Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms recipe

Super Bowl is right around the corner! It's obviously easier and more convenient to have food (wings and pizza, anyone?!) delivered to your place, but if you plan on cooking, finger foods are best to feed a crowd. Here is an appetizer perfect for a small crowd.

Printable Recipe

Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms

ingredients:
• 3 (8 oz) packs baby bella mushrooms
• 2 links hot Italian sausage
• ¼ cup water
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• quarter of an onion, finely diced
• 1 garlic cloves, minced
• ¼ cup white wine (chardonnay: medium-dry to dry)
• ¼ cup Italian/seasoned bread crumbs
• ¼ tsp kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, freshly grated
• 4 slices of prosciutto
• thyme leaves for garnish (optional)

instructions:
1)  Line a sheet pan with foil for easy clean up, then place paper towels on top. Briefly rinse the mushrooms under cold running water. Carefully remove the stems, saving half for stuffing and discard the rest. Place the mushroom caps on the prepared sheet pan to drain off excess moisture. Finely chop the mushroom stems for stuffing.
◘ note: You can wipe dirt off of mushrooms with a damp paper towel if you prefer.
2)  Take sausages out of their casings and break them apart in a skillet. Add water, put the lid on and quickly bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
3)  Once boiling, take the lid off and break up the lumps using the back of a wooden spoon. Cook until all of the water has evaporated and sausage starts to brown, about 6-7 minutes, while still breaking up the sausage so that it is crumbly in texture.
4)  Transfer cooked sausage in a bowl. Preheat oven to 350° F.
5)  Add oil to the same skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook for 3 minutes. Add garlic, cook for 1 minute. Add chopped stems, salt and pepper; cook for 2 minutes.
6)  Pour in wine and let it bubble up for 1 minute, then toss around and continue to cook until most of the moisture evaporate, about 2 minutes.
7)  Add sausages back into the skillet along with their juice. Stir in bread crumbs; keep stirring until the mixture feels like it's sticking together, about 2 minutes. Off the heat and let the mixture cool for a bit.
8)  Remove the paper towels from the sheet pan. Dip the mushroom caps cavity side down in melted butter, then place them on the sheet pan cavity side up. Arrange the mushrooms so that they are not touching each other.
9)  Add a bit of cheese into the bottom of each caps. Add sausage mixture into the cavities, packing it down without breaking the caps and forming a small mound. Sprinkle the top with more cheese. Tear up prosciutto and place pieces on top of each mushrooms.
10)  Bake for 20 minutes.
11)  Quickly transfer cooked mushrooms to a platter so that they don't sit in their juices for too long. Garnish with thyme leaves, if desired.

Crab and Shrimp Bucatini recipe

Ahh, my first post of the year. This day last year, this was my very first post: Sausage and Cheese Macaroni.

I'm having a hard time posting recipes because the lighting is bad whenever I take pictures now that it's wintertime. And our kitchen lights also suck. I don't use any fancy lighting or camera, just natural light and a point-and-shoot camera. I'm not at all good in the subject of photography to begin with anyway, haha! My recipes are piling up :(

Let's talk about this recipe now. Almost always, the crab clusters at the grocery store are already cooked so all you really need to do is heat them up. At the store, they are either frozen or thawed but kept cold on top of ice. Thawed crab kept in the coolest part of the fridge will stay good for 2 days, 3 days max but smell it first to make sure it hasn't gone bad yet. If you don't plan on making this recipe within 2 days after buying the crab, you need buy frozen crab and put it in the freezer when you get home. Thaw it out in the fridge overnight when you're ready.

Crab meat is delicate so I don't recommend you adding it to the pan to toss together with the pasta and sauce. Simply top the pasta with crab meat, breaking up the larger pieces with your fingers if you like.

Printable Recipe

Crab and Shrimp Bucatini

For the Crab and Shrimp
ingredients:
• ½ to ¾ lb shrimp, peeled & deveined
• 2 tsp olive oil
• ¼ tsp kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lb or 2-3 snow crab clusters

instructions:
1)  Preheat oven to 400° F. Line a sheet pan with foil for easy clean up. Add shrimp to the pan, drizzle with oil, season with salt and pepper; toss to coat. Arrange the shrimp in a single layer on one side of the pan, then place the crab clusters on the opposite side.
2)  Roast for 8 minutes, turning the crab clusters over halfway through.
3)  The crab clusters cool down quickly so you can start to deshell them a couple of minutes after coming out of the oven. Leave the shrimp on the pan and put the crab meat in a bowl; set aside.
◘ tip: Start boiling the water for the pasta when you're deshelling the last crab cluster.

For the Pasta
ingredients:
• 8 to 12 oz bucatini
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• water

instructions:
1)  Bring a pot of water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add salt and pasta, give it a stir. Cook to al dente according to package directions. Drain pasta.
◘ tip: Start making the sauce while the water for the pasta is coming up to a boil.

For the Sauce
ingredients:
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 extra thick cut bacon strips, chopped
• 1 shallot, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ tsp crushed red pepper
• 1 (700 g) bottle Mutti Tomato Puree with Basil
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp sour cream
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp chives, chopped
• freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for serving

instructions:
1)  Heat oil in a large pan over medium-low heat. Add bacon and saute until bacon is cooked through but not to a crisp, about 8 minutes.
2)  Add shallots, cook for 2 minutes. Add garlic and crushed red pepper, cook for 1 minute.
3)  Reduce heat to low, pour in tomato puree and give it a stir. Let this come to a gentle bubble, about 4 minutes.
4)  Add heavy cream, sour cream, salt, and pepper; give it a good stir. Simmer sauce for 5 minutes.
5)  Add pasta, toss to coat. Add chives and toss again. Cook for 1 minute, then off the heat.
6)  Add a serving to a bowl/dish, top with some shrimp and crab, garnish with chives. Serve with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, if desired.

