Grilled Steak Sandwich

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.

Roll with it...

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".

If Ronald McDonald was Italian...

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 Chicken Caprese

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.

Eggplant Fans

This is a dish I based on a recipe from Lidia Bastianich cookbook Lidia's Italian- American Kitchen. Lidia makes this as a side dish with 2 small eggplants to serve 4, here I do it as a vegetarian main dish. I cut back on the mozzarella and added a little more parmesan to give it more flavor and less fat.

1 eggplant, 16 to 20 oz

Salt

8 oz fresh mozzarella

2 Large tomatoes cut into 4 slices each

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp marjoram

12 leaves basil, cut into fine ribbons

6 tbs finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

1 cup Tomato Sauce

Preheat oven to 350˚.

Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise, leaving the stem attached. Then cut each half from the tip back to the stem. Spread the fingers and sprinkle salt over all of the exposed flesh and set aside on paper towel for 15 minutes. This will draw out some of the moisture and some of the bitter flavor. Salting is generally only necessary on older, larger eggplants (those with brown seeds).

While the eggplant is degorging (having the moisture drawn out of it) mix bread crumbs with herbs and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with nonstick spray. Cover the bottom of the baking dish with a thin layer of tomato sauce, using 1/2 to 3/4 of the sauce.

After eggplant has set for 15 minutes wipe off salt and water with paper towel. Then lightly oil the eggplant. Put the eggplant in the baking dish and fan the fingers apart. Between each finger put a tomato slice and a slice of mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle each eggplant with the breadcrumb mixture. Bake for 30 minutes. Turn oven up to 450˚ and bake for 10 minutes longer until the cheese gets bubbly and the breadcrumbs brown. Remove from oven.

Take remaining tomato sauce and spread over the bottom of the plates you are serving the eggplant fans on. Remove eggplant fan from baking dish and set on the tomato sauce covered plate.