Guacamole, Chips, and Salsa

Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner … if you want a quick, simple dip that is perfect for the occasion guacamole is your answer.  Just a few ingredients are added to avocado to make this creamy, yummy dish.

If you aren’t familiar with avocados, these green fruits grow on trees and are actually large berries.  There are many varieties available though the Hass  is the most common.  This variety is originally from California and is often called a California  Avocado.  In recent years the Slimcado, a variety originally from the West Indies, has had a huge increase in availability as it has become so popular among South Florida farmers that it is often referred to as the Florida Avocado.  Though this larger variety (with a smoother skin) boasts reduced fat- it also has a higher water content and I personally think it is a little disappointing when used for guacamole.  For best results I recommend you go for another variety.

Mangos, Hass Avocados, Slimcados and Limes at the Farmers Market

Before you make your guacamole you’ll want to make certain your avocados are ripe.  They don’t need to be mushy but a slight give on the surface is a great indication that they are ready.  If you purchase your avocados before they reach this point you can store them at room temperature and they will continue to ripen- I keep mine in my fruit bowl.  Once they seem to be getting soft though either use them or put them in the refrigerator.  They go from ripe to overripe (and brown inside) very quickly.

When you are ready to cut into your avocado they are a cinch to peel.  First completely remove and discard the knob that attached it to the branch- you don’t want that to end up in your dip!  Then cut around the fruit- all the way through to the pit.  Use a spoon or avocado scoop to scrape the fruit from it’s skin.  Dice or mash to your preference adding the lime juice to prevent browning.  There is a rumor that adding the pits will keep it from browning but… doesn’t really seem to work.  Though the resulting bowl of green mush isn’t necessarily beautiful- it is incredibly delicious!

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Guacamole

The perfect dip for tortilla chips or fresh vegetables.

Author: Jessica Bright

Cuisine: Mexican

Recipe type: Appetizer

Serves: 4

Prep time:  5 mins

Total time:  5 mins

Ingredients

• 2 ripe avocados
• 1TBSP fresh squeezed lime juice
• ¼ tsp garlic salt
• ¼ tsp cumin
• 2 TBSP fresh minced cilantro

Instructions

1. Peel, seed, and mash avocados with the lime juice. Add remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. Add more salt if needed.

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To make this simple recipe you fist  make a caramel syrup then pour a custard over the top and bake in a water bath or “bain marie” until the custard is set.   I enjoy baking this in a silicone round cake pan.  Turning the finished product out when it is finished is very easy and if by chance some of your caramel mixture has solidified at the bottom of the pan as a brittle you can use it to garnish the flan when you serve it.  For my bain marie I simply set the pan I am using in the center of a broiler pan then use my kettle to pour the boiling water in just after I place it on the baking rack of my oven.

Originally I was fond of using fresh grated orange zest to flavor this dish.  However when I tried making this with pure citrus oil I was hooked- I love the intense flavor and convenience.  Do be careful though- it is easy to over-do .  If you prefer another flavor combination you can easily omit the citrus and use whatever other flavorings you like- coconut, coffee, vanilla, and almond are among our other favorites.

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Orange Cream Flan

A simple, delicious, dessert that is both creamy and light.

Author: Jessica Bright

Cuisine: Mexican

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 8

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  50 mins

Total time:  1 hour

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 6 eggs
• 1 12 oz can evaporated milk
• 1 14 oz can coconut milk
• 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp orange oil or 2 tsp fresh grated orange zest

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Spray a 9” round pan (that is 3” or deeper) with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a small saucepan heat sugar over medium high heat until sugar melts and turns amber. Be very careful not to burn, once it melts this can happen quickly.
3. Remove from heat and pour evenly into bottom of prepared pan. If the sugar hardens before evening out in the pan don’t worry, it will even itself out as it cooks in the oven.
4. In a blender combine the remaining ingredients. Blend briefly to thoroughly mix. Pour into pan with sugar then cover with foil.
5. Place pan in a larger pan that will allow you to create a “bain marie” or hot water bath. Pour warm water into the larger pan until it is half the depth of the flan mixture inside the foil pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes until custard is set in center.
6. Remove from oven and water bath, cool, then refrigerate. When ready to serve place bottom of pan in warm water briefly then invert onto serving plate. Garnish with fresh orange slices.

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Start with a plain white egg, peeled…

Last year, when I told my 9-year-old son we were going to decorate eggs, he got excited.  He started plotting and planning what he would do with crayons, markers, and food coloring.  When I began to peel the plain white boiled eggs, he was visibly surprised.  “Mommy, have you forgotten something?” he asked, his tone edged with disappointment.

I gently removed the yolks then mashed them with some mayonaise and a little mustard until smooth.

As I carefully cut a zig-zag pattern around the edge of each egg, he quietly watched.

