Ricotta Stuffed Tomatoes

I have two confessions to make.  First, I have yet to think about what I'm making at Thanksgiving.  Yes, I have the turkey, but that is about it.  By this time I have usually planned a menu (appetizers, vegetables, potatoes, stuffing, bread, and dessert), and I've purchased all of my supplies.  This year the turkey stands alone. And the worst part is who knows when I'm going to make it to the store?  I have a very busy work week ahead of me.  Hopefully the stores won't be bare come Wednesday.

My second confessions involves stuffing, or dressing, or whatever you want to call it; I'll eat it but I don't like it.  I make it every year because everyone else at the table seems to enjoy it, but not me.  Every year I try something different hoping that "this will be the recipe", but I have yet to find a winner.  Perhaps this year, in homage to Mississippi, I will try cornbread-based dressing and cross my fingers.

So keeping with the theme of NOT planning for Thanksgiving: ricotta stuffed tomatoes.  They are great served with simple buttered pasta and a green salad, or would be a perfect finger-food for an upcoming holiday party.  Here I use compari tomatoes (they are larger than a cherry tomato but smaller than a plum), but I would recommend cherry tomatoes if serving them as an hors d'oeuvre.  The tomatoes can be easily stuffed a day early and quickly cooked before serving.  Hey, maybe put some out while the turkey cooks?

The first step involves cutting off the tops of the tomatoes, which I save to use in pasta or a salad.  Or if you have a strange cat like I do, give her a taste.  Yes, my cat loves tomatoes.  She runs into the kitchen at the sound of me chopping, hoping I am cutting tomatoes and hoping that I will give her some.

Ricotta Stuffed Tomatoes
1 lb campari or cherry tomatoes
¾ cup ricotta cheese
¼ cup mozzarella cheese
½ a beaten egg

½ teaspoon salt

½ tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

Preheat the oven to 400º F.

With a paring knife, cut the tops off the tomatoes and carefully remove the pulp and seeds. Set these hallow vesicles aside.

In a medium sized bowl mix together the cheese, egg, salt, and oregano.  Fill each tomato with the cheese mixture and place on a rimmed baking sheet.  Cook until the cheese is warm throughout but the tomatoes are not collapsing, 10-15 minutes depending on the size of the tomatoes.  Without removing the tomatoes, turn the broiler on to brown the cheese slightly.  This will take 3-5 minutes, depending on how close the tomatoes are to the broiler.  Do not walk away; at this point you could very easily burn the cheese.  

Remove the tomatoes from the oven and cool slightly before serving.

Drunken Cranberry Relish

It seems cranberry recipes are popping up all over food blogs these days.  There is a Apple Cranberry Chutney on Simply Recipes, Cranberry Turtle bars at Closet Gourmet, Cranberry Orange Cinnamon Rolls on Two Peas and Their Pod, and finally Joy the Baker promises a week of cranberry recipes.

This recipe would be a perfect addition to any Thanksgiving meal; it also goes great with pork roast.  I like it on top of plain yogurt at breakfast.

The secret ingredient is whiskey.  It gives the relish just a touch of heat and a little smoky flavor.

Drunken Cranberry Relish

1 standard bag of cranberries

½ a naval orange

2/3 cup sugar

¼ cup whiskey

Rinse the cranberries, tossing any overly soft cranberries.  Cut the orange into eights and add the cranberries and orange to a food processor.  Processes the orange and cranberries for about 5 minutes.  Be careful not to over process the mixture (we are making a relish and not a sauce).

Transfer the relish to a bowl and stir in the sugar and whiskey.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow the sugar to dissolve.

Stir once more before serving.

And She Can Bake Too! A Slice of Lemon-Anise Cake?

I realized the other day that I have yet to post a "dessert-baking" recipe.  This was something I needed to remedy pronto, especially considering my general love for cooking really started with a specific love for baking desserts.  My mom taught me; I helped by stirring, measuring, and licking the bowl. And I still have a penchant for cookie dough (I recently found away to safely - no raw eggs- satisfy my cravings; chocolate cookie dough balls by Joy the Baker).  By 4th or 5th grade I had free range of the kitchen; I whipped out batch after batch of cookies, all on my own.  I started with your basic chocolate chip cookie, then moved onto biscotti, cakes, and eventually yeast breads.  I loved, and still love, the magic of baking; edibles go into the oven one way and come out completely transformed.


This is a very simple recipe.  A quick bread that involves a little stirring, and that is about it. To top it all of this recipe is also relatively low in fat; only ¼ cup of canola oil.  It goes great with tea, or maybe toasted with a little bit of homemade raspberry preserves?  Yum.


