scallops au gratin

Christmas is around the corner, yay! My tree is up and pretty. Cookies are baked. Parties are in full swing so I'm seeing lots of friends and family. It really is the most wonderful time of year.

The Christmas party I went to over this past weekend was with The Girls (check out Jenn's blog), and we went for an Italian theme -- Feast of the Seven Fishes. Sure it's normally celebrated on Christmas Eve, but hey we made it work. This time of year is about friends and family being together, right, so got that part down pat! There were mussels and baked salmon and crab dip and ceviche and a shrimp pasta and tons of cookies and desserts. My contribution to this potluck was baked scallops, or scallops au gratin. I saw Ina Garten make it on Food Network once and finally got my chance to make it.

Instead of the bay scallops Ina used, I used giant (10 per pound count) sea scallops. I didn't write down the quantities of the ingredients before I left my house for Jenn's, so I kinda winged it. I wish I'd baked a bit shorter and then broiled them longer for a crisper crust (recipe reflects that change), but it still turned out great!

Scallops Au Gratin
adapted from Ina Garten

12 big scallops
6 tbs butter, softened
5 small cloves garlic, minced
2 small cloves shallots, minced
2 or 3 slices proscuitto, diced
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
1-2 Tbsp lemon juice
salt
1/4 C panko bread crumbs
2 or 3 Tbsp white wine

Preheat oven to 425. Remove the little tabby thing on the scallops (I had the guy at the fish counter do it for me), then wash and pat dry. Arrange in a baking dish.

Mix together the butter, garlic, shallots, proscuitto, parsley, and lemon juice. Sprinkle some salt on it an mix again. (The proscuitto is already salty so don't get too overzealous there.) Spread evenly over the scallops. Sprinkle with the panko. Pour white wine into dish.

Bake for 6-9 minutes. Turn to broil and broil another 3-5 minutes or until the tops are golden and crispy. Enjoy!

Cranberry Apple Sauce

There are certain things that just belong on a Thanksgiving table: turkey, stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes... and cranberry sauce. Truth be told, I've never been a fan of the stuff. My favorite turkey day foods are the salty and buttery Stovetop or potatoes. Heck, I can only vaguely recall cranberry sauce at any of our Thanksgivings growing up. BUT I understand how important cranberries can be to the holiday table for others, so I grabbed a bag intending to use it only as decoration, lol. But that nagging feeling that some people just love it led me to turn that decor into a last minute addition to our holiday table.

Look how red and pretty!

I'm still not sure about the eating it with turkey thing, but I really liked this! It was tart and just sweet enough. It was received nicely as a side, but next time I'm going to use it to top a brie en croute as an appetizer. Oh look at that, it's a yummy AND versatile holiday dish.

Cranberry Apple Sauce
loosely adapted from Food Network

12 oz bag fresh cranberries
1/3 C vanilla sugar (to taste)
3 Tbsp Grand Marnier
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 honeycrisp apple, peeled and diced

In a food processor, combine the cranberries, sugar, and Grand Marnier, and lemon zest and pulse a few times to chop up the cranberries and incorporate all the ingredients. Put cranberries into a small saucepan and mix in the apple. Cook over medium heat until cranberries soften, tasting along the way to add sugar if necessary, until it becomes the consistency you want. (I did add about 2 tbsp of water because I lost track of it for a bit and wanted to loosen it up, and it turned out great.)

sweet and spicy watermelon salad

Happy Labor Day! Celebrate the end of summer with a perfectly summery dish:

To Jenn's bbq today, thought I'd bring a classic summer side to the table, but with an out of the ordinary twist. I caught wind of the idea when perusing the new Food Plate Guide the gubment put out to replace the food pyramid. Sweet watermelon and spicy red pepper flakes? Niiice. I tucked this recipe away until I started seeing all the melons at the farmers markets. I of course googled it and saw a bunch of different variations, so played with it to end up with a watermelon, yellow cherry tomato (which I find to be the sweetest), cuke, and onion version. The balsamic and red pepper flake dressing enhances the flavors without overwhelming. I love that the heat just lingers on your tongue and lips, but is immediately cooled by the next bite of watermelon. And it's so colorful... this salad look so happy! And I'm all about bringing the happy :-) So again, Happy Labor Day!

Sweet and Spicy Watermelon Salad
adapted from da gubment (scroll down for recipe) and One Perfect Bite

2 1/2 lbs seedless watermelon, cubed in 1" pieces
1 pint yellow cherry tomatoes
1 9" seedless cucumber, diced into1/2" pieces
1/2 C vidalia onion, sliced into very thin 1-2" long strips
mint leaves from 2-3 sprigs, rolled and sliced thin (chiffonade)
3 Tbsp white balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp extra light olive oil
5 grinds red pepper
1 pinch red pepper flakes

Combine watermelon, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, and mint in a large bowl. Whisk together the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and red pepper until emulsified. Pour over the watermelon mixture and toss to combine. Garnish with more mint leaves if you like.

