Chimichurri Sauce

I think I first fell in love with chimichurri sauce when I made it at Bellingham Technical College's Summer Educator's Institute a few years ago. This isn't that same, exact recipe; everyone has their own personal favorite blend of herbs for chimichurri sauce, so feel free to play around with it. But here's a good starting point...





Ingredients
¼ C olive oil
2 T lime juice
1 oz (2 T) sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar)

¼ C green onion, rough chopped
2 garlic cloves; smashed

½ C Italian/flat leaf parsley, chopped
2 T each chopped fresh basil, oregano, cilantro
¼ tsp crushed red pepper
s & p to taste (~ ½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp pepper)

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a blender (mini 'bullet'-style blenders work great, but if you don't have one...don't bother with a full size blender, just do a good job of chopping everything and stir it all together in a small bowl); whirl or pulse until consistency is salsa-like with chopped herbs still in chunks. Salt and pepper to taste.

You can serve chimichurri sauce as soon as you make it, but the flavors blend and it gets even better if it sits for at least a couple hours (or overnight).

Stir chimichurri sauce into rice or pasta; spoon over chicken, pork, fish...

Caribbean Rice & Beans

My Culinary Arts students cooked up a Caribbean feast, including these Caribbean style rice & beans using a recipe from the Food Network. We also made Caribbean jerk chicken with tropical fruit, and pholouries with mango chutney. They did a great job -- and my World Literature students, who were in the middle of our Caribbean Literature unit -- benefited deliciously from the C.A. students' efforts!

Coconut Jasmine Rice Pudding with Ginger-Mango Coulis

Serves approximately 30

Rice Pudding Ingredients:
12 oz jasmine rice
6 C whole milk
1 orange peel, remove in one long strip
15 oz sugar
3¾ C heavy cream, room temperature
3 C coconut milk, unsweetened
1½ Tbls vanilla
non-stick cookingspray, as needed

Directions:
Rinse rice in strainer, then parboil in water 5 minutes. Drain and resesrve.

Heat milk to scalding; add orange peel, sugar, and rice. Cook over low heat, stirring regularly until rice is tender. Remove from heat, discard orange peel.

Add cream and coconut milk; continue to cook over very low heat for an additional 30 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.

Lightly coat serving dishes with non-stick spray; ladle in pudding. Let cool until firm (6-8 hours)

Ginger-Mango Coulis Ingredients:
3 oz water
3 oz sugar
2 Tbls ginger root, finely minced
½ pint mango purée
1 tsp arrowroot powder, as needed

Directions:
Place water, ginger and sugar in saucepan. Whisk until well combined. Bring mixture to full roiling boil and boil one minute. Remove from heat; combine with fruit puree. Check thickness, adjust with arrowroot slurry if needed; sauce will thicken as it cools. Cool completely.

Yield: 1 cup

Pineapple Fried Rice

Ingredients:
1 fresh pineapple
8 Tbls vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 pound bay shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 pound ham, brunoise cut
6 oz sweet corn kernels
6 oz peas
2 Thai chilis, finely diced
4 Tbls ginger, finely diced
1½ quarts cooked jasmine rice, cooled
4 Tbls soy sauce (more if needed)
4 oz cashews, roasted, salted and roughly chopped
cilantro leaves, whole, for garnish

Directions:
Preheat the oven for 350˚. Cut the pineapple in half, lengthways. Scoop the flesh out of both halves using a spoon and paring knife, leaving two shells with ½" thick flesh remaining. Cut the pineapple flesh into small cubes, discarding the core.

Wrap pineapple leaves in foil to prevent burning. Place shells on baking tray; bake for 10-15 minutes. (This seals in juice and prevents it leaking into fried rice when it's placed in shells.

Heat a small amount of oil in a walk over medium heat. Pour in egg and swirl pan to coat with egg, forming a think omelette. Cook util egg is set and slightly brown on underside, about 2 minutes. Flip to brown the other side. Remove from pan; cool slightly. Roll up and cut into thin strips.

Heat 1 Tbls oil in wok. Stir fry garlic over medium heat until light brown. Add shrimp, ham, corn, peas, chili pepper and ginger. Stir fry 2 minutes or until shrimp turns pink. Add cooked rice, soy sauce, and pineapple; toss over medium heat for 5-7 minutes. Gently fold in egg strips. Taste; adjust seasoning if/as needed.

