Wow, keep up a blog is a lot harder than I thought! Since my last post, I have been really busy. When I decided to start documenting my culinary experiences, I was an injured runner who had plenty of free time! With the inability to run, I was able to devote many nights creating different concoctions. Realizing that there are other forms of exercise besides running, I decided to take on the practice of yoga. Starting in late April, I have been going to yoga 3-4 times a week. On top of that, my injury has healed and I started running again! Between yoga, running and work, time is starting to get pretty limited!
With all of that said, I made a promise to myself to dedicate one night a week to cooking. So, what kind of recipes are in the works? Currently, I am working on a creamy pesto sauce, a chocolate mint cheesecake, and a new spin on corn flake potatoes!
To all the die hard readers of this blog (...well hoping there are some die hard readers out there!), stay tuned as there is plenty cooking still to come!
Monday, June 7, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
3 Cheese and Sausage Calzone
Ever since I was a little bambino, I have always loved Italian food (hmm-considering I'm 100% Italian, this shouldn't really be a surprise to most). As far back as I can remember, my parents used to take my brother, sister and I to a little restaurant called Mama Laura's. As far as I was concerned, the pizza and calzones at this place were culinary gifts bestowed upon the world and served at this little pizza shop. By the time I entered high school, Mama Laura's ceased to exist. Ever since the restaurant's closure, I have yet to find another calzone that compared! In the memory of Mama Laura's, I have decided to take on the task of creating my own calzone!
One thing I really like about this recipe is that is extremely versatile. Based on your preference, you can adjust any of the ingredients without losing the integrity of this dish.
For my version, the ingredients are (Oh, and this make 2 calzones):
1 13.8 oz container of pizza crust
Bread crumbs
Pre-made pizza sauce
1/2 cup of ricotta cheese
1/4 cup of shredded romano cheese
1/4 cup of mozzarella
1 tablespoon of butter
Sausage
Salt
Pepper
Minced Garlic
Olive Oil
A few side notes about the ingredients: The amount of pizza sauce you need is dependent on how much sauce you like. I already had a 15 oz squeeze jar in the fridge and maybe used about a 1/4 of it. Also, if you do not like sausage, you do not have to use it, or you can substitute it with other things, like vegetables or other meats. Oh, and ignore the fry daddy in the picture!
The first thing to do is to cook the sausage. To reduce cooking time, I used a pair of sissors and cut up only what I needed. Before cooking, put a small amount of oil on the pan and cook the meat until it is done.
The sausage takes a little time to prepare, so while it is cooking, start on making the cheese filling for the calzone. In a mixing bowl, combine the ricotta, romano, and mozzarella. When finished, cover the mixture and put it in the fridge until your ready to construct the dish.
At this point, you may want to check on the sausage and flip it.
Next, on a baking dish, drizzle some olive oil and bread crumbs. Make sure that it covers the areas where you will be placing your calzones.
Now it's time to start putting the dish together. The first thing to do is spread the pizza dough out on the baking dish and cut it in half. About a 1/2 inch away from one of the corners, add the sauce, cheese filling, sausage (only when it's done cooking), and season with salt and pepper.
The only tricky part of this dish is the folding of the dough. Since the dough is soft and sticky, it can be a little difficult to work with. Just think of it as wrapping a present. Starting with that has no filling, fold it over to the side that does. Using a pizza cutter, you may want to trim off an excess dough. Finally, press the edges of the dough that were folded upon each other with a fork (this will keep the sauce and cheese from escaping).
To give the dough a little extra flavor, combine the butter (melted), garlic (again, as much as you want) with some salt and pepper into a small bowl or cup.
Take this mixture and spread it over the top of the calzone. Not only does this add flavor, but it also gives the dough a nice golden color when it is done cooking. Before placing this dish in the oven, create two small slits on the top of the calzone. This will ensure that there are no explosions in the oven (it's not like I know from personal experience or anything!)
