My Student Guide

My Students- Sweet Vegetable and Potato Curry

2011-04-05T14:32:00.000-07:00

Most of you may not know this but I am currently in a relationship with curry. I love her, and she loves me back. This curry dish is so frickin good, and what makes it interesting is that there is no meat involved. Now while I know most of you are going- Ha, well then to hell with this curry.. you must trust me, and give it a chance. It has such a rich and creamy texture with the roasted potatoes coming together with the homemade curry sauce, yet a delicious sweet taste from the bright vegetables and sauteed raisins. A lot of curries rely on spiciness or succulent cuts of meat to show themselves off. This one however is simple, healthy, and tastes like a dish from the gods. Enjoy!

What You Need:

An onion
6-8 potatoes
A bunch of spices such as: ground cinnamon, ground black pepper, ground coriander, ground cumin, ground turmeric, cayenne pepper, curry powder etc
Fresh veggies- Green and yellow zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, and peppers
Coconut milk or cream
Yogurt, tomato sauce, and salsa

What You Need To Do:

-- Start off by Peeling and dicing both the potatoes and the onion. Cut the potatoes into little cubes and the onion into long thin slices.

-- With oil, saute the onions on medium heat for about 15 minutes or until soft and golden. When they are cooked, put them into a food processor, blender, or magic bullet and blend until the consistency is that of a paste. Set aside.

-- Put your potato cubes into a bowl and cover them with oil, garlic powder, salt , pepper, and a touch of curry powder. Mix together and dump into two separate baking pans. Make sure to spread them out so that there is only one level of flat potato cubes. Like below..

-- Next chop up your veggies in similar fashion, oil and spice them in similar fashion, and lay them out in a dish in similar fashion. Although it's OK for the vegetables to overlap one another.. Place both the veggies and the potato's into the oven at 450 for about an hour.

-- Pour the onion paste into a large pot on high heat. Begin adding the spices- ground cinnamon, ground black pepper, ground coriander, ground cumin, ground turmeric, and cayenne pepper. Continue to stir the paste continuously until it thickens.

-- Pour the yogurt, tomato sauce, and salsa into the curry onion paste - stir in a bunch of curry powder, and bring to a boil.

-- Next melt a chunk of butter in a pan, and saute the raisins for a good ten minutes until they are inflated and shiny.

-- Once the potato's and vegetable's are completely cooked - the veggies soft and steaming, and the potato's crispy and golden.. Dump them all together into a large pot.

-- Mix the curry and let it cook together for another 10 - 15 minutes in the oven. In the meantime you can prepare some quinoa, rice, or cus-cus for the curry to rest upon.

And there she is -- Sweet Vegetable and Potato Curry.. Enjoy!!

~CHEERS~

Drinks:

The Curry pairs nicely with a red or a white wine. Also a lighter lager of a beer pairs well with the rich fullness of the dish.

My Students Lemon Pepper & Pesto Pasta

2011-03-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

This dish is awesome because it has the presentation and taste of a fine dining restaurant dish, while actually being cheap and unbelievably simple to prepare. It is light and zesty with a full bodied lemon pesto taste, yet at the same time will leave you feeling stuffed and satisfied. Of course the homemade pesto can be swapped with store bought, and an interesting variation would be to use sauteed shrimp rather than the meat. Or even sauteed onions and mushrooms in place of the peppers. Whatever combination you go with, the thick lemon pepper pasta used for this recipe makes for a spectacular dish... Time to impress your girlfriends men! :)

What You Need:

*Trader Joe's* - Lemon Pepper Pasta
Pesto
Meatball's and/or sausage (both is better)
Red, orange, and yellow peppers

What You Need To Do:

1) While you bring a large pot of water to boil, go about preparing your homemade pesto topping. Pesto is easy to make contrary to what you may think. All you need to do is blend together (using a food processor)

2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts
3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
Salt and black pepper to taste

2) Chop into little bite sized pieces both your 5-6 peppers as well as your meat...

3) Throw in pasta and cook until noodles are totally soft. Meanwhile sautee your diced peppers until lightly blackened and shiny. Then add in the chopped meat and cover for about 10 min on low heat.

Also you'll want to pour your pesto into a buttered and heated pan. Add a generous tablespoon of ranch and pinches of salt pepper and garlic powder. If sauce needs to be thicker, add a bit of cream or half & half.

4) Once your noodles are soft, your peppers and meat are cooked, and your pesto sauce is creamy and warm, let them cool for about 10 min so the combination of pasta and toppings forms the right consistency.

