Capellini with Fresh Ricotta

Tonight I made a quite simple dish, with a bit of an interesting twist. It is basically just pasta and sauce, but the fresh ricotta adds a really nice touch, and is something that you might not normally think to make at home. It has light flavor and is very creamy, and can have a quite nice presentation

To make the Ricotta, just take 2C whole milk, 1/4t salt and 2T lemon juice and microwave for about 4 minutes. The milk should separate into curds and a translucent whey, and you can pour this into a colander lined with 2 or 3 layers of cheesecloth to collect it. For this, I used 2C of milk worth of cheese for each bowl.

To assemble, cook capellini or angel hair pasta. While the pasta cooks, warm up good quality tomato sauce with a little olive oil and pour in bowl. Then, stir some more olive oil and a little salt into the cheese to thin it. Twirl the pasta on top of the sauce and top with the ricotta and a little Parmesan. Tasty, light, quick and easy. Based on http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/03/dinner-tonight-capellini-with-fresh-ricotta-recipe.html and http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/02/how-to-make-fresh-ricotta-fast-easy-homemade-cheese-the-food-lab-recipe.html

Sliders Guest Spot

I wrote a guest-spot for The Amateur Gourmet blog about Sliders, take a look here:

http://www.amateurgourmet.com/community/2010/04/sliders.html#more

French Bread and Awesome Scrambled Eggs

Today I've got a basic french bread recipe that is pretty easy to make and adds some class to a meal, as well as my version of scrambled eggs that taste pretty awesome.

First, the French bread. To make the dough, combine 3C all-purpose flour, 2.5t yeast, 3/4t salt and 1C warm water. mix and kneed for about 10 minutes, then let rise for an hour or two. Then, roll or stretch out into a largish rectangle, and roll up from a wide end. Moisten the edge with water to seal it, taper the edges and place onto a lightly cornmeal'd pan. If you want a lightly brown and glossy top like in my picture, brush lightly beaten egg whites on top. Then, cut 3-4 about 1cm deep slices into the top of the bread and bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top. This is best right out of the oven and, once sliced into, will begin to become stale rather quickly. I made a dipping sauce for this out of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, red pepper, black pepper, oregano, rosemary, basil, parsley, garlic powder and minced garlic, and it was fantastic. Based on http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/French-Bread/Detail.aspx

Next, my version of scrambled eggs. This is largely personal preference, but I make them by combining 3 eggs, about 1.5t each of basil, oregano and thyme, and about 1.5T Parmesan. Whisk well, then cook on high heat. When the eggs are beginning to become differentiated, take the pan off the heat for about 15 seconds while still stirring. This makes them fluffier for some reason. Then, continue cooking until they are 97% done and put them on a plate; they will finish with their internal heat.

Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza

Since I've already had experience with thin-crust pizza, I decided to go to the other end of the pizza spectrum and try a Chicago-style deep dish recipe I found. It is actually made for a 14-inch pan, but I made it work with 3 8-inch cake pans, and it turned out great; be prepared for a lot of pizza though!

To make the dough, combine 3.5C All-purpose flour, 1/2C cornmeal, 2.25t yeast, 1t sugar, 1t salt

1.5C water and 1/2C vegetable oil, then kneed for 7 minutes or until well combined. Then, put it large bowl (it expands to 2-3 times initial size), cover with saran wrap with a couple holes and refrigerate overnight.

To make the pizza, start by taking the dough out of the fridge an hour before you want to work with it so it warms up enough to be malleable. Once it's sat for an hour, move your oven rack to the lowest setting and preheat your oven to 450. Then, coat the bottom of your pan(s) with non-virgin olive oil and spread the dough (or divided dough) to fill the bottom of your pan(s). Next, you need to work it up the edge to form the crust. After some trial and error, I found the best way was to use 8 fingers to draw up the dough while spinning the pan around. The suction created by the oil in the crack of the pan helped, and eventually it held its form, but be patient and just keep working it. Then, spread mozzarella or provolone cheese on the bottom and then layer whatever toppings you want (I did pepperoni). Then, add tomatoes. I used high-quality diced tomatoes (Hunts fire-roasted diced tomatoes), and it worked great, and 2 cans was perfect for my 3 8-inch pans. Then, sprinkle basil and oregano and top with Parmesan. Bake for 20 minutes or until the crust looks deliciously browned, let sit for a few minute and enjoy. I got the pizza out of the pan with a couple spatulas and cut on a cutting board, beware of knives in Teflon pans. End result was a nice lightly crunchy cornbread-y crust that held form and blended with the fillings in a most delightful way. 3 8-inch pans should serve about 6 for dinner. Based on http://www.pizzamaking.com/dkm_chicago.php

Cheddar Beer Triangles and Polenta with Leek & Mushroom Ragu

Having finally gotten to the store, I have a fresh batch of recipes I'm looking forward to making. First on the list is a recipe for biscuits that are unbelievably soft, fluffy and delicious. They bare a striking resemblance to The Red Lobster biscuits. To make them, combine 2C Bizquick, 3/4C cheese (mozzarella or cheddar), 1/2C beer (I just used Keystone), 1T minced garlic, a bit of basil basil, oregano and thyme until well combined, then keep stirring in a kneading motion for a few minutes. Then, shape into a 6-8 inch circle and cut into 8 triangles. I used saran wrap sprayed with Pam to shape, then a lightly Pam'd knife to cut. Bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes, or until the tops are lightly browned. When you take them out, lightly brush with butter and dust with Old Bay seasoning. I had trouble getting the camera before eating them all, they are really delicious. Based on http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cheddar-Beer-Triangles/Detail.aspx

Next, I wanted something new to make on a Sunday, so I found a recipe for Polenta with Leek and Mushroom Ragu. Polenta is a cornmeal-based dish, and is generally bought rather than made, and for some reason has a reputation for being difficult to make, however I found quite the contrary.

