Burnin’ Down The House

This is a very tasty summer salad.

Ingredients:
1 11 ounce can niblets corn, drained
1 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 ounce can chick peas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
1 red or green pepper, diced
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/2 cup red or sweet onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
parsley sprigs for garnish

dressing:
3/4 cup fat free Italian dressing
1/2 cup salsa
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped
1/2 teaspoon chilipowder

Preparation:

Make dressing and pour over first 8 ingrdients, stir well. Let sit in fridge at least 6 hours ( overnight is better), mix again. Serve!

As I said before, I’m not a big fan of tomato-based pasta sauces, so when I cook pasta (it’s usually cheese/ham/spinach/etc-filled tortellini), 9 times out of 10 this is the sauce I use. Not only is it really, really damn good, but it only takes about 30 seconds to make.

Ingredients:
A good drizzling of good-quality olive oil (e.g. Extra Virgin)
Grated cheese (I normally use cheddar)
Basil (a few fresh leaves ripped up into little bits, or a sprinkling of dried)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste (I normally use tons)
Roughly chopped black olives

Preparation:
1. Cook your favourite pasta. Drain, and return pan to still hot but turned-off stove.
2. Add all ingredients (it’s easy to use too much cheese, so at first don’t put in as much as you think you’d need).
3. Stir (a wooden spoon is good as it doesn’t rip up the pasta) for 20 seconds or so until sauce has evenly covered the pasta and the cheese has melted.
4. Eat.

I know the title doesn’t sound very appetizing, but this is a very tasty meatless dish. I like to stuff it in pita pockets or scoop it with tortilla chips. Tastes great warm or cold.

Ingredients
1/2 cup bulgur, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup small french lentils ( or any lentils)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 small red onion, minced
1/2 cup chopped parsley
5 green onions (spring onions), thinly sliced
3 tablespoons lemon juice
*1-2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 packet Goya Sazon seasoning ( optional)
fresh ground black pepper
1 small head or romain lettuce, leaves separated (optional)

Preparation:
1. .Place bulgur in a large bowl, set aside. Place lentils in a small saucepan;add enough water to cover by 2 inches. Heat to a boil; reduce heat to simmer; cook until lentils are tender - about 15 minutes.
2. Drain any liquid; pour hot lentil over bulgur, mix thoroughly. Cover; let stand until bulgur becomes soft about 1 hour.
3. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the red onion cook until golden. Pour onion and olive oil from pan into bulgur and lentil mixture.
4. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
You can use romaine leaves to scoop and eat.
6 servings
*I found 2 teaspoons a bit overwhelming, so I recommend if you make this start with 1 and sample it before you add any more.

I’m not normally a fan of tomato-based pasta sauces, but I really like this one because it has a lot of other flavours besides tomato. Also, don’t worry if you don’t like anchovies, as you can’t actually taste them in the finished sauce. (Note: I realised when I was in the US recently and tried to cook this that you use Imperial measurements, so apologies if listing the ingredients in metric amounts causes problems. The Measurement Conversion Calculator is helpful, though.)

Serves 3-4 (you’d probably want to increase the amounts if cooking for 4 hungry people)
Ingredients:
100g spaghetti per person
450g tin of chopped tomatoes
100g small black olives, roughly chopped
6 anchovies, chopped
1tbsp salted capers, rinsed to remove excess salt (or just normal pickled ones if you can’t get salted)
1tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped (or 1tsp dried)
1tbsp fresh sage, chopped (or 1tsp dried)
1tbsp fresh oregano, chopped (or 1tsp dried)
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
a handful of fresh parsley, chopped
5tbsp olive oil
A pinch of chilli flakes
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. Cook the spaghetti in salted boiling water according to the packet instructions (and once it’s cooked, drizzle some olive oil over the spaghetti to prevent it all sticking together).
2. Gently heat the olive oil, garlic, and rosemary in a frying pan for a couple of minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients except the parsley, and simmer for 5-6 minutes, until the sauce has reduced a bit.
4. Stir in the parsley and serve with the spaghetti and freshly-grated Parmesan.

Ingredients:
2 packages frozen cheese tortellini
1 can black olives, drained, pitted and sliced
4 ounces crumbled feta cheese
1 green pepper, cut into thin strips
1 red pepper,cut into thin strips
1 yellow pepper,cut into thin strips
1 small red onion ,chopped
DRESSING:
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon dried mint
1 teaspoon greek oregano
1 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons sherry
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Preparation:
DRESSING:
1.Mix all ingredients together thoroughly and chill in refridgerator for about an hour.
2.Make tortellini according to package directions, rinse in cold water until completely cooled then drain
3. Add peppers, onions and olives to tortellini and toss.
4. Pour dressing over above mixture an mix well
5. Add crumbled feta cheese right before you serving.

I know there are beaucoup ingredients but this is so good especially in summer. You can also add cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, artichoke hearts - well anything else you like. I didn’t have sherry when I made this so I used red wine vinegar - I figured hey close enough!

This recipe is from The Olive Garden - they consider it a side dish, but we made it as a meal with a salad and some garlic bread. It’s very good..very rich and filling.

