Very Venice

According to Giada and our friends who recently traveled to Italy, there is a very famous restaurant in Venice called Harry's Bar. Harry's is noted as the first bar to serve the Bellini and because of this has become a very famous tourist spot in Venice. In 2001, the Italian Ministry of Cultural Affairs declared it a national landmark.

Since airfare to Venice wasn't in this week's budget, we decided to attempt to recreate one of their famous menu items at home. The recipe below is a take on the Harry's Bar pierini which is basically a perfect hybrid of a grilled cheese and a deli ham sandwich. It is flavorful, rich and satisfying. The cheese spread is self assured - It pairs perfectly with both the crispy bread and the cold ham and it melts beautifully.

Venetian Panino
Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients

8 ounces Fontina cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 garlic clove, chopped
12 ounces sliced ham
12 slices wheat or sourdough bread, crusts removed
6 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

Into a food processor, add the cheese, butter, mustard, Worcestershire and garlic.

Blend until the mixture is thick, smooth and spreadable.

Spread the cheese mixture over 1 side of each bread slice. Arrange the ham slices over the cheese mixture on 6 of the bread slices.

Top sandwiches with the remaining bread slices, cheese mixture side down, pressing gently to adhere. Cut the sandwiches in half.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a heavy skillet over medium-low heat. Cook half of the sandwiches until golden brown and heated through, about 4 minutes per side.

Transfer to a serving platter and tent with foil to keep them warm. Repeat with remaining 3 tablespoons of oil and sandwiches. Serve immediately.

Mexican Meltdown

I found the ingredient combination in this recipe very interesting. I couldn't figure out if it was intended to be served for breakfast or dinner or what. All that I could figure out was that I wanted to try this creation and I wanted to try it soon. I love spicy food and Mexican chorizo is high on that list.

This recipe was amazingly tasty and after trying it I know that you could never eat this for breakfast. If you were to start your day with something this spicy you would become completely unproductive for the rest of the day as you spent it trying to put out the fire on your tongue.

Chorizo Soft Tacos
Adapted from Sunset 2004

Yield

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
  
• 1 pound Mexican chorizo
• 1 cup diced (1/4 in.) peeled russet potatoes
• 1/4 cup sliced white mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon chopped green onion
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh jalapeño chili
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup shredded jack cheese
• Whole Wheat tortillas
• Shredded lettuce, sour cream, and salsa
  

Preparation

Pour oil into a 10- to 12-inch frying pan over medium heat. When hot, add Mexican chorizo, potatoes, mushrooms, onion, and jalapeño chili;

stir often until meat is well browned and potatoes are tender when pierced, about 10 minutes (if potatoes aren't tender, add 1/4 cup water, cover pan, and cook until tender, 8 to 12 minutes longer).

Pour in eggs, beaten to blend, and stir until eggs are firm, 1 to 2 minutes.

Remove pan from heat and stir in cheese. Serve with warm tortillas and lettuce, sour cream, and salsa to add to taste.

Bold Bodacious Bolognese

This isn't your momma's meat sauce. This is no joke, slow cooked, all day care bolognese sauce. It is worth every second at the chopping board and burner. This is bold flavored, rich and satisfying. This recipe makes tons of servings, don't decrease the amount because you will want every last spoonful.

Linguine Bolognese
Adapted from Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 ounces pancetta, diced
• 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions
• 3/4 cup diced carrots
• 3/4 cup diced celery
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/16 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/16 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 pound ground beef
  
• 1/2 pound pork sausage, removed from the casings
  
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 cup red wine
• 2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes and their juice
• 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 cup beef stock or broth
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1 pound fresh linguine
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Directions

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the pancetta

and cook, stirring, until browned and the fat is rendered, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the onions, carrots and celery and cook, stirring, until soft, 4 to 5 minutes.

Add the garlic, salt, pepper, bay leaves, thyme, oregano, cinnamon, and nutmeg and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.

Add the beef and sausages,

and cook, stirring, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the wine

and cook, stirring, to deglaze the pan and remove any browned bits sticking to the bottom of the pan, and until half of the liquid is evaporated, about 2 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and their juices, the tomato sauce, beef broth, and sugar and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, to keep the sauce from sticking to the bottom of the pan, until the sauce is thickened and flavorful, about 1 1/2 hours.

Add the cream, butter, and parsley,

stir well, and simmer for 2 minutes. Discard the bay leaves and adjust the seasoning, to taste. Remove from the heat and cover to keep warm until ready to serve.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and return the water to a low boil. Cook, stirring occasionally to prevent the noodles from sticking, until al dente, 5 to 6 minutes. Drain in a colander.

Add the pasta to the sauce, tossing to coat. Add 1/2 cup of the cheese and toss to blend. Divide among pasta bowls and serve with the cheese passed tableside. (Alternatively, toss only the desired portion of pasta with a bit of the sauce at a time in a serving bowl, reserving the remainder for another meal.)

