diced
• 1/3 cup onion, diced
• 2 teaspoons, grated
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric 
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon concentrate
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• cilantro for garnish

Directions

1. Saute onion, garlic and ginger in oil until it is translucent then add all the spices and saute for 2 minutes. 
2. Add the tomato and cook for about 5 minutes.
3. Add the chickpeas, water and lemon concentrate.
4. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Ranch French-fried Onion Meatloaf

I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com  but altered it slightly to my taste.

I did not think this recipe would turn out this amazing! It was so tasty and now one of my favorite meatloaf recipes.

I changed the recipes to what I like and what I have.  I substituted stuffing mix with seasoned bread crumb and since I find that ketchup to be on the sweet side, I use marinara sauce instead. I also use one egg instead of two and half the fried onion.

So this is my recipe.


Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pound lean ground beef
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup marinara sauce, plus more for topping
• 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/2 (1 ounce) package dry Ranch-style dressing mix
• 1/2 (6 ounce) French-fried onions

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine ground beef, egg, marinara sauce, bread crumbs and Ranch-style dressing mix in a large bowl.
3. Then add the French-fried onion and mix.
4. Shape the mixture to a loaf and add about 3 tablespoons of marinara sauce on the meatloaf.
5. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes.

I like to put sauce on the meatloaf before baking because this keeps my meatloaf moist and add a tasty glaze to it.  I did not put the amount of French-fried onion it asked for because I felt that it was just too much.

Curry Lamb and Eggplant

I wanted curry something but didn't feel like chicken and curry beef stew takes way too long to make.  Since I had lamb chops and eggplant, I decided to make something different...

Beginning of a very tasty dish.

Finely chopped ginger. It is easier to chopped semi frozen ginger.  I live in an Italian neighborhood and ginger in the supermarket is expensive.  So when I am in Chinatown, I like to stock up on essentials like ginger.  I usually buy about 2 large roots and freeze them.

2 lamb chops...

Seasoned with salt and pepper...

Brown in vegetable oil...

I know many people do not care for lamb because of the gaminess of it.  However in this dish, the lamb taste is dulled and works very well with all the ingredients in this dish.  Just what I wanted for dinner! The eggplant goes great with this dish and cook down to nothing because it is mostly water.  Like onion, it may seem like it is a lot of eggplant but it really is not.



Ingredients

• 1 pound lamb, cut into one inch pieces
• 1 large eggplant, diced
• 1 inch ginger, finely minced
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 tablespoon Indian curry powder
• 11/2 teaspoon cumin 
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• salt & pepper to taste
• Cilantro for garnish

Directions

1. Lightly season the lamb with salt and pepper and brown in oil.
2. Remove from pot and set aside, add more oil if needed to saute the onion ginger and garlic.
3. Saute for about 6 minutes until it is fragrant, then add the curry powder and cumin.
4. After cooking the spices for about a minute, return the lamb to the pot and toss everything together.
5. Add chicken stock and coconut and bring to a boil.
6. Add the eggplant and simmer for about 40 minutes.
7. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve with either naan or rice.