Baked Salmon with orange/lemons

It is my new found passion to experiment with different fishes and different ways to prepare them. This is one of the successful experiments I did :D. A healthy and delicious way to eat salmon. Though it is very popular and very basic, but for me it was the first time and exciting to eat a baked fish.

Salmon has its own very peculiar taste which is very very different than any other fish. And in order to elevate this flavor profile of salmon, we need to do it justice by making salmon the start of the dish. And what better way to seal in all the flavors Salmon has to offer, other than baking it in its own juices and steam.

If you are a fan of Salmon or eating it for the first time. This is the best way to get the real taste of Salmon. No fuss preparation and awesome results.

Give it a try and let me know if you any suggestions or comments down below. Happy Cooking Everyone!!!!

Ingredients:

2 portions of salmon - washed and pat dry
1 lemon - thinly sliced
1/2 orange - thinly sliced
1 inch piece of ginger - thinly sliced
1 garlic clove - thinly sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 star anise
3-4 tbsp wine - but since I don't drink wine I used vegetable broth/stock
salt and pepper to taste

Recipe:

0. Preheat oven at 435 F.
1. Line the baking sheet with aluminum foil. I do this because I don't want to clean the mess afterwards :D
2. make a bed of 1/2 lemon slices.

3. Place salmon on top of it. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top of salmon.
4. Now scatter around rest of the ingredients. Lemon slices, orange slices, ginger, garlic, star anise (one on each piece).

5. Sprinkle olive oil on top and pour vegetable broth at the bottom of pan.
6. Cover the pan with another aluminium foil. And cover it with lots of space for steam inside.
7. Place it in oven for 25-30 minutes.

8 Once done, take it out of oven and server hot either in same baking dish or on a platter along with any side dish. I served it with basil potato salad.

Honey Granola Bread

I have made breads before and experimented quite a lot with flavors in breads. But this one I can say for sure by far the best tasting bread I have ever made.

It is healthy and delicious. Made of honey and granola, what else you need. It taste yum and I can't stop myself eating it just like that. It has so much of its own flavor that it tasted great without anything else on it.

Super easy to make and can be stored for upto a week. And trust me once you make it, it is not going to last more that 2 days :).

Please try it and let me know if you have any comments or suggestions down below. Happy Cooking everyone :)

Ingredients:

3 cups bread flour
1 cup grinded granola
1/4 cup honey
21/4 tsp rapid rise yeast
11/4 cup warm milk
11/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp melted butter at room temperature
2 tbsp honey + 2 tbsp grinded granola


Recipe:

1. In a bowl, heat the milk in microwave. It should be warm not very hot. Warm enough so that you can hold your finger in milk for 5 seconds.
2. Add honey and yeast to it. Stir in once and let the yeast proof for 15-20 minutes. You will know yeast is proofed once your yeast gains foamy texture on surface.

3. In a large mixer or bowl, add all the dry ingredients and add yeast mixture to it. Mix by hand or using a dough hook attachment in a standing mixer. Mix it until everything is properly combined and mixture come together in a dough shape.

4. In another bowl, grease it with oil and place the dough in it coating dough with oil too. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place for 1.5 to 2 hrs or until double in size. For me, I put it in microwave or oven.

5. After 1.5/2 hours, take dough out on a floured surface/counter. Press the dough down in a rectangle shape. Do not press too much else you will end up with a dry bread.

6. Roll the rectangular shaped dough in a log. Pinch the ends and sides down.

7. Place this in already greased bread pan, pinched side down. Cover this lightly with plastic wrap. Do not wrap it too tightly else dough will not have enough space to rise again. Let it rise again for another hour.

8. At 45 minutes, pre heat the oven at 350. After an hour, remove plastic wrap from bread pan and coat the top layer with honey and granola. Warm the honey before doing that as it will thin the consistency of honey which makes it easier to apply.

9. Place it in oven for 45-50 minutes. To check if bread is done or not, tap on top and if it sounded like it is hollow inside, it means its done.
10. Take it out of the pan over cooling rack and let it cool completely. Cut thin slices and enjoy with anything you like.