A few notes about this recipe:
1) If you don't like raw onions, and I generally don't, a nifty trick to dull that raw bite: dunk the sliced onion in ice water for 2-3 minutes then take out.
2) This salad releases a LOT of water given the nature of the ingredients. I don't mind draining some of it off through the day.

Ceviche a la Cabo

It's. So. Hot. NoVA (and the DC metro area in general) has some brutally hot summers. It's not necessarily the temps, it's the humidity that makes it stifling. And sometimes when it's really hot, you want something cool to eat that's not a dessert. Ceviche would be one of my favorite cold foods.

The first time I had ceviche, I was in Lima and my gracious hosts ordered like 3 plates of multicolored marinated seafood. Not going to lie, I wasn't too much a fan of it. I was slightly weirded out by how it was "cooked"... and why was it different colors? I partially blame ignorance for that poor first impression. Flash forward 3 years and I was in Cabo, and the ceviche was one of the first things we ordered. It was AWESOME. The tart was tempered by sweet mango and cooling avocado. It was bright and balanced, and I knew it would not be the last time I'd eat it. Fortunately for me, I wasn't the one who figured out how to make it, haha. My girl and travel buddy, Danielle, attempted to make it one night, said it was great, and sent me the recipe. I've made it a couple times since, and it still brings back the memories every time.

Since this is a recipe that takes a considerable amount of wait/marinating time, and because this is how Danielle gave it to me, I'm writing it in steps.

Cabo Ceviche
thanks Danielle!

Combine the following and marinate for a 2-3 hours, tossing/mixing 2 or 3 times:
   1-2 lbs red snapper, skinned, cut into bite size pieces
   2-3 limes, juiced
   1 lemon, juiced

Add the following to the marinating fish, and marinate for another 2 hours.
   1 small red onion, diced small
   1 jalapeno, diced small
   1 tomato, seeded and diced
   1 mango, diced
   1/4 C cilantro (or more/less to your taste)

Mix this in just before serving:
   1  avocado, diced

Serve with tortilla chips.

Carne Machaca in taquitos and nachos

This month's Girls Potluck theme made up for the Cinco de Mayo celebration we didn't have last month, lol. Thus, it was Mexican Month! There were berry mojitos and carne asada (thanks Julia!) and shrimp veracruz (thanks Ang.!) and plaintain chips and watermelon margaritas (thanks Jenn!) I wanted to make tamales, per my 2011 hit list which I am horribly behind on, but I realized I don't have a steamer. So what're my other favorite Mexican restaurant meals? Easy: the carne machaca from The Torilla Factory, and my take on machaca is what I brought to the table.

What is machaca, you ask? In a couple words: spiced, shredded beef. It's full of flavor thanks to overnight marination, then cooking with onions and peppers for hours (translation: plan ahead, this recipe takes time!)... then it's shredded and cooked down even longer. It makes an excellent filling for burritos, tacos, or enchiladas, or you can eat it with eggs and/or potatoes for breakfast. I didn't use it in any of those ways today, though... today I used them to make oven taquitos and nachos, and they were AWESOME.

Machaca 
adapted from David Bulla


Marinade:
1/4 C Worcestershire sauce
juice of 2 limes
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 C canola oil

Machaca:
3 lbs chuck roast (or skirt steak), fat and silver skin trimmed, cut into 3/4 - 1 lb pieces
2 tbsp oil
1 large Spanish or Vidalia (or other sweet yellow) onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, seeded then diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, deveined and diced
1 serrano pepper*, seeded, deveined and diced
1 10oz can original Rotel tomatoes with green chiles
1 or 2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/4 C beef broth
1 Tbsp dried Mexican oregano
1 Tbsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp tabasco sauce
few grinds of red pepper flakes
salt and pepper

Prepare the marinade - combine all ingredients and whisk to form an emulsion. Pour into a 1 gallon zipper bag, and add meat. Massage so meat is evenly coated. Put bag in a bowl or baking dish in case it leaks. Refrigerate overnight.

Make the machaca - Take meat out of the fridge and leave out for about 30 minutes to come to room temperature. Remove from marinade, pat dry, and discard the marinade. Prepare all your veggies.

In large pot (I used my 6 qt. dutch oven), heat oil over medium high heat until hot. Add meat and sear - you want each side to be a rich caramelized brown. You may have to cook in batches if there's not enough space in the pot for all pieces. Set aside on a plate.

Add the onions and peppers to the same pot and saute for about 3 minutes, scraping all the brown bits from the bottom. Add the garlic and saute another 2 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Add the meat back into the pot. Bring to a simmer then reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for 2 to 2.5 hours.

(mmm look how brown the meat got)

Remove beef to a cutting board and shred with 2 forks. It should be tender and pull apart easily. Add back to the pot, then simmer, uncovered, until there's almost no liquid left. This took almost an hour for me., and I had it on low heat.

Taste again and add any additional seasoning/heat to your liking. (*This recipe is pretty mild with just a hint of heat from the peppers. It's a friendly recipe for people who don't like spicy stuff. Personally, the next time I make this I'm adding at least 1 more serrano pepper.)

One note - this makes a LOT of machaca, about 8 cups worth. I used half between the taquitos and nachos, then packed and froze the rest for future use.

