AwesomeBites

Author: Sandy

  • Cantelope and Watermelon Skewers

    Cantelope cubes

    Watermelon cubes

    Stick on a skewer and serve as appetizer.

  • KFC Coleslaw

    One of my friends, Brandee, used to make this crowd pleaser.  Always great at a pot luck dinner or picnic.
    8 Cups Finely chopped cabbage
    1/4 Cup carrots, shredded
    1/3 Cup sugar
    1/2 Teaspoon salt
    1/8 Teaspoon pepper
    1/4 Cup of milk
    1/2 Cup mayonnaise
    1/4 Cup buttermilk
    1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
    2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

    Preparation

    No preparation instructions, just mix it all together

  • Grilled Bread and Tomato Salad

    • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
    • 2 garlic cloves, minced
    • 8 ounces day-old Italian bread, cut into 3/4-inch-thick slices
    • 6 dead-ripe meaty tomatoes, cored, seeded, and cut into quarters
    • 1/4 cup minced red onion
    • 1/3 cup fruity extra-virgin olive oil
    • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
    • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
    • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
    • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
    • 7 or 8 grindings black pepper

     

    Preparation

    1. Place a small saucepan over medium heat and add the butter. When it’s about half melted, throw in the garlic and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, allowing the garlic to take on a little bit of color. Remove from the heat and brush this mixture on both sides of each slice of bread.

    2. Oil the grill racks. Preheat your grill using all burners set on high and with the lid closed for 10 to 12 minutes.

    3. Place the bread on the grill, close the lid, and cook, turning once, until well marked. Careful here; depending on the moisture content of the bread, this could happen as quickly as 2 minutes (or about 1 minute on each side), but it usually takes about 4 minutes. Place the tomatoes on the grill, close the lid, and cook for a few minutes per side.

    4. Remove the bread to a cutting board, cut into 3/4-inch cubes, and place in a large mixing bowl. Add the tomatoes, onion, olive oil, vinegar, herbs, salt, and pepper. Toss gently with your hands to combine. Taste and adjust the seasonings if you desire. Serve at room temperature.

  • Grilled Striped Bass

    • three 2- to 3-pound cleaned whole striped bass

    Preparation

    Prepare grill. Pat fish dry and season generously inside and out with salt and pepper. Grill fish on a well-oiled rack set 5 to 6 inches over glowing coals 8 to 10 minutes on each side, or until just cooked through in thickest part.

    Serve fish with chimichurri sauce.

  • Grilled Tricolor Peppers

    yield: Makes 4 servings

    One serving packs more than two times your requirement of vitamin C.

    Ingredients

    • Vegetable oil cooking spray
    • 1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded and sliced into strips
    • 1 yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded and sliced into strips
    • 1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and sliced into strips
    • 1 large Vidalia onion, sliced into strips
    • 1 tbsp olive oil
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

    Preparation

    Coat grill with cooking spray and heat on high. Toss bell peppers, onion, oil, salt and pepper in a bowl. Grill, turning occasionally, until vegetables soften, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

  • Green Salad with Glazed Nuts

    Chopped greens – mixed baby or arugula

    Croutons

    Diced red onions

    Blue Cheese Crumbles

    Glazed pecans or walnuts

    Dress with original vinegar and oil, or blue cheese vinegarette, creamy blue cheese, or balsamic

  • Creamy Chicken Soup with Saffron – Pot Pie

    The Driskill Hotel in Austin is where I first tasted this great pot pie.

    Ingredients

    1 1/2 whole chicken breasts, poached, skinned, boned, cut into julienne
    1/2 c. marsala
    3 egg yolks
    Salt, to taste
    6 c. chicken stock
    1/4 c. pine nuts, coarsely chopped
    1 tsp. saffron threads
    3/4 c. whipping cream

    Top Crust – Puff Pastry

    Preparation

    Combine chicken stock and pine nuts in medium saucepan. Heat to boiling, reduce, simmer 5 minutes. Add marsala and saffron. Simmer 2 more minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk egg yolks and cream into hot soup, whisking constantly.

