Pumpkin French toast

I had pumpkin overload French toast at a brunch place in Philly the other day and died. It was amazing. So I decided to recreate it at home! This one is layered with sweet cream cheese, creme anglaise (recipe in previous post), whipped cream and pecans.

Ingredients:

1 egg
4 tbsp condensed milk
4 tbsp pumpkin puree
1/2 cup milk
Dash of pumpkin spice seasoning or cinnamon and nutmeg
A few slices of bread (I prefer a thick Italian loaf or challah)

Mix the custard ingredients together. Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Place two slices of bread in the custard, flip and let soak for about  30 seconds. Melt butter into pan and place bread in and fry about a minute or two on each side until brown.

Layer with yummy things like cream cheese, whipped cream etc.

Creme anglaise

This is so easy but adds a delicious, rich touch to any dessert, ice cream, brownies, even waffles or French toast! I originally made this to go with my pumpkin French toast and loved it. It's very easy and takes just a few minutes to make.

Ingredients:

1 cup of heavy cream (or half and half)
1 vanilla bean pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract
4 egg yolks
3 tbsp sugar

Cut the vanilla bean in half and Scrape the beans out and add them and the empty pod to the cream. Heat the cream over medium low heat until it simmers, stirring occasionally.

In the meantime, beat the yolks and sugar with an electric mixer until well blended and the yolks turn pale.

When the cream comes to a simmer, take it off the heat and whisk in a slow steady stream of cream into the eggs. Do this very slowly with small amounts or you'll end up with scrambled egg yolks. Once you've whisked in at least half the cream, slowly pour the egg and cream mixture back into the pot of cream and whisk. Turn the heat back to medium low and heat, stirring occasionally until it thickens. This will only take a couple minutes.

The flakiest pie crust EVER.

I've tried so many different pie crust recipes, and I was skeptical while trying this one, but it turned out to be the flakiest crust I have ever tried! EVER! and it's reasonably easy also. But the best part is that this recipe makes two pie crusts, so you can freeze one for later!

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups of Crisco vegetable Shortening
3 cups All-purpose Flour
1 Egg
5 Tablespoons Cold Water
1 Tablespoon White Vinegar
1 teaspoon Salt

NOTE: make sure all the ingredients are cold, even the flour. It makes it easy to make and a flakier crust.

Cut the shortening into the flour until it resembles a coarse meal. I threw it into the food processor for a few seconds to make this part quicker and easier. Add the rest of the ingredients to the flour and mix until combined, but don't over mix. I would also advise not mixing with your hands because 1) it'll bring the temperature of the mixture up from the heat in your hands and 2) it'll just be a big mess.

Divide into two parts and transfer one into a zip lock. Flatten slightly and freeze for later. I found this dough to be a little on the soft, wet side so I had be very careful whole rolling it out, so I imagine freezing the one you're using for a few minutes would make it easier to work with.

This pie crust can be used for both sweet and savory recipes.

Sriracha chicken

I had this with shrimp at a restaurant and it was AMAZING. spicy and tangy and sooo good.

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken breast, cut into cubes. Or shrimp
1/2 cup corn starch
1/2 cup rice flour
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1/4-1/2 cup sriracha sauce
1 cup chicken or veggie broth
1/4-1/2 cup honey (depending  on how sweet you'd like it)
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
2-3 tbsp soy sauce
Salt to taste
2-3 tbsp corn starch mixed with a little cold water water
Sliced almonds and green onions to garnish

Mix the egg and milk together in a bowl, and the corn starch and rice flour together in a another bowl. Dip the chicken cubes in the egg then into the flour, repeat, and place on a plate. Put it in the fridge for 15-20 minutes while you make the sauce.

Sauté the ginger garlic paste in oil over medium high heat for a minute then add the sriracha, honey, fish sauce, rice vinegar, broth, soy sauce and salt. Once it starts to boil a bit, add to corn starch slurry and stir until it thickens, but not too much. Just before serving add the chicken and stir to coat. Garnish with green onions and almonds.

Chocolate pecan laceys

Okay, these are everything. EVERYTHING. They're like, candy, disguised as a cookie. Nuts, chocolate and toffee, yum! I'm addicted to chocolate macadamia laceys from trader Joes and world market, so I decided to try to recreate them! Found a recipe and tweaked to my liking. Enjoy!