Finally, pre-heat the oven to 425 and cook the dish for 25-30 minutes. Cooking time depends on how crispy you want the dough.
As your eating the calzone, I HIGHLY recommend that you put some extra pizza sauce on your dish for dipping.
All in all, a very simple, but delicious dish! If Mama Laura was eating this calzone, she'd be proud!
One thing I really like about this recipe is that is extremely versatile. Based on your preference, you can adjust any of the ingredients without losing the integrity of this dish.
For my version, the ingredients are (Oh, and this make 2 calzones):
1 13.8 oz container of pizza crust
Bread crumbs
Pre-made pizza sauce
1/2 cup of ricotta cheese
1/4 cup of shredded romano cheese
1/4 cup of mozzarella
1 tablespoon of butter
Sausage
Salt
Pepper
Minced Garlic
Olive Oil
A few side notes about the ingredients: The amount of pizza sauce you need is dependent on how much sauce you like. I already had a 15 oz squeeze jar in the fridge and maybe used about a 1/4 of it. Also, if you do not like sausage, you do not have to use it, or you can substitute it with other things, like vegetables or other meats. Oh, and ignore the fry daddy in the picture!
The first thing to do is to cook the sausage. To reduce cooking time, I used a pair of sissors and cut up only what I needed. Before cooking, put a small amount of oil on the pan and cook the meat until it is done.
The sausage takes a little time to prepare, so while it is cooking, start on making the cheese filling for the calzone. In a mixing bowl, combine the ricotta, romano, and mozzarella. When finished, cover the mixture and put it in the fridge until your ready to construct the dish.
At this point, you may want to check on the sausage and flip it.
Next, on a baking dish, drizzle some olive oil and bread crumbs. Make sure that it covers the areas where you will be placing your calzones.
Now it's time to start putting the dish together. The first thing to do is spread the pizza dough out on the baking dish and cut it in half. About a 1/2 inch away from one of the corners, add the sauce, cheese filling, sausage (only when it's done cooking), and season with salt and pepper.
The only tricky part of this dish is the folding of the dough. Since the dough is soft and sticky, it can be a little difficult to work with. Just think of it as wrapping a present. Starting with that has no filling, fold it over to the side that does. Using a pizza cutter, you may want to trim off an excess dough. Finally, press the edges of the dough that were folded upon each other with a fork (this will keep the sauce and cheese from escaping).
To give the dough a little extra flavor, combine the butter (melted), garlic (again, as much as you want) with some salt and pepper into a small bowl or cup.
Take this mixture and spread it over the top of the calzone. Not only does this add flavor, but it also gives the dough a nice golden color when it is done cooking. Before placing this dish in the oven, create two small slits on the top of the calzone. This will ensure that there are no explosions in the oven (it's not like I know from personal experience or anything!)
Finally, pre-heat the oven to 425 and cook the dish for 25-30 minutes. Cooking time depends on how crispy you want the dough.
As your eating the calzone, I HIGHLY recommend that you put some extra pizza sauce on your dish for dipping.
All in all, a very simple, but delicious dish! If Mama Laura was eating this calzone, she'd be proud!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Cannoli Noodle Pie
Anybody who knows me, knows there are three things that I love in life: carbs, sugar, and Mountain Dew (wow, I lead a really unhealthy life!!). For a long time now, I thought about making a dessert that involved pasta. How could a dish that involved two of my favorite things (carbs and sugar) go wrong? Well, as I found out, it was really easy.
So what exactly is this disaster that I call Cannoli Noodle Pie? A filling of rotelle pasta mixed with ricotta, mascarpone, sugar, lemon and orange zest- served on a pretzel crust and topped with pecans and strawberries.
Based off of the picture below, I think the dessert looks pretty darn good!
As I was making this dish, I tasted each component. The pretzel crust tasted amazing-the perfect combination of sweet and salty. Although a little heavy, the mixture of pasta and pie filling was like eating a cannoli. At this point, I thought for sure that this dish was going to be a grand slam!!
