McGowen BMT Sliders

My buddy Cliff made these tomato sliders for one of our dinner club parties and I promised him I would post them. That was in June. (I'm a little behind on the blogging).

Simple and quick recipe was really tasty and a great way to take advantage of fresh veggies in the summer time. Fresh basil, marinated mozzarella, tomatoes, and carmelized oninons. We also topped half with bleu cheese instead of mozz and they were even better. Grilling the buns is key

Super Bowl Eats- Course 1

Fried Cheese

Need I say more? I will, homemade mozzarella sticks and pepper jack cubes served with a quick homemade pizza sauce. Ask Giada

More to come...

Meatballs!

Cooks Illustrated delivers again! Leeann has been wanted spaghetti and meatballs lately, so I decided to whip out my trusty edition of Cooks Illustrated for cooking suggestions. Interestingly, they recommend soaking white bread (no crusts please) with a mixture of plain yogurt thinned with milk. Worked like a charm and produced crazy moist balls! I used 3/4 lb of chuck with 1/4 lbs pork butt. Add in some garlic, parsley, salt and pepper and you are well on your way to great tasting meatballs. The sauce is simple. Using the same pan that you cooked the balls in, saute garlic in olive oil and scrape up all the good bits from the bottom of the pan. Add a can of crushed tomatoes and fresh basil and enjoy. I served mine with a nice homemade Caesar salad. I use Tyler Florence's recipe for his ultimate Caesar salad (blend together a few anchovies, dijon mustard, garlic, salt and pepper, egg yolk, a little water, and oil). I always serve whole anchovies on my salad, but I've been told I like them more than the average person.

Calzones!

So I made some Calzones the other night. Turned out quite nice, first time I've made calzones since I've been working with these improved dough skills. Used a dough recipe very similar to my pizza dough. Kristin's was filled with Mozzarella, romano, goat cheese, fresh spinach, cremini mushroom, sundried tomato, and red onion. Mine was filled with Mozzarella, romano, pepperoni, mushroom, and green pepper. I baked them on by stone setup at 550 degrees for 10 minutes or so. After the came out I brushed them with a little butter and sprinkled on some parm. Served with some homeade pizza sauce of course!

Vacation Posts

Off to Market!

Post 2

So my good friend Brett Price was in town this past week. He and I were having a discussion about food and he mentioned a butternut squash risotto that he had made, so I thought, hey, I have a butternut squash, why don’t I make butternut squash risotto. First I made the best salad ever though. Findlay market had some fresh as can be Bibb lettuce that we picked up. Bibb lettuce is great, but it’s very fragile and perishable so get it the day of if you can. I made a salad of the Bibb lettuce, green grapes, red onion, candied walnuts, and goat cheese dressed with a honey balsamic dressing. I know what you’re thinking- “But Jeff, you didn’t have any candied walnuts.” Well my friends, it just takes some walnuts, some sugar, pinch of salt, hot pan, and there you have it- candied walnuts! Anyway, the salad actually turned out marvelous, the goat cheese was fantastic. I know next to nothing about pairing wine and food, but I was drinking some Pinot Noir that went really well.

On to the risotto. First I halved, de-seeded, and peeled a butternut squash. Then I cut it into a 3/4 inch dice and roasted it at 400 degrees for about a half hour. I sautéed some onion and garlic in some butter and oil, added the rice and went about making my risotto. I used Kitchen Basic’s vegetable stock, which is awesome- I highly recommend it, go get you some! I finished the risotto by adding the squash which I mashed up just a little bit, some parmesan cheese, and a pat of butter. I drizzled mine with a little bit of EVOO and a couple drops of balsamic for some sweetness. It turned out really well, risotto makes a great winter dish, I was all warm and toasty afterwards

.

For the risotto:

1/4 Red onion

1 Clove Garlic

1tbs olive oil

2tbs butter

1 cup aborio rice

1 quart vegetable stock

2/3 cup parmesan

salt and pepper to taste

Vacation Posts

Off to Market!