Oven Baked Taquitos:
machaca
6" flour tortillas
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with foil for easy clean up later.

Spread 2-3 tbsp of machaca in a line about 1/4 the way up the tortilla, then roll. Repeat with as many taquitos as you want to make. Spray with cooking spray. Place on baking sheet seam side down. Bake 10 minutes. Take out of the oven, turn them so the other side browns, and bake another 5 minutes until golden brown.

Take out of oven, cut in half on the diagonal. Serve with guacamole, sour cream, and/or salsa.

Machaca Nachos
machaca
tortilla chips
cheddar jack cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spread tortilla chips across a baking sheet. Add a spoonful of machaca to each chip. Sprinkle cheese over each chip. Bake until cheese is melted - about 5 minutes. Serve with sour cream and/or guacamole.

(not pretty, but pretty delicious)

tortilla espanola

I can't believe it's May already and I've gone this long without posting! I've been cooking, I swear. I have probably 3 other posts saved to finish later. But really I've spent most of the last couple months working my tail off. And vacationing in the Dominican. But mostly working, lol. My goal this month is to finish those other posts and get back to sharing!

While I know it's Cinco de Mayo today, and that's totally Mexican, I made a Spanish dish last night. As in Spain. As in the tortilla espanola, which is essentially a potato omelet. It's one of the simplest foods out there - eggs, potatoes, onions (if you like), oil, and some salt and pepper. For so few ingredients, the key is in the execution. This took forever to make (so set aside plenty of time!) because I cooked each step low and slow. Each part was soft and tender without falling apart, so each ingredient's integrity is maintained, yet balanced delightfully with the other flavors. See - you can see the different potato pieces in the tortilla. Yum!

Tortilla Espanola (with onions)
adapted from allrecipes.com

1 lb butter potatoes, peeled, halved, and cut into 1/4" slices
1 small Spanish onion, peeled, cut in half, and sliced into thin rings
8 eggs
1/2 C olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Heat 1/3 C oil in a large skillet over medium low heat. Add half the potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until just fork tender. This takes about 20 minutes. Repeat with the rest of the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

If necessary, add a little oil to pan, and turn heat up to medium and cook onions until soft and golden - about 15 minutes. Add to bowl of potatoes to cool a bit. Add salt/pepper if needed.

Turn stove top heat down to low. Add enough oil to lightly coat bottom of pan so tortilla won't stick.

Beat eggs in a large bowl. Add potato/onion mix. Pour into pan and allow bottom and edges to set - about 10 minutes. Loosen edges and bottom with a spatula so it can slide out of the pan easily.

Here's where you need to work pretty quickly so nothing spills: Slide onto a large plate, top with another plate, flip over (so cooked side is on top), slide back into pan. Cook for another 3-5 minutes until cooked through and set in the center.

Remove from pan. Cool. Cut - I find cutting it into 8ths is good for a snack portion, cutting it into 6ths is good for a breakfast/lunch portion, or you can also cut it into smaller pieces if serving as a finger food. I like to eat this slightly warmed, but it's just as good room temp.

Bacon EXPLOSION!

Pigskin for Superbowl? Pshaw... how about pig flesh! Bacon inside of pork sausage inside of bacon. Three layers of pork, rolled, mmmm. That's right, I'm talking about the BACON EXPLOSION! 

 

I feel like there should be an echo... the BACON ex-PLOOOO-ZHUNNNN... ZHUNnnnn... Shun...shunnnnn.....

I first heard about this bad boy when my girl Jen (hi Jen!) made it for some event and got 2nd place in an appetizer contest  (when really she shoulda won since 1st place was really an entree, right!). Oh, and apparently the NYT did an article about it in 2009. I've wanted to make it since, but could never really bring myself to. As my boss said the other day when I showed him the recipe, "it's like the inside of a cannibal's intestines!" Gross. But apt. But I didn't care, lol. If you're gonna make something for Superbowl, may as well go all out, right!

I so rarely do progress pics, but this is so awesome I just HAVE to :-)

BACON EXPLOSION!!!!
introduced by Jen, apparently in the NYT, and here's a link to the 1st search result from google

2 lbs thick cut bacon
1.5 to 2 lbs Italian sausage, casings removed
3 Tbsp BBQ rub
2/3 C BBQ sauce
Prep a sheet pan with a layer of aluminum foil topped. It just makes this a bit neater start to finish.

Take 10 strips of bacon and create a tight 5x5 basket weave. (What's a basket weave you ask? the NYT recipe describes it, and the BBQ addicts show it.) I should note that I had thinner strips so I eventually did 6x6 (don't mind the pic, I took 1 strip away eventualy).

Spread all of the sausage over the basket weave of bacon. All the way to the edges in an even layer.
Preheat oven to 225. (Or you can smoke it, but I don't have a smoker, so we'll be baking.)

Snip the remaining bacon into 1-2" pieces. Fry to your desired doneness- when they're about halfway there sprinkle in about 1T of BBQ rub and keep cooking. Cool. Spread the cooled bbq bacon bits over the sausage in an even layer.