Ingredients :

1 3/4 cups of nuts. I prefer pecans but almonds, hazelnuts or macadamia would work great too.
3 Tablespoons all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons heavy cream
2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
5 Tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
A bag of milk chocolate chips (this is a very sweet cookie, so use semi sweet chips if you prefer)

Chop the nuts in a food processor until very finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl and mix in the flour.

In a saucepan, add the sugar, heavy cream, Butter and corn syrup and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until it comes to a boil. Cook for about another minute, stirring. Turn off heat, stir in the vanilla extract, and pour this mixture over the nuts. Stir to combine and let it cool for about 20-30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpad. When the "dough"  is just cool enough to handle, scoop out a tbsp at a time and roll into balls, placing on a plate as you go. As the dough cools it becomes harder to roll as it gets very crumbly so if this happens, pop it in the microwave for a few seconds. Place the balls on the baking sheet, about two inches apart. These spread A LOT. Bake each batch for about 7-9 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden brown and are bubbly all over. You have to watch these closely because they go from golden brown to burnt very quickly!
Let cool on the pan for 5-10 minutes then remove and cool on a wire rack. They won't be perfect circles so if you really care about that, you can reshape then quickly as soon as you take them out of the oven while they're still soft.

Once they're all cool, melt the chocolate chips on a double boiler OR in the microwave like I do, because it's easier. Using a Butter knife or pastry brush, spread a generous amount of chocolate on the flat side of a cookie then smush another gently on top. Let the sandwiches cool completely so the chocolate sets. Try to not OD on sugar with these beauties.

Gulab Jamuns

Gulab Jamuns

1 cup Nido milk
4 tbsp yogurt
4 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tbls of butter or a half a stick
1/4 spoon baking soda

Melt the butter and add it to yogurt then add it slowly into the dry ingredients as you mix them together

Sheera
Then in a pot add
4 cups of water
3 cups of sugar
And 3 or 4 cardamom seeds (ilashi)
Let this boil for 15 minutes

After you make the dough for the gulab jamuns make small balls by rolling it in the palms of your hands when they are all ready deep fry them and add them to the sheera and enjoy 😃

Garlic Biscuits

Garlic Biscuits 

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups of Bisquick mix

1/2 stick of butter 

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

3/4 cup of milk 

1/4 tspn garlic powder

Brush on top:

2 tbls butter melted

1/2 tspn garlic powder

1/4 tspn dried parsley flakes 

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Mix the mixture together by hand and you may need to add some milk as you mix and then scoop into lil round balls and bake for 15 minutes

then melt the butter into a small bowl with the rest of the brush on top ingredients and brush on top of the biscuits as soon as you take out of the oven

Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients 

1 Onion 

1/2 butter stick

1 pd boneless chicken breast

1 pd frozen mixed vegetables

1 pt. heavy whipping cream

1 small can Creme of mushroom soup

salt, pepper, garlic, ginger, laal mirch, haldi 

2 sheets Pepperidge farm Puff pastry sheets 

Steps 

Cut onion into small cubes 

Heat pan and add the half stick of butter and add onions

Cook until onions are translucent

Cut chicken into small cubes 

WARM oven to 350 degrees

Add a tspn of garlic and ginger paste 

Add chicken 

Add salt 1 tspn some pepper 

A pinch of haldi and laal mirch

Cook until chicken is ready 

Then add the pound of frozen vegetables

Meanwhile add oil to baking tray 

Roll out the pastry sheet wit a rolling pin and spread it on the botton of the pan and put it in the oven to bake 

Go back to pan and add the creme of mushroom soup to the chicken 

Then add the heavy whipping cream let it all cook together 

Then pour the filling into the baking tray 

Then roll out the other sheet and put on top of the mixture and let it overflow on the sides so when it gets baked it is covering the filling

Bake for about 45 minutes or until the pastry sheet is golden brown

Jalapeño popper stuffed burgers

My husband has been loving fast food lately. Burgers, sandwiches, wings, etc. So I've been hunting for recipes to keep up. For these burgers, I googled a few recipes and then just winged it. 

First marinate ground beef with salt, white pepper, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, breadcrumbs, dried parsley flakes, and an egg. Separately make a mixture of diced jalapeños, cream cheese, and your choice of shredded cheese (you can use cheddar, pepper jack, mozzarella, etc). To make the patties, make two thin patties, place as much of the jalapeño mixture as you would like in the middle of one patty and cover it with the other, then press the sides together. Then drizzle a little oil on a grill pan and grill for about 6-7 mins per side. Then take the buns (I used kaiser rolls and split them), and toast them with a few drops of oil on a pan. 

