It’s almost time for Thanksgiving!!! As soon as I decided to cook this year (about 2 months ago) I have been fine-tuning the menu and trying new takes on old favorites. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it’s pretty much the best excuse to cook all day long. So on top of the traditional Roast Turkey, Stuffing, Roasted Garlic Potatoes and Gravy, I am making my Jalapeño Cornbread, a variety of salads, and my alternative to candied yams or sweet potato…. sweet and savory sweet potato hasselbacks!
I love yams and I love sweet potatoes. I’ll eat them mashed, baked whole, french fried, in risottos and pretty much any other way to cook them. Except with marshmallows on top. I think it’s just a little too sweet for me. Hasselback Potatoes are baked potatoes with slots cut in and stuffed with garlic or breadcrumbs. It’s a Swedish dish… gotta love Swedish design, even in food! So I’ve tried a few variations of this recipe but this is the perfect balance of sweet and savory. You can use both yams and sweet potatoes for this recipe. Yams are generally a little more narrow than the sweet potato so make sure you don’t over cook, they will tend to mush together.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, recipes
Tags: baking, cooking, food, recipe, recipes, savory, sweet, sweet potatoes, thanksgiving, vegetables, vegetarian
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I’ve been meaning to post this dish for a really long time. It is quite possibly my favorite go-to pasta dish. I would say it’s the pasta dish of all time but Mac n Cheese will always win that fight. But since Mac n Cheese, to me, means making a béchamel, using 4-5 cheeses, and patiently waiting for the baking part to be done…. this simple orecchiette dish wins for being quick, easy and so delicious!
I absolutely love Broccoli Rabe, aka Rapini. I love it’s nutty bitterness and vibrant green color. It’s also jam packed with good for your vitamins. As a side dish, I like to sauté with a little olive oil, so you really keep the flavor of broccoli rabe. Maybe a little grated Pecorino on top. Mmm. Okay so say you don’t love Broccoli Rabe as much as I do, you can easily substitute with other hearty greens like broccolini, spinach, or kale. I’ve tried the variations, nothing beats the rabe with this recipe! The provolone is a perfect sweet balace to the bite of the rabe. You’ll have to just trust me and try it. Bon appétit!
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, recipes
Tags: cheese, cooking, food, Italian, pasta, recipe, recipes, vegetables, vegetarian
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Quite possibly one of my favorite ways to consume bananas… in cake form and with chocolate! These cupcakes are so fragrant and scrumptious looking just sitting on my kitchen counter, I had to have one with my cuppa tea this morning. Okay I guess the tea was more meant to go with my cupcake than the other way around. I mean it’s a hearty breakfast right? There’s bananas in them!
I pretty much buy bananas with the intention of eating about 2 and then patiently waiting for the remainder of the bunch to ripe for a few days so I can make banana bread. I associate banana bread with breakfast because the cafe’s in Sydney served them as a breakfast menu item. Mmmm, toasted with a little bit of butter melted on top. Wish my local cafe here had banana bread as an option!
I adapted this banana cupcake recipe from Martha, adding a little here and there. I used my go-to simple chocolate frosting recipe because to me, banana goes with chocolate like peanut butter and jelly. Hope you like them as much as I do!
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: baking, food, mmmm, recipes
Tags: baking, banana, chocolate, cooking, cupcakes, desserts, food, recipe, recipes, snacks, sweets
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Let me start off by saying… I don’t particularly love cheesecakes. When it comes to dessert choices, I almost always go for the fruit tart, anything chocolate or ice cream. But every once in a while… I just want a good slice of cheesecake with lots of crust. Vini has been requesting cheesecake to be put at the top of the “Please Make This For Me!!!” list for quite some time… so I played around with my Red, White & Blue Cheesecake and came up with this Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake.
My favorite part of any cheesecake is the crust. So I generally make crusts that go all the way to the top of the sides so there’s plenty of graham cracker goodness for every bite. The raspberry swirl is a perfect combination of tangy fruitiness to the rich creamy filling. This dish would be great for a dinner party, the pretty marbling will definitely impress guests! Cheesecakes are very time consuming and require at least 6 hours of refrigeration after all the baking is done but the result is definitely worth it. Bon appétit!
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: baking, food, mmmm, recipes
Tags: baking, cheesecake, cooking, desserts, food, recipe, recipes, snacks, sweets
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So this is how it happened: I was out shopping for some boxes to organize all the stuff I have in my apartment. It started raining – I can’t buy cardboard boxes in the rain, that would just be silly. Across the street is Sur La Table. It is raining, did I mention that already? So I had to go in for some cover. They happened to have a sale. Two giant bags of baking toys later, I had to rush home to start making my tarts!
This dish has been on my mind for a while. Dark chocolate ganache tart with toasted pistachios and a pinch of sea salt on top. I’ve been on a pistachio kick lately and I think it goes really well with a dark bitter chocolate. I played around with several different crusts… yes I now have several different tart trays to work with… and the best tasting with this filling is “the great unshrinkable sweet tart shell” from Smitten Kitchen. Although mine definitely shrank. Graham cracker just did not taste right with this and neither did my chocolate biscuit crust, maybe too much chocolate with the dark chocolate filling.