Post 1

So on Tuesday the wife and I went down to Findlay Market to pick up some goodies. We wound up with some fresh pasta, produce, Linguisa sausage, and some fresh spices. When we got back we cooked up some of the fresh pasta for lunch. Kept things pretty simple: Kristin had spinach fettuccine with some cremini mushrooms, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, spinach and olive oil, which turned out pretty delicious. I had plain fettuccine and made a fresh tomato sauce with some onions, garlic, and tomato, served with the Linguisa on the side. This was the first time I ever had Linguisa, it’s very similar to Italian sausage with just a little hint of smokiness.

Spaghetti Cooked in Red Wine

I found this in Wine Spectator and it was pretty good and definitely makes for an awesome presentation. The broccoli rabe is great, I will be buying more of this.

Ingredients:
3/4 lb broccoli rabe
4 oz spaghetti or linguine
1/2 bottle of dry red wine, preferably Zinfandel. (other half for drinking)
2 t sugar
1 T olive oil
1 T minced garlic
1/2 t red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 t black pepper
1/4 C Parmesan or Romano cheese

Process:
1. In a large pot of salted water, cook the broccoli rabe for about 3 minutes. Transfer the broccoli rabe to a baking sheet and spread it out to cool.

2. In the same boiling water, cook the pasta for 3-5 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water, then drain the pasta and set it aside. Return pot to stove.

3. Add the wine and sugar, reduce by half; about 8 minutes. Add pasta to wine and cook over med high heat, until most of liquid is absorbed and pasta is al dente.

4. While the pasta cooks, heat a large saute pan over high heat. Add the olive oil, reduce heat and add garlic and red pepper flakes and broccoli rabe. Saute for 3-5 minutes.

5. Stir pasta water into broccoli mixture and then add pasta. Toss gently and cook until most of liquid is gone. Top with cheese and serve.

Mac and Shrooms

First of all Simpkins, thanks for the foodnetwork magazine. Beth loves mac and cheese and this recipe came from the May issue. We substitued the milk for skim milk, tellagio for smoked gouda (trader joes), panko for bread crumbs, and used dried mushrooms as opposed to fresh. It was scrumdillyumptious.

Ingredients
Kosher salt
1 pound mezzi rigatoni
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups whole milk
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound wild mushrooms, such as oyster or shiitake, stemmed and sliced
4 ounces cremini mushrooms,
quartered
8 ounces taleggio or brie cheese, rind removed, cubed (about 1 1/2 cups)
5 ounces pecorino cheese, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 9 minutes. Drain the pasta, reserving about 1/4 cup cooking water.

Meanwhile, melt 4 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the flour with a wooden spoon to make a paste. Cook, stirring, until the paste puffs slightly, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the milk until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking. Reduce the heat and simmer, whisking occasionally, until the sauce is creamy, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the nutmeg and season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons butter and the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of the mushrooms and cook until soft, about 8 minutes. Season with salt. Push to the side of the pan and repeat with the remaining mushrooms.

4. Reduce the heat under the sauce to low and whisk in both cheeses until smooth. Stir in the mushrooms and pasta and toss, adding the reserved cooking water as needed.

Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs and toast until golden; stir in the parsley. Divide the pasta among 8 small bowls. Garnish with the breadcrumb mixture.

Pizza anyone?

NY Style 6-11-10

Pizza anyone? So a little over a month ago I ordered some unglazed quarry tiles to use as pizza stones, and Nat (yes his name is Nat) at McSwain forgot to put my order in and so I just got my tiles a few days ago, and of course had to try them out. They actually worked out really well, and I got a nice char on the bottom of the pie that I have not been able to get with my other crappy stones.

Here's a pic of the setup.

I made some NY style pie with a 48 hour cold temp ferment using this formula.

