Healthy: Tangy No Mayo Cabbage Slaw Recipe

Cole slaw, or cabbage slaw, typically is prepared with a mayo base that can range from very sweet and heavy with significant amounts of mayo and sugar to light and acidic with a thin coating of mayo. My preference is normally for a lighter slaw with less mayo. Today's post is a cabbage slaw recipe that uses no mayo at all. It is a light recipe that substitutes a small amount of oil in place of mayo. It is spiced towards a Latin cuisine but not so much that it needs to be served with Latin food. It works well with a steak, BBQ, or any other dish that might play well with cole slaw. It could add an interesting dimension to a sandwich or it could work as a healthier side to a Latin or Tex-Mex meal than the usual rice and beans.

Tangy No Mayo Cabbage Slaw Recipe

Servings: 6-8
Prep time: 1 3/4 hours
Cook time: None

Equipment

• Knife and cutting board
• Measuring spoons and cups
• Large mixing bowl
• Small bowl
• Whisk
• Shredder

Ingredients

• 1/2 medium red onion
• 1/3 cup cilantro
• 1 head of cabbage (red or green)
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions

1. Chop red onion and cilantro. Place in mixing bowl.
2. Mince garlic. Set aside.
3. Chop cabbage head in half. Make a V-shaped cut in each side to remove the core. Discard the cores.
4. Shred or finely chop the cabbage. Add to mixing bowl.
5. Add garlic and all remaining ingredients to small bowl. Whisk contents of bowl.
6. Add contents of small bowl to mixing bowl. Mix well.
7. Let rest in fridge for 1 1/2 hours, mixing every 30 minutes.

Not Healthy: Cheesecake Factory White Chicken Chili Recipe

Alright, I'm not much of a Cheesecake Factory fan no matter how much my wife watches The Big Bang Theory but their white chicken chili isn't too bad. It's actually not even that unhealthy except they serve it up with a big helping of rice that makes it considerably less healthy. This recipe was stripped from a video of a Cheesecake Factory cook on a morning news show so it's direct from the source. There's not a lot to add about the recipe; if you came here because you were looking for a clone recipe for this dish then you know what you're in for. If you wanted to make it a little healthier you could opt for a half-and-half cream instead of heavy cream. You could also use leftover turkey from a holiday meal instead of chicken although you'll get a different flavor from the meat.

FYI: I did not include the rice in this recipe so if you want to serve it with rice then cook that in addition to the recipe below.

Cheesecake Factory White Chicken Chili Recipe

Serving size: 6 (approximately 60 calories per serving)
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes

Equipment:

• Stove and oven
• Kitchen utensils, measuring cups and spoons
• Knife and cutting board
• saute pan
• Baking pan
• Mixing bowl

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup green onions
• 1 cup pre-made pico de gallo
• 2 cups white beans
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp chipotle tobasco sauce
• 1 tbsp chili garlic paste
• 1/4 cup salsa verde
• 8 cups chicken stock
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 green chile
• 1 poblano pepper
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 1/2 cups yellow onion
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 4 lb. diced chicken breast

Directions:

1. Set oven to broil. Place poblano on the baking sheet.
2. While oven is heating, chop yellow onion, green onion and green chile but keep each separate.
3. When the oven is hot place the baking sheet in the oven near the broiler and broil the poblano until the skin is browned. Turn the poblano so each side is browned. Once that occurs, take the poblano out of the oven and turn off the oven.
4. Combine the chicken, salt, cumin, chili powder and pepper in mixing bowl and coat the chicken.
5. Chop the poblano and keep 1/4 cup for the recipe. (You can discard the rest or preferably keep it for some other dish.)
6. Heat 1/4 cup of canola oil in the saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and brown until roughly 3/4 cooked through. Then remove the chicken and set aside.
7. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of canola oil and butter in the pan. 
8. Saute the onions until translucent. 
9. Add the garlic and cook another 30 seconds.
10. Add the poblano and green chile.
11. Add the flour and mix thoroughly. Cook for an additional 2 minutes.
12. Add the chicken stock 1/2 cup at a time, stirring to break up any lumps. 
13. Once all of the chicken stock has been added, add the salsa verde, chili garlic paste and chipotle tobasco.
14. Bring to a simmer.
15. Then add chicken and cook 5 minutes.
16. Add cream and white beans and mix thoroughly. Cook 2 minutes.
17. Serve with green onion and pico de gallo on top as a garnish.

Not Healthy: Flaky Biscuit Recipe

Biscuits are delicious. If you don't agree, well, I don't know what to tell you. You're just wrong. One reason why you might not love biscuits is that you grew up eating those weird biscuits that come out of a tube at the grocery store that you can peel apart by the layers and they look, feel and taste like pressed layers of gummy dough into something that is supposed to resemble a biscuit. That is not a biscuit. A biscuit should have a flaky golden crust hiding a moist but flaky interior that begs for a generous helping of gravy.

Although biscuits are not difficult to make I have been served terrible excuses for biscuits, whether they oozed out of a store-bough tube or came out of an alleged homemade recipe. I am at a real loss for why people buy tubes of pre-made biscuits or follow terrible recipes that produce painfully dense pucks of baked flour or soggy...whatever they are. Biscuits are just not that difficult. This recipe is incredibly easy and is nearly failure-proof.

Flaky Biscuit Recipe

Servings: 6 biscuits
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Equipment:

• Oven
• Baking sheet
• Mixing bowl
• Kitchen utensils, measuring cups and spoons
• One drinking glass
• Knife
• Whisk
• Rolling pin
• Spatula (optional)

Ingredients:

• Cooking spray
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour (plus extra for dusting work space)
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Add flour, salt, sugar and baking powder to mixing bowl. Mix with whisk to evenly mix dry ingredients.
3. Cut butter into small pieces and add to mixing bowl. Mix with whisk for a few minutes until butter starts to break up into smaller pieces in the mix.
4. Add milk and mix gently until milk is loosely mixed into the mixture. Use a spatula or the whisk to incorporate any dry ingredients on the sides of the bowl.
5. Continue mixing until it forms into a dough of even consistency.
6. Lightly dust counter space and move dough onto floured work space. 
7. Roll out dough to 1/2 inches thick. 
8. Lightly spray baking pan with cooking spray (optional). 
9. Using the mouth of a drinking glass cut biscuits and transfer to baking sheet. Once you have cut as many biscuits as you can, combine the remaining dough into a ball and roll back out and try to cut additional biscuits. Whatever is left that you cannot cut should be rolled out into a poorly shaped but still tasty biscuit. 
10. Make sure all biscuits are on the baking pan and bake at 450F for 8-10 minutes until fully risen. The bigger the biscuit circumference the longer you want to bake them.

Options & Suggestions:

• You can use buttermilk in place of regular milk to create buttermilk biscuits. Keep everything else in the recipe the same.
• People disagree on the fat content of the milk needed to make biscuits. I routinely use skim milk but others swear by a fattier milk. More fat will make the biscuits more buttery and moist while less fat will make them more dense and crumbly. I usually make mine with gravy so I don't need the extra moisture or buttery character from the milk. 
• The size of the mouth of the glass you use to cut the biscuits out of the rolled dough will determine how many biscuits you make. Obviously, the smaller the mouth on the glass the more biscuits you can make. A shaker pint glass will make biscuits about the size of what you usually get at restaurants. Smaller biscuits will still fluff up just as well but you will want to bake them closer to eight minutes rather than a full ten minutes so they don't dry out.
• Biscuits are best right out of the oven but they will last for several days before they get too dried out. Consider reheating in the oven (or a toaster oven if you have one) rather than microwaving them, which will make them a soggy mess.

Not Healthy: Guinness Beef Stew Recipe

With the cold months arriving it is a great time for getting soup and stew recipes together for warm winter meals. I am typically not a big fan of beef stews because too many suffer from goopy textures and bland flavors. One way to pack flavor into a beef stew is to add a rich and flavorful beer. Dark beers, like stouts and porters, tend to work very well because they add dimension with roast, chocolate, caramel and molasses that reduce down and integrate with the beef and vegetable to add richness without adding sweetness. (Think about it like coffee-crusted steak rather than pouring maple syrup on a steak.) This recipe is reasonably healthy while hearty. It has a thicker consistency that you want in a stew but without the goopy texture I despise. This recipe is an adaptation of a recipe from an issue of Draft magazine provided by the recipe at Restaurant Six89 in Carbondale, Colorado. (However, I found the original recipe sort of bland.)


Selecting the right beer for this stew matters although it does not have to be a Guinness stout. Guinness has long had an incredibly effective marketing campaign that has made the brand ubiquitous even before craft beer became something serious in America. It was the dark beer thanks to its marketing. Its marketing reaches into food and you can easily find Guinness in all sorts of recipes. Aside from the marketing, Guinness works in many dishes as a great beer. The reason Guinness works so well is that it is not overwhelming in flavor and it is more acidic than many other stouts. When you reduce Guinness you can bring the flavor out while still using the acidity to balance the roasty and chocolate flavors. It works more like red wine reduction than a sweeter or maltier beer. So no matter how much of a beer snob you might be, Guinness is a really effective beer for cooking.

However, there are other good options. Other stouts or porters will work well, along with other dark beers like bocks, marzens/Oktoberfests or brown ales. When working with these less acidic beers you need to account for the lack of acidity and keep some malt vinegar on hand to adjust the acidity of the stew and brighten it up. Taste the stew about an hour before serving to see if it needs some punch to it. If it does, add a 1/2 a tablespoon of malt vinegar, stir and let it integrate into the stew for the next hour. You don't want to taste the vinegar, just get the acidity. Taste again and if it needs more add another 1/2 tablespoon and cook for another thirty minutes. Repeat if necessary.

