EnjoyYourCooking

My Homemade Food Recipes & Tips

Recent Posts: Page 12 of 59

Garlicky Mashed Cauliflower with Parmesan

December 19th, 2015 in Sides by Julia Volhina
Garlicky Mashed Cauliflower with Parmesan

Another take on mashed cauliflower side: smooth pureed cauliflower with parmesan cheese and a hint of spicy garlic.

Great choice when you want to cut on potato intake but still want something of mashed texture on your table.

From my experience, cauliflower purees taste better fresh, so cook just enough for one time don’t keep leftovers.

Garlic taste can be a bit overpowering sometimes, so I suggest going with half garlic clove at first, and see if more is needed to taste.

Prune and Walnut Stuffed Chicken Skin

December 5th, 2015 in Chicken, Main Dishes by Julia Volhina
Prune and Walnut Stuffed Chicken Skin

So here is my first attempt to make a chicken skin stuffed with ground chicken meat, walnuts, prunes and some other ingredients. I’ve got a recipe for a friend of mine and had to try.

It is a bit tricky game to get chicken out of its skin w/o damaging the skin, but I managed it (and prepared step-by-step instructions with photos along the way).

The only hiccup I had on the way was with bacon. The smoked bacon I used had very powerful and distinctive taste, and it mostly took over the taste of other ingredients. So for this recipe I suggest to use smaller amount of non-smoked bacon, or replace it with ground pork instead.

How to Skin Raw Chicken in One Piece

November 21st, 2015 in Tips, Advices & How-to by Julia Volhina
How to Skin Raw Chicken in One Piece

I was working on a recipe stuffed chicken skin (it will be coming up in next post) and, after seeing how much time and effort it took me to remove the skin from a raw chicken in one piece without damaging it on the way, I decided to create a post with step-by-step instructions and pictures for others to use.

Pictures have come up not that appetizing (and for that I apologize), but at least they illustrate the process in details and are easier to follow than plain word description.

Most of the work you will be doing with a knife placed in between skin and meat slightly angled towards the meat. Work with short precise cut motions to make sure skin remains undamaged through the process. So, to get a whole raw chicken skin to use for a recipe you will need a raw chicken, sharp long knife and a tablespoon.

Zucchini “Fries” with Parmesan and Spices

November 7th, 2015 in Appetizers & Snacks, Sides by Julia Volhina
Zucchini “Fries” with Parmesan and Spices

Zucchini “fries” cooked with this recipe are much healthier alternative to potato ones: much less oil and less starchy zucchini instead of potato.

I love zucchini, so these taste great for me. It is easy to improvise with spices and their amounts to create new unique taste every time I want it.

Please note, more mature zucchinis will require more cooking time, so probe with a fork to see readiness.

Zucchini with Parmesan and Spices can be served as snack, or an appetizer or a side dish.

Meat Stuffed Eggplants

October 24th, 2015 in Beef, Main Dishes by Julia Volhina
Meat Stuffed Eggplants

Fun recipe to play with: eggplants stuffed with ground beef and vegetables. Nice combination of meat and veggies. I love eggplants!

For me it is always a bit tricky to hollow eggplants out, it is important to take most of pulp off to make sure they cook through, but it is also important to to not damage eggplant skin. It takes a bit of time and practice.

You can take bigger eggplants and slice them in half lengthwise, or take smaller ones and slice top part off like I did for this recipe.

Hrechanyky (Ukrainian Buckwheat Fried Patties)

October 10th, 2015 in Chicken, Main Dishes by Julia Volhina
Hrechanyky (Ukrainian Buckwheat Fried Patties)

There are many recipes in Ukrainian cuisine for Hrechanyky – meat and buckwheat patties.

All of them use some sort of meat (chicken, or pork, or beef, or a combination of these) which is being mixed with boiled buckwheat and some other ingredients; patties are either baked or fried, and then served either plain or with some kind of sauce. So, there are many variations.

In this recipe I used ground chicken, patties are fried and served without any sauce. Simple recipe I would say. If you are grinding chicken meat yourself, you can do it together with onion, that way there is no need to grate it.

Serve hrechanyky warm or cooled down with vegetable side or on a bread bun.

Baked Chicken Patties in Cheese Sauce

September 26th, 2015 in Chicken, Main Dishes by Julia Volhina
Baked Chicken Patties in Cheese Sauce

Interesting and I would say unusual recipe: chopped chicken meat patties baked in garlicky cream cheese sauce. Great choice for romantic or family dinner.

I used chicken thighs meat for this recipe, it seem juicier and tasty to me, but breast meat will work as well. As for cheese, it is italian cheese blend, but if you like something else – it would probably work too.

If meat mince consistency is watery, forming patties may get tricky, just use two spoon to ladle and shape them, otherwise use hands.