Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Proscuitto and Basil Pizza

     Ingredients:
- Pizza dough (fresh from bakery)     -small 8 oz can of tomato sauce         - 1/2 tsp of oregano and salt    
-1 Tbsp of minced garlic     - 1 package of shredded mozzarella cheese  
- 1/2 package of goat cheese (crumbled)      - fresh cooked spinach (drained)     - fresh cut basil
- 4 slices of proscuitto   - EVOO

Preheat oven to 375.
This pizza has such great flavor and I hope you enjoy it. You are welcome to add or omit any ingredients, but the mixture of all these ingredients is heavenly. Take your pizza pan and put some oil on the bottom or if you have stone put some cornmeal on the bottom. This prevents the dough from sticking. Now the key to a good pizza is the pizza pan. Rule number one is never ever ever clean your pizza pan. You want to leave it all greasy because eventually it will become imbedded into the pan and your crust of your pizzas will become better and better. It takes a long time and many cooked pizzas get a good crust, so don't get discouraged if your crust doesn't  come out the way you want it. It takes many cooks. So back to the pizza, you want to let the dough rise for an hr or two with a small kitchen towel over it. Once its rised and spread out on your pan, put some olive oil on the dough and spread the edges with your fingers. Now pour your tomato sauce smoothly in the middle of the dough and sprinkle with oregano, salt and minced garlic. Add your cheeses, spread evenly and heavily, then your spinach, fresh basil and pieces of proscuitto.
Leave the edges of the dough free, but make sure there is plenty of oil on the edges. Put the pizza in the oven on the top rack and cook for about 15-20 minutes, more or less depending if you like a crispy or soft crust. Like the spinach pie recipe, every stove is different so keep checking the color of the crust. You want it golden brown on the edges but also with a spatula lift the pizza to see the bottom and make sure its a light gold as well.
Once its nice and gold as seen in the picture, take it out and let it cool for a good 15-20 minutes. You don't want to cut it right away cuz it needs time to settle. Also as you see in this picture I like a thick crust, that is personally up to you whether you add the ingredients right to the edge or not. Once its cooled enough, cut and serve.
Mangia :)

Monday, March 14, 2011

A Hearty Breakfast

One of the things I love most about cooking is I get to experiment!!  This morning I experimented with my favorite meal of the day; breakfast. Now this recipe goes along with the left overs from the previous filet recipe. Remember when I saved the excess filet meat from the chain of the beef; well here I am going to use that in my breakfast. However, any tender meat will be great for this recipe as well. One of the most juciest and flavorful ways to give your meal a good kick is bacon!!! Using bacon fat, grease or wrapping bacon around many foods not only gives it more flavor but its a good insulator to hold many juices inside! This is what I craved for in my breakfast today.

Ingredients : 1 stick of butter for frying and a 1/2 stick melted for the meat
  - Left over filet chain or tender cut of meat cut into 3 inch long chunks
- 1/2 package of bacon                - 4 eggs         - 1 cup of fresh spinach
-1/2 stick of hot sausage              - 1/4 cup diced onion and shredded cheese      -1/4 cup milk
- S&P and EVOO

First melt the stick of butter in a frying pan on medium heat. Place your chunks of filet on a cutting board and pour the 1/2 stick of melted butter over the chunks . Take a strip of bacon and wrap them around each piece of meat. Sometimes you may need 2 if the chunks are big. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on each side then place them in the fryer.
Only put about 4 chunks at a time and cook them about 4-6 minutes on each side (note: this is for med-rare).

While those are cooking, cut up the hot sausage into small pieces and fry them in a large skillet with olive oil. In a large bowl, put your eggs, fresh spinach, milk, cheese, onions, cooked sausage and some S&P. Mix them up like you would scrambled. Pour the mixture in the large skillet and cook them like scrambled eggs.
Periodically check the doneness of your filets to the way you like it and once everything is all set cooking; just plate and serve with some toast! The flavors in this breakfast are to die for!!! I hope you enjoy it as well as we did.
Mangia :)                             

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Loaded Baked Spinach Pie

Tonite I made one of my favorite Papa recipes, his spinach pies. Growing up I used to love walking in his house and smelling either spinach pies or his pizza baking in the oven. Since his passing, I was determined to keep carrying on his recipes. I guess you can sorta call it a recipe or not because there isn't exact measurements of everything; its all by taste which I always say is the best term of measurement. Please feel free to add or omit any of the ingredients in your spinach pie. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does.

Ingredients: Preheat oven 400 degrees
- 1 package of fresh bakery dough          - 1 bag of fresh spinach
-1 small can of black olives                    - 1/2 stick of margarita pepparoni or any other brand of stick
- 1-2 hard boiled eggs                        - 1-2 Tbsp of minced garlic and parmesan/romano cheese
     - EVOO and S&P

Dough
First thing is to spread lots of olive oil in your pizza pan or stone, which I had used. If you use stone make sure you put it in the oven and heat it up for a few minutes, it helps spread the dough out. Make sure you have plenty of olive oil on the bottom so the dough doesnt stick. Next you want to spread the dough to whichever shape your pan is, but let some of the dough hang over the pan because you need the length for folding. You can see in the picture below I have it hanging over just slightly. Spread more oil on the top of the dough and rub it in with your fingers and make sure you get the edges too!