5) Finally, add the three together into a bowl and ENJOY!

~CHEERS~

***Some other pasta's:

Zucchini and sun-dried tomato - spaghetti

Fresh tomato and roasted garlic - manicotti

~Here's the version with sauteed shrimp, moshrooms and onions!!~ Hella Bomb

Shrimp and vegetable - pesto linguine

My Students Clam Chowder and Cookie Dough Cinnamon Rolls!

2011-03-20T14:47:00.000-07:00

Here are the recipes for seriously the easiest and the freakin best clam chowder as well as cookie dough cinnamon rolls that you may ever see. Plus they are alot of fun to make because you can tweak the tastes to your specific preferences.. For example the bacon in the chowder can be replaced with spicy sausage or thick cuts of ham or whatever. And the cinnamon rolls could be chocolate themed or raisin and brown sugar themed or even roasted macadamia nut themed. The point is that - No matter what kind of tastes make your tummy grumble, you're in for a treat and a half!

Bacon & Clam Chowder:

Soup Base: Milk, chicken stalk, sugar, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and rosemary flakes..

Next: Add the main ingredients into the boiling soup

base, and stir well for about 20 minutes. The soup will drastically thicken after the cheese and potatoes cook into it, so make sure you got your stirring gloves on! The ingredients can vary depending on what your style is, but a good place to start is: Chopped up crispy bacon, seasoned and roasted potato bites, small cubes of brie cheese, sauteed mushrooms, chopped green onion, and a can or two of diced clams. And it helps a ton if you add in a packet of clam chowder mix.. (kinda cheating, but it helps alot!)

Dump everything in and as stated above - stir at a high heat for roughly 20 minutes or until it turns to a rich and creamy chowder-like texture.

And there you have it ladies and gentleman.. Seriously, the chowder at the Santa Cruz wharf doesn't even compete with this shit!! Haha

Pair with a tasty glass of wine, or it even goes really nicely with an ale!

Cheers & Enjoy!!!

Cookie Dough Cinnamon Rolls:

These rolls are seriously the best thing to wake up to in the world!.. As the smell permeates the house and engulfs your room, you'll be lost in time as if every delicious meal and amazing taste was all wrapped up into one. Time will stop, and all that will matter is you and your cookie dough cinnamon roll..

To make these - simply make the dough, roll it out into a flat square, spread the filling, wrap the dough up into a cylinder like tube with the filling twirling towards the center. Then cut one and a half inch slices, lay them into buttered baking dishes, bake, drench with icing & devour!!

Dough Ingredients:

1 container of pre-made chocolate chip cookie dough

1 (1/4 ounce) package dry yeast

1 cup warm milk

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup margarine

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

4 cups flour

*( Make sure that you dissolve the yeast into the cup of warm milk before mixing in all the ingredients..)

FILLING:

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon

1/3 cup margarine, softened

ICING:

8 tablespoons margarine

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup cream cheese

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon salt

Bake at 400 for about 10 minutes or until lightly golden brown.. Cover with the icing, pour yourself a hot cup of coffee AND Enjoy!!! ~Cheers~

My Students All-Star Food Lineup!

2011-03-14T16:17:00.000-07:00

All meat, mushroom, onion, sun dried tomato, goat cheese, and triple cheese - double stuffed pizza pie.

Broccoli, roasted pepper, mushroom, and ground sirloin bisque.

The best home made fried chicken tenders - Recipe coming soon.

Filet Mignon and sausage - monster baguette sandwiches

Sunny eggs, beef, chorizo, onions, peppers, hot salsa, and chips. - The $1000 breakfast

Garlic jalapeno Tri-Tip roast - soaking in lime juice.

Doin some good old BBQ'ing!

Grilled chicken with quinoa, beans, cilantro, and mashed corn.

Smoked turkey and sausage - morning omelet.

Jalapeno bagel double stacked monster burgers - Yumm

Linguica, Canadian ham, pepperoni, and sausage pizza!

The morning angel - Poached egg on top of toast and BBQ shredded pork.

Dark Chocolate Oreo Truffles - So freaking good!!!
Recipe to come soon..

Enjoy, And Keep On A Cookin'!!! ~CHEERS~

The Students Tri-Meat-Wich!