Ingredients:
1 lb Gnocchi potato dumplings
2 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
6 clove(s) Fresh garlic
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup Dry white drinking wine
1 cup Chicken broth
2 (14 1/2 oz.) cans Tomatoes
1/2 stick Sweet cream butter,cut into 1 inch cubes chilled
1/2 cup Freshly grated parmesan cheese
Freshly chopped basil (to taste)
Salt (to taste)
Freshly crushed black pepper (to taste)

Preparation:
SAUCE:
1.Place the olive oil, garlic and chili flakes in a cold pan.
2.On medium heat stir and cook the olive oil, garlic, chili flakes until garlic turns slight golden brown. To this mixture add the white wine and chicken broth simmer about 10 minutes. Reduce the wine and broth by half, add the tomatoes, and continue to simmer for 30 minutes.
3.Puree the sauce in blender with the butter and Parmesan cheese.
4.Season to taste with salt and pepper.
PASTA:
1.Prepare pasta (gnocchi)when sauce is complete.
2.Use a large pot to boil pasta. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until they float. (Approx. 3 minutes)
3.Remove pasta from boiling water, drain and lightly mix with sauce
4.Place sauced pasta on serving plate, top with Parmesan and Basil.

You can also add vegetables of choice to sauce and/or sauteed chicken strips to sauce.

This makes about 2 servings

mmm…snack time.

Ingredients:
1 can refried bean (regular or spicy)
1 package taco seasoning mix
2 cups sour cream
2 ripe avocados
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Tabasco or hot sauce (optional)
1 cup shredded lettuce
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1 can black olives, drained and sliced
2 tomatoes, diced
tortilla chips

Preparation:
1. Spread the refried beans in the bottom of a 13×9x2 baking dish.
2. Cut, remove pits and peel the avocados.
3. Place in a bowl with lemon juice and hot sauce and mash with fork till smooth (some little chunks are okay).
4. Gently spread over beans.
5. Combine the sour cream and taco seasoning, stir well.
6. Spread over avocado.
7. Top with one layer each of lettuce, cheese, Green onions, olives and tomatoes (in that order).
8. Serve immediately with tortilla chips or refridgerate several hours until use.

This is a great party dip, it should be eaten the same day, and not made too far in advance. The avacados and tomatoes get a bit funky and the appearance not at all appetizing if you have left-overs.

This is really good, but the best thing is how quick & easy it is to make (ha, I sound like a TV chef). Once you’ve done all the preperation (chopping vegetables, etc) it only takes about 7-8 minutes to cook. Also, it seemed weird that you don’t use any garlic or ginger, but I resisted the temptation to add any and it turned out great.

Serves 4 (or 3 if they’re really hungry)
Ingredients:
4 tbsp oil
150g dried thick rice noodles
200g spinach, washed and roughly chopped
1 large (200g-ish) carrot, peeled and grated
100g beansprouts
4 eggs, beaten
4 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
4 tbsp tamarind paste (or if you can’t find that, use 2 tbsp of freshly squeezed lime juice)
4 tbsp light soy sauce
4 spring onions*, finely sliced
50g unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped (if you use salted peanuts, wash them first to remove the salt)
Optional extras:
10-12 large prawns**, peeled (I used pre-cooked frozen prawns, but you could use fresh ones - you just need to quickly fry them beforehand so they’re just cooked)

Translations for my American readers:
* “scallions”
** “shrimp”

Preparation:
1. Put the noodles in a pan of warm water and soak for 6-8 minutes (actually the recipe I used said 5, but I left them in for 8 by accident and it turned out fine). When they’re done, drain them.
2. Heat a wok or large (emphasis on large) frying pan until pretty hot and add the oil. Add the noodles and egg, and stir fry for 2 minutes until the egg is lightly scrambled.
3. Add the spinach, carrot, bean sprouts, tamarind paste, soy sauce, chilli sauce, and prawns (if using) and stir fry for a further 4-6 minutes until everything is heated through and the noodles are cooked enough (make sure the prawns are properly cooked, if you use them).
4. Sprinkle the peanuts and spring onions over the top and serve.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 teas. almond extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Preparation:
Cream the butter, shortening, extract and sugar well. Gradually add the sifted flour. Shape dough into balls using a level tablespoon of dough for each cookie. Press a maraschino cherry into each ball, allowing the cherry to show slightly. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Makes about 4 dozen.

Sure, they sound really simple, and they are, but there’s a lot to say about the magic butter, shortening and sugar create when mixed in the perfect proportions. My aunt makes these every Christmas. The Passion of the Cookie, as I may say from now on.

I got this one from a recipe leaflet from the supermarket round the corner. Kedgeree is a traditional British dish that was inspired by a similar dish eaten in India. It’s like a smoked fish risotto.

Serves 4 (I usually make half the amount so I have enough for dinner on 2 days)
Ingredients:
15ml/1tbsp oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
15ml/1tbsp garam masala powder
250g arborio risotto rice
2 fish stock cubes made up with 750ml boiling water
230g pack smoked mackerel fillets, flaked off the skin (I use peppered smoked mackerel fillets for a stronger flavour)
salt & black pepper
Optional extras:
20g flat leaf parsley, finely chopped (parsley doesn’t really add any flavour, I assume they use it just for the colour, but then I suppose if you don’t use it it’s not a Herby Kedgeree…).
2 eggs, hard boiled and quartered

Preparation:
1. Heat the oil in a large shallow saucepan, add onion and cook until softened but not browned (about 5 minutes). Add the curry powder and cumin and cook for a further 1-2 minutes.
2. Add the risotto rice and fry for a minute or so until it’s coated in the oil.
3. Place the stock in a saucepan over a moderate heat.
4. Gradually add the stock to the risotto stirring well after each addition, adding more after the previous addition has been absorbed. Try to keep stirring the rice all the time. This will take about 20 minutes.
5. Mix in the parsley and mackerel, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and serve with the eggs.