Brushetta

 

So I told my dear husband that I was going to make brushetta and he was less than pleased.  He is not a big tomatoes fan but he put his best foot forward and gave it a go and I appeased him by adding feta and fresh mozzarella.

So here is what you need.  None of this fixed proportions. Whatever meets your needs.  A couple tablespoons of olive oil, grape tomatoes (you can use red or yellow or cherry tomatoes too), a couple tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, several cloves or garlic, fresh basil leaves, a baguette, and fresh mozzarella and feta if you want and salt and pepper to taste.

Starts with a couple tablespoons of olive oil and grate a couple garlic cloves.  I have started using my zester and it comes out easier and much less mess and easier cleanup.

Add the balsamic vinegar. I love balsmaic vinegar.  What would I do without it? Life and food would be so boring.

Whisk together with fresh ground salt and pepper.

Finely chop a about 1 1/2 cups of cherry or grape tomatoes. Be sure to do it finely so you don't get huge chunks of tomatoes. 

There will a lot of left over juice and that's okay then that won't soak into your bread especially since we added oil and vinegar.

Mix into oil and vinegar mixture.

If needed add a little more oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and let marinate for at least 30 min so all the lovely flavor soak in.

Once the tomatoes marinate roll up the basil leaves so you can finely sliver the leaves.

You want a couple good table spoons.

Mix with tomatoes.

Grate so more garlic into some olive oil and generously brush onto both sides or thickly sliced baguette.

Broil for about 8 min until golden brown be sure to keep an eye onto it doesn't take long and I am always forgetting it and burning it.

Place a slice of fresh mozzarella on some of them

Spoon tomato mixture on all of the bread.

Sprinkle feta on some too because you can never have too much cheese especially feta.

Place under the broiler for just a couple min to warm the cheese.

Serve and enjoy.  You will die and go to heaven my tomato husband said they were good and I could make them again which in his language means he liked them.  He is never big on saying what I should make again.  Not a lot of feedback.  Be sure you have a napkin and fork because you will need them.

Chicken Teriyaki

So my lovely sister is addicted to teriyaki when I saw this idea I thought of her.  I will be making this for her when she comes to visit next.

So this is what you need. Chicken thighs.  It is best to use thighs with the skin on but that means removing the bone since you cannot buy thighs without the bone in but its not that hard and the skin is so nice and crispy. 
Chicken thighs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 soy sauce
2 T rice vinegar
1 T grated ginger
1 T fresh garlic
cornstarch for thickening

Take the chicken thighs and turn over and with a small knife cut out the bone in the middle.  Its really not that hard.  Your fingers get cold but that's about it and then you have a nice pile of bones with a little meat on them to make some yummy stock. 

Here is the stuff for the sauce.  Rice vinegar, soy sauce, fresh ginger, fresh garlic, white sugar, and corn starch

Take a knife and peel the ginger into a squarish shape so its easy to grate.

Then grate it on the micro plane till you have about a tablespoon.  It will be a wet paste.  You can use a little more or less depending on your preference. 

Do the same thing with a couple cloves of garlic till you have the same amount.  You will end up with a small piece left over but that's fine.  You dont need to worry too much about your fingers its not too sharp. 

Whisk the soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, ginger, garlic and start with about T of corn starch and let it simmer for a few min to thicken.  I had to add more but it just depends.  You can always add more but its harder to thin it out.

Place chicken thighs on a rack on a cookie sheet or broiler pan so the fat can drip down and not make the chicken greasy.  Place the over rack towards the top of the over.  Broil for about 10-14 min.  Rotate pan 1/2 through for more even cooking which I forgot to do. 

Let chicken rest for 3-5 min so the juice can reabsorb into the chicken or when you slice it it will just pool on your plate.

This is what not to do.  It was still good just more soupy. 

Once the chicken has rested.  Slice and serve with warm rice.

Easy Home made Manicotti

So I love manicotti but stuffing all those pasta tubes takes time and they ripe and its just a mess.  This one is much simpler because you roll lasagna noodles like you would with Enchiladas.  If fact that's what I told my husband when he asked me what manicotti was.  Italian Enchiladas.

Doesn't that look good.  (I forgot to take a pic with it on a plate.
Here is what you need for the sauce.  1 medium yellow onion, 2 cans crushed tomatoes, 1 T of tomatoes paste, 1 package of pepperoni, 1/2 lb ground sausage, 1/2 lb ground beef, 4-5 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, a few red pepper flakes, and Italain seasoning to taste.
The manicotti: Ricotta cheese (you can use cottage cheese if you like but this is better) 2 cups shredded whole milk manicotti, a couple cups of shredded provalone (my store didnt have bricks of it so I boughed sliced and diced it) 1/4-1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (it is wonderful) 1 egg, 1 package of no boil lasagna noodles, and salt and pepper to taste.

