This one’s got a peculiar ingredient, but trust me it works!

Buttered Shrimp
Ingredients:

1lb. fresh shrimp
2 C. 7 Up or Sprite
¼ C.Butter
3 to 4 cloves of minced garlic
5 tbsp. tomato paste
Salt and pepper

A few words before starting:

• Wash but do not peel shrimp.
• Cut off the antennas and the rostrum (the part of the head that is pointy) beforehand.
• Soda gives more flavor than regular sugar.
• Be careful not to overcook the shrimp.

Directions:
In a large shallow pan, boil the shrimp in soda. Add a pinch of salt.

Boil until all the soda has evaporated. If the shrimp is done cooking before it is dry, drain some of the liquid. Add butter and garlic. Mix well. Add the tomato paste. End product should only be very slightly sticky from caramelized sugars in the shrimp, soda, and garlic.

Done! You can squeeze some lemon juice if you like.

I saw these little pizzas at a new restaurant opened near my place called Urban Plates. They were small and thin and topped with some interesting ingredients. I just knew I could recreate these at home without much trouble. I used the same dough recipe from my pissaladièr Here’s my take on a few…

Old reliable: sauce and cheese.

Summer Veggie: zucchini, fresh tomato, and mozzarella.

The little stinker: Blue cheese, apricot jam, walnuts, and micro greens.

Pesto Mesto: Cilantro pesto, egg, and micro basil.

Obviously you can top these however you’d like. Since they are so small, you should try all sorts of combinations; if they don’t work, there’s always another one waiting!

Several times each year the Apprentice makes the trip to San Diego to hang out, eat fish tacos, and escape from the New England weather. On this trip back to San Diego, he brought with him stories of his trip to Uganda and a new street food he ate while he was there, the rolex.

The rolex, as you can see, is a rolled up snack much like a burrito that is filled with a mixture of eggs and assorted vegetables. The wrapper is made of a thinly rolled, skillet cooked wheat bread called a chapati. The eggs are mixed with tomatoes, shredded cabbage, salt, and cooked much like an omelette. The whole thing is then flipped over, the bread is put on top to steam a little bit, and then flipped again. At this point, the cooking is completed and the concoction is rolled up, burrito-style, and served immediately. If you want the true street-food experience, the rolex is rolled tightly in newspaper for easy transport.

Rolex
Per Rolex:

1 chapati (I used this recipe. If you don’t want to make your own, flour tortillas are a pretty good substitute.)
2 eggs
3-4 thin slices of tomato
small handful of shredded cabbage
pinch of salt

Preheat large frying pan or skillet over high heat. (I found a 12 inch cast iron pan worked well for making these.)

Break eggs into small bowl. Add cabbage, tomatoes, and salt, and mix with a fork until combined.

Add a small amount of oil to the pan and make sure the pan is coated all over. Pour eggs into pan trying to keep the mixture in a circular shape. In a 12 inch pan, the eggs will not run all the way to the edges of the pan.

Using a large spatula, check the under the edges of the egg to check for doneness. When the eggs are set, flip the entire mixture over. This can be a little difficult with a small spatula so use the biggest one you have. If you’re using a light pan, feel free to try and fling it in the air and attempt to flip them like a pancake. (extra difficult!)

Place chapati over the top of the eggs while they continue to cook for one to two more minutes. Using the spatula on one side and your hand on the other, flip the whole thing onto a plate.

Roll the egg and chapati up, burrito-style, to complete your rolex.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Yogurt Dipping Sauce

Three friends and I left Las Vegas early to go to an archaeological dig in New Mexico. We stopped by Chaco Canyon to camp and see the ancient ruins. We grilled hamburgers for dinner but we also wanted french fries. It’s really tough to make fries on a portable grill in the middle of nowhere, you know. So the idea of roasted sweet potatoes was born. The dipping sauce came later.

Ingredients:
2 medium sweet potatoes, sliced thinly in rounds
2 tbsp. chopped rosemary
1/3 C. olive oil
1 clove of garlic, finely minced
Pepper + salt to taste

Sauce:
1/4 C. plain greek yogurt
4 basil leaves, sliced thinly
1 small clove of garlic, super finely minced
Splash of red wine vinegar or lemon juice + zest
Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
Pepper + salt to taste

Directions:

A few words before starting:

Choose a potato that is uniform along the length. I prefer one that is approximately 2 inches in diameter. It’s just easier to slice them this way.

I like to use garlic infused olive oil. I add the minced garlic into the oil and leave them overnight. This makes it more fragrant and more garlicky, I think.
I prefer to use Voskos Greek Yogurt. This one is creamy and does not have a chalky taste compared to other Greek yogurts I’ve tried.

