Crab Alfredo Linguine
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Pasta doesn’t wait! This great tasting pasta dish, with a little bite to it, is best served right away. A touch of tomato paste makes this pasta sauce into a light rose color sauce that coats the pasta beautifully. Try it and you’ll love it!
Crab Alfredo Linguine
You’ll Need
1 Tbls Butter
2 Cloves Garlic, Finely Chopped
1 Shallot, Finely Chopped
1 Tsp Fresh Tarragon, Finely Chopped
1/2 Tsp Crushed Red Chili Flakes
2 Cans (120gms each) Crab Meat, Drained
2 Cups Whipping Cream
2 Tbls Tomato Paste
2 Tbls Fresh Parsley, Finely Chopped - As A Garnish
Let’s Get Started
Over medium heat, in a large skillet, melt the butter. To it, add garlic, shallot and tarragon and the crushed red chili flakes. Stir for about 2 minutes or until the shallot and garlic soften.
Add the drained crab meat to the skillet and break it up with a spoon and stir everything together. To it, add the cream and tomato paste and bring it to a gentle boil. Reduce heat and let it boil gently for about 4 to 5 minutes or until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Turn the heat off.
In a large pot bring salted water to a boil. Cook the linguine pasta for about 5 to 6 minutes or until al dente. Drain the pasta. (Do not rinse the pasta, as by doing so you rinse off all the starch that helps the sauce stick to the pasta). Stir the pasta into the sauce in order to coat it well with the delicious and beautiful sauce.
Serve immediately with a sprinkle of finely chopped parsley and Enjoy!
With Best Dishes To You All,
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Carrot Brown Sugar Souffle
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I can’t think of a tastier way to include carrots in our diet! Here’s an easy, fast and great tasting carrot recipe. Even the kids will be happy to eat their carrots when they’re dished up like this.
Carrot Brown Sugar Souffle
You’ll Need
2 lbs Carrots, Peeled And Chopped
1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter
3 Eggs
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Flour
1 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
3/4 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Vanilla
Let’s Get Started
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Bring a pot of slightly salted water to a boil. Cook carrots until tender say about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat and drain well.
Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda.
Place carrots and the butter in a blender and puree. Add the eggs, brown sugar and vanilla. Blend well. Add the sifted flour mixture to the carrot mixture in the blender and blend everything into a smooth puree.
Pour carrot mixture into a 1 litre round baking dish. Place the dish inside a larger dish with 1 inch of water in order to prevent burning bottom of casserole.
Bake uncovered for 1 hour or until firm.
Enjoy!
With Best Dishes To You All,
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Crockpot White Beans And Sausage
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An easy and a flavorful white beans recipe. Not to mention, nutritious and wholesome. Sauce alone is really delicious. Try it for your next spaghetti dinner. It’s delicious.
Crockpot White Beans And Sausage
You’ll Need
1 1/2 Cups Dried White Kidney Beans, Soaked Overnight
3 Tbls Tomato Paste
1 Tbls Red Pimento Sauce
2 Small Tomatoes, Chopped
3 Garlic Cloves, Chopped
3 Onions, Medium, Chopped
1 Smoked Kielbasa Sausage, Cut In Medallions
1 Tbls Lime Juice
1 Tsp Cumin, Ground
2 Tbls Olive Oil
Salt To Taste
Pepper To Taste
1 (14.5 ounce) Can Beef Broth
Let’s Get Started
In the crockpot, the beans, tomato paste, pimento sauce, chopped tomatoes, garlic, onions, sausage medallions, cumin, lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix until the beans are coated. Pour in beef broth, and top off with enough water to completely cover the beans.
Cover and cook on High for 6 hours, or until the beans are tender and the liquid is thickened. It should not be soupy.
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Crockpot Zesty Barbeque Chicken
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Another great and a really easy way to make your favorite barbeque chicken. It’s so easy and super delicious. Definitely try it.
Crockpot Zesty Barbeque Chicken
You’ll Need
6 Frozen Skinless, Boneless Chicken Breast Halves
1 (12 ounce) Bottle Barbeque Sauce
1/2 Cup Italian Salad Dressing
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
2 Tbls Worcestershire Sauce
2 Dashes Hot Pepper Sauce
Let’s Get Started
Place frozen chicken breasts halves in the crockpot.
In a bowl, mix together barbeque sauce, Italian salad dressing, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce and couple dashes of hot pepper sauce. Pour this mixture over the chicken.
