PIZZA!

Making your own pizza dough is easy. It just takes a little time. Last week I made pizza dough with my good friend Dorita Pina. She is a fabulous home chef, but had not made pizza so we did it together. Seems to be a trend of late, which I enjoy tremendously. Cooking with friends is fun, especially when they share the same passion for food as I do...and Dorita definitely does!


Dorita punching down the first rising.

This recipe is from Giada DeLaurentis. I've made it before. Find the recipe here:
http://cookwithcindy.blogspot.com/search?q=pizza
One of the things I like about pizza dough is the simplicity of ingredients: flour, yeast, water, salt, a little oil for drizzling. That's it!

This recipe makes 3 very thin pizza pies. This time I doubled the recipe, but still made only 3 pizza pies. The pizza was more like a thick-crust Chicago-style pizza. I prefer a thinner dough so next time would make 5 pizzas from the doubled recipe. Once cooked, they freeze well. The day before Dorita and her husband Rudy arrived I made a pizza sauce.

 

TRADITIONAL PIZZA SAUCE

This was enough for 3 pizzas.

Ingredients:
1 12-oz. can tomato paste
2 Tbsp. Sun-dried tomato paste (optional)
12 ounces warm water (110 degrees or warm to the touch, but not scalding)
6 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
2 tsp. minced garlic
3 Tbsp. honey
1 1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried marjoram
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper (or more if you like it hot)
1/8 tsp. dried red pepper flakes (ditto)
Salt to taste. I used 2 tsp.

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Heat until cheese starts to melt. Will keep covered in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Our appetizer was an antipasti platter featuring
the homemade Tuscan and Calabrese salami
I made with Jay Bileti and the homemade
pepperoni (top left).

Rudy and Jerry solving the world's problems.

Once your dough has risen a second time, using your hands spread it evenly over a pizza pan.

Dorita is a pro, instinctively
knowing just how to spread the dough.

I had also prepared a bunch of different toppings ahead of time so everyone could 'weigh in' on what they wanted.

Toppings included:
Pre-cooked Italian sausage
Pre-cooked Ground Beef
Pepperoni
Green Pepper, cooked slightly
Mushrooms, cooked slightly
Roasted Red Peppers
Caramelized Onion
Raw Onion
Red Pizza sauce
Basil Pesto Sauce
Various grated cheeses: Mozzarella; Parmesan; Provolone

 

 

 

DESSERT WAS A  BIG HIT, TOO!

TARTUFO!

This is Brian Boitano's recipe. He served his
Tartufo with a caramel sauce and also cut
the Tartufo's in half exposing the cherry.
I left them whole so the cherry would be a surprise!

 

 

Tartufo is an Italian ice cream dessert originating from Calabria. It usually consists of 2 or more flavors of ice cream, fruit or fruit preserve all wrapped in a chocolate shell. The shell is either formed by molding melted chocolate or you can simply crush chocolate cookies, which is what I did. 

You could also make this dish with homemade ice cream, but I used Haagen Dazs Vanilla Bean and for the fruit...these fabulous Amerena cherries.

For the chocolate crust I mixed a whole bag of Pepperidge Farm chocolate, chocolate chip crispy cookies with 1/2 of a Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet chocolate bar. Blend together in a mini-food processor until fine crumbs form.



Slightly soften the ice cream so it is easily scoopable. Fill the scoop and then carefully punch a hole into the scoop of ice cream using the handle of a wooden spoon and insert the cherry. Cover over with ice cream and gently roll in the chocolate crumbs. Refreeze until ready to serve.

What a fun dinner party we had! Jerry Vale was serenading us throughout the evening and we almost felt like we were in Italy.

Until next time...

 

BUONA MANGIATA!

 

www.cookwithcindy.com

SWEET AND SALTY COCONUT RICE!

I served with Asian Carrots and an Asian influenced hamburger.

My good friend, Debby Vis, served this Coconut Rice at a dinner party she had a while back. It is just as the name says; perfect combination of sweet and salty. I cannot remember where she got the recipe. You can easily cut the recipe in half, but why would you want to?? It reheats beautifully and is quite addicting!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sweetened, shredded coconut
1 1/2 cups Jasmine rice, rinsed and drained
1 (14 oz.) can unsweetened coconut milk, full fat, not light
1 1/4 cups water (which can be measured using the coconut milk can-exactly 1 1/4 cups!)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt

Preparation:
In a dry skillet toast the coconut over medium-high heat, stirring until lightly browned; about 4 to 5 minutes. Because of the high sugar content it "catches" quickly so watch to ensure you don't go from light brown to burned. Transfer to a bowl to cool. Do not leave in the pan as it may overcook. You can do this ahead of time and even the day before. The toasted coconut stores well on the counter in a glass container with tight lid.