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Stuffed mushrooms is a kind of dish which fills you providing all the good nutrients in the vegetables. It is a highly experimental dish. You can use different kind of mushrooms and variety of bold or traditional fillings.

This one I have combined the traditional and bold approaches in my filling, doing a little experimentation with flavors and thankfully they turned out awesome tasting. Traditionally, stuffed mushrooms have eggs and bread crumbs but I avoided both of them and replaced it with potatoes to work as a binding agent. If you want, you can go via traditional route and replace potatoes with eggs and bread crumbs for the crunch.

Either way, these are a must have party starters if you use button mushrooms, else a meal in itself with portobello mushrooms. Giving you a whole range to experiment with, start cooking these. You and your guests will love these.

Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions down below. Happy Cooking Everyone!!!!



Ingredients:

2 portobello mushrooms
2 small boiled potatoes - mashed with a fork roughly
2 spring onions - finely chopped
1 small onion - finely chopped
1/4 cup bell pepper (red and green) - finely chopped
4 green beans - finely chopped
1/4 cup zucchini - finely chopped
2 tbsp shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tsp oregano leaves
4 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste
crushed bell pepper to taste

Recipe:

0. Preheat oven to 350 F.

1. Take portobello mushrooms, remove the stem and clean the inside of the mushroom as much as you can. Use spoon to do it and use light pressure such that you don't damage the mushrooms.
Note: Wash the mushrooms before hand and tap them dry. They should not be wet while you are making stuffed mushrooms

2. Chop the mushroom stem and inside of mushroom into very fine pieces.

3. Take mashed boiled potatoes in a large bowl. Add all the vegetables, cheese, spices and salt/pepper to taste. Mix everything well together and add 1 tbsp oil to the mixture and gently mix again.

4. Coat the mushrooms with olive oil.

5.  Fill the mushrooms with the mixture in a mound shape, i.e. a little bit higher than mushroom edges.

6. Place the mushrooms in a baking tray lined with aluminium foil. Drizzle 1/2 tbsp olive oil over each mushroom and place it in the oven for 25 minutes.

7. Once cooked, take it out and serve hot with coriander-olive oil vinaigrette drizzled over or as a side dish with crusted salmon

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Vanilla Almond Biscotti

Biscotti is an Italian name for any cookie. Its called biscotti as 'bis' means twice in italian. So anything, baked twice is called biscotti. But everywhere else, this version of cookie is treated as biscotti.

I love these. But buying it from outside, even a small box costs a lot. So I try to make them at home as much as I can. And it gives me reason to experiment with flavors too. So far this is my favorite flavor.

So presenting to you all, Vanilla Almond Biscotti. It is a perfect tea-time snack. Cruncy and delicious. Soak it in your tea, like any other biscuit and eat it.

Do leave me suggestions or comments below if any.


Ingredients:

11/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
3/4 cup almonds
2 eggs
1/3 cup unsalted butter - at room temperature


Recipe:

For Almonds:

1. Pre-heat oven at 350 F.
2. Place almonds on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper. Keep in mind almonds should be in a single layer.
3. Bake these for 9-10 minutes or until almonds start to change color.

4. Take these out. Let them cool to room temperature.
5. Once cooled, chop them roughly.

For Biscotti:

1. Pre-heat oven at 350F.
2. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
3. In a standing mixer with paddle attachment, add butter and sugar. Mix them until combined into a creamy mixture.
4. Add eggs and vanilla essence to this. Combine until a smooth mixture is formed.
5. Now add all the dry ingredients except almonds. Mix everything until just flour is incorporated fully. Do not over mix it.
6. Add almonds and mix for 15 seconds so that they are incorporated in the mixture.
7. This mixture is going to be sticky. Do not worry about it. Spread some flour on the counter and take the mixture out using a spatula.

