The Charmed Kitchen

Shrimp Fried Rice

I got together with friends to celebrate Chinese New Year and we made several Asian- inspired dishes. I did my version of fried rice, using brown Jasmine rice as the base. I cooked the rice a day ahead so it would be cold when I fried it the next day. I left the shrimp whole- I prefer that. I really liked the way it came out. Of course, you can switch out ingredients in countless ways. It isn’t like the take out fried rice you are used to. It’s moister and actually has a lot less oil in it. I loved it and so did the other guests at the dinner.

Shrimp Fried Rice

2 c. uncooked rice- I used brown rice and prefer it in this dish
4 c. stock or water
Soy sauce to taste
4 T. oil, or a bit more
1 onion, diced
1 sweet pepper, seeded and diced
1½ c. shelled edamame (fresh soybeans), you could use green peas
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
12 oz. raw medium shrimp, shelled and deveined
2 t. grated ginger
1 t. hot sauce
Toasted sesame oil
Chopped green onions

Cook rice in water or stock (stock preferred). Add some soy sauce to the cooking liquid, if you like. Once rice is cooked, cool down and keep in the fridge until ready to use. Better if you make the rice a day ahead. Heat half of the oil in large skillet or wok and cook the onion until lightly browned. Add the pepper, edamame and garlic and cook about 3 minutes longer. Add shrimp and cook, stirring often, until shrimp are just cooked through. Remove from pan and set aside. Heat remaining oil in pan and stir fry the rice until just starting to turn a little golden around the edges. You might have to do this in batches. Once rice is done return the shrimp mixture to the wok, with the rice, and stir to mix well. Add seasonings and adjust to your taste, adding more soy sauce if needed. Drizzle with a little sesame oil and green onions and serve. Serves 6-8.

Tiramisu Doughnuts

I will be having my annual Doughnut Days again this year. Held on Fat Tuesday, (Feb 17)  from noon until 9 pm, it is a chance for you to learn how to make doughnuts. This year we will be having the Tiramisu Doughnuts everybody loves along with many other doughnuts and fritters. The star is always the jelly doughnuts. I do this every year to honor my parents who made them, too. So stop on by to learn to make doughnuts, maybe see a few friends and of course to eat doughnuts.  The address is 18007 East Park Dr. in Cleveland. For more info please email me at judi_strauss@att.net.

Chocolate Waffles

I served these to a couple of friends recently and got a request for the recipe. These are fun because they can be for breakfast, brunch or dessert. If you like, you can even add some chocolate chips to the batter for a stronger chocolate taste.  Might be the perfect breakfast in bed for Valentine’s Day. Chocolate waffles are great topped with fresh berries. As an added bonus, they freeze well, too.

Chocolate Waffles

 2 eggs, room temperature

1/2 stick butter, melted and cooled

1 t. vanilla

1 c. buttermilk

1 c. flour

3/4 c. sugar

1/2 c. cocoa

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 each baking powder and baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. nutmeg

Beat first three ingredients until light and foamy, about 2 minutes. Stir in milk. Beat in dry ingredients just until blended. Bake until waffles are cooked through. Makes 4 cups batter. Serve with whipped butter or sour cream and fresh fruit. I like them just dusted with powdered sugar, too.

Triple Chocolate Cheesecake

When I needed a special dessert for this weekend I decided to combine chocolate with cheesecake. I used bits and pieces from several different recipes to come up with this Triple Chocolate Cheesecake. The crust is made from chocolate cookies. The filling has white chocolate in it and the cheesecake is topped off with a strawberry glaze and chocolate “stars”. It was also an excuse to use the heart shaped springform pan I bought a few months ago. You don’t need to have a heart-shaped pan to make it, just a springform pan and a love of all things chocolate.

