Fresh cucumber salad

1 English cucumber, chilled
1-2 purple onions
1 round fresh goat cheese (chevre)
Balsamic vinegar

Wash the cucumber well. Peel strips off, making stripes of green and white. Slice the cucumber thinly and place in a bowl. Peel and slice onions, adding to cucumber. Pour about 1-2 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar, or to taste. Toss to coat. Sprinkle on goat cheese and serve.

Savory crêpes

1 cup flour
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tbsp oil

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, stirring to mix. Add the salt and oil. Beat until smooth. Let the batter sit one hour, then whisk again before cooking.

Heat a lightly oiled frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup or less for each crêpe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.

Cook the crêpe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, flip and cook the other side. Serve hot, with filling. As a general rule, savory crêpes are filled, then rolled.

Filling ideas: ham, grated cheeses, scrambled eggs, mushrooms, steamed spinach, goat cheese, etc...

This recipe makes about 8 crêpes. Recipe for dessert crêpes here.

Hungarian apricot bread

Okay, so it's not actually a Hungarian recipe...but I did make it for the first time while in Hungary.

1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup oatmeal
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1-2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
2/3 cup peach or apricot yogurt
12 large ripe apricots- peeled, pitted and diced

In a large bowl, combine flour, oatmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder and spices. Add vegetable oil, egg and yogurt; mix well. Fold in diced apricots. Pour into geased loaf pan. Bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees for 25 to 35 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Hungarian cherry soup

To answer your question, yes this is served as a main course and not a dessert. But you can do whatever makes you happy.

1 1/3 lb pitted sour cherries
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp lemon zest
cinnamon stick
1-2 cloves
1 Tbsp flour
3/4 cup sour cream

In a large saucepan, combine cherries, sugar, lemon and spices. Bring to a gentle boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick.

Slowly mix flour into sour cream until smooth. Stir into cherry mixture to thicken. Cool completely, then chill in fridge.

Serve in a bowl, topped with fresh whipped cream.

Updated - goat cheese lasagne!

This recipe is one I change every time I make it (like the zucchini in the photo), but this is the basic recipe. It uses mostly goat cheese, which is high in protein, and adds carrots to the tomato sauce for added nutrition and rounder flavor. And...(drum roll, please!) I figured out the nutritional information here.

10-12 lasagne noodles
2 cups tomato puree
1/4 cup cooked carrot puree
2 1/2 cups frozen spinach, thawed
4-6 rounds of fresh goat cheese (chevre)
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella
4 cloves garlic, crushed
Italian seasonings
Sugar

Mix together goat cheese, spinach and garlic.

In a separate bowl, mix the tomato and carrot puree with 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning and 1 tsp sugar. Taste, adding more seasonings if needed.

In a baking dish spread a layer of tomato sauce, then as follows:

noodles
cheese mixture
tomato sauce
noodles
cheese mixture
tomato sauce

Repeat until all ingredients have been used. Top with mozzarella. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly and golden.

Fiesta pizza

2 pita bread rounds (or tortillas)
1/2 cup cooked ground beef with taco seasoning
1/3 cup salsa
1 red pepper, seeded and sliced
1/4 cup corn
1 small onion, chopped
black olives (opt)
shredded Gouda, Monterrey Jack or Cheddar cheese

Spread the salsa on the pita rounds, going to within 1/2 inch from the edge. Top with shredded cheese, then ground beef. Add remaining toppings. Broil until cheese melts and starts to brown.

Broccoli turkey bake

I was going for a good comfort food recipe, and found it. :)

1 lb turkey breast tenders
2-3 cups broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cups cooked rice
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup frozen, sliced mushrooms
1 cup milk
1/3 cup light cream (15 percent)
1/4 cup porto wine (opt)
1/2 to 1 cup shredded Gouda (or other mild cheese)
1 Tbsp butter
2-3 cloves crushed garlic
2 cubes chicken bouillon
Rosemary
Thyme
Salt and pepper

Cook rice and quinoa.

Steam the broccoli until just bright green.

Slice turkey into bite-sized pieces. Cook in butter over medium heat until white all the way through. Add garlic, porto and mushrooms and cook until half of liquid evaporates. Add milk, cream, bouillon, pinch of thyme and two dashes rosemary. Once it begins to thicken, stir in cheese until melted.