8. Dust your hands too with flour. Now start combining the dough, till it is not sticky anymore. Do not over do this, because if you do this longer than mixture will again become wet and you need to add more flour..
9. Cut this into two pieces, and shape each of them in a rectangular bar shape. Place it on the sheet and bake them for 35 minutes.

10. After 35 minutes, take these out and let it cool to touch about 15 minutes.

11. Once cooled, cut into 1/2 to 3/4 inches thick diagonal slices.

11. Place them on baking sheet in a single line and bake it for 9 minutes. After 9 minutes, take it out and turn them over. Bake it again for 9 minutes. Take it out and let it cool to room temperature completely.

12. Enjoy it as a tea-time snack or anytime of the day you want :)

Chocolate Chip Cookies - The Classic Way

Chocolate chip cookies, america's almost oldest sweet/snack. It is like a household staple in US. Everyone has to have these in their houses. And since it is so simple to make and taste delicious, it has been the favorite from years and years.

This is one thing which tastes best with a glass of milk. These are the soft interior cookies, you can make crispy version of it too if we decrease the amount of butter in it. Either way it tastes as awesome as it would have been tasted when these were first made.

Hope you all will like this recipe and enjoy it too like it did. Do leave any comments or suggestions you might have down below. Happy Cooking :)

Dry mixture Ingredients:

11/8 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips


Wet mixture ingredients:

3/8 cup brown sugar
3/8 cup white granulate sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 egg - at room temperature
3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract


Recipe:

1. In a large bowl, add all dry ingredients and mix them well together so that no lumps are there.
2. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, add butter and churn it for a minute. Since it is at room temperature this will only take 15-20 seconds.
3. Add rest of the wet ingredients and mix it well until everything is well incorporated and a smooth mixture is formed. Do not over churn them as we don't want too much air to get into cookies unlike cake batter.
4. Once everything is mixed, pre-heat oven at 375 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
5. Now with help of ice-cream scoop, take out equal sized cookie dough balls and place them on the baking sheet. Each cookie ball should be atleast 5 fingers apart from each other.

6. Bake this for 12 - 14 minutes or until they start to turn light brown in color.
7. Once done, take it out and let it cool for about 15 minutes.
8. Eat them with milk or just like that :)

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Chocolate crinkle cookies, name itself sounds so tempting that you wanna eat it. And once you had these, you will never like any other cookie. That hard exterior and ooey-gooey interior, just melts in your mouth. These are the must have cookies for anyone and everyone.

They are super easy to make. Just one catch that you have to wait for minimum 4 hours until dough is set in refrigerator. But trust me, it is worth the wait.

Once you make them, your house gets filled with chocolaty baking aroma. And who doesn't like chocolates :). Best thing in the whole wide world.

So do make these and enjoy eating them. Do leave comments or suggestions down below. Happy Cooking :)

Dry mixture Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp espresso powder
1/4 tsp salt

Wet mixture Ingredients:

2/3 cup granulated sugar - increase the amount if you like things too sweet :)
2 eggs
1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla essence

For outer layer:

1/2 cup of confectionery sugar

Recipe:

1. In a large bowl, add all the dry ingredients and mix them well together.
2. Now in a stand-mixer with paddle attachment, add butter and make it in a smooth paste. Do not over mix anything while making cookies as we do not want too much air incorporated in it.
3. Now add rest of the wet ingredients and mix for a minute or until everything is mixed well together.
4. Add dry ingredients to this mixture and mix until everything is well incorporated.
5. Transfer this in a large bowl. Cover the bowl with cellophane sheet and place in the refrigerator for at least 3-4 hours. Leaving it overnight gives best results.
6. After 4 hours, take it out of refrigerator. Place confectionery sugar in a flat plate as we need this to roll the cookies in.
7. Pre-heat oven at 350 F. Take a large baking sheet and line it with parchment paper.
8. Now take cookie dough and with help of spoon, ice-cream scoop or hands make equal sized balls out of it and roll each ball in confectionery sugar. Place each of them on the baking sheet atleast 5 fingers apart from each other, so that they won't stick when expanded.
9. Cook this for 12 minutes. Take it out and let it rest for atleast 30 minutes. If you try to release them from the baking sheet before this they might break as the interior of the cookies is very soft.