Sauce:

Quarter onion.  Place pepperoni and onion pulse in food possessor until finely diced. My food prossessor is very loud Chris makes jokes about needing ear plugs. 

If you have a standard sized food processor you can prossess the ground sausage and beef too to break it up but mine is a smaller one because it uses the same base as my blender so as a result it is slightly smaller.

Add mixture from the food possessor to a hot large skillet (add ground meat too if you didn't) process.  Brown and break it up as you go into small pieces.

Mix in the tomatoes paste, pressed garlic, and a few red pepper flakes.

Save 1 cup of the meat mixture if you want for sprinkling on the top. 

Add the cans of crushed tomatoes and let simmer for a few min to slightly thicken and season to taste with salt and pepper and Italain seasoning.  Be sure to cover while simmer because it till splatter and then you will have to clean your stove like I did.

Filling: 
Soak noodles for 5 min in boiling water so they will be soft enough to roll.
Chop the basil, shred/dice cheese (depending on your provolone)

 Place 1 pint of ricotta, basil, 2 cups of mozzarella, and 2 cups of provolone, and the egg in a bowl and mix until thoroughly incorporated.

Its going to be a big goopy mess but it will taste so good.

Now comes the Enchilada part.  Spread about a cup or two of the sauce on the bottom of the pan so the noodles don't stick.

Place a spoonful/handful of the filling and roll up like an Enchilada.  I found it was easier to use my hands.  A standard package of lasagna noodles comes with 16.  So you should end up with two rows of 8 in a 9x13 pan.  I had a couple that broke but its okay I used them anyway.  I a had a little of the filling left over so I spread it over the top.  You can never have too much of a good thing.

Spread the sauce on the top. Sprinkle about a cup of mozzarella and a cup of provolone and the remaining meat on top.  I paced slices of provolone and shredded mozzarella since that was easier. Bake covered for about 40 min at 375.  About 10-15 min before its done remove cover so the cheese can get golden.  Remove from the over and let rest for about 10 min.  This is important so its not too runny.  It will still be running but more manageable.

Stuff Pizza Rolls

My husband loved these and ate them and said the mushrooms added nice flavor perhaps I am making progress in my fight against mushroom hatred but we will see.  The true victory is if he will like the mushroom pasta sauce that I want to make some day but we will see.  Any way these are super easy, quick and can be made in a lot of variation depending on the kind of pizza toppings you use/like.

Here's what you need.  Whatever pizza toppings you want.  I used mushrooms, pepperoni, and olives but whatever you like is great and a couple cups of shredded mozzarella cheese and pizza dough.  You can make your own or use refrigerated.  Usually I make my own but I was running late after work so I bought some.  I have found that whole milk mozzarella cheese is best but the thing that makes the most difference is shredding it yourself because when you buy the per-shredded cheese it is coated which prevents good melting. 

Start by rolling out the dough its okay if you have a few wholes you can patch them up.  Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into squares.  Depending on the number of toppings you have you will want the smaller or larger.  My squares were about 4x6.

Place a little of each topping and cheese on each square or make a variety depending on what your family wants.  I used two tubes of dough so I rolled it out twice.  I ended up with a few leftover that did not fit in my baking dish so I put them in a small casserole.

Pull the dough from all four corners over the toppings and place with the seam down in a baking dish.  They will not all be all neat and tidy but they will still taste good.  Plus that's how life is its not all neat and tidy there is a lot of messy bits in everything.

Brush will some melted butter or olive oil and sprinkle with Italian seasoning and some mozzarella and Parmesan (once again shred your own cheese).  Bake according package directions.  I baked mine for about 10-12 min at 375 but it depends but that's a good base to start from.

While they were baking a made a simple tomato sauce but you can use bottled if you like.  I used a can of tomatoes paste, two cans of water, a couple cloves of pressed garlic, Johnny's salt, fresh ground black pepper (from my cheap Costco pepper mill) and Italian seasoning to taste. 

Boy does that look good.  The picture is making me hungry.  Let it rest for a couple min if you can manage it.

Serve up with dipping sauce or not if you like and enjoy.  These are super easy and make a great snack, lunch, dinner, or appetizer.