I used a pastry bag with the round tip to re-apply the yolk mixture in the egg, piping more than the original amount.

I added a sliver of carrot

Plus two small capers for eyes

Or a sliver of baby gherkin pickles (for even bigger eyes) and suddenly decorating eggs has nothing to do with food coloring.

Max decided he needed to do a little of his own decorating.

And, of course, his designs had to involve boats or fishing.

This year, after reading a very confident discourse by another foodie (who was not at all consistent with what grandma does), I decided to play with my food and see what kind of difference time really makes.

What makes a good boiled egg?  Like many things that comes down to a matter of opinion.  Ease of peeling is important to some people.  The best way to accomplish that is to not use really fresh eggs.  As an egg ages, the membrane separates from the shell making it considerably easier to peel.  Adding salt to the cooking water (I used 1 TBSP) helps with this too.

Regardless of your preferred cooking time, start with cold water— enough to cover your eggs in a single layer.  Add 1 TBSP salt to the water and then bring the water to a rolling boil.  After the rolling boil is reached, place the lid on  the eggs and allow them to sit for the desired number of minutes for your preferred level of done-ness.

For my egg-speriment, I started all eggs in this way.  I then pulled out one egg every minute to see exactly how things were progressing with the level of  done-ness.

The large eggs I cooked were “done” much faster than I expected.  I really thought the one-minute egg would be a gloppy mess, but it was just a little darker and more damp in the yolk than the others.  I worried about the color change that occurs when the yolk and the white react—this happens more when the eggs are cooked longer.  But it was barely noticeable around the 7 minute mark and after with the eggs I cooked.  At first, the yolks  were also a little too crumbly (before 3 minutes); then perfect (at 4-6 minutes); and then more dry and crumbly again.  I still followed  grandma’s advice and plunged the cooked eggs into ice water as soon as they were finished cooking.  Depending on who you ask, this may a) prevent discoloration, b) make peeling easier, or c) both.

Going forward, the large eggs I boil will be done in a saucepan with cold water and 1 TBSP of salt.  Once the rolling boil is reached I will add the lid, turn the burner off, and allow them to sit for 5 minutes before draining them and adding ice water. (All while standing on one leg and talking to grandma.)

Happy Easter!

Jessica

My version of Scotch eggs, baked not fried!

When I first saw Scotch eggs on the menu of an Irish pub a few years ago, I’ll be honest, the description both fascinated and horrified me.  This rich dish is traditionally made by surrounding a hard boiled egg with sausage and breading then deep frying it.  Though the traditional recipe has many enthusiasts I came up with this baked, greener, option that I’m calling Irish eggs in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.  Because they aren’t fried they are quite a bit healthier and you can use pork, chicken, or turkey sausage to suite your preference.  I hope you find them tasty!

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Lucky Irish Eggs

Unlike traditional Scotch eggs; this similar recipe is baked not fried and includes fresh spinach and green onion. In Great Britain these are a popular pub and picnic food.

Author: Jessica Bright

Cuisine: Scotch/ Irish/ English

Recipe type: Breakfast

Serves: 6

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  30 mins

Total time:  40 mins

Ingredients

• 6 hard boiled large eggs
• 1 lb ground sausage of choice
• 1 cup panko crumbs
• ¾ cup packed fresh spinach
• ¼ cup chopped green onion
• ½ cup yellow mustard
• 1 TBSP finely minced fresh spinach
• 1 TBSP finely minced green onion

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400° F. Peel hard boiled eggs.
2. Combine panko crumbs, spinach, and green onion in food processor and pulse until consistently chopped and evenly colored, set aside 2 TBSP of this mixture.
   
3. Divide sausage into six portions. Completely enclose one egg in one of the meat portions
   
4. Roll eggs in the prepared panko crumbs.
   
5. Place on a baking sheet and repeat process with remaining eggs. Bake 400° for 20 minutes.
   
6. Check eggs and repair any cracks in the coating with the reserved crumb mixture.
7. Bake an additional 5-10 minutes, until the sausage is cooked through. Combine the mustard and remaining ingredients and serve with eggs as a dipping sauce.

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If you would like to try this dish in person, or try other brunch dishes that complement it well, join Jessica for a cooking class this Thursday.  Find more details here.

Go Green with Irish Cream Toast, Lucky Irish Hash and a “green” egg surprise.

St. Patrick’s Day Brunch Class

Thursday March 7th at 10:30 am ($30) at Somethin’s Cookin , Panama City

Please email:  classes @ cookingbright.com (without the spaces) if you would like more information or to reserve a spot.  Reservations are required and space is limited to please contact us soon if you would like to participate.

I created this recipe for Easter this year but you could easily enjoy these little cookie nests year round. They’re delicious!

