Never Give Up on the Sweet Potato

Let's face it, everyone has a vegetable, meat, grain, sweet etc., that they just don't like. You can't say why you don't like it and you've tried a million different preparations; yet you still just can't add it to the list of things you can't wait to eat.

I am no different than everyone else. There are few foods I don't like, most of them are processed foods like those Jenny-O turkey roasts, Velveeta cheese and instant mashed potatoes (unless of course they are mixed with Stove Top Stuffing, no I don't know why I like that either). But when it comes to fresh food, aka vegetables, okra, lima beans (outside of vegetable soup) and French cut string beans just send me hiding.

Then there are the ON THE FENCE foods, the ones that I can't believe I have a hard time enjoying; like olives that aren't brined in vodka or stuffed with garlic, bleu cheese (really, there is mold put in there on purpose, come on now)and Sweet Potatoes.

Don't get me wrong, mash them up, fold in a bag of mini-marshmallows and you will need to pry the empty bowl out of my fingers. I feel the same way about them when they are french fried, but pretty much any other preparation and I am just not going to knock you over to get to them. It is sad really, they are so rich and full of vitamins, they are easy to prepare, you can steam them, boil them, bake them, saute them, wrap them in pasta, bake them in a pie, mash them, grill them and french fry them; they are inexpensive to boot.

We made sweet potato ravioli a few months ago that we topped with sauteed sausage and cauliflower and it was good, but it just didn't jump off the plate as my next favorite vegetable like fennel did when I made that for the first time.

The story is the same for all the different squashes out there; acorn, spaghetti and pumpkin. I love love love zucchini, but my lack of love for all the others just mystifies me.

But here at the Wanamaker House we are not quitters and although I will continue to try and vindicate all the different squashes out there, I am starting with the sweet potato first.

Here is what we had for dinner last night. It was good, even David said it was good despite the sweet potatoes...poor orange spud, I promise not to give up on you yet.

Smothered Sweet Potatoes

4 thick slices pancetta, diced
1 lb. Apple Sausage, removed from casing and broken into bits
2 lbs. sweet potatoes (peeled and cubed)
5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
5 fresh sage leaves
4-6 tblsps. butter
4-6 tblsps. olive oil
salt/pepper to taste
eggs (1-2 per person eating)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel and cube sweet potatoes, place in a 13x9 inch baking dish and set aside.

In a large heavy bottomed skillet on medium-high heat combine 3 tblsps. of olive oil and 3 tblsps. of butter. Saute garlic and sage leaves until garlic is transparent and sage is a dark green and a little limp.

Pour olive oil mixture over sweet potatoes, sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss till all the cubes are coated.

In the same pan that you heated the oil/butter mixture, saute the pancetta and sausage until the pancetta is just starting to crisp and the sausage is almost completely cooked, but not quite. Salt and pepper to taste. You may need to add a little more oil to the pan if it is too dry.

Pour sausage mixture over sweet potatoes, cover with foil and bake until sweet potatoes are fork tender.


In the same frying pan that you sauteed everything else, fry one or two eggs sunny side up (dippy at my house) per person. Spoon sweet potato mixture onto your plate, top with fried eggs and enjoy. The point of the egg is to provide a simple sauce to the whole dish.


I also made some pan sauteed asparagus to go along with it because I love the drippy sauce of the eggs with asparagus.

Sunny side up eggs, asparagus spears and zucchini fritters makes a fantastic breakfast, especially if they are the zucchini fritters my mom makes from the zucchini we grow in the garden. I'll post that recipe when we get into zucchini overload season.

I hope those of you that are already sweet potato lovers will enjoy this and maybe those of us who are on the fence will keep trying new ways until it hits us that we just can't live without them.

Hugs,
dina

GDYNIA Polish Market at the Allentown Farmer's Market

I think you all realize by now that it has become my goal to investigate as many foods outside of my culinary safety zone as I can. Being of Italian/German descent, with more of an emphasis on the Italian, food of all ethnicities has always been intriguing but cooking it is another story.

With this is mind, my mom and I paid a visit to the Allentown Farmer’s Market on Friday. With my daughter's camera and my debit card we walked down the aisles in search of something fun that would make a delicious meal and interesting blog.

Okay, let's tell the whole truth, we got through the double doors and stopped at Charlie K's Pizza for 2 slices of plain pizza and a medium root beer. Mom and I always talk about eating somewhere else, but we always end up on a red bar stool laughing and enjoying our pizza.

We walked down the first aisle snapping pictures and talking to vendors (I got a lot of stuff for a few days worth of blogging) until we ended up at GDYNIA Polish Market. Everything in the cases looked delicious, Mr. & Mrs. Brodowski looked up and smiled making me feel like maybe this was the adventure I needed today.

So, 15 minutes later after talking to the Brodowskis and a lovely young woman who helped with a few words of translation, we walked out of there with about two pounds of the most delicious and juicy looking Polish sausages, Kielbasa and Kapusta Sauerkraut this side of the Atlantic as well as rough directions on how to prepare it. Did you know that Polish sauerkraut has shredded carrots in it? Have I ever told you I am not a huge fan of the "carrot"? Well I gave it a shot anyway. So here you go:

Polish Sausage and Sauerkraut

2 lbs. Fresh Polish Sausage from GDYNIA Polish Market

2 lb. Kapusta Sauerkraut

1 cup water

1 onion, sliced

4 tblsps. butter

salt/pepper to taste

Place sauerkraut into a colander and squeeze out excess juices. In a heavy bottomed frying pan on medium – high heat, sauté sliced onion in butter until translucent and lightly browned. Add sauerkraut and ½ cup water, stir well. Cover and let cook for 10 minutes.

Slice sausage into 3-4 inch pieces and lay on top of sauerkraut. Add remaining water. Cover and cook 15 minutes or until sausage is hot through and slightly plumped. Salt and pepper as needed.

Now let me tell you a little bit about this meal. First, my husband, despite being 100% Pennsylvania German, just hates pretty much anything having to do with cabbage, sauerkraut is not an exception. But he is now a convert. I think its because all that sour juice from the sauerkraut was squeezed out and didn't have such a bite. It also didn't have that really "hey you must be making sauerkraut" smell that takes over the house for a few days either, which in my book is a really good thing.

So the vote was unanimous, we will be going back to GDYNIA in the near future for all of our Polish sausages and to see what else we can try.

GDYNIA Polish Market at the Allentown Farmer’s Market offers a dozen different kinds of fresh Polish meats and cheeses as well a multitude of other products direct from Poland to tempt your palate into trying one of each and everything they offer.

hugs!

dina

Girls' Night a Celebration of Friendships - New and Old

What a night! There were 12 amazing women at my house Saturday night enjoying great food, wine, music and conversation. It has been such a long time since we’ve all gotten together that I was a little nervous about what the neighbors would say when we started laughing and boy did we laugh.