Drizzle with 1/2 C BBQ sauce and sprinkle with 1 T BBQ rub.

Carefully roll the SAUSAGE and COOKED BACON into a log -- you'll need to separate it from the bacon weave. Press it so there are no air pockets, and pinch the seam and the ends shut to seal in the crumbled bacon. Roll the log again with the bacon weave until completely wrapped. Turn it seam side down. Sprinkle with 1 T BBQ rub.

Bake until internal temperature reaches 165. It's approximately 1 hour for every inch of thickness. Glaze with BBQ sauce.

Cut into 1/4" too 1/2" rounds and serve.

cheddar biscuits

I love buttermilk biscuits. I don't care how full I am, I will always make room for them. Add cheese and garlic, and you've got some of the best biscuits ever that taste pretty much like those from that red crustacean restaurant chain. Ya know the one. But I get to control the butter, so yay! I got the recipe from America's Most Wanted Recipes. It's actually the first recipe I've made from it even though I received it as a gift last year from James. (Hi James!) I made them for one of our Thanksgiving potlucks as an alternative to the normal dinner rolls. Yum!

Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits
adapted from that book linked above, lol

For the biscuits:
2 rounded cups of buttermilk biscuit mix
1/4 rounded tsp garlic powder

4 tbsp cold butter

1 overflowing cup of grated cheddar - I used a mix of mild and sharp cheddar
3/4 C cold whole milk

For the buttery topping:
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp garlic powder
dried parsley flakes for color

Mix garlic powder into biscuit mix. Cut butter into the biscuit mix until incorporated but bits are still about the size of peas. Gently mix in the cheddar. Stir in the milk until just combined.

Preheat oven to 400. Drop into big dollops (about 1/4 C sized) onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Smooth the tops so you don't get any crispy parts. Bake for 15 minutes or until they're lightly golden.

Melt the butter and mix in the garlic powder and parsley flakes. Brush the baked biscuits while hot.

Makes 1 dozen.

Friendsgiving app # 2: stove top stuffed mushrooms

That's right. STOVE TOP. As in the best stuffing out there.

A quick aside: Stove Top is THE stuffing. None of this cornbread stuffing... or sausage and sage stuffing... or oyster stuffing (oysters? really?). No. Absolutely not. Stove Top chicken stuffing goes with all things poultry or holiday or anything that requires awesome delicious stuffing.

Okay so I like Stove Top. So much that it never quite occurred to me to use it in, like, any other way. That's a partial truth - I once made a bruschetta chicken bake with it, but that was years ago and I totally forgot about it until Ang. and I found this cookbook:

Oh. My. Gawd. How the hizzle did we never think to use it in all those different ways? Answer: because Stove Top is that good on its own :-) Anyways, this is the first recipe that caught my eye, and thus we made it for Friendsgiving. And by we, I mean my brother, Ang., and I all had a hand in making it, lol. See - stove top bringing people together! Friendsgiving win!

Stovetop and Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms
from that Kraft mini magazine

1 1/2 C hot water
1 6 oz package Stove Top for chicken
24 oz white mushrooms
2 tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 1/2 C shredded mozzarella
1 C grated parmesan
salt to taste
Heat oven to 400.

In a large bowl, add hot water to stuffing mix and stir until moist. Pop the stems from the mushrooms and chop the stems, putting the caps onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

In a large pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add mushroom stems and garlic. Cook and stir for about 5 minutes or til tender. Add spinach and mix. Take off heat. Mix into stuffing. Add cheeses and mix well.

Spoon into mushroom caps. (To make it uber fast, I used my smallest cookie scoop to do this.) Bake for 20 minutes.

Ridiculous and easy. You can bet I'll be making these again and again!

food and fun for Friendsgiving

What is Friendsgiving? It's Thanksgiving, but with friends! No family drama, no kids, just you, your friends, and the huge Thanksgiving meal that brings you all together. It's usually celebrated a couple weeks before actual Thanksgiving to avoid the hectic holiday season. I'd love to say I came up with the idea, but nope, I was fortunate enough to be invited to one a few years back, and the tradition lives on. Basically it's a huge potluck where the host makes the bird and everyone brings traditional Turkey Day sides. Well, not necessarily traditional - one year we did an Alternathanksgiving, where we all made a twisted recipe of a traditional meal - i.e. I made mashed cauliflower instead of taters, mmm. If you've never been to a Friendsgiving, I highly recommend starting that tradition with your friends!

Over the next few days/weeks I'll start posting the recipe from this year's Friendsgiving, which will, of course, work perfectly well for offiicial Thanksgiving! I kinda started with my Friendsgiving recipes yesterday when I posted about the meringues, but instead of dessert this time, how about an appetizer recipe for caramelized onion dip:

I made this the day before and let it sit in the fridge. That really allowed the flavors to marry, and it made actual Friendsgiving Day a breeze! This is a snazzy version of a typical sour cream and onion dip - the caramelized onions are so sweet, but it's balanced out by the kick of the cayenne pepper. Serve it with some kettle chips and enjoy an easy make ahead app good for pretty much any party!

