Hot Hot Heat!

Summer in Texas is a hot affair, typically in the high 90s or low 100s during the day and you'll be lucky if you hit the low 70s at night....now, I know it's just begun and that today's 97 degree weather is nothing compared to what it's going to feel like in July but it still inspires me to think (and eat) cool.

Nothing is better for a hot summer night than a crisp, cool salad. In welcoming back the former ex-pats I've taken to some slightly more tropical cooking...like this shrimp/watermelon salad. It was a perfect blend of sweet, smoky and spicy!


Watermelon Jicama Shrimp Salad
1 Personal Watermelon, cubed or balled
½ a small Jicama, chopped
1 large Cucumber, chopped
¼ cup Cilantro, chopped
2/3 cup Red Onion, chopped
½ a large Poblano Pepper, minced
1 ½ lb Shrimp
2 Tbsp Acadia Adobo Honey Ancho Sauce & Marinade

Dressing
Juice of 2 large Limes
1 tsp Tajin Calsico Seasoning (con limon)
2 tbsp Raspberry Red Wine Vinegar
4 tbsp Grapeseed Oil

1. Marinate shrimp with Adobo sauce for up to twenty minutes. Drain off the extra marinade and saute shrimp until they are fully cooked.
2. Toss Watermelon, Jicama, Red Onion, Poblano and Cucumber together in a large salad bowl.
3. Mix Raspberry Red Wine Vinegar, Limes, Tajin Seasoning and Grapeseed oil together to create the dressing.
4. Place shrimp over salad and pour dressing over the top - serve chilled!

Saturday Morning Ebelskievers

Fruit and veggies have been so good lately, after our first Farmer's Market forray last weekend I took a pint of the blackberries and made a blackberry sauce to drizzle over flan (recipe soon to come), the next morning however, we made a batch of my favorite mini-filled pancakes, filled with blackberry sauce!


Ingredients

* 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 lemon, zest of
* 3 egg yolks
* 5 egg whites
* 1 1/3 cups buttermilk
* 3/4 cup ricotta cheese
* 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
* 2 cups jam/berry sauce
* confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

1. In a batter pitcher or bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, granulated sugar, salt and lemon zest. Set aside.
2. In another bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks.
3. Whisk in the buttermilk and ricotta.
4. Whisk the yolk mixture into the flour mixture until well combined; the mixture will be lumpy. Set aside.
5. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff but not dry peaks form. Using a rubber spatula, gently stir the whites into the batter in two additions.
6. Put 1/2 teaspoons butter in each well of a ebelskiver pan.
7. Place over medium heat and heat until the butter begins to bubble.
8. Pour 1 Tbs. batter into each well.
9. Place 1 Tsp jam/berry sauce in the center of the batter and top with 1 Tbs batter.
10. Cook until the bottoms are golden brown and crispy, 3 to 5 minutes.
11. Using 2 wooden skewers (I use chopsticks), turn the pancakes over and cook until golden brown and crispy, about 3 minutes more.
12. Transfer to a plate.
13. Repeat with the remaining batter and jam/berry sauce.
14. Dust the pancakes with confectioners’ sugar and serve warm.

These make a delicious treat for a weekend breakfast, they are light and fluffy and tasty!!

Farmers Market Bounty & Grilled Vegetables!

Of late I've been feeling a real need for healthy and veggie, sorry my fried zucchini and mushrooms, bye bye! Instead I have been grilling and broiling and eating vegetables in all of their bounty, yea springtime (or truthfully, nearly summertime)! Earlier this week I stopped at the store and picked up some delicious eggplant and portabella mushrooms to complement the zucchini that were already at home, envisioning the grill and all of these beautiful vegetables I pulled together a tasty summer grilled veggie salad complimented with crusted goat cheese rounds.