To assemble the burgers, first make a sauce of mayo, ranch, and fire sauce. Spread that on the bottom bun, then add lettuce, sliced tomatoes, and the burger patty. Top with caramelized onions and spicy mustard.

Aash

I got this recipe from a friend recently. This is really easy and very hearty. You can add or subtract whatever veggies or grains you like. I gave measurements for dried herbs but fresh are fine too, just use double the amount if using fresh.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb ground beef
1 onion, chopped
About 1 cup chopped carrots
4 garlic cloves minced
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp parsley flakes
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried dill
1 6 Oz. Can of tomato paste
5 cups of water or chicken broth
1 cup orzo or any small pasta or grain of choice
Salt, pepper, crushed red pepper to taste
Mix the ground beef with salt, pepper, and 1 tsp of garlic powder. Form into tiny meatballs, about  the size of garbanzo beans. (yes, it will be tedious and annoying) fry the meatballs in a couple tbsp of olive oil until brown on all side. Remove from oil and set aside.

Drain off some of the oil from the pot, and sauté onions and carrots until the onions are translucent. Add minced garlic and stir for a minute. Add parsley flakes, oregano, crushed red pepper, salt, pepper, garlic powder and tomato paste and stir. Add water or chicken broth and bring to a boil. Let simmer for ten minutes, then add pasta and meatballs and simmer until pasta is cooked through. Add dill at the end.

Roast Chicken With Vegetables

I got the recipe for this from Sally. I sorta played around with Sally's version and this is what I came up with.
 

Ingredients:

1 Whole Chicken

1 lb red potaoes, cut into cubes

3 stalks celery, cut into cubes

1/2 lb, baby carrots

Butter

Garlic

Kosher Salt

Ground black pepper

Crushed red pepper

Creole seasoning

Lemon juice 

2 Lemon wedges

1/2 onion, cubed

2 peeled garlic cloves

Cilantro 

Mint

2 tbsp chicken tikka masala

Olive oil

Method:

Preheat oven to 425.

Thorughly rinse chicken inside and out. Thoroughly dry with paper towel. Poke holes with a fork all over. 

Grease the roasting pan and lay down the celery, potatoes and baby carrots. Season with olive oil, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. The juices from the chicken will also drizzle down onto the veggies, which will add a lot more flavor. 

Melt butter. Add in garlic, kosher salt, ground black pepper, crushed red pepper, creole seasoning and lemon juice. Using a pastry brush, brush thickly over the chicken. 

Lay the chicken on top of the veggies. Fill the chicken cavity with a lemon wedge or two, onion cubes, garlic cloves and handful of fresh cilantro, mint and some chicken tikka masala mixed with lemon juice. This adds spice and flavor without making it that orange/reddish color. 

Then take four small pieces of foil and cover the wings and the bone part of the leg with the foil because otherwise they'll burn.

Cut lemon rounds and place on top of chicken. Take a small square of foil and lay it on top of the chicken breast so that it doesn't overcook. Cooking should take approximately an hour to 75 minutes depending. 

Remember to remove the foil before serving. Enjoy!

Khausey

I know Sadi added hers a while back, but a friend asked for mine and since I typed it out, I figured I'd post it here as well.

Khawsa is actually really easy. I don't have a proper recipe, but I'll try to guesstimate on proportions.

Kari
Ingredients:
1 cup besan
3/4 cup yogurt
1/4 tsp haldi
1 tbsp coconut powder
1 tbsp garlic/ginger paste
2 Tbsp lemon juice
salt to taste

Directions:
Blend yogurt, besan and about 1 cup water together. Put mixture into a put. At this stage, the kari should be really thin. So add more water if needed otherwise it will stick to the bottom. Add haldi and garlic ginger paste. Cook on medium-high til it boils. Immediately turn down the heat to low. Add in the remaining ingredients and let cook for approximately 30 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally.
NOTE: If it clumps, just run a hand mixer directly in the pot. Also, in the dawat, I made one batch using coconut milk and the second with coconut powder. So you can do that too, if you'd like. Thats it!

