Crostini and Chianti

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

2012-01-29T19:14:00.000-05:00

Pulled Pork

Growing up in Michigan and then moving to North Carolina I never got much of a chance to follow a football team to the Super Bowl. This year being a fan of the Lions and the Panthers was kind of like Charlie Brown kicking the football. Every year Lucy convinces Charlie to kick the football, even though it is against his better judgment and old Charlie falls flat on his back. This year the Lions and the Panthers actually showed signs that they might be able to at least make it to the playoffs, but at the last minute they both ended up falling flat on their backsides. But if I did have a team that made it to the Super Bowl this would be a great tailgate dish for the party.

This recipe is based on Cook's Illustrated's North Carolina Pulled Pork from Slow Cooker Revolution. I could not find smoked ham hocks so I substituted the bacon for the hocks, hoping to keep the pork flavor but add some smoke flavor. The bacon had completely disintegrated, during the long cooking time. I also switched paprika for smoked paprika to give it a smoked flavor. Remember true NC pulled pork sandwiches are served with coleslaw on the bun with the meat.

North Carolina Pulled Pork
6 tbs brown sugar
1/4 cup smoked paprika (original called for regular paprika)
2 tbs chili powder
1 tbs ground cumin
2 tsp salt
1 tbs fresh ground pepper
1 5 pound boneless pork butt roast, trimmed and quartered
6 oz bacon (original called for 3 smoked ham hocks)
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 cup cider vinegar
3/4 cup ketchup
1 1/2 tsp liquid smoke

Mix 3 tbs of brown sugar, the paprika, chili powder, cumin, 2 tsp salt and 1 tbs pepper in a large bowl. Poke the pork all over with a fork. Roll the pork in the sugar mixture until completely covered. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours.

Lay the bacon across the bottom of the slow cooker. Unwrap the pork and lay it on top of the bacon. Pour the broth over the meat. Cover the slow cooker and cook for 5 to 7 hours on high or 9 to 11 hours on high.

Remove the pork form slow cooker and let it cool. The bacon should have dissolved into the cooking liquid. Let the cooking liquid cool for 5 minutes then skim any fat off the top.

Pour the cooking liquid into a saucepan, skimming any bits and pieces out as you pour it. Cook until you have about 1 cup of liquid left, this will take about 30 minutes. Add vinegar, ketchup, liquid smoke and remaining 3 tbs of brown sugar to liquid. Whisk it and bring to simmer. Add salt and pepper if needed.

Shred the pork while the sauce is reducing. This should be easy as it will be falling apart as you touch it. Toss the pork with 1 1/2 cups of the sauce. Put the remaining sauce on the table, so people can add more if they like.

NC style pulled pork with the slaw on the sandwich.

Mexican Pizza and Top 10 for Food Bloggers

2012-01-22T15:30:00.000-05:00

After watching the food blogs the last few weeks apparently there is some sort of food blogger rule that says between the last week of December and by mid-January a blogger must post a top 10 list. Some post the best recipes of the year, some the best photos and some promise what they will do during the next year. My list is slightly different approach. The Top Ten Foodie Trends I Don't Understand.

Top Ten Foodie Trends I Don't Understand
9. Why does it have to be 10 things?
8. Highly specialized cooking gadgets. There is a new popsicle maker on the market it makes 2 popsicles at a time and sells for $50. Have you never heard of dixie cup, recycled popsicle stick and a freezer? Cost .03 cents. Maybe I have watched to much Alton Brown and believe his slogan Death to Uni-taskers.
7. Bacon - I like bacon. I have 2 bacon t-shirts. But this bacon thing has gone to far. Bacon Mints, Bacon toothpaste, bacon soap, and the thing that pushed me over the edge bacon nativity scene. Bacon has officially jumped the shark.
6. Cupcakes - when they started bacon cupcakes, there are 1,140,000 images in the Google search, cupcakes jumped the shark.
5. Grains - This years grain of the year is quinoa. I think the reason it is so popular is because no 2 people pronounce it the same way, so every time you hear the name it sounds new and run out and buy it. Now everybody has 12 boxes of quinoa and they have to cook with it. Yes I understand grains are good for you, but why all of these exotic 3 times more expensive than oat, barley and corn grains. Oh wait I think I just answered my own question.
4. Gluten Free - I know some people actually have a medical problem with gluten and they are exempt from my rant. I have seen foods that have never had gluten advertised as gluten free, while this may be true the fact that they are advertising it implies that other brands contain it. Gluten is generally found in processed foods and grains. Gluten has become the new "fat" we must get rid of it in all food.
3. Sliders - Smaller burgers are good right? Except they are small so people eat twice as many and end up eating more fat and calories than if they would have eaten the full size burger.
2. Making things in a jar - why do we want to make it harder to get things out of the container. Tall and skinny usually means awkward and hard to get at.
1. Pops/balls - I don't like to bake so maybe I am missing the idea of why these are good. But why would you make a cake then squish it into a ball and then put it on a stick? If some one would hand you a piece of cake that is all squished up you wouldn't eat it.

Mexican Pizza
2 tortillas
1/2 can refried beans
1 cup Mexican Chicken

Salsa, sour cream, black olives, green onions, red onion, tomato, jalapeño, queso fresco or any other favorite topping to taste.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss the tortillas in the oven and heat them until they start to bubble. remove them and they will finish crisping as they sit. While the tortillas are crisping heat the beans and chicken. Spread some beans over the tortilla, then put down a layer of the chicken. Top that with some cheese. Put back in the oven until the the cheese melts. remove and top with the other ingredients.

Turkey Noodle Soup

2012-01-15T16:41:00.002-05:00

At Thanksgiving I did something I haven't done for awhile, I made turkey stock. I tried a different approach this year than I have in the past. I put the stock brought it to a boil and then turned it down to a simmer and promptly for got about it. After 6 or 7 hours I had achieved a stock about the consistency of turkey jello. This is actually a success you want thick stock for the most flavor.

Turkey Stock
1 turkey carcass, you might have to cut it into smaller pieces to fit in your stockpot
1 onion, peel the skin off and cut into quarters
3 ribs celery, cut into quarters you don't have to remove the leaves
3 carrots, cut into quarters
3 garlic clove, peeled and smashed
Enough water to cover all of the ingredients

Put everything in a large stockpot and bring to boil. After it starts to boil turn down to a slow simmer and check it periodically to make sure their is enough liquid in the pot. You shouldn't have to worry about it evaporating that much if you are simmering not boiling the water. When the liquid becomes thick the stock is ready. Drain through a sieve into a pot so the bones and vegetables are caught in the save and the stock goes into the pot.

Turkey Soup
1 tbs olive oil
1 onion, cut into a small dice
3 carrots, cut into bite size pieces
1 tbs mixed dried herbs, I used thyme, parsley and sage
8 oz cooked turkey, cut into bite size pieces
1 qt. of turkey stock, you can use store bought chicken stock
3 oz of egg noodles, homemade are best but you can use store bought

In a large pot, such as a dutch oven, heat oil to medium heat. Add the onion and carrots, cook until tender. Add the herbs and turkey and cook until turkey is heated through. Then turn up to high and add the stock. When the stock starts to boil turn heat down to simmer. While soup is simmering add water to another pot and bring to boil add the noodles. Cook noodles as directed on the package. When the noodles are done add to soup and remove from heat and serve. Note you can add cook the noodles in the soup but you will need to add 1 1/2 quarts of stock to the soup as you will have to leave the soup boiling while the noodles cook. The noodles will absorb some liquid and some will evaporate.

Irish Dinner Party

2012-01-08T18:28:00.000-05:00

Over the holidays I invited a few friends over that went to Ireland with us. I served food that we had eaten while we were in Ireland or at least my version of the food. We started by serving mead, a fermented honey drink that is served at room temperature or in cool weather you can heated it and add cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Along with the mead we had various Irish cheeses.

For the first course I served a salad with pears, goat cheese and pecans. Mixed greens with pears, goat cheese and pecans is no big deal and I was trying to think of a way to jazz it up. I realized that with the appetizers we served the mead, the main course was Guinness Stew and the dessert course had Jameson's Irish Whiskey. Could I add an Irish alcohol to the salad? Of course I can. The women with us frequently drank Bulmers Irish Cider at the pubs. Bulmers is a sweet tasting hard cider made from apples. I opted to replace the acid in dressing with Bulmers. By adding honey and Dijon mustard I had created an amazing dressing and added an Irish alcohol to each course. Seriously this salad dressing was one of the best things I made that night. Bulmers is available in the US as Magners Irish Cider.

Magners Salad Dressing
1/4 cup honey
1/4 Dijon Mustard
1 Magners Irish Cider, you will only use a little bit so you will have to drink most of a bottle :-)

In a small bowl mix the honey and Dijon mustard. Slowly drizzle the Magners Irish Cider into the bowl until the dressing is the consistency you want. Taste it and adjust as needed.

Along with the Guinness Stew I made Potato Cakes. One of the people on the trip with us tries to eat a vegetarian diet and she liked the Potato Cakes we frequently found in the pubs. This is an estimate as I totally winged this recipe. There is no milk in the mashed potatoes as you want to keep them dry when you fry them.

Potato Cake
1 lb Yukon Gold potatoes
2 tbs butter
1/2 cup spinach, cut into fine ribbons
4 green onions, chopped finely
1/2 cup flour
2 tbs olive oil

Peel and cut potatoes into small pieces. Add to pot and bring to boil. Cook until potatoes are soft, but do not over cook. Drain the potatoes. Add butter, spinach and onions to potatoes in pan. Mash the potatoes. Take the potatoes and form into a flat round shape. These can be thin like a cookie or thick like a hockey puck. Sprinkle flour on each side. In a frying pan heat heat Olive oil. Add potato cakes but do not overcrowd in the pan. Cook until potato cakes are browned and then flip over and brown the other side. Remove and sit them on paper towel until all of the cakes are cooked. Serve immediately.

Lentil and Sausage Soup

2012-01-01T15:48:00.000-05:00

My wife and I have given up going out for New Years, we just spend the evening at home. We have a nice dinner, usually lobster of some kind. Open a bottle of presecco with the lobster and finish it at midnight. Presecco is a sparkling wine from Italy. It is sweet and tastes very much like Asti if you have had that. Presecco is the traditional alcohol used for making Bellini's. My wife and I prefer it over champaign. This year only one of us made it past 10:30 PM, but I won't embarrass my wife by telling you she fell asleep at 9:00 PM slept until 10:00. Then she watched most of the news and then went upstairs to bed.
For New Years Day we had a bowl of sausage and lentil soup. Lentils and pork (the sausage) are both considered symbols of good luck in Italy. Lentils are also a symbol for money. I don't know anybody who doesn't want good luck and money so it just seems like a good idea to start the new year.

Lentil and Sausage Soup
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 lb. Cotechino Sausage, or any pork sausage cut into small dice
1 medium carrot, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 large clove garlic, thinly sliced see note
1/2 pt cherry tomatoes, halved
2 14.5 oz cans Lentils or 1 pound dried
3 cups water
salt, to taste
crushed red pepper, to taste

Note: I don't use cherry tomatoes I use canned "small tomatoes from the hillside" from Italy. These tomatoes have been peeled and are grown on the mountainside in volcanic soil. So you can peel you cherry tomatoes or find pomodorini di collina on the internet or eat an Italian import store like I did. The brand that I have is Annalisa.
In a dutch oven over medium heat add the olive oil. When olive oil is hot add the sausage and cook for 3 minutes. Add the carrot, celery, garlic and tomatoes. Cook for 10 minutes until vegetables are soft. Add the lentils and water, bring soup to simmer, cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Season with salt and crushed red pepper.

Chocolate-Raspberry Torte

2011-12-23T21:24:00.000-05:00

Many of you know that I test recipes and shop for groceries for Cook's Illustrated. This is a recipe that I tested several months ago, at that time I published a photo on the FoodBuzz website. Well Cooks Illustrated finally published the recipe in the November 2010 issue. This recipe is the first recipe I have tested where some big changes were made before the recipe was published. They added more chocolate, almost doubled the amount of almonds and the amount of vanilla was doubled. Since the first one was delicious I can only imagine how good it is with more nuts, vanilla and chocolate. The glaze turned out so shiny you can see the reflection of the raspberries in it. You can check out the entire recipe and notes in the November/December issue of Cook's Illustrated or on their website. This makes a wonderful Christmas dessert.

Chocolate-Raspberry Torte
Cake and Filling
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate , chopped fine (see note)
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter , cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 3/4 cups (about 7 ounces) sliced almonds , lightly toasted
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (1 1/4 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
5 large eggs
3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) sugar
1/2 cup fresh raspberries , plus 16 individual berries for garnishing cake
1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam
Chocolate Ganache Glaze
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate , chopped fine (see note)
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream

INSTRUCTIONS
1. FOR THE CAKE: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Line bottom of two 9-inch-wide by 2-inch-high round cake pans with parchment paper. Melt chocolate and butter in large heatproof bowl set over saucepan filled with 1 inch simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Stir in vanilla and espresso powder. The

2. Process 3/4 cup almonds in food processor until coarsely chopped, six to eight 1-second pulses; set aside to garnish cake. Process remaining cup almonds until very finely ground, about 45 seconds. Add flour and salt and continue to process until combined, about 15 seconds. Transfer almond-flour mixture to medium bowl. Process eggs in now-empty food processor until lightened in color and almost doubled in volume, about 3 minutes. With processor running, slowly add sugar until thoroughly combined, about 15 seconds. Using whisk, gently fold egg mixture into chocolate mixture until some streaks of egg remain. Sprinkle half almond-flour mixture over chocolate-egg mixture and gently whisk until just combined. Sprinkle in remaining almond-flour mixture and gently whisk until just combined.

3. Divide batter between cake pans and smooth with rubber spatula. Bake until center is firm and toothpick inserted into center comes out with few moist crumbs attached, 14 to 16 minutes. Transfer cakes to wire rack and cool completely in pan, about 30 minutes. Run paring knife around sides of cakes to loosen. Invert cakes onto cardboard rounds cut same size as diameter of cake and remove parchment paper. Using wire rack, reinvert 1 cake so top side faces up; slide back onto cardboard round.

4. TO ASSEMBLE TORTE: Place ½ cup raspberries in medium bowl and coarsely mash with fork. Stir in raspberry jam until just combined. Spread raspberry mixture onto cake layer that is top side up. Top with second cake layer, leaving it bottom side up. Transfer assembled cake, still on cardboard round, to wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet.

5. FOR THE GLAZE: Melt chocolate and cream in medium heatproof bowl set over saucepan filled with 1 inch simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and gently whisk until very smooth. Pour glaze onto center of assembled cake. Use offset spatula to spread glaze evenly over top of cake, letting it flow down sides. Spread glaze along sides of cake to coat evenly.

6. Using fine-mesh strainer, sift reserved almonds to remove any fine bits. Holding bottom of cake on cardboard round with 1 hand, gently press sifted almonds onto cake sides with other hand. Arrange raspberries around circumference. Refrigerate cake, still on rack, until glaze is set, at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours. Transfer cake to serving platter, slice, and serve.

Prime Rib and Cutting a Christmas Tree

2011-12-21T10:13:00.000-05:00

Christmas make people do crazy things. If you don't believe me explain to me why people make fruitcake and wear sweaters with jingle bells attached. There is something about the magic of the season that makes people only use 1/2 of their brains. Here is a story to prove that. Annette and I had been married for about 5 years our children ranged from 1 year to 4 years old. We decided that it would be fun to cut our own Christmas tree. We were living in Michigan at the time and we had just gotten a nice snowfall, about 6 inches. We decided that Saturday would be the day to go in search of the perfect tree.

On Thursday the weather man said it was going to warm up and start raining on Friday. Sure enough Friday afternoon it started to rain and the temperature hit the low 50's. Saturday morning we got up and got ready for our big tree excursion. The temperature had dropped back to the 30's the snow was gone. We bundled the kids up in their show suits. The youngest turned 1 on Thanksgiving day so she could barely walk as it was, put her in a pretty little pink and white snow suit and she was like Ralphie's little brother in the movie The Christmas Story.

We went out side and piled in the minivan and we were off. We go to the tree farm only to see the melted snow had tired the entire place into a giant mud farm. Then it started to rain again. The combination of rain, mud and cold temperatures made a slippery mess. Ashlyn's pink and white snow suit quickly became black. The rain and mud forced us to park a long way from the trees and we had to walk back over the hilly tree farm to locate the trees we were allowed to cut. By the time we found the trees the kids looked like snowmen, well actually mudmen. My wife and I had mud up to our knees. We quickly cut dow the first 8 foot tree we saw and started back to the car. The way back was up hill. The kids were falling more frequently and were now crying. I was dragging the tree which became heavier as we went as it picked up mud as we went along. Finally we stopped to come up with a plan. Crying kids, a long trek up hill back to the car, 3 kids that didn't want to walk and that were covered in mud and 1 large tree. Eventually I came up with the idea of having the kids sit on the tree and hold the trunk. That way I could drag the tree and the kids at the same time. We made better progress because we weren't stopping every 2 minutes to pick up a kid who fell in the mud. People were laughing at first but by the time we reached the car others were doing the the same thing. I had invented the treebogan. We got home and hosed off the tree and the kids. You would think that would be the end of the story but no there is more.

When we set the tree in the stand we realized the tree we grabbed had a large curve in the trunk. It would not stand up in the stand. After sticking a lot of wedges in the stand we eventually go the tree to stand up. We decorate the tree and laughed. On Sunday we had friends come over for a Christmas party. About 1/2 hour into the party the tree fell over. Several of us tried to get the tree upright but the tree would not cooperate. Where we put the tree was in the corner of a room that had windows all around the outside walls. Someone suggested we get a rope and tie the tree to a nail in the wall, of course with all of the windows we couldn't put a nail in the wall. So we tied 2 ropes around the tree, opened 2 windows and ran the ropes outside. Once the ropes were outside we secured the ropes to shrubs in our yard. We never cut our own tree again, but in 28 years of marriage can you guess which Christmas tree we have never forgotten?

This is the recipe I made last year for our Christmas dinner. It was the first time I ever made prime rib. The prime rib recipe was based on a Tyler Florence recipe I found on the Food Network website.

Prime Rib With Horseradish Crust

1 bone in prime rib beef roast, 3 ribs, about 6 pounds
5 garlic cloves, smashed
1/4 cup grated fresh or prepared horseradish
Leaves from 2 fresh rosemary sprigs
Leaves from 4 fresh thyme sprigs
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 cups canned chicken or beef broth

I made a couple of changes to this. I only used a 1/4 cup of salt and it made a good paste (described below) and I still thought that some bites seemed very salty. I started with 1 tbs of flour and the gravy was very soupy so I added one additional tbs and ended up with a thin gravy. This was ok as the leftover gravy can now be used for aus jus. The recipe took every bit of the 2 hours, if it wasn't for my children wanting to leave to get home before the snow, I would have cooked it a little longer. It was still very good and the gravy was excellent.

