For the last Think Pink Monroe #TastyTuesday, sometimes you just need a cocktail. Today we are giving the classic Cosmo a MaurPowerFoodie twist.
Ingredients:
1 oz Citrus flavored Vodka
.5 oz Chambord
1 oz Cranberry Juice
.5 oz Lime Juice
Optional Garnish:
3 raspberries
sugar
and/or a lime wedge
Combine the drink ingredients into a mixing glass with ice, shake, and strain straight or on rocks. Garnish with lime wedge and/or sprinkle raspberries with sugar and use a torch to brûlée the sugar on the raspberries (if you do not have a torch, put them under a broiler for 15-30 seconds and top the drink wit the brûléed raspberries.
I don’t know about you guys, but I absolutely love pasta. However, I have become spoiled and mostly only eat homemade sauce. Making sauce tends to be a long process so I usually make extremely large batches and freeze it in separate containers. These containers tend to be enough sauce for at the very least feeding 6-8 people pasta, usually more. This creates a couple of problems: 1) sometimes it is just me or me and one other person, AND 2) sometimes I don’t have time to defrost a container of sauce, yet make a whole new batch…. SO I developed a really quick 15 minute pasta sauce that is absolutely divine. When you simply don’t have time or don’t need too much sauce, here is your solution for that quick dinner pasta fix.
You ready?
Here goes….
First the ingredients: Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1 small can tomato paste, 2 ripe tomatoes or 1 carton of ripe cherry tomatoes, 1 onion, 1 Bay leaf, 2 fresh basil leaves, 2 fresh sprigs of rosemary, 4 segments of garlic clove, 1 habanero pepper, garlic powder, a bottle of Bordeaux (optional).
That’s it! Nice and easy. Now for the process.
1) Heat the oil in a medium sauce pan.
2)Finely chop the garlic, half the onion (save the other half for something else), and the habanero. Always wash your hands after handling the pepper, and do not touch your face until you do so.
2) Add the garlic, onion, and pepper to the hot oil, reduce heat, cover, and let the mixture sweat out, stirring occasionally as you proceed with the next steps.
3) Dice the tomato into small chunks. If using the cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters.
4) Finely chop the rosemary and basil.
5) Once the onions, garlic, and pepper have cooked down a bit (about 5 minutes) add the tomatoes, rosemary, basil, and bay leaf to the sauce pan. Stir and cover for 3 minutes.
6) Using a wooden spoon or a potato masher, smush the tomatoes into the mixture.
7) Add the can of tomato paste. If so desired, add a splash of the Bordeaux (This gives the sauce a very deep, bold and unique flavor and helps to counteract the spice of the habanero a bit… completely optional, but I like it). Increase heat to medium-high. Stir frequently and heat for 5 minutes.
8) Season to taste with a bit of garlic powder, probably no more than 3/4 a tablespoon.
There you have it! Deliciously spicy tomato sauce in about 15 minutes. Try it out and let me know what you think. Also goes great with pork and chicken dishes. If you want a full dish, check out my full Simple Italian Dinner Recipe.
I was never one for the traditional cake. I always wanted an ice cream cake, or a cannoli cake, or a lava cake. Regular cake just always seemed to dry and mundane. That is until I stumbled upon my first Tres Leches Cake. Moist, flavorful, delicious, and simply right up may alley. Well recently I thought, “Why only have this special treat when I go out?” And so I set to work to create my perfect Tres Leches Cake recipe… And I did! I put my own twist on this classic Brazilian dessert, and instead of simply a vanilla cake with whipped frosting, I make a citrusy Orange-Vanilla cake with Cherry Whipped Cream. Don’t worry, even if you are not a baker, just follow these instructions and you will be fine… in fact, you will be the talk of the party! (like I was this past Easter when I made it)
Alright, so here goes…. First the Ingredients:
For the cake:
Vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 ounces of room temperature, unsalted butter
1 cup sugar (fill the measuring cup a little of the brim on this one 😉 If you like it sweet )
5 whole eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons orange extract
1 tsp lemon juice
For the glaze (aka The Three Milks or Tres Leches):
1 (12 ounce) can of evaporated milk
1 (14 ounce) can of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon orange extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice
For the Whipped Cream
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup sugar (again, fill it a little over the brim)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons cherry juices (juice from a jar of maraschino cherries)
Top of the cake
1 lemon (for zesting)
1 jar maraschino cherries
There you have it. Now that you have all of the ingredients, let’s put this bad boy together. Starting with the cake batter:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Lightly oil and flour a 13″x9″ metal pan.