Gosht salan
Ingredients:
2 lbs boneless beef cubes (you can add a couple of bones, it really adds to the flavor)
3 medium onions, chopped
2 tbsp garlic ginger paste
4 small tomatoes
4 oz tomato sauce
1 cup yogurt
1 tbsp lal mirch
1/4 tsp haldi
2 tbsp dhaniya powder/coriander
coconut powder
1 jalapeño
1 tsp garam masala
salt to taste

Directions:
Warm oil in a pot. Add in onions. Stir-fry for about five minutes. Add in garlic/ginger paste. Stir and add in meat, lal mirch, dhaniya powder, haldi, salt & coconut powder. Blend yogurt, tomatoes and jalapeño together and add that in as well. Cook for about an hour on medium-low heat. After an hour, the meat should be tender. Increase the heat and 'bhun' on medium-high til the oil is released and it gets that dark brown color. You can add a little water if it starts to stick. Turn off the stove, making sure the salan is not too dry. Add in garam masala and a little lemon juice if you want.

Spaghetti:
1 16-0z box thin spaghetti, cooked as per package directions

So basically put the spaghetti in a bowl. Add kari, then gosht salan. Garnish as desired.

Garnish
You can garnish with green onions, regular onions, fried garlic, fried crushed red peppers, fried onions, cilantro or mint. My mom also garnishes with fried spaghetti and cubed, boiled potatoes. Don't forget the potato chips :)

Spring Rolls

Ok, someone just asked me for these recipes, so as I emailed them to her I also decided to post them here!

Spring Rolls:

Ingredients:

Angel Hair Spaghetti (boiled)

Boneless chicken or ground chicken

Green Beans (chopped)

Carrots (chopped)

Bell Peppers (cut into tiny cubes)

Cabbage (thinly cut)

Black Pepper

Soy Sauce 

Salt 

Any variety of chinese sauces

Directions: 

Boil the chicken with black pepper, salt and soy sauce. You can add anything else you'd like such as garlic or chili garlic sauce. Let cool. If you've used chicken breasts, shred the chicken with your hands. 

In a pot, heat approximately 4 tbsp oil. Add in spaghetti and chicken. Add black pepper, salt, soy sauce and any chinese sauces you'd like. I use sriracha, chili garlic sauce or tom yum paste depending on what I have available. If I have all three, I'll put in a little of each. I love the flavor that tom yum paste gives it! You can also add ketchup. (lol, as you can see this is not a very strict, gourmet recipe). 

Mix well and let dry. Remove from heat and add vegetables.  

Shape into rolls. Fry and enjoy!

Dahi Phulkis

Dahi baray:

Ingredients:

1 Cup besan

pinch of lal mirch

pinch of salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 egg

water 

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients together till they form a paste, kind of like cake batter consistency. Take a teaspoon and drop individually into a wok with hot oil. Let turn golden. Remove.

Pur directly into a bowl of water. Let soak till soft (approximately 3 minutes). 

Separately mix 4 tbsp of sugar into a bowl of yogurt. Add salt to taste. You might need milk to thin out the yogurt a little. 

Soak the water out of the barai and add into the yogurt. Mix and let chill. serve.

NOTE: Something else you can do is after frying the barai you can just take them out in a plate. Let them cool and put them in a ziploc and refrigerate them. Then you can take them out when you suddenly have guests. They last for months! All you have to do is put them directly in a bowl of water and microwave for a minute. They taste very fresh!

Gumbo

Gumbo. Yes.

My version of a few authentic New Orleans gumbo recipes. (one of which was passed down from the authors grandmother. That's legit.)

Ingredients:

One large chicken breast, cut into small cubes
1 lb shrimp, cut in half
2 spicy sausages, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 Jalapeño, minced
2 Celery stalks, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
Handful of flat leaf/Italian parsley, chopped
4 green onions, sliced, green and white parts separated
1 cup okra, sliced
5 tbsp butter
4 tbsp all purpose flour
4 tbsp Cajun or creole seasonings (I use a mix of Tony chachere's and old Bay. Emeril makes a good one too)
1 tbsp Italian seasonings
1 Bay leaf
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
2 chicken or beef bouillon cubes
About 4 cups water

Saute the okra in a pan for just a couple minutes and set aside.

Melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add onions, bell pepper, Celery and Jalapeño and saute until they start to soften, or about five minutes. Add the garlic and white parts of the green onions and stir for another minute or two. Sprinkle the flour on top and stir constantly for 3-5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook stirring until they're mushy. Add the chicken and seasonings and cook until no longer pink. Add the shrimp and cook until no longer pink. Add the sausage, crushed bouillon cubes and most of the parsley, water and okra and simmer for about twenty minutes, stirring occasionally. If it's too thin, add a couple tbsp of flour slurry. Garnish with remaining parsley, green onions and Serve over white rice.

