Barbecue Party

I love barbecues. I love the aroma of charcoal grilled meat and vegetables. However, I never dare to make barbecues by myself. Even though I am living in an apartment, I can easily make barbecues at on my balcony. I have never had any barbecue party because I personally scare of fire. Gas stove I can Handle but barbecue fire is too extreme for me. I feel than it is hard to control barbecue flame. One of my inspiration for barbecueing is chef Michael Smith who is the host for cooking program called "Chef at Home" on Food Network. I have been watching this show for many years already. This show takes place at chef's house located on Prince Edward Island. His house has beautiful yard and nice deck surrounded by lot of trees. He did a lot of barbecueing and he made it looks so easy. I think I am definitely going to make a barbecue party for me and my friend when I buy a house in the future. I need some space which is bigger than my balcony when dealing with fire. Now, I think I am going to my favorite steak house for some rib eye steak...yum...

Chocolate Cake

Many people are on gluten-free diet. I can not picture myself as a gluten free person. I love pastry and desserts. I have always wonder how flourless cake will taste like. I have never tried one. I came across one very interesting cake recipe. It is flourless chocolate cake recipe. The picture looks very rich and moist. Since no flour means less carbohydrates, it makes me wonder that this flourless chocolate cake will have less calories than regular chocolate cake or not. I am sure that it still has lots of calories because it contain eggs, butter and sugar. I think I have to look into it further. However, I will definitely try that recipe as it definitely looks very delicious.

Salmon Roll Recipe (Salmon Maki)

If you have leftover salmon, you can have fun with it by making salmon roll or salmon maki. This will be a great nutritious snack idea because of fish oil benefits. This is considered a very healthy recipe that can be served during a party as well. You can make it even more fancy by adding other ingredients such as cucumber, crab meat, fish roe, etc.

Ingredients

2 seaweed sheets
100 g salmon
400 g cooked sushi rice
Optional: cream cheese (eg. Philadelphia), wasabi-paste, fish roe, cucumber, crab meat
To serve: soy sauce, wasabi paste, pickled ginger
for 24 pieces ( 4 maki rolls )

Instructions

1. Cut salmon into thin stripes.

2. Cut seaweed sheet into halves.

3. Put the seaweed sheet on the bamboo mat. Then, spread rice approximately 2 cm wide and 0,5 cm high on the seaweed sheet.

4. Put a tiny bit or a desire amount of wasabi onto the rice.

5. Place salmon in the middle of the rice.

6. Wetten the end of the sheet a with water.

7. Roll the sheet with the bamboo mat and "glue" the wet ends of roll together.

8. Cut the roll into appr. six pieces.

Tip : You can wetten the knife with water mixed with vinegar in order to prevent the rice from sticking at the knife

Spicy Red Snapper

This is a fusion dish. If you are up for something spicy, this is a good choice.

Prep Time : 10 mins
Cook Time : 20 mins


Ingredients

2 skinless red snapper fillets, 8 ounces each
2 tablespoons of chili paste
1 tablespoons of soy sauce
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 tablespoon of lime juice
3 medium size tomatoes, diced
2 ounces of white mushroom, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 pound of spaghetti


Directions
1. Wash the red snapper fillets and sprinkle some salt and pepper on the fillet
2. Cook the spaghetti.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a pan over medium heat.
4. Add the chopped garlic and cook of half minute or until tender but not brown.
5. Add chopped mushrooms and diced tomatoes. Stir the ingredients for about 1 - 2 minutes
6. Add soy sauce, lime juice and chili paste and continue stirring for 1 more minutes.
7. Add all fish to the pan and cook them 2 - 3 minutes per side depends on the thickness of the fillet. Meanwhile add the pasta water if the spicy sauce is too thick.
8. Serve the fish fillet and the spicy sauce with the cooked pasta immediately.

Easy Egg Benedict

This is one of my favorite breakfast recipes. It is a perfect breakfast menu for Sunday brunch when family get together. Many people may think that egg benedict is a complicated recipe as it consists of poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. Actually, it is very quick & easy.


Ingredients for Egg Benedict

2 rolls of panini bread or your choice of bread (split, buttered & toasted)
(English muffins is more popular.)
4 slices of ham or bacon
4 poached eggs
1 cup of Hollandaise sauce

Ingredients for Hollandaise Sauce

6 egg yolks
3 tablespoon of cold water
1 cup warm clarified butter
1 - 3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Salt and ground white pepper to taste

How to Make Hollandaise Sauce

1. Off the heat, whisk the egg mixture in the double boiler (Bain-Marie) until it becomes light and frothy.
2. Pour water into the saucepan about 1/3 of the saucepan. Turn the heat on low as we just want to simmer the water.
3. Place the double boiler over, not in, whisk the egg until thickened. It will take about 2 to 4 minutes. Keep in mind that we do not want the egg get too hot.
4. Remove the double boiler from over the water and whisk to slightly cool the mixture and slowly add butter. Then, whisk in lemon juice, salt and pepper. Whisk in a splash of warm water, if the suace is too thick. Serve the sauce immediately or place the double boiler in warm water to keep the sauce warm for up to 30 minutes.

How to Poach an Egg
1. Fill half of a saucepan with water and bring to boil. Add a dash of white vinegar.
2. Turn the heat to low before craking an egg and carefully drop the egg into the center of the saucepan. Poach several egg at a time if your saucepan is wide enough.
3. Put the lid on for 1-2 minutes in order to keep the steam inside . The steam will cook the top surface of the egg without toughen the yolk.

To serve : Egg Benedict
Put a poached egg and a slice of ham on each toasted bread and pour hollandaise sauce on top as desire.