The SUPER-Spread!

Yeah, so Superbowl was over a month ago... your point?

That's just how awesome the food was.  We just woke up from the food coma today.  for reals.

.......... or we've just been SUPER busy.  Either way, hakuna matata.  BLOG POST TIME! YAY!

SO. MUCH. AWESOME.

Clockwise from the red bowl with the handles we have tortilla chips and sloppy joe dip, buffalo chicken bites with blue cheese dressing, pepperoni and hawaiian deep dish chicago-style pizza, chicken quesadillas, (center) potato chips and Helluva Good Dip: Buffalo Chicken, and surf and turf bites.  Yeah.  We're that awesome.  Guess how many people were at this party.  Did you guess? 

....... Four. 

We were all very full. and very happy. :-D  See?

And to stick with the  "useful" theme of this blog, I'm gonna tell you how to make one of these delicious treats! YAY!
Sloppy Joe Dip

1 lb hamburger, browned and drained (reserve 1/4 cup of drippings)
1/4 c catsup
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c vinegar
2 T lemon juice
2 t soy sauce
1/2 c pineapple juice
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t onion powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 T cornstarch
2 T cold water

Let burger cool and pulse in food processor for finer texture. Set aside.

Combine all remaining ingredients except cornstarch and water in a medium saucepan.  Heat (with stirring) until sugar is dissolved.  Mix cornstarch and water into a slurry and slowly add to hot sauce while whisking to avoid lumps.  Continue stirring and heating while sauce thickens.  Combine with hamburger in a small crockpot and set on low until ready to serve.


And that's it!  Sorry I don't have any process shots of this one.  As you might be able to guess, the kitchen was a wee bit busy that day!

Enjoy!

A pizza so good I don't need brownies...

And that's saying something.

Seriously, the plan has been, for the past 3 days, pizza and brownies.  Brownies and pizza.  Two kinds of awesome.  But it turns out, the pizza was so awesome, I don't even need the brownies.

And this is why.

BEST PIZZA EVER!!

We have a tradition of picking up cookbooks as souvenirs when we travel.  They're great, useful, and specific to the place we're visiting!  They're kinda the perfect souvenir.  Anyway, I digress.  We picked up the Great Chicago-Style Pizza Cookbook by Pasquale Bruno, Jr when we visited.. you guessed it... Chicago!  And it's been sitting on our shelf for almost 3 years and we've NEVER USED IT!  This is a crime of the worst sort, because this pizza.... amazing.  And to think, we could have been eating it for the last three years if we'd only known....

This recipe is (I assume, though it's carefully not stated outright in the book) that this pizza is based on the recipe used at Giordano's Restaurant and Pizzeria. It's a spinach stuffed deep dish pizza.  If you'd asked me yesterday, I'd have said there's no way to replicate that much awesome at home.  I would have been wrong.

Stuffed Spinach Deliciousness

 



What makes this even better is that it's SUPER EASY to make! (Without posting the actual recipe here...) Basically, take a standard pizza crust recipe and make a double batch (or enough for two pizzas).  Roll slightly more than half the dough out so that it's about 3 inches larger than the base of a springform pan.  Put the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the pan.  Fill with a mix of about equal parts chopped spinach and shredded mozzarella cheese. 




Mmmm.  Look at all that cheesy green goodness.



Put the second crust on top of the filling, roll the edges down to seal it, and cut a hole in the middle of the crust to vent steam.  Cover in drained crushed canned tomatoes seasoned with Italian Seasoning and shredded parmesan cheese. 

Ready to go in the oven.



Put in a 475 oven for 7-8 minutes on the bottom rack of the oven, then move up two positions for an additional 10 minutes.  Remove, cut, and ENJOY! Seriously.  Enjoy a lot!

Happy Baking!

Fishy Business 2: Salmon and Rice Burritos

Fish tacos. 

... don't sound very good.  But everyone says they are.  Something to try?  I think so!  Cept we had leftover rice from last night's Thai Chili Glazed Salmon and Spanish Rice Pilaf, so we changed it up a bit and made burritos instead. And served em up street food style in our little blue baskets!