To make the polenta, start off by bringing 6 cups of water with 3/4T of kosher salt to a rolling boil. Then, whisk 1 3/4C into the water, pouring it in a thin stream to avoid clumps. Then, bring to a very low simmer and cook for ~45 minutes, stirring every few minutes, or until it becomes smoother and more porrage-like; add more water if it appears to become too think while cooking. Once it reached the porrage-like state, add 3/4C Parmesan and 2T butter and stir to melt and combine.

When you start the polenta, also start the Ragu. To make it, sauté 2-3 leeks (just the white and tender green parts, cut into thin semicircles), 4 cloves of minced garlic, 1/2t sea salt and cayenne pepper to taste in 2T olive oil until softened. Then, add 1T parsley and 1 pound sliced mushrooms and cook until browned. Then, add 1/2C dry white wine to deglaze.

To serve, put polenta in a bowl and the ragu on top. Then add feta crumbles and a drizzle of good balsamic vinegar. Makes a filling, delicious meal, and enough to serve 4-5 people. Based on http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/03/vegetarian-polenta-with-a-leek-and-mushroom-ragu-recipe.html

Finally, I organized my spice cabinet (more than 45 different spices, thank-you-very-much), and thought I'd include a picture of what some college students work with. Also, I'm quite proud of the organization, given the variety of sized containers.

Honey Mustard Mozzarella Chicken

Now that break is over and I'm still yet to go to the store, I wanted to come up with something I could make with just what I had in the freezer, and this made a deliciously sweet dish that makes plenty for a group or leftovers. To make the sauce, combine 3/4C honey (slightly warmed in the microwave makes it easier to work with) and 1/2 cup mustard (I did a combination of yellow, spicy brown and Chinese, but anything you have would work), and a tablespoon of flour if you want the sauce to be a little thicker. Put a little sauce in the bottom of a aluminum foil-lined pan that just holds 3-4 chicken breasts, then put in the chicken. Lightly pepper the chicken in the pan, and if you want, sprinkle on some minced garlic. Then, pour the remainder of the sauce into the pan to cover the breasts, and bake at 375 for 35 minutes. Then, add mozzarella cheese over the top of the chicken, and put back into the oven for another 10-15 minutes. Comes out tasty with sauce for rice. Based on http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-honey-mustard-mozzarella-chicken/Detail.aspx

Beef Curry, Bread Sticks and Teriyaki Sticky Chicken

We start off today with an very easy Teriyaki Sticky Chicken recipe. This is really easy, as you just stir the sauce ingredients together and then bake it, so good when you're tight on time. For the sauce, combine 1C Ketchup, 1/3C brown sugar, 1/4C vinegar, 1/4C lite Teriyaki sauce and 1t dry mustard. pour a little of this in the bottom of an appropriately sized pan (I used 9x9 glass, sprayed with Pam), put in 3-6 chicken breasts, and bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Makes lots of sauce for putting over rice, and is great for leftovers as well. A tangy sauce and, while not the best, still a very good recipe and hard to beat on prep time.

Next, we have what happens when you get hungry and are almost out of food. It actually turned out really well, so I'm including a list of ingredients, but everything was just add until added. First off, brown some lean ground beef with sweet curry powder, then set aside. Then, sautee a large onion and a couple peppers in butter and a little cumin. Once brown, add in low sodium soy sauce, ketchup, a little brown sugar, more sweet curry powder, regular curry powder, cream cheese (this is what really made it), and simmer with the meat until delicious. Served over noodles, it made for quite the dish.

Finally, some bread sticks that I've made probably a dozen times. These are always a hit at parties, and they can be made in bulk several different ways, which is really nice. To make the dough, combine 1.3C water (or 1/2C milk, the rest water), 3T melted butter, 4C bread flour, 2t salt, 2T white sugar, 2.5t yeast(activated with honey), 1T onion powder and 1t garlic salt. Kneed for about 7 minutes, then let rise for an hour. At this point, I have made them two different ways. If you are making a lot of bread sticks or you want them thinner and crispier, I found that the best way is to spread out the dough on the counter in one huge sheet. Then, spread a thin layer of olive oil on the dough and sprinkle onion powder and garlic salt, then cut with a pizza cutter and bake. Alternatively, divide the dough into about 15 pieces and roll out individual bread sticks like you would pretzels (see previous post). Then, individually olive oil and onion powder and garlic salt them. Either way you decide to form them, bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes, or until golden. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of them, so these are from the recipe they are based off of: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Paulas-Bread-Sticks/Detail.aspx