Crepes Suzette

This recipe is by Nigella Lawson. I found it in her book, Nigella Express: Good Food, Fast, which I had borrowed from the library. She suggests that you use store-bought crepes to make this a quick, last minute dessert. Since I had the time, I made the crepes myself, but I like her idea of buying the crepes. The novelty of flambéing it adds a nice flare if you’re serving this dessert to guests. Serve it hot, with vanilla ice cream.  

Crepes Suzette

Juice of 2 oranges

Zest of 1 orange

¾ cup butter

1/3 cup sugar

8-12 crepes

1/3 cup Grand Marnier, Cointreau or triple sec

Pour the orange juice into a saucepan, and add the zest, butter and sugar. Bring to a boil, and then turn the heat down to a simmer, cooking for a further 10-15 minutes until the sauce becomes syrupy.

Fold the crepes into quarters and then arrange them in a large pan, or any flameproof dish, slightly overlapping in a circular pattern.

Pour over the warm syrup and then gently heat the crepes through for about 3 minutes over low heat.

Warm the orange liqueur of your choice in the emptied but still syrupy saucepan. When the crepes are hot in the orange sauce, pour over the liqueur and set light to the pan to flambé them. Serve immediately, spooning crepes and sauce onto each plate. 

Tomato and Bean Rice

I tried to make the tomato rice that we used to get as kids in our school lunch. While mine doesn't quite have that Andhra flavor to it, it turned out pretty tasty. The next time, I make this, I'm thinking about adding in small pieces of fish. 

Tomato and Bean Rice

Few curry leaves

1 can diced tomatoes with chilies

1 can red beans in chili sauce

3 cups white rice, raw

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

½ tsp ginger paste

½ tsp garlic paste

1 tsp chili powder

½ tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp cumin powder

Salt to taste

Cook rice and set aside. In a pot, heat a little oil. Fry the curry leaves till crisp; remove and set aside. Put in the onion, and cook till soft and transparent. Add the garlic, and the ginger and garlic pastes. Cook for a minute or so then mix in all the spices, adding very little water if needed. Next put in the tomatoes and cook till most of the water evaporates. Add in the beans in chili sauce and cook again till the chili sauce is starts to thicken. Switch off the stove, and stir in the rice. Just before serving, mix in the curry leaves.   

3-layered Tuna and Vegetable Casserole

This is a great dish to make on a cold, winter day. It’s extremely easy to make and not very expensive if you need to take it for a crowd. The Tabasco or hot sauce really adds to the flavor, but if you don’t like spicy food it’s easily avoidable. The feta cheese gives it a strong flavor too, so if you are planning to substitute it, try to use a strong.  

3-layered Tuna and Vegetable Casserole

2 cans tuna, drained and flaked

2 cans cream of celery soup

2 small zucchini, cut into cubes

2 red peppers, cut into cubes

5-8 green onions or 1 bulb onion, cut into small pieces

About ½ cup feta cheese

2 eggs

2 cups milk

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

1 tbsp chili flakes

½ box whole wheat pasta, cooked al dente

Tabasco or hot sauce (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Chop all the vegetables and toss in salt and pepper. In a separate bowl, whisk together the soup, eggs, and milk. Then add the tuna and mix well before adding the cheese and the chili flakes.

In a baking dish, evenly spread out the pasta, then the vegetables. Give the tuna and soup mixture a good stirring and then pour over the vegetables. DO NOT STIR IT. Put a few random drops of Tabasco over the soup mix so that it looks like little red dots.

Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until the top starts to brown in areas. Remove and let it sit for 10 minutes or so. Serve hot. 

Roasted Garlic, Pepper, and Squash Soup

I made this soup from one of my left over CSA squash. I decided to mix two recipes that I found online, and it turned out really well. The chili changed the entire flavor of the soup.

Roasted Garlic, Pepper, and Squash Soup

1 hubbard squash

1 pod garlic, peeled

2 red peppers

2 onions, cut into 6

4-6 cups beef stock

1 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground sage

1 tbsp ground pepper

A pinch of nutmeg powder

1 serrano chilie

1 cup cream

Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the whole squash into the oven on a tray and bake till soft, about 1 hour. In a separate tray, place the chopped onions. Remove the tops of the peppers, and remove all the seeds and extra stems. Then distribute the garlic between both peppers and place it in the hollowed out peppers. Invert the peppers, on the tray with the onions, so that the garlic half bakes and half steams inside the peppers. Bake in the oven till soft, about 1 hour.

Once all the vegetables are cooked, allow it to cool, then remove the skin from the peppers and scrape out the flesh from the squash, discarding the seeds in the center. In a food processor, grind the onions into as fine a paste as possible. Add a little stock if necessary, then transfer it to a sieve. Squeeze out all the onion jus and as much of the onion as possible, and discard the part that is left in the sieve. Then blend the squash, peppers, and garlic together until smooth, adding stock as required. Add to the onion jus. Put in the pepper, cumin, sage, and salt, and mix together on a low flame, adding stock in small batches to thin to desired consistency. When it starts to bubble turn it off.

Take a whole Serrano chili, and run a knife along it’s length so that you break the skin on the chili but do not all the way through. Do this in 3 or 4 places and put it into the soup. Allow the soup to cool and put it away over night.

When heating up to serve, heat the soup on a medium flame, stirring frequently. Once it starts to bubble, lower the flame and add the cream. Serve with garlic toast or pieces of broiled smoked sausage.