There are also lots of beers to avoid. Avoid beers with unusual ingredients like vanilla or cherries. Be careful about adding hoppy beers because the hop character can reduce down to an unpleasant bitterness. Personally if I used a beer with hop flavor I would stick with something herbal or piney so it tastes more like an herb addition than some of the fruity hops that would give you a weird fruit flavor in a beef stew.

Picking the right beef is also important. You can usually buy stew beef at the store fairly cheaply. They tend to be tougher meat that breaks down over a long cook and the collagen that makes it chewy when fried or grilled is released into the liquid and helps give the stew body. I prefer to use leaner round or eye roasts over chuck. I find the combination of flour plus excess fat in the stew creates that goopy texture I dislike so much. You want a little fat for flavor.

Feel free to play with the herbs and vegetables. I really like potato in my soups and stews but you can leave it out or substitute other starchy ingredients like barley, wheat, rye, lentils, rice, etc. Avoid anything that breaks down too easily when stewed. The biggest offender here is russet potatoes. They are great for baked potatoes or mashed potatoes but when you stew them for hours they fall apart into an unpleasant grainy texture. Go with white, gold, or red potatoes. Some people like tomato in their beef stew. If you use tomato then you may have enough acidity if you do not use Guinness to not need to add vinegar. I use frozen peas and pearl onions for ease and availability but if you want to mess around with peeling pearl onions then be my guest.

This recipe is relatively healthy but I marked it as "Not Healthy" for the flour and beer, which add carbs that you may not want to consume on a clean diet. You could always clean the stew up in to more of a beef soup by omitting these ingredients but then it wouldn't be a stew recipe. 

Guinness Beef Stew Recipe

Serves 4
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 8 hours

Equipment:

• Dutch oven or crock pot
• Frying pan (if not using dutch oven)
• Stove
• Kitchen utensils, measuring cups and spoons
• Mixing bowl
• Knife and cutting board

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. cubed beef stew
• 16oz. low sodium beef broth
• 1 bottle Guinness or other suitable beer
• 2 stalks celery
• 2 carrots
• 2 cups pearl onions (peeled if bought fresh)
• 1 1/2 cups green peas
• 2 white or golden potatoes (not russet potatoes)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tbsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tbsp dried rosemary
• Malt vinegar (if not using Guinness)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Chop carrots and celery into 1/2 inch pieces. Chop potato into 1 inch cubes (does not have to be perfect). If your beef is not already cubed then do that now.
2. Mix beef, flour and 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper in a bowl. Make sure beef is fully coated.
3. If you are using a dutch oven instead of a crock pot then add the vegetable oil and heat over medium-high heat. If using a crockpot, do the same in your frying pan. Once the oil starts to smoke, reduce the heat to medium and add the beef, shaking off excess flour before adding. 
4. Brown the beef on all sides. 
5. Once the beef is browned, add the bottle of beer. Mix thoroughly and gently scrape up any bits of beef or flour stuck to the bottom of the dutch oven or frying pan. Simmer for 1 minute.
6. If you are using a crock pot, then add the contents of the frying pan to the crock pot. If you are using the dutch oven, treat the following steps as though it says "dutch oven" when it says "crock pot". 
7. Add the beef broth, celery, carrots, pearl onions, potato, 1 tbsp dried thyme, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp black pepper to the crock pot. Turn the heat to low on the crock pot. (For dutch ovens, turn the heat down on the stove to keep the stew simmering.)
8. Cook for seven hours. (Taste and see if you need to add malt vinegar as explained above.) Add 1/2 tbsp dried thyme, 1/2 tbsp dried rosemary and peas. Mix thoroughly. Cook for an additional hour (or more if desired). 
9. Taste and add additional salt and pepper if necessary. Serve.

Healthy: Basic Kimchi Recipe

Inspired by the recipes in "Kimchi: Essential Recipes of the Korean Kitchen" I decided to try my hand at making kimchi at home. As a homebrewer I am familiar with the process of fermentation and all of the usual aspects of watching fungi and bacteria turn foodstuff into something glorious. However, the idea of watching food bubble and ferment was a new one for me. However, I have been trusting the same yeast and bacteria that work in kimchi to make some of my favorite beers so although I was skeptical about the merits of a bubbling jar of cabbage it actually develops quite nicely with very little work.

Kimchi is a spicy Korean sour cabbage that can be compared to German sauerkraut if sauerkraut was spicy. Kimchi actually relies on more ingredients for spicing than sauerkraut but the process of making either fermented cabbage is the same. Submerge cabbage in a slightly salty liquid and let the bacteria naturally present on the cabbage do the hard work souring it. That's really all there is to it. There are a number of variants to develop flavors but this simple recipe for kimchi relies on ingredients you can find at most supermarkets. The difficult ingredient to find, which may require a trip to an Asian grocer, is Korean chili powder (gochugaru). However, I was able to concoct a substitute that I feel is 95% of the way there. Otherwise, everything else I used in the recipe came from my local Kroger here in Fort Worth. It is cheap and easy to make. There are more complex recipes out there that use other ingredients that may also require a trip to an ethnic store for authentic ingredients but this is a good entry point.

Here are a few tips/modifications to consider in making this recipe:

1. Consider the right vessel to make kimchi: You need something that can hold up to acidity (so no aluminum) and ideally glass or ceramic works well because it is unaffected by the acidity in kimchi and it will hold up to pressing the cabbage in to make a tight fit. Old glass jars or mason jars work fine but be careful about the metal lids. The acidity in kimchi can eat away the finish/paint on the lids. If you use anything with a metal lid be sure to wipe down the mouth of the glass before removing kimchi to remove any finish/paint that has leaked off onto the glass.
2. Also consider how much kimchi you are making: A medium head of cabbage will make approximately 72oz of kimchi. During active fermentation there will be bubbling and if the top of the kimchi liquid is close to the mouth of the vessel then you may get some overflow. So although you want to avoid too much open space at the top of your vessel you need enough to prevent spills. Keep your vessel(s) on a pan or plate so any spills are contained.
3. Release the pressure: It's a good idea to keep some kind of lid on the kimchi to keep out bugs but you don't want too tight of a fit on the lid. Keep the lid slightly ajar and release the lid further (in case overflowed liquid has dried on the lid and created a seal) to release any built up CO2. Exploding glass is a really bad thing. 
4. Chop the cabbage appropriately: Many recipes call for making kimchi by quartering the cabbage but you may find it difficult to work the cabbage tightly into your vessel that way. Because you will likely end up chopping up your cabbage once it has fermented, consider grating or further chopping the cabbage to make this process easier. 
5. Keep the vegetable underwater: Wet vegetable exposed to air can rot and grow mold. Neither is good for your kimchi. This is less of a problem once fermentation has soured the vegetable but you still want to avoid air exposure as much as possible. If you prepare the kimchi for souring and find you do not have enough liquid in the vessel then top it up with clean, chlorine-free water. (Chlorine kills bacteria and you want that bacteria to sour your kimchi.) Many people use a plate or a water-filled plastic bag to weigh down the vegetable matter. Consider this approach if you can't avoid floating cabbage.
6. Leave it alone: Once you prepare your vessel(s) for souring, leave them alone for a week or two. Clean up any messes, release the pressure if necessary and top up with water (especially if you have some spills) but do not otherwise bother the kimchi. No stirring or tasting is necessary. Just let it do its thing.
7. Gochugaru substitute: If you can't find Korean chili powder then use an equal volume substitute of one half red chili pepper flakes and regular chili powder. It isn't perfect but unless you are a true connoisseur of kimchi it is close enough that you will be happy with the results. Or go buy yourself some gochugaru.

Lastly, once your kimchi has fermented and sat for 1-2 weeks you can tighten the lid or transfer to a sealable container. It will stay good for 1-2 months (keep that in mind when you decide how much to make) and a little longer in the fridge. The flavor will develop over that time. If you prefer the flavor of younger kimchi then after a couple weeks you should store it in the fridge.

Basic Kimchi Recipe

Serving size: Roughly 72 ounces of kimchi
Prep time: 1.5 hours with 1-2 weeks of aging
Cook time: None

Equipment:

• Knife and cutting board
• Measuring spoons
• Vessel(s) for storing kimchi
• Large bowl

Ingredients:

• 1 medium head of cabbage
• 3.5oz (by weight) of kosher salt
• Water
• 7oz (by weight) Korean chili powder
• 10.5oz (by weight) leek
• 14oz (by weight) daikon
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tbsp fresh ginger
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp salt

Directions:

1. Chop the cabbage into quarters. Remove and discard the hard stems. (Optional: further chop cabbage as explained above.)
2. Place cabbage in large bowl with 3.5oz kosher salt. Fill with water until it covers the cabbage. Let sit for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes flip over the cabbage and let it sit for another 30 minutes.
3. While the cabbage is soaking, shred the daikon and leek. Grate the ginger.
4. Once the cabbage has soaked for an hour, drain the water and rinse the cabbage to remove the salt. 
5. Set aside the cabbage and dry out the bowl. Add all the ingredients from the chili powder to the 1 tbsp of salt to bowl. Mix together. Add cabbage and mix thoroughly until the cabbage is coated by the kimchi paste.
6. Add the cabbage to your vessel a small portion at a time. Try to squeeze the cabbage in as much as possible so it tightly fits. The cabbage should release water and help fill the vessel. Top up with clean, non-chlorinated water if necessary. Place weight on cabbage if necessary. Cover and let sit for 1-2 weeks.
7. If necessary, chop kimchi before serving.

Healthy: Crispy Skin Salmon

As a kid the idea of eating fish skin sounded disgusting. And it is disgusting when it is soggy and slimy. However, it adds a nice flavor and texture when it is crispy. That crunch can help out the whole dish, as salmon fillet are often served with soft rice or other grains and soft vegetables (steamed or grilled). So it's important to get the skin sufficiently crispy without turning the entire fillet into a fried salmon puck. Due to the frying involved in crisping the skin I had mixed feelings about categorizing this dish as healthy but if you use only the necessary amount of oil to crisp up the skin and keep it from sticking then it's not much less healthy than throwing it in the oven and baking or broiling it.