French Toast Face Off

Allison, my very pregnant and very hungry sister in law requested that I feature French Toast on my blog. I quickly reminded her that I had a husband with diabetes and that I didn't think French Toast was exactly the type of healthy food he should be starting his days with. She even more quickly reminded me that I have several recipes for cakes and cookies on my blog. I explained to her that those weren't breakfast foods and that I could share the finished products with friends or coworkers. Then, she countered with the reminder of the Beignets I cooked one morning and then blogged. Finally, she had me, I didn't have a quick witted retort to her objection. So........... I present to you: French Toast - albeit Cooking Light French Toast, but nonetheless - French Toast. Here you go Allison!

Maple-Glazed French Toast
Adapted from Cooking Light March 2008

Yield

6 servings (serving size: 2 toast pieces)

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• Cooking spray
• 12 (1-ounce) slices day-old white bread (such as Pepperidge Farm sandwich bread)
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
• Sugar Free Syrup for topping, if desired
  

Preparation

1. Combine first 4 ingredients in a shallow dish.

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Working with 2 or 4 bread slices at a time (however many your pan will fit), place bread slices into milk mixture, quickly turning to coat both sides.

Remove bread slices from milk mixture. Add bread slices to pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until lightly browned.

Remove toast from pan. Repeat procedure with cooking spray, remaining 8 bread slices, and remaining milk mixture. Sprinkle powdered sugar evenly over toast.

Go Gyoza!

On weekends when I don't have huge plans I like to undertake cooking projects that I have never attempted before. I will try things that I know are time consuming and tedious because it is so much fun for me. I love to cook and I love to experiment with daring recipes. I have been wanting to make homemade gyoza or dumplings for a long time but my weekends have been too busy and jam packed. This past weekend I had my first free Saturday in a long time and I couldn't wait to jump right into the gyoza recipe I had been saving.

Stuffing the gyoza is the only detailed part of the entire recipe. Otherwise, cooking the stuffing and cooking the finished gyoza is simple. While stuffing the gyoza I knew I wouldn't be able to take pictures because the process is very intricate leaving no free hands for snapping pictures. I asked Forrest to help me out by taking some pictures as I stuffed and folded the gyoza, but we quickly realized that still pictures didn't convey the steps properly. I decided that a video was the best way to demonstrate the steps. For me, listening to my voice is like nails on a chalkboard so I chose not to narrate the steps in the video. I asked Forrest to do it because he has a much more pleasant voice (he used to host a sports talk radio show in college - he wants me to tell you that). He agreed because he is supportive. Ok, really - he agreed because I begged him.

Pork Gyoza
Adapated from Cooking Light November 2006

Yield

10 servings (serving size: 3 pot stickers)

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 8 ounces of 50% less fat pork sausage
  
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  
• 1/3 cup chopped green onions (about 2)
• 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 1/2 cups packaged cabbage-and-carrot coleslaw
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
• 30 gyoza skins
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 1 cup water

Preparation

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork; cook 6 minutes or until done, stirring to crumble. Add 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper and stir. Add onions, soy sauce, and sesame oil; cook 30 seconds.

Stir in coleslaw,

and cook 30 seconds or until cabbage wilts, stirring frequently.

Combine 3 tablespoons water and cornstarch in a small bowl. Add cornstarch mixture to pork mixture; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; cool to room temperature.

Place pork mixture in a food processor

and process until the pork is ground into smaller chunks, only a few pulses of the food processor. Do not puree.

Working with 1 gyoza skin at a time (cover remaining skins to prevent drying), spoon 1 scant tablespoon pork mixture into center of each skin. Moisten edges of skin with water. Fold in half, pinching edges together to seal. Place on a baking sheet in a single layer (cover loosely with a towel to prevent drying).

When all skins are filled, remove towel

and cover with plastic wrap; freeze until firm for about 30 minutes. Place in zip-top plastic bags, and freeze for up to 3 months.

Heat peanut oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Arrange frozen pot stickers in pan in a single layer; cook 2 minutes or until browned on bottom.

Add 1 cup water to pan; cover and cook 5 minutes.

Uncover and cook until liquid evaporates, about 2 minutes. Serve immediately.

These gyoza were actually a lot easier than I had anticipated. Cooking the stuffing took all of 10 minutes and after the third gyoza the crimping/stuffing method became a breeze. They were very delicious and pretty and I love the fact that they are all frozen in the freezer and I can cook as many as I want at a time. They only take about 10-15 minutes out of the freezer which makes them worth the upfront time to stuff them all in order to have the special treats waiting in the freezer at your disposal.

Nobody puts Baby in the "Corn"er

When my sister was pregnant with her first child I was a single, enrolled in grad school and working at her office. It was a time in my life when I would spend a lot of time with her when I wasn't in school or studying. We worked together, so naturally during the day we would make tons of plans that centered around the arrival of her first baby. One thing that we used to do almost every Friday was take shopping excursions to Babies R' Us. We would buy necessities like bottles and diapers and non-necessities like duck-shaped bathtub thermometers and miniature Nike socks. It was great fun and a period that was filled with so much excitement. I will always treasure those outings because it was her last pregnancy that I lived in New Orleans for and I am grateful to have been a part of the preparation of arrival of her first newborn, my Godchild.

