Professional Recipes Blog

I’ve updated the main site, as hopefully you’ve seen, and just added a new survey about one of my favorite topics here, the show Hell’s Kitchen. I enjoy watching it and can sit back and laugh at some of the mistakes, seeing and doing some of them. Other times I am simply appalled at other mistakes… mistakes that just cannot be made in a professional kitchen.

I’m not sure who I like at this point, but Carol has shown some promise and is a favorite in my mind. Giovanni has gotten better of late with a nice team effort on the red team and a winning dish for the red team in the challenge the other night. The others really haven’t shown a lot of promise and there is no other clear favorite that I can pick out.

So, who do you think is going to win Hell’s Kitchen and the head chef position at the Borgata in Atlantic City (somewhere I can actually visit relatively easily for once!)?

Cast your vote here: Survey: Who’s Going to Win Hell’s Kitchen?

Ah, the luck of the Irish. Saint Patrick’s Day is coming up soon and I’ll be cooking up some family favorites around the holiday as well as enjoying good company and drink with some friends of course.

One of the most popular recipes at home and on Professional Recipes is the Irish Potatoes Recipe. It’s simple and easy to make and a old recipe passed down to me from a grandmother. They usually don’t last very long though so we often make a many batches of this. Simply double or triple the recipe if you need to make more, just be careful to mix it really well. Here’s the recipe below:

Irish Potatoes

Servings:
6-10

Cooking Time:
10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 8oz. cream cheese, soft
• 16 oz. coconut, shredded
• 2 lbs. confectioner’s sugar
• 3 tbs. vanilla extract
• Ground cinnamon for topping and garnish or melted chocolate

Instructions:

• Mix together all of the ingredients, except the cinnamon, thoroughly.
• Roll into 1 to 1 & ½ inch balls.
• Roll in ground cinnamon, or melted chocolate according to taste!

To print the recipe, visit this link to it on our site: Irish Potatoes Recipe and select your browsers print option and you’ll get a nice clean copy to print.

Here’s another idea for something to make, try Irish Soda Bread. It’s a little more involved of course, but is a classic and often served in restaurants specializing in Irish fare. The Shanachie Irish Pub and Bar comes to mind. They serve this as their bread served to every table and it’s really good.

I’ve also made Traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage and changed it up with using Ham instead of corned beef. The kids especially enjoy the ham over the corned beef, so I often make both around this time of year and I make enough to have for 2 nights each, so our fridge is a little full for a few days!

And this is interesting, a recipe I found from The Hungry Mouse, someone I follow on Twitter: How to Make Your Own Irish Cream Liqueur!. Give this one a try and any party you have for Saint Patrick’s Day will be a hit!

Enjoy!

Ah, the Super Bowl. One of the largest sporting events in the world and the source of numerous parties and all kinds of crazy recipes! Everyone has their favorites of course and some like to keep it simple while others enjoy going all out with extravagant spreads of buffet style foods. This is particularly true when it’s YOUR team in the Super Bowl. Alas, my team, the Philadelphia Eagles, did not make it here though most fans thought it was finally their year but it was not meant to be. So we have the Pittsburgh Steelers versus the Arizona Cardinals and while I plan on watching it, I am not all that excited about it. As long as Pittsburgh wins to exact revenge on the Cardinals, I’ll be happy!

So, what are some of your favorite Super Bowl snacks, finger foods or other recipes? Leave me a comment below and post your recipe or share a link to your favorite Super Bowl recipe.

Here’s one of my favorites, Sweet and Sour Mini Hot Dogs. I know, not very gourmet, but they are soooooo good and so easy to make, here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 package of “Little Smokies” mini hot dogs
• 1 12 oz. jar of grape jelly
• 1 12 oz. jar of chili sauce (your favorite brand)

Directions:

• Combine the grape jelly and chili sauce in a medium pan.
• Bring to a low boil and then reduce heat.
• Add the Little Smokies to the pan.
• Simmer for 15 minutes.
• Serve hot and with toothpicks (they can be messy).

See, very easy!

Here are some more Super Bowl snack ideas from our website below. Enjoy!