Chile rellenos

This was so easy to make, although a tiny bit time consuming, but was soo yummy!

Ingredients:

4 Poblano chilis
White cheese, like monterrey jack
2 egg whites and 1 yolk, separated, at room temperature

2 tomatoes
1/2 onion
1/2 jalapeno
3 cloves garlic
Salt
1/2 tsp oregano

Char the Poblanos over the open flame of the stove, or under the broiler in the oven, turning to ensure the entire thing turns black. Put them in a bowl and cover. Let them sit and sweat for about 20 minutes

When they are cool, gently scrape off the charred skin with a better knife, slit down the center and then at the top, under the stem, only halfway around. Gently remove the core and seeds. Stuff with cheese and stick a toothpick through to secure.

Heat oil in frying pan. Whip the egg whites with electric beater until stiff peaks form. Whip the yolk for just a minute. Fold the yolk into the white without deflating them. Gently coat the chili in the egg mixture and place into hot oil. I noticed the egg didn't coat the chili too well so after placing in oil, I spread a dollop of egg batter on top of the chili. Flip and cook until golden brown.

Blend the second set of ingredients and simmer on the stove for fifteen minutes. Serve over the Chile rellenos.

Arroz con Pollo

A Mexican comfort food that's much easier to make than I expected and a simple one dish meal! This is usually made with a whole cut up chicken, but I used chicken breast cubes.

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken breast, cut into cubes
1 onion,  diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeño, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups rice
4 cups water
4 tbsp adobo seasoning (an all purpose seasoning, I used Goya brand)
1 chicken bouillon cube
A pinch of saffron
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion in oil over medium heat. When it just begins to turn tender, add bell peppers, garlic and jalapenos and saute for a minute. Add chicken and seasonings and cook until no longer pink. Add rice and stir well. Add water, saffron and chicken cube and bring to a boil. When most of the water has dried up cover and reduce heat to low. Rice should be done in about ten minutes.

I served this with chile rellenos.

Indo-chinese chicken wings

I had a version of these from a restaurant once and loved them. I'm also a huge fan of "drums of heaven"  which are Indo-chinese style chicken lollipops. This is my attempt at recreating something similar.

Ingredients:

Chicken wings, skin on, cut in half
1/2 onion chopped
1 jalapeño minced
2-3 green onions sliced, whites and green parts separated
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
A handful cilantro chopped
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp sambal chili garlic sauce
4 tbsp sweet chili sauce
1/2 tsp white pepper (black will work as well if you don't have white pepper)
1 tsp sriracha
A dash of rice vinegar
Salt to taste
1 tsp corn starch mixed with 2 tsp cold water

Heat oil and saute onion for a minutes. Add jalapeño and white parts of green onions and saute for another minute. Add ginger garlic paste and most of the cilantro and stir. Add soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, sriracha, sambal, white pepper and rice vinegar and cook until boils. Reduce heat and simmer for bout five minutes add about 1/4 cup water and corn starch slurry. Cook until thickened. Add rest of cilantro and green parts of green onion. Toss deep fried wings in sauce.

Khatta khana (spicy tangy rice) with lemon, tamarind or tomato.

This is really simple and is one of my favorite comfort foods. Goes great with kabobs, tandoori, or anything fried.

Ingredients

Cooked, cold rice
1 onion, diced
4-5 curry leaves
1 tsp mustard seeds (rye)
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds (methi)
1 jalapeno, cut lengthwise
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup whole peanuts (optional)
1/2 tsp red mirchi powder
Pinch of haldi powded
Salt to taste
For lemon rice, about 1/4 cup lemon juice for tamarind rice, about 1/4 cup tamarind pulp
For tomato rice, about 1/4 cup tomato sauce (couple tbsp tomato paste mixed with water)
Chopped cilantro to garnish

Fry onions in oil until they just begin to brown, add jalapeno, peanuts, curry leaves, mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds. Add minced garlic and haldi and stir for about 30 seconds. Throw in the rice and stir. Increase heat to medium high or high. Add mirchi powder and salt and either lemon juice, tamarind pulp or tomato sauce and stir. Garnish with cilantro.

Jalapeno hushpuppies

This is a tweaked version of a recipe I sound online. It was pretty good but needed a bit more flavor hence my variations. They were also surprisingly easy!