In a saucepan combine rice, coconut milk, water, sugar and salt and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to barely a simmer, cover and cook until liquid is absorbed and rice is done; about 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Re-cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl, top with toasted coconut. So easy and such an incredibly wonderful combination of sweet, salty, crunchy and creamy. You will not want to stop eating it!

I served with hamburger patties that I marinated in a little soy sauce, Teriyaki, dried ginger, and garlic powder. Press about 2 Tbsp. per burger of sesame seeds into the meat, both sides. Grill to your preferred doneness. They are super juicy!

And finally served the dinner with Julienned Carrots cooked down with: 3 Tbsp. soy sauce, 3 Tbsp. Teriyaki sauce, 3 Tbsp. honey, 5 pieces candied ginger, sliced thinly, juice and zest of one clementine. Gently simmer, covered, on low heat for about 20 minutes. Remove cover and increase heat for the last 10 minutes to thicken the sauce. This also burns quickly. I made this a second time while also cooking some chicken on the grill and returned to the kitchen to find blackened carrots! Not so good!

WHAT ELSE IS COOKING?...

PIZZA!

Here's the funny story behind this pizza pie. My full-size oven is on the blink and because of Coronavirus I have hesitated to get a repair person in to check it out. I finally made an appointment and learned that the technician had Coronavirus so put the service off for another few weeks. I had been unable to buy yeast at the store, but finally found some with pizza in mind. My husband Jerry and I have been craving pizza so I put a meaty, cheesy pizza together. When I went to place the pizza pan in my little oven it did not fit. Fortunately I have a nice, big gas grill and the pan just barely fit in it. 

Here's the best news...the tech has fully recovered and will be down next week to fix my oven!

The pizza had a slightly smokey
taste like it just came from a pizza oven!

Click on this link to find the recipe for both red pizza sauce and Giada DeLaurentis's dough recipe. Keep scrolling all the way down to find the dough!
http://cookwithcindy.blogspot.com/search?q=pizza

THE ALTERNATIVE PIZZA...PORTOBELLO!

I would be lying if I said I like a Portobello Pizza as well as a real pizza, but they are a fairly good substitute if you are watching calories, which I always am! I grilled these, as well, on a piece of aluminum foil so the mushroom would not stick to the grill. Simply remove the stem from the Portobello, rinse and dry the mushroom thoroughly. Add a couple tablespoons of red sauce in bottom of the mushroom. Next add your favorite toppings-green pepper, onion, meat, alternating with parmesan and mozzarella cheeses. Add another tablespoon of sauce and then top with more cheese. Either bake in the oven at 400 degrees until mushroom is cooked and toppings are bubbly; about 15-20 minutes, or grill over high heat for about same time.

CHILLED CELERY SOUP!

These 100+ degree days call for a cold cup of soup. This one is very celery-forward so if celery is not your favorite veg you probably want to skip this recipe.

Ingredients:
14 stalks celery, divided 10 and 4
1 quart chicken stock
1/4 onion, rough chopped
Salt/Pepper to taste
Optional: Greek style yogurt or sour cream for serving

Preparation:
Roughly chop 10 stalks of celery and bring to boil with the onion in the chicken stock. Cover and reduce heat to simmer and cook for another 3 hours.  Taste for seasoning. Cool completely and blend until very smooth. Finely dice the last 4 stalks of celery and return to the blended soup. Cook until the celery is just barley tender. Serve with yogurt.

MORE FRUIT PARFAITS!

I continue to make fruit parfaits with fresh fruit and yogurt. Here is one made with cooked strawberries, which were left over from the Red/White/Blue cheesecake I made for 4th of July! Here is the original recipe, which I made 2 years ago in Ireland: http://cookwithcindy.blogspot.com/search?q=cheesecake.

I also used Mango puree in the parfait, which was left over from the Decadent Mango Pie I made recently--http://cookwithcindy.blogspot.com/search?q=decadent+mango+pie.