Dinner gave me an opportunity to experiment with new foods and introduce my friends to foods they’ve never had. Although our soup for the night and our entrée was something I’ve been making for years, the appetizer was something that came to me in the middle of the night and I found the recipe for the dessert in a cook book called “Tongue Twisters – Sexy Food from Bin 941 & 942,” I only changed it up a little bit because I didn’t have the Kahlua it called for.

Appetizer
Pancetta cups filled with polenta and topped with mini crab cakes and sautéed baby portabella mushrooms and shallots

Soup

Crespele – a delicate crepe sprinkled with freshly ground parmesan cheese, rolled up and served in a bowl topped with chicken broth

Entrée

Homemade Manicotti with Italian Meatballs

Dessert

Toffee Espresso Pots de Crème

The first one is something that came to me at about 3:00 a.m. last week, I sat straight up in bed and thought, hey, I think this would make a great appetizer for the girls. I apologized in advance if it didn’t turn out well, but it was unnecessary because it was amazingly delicious and I will be making it again and again.

Pancetta Cups Filled With Polenta and Topped with Mini Crabcakes and Sauteed Portabella Mushrooms and Shallots

16 slices of pancetta + two ½ inch pieces finely diced

1 box quick polenta prepared according to box instructions

1 cup of freshly grated Asiago cheese, plus some for garnish

3 shallots, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, sliced very thin

salt/pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place slices of pancetta onto the back of muffin cups and bake till slightly crispy and holds the shape of the muffin cup. It is necessary to put this upside down muffin cup pan on a cookie sheet because the pancetta releases a lot of fat when baking.

Prepare polenta as per the directions on the box, adding the Asiago cheese at the end.

Heat olive oil in a large heavy bottomed skillet on medium – high heat; add shallots, garlic and diced pancetta, sautéing until shallots are translucent. Add mushrooms and sauté until mushrooms are slightly tender and pancetta is slightly crispy. Be careful not to burn the garlic or you will need to start all over again. Remove mushroom mixture to a small bowl and set aside. Put approximately 3-4 tblsps. of olive oil into the hot skillet and sauté crab cakes till lightly browned on both sides, remove from pan and set aside. Put mushroom mixture back in pan to reheat.

Gently place pancetta cup on plate, fill with a generous dollop of polenta, top with 2-3 crab cakes and a generous spoonful of mushroom mixture. Sprinkle with Asiago and enjoy.

Mini Crab Cakes

1 lb. fresh crab meat

1 egg

½ cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

2 tblsps. Mayonaise

1 tblsp. Old Bay Seasoning

salt/pepper to taste

Olive oil

Place crab meat and all other ingredients except olive oil in a bowl large enough to get your hands into it to mix all the ingredients thoroughly. Since you will be making very tiny crab cakes, you will want to use an actual 1 tablespoon size measuring spoon to scoop out the crab mixture and shape into patties. The crab cakes should be about the size of a quarter.

Sauté crab cakes as directed above.

Toffee Espresso Pots de Crème

2 cups sugar

scant 1 ½ cups water

18 egg yolks

3 cups milk

3 cups heavy whipping cream

6 oz. Espresso Vodka

Combine sugar and water in a large heavy bottom pot. Cook on medium – high heat until caramel in color, stirring occasionally and using a wet brush to push the sugar crystals that form on the side of the pot back into the boiling mixture. This process can take up to 25 minutes, but can burn in an instant if not watched carefully.

While sugar mixture boils, bring the milk, cream and vodka to a simmer, stirring occasionally so that it doesn’t burn or develop a skin on top.

When the sugar mixture is a rich caramel color and milk mixture has come to a simmer, remove sugar mixture from heat and slowly, carefully add milk stirring constantly. This sugar is very hot and will bubble up really high; it might be safer to do it over the sink.

Place toffee into the refrigerator to cool completely. While toffee is cooling, separate eggs and whisk gently until very smooth.

Whisk egg yolks into cooled milk mixture.

Pour enough of the milk/egg mixture into clean ramekins so that it reaches the little ridge just below the top of the ramekin. Place filled ramekins into a bain de marie, cover with foil and bake approximately 50 minutes or until there is a only a soft giggly spot about the size of a dime in the center. Cool, then keep refrigerated until ready to use, can be made up to 4 days in advance if covered tightly with cling wrap. Serve with a generous dollop of home made whipped cream and a sprig of fresh mint.

This was an amazing night! I love all my friends and family and can’t wait to do this again.

hugs,

dina

Sometimes its All About the Beverage You Serve

I know a lot of the articles I've been sharing have been all about food, but I have to tell you, sometimes its all about the beverage.

Here in the Lehigh Valley we have a great community of vineyards. I have my favorites listed on the side of the blog with links to their sites, but today I am going to focus on just one of them, Franklin Hills Vineyards. It is located in Bangor, PA, but has several satellite locations that sell their wines so that we don't have to drive 45 minutes into the mountains to get our fix.

My favorite location is in The Shoppes at the Main Street Commons in Historic Downtown Bethlehem, PA. Not only do they have great wines, but the shop is chock full of great gift items for you and your favorite wino :o).

Currently, I've been drinking a lot of their Simply Red, it is a very nice table red that is not too dry or too sweet. I've been getting a bottle every Thursday because the shoppe in Bethlehem is located right across the street from the Sun Inn and during the months of May and June they play host to Tunes at Twilight, a free night of music provided by local bands. I find that it pairs well with everything we've been eating from the local restaurants on concert night. So far I've enjoyed it with eggplant pasta from Mama Nina's, hot dogs from the Sun Inn and just last week I drank it while eating an Italian BLT from the Apollo Grill. Not sure what it is on the menu for dinner this Thursday, but I can assure you, Simply Red will be in my travel wine glass.

I'm sure you realize that Simply Red is not the only wine creations they offer. There are several other great choices too, so let's move onto something we decided to do for fun with a few of their fruit wines.

During one of the concert nights last spring we bought a bottle of their Envy wine, it is a green apple that is bright and tart and the prettiest green you've ever seen and also seasonal. Never one to just be satisfied with what I have and always looking for the next burst of new flavor, a group of my girlfriends and I decided that these fruit wines might make a great base for martinis. We were right on the money! We took that bottle of Envy and a bottle of green apple vodka and mixed it 2-1, shook it with some ice and voila a very yummy martini that packs a very nice punch was born.

Did we stop there? Absolutely NOT!

Franklin Hills also offers the following wines and thanks to vodka brands like Three Olives, Van Gogh and Absolut who have introduced dozens of flavor infused vodkas to the marketplace the martini combinations are endless.

Passion (Strawberry-Kiwi)
Desire (Mango)
Bliss (Blueberry)
Fainting Goat (Black Cherry)

For even more ideas on how to use these wines, visit their website for some delicious recipes for both beverages and food.

I hope you will take a few minutes the next time you are in the area to visit our Wine Trail, while we are not the Finger Lakes in NY, we sure do have a good thing growing in the Lehigh Valley.