Caramelized Onion Dip
adapted from Ina Garten

2 large yellow sweet onions
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 bar (4 oz) cream cheese
1/2 C mayo
1/2 C sour cream\

Quarter onions then slice into thin pieces. Heat butter and oil over medium heat in a large pan. Add onions and stir until soft. Add salt and peppers. Continue to cook on just a bit lower heat than medium, stirring once in a while for 25 or more minutes until it caramelizes - you want them to get to this color.

Try not to eat them right out of the pan :-) Allow to cool.

Use a blender to mix the cream cheese (room temp so it's easier to blend), mayo, and sour cream. Once the onions are cool, mix them in. Add salt or pepper to taste, but keep in mind the heat of the cayenne will get a little stronger as it sits. Refrigerate a few hours or overnight so the flavors have time to marry.

Serve at room temp. Makes about 2 cups.

spicy steamed shrimp for one or more

The inspiration for this meal actually came from a dive of a restaurant in Fairfax. Like really dumpy dive. But we went one day for $2 seafood, and I got the shrimp. It was surprisingly delicious - spicy and perfectly cooked. There wasn't a whole lot to it, so it wasn't hard to figure out the recipe and make it a couple weeks ago for girls night... but we scarfed it down so fast I didn't get any pics, lol.

I've been getting busy again planning for the holidays, and I needed an easy fast meals for just me, so here we are again! This was so fast to put together... 2 minutes of prep (not including boiling water), and 9 min to steam, then ready to eat! Even better, while this meal was steaming, I chopped some onions for another holiday treat (recipe to follow, stand by!). Multitasking is good. So is this spicy Old Bay shrimp!

Spicy Steamed Shrimp for One

1/2 lb raw easy peel shrimp
2 tbsp Old Bay seasoning
water
cocktail sauce and lemons, if desired

> pot and colander that fits inside it w/o touching the bottom

Fill a pot of water 1 or 2 inches with water - enough that your colander/steamer won't touch it. Stir in 1 tbsp of old bay. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Mix shrimp with 1 tbsp of Old Bay. Put into steamer colander, put in pot, cover, and steam for about 9 minutes.

Sprinkle with more Old Bay if you like it spicy (I do!), serve with some cocktail sauce and a sliced lemons if you like. Enjoy!

Good thing about this -- you can easily multiply the recipe for more people. Serve it as an app, even. When you're steaming, just watch the shrimp. They should turn bright pink and curl into a nice capital C. You don't want it to curl up too much aka overcook or it'll get rubbery.

spanakopita (or, greek spinach triangles)

'm a Top Chef fan, especially this season because it's set in my home town. DC, despite being a small city, has a plethora of really great restaurants. That is partially thanks to renowned chef Jose Andres, who's the mastermind behind Jaleo (supposedly the place that brought tapas to DC), Cafe Atlantico, Minibar, Oyamel, and Zaytinya. (I've been to all except Minibar, which is the one Bourdain went to in his DC ep, and is definitely in the top 5 of my To Eat At list). The Chef at Zaytinya is Top Chef contestant from last season, Mike Isabella. (See how I brought that right back around :-)) One of the most memorable things I ever ate there was a crab (or was it lobster?) spanakopita which was a special during the Easter season a few years back. It was AWESOME.

So I've had a hankering to make spanakopita lately, plus it's on my Hit List. Lo and behold, Mike Isabella has a little instructional series on just this dish. Here's the first vid. He says "uh" a LOT, but once you get past that, it's a really informative set of videos. I watched it a few times to get an idea of how to do it, and viola - here's my spanakopita!

The first time I tried to make this, I was fresh out of college. I knew I was supposed to defrost the phyllo... so I left it on the table for, like, an hour. When I started to unroll it, it cracked almost immediately! I promptly quit trying to make it, and haven't bothered since, lol. But this time, it phyllo was not as tough to work with, simply because I actually prepared well - fully thawed (won't forget that one), damp towel to keep it covered, everything organized so I could move quickly. That being said, I still tore a few sheets. And the towel can't be that wet because the phyllo turns gooey.

Please enjoy the pretty process pics. I <3 my new camera!

Spanakopita

adapted from Mike Isabella's videos

1/2 large vidalia onion, diced
1 leek, white part only (mine was pretty small), diced
4-5 stalks green onion, diced

olive oil

10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

8 oz package feta

1 egg

2 tsp dried dill

1 tsp dried parsley

freshly ground red pepper flakes, to taste

fresh ground black pepper, to taste

kosher salt, to taste

phyllo dough, defrosted overnight in the fridge

clarified butter

Heat olive oil over medium high heat and sautee onions until half translucent. Add the leeks and sautee another 2-3 minutes. Add the green onion and sautee until everything is soft.

Turn off heat, then add spinach and mix until everything's combined. Add about 1/2 tsp salt and peppers to taste. Put into a large bowl and allow to cool while you prepare the phyllo.

For the phyllo - cut into 11"x3" strips. The package of phyllo I got was 18 sheets, so I only had to cut one 3" strip -- this recipe makes 18. (Please see my note at the end of this post.) Cover with damp towel so it doesn't try out.