Some refer to me as the "Left-Over Queen"! I do not like to waste food!

THAT'S GOING TO DO IT FOR TODAY. 

WISHING YOU LOTS OF FUN ADVENTURES 

COOKING BOTH INSIDE AND OUT!

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PIZZA...AS EASY AS PIE!

Last night I made a Salami Pizza using my new pizza pan. Because of the perforated pan I think the pizza cooked more evenly and the bottom crust was perfectly browned. I had made this pizza dough a few weeks ago and froze 2 of the 3 portions. The dough did not rise as much after being frozen, but was still delicious and made a beautifully thin crusted pizza.

A few days ago I made a really rich tomato sauce so putting this pizza together was fast and easy. Of course you can use sauce in a jar, but it is more fun and much better to make your own!

Recipe for the dough is from Giada De Laurentis. I love most of her recipes and this one is no exception.

 

PIZZA DOUGH

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water (100-110 degrees), plus extra as needed
1 packet active dry yeast (I Tbsp.)
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra as needed
1 1/2 tsp. fine sea salt
Olive oil for drizzling

Preparation:
Put the water in a small bowl. Add the yeast and stir until dissolved. In a large bowl, whisk the flour and salt together. Add the yeast mixture and stir until a soft dough forms. If the dough is too dry, add a little more water, 1 Tbsp. at a time. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour, also 1 Tbsp. at a time. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface. With floured hands, knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic, about 10-12 minutes. That is a lot of kneading, but I believe that is why this dough is so tender and yummy. Drizzle the inside of a clean bowl with olive oil. Put the dough in the bowl, roll it around to coat with oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or kitchen towel. Set the bowl in a warm, draft-free place (not easy in Ireland!), until the dough has doubled in size; about 2 hours.

Using a fist, punch down the dough in the center and cut it into 3 equal-sized pieces. Form the dough pieces into 3 balls and put in oiled bowls. Cover each bowl loosely and let rest for another hour. Remove the dough and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate up to 1 day, or freeze as I did for a couple weeks, or use straight away.

Using your fingers gently spread the dough out on a pizza pan or cookie sheet. As you can see my dough did not quite reach the edges of the pan, but that is no problem.

Drizzle with red sauce and then add whatever toppings you like. 68% of Americans prefer meat toppings and pepperoni is the most popular choice, but experiment with different veg: eggplant, roasted red pepper, cauliflower.

Pizza ready to bake.

I topped with Salami Milano and Coppa Salami, freshly grated Parmesan and Mozzarella cheeses. Salami Milano is a cured sausage consisting of fermented air-dried pork or beef. I used pork. Coppa or Capocolla is a traditional Italian and Corsican sausage made from the dry-cured muscle running from the neck to the pig shoulder.

To cook your pizza pie, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook for about 20 minutes depending on your preference of crispy or doughy crust. Let rest a couple minutes, then slice, and EAT!

Each man, woman and child in America eats an average of
46 slices of pizza per year. My husband, Jerry, loves pizza! 

That's all for today. We are leaving Ireland in less than 2 weeks returning to the land of sun and warmth in beautiful Arizona. This year has been a challenge cooking in Spiddal, Co. Galway, Ireland as we are doing renovations on our house and I have had no kitchen for the last 3 1/2 months. I am cooking on our old stove which has been set up in the garage. Not the most convenient, but a fun challenge!

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Baby Back Pork Ribs!

I made ribs for Super Bowl last Sunday and I must say they were really delicious! I know self praise is no praise at all, but these ribs were pretty special. I think both the barbeque sauce and cooking them for hours made the difference--the meat fell off the bone! They were the best ribs I have ever made or eaten! I know many recipes call for cooking your ribs with a dry rub and adding the sauce after, but I decided to try cooking the ribs in the sauce and I think it made all the difference. I also marinated the rack for several hours before oven roasting and I think that also added a good depth of flavor. Here's what I did...

BABY BACK PORK RIBS

Ingredients:
15 rib rack of pork
Barbeque sauce-recipe follows
Marinade-recipe follows

Marinade:
1/4 spiced rum (I used a new Bacardi spiced rum called Oakheart, but any spiced rum would work just fine).
1/4 cup Ponzu citrus soy sauce (Again, use whatever soy you have.)
1/4 tsp. hot pepper flakes
1/2 cup brown sugar

Put all ingredients in a small saucepan and heat until the sugar is dissolved. Cool. Place ribs in a large roasting pan and cover with the marinade and let sit, covered in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours turning ribs every 45 minutes or so to make sure all sides benefit from the marinade.

