Recipe – The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

Roast Duck!

Hi friends! I wanted to share this very simple roast duck recipe I found. I’ve read a lot of duck recipes but most of them called for a sweet style kind of glaze that I have to constantly brush on the duck. Not a big fan of that myself, because I like mine to be less complicated. I decided to just have it roast at 350F for 3 hours but I have to flip it every hour. It turned out great! We got the duck from Whole Foods market, it was pricey to be honest ($32), but worth it because this would have been triple the price of what we paid if we ordered it from a restaurant. My hubs made an amazing gravy (it’s red wine gravy), he couldn’t stop talking about it! In fairness, it was delicious:) I love this kind of recipe, so simple (although took 3 hours) but so tender and flavorful. I cannot wait to make this again!

Deviled Eggs!

Happy Friday Friends! What a gorgeous spring day here at the PNW! The Hubs and I wanted to take advantage of the nice weather so we did happy hour at the local Mexican restaurant in our neighborhood! Mia was so good! She was just quietly observing the place!

Duck tacos, nachos, Agave Margarita and chips galore!

Thank You for being such a good girl boo!

Anyways, I wanted to share the Deviled eggs recipe that Hubs made last Easter! He made two kinds (smoked salmon and one with tobiko), both were good! I personally preferred the smoked salmon just because I’m not a fan of tobiko. If you like deviled eggs and want to try other “flavors” in it, try either these two recipes and you might like it!

Smoke Salmon Deviled Eggs (recipe courtesy of Ina Garten)

Ingredients (make 16 appetizers)

8 extra large eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

2 tablespoons good mayonnaise

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons minced fresh chives,plus extra for garnish

4 ounces good smoked salmon,minced

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 ounces salmon roe

Directions:

Place the eggs in a pot large enough to hold them in a single layer. Cover the eggs with cold water and bring to a full boil over high heat. As soon as the water boils, turn off the heat,cover the pot, and let the eggs stand for 15 minutes. Drain the eggs and fill the pot with cold water. Set aside until the eggs are cool.

Peel the eggs and then slice them in half lengthwise. Remove the yolks carefully. Place the yolks in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and arrange the whites on a platter in a single layer with the cut sides up and sprinkle with salt.

To the egg yolks, add the sour cream, cream cheese, mayonnaise, lemon juice, chives, salmon, salt, and pepper. Beat on medium speed until fluffy. With a small spoon, fill the egg whites with the egg yolk mixture. Cover loosely with plastic wrap (you don’t have to flatten the filling) and refrigerate for 30 minutes for the flavors to blend. When ready to serve,garnish with a dollop of salmon roe and some extra chopped chives. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve.

Tobiko and Chive Deviled Eggs (www.foodrepublic.com)

Ingredients:

6 hard boiled eggs, cooled and peeled

2 tablespoons Japanese kewpie mayonnaise

2 tablespoons tobiko (whichever color you like best) plus extra to garnish

2 teaspoons very finely chopped chives, plus extra to garnish

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Halve each eggs lengthwise and carefully transfer the yolks into a medium mixing bowl.

Add mayonnaise and mash yolks using a fork until almost smooth.

Gently fold in the chives and tobiko (you don’t want to bruise or break either) then season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Spoon the yolk mixture back into the egg halves.

Garnish with more tobiko and chives and serve.

Mac and Cheese

Hi friends! The hubs made this Ina Garten Mac and Cheese recipe a couple of months ago. This is one our favorite pasta recipes ( so decadent). Mac and Cheese is such a comfort food. We skipped the tomato part because I personally don’t like fresh tomatoes, but we did add bacon to our dish. I got the recipe from foodnetwork.com!

