Garam Masala Chicken

So, I've definitely blogged about this dish in my last blog, but I wanted to post it again because I really wanted to be able to reference it here since I deleted my other blogs. So, my friend, Jason actually gave us his mom's recipe for this amazing chicken. I had never tried anything with garam masala in it, but now I really want to find more recipes with it. It not only has great flavor, but actually thickens sauces really quickly. I accompanied this chicken with store bought garlic naan from Trader Joe's, which I highly recommend. This dish has so much flavor and the perfect amount of spice.

I know it seems like I haven't cooked in a while, but I have! I made this brown sugar salmon last week, but just didn't feel like it was up to par for my blog. I'm realizing that I am bad at choosing recipes. I try to choose recipes that are really easy, but maybe I have to start going for recipes with more depth of flavor.

Anyway, below is the recipe for the garam masala chicken. And I know I said I was going to choose a recipe from the Bon Appetit magazine, but I might go with a recipe from my new cookbook! Stand by.

Guacamole

I have made guacamole at least 50 times in my life and believe I have perfected my recipe. It's super simple with all of my favorite things: avocados, onions, and cilantro. I've actually had complaints on the excess amount of cilantro and onions I put in things so to hear that people actually like my guacamole came as a big surprise. The key to good guacamole is ripe avocados. Make sure to wait if needed! A nice trick I learned in middle school is to put any fruits in paper bags to speed up the ripening proces. I can't remember why, but it works! Here's the recipe.

*P.S. I just got my Bon Appetit magazine subscription! So expect some recipes from there!

I have new kitchenware!

So sorry I haven't posted in a little while. I got a new job this week and have been adjusting with not much time to cook. However, I do have an important update...I have new pots and pans! Nate's mom graciously gave them to me since she was not going to be using them. Thank you Sheila! I've taken a few pictures that don't do them justice...they're SOOOO pretty and I can't wait to use them. =) I'm not sure what my next post is going to be. I've had requests for my guacamole, but I should probably cook an actual meal soon so we shall see.

Tomato Tart

I made my very first homemade puff pastry! Admittedly, it was only because I was at Trader Joe's and they didn't have any and I was too lazy to go to Ralph's to get it, but regardless, I'm glad I didn't. Pastry dough is so easy. Anyway, on to the main course, the tomato tart. I LOVE this recipe. I will be making it again and again. It is so simple and has so much flavor. The recipe is from none other than Ina Garten, the Barefood Contessa. She is the one chef on the food network that I can watch straight for hours because her food just always look and sounds amazing.

I love the addition of white wine to the onions as well as the thyme. I went to the Santa Monica Farmer's market to get all the herbs and produce while practicing my photography in the natural sunlight. I really want to make a habit of this because Farmer's Market vegetables have a noticeable freshnss in taste to me. I've also decided that thyme and basil are my favorite herbs. Driving home, I had the pleasure of having this aroma as a car freshener.

Now, I have cooked other dishes in the pas week with the intention of blogging about them, but there were some difficulties. I tried making thai green curry, but it came out way too spicy, then I also made chicken adobo, but I was very disappointed with the pictures. I need to perfect my thai green curry recipe and hopefully get better pictures next time I make chicken adobo. In the meantime, below is the tomato tart recipe!

Honey Vinaigrette

So, this salad dressing was inspired by Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home, which I HIGHLY recommend. He has many recipes of vinaigrettes and I gravitated towards this Honey one. I made some adjustments to make it not so oily and was really pleased with the outcome. This recipe is slightly sweet and very light.

On another note, I tried my camera on the manual setting today and did NOT realize how hard it was to focus on an item. All my pictures were blurry and I have no idea why, so I'll be using autofocus until I figure it out. Additionally, I tried about 10 photos using different ISO settings and didn't notice anything different in all ten photos. Gosh, this is going to take a lot of time. Practice makes perfect! ;)

It begins.

Sobrasada con Tronchon

Since I finally settled on a blog name Crostini, I thought it would be fitting to have my first post be a type of crostini. I tried this dish called Sobrasada con Tronchon at Bar Pintxo in Santa Monica and just fell in love. Realizing how simple it was, I went to try to recreate it. You really can't go wrong with bread, cheese, meat, and honey, but I think this particular combination works. The meat is peppery while the cheese is a little salty, then the honey brings it all home.

My photographs need some work, but I am loving my new camera so far. I've only messed around with the autofocus so far, but will venture into manual pictures soon. I've included a picture with the recipe below. You can just click on it to make it enlarged. I couldn't make it any bigger, which is another thing I'll have to work on but this is what the blog is for. ;) Enjoy