Fill pineapple halves with fried rice; sprinkle with cashews and garnish with cilantro.

Orzo Stuffed Peppers

I had everything to make this recipe except the orzo, but I did have arborio rice...which has a creamier texture than other rices and I thought would make a reasonable substitute. I was not impressed with this recipe. I don't think it was the arborio-for-orzo substitution (though it may have contributed). The recipe (ingredients) looked/sounded good, but overall, the end result was very underseasoned. Salt and pepper after the fact helped (I even used my basil salt for extra herb flavor), but it was still...uninspiring. I couldn't taste the mint at all, so that -- which I was curious to sample in a stuffed pepper dish -- seemed like a waste. With the Italian seasoned tomatoes, I finally splashed on a little balsamic and it was tolerable.  But who wants to eat food that's just 'tolerable'?! Not me. I'm still posting the recipe, just as a way of saving it. Maybe I'll play around with it later...

 Ingredients:
1 14-oz can Italian diced tomatoes
1 zucchini, grated
¼ C chopped fresh mint leaves
½ C grated Pecorino Romano
3 Tbls olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
2 C chicken broth
1 C orzo
4 bell peppers


Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°.  Combine tomatoes, zucchini, mint, half of the cheese, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Bring chicken broth to a boil; add orzo. Cook for about 4 minutes (orzo will only be partially cooked). Use a strainer to pour broth into a baking dish, straining the orzo and adding it to vegetable mixture. Stir to combine.

Slice tops off peppers and remove all ribs and seeds. If needed, cut a thin slice off base of peppers so they'll stand on their own. Place peppers in baking dish with broth; spoon orzo and vegetable mixture into peppers. cover with foil, bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil; sprinkle tops with remaining cheese. Bake, uncovered, until cheese id golden - about 15 minutes.

Arancini

I fell in love with arancini, a Sicilian-born croquette, while traveling in Italy. [arancini = Italian for 'little orange'; croquettes are often cylindrical or more oval shaped. I don't know about Italian, but in French, croquer = 'to crunch'.] There are lots of varieties -- different fillings including meat, shellfish, cheeses, veggies.

And these deep fried, cheesy rice balls somehow manage to crossover and be both a delicacy and an easy-to-grab-on-the-go fast food option. The recipe below includes pine nuts, which are delicious, but were nothing I ever had in Italian arancini. They make a nice side to meat and veggies, or a couple with marinara dipping sauce can serve as an appetizer. 

Ingredients:
3 C chicken broth
1 C arborio rice
2 Tbls toasted pine nuts 
½ C shredded mozzarella cheese (2 oz) 
½ C shredded fontina cheese (2 oz)
2 Tbls chopped fresh parsley
2 eggs 
½ C grated parmesan cheese
1½ C breadcrumbs
vegetable oil (for frying)

Directions:
Bring broth to a boil (with a dash of salt). Stir in rice. Reduce heat to low; simmer until tender (about 20 minutes). Spread on parchment lined baking sheet; allow to cool completely.

Combine pine nuts, mozzarella, fontina and parsley in a bowl; set aside.

Beat eggs in large bowl, then stir in cooled rice, parmesan, and ²/₃C breadcrumbs. Shape mixture into 12 to 15  1½" balls. Press your finger (or thumb) into the center of each rice ball, forming a small cup. Scoop 2 tsp of mozzarella mixture into 'cup' and pinch the rice around filling to enclose it. (This is definitely a hands-on, somewhat messy process.) :) Roll balls in breadcrumbs; place on parchment lined baking sheet. (With the filling, the finished balls end up about 2½".) Refrigerate 1-3 hours.

Heat ½" vegetable oil in large saucepan until thermometer reads 350°. Work in batches to fry rice balls, turning until golden on all sides (4-5 minutes). The refrigerated arancini will cool the oil. When the oil temperature drops the oil soaks in rather than frying at the surface...and no one wants greasy arancini! Don't add too many at a time, and monitor the temperature. Remove with tongs or slotted spoon; drain on paper towels.

Season with salt. Serve alone or with marinara dipping sauce.