Gourmet tips news

      Who does not like to taste a crusty loaf of bread straight out from the oven.Most people stay away from making bread, thinking it takes a whole lot of baking skills  to make a professionally looking bread.  If you are not pressed for time, this recipe is for you, There is no kneading required, we just let gluten does all the hard  work for us. All you need is all purpose  flour , salt , yeast and the dried fruits/nuts you are planning to add. Its amazing with these simple ingredients, you will be able to make a perfect bread. One of the important step in the process is to make the dough  sticky, that moisture will help for gluten to work  its magic over time and form the bread. I have made different verity of mixed dried fruit  bread loafs, by far this is my favorite combination, sour Cranberries will balance the sweetness from raisin and pecan will add the nutty flavors to the bread. It...

Steamed Clams in Beer with Chile and Cilantro Steamed Clams in Beer with Chile and Cilantro Steamed Clams in Beer with Chile and Cilantro A perfect Beach Day @LongBranch,New Jersey It�s a perfect sunny day in New Jersey. After spending hours in the beautiful Long Branch beach, it�s time to head back home. One of my favorite things to do in summer is to go to the beach. If it�s dip in to  the water  or just lie down and soaking up the sun  on warm sand  or just strolling on the broad walk, I will always find my 'Happy Place'. These Jersey Beaches are super clean, township does a good job of maintaining it. I would highly recommend to check out Long Branch, Belmar or Ocean Grove for anyone needs a beach day.  I can never get enough beach days in my calendar as summer goes really fast.  On our way back home, we stopped at the sea food market to get a bag of Little Neck Clams to make it for dinner.  I love clams either steamed or baked, all I need is a go...

I love my burgers lean ,soft and chewy! If you want to eat healthy , looking for something lean  but with little bit of a spicy kick, then this burger recipe is for you. One of the reason I gave up on store bought patty is that it has so much fat/chemicals  in it and does not have any flavor on them. Who needs to eat tasteless frozen burger when you can make it at home  healthy and tasty. I buy the leaned minced chicken from Amish market  in Kingston. Their meat is always tastes like real meat, hormone and anitobotic free. I know it sounds like a paid endorsement, trust me I don't get paid to promote their products,  there's a big difference in your burger when you use fresh meat over the store bought frozen ones. Now , As per the spices added, you can cut down if spices are not your thing. I really love the heat from Smoked Chipotle powder and Crushed Red Pepper flakes . Coriander powder adds light curry flavor to the burger along with sweetness from co...

Papaya and Strawberry Smoothie @https://healthygourmetfood.blogspot.com Summer is here! What a better way to begin the day with super  healthy Papaya and Strawberry smoothie.  Papaya is one of the latest super food craze here , but if you are from a tropical country , its one of many trees you grow in your back yard. Its very easy to grow and low maintenance, you will get papaya all year around. I remember  plucking Papaya from our backyard for either make a salad or just eat it as fruit. It's mildly sweet and  very light in texture, just taste more like a melon. You can find the Papaya's in most supermarkets under the  fresh produce section. But not all chain stores carry it, I get mine from Whole Food, they are freshly imported from Mexico. The key to get choose a good papaya is to look for a medium ripen, firm bodied one, you can see little bit of yellowish spots in the skin of the fruit. In a good summer day, it will be fully ripen i...

    Pork chops were not  a regular dinner menu in our house growing up, being an islander, we love our freshly caught Tuna and Sardines from the fish market every morning. But occasionally on Saturday's, my mom would stop at the butcher down the road and pick up a good center cut pork for making a roast or a stew. My favorite is always the grilled coriander /pepper crusted pork chops. Those days, specialty food like Dijon mustard, ketchup were not readily available in all stores. We had to make most ingredients like mustard paste from scratch, it was lot of work but they were always freshly made from local organic spices. We would marinade it overnight to absorb the flavors and grill it in on the wood fired clay oven outside. After few minutes in high heat, Pork chops would come out perfectly chard with thin spiced crust, the smoke given by the wood burning also make the chops more flavorful and irresistible. We would all sit outside by the mango trees and eat away t...

Beef Marinade When you are in a time crunch and need a quick stir fry one pot recipe for dinner, this is my go to beef stir fry recipe. It's packed with protein and vegetables, you just don�t need to spend hours in the kitchen preparing varieties of dishes. I love Korean cuisine, if it�s the kimchi, noodles, stew or BBQ meats, all of them have strong spiced flavors from fermented chili paste balanced with tangy/sweetness from soy, sugar, and ginger/garlic marinade. You can use any type of beef, including sirloin, flank steak. I used chuck beef for this recipe because it�s more flavorful and also less expensive than other cuts. I usually buy fresh beef from our local Amish market, its grass fed, hormone /chemical free and leaner in fat. This recipe is super easy to do and you will be amazed at the flavors. All you need is a bowl of plain noodles /rice and a glass of semi-sweet red wine to go with. Servings: 4 Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes Ingredients: 1 pound beef (t...