Cin Cin!
dina

Party Party Paaarty Party

What a month! My oldest daughter started school, she is participating in the Aesthetics program at Metro Beauty Academy and my youngest daughter graduated with her Associates in Applied Sciences of Business Management from Lehigh Carbon Community College and will be participating in the Cosmetology program at the same school starting in June. They have promised to make sure that I never look older than I do right now...okay, I threatened them that if I ever look older than I do right now with two kids in the beauty business we were going to have a problem.

But anyway, this is not a blog about the beauty of face and body. It is a blog about he beauty and deliciousness of food.

With that in mind, let me tell you about the party we are having this weekend to celebrate my youngest daughter's graduation.

The menu isn't huge, but guaranteed to be delicious. It is a family affair, as all great parties are.

My sister Diane is making the most delicious Pulled Roast Beef. She has definitely figure out the best way to do it and it couldn't be more simple. I hope she doesn't mind that I am sharing it here.

My parents are making Sausage with peppers and onions.

My sister Eileen is making her family loved Macaroni and Potato Salads.

My sister-in-law Sherri and her husband Jon are making the Turkey Meatballs that our graduate loves and I'm making regular Italian Meatballs.

There will also be pickled eggs and a whole bunch of baked goods...Italian Cookies, Chocolate Cherry Port Wine Reduction Cookies, German Butter Cake, Molasses Cake and Boozey Bites.

Boozey Bites are cupcakes that I make in all different flavors that are close replicas to your favorite happy hour cocktails, complete with icing flavored with delicious liquors. I sell them through my catering business Passionate Kisses Catering.

Now for Diane's Pulled Roast Beef. I am not going to give weights and measures because this is not that type of recipe. Don't be afraid, this is very simple and you won't mess it up.

1 beef roast, the size your family will consume
salt
pepper
garlic powder
Adobo seasoning
red wine
water

Freeze your beef roast at least for 24 hours. When ready to bake your beef roast, preheat your oven to 250 degrees F. Place your frozen beef roast into your roasting pan, we use one of the black speckled enamel roasting pans. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder and Adobo seasoning. Pour about 1/2 cup of red wine and a 1/2 cup of water into the pan around the beef roast. Cover and place into your oven. Allow to cook all day. My sister told me that she has started her's as early at 6 a.m. and eaten as late as 6 p.m. and it was still delicious. I've cooked it from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. and it was delicious. In fact, one day I put it in at 11 a.m. and we ate it at 5:00 p.m., I just upped the temperature to 275 degrees F.

We served it with small rolls so that our guests could make sandwiches.

The next two recipes are definitely in party size quantities, so let the party begin.

I make meatballs a lot, not in this amount, but often.

Meatballs (party quantity)
22.5 lbs. ground beef
1 lb. freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 tblsps. salt
2 tblsps. pepper
2 tblsps. garlic powder
1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
12 eggs

Mix all the ingredients together. You may need to do it in batches if you don't have a large enough bowl to mix it in. Form into meatballs in the size you prefer. I used a 1 1/2 oz. cookie scoop to make them all uniform in size. Then drop into your cooking sauce. Cook in the sauce about 2 hours, remove and set aside while sauce continues to cook. If you let them in for the duration of the sauce cooking time, they will disintegrate in the sauce.

Spaghetti Sauce
2 6lb. cans tomato sauce
4 20oz. cans tomato paste
10-15 cloves garlic
4-5 bay leaves
2-3 tblsps. pepper
2-3 tblsps. salt
water

Put all the ingredients in a very large pot, I really meant it, a very large pot. I had to use two pots for all those meatballs. Use the two large cans of sauce to add the water, rinsing out all the little bits of sauce in the crevices. I usually add about 1 1/2 cans or so of water. Stir well as the paste doesn't disolve quickly when it is still cold, but will burn to the bottom if you don't stir often and well as it heats up. Turn your burner to medium - high until it starts to boil slightly. Reduce heat to simmer and allow to cook for about 8 hours. Yes, 8 hours. We've been making this sauce in my family forever, my grandmother used to make sauce this way and I imagine her mother did too.


It is always good. In fact, I have a friend in Missouri that I made sauce while visiting last year and then sent home with more sauce the last time she visited. She is coming again this weekend and I imagine I'll be sending her home with more.

Buon Appetito!

Hugs,
dina

Comfort Food for the Extra Kids

I learned how to make chicken and dumplings from watching my mom for the first 19 years of my life and have been making it for more than 20 years in my house. About 10 years ago I had planned on making chicken noodle soup (sometimes when time is tight I substitute noodles for home made dumplings), but something came up and my husband stepped in and made it for me (using my instructions and my recipe). It just so happened to be the day my youngest daughter had her very bestest friend in the whole wide world Amanda over for dinner. She went crazy over this soup and has requested it every visit since, she lives 2 1/2 hours away from us now, but she always refers to as "Kaylin's Dad's Soup."

She is coming to visit this weekend to celebrate Kaylin graduating from college and despite the high humidity we are having "Kaylin's Dad's Soup," but with dumplings is for dinner tonight.

Chicken Dumplings

Broth
4 chicken legs, thighs attached with skin and bone
1 onion, peeled, kept whole
3-4 carrots, scrubbed, chopped in half, ends removed
garlic powder/salt/pepper to taste
2-3 large containers chicken broth

Dumplings
5 cups flour
5 eggs
broth or water, as needed
salt, to taste

In the biggest pot you can find, until I bought my restaurant grade pots, I used my most treasured pot that my mom gave me. It is a yellow enameled stainless steel pot that has been used and washed so much that it barely has any yellow left on it. Now I use my 10 quart heavy bottomed stainless steel pot.

Heat pot on medium high heat. Toss in your carrots, onion and chicken parts and allow the chicken to brown lightly on all sides. Fill pot about half way with water and return to heat. Add salt/pepper and garlic powder (you will probably add more throughout the cooking process) and allow pot to come to a boil.

Allow soup to boil for approximately 20 minutes, then reduce to medium heat and cook until chicken is cooked through, about another 30 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and said aside to cool. Reduce heat on soup broth, add canned chicken broth and allow to simmer while you make the dumplings.

Dumplings

Put the five cups of flour into a large bowl, make a well in the middle and put eggs in the well. Working from the center, beat eggs drawing the flour into the eggs. Continue this until the flour is mixed in enough that it would be easier to use your hands than to keep mixing with a fork.

Continue to knead dough until all is combined to make a pretty stiff dry dough. It may be necessary to add more liquid to incorporate all the flour. I usually use a little bit of broth ladled from the soup pot if I need more liquid.

Don't worry about adding too much liquid, you can always just add more flour. I only gave you measurements to give you a guide, dumplings are far from being a science. They are made more with the soul than your brain.

After the dumplings are done, you're going to want to wash all the dough off, its hard to get off, but its easier to tear off the dumplings if your hands are clean. Turn the broth up so that it boils and start dropping teaspoon sized pieces of dough into the broth, stirring occasionally so that they don't clump together. Allow to boil while dropping in the rest of the dumplings. Please do not squeeze the dumplings when making them, they need to stay loose and unformed to cook properly. If you shape them, they will become lumps of lead and never cook all the way through.