Here are Tyler's instructions with my comments in brackets [ ].

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Lay the beef in a large roasting pan with the bone side down. (The ribs act as a natural roasting rack.) In a small bowl mash together the garlic, horseradish, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper, and olive oil to make a paste [I used a mortar and pestle to get everything finely mashed]. Massage the paste generously over the entire roast [I had enough paste to cover top and sides but not the under side where the bones are]. Put the pan in the oven and roast the beef until the internal temperature of the meat registers 125 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer (medium-rare), 1 1/2 to 2 hours [See my comment above]. Remove the beef to a carving board and let it rest for 20 minutes before carving.

Pour off some of the pan drippings and place pan on stovetop over medium-high heat. [I saved 1 tbs of drippings to go with the original 1 tbs of flour. I wished I would have saved more since I ended up adding more flour to thicken it. I would save 2 to 3 tbs if you want thicker gravy.]

Add the white wine and bring to a simmer, scraping the bits on the bottom of the pan. Reduce the wine by half. Whisk in the flour, then add the broth and continue to cook, whisking until sauce thickens into a gravy, about 10 minutes. [I would use low sodium broth if use Tyler's 1/2 cup of salt. It took longer than 10 minutes to get thicker gravy, but I had to go back and add additional flour to thicken it.]

The First Thanksgiving

2011-12-10T04:07:00.001-05:00

This year for Thanksgiving my oldest daughter, Lynn, cooked while I recovered from knee surgery. She did a fantastic job and the meal turned out beautifully. At the end of my story is the Cornbread Stuffing recipe that Lynn made. Now I think it is time to tell the story of my wife and my Thanksgiving dinner. We were young and not really into cooking at the time. I am not sure why we did not go to one of our parents houses, I guess turning old causes memory lapses. Here is the story as I ~~remember~~ embellish it.

My youngest daughter, Ashlyn, was born on Thanksgiving day. Now being young and foolish my wife and I decided to give her and small birthday party the day before Thanksgiving. We decided to make her a cake with some kind of cartoonish character on top. As we started to make the cake I turned on the water and the water faucet broke off in my hand. Now is a good time to tell you that the previous owners of our house were very frugal and when it came to repairs fixing things did not mean they did it correctly if they could save a buck. Water was spraying out of what was formerly a faucet handle with such force that it was bouncing off the ceiling and puddling in the middle of the floor. At this point I am pretty sure I let a few 4 letter words fly, which brought my wife and 3 children flying into the room. As they hit the wet spot on the floor bodies were flying in all directions. They looked like penguins sliding down a glacier until their bodies hit the cupboards on the other side of the kitchen and they collapsed in a heap on a floor. After what seemed like hours we managed to find the shut off valve and turn the geyser off. Now the fun begins. As my wife and children dry off, I head to the local hardware store to buy a new faucet.

When I arrive at the store I assumed I would be able to grab a faucet and come home. Nobody told me I had to know how many holes were in the sink. One thing that you need to know about my handy man capabilities is that I have none. So back home I head to see how many holes were in the sink. To count the holes in the sink you would have to remove the old faucet or be able to look at the underside of the old old. Well at the time I was the size of a small kitchen appliance and I had to contort my body to even get under the sink. This involved wedging my shoulder under a garbage disposal while lying on my back, squeezing my 3 foot wide body into an 18 inch opening. Turns out that I couldn't see the under side of the sink. Plan 2 remove the old faucet. I squeezed my body back under the sink, took a wrench and started to loosen the water supply. After an hour I gave up.

I went back to the hardware store humiliated as a man and with a look of defeat on my face. Now we lived in a very small town where everybody knew everybody. When I went back into the store and talked to one of the family members who owned the store he offered to loan me a faucet wrench as it was designed to get into tight spots. I took it home and 2 hours later went back to the hardware store again in total defeat. At this point the helpful store owner offered to come home with me for a mere $20. I took him up on that offer. He crawled under the sink and began the task of unscrewing the water supply. After a few minutes he came out from under the sink and headed to the store. He returned with a small flashlight that had a flexible neck and a tool box. Eventually we discovered that the previous owner had replaced the water supply not with a supply line but with 20 brass fittings that were all screwed together. As we would start to loosen one, you would stop and try again but land on a different fitting and start loosening the next one and tighten the previous one. Eventually we replaced the water supply and the faucet. It only took us 5 hours to do that 2 hour job. The cake was made just in time for the party and none of the pre-Thanksgiving preparation was started because we had a party to host.

Now Thanksgiving morning we got up early and began cooking and everything seemed to be going fine. The smell of turkey was in the air, the pies were cooling, the stove top was filled with side dishes in various stages of doneness. We went to add the dressing to the oven and the second disaster hits us full on. We opened the oven door and the turkey was white and the oven was not hot. Sometime during the first hour of cooking the oven had died. Instant panic sits in, what are we going to do? We can't afford to try to have it repaired on Thanksgiving day, the stores are closed so we can't go buy a precooked one. Yes 20 years ago the stores actually closed on Thanksgiving day.

Since the bird was partially cooked and started to take on some color we decided to... are you ready for this...microwave it. We had turkey for Thanksgiving that year, it was barely edible but it was turkey. It was dry and tough and tasted the best when completely covered in gravy. The kids didn't seem to mind and we had accomplished making our first Thanksgiving dinner. Over the years we have had numerous successful Thanksgiving dinners, but this is the one I will always remember.

Cornbread Stuffing with Bourbon, Sausage and Apples
based on recipe by the Neelys from Food Network

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound Italian sausage, casing removed
1 medium onions, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and chopped coarsely
1 teaspoon freshly minced thyme leaves
1/2 cup bourbon
1 1/4 pounds cubed and dried cornbread stuffing, store-bought
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
2 cups turkey or low-sodium chicken stock
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Put olive oil in large skillet and heat to medium high.

Brown sausage. Add celery and onions and cook until softened. Salt and pepper to taste. Add apple and cook for 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat and add the bourbon. Simmer until bourbon almost completely evaporates.

Put cornbread, parsley, chicken stock eggs and pecans in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly. Add the Sausage, apple mixture and combine all ingredients. Spread mixture out evenly in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Bake until cooked about 30 to 40 minutes.

Lynn and Rouz

Shrimp and Veggie Alfredo

2011-12-04T18:43:00.001-05:00

The Christmas season has officially begun at my house. Annette has got the decorating well in hand. I heard Grandma got ran over by a reindeer on the radio and my company had their "holiday" party this week. Annette and I are planning a Christmas dinner party.
For those that have Tweeted or asked me on Facebook, my knee is doing well. I am hoping to start walking this week and maybe starting back at my regular exercise routine next week. Thanks for the concern.
After a week of beef and lamb in Ireland followed by a week of turkey and turkey leftover creations it was time for something different. I opted for a pasta dish, big surprise isn't it?

Shrimp and Veggie Alfredo
1/2 pound of mixed veggies, cut into bite sized pieces (I used mushrooms, red peppers, carrots and broccoli)
1/2 pound of shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tsp canola oil

For the sauce:
1 tbs butter
1 tbs flour
3/4 cup milk
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated

I used angel hair, you could use spaghetti or whatever floats your boat. Prepare according to directions on package. Plan to have the pasta ready as veggies and shrimp are finish cooking.

Heat the oil in a pan to medium high, when it shimmers add the thicker veggies (carrots and broccoli in my case). Sauté for 3 minutes then add mushrooms, cook for 1 minute. Then add the shrimp and red peppers. Cook until veggies are soft and shrimp are cooked through, 2 or 3 minutes.

When you add the shrimp are added start the sauce. Add the butter to a pan on medium heat. When the butter melts, add the flour and whisk until the flour is incorporated and the lumps are gone. Slowly add the milk, while you are whisking. The sauce should thicken. After the milk is added add the garlic and cook for another minute. Stir in the cheese and keep whisking, the sauce should get thicker. When the sauce gets thick enough for you add to the veggies and plate on top of the pasta.

Fresh Cranberry Relish - Kick the Can

2011-11-23T11:48:00.001-05:00

When it comes to Thanksgiving my family is very traditional. The meal is always turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, gravy, green bean casserole and cranberry sauce. 3 or 4 years ago I found this recipe for cranberry sauce and slipped it in on them. We haven't seen a can of cranberry sauce since. It is so simple and flavorful. Try it and you will kick the can to the curb. This recipe is based on Tyler Florence's Cranberry Relish. The picture above is my dog Bo (and if you look closely the nose of Zoe) giving his approval of the Thanksgiving choice of meats.

Fresh Cranberry Relish
2 12oz bags of fresh cranberries
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup Grand Marnier
1 orange, zested and juiced

Put everything in a food processor and pulse it until finely chopped. Put in bowl and let it set in refrigerator for at least 1 hour. I usually make this the day before and let it sit in the fridge. You can reserve some of the orange zest for a garnish.

Eating Ireland

2011-11-13T19:49:00.001-05:00

Some of you may have noticed I didn't post last week. My wife and I went on a trip to Ireland. That is the Blarney Castle above.

Being a foodie the first thing that I do when I decide to go on vacation is check out the food scene. Ireland's food scene seem to be a bit fuzzy, I could see a lot of the stereotypical dishes stews, shepherds pies, lamb dishes. Here and there I would find an article about new chefs updating the cuisine. The seafood seemed to be the area where the revolution was taking place. What I found was if you went to a pub you found the traditional dishes, if you went to a restaurant you found an eclectic mix of food. Italian seemed to dominate, even some of the pubs served tiramisu. There were a few curry dishes, I imagine that comes from the British influence. The thing that surprised me most about the food was that you have an island with many small fishing towns on the coast and that very little fish is eaten. Our tour guide said that until the last few years fish was eaten less than once a week. With the health food movement in Ireland the Irish now average eating fish once a week. Most of the fish is frozen and imported, according to the tour guide.

Here are pictures of some of the meals we had in Ireland. Pubs and Castles built before electricity have rally poor lighting, so I will apologize for the pictures in advance.

The first night we had dinner at Bunratty Castle. At Bunratty you get an authentic medieval entertainment and a meal. The only piece of silverware you get is a dagger (knife), so be prepared to get messy fingers. We started with the best potato soup I have ever eaten, I want that recipe. I am sure it is something like 1 pound of potatoes, 1 gallon of cream and 5 pounds of butter to taste that good.

The next course was Pork Ribs. They claimed that there were no finer ribs in all of Ireland. All I will say is thank God I live in North Carolina and not Ireland then.

The next course was Capons with wine sauce and boiled vegetables.

For dessert we had a berry mousse.

Stopping at a pub a couple of nights later here is what we got. Annette got Potato Cakes. these Potato Cakes were fantastic, in fact the people that ordered them are still talking about them.

I had to try the Lamb Guinness Stew, it was very good.

On our last night we went to the Merry Ploughboy, a pub that feature authentic Irish music and dancing. My wife got the beef stew, the wedge is a slice of bread.

I ordered the Lamb Shank. I have never had lamb shank before, I am hoping to find it locally as I wouldn't mind having it again.

My last culinary event in Ireland was a trip to the Guinness factory. After the tour you get a free pint. Most people go to a round all glass bar where you can over look the city. We opted to go to a class on how to pour a pint of Guinness correctly. My wife and I are now certified in properly pouring a pint of Guinness. Since it takes a few minutes to get your certificate we had to sample our pints, that is why they are not full.

PS. Before I went to Ireland I mentioned I tore my meniscus (cartilge in my knee). The day after we got back from Ireland I went to the doctor about my knee and I am having surgery on Tuesday. No cooking Thanksgiving dinner for me. Luckily Lynn, my oldest child, has decided she wants to make Thanksgiving dinner. Next week when I am resting my knee I will write more about the trip and try to add some recipes.

Beef and Guinness Stew

2011-10-30T18:46:00.004-04:00

This has been a bad week for me health wise. I caught a cold in my chest and head. Then my knee, which has been bothering me for a couple of weeks, really started bothering me. I finally went to the doctors for the knee and he thinks I tore the meniscus. I have to go for a MRI later this week to confirm the diagnosis.
My wife, Annette, loves it though she can come up to me kick me in the knee and run. I can't yell at her or chase her. She really hasn't done that, but I think she has thought about it a few times.

Annette has been craving winter comfort food. Of course she is constantly cold and starts craving winter comfort food in August, if the temperature drops below 85 degrees. This weeks craving was beef stew. Here is the recipe I made.

Beef and Guinness Stew
1 1/2 lb. beef, cut into bite size pieces (I had London Broil that I cut up, but you can use stew meat from grocery store)
2 tsp canola oil
1 bottle Guinness beer
enough beef broth to make 4 1/2 cups of liquid when combined with beer
2 beef bouillon cubes dissolved in beef broth and beer
1 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
3 large potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
3 carrots, cut into bite sized pieces
2 stalks celery, cut into small pieces
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp cold water

Heat a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add oil. Add the meat and cook until browned. Add the rosemary and pepper. Then add the beef broth/bouillon/beer mixture. Bring the mixture to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cover and let it simmer for 1 hour.

Add the potatoes, carrots, celery and onion and bring back to boil. While waiting for it to boil mix cornstarch with cold water. When stew starts to boil add cornstarch mixture and let it boil for 1 minute, while stirring. Turn back down to simmer. Let simmer for at least 1 more hour. The longer it cooks the better it is. This is one of those meals where it is even better if you reheat it and eat it the next day.

Grilled Chicken Marsala

2011-10-23T16:11:00.002-04:00

Chicken Marsala has been a family favorite for years. My dad found a recipe somewhere, probably in the Detroit Free Press and started making it. The recipe doesn't call for Marsala, but a dry white wine. Growing up I didn't even know Marsala was a wine. Eventually I figured out the wine thing. Then I took a cooking class with Paula, from bell' alimento and learned the Italian way to make Chicken Marsala. Paula's version was incredible and became my new favorite. This weekend I invented a new version, that takes most of the fat and calories out of the dish but leaves a lot of flavor. The 2 previous versions have between 3 to 6 tbs of butter plus 3 tbs to 1/4 cup of olive oil. My version uses 1 tbs of butter and no olive oil.

Grilled Chicken Marsala
2 chicken breasts
4 oz mushrooms, sliced
1/2 white onion, finely chopped
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 cup Marsala wine
1 tbs butter
1 tsp parsley, chopped for garnish

Preheat grill to medium high.

Take one 3 foot long piece of aluminum foil and fold it in half. Fold each of the 2 sides over about 1/2 inch. Repeat so the sides have been folded twice. Then fold the bottom up about 1/2 inch. This will give you 3 sides folded over and the top with an opening. Add all of the ingredients, except butter and parsley, then fold the top over twice each time about 1/2 inch. Cook for about 10 minutes, then flip over and cook another 10 minutes. If you have bigger or smaller chicken breasts you will have to adjust cooking time. The breasts will be poached/steamed at this point. Open the packet , be careful of steam. Dump the contents into a skillet, except the breasts. I left the breasts on the grill to add a little color to them. Take the skillet and place on a stove over high heat. If you only have a little liquid add more Marsala to the pan so you have about 3/4 cup of liquid. Cook until liquid evaporates to about 1/2 (3/8 to 1/2 cup). Add the butter and cook until butter is melted.

I served this over polenta, you could also serve over rice. Put breast on top of polenta or rice. Then cover with Marsala, mushroom and onion mixture. Sprinkle with parsley.

Asian Tuna and Noodle

2011-10-16T14:09:00.000-04:00

I have a list of dishes that I keep thinking to myself someday I am going to remake this recipe. One of those recipes is Tuna Noodle Casserole. I want to make a version that people will want to eat, instead of the goop my mom made that had canned tuna and cream of mushroom soup. This recipe started out to be the remake but some place in the middle it took on a life of its own and became an Asian Tuna and Noodle dish. I think if I made it again I would add something like broccoli to it, to give it color and more texture. I added the water chestnuts but they didn't work as well as I hoped. I have used the sauce for the noodles on spaghetti and several types of Asian noodles. I have also used the noodle sauce for different types of meats when making Asian dishes. the sauce is very versatile.

Asian Tuna and Noodle
Tuna
2 tbs canola oil
1 tbs honey
1 tsp sesame Oil

Noodles
6 oz egg noodles
2 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs honey
1 tsp sesame oil
1 small can of water chestnuts

Garnish
2 green onions, finely chopped, green part only

Put tuna ingredients in a resealable plastic bag and let it set for at least 1 hour in refrigerator.

Preheat grill to high. I like my tuna red in the center so I put it on high so the outside gets color, but inside is still red. Start a pot of water on to boil to make the noodles. The honey in the marinade will make the grill marks really stand out.

In a medium bowl add all of the ingredients for the noodles, except the noodles and the water chestnuts.

Add the noodles to the boiling water. Check the package for cooking time. Remove and drain when done. Toss them in the bowl with the soy sauce mixture and add water chestnuts. Toss to coat all of the noodles. Let them sit until Tuna is ready.

Grill the tuna about 3 minutes per side, depending on thickness.

Place noodles on plate and top with tuna steak. Garnish with green onion.

Risotto With Chianti and Mushrooms

2011-10-09T22:02:00.001-04:00

A while back I ordered some new cookbooks, none of them were released yet. Last week they started arriving. It's fun coming home from work and finding a new treasure in the mail. This last one was the best. I got The Italian Country Table by Maxine Clark. I admit I ordered this book so I could get free shipping and a bigger discount on my order. Turns out every page has a recipe that I want to cook. I could not decide what to make first. I finally handed the book to my wife and said pick something for dinner. She selected the Risotto with red wine mushrooms and pancetta (Risotto al chianti, funghi e pancetta). The book gives the American name and then the Italian name like I wrote it. I shortened the name to make it easier for titles and tweeting. I did make a couple of changes because I did not have the exact ingredients on hand and I will explain them below.

Risotto With Chianti and Mushrooms
1/4 cup olive oil
3 oz pancetta or other smoke cured bacon, finely chopped (I used regular bacon)
1 red onion, finely chopped
7 oz cremini or porcini mushrooms, finely chopped (I used white mushrooms because I just bought a pound)
1 oz dried mushrooms, (I added this to make up for the flavor I lost by using the white mushrooms) let them soak in the chicken broth
2 1/2 cups risotto rice (I used arborio)
1 cup Chianti
6 cups hot chicken stock
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Sea Salt and Pepper to taste
For Garnish:
A couple of large mushrooms sliced
2 tbs parsley, finely chopped

Heat the chicken broth and add the dried mushrooms if using.

Heat 1/2 the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the bacon, when it starts to crisp add the onion and mushrooms. Cook until soft and translucent.

Add the rice and cook until it smells toasty, it will start becoming opaque. Add the wine and cook until it disappears.

Add 1 cup of the stock and cook until absorbed. Add another cup and cook until it is absorbed. Continue the process for about 20 minutes until you are down to 1 cup of broth, only cut back and add only 1/2 cup of broth at a time. When you are down to 1/2 cup of broth and the rice is getting tender, but has a little bit of bite to it. Add the remaining olive oil and Parmesan. Salt and Pepper to taste.

