Tasty Morsels 

Ingredients in full post
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Toast bread in 1 tbsp. butter in an oven-proof skillet over medium high heat until crisp and then transfer to a bowl. Return pan to heat.

Saute onion, celery and apples in 1 tbsp. butter over medium heat until soft. Stir in thyme. Add vegetables to bread cubes. Toss mixture with broth, vinegar and seasonings until liquid is absorbed. Wipe out the skillet.

Prepare chops. Fill pockets with bread mixture. They will be full, but you’ll probably have some left-over stuffing. Saute chops in oil over medium-high heat until brown on one side, about 3 minutes. Carefully turn the chops over and add any extra stuffing to the pan at this point. Transfer pan to the oven. Roast about 8 minutes, then remove the chops and stuffing from the pan and set aside. Tent with foil to keep warm.

Saute shallots for the sauce in 1 tbsp. of butter in same skillet over medium heat. Add flour and cook for 1 minute. Deglaze the pan with cider, wine and vinegar. Simmer until sauce is slightly thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Finish sauce with thyme, salt and pepper.

Adapted from: A Sweet Pea Chef

Yummmmmm. I love apples and pork together. This was pretty fun to make despite the messiness. Read more…

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1 lime, juiced
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2lb chicken thighs
1/2 cup coconut peanut sauce

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 medium carrots, cut into 1/8-inch match sticks

2 baguettes, sliced in half lengthwise
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon siracha
1 bunch cilantro, woody stems removed

Whisk the lime juice, sugar, salt, and olive oil. Add the chicken and toss until well coated. Set aside to marinate for 20 minutes.

Whisk the vinegar, sugar, and salt in a medium mixing bowl until dissolved. Add the carrots and toss until combined. Set aside to pickle for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Drizzle olive oil in a pan. Pan-fry the chicken in batches: Cook until the chicken is firm to the touch. Set aside to cool. When the chicken is no longer piping hot, toss it together with the peanut sauce in a medium mixing bowl.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the mayonnaise and the siracha. Season with a sprinkle of salt.

Toast your bread for a few minutes until crusty. Slather mayonnaise on the top slice, pile chicken on the bottom slice, topping with drained carrots and cilantro.

Adapted from: Big Girls, Small Kitchen

I really love Vietnamese food. It only gets better because now I can make Vietnamese sandwiches myself! One of my coworkers was really impressed that I had made this at home. Read more…

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12 oz large pasta shells
2 TB olive oil
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 large clove garlic
1 lb (16 oz) lump crab meat
1/4 c fresh minced parsley
3 oz Gruyère cheese (for topping)
Fresh minced chives (for garnish)

Sauce:
4 TB unsalted butter
5 TB all-purpose flour
3 c milk (low-fat or fat-free is fine)
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Cook the pasta to just under al dente according to the package directions. You will have more pasta shells than you need, which is good because some will inevitably break while cooking. Since it’s much easier to stuff unbroken pasta shells, use the ones that didn’t break for this dish.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-low heat; add the pepper, celery, and onion and sauté until softened but not brown, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and sauté another 1-2 minutes.

In a medium pot over medium-low heat, warm the milk just until it comes to a very gentle simmer. In a separate medium pot over medium-low heat, melt the butter and then whisk in the flour. Cook the butter/flour mixture for about 3 minutes (it will be a light blonde color), whisking constantly. Gradually whisk the hot milk in, then add 3/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Turn the heat up and bring the mixture to a boil; let it boil for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Turn off the heat and whisk in 3 oz Gruyère.

Preheat the oven to 350F and butter the casserole dish. In a large bowl, combine the cooked vegetables, crab, parsley, 1 c of sauce, and 1/4 tsp salt. Stuff the crab mixture into the shells and arrange in the prepared dish; pour the remaining sauce on top. Bake for 20 minutes, then sprinkle the remaining 3 oz of Gruyère on top and bake another 10 minutes. Serve garnished with fresh minced chives.

Adapted from: An Edible Mosaic

Tasty, tasty, tasty. I love crab. I tried really hard not to eat any before baking… Read more…

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1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 chorizo sausage, chopped
1 tbsp harissa* (I’ve used red pepper chili sauce as a sub)
14 oz can chopped tomatoes
14 oz brown lentils, rinsed, drained
Jar roasted red capsicums, drained, and sliced
(I’ve used red peppers as a sub to the above)
250 ml chicken stock or water
1 pound peeled green prawns (tails intact)
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and chorizo, and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes until the onion softens and the chorizo starts to crisp. Stir in harissa and cook for a further minute. Add tomatoes, lentils, capsicum/peppers and stock, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until the mixture has thickened slightly. Season the prawns with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, then add to the pan. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the prawns are just cooked through. Stir in the parsley.

*Harissa is a North African chili paste from delis and gourmet food shops.

Adapted from: Chef Wanabe

Oh man. I LOVE this. Read more…

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1 baguette
1 egg
Few knobs of butter
Handful of spicy wild arugula
Smoked salmon
Freshly ground black pepper
Good extra-virgin olive oil
2 slices high-quality bacon

Fry up the bacon in a cast iron skillet. Set aside.

Heat up your broiler, and slice the baguette in half. Put a few thin slices of butter on your bread and broil until golden.

Top one slice of your bread with bacon and pieces of smokey trout. Top the other slice with the arugula and a drizzle of olive oil.

Heat up a small sauce pan with about 2 inches of water, until boiling. Turn the heat all the way to the lowest setting. Crack the egg into a bowl, and slide it into the water (you can slide it into the ring of a jar top to help keep the whites together). Cover, and cook for exactly 2 and a half minutes. Gently scoop out the egg with a slotted spatula and place on top of the trout.

Close the sandwich and enjoy.

Adapted from: local lemons

Well… I promise this sandwich is REALLY tasty because I ate it before I snapped a photo. This happens sometimes. You understand, right?

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3 garlic cloves
2 fresh rosemary sprigs, about 1 Tbs chopped
1 1/2 to 2 lbs salmon fillet (I used sockeye)
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 pinches of sea salt
pinch of pepper

Preheat oven to 425°. Peel and chop garlic, chop rosemary. Set aside. Place salmon on a baking sheet. Distribute olive oil evenly on salmon. Add salt and pepper over the fillet. Next, add the rosemary and garlic and lightly press into salmon.

Place in oven. Roast for 10 to 12 minutes until the salmon is flaky.

(I also roasted a sweet potato.)

Adapted from: …in sock monkey slippers

I love salmon. I love garlic. And recently I’ve started to love sweet potatoes. Read more…

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