© Constantine William Spyrou
One of my favorite desserts has to be the panna cotta. It is luxurious, rich, and extremely versatile. The milk and cream base can take on any flavor you choose to put into it, whether it be brandy, rum, chocolate, espresso, raspberry... Being able to be extremely creative with panna cotta makes it extremely exciting.
This recipe, however, is not the traditional panna cotta. This is a vegan version of the dish. Utilizing coconut cream, coconut milk, and a seaweed gelatin-like protein called agar-agar, this dish has the same silky texture as a panna cotta, but with a strong coconut flavor. This will be cut back by the use of lime zest to brighten up the dish, making it a tropical treat!
Recipe serves two.
Ingredients:
1 cup coconut cream
3/4 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon agar agar
Cooking/Assembling:
1. Add your coconut milk, coconut cream, and sugar to a sauce pan and bring up to a gentle boil, stirring to ensure the milk and cream don't burn and the sugar melts.
2. When it has melted, stir in your agar agar, lime juice, and lime zest.
3. Once the agar agar has dissolved, take the mixture off of the heat and pour directly into your mold of choice. This then needs to go into the fridge for about 3-4 hours to chill and set before serving.
This a light and refreshing, yet luxuriously creamy vegan dessert. For those of you going vegan, this panna cotta is perfect for you! You can also try using rum, fruit, or coffee instead of lime in your panna cotta! Remember how versatile this dish can be, even when infused with so much coconut.
I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Let me know what you think and what you would change. If you make it at home, let me know how it turns out! Enjoy! =)
Monday, March 31, 2014
Thursday, March 27, 2014
NEW RECIPE: Cilantro Basa Soup
© Constantine William Spyrou
Oh, man, it has been way too long since I made a recipe. The business of school (and a dying laptop) have been hampering me from getting recipes up for the past month, but now I'm back and ready to do a lot more! This is actually a recipe I came up with a few weeks ago, but just haven't gotten around to posting up here.
The goal of this dish was to make a dish that could bring out the flavor of cilantro as much as possible. Not just in the freshness of the leaves, but also through the warmth of its seeds (better known as coriander) and the flavor of the stems. Combining this balance together meant I needed a very mild dish to back up the cilantro and let it take center stage.
I chose to use soup as the vehicle because its quick to make and is extremely versatile in flavor. Soups can be mild, like chicken noodle soup or minestrone, or bold in flavor, such as with chili. This paritcular dish is going to resemble a Vietnamese pho, but have a little more complexity flavor and some fusion notes.
To go with the cilantro, I chose basa, which is an extremely mild fish I got acquainted with in the dining commons last year. Combining this with a homemade vegetable stock and infusing some mild flavors into the stock should help create a complex backdrop to bring cilantro to the forefront of the dish.
Recipe serves up to 4 people.
For the Vegetable Stock:
1 white onion, roughly chopped
2 carrots, roughly chopped
4 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic
2 cups cilantro stems
1/2 cup lemongrass, chopped
1/4 black peppercorns, uncracked (to keep the flavor from overpowering the cilantro)
Salt to taste
For the Soup:
1 pound basa fish filets, sliced into 4 ounce portions (If you can't get basa, other mild fish like pollock or cod work great for this)
Salt and ground coriander seed to season the fish
2 cups enoki mushrooms
2 cups fresh cilantro leaves, unchopped
1/4 cup banana peppers, diced
Juice of 1 lime
Cooking/Assembling:
1. Prepare the vegetable stock by filling a 6-7 quart pot about three-fourths of the way up with water. Add in your vegetables, garlic, cilantro stems, lemongrass, and black peppercorns. Bring the mixture to a boil, and let cook for about 40 minutes. Strain the stock once it is done, then return to the heat and let it get hot again to serve.
2. Lightly season your filets of basa fish with salt and coriander. Add some vegetable oil (any other neutral-flavored oil works here) to a frying pan on medium heat. Cook the basa filets for 2 minutes on each side. Set aside once cooked, taking care not to break up the fish.
3. In 4 serving bowls, place a bunch of enoki mushrooms and some of the banana peppers on the bottom. Add a couple of ladles of the stock into the bowls, then add in about a fourth of the juice from your lime into each bowl. Place the fish over the broth, and finish off by garnish the plate with plenty of cilantro leaves.
This dish gives you the ability to taste cilantro in three different ways - from the richness of the stock, the deep aromaticity from the fish, and the freshness of the leaves. Tasting the balance between these three will definitely be something to enjoy!
I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Let me know what you think and what you would change. If you make it at home, let me know how it turns out! Enjoy! =)
Oh, man, it has been way too long since I made a recipe. The business of school (and a dying laptop) have been hampering me from getting recipes up for the past month, but now I'm back and ready to do a lot more! This is actually a recipe I came up with a few weeks ago, but just haven't gotten around to posting up here.