Add the feta to the spinach mixture and season to taste. Mix in the egg.

To form the spanakopita: Lay out a strip of phyllo. Brush with clarified butter. Put a heaping tablespoon of spinach mix in the bottom corner. Fold over to form a triangle, press down the filling a bit, then keep folding (like making a paper football). Brush top with more butter. Place on parchment lined paper.  When you have enough for one tray, put in fridge for at least 30 min (and then repeat until you're done with filling).

Make sure the oven rack is in the top 3rd, and then preheat oven to 350. Bake spanakopita for 8 minutes, then flip them over, and bake for another 3-4, or until the whole thing is toasty brown.

Enjoy hot! Mmm flaky.

When I do this again (and I'll be making this again soon because I have leftover phyllo), I'm going to play with the size and shape. For one thing, the one I had at Zaytinya was shaped more like a cigar, so I'll try rolls. Also, I don't think that I got enough flaky layers, so I'll double up the sheets of phyllo.

I'm back, with stuffed mushrooms

Yeah, I'm still alive :-) What have I done in this past month? Hmm... got pretty sick, got better, went to the beach, watched a bunch of movies, played some softball. Notice that baking/cooking isn't listed. Yep, I've been bad about that. But here I am now, with food!

So the other weekend was crab and beer fest at National Harbor. Because we planned in advance (was that sarcasm?) we did not get the general admission tickets. Not to be defeated by that, though, we had our own Crab Fest at Chez Smurf (aka Ang.'s place). That led to the best of sayings...

"We went to Angela's house and all we got were these stinking crabs!"

"By the end of the night you WILL have crabs!"

"Who knew having crabs could be so good."

What was on the menu? Maryland crab soup. Crab bites. Crab cakes eggs benedict. Steamed snow crab legs. And these not so photogenic but very tasty crab-stuffed mushrooms. The mushroom caps came out a bit... black. But they were tender. I think using white mushroom caps would make much prettier stuffed shrooms, but guess I'll just have to make them again to find out, heh. Oh, and coincidentally, stuffed mushrooms were part of my Hit List, so yay I can cross another item off!

Oh, and by the way, these were yummy. Not overwhelmingly crabby, not too mushroomy, just the right amount of cheese. Maybe next time I'll add some panko breadcrumbs to the top for some crunch, but they're delightful as is.

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
from allrecipes.com

24-30 baby portabella or white mushrooms
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 stalk green onions, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp lemon juice
1 C crab meat
1/4 C breadcrumbs
1/4 C crushed buttery round crackers (since I had them leftover from the crabcakes, otherwise just make it more breadcrumbs)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp dried dill
1 C monterey jack cheese, divided
1/4 C dry white wine

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with baking spray. Preheat oven to 375.

Remove stems from mushrooms and dice finely. Heat butter and oil over medium heat in a medium pan. Add mushroom stems and green onions and sautee about 3 minutes. Add garlic and sautee an additional 1 minute. Remove from heat and allow to cool 5-10 minutes.

Arrange the mushroom caps out in the baking dish and spray one more time with the spray. Bake for 10 minutes.

Mix in the lemon juice, crab meat, breadcrumbs, crushed crackers, egg, dill, and 1/2 C of the cheese to the mushroom stem/onion mix.

Fill with the crab mixture, and top with the rest of the cheese. Pour wine into the bottom of the baking dish. Bake 20-30 minutes or until mushrooms are soft. (Note: I wonder if I'd used white mushrooms that I'd have to bake them for a shorter amount of time, because at 20 minutes the baby bellas were still on the raw side. Just something to keep in mind.)

Pico & Guac

Just about 2 months ago I was kicking it in Cabo. What better way to remember that great time than by hosting a little Cabo reunion? (Shout out to Jeffrey, Ang., Danielle, Mike, and Team Heater!) Each of us made something that reminded us of our trip - there was ceviche, tacos, margaritas... And I made the two things that were served with every single meal (and snack) in Mexico: pico de gallo and guacamole. Both were always so fresh, soooo tasty, so Mexican, lol. And you know what, I never once got sick of either while I was there :-) These two are a natural pairing - they share many of the same ingredients and thus complement each other well.

Pico de Gallo

4 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced (I took out most of the fleshy insides so it wouldn't get too mushy - just toss those into a pasta sauce)

1/2 medium-large sized vidalia onion, diced

1-3 jalapeno peppers (depending on how hot you want it), seeded, deveined and diced small

1/2 C cilantro leaves, then chop finely

1/2 lime

dash of garlic powder

salt

Combine the tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, and cilantro. Juice the lime all over, and mix. Add garlic powder and mix. Add salt to taste. Cover and let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour to let the flavors mingle then serve.

The funny thing about guacamole is that I did not like anything that had to do with avocados for most of my life. I think I only developed a liking love for it in the past couple years. Now I probably make something with avocado a few times a month.