So how did all these components taste good on their own, but not together? Well, I felt that all the flavor combinations did not work well together. Each bite had so many different contrasting flavors, that I wasn't sure how to process it all. Because of the lack of cohesiveness, I ended up deconstructing the dish, and eating each component separately.
What really threw my taste buds off was the pasta. It made the dessert extremely heavy, and the soft texture combined with the crunch of the pecans and pretzels didn't seem to work out to well.
Although I didn't get the result I wanted, it was still fun trying to come up with a crazy food combination. With some reworking, I still think that this dish could be the grand slam that I was envisioning.
So what exactly is this disaster that I call Cannoli Noodle Pie? A filling of rotelle pasta mixed with ricotta, mascarpone, sugar, lemon and orange zest- served on a pretzel crust and topped with pecans and strawberries.
Based off of the picture below, I think the dessert looks pretty darn good!
As I was making this dish, I tasted each component. The pretzel crust tasted amazing-the perfect combination of sweet and salty. Although a little heavy, the mixture of pasta and pie filling was like eating a cannoli. At this point, I thought for sure that this dish was going to be a grand slam!!
So how did all these components taste good on their own, but not together? Well, I felt that all the flavor combinations did not work well together. Each bite had so many different contrasting flavors, that I wasn't sure how to process it all. Because of the lack of cohesiveness, I ended up deconstructing the dish, and eating each component separately.
What really threw my taste buds off was the pasta. It made the dessert extremely heavy, and the soft texture combined with the crunch of the pecans and pretzels didn't seem to work out to well.
Although I didn't get the result I wanted, it was still fun trying to come up with a crazy food combination. With some reworking, I still think that this dish could be the grand slam that I was envisioning.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Gyro Pizza
Over the past few years, My friend Julie and I have gotten together on a regular basis for a cooking night! When we first started our cooking adventures, we were DISASTERS in the kitchen! One time, we tried making ice cream, but we ended up with foam. There was also the time we tried having a fondue night. While warming the cheese in the fondue pot, we heard a small explosion. It was the pot cracking and breaking (this one was my fault, I didn't really read the directions on how to use the fondue pot...oops!). However, As time progressed, we became pretty good chefs!
Sometime last winter, we made a Sandra Lee recipe for Greek Lamb Burgers. The burgers tasted like a gyro and the recipe included directions to make tzatziki sauce. Out of all the things we have made, it was probably one of my favorite dishes.
Last night, we got together for another cooking night. We came up with the idea to make Gyro Pizza. Although the recipe isn't 100% original, we tried to put our own spin on the dishes components.
The Ingredients(amounts should make about 6 pizzas and leave you with some extra tzatziki sauce for dipping!)
Flat bread. We ended up buying 2 packages with 5 flat breads in each bag.
Fresh Mozzarella, broken up into small chunks
Feta Cheese
Kalamata Olives
2 or 3 small tomatoes
1 onion, peeled
Olive oil
The Tzatziki Sauce:
2 17.6 oz containers FAGE Greek yogurt
2.5 or 3 medium cucumbers
Salt
Pepper
3 garlic Garlic
Fresh Dill
Fresh Mint
1/2 Lemon
Meat:
2-2.5 lbs of ground lamb (we used about 2.25 lbs)
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Greek Seasoning
Marjoram
3 or 4 garlic cloves (depending on how much garlic you like)
In a mixing bowl, combine yogurt, juice from the lemon, garlic (minced), salt, and pepper. You do not need a lot of salt and pepper. A few shakes with the salt and pepper shakers should work. I accidently added a few extra shakes of pepper when I made the sauce, resulting in a very peppery tzatziki (Well, I shouldn't say accidently, I just told Julie that it was an accident--sorry Julie!)
Using a food processor, chop up the dill and mint. I used about 6 or 7 mint leaves and the dill off of a few stems. You can add as much or as little mint and dill as you would like. It all depends on how strong you want these flavors to be in the sauce. I would suggest starting with a lesser amount of these ingredients and if you feel the sauce needs more flavor, you can always add more.