In a large baking dish, stir together rice, quinoa, sauce, and broccoli. Spread out evenly, then broil 5-10 minutes until browned.

Tomato basil salad

Very simple, very good.

2-3 ripe tomatoes, washed and sliced
1 onion, sliced
1-2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1-2 tsp olive oil or Pampered Chef Basil Blend Oil
salt

Put all in bowl and toss to coat. Chill, and voila! Also good with mozzarella cubes.

Poulet Yassa - the tutorial

Poulet Yassa is a spicy, lemon dish with chicken (poulet, in French) and carmelized onions served over rice. Originally Senegambian, Yassa has become popular throughout West Africa. Visitors to Senegal love Yassa - can't get enough Yassa! It's so good that we actually served this at our wedding rehearsal dinner!


Chez Mamy's in Dakar

2 lbs chicken pieces (or one chicken leg per person)
2 lbs onions, chopped or sliced (at least 2-3 medium onions per person)
4-5 sliced carrots (not traditional yassa ingredient, but we like it)
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp bouillon
black pepper
salt
dried hot peppers or hot pepper sauce (we use Scotch Bonnet)
2-3 lemons (juice)
6 cups cooked rice
Sliced green peppers and tomatoes

Heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken pieces carefully. Cook until browned and juices run clear, about 15-20 minutes. Flip occasionally to keep from overcooking.


Fried chicken waiting...

As chicken cooks, slice onions into thin "smiley faces".

Once chicken is cooked, put it aside on a plate lined with paper towels.


Cutting the onions takes a while, but don't skimp! They cook down a lot!

Save 1/2 oil. Reduce heat to lowest setting. Add onions and sauté very slowly (2 hours absolute minimum) until caramelized and light yellow in color. Stir the onions every 15 minutes or so. If after 30 minutes they don't look very different, you've probably got the heat on just right. At an hour they should just begin to be translucent. At two hours they should be floppy. Keep going! But don't turn up the heat. The slower, the better. Really good Yassa needs at least six hours!


Onions after about 30 minutes


Onions after about two hours


Onions after about three hours

Once the onions are completely carmelized, add Dijon, lemon juice, bouillon, hot pepper, salt, and pepper. (This is where we add cooked, sliced carrots.) Turn up the heat to med-low. Let simmer for about an hour, stirring and tasting every 15 minutes until just how you want it.


Sauce Maggi and Dijon mustard

Here's a tasting guide:
- If too bland, add bouillon and Dijon
- If not too lemony, add just a bit more
- If not quite spicy enough, slowly add more pepper and hot pepper sauce
- If you have sauce Maggi, use it!
- some people add a few Tbsp vinegar and/or soy sauce

Add chicken 15 minutes before serving, or sooner if you want the meat to fall off the bones.

Serve over white rice and top with freshly sliced veggies.


The final version - modified a la Masson

Yogurt cake

This cake recipe, 'gateau au yaourt', is often taught to French children who are just learning to cook. It's very much like a sour cream pound cake, but you can play with the flavors by using different fruited yogurts. For this batch I made cupcakes, used pineapple yogurt, and added a half of a cherry on top. (We don't like pineapple yogurt, so rather than alternating who has to eat the one out of six-pack that is, we just freeze them. When I want to make this cake, I pull one out to thaw.)

Pour 1 pot of yogurt, the flavor of your choice, in a mixing bowl. Now use the yogurt cup as your measuring tool.

2 yogurt cups flour
1 1/2 yogurt cups sugar
1/2 yogurt cup oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 t vanilla
Orange or lemon zest (opt)

In a large bowl mix together yougurt, sugar and oil. Beat in the eggs and stir in vanilla. In a small bowl mix flour and baking powder. Stir it into the yogurt mixture. Add zest, if using.

Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until browned and knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Veggie quesadilla

2 flour tortillas
1 cup frozen broccoli, thawed
6-8 slices sun-dried tomatoes
sliced mushrooms
shredded Gouda cheese (or Cheddar)
sour cream (opt)

Lay the tortillas flat on a plate. On half of each, layer veggies and top with cheese. Microwave for 30 seconds on high, more if needed. Serve with sour cream.

