Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Panna Cotta

I've made panna cotta many times, but for some reason I've never made chocolate panna cotta. Well why not? It's so easy, so rewarding and decadently chocolate.  This is very simple recipe for whenever you are craving a chocolate dessert but don't have time for cupcakes or cake.  It's all about the gelatin and basically is foolproof to set properly.  I made some raspberry sauce a couple weeks ago that I canned (it was supposed to be raspberry jam, so it didn't turn out quite right.  However, raspberry sauce is great with chocolate and I was able to put some to good use to top the panna cotta.

Sasha's Chocolate Panna Cotta (makes 6) based on this recipe from Epicurious
1 cup skim milk
3 tsp unflavored gelatin
2 cups heavy whipping cream
5 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
1 tsp vanilla extract

Spray six glass custard cups or individual sized souffle ramekins with Pam or canola oil. Pour milk into a bowl and sprinkle gelatin over it.  Allow to stand for 10 minutes.

Stir cream and sugar in saucepan over medium high heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and take off heat.  Add the chocolate and whisk until melted and evenly combined.  Combine the chocolate mixture with the gelatin/milk mixture and stir in the vanilla. Make sure the mixture is evenly combined by blending in a blender, but do not overmix.  Divide in the six cups and chill 24 hours.  To plate, cut around the outside and flip over. It's panna cotta!!!

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Panna Cotta

Sasha's Kitchen: Pecan Chicken with Spiced Apple Chutney

I've now made this chicken dish several times, and it is always a hit.  It serves nicely with chutney, one of my all time favorite types of sauces.  As a kid, I first learned to make chutney from a book from a long-gone restaurant in Ithaca, NY, called Chutney, Relishes and Tablesauces, By Jay Solomon - a great book on the subject.  The key to a good chutney is always the same - getting it to jam to just the right consistency by using a combination of brown sugar and vinegar, while lovingly simmering the mixture.  They have a combined acidic and sweet taste, and are also perfect for preserving for that reason.  The first time I made this dish, I served it with mango chutney.   This time, I tried out a great new recipe for spiced apple chutney from my new Preserving cookbook, by Sheri Brooks Vinton, Put Em' Up.   The spiced apple chutney was delicious and  perfect for the start of fall apple season here in New York.

Sasha's Pecan Crusted Chicken
three or four skinless and boneless chicken breasts
1/2 cup ground pecans
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp ancho chile powder
1 tsp pasilla chile powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp salt
2 eggs
canola oil for breading

To prepare the chicken, pulverize the pecans in a food processor, or chop them finely in a nut chopper if you prefer more texture.  I've done it both ways.  Combine with the bread crumbs and spices.  Coat the chicken with the two eggs (scrambled) and then dip in the breadcrumb/pecan/spice mixture.  Cook in canola oil until browned, and then finish in the oven to cook through.


Spiced Apple Chutney (from Vinton's recipe)
2 cups apple cider vinegar
4 apples, cored and peeled (use local New York apples for the best result, in my opinion!)
2 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
1 cup finely diced onion
1 cup raisons
1 T freshly grated ginger
2 cloves garlic
1 T mustard seed
2 T mild curry powder
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp salt

Pour the vinegar into a large saucepan and dice the apples, adding them to the pot as you go to prevent browning. Add the brown sugar, onions, raisons, ginger and garlic and bring the mixture to a boil. Then, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for thirty minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the mustard seed, curry, allspice and salt, and simmer for an additional fifteen minutes.

Photo of the same pecan chicken recipe from when i made it with mango chutney over the summer

Sasha's Kitchen: Pecan Chicken with Spiced Apple Chutney

Sasha's Kitchen: Black & White Cookies

Growing up, traditional black and white cookies - half chocolate glazed and half vanilla glazed - were one of my favorite kinds of cookies (second to tri-colored rainbow cookies, of course).  They're actually relatively straightforward to make at home, as well, and quite a rewarding treat.  I have to admit I am partial to the chocolate glazed side of the cookie, so much so that next time I make them, I might just have to make the cookie itself chocolate.  I'm a big fan of the bakery Baked, right here in Brooklyn for their reasonably priced but delicious baked goods from cakes to cookies to cupcakes, so I was thrilled to find a recipe for black & white cookies in the Baked Explorations cookbook last weekend.  A batch of cookies mades between 14-18 nice large black and white cookies which are a rewarding treat to eat at home and to share with friends and coworkers.  I got a lot of compliments on these!

