This is a simple recipe and you no doubt have the ingredients. It’s been a long time since I’ve taken kinesiology but I can tell you this recipe requires strong hand and arm muscles. Unless, of course, you have a pasta maker. The dough is stiff and definitely will give you a work out. It might be just what you need after a difficult day at work!
Not a time consuming recipe. It would take more time to jump into your car, go to the grocer, buy pre-made ravioli, and return home to cook it. Give it a try! You’ll be pleasantly surprised how easy it is. It’s a recipe and upper body workout in one!
Amazingly simple, three recipes in one. The sequence is important … cook custard or pudding first, follow with preparing the pastry, and lastly, the icing or glaze. My glaze was done just a little too soon and became a little difficult to spread or dip.
A family owned bakery in our little town perfected this eclair and offered it with either custard or whipped cream filling. Our family preferred the custard filling but often didn’t get to the bakery before they were sold out. Now the bakery is gone and eclairs are even harder to come by.
So, here is my recipe! And yes, I believe I may like these better. There is something about making it yourself!
Hockey Puck … This is commonly used to describe this sweet pricey mollusk when it’s overcooked. My description, too, with my first cooking experience.
So much was working against the perfect outcome back then. First, my Mystery Man preferred welldone everything especially seafood. Yep, even well done tuna sashimi. That’s an oxymoron! (Don’t tell him but fresh scallops can actually be eaten raw.) This well done thing, and no ingredients ready before placing the scallops into a too cool skillet converted the potentially tender juicy treat into a choking hazard! Since then I’ve learned much about this treasure of the sea.
So, here are a few simple suggestions for cooking the perfect sea scallop.
-Have everything prepared before you begin cooking the scallops … Not only the ingredients going into the scallop dish but any side you plan to fix. Keep in mind cooking scallops takes only minutes. Have the rice ready or nearly so.
-For best results use searing to cook the scallops. I like to use a very hot cast iron skillet. Use an oil that tolerates high heat and be prepared for a little bit of a mess with splatter.
-Cook in batches to keep the skillet from dropping too much in temperature when the scallops are added. Spread out the scallops in the pan.
-Let the scallops cook for about one minute before turning them over. Check to make sure the bottom is cooking nicely, browning but not burning. After a minute the scallop is less likely to stick to the skillet because it is now seared. Turn to sear the additional side.
Guests With An Unknown Time Of Arrival + A Storm With A Potential Outage =
Wine and Cheese Dinner Tonight
At least that’s my excuse!
You don’t need to be a connoisseur of wine or cheese to put together a nice dinner like this. Choose a variety of cheese textures, add fruit & nuts, bread & crackers. There are so many change ups you can do! Dried fruit is amazing! Want fresh figs but can’t find them this time of year. Substitute dried ones.
Brie, Parmesan-reggiano, Blue Cheese, Gouda are pictured here and are some of my very favorites. Pinot Noir is one of my favorite wine varietals. It will pair well with the Brie and Parmesan … Blue Cheese, maybe a Port, and Gouda a Merlot. Give your guests a variety of cheeses and wine choices … White wines are great too. It’s just fun to try out for yourself.
I do recommend high quality cheese. Brie is a soft cheese with a distinctive white rind. The rind is edible but is often not consumed because of the strong flavor. Do sample the Brie, rind and all, before you purchase if you can … Flavors differ widely. About Parmesan-reggiano … Fortunately I’ve never met one I didn’t like. The rind is edible as well but really chewy. I prefer to use this rind in a soup or sauce to add flavor. Gouda, a medium soft cheese, is usually covered with a wax. This wax is not edible.
What do you think of my girls now! It’s not the cheese … It’s the eggs that give this Breakfast Pizza the bright yellow color. Home grown chickens are amazing! So is this pizza! Add your favorite breakfast topping … Bacon, sausage, linguica. Vegetarians know what to do … Spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes. The list is endless!
This is a high protein breakfast everyone will enjoy!
Our weather today was a bit gloomy … time for Chicken Soup. This soup is Portuguese cuisine influenced … Really meant for rabbit. Yep, I’ve been informed hare was on the family menu. My brother couldn’t bring himself to eat rabbit … And if I did, it was purely not knowing. My brother and I were fond of these animals but not for dinner.
We hope you will enjoy this recipe for chicken soup. It can easily convert to a vegan recipe. It has so many delicious full of flavor vegetables! And beans too!
The ingredients in these two favorites, Mexican Wedding Cakes and Portuguese Almond Cookies, make a perfect marriage, Almond Wedding Cake Cookies. They’re rich and densely packed with almonds. To make it vegan I suggest vegan butter. I have substituted almond butter for half of the cup of butter called for in the recipe. This I do not recommend. Substituting no more than 1/4 cup of almond butter plus using 3/4 cup butter is doable.
But this is Swiss Chard! Already picking this from my garden! As a child I would rather have greens over most vegetables and over all fruit. My children laugh when I say it must have been a nutritional need! These greens are amazingly packed with nutrition!
Years ago the variety of greens at the grocer’s was minimal if not because of availability then just because they were old and unappealing. Today, I still have a time finding fresh turnip greens and sometimes turn to the freezer section. It doesn’t matter if it’s fall when they are in season or not.
Turnip greens were often used in my grandmother’s cooking. Kale was hard to find. These two are the most often called for in Portuguese cooking. For the following two simple recipes you can use kale, swiss chard, turnip greens, mustard greens or even spinach. Of these the most bitter are swiss chard, turnip and mustard greens. Blanching the swiss chard may reduce bitterness but this is not recommended for the other greens. Mustard greens, kale (except for the stem) and of course spinach are more tender. Kale and spinach are delicious in fresh salads.
Perry can be an English surname … maybe you should use Pereira! But we have no information on the name change and everyone went by Perry. No one believes Steve Perry is English and we’re related! This was the conversation I had with my brother after he noticed Leonard Perry’s Recipe is being posted. How are we related to Steve Perry anyway? Dan went on. Our Grandmothers (my Grandmother Rose) were cousins. Of course, Aunt Lena. Why Aunt Lena? I have no idea. It’s all a little confusing. And the historians, those still with us, are at a loss.
How’s that for name dropping! But it’s all true! Now you know for sure our Perry recipes are authentic. I don’t believe you ever doubted. So, who’s Leonard? He’s my Grandmother Rose’s nephew. There you have it!
Okay, Kathryn and Sandra if you are out there I know you have some delicious recipes you’d like to share. Mary and Eleanor, too! I forgot Uncle Max’s daughters … I know you are excellent cooks. I wonder if anyone remembers how Uncle Tony’s brother prepared that huge octopus … Just curious more than interested in the recipe.
35 years ago fresh bagels couldn’t be found in our city, Visalia. In fact, you were lucky if you found frostbitten bagels in the freezer section of your favorite grocer. Rather than driving the long distance to the big city to scout out bakeries for this hard to find treat, I made them!
I was never much at bread making then and was a bit fearful … believing bagels to be more complex. My husband was so impressed … So let’s keep the secret. Bagels are easy!
Bagels are very forgiving. This is a one bowl mix. 2-3 hours start to finish with only about 40 minutes total prep time. Top the water cooked bagels with sesame seeds and poppy seeds before popping them into the oven for the final baking. No one thought beyond plain, egg or onion bagels … not so long ago.
