Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Taste & Create: Blender Coconut Pie



It's been awhile since I have participated in Taste & Create. It's always fun, so I signed up for June. I was paired with Min of Bad Girl's Kitchen. I bookmarked several recipes, but I just HAD to try this Blender Coconut Pie. I hardly ever bake, so I love a good easy dessert recipe. And coconut. Oh man. I love me some coconut. This was really easy, and really tasty. All the ingredients went straight into the blender, so the only dishes I had to clean were the blender, a measuring cup, measuring spoon and the actual pie dish.


Blender Coconut Pie
Servings: 8
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Start to Finish time: 55 minutes


4 large eggs
2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 (3 1/2-ounce) can sweetened shredded coconut (I used about half of a 7 oz. bag of sweetened coconut… I’ve never seen the canned variety)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Coat a 9-inch glass pie dish with cooking spray.

3. Place all the ingredients except for the coconut in a blender container, blend for 1 minute, until well mixed. Pour this mixture into the prepared pie dish. Sprinkle with the coconut.

4. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the center is set and the top is toasted golden brown.

5. Let cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before serving (I chilled mine in the fridge overnight. It’s wonderful cold… a good summer dessert!)




Past Taste & Create Posts:
Rassa Sabzi
Wonton Soup
Crockpot Apple Butter
Siopao (Steamed Buns)
Egg Curry


Noodles wanted in on this pie, too. Sorry, buddy. No dairy for kitties!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

iron stef elsewhere

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Roadtrips, weddings, live music, tweetups. I'm not complaining, I love it. However, I fear it means less time in the kitchen, so I will not have a recipe post this week. I've done posts in a couple of other places recently, though. If you are just NEEDING you some Iron Stef, check these out ;).


I went to Baltimore for my Cousin's wedding over the weekend, thereby missing this month's convening of the Church of Burger. So instead, I held my own private service with a burger at Kooper's tavern, and wrote about it for the Church. Kooper's is owned by the same people as Slainte, which is next door, and where I had another awesome burger, a lamb burger, back in March (read about those travels in my Food Blog Mafia post about the trip).


The week before, I went on a float trip with my brother and sister-in-law and some friends. Float trips require canned beer, and being somewhat of a beer snob, I had to seek out some good stuff. I wrote about canned beer options for Food Blog Mafia, here. Oh how I long for that cold cold river and hot sunshine. Good times.

This weekend I'm going to another cousin's wedding in Galesburg, IL. Remember when I ate G-burg last summer? Looking forward to going back. Happy summer everyone! And don't forget about Skank Ham!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

salmon with cilantro gremolata


"Hey remember that time when my favorite colors was pink and green?" That's a lyric from Regina Spektor's song "That Time," a song that I cannot get enough lately. That particular line popped into my head when I plated my dinner tonight. Salmon (pink!) with gremolata (green!) with a salad of pink grapefruit (pink, duh!) and avocado (green!) what a pretty little dinner I had made without realizing! Tasted good too. A simple, light, fun summer dinner.

Salmon with Cilantro Gremolata

for the gremolata:
-zest and juice from 1 lime
-4 cloves of garlic, minced
-1 small green chile, seeds removed, minced
-1 large handful of cilantro, chopped fine
-1 Tablespoon olive oil
-salt to taste

combine all the ingredients, set aside.

Season (I used an all-purpose rub, but plain salt & pepper will work fine too) and Cook 2 small salmon fillets at 425ºF until cooked through but still moist and flaky (mine took about 15 minutes, from frozen). Serve with the gremolata on top.

For the salad, peel and slice a grapefruit, slice an avocado, alternate the slices of each on your plate, sprinkle with salt, pepper, olive oil and torn up cilantro.





Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Rainbow Trout stuffed with fennel


I love rainbow trout, so I was pleased as punch to find it on sale and WHOLE! So I got one. I stuffed him with some fennel stalks & fronds, lemon slices, garlic chunks and slices of yellow onion. I rubbed him with olive oil, salt & pepper, wrapped him loosely in foil, and cooked him in the oven at 325ºF for about 20 minutes, opening up the foil tent and adding some butter for the last 5 minutes of cooking. An easy weeknight dinner that looks and tastes kinds fancy!


As for the rest of the fennel, slice up the bulb, along with the rest of the onion, and stir fry it with some finely chopped garlic and olive oil. When it gets kind of soft, add one zucchini and one yellow squash, both sliced into bite-sized pieces, and cook until all the vegetables are just soft, adding salt, pepper, chopped fennel fronds and red pepper flakes as you go. This side dish goes great with the fish.


The cooking method for the fish keeps it super-succulent. You can eat the skin if you want (I love me some fish skin!), but the fish flakes right off of it if you're not into that sort of thing (prude).

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

tater tot "fusion" tacos


All I really wanted for dinner tonight was one of my favorite pairings: tater tots and sriracha sauce. Alas, I was not sure when I would have another chance to cook something blog-worthy, and I cannot leave my loyal Iron Stef readers hangin'. But I am also selfish. So I decided to have my tater tots and sriracha. I just put them in a taco! And you know what? Totally works. Brilliant, if I do say so my selfish self.


Toasted flour tortillas, black beans cooked with some cayenne, cumin, salt & pepper, crispy tater tots, red bell pepper & green onions all topped with a generous squirt of "cock sauce." That's it. That's the recipe.


ummmm..... soooooo... go make some. Perfect use for those tots in your zipper pocket.