Flour (100%): 420.75 g | 14.84 oz | 0.93 lbs

Water (63%): 265.07 g | 9.35 oz | 0.58 lbs

IDY (.4%): 1.68 g | 0.06 oz | 0 lbs | 0.56 tsp | 0.19 tbsp

Salt (2.25%): 9.47 g | 0.33 oz | 0.02 lbs | 1.97 tsp | 0.66 tbsp

Oil (1.5%): 6.31 g | 0.22 oz | 0.01 lbs | 1.4 tsp | 0.47 tbsp

Sugar (.5%): 2.1 g | 0.07 oz | 0 lbs | 0.53 tsp | 0.18 tbsp

Total (167.65%): 705.39 g | 24.88 oz | 1.56 lbs | TF = 0.11

Single Ball: 352.69 g | 12.44 oz | 0.78 lbs

I preheated the stones for about an hour at 550. Dough was stretched and topped with some sauce that I made the day before from some pureed whole Italian tomatoes, garlic, red pepper flake, and Italian seasoning that I “bloomed” in some EVOO, and also added a good does of Kosher salt and a little Agave nectar to sweeten it up. Pizza was topped with a blend of diced part-skim mozzarella, sliced whole-milk mozzarella, and a little shredded white cheddar. The whole-milk mozz was from Trader Joes and I was pretty impressed by it, good flavor and stretch to it, I’ll definitely be using it again. It was the first time I’ve ever added any kind of cheddar to a pizza, it was nice, gave it a little extra flavor, I didn’t use much, maybe a ¼ cup on each pie. My pie was topped with spinach, pepperoni, sausage, thinly sliced criminis, red onion, a drizzle of EVOO and some grated parm. Kristin’s was pretty much the same except no pep and added pineapple.

All in all some pretty good pies, enjoy the pics. Not sure why they don't show up full size, you'll have to click on each one to get the full pic.

Escarole and Orzo Soup with Turkey Parmesan Meatballs

I've been trying to buy one new vegetable everytime I go to Giant Eagle and incorporate it into a recipe. This week it was Escarole. Tastes pretty good, kind of like kale or swiss chard, but not as bitter and it holds up well in soups. Also chilling the meatballs before dropping them in the soup was a good tip that helps them stay together.

Makes 4 main-course servings.

Ingredients:

1 large egg
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
12 ounces extra lean ground turkey
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

8 cups (or more) low-salt chicken stock
1 cup chopped peeled carrots
3/4 cup orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
4 cups coarsely chopped escarole (about 1/2 medium head)

Whisk egg and 2 tablespoons water in medium bowl to blend. Mix in breadcrumbs; let stand 5 minutes. Add turkey, Parmesan cheese, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper; gently stir to blend. Using wet hands, shape turkey mixture into 1 1/4-inch-diameter meatballs. Place on baking sheet; cover and chill 30 minutes.

Bring 8 cups chicken broth to boil in large pot. Add carrots and orzo; reduce heat to medium and simmer uncovered 8 minutes. Add turkey meatballs and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in chopped escarole and simmer until turkey meatballs, orzo, and escarole are tender, about 5 minutes longer. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Rewarm over medium heat, thinning with more broth if desired.)

Ladle soup into bowls and serve.

Beef Carpaccio

After finding out we were hosting a wine and cheese party last night, I decided I needed to add a little more protein at the party. While thinking of what meats I could provide, I thought back to all the Good Eats episodes I've seen and decided to try something I've never attempted; Beef Carpaccio. Now some people might debate if this actually counts as "cooking", as there is no real cooking involved, but I decided if I also posted the recipe for my favorite vinaigrette, it would count as an entry on this blog. As a side note, raw beef is awesome and I now love arugula.

Ingredients
8 to 10 ounces beef tenderloin (I bought a 1/2 lb prime fillet Mignon)
4 handfuls arugula
Your favorite vinaigrette (see below)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Shaved Parmesan
Directions
Wrap the tenderloin in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 2 hours.

After 2 hours, unwrap the tenderloin and thinly slice the beef into approximately into 1/8 to 1/4-inch pieces. Lay out sheets of plastic wrap and place each slice onto the plastic. Place in a circular fashion, so when you pound the meat, it will form one thin disc. Top with another piece of plastic and gently pound the meat with a meat mallet until paper thin. Repeat until all of the meat is sliced and pounded. Divide the meat evenly among 4 chilled plates. Serve with greens tossed with vinaigrette, salt, pepper, Parmesan and a drizzle of Olive Oil.


Vinaigrette:

1/2 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup Sherry Vinegar (red wine vinegar also works)
1 T lemon juice
1 T honey
1 T Dijon mustard
1.5 t Worcestershire sauce (or the pick-a-peppa sauce from my rootbeer wing recipe)
1 small clove of garlic
1/2 t dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients except oil in a bowl and start whisking. Slowly stream in oil until emulsified. (store in fridge for up to 10 days.)