? ? Before Frying Masala Vadai/Parippu Vadai is considered as one of the popular street food in Sri- Lanka. This dish always brings back the happy childhood memories for me.  As a kid growing up in Sri-Lanka, My mom would always take me to Wallewatte beach for our evening walks and getting piping hot Masala Vadai and coconut chick pea mix from street cart vendor was my favorite things to do.(besides screaming and jumping over the waves).  I don't know if it was the salty air, coconut oil or the additives in the food, it always tasted better than any fancy restaurants I had dine in Colombo. I tried to mimic the taste in my head with this recipe, it came out pretty darn good, really crispy and spicy with lots of green chilies inside. Cooking time: 20 minutes Preparation time: 2 hours Ingredients: 1 cup of split peas dal (Channa Dal) 2-3 dry red chilies, crushed (1 tsp red chilli flakes or 2 green chillies) 1 piece of ginger, minced 1 small onion, finely chopped 1 s...

  I love  eating a toasted English muffin with a marmalade/apricot  jam  for breakfast and finishing up with  a freshly brewed cup of coffee. I usually buy Thomas English muffins  from the store and was looking for a recipe to make it at home.  This recipe is very easy to make and by adding some dried raisins and cranberries gives you more flavors.  It turned out so moist and delicious, hope you all try it at home. Here's the recipe with the modification. Ingredients : 1 lb All-purpose or bread flour  1 tsp salt  1 1/2 tbsp dry yeast  1 tsp sugar  1 cup Warm milk  2 oz butter, melted 1 cup of  dried fruits (raisins/cranberries) Directions: 1.Sift the flour and salt into a bowl , add dried fruits . Dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm (105� F) Let froth, then mix in the butter. 2.Stir all the liquid into the flour and beat well until smooth and elastic. 3.Cover and proof in a warm place for 50 minutes or until dou...

Paella is one of the most famous seafood dish in any Spanish cuisine.   It does not matter if you come from North, south or center of Spain, everyone has their favorite paella recipe. Below recipe is adopted from a southern region of Spain, hopefully you will like it as much as I enjoyed cooking it. This is a fairly quick paella with minimal pre-cooking. It will take about 30 minutes to prepare and 20 to 30 minutes to cook.   Ingredients: �6 oz. shrimp, peeled (reserve the shells for broth) and patted dry �1 small bottle clam juice �Pinch saffron threads �Kosher salt �1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil �6 oz. dry scallops, patted dry �4 oz. calamari, cut in rings (optional), patted dry �1/2 onion, grated on the largest holes of a box grater �6 garlic cloves, peeled �1 tomato, halved and grated on a box grater (discard the skin) �1 1/2 cups medium grain rice �8 small clams or mussels (or both), scrubbed �2 lemons, cut in wedges Yield: 4   Direction: 1. In a medium saucepan, br...

This is the first post of a dinner party series composed both of parties I'll host and cater. I moved into a new house a couple of months ago and this was the first dinner party I hosted. My friend Chris, who also works with me at GG and I put it together. I wanted to make a one dish meal that didn't require a lot of prep at party time.  Chris and I started by gathering ingredients and flowers we needed from the farmer's market. As best I can I try to use both seasonal and local ingredients, we used Louisiana Shrimp from the farmer's market and bought the rest of the seafood at Whole Foods.  We started out by making stock from the lobster and shrimp shells, chopped the vegetables, prepared the seafood and then just put it together after everyone arrived while we had cocktails. We made a composed salad which he plated ahead of time, and set that on the table before everyone arrived. Those steps made everything much easier to serve the meal in courses.  I wasn't sure ...

Its a cloudy day in Jersey, I must say I did enjoy every bit of summer heat in last couple of weeks. So its hard getting back to no sunshine and pouring rain which ruins any chance of going out for lunch. I am stuck at home, scrolling through the list of bookmarked recipes to feed my appetite for something spicy and warm. Ina Garten's Mexican chicken soup popped up in my screen, I quickly scanned the ingredients in the recipe and I had all vegetables handy and some left over roasted chicken from last night.  I love Ina's recipes, they are very easy to follow, practical and it comes out perfect every time. So I decided to give it a go, only addition I did to the recipe was to throw in some Swiss chards that I had lying around in my fridge. It came out really flavorful and light, perfect for a rainy day.  You can get her full recipe from her website , I have posted here with my modifications. Ingredients: 4 split (2 whole) chicken breasts, bone in, skin on Olive oil ...