Using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed for about a minute until fluffy.
Decrease the speed to medium-low, and gradually add the sugar.
Add one egg at a time, allowing it to mix thoroughly before adding the next egg.
Add the vanilla extract, orange extract, and lemon juice.
In a separate bowl, whisk together your flour, baking soda, and salt.
Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the stand mixer at a time, allowing the ingredients to mix before adding the next batch.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan.
Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 20-25 minutes, until lightly golden brown.
Remove from oven and set aside and let cool for about 5 minutes.
While the cake is cooling, it is time to make the glaze! Here goes:
Whisk together the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, half and half, vanilla extract, orange extract, and lemon juice.
Take the baked and cooled cake and using toothpicks or a fork, perforate (poke) the cake to create tiny little points for the glaze to seep through.
Pour the glaze on top of the cake. (this will look like it might overflow, but it won’t)
Let the cake sit until the glaze has soaked in and then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (or for at least 6 hours, overnight is better)
Finally, now that the cake has sat and absorbed all that moist goodness, it is time to make the whipped cream:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the whisk attachment, whisk together on medium-low the heavy cream, sugar, vanilla, and cherry juice.
As stiff peaks begin to form, increase the speed and whisk until thick.
Spread the whipped cream over the cake.
Place cherries on top of the whipped cream as desired.
Zest your lemon, and sprinkle the zest over the cake.
That’s it! Now let’s take a gander at how it looks 🙂
Then simply enjoy it with your friends, family, coworkers, or whoever else you want to impress until it looks more like this:
I hope you all enjoy this delectable dessert as much as I do. Until next time, this is MaurPowerFoodie signing off.
One of the things I found when my mom was going through her cancer treatments was how important it was to have meals ready for her when she wanted to and could eat. It is also important for both preventative and continuing health to make sure those ready to eat options were health conscious options. When I think comfort food, the first thing I think of is a nice bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup. This recipe is a great way to feed the whole family without a lot of work, not to mention, you can freeze some of it for future easy meals. I use low sodium chicken stock and add ZERO extra salt outside of that which is in the ingredients already. Note: This recipe is for a large slow cooker but if you do not have a slow cooker, simply put in a large pot, and once you have added all the ingredients, bring to a boil, lower heat to low, cover, and let cook for 8 hours over low heat.
Ingredients:
2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
10 cups low/no sodium chicken broth
1 package of soup greens (easily found packaged together in most stores, but if not grab a carrot, celery, onion, turnip, and a radish)
1 lb of desired pasta shape (I like mini shells or egg noodles, but this is all personal preference)
1 bushel parsley
4 basil leaves
2 bay leaves
sprig of rosemary
sprig of tyme
1 tsp sage
2 tbsp chopped garlic
4 Thai Chili Pepper (optional if, like me, you like a little heat)
Italian Seasoning
Garlic Powder
Black Pepper
Parika
Old Bay
Olive Oil
Truffle Oil (optional)
Sesame Oil (optional)
Shredded Parmesan Cheese (optional)
Instructions:
Prep your soup greens. Wash them and peel the onion. Depending on how chunky you like your soup, chop your vegetables accordingly. I personally like using the soup greens for flavor, but then remove everything but the onions and celery. As such, I cut the other greens in large pieces so that they are easily strained out at the end.
Season the chicken breasts (I use a rub of garlic powder, black pepper, paprika, Italian seasoning, and a touch of old bay).
In a hot pan, coat the pan with olive oil (if you want to use an infused olive oil, I suggest a basil oil or garlic oil).
Sear off the chicken breast on high heat for about 45 second on each side. Remember, you are not cooking the chicken through. Just a nice sear on each side of the chicken to bring out some extra flavor.
5. Add the soup greens, other than the onion and pepper, to your slow cooker and place the seared chicken on top of the greens.
6. In the same pan as you seared the chicken, over medium heat add the onions, peppers, and garlic. Let sweat while moving them around for about 1-2 minutes.
7. Add 1 cup of the chicken broth, and increase heat to high. Bring to a light boil.
8. Pour mixture over the chicken in the slow cooker.
9. Add the remaining 9 cups of stock to the slow cooker.
10. Add your herbs (I used thyme, basil, parsley, sage, bay leaves and rosemary. I also like to leave these whole, not chopped, so I can remove them easily at the end).
11. Season the mixture with 1 tbsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp ground black pepper, 1 tbsp Italian Seasoning, 1 tsp old bay, 1 tsp parika, a few drops of sesame oil, and a few drops of truffle oil.