Allow dumplings to cook till done, about 20 minutes or so. If you cut one open, it will be soft and slightly mushy in appearance and not look like the dough before you dropped it in the pot.

Enjoy with some crusty bread.
hugs!
dina

Porky vs. the Green Grocer

I love vegetables. My husband and oldest daughter love meat. Sometimes it is really difficult to balance the two out so that there is enough of both to make everyone happy.

Tonight I hit pay dirt with a dish that I put together after a visit to our local Produce Junction (my winter vegetable shopping hot spot) and my two favorite butchers, Thomson's Meat Market and Clover Farms.

So here we go. I am calling this dish Porky vs. the Green Grocer and here is the list of ingredients that I used this time. Any combination of meats and vegetables will work so feel free to change it up to make you happy.

1 lb. American Pie Sausage, removed from casing and diced (from Clover Farms)
4 slices pepper bacon, cut very thick, diced (Thomson's Meat Market)
5-6 slices hill billy bacon, diced
1 lb. baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 onions, sliced
1 lb. brussel sprouts, cleaned and halved
1/2 - 1 cup chicken broth
2-3 tblsps. olive oil
salt/pepper to taste
about 2 lbs. red and russet potatoes, scrubbed really well and sliced thick
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup olive oil
5-6 garlic cloves

The first thing I did was scrub my potatoes really well, removing any eyes or blemishes that may be on them. I then sliced them in 1/4 inch slices. In a large 11x17ish baking dish drizzle a little olive on the bottom of the pan, layer potatoes with half of the onions and sprinkle the garlic cloves in between. Drizzle the top of the mixture with a little more olive oil and distribute the butter evenly over the top. Salt and pepper liberally to taste, cover with foil and bake till potatoes are fork tender in a 350 degree oven about 1 1/2 hours, removing foil for the last 15 minutes of baking to allow potatoes and onions to crisp up and become a little brown.

About an hour into the potatoes cooking I started my vegetable prep. Since the veg never takes as long to cook, I don't like to start it too soon or everything will be soggy till we eat it.

In a large heavy bottomed skillet set on medium - high heat drizzle a little olive oil. When olive oil is hot, add meats and saute till sausage is no longer pink. Push meats to the edges of the pan and add the vegetables. Stir vegetables and cook until onions start to become translucent and peppers start to soften. Salt and pepper to taste. Add about half of the chicken broth to de-glaze the pan, don't forget to stir up all the meaty bits, this gives great flavor to the vegetables.

Add the rest of the chicken broth and cover the pan and allow to cook on medium until the brussels sprouts are fork tender.

Serve over the roasted potatoes.

I got rave reviews from my husband, but alas, my daughter was not seduced by the meat flavored vegetables and still picked them out. I may never win on this as far as the kids are concerned, but my husband and I loved it. We are using the leftovers with some eggs today for lunch.

hugs,
dina

Another dinner for two...ooh la la

This being a parent of two adults is really weird, but something a person could get used to. My husband is more eager and usually more accepting of my experiments, so when my daughters aren't going to be home making dinner is always a little easier.

In the case of last night, we had steaks topped with scallops and shrimp that were sauteed in pepper bacon and shallots. It was delicious. It was a great meal for a kid-less night because one child won't eat steak or anything from the sea and the other won't seafood.

As always I like to treat my steaks very simple so that the flavor from the beef shines through. I prefer a drizzling of olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic gently massaged into the meat a few hours prior to cooking, but think one of these days I'm going to have to try some of seasoning applications that Michael Chiarello uses, they always look amazing.

I approach seafood the same way. I rinsed and removed the abductor muscle from all of my scallops, peeled and deveined my shrimp. I mixed them gently with salt and pepper and set them aside while I sauteed the pepper bacon and shallots in a little olive oil. I wish I would have had a red pepper to add to the mix because that would have added a little zing to brighten things up. That's the great thing about cooking, you can always do it a little different the next time because there is always room for improvement.

Shrimp and Scallops

1 lb. shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1 lb. scallops, rinsed with abductor muscle removed
3-4 tblsps. olive oil
3 thick cut slices of pepper bacon, diced (could use pancetta or regular bacon too)
2 shallots, sliced
salt/pepper to taste

In a large heavy bottomed skillet (I got all my pots and pans from our local Restaurant Store) drizzle olive oil, heat on medium - high heat. When oil is hot, add pepper bacon and shallots. Saute till shallots are transparent and bacon begins to crisp. Push bacon and shallots to the edges of the pan. Place scallops, one at a time, in the center of the pan. Sear scallops on each side between 2-3 minutes or until it is nicely caramelized and starts to become white about half way up the side. Flip scallop and repeat above on other side. Remove scallops to a warm plate and tent with tin foil to keep warm. Add cleaned and de-veined shrimp to center of the pan where the scallops were and stir gently until bright pink, maybe another 2-3 minutes. Shrimp cook even faster than scallops. Remove shrimp to the plate with scallops. I didn't put the shrimp and scallops in the pan to cook until the steaks had come off the grill and were set aside to rest so that the juices had a chance to absorb back into the meat.

Steaks
I always go to the butcher and get what ever is fresh and looks good that day. I don't always get the same cut of meat, but am always certain it will be nice because I shop at the same places all the time.

After seasoning my steaks I let them marinate in a plastic bag in the fridge after massaging the seasonings in.

Looking forward to more dinner for two. The possibilities are endless and I'm going to take advantage of it until he is tired of trying new things :O).
hugs
dina

Summer is Coming...Summer is Coming....

...and with it comes the most amazing weather for picnics and grilling and family gatherings.

But can you believe that when I ask my family what they want the most at picnics they choose burgers? They choose burgers because they know that I never make them the same way twice and always incorporate fresh ingredients into the mix that makes them moist and delicious.

Yesterdays burgers were just like that, big and thick with juices dripping. I had hoped to take a picture and post it, but sadly (or not), before I could get the camera out of the case they had been devoured.

This week's Burger Recipe

3 lbs. ground beef or ground turkey (we did both this week)
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 large red pepper, diced
1 large onion or 2 small onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
salt/pepper/red pepper flakes to taste
4-5 tblsps. olive oil

Heat a heavy bottomed skillet on high heat. Drizzle oil over bottom of pan. Saute peppers, onions and garlic in hot oil. Sprinkle with salt and stir gently until onions are translucent and peppers begin to soften. (I do all of this on high heat usually, but not everyone likes to cook that way, so turn the heat down if it makes you more comfortable.) Sprinkle with black pepper and red pepper flakes to taste. Stir in seasonings and then remove from the heat to cool.

In a large bowl break up your ground beef or turkey. Sprinkle with more salt, black pepper and red pepper to taste. Add sauteed vegetables, eggs and bread crumbs. Mix all the ingredients until well combined. Do not manhandle it or you will end up with a very tough mixture.