Prep & Cooking Tips

Cooking crispy skin salmon is not difficult but it requires good technique. Ideally you want a crispy salmon skin with a medium-well cooked interior. That requires having a good skin surface and an even fillet of salmon. If you buy frozen or pre-filleted salmon then the scales should already be removed and the salmon fillets are ready to be cooked. If you buy an entire side of salmon then you need to descale and fillet the salmon. (If you buy a whole salmon then butchering the fish is your first step.) Descaling is not difficult although it can be somewhat messy. There are good video tutorials out there.

Then you need to fillet the salmon. Six ounce servings are the norm. To fillet the salmon you are just cutting through the fish into equal portions. Before filleting the fish you should check for bones left in the fish. Running your fingers horizontally along where the spine used to be will usually uncover any small white bones left behind. Remove them with tweezers or your hands. Be careful but to destroy the meat getting the bones out. I also like to go ahead and salt and pepper before filleting but that is up to you. The fillet where the tail section was should be larger by surface area than the fillets by where the head was because the meat is thicker near the front of the fish. Fillet the fish by making one smooth cut vertically across the fish. A sharp knife with a sharp tip should cut through the fish and the skin in a single smooth cut. If you don't get all the way through the skin then make additional smooth long cuts with the tip of the knife until you separate the fillet. Do not saw at it. This will tear up the meat.

When frying the salmon fillets, use as little oil as necessary to keep the skin from sticking to the pan. If you use too much oil you will get a fried fish-like texture and you will end up with an oily salmon. Not only is that not a healthy option but it ruins the light texture of salmon. When placing the fillets in the pan, place them in skin side down and run the first half you lay down around the oil to get a good coat of oil where it counts. The oil that isn't under the skin isn't doing you any good. Then place the rest of the fish down in the pan by laying it down away from you so you don't splatter oil on yourself. I like to gently move the fillet back and forth to make sure the entire skin surface is oiled.

This recipe cooks the salmon at a lower temperature for a little longer than other recipes. You can cook salmon hotter but at the lower temperature you get a more moist fillet with an even cook and less albumin on the surface. Albumin is the white protein that develops on the surface of salmon. There's nothing wrong with it but it has a weird texture and many people find it unappetizing. A lower cooking temperature will reduce the amount pushed out of the fish. You can't completely avoid it but you should see less this way.

Crispy Salmon Recipe

Serving size: 4 (assuming you have four fillets)
Prep time: 10 minutes (assuming you need to descale and fillet salmon)
Cook time: 10 minutes

Equipment:

• Frying pan
• Knife and cutting board
• Fish spatula (or other thin spatula)
• Stove

Ingredients:

• 4 6oz. salmon fillets
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp grapeseed oil or olive oil

Directions:

1. Descale and fillet salmon. Add salt and pepper to the flesh side of the fillet. 
2. Heat oil in frying pan over medium-low heat.
3. When oil is ready add fillets to pan skin side down (see above for recommended approach).
4. Cook for seven minutes. Fillet should be 3/4 cooked.
5. Turn over and cook for three minutes. Serve.

Healthy: Indian-Spiced Tilapia

Tilapia is probably the go-to fish protein for people trying to eat healthy because it's such a lean fish. It's also among the cheapest fish to buy which makes it a good choice when you are trying to eat a lot of protein. It has an earthy taste which makes some people say it is a "dirty fish" (plus it is a scavenger, like catfish) but that earthy flavor creates a lot of opportunity to put a lot of flavor on top of it. That's also helpful when eating healthy because too many healthy recipes are bland. Most spices are low in calories and contain very little of the nutrients you want to limit on a cleaner diet (i.e. sugar, fat and carbs) so a cuisine like many Indian cuisines offer the opportunity to eat flavorful but healthy dishes. This particular tilapia dish brings big earthy spice to the fish at a small caloric price. You could omit the olive oil if you really want but that's your call.

Indian Spiced Tilapia Recipe

Servings: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes

Equipment:

• Mixing bowl
• Kitchen utensils, measuring spoons and cups
• Oven
• Baking pan

Ingredients:

• 4 6oz. tilapia fillets, thawed or fresh
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp tumeric
• 4 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 tsp olive oil
• Cooking spray (optional)

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. In a mixing bowl combine all of the ingredients except the tilapia and cooking spray starting with the cumin and working your way down. Mix into a paste.
3.  Coat each tilapia fillet on both sides with the spice paste, gently rubbing it into the meat.
4. Spray a thin coat of cooking spray on the baking pan to keep the fish from sticking (optional).
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Healthy: Morrocan Preserved Lemons

Lemon preserves are a common ingredient in Moroccan and other nearby Mediterranean/African cuisines. They can be difficult to source and they are certainly expensive to source which can make then unappealing. However, it is virtually impossible to get the flavor right in a chicken tagine or other dish calling for lemon preserves without the proper ingredient. The good news is that it is incredibly easy to make preserved lemons at home.

Preserved lemons are part of a much larger range of fermented, pickled, or salt-preserved ingredients commonly used in old world cuisines ranging from Morocco all the way to India and into far east Asian countries. This type of food preparation harkens back to a pre-refrigeration time when food had to be preserved or used immediately. Now with reliable refrigeration and international transportation it is much easier to obtain fresh ingredients from all over the globe at almost any time of the year. Although fresh foods are great, there are centuries (if not thousands of years) of cuisine built around the unique flavors brought about by preserved foods. They may have lost favor in Europe and America at a time but they are definitely making a come back, at least in America, with our growing embrace of international cuisine.

Preserved lemons are typically associated with chicken tagine and various other tagines but they also work well in salads, pasta dishes and rice dishes where a little tangy citrus can brighten up the dish. Preserved lemons are actually lemon rinds preserved in salt, in which the rind softens and the flavorful oils in the rind produce the flavors of lemon without all of the acidity that comes along with the fruit part of lemons. Typically the lemon preserves are rinsed to remove the excess salt and the fruit is chopped off. The remaining lemon rind may be chopped, cut into strips, or left whole.

Meyer lemons are commonly used for preserved lemons but if Meyer lemons are difficult to source then you can get away with using whatever varieties are available at the grocery store. Meyer lemons are less acidic than other varieties which makes them a good option (at least in the US) for preserving lemons. Common grocery store varieties are more acidic and taste different but if they are all you can find them you will get much closer to an authentic taste preserving these lemons over using non-preserved lemons.

This recipe is very simple and you can scale the recipe up or down for the volume of lemons you want to preserve. You may just want to make one jar if you do not foresee yourself using a lot of these lemons. They will stay good for several months, especially if you keep them in the fridge. Mason jars are typically used for preserving lemons but if you don't have mason jars then any decent food jar will work as long as the glass is decently thick and the opening is large enough to fit in the lemons.

Use a non-iodinized salt in this recipe. Do not use your regular kitchen iodize salt. It tastes different and you will get a weird iodine taste. Kosher/canning salt or sea salt works well.

Moroccan Preserved Lemon Recipe

Serving size: Varies.
Prep time: Depends on the volume of lemons.
Cook time: None.

Equipment:

• Knife and cutting board
• Measuring spoons
• Several mason jars or other suitable jars

 Ingredients:

• Meyer lemons (or other lemons)
• Non-iodine salt (such as Kosher salt)
• Extra lemon juice

Directions:

1. Slice lemons into quarters if the lemons are small or sixths if the lemons are large. Remove the seeds as you can but it is not necessary that you remove all the seeds. You will discard the seeds and the fruit when you use the lemons.
2. Place one lemon in the jar and add one tablespoon of salt to the lemon. If the lemon is particularly large then add an extra 1/2-1 tablespoon of salt. 
3. Repeat step two with the next lemon. Once the lemons in the jar are at a level that you can touch them, start pushing down on the lemons to compact them. You want to squeeze out the juice and compact the lemons as much as possible. Keep squeezing down the lemons to fit as many in one jar as you can. 
4. Once the jar is as full as you can get it with lemons, top up the jar with extra lemon juice so all of the lemon slices are under liquid. If you overfilled the jar then keep trying to compact the lemons or remove a slice or two until they are all under the liquid. 
5. Seal the jar and place in a cool place for 2-3 weeks before use. Repeat this process with all of your lemons until you have used them all. Try to avoid half-full jars if you can. 

When the preserved lemons are ready, remove what you need from the jar with a clean utensil. Do not use your hands. Rinse the lemon under cool water and then cut out the fruit and discard along with any seeds. Use the lemons as appropriate.

The remaining liquid in the jar after you have used all the lemons will be extremely salty but lemony. Most people discard the liquid but you can use it to brine fish or chicken for a lemony taste. You probably want to dilute the liquid to balance out the salt content. 

Healthy: Baked Lamb Meatballs

E-E-E-E-E-Eat Me-e-e-e-e!

Lamb is delicious and one of the best uses for ground lamb is to make a delicious Mediterranean-style lamb meatball. They work well as an appetizer or as your main meal for a healthy, protein-rich meal. You can toss them with some vegetables, serve with a yogurt-based sauce, or use some of that excess osso bucco sauce from this recipe with some spaghetti squash or pasta noodles to create an interesting take on the classic spaghetti. This recipe is reasonably fast and refrigerates well so you can make one batch and feast on it for your protein purposes for several other meals. You can make it less healthy, but with a nicer texture, by frying them in a little oil in a pan. However, baked will still make an excellent lamb meatball.