Add the remaining broth and cover pot with lid. Let it stand for 5 minutes. Put into bowls and garnish with mushroom slices and parsley.

Limoncello Shrimp and Big News

2011-10-02T19:55:00.004-04:00

I am rerunning my Limoncello shrimp recipe this week, because of a special event that happened in my family that prevented me from cooking this weekend. My son, Joel married the love of his life Meghan. Here is a picture of the happy couple with the grumpy old married couple. Welcome to the family Meghan.

Limoncello Shrimp

Do you ever get a recipe idea stuck in your head, I have cooked it 5 or 10 times in my head. Tonight I finally cooked it. I am glad I did as this has to be one of the best recipes I ever invented.

Limoncello Shrimp

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp lemon thyme, you could use any green herb that isn't real strong flavored

1 tbs olive oil

1/2 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/3 cup Limoncello

1 tsp butter

In a saute pan heat oil. While oil is heating mix the garlic, lemon zest and thyme together. When oil is hot but not shimmering add the garlic mix. Let it heat up until it becomes aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add the shrimp. Toss the shrimp to coat with garlic mixture. Cook until shrimp is cooked 3 to 4 minutes depending on size. Remove shrimp from pan. Wipe out any burned garlic. Add Limoncello to pan and let it reduce to about 1/2 the original amount. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter. Drizzle this over the shrimp. The sauce will be very sweet but when it is added to the shrimp the flavors will balance out.

Cheese Ball

2011-09-25T14:38:00.002-04:00

Every Christmas when I was growing up my parents made cheese balls. I remember the big balls of sticky cheese, that no longer resembled cheese, being rolled in nuts. In later years I was probably the one who chopped the nuts, not with a knife but in a jar that had 2 blades that crossed in the center and were attached to a plunger. You had to press the plunger down about 3 million times to get nuts that were so unevenly chopped that some nut pieces were pounded into powder and some were still whole. But that did not matter because the end results tasted so good.

Flash forward to this weekend. My wife was in the musical Godspell. If you have seen it you will realize all the cast is on stage most of the time and most of them have more than 1 part (at least when you are doing a small church production). They decided to have a cast party and each member would bring a dish to represent on of their characters. One of my wife's characters was from a parable about sowing seeds. Well I right away I thought I would make a multi grain bread with seeds on top. As the party got closer several people announced they were making bread. Time to change plans. Google seed recipes. What comes up...cheese balls. Time to engage the brain, what was in those sticky balls rolled in nuts? Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion salt, cream cheese and cheddar I think.

Cheese Ball
8 oz Sharp Cheddar, the sharper the better, shredded
8 oz Cream Cheese
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp onion salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Enough chopped nuts and seeds to cover the ball of cheese, I used sunflower seeds and pecans I would guess about 1/2 cup total I did not measure.

Chop the nuts and place in a pie pan.
Put all ingredients except the nuts in a food processor. Mix until combined. I thought the cheese looked a little dry so I added a tablespoon of mayonnaise. Then roll the cheese mixture into a ball. After the cheese is rolled into a ball, take the ball and roll it in the nuts. Refrigerate the ball for a couple of hours. The cheese ball has more flavor when it is at room temperature so take it out of refrigerator at least 1/2 hour before serving.

Caramels with Nutella and Nuts

2011-09-18T12:05:00.001-04:00

This is a recipe that looks like you spent a lot of time making, but reality in reality is quick and easy.

First I want to say that the microwave caramel recipe came from someone I follow on Foodbuzz. I printed the recipe and I thought I saved it to my recipe box, but now I can't find it. If the recipe is yours please let me know so I can give you credit. I added the Nutella and nuts to kick up the caramels.

Microwave Caramels
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts or small pecan halves
enough Nutella to cover the caramel

Melt butter in microwave safe bowl. Stir in syrups, brown and white sugars and condensed milk. Mix until sugar dissolves. Microwave on high for 3 1/2 minutes. Remove from microwave and stir in vanilla. Spray a dish (I used a 9 inch x 13 inch dish which made this caramels, use 8 x 8 if you want thick caramels) with nonstick spray. Pour caramel mixture in pan and refrigerate until set. Spread Nutella over the caramel and sprinkle with nuts or place pecan halves. Cut into 1inch squares. I did not spread Nutella over whole dish. I sprinkled sea salt on some and left some plain.

Roasted Pepper, Sun Dried Tomato & White Bean Soup

2011-09-11T19:36:00.000-04:00

As the weather cools down and fall slowly creeps up on us our food thought turn to foods like soups. Why it dropped all the way down to the mid 80's this week. My wife got out her insulated underwear. Although I am not really sure she ever put it away, I have never seen anybody who is as cold as she is. She wears a hoodie to the grocery store because she has to go in the refrigerated section.

Here is a a very simple soup I came up with that features pantry items Roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, white beans and pasta. You can make this in 20 minutes.

Roasted Red Pepper, Sun Dried Tomato and White Bean Soup
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes finely chopped
1 tbs of oil from sun dried tomatoes (you can use olive oil)
1/2 jar (15 oz) jar Red Peppers, finely chopped (about 3 whole peppers)
1/3 cup of small pasta, like orzo
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
Fresh basil

Heat a pot with the oil in it. Add the garlic and heat until fragrant. Add the broth and the sun dried tomatoes. Let the broth come to a boil and leave it for a couple of minutes. Add the peppers and the pasta. Let it cook until the pasta is al dente. Put in bowl and heavily garnish with basil cut into ribbons. I originally just put some basil on as a garnish but we liked it so much that I added additional basil to the soup.

Cilantro Lime Shrimp

2011-09-05T19:34:00.001-04:00

This Labor Day weekend my wife and I had something going on every day. At one of the parties we were at the host of a party we were going to later in the weekend said she had a cilantro fetish. Knowing that I had to make a dish for the second party I filed that away in my brain. There isn't much room but somehow it managed to stay there for 2 days. This is the recipe that I came up with. I made about 3 pounds of shrimp. You can make the sauce and drizzle over shrimp or use as a dip. If using as a dip you will want to make more.

Cilantro Lime Chicken

Marinade

lime infused oil, enough to coat your shrimp about 1 tbs for 1 pound shrimp

Lime zest, about 1/2 lime per pound

1 tbs cilantro, finely chopped

3 pounds Shrimp

Sauce

1/4 cup honey

juice of 1 1/2 limes

2 tsp lime zest

Hot Sauce to taste

Mix the marinade ingredients in a bowl. Add the shrimp and let it sit for 1/2 hour.

Heat grill to medium. Add the shrimp and grill until done about 1 1/2 minutes to 2 minutes per side.

Mix all of the sauce ingredients together except the hot sauce. After the other ingredients are mixed add the hot sauce to taste, testing as you add.

Since we were making the shrimp for a crowd I opted to drizzle sauce over over shrimp instead of having them take it and dip the shrimp. If we dipped people would use more sauce and since this was for a grill out sauce and paper plates usually leads to some kind of accident. Pile the shrimp on a platter and sprinkle more cilantro on top.

Shrimp Salad Sandwich

2011-08-28T20:06:00.001-04:00

Ever have one of those days in the kitchen? I must have picked out 5 different things to make for dinner and every time I went to make it we were missing ingredients, had the wrong kind of whatever or somebody didn't want what you decided to make. I ended up improvising and making shrimp salad sandwiches. They turned out to be very good.

Shrimp Salad Sandwiches
16 shrimp, 21-25 count cooked and cut into 3 pieces
2 tbs light mayo
1 tbs light sour cream
1 green onion, white and green parts finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1/4 Dill weed
2 slices tomato
2 lettuce leaves
2 buns

Makes enough for 2 sandwiches.
Mix everything except tomato, lettuce and buns in a bowl. Place lettuce and tomato on bun. Then spread the shrimp mixture on the bun.

Seven Recipes for the Price of One

2011-08-21T15:03:00.000-04:00

This has been a week of cooking highs. At the beginning of the week I won the Cook's Illustrated Indoor Clambake Challenge, the recipe is in the Seven Links listed below. At end of the week Tiffany from Como Water announced that I won a print by a local artist in her give away. Tiffany lived in Durham until recently, so do the artist and I, so it really is a local artist for me as well. Tiffany also surprised me by selecting me to participate in the Seven Links challenge that has been going around among bloggers. The Seven Links was hard for me as things have changed about my blog in the last month and a half. For some reason the number of hits on my site has quadrupled in the last 6 weeks. Recipes that have been number one for the last 1 1/2 years have dropped and recipes that hardly got any hits when I posted them are now my new number one most viewed. Anyway here are my Seven Links:

Most Beautiful: This was a hard one for me as I like photographing the food as much as cooking it. After much debate the winner was Shrimp and Red Pepper Pasta.

Most Popular: Until 1 month ago my Limoncello Shrimp was number one but now it is Spaghetti with All Day Sauce, That I Made in 2 Hours. This also wins longest recipe title.

Most Controversial: I would have to say this was hard because I have never really had any controversy over my posts. I went with my Lobster Ravioli with Champagne Sauce because after it was posted I got an email from an Italian lady who told me how she would have made this dish and proceeded to tell me what I did wrong. I actually learned a lot from the email and was glad she sent it.

Most Helpful: This was one of my very first posts and is still in my top 3 posts of all time. Quick and Easy Pasta Sauces.

Surprisingly Successful: My wife says it was the Blueberry Balsamic Salmon. I don't think so I was always sure this would work, but I will give her the benefit of the doubt. This one maybe ugly but it's good.

The Recipe That Did Not Get The Attention That It Deserves: This has to be my Barbecued Baked Beans. I love these beans, so much flavor for so little time.

Recipe I Am Most Proud Of: This one was a tie. Until this week the recipe I was most proud of was my Limoncello Shrimp. Limoncello Shrimp was my first time in the Foodbuzz Top 9 and it took the number one spot. Then my Lobster Boil went and one the Cook's Illustrated Indoor Clambake Challenge this week, so right now Lobster Boil wins.

Now for the second part of the Seven Links Challenge, to select people who must now take the challenge. My first 2 choices are registered dietitians with excellent iPhone apps. Make sure you check out their blogs and their apps.

Kristin from Mother Rimmy

Rebecca from Chow and Chatter

My next 3 are people that I just started following, but I have known Catherine from other food sites for a while.

Catherine from Living the Gourmet

Erin from Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts

Kita from Pass the Sushi

The rules for the Seven Links challenge are simple. You must post a link for each of the seven categories and you must pick 5 people to play after you make your post.

Mexican Salad

2011-08-14T16:38:00.002-04:00

I love it when I get to go to the Farmers Market, it always inspires me to make something great for dinner. There are several parts to this recipe but most are easy and can be made in a couple of minutes so don't panic.

Mexican Salad

Chicken

1 batch of Mexican Chicken, this if from my other blog

Salad

1 tortilla, per person

1 cup lettuce, torn into bite size pieces per person

1 oz Queso Fresco per person

Heat a frying pan over high heat. After the pan gets hot throw the tortilla in it. When the starts to bubble and get some color on it flip it over and cook until other side starts to brown. Remove and do the same to the remaining tortillas.

Salsa

2 Tomatoes, chopped into small pieces (I used 1 heirloom and 1 yellow)

1/2 to 1 jalapeno, chopped into very small pieces

1 tbs red onion, chopped into small pieces

1 tbs cilantro, finely chopped

Mix all of the ingredients together and let it sit for a few minutes for flavors to mingle. You can use store bought or your own recipe if you want. I do recommend fresh when tomatoes and peppers are in season.

Guacamole

2 small avocados, peeled, sliced into pieces

1/2 lime, juiced

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tbs red onion, finely chopped

10 cherry tomatoes, cut in 1/2

1 tbs Cilantro, finely chopped

As soon as the avocados are cut and peeled squeeze the lime juice on them, to prevent them from oxidizing. Mash the avocados with a potato maser. Fold in the remaining ingredients.

To assemble put tortilla on plate top with the lettuce. Then add the chicken top with guacamole and salsa. Sprinkle with the Queso Fresco.

Shrimp and White Beans

2011-08-07T19:19:00.002-04:00

An old favorite.

Shrimp and White Beans

2 slices of bacon, cut into 1/4" pieces

1 tbs onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 can white beans, rinsed and drained

12 to 16 shrimp depending on size

2 oz spinach, you can use frozen or fresh but cut into smaller pieces

Olive Oil for drizzling

Crusty bread to eat with this

Put a nonstick pan on medium low heat, after the pan is hot add the bacon and let the fat render. Add the onion and let it cook until translucent. Add garlic and let it get fragrant 30 seconds to 1 minute. Now add shrimp and cook for a minute of 2. Add the beans and spinach and cook until shrimp are done and beans are heated through. Plate the mixture and drizzle with a good olive oil and eat with the bread.

Shrimp and Red Pepper Pasta

2011-07-31T13:51:00.000-04:00

Here is a weeknight meal you can make in less than 1/2 hour. It's light and tasty making it great for these hot days of summer.
Shrimp and Red Pepper Pasta
15 - 20 Shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 roasted red pepper, cut into small pieces
3 Roma Tomatoes, cut into small pieces
1 Tbs Lemon Olive Oil, plus some for drizzling
4 oz of pasta, 2 oz is approximately 1 serving, I used whole wheat Angel Hair

Put the past water on to boil.

Clean the shrimp and cut the vegetables. Toss the shrimp and vegetables in a bowl with the oil. Heat a pan for the shrimp mixture.

Toss the pasta in the water to cook. When the pasta has about 5 minutes left throw the shrimp and veggies in the pan and cook them.

Remove the pasta from the boiling water and drain. Toss the pasta with the shrimp and vegetables. and plate. I garnished with baby basil leaves and then drizzled a little of the lemon olive oil over the pasta.

Blueberry Muffins

2011-07-24T18:04:00.000-04:00

As you know I am not a baker! I don't like all of the rules and equations that you have to follow. I am a color outside the lines kind of guy. Luckily my wife is a nurse and is used to measuring things precisely, so she is good at baking. They are the best muffins I have ever had. This recipe comes from Cook's Illustrated The Best Light Recipe cookbook.

These are the best blueberry muffins ever. They are light and moist. The lemon juice and zest add just a hint of flavor surprise that brings out the sweetness of the blueberries. They freeze well and can be thawed one or two at a time in the microwave for a little treat anytime. But the best secret about these muffins: they are much lower in fat than other muffins because of the yogurt. They are only 250 cal each, according to the recipe--but they used low-fat yogurt. I use non-fat yogurt, so I guess that makes them even better!

2 Cups (10 oz) plus 1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Cup (4 oz) cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Cup (7 oz) sugar
1 tablespoon raw (Turbinado) sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons juice from a lemon
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 Cups non-fat plain or vanilla yogurt
2 Cups fresh blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare muffin tins with papers or vegetable spray.
2. Whisk 2 cups of the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 1/4 Cup of sugar together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Beat an additional 3/4 Cup sugar and the butter together with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until light & fluffy (3-5 minutes.)
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.
5. Beat in the lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla.
6. Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture until just incorporated, followed by 1/3 of the yogurt. Repeat this twice more until all the flour and yogurt is added. Do not over mix.
7. In a separate bowl, toss the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour, then fold them into the batter.
8. Spoon batter into muffin cups. Sprinkle tops with remaining tablespoon of raw sugar.
9. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes.
10. Cool muffins in the pan for 5 minutes then flip them out onto a wire rack and cool 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 15-18 muffins

Spicy Chickpeas with Poached Egg

2011-07-17T18:28:00.002-04:00

The day after my daughters and I ran the 10K in April we went out for brunch. I ordered spicy chickpeas with an egg on top. The dish consisted of chickpeas, spinach and mushrooms in a spicy tomato sauce. It was topped with an egg. I am not sure what kind of an egg it was supposed to be. It consisted of mainly a yoke. My guess is it was fried egg where the white part got overcooked so they cut it off. Here is my version, I poached the egg but it over cooked while I was photographing it, so thats why the yolk is chunky in the picture above.

This is another recipe where you can use the leftover vegetables in your refrigerator. If you don't have one of the vegetables I mention substitute another or add more of another one.

2 eggs

1 can Chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 14 oz can of crushed tomatoes

1/2 yellow squash or zucchini

4 mushrooms, sliced

small handful of spinach, chopped

1 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

Add the olive oil to a pan on medium heat. When it shimmers add the squash, mushrooms. Cook until the squash starts to softens. Add the chickpeas and cook for a minute. Then add the tomatoes, red pepper and spinach.

For the poached egg put 1 cup of water in a 2 cup microwavable measuring cup. Crack 1 egg into the water. The egg should sink, but not settle to the bottom. Microwave for 1 minute to 1 1/2 minutes. The egg should take on a white color all over. Take egg out with slotted spoon and drain. Place egg on top of plated chickpeas. If the eggs are going to sit for a few minutes you may want to dip them in cold water to stop the cooking. Repeat with other egg.

Blueberry Balsamic Salmon

2011-07-10T20:38:00.007-04:00

Over the Fourth of July I told my wife I was going to cook a different region of the country everyday. We did southwestern, New England (you saw the lobster boil), New Orleans and what my wife called northern woods. I look at the northern woods as more of a childhood memories meal. The main entree for the meal was salmon with a blueberry balsamic sauce. Growing up just about every weekend we went fishing, whether it was pan fish or larger fish like salmon. I had an uncle who was a fishing guide so every year we made 2 or 3 trips to fish for salmon. My wife lived at the top of a hill, at the bottom of the hill was a blueberry farm. It was only natural that I eventually tied the 2 things together. Sorry about the pictures for this recipe, I am not sure what happened but I didn't get 1 good shot out of the bunch. Most of them looked like the camera wasn't focusing.

Salmon with Blueberry Balsamic Sauce
1 salmon fillet
1 pt blueberries, reserve a few for garnish
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbs tomato paste
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder

For the sauce combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan. Cook until the sauce starts thickening, the blueberries will begin to explode. Remove from the heat and let it cool slightly. With a stick blender
(or pour it in a blender) blend until smooth.
Grill the salmon as you normally would. The last 3 or 4 of minutes on the grill spread the blueberry balsamic sauce on the salmon. Garnish with the reserved blueberries.

Grilled Steak Sandwich

2011-07-04T20:28:00.000-04:00

I know you have looked in your refrigerator and wondered what that thing is in the plastic bowl in the back. The only way you can figure it out is by tasting it and your just not that brave, so off it goes to the garbage can. This sandwich was born because I cleaned out the fridge while I could still identify the ingredients. However I do think that the Food Network should create a new show where contestants have to identify the left over or eat it. For the sandwich feel free to add or subtract ingredients, just use up the meat or vegetables in your refrigerator.