Black & White Cookies (recipe from Baked Explorations)
Cookies
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 sticks of unsalted butter, cool
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 T pure vanilla extract
1 T freshly grated lemon zest

Frosting
3 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
4 to 5 T whole milk
3 T heavy cream
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup plus 2T dark unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 350. Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients for the cookies (flower, baking powder, baking soda and salt).  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, about two minutes. Add the eggs and the yolk, one at a time and mix.  Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk (ending with the last flour addition). Add the vanilla and scrape down the bowl; add the lemon zest and mix.

Using a 1/4 cup scoop, drop the dough on the prepared baking sheets (beware, it will expand). You should fit about six cookies on a baking sheet. Be sure to space them apart to give them some room to spread and "grow."

Bake for 17 minutes, baking each sheet one at a time. Edges should be lightly browned. I found that the 17 minute time was pretty much right on the money.  Allow to cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, in a large bowl, whisk together the confectioners' sugar, milk, cream and vanilla. If the mixture is too thick, add milk by the teaspoon. Divide in half and add the chocolate powder to half of the mixture. Add a bit of milk by the teaspoon if you need to thin the chocolate a little bit.  Using a spatula, frost one half vanilla and allow to dry before frosting the other half with the chocolate glaze.  Let the frosted cookies set for one hour before serving.

Sasha's Kitchen: Black & White Cookies

Sasha's Kitchen: Spicy Peach Salsa

Recently I took a preserving class at The Brooklyn Kitchen where we made this delicious peach salsa.  The recipe is in Sheri Brooks Vinton's new book Put 'em Up, which is a great guide for home preserving.  I made the spicy peach salsa from the book over the weekend at home, resulting in two large pint size jars of salsa. Yum! What could be better that a delicious peach salsa? I guess my love for peaches is showing here a bit. At any rate, I managed to do the boiling water method of preserving at home for one of the two jars, so it will be good until I want to use it. The other jar, I didn't seal, so we've been enjoying it all week. This salsa is great on fish or chicken, or just with some tortilla chips as a dip.

Sheri Brooks Vinton's Spicy Peach Salsa
3 pounds peaches, blanched and skin removed
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 T cumin
1 T salt
1 pound tomatoes, cored, seeded and diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
1 red onion, diced
1/4 cup minced cilantro

Prepare and ice bath in a large bowl. Bring a pot of water to boil and blanch two peaches in the hot water at a time (for me, three pounds was six large peaches). Blanch the fruit for thirty seconds in the boiling water before placing in the ice bath.  Remove the skin from the peaches. After blanching, it should just slip off.

Combien the vinegar, sugar, cumin and salt in a large dutch oven or other nonreactive pan.  Put the peaches and dice them, adding them to the pot as you go so they do not brown. Add the tomatoes, bell pepper, jalapeno and onion, as you dice them.  Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 15 minute until thickened. Add the cilantro and remove the salsa from the heat,  You can then can it using the boiling water preservation method, or you can refrigerate it for a week or two and enjoy it right away.

Sasha's Kitchen: Spicy Peach Salsa

Sasha's Kitchen: Perfect Chocolate Souffle

I haven't been baking a lot lately, and sorry to disappoint, but my petit fours were a disaster. But I did make a killer chocolate souffle the other night that was enjoyed by all, along with some preserved homemade raspberry sauce.  This is a simple recipe, but it's a bit tricky to get a souffle just right.  Do not (under any circumstances) open the oven to check on your souffles after you put them in. You just have to wait until you know they will be done and take them out then.  I think that's the hardest part of souffle making.  The best souffles I have had have just the perfect combination of flavor and texture. I had an amazing vanilla souffle in Paris (which I will have to try to replicate soon - just thinking of it makes my mouth water). I've also had some great souffles here in New York at Capsouto Freres.  At any rate, last week, I made this basic souffle to serve with a raspberry sauce that I made from boatloads of farmers' market raspberries and preserved. The two flavors went together really nicely.

