pineapple fried rice

The restaurant I work at has this incredible fried rice. They serve it with Marlin- which is seared rare-which I cannot imitate (I mean where do you buy marlin?). But I did want to try and imitate the rice. So I asked Carlos for the recipe and viola!

Pineapple Fried Rice

cooked basmati rice (or brown rice)

red bell pepper, diced

red onion, diced

green onion, diced

carrots, slivered

chopped pineapple

chopped cilantro

eggs (fry these first in EVOO)

For the sauce:

vegetable stock (I only had miso paste for miso soup on hand, so I basically used miso soup instead of this)

soy sauce

sugar 

brown sugar

Every time I have made this I have just added the sugar bit by bit.  Taste as you go, this way you can make it exactly how you want.

Just heat the sauce until the sugar is completely dissolved.

herb focaccia bread

Herb Focaccia Bread

 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 large clove garlic, finely minced
3/4 teaspoon dried rosemary or 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or 1/2 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup warm water

 In a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer), mix the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast. Mix in the garlic and herbs. Pour in the water and olive oil and mix until the dough comes together, by hand or with a dough hook attachment, if using a stand mixer. Knead the dough until it has pulled away from the sides of the bowl, about 4-6 minutes. The dough should be soft and pliable but not overly stiff. Cover the bowl with lightly greased plastic wrap and let the dough rise for 30 minutes, until it is puffy. Deflate dough and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease a large, rimmed baking sheet and with your hands, spread the dough out roughly an 8″x10″ rectangle. Use your knuckles or fingertips to make indentations over the dough, about every 1/2 inch. Lightly brush dough’s surface with olive oil and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. Immediately after removing from the oven, stir together 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt and brush over the surface of the hot bread.

Recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

perfect roast chicken

Found this Ina Garten recipe online. Looked easy enough. And it was! I will be making this over and over and over and over again.

Roast Chicken

1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs
1 lemon, quartered
1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges ( I didn't add this, and it was still awesome)
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Pat the outside of the chicken dry so the salt + pepper and butter will stick to make a nice crusty top.
Generously sprinkle salt + pepper all over chicken and inside cavity.
Fill the cavity with the fresh thyme, lemon quarters and garlic.
Brush melted butter all over chicken and then again sprinkle with salt + pepper.
Tie the legs together with some kitchen string (you want those legs close to the body so they will not get burnt), and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken.
In your oven-proof pan, toss carrots,onion and extra thyme with the olive oil and sprinkle will salt + pepper. Place the chicken on top.
Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours.
Remove chicken and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes.
Enjoy!

You'll probably want to eat the whole chicken in one sitting between just the two of you; we did.

rustic crusty bread

Guys, this recipe is a keeper. I was so happy with how simple it was and how great it tasted. I will be making this over and over again.
Leftover bread would be great to use for grilled cheese and panini's.

Rustic Crusty Bread

{2 loaves}

1 1/2 tablespoons instant yeast
1 tablespoon salt
6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting dough

In bowl, mix yeast, salt and 3 cups lukewarm water with wooden spoon. Add flour. Mix until there are no dry patches. Cover with towel and let rise 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 450 with pizza stone in it and a broiler pan beneath it. I let my oven heat up for a good 40 minutes while my bread was doing its second rise.

I halved this recipe so I just pulled out my bread onto floured parchment paper that I placed on the back of a baking sheet. Knead it just a little and form it into an easy oval/circle. Sprinkle top with flour, and cut three lines on top. Let rest for 40 minutes.

Use the baking sheet to slide the parchment paper and bread onto the pizza stone easily. Then, quickly, pour one cup water into the broiler pan and close oven door quickly so the steam does not escape.
Bake for 24-30 minutes.

And you've got dang good, crusty bread to dip in olive oil. Your husband is going to be impressed.

via Mel's Kitchen Cafe
For an easy how-to tutorial on this bread and better instructions go here.