Posts from — July 2011

I’ve mentioned many times before how much I love all of Queen Creek Olive Mill’s flavored olive oils. Use any one of them to make light and luscious cupcakes, from Meyer lemon or Mexican lime to vanilla or blood orange. Or be especially adventurous and use their newest creation – chocolate olive oil to create a mild chocolate cupcake that will surprise you. It will be light in color with a subtle chocolate flavor.  We made the orange cupcakes during summer classes, although the kids thought that without any frosting, they were a bit more like muffins. Feel free to top with a light frosting or glaze, just be sure it doesn’t overpower the delicate cake.

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For my last appearance on Valley Dish, I asked the host, Tram Mai, what she would like to make.  After some 15 cooking appearances, it was the first time to make something of her choice instead of my choice or a specific themed assignment.  Tram requested a dish she had back in her college years in Los Angels at a restaurant called Crustacean.  After much online research, I compiled several people’s take on the roasted crab and came up with my own rendition.

The roasted crab is outstanding, but I think the real star of the dish is the garlic noodles.  The key is to find thick spaghetti, also known as spaghettoni or bucatini.  I found them at Whole Foods and in the Italian specialty aisle at the “big fancy” Fry’s on Tatum and Shea.

As for the crab, although the version we made on the live show used Dungeness crab, I’ve also tried with the pasteurized canned crab found at Costco and it tasted exactly the same… plus it’s more economical and so much easier!

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Thanks to the numerous “cake” themed cooking shows on TV, one of the hottest desserts around are cake balls or cake pops. They are incredibly easy to make, especially if you begin with cake mix and canned frosting.  Additionally, they are a fun cooking project to get your kids involved in.  Of course, if you want to go the gourmet route, begin with your favorite cake baked from scratch and use homemade buttercream frosting.  Either way, they are pretty darn cute!

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There are two ways to make caramel – with water or without. Caramel is just melted and nearly burnt sugar, how dark you get it determines the intensity of the caramel flavor.

Most recipes have you begin with a specific amount of water and a specific amount of sugar. The water acts as a buffer and allows the sugar to melt slowly, when the water has evaporated, the actual caramelizing of the sugar begins. 

Professional chefs don’t bother with the water, they just get down to the business at hand.  In the final week of kids’ classes, we did it “the professional” way. If you would prefer to play it safe, just add water to the pan with the sugar.  There isn’t a determined amount of water to add, you can add a 1/2 cup or a quart, eventually, it will evaporate and you’ll be on your way.

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One of the candies that always makes the list of peoples’ Top 10, is Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

After you have this decadent ice cream, you may never want to eat a plain old peanut butter cup all on its own again!

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This is a delicious, lighter, summertime-appropriate version of spaghetti and meatballs.

Served at room temperature, it’s actually refreshing instead of hearty and heavy like your winter-warming version.

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Have kids? If so, this is a hard combo to beat; pizza and bacon cheeseburger in one easy-to-eat package.  Adults are pretty crazy about it too.

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Buffalo wings: check. Macaroni and cheese: check. Happy kids: check.  But, put the two together –  and Wow!

Another kid-favorite combo tomorrow…  oh, and Happy 4th of July!

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Once I ran out of ideas and energy for the remaining peaches in my refrigerator, I used them to make peach bread.  The mini-loaves actually fit in my freezer, so they were the perfect and delicious solution.

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The 4th of July weekend is here and here is a festive, fun, and tasty watermelon flag bowl perfect for that fruit salad you need to bring to the party. The recipe for the actual salad and dressing is way down at the bottom of the post. 

Leading up to it are step-by-step pictures to help you make the patriot melon.  Here we go….

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