Ingredients:

kosher salt

vegetable oil

1 pound elbow macaroni or cavatappi

1 quart milk

1 stick of unsalted butter,divided

1/2 cup all purpose flour

12 ounce Gruyere cheese, grated (4 cups)

8 ounce extra sharp Cheddar,grated (2 cups)

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3/4 pound fresh tomatoes (4 small) * we skipped this part of the recipe

1 1/2 cups fresh white bread crumbs (5 slices, crust removed)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the macaroni/cavatappi and cook according to the directions on the package, 6-8 minutes. Drain well.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don’t boil it. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a large pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth. Off the heat, add the gruyere,cheddar, 1 tablespoon salt,pepper,nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and stir well. Pour into a 3 quart baking dish.

Slice the tomatoes and arrange on top (*we skipped this part). Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter,combine them with the fresh bread crumbs, and sprinkle on the top.Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top.

Kare-Kare!

Hi Friends! Hope you’re having a great weekend:) I wanted to share a Filipino dish that I cooked early this week, Kare-Kare. It’s an oxtail dish with a thick peanut sauce. Now a days, in Filipino restaurants and homes they use beef, seafood, and other kinds of meat instead of oxtail (I personally like Oxtail). I rarely make this at home (I think this is my second time to make Kare-Kare (but I always order this if we’re in a Filipino restaurant). It’s a comfort food for me! I watched a couple of youtube videos (just searched for Kare-Kare recipes) and checked some kare-kare recipes online too for inspiration. I used my crockpot to tenderize/cooked my oxtail meat (just to save gas, instead of the stove). It was cooking for 7 hours then I finished it in the stove to make the peanut sauce. Traditionally, you mix all the veggies in at the end together with the sauce but I decided to plate them separately this time. I sautéed the eggplant and steamed the green beans and bok choy. The Hubs and I prefer it this way. Last year, when we visited Manila, I remember we had Kare-kare and the restaurant presented it this way too.

This is my new crockpot and I’ve been using it a lot lately!

I sautéed some minced garlic(3 cloves) and chopped onions(1 medium), then added the cooked oxtails and broth (approximately 6 cups). You can add more broth for a thinner sauce;let it simmer. I added the peanut butter (1/2 a cup) and stirred until it dissolved. In a small bowl I added 1 teaspoon of achiote powder mixed with 1/2 cup broth,once the powder dissolved I added it to the sauce. The achiote is the ingredient that will give the dish that classic orange color. I then seasoned the sauce with salt and pepper. I didn’t use a lot of salt though because Kare-kare is always paired with shrimp paste when eaten.

My kare-Kare (sprinkled with chopped peanuts).

Happy Cooking and eating Friends!

Spaghetti with Truffle Butter

Hi friends! I wanted to share a very simple recipe from Ina Garten. I watched her show last month when she prepared this dish and it was so easy and looked good. So when my Dad InLaw went to Seattle during Christmas week we asked him to stop at Dilaurentis ( a specialty store in Pike place market) to get me some truffle butter. Truffle butter is so inexpensive compared to truffles themselves. This is a quick side dish and perfect for a busy weeknight dinner with family. Zach was raving about it! Happy cooking friends!

Basic ingredients!

We had a simple salad to go with the pasta.

Tagliarelle with Truffle Butter (Ina Garten from Foodnetwork online)

*I didn’t have the tagliarelle pasta that Ina used, I only have spaghetti so that’s what I used instead.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup heavy cream

kosher salt, ground pepper

3 ounces white truffle butter

1 (8.82 ounce) package Cipriani tagliarelle dried pasta or other egg fettuccine

3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

3 ounces Parmesan, shaved thin with a vegetable peeler

Directions:

Add 1 tablespoon salt to a large pot of water and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, in a large (12- inch) saute pan, heat the cream over medium heat until it comes to a simmer. Add the truffle butter, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, lower the heat to a very low, and swirl the butter until it melts. Keep warm over ver low heat.

Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook for 3 minutes, exactly. (If you’re not using Cipriani pasta, follow the directions on the package.) When the pasta is cooked, reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta. Add the drained pasta to the saute pan and toss it with the truffle-cream mixture. As the pasta absorbs the sauce, add as much of the reserve cooking water as necessary to keep the pasta very creamy.

