Mango Salsa

After a week of waiting for a mango I bought to ripen, it was finally ready to be used for a mango salsa that I've been craving for weeks. This easy condiment is the perfect pairing for a grilled salmon or chicken but is also great on its own with some tortilla chips. 

Mango Salsa: 

1 mango - peeled and diced 

2 beefsteak tomatoes - diced 

1/2 red onion - diced 

1 jalapeno pepper - finely diced 

2 gloves of garlic - minced 

1 tablespoon cilantro - finely chopped 

Mix all ingredients together and let it sit in refrigerator for half an hour before serving. 

For dinner I grilled chicken breasts that I marinaded in the same marinade I used the the fajitas earlier in the week and I served it with the mango salsa to balance out the spicy flavors of the marinade. It was another family meal that seemed to be a success. I don't know how much cooking I will be doing the rest of the weekend but I will be sure to post something everyday, even if it's just an update post. So even though this post was a little shorter than normal, we'll see what the weekend brings, till next time, 

Keep Cooking Brooklyn!

Dinner for the Family

After days of cooking dinner for myself while the rest of my family continue with their lives as they do when I'm away at school, the day finally came when we were all home at the same time for dinner and my mother suggested that I cook, partially because they want to see what I've learned in my first year at school and also because she had no interest in coming home from work and yet another yoga class and trying to put together a meal. So with money added to my bank account and no other plans for the day I went to the gym, straightened up the kitchen and planned a family dinner perfect for a weekday.

Drawing inspiration from yet another dish from class I decided on a healthy baked salmon with grilled asparagus and a whole wheat couscous salad. I marinaded the salmon in a citrus vinaigrette that I used in class once for a fried fish dish, but I decided that I could use it for salmon to add flavor but still keep the meal healthy.

Citrus Marinated Salmon:
3 navel oranges
2 lemons
1 grapefruit
1 tablespoon honey
4-6 ounces olive oil
Salmon fillets (desired amount)

Zest the oranges and lemons and add zest to a blender. Juice all citrus into blender and add honey. Blend and slowly drizzle in oil to create emulsion. Place marinade over fish and let sit in refrigerator for a half an hour. Then place salmon on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

This was one of the first times I've cooked for my family, and definitely the first time cooking a full meal for my parents. People say that cooking for your family can be one of the hardest things, not only because they can be your biggest critics but also because you tend to care more about what they think than anyone else. But I got through it and even my dad was amazed at what I was able to do, which meant a lot because he is the one who is usually cooking for the family. Not only did cooking this meal for my family show them what I was able to learn this year but it also made me realize what I had grown and I realized that I had not only gained knowledge but confidence in the kitchen in just one year. So hopefully this is the first of many meals I cook for my family in the future and they will hopefully just get better from here. So till next time,
Keep Cooking Brooklyn!

Simple Summer Bolognese

After two of the warmest days Brooklyn has seen in a long time Mother Nature decided to toy with our emotions and give us a quick reality check with a cloudy cold 60 degree day. So after spending the day baking cookies and catching up with my best friend who I have not seen enough of this year, I rushed home and accepted the mission of trying to cook myself dinner from start to finish with only 45 minutes before my house was taken over by the real yoga moms of Bergen Street. So with ten dollars to go grocery shopping and a pantry full of any canned tomato product you can imagine I decided a quick and easy bolognese sauce was perfect for this chilly summer evening.

Bolognese Recipe:

1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
2 cloves of garlic - minced
1 yellow onion - diced
2 ounce white wine
1 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon tomato paste

Heat a large sauté pan and add the ground meats and brown till cooking and broken up. Remove meat from pan but keep fat that has rendered from meat. Begin to sauté onions and garlic till onion is translucent. deglaze the pan with white wine of your choice. Then add the crushed tomatoes, herbs and return the meat to the pan. Add the tomato paste and simmer sauce till it reaches desired thickness. Serve over favorite type of pasta.

As I waited for my pasta to finish cooking, the yoga moms began to arrive and I hurried to spoon my sauce over a bowl of rigatoni and escape upstairs to relax and enjoy the taste of accomplishment. I had done it, a homemade meal and a decently clean kitchen in just 45 minutes. Now I wouldn't say I'm anywhere close to being able to compete on chopped or anything but I would say that it was a job well done. So till next time,
keep cooking Brooklyn!

Day 1 - Grilled Chicken Fajitas

Last night I got inspired by the warmth and summer air to make one of my favorite summertime meals, fajitas. So after spending some time on my deck reading, a rare sight that showed just how bored I am, I began chopping, marinating and grilling to cure both my boredom and my hunger for mildly spicy summertime Mexican food.

I drew inspiration from a dish I made in my nutrition class this past year and I chose to marinade boneless, skinless chicken breast in a mixture of adobo sauce, orange juice, orange zest and garlic. It's a simply marinade that I've used on shrimp and chicken, and it lends a perfect balance between spicy and sweet to whatever protein you marinade in it.

Marinade recipe:
(used for 4 chicken breasts)
1 can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
2 navel oranges
2 cloves of garlic - roughly chopped

Drain the adobo sauce form the canned peppers into a large plastic Ziploc bag. Add the juice of 2 oranges and the zest of 1 orange along with the 2 cloves of garlic. Add chicken breast and let marinade for about 30 minutes.

After grilling the chicken breast till they reached 165 degrees Fahrenheit I sliced the chicken and filled two flour tortillas with sautéed onions and red bell peppers and the sliced chicken. Then I topped my fajitas with a homemade pico de gallo and fresh guacamole.

Not only was this dish perfect to enjoy outside in the sun but it is also a healthy option as it uses very few fats or oils and depends on the marinade and flavorful vegetables for its main flavor profile. So as day 1 of this cooking project closes I realize that it's going to be a lot more work than I expected, but I guess that's what I get for trying to cure my summertime boredom. So till next time,
Keep Cooking Brooklyn!

Welcome to 100 Days of Summer Eats

I'm not quite sure how to go about starting this blog, but I do know that I'm a bored college student, home for the summer with way too much time on my hands and a burning passion to spend all my time in the kitchen. So here I am, straight out of my freshman year of culinary school, still trying to figure the world out, but knowing that food is what I love and thinking I may as well try to do something with it.

My goal: To cook at least one thing everyday and write about it in order to make the next 100 days till my sophomore year go by faster. And even if no one reads it, at least I wasn't spending all my time trying to catch up on the Real Housewives of New York. 

So I guess there is nothing left to do but start cooking. 

Ready, Set, Cook!