Healthy Baked Lamb Meatball Recipe

Servings: 12 meatballs
Prep time: 40 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes

Equipment:

• Oven
• Kitchen utensils
• Knife and cutting board
• Baking sheet
• Mixing bowl

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground lamb
• 2-3 scallions
• 1/2 tsp cinnamin
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1 egg
• Cooking spray

Directions:

1. Preheat oven at 375F.
2. Chop scallions.
3. Beat egg in mixing bowl. Add all ingredients except cooking spray to mixing bowl. Mix well until it has a uniform consistency.
4. Refrigerate mixture for 20 minutes.
5. Spray baking sheet surface with cooking spray.
6. Using your hands, roll the mixture into 12 meatballs and place on baking sheet. You may find it easier to take the mixture out of the bowl and cut it in half and keep cutting portions in half until you have 12 equal blobs of meat. Then roll each one into a meatball. It's messy but ensures even size.
7. Bake for 20 minutes in oven. 

Enjoy!

Book Review: "Kimchi: Essential Recipes of the Korean Kitchen"

"Kimchi: Essential Recipes of the Korean Kitchen" by Byung-Hi & Byung-Soon Lim is obviously about Kimchi. Kimchi is a Korean fermented cabbage, sort of like German sauerkraut but spicy. Kimchi is probably the best known component of Korean cuisine in America (if not the only known component for many) and one reason for its acceptance into American cuisine over the past decade or so is because it is versatile and easily substitutes for sauerkraut and other acidic or spicy condiments. Beyond beer and bread, American cuisine largely gave up reliance on fermented foods like Kimchi. We are seeing these foods return to our diet (in thanks partly to the probiotic fad) and thankfully adding interesting flavor options. Admittedly, I do not have wide knowledge of Korean food so when I saw the opportunity to get an advance copy of a book about Korean food I knew that was an opportunity worth snapping up. The advance copy I received is a small part of the book but from what I've seen I expect to purchase the full version once it becomes available.

"Kimchi: Essential Recipes of the Korean Kitchen" is more than a handful of kimchi recipes and a pile of photos to fill space. There are, obviously, many kimchi recipes (roughly a third of the book). After offering many options to make kimchi, the book dives into recipes for using the kimchi in traditional Korean dishes and then rounds out the book with some other Korean recipes so you can put together a meal that isn't kimchi on kimchi. The recipes are brief and easy to follow. The deeper into the book you go, the more the recipes rely on putting together recipes from earlier in the book. That helps strike a good balance between creating authentic flavors and not having to rummage around grocery stores looking for pre-made ingredients or substitutes. There are recipes that use easily found ingredients in American supermarkets, which can be helpful if you do not have Asian grocers in your area. The book encourages the use of authentic Korean chili powder (gochugaru) but encourages you to try other chili powders if you cannot find the authentic ingredients. Perhaps the full book has a recipe for making gochugaru at home but that is something I would like to see.

Overall, "Kimchi: Essential Recipes of the Korean Kitchen" does a great job at presenting a wide variety of recipes in a very approachable manner. I do not feel like I need to go buy half an Asian grocer's supply to cook dishes but I do feel like I should find a handful of traditional ingredients to obtain more authentic flavors. I am generally a fan of using authentic ingredients but it is not always easy to find particular types of vegetables so having some recipes that use available vegetables helps add a lot of value to the book. The book is a good entry point into Korean cooking but the recipes seem solid enough that you could use them well beyond just learning the basics. Good stuff.

MAC Knife HB-70 7 1.4" Chef Knife Review

When I moved out on my own after college I bought one of those knife blocks from walmart that had a bunch of plastic-handled knives of poor quality. Honestly, I am surprised I never injured myself. When I moved in with my wife (then girlfriend) she had a nicer block of knives, which greatly improved cutting. It's a Henckels International set with the "eversharp" chef knife with the small serrations on the sides of the blade so it supposedly never has to be sharpened. Except, it's just not that sharp to begin with. Sure, it's sharper than the chef's knife in my old walmart set but it's by no means sharp. A sharp knife is actually safer to use than a dull blade. It can be more dangerous when you cut yourself but a dull blade is more likely to slide or skip and you need more pressure to slice with that dull blade. A truly sharp knife with good balance will cut easily through almost anything with very little pressure. That means if you do accidentally cut yourself you are less likely to do serious damage.

I went on the hunt for a good home-quality chef's knife with a durable blade, good balance and a reasonable price. My wife told me I could spend as I needed to make sure I kept cooking good food for her. I figured the under $100 market would yield a good knife. The knife I chose is the MAC Knife HB-70 7 1/4" Chef Knife. I bought it on Amazon for around $60. (This review is not solicited.) It's a little shorter than most knives and slightly less expensive than other options I considered but it was the knife in my price range that seemed to have the best reviews.

One review I read described the knife perfectly. To paraphrase, the review analogized to what they say about a camel: it is a horse designed by committee. It's like a committee got together and compromised on a bunch of things they wanted in the horse and then you end up with this weird looking animal. Likewise, this knife looks like it was designed by committee. The handle is fit for a much larger knife and the blade is a mixture of the Japanese santoku design (with a stubby point and flat blade) and the classic western design (with a sharp point and rounded blade). It is meant to split the difference between the two styles while allowing the benefits of both.

The MAC Knife HB-70 is actually billed as a utility knife by MAC, presumably due to the length and the design. I was concerned that I would miss the longer blade of an 8" or 10" chef knife but I really don't. I feel like the blade length is a good fit for my purposes and I can maintain control on finer cuts. I don't have a huge cutting board so it's a good size for my use. If I worked in a professional kitchen where I spent hours with a knife then I would probably want something bigger. For my home use, it's pretty much perfect by size. The blade is slightly curved, which allows the rocking-type chopping and it is thinner than most chef's knives, so it can make fine cuts where one would normally need to use a pairing knife or fillet knife.

The MAC Knife is well balanced with a sturdy handle. Knife balance is an important aspect in leveraging the blade sharpness over physical force, which helps make fine cuts and have those fine cuts not include blood. The knife has some heft to it for its size, which also helps. The handle is pakka wood, which is a hardwood composite that has the feel of a wood blade but without the sanitation fears. The handle is nicely contoured and allows either a traditional grip or pinch grip without fear of slipping into the blade.

What I might say I like best about the knife is that the hybrid design, blade sharpness and ease of control has allowed me to use fewer knives in my cooking. I used to use my fillet knife and pairing knife along with the chef knife to chop different herbs and vegetables because the chef's knife has too thick of a blade to make fine cuts. The MAC Knife makes all those cuts comfortably so it's much easier keeping track of one sharp object in my workspace than two or three.

Overall, an excellent purchase that I look forward to using for years to come. I would recommend it for any home cook looking for a versatile knife to cut both vegetables/fruit and meat. It is not the huge, crazy chef's knife that many people pursue but at it's price point it is easily among the most popular and well-regarded knives.

Not Healthy: Barley Risotto with Tomato and Eggplant

Risotto is pretty much the most awesome way to eat rice and not just because it's loaded with cheese and delicious stock. Although risotto is typically made with a short grain white rice varietal like arborio, it can be made with almost any grain with a high volume of water soluble starches. You need the water soluble starches because they help make the rice sticky and is an important part in the creamy sauce. As a homebrewer, I know that brewing grains are also selected for their water soluble starch properties so when I read a little about barley-based risotto I was intrigued and went on the hunt for a barley risotto recipe. I looked at several recipes and settled on this Cooking Light recipe as a base. It smacks of a fall harvest-type dish which would pair perfectly with all sorts of hearty meats or even a simple herb stuffed chicken (recipe will be posted later). I changed the recipe in certain ways but feel free to look at the original recipe for further inspiration.

Risotto is heavily technique driven but it is also about the quality of the ingredients. One place that I see almost all recipes miss this key aspect is in the stock. Most recipes call for basic, canned chicken stock. I think this is a huge missed opportunity to drive extra flavor into the dish. Risotto can be made with virtually any stock although obviously some flavor combinations work better than others. Stock is easy to make and freezes with no effort so it is very easy to build a library of stocks in your freezer for risottos, soups and so forth. When I first made this dish I used a combination of chicken stock and a vegetable stock I made with corn yarn, parsley and a little celery (plus seasoning). Basically it was just a bunch of vegetable leftovers from cooking other stuff. You can use canned stock in this recipe but I find it more complex and interesting with a homemade stock with unique flavors.

The barley risotto should have a little more bite to it than a rice-based risotto but it should not feel raw or crunchy. If you feel it is undercooked after you have added all of your stock then continue adding water and cooking until you are happy with the texture of the barley. Getting the right consistency in a risotto is a challenge and something you will develop with experience.

Barley Risotto with Tomato and Eggplant Recipe

Details:

Servings: 4-6 depending on serving size.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 40-60 minutes

Equipment:

• Stove and oven
• Two medium saucepans (at least one with a lid)
• Small skillet
• Baking sheet
• Knife and cutting board
• Kitchen utensils, measuring cups and spoons
• Large mixing bowl

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Aubergine eggplant
• 10 oz. cherry tomatoes
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 1 white onion
• 1 cup pearl barley
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 ounces soft goat cheese
• 1/4 cup fresh basil
• 1/4 cup pine nuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2.  Dice eggplant and halve tomatoes. 
3. Combine eggplant, tomatoes, 2 tbsp olive oil and 1/4 tsp pepper in a large mixing bowl and mix well.
4. Spread vegetables on a single layer on baking sheet. Bake at 400F for 20-30 minutes until tomatoes begin to collapse. Remove and set aside.
5. Bring both stocks and 2 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to simmer.
6. Dice onion while waiting for the stock to boil.
7. Heat remaining tbsp of olive oil in other saucepan over medium heat. Once oil is hot add the onion and saute until the onions begin to brown (approximately 6 minutes). 
8. Reduce heat to medium. Stir in barley and garlic and cook 1 minute.
9. Add wine and stir in, cooking for 1 minute.
10. Add 1 cup of stock and mix well. Allow to come to a boil. Stir occasionally to avoid the barley sticking to the bottom. As the stock cooks down (which will take approximately 5 minutes), repeat this step until the stock is all gone. Do not let the barley dry out. Add another cup of stock once you are down to 15-20% of the stock remaining. 
11. Once you have added the first cup of stock, heat the skillet over medium-high heat.
12. Once the skillet is hot, add the pine nuts and toast to a light brown, stirring frequently. Do not burn. Once heated, set aside.
13. While the risotto is cooking, slice basil in into fine strips. 
14. Once all of the stock is cooked in, test the barley texture. It should still have bite but be soft and somewhat rice-like. If not, add another 1/2 cup of water and continue to cook. Once you are happy with the texture take the saucepan off the burner and turn off the burner. 
15. Add salt, 1/4 tsp pepper and goat cheese and mix until the cheese is dissolved. It does not need to melt entirely.
16. Add as much of the eggplant and tomato as you want. Stir in gently to not tear up the eggplant. Add the pine nuts.
17. Return to the burner that is still warm but turned off. (If you use a gas range you may need to turn the flame on low.) Stir gently and add the basil. Let it sit for 1-2 minutes or until the cheese has fully melted. Stir to mix thoroughly and serve.

