Recipes

Truffle Chicken Breast Recipe

The big truffle season is approaching soon. October is the month when the best truffles are usually harvested. Summer truffles are good, but Fall truffles are a delicacy. In the last few years truffles have made it into the mainstream market with the invention of new recipes such as truffle mashed potatoes and truffle macaroni and cheese. Supermarkets all over the country are now stocking white and black truffle oils that are more affordable than buying the truffles themselves and the flavor still manages to infuse your food with just a few drops of this magical fungus. Recently, I was lucky enough to receive some summer truffles from the Maison de Truffe in Paris as a gift as well as some truffle oil from that shop and Truffle Salt from another friend. When I had people over this weekend, I decided to make one of my favorite recipes Truffle Chicken. I served it with truffle macaroni and cheese and grilled vegetables and it was a simple meal that turned couture with just a few slices of truffle, a few pinches of truffle salt, and a few teaspoons of truffle oil. The layering of the 3 ingredients helped bring out the flavor of the dish.

Here is the recipe:

2 teaspoons truffle oil (Can be found at any gourmet market for $14 to 35 a bottle)
1 teaspoon of truffle salt (Can be made if you buy dried truffles and mix into your salt with a few drops of truffle oil)
3- 4 slices of truffle (summer is more cost effective than fall truffles)
Split up chicken breasts - split 4 breasts to serve 8 people
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of olive oil


Take the split chicken breasts and sprinkle truffle salt, garlic, and truffle oil over every piece. Heat up your pan and drizzle olive oil to cover the pan, sear each chicken breasts 2 minutes on each side until brown and put all the pieces in the oven at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve with truffles sprinkled on top with mac and cheese garnished with a bit of truffle oil on top, a great bottle of wine, and your favorite grilled vegetables.

How to Make Pineapple Ice Cream

It's summer and we are all thinking about hot weather, beaches, sandals, ice cream, and vacations. During summer I always like making my own ice cream at home because I know exactly what ingredients are in the ice cream. Recently, I discovered how to make ice cream at home with my new super Ninja prep mixer from QVC.com. It was so easy that I will never use my ice cream maker again.

Here is my recipe for Pineapple Ice Cream with this great new mixer.

(This recipe can be adjusted based on taste).

3 cups of fresh pineapple
2 cups of pineapple juice
4 to 5 cups of ice
2 to 3 cups of milk or cream

Put all ingredients in your mixer and let it go until it all mixes together. You can serve it as a soft serve right out of the mixer or put it in the freezer for a few hours so it gets to an ice cream consistency. It is a quick and easy recipe that you will enjoy all summer.

Add some baby pineapple Megafruit as a topping to make it extra delicious.

Curry Butternut Squash Apple Soup for Summer

Summer is the time of year when we think about eating healthier and exercising more to get ready for the beach and vacations. There are ways to eat healthier while taking advantage of the summer vegetables that are available at markets and farmers markets during this time of year. Soup is an easy way to get lots of healthy nutrients and to fill up while not consuming too many calories. Soups are great to eat as a snack or as a light dinner when you just don't want to eat very much. Soups can be made in large batches and frozen in small containers to be reheated when you want a quick meal. Put your soup into little cups to make it look fun and festive.

Here is a recipe I got from my mother in law recently that is tasty and easy to make:

4 Tbls unsalted butter
2 cups chopped yellow onions
4 Tbls curry powder
2 medium butternut squash - 3 pounds
2 apples - peeled, cored, and chopped
1 shredded granny smith apple for garnish on top of soup
3 cups vegetable stock
1 cup apple sauce
salt and pepper to taste

1.) Melt butter, add onions and curry. Cook over low heat until onions are opaque.
2.) Peel squash, scrape seeds and chop.
3.) Pour stock into pan of onions. Add squash and apples. Boil, then simmer covered until squash and apples are very tender. (25 minutes)
4.) Food process until smooth
5.) Add apple juice.
6.) Season to taste.

(Photo credit: Anson Smart for Country Living Magazine.)

Lychee Mango Coconut Panna Cotta recipe from Cinnamon blog

Summer is coming and everyone is thinking about nautical stripes, shorts, and flip flops already. What I love most about summer is the way we can eat lighter because there is so much fresh vegetables and fruits available to use in soups, salads, and everything else.

I found this recipe online by a blogger named Cinnamon from India and I wanted to share her recipe with you because it is just that good. I love panna cotta, mangoes and coconuts. When I found this recipe online and saw that it also included the lovely lychee fruit, it was love at first bite. Try this recipe for yourself. It is pretty easy to follow.

Let us know your favorite recipes for summer. Email them to Info@megafruitventures.com. We will post 4 of them on our blog one a week and you can vote on your favorite recipe of the 4 and we will give a prize to the number 1 favorite. Send us your recipes now.

Here is the recipe from Cinnamon.This version is a little different, which includes Lychees, Coconut cream and Ginger!!!

Ingredients:
Cream : 200 ml
SemiWhipped cream : 200 ml
Coconut Cream : 100 ml
Sugar : 50 gms
Lychees : 100 gms, pureed
Ginger : 1 tsp, grated
Vanilla essence : few drops
Gelatin : 6 leaves

Method:

1. Soak Gelatin in cold water to soften and keep aside.
2. Take cream, coconut cream, sugar, ginger in a heavy saucepan and bring to light simmer, just till boiling for 10 mins.
3. Remove from heat and add the Lychee puree and vanilla.
4. Squeeze the excess water out of the gelatin and stir into the hot cream.
5. Allow the cream to cool completely.
6. Fold in the semi whipped cream and pour the mixture into moulds.
7. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate till fully set.
8. Serve with Mango Syrup and chopped lychees... errr... mine was actually Mango puree :)
9. To serve, carefully pass a knife through the edges of the mould, and place the mould in warm water for few mins and then invert on to the serving plate.