Summer fruit crisp

3-4 peaches or 7-8 apricots
2 handfuls sweet cherries or summer berries
1/2 cup flour
1 cup oats
1/2 cup sugar
tiny pinch salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
dash ground cloves
1/4 cup butter, chilled

Cut the fruit in half, removing the pits. Cut the larger fruit into 1/2 inch slices.

Layer the fruit in a baking dish. Sprinkle with 1-2 Tbsps sugar. In a bowl, mix the flour, remaining sugar, salt and cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Slice the butter into chunks and mix it into the dry ingredients until it looks like pea size crumbs. Sprinkle crumbs over fruit.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in preheated oven at 350 degrees, until lightly golden.

Coming soon...

A step-by-step Poulet Yassa tutorial!

Come and get it, toubabs.

Sun-dried tomato and spinach white pizza

1 thin pizza crust
1 1/2 cups cooked, chopped spinach
3/4 cup sour cream (creme fraiche in France)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup shredded mozzarella
sun-dried tomatoes

In a bowl, mix spinach, cream and garlic.

Make and bake pizza crust. After flipping, spread spinach mix on top evenly. Top with mozzarella and tomatoes.

Bake 10 minutes or until cheese begins to brown. Slice and serve!

'Sun' dried tomatoes

I decided to try making my own sun-dried tomatoes after seeing how much a jar costs at the store - and the fact that the store variety are packed in oil. Why add fat to such a great flavor?

The instructions I used recommended plum tomatoes, but I just went for the least expensive pile and picked out the darkest red ones. My selection of 8 medium-sized tomatoes (about $2) dried down to about 1 cup in the end. A jar of that size is about $4.50 here, so not a bad deal. Plus - no oil!

On the downside, it is time-consuming. Preparing them takes a minute or two, but they need to dry for 6-8 hours.



Instructions:

Wash and dry your tomatoes.

Slice into 1/2 inch thick rounds.

Place on a baking sheet.

Bake at 200 degrees, flipping every hour or so, until the texture of soft raisins.

The slices on the outside may dry first. Just pull them out and let the others keep drying.

Store in airtight container in the fridge.

Citrus spice banana bread

1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup mashed banana
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tsp orange zest
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp soda
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Cream butter and sugar in a bowl. Add eggs and beat well. Stir in banana, orange juice and zest.

In a second bowl, mix dry ingredients. Add dry to wet and stir until just mixed.

Pour into paper-lined muffin cups, filling 2/3 full. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Baked chicken fingers

A healthy alternative to fried chicken fingers

1 lb chicken bosoms, cut into strips

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 pinches paprika

1 Tbsp oil

Grease a baking sheet with oil.

In a bowl, mix flour, salt and paprika. Dip the strips into egg first, then into flour mixture. Lay the strips on the baking sheet.

Bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until browned.

Citron sorbet

1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1-2 Tbsp lemon zest

Heat sugar and water in a saucepan, stirring until fully dissolved. Remove from heat and add lemon juice and zest. Cool completely. Pour into Tupperware container and put in freezer. Once it begins to freeze, break up ice crystals with a fork and stir to smooth out texture. Repeat once an hour until frozen.

Tip: If you don't have a zester, use a sharp veggie peeler, and then dice w/ sharp knife instead.

Carrot pancakes

Healthy and slightly sweet, these orange pancakes are great for a weekend brunch.
Use your favorite pancake recipe, or the one below. Once the batter has been mixed, stir in 1/4 to 1/2 cup cooked, pureed carrots and a pinch of cinnamon. Cook as usual and serve with maple syrup.

1 1/2 cups flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter. Mix until smooth, then add carrots and cinnamon.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Mood-altering paprikash

I made this the other night after a long day. It looked burned, unappetizing and I was frustrated and hungry. I wanted to toss it in the trash and make PBJs instead, but the voice of reason (Jonathan) seemed to think it would be okay. Actually, it was awesome!! A definite comfort food with a kick. Perfect for a weeknight.

4 chicken legs
2 large onions, thinly sliced
1-2 crushed garlic cloves
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup milk
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp Hungarian paprika
salt

In a bowl mix the onions, garlic, butter, water and paprika. Place chicken legs in a baking dish and cover with onion mixture. Bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees, stirring occasionally, until internal temperature of chicken reaches 175 degrees and juices run clear.