Next thing to do is to deseed the cucumbers. Initially, I cut the cucumber in half and tried to spoon out the seeds. Julie saw what I was doing and looked pretty perplexed.
She suggested I first peel the cucumber, cut it length wise, and then take out the seeds! This was a great idea!
Into a mixing bowl, grate 2 cucumbers and drain the liquid out in a strainer.
Add the cucumber to the sauce and mix. Since we bought 3 cucumbers, and only grated two, we decided to peel 1/2 a cucumber, chopped it into chunks and add it to the sauce. This gave the sauce a great texture! If you want a chunkier sauce, you can always use an entire cucumber.
The next step is to prepare the meat. Combine the lamb, salt, pepper, garlic (minced), garlic powder, Greek seasoning and Marjoram in a mixing bowl. Although we didn't measure the Greek seasoning or Marjoram, you would want to be generous with the amount you use.
Cook the meat in a pot over the stove. Cook the meat until it is brown all the way through! Next, drain out all the liquid from the meat. After cooking the meat, we added more spices. Again, this is a preference thing, it all depends on how much flavor you want.
Chop up the onions and tomatoes and put them on a grill pan with a little bit of olive oil. We cooked the vegetables all the way through; however, if you want a bit more crunch to the dish, do not cook the vegetables as much.
After all this prep work, its finally time to add construct our pizza's! (after this point, we forgot to take pictures...sorry!!)
Lay out the flat breads and spread some tzatziki on it (just like you would with pizza sauce). Spread some ground lamb, chopped up olives, feta cheese, the broken up pieces of mozzarella cheese and vegetables on the pizza.
Once the pizza is constructed, carefully place the pizza's on the grill for about 5-10 minutes. The goal here is to simply brown the flat bread and heat up the pizza. Take the pizza's off the grill and eat!
I have to say, out of all the dishes I have made, this one is probably my favorite!
Sometime last winter, we made a Sandra Lee recipe for Greek Lamb Burgers. The burgers tasted like a gyro and the recipe included directions to make tzatziki sauce. Out of all the things we have made, it was probably one of my favorite dishes.
Last night, we got together for another cooking night. We came up with the idea to make Gyro Pizza. Although the recipe isn't 100% original, we tried to put our own spin on the dishes components.
The Ingredients(amounts should make about 6 pizzas and leave you with some extra tzatziki sauce for dipping!)
Flat bread. We ended up buying 2 packages with 5 flat breads in each bag.
Fresh Mozzarella, broken up into small chunks
Feta Cheese
Kalamata Olives
2 or 3 small tomatoes
1 onion, peeled
Olive oil
The Tzatziki Sauce:
2 17.6 oz containers FAGE Greek yogurt
2.5 or 3 medium cucumbers
Salt
Pepper
3 garlic Garlic
Fresh Dill
Fresh Mint
1/2 Lemon
Meat:
2-2.5 lbs of ground lamb (we used about 2.25 lbs)
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Greek Seasoning
Marjoram
3 or 4 garlic cloves (depending on how much garlic you like)
In a mixing bowl, combine yogurt, juice from the lemon, garlic (minced), salt, and pepper. You do not need a lot of salt and pepper. A few shakes with the salt and pepper shakers should work. I accidently added a few extra shakes of pepper when I made the sauce, resulting in a very peppery tzatziki (Well, I shouldn't say accidently, I just told Julie that it was an accident--sorry Julie!)
Using a food processor, chop up the dill and mint. I used about 6 or 7 mint leaves and the dill off of a few stems. You can add as much or as little mint and dill as you would like. It all depends on how strong you want these flavors to be in the sauce. I would suggest starting with a lesser amount of these ingredients and if you feel the sauce needs more flavor, you can always add more.