Grilled Steak Sandwich
4 oz leftover steak, cut into bite size pieces
2 oz spinach, raw
2 oz mushrooms, sliced
2 oz roasted red pepper, cut into bite sized pieces
1 ounce onion, diced
6 cherry tomatoes, cut in 1/2
enough Mozzarella to cover the sandwich
Olive oil to brush on baguette
1/2 small baguette, cut in half horizontally so you have 2 long pieces

Preheat a grill to medium heat.
If you have a grill basket you can use that or get a piece of aluminum foil and spray it with a nonstick spray. Toss everything but the spinach, mozzarella and the baguette on the grill in the basket or on the foil. Cook until everything is heated through. While the mixture is heating spread a light coating of the olive oil on the baguette halves and lay them on the grill. When the baguette starts to brown flip it over and brown the other side. To assemble spread the spinach on the bread, top with the meat and vegetable mixture and then add the mozzarella on top and let it sit on the grill until the mozzarella starts to melt.

Spaghetti with All Day Sauce that I made in 2 Hours

2011-06-26T16:46:00.000-04:00

This is a recipe I actually made a couple of months ago, but never wrote about. It was one of my cooking weekends where I made several dishes and photographed them. This one just kept getting passed over probably because it came about because I messes up the directions so bad by the time it was cooked it didn't resemble the original. The original was a recipe that used 1/2 pound beef, 1/2 pork and 1/2 pound veal cooked in a tomato sauce for several hours. They also made meatballs but they were very tiny. To make the meatballs you used 1/2 pound ground beef, 1/2 pound ground pork and 1/2 pound ground veal. Can you see what my first mistake was? I got a mixture of ground beef, pork and veal from the store but none for the sauce. My second mistake was I was making this for a friend from Thailand, Hi Steve, and didn't allow enough time for the sauce to cook for several hours.

The first lesson you should learn when cooking is read the recipe all the way through. The second thing it make sure you read it as written not how you want it to be.

At this point I had to put on my thinking cap and channel my inner Alton Brown and see if I could fake my way through this. They cooked the meat in the sauce for hours to give it flavor. I needed a way to add meat flavor to my sauce but in a short amount of time. I decided to make the meatballs and brown them in the pan I was going to make the sauce in. After I removed the meatballs I deglazed the pan with 1 cup of beef broth and then reduced the broth to 1/2 giving me a strong beef flavor. Next I added the tomato paste and cooked that for a couple of minutes then I added the can of crushed tomatoes. This way I got the beef flavor into the sauce. I let the sauce reduce until it was very rich and thick intensifying the flavors. I also added the meatballs back to the sauce when I added the crushed tomatoes, letting the meatballs flavor the sauce. It turned out very good and I did not end up throwing out the 1 and 1/2 pounds of meat that was used in the original recipe to flavor the sauce. The original says to remove it and never says to use it for anything else and since they made the meatballs before they removed the meat from the sauce they didn't grind it and use it for meatballs.

As a side note I used bucatini not spaghetti for the pasta. Bucatini is like spaghetti but it is thicker and has a hole in the center like a straw. Target carries bucatini in the Giada DeLaurentiis line of food if you want to try it otherwise it might be hard to find. Spaghetti is just as good I just wanted to try bucatini.

Meatballs
You can use my traditional meatball recipe, but increase the ground beef to 3/4 pound and add an additional sausage or if you you can get a ground beef, ground pork and ground veal mixture from your butcher/grocery store use 1 1/2 pounds of that instead of the ground beef and Italian sausage in my recipe. Also you will want to make tiny meatballs, I made 86 from my 1 1/2 pounds of meat. I used a 1 tsp measuring spoon to scoop the beef and then rolled it in my hand.

All Day Tomato Sauce in 2 Hours
1 recipe of My basic Tomato Sauce
2 cups of beef broth
1 tbs tomato paste

Make the meatballs and brown them in a dutch oven. Remove the meatballs and set aside. Add the beef broth to the pan and stir to release the brown bits from the meatballs from the pan. Cook until the broth has reduced by 1/2. This will take 10 minutes or so. Then add the tomato paste and stir it into the broth. let it cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Then add the tomato sauce. Stir the sauce until the broth has been incorporated into the broth. Add the meatballs and let them simmer for an hour. Serve over your favorite spaghetti or bucatini. Garnish with shaved parmesan and or basil leaves.

Lobster Boil

2011-06-19T14:48:00.001-04:00

This is one of my favorite meals. For the last few years this has been my Father's Day meal. You can add additional things like sausage or shellfish if you like. Happy Father's Day to my fellow fathers.

Lobster Boil

4 lobster tails, I used 4 oz tails for this

24 shrimp

4 ears corn on the cob

4 potatoes or 8 small red ones

1/4 cup Old Bay seasoning

Fill a large stock pot with water, turned to high so water will boil. Add the red potatoes or if using larger potatoes cut them into smaller pieces and add them. Let them boil 10 to 15 minutes until potatoes start to get soft. Add the Old Bay and the lobsters. After 5 minutes add corn and shrimp and let boil 3 or 4 minutes longer until shrimp are cooked. Drain off water and put the food in a big bowl. Enjoy and put out lots of napkins. You may want to put out butter, salt, pepper for corn and potatoes, cocktail sauce for shrimp and melted butter for lobster. Oh yea, don't forget an ice cold beer.

Polenta with Mushroom & Sausage Sauce

2011-06-12T12:09:00.091-04:00

Polenta, grits, mush, gruel or porridge is all pretty much the same thing, boiled cornmeal. The big difference comes from the type of corn used and whether it is ground coarsely or fine or anywhere in between. Anyway you look at it polenta is good and found through out the world in one form or another. The dish itself is rather bland until you add something to it, such as cheese or put something on it like a sauce. Today I topped it with a sauce.

Polenta with Mushroom & Sausage Sauce
Polenta:
Polenta, Grits or cornmeal
water
Sauce:
1 tbs Olive Oil
2 Hot Italian Sausages, casing removed, cut into 1/2 moons
4 oz Mushrooms, cut into large pieces
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 tbs Tomato Paste
1 24 oz can Crushed Tomatoes

For the Polenta:
Since I don't know whether you are cooking grits, polenta or cornmeal and how coarsely it is ground I am going to go out on a limb here and tell you to follow the directions on the package. You can add cheese, butter or any other flavoring that you desire.

For the Sauce:
Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. When the oil is shimmering add the sausage and mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms start to brown. Add the garlic and let it cook for 30 seconds, then add the tomato paste. Let the tomato paste cook for a minute or so and then add the tomatoes. When the sauce starts to bubble, turn the sauce to low and let it cook until you are ready to eat. The longer you let it cook the thicker it will become. Don't let it become to thick and dried out, but if you do add a little water or wine to loosen it back up and cook until it reaches your desired consistency.
Plating:

Polenta is traditionally served family style on a wooden board. I shaved a little parmesan cheese and sprinkled some basil ribbons over the top. The basil was more to give the photo some color than anything else. I highly recommend a glass of red wine to go with this.

Tilapia Packets

2011-06-04T15:59:00.008-04:00

This is an easy and fast dish that can be served during the week. Best of all it's healthy.

Tilapia Packets
2 tilapia fillets
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
10-15 Kalamata olives, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbs onion, chopped
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/4 dry white wine
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat grill to medium high heat.
Create a packet out of foil. I have told you how to do this before, but if you have a short memory like me. Take a 4 foot long piece of aluminum foil. Fold it in half, so you now have a 2 foot ling piece. Fold the sides over 1 inch. Fold the sides a second time 1 inch. Fold the bottom up 1 inch. The top will be open the sides will now be sealed as they have been folded over once and the bottom is folded up 1 inch for strength. Put all of the ingredients in the foil. Fold the top over 1 inch, do this 3 times. Place the pouch on a tray or cutting board to transport to grill. Place packet on grill. Cook for 5 minutes and flip the packet over. The packet will inflate like a balloon while it is cooking. Be careful when you remove from grill as this is when the seems will break if they are going to break. Remove the contents, except the liquids, and put on a plate. I usually serve this on a bed of brown rice. You can garnish with parsely or basil.

Barbecue Baked Beans

2011-05-29T20:24:00.004-04:00

This is my favorite summer side dish. I originally posted it in January. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do

This is a recipe that I modified, the original came from Healthy Cooking Magazine. Annette and I love the tangy quality of these beans. They seem like they should have a lot more fat and bad stuff in them. I am making some Carolina Pulled Pork today and these would make a good side dish for that. I think I included this recipe in the notebook I made of healthy recipes and gave to some of you. This recipe uses barbecue sauce, I use KC Masterpiece original, I like the smokiness. If you don't have a smokey barbecue sauce you can skip it or add liquid smoke, just be careful not to add to much.

By the way this recipe is so easy Annette made the beans for a church pot luck, I just photographed them.

Barbecue Baked Beans

2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup Canadian Bacon, diced
¼ cup tomato paste
¾ cup brown sugar
1 cup barbecue sauce
14 ½ ounces pinto beans, 3 cans rinsed & drained, I use white beans if that is what I have on hand
3/4 cup water
¼ cup cider vinegar, I like mine tangy so I add a little extra
salt and pepper, to taste

In a large pot, combine olive oil, onion, garlic and Canadian Bacon. Cook on medium-high for 4 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook for 3 minutes. Add brown sugar, barbecue sauce and beans, mix well. Cook for 4 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 45 to 50 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasonings before serving, if desired.

Strawberry Stuffed French Toast

2011-05-22T14:23:00.007-04:00

Every Saturday morning my wife makes us waffles for breakfast, but don't tell my kids or they will whine about how they ever got was dry cereal. Then on Sunday morning I make some kind of egg dish for breakfast. This Sunday I decided to tempt fate and skip the eggs, well kind of since French Toast does involve eggs. Since strawberry season is going strong I decided to make strawberries the star of breakfast today. Strawberry season has been going on for awhile here in the south. In fact my wife has already canned her strawberry jam for the season. Now we can sit back and enjoy the berries until the season is over. The recipe below is for 1 serving (2 slices of bread with stuffing between them). If you make more you maybe able to cut back a little, for instance I used 2 eggs for 2 servings and had enough egg left over to make the dogs happy. I made the filling and mixed the eggs and vanilla the night before and refrigerated them. In the morning I only had to get out the filling and whisk the eggs a bit more.

Strawberry Stuffed French Toast
Filling
1 oz Neufchatel Cheese, this is like a cream cheese only low fat. use Cream cheese if you can't find it
1 tbs strawberry jam, I used my wife's homemade
2 strawberries but into little pieces

French Toast
2 slices of bread, stale if not let it sit out overnight
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla

Garnish
Powdered Sugar for garnish
3 or 4 strawberries cut into pieces

Mix the Filling ingredients together. If it tastes a little to cheesy add more jam. The goal is to get a a texture thick enough to spread so it doesn't melt and come out of the toast. Take a slice of bread and spread with the filling. Put the second pice of bread on top of it.

Whisk the vanilla and egg together. Pour the egg mixture into a pie pan. Press the " strawberry sandwich" into the egg mixture, when the first side is coated flip it over and coat the second side. Place the coated "strawberry sandwich" in a frying pan that has been preheated to medium high. Cook until egg is cooked and Golden brown. Then flip over and cook second side until the
the second side is golden brown. Remove from heat and place on a plate. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and then place strawberries on top.

Seafood in Puff Pastry

2011-05-15T19:10:00.009-04:00

Last week I posted on a Napoleon I made. I sheet of the puff pastry made 6 pastries, I only used 3. With just my wife and I at home I had to come up with another recipe for the other pastries. The following recipe is what I came up with. A word of caution, make sure to drain the seafood as puff pastry does not like liquid. I speak from experience.

Seafood in Puff Pastry
1 sheet puff pastry (this will make 6 servings)
2 scallops per person
6 shrimp per person
1/4 cup cherry tomatoes per person, cut in 1/2 if large
2 tsp celery, finely chopped per person
1 tsp onion, finely chopped per person
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 cup white wine, increase if making more than 2
Parsley for garnish.

Cut puff pastry into 6 pieces. The pastry is folded into thirds so after it thaws unfold it and cut on the fold lines and then cut each section in 1/2. Follow baking instructions on the puff pastry box for cooking. When pastry is done cut in 1/2 horizontally.

Preheat grill.

Take a 3 foot long piece of aluminum foil. Fold it in 1/2, so you have an 18 inch long piece with 2 layers. Fold one side over 1/2 inch and then fold a second time also 1/2 inch. Turn foil around and fold the other side 1/2 inch twice. Fold the bottom up 1/2 inch, this will strengthen the foil. You should now have a pouch with an open top and the other 3 sides folded over.

Place all of the ingredients except the parsley and pastry in the pouch. Fold the top down twice, each time folding about 1/2 inch. Place on grill and cook for about 10 minutes. Flip packet over and cook for 5 minutes. Be CAREFUL when flipping so the packet does not open and ingredients don't spill out or that you don't get burned. When the packet is ready remove from grill and dump contents into a bowl. Place the bottom 1/2 of the puff pastry on the plate. With a slotted spoon remove some of contents of bowl and drain. Then place the ingredients on the puff pastry. You can put the top on the pastry and place another scoop of seafood mixture on top or put another scoop on the puff pastry and set the top on side of plate as I did in picture. Sprinkle parsley over plate after all of the seafood mixture has been placed on plate. Serve immediately.

A Dynamite Napoleon

2011-05-08T18:46:00.006-04:00

Obviously, I love to cook or you wouldn't be reading this now. However, there is one part of cooking that I don't like...baking. I would just as soon eat fruit then to have a piece of cake. Unfortunately my wife is the opposite, she lives for desserts especially chocolate. This means that for my wife's birthday and Mother's Day I usually become the designated dessert maker. This year I made an old classic. I use real whipped cream, you can use the fake stuff if that is your thing.

Mixed Fruit Napoleon
1 sheet puff pastry
1/2 pint of whip cream, reserve 1 tsp of whip cream
mixed berries, I used fresh strawberries and some raspberries.
2 oz chocolate

Cut the puff pastry into 6 pieces. Puff pastry is conveniently folded into thirds so just cut on the folds and then cut it in half. You will only use 3 of the 6 pieces for 2 people. Save the extras for other treats. Bake the puff pastry according to package directions.

While the pastry is baking whip the cream.

To assemble. Cut 3 of the puff pastry pieces in 1/2 horizontally. Put a flat piece on the bottom, then layer whip cream, berries another piece of pastry, whip cream then berries. Top with third piece of pastry. On the top of the pastry put a scoop of whip cream. Melt chocolate with the reserved teaspoon of whip cream. Drizzle over the Napoleon.

Chicken Tostada with Queso Fresco

2011-05-01T11:14:00.012-04:00

Thursday my wife and I celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary. My wife had taken Thursday and Friday off, I surprised her and told her I took Friday off and told her we were heading for the beach. We live close enough to the beach where we can make it a day trip. The weather was perfect 80 degrees with a light breeze. We arrived just in time for lunch. We found a nice restaurant on the beach and Annette had crab cakes and I had Lobster Newburg served over linguine. After walking the beach and exploring downtown Wilmington, NC. We headed for the Airlie Gardens. The gardens definitely had and Italian influence but with a southern twist. Check out the gardens if you are ever in the area, definitely worth the trip. Then we swung by the beach for a short stroll, it seems our shell collection was a little short and my wife needed to add a few more to complete it. Then we had to grab a little more seafood before we headed home. I had a salad with shrimp and crab, completing the seafood trifecta (shrimp, crab and lobster) all in one day. My wife had shrimp and seared tuna served over Thai noodles. I think it was probably the best day off we have had in a long time.

Friday night is usually when we do our grocery shopping, but since the beach messed that up we went Saturday. Since Saturday we have a farmers market we decided to go there first. I am glad we went. The market is bigger this year with more vendors and a better variety of foods. I bought some Queso Fresco which inspired today recipe. We also bought mixed greens (in todays recipe), strawberries which are now jam thanks to Annette, radishes and cilantro (also in todays recipe).

Chicken Tostada with Queso Fresco

Tostada and Miscellaneous Ingredients
1 tortilla per person
no-stick cooking spray
2 oz Queso Fresco, crumbled

Salad
This makes enough for 2 people
1 cup mixed greens
1 radish, sliced thinly per person
1/2 lime, juiced
1 tbs canola oil
salt and pepper to taste

Chicken
I chicken breast per person (I think we bought sparrow breasts as the one we got were so small)
1 tsp Southwestern seasoning per breast

Salsa
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved, quartered if large
1 tbs red onion, chopped
1/4 Jalapeno, finely chopped My wife likes very mild salsa add more if you like some spice
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat grill.
While grill is heating mix salsa ingredients together and let them sit to the flavors can mingle.
Sprinkle both sides of chicken breast with southwestern seasoning. Grill the breasts to desired doneness.
While breasts are grilling mix lime, oil, salt and pepper in a bowl. Toss the greens in the bowl to coat and set aside.
Spray the tortillas with no-stick cooking spray and place on grill when you take the breasts off. Cook until they get brown spots and start to bubble.

To Assemble
Put the tortilla on the plate, top with greens. Put the radishes on the greens. Put the chicken breast on top of the greens. Top the breast with the salsa. Sprinkle the whole thing with Queso Fresco.

Airlie Gardens in Wilmington NC.

Cherry Tomato and Pesto Pasta

2011-04-24T15:23:00.007-04:00

For Easter all of my children came home, even though it didn't look like that was going to happen. We had our big meal on Saturday evening and the kids left when they wanted to. With no set times for coming and going, I had to come up with a dinner that I could easily make for 8 or cut down for just 2 if they all left. I wanted something on the light side since Saturday was a eat 'til it hurts day. I looked in the fridge for ideas and saw several pints of cherry tomatoes, buy one get one free at the grocery store plus we already had some. I decided since the temperature was in the 80's a no cook sauce was going to be just the thing. Last week I bought some pesto sauce, not enough basil growing yet to make my own. So here is what I made.

Pesto and Cherry Tomato Pasta
2 tbs Pesto, homemade or store bought
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half
8 oz pasta
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, optional

Cook pasta until el dente. While pasta is cooking chop tomatoes and mix with pesto. Set aside in a bowl. Drain pasta when its done and place in bowl with tomatoes. Toss until thoroughly mixed. Top with cheese and serve. You could add fresh basil leaves as a garnish if you like.

Asian Tuna with Thai Noodles

2011-04-17T13:23:00.008-04:00

Last week I remade my mom's Tuna Noodle Casserole and I caught some flak because I didn't use tuna. So this week I remade it again and used tuna, but this time I made it Asian inspired. I used spaghetti for the noodles, because that is what I had on hand. You could use actual Asian noodles for this, such as soba.

Asian Tuna with Thai Noodles

Tuna
1 Tuna Steak, about 8 oz (there is enough marinade for at least 1 pound of tuna)
¼ cup honey
¼ cup soy sauce
4 teaspoons sesame oil
1 scallion, chopped white and green parts

Noodles with Thai Peanut Sauce
3 tbs Peanut Butter, reduce fat or natural
4 tsp Rice Vinegar
3 tbs Low Sodium Soy Sauce
2 tsp Honey
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Ginger Powder
1/8 tsp Cayenne (more or less depending on your taste preference)
4 oz spaghetti
Noodle Garnish
1 tbs Peanuts, roughly chopped
1 scallion, chopped white and green parts

Tuna Instructions
Put all of the ingredients in a plastic bag. Let the tuna marinate for at least 1 hour. Then grill it to the desired doneness, about 3 minutes per side for 1 inch thick steaks grilled to medium.

