Tuesday, January 08, 2013

Minxeats Best of 2012 Part Two

We're always cooking something up at Casa Minx. Most of the time dishes are successful, but there's an occasional dud. And then once in a while we strike culinary gold and turn out something that goes into the permanent rotation. Here are some of those dishes from 2012.

Curried Banana Bread - sounds weird, but curry and bananas are a perfect combo, with the spice lending just the right amount of je ne sais quoi to the sweet treat.

Cheesy Meatballs - After receiving a bag of cheese cubes from a manufacturer, I felt the best way to utilize them was to pack them into turkey meatballs, where they added an extra savory punch to the lean meat.

Sous-vide Pork Tenderloin - the best tenderloin EVAR, cooked with garlic and love and time in the SousVide Supreme.

Butter Chicken - We love Indian food, but we seldom dine in Indian restaurants. Sometimes it's just nice to make it at home.

Shrimp Salad with Thai Flavors - Shrimp, Thai basil, and peanuts made for a flavorful summer salad.

Okonomiyaki - a visit to a new Japanese restaurant in town got me salivating for this traditional Japanese "junk food." Making it at home is easy as pie.

Esquites - despite not knowing how to properly pronounce the name (hey, I took French in high school), and not having half the necessary ingredients on hand, we turned out quite the tasty mayo and corn concoction.

Apple Crisp - when Fall comes, I go apple crisp mad, trying several recipes in search of perfection. Turns out that the simplest is usually the best.

Ma Po Tofu - this mixture of tofu and ground meat may seem like a bad way to use tofu, at least to vegetarians, but it's actually a perfect way for non-veg people to try the soy protein. In other words, it's delish.

Kofte with Pistachio Sauce - I bought one of the formidable Silvena Rowe's cookbooks after seeing her on the execrable but oh-so-recappable Time Machine Chefs, and it did not let me down. I drool when I think of her spicy lamb kofte, and look forward to whipping up another batch soon.

Scallops with Lavender Honey Brown Butter - while lavender and scallops might seem like odd bedfellows, they actually work together quite nicely, especially with lots of sweet butter sauce. One of the few times this year I really felt I got my money's worth out of scallops, and of course it's because I made it at home myself.

I hope you feel inclined to try some of these recipes for yourself. If you do, please come back and leave a comment on its corresponding post!

Posted on Minxeats.com.