Make the barbeque sauce.

BARBEQUE SAUCE
Ingredients:
2 cups ketchup
1 cup water
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
5 Tbsp. brown sugar
5 Tbsp. white sugar
1 Tbsp. Worchestershire sauce
1 tsp. Sriracha or any similar hot sauce
1/2 tsp. ground mustard
1 tsp. smoky paprika chipotle seasoning (I used the Victoria Taylor brand I talked about last time.)
1 tsp. dried chopped onion
1 tsp. dried chopped garlic

Preparation:
Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook uncovered for about 1 hour or until you have the desired thickness. Stir every once in awhile. If it gets too thick, thin it with a little water. Let cool. Your entire house will smell like a barbeque joint while this is cooking!
You can doctor this sauce any way you like with cumin, more hot sauce, liquid smoke, cinnamon, molasses, beer or wine, etc., etc....that's the fun of it and once you make your own BBQ sauce I don't think you will buy it again! It's delicious and very easy.

Preheat oven to 290 degrees.

After ribs have marinated for 2+ hours pull out of the marinade and let drain on paper towels. Wash and dry the roasting pan and line with 2 strips of heavy duty foil. Lay the ribs on the foil and cover with a generous cup of the BBQ sauce. Wrap the foil tightly so steam stays inside the foil.

Put the ribs in the oven and do not check them for 3 hours. After they have baked, open the foil, add more sauce and brown under the broiler for about 5 minutes or until they have a nice BBQ crust, but watch so they don't burn...there's lots of sugar in the sauce that can catch quickly.

Cut ribs apart and serve on a platter with extra sauce and plenty of napkins!

I served our ribs with an interesting beer from Allagash Brewing, Co., Portland, Maine, thanks to our friends Ed and Louise who gave us this very special Allagash Curieux. Curieux is the French word for curious or intriguing and this beer was all of that and more. The beer is aged in Jim Beam bourbon barrels for 2 months creating a rich, creamy, sweet flavor with a hint of bourbon. It is stronger in alcohol than regular beer and was the perfect accompaniment to the ribs.



Check them out:  www.allagash.com

As a starter to the ribs I made a pizza with whole grain crust. I bought the dough from the store all ready to roll out, but you could easily make it yourself if you wanted.

SCALLOP, BACON, AND CARMELIZED ONION PIZZA

Ingredients:

For carmelized onion:
2 medium onions, sliced thinly
Olive oil for pan
1/4 tsp. salt
Juice and zest from 1/4 lemon
1/4 cup water. More if needed as the onions carmelize.
(This will make more than you need for the pizza, but it's always nice to have carmelized onions on hand to add to sandwiches, stirfries or great on a burger with melted blue cheese.)

Other ingredients:
1/2 pound scallops
5 strips bacon
1 cup mozzarella
1 cup parmesan
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 scallion tops (green part only), cut into thin rings
Enough Olive Oil for liberal drizzling
Flour for rolling out the dough

Start by carmelizing the onions. Cut 2 medium onions into thin rings. Heat a large frying pan with a little olive oil. Add the onions and reduce to lowest simmer. Add 1/4 tsp. salt and the juice and zest (yellow part only) from 1 quarter lemon. Finally add 1/4 cup water. Cover tightly and let steam for about an hour until onions are very soft and caramel color. Check on them every 20 minutes or so to make sure they are not getting brown. Add more water if they start to get dry. Remove from heat to cool. The onions get very sweet as they cook.

You can do this in the morning or even the day before. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in fridge until ready to use.

Next, fry the bacon until very crisp. Cool. Cut into 1/2 pieces and set aside. This can also be done ahead.

Sprinkle your counter with a light coating of flour. Coat the pizza dough in the flour by rolling it around in the flour. Roll out pizza dough with a rolling pin (if you don't have a rolling pin, a heavy glass works; just be careful not to break the glass!) until it is only about 1/4 inch thick. One of these days I am going to buy a pizza stone, but in the meantime I use a heavy baking sheet which works just fine. Place the dough in an ungreased baking sheet or pizza stone.