Lemon-Anise Cake
1½ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
Zest of two lemons
2 teaspoons anise, chrushed with a mortal and pestal
2 large eggs
½ cup milk
¼ cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla


Preheat the oven to 350°C and grease a 8½ by 4½ by 2½ inch loaf pan. 


In a large bow combine the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, zest, and anise.  In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and ingredients and stir just till combined (lumps will remain).  Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spreading the batter to create a smooth top.  The pan will be around half full.  

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 40 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake.  Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then turnout onto the rack and let cool completely.  

Go Ahead - Shop at a Discount Grocery & Some Pork Chops

Discount grocery stores are fantastic.  If you've never shopped at one, do it!  Most cities have at least one (Hattiesburg has two), and I imagine larger cities have many to choose from.  Check out my haul from the local E&B Grocery.  All of it for twenty dollars.


3 Boxes of Kashi cereal
4 Boxes of Wolfgan Puck organic chicken broth
2 Containers of Tropicana orange juice
2 Bottles of Pellegino
Back to Nature granola
Celestial Seasons white tea
Grey Poupon mustard
Lucini Pinot Grigio vinegar
Annie's organic dressing
Barilla whole grain pasta
½ lb organic spring mix


Items typically sold at discount stores are damaged (think dented cans), slightly expired (one to two months), or discontiued.  They are great places to pick up gourmet pantry items.  And remember, they are going to be hit or miss. I wouldn't suggest you treat a discount grocery like your regular grocery store.  Below is a list of tips to get the most out of a trip.


1.  Find out when the store gets their merchandise in.  The E&B gets merchandise on Thursday, so the best shopping days (as far as selection) is either Thursday or Friday.
2.  Check expiration dates.  A lot of the merchandise is slightly expired, say a month or two, but be careful, I once bought a box of cereal that had been expired over 12 months.
3.  Know your prices and don't buy common staples.  These stores know what people are most likely to buy, and they tend not to discount those items as much (or at all). Sometimes an item is the same price or less at a regular grocery store.  
4.  Hunt for unusual items; items people do not buy on a weekly basis.  Think gourmet mustard, hot sauce, specialty vinegar, salad dressing, herbal tea, and chocolate bars.  And it may be my location, but I alway seem to find great deals on organic, whole-grain cereal.  

Now for those pork chops (no, I did not purchase these at the E&B).  It is still grilling season in southern Mississippi, so forgive me norther dwellers, but this is another grilling recipe.  And due to the nature of the rub, I wouldn't suggest cooking them any other way. The rub is a combination of freshly chopped herbs, muddled together with garlic, lemon, and oil.  The muddling process helps the herbs release their fragrant oils for a big flavor punch.  The chops smelled delicious even before putting them on the grill; my whole kitchen smelled of garlic, tarragon, rosemary, and parsley.  


Herb Marinated Pork Chops


3-4 bone in pork chops, 2-3 lbs.
2 tablespoons chopped tarragon
2 tablespoons chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
Juice from 1 lemon
Zest from ½ a lemon
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste


With a mortar and pestle muddle the fresh chopped herbs, the chopped garlic, the lemon zest, juice from half a lemon, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil for 2 minutes.  

Pat the chops dry and season with salt and pepper on both sides.  Spread the herb rub over the chops, again covering both sides.  Drizzle with the remaining lemon juice and olive oil. Cover and let the chops marinate for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours in the refrigerator (the longer the better).  Bring the chops to room temperature before grilling.

Prepare a charcoal or gas grill (see below) for direct grilling over medium heat.


Charcoal Grill
Ignite the coals.  When they turn ashen-white arrange the coals evenly over the fire bed.  A medium temperature grill is achieved when the coals are very mature, with no visible flame.  Place the chops directly over the coals, positioning the bones over the hottest part of the grill.  Cook 4-5 minutes each side, basting with any reserved rub.

Gas Grill
Preheat the grill, set to medium.  Grill the chops directly over the heating elements, positioning the bones over the hottest part of the grill. Cook 4-5 minutes each side, basting with any reserved rub.

Serve immediately.

HONEY TAR-ragon CHICKEN

Doesn't that look TASTY!

I love cooking and eating whole chickens.  I don't mean that I eat the whole bird, I just enjoy chicken cooked in its most unadulterated form.  Naturally, the cavity of the chicken becomes a place to stuff all sorts of yummy goodness, allowing flavors to permeate through the meat.  Usually I stuff a chicken with some type of citrus like lemon or orange (not lime, in my opinion lime overpowers chicken's delicate flavor), onion, garlic, and herbs. Easy as pie, and it is a great way to experiment with different flavor combinations.