Using your ice cream scoop, scoop up equal size balls of mixture. Flatten out to make your burger. Chill burgers in the refrigerator while you heat your grill. Then place the burgers on the grill and cook slowly to the desired internal temperature. We usually cook them to between 150 - 180 degrees depending on who we are cooking for.

We then serve them on simple buns with cheese, lettuce, tomato, sliced onion rings, ketchup, mustard and sometimes mayonnaise.

Variations I've tried:
Sauteed onions, peppers and garlic
Sauteed onions and mushrooms. Plus about a cup of parmesan cheese in the mixture.
Sauteed onions. Parmesan cheese in the mixture. Topped with Mozzarella cheese, a basil leaf and roasted red peppers.


Next week I want to try the onions, peppers, mushrooms, garlic and diced zucchini and then topping it with mozzarella cheese and basil pesto or maybe some sun-dried tomatoes with all the veg or maybe some diced sauteed pancetta or bacon and a really nice cheddar cheese....ugh...there are no limitations as to what they can be. I think this is going to be a very burgerful summer. Come back to find out what combination we do next.

hugs,
dina

Great Friends and Family Night

What a great night!! I had such a good time and was so excited to see my girls Jean, Angelica and Vanessa. It has been far too long since we go together.

The afternoon started with Angelica and I digging out a bunch of plants that no longer serve a purpose in my yard, I am trying to open space to plant more vegetables and these plants had to go. An enormous clump of purple irises that was too big and heavy to move once it was dug out and bagged, a hydrangea that didn't look that big but had roots connecting it to the earth's core, an astilbe, an echinacea, a little white lilac, a bunch of liatris and some ground cover that will put all the weeds in their place once its established. We tried really hard to give her a part of our white fig tree, but the tree won and she didn't get any...maybe the Turkey fig will be more willing to pro-create in someone else's yard once we open it this weekend.

After all that hard work we came back in the house and opened the first bottle of wine...it was a delicious Cabernet Sauvignon - Tempranillo named The Spanish Quarter.

Jean arrived around 6:30, we threw the steaks on the grill and got ready for a few hours of great food and conversations.

The menu changed from what I posted the other day because, well, I had received other inspirations.

Dinner for the night ended up being:

New York Strip Steak with Bourbon Onions
Twice Baked Potatoes
Sauteed Asparagus


Dessert was:
Chocolate Espresso Ganache Martini Cake
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with swirls of Candied Nuts (pecans, almonds and walnuts) and espresso ganache

The New York Strip Steaks were beautiful, my husband David got them at Thompson's Meat Market in Walnutport. I seasoned them my favorite way, simply, with olive oil, salt, pepper and crushed garlic and let them marinate for about 5 hours in a ziploc bag in the fridge.







I used a recipe for Bourbon Onions that I came across from a website called Life's Ambrosia and they were delicious and crazy easy to make.







The Twiced Baked Pototoes were an inspiration from one of my favorite websites, Food Porn Daily. In their rendition of these potatoes they scooped out of their shells mashed with warmed milk and butter and then combined with caramalized onion, mushrooms and bacon. Since I had used my mushrooms up a couple of nights ago in the pasta, I substituted diced red peppers in the saute instead. I loved them and am very happy that there are left overs for lunch today.







The asparagus was also simply seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper and then sauteed with shallots and garlic just long enough to heat them through but not long enough for them to lose their snap. We kept picking them out off the plate and eating them just as is even though we were stuffed to the gills.







But I think dessert was the best. Chocolate Espresso Ganache Martini Cake was rich and moist and wonderful. My family has a secret chocolate cake recipe that we have loved forever and ever. I have been messing around with and turning it into other types of chocolate cake to fit the menu of the day. Since it is a secret, I can't share the whole recipe, but lets just say a cup of espresso in place of regular coffee made a world of difference in the taste.







The ganache on the other hand is a tradtional ganache that I've tweaked a little.
Chocolate Espresso Ganache
1 lb. of your favorite dark chocolate chopped
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup Espresso Vodka

Heat the heavy whipping cream over a low to medium heat until it just barely bubbles around the edges, you do not want it to boil, just get hot enough to melt the chocolate. Pour over your chocolate, let set for one minute and whisk until the chocolate is completely melted and combined smoothly with the cream. Whisk in the vodka. Set aside to cool.

After a few hours, the chocolate will get a little thicker. I take a portion of this out of the bowl (maybe about a cup) and put it another bowl and then refrigerate the two bowls until chilled completely through and kind of thick.

Take the smaller bowl of chocolate yumminess and mix with your electric mixer until double in size and lighter in color. I use this as the middle layer of my two layer chocolate cake.

Its at this point that I gently lift up the sides of my cake and insert pieces of parchment paper to cover the plate on all sides of the cake. I then take the larger bowl of chocolate and ladle it over the top tier of your cake and let it drizzle/run/drip down the sides of the cake. It is a little messy, which is why you need the parchment paper as it will pool around the bottom of the cake in a most unattractive way. Once I know that the cake is covered, I put it in the fridge to set up. At the start of dinner, I remove the cake from the refrigerator and take away the paper. This is just enough time for the cake to reach room temperature without melting.

Last night we served this cake with homemade ice cream. A few years ago my husband bought me an ice cream maker for Christmas, it is one of the best gifts I've ever gotten.

Making ice cream is easy and very rewarding. The best part is that you can make your own mixtures to match whatever else you are serving. Last night's ice cream was as followed:

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with candied nuts and espresso ganache swirls
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
6 egg yolks
1/4 cup of sugar
pinch salt

2 tblsps. of espresso ganache (use recipe above)
1/4 - 1/2 cup candied nuts, broken into the small pieces

Prepared Ice Cream Maker

Combine 1 cup heavy cream, milk and vanilla bean in a heavy bottomed pot. Bring to a light simmer, you do not want this to boil. Turn burner off, cover pot and let steep for about 30 minutes.

While waiting for the cream/vanilla mixture to steep, beat your egg yolks with the remaining cream and salt until well mixed.

Slowly pour the warmed cream/vanilla mixture into your egg mixture while beating it. (Watch out for the vanilla bean, you don't want to mix this into the eggs, but I like to leave in the pot for the rest of the cooking process.) You need to do this a little at a time so that you can bring the eggs up to the temperature of the cream slowly or you will end up with a curdled scrambled egg mess.

Return combined mixture to the pot with vanilla bean. On a low to medium heat stir mixture constantly until it coats the back of your spoon. Strain into a bowl and refrigerate until cold.

Once the ice cream custard is cold, add it to the ice cream freezer according to your manufacturers directions. I keep my ice cream freezer's tub in the freezer at all times. You never know when you will want to whip up a yummy frozen dessert.

About 5 minutes into the freezing process start drizzling small dollops of ganache into the machine, then drop in the candied nuts a little at a time allowing it to mix through. Allow to freeze to the consistency that you want it. I usually end up with soft serve, but it is possible to put the ice cream into another container, put it into the freezer and then use it later when it is scoopable.