The goal of this dish was to make a dish that could bring out the flavor of cilantro as much as possible. Not just in the freshness of the leaves, but also through the warmth of its seeds (better known as coriander) and the flavor of the stems. Combining this balance together meant I needed a very mild dish to back up the cilantro and let it take center stage.
I chose to use soup as the vehicle because its quick to make and is extremely versatile in flavor. Soups can be mild, like chicken noodle soup or minestrone, or bold in flavor, such as with chili. This paritcular dish is going to resemble a Vietnamese pho, but have a little more complexity flavor and some fusion notes.
To go with the cilantro, I chose basa, which is an extremely mild fish I got acquainted with in the dining commons last year. Combining this with a homemade vegetable stock and infusing some mild flavors into the stock should help create a complex backdrop to bring cilantro to the forefront of the dish.
Recipe serves up to 4 people.
For the Vegetable Stock:
1 white onion, roughly chopped
2 carrots, roughly chopped
4 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic
2 cups cilantro stems
1/2 cup lemongrass, chopped
1/4 black peppercorns, uncracked (to keep the flavor from overpowering the cilantro)
Salt to taste
For the Soup:
1 pound basa fish filets, sliced into 4 ounce portions (If you can't get basa, other mild fish like pollock or cod work great for this)
Salt and ground coriander seed to season the fish
2 cups enoki mushrooms
2 cups fresh cilantro leaves, unchopped
1/4 cup banana peppers, diced
Juice of 1 lime
Cooking/Assembling:
1. Prepare the vegetable stock by filling a 6-7 quart pot about three-fourths of the way up with water. Add in your vegetables, garlic, cilantro stems, lemongrass, and black peppercorns. Bring the mixture to a boil, and let cook for about 40 minutes. Strain the stock once it is done, then return to the heat and let it get hot again to serve.
2. Lightly season your filets of basa fish with salt and coriander. Add some vegetable oil (any other neutral-flavored oil works here) to a frying pan on medium heat. Cook the basa filets for 2 minutes on each side. Set aside once cooked, taking care not to break up the fish.
3. In 4 serving bowls, place a bunch of enoki mushrooms and some of the banana peppers on the bottom. Add a couple of ladles of the stock into the bowls, then add in about a fourth of the juice from your lime into each bowl. Place the fish over the broth, and finish off by garnish the plate with plenty of cilantro leaves.
This dish gives you the ability to taste cilantro in three different ways - from the richness of the stock, the deep aromaticity from the fish, and the freshness of the leaves. Tasting the balance between these three will definitely be something to enjoy!
I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Let me know what you think and what you would change. If you make it at home, let me know how it turns out! Enjoy! =)
Thursday, February 13, 2014
NEW RECIPE: Pomegranate Roasted Chicken with Arugula-Asparagus Orzo (Valentine's Day Special)
© Constantine William Spyrou
Valentine's Day is tomorrow! For me, this means nothing. But for a lot of you, this could be your day to really impress your significant other. Whether you take them out to a fancy restaurant or to a concert or something extremely classy, tomorrow is going to be a day to show off. If you're just doing a romantic dinner at home, this could be a great way to show off as well!
This is a Middle Eastern classic dish: Pomegranate Roasted Chicken. It goes extremely well with Valentine's Day in my opinion because of the vibrant colors (especially red) and the fact that a lot of the foods in it are aphrodisiacs. Regardless, pomegranate and chicken is a great combination, especially when the chicken is glazed with the pomegranate and just takes on an amazing flavor. Served with a peppery arugula and asparagus orzo to get a great balance of texture, this will be a great dish to serve tomorrow! I guarantee it!
Recipe serves up to 4 people. (Yay leftovers!)
For the Orzo:
1 package orzo
Salt and pepper to season
2 tablespoons olive oil
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 cup wild arugula, roughly chopped
1/2 bunch trimmed thin asparagus spears
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley and basil
For the Chicken:
4 small red chiles (chile de arbol or cayenne/birds-eye chilies work great), roughly chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 roasting chicken, about 3 pounds
1 clove minced garlic
2 teaspoons sumac
1/2 bulb fennel
1 onion, roughly sliced
2 cups pomegranate juice
1/4 cup sugar
Salt and pepper to season
Cooking/Assembling:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Combine together the chili, garlic, butter, sumac, and some salt and pepper to make a butter for the inside of the chicken. Form into a ball
3. Separate the skin of the chicken lightly (it can separate and come back naturally, don't rip it!), and place the butter into the chicken on top of the breast. Put the skin back, then push the butter into the breast and massage it throughout the entirety of the chicken.