Also, in case you hadn't noticed, I'm trying to make this a somewhat more useful blog, by trying to post more recipes and less "Hey look at pictures of the awesome food we make and be jealous" sort of posts... So if you have any requests for recipes or suggestions for how to improve the blog or recipes, let me know!

Salmon and Rice Burritos

 

1 Salmon fillet

2 oz (1/4 cup) Lime Juice

6 oz (3/4 cup) Water

Cilantro (to taste)

1 t Kosher Salt

Grapeseed Oil

Salt and Pepper

Leftover Spanish Rice Pilaf

Fresh pico de gallo (recipe below)

Shredded Cheddar Cheese (we used reduced fat)

Hot sauce (optional)

 

Cut salmon fillet into two pieces.  Combine lime juice, water, cilantro, and 1 teaspoon salt.  Pour over raw fish and put in refrigerator to marinate for about half an hour. (The fish will start to whiten on the outside, but shouldn't "cook" completely with the acid.)

 

Just before you pull the fish out of the marinade is a good time to steam tortillas if you're going to do that. (We did, and trust me, it's easy and AWESOME.) To do this, dampen (don't soak!) a clean tea towel.  Stack tortillas in the center of the towel and roll up GENTLY.  Put the towel bundle into the basket of a standard vegetable steamer and set to steam for 10 minutes.

 

After half an hour, remove fish from marinade, blot off excess marinade with clean paper towel, coat lightly with grapeseed oil, rub on salt and pepper to taste (I used a "medium" amount of each), and sear 30 seconds on each side.  Transfer to a 400 degree oven for 5-6 minutes until done. Remove from heat.

 

Remove tortillas from the steamer and unroll (if you're prepping one at a time, take out one tortilla and gently roll the others back up in the towel to keep them warm).  To each tortilla, add rice, fish, pico, cheddar, and hot sauce. To roll up burrito style (not like in the picture...), fold in the two "short" ends first, then fold the two long sides over the filling and close.

 

 

 

 

Fresh Pico de Gallo

 

3 roma tomatoes

1/2 red pepper

1 small shallot

2 green onions

2-3 cloves garlic

Cilantro, Salt, and Pepper to taste

1 jalapeno (optional)

 

Dice/Mince all ingredients and combine.  Let sit in refrigerator for at least one hour before serving.

 

Enjoy!

 

Happy Cooking!

 

 







Fishy Business 1: Thai Glazed Salmon

Yeah... original title, huh?  oh well.  It made me smile.

So this weekend's ingredient of choice was Salmon fillet. Dante has been wanting to try making a Thai Chili Glazed Salmon like the one he gets at Harvey's, so we picked up a couple fillets Friday (after waiting in line FOR-E-VER.  Stupid Labor day lines...)

Friday's dinner was Dante's Thai Chili Glazed Salmon.  Which he says tastes a lot like Harvey's, so... WIN!

 

Dante's Thai Glazed Salmon

 

Salmon Fillet

Thai Chili Glaze (we used Thai Kitchen brand)

Sea Salt

Pepper

Grapeseed Oil

Jalapenos and Green onions for garnish

 



Coat the salmon lightly with grapeseed oil (or other high smoke point oil).  Rub on salt and pepper to taste, then drop into preheated cast iron pan (on high heat).  Sear without moving for 30 seconds on each side, then move to a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes.  Remove from oven and turn the oven up to broil.  Brush on Thai chili glaze and put pan under the broiler for approximately two minutes.  Remove from heat, top with jalapenos and green onions, and serve with Spanish Rice Pilaf.