Noodles with Thai Peanut Sauce
Mix all of the Peanut Sauce ingredients together. Put the mixture in the microwave for 30 seconds, this will make it much easier to mix. Pour the mixture over the spaghetti and stir together. Top with garnish.

Salmon Pasta

2011-04-10T18:09:00.011-04:00

When I was growing up, my mom made tuna noodle casserole when my dad wasn't around. It consisted of 1 can of tuna, 1 can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup, 1 soup can of milk and egg noodles. The noodles were cooked and then everything else was mixed in with it and heated through. This is my version of Tuna Noodle Casserole. Only there is no tuna, noodles and its not a casserole.

Salmon Pasta
8 oz Salmon
1 tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
8 oz Pasta, I used penne
1 cup peas
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped into small pieces
2 tbs Pine Nuts
Pesto to taste

Salmon
Preheat grill. Drizzle olive oil on the salmon and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill to desired doneness. I like to cook this until golden brown and cooked through for this dish. Set aside to cool. After it is cool flake it apart with a fork.

Pasta
Cook the pasta in salted water. Cook until done, I leave it a little bit on the firm side for this dish. Add the salmon, peas, tomatoes and pesto. I added about 2 tbs of pesto for this.

If you are not serving right away refrigerate the pasta and just before you serve it drizzle with a little olive oil, then toss the pasta.

You could add additional things to this pasta like capers, broccoli flowerettes or green onions.

Running and Wedgies

2011-04-03T19:57:00.005-04:00

Well this weekend I ran my first 10K race, in fact this was my first attempt at any organized sport. I never participated in sports when I was in school. The 10K was the Ukrop's Monument Ave. 10K run in Richmond VA. My oldest daughter, Lynn, originally decided to run the race and invited me to join her. I accepted and my youngest daughter, Ashlyn, decided she wanted to run as well. Ashlyn and Lynn finished in the times they expected, but I beat my personal best time by eight minutes. Lynn was the backbone of our team. She made hotel arrangements for us, made T-shirts for us, made sure we got the race packages and feed us after the race. Richmond is the home of VCU, who was in the NCAA Final Four, so after the race she went home and cooked for not just our family but several friends as well as we cheered VCU on. Unfortunately VCU didn't fair as well as we did in the race. Thanks Lynn for making this weekend such a fun time and for making me challenge myself by running farther and faster than I have before. I appreciate all of your efforts.

The wedgies have nothing to do with the running, but pertain to potatoes cut into 8 wedges. This recipe was inspired from a Spanish Tapas recipe. There is also a dipping sauce for them.

Potato Wedgies with Dip
Potatoes:
3 pounds Potatoes, cut into 8 wedges (the long way, if you have larger potatoes you can cut into more than 8 pieces)
2 tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Dip:
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
pinch of salt
1/4 cup mayo, I used low fat
1/4 cup sour cream, I used low fat
Smoked paprika to taste

Potatoes:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. While oven is preheating cut potatoes into wedges and place in a bowl. Add olive oil and salt and pepper and stir to evenly coat the potatoes. Spread the potatoes out evenly on a cookie sheet and cook for about 25 minutes. They should be soft and brown spots will begin to appear. Remove when done and let cool.

Dip:
While the potatoes are cooking you can make the dip. Mince the garlic and add salt to it. Mash the salt into the garlic until it forms a paste. Place mayo and sour cream in a bowl, then add the garlic paste to it. Mix in the smoked paprika, until you get the desired taste. Since smoked paprika seems to come in different strengths I suggest adding a teaspoon at a time and tasting until you get a flavor you like.

I sprinkled a little parsley on the potatoes so they looked good on the platter.

Chickpea Stew with Pork

2011-03-27T13:17:00.012-04:00

Apparently I am a glutton for punishment. My first punishment is this coming weekend I will run in my first and last 10K race. It is the Ukrop Monument Run in Richmond, VA. I will be running in the race with my 2 daughters Lynn and Ashlyn. Well let me clear something up I don't actually run "I walk with style" to paraphrase Woody from Toy Story. My second act of punishment will come after the race. I decided that after a couple years of walking one day and working with weights the next it was time to try something new. I started looking at different exercise equipment. On the NordicTrack website I was asked to fill out a survey. I did this even though I usually don't fill out those things and believe it or not I won a RIP:60 workout system. That should arrive next week, so if I don't die during the 10K I can kill myself by doing a new workout routine.

I bought myself some new cookbooksOne of them was The Italian Slow Cooker by Michele Scicolone. Since we went from 80 degrees on Thursday to 38 degrees on Sunday I decided I needed to try a slow cooker recipe. The recipe I decided on was Chickpea Stew, but my wife is a meat and potatoes person so I had to modify it. I had a pork loin roast that I cut up and browned and added to the stew. Here is the recipe with my changes listed.

Chickpea Stew with Pork
3 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
5 medium carrots, sliced 1/4 inch coins
2 potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes, canned or fresh I used I 28 oz can with the juice
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped I put a sprig in and removed it before serving
1/2 cup chicken broth, I used 1 1/4 cups as 1/2 did not seem like much with all of the veggies and meat I added
3 tbs olive oil, separated
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 to 2 lbs Pork Loin Roast, cut into bite size pieces

Add 1 tbs of olive oil to a pan and heat it over medium high heat. Add the pork and brown. After the pork is browned add everything to the slow cooker. Cook for 6 to 8 hours on low. Serve with some nice crusty bread.

Amaretto Almond Pound Cake

2011-03-20T13:11:00.015-04:00

My wife made a pound cake that was delicious, so she is going to write the post today. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Ha Ha! I am taking over Greg's blog. Not really, it's just that I'm the baker and he's the cook. And sometimes you just have to have cake. So I was reading through my Southern Living magazine and they did a section on "Perfect Pound Cakes". This one just sounded really good to me: Amaretto-Almond Pound Cake. And trust me, with a cup of tea (maybe with a little Amaretto in it) this cake is delicious. Greg even ate a small piece. I made a few small changes, taking the cake out of the pan before glazing it, and using a little bit of almond flavoring instead of all liqueur in the batter. I hope you enjoy it.

Amaretto-Almond Pound Cake
1 1/4 cups butter, softened
1 (3 oz) package cream cheese, softened
2 1/2 cups sugar
3 Tbsp almond liqueur (I used 2 Tbsp Amaretto, 1 Tbsp almond flavoring)
1Tbsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
6 large eggs
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1. Preheat oven to 325. Beat butter & cream cheese until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add almond & vanilla flavorings/liqueurs, beating until just blended. Gradually add flour, beating until just blended after each addition. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until just blended after each addition.
2. Sprinkle sliced almonds in the bottom of a greased/floured 12 cup Bundt pan; pour batter into pan.
3. Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 5 minutes to 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a wooden pick comes out clean.
4. During the last 10 minutes of baking, prepare Amaretto Glaze (see below). Remove cake from oven and flip onto wire rack.
5. Spoon hot glaze over cake. You can also poke a few extra holes in the cake to get the glaze to soak down in.
6. Cool cake completely.

Amaretto Glaze

Bring 3/4 cup sugar, 6 Tbsp butter 1/4 cup Amaretto & 2 Tbsp water to a boil in a small sauce pan over medium heat, stirring often. When it begins to boil, reduce heat to medium/low and boil, stirring constantly, 3 minutes. Remove from heat and use immediately.

Salmon with Grilled Veggie Salad

2011-03-13T15:40:00.008-04:00

My week in a nutshell: Run, Work, Work, Work, Run Work, Run, Work watch basketball. Michigan State lost :-( Duke won :-). At work I have been working on 3 projects since January. Each project had 4 parts and every time I would work on 1 part of one project for a couple of days an emergency would pop up and I would have to switch to another part and work on that. Then someone decided they all had to be done last week. So after a lot of hours I finished them all. At least all of them are done and I can move on to something new for now and catch up on some food blogs.

This is a healthy recipe that can be made quickly and is very tasty.

A couple of notes before you start. You can use any veggies that you want the ones listed ate the ones I used. Cook the salmon to your desired doneness, I like the salmon crispy but not over cooked. I usually cook the salmon over high heat to crisp it up on the outside, but not long enough so the inside is over cooked. I got a little hand held mandolin a while back and with the remodel I kind of ignored it. I cut the veggies with the mandolin for this and discovered the thinnest setting was not the best setting for grilled veggies as they became kind of a mushy. In my mind the thinly sliced veggies looked gorgeous in the picture. You can cut them any way you heart desires, but I suggest at least 1/4 inch thick.

Salmon with Grilled Veggie Salad
1 salmon fillet or steaks
1 zucchini, sliced into ribbons
1 yellow squash, sliced into ribbons
20 to 30 cherry tomatoes
5-8 mushrooms, sliced thinly
Asparagus, I grilled about 14 spears because they were so small if you get larger ones use less
1 garlic clove, minced
Juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil

Turn the grill on high to preheat.

Cut the veggies. Drizzle with olive oil and slat and pepper them to taste.

Drizzle olive oil on the salmon and salt and pepper it. Place the salmon on the grill and cook to desired doneness.

Add the veggies to the grill and cook until done. Place veggies in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil, I use a better grade than what I cook with. and squeeze the lemon on it. Toss the veggies to coat with oil and lemon juice. serve as a side dish or top salmon with it.

Shirred Eggs

2011-03-06T13:27:00.012-05:00

These are the genuine thing, Frodo made them for Samwise, Merry and I. After breakfast he showed me how to make the eggs and then muttered something about returning a ring. I didn't want to go to the mall so I stayed back and did the dishes. My apologies to J.R.R. Tolkien.

For those that have never had shirred eggs, they are simply baked eggs. This is a recipe I have thought about making for a while, but because it takes more time than fried or scrambled I haven't got around to making it. Today, it is rainy and I couldn't go for morning run so I decided the time had come to give shirred eggs a shot.

Shirred Eggs

No stick cooking spray
1 slice Canadian Bacon per person
1 egg per person
1 tsp of half and half per person
1 tsp grated parmesan cheese, per person

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Spray ramekin(s) with no stick spray. Put Canadian bacon on bottom of ramekin. Crack egg into ramekin. Put half and half on top of egg. Sprinkle grated cheese on top. Tip: I put ramekins on cookie sheet and assembled the eggs, then put cookie sheet in oven rather than trying to put individual ramekins in oven.
Bake for about 15 minutes, eggs should be a little jiggly, if you cook until eggs are set, they will be overdone. I cut up a chive and sprinkled on top for some color.

Salmon with Bacon and Maple Glaze

2011-02-27T12:39:00.007-05:00

EatingWell magazine published a recipe for a Spinach Salad with a warm Maple Dressing. I stumbled across this recipe for trying to come up with a new salmon recipe. My version is listed below, as I thought theirs needed a little work. The maple got me thinking and I decided to do a maple glaze on the salmon. Now what would I add to bring it all together? Obviously bacon, but I think bacon is the answer to a lot of things.

Salmon with Maple Glaze and Bacon
1 salmon steak for each person
1 slice of bacon for each salmon steak
1 tsp of maple syrup for each salmon steak

Spinach Salad with Maple Dressing
2 tbs chopped walnuts
2 oz chopped spinach per person
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 tbs cider vinegar
1/4 cup maple syrup
salt and pepper to taste

Salmon Instructions
Preheat grill to medium high.
While grill is heating up place bacon in microwave on paper towels and cover with a paper towel and cook for 1 minute. This will make bacon partially cooked but not crisp. Pat excess grease off bacon and set aside. When Salmon is almost cooked to desired doneness, drizzle syrup over the salmon and place bacon on top. Remove when salmon is cooked to desired doneness.

Spinach Salad
Put spinach in bowl, if frozen defrost and drain first.
Heat nuts in a dry skillet, over medium heat, until they are fragrant about 2 -3 minutes. Put nuts in bowl with spinach.
Add oil and shallot to pan and cook until soft, about 4 minutes. Add vinegar and syrup heat until boiling. Add the salt and pepper. Poor mixture over the spinach.

Put spinach mixture on plate and top with salmon steak.

Tilapia with Romesco Sauce

2011-02-20T14:12:00.011-05:00

Today was another freakishly warm days, for winter, so I definitely wanted to grill out. Looked in the fridge and had a few veggies that needed to be eaten. Then off to the freezer and I see several packages of Tilapia. Now what can I do to tie this this altogether? Grilled fish and veggies are just a little to boring for my taste. Off to the pantry to figure out a sauce or something to bring this together. Almonds, hmm I have some roasted peppers...Romesco sauce.

This recipe is based on the Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health Romesco Sauce recipe. It makes about 1 1/2 cups of sauce, more than you will need for this recipe. Leftover sauce can be used as a dip, a sandwich spread, thin with pasta water and use as a pasta sauce or put some on a veggie omelet.

Tilapia with Romesco Sauce
1/3 cup Olive Oil
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 slice whole wheat bread, lightly toasted and crumbled
3/4 cup fresh tomatoes, chopped
1/3 cup toasted almonds, put in fry pan and heat until fragrant
2/3 cup roasted red peppers, drained
1 tbs red wine vinegar
salt and fresh ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and heat until it starts to turn color. Then add the pepper flakes, bread and tomatoes.Cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently to coat the bread on all sides and the tomato starts to soften. Remove from heat.

In a food processor place the nuts and pulse until they are roughly chopped. Add the other ingredients and process until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. This sauce will last in a refrigerator for a week. Just remove from fridge and bring to room temperature before serving.

I grilled the fish with a just a little salt and pepper and olive oil. The veggies were chopped, tossed with olive oil and dried herbs and grilled until they got some color on them (don't look to close at the picture the color was mostly black...oops).

Ribs and Grits

2011-02-13T13:39:00.006-05:00

My wife decided that she wanted crock pot ribs for dinner. Typically we would have baked potato wedges with ribs, but I was in the mood for something different. Actually, I am almost always in the mood for something different or this blog would have stopped after seven recipes. I read recently that the average American household rotates between 10 different recipes, I am glad I am not average I would think that would get a little tiresome. Back to my story, as I was making the ribs I realized I only had Honey Chipotle barbecue sauce. If I wasn't going to make them in the crock pot I would have made my own sauce. So I am thinking the barbecue sauce is southwestern what would go with that, corn. How do I make corn a hearty side dish? Well you make it into polenta. Now polenta is very southwestern sounding, so I better go with the grits/cornmeal name instead. My wife was originally put off by the idea but loved it after she tried it. Next time I might add corn or jalapenos to the grits to give them an extra kick.

Ribs and Grits

Ribs
2 to 3 pounds ribs, trim off any large pieces of fat, I used pork ribs
2 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, cut into 1/4 inch thick slices and broke apart to make rings
1 bottle of barbecue sauce, I hold back 1/2 cup to cover ribs at the end
water enough to mostly cover the ribs (they don't need to be submerged just mostly covered)

Over medium high heat olive oil. When the oil is shimmering add the ribs and brown them on all sides. While the ribs are browning slice onions and place them in the crock pot. When ribs are browned place them on onions in the crock pot. Add the barbecue sauce and then enough water to mostly cover the ribs. Put the lid on turn crock pot on high for 5 to 6 hours. On low this takes about 8 to 10 hours. The ribs will be falling off the bones when they are done. You can remove them and put some extra sauce on them or you can serve the extra sauce as a dipping sauce. I plate the ribs on the polenta on a large platter.

Grits
Follow the directions on the package or make your favorite recipe. remember the only difference between cornmeal, polenta and grits is how fine they re ground. If you have one on hand you don't have to run out and buy grits just for this. When the grits are done stir in about 3/4 cup of cheese, I had cheddar and Jarlesburg on hand so that is what I used, just about any cheese or combination will work as long as they melt. You could add 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of corn and or some jalapeno slices to taste. After cheese is melted spread out the grits on a platter and place the ribs on top of the grits.

Carmel Apple Quesadilla

2011-02-06T21:03:00.013-05:00

This is a recipe that was completely inspired by another blogger or should I say bloggers, Mr. & Mrs. P. In the teaser for their recipe they said Apple Quesadilla and I assumed it was a dessert, it turned out to be a cheese and apple quesadilla. I decided to do a dessert version. Click here and you can check out their recipe for Apple Quesadilla.

For my version I just winged it as I watched the Super Bowl, so taste and adjust to your liking. If I make this again I would consider toasting the tortillas a little longer to add some crunch to the recipe.

Carmel Apple Quesadilla
1 tbs. butter
1 apple but into bite sized pieces, I used Granny Smith
1 1/2 tbs brown sugar
2 tortillas
no stick cooking spray
carmel, melted or carmel sauce
cinnamon sugar

Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add the apples and cook until they are soft. While the apples are cooking spray both sides of the tortillas with no stick spray and put them one at a time into another skillet heated over medium heat. Cook tortillas until they start to form bubbles and take on some color. Flip over and cook other side until they bubble again. Put the tortilla on a plate.
When the apples are soft add the brown sugar and stir until the sugar melts and forms a glaze. Put 1/2 of apple mixture on half of the tortilla and then fold other half of tortilla over top of it. Drizzle the carmel over the tortilla shell and then sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.

Cod with White Beans and Chorizo

2011-01-29T20:17:00.008-05:00

People are supposed to get wiser as they get older, but I just did a dumb thing. I signed up to run a 10K race with my daughters on April 2. I have never ran more than 2 miles until a couple of weeks ago. Wish me luck or at least send me a card when I am in the hospital.

Cod with White Beans and Chorizo
4 oz Chorizo sausage, crumbled
1 shallot, diced
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tsp fresh thyme
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
1 15 oz can white beans, I used Great White
1/2 pound cod fillets
1/2 tsp smoked paprika

Preheat a grill to medium heat. Heat oil in pan.
To the pan add the chorizo and the shallot. Cook until shallots are soft, then add the tomatoes and wine. Cook until tomatoes start to shrivel and pop and wine is reduced. Add the beans and thyme. Cook until beans are heated through.
While the chorizo is cooking put the cod on the grill, but first sprinkle the smoked paprika on it. Cook for about 3 minutes per side.
Plate the bean mixture and place cod fillet on top of it.

Ravioli on a Bed of Spinach

2011-01-16T14:48:00.012-05:00

I saw a recipe for Ravioli Florentine somewhere a while back and it has been rattling around in my brain every since. Now my head is pretty empty so when something is rattling around I have have to do something about it. I had my plan all formulated, when my wife decided to make cookies. This kept me out of the kitchen for the next hour. Now I had to come up with some short cuts to get dinner on the table on time, because the person who was hogging the kitchen was now hungry. I won't mention any names though, but my wife knows who she is. I know a lady that makes and sells pastas including raviolis, so usually keep some in the freezer. I used frozen for this, but feel free to use home made.