Coco- Mocha Cookie Nests

½ cup Kelapo extra virgin coconut oil
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
½ tsp salt
1¾ cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 TBSP baking powder
1 TBSP instant coffee or espresso powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream coconut oil and sugar, add the egg and mix together. In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients and whisk together.  Gradually add dry ingredients to creamed mixture then blend well.  Stir vanilla into dough.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Dough can be shaped with a small scoop and flattened or formed into a log and sliced.  Bake 8 minutes until done but no significant color change, for best results do not use a dark pan.  Allow cookies to rest on the pan for a few minutes after removing from oven before transferring to a cooling rack.  Do not allow them to cool completely on cookie sheet or they will stick.

Frosting:

½ cup Kelapo extra virgin coconut oil
1 tsp instant coffee or espresso powder
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar

Garnish:

2 cups toasted coconut*
1 cup macadamia nuts

Pour coconut oil in a mixing bowl.  Dissolve coffee in vanilla and add to coconut oil.  Gradually beat in the powdered sugar, ¼ cup at a time.  Beat until smooth and fluffy.  Pipe a circle of frosting in the center of each cookie.  Place a few macadamia “eggs” in the center of each cookie and surround with a little of the cooled toasted coconut to create beautiful, delicious, nests.

These aren’t vegan, since they contain egg, but you could easily substitute for the eggs if you prefer a vegan diet.

Strawberry Angel Food Cake

Family recipes are some of the very best you can have, not only are they normally tried and true but they often come will precious memories attached.  I have many recipes that I treasure, especially from my grandmothers.

For as long as I can remember, this strawberry cake recipe was a favorite dessert of mine.  I  have photos to prove that this was the cake I requested for birthdays when I was young.  Recently however, I realized how many of my family members are emotionally attached to this recipe.

With my mom and a Strawberry Angel Food Cake on my 7th birthday.

All 4 generations of my family (from my kids to my grandparents) lit up when I made this cake with the strawberries my kids helped pick at the St. Augustine U-Pick farm.  Over the years my grandmother has adapted the recipe to include more convenient ingredients. I cautiously told her that I had changed my version to use fresh made whipped cream, not realizing that her original recipe included it. Feel free to adapt this recipe to suit your own preferences with both the berries, (fresh or frozen), and the whipped cream (or whipped topping). It is also up to you whether you make or buy the angel food cake that you start with.

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Strawberry Angel Food Cake

This simple recipe is a family favorite and a very easy way to enjoy a light strawberry dessert.

Author: Jessica Bright

Cuisine: Southern

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 10

Prep time:  20 mins

Cook time:  2 hours

Total time:  2 hours 20 mins

Ingredients

• 1 pint fresh (or frozen) strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 3 cups heavy whipping cream*
• 1 tsp vanilla extract*
• ¼ cup plus 2 TBSP powdered sugar*
• (if you prefer the convenience of whipped topping omit the * ingredients and substitute a large tub of whipped topping)
• Strawberry Angel Food Cake
• 1 prepared angel food cake in standard tube shape
• 6oz Strawberry flavored gelatin mix

Instructions

1. Place angel food cake on your serving platter. Carefully cut a trench around the circumference of the cake with 1” thick walls and a 1” thick layer on the bottom.
   
2. Reserve the cut pieces of cake and cut one chunk to create a 1” thick bottom for the center of the cake.
   
3. Empty the gelatin mix into a large glass measuring cup. Add half the recommended boiling water and whisk to dissolve completely. Add enough ice to the measuring cup to increase the volume by one cup. Stir with a whisk to dissolve ice.
   
4. Whip the heavy cream on high with your mixer until peaks form. Add vanilla and powdered sugar, whip until a spreadable consistency. Add a few tablespoons of the still liquid strawberry gelatin to dye the whipped cream pink if desired.
   
5. Cut the reserved pieces of cake so that you have enough to create a 1” thick layer on top of the cake. Any excess cake can be broken and added to the gelatin. Add the strawberries to the gelatin mixture and a little of the whipped cream to lighten the color. Pour the gelatin mixture into the prepared cake shell. Top with the layer of cake.
   
6. Frost cake with a thin layer of whipped cream to smooth the exterior of the cake then pipe additional whipped cream on the surface and garnish with fresh strawberries if desired. Refrigerate at least two hours before serving.

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Delicious Strawberry Angel Food Cake

Shrimp Creole

Fat Tuesday is right around the corner and this is the perfect time of year to make one of my favorite New Orleans recipes, Shrimp Creole.   If you are giving up meat for Lent– or you just want a simple new recipe to enjoy seafood–this is a great option.

When I make it at home, I often start the rice in my rice cooker and have the entire dish assembled and ready to eat by the time the rice is done.  This is a great recipe to make when company it coming.  Thanks to the vegetables in the rich, tasty sauce you don’t need as much shrimp and it really is a low stress dish to make!