Serve with your cake.

Candied Nuts
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup of your favorite nuts (I used almonds, pecans and walnuts)
1/4 cup cognac, brandy or bourbon
parchment paper lined cookie sheet

Combine sugar and water in a heavy bottomed skillet on a medium to high heat. Stir until all the sugar melts and is combined with the water. You are making a simple syrup. Allow to cook until it starts to thicken and reduce, keep an eye on it because it can burn in a blink of an eye and then you have to start all over...that is no fun. When the sugar starts to get just slightly, I mean slightly caramalized in color stir in your nuts. Coat the nuts completely. Add the cognac and stir until well mixed. Cook until the nuts are all shiny and the sugar mixture has bubbled and looks like caramel. Remove from heat and pour onto the parchment lined cookie sheet, spread thinly so that it can cool. When cooled, break into pieces and hide somewhere that no one knows where it is but you or you will not have it for your ice cream :O)

The night was a huge success. We finished it off with a bottle of red wine from Chile called Escudo Rojo. It was a perfect ending to a perfect night! I can't wait till they can all come back and do it again.

See you soon!
hugs
dina

Fresh Veg and Pasta

It is April 28th and although I am ready for some nice warm spring weather, Mother Nature must be having hot flashes and has decided to turn up the cold air. It is a chilly and crazy windy 59 degrees F here in Slatington, PA and I am facing the day with sweatpants, a sweatshirt and my fluffy winter socks to keep warm. (it is April and I refuse to turn the heat back on :o))

Since I was thinking about warm weather and satisfying food I've decided that tonight we will have what I call "pasta al fresco." Homemade pasta with sauteed fresh vegetables and the tomatoes that we canned last fall. It is a very versatile, easy and quick dinner. Quicker if you substitute boxed pasta for the fresh I have made.

Today's vegetables are red peppers, shallots, garlic and mushrooms. Had I thought to get zucchini or eggplant when I was at Produce Junction (the store we shop at for vegetables in the winter) on Monday we would be sauteing that too, but alas I didn't think about it.

Are you ready? Here we go.

Pasta al Fresco
1 lb. of your favorite pasta
2 red peppers, sliced thinly
3 shallots, sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic, smashed, not diced
8-10 of your favorite mushrooms, we're using baby bellas tonight
1 can whole tomatoes, do not drain (crushed, if you don't want to squeeze them into little bits)
3-4 tblsps. olive oil
1/2 white wine
4-5 fresh basil leaves, hand shredded or sliced thinly

Heat olive oil in a large heavy bottomed skillet on medium to high heat. Add garlic, shallots and peppers. Saute, stirring often, until shallots are transparent and peppers start to tenderize. Add mushrooms and saute till slightly browned. Stir in wine making sure to scrape up the yummy veggie bits. Cook till wine reduces by half (will not take long) and squeeze tomatoes into pan breaking into smaller pieces, add juice. Heat through until tomato liquid reduces a little. Stir basil in at the last minute, just prior to pouring over prepared pasta. Serve with freshly grated parmigiana reggiano or asiago cheese and garlic bread.

If you wanted to add a meat element to this it would be easy enough. Some grilled chicken served on top of the pasta would be yummy and you could also saute some loose sausage before adding the vegetables to the pan.

My friends Jean and Angelica are finally coming for dinner tomorrow night. We will be having my sister Diane's delicious slow roasted Beef Roast, Twice Baked Potatoes from the FoodPorn website (they rarely give recipes, just descriptions and lots of inspirational photos) and asparagus. I will also finally be making that Chocolate Espresso Martini Cake for dessert. Pictures will follow :O)

I'll post the final recipes for reading on Friday.

Hugs,
dina

Dinner for Two

What a great day! Naps in the afternoon and pork chops with cherries, buttered noodles and cauliflower for dinner. Yes, I know buttered noodles and cauliflower are not all that interesting, but let's get real, we can't make every aspect of the meal different or there is nothing for the picky people to eat when they don't like the main part.

In this case, however, I think I could have went a little crazier because the pork and cherries were delicious. Very easy and fast too. So here goes:

Pork Chops
5-6 thinly cut pork chops
salt
pepper
garlic (today I used Tastefully Simple's Garlic Garlic)
3-4 tblsp. olive oil

Cherries
1 bag frozen dark cherries, thawed
1/4 cup brandy (I used E&J VSOP)
1 cup chicken broth (maybe a little more)
salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle salt, pepper and garlic on both sides of pork chops and set aside. Heat olive oil in a heavy bottomed skillet. When oil is hot, add pork chops. Brown on both sides and remove. Place chops in a baking dish, cover with foil and put in oven to finish cooking.

While pork finishes cooking, add cherries with juice to the pan that you browned the pork in. Stir gently scraping all the browned pork bits. Allow cherries to reduce down by half. Add brandy, stir well. Allow brandy to reduce down to half before adding the chicken broth. Reduce heat and allow cherries to simmer till reduced and a nice glaze is formed. Stir in a little salt to taste.

Serve pork chops with cherry glaze spooned over top.

Not sure what's on the menu for tomorrow, but I sure can't wait to play in the kitchen.
Hugs,
dina

I Strongly Dislike String Beans, but...

There are very few things on this planet (other than most of the weird things Andrew Zimmern eats) that I don't like. With that in mind, one of those few things are string beans. However, there was a little bit of lasagna left over from last night's dinner so I decided to try and make string beans (snap peas) so that I would like them as a side dish. I don't think there are many people that won't like them my way :O) Unless of course in some twisted way they don't like bacon, well then there is no helping that. :O)

String Beans dina's way

2 tblsp. olive oil
1 tblsp. butter
1/2 cup chopped bacon
3 small shallots
1 quart fresh snap pea or string beans, cleaned

Heat olive oil and butter in a large heavy bottomed skillet. Add shallots and bacon. Cook till bacon is done, not crispy or chewy, but to your liking. Add beans/peas and saute till heated through or to the tenderness you prefer. I like them a little crunchy.

Yes, it was that simple.

Although I love them, I know people who don't like Brussels Sprouts. So the other day my daughter showed me this website called Food Porn and there was a picture of Brussels Sprouts roasted and smothered in Chorizo and Parmesan cheese. There was no recipe, but they sure looked delicious. With this picture in mind, I went out on a limb and attempted them...they turned out great!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Chorizo and Parmesan
1 lb. Chorizo, remove from casing
1 lb. brussels sprouts
2 tblsps. olive oil
Parmesan cheese

Remove Chorizo from the casing, break it up and cook in a heavy bottomed frying pan till almost done, stirring often to break up pieces.

Clean Brussels Sprouts. Layer in the bottom of a baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil, top with sausage and bake at 350 degrees until the Brussels Sprouts are to the tenderness you like, about 45 minutes. Shave Parmesan on top and serve hot.

Working most of the weekend, so cooking will sadly be at a minimum. I hope my pots, pans and stove don't miss me as much as I will miss them.

