Roast asparagus salad with baked goat cheese

This is a wonderful, fresh, and flavorful salad. Rich but not too rich. The asparagus gets tender, the dressing is outstanding, and the goat cheese is crispy yet smooth. Serve it as a starter or just as a light meal. Enjoy!

Roast asparagus salad with baked goat cheese

Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup shallot, minced
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 4 cups frisee
• salt and pepper
• 2 pounds asparagus
• olive oil
• kosher salt
• black pepper
• 1 cup flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups panko breadcrumbs
• 4 slices goat cheese (3/4 inch slices)

Cooking Directions

1. Place the shallot and olive oil in a skillet and cook for 2 minutes over medium heat.
2. Add the vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper, and stir well to incorporate. Set aside and cool to room temperature.
3. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
4. Break off the tough ends of the asparagus, and, if they're thick, peel them.
5. Place the asparagus on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, then toss to coat the asparagus completely. Spread the asparagus in a single layer and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.
6. Roast the asparagus until tender but still crisp.
7. Meanwhile, put the flour in one bowl, mix the egg and milk in one bowl, and put he breadcrumbs in one bowl.
8. Dip the cheese slices into the flour, then the egg-milk wash, and then into the breadcrumbs, alternating your hands.
9. Refrigerate until ready to use.
10. When ready to use, turn the oven broiler to low. Place the goat cheese discs onto an oiled pan and place under the broiler on high. Broil until brown.
11. Toss the frisee in the dressing until well-coated, then season with salt and pepper.
12. Plate, and top each salad with a goat cheese disk and asparagus spears. Finish with extra salt and pepper.

Disneyland's Safari Skewers

Safari Skewers

Bengal Barbecue

Ingredients

1 pound fresh asparagus (thick stalks)
1 pound bacon (regular cut)
1 lemon
Skewers

Directions

Cut asparagus and bacon into thirds. Wrap bacon around asparagus pieces, and skewer (place the pieces on horizontally and not lengthwise - be sure to pierce the end of the bacon to prevent it from unraveling).

Place on outdoor grill, turning frequently. Squeeze some lemon juice over the skewers while grilling.

Skewers are done when bacon is thoroughly cooked, and slightly charred around the edges.

Squeeze some extra lemon upon removing from the grill.

Roasted Plethora of Vegetables

Veggies! Roasted, lightly salted, and delicious. A true plethora of veggies! YUM.

This will work with any kind of vegetables really. Just be sure to cook them at different times depending on their original firmness.

There are so many. I'm not sure how they all fit in the pan and what it took to roast them all so wonderfully, but damn, they're good! Addictingly good. Maybe there was some crack in the olive oil...hmmm. Enjoy!

Thai Veggie Fried Rice and a Half-Greek Salad

Sometimes too much rice gets cooked. Sometimes way too much. Such was the situation recently. But what to do with all that leftover rice?

You may know how to use up that day-old rice already. In fact, I hope you have a favorite trick or recipe, as I would love to hear about it.

If you're not familiar with how to prepare fried rice (in general), check out the recipe below. Thai versions basically just employ a set of sauces and flavors not found in your other more familiar fried rice dishes.

But I wanted more than just a fried rice dish. I thought it'd be too heavy or something - even if it was all a bunch of glorious (and different) veggies. That's one of the things I love about fried rice and stir fry on the whole, tossing in whatever you please, making it unique to you. That one up in the pictures has asparagus and turnip.

Oh right, so I was saying I wanted something else, something light. What's lighter than a salad? And what's the best salad in the world? Yep, you guessed it: Greek salad! Well, a half-Greek salad. No tomatoes or onions or olives, sadly. But we did add a little something something back in with the spinach and mushrooms. Plus, look at that feta. Wow. So who's ready to eat? Enjoy!

