Pineapple Upside-down Cake

I’m still using the leftovers from my Luau last week, and I’ve been staring at this pineapple trying to figure out what to do with it. We don’t drink that many Mai-Tais, and I already made pineapple fried rice. But then I found a recipe for Pineapple Upside-down cake that used fresh pineapple (instead of canned), and decided to try it out with a couple of my own additions: rum and orgeat syrup. I’ve seen a number of pineapple cake recipes that use almonds and almond extract, but I didn’t have those—I did have the orgeat syrup though. --AnglophileLV

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
3 cups fresh pineapple - peeled, cored and cut into 1 inch chunks
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Adding up to 3/4 cups liquid, combine 1 Tb dark rum and 1 Tb Orgeat Syrup with milk

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a small bowl stir together the melted butter and the brown sugar; spread the mixture evenly in a well buttered 9 inch round cake pan. Pat the pineapple very dry between several sheets of paper towel, and arrange it evenly on top of the sugar mixture.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the softened butter with the sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture in three parts alternately with the milk mix, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat well after each addition. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

Place the cake in the middle of the oven. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes. Run a thin knife around the edge, and invert the cake onto a plate. Serve the cake warm or at room temperature.

Desi Fried Egg

I really hate cooking eggs...I don't mind eating them if they are cooked right. I don't like brioche or anything (I don't mind if my bread or whatever doesn't have a shiny glaze, thankyouverymuch) that's too egg-ish. This includes all the horrible ice cream here in America that smell like the yolk of an egg (haagendaaz is the prime example of this ridiculousness). Just wanted to get all of that off my chest. Vegetarian ice cream FTW. I don't eat a lot of sweet stuff though, so I survive without ranting too much.


I took a chance last week when I bought 6 brown eggs from vegetarian hens who were free range. I have to say, the odour (for the clean up anyway) wasn't as strong as after cooking generic white eggs. That's fabulous! After making our tradition egg-white-only-kitchen-sink (garlic, spinach, mushroom, onion, tomato, basil, olives, cheese, whatever else is on hand) omlette, we were down to 2 eggs.

I decided to pan fry 'em up for a late sunday brunch. the recipe that follows was concocted at random by SOMEONE (no one is taking credit for it. I know it's not me or my dad, so it's down to mom or brother) in my family. This is definitely an interesting way to eat an egg. Hope you enjoy!

OH AND IT'S SPICY!

Serves 1
Ingredients:
1 egg
Pinches of: salt, black pepper, cumin powder, coriander powder, red chilli (indian) powder, turmeric powder, and garam masala.
1 tspn vegetable oil

To make a sandwich:
regular bread, some iceberg lettuce, and personally? i slather mine with the green tobasco sauce. Minutes after this meal MY mouth remains lit with a satisfactory fire.

Method:

1. Heat up oil in a nonstick pan (use as little oil as possible, it's only to prevent egg from sticking to the pan) on low heat/medium low.

2. Crack open egg onto the pan and break the yolk to spread it around. (optional. you can leave it as is, if you want. I hate yolks so I either chuck them or spread them out)

3. sprinkle all of the powders onto the surface of the egg.

4. After it seems like it has cooked on the other side and the yolk/yellow part is no longer runny, flip and let it cook some more. Again, I like my eggs severely cooked + it might be required for this recipe so the spice powders infuse into the egg.

5. Serve as a sandwich! I cut mine in Half in the picture above.

Mexi-Greek Quiche

This is my own recipe, thrown together when I needed to get rid of some eggs and set myself up with healthy lunches for the week. It’s Mexican because I put a jalapeno pepper in it, and it’s Greek because of the feta, garlic and spinach combination. I guess it’s also a little French. Maybe I should name it Euro-mutt quiche. –AnglophileLV

Mexi-Greek Quiche

3 Eggs
1 pie crust
4 pieces bacon
½ red onion
1 Jalapeno, chopped fine
2 Tb. Chopped sundried tomatoes
1 bag spinach
1 C. chopped Cauliflower
1 clove garlic
1 C. garlic and herb feta
A few sprigs fresh parsley
½ C. cottage cheese
½ tsp. mustard
½ tsp parmesan

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large skillet, cook the bacon until crispy and set aside.
3. Chop the ½ C. red onion and cook in the bacon grease. Add the Jalapeno.
4. Add the spinach and cook, stirring, until just wilted. Turn off the heat from the skillet.
5. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, sundried tomato, feta, cottage cheese, mustard, cauliflower, garlic (chopped fine), and parsley. Mix well. Add the mixture in the skillet. Crumble the bacon and add to the bowl. Blend well.
6. Put everything into the pie crust and top with a light sprinkling of parmesan.
7. Cook for 45minutes until the top is lightly browned.