Baked Rigatoni

So I made some pretty tasty Baked Rigatoni with Italian sausage and Portabellas. I made the whole dish in the Dutch Oven, except for the boiling of the rigatoni. Be aware that if you make this you will have MASS leftovers and if you don’t give them away you will surely be eating baked rigatoni for a couple weeks.

Ingredients

1 box rigatoni

4 links sweet Italian sausage

3 portabella mushroom caps

1 medium onion

1 carrot

1-2 stalks celery

3 cloves garlic

1-2 tbls tomato paste

½ cup red wine (I had Chianti)

1 14 ounce can whole peeled tomatoes (crushed by hand)

1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 package fresh basil

8 slices provolone

¼ cup shredded asiago

EVOO

Crushed red pepper

Salt and Pep

Method

I browned the whole links in the Dutch oven with a little oil. I browned them whole because I wanted to have chunks of sausage in the dish. After I removed the links I then browned the sliced portabellas and removed them. Next the meirpoix, with a pretty rough chop because I wanted large pieces of veggies. In hind sight I wish I would have added some chopped Red Bell Pepper as well. After sautéing off the veggies and I added the garlic and the tomato paste for a few secs, then I deglazed with the Chianti and had plenty of fabulous bits to scrape up from the sausage. After the wine reduced I added the broken up whole tomatoes and crushed tomatoes, some salt and pep. I let the sauce cook for about 30 minutes or so while I boiled the rigatoni separately. I shut off the heat and to the sauce I added the cooked rigatoni, the chunks of sausage, the browned mushrooms, and an entire pack of basil that I just tore by hand into large pieces. Mixed that all together then topped with the cheese and some EVOO. I put the lid on and into a 400 degree oven for 15-20 mins, then I took the lid off for about 10 mins to brown it up. Turned out really good, the best part was the “smokiness” of the provolone. J

Prosciutto, Fig, and Goat Cheese Panini

Beth made a delicious salad with crisp prosciutto, goat cheese, and figs (recipe to come) so I had to figure something out to do with the leftovers. What better way than to slap them between some buttered bread? None I can think of. The pepper in the goat cheese added a nice flavor and the only thing I might consider doing differently would be roasting the figs to bring out more flavor. I can't think of three ingredients that go together better than prosciutto, figs, and goat cheese; a must try if you haven't experienced it.

Ingredients:

2 slices of bread (preferably Italian ciabatta or similar)
2 teaspoons butter
3 slices of prosciutto
6-8 black mission figs, halved and stems removed
2 oz goat cheese
Ground black pepper to taste

Process:

Heat non-stick skillet over medium heat. Assemble sandwich bottom to top starting with bread, goat cheese, pepper, figs, prosciutto, more figs, more cheese and other slice of bread. Spread one side of the sandwich with 1 teaspoon of butter and place buttered side down in skillet. Place heavy object on top of sandwich (I use my tea kettle on top of a second skillet) and cook for 3-5 min or until golden brown and cheese has started to melt. Spread butter on other side of sandwich and flip. Replace heavy object and cook another 3-5 minutes. Slice on a bias.

Cheese Pizza

Well, I made some cheese pizzas last night and was very please with the dough this time around. Here's the recipe...

Flour (100%): 422.64 g | 14.91 oz | 0.93 lbs
Water (63%): 266.26 g | 9.39 oz | 0.59 lbs
IDY (.4%): 1.69 g | 0.06 oz | 0 lbs | 0.56 tsp | 0.19 tbsp
Salt (2%): 8.45 g | 0.3 oz | 0.02 lbs | 1.76 tsp | 0.59 tbsp
Oil (1%): 4.23 g | 0.15 oz | 0.01 lbs | 0.94 tsp | 0.31 tbsp
Sugar (.5%): 2.11 g | 0.07 oz | 0 lbs | 0.53 tsp | 0.18 tbsp
Total (166.9%): 705.39 g | 24.88 oz | 1.56 lbs | TF = 0.11
Single Ball: 352.69 g | 12.44 oz | 0.78 lbs

I used 90 degree water to make the dough and added the IDY straight to the flour this time. The dough temp when I finished kneading was 76 degrees. The dough went into the fridge for about 16 hours. Now for the gross part, I used my bathroom as a "proofbox." I have a small 1/2 bath that I opened up the heat vent all the way and shut the door, the ambient temp was about 76 degrees in there. Don't worry, the bathroom was not used while the dough was in there I let the dough rise for about two hours and it got up to 62 degrees. The dough stretch nicely and was pretty easy to work with.