Pizza ready to bake.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Build the pizza by starting with the 2 cheeses (reserve a little of both for topping), oregano, scallops (cut in half if they are honkers), bacon, carmelized onion, a little more of the 2 cheeses and finally the scallion tops.

Drizzle the entire pizza with a liberal amount of olive oil. I am sorry I did not measure this so can't give you an exact amount. I just very slowly drizzled the oil in an even pattern over the entire pizza.

Cook for 12-14 minutes until pizza crust is lightly browned at edges. Yum, Yum, Yummy!

YUCCA ROOT IN GARLIC

Since this site is about having fun in the kitchen no matter what the outcome I am sharing the Super Bowl dish that was not the best. I have had the most scrumptuous yucca root in garlic at various Cuban restaurants so decided to try to recreate it at home. I probably should've looked up some techniques before starting, but I just forged ahead on instinct. This time they were a little off. The yucca I know and love is crispy on the outside (probably deep-fried) and soft and creamy inside. I started by peeling and chopping the yucca into cubes. This is a very hard root and is usually waxed. I find it easier to peel by first cutting in 3-4 inch pieces.

Some say yucka; others say yooka. Take your pick. I say yucka!

I peeled a whole small head of garlic and chopped finely. Mix both yucca cubes and garlic in a liberal amount of olive oil and let marinate for several hours turning every so often.

This is the raw yucca marinating in garlic and olive oil.

I put the marinated yucca in a preheated 400 degree oven for one hour. One mistake was I did not cut the cubes small enough. 2nd mistake, I think I should've par boiled the yucca until it was soft and then fried in a frying pan with oil and the garlic, rather than baking raw for an hour. I am going to try that method and let you know how it comes out. If any of you have a favorite way of preparing yucca root, please let me know.

I forgot to take a photo of the finished yucca, which looked pretty good, but was not at all creamy, in fact was quite hard, but did taste good.

My friend Ann recently asked me if I walk around the kitchen with a camera in my hand. I thought the question was valid, but the answer is NO. I do walk around the kitchen and most every other place with my crackberry in hand. My phone takes better pictures than my camera and it is so easy to snap away while cooking.

I have so many more food things I want to share with you,

but will save them for next time.

This is in hopes the balloon makes it off the ground on Saturday. I will be with you in spirit as you drift over the Tortolita's. Have fun Diana, Dennis, Robb and Anabel!!
Did you know there are nearly 200 'named' mountain ranges in Arizona?!?

 

 

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A Little This and That...

Tomorrow we are taking off for Eastern Europe for 3 weeks! This is a trip my husband and I have been planning and talking about for 22 years. I can't believe it is finally happening. I thought I would get one more post in before I leave as you won't hear from me again for awhile. I will be having a blast, but suffering from food-blog withdrawl. Hopefully I will take in lots of flavors and tastes and new treats to bring back to you.

A few weeks ago I made some hot pepper relish from peppers I grew in my little garden this year and it turned out pretty good so thought I would share it. What I liked about this relish was the blend of spicy hot pepper with a little sweet. It has lots of flavor and is easy to make. I have been making it just as the peppers ripen. Making one small batch at a time is much easier than dealing with a bushel of hot peppers.

HOT PEPPER RELISH

I used a combination of green and red cayenne peppers. You can also add a green, red, orange or yellow bell pepper to tone down the heat.

Ingredients:
20 -25 peppers, seeded with white inside spine removed (that is really hot!)
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp. salt, plus 1/4 tsp.
1 cup cider vinegar
6 packets Stevia or regular sugar

Preparation:
Seed and core the peppers. DO NOT RUB YOUR EYES while doing this or after. In fact, I recommend safety glasses. Seriously. I sliced one of these peppers in half and juice came back and hit me right in the eye-ball. It felt like my eye had been pierced with a hot needle. Not nice. I now wear my glasses when I make this hot relish. Put peppers, onion and garlic through a blender or mini-max and chop until quite fine. Be careful when removing the lid of the blender as the fumes really waft out.  Place pepper mixture in a saucepan and cover with water. Add 2 tsp. salt. Let stand for 10 minutes. Drain off water pressing on solids to get out as much water as possible.  Add 1 cup cider vinegar; 1/4 tsp. salt; sugar. Simmer peppers for 20 minutes. Ladle into jar(s) pressing down as you fill so liquid covers the peppers. Wipe jar rim and adjust lid. You can either process to store or keep in the refrigerator without processing for about a month. (I don't think this stuff could ever go bad.)  To process: Place in a boiling water "bath" for 15 minutes. Start the time once the water boils. I have already given several jars as gifts. Just make sure the recipient likes it "hot" before offering!

