Everyday Style & Recipes. Est. 2010
As a side dish to the Char Siu, I created this easy and flavorful bok choy recipe. It’s pretty simple since all you do is steam the bok choy and then stir fry it in garlic and the sauce for a few minutes. There are lots of variations and you can use all sorts of seasonings and sauces for baby bok choy. This dish went nicely with the pork and complimented its flavors. Bok choy tastes like a cross between broccoli and cabbage, and would be a great addition to stir-fries.
…
I recently made Kare UdonB with beef and it seemed like it would go nicely as a meatless soup too. The recipe is identical to the previous one except I substituted the beef with tofu and mushrooms. The tofu was great with the curry flavors. I am completely sold on the packaged curry roux. This is my favorite curry, and I buy the “hot” version. It can be found in the asian foods section in grocery stores: I was skeptical since it looks a little like astronaut food, but the flavors have totally won me over!
…
Lasagna is a great staple dinner but I wanted to experiment a bit with the ingredients. Instead of using ricotta cheese I used a Bechamel sauce with goat cheese and feta. Bechamel is a white sauce made from milk, cheese, and butter. The goat cheese and feta added a tangy flavor that was good with the roasted red peppers. This recipe was very unique and it was a lot of fun to make and the results were great. Lasagna takes forever (about 2 1/2-3 hours) to prepare and cook so take some time to try this one out.
…
Greek Salad is made of simple ingredients, mixed together in a little vinegar and olive oil. I wanted to have a salad with the chicken Gyros and this proved to be a great choice. It was light, flavorful, and went well with the Gyros.
…
Italian food is great with fine ingredients and simple flavors. Butter and sage, two simple ingredients on their own, make an excellent gnocchi sauce. Gnocchi is a type of potato dumpling pasta–it reminds me of a cross between polish Perogies and ravioli pasta. Gnocchi is usually made with white potatoes but I decided to try sweet potatoes for a more savory flavor. The sage fries in the butter as it browns which smells and tastes great.
As for the gnocchi making process it was surprisingly easy. The only thing to watch out for is overcooking the gnocchi. It really only needs 3 minutes and should be immediately scooped out when it floats to the top. I learned this the hard way by overcooking it by about 2 minutes which created a slimy bunch that was totally gross. I thought this recipe turned out really great, and I will be making this again–perhaps with pumpkin the next time to mix things up.
…
I have always had kind of a conundrum with lasagna. Since I don’t eat ground beef and I don’t really care for the creamy white veggie lasagna recipes, I had to get creative and combine my favorite parts of both types. I like the marinara sauce from the traditional lasagna but I also love the flavors that come with the vegetables in the other lasagna. If you are like me–a weirdo who shuns ground beef and cream sauces then this is the lasagna for you. I love zucchini and I thought it would make a tasty layer. I chopped the zucchini in small triangles even though its more “correct” to slice them in long pieces and boil. John frowned at my unorthodox zucchini preparation but I thought it turned out very well. The cheese layers were excellent–a mix of melted ricotta and mozzarella. I really liked this recipe, which is good because I will be eating a lot of leftovers this week. Oh, and happy New Year everybody!
…
Eggplant can be so delicious if prepared correctly. For eggplant Parmesan, the eggplant needs to be drained of the water and bitterness before pan frying. You can find a lot of different methods on how to drain eggplant but I just use some paper towels and something heavy to press on top of the slices. I also like to strain the tomato sauce because it prevents the dish from becoming too watery. The eggplant parmesan turned out well–after the second round of cooking. I took it out the first night and it was just a little undercooked. The next day I cooked it about twice as long and it tasted great.
…
I had an older post with this same recipe but as with the nature of almost every recipe I have used it has turned out a little bit differently this time around. I had some fresh mozzarella and parmesan leftover in the fridge so I added those in. I didn’t have any capers this time which was too bad. They are very nice on this pizza.
I like the thin crust style of this pizza and the flavor of the roasted orange and yellow peppers. Roasting the peppers beforehand intensifies their flavor. Instead of leaving the skins on I removed them. I think I like this version better–some of the bitterness of the blackened pepper was removed when I took away the skin. The fontina and parmesan with the addition of fresh mozzarella gave the toppings a melty softness that was very tasty. I went the lazy route and used a pre-made dough from the grocery again. I like to use the whole wheat dough sold in a package (not a can). One of these days I will try a pizza crust from scratch.
…
I’ve never understood why brussel sprouts have such a bad reputation. It’s like the dark horse at every thanksgiving and people take 1 brussel and put it on their plate just to be polite. Anyway I like brussels a lot, especially when they are roasted with great flavors. Roasting them on a baking sheet gives the brussels a sweeter flavor and mellows some of their bitterness. You can roast them with pine nuts, chestnuts, cider, or other herbs. There is a lot of variation you can do with brussels and I think I will be making these more for regular dinners, and not just the holidays.
…
Roasted Beets are both beautiful and delicious. I used to eat them like candy when I was a kid. Roasting the beets concentrates their flavor so they’re great to eat as is. You can also add spices like ground clove and allspice for a little different flavor.
…