2011-03-10T18:36:00.000-08:00

Remember that time you had leftover meat from the weekends BBQ? Well here is the perfect and amazing recipe to put that aging meat to good use! It's called the Tri-Meat-Wich, and as its name suggests it is a sandwich comprised of your three favorite meats. For my personal mouth watering creation, I went with leftover tri tip, a fresh piece of filet mignon, and a package of tomato and basil link sausage. You can however use whatever meat combination you prefer.. Just don't forget the six pack!

What You Need:

3 meats (steak, pork, lamb, chicken, tri-tip, chorizo, sausage, etc.)
Mushrooms & white onions
Large bottle of BBQ sauce
Package of long white rolls

What You Need To Do:

1) Bake, grill, fry, or BBQ your uncooked meats. As well as sautee your mushrooms and onions. (+ some garlic)

2) The next step in the process is to create your tri-meat-wich's filling mix. This will be somewhat comparable to a casserole of sorts. Start by chopping your cooked meats in to bite sized pieces.

Then toss that, along with your BBQ sauce into a mixing bowl and mix well, so that the meat soaks up all the flavors and juices!...

3) Let the filling cool and soak up flavor while you get out your bread rolls. Slice the loafs in half - long way, and proceed to tear out roughly a third to half of the white bread from the inside of each loaf. This creates a pool shaped crater for the meat filling to rest nicely in, instead of slopping to the floor when you take a bite. In a large casserole dish, spread out your meat BBQ sauce filler so as to cover the entire bottom of the dish. Then, take the bread chunks that you tore out of the rolls and sprinkle crumbs over the entire meat filling. Finally, cover that with a generous layer of cheese, and VOILA..

4) Bake the casserole at 325 degrees for about 20-30 min, or until the cheese starts to turn golden. Toast your bread rolls to a crispy perfection. Let the meat filling cool down while you grab another cold one... And finally, the absolute best part of the process -- Sit back and enjoy your sloppy-licious, Tri-Meat-Wich!!!

And if there's anything left in the dish when the night comes to an end...

Either you didn't follow these simple instructions, or maybe you have some tips you could lend...

Comment and let me know if you know of a better sandwich recipe! Or post an idea for a delicious sounding recipe that you would like to see performed...

Right Here On: My Student Guide

~ CHEERS ~

The Students Best BBQ Filet Mignon EVER!

2011-03-09T17:44:00.000-08:00

Students Best Filet Mignon

What you need:

The freshest and plumpest filet mignon cuts that you can find!
Garlic clove & 2 jalapeno peppers
A BBQ & a grilling buddy
And, of course some beers...

What you need to do:
1) Prep the stakes by rubbing them generously with salt and pepper.

2) Next, you can go about preparing the marinade for the steaks. Using a food processor or a blender, mix the garlic and peppers until a creamy paste is formed. (not too thick, yet not too thin)

*And if there are any other tastes or flavors that you love to grill with, add them to the blender. My experience however is that the simpler the better - especially when it comes to a nice piece of filet mignon!

3) Gently pierce holes into each side of each steak using either a long skinny sewing needle, or simply a sharp knife. This allows for the steak to soak in more flavors, as well as breathe more easily on the grill. Pour the garlic pepper paste into a large dish and bathe the steaks in it for 30 min to an hour, depending on the size of the steaks and your preference for taste. After this let the steaks chill in the fridge until your coals are flaming red and orange. Like So:

4) Now for the fun part, slap your pre-marinated steaks onto the grill for about 2 min on each side, or until nice grill marks are visible. This is to sear the steaks, and to seal in all the delicious and tasty flavors that the meat has been soaking in.

5) At this point you will need to create a "pool shaped" construction of foil for the steaks to finish cooking in. This is so that the meat is able to cook all the way through, without getting overly black and burnt. With the help of tongs, set each steak onto the inner surface of your foil pool. Pour the remaining garlic pepper marinade over the meat, so as to let it slow cook in the juices. Flip the steaks regularly, but keep the cover on the BBQ as much as you can in order to retain as much of the heat as possible. Once your steaks are cooked to a nice and pink- medium rare (or however you prefer) then they are ready to be removed, and devoured!

6) Don't forget to grab a Cold One! Slice some bread and start munchin...

Cheers & Enjoy! *~ Grill On ~*

The Special Occasion Kalua Pig Roast

2011-03-08T18:34:00.000-08:00

Roasted Kalua Pig

Are you and your friends looking for something Crazy and Delicious to do? Why don't you roast the most delicious tasting Kalua Pig you could ever imagine! Let me forewarn you before you read on that this article's undertaking is not for the faint of heart. If you are looking to have an epic day that no one will forget, if you are looking to have a day full of drinking, eating, talking, roasting, o ya and EATING!, or if you are simply a huge fan of food, meat, and pig then by all means read on -- and prepare for some extreme mouth salivating.