Guacamole

from Alton Brown

3 ripe avocados (should give a little when squeezed)

2-3 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced

1/4 medium-large vidalia onion, diced finely

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 C cilantro, then chop finely

1/2 lime (mine was large and really juicy, so if yours isn't that big/juicy, use a whole lime)

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (mine was closer to 1/2 tsp)

salt

Cut open avocados, remove pits (don't throw them away!), and scoop out into a bowl. Mash lightly and squeeze lime juice over it to keep from browning. (Note: the avocado will continue to break down when you mix in the rest of the ingredients, so mash only enough so it's twice the chunkiness you'll want in the final product.) Mix in tomatoes, onion, garlic, cilantro, cumin, cayenne, and salt. Taste, and add seasonings as necessary. Squeeze the hell out of the lime so whatever juice is left covers the guac, then add pits to stave off browning. Cover - press the plastic wrap down directly onto the guac to keep oxygen out so it doesn't brown - and let sit in the fridge for a few hours for flavors to hang out and get to know each other. 

baked garlic croutons

Remember how I said I'd post all my Easter recipes, and how I was working backwards, and yet somehow I stopped with the main course? I didn't forget the rest of my meal! Our salad course was a caesar topped with these big, crunchy, garlicy croutons. They are so good I'm featuring them by themselves.

Croutons are my favorite part of any salad, and I can happily eat a salad sans dresssing as long as there are good croutons involved. Snacks(salty+crunchy)=happy Caroline. (This is also why I love popcorn, potato chips, shoestring fries, pretzel crisps, etc.) I can eat croutons by themselves, which is exactly why I made an entire loaf's worth instead of enough for one meal. Good thing is that they keep well in a zip top bag for many days of future munching.

Garlic Croutons

1 loaf day old italian bread, cubed into big 1+" chunks (the loaf I got was so big, it made almost 100 huge cubes , thus the amount of oil listed next)
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 375.

Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium-low to low heat. Smash the garlic cloves with your knife and discard the skin. Put the cloves into the oil and heat until the oil is infused with the garlicy goodness -- I let it simmer while I cut the bread - took about 10 minutes. Don't let the garlic brown.

Dump the bread cubes into a really big bowl. Drizzle the garlic infused oil over the bread, tossing regularly to ensure even coating. Season with salt, garlic powder, and a few grinds of pepper. Taste one and adjust seasoning to your liking. Spread out evenly in a single on a sheet pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Toss the croutons. Bake for 8 more minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool.

You an also season it however you like, too - get crazy with herbs, cheeses, ranch powder, etc. Eat with your favorite salad, or on soup, or as a snack :)

asparagus soup

Asparagus is one of the foods I didn't like growing up, but totally love now. I remember the first time I tasted it and went, mmmmm. I was in Austria with my mom and her cousin out at some rest stop restaurant (random, right). It was cold and rainy, and my Tito got cream of asparagus soup. He asked if I wanted some, and I peered at that green stuff and wrinkled my nose. He insisted, and I didn't want to be rude(r), so I had a sip. And it was delicious! It was creamy, surprisingly sweet, and very fresh tasting. I wanted to eat the whole thing. And that was it: I was turned on to asparagus.
Joy of joys, it's in season (thus those other posts with asparagus recently.) I couldn't find my old recipe for this, so I Googled and mashed together a bunch of different recipes to come up with this. This is a light soup, reminscent of the one I had way back when. A heavy cream would make it richer and slightly sweeter, but the evap milk has fewer calories. You can also substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth if you want a full out vegetarian soup.

Asparagus Soup

1 lb asparagus
3 tbsp butter
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can reduced sodium chicken broth (or 2 cups)
3/4 C evaporated milk (or heavy cream)
salt and pepper to taste
Special equipment: immersion blender or food processor

Snap the tough ends from the asparagus. Cut them into 2" pieces. If you want to decorate with the tips, save 4 tips.

In a medium sized pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Sautee the onions about 3-4 minutes until it's getting soft. Add the asparagus and garlic and sautee another 5 minutes. Add the stock. Bring to a simmer, turn down the heat to med-low, cover and cook for about 20 minutes or until the asparagus is very tender. Take off the heat.

Use the immersion blender to puree the soup, or food process until pureed. Stir in the evaporated milk. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Heat back up to temperature you like. Serve with croutons. Or if you want to use the reserved tips, sautee them for a minute until tender and top the soup.

cauliflower fritters + 2 quickie recipes

I feel like I've been away forEVER, but it's only been a few days. This is probably because despite my best intentions to cook more, I have spent little to no time in the kitchen. In that little time I made some tasty yet generic burgers (1 lb 90/10 ground beef, 1 pack onion soup mix, split into 4, fry) with roasted sweet potato fries (heat oven to 400, slice 1 sweet potato into fry size pieces, drizzle with olive oil, salt, and ground red pepper flakes, bake for 25 min, tossing twice for even baking). Let me tell you those sweet potato fries were so darn tasty and ridiculously easy to make that I've added that to my Go to Recipe list.