Check out Cinnamon Trail here for other great recipes from India.

 

Persian Rice Dish with dried baby pineapple

 Here is my adapted recipe from Epicurious:

I added 1 of the 2 oz. bag of Megafruit baby pineapple to the recipe.

• 3 cups basmati rice (1 1/4 lb)
• 4 qt water
• 3 tablespoons salt
• 1/2 cup dried apricots (3 1/2 oz), quartered
• 1/2 cup golden raisins (3 oz)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries (2 oz)
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped shelled unsalted pistachios (not dyed red; 2 1/2 oz)

Rinse rice in several changes of cold water in a large bowl until water runs clear. Drain in a large sieve.

Bring water and salt to a boil in a 6-quart heavy pot, then add rice and boil, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes from time water returns to boil. Drain rice in sieve.

Toss together dried fruit in a bowl. Melt 6 tablespoons butter with cardamom and pepper in cleaned and dried pot, stirring to combine, then alternately layer rice and dried fruit over it, beginning and ending with rice and mounding loosely. Make 5 or 6 holes in rice to bottom of pot with round handle of a wooden spoon, then cover pot with a kitchen towel and a heavy lid. Fold edges of towel up over lid (to keep towel from burning) and cook rice over moderately low heat, undisturbed, until tender and a crust forms on bottom, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from heat and let rice stand, tightly covered and undisturbed, at least 30 minutes.

Heat remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a small skillet over moderate heat and cook pistachios, stirring, until lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes.

Spoon loose rice onto a platter, then break crust into 1-inch pieces and scatter over rice. Sprinkle with pistachios.

Cooks' notes: • Rice can be parboiled and drained 4 hours ahead and transferred to a bowl. Keep, covered with a dampened kitchen towel, at room temperature. • Rice can stand off heat up to 1 hour. • If you're short on time, you can skip letting the rice stand after cooking: Spoon loose rice onto a platter and then dip bottom of pot into a large bowl of cold water for 30 seconds to loosen crust.

 

DRIED PINEAPPLE PIE

from http://www.bellaviva.com/new/baking/recipes1.htm

Paulette Schwertley provided us with a fun recipe for Dried Pineapple Pie:

"I recently purchased 5 pounds of your Bella Viva dried pineapple rings. I had no idea of how many of them I'd get! I wasn't sure what do to with so many of them, and my husband suggested I make a dried pineapple pie. I couldn't find a recipe for a dried pineapple pie. So I adapted one I had used previously that was for dried apricots. We thought it was very good! (This recipe could actually be used with any dried fruit, I suppose.)" Paulette

* 4 cups Bella Viva Dried Pineapple Rings
* 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk, beaten
* 1 cup packed brown sugar
* ½ cup finely chopped walnuts
* ½ cup melted butter, cooled\
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* ½ teaspoon cinnamon
* ¼ teaspoon salt
* Crusts for a double-crust pie

1. Place pineapple rings in a large saucepan and cover with water to a depth of 2 inches. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Drain and cool 15 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 400°.

3. Combine egg and egg yolk, brown sugar, walnuts, butter, vanilla, cinnamon and salt.

4. Chop pineapple rings so they are so larger than ¼ of each ring. Stir into above mixture.

5. Line pie plate with ½ of the crust and pour in filling. Top with second ½ of the crust. Seal and flute edges. Cut vent holes in top crust.

6. Bake for one hour. (May cover edges with foil until the last 15 minutes.) Cool at least one hour before serving.

Lychee Martini

Ingredients

* 5 ice cubes
* 1 (1.5 fluid ounce) jigger vodka
* 1 fluid ounce peach schnapps
* 1 fluid ounce white cranberry juice
* 1 ounce lychee juice (from a can of lychees)
* 1 lychee, for garnish

Directions

1. Place ice into a cocktail shaker. Pour in vodka, peach schnapps, cranberry juice, and lychee juice. Cover and shake vigorously until the outside of the cocktail shaker has frosted.
2. Strain into a chilled martini glass; garnish with a lychee fruit.

Lychee Crab Salad

(Serves 2) - from http://www.virtualherbarium.org/tropicalfruit/lycheerecipes.html

* 6 ounces frozen crab meat, thawed
* 1/2 cup peeled and seeded Iychees
* 2 Tbsp chopped celery
* green or red lettuce

Combine crab, lychees and celery and spoon onto plates lined with lettuce. Garnish with Tropical Dressing

Tropical Dressing

* 1/2 cup mayonnaise
* 2 Tbsp creClm
* 2 Tbsp dry sherry
* 2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
* 1 tsp fresh crushed blalck pepper
* 2 Tbsp minced green onion
* 1 tsp sallt

Blend all ingredients until thoroughly mixed. Drizzle over Lychee Crab Salad.

Lychee Pudding

from http://www.virtualherbarium.org/tropicalfruit/lycheerecipes.html

* ladyfingers or thinly cut sponge cake
* 2 cups peeled, de-seeded and sliced Iychees, soaked in brandy overnight
* 1 cup whipped cream

Line a deep mold or glass dish with ladyfingers or sponge cake to form a shell about an inch thick. Fold lychees into stiffly whipped cream. Fill mold with mixture and chill.