PORTOBELLO PIZZAS WITH HOMEMADE RED SAUCE

A few years ago we started doing the South Beach diet every January to lose some of that holiday weight and I found this recipe in South Beach which we use often.  We use many South Beach recipes throughout the year, but go 'hard-core' in January!

Portobella Pizzas can be filled with whatever topping you would select for pizza with crust; just use the mushroom AS the crust. Last week I decided to make homemade red sauce as my tomatoes are really coming into their own. The fresh tomatoes give the sauce a very bright flavor that is so much bigger than using canned tomatoes and canned paste, but they are not always available so using canned tomatoes are still far superior to store-bought jars of sauce.

RED SAUCE
Ingredients:
20 plum tomatoes
2 big tomatoes (I used the Mountain Prides from my garden.)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt/Pepper to taste
Fresh Basil, Oregano, Rosemary at your discretion. I like heavy on the basil/oregano; a pinch of rosemary
4 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
Minced dried onion
Pinch of hot dried pepper flake

Preparation:
Fill a large saute pan with salted water.  Bring to brisk boil.  Carefully drop the tomatoes into the boiling water to just barely blanche until their skins start to pop. As soon as you see one skin split, pour off into a collander as the others should follow. Let them sit until they are cool enough to handle. Peel the tomatoes. In the same large sauce pan, lightly saute the crushed garlic in olive oil; add the tomatoes and gently smash them with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until they are flattened; add minced dried onions; herbs; salt/pepper; pinch of red pepper flake and let cook down until it is sauce-like consistency--about 2 hours. Stir every once in awhile and continue smooshing the tomatoes so they begin to disentegrate as the sauce cooks. I like sauce a little chunky, but if you prefer, you can blend the sauce to make perfectly smooth. This sauce also freezes very well.

For the Portobello Mushroom Pizza:
Wash mushrooms by brushing off the outer skin with your fingers or a pastry brush. Remove the stem and any black edges so you have a nice deep 'well' for your ingredients.  Add a layer of red sauce, and whatever toppings you like.  I used sauted sweet Italian sausage, thinly sliced yellow and green peppers, garlic, onion and topped with both mozarella and parmesan cheese.

This picture DOES NOT do these pizzas justice! They look and taste much more delicious than this!
Truly amazing twist on traditional pizza!!

Place on a flat pan and bake for about 20 minutes. If the cheese is not bubbly, put under the broiler for a minute or two. I serve 2 mushrooms per person, which sounds like a lot, but there are no carbs in this meal (except for the veggies). These "pizzas" can also be cooked on the grill.

 

WHEN DO HORS D'OEUVRES BECOME DINNER?

We recently had our new neighbors, Karen and Dave, over for cocktails. They were going out of town the next day so I wanted to make appetizers heavy enough to count as dinner so they would not have to go home and cook. This is what I did...

CHICKEN THIGHS WRAPPED IN BACON WITH AVOCADO CREMA

This is kind of a play on my Southwestern Chicken Thighs stuffed with avocado and wrapped in bacon that I talked about last time, but it is done as a 'bite' so makes a great appetizer.  It does not really need a recipe.  Clean a bunch of chicken thighs and cut into 1 1/2 inch chucks.  I planned 3 'bites' per person/1 'bite' per skewer.  Marinate the chicken bites in olive oil, freshly chopped garlic, salt, pepper for a couple hours or all afternoon. Cut thickly sliced bacon in quarters by cutting in half lengthwise and widthwise. Stretch it out a bit and wrap 1/4 piece of bacon around each chicken thigh. Soak the wooden skewers for a couple hours in water. Skewer the chicken by piercing both sides of the bacon to keep the bacon intact around the chicken 'bite'.

Make the avocado crema (previous blog so go to the Search Engine, top left on the actual website: www.cookwithcindy.com and search for Avocado Crema and it will take you right to the recipe-I use it myself!). The only difference is with these appetizers I topped the crema with crumbled bacon.

