Half-Cooked

The kitchen is one of my happy places. I love staying there all afternoon reading my collection of cookbooks, chopping, dicing, measuring, mixing, sauteing, frying, baking...everything! I enjoy making things from scratch. I simply do not like the whole 30-minute meals concept, sorry Rachel Ray.

I remember I met this girl and we started talking about how we were in charge of Thanksgiving desserts for our respective family gatherings. She challenged me by saying she was going to make her signature pumpkin pie which was to-die-for! I have been trying to be as zen as possible, but sometimes, the competitive girl in me just kicks in. So, I nonchalantly said I’m making pumpkin pie AND pecan pie. The poor girl made the mistake of asking what brand pie crust I use, to which I replied as sweetly as I could, “I make my own pie crust, don’t you?” (hee!hee!)

This being said, there are times when a girl has to do what a girl has to do, so here are some of my favorite half-cooked/half-bought recipes. We all have to have a few of these up our sleeves for those “just in case” moments.

Arugula Salad with Smoked Salmon and Manchego

Luckily, there’s a Santis Deli 5 minutes from our place. This is my go-to store when I want to impress and whip up something a little fancy.

1 large pack of arugula (my S.I.L. is not a big fan, so sometimes I’ll get a bag of their mesclun salad or just their romaine lettuce...so fresh!)

Smoked salmon (I love love love this, so I usually get more than necessary)

Manchego or whatever cheese your prefer (You can have them slice it up for you already...of course, parmesan slivers - not grated - are quite nice, too!)

Caesar salad dressing (Toscana is the best store bought dressing ever!)

Toss your greens. Top it off with the smoked salmon and manchego. Leave the dressing on the side. 

* You can serve any extra smoked salmon with lemon, dill and capers.

Arroz a la Cocina 

(Yes, it should be Cubana, but this is something I put together in my primo's house when I decided to make use of what they had in the kitchen instead of getting take-out.)

Ground Beef 

1 packet of Taco Seasoning (I like to use McCormick’s - with this I no longer find the need to season with salt and pepper)

Onions

Garlic
Olive Oil

1 can of Button Mushrooms

1 can of Baby/Young Corn

Raisins

Green Onions 

Bananas

Eggs

Rice

Chop up the baby corn and button mushrooms.

Brown the garlic and onions in a large pan in some olive oil. Add the ground beef and continue to cook. Add the taco seasoning. Add in the chopped baby corn, button mushrooms and raisins. 

Fry the bananas and eggs. Chop up green onions.

Plate your dish. Get a big platter and put the rice. Place the ground beef on top of the rice. Around the dish, layer the bananas. Fried eggs will be on top of the ground beef. Garnish with green onions. 

Baked Sole with Garlic Butter Sauce

This is perfect for when you're running late and need to come up with dinner pronto! 


Fillet of sole (you can use whatever fish you like really)

Lemon

Butter

Capers

Garlic 

Salt and Pepper

Olive Oil

Season the sole with salt and pepper. Squeeze the lemon and drizzle olive oil. Let marinate for a while. Sprinkle capers on top of the sole.

Bake at 300 C. Sole is very thin, so it cooks quite quickly, no need to turn the dish or the fish or anything. Just peak every so often.

Make the sauce. Melt butter. Fry garlic. Add some olive oil. Serve on the side. (This sauce is a staple at our family table, the vampires will definitely be staying away.)

Mango Icebox Cake

Something BFF Paulyn and I made one afternoon in her lovely Florida home.


Graham Crackers

Whipped Cream or All-Purpose Cream (you can add a little bit of cinnamon, I'm not a big fan of it though)

Mangoes
* Nutella 

Just layer graham crackers, cream, mangoes again and again. Freeze and voila!!! Homemade dessert.

* Drizzling Nutella on top of the cream would make it so much more heavenly!


My Sissy cooks, I bake. I watch her in the kitchen and I am always totally blown away. Unlike me, she almost always just wings it. Imagine she was able to make pizzas (from scratch!) with my nephews and nieces in Tagaytay one afternoon with only what we had in our pantry! So the above recipes are my attempt to let loose in the kitchen and improvise. It’s all a matter of taste, so have fun with it. In the end,  if worse comes to worst...presentation counts for something, bring out the candles and the flowers... - KAB