Chocolate Souffle (makes 4)
PAM - to spray the ramekins
1/3 cup of sugar
3 eggs, separated
pinch of cream of tartar
6 oz semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate
2/3 of a cup milk
1 T plus 2 tsp cornstarch
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 400 before you begin. Spray four ramekins with PAM (or use butter) and sprinkle with a bit of sugar.  Whisk egg whites until frothy in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Add the cream of tartar and beat on high, slowly adding the sugar. Continue to beat on high until medium hard peaks form, about five minutes.

Whisk the milk and cornstarch in a saucepan.  Simmer until thick for about two minutes.  Whisk in the chocolate and egg yolks until combined. Gently fold in the egg whites using a spatula.  Divide among the four prepared ramekins.

Bake for about 16 minutes. Enjoy!

Sasha's Kitchen: Perfect Chocolate Souffle

Sasha's Kitchen: Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Lemon Lime Cous Cous

I haven't been cooking and baking new recipes as much lately, although I plan to do some new recipes coming up from a vietnamese cookbook I bought. In addition, my husband and I will be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary this coming weekend so in addition to a nice meal out, I plan on baking some celebratory petit fours. Petit fours are a pretty complex baking recipe so I am hoping I can get a good result on the first time, since it is something I have wanted to try for awhile as they are both lovely to look at, and delicious. On Monday, over the long labor day weekend, I made a new recipe from Sarah Raven's cookbook, Fresh From the Garden, one of my favorite cookbooks for good seasonal recipes.  I made her recipe for Moroccan Chicken Tagine, and also her simple recipe for lemon lime couscous. The two dishes were delicious and complemented each other quite nicely. I loved the zing of the tangy couscous with the sweetness of the chicken dish with the candied apricots.


Chicken Tagine with Almonds and Apricots (from Sarah Raven)
3 1/2 lbs free range chicken, cut up (I used an organic, antibiotic free chicken, of course)
1-2 T olive oil
2 onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
pinch of saffron threads
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp hot paprika
apple juice
1/2 pound dried apricots, chopped
1/2 pounds almonds
mint, chopped
cilantro or parsley, chopped

In a Dutch Oven (I used one of my beloved Le Creuset pots), brown the chicken lightly on all sides for a few minutes in the olive oil. Remove the chicken from the pot and sauté the onion and garlic for three to four minutes. Add the saffron, paprika, cumin, cinnamon and ginger. Return the chicken to the pot and add just enough apple juice to cover the chicken. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes. Add the apricots and almonds, and cook covered for another fifteen minutes until the chicken is tender.  When read to eat, add the mint and cilantro to the dish and serve.


Lemon and Lime Cous Cous (adapted from Sarah Raven)
2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 3/4 cup cous cous
2 T olive oil
juice of one lemon
juice of one lime
salt and pepper
mint
parsley

Bring the stock and the couscous to a boil, then allow to simmer until cooked. Stir in the lemon and lime juice and cover for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and with the mint and parsley if you like.  Since I put mint and cilantro in the main dish, I simply seasoned with salt and pepper.

Sasha's Kitchen: Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Lemon Lime Cous Cous

Sasha's Kitchen: Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad

Heirloom tomatoes are one of my favorite flavors of summer. I love looking at them - all different shapes, colors and sizes.  They have a sweet succulent flavor that is slightly different for each varietal.  They are like a rainbow of tomato, both in hue and in flavor.  I had the pleasure of making two salads with them this summer.  I bought some at the Greenmarket at Grand Army Plaza which I combined with a bit of crumbled goat cheese and a balsamic vinaigrette, about a month ago for a simple heirloom tomato salad.  The second salad was a more traditional Italian caprese salad, where I sliced the tomatoes and some buffalo mozzarella cheese, and drizzled with a balsamic vinaigrette.  Both of these salads are quite simple, but are really just meant to showcase the flavor of the heirloom tomatoes. Like summer itself, the season for heirloom tomatoes is coming to a close - it is short but sweet!