Grilled Vegetable Salad
1 Medium Eggplant, thinly sliced
4 Medium Zucchini, sliced length-wise
1 Small Jar Sun-Dried Tomatoes, packed in Olive Oil
2 Large Portabella Mushrooms
3 Large Hearts of Romaine Lettuce, chopped
Montreal Steak Seasoning (or a mixture of coarse ground salt, coarse ground black pepper, garlic powder and onion powder)
Olive Oil

Goat Cheese, Semi-soft
Bread Crumbs

3 Tbsp Stone Ground Dijon Mustard
3 Tbsp White Wine Vinegar
3 Tbsp Grapeseed Oil


1. Slice zucchini and eggplant, place in a large baking dish, marinate by drizzling with olive oil and adding seasoning. Marinate mushrooms as well, but do not slice ahead of cooking. Allow to sit for up to thirty minutes.
2. Either grill or broil veggies until tender and showing char marks.
3. In a skillet, heat sun-dried tomatoes until warmed.
4. Slice mushrooms and tomatoes length-wise.
5. Place mushrooms, tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant on a bed of Romaine, garnish with dressing and goat cheese rounds.
6. To make dressing, combine equal parts dijon mustard, white wine vinegar and grapeseed oil.
7. To make goat cheese rounds slice goat cheese generously, roll in bread crumbs and place alongside salad.




After this tasty dinner earlier this week my mom and I got up early today and hit two local farmers markets (that's right, two!). We had a great time staking things out, looking for beautiful produce and talking to the vendors. Living on the outer edge of Austin (really in Round Rock), we're close to some farming land, not like the old days but people with acreage and we are near enough to some of the rural parts of Central Texas that you get ranchers selling meats as well as the great produce and plants. We came back from our excursion with quite the haul! Loads of fresh fruit and veggies, fresh baked whole-wheat bread, a few basil plants for mom and a succulent for me (I really love cacti and succulent, they are a plant I can't kill!). We also requested a bone-in leg of lamb that we'll get next Saturday morning and grill next weekend, I'd say a pretty successful expedition all-in all. Can't wait to see what we find next weekend!

Mother's Day

So it might be nearly a week later (she sheepishly grins) but for the first time in a few years my mother was in town to celebrate Mother's Day. For my sister and I this meant special breakfast was to be made and gifts to be gathered/bought/made. We opted for the homemade this year, my sister making a beautiful card and a really cute "Cute" cup (a local thing I believe but very adorable) and I for two necklaces, a matching pair of earrings and a mini-scrapbook with photos of family. Mom adored it all (or lied really well) :) so the gifts being a success I had to turn to some kind of breakfast creation. As previously posted, I made brunch two weeks ago for a few friends, that brunch included a tasty Eggs Benedict....for Mother's Day I went for a re-creation of this delightful dish but changed the pace a little with a whole wheat English Muffin.

Unfortunately it took two attempts to make these muffins! The first attempt was my fool-hearty idea to sub whole wheat flour for white in the recipe from the brunch was a bit of a problem...as in no rise and no muffins. Luckily the other recipe I found was best made fresh, so I was able to save the day with some delicious fresh baked English Muffins.


Even the cat thought she might need some Eggs Benedict!

Ingredients
1/4 cup warm water
1 package dry yeast (or 1 tablespoon)
2 cups whole wheat flour, plus more as needed
1 cup white flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 egg
cornmeal as needed