Hugs,
dina

Dinner with the Parents

My parents are going to Washington, DC for the weekend to see the monuments. So I rationalized that if they came for dinner on Thursday night they wouldn't have to worry about any leftovers sitting in the fridge for the weekend. What to make, what to make??? WAIT!! Last Friday we made homemade lasagna. This is the perfect opportunity to share it.

Dinner Thursday night:
Lasagna
Homemade Garlic Bread (Artisan Breads in 5 minutes a Day)
Tres Leches Cake (recipe from Southern Cakes, slightly modified)

I've never made Tres Leches Cake but it sure turned out to be easy. I didn't have all the ingredients that it called for like I thought I did, but the simple changes I made don't seem to have affected the flavor and texture. Oh, I didn't have the size pan it called for either so I made two small ones. Yes, we cut the one tonight and had it as a snack. But come on, did you really expect me not to sample what I made BEFORE I served my mom and dad?

Okay, here goes the recipe for Tres Leches Cake

3 cups flour
1 tblsp. plus 1 tsp.baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup milk (I didn't have regular milk, so I used goat's milk)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla, optional (I used the stuff that I made with rum)

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees, grease and flour a 9x12 inch pan.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour and baking powder, set aside.

In a large bowl, combine butter and sugar. Beat well with a mixer on high speed until well combined. Add eggs one at a time until completely combined. Add vanilla.

In rotation, add flour and then the milk. Beat well until well combined and batter is smooth.

Pour well beaten batter into pan and spread evenly. Bake approximately 35 minutes or until golden brown and cake springs back when touched.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, gently poke holes in the cake with either a fork or toothpicks and sprinkle the lime zest over the cake, then ladle Three-Milk Sauce over cake in steps allowing the sauce to soak into the cake before adding more. It is possible that you will not need all of the sauce.

While the cake is baking, prepare Three-Milk Sauce.

Three-Milk Sauce
1 1/2 cups milk (again, I used goat's milk)
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
One 12 ounce can evaporated milk *(I didn't have this either, so I used a canned coconut milk)
1 tblsp. lime zest (optional, I didn't use it, you'd understand why if you saw the limes on my counter...lol)

In a heavy bottomed pot, combine all ingredients except zest. Cook on medium heat till all is combined and a sauce consistency is achieved. Do not allow this to boil.

*I think this took a little longer than average because the coconut milk has a section of thick white coconut like butter in the top of the can and then liquid in the bottom. The buttery type stuff takes a little while to melt and incorporate into the rest of the mixture.

I can't wait till dinner tomorrow night. I think I might pick up some chocolate ice cream to go with the cake. No, we don't need it, but come on, what's a dinner part without cake and ice cream. No that is not just a birthday party. Do not judge me :O).

Come back tomorrow...my friend Nanette is visiting from Phoenix on Friday and I'm making lunch. Roasted Red Pepper Chicken Parmigiana, roasted rosemary potatoes and a vegetable yet to be determined :O).

hugs,
dina

Powers Out...Dinner Party Postponed...prep continues

Sadly, our power went out today causing my little dinner party to be postponed till next week. That does not mean however that preparations for said meal have not continued, it really just gives me a chance to be better prepared. Okay, let's face it, I was prepared but have decided to start sharing one or two of the recipes ahead of time to whet your appetite for next Wednesday.

The menu is still going to be slow roasted beef roast with merlot wine jelly, garlic smashed potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts with chorizo and parmesan and Chocolate Espresso Martini Cake with candied pecan, walnut and almond crunch ice cream.

Today I will share the Merlot Wine Jelly that I made last night, it was delectable when warm, yummy when cool and I imagine after it has had a week to age it will only be better. It was ridiculously easy, you might wish to give it a try.

Merlot Wine Jelly
-we will be serving this as a glaze to compliment the beef.

3 1/4 cups Merlot (or your favorite dry red wine)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (3 large lemons)
4 1/2 cups sugar
1 package (1.75oz/49 to 57 kg) regular powdered fruit pectin

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids
2. In a large, deep stainless steel saucepan, combine wine and lemon juice. Whisk in pectin until dissolved . Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Add sugar all at once and return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and quickly skim off foam. (I didn't have any)
   
3. Quickly pour hot jelly into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.
4. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

If you have never done any canning before do not be afraid, it is a little time consuming but not hard and the rewards are immense.

Since I have been canning foods off and on for the last 20 years, I have all the supplies that are needed, maybe not all that I "want", but all that I "need". There are several things you really need if you are going to take this on and although they may seem expensive to start out, it pays off in the end after you have visited the local farmer's markets all summer into the fall buying all your produce and "putting it up" for winter consumption. Last year we canned tomatoes, bbq sauce, summer salsa, bruschetta, hot sauce, 2 - 3 different chutneys and roasted peppers as well prepared and froze zucchini, eggplant and broccoli. Oh, we also dried our own tomatoes. I'm not sure if I like them better in pasta or eating them like chips :O).

I made most of these foods for my pantry for under $75 and we still have a lot left.

Last year's spoils after one trip to the Hometown Farmer's Market.














Another thought to ease the cost of the supplies is to do this with a friend or family member and share the expense of the equipment and buy your produce in bulk for a lower price.

If you sitting there telling me to forget it, you have no idea how to get started and may not return to my blog, relax. I found a great website that shows you exactly what you need to get started and gives some basic directions on how to do it. Bella Online - The Voice of Women gives much better details on canning than I could ever give here without just plagiarizing their site. :O)

Another great resource for recipes and directions is the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. I have two of Ball's books, the one above printed in 2006 (this is where the recipe above comes from) and then an older version with some family favorites called "Ball Blue Book - The Guide to Home Canning and Freezing" printed in 1988 that I found at yard sale when we lived in Bradford, PA back in 1994. Sadly it is no longer in print.

I hope you give this a try, it is absolutely worth the time it takes and as my daughter pointed out to me a little while ago, it is the perfect opportunity to start consuming wine with breakfast :O).

See you tomorrow with the recipe for the Brussels Sprouts.

Hugs!
dina

Chocoholics Dream in a Cookie

One of my favorite books is "The Flavor Bible". I think I open it every day to check an ingredient or three in my journey through the food world. A few weeks ago while going through my dried foods cabinet I came across a jar of dried cherries. Common sense tells you that cherries pair really well with chocolate, but that's just sort of, well, normal. I can't do just normal, I want WOW, COOL, YUM, so I turned to "The Flavor Bible" for some inspiration. Inspiration came fast when I went down the list of compatible ingredients and came across Port Wine and Vanilla. This was how my Chocolate Cherry Port Wine Chocolate Chip cookies were born. It is a very simple recipe and has so far been enjoyed by everyone. Give it a try, they will be the new hit at the party.

