Chervil Shallot Potato Salad

This easy and tasty potato salad recipe is from Emeril. And it's a nice alternative to the classic potato salad, which I loveeee:) Plus, I love Emeril recipes, they are full of fat, but usually great taste combinations.

Chervil is often referred to as the “gourmet or French parsley,” and tastes mildly of licorice combined with pepper imparting certain freshness to a dish. Fresh or dried, it is a bright green and quite delicate and should be added to a dish at the end of cooking. Chervil has a tendency to enhance the flavors of other herbs when used in combinations.

You can think of this recipe as a base recipe and add ingredients as you like. I add cooked and diced hot dogs and it becomes a complete meal:)

CHERVIL SHALLOT POTATO SALAD

Ingredients:
10 small red skin potatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup minced shallots
2 tablespoons diced red pepper
Salt and black pepper
2 tablespoons champagne vinegar
1/2 cup packed chervil leaves

Directions:
In a small saucepan of boiling, salted water boil the potatoes until just tender.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a small saute pan. Add shallots and red pepper, and cook for 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Transfer to a mixing bowl. When potatoes are just tender, drain and add them to bowl along with shallots.

Add vinegar, and toss to coat. Cool salad to room temperature and add chervil. Adjust seasonings.

Meyer Lemon Budino

I thought what could be better than fresh lemons during those hot summer days. So I started looking for a dessert recipe and found one that I really liked a lot. This is a great pudding recipe (Budino is Italian for "pudding.") which is not too sweet. The recipe is from Bon Appetit and very very easy to make.

If you can't find Meyer lemons, you can use regular lemons instead, but the pudding will be more tart. Or use Key Lime juice and regular lime zest, which will make the pudding sweeter.

Enjoy:)

MEYER LEMON BUDINO

Ingredients:
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3 large eggs, separated
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup fresh Meyer lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh regular lemon juice
2 tablespoons finely grated Meyer lemon peel
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk

1/4 teaspoon salt
Whipped cream (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter six 3/4-cup custard cups or ramekins. Combine 1/2 cup sugar, egg yolks, flour, lemon juice, and lemon peel in large bowl; whisk until well blended. Whisk in milk.

Using electric mixer, beat egg whites and salt in medium bowl until frothy. Gradually add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and beat until soft peaks form. Fold beaten egg whites into lemon mixture in 2 additions.

Divide mixture among prepared custard cups. Place custard cups in roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into roasting pan to come halfway up sides of custard cups.

Bake puddings until tops are golden and spring back when lightly touched, about 30 minutes. Remove cups from water.

Serve warm or cold with whipped cream, if desired.

Makes 6 servings.

Greek Style Stuffed Eggplant

Yummyyyy. I love this recipe. It's been adapted from Gourmet Magazine, and it's a classic.

It does take some time to prepare but it is completely worth it. It is very easy to make and the best part is you can't ever go wrong with it:) And it freezes well.

If you don't have ground lamb, you can use ground beef. I actually like it better with ground beef because it is lighter, but then it's not completely Greek style.

I also skip the mint because I don't like it all that much. You can try different fresh herbs and change the recipe a bit, but like I said, you can never go wrong with it, it will come out great every time.

Enjoy....

GREEK STYLE STUFFED EGGPLANT

Ingredients:
3 (1/2-pound) eggplants
1 teaspoon salt, plus 1 teaspoon
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus 3 tablespoons
2 cups chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound lean ground lamb
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
3 tablespoons minced fresh mint leaves
3 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise, seeded, and cut into julienne strips
1 cup crumbled feta

Directions:
Halve 2 of the eggplants lengthwise, score their pulp deeply with a sharp knife, being careful not to pierce the skins, and with a grapefruit knife scoop out the pulp, reserving it and leaving 1/2-inch-thick shells.

Sprinkle the shells with 1 teaspoon salt and invert them on paper towels to drain for 15 to 30 minutes. Cut the reserved pulp and the remaining whole eggplant into 1/2-inch pieces, in a colander toss the pieces with the remaining salt, and let them drain for 15 to 30 minutes.

Pat the shells dry with paper towels, brush them with 1 tablespoon of the oil, and broil them on the rack of a broiler pan, skin side down, under a preheated broiler about 4 inches from the heat until they are tender, about 5 minutes.

In a skillet, heat the remaining 3 tablespoons oil over moderately high heat until it is hot but not smoking. Saute the onion and the garlic until translucent. Add the ground lamb and the eggplant pieces, patted dry, stirring, until meat loses all color and eggplant is tender.

Remove the skillet from the heat, stir in the parsley, mint, tomatoes, feta, and salt and pepper to taste, and divide the filling among the shells, mounding it. Broil the stuffed eggplants in a large flameproof baking dish for 5 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling and golden.

Makes 4 servings

Roasted Tomato Risotto

I was looking for a basic risotto recipe and found this one that uses roasted tomatoes which I love. Roasting the tomatoes always concentrates the taste for me, and it's very simple to prepare. Just drizzle them with some olive oil and salt, turn the oven to 250 degrees and roast them for about 45 minutes to one hour. You would be able to smell them when they are ready:)

I almost always use a 1/2 cup of white wine when cooking risotto. Add it before you start adding the chicken broth. To me it's a must. And instead of onions I used shallots. I like the onion garlic mixture taste instead of using garlic and onions separately.

The trick to risotto is to make sure that the broth you are adding has been boiled and simmering along. It has to be hot, otherwise you will end up with a strange rice dish:) And I use a soup ladle and add the broth one ladle at a time. Cooking the risotto seems to go along much faster when I do that. The broth evaporates faster and you have more control over when you think the rice is ready. To me it has to be al dente without being crunchy, so having this control works for me wonderfully.

I also add some shave Parmesan before serving. It makes the dish look nicer too. Enjoy:)

ROASTED TOMATO RISOTTO

Ingredients:
2 cups slow-roasted tomatoes, cut up in large chunks if necessary, with their juice
1 medium onion, 1/2 inch dice
1-1/2 C Arborio rice
6-8 threads saffron
4 T butter
4 C low sodium chicken broth
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 oz Parmigiano Reggiano, shredded
chopped fresh parsley or basil for garnish

Directions:
Scoop the tomatoes into a sieve. Drain, pressing gently with a spoon, and reserve the juice.

Mix the chicken broth with the reserved tomato juice and set to warm on the stove. Place the rice, 2 tablespoons of the butter and the onion in your risotto pot over medium high heat and cook several minutes, stirring, until the rice starts to color.

Add two cups of the broth mixture and all the saffron. Adjust the heat to a high simmer and cook, stirring constantly and adding more liquid to keep the pot fairly soupy as the rice absorbs it, for 20 to 25 minutes. After the first 10 minutes add about 2/3 of the drained tomato chunks and half the garlic.

When the rice is nearly done (still firm but no longer chalky at the center) start letting the mixture get a little drier. Add the cheese and the remaining tomatoes, garlic, and butter. Correct the seasoning and serve immediately. Garnish with the chopped fresh herbs if desired.