Next thing to do is to deseed the cucumbers. Initially, I cut the cucumber in half and tried to spoon out the seeds. Julie saw what I was doing and looked pretty perplexed.
She suggested I first peel the cucumber, cut it length wise, and then take out the seeds! This was a great idea!
Into a mixing bowl, grate 2 cucumbers and drain the liquid out in a strainer.
Add the cucumber to the sauce and mix. Since we bought 3 cucumbers, and only grated two, we decided to peel 1/2 a cucumber, chopped it into chunks and add it to the sauce. This gave the sauce a great texture! If you want a chunkier sauce, you can always use an entire cucumber.
The next step is to prepare the meat. Combine the lamb, salt, pepper, garlic (minced), garlic powder, Greek seasoning and Marjoram in a mixing bowl. Although we didn't measure the Greek seasoning or Marjoram, you would want to be generous with the amount you use.
Cook the meat in a pot over the stove. Cook the meat until it is brown all the way through! Next, drain out all the liquid from the meat. After cooking the meat, we added more spices. Again, this is a preference thing, it all depends on how much flavor you want.
Chop up the onions and tomatoes and put them on a grill pan with a little bit of olive oil. We cooked the vegetables all the way through; however, if you want a bit more crunch to the dish, do not cook the vegetables as much.
After all this prep work, its finally time to add construct our pizza's! (after this point, we forgot to take pictures...sorry!!)
Lay out the flat breads and spread some tzatziki on it (just like you would with pizza sauce). Spread some ground lamb, chopped up olives, feta cheese, the broken up pieces of mozzarella cheese and vegetables on the pizza.
Once the pizza is constructed, carefully place the pizza's on the grill for about 5-10 minutes. The goal here is to simply brown the flat bread and heat up the pizza. Take the pizza's off the grill and eat!
I have to say, out of all the dishes I have made, this one is probably my favorite!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The first review...
Today for lunch, I brought some of the Combo Chicken for my friend Krista to try and review. Krista and I work together and our cubes are right next to each other. With her being so close, I was able to bother her all through lunch to get her opinions on the dish.
So what did she think??
She thought that the chicken had "an insane amount of flavor." One thing she mentioned was that she didn't notice a layer of cheese in the chicken. Because I made the filling into a paste, a lot of the flavors from the cheese had absorbed into the chicken or melted out from the chicken. If you are making this and want a thicker cheese layer, use less oil in the filling and do not blend the filling to be a paste, leave it a little chunkier. She mentioned that her favorite part of the dish was the cheese that melted off onto the pretzel crust (One thing about Krista is that she loves cheese...even her blog is named after cheese: Teh Cheese Stands Alone).
If you’re looking to add a side dish to this meal, she felt that mashed potatoes or green beans would compliment this dish.
Overall, her reaction was positive and I think this dish is a winner!!
So what did she think??
She thought that the chicken had "an insane amount of flavor." One thing she mentioned was that she didn't notice a layer of cheese in the chicken. Because I made the filling into a paste, a lot of the flavors from the cheese had absorbed into the chicken or melted out from the chicken. If you are making this and want a thicker cheese layer, use less oil in the filling and do not blend the filling to be a paste, leave it a little chunkier. She mentioned that her favorite part of the dish was the cheese that melted off onto the pretzel crust (One thing about Krista is that she loves cheese...even her blog is named after cheese: Teh Cheese Stands Alone).
If you’re looking to add a side dish to this meal, she felt that mashed potatoes or green beans would compliment this dish.
Overall, her reaction was positive and I think this dish is a winner!!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Combo Chicken
One day, I was sitting at work eating a bag of combos (Ehh-I guess I shouldn't say one day, when at one point, it was everyday for a about a month) and I realized that there were no recipes out there that involved combos. If you're reading this and already thinking that combos as ingredient doesn't sound right, well, you're not the only one! Everyone I mentioned this to thought so as well!
Anyway...
For the past few weeks, I have been thinking of different recipes that either included combos or was combo-like. After thinking for a long time, I came up with the idea of making pretzel crusted chicken stuffed with cheese!