For this recipe, the chicken is cooked on the grill, but could certainly be roasted in the oven.  However, if you have never grilled a chicken whole, try it out!  It  keeps your kitchen from over-heating in the middle of summer and produces a golden brown bird with crispy skin and juicy meat.  Here I use a honey based sauce which caramelizes while the chicken cooks, producing extra crispy skin.

Below I've provided instructions for cooking either on a gas grill or a charcoal grill (I use charcoal).

Honey Tarragon Chicken

1 roasting chicken, 4-6 lbs.
2 lemons
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves, smashed
4 sprigs of tarragon
2 tablespoons of honey
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Rinse the chicken inside and out, and pat dry.  Cut one lemon and the onion into wedges.  Stuff the chicken cavity with the wedges, two sprigs of tarragon, and the garlic cloves.  Position the chicken on its "shoulders" and carefully drizzle 1 tablespoon of honey into the cavity.  Keep the chicken upright for a few minutes to allow the honey to drip down and around the lemon and onions.  You should be able to balance the chicken.  Next place the chicken breast side up.  Using your fingers and starting at the tail cavity, loosen the skin of the chicken.  Carefully insert the remaining tarragon sprigs under the skin, one over each breast, and truss the chicken.  If you need more instructions on how to truss a chicken, check out the Reluctant Gourmet, here.  Insert a digital thermometer, with a long cord, into the thickest part of the thigh, being careful not to touch the bone.  The thermometer cord needs to be long enough to reach outside the grill, other wise don't use it.

All trussed up

In a small bowl whisk together the remaining honey, the oil, the mustard, and juice from half a lemon.  This will be brushed over the chicken as it cooks.

Prepare a charcoal or gas grill (see below) for indirect grilling over medium heat.

Charcoal Grill
Ignite the coals.  When they turn ashen white arrange the coals on either side of the fire bed, leaving a vacancy in the center, and place a drip pan in that vacancy.  This pan collects the dripping juices and fats, preventing flare ups.  Make sure to position the handles of the grill grate over the coals.  This allows you to easily add more coals if need be, to maintain temperature.  Place the chicken, breast side up, on the grill rack, over the drip pan.  Cover the grill and cook, adding more coals about halfway through grilling, until the chicken has reached a temperature of 170°F.  For those without a thermometer, this should take 1½-1¾ hours.  The chicken is done when the juices of the thigh run clear.  Brush the sauce over the chicken a couple of times during the last 15 minutes of cook time.



Gas Grill
Preheat the grill using all of the burners.  Then turn off the burner directly below where the food will sit.  Place the chicken breast side up over the no heat zone.  If using a three burner grill, adjust the burners on either side of the chicken, so as to provide even heat.  If using a two burner grill, the chicken will need to be rotated throughout cooking to ensure even cooking.  Cover the grill and cook until the chicken has reached a temperature of 170°F, or the juices of the thigh run clear, about an1½-1¾ hours.  Brush the sauce over the chicken a couple of times during the last 15 minutes of cook time.  Grilling instructions for the gas grill preparation were adapted from Williams-Sonoma's Essentials of Grilling.

Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let rest 10 minutes before carving.  The temperature will rise another 5°-10°F while resting.

Pizza Night

Homemade pizza is fantastic.  The toppings here are pretty simple, but think of it as a blank canvas for endless creations; infinite combinations of cheese, sauce, and veggies.  Let your creative juices flow. 


This recipe is for a Margarita-style pizza.  Traditionally Margarita pizza is topped with fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil.  Here I cheat a little and use canned tomatoes and shredded mozzarella, along with fresh basil.  But I highly recommend trying out this recipe using fresh ingredients at the peak of tomato and basil season.


The most difficult part of this recipe is the crust.  It is from scratch.  If you have never made yeast bread from scratch, pizza dough is a great starting point.  It has very few ingredients and can be pretty forgiving if you over kneed or under kneed.  Just plan ahead.  The dough will need to rise for an hour and a half before assembling the pizza. 



I've included two techniques for making the dough; utilizing either the simplest of all tools, your hands, or a stand mixer.  I've used both techniques.  Before receiving my stand mixer as a Christmas gift (Thanks Mom!) I sweated over many a pizza dough.  Just think of it as a great workout for your arms and shoulders.  If you have a stand mixer the dough couldn't be simpler; just add the ingredients and press go.


I learned this crust technique from a Venezuelan friend of mine who learned it from an Italian Grandmother.  It makes a thin crispy crust, just the way I like it.

