Simple Cooking with Shaz

Strawberry & Portobello Salad

2008-06-23T03:04:00-05:00

I don’t know about you, but to me, summer means barbecue! And, well, sun and all that too, but mostly a grill! Not that I personally grill anything, because, seriously, this why we have men right?! I don’t think I have ever met a man that didn’t like to grill stuff… I think there was one summer where my husband was ~~forced~~ nicely asked to literally grill dinner every single day, you know, for like the month or so that it was actually warm here in the great white north!

Anyway, I also really love summer salads, I tend to make a few different ones, but this one had to be one of my favorites, especially because I love portobello mushrooms (on a side note, portobello mushroom soup – totally yum!!).

Ingredients:
Baby Spinach (any type of greens, Romano lettuce, or Arugula – I like to use bitter greens for this)
Strawberries
Portobello mushrooms
Vidalia Onion Dressing (I bought it in a bottle, but if you feel adventurous you can make your own!)
Cucumbers

Guidelines:

Toss chopped strawberries, cucumbers, and greens together in a bowl.
In a saucepan, saute the mushrooms in olive oil, until cooked to your liking.
When you’re serving the salad, add the dressing and then add the mushrooms on top (you could let it cool for a bit, but I actually prefer it warm).
Done!

Spicy Tomato Lamb

2008-03-24T11:33:00-05:00

I love lamb, I must have mentioned that previously, and as a result, will try almost any lamb recipe… I saw one for Lamb shanks in spicy tomato sauce, which of course I just had to try, albeit modified from this version (her photo is sooo much more appetizing!).

Ingredients:
Lamb pieces (I used small chops, because I feel like they cook faster and taste pretty good)
canned tomato sauce
tomatoes
garlic
onion
honey
rosemary
thyme
peppers
olive oil
peppers (I used cherry peppers)

Guidelines:

Add the herbs, chopped onions, and crushed garlic to the lamb, add a little olive oil and rub into the meat
Add in a little honey, the tomato sauce, chopped tomatoes, chopped peppers and salt (according to your taste) and mix well
In a covered, glass baking dish, bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about an hour, then uncover the dish, and cook for another few mins until the lamb is fully cooked, or to your liking

I served with rice and salad. You could also add a little curry to it (which I tend to add to many dishes, but I didn’t add it to this one), instead I added a little honey, which, together with the pepper and salt tends to counteract the “tomato-ish” taste.

Comforting French Toast

2007-12-08T15:59:00-05:00

Lovely and simple for breakfast, or any time!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups milk
1 egg
cinnamon
brown sugar
sliced bread (better if it’s left in the freezer overnight)
butter

Guidelines:

In a mixing bowl, combine the milk and egg, add in some cinnamon (according to your taste) and then mix thoroughly.
In a frying pan on medium-high heat, add in some butter, dip a slice of bread into the milk mixture and then place it on top of the butter. Once the bread is toasted on one side, add a bit more butter and then flip the bread over onto the other side.
In a plate, sprinkle some brown sugar, and once the bread is out of the frying pan, place it on the plate so that both sides of the bread are lightly coated with the sugar.

Usually, I don’t like it soggy or sweet, so I use frozen bread to avoid excessive sogginess and I don’t add sugar to the milk mixture, but you may vary the ingredients depending on how sweet or soggy you like it! I prefer the brown sugar over syrup, but of course, it’s also good served with maple syrup, or in the case of my son… nutella!

Enjoy!

Easy Brinjal Curry

2007-11-02T18:38:00-05:00

Easy to cook Indian style eggplantThis is a really simple dish, the preparation time is about 10 minutes, but the cooking time is about 2-3 hours.

Ingredients
2-3 medium sized eggplants
Pataks Madras Curry Paste Hot
2-3 small tomatoes
olive oil
onions (optional)
garlic (optional)

Chop eggplant into small cubes (removing the skin is optional) and place into a glass baking dish

Add in chopped tomatoes, 2 tbsp of curry paste, onion and garlic, drizzle a little olive oil and mix everything really well

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 2 to 3 hours until it’s cooked (you have to check on it, and stir it periodically to ensure that it does not burn)

Trini Fried Bake or Jamaican Johnny Cakes

2007-10-11T11:15:00-05:00

Really yummy and easy to make Caribbean styled fried roti.

One of my most favorite Trini foods is what we call fried bake, you can see the authentic way of making and serving it at the Trini Gourmet blog.

However since I would never to all of that on my own, I use Grace Johnny Cakes to make my bakes, and it’s just a matter of adding milk to the mixture and then frying in hot oil. One thing that I noticed was that if I go with the directions on the package, it comes out really sticky, and if you have extra flour, that’s perfect, but if you’re like me and don’t stock flour, you can just save a little of the mix to use as a flour substitute and add a little less milk.

Try it! Yum!!!