The ingredients needed
Pretzels
4 pieces of Bacon
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
3 cloves of garlic - chopped up
1 brick of Havarti Cheese Herbs and Spices (or any type of soft cheese) - broken up
4 Chicken Breast
First thing is to create the pretzel crust. I took about seven or eight big handfuls of pretzels and put them in the food processor. The amount doesn't have to be exact, as it is only for the crust; However, the pretzel consistency should be fine.
Before creating the cheese filling, chop the bacon up into pieces and cook.
Once the bacon has cooled, it's time to create the cheese filling. In a food processor, add the bricks of cheese, garlic, bacon and 3 teaspoon of olive oil. Mix this up until the mixture is a paste. It took a little bit of a time and some manual mixing to get the cheese to the desired consistency. Also, depending on the cheese you use, you may have to add a little more olive oil to get everything mixed up. When the chicken cooks, a lot of the cheese sauce will absorb into the chicken, giving you a thin layer of a cheese sauce. If you want a thicker cheese filling, add less oil and leave some chunks of cheese in the filling.
The next step is prepare the chicken. Butterfly the chicken open, tenderize both sides, season with salt and pepper and add the cheese filling to the insides.
Close the chicken up. In a mixing bowl, beat two eggs. Coat the chicken in the egg and then in the pretzels. Repeat this one more time.
Cook the chicken on stove for 3 minutes on each side. Doing this will help give the chicken a crispy crust and a golden brown color. Also, I recommend adding three toothpicks throughout the chicken to keep it from falling apart. Once done, add some olive oil to a baking dish, add the chicken, and cook at 425 for 20-25 minutes
Well, the recipe isn't exactly a combo, but it is really good!
Anyway...
For the past few weeks, I have been thinking of different recipes that either included combos or was combo-like. After thinking for a long time, I came up with the idea of making pretzel crusted chicken stuffed with cheese!
The ingredients needed
Pretzels
4 pieces of Bacon
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
3 cloves of garlic - chopped up
1 brick of Havarti Cheese Herbs and Spices (or any type of soft cheese) - broken up
4 Chicken Breast
First thing is to create the pretzel crust. I took about seven or eight big handfuls of pretzels and put them in the food processor. The amount doesn't have to be exact, as it is only for the crust; However, the pretzel consistency should be fine.
Before creating the cheese filling, chop the bacon up into pieces and cook.
Once the bacon has cooled, it's time to create the cheese filling. In a food processor, add the bricks of cheese, garlic, bacon and 3 teaspoon of olive oil. Mix this up until the mixture is a paste. It took a little bit of a time and some manual mixing to get the cheese to the desired consistency. Also, depending on the cheese you use, you may have to add a little more olive oil to get everything mixed up. When the chicken cooks, a lot of the cheese sauce will absorb into the chicken, giving you a thin layer of a cheese sauce. If you want a thicker cheese filling, add less oil and leave some chunks of cheese in the filling.
The next step is prepare the chicken. Butterfly the chicken open, tenderize both sides, season with salt and pepper and add the cheese filling to the insides.
Close the chicken up. In a mixing bowl, beat two eggs. Coat the chicken in the egg and then in the pretzels. Repeat this one more time.
Cook the chicken on stove for 3 minutes on each side. Doing this will help give the chicken a crispy crust and a golden brown color. Also, I recommend adding three toothpicks throughout the chicken to keep it from falling apart. Once done, add some olive oil to a baking dish, add the chicken, and cook at 425 for 20-25 minutes
Well, the recipe isn't exactly a combo, but it is really good!
My First Post!!!
Hi everyone, and welcome to the coolest blog out on the web! For better or for worse, I have been working on some of my own cooking recipes and decided to share them in a blog. Through all the disasters and successes, mess ups and blow ups (well hopefully nothing will blow up), everything I create will be posted in here! So let's roll up our sleeves and start cooking!
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