Happy Labor Day! Hope you enjoy my heirloom pictures. Tonight, I am making two recipes (after a family minimal cooking low-key weekend that included a trek to Governor's Island) - a chicken tagine with apricots and almonds, and chocolate-mint upside down cupcakes. I'll be sharing both recipes soon, as my life seems to be getting tangled with other obstacles these days.  This blog is always a welcome break for me from all the shenanigans of daily life.

Sasha's Kitchen: Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad

Sasha's Kitchen: Preserving the Harvest Class at the Brooklyn Kitchen

So the other night I took a class on preserving the seasonal harvest at The Brooklyn Kitchen with Sheri Brooks Vinton. The class was a great into into preserving using the boiling water method. In the class, Sheri did a demo preparing and preserving peach ginger jam from her cookbook, Put 'em Up, while in the class we made and preserved peach salsa - so good!  I love peaches so this was a fun class, and by the end my head was about to explode with instructions and tons of useful tips about preserving at home.  I left purchasing a copy of Put 'em Up, which looks to be a great book with tons of recipes perfect for at home preserving.  I especially like how the book is organized, with separate sections for different fruits and vegetables.  Now, its not like we eat jam by the boatload or anything around here, but I am eager to try out my at home preserving. I don't do any gardening so I plan to go to the farmer's market shortly today and pick up tons of fresh blueberries to make the blueberry quick jam recipe in Sheri Brooks Vinton's cookbook.

Fresh peaches, blanched and peeled for preserving

Peach salsa

Included are some pictures from the class of the canning process, and also of the delicious peach salsa that we made and preserved in the class. This was such a fun and informative class, and I can't wait to get started preserving at home.  It seems like a terrific way to make gifts for friends and family as well, once I get the hang of what I am doing with the preserving process. I just hope that the large pots I use are big enough since I don't have the ginormous pot that we used in the class for preserving. I'll make do, I suppose.  Blueberry jam, here I come! I look forward to putting the new skills I learned to use later today.

Jars of peach salsa

Sasha's Kitchen: Preserving the Harvest Class at the Brooklyn Kitchen

Sasha's Kitchen: Pasta with Pesto, Feta and Grape Tomatoes

Time for another delicious pasta dish. And some like it hot, some like it cold. This one is good either way. The first time I made this last week, I used store bought bow tie pasta and it was a big hit here at home.  Then, earlier this week, I received a shipment of organic Italian pastas from ShopRite to sample, all from the Lombardy region of Italy. So I tried it out with a one pound bag of ShopRite's radiatore pasta, and it was superb.  The ShopRite pastas are excellent, and it had a lovely, perfect al dente texture. I am such a fan of the radiatore that I can't wait to try out some of the other pastas that ShopRite sent me to sample (free of charge, of course :).

At any rate, this dish combines the pasta with flavors of red onion, pesto, feta cheese and broiled grape tomatoes. It's a delicious combination of flavors, and as I said before, can be served either hot or cold. A Sasha-pasta creation at its finest!

delicious Organic Italian pastas I received to sample from ShopRite

Sasha's Pasta with Pesto, Feta and Grape Tomatoes (serves 6)
1 lb ShopRite radiatore pasta, or bow tie pasta
2 containers grape tomatoes, halved
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 8 oz packages of feta cheese
1 red onion, diced
leaves of 1 bunch of basil
1/4 cup pine nuts
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Prepare the pesto in a food processor by blending the basil leaves with the olive oil and pine nuts (also known as pignolia nuts - I love that word!). Set aside. Broil the tomatoes for about 20 minutes at 450. Saute the red onion in olive oil for several minutes, then add the garlic, and saute until the onion is translucent. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al dente, and rinse. Combine the pesto, onion/garlic, pasta and crumbled feta cheese. Serve hot or allow to chill. Another great thing about this dish is that it results in plenty of leftovers for the next night, which makes it perfect for busy weekday cooking - double returns!

Sasha's Kitchen: Pasta with Pesto, Feta and Grape Tomatoes

Sasha's Kitchen: Tiramisu

Tiramisu is my husband Brad's favorite dessert.  He almost always orders it when we go to an Italian restaurant, and has wanted me to make a homemade tiramisu for some time.  I had tried making a green tea tiramisu in the past, but it was definitely time for me to make him his favorite tiramisu. It's not really that difficult a dessert to make either, as long as you are skilled at whipping egg whites up into a good meringue (I am) and remember to only dip the ladyfingers very quickly in the expresso.  I used my mother in law, Lynne's tiramisu recipe for the best results and a very satisfied husband last week.  I plan on making it again for him soon.

