"You'll be a Dentist"

Over the last few weeks I have been undergoing some very painful dental work. I hate the dentist! And I can't ever go to the dentist without thinking of Steve Martin as the evil dentist in The Little Shop of Horrors. In my opinion, he was brilliant in that role as was the rest of the cast. I don't know if that movie was a big success when it was released but it was a movie that we watched thousands of times growing up and we all loved it! When I was younger and we would watch The Little Shop of Horrors I always thought that Audrey II resembled an artichoke.


So through my own personal six degrees of sedation....I mean separation, my recent dentist visits reminded me of Steve Martin as Orin Scrivello, DDS, and Dr. Scrivello reminded me of Audrey II and Audrey II reminded me of artichokes. The human mind is a powerful thing, or a crazy one depending on how you look at it;-) When I think of food I usually tend to cook it shortly after. While I didn't have any artichokes laying around, I settled on my favorite artichoke dish that incorporated their hearts and is a breeze to throw together - Artichoke Stuffing. The following recipe is one I formally recorded after watching my mom make this dish from memory for years. The recipe below is for a very small amount. I make it for my husband and I as a side dish for dinner and it is enough for two large portions. You can double, triple or even quadruple the recipe depending on how many people you are feeding. My mom makes this as a side dish at Thanksgiving and Christmas and she uses about four cans of artichoke hearts and increases the other ingredients to match. This is so delicious, the cheese becomes crusty in the oven and the breadcrumbs and the olive oil are so flavorful. Now, say ah!

Italian Artichoke Stuffing
Recipe derived from my Mom

1 can of artichoke hearts quartered
1/4 cup of Parmesan Reggiano Cheese
1/4 cup of Italian Bread Crumbs
1/4 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Pepper

Place quartered artichoke hearts in a glass baking dish. Pepper the artichoke hearts to taste. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over artichoke hearts and stir to coat. Pour half of the olive oil over hearts and crumbs to moisten. Sprinkle Parmesan Cheese over the mixture and coat with remaining Olive Oil. Stir to combine. Sprinkle on top with Parmesan Cheese. Bake in 375 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Muff-uh-LOT-uh

If I am watching TV you can be sure I am watching the Food Network. Last week I noticed that three different celebrity chefs referenced the muffuletta, a famous New Orleans Sandwich. I admittingly watch a ton of their programs but this particular occurrence seemed strange. It isn't Mardi Gras or any other New Orleans related holiday so for three Chefs on three different shows to talk about the muffuletta was more than a coincidence. Rachel Ray made a muffuletta salad, Emeril made a classic muffuletta and Mario Batali mentioned it in a discussion on famous Italian sandwiches. I quickly decided it must be a sign. A sign for what? I didn't know, but I was going to use it as motivation to research a recipe and recreate the classic at home. Now back home I could get a Large "Muff" (around 10 inches in diameter) for about $8 and feed four people. Well Northern Virginia isn't "back home" so it cost me quite a bit more to get all the ingredients for the recipe (side note - gas isn't $4.05/gallon back home either). Despite the cost, I had to forge forward since the Food Network's hidden/or not so hidden message had told me to do it ;-)

Growing up in New Orleans, the muffuletta was something we ate quite often. We didn't get ours from the originators (Central Grocery) though. We ate our muffulettas from Ben's and they were amazing. Ben's set the standard very high and I had alot to live up to with my William Sonoma recipe. I knew I was taking a chance by making a traditional New Orleans dish based off of a non-New Orleans source, but I have had the sandwich enough to know that they were using all the right ingredients. This recipe was spot on! The sandwiches turned out delicious and very authentic tasting.

Olive Salad
Recipe courtesy William Sonoma

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups queen pimiento-stuffed olives
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives
1 cup Italian gardinera (pickled cauliflower,
carrots, red pepper and celery)
1/4 cup pickled pepperoncini
1/4 cup capers, drained (I omitted from the recipe)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 Tbs. chopped fresh oregano
1/2 cup olive oil

Directions:

Place the queen and Kalamata olives, the gardinera, pepperoncini and capers on a cutting board. (I used the mini food processor to make it easier). Roughly chop the ingredients, cutting each piece 2 or 3 times. The mixture should be very coarse. Transfer to a bowl and add the garlic, parsley, oregano and olive oil. Stir until combined. Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. Serves 4.


