Food recipies

I�ve never been to Spain, so to what extent this is actually Spanish octopus, I can�t really say, but after having enjoyed this underrated seafood in more Spanish restaurants than I can remember, it has to be pretty close. Above and beyond the ingredients, the cooking method, or should I say methods, couldn�t be easier. As long as you braise it gently on low heat, until just tender, and then give it a nice sear before serving, you should be in great shape. Which is why I�ve never understood all the crazy tips and tricks, for achieving the perfect texture. Some say to beat it on rocks before braising, while others insist a few wine corks are the way to go. If you have one of these magical techniques, I�d love to hear about it, especially if it sounds extra nutty, but I have to admit, I am a skeptic. You should be able to find frozen Spanish octopus at your finer markets, which is the only kind I�ve ever used, so I can�t say how much better it is fresh, but one day I would love to find o...

I don�t do a lot of giveaways, or any giveaways, but I�m not above promoting one, especially when I�m part of the prize! Sure, my Summer Grilling Guide is a consolation prize for those who don't win a new Char Broil grill, but technically, it�s still a prize. Here is the link to enter . Good luck! .

Assuming you haven�t used up all your homemade filo dough already, as promised, here�s my method for building what I think is a beautiful baklava. Like lasagna, there are as many versions of this, as there are cooks who make it, but regardless of the exact ingredients, or specific number of layers, the technique is the same.   I tend to enjoy a generous ratio between nuts and pastry, as that makes me feel a little bit better about the copious amounts of sugar in this, but above and beyond that, I think this approach produces the best texture. As I mentioned in the video, you can use as many layers of filo as you want, but be careful, since too many may not cook through, and the only way to mess this up is to undercook the dough. The top and bottom layers need to dry out, and thoroughly crisp up, otherwise, once the syrup gets ladled over, you�ll have a soggy mess. I would start peeking at it after about 45 minutes, but it�s probably going to need closer to an hour, or even more, d...

At long last, we�re finally going to post a baklava video, which I decided to make a lot harder, by making the filo dough from scratch.  While not using the incredibly convenient, and significantly faster frozen filo dough does make this a lengthier project, it also makes it much more interesting, and way more fun. Fair warning, I�ve only done filo a handful of times, so I�m no expert at making this, or baklava, for that matter; but the good news is, despite that, I still managed to achieve some fairly excellent results, and suspect you will as well. I�m sure with a little practice I could probably do more than five at a time, but once you get rolling, the batches go pretty quick, and each one seems to get a little better than the last. I'll post the baklava video next week, but if you want to practice, you could make a batch, and then do search on Allrecipes for recipes that use filo . There's no shortage of amazingly delicious things to do with this paper thin dough. Stay tun...

The only downside to this beautiful, spicy chicken noodles recipe is that I�m now going to get even more requests for Pad Thai that I usually do. Which is understandable, since no matter what recipe they�re used in, rice noodles are a proven crowd-pleaser. By the way, I�ll post a recipe for pad Thai just as soon as my version comes out at least as well as the worst restaurant example in town. I�m not quite there yet. In the meantime, we can all practice our rice noodle soaking technique. As I mentioned, check the package of noodles you buy, as the time will vary depending on the size of the noodle. I think this dish is perfect for using up leftover chicken, assuming it wasn�t horribly overcooked in the first place. If you did want to use raw chicken, go ahead and chop it up, and stir-fry it for a minute or two, before adding your vegetables. Either way, I really hope you give this spicy chicken noodles recipe a try soon. Enjoy! Ingredients for 2 large or 4 small portions: 8 ounces dry...

Since I didn�t cook this marvelous meat in a tandoor oven, it�s not actually tandoori lamb, which will save some of you the time letting me know all the other ways it isn�t the real deal. Accepting that, these days �tandoori� simply refers to the yogurt based, aromatically spiced marinade, whether you grill, broil, or bake the meat. As usual, please adjust the spice amounts to your tastes, since you know you much better than I do. These should get you close to your friendly neighborhood Indian joint, but still, play around. If you want to add some veggies between the pieces of meat, go ahead, but I have more success cooking them separately. I really like lamb sirloin, and see it in the stores more often these days, but like I said in the video, leg of lamb, or a shoulder roast, are also very nice for this. If you feel like splurging, you can do lamb chops, but for those, 4 to 6 hours is plenty of time in the marinade. But, no matter which cut you use, or animal for that matter, I reall...

As promised, here is my take on Lebanese Mountain Bread. There are so many reasons why I love this simple bread. There�s the unique texture, gorgeous appearance, and fun-to-make technique, but discovering this also helped me solve a culinary mystery from my childhood. I used to spend a lot of time at my grandmothers house as a toddler, and every once an a while she would give me something called �Syrian bread,� which was made by a neighbor across the street. It was one of my earliest food memories, and at the time, probably my favorite thing to eat. It was just so much different than the sliced white bread, or crusty Italian bread I was used to eating. However, the Syrian lady across the street must have been the only person in the area that knew how to make it, since, once she was gone, so was the bread. Over the years, I tried many versions, but I never did come across that exact same experience, and assumed it was lost to history, until I saw something online called Lebanese Mountai...

I hope you had a great holiday, and that your food was just as impressive as the fireworks show, or visa versa. We�re going to take a few days off, so there won�t be any new videos this week, but that�ll give you time to catch up on the ones you�ve missed, as well as continue to build suspense for the upcoming Lebanese Mountain Bread video. In related news, I�m also experimenting with a few new/old things to serve with the aforementioned, and thoroughly teased flatbread. So, stay tuned for all that, and, as always, enjoy! .