Tiramisu
5 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup marscapone cheese (about 10 oz)
1 cup heavy cream
two packages of lady fingers (about 18-20)
3/4 cup expresso (1 T instant expresso into 3/4 cup hot water)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
3 T Kailua liquor

Beat whites, gradually adding sugar and continuing to beat on high, using the whisk attachment of your mixer until stiff peaks form, like for a meringue.  Beat in the marscapone cheese until fully blended, and add the Kailua. Whip the cream separately and fold the mixture into the whipped cream.

Dip the ladyfingers quickly into the expresso and arrange in a 9 1/2 x 13 x 2 inch baking dish (like a lasagna pan). Pour the foamy marscapone / egg white mixture over the dipped ladyfingers in the dish.  Put the coca in a sifter and sprinkle on top.  Refrigerate for two hours before serving.

Sasha's Kitchen: Tiramisu

Potato & Herb Crusted Striped Bass with Mustard Cream Sauce

Here in New York city, including Brooklyn, we are hunkering down for Hurricane Irene and hoping we don't get flooding from our backyard when the storm hits. I plan on baking some breads tomorrow - banana bread and blueberry bread. I'm worried about flooding and wind damage and all kinds of other unpleasant weather events and am bummed to have to be missing a friends wedding due to the weather out of town this saturday night.

At any rate, I want to share a simple fish dish that I have made the last two weeks, with two different types of fish, striped bass and Australian barramundi. This dish is very simple, it just requires breading the fish in dried potato rather than breadcrumbs, and coating it with a selection of herbs, before pan searing the fish and serving it over green beans.  I bought a box of dehydrated potato flakes and mixed it with fresh thyme, oregano and a bit of parsley. Then I dredged the fish in egg and coated with the potato and herb batter. I didn't measure the herbs precisely, but you really can't use too much for a recipe like this.  I put it about a tablespoon of each!

Thanks to my loving mom for the terrific idea for this recipe, which she said was loosely inspired by something she saw on the Food Network.

I served the fish with a mustard cream sauce. Mix 1/2 cup of heavy cream with three tablespoons of dijon mustard. Simmer and stir until thickened, while adding 1/2 a tsp of cornstarch to enable the thickening of the sauce

Potato & Herb Crusted Striped Bass with Mustard Cream Sauce

Sasha's Kitchen: Three Tiered Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Buttercream

Recently, my husband and I hosted a lovely dinner party for some old college friends. A good time was had by all and we served a four course menu that was matched with beer and wine pairings that one of your friends brought to share with the meal. We have a nice backyard here in Brooklyn, so we first had cheese and crackers with champagne outside since it was a lovely summer night.  Second course brought us inside for chinese style duck dumplings, followed by zucchini-corn fritters with yogurt sauce.  The third course was my homemade spinach ravioli with a three cheese filling (show here is a plain, non spinach batch). And, finally, its cake time.  I did another garden party themed cake, decorated with pretty pink flowers that I piped on with vanilla buttercream that I dyed pink for the flowers and yellow for the centers. I used the special wilton flower tip for making the petals for each of the pink flowers in the cake.  This time, I went with the cookbook from Alice's Tea Cup by Haley & Lauren Fox for the chocolate cake recipe, and also followed their recipe for peanut butter buttercream, which I used to frost the outside of the cake and between the layers.  I found using a rotating cake turner to be very useful for both frosting and decorating the cake. I decorated using a basic vanilla buttercream. 

Chocolate Cake - (makes three 8'' layers) - recipe from the Alice's Tea Cup Cookbook

2 cups of sugar
1 3/4 cups of all purpose flour
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup hot brewed coffee

To prepare the cake, preheat the oven to 350. You will need three eight inch cake pans.  Prepare the three eight inch cake pans and combine the fry ingredients together in a bowl (flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt). In the basin of your stand mixer, on medium speed, beat the sour cream and eggs (one at a time), milk, oil and vanilla, and add in the dry ingredients, mixing for two minutes. Scape down the bowl and drizzle in the coffee and blend until smooth. It will be a very liquidy mixture, which is fine and appropriate.

