Stuffed Portobello Mushroom

Two Minute (NO ICE CREAM MACHINE) Raspberry Sorbet

Since we don't own an ice cream machine, I decided to make a sorbet with frozen raspberries. We are kind of a little lazy to be making a custard and all that extra stuff, so a sorbet seemed like a good way to cool down and have a refreshing, palate-cleansing dessert. 

Using just three ingredients, we hope you'll love this quick-frozen treat!



Here's our method:

1. Freeze a bunch of raspberries (probably 2 cups).

2. Pulse the raspberries in a blender/food processor (we used a blender) with granulated sugar (add sugar according to preference). We didn't measure our sugar nor did we add much because our raspberries were pretty sweet.

3. Add a dash of water to bind the mixture and pulse again until a sorbet consistency is reached.
* Be super careful with how much water you add because the sorbet can become too watery. Luckily, we got this on our first try.

Hope you enjoy! 

Grilled Mushroom with Cherry Tomatoes

For a quick finger food (appetizer, or hors d'oeuvre)...you may try this
1. Remove the mushroom stalk
2. Lay the mushroom upside down on a hot griller
3. Salt and pepper the mushroom cavity lightly
4. Remove the mushroom carefully, not to spill, once mushroom juice starts to appear
5. Grill the cherry tomatoes at the same time, and remove in about 3 minutes or as you like
6. You are done!

Fish Soup

Fish soup does not create excitement in a dining table. However, fish soup has been proven to lower ones high blood sugar down to 30 milligram per deciliter. Cholesterol and high blood pressure, maybe.  And if you're on a diet, of course!

Fish soup are prepared in so many ways, for example, the Miso Soup.

Here is another way of making your fish soup, different than the norm: brew a fish stock.

1. Cut the fish head and tail and add them to a pan.
2. Add water enough to cover the fish head and tail.
3. Add ginger, enough to season
4. Let it boil, once boiling, reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 45 minutes.
5. Remove the head and tail and discard.
6. This is your fish stock. Place this in your refrigerator or freezer for future use, or you may use it right away.

Moving forward, you can add most vegetables to your fish stock. For example:
1. Onion bulb chopped in quarters
2. Bookchoy, petchay, cabbage and other greens, to your liking
3. Beans, any kind, green beans is good
4. Green onion leaves, chopped finely
5. etc. imaginable

Quick Bruschetta

Quick, easy, and tasty! We love making this. 

Ingredients: 

• Parsley (I couldn't find cilantro so I substituted for Parsley)
• Tomatoes (any), Mozzarella
• French Bread (any)
• Olive Oil
• Salt, Pepper for seasoning 

Here's what we did: 

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F
2. Slice the bread, tomatoes, parsley leaves, and cheese
3. Assemble by sprinkling the bread slices with olive oil, tomato, mozzarella, then parsley for garnish. Salt and pepper. 
4. Warm bruschetta for about 5-10 minutes or so, depending on how crunchy you like your bread. This can be served hot or cold. 

Peppered Seared Tuna

This is SUPER EASY. My inspiration came from eating at Lemonade in Ventura Blvd. I looked at their seared ahi tuna and was instantly inspired, thinking yes I can make that as well (although I didn't try their version because I felt I could make my own--which I did).






Here's how I made mine:

1. Season both sides of your tuna with pepper (heavily) and a dash of salt.

2. To a scorching hot skillet with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, place your tuna gently. Watch the sides of the tuna. As one side turns white, flip the tuna over to sear the other side as well. I made mine almost sashimi-like (raw fish). For those that don't like the rawness, keep cooking the sides until you get a good layer of white on both sides, which really depends on preference.

Enjoy!

It's Always Boba Time!

One day I was walking around an Asian grocery store. As I searched for different ingredients, I found dried tapioca balls aka boba or bubble (however you call it, it's tapioca balls). I thought to myself, why buy boba when you can make your own and play around with different flavors! Here's how I stumbled upon making my own hazelnut thai iced tea with boba: 

First, this is how dried boba looks like; it's all shriveled up and tiny!

1. I made a good amount of thai tea. I didn't measure this. Instead, I just eyeballed the tea leaves and water. I made sure the thai tea color is a dark shade of brown (like the picture above).  

2. In a separate pot of water, add in the boba (the boba is still very frozen so make sure you thaw it out to make it easier on yourself--I ended up chopping up the boba and had a block of boba in my pot until it dissolved into many pieces). I overestimated the amount of boba I wanted to use, but as they say "the more the merrier." I didn't read the instructions on the boba bag and used my judgement to how I wanted to make the boba. I added a good amount of sugar in the pot of water with the boba. It will turn into that dark sugar syrup you see when you order boba drinks.

My water to boba ratio notes: Boba will absorb the water and sugar, so if you are eyeballing as I did, I added enough water so that there is approx. 2 inches of water above the boba.

Boil (low) the boba for about 20 minutes, stir occasionally to keep from scorching and help separate the boba pieces as it breaks down.


3. The final step. Combining the ingredients:
Use a spoon with holes to strain the boba unless you want some of the syrup. Pour boba into a cup.
To your cup, add in the thai tea (you can make this hot or cold--for my picture below I made ice tea), then hazelnut creamer or french vanilla, half and half, milk, cream, whatever your preference. I should also mention that depending on your preference of tea is how you should add more or less of milk or tea.

And here it is, my boba drink!