Serve the pasta in shallow bowls and garnish each serving with a generous sprinkling of chives and shaved Parmesan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve at once.

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

Hello Everyone! I finally used all of my tomatoes (the ripe ones) that I harvested from my yard and put them to good use. I don’t eat fresh tomatoes but I do like it when they are roasted. They are so full of flavor when prepared that way. Tonight I made Ina Garten’s roasted tomato basil soup and it’s so good. It was a really simple recipe, but I did use my Vitamix instead of the food mill that Ina recommended. Fall is just perfect for this kind of soup.

I added parmesan cheese because I like cheesy tomato soup:)

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup (Ina Garten/Foodnetwork.com)

Ingredients:

3 pounds ripe plum tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 (28-ounce) canned plum tomatoes, with their juice
4 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 quart chicken stock or water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Toss together the tomatoes, 1/4 cup olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread the tomatoes in 1 layer on a baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes.

In an 8-quart stockpot over medium heat, saute the onions and garlic with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the butter, and red pepper flakes for 10 minutes, until the onions start to brown. Add the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme, and chicken stock. Add the oven-roasted tomatoes, including the liquid on the baking sheet. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Pass through a food mill fitted with the coarsest blade. Taste for seasonings. Serve hot or cold.

Fried Chicken!

Hello Everyone! I wanted to share this Fried Chicken recipe from the Pioneer Woman! This episode was shown weeks ago on the Food Network and I thought I could do this because I had all of the ingredients. I “rarely” prepare fried chicken because it’s just messy and I can get it so cheap at our local grocery store (it’s decent too,taste wise!). I still made it anyway, because I wanted to make a mess in my kitchen! Not really! It was good and flavorful but I think the amount of clean up afterward wasn’t worth all of the hassle. I had to cut the recipe in half because unlike Ree (the Pioneer Woman) it was just me and the Hubs.

Chicken marinating in buttermilk.

Flour with seasoned salt, paprika,pepper, thyme, and cayenne pepper.

Fried Chicken, Salad,Gnocchi

Fried Chicken (recipe: Ree Drummond; The Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients:

2 cut-up fryer chickens in 16 pieces

4 1/4 cups buttermilk

5 cups all purpose flour

3 tablespoons seasoned salt,such as Lawry’s

2 teaspoons paprika

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

2 teaspoons ground dried thyme

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, plus more for seasoning

1/4 cup milk

Canola or vegetable oil, for frying

Directions:

Thoroughly rinse the chicken, then cover all the pieces with 4 cups buttermilk and soak in the fridge overnight or up to 24 hours. When you’re ready to fry the chicken, remove the bowl from the fridge and let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes, just to take off the chill.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 360 degrees F and mix up the breading. Place the flour, seasoned salt, paprika, pepper,thyme, and cayenne (extra if you like heat) in a very large bowl. Stir together well.

In a small bowl, combine the 1/4 cup buttermilk and the milk. Pour the milk mixture into the flour and, with a fork, gradually mix until there are little lumps throughout. This will adhere to the chicken and make for a crispier breading. If necessary, add a little more flour or milk to the bowl in order to make it slightly lumpy.

Heat 1 1/2 to 2 inches of oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat until a thermometer reaches 365 degrees F. Lowe the heat slightly, if necessary to keep the oil from getting hotter.

Working in batches, thoroughly coat each chicken piece with the breading, pressing extra breading onto the chicken if necessary. Place the breaded pieces on a plate.

Add the chicken to the oil 4 or 4 pieces at a time. Make sure they aren’t sticking together, then cover the pan and fry for 5 to 7 minutes, checking occasionally to make sure the chicken isn’t getting too brown. Turn the pieces over, cover again, and cook 3 to 5 minutes more. All the while, monitor the temperature of the oil to make sure the chicken doesn’t burn.