Cover and cook for 3 to 4 hours on High or 6 to 8 hours on Low.
Voila! Delicious Zesty Barbeque Chicken is ready. Serve with a tossed green salad and fresh cut up veggies and dip and enjoy!
With Best Dishes To You All,
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Spicy Crockpot Black Bean Soup
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A simple, flavorful spicy and healthy black bean soup.
Spicy Crockpot Black Bean Soup
You’ll Need
4 Cans Black Beans, Drained And Rinsed
4 Tsp Diced Jalapeno Peppers
4 Cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth
1 Tsp Garlic, Minced
1 Small Onion, Chopped
1 Tbls Lime Juice
1 Tsp Chili Powder
1 Tsp Ground Cumin
1 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
3/4 Tsp Ground Black Pepper
1/4 Tsp Hot Pepper Sauce
2 Tbls Cilantro, Chopped
Let’s Get Started
Place beans, jalapenos, chicken broth, minced garlic and chopped onion in the crockpot. Add to it, lime juice, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, pepper and hot pepper sauce. Give it a little stir.
Cook on High for 4 hours. Reduce heat to Low, and continue cooking for 2 hours.
Once cooked mash roughly with a potato masher. Do not mash too much.
Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of shredded cheese and cilantro alongside tortillas or nachos and enjoy!
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Cheese Chili Casserole
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A simple mouthwatering rich and cheesy casserole with a little kick from green chillies. Makes a great weeknight meal along with sharp tossed green salad and warm dinner rolls.
Cheese Chili Casserole
You’ll Need
6 Eggs
1 Cup Milk
1/4 Cup Butter, Melted
2 Cups Monterey Jack Cheese, Grated
1 Cup Cottage Cheese
6 Tbls Cream Cheese, Chilled And Diced Into Small Pieces
1/2 Cup Mild Green Chilies, Seeds Taken Out
1/2 Cup Cornmeal
1 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Salt
Let’s Get Started
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter a 10 inch baking dish and keep aside.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs until well blended. To the eggs, add milk, melted butter, Monterey Jack, cottage cheese, cream cheese pieces, green chilies, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Mix everything well.
Pour the egg mixture into buttered baking dish.
Bake the casserole for 35 to 45 minutes, i.e., until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean and the top is puffed and golden.
Serve hot and enjoy!
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Spicy Eggs Scramble
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A mouthwatering spicy kick to your regular scrambled eggs!
Spicy Eggs Scramble
You’ll Need
1 Tbls Oil
1 Small Onion, Finely Chopped
1 Small Tomato, Chopped
1 Tsp Minced Fresh Ginger
1 Tsp Minced Garlic
1 Finely Chopped Green Chili
1/2 Tsp Turmeric
1/2 Tsp Ground Cumin
8 Eggs
1/4 Cup Milk
Salt To Taste
Pepper To Taste
1 Tbls Cilantro, Finely Chopped
Let’s Get Started
In a large pan, heat oil over medium heat.
Saute onion for about 5 minutes or until cooked and soft. Add the chopped tomatoes, ginger, garlic, green chillies, turmeric and cumin. Saute everything for about 2 to 4 minutes.
In a bowl, whisk the eggs lightly. Add milk and whisk again. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Whisk in the beaten eggs and milk mixture to the pan with onion and tomato mixture. Add half of the cilantro. Keep stirring until the eggs are cooked but still a little soft.
Serve hot, sprinkled with the remaining cilantro alongwith your favorite bread.
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Ravo
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This is one of my favorite desserts. It’s usually made on special occasions.
Ravo
You’ll Need
1 Cup Semolina
1 Cup Unsalted Butter
4 Eggs
3 Cups Milk (Divided into 3 portions of 1/4 cup, 2 cups and 3/4 cup)
2/3 Cup Sugar
1 Tsp Freshly Ground Cardamom
1 Tsp Saffron (mixed in with 2 Tbls warm milk)
1/4 Cup Slivered Almonds
1/4 Cup Currants
1/4 Cup Cashews, Chopped Coarsely
Let’s Get Started
In a pan, on low heat, melt the butter. Stir in semolina and fry it until it starts to bubble and the aroma starts to emerge. About 5 to 7 minutes.
In the meanwhile, in a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Mix in 1/4 cup milk with the eggs. Keep it aside.
Once the semolina and butter start bubbling and is cooked, add the mixture of milk and eggs gradually to the semolina in the pan, all the while stirring continuously to prevent any curdling.