Remove the chicken legs and set aside. Pour the onion mixture into a frying pan, scrapping the dish to get all the yummy chicken bits. Add cream and milk. Heat slowly, not allowing it to boil.

Once the chicken has cooled a bit, pull meat from bone and add to sauce.

Serve over hot egg noodles.

Pizza margherita

Another specialty from my Italian pizzeria days in high school.

1 batch thin crust pizza dough
1 1/2 cups pizza sauce
2-3 handfuls of shredded mozzarella
6-8 basil leaves, sliced

Spread the dough out on a pizza stone or cookie sheet. Bake for 10-25 minutes in preheated oven at 425 degrees or until golden. Remove from oven and gently work a long spatula up under the dough, then flip it.

Top with sauce and cheese. Bake until cheese bubbles and browns.

Remove from oven and top with basil. Brush crust with olive oil.

Definitely the best pizza crust!

This originated in Cooking Light, but I've tweaked it repeatedly to come up with my ideal crust. This recipe makes one deep dish, two hand-tossed or three thin-crust pizzas. You can make the dough on the weekend, then freeze it after the first rise to use later in the week.

2 cups very warm water (about 120 degrees is best)
3 tsp honey
3 tsp yeast
1/2 cup wheat germ
5 cups flour (or less)
1 1/2 tsp salt

Dissolve honey in water, then add yeast. Stir once, then let sit until foam covers the water's surface.

Add wheat germ and stir. Add 2 cups flour and mix well. If you have a mixer with kneading hook, start using it now. If not, mix with a wooden spoon or sturdy spatula. Keep adding flour until dough begins to pull from edges of bowl. Let dough rest 20 minutes.

Add salt, then flour 1/2 cup at a time until you can handle it easily with floured hands.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover lightly with plastic wrap. Let rise about an hour, until doubled in size, or when it doesn't spring back when you poke it gently.

Divide the dough into halves for hand-tossed pizzas and thirds for thin-crust. (If freezing, see below *.) Begin pre-heating your oven to 425 degrees.

Spread the dough out on a pizza stone or cookie sheet. Bake for 10-25 minutes at 425 degrees or until golden. Remove from oven and gently work a long spatula up under the dough, then flip it.

Top with sauce, cheese and toppings. Bake until cheese bubbles and browns.

Remove from oven and brush crust with olive oil. Voila!


* If you plan on freezing the dough, punch out all the air from the dough ball. Dust with flour, then wrap in two layers of plastic wrap and put it in the freezer.

To thaw, pull it out from the freezer and put in fridge the morning before you want to make pizza. When you get home from work, pull it out of the fridge and let rise at room temperature.

Coffee ice cream (no maker!)

2 cups milk
2 cups light cream (or not so light, if you're in the mood)
1/2 cup sugar
1-2 cups whole coffee beans
1 tsp freshly ground coffee

In a large saucepan, mix all ingredients but the ground coffee. Heat til steaming, but not boiling. Remove from heat and let cool. Pour into a large, flat container with a lid and refrigerate overnight.



Using a slotted spoon, remove coffee beans. Stir in ground coffee. Place container in the freezer. Every 30 minutes, pull it out and mix with hand mixer to incorporate air and break up ice crystals. For best results, do this until it reaches desired consistency.

Let freeze one to four hours to 'ripen'. Scoop and serve with sauce caramel!

Coco-ban-berry smoothie

Dee-lish!

2 bananas, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 handfuls of strawberries, washed, de-stemmed and cut in half
1 cup yogurt (pineapple is good)
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup milk

Spread fruit out on a cookie sheet and freeze. Also freeze yogurt and coconut milk.

Once frozen, put fruit, yogurt, coconut milk, and 1 cup milk (to taste) in a blender. Blend and serve!

Red pepper and goat cheese aperos

1 prepared pastry crust, unrolled on parchment paper (pate feuilletee in France)
3 rounds fresh goat cheese (chevre)
roasted red peppers
2-3 Tbsps basil pesto
1 clove garlic, crushed

Using a pizza cutter, cut the pastry dough into squares about 1x1 inch. Slide parchment paper onto a cookie sheet and bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until puffed and golden. Let cool completely.

Mix together goat cheese, pesto and garlic. Spread over pastry squares and top with roasted red pepper.

Chill 30 minutes, then serve to hungry guests!