The ingredients

Chop the whole peeled tomatoes

Shrimp Creole

• 2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
• 2 bell peppers (1 green, 1 red or yellow), chopped
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 1 ½ cups chopped celery
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp dry thyme
• ½ tsp celery seed
• 1 tsp dry oregano
• Dash (or 2) Tabasco sauce
• chop the whole peeled tomatoes
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 bottle or can of beer
• 28 oz can whole, peeled tomatoes
• 16 oz tomato sauce
• 1 TBSP brown sugar
• 1 TBSP cider vinegar
• 2 lbs medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

By the time your rice is done, the shrimp creole will be ready to eat!

Heat olive oil in a large pot; add onions, peppers, celery, and garlic. Stir and cook until onions are translucent. Add Worcestershire, celery seed, oregano, Tabasco, cayenne, beer, and the juice from the can of whole tomatoes. Coarsely chop the tomatoes and add them to the pot. Add tomato sauce, brown sugar, and cider vinegar. Stir and allow to simmer until it thickens to your desired consistency. Stir in the shrimp and allow to cook an additional 5 minutes or until shrimp are pink and cooked through. Serve over rice with more Tabasco if desired.

Just after adding shrimp,cook a few more minutes and it is done!

I first heard of beignets in junior high.  A friend was cleaning out her pantry and gave me an old box of mix from Cafe du Monde because she knew I liked to cook.  That mix was so old that the hard, flat results it yielded were extremely unimpressive and I didn’t think of beignets again until about 10 years ago.  Another friend was telling me about the fabulous New Orleans style doughnuts that a local restaurant made.  Well this friend forced me to try one and I must say, they were pretty good.

The closest I’ve come to visiting New Orleans is the Disney resort with that theme.  I know, it is probably very different from the real deal but they do make amazing beignets in their food court.  Our family ordered them for breakfast during our stay there and ever since they have become one of our family’s favorite vacation traditions.  Now thanks to “The Princess and The Frog” the popularity of “Man Catching” beignets has grown.

I try not to make a habit of cooking things that are fried.  We all know that it isn’t the healthiest of food options and it wasn’t a habit I was used to as a kid.  I do however remember one occasion when my mom made doughnuts from scratch.  That special breakfast made such an impression on me that when my kids fell in love with beignets, I decided I would try to make them at home.  I’ve devoted quite a bit of effort to finding a good recipe.  My family doesn’t complain when they are part of the quality control team for a project like this.

My helper in the kitchen

During my research, I found three major techniques for making the dough used for beignets.  Some are made with a choux dough, using a technique similar to making a cream puff (boil water and butter, stir in flour, stir in eggs, roll and cut).  Yeast is used for other beignets; but, of course, this requires planning well in advance. And some beignets are made with a more quick leavening like baking powder, baking soda, or both.  I also tried a fresh box of the Cafe du Monde Beignet Mix and I have to admit, they are really good.  There are many recipes online that claim to be the same as Cafe du Monde but even those weren’t quite as tasty as the mix.  The boxed mix yielded a more tender result that had the perfect balance of crunch and crumble.  I decided to start with the clues on their box–the ingredient list–and create a recipe of my own.  By using self-rising flour, this recipe has the convenience of quick leavening and I don’t have to wait hours like I did with the yeasted recipes.  Don’t you just love it when the easier recipe also tasted better!  My son loved these so much he created a special sign for them on our breakfast table: “Yum Yum Beignets” (though he spelled beignet a little more creatively).

Yum Yum Beignets

• 1 cup buttermilk (preferably whole)
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• Pinch of salt
• 3 cups self-rising flour, divided
• Oil for frying
• Powdered sugar

Heat oil for frying to 370° F.  In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla.  In a large bowl whisk together nutmeg, salt, and 2 cups of the self-rising flour.  Create a well in the middle of the flour mixture; pour in the buttermilk mixture and stir gently  to combine.  Add enough additional flour to make dough workable, but don’t knead more than is necessary or they will end up tough.  Flour a piece of parchment paper and gently roll out the dough, adding more flour, as needed, to prevent it from sticking to the rolling pin.  Roll to 1/8” thickness and use a pizza cutter to cut into 3” squares.  Brush off excess flour, lift squares of dough off the paper using a spatula for support, and carefully lower into hot oil.  Cook in small batches so oil does not cool too quickly.  Turn the beignets as they cook when the bottoms are golden brown.  When golden on both sides, remove from oil with a slotted spoon and place on cooling rack to drain for a moment.  Place hot beignets in a paper bag filled with about 1 cup of powdered sugar and shake to coat generously.  Remove from bag and enjoy while hot with a cup of Café au Lait.

puffing as they fry

His favorite breakfast!

generously sugared