Fettuccini Carbonara

Fettuccini Carbonara is one of those dinners you can slap together with what you probably already have in the fridge and it still looks and tastes gourmet as hell. And men love it. I first learned the recipe from my old boyfriend, who knew how to cook precisely two things for the sole purpose of impressing women. It worked, but not for long. I ditched the boyfriend, but kept the recipe. It was a good trade in my opinion. --AnglophileLV
Fettuccini Carbonara for 2

2 slices bacon, fried and broken into pieces
2 eggs
¼ c. parmesan
½ c. milk
Pepper to taste (don’t need salt—the parmesan is salty enough)
Parsley for garnish

You will need a metal bowl and a big pot that the metal bowl can rest on.

Boil the fettuccini according to package directions, about 8 minutes. While this is boiling, beat the eggs, cheese, pepper and milk in the metal bowl until well blended. Place the bowl over the boiling pot and stir CONSTANTLY until it thickens. This is the tricky part, because you need to make sure that it does not turn into scrambled eggs. This means taking it off the heat if curds start to form. If you stir constantly, the consistency should start to get thick and creamy. At this point it’s cooked, and the pasta is probably done also. Drain the water from the pasta and put the pasta back into the big pot. Pour the sauce over the pasta and toss with the bacon bits and some chopped parsley. That’s it! You’re done. And making your own cream sauce is way impressive.

Fried Rice, Desi Style

There's nothing specifically Indian about this but this is pretty much what we get when we go to a Chinese restaurant in India and order fried rice. Indianized chinese food is heavenly.

Ingredients:

Carrots - peeled and chopped finely [into tiny cubes]
Zucchini- Chopped finely
Green Beans- Chopped finely
Green Bell pepper- Chopped finely
Button (white) mushrooms - thinly sliced
Celery- chopped finely
Spring Onions- finely chopped
Red onions - 1 medium sized one, finely chopped.

Ginger: about 2 thin slices (about 1 cm in breadth), DO NOT FINELY CHOP, not much fun to eat this. Remove before serving.
Optional: add other colored peppers, sprouts, spinach!, etc. Don't add eggplant, potato, sweet potato, etc.

Basmati Rice- 1 or 2 cups. [ will serve 2-4 people]

Vegetable cooking oil
Optional: a few drops of sesame oil for aroma.

Salt to taste.
Pepper to taste.
Soy Sauce (totally optional. I prefer it without)

Procedure:

Step 1: Cook the Rice.
I own a rice cooker and use it to make rice. However, if you don't own one then general rule of thumb for cooking rice.: 1rice:2water.
For every cup of rice, add 1.75-2 cups of water to cook it.

Once it is cooked, take it out of the cooker or pot and spread it out on a large plate so it can cool down and separate.

Step 2: Cook the veggies:

In a large pot, put some oil to coat the bottom. If it's a non stick pan then just add a little bit. To it add onions, ginger, carrots, and celery. Saute for about 2 minutes. then add green beans, zuccini, green peppers. Saute for a minute. then add mushrooms (takes the least time to cook) and the spring onions. Keep saute-ing until the veggies are semi-ccoked. i.e. they should remain crunchy when you taste it but at the same time cooked.

Step 3:
Once it is at this stage, add the rice. Also at this point add salt and pepper and soy sauce (if you want, but I don't) and also 1/2 tsp of sesame oil . Mix thoroughly for about 2-4 minutes on the stove and you are done!!!

Notes:
I purposely have not specified how much of each veggie since it depends on if you want more rice or more veggies.

Optional variations:
To make Chicken fried rice:
Buy boneless chicken, preferably chicken breast (white meat):
cut into manageable pieces and marinate for about 30 minutes with ginger and soy sauce. Saute separately and get it cooked.
Once cooked, chop finely and add it to the veggie mixture when you add the rice.

To make Egg fried rice:
On the side scramble an egg or two. Once your fried rice is ready, plate it up and then top it off with the scrambled egg.
Another option is to make fluffly omelette's (properly cooked) and then to chop it up into cubes/squares/rectangles and to top off the rice with it.
Enjoy!!