Triple Chocolate Cheesecake

Crust:
1½ c. chocolate cookie crumbs
3 T. butter, melted

Cheesecake:
6 oz. White chocolate, chopped fine
1½ lb. Cream cheese, room temperature
¾ c. sugar
4 eggs

Strawberry Glaze:
1½ sliced strawberries
¼ c. sugar
¼ c. water
1 T. cornstarch
2 T. cold water

Chocolate topping:
4 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
3 T. butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine crust ingredients and press into the bottom of a 9 or 10-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven and set aside. Melt white chocolate, set aside and allow to cool a little. Beat cheese with sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix in white chocolate and pour into the pan. Bake about 50-55 minutes until edges are puffed and golden. Center will not be set. Cool completely before refrigerating. Edges will puff up on this cheesecake and center will be lower. Aids in using the strawberry glaze later. Prepare glaze. Combine berries with sugar and water in pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Combine cornstarch with cold water and add to berries. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Strain through a fine mesh strainer and pour over the center of the cooled cheesecake. Return to fridge. After cheesecake has chilled an hour, or longer, make the chocolate topping. Melt chocolate and butter together and stir until smooth. Using a piping bag and a star tip- out line the strawberry glaze with chocolate “stars”. Return to fridge until ready to serve. Serves 10.

Fish Chowder

When I think of seafood chowder I usually think about a creamy mix of some sort of shellfish with assorted veggies. Always a favorite of mine. This fish chowder is a little different. It is a mix of wonderful veggies, for sure, but there is no dairy and the seafood is any mild fish you happen to like. It is both hearty and light at the same time, if that makes sense. The recipe calls for Roma tomatoes, but I used a pint of my home canned tomatoes, liquid and all, which made the tomato a little more pronounced. I actually liked it that way a lot.  Here is the recipe. If you want to make fish tonight, but a little different, you might want to give it a try.

Fish Chowder

1 medium carrot, sliced
2 ribs celery, diced
2 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
1 large leek, white part only, cleaned and chopped
5 c. chicken, vegetable or fish stock
2 c. plum tomatoes, drained, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 lb. firm white fish cut into 1/2 inch cubes – I used flounder
1/4 c. flour
1/2 t. paprika
2 T. oil
In broth cook the carrot, celery and leeks 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and potatoes and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes longer. Season to taste. Meanwhile mix the flour and paprika together and dredge the fish in it. Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat and cook the fish until lightly browned on both sides. Drain on paper towels. Before serving add fish pieces to the soup and simmer 5 minutes. Serve with crusty bread. Serves 6.

Fettuccine with Red Clam Sauce

This is a great recipe for when you don’t have a lot of time but still want a home cooked meal. This whole dinner can easily be made in under 30 minutes, but will taste like you spent a lot more time than that.  By the time the pasta is cooked, you can have the sauce ready. Toss the pasta and sauce together and you’re good to go. I often make the more traditional version with linguine- but since I was out- fettuccine was our winner today.

Fettuccine with Red Clam Sauce

1 T. oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans, 10 oz. each, whole clams, drained of about half of their liquid
1 c. finely chopped parsley
2-3 c. marinara sauce
pepper to taste
1 lb. linguine
Parmesan cheese, grated

Heat oil in large skillet and sauté garlic until tender. Add clams and parsley and cook over medium heat 5 minutes. Most of the liquid from the clams should cook off. Add marinara sauce and pepper and simmer 5 more minutes. Meanwhile prepare pasta al dente. Drain pasta and transfer to a large warm serving bowl. Toss with the sauce and sprinkle with cheese. Makes 6 servings.

Sweetheart Cookies

For Valentine’s Day not every dessert has to be chocolate. These sugar cookies would be a great way to share the love. I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe and cut out hearts. I then used a smaller heart cookie cutter and cut out smaller hearts from half of the cookies. Sandwiched the baked cookies together with homemade strawberry preserves. Since I also had a bunch of tiny heart cookies from the cut outs, I used melted chocolate to turn them into tiny sandwich cookies.