Strawberry Cobbler

This is a super easy dessert to make in hurry. It take very little time to prepare but when served with ice-cream it tastes delicious.

Since made out of fresh strawberries, they give the flavor a different kind of elevation in taste. You can make this with peaches too. Tastes equally yum with them.

If you love strawberries like I do and its a ritual to buy them every time you go into grocery store, you will have lots in hand to make these. And even if you don't buy them that often, buy it next time just to make this. It will make your day for sure once you eat this.

Give it a try and you won't regret it :)

Ingredients:

21/2 cups strawberries at room temperature - cut in halves
3/4 cup sugar for strawberries + 1/2 cup sugar for batter
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp pure vanilla essence
2 tsp baking powder
1 stick of melted butter or 1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 tsp salt


Recipe:

1.  Add strawberry and 3/4 cup sugar. Let it rest for 30 minutes.
2. After 30 minutes, strawberries will leave out their juices and become squishy. Squish or cut them a little into small pieces using fork.

3. Preheat the oven at 375 F. Spray or coat a 9 inch baking dish with butter.
4. Take a large mixing bowl and add flour,salt,baking powder and 1/2 cup sugar. Mix everything well so that no large pieces are there.
5. Add milk, vanilla essence and butter to the dry ingredients. Mix well. Do not worry about few lumps in the batter here and there.

6. Pour this mixture in baking dish. Add strawberries along the juices on top of this batter. Do not stir or mix. Just gently spread them over the mixture.

7. Bake this for 40-45 minutes.
8. Take it out after 45 minutes and let it rest for about 15 minutes. Server hot with ice-cream or you can eat it cold too.

Oven roasted herb lemon-orange Chicken

Chicken is one kind of meat, if handled properly can be converted into beautiful dishes. It goes well with every cuisine, be it Indian, Italian or American.

I usually prepare it the Indian way, but as I like to try different versions of it, I though why not bake it with some different flavors. We usually get roasted chicken in US served with veggies/mashed potatoes. And I love mashed potatoes. I don't care how many calories they have. I just love them :).

Coming back to chicken again, this is one of the many variations you can make it with. I didn't wanna wait for any kind of marination to happen, so thought of preparing it without marination. Else you can leave the chicken to marinate in the lemon/orange mixture for an hour or so in the refrigerator.

This recipe take very less time to prep, and rest of the magic is being done in oven. Best to make when you have guests coming over and you don't want to spend your time in the kitchen instead of talking to your guests. :)

Do give it a try , this will become your to go recipe for large get together. Please leave any suggestions or comments you have down below. Happy Cooking to all :)


Ingredients:

4 chicken thigh pieces - thoroughly washed
1/2 lemon juice
1/2 lemon  - thinly sliced
1/4 orange juice
1/2 orange - thinly sliced
1/2 onion - thinly sliced
2-3 rosemary sticks and 2-3 rosemary finely chopped
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried Italian herb mix
1 tbsp + 1 tsp olive oil
salt to taste
black pepper crushed to taste

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven at 400 F.
2. In a baking dish/sheet with sides put chicken pieces.
3. In a bowl, add 1 tbsp olive oil, lemon juice, orange juice, salt and black pepper to taste. Mix everything well together.
4. Pour this mixture over the chicken pieces and massage chicken pieces with it so that it will get coated properly on all sides.
5. Put lemon and orange slices and rosemary sticks tucked down in chicken pieces.
6. Sprinkle chopped rosmary, onion slices, onion powder, italian herb mix, salt and pepper to taste over chicken pieces.
7.  Drizzle 1/2 tsp olive oil again on top of chicken pieces just to give them a little color while cooking in oven and stopping them to get dry on top.

8. Place this in the oven for 1 hour.
9. Take it out after 1 hour and serve hot with anything you like. I served it on bed of mashed potatoes.