New Orleans Muffuletta
Recipe courtesy William Sonoma

Ingredients:

4 Kaiser or other round, seeded rolls, each 4
inches in diameter, split
1 cup olive salad
3 oz. thinly sliced cooked ham
3 oz. thinly sliced Genoa salami
4 oz. thinly sliced mortadella
4 slices provolone cheese

Directions:

Lay the roll halves, cut sides up, on a work surface. Brush the cut sides with oil from the olive salad. On the bottom half of each roll, spread 2 Tbs. to 1/4 cup olive salad. Place the ham, salami, mortadella and cheese on top, dividing evenly. Cover each sandwich with the top half of a roll. Cook the sandwiches immediately, or cover and refrigerate overnight to allow the flavors to develop.

Preheat an electric panini press on medium-low according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Place the sandwiches, one at a time, on the preheated panini press. Cook according to the manufacturer's instructions until the sandwich is warmed through and the cheese is melted, 6 to 8 minutes.

Transfer the sandwiches to a cutting board and cut each into quarters. Serve warm. Serves 6 to 8.

From Quiche to Crawfish

My husband and I traveled home to New Orleans this past weekend for his little brother's high school graduation. An added bonus to being home this weekend was that it was also Mother's Day. Normally we wouldn't travel home for this holiday so it was nice to be able to spend the day with our moms. Since it was my first Mother's Day that I had someone other than my own Mom to honor, I wanted to make it special. We spent the night at Forrest's parent's house on Saturday so I planned on making a memorable Mother's Day Breakfast for his mom and his family. I knew Quiche wouldn't be the most popular choice for a house full of men but it was Mother's Day after all and women love quiche (stereotypically). I was still interested in pleasing the boys too so I chose a quiche that had a hashbrowns-crust instead of pie crust and added sausage to one of them to try and "man it up" a little. I recruited Forrest's brothers and his dad to help out and they all did an awesome job. Simon took my emailed grocery list and did the shopping for all the items I needed, Denton woke me up at 6:00am so I could get started cooking and Mr. Paul made sure Mrs. Pat knew the plan and didn't make conflicting breakfast plans for that day.

I purposely chose a recipe I had made before since I knew I was cooking for a bunch of people on a big day and I didn't feel it was a good time to start experimenting. Well despite my best efforts it ended up being a huge science experiment to say the least. Cooking in someone else's oven proved to be quite the adventure. I had a big piece of humble pie (or should I say humble quiche) that morning. Maybe I wasn't such the little chef after all - I had a recipe that was fairly simple to assemble and cook and for some reason it took me twice as long to cook than it had the first time I made it. I even had to call in the guest of honor to help me re-asses the cooking times and the rapidly browning crusts (Sorry Mrs. Pat!) The flavor turned out correctly, but the cooking times were so off that it really bugged me. In the end, everyone was happy and I was elated to cook for my new family!

Hashbrown Quiche
Recipe courtesy Paula Dean, 2007

3 cups, shredded frozen hash browns, thawed and drained
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted
3 large eggs, beaten
1 cup half-and-half
3/4 cup diced cooked ham ( I put ham in one and Andouille Sausage in the other)
1/2 cup diced green onions
1 cup shredded Cheddar
Salt and freshly ground black pepperPreheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Gently press the drained hash browns between paper towels to dry them as best as possible. In a 9-inch pie plate, toss the hash browns with the melted butter into the plate. Press them into the bottom and up the sides to form a crust. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and starting to crisp.

Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. When the hash brown crust is ready pour the egg mixture over it and return to the oven.

Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for about 30 minutes until the quiche is light golden brown on top and puffed. (By the Way - The sausage quiche was voted the crowd favorite.)

After breakfast, we headed to my family's for a crawfish boil. The crawfish were delicious and I couldn't have asked for two better meals with two better families during our visit to New Orleans!