Ravioli on a Bed of Spinach (Ravioli Florentine)
Sauce
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 5 oz can evaporated milk
1/8 tsp grated nutmeg

Spinach
10 oz spinach, I used frozen and let it thaw in the pan
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
2 oz mushrooms, sliced
2 tsp olive oil

Ravioli
1 package of frozen or your own home made ravioli

Put a pot of water on to boil, for the ravioli.

Combine all of the sauce ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth.

Put the oil in a pan and heat over medium heat. Add the tomato and mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms start getting color, then add the spinach. When the spinach is cooked, keep warm until ready to plate. If you like you can add some of the sauce to the spinach.

While the spinach is cooking add the ravioli and cook until it is done.

Plate the spinach, drizzle with some sauce. Add the ravioli and drizzle a little more sauce over the ravioli.

The reason I made this recipe.

Breakfast for Dinner

2011-01-02T19:23:00.007-05:00

During the remodel we never knew if we were going to get into the kitchen to cook at 5:00, 8:00 or even if we were going to be able to cook anything at all. As result we never had meals planned and usually a meal was whatever we could throw together quickly. Breakfast became a popular choice as frittatas, pancakes, etc were quick and easy. For Christmas Annette bought me a ton of cookbooks, one of which was the Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond. Ree dedicates a whole chapter to breakfast. When I saw the hash browns, I knew I had to have some. While I did not use her recipe, I was inspired by her photography. Fellow bloggers I recommend this book for the photography as much as the recipes. I wasn't going to publish this a just made hash browns and topped with a slice of ham and a fried egg and anybody can make that, but I liked my photograph of the results.

Hash Browns with Ham and a Fried Egg
2 baked potatoes, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch dice
2 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 red pepper, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1/2 onion, cut into a small dice
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil to medium in a heavy pan, cast iron is good if you have one. Add the onion and peppers and cook until translucent. Add the potatoes, salt and pepper. Let the potatoes sit until they start to brown and then flip them. Don't stir them a lot or they won't brown up and they will fall apart. When they are golden brown they are done.
While the potatoes are finishing warm up a few slices of ham and fry the eggs.

Prime Rib, Kitchen Update and Christmas Snow

2010-12-27T19:49:00.009-05:00

Christmas had a couple of surprises for us:

First we had a white Christmas, even though the show didn't show up until late in the evening on Christmas day. We got 4 tenths of an inch. It snowed all Christmas night and we ended up with 6 inches, Considering North Carolina only gets between 6 and 7 inches annually this is considered a major storm.

Second the kitchen remodel is almost complete. I got to make our Christmas dinner in the new kitchen. We need one more box of flooring and a few drawer pulls for the job to be complete. If it wasn't for Christmas and the snow the kitchen would already be complete. Click here for a sneak preview.

While I was able to get in the kitchen and make an occasional meal I wasn't able to do any real cooking. So my Christmas dinner was the first real meal I made in the new kitchen. I decided to make prime rib, hassleback potatoes and asparagus. The prime rib recipe was based on a Tyler Florence recipe I found on the Food Network website.

Prime Rib With Horseradish Crust

1 bone in prime rib beef roast, 3 ribs, about 6 pounds
5 garlic cloves, smashed
1/4 cup grated fresh or prepared horseradish
Leaves from 2 fresh rosemary sprigs
Leaves from 4 fresh thyme sprigs
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 cups canned chicken or beef broth

I made a couple of changes to this. I only used a 1/4 cup of salt and it made a good paste (described below) and I still thought that some bites seemed very salty. I started with 1 tbs of flour and the gravy was very soupy so I added one additional tbs and ended up with a thin gravy. This was ok as the leftover gravy can now be used for aus jus. The recipe took every bit of the 2 hours, if it wasn't for my children wanting to leave to get home before the snow, I would have cooked it a little longer. It was still very good and the gravy was excellent.

Here are Tyler's instructions with my comments in brackets [ ].

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Lay the beef in a large roasting pan with the bone side down. (The ribs act as a natural roasting rack.) In a small bowl mash together the garlic, horseradish, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper, and olive oil to make a paste [I used a mortar and pestle to get everything finely mashed]. Massage the paste generously over the entire roast [I had enough paste to cover top and sides but not the under side where the bones are]. Put the pan in the oven and roast the beef until the internal temperature of the meat registers 125 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer (medium-rare), 1 1/2 to 2 hours [See my comment above]. Remove the beef to a carving board and let it rest for 20 minutes before carving.

Pour off some of the pan drippings and place pan on stovetop over medium-high heat. [I saved 1 tbs of drippings to go with the original 1 tbs of flour. I wished I would have saved more since I ended up adding more flour to thicken it. I would save 2 to 3 tbs if you want thicker gravy.]

Add the white wine and bring to a simmer, scraping the bits on the bottom of the pan. Reduce the wine by half. Whisk in the flour, then add the broth and continue to cook, whisking until sauce thickens into a gravy, about 10 minutes. [I would use low sodium broth if use Tyler's 1/2 cup of salt. It took longer than 10 minutes to get thicker gravy, but I had to go back and add additional flour to thicken it.]

My wife, Annette, took this picture of the pond behind my house.

Remodel Days 4 & 5

2010-12-14T20:00:00.011-05:00

Day 4
The kitchen started to look like a kitchen again, but a really messy one. Today they installed the new cabinets, the pantry and the desk. The new cabinets are the exact same ones they installed when the house was built. After 10 years the old cabinets have aged and the color is a little darker, you can see this in the picture of the pantry. They also did some of the electrical work.

Day 5
Today was one of those days where you can't see where much was done. The cabinets installation was finished. They added the shelving, leveled the cabinets and made sure they shut right. The guys who install the countertops came and made templates of the cabinets. They do this so they can cut the granite to the right size. The electrician moved and installed a couple more outlets and some light switches.

Tomorrow we should see a big change, but I am going to make you wait to see what it is in case they don't stay on plan.

No Christmas Cookies This Year

2010-12-11T20:10:00.014-05:00

Twas 17 days before Christmas and all through the house
Not a chef was stirring not even the mousse
The plastic was hung by the island and chairs
In hopes that the new kitchen would soon be there

At the beginning of the year my wife and I decided to replace the flooring and countertops in our kitchen. They were both original to the house and needed replacing. This of course got us talking about what we could do to improve the design of our kitchen to improve it. After talking to 6 or 7 seven contractors over the course of the year, we found one that we really liked. The new floors and countertops now include doubling the size of our island, adding a pantry and cupboards, a new backsplash and adding a desk. We also replaced our old appliances, they were installed before the remodel so the br=efore pictures show the old but the during show the new ones. We are three working days into the project. The contractor says we will be done before Christmas.

Here are before pictures.

Day 1
The existing island was ripped out, the old flooring removed and they began removing the backsplash. The backsplash became and issue as it wouldn't come down without taking chunks of the sheetrock with it.

Day 2
The backsplash was removed and new sheetrock was installed where the backsplash used to be. Then the counters were ripped out, except where the sink was. No electricity except to the appliances.

Day 3
The new cabinets were supposed to be installed, but not all of them were sent. So the painter came and primed the walls and the plumber came to fit the sink. The sink we ordered was discontinued so they sent a larger one, the plumber had to make sure that it would fit before we installed the countertops. No more water in the kitchen until we get countertops and a sink.

Turkey Shepherds Pie with Sweet Potato Topping

2010-11-28T13:54:00.016-05:00

I have a rule that at Thanksgiving you should only eat until the button on your pants pops off and hits the chandelier or as my son says "eat until it hurts". I am not sure why we bought a 20 pound turkey for 7 people, but we wouldn't have all of these leftovers if we didn't. This recipe was based on EatingWell's Turkey & Leek Shepherd's Pie and turned out to be very tasty.

Turkey Shepherds Pie with Sweet Potato Topping

Filling
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups thinly sliced carrots
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon dried sage, rubbed
2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 cups diced cooked turkey
3/4 cup frozen peas
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Mashed Sweet Potatoes
2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2-3/4 cup milk
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1. To prepare filling: Preheat oven to 425°F. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add carrots and cook, stirring, about 7 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute more.

2. Pour in wine and stir until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add flour and sage and cook, stirring constantly, until the flour starts to turn light brown, about 2 minutes. Stir in broth and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens and the carrots are barely tender, about 5 minutes.

3. Add turkey (or chicken) and peas and season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer the mixture to a deep 10-inch pie pan or other 2-quart baking dish and set aside.

4. To mash potatoes and bake pie: Place potatoes in a large saucepan and add cold salted water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook, partially covered, until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and return the potatoes to the pan. Cover and shake the pan over low heat to dry the potatoes slightly, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat.

5. Mash the potatoes adding enough milk to make a smooth puree. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in egg and 1 tablespoon oil.

6. Spread the potatoes on top of the turkey mixture. With the back of a spoon, make decorative swirls. Set the dish on a baking sheet and bake until the potatoes and filling are heated through and the top is golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes.

Chocolate-Raspberry Torte

2010-10-27T22:20:00.011-04:00

Many of you know that I test recipes and shop for groceries for Cook's Illustrated. This is a recipe that I tested several months ago, at that time I published a photo on the FoodBuzz website. Well Cooks Illustrated finally published the recipe in the November 2010 issue. This means I can publish the recipe now. This recipe is the first recipe I have tested where some big changes were made before the recipe was published. They added more chocolate, almost doubled the amount of almonds and the amount of vanilla was doubled. Since the first one was delicious I can only imagine how good it is with more nuts, vanilla and chocolate. The glaze turned out so shiny you can see the reflection of the raspberries in it. You can check out the entire recipe and notes in the November/December issue of Cook's Illustrated or on their website.

Chocolate-Raspberry Torte
Cake and Filling
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate , chopped fine (see note)
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter , cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 3/4 cups (about 7 ounces) sliced almonds , lightly toasted
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (1 1/4 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
5 large eggs
3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) sugar
1/2 cup fresh raspberries , plus 16 individual berries for garnishing cake
1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam
Chocolate Ganache Glaze
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate , chopped fine (see note)
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream

INSTRUCTIONS
1. FOR THE CAKE: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Line bottom of two 9-inch-wide by 2-inch-high round cake pans with parchment paper. Melt chocolate and butter in large heatproof bowl set over saucepan filled with 1 inch simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Stir in vanilla and espresso powder.

2. Process 3/4 cup almonds in food processor until coarsely chopped, six to eight 1-second pulses; set aside to garnish cake. Process remaining cup almonds until very finely ground, about 45 seconds. Add flour and salt and continue to process until combined, about 15 seconds. Transfer almond-flour mixture to medium bowl. Process eggs in now-empty food processor until lightened in color and almost doubled in volume, about 3 minutes. With processor running, slowly add sugar until thoroughly combined, about 15 seconds. Using whisk, gently fold egg mixture into chocolate mixture until some streaks of egg remain. Sprinkle half almond-flour mixture over chocolate-egg mixture and gently whisk until just combined. Sprinkle in remaining almond-flour mixture and gently whisk until just combined.

3. Divide batter between cake pans and smooth with rubber spatula. Bake until center is firm and toothpick inserted into center comes out with few moist crumbs attached, 14 to 16 minutes. Transfer cakes to wire rack and cool completely in pan, about 30 minutes. Run paring knife around sides of cakes to loosen. Invert cakes onto cardboard rounds cut same size as diameter of cake and remove parchment paper. Using wire rack, reinvert 1 cake so top side faces up; slide back onto cardboard round.

4. TO ASSEMBLE TORTE: Place ½ cup raspberries in medium bowl and coarsely mash with fork. Stir in raspberry jam until just combined. Spread raspberry mixture onto cake layer that is top side up. Top with second cake layer, leaving it bottom side up. Transfer assembled cake, still on cardboard round, to wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet.

5. FOR THE GLAZE: Melt chocolate and cream in medium heatproof bowl set over saucepan filled with 1 inch simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and gently whisk until very smooth. Pour glaze onto center of assembled cake. Use offset spatula to spread glaze evenly over top of cake, letting it flow down sides. Spread glaze along sides of cake to coat evenly.

6. Using fine-mesh strainer, sift reserved almonds to remove any fine bits. Holding bottom of cake on cardboard round with 1 hand, gently press sifted almonds onto cake sides with other hand. Arrange raspberries around circumference. Refrigerate cake, still on rack, until glaze is set, at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours. Transfer cake to serving platter, slice, and serve.

Easy Cassoulet

2010-10-23T14:01:00.009-04:00

One of my favorite cookbook authors is Pam Anderson, no not that Pam Anderson, this one is married to a minister. The reason why I like her is that in most of her books she just doesn't give recipes, she gives formulas. So a recipe for a stir fry maybe use 1/2 pound of protein, 1 pound vegetables, etc. Then she will give a list of suggested proteins and vegetables. Then she will give you a list of sauces you can use for stir fries. Finally she will finish with some recipes for her favorite stir fries. I usually recommend her books to people who are just getting into cooking, you will learn how to cook not recipes like you do from Betty Crocker or some of the other beginning cookbooks. Pam just came out with a new book, Perfect One-Dish Dinners, so I had to try a recipe. As usual it was delicious. I am looking forward to trying some more of her recipes from Perfect One-Dish Dinners.

Cassoulet-Style Italian Sausages and White Beans

2 1/2 punds sweet Italian sausage links, I cut mine into 1/4's as they were large
3 pints cherry tomatoes
1 medium onion, cut into 1 1/2" chunks
4 large cloves garlic, sliced
3 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tbs balsamic vinegar
2 tsp dried thyme
3 bay leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 cans (around 16 oz) white beans, undrained I used Great Northern and Cannellini

Serves 8

Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix sausages, tomatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, thyme, bay leaves and a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper in a large heavy roasting pan. Set pan in oven and roast until sausages are brown and tomatoes have reduced to a thick sauce, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven, stir in beans, and continue to roast until casserole has heated through, about 10 minutes longer. Fish out bay leaves and serve.

Nutella Tart

2010-09-26T19:52:00.005-04:00

I hate to bake, but every year I am tasked with making my wife a birthday cake. This often becomes the cake for my son's and my birthday as well. My son was born on my wife's birthday and my birthday is 8 days later. Now this year my wife and I turn the big 50, so I thought the cake should be special. Here is what I came up with.

Nutella Tart
1 1/2 cup Graham Crackers, crushed or you can but them
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
9 oz dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup Nutella
1/2 cup Half n Half or heavy whipping cream
1/2 to 1 cup of chopped nuts, depending on how nutty you want it.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix the crushed graham crackers with the butter. Spread the graham cracker mixture evenly over the bottom of a spring form pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the crust cool.
While the crust is cooling melt chocolate chips with a couple of ounces of the half n half. After the chips are melted mix in the Nutella. Then mix in the rest of the cream. The results should be a thick but easily spreadable. When the crust is cool add the filling and sprinkle the nuts on top. Put in freezer for about 20 minutes. The purpose of putting the tart in the freezer is to set the chocolate not freeze the tart. After you remove the tart from freezer move it to the refrigerator until about 30 minutes before you are ready to serve. Then let the tart set at room temperature so it is easy to cut.

Steak Florentine

2010-09-20T20:44:00.011-04:00

At my house it is my wife who is the meat and potatoes person. Very seldom do I get the craving for a slab of beef. This weekend she had the hankering for a hunk of red meat. Having been married to her my entire life, I knew resistance was futile. So I fired up the grill and pulled out the rib eyes. Of course I let the Italian influence in me take over.

Steak Florentine
1 clove garlic, large, peeled and slightly crushed
1 steak, 1 to 1 1/2 pounds I used a ribeye
salt and pepper to taste
juice from 1/2 lemon
1 tsp olive oil

Preheat grill to medium heat.
Rub both sides of the steak with the garlic clove. Make sure you rub the bone with the garlic as this will get more of the garlic essence out of the garlic. Grill the steak to desired doneness, about 4 to 5 minutes per side for for rare, 6 to 7 minutes per side for medium rare. The doneness will vary by type and size of steak. After the steaks are done. Squeeze the lemon over the steak and drizzle with olive oil. Let the steak rest for about 5 minutes, then enjoy.

Sweet Corn and Zucchini Gratin with Fresh Basil

2010-09-13T21:38:00.009-04:00

The other day I was sitting in my chair surfing cooking websites trying to find something for dinner. I asked my wife if she was in the mood for anything in particular and she replied we need to get rid of this zucchini and sweet corn. As I started searching for zucchini and corn recipes, I reminded her why we had so many zucchini. She had decided to make zucchini bread and asked me to get extra. Suddenly it hit me, not an idea for dinner a flying zucchini. When I came to the following recipe was on my screen, well at least a variation of it. This recipe is based on a recipe by chef Guillame Bienaime at Restaurant Marche in Menlo Park, CA, even though he calls it a gratin it reminded me of a frittata, it seemed to eggy for a gratin. It was still very good. By the way no bloggers were actually hurt in the making of this post. My wife has never thrown a zucchini at me, it wouldn't hurt enough if she connected.

Sweet Corn and Zucchini Gratin with Fresh Basil
1 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 pt Cherry Tomatoes, cut in 1/2
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 lb zucchini and/or yellow squash, thinly sliced or small diced
3 Ears Sweet Corn, kernels removed and separated
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 large handful of Fresh Basil, coarsely chopped
1 small handful of Fresh Parsley, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup Sharp Cheddar, shredded
Sea Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Oil a 2 qt baking dish. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add the onion. Cook until soft, about 3 minutes then add the garlic, zucchini and or squash and salt and pepper. Cook stirring often until zucchini is bright green and some of the slices are translucent.
Stir in the kernels of corn from 1 ear of corn. Heat for 2 minutes and then remove from heat. Pour mixture into a large bowl. Place the rest of the corn in a blender. Add eggs, milk and 1/2 tsp of salt, blend until smooth. Pour the egg mixture over the veggies in the bowl. Add the basil, parsley and cheese. Mix together and pour into the baking dish. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is browned and the gratin is firm to the touch.

Manchego and Asparagus Stuffed Chicken Breast

2010-09-12T20:38:00.005-04:00

Did you ever have a craving for some food or type of food so you plan the whole meal around that item? This weekend my craving was for southwestern food. I found a recipe and thought I could add some southwestern seasoning to that and it would be really good. Since it was a new dish I followed the recipe closely, a little to closely. After I was done and had the dish in the oven I turned around and saw my southwestern seasoning sitting on the cupboard behind me and realized I never added it to the dish. Now to come up with another recipe for the chicken. Well here is the recipe I came up with.
Note I used Manchego cheese in this recipe if you can't find it you could use parmesan. Manchego is available in grocery stores around here so I assume it is readily available elsewhere. If you have not heard of Manchego it is a semi-hard cheese, that comes from the La Mancha area of Spain. It is made from the milk of the Manchega sheep. The cheese is rich with a buttery and slightly spicy flavor. Manchego quickly became a family favorite when we tried it a couple of months ago. I think it is worth looking for if you haven't tried it before.