• Artichoke Cheese Dip
• Greek Pizza
• Guacamole Dip
• Sausage and Cheese Wedges
• Seven Layer Dip
• Spicy Stuffed Zucchini
• Stuffed Mushroom Caps
• Roasted Peppers and Asparagus Marinated in a Raspberry Vinaigrette

And my pick – although I want the Steelers to win, the Cards are too hot: Cardinals 28-24.

I’ll admit, I’ve never heard of this type of thing before; Coffee Cupping. It’s a lot like a wine tasting only with coffee as different aspects of coffee such as aroma, taste, body and such are judged and critiqued. Although the highly talented Barista would be very interested in a coffee cupping event, why not the average Joe who enjoys a good cup of gourmet coffee?

A lot of us enjoy a good latte every once in a while right? Why not host your own Coffee Cupping event? It’s easy, check out the article link below from our site for some ideas and tips on how to do such a thing and impress your friends. I’m thinking of hosting one myself – my family and friends are coffee connoisseurs!

Coffee Cupping Your Way to a More Discriminating Palate

Enjoy!

The three biggest holidays around this time of year, in my part of the world, are coming up literally one right after the other. Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, began at sunset on Sunday the 21st. Santa Claus comes Wednesday evening as Christmas follows on Thursday the 25th and then Kwanzaa follows on Friday the 26th. Whew!!! That’s a lot going on right there!

It’s a wonderful time of year where most people you meet seem to be more a little more cheerful than usual, as long as you’re not trying to take their parking spot at the mall!!! It’s also a time of year where people indulge in some of their favorite holiday foods and sweets. Extravagant displays of goodies adorn many tables and the home bakers of the world get busy making their favorite cookies and cakes to share with their friends and families. My wife was busy this weekend in fact, baking up the family favorites (I’ll post some recipes up here shortly!).

In honor of the holidays, we’ve got a few suggestions for recipes below that you might like to try:

• Hanukkah Candle Cookies
• Christmas Light Cookies
• Candied Yams
• Pumpkin Pie

However, admittedly, I am short on different holiday and traditional recipes and not very knowledgeable about the dates of other holidays this time of year. If you have any recipes you’d like to share or any comments or suggestions for a holiday that you celebrate, please leave us a message or submit your recipes on our Submit a Recipe page.

Check out this great resource on the three major US holidays:
December Holidays

Happy Holidays to all!

Thanksgiving is upon us once again and Americans will be stuffing themselves on turkey, stuffing and their favorite side dishes they’ve enjoyed for years (including stuffing!). So, to honor the holiday, I thought I’d throw out some recipes for those looking to try something new and hopefully create some new traditions.

To start, we have the classic Thanksgiving Roast Turkey for the main course. There are some who enjoy ham instead of turkey and some who do both or try something else entirely.

For something entirely different, check out the Cornish Game Hen with Garlic or Rosemary.

Or for the adventurous types, there is the increasingly popular Turducken, which is a chicken stuffed inside of a duck stuffed inside of a turkey. John Madden of NFL and Monday Night Football fame made this one popular. I have to admit, I’ve never attempted to make one, but if I do I’ll be sure to post the results here and the recipe as well.

For a different kind of stuffing, try this Cornbread Stuffing instead of your usual “classic” bread stuffing.

There are thousands of side dishes made in all sorts of ways. Often different family members are responsible for bringing this or that. If you’re one of those family members and you’re looking for something different or special to make, try some of these side dishes, sure to be a hit:

• Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes
• Carrots Vichy
• Bacon Cheddar Whipped Potatoes
• Rosemary Roasted Potatoes
• Candied Yams

Here’s an interesting one I found, Mashed Potatoes with Lavender and Honey. Not sure how this one is, but if someone gives it a try, please comment here and let everyone know how it is.

For dessert, we’ve got a couple of suggestions here:

• Chocolate Mousse
• Cherries Jubilee with Cote Rote Wine
• Coconut Cake
• Poached Pears
• Classic Pecan Pie

Hopefully now you’ve got some different things to try for your Thanksgiving feast. If you decide to try one of our recipes, please post a comment and let us know how it came out. Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!

Check out this nice dish, very interesting:

Garlic chive shrimp fried rice with garlic chips