Directions

1. Sprinkle yeast over warm (about 105° F. is ideal) water and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, mix flour(s) and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, mix milk, oil and honey. Add egg and stir until well blended. Stir in the yeast mixture.
4. Add liquid to about half of the dry ingredients and mix well, with a stand mixer or by hand. Mix in remaining dry ingredients. Dough will be soft and somewhat sticky.
5. Turn dough out onto floured work surface and knead for several minutes. If too sticky to knead, add flour, a tablespoon at a time.
6. Put dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel, and let rise in a warm place (see TIP) until doubled in size. Rising time will depend on temperature; allow about 1 hour.
7. Turn risen dough out onto a work surface that has been liberally dusted with cornmeal and pat or roll to about 1/2" thick. Cut into approximately 3 inch rounds with a cookie cutter, tin can, or jar lid. If you wish, combine the scraps of dough into more muffins, handling as little as possible. Cover the muffins with a towel and let rise for 20-30 minutes.
8. Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium-low heat. Sprinkle with corn meal. Using a spatula, carefully transfer muffins to hot griddle. Cook about 5 minutes on each side, turn and cook for 2-3 minutes per side. Outsides should be golden brown and crusty, insides should be soft, but not gooey. You might need to sacrifice a muffin or two as doneness tests.
9. Remove to cooling rack as they finish cooking. Cook the rest in batches.

*This recipe was found on recipietips.com

The Return of Family

Of late my life has been pretty hectic but nothing compared to that of my mother (who's blog can be found at Texas-To-Mexico) and father who spent the last few weeks packing up their lives in a foreign country to come back home to the motherland, Texas. For the last five years my father has spent the majority of his time living and working in two cities in Mexico, for three of those years my mom lived there with him. During that time they accumulated stuff, made lots of friends and traveled to see some pretty cool stuff....beginning during the latter part of April they began packing that life into boxes and crates and on Saturday they arrived home. Home being the place I've been permanently house-sitting for them (their home)....I cannot describe how happy I am to have them back here but I can say this, it feels like things are the way they are supposed to be once more, my whole family is back in one place. To welcome them home, I made a pot of Braised Beef Shanks and some roasted potatoes. A great meal that took most of the afternoon to cook but very little active attention on my part (even better when preparing for someone to arrive!).

Red Wine Braised Beef Shanks

Ingredients

3 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 cup flour
4 beef shanks, about 6 ounces each
2 Tsp Garlic Powder
2 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
Salt and black pepper
2 cups medium diced onions
1 cup medium diced celery
1 cup medium diced carrots
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
2 cups red wine
3 cups beef stock

Directions

1. In a large stock pot or braising pot, add the olive oil. Season the shanks with salt and pepper. Season the flour with pepper, salt, garlic powder, and cayenne. Dredge the shanks in the seasoned flour, coating each side completely.
2. When the oil is hot, sear the shanks for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until very brown on all sides. Remove the shanks and set aside.
3. Add the onions to the pan and saute for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Add the celery and carrots and continue to saute for 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the garlic, bay leaves, and thyme. Cook for 1 minute.
5. Deglaze the pan with the red wine, scraping the bottom and sides to loosen the browned particles. Add the stock. Bring the liquid up to a boil and reduce to a simmer.
6. Add the shanks and continue to cook for about 2 hours, basting the shanks often, or until the sauce is stew-like and the meat starts to fall of the bone. Season with salt and pepper if needed.



The last of my welcome home meal was a delicious berry cobbler...not something I make all that often, unfortunately until the parents came home the majority of my audience was my little sis who hates "hot, smooshy fruit" -- yea that means cobblers, pies and crumbles would be left entirely for me or anyone else who happened to come by the house so I didn't make the much, too much temptation for me! However, with two other "hot, smooshy fruit" eaters in the house I was able to make this cobbler that didn't last long!

Ingredients

Filling:
2 Lbs Mixed Berries (I used raspberries, strawberries and blueberries)
1 Tbsp Cornstarch
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp Sugar

Cinnamon & Sugar

Crust:
1 1/4 Cups Flour
1/4 Tsp Salt
1/2 Cup Crisco
1 Well Beaten Egg

Directions
1. Mix filling ingredients in a greased baking pan (13x9), let sit until the berries begin to produce their own juices.
2. For crust, mix salt and flour together. Then cut crisco into the mix and slowly add egg until mixture forms a dough.
3. Roll out dough to about 1/4 inch on a well floured surface. Once it is desired thickness, place over the top of the berry mix.
4. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over crust.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 F for 40-45 minutes.