Rain, Rain Go Away

Last Saturday I got my first request for something that someone read about on my blog.....sort of. We had a party this past weekend and one of our friends revealed that another one of our friends was hoping that the mini cheesecakes from a couple posts ago would make an appearance. Well the two guys in question play on Forrest's softball team and I promised that I would bring a batch to their game on Thursday. Auburn was playing Yale and it was a big game for Forrest since he cross pollinates between the two teams. I had promised to go and since I was already scheduled to make an appearance I figured it wouldn't be a big deal to whip up a batch of the coveted cheesecakes. So this I did and to everyone's dismay the game ended up being rained out. Sadly, I wasn't able to deliver on my first blog re-do request and Dubanskey didn't get his cheesecakes, sorry Dubs there is always next time. And subsequently, Forrest and I have to eat 30 mini cheesecakes in the next two days before we go out of town (only partially complaining about this fact). So until the next game........Geaux Tigers, oops, I mean Go Tigers!

Right "Wing"ed

Before my husband and I got married people were more than willing to share their best marriage advice with us. We heard it all, from "respect each" other to "laugh everyday" and we even got our fair shares of "Don't do it"s. One suggestion that we heard over and over was "to make sure you are willing to compromise". Well compromise is not my most favorite activity. I normally prefer to flat out get my way. I know that this isn't going to always be an option so I decided to start practicing this thing called compromise in the kitchen. Forrest loves hot wings and if I never eat hot wings again it may be too soon. So when I saw Giada make these Balsamic Chicken Wings on her show, Everyday Italian, I knew it would be a great recipe to try that would hopefully satisfy Forrest's cravings for wings and turn out to be the right type of wings for me to enjoy. Well, Forrest loved them:


And I thought they were really appetizing as well. This little thing called compromise may not be so bad after all................


Balsamic Chicken Wings
Recipe courtesy of Giada DeLaurentiis

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
5 sprigs of rosemary
5 garlic cloves, halved
10 to 12 chicken wings
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Combine the balsamic, honey, brown sugar, soy sauce, rosemary sprigs, and garlic cloves, in a large, re-sealable plastic bag. Shake and squeeze the contents of the bag to dissolve the honey and the brown sugar. Add the chicken wings to the bag and seal with as little air as possible in the bag. Place in the refrigerator and marinate for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Place the chicken wings on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake until the skin is caramelized and very dark in spots, about 30 to 35 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the marinade in a small saucepan. Bring the marinade to a boil (in order to kill bacteria). Reduce the heat to simmer and cook over low heat until thick, about 15 minutes. Reserve.

Use a pastry brush to brush some of the cooked marinade on the cooked chicken. Place the chicken on a serving platter. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and the chopped parsley.

Cook's note: I like the rosemary and garlic flavors in the background. Brushing the cooked wings with the reduced marinade helps the flavors along. Also, re-moistening helps the parsley and the seeds to adhere.

I used peanuts to sprinkle on top of the wings instead of sesame seeds because I couldn't find them at the grocery. I also marinated the wings all day instead of two hours and it gave them a lot of flavor.

Mussel Memory

There are several people throughout my lifetime that have played a part in how I feel about food and cooking . One person that has made a huge impression on my taste buds is my sister Jessica. Considering the fact that she is my older sister, she went through the typical life experiences first. Because of this benefit, she has encouraged me and guided me in so many aspects of life. She helped me get my first "real" job, she has let me tag along on several of her travels, and she teaches me things everyday about being a mom that I know I will put to good use one day. In addition to these very important occasions, she also has played a big part in how I feel about food. Because she normally experienced things in life first, she had the luxury of tasting several different foods before I ever did. She shares my passion for food and she is willing to try anything. Almost every thing I eat and love today that isn't a "typical" food was introduced to me by my sister. I can remember trying several of my favorite foods for the first time with her: goat cheese, sushi and lamb to name a few. Now you may think that these things are not very strange food items, but they weren't things that we grew up eating. We ate incredibly delicious cuisine during our childhood, but we rarely strayed away from chicken, beef, and your New Orleans type seafood. I have thousands of things to be thankful to my sister for, but I am also very thankful for the fact that she has opened my eyes to so many delicious things. If it weren't for her, I may not have known how much I could love great food. Another atypical dish that I remember my sister introducing me to is mussels. Today, mussels are the only thing I ever get when I go to a French restaurant (I am sure it also has something to do with the fact that they are normally served with Pommes Frites).

