Hard-Boiled Egg

It seems like everywhere you look on the Web, people make hard-boiled eggs out to be an amazingly difficult food to prepare. What's up with that? I even read a method that suggests sacrificing one of the eggs to test for done-ness. Here's the method I use that's both quick and efficient.



Pick 3-12 eggs to fit in the bottom of your saucepan. Pour cold water over the eggs, covering by 1/2" to 1". Bring the water to a rolling boil and immediately remove the pan from heat. Set a timer for 13 minutes (large eggs). At 13 minutes, pour out the hot water while running the coldest water from the faucet into the pan to replace the hot water.



If your faucet does not provide cold (cold!) water, you might need to prepare a large bowl with water and ice, to cool the eggs rapidly. This helps to avoid any greening of the yolks.



This should provide many, many tasty hard-boiled eggs for your enjoyment.

Quesadilla

Quesadillas are quick and easy to make, but I've seen many people mess up the process. Too much cheese, folding too early, using a tortilla for both top and bottom... these are just some of the more common mistakes. Quesadillas were the most popular appetizer at the restaurant I worked at, so making the perfect one had to be a seamless series of steps, executed at just the right times. The following steps are quite verbose, but for no extra charge you get my memory's step-by-step process of making a great quesadilla.

With that said, the process of making a quesadilla fantástica is as follows:

Ingredients
1 flour tortilla
Soft or melted butter, enough to lightly coat one side of the tortilla
Colby-Jack cheese, shredded
Seasoned chicken (optional)

Method

• Preheat a skillet on the range at medium setting.
  
• Lightly butter one side of a tortilla.
• Place tortilla, butter-side down on skillet.
  
• Sprinkle shredded Colby-Jack cheese on half the tortilla, but make sure you can still see some white tortilla through the cheese. If you cannot see any tortilla, you've over-cheesed.
• Optional -- add seasoned chicken on top of the cheese. Make sure you use much less chicken than cheese.
• Cook for about 1 minute, then lift the tortilla slightly to check if it is at a nice toasty, light, golden-brown color.
• When tortilla reaches a light-golden color, fold empty half over cheesy half, press down lightly so it stays put.
  
• Allow quesadilla to cook for another 30-45 seconds, the cheese should be melted by now.
• If the cheese is not completely melted, flip tortilla and allow it to cook for another 30-45 seconds. Flipping will assure even toastyness of the outer shell.
• Remove cooked quesadilla and place on a cutting board.

Cutting technique
Quesadillas could be cut any way using any knife, but here's my preferred way with my preferred knife.

Place the tip of your favorite sharp Chef's Knife on the cutting board at the center of the flat side of the quesadilla, so the blade and handle are above the rest of the quesadilla at a 45 degree angle. One hand is holding the handle, and the other is resting on the top, dull side of the blade. In a rocking motion (keeping the front of the blade touching the cutting board), smoothly cut through the center, creating two equal triangles. Reverse the motion you just made until the blade is back at the 45 degree angle position. Push your handle hand forward to cut the far triangle in half, cut, then pull back to cut the final triangle, resulting in 4 total triangles. Four is the ideal count for a 10-inch tortilla, 6- to 8-inch tortillas may only require 3 triangles.

Serving Suggestions
Serve with a side of one or more of the following:

• Sour cream
• Guacamole
• Salsa (keep in mind that it is difficult to scoop chunky salsa with a quesadilla triangle)
• Pico de Gallo (may be difficult to scoop)
  
• A zesty ranch-based sauce

If you're looking to make a full circle tortilla, it is highly recommended that you make two half-circles, independently. Flipping a quesadilla that uses two tortillas at once (so no folding would be required) can result in cheese falling out the sides and is generally difficult to manage.

Stuffed Mushrooms

I have had more people ask me for my Stuffed Mushrooms recipe than any other, so I decided to cook it up as a dinner side. Here's the recipe so you can impress your friends with your culinary expertise.



Ingredients
12 open cap mushrooms
4 spring onions - minced
2 tsp. olive oil
3.5 oz. bread crumbs
1 tsp. fresh oregano
3.5 oz. feta cheese

Method

1. Sautee chopped mushroom stalks + onions in oil until browned.
   
2. Mix stalks, onions, bread crumbs, cheese and oregano in a bowl and set aside.
   
3. Pack the stuffing mix in the open caps and bake @ 350deg. F 8-10 minutes.

Notes (important!)

• The mixture should be dry. If it is too dry, and I mean too dry, you may add a small addition of oil.
  
• Resist any temptations to use salt+pepper.. they will not bring anything to this dish.
• Substitutions for this recipe are numerous, for example last time I omitted the oregano by simply using Italian bread crumbs.
• Another idea is replacing feta cheese with Italian sausage.

Dill Dip (Very Easy)

Whenever we need a universal dip that we can agree upon, it usually ends up being this dill dip. It's easy to make, it goes with pretty much anything, and it helps to enhance other flavors rather than mask them. But wait.. there's more! It only takes a few ingredients and 2 minutes to make. Don't skip the chilling step at the end, though, those flavors need time to get to know each other (and the dip gets much thicker, too).

Ingredients
1 cup sour cream
1/4 to 1/2 cup mayo
2 tablespoons fresh chopped green onions (optional)
1+ tablespoon dill weed (add more to taste)
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Method

1. Pick out a smaller tupperware bowl with lid
2. Add sour cream, then mayo and lemon juice and stir
   
3. Add green onions (optional)
4. Add dill weed, taste, repeat
5. Stir dip until well blended
6. Seal the bowl and place in the fridge for at least one hour (2 is better)
7. Dip will thicken and flavors will meld during the chilling process

This dip has been tasted with:

• Veggies
  
• Potato chips
• Gyros

Authentic Guacamole

I ran across this diamond in the rough on a Spanish newsgroup a while back. People were raving, so I translated it, prepped it and ay dios mio!!

FYI -- This treat rarely makes its way to the refrigerator, but keep in mind that avocado doesn't last much longer than a couple days after it has been prepared. Another note -- if you're sensitive to heat, the jalapeño pepper(s) doesn't add heat as much as it adds flavor, so I'd suggest at least adding 1/2 to 1 pepper.

Ingredients

1 large avocado (or 2 medium)
1 large tomato, chopped (or 2 Roma)
Cilantro, finely chopped, to taste
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1-2 jalepeño peppers, minced (optional)
juice from a small lemon (or 1 teaspoon lemon juice)
salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Peel the avocado and remove the core
2. Crush it with a fork until desired consistency
3. Add the chopped ingredients
4. Add the lemon juice
5. Lastly, add the salt and pepper to taste