Preheat oven now to 350 if you’re a fast potato slicer, otherwise, wait till you have 10 -15 minutes left of slicing to preheat. Slice the sweet potatoes in thin rounds. Mince the 2 cloves of garlic; save half for the yogurt sauce. Chop the rosemary.

To a bowl, add olive oil, garlic, rosemary, pepper, and salt. Add the sweet potatoes and toss to coat. Add a little bit more olive oil if the slices look a little dry. Spread them onto a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil in one layer. Roast in the oven for about 20 – 25 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are golden brown and crispy around the edges.

For the sauce:

Slice the basil leaves. In a bowl, mix together the yogurt, garlic, basil, and cayenne.

Add the red wine vinegar. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper.

Eat.

Here’s a quick excerpt that Jane sent me:

I just reading your posting requesting for help–I’d love to contriute articles to your site.

I have a food blog that I’ve just started to be more active in: http://butteredup.blogspot.com and I’d love to be more involved in the food blog community. I love desserts in particular, but I also love cooking too.

Ginger Pecan Scones

Most of my first year of university was spent being homesick. My parents were halfway across the world in Shanghai, while I was in Montreal, missing the comfort of home. On weekends, I went to my cousin Sandra’s apartment, desperate for some company. Without realizing it, she helped distract my troubled heart and jerk start the glutton in me.

We studied cookbooks (Donna Hay’s Instant Cook was our favourite) trying to decide on our weekend project. We sampled buttery croissants at Premiere Moisson on Mont-Royal. We trekked through a snow storm just to pick up a 10lb Rockaberry apple pie. I remember losing all sensation in my fingers and toes carrying that damn dessert and then eating two servings even though I’m not fond of pie, but just to make the walk seem worth it. Clearly, we shared a love for food.

There was one thing that Sandra made that was insanely addictive. They were dried cranberry lemon scones. Buttery lumps of dough studded with ruby fruit, speckled with yellow zest. I really couldn’t resist eating only one and I found lots of good reasons to eat a few for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. No, I wasn’t eating my feelings of homesickness, though they definitely made the brutal winters more bearable. There was something magical about those scones, how they fall apart in your mouth, in a way that only cream and butter is able to do, and the dried fruit was chewy, inevitably wedging between your teeth.

A few years ago, Sandra moved to Shanghai. We haven’t talked since she moved (she’s difficult to keep in touch with) and I haven’t had those cranberry lemon scones since. I have however, tried other scones. There were cheddar and chive scones to pair with a juicy salad, but they were unremarkable. I’ve sampled Hungarian paprika scones, which is an entirely different animal; yeasty pull-apart breads that stain your fingers a beautiful rust color and pair perfectly with stew.

And there were these ginger and pecan scones. Hoo boy, they are good. So good, I want to rename them Dreamy Scones. They’re light and fluffy, and so crumbly, it will be hard to keep your table crumb-free. Three types of ginger are used here, ground, crystallized and fresh, but don’t shy away from ginger, the butter casts a spell on its heatness, toning it down. The pecans add a nutty crunch to the scones, making it hearty and breakfast worthy.

I promise that just one scone will make your troubles go away.

Ginger Pecan Scones
From Bon Appétit via Epicurious

I don’t buy buttermilk. I don’t want to purchase one ingredient if I’m not going to use it anytime soon. Instead, you can make buttermilk at home. Really, it’s a breeze. For 1 cup of buttermilk, add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar (even rice vinegar works) to 1 cup of milk (I use 2% and it’s fine), allow to sit for 5 minutes before using.

I only have heart shaped cookie cutters which I used to shape my scones, but you can use any round cutter you like, just make sure it’s about 2 inches in diameter.

Makes 12 scones

Ingredients:
3 cups of all-purpose flour
2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) chilled unsalted butter
1 1/3 pecan halves, toasted, chopped coarsely
½ cup plus 3 tablespoons of chopped crystallized ginger
1 cup plus 1 ½ tablespoons of buttermilk
1 ½ teaspoons finely grated peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 425°. Line large baking sheet with parchment. Whisk flour, 2/3 cup sugar, baking powder, ground ginger, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and baking soda in large bowl. Add butter; using fingertips, blend butter into flour until coarse meal forms. Toss in pecans and 1/2 cup crystallized ginger.
2. Whisk 1 cup buttermilk, grated ginger, and vanilla in measuring cup. Form well in center of dry ingredients. Add buttermilk; stir with fork until moist clumps form. Transfer to lightly floured surface. Knead just until dough comes together; roll out dough into a 12-inch round (about 1/2 inch thick). Using a round cutter cut out scones and arrange about 1/2 inch apart on baking sheet. Gather and gently reroll scraps. Cut out more scones and arrange on baking sheet.
3. Bake scones until golden and toothpick inserted horizontally into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool scones on wire rack.