I love mussels, but I have never attempted to cook them at home. I recently came across a recipe in one of my cookbooks that I was looking forward to undertaking. And right in step with the cookbook discovery, I noticed that Whole Foods sold fresh mussels at their seafood counter. This dish was so easy to prepare and a great deal of fun! I like to have new experiences in the kitchen, and this one was very enjoyable. If you like mussels and can find fresh ones at a seafood market or your local grocery, I strongly suggest you make this recipe in your own home. Once I started the cooking portion of this recipe, I was amazed at how quickly it all came together. I have cooked so many recipes in my life (so this next statement is a bold one), and this is one of the best! This dish was one that when I was eating it I wanted to open a restaurant that serves only that dish in order to share it with others. It was awesome! It tasted just like something that would be served at a very nice dining establishment and was so succulent. Next time I will serve this over whole-wheat pasta in order to have something to soak up more of the sauce.

Spicy Mussels with Herbs and Feta Cheese
The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen by Paula Wolfert

3 pounds small mussels
Sea Salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cinnamon stick, 2 inches long
2/3 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 1/2 of lemon
1/4 cup of slivered fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 long dried red chile pepper, about 3 inches long ( I substituted 1/4 teaspoon of dried red pepper flakes)
2 teaspoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
3 ounces cow's milk feta
Garlic toasts

1. Scrub mussels, pull off beards, and rinse in several changes of water. Place the mussels in a bowl of lightly salted cool water and let stand for at least 1 hour so they purge themselves of sand. (Farmed mussels do not need soaking; if soaked, they lose all their flavor.) Drain mussels


2. Heat a large nonreactive shallow pan until hot, add 1 tablespoon of the butter, and allow to sizzle. Add the cinnamon stick, mussels, and wine all at once, cover, and cook over high heat until the mussels open, about 2 minutes. If the shells are just beginning to open, leave them 1 minute longer, but do not overcook. Transfer the mussels to a bowl in order to catch their juices. Strain the cooking liquid through a fine sieve and reserve. Discard the cinnamon stick. Shell the mussels and season them with the black pepper and the lemon juice.

3. Wipe out the pan, add another tablespoon of the butter, and set over medium heat. Add half the basil, half the parsley, and the chile pepper and cook for 1 minute, stirring. Add the tomato paste, reserved mussel cooking liquid, and garlic, quickly bring to a boil. Cook over medium heat for 2 minutes, or until the liquid has reduced to about 1 cup. Remove from heat, add the mussels, and set aside to cool.


4. Cut the feta into small slices. Dice remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Scatter the feta and butter over the mussels. Slowly cook until almost boiling. Swirl to allow the butter and cheese to thicken the sauce. Correct the seasoning of the sauce with salt, pepper, and lemon. Garnish with the remaining basil and parsley and serve at once with the garlic toasts.

When I was reading this recipe I thought that feta cheese sounded like an odd thing to pair with mussels, but the saltiness of the cheese worked wonderfully with the seafood and the creaminess of the cheese was the perfect compliment to the sauce.

FYI - I do also have two brothers that I love and adore very much, but because they aren't very adventurous eaters and don't bake cupcakes on rainy days I haven't given them much love on my blog. So I just wanted to say a quick hello to Trey and Kent!

Tres de Mayo

A common misconception in the United States is that Cinco de Mayo is Mexico's Independence Day; Mexico's Independence day is actually September 16. Cinco de Mayo commemorates an initial victory of Mexican forces over French forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862 (thanks Wikipedia). Cinco de Mayo is celebrated with more hoopla in the United States than it is in Mexico. Americans use the holiday as a time to celebrate all that is Mexican culture like their food and their alcohol. Well in my case, if Party City sells a mix CD for the particular holiday I like to have a party to match the soundtrack! So several weeks ago Forrest and I decided to have a Cinco de Mayo party for some of our friends. I knew we would have too many people for a dinner party so I decided to have a "Cinco" themed party since we wouldn't actually have the party on Cinco de Mayo because it fell on a Monday. I proceeded to put together a menu of five different flavored salsas and five different flavored margaritas. Thanks to Martha Stewart (who always urges you to keep your entertaining simple) I was feeling good about sticking to the "easy" menu I had prepared. I started assembling the salsas on Friday night with Forrest as my resident official taster. I don't eat salsa and it was very interesting to prepare recipes that I wasn't willing to taste when several of them instructed me to "salt and pepper to taste". Those of you who know him, know that Forrest is never one to turn down a meal preview so he happily stepped up to the plate in this situation. Several of the recipes took longer than expected because the vegetables required roasting, but other than that they were relatively easy to prepare. Since I can't personally attest to it, I have to rely on the word of my guests, but the general consensus was that they were very all very good. Some were more popular than others as I will indicate below in each recipe.

