Gourmet tips news

  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 ...

Grilled Tandoori Chicken Sizzling Tandoori Chicken on the grill Grilled Tandoori Chicken, ready to eat! Tandoori Chicken (after grilling ) I cannot believe summer is almost over. This has been the hottest summer so far; I am making the most of it. Tandoori chicken is my favorite Indian recipe to do in every summer. If you are not used to Indian spices, this is very good recipe to get introduced to the common spices used in Indian cooking; cumin, coriander and turmeric. I know there are many versions of recipes out there a; from Authentic North Indian version to modified shorter version. I have used the Food and Wine tested recipe for my cooking today, This is the most easiest one I have tried so far, and chicken turned out perfectly moist and flavored, better than what you get in an Indian Restaurant. Ingredients: 1 chicken (3 to 3 1/2 pounds), cut into 8 pieces and skin removed 3 tablespoons lemon juice 1 1/2 tablespoons water 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/4 teaspoon ground...