I have used this base of red curry paste and whole Greek yogurt as a marinade for chicken kebabs and cocktail size skewers for years. It is always a dish that is well received. You can change up the vegetables as you see in the photos above. Peppers. onions, Shishitos peppers, zucchini, and even small pieces of corn work great. You can also swap out yellow curry paste for red, if you’re concerned about shellfish allergies( red curry contains shrimp paste). The Pineapple Mango Slaw adds a nice sweet and sour balance to the lightly spiced chicken.
Red Curry Kebabs
Juice of 2 limes
2 tablespoons Red Curry Paste
32 oz Whole Greek Yogurt
1 tbsp. Olive Oil
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp corriander
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground ginger
Kosher Salt
2-3 lbs skinless boneless chicken thighs
Vegetables to skewer( peppers, onions, zucchini, etc)
In a non reactive mixing bowl, whisk together all ingredients . Cut the chicken into pieces suitable to thread the skewer. A boneless skinless thigh can make approximately 4 kebab pieces. Add to the marinade and let sit for at least 2 hrs, or up to overnight in the refrigerator. Thread the chicken alternating pieces with your choice of vegetables, as mentioned above. Fire up the grill to temps ranging between 375 F to 400F. Lightly brush the grill grates with oil and place kebabs on the grates. Close lid. Turn at 10 minute intervals and continue to cook until the Chicken reached an internal temperature of 165F.
Pineapple Mango Slaw
1 large carrot skinned and grated
1 mango chopped into small pieces( removed from skin)
1 /4 chopped fresh pineapple ( approx 1 cup)
1/4 chopped cilantro
2 tablespoon Brown Sugar
2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 green cabbage shredded
In a bowl combine all ingredients and mix. Allow to sit in refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hrs to over night for the flavors to develop.
I’ve started a new food blog specifically for adults with braces called The emBRACEable Gourmand. Come read about it here and get this fabulous summertime dessert of Coconut Crème Brûlée with Banana suitable for everyone.
Forgive the lapse in blogging these days. As we all know sometimes we need to step back, reassess,and wait for inspiration to awaken. I never stopped cooking, but just needed to step away from telling the neverending story.
We have been travelling a bit ,and our journeys have taken us to Lisbon,Estoril,Stockholm and Rio De Janerio. I changed my tagline to ” Cooking with a Global Perspective” as that’s what I’ve always done and what best defines Coco Cooks.
Earlier in the year I was taken aback when a colleague/ chef belittled some of my cooking projects as to grandiose,time consuming,unrelatable, etc and asked “Why?”. Obviously he had no idea what I’m made of.Because that’s what’s set me apart and why my clients love me.Never let someone try to derail you or pigeon hole you as perfect your craft.Never let naysayers cast doubt on your essence and approach to life.So looking forward to creative days here at Coco Cooks,I give you a delicious Hazelnut Stracciatella in time for the holiday weekend.
Cooking is about adapting and improvising.Don’t get rigid and afraid to take a leap and experiment.
I used my go to recipe for stracciatella here from David Lebovitz .
My adaptation was the addition of hazelnuts. In Rio I had a lovely gelato in Inpanema after a sun soaked day, that was bursting full of hazelnut flavor and chocolate. As Certain Someone loves Stracciatella,I decided to merge both
flavors.
My variation:
First you toast about 1 cup hazelnuts in a dry skillet. Toss constantly and be careful not to burn.
Then in clean kitchen towel roll the nuts to remove the skin.
In a food processor grind the nuts and sugar called for in the recipe. I added a splash of rum for kicks.
Add the ground nuts to the heated milk and cream ,and let sit covered for 1 hour to extract the flavor. Drain the nuts carefully using a fine mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth,reserving the cream. Squeeze out any excess liquid . Proceed with recipe from there.
Where in the world has Coco Cooks been? The answer to that is Portugal, Sweden, and adjusting to a new job, with a catering gig here and there. Life is good. And you will love this recipe for Old El Paso’s Beyond Tacos. It’s all about surroundings and who you surround yourself with. It’s an easy lesson, but sometimes learned the hard way.
Certain Someone and I started out our European vacation this year in Estoril , Portugal. Our good friends , one Russian, and one Indian got married in a huge multi million euro villa by the sea . The theme was obviously Vodka Curry. Did I mention it was a two day ceremony encompassing both cultures? They turned the indoor pool into a dance club for the final reception.I’ve never seen a anything like it. I was busy doing the makeup for the bride during the ceremonies. The food of Portugal was outstanding and I became inspired. What little down time we had was spent on the beaches of Estoril, the Casino, and naturally eating our way up the coast.
After Portugal we went to our second home in Sweden. It’s been a few years for me, and it was great to see old friends and my extended family, in addition to Certain Someones parents. Our friends threw us a lovely crayfish party with beautiful fish dishes, cheeses, pies, and drinks. We ate , sang , and drank Schnapps throughout the night. I love Sweden and wish I could spend more time there.
Now onto this recipe…
Family meal time is the most important part of the day. And the most memorable meals are those filled with comfort and love. Onions and Peppers, stuffed with Mexican Cheesy Rice and meat, are baked to tender goodness with Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce. Serve Traditional Old El Paso refried beans on the side.I got my inspiration from the foods of the Mediterranean and Middle East with this. I love the technique of boiling onions, and peeling away the layers. then stuffing. It’s one of Certain Someones favorite meals.