We’re looking for some help. Anyone want to hop on the Foodgeek staff and write some articles? If you join our team we’ll send you free schwag! Write one article, we’ll hook you up with a MFG hat. Write three, a free MFG re-usable grocery bag. Writer five or more, I’ll send you a t-shirt!

Pretty much anything goes here. We’re geeks that love food and have a soft-spot for pastries. We’ve covered everything from snacks, to dinners, to restaurant reviews, and product reviews. If you’d like to help us out, we’d love to have you. If you’re coming from another blog, we’ll plug your site and link-back to your place for some mutual love.

If you’d like to write for MFG, please contact me at chef (at) myfoodgeek.com.

Broccoli Rabe
Sausage
Pasta
Tomatoes
Garlic
Onions
Wine
Red Pepper

I’m not usually a big New Years Resolution sort of guy but I thought this year I’d make some resolutions for My Food Geek. Here’s the list (in no particular order).

Post more regularly. I have yet to keep a good posting schedule and it’s about time I try to make that happen. I am challenging myself to post two, maybe three, time per month. Wish me luck.

Use my cooking books and gear. This one is a compound resolution:

• Make use of all those cool gadgets I have: IE – ice cream maker, chocolate temperer, food dehydrator, etc.
• Make at least one pastry/dessert each month from one of the many cookbooks that are collecting dust on my shelves.
• Make interesting (savory) dishes from said cookbooks/magazines and POST about them.

Update a few really popular posts. I wrote my Almost Foolproof Macarons post over two years ago and it continues to be my most popular post. It’s obvious that everyone is still crazy about macarons and there are many questions left unanswered. It’s time to delve deeper into the topic and place all the answers to the many questions I have received over the years in an easy-to-read post.

Another post that keeps getting attention is the Veggie Burger post from almost as long ago. I’m guessing that there is either a lack of good homemade veggie burger recipes or these really are that good. I will try to do my best to out some of the other veggie burger recipes out there and make even have a burger-off to find the best.

Eat more grains and vegetables. I’ve recently discovered barley and I feel like I was missing out all this time. There’s plenty more whole grains and vegetables to be had out there and I plan to eat as many of them as I can.

Give away some schwag! Last year I had a bunch of MFG gear printed up and never got around to giving away. I’m thinking some sort of contest or cook-off. If anyone has some ideas, please hit the comments!

Lastly, have fun with my blog again. My Food Geek turned FOUR on December 10 and I feel like I may have started to abandon it. It’s time to stop sacrificing new posts because the photos weren’t perfect or the dish didn’t come out exactly as I intended and start having fun and showing what sometimes happens to even the best of us.

Cupcakes continue to remain popular over the years. Small cakes with a little lot of frosting in various flavor combinations will always be a hit with young and old alike. While American-style desserts aren’t my specialty, everyone needs to have a go-to cupcake recipe.

I found this White Velvet recipe from an old post on Curious Cupcakes. Like most cupcake recipes, it’s super simple, there are a few ingredients, and they cook real quick. I’ve already made these several times and every time I make them they come out fantastic. If you’re still making cupcakes from a box, you really should try these out!

White Velvet Cupcakes
courtesy of curious cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
- 2 large egg whites
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour (important! make sure you use cake flour and not all-purpose flour)
- 3/4 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F
Fill one 12-hole cupcake tray with cupcake liners

In a medium bowl, combine egg whites, vanilla and 1/8 cup milk.

In a large mixing bowl, combine cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix together to blend. Add the butter and remaining 1/2 cup milk. Mix on low speed until dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed (high if using a hand mixer) for 1.5 minutes. Then add the egg, vanilla and milk mixture in three equal parts, beating for 20 seconds between additions.

Pour the batter into prepared cupcake trays. Try to fill each cake with an equal amount of batter. Try using an ice cream scoop to help make scoops of batter even. Each cupcake wrapper will be about 2/3-3/4 full. Place trays in the oven for 15-20 minutes, remove when golden yellow and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then place on a cooling rack. Let cool completely before frosting.

Cakes, as you may already know, aren’t a specialty of mine. When I do get the opportunity to make a cake for someone, I usually like to try something new out. In this case, I made an old classmate’s Red Velvet Cake and went the fondant route.

This cake I made for my team mate, Paul, on the request of his girlfriend. I learned that Paul’s favorite cake was red velvet. I’ve never tackled one of these before but with a good recipe (thanks Rianne!) it was a snap.

If you want to steal the recipe, venture over to her website and look it up!