Spanish Rice Pilaf

(Modification of Alton Brown's Rice Pilaf)

1 T Olive or Grapeseed Oil
1/2 Red Onion, diced
3 Cloves garlic, minced
1/2 Red Pepper, diced
2 cups Long Grain White Rice
2 1/2 cups Chicken Broth
1/2 t Cilantro (or to taste)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 Roma tomato, diced
2 Green Onions, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 350.  Put oil in bottom of large pot/saucier (use an oven safe pot/pan with a lid).  Add onions and start to sautee.  When onions begin to soften, add garlic and red pepper.  Continue to sautee another 2-3 minutes.  Add the (dry) rice and stir, cooking for 3-5 minutes (it should just start to smell "nutty", per Alton).  Add chicken broth and seasoning and stir.  Do NOT add tomatoes or green onion.  Completely moisten a clean tea towel and drape over the top of the pot.  Put the lid on over the towel and wrap the corners of the towel up over the lid.  (The towel helps reduce condensation on the lid of the pan and moistening it first helps prevent it- the towel- from burning!)  Bake 15 minutes at 350.  Remove from oven and let sit WITHOUT REMOVING LID for an additional 15 minutes.  Uncover and gently stir in tomatoes and onions.

 Well, hopefully that all makes sense, feel free to comment or email me with any questions!  I definitely recommend you try both of these recipes!

Happy Cooking!

Steak Mania!

Hmm, so I don't know how to place pics where I want them in the post on my phone, and I'm updating from my phone cuz it's been way too long since our last post. This week's post is brought to you by STEAK. Juicy, red, flavorful, awesome steak.  For reals, this is good eats, folks.

So we finally broke down and bought a cast iron skillet yesterday to cook up the highland beef strip steaks we got at the farmer's market this weekend.  We sat down like good little culinary students and watched the Good Eats episode about steak (Steak Your Claim: season 1, episode 1).  Then we went out, put our new pan in the 500 degree oven, got it piping hot, moved it to the burner on high heat, got our steaks ready with some oil, salt, and pepper, popped the steaks into the super hot pan...and found out how quickly we can fill an entire apt with smoke. I kid you not. PLUMES of smoke billowing out of the pan the instant we put the meat in. Apt filled in less than 60 seconds. And it turns out our kitten REALLY doesn't like smoke. She hid behind the elliptical meowing pathetically until I locked both cats in the bathroom and opened every window in the apt and disabled all the smoke detectors.  Fortunately that worked, the fire dept WASN'T called, and the apt cleared out in half an hour or so. In the meantime, we enjoyed some AMAZING steak. Despite all the smoke it turned out really well. Dante seared his for 30 seconds on each side then put it in the oven for two minutes per side. Currently the second pic in the lineup at the end of the post, like I said, not sure how that's working on my phone. For mine, given the smoke insanity, we opted to just put it in the hot pan in the oven.  It still turned out really well.  Just no crust. Oh, and we had them with baked sweet potatoes with brown sugar, bacon bits, and green onion.  No sauce on the steak. Didn't need it.

Tonight, Dante wanted to try again with a less glamorous cut of meat to see if it was just the really good beef that was to credit for the amazingness of the dinner.  I, I will freely admit, was a little nervous about the whole idea after the smoke debacle of last night. So... we went to the store, picked up some loin ball tip steaks (very cheap and relatively lean cut of meat), and some GRAPESEED OIL!  Grapeseed oil, unlike vegetable oil, has a very high smoke point, which is good for high heat cooking.  We also used less oil and slightly lower pan temp, and it worked amazingly. No billows of smoke.  There was smoke, but it was a manageable amount.  Dante's were again two minute rare (very good, very tender, a little rare for my taste). Mine was three minutes per side in the oven and came out a beautiful medium, and despite being a cheap cut, they were once again mouth-wateringly amazing.  Tonight with sauteed mushrooms with wolf moon garlic and shallot and a side of smashed yukon gold potatoes with garlic, shallot, and asiago cheese.

So... live long, prosper, and eat more steak!

Happy cooking!

BBQ Bean Quesaritos

Yup.  BBQ Bean Quesaritos.  Nifty, huh?