Not Healthy: Lamb Osso Bucco

Lamb osso bucco is awesome. Although osso bucco is typically made with veal, I'm not a veal eater for ethical reasons. I also prefer the taste of lamb so it's a win/win to make the dish this way. Osso bucco means "bone with hole" because it is a crosscut that exposes the marrow and allows some of that delicious buttery flavor to stew into the dish. It can be difficult to find lamb shanks cut this way although you may be able to convince your grocery store butcher to cut the lamb shanks this way. I have had good luck using lamb loin chops, which do not expose marrow and does not have a lot of meat to it but they are easier to find in my area and produce great osso bucco(-ish).

This recipe takes a lot of work and it avoids using canned tomato products, which I generally dislike because they add greater acidity and less flavor. So this recipe will take longer than most while you boil down the tomatoes. As I have mentioned on other recipes, I am not a fan of removing the skins from my tomato-based sauces because I believe the skins give the sauce a rustic texture and provides greater flavor. If you prefer, you can blanch the tomatoes and peel them. Alternatively, if you want to use canned products, use one 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes and 1/4 cup of tomato paste and pick up the recipe after the tomatoes go into the saucepan to simmer.

A dutch oven is the easiest way to cook this dish but if you do not have a large dutch oven I would suggest using a skillet to brown the lamb and vegetables and then pick your best option for the oven. You want something that will keep all the ingredients together so they stay moist and cook slow, rather than drying out quickly. If you have a 1.5 quart stockpot with a lid that is safe in the oven up to 350F (check with the manufacturer first!) then that will be 95% as good as the dutch oven and the closest substitute. If not, try to pick a baking dish (I would go with glass if you can) that will keep the ingredients together as much as possible and cover it with a layer or two of foil.

My favorite way of serving this dish is with cheesy polenta with cheddar or gruyere. (I will post a recipe for it later.) I like to place the serving of polenta in the bottom of the bowl, then place the lamb on top and pour the sauce around it and top with the gremolata.


This recipe serves eight but it takes a long time to put together so I am happy to have leftovers or even freeze extra servings. Feel free to cut down the ingredients although it won't change much about the cooking time. The major change will be a shorter cook time on the tomatoes as there is less liquid to cook out. If you find you have an excess amount of sauce after you eat all the lamb then consider freezing it as an alternative pasta sauce or pizza sauce (you may need to further boil it down for a thicker consistency). It is delicious with lamb meatballs and pasta. Also consider making a lamb stock with the leftover bones.

Lamb Osso Bucco Recipe

Details:

Servings: 8
Prep time: 20 minutes (You will prep several other steps while you are cooking.)
Cook time: 4 hours

Equipment:

• Stove
• Oven
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Kitchen utensils
• Knife and cutting board
• 1-2 quart saucepan
• Large dutch oven
• Fine tooth grater or microplane
• Food processor or blender
• Foil
• Large plate

Ingredients:

• 8 lb. lamb shanks
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• 12 cloves of garlic
• 4 medium onions
• 4 medium carrots
• 3 celery ribs
• 2 cups red wine
• 2.5 lb. tomatoes 
• 3 cups lamb stock or chicken stock
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 tsp thyme
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1 large bunch parsley
• 2 lemons

Directions:

1. Chop tomatoes, removing core.
2. Heat saucepan over medium heat with 1 tbsp olive oil. Add tomatoes.
3. Simmer tomatoes for 30-60 minutes until it has a consistency slightly thicker than canned crushed tomatoes. Stir occasionally.
4. While tomatoes are simmering, dice onions, carrots and celery. Mince 10 garlic cloves.
5. With approximately 15 minutes left on the tomatoes, preheat oven to 350F.
6. Heat dutch oven on stove over medium heat with 1/4 cup olive oil.
7. Once the olive oil is heated, place half the lamb in the dutch oven and season lightly with salt and pepper. Brown lamb on all sides. Remove and set aside.
8. Add the remaining olive oil and repeat step 7. 
9. Once all the lamb is browned and removed from the dutch oven, add the garlic, onions, carrots and celery to the dutch oven and cook until the onions are soft.
10. Add the wine to the dutch oven to deglaze the dutch oven and gently scrape the bottom to loosen the pan drippings.
11. Cook for 3 minutes.
12. Take the dutch oven off the heat. Add the tomatoes, stock, bay leaf, thyme and oregano and mix well.
13. Return lamb and submerge into the sauce.
14. Bake the lamb, with the lid on, for 2.5-3 hours until the lamb is tender.
15. While the lamb is baking, prepare the gremolata in the following three steps.
16. Remove the parsley leaves to make one cup of loosely packed parsley leaves. Chop parsley to fine chop.
17. Use fine tooth grater to grate remaining two garlic cloves. 
18. Use same grater to zest lemons. Mix lemon zest, garlic and parsley. Set aside in the fridge.
19. Once the osso bucco is finished baking, remove the lamb carefully from the dutch oven and set aside on a large plate and cover with foil. 
20. Add the contents of the dutch oven to the food processor or blender and puree. You may have to work in shifts and blend it back together in the dutch oven. Season with salt and pepper if preferred.
21. When ready to serve, place the lamb on the plate or bowl and cover with sauce. Sprinkle gremolata on top and serve.

Healthy: Bruschetta with Tomato and Basil

Bruschetta is an Italian appetizer that focuses on letting fresh ingredients be fresh ingredients and deliver a big punch of flavor. It's simple to make and should not be over-thought or made overly complex by shoving in other ingredients. It's just tomato, balsamic vinegar, garlic and basil (ok, and a little salt and pepper) served on toast that has been brushed with olive oil and garlic. It should be light and flavorful by using a handful of fresh ingredients. It's a great option for a summer harvest of tomatoes, especially if you can find heirloom varieties that pack a bigger punch than the bland tomatoes you find at supermarkets. Some people opt to include cheese, olives and so forth but I do not find these additions necessary if quality ingredients are used.

You typically find bruschetta recipes calling for roma tomatoes (or plum tomatoes, of which roma is a variety) but I tend to opt for beefsteak-type tomatoes (aka slicing tomatoes or slicer tomatoes) that have less liquid and a meatier texture so the tomato doesn't turn to mush quite as easily.  Avoid any tomato that is too juicy because you'll get a cold tomato stew rather than a bruschetta that you can pile on a piece of toast. As I said, I really prefer heirloom varieties that pack a big punch but their availability depends upon the content of your home garden plus whatever you can find at local farmer's markets. Sometimes the supermarkets carry a beefsteak variety or two during the late summer when the tomato harvest occurs.

White garlic is universal in grocery stores but there are interesting heirloom garlic varieties if you can find them (or grow them). I do recommend using fresh garlic and mincing it rather than using the jar stuff or worse, garlic powder. I don't mind using the pre-minced stuff out of the jar for some purposes but I find it doesn't work as well in dishes with less cook time.

Sweet basil (aka Italian basil) is the go-to basil in an Italian dish but do not be afraid to go with a different variety. Sweet basil can be fickle to grow while other bush varieties are incredibly easy to grow. I grow Thai basil and find it works well 90% of the time in Italian food. It has a bolder licorice/anise flavor to it which adds a nice punch to the bruschetta.

Balsamic vinegar. There are basically three types of balsamic vinegar: (1) the traditional and extremely expensive stuff; (2) the commercial grade less expensive stuff; and (3) completely fake stuff that is dirt cheap. Balsamic vinegar is made from pressed grape juice from Trebbiano grapes and then aged in barrels of different types of wood. The traditional and very expensive stuff is aged in a sequence of barrels for at least twelve years. Commercial grade balsamic is sold as "aceto balsamico di Modeno" or "balsamic vinegar from Modena". It is also made from Trebbiano grapes but it is not aged as long and typically is not aged in a sequence of different types of wood. The fake stuff is red wine vinegar with caramel coloring and sugar added to taste kind of like balsamic vinegar. Spend $10 and spring for the commercial grade stuff.

Bruschetta is typically served on toast brushed with olive oil and garlic and that is a tasty way to eat it. However, if you want to avoid some of the carbs you can enjoy it with lettuce or as a condiment on eggs, salads and so forth. Don't feel trapped into eating all the carbs.

Typically recipes call for removing the skin from the tomato and squeezing out the seeds and juice. I prefer to omit these steps. I try to use less juicy tomatoes where there is no need to squeeze and destroy the structure of the tomato and I think the skin adds texture and flavor. If you want you can quickly blanch the tomatoes and peel the skin.