Add the 2 cups portion of the milk into the semolina mixture and keep stirring continuously.
Mix in the sugar. Keep stirring on low heat. Add the remaining 3/4 cup portion of milk, a little at a time, as needed, to get the right consistency of choice. Add in freshly ground cardamom and saffron milk mixture. Keep stirring until the mixture is creamy starts to thicken.
Once the Ravo is cooked it starts to form into a soft ball and starts leaving butter from sides.
Fry almonds, cashews and currants in butter.
Garnish Ravo with fried dry fruits and serve. Enjoy! It’s out of this world delicious!
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Decanting Wines
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In simple terms, decanting is pouring wine into a container before serving it. However, there’s more to it than just pouring the wine into a decanter just because it looks beautiful. Wine decanters may improve the flavor characteristics and bouquets of older full-bodied red wines.
Decanting is usually for older full-bodied red wines or ports. Young full-bodied red wines can also benefit from the aeration that decanting provides.
When the wine comes in contact with oxygen, the bouquets present in the wine are released which enhances the flavors and aromas in the wine.
Of course, a wine decanter can also be used simply for aesthetic reasons. The presentation of wine in a beautiful crystal decanter adds to the ambiance of a beautifully set table and prepared dinner. There are different shapes and sizes of wine decanters.
The decanter should be a wide bottomed decanter. Wide body decanters provide more surface area for oxygen to allow aromas from the wine to be released.
Decanting is all about removing sediment from a wine, and allowing the wine to breathe. Wines have all sorts of organic things in them such as yeast, grape skins, etc. The wine naturally has very small particles of these things that, over the years that wine ages, settle out of the wine. Therefore, mostly older red wines or ports are decanted as they have much more grape skin contact because of which there’s more sediment. Such wines contain sediments that can add bitterness to the wine and the sediments can ruin the look of the wine when poured into a glass.
Before decanting a wine that contains sediment, allow the bottle to rest upright allowing any sediment to sink to the bottom. Then slowly pour the wine into the decanter keeping the bottle angled so that no sediment makes its way into the decanter. The wine may be poured through cheesecloth to assist in filtering out any unwanted particles. The trick is to pour the wine slowly into the decanter, keeping the same side down that was down during the aging process. Be sure not to let the sediment end up in the decanting glass. Sometimes in case of a bottle that’s full of sediment, such as an old port, the wine is poured into a decanter over a candle. The reason being that, it is easier to see the sediment in the bottle neck, against the bright flame of the candle, as the wine begins to slide towards the decanter opening.
Once you’ve poured all the wine, less sediment, into the decanter, you can let it sit. Well, now you’ll ask, Why would you let it sit there, exposed to air, when wine + air = bad combination? Well, here’s the fact. Yes, you do not want air getting into the wine during the years wine is aging. However, once the wine is ready to be enjoyed and that you’re about to drink it, air getting across a good surface area of a wine can actually bring out its bouquets.
You can usually let the wine sit in the decanter for 1/2 to 1 hour before you drink it. You’ll see how its flavor changes over the evening as you drink it. You’ll really enjoy it!
Of course, there’s a point at which too long of a contact with air can actually do more damage to the wine than good. If the wine is left out for too long, it warms to the your surrounding ambient room temperature. Which is what they say right? Drink red wine at room temperature? They’re right. However, when the French talked of Room Temperature in the 1800s, they meant the temperature in the 50s, i.e., at around 50 degrees Fahrenheit! However, today, in the modern times, the room temperature in our rooms is usually 70 degrees Fahrenheit or more, which is awful for the wine! Plus, mix wine and air for a long time, what do you get? Vinegar! Thus, letting your wine sit our for a long 8 hours will cause the vinegar flavors to overpower the delicate bouquets of your wine. So, you can always seal up the leftover wine and put it into your fridge and enjoy it some other time.
Enjoy responsibly!
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Choosing A Wine Glass
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Selection of a particular style of wine glass for a particular wine is quite important, as the glass shape can influence its perception.
The proper way to drink from a wine glass is to hold the wine glass by its stem and not directly the bowl. The reason being that the temperature of the wine does not get affected when holding the wine glass. This is achieved because the stem is not in direct contact with the wine. Therefore the heat from the body is not transferred to the wine.
The shape of a wine glass is very important, as it concentrates the flavor and aroma of the wine. The shape of the glass also directs the wine itself into the best area of the mouth. The stem of a glass is an important feature as well. It is the most obvious, but often most neglected, part of the wine glass. The stem provides a way to hold the glass without warming the wine from body heat. It also prevents fingerprints from smearing the glass, and makes the glass easier to swirl.