Basically, I was hungry when I got back from a walk, watching Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on Food Network, thought the BBQ Chicken Quesadillas looked good, one thing led to another, and ... well... these happened.  But apparently they were a hit, cuz I gave Dante a bite of mine and he immediately asked "Can you make me one!?"  So, score one for improvising!  Pics will have to come later, since I wasn't sure how mine would turn out and I forgot to snap a shot when I made Dante's.

Beans:
1 can Great Northern Beans WITH liquid
~2 Tbsp Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce
~1/2 tsp Weber Kick'n Chicken Seasoning
~1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
~1/2 tsp Onion Powder
Dash Kosher Salt

Quesaritos:
1 Med. Flour Tortilla
1/2 cup beans (above)
~1/2 cup spinach
~1 oz Fontina Cheese, shredded

Directions:
1. Fold tortilla in half.
2. Sprinkle one side with the Fontina cheese.
3. Place open tortilla into a hot pan (sprayed with nonstick spray).
4. Spoon beans on top of cheese.
5. Add spinach on top of beans.
6. Fold tortilla over on top of filling.
7. Cook until lightly browned/crispy on one side.
8. Flip and cook until lightly browned and crispy on second side.
9. Transfer to plate and top with extra juice from beans.

Happy cooking!

The best chowder ever... and a darn good grilled cheese!

So, still behind.  Always behind.  le sigh.  BUT... Catching up!

A while back, despite the beautiful weather, a creamy chicken soup sounded good.  And if I remember correctly, the weather actually cooperated and cooled down a bit the day we made it.  Thanks, Mother Nature! (This was at the end of May, not terribly recently.)

A lot of this was "What do we have in the kitchen that would be good in this soup?"  But I was really REALLY happy with how it turned out.  It was DELICIOUS.  But it took us a while to figure out what to call it, so we're settling on "Earthy Chicken Chowder" for now.  If you make it and come up with something better, comment and let us know! (Also, not the best picture, but believe me, it tastes better than it looks.)

Earthy Chicken Chowder

3 Chicken Breasts

8-10 c. Water

4 Chicken Bouillon Cubes

2 Potatoes, Cubed

2 Carrots, Chopped

3 Stalks Celery, Chopped

3-4 Cloves Crushed Garlic

1/3 c. Green Onions, chopped

1-2 T. Olive Oil

1/2 c. Fresh Parsley, Chopped

1 large sprig Rosemary

1 pkg Dried Wild Mushroom Mix

1 T. Black Truffle Pieces in Oil

2 c. Fat Free Half and Half

1/4 c. Rosemary Asiago, shredded

4 T. Butter

1/4 c. Flour

1/2 c. Fat Free Half and Half (Yes, it's here twice on purpose!)

Salt and Pepper to Taste 

(1 T. Onion Powder)

1. Boil chicken in large pot.  Remove from water and dice. 
2. Put dried mushrooms and 1 cup of the water the chicken was cooked in into a bowl to soak.
3. Boil remaining broth to reduce to 4-6 cups.
4. Add bouillon and potatoes.
5. In skillet, sautee carrots, celery, onions, and garlic in olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter with salt.
6. Chop soaked mushrooms and add to soup.
7. Add sauteed vegetables, rosemary, parsley, truffles, and any other seasonings you desire (we added onion powder) and simmer until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.
8. Add half and half and asiago.
9. In a small pan, melt 3 tablespoons butter.  When melted, add flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 3-5 minutes.  Add 1/2 c. Half and Half while stirring.
10. Add roux (flour mixture) to the large pot and stir in. 
11. Add chicken meat.
12. Remove rosemary stem (needles will have cooked off into the soup).
13. Warm through and serve.
 

SOOOoooooo worth making.  Really.  Would I lead you astray?

We had ours, as you might have noticed from the images above, with grilled cheese.  Cept our grilled cheese had a roquefort parsley butter (to be explained in a later post by Dante), Swiss cheese, and Morel and Leek Jack cheese.  It was a little rich, but very good.  Especially dipped in the soup.

So... there's an actual recipe for you to make up for not posting for so long!

Happy Cooking!