I definitely got the rise and airiness that I was missing last week, best crust that I've made so far. I roasted a head of garlic and mixed that with olive oil for the "sauce." I topped that with shredded asiago, fresh mozzarella, and goat cheese. I finished it with some EVOO, salt and pep, fresh thyme, freshly grated nutmeg, and some freshly grated parmesan after it came out. Pretty frigging delicious IMO

Here's a link to some more pictures.
http://s624.photobucket.com/albums/tt326/jw31990101/Cheese%20Pizza/

Pizza Pics

Pizza Update

Pizza!! Update

So, due to Urban’s impatience, I’m updating the pizza post. I made the pizza’s last night and they turned out pretty well. The dough was much improved but still not exactly where I want it to be. It was nice and thin, had a good flavor, and the right amount of chew, but it not have the crunch or airiness that I was looking for. I’ll ask the crazies on pizzamaking.com where I went wrong. On to the pies…

For both pies I used a raw sauce that I made with a can of 6 in 1 crushed tomatoes, olive oil, salt, pinch of sugar, and oregano. It was good, but not great, still needs some tweaking. For the first time I used Boards Head Whole Milk Mozzarella, which was the only whole milk mozz that I was able to find at Biggs or Kroger. The whole milk ups the grease and ooey gooey factors. The cheese was good, but I think I like the flavor of fresh mozz a little more, I’m thinking half and half next time.

My pizza had Boars Head pep that came as whole a whole stick. It was way better than any pre sliced pep that I’ve ever had, and it was only $2.99. I also had some hot Italian sausage that I browned up a little bit first and some jalepenos. The wife had sausage, roasted red peppers, sliced mushrooms, and pineapple.

All in all the tasted great and I ate way too much, but my crust still needs a little work. Haven't figured out the best way to do pictures yet, I'll post a few in a separate post.

Pizza!!

Pizza!!

So I’ve been really getting into making pizza lately. I came across an online forum, www.pizzamaking.com that is full of people that are crazy about making pizza. I’ve decided to start Pizza Fridays so I can perfect my Pizza making skills. So the people on this forum are crazy, they are like pizza scientists when it comes to the dough and it’s rubbing off on me. Let’s just say for my dough today I used the dough calculator to calculate my recipe based on thickness factor and dough hydration. Here’s my recipe…

Flour (100%): 425.45 g 15.01 oz 0.94 lbs
Water (62%): 263.78 g 9.3 oz 0.58 lbs
IDY (.3%): 1.28 g 0.05 oz 0 lbs 0.42 tsp 0.14 tbsp
Salt (2%): 8.51 g 0.3 oz 0.02 lbs 1.77 tsp 0.59 tbsp
Oil (1%): 4.25 g 0.15 oz 0.01 lbs 0.95 tsp 0.32 tbsp
Sugar (.5%): 2.13 g 0.08 oz 0 lbs 0.53 tsp 0.18 tbsp
Total (165.8%): 705.39 g 24.88 oz 1.56 lbs TF = 0.11
Single Ball: 352.69 g 12.44 oz 0.78 lbs

I made my dough tonight. I measured the flour and water by weight. I mixed the water, yeast, salt, and sugar together. Then I added about 80% of the flour and mixed that together and let that rest for about 15 minutes. Then I added the oil and the rest of the flour and mix it in. After the dough came together I kneaded it by hand for 8 minutes until it was smooth. I weighed out two dough balls that I stuck in the fridge in Tupperware with some oil on them. I’m cold fermenting them in the fridge for 24 hours then tomorrow I’ll let them rise at room for about 2 hours. This is the first time I’ve made dough like this and it looks damn good so far. I highly recommend measuring flour by weight. So if you wanna get crazy with some pizza, go to www.pizzamaking.com I’ll post my finished pies tomorrow. Oh yeah, and my name on the forum is “Pizza!!”