Bruschetta with Tomato and Basil Recipe

Details:

Servings: Enough to serve with 24 slices of a baguette
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes

Equipment:

• Oven
• Sauce pan
• Mixing bowl
• Kitchen utensils, measuring cups and spoons
• Knife and cutting board
• Pastry brush (optional)
• Baking sheet

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lb. tomatoes
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 6-8 fresh leaves of Italian basil (or a comparable amount of Thai basil)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 baguette French bread or Italian bread
• 1/4 cup olive oil for bread (optional)

Directions:

1. Remove the core of the tomatoes and chop the remaining fruit into small cubes.
2. Preheat the oven to 450F. 
3. Mince 2 of the garlic cloves and mix with the tomatoes, 1 tbsp olive oil and balsamic vinegar in a mixing bowl.
4. Chop the basil into thin slices.
5. Add the basil, salt and pepper to the mixing bowl. Mix well and taste. If necessary, add more salt and/or pepper.
6. Cut remaining garlic cloves in half.
7. Slice bread into half-inch thick slices. Rub one of the garlic cloves with the cut side of the clove on each slice. Give it a good coating of garlic. As the garlic wears down move on to another clove. 
8. In addition to or instead of the last step, brush a thin coat of olive oil on the side of each slice where you rubbed the garlic.
9. Place the slices olive oil/garlic side down on a baking sheet. 
10. Toast bread in oven on the top rack for 5-6 minutes until lightly browned on the edges.
11. Serve bread on plate with bowl of bruschetta.

Bruschetta will stay good in the fridge for several days. You may find an increasing amount of liquid pooled in the bottom of the container. You can drain and discard or drink as a nice light tomato juice.

Not Healthy: Banana Bread Beer Banana Bread Recipe

You might have needed a few passes to get through that title. It is a banana bread made with banana bread-flavored beer. So it's basically bread made with beer that tastes like the bread it is making. The beer used for this particular recipe is Well's Banana Bread Beer, which tastes pretty much identical to what banana bread would taste like in liquid form. It is a fairly sweet beer, which makes it too sweet for my drinking preferences but it makes an excellent, moist, super banana-y bread. So while regular banana bread can be a semi-healthy, this banana bread recipe is less healthy. However, it will really impress banana bread fans.

This recipe will work as one large loaf or multiple smaller loafs. The smaller the loaf the quicker it will bake so adjust baking time accordingly.

Banana Bread Beer Banana Bread Recipe

Details:

Serves: Lots.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 40-50 minutes
Cooling time: 20 minutes

Equipment:

• Oven
• Kitchen utensils, mixing bowls, measuring spoons and cups
• Bread pan(s)
• Cooling rack (optional)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 12 oz. bottle of Wells Banana Bread Beer (or one 500ml bottle and drink 4 oz.)
• 3 ripe bananas
• 4 tbsp butter
• Cooking spray (or extra butter to grease pans)
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Apply cooking spray (or butter) to bread pan(s) to grease the inside.
3. Melt butter in microwave, approximately 30 seconds.
4. Coarsely chop walnuts if not purchased pre-chopped. 
5. In large mixing bowl, mix flour, walnuts, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
6. In another medium or large mixing bowl, mash bananas to smooth consistency. Add vanilla, half of the melted butter and all of the beer. 
7. Combine contents of both bowls into the largest bowl. Stir until combined to an even texture and wetness. The banana may break up but not meld smoothly. This is ok. Avoid over-working the dough to prevent activating gluten.
8. Spoon dough into bread pan(s). Ideally you want the top of the dough just below the top of the bread pan(s).
9. Bake 40-50 minutes. Check at 40 minutes by sticking middle of loaf with toothpick or knife. If it comes out clean, it is done. If not, continue to bake 5 minutes and recheck. Continue to bake and recheck every five minutes until done.
10. Once baking is complete, remove from oven and transfer loaf from the bread pan to a cooling rack (or at least a cool surface). Cool 20 minutes. Slice and serve.

Options:

I don't think the recipe requires chocolate, which is sometimes found in banana bread, but if you want to add chocolate chips then 1/2 cup will get you a nice chocolate flavor without overwhelming the banana.

You can try other beers for different flavors but they won't give you as much banana flavor. Brown ales, bocks, porters and dunkelweizens would be interesting substitutions. Avoid anything too hoppy as cooking down the bittering compounds can make an intensely bitter food.

Not Healthy: Plum and Almond Tart Recipe

Tarts are fun English desserts on the healthier side of desserts with a focus on sweet fruit flavors rather than heavy cream or loads of sugar. Make no mistake, this dessert is sweet but it is nicely balanced by the fruit acidity and uses far less sugar than most other baked treats. You can serve a tart with ice cream or creme fraiche but it's perfectly good on its own and you can save some calories that way. Plum and almond is a solid flavor combination for English desserts and this recipe presents the sweet stonefruit and almond flavors in multiple ways to create a complex dessert out of a simple process.

This recipe calls for halving the plums so you get big pockets of plum full of delicious juice but you can also cut the plum into slices and spread them out for a more even plum distribution.

Plum and Almond Tart Recipe

Details:

Serves: 6-8
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes

Equipment:

• Oven
• Kitchen utensils
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Rolling pin
• Mixing bowls
• Large baking sheet
• Foil

Ingredients:

• 1 packet pre-made puff pastry 
• Icing sugar (can use regular sugar)
• 9 oz marzipan
• 1 1/2 lb large ripe plums, halved and stoned
• 2 tbsp brandy
• 1/2 tsp almond essence
• 1 oz brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 oz butter, cut into small pieces
• Cooking spray

Directions:

1. Halve the plums.
2. Preheat the oven to 375F.
3. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray.
4. Roll out the puff pastry into a large rectangle. Prick the puff pastry all over with a fork. Using a sharp knife, score a line one inch from the border on all sides. Do not cut all the way through the pastry, just score about halfway through. This will help create a border for the tart. Transfer pastry to baking sheet.
5. Dust the work surface with a light dusting of icing sugar. Roll out the marzipan into a thin sheet and lay it on the pastry. The layer should be thin enough that it covers all or almost all of the pastry inside the scored border. 
6. Cover the marzipan with the plums, cut side down.
7. Mix the brandy and almond essence in a bowl. Drizzle this mixture over the plums. 
8. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and sprinkle over the plums.
9. Cut the butter into small pieces and place on top of plums. 
10. Bake for 40 minutes. Check approximately 25 minutes into bake. If the border is getting too brown, place strips of foil on the border for the remainder of the time in the oven.
11. Serve warm.

Not Healthy: Molten Lava Cake

Molten lava cakes (sometimes called molten chocolate cakes) are popular dessert options at restaurants for good reason: they are delicious. However, they are an incredibly easy dessert to make at home. It is perhaps one of the easiest desserts to make because it's just a half-cooked flourless chocolate cake. Seriously. You are shooting for an undercooked cake. This recipe comes from the man who popularized the dessert in the US (and claims to have invented it).

These cakes are easily made with the use of one cup ramekins but if you don't have any at your disposal then you can try to do this with basic coffee cups although I am not sure they will come out of the coffee cups in one piece like they will in a ramekin.

You want to use a double boiler to melt the chocolate. You can make a double boiler by partially filling a medium saucepan with water and bringing it to a boil with a smaller saucepan floating in the water. You put the chocolate in the smaller saucepan (make sure the water does not pour in) so you can heat the chocolate without applying direct heat. If you have a metal mixing bowl or saucepan that fits on top of the saucepan with water then you can also put the vessel holding the chocolate on top.

Molten Lava Cake Recipe

Details:

Servings: 4
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 12 minutes

Equipment:

• Oven
• Mixing bowl
• Kitchen utensils
• Measuring cups and spoons
• 4 one cup ramekins
• Whisk
• Double boiler
• Baking sheet
• Mixer (optional)

Ingredients:

• 4 oz unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp butter
• 6 oz bittersweet chocolate
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450F. 
2. Use 1 tbsp butter to apply a thin coat of butter to the interior of the ramekins. Set ramekins on baking sheet.
3. Bring water to boil in double boiler and melt chocolate with unsalted butter.
4. In a mixing bowl mix the sugar, eggs, egg yolks and salt until thick.
5. Whisk the chocolate until smooth and butter is fully mixed. Fold in the egg mixture--it does not have to be fully mixed. 
6. Spoon the mixture in equal amounts into the ramekins. Gently tap the ramekins on the baking sheet to even the batter.
7. Bake for 12 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and let stand for 1 minute.
9. Place a plate upside down on the ramekin and flip the plate and ramekin over (use oven mitts!) so the cake will slide out and sit upside down.
10. Let ramekin sit for 10-15 seconds and then carefully pull up to release cake.
11. Serve immediately

Options: molten lava cake is often serves with a thin dusting of powdered sugar and vanilla ice cream but you can also experiment with drizzling with various sauces like chocolate sauce, raspberry sauce, caramel sauce and so on. You can also incorporate other flavors into the cake like coffee, orange, raspberry, mint, cherry and so on.

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Healthy: Spicy Cauliflower (Indian)

One thing I really enjoy about Indian food is the ability to transform seeming boring ingredients into vibrant dishes without requiring frying or heavy amounts of salt that one might find in American or European cuisine. Turning vegetables into spicy dishes seems to be a popular technique among Indian cuisine. Of course, not everybody necessarily enjoys the flavor combinations and this particular dish is one my wife strongly dislikes. It is a nice side dish and works as a filing for various wraps or mixed with rice or dal (lentil) it can become a main course. This recipe is simple and relies upon a handful of spices. There are more complex versions of this recipe floating around but they usually produce something with more liquid and I like that this is a drier dish as it improves the versatility.