Now this dish sounds pretty easy but it does take a lot of time. Please allow for time to chill the dough for the crust, bake it and let it cool (all in all about 4 hours). Then the ganache part will need another 2 hours to set so you’re talking some serious time commitment when making this. But it is totally worth it.
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: baking, food, mmmm, recipes
Tags: baking, chocolate, cooking, desserts, food, recipe, recipes, snacks, sweets
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I had elaborate plans to make a fancy dinner tonight. I was thinking maybe a creamy pasta dish with sun dried tomatoes, or roast veggies with artichokes and eggplant, or maybe a moroccan stew with cous cous… they were all very good candidates. Somewhere between 3pm and 8pm I completely lost track of time. Guess those dishes will have to wait for another day!
So what’s a good dish that’s quick yet hearty and also jam packed with flavor? It can only mean one thing … fried rice night! We always seem to have leftover rice in the fridge and it’s best to use day old rice for making fried rice. Fresh rice is too moist and will clump together.
My mom used to make me a million different variations of fried rice when I was a kid. Usually as a last minute dinner when I’d get home late after dance classes, practice or guitar lessons. She got a little creative at times but this one is one of my favorites. Garlic, ginger, a little touch of tomato paste and soy sauce. Sounds weird, but it’s delicious! Enjoy!
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, recipes
Tags: asian, cooking, dinner, easy, food, quick, recipe, recipes, vegetarian
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Summer is most definitely upon us. It’s been excruciatingly hot in NY the last few days. When it’s super hot out I can only think of cool refreshing dishes… like gazpacho soup and cucumber salads with drinks like lemonade, ice teas, mint juleps and mimosas! It’s so hot, I’d be happy with just a bucket of ice!
Today I made a quick snack that I just had to share, a very refreshing (and super simple) tomato salad with fresh basil. It’s so simple, you can’t mess it up. It’s a caprese without mozzarella. The key ingredient is really delicious tomatoes. When buying tomatoes, buy the ones on the vine still. And always store them room temp and not in the fridge. You can put them in the fridge if you know you’re going to eat them immediately, like a few hours before this salad!
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, recipes, salads
Tags: cooking, food, recipe, recipes, salad, snacks, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian
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I know… I’m getting “where have you been?!” from everyone. Well, it’s been a while but I’m finally back with another post. I’ve been travelling a lot lately so it’s been tough finding time to cook and write about it. But I’m back at home now and the first thing I wanted was some home cooked comfort food. For me, comfort food can mean many things. Usually it’s inspired by what I saw last on TV or what image I saw last, or a dish I’ve been craving for weeks. This time, all I wanted was a simple pasta dish with some fresh basil.
This dish is incredibly easy to make and super quick. Perfect for whipping up a fast dinner after a long day of work. It has very little sauce, but lots of flavor. Theres nothing better than a simple home cooked meal.. mmm! So happy to be home!
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, recipes
Tags: cheese, cooking, food, pasta, recipe, recipes, vegetarian
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Who doesn’t love pancakes? Especially on a Sunday… for dinner! What a perfect way to end the weekend. We’ve been craving pancakes for over a week and despite our delicious dinner, we just had to make pancakes before the weekend was officially over and we spend another week talking about pancakes. This is a super easy recipe to satisfy any pancake craving!
The best thing about these pancakes is that they’re super simple to make using ingredients that you can easily find in your pantry and fridge. Serve these with some scrambled eggs and bacon for a hearty breakfast. Or throw on some ice cream, fresh fruit, and powdered sugar and you’ve got yourself a great dessert. I have some variations to this recipe like, ricotta pancakes, buttermilk pancakes, blueberry pancakes, whole wheat pancakes and chocolate pancakes! Stay tuned!
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, recipes
Tags: breakfast, brunch, cooking, food, recipe, recipes, snacks
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Sometimes, I just feel like baking a cake. Luckily I keep a pretty stocked pantry so whenever this happens… Voilà! Cake! And that’s exactly how I stumbled upon making this deliciously moist chocolate cake last night. With an added touch of rum, it was the perfect dessert and night cap combo.
I was actually craving to bake cupcakes but when I went to get the trays I remembered that I just bought a new bundt cake tray that I haven’t even used yet. I used to make a variety of bundt cakes every week in college when I hosted Tuesday Night Dinners at my apartment. Back then I would have just used a cake mix from a box. I’ve thankfully evolved and honed my baking skills since then. This chocolate cake recipe is super easy. No more box mixes!
If you’d prefer a non-alcoholic version of the glaze, just eliminate that ingredient. The glaze will come out just fine without it. Although, the hint of rum does add something special to the flavor… and it’s the perfect night cap at 2 AM.
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: baking, food, mmmm, recipes
Tags: baking, booze, chocolate, cooking, desserts, food, recipe, recipes, rum, snacks, sweets
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