The Filling
Steam your package of spinach on the stove top. Use the entire package because it strinks down quite a bit. Drain the spinach really well, you may have to squeeze it to get all that water out. While its cooling for a couple minutes, chop up the 1/2 stick of pepparoni and the can of olives. I only used a half a can of olives for mine, but i left the pieces a bit larger. Take the yolk out of the hard boiled eggs, and dice up the egg whites. Once everything is chopped up, mix the spinach, eggs, pepparoni and olives all in a medium sized bowl. Now add the 1-2 Tbsp of minced garlic, olive oil, cheese and S&P, and mix really well. Here is where your taste buds come in handy, taste test to see what it needs. You want to put enough olive oil in it to enhance the flavors better. After its all mixed, spread it evenly in the middle of your dough.
Now you want to take one side of the dough and fold it over, pinching the ends together. Rub more olive oil on top to make your pie nice and brown. Make sure you add oil on the ends and pinch it together so it doesn't split apart in the oven.
Put your pie in the oven set at 400 degrees and let it bake for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on your pie because some ovens cook it faster than others. You want it to be a nice golden brown on the top.
Cool off your pie for a good 5-10 minutes before cutting and serving.
Yummy yummy!! Mangia :)
Thank you Papa!!!!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Chicken Bryan

This dish is one of my favorite Italian dishes. It has such dynamic and a variety of strong, beautiful flavors that just makes your mouth water. You might recognize this dish from Carabba's restaurant, and you are absolutely right! I fell in love when I was there and I had to make it for us myself!

Ingredients:
- 6 boneless chicken breasts               - 1 Tbsp minced garlic           - 1Tbsp diced yellow onion
- 2 Tbsp of butter                               - 1/2 cup of dry white wine ( personally I like a sherry)
-1/4 cup lemon juice                           - 4 Tbsp of cold butter sliced 1Tbsp each
-1/4- 1/2 cup of diced sundried tomatos    - 6 fresh basil leaves diced
- S&P and EVOO (salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil)     
- 8 ounces of goat cheese

Sauce
First you want to saute in a large skillet the garlic and diced onion in those 2 Tbsp of butter on medium heat. Once they are a nice golden color, stir in the wine and lemon juice while increasing the heat to medium high. Let that simmer for about 2 minutes then you want to reduce it by half; I actually only do about a 1/4 because I like the strong wine taste, but that is all personal preference. Now on medium low heat, add the 4 Tbsp of cold butter, 1 Tbsp of butter at a time while stirring. Then add your sundried tomatoes, fresh basil and few dashes of S&P. This is where your taste buds come into play; taste the sauce and match to your liking. If you want more lemon juice or wine u may add a little more here.

While you are making the sauce, rub some EVOO on the chicken breasts and grill them either in broiler or on stove top whichever you prefer. Once the breasts are almost done, slice your goat cheese into 1/2 inch thick round discs and place them on the chicken. I use about 2 or 3 per chicken breast, and continue to cook for another 2 minutes to get the cheese melting a little bit. Put the chicken on the plates and pour the sauce over them. Serve with a nice rice pilaf or sweet potato and dig in!! Mangia :)

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Filet with Peppered Corn and Italian Salad

 Ingredients:
  - 8-10 lb of whole filet beef tenderloin ( you can omit the meat cutting process if you have pre-cut filets)
  - 5 Tbsp of olive oil or a stick of melted butter
  - Garlic powder, salt and pepper
   
 Meat Preparation
For all those who are new to the preparation of filet mignon, as was I, there is a certain technique you must undertake to cut this beef. Please don't be afraid or feel intimidated by cooking this meal; it is not difficult and you do not have to be an expert cook to achieve it. This recipe starts with a full beef tenderloin ( about 8-10lbs).
Its best to cut the filets when the beef is partially frozen. First cut all the fat and silver lining on the tenderloin, and discard. Cut off the tail and head of the tenderloin as well as the thin flappy chain of beef that stretches along the side ( you can refrigerate these pieces for a great roast in the crock pot for another meal :) ) You should now have a beautiful chunk of pure filet ready to cut! You can cut the tenderloin in half as I did below and save the other have for another time.

Next is cutting the filets. Personally, I like my filets about 1 1/2 inch to 2 inches thick. Best used if you have a boning knife or a santuko knife to cut the filets. This makes about 6 filets. Now the cooking begins!

   1. Rub all ends and sides with olive oil or melted butter, whichever you prefer.
   2. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and garlic powder pressing with your fingers on each side of the filets
   3. Now the next step I used the seering and broiling method because I do not have a charcoal grill, but by all means if you have one use it!!
  4. Place the filets in a pan on the stove top, and seer both sides on high heat for only about 5 seconds
  5. Put the seered filets on a baking sheet or broiler pan, and cook them for 2-3 minutes on each side. If you have a grill, do step #4 first then place them on the grill for 2-3 minutes on each side. This cooks the meat medium rare, which personally we enjoy but if you like it darker keep them in longer for an additional minute on each side.
 6. Serve with your favorite horseradish sauce on the side, I love the german inglehoffer, and your favorite veggies and sides. For this meal I cooked up some corn and added some cracked pepper and fresh basil leaves along with an italian salad, which all it has is lettuce, roma tomatos, extra sharp provolone cheese, carrots and pepparoncini peppers and italian dressing!
Hope you enjoy! Mangia :)