Spicy Cauliflower/Spicy Gobi Recipe

Details:

Serving: 4-6
Prep time: 40 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes

Equipment Needed:

• Cutting board and knife
• Oven and stove
• Large pot
• Baking sheet
• Measuring spoons and cups
• Kitchen utensils
• Large mixing bowl

Ingredients:

• 1 large cauliflower head
• 1-2 tbsp oil
• Lime juice (optional)
• Cilantro, loosely chopped (optional)
• 1 tbsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1/2 tsp tumeric
• 1 tsp garam masala (may need more, optionally)
• 1 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves
• 1/2 tsp dried ginger powder
• 1 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Boil enough water in pot that it will completely cover the cauliflower.
2. Chop Cauliflower head into quarters and add to boiling water. Add salt and tumeric.
3. Boil for five minutes.
4. Drain water and transfer cauliflower to mixing bowl. Break up the florets into smaller pieces. Use knife to chop if necessary.
5. Add oil and remaining spices from coriander powder to dried ginger powder. Mix well to coat cauliflower. May add more garam masala to taste if you want.
6. Let marinade for 30 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn on oven to preheat to 350F.
7. Arrange cauliflower on baking sheet so there is a single layer of cauliflower. 
8.  Bake for 10 minutes. Remove, turn cauliflower and bake for another 10 minutes.
9. Once done, drizzle with lime juice and serve with cilantro.

Not Healthy: Cherry Kuchen

Kuchen is German for "cake" but like many German words it has multiple meanings and the specific meaning must be derived from its context. It has translated into the American lexicon, particularly in areas of significant German settlement, to mean a coffee cake. It often appears with a strussel topping and there are multiple variants (if you don't believe me, look around the internet). Variants range from creamy, sweet pie-like variants with a custard filling to recipes with more of a firm cake-like texture. This recipe is a yeast-raised cake with a firmer texture. There is a basic strussel topping in the recipe that you can omit if you want or replace with a more involved and complex strussel. You can also sub out the canned fruit for fresh fruit or other canned fruit. Be careful about not using canned pie filling as this will add a lot of sugar to the cake and make it too sweet. This recipe will take some time to put together because it relies on the yeast to raise the dough so it works as a good brunch recipe or you can make it the day before you plan on serving it. It will last a few days.

Cherry Kuchen Recipe

Details:

Servings: 6-9
Prep time: 35 minutes
Cook time: 20-25 minutes

Equipment:

• Oven
• Measuring spoons and cups
• 9x9 glass or metal baking dish (glass preferred)
• Fork
• Hands
• Mixing bowls

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 3/8 cup of water
• 1 package dry yeast
• 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/8 cup butter
• 1 can pitted tart cherries, drained
•  1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

1. Beat egg. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Add water and yeast to beaten egg and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, blend 2 cups flour, salt, 1 tbsp sugar and 1/4 cup butter with a fork or pastry blender.
4. In a large bowl, add flour mix from last step and yeast mix from second step. Knead until smooth. Form into a dough ball and let sit for twenty minutes.
5. Once risen, roll the dough out in your 9x9 baking dish. Work the dough up the sides of the dish.
6. Pour cherries on dough so there is an even layer.
7. In a mixing bowl, mix the remaining 3/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/8 cup butter together. It will form a clumpy mix. Break this up into small pieces with a fork or knife and sprinkle over the cherries.
8. Bake 20-25 minutes until topping turns golden.

Healthy: Roasted Green Beans

Growing up green beans were these terrible canned green sticks my parents dumped on my dinner plate that tasted like metal. It took me a long time to get over the taste of those canned green beans before I could enjoy them again. Even now, I sometimes hesitate to eat green beans out of a fear that they will conjure up that terrible flavor. However, this recipe is an easy, healthy way to transform green beans into a delicious side dish that is very difficult to screw up. It's not quite as low calorie as steaming vegetables but on the other hand you aren't leaching out the vitamins like you do when you steam or boil vegetables. You can add other herbs or spices as you desire. I like to keep it simple but feel free to mix it up. You can use any kind of green beans. I particularly like french spring beans.

Roasted Green Beans Recipe

Details:

Serving size: 4
Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Cook time: 12-15 minutes

Equipment:

• Oven
• Cooking sheet
• Measuring spoons
• Kitchen utensils
• Knife (optional)
• Large mixing bowl

 Ingredients:

• 1 lb. green beans
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil (or grape seed oil)
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Cooking spray (or extra oil)

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 425F. 

• Remove the tips of the green beans, if appropriate for the type of green beans you purchased.

• Put green beans in mixing bowl and mix with olive oil. Add salt and black pepper and continue to mix until green beans are thoroughly covered. If you do not have a light coat on all beans, add olive until covered.

• Optional: spray cooking sheet with cooking spray or apply a thin coat of oil to cooking sheet. Will help prevent sticking.

• Spread green beans out on cooking sheet.

• When oven is at 425F, add green beans and bake for 6 minutes. Remove green beans, stir and spread back out. Return to oven for 6-9 minutes until roasted.

Here is a more involved recipe that includes a sauce and some other ingredients: http://cafejohnsonia.com/2012/04/pan-roasted-green-beans-with-roasted-red-pepper-sauce.html. 

Healthy: Hatch Chile Pork Stew (Chile Verde)

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com

Hatch chile "season" in Texas is August, which coincides with the harvest of these long, green chiles from Hatch, New Mexico. Hatch chiles are a common ingredient/condiment in New Mexico but we go hog wild for them each August here in Texas. You can find them in all sorts of dishes for about a month and then it's pretty hard to find them any other time of the year. They are found fresh and roasted (and in rare cases roasted and then dried like guajillo peppers). You can often find them in hot and mild varieties. Hatch chiles are related to Anaheim although they are meatier with a more robust flavor. In my opinion, they are somewhere between Anaheim and Poblano.

I grow hatch chiles in my backyard so I get to enjoy them all summer and into the fall. In spite of my luck growing them, I still stock up in August when they flood the stores so I can go nuts with them. I shove those chiles into everything from scrambled eggs to ceviche. One of my favorite ways to enjoy hatch chile is in a stewed preparation of either a stew or chili. Hatch chile stew is an iconic New Mexican dish for an excellent reason. It is delicious. This particular recipe is for hatch chile pork stew and the basis for the recipe comes from an old Central Market recipe. The recipe is simple and reasonably healthy. It will freeze well so you can enjoy it throughout the year. I'll drop a few suggestions for the recipe before getting right to it:

• This recipe called for roasted hatch chiles. If you can only find them fresh then you can roast them in your oven. You lose that hint of smoke you get from hatch chiles roasted over a fire but I do this with my own chiles and I promise it will still be delicious. Just throw them under the broiler on a cooking sheet for seven or so minutes until the skin is charred.

• If you cannot find hatch chiles then you can still make a green chile stew but I don't think you'll get the right flavor by substituting something else. Even Anaheim, in my opinion, taste too different and lack the depth of flavor to get it right. There are canned hatch chiles out there that will work fine. Otherwise, if you live somewhere that hatch chiles are available after the harvest then I suggest stocking up and freezing them.

• Many hatch chile stews call for tomatillo although this recipe does not. If you want to use some tomatillo for flavor or sweetness then they will work in this recipe. I'd suggest roasting them in the oven as well but that is optional. I'd substitute some of the tomato for tomatillo if you want to add tomatillo.

• The heat level on this dish is medium. It's not going to make your mouth en fuego (in my opinion) but if you make it and find the dish is too spicy then you can mix in some sugar to try to balance it out. Or learn to love the heat.

• My preferred pork choice is pork sirloin tip roast but pork butt is the typical cut for this dish. I like a healthy cut and I can find the sirloin tip roast at Costco for a good price so that's what I use. It doesn't pull apart like pork butt but it's leaner. Feel free to substitute my choice for whatever you like. A fattier cut will make the dish less healthy but help balance the heat if that is a concern for you. 

Hatch Chile Pork Stew (Chile Verde)

Details:

Serves 6-8
Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Cook time: Approximately 1 hour 45 minutes

Equipment: 

• Cooking sheet (if roasting chiles)
• Knife and cutting board
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Dutch oven or large stock pot
• Kitchen utensils

Ingredients:

• 2lb. pork sirloin tip roast, cubed into 1" cubes (does not have to be exact)
• 2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 1/2 cups tomato, chopped
• 2 cups roasted hatch chiles, peeled and chopped (leave whole to roast, then peel and chop)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 Russet potatoes cubed into 1" cubes

Recipe steps:

1. If chiles are not pre-roasted then roast in oven under broiler for seven minutes or until skin is well-charred.
2. Prepare vegetables and meat.
3. Heat olive oil over medium heat.
4. Add pork and brown pork on all sides.
5. Add onion and garlic and saute 3-4 minutes.
6. Add flour and mix thoroughly, cooking for an additional 1-2 minutes until thoroughly mixed. Liquid should have thickened.
7. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, chiles and sugar. Mix well.
8. Stir in potatoes and add broth. Mix well. 
9. Reduce heat to medium-low to simmer. Cover and simmer for 1.5 hours.

Healthy: Braised Endives

Braising is a common technique for making bitter greens like Belgian endive less bitter and more rich, creating a complex vegetable dish out of just a few ingredients. It's hard to screw up, which makes it a safe bet for people trying to create a nice meal without a massive array of ingredients or difficult techniques. Braising endives is no exception.

This recipe is simple and reasonably healthy. You can take this simple base recipe and make it richer (and in turn less healthy) by substituting chicken stock, duck stock, or white wine instead of water. You can also add herbs like thyme or tarragon to make it more interesting. Many recipes floating around the internet call for a lot more butter than this. Personally I find too much fat washes out the flavor and destroys the balance of bitterness from the endive so if I want a richer dish I will opt for using white wine rather than more fat.

Braised endive works well as a side dish with both poultry and fish. It is probably most common with fish but you can serve it successfully with chicken, duck, or Cornish hen. French, Belgian, Dutch and English poultry or fish dishes can work with braised endive. It also pairs nicely on a plate with squash, potato and other earthy-tasting vegetables.

