An Inspired Kitchen

Thai Chicken Larb Salad Appetizer

The five tastes of Thai cuisine are perfectly balanced in this delicious appetizer – sour, sweet, salty, bitter and spicy.  Sauté some ground chicken, turkey or pork and then add lime juice, sugar, fish sauce, onion, garlic, lemongrass, ginger, fresh cilantro or Thai basil and sriracha sauce and serve it with endive leaves or baby lettuce leaves. The larb can be made the day before and assembled a few hours before the party and stored in the refrigerator.  It’s a light and refreshing appetizer and everyone seems to love it.  Click here for the recipe….

Quick Pickled Onions

I love to have these tangy, crunchy, pickled onions on hand to use on hamburgers, salads, Vietnamese Bahn Mi sandwiches, pork carnitas or fish tacos or anything that needs a little crunch. They keep in the refrigerator for several weeks and I love the beautiful pink color from the red onions.  Click here for the recipe….

Peach and Blueberry Muffins

These muffins are light, moist and great with any combination of fruit – orange zest and raspberry or blackberries, mango, cherries, chopped apple and cinnamon, blueberry and lemon zest or any combo you like.  You can also use frozen fruit right from the freezer.  It’s my go-to muffin recipe base and I add whatever fruit I have on hand.  I like to freeze the muffins and thaw the night before for breakfast when I have overnight guests.  To decorate, I melted some white chocolate in a plastic bag in the microwave and then snipped a little corner off and drizzled the chocolate over the tops of the muffins.  Click here for the recipe….

Preserved Lemons

I love Moroccan food and a few years ago went to a cooking class presented by a woman who lived most of her life in Morocco.  She showed us how to make preserved lemons and it couldn’t be more simple.  Sterilize a mason jar large enough to hold 4 or 6 Meyer lemons or Eureka lemons and pour 1 inch of salt on the bottom.  Take a lemon and cut a little off the bottom and stem.   Set the lemon on one end and make a vertical cut 3/4 down through the lemon but do not cut in half.  Turn the lemon upside down and make a second vertical cut at a 90-degree angle to the first about 3/4 of the way through the lemon.  Pour kosher salt in all the slits, press together and place lemons in mason jar.  Completely cover lemons with fresh squeezed lemon juice (you need quite a few lemons to do this!) and put lid on and place in a pantry or cool dark place for a month.  Give them a shake every now and then and check to see that the lemons remain covered with lemon juice, or add fresh lemon juice if needed.  They will take about a month until the skin is nice and soft.  Preserved lemon rinds make a wonderful garnish or addition to couscous, Moroccan tagine or stew.  They are also good as gremolata mixture with finely chopped lemon rind, parsley, tarragon, toasted pine nuts and a little garlic sprinkled over sautéed scallops or fish. They become sweet and soft, but still have a nice lemon taste.  After the rind has turned soft, store them in the refrigerator.  They keep for about 6 months fully covered with lemon juice.

Middle Eastern Burger

These burgers are a nice change for summer grilling and you can use ground lamb or beef. I used the same recipe as the Baharat Meatballs, but made them flatter so they fit on naan bread. Baharat is a wonderful mixture of coriander, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, cumin, cardamom, and nutmeg. It is easy to mix yourself, or you might be able to find it at specialty food stores. You can use whole spices and grind them yourself, but it’s one less step to use ground spices if you don’t have the time. I made a quick salad mixture of cherry tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, onions, feta cheese and garlic with a red wine vinegar and olive oil dressing. Grill some naan bread and cut it in half and place the burger on one half and add some of the salad, drizzle with tahini if you have some, and top with the other piece of naan bread. Delicious!  Click here for the recipe….

Asian Calamari

This appetizer is quick to put together and the Thai flavors are fresh and pungent.  I find frozen calamari steaks in my local grocery store, thaw them out and cut them into 2-inch by 1-inch rectangles.  To make the garnish, grate ginger, lemongrass, garlic, and mince Thai bird chili pepper, cilantro, lime zest and green onion and mix well. You can make this mixture the day before and refrigerate.  To cook the calamari, use rice flour (find it in the bulk section) or a mixture of cornstarch and flour and dredge the pieces and toss well.  In a hot skillet with some butter and olive oil, quickly brown the calamari, about 3 to 4 minutes and add the garnish mixture, fish sauce, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice and cook for 1 minute.  Tumble onto a serving platter and serve.  This would also be great with shrimp or if you were sautéing fish you could add the garnish after you have removed the cooked fish and pour it over the fish.  Click here for the recipe….

Chocolate and White Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is a twist on the classic chocolate chip cookie and it is super chocolatey, soft and chewy.  I like to use Valhrona cocoa powder and Ghiradelli white chocolate chips for this cookie.  You can also use chocolate chips and keep it all chocolate.  The dough comes out better if you chill the dough before you bake the cookies and I always use a scoop to make uniform sized cookies.  Click here for the recipe….

Hummus Dip with Veggies

When you need a quick appetizer, hummus takes 2 minutes to whiz together and you probably have most of the ingredients on hand.  Tahini ~ sesame paste is traditionally used in hummus, but I didn’t have any, so just made it without and it is still delicious.  In my mini processor, I quickly minced a clove of garlic and rinsed and drained a can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas) and added them along with with some lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, pepper.  Process the chickpeas with olive oil and keep adding olive oil until you have a good consistency.  Done!  I had some fresh thyme that I sprinkled for garnish on the hummus and went through my vegetable drawer and pulled and chopped some veggies to serve alongside. Healthy and delicious in no time.  Click here for the recipe….

Crystallized Ginger Cookies

I will always go for a chocolate cookie before anything, but I really do like these crystallized ginger cookies.  There is powdered ginger and finely chopped crystallized ginger in the dough and they are wonderful and chewy with a great bite of ginger throughout the cookie.  Click here for the recipe….

Lamb Chops with Garlic, Fresh Mint and Oregano with a Fresh Mint Sauce

Grandma’s mint mincer

Lamb is a familiar dish from my childhood and it was always served with a fresh mint sauce made very quickly with just minced fresh mint, sugar and white vinegar for that just right balance of sweet and tart.  It reminds me of my Grandmother and I have her mincer which I always use when I make a mint sauce and think about her as I am mincing the mint. My mom used to make leg of lamb for Sunday dinners and there was always a fresh mint sauce to go alongside.  Lamb chops are so quick to make and only take about 8 minutes for medium rare.  I marinated them with some garlic, fresh mint and oregano, and a little olive oil to bind it all together.  I cooked them on a grill pan on the stove, but would have preferred to grill them outside if the weather was better.  Simple and delicious.  Click here for the recipe….