Manchego & Asparagus Stuffed Chicken Breast

This recipe is for 1 breast, just multiply by the number of breasts you need. You won't have to double the olive oil just use enough so the breasts are sitting in the oil.
2 tsp olive oil
1 chicken breast butterflied, cut in half so that it opens like a book
dijon mustard, enough to coat the inside of the chicken book
3 thin asparagus stalks, hard ends removed
1 thin slice manchego cheese, about as long as the breast
1 thinly sliced piece of ham

Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium high heat. While the oil is heating spread the chicken breast out like a book and cover the inside with dijon mustard. Lay the 3 stalks of asparagus on the bottom half of the breast, then the cheese and the ham. Fold the top slice of the chicken breast over the stuffing. It should now look like a regular chicken breast with stuffing.

Place the breast in the pan carefully, so it does not fall apart. cook until bottom is golden brown. Flip the breast over and cook the other side until browned.

Cuban Sandwich

2010-08-28T12:26:00.010-04:00

It seems like everywhere I look lately they have Cuban sandwiches. Being the foodie that I am I had to investigate. Wikipedia says a Cuban sandwich consists of yellow mustard, thinly sliced pickles, pork and slices of glazed ham. I had some left over pork loin roast that I had grilled. The roast had a spicy/sweet rub on it that I had made. That seems easy enough, so here was my version. Not bad for someone who never had one before.

Cuban Sandwich
2 slices of good quality bread
2 slices of ham, I used honey ham from the deli
2-4 slices pork roast, depending on size and thickness of roast
enough slices of dill pickle to cover the sandwich
enough yellow mustard to cover 2 pieces of bread
Olive Oil to spread on the side of the bread without the mustard

On one side of the bread spread olive oil on the other spread mustard. On the mustard side put down the pork, then the pickles, then the ham. Put the other slice of bread on top with olive oil side on the outside. If you have a panini press/George Foreman grill use that, if not then use a griddle/frying pan with a weight on top of the sandwich (I used a griddle with a cast iron skillet on this sandwich). Cook until bread is golden brown and turn over and do the other side if using a frying pan/griddle.

Seared Salmon With White Beans & Spinach Topped With Olive-Lemon Relish

2010-08-01T20:37:00.008-04:00

Last week I received 4 cookbooks in the mail and then went away for the weekend. So this weekend I had to put the first one to the test. This week's book is Stir Mixing It Up In the Italian Tradition by Barbra Lynch. Since Annette wanted salmon for dinner I had to select from 3 recipes. Two of the three recipes called for ingredients that I did not have on hand. I had to make a few changes to put my own spin on this recipe because I thought it was kind of bland and there was a lot of fat where none was needed. Also Annette is not a big olive fan so I adjusted the Olive-Lemon Relish so the olives flavor wasn't so strong.

Seared Salmon With White Beans & Spinach Topped With Olive-Lemon Salad

White Bean and Spinach
1/4 cup chicken/vegetable broth (the original recipe called for 1/4 cup olive oil)
8 oz fresh spinach, tough stems removed cleaned and dried (I used frozen)
1 15 oz can white beans, rinsed and drained
1 clove of garlic, thinly sliced
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper, add more if you like heat

Salmon
2 tbs olive oil or Canola oil

Olive-Lemon Relish
1/4 cup Picholine olives, pitted and chopped (I only had Kalamata so I used those)
1/2 Lemon juiced, cut the other 1/2 into segments and finely dice
1/2 Lemon peeled and pith removed fruit cut into small pieces the size of the olive pieces
1 tbs parsley, finely chopped, original called for 2 tbs
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1 tsp honey, more if needed original called for 1/2 tsp
splash of white wine vinegar, original called for 1/2 tsp
1/4 tsp kosher salt, I left this out brined olives took care of the salt
fresh ground pepper to taste

White Bean & Spinach
In a frying pan, over medium heat, add 1/2 the broth, the pepper and the garlic, bring to a simmer. Toss in the spinach and cook until it cooks down (if all of the spinach doesn't fit cook 1/2 then add the rest once the first batch cooks down). After the spinach is cooked down add the beans and the rest of the broth. Cook until the beans are heated though. This will be the the base the salmon sits on.

Salmon
In a frying pan , over medium high heat, add the oil. When the oil is hot add the salmon and cook until the salmon is golden, then flip over and cook until the second side takes on some color. Sit on the spinach and beans.

Olive-Lemon Relish
Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl. Taste and add pepper, honey, vinegar or whatever is needed to make this taste how you like it. Spoon over the top of the salmon.

Electrolux #splits: Lemon Sorbet

2010-07-15T21:19:00.006-04:00

When Foodbuzz offered to donate $50 to Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF) for every Foodbuzz featured blogger who posted a banana split recipe, I had to do it. The problem is I mainly post healthy recipes. I decided to post my version of ice cream and do a sorbet. Foodbuzz picks the Top 9 recipes each day and on Monday the entire top 9 will be "banana split recipes" in order to show support for OCRF. You can help to by going to http://www.kelly-confidential.com/foodbuzz and build a virtual banana split. So as soon as you are done reading this click on the link and go help the cause.

Lemon Sorbet

2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tbs lemon zest finely chopped
Sprig of mint for each serving

Combine sugar & water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Once it starts to boil, reduce to low and simmer until sugar dissolves. Cool completely. I usually put it in the freezer to cool quicker. When completely cool add lemon juice & zest. If you have an electric ice cream maker, turn the machine on, pour lemon mixture into the freezer bowl and mix until thickened. If not, pour into a freezer-safe bowl and freeze until thickened.

To serve put in bowl and garnish with mint sprig and/or lemon slices. Or you could add fresh berries. If you wanted to serve to adults but a scoop in a glass and fill with prosecco. This recipe is based on one that came with my Cuisinart Ice Cream maker.

Roll with it...

2010-06-26T21:13:00.013-04:00

After 6 weeks I finally have my camera back, so now I can post recipes again. It was a strange making food, plating it and eating it while it was still hot. You guys missed a bunch of delicious recipes I made with pesto like shrimp pasta, Caprese salad and an awesome vegetable soup with eggplant. Maybe I'll make another batch of pesto and take pictures this time. I did sneak a little pesto into todays recipe so you wouldn't miss out completely. I was thinking of turning my culinary adventures to tomatoes as we seem to be heading for a bumper crop. I already picked about a pint and a half of cherry tomatoes and we had 2 Romas ready but something got to them before I did.

I wanted to do something fun today so I made a savory pinwheel, Prosciutto and Mozzarella. They are based on a recipe by Giada de Laurentiis, but I had to make my modifications. I thought her recipe seemed a little lack luster and dry so here is my version of Giada's

Prosciutto and Mozzarella Pinwheels

1 pound pizza dough
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
7 ounces Prosciutto
1 cup spinach coarsely chopped
1 tbs pesto
1 tbs olive oil
Kosher Salt and freshly ground Pepper to taste
Marinara for dipping

Preheat oven to 425˚ degrees fahrenheit.
Roll the pizza dough out to a 12 to 14 inch rectangle about 1/4 inch thick (a circle will work but dough won't be as even when cutting.
Sprinkle 1 cup of mozzarella on the dough. leaving a little space on all 4 sides. Dot the cheese with the pesto, more is not better you don't want it to get runny or to moisten the dough. Then cover with the prosciutto. Now sprinkle chopped spinach. Finally spread the rest of the mozzarella on the spinach.
Roll the dough into a cylinder and tuck the ends under to prevent leaking. Place on a foil lined cookie sheet that has been sprayed with no stick spray seam side down, if you have parchment or a Silpat these will work as well. Lightly cover the roll with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 25 minutes.
Let it cool for 5 minutes then cut in 3/4 inch segments. Cutting will be easier if you use a serrated knife. I served with marinara sauce for dipping. Good enough for adults but kids love the dipping bread or "Pizza Pinwheels".

Memorial Day

2010-05-29T16:17:00.011-04:00

As the long holiday weekend kicks off, I wanted to take the time to reflect on Memorial Day. Most of the readers of this blog are probably aware that Memorial Day was created to honor the men and women who have served in the US military. I seriously doubt that anyone high school age and under knows that, to them Memorial Day is just another day off from school. I don't blame them, I blame their parents. People like me who never took the time to tell their kids what Memorial Day is about. Sometimes a parent can learn from their child as my wife and I did.

My son, Joel, was one of those kids that was never inspired to do well in school, because he did not like it. He did well when he was tested on end of year tests and on the SAT, so he had the brains just not the motivation. His best friend Saul, had decided at an early age to go into the military as soon as he turned 18. After 9/11 Saul started badgering Joel to join the military with him. Joel never mentioned anything to his mom and I until his senior year in high school 2 years later. After many hours of heated debate, we reluctantly decided to sign the papers to let him enlist. (Joel was only 17 when he graduated so we had to sign before he could join.) To make a long story short he left the Marines after 4 years as a Sargent. He had received 3 Purple Hearts and numerous other medals and accolades. While we had several terrifying moments receiving a phone call from the US Government telling us he had been injured, thankfully none were serious. After 4 years he came home with all of his limbs and with a new out look on life.

For most kids that would have been the end of the story, but once again Joel decided to surprise us. One of the things he got out of the Marines was discipline, after hanging around for a year after getting out of the Marines he decided to go to college. While attending college he decided that he wanted to become a pilot. After looking at all of his options he joined the ROTC for the Air Force deciding it was the best and cheapest way to learn to fly. Joel is once again excelling at his duties and has been given several scholarships by the ROTC to get through school. Right now he is in Alabama attending an officer training school. Making his parents proud once again.

This Memorial Day as I think about the veterans I have known over the years, the one that makes me the proudest is the kid that used to blow of his homework and play video games, the one that argued with me about taking the garbage out or walking the dog. So mom and dads remember they may not always listen to you or agree with you, but they can still turn out to be kids that you will be proud to say are yours.

Love you Joel keep being you and you will go far. And happy Memorial Day!

Joel and his girlfriend Meghan McCloskey.

PS For those of you wondering I have not been posting lately because my camera died in a big way. The local camera repair shop could not fix it and they have sent it to the manufacturer to see if it can be repaired. I should know the verdict on Tuesday. Hopefully, within a week after that I will have it back or I will will have a new one.

PSS Just so no one can say I ignored food in this food blog. Here is a link to my favorite side dishes that would be perfect for a Memorial Day picnic. Baked Potato Salad and Barbecued Baked Beans.

Baked Potato Salad

2010-05-10T17:30:00.001-04:00

With warm weather and picnic season upon us it is time for my favorite potato salad recipe. This is different than other potato salads because the potatoes are baked and the ingredients are typical baked potato toppings. Things like chives, bacon, sour cream and cheddar cheese. This is another recipe where I measure with my eyes and not with cups and tablespoons, so taste and adjust as you see fit. Most of the time I use low fat mayo, sour cream and cheese for this and garnish with real cheese. If you like a creamy potato salad let the potatoes cool before adding the mayo sour cream mixture. If you add the mayo sour cream mixture while the potatoes are hot they will absorb more of the mixture making a dryer version.

Baked Potato Salad
2-3 lbs cooked potatoes, cut into bite size pieces I usually use Yukon Gold, but used Red Bliss in the batch pictured
1/2 cup sour cream, I use low fat
1 tbs mayo, I use low fat
4 strips bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbled into small pieces. Reserve 1 tbs for garnish. I usually use center cut bacon
1/4 cup chives or green onions, cut into small rings, reserve 2-3 tsp for garnish
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese, reserve 1 tbs for garnish

Add all of the ingredients to a bowl and fold together until everything is coated with the sour cream mayo mixture. After it is all mixed together top with the reserved garnishes.

Tilapia Topped with Shrimp, Asparagus and Spinach

2010-05-06T14:30:00.001-04:00

Have you ever seen a recipe and just knew you could do it better? A while back I saw a recipe where the person fried fish, shrimp and asparagus and then stacked them on top of each other. This weekend I decided to see what I could do to improve this dish and here is my results.

Tilapia Topped with Shrimp, Asparagus and Spinach

2 tilapia fillets
12 shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup baby spinach leaves
4 to 6 asparagus spears, cut into 2 inch pieces
2 tsp butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 lemon, juice and zest
2 tsp parsley finely chopped
Non Stick Spray
1 cup cooked brown rice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray 2 individual baking dishes with non-stick spray. Place 1 tilapia fillet in each dish. Top fillet with 1/2 of the spinach, then place the 1/2 the asparagus on top of that. Top the whole thing with the 1/2 the shrimp. Then sprinkle with 1/2 the lemon juice and dot with the butter. Bake for about 20 minutes, until shrimp and fish are done.

Remove from oven then remove fish from dish. Add rice to the dish and mix with the butter and lemon left in the dish. Place the fish on top of the rice and garnish with the parsley and zest.

If Ronald McDonald was Italian...

2010-04-27T21:57:00.000-04:00

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that my brother came to town and I made polenta cakes. Well I had to come up with some ideas for what to do with the leftovers. You have already seen Grilled Polenta Cakes with Bruschetta Topping here is what I did with the last couple of polenta cakes. Egg McMuffins Italian style.

Egg McPolenta
1 fried egg
1 slice fresh mozzarella
1 slice of tomato, 2 if you are using Roma tomatoes
1 slice prosciutto
1 polenta cake, I cut the cake in half so I had a top and bottom "bun" but only ended up eating 1 of the pieces
1 tsp olive oil

This recipe is for one serving just multiply it by the number of people you are serving.

Heat the olive oil in a nonstick frying pan, over medium heat. Add the polenta cake pieces and heat through. Remove and set aside while you fry the egg. To keep the egg the shape of the polenta I cracked it into a round cookie cutter a little smaller than then polenta cake. Spray the cookie cutter with non-stick spray for easy removal. After egg is fried place prosciutto on polenta then mozzarella, tomato and egg.

Grilled Asian Seafood

2010-04-24T15:46:00.001-04:00

Grilled Asian Seafood
12 shrimp, peeled and deveined
8 scallops
juice of 2 limes
1 tbs sesame oil
2 tsp sesame seeds

Put the seafood, lime juice and sesame oil in a resealable bag and set it aside for 15 minutes but not longer than 30 minutes. Toss them on the grill and cook until done, about 4 to 5 minutes. I like to put small things on 2 skewers to make them easy to turn. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and plate.

Grilled Polenta Cakes with Bruschetta Topping

2010-04-14T21:08:00.000-04:00

My brother, Bob, came to visit me this past weekend. He wanted me to recreate the dinner that I blogged about when I went to Paula's from Bell' Alimento for a cooking lesson. Now what do you do with leftover polenta cakes? I narrowed my options down to grilling them or putting frosting on them setting them on a paper plate and leaving them in the break room at work. The second would have been funnier but I am glad I went with the first. I think my co-workers are glad I opted for the first option as well.

Grilled Polenta Cakes with Bruschetta Topping

Tomato Topping
2 tomatoes, cut into a small dice
2 tbs Kalamata olives, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
4 basil leaves, cut into fine ribbons
Olive oil to cover the mixture

Polenta Cakes
Preheat the grill to medium high.
Make a batch of Paula's Polenta Cakes right up to the point where you you get the saute pan.
Take the polenta cakes and put them on a well oiled grill, to prevent them from sticking. Cook until polenta has good grill marks and then flip and repeat.
Top each polenta cake with the tomato mixture.

Grilled Chicken Caprese

2010-04-11T19:49:00.008-04:00

I have a new food obsession. My brother wanted my old treadmill and wanted to know what I would charge him for it. I think my answer surprised him, dried Michigan cherries. I became addicted to these while in MI in January. I now have 20 pounds of dried cherries, anybody got any good dried cherry recipes?

While my brother was here I took him to an Italian restaurant food supplier that is open to the public. Of course I had to stock up on a few things including fresh mozzarella. Here is one of the recipes I came up with.

Grilled Chicken Caprese
This recipe is per person as it is easy to double, triple, quadruple, etc.
1 chicken breast, cut 3/4 of the way through, so it opens like a book
1 slice fresh mozzarella. you may have to cut in half and place end to end if you have a narrow chicken breast
1 slice of tomato, you may have to cut in half and place end to end if you have a narrow chicken breast
Basil leaves to lay on top of mozzarella
Olive oil to drizzle on breast
Salt and pepper

Preheat grill to medium high.

Drizzle olive oil on the breasts and sprinkle with salt and pepper. On one side of the cut breast put the mozzarella piece(s), tomato piece(s) and basil. Preheat grill to medium high.

Drizzle olive oil on the breasts and sprinkle with salt and pepper. On one side of the cut breast put the mozzarella piece(s), tomato piece(s) and basil. Fold other half of breast over the side with ingredients. Grill until meat is cooked to the desired doneness. Enjoy!

The next post will be the polenta cake in the picture next to the Grilled Caprese Chicken.

Berry Tart My Easter Dessert

2010-04-08T21:03:00.000-04:00

This year Easter was going to be a little strange for my wife and I. None of our 3 children would be home for Easter, our first childless holiday in 26 years. But then out of the blue we get an email from my best friend from college. She is bringing her husband, 2 children and one of their friends to Durham to check out colleges and they wanted to get together for dinner. So I got to make a big Easter dinner after all. Our dessert was this berry tart. I made it several years ago and it was very good. The recipe os from Perfect Light Desserts by Nick Malgieri, yes he wrote a healthy cookbook.

Berry Tart

Sweet Pastry Crust

1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbs unsalted butter, cold and cut into 6 pieces
1 large egg
1 tbs cold water

Combine the dry ingredients in a food processor. Pulse to mix ingredients.

Add butter and pulse 12 times.

Add the egg and water and pulse until dough forms a ball.

Pour dough onto a floured surface.

Form the dough into a disk. Then wrap it in plastic.

Refrigerate for 3 hours to 3 days. You can use immediately but dough will be a little soft.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Before you use the dough unwrap it and gently knead it on a floured surface. Then form it into a disk again and roll it out into a 11 to 12 inch disk. Transfer to a 8 or 9 inch fluted tart pan. Press on bottom and sides and cut off any excess dough.

Poke holes in bottom of tart with a fork, about every 1/2 inch. Place tart on center rack and bake for 15 minutes, or until it just starts to turn golden brown. Do not over bake or crust becomes very hard.

Cool tart on a rack.

Pastry Cream Filling

1 cup fat-free milk, I usually use 1%
1/4 cup sugar
3 tbs all-purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs unsalted butter, softened

Combine the milk and 1/2 of the sugar in a small nonreactive saucepan. Bring to boil over low heat. Combine rest of sugar and the flour in a small mixing bowl and whisk together to mix. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time. When the milk boils whisk in 1/3 of the egg mixture. Return the rest of the mixture to a boil. Whisking constantly add the rest of the egg mixture in a slow steady stream. Keep whisking until the pastry cream thickens and comes to a boil with large bubbles bursting at the surface. Whisk for 20 seconds longer and remove from heat. Add the vanilla and the butter. Pour the filling into a glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap touching the surface of the cream so a film does not form. Refrigerate until you are ready to assemble the tart.