But tonight, I went with another veggie: leftover cauliflower. I used half of a head to make some roasted florets, and had the other half just sitting around. That's one of the things that's a challenge about cooking for one - the normal portion of veggies you buy at the grocery are too much for 1, and I don't want to eat the same thing over and over. Thus: cauliflower fritters, which look and taste a bit like latkes, but (I think/hope) healthier. I found on this recipe on another blog I stumbled on - Gina's WW Recipes - and all her stuff looks so delish AND healthy that I'll be happy to try more of her recipes in the future.

Cauliflower Fritters

1/2 head cauliflower, steamed and mashed chunky

1/2 C whole wheat flour

1 clove garlic, minced

1 egg

1/4 C parmesan, shredded via microplane

salt and pepper

hot water

olive or canola oil to fry

Mix all the ingredients from the cauliflower to the salt/pepper. Add enough water to make the batter look like really thick pancake mix. Heat oil in a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Scoop 1/4 C (or use a large pampered chef cookie scoop) of the cauliflower mix and flatten a bit. Fry each side til golden brown (see the pretty gold edges in the pic above!)

Belated Happy Hanukkah

With all that snow over the weekend I almost forgot that a few of us made Hanukkah dinner on Friday. It wasn't anything fancy since, well, we're not Jewish. But we wanted to celebrate the festival of lights with a nice hearty meal before the storm. What's hearty? Matzoh ball soup, brisket and latkes.

I should rewind a bit. Ang. and I had dinner planned for a couple weeks, and just a few days before it we found out J was going to be in town. J being actually Jewish, we invited him, too. He was a bit confused over why a couple of Filipina Catholics were having Hanukkah dinner, but hey he came! And he made the matzoh ball soup. I didn't get a picture of the it, though, because I was too busy scarfing it down. Thanks J! (Mental note, I must learn how to make that stuff cuz it's awesome.)

As for the rest of the food... Ang. made the brisket, and I made the latkes. Ang. pulled the latke recipe for me from Food Network and I kind of can't remember what I did with the print out. But it wasn't hard to make and I can recite it from memory. According to our Jewish guest of honor, they were good!

Latkes (Potato Pancakes)

adapted from a recipe from Food Network

2 big russet potatoes, peeled

1/4 C shallots, minced

2 eggs

3 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

pepper to taste

oil to fry

Special equipment: cheesecloth

Line a strainer with some cheesecloth. Use a food processor to shred the potatoes. Put them into the strainer over a bowl and give a nice squeeze. Let drain for 15 min. Pour off the juice, but leave the white starchy part. Mix in the rest of the ingredients except the oil until all combined, then add the potatoes.

Heat the oil over med-high heat until hot. Drop latkes by the tablespoon full. Cook until lightly browned, then flip and cook the other side. Lay out on a paper towel lined plate.

Makes around 10.

Eat with applesauce (or sour cream).

Sausage Potato Puffs

Christmas tree up, check. Shopping for Salvation Army angel tree kid done, check. Shopping for family/friends started, check. First snow of the season, as of today, CHECK! All signs indicate that the holidays are in full swing.

Another sign: holiday parties. And tomorrow is my first of the season... and it's a potluck! There's so much to do for it, too. (Cleaning, not even sorta check, and of course cooking, also not check.) But I got a jump on it today. Tomorrow will be jam packed with prep, so what could I make ahead of time? These.



Sausage Potato Puffs
adapted from Food and Wine, Dec 2006

3/4 lb potatoes (I used red since that's what I had, recipe says Yukon Gold)
1 lb Italian sausages, casings removed (I used turkey because I wasn't sure if my friends kept kosher... plus it's half the calories)
3/4 C water
6 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
3/4 C all purpose flour
4 large eggs
1/2 C Gruyere cheese, shredded
1/4 C parmesan cheese, grated
1 tsp finely chopped thyme
1/2 tsp finely chopped rosemary (I omitted)
pinch of freshly ground pepper
1 large egg yolk mixed w/ 2 tbsp water

1. Preheat the oven to 425. Coat 2 24-cup mini muffin tins w/ cooking spray.
2. Bring potatoes to a simmer over med heat until tender. Let cool slightly, then peel and coarsly mash.
3. Cook the sausage over high heat until browned, about 8 min. Coarsly crumble.
4. In a medium saucepan, bring water, butter, and salt to a boil. Remove from the heat and add the flour, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon until just combined. Set the pan over med high heat and cook the dough, stirring until it comes away from the sides of the pan, 2-3 min. Remove from heat.
5. Using a hand held mixer, beat the dough at low speed for 1 minute. Beat in the eggs, one at a time at medium speed. Beat in the gruyere, parmesan, herbs, and pepper. Stir in mashed potatoes and sausage.
6. Fill the muffin cups with the dough. Brush the tops with the egg wash. Bake for 20 minutes or until puffed and golden.

Either serve hot, or it can be refrigerated overnight, then rewarm in the oven. Made 40 (recipe yield is 48). I did some math and with the turkey for pork substitution, they come out to just under 100 cal each puff... just in case anyone was wondering.

They're overall relatively easy to make. I'd cut the salt back to 1 tsp next time, but otherwise these savory little bites are an easy make ahead app.