    Fill individual baking dishes and cover with Puff Pastry.
    Bake for 45 minutes until brown. Serve immediately.

  • Broiled Duck Breast Appetizer

    Served with Hollandaise sauce and white raisins. Perfect combination. I worked up my own version after trying this in Austin Texas at the Driskill Hotel,Chef Bull.

    Ingredients

    Duck Breast seasoned and cooked medium rare.
    Hollendaise Sauce
    White raisins

    Preparation

    Cut the duck breast into medallions and top with hollandaise sauce with a raisin.
    Combination is extraordinary.

    I am going to do a derivation for Thanksgiving appetizers, adding mincemeat as a stuffing, pounding the duck breast flat and than rolling it then broil until the fat is crispy. 

  • Saffron Lemon Cream Sauce

    Great as the base for Potatoes Au Gratin, or for Chicken pot pie

    LEMON SAFFRON CREAM

    1/2 tsp. minced shallots
    1 tbsp. butter
    1 c. heavy cream
    Pinch of saffron
    Lemon segments with peel
    Salt & white pepper to taste
    Splash white wine or sherry.

    Use with your AuGratin recipe and kick it up by using sweet potatoes, turnips and Yukon Gold potatoes.

    In preheated saute pan, heat butter and saute shallots until clear. Add saffron. Splash pan with wine or sherry and reduce liquid by half. Add cream, salt and pepper. Let all reduce. Add lemon segments. This sauce works perfectly with scallops, shrimp or, even crabmeat. Serve over pasta, rice or just as a sauce garnish.

  • Julia Child’s Cherry Clafoutis

    Julia Child’s Cherry Clafoutis

    Baking my Black and Blue Berry Clafoutis

    I have heard many descriptions for this dish, from pancake to pudding. My goodness, just say crepe! That is the taste and texture. It is a crepe dish. Instead of making a bunch of crepes, you make a crepe casserole. And thinking of this makes me also realize it would be great with a mushroom cheese filling served along a nice salad. I guess any filling for a crepe could be used. How exciting! A savory clafoutis. I have to put that on my to do list!

    For things like clafouti you can’t go wrong with Julia Child’s recipe. While this serves 6-8 people for dessert, it also makes a wickedly indulgent breakfast for 4!
    Cherry Clafoutis

    Julia Child’s Clafoutis  (kla-foo-TEE)
    serves 6-8

    1 1/4 cups milk
    1/3 cup sugar
    3 eggs
    1 Tablespoon vanilla
    1/8 teaspoon salt
    1/2 cup flour
    3 cups cherries, pitted
    1/3 cup sugar
    powdered sugar

    In a bowl mix the milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour with your stick blender. Pour a 1/4 inch layer of the batter in a buttered 7 or 8 cup lightly buttered fireproof baking dish. Place in the oven until a film of batter sets in the pan. Remove from the heat and spread the cherries over the batter. Sprinkle on the 1/3 cup of sugar. Pour on the rest of the batter. Bake at 350 degrees for about for about 45 minutes to an hour. The clafouti is done when puffed and brown and and a knife plunged in the center comes out clean. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, serve warm.

    Directions

    1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 9-inch baking dish, 1 1/4 inches deep. Coat with granulated sugar; tap out excess. Whisk eggs, yolk, and flour in a medium bowl; whisk in creme fraiche, milk, granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt.
    2. Arrange cherries in prepared dish. Strain batter over cherries. Bake until browned around edges and set in the center, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool slightly. Dust with confectioners’ sugar, and serve warm with creme fraiche.

    Clafouti is best warm, so bake it just before you serve dinner. Scoop it into bowls, with a spoonful of creme fraiche or bake it up and have it for breakfast in the morning!  

    Clementines, Blackberries, Raspberries, Cherries all are great in this crepe like dish with fruit!

    Blackberry Clafoutis