Vietnamese Grilled Pork Chops recipe

Besides the weather, do you know what else I miss about California? Asian food/restaurants/stores! I used to eat at this Vietnamese restaurant and I ordered the same thing every time! Ok, there was one time that I picked up a pho to-go because it was a chilly night at work. Anyways, there isn't a Vietnamese restaurant around here where we live at right now and I was craving that pork chop so I made my own. Oh, how I wish I had do chua, slices of tomatoes and cucumber, some soup, and that fish sauce vinaigrette.. that would have completed my Vietnamese meal at home! I also wish I had grilled the pork chops over open flame like at the restaurant.

Printable Recipe

Vietnamese Grilled Pork Chops

ingredients:
• 4 ribeye center cut pork chops, thin sliced & bone-in
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1 Fresno chili pepper, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 lemongrass
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp fish sauce (Dynasty)
• 2 tbsp grapeseed oil (or any neutral oil such as canola)
• 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 1 tbsp lime juice, freshly squeezed
• 1 tbsp water

instructions:
1)  Put the pork chops in a zip top bag and set aside.
2)  To prepare the lemongrass, cut off the root end and the green tops. Remove the outer layers (usually 2) until you get a nice tube. Using a mallet (or something similar) whack the tube a few times to loosen up the fibers, then finely chop.
3)  In a food processor, add shallot, Fresno chili, garlic, and lemongrass; process until finely chopped, scraping down the sides in between. Transfer to a bowl.
4)  In the same bowl, add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Pour this marinade over the pork chops and massage it into the meat. Squeeze as much air out of the bag as you can then seal it. Set the bag on a plate and let marinate in the fridge overnight, turning the bag occasionally.
5)  Take the bag out of the fridge to let the pork come to room temperature 30 minutes before cooking.
6)  Place a grill pan over medium heat. At the first sight of smoke, add 2 pork chops in the pan making sure they are not touching each other. Grill for 3 minutes, undisturbed. Flip the pork chops and grill the other side for 2 minutes, undisturbed. Repeat grilling process for the rest of the pork chops.
7)  Serve with rice and do chua (pickled daikon and carrots). Enjoy!

Caramelized Onions recipe

Caramelized onions are so versatile! You see them in burgers, on top of meats, in omelettes! Some cook the onions low and slow for a long time, but not me. "Ain't nobody got time for that!" only because we weren't having anything special for dinner that night I made this. We only had hotdogs, as seen in the pictures below hehe!

Printable Recipe

Caramelized Onions

ingredients:
• 1 large Vidalia onion, sliced
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ½ tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp hot pepperoncini juice
• 1 tsp Worcestershire
• ¼ tsp kosher salt

instructions:
1)  Heat butter and oil in a pan over medium-low heat. Add onions and sugar, toss to coat the onions with butter and oil. Spread the onions in an even layer. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes and spreading the onions in an even layer every time.
2)  After 20 minutes of cooking, add the rest of the ingredients; stir and spread the onions in an even layer once again. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes.
3)  Serve with steaks, as an ingredient in braising, or as a sandwich topping. Serve it however you like!

Pictured:
○ Potato buns, grilled Nathan's Hot Dogs, caramelized onions, and sliced hot pepperoncinis.

Sopas recipe

Sopas is the Philippines' version of chicken noodle soup, roughly translated as Creamy Chicken Macaroni Soup. It is traditionally made with elbow macaroni, but I honestly think that egg noodles tastes better in this dish and adding bacon adds a hint of a little something-something that no one who knows what Sopas tastes like expects. Plus, if there is one thing I know about my cooking style, it is that I am not traditional at all.

For my fellow Filipinos out there, now that it's colder outside, you know you want a bowl or two of this soup!

Printable Recipe

Sopas

For the Sopas
ingredients:
• 1 to 1.25 lbs chicken breasts, boneless & skinless (1-2 pieces)
• 2 thick cut bacon strips, cut in half crosswise
• 32 oz chicken stock (Kitchen Basics)
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• half of an onion, diced
• ½ cup carrots, cut to half moons
• ½ cup celery, cut to 'c'
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ¾ tsp kosher salt, divided use
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper, divided use + more for garnish
• 2 tbsp fish sauce (Dynasty)
• 12 oz can Carnation Evaporated Milk, shaken well before use

instructions:
1)  In a pot, arrange chicken in a single layer and add bacon. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat, cover the pan and simmer for 15 minutes.
2)  Transfer chicken and bacon to a plate to cool. Skim scum off the stock and wipe the sides of the pot with a damp paper towel if needed; reserve chicken stock. Dice the bacon. While waiting for the chicken to cool, start boiling water for the noodles.
3)  Melt butter in a pan over medium-high heat. Add onions, carrots, celery, ¼ tsp salt, ¼ tsp ground black pepper, and bacon. Cook for 4 minutes, tossing frequently to avoid browning. Add garlic, cook for 1 minute. Off the heat and set aside.
4)  Dice half of the chicken and shred the rest; set aside.
5)  Bring the chicken stock to a boil over medium-high heat with the lid on. Once boiling, take the lid off and reduce heat to low. Add chicken, vegetables, ½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp ground black pepper, fish sauce, and evaporated milk; give it a good stir. Add the noodles, stir again, and continue to simmer for 5 minutes.
◘ note: A skin may form on the top, simply stir it back into the soup.
6)  Ladle a serving in a bowl and garnish with a few grinds of black pepper.

For the Noodle
ingredients:
• 3 cups wide or extra wide egg noodles
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• water

instructions:
1)  Bring a pot of water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add salt and noodles, give it a stir. Cook to al dente according to package directions. Drain noodles and add into the soup mixture.