Sweetheart Sugar Cookies

1 c. butter

1 c. sugar

1 egg

1 t. vanilla

3 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

3 T. milk

Extra sugar for sprinkling, if desired

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and add to butter mixture. Beat in milk. Heat oven to 375-degrees. Roll dough on lightly floured surface to about 1/3- inch thickness. Cut out with lightly floured cutters and sprinkle with sugar or colored sugar if you like and if you are not going to frost them. Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 10-12 minutes. Cool on baking sheet 3 minutes before placing on wire rack to cool completely. Frost when cooled. Makes about 4 dozen.

Yellow Split Pea Soup

While a lot of people think of green split peas when they think of pea soup, I enjoy making pea soup with yellow split peas, too. The color of the peas leaves you with a pretty golden yellow soup. For this batch I had a ham bone so I cooked the bone in water with aromatic veggies to make a soup stock. I then strained and used the stock for the water in the soup- adding extra flavor. I also added some of the ham, cubed to the soup. Simple and satisfying this is a soup that is also a meal in itself.

Swedish Yellow Split Pea Soup

1 lb. yellow split peas, rinsed
2 qts. Boiling water or stock
1 bay leaf
2. c. chopped onion                                                                                                                               2 c. sliced carrots
1 tsp. dried marjoram
1/4 t. ginger
dash nutmeg
1/2 t. pepper
1 T. salt, or to taste
2 cups diced ham
Note: you can use 1 teaspoon liquid smoke if omitting meat.

Combine peas, boiling water or stock and bay leaf and simmer, covered, about an hour, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf. Add remaining ingredients, except diced meat and salt, and cook, covered, over low heat for about 30 minutes. Add meat and cook 1 hour more, stirring occasionally. Season to taste. Serve with a pumpernickel bread. Freezes well. Serves 6-8.

Minty Cocoa Hearts

If you are looking for a simple chocolate treat- that requires no cooking – try Minty Cocoa Hearts. This easy to make candy is made with just a few ingredients. The “dough” is mixed and rolled out. Then you just cut them out into little hearts. They taste great and they are also a nice project for kids. There is no special equipment needed other than a tiny heart-shaped cookie cutter. So if time is short and you really want to make something homemade this Valentine’s Day- these could be the answer.

Minty Cocoa Hearts

9 c. powdered sugar
1 c. cocoa
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. water
2 t. peppermint extract

In large bowl combine ingredients until well blended. You can add more water, if needed, 1 teaspoon at a time. Divide mixture into 2 pieces and shape in balls. Place each between sheets of wax paper and roll out to 1/4 -inch thickness. Cut out with tiny cutters and place on foil-lined tray. Chill several hours, then wrap up in colored foil or place in tiny candy bags. Makes 80 (1-inch) candies.

Spinach and Artichoke Quiche

I love a good quiche. It is a great brunch dish with endless variations. I was asked recently to prepare several quiches for a family event. I knew I wanted to make a quiche with artichoke hearts. When I was starting to put the quiches together it occurred to me that I had also just brought home a giant bag of spinach. Made sense to put the 2 together.  Sort of like spinach and artichoke dip. I used about a pound of fresh spinach, cooked, drained and chopped, but a box of frozen spinach would work, too.

Spinach and Artichoke Quiche

1 unbaked pie crust – enough for a deep dish pie
4 oz. diced cheddar cheese
2 T. flour
1 lb. fresh spinach or 1 (10 oz.) package frozen spinach, cooked, chopped and squeezed dry
3-4 artichoke hearts, drained and chopped coarsely (about 1.2 of a 14 oz. can)
1 c. milk or half and half
3 eggs, beaten
2 T. fresh chopped parsley
Hot pepper sauce to taste
salt and pepper to taste
In 9-inch (deep dish) pie pan place the crust. Toss cheese with the flour and place in crust. Add the spinach and artichoke hearts. Combine milk with the eggs and add seasonings to taste. Pour over the spinach mixture. Place pan on a baking sheet to collect any drips and place in a preheated 400 degree oven. Bake for 30 minutes then turn down over to 325 and continue baking until quiche is firm near the middle, about 25-30 minutes more. To test for “doneness” insert a butter knife about an inch from the center of the quiche. If it comes out clean the quiche is done. Serves 4-6.