Chocolate Cherry Port Wine Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 sticks butter, slightly melted
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsps. vanilla (I use homemade vanilla*)
1/4 cup Hershey's cocoa
3/4 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa
pinch of salt
10 oz. dried cherries
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
Port Wine
6 oz. Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Chips

In a small heavy bottomed sauce pan combine dried cherries, vanilla bean and enough Port Wine to just about cover the cherries. Bring to a slow boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer as low as possible till the cherries have absorbed most of the wine. Remove from heat and keep covered till ready to use.

In a medium size bowl, sift flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large bowl, melt butter slightly in microwave, add sugars, eggs and vanilla. Beat till fluffy. Add flour a little at a time until completely combined.

Remove vanilla bean from cherry mixture and set aside. Add cherry mixture to cookie batter and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Using a tblsp., drop cookie dough onto parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 14 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on cookie sheet, transfer to cooling rack to allow cookies to continue to set up. Cookies will look undercooked at 14 minutes, but they are not. This is a very moist and chewy cookie if removed from the oven at 14 minutes.

*Homemade Vanilla
1 750ml. 100 proof vodka
5 vanilla beans, split lengthwise

Remove a few tblsps. of vodka from the bottle, drop in split vanilla beans and allow to sit for 3 months in a cool dark spot.

Because I get too excited about things like this, I often shake it, open it and smell it and have to stop myself from using it before it is ready...but be patient, it is well worth it. I have also done this process with rum.

I know vanilla beans are expensive, but I found a great website to buy them. Beanilla sends them right to my mailbox in a few days and have so far (I've ordered twice in the last 8 months) come nice and plump and moist in a very nice vacuum sealed bag. I usually get the Tahitian Vanilla Beans, 25 whole beans for $19.99 plus shipping.

See you all tomorrow. Friends are coming for dinner. We're having slow roasted beef with Merlot wine jelly, garlic smashed potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts with chorizo and parmesan.

Dessert is set to be a Chocolate Expresso Martini cake.

Hugs!
dina

Kitchen Classrom

What an amazing day! My daughter Alyssa and one of my should be my daughters, Michelle spent the day with me. We went to Calandra's Italian Cheese Shoppe in Nazareth, PA and bought 4lbs. of fresh ricotta cheese, 2 balls of mozzarella and 1lb. of mascarpone cheese. Just going into that store makes me all giddy and I often leave with twice this amount of ingredients. Funnily, the wonderful woman at the shoppe (who I've really been building a relationship with) was quite surprised that I bought so little.

The object of the day was to teach these two beautiful young women how to make homemade lasagna noodles and lasagna. We had a very successful day and only one hysterically funny awkward moment when after the girls put the eggs in the well of their flour mound the walls started to fall away and the eggs started to escape. It was a funny mad dash to contain the eggs and mix it with the flour to make dough. It is so much more fun to cook when you are with great people.

While the girls mixed their dough, I sauteed equal parts mix of ground beef and pork until nicely browned, about 5 lbs.

Simple Pasta Dough
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups 00 Durum flour
5 large eggs

Make a well in the middle of your flour large enough to hold all five eggs. With a fork gently beat the eggs incorporating the flour as you go around in a circle. Continue to incorporate the flour until you start to develop a ball of dough. At this point you will need to start mixing the dough with your hands. Knead until the dough starts to pull away from your hands. It is possible that not all the flour will be used. Push this flour aside, if your dough is too dry it will not mix well. You can always add flour if it is too wet, but not always easy to add liquid if it is too dry.







When the dough is done, put it into a plastic bag or wrap in saran wrap and let rest for about 30 minutes.

After the girls were done with their dough and the dough was safely secured in plastic bags to rest for 30 minutes we mixed the filling.

Lasagna Filling
4 lbs. fresh ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Asiago cheese
6 large eggs
1 1/2 tblsps. granulated garlic
1 1/2 tsps. oregano
salt/pepper to taste (be careful with salt, these cheeses can be salty already)
1/2 - 3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs

Mix all together with a mixer. Taste to see if the seasonings are to your liking and adjust as necessary. Set aside.

By this time the dough had rested well enough and it was time to start rolling it out. A ball of dough that went in a little rough comes out of the bag all smooth and tender and ready for rolling.

Sadly unlike Marcella Hazan, I have not been trained by my ancestors to roll my dough out by hand. So we take the easy approach and utilize the pasta machine that my parents bought me a dozen or so years ago. We flatten the ball of dough out and cut it into 1/2 inch slices as needed. using a rolling pin, roll the dough out thin enough that it can fit into the roller set at the first setting. Roll the dough through the machine until you have put it through every level including level 6 (there are 7 levels in total).

Lay the long pieces of dough down, cut in pieces that are long enough to cover your baking dish. Repeat these steps until you are finished with your whole ball of dough. We got enough dough to make one pan of lasagna that was 9 x 13 and one that is 13 x 20 (approximately) with 2 small sections of dough left.

Lay the dough pieces onto a lightly floured cookie sheet with layers of parchment in between the layers of dough.

To use the dough for the lasagna, boil a very large pot of water that has been well salted. Put the pasta in the boiled water and boil for about 2-3 minutes. Remove from pot and lay on parchment paper lined cookie sheets. When cool enough to handle, separate pasta sheets out and flatten. Do not let cool completely or it will just stick together. When all pasta is cooked, begin assembling your lasagna.

Lightly ladle your favorite tomato sauce on the bottom of your baking dish. Cover the bottom with pasta, overlapping just slightly at the edges. Slather your ricotta cheese mixture generously over the noodles. Sprinkle your ground meat (you could use chopped sausage, your favorite ragu, seafood or chopped chicken as well as vegetables of your choice) on top of the ricotta cheese. Top this with the shredded mozzarella. Then start over, sauce, pasta, ricotta, meat and mozzarella. Please keep in mind that your top layer should have a generous amount of sauce that covers all corners and edges of the pasta. If not covered well enough, the pasta will get crispy and possibly dry out when baked.

When lasagna is assembled, bake at 350 degrees until cheese is gooey, lightly browned and hot through, approximately 45 minutes - 1 hour. Serve with a great loaf of garlic bread and a bottle of your favorite red wine.

Now since both of my girls made a batch of dough and we of course didn't want to waste it, we continued on and made a batch of tagliatelle to be used for dinner.

Dinner tonight was a Sausage Mascarpone Tagliatelle. One of the simplest dinners to make in a hurry.

1 lb. mascarapone cheese
1 lb. of your favorite sausage (we used the Godfather-wild mushroom, parmiggiano reggiano and pork. We got it at Clover Farms at the Allentown Farmer's Market)
1 - 2 cups frozen peas
1 lb. tagliatelle or favorite long pasta
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Remove sausage from the casing, break into bits into a hot frying pan, sauteing until no longer pink. Reduce heat to medium, add cheese, stirring often till melted and well combined. Stir in peas and cook until hot. Drain boiled pasta and dress with sauce. Top with shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano. Serve hot, expect compliments. :O)

I have to repeat, What an Amazing Day! I look forward to a lot more of them just like this, but right now, I am exhausted.

hugs,
dina