Prosciutto Egg Cups

05-27-13-egg-baskets

 

It is not often that Victor sees something and immediately says "OMG! I have to have this!"  so when he does say it, I tend to listen.

His cousin Kate had posted a picture of a prosciutto egg cup and he started drooling the moment he saw it. Time to get ::egg:: cracking!

The concept is actually very simple. It's prosciutto, cheese, and an egg in a muffin tin and baked in the oven. Simple concept but extraordinary flavor!

Prosciutto Egg Cups

for each one you will need:

  • prosciutto
  • cheese
  • egg
  • salt and pepper
  • buttered toast slice
  • parsley, for garnish

Preheat oven to 350°.

Spray muffin tin with cooking spray. Line each section with 1 slice prosciutto, making sure there are no holes. Add about 2 tbsp shredded cheese and then crack one egg atop.

Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper, if desired, and place in oven about 12 minutes - and then rest for a couple more to allow them to set.

Place cooked egg cup atop buttered toast slice and sprinkle with parsley.

Enjoy.

These really did rock the Casbah. And it's the sort of dish you could easily make for a crowd. I used a pepper jack cheese this morning but absolutely anything would work - from ricotta to cream cheese, cheddar to mozzarella, or bits and pieces of whatever you have in the 'fridge.

And considering the mess I usually make cooking breakfast, clean-up was a snap!

I see a lot more of these in our future...

 

 

 

 


Polenta Pound Cake with Cherries

05-26-13-polenta-pound-cake

 

I had a 2-pound package of fresh cherries in the 'fridge just screaming to be made into a dessert. And I had a magazine with a polenta pound cake with blueberry sauce. A dessert was born.

The pound cake recipe looked solid - it just needed a few tweaks. The blueberry sauce just looked too expected. The cherries, on the other hand, mixed with key lime juice, was the UNexpected.

I went to work.

I reworked the cake recipe, made up the cherry sauce recipe, and smiled at every bite. The polenta adds a nice little bite to the cake. It changes the texture juuuuuust a tad in a really good way. The pinch of thyme adds a slight hint of savory that plays  off the cherries and key lime. I used dry thyme because my herb garden is still in its infancy. If you use fresh, use more.

Polenta Pound Cake

adapted from Fine Cooking magazine

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 2/3 cups cake flour
  • 1/3 cup polenta
  • 1/2 tsp thyme
  • 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
  • 5 large eggs - room temperature
  • 1 tbsp key lime juice
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325°. Butter and flour a 9x5-inch loaf pan.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, polenta, thyme, and salt.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add key lime juice and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and slowly add the flour until just combined.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out with just a few small, moist crumbs attached, 75 to 90 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for about 15 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate or cutting board. Slice and serve warm or at room temperature, topped with the cherries.

Key Lime Cherry Sauce

  • 1 pound fresh cherries, pitted
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 tbsp key lime juice
  • pinch salt

Combine ingredients in saucepan. Bring to a boil and let boil uninterrupted for about 5 minutes. Cool and then chill. Serve cold or at room temp.

The cherries would totally rock over ice cream and the pound cake could be eaten out of hand.

Two separate concepts that just rock together.

 


Tri-Tips and KC BBQ

05-26-13-tri-tip-steaks

 

Weather-wise, today was a perfect day. Warm enough to have windows open, cool enough not to die while working in the yard. I was indoors cooking up a storm, Victor was outside making the yard beautiful. The perfect delegation of duties.

While Victor was mowing and trimming, I went grocery shopping, made potato salad for tomorrow, slow-cooked a rack of ribs - also for tomorrow, made a tortellini salad for tonight, baked a polenta pound cake and made a fresh cherry and key lime sauce to top it with, and cut up a tri-tip roast into steaks and liberally covered them with KC Rib Doctor Seasoning - one of Victor's birthday gifts.

All-in-all, I think I did well.

05-26-13-kc-rib-doctorThe seasoning was just what thew Rib Doctor ordered! I used it on the ribs that slow-cooked in the oven for several hours today - I'll finish them on the grill tomorrow - and on the steaks. It's pretty darn good. I'm definitely enjoying this gift!

It's funny that I usually eschew spice blends because I have so many herbs and spices in the cupboard, and then I have a million-and-one exceptions - like regional-type blends, ethnic blends, and I always have French herbs and herbs d'Provence... Italian seasoning... Oh, wait - I can count them under "ethnic blends."

At least I'm consistent in my inconsistencies.

The tortellini salad was a throw-together...

  • Cheese tortellini
  • fresh peas
  • roasted red pepper
  • sun-dried tomatoes
  • sliced black olives
  • mayonnaise
  • basil
  • oregano
  • parsley
  • garlic powder
  • salt and pepper

Mix. Chill. Eat.

Fresh corn with lots of butter.

And there's still that polenta pound cake for later on.