I wanted to grill these kabobs, but it was pouring so I got the broiler hot and grilled inside under the broiler, about 5 minutes each side until bacon was super crispy.  When broiling inside you just have to be careful not to catch your skewers on fire!

SHRIMP RANGOONS

This is my take on Crab Rangoons, but they are not deep fried and as the name implies made with shrimp; not crab. Of all the apps I served that night, these were by far my favorite.

Ingredients:
1 extra large jumbo shrimp per rangoon or 2 smaller shrimps per rangoon
1/2 package puff pastry, thawed
1/2 lb. Cream Cheese

1/2 package puff pastry makes 9 rangoons. I planned 2 per person so I had one left over to sample since we had 4 people at this party.

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Shell and devein shrimp. Boil in a spicy broth. I used water to cover, 2 pieces fresh lemon grass, 2" chunk of fresh sliced and peeled ginger root; pinch of hot pepper flake; dried garlic; dried onion. Boil until the shrimp are just pink--3-4 minutes. You can boil your shrimp in any herb or spice you like, but this blend worked well. Let cool and then chop. Since I was making 8 for company, divide your portions appropriately so they fill puff pastry squares equally.

Flatten out each piece of puff pastry with a rolling pin or use your fingers. Place a piece of cream cheese on the bottom of the pastry. Put the chopped shrimp on1/2 side of the pastry and top with another piece of cream cheese. Carefully fold the pocket over into a triangle and pinch edges together. I think the beauty of this appetizer is its simplicity.  I would prefer a bit more heat, but was not sure how the crowd would react. You can goop it up with all kinds of things and it would probably be just as delicious, if not more! Experiment and let me know what you come up with!


Place the rangoons in preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown on top.

Shrimp Rangoons ready to bake on greased foil lined baking sheet.

I popped them under the broiler for 1 minute after they were baked to really brown up the tops and decided to serve with no sauce to keep them very simple. They were a big hit!

Next I served a smoked salmon dip with crispy pita pocket triangles, some simple sausage kabobos, and mushrooms stuffed with sun-dried tomato Boursin cheese.

SALMON SPREAD WITH PITA POCKETS

This hors'doeuvre echoed the shrimp served in the first hors d'oeuvre course. Here's how to make it...take 5 slices of smoked salmon (preferably wild salmon) and mash it with a fork. Add 1/2 pound cream cheese and mash it all together. Add 1 Tbsp. of capers and some black pepper. Top with finely chopped chives and let set for an hour or more to allow flavors to blend. To make the pita chips, cut pita pockets (I used whole grain pockets with flax--yum! yum!), into triangles. Spray with PAM and top with onion/garlic seasoning. Put under the broiler and crisp until browned--it just takes a couple minutes.

Next in our line-up of 'Hors'Douevres as a Meal' were Sausage Kabobs...what could be easier.

Cook all ingredients a little bit before you skewer. Use any combination, but I took green and yellow pepper, cherry tomatoes and sweet Italian sausage. Get a pan very hot with a little olive oil and drop in sausage stirring to release some fat, add peppers and cherry tomatoes. Cook for 2 minutes. Cool. Cut sausage into bite sized pieces and skewer with the veg. I had also planned to grill this, but New England weather did not allow, so I put under the broiler for about 4 minutes on each side and served.

STUFFED MUSHROOMS WITH

SUN-DRIED TOMATO BOURSIN, TOPPED WITH BASIL

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Clean and stem mushrooms. Coat the bottom of a baking dish with a little olive oil. Roll mushrooms around, both sides to coat with a little oil, sprinkle with salt/pepper. Fill each cap with a generous teaspoon of sun-dried tomato Boursin cheese. Bake for about 30 minutes until the cheese gets bubbly and the mushrooms look done. Top with some chopped basil.

I actuallly had more food than necessary (what a surprise!) and the neighbors left very satisfied!  The whole plan included fish, meat, veg, cheese, and of course a couple cocktails!--a complete dinner!!

Thank you dear readers so sincerely for cooking with me once again.  I love talking about food and love cooking even more.

I am off on an adventure of a lifetime and look forward to sharing stories of lands I have never visited.  I don't think I will have much opportunity to cook, but sure do plan to eat!

Until next time, enjoy YOUR time in the kitchen, entertaining friends, family, and most of all being a complete free spirit when it comes to cooking!

Tune in again for another episode with:

www.cookwithcindy.com