4. Season the inside cavity of the chicken (use extra large shards of black pepper), and pour in about 1/2 a cup of the pomegranate juice. Fill the cavity with the fennel bulb.
5. Coat the sliced onions in some olive oil, then lay them into the bottom of the roasting tray to make a bed for the chicken. Roast in the oven for about 45 minutes, turning once. Turn the oven down to 400 degrees, and roast for another 25-30 minutes.
6. While the chicken is roasting, blanch your asparagus in seasoned boiling water, then chop into quarters. Saute with garlic and olive oil, then set the asparagus aside.
7. Cook your orzo according to package instructions. Once cooked, combine together all of the ingredients for the orzo and set aside to cool.
8. In a saucepan, add your pomegranate juice and sugar. Bring to a boil, and cook the pomegranate juice down to a syrup consistency to make a nice glaze.
9. Once the chicken comes out of the oven, let it rest for at least 10 minutes. Take out the fennel bulb from the chicken. If you want, serve the fennel and onion with the chicken. Carve it into quarters, then serve with the pomegranate glaze over the skin and orzo on the side.
This packs a ton of flavor into one dish! With heat balance from the chili, sweetness of the pomegranate syrup, and citrus notes of the sumac, the chicken gets a great balance of flavor. The anise-like notes of the fennel and the freshness of the arugula in the orzo helps to take that balance to a whole new level. This overall gives a cascading orchestra of flavors that will impress whoever tries it!
I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Let me know what you think and what you would change. If you make it at home, let me know how it turns out! Enjoy! =)
Valentine's Day is tomorrow! For me, this means nothing. But for a lot of you, this could be your day to really impress your significant other. Whether you take them out to a fancy restaurant or to a concert or something extremely classy, tomorrow is going to be a day to show off. If you're just doing a romantic dinner at home, this could be a great way to show off as well!
This is a Middle Eastern classic dish: Pomegranate Roasted Chicken. It goes extremely well with Valentine's Day in my opinion because of the vibrant colors (especially red) and the fact that a lot of the foods in it are aphrodisiacs. Regardless, pomegranate and chicken is a great combination, especially when the chicken is glazed with the pomegranate and just takes on an amazing flavor. Served with a peppery arugula and asparagus orzo to get a great balance of texture, this will be a great dish to serve tomorrow! I guarantee it!
Recipe serves up to 4 people. (Yay leftovers!)
For the Orzo:
1 package orzo
Salt and pepper to season
2 tablespoons olive oil
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 cup wild arugula, roughly chopped
1/2 bunch trimmed thin asparagus spears
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley and basil
For the Chicken:
4 small red chiles (chile de arbol or cayenne/birds-eye chilies work great), roughly chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 roasting chicken, about 3 pounds
1 clove minced garlic
2 teaspoons sumac
1/2 bulb fennel
1 onion, roughly sliced
2 cups pomegranate juice
1/4 cup sugar
Salt and pepper to season
Cooking/Assembling:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Combine together the chili, garlic, butter, sumac, and some salt and pepper to make a butter for the inside of the chicken. Form into a ball
3. Separate the skin of the chicken lightly (it can separate and come back naturally, don't rip it!), and place the butter into the chicken on top of the breast. Put the skin back, then push the butter into the breast and massage it throughout the entirety of the chicken.
4. Season the inside cavity of the chicken (use extra large shards of black pepper), and pour in about 1/2 a cup of the pomegranate juice. Fill the cavity with the fennel bulb.
5. Coat the sliced onions in some olive oil, then lay them into the bottom of the roasting tray to make a bed for the chicken. Roast in the oven for about 45 minutes, turning once. Turn the oven down to 400 degrees, and roast for another 25-30 minutes.
6. While the chicken is roasting, blanch your asparagus in seasoned boiling water, then chop into quarters. Saute with garlic and olive oil, then set the asparagus aside.
7. Cook your orzo according to package instructions. Once cooked, combine together all of the ingredients for the orzo and set aside to cool.
8. In a saucepan, add your pomegranate juice and sugar. Bring to a boil, and cook the pomegranate juice down to a syrup consistency to make a nice glaze.
9. Once the chicken comes out of the oven, let it rest for at least 10 minutes. Take out the fennel bulb from the chicken. If you want, serve the fennel and onion with the chicken. Carve it into quarters, then serve with the pomegranate glaze over the skin and orzo on the side.
This packs a ton of flavor into one dish! With heat balance from the chili, sweetness of the pomegranate syrup, and citrus notes of the sumac, the chicken gets a great balance of flavor. The anise-like notes of the fennel and the freshness of the arugula in the orzo helps to take that balance to a whole new level. This overall gives a cascading orchestra of flavors that will impress whoever tries it!
I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Let me know what you think and what you would change. If you make it at home, let me know how it turns out! Enjoy! =)
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