Holiday weekends totally rock!


The Basic Burger

05-21-13-burgers

I was originally going to cook pork chops for dinner tonight, but midway through the day, I got a hankerin' for a cheeseburger. And I do mean cheeseburger. A hands-down-ten-napkin-cheeseburger.

My meal-mates this evening weren't quite as adventurous as moi... Nonna had a burger - sans bun and cheese - with just sliced tomatoes. Victor went for bun, bacon, cheese, and mayo.

I went for the gusto - from the bottom up:

  • whole wheat bun
  • mayo
  • iceberg lettuce
  • tomato
  • bacon
  • pickles
  • ketchup
  • mustard
  • burger
  • cheese
  • avocado
  • onion
  • mayo
  • the top of the whole wheat bun

Absolute heaven.

And, I made potato salad. Mom's potato salad... My favorite. For folks who had a mother who cooked, there are some basics that always stick with you - and potato salad is definitely one of them, for me. Others can be very good, but none will ever top Mom's...

And it's a pretty basic recipe:

  • potatoes (russets, yukon gold, red bliss)
  • pickles
  • hard-cooked eggs
  • celery
  • shredded carrots
  • mayonnaise
  • catsup
  • mustard
  • garlic powder
  • salt
  • pepper

Mix and chill.

And I worked the pork chops into a baked ravioli dish for tomorrow night.

Plan ahead...


Hand-Made Pasta

05-18-13-homemade-pasta

 

O.M.G. What a great pasta!

Tonight was a double-treat. Victor decided to cook and he decided to make a slightly different pasta than he usually makes. Years ago he bought me a pasta roller for my birthday or Christmas, and I've never used it. It wasn't out of the box 20 minutes when he made some pasta - and he's been making it ever since.

And trust me, I'm not arguing. His pasta is fan-freakin-tastic every time. I see no reason to try my hand at it when his is just so perfect. He makes it. I eat it.

Works for me.

This particular pasta is a bit more versatile than some - it could be rolled thick or thin and used as a fettuccine as we had tonight, or as a rolled dumpling for Chicken and Dumplings. His original fear was that it might be too eggy or like a typical egg noodle. It wasn't and isn't. I'm sure I'll be able to convince him to make it, again!

Fresh Egg Pasta

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • ½ tsp salt

Spoon 2 3/4 cups of the flour into the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Beat the eggs, olive oil and salt together in a small bowl until blended. With the motor running, pour the egg mixture into the processor. Process until it forms a rough and slightly sticky dough. If the mixture is too dry, drizzle in a very small amount of warm water and continue processing. Scrape the dough out of the work bowl onto a lightly floured counter.

Knead the dough with the heels of your hands until it is smooth, silky and elastic - 5 to 10 minutes of constant kneading.

Flour the work surface and your hands lightly any time the dough begins to stick while you’re kneading.

Roll the dough into a smooth ball and place in a small bowl. Cover and let the dough rest at least an hour before rolling and shaping.

The sauce was from the hoard in the freezer that he doctored up a bit.

My stomach is smiling!


BBQ Pork Sandwiches

05-17-13-bbq-pork-sandwiches

 

It is 73° outside. Blue skies, a gentle breeze...  It's one of those perfect-weather days that just don't happen often enough. Absolutely gorgeous.

The only thing that would have made today better was if I hadn't broken my glasses this morning. I received my notice from my eye doctor a few weeks ago stating it was time for my checkup. The card has been sitting on my desk to remind me to call one of these days. Well... I finally called. The spare glasses are just not cutting it. I need to see.

Monday, 6pm. I'll be there.

But even being blind as a bat can't take away the beauteous day! Windows are open and real air is in the house. We're on the deck, Cybil is under her rhododendron, and life is good.

Dinner was pretty good, too.

I bought a whole pork loin the other day and cut it into chops. I took the tail end and set it aside for sandwiches or something - and tonight it was sandwiches.

I put the pork pieces in a  pot with water and a sprinkling of garlic powder and chipotle powder. I simmered it for about 2 hours - until it was fork-tender. I drained it and let it cool, and then pulled it all apart with two forks. I then placed it in a skillet with about a cup of Gate's BBQ Sauce.

The pork went onto little seeded egg rolls; mine had avocado, Victor's had cheese, and Nonna's was plain. French fries and ketchup. Yummy!

I see ice cream, strawberries, and fudge sauce later on...

The perfect ending to the perfect day...

 


Key Lime Coconut Cake

 

I don't really need an excuse to bake a cake, but it's always nice when I have one. And what better excuse than Mother's Day and Birthday celebrations?

Yesterday was Victor's mom's birthday, today, of course, is Mother's Day, and tomorrow is my mom's birthday. Our mom's were born 2 days apart in the same year on opposite coasts. They could not have been more different, yet they were both perfect examples of their place and time.