Roasted Tomatillo & Mango Salsa
Cooking Light



Salsa:
1 1/2 pounds fresh tomatillos
1 large jalapeño pepper
1 large onion, peeled and quartered
4 unpeeled garlic cloves
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups finely diced peeled mango (about 2 large)

Preparation

Preheat broiler.

To prepare salsa, discard the husks and stems from tomatillos. Remove stem from jalapeño. Place tomatillos, jalapeño, onion, and garlic on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Broil 8 minutes or until the tomatillos and onions are lightly charred (about 8 minutes), turning once; cool.

Peel garlic. Place garlic, tomatillos, jalapeño, onion, cilantro, lime juice, and 1 teaspoon salt in a food processor; pulse 10 times or until ingredients are coarsely chopped. Place tomatillo mixture in a large bowl; stir in mango. Serve with chips.

This certinley was the least popular salsa of the night. Hardly any of it was eaten. I think the onion flavor was too over-powering.

Hot & Spicy Tomato Salsa
www.food.com



2 fresh jalapenos
1 bunch fresh cilantro leaves
1 clove garlic
1 banana pepper
1 lime, juice ( I juiced all my limes at one time since I needed lime juice for several of my salsas and all of my margaritas)


1 teaspoon House Seasoning, recipe follows
1 can diced tomatoes Put everything but the tomatoes in a food processor. Chop until diced. Add the tomatoes. Serve with chips.

Cook's Note: This recipe can be very hot. And can be made without the jalapeno seeds and veins to make it less hot.

House Seasoning:
1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder

Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Tomatillo, Cilantro, and Avacado Salsa
Nueva Salsa by Rafael Palomino


4 roasted tomatillos, each quartered
2 ripe Hass avacoados, peeled, pitted, and coarsley chopped
1 red onion, diced
1 1/2 roasted pablano chiles, peeled, seeded, and diced
1/3 cup white balsamic vinegar
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 tablespoon olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons mince fresh cilantro

In a large glass or ceramic bowl, combine the tomatillos and avocados. Gently stir in the red onion, chiles, vinegar, lime juice, oil, salt, and pepper (don't overdo it or the avocados will get mushy). Let sit for about 20 minutes, then stir in the cilantro and serve. Or, cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Return to room temperature and stir in the cilantro just before serving

This guacamole like salsa was definitely the party favorite. It disappeared off the table very rapidly. If I were to do it again, I would make a double batch of this one.

Roasted Corn and Black Bean Salsa
Nueva Salsa by Rafael Palomino


30 ounces canned beans, drained and rinsed
Kernels cut from 8 ears of roasted corn
1 pound plum tomatoes, diced
2 teaspoons aji amarillo or chipotle puree
1/3 cup white balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lime
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 avacado, peeled, pitted and diced
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

In a large bowl, combine the black beans, corn kernels, and tomatoes. Stir in all the remaining ingredients except the avocados and cilantro. Let sit for about 20 minutes, then gently stir in the avocado and cilantro and serve. (I made labels for each salsa so my guest knew what they were eating- see below)

People seemed to love the Roasted Corn and Black Bean Salsa. The only problem with this salsa is that several people dropped the black beans under the table during the party and after a tequila infused night I thought they were cockroaches!

Roasted Jalapeño and Tomato Salsa
Nueva Salsa by Rafael Palomino



3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 plum tomatoes, diced
8 roasted cloves of garlic
1 red onion, diced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
2 roasted jalapeño chiles, peeled, seeded, and diced (see pic below of how I roasted mine)


2 teaspoons chopped fresh cilantro

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil. Saute the tomatoes and garlic for about 2 minutes or until the tomatoes soften slightly. Scrape into a medium bowl.

In the same pan, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Add the onion, salt, and pepper. Saute for about 2 minutes, or until softened. Add to the tomato mixture. Let cool to room temperature.

Stir in the vinegar and chiles. Let sit for about 20 minutes, then stir in the cilantro and serve.

Margaritas

Below is a picture of the Margarita menu I made and placed on the bar. If you would like any of the recipes, just shoot me an email at elizabethsedibleexperience@gmail.com and I will be happy to share them with you.