Steamed Salmon with Asparagus, Turnip, and Brown Rice

I can't always do brown rice. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's just okay, and sometimes it's GREAT. Like with fish. It pretty much goes with any kind of fish. But especially with salmon. Boy, does it ever go with salmon. Tender, nutty brown rice with a bite of juicy, seasoned salmon is one of those perfect combinations. I dare you to give it a shot.

Pair it with some asparagus and turnip to fancy-up your meal, and you're set. Sometimes the best things in life are the simple, easy-to-prepare things. Plus, steaming everything retains more nutrients and blah blah blah etc etc.

All right, enough about my love-love relationship with salmon and brown rice (and veggies). On to the good stuff. Enjoy!

Loco Moco - Turkey Style

If you've been to Hawaii, you've had a loco moco. It's practically a national dish or something. Along with kalua pork and poi and SPAM! You can't forget about the spam there. I might need to make a spam musubi now...

Wow that egg did NOT want to stay on at all, whatsoever.

Back on topic! Focus! Our loco moco here is slightly different - it's made of ground turkey instead of beef - like we like to do around here (a la Grilled Hot Turkey Patties and Turkey Meatball Subs). Actually, this patty is made the same way as before. The patty is then placed on steamed white rice, smothered in a bit of gravy, and topped off with a poached egg for good measure.

We added asparagus to the side because, uh, I love veggies! Everything was delicious. Enjoy!

Asparagus Risotto

It has been 3 years (since last week) that my girlfriend and I have been together. In accordance, I wanted to make her a special dinner, complete with white wine and a little bit of fun. One of the dishes I prepared (and that came out the best) was Asparagus Risotto.

During the cooking process the sauce turns into a creamy, not-too-rich-but-just-rich-enough flavor that had us coming back for more and more. I made so much of it too, that it's lasted us three whole meals.

The only change I am going to make to it next time is to eliminate the cheese since it didn't add much flavor or texture, and besides, I'm not a huge cheese fan anyway. It was delicious, though, and I encourage everyone to try this out. I've also included several substitutions if you don't have all the ingredients on hand. Enjoy!

Vegetable Soup from Scratch (without stock)

Yes, you can make your own vegetable soup from scratch without using stock or bouillon or whatnot. It's actually pretty simple. I would've just chucked everything into a pot and started boiling, but it turns out that you can get a lot more flavor out of the veggies if you saute them first. I think poaching would work fine too if you'd rather do that.

There are a lot of different options to work with here, which is the beauty of vegetable soup. Throw in leftover veggies, throw in whatever spices you want, add salt, and ba-da-bing! You're done. Enjoy.

Vegetable Soup from Scratch (without stock)

Total time: 1 hour
Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients

• 2-4 potatoes
• 1-3 carrots
• 1 bell pepper
• 1/2 bunch asparagus
• 1/2-1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed and chopped
• water
• salt and various seasonings to taste
• examples: thyme, oregano, parsley, cumin, cajun, turmeric (will turn soup yellow), garlic powder, crushed red pepper, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, etc, etc, etc
• optional: wine (add a splash or two right before adding the water so the wine can loosen the flavor that's stuck to the bottom of the pot)
• optional: 1/2 cup rice

Cooking Directions

1. In a large pot, grill/saute/poach onion, potatoes, and carrots - make sure the potatoes and carrots are cut small enough to cook quickly - until almost completely cooked.
2. Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes before adding enough water to reach half way to 3/4 the top of the pot.
3. Bring to a boil on high heat, then set to medium to low. Add salt and seasonings of your choice.
4. When veggies are done, add any remaining veggies and test the broth. Does it need more salt or cumin or?
5. When all veggies are done, test again, make final adjustments, turn heat off, and let sit for a minute.
6. Serve as is or over rice if you wish.

Voila! As leftovers, the veggies soak up even more of the spices, creating an even more flavorful dish.

Note: If it turns out you added way way too much salt, cutting a raw potato in half and tossing it in the pot will soak up a decent amount of sodium. Give it about 10-15 minutes to accomplish its job.