Pao de Queso

Have you ever been to a Brazilian churrascaria such as Texas de Brazil or Fogo de Chao? If you have, then you've definitely had these delectable little cheese poufs. They are chewy, soft, and cheesy. If you've never had them, make this recipe now. You can thank me later.

What is even more awesome is that everything gets blended in a blender. That's it. You are done. Stick it in the oven and you have appetizers for your dinner.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups of parmesan cheese (you can also use swiss, cheddar, or any other grate-able cheese)

1 ½ cups of corn oil

1 cup whole eggs

2 ½ cups of tapioca starch (often found in Asian grocery stores)

1 cup of 2% milk (we used whole milk)

Several pinches of salt

Directions

1. Blend all ingredients in a blender.

2. Spray a mini-muffin tin with vegetable oil. Pour mix into cup tray filling each to the top.

3. Place it in oven 350 degrees for 15min, until light brown.

4. The bread should be baked and served immediately, so you can truly enjoy its full flavor. This can be frozen and reheated, but fresh is probably best.

Probably the easiest appetizer you can ever make!

Seafood and Chive Dumplings

Dumplings are perfect little packages of bite-sized food and totally easy to make. We decided to make a seafood version after being inspired by a new show called Easy Chinese (horrible name, but good recipes!) on the Cooking Channel. I liked how this dumpling did not use pork, which tends to be much fattier and instead utilizes fish as the primary protein.

Seafood and Chive Dumplings

From Easy Chinese, Cooking Channel

Ingredients

6 ounces fresh skinless striped bass or other firm white fish, finely chopped

6 ounces shelled and deveined shrimp, finely chopped

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon peeled and grated fresh ginger

1 tablespoon Shaoshing rice wine or dry sherry

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Pinch minced seeded red chile, optional

Pinch sea salt

Pinch ground white pepper

6 Chinese chives or flowering garlic chives or 3 scallions, finely sliced

4 dried Chinese (shiitake) mushrooms, soaked in hot water and finely diced

36 square wonton wrappers

2 large carrots, thinly sliced on a sharp bias

Directions

1. Mix the bass, shrimp, cornstarch, ginger, Shaoshing wine, soy sauce, sesame oil, red chile, salt, white pepper, chives and mushrooms in a medium bowl until well combined.

2. Place a teaspoonful of the seafood filling into the center of each. Rub the outer edges of the wrapper with water using your finger and then place the wonton into your hand. 

3. Fold the wrapper into a triangle, pressing the edges together to seal in the filling, and then create 6 to 8 pleats along the sealed edges using your thumb and index fingers, pinching well to adhere. Repeat with the remaining filling and wrappers. 

4. Lay the carrot slices in a bamboo steamer and place a dumpling on top of each.

5. Fill a wok or large skillet with 1 inch water and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Place the lid on the bamboo steamer and lower it into the wok. Steam the dumplings until the fish is cooked through and the dumpling wrappers are translucent, 5 to 7 minutes.

Enjoy!

The Perfectly Cooked Salmon Fillet

The Husband usually cooks our high quality proteins. Part of this is because I don't cook meat very often and another reason is that I fear the tough, stringy texture of overcooked meat. Unfortunately, I was on my own for dinner one night this week and decided I needed to (wo)man up and just cook it myself. So I literally googled "how to cook perfect salmon fillet" in hopes that I didn't ruin the Wild-Caught Salmon I had just purchased from Whole Foods.

Well my google search led me here. I know. It's a very unassuming website and looks almost too simple to be good. However, I decided to commit to the instructions to a T. Even chilling the oiled fish, which I normally wouldn't take the time to do.

The result? A perfect sear. Moist, juicy, and tender salmon. This was my most successful salmon attempt. I don't know if it was the cooking method, the high quality fish or both, but this would rival restaurant salmon in texture and tenderness any day.

Perfectly Cooked Salmon Filets
From Inland Eats

1. Start with very fresh salmon. Fish smell = not fresh. Make sure it is deboned and you can leave the skin on.

2. Drizzle both sides of the salmon fillets with extra virgin olive oil, and lightly season with salt and pepper. Rub the oil over the entire surface.

3. Place the oiled fish in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. (Don't skip this. I warned you.)

4. Preheat the oven to 425 F. Pour a small amount of olive oil into a non-stick, oven-safe skillet, and preheat over high heat.

5. Place salmon fillets in hot skillet. Cook for two minutes, turn and cook for an additional two minutes. Absolutely resist the urge to move the fillet or flip before the 2 minutes are up. (Again, you have been warned.)

6. Place the skillet into the oven and bake for 6 to 8 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets. My fillet was approximately 1/2 lb and cooked PERFECTLY in 6 minutes. I let the fish rest a few minutes before digging in. The salmon should be moist and flake easily with a fork.

If you are fearful of messing up your salmon, TRY THIS RECIPE. Enough said.

Bon appetit and have a wonderful weekend!