Victor's mom was the 10th of 11 children of Italian immigrants who came through Ellis Island and settled in Philadelphia. Her parents both died within a year of one another and the youngest four kids were raised in a Sons of Italy Orphanage just outside of Philadelphia until they were old enough to live with their older married-with-children siblings. My mom's paternal family was here in the early 1800's in North Carolina and Tennessee, before migrating to Missouri and finally to California in the late 1800's. The maternal side started in Ireland and made it to Galena, IL in the 1840's and ended up in California via Pueblo, Colorado, at the turn of the 20th century. She was the second of three kids.

Different as night-and-day.

There is one trait that both shared, however - dessert. My mom was Dessert Queen. We had dessert every night growing up and her cook books prove it. The Dessert binder is twice as big as the one for entrees, appetizers, and side dishes! Victor's mom loves her sweets, as well, and while she is diabetic, I keep her supplied in illicit goodies - in moderation, of course.

One of her favorites is coconut. She'll turn her nose up at chocolate cake and won't even look at a pumpkin pie, but mention coconut and she can lay skid marks with her walker heading to the kitchen. She likes her coconut.

I've made her a few over-the-top coconut cakes in the past. One, a couple of yeas ago, The Ultimate Coconut Cake from South Carolina, is a heart attack waiting to happen. You need a week to make it and two weeks to recover from a slice.  Last year's Coconut Cake was a lot lighter - and actually more enjoyable.

This year, I decided to go single-layer and a little less caloric. Just because I can go multi-layered and overly-indulgent doesn't mean that I should. Almost 61 and starting to practice restraint. Does this mean I'm finally growing up?!? I didn't think so.

Oh well...

I picked up a bottle of key lime juice a couple of weeks ago and have been dreaming of a coconut key lime combo ever since. And today, it happened! (I used conventional limes for the zest.)

Key Lime Coconut Cake

adapted from Gourmet Magazine

  • 1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 tbsp grated Key lime zest
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 3/4 cups self-rising flour
  • 3/4 cup whole milk
  • 1/4 cup fresh Key lime juice, divided
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tbsp Meyer's rum

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Generously butter a 10" springform pan and line bottom with a round of parchment paper.

Toast coconut in oven, stirring once or twice, until golden, 8 to 12 minutes. Cool. Leave oven on.

Beat together butter, granulated sugar, and zest with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Stir together flour and 1/2 cup coconut (reserve remainder for topping). Stir together milk and 2 tablespoons lime juice. At low speed, mix flour and milk mixtures into egg mixture alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour.

Spoon batter into pan and smooth top. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool about 15 minutes then turn out of pan and discard parchment.

Whisk together powdered sugar, remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice, and rum and pour over cake. Sprinkle with remaining coconut.

The cake came out perfect. It had a great lime flavor, a great coconut flavor, and the little bit of rum in the icing sent it right over the top.

I had two pieces and could have gone back for another. Nonna said "This is really good" after every bite. Her plate was so clean we could have put it back in the cupboard.

Watching someone thoroughly enjoy something is the best thanks in the world. It really does make it all worthwhile. And since my mom is no longer around to spoil, I guess Nonna is gonna have to be the surrogate.

Somebody has to do it.

 

 


Happy Birthday, Nonna!

05-11-13-nonnas-birthday

Birthdays are fun. They mean we get to use the good plates! Not that we really need a reason, but you know what I mean.  Any ol' reason to celebrate at our house, and having Nonna celebrate birthday #87 is more than a good reason!

Chicken parmesan, pasta, and spinach. Nonna cleaned her plate. It does my Irish heart good to see people eat - especially little old ladies. It's funny how my normal eat-it-or-don't attitude flies right out the window when I'm cooking for her. I'm usually quite snarky about other peoples likes and dislikes, but with Nonna, I really do want her to like it.  There's probably something Freudian lurking around, somewhere.

Dinner really took no time at all to do. The pasta sauce came out of the freezer, as did the spinach. The chicken breasts were thin-sliced, dredged in flour, dipped in egg, and dredged in bread crumbs. Homemade bread crumbs from homemade bread. I'm an overachiever. What can I say?

I then fried them in olive oil, topped them with a bit of sauce, topped the sauce with some fresh mozzarella cheese, and popped them into a 350° oven for about 10 minutes.

I did add a bit of garlic powder, salt, and pepper to the flour and a pinch of sage to the bread crumbs, but otherwise didn't season a lot. The sauce is good so I didn't need to cover it up.

No birthday cake, tonight. I am heading in to make a key lime and coconut cake for tomorrow, though.

I'll keep ya posted.

 

 


Spring Salads

05-10-13-chicken-salads

Tonight I decided to see how far I could push the the dinner envelope. With the thermometer at 83° and slightly muggy,  this was a salad night. Back in the day, Nonna used to make a salad every night when she cooked us dinner, but I couldn't recall when I last saw her actually eat one. I kinda had a feeling she may not be crazy about them, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, and all those other platitudes...