Finishing the Tart

3 1/2-pints of raspberries or a mixture of raspberries, blueberries and strawberries
2 tbs powdered sugar

Pour the cream in the tart shell and spread evenly. Arrange the berries on top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Berry Tart

2010-04-04T21:05:00.002-04:00

This recipe coming later this week

Cooking Class with Paula from Bell Alimento

2010-03-31T21:04:00.000-04:00

As I write this my wife, Annette and I are exactly 1 month away from celebrating our 27th Anniversary. The very first meal that I ever cooked for her was Chicken Marsala. Last night I went to a cooking class held by Paula Jones from bell'alimento. The menu consisted of bruschetta, make sure you pronounce it brus-ket-a or Paula will threaten you with bodily harm, Caprese Salad, Chicken Marsala, Polenta Cakes, Creamy Polenta with Sun Dried Tomatoes, Cauliflower au Gratin and Chocolate Cake. I have linked to each of the recipes she has published if you want to check them out, they are all excellent. You might ask why would I attend a cooking class for a recipe that I have been cooking for 27 years, for lots of reasons. The first reason is that I have been drooling over Paula's recipes for the last six months or so and this gave me an opportunity to try one. The second the recipe that I make is called Chicken Marsala but it calls for a dry white wine not Marsala. In fact it probably took me 20 years before I realized Marsala was a wine. Obviously my recipe, handed down from my dad, is not authentic but it is good. I had to taste the real thing. Last night I did get a taste of the real thing and I will not make my version again. OMG that chicken was good.

Paula puts a lot of energy into blogging, unlike myself who does it as a hobby. Her blog is currently in the running for Saveur's Best Blog Award. So go out there and cast a vote for her she deserves it. She is also a featured contributor to Paula Deen.com. The difference between Paula Jones and Paula Deen is that Jones uses olive oil and Deen uses butter.

The class consisted of 4 of Paula's friends and my wife and I. That means 6 women and I were all in one kitchen cooking. I think I am going to have to recruit a couple of men the next time I go to Paula's for a class. I think it is safe to say we all had a good time. The class was a good size as we all got to do a few hands on jobs in preparing the meal, but nobody was so busy you couldn't stop what you were doing and watch somebody else if something was being demonstrated or to taste something as it was being passed around. Here is a photo of Paula and I, Paula is working on the cauliflower and I was working on the chicken. Notice how neither of us are looking at the camera, a trait that a lot of bloggers seem to have. Look at our food not us.

The first thing that I have to tell you is us city folk need a GPS to find her house. The second thing is that for some reason GPS is off by about 3 tenths of a mile because I can guarantee you Paula does not live in the middle of a field. Just use the country directions subdivision is right after the 2 horse farms you can't miss it, unless you are using a GPS.

The platter was piled with bruschetta, maybe I should spell it brus-ket-a so she doesn't hunt me down and the wine was open. After the introductions we started on the cake as it took the longest to cook, so we had to get it in the oven. The cake turned out so moist, chocolatey and delicious and it was easy. Of course you had to have and espresso with that cake.

Then we moved onto the side dishes. Paula had the cauliflower assembled when we got there, as it was not listed as part of the class. We made the polenta for the polenta cakes or so we thought. Since the polenta has to be cooled Paula already had a batch made for the polenta cakes our polenta was served as creamy polenta with sun dried tomatoes, another bonus that was not on the menu. That gave a couple of people who had never had polenta the opportunity to try it 2 ways. Both polentas were good but I liked the cakes the best.

The last item on the agenda was the main course, Chicken Marsala. As I mentioned earlier this chicken was fantastic far more flavor than the version I make or should I say used to make. The recipe was again very easy slice the chicken, pound it thin and fry it. Then make a sauce from wine and mushrooms. I was just thinking since the bad version of Chicken Marsala won me my wife, I wonder if I can get a new kitchen with this version, hmmm. Well a guy can dream can't he. Happy anniversary a little early honey and thanks for coming to the cooking class with me. I'll end with a picture of my wife and I in Venice on our 25th Anniversary, because my wife is either taking these pictures or has her back to us in all of the other pictures.

Chipotle Salmon with Black Bean and Corn Salad

2010-03-24T20:07:00.000-04:00

This is a fast and easy recipe with lots of flavor going on. The salad is a salad that my daughter and her roommate make. My daughter attempted to give it to me over the phone. I am sure we left out a few things but it was still very good.

Chipotle Salmon with Black Bean & Corn Salad

For the Salmon:
8 oz salmon fillet
1 tsp Chipotle powder or any other hot spice or spicy spice mix

For Salad:
1 can corn, rinsed or 2 ears corn on the cob kernels removed from ear
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 small bunch cilantro
1/4 red onion, finely diced
10 to 15 cherry tomatoes 1/2 or 1/4 depending on size
Juice of 1 lime
2 tsp olive oil
You could also add a clove or garlic minced or a jalapeno finely chopped.

For the salad mix it all in a bowl and toss to make sure oil and lime juice get mixed through out. Let it set while you grill the salmon so flavors can meld.

For the salmon rub spice on the salmon and grill to desired doneness.

Shrimp, Sausage and White Beans

2010-03-16T20:39:00.001-04:00

Shrimp, Sausage and White Beans

1 tbs Olive Oil
1 tbs Onion, finely chopped
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
2 Italian Sausages, casings removed
1 15 oz Can White Beans, drained and rinsed
1 28 oz Can Diced Tomatoes
24 shrimp, peeled and deveined
Drizzle of Olive Oil, for garnish
4 Basil leaves, rolled together and cut to make ribbons for garnish

Add the olive oil to a large saute pan and heat over medium high heat. When hot add the onion and cook until translucent.
Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.
Add the sausage and stir it to make sure it get broken up.
When sausage is browned add the beans and tomatoes. Cook until they heated through.
Add the shrimp and cook until they are pink.
Plate and garnish with basil and a drizzle of olive oil.

Grilled London Broil and Vegetables

2010-03-14T14:13:00.008-04:00

As I was grilling the London Broil, I could look down and see the daffodils and crocuses in bloom. I am hoping winter has made its final appearance.

Grilled London Broil and Vegetables

London Broil:
1 lb London Broil
1 tbs Olive Oil
1 tsp Oregano. dried
1 tsp Basil, dried
1 tsp Marjoram, dried
2 cloves garlic, minced

Vegetables:
1 pound mixed veggies cut into bite size pieces. I used a potato, mushrooms, a zucchini, red onion and cherry tomatoes.
2 tbs Olive Oil
1 tsp Oregano. dried
1 tsp Basil, dried
1 tsp Marjoram, dried

Preheat the grill to medium high.

Place the London Broil in a resealable plastic bag and add the oil, garlic and dried herbs. Set this in refrigerator for a couple of hours so flavors can be absorbed by the meat.

For the vegetables, after they are chopped add them to a bowl. Toss with olive oil and herbs. You may not need all of the oil, only enough to coat the veggies and make the herbs stick.

About 1/2 hour before you are ready to start grilling remove the meat from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature. Place on grill and cook until the meat has reached desired doneness. I cooked mine for about 12 minutes for rare. London Broil is a meat that can be tough so don't over cook this. Let meat rest for a few minutes and then slice into thins slices. Serve 3 or 4 slices per person.

The veggies can be cooked on a piece of foil or in a grill basket so they don't fall through the grill grates. Cooking time will vary by the size and type of veggies you cook. Potatoes take longer then a zucchini or a tomato. I cooked the potatoes for about as long as the steak and the other veggies about 7 or 8 minutes.

Salmon with Thai Peanut Sauce

2010-03-06T19:27:00.008-05:00

I was in the mood for something on the Asian side, so I decided to make a Thai Peanut Sauce on a salmon steak. This sauce is also good on chicken, shrimp or beef.

Salmon with Thai Peanut Sauce

Peanut Sauce
3 tbs Peanut Butter, reduce fat or natural
4 tsp Rice Vinegar
3 tbs Low Sodium Soy Sauce
2 tsp Honey
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Ginger Powder
1/8 tsp Cayenne (more or less depending on your taste preference)

Salmon
8 oz Salmon
2 tsp olive oil
Pepper (I didn't salt as peanut butter and soy sauce will take care of that)
1 Scallion green parts only for garnish

Preheat the grill on high.

Mix all of the Peanut Sauce ingredients together, it maybe a little easier to heat it in the microwave for a few seconds.
Grill the salmon until it is almost cooked and then spread some of the sauce over it. When the salmon is done remove from grill and serve with remaining sauce for dipping or drizzle some more sauce over it when plated.

I served this with brown rice and some grilled mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers and red onions.

Sausage and Potato Soup

2010-03-01T20:44:00.001-05:00

Do you want a nice hearty soup to keep you warm on these cold winter days? This is a soup I put together because I wanted something a little more filling but still on the healthy side.

Sausage and Potato Soup

3 Italian Chicken or Turkey Sausages, casing removed and formed into bite sized meatballs
1 tbs olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 potatoes, diced
3 cups broth, chicken or vegetable, low sodium and low fat
3 cups water
1/4 tsp each fresh rosemary and fennel
1/2 tsp each marjoram and thyme
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped frozen spinach
Salt and Pepper

Brown the meatballs, you may have to add a teaspoon of the oil. Remove meatballs after they brown and set aside. Add the rest of the oil, onions, celery and the carrots. Cook until onions are transparent, then add the garlic. Cook for 1 minute. Add the herbs, potatoes, broth and water. Cook until potatoes are soft, then add the meatballs and spinach. Cook this until meatballs are heated through and potatoes are cooked.

Shrimp Alfredo Pizza

2010-02-24T21:02:00.002-05:00

When I come up with ideas for new recipes one of 2 things usually happens. I make it and it fails miserably and you never read about it, I do have to threaten Annette never to mention it or I will make it for her again. Or I make it and it turns out good enough for me to publish and I don't have to hide behind things the next time I see you. Shrimp Alfredo Pizza was one of those recipes that I thought you may never see in print, but it actually turned out to be very good. My main concern was making an Alfredo sauce that would not be thin and run off the pizza and all over the stove. I used shrimp, asparagus and spinach on this pizza. You could use all veggies (any combination that you want) or chicken instead of shrimp.

Shrimp Alfredo Pizza

Alfredo Sauce:
1 5oz can of 2 % evaporated milk
3 oz low fat, low sodium chicken broth
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tbs butter
3 tbs all-purpose flour
1/4 c Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste

Pizza Crust:
Make your favorite crust or buy one

Toppings:
2 tsp olive oil
12 oz shrimp
1 oz frozen spinach, finely chopped (you can use fresh)
6 small stalks asparagus, cut into 1" pieces
I cut some basil into ribbons and sprinkled on top for a garnish.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. If you have a pizza stone make sure that is on the center shelf, so it heats up.

Sauce: put milk, broth and garlic in a microwave safe bowl and heat until steaming, about 3 to minutes. Remove and let this cool for a minute or 2 before using. In a large sauce pan over low heat add butter. When butter melts add flour and whisk until mixed with butter. Then add the milk mixture slowly and whisk it while adding. Whisk this mixture until it thickens, about 2 minutes. Add the parmesan and whisk until Parmesan is melted and incorporated into milk mixture. Poor this back into bowl and set aside.

Toppings: in the sauce pan heat olive oil. Add asparagus and cook for 2 minutes, add the shrimp and spinach and cook for 1 more minute. Remove from heat.

Spread the sauce over the pizza crust. Then spread the toppings over the sauce. Then place the shrimp over the other toppings. Cook for about 10 minutes. When it comes out sprinkle with basil if using.

Seafood Risotto

2010-02-20T20:31:00.001-05:00

This was the main course for Annette and my Valentines Day dinner. It was the best risotto that I have ever made or eaten. I based it on a recipe from Emeril Lagasse. The best part was there was enough left over for 2 more meals. It was like BIll Murray in Groundhog Day, but we just got to keep eating the same really good meal over again.

Seafood Risotto

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
8 cups seafood stock*
2 cloves minced garlic
1 pound Arborio rice
1 pounds assorted shellfish and seafood, I used lobster tail, scallops and shrimp cut into bite side pieces
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup half and half
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
3 tablespoons chopped green onions, green part only
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley leaves for garnish

* I did not have any seafood stock, so I improvised and took 2 containers of chicken stock added an onion that I cut into quarters, 2 carrots and the lobster and shrimp shells and boiled for 1/2 hour. Then strained broth and it made a very good improvised substitute.

In a large saute pan, heat the oil, over medium heat. Add the onions. Season with salt and pepper, and saute until the onions are slightly soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Now add 6 cups of the broth. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the rice and simmer for 12 minutes, stirring constantly. Add additional stock if needed.

Season the seafood pieces with salt and pepper. Continue to cook for 7 minutes. Stir in the butter, half and half, cheese, and green onions. Simmer for 2 more minutes, stirring constantly. The rice should be soft, with a little bite, if so remove from the heat. Spoon the risotto in the center of a shallow bowl. Garnish with parsley.

Nutella Ravioli

2010-02-14T19:22:00.007-05:00

Sorry about my absence from posting lately, life sometimes changes our plans for us. But I am back and I hope you like the results, I know my wife and I did.

I normally don't make desserts, but decided for Valentines I needed to create a somewhat healthy dessert that Annette and I would both eat. Raspberries and chocolate are a must. Then I notice the unopened jar of Nutella in the pantry and the wheels in my head started spinning. Here is the result:

Nutella Ravioli

5 oz frozen raspberries
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
2 tbs Nutella
2 tbs plain low fat yogurt
3 egg roll wrappers, cut in 1/2 (you could use wontons, but they maybe smaller so you may want to leave whole)
1 egg
1 tsp water
Fresh raspberries for garnish
powdered sugar for garnish

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a small pan put the frozen raspberries, sugar and cornstarch. Over medium heat warm the berries and smash them with a spoon. this will create a juice. When the juice starts to boil it will thicken because of the cornstarch. Pour it through a sieve to strain the seeds out. Use this is used to dribble on the plate as a garnish. Set this aside to cool.

In a small bowl mix the Nutella and the yogurt. Make sure it is completely mixed as you want it to taste like Nutella not yogurt with Nutella in spots. Set this aside.

Take the egg and crack it in a small bowl. Add the water and mix together.

Take the 1/2 sheet of egg roll wrapper and on 1/2 of that put 1 to 1 1/2 tsp of the Nutella mixture. Then take the the egg wash and spread around the Nutella. Now fold the other half of the wrapper over the Nutella and seal. Start by pressing close to the Nutella and work outwards to get rid of air pockets. Then take a fork and press down on the edges creating a patterned edge that will seal the Nutella in. After you have made all six of these place on a cookie sheet and place in oven. Bake until wrapper starts to brown, about 8 minutes. Note the egg roll wrappers get crispy, next time I am going to try a different type of wrap to see if I can get one that is not so crisp.

Arrange on a plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar, raspberry sauce and raspberries.

Shrimp and White Beans

2010-01-24T20:45:00.007-05:00

An old favorite.
Shrimp & White Beans

2 slices of bacon, cut into 1/4" pieces
1 tbs onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can white beans, rinsed and drained
12 to 16 shrimp depending on size
2 oz spinach, you can use frozen or fresh but cut into smaller pieces
Olive Oil for drizzling
Crusty bread to eat with this

Put a nonstick pan on medium low heat, after the pan is hot add the bacon and let the fat render. Add the onion and let it cook until translucent. Add garlic and let it get fragrant 30 seconds to 1 minute. Now add shrimp and cook for a minute of 2. Add the beans and spinach and cook until shrimp are done and beans are heated through. Plate the mixture and drizzle with a good olive oil and eat with the bread.

Sausage and Lentil Soup

2010-01-17T16:35:00.008-05:00

This is a recipe that I learned in an Italian cooking class. Annette and I really like this and make it frequently. It is very hearty and will warm you up on a cold day. Sausage and lentils are a traditional New Years food in Italy. If you can't find escarole leave it out, you will still have a good soup.

Sausage and Lentil Soup

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 lb. Cotechino Sausage, sliced longwise & then horizontally
1 medium carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 large clove garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 pt cherry tomatoes, halved
2 14.5 oz cans Lentils or 1 pound dried
1 head escarole, chopped
3 cups water
salt, to taste
chili pepper, to taste

In a dutch oven over medium heat add the olive oil. When Olive Oil is hot add the sausage and cook for 3 minutes. Add the carrot, celery, escarole and tomatoes. Cook for 15 minutes until vegetables are soft. Add the lentils and water, bring soup to simmer, cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Season with salt and chili pepper. Serve Immediately.

Barbecue Baked Beans

2010-01-14T21:19:00.003-05:00

This is a recipe that I modified, the original came from Healthy Cooking Magazine. Annette and I love the tangy quality of these beans. They seem like they should have a lot more fat and bad stuff in them. I am making some Carolina Pulled Pork today and these would make a good side dish for that. I think I included this recipe in the notebook I made of healthy recipes and gave to some of you. This recipe uses barbecue sauce, I use KC Masterpiece original, I like the smokiness. If you don't have a smokey barbecue sauce you can skip it or add liquid smoke, just be careful not to add to much.

By the way this recipe is so easy Annette made the beans for a church pot luck, I just photographed them.

Barbecue Baked Beans

2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup Canadian Bacon, diced
¼ cup tomato paste
¾ cup brown sugar
1 cup barbecue sauce
14 ½ ounces pinto beans, 3 cans rinsed & drained, I use white beans if that is what I have on hand
3/4 cup water
¼ cup cider vinegar, I like mine tangy so I add a little extra
salt and pepper, to taste

In a large pot, combine olive oil, onion, garlic and Canadian Bacon. Cook on medium-high for 4 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook for 3 minutes. Add brown sugar, barbecue sauce and beans, mix well. Cook for 4 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 45 to 50 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasonings before serving, if desired.

White Bean Soup

2010-01-04T19:43:00.002-05:00

This is a recipe I decided to make today so I could use up some spinach, so don't look to closely and notice I forgot the spinach. It is only coincidence that my brother Bob asked that I post a bean recipe on the day I make bean soup. Everybody knows if he would have asked for it before I decided to make it I never would have made it, that's what brothers are for. I am submitting this soup to Souper Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen. Watch for it there along with many other delicious soups.

White Bean Soup

1 tbs olive oil
1 cup carrots, cut into coins
1 cup celery, cut into 1/2 moons
1/2 cup onion, diced
1 15 oz can white beans
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 oz spinach, chopped
Optional
2 turkey sausages, removed from cases and broken up into small pieces
1 zucchini or yellow squash, diced

Add olive oil to a dutch oven or other deep heavy pot heated to medium high. Then add carrots, celery, zucchini or squash if using and onion heat until onions are transparent. Add sausage if using and cook until browned. Now add beans, tomatoes and garlic let this cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Add the chicken or vegetable broth and bring to boil. Turn down to low and add spinach. Let soup simmer until ready to serve.