Awsm Pesto Steamed Fish Recipe

AWSMly presented (white fish, red peppers, green spinach), delicate flavor, and ridiculously simple.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• 4 fresh white fish filets
• 1/2 cup pesto (store-bought works great)
• 1 bell pepper (red/yellow/orange), sliced into thin strips
• Fresh spinach (about 4 cups/handfulls)

Steps

Preheat oven to 350.

Lay out 4 squares of foil (a little larger than each filet)

Place 1 cup/handfull of spinach in center of each square

Divide pepper strips and lay on top of spinach

Lay each fish filet on top of peppers, lightly sprinkle with salt/pepper

Blob about 2 tablespoons of pesto on top of each filet

Cut 4 more square of foil, lay on top of each filet and seal edges together with bottom piece of foil, make sure it's as sealed as you can get.

Toss packets into oven for 20-30 minutes (depending on thickness of fish). If you doubt your sealing skills, you may want to put the packets on a cookie sheet to catch any leaks.

Serve sealed. AWSM!

Awsm Creamy Butter Chicken

Butter chicken is supposed to be made as two seperate dishes that you subsequently mix together. The chicken has to be cooked (almost tandoori styles) and then mixed in with the mugh makni masala (Butter chicken spices...in this case in the form of a thick gravy)

For the Tandoori Paste (make 2 days in advance)

• 1 tsp Garlic Powder 
• 1 tsp Ground ginger 
• 1tsp Clove (use powder if you're not using a magic bullet, use whole cloves if you are ) 
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg 
• 1tsp Mace powder 
• 1 1/2 tbsp Cumin (Jeera) 
• 2tbsp ground Corriander 
• 1tsp Fenugreek powder 
• 1tsp Cinnamon 
• 1tsp Fresh ground pepper 
• 2tsp brown cardamom (don't use the green one....just don't) 
• 3tbsp of Oil/ Ghee (Indian vegetable lard..yum!

Then toss that into your magic bullet/food processor and puree the crap together until it forms a paste. This will be sufficient for about 1kg of chicken. Let the paste sit overnight so the flavours meld together Remember people, feel free to toy with the ingredients. It's cooking, not rocket science!

For the Chicken: Cube 1kg of chicken breast. Trim off all fat (cause this is already unhealthy enough) and then coat with the Tandoori paste. Refrigerate over night.

For the Butter chicken sauce

• 1 tsp red chilli powder (remember, this is supposed to be savory, not spicy, so don't over do it with the spice) 
• 3 bay leaves 
• 1 cinnamon stick 
• 8 cardamom pods 
• 8 pepper corns 
• 3 Onions chopped (I like onions, like REALLY REALLY like onions, so feel free to use less) 
• 2 tsp coriander power 
• 2 tsp cumin 
• 1 tsp ginger (crushed) 
• 1 can tomato paste 
• 2 tbsp dried fenugreek (raw seeds will work as well) 
• 4 tbsp butter (Deal with it) salt to taste 
• 1 cup FULL FAT CREAM (yeah, you want butter chicken, this is what's in it kids, and it's fucking amazing....ok you can use low fat yogurt, but seriously, treat yourselves, it's not like you drink 1 cup of cream a day...or at least dear god I hope not) 

So mix ALL of this together and blend it. If you have a magic bullet, amazing, if not just mix it together by hand. Let this liquid mix sit in the fridge while you cook the chicken.
FOR THE CHICKEN that has been marinating over night: Bring a frying pan with about 2 tbsp of oil to a medium heat. Then fry the chicken. Fry to the point where it's past browning, so about 3/4 of the way to cooked.

Then remove and store in a bowl. Do this for all the chicken. FOR THE SAUCE Bring your cream/yogurt mix to a boil. If it's the Yogurt you chose, add water to aid the boiling process. If you used the cream, you needn't add anything.

And make sure you SLOWLY bring it to a boil so as to not just burn the cream onto the bottom of the pan. Make sure you keep stirring so that disgusting skin doens't form on top of the dish (ew). Once this has reached a low boil, add the chicken in.