I went with the basic lettuces - iceberg and romaine - and then added grilled chicken, cubed fontina cheese, chopped tomatoes, hard-cooked eggs, shredded carrots... I figured I'd go as basic as I could. Victor make a simple oil and vinegar dressing.

She ate everything but the lettuce. She's just no longer a fan of lettuce. Tomorrow is her 87th birthday. If she doesn't want to eat lettuce, she doesn't have to eat lettuce.

Since we both really like our dinner salads, we were momentarily concerned, but then told her that whenever we do dinner salads, we'll just make her a nice plate of all the stuff that goes onto the lettuce. We just won't put the lettuce on the plate, first.

Simple solution.

And speaking of simple solutions... we had a bit of leftover risotto.

Victor made risotto balls.

05-10-13-risotto-balls

They're really just risotto rolled into balls, rolled in bread crumbs, and fried. Hot and crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside.

And they totally rocked. Nonna had three of them. To make up for the lettuce she didn't eat, I'm sure.

 

 


Lemon Cake

05-09-13-citrus-cake

It's so nice to have a man around the house - especially a man who knows his way around the kitchen!

While I was working, Victor was creating - and what a creation it turned out to be - a pecan-topped lemon cake based on his apple cake recipe. Genius.

This is a bit drier than a traditional layer cake and would work equally-well as a breakfast or coffee cake.

And any cake that one can eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner is a perfect cake in my not-so-humble opinion!

Pecan-Topped Lemon Cake

  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup oil
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 cup chopped pecans
  • 3 tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and set aside.

Beat together eggs, lemon juice & vanilla.  Add oil, mix in flour mixture.

Pour batter into a well-greased springform pan. Top with pecans and sprinkle sugar on top.

Bake at 350° for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until cake tests done.

Cool before slicing.

05-09-13-citrus-cake-2

 

I see more of this in my future...

 


Kansas City BBQ

05-05-13-kansas-city-bbq

 

Victor received an awesome Birthday Present in the mail last week from a friend in Kansas City - local Kansas City BBQ sauces and rubs. Totally awesome!

We're both huge fans of regional cooking and really love locally-produced products. We're going to have a lot of fun going through these!

We've had the Gates BBQ sauce in the past, so I started off with it, because I knew it would be Nonna-acceptable. I'm still feeling my way around her likes and dislikes and want to make sure that if she doesn't totally love something, at least doesn't hate it.

Nonna loved it.

05-09-13-ribs

 

Victor started the ribs in a 250° oven for a couple of hours while I was at work. I finished them on the grill.

Meanwhile, I made Boursin mashed potatoes - just add Boursin cheese to your regular mashed recipe - and the ever-popular over-cooked broccoli.

One of these days I'll cook two vegetables. Really.

And we now have lots of fun sauces and rubs to play with this season.

Can't wait to try 'em all!

 

 


Risotto and Muffins

05-08-13-risotto

I've been thinking about risotto for a week. I finally decided to stop thinking about it and start making it.

I'm a broken record when it comes to me saying how easy it is to make risotto. It's just so easy.

I made a chicken, shrimp, and mushroom version. It almost had some Mexican chorizo in it, as well, but I decided it just wasn't necessary this time around. The beauty of risotto is you can put absolutely anything into it. It's a great vehicle for cleaning out the refrigerator.

Chicken, Shrimp, and Mushroom Risotto

  • 1 mall onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic. minced
  • 1 chicken breast, cubed
  • 4 oz shrimp
  • 4 oz assorted mushrooms
  • 1 cup arborio or other risotto rice
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup brandy
  • 6 cups chicken broth, hot
  • 2 oz granna padano, grated
  • 3 tbsp parsley, minced

Saute onion in a butter/olive oil mix. Add garlic and lightly cook.  Add chicken  and mushrooms. Cook until tender. Add rice and saute until edges are translucent.

Add brandy and cook until evaporated. Add broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until broth is absorbed before adding next ladle.

When rice is cooked, stir in shrimp and cook through - just a few minutes.

Add grated cheese and stir in parsley. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper, as desired.

Totally no brainer and it totally rocked!

And then, because I hadn't made any in a while, I decided we needed corn muffins with dinner. Not exactly Italian, and probably would have been more fitting if I had used the chorizo in the risotto, but what the heck. No rules cooking at our house. Besides, the better restaurants do stuff like this and call it fusion and charge big bucks.

We're so ahead of the curve...

05-08-13-corn-muffins

They were okay. Not stellar. I used yogurt instead of buttermilk because I had yogurt and didn't have buttermilk. Good flavor, just a bit dry. I think they'll actually be really good for cornbread dressing, so the leftovers went into the freezer. Waste not, want not, and all that...