1 cup cornmeal 
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt 
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 
1/2 teaspoon black pepper 
1 egg
2/3 cup buttermilk ( or 2/3 cups milk with 3 tsp vinegar. Let it sit for 15 mins)
2 green onions sliced
1 jalapeno diced 
1/2 onion chopped
2 garlic cloves minced

Heat oil for deep frying. Mix all the ingredients together into a thick batter. Drop batter into hot oil by the teaspoonful. Fry until golden brown. I served this with sweet chili sauce and ranch dressing.

Crepes

Crepes are much easier than people think, and can be made sweet or savory. They also work great as a make ahead dish and can be stored flat in the fridge for upto 4 days. I would recommend reheating them slightly on a frying pan as the microwave tends to make them slightly chewy.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
2 eggs
3/4 cup of milk
1/2 cup of water
3 tbsp melted butter

Butter to grease pan

For savory crepes add a pinch of salt, pepper and garlic powder if desired.

For sweet crepes add a tsp of vanilla extract and a tbsp of sugar.

Mix all the ingredients until no lumps as visible. You can also pulse in the blender for ease.

Heat a frying pan over medium heat, add a bit of butter and coat the pan. Tilt the pan to one side and pour in about 3/4 cup of batter to the side and turn the pan to coat with batter. Cook for about two minutes, then flip and cook for another couple minutes until both sides are golden brown.

I like to stuff sweet crepes with Nutella, Biscoff, berries, bananas and top with cool whip and powdered sugar.

Savory crepes would be great with any sautéed veggies like spinach, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, etc, cheese, sauces, and even protein like chicken or fish.

Linguine with spicy shrimp sauce

Ok here goes:

First of all, this is not the original recipe I made, because I can never recreate a dish exactly. I'm just going to let you know how I think I might have made it and then I'll edit it out on Sunday when I make it again for the Super Bowl. (Because obviously you think Italian, when you hear the words 'super bowl').

INGREDIENTS:
Boiled linguini 1lb
Small cooked shrimp 2 lbs
Birds eye Normandy blend vegetables 1 bag
Red pepper flakes
Butter/margarine
Small onion, chopped 1 
Parsley
Olive oil
Garlic cloves (diced)
Bay leaves
Black pepper & salt to taste
Diced tomatoes 2 cans
Green onions, thinly sliced
Large red tomato 1
Jalapeños 

METHOD:

Toss boiled linguine with olive oil, parsley and red pepper flakes. Set aside.

Heat butter/margarine in a non-stick pan. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add onions and cook till softened. Add green onions, red pepper flakes, lemon juice, bay leaf and salt and pepper to taste.  Dry the mixture and add shrimp.  Cook lightly until shrimp are well-coated.  I wanted the shrimp to be spicier so I also added some cayenne pepper and paprika before turning off the heat. Add in vegetables and mix.

For the sauce, warm olive oil in a pan. Add in diced tomatoes. Add in black pepper, garlic powder, hot sauce and jalapeños. Cook for approximately 5-7 minutes. Turn off heat.

In an oven-proof tray, spray cooking spray. Add  linguine. Pour sauce over top. Pour shrimp mixture on top. Put in oven and bake on 250 for 10 minutes. Serve. 

Note: I did feel like I could've mixed marinara sauce and salsa and lightly cooked it and have achieved the same result. 

Peri peri chicken

I've never actually had the famous Nando's peri peri chicken, but with the interwebs, any recipe is available these days! I decided to try it out, especially since I was so excited to test out my shiny new toaster oven with ROTISSERIE feature! Woot. This is my tweaked version of a bunch of recipes.

Ingredients :
One whole chicken, skin on (you can of course use pieces)
5 garlic cloves
3-5 birds eye chili's. This seems to be the main chili pepper used in all the recipes however, I didn't have any so I used 1/2 a jalapeno, 1/2 a Serrano and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper.
1 tsp paprika
1/2 red bell pepper
1 tbsp oregano
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper

Blend all the ingredients to form a smooth marinade. Apply liberally on the chicken. If using a whole chicken with skin on, be sure to get the marinade under the skin as well. I also like to shove pats of butter under the skin. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour. I like to marinate for a day or overnight when possible.

I cooked my whole skin on chicken in my rotisserie on 450 degrees for about 45 minutes. You can also bake the chicken on 400 and then broil to achieve the crispness or brown color. I also basted the chicken with melted butter for the last ten minutes of cooking.

If you have any marinade leftover, cook in a saucepan over medium low heat for about ten minutes then use as a dipping sauce.