Place the chicken on a baking sheet and continue frying the rest of the chicken. When all the chicken has been fried, remove the wings and legs to a plate and keep covered. These should be cooked all the way through by now but always check, if any pink juice or meat is visible. If so, return to the hot oil for another minute or so until fully cooked. Leave the thighs and breasts on the baking sheet.

Bake the thighs and breasts for 15 minutes to finish the cooking process. If any pink juice or meat is visible,the chicken needs to continue cooking in the oven.

Grilled Tuna Belly

I grew up eating a lot of tuna belly in the Philippines because our area just has an abundance of seafood. I do not remember eating frozen seafood, especially fish for that matter! It’s kinda different here in Washington state, the “fresh” ones are so expensive and the frozen are not the best quality I’ve had. Oh well! That’s why I get so excited to go to the ocean because we always get fresh seafood, like tuna belly. The fishermen got it in the morning, and we cooked it for dinner the same day! It was so good:) When we got back home I just prepared the rest of our tuna belly because I didn’t want to freeze anything. I don’t mind having tuna belly for consecutive days if it is fresh and I don’t get to have it often. I marinade it in soy sauce (I used less sodium,1/2 cup), 4 or 5 tablespoon of olive oil, chopped garlic (3 cloves),then pepper. Marinated it for 4-5 hours. Then I grilled it for 4 minutes each side (medium heat). Enjoy with rice and dipping sauce (like vinegar or PINAKURAT is what I used;it’s a famous filipino vinegar.)

Grilled Rosemary Lamb Chops!

I made these grilled Lamb chops tonight and the Hubs said he liked them. I rarely make Lamb dishes because I really don’t like lamb (I only eat it in gyros) but Zach likes it so I make it for him. I got the recipe online (epicurious.com but it says Bon Appetit July 1995 on the recipe). I will probably prepare this again because it was easy and quick and I had all of the ingredients, except for the lamb 😉 After marinating for 4 hours I decided to use our gas grill instead of what the recipe was calling for.

Grilled Rosemary Lamb Chops

Ingredients:

3/4 cup balsamic vinegar

6 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary or 3 tablespoons dried

6 garlic cloves,minced

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

12 1-inch thick lamb chops,fat trimmed

1 1/2 cups mesquite wood chips,soaked in cold water 1 hour (optional) *I skipped this

Preparation

Mix first 6 ingredients in small bowl. Place lamb chops in single layer in 13x9x2 inch glass. Pour marinade over. Cover with foil and refrigerate 4 hours, turning lamb chops occasionally.

Prepare barbecue (medium high heat). When coals turn white, drain chips, if using, and scatter over coals. When chips begin to smoke, season lamb with salt and pepper and place on grill. Cover; grill chops to desired doneness, basting often with marinade, about 4 minutes per side for medium rare. Transfer to platter and serve.

Steamed Clams in white wine!

My hubs prepared these manila clams in white wine sauce early this week. It’s one of my favorite dish because it’s quick and easy to make (aside from cleaning the clams). I make sure that it’s really clean by brushing each clam, it can be time consuming but I really enjoy the broth so I want to make sure there’s no sand in my soup. I normally add flour and soak for 30 minutes then start brushing the shells. Ina Garten says the flour helps remove the sand (I totally agree!). We get our manila clams from the Asian market in Bellevue,Wa.

Steamed Clams in White Wine

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter
3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine or dry Vermouth
2 pounds of clams (Littlenecks or Manilla), rinsed and cleaned
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
*optional 1 small lemon cut into wedges

Directions:
Melt butter in a medium pot over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes until garlic is fragrant but not burned. Add wine and increase heat to medium-high until wine is brought to a simmering boil. Add clams and cooked covered for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until clams have opened. Discard any clams still closed. Add parsley and give the pot a quick stir. Transfer clams and broth to a large serving bowl, serving with lemon wedges on the side.