Tag Archives: red onion

Stuffed Mushrooms with Imitation Crab Meat

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As a chef most people find it shocking when they hear that I am not a huge fan of mushrooms. Not that I dislike all mushrooms, I do really like a morel cream sauce. My wife’s family really loves mushrooms and while out at the farmers market we came by some beautiful portobello mushrooms. I love to make dishes with portobellos especially when others enjoy them. These are easy to make and you can make them ahead of time so you can spend more time with your guests. You can make them in gigantic portobello mushrooms like I did this time or regular white button mushrooms; the stuffing would be the same in either case. So let’s get to it.

First off take a red, green, and yellow pepper and one medium red onion and dice it into small pieces add a tablespoon of chopped garlic, a couple shakes of Old Bay seasoning and some salt & pepper. Add about ½ stick of butter to a sauté pan set over medium heat and cook the vegetables until they become soft. Pour them into a bowl to let them cool with 4 oz. of cream cheese while you get the mushrooms ready.

Remove the stems of the mushrooms, you can do two things now, you can fine dice it and put in the sautéed vegetables or just get rid of them, your call. I tossed them in this time.

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With a tablespoon now carefully scrape out the gills from the underside of the mushroom and discard them. You don’t want them because they taste bitter.

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Now dice up the pound imitation crab meat, you want these a little large because they will break down when you mix everything up. Toss the crab in the bowl with everything else and mix thoroughly. Here you might have to add some Italian bread crumbs to tighten up the mixture. You want the mixture to be tight enough to make a “slushy” snowball.

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In this case divide the mixture into quarters and place on top of the mushrooms. You can cover them if you want and stow them in the fridge for a day or two or place them into an oven preheated to 375F. Cook them for about 20 minutes or until the top becomes golden brown.

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~Enjoy~

Isreal Couscous with Peppers

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I like serving couscous in the summer, you don’t really have to cook it, you can make it a day ahead and you can serve at room temperature. So here is how I did it this time.

I took a red onion, red, green and yellow pepper and diced them pretty small and sautéed them in some good olive oil with some salt & pepper and chopped fresh garlic. Put that in a mixing bowl to cool while I cooked the couscous.

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I like the Israeli couscous because it is bigger than the regular one. I used two boxes this time, cooked with chicken stock instead of water for extra flavor. Cook per the instructions on the box, just be careful not to over-cook it because it will turn to mush and you really don’t want that.

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Take the freshly cooked couscous and combine it with the onion and pepper mixture. Here you might have to add a little olive oil and check your salt & pepper seasoning.

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Let it cool and then cover it and store it in the fridge.

Enjoy ~

Chicken with Red Onion, Thyme, Lemon and Pasta

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Since my wife and I are still a little sick and our throats still hurt, I threw this together one evening knowing that it would taste good, be good for us and it would be soft on our throats going down.

I took 3 large chicken breasts and poached them in the water I was going to cook the pasta in. Took the chicken out and let them cool a little while I cut a red onion into large dice.

I then sautéed the onions in a tablespoon of oil until they became soft, then added a tablespoon of diced garlic and 6 to 8 sprigs of thyme to the pan.  Cooked that together for a few minutes and then added ½ cup of lemon juice and a ½ cup of the pasta water to the pan. Let that simmer for a minute or two.

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Adjust the salt and pepper to your liking and serve it over the pasta. It is quick, easy, delicious, and good for you too.

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Enjoy ~

Turkey Burger and Broccoli Slaw

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My in-laws were coming over to help finish up the bathroom remodeling and I wanted to make something for dinner that was different from anything I have ever made for them. (This has become a personal challenge.) So off to the kitchen I went to see what I could do.

So we had some ground turkey meat in the fridge. Lately, my wife has been eating more poultry because she doesn’t want too much beef. So tonight was going to be turkey burgers. Now what to do about a side dish. I found some broccoli stems left over from a chicken and pasta dish I had made earlier in the week. There was also carrots and red onions. Looks like we were making a vegetable slaw.

Ingredients:

  • Burgers
    • 2 lbs ground turkey
    • 2 Tbsp garlic, minced
    • 3 Tbsp Italian seasoning
    • 2 Tbsp salt
    • 1.5 Tbsp fresh cracked pepper
    • Onion buns
    • 4 slices smoked Gouda
    • Lettuce
    • 4 large slices of roasted red peppers (same recipe as my earlier post on March 30, 2013)
  • Slaw
    • 1/2 lb Broccoli stems, thinly sliced
    • 3 medium Carrots, grated
    • 1/2 medium Red onions, finely diced
    • 3/4 cup Mayo
    • 1 tsp Lemon juice

I took the ground turkey and mixed it the garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Be careful not to over-mix as this can dry out the turkey.

I then portioned the burgers into 8 oz patties, making sure to form them into disks. I pushed in the center so that when it cooks it would prevent the meat from turning too much into a ball. I wrapped them with plastic wrap and placed them in the fridge.

Now to prep the slaw. In a bowl I mixed together the mayo, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mix in the broccoli, carrots, and red onions. Cover and place in the fridge.

When it was close to eating time, I pulled out all the ingredients and prepped my workstation.

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Ingredients prepped next to the grill. It was night, so it was dark out.

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Grilling the turkey burgers and roasted red peppers.

  • Grill the burgers, about 8 minutes per side. Make sure the internal temperature reaches 165F.
  • Place on the roasted red pepper and smoked Gouda.
  • Place the roasted red peppers on the grill to put a slight char on them.
  • Place lettuce on the onions buns and top with the burger, roasted red pepper and smoked Gouda.
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Make the burger. No condiments necessary.

Served with the broccoli slaw, this burger was a big hit.

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