Divide the cake batter evenly among the cake pans and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in the pans before gently removing from the pans and allowing to cool on a wire rack until room temperature.  If necessary, trim the tops of the cake to level them, but I found that this recipe did not require any leveling. Frost between layers and on the top and sides of the cake with the buttercream. To make the buttercream, beat the ingredients until smooth.

Peanut Butter Buttercream

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/4 cups cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup peanut butter

5 cups confectioner's sugar

1 T milk

Sasha's Kitchen: Three Tiered Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Buttercream

Sasha's Kitchen: Balsamic Glazed Chicken

I haven't posted in a couple days and I have such a backlog of things to post and new recipes to share. I made a fabulous cake for a dinner party (three layer chocolate peanut butter) that I have to post soon and can't wait to share - as you can tell, I was really happy with how it turned out.

I had a friend visiting from Toronto a week or so ago, and made this balsamic chicken recipe for the first time. I was inspired by Mario Batali's balsamic chicken from Simple Italian Food, but had an entirely different take on it. I did use his idea of combining the wine with the vinegar, and doing a glaze after cooking though I did not stuff the bird the way he did.  Like Mario, I served my balsamic chicken with a bit of grilled radicchio. I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out, since I abandoned Mario's recipe and went with my own. Turns out, it was actually a meal that we really enjoyed.

Sasha's Balsamic Chicken
1 whole organic chicken, cut up
4 T chopped rosemary
 3 cloves chopped garlic
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 cups zinfandel wine3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 heads radicchio
1/2 bag of organic baby carrots
8 oz mini organic chicken sausages

Combine the rosemary, sea salt and garlic, and add to the pot with the baby carrots and several tablespoons of olive oil.  Saute on medium high heat for about five minutes.  Add the wine and 1/2 cup of the balsamic vinegar, as well as the chicken and sausages, and bring to a boil on the top of the stove. Remove from heat and place in an oven preheated to 475 degrees. Roast covered for an hour and ten minutes, or so, until the chicken is cooked, but juicy. While the chicken is cooking, grill the radicchio with a bit of olive on a grill pan. Glaze and drizzle the chicken with the remaining vinegar and serve with the carrots and radicchio.

Sasha's Kitchen: Balsamic Glazed Chicken

Sasha's Kitchen: Vegan Coconut Curried Noodle Salad

I'm not vegan, or even vegetarian, but I appreciate vegan and vegetarian cooking, and am always enjoy cooking with fresh fruits and vegetables as center stage.  Plus, it is such a healthy way to eat, so it is totally smart for any carnivore like myself to mix some vegan and/or vegetarian meals into the weekly meal rotation.  My friend Shannon was visiting from Toronto recently, and gave me the book La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer as a present to try some new vegan experimentation in the kitchen (although she's not vegan either, she vouched for the excellent cookbook).  When she was still visiting last weekend, we tried the cold coconut curried sesame noodles, and discovered they taste good either hot or cold. The recipe was not too difficult and delicious, either as a side dish, appetizer or a main course. I love the coconut flavor with the noodles, and it was boatloads better than traditional sesame noodles.

Coconut Curried Noodles Salad (from La Dolce Vegan)
dry broad rice noodles (full package or box, enough for four servings)
1/2 cup shallots, diced (I substituted onions)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T sesame oil
2 T curry paste
2T tamari (you can use soy sauce)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt (I used 1/2 tsp)
1 13.5 oz can light coconut milk
1/2 cup fresh basil (I used parsley instead)
1 large tomato, chopped (we added two instead when I made it with Shannon because one was lonely)

Boil the rice noodles in salted water. While the noodles cook, dice the tomatoes and onions/shallots. Cook the shallots in canola oil until translucent, about three minutes.  Add the curry paste, soy sauce, turmeric, salt and coconut milk and simmer on hight for six to eight minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in the basil (I used parsley) and tomatoes. Drain the noodles and mix with the sauce. This dish tastes great either hot or cold.

Sasha's Kitchen: Vegan Coconut Curried Noodle Salad