Stuffed Peppers and Stuffed Onions with Old El Paso® Enchilada Sauce, Beyond Tacos
7 smaller sweet peppers to stuff. Use various colors is possible for variety.
1 ½ lbs ground meat (beef, pork, chicken, or turkey). I mixed beef and pork.
1 Old El Paso Mexican Cheesy Rice Kit
2 10 oz Cans of Old El Paso Medium Red Enchilada Sauce
½ can ( 5 oz) water
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 can of Old El Paso Traditional Refried Beans to serve on the side.
Chopped cilantro and paprika for garnish
Instructions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil.
Preheat oven to 350 °
On a cutting board cut the root end off of each onion.
Carefully cut vertically each onion on the side (root to tip) down to the center part (the halfway point, about 6 layers). Do not cut in half. The outside papery layer will be easy to remove, but leave onion intact.
Drop each onion in boiling water and cook for 15 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and let cool until able to handle with ease. (Plunge in cold water to stop cooking and speed up cooling time).
Once cool carefully peel each layer apart until you reach the smaller center/ core. The layers may not be as cooked towards the center, which is fine. Save and chop for filling.
In a bowl mix ground meat and contents of the Old El Paso Mexican Cheesy Rice Kit. Add some chopped leftover onion from the cores of onion. Mix with hands until all is incorporated.
Take a cast iron skillet or oven proof casserole and brush with olive oil.
Take each onion layer and carefully fill with meat mixture and roil over and close.
Stuff each pepper as well.
Arrange in pan.
Pour cans of enchilada sauce and water over stuffed vegetables.
Cover tightly with aluminum foil.
Bake for 1 hour. Carefully brush bastes each vegetable with the sauce and juices from vegetables.
Remove foil and turn up oven temperature to 400°. Bake for another 15 minutes until bubbly and browned.
It’s hard to believe our national day of thanks is next week. I chuckle when hear people stressing about, what to me is , a day of cooking for pure love and joy. And truth be told, I prefer a cozy lazy holiday with just Certain Someone and I to indulge in good food, with no drama or timeline pressures. Not everyone has that luxury. This post is about mishaps on the big day. I can’t say I’ve had a serious mishap on Thanksgiving , but I’ve had them when entertaining for large crowds.The most recent ones have occurred over this past summer with the new gas grill. We had two dinners planned for very important clients and colleagues of Certain Someone’s. No one except the repair man on the adjacent property will ever know how my special juniper cured pork belly were burnt to a crisp black ash. I mistakenly left the temp on high on one direct burner as I rushed downstairs several floors below, to prep the other courses. The poor repairman kept knocking on the terrace door believing it was an one level apartment and I couldn’t hear him. By the time I came up to check on my supposedly slow grilled bellies, they were a lump of black coal and the man was smoked out while trying to do bis job on the terrace next door. He didn’t even turn the knob to cut it off. I panicked for a second, and went to plan B, taking a frozen belly out , cleaning the grill, and starting over. The party and the food went well. Lesson to this is font sweat the small stuff and just carry on. It wasn’t the first time it happened. Imagine a similar scenario a month before with my hand made sausages.No matter how much you plan and stress, mistakes happen.
We chefs and cooks take our successes and failures personally, because we put so much into what we do. But the key is to learn from the mistakes and move forward. Also, to be open to learning and receiving tips from others. One Thanksgiving I roasted a gorgeous crispy goose. I like to change it up from traditional turkey. Everyone was curious about my offering and how it would turn out. An older aunt called me the next day and asked me for the goose fat. I was perplexed as to why she would.want all that fat. This was years ago, and while I was a good cook, not where I am now.She was quite upset that I discarded all that precious golden goose fat. Seems old southern folk lore has uses such things as remedies, and not to mention cooking other great dishes . Goose or duck fat potatoes anyone? I learned a few things from that incident . So listen to the wisdom.of your older elders, don’t stress, pay attention to details, pour a glass of wine and relax.Remember that scene from the movie Eat Pray Love when she prepares a Thanksgiving for her Italian friends . They cut into the eagerly awaited turkey and it’s frozen inside? No worries. They all chilled, put the bird back into the oven,drank, talked, and woke up to a marvelous turkey breakfast. That’s the spirit.
Tell me about your mishaps or approaches to holiday cooking. I will draw a winner for a $50 giftcard from Wal-Mart to help you with your holiday preparations. You have until the 21st of November to enter. Help spread the word. Who couldn’t use $50 with these high food costs?
If you want to read about some more Thanksgiving mishaps, check here. Wal- Mart has put together a great page of mishaps, interesting tidbits, and tips.
So now on to the cooking…
Here is a lovely restorative soup to serve at the big celebration. I call it Cellar soup, as it uses all sorts of root vegetables and apple’s to create a creamy rich soup. I made this , froze it and gave quarts away to friends and family.They looovvvved it. Even Certain Someone who resisted because it sounded too healthy for him, gave it a thumbs up.
I’ve been counting my enormous blessings this season, and want you readers to know how thankful I am for your support and encouragement, especially during these years of change.
Thank You.
Disclosure. Wal-Mart is sponsoring this post with $50 gift card provision’s for myself and the selected winner. My opinions are my own.