Braised Endive Recipe

Details:

Serving: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes

Equipment:

• Dutch oven, frying pan (with lid), medium-sized pot (with lid), or saute pan (with lid)
• Kitchen utensils
• Measuring spoons and bowls
• Knife and cutting board
• Stove

Ingredients:

• 10-12 Belgian endive
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup water (or stock or white wine)

Recipe steps:

1. Cut the endives in half. Then remove the hard base of each endive, trying to leave the rest of the endive intact. 
2. Melt the butter in your chosen cooking vessel over medium heat
3. When the butter is melted, lay the endives in a single layer in the butter. 
4. Sprinkle the lemon juice over the endives. Then sprinkle the salt over them.
5. Gently pour the water down the side of the cooking vessel so you don't wash off the salt or juice.
6. Reduce heat to low and place the lid on the cooking vessel. 
7. Braise (cook) for thirty minutes.
8. The endives should be tender. Remove the lid and turn the heat up to medium.
9. Let the liquid evaporate and the endives will start to brown. Turn endives until all sides have browned.
10. Remove and serve.

Not Healthy: Cheese Souffle

Souffle is a dish that strikes fear into the hearts and minds of home cooks everywhere. It's used on cooking shows like Masterchef as a high-stakes test for good reason. It takes many simple ingredients and transforms it into something magical purely by technique. It is 100% a test of your technique that thrives or dies in the oven. It should rise like an ominous force and then bake over into a nice browned crust. The true test of a well-made souffle is not how light it is but how long it stands erect.

Because it is a technique-heavy dish, you can expect your first few to come out imperfect but still delicious. I can almost guarantee whatever comes out of your oven will be something you will want to eat. You will improve as you get the timing down to move from step to step. I will help shorten your learning curve by giving you plenty of helpful tips to transform a very simple recipe into something very elegant.

Souffle is not as complex or difficult as you might imagine. It is just egg whites mixed with a sauce. Seriously. That's it. The problem is that you have to get a lot of basic ingredients right to make the sauce and egg whites rise and stand tall. But you can do it. A cheese souffle begins life as bechamel sauce. Then cheese is added to form cheese sauce. Then egg whites are added and it is baked. You are really dealing with those basic steps although each has its own component steps. However, by thinking about these few steps you allow yourself to keep the process more manageable. When you become comfortable with the basic steps and recipe then you can start to challenge yourself by adding extra steps, such as making a more complex bechamel or adding herbs and spices to the cheese sauce. This recipe will make an excellent dish without getting too complicated.

In addition to adding herbs and spices to the recipe to make it a unique and complex souffle, you can also change up the cheese and/or add other ingredients. It is not uncommon to find cheese souffles with sausage or vegetables like mushrooms added. These ingredients can change the consistency of the souffle so I recommend making those adjustments once you feel comfortable with the basic process. Mixing up the cheeses is the most forgiving alteration you can make and I encourage you to play around with the cheese selection even as you are trying to improve your technique. Personally I like using very firm cheeses but you can use whatever you like. I really enjoy a 50% extra sharp cheddar and 50% gouda mix. Parmesan and Gruyere are also common souffle cheeses. Well, look, let's get you walking before you start trying to run so let's talk about some basic tips before we get to the recipe.

Helpful Tips for Making Cheese Souffle at Home

1. Prepare all of the ingredients and arrange all of the equipment you need before you do anything else. That is especially true for separating the egg and shredding the cheese. Souffle requires you to bounce from one step to the next while watching temperatures and mixing so the less time you spend between steps the less opportunity to mess it up. 
2. Unless you are comfortable and experienced separating eggs by hand (or with the shell) then I strongly recommend that you use an egg separator to assist you with this step. It's important that you keep the yolk out of the egg whites and learning how to separate eggs using only the shell or your hand takes some practice. Although I can do it without the egg separator I still use this utensil as a backup. 
3. Until you become comfortable separating the eggs, you may want to separate each egg into separate containers so if you screw up you only have to redo that one egg, rather than ruining several eggs' worth of whites. You can use one vessel to keep your egg whites and another bowl to separate them and then transfer the egg whites into the first vessel each time you get it right so you only need to use two bowls for the egg whites. Either is fine. 
4. Older eggs separate easier than fresh eggs but the shells crumble easier. If you use eggs that have been in the fridge for a few days it's easier to separate them. Obviously don't use eggs that have gone bad!
5. The way in which you add ingredients to each other and even how you mix them is very important. The instructions below are very specific about how you need to mix ingredients and it is critical to getting the right consistency. Remember, this is all about technique.
6. If your roux sucks then start over. If you burn the roux or can't get it to mix then toss it and start over. A lumpy roux will make a lumpy souffle. The lumps are dried clumps of flour. You don't want that in your souffle.
7. When whipping air into the egg whites you only need to go as far as forming "stiff peaks" which means it looks like the foam on ocean waves and stays in that shape. If you go too long the egg whites will turn into a meringue, which is firmer than you need and will end up making your souffle a little too dense. However, I would rather overshoot the egg whites than not get enough air whipped in.
8. Read the entire recipe twice before you start cooking. Know what you are doing two steps ahead of where you are.
9. Souffle is normally cooked in ceramic ramekins. This dish works best with 1 cup ramekins for individual servings but you can use almost any size. You can make the souffle as one large souffle but I think it's more fun to give each person their own souffle to break open. 
10. If you do not have ceramic ramekins or a ceramic baking dish then basic coffee cups can work as a substitute. Souffle will rise in coffee cups but I do find part of what makes them stand up and form a nice browned crust is having enough volume rise above the top of the baking vessel. That's harder to do with coffee cups because they are taller and you need a lot more hot air inside the souffle to push the souffle up that tall. However, again, you can make perfectly tasty souffle that way.
11. Whatever you bake the souffle in will be extremely hot. Be very careful taking them out of the oven and serving them. Ceramic retains heat very well. It is easy to burn yourself. Use oven mitts and pot holders to serve them. If you are using personal-size ceramic ramekins or coffee cups then consider serving them on a plate and offering the dinners a pot holder to keep it in place (or place the ramekin on a pot holder on a plate). 
12. Generally one egg's worth of souffle in the recipe below will serve one person. Adjust the ingredients accordingly to make more or less. Souffles do survive until a later serving. If you have leftovers, allow them to cool and then cover with cling wrap. You can reheat them. They will not rise but it will still taste great with more of a casserole texture. I sometimes enjoy them the next day cold. They have some of a cheese bread texture that way. (Don't judge.)
13. As you start to try to mix up ingredients, use flavor combinations you might find elsewhere. If you add a lot of unique herbs to your bechamel then think about how the cheese you choose will work with those flavors. Do you find other foods with those combinations? 
14. When selecting cheeses, remember that you need cheeses that will create a nice cheese sauce. Cheddar or Gruyere are the standards for this purpose. Using only very hard or soft cheeses may not give you as pleasant of a texture. Mild cheddar is a good base for a cheese blend if you want a thick cheese sauce but let more interesting cheeses shine through.

Basic Cheese Souffle Recipe

Details

Serving: 4 people
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 45-60 minutes

Equipment Required

• 4 one cup-size ceramic ramekins (or appropriate alternative)
• 1 baking sheet (any size will work)
• Oven mitts/pot holders
• 3/4 quart saucepan
• Hand mixer (or stand mixer)
• Mixing bowls (keep as many as you have available)
• Egg separator
• Measuring cups and bowls
• Grater (if your cheese is not pre-grated)
• Rubber spatula
• Small whisk
• Kitchen utensils

 Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup butter 
• 1-2 tbsp butter
• 1-1/2 cup cheese (cheddar cheese is a good starting point)
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

Recipe Steps

1. If you are not using pre-grated cheese, grate the cheese to a course grate. 
2. Assemble all your ingredients and supplies.
3. Separate the egg whites from the yolk. Place the yolks in a small bowl or measuring cup and set aside. The egg whites should go into a much larger bowl than the volume of egg whites as they will expand. If you are using a stand mixer then you can add them directly to the stand mixer's bowl.
4. Preheat the oven to 350F.
5. Coat the inside of your baking vessel(s) with the 1-2 tbsp of butter. You don't need a thick layer but the inside needs to be completely coated. This helps the souffle rise straight up. I find the easiest way to apply the butter is to put a small portion of barely warmed butter (like 5 seconds in the microwave) in the ramekin and work it around with my fingers. Make sure to get all the way up to the very top of the ramekin or whatever you are using. 
6. Heat your saucepan to medium-low heat and add the 1/4 cup of butter. As soon as the butter is melted, add the 1/4 cup of flour. Whisk continuously. Break up lumps as they form and continue whisking until it you have a solid but wet lump of roux. You may have to whisk for several minutes. If the roux burns or gets too dry then start over.
7. Heat the milk in the microwave until it is warm (30 seconds is usually enough). Remove a small portion of the roux and mix it into the milk until dissolved. Then add the milk-roux mix to the remaining roux and whisk until thoroughly dissolved. Reduce heat to low.
8. Add a small amount of the white sauce to egg yolks and whisk until thoroughly mixed. Then add egg yolk mixture into the white sauce. Mix thoroughly. 
9. Add the cayenne pepper to the sauce. Add the cheese to the sauce slowly, roughly 1/4 cup at a time. Thoroughly incorporate the cheese before adding more, allowing the heat to melt the cheese. If the cheese will not melt then turn the heat up to medium-low and continue mixing until the cheese melts. Repeat until the cheese sauce is completely mixed and smooth. If you turned the heat up to melt the cheese then turn it back down to low.
10. Now you're going to turn the egg whites into a fluffy mix. Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites. Shove the mixer blades in the egg whites and turn it up to high. If the egg whites start flying out of the bowl then turn the mixer down. Keep mixing until the egg whites form stiff peaks. Then stop.
11. Add 1/4 of the egg whites to the cheese sauce. Using a spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the cheese sauce. It does not need to be uniformly mixed. Repeat until all the egg whites have been folded into the cheese sauce.
12. Gently spoon the souffle mix into the ramekins. Gently tap the ramekins on the counter to ensure the souffle mix has evenly settled and an even surface has formed. 
13. Place ramekins on baking sheet and put in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve immediately after removing from the oven.