What you need:

A whole hog -- Buy one to be delivered frozen to your door @ http://www.mcreynoldsfarms.com/
A roasting site to build a roasting pit - roughly 3' X 5'. Could be an empty field, or forest, or an empty lot (get creative)
About 10 - 20 bricks (depending on the pit's size)
Foil, a large square of sheet metal, and (chicken) wire
Banana leaves (if you can)
Lighter fluid and good quality firewood (at least two full boxes!)
A keg and friends
A full day.. Meaning dawn to dusk! Trust me, its worth it!!

What you need to do:

1) Wake up before the sun rises, brew coffee, and get to the roasting site. Dig a roast pit at your chosen roasting site. Make sure its big enough for bricks, coals, the hog, plus about a foot of breathing room in each direction. Line the bottom of the roasting pit with the bricks - in a checkerboard type of pattern, leaving square air pockets scattered across the pit bottom. The bottom of your pit should look something similar to this:

2) Next, fill the pit with fire wood, drench it in lighter fluid, and light. Let the wood burn down for the better part of 8 - 10 hours, or until the coals are glowing furiously with red. This next part of the day is where you: relax and soak in the sun/ play a pickup football or frisbee game/ play some drinking games/ or even go for a hike. But most importantly, it's when you get your hog seasoned and ready to roast!

3) Now for the fun part of the process - where you can get creative with your tastes. Season the fully thawed hog with loads of salt, pepper, lime, garlic, cyan, red pepper flakes, salsas, powders, and seasonings. Don't go overboard though because the slow roasted pig will create (as well as amplify) all of the juices and tastes already extracted from the roast. And, it is very important to prop the pigs mouth open with an apple so as to allow heat flow into the body cavity, and receive a more complete and fully cooked pig!

4) Alright, now to wrap the hog. This part of the process is important in that you need to focus on containing the flavors and juices, along with keeping the (soft as butter) pig from falling apart and disintegrating into the coals. In my experience this process seems to work the best -- Wrap the pig generously with banana leaves, maybe 4-5 layers of leaf coating. Then wrap that in another 4-5 layers of foil, twisting off the pointed edges so as to air seal it. Finally, tie the final package using the (chicken) wire - in a cross tied style so that the package is secured and able to be lowered down on to the coals. Your HOG is READY!

5) After your hours of activities, and after preparing the hog -- make your way back to the roast pit.. Hog on shoulder! Carefully set the large metal sheet onto the now fearsomely red hot coals. Next, lower the wrapped hog on to the sheetmetal using the wire that was tied around it. Finally, and immediately, fill the entire pit back in with the dirt that you had originally dug out at the start of the day. This creates an environment for the still burning coals (but now air deprived) to slowly and carefully cook the meat to perfection.

6) Go back to your activities and what not, and let the hog slow roast for about 8 - 12 hours. (depending on it's size) Once you can smell the delicious and paralyzing aromas seeping from the pit, dig out your wrapped and now roasted pig roast. Obviously do not touch the packaging with your hands, for it will be hotter than hell! Unwrap and lay the moist pig out on a table, dig in, of course top off your beer, and ENJOY!

That is -- Enjoy the best Roasted Kalua Pig Ever!...

** And just as a reminder, this is an all-day activity.. so be prepared to begin early, and eat late! Otherwise, build the fire and prepare the coals the night before you plan to roast the pig. ** ~ Roast On ~

The Students Tastiest Oven Roasted Tri-Tip

2011-03-07T22:00:00.000-08:00

Sweet Garlic And Chipotle Jalapano Tri-Tip:

Marinade Ingredients: Lime, onion, jalapano, garlic, red wine, chipotle salsa, and worcestershire sauce.
-- Blend all ingredients together with generous pinches of salt and pepper..

Season Tri-Tip with salt and pepper, rubbing it firmly into the meat..

Pour marinade over Tri-Tip, cover with saran wrap, and let sit in refridgerator over night..

Chop and sautee generous portions of mushrooms as well as red and white onions.
-- Pour over sliced Tri-Tip before serving..

Bake Tri-Tip in the oven at 425 degrees for 45 min - 1 hour. Choose your favorite beer to go along side, and enjoy!