Let the chicken cook in the sauce for about 20 - 30 minutes and BAM! Butter chicken. Serve on Basmati rice garnished with cilantro :) It looks like a lot, but it's totally worth it.

Awsm Double Chocolate Stout Cake

Yield: Makes 12 servings

Ingredients:

Cake
1 1/2 cups stout (eg Guinness)
1 1/2 cups (2.5 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 cups all purpose flour
4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 large eggs
1 1/3 cups sour cream

Preparation:

Icing
2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pound bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped

For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter three 8-inch round cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Line with parchment paper. Butter paper. Bring 2 cups stout and 2 cups butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer cakes to rack; cool 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto rack and cool completely.

For icing:

Bring cream to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chopped chocolate and everything else and whisk until melted and smooth. Refrigerate until icing is spreadable, stirring frequently, about 2 hours.

Place 1 cake layer on plate. Spread 2/3 cup icing over. Top with second cake layer. Spread 2/3 cup icing over. Top with third cake layer. Spread remaining icing over top and sides of cake.

Awsm Apple Cobbler

Ingredients

• 4C peeled and sliced apples 
• 3/4C brown sugar 
• 1/2C flour 
• 1/2C oats 
• 3/4t cinnamon 
• 3/4t nutmeg 
• 1/3C butter 

For Apple

• 2 tbsp lemon juice, 
• 1 tsp cinnamon, 
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract and 2 tbsp flour

Method

Heat oven to 375F. Arrange apples in the bottom of and 8x8in pan then mix them with the ingredients for apple. Mix remaining ingredients and sprinkle over apples. Bake about 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown and apples are tender.

Awsm Moroccan Chickpea Soup

Saute 1 large diced onion and 6-8 cloves of chopped garlic in lots of olive oil until translucent.

Add 1 t cinnamon, 1.5 T cumin, a little cayenne pepper, and 1 T sweet paprika; simmer them all together for a minute or two. 

Add a can of chopped tomatoes, 3 cans of drained and rinsed chickpeas, 4 C of chicken broth, a pinch of sugar, some salt and a ton of fresh black pepper. 

Simmer for 45 minutes; use a potato masher or a cup or something to squish some of the chickpeas up in the pot. 

Stir in some fresh spinach and serve.

Awsm Peanut Sauce

Mix 3.5 tbsp warm water, 2 tbsp peanut butter, 1 tbsp vinegar and 1 tbsp sugar.

Optional: go fancy and add some chopped chives and sesames.

Tastes AWSM and goes well with anything.

Optional: add some cayenne, cumin or saffron

Awsm Home Made Nutella

Yield: 2 jars (about 1 cup each)

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cup (200g) hazelnuts

1 3/4 cup (400g) whole milk

7/8 cup (60g) powdered whole milk

3 tablespoons (40g) mild-flavored honey

pinch of salt

6 ounces (170g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

5 ounces (140g) milk chocolate, chopped (use one that’s at least 30% cacao solids)

Directions:

Spread the nuts on a baking sheet and toast the nuts in a 350ºF (180ºC) oven, stirring a few times, for 10 to 15 minutes, until the hazelnuts are browned.

While they are roasting, warm the whole milk and powdered milk in a small saucepan with the honey and salt just until it starts to boil. Remove from heat.

In a clean, dry bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water melt the chocolates together until smooth.

Once the nuts are well-toasted, remove them from oven and use a spatula to place the warm hazelnuts in a clean tea towel, then fold them inside the towel and rub them vigorously to remove any loose skins.

In a food processor, grind the warm hazelnuts until they’re as fine as possible.

Add the melted chocolate and continue to process the mixture, stopping to scrape down the sides of the work bowl, as necessary.

Once the mixture is smooth, add the warm milk mixture and process until everything is well-combined.

(Optional) Strain the paste if you mind the little bits of nuts.

Transfer the mixture into two jars and refrigerate until ready to use.