There are different styles of wine glasses.
There are different factors on which one can decide which wine glass is suitable for a particular wine. These factors can be :
The size of the glass to intensify aromas, bouquets for different wines
The shape of the glass to direct the wine to specific parts of the tongue
The shape and size to emphasize the fruitiness in the wine
The shape that keeps the champagne from going flat
The shape and size that emphasizes the tannins in the wine
The shape that help keeps the temperature of the wine cooler longer, etc.
There are many other such factors that help in deciding that perfect glass for that special wine.
Selecting the best suitable glass for your wine style is about achieving balance in bringing out the distinct characteristics of that style of wine.
There are many different types of wine glasses, of varying styles and quality. However, the three main types of wine glasses are :
White Wine Glass
This glass is shaped like a tulip with a smaller bowl and a longer stem. The longer stem allows the wine glass to be held more easily by the stem. The reason being that there is no heat transfer from the body to the wine in the glass. Holding a glass of white wine from the bowl will warm it slightly which will affect the flavor characteristics and bouquet of the wine.
The reason behind the smaller bowl in white wine glass is that, it is not necessary to expose white wine to air as it is for certain red wines. The tapered lip on the top of the bowl concentrates the aroma of white wine, which is generally more slight and nuanced than that of red wine. The lip and the bowl of the glass is designed to deliver the wine to the proper place in the mouth, which is the front.
Red Wine Glass
This is a rounded glass with a large bowl and a smaller stem. Stem on a red wine glass is shorter than white wine glass as it doesn’t matter if the red wine glass is held by the stem or the bowl. Well, again the reason being, heat transfer. When a person holds a red wine glass from the bowl, the heat from their body is transferred to the wine, which warms the wine slightly. However, the slight rise in the temperature of the red wine does not affect the flavors and the bouquets of the wine.
A larger bowl allows red wine more exposure to air. The slight taper of the lip on the top of the bowl is designed to deliver the red wine to the right parts of the mouth, those being the back and sides of the tongue.
Champagne or Sparkling Wine Flute
This is a tall and thin glass. This shape keeps the champagne or the sparkling wine from going flat. Also, it helps maintain the cool temperature of the wine.
Some Tips
* Choose clear glasses to best enjoy the color and appearance of your wine.
* Fill your wine glass only 1/3 to 1/2 full. This allows the drinker to swirl the wine and release the aroma in the wine. The air space between the wine and the mouth of the glass allows air to bring out the best in the wine’s bouquets.
Washing Wine Glasses
It sounds pretty simple enough. What could be so special about washing a wine glass? Well, the truth is, wine glasses are typically a bit pricier than your everyday milk or juice glasses. They’re delicate, too. Therefore it is necessary to be just a little more careful with them.
First and foremost, do not wash stemware in a dishwasher. This might result in a broken stem and the high heat during the drying cycle actually can bake the residue from the soap in the glass. This eventually affects the flavor characteristics and aroma of the wine.
Avoid exposing cut glass and crystal to high temperatures.
Do not use harsh soaps as even just a trace of lemon or similarly scented washing-up liquid can ruin the nose of a wine. The stemware is thin and made up of porous material which can absorb odors which will ultimately affect the flavors and bouquets of the wines.
The best way to wash your delicate stemware is to wash them one glass at a time with slightly lukewarm water and a very mild dishwashing soap. Use a soft sponge to gently clean the glass. Then rinse it well with lukewarm water. Rinse it again if necessary to get rid of any soap residue.
After rinsing, dry each glass one at a time gently, with a soft microfibre cloth or a soft dishwashing cloth. Do not place stemware upside down to dry. Always dry by hand. Once dry, a quick polish will quickly rid them of any residual water marks, which look a little unsightly but are easily removed. Store them standing upright in a clean, odour-free cupboard ready for use.
How to pour a perfect glass of wine
Still wines should be poured towards the center of the glass. Champagnes and sparkling wines should be poured against the side, like a beer, so that unwanted bubbles do not show up. To control drips, one can twist the bottle slightly while tilting it upright.
When pouring wine, the glass should be filled no more than two-thirds. This will allow guests to swirl the wine and smell the bouquet. A glass can always be refilled if desired.
Of course, serve wine to the women and older guests first, then the men and end with your own glass.
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