Pizza

2½ teaspoons active dry yeast

1½ cups warm water

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon salt

3½-4½ cups all purpose flour

1 can crushed tomatoes (14.5oz)

2½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese (8oz)

½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

20 fresh basil leaves  

Dough By Hand
Add the warm water to a medium bowl (about 2 quarts) and sprinkle the yeast over top of the water and let stand until foamy, about 4 minutes.  If the mixture does not turn foamy the yeast is no longer active and new yeast needs to be used.  Once foamy stir in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and salt until the salt dissolves.  In a separate, large bowl (4 quarts) add 3½ cups of the flour.  Create large well in the center of the flour, large enough to incorporate the water-yeast mixture.  Pour the water-yeast mixture into the well and with a fork bring the flour in gradually from the sides, swirling the four into the liquid.  Keep mixing, drawing in larger amounts of flour as the mixture thickens.  Once the dough begins to form work the remaining flour in with clean, floured hands.  If the dough is too sticky add additional flour, ¼ cup at a time.  After all of the flour has been incorporated turn the dough out onto a clean floured surface and kneed by hand for 10 minutes or until the dough becomes smooth.  Form the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl.  Turn to coat the dough on all sides with the oil.  Cover the bowl with towel and let rise in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Dough With a Stand Mixer
In a stand mixerIn a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let stand until foamy, about 4 minutes.  Add 2 tablespoons olive oil, ½ cup of flour, and 1 tablespoon flour; mix until creamy.  Add the rest of the four, ½ cup at a time, and kneed with the dough hook until the dough is smooth and not sticky, about 10 minutes.  Form the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl.  Turn to coat the dough on all sides with the oil.  Cover the bowl with a towel and let rise in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour.


Pizza Assembly 
Preheat the oven to 500°F. 

Punch down the dough, transfer to a lightly floured, clean surface, divide equally into three balls, and knead the balls briefly to shape them.  Cover and let the balls rise for an additional 30 minutes.

Flatten each ball and gently roll into round, thin crusts about 12-14 inches in diameter.  Place the crusts onto cornmeal dusted pizza stones or greased pizza pans.  Place the pizzas in the oven.  Once the crust begins to puff, poke with a fork, about 5 minutes.  Brush the crusts with the remaining olive oil and sprinkle with salt to taste.  Place the dough back in the oven until the crust becomes golden brown, 5-10 minutes.  Remove the crust from the oven and spread 2/3 cup of the crushed tomatoes onto each round, leaving a ½ border around the edge.  Distribute the basil evenly among the pizzas and spread over the top of the tomatoes.  Sprinkle the mozzarella and Parmesan evenly over the top of the pizzas and place them back in the oven for 5-10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and golden on the edges.

Serve and savor.

Roasted Sweet Potato Soup

Soup.  I've been on a soup kick since I visited Boston back in August.  It rained and was cold the entire time, which really put me in the mood for soup.  I'm still in the mood for soup even though it was 88°F in Hattiesburg yesterday.

Once of my favorite soups is Baby Lima Soup with Chipotle Broth by Heidi Swanson on 101cookbooks.com.  101cookbooks focuses on natural, vegetarian cooking and is a excellent resource for healthy and fulfilling recipes.  The soup contains just five ingredients and is a breeze to make.  It goes great with a grilled cheese.

I came up with this Roasted Sweet Potato Soup during an attempt to use up what was in the refrigerator before heading out of town.  I feel I am most creative when forced to work with limited resources and this soup is a prime example.  Many times, cooking is all about creativity: coming up with something tasty without the late night grocery run.  Abandoned Edibles takes the idea of limited resource and tasty dinners to the extreme, and at the very least the concept should be inspirational.  Check it out.

Roasted Sweet Potato Soup


2 lbs of sweet potatoes (about 2 large potatoes)
2 garlic cloves, unpeeled
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
5-6 cups chicken or vegetable broth

2 sprigs of sage 

¾ cup half and half

Pre-heat the oven to 400°F

Wash and peel the sweet potatoes, and cut them into 1 inch cubes.  Toss the potatoes and garlic cloves with the oil and salt.  Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes, stirring half way through.  Remove from the oven and allow the potatoes and garlic to cool slightly.  Once cool peel the garlic. 

Add the potatoes and peeled garlic to a blender, along with 3 cups of the broth, and blend.  If necessary this step may be done in batches so as not to over fill the blender.  

Once smooth transfer the soup to a heavy bottomed sauce pan.  Add the sage sprigs and the remaining broth until the desired consistency is reached.  Over medium heat bring the soup to a simmer and simmer for 30-45 minutes.  Finally add the half-and-half and simmer for an additional 5 minutes.  Remove the sage from the pot and serve.

Note:  The half-and-half can always be omitted to make a lower fat option.