12. Cover and set the slow cooker on low for 8+ hours.
13. When you have about 10 minutes left, cook your pasta in boiling water to an al dente and then strain (you can do this directly in the crock pot for the final 30 minutes, but I like a lot of broth and do not want the pasta to absorb it all).
14. Strain out the herbs and any vegetables you do not want in your bowl of soup.
15. Shred the chicken.
16. Assemble your soup bowl as follows: Desired amount of noodles, desired amount of chicken, and then ladle broth and vegetables over the noodles and chicken.
17. (Optional) I like to finish my bowl with a little parmesan cheese on top.
Yes, you read that right. A festival that is all about TACOS and I have 2 free tickets that could be yours (details below)! And you know what else, MaurPowerFoodie is going to be your MC all day at the festival. Join me, Rey Mysterio, Jerry “The King” Lawler, VAP Events and all of the wonderful vendors for the best fiesta of the summer at the Connecticut Taco Festival on Saturday, August 26, 2017 from 10 AM to 8 PM! Ages 5+
If you want to win tickets, here is how:
Each person can earn entries 5 ways and the winner will be selected at random. You can earn entries as follows:
ADVANCE TICKETS AVAILABLE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/connecticut-taco-festival-tickets-35227922665
Featuring:
Gourmet Tacos from Restaurants & Food Trucks
Frozen Margaritas, Tequila & Mexican Beer provided by Bumski’s
Lucha Libre Mexican Wrestling feat. REY MYSTERIO
Taco-Eating Contests with $1,000 CASH GRAND PRIZE!
Final Taco-Eating Contest JUDGED BY REY MYSTERIO & JERRY LAWLER
Live Music & Performances, including a Mariachi Band, Fred Astaire Dance Studio of Brookfield, Ballet Folklórico Mexicano de Yale and local music
Kids Activities & Vendors!
Submit vendor inquiries to CTtacofestival@gmail.com
Lodging:
Hotel Zero Degrees (203) 730-9200
15 Milestone Rd, Danbury, CT 06810
Mention “CT TACO FESTIVAL” BLOCK. To guarantee your room, make reservation by 7/28
Shuttle Service Available with advanced scheduling http://www.hotelzerodegrees.com/
Discounted Room Rates:
King $119
Double $139
Executive $200
Hey all. First time positing since Cooks vs. Cons on Food Network, more on that to come on a later date. I made this one up for Fourth of July when I had 5 picnics to go to and it went over so well that a lot of people have asked me for the recipe and I figured I would share it with everyone! Enjoy!
Ingredients:
12 ears of corn
1/2 jar Roasted Red Peppers
1/2 jar Sun-dried Tomatoes
1 carton cherry tomatoes
Scallions
garlic
ginger
salt
pepper
Italian seasoning
olive oil
butter
old bay
Directions:
1) Butter ears of corn and wrap in foil. Cook on grill or in oven around 500 degrees for 40 minutes (turn once if on grill).
2) Place all tomatoes on baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and season with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Cook in oven or on grill with corn for 15-20 minutes on baking sheet (this way the juices are gathered on the baking sheet)
3) Rough chop the scallions, sun dried tomatoes and roasted red peppers.
4) Cut all corn off the cobs and put in large mixing bowl with tomatoes (reserving the juices on the side), scallions, sun-dried tomatoes, and roasted red peppers. Thoroughly mix.
5) Make a simple dressing by whisking together the juices of the tomatoes, 2 tbs olive oil, 3 cloves roasted garlic, 2 tsp ginger, 1 tbs juices from Roasted Red Pepper jar, 1 tbs juices from sun-dried tomato jar, salt, and pepper.
6) Dress the salad, mixing well, and dust with old bay seasoning.
7) Enjoy!
I hope you guys enjoy it as much as we did! Till next time, MaurPowerFoodie signing off.
If you’ve got a sumo sized thirst for one of CT’s newest breweries, No Worries, we’ve got an event for you: Sumoslam. This first ever event is hitting Hamden right at No Worries B…
Yes, it’s a high holy day today: it’s National Donut Day. Not like you really need any more reason to celebrate this blessed pastry, but here’s another reason: Donut Crazy is givi…
Last year I had the honor of being one of the 8 Chefs selected to compete in the CT Chefs Challenge. I am hoping to be able to compete again this year. Want to challenge me and the others for the title, the prize money, and a golden ticket to the World Food Championships? Bring it on and register!
Check out MaurPowerFoodie as 1 of the top 100 Amateur Chefs in the Country, cooking for Chef Gordon Ramsay, Restauranteur Joe Bastianich, and Chef Graham Elliot.
MaurPowerFoodie 