Whenever we took those Babies R' Us outings we would always go to the same restaurant for dinner and meet her husband. Almost every Friday for several months we dined at Zea's. Zea's is a rotisserie restaurant that serves any kind of meat you can imagine roasted to perfection on their rotisserie grill. Although their meats are the star of their menu there was another menu item that stole my heart. They served a side dish that is to this day still one of my all time favorites - corn grits. Corn grits were the perfect accompaniment to the bold flavor of the beef or chicken. They were rich, sweet, smooth and crunchy all at the same time. I have never been able to find a recipe for corn grits although I often look for one when serving a hearty meat as my main course. I was happy to find this recipe below during one of my searches and it did an excellent job of satisfying those characteristics of my treasured corn grits.

Corn Casserole
Adapted from Cooking Light September 2007

Yield

8 servings

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup egg substitute or 1 egg
  
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 (8 3/4-ounce) can no-salt-added whole-kernel corn, drained
• 1 (8 3/4-ounce) can no-salt-added cream-style corn
• 1 (8 1/2-ounce) package corn muffin mix
• 1 (8-ounce) carton fat free sour cream
  
• Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl;

stir well. Pour into an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until set.

This dish was ready for the oven in no time at all. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a special side dish to compliment the main course, but with the ability to stand out on its own. I was very pleased with the moisture, flavor and appearance of this side. It was light and fluffy and very addictive.

Breakfast Bickering

It is no secret that when you first move in with someone things can be pretty rough. It isn't easy to adjust to each others' habitation habits and idiosyncrasies. When Forrest and I first moved into the same house I was determined to break the mold. I wanted to make the experience of living together easy and I wanted us to be the first couple to sail smoothly through the waters of cohabitation.

I went to the grocery the day before he arrived and stocked the house with his favorite snack foods. I made sure there was turkey for midday sandwiches and ingredients to make blueberry muffins for him on our first morning together. I woke up early that morning and hurried into the kitchen so that he could wake up to the smell of fresh muffins in the oven. Everything worked out perfectly, Forrest rose at the ideal time when the muffins had been in the oven for 10 minutes and they were just starting to give off their glorious scent. He smiled at me, bid me good morning and remarked at my homemade breakfast effort. I knew this living together business would be a breeze and I couldn't imagine why people gave it such a bad name.

Unfortunately, my gloating didn't last long. What Forrest did next set my entire homemade breakfast plan into a tail spin. Although I was fully aware that Forrest had Type 1 Diabetes before we began living together, I wasn't clued in to the ins and outs of his disease. I had no idea that he had to eat immediately upon waking if his blood sugar was low. So Forrest made his way over to the fridge and began drinking juice and snacking on sliced turkey right out of the deli zip lock bag. I didn't know at the time that Forrest had every intention of eating my muffins too and I was utterly offended. I couldn't believe that I had dragged myself out of bed early to make muffins for such an ingrate. He had the audacity to spoil his sweet fluffy breakfast with none other than sandwich meat and orange juice. The control freak in me couldn't handle the broken image of us sitting down to butter our muffins at the breakfast table as blue birds sang in the background. I instantly squawked at him asked him in a frantic irrational tone, "Who wants our first breakfast together in our new home to be "turkey muffins"!?!

In a response that would become common, he laughed at my ridiculousness and told me to relax. He was still going to eat my precious muffins and enjoy them just the same. He helped me understand that the breakfast plans would remain the same and that it was going to take a lot more than a couple slices of fat free poultry to ruin his appetite. I was instantly embarrassed at my over reaction and thankful that he handled it so well. He never let me forget that incident though and the first time I prepared this recipe below he asked, "So can I eat these turkey muffins without getting yelled at?"

Turkey Mini Meat Loaves
Adapted from Cooking Light April 2007

Yield

6 servings

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 1 cup of chopped onion
• 6 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1lb of ground turkey breast (93/7)
  
• 2 large egg white
• 6 tablespoons ketchup, divided
• 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco), divided
  

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from heat; cool slightly.

Combine onion, breadcrumbs, and next 7 ingredients (through egg white) in a large bowl.

Stir in 4 tablespoons ketchup and 1/2 teaspoon of hot sauce.

Spoon about 3/4 cup meat mixture into each of 6 muffin cups coated with cooking spray using an ice scream scoop;

place muffin tin on a baking sheet. Combine remaining 2 tablespoons ketchup and remaining hot pepper sauce in a small bowl. Divide ketchup mixture evenly between the loaves.

Brush ketchup mixture over meat loaf tops.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until a thermometer registers 165°.

I had never eaten meatloaf before I began making this recipe so I can't compare it to your traditional ground beef loaf. But I can tell you that these are delicious